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Horse Guards Parade
Horse Guards Parade is a large parade ground off Whitehall in central London (at grid reference ). It is the site of the annual ceremonies of Trooping the Colour, which commemorates the monarch's official birthday, and the Beating Retreat. History Horse Guards Parade was formerly the site of the Palace of Whitehall's tiltyard, where tournaments (including jousting) were held in the time of Henry VIII. It was also the scene of annual celebrations of the birthday of Queen Elizabeth I. The area has been used for a variety of reviews, parades and other ceremonies since the 17th century. The adjacent Horse Guards building was once the Headquarters of the British Army. The Duke of Wellington was based in Horse Guards when he was Commander-in-Chief of the British Army. The current General Officer Commanding London District still occupies the same office and uses the same desk. Wellington also had living quarters within the building, which today are used as offices. Car park usa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Kent
William Kent (c. 1685 – 12 April 1748) was an English architect, landscape architect, painter and furniture designer of the early 18th century. He began his career as a painter, and became Principal Painter in Ordinary or court painter, but his real talent was for design in various media. Kent introduced the Palladian style of architecture into England with the villa at Chiswick House, and also originated the 'natural' style of gardening known as the English landscape garden at Chiswick, Stowe Gardens in Buckinghamshire, and Rousham House in Oxfordshire. As a landscape gardener he revolutionised the layout of estates, but had limited knowledge of horticulture. He complemented his houses and gardens with stately furniture for major buildings including Hampton Court Palace, Chiswick House, Devonshire House and Rousham. Early life Kent was born in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, and baptised on 1 January 1686, as William Cant. His parents were William and Esther Cant ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Admiralty House, London
Admiralty House in London building facing Whitehall, currently used for UK government functions and as ministerial flats. It is a Grade I listed building. Description Admiralty House is a four-storey building of yellow brick. The front has a symmetrical facade of three broad bays and one additional small bay at the southern end. The rear facade is of five bays and faces Horse Guards Parade, with a basement-level exit under the corner of the Old Admiralty Building. The front of the house faces Whitehall. It is accessed from the older Ripley Building, to which it is connected. History Admiralty House was constructed on the site of two seventeenth century houses; Walsingham House, the London residence of Lady Walsingham, and Pickering House, residence of Sir Gilbert Pickering. Admiralty House was designed by Samuel Pepys Cockerell, a protégé of Sir Robert Taylor, and opened in 1788. Built at the request of Admiral of the Fleet Viscount Howe, First Lord of the Admiralty, in 1782 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Admiralty
The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of its history, from the early 18th century until its abolition, the role of the Lord High Admiral was almost invariably put "in commission" and exercised by the Lords Commissioner of the Admiralty, who sat on the governing Board of Admiralty, rather than by a single person. The Admiralty was replaced by the Admiralty Board in 1964, as part of the reforms that created the Ministry of Defence and its Navy Department (later Navy Command). Before the Acts of Union 1707, the Office of the Admiralty and Marine Affairs administered the Royal Navy of the Kingdom of England, which merged with the Royal Scots Navy and the absorbed the responsibilities of the Lord High Admiral of the Kingdom of Scotland with the unification of the Kingdom of Great ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Citadels Under London
A number of military citadels are known to have been constructed underground in central London, dating mostly from the Second World War and the Cold War. Unlike traditional above-ground citadels, these sites are primarily secure centres for defence coordination. A large network of tunnels exists below London for a variety of communications, civil defence and military purposes; however, it is unclear how these tunnels, and the various facilities linked to them, fit together, if at all. Even the number and nature of these facilities is unclear; only a few have been officially admitted to. Pindar The most important military citadel in central London is Pindar, or the Defence Crisis Management Centre. The bunker is deep beneath the Ministry of Defence on Whitehall. Construction took ten years and cost £126.3 million. Pindar became operational in 1992, two years before construction was complete. Computer equipment was much more expensive to install than originally estimated as t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St James's Park
St James's Park is a park in the City of Westminster, central London. It is at the southernmost tip of the St James's area, which was named after a leper hospital dedicated to St James the Less. It is the most easterly of a near-continuous chain of parks that includes (moving westward) Green Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens. The park is bounded by Buckingham Palace to the west, the Mall to the north, Horse Guards to the east, and Birdcage Walk to the south. It meets Green Park at Queen's Gardens with the Victoria Memorial at its centre, opposite the entrance to Buckingham Palace. St James's Palace is on the opposite side of The Mall. The closest London Underground stations are St James's Park, Green Park, Victoria, and Westminster. The park is Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. Features The park has a small lake, St James's Park Lake, with two islands, West Island and Duck Island, the latter named for the lake's collection of waterfowl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horse Guards Road
Horse Guards Road (or just Horse Guards) is a road in the City of Westminster, London. Located in post code SW1A 2HQ, it runs south from The Mall down to Birdcage Walk, roughly parallel with Whitehall and Parliament Street. To the west of the road is St James's Park. To the east, between Horse Guards Road and Whitehall, are various government buildings, including the five interconnected Admiralty buildings. The Old Admiralty (Ripley) Building, the oldest of the Government offices, was completed in 1726. The Horse Guards building, completed in 1759, originally housed barracks and government offices. Adjacent to the Horse Guards building is a large courtyard, Horse Guards Parade, where the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony is held in the presence of the reigning monarch. His Majesty's Treasury is located in the New Government Offices at 1 House Guards Road. Constructed during the period 1899 - 1915, its basement was used as the Cabinet War Rooms during the Second Worl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Head Of The Home Civil Service
His Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as His Majesty's Civil Service, the Home Civil Service, or colloquially as the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, which is led by a cabinet of ministers chosen by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as two of the three devolved administrations: the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government, but not the Northern Ireland Executive. As in other states that employ the Westminster political system, His Majesty's Home Civil Service forms an inseparable part of the British government. The executive decisions of government ministers are implemented by HM Civil Service. Civil servants are employees of the Crown and not of the British parliament. Civil servants also have some traditional and statutory responsibilities which to some extent protect them from being used for the political advantage of the party ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robin Butler, Baron Butler Of Brockwell
Frederick Edward Robin Butler, Baron Butler of Brockwell, (born 3 January 1938) is a retired British civil servant, now sitting in the House of Lords as a crossbencher. Early life and family Butler was born in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, on 3 January 1938. He went to Orley Farm School and Harrow School (where he was Head Boy), then taught for a year at St Dunstan's School, Burnham-on-Sea, before attending University College, Oxford, where he took a double first in Mods and Greats and twice gained a Rugby Blue. He married Gillian Lois Galley in 1962. They have a daughter and two sons. BBC News Profile: Lord Butler of Brockwell Civil service career Butler had a high-profile career in the civil service from 1961 to 1998, serving as |
Simon Jenkins
Sir Simon David Jenkins (born 10 June 1943) is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1976 to 1978 and of ''The Times'' from 1990 to 1992. Jenkins chaired the National Trust from 2008 to 2014. He currently writes columns for ''The Guardian''. Early life Jenkins was born , in Birmingham, England. His father, Daniel Thomas Jenkins, was a Welsh professor of divinity at Princeton University and a Minister in the Congregational and then United Reformed Church. He was educated at Mill Hill School and St John's College, Oxford, where he earned a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Career Journalism After graduating from the University of Oxford, Jenkins initially worked at '' Country Life'' magazine, before joining the ''Times Educational Supplement.'' He was then features editor and columnist on the ''Evening Standard'' before editing the Insight pages of ''The Sunday Times''. From 1976 to 1978 he was editor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Downing Street Mortar Attack
The Downing Street mortar attack was carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on 7 February 1991. The IRA launched three homemade Mortar (weapon), mortar shell (projectile), shells at 10 Downing Street, London, the headquarters of the Government of the United Kingdom, British government, in an attempt to assassinate Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister John Major and his War cabinet#Persian Gulf War, war cabinet, who were meeting to discuss the Gulf War. One of the mortar shells exploded in the back garden of Number 10, yards from the Cabinet Office. Due to the bomb-resistant windows, none of the cabinet of the United Kingdom, cabinet were hurt, though four other people received minor injuries, including two Metropolitan Police officers. The other two shells overshot Downing Street and landed on a green nearby. Background During the Troubles, as part of its Provisional Irish Republican Army campaign, armed campaign against British rule in Irel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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