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J.M. Dent

J.M. Dent

Joseph Malaby Dent (30 August 1849–9 May 1926) was a British book publisher who produced the Everyman's Library series. Dent was born in Darlington and after a short and unsuccessful stint as an apprentice printer he took up bookbinding. At the age of fifteen he gave a talk on Boswell's Life of Johnson which would be the first book printed in the Everyman's Library. He began publishing high quality limited editions of classic literature under the Temple Library imprint. He realised the potential for cheap, uniform editions of classic world literature and in 1906 began the Everyman's Library. Although not a new idea, what set Everyman's apart for earlier series was its scope; Dent planned for no less then one thousand volumes. He had not underestimated demand and was able to build a new factory and offices in Covent Garden with the profits. Despite have an impressive range of literature Dent prevented classics of dubious morals, such as Moll Flanders, from being printed. The First World War slowed the production of books and Dent did not live to see the one thousand volume mark reached in 1956. Dent, J. M. Dent, J. M. Dent, J. M.

30 August

August 30 is the 242nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (243rd in leap years), with 123 days remaining.

Events


- 711 - K'inich K'an Joy Chitam, king of the Maya city of Palenque, disappears from history. He was probably taken prisoner by a rivalling city state.
- 1574 - Guru Ram Das became the Fourth Sikh Guru/Master
- 1590 - Tokugawa Ieyasu enters Edo Castle. (Traditional Japanese date: August 1, 1590)
- 1813 - Battle of Kulm: French forces defeated by Austrian-Prussian-Russian alliance
- 1813 - Creek War: Creek Red Sticks carried out the Fort Mims Massacre.
- 1850 - Honolulu, Hawaii, becomes a city
- 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Richmond, Kentucky: Confederates under Edmund Kirby Smith rout a Union army under General Horatio Wright
- 1862 - American Civil War: Union forces are defeated in Second Battle of Bull Run
- 1873 - Austrian explorers Julius von Payer and Karl Weyprecht discover the archipelago of Franz Joseph Land in the Arctic Sea.
- 1909 - Burgess Shale fossils discovered by Charles Doolittle Walcott
- 1914 - Battle of Tannenberg
- 1918 - Fanya Kaplan, an assassin, shoots and seriously injures Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin. This, along with the assassination of Bolshevik senior official Moisei Uritsky days earlier, prompts the decree for Red Terror.
- 1922 - Battle of Dumlupinar, final battle in Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) ("Turkish War of Independence")
- 1941 - Siege of Leningrad begins.
- 1942 - World War II: Battle of Alam Halfa begins.
- 1945 - Hong Kong is liberated from Japan by British Forces.
- 1945 - Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Douglas MacArthur lands at Atsugi Air Force Base.
- 1962 - Japan conducts a test of the NAMC YS-11, its first aircraft since the war and its only successful commercial aircraft from before or after the war.
- 1963 - Hotline between U.S. and Soviet leaders goes into operation.
- 1965 - Casey Stengel announces his retirement from baseball
- 1965 - Rock musician Bob Dylan releases his influential album Highway 61 Revisited featuring the song "Like a Rolling Stone."
- 1967 - Thurgood Marshall is confirmed as the first African American Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
- 1974 - A Belgrade-Dortmund express train derails at the main train station in Zagreb killing 153 passengers.
- 1976 - Tom Brokaw becomes news anchor of the Today Show.
- 1984 - STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery takes off on its maiden voyage.
- 1990 - Tatarstan declares independence from the RSFSR.
- 1991 - Azerbaijan declares independence from the USSR.
- 1992 - Michael Schumacher wins his first Formula One race at the Belgian Grand Prix.
- 1993 - The Late Show with David Letterman debuts on CBS.
- 1999 - East Timorese vote for independence in a referendum.
- 2002 - The Tandy Center Subway in Fort Worth, Texas, ceases to operate.
- 2005 - The 17th Street Canal in New Orleans is breached by Hurricane Katrina, leading to massive flooding and destruction.

Births


- 1334 - King Peter I of Castile (d. 1369)
- 1377 - Shah Rukh, ruler of Persia and Transoxonia (d. 1447)
- 1705 - David Hartley, English philosopher (d. 1757)
- 1720 - Samuel Whitbread, English brewer and politician (d. 1796)
- 1748 - Jacques-Louis David, French painter (d. 1825)
- 1797 - Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, English writer (d. 1851)
- 1839 - Gulstan Ropert, French Catholic prelate (d. 1903)
- 1848)- Andrew Onderdonk, Railway Contractor.
- 1852 - Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Dutch chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1911)
- 1856 - Carle David Tolmé Runge, German physicist (d. 1927)
- 1871 - Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, New Zealand physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1937)
- 1884 - Theodor Svedberg, Swedish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
- 1893 - Huey Long, American politician (d. 1935)
- 1896 - Raymond Massey, Canadian actor (d. 1983)
- 1898 - Shirley Booth, American actress (d. 1992)
- 1901 - Roy Wilkins, American civil rights leader (1981)
- 1906 - Joan Blondell, American actress (d. 1979)
- 1908 - Fred MacMurray, American actor (d. 1991)
- 1912 - Edward Mills Purcell, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
- 1913 - Richard Stone, British economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
- 1918 - Ted Williams, baseball player (d. 2002)
- 1919 - Kitty Wells, American singer
- 1922 - Lionel Murphy, Australian politician and judge
- 1925 - Laurent de Brunhoff, French writer and illustrator
- 1927 - Geoffrey Beene, American fashion designer
- 1930 - Warren Buffett, American entrepreneur
- 1930 - Jerry Tarkanian, American basketball coach
- 1935 - John Phillips, American singer (The Mamas and the Papas) (d. 2001)
- 1939 - John Peel, English radio disc jockey (d. 2004)
- 1941 - Ben Jones, American actor and politician
- 1943 - R. Crumb, American cartoonist
- 1943 - Jean-Claude Killy, French skier
- 1944 - Molly Ivins, American political humorist
- 1947 - Peggy Lipton, American actress
- 1948 - Lewis Black, American comedian
- 1951 - Timothy Bottoms, American actor
- 1951 - Dana (singer), Irish singer and politician
- 1954 - Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus
- 1959 - Mark 'Jacko' Jackson, Australian footballer and actor
- 1963 - Paul Oakenfold, British disc jockey
- 1972 - Cameron Diaz, American actress
- 1972 - Pavel Nedved, Czech footballer
- 1974 - Aaron Barrett, American guitarist and singer (Reel Big Fish)
- 1975 - Radhi Jaidi, Tunisian footballer
- 1982 - Andy Roddick, American tennis player
- 1991 - Nick Gardner, Future American Politician

Deaths


- 1158 - King Sancho III of Castile (b. 1134)
- 1428 - Emperor Shoko of Japan (b. 1401)
- 1483 - King Louis XI of France (b. 1423)
- 1580 - Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy (b. 1528)
- 1617 - Rose of Lima, Peruvian saint (b. 1586)
- 1619 - Shimazu Yoshihiro, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1535)
- 1751 - Christopher Polhem, Swedish scientist and inventor (b. 1661)
- 1856 - Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, English writer (b. 1811)
- 1879 - John Bell Hood, American Confederate general (b. 1831)
- 1896 - Alexei Lobanov-Rostovsky, Russian statesman (b. 1824)
- 1907 - Richard Mansfield, American actor and manager (b. 1857)
- 1928 - Wilhelm Wien, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1864)
- 1935 - Henri Barbusse, French novelist and journalist (b. 1873)
- 1940 - J.J. Thomson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)
- 1943 - Father Eustaquio van Lieshout, Dutch Catholic priest (b. 1890)
- 1949 - Arthur Fielder, English cricketer (b. 1877)
- 1961 - Charles Coburn, American actor (b. 1877)
- 1981 - Vera-Ellen, American actress (b. 1921)
- 1985 - Taylor Caldwell, English-born author (b. 1900)
- 1991 - Jean Tinguely, Swiss painter and sculptor (b. 1925)
- 1994 - Lindsay Anderson, English film director (b. 1923)
- 1995 - Sterling Morrison, American guitarist (The Velvet Underground) (b. 1942)
- 1999 - Raymond Poïvet, French comics artist, creator of Les Pionniers de l'Espérance
- 2003 - Charles Bronson, American actor (b. 1921)
- 2003 - Donald Davidson, American philosopher (b. 1917)
- 2004 - Fred Lawrence Whipple, American astronomer (b. 1906)

Holidays and observances


- Peru - Saint Rose of Lima's Day
- Turkey - Victory Day (to commemorate the Battle of Dumlupinar in 1922)
- International Day of the Disappeared

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/30 BBC: On This Day] ---- August 29 - August 31 - July 30 - September 30 -- listing of all days ko:8월 30일 ms:30 Ogos ja:8月30日 simple:August 30 th:30 สิงหาคม

9 May

May 9 is the 129th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (130th in leap years). There are 236 days remaining.

Events


- 328 - Athanasius is elected Patriarch bishop of Alexandria.
- 1092 - Lincoln Cathedral is consecrated.
- 1429 - Joan of Arc defeats the English troops besieging Orléans.
- 1450 - 'Abd al-Latif Mirza (Timurid monarch) assassinated.
- 1502 - Christopher Columbus leaves Spain for his fourth and final journey to the "New World".
- 1671 - Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, attempts to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. He is immediately caught because he is too drunk to run with the loot. He is later condemned to death and then mysteriously pardoned and exiled by King Charles II.
- 1726 - Five men arrested during a raid on Mother Clap's molly house in London are executed at Tyburn.
- 1868 - The city of Reno, Nevada, is founded.
- 1874 - The first horse drawn carriage made its début in the city of Mumbai, plying on two routes.
- 1887 - Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show opens in London.
- 1901 - Australia opens its first parliament in Melbourne.
- 1914 - J.T. Hearne becomes the first bowler to take 3000 first-class wickets.
- 1915 - World War I: Second Battle of Artois between German and French forces.
- 1926 - Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett claim to have flown over the North Pole (later discovery of his diary seems to indicate that this did not happen).
- 1927 - The Australian Parliament first convenes in Canberra.
- 1936 - Italy formally annexes Ethiopia after taking the capital Addis Ababa on May 5.
- 1940 - World War II: The German submarine U-9 sinks French coastal submarine Doris near Den Helder.
- 1941 - World War II: The German submarine U-110 is captured by the Royal Navy. On board is the latest Enigma cryptography machine which Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages.
- 1942 - Second World War: On the night of 8/9 May 1942, gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebelled. Their mutiny was crushed and three of them were executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
- 1945 - World War II: The final German surrender to Marshal Georgy Zhukov at Berlin-Karlshorst is signed by Colonel-General Hans-Jürgen Stumpff as the representative of the Luftwaffe, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel as the Chief of Staff of OKW, and Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg as Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine.
- 1945 - World War II: Hermann Göring is captured by the United States Army.
- 1945 - World War II: Norway arrests Vidkun Quisling.
- 1945 - World War II: Red Army enters Prague (capitulation of Nazi occupation troops)
- 1945 - World War II: The Soviet Union marks Victory Day.
- 1945 - World War II: The Channel Islands are formally liberated by the British.
- 1946 - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates and is succeeded by Humbert II.
- 1949 - Rainier III of Monaco becomes Prince of Monaco.
- 1950 - Robert Schuman presents his proposal on the creation of an organized Europe, indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations. This proposal, known as the "Schuman declaration", is considered to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union.
- 1955 - Cold War: West Germany joins NATO.
- 1955 - Sam and Friends debuts on a local US television channel, marking the first television appearance of both Jim Henson and what would become Kermit the Frog and the Muppets.
- 1956 - First ascent of Manaslu, the world's eighth-highest mountain.
- 1960 - Reproductive rights: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves sale of the birth control pill.
- 1970 - Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C., 75,000 to 100,000 war protestors peacefully demonstrate behind a barricaded White House.
- 1974 - Watergate Scandal: The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opens formal and public impeachment hearings against President Richard M. Nixon.
- 1980 - In Florida, Liberian freighter SS Summit Venture hits the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay sending 35 people (most in a bus) to a watery death as a 1,400-foot section of the bridge collapses.
- 1980 - The first meeting of Pope John Paul II and the Archbishop of Canterbury takes place in Ghana.
- 1987 - A Polish LOT Ilyushin IŁ 62M "Tadeusz Kościuszko" (SP-LBG). crashes after takeoff in Warsaw, Poland, killing 183 people.
- 1987 - In Brussels, Belgium, Johnny Logan wins the thirty-second Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland singing "Hold Me Now".
- 1992 - In Malmö, Sweden, Linda Martin wins the thirty-seventh Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland singing "Why Me".
- 1994 - Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president.
- 1998 - In Birmingham, United Kingdom, Dana International wins the forty-third Eurovision Song Contest for Israel singing "Diva".
- 2002 - The 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem comes to an end when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected militants among them deported to several different countries.
- 2002 - In Kaspiysk, Russia, a remote-controlled bomb explodes during a holiday parade killing 43 and injuring at least 130.
- 2004 - Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov is killed in a landmine bomb blast under a VIP stage during a World War II memorial victory parade in Grozny, Chechnya.
- 2004 - Team of Canada won the World Ice Hockey Championship in Prague.
- 2006 - More information on the Nintendo Revolution will be released to the public.

Births


- 1147 - Minamoto no Yoritomo, Japanese shogun (d. 1199)
- 1439 - Pope Pius III (d. 1503)
- 1741 - Giovanni Paisiello, Italian composer (d. 1816)
- 1800 - John Brown, American abolitionist (d. 1859)
- 1837 - Adam Opel, German engineer and industrialist (b. 1895)
- 1860 - J. M. Barrie, Scottish author (d. 1937)
- 1873 - Anton Cermak, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1933)
- 1874 - Howard Carter, British archaeologist (d. 1939)
- 1882 - George Barker, American painter (d. 1965)
- 1882 - Henry J. Kaiser, American ship-builder (d. 1967)
- 1892 - Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Empress of Austria-Hungary (d. 1989)
- 1895 - Richard Barthelmess, American actor (d. 1963)
- 1895 - Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet, playwright, and philosopher (b. 1895)
- 1907 - Baldur von Schirach, Nazi official (d. 1974)
- 1912 - Pedro Armendáriz, Mexican actor (d. 1963)
- 1912 - Per Imerslund, "The aryan idol" (d. 1943)
- 1914 - Hank Snow, Canadian-born musician (d. 1999)
- 1918 - Mike Wallace, American journalist
- 1918 - Orville L. Freeman, American politician (d. 2003)
- 1920 - Richard Adams, English author
- 1920 - William Tenn, American author
- 1921 - Sophie Scholl, resistance fighter in Nazi Germany (d. 1943)
- 1921 - Mona Van Duyn, American poet (d. 2004)
- 1924 - Bulat Okudzhava, Russian writer and musician (d. 1997)
- 1927 - Manfred Eigen, German biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- 1928 - Colin Chapman, English engineer and automobile manufacturer (d. 1982)
- 1928 - Pancho Gonzalez, American tennis player (d. 1995)
- 1928 - Barbara Ann Scott, Canadian figure skater
- 1930 - Joan Sims, British actress (d. 2001)
- 1934 - Alan Bennett, British author
- 1936 - Albert Finney, British actor
- 1936 - Glenda Jackson, English actress and politician
- 1937 - José Rafael Moneo, Spanish architect
- 1939 - Ralph Boston, American athlete
- 1940 - James L. Brooks, American film producer and writer
- 1942 - John Ashcroft, United States Attorney General
- 1944 - Richie Furay, American musician (Poco and Buffalo Springfield)
- 1946 - Candice Bergen, American actress
- 1949 - Billy Joel, American musician
- 1955 - Anne-Sofie von Otter, Swedish mezzo-soprano
- 1964 - David Gahan, English singer (Depeche Mode)
- 1964 - Kevin Saunderson, American music producer and disc jockey
- 1965 - Steve Yzerman, Canadian hockey player
- 1968 - Marie-José Perec, French athlete
- 1970 - Ghostface Killah, American rapper
- 1972 - Megumi Odaka, Japanese actress and artist
- 1979 - Pierre Bouvier, Canadian musician (Simple Plan)
- 1982 - Rachel Boston, American actress

Deaths


- 1315 - Hugh V, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1282)
- 1446 - Mary of Enghien, Queen of Naples (b. 1368)
- 1657 - William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth Colony (b. 1590)
- 1707 - Dietrich Buxtehude, German composer
- 1747 - John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair, Scottish soldier and diplomat (b. 1673)
- 1760 - Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf, German religious and social reformer (b. 1700)
- 1789 - Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval, French artillery specialist (b. 1715)
- 1790 - William Clingan, American delegate to the Continental Congress
- 1791 - Francis Hopkinson, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1737)
- 1805 - Friedrich Schiller, German poet and historian (b. 1759)
- 1889 - William S. Harney, U.S. general (b. 1800)
- 1903 - Paul Gauguin, French painter (b. 1848)
- 1931 - Albert Abraham Michelson, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
- 1949 - Prince Louis II of Monaco (b. 1870)
- 1950 - Esteban Terradas i Illa, Catalan mathematician, scientist, and engineer (b. 1883)
- 1957 - Ezio Pinza, Italian bass (b. 1892)
- 1968 - Mercedes de Acosta, American poet, playwright, costume designer, and socialite (b. 1893)
- 1970 - Andrew Watson Myles, Canadian politician (b. 1884)
- 1970 - Walter Reuther, American labor leader (b. 1907)
- 1976 - Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian author (b. 1920)
- 1978 - Aldo Moro, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1916)
- 1985 - Edmond O'Brien, American actor (b. 1915)
- 1986 - Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese sherpa (b. 1914)
- 1989 - Keith Whitley, American country music singer (b. 1955)
- 1994 - Elias Motsoaledi, South African freedom fighter (b. 1924)
- 1998 - Alice Faye, American actress (b. 1915)
- 2003 - Russell B. Long, U.S. Senator from Louisiana (b. 1918)
- 2004 - Akhmad Kadyrov, Chechen president (b. 1951)
- 2004 - Alan King, American comedian (b. 1927)
- 2005 - Nasrat Parsa, Afghani singer (b. 1969)

Holidays and observances


- Russia and some other parts of the former Soviet Union – Victory Day as the end of the "Great Patriotic War"
- European Union – Europe day, commemorating the "Schuman declaration"
- Jersey, Guernsey – Liberation Day
- Roman Empire – Feast of the Lemures (See Larvae)
- Mother's Day (some countries) – 1999, 2004, 2010

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/9 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050509.html The New York Times: On This Day]
- [http://www.thisdaythatyear.com/may/people9.htm ThisDayThatYear.com on May 9] ---- May 8 - May 10 - April 9 - June 9 – listing of all days ko:5월 9일 ms:9 Mei ja:5月9日 simple:May 9 th:9 พฤษภาคม

British

:This article deals with the history of the word Britain. For clarification of terminology and an overview of articles about Britain and Ireland see British Isles (terminology). The word Britain is an informal term used to refer to
- the island of Great Britain which consists of the nations of England, Scotland and Wales.
- the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland or UK,
- sometimes the Roman province called "Britain" or "Britannia" The word British generally means belonging to or associated with Britain in one of the first two senses above (i.e. the United Kingdom or the island of Great Britain). However, the term has a range of related usages, as described in this article. Etymologically, these words are closely related to Brittany, the name of the western French peninsula, and its adjective Breton.

Earliest attested references


- Pretaniké; Pretanikai nesoi (Pretanic isles) - 325 BC
- Britannia - 55 BC (Julius Caesar, Roman invasion of Britain)
- Breten - 855 (Old English Chronicle, introduction)
- Brittisc - 855 (OED)
- Grate Briteigne - 1548 (OED)
- British isles - 1550 (in Latin; map of Sebastian Munster cited in British Isles article)

Etymology

The etymology of the name Britain is thought to derive from a Celtic word, Pritani, "painted people/men", a reference to the inhabitants of the islands' use of body-paint and tattoos. If this is true, there is an interesting parallel with the name Pict, connected with a Latin word of the same meaning. The modern Welsh name for Britain is Prydain. The Q-Celtic form was Cruithin, showing that the Common Celtic singular form was qr[ui]tanos. The root is presumably that of the modern Gaelic/Irish word cruth 'shape, form'. It has also been postulated that Britain may derive from the Celtic goddess Brigid; the form of the word, however, is against this postulation. In 325 BC the Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia visited a group of islands which he called Pretaniké, the principal ones being Albionon (Albion) and Ierne (Erin). The records of this visit date from much more recent times, so there is room for these details to be disputed, but it does seem to attest pre-Roman use of the name by Celtic-speaking inhabitants of the islands - or the names used by the Phoenecians Pytheas went with. The Roman geographer Ptolemy called the larger island Megale Brettania (Great Britain), and the smaller island Micra Bretannia (Little Britain).

Britain and Brittany

The original reference seems to have been to the territory in which the Brythonic languages were spoken, which more or less coincided with the Roman province of Britannia, an area equivalent to modern England, Wales and southern Scotland. In the Early Middle Ages speakers of a Brythonic language which later evolved into Breton migrated from Cornwall to Armorica, Western France, possibly because of pressure from Saxon invasions. This is why different forms of the same name apply to insular Britain and continental Brittany. In French the similarity is even more obvious: Bretagne and Grande Bretagne. Geoffrey of Monmouth used the names Britannia minor to refer to the Armorican region and Britannia major for the island. The element great in the term Great Britain thus simply means large, to make the distinction from Brittany.

Historical evolution of the term Britain

The kingdoms established on the island of Great Britain were perceived to be dominant over the whole archipelago, which thus came to be known as the British Isles. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, the queen's astrologer and alchemist, John Dee, wrote mystical volumes predicting a British Empire and using the terms Great Britain and Britannia. After Elizabeth's death in 1603 the kingdoms shared one King, James VI of Scotland and I of England. On 20 October 1604 he proclaimed himself "King of Great Brittaine" (thus including Wales and also avoiding the cumbersome title "King of England and Scotland"). This title was eventually adopted formally in 1707 when the Kingdom of Great Britain was formed. Politically, then, British has been used to described someone or something from the United Kingdom, in its various forms, since 1707. Briton or Brit are also used colloquially in this form, though the use of Briton here is incorrect. Since its formation, the kingdom was enlarged in 1801 by the addition of the island of Ireland - already ruled by the British monarchy - to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and was then reduced in 1922 by the independence of the Irish Free State, now the Republic of Ireland. The name of the kingdom changed accordingly, in 1927 becoming The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. British was also used to describe members of nations that formed part of the British Empire. This use now, however, could be seen as justifying the colonial era, even if only applied historically.

Modern use of the term 'British'

The modern use of the term 'British' is as an adjective to describe someone or something from the United Kingdom. It is officially used as the term to describe the nationality of a citizen of the United Kingdom. Irish Nationalists may reject this term as offensive, as it is used to describe Irish people in Northern Ireland. Many people from England, Scotland and Wales also dislike the term, preferring to define themselves as natives of their own particular country. It is also frequently used to describe residents of the United Kingdom's current colonies. This may still offend some people, though since the British Overseas Territories Act 2002 all residents of the United Kingdom's remaining colonies have been eligible for British citizenship, making the term more apt. British occurs in the legal term British Islands . This was coined to describe all of the islands of the British Isles, exlcuding those that form part of the Republic of Ireland, when they act together as a political whole. Geographically, the term can be used in various ways:
- To describe someone from the island of Great Britain
- In the term British Isles, the traditional term for the entire archipelago of islands that lie off the north west coast of France, of which Great Britain and Ireland are the two biggest. Note that this is not intended to imply that all of these islands are part of the United Kingdom, for many of them are part of the Republic of Ireland. However, confusion caused by this term can lead to offense.
- The term has historically been used to describe someone or something from the British Isles. Due to the above mentioned potential for offense, this rarely happens today. For example the British Lions a rugby team which draws players from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland has been renamed to the British and Irish Lions.
- Sometimes British applies to an area or territory currently or formerly governed by or a dependent territory of the United Kingdom, for example the British Virgin Islands, the British Indian Ocean Territory, or British Columbia which is now a province of Canada.

Brutus of Troy

In keeping with the mediaeval penchant for etymologising country names in terms of eponomous heroes, English historians of the late mediaeval and early modern periods charted the history of the nation from Brutus of Troy, supposedly a hero of the Trojan war who founded Britain just as Aeneaus' descendant Romulus founded Rome, Frankus France, and so forth. The life of Brutus, anglicised as Brute, was recorded in the literary tradition of the Prose Brute. This was long accepted as the etymology of Britain.

See also


- List of country name etymologies
- List of United Kingdom topics
- British Isles
- United Kingdom
- Great Britain
- Kingdom of Great Britain
- Constitutional status of Cornwall The Cornish question
- Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542 merging the Kingdom of England and the Principality of Wales
- Act of Union 1707 merging Scotland and England to form Great Britain
- History of Britain
- History of Wales
- History of Scotland
- History of England
- British Kings
- List of British monarchs

Sources and further reading


- A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World, 3000 BC - 1603 AD by Simon Schama, BBC/Miramax, 2000 ISBN 0786866756
- A History of Britain, Volume 2: The Wars of the British 1603-1776 by Simon Schama, BBC/Miramax, 2001 ISBN 0786866756
- A History of Britain - The Complete Collection on DVD by Simon Schama, BBC 2002
- The Isles, A History by Norman Davies, Oxford University Press, 1999, ISBN 0195134427
- Shortened History of England by G. M. Trevelyan Penguin Books ISBN 0140233237
- Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English by Eric Partridge, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1966

External links


- [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/ British History Online] Category:British Isles Category:History of Britain Category:Europe simple:Britain

Publisher

Publishing is the activity of putting information into the public arena. Traditionally, the term refers to the distribution of printed works such as books and newspapers. With the advent of digital information systems and the Internet, the scope of publishing has expanded to include websites, blogs, and other forms of new media. As a business, publishing includes the development, marketing, production, and distribution of news and non-fiction magazines and books, literary works, musical works, software, and so on. This article is concerned with the production of books, magazines, and other literary material (whether in printed or electronic formats). The publication of software is covered in software publishing. Publication is also important as a legal concept; (1) as the process of giving formal notice to the world of a significant intention, for example, to marry or enter bankruptcy, and; (2) as the essential precondition of being able to claim defamation; that is, the alleged libel must have been published.

Process of publishing

libel A modern book or periodical publishing company (or publisher) is the gateway through which authors must pass to see their work in print (whether hard copy or electronic).

Content


- Author/agent submission Publishers spend a significant proportion of their time buying or commissioning content. At a small press, it is possible to survive by relying entirely on commissioned material but, as activity increases, the need for content may outstrip the publisher's established circle of authors, so the door is open for others to submit material for consideration. The majority of unsolicited submissions come from previously unpublished authors. Such manuscripts must go through the slush pile, which acquisitions editors sift through to identify manuscripts of sufficient quality or revenue potential to be referred to the editorial staff. Authors who are represented by a literary agent are more likely to succeed with major publishers. Publishers thrive only when they are able to produce and sell books that match the needs of the target readers.
- Acceptance/negotiation Once a work is accepted, the commissioning editors negotiate the purchase of intellectual property (IP) rights and agree royalty rates.
  - The authors of traditional printed materials sell exclusive territorial IP rights that match the list of states in which distribution is proposed (i.e. the rights match the legal systems under which copyright protections can be enforced). In the case of books, the publisher must also agree on the intended formats of publication — mass market paperback, trade paperback and hardback are the most common options.
  - The situation is slightly more complex if electronic formatting is to be used. Where distribution is to be by CD-R or other physical media, there is no reason to treat this form differently from a hard-copy format and a territorial copyright is an acceptable approach. But the possibility of internet download without the ability to restrict physical distribution within national boundaries presents legal problems that are usually solved by selling language/translation rights rather than territorial rights. Thus, internet access across the European Union is relatively open because of the laws forbidding discrimination based on nationality, but the fact of publication in, say, French, limits the target market to those who read French.
  - Having agreed on the scope of the publication and the formats, the parties must then agree royalty rates, i.e. the percentage of the gross retail price that will be paid to the author. This is a difficult risk management exercise because the publisher must estimate the potential sales in each market and balance projected revenue against production costs.
- Editorial stage Once the immediate commercial decisions are taken and the technical legal issues resolved, the author may be asked to improve the quality of the work through rewrite(s) or the in-house staff will edit the work. Almost all publishers operate a house style, and staff will copy edit to ensure that the work matches the style and grammatical requirements of each market.
- Pre-press When a final text is agreed, the next phases are design (i.e. artwork is commissioned, layout is confirmed, etc.) and preparing the work for printing (i.e. typesetting, dust jacket composition, specification of paper quality, binding method and casing, and proofreading). The activities of typesetting, page layout, the production of negatives, plates from the negatives and, for hardbacks, the preparation of brasses for the spine legend and imprint are now all computerised. The final act before sending the work to the printer is to output the PostScript files. If the target is electronic distribution, the final files are saved as PDF files or other formats appropriate to the target operating systems of the hardware used for reading.

Business

The publisher usually controls the advertising and other marketing tasks, but may subcontract various aspects of the process described above. In smaller companies, editing, proof-reading and layout might be done by freelancers. Dedicated in-house sales forces for books are rapidly being replaced by specialised companies who handle sales to bookshops, wholesalers and chain stores for a fee. This trend is accelerating as retail book chains and supermarkets have centralised their buying. If the entire process up to the stage of printing is handled by an outside company or individuals, and then sold to the publishing company, it is known as book packaging. This is a common strategy between smaller publishers in different territorial markets where the company that first buys the IP Rights, sells a package to other publishers and gains an immediate return on capital invested. Indeed, the first publisher will often print sufficient copies for all territories and thereby obtain the maximum quantity discounts on the print run for all. Any company will maximise its profit margin through vertical integration. Although newspaper and magazine companies still often own printing presses and binderies, book publishers rarely do. Similarly, the trade usually sells the finished products through a distributor who stores and distributes the publisher's wares for a percentage fee or sells on a sale or return basis. The advent of the internet has therefore posed an interesting question to the publishers, the distributors and the retailers. In 2005, Amazon.com announced its purchase of Booksurge, a major Print On Demand (P.O.D) operation. This is probably intended as a preliminary move towards establishing an Amazon imprint. One of the largest bookseller chains, Barnes & Noble, already runs its own successful imprint with both new titles and Classics — hardback editions of out-of-print former best sellers. Similarly, Ingram Book Company, the world’s largest book wholesaler, having flirted with Barnes & Noble, now includes its own P.O.D. division called Lighting Source. From the publishers, Simon & Schuster recently announced that it will start selling its backlist titles directly to consumers through its website. Perseus, one of the largest independent publishers, also announced its purchase of Client Distribution Services, a company that distributes titles by independent publishers. Book clubs are almost entirely direct-to-retail, and niche publishers pursue a mixed strategy to sell through all available outlets — their output is insignificant to the major booksellers and so lost business is no threat to the traditional symbiotic relationships between the four activities of printing, publishing, distribution and retail.

Academic publishing

The development of the printing press represented a revolution for communicating the latest hypotheses and research results to the academic community and supplemented what a scholar could do personally. Ironically, this improvement in the efficiency of communication created a challenge for libraries which have had to accommodate the weight and volume of literature. To understand the scale of the problem: about two centuries ago, the number of scientific papers published annually was doubling approximately every fifteen years. Today, the number of published papers doubles about every ten years. Modern academics can now run electronic journals and distribute academic materials without the need for publishers. Not surprisingly, publishers perceive this emancipation as a serious threat to their business model. In reality, the interests of scholars and publishers have long been in conflict. The purpose of copyright is to protect the capital invested in the "work" by the publisher and the wish of the scholar is to have the work as widely distributed as possible. Today, publishing academic journals and textbooks is a large part of an international industry. The shares of the major publishing companies are listed on national stock exchanges and management policies must satisfy the dividend expectations of international shareholders. Critics claim that these standardised accounting and profit-oriented policies have come to the fore and now constrain more altruistic leanings. An alternative to the corporate model is open access, the online distribution of individual articles and academic journals without charge to readers and libraries.

Tie-in publishing

Technically, radio, television, cinemas, VCDs and DVDs, music systems, games machines, computer hardware and mobile telephony publish information to those who watch and/or listen. Indeed, the marketing of a major film will require a novelisation, a graphic novel or comic version, the soundtrack album, a game, model, toys and endless promotional publications (including SMS messages). Some of the major publishers have entire divisions devoted to a single franchise, e.g. Ballantine Del Rey Lucasbooks has the exclusive rights to Star Wars in the U.S; Random House UK(Bertelsmann)/Century LucasBooks holds the same rights in the UK. The gaming industry self-publishes through BL Publishing/Black Library (Warhammer) and Wizards of the Coast (DragonLance, Forgotten Realms, etc). The BBC has its own publishing division which does very well with long-running series such as Doctor Who. These multi-media works are cross-marketed aggressively and sales frequently outperform the average stand-alone published work making them a focus of corporate interest.

Criticism of the publishing industry

There has been some controversy in recent times over what is perceived as a crisis in Western publishing. The general complaint is that conglomerates or large corporations have bought and merged a significant number of key publishing houses or bookstores. Consequently, an oligopoly is arising and now exercises more real influence over various aspects of publishing. It is suggested that there has been some reduction in competition but there is no reduction in the number of titles published in the national markets. This is not to deny that consolidation has produced a number of consequences:
- The corporations have concentrated on their big name authors, attempting to drive up the market share of a bestseller.
- Editorial policy now requires imprints to keep fewer authors under contract — this has resulted in economic insecurity for the midlist authors who previously enjoyed stability of employment;
- Companies now wish to extend the payment schedule for the payment of author royalties — in part this is a response to the demands of the retail trade for extended periods of credit, but it also maximises the amount of circulating capital available to the publisher;
- Critics claim that these events have led to the following problems:
  - Not only a loss of diversity in the range of authors published in mass market outlets, but also to a decline in the quality of a bestseller as most of the middle and lower level authors must have other employment to provide income while writing the work and waiting for the royalties.
  - The consolidation of companies has also made it easier to impose a political bias on the works released by the commercial publishers based in New York.
  - There is an excess of transient in the mass market, a bestseller is often used as promotional tools for a possible movie deal.

Independent publishing alternatives

In spite of the fact that middle and lower level authors now need to keep a day job, they have managed to find smaller alternatives to the mass market in the form of small press such as self-publishing, print on demand, and through the eBook format as well. Even though there is little market exposure in addition to the royalty checks that are few and far between, these publishing alternatives provide an avenue that expresses diversity in styles and political views that the mass markets haven't seen in the last 10-15 years. Rather than try to write a bestseller, most of these small press authors shoot for the long range goal of writing the Great American Novel.

References


- Schiffrin, André (2000). The Business of Books: How the International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read.
- Epstein, Jason. Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future.
- Ugrešić, Dubravka (2003). Thank You for Not Reading.

See also


- academic publishing
- concentration of media ownership
- copy editing
- desktop publishing
- editor
- electronic publishing
- freedom of speech
- house style
- mass media
- open-access publishing
- proofreading
- self-publishing
- typesetting
- word processing
- writing

External links


- [http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Media_control_propaganda/Book_busters.html Book-Busters: Corporate Consolidation in Book Publishing and Selling and the Decline of Diversity by William Petrocelli (1999)]
- [http://www.stanford.edu/~boyd/schol_pub_crisis.html Crisis in Scholarly Publishing: Executive Summary, by Stephen Boyd and Andrew Herkovic (1999)]
- [http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/society/crisis.html The Crisis in Scholarly Publishing]
- [http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/StatementOnCrisis.htm The Crisis in Scholarly Communication]
- [http://www.math.umd.edu/research/crisis.shtml The Crisis in Scientific Publishing]
- [http://www.LanguageMonitor.com LanguageMonitor Media Metrics and Analysis]
- [http://www.magazinelaunch.com Magazine Publishing Startup Resource Web Site for Publishers]
- [http://www.authorsguild.org/miscfiles/midlist.pdf A Report to the Authors Guild which reveals a "Crisis in Midlist Publishing"]: Study (PDF file)
- [http://chronicle.com/free/v50/i06/06b00701.htm Understanding the Economic Burden of Scholarly Publishing By Cathy N. Davidson]
- [http://ivyspring.com/steveLawrence/SteveLawrence.htm Articles freely available online are more highly cited] Category:Graphic design Category:Publishing ja:出版

Darlington

:This article discusses Darlington, England. See Darlington (disambiguation) for other places with the same name. Darlington is an town in the north-east of England. In 2003 it had a resident population of 98,210. It lies within the traditional and ceremonial area of County Durham but on 1 April 1997 become a unitary authority with the name Darlington Borough Council, and so is not governed by Durham, but it does share police and fire services with its former county. It borders County Durham, North Yorkshire, and Stockton-on-Tees. The current borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Borough of Darlington with most of Darlington Rural District. Places within the borough boundaries apart from Darlington include Hurworth-on-Tees. Darlington has an attractive historic market area in the town centre and St Cuthbert is one of the most important and impressive Early English churches in the north of England. Darlington is famed for its associations with the birth of railways. The world's first-ever passenger rail journey was between Shildon (via Darlington) and nearby Stockton-on-Tees on the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825. It became the headquarters of the North Eastern Railway with an important locomotive works. David Mach's 'Train', a life-size brick sculpture of a steaming locomotive is located alongside the A66, close to the original Stockton-Darlington railway. The Great North Road (now known as the A1) used to run directly through the center of Darlington. The road has since been diverted to the west side of Darlington. North Road in Darlington is along the original route of the Great North Road. The town was already large with a busy textile industry, but the introduction of iron and steel industry increased its size further. William Thomas Stead, the eminent Victorian conroversialist edited the Northern Echo for some years. His editorial chair is still preserved. Darlington Dog Show has been a Championship event since 1969, and is ranked second only to Crufts. The town is also the home of Darlington F.C. On 14th July 2005 following the 7 July 2005 London bombings, areas of Darlington town centre were closed while controlled explosions were carried out. The first incident was reported around 1745 BST, when a rucksack was seen in a phone box in Northgate, which led to evacuations of nearby shops and offices. Three controlled explosions were carried by a unit from Catterick Garrison, but Durham police said the bag only contained clothing and personal items. At around the same time staff from a nearby fire station spotted two men acting suspiciously around bins in a car park. Firemen went to investigate and heard beeping sounds coming from one of the containers. Police immediately sealed off nearby roads causing Darlington town centre to be brought to a standstill.

Famous People Born in Darlington


- Joseph Dent Founder of the Everyman Library
- Sir John Summerson Architectural writer
- Ralph Hodgson Poet
- Willie Smith Twice world billiard champion (only entered twice). Still holder of record break of 2473
- Edward Pease Quaker industrialist
- Edward Pease Son of the above. Also an industrialist
- Joseph Pease Industrialist. The first Quaker M.P.
- Charles Roberts Footballer and trade unionist
- The Backhouse Family Achievers in many spheres

Famous Residents


- Aidan Chambers Prize-winning children's author
- Wendy Craig Actress
- Vic Reeves Comedian
- William Thomas Stead Editor of Northern Echo. Famous Victorian who died on the Titanic
- Terence Laheney Photographer, War Veteran
- Ian Hamilton Poet and editor
- Frederick Dickens Charles Dickens' beloved scapegrace brother. He is buried in the West Cemetery.

External link


- [http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/AreaProfileFrames.asp?aid=175806&hid=14&tid=13 Statistics] about Darlington from the Office for National Statistics Census 2001
- [http://www.pbase.com/csdesign/darlington_postcards Historic Postcards of Darlington] Category:Towns in County Durham Category:Local government in County Durham Category:Railway towns in England Category:Unitary authorities in England Category:Locations in the Tees Valley

Boswell

James Boswell (October 29, 1740 - May 19, 1795) was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the eldest son of a judge, Alexander Boswell of Auchinleck, Lord Auchinleck. He is best known as the biographer of Samuel Johnson. His name has passed into the English language as a term (Boswell, Boswellian, Boswellism) for a constant companion and observer. Boswell is known for taking voluminous notes on the grand tour of Europe that he took as a young nobleman and, subsequently, of his tour to Scotland with Johnson. He also recorded meetings and conversations with eminent individuals belonging to The Club, including David Garrick, Edmund Burke, Joshua Reynolds and Oliver Goldsmith. His written works focus chiefly on others, but he was admitted as a good companion and accomplished conversationalist in his own right.

Early life

Boswell was born near St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh. He was educated at James Mundell's academy followed by a string of private tutors before being sent at the age of thirteen to the city's University by his father to study law. Upon turning nineteen he was sent to continue his studies at the University of Glasgow, where he was taught by Adam Smith. Whilst at Glasgow Boswell decided to convert to Catholicism and become a monk. Upon learning of this Boswell's father ordered him home, instead of obeying Boswell ran away to London. Boswell spent three months in London, where he lived the life of a libertine, before he was taken back to Scotland by his father. Upon returning Boswell was re-enrolled at Edinburgh University and was forced by his father to sign away most of his inheritance in return for £100 a year allowance. On July 30 1762 Boswell took his oral law exam, which he passed with some skill. Upon this success Lord Auchinleck decided to raise his son's allowance to £200 a year and allowed him to return to London. It was during this spell in London that Boswell met Johnson for the first time, on May 16 1763; the pair became friends almost immediately. Boswell was eventually nicknamed Bozzy by Johnson.

European travels

It was around three months after this first encounter with Johnson that Boswell departed for Europe, with the initial goal of continuing his law studies at Utrecht University. However, Boswell spent most of the next two and a half years travelling around the continent. During this time he met such people as Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and made a pilgrimage to Rome. Boswell also travelled to Corsica to meet one of his heroes, the independence leader Pasquale Paoli.

Mature life

Boswell returned to London in February 1766, accompanied by Rousseau's mistress. After spending a few weeks in the capital he returned to Scotland to take his final law exam. He passed the exam and became an advocate. He practiced for over a decade (during which time he spent no more than a month every year with Johnson). Boswell married his cousin, Margaret Montgomerie, in November 1769. She remained faithful to Boswell, despite his infidelities, until her death of tuberculosis in 1789. Despite his relative literary success, with his accounts of his European travels, Boswell was an unsuccessful advocate and by the late 1770s he descended further and further into alcoholism and gambling addiction. James and Margaret had 4 sons and 3 daughters. Two sons died in infancy; the other two were Alexander (1775-1822) and James (1778-1822). Their daughters were Veronica (1773-1795), Euphemia (1774-ca. 1834) and Elizabeth (1780-1814). James also had at least two illegitimate children, Charles (1762-1764) and Sally (1767-1768?). After Johnson's death in 1784, Boswell moved to London to try his luck at the English bar, which proved even more unsuccessful than his career in Scotland. He also offered to stand for Parliament, but failed to get the necessary support. He spent the final years of his life writing his Life of Johnson, which at once commanded an admiration which has suffered no diminution since, whilst his health began to fail due to his years of drinking and venereal disease. The question has often been raised how a man with the characteristics of Boswell could have produced so unique a work, and has been discussed at length by Macaulay and by Carlyle, the former paradoxically arguing that his supreme folly and meanness themselves formed his greatest qualifications; the latter, with far deeper insight, that beneath these there lay the possession of an eye to discern excellence and a heart to appreciate it, intense powers of accurate observation and a considerable dramatic faculty.

Quotes

"For my own part I think no innocent species of wit or pleasantry should be suppressed: and that a good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation." "We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over. So in a series of kindnesses there is, at last, one which makes the heart run over." "My heart warmed to my countrymen, and my Scotch blood boiled with indignation. I jumped from the benches, roared out 'Damn you, you rascals!', hissed and was in the greatest rage . . . I hated the English; I wished from my soul that the Union was broke and that we might give them another battle of Bannockburn"

Discovery of papers

In the 1920s, a great part of his private papers were discovered at Malahide Castle north of Dublin. They were sold to American collector Ralph H. Isham and have since passed to Yale University which has published general and scholarly editions of his journals and correspondence. His London Journal 1762-63 was published in 1950.

Works


- London Journal (1762-1763)
- Account of Corsica (1768)
- The Hypochondriak (1777-1783, a monthly series in the London Magazine)
- The Journal of the Tour of the Hebrides (1785)
- Dorado, a Spanish Tale (1786, anonymously)
- The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791, reprinted in Everyman's Library)

References


- Purdie, D.W. (2002). [http://www.rcpe.ac.uk/publications/articles/journal_32_3/paper_8.pdf The Maladies of James Boswell, Advocate.] Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh 32, 197-202.
-

External links


-
- [http://www.jamesboswell.info/ James Boswell - a Guide]
- [http://rsparlourtricks.blogspot.com/2005/10/boswells-life-of-boswell.html Ron Schuler's Parlour Tricks: Boswell's Life of Boswell] Boswell, James Boswell, James Boswell, James Boswell, James

Life of Johnson

In English literature, Life of Johnson was a biography of Dr. Samuel Johnson written by James Boswell in 1791. Although Johnson was undoubtedly a brilliant essayist, lexicographer and acerbic wit, the preservation of this reputation is largely due to Boswell's book. Life of Johnson is also regarded as an important stage in the development of the modern genre of biography, and some have even claimed it as the greatest work of biography written in English. Boswell's personal acquaintance with Johnson was only from 1763-1784. Boswell still covered the entirety of his life from 1709 through additional research, but the best remembered portions of the book are those based upon Boswell's personal relationship with Johnson.

External link


-
- [http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/BLJ/ Edition of Life of Johnson broken down by year] Category:1791 books Category:Biographies

World literature

World literature was long defined in the United States as an established canon of European masterpieces, but an emerging global perspective has challenged both this European focus and the very category of "the masterpiece", though today the term world literature is still used to denote the supposedly very best in literature.

See also

Comparative literature Category:Literary criticism Category:Literature by nationality

Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a district in central London and within the easterly bounds of the City of Westminster. The area is dominated by shopping and entertainment facilities and contains an entrance to the Royal Opera House, which is also often known as "Covent Garden". The area is bounded by High Holborn, Kingsway, The Strand and Charing Cross Road. Covent Garden Piazza is located in the geographical centre of the area and was the site of a flower, fruit and vegetable market from the 1500s until 1974, when the wholesale market relocated to New Covent Garden Market in Nine Elms.

History

Roman times to the 1500s

A settlement has existed in the area since the Roman times of Londinium. "Convent Garden" (later corrupted to Covent Garden as we know it today) was the name given, during the reign of King John (1199 - 1256), to a 40 acre (160,000 m²) patch in the county of Middlesex, bordered west and east by what is now St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane, and north and south by Floral Street and a line drawn from Chandos Place, along Maiden Lane and Exeter Street to the Aldwych. In this quadrangle the Abbey or Convent of St. Peter, Westminster, maintained a large kitchen garden throughout the Middle Ages to provide its daily food. Over the next three centuries, the monks' old "convent garden" became a major source of fruit and vegetables in London and was managed by a succession of leaseholders by grant from the Abbot of Westminster. This type of lease eventually led to property disputes throughout the kingdom, which King Henry VIII solved in 1540 by the stroke of a pen when he dissolved the monasteries and appropriated their land. King Henry VIII granted part of the land to John Russell, Baron Russell, Lord High Admiral, and later Earl of Bedford. In fulfilment of his father's dying wish, King Edward VI bestowed the remainder of the convent garden in 1547 to his maternal uncle, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset who began building Somerset House on the south side of The Strand the next year. When Seymour was beheaded for treason in 1552, the land once again came into royal gift, and was awarded four months later to one of those who had contributed to Seymour's downfall. Forty acres (160,000 m²), known as "le Covent Garden" plus "the long acre", were granted by royal patent in perpetuity to the Earl of Bedford.

1600s to 1800s

The modern-day Covent Garden has its roots in the early seventeenth century when land ("the Convent's Garden") was redeveloped by Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford. The area was designed by Inigo Jones, the first and greatest of English Renaissance architects. He was inspired by the grand piazzas of Rome and other Italian cities and created a large open public space at the centre of the Garden. The area rapidly became a base for market traders, and following the Great Fire of London of 1666 which destroyed 'rival' markets towards the east of the city, the market became the most important in the country. Exotic items from around the world were carried on boats up the River Thames and sold on from Covent Garden. The first mention of a Punch and Judy show in Britain was recorded by diarist Samuel Pepys, who saw such a show in the square in May 1662. Today Covent Garden is the only part of London licensed for street entertainment. In 1830 a grand building reminiscent of the Roman baths such as those found in Bath was built to provide a more permanent trading centre.

Modern day period

By the end of the 1960s, traffic congestion in the surrounding area had reached such a level that the use of the square as a market, which required increasingly large lorries for deliveries and distribution, was becoming unsustainable. The whole area was threatened with complete redevelopment. Following a public outcry, in 1973 the Home Secretary, Robert Carr, gave dozens of buildings around the square listed building status, preventing redevelopment. The following year the market finally moved to a new site (called the New Covent Garden Market) about three miles south-west at Nine Elms. The square languished until its central building re-opened as a shopping centre and tourist attraction in 1980. Today the shops largely sell novelty items. More serious shoppers gravitate to Long Acre, which has a range of clothes shops and boutiques, and Neal Street, noted for its large number of shoe shops. London's Transport Museum and the rear entrance to the Royal Opera House are also located on the Piazza. The marketplace and Royal Opera House were memorably brought together in the opening of George Bernard Shaw's play, Pygmalion, where Professor Higgins is waiting for a cab to take him home from the opera when he comes across Eliza Doolittle selling flowers in the market. In the mid 1950s, before he directed such films as If and O Lucky Man, Lindsay Anderson directed a short film about the daily activities of the Covent Garden market called Every Day Except Christmas. It shows 12 hours in the life of the market and market people, now long gone from the area, but it also reflects three centuries of tradition in the operation of the daily fruit and vegetable market. In a somewhat different musical tradition, Covent Garden's Neal Street was home to the famous punk club The Roxy in 1977. Since 2005, Covent Garden has been home to the Avenue of Stars, London's answer to Hollywood's Walk of Fame, which runs in front of St. Paul's Church, also known as the "Actors' Church".

Other information

Nearest London Underground stations:
- Covent Garden (Piccadilly Line)
- Leicester Square (Piccadilly Line, Northern Line)
- Embankment (Circle Line, District Line, Northern Line & Bakerloo Line - Short walk - 0.3 miles)

External links


- [http://www.coventgarden.org.uk/ Covent Garden Community Association]
- [http://streetperformers.arecool.net/ Covent Garden Street Performers Association]
- [http://www.coventgarden.uk.com/ In and Around Covent Garden], a local monthly magazine and guide Category:Districts of London Category:Markets in London Category:Piazzas Category:Westminster nb:Covent Garden

First World War

, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machine guns, and poison gas.]] World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, the War of the Nations and the War to End All Wars, was a world conflict lastin