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Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren

Dame Helen Mirren (born Ilyena Lydia Mironoff on July 26, 1945) is an English stage, television and movie actress. She is particularly well-known for her role as the female detective Jane Tennison in the Prime Suspect series of television dramas. Mirren was born in England to a Russian-noble father who emigrated there in response to the Russian Revolution, and an English mother. Following appearances on stage during her school years at St Bernards High School for Girls in Westcliff on Sea, Essex, her first starring role was in 1965 as Cleopatra for the National Youth Theatre. This led to her joining the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing Cressida in Troilus and Cressida, and Lady Macbeth in the production by Trevor Nunn. In 1972 she joined Peter Brook's International Centre for Theatre Research, and joined the group's tour across North Africa which created The Conference of the Birds. The "sexy" image she acquired in her youth has been little affected by encroaching age although it is complemented by the iron-willed image she created in her Prime Suspect role. She married American director Taylor Hackford, her domestic partner since 1986, on his 53rd birthday on December 31, 1997, in the Scottish Highlands. She appeared in Belfast-born director Terry George's film Some Mother's Son, which was about the 1981 Hunger Strikes in Northern Ireland, opposite Irish actress Fionnuala Flanagan. She was invested as a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) on December 5, 2003, despite certain comments she had made previously, much like Billy Connolly being awarded the CBE, both of which honours may be credited to the Labour Government of Tony Blair. At the Edinburgh Television Festival in August 2004, director Stephen Frears revealed that he had cast Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II in a forthcoming project entitled The Queen, set during the week between the death and funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997. Co-incidentally, she also memorably played Elizabeth I in 2005 in a television movie for Channel 4. She voices the supercomputer Deep Thought in the film adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, released on April 29, 2005.

Partial Filmography

- Age of Consent (1969)
- O Lucky Man! (1973)
- Caligula (film) (1979)
- The Long Good Friday (1980)
- Excalibur (1981)
- 2010: Odyssey Two (1984)
- The Mosquito Coast (1986)
- The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
- Where Angels Fear to Tread (1991)
- Prime Suspect 1-3 (1991-1993)
- The Madness of King George (1994)
- Painted Lady (mini series) (1997)
- The Prince of Egypt (1998)
- Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999)
- Gosford Park (2001)
- Calendar Girls (2003)
- The Clearing (2004)
- Pride (2004)
- Raising Helen (2004)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
- Elizabeth I (2005) (2x two hour TV dramas)

External links

- [http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/biographies/helen_mirren_biog.html Helen Mirren Biography]
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- [http://www.helenmirren.com/ The Helen Mirren Appreciation Society] Mirren, Helen Mirren, Helen Mirren, Helen Mirren, Helen Mirren, Helen Mirren, Helen Mirren, Helen Mirren, Helen Mirren, Helen Mirren, Helen ja:ヘレン・ミレン

Æsir

In Old Norse, the Æsir (singular Áss, feminine Ásynja, feminine plural Ásynjur, Anglo-Saxon Ós, from Proto-Germanic Ansuz) are the principal gods of the pantheon of Norse mythology. They include many of the major figures, such as Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr and Tyr. A second clan of gods, the Vanir, is also mentioned in the Norse mythos: the god Njord and his children, Freyr and Freyja, are the most prominent Vanir gods who join the Æsir as hostages after a war between Æsir and Vanir. The Vanir appear to have mainly been connected with cultivation and fertility, the Æsir with power and war.

Etymology

The word áss, Proto-Germanic
- ansuz is believed to be derived from Proto-Indo-European
- ansu- 'breath, god' related to Sanskrit asura and Avestan ahura with the same meaning; though in Sanskrit asura came to mean 'demon'. The cognate Old English form to áss is os 'god, deity', as in the still-current surname Osgood, or the first names Oswin, Osbert, Oswald, Osborn, Osmund (but Oscar is an unrelated Gaelic name). Snorri Sturluson's Euhemeristic in the 13th century connected the Æsir with Asia, an explanation repeated as late as in the 17th century by Schefferus, who held that Æsir referred to "Asian emperors", that is, a [Hereditary shamanism|shamanistic hereditary]] leadership, emanating out from the Eurasian steppes into Europe in ancient times (compare Thraco-Cimmerians). Ása is the genitive form of Áss. The form appears as a prefix to indicate membership in the Æsir in "Ása-Þórr", and also in the compound Ásatrú, a sect of Germanic Neopaganism.

Norse mythology

The interaction between the Æsir and the Vanir is an interesting aspect of Norse mythology. While other cultures have had "elder" and "younger" families of gods, as with the Titans versus the Olympians of ancient Greece, the Æsir and Vanir were portrayed as contemporary. The two clans of gods fought battles, concluded treaties, and exchanged hostages (Freyr and Freyja are mentioned as such hostages). It is tempting to speculate that the interactions described as occurring between Æsir and Vanir reflect the types of interaction common to various Norse clans at the time. According to another theory, the cult of the Vanir (who are mainly connected with fertility and relatively peaceful) may be of an older date, and that of the more warlike Æsir of later origin, so the mythical war may perhaps mirror a religious conflict. On the other hand this may be a parallel to the historicized conflict between the Romans and the Sabines. The noted comparative religion scholar Mircea Eliade speculated that both conflicts are actually different versions of an older Indo-European myth of conflict and integration between deities of sky and rulership vs. deities of earth and fertility, with no strict historical antecedents. The chronology of the cults would in that case not be pictured in the myths. However, only Odin and Thor were important in both myth and cult; an áss like Ullr is almost unknown in the myths, but his name is seen in a lot of geographical names, especially in Sweden, so his cult was probably quite wide-spread. The Æsir stayed forever young by eating the apples of Iðunn, although they could be slain, as it was predicted that nearly all will die at Ragnarok.

The a-rune

The a-rune 10px, Younger Futhark was probably named after the Æsir. The name survives only in the Icelandic rune poem as Óss, however, referring to Odin, identified with Jupiter: :10px Óss er algingautr : ok ásgarðs jöfurr, : ok valhallar vísi. : Jupiter oddviti. :Óss is aged Gautr : and prince of Ásgardr : and lord of Vallhalla. Ihe Norwegian rune poem, Óss has a meaning of "estuary" while in the Angl-Saxon one Os has the Latin meaning of "mouth". The name of 15px a in the Gothic alphabet is ahsa. The common Germanic name of the rune may thus have either been ansuz "God, one of the Æsir", or ahsam "ear (of corn)".

List of Æsir and Vanir

- Baldr — god of innocence and beauty
- Bragi — the bard (skald)
- Forseti — god of justice
- Freyja (a Vanir hostage) — goddess of love and sex
- Freyr (a Vanir hostage) — god of fertility and love
- Frigg — chief goddess
- Heimdallr — the watchman and guardian
- Höðr — blind god of darkness and winter
- Hœnir — the indecisive god
- Iðunn — goddess of youth, fertility and death
- Loki — the trickster
- Nanna — wife of Baldr
- Njörðr (a Vanir hostage) — god of seamanship and sailing
- Odin — chief god, of wisdom and war
- Sif — golden-haired wife of Thor
- Thor (also called Donar) — god of thunder and battle
- Týr — one-handed god of battles and bravery.
- Ullr — the hunter, tracker and archer
- Váli — the avenger
- Vé — brother of Odin, who gave men speech
- Viðarr — god of silence, stealth, and revenge
- Vili — brother of Odin, who gave men feeling and thought

External link

- [http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE19.html Bartleby: American Heritage Dictionary: Indo-European roots: ansu] Category:Norse mythology Category:Runes ja:アース神族

1945

1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January

- January 5 - The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland.
- January 7 - British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference at Zonhoven describing his contribution to the Battle of the Bulge.
- January 12 - World War II: The Soviet Union begin a very large offensive in Eastern Europe against the Nazis.
- January 13 - A Soviet patrol arrests Raoul Wallenberg in Hungary.
- January 16 - Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker
- January 17 - World War II: Soviets occupy Warsaw
- January 17 - Holocaust: Nazis begin to evacuate from Auschwitz concentration camp
- January 20 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated to an unprecedented fourth term as President of the United States.
- January 20 - Hungary drops out of the Second World War, agreeing to an armistice with the Allies.
- January 24 - First successful launch of the German A4b-Rocket
- January 27 - The Red Army arrives at Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland and find the Nazi concentration camp where 1.3 million people were murdered.
- January 28 - World War II: Supplies begin to reach China over the newly reopened Burma Road.
- January 30 - The Wilhelm Gustloff with about 10,000 Nazi troops and refugees from Gotenhafen in the Gdansk Bay sunk with three torpedoes from the Soviet submarine S-13. More 9,300 drowned in the Baltic Sea.
- January 31 - Eddie Slovik is executed by firing squad for desertion, the first American soldier since the American Civil War and last to date to be executed for this offence.

February

- February 2 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill leave to meet with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference.
- February 3 - World War II: Russia agrees to enter the Pacific Theatre conflict against Japan.
- February 4 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin begin the Yalta Conference (ends February 11)
- February 6 - Reggae musician Bob Marley (Robert Nesta) is born at Nine Miles, St. Ann, Jamaica.
- February 6 - French writer Robert Brasillach executed for collaboration with the Germans
- February 7 - World War II: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila
- February 9 - Walter Ulbricht becomes the leader of German communists in Moscow
- February 10 - World War II: The SS General von Steuben sunk by the Soviet submarine S-13.
- February 13 - World War II: Soviet Union forces capture Budapest, Hungary from the Nazis.
- February 13 - World War II: The British Air Force bombs Dresden, Germany.
- February 14 - Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru join the United Nations.
- February 16 - World War II: American forces land on Corregidor island in the Philippines.
- February 16 - American forces recapture the Bataan Peninsula
- February 19 - World War II: Battle of Iwo Jima - about 30,000 United States Marines landed on Iwo Jima starting the battle.
- February 21 - Last launch of an A4-rocket at Peenemünde
- February 23 - World War II: Following the American victory at the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Surabachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag. The photo will later win a Pulitzer Prize.
- February 23 - World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by American forces.
- February 23 - World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Poznań, city is liberated by Red Army and Polish forces.
- February 24 - Egyptian Premier Ahmed Maher Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.

March

- March 1 - Jesse Holman Jones starts his term of office as U.S. Secretary of Commerce, serving under President Franklin D. Roosevelt
- March 2 - Launch of the Natter from Stetten am kalten Markt. The Natter was the first manned rocket and developed as anti-aircraft weapon. The launch failed and the pilot died.
- March 3 - World War II: Previously neutral Finland declares war on the Axis powers.
- March 3 - A possible experimental atomic test blast occurs at the Nazis' Ohrdruf military testing area [http://www.recorder.ca/cp/World/050314/w031435A.html].
- March 6 - Communist-led government formed in Romania
- March 7 - World War II: American troops seize the bridge over the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany and begin to cross.
- March 8 - Josip Broz Tito forms a government in Yugoslavia
- March 9-March 10 - World War II: American B-29 bombers attack Japan with incendiary bombs. Tokyo is fire-bombed killing 100,000 citizens.
- March 16 - World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends but small pockets of Japanese resistance persist.
- March 17 - World War II: Japanese city of Kobe is fire-bombed by 331 B-29 bombers, killing over 8,000.
- March 18 - World War II: 1,250 American bombers attack Berlin.
- March 19 - World War II: Adolf Hitler orders that all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany be destroyed.
- March 19 - Off the coast of Japan, bombers hit the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 800 of her crew and crippling the ship.
- March 21 - World War II: British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma
- March 22 - The Arab League was formed with the adoption of a charter in Cairo, Egypt.
- March 30 - World War II: Soviet Union forces invade Austria and take Vienna. Alger Hiss congratulated in Moscow for his part in bringing about the Western betrayal at the Yalta Conference.
- From February 14, 1936, to March 1, 1945, AG Weser launched a total of 162 U-boats.

April

- April 1 - World War II: United States troops land on Okinawa in the last campaign of the war. The Battle of Okinawa starts.
- April 4 - World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf death camp in Germany.
- April 7 - World War II: The Japanese battleship Yamato is sunk 200 miles north of Okinawa while in-route to a suicide mission.
- April 9 - Abwehr conspirators Wilhelm Canaris, Hans Oster, and Hans Dohanyi are hanged at Flossenberg concentration camp along with pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
- April 10 - The Allied Forces liberated their first Nazi concentration camp, Buchenwald.
- April 12 - United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945) dies in office; Vice President Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) takes the Oath of Office.
- April 15 - Bergen-Belsen concentration camp liberated.
- April 16 - World War II: The Goya sunk by the Soviet submarine L-3.
- April 25 - Founding negotiations of United Nations in San Francisco
- April 25 - World War II: Elbe Day, United States and Russian troops link up at the Elbe River, cutting Germany in two
- April 27 - U.S. Ordinance troops find the coffins of Frederick Wilhelm I, Frederick the Great, Paul Von Hindenburg,and his wife
- April 28 - Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are hanged upside down by Italian partisans as they attempt to flee the country.
- April 29 - Start of Operation Manna.
- April 30 - Adolf Hitler and his wife of one day, Eva Braun, commit suicide as Red Army approaches Führerbunker in Berlin. Karl Dönitz succeeds Hitler as President of Germany. Joseph Goebbels succeeds Hitler as Chancellor of Germany.

May

- May 1 - Joseph Goebbels and his wife commit suicide after killing their 6 children. Karl Dönitz appoints Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk as the new Chancellor of Germany.
- May 1 - World War II: Troops of Yugoslav 4th Army together with Slovene 9th Corpus NOV enter Trieste.
- May 2 - World War II: The Soviet Union announces the fall of Berlin. Soviet soldiers hoist the red flag over the Reichstag building.
- May 2 - World War II: Troops of New Zealand Army 2nd Division enter Trieste a day after the Yugoslavs. German Army in Trieste surrenders to the New Zealand Army.
- May 2 - The last postage stamp utilized by Manzhouguo is issued.
- May 3 - World War II: Sinkings of the floating-jails Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the RAF in the Lübeck Bay.
- May 3 - Rocket scientist Wernher von Braun and 120 members of his team surrender to US forces. They later help start the US space program.
- May 4 - World War II: Liberation of the concentration camp Neuengamme near Hamburg by the British army.
- May 4 - World War II: Reddition of the North Germany army by Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
- May 4 - World War II: Holland liberated by Canadians troops. [http://www-lib.usc.edu/~anthonya/war/lib.htm]
- May 5 - World War II: Prague uprising against the Nazis.
- May 5 - Ezra Pound, poet and author, is arrested by American soldiers in Italy for treason.
- May 5 - World War II: US armored unit liberates prisoners of Mauthausen concentration camp - including Simon Wiesenthal
- May 5 - World War II: Canadian soldiers liberate the city of Amsterdam from Nazi occupation.
- May 5 - World War II: Admiral Karl Dönitz orders all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases.
- May 5 - World War II: A Japanese balloon bomb killed five children and a woman, Elsie Mitchell near Lakeview, Oregon, when it exploded as they dragged it from the woods. They were the only people killed by enemy attack on the United States mainland during World War II.
- May 6 - World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops (first was on December 11, 1941).
- May 7 - World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document will take effect the next day.
- May 8 - World War II: V-E Day (Victory in Europe, as Nazi Germany surrenders) commemorates the end of World War II in Europe.
- May 8 - World War II: British 8th Army together with Slovene partisan troops and motorized detachment of Yugoslav 4th Army arrives to Carinthia and Klagenfurt.
- May 8-May 29 - In Algeria, French troops and released Italian POWs defeat rebellion of Algerians
- May 9 - World War II: Hermann Göring is captured by the United States Army; Norway arrests Vidkun Quisling; Soviet Union marks V-E Day.
- May 9 - World War II: Red Army enters Prague (capitulation of German occupation troops)
- May 9 - World War II: General Alexander Löhr Commander of German Army Group E near Topolšica, Slovenia, signs capitulation of German occupation troops.
- May 9 - World War II: Alderney, annex of the concentration camp Neuengamme liberated.
- May 12 - World War II: Yugoslav Army capitulates to the New Zealand Army, in Trieste and hands over the city.
- May 15 - World War II: the last WWII battle in Europe is fought at Poljana near Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia
- May 23 - President of Germany Karl Dönitz and Chancellor of Germany Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk are arrested by British forces at Flensburg. They would respectively be the last German Head of state and Head of government until 1949.
- May 23 - Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Nazi Gestapo, commits suicide in British custody.
- May 25 - In Atlantic, ships can finally keep their lights lit. Leo Szilard begs Harry S. Truman not to use the bomb. [http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hitimeline/1945.html]
- May 28 - William Joyce, known as "Lord Haw-Haw" is captured. He is later charged with high treason in London for his English-language wartime broadcasts on German radio. He is hanged in January of 1946.
- May 29 - Group of German communists, Ulbricht in the lead, arrive in Berlin
- May 30 - Iranian government demands that Soviet and British troops leave the country

June

- June 1 - British take over Lebanon and Syria
- June 5 - Allied Control Council, military occupation governing body of Germany, formally takes power.
- June 6 - King Haakon VII of Norway returns to Norway
- June 11 - William Lyon Mackenzie King is reelected as Canadian prime minister. Franck Committee recommends against a surprise nuclear bombing of Japan. [http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hitimeline/1945.html]
- June 12 - Yugoslav Army leaves Trieste, leaving the New Zealand Army in control.
- June 21 - World War II: The Battle of Okinawa ends.
- June 24 - World War II: Victory parade in Red Square
- June 25 - Seán T. O'Kelly is elected the second President of Ireland.
- June 26 - United Nations charter signed.
- June 29 - Czechoslovakia cedes Ruthenia to Soviet Union

July

- July 1 - World War II: Germany is divided between Allied occupation forces
- July 5 - World War II: Liberation of the Philippines declared.
- July 8 - World War II: Harry S. Truman informed that Japan will talk peace if she can keep the Emperor. [http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hitimeline/1945.html]
- July 9 - A forest fire breaks out in the Tillamook Burn, the third fire in that area since 1933.
- July 16 - Nuclear testing: The Trinity Test, the first test of an atomic bomb, using 6 kilograms of plutonium, succeeds in detonating, unleashing an explosion equivalent to that of 19 kilotons of TNT.
- July 17 - World War II: Potsdam Conference - At Potsdam, the three main Allied leaders begin their final summit of the war. The meeting will end on August 2.
- July 21 - World War II: Harry S. Truman approves order for atomic bombs to be used. [http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hitimeline/1945.html]
- July 23 - World War II: French marshall Philippe Pétain, who headed the Vichy government during World War II goes on trial, charged with treason.
- July 26 - Winston Churchill resigns as Britain's prime minister after his Conservative Party is soundly defeated by the Labour Party in the 1945 general election. Clement Attlee becomes the new prime minister.
- July 26 - Potsdam Declaration demands Japan's unconditional surrender; Article 12 permitting Japan to retain the Emperor had been deleted by Truman. [http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hitimeline/1945.html]
- July 28 - An Army Air Forces B-25 bomber accidentally crashes into the Empire State Building, killing 14 people.
- July 28 - World War II: Japan rejects Potsdam Declaration [http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hitimeline/1945.html].
- July 29 - The BBC Light Programme radio station was launched, aimed at mainstream light entertainment and music.
- July 30 - World War II: The USS Indianapolis is hit and sunk by the Japanese submarine I 58. Some 900 survivors jump into the sea and are adrift for 4 days. Nearly 600 die before help arrives. Captain Charles Butler MacVey III is later court-martialed.
- July 31 - World War II: Pierre Laval, fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.

August

- August 6 - World War II: the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The United States detonates an atomic bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, Japan at 8:16 AM (local time).
- August 7 - President Harry Truman announces the successful bombing of Hiroshima with an atomic bomb while returning from the Potsdam Conference aboard the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31) in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
- August 8 - The United Nations Charter is ratified by the United States, and that nation becomes the third to join the new international organization. Soviets declare war on Japan.
- August 9 - World War II: The United States detonates an atomic bomb nicknamed "Fat Man" over the city of Nagasaki, Japan at 11:02 AM (local time). World War II: The Soviet Union begins its offensive against Japan in the then Japanese controlled Chinese region of Manchuria. [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1986/RMF.htm]
- August 10 - World War II: US drops warning leaflets on Nagasaki. [http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hitimeline/1945.html]
- August 13 - Zionist World Congress approaches British government to talk about founding of Israel.
- August 14 - World War II: Emperor Hirohito accepts the terms of the Potsdam Declaration.
- August 15 - World War II: Emperor Hirohito announces Japan's surrender on the radio. The United States called this day V-J Day (Victory in Japan). This ends the period of Japanese expansionism and begins the period of Occupied Japan.
- August 15 - Korea gains independence following Japan's surrender
- August 17 - Indonesian nationalists Sukarno and Mohammed Hatta declare the independence of Republic of Indonesia, Sukarno as a president. Dutch colonial authorities do not approve
- August 19 - Vietnam War: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.
- End of August - Chinese Civil War: Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek meet in Chongqing to discuss an end to hostilities between the Communists and the Nationalists.

September

- September 2 - World War II ends: The final official surrender of Japan was accepted by General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz from a delegation led by Mamoru Shigemitsu, aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. But in Japan August 14 is well recognized as the day the Pacific War ended.
- September 2 - Ho Chi Minh promulgates the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence, and unity from the north to the south.
- September 4 - World War II: Japanese forces surrender on Wake Island after hearing word of their nation's surrender.
- September 5 - Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese-American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist "Tokyo Rose," is arrested in Yokohama.
- September 8 - US troops occupy southern Korea, Russians occupy the north. This arrangement proves to be the beginning of a divided Korea.
- September 8 - Hideki Tojo, Japanese prime minister during most of World War II, attempts suicide to avoid facing a war crimes tribunal.
- September 9 - "First actual case of bug being found" Moth found in Relay 70, Panel F Mark II Aiken Relay Computer
- September 11 - [http://www.rri-online.com/ Radio Republik Indonesia] starts broadcasting.
- September 12 - Japanese army formally surrendered in Singapore.
- September 20 - Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru demand that British troops leave India

October

India]
- October 1 - to October 15 - Launch of three A4 rockets near Cuxhaven in order to show Allied forces the rocket with liquid fuel (Operation Backfire)
- October 10 - Russian code clerk Igor Gouzenko defects to Canada. He helps the West gain an understanding of Soviet spy rings in North America.
- October 15 - World War II: Former premier of Vichy France, Pierre Laval, is executed by firing squad for treason.
- October 17 - Colonel Juan Peron stages a coup d'état, becoming ruler of Argentina.
- October 18 - The first German war crimes trial begins in Nuremberg.
- October 18 - Isaías Medina Angarita, president of Venezuela, is overthrown by a military coup.
- October 21 - Women's suffrage: Women are allowed to vote in France for the first time.
- October 23 - Jackie Robinson signs a contract with the Montreal Royals.
- October 24 - United Nations founded.
- October 24 - Norwegian Nazi leader, Vidkun Quisling, is shot by firing squad for treason.
- October 27 - Indonesian separatists riot and fight Dutch and British security forces.
- October 29 - Getulio Vargas, president of Brazil, resigns.
- October 29 - At Gimbels Department Store in New York City, the first ballpoint pens go on sale at $12.50 each.

November

- November 1 - John H. Johnson publishes the first issue of the magazine Ebony.
- November 13 - Charles De Gaulle elected head of a French provisional government
- November 15 - Harry S. Truman, Clement Attlee, and Mackenzie King call for a UN Atomic Energy Commission.[http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hitimeline/1945.html]
- November 16 - Cold War: The United States controversially imports 88 German scientists to help in the production of rocket technology.
- November 16 - Yeshiva College founded
- November 20 - Nuremberg Trials begin: Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals of World War II start at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice.
- November 29 - The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia is declared (this day was celebrated as Republic Day until 1990s). Marshal Tito is named president.
- November 29 - Assembly of the world's first general purpose electronic computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), is completed. It covers 1800 feet of floor space. The first set of calculations is run on the computer.

December

- December 2 - General Eurico Gaspar Dutra elected president of Brazil
- December 3 - Communist demonstrations in Athens - preliminary of the Greek Civil War
- December 4 - By a vote of 65 to 7, the United States Senate approves the entry of the United States into the United Nations.
- December 21 - General George S. Patton dies from injuries sustained in a car accident on December 9.
- December 27 - Twenty-eight nations sign an agreement creating the World Bank.
- December 27 - Terror strikes against British military bases in Palestine.

Unknown date

- Foundation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
- Poland has two rival governments
- Discovery of Nag Hammadi scriptures
- Dutch painter Han van Meegeren is arrested for collaboration with Nazis but the paintings he had sold to Hermann Göring are found to be his fakes.
- Female suffrage in Guatemala and Japan
- Saskatchewan Government Insurance, the first state-owned automobile insurance company in North America, is created.
- Denmark recognizes independent Iceland
- US house of representatives calls for unrestricted Jewish immigration to Palestine in order to establish a Jewish commonwealth there
- Roben Hollis Fleet pays $11.550.000 alimony to his second wife Dorothy

Ongoing events

- Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945)

Science and Technology

- Arthur C. Clarke puts forward the idea of a communications satellite in a Wireless World magazine article.
- At the Mayo Clinic, streptomycin is first used to treat tuberculosis.
- Percy Spencer accidentally discovers that microwaves can heat food. Invention of the microwave oven follows.
- Grand Rapids, Michigan and Newburgh, New York become the first cities to add fluoride to drinking water.
- The first nuclear reactor outside of the U.S. is built in Chalk River, Ontario, Canada.
- High-altitude, west-to-east winds across the Pacific Ocean — discovered by the Japanese in 1942 and by Americans in 1944 — are dubbed the jet stream.
- Salvador Edward Luria and Alfred Day Hershey independently recognize that viruses undergo mutations.
- The herbicide 2,4-D is introduced; it is later used as a component of Agent Orange.
- A team led by Charles DuBois Coryell discovers chemical element 61, the only one still missing between 1 and 96 on the periodic table. The new element is called promethium.
- Raymond Libby develops oral penicillin.
- American Canamid discovers folic acid, a vitamin abundent in green leafy vegetables, liver, kidney, and yeast.

Births

January-February

- January 3 - Victoria Principal, American actress
- January 3 - Stephen Stills, American singer and songwriter (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young)
- January 4 - Richard R. Schrock, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- January 10 - Rod Stewart, English singer
- January 26 - Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (d. 1987)
- January 29 - Tom Selleck, American actor
- January 30 - Michael Dorris, American author (d. 1997)
- February 3 - Bob Griese, American football player
- February 5 - Charlotte Rampling, English actress
- February 6 - Bob Marley, Jamaican singer and musician (d. 1981)
- February 7 - Gerald Davies, Welsh rugby player
- February 7 - Pete Postlethwaite, English actor
- February 9 - Mia Farrow, American actress
- February 14 - Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein
- February 17 - Brenda Fricker, Irish actress
- February 24 - Barry Bostwick, American actor
- February 27 - Carl Anderson, American singer and actor (d. 2004)
- February 28 - Bubba Smith, American football player and actor

March-April

- March 1 - Dirk Benedict, American actor
- March 7 - John Heard, American actor
- March 8 - Jim Chapman, American politician
- March 8 - Micky Dolenz, American actor, director, and musician (The Monkees)
- March 8 - Anselm Kiefer, German painter
- March 9 - Dennis Rader, American serial killer
- March 19 - Cem Karaca, Turkish musician
- March 26 - Mikhail Voronin, Russian gymnast (d.

England

:For an explanation of often-confusing terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology). England is a nation and the largest and most populous constituent country of the United Kingdom accounting for more than 83% of the total UK population. It occupies most of the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and shares land borders with fellow home nations Scotland, to the north, and Wales, to the west. Elsewhere, it is bordered by the sea. England is named after the Angles, one of a number of Germanic tribes believed to have originated in Angeln in Northern Germany, who settled in England in the 5th and 6th centuries. It has not had a distinct political identity since 1707, when Great Britain was established as a unified political entity; however, it has a legal identity separate from those of Scotland and Northern Ireland, as part of the entity "England and Wales;". England's largest city, London, is also the capital of the United Kingdom.

History

Main article: History of England England has been inhabited for at least 500,000 years, although the repeated Ice Ages made much of Britain uninhabitable for extended periods until as recently as 20,000 years ago. Stone Age hunter-gatherers eventually gave way to farmers and permanent settlements, with a spectacular and sophisticated megalithic civilisation arising in western England some 4,000 years ago. It was replaced around 1,500 years later by Celtic tribes migrating from Western and continental Europe, mainly from France. These tribes were known collectively as "Britons", a name bestowed by Phoenician traders — an indication of how, even at this early date, the island was part of a Europe-wide trading network. The Britons were significant players in continental politics and supported their allies in Gaul militarily during the Gallic Wars with the Roman Republic. This prompted the Romans to invade and subdue the island, first with Julius Caesar's raid in 55 BC, and then the Emperor Claudius' conquest in the following century. The whole southern part of the island — roughly corresponding to modern day England and Wales — became a prosperous part of the Roman Empire. It was finally abandoned early in the 5th century when a weakening Empire pulled back its legions to defend borders on the Continent. Unaided by the Roman army, Roman Britannia could not long resist the Germanic tribes who arrived in the 5th and 6th centuries, enveloping the majority of modern day England in a new culture and language and pushing Romano-British rule back into modern-day Wales and western extremities of England, notably Cornwall and Cumbria. Others emigrated across the channel to modern-day Brittany, thus giving it its name and language (Breton). But many of the Romano-British remained in and were assimilated into the newly "English" areas. The invaders fell into three main groups: the Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles. As they became more civilised, recognisable states formed and began to merge with one another. (The most well-known state of affairs being the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy.) From time to time throughout this period, one Anglo-Saxon king, recognised as the "Bretwalda" by other rulers, had effective control of all or most of the English; so it is impossible to identify the precise moment when the Kingdom of England was unified. In some sense, real unity came as a response to the Danish Viking incursions which occupied the eastern half of "England" in the 8th century. Egbert, King of Wessex (d. 839) is often regarded as the first king of all the English, although the title "King of England" was first adopted, two generations later, by Alfred the Great (ruled 871–899). The principal legacy left behind in those territories from which the language of the Britons were displaced is that of toponyms. Many of the place-names in England and to a lesser extent Scotland are derived from celtic British names, including London, Dumbarton, York, Dorchester, Dover and Colchester. Several place-name elements are thought to be wholly or partly Brythonic in origin, particularly bre-, bal-, and -dun for hills, carr for a high rocky place, coomb for a small deep valley. Until recently it has been believed that those areas settled by the Anglo-Saxons were uninhabited at the time or the Britons had fled before them. However, genetic studies show that the British were not pushed out to the Celtic fringes – many tribes remained in what was to become England (see C. Capelli et al. A Y chromosome census of the British Isles. Current Biology 13, 979–984, (2003)). Capelli's findings strengthen the research of Steven Bassett of the University of Birmingham; his work during the 1990s suggests that much of the West Midlands was only very lightly colonised with Anglian and Saxon settlements.

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,—
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

William Shakespeare
Richard II (Act 2, Scene 1)

The English are great lovers of themselves, and of everything belonging to them; they think that there are no other men than themselves, and no other world but England; and whenever they see a handsome foreigner, they say that 'he looks like an Englishman', and that 'it is a great pity that he should not be an Englishmen'.

Venetian ambassador to England
Early 16th century
Charlotte Augusta Sneyd
Italian Relations of England (p. 20)

Richard II] Richard II] In 1066, William the Conqueror and the Normans conquered the existing Kingdom of England and instituted an Anglo-Norman administration and nobility who, retaining proto-French as their language for the next three hundred years, ruled as custodians over English commoners. Although the language and racial distinctions faded rapidly during the middle ages, the class system born in the Norman/Saxon divide persisted longer — arguably with traces lasting to the modern day. While Old English continued to be spoken by common folk, Norman feudal lords significantly influenced the language with French words and customs being adopted over the succeeding centuries evolving to a Romance-Germanic hybrid of Middle English widely spoken in Chaucer's time. England came repeatedly into conflict with Wales and Scotland, at the time an independent principality and an independent kingdom respectively, as its rulers sought to expand Norman power across the entire island of Britain. The conquest of Wales was achieved in the 13th century, when it was annexed to England and gradually came to be a part of that kingdom for most legal purposes, although in the modern era it is more usually thought of as a separate nation (fielding, for example, its own athletic teams). Norman power in Scotland waxed and waned over the years, with the Scots managing to maintain a varying degree of independence despite repeated wars with the English. Although it was on the whole only a moderately successful power in military terms, England became one of the wealthiest states in medieval Europe, due chiefly to its dominance in the lucrative wool market. The failure of English territorial ambitions in continental Europe prompted the kingdom's rulers to look further afield, creating the foundations of the mercantile and colonial network that was to become the British Empire. The turmoil of the Reformation embroiled England in religious wars with Europe's Catholic powers, notably Spain, but the kingdom preserved its independence as much through luck as through the skill of charismatic rulers such as Elizabeth I. Elizabeth's successor, James I was already king of Scotland (as James VI); and this personal union of the two crowns into the crown of Great Brittaine was followed a century later by the Act of Union 1707, which formally unified England, Scotland and Wales into the Kingdom of Great Britain. This later became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801 to 1927) and then the modern state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1927 to present) For post-unification history, see history of the United Kingdom.

Politics

Main article: Politics of the United Kingdom, Government of England Since the promulgation of the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan and the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542, Wales has shared a legal identity with England as the joint entity of England and Wales. The Act of Union with the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 created the Kingdom of Great Britain, subsuming England, Wales and Scotland into a single political entity. Scotland, along with Northern Ireland, retain separate legal systems. The duchy of Cornwall also retains some unique rights. All of Great Britain has been ruled by the government of the United Kingdom since that date, although in 1999 the first elections to the newly created Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales left England as the only part of the Union with no devolved assembly or parliament. As all legislation for England is passed by Parliament at Westminster there are some complaints about the ability of non-English Members of Parliament to influence purely English affairs. This apparent anomaly has been highlighted by both English and non-English politicians, often those opposed to devolution, and has become popularly known as the West Lothian question. Administratively, England is something of an anomaly within the UK. Unlike the other three nations, it has no local parliament or government and its administrative affairs are dealt with by a combination of the UK government, the UK parliament and a number of England-specific quangos, such as English Heritage. There are calls from some for a devolved English Parliament and from others for the dissolution of the UK and an independent England. The current Labour government favoured the establishment of regional administration, claiming that England was too large to be governed as a sub-state entity. A referendum on this issue in North East England on 4 November 2004 decisively rejected the proposal. Some criticised the English regional proposals for not decentralising enough, saying that they amounted not to devolution, but to little more than local government reorganisation, with no real power being removed from central government. The English regions would not even have had the limited powers of the Welsh Assembly, much less the tax-varying and legislative powers of the Scottish Parliament. Rather, power was simply re-allocated within the region, with little new resource allocation and no real prospects of Assemblies being able to change the pattern of regional aid. Responsibility for regional transport was added to the proposals late in the process. This was perhaps crucial in the North East, where resentment at the Barnett Formula, which delivers greater regional aid to adjacent Scotland, was a significant impetus for the North East devolution campaign. There has also been a campaign for a Cornish assembly along Welsh lines by groups such as Mebyon Kernow, which recently collected 50,000 signatures in support. Some eurosceptics believe that the establishment of English regions as administrative entities is designed to undermine the concept of English nationhood and more easily fit England into a European federal model. Conventionally the national capital of England is London, although technically it would be more exact to call London the capital of "England and Wales" given England's lack of a distinctive political identity separate from the Principality. Winchester served as the country's first national capital until some time in the late 11th century after the Norman Conquest. The City of London became England's commercial capital, while the City of Westminster (where the Royal court was located) became the political capital. These roles have, broadly speaking, been maintained to the present day.

Subdivisions

Main article: Subdivisions of England Historically, the highest level of local government in England was the county. These divisions had emerged from a range of units of old, pre-unification England, whether they were Kingdoms, such as Essex and Sussex; Duchies, such as Yorkshire, Cornwall and Lancashire or simply tracts of land given to some noble, as is the case with Berkshire. Until 1867, they were subdivided into smaller divisions called hundreds. These counties all still exist in, or near to, their original form as the traditional counties. In many places, however, they have been heavily modified or abolished outright as administrative counties. This came about due to a number of factors. The fact that the counties were so small meant, and still means, that there was no regional government able to coordinate an overarching plan for the area. This was especially true in the metropolitan areas surrounding the cities, as the county lines were usually drawn up before the industrial revolution and the mass urbanisation of England. The solution was the creation of large metropolitan counties centred on cities. These were later broken up, with several other counties, into unitary authorities, unifying the county and district/borough levels of government. London is a special case, and is the one region which currently has a representative authority as well as a directly elected mayor. The 32 London boroughs and the Corporation of London remain the local form of government in the city. Other than Greater London, the official regions are:
- North East England
- North West England
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- West Midlands
- East Midlands
- East of England
- South West England
- South East England Outside London the regions have very little power and are not accountable to elected representatives; regional authority is placed in the hands of unelected assemblies. If, as now seems unlikely, regions opt to replace these bodies with elected assemblies, local government in England will remain as variable and, some might say, as confusing as ever

Geography

Main articles: Geography of the United Kingdom, Geography of England Geography of England England comprises the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain, plus offshore islands of which the largest is the Isle of Wight. It is bordered to the north by Scotland and to the west by Wales. It is closer to continental Europe than any other part of Britain, divided from France only by a 38 km (24 statute mile or 21 nautical mile) sea gap. Most of England consists of rolling hills, but it is more mountainous in the north with a chain of low mountains, the Pennines, dividing east and west. The dividing line between terrain types is usually indicated by the Tees-Exe line. There is also an area of flat, low-lying marshland in the east, much of which has been drained for agricultural use. The list of England's largest cities is much debated because in British English the normal meaning of city is "a continuously built-up urban area"; these are hard to define and various other definitions are preferred by some people to boost the ranking of their own city. London is by far the largest English city. Manchester and Birmingham vie for second place. A number of other cities, mainly in the north of England, are of substantial size and influence. These include: Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Nottingham, Bristol and Sheffield Using the standard U.S. city limits definition of a city the top six are: Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Liverpool and Manchester. Note that London is not on this list (Greater London is a region and the City of London is tiny), and that one of the two candidates for the status of England's "second city", Manchester, is down in sixth. In the UK, this method of ranking cities is generally used only by people whose own city is promoted by it. The Channel Tunnel, near Folkestone, links England to the European mainland. The English/French border is halfway along the tunnel. The largest harbour in England is at Poole, on the south-central coast. Internationally, it is the second largest harbour in the world, although this fact is disputed (See harbors for a list of other potential second largest harbours) The highest temperature ever recorded in England is 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) on August 10, 2003 in Kent. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3153532.stm]. The lowest temperature ever recorded in England is -26.1 °C (-15.0 °F) on January 10, 1982 at Newport in Shropshire. [http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/location/england/#temperature]

Major rivers

Shropshire.]]
- Thames
- Severn
- Trent
- Humber
- Yorkshire Ouse
- Tyne
- Mersey
- Dee
- Avon Main article: Waterways in the United Kingdom

Major Conurbations

:See main article: List of towns in England The largest cities in England are much debated but according to the urban area populations (continuous built up areas) these would be the 15 largest conurbations. (Population figures taken from 2001 census) #Greater London (8,278,251) #West Midlands (2,284,093) #Greater Manchester (2,244,931) #Leeds/Bradford (1,499,465) #Tyneside (879,996) #Liverpool (816,216) #Nottingham (666,358) #Sheffield (640,720) #Bristol (551,066) #Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton (461,181) #Portsmouth (442,252) #Leicester (441,213) #Bournemouth/Poole (383,713) #Reading (369,804) #Teesside (365,323)

Economy

Main article: Economy of England

Demographics

Main articles: Demographics of England, Population of England England is both the most populous and the most ethnically diverse nation in the United Kingdom with around 49 million inhabitants, of which roughly a tenth are from non-White ethnic groups. It is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe, second only to the Netherlands. This population is made up of, and descended from, immigrants who have arrived over millennia. The principal waves of migration have been in c. 600 BC (Celts), the Roman period (garrison soldiers from throughout the Empire), 350–550 (Angles, Saxons, Jutes), 800–900 (Vikings, Danes), 1066 (Normans), 1650–1750 (European refugees and Huguenots), 1840–1850 (Irish), 1880–1940 (Irish, Jews), 1950— (Irish, Caribbeans, Africans, South Asians), 1985— (citizens of European Community member states especially Ireland, East Europeans, Iranians, Kurds, refugees). The general prosperity of England as the largest partner of the UK, has also made it a destination for economic migrants particularly from Ireland and Scotland. This segment of English homogeneous society continues to create a diverse and dynamic language that is widely used internationally. The other image of foreign ethnic components in England is still mostly seen as a legacy of the British Empire; especially the Commonwealth of Nations.

English identity

The simplest view is that an English person is someone who is from England and holds British nationality, regardless of his or her racial origin. However, inhabitants of England quite commonly refer to themselves as "British" rather than "English"; centuries of English dominance within the United Kingdom has created a situation where to be English is, as a linguist would put it, an "unmarked" state (i.e. a British person, institution, custom, city, etc. is assumed English unless specified otherwise). The English frequently include their neighbours in the general term "British" while the Scots and Welsh, proud of their separate identities, tend to be more forward about referring to themselves by one of those more specific terms. Although currently a part of England, a notable percentage of those living in Cornwall feel similarly, considering themselves Cornish first. One significant exception is in Northern Ireland, where the Unionist community tend to identify very strongly as "British" (Republicans living in the province are more likely to consider themselves "Irish"), and there is not a "Northern Ireland" or "Northern Irish" identity to the same extent as there is (e.g.) a Scottish one. A person, therefore, using the term "English" to describe him or herself (regardless of personal history) may be going out of his or her way to do so; hence he or she may also be seen (rightly or wrongly, and not necessarily pejoratively) as nationalistic. While Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Cornish patriotism are widely exhibited, specifically English patriotism has often been viewed with suspicion, and most English people feel more comfortable identifying themselves with Britain as a whole. However, this may be to avoid being seen as bullies by their neighbours. The extent to which specifically English patriotism is linked to a right-wing xenophobic agenda has also generated discomfort. The appropriation of English symbols by racist far-right organisations such as the National Front made many people uncomfortable with expressions of Englishness. In recent years, English identity has recently been a topic of debate in the national press, with many English people trying to "reclaim" the term and the flag from the far-right. See English nationalism. One notable exception to the above is in relation to sports, in particular Association football, Rugby football and to a lesser extent Cricket. Transient successes are often accompanied by a revival of the use of the "St George's Cross". While it has not yet replaced the "Union Flag" its use is on the increase. Many English people who have spent a lot of time overseas fall into the habit of referring to themselves as "English". It is the most recognisable designation by speakers of many languages, especially where their own language uses a similar word. Even in other English-speaking countries, people are often perplexed by concepts of "British" or the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". All these distinctions are only possible because there is no "English citizenship" or legal definition of Englishness. Moreover, the hazy understanding many people have of the distinction between "England" and "Britain" compounds the confusion. If in doubt, refer to an "English" person as "British": this will always be correct. It may not be as precise as "English", but it will avoid offence in the event the person is actually from a different part of Britain.

Culture

Union Flag Main article: Culture of England
- English literature
- Sir Thomas Browne
- Geoffrey Chaucer
- John Milton
- William Shakespeare
- Jane Austen
- Mary Shelley
- Charles Dickens
- Thomas Hardy
- George Orwell
- J. R. R. Tolkien
- C. S. Lewis
- Douglas Adams
- List of national parks of England and Wales
- Food and Drink
- English folklore
- English art
- English school of painting
- Music of England

Languages

Music of England.]] As its name suggests, the English language, today spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world, originated as the language of England, where it remains the principal tongue today (although not officially designated as such). An Indo-European language in Anglo-Frisian branch of the Germanic family, it is closely related to Scots and Frisian. As the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms merged into England, "Old English" emerged; some of its literature and poetry has survived. Used by aristocracy and commoners alike before the Norman Conquest (1066), English was displaced in cultured contexts under the new regime by the Norman French language of the new Anglo-French aristocracy. Its use was confined primarily to the lower social classes while official business was conducted in a mixture of Latin and French. Over the following centuries, however, English gradually came back into fashion among all classes and for all official business except certain traditional ceremonies. (Some survive to this day.) But Middle English, as it had by now become, showed many signs of French influence, both in vocabulary and spelling. During the Renaissance, many words were coined from Latin and Greek origins; and more recent years, Modern English has extended this custom, being always remarkable for its far-flung willingness to incorporate foreign-influenced words. The law does not recognise any language as being official, but English is the only language used in England for general official business. The other national languages of the UK (Welsh, Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic) are confined to their respective nations, and only Welsh is treated by law as an equal to English (and then only for organisations which do business in Wales). The only non-Anglic native spoken language in England is the Cornish language, a Celtic language spoken in Cornwall, which became extinct in the 19th century but has been revived and is spoken in various degrees of fluency by around 3,500 people. This has no official status (unlike Welsh) and is not required for official use, but is nonetheless supported by national and local government under the