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Bollocks To Alton Towers
''Bollocks to Alton Towers: Uncommonly British Days Out'' () is a humorous travel book written by Robin Halstead, Jason Hazeley, Alex Morris, and Joel Morris (the creators of '' The Framley Examiner''), which showcases unusual attractions, left-field museums and one-off days out in the United Kingdom. The introduction describes the book as "a collection of the underdogs of British tourism... hatsay more about Britain and the British than any number of corkscrew thrill rides or high-tech Interactive Visitor Experiences." The book was published in hardback by Michael Joseph Ltd (an imprint of the Penguin Group) in 2005. It was also published in paperback by Penguin Books in 2006. The book received favourable reviews from ''The Times'', ''The Press'', and ''The Daily Telegraph''. A sequel, titled ''Far From the Sodding Crowd'', was published in hardback in 2007. A paperback edition, ''More Bollocks to Alton Towers'', () was published in April 2008. A short documentary, ''Far F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bollocks To Alton Towers Bookcover
''Bollocks'' () is a word of Middle English origin, meaning " testicles". The word is often used figuratively in British English and Hiberno-English in a multitude of negative ways; it most commonly appears as a noun meaning "rubbish" or "nonsense", an expletive following a minor accident or misfortune, or an adjective to describe something that is of poor quality or useless. It is also used in common phrases like "bollocks to this", which is said when quitting a task or job that is too difficult or negative, and "that's a load of old bollocks", which generally indicates contempt for a certain subject or opinion. Conversely, the word also appears in positive phrases such as "the dog's bollocks" or more simply "the bollocks", which will refer to something which is admired or well-respected. Etymology The '' Oxford English Dictionary'' (OED) gives examples of its usage dating back to the 13th century. One of the early references is Wycliffe's Bible (1382), Leviticus xxii, 24: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EastEnders
''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the programme follows the stories of local residents and their families as they go about their daily lives. Within eight months of the show's original launch, it had reached the number one spot in Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, BARB's television ratings and has consistently remained among the top-rated series in Britain. Four ''EastEnders'' episodes are listed in the all-time top 10 List of most watched television broadcasts in the United Kingdom#Most watched programmes, most-watched programmes in the UK, including the number one spot when over 30 million watched the 1986 Christmas Day episode. ''EastEnders'' has been EastEnders in popular culture, important in the history of British television drama, tackling many ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tebay Services
Tebay Services are motorway service stations on the M6 motorway in the Eden district of Cumbria, England. The northbound opened in 1972 and the southbound in 1993. They are known for their family-run business which eschews the typical facilities at British motorway services for a farm shop and buildings in keeping with the local environment. Location The services are between junctions 38 and 39, on the ascent from the Lune Valley to Shap summit. As the north and southbound carriageways diverge at this point, the two service areas are not actually adjacent to each other but a couple of hundred metres apart. The services are a mile north of junction 38, which is adjacent to the village of Tebay, although the services are in the civil parish of Orton. History Tebay West Services, which serves the northbound carriageway, opened in 1972, two years after the M6 section between Lancaster and Penrith was completed. The M6 here passes through an environmentally sensitive area, and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cast Courts (Victoria And Albert Museum)
The Cast Courts (originally called the Architectural Courts) of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, comprise two large halls. Unusually for a museum, the Cast Courts house a collection not of originals, but copies. Here are to be found reproductions of some of the most famous sculptures in the world. Most of the copies were made in the 19th century and in many cases they have better resisted the ravages of time, 20th-century pollution and over-zealous conservation than the originals. In a few cases, such as the late 15th century Lübeck relief of Christ washing the Apostles' feet, the original has been destroyed and the cast is a unique record of a lost work. History The practice of reproducing famous sculptures in plaster dates back to the sixteenth century when Leone Leoni assembled a collection of casts in Milan, he collected: "as many of the most celebrated works... carved and cast, antique and modern as he was able to obtain anywhere". Such private collections, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wellcome Collection
Wellcome Collection is a museum and library based at 183 Euston Road, London, displaying a mixture of medical artefacts and original artworks exploring "ideas about the connections between medicine, life and art". Founded in 2007, the Wellcome Collection attracts over 550,000 visitors per year. The venue offers contemporary and historic exhibitions and collections, the Wellcome Library, a café, a bookshop and conference facilities. In addition to its physical facilities, Wellcome Collection maintains a website of original articles and archived images related to health. History and development Wellcome Collection is part of the Wellcome Trust, founded by Sir Henry Solomon Wellcome (1853–1936). An extensive and enthusiastic traveller, Henry Wellcome amassed a huge collection of books, paintings and objects on the theme of historical development of medicine worldwide. There was an earlier Wellcome Historical Medical Museum at 54a Wigmore Street, housing artefacts from around t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orford Ness
Orford Ness is a cuspate foreland shingle spit on the Suffolk coast in Great Britain, linked to the mainland at Aldeburgh and stretching along the coast to Orford and down to North Weir Point, opposite Shingle Street. It is divided from the mainland by the River Alde, and was formed by longshore drift along the coast. The material of the spit comes from places further north, such as Dunwich. Near the middle point of its length, at the foreland point or 'Ness', once stood Orfordness Lighthouse, demolished in summer 2020 owing to the encroaching sea. In the name of the lighthouse (and the radio transmitting station – see below), 'Orfordness' is written as one word. Description Orford Ness is an internationally important site for nature conservation. It contains a significant portion of the European reserve of vegetated shingle habitat, which is internationally scarce, highly fragile, and very easily damaged. Together with Havergate Island the site is a designated National Nat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diggerland
Diggerland is the name of theme parks inspired by diggers and JCBs. There are four theme parks in England, and one in the United States. Diggerland is part of the H.E Services Group and Allsafety Limited. Locations There are four Diggerland theme parks in the United Kingdom located in Strood in Kent, Langley Park in County Durham, Cullompton in Devon and Castleford in West Yorkshire. In 2015 it was announced that Diggerland would open their fifth UK park in Evesham, Worcestershire, but this was delayed indefinitely in 2017. Diggerland had a temporary park in Dubai during the summer of 2005. Their 2006 plan to expand to Richmond, Virginia in the United States was stalled out by the Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At .... Diggerland expanded into t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cumberland Pencil Museum
The Derwent Pencil Museum is in Keswick, in the north-west of England. History The museum opened in 1981 and is home to one of the biggest colouring pencils in the world, the idea of technical manager Barbara Murray. The yellow pencil was completed on 28 May 2001, is long, and weighs . The first pencil factory in Keswick opened in 1832. The second and current factory was started in the 1920s and completed in 1950 (it closed in 2007 when the owners moved production to Workington). The museum now receives over 80,000 visitors a year from all around the world. It is particularly popular with visitors from the county of Yorkshire, due to the importance of pencil production for the local economy during the 1930s. The museum features as one of the locations in the 2012 film ''Sightseers''. Storm Desmond In December 2015, the museum was badly damaged by several feet of flood water when the River Greta broke its banks as a result of Storm Desmond and many artefacts were destroye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imber
Imber is an uninhabited village within the British Army's training area on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England. It lies in an isolated area of the Plain, about west of the A360 road between Tilshead and West Lavington. A linear village, its main street follows the course of a stream. Recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, Imber was always an isolated community, several miles from any market town, and most of its men worked in agriculture or related trades. Beginning in the 1890s, the Ministry of Defence slowly bought up the village, and in 1943 the whole population of about 150 was evicted to provide an exercise area for American troops preparing for the invasion of Europe during the Second World War. After the war, the villagers were not allowed to return to their homes. The area of the former parish, which is now part of the civil parish of Heytesbury, remains under the control of the Ministry of Defence despite several attempts by former residents to return. Non-militar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apollo Pavilion
The ''Apollo Pavilion'', also known as the Pasmore Pavilion, is a piece of public art in the new town of Peterlee in County Durham in the North East of England, designed by British artist and architect Victor Pasmore. It was completed in 1969. In December 2011 English Heritage gave the pavilion a Grade-II* listing. Design and construction In 1955, Victor Pasmore was appointed Consulting Director of Architectural Design of the Peterlee development corporation. He chose to design the town around a central abstract artwork and pavilion, eventually naming it the Apollo Pavilion as a reference to the optimism of the Apollo Space Program. The Pavilion is made of reinforced concrete that was cast ''in situ''. The design consists of large geometric planes of white concrete, the only decoration being two oval murals. The structure spans a small lake that frames a large geometric statue by Pasmore; in its original form, the Pavilion provided a pedestrian link between the two halves of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ursula Southeil
Ursula Southeil ( 1488 – 1561; also variously spelt as Ursula Southill, Ursula Soothtell or Ursula Sontheil), popularly known as Mother Shipton, is said to have been an English soothsayer and prophetess. She has sometimes been described as a witch and is associated with folklore involving the origin of the Rollright Stones of Oxfordshire, reportedly a king and his men transformed to stone after failing her test. William Camden reported an account of this in a rhyming version in 1610. The first known edition of her prophecies was printed in 1641, eighty years after her reported death. This timing suggests that what was published was a legendary or mythical account. It contained numerous mainly regional predictions and only two prophetic verses.''Mother Shipton's Prophecies'' (Mann, 1989) One of the most notable editions of her prophecies was published in 1684. It gave her birthplace as Knaresborough, Yorkshire, in a cave now known as Mother Shipton's Cave. The book reputed S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
