:: wikimiki.org ::

John Gregson

John Gregson

John Gregson (15 March 1919 - 8 January 1975) was a British actor. He was born in Liverpool, England, of Scottish stock, where he was educated at the St Francis Xavier School. He was married to the actress Thea Gregory and they had six children. He appeared in around 40 films in the fifties and sixties, and on television. He was often cast as a police inspector or as a navy or army officer, or for his comedy roles in Ealing and other British films. From 1965 he mainly worked on TV, starring as Commander George Gideon in the series Gideon's Way, known as Gideon C.I.D. in America. His most famous comedy role was in the film chosen for the Royal Command Performance in 1953, Genevieve, also starring Kenneth More, Dinah Sheridan and Kay Kendall. He also appeared in the Ealing comedies The Titfield Thunderbolt and The Lavender Hill Mob. Kenneth More has been described as his "rival" in British cinema at the time, although Gregson tended to appear in less comedy films and more dramas than More, and was less 'broad' in his performances. His best known drama films are probably The Battle of the River Plate, Angels One Five and Above Us the Waves. Among his many other roles he had leads in Treasure Island and The Treasure of Monte Cristo. Gregson concentrated on TV from the mid-sixties onwards, including The Saint with Roger Moore and a popular comedy adventure series with Shirley MacLaine; Shirley's World. He took over from Kenneth More in long running TV adverts for coffee on British television. John Gregson died from a heart attack in Porlock Weir, Somerset aged 55.

External links

- Gregson, John Gregson, John Gregson, John Gregson, John Gregson, John Gregson, John Gregson, John

15 March

March 15 is the 74th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (75th in Leap years). There are 291 days remaining. In the Roman calendar March 15 was known as the Ides of March.

Events

- 44 BC - Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus, Decimus Junius Brutus and several other Roman senators on the Ides of March.
- 1311 - Battle of Halmyros: The Catalan Company defeats Walter V of Brienne to take control of the Duchy of Athens, a Crusader state in Greece.
- 1493 - Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his first trip to the Americas.
- 1545 - First meeting of the Council of Trent.
- 1672 - Charles II of England issues the Royal Declaration of Indulgence.
- 1781 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Guilford Courthouse - Near present-day Greensboro, North Carolina, 1,900 British troops under General Charles Cornwallis defeat an American force numbering 4,400.
- 1783 - In an emotional speech in Newburgh, New York, George Washington asks his officers not to support the Newburgh Conspiracy. The plea is successful and the threatened coup d'etat never takes place.
- 1820 - Maine becomes the 23rd U.S. state.
- 1827 - The University of Toronto is chartered.
- 1848 - Revolution breaks out in Pest. The Habsburg rulers are compelled to meet the demands of the Reform party.
- 1877 - The first Test cricket match begins, between England and Australia.
- 1906 - Rolls-Royce Ltd. is registered.
- 1909 - Selfridges department store opens in London.
- 1916 - President Woodrow Wilson sends 12,000 United States troops over the U.S.-Mexico border to pursue Pancho Villa.
- 1917 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates himself and his son from the Russian throne and his brother the Grand Duke becomes Tsar.
- 1919 - The American Legion forms in Paris.
- 1922 - After Egypt gains nominal independence from the United Kingdom, Fuad I becomes King of Egypt.
- 1939 - World War II: Nazi troops occupy the remaining part of Bohemia and Moravia; Czechoslovakia ceases to exist.
- 1943 - World War II: Third Battle of Kharkov - the Germans retook the city of Kharkov from the Soviet armies in bitter street fighting.
- 1944 - World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino - Allied aircraft bomb the Nazi-held monastery and stage an assault.
- 1952 - In Cilaos, Réunion, 73 inches (1,870mm) of rain falls in one day, setting a new world record.
- 1953 - World contact day
- 1956 - The Broadway musical My Fair Lady opens in New York City.
- 1961 - South Africa withdraws from the British Commonwealth.
- 1963 - Victor Feguer, a Federal prisoner, is put to death at the Fort Madison, Iowa prison. This would be the last execution of a Federal prisoner until the execution of Timothy McVeigh in 2001.
- 1970 - The Expo '70 world's fair opens in Osaka, Japan.
- 1976 - Rock group KISS releases the legendary album Destroyer.
- 1988 - Publication of Marvin Minsky's Society of Mind theory.
- 1988 - The Halabja poison gas attack of the Iran-Iraq War begins.
- 1989 - The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is established.
- 1990 - Gulf War: Iraq hangs British journalist Farzad Bazoft for spying.
- 1990 - Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first executive president of the Soviet Union.
- 1990 - The Soviet Union announces that Lithuania's declaration of independence is invalid.
- 1990 - The ethnic clashes of Targu Mures begin on the anniversary of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas.
- 1991 - Four Los Angeles, California police officers are indicted for the videotaped March 3, 1991 beating of motorist Rodney King during an arrest.
- 1991 - Germany formally regains complete independence after the four post-World War II occupying powers (France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union) relinquish all remaining rights.
- 1998 - Titanic defeats Star Wars for the #1 place in the North American domestic box office, grossing $471 million.
- 2004 - Announcement of the discovery of 90377 Sedna, the farthest natural object in the Solar system so far observed.

Births

- 1455 - Pietro Accolti, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1532)
- 1591 - Alexandre de Rhodes, French Jesuit missionary (d. 1660)
- 1638 - Shunzhi Emperor of China
- 1666 - George Bähr, German architect (d. 1738)
- 1684 - Francesco Durante, Italian composer (d. 1755)
- 1713 - Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, French astronomer (d. 1762)
- 1767 - Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States, (d. 1845)
- 1779 - Lord Melbourne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, (d. 1848)
- 1800 - Heinrich von Dechsen, German geologist and mineralogist, (d. 1889)
- 1813 - John Snow, English physician (d. 1858)
- 1830 - Paul Heyse, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1914)
- 1830 - Élisée Reclus, French geographer and anarchist (d. 1905)
- 1835 - Eduard Strauss, Austrian composer (d. 1916)
- 1854 - Emil Adolf von Behring, German physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1917)
- 1865 - Johan Halvorsen, Norwegian composer (d. 1935)
- 1882 - Jim Lightbody, American runner (d. 1953)
- 1890 - Boris Nikolaevich Delaunay, Russian mathematician (d. 1980)
- 1897 - Jackson Scholz, American runner (d. 1986)
- 1905 - Berthold Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg, German lawyer and Nazi opponent (d. 1944)
- 1907 - Zarah Leander, Swedish actress and singer (d. 1981)
- 1912 - Lightnin' Hopkins, American musician (d. 1982)
- 1913 - MacDonald Carey, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1913 - Lew Wasserman, American Hollywood agent and studio executive (d. 2002)
- 1914 - Aniello Dellacroce, American gangster (d. 1985)
- 1915 - Joe E. Ross, American actor and comedian (d. 1982)
- 1916 - Harry James, American musician and band leader (d. 1983)
- 1918 - Richard Ellmann, American biographer (d. 1987)
- 1919 - Lawrence Tierney, American actor (d. 2002)
- 1920 - Lawrence Sanders, American novelist (d. 1998)
- 1920 - E. Donnall Thomas, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1924 - Walter Gotell, actor (d. 1997)
- 1926 - Norm Van Brocklin, American football player (d. 1983)
- 1927 - Stanislaw Kania, Polish politician
- 1927 - Carl Smith, American singer
- 1930 - Zhores Ivanovich Alferov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1932 - Alan Bean, astronaut
- 1933 - Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
- 1935 - Judd Hirsch, American actor
- 1935 - Jimmy Swaggart, American televangelist
- 1940 - Phil Lesh, American musician (Grateful Dead)
- 1941 - Mike Love, American musician (The Beach Boys)
- 1943 - David Cronenberg, Canadian film director
- 1944 - Sly Stone, American musician
- 1945 - Mark J. Green, American lawyer, author, and public official
- 1946 - Bobby Bonds, baseball player (d. 2003)
- 1947 - Ry Cooder, American guitarist
- 1948 - Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (d. 2003)
- 1954 - Craig Wasson, American actor
- 1955 - Dee Snider, American singer
- 1956 - Clay Matthews, American football player
- 1957 - Park Overall, American actress
- 1959 - Harold Baines, baseball player
- 1959 - Fabio Lanzoni, Italian model
- 1961 - Ervin Nemeth, Hungarian educator, author, and translator
- 1962 - Terence Trent D'Arby, American-born singer
- 1963 - Bret Michaels, American musician (Poison)
- 1967 - Naoko Takeuchi, Japanese artist
- 1968 - Mark McGrath, American musician (Sugar Ray)
- 1971 - Penny Lancaster, English model and celebrity
- 1972 - Mark Hoppus, American musician (Blink 182)
- 1975 - Eva Longoria, American actress
- 1975 - Veselin Topalov, Bulgarian chess player
- 1976 - Jennifer 8. Lee, American journalist
- 1977 - Joe Hahn, American musician (Linkin Park)
- 1978 - Sid Wilson, American musician (Slipknot)
- 1981 - Young Buck, American rapper (G-Unit)
- 1981 - Mikael Forssell, Finnish footballer
- 1983 - Beth McCarthy, Congressional Hunger Center Fellow
- 1985 - Antti Autti, Finnish snowboarder
- 1989 - Caitlin Wachs, American actress
- 1992 - Sosie Bacon, American actress

Deaths

- 44 BC - Julius Caesar, (b. 100 BC)
- 220 - Cao Cao, King of Wei
- 493 - Odoacer, King of Italy (murdered) (b. 435)
- 1311 - Walter V of Brienne, Duke of Athens
- 1416 - John, Duke of Berry, son of John II of France (b. 1340)
- 1575 - Annibale Padovano, Italian composer (b. 1527)
- 1670 - John Davenport, Connecticut pioneer (b. 1597)
- 1673 - Salvator Rosa, Italian painter and poet (b. 1615)
- 1701 - Jean Renaud de Segrais, French writer (b. 1624)
- 1711 - Eusebio Kino, Italian Catholic missionary (b. 1645)
- 1820 - St Clemens Maria Hofbauer, patron saint of Vienna (b. 1751
- 1842 - Luigi Cherubini, Italian composer (b. 1760)
- 1849 - Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti, Italian cardinal and linguist (b. 1774)
- 1891 - Théodore de Banville, French writer (b. 1823)
- 1891 - Sir Joseph Bazalgette, English civil engineer (b. 1819)
- 1898 - Henry Bessemer, English metallurgist (b. 1813)
- 1937 - H. P. Lovecraft, American writer (b. 1890)
- 1941 - Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian painter (b. 1864)
- 1959 - Lester Young, American musician (b. 1909)
- 1962 - Arthur Compton, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
- 1966 - Abe Saperstein, American basketball executive (b. 1902)
- 1970 - Tarjei Vesaas, Norwegian writer (b. 1897)
- 1975 - Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (b. 1906)
- 1983 - Rebecca West, English writer (b. 1892)
- 1990 - Farzad Bazoft, Iranian-born journalist (hanged) (b. 1958)
- 1990 - Tom Harmon, American football player and broadcaster (b. 1919)
- 1994 - Mai Zetterling, Swedish actress and director (b. 1925)
- 1997 - Gail Davis, American actress (b. 1925)
- 1998 - Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician and writer (b. 1903)
- 2001 - Ann Sothern, American actress (b. 1909)
- 2003 - Dame Thora Hird, British actress (b. 1911)
- 2004 - Sir William Pickering, New Zealand-born space scientist (b. 1910)
- 2004 - John Pople, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1925)

Saints of the day

- St.Longinus, Roman soldier who pierced the side of Jesus on the cross. [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintl56.htm]

Holidays and observances

- In the Roman calendar, the Ides of March.
- Turkey buzzards return to [http://www.roadmuseum.org/oh__7101.htm/ Hinckley, Ohio].
- International Day Against Police Brutality

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/15 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/3/15 Today in History: March 15] ---- March 14 - March 16 - February 15 - April 15 -- listing of all days ko:3월 15일 ms:15 Mac ja:3月15日 simple:March 15 th:15 มีนาคม

8 January

January 8 is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 357 days remaining (358 in leap years).

Events

- 871 - Battle of Ashdown - Ethelred of Wessex defeats Danish invasion army.
- 1198 - Innocent III becomes Pope.
- 1297 - Monaco gains its independence.
- 1499 - Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany
- 1734 - Premiere of George Frideric Handel's Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
- 1746 - Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
- 1790 - George Washington delivers the first State of the Union Address address in New York City.
- 1806 - Cape Colony becomes a British colony.
- 1811 - Unsuccessful slave revolt led by Charles Deslandes in St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
- 1815 - War of 1812: In the Battle of New Orleans Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
- 1838 - Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
- 1856 - Borax is discovered (John Veatch).
- 1863 - Battle of Springfield of the American Civil War is fought.
- 1867 - African American men granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia.
- 1877 - Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the United States Cavalry (Montana).
- 1889 - Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his electric tabulating machine.
- 1894 - A fire at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois causes a good deal of damage.
- 1900 - United States President William McKinley places Alaska under military rule.
- 1906 - A landslide in Haverstraw, New York kills 20 due to the excavation of clay along the Hudson River.
- 1908 - A train collision occurs in the Park Avenue Tunnel in New York City killing 17, injuring 38 and leading to increased demand for electric trains.
- 1912 - The African National Congress was founded.
- 1916 - World War I: Allied forces withdraw from Gallipoli.
- 1918 - President Woodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" for the aftermath of World War I.
- 1926 - Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud becomes the King of Hejaz and renames it Saudi Arabia.
- 1926 - African National Congress founded.
- 1935 - A.C. Hardy patents the spectrophotometer.
- 1953 - René Mayer becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1958 - 14 year old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship.
- 1959 - conquest of Cuba by Fidel Castro is completed with the conquest of Santiago de Cuba.
- 1959 - Michel Debré becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1962 - Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time (National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.)
- 1962 - Harmelen train disaster.
- 1964 - President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "War on Poverty" in the United States.
- 1966 - Operation Crimp of the Vietnam War.
- 1973 - Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of placing bugs in Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.
- 1975 - Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States who did not succeed her husband.
- 1977 - Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.
- 1982 - AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
- 1986 - Hacker Manifesto written.
- 1987 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 8.30 to close at 2,002.25 -- The Dow's first close above 2,000.
- 1989 - Kegworth Air Disaster
- 1989 - beginning of Japanese Heisei era
- 1992 - President of the United States George H. W. Bush becomes ill on a visit to Japan and vomits on the Japanese Prime Minister, Kiichi Miyazawa.
- 1994 - Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He will stay on the space station till March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
- 1996 - An Antonov 32 cargo jet crashes into the central market in Kinshasa, Zaire killing more than 350.
- 1997 - "Mister Rogers" receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Births

- 1556 - Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1623)
- 1583 - Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian (d. 1643)
- 1601 - Baltasar Gracián y Morales, Spanish writer (d. 1658)
- 1628 - François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, duc de Luxembourg, French general (d. 1695)
- 1632 - Samuel Pufendorf, German jurist (d. 1694)
- 1635 - Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish Archbishop of Toledo (d. 1709)
- 1735 - John Carroll, first American Catholic archbishop (d. 1815)
- 1763 - Edmond Charles Genêt, French ambassador to the United States (d. 1834)
- 1786 - Nicholas Biddle, President of the Second Bank of the United States (d. 1844)
- 1792 - Lowell Mason American composer (d. 1872)
- 1805 - John Bigler, Governor of California (d. 1871)
- 1805 - Orson Hyde, American religious leader (d. 1878)
- 1817 - Sir Theophilus Shepstone, South African statesman (d. 1893)
- 1821 - James Longstreet, American Confederate general (d. 1904)
- 1821 - W.H.L. Wallace, American Union general

UÇK

UÇK is an acronym used by two Albanian guerrilla movements from 1992 to 2001:
- The most well known group is Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës (Albanian for the Kosovo Liberation Army - KLA), which operated in Kosovo from 1995 to 1999. (The name was in use from 1992, but the guerrilla did not start its armed uprising before 1995.)
- Not so well known is Ushtria Çlirimtare Kombëtare (Albanian for National Liberation Army), which operated in the Republic of Macedonia in 2000 and 2001. This movement is often confused with the KLA because of its identical (Albanian) acronym, and because many of the NLA soldiers were KLA veterans.

External links

- [http://www.kosovo.com/kla2.html KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY - Freedom Fighters or...] Truth in facts and testimonies
- [http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=519 Ibrahim Rugova: Victory of the Passive Resistance?] Category:History of Kosovo

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Northwest England. The city is governed by Liverpool City Council, one of five councils within the Metropolitan county of Merseyside. The population of the borough in 2002 was 441,477, and that of the Merseyside conurbation was 1,362,026. Whilst it has lost most of its manufacturing base, Liverpool is still internationally famous as a port. In sporting terms, it boasts two internationally-known football clubs, Liverpool F.C. and Everton F.C. In the year 2008, Liverpool will hold the European Capital of Culture title. Liverpool is one of England's core cities. Liverpool is situated along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, with the city centre located about 5 miles inland from the Irish Sea. Liverpool has a varied topography being built across a ridge of hills rising up to a height of around 70 metres above sea-level at Everton Hill. The city's urban area runs directly into Bootle and Crosby in Sefton, Huyton and Prescot in Knowsley. It faces Wallasey and Birkenhead across the River Mersey. River Mersey)]]

History

In 1190 the place was known as 'Liuerpul', meaning a pool or creek with muddy water. Other origins of the name have been suggested, including 'elverpool', a reference to the large number of eels in the Mersey. The origins of the city are usually dated from August 1207 when letters patent were issued by King John advertising the establishment of a new borough at Liverpool, and inviting settlers to come and take up holdings there. It is thought that the king wanted a port in the district that was free from the control of the earl of Chester. Initially it served as a dispatch point for troops sent to Ireland, soon after Liverpool Castle was built, which was removed in 1726. For four centuries, Liverpool was relatively unimportant. In the middle of the 16th century the population of Liverpool was only around 500, and the port was regarded as subordinate to Chester until the 1650s. A number of battles for the town were waged during the English Civil War, including an eighteen-day siege in 1644. In the year 1571 the inhabitants of Liverpool sent a memorial to Queen Elizabeth, praying relief from a subsidy which they thought themselves unable to bear, wherein they styled themselves "her majesty's poor decayed town of Liverpool." Some time towards the close of this reign, Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby, on his way to the Isle of Man, stayed at his house at Liverpool called the Tower; at which the corporation erected a handsome hall or seat for him in the church, where he honoured them several times with his presence. From this time until the end of the next century, Liverpool made but a slow progress in the extent of its trade and in the number of its inhabitants. Neither is there any remarkable occurrence recorded of it except the siege of it by Prince Rupert, in the English Civil Wars in 1644, some traces of which were discovered when the foundation of the Liverpool Infirmary was sunk, particularly the marks of the trenches thrown up by the prince, and some cartouches, etc., left behind by the besiegers. In 1699 Liverpool was made a parish on its own by Act of Parliament, separate from that of Walton-on-the-Hill, with two parish churches. From that time may be traced the rapid progress of population and commerce, until Liverpool had become the second metropolis of Great Britain. In the 18th century, as trade from the West Indies was added to that of Ireland and Europe, Liverpool began to grow. The first wet dock in Britain was built in Liverpool in 1715. Substantial profits from the slave trade helped the town grow and prosper. Liverpool's black community dates from this period and grew rapidly, reaching a population of 10,000 within five years. By the beginning of the 19th century, 40% of the world's trade was passing through the docks at Liverpool. During the 1840's, the Irish began arriving by the thousands due to the Great Famine 1845-1849. By 1851, approximately 25% of the city was Irish-born. Irish] Liverpool expanded significantly in the 19th century and a number of major buildings were constructed (St. George's Hall, Lime Street Station etc.). When the American Civil War broke out Liverpool became a hot bed of intrigue. The last Confederate ship, the CSS Alabama, was built at Birkenhead on the Mersey and the CSS Shenandoah surrendered there. Liverpool was granted city status in 1880. During the first part of the 20th century Liverpool continued to expand, pulling in emigrants from Europe. Adolf Hitler's half-brother Alois and his Irish sister-in-law Bridget Dowling are known to have lived in Upper Stanhope Street in the 1910s. Bridget's alleged memoirs, which surfaced in the 1970s, said that Adolf stayed with them in 1912-1913, though this is much disputed and many believe the memoirs to be a forgery.[http://www.btinternet.com/~m.royden/mrlhp/local/hitlerinliverpool/hitlerinliverpool.htm] [http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/myths_legends/england/liverpool/user_1_index.shtml] The maiden voyage of Titanic was originally planned for Liverpool, but relocated to Southampton — this is often a point of confusion — no part of Titanic was actually constructed in Liverpool. Aside from the large Irish community in Liverpool, there were other pockets of cultural diversity. The area of Gerard, Hunter, Lionel and Whale streets, off Scotland Road, was referred to as Little Italy. Inspired by an old Venetian custom, Liverpool was 'married to the sea' in September 1928. Liverpool was also home to a large Welsh population and was sometimes referred to as the Capital of North Wales. In 1884, 1900 and 1929, Eisteddfod were held in Liverpool. The population of the city exceeded 850,000 in 1930. During World War II there were eighty air-raids on Merseyside, with an especially concentrated series of raids in May 1941 which interrupted operations at the docks for almost a week. Although 'only' 2,500 people were killed, almost half the homes in the metropolitan area sustained some damage and 11,000 were totally destroyed. John Lennon, one of the founding members of The Beatles, was born in Liverpool during an air-raid on October 9, 1940. Significant rebuilding followed the war, including massive housing estates and the Seaforth Dock, the largest dock project in Britain. However, the city has been suffering since the 1950s with the loss of numerous employers. By 1985 the population had fallen to 460,000. Declines in manufacturing and dock activity struck the city particularly hard. Seaforth Dock In the 1960s Liverpool became a centre of youth culture. The city produced the distinctive Merseybeat sound, and, most famously, The Beatles. From the 1970s onwards Liverpool's docks and traditional manufacturing industries went into sharp decline. The advent of containerization meant that Liverpool's docks became largely obsolete. Historically Liverpool was part of Lancashire, it became a county borough in 1888. In 1974, it became a metropolitan district within the newly created metropolitan county of Merseyside. The 1980s saw Liverpool's fortunes sink to their lowest point. In the early 1980s unemployment rates in Liverpool were amongst the highest in the UK. In 1981 the infamous Toxteth Riots took place, during which, for the first time in the UK outside Northern Ireland, tear gas was used by police against civilians. Liverpool City Council was taken over by the far-left wing Militant group during the 1980s, under the de facto leadership of Derek Hatton (although Hatton was formally only Deputy Leader). The city council sank heavily into debt, as the City Council fought a campaign to prevent central government from reducing funding for local services. Ultimately this led to 49 of the City's Councillors being removed from office by the unelected District Auditor, for refusing to make staff redundant or remove council services to reduce their spending. In 1989, 96 Liverpool fans died and many more were severely injured in the Hillsborough disaster at a football game in Sheffield. This had a traumatic effect on people in both cities, and resulted in legally imposed changes in the way in which football fans have since been accommodated. In particular this led to strong feeling in Liverpool because it was widely reported in the media that the Liverpool fans were at fault. It has since become clear that South Yorkshire Police made a range of mistakes at the game, though the senior officer in charge of the event retired soon after. A similar outpouring of grief and shock occurred in 1993 when two year-old James Bulger was killed by two ten year-old boys, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. And again over the murders of Kenneth Bigley in 2004 and Anthony Walker in 2005. In recent years, the city has emphasised its cultural attractions, winning the accolade of European City of Culture for 2008. Capitalising on the popularity of the 1960s pop group The Beatles and other groups of the Merseybeat era, tourism has also become a significant factor in Liverpool's economy. A general economic and civic revival has been underway since the mid-nineties. For all of this period Liverpool's economy has grown faster than the national average and crime levels have remained lower than most other metropolitan areas in England and Wales, with recorded crime per head in Merseyside comparable to the national average — unusually low for an urban area.

Culture

nineties Inhabitants of Liverpool are referred to as "Liverpudlians" and nicknamed "Scousers", though this term is often (erroneously) used to cover other Merseysiders. They are noted for their distinctive accent and dialect, called Scouse. Liverpool has a vibrant artistic life. Several pre-Raphaelites are among the important paintings in the Walker Art Gallery. Sudley House contains another major collection of pre 20th century art. [http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/] The Tate Liverpool gallery houses the modern art collection of the Tate in the north of England. The Liverpool Biennial is a festival of arts held (as the name implies) every two years. The festival generally runs from mid September to late November and comprises three main sections; the International, The Independents and New Contemporaries although many fringe events are timed to coincide.[http://www.biennial.org.uk/] A flourishing orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra performs in its own hall, the Philharmonic Hall. The city also became well known for the Liverpool poets, of whom Adrian Henri and Roger McGough are among the best known. The city is also home to several successful theatre companies — The Everyman & Playhouse [http://www.everymanplayhouse.com/] as well as The Unity Theatre [http://www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk/]. Unity Theatre] In 2003, Liverpool became European Capital of Culture for 2008 and started a £750 million regeneration of the city centre. A proposed tram system, Merseytram, was in development, but was cancelled in November 2005 due to spiralling costs. Liverpool has two Premier League football clubs — Everton F.C. at Goodison Park and Liverpool F.C.aka scousers at Anfield which is a stadium. Over the water at Tranmere are Tranmere Rovers F.C..

Important landmarks and buildings

Tranmere Rovers F.C. Tranmere Rovers F.C. The built environment of Liverpool contains over 2,500 listed buildings (26 Grade I and 85 Grade II
- ) it is the inheritance of high-minded public spirit since the later 18th century, largely with Dissenter impetus, that has resulted in more public sculpture than in any UK city aside from Westminster, more listed buildings than any city apart from London and, surprisingly, more Georgian houses than the City of Bath. In 2004 Liverpool's waterfront was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the justification is Liverpool's importance in the development of world trading system and dock technology. Amongst its superlatives: Liverpool has the largest panel of stained glass in the world (in Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral), the largest brick building in the world, and the first enclosed integrated dock system in the world. The Anglican Cathedral has the longest nave, largest organ and heaviest and highest peal of bells in the world. Architects well represented in Liverpool: Giles Gilbert Scott, Peter Ellis, Harvey Lonsdale Elmes, and John Foster. Sir Edwin Lutyens is represented by the completed crypt of his projected Metropolitan Cathedral, which was built to a simpler design by Frederick Gibberd.
- Albert Dock
- Bluecoat Arts Centre
- Cast Iron Shore
- Cunard Building
- Lime Street Station
- Royal Liver Building
- Liverpool John Moores University
- Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
- Liverpool University
- Merseyside Maritime Museum
- Museum of Liverpool Life
- Oriel Chambers design by Peter Ellis.
- The Philharmonic Dining Rooms
- Pier Head
- Port of Liverpool Building
- Quiggins
- St George’s Hall
- Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse
- The Beatles Story
- Town-Hall
- Walker Art Gallery
- Wellington's Column
- William Brown Library
- Williamson's tunnels Williamson's tunnels Williamson's tunnels Williamson's tunnels]

Theatres

- Empire
- Everyman
- Neptune
- Philharmonic Hall
- The Playhouse
- Royal Court
- Unity

Ritual sites

- Greek Orthodox Church of St Nicholas
- Gustav Adolfus Kyrka The Swedish Seamen's Church.
- Liverpool Cathedral (Anglican)
- Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King (Roman Catholic),
- Princes Road Synagogue
- Church of St Luke, Liverpool
- Church of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas the seafarers church and Liverpool parish church.

Education

In Liverpool primary education is available in various forms supported by the state include secular, Church of England, Islamic, Jewish and Roman Catholic. Currently no specific Islamic secondary education is provided. One of Liverpool important early schools was The Liverpool Blue Coat School was founded in 1708 as a charitable school, it continues today. Liverpool College[http://www.liverpoolcollege.org.uk/] is the leading private school. Another of Liverpool's notable senior schools is St. Edward's College, a former private high school located in West Derby. Liverpool has three universities, the University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University and Liverpool Hope University. It also has a university college, Edge Hill College of Higher Education, which has re-located to Ormskirk in South-West Lancashire. Liverpool John Moores University is one of the polytechnics given university status in 1992 and is named after the owner of the Littlewoods retail group. The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine was founded to address some of the problems created by trade, today it continues as a post graduate school and is one of only two institutions on planet Earth that house the de facto standard anti-venom respository. The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts which was set up by Sir Paul McCartney in 1996, to train artistes and technicians, in the building which formerly housed the Liverpool Institute for Boys.

Transport

There are three tunnels under the River Mersey: one railway tunnel, the Mersey Railway Tunnel, and two road tunnels, Queensway Tunnel and Kingsway Tunnel. There is also the Mersey Ferry, made famous by the song Ferry Cross the Mersey by Gerry and the Pacemakers. In fact the song is now played on the ferryboats themselves every time they prepare to dock at Liverpool. In 2001, Speke Airport was renamed Liverpool John Lennon Airport, in honour of the late Beatle John Lennon. The airport's logo consists of a sketch that Lennon had drawn of himself, and the words "Above us only sky", lyrics from his song "Imagine". The airport was the starting point for many Beatles tours in the sixities, and image of the boys boarding planes there were seen throughout the world.In 2002 716,000 passengers used the Port of Liverpool, with the Isle of Man and Ireland being the two most important passenger routes. Liverpool has a train system called Merseyrail, the sections in the city centre are mostly underground. The lines terminate at Southport, Ormskirk, Kirkby, Hunts Cross, Ellesmere Port, West Kirby, New Brighton and Chester. The inner loop from Edge Hill station to Kirkdale, no longer carries passenger services and Liverpool Overhead Railway has long since disappeared. Liverpool once possessed a very integrated transport system, until the deregulation of bus and rail services which started in 1986. In 2001 a plan to build a light rail system, Merseytram, was developed, which would have been the first since the city's tram system was dismantled in the 1950s; however the Merseytram concept was cancelled by the government in 2005 because of increasing costs.

Famous Liverpudlians

A great many famous names have been associated with Liverpool; for a list, see List of famous people from Liverpool.

Media

The city has two daily newspapers: the Liverpool Daily Post in the morning and the evening Liverpool Echo, both published by the same company. The Daily Post, especially, serves a wider area, including north Wales. Broadcast media include BBC Radio Merseyside, Juice FM and Radio City as well as Magic 1548. The last two are both based in St. John's Beacon which dominates the [http://www.liverpoolskyline.co.uk/ Liverpool Skyline]. The local television station is [http://www.itv.com/granada ITV Granada], based on the city's waterfront. The independent media organisation [http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/liverpool Indymedia] also covers Liverpool.

Economy

The economy of Liverpool is beginning to recover from its long post WWII decline. Between 1995 and 2001 GVA per head grew at 6.3% annum. This compared with 5.8% for inner London and 5.7% for Bristol. The rate of Jobs growth was 9.2% compared with a national average of 4.9% for the same period, 1998-2002. Like the rest of the United Kingdom the city has seen a large growth in service industries and has several major call centres. The activities of the port have left the site with a communications infrastructure that had for a long time exceeded requirements. Growth in the areas of New Media has been helped by the existence of a relatively large Computer game development community. Tourism is a major factor in the economy and will be of increasing importance in the run up to the Liverpool years as European Capital of Culture. This has led to a great increase in the provision of high quality services such as Hotels, restaurants and clubs. The buildings of Liverpool not only attract tourists but also film makers, who regularly use Liverpool to double for many cities around the worlds and making it the second most filmed city in the UK.

Films set in Liverpool

- The Magnet (1950) filmed in New Brighton & Liverpool
- Violent Playground (1958)
- Ferry 'Cross The Mersey (1965) Gerry & The Pacemakers
- Gumshoe (1972) starring Albert Finney
- Letter to Brezhnev (1985).
- Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
- Dancin' Thru the Dark (1990)
- The Long Day Closes (1992)
- Three Businessmen (1999)
- Liam (2000)
- Going Off Big Time (2000)
- Revengers Tragedy (2002)
- The 51st State (2002)

Districts of Liverpool

Parliamentary constituencies

:See also: List of Parliamentary constituencies on Merseyside
- Liverpool Garston
- Liverpool Riverside
- Liverpool Walton
- Liverpool Wavertree
- Liverpool West Derby

External links

- [http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/ Liverpool City Council]
- [http://www.liverpoolpictorial.co.uk/ Liverpool Pictorial]
- [http://www.liverpool08.com/root/index.asp Liverpool: European Capital of Culture 2008]
- [http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=1150 UNESCO citation]
- [http://www.mersey-gateway.org/ Port Cities Liverpool]
- [http://members.ispwest.com/ronsmith/liverpool/intro.htm Ron's Liverpool]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/localhistory/journey/american_connection/alabama/bulloch_liverpool.shtml CSS Alabama]
- [http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cgi?client=public&X=344685&Y=386052&width=700&height=410&gride=334580.994651215&gridn=390838.420417347&srec=0&coordsys=gb&db=freegaz&pc=&zm=0&out.x=4&out.y=12&scale=100000 MultiMap Aerial Photograph]
- [http://www.lmu.livjm.ac.uk/lhol/ Liverpool John Moores University History Project]
- [http://www.merseyside.com/streets/ Liverpool street index] Category:Cities in England Category:Coastal cities Liverpool, U.K. Category:World Heritage Sites in England Category:Metropolitan boroughs ja:リヴァプール

England

:For an explanation of often-confusing terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology). England is a nation and the largest and most populous constituent country of the United Kingdom accounting for more than 83% of the total UK population. It occupies most of the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and shares land borders with fellow home nations Scotland, to the north, and Wales, to the west. Elsewhere, it is bordered by the sea. England is named after the Angles, one of a number of Germanic tribes believed to have originated in Angeln in Northern Germany, who settled in England in the 5th and 6th centuries. It has not had a distinct political identity since 1707, when Great Britain was established as a unified political entity; however, it has a legal identity separate from those of Scotland and Northern Ireland, as part of the entity "England and Wales;". England's largest city, London, is also the capital of the United Kingdom.

History

Main article: History of England England has been inhabited for at least 500,000 years, although the repeated Ice Ages made much of Britain uninhabitable for extended periods until as recently as 20,000 years ago. Stone Age hunter-gatherers eventually gave way to farmers and permanent settlements, with a spectacular and sophisticated megalithic civilisation arising in western England some 4,000 years ago. It was replaced around 1,500 years later by Celtic tribes migrating from Western and continental Europe, mainly from France. These tribes were known collectively as "Britons", a name bestowed by Phoenician traders — an indication of how, even at this early date, the island was part of a Europe-wide trading network. The Britons were significant players in continental politics and supported their allies in Gaul militarily during the Gallic Wars with the Roman Republic. This prompted the Romans to invade and subdue the island, first with Julius Caesar's raid in 55 BC, and then the Emperor Claudius' conquest in the following century. The whole southern part of the island — roughly corresponding to modern day England and Wales — became a prosperous part of the Roman Empire. It was finally abandoned early in the 5th century when a weakening Empire pulled back its legions to defend borders on the Continent. Unaided by the Roman army, Roman Britannia could not long resist the Germanic tribes who arrived in the 5th and 6th centuries, enveloping the majority of modern day England in a new culture and language and pushing Romano-British rule back into modern-day Wales and western extremities of England, notably Cornwall and Cumbria. Others emigrated across the channel to modern-day Brittany, thus giving it its name and language (Breton). But many of the Romano-British remained in and were assimilated into the newly "English" areas. The invaders fell into three main groups: the Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles. As they became more civilised, recognisable states formed and began to merge with one another. (The most well-known state of affairs being the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy.) From time to time throughout this period, one Anglo-Saxon king, recognised as the "Bretwalda" by other rulers, had effective control of all or most of the English; so it is impossible to identify the precise moment when the Kingdom of England was unified. In some sense, real unity came as a response to the Danish Viking incursions which occupied the eastern half of "England" in the 8th century. Egbert, King of Wessex (d. 839) is often regarded as the first king of all the English, although the title "King of England" was first adopted, two generations later, by Alfred the Great (ruled 871–899). The principal legacy left behind in those territories from which the language of the Britons were displaced is that of toponyms. Many of the place-names in England and to a lesser extent Scotland are derived from celtic British names, including London, Dumbarton, York, Dorchester, Dover and Colchester. Several place-name elements are thought to be wholly or partly Brythonic in origin, particularly bre-, bal-, and -dun for hills, carr for a high rocky place, coomb for a small deep valley. Until recently it has been believed that those areas settled by the Anglo-Saxons were uninhabited at the time or the Britons had fled before them. However, genetic studies show that the British were not pushed out to the Celtic fringes – many tribes remained in what was to become England (see C. Capelli et al. A Y chromosome census of the British Isles. Current Biology 13, 979–984, (2003)). Capelli's findings strengthen the research of Steven Bassett of the University of Birmingham; his work during the 1990s suggests that much of the West Midlands was only very lightly colonised with Anglian and Saxon settlements.

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,—
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

William Shakespeare
Richard II (Act 2, Scene 1)

The English are great lovers of themselves, and of everything belonging to them; they think that there are no other men than themselves, and no other world but England; and whenever they see a handsome foreigner, they say that 'he looks like an Englishman', and that 'it is a great pity that he should not be an Englishmen'.

Venetian ambassador to England
Early 16th century
Charlotte Augusta Sneyd
Italian Relations of England (p. 20)

Richard II] Richard II] In 1066, William the Conqueror and the Normans conquered the existing Kingdom of England and instituted an Anglo-Norman administration and nobility who, retaining proto-French as their language for the next three hundred years, ruled as custodians over English commoners. Although the language and racial distinctions faded rapidly during the middle ages, the class system born in the Norman/Saxon divide persisted longer — arguably with traces lasting to the modern day. While Old English continued to be spoken by common folk, Norman feudal lords significantly influenced the language with French words and customs being adopted over the succeeding centuries evolving to a Romance-Germanic hybrid of Middle English widely spoken in Chaucer's time. England came repeatedly into conflict with Wales and Scotland, at the time an independent principality and an independent kingdom respectively, as its rulers sought to expand Norman power across the entire island of Britain. The conquest of Wales was achieved in the 13th century, when it was annexed to England and gradually came to be a part of that kingdom for most legal purposes, although in the modern era it is more usually thought of as a separate nation (fielding, for example, its own athletic teams). Norman power in Scotland waxed and waned over the years, with the Scots managing to maintain a varying degree of independence despite repeated wars with the English. Although it was on the whole only a moderately successful power in military terms, England became one of the wealthiest states in medieval Europe, due chiefly to its dominance in the lucrative wool market. The failure of English territorial ambitions in continental Europe prompted the kingdom's rulers to look further afield, creating the foundations of the mercantile and colonial network that was to become the British Empire. The turmoil of the Reformation embroiled England in religious wars with Europe's Catholic powers, notably Spain, but the kingdom preserved its independence as much through luck as through the skill of charismatic rulers such as Elizabeth I. Elizabeth's successor, James I was already king of Scotland (as James VI); and this personal union of the two crowns into the crown of Great Brittaine was followed a century later by the Act of Union 1707, which formally unified England, Scotland and Wales into the Kingdom of Great Britain. This later became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801 to 1927) and then the modern state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1927 to present) For post-unification history, see history of the United Kingdom.

Politics

Main article: Politics of the United Kingdom, Government of England Since the promulgation of the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan and the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542, Wales has shared a legal identity with England as the joint entity of England and Wales. The Act of Union with the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 created the Kingdom of Great Britain, subsuming England, Wales and Scotland into a single political entity. Scotland, along with Northern Ireland, retain separate legal systems. The duchy of Cornwall also retains some unique rights. All of Great Britain has been ruled by the government of the United Kingdom since that date, although in 1999 the first elections to the newly created Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales left England as the only part of the Union with no devolved assembly or parliament. As all legislation for England is passed by Parliament at Westminster there are some complaints about the ability of non-English Members of Parliament to influence purely English affairs. This apparent anomaly has been highlighted by both English and non-English politicians, often those opposed to devolution, and has become popularly known as the West Lothian question. Administratively, England is something of an anomaly within the UK. Unlike the other three nations, it has no local parliament or government and its administrative affairs are dealt with by a combination of the UK government, the UK parliament and a number of England-specific quangos, such as English Heritage. There are calls from some for a devolved English Parliament and from others for the dissolution of the UK and an independent England. The current Labour government favoured the establishment of regional administration, claiming that England was too large to be governed as a sub-state entity. A referendum on this issue in North East England on 4 November 2004 decisively rejected the proposal. Some criticised the English regional proposals for not decentralising enough, saying that they amounted not to devolution, but to little more than local government reorganisation, with no real power being removed from central government. The English regions would not even have had the limited powers of the Welsh Assembly, much less the tax-varying and legislative powers of the Scottish Parliament. Rather, power was simply re-allocated within the region, with little new resource allocation and no real prospects of Assemblies being able to change the pattern of regional aid. Responsibility for regional transport was added to the proposals late in the process. This was perhaps crucial in the North East, where resentment at the Barnett Formula, which delivers greater regional aid to adjacent Scotland, was a significant impetus for the North East devolution campaign. There has also been a campaign for a Cornish assembly along Welsh lines by groups such as Mebyon Kernow, which recently collected 50,000 signatures in support. Some eurosceptics believe that the establishment of English regions as administrative entities is designed to undermine the concept of English nationhood and more easily fit England into a European federal model. Conventionally the national capital of England is London, although technically it would be more exact to call London the capital of "England and Wales" given England's lack of a distinctive political identity separate from the Principality. Winchester served as the country's first national capital until some time in the late 11th century after the Norman Conquest. The City of London became England's commercial capital, while the City of Westminster (where the Royal court was located) became the political capital. These roles have, broadly speaking, been maintained to the present day.

Subdivisions

Main article: Subdivisions of England Historically, the highest level of local government in England was the county. These divisions had emerged from a range of units of old, pre-unification England, whether they were Kingdoms, such as Essex and Sussex; Duchies, such as Yorkshire, Cornwall and Lancashire or simply tracts of land given to some noble, as is the case with Berkshire. Until 1867, they were subdivided into smaller divisions called hundreds. These counties all still exist in, or near to, their original form as the traditional counties. In many places, however, they have been heavily modified or abolished outright as administrative counties. This came about due to a number of factors. The fact that the counties were so small meant, and still means, that there was no regional government able to coordinate an overarching plan for the area. This was especially true in the metropolitan areas surrounding the cities, as the county lines were usually drawn up before the industrial revolution and the mass urbanisation of England. The solution was the creation of large metropolitan counties centred on cities. These were later broken up, with several other counties, into unitary authorities, unifying the county and district/borough levels of government. London is a special case, and is the one region which currently has a representative authority as well as a directly elected mayor. The 32 London boroughs and the Corporation of London remain the local form of government in the city. Other than Greater London, the official regions are:
- North East England
- North West England
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- West Midlands
- East Midlands
- East of England
- South West England
- South East England Outside London the regions have very little power and are not accountable to elected representatives; regional authority is placed in the hands of unelected assemblies. If, as now seems unlikely, regions opt to replace these bodies with elected assemblies, local government in England will remain as variable and, some might say, as confusing as ever

Geography

Main articles: Geography of the United Kingdom, Geography of England Geography of England England comprises the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain, plus offshore islands of which the largest is the Isle of Wight. It is bordered to the north by Scotland and to the west by Wales. It is closer to continental Europe than any other part of Britain, divided from France only by a 38 km (24 statute mile or 21 nautical mile) sea gap. Most of England consists of rolling hills, but it is more mountainous in the north with a chain of low mountains, the Pennines, dividing east and west. The dividing line between terrain types is usually indicated by the Tees-Exe line. There is also an area of flat, low-lying marshland in the east, much of which has been drained for agricultural use. The list of England's largest cities is much debated because in British English the normal meaning of city is "a continuously built-up urban area"; these are hard to define and various other definitions are preferred by some people to boost the ranking of their own city. London is by far the largest English city. Manchester and Birmingham vie for second place. A number of other cities, mainly in the north of England, are of substantial size and influence. These include: Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Nottingham, Bristol and Sheffield Using the standard U.S. city limits definition of a city the top six are: Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Liverpool and Manchester. Note that London is not on this list (Greater London is a region and the City of London is tiny), and that one of the two candidates for the status of England's "second city", Manchester, is down in sixth. In the UK, this method of ranking cities is generally used only by people whose own city is promoted by it. The Channel Tunnel, near Folkestone, links England to the European mainland. The English/French border is halfway along the tunnel. The largest harbour in England is at Poole, on the south-central coast. Internationally, it is the second largest harbour in the world, although this fact is disputed (See harbors for a list of other potential second largest harbours) The highest temperature ever recorded in England is 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) on August 10, 2003 in Kent. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3153532.stm]. The lowest temperature ever recorded in England is -26.1 °C (-15.0 °F) on January 10, 1982 at Newport in Shropshire. [http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/location/england/#temperature]

Major rivers

Shropshire.]]
- Thames
- Severn
- Trent
- Humber
- Yorkshire Ouse
- Tyne
- Mersey
- Dee
- Avon Main article: Waterways in the United Kingdom

Major Conurbations

:See main article: List of towns in England The largest cities in England are much debated but according to the urban area populations (continuous built up areas) these would be the 15 largest conurbations. (Population figures taken from 2001 census) #Greater London (8,278,251) #West Midlands (2,284,093) #Greater Manchester (2,244,931) #Leeds/Bradford (1,499,465) #Tyneside (879,996) #Liverpool (816,216) #Nottingham (666,358) #Sheffield (640,720) #Bristol (551,066) #Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton (461,181) #Portsmouth (442,252) #Leicester (441,213) #Bournemouth/Poole (383,713) #Reading (369,804) #Teesside (365,323)

Economy

Main article: Economy of England

Demographics

Main articles: Demographics of England, Population of England England is both the most populous and the most ethnically diverse nation in the United Kingdom with around 49 million inhabitants, of which roughly a tenth are from non-White ethnic groups. It is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe, second only to the Netherlands. This population is made up of, and descended from, immigrants who have arrived over millennia. The principal waves of migration have been in c. 600 BC (Celts), the Roman period (garrison soldiers from throughout the Empire), 350–550 (Angles, Saxons, Jutes), 800–900 (Vikings, Danes), 1066 (Normans), 1650–1750 (European refugees and Huguenots), 1840–1850 (Irish), 1880–1940 (Irish, Jews), 1950— (Irish, Caribbeans, Africans, South Asians), 1985— (citizens of European Community member states especially