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Frestonia
Frestonia was the name adopted by the residents of Freston Road, London, when they attempted to secede from the United Kingdom in 1977 to form the Free and Independent Republic of Frestonia. The residents were squatters, many of whom eventually set up a housing co-op in negotiation with Notting Hill Housing Trust, and included artists, musicians, writers, actors and activists. Actor David Rappaport was the Foreign Minister, while playwright Heathcote Williams served as Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Location Frestonia consisted of a triangle of land (including communal gardens) formed by Freston Road, Bramley Road and Shalfleet Drive, W10, which belonged at the time to the London Borough of Hammersmith. This land crosses the boundary of London postal districts W10 (Kensal Green) and W11 (Notting Hill), and now belongs to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Prior to the construction of the Westway, Freston Road had been called Latimer Road, and the nearby tube s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heathcote Williams
John Henley Heathcote-Williams (15 November 1941 – 1 July 2017), known as Heathcote Williams, was an English poet, actor, political activist and dramatist. He wrote a number of book-length polemical poems including ''Autogeddon'', ''Falling for a Dolphin'' and ''Whale Nation'', which in 1988 was described by Philip Hoare as "the most powerful argument for the newly instigated worldwide ban on whaling." Williams invented his idiosyncratic "documentary/investigative poetry" style which he put to good purpose bringing a diverse range of environmental and political matters to public attention. His last published work, ''American Porn'' was a critique of the American political establishment and the election of President Donald Trump; its publication date was the day of Trump's inauguration (20 January 2017). In June 2015 he published a book-length investigative poem about the "Muslim Gandhi", Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, ''Badshah Khan''. As well as being a playwright and screenwrit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julie Umerle
Julie Umerle is an American-born abstract painter who lives and works in London. __TOC__ Biography Umerle was born in Connecticut USA and relocated to London with her family as a young child. She studied French Literature at the University of Sussex and fine art at Falmouth University where she was awarded a First class Hons degree. From 1991 - 1996, Umerle worked as an artist educator at a number of London galleries including The Whitechapel Gallery, The Hayward Gallery and The Royal Academy. She graduated from Parsons School of Design with a MFA in 1998, having worked as a teaching assistant there in her final year. She lived and worked between London and New York for a further five years after completing her studies, before returning to the UK and settling again in London in 2003. In 2019, her memoir ''Art, Life and Everything'' was published to critical acclaim. The book describes the early years of her career as an artist in London and New York, and has a forewor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mutoid Waste Company
The Mutoid Waste Company are a performance arts group founded in London, England by Joe Rush and Robin Cooke in collaboration with Alan P Scott and Joshua Bowler. It started in the early 1980s, emerging from Frestonia's 'Car Breaker Gallery'. They are probably best known for their recycled art installations at Glastonbury Festival and refer to themselves as ''the Mutoids''. Influenced by the film ''Mad Max'' and the popular ''Judge Dredd'' comics, they specialised in organising illegal free parties in London throughout the 1980s, driven at first by eclectic assortments of fringe music such as psychedelic rock and dub reggae, but then embracing the burgeoning acid house music movement by the late 1980s. History Described as "part street theatre, part art show and part traveling circus" in the 1986 LWT documentary ''South of Watford''., the group became famous for building giant welded sculptures from waste materials and for customising broken down cars, as well as making large scal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westway (London)
The Westway is a elevated dual carriageway section of the A40 trunk road in West London running from Paddington in the east to North Kensington in the west. It connects the London Inner Ring Road to the West London suburbs. The road was constructed between 1962 and 1970 to connect the proposed London Ringways motorway scheme to Paddington, and opened as the A40(M). It was the first urban motorway project in London and attracted criticism for the lack of care over the environment, the well-being of local residents and communities, and handling those whose homes would be demolished. Road protests increased following its opening. In 2000, the Westway was downgraded to an all-purpose road after the formation of Transport for London. The road has become a significant London landmark and has been noted in several works of popular culture. Route The road is long and is located in the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. At its eastern end, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicholas Albery
Nicholas Bronson Albery (28 July 1948 – 3 June 2001) was a British social inventor and author, was the instigator or coordinator of a variety of projects aimed at an improvement to society, often known as the alternative society. Early life and education Albery was born at Bricket House, St Albans, Hertfordshire, son of the theatre impresario Sir Donald Albery (son of Sir Bronson Albery, also a theatre impresario) and his second wife, Cicely, daughter of Army officer Reginald Harvey Henderson Boys. While a student at St John's College, Oxford, Albery became involved with psychedelic and spiritual movements in San Francisco and dropped out of college. After a period in Haight Ashbury he returned to the UK and joined the anti-university in London. Life BIT He became involved with the newly started BIT Information Service, quickly becoming a driving force in the development of wider activities for BIT so that it became one of the first social centres. Around 1972/73, at the pea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Passport To Pimlico
''Passport to Pimlico'' is a 1949 British comedy film made by Ealing Studios and starring Stanley Holloway, Margaret Rutherford and Hermione Baddeley. It was directed by Henry Cornelius and written by T. E. B. Clarke. The story concerns the unearthing of treasure and documents that lead to a small part of Pimlico to be declared a legal part of the House of Burgundy, and therefore exempt from the post-war rationing or other bureaucratic restrictions active in Britain at the time. ''Passport to Pimlico'' explores the spirit and unity of wartime London in a post-war context and offers an examination of the English character. Like other Ealing comedies, the film pits a small group of British against a series of changes to the ''status quo'' from an external agent. The story was an original concept by the screenwriter T. E. B. Clarke. He was inspired by an incident during the Second World War, when the maternity ward of Ottawa Civic Hospital was temporarily declared extraterritorial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Rush
Joe Rush (born 1960) is a British artist. He is the founder of Mutoid Waste Company, a performance arts collective that has performed at Glastonbury Festival. Early life Rush was born in 1960 in London, England. Career In 1980, Rush exhibited at The Car Breaker Gallery in Frestonia, London. In 1984, he founded the Mutoid Waste Company, an underground travelling collective of artists. That same year, he launched the first "Installation Party" in the disused Kings Cross coach station. From then on, he produced installations of his pieces in environments he mutated, occupying derelict warehouses and factories. Throughout the 1980s, he built techno-industrial sculptures at parties and festivals, and then travelled across both Western and Eastern Europe to continue the work. From making a "car henge" at Glastonbury (stone circle made out of cars), he progressed to using armoured personnel carriers and fighter planes in Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall. After leaving B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Rappaport
David Stephen Rappaport (23 November 1951 – 2 May 1990) was an English actor with achondroplasia. He appeared in the films ''Time Bandits'' and '' The Bride'', and television series ''L.A. Law'', ''The Wizard'' and ''Captain Planet and the Planeteers''. He was 3' 11" (1.19 m) in height. Early life Rappaport was born to Jewish taxi driver Mark and his wife Diana, née Schneiderman in London. He was born with achondroplasia, a common form of dwarfism. As a child, he developed talents in playing the accordion and drums, the latter of which he played professionally during his life. Rappaport studied psychology at the University of Bristol from 1970, graduating with a degree while developing his skills as a semi-professional drummer, and acting skills at the college dramatical society. After six months in the United States, he returned to the United Kingdom to marry his college girlfriend, Jane. They had a son Joe, and Rappaport tried to settle down to family life as a teacher. Bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flag Of Frestonia
A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and flags have evolved into a general tool for rudimentary signalling and identification, especially in environments where communication is challenging (such as the maritime environment, where semaphore is used). Many flags fall into groups of similar designs called flag families. The study of flags is known as "vexillology" from the Latin , meaning "flag" or "banner". National flags are patriotic symbols with widely varied interpretations that often include strong military associations because of their original and ongoing use for that purpose. Flags are also used in messaging, advertising, or for decorative purposes. Some military units are called "flags" after their use of flags. A ''flag'' (Arabic: ) is equivalent to a brigad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping comprises activities intended to create conditions that favour lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed warfare. Within the United Nations (UN) group of nation-state governments and organisations, there is a general understanding that at the international level, peacekeepers monitor and observe peace processes in post-conflict areas, and may assist ex-combatants in implementing peace agreement commitments that they have undertaken. Such assistance may come in many forms, including confidence-building measures, power-sharing arrangements, electoral support, strengthening the rule of law, and economic and social development. Accordingly, the UN peacekeepers (often referred to as Blue Berets or Blue Helmets because of their light blue berets or helmets) can include soldiers, police officers, and civilian personnel. The United Nations is not the only organisation to implem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Napoleon Of Notting Hill
''The Napoleon of Notting Hill'' is a novel written by G. K. Chesterton in 1904, set in a nearly unchanged London in 1984. Although the novel is set in the future, it is, in effect, set in an alternative reality of Chesterton's own period, with no advances in technology nor changes in the class system or attitudes of the time. It postulates an impersonal government, not described in any detail, but apparently content to operate through a figurehead king, who is randomly chosen. Synopsis The dreary succession of randomly selected Kings of England is broken up when Auberon Quin, who cares for nothing but a good joke, is chosen. To amuse himself, he institutes elaborate costumes for the provosts of the districts of London. All are bored by the King's antics except for one earnest young man who takes the cry for regional pride seriously – Adam Wayne, the eponymous Napoleon of Notting Hill. Influence Michael Collins, who led the fight for Ireland’s secession from the Uni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geoffrey Howe
Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, (20 December 1926 – 9 October 2015) was a British Conservative politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1989 to 1990. Howe was Margaret Thatcher's longest-serving Cabinet minister, successively holding the posts of Chancellor of the Exchequer, Foreign Secretary, and finally Leader of the House of Commons, deputy prime minister and Lord President of the Council. His resignation on 1 November 1990 is widely considered to have precipitated the leadership challenge that led to Thatcher's resignation three weeks later. Early life Geoffrey Howe was born in 1926 at Port Talbot, Wales, to Benjamin Edward Howe, a solicitor and coroner, and Eliza Florence (née Thomson) Howe. He was to describe himself as a quarter Scottish, a quarter Cornish and half Welsh. He was educated at three independent schools: at Bridgend Preparatory School in Bryntirion, followed by Abberley Hall School in W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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