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Charles Letts
Lionel Edgar Charles Letts British Empire Medal, BEM (15 August 1918 – 23 October 2013) was an English entrepreneur notable for a 75-year career in Southeast Asia during which he took a role on the boards of more than 90 listed companies, survived torture, multiple escape attempts and a death sentence as a Japanese Prisoner of War and acted as a spy on behalf of the British Secret Intelligence Service. Personal life Letts was born in the English village of Send, Surrey, Send two months before the end of World War I, the son of Frederick James Letts, a hairdresser, and Eva Catherine Watts. While a Staff Captain in the Army he married Cecilia Monro on 29 December 1945 in Bangkok, Thailand. Military career Letts fought with the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War and with the Free Thai Movement during World War II Business career Letts played a significant role in the sale of British owned assets in Southeast Asia during the period after World War II, in the proc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Send, Surrey
Send is a village and civil parish in the Guildford borough of the English county of Surrey. Send acquired its name during the Great Vowel Shift from the word sand, which was extracted at various periods until the 1990s for construction and other purposes at pits in the outskirts of the parish. The north of Send is at the southern-eastern edge of the Bagshot Formation. Send is buffered by Metropolitan Green Belt from other villages and towns except for the Grove Heath neighbourhood of Ripley. A rural band of the village adjoins the River Wey including Cartbridge and Send Marsh – this land has been drained and the river tamed by sluices, the Broadmead Cut and the Wey Navigation. The vast majority of the built-up areas are not within an area of flood risk. Between the river and the navigation, in the far north of the parish, are the Papercourt and Broad Mead SSSIs. History Send appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Sande''. It was held by Rainald (Reginald) from Alvred de M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free Thai Movement
The Free Thai Movement ( th, เสรีไทย; ) was a Thai underground resistance movement against Imperial Japan during World War II. Seri Thai were an important source of military intelligence for the Allies in the region. Background In the aftermath of the Japanese invasion of Thailand on 7–8 December 1941, the regime of Plaek Phibunsongkhram (Phibun) declared war on the United Kingdom and the United States on 25 January 1942. Seni Pramoj, the Thai ambassador in Washington, refused to deliver the declaration to the United States government. Accordingly, the United States refrained from declaring war on Thailand. Seni, a conservative aristocrat whose anti-Japanese credentials were well established, organized the Free Thai Movement with American assistance, recruiting Thai students in the United States to work with the United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS). The OSS trained Thai personnel for underground activities, and units were readied to infiltrate Thail ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1918 Births
This year is noted for the end of the World War I, First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – 1918 flu pandemic: The "Spanish flu" (influenza) is first observed in Haskell County, Kansas. * January 4 – The Finnish Declaration of Independence is recognized by Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia, Sweden, German Empire, Germany and France. * January 9 – Battle of Bear Valley: U.S. troops engage Yaqui people, Yaqui Native American warriors in a minor skirmish in Arizona, and one of the last battles of the American Indian Wars between the United States and Native Americans. * January 15 ** The keel of is laid in Britain, the first purpose-designed aircraft carrier to be laid down. ** The Red Army (The Workers and Peasants Red Army) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Kidney Foundation Singapore
The National Kidney Foundation Singapore (NKF) is a non-profit health organisation in Singapore. Its mission is to render services to kidney patients, encourage and promote renal research, as well as to carry out public education programs on kidney diseases. As of February 2016, NKF has 29 dialysis centres in Singapore. History Early years NKF was founded in the early 1960s, after nephrologist Prof. Khoo Oon Teik witnessed many people suffering from kidney failure, including his own brother, Reverend Khoo Oon Eng. During that time, about 200 Singaporeans were dying each year from kidney failure. As a result, Prof. Khoo was determined to set up a National Kidney Foundation to help needy kidney patients. NKF was inaugurated on 7 April 1969, on World Health Day, by President Yusof Ishak. Opening of satellite dialysis centres In September 1982, NKF officially opened its first dialysis centre at the Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital. However, due to insufficient resources, it could only ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Norwegian Order Of Merit
The Royal Norwegian Order of Merit (Norwegian: ''Den Kongelige Norske Fortjenstorden'' (Bokmål) or ''Den Kongelege Norske Fortenesteordenen'' (Nynorsk)) was instituted by King Olav V in 1985. It is awarded to foreigners, Norwegian citizens living abroad, Ministry of Foreign Affairs diplomats, foreign civil servants in Norway, and Norway's honorary consuls for "outstanding service in the interests of Norway". Its counterpart, the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav, is generally only awarded to Norwegian citizens living in Norway. Structure and insignia The reigning monarch, King Harald V, is the Grand Master of the Order. The order has five grades: Grand Cross, Commander (which is further subdivided into Commander with Star and Commander), and Knight (which is further subdivided into Knight 1st Class and Knight).According to Norwegian denomination The Order is characterized by a ribbon of deep blue moiré. The Grand Cross is worn on a broad sash that hangs over the right shoulde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Greek ''hippeis'' and '' hoplite'' (ἱππεῖς) and Roman '' eques'' and ''centurion'' of classical antiquity. In the Early Middle Ages in Europe, knighthood was conferred upon mounted warriors. During the High Middle Ages, knighthood was considered a class of lower nobility. By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior. Often, a knight was a vassal who served as an elite fighter or a bodyguard for a lord, with payment in the form of land holdings. The lords trusted the knights, who were skilled in battle on horseback. Knighthood in the Middle Ages was closely linked with horsemanship (and especially the joust) from its origins in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Order Of The Southern Cross
Emperor Pedro I of Brazil founded the National Order of the Southern Cross ( pt, Ordem Nacional do Cruzeiro do Sul) as a Brazilian order of chivalry on 1 December 1822. The order aimed to commemorate the independence of Brazil (7 September 1822) and the coronation of Pedro I (1 December 1822). The name derives from the geographical position of the country, under the constellation of the Southern Cross and also in memory of the name – ''Terra de Santa Cruz'' (Land of the Holy Cross) – given to Brazil following its first invasion by Europeans in 1500. History Originally known as the Imperial Order of the Cross (''Ordem Imperial do Cruzeiro''), the Order was created by Emperor Pedro I on the day of his Coronation, 1 December 1822. Also on the same date the first knights of the order were appointed, to commemorate the crowning of the Empire's first monarch. After the proclamation of the independence of Brazil on 7 September 1822 other honorific awards had been made, but of the O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was founded by Arthur B. Sleigh in 1855 as ''The Daily Telegraph & Courier''. Considered a newspaper of record over ''The Times'' in the UK in the years up to 1997, ''The Telegraph'' generally has a reputation for high-quality journalism, and has been described as being "one of the world's great titles". The paper's motto, "Was, is, and will be", appears in the editorial pages and has featured in every edition of the newspaper since 19 April 1858. The paper had a circulation of 363,183 in December 2018, descending further until it withdrew from newspaper circulation audits in 2019, having declined almost 80%, from 1.4 million in 1980.United Newspapers PLC and Fleet Holdings PLC', Monopolies and Mergers Commission (1985), pp. 5–16. Its si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira. It features the westernmost point in continental Europe, and its Iberian portion is bordered to the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and east by Spain, the sole country to have a land border with Portugal. Its two archipelagos form two autonomous regions with their own regional governments. Lisbon is the capital and largest city by population. Portugal is the oldest continuously existing nation state on the Iberian Peninsula and one of the oldest in Europe, its territory having been continuously settled, invaded and fought over since prehistoric times. It was inhabited by pre-Celtic and Celtic peoples who had contact with Phoenicians and Ancient Greek traders, it was ruled by the Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area and the seventh most populous. Its capital is Brasília, and its most populous city is São Paulo. The federation is composed of the union of the 26 States of Brazil, states and the Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. It is the largest country to have Portuguese language, Portuguese as an List of territorial entities where Portuguese is an official language, official language and the only one in the Americas; one of the most Multiculturalism, multicultural and ethnically diverse nations, due to over a century of mass Immigration to Brazil, immigration from around the world; and the most populous Catholic Church by country, Roman Catholic-majority country. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a Coastline of Brazi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Consul (representative)
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people of the two countries. A consul is distinguished from an ambassador, the latter being a representative from one head of state to another, but both have a form of immunity. There can be only one ambassador from one country to another, representing the first country's head of state to that of the second, and their duties revolve around diplomatic relations between the two countries; however, there may be several consuls, one in each of several major cities, providing assistance with bureaucratic issues to both the citizens of the consul's own country traveling or living abroad and to the citizens of the country in which the consul resides who wish to travel to or trade with the consul's country. A less common usage is an administrative con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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