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Paul Griffiths (CEO)
Paul Griffiths (born 16 October 1957) is a British businessman and musician, CEO of Dubai Airports, a company based in the United Arab Emirates and wholly owned by the Dubai government. He is also a Vice President and former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Royal College of Organists. Early life He was born in London and educated at Parkside Preparatory School. After a brief period at The Latymer School, he moved with his family to Hertfordshire where he attended Richard Hale School in Hertford. At the age of ten, he started to study church music and became an organist, winning many prizes in local competitions. He became a fellow of the Royal College of Organists in 1984. Career Following the advice of his father, he decided against a full-time career in music and entered the travel industry in 1977 as a Contracts Executive with the OSL/Wings travel group, which was owned by the Rank Organisation. He later joined Reed International as Marketing and Research Manage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as '' Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London, governed by the Greater London Authority.The Greater London Authority consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The London Mayor is distinguished fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneur at a young age. His first business venture, at the age of 16, was a magazine called ''Student''. In 1970, he set up a mail-order record business. He opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records—later known as Virgin Megastores—in 1972. Branson's Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s, as he started Virgin Atlantic airline and expanded the Virgin Records music label. In 1997, Branson founded the Virgin Rail Group to bid for passenger rail franchises during the privatisation of British Rail. The Virgin Trains brand operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from 1997 to 2019, the InterCity CrossCountry franchise from 1997 to 2007, and the InterCity East Coast franchise from 2015 to 2018. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Licentiate (degree)
A licentiate (abbreviated Lic.) is an academic degree present in many countries, representing different educational levels. It may be similar to a master's degree when issued by pontifical universities and other universities in Europe, Latin America, and Syria. The term is also used for a person who holds this degree. Etymology The term derives from Latin ''licentia'', "freedom" (from Latin ''licēre'', "to be allowed"), which is applied in the phrases ''licentia docendi'' (also ''licentia doctorandi''), meaning "permission to teach", and ''licentia ad practicandum'' (also ''licentia practicandi''), meaning "permission to practice", signifying someone who holds a certificate of competence to practise a profession. History The Gregorian Reform of the Catholic Church led to an increased focus on the liberal arts in episcopal schools during the 11th and 12th centuries, with Pope Gregory VII ordering all bishops to make provisions for the teaching of liberal arts. Chancellor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Farr
Stephen Farr (born 1967 in London) is a British organist who is currently the Chief Examiner at the Royal College of Organists and the Director of Music at All Saints, Margaret Street. Early life Farr was born in 1967 in London and grew up in the South East. He attended Eltham College in London, and then, from 1984, he attended Clare College, Cambridge as organ scholar. He graduated with Double First Class Honours in music before continuing at Clare to earn his MPhil in Musicology. He also holds a PhD in music performance from the University of Surrey, where he studied under John Butt and completed a thesis on Judith Bingham's work. Farr was among the youngest musicians ever to receive funding from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. His tutors in London include Robert Munns and David Sanger, and receipt of the Worshipful Company of Musicians' W.T. Best Scholarship allowed him to study under Piet Kee in Haarlem, Netherlands and Hans Fagius in Copenhagen, Denmark. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Maktoum International Airport
Al Maktoum International Airport , also known as Dubai World Central, is an international airport in Jebel Ali, southwest of Dubai, United Arab Emirates that opened on 27 June 2010. It is the main part of Dubai South, a planned residential, commercial and logistics complex. When fully completed (originally expected 2027), the airport will contain transport modes, logistics, and value-added services, including manufacturing and assembly, in a single free economic zone. It will cover an area of . The airport has a projected annual capacity of of freight and between 160 million and 260 million passengers. , only a handful of airlines operated passenger services out of Al Maktoum International Airport with a focus on freight activity. A completion of the project is yet to be confirmed. History Construction The runway was completed in 600 days and subsequently underwent tests over the following six to eight months in order to fulfil its CAT III-C requirements. Con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after Heathrow and Stansted airports, and was the 36th-busiest in Europe by total passenger traffic. It covers a total area of . Gatwick opened as an aerodrome in the late 1920s; it has been in use for commercial flights since 1933. The airport has two terminals, the North Terminal and the South Terminal, which cover areas of and respectively. It operates as a single-runway airport, using a main runway with a length of . A secondary runway is available but, due to its proximity to the main runway, can only be used if the main runway is not in use. In 2018, 46.1 million passengers passed through the airport, a 1.1% increase compared with 2017. History The land on which Gatwick Airport stands was first developed as an aerodrome in the la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heathrow Airport Holdings
Heathrow Airport Holdings is the United Kingdom-based operator of Heathrow Airport. The company also operated Gatwick Airport, Stansted Airport, Edinburgh Airport and several other UK airports, but was forced by the Competition Commission to sell them in order to break up a monopoly. It was formed by the privatisation of the British Airports Authority as BAA plc as part of Margaret Thatcher's moves to privatise government-owned assets, and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. BAA plc was bought in 2006 by a consortium led by Ferrovial, a Spanish firm specialising in the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of transport, urban and services infrastructure. In March 2009, the company was required to sell Gatwick and Stansted airports, and over the following years sold all its airports other than Heathrow. The company was renamed Heathrow Airport Holdings in 2012 to reflect its main business. The company's head office is in the Compass Centre, on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virgin CrossCountry
Virgin CrossCountry was a train operating company in the United Kingdom operating the InterCity CrossCountry passenger franchise from January 1997 until November 2007. Virgin CrossCountry operated some of the longest direct rail services in the United Kingdom but most avoided Greater London after 2003. All services called or terminated at Birmingham New Street. The company traded under the Virgin Trains brand, along with the InterCity West Coast franchise, however the two franchises were operated by separate legal entities. History Virgin Rail Group was awarded the InterCity CrossCountry franchise in November 1996, with operations commencing on 5 January 1997. Services were operated by a wholly owned subsidiary, CrossCountry Trains Limited. In October 1998, Virgin Group sold 49% of the shares in Virgin Rail Group to Stagecoach. In the wake of the collapse of Railtrack and the inability of Network Rail to deliver on the 140 mph West Coast Main Line upgrade, both the Vir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Rail Class 221
The British Rail Class 221 ''Super Voyager'' is a class of tilting diesel-electric multiple unit express passenger trains built in Bruges, Belgium, by Bombardier Transportation in 2001/02. The Class 221 are similar to the Class 220 ''Voyager'' units, but were built with a tilting mechanism enabling up to six degrees of tilt to allow higher speeds on curved tracks, most have five coaches, and they have a different bogie design. They have a maximum speed of . Currently these trains are divided between two operators, Avanti West Coast (20 sets) and CrossCountry (24 sets). The sets operated by CrossCountry had their tilt function disabled in 2008 to improve reliability and reduce maintenance costs. Details The Class 221s were produced as 5- or 4-coach sets. Each coach is equipped with a Cummins QSK19 diesel engine producing at 1,800 rpm, driving an electrical generator which powers two motors, each driving one (inner) axle per bogie via a cardan shaft and final drive. ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Rail Class 220
The British Rail Class 220 ''Voyager'' is a class of diesel-electric high-speed multiple unit passenger trains built in Belgium by Bombardier Transportation in 2000 and 2001. They were introduced in 2001 to replace the 20-year-old InterCity 125 and almost 40-year-old Class 47-hauled Mark 2 fleets operating on the Cross Country Route. They were initially operated by Virgin CrossCountry and since 2007 have been operated by CrossCountry. Technical details All coaches are equipped with a Cummins QSK19 diesel engine of at 1800 rpm. These power a generator which supplies current to motors driving two axles per coach, with one axle per bogie powered. Voyagers have both air and rheostatic brakes. They are fitted with Dellner couplers, like the Class 222 operated by East Midlands Railway and the Class 390 ''Pendolino'' electric trains used by Avanti West Coast, meaning they can be coupled in rescue/recovery mode (air brake only) in the event of a failure. 220s and 221s can also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
InterCity West Coast
InterCity West Coast (ICWC) was a 1997–2019 railway franchise in the United Kingdom for passenger trains on the West Coast Main Line (and branches thereof), between London Euston, the West Midlands, North Wales, Liverpool, Manchester, Carlisle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other major destinations between. The franchise was formed during the privatisation of British Rail and transferred to the private sector on 9 March 1997, when Virgin Trains commenced operations. It was due to be re-let in December 2012, with FirstGroup announced as the winning bidder; this decision was later reversed after the discovery of irregularities in the franchise letting process. In December 2012, Virgin Trains was awarded an extension to continue to run the franchise until November 2014, which was extended in several increments until December 2019. The InterCity West Coast franchise was superseded on 8 December 2019 by the West Coast Partnership, currently operated by Avanti West Coast. Services , t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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