Christchurch Dragon
The Christchurch Dragon is a legend associated with the town of Christchurch, Dorset, on the south coast of England. The legend has its origin in a mid-12th century French manuscript written by Hermann de Tournai, which tells how a party of canons from the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Laon, France, witnessed a five-headed dragon destroy the church and much of the town. Although well-documented, the legend is little-known in the town of its origin. Legend synopsis In Hermann de Tournai's account, a party of nine canons on a fund-raising tour from Laon Cathedral arrive at the town of Christchurch during a torrential rainstorm. They seek shelter at the local minster church but are rejected by the dean, who claims that the doors of the newly built church are not yet secure. In truth, the dean is concerned that their shrine and holy relics of the Virgin Mary would collect more offerings than his own altars. Being the Saturday after Pentecost, the canons have arrived on the eve of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Legend
A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude (literature), verisimilitude. Legend, for its active and passive participants may include miracles. Legends may be transformed over time to keep them fresh and vital. Many legends operate within the realm of uncertainty, never being entirely believed by the participants, but also never being resolutely doubted. Legends are sometimes distinguished from myths in that they concern human beings as the main characters rather than gods, and sometimes in that they have some sort of historical basis whereas myths generally do not. The Brothers Grimm defined ''legend'' as "Folklore, folktale historically grounded". A by-product of the "concern with human beings" is the long list o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ranulf Flambard
Ranulf Flambard ( c. 1060 – 5 September 1128) was a medieval Norman Bishop of Durham and an influential government minister of King William Rufus of England. Ranulf was the son of a priest of Bayeux, Normandy, and his nickname Flambard means incendiary or torch-bearer, and may have referred to his personality. He started his career under King William I of England, probably in the compilation of the Domesday Book of 1086, as well as being the keeper of the king's seal. On the death of William I, Ranulf chose to serve the new king of England, William Rufus. Under Rufus, he continued to hold the king's seal, and also became involved in the financial administration of the kingdom, where he quickly made a name for himself by his novel methods of raising revenue. He was given custody of a number of vacant ecclesiastical offices, administering at one point sixteen vacant bishoprics or abbeys. His many duties have led to him being considered the first Chief Justiciar of England. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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English Folklore
English folklore consists of the myths and legends of England, including the English region's mythical creatures, traditional recipes, urban legends, proverbs, superstitions, and folktales. Its cultural history is rooted in Celtic, Christian, and Germanic folklore. During the Renaissance in the 16th century, England looked to more European texts to develop a national identity. English folklore has continued to differ according to region, although there are shared elements across the country. Its folktales include the traditional Robin Hood tales and the Brythonic-inspired Arthurian legend, and their stories often contained a moral imperative stemming from Christian values. The folktales, characters and creatures are often derived from aspects of English experience, such as topography, architecture, real people, or real events. History Before England was founded in the year 927, Wessex and its surrounding areas' cultures were transformed by the invasion of the Danish Kin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dorset. Covering an area of , Dorset borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, and Hampshire to the east. The county town is Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester, in the south. After the Local Government Act 1972, reorganisation of local government in 1974, the county border was extended eastward to incorporate the Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch. Around half of the population lives in the South East Dorset conurbation, while the rest of the county is largely rural with a low population density. The county has a long history of human settlement stretching back to the Neolithic era. The Roman conquest of Britain, Romans conquered Dorset's indigenous Durotriges, Celtic tribe, and during the Ear ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Legends
A legend is a historical narrative, a symbolic representation of folk belief. Legend(s) or The Legend(s) may also refer to: Narrative * Urban legend, a widely repeated story of dubious truth * A fictitious identity used in espionage Books, comic books, and theatre * ''Legend'' (Gemmell novel), a 1984 fantasy novel by David Gemmell * ''Legend'' (comic imprint), a comic book brand name * ''Legend'' (Lu novel), the first novel in ''Legend: The Series'': a trilogy by Marie Lu * ''Legend'' (play), a 1976 Broadway play by Samuel A. Taylor * Legend Books, an imprint of Random House * ''Legends'' (comics), comic book limited series published by DC Comics * ''Legends'' (book), a 1998 collection of short novels edited by Robert Silverberg ** ''Legends II'' (book), a 2003 second collection * ''Legends!'', a 1986 stage play by James Kirkwood, Jr. * ''Dragonlance Legends'', trilogy of books central to the Dragonlance series * ''The Legend'', a 1969 novel by Evelyn Anthony Film * ' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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JSTOR
JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of journals in the humanities and social sciences. It provides full-text searches of almost 2,000 journals. , more than 8,000 institutions in more than 160 countries had access to JSTOR. Most access is by subscription but some of the site is public domain, and open access content is available free of charge. JSTOR's revenue was $86 million in 2015. History William G. Bowen, president of Princeton University from 1972 to 1988, founded JSTOR in 1994. JSTOR was originally conceived as a solution to one of the problems faced by libraries, especially research and university libraries, due to the increasing number of academic journals in existence. Most libraries found it prohibitively expensive in terms of cost and space to maintain a comprehen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, movies/videos, moving images, and millions of books. In addition to its archiving function, the Archive is an activist organization, advocating a free and open Internet. , the Internet Archive holds over 35 million books and texts, 8.5 million movies, videos and TV shows, 894 thousand software programs, 14 million audio files, 4.4 million images, 2.4 million TV clips, 241 thousand concerts, and over 734 billion web pages in the Wayback Machine. The Internet Archive allows the public to upload and download digital material to its data cluster, but the bulk of its data is collected automatically by its web crawlers, which work to preserve as much of the public web as possible. Its web archiving, web archive, the Wayback Machine, contains hu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fordham University
Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its original campus is located, Fordham is the oldest Catholic Church, Catholic and Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in the northeastern United States and the third-oldest university in New York (state), New York State. Founded as St. John's College by John Hughes (archbishop), John Hughes, then a coadjutor bishop of New York, the college was placed in the care of the Society of Jesus shortly thereafter, and has since become a Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, Jesuit-affiliated independent school under a laity, lay board of trustees. The college's first president, John McCloskey, was later the first Catholic Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal in the United States. While governed independently of the church since 1969, every List o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ball Lightning
Ball lightning is a rare and unexplained phenomenon described as luminescent, spherical objects that vary from pea-sized to several meters in diameter. Though usually associated with thunderstorms, the observed phenomenon is reported to last considerably longer than the split-second flash of a lightning bolt, and is a phenomenon distinct from St. Elmo's fire. Some 19th-century reports describe balls that eventually explode and leave behind an odor of sulfur. Descriptions of ball lightning appear in a variety of accounts over the centuries and have received attention from scientists. An optical spectrum of what appears to have been a ball lightning event was published in January 2014 and included a video at high frame rate. Laboratory experiments have produced effects that are visually similar to reports of ball lightning, but how these relate to the supposed phenomenon remains unclear. Scientists have proposed a number of hypotheses to explain reports of ball lightning over ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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TORRO
The Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO) was founded by Terence Meaden in 1974. Originally called the Tornado Research Organisation it was expanded in 1982 following the inclusion of the Thunderstorm Census Organisation (TCO) after the death of its founder Morris Bower and his wife. The current Head of TORRO is Paul Knightley, a professional meteorologist. TORRO comprises nearly 400 members in the United Kingdom and others from around the world, from amateurs to professional meteorologists, and almost 30 staff. TORRO maintains a large storm spotter network throughout the British Isles and collects and records reports of severe weather. TORRO carries out research on many aspects of severe weather including ball lightning, blizzards & heavy snowfall, coastal impacts, hailstorms, lightning impacts, tornadoes, thunderstorms, weather disasters, and weather & health. Tornadoes in the UK are classified using the T-scale. TORRO has also developed a hailstorm intensity scale. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Great Thunderstorm
The Great Thunderstorm of Widecombe-in-the-Moor in Dartmoor, Kingdom of England, took place on Sunday, 21 October 1638, when the church of St Pancras was apparently struck by ball lightning during a severe thunderstorm. An afternoon service was taking place at the time, and the building was packed with approximately 300 worshippers. Four of them were killed, around 60 injured, and the building severely damaged. Eyewitness accounts Written accounts by eyewitnesses, apparently published within months of the catastrophe,''A trve relation of those strange and lamentable Accidents happening in the Parish Church of Widecombe in Devonshire, on Sunday the 21. of October, 1638.'' and ''A second and most exact relation of those sad and lamentable Accidents, which happened in and about the Parish Church of Widecombe neere the Dartmoores in Devonshire, on Sunday the 21. of October last 1638.'', Wykes and Rothwell, G.M. and R. Harford, London 1638, later reprinted in Devon Notes and Queries, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Elvis McGonagall
Elvis McGonagall (born Richard Smith; December 22, 1960) is a Scottish poet and stand-up comedian who is especially notable for poetry slam performances. Biography McGonagall was born in Perth, Scotland, and now lives in Stroud in South West England. His stage name combines a reference to the notoriously bad poet William McGonagall with 'Elvis' "because it’s just so wrong, the wrongest name I could think of to go with McGonagall". Poetry Slam performances McGonagall first performed publicly at the UK Allcomers' Slam at the Cheltenham Literature Festival in 2003, finishing runner-up: he went on to win the slam the following year. His career saw significant progress in 2006, in which year McGonagall won the Spokefest UK Slam Championship and the World Slam Championship at the Rotterdam Poetry International Festival. McGonagall performs at poetry events nationwide, as well as compering at the Blue Suede Sporran Club. Media performances McGonagall has regularly appea ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |