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Sydney Knowles
Sydney Knowles, BEM, (3 September 1921 – 31 July 2012) was a British Royal Navy frogman during and after World War II. Biography Knowles was born in Preston, Lancashire, the son of a railwayman. He joined the Navy at the start of World War II and served as a stoker aboard the destroyers and , taking part in trans-Atlantic convoys and in Operation Pedestal, the relief of Malta. In 1942 Knowles joined the Underwater Working Party, under Lieutenant Commander Lionel Crabb, at Gibraltar. Knowles was one of a group of underwater guard divers who checked for limpet mines in Gibraltar Harbour during the period of Italian frogman and manned torpedo attacks. The group dived with Davis Escape Sets, which until then had not been used much if at all for swimming down from the surface. At first they swam by breaststroke without swimfins. On 17 December 1942, during one such attack, two of the Italian frogmen (Lt. Visintini and Petty Officer Magro) died, probably killed by small expl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Preston, Lancashire
Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston local government district. Preston and its surrounding district obtained city status in 2002, becoming England's 50th city in the 50th year of Queen Elizabeth II's reign. Preston has a population of 114,300, the City of Preston district 132,000 and the Preston Built-up Area 313,322. The Preston Travel To Work Area, in 2011, had a population of 420,661, compared with 354,000 in the previous census. Preston and its surrounding area have provided evidence of ancient Roman activity, largely in the form of a Roman road that led to a camp at Walton-le-Dale. The Angles established Preston; its name is derived from the Old English meaning "priest's settlement" and in the ''Domesday Book'' is recorded as "Prestune". In the Middle Ages, Preston was a parish and township in the hundred of Amounderness an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breaststroke
Breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and that it can be swum comfortably at slow speeds. In most swimming classes, beginners learn either the breaststroke or the freestyle (front crawl) first. However, at the competitive level, swimming breaststroke at speed requires endurance and strength comparable to other strokes. Some people refer to breaststroke as the "frog" stroke, as the arms and legs move somewhat like a frog swimming in the water. The stroke itself is the slowest of any competitive strokes and is thought to be the oldest of all swimming strokes. Speed and ergonomics Breaststroke is the slowest of the four official styles in competitive swimming. The fastest breaststrokers can swim about 1.70 meters (~5.6 feet) per second. It is sometimes the hardest to teach to rising swimmers aft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Craig (actor)
Michael Francis Gregson (born 27 January 1929),Craig's autobiography, ''The Smallest Giant: An Actor's Life'' known professionally as Michael Craig, is a British actor and screenwriter, known for his work in theatre, film and television both in the United Kingdom and in Australia. Biography Craig was born in Pune, Poona, British Raj, British India, the son of Donald Gregson, who served in the 3rd Cavalry (India), 3rd Indian Cavalry as a captain. He was the elder brother of film producer and screenwriter Richard Gregson.Craig's autobiography, ''The Smallest Giant: An Actor's Life'' Acting career Theatre Craig began his entertainment career in the theatre. His first job was as an assistant stage manager at the Castle Theatre, Farnham, England in 1950.''"The Timeless Land" from the ABC television series'', Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australian Broadcasting Commission, Sydney, 1980. His stage credits include ''A Whistle in the Dark'' (Apollo Theatre, 1961), ''The War ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Málaga
Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most populous in Spain. It lies on the Costa del Sol (''Coast of the Sun'') of the Mediterranean, about east of the Strait of Gibraltar and about north of Africa. Málaga's history spans about 2,800 years, making it one of the oldest cities in Europe and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. According to most scholars, it was founded about 770BC by the Phoenicians as ''Malaka'' ( xpu, 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤀, ). From the 6th centuryBC the city was under the hegemony of Ancient Carthage, and from 218BC, it was ruled by the Roman Republic and then empire as ''Malaca'' (Latin). After the fall of the empire and the end of Visigothic rule, it was under Islamic rule as ''Mālaqah'' ( ar, مالقة) for 800 years, but in 1487, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mail On Sunday
''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the '' Daily Mail'', was first published in 1896. In July 2011, after the closure of the '' News of the World'', ''The Mail on Sunday'' sold some 2.5 million copies a week—making it Britain's biggest-selling Sunday newspaper—but by September that had fallen back to just under 2 million. Like the ''Daily Mail'' it is owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), but the editorial staffs of the two papers are entirely separate. It had an average weekly circulation of 1,284,121 in December 2016; this had fallen to under a million by September 2019. In April 2020 the Society of Editors announced that the ''Mail on Sunday'' was the winner of the Sunday Newspaper of the Year for 2019. History ''The Mail on Sunday'' was launched on 2 May 1982, to complement the '' Daily ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pilsey Island
Pilsey Island is a Local Nature Reserve in Chichester Harbour in West Sussex. It is owned by the Ministry of Defence and managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It is part of the Chichester Harbour Site of Special Scientific Interest and Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I*, the Chichester and Langstone Harbours Ramsar site and Special Protection Area, and the Solent Maritime Special Area of Conservation. The island has sand dunes, mudflats, salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ... and bare and vegetated shingle. There are many plants, spiders and insects. There is no public access to the site. References {{Local Nature Reserves in West Sussex Local Nature Reserves in West Sussex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haulier
Haulage is the business of transporting goods by road or rail between suppliers and large consumer outlets, factories, warehouses, or depots. This includes everything humans might wish to move in bulk - from vegetables and other foodstuffs, to clothes, ore, coal, and other supplies. Haulage also involves the transportation of chemicals in large sealed containers, and the removal of waste. As the word implies, goods are loaded into large trailers or carriages and hauled between different locations. Traditionally, this was by large animals such as horses or oxen - where the practice may also be called cartage or drayage. However, in the modern age, this act is mostly performed by trains or trucks - with large shipping vessels acting as intermediaries for crossing oceans. Truck drivers on haulage shifts are typically male, and often work long and difficult hours with few breaks - regularly sleeping in their vehicles overnight and eating/showering at rest stops. It is expected that Vehic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bridge Of Sighs
The Bridge of Sighs (Italian: ''Ponte dei Sospiri'', vec, Ponte de i Sospiri) is a bridge in Venice, Italy. The enclosed bridge is made of white limestone, has windows with stone bars, passes over the Rio di Palazzo, and connects the New Prison (''Prigioni Nuove'') to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace. It was designed by Antonio Contino, whose uncle Antonio da Ponte designed the Rialto Bridge. It was built in 1600. Etymology The view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment. The bridge's English name was bequeathed by Lord Byron in the 19th century as a translation from the Italian "Ponte dei sospiri", from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice through the window before being taken down to their cells. In culture The 1861 opera ''Le pont des soupirs'' ("The Bridge of Sighs") by Jacques Offenbach has the name of the bridge as a title. The Bridge of Sighs features he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1943 Gibraltar B-24 Crash
The 1943 Gibraltar Liberator AL523 crash was an aircraft crash that resulted in the death of General Władysław Sikorski, the commander-in-chief of the Polish Army and Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile. Sikorski's Liberator II crashed off Gibraltar almost immediately after takeoff on 4 July 1943. An estimated sixteen people died, including many other senior Polish military leaders. The plane's pilot was the only survivor. The crash was ruled to have been an accident, but Sikorski's death remains an unsolved mystery. The crash marked a turning point for Polish influence on their Anglo-American allies in World War II. Background The relationship between the Soviet Union and Poland was tenuous at best during World War II for a variety of reasons, and became more so, after the 1940 Katyn massacre of over 20,000 Polish servicemen by the Soviets came to light. However, pragmatic general Władysław Sikorski was still open to some form of normalisation of Polish-So ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Władysław Sikorski
Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (; 20 May 18814 July 1943) was a Polish military and political leader. Prior to the First World War, Sikorski established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause for Polish independence. He fought with distinction in the Polish Legions during the First World War, and later in the newly created Polish Army during the Polish–Soviet War of 1919 to 1921. In that war, he played a prominent role in the decisive Battle of Warsaw (1920). In the early years of the Second Polish Republic, Sikorski held government posts, including serving as prime minister (1922 to 1923) and as minister of military affairs (1923 to 1924). Following Józef Piłsudski's May Coup of 1926 and the installation of the ''Sanation'' government, he fell out of favor with the new régime. During the Second World War, Sikorski became prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile, Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces, and a vigorou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polish Armed Forces In The West
The Polish Armed Forces in the West () refers to the Polish military formations formed to fight alongside the Western Allies against Nazi Germany and its allies during World War II. Polish forces were also raised within Soviet territories; these were the Polish Armed Forces in the East. The formations, loyal to the Polish government-in-exile, were first formed in France and its Middle East territories following the defeat and occupation of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union in September 1939. After the fall of France in June 1940, the formations were recreated in the United Kingdom. Making a large contribution to the war effort, the Polish Armed Forces in the West was composed of army, air and naval forces. The Poles soon became shock troops in Allied service, most notably in the Battle of Monte Cassino during the Italian Campaign, where the Polish flag was raised on the ruined abbey on 18 May 1944, as well as in the Battle of Bologna and the Battle of Ancona (both also i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
