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Chris Clarke (croquet Player)
Chris Clarke (born 1971 in Lancashire) is an English croquet player who has been ranked among the world's top players since the late 1980s. He now represents New Zealand. Chris has won two World Championships in Association Croquet, in 1995 and again in 2008, six AC World Team Champs and one GC World Team Champs. 2008 was perhaps Chris's finest year, overtaking previous world champions Robert Fulford and Reg Bamford to regain the position of world number one player, which he held for in excess of 16 months. He also reached the semi-finals of thWCF Golf Croquet World Championships in March 2008 in Cape Town, South Africa and led the English team to the finals of th2009 European team championships. Clarke now lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. On 30 January 2008 he was married to Jenny Clarke (née Williams), who plays for New Zealand. The pair were therefore due to be on opposing sides when Great Britain played New Zealand in the 2010 MacRobertson Shield, before Clarke withdrew wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashire was created by the Local Government Act 1972. It is administered by Lancashire County Council, based in Preston, and twelve district councils. Although Lancaster is still considered the county town, Preston is the administrative centre of the non-metropolitan county. The ceremonial county has the same boundaries except that it also includes Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen, which are unitary authorities. The historic county of Lancashire is larger and includes the cities of Manchester and Liverpool as well as the Furness and Cartmel peninsulas, but excludes Bowland area of the West Riding of Yorkshire transferred to the non-metropolitan county in 1974 History Before the county During Roman times the area was part of the Bri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English People
The English people are an ethnic group and nation native to England, who speak the English language in England, English language, a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language, and share a common history and culture. The English identity is of History of Anglo-Saxon England, Anglo-Saxon origin, when they were known in Old English as the ('race or tribe of the Angles'). Their ethnonym is derived from the Angles, one of the Germanic peoples who migrated to Great Britain around the 5th century AD. The English largely descend from two main historical population groups the West Germanic tribes (the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians) who settled in southern Britain following the withdrawal of the Ancient Rome, Romans, and the Romano-British culture, partially Romanised Celtic Britons already living there.Martiniano, R., Caffell, A., Holst, M. et al. Genomic signals of migration and continuity in Britain before the Anglo-Saxons. Nat Commun 7, 10326 (2016). https://doi.org/10 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Croquet
Croquet ( or ; french: croquet) is a sport that involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops (often called "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court. Its international governing body is the World Croquet Federation. Variations There are several variations of croquet currently played, differing in the scoring systems, order of shots, and layout (particularly in social games where play must be adapted to smaller-than-standard playing courts). Two forms of the game, association croquet (AC) and golf croquet (GC), have rules that are agreed upon internationally and are played in many countries around the world. The United States has its own set of rules for domestic games. Gateball, a sport that originated in Japan under the influence of croquet, is played mainly in East and Southeast Asia and the Americas, and can also be regarded as a croquet variant. As well as club-level games, there are regular world championships and internat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Fulford (croquet Player)
Robert Ian Fulford (born 1969) is a leading English croquet player who has dominated the sport since the turn of the 1990s. Life and career Born in Colchester, England, he was educated at Colchester Royal Grammar School and Durham University followed by the University of Essex. Fulford also coaches croquet, particularly in Australia and the Chattooga Club in North Carolina. Robert has made croquet videos with Australian croquet expert Kevin Brereton in which Robert teaches both basic and advanced break tactics. He has won the world championship 5 times: *1990 at Hurlingham Club, England *1992 in Newport, USA *1994 at Carden Park, Cheshire, England *1997 at Moorabinda Croquet Club, Bunbury, Western Australia *2002 in Wellington, New Zealand Fulford has also won the President's Cup twelve times (1989, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2018), the Open Championship eleven times (1991, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2014 and 2015) and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reg Bamford
Reg Bamford (born 11 October 1967 in Cape Town, South Africa) is a croquet world champion from London, England. Although resident in England, he plays croquet for his native South Africa. Since 2001, he has dominated world croquet. He is the only player to have won both versions of the World Championships (Golf Croquet and Association Croquet) and held both titles simultaneously in 2013. He has won the Association Croquet World Croquet Championship five times (2001, 2005, 2009, 2012 and 2020), and the WCF World Golf Croquet Championship twice (2013 and 2017). He was runner-up on two occasions (2018 in AC and 2012 in GC) and semi-finalist on two occasions (2014 and 2016 in AC). He has won the British AC Open Championship 12 times and the British GC Open Championship 12 times, the premier events in the UK of each code. He is the current AC World champion. He was ranked 29th in the 100 Best Sportspeople in the World for the year 2020 bSports Media He enjoys a rivalry with Robert Fu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest (after Johannesburg). Colloquially named the ''Mother City'', it is the largest city of the Western Cape province, and is managed by the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality. The other two capitals are Pretoria, the executive capital, located in Gauteng, where the Presidency is based, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital in the Free State, where the Supreme Court of Appeal is located. Cape Town is ranked as a Beta world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. The city is known for its harbour, for its natural setting in the Cape Floristic Region, and for landmarks such as Table Mountain and Cape Point. Cape Town is home to 66% of the Western Cape's population. In 2014, Cape Town was named the best place ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini. It also completely enclaves the country Lesotho. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World, and the second-most populous country located entirely south of the equator, after Tanzania. South Africa is a biodiversity hotspot, with unique biomes, plant and animal life. With over 60 million people, the country is the world's 24th-most populous nation and covers an area of . South Africa has three capital cities, with the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government based in Pretoria, Bloemfontein, and Cape Town respectively. The largest city is Johannesburg. About 80% of the population are Black South Afri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / Ōtākaro flows through the centre of the city, with an urban park along its banks. The city's territorial authority population is people, and includes a number of smaller urban areas as well as rural areas. The population of the urban area is people. Christchurch is the second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand, after Auckland. It is the major urban area of an emerging sub-region known informally as Greater Christchurch. Notable smaller urban areas within this sub-region include Rangiora and Kaiapoi in Waimakariri District, north of the Waimakariri River, and Rolleston and Lincoln in Selwyn District to the south. The first inhabitants migrated to the area sometime between 1000 and 1250 AD. They hunted moa, which led ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country by area, covering . New Zealand is about east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps, owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland. The islands of New Zealand were the last large habitable land to be settled by humans. Between about 1280 and 1350, Polynesians began to settle in the islands and then developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight and record New Zealand. In 1840, representatives of the United Kingdom and Māori chiefs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MacRobertson International Croquet Shield
The MacRobertson International Croquet Shield is the premier croquet team event in the world. It is currently competed for by Australia, England, New Zealand and the United States. It is known affectionately as the ''MacRob'' or just the ''Mac''. The series is now played in rotation between the competing countries every three or four years. The most recent series was held in 2022 in Australia; it was won by England. History The competition is named after Australian confectionery maker and philanthropist, Sir Macpherson Robertson. In the early 1920s, Robertson played croquet as his pastime. He enlisted returned World War I veterans to take up concessions for his products and encouraged them to try croquet also, believing it to be a teaching aid for developing skills in self-discipline and risk management. Eventually, a pool of players were participating in regular tournaments. In 1925, with a growing interest in the sport, he established the MacRobertson Shield, an internationa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn
Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School (QEGS) is a co-educational free school in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. Founded in 1509 as a boys' school, it is now a co-educational independent free school with over 1200 students from ages 4 to 18. Pupils come from a very wide geographical area, from Bolton to the south and to Colne in the east. It consists of an Infant School (Reception to Year 2), Junior School (Years 3 to 6), Senior School (Years 7 to 11) and Sixth Form. History The school was founded in 1509, the first year of the reign of King Henry VIII, by Thomas Stanley, 2nd Earl of Derby, as a chantry school. It was situated adjacent to Blackburn Parish Church. The school survived the Reformation and in 1567 was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth I. It thus became the “Free Grammar School of Queen Elizabeth in Blackburn in the County of Lancashire”. In August 1819, the decision was taken to demolish the old parish church and rebuild it (the new church of St Mary the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackburn
Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-northwest of Manchester. Blackburn is the core centre of the wider unitary authority area along with the town of Darwen. It is one of the largest districts in Lancashire, with commuter links to neighbouring cities of Manchester, Salford, Preston, Lancaster, Liverpool, Bradford and Leeds. At the 2011 census, Blackburn had a population of 117,963, whilst the wider borough of Blackburn with Darwen had a population of 150,030. Blackburn had a population of 117,963 in 2011, with 30.8% being people of ethnic backgrounds other than white British. A former mill town, textiles have been produced in Blackburn since the middle of the 13th century, when wool was woven in people's houses in the domestic system. Flemish weavers who settled in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
