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Billy Strachan
William Arthur Watkin Strachan (16 April 1921 – 26 April 1998) was a leading British communist, pioneer of black civil rights in Britain, human rights and anti-colonial activist, charity worker, newspaper editor, and British legal expert. He is most noted for his achievements as a bomber pilot with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War, and for his reputation as a highly influential figure within Britain's black communities. As a teenager in Jamaica at the outbreak of the Second World War, Strachan sold all his possessions and travelled alone to Britain to join the RAF. He survived 33 bombing operations against Nazi Germany during a time when the average life expectancy for an RAF crew was seven operations. He survived numerous life-threatening situations including being shot by the Nazis, a training crash, the Nazi bombing of the hotel he was staying at during his honeymoon, and a near mid-air collision with Lincoln Cathedral. Rising to the rank of flight lieute ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island. In the Americas, Kingston is the largest predominantly English-speaking city in the Caribbean. The local government bodies of the parishes of Kingston and Saint Andrew were amalgamated by the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation Act of 1923, to form the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC). Greater Kingston, or the "Corporate Area" refers to those areas under the KSAC; however, it does not solely refer to Kingston Parish, which only consists of the old downtown and Port Royal. Kingston Parish had a population of 89,057, and St. Andrew Parish had a population of 573,369 in 2011 Kingston is only bordered by Saint Andrew to the east, west and north. The geographical border for the parish of K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the Indian Air Force (IAF) and RAF, and as FLTLT in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) and has sometimes also been abbreviated as F/L in many services; it has never been correctly abbreviated as "lieutenant". A flight lieutenant ranks above flying officer and below a squadron leader and is sometimes used as an English language translation of a similar rank in non-English-speaking countries. The rank originated in the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) in 1914. It fell into abeyance when the RNAS merged with the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War but was revived in 1919 in the post-war RAF. An RAF flight lieutenant is the equivalent of a lieutenant in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensive shopping district and night-time economy. The entire town had a population of 192,064 as of 2011, whilst the wider borough had a population of 384,837. Historically an ancient parish in the Wallington hundred of Surrey, at the time of the Norman conquest of England Croydon had a church, a mill, and around 365 inhabitants, as recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Croydon expanded in the Middle Ages as a market town and a centre for charcoal production, leather tanning and brewing. The Surrey Iron Railway from Croydon to Wandsworth opened in 1803 and was an early public railway. Later 19th century railway building facilitated Croydon's growth as a commuter town for London. By the early 20th century, Croydon was an important industria ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola (the island containing the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic); the British Overseas Territory of the Cayman Islands lies some to the north-west. Originally inhabited by the indigenous Taíno peoples, the island came under Spanish rule following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494. Many of the indigenous people either were killed or died of diseases, after which the Spanish brought large numbers of African slaves to Jamaica as labourers. The island remained a possession of Spain until 1655, when England (later Great Britain) conquered it, renaming it ''Jamaica''. Under British colonial rule Jamaica became a leading sugar exporter, with a plantation economy dependent on the African slaves and later their des ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from the biological parents to the adoptive parents. Unlike guardianship or other systems designed for the care of the young, adoption is intended to effect a permanent change in status and as such requires societal recognition, either through legal or religious sanction. Historically, some societies have enacted specific laws governing adoption, while others used less formal means (notably contracts that specified inheritance rights and parental responsibility (access and custody), parental responsibilities without an accompanying transfer of filiation). Modern systems of adoption, arising in the 20th century, tend to be governed by comprehensive statutes and regulations. History Antiquity ;Adoption for the well-born While the modern form o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drink Driving
Drunk driving (or drink-driving in British English) is the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. A small increase in the blood alcohol content increases the relative risk of a motor vehicle crash. In the United States, alcohol is involved in 30% of all traffic fatalities. Effects of alcohol on cognitive processes Alcohol has a very significant effect on the functions of the body which are vital to driving and being able to function. Alcohol is a depressant, which mainly affects the function of the brain. Alcohol first affects the most vital components of the brain and "when the brain cortex is released from its functions of integrating and control, processes related to judgment and behavior occur in a disorganized fashion and the proper operation of behavioral tasks becomes disrupted." Alcohol weakens a variety of skills that are necessary to perform everyday tasks. One of the main effects of alcohol is severely impairing a person's ability to shift attention ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cheddi Jagan
Cheddi Berret Jagan (22 March 1918 – 6 March 1997) was a Guyanese politician and dentist who was first elected Chief Minister in 1953 and later Premier of British Guiana from 1961 to 1964. He later served as President of Guyana from 1992 to his death in 1997. Jagan is widely regarded in Guyana as the ''Father of the Nation''.Larry Rohter"Cheddi Jagan, Guyana's Founder, Dies at 78" ''The New York Times'', 7 March 1997. In 1953, he became the first Hindu and person of Indian descent to be a head of government outside of the Indian subcontinent. Early life Cheddi Berret (Bharat) Jagan was born on 22 March 1918 in Ankerville, Port Mourant, a rural village in the county of Berbice (present-day East Berbice-Corentyne). He was the eldest of 11 children. His parents were Indians who were Kurmi Hindus that emigrated from British India to British Guiana as indentured labourers. They were both from the Basti district in the then North-Western Provinces in the Awadh and Bhojpuri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guyana
Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Brazil to the south and southwest, Venezuela to the west, and Suriname to the east. With , Guyana is the third-smallest sovereign state by area in mainland South America after Uruguay and Suriname, and is the second-least populous sovereign state in South America after Suriname; it is also one of the least densely populated countries on Earth. It has a wide variety of natural habitats and very high biodiversity. The region known as "the Guianas" consists of the large shield landmass north of the Amazon River and east of the Orinoco River known as the "land of many waters". Nine indigenous tribes reside in Guyana: the Wai Wai, Macushi, Patamona, Lokono, Kalina, Wapishana, Pemon, Akawaio and Warao. Histo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winston Pinder
Winston Pinder is a black civil rights activist, communist, and youth worker, most notable for his work alongside Billy Strachan, Claudia Jones, and his campaigns against racism in Britain. Originally from Barbados, Pinder has spent most of his life has been spent in the United Kingdom, involved in various political campaigns, trade union activities, and left-wing activism. His most notable campaigns involved the creation of Paul Robeson House in London, Kentish Town Youth Club, and raising money for the creation of Claudia Jones's grave, which is situated next to that of Karl Marx in Highgate Cemetery. Early life Born in Barbados, Winston Pinder left school to work for a telephone company after receiving the Charles Howard bursary to fund his work training. He was then sent to British Guiana, where he worked on the building of the Demerara telephone exchange, financed by the Bookers company. During his time in British Guiana, Pinder became interested in anti-colonial and trade ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cleston Taylor
Cleston Taylor (1926–2010) was a communist and Black civil rights activist, political prisoner, and trade unionist, who was most notable for his activities in Jamaica and the United Kingdom. Taylor was also a founding member of the British organisation Caribbean Labour Solidarity, and a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. He held close personal connections with many leading Black British and Caribbean civil rights leaders such as Billy Strachan, Trevor Carter, Richard Hart, and Claudia Jones. Early life Taylor was born in the year 1926 in the Jamaican parish of Saint Catherine. His mother was a house wife and his father was a peasant farmer. Taylor attended school until sixth form and travelled to the United States to find work. Taylor became attracted to communist political theory in 1945 following contact with African Americans in Toledo, Ohio, who taught him about anti-colonial struggles in Africa and how they believed that capitalism gave rise to anti-black ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorothy Kuya
Dorothy Kuya (April 1932 – 23 December 2013) was a leading British communist and human rights activist from Liverpool, the co-founder of Teachers Against Racism, and the general secretary of the National Assembly of Women (NAW). She was a life-long member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), and was most famous for being Liverpool's first community relations officer, and for leading a successful campaign to establish Liverpool's International Slavery Museum. During the mid-1980s, Kuya served as the chair of the London housing association Ujima, and built the organisation into the largest black-led social enterprise in Europe. She was described by the Director of National Museums Liverpool as "Liverpool's greatest fighter against racism and racial intolerance" and "one of the country's leading figures in combating inequality." Early life Dorothy Kuya was born in Liverpool in April 1932; her father was a black man from Sierra Leone and her mother was a white Britis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trevor Carter
Trevor Carter (October 1930 – March 2008) was a leading British communist activist, educator, and black civil rights activist, most famous for co-founding the Caribbean Teachers Association and serving as the Head of Equal Opportunities for the Inner London Education Authority. Carter was the stage manager of the first British-Caribbean Carnival, held in St Pancras Town Hall, and later a Trustee of the Notting Hill Carnival Trust. His skills within the field of education led to the first Premier of British Guiana, Cheddi Jagan, personally inviting Carter to Guiana to perform educational work. Several historians of British socialist movements have described Carter as "one of the Communist Party of Great Britain's (CPGB) most important black members" from the mid-1950s until 1991. Carter was the cousin of fellow black civil rights leader and communist activist Claudia Jones, and the husband of '' EastEnders'' actress Corinne Skinner-Carter, all of them playing essential role ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
