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Literary And Philosophical Society Of Newcastle Upon Tyne
The Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne (or the ''Lit & Phil'' as it is popularly known) is a historical library in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and the largest independent library outside London. The library is still available for both lending (to members) and as a free reference library. The society is a registered charity. Founding Founded in 1793 as a "conversation club" by the Reverend William Turner and others – more than fifty years before the London Library – the annual subscription was originally one guinea. The Lit and Phil library contained works in French, Spanish, German and Latin; its contacts were international, and its members debated a wide range of issues, but religion and politics were prohibited. Women were first admitted to the library in 1804. In February 2011, actor and comedian Alexander Armstrong became President of the Lit & Phil. He launched their funding appeal at a special gala event. At the start of 2012, membership ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tyne And Wear
Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland, North Tyneside and South Tyneside. It is bordered by Northumberland to the north and Durham to the south; the county boundary was formerly split between these counties with the border as the River Tyne. The former county council was based at Sandyford House. There is no longer county level local governance following the county council disbanding in 1986, by the Local Government Act 1985, with the metropolitan boroughs functioning separately. The county still exists as a metropolitan county and ceremonial purposes, as a geographic frame of reference. There are two combined authorities covering parts of the county area, North of Tyne and North East. History In the late 600s and into the 700s Saint B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Platypus
The platypus (''Ornithorhynchus anatinus''), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The platypus is the sole living representative or monotypic taxon of its family ( Ornithorhynchidae) and genus (''Ornithorhynchus''), though a number of related species appear in the fossil record. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. Like other monotremes, it senses prey through electrolocation. It is one of the few species of venomous mammals, as the male platypus has a spur on the hind foot that delivers a venom, capable of causing severe pain to humans. The unusual appearance of this egg-laying, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal baffled European naturalists when they first encountered it, and the first scientists to examine a preserved platypus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John James Audubon
John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin; April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was an American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornithology turned into a plan to make a complete pictorial record of all the bird species of North America. He was notable for his extensive studies documenting all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations, which depicted the birds in their natural habitats. His major work, a color-plate book titled ''The Birds of America'' (1827–1839), is considered one of the finest ornithological works ever completed. Audubon is also known for identifying 25 new species. He is the eponym of the National Audubon Society, and his name adorns a large number of towns, neighborhoods, and streets across the United States. Dozens of scientific names first published by Audubon are still in use by the scientific community. Early life Audubon was born in Les Cayes in the French colony of Saint- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Armstrong (corn Merchant)
William Armstrong (1778–1857) was an English corn merchant and local politician of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He was also the father of prominent industrialist William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong. Armstrong was born in a small Cumberland village, where he came in contact with the wealthy Losh family. This contact helped him gain a commercial foothold when he moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, joining a Losh-owned corn firm. Upon the proprietors' bankruptcy, Armstrong collected together the funds to establish his own corn firm: Armstrong, & Co. Financially established, Armstrong was able to pursue his own interests. Armstrong took part local reformist politics, where he and his friends, James Losh and Armorer Donkin, campaigned for parliamentary acts in Newcastle, and Armstrong attempted to reform the administration of the River Tyne, to limited success. He entertained the local high society at the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society, warmly supporting its growth. Armstron ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Almond
David Almond (born 15 May 1951) is a British author who has written many novels for children and young adults from 1998, each one receiving critical acclaim. He is one of thirty children's writers, and one of three from the UK, to win the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award. For the 70th anniversary of the British Carnegie Medal in 2007, his debut novel ''Skellig'' (1998) was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works, selected by a panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite. It ranked third in the public vote from that shortlist. Early life and education Almond was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1951 and raised in neighbouring Felling. His father was an office manager in an engineering factory and his mother a shorthand typist. He was raised Catholic at St Joseph's Catholic Academy and had four sisters and one brother. As a child, he dreamed of becoming a writer and "wrote stories and stitched them into little books." ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Armstrong
Alexander Henry Fenwick Armstrong (born 2 March 1970) is an English actor, comedian, radio personality, television presenter and singer. He is the host of the BBC One game show '' Pointless'', as well as the morning show on Classic FM. He is one half of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller. Armstrong's television credits include '' Armstrong and Miller'', '' Beast'', '' Life Begins'', ''Hunderby'' and '' Danger Mouse''. He is also known as the voice of Mr Smith, Sarah Jane Smith's alien (Xylok) supercomputer in '' The Sarah Jane Adventures'' and the series 4 finale of ''Doctor Who''. Armstrong is a bass-baritone and has released three studio albums. Early life Alexander Henry Fenwick Armstrong was born in Rothbury, Northumberland, on 2 March 1970, the youngest of three children, to physician Henry Angus Armstrong and Emma Virginia Peronnet (née Thompson-McCausland). The Armstrongs are a North East landowning family distantly related to The 1st Baron Armstrong. Armstron ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Algernon Parsons
Sir Charles Algernon Parsons, (13 June 1854 – 11 February 1931) was an Anglo-Irish engineer, best known for his invention of the compound steam turbine, and as the eponym of C. A. Parsons and Company. He worked as an engineer on dynamo and turbine design, and power generation, with great influence on the naval and electrical engineering fields. He also developed optical equipment for searchlights and telescopes. Career and commercial activity Parsons was born into an Anglo-Irish family in London as the youngest son of the famous astronomer William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse. (The family seat is Birr Castle, County Offaly, Ireland, and the town of Birr was called Parsonstown, after the family, from 1620 to 1901.) With his three brothers, Parsons was educated at home in Ireland by private tutors (including John Purser), all of whom were well versed in the sciences and also acted as practical assistants to the Earl in his astronomical work. (One of them later bec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Oliver Heslop
Richard Oliver Heslop (1842–1916) was a British businessman, author, historian, lexicologist, lexicographer, songwriter and poet. His most famous work is the two-volume "Northumberland Words". Details Richard Oliver Heslop was born 14 March 1842 in Newcastle upon Tyne, and was educated at The Old Grammar School. He was a businessman, and a joint owner of an Iron Merchants and Engineers, Heslop, Wilson and Budden, of 26 Sandhill and at the Stock Bridge. The company went into administration (or “Liquidation by arrangement or composition with creditors”) according to the ''London Gazette'' of 6 November 1874. He served as president of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne from 1914 until 1916. He compiled several books and wrote numerous papers on the subject of the North East England, the Northumberland and Geordie dialect and use of words. His best known and most popular was “'Northumberland Words' (published in 2 volumes in 1893-4)“, the firs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Spence Watson
Robert Spence Watson (8 June 1837 – 2 March 1911) was an English solicitor, reformer, politician and writer. He became famous for pioneering labour arbitrations. Life and career He was born in Gateshead, the second child of Sarah (Spence) and Joseph Watson. After some early tutoring, he received his secondary education at Bootham School, York and began studying at University College, London in 1853; he did not complete his degree there, but during that time, and later, he travelled abroad. He returned to the North East in 1860 and became a solicitor. He began a legal practice with his father under the name J. & R S Watson and he remained in practice there for the rest of his life. In 1862 he became Secretary to the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne and held that position for thirty-one years. His work led to the Society accumulating the largest independent library outside London. On 9 June 1863 he married Elizabeth Richardson at the Friends’ meeti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Armstrong, Baron Armstrong Of Cragside
William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, (26 November 1810 – 27 December 1900) was an English engineer and industrialist who founded the Armstrong Whitworth manufacturing concern on Tyneside. He was also an eminent scientist, inventor and philanthropist. In collaboration with the architect Richard Norman Shaw, he built Cragside in Northumberland, the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity. He is regarded as the inventor of modern artillery. Armstrong was knighted in 1859 after giving his gun patents to the government. In 1887, in Queen Victoria's golden jubilee year, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Armstrong of Cragside. Early life Armstrong was born in Newcastle upon Tyne at 9 Pleasant Row, Shieldfield, about a mile from the city centre. Although the house in which he was born no longer exists, an inscribed granite tablet marks the site where it stood. At that time the area, next to thPandon Dene was rural. His father, also called William, was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson FRS HFRSE FRSA DCL (16 October 1803 – 12 October 1859) was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railways", he built on the achievements of his father. Robert has been called the greatest engineer of the 19th century. Life Robert was born in Willington Quay near Wallsend, Northumberland, the son of George Stephenson and his wife, Frances Henderson. The family moved to Killingworth, where Robert was taught at the local village school. Robert attended the middle-class Percy Street Academy in Newcastle and at the age of fifteen was apprenticed to the mining engineer Nicholas Wood. He left before he had completed his three years to help his father survey the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Robert spent six months at Edinburgh University before working for three years as a mining engineer in Colombia. When he returned his father was building the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles William Bigge
Charles William Bigge (28 October 1773 – 8 December 1849) was an English merchant and banker in Newcastle on Tyne. Life The son of Thomas Charles Bigge, he was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford (M.A. 1795). He then studied law, under Charles Abbott, served in the militia, and undertook a continental tour from 1800. Sir Matthew White Ridley, 3rd Baronet and Ralph Lambton were hunting friends. Ridley became a business partner. Bigge served as High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1802, a position previously held by his grandfather William Bigge, in 1750, and his father in 1771. He was lieutenant colonel in the Northumberland Supplementary Militia. On the death of his father in 1794, Bigge inherited estates at Benton House, Little Benton, Newcastle on Tyne, Heddon on the Wall, Ponteland and Gosforth; and collieries at Little Benton and Willington. He became, in 1806, a partner in the Newcastle banking firm of Ridley Bigge Gibson & Co which in 1832 became ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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