How Are Conjoined Twins Formed? By Pamela Prindle Fierro - Reviewed by a board-certified physician. Updated June 30, 2016 Conjoined Twins FAQ: How Do Conjoined Twins Form?  Answer: Conjoined twins are an extremely rare type of twins, specifically a form of monozygotic twins.   Monozygotic -- also known as identical -- twins form when a single fertilized egg splits into two embryos. This split can happen anytime after fertilization; as more time passes, the twins are more likely to share commonalities. Conjoined twins develop and are born with a physical connection.  Like all monozygotic twins, conjoined twins are always same sex (either both boys or both girls). It is estimated that seventy percent of conjoined twins are female. Theories About How Conjoined Twins Form Conjoined twins remain a rare and mysterious phenomenon. Just as it is not known what causes monozygotic twinning , it is not known exactly why conjoined twins form, and there is disagreement as to how they form. Two theories have been presented. Fission Theory of Conjoined Twinning First, If the split occurs more than twelve days post conception, the embryos may not fully divide and the embryo may form with an anatomical connection, producing conjoined twins. This is described as the "fission theory." It is not known why the zygote divides, or why the process is interrupted so that the embryo remains connected and develops as conjoined twins. Fusion Theory of Conjoined Twinning Another theory regarding conjoined twinning is known as the "fusion" or "collision" theory. It suggests that stem cells from one twin adhere to like stem cells from the other twin, fusing together and developing conjoinedly. Again, there is no identified explanation for why this would happen. The amount of connectivity between conjoined twins varies and determines the expected outcome for the individuals. Some conjoined twins are merely connected with a narrow band of skin and tissue, while others share complicated connections of vital organs and systems that impair their function. Nearly half of conjoined twins are born stillborn and about a third survive for less than a day after birth. However, surgical separations of conjoined twins have produced many successful cases where both individuals are able to enjoy long, healthy lives. Some examples are Carl and Clarence Aguirre in 2003, Jade and Erin Buckles in 2004, Kendra and Maliyah Herrin in 2006, and A’zhari and A’zhiah Jones in 2013.  What are the Risk Factors For Conjoined Twins? It is difficult to identify risk factors for the occurrence of conjoined twins in a pregnancy, as there is uncertainty about how and why they occur to begin with. Monozygotic twinning is not associated with genetic or hereditary factors, nor influenced by some of the causes of dizygotic twinning , such as advanced maternal age or fertility treatments. Although it's been suggested that environmental factors may have an impact, especially in less developed countries, there is a lack of conclusive evidence identifying specific factors.   What are the Symptoms of Conjoined Twins? There are no specific symptoms for conjoined twins, although some of the general signs and symptoms of a multiple pregnancy may arouse suspicion. Conjoined twins are identified in pregnancy via ultrasound. Further assessment and diagnostics can be obtained with imaging technology such as MRI . Conjoined twins, also known as Siamese twins, are a rare type of monozygotic (identical) twins. Find more answers to Frequently Asked Questions About Conjoined Twins . Sources: Spencher, R. "Theoretical and analytical embryology of conjoined twins: part I: embryogenesis." Clinical Anatomy,Vol. 13, Issue 1, 2000, pg. 36-53. Quigley, C. Conjoined Twins: An Historical, Biological and Ethical Issues Encyclopedia, McFarland & Company (2003).   Continue Reading


What is the fourth book of the old testament?

Chapter 1: What Is the Old Testament?   Chapter 1 - What Is the Old Testament? THE Old Testament is a collection of selected writings composed and edited by members of the Hebrew-Jewish community between the twelfth century B.C. and the beginning of the Christian era. It includes such diverse materials as prophetic oracles, teachings of wise men, instructions of priests and ancient records of the royal courts. Some material is historical, some is legendary; some is legalistic, some is didactic. For the most part the literature was written in Hebrew, but a few passages were written in Aramaic, a kindred language which came into common usage among the Jews during the post-Exilic era (after the sixth century B.C.). The Aramaic portions include Dan. 2:4b-7:28; Ezra 4:8-6:18, 7:12-26; Jer. 10:11; and one phrase in Gen. 31:47 "Jegar-sahadutha," translated "Heap of Witness." The term "Old Testament,"1 or more properly "Old Covenant," is a Christian designation, reflecting the belief of the early Christian Church that the "new covenant" mentioned in Jer. 31:31-34 was fulfilled in Jesus and that the Christian scriptures set forth the "new covenant," just as the Jewish scriptures set forth the "old covenant" (II Cor. 3:6-18; Heb. 9:1-4). Jewish scholars prefer the term "Tanak," a word formed by combining the initial letters of the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible: Torah (Law), Nebhiim (Prophets), and Kethubhim (Writings). The Bible, as we know it today, is the end product of a long process of writing, editing and selecting of literature primarily concerned with Jewish religious concepts, and, as such, it has a long literary history. It cannot be assumed that a group of men composed writings echoing what they thought God was dictating. The Bible reflects historical situations, human events, men's reactions to these happenings, and the belief that God was also involved in events. The literary history of the Bible can be said to have begun in the time of Solomon when two men, or groups of men, produced what was to become the nucleus of the Old Testament. One concentrated on the story of David, drawing, no doubt, from court records and other sources, to produce a rather matter-of-fact and intimate account of David's rise to power, the weaknesses and strengths of the man and his family, and the successful coup by which his son, Solomon, gained the throne. The other writer or writers delved into the oral and written traditions of the past to enrich the understanding of the present. Stories of patriarchal ancestors, songs and folk-tales of the tribes, explanations concerning the origin of the world, and accounts of the action of God in the affairs of men, were gathered and woven into a saga explaining how the nation Israel came to be, and how God, who had acted in the past on behalf of his chosen people, was acting in the present and could be counted upon to act in the future. The theologized tradition or "sacred history," as it has been called, was probably utilized in the festivals and cultic rites of the temple. But the writing did not stop in the tenth century. New events and new monarchs required the extension of national history, and a developing theology saw new facets of the relationship believed to exist between God and the nation. Some materials were undoubtedly discarded over the years, for the Bible reflects selectivity of materials, as we shall see. Study of the sacred literature and new historical events developed new insights and resulted in the addition of new materials. an extension of the creation narrative, detailed genealogies to account for various nations, and new traditions about the patriarchs to explain how history had developed. Even David's story was reinterpreted as David became, more and more, the prototype of the ideal king and, ultimately, of the Messiah. Other literary forms were added: sermonic utterances of the prophets, teachings from the schools of the wise men, devotional hymns of the temple, parables, and material related to the nation's understanding of itself and its divine purpose. Differing th


In 1982, who became the first poet to win a Pulitzer Prize posthumously?

Sylvia Plath:  Quotes, Early Life, College Years, Career and Marriage, Death, Journals and Letters, Poetry, the Bell Jar, Hughes Controversy, Legacy, Bibliography, Sources, Further Reading, and a  List of Books by Author Sylvia Plath Quotes    more ï¿½    ï¿½ less "And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.""Apparently, the most difficult feat for a Cambridge male is to accept a woman not merely as feeling, not merely as thinking, but as managing a complex, vital interweaving of both.""But life is long. And it is the long run that balances the short flare of interest and passion.""Dying is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well. I do it so it feels like hell. I do it so it feels real. I guess you could say I've a call.""How frail the human heart must be - a mirrored pool of thought.""I am too pure for you or anyone.""I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my eyes and all is born again.""I talk to God but the sky is empty.""I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart. I am. I am. I am.""If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I'm neurotic as hell. I'll be flying back and forth between one mutually exclusive thing and another for the rest of my days.""Is there no way out of the mind?""Kiss me and you will see how important I am.""Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything, it is because we are dangerously close to wanting nothing.""The blood jet is poetry and there is no stopping it.""There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them.""Widow. The word consumes itself." Early Life    more ï¿½    ï¿½ less Plath was born during the Great Depression on October 27, 1932 in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, to Aurelia Schober Plath, a first-generation American of Austrian descent, and Otto Emile Plath, an immigrant from Grabow, Germany. Plath's father was a professor of biology and German at Boston University and author of a book about bumblebees. Plath's mother was approximately twenty-one years younger than her husband. They met while she was earning her master's degree in teaching and took one of his courses. Otto had become alienated from his family because he chose not to become a Lutheran minister, as his grandparents had intended him to be. In April 1935, Plath's brother Warren was born. The family moved to Winthrop, Massachusetts in 1936 and Plath spent much of her childhood on Johnson Avenue. Raised a Unitarian Christian, Plath experienced a loss of faith after her father's death, and remained ambivalent about religion throughout her life Plath's mother, Aurelia, had grown up in Winthrop, and her maternal grandparents, the Schobers, had lived in a section of the town called Point Shirley, a location mentioned in Plath's poetry. While living in Winthrop, eight-year-old Plath published her first poem in the Boston Herald's children's section. In addition to writing, she showed early promise as an artist, winning an award for her paintings from The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards in 1947. Otto Plath died on November 5, 1940, a week and a half after Plath's eighth birthday, of complications following the amputation of a foot due to untreated diabetes. He had become ill shortly after a close friend died of lung cancer. Comparing the similarities between his friend's symptoms and his own, Otto became convinced that he, too, had lung cancer and did not seek treatment until his diabetes had progressed too far. Otto Plath was buried in Winthrop Cemetery; visiting her father's grave prompted Plath to write the poem Electra on Azalea Path. After her husband's death, Aurelia Plath moved her children and her parents to 26 Elmwood Road, Wellesley, Massachusetts in 1942. College Years    more ï¿½    ï¿½ less In 1950, Plath attended Smith College. She dated a Yale senior named Dick Norton during her junior year. Norton, upon whom the character of Buddy in The Bell Jar is


In which year did a terrorist group kill eleven hostages at the Olympic Games?

Munich Massacre Munich Massacre 1970 - 1979 Munich Massacre One of the eight Palestinian terrorists comprising the Black September group stands on a balcony of the Olympic Village during a standoff after they kidnapped nine members of the Israeli Olympic team and killed two others on Sept. 5, 1972 in Munich.  (Getty Images/Stringer) Updated January 21, 2016. What Was the Munich Massacre? The Munich Massacre was a terrorist attack during the 1972 Olympic Games. Eight Palestinian terrorists killed two members of Israeli Olympic team and then took nine others hostage. The situation was ended by a huge gunfight that left five of the terrorists and all of the nine hostages dead. Following the massacre, the Israeli government organized a retaliation against Black September, called Operation Wrath of God. Dates: September 5, 1972 Also Known As: 1972 Olympics Massacre Stressful Olympics The XXth Olympic Games were held in Munich, Germany in 1972. Tensions were high at these Olympics, because they were the first Olympic Games held in Germany since the Nazis hosted the Games in 1936 . The Israeli athletes and their trainers were especially nervous; many had family members who had been murdered during the Holocaust or were themselves Holocaust survivors. The Attack The first few days of the Olympic Games went smoothly. continue reading below our video The Massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics On September 4, the Israeli team spent the evening out to see the play, Fiddler on the Roof, and then went back to the Olympic Village to sleep. A little after 4 a.m. on September 5, as the Israeli athletes slept, eight members of the Palestinian terrorist organization, Black September, jumped over the six-foot high fence that encircled the Olympic Village. The terrorists headed straight for 31 Connollystrasse, the building where the Israeli contingent was staying. Around 4:30 a.m., the terrorists entered the building. They rounded up the occupants of apartment 1 and then apartment 3. Several of the Israelis fought back; two of them were killed. A couple of others were able to escape out windows. Nine were taken hostage. Standoff at the Apartment Building By 5:10 a.m., the police had been alerted and news of the attack had begun to spread around the world. The terrorists then dropped a list of their demands out the window; they wanted 234 prisoners released from Israeli prisons and two from German prisons by 9 a.m. Negotiators were able to extend the deadline to noon, then 1 p.m., then 3 p.m., then 5 p.m.; however, the terrorists refused to back down on their demands and Israel refused to release the prisoners. A confrontation became inevitable. At 5 p.m., the terrorists realized that their demands were not going to be met. They asked for two planes to fly both the terrorists and the hostages to Cairo, Egypt, hoping a new locale would help get their demands met. The German officials agreed, but realized that they could not let the terrorists leave Germany. Desperate to end the standoff, the Germans organized Operation Sunshine, which was a plan to storm the apartment building. The terrorists discovered the plan by watching television. The Germans then planned to attack the terrorists on their way to the airport, but again the terrorists found out their plans. Massacre at the Airport Around 10:30 p.m., the terrorists and hostages were transported to the Fürstenfeldbruck airport by helicopter. The Germans had decided to confront the terrorists at the airport and had snipers waiting for them. Once on the ground, the terrorists realized there was a trap. Snipers started shooting at them and they shot back. Two terrorists and one policeman were killed. Then a stalemate developed. The Germans requested armored cars and waited for over an hour for them to arrive. When the armored cars arrived, the terrorists knew the end had come. One of the terrorists jumped into a helicopter and shot four of the hostages, then threw in a grenade. Another terrorist hopped into the other helicopter and used his machine gun to kill the remaining five hostages. The snip


Which 1946 film was an adaptation of Raymond Chandler's crime novel of the same name?

\ The Big Sleep (1946) Directed by Howard Hawks and starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, the 1946 adaptation of Chandler’s 1939 novel of the same name might stand as the most iconic and well-known of all the Chandler adaptations. And as if the combination of Bogie and Bacall wasn’t enough, William Faulkner, Jules Furthman, and Leigh Brackett co-wrote the screenplay. An interesting piece of trivia: Brackett also helped write The Empire Strikes Back, making her the link between Marlowe and Darth Vader.


Which influential German philosopher wrote 'Being and Time'?

Martin Heidegger (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Martin Heidegger First published Wed Oct 12, 2011 Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) was a German philosopher whose work is perhaps most readily associated with phenomenology and existentialism, although his thinking should be identified as part of such philosophical movements only with extreme care and qualification. His ideas have exerted a seminal influence on the development of contemporary European philosophy. They have also had an impact far beyond philosophy, for example in architectural theory (see e.g., Sharr 2007), literary criticism (see e.g., Ziarek 1989), theology (see e.g., Caputo 1993), psychotherapy (see e.g., Binswanger 1943/1964, Guignon 1993) and cognitive science (see e.g., Dreyfus 1992, 2008; Wheeler 2005; Kiverstein and Wheeler 2012). 1. Biographical Sketch Martin Heidegger was born in Messkirch, Germany, on September 26, 1889. Messkirch was then a quiet, conservative, religious rural town, and as such was a formative influence on Heidegger and his philosophical thought. In 1909 he spent two weeks in the Jesuit order before leaving (probably on health grounds) to study theology at the University of Freiburg. In 1911 he switched subjects, to philosophy. He began teaching at Freiburg in 1915. In 1917 he married Elfride Petri, with whom he had two sons (Jörg and Hermann) and from whom he never parted (although his affair with the philosopher Hannah Arendt, his student at Marburg in the 1920s, is well-known). Heidegger's philosophical development began when he read Brentano and Aristotle, plus the latter's medieval scholastic interpreters. Indeed, Aristotle's demand in the Metaphysics to know what it is that unites all possible modes of Being (or ‘is-ness’) is, in many ways, the question that ignites and drives Heidegger's philosophy. From this platform he proceeded to engage deeply with Kant, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and, perhaps most importantly of all for his subsequent thinking in the 1920s, two further figures: Dilthey (whose stress on the role of interpretation and history in the study of human activity profoundly influenced Heidegger) and Husserl (whose understanding of phenomenology as a science of essences he was destined to reject). In 1915 Husserl took up a post at Freiburg and in 1919 Heidegger became his assistant. Heidegger spent a period (of reputedly brilliant) teaching at the University of Marburg (1923–1928), but then returned to Freiburg to take up the chair vacated by Husserl on his retirement. Out of such influences, explorations, and critical engagements, Heidegger's magnum opus, Being and Time (Sein und Zeit) was born. Although Heidegger's academic and intellectual relationship with his Freiburg predecessor was complicated and occasionally strained (see Crowell 2005), Being and Time was dedicated to Husserl, “in friendship and admiration”. Published in 1927, Being and Time is standardly hailed as one of the most significant texts in the canon of (what has come to be called) contemporary European (or Continental) Philosophy. It catapulted Heidegger to a position of international intellectual visibility and provided the philosophical impetus for a number of later programmes and ideas in the contemporary European tradition, including Sartre's existentialism, Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics, and Derrida's notion of ‘deconstruction’. Moreover, Being and Time, and indeed Heidegger's philosophy in general, has been presented and engaged with by thinkers such as Dreyfus (e.g., 1990) and Rorty (e.g., 1991a, b) who work somewhere near the interface between the contemporary European and the analytic traditions. A cross-section of broadly analytic reactions to Heidegger (positive and negative) may be found alongside other responses in (Murray 1978). Being and Time is discussed in section 2 of this article. In 1933 Heidegger joined the Nazi Party and was elected Rector of Freiburg University, where, depending on whose account one believes, he either enthusiastically implemented the Nazi policy of bringing


Which American society magazine merged into Vogue in 1936?

A brief history of Vanity Fair from its 1914-1936 run with notes for collectors. A brief history of Vanity Fair from its 1914-1936 run with notes for collectors. Home → The Magazines → A brief history of Vanity Fair from its 1914-1936 run with notes for collectors. Conde Nast’s Vanity Fair under Frank Crowninshield 1914-1936 Back issues of Vanity Fair are as enjoyable to page through today as they were at the time of original publication. Oversized and perfect bound with slick pages filled with black and white photographs and colorful paintings, with text from the likes of Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, D.H. Lawrence and so many more, every page is an adventure into the history of early twentieth century American culture. Publisher of Vogue Conde Nast had purchased a competitive title called Dress which he would couple with another purchase titled Vanity Fair. This had been a British publication which Nast had paid $3,000 for in 1913. Nast combined his two purchases into Dress and Vanity Fair that same year, and quickly realized that his new publication was a failure after just four issues. He happened upon Frank Crowninshield who would become editor with the fifth issue of the retitled Vanity Fair, a post he would hold until the magazine’s 1936 demise. Crowninshield, nationally known as a supporter of the 1913 Armory Show in New York, would bring his ideas about art and culture to the new publication. Crowninshield explains his personality, which was also the personality of Vanity Fair: “My interest in society–at times so pronounced that the word ‘snob’ comes a little to mind–derives from the fact that I like an immense number of things which society, money, and position bring in their train: paintings, tapestries, rare books, smart dresses, dances, gardens, country houses, correct cuisine, and pretty women” (Tebbel 257). Americans would come to learn of Picasso, Matisse and Gauguin through the pages of Vanity Fair, they would read Dorothy Parker, enjoy the photography of Edward Steichen and the humourous yet eerie caricatures of Miguel Covarrubias. A complete history, as well as a more complete listing of its contributors over the years, can be found on Vanity Fair’s own site in the article The One-Click History . Vanity Fair would cover art, theater, literature, sport, film for the “smart” crowd, an elite audience which would stifle its circulation and ultimately suffocate the publication when the world turned dark under the cloud of the Depression and coming War in the 1930’s. Competition in its hey day came from H.L. Mencken’s Smart Set and American Mercury as well as Harold Ross’s New Yorker. It’s layout was precursor to the coming photojournalistic publications beginning with LIFE Magazine. And it’s death was not permanent as it was successfully revived in 1983 and continues to be published today. But as the busy covers shown on this page illustrate, the Vanity Fair of Conde Nast and Frank Crowninshield was a true original, consisting of Crowninshield’s vision and the contributions of a host of artistic giants, the likes of which no budget could bring together today for successful replication. Each vintage issue is to be treasured, and so they are as copies are not so easily found by the collector. Even with a circulation of just 85,000-99,000 at its height, issues were surely saved and treasured by its audience, but at the same time it’s been 70 years since Vanity Fair’s 1936 merge into Vogue, and so time has taken its toll upon the population of available issues. Collectible issues without especially notable contents are sold for $20-$40 depending upon condition with more valuable and especially coveted issues being those containing portraits by Man Ray, Edward Steichen, writing by Dorothy Parker, e.e. cummings, Ernest Hemingway, and covers by Covarrubias. Quite honestly though each issue of Vanity Fair that I have seen does boast some and often multiple reasons to be collected. [phpbay]Vanity Fair, 15, 280, “bound”, “”, “”, 49[/phpbay] Sources:


Who composed the opera 'HĂ¤nsel und Gretel'?

Hansel and Gretel HANSEL AND GRETEL Based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm The Cast 1899 illustration of Hansel and Gretel asleep in the forest, after a painting by William de Leftwich Dodge (1867-1935) Hansel, a boy Peter, their father, a broom-maker Baritone Angels, gingerbread children, chorus of echoes. The Story About Engelbert Humperdinck and Hansel and Gretel No, the famous British pop singer from the 1960s — real name Arnold Dorsey — did not compose this opera. The Engelbert Humperdinck who wrote Hansel and Gretel was born in Germany in 1854. In the 1890s, his sister, Adelheid Wette, had written a libretto based on the Grimm fairy tale, and asked her brother to set it to music as a Christmas entertainment for her children. Later, Engelbert and Adelheid decided to turn this modest family project into a full-scale opera. Hansel and Gretel premiered on December 23, 1893 at Weimar. It was an instant hit and remains an everlasting masterpiece. The young composer Richard Strauss, who was the assistant conductor for the premiere, called it “a masterwork of the first rank.” Act I Scene 1. A poor cottage at the edge of a forest. Once upon a time... ... a brother and sister named Hansel and Gretel lived with their father and mother, Peter and Gertrude, at the edge of a huge forest. When our story opens, they are alone in their poor cottage, hard at work at their chores, and very very hungry. Gretel teases Hansel for being a grump, and promises to tell him a secret if he will cheer up — there’s milk in the jug, and their mother will make them a nice pudding when she comes home. Hansel sneaks a taste of the milk, but Gretel warns him that their mother will be angry if they don’t get back to work. Hansel refuses; he prefers to dance. Gretel thinks that’s a wonderful idea, and they begin to dance (“Brother, come and dance with me”). In the middle of all the fun, Gertrude comes home in a very bad mood, angry at them for not having finished their work. She gets a stick to hit them, and, as they escape, she accidentally knocks over the jug, spilling all the milk. She angrily orders them out of the house to pick strawberries. Then she despairs, and begs God for help in feeding her children. Exhausted, she falls asleep. Peter is heard singing in the distance. He reels into the house and gives Gertrude a big smacking kiss. She is not amused, and accuses him of being drunk. He ignores her nagging and playfully asks for supper. She tells him that there’s nothing to eat, but, to her surprise, he pulls out a sackful of food. It seems that he had gone to town to sell his brooms, and there was a festival going on, so he managed to make a huge profit. Gertrude toasts his success, and, as they begin to dig into the food, he realizes that the children aren’t there. Gertrude tells him how Hansel and Gretel were misbehaving, and how she broke the milk jug trying to get at them. Peter laughs heartily at this, and Gertrude can’t help joining in. He asks again where they are, and she replies, “For all I know, at the Ilsenstein.” Peter is struck with horror, for the Ilsenstein is the mountain abode of a horrible witch who rides on a broomstick, lures children to her gingerbread house, and — bakes them into gingerbread! They rush out of the house in search of the children. Scene 2. The Forest. It is now sunset. Hansel is roaming about in the forest picking strawberries, while Gretel makes a crown of flowers and sings a little song. They begin snacking on the berries as they listen to a cuckoo singing on the distance. Soon they begin fighting over the strawberries, but Hansel grabs the basket away from Gretel and eats them all. Gretel is horrified; now they’ll have to pick twice as many as before. It’s getting dark, and they realize that they are lost in the woods. Hansel tries to reassure her, but they begin to see strange shapes and lights. When Hansel calls out, “Who’s there?” only an echo replies. Gretel thinks she sees ghostly figures coming for them and cries out for her parents. Out of the mist, a little man appears with a


Which country is the largest producer of saffron?

SAFFRON: An Anti-Depressant Herb by     Subhuti Dharmananda, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Traditional     Medicine, Portland, Oregon BACKGROUND Saffron     is an herb most people are unlikely to utilize, either for medicinal     or culinary purposes, primarily because the material has a justified     reputation for being extraordinarily expensive. Bulk quantities of     relatively low-grade saffron can reach upwards of $500/pound, while     retail costs for small amounts may exceed 10 times that rate. But,     avoiding this valuable spice might be unnecessary because of the     small quantity needed: in medicinal use, 1–3 grams in     decoction, 0.5–1.5 grams ingested as powder, or 30 mg of its     dried extract per day is considered adequate in standard applications     (described below). For culinary use, just a few strands are     sufficient to flavor food (about 2–4 strands per person; there    are about 70,000–200,000 strands per pound). In some countries, such as Spain, Iran, and India, people know that     saffron is worth its price and make good use of it. To meet the     demand, world annual production is about 265 tons per year, which is     grown on about 90,000 acres of land (if efficiently cultivated, each     acre produces about 6 pounds of saffron a year). It takes about     170–200 hours of work to collect the flowers and remove the     stamens for drying in order to produce just 1 pound of saffron, which     is a large part of the expense for the spice. Saffron mainly grows     in arid territory with sandy soil, under hot and dry summers, often     requiring irrigation. Saffron’s     high cost has become an attractive factor for one potential use: as a     substitute crop for opium cultivation in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is     the world’s second largest supplier of opium poppies used in     the drug trade (the largest is the “golden triangle” and     surrounding regions in Southeast Asia); opium is one of the major     sources of income for Afghanistan. In 2002, about 3,400 tons of     opium was produced there, most of it ultimately going to heroin     addicts in Europe. Since Afghanistan is in the saffron growing     region, there is some potential for this crop as an economic     substitute; still, saffron is estimated to bring in only about 3/4     the income of opium farming. Iran,     the world’s largest producer of saffron, and a neighbor to     Afghanistan, has been investing in research into saffron’s     potential medicinal uses. Much of the work surrounds its traditional     application for alleviating depression. One of the Iranian groups     carrying out saffron research is headed by Shahin Akhondzadeh     (pictured right), at the Roozbeh Psychiatric Hospital in the Tehran     University of Medical Sciences, who has studied the use of several     drugs and herbs for mental disorders, such as depression, ADHD,     Alzheimer’s disease, autism, opiate dependence, and epilepsy.     The clinical findings suggest that saffron is a safe and effective     antidepressant. For example, in a randomized, double-blind study, 30     mg of saffron extract (in capsules) given for 6 weeks resulted in     significant alleviation of depression compared to those on placebo,     and did so without evident side effects (1).  This study was a     follow-up to a preliminary trial in which the same saffron     preparation performed as well as imipramine for treating depression     in a double-blind trial (2). In further preliminary work, saffron     was compared to the drug fluoxetine (often known by the brand product     Prozac); it was found that saffron performed as well as the drug in     treatment of both depression and epilepsy (3). Pharmacology studies     done in Iran (4) and Japan (5, 6) have confirmed an anticonvulsant     activity in the extract of saffron. A     pot


In which American state is Area 51 located?

Area 51 'Uncensored': Was It UFOs Or The USSR? : NPR List price: $27.99 Prologue: The Secret City This book is a work of nonfiction. The stories I tell in this narrative are real. None of the people are invented. Of the seventy-four individuals interviewed for this book with rare firsthand knowledge of the secret base, thirty-two of them lived and worked at Area 51. Area 51 is the nation's most secret domestic military facility. It is located in the high desert of southern Nevada, seventy-five Miles north of Las Vegas. Its facilities have been constructed over the past sixty years around a flat, dry lake bed called Groom Lake. The U.S. government has never admitted it exists. Key to understanding Area 51 is knowing that it sits inside the largest government-controlled land parcel in the United States, the Nevada Test and Training Range. Encompassing 4,687 square miles, this area is just a little smaller than the state of Connecticut — three times the size of Rhode Island, and more than twice as big as Delaware. Set inside this enormous expanse is a smaller parcel of land, 1,350 square miles, called the Nevada Test Site, the only facility like it in the continental United States. Beginning in 1951, on the orders of President Harry Truman, 105 nuclear weapons were exploded aboveground at the site and another 828 were exploded underground in tunnel chambers and deep, vertical shafts. The last nuclear weapons test on American soil occurred at the Nevada Test Site on September 23, 1992. The facility contains the largest amount of weapons-grade plutonium and uranium in the United States not secured inside a nuclear laboratory. Area 51 sits just outside the Nevada Test Site, approximately five miles to the northeast of the northernmost corner, which places it inside the Nevada Test and Training Range. Because everything that goes on at Area 51, and most of what goes on at the Nevada Test and Training Range, is classified when it is happening, this is a book about secrets. Two early projects at Groom Lake have been declassified by the Central Intelligence Agency: the U‑2 spy plane, declassified in 1998, and the A‑12 Oxcart spy plane, declassified in 2007. And yet in thousands of pages of declassified memos and reports, the name Area 51 is always redacted, or blacked out. There are only two known exceptions, most likely mistakes. This is a book about government projects and operations that have been hidden for decades, some for good reasons, others for arguably terrible ones, and one that should never have happened at all. These operations took place in the name of national security and they all involved cutting-edge science. The last published words of Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb, were "Science is not everything. But science is very beautiful." After reading this book, readers can decide what they think about what Oppenheimer said. This is a book about black operations, government projects that are secret from Congress and secret from the people who make up the United  States. To understand how black projects began, and how they continue to function today, one must start with the creation of the atomic bomb. The men who ran the Manhattan Project wrote the rules about black operations. The atomic bomb was the mother of all black projects and it is the parent from which all black operations have sprung. Building the bomb was the single most expensive engineering project in the history of the United States. It began in 1942, and by the time the bomb was tested, inside the White Sands Proving Ground in the New Mexico high desert on July 16, 1945, the bomb's price tag, adjusted for inflation, was $28,000,000,000. The degree of secrecy maintained while building the bomb is almost inconceivable. When the world learned that America had dropped an atomic weapon on Hiroshima, no one was more surprised than the U.S. Congress, none of whose members had had any idea it was being developed. Vice President Harry Truman had been equally stunned to learn about the bomb when he became president of the United States, on Apri


What now stands on the site of the place of execution at Tyburn?

A Final Journey, Revisited: Newgate To Tyburn | Londonist A Final Journey, Revisited: Newgate To Tyburn By Londonist Last edited 31 months ago Londonist A Final Journey, Revisited: Newgate To Tyburn St Andrew's Holborn, one of the few remaining buildings the condemned would have seen on their final journey. Looking along Oxford Street towards Tyburn, the final stretch in the journey. It is the evening of 23 October 1783, and in a secluded spot on the King’s highway John Austin and an accomplice are mercilessly beating and robbing a stranger. This act of brutality marked the beginning of the end, not only for Austin, but for an ancient ritual that had been enacted since the 16th century. Having been sentenced to death, he became the last man to be taken in procession from Newgate Prison to the gallows at Tyburn. For 300 years, doomed convicts had made the journey from where the Old Bailey now stands to the place of their demise, near the site of Marble Arch. These processions, which occurred only eight times a year, were held to be among the capital’s most exciting events. Raucous crowds gathered on the roads and in the windows of houses with a view; a clergyman accompanied the condemned; cheering and shouting vied with preaching and jeering, and during the three hours it took to cover the two miles, the spectacle of impending death would unite the metropolis in an outpouring of heightened emotion. The spectators themselves are dead and buried, and the buildings that lined the way long since leveled. But beneath the stratum of 18th century bricks and bones, millions still trace the same path today, albeit for different reasons. For between St Paul’s station and Marble Arch, the Central Line follows the last journey of John Austin and his innumerable doomed predecessors almost exactly. For those hoping to evoke the procession, the modern topography of London is wonderfully supportive. Despite the devastating zeal of the Victorians, who laid waste to many of the capital’s ancient streets, the conduit that flowed from Newgate to Tyburn remains largely intact. Newgate itself is gone, replaced by the Old Bailey, but the Church of St Sepulchre remains. From here a clergyman would make his way through a tunnel connecting the two buildings, and ring the bell that signalled the beginning of the great event. A visit to the church reveals that the artefact itself survives, silently encased in glass. It is perhaps the most evocative remaining fragment of a ritual characterised by its cacophony of sounds as much as its spectacle. From Newgate the route covered Snow Hill. This section of the modern journey is the least faithful to the original. Here London descends into a shallow valley (' London’s most dynamic ditch '), through which the subterranean river Fleet flows towards the Thames. In the 18th century this geographical feature was reflected in the names of the streets themselves, notably Holbourn Bridge and Holbourne Hill (neither of which exist today). Walking down Snow Hill takes you the short journey to the bottom of the valley, and a set of steps on the west side of Farringdon Road gives you access to that monumental ligament constructed by the Victorians to join its two sides: Holborn Viaduct. Traversing this engineering marvel, we pass St Andrew Holborn, one of the few remaining significant structures that would have flanked John Austin’s journey to the gallows. The exterior walls and tower are all that remain of the original structure. The rest was destroyed in the Second World War, but later restored to the design of its builder, Christopher Wren. Moving on, down High Holborn, few of the buildings Austin passed remain. Staple Inn, however, is an exception, its history dates back roughly as far as that of Tyburn itself. But with its heavily restored timber frame receding into the distance, a long stretch of architectural hotchpotch must be covered before the next, and last, major surviving building from the time presents itself. St Giles in the Fields is the third and final church that lines the route of the Tyburn proces


What now stands on the site of the notorious Newgate prison?

Newgate Prison Wall Newgate Prison Wall Rent a Castle Whether it's a folly for 2 or a fort for 20, try our castles for rent page. By  Ben Johnson   |   Comments ‘Tis impossible to describe the terror of my mind, when I was first brought in, and when I looked around upon all the horrors of that dismal place... : the hellish noise, the roaring, swearing, and clamour, the stench and nastiness… joined together to make the place seem an emblem of hell itself, and a kind of entrance to it.' Newgate Prison was once the most notorious prison in London. Commissioned in the 12th century by King Henry II , Newgate Prison remained in use all the way through to 1902. The prison itself was originally built into a gate on the old Roman wall (hence the name “Newgate”) although it was rebuilt numerous times during its lifespan. For over 600 years the prison was renowned for its appalling conditions. It was said that the prison was so dirty and squalid that the floors crunched as you walked due to all of the lice and bedbugs. The women’s area was equally as appalling, crowded with half naked women, drunk, sometimes deranged, in leg irons and often with their children in tow. After its final rebuild in 1782 the prison was divided into two sections; a common area for the general public as well as a State area for those who could afford more comfortable accommodation. At the same time as the prison rebuild, the site for London’s public gallows moved from Tyburn (in the modern day West End) over to Newgate Prison. This meant that the public executions were now held in the heart of the City of London, drawing large audiences all the way up until the public executions were abandoned in 1868. To understand the scale of capital punishment at Newgate Prison, it is said that between 1790 and 1902 over one thousand people were put to death there alone. During the period of public executions, these were carried out outside of Newgate Prison on the Old Bailey Road. The church of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate also has a rather ghoulish part to play in the executions. At midnight on the eve of an execution, a bellman would walk along the prison tunnels ringing ‘twelve solemn towels with double strokes’ on his handbell whist chanting "All you that in the condemned hold do lie, Prepare you, for tomorrow you shall die; Watch all and pray, the hour is drawing near That you before the Almighty must appear; Examine well yourselves, in time repent, That you may not to eternal flames be sent: And when St. Sepulchre's bell tomorrow tolls, The Lord above have mercy on your souls.” Although Newgate Prison has long gone, the Newgate Execution Bell still exists and is housed in the Church of St Sepulchre. The Central Criminal Court (a.k.a. the Old Bailey) now stands on the site of the old Newgate Prison. However, if you venture around the back of Amen Court (see map below) you will find something quite spectacular; the only surviving wall of Newgate Prison!


Which London river, now flowing underground, rises at Finsbury Circus, flows through the City of London and enters the Thames by Cannon Street railway station?

285 - London's Lost Rivers | Big Think 285 - London's Lost Rivers by Frank Jacobs The easiest pub quiz question in the world: name a river that flows through London. Answer: the Thames. A somewhat more difficult question: name another river that flows through London. A few might know of the river Lee (or Lea) that springs near Leagrave in Bedfordshire and joins the Thames at Leamouth in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. But how about: name a third river that flows through London? And a fourth, a fifth, a sixth? We’d lose all but the more phenomenal pub quiz contestants here, even though there are in actual fact over a dozen natural water courses flowing through Britain’s capital. Many of them played important role in the development of the city, as the location of mills, the source of drinking water and as open sewers. Most of them have been pushed totally underground, forced into culverts, out of sight and out of mind – even if some of them have left their mark on the city’s topology. This map shows and names some of those lost rivers of London, all tributaries to the Thames. Starting on the rive gauche of the Thames (which in this case means the north bank of the river), those are, west to east: · Stamford Brook: the confluence of three smaller streams arising in West London, Stamford Brook flows into Hammersmith Creek before discharging into the Thames. Its name comes from ‘stoney ford’, and is remembered in Stamford Brook tube station. The stream was covered by 1900 and is now a sewer. · Parr’s Ditch: also called Black Bull Ditch, this stream arose north of present-day King Street in Hammersmith, flowing under a bridge at Hammersmith Road and crossing what is now the St Paul’s Court estate to flow into the Thames where now Riverside Studios are. · Counter’s Creek: arising in Kensal Green and flowing south through Little Wormwood Scrubs, Olympia and Earls Court to Sands End, where it flows into the Thames, Counter’s Creek can still sometimes be spotted by commuters on the westbound platform of West Brompton tube station, but only after heavy rainfall. Its tidal mouth is known as Chelsea Creek. Chelsea FC’s football grounds is known erroneously as Stamford Bridge because of confusion between Counter’s Creek and Stamford Brook. · Westbourne: flowing from Hampstead through Hyde Park onto Sloane Square and thence into the Thames, the River Westbourne has left its mark on London toponymy, mainly by the other names it has been called through the centuries: Kilburn, Bayswater, Serpentine, Bourne, Westburn Brook, Ranelagh and Ranelagh Sewer. Kilburn and Bayswater nowadays are well-known areas in London. The Serpentine, formed in 1730 to beautify Hyde Park, was fed with the Westbourne’s waters until 1834, by which time it had become too polluted. Another area owing its name to this stream is Knightsbridge – named after a bridge over the Westbourne. It has been driven underground since the 1850s, when the area it flows through was gobbled up by an expanding London. An original part of the pipes it still runs through can be seen above the platform of Sloane Square tube station. At low tide, its mouth can still be seen some 300 yards west of Chelsea Bridge. · Tyburn: originating in South Hampstead, flowing through St James’s Park and flowing into the Thames near Vauxhall Bridge in Pimlico, the Tyburn once branched to form the island of Thorney, the site of Westminster Abbey. ·Fleet: two springs on Hampstead Heath, directed into two 18th century reservoirs (Highgate and Hampstead Ponds) thereafter combine to form London’s largest underground river. The upper reaches were known as the hollow stream (‘Holborn’ in Anglo-Saxon, hence the name of that London area), its lower reaches as the Fleet (from Anglo-Saxon for ‘estuary’). The Fleet flows under King’s Cross, which was originally known as Battle Bridge, after a place where Queen Boudicca is reputed to have fought the Romans. It ends in the Thames under Blackfriars Bridge. The river gave its name to Fleet Street, which in turn became a collective term for the British press, as m


What was the name of the first prefabricated building that was erected on the medieval London Bridge in 1577?

London Bridge | London Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia London Bridge is a bridge between the City of London and Southwark in London , England, over the River Thames . Situated between Cannon Street Railway Bridge and Tower Bridge , it forms the western end of the Pool of London . On the south side of the bridge are Southwark Cathedral and London Bridge Station ; on the north side are the Monument to the Great Fire of London and Monument tube station . It was the only bridge over the Thames downstream from Kingston until Westminster Bridge opened in 1750. The bridge carries part of the A3 road, which is maintained by the Greater London Authority; the bridge itself is owned and maintained by the Bridge House Estates (see City Bridge Trust), an independent charity overseen by the City of London Corporation. Tower Bridge is often mistakenly referred to as London Bridge. The area between London Bridge and Tower Bridge on the south side of the Thames is managed by the London Bridge Business Improvement District (BID) Company. Contents Edit A bridge has existed at or near the present site over the period from the Roman occupation of the area, nearly 2,000 years ago. The first bridge across the Thames in the London area, probably a military pontoon bridge, was built of wood by the Romans on the present site around 50 AD. Around 55 AD, a piled bridge was constructed, and the local Britons built a small trading settlement next to it—the town of Londinium. The settlement and the bridge were destroyed in a revolt led by Queen Boudicca in 60 AD. The victory was short-lived, and soon afterwards the Romans defeated the rebels and set about building a new walled town. Some of the 2nd century Roman wall has survived to this day. The new town and bridge were built around the position of the present bridge, providing access to the south-coast ports via Stane Street (the A3 route) and Watling Street (the A2). The bridge fell into disrepair after the Romans left. As Londinium was also abandoned, there was little need for a bridge at this point and in the Saxon period the river was a political boundary between the hostile kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex. With the impact of the Viking invasions, the reconquest of the Roman city by the kings of Wessex and its re-occupation by Alfred the Great, the political conditions arose for a Saxon bridge crossing to be placed here. However, there is no archaeological evidence for a bridge before Aethelred's reign and his attempts to stem the Sweinian invasions of the 990s. In 1014, according to a much later skaldic tradition, the bridge was pulled down by the Norwegian prince Olaf, as he was aiding King Aethelred in what, if true, was a successful bid to divide the defending forces of the Danes who held the walled City of London plus Southwark, thereby regaining London for the Anglo-Saxon king. This episode might have inspired the well-known nursery rhyme "London Bridge is Falling Down", although the version of the song known today refers to the many bridges that were destroyed and rebuilt, and the trading done on the shops over it ("Silver and Gold") in the 14th century, so the song's origin is presumably of a much later date. The earliest contemporary written reference to a Saxon bridge is in 1016, when it was by-passed by King Cnut's ships in his war to regain the throne from Edmund II "Ironside". The rebuilt Norman London Bridge was destroyed in 1091 by a storm that spawned a T8/F4 tornado, which also struck St Mary-le-Bow, and is known as the London Tornado of 1091. The repair or replacement of this was carried out by William II "Rufus" through forced labour, along with the works at the new St Paul's Cathedral and the development of the Tower of London . It was destroyed yet again, this time by fire, in 1136. "Old" (Medieval) London Bridge Edit An engraving by Claes Van Visscher showing Old London Bridge in 1616, with Southwark Cathedral in the foreground. The spiked heads of executed criminals can be seen above the Southwark gatehouse. Following the 1136 destruction, some rebuilding was carried out duri


What was the second bridge to be built over the Thames in London in 1750?

The Bridges of Old London | Spitalfields Life The Bridges of Old London January 5, 2013 by the gentle author Traffic from Covent Garden Market crosses Waterloo Bridge, c. 1924 London owes its very existence to bridges, since the location of the capital upon the banks of the Thames was defined by the lowest crossing point of the river. No wonder that the London & Middlesex Archaeological Society collected this edifying series of pictures of bridges on glass plates to use in their magic lantern shows at the Bishopsgate Institute . Yet until the eighteenth century, the story of London’s bridges was solely that of London Bridge. The Romans created the first wooden crossing of Thames close to the current site of London Bridge and the settlement upon the northern shore grew to become the City of London. When the Saxons tried to regain the City from the Danes in the eleventh century, they attached ropes to London Bridge and used their boats to dislodge the piers, thus originating the myth celebrated in the nursery rhyme “London Bridge is Falling Down.” The first stone London Bridge was built by Peter de Colechurch in 1209 and lasted over six hundred years, surviving the Great Fire and numerous rebuildings of the houses and shops that clustered upon its structure. When traffic upon grew too crowded in 1722, a “keep left” rule was instated that later became the pattern for all roads in this country and, by 1763, all the houses were removed to provide extra clearance. Then, in 1831, John Rennie’s famous bridge of Dartmoor granite replaced old London Bridge until it was shipped off to Arizona in the nineteen-sixties to make way for the current concrete bridge, with its centrally heated pavements and hollow structure that permits essential pipes and cables to cross the Thames easily. After London Bridge, next came Putney Bridge in 1726 and then Westminster Bridge in 1738 – until today we have a line of bridges, holding the north and south banks of London together tightly like laces on a boot. The hero of London’s bridges was unquestionably John Rennie (1761-1821) who pioneered the combination or iron and stone in bridge building and designed London Bridge, Waterloo Bridge, Southwark Bridge and Vauxhall Bridge, although only the Serpentine Bridge remains today as his memorial. Even to the seasoned Londoner, there is something unfailingly exhilarating about sitting on top of a bus, erupting from the narrow city streets onto one of the bridges and discovering yourself suspended high above the vast River Thames, it is one of the definitive experiences of our city. Tower Bridge took eight year to construct, 1886 -1894 Tower Bridge with barges, c. 1910 St. Paul’s Cathedral from Southwark Bridge, c. 1925 Southwark Bridge, c. 1925 Old wooden bridge at Putney, 1880. The second bridge to be built after London Bridge, constructed in 1726 and replaced by the current stone structure in 1886. On Tower Bridge, 1905. Tower Bridge, c. 1910 John Rennie’s London Bridge of 1831 viewed from the waterside, c. 1910 London Bridge, c. 1930. Sold to Robert Mc Culloch in 1968 and re-assembled in Arizona in 1971. The former bridgekeeper’s house on Tower Bridge, c. 1900 Wandsworth Bridge by Julian Tolme, c. 1910 (demolished in 1937) Waterloo Bridge, c. 1910. The increased river flow created by the demolition of old London Bridge required temporary reinforcements to Waterloo Bridge from 1884. Waterloo Bridge, c. 1910 Under an arch of Waterloo Bridge, c. 1910 View under Waterloo Bridge towards Hungerford Bridge, Westminster Bridge, & Palace of Westminster, c. 1910 Westminster Bridge, c. 1910. The third bridge, built over the Thames after London and Putney Bridges, in 1739-1750. The current bridge by Thomas Page of 1862 is painted green to match the leather seats in the House of Commons. Westminster Bridge, c. 1910 Westminster Bridge, c. 1910 Hammersmith Bridge with Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race, 1928. Dixon, Appleby & Thorne’s bridge was built in 1887. Battersea Bridge, c. 1910 Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s bridge was built in 1879. Battersea Bridge from waterside, c. 1


The Crystal Palace was re-erected on which hill in South London after the Great Exhibition of 1851?

The Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace, 1851 | Archexpo The Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace, 1851 « Tourism and Culture Historical background The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations in 1851 was the first universal exhibition. It took place from May 1 to October 15, 1851 in London. The official opening of the exhibition took place in Hyde Park, in the Crystal Palace, a huge building glass (400 tons) and metal (4,000 tons), designed for the occasion by landscape designer Joseph Paxton (1801 1865). An area of 7.5 ha, about 14 000 exhibitors from half over forty foreign countries, half of the British Empire, were divided into four sections that were taken during the post World Fairs: raw materials, machines, manufactures, works of art. It was later expanded and moved to the top of Sydenham Hill, south London in 1854, when Queen Victoria inaugurated for the second time.Just like in 1866, when a fire destroyed the north transept, the Palace blazed within hours November 30, 1936, visible 10 miles away. The Crystal Palace Foundation was established in 1979 to defend and respect the memory of this place, a symbol of a glorious period in English history. A Chinese conglomerate Zhongrong, established in 1992 in Shanghai by the current billionaire president Ni Zhaoxing, proposed a project of construction of an exact replica of the Victorian Crystal Palace by the end of 2018.   View 1 : The Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace, 1851, Add. MS 35255 © The British Library Board View 2 : Crystal Palace. Lithograph by George Baxter The front of the Crystal Palace. Gravure, 1852 View 3 : Crystal Palace. Lithograph by T. Picken, after a painting by Philip Brannan from the North-East from Dickinson's Comprehensive Pictures of the Great Exhibition of 1851, published 1854 View 4 : The Crystal Palace in its original location; the South-Eastern corner of Hyde Park View 5 : Crystal Palace. Coloured lithograph by Augustus Butler © Science & Society Picture Library/Getty ImagesThe Crystal Palace View 6 : The Great Exhibition 1851. Lithograh by Ackerman View 7 : Joseph Paxton's first sketch for the Crystal Palace, june 1850. Première esquisse de Crystal Palace par Joseph Baxton, juin 1850 View 8 : Inside the Crystal Palace by Joseph Nash View 9 : Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London in 1851. Colour lithograph by Louis Haghe © Victoria & Albert Museum. View 10 : Nave looking to the 'foreign' exhibits View 11 : Crystal Palace. Interior transept by Joseph Nash and Haghe Roberts, 1854. British Library View 12 : Interior view of the Crystal Palace, 1851 © Victoria & Albert Museum View 13 : Crystal Palace. Visit of the Emperor and Empress of the French and Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Estampe, 1855 © BNF Palais de Cristal. Visite de l'empereur et de l'impératrice des Français: Napoléon III  et Eugénie avec la reine Victoria et le prince Albert. Estampe, 1855 © BNF View 14 : Crystal Palace. Opening by Queen Victoria, 10 June 1854. Watercolour by Joseph Nash View 15 : Crystal Palace in Sydenham, 1870 © Crystal Palace Museum View 16 : Crystal Palace in Sydenham. General view from Water Temple, 1854. Photograph by Philip Henry Delamotte. View 17 : Crystal Palace in Sydenham. From Italian terrace. Postcard. View 18 : Remains of the north end after 1866 fire © Crystal Palace Museum View 19 : Crystal Palace destruction after 1866 fire © Crystal Palace Museum View 20 : Crystal Palace in fire. November 30th 1936 © London Illustrated News View 21 : Crystal Palace's awful aftermath after 1936 fire © London Illustrated News   These six images are the only colour photographs ever taken of the Crystal Palace before the fire destroyed the building. Photographed in Dufay coulour by Arthur Talbot, August 1936 © Crystal Palace Museum :


Outside of which building in Whitehall was King Charles I executed?

View The Spot Outside Banqueting House Where Charles I Was Executed | Historic Royal Palaces Charles I’s execution site Stand in the spot where Charles I was executed, outside the front of the Banqueting House The place where a king was killed Outside the Banqueting House, on the pavement of Whitehall, is the site of Charles I's execution on 30 January 1649. Though the wooden staging erected for the execution has long been dismantled you can imagine the scene on that cold winter's day... Charles I had lost the Civil War. His enemies convicted him of high treason and decided that execution would be the best fate for him. On the day of the execution Charles said goodbye to his children at St James's Palace before being escorted to the Banqueting House.  It was bitterly cold. Charles wore a second shirt so not to shiver from the cold, in case it was misunderstood as trembling from fear. He was also persuaded to drink a glass of claret so that he would not faint before he reached the execution block.  Charles was led out of an upper window onto a temporary scaffold stage especially erected on Whitehall. He was composed on the scaffold and died with dignity. Charles I's famous last words Charles I’s famous last words contributed to the later cult of the king as royal martyr: 'I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown, where no disturbance can be’.  Remembrance The execution of King Charles I is remembered each year on 30 January with a service in the Banqueting House. You may also be interested in...


The Panzer MK V in WWII was better known as?

Panzer V Panther Panzer V Panther Medium tank – 6,334 built One of the best tanks of WW2 Military historians still debate about which was the best tank of the Second World War, but for all the polls and spec comparisons, the Panzer V Panther is always one of the contenders. Given its speed and off-road capabilities, tremendous firepower, protection, sophisticated targeting sights, use of equipment far ahead of its time (like infrared vision) and, last but not least, the more than 6000 machines built, the Panther can be compared to a main battle tank, years before the British Centurion appeared. Being one the best-balanced designs of WWII, it performed accordingly, with a fear capital almost rivaling that of the Tiger . The Eastern Front as a catharsis In June 1941, during a seemingly unstoppable advance, the first encounters with T-34s really shook the General Staff, as more and more reports signaled that a Russian tank was found superior to both the upgraded Panzer III and the Panzer IV . After many had been captured in relatively good order, Heinz Guderian ordered a full report to be drawn by a Panzerkommision, dispatched to assess the T-34 . It was noted that the combination of thick, well-sloped armor, a very effective 76.2 mm (3 in) gun and good power-to-weight ratio combined with large tracks meant that the Russian tank almost reached the “impossible triangle” that characterized a perfect medium tank. This was unmatched in the German arsenal, raising concerns, which in turn needed prompt reactions. As soon as April 1942, both Daimler Benz and MAN AG were charged to design the VK 30.02, a 30-35 ton tank incorporating all the aspects underlined by the report. DB and MAN designs Daimler-Benz’s design sported a well-sloped low hull, permitted by a well-proven, although “old school” solution with leaf spring suspensions combined with large doubled roadwheels and no return rollers. This gave the tank a low silhouette and narrow hull, and thus kept the weight under the allocated limit. At the same time, this restricted the turret ring diameter, which in turn limited the turret size. Like on the T-34 , the drive sprockets were at the rear and the turret was placed forward. The engine was a diesel. Even with a three-man turret, the internal space was cramped, and mounting the planned high velocity L/70 75 mm (2.95 in) gun proved very difficult. On the other hand, MAN presented a much larger vehicle, with the transmission and drive sprockets at the front, a larger, roomier turret moved backwards and a gasoline engine. The torsion bar suspension required more internal space, a larger hull and tracks. For the suspension, MAN took inspiration from Henschel’s Tiger design, with pairs of large interleaved wheels, which gave a lower ground pressure, better traction and mobility. This configuration also provided extra protection to the weaker lower hull sides. Versucht Panther V2 (Fgst nr.V2), pre-production prototype, fall 1942. From January until March 1942, these two prototypes were tested. Fritz Todt and, later, Albert Speer, replacing the former, both warmly recommended the DB design to Adolf Hitler. In the meantime, DB had reviewed its design in order to match the MAN proposal, and added the already existing Rheinmetall-Borsig turret, which allowed immediate production. MAN produced a mild steel prototype in September 1942, which started a new series of trials at Kummersdorf. These showed far superior mobility, even compared to the Panzer IV . The engine, for the sake of standardization, was shared with the Tiger , but the Panther weighed 20 tons less. Two final pre-production prototypes were also delivered in November (V1 and V2). Production swiftly followed, at MAN and DB (hull and assembly), Rheinmetall-Borsig (turret), later extended to Maschinenfabrik Niedersachsen-Hannover (MNH) and Henschel & Sohn in Kassel. Production of the Panzer V The delivery orders were rushed, asking for a first batch by December. However, the specialized tooling for this new model was far from ready and designed in haste. The order for 1000 to


During the English Civil War the Parliamentarians held London. In which city did the Royalists establish their rival capital?

First Battle of Newbury - English Civil War English Civil War English Civil War: First Battle of Newbury King Charles I of England.  Photograph Source: Public Domain Updated November 16, 2015. First Battle of Newbury - Conflict & Date: The First Battle of Newbury was fought September 20, 1643, during the English Civil War (1642-1651). Armies & Commanders Prince Rupert of the Rhine Sir John Byron 14,500 men First Battle of Newbury - Background: In the wake of the 1642 Battle of Edgehill , Royalist forces under King Charles I advanced towards London. En route, they captured Banbury, Oxford, and Reading before being halted by the Earl of Essex at the Battle of Turnham Green. In April 1643, Parliamentarian forces re-captured Reading while Charles' army was in winter quarters at Oxford. Despite this success, Essex's army suffered from widespread disease and proved unable to attack Charles directly. With the situation stalemated near London, Royalist forces in the west won a string of victories during the summer which culminated with Prince Rupert of the Rhine storming Bristol in late July. Having united his western and Oxford armies for the operations against Bristol, Charles met with his commanders to decide their next move. After extensive discussions, he determined to allow the Western Army to operate independently against remaining Parliamentarian outposts in Dorset and Cornwall while the Oxford Army advanced on Gloucester. First Battle of Newbury - Siege of Gloucester: Moving against Gloucester, the Royalists believed that the city could be taken without a fight. This was due to intelligence that suggested its commander, Sir Edward Massie, might be willing to change allegiances. In early August, Charles' army reached Gloucester and promptly had its demands for surrender rebuffed by Massie. As a result, the Royalists were forced to begin siege operations. Despite active raiding by the city's garrison, the Royalists completed their siege lines and began bombarding Gloucester's defenses on August 12. With Charles working to reduce Gloucester's defenses, Essex, now leading the only Parliamentarian army in the field, frantically worked to bolster his numbers so that he could move to the city's aid. Reinforced by the London Trained Bands, he began moving west in late August. Battling heavy rains, the Parliamentarian army reached Gloucester on September 5 and encamped at Prestbury Hill. First Battle of Newbury - Essex Retreats: Alerted to Essex's arrival, Charles raised the siege and withdrew to the south. Though he relieved Gloucester's garrison, Essex's situation was precarious as he was unable to maintain his supply lines east. As a result, he began making preparations to retreat back towards London. Aware of Essex's predicament, Charles sought to block the Parliamentarian's route to the capital and inflict a decisive defeat. On September 10, Essex crossed the River Severn with the goal of convincing the Royalists that he was making for Worcester. The ruse worked as Charles moved his army north to Evesham. Four nights later, Essex conducted a forced march south from Tewkesbury with the intention of reaching London via Swindon, Newbury, and Reading. Passing through Cirencester the next day, the Parliamentarians surprised two Royalist cavalry regiments and captured supplies intended for Charles' army. Learning of Essex's change of course, Charles raced south. Advancing with Rupert's cavalry in the lead, the Royalists closed the distance quickly as Essex's men battled poor weather and muddy roads. Reaching Aldbourne Chase on September 18, Rupert engaged the Parliamentarian rear guard. The battle led to Essex crossing to the southern bank of the River Kennet which caused further delays. As a result, Charles was able to reach Newbury ahead of the Parliamentarians and establish a blocking position across the route to London. Arriving at Enborne, two miles west of Newbury, on September 19, Essex paused to rest and assess the situation. Bounded by the Rivers Kennet and Enborne, the terrain between the armies consisted of hedged and


Which ancient, fierce warrior nation, upon attacking ancient Israel, . came down like a wolf on the fold'?

ISM Military History Quiz - Page 16 - International Scale Modeller International Scale Modeller Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 1:13 pm Location: Surrey,England,UK. Post by privatepete » Thu Nov 24, 2016 6:05 am Questions & Answers For 23-11-2016 Q:  What is the senior service of the UK armed forces? A: Royal Navy. Q:  Who commands the Army according to the Bill Of Rights of 1869? A:  Parliament (Government). Q:  Who is commander in chief for the UK's Armed Forces? A:  The reigning Monarch (at present Queen Elizabeth II). Q:  What is the highest military rank in the army, the navy and the Royal Air Force? A:  Army - Field Marshall,  RAF - Marshall of the Royal Air Force,  RN - Admiral of the Fleet. Q: The Royal Air Force's ground defence unit is called what? A: RAF Regiment. Post by privatepete » Fri Nov 25, 2016 6:06 am Questions & Answers  For 24-11-2016 Q:What type of aircraft was used to drop bombs in the first German air raids on London in 1915? A: A Zeppelin. Q:What was the name of the Japanese destroyer that sank PT-109, commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, on August 2, 1943? A: Amigiri. Q:In what war was the color khaki first used for uniforms? A: The Afghan War in 1880--the color was considered good camouflage. Q:Who was issued ID number 01 when the U.S. military started issuing dog tags in 1918? A: General John J. Pershing. Good Luck. Post by privatepete » Sat Nov 26, 2016 6:22 am Questions& Answers For 25-11-2016 Q:At which naval battle in WWII did the Americans decisively defeat the Japanese Carrier Task Force? A:Battle of Midway Q:In 1944 what was the name of the operation to take key bridges over major rivers in Holland by airborne and land force assaults? Q:Market-Garden Q:After which battle did the British Life Guards first obtain their breast-plates? A:Waterloo - from Napoleon's defeated Cuirassier's breast-plates. Q:Which WWI battle occurred on a peninsular south of Istanbul in Turkey? A: Gallipoli Q:Which ancient, fierce warrior nation, upon attacking ancient Israel, ‘…. came down like a wolf on the fold’? A:The Assyrians.


At which naval battle in WWII did the Americans decisively defeat the Japanese Carrier Task Force?

Battle of Midway - World War II - HISTORY.com Battle of Midway A+E Networks Introduction Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. Thanks in part to major advances in code breaking, the United States was able to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers, inflicting permanent damage on the Japanese Navy. An important turning point in the Pacific campaign, the victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. Google This fleet engagement between U.S. and Japanese navies in the north-central Pacific Ocean resulted from Japan’s desire to sink the American aircraft carriers that had escaped destruction at Pearl Harbor . Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, Japanese fleet commander, chose to invade a target relatively close to Pearl Harbor to draw out the American fleet, calculating that when the United States began its counterattack, the Japanese would be prepared to crush them. Instead, an American intelligence breakthrough–the solving of the Japanese fleet codes–enabled Pacific Fleet commander Admiral Chester W. Nimitz to understand the exact Japanese plans. Nimitz placed available U.S. carriers in position to surprise the Japanese moving up for their preparatory air strikes on Midway Island itself. Did You Know? Six months before the Battle of Midway, the islands were attacked on December 7, 1941, less than two hours after Pearl Harbor. The intelligence interplay would be critical to the outcome of the battle and began many weeks before the clash of arms. American radio nets in the Pacific picked up various orders Yamamoto had dispatched to prepare his forces for the operation. As early as May 2, messages that were intercepted began to indicate some forthcoming operation, and a key fact, the planned day-of-battle position of the Japanese carriers, would be divulged in a notice sent on May 16. By the time Nimitz had to make final decisions, the Japanese plans and order of battle had been reconstructed in considerable detail. American combat forces took over where intelligence efforts left off. Scouts found the Japanese early in the morning of June 4. Although initial strikes by Midway-based planes were not successful, American carrier-based planes turned the tide. Torpedo bombers became separated from the American dive-bombers and were slaughtered (36 of 42 shot down), but they diverted Japanese defenses just in time for the dive-bombers to arrive; some of them had become lost, and now by luck they found the Japanese. The Japanese carriers were caught while refueling and rearming their planes, making them especially vulnerable. The Americans sank four fleet carriers–the entire strength of the task force–Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu, with 322 aircraft and over five thousand sailors. The Japanese also lost the heavy cruiser Mikuma. American losses included 147 aircraft and more than three hundred seamen. Analysts often point to Japanese aircraft losses at Midway as eliminating the power of the Imperial Navy’s air arm, but in fact about two-thirds of air crews survived. More devastating was the loss of trained mechanics and aircraft ground crews who went down with the ships. Some historians see Midway as the turning point in the Pacific theater of the war, after which Americans rode straight to Tokyo; others view it as a cusp in the war, after which initiative hung in the balance, to swing toward the Allies in the Guadalcanal campaign. Either way, Midway ranks as a truly decisive battle. JOHN PRADOS The Reader’s Companion to Military History. Edited by Robert Cowley and Geoffrey Parker. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Tags


In 1944 what was the name of the operation to take key bridges over major rivers in Holland by airborne and land force assaults?

World War 2 Events of 1944 World War 2 Events of 1944 World War 2 Events of 1944 1944 proved the critical year for the war, the offensives of 1943 finally beginning to show their fruits throughout both theaters of war. There are a total of (266) entries in the World War 2 Events of 1944. Entries are listed below by earliest date to latest date. January 1st 1944 A message to subordinates by US Army Air Force commanding general General H.H. Hap Arnold calls for the destruction of the German Luftwaffe before Allied landings can begin. January 11th The first major Allied offensive to take Cassino is launched. January 11th French Expeditionary Corps assail the outer defences at Cassino, achieving modest gains. January 14th 1944 Soviet armies from the 2nd Baltic, Volkov and Leningrad fronts overtake German Army Group North in a massive two-week offensive. January 16th The US IC Corps and the French Expeditionary Corps arrive at Rapido River. January 17th The US is involved in their first major assault on Cassino. January 18th - February 9th US forces begin making headway through the Liri Valley, capturing ground at Monte Calvario. January 21st 1944 In the afternoon hours, an Allied convoy of 243 ships sets sail from the Bay of Naples for the beaches at Anzio and nearby Nettuno. January 22nd By 12AM midnight, some 45,000 Allied troops and 3,000 vehicles are on the beaches. January 22nd American forces hold the line at Mussolini Canal. January 22nd British forces hold the line at River Moletta. January 22nd 1944 Operation Shingle, the amphibious landings at Anzio, is enacted by the Allied. In lead is the US VI Corps under Major-General John Lucas. January 23rd The German Luftwaffe begins heavy strafing attacks and bombardment of Allied forces. January 23rd 1944 German Colonel-General von Mackensen takes control of the new 14th Army headquartered 30 miles west of Rome. January 23rd The Anzio beachhead is consolidated into a concentrated pocket on the orders of Lucas. January 25th 1944 The Anzio beachhead continues to grow with Allied troops and equipment, making it a prime target for the regrouping Germans. January 27th The siege of Leningrad is declared by Soviet leader Stalin as over. January 27th The Moscow-Leningrad railway route is reopened in favor of the Soviets. January 28th The Germans are driven back at Cisterna. January 28th 1944 By this date, some 70,000 men, 27,000 tons of goods, 508 artillery guns and 237 tanks are ashore on the beachhead. January 28th 1944 Hitler delivers an ultimatum to supreme commander-in-chief over Italy operations, Field Marshall Kesselring, to fight to the death and drive the invading Allied forces into the sea. January 28th Von Mackensen moves six divisions to Anzio, some ten miles of the Allied beachhead. January 28th The US 1st Armored Division captures the town of Aprilia. January 28th German Army Group North is pushed away from the city of Leningrad. January 30th The Allies suffer some 5,000 casualties in the Anzio action by this date. January 31st Von Mackensen's forces now number some eight divisions in strength. February 10th 1944 In a counter offensive, crack German paratroopers repel US forces and previous Allied gains are lost. February 11th 1944 US and Indian losses mount in the offensives against German positions in Calvario, the town of Cassino and Monte Cassino itself. February 11th The entire US 142nd Regiment is destroyed. February 11th 1944 The 4th Indian Division reports unacceptably high casualties when coming up against the stout German defenders. February 11th 1944 The 34th and 36th US Divisions both report a high number of casualties from the ensuing offensives. February 11th 1944 A blanket retreat is enacted by the Allies in an attempt to regroup and plan a new strategy to take Cassino. February 12th 1944 Winston Churchill pens a critical letter to supreme commander-in-chief of Allied operations in Italy. In his writings he claims he expected to see "a wild cat roaring" and has seen nothing but a "whale wallowing on the beaches". February 14th The offensive is detailed


After which battle did the British Life Guards first obtain their breast-plates?


The bombardment of which fort was the act which started the American Civil War?

Fort Sumter - American Civil War - HISTORY.com Google Fort Sumter: Construction and Design Fort Sumter was first built in the wake of the War of 1812 (1812-1815), which had highlighted the United States’ lack of strong coastal defenses. Named for Revolutionary War general and South Carolina native Thomas Sumter, Fort Sumter was one of nearly 50 forts built as part of the so-called Third System, a coastal defense program implemented by Congress in 1817. The three-tiered, five-sided fort’s coastal placement was designed to allow it to control access to the vital Charleston Harbor. While the island itself was only 2.4 acres in size, the fort was built to accommodate a garrison of 650 soldiers and 135 artillery pieces. Did You Know? There were no casualties during the Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter at the start of the American Civil War. The only Union deaths came during the evacuation: One soldier was killed and another mortally wounded in an accidental explosion during a planned 100-gun salute. Construction of Fort Sumter first began in 1829 in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, on a manmade island built from thousands of tons of granite. Building ground to a halt in the 1830s amid a dispute over ownership of the stretch of the harbor, and did not resume until 1841. Like many Third System fortifications, Fort Sumter proved a costly endeavor, and construction slowed again in 1859 due to lack of funding. By 1860 the island and the outer fortifications were complete, but the fort’s interior and armaments remained unfinished. Fort Sumter: The First Battle of Fort Sumter Construction of Fort Sumter was still underway when South Carolina seceded from the Union on December 20, 1860. Despite Charleston’s position as a major port, at the time only two companies of federal troops guarded the harbor. Commanded by Major Robert Anderson (1805-1871), these companies were stationed at Fort Moultrie, a dilapidated fortification facing the coastline. Recognizing that Fort Moultrie was vulnerable to a land assault, Anderson elected to abandon it for the more easily defensible Fort Sumter on December 26, 1860. South Carolina militia forces would seize the city’s other forts shortly thereafter, leaving Fort Sumter as the lone federal outpost in Charleston. A standoff ensued until January 9, 1861, when a ship called the Star of the West arrived in Charleston with over 200 U.S. troops and supplies intended for Fort Sumter. South Carolina militia batteries fired upon the vessel as it neared Charleston Harbor, forcing it to turn back to sea. Major Anderson refused repeated calls to abandon Fort Sumter, and by March 1861 there were over 3,000 militia troops besieging his garrison. A number of other U.S. military facilities in the Deep South had already been seized, and Fort Sumter was viewed by many as one of the South’s few remaining hurdles to overcome before achieving sovereignty. With the inauguration of President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) in March 1861, the situation soon escalated. Knowing that Anderson and his men were running out of supplies, Lincoln announced his intention to send three unarmed ships to relieve Fort Sumter. Having already declared that any attempt to resupply the fort would be seen as an act of aggression, South Carolina militia forces soon scrambled to respond. On April 11, militia commander P.G.T. Beauregard (1818-1893) demanded that Anderson surrender the fort, but Anderson again refused. In response Beauregard opened fire on Fort Sumter shortly after 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861. U.S. Captain Abner Doubleday (1819-1893)—later famous for the myth that he invented baseball—ordered the first shots in defense of the fort a few hours later. Beauregard’s 19 coastal batteries unleashed a punishing barrage on Fort Sumter, eventually firing an estimated 3,000 shots at the citadel in 34 hours. By Saturday, April 13, cannon fire had broken through the fortress’s five-foot-thick brick walls, causing fires inside the post. With his stores of ammunition depleted, Anderson was forced to surrender the fort shortly after 2 p.


Which WWI battle occurred on a peninsular south of Istanbul in Turkey?

Tour the WW1 battle sites of Turkey's Gallipoli peninsula near Istanbul | Daily Mail Online comments There's something life-changing about a trip that's half-pilgrimage, half-holiday  -  as I found when I went on the trail of my ancestor, killed in 1915 at Gallipoli. My great-grandfather, the 5th Earl of Longford  -  father of the late Lord Longford, the prisons and anti-pornography campaigner  -  was one of the 34,000 Allied soldiers who died in the eight-month-long, disastrously bloody campaign. This year marks the 95th anniversary of the battle  -  and of my great grandfather's death. I set out thinking it would be a worthy but mournful pilgrimage. I ended up stumbling upon an unspoilt chunk of heart-stoppingly pretty Turkish coastline, free from the tourist developments that have scarred so many resorts further east. Safe harbour: Kilibahir port, near Gallipoli. Churchill's plan involved sending a flotilla of ships up the Dardanelles in World War I The Gallipoli peninsula is around 150 miles south-west of Istanbul, with the Aegean on one side, and a thin channel of water, the Dardanelles, on the other, leading down from the Black Sea. The fatal campaign had been dreamt up by Winston Churchill. His idea was to send a flotilla of ships up the Dardanelles, take Istanbul and bring victory in World War I. Ironically, those eight terrible months in 1915 ensured the area was made a national park, meaning Gallipoli's gently rolling hills and fields will remain unspoilt for ever. The air is rich with sweet-smelling rosemary, juniper and wild thyme. Nightingales roost here, sending out their liquid songs across the vineyards. In spring, rich patches of wildflowers are strewn across the cliffs the Allies fought so hard to take. The 5th Earl of Longford was one of the 34,000 Allied soldiers who died at Gallipoli The beaches where they landed are deserted and sheltered, the water warm. You pretty much get the place to yourself, but for the gardeners of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, cropping the graveyards with military precision, and farmers tending their vines. Turkish wine, by the way, is underrated. On the first evening, I took the edge off my tiredness with a bottle of Kavaklidere Anatolian, a dryish white wine. Look out, too, for Narbag, Turasan and Doluca wines. There are two ways to visit Gallipoli. Holts Tours, the battlefield specialist, takes a six-day tour around all the major battle sites. I preferred to go alone, flying to Istanbul, followed by a leisurely day's journey south to Gallipoli. As you drive on the empty, well-kept road that weaves down the peninsula, on the right lies the Aegean Sea and, beyond, Greece. Far in the distance lies Skyros, the island, where the poet Rupert Brooke died from a mosquito bite on his way to Gallipoli. To your left you have the Dardanelles and can see clearly across the blue-green water to the hazy, beige hills of Asia, only three miles away. This stretch of the Dardanelles  -  also called the Hellespont  -  was swum by Lord Byron two centuries ago, in homage to the ancient Greek lovers, Hero and Leander. Every night, Leander would swim across the treacherous water, flowing fast and cold, south from the Black Sea, to see his lover, Hero, guided there by the flame she lit in her tower house. One wintry night, the wind blew out Hero's flame, and Leander, lost in the swirling waters, drowned. I stopped for lunch in Gelibolu  -  or Gallipoli, the town that gave the campaign its name, although it is some way north of the battlefields. The seafood is cheap and fresh here, much of it plucked straight from the Dardanelles; and the thin trickle of tourists hasn't diluted standards. Restaurants and cafes are strung all around the harbour, clustering round a handsome Byzantine tower. A domed plateful of sardalya (fresh, grilled sardines) at the Gelibolu Restaurant, followed by baklava (flaky, honey-soaked, pistachio nut-pastry), went well with a bottle of Efes beer. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share After lunch, I headed further south. It's easy to find your way along the em


What is the highest mountain in England? What is the highest mountain in England? Updated on September 4, 2009 What is the highest mountain in England?  If you are looking for the answer to that very question you are in the right place.  This page contains the details of the highest mountain in England, as well as a list of the top 10 highest mountain's in England should you ever want to answer the question ' What are the top 10 highest mountains in England?'. A picture of Scafell Pike which is the highest mountain in England. This is the highest peak in the distance, second peak in from the left of the shot. Also included in the picture is the second highest mountain in England, Scafell, at the centre o What is the highest mountain in England? The short answer to the question 'What is the highest mountain in England?' is Scafell Pike.  The height of this, the highest mountain in England, is 978 metres (3210 feet). Scafell Pike is found within the Lake District National Park.  The Lake District is an area of great beauty, located in north west of England, in the county of Cumbria.  As can be guessed from the name, the Lake District is made up of many lakes.  These have been formed in amongst the large mountains which can be found throughout the Lake District, the highest of which is Scafell Pike. Scafell Pike itself is formed from igneous rock.  Igneous rock is rock which has formed from the cooling of magma/lava.  The rock from Scafell Pike probably formed during the Ordovician Period which occurred approximately 450 million years ago.  As such the rocks are very old.  Over the years Scafell Pike has been weathered and eroded by a large number of different actions.  This has led to it having it's present day shape.  In addition, Scafell Pike has the highest boulder field in England, which again was probably formed through weathering. Since Scafell Pike is the highest  mountain in England it is very popular with walkers and mountain climbers and so on days with good weather the paths can be very busy.  However, as with all mountaineering, the weather can change quickly and so safety precautions need to be taken.  Scafell Pike is also popular with people who attempt to collect highest mountains.  This means that they have managed to climb the highest mountain in a given country.  There are many people who attempt to climb Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in Scotland), Snowdon (the highest mountain in Wales) and Scafell Pike (the highest mountain in England). Scafell Pike is also popular since it's location.  It is relatively close to many large population centres, such as Manchester and Liverpool.  Most people travel to Scafell Pike by car, along the M6 from Manchester and then the A595.   What are the ten highest mountains in England? Mountain


Which city is known as the Granite City'?

Aberdeen Quest - Granite City Granite City Art Factsheets Granite City The planet we live on is made of rock. There are different kinds of rock that have been formed in different ways. Different types of rock are found in different places.  Aberdeen is well known as a Granite City. Many of the buildings in Aberdeen are made out of granite. Granite is a hard rock that is often used as a building material. There was once a huge granite quarry in Aberdeen called Rubislaw Quarry. Aberdeen Town Council owned the land with the quarry. In 1788 the Council thought it was no good and sold the land. But Rubislaw Quarry turned out to be very good. Hundreds of thousands of tons of granite were quarried. By the time the quarry closed, almost 200 years later in 1971 it was about 137 meters deep. The grey granite from Rubislaw was used in many of Aberdeen's buildings. Granite from Aberdeen was also used to pave roads in London. Working with granite required a lot of skill. In the early days of Aberdeen's granite industry, all cutting was done by hand using hammers and chisels. Skilled men could make square blocks with flat surfaces using picks. Pneumatic tools started to be used in the 1890s. Pneumatic tools are tools powered by compressed air. High-pressure air is forced into the holder which holds a chisel. The chisel is forced up and down. This cuts the granite. The tools came from the USA. Air powered tools needed less strength to work, but still required a lot of skill. Working with granite could be very dangerous, especially in quarries where explosives were used. When granite dust was breathed in it damaged workers' lungs. Breathing in granite dust causes a disease called silicosis. It makes breathing very difficult. Many masons died from this disease.


Aquae Sulis is the Roman name for which modern city?

Aquae Sulis | Sue Vincent's Daily Echo Sue Vincent's Daily Echo Posted on February 17, 2016 by Sue Vincent Aquae Sulis… the waters of the Sulis… that was the Roman name for the city of Bath. It is easy to understand why when, since time immemorial, a hot and mineral-rich spring has welled from the ground; the only hot spring in Britain. We didn’t visit properly this time, though I have in the past, but we did see the King’s Pool with its statue of Bladud and the strange stone chair that juts out from the wall over the steaming pool, that was the designated seat of the Master of the Baths. You can no longer bathe in the waters here as was once the custom, largely because the water is still chanelled through the old Roman pipework made of lead. That is something of a marvel in itself, as the Romans first stared building the temple here, with the sacrd spring at its heart, around 60AD and added to the complex over the nest 300 years. Even so, what remains is over seventeen hundred years old and a fine indication of  the glories of a Roman bath house. Close by, however, there are facilities to both drink and bathe in the waters, long considered therapeutic, with the water now flowing through modern plumbing. The spring and baths are hidden behind and below the elegant facade of a later era. Bath rose to popularity many times over the centuries, becoming a fashionable watering place or spa town and each era has left its mark. Yet  the spring is older by far than those whose stones and mortar now enclose it. There was already a shrine to the Celtic goddess Sulis at the spring, long before the Romans came. From the many offerings and inscribed tablets found here, it would seem that she was seen as a healing and nurturing mother-goddess, while her name suggests some connection with the eye or the sun. Perhaps there was something of both… the two go together, and perhaps too we can imagine that there might have been seers at the Sacred Spring… those who see by a different light than that of the physical sun. Sulis-Minerva. Image: Rodw Instead of ousting Sulis when they came and replacing her with a Roman deity, the Romans saw her as Sulis-Minerva and added wisdom to her gifts… or recognised, perhaps, that her nature was similar to that of their own goddess. A beautiful gilded bronze bust was found in 1727 depicting the the Romano-British deity. On the front of the Roman temple was the huge plaque now described as a Gorgon because of the entwined snakes of his hair and beard. I am no scholar, but all the Gorgons I know about were female… and they didn’t look quite so solar…or have wings in their hair…He looks solar to me, or perhaps combines all the elements of earth, air, fire and water in the symbol. In fact, if I wasn’t going to opt for a solar deity, then rather than a Gorgon, I’d say he looks more like our Green Man. The dubious Gorgon. Image: Rodw Or maybe he is at least partly responsible for the legends surrounding Bladud, the legendary King of the Britons. Bladud, whose name may come from the Welsh for ‘wolf-lord’, has left no trace in history and may never have existed before Geoffrey of Monmouth’s truly fabulous Historia Regum Britanniae, where he is named as the father of King Lear. Amongst other feats, he is said to have been the founder of Bath and, by magical arts, raised the temple, dedicating the healing waters of the spring to Minerva and supplying it with an ever-burning flame because of his pigs. The legend tells that Bladud had contracted leprosy whilst studying in Athens and was exiled from the court on his return home. He took up a position as a swineherd and noticed that the pigs who rolled in the warm, black mud suffered no skin diseases. Doing likewise, he was cured of the leprosy and restored to his position as future king. He died when the wings he had made for himself with his arcane arts failed… Earth, air fire and water…and wings… Sounds awfully like the Gorgon. While Bladud may be no more than a myth, there is plenty of real and tangible history here, from the Roman structure itself, to the statuary