|
Puckeridge DECCA Tower
Puckeridge is a village in East Hertfordshire, England with a population of 3,561 ( 2011 Census). It is in the civil parish of Standon. History The earliest known settlement was founded by the Catuvellauni, Celts from northeastern France. The Celts began to arrive around 250 BC. The Belgae arrived around 180 BC. A Roman town existed just to the north of the existing village and the village is at the crossroads of two major Celtic roads, Ermine Street and Stane Street. By 200AD the Romans had built a town, at the north of the current village, called Ad Fines. It was a regional capital and was also the start point for the roads to St Albans and Baldock – all-important pre-Roman Celtic centres. Ad Fines had a large temple dedicated to Minerva. It also had at least two bath houses on the banks of the River Rib. The town survived until the end of the 5th century. The neighbouring villages of Standon and Braughing are recorded in the Domesday Book, but Puckeridge is not altho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For government statistical purposes, it forms part of the East of England region. Hertfordshire covers . It derives its name – via the name of the county town of Hertford – from a hart (stag) and a ford, as represented on the county's coat of arms and on the flag. Hertfordshire County Council is based in Hertford, once the main market town and the current county town. The largest settlement is Watford. Since 1903 Letchworth has served as the prototype garden city; Stevenage became the first town to expand under post-war Britain's New Towns Act of 1946. In 2013 Hertfordshire had a population of about 1,140,700, with Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, Watford and St Albans (the county's only ''city'') each having between 50,000 and 100,000 r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Death
The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causing the deaths of people, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351. Bubonic plague is caused by the bacterium ''Yersinia pestis'' spread by fleas, but it can also take a secondary form where it is spread by person-to-person contact via aerosols causing septicaemic or pneumonic plagues. The Black Death was the beginning of the second plague pandemic. The plague created religious, social and economic upheavals, with profound effects on the course of European history. The origin of the Black Death is disputed. The pandemic originated either in Central Asia or East Asia before spreading to Crimea with the Golden Horde army of Jani Beg as he was besieging the Genoese trading port of Kaffa in Crimea (1347). From Crimea, it was most likely carried ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rose Tremain
Dame Rose Tremain (born 2 August 1943) is an English novelist, short story writer, and former Chancellor of the University of East Anglia. Life Rose Tremain was born Rosemary Jane Thomson on 2 August 1943 in London to Viola Mabel Thomson and Keith Nicholas Home Thomson. Her paternal great-grandfather is William Thomson, who was Archbishop of York from 1862 to 1890. She was educated at Francis Holland School, Crofton Grange School, the Sorbonne (1961–1962) and the University of East Anglia (BA, English Literature). She later went on to teach creative writing at the University of East Anglia from 1988 to 1995, and was appointed Chancellor in 2013. She married Jon Tremain in 1971 and they had one daughter, Eleanor, born in 1972, who became an actress. The marriage lasted about five years. Her second marriage, to theatre director Jonathan Dudley, in 1982, lasted about nine years; and she has been with Richard Holmes since 1992. She lives in Thorpe St Andrew near Norwich in No ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translations. He has been seen as one of the earliest proponents of the English novel, and helped to popularise the form in Britain with others such as Aphra Behn and Samuel Richardson. Defoe wrote many political tracts, was often in trouble with the authorities, and spent a period in prison. Intellectuals and political leaders paid attention to his fresh ideas and sometimes consulted him. Defoe was a prolific and versatile writer, producing more than three hundred works—books, pamphlets, and journals — on diverse topics, including politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology, and the supernatural. He was also a pioneer of business journalism and economic journalism. Early life Daniel Foe (his original name) was probabl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Real Inspector Hound
''The Real Inspector Hound'' is a short, one-act play by Tom Stoppard. The plot follows two theatre critics named Moon and Birdboot who are watching a ludicrous setup of a country house murder mystery, in the style of a whodunit. By chance, they become involved in the action causing a series of events that parallel the play they are watching. The play was written between 1961 and 1962, drawing on Stoppard's experiences as a Bristol theatre critic. It was initially named ''The Stand-ins'' and later, ''The Critics''. It is a parody of the stereotypical parlour mystery in the style of Agatha Christie's ''The Mousetrap'', as well as of the critics watching the play, with their personal desires and obsessions interwoven into their bombastic and pompous reviews. The title is a direct reference to the ending of ''The Mousetrap'', a play well known for guarding the secrecy of its twist ending, although the producers of Agatha Christie's play could not publicly object without drawing ev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and political freedom, often delving into the deeper philosophical thematics of society. Stoppard has been a playwright of the National Theatre and is one of the most internationally performed dramatists of his generation. Stoppard was knighted for his contribution to theatre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997. Born in Czechoslovakia, Stoppard left as a child refugee, fleeing imminent Nazi occupation. He settled with his family in Britain after the war, in 1946, having spent the previous three years (1943–1946) in a boarding school in Darjeeling in the Indian Himalayas. After being educated at schools in Nottingham and Yorkshire, Stoppard became a journalist, a drama critic and then, in 1960, a playwright. Stoppard's most prominent plays include ''R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyril Fordham
Cyril Bernard Fordham (22 September 1906 – 22 April 1988) was an English cricketer. Fordham was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm off break. He was born at Puckeridge, Hertfordshire. Fordham made his debut in county cricket for Hertfordshire against Buckinghamshire in the 1924 Minor Counties Championship. He played Minor counties cricket for Hertfordshire from 1924 to 1939, making 121 appearances, the last of which came against Buckinghamshire. During his career with the county, he scored nearly 6,000 runs at an average of close to 33, and took nearly 200 wickets with the ball, at 17 apiece. In 1931, he was selected to play for a combined Minor Counties team, making his first-class debut for the team against the touring New Zealanders at the Rose Brothers Ground, Gainsborough. He made four further first-class appearances for the team during the thirties, the last of which came against Oxford University in 1937. In his five first-class appearances for the team, he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Legion
The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants, as well as all others in need. Membership Service in the armed forces is no longer a requirement of Legion membership. The Legion has an official membership magazine, ''Legion'', which is free to all Legion members as part of their annual subscription. History The British Legion was founded in 1921 as a voice for the ex-service community as a bringing together of four organisations: the Comrades of the Great War, the National Association of Discharged Sailors and Soldiers and the National Federation of Discharged and Demobilised Sailors and Soldiers, and incorporated the fundraising department of the Officers' Association. Field Marshal The 1st Earl Haig (1861–1928), British commander at the Battle of the Somme and Passchendaele, was one of the founde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hunt Class Destroyer
The Hunt class was a ship class, class of escort destroyer of the Royal Navy. The first vessels were ordered early in 1939, and the class saw extensive service in the World War II, Second World War, particularly on the British east coast and Mediterranean convoys. They were named after List of foxhound packs of the United Kingdom, British fox hunts. The modern Hunt-class mine countermeasures vessel, Hunt-class glass-reinforced plastic, GRP hulled mine countermeasure vessels maintain the Hunt names lineage in the Royal Navy. History The Royal Navy had identified the need for two types of destroyer: larger vessels with heavy gun and torpedo armaments for fleet work and another type for escort duties. Although old fleet destroyers could be allocated to escort work, they were unsuitable for the task and new construction replaced them. Fleet destroyers were designed for speed and their machinery was inefficient at convoy speeds, reducing their range. Their shape made them poor sea b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Puckeridge (L108)
HMS ''Puckeridge'' was a of the Royal Navy and first and so far only warship to bear the Name. The vessel was ordered on 4 September 1939 as part of the 1939 wartime emergency program. She was laid down on 1 January 1940 at the J. Samuel White yard, East Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, launched on 6 March 1941 and commissioned on 30 July 1941. ''Puckeridge'' was one of 33, Type II Hunt Escort Destroyers. The hulls of this second batch had an extra section and an increased beam which gave stability for a third twin 4" AA gun as originally designed and additional storage for depth charges. The class were named after British fox and stag hunts, in this case, the Puckeridge Hunt, based in East Anglia. Service history Home Fleet In December 1941 ''Puckeridge'' was attached to the Home Fleet. On 13 December she was attacked by aircraft off the Pembroke coast and was hit by a bomb on her Quarterdeck which caused an explosion in her aft 4-inch magazine. 18 ratings were killed an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decca Navigator System
The Decca Navigator System was a hyperbolic navigation, hyperbolic radio navigation system which allowed ships and aircraft to determine their position by using radio signals from a dedicated system of static radio transmitters. The system used phase comparison of two low frequency signals between 70 and 129 kilohertz, kHz, as opposed to pulse timing systems like Gee (navigation), Gee and LORAN. This made it much easier to design receivers using 1940s electronics, and operation was simplified by giving a direct readout of Decca coordinates without the complexity of a cathode ray tube and highly skilled operator. The system was invented in the U.S., but development was carried out by Decca Radar, Decca in the UK. It was first deployed by the Royal Navy during World War II for the vital task of clearing the minefields to enable the D-Day landings. The Allied forces needed an accurate system not known to the Germans and thus free of jamming. After the war, it came off the secret li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Daniel Defoe")
