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Jerome K. Jerome

Jerome K. Jerome

Jerome Klapka Jerome (May 2, 1859–June 14, 1927) was an English author, best known for the humorous travelogue Three Men in a Boat. He was born in Walsall (now in the West Midlands, but then in Staffordshire), where there is now a museum in his honour, and brought up in poverty in London. Other works include the essay collections Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow and Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow; Three Men on the Bummel, a sequel to Three Men in a Boat; and several other novels. One of the most famous quotations from Three Men in a Boat is
"I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours."

Bibliography

Novels


- The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886)
- Three Men in a Boat (1889)
- The Diary of a Pilgrimage (1891)
- Novel Notes (1893)
- The Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1898)
- Three Men on the Bummel (aka Three Men on Wheels) (1900)
- Paul Kelver, a novel (1902)
- Tommy and Co (1904)
- They and I (1909)
- All Roads Lead to Calvary (1919)
- Anthony John (1923)
- The Love of Ulrich Nebendahl (1999)
- The Philosopher's Joke (1999)

Collections


- Told After Supper (1891)
- John Ingerfield: And Other Stories (1894)
- Sketches in Lavender, Blue and Green (1895)
- The Observations of Henry (1901)
- The Angel and the Author and Others (1904)
- American Wives and Others (1904)
- The Passing of the Third Floor Back: And Other Stories (1907)
- Malvina of Brittany (1916)
- Three Men in a Boat and Three Men on the Bummel (1974)
- After Supper Ghost Stories: And Other Tales (1985)

Non fiction


- My Life and Times (1926)

Anthologies containing stories by Jerome K. Jerome


- Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror 1st Series (1928)
- The Mammoth Book of Thrillers, Ghosts and Mysteries (1936)
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1957)
- Famous Monster Tales (1967)
- The 5th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories (1969)
- The Rivals of Frankenstein (1975)
- The 17th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories (1981)
- Stories in the Dark (1984)
- Gaslit Nightmares (1988)
- Horror Stories (1988)
- 100 Tiny Tales of Terror (1996)
- Knights of Madness: Further Comic Tales of Fantasy (1998)
- 100 Hilarious Little Howlers (1999)

Short stories


- The Haunted Mill (1891)
- The New Utopia (1891)
- The Dancing Partner (1893)
- Christmas Eve in the Blue Chamber
- Silhouettes
- The Skeleton
- The Snake
- The Woman of the Saeter

Trivia

There is a French Graphic Novel series named [http://www.jeromekjeromebloche.com/ Jerome K. Jerome Bloche] after the author.

External links


-
- [http://www.jeromekjerome.com/ The Jerome K. Jerome Society]
- [http://www.jkjquotes.com/ Jerome K. Jerome Quotes subject-wise] Jerome, Jerome K. Jerome, Jerome K. Jerome, Jerome K. Jerome, Jerome K. th:เจอโรม เค. เจอโรม

1859

1859 is a common year starting on Saturday.

Events

January


- January 2 - Erastus Beadle publishes The Dime Book of Practical Etiquette.
- January 24 - Wallachia and Moldavia are united under Alexander John Cuza under the name Romania (see December 1 1918 for the final unification, Transylvania and other regions were still missing at this time).

February


- February 14 - Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.
- February 27 - US congressman Dan Sickles shoots Philip Barton Key for having an affair with his wife

March


- March 9 - The army of Piedmont-Sardinia mobilizes against Austria, beginning the crisis which will lead to the Austro-Sardinian War.
- March 26 - French amateur astronomer claims to have noticed a planet closer to the Sun than Mercury - later named Vulcan

April


- April 9 - The Austrian army in Italy mobilizes against Piedmont.
- April 23 - The Austrians send an ultimatum to Piedmont, demanding demobilization. This puts Austria in the position of an aggressor, and leads to French intervention. Piedmont rejects the ultimatum, and war breaks out.
- April 25 - Ground is broken for the Suez Canal
- April 26 - Austro-Sardinian War - Giuseppe Garibaldi's Hunters of the Alps confront Austrian forces led by Field Marshal-Lieutenant Carl Baron Urban at Varese.
- April 29 - Austrian troops begin to cross the Ticino River to Piedmont

May


- May 21 - The bell of Big Ben activated
- May 22 - Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies is succeeded by his 23-year-old son Francis II of the Two Sicilies
- May 30 - Sardinians defeat the Austrian army at Battle of Palestro

June


- June 4 - Battle of Magenta in Austro-Sardinian War - French and Sardinians defeat Austrians
- June 6 - The British Crown colony of Queensland in Australia is created by devolving part of the territory of New South Wales
- June 8 - French and Piedmontese forces enter Milan.
- June 8 - Battle of Marignaro (1859) French victory over Austrians
- June 24 - Battle of Solferino: Kingdom of Sardinia and Napoleon III of France armies defeat Franz Josef I of Austria in northern Italy. Battle also reputedly inspires Henri Dunant to found the Red Cross

July


- July 6 - Australia: Queensland is established as a separate colony from New South Wales.
- July 8 - Charles XV succeeds his father Oscar I King of Sweden and Norway (as Charles IV).
- July 8 - Armistice between Austria and others
- July 11 - Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, faced with an expensive war against France and the Kingdom of Sardinia and potential revolution in Hungary, meets Napoleon III, who also worries at the costs of extending the war and fears the effects of Italian nationalism, at Villafranca. By the preliminary treaty signed there, hostilities cease. Lombardy is ceded to the French (who immediately cede it to Sardinia), while the Austrians keep Venetia and the French promise to restore the Central Italian rulers expelled in the course of the war. This brings the Austro-Sardinian War effectively to a close.

August


- August 27 - Edwin Drake drills the first oil well in the United States, near Titusville, Pennsylvania

September


- September 18 - Joshua A. Norton proclaims himself "Emperor of These United States"

October


- October 6 - Thomas Austin takes 24 rabbits and 5 hares to Australia in order to release them there as a game. They will multiply exponentially.
- October 12 - Self-described "Emperor of the United States" Joshua A. Norton 'orders' the U.S. Congress to dissolve.
- October 16 - John Brown raids Harper's Ferry in Virginia, the signal for a general slave rebellion.
- October 18 - Troops under Colonel Robert E. Lee overpower Brown at the Federal arsenal.
- October 26 - The Royal Charter is wrecked on the coast of Anglesey, Wales with 454 dead.

November


- November 1 - The current Cape Lookout, North Carolina, lighthouse was lighted for the first time. Its first-order Fresnel lens can be seen for nineteen miles.
- November 10 - The Treaty of Zurich, reaffirming the terms of Villafranca, brings the Austro-Sardinian War to an official close.
- November 19 - Opera "Genevieve de Brabant", composed by Jacques Offenbach, debuts at the Theatre de Bouffes Parisians in Paris.
- November 24 - British naturalist Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species, a book which argues that organisms gradually evolve through natural selection. (It immediately sold out its initial print run.)

December


- December 2 - Militant abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged for his October 16th raid on Harper's Ferry.

Unknown Dates


- The French Navy's La Gloire ("Glory"), the first ocean-going ironclad warship in history, was laid down and commisioned.
- Island of Timor is divided between Portugal and the Netherlands
- Trinity College in Cambridge UK bans Origin of Species
- Paraguay mediates a truce between Buenos Aires government and the Argentinean Confederation
- Charles Blondin crosses Niagara Falls on a tightrope
- Codex Sinaiticus found by Constantin von Tischendorf on his third visit to the monastery of Santa Katerina, on Mount Sinai
- Bernhard Riemann formulates the Riemann hypothesis, one of most important open problems of contemporary mathematics
- Solar flares first observed on the Sun by English astronomer Richard Carrington.
- Brisbane declared the capital of newly-made-separate colony Queensland, Australia
- University of Michigan Law School founded

Births


- Gaston Moch, Secretary of the Esperantist Centra Oficejo and a member of the Lingva Komitato

January-June


- January 11 - Lord George Nathaniel Curzon, British statesman and Viceroy of India (d. 1925)
- January 13 - Karl Bleibtreu, critic (d. 1928)
- January 27 - Wilhelm II of Germany, last Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia (d. 1941)
- February 1 - Victor Herbert, Irish-born composer (d. 1924)
- February 3 - Hugo Junkers, German industrialist and aircraft designer (d. 1935)
- February 6 - Elias Disney, American farmer and father of Walt Disney (d. 1941)
- February 14 - Henry Valentine Knaggs, English physician and author (d. 1954)
- February 16 - George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., inventor of the Ferris wheel (d. 1896)
- February 19 - Svante Arrhenius, Swedish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1927)
- February 28 - Florian Cajori, Swiss historian of mathematics (d. 1930)
- March 2 - Sholom Aleichem, Ukrainian Yiddish novelist (d. 1916)
- March 8 - Kenneth Grahame, English author (d. 1932)
- March 26 - Alfred Edward Housman, English poet (d. 1936)
- April 8 - Edmund Husserl, Austrian philosopher (d. 1938)
- May 15 - Pierre Curie, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1906)
- May 22 - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Scottish writer (d. 1930)

July-December


- July 6 - Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940)
- July 22 - Emma Lazarus, American poet (d. 1887)
- August 4 - Knut Hamsun, Norwegian author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1952)
- October 9 - Alfred Dreyfus, French military officer (d. 1935)
- October 18 - Henri Bergson, French philosopher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (d. 1941)
- October 21 - Francesc Macià, President of the Catalan Generalitat (d. 1933)
- November 19 - Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russian composer (d. 1935)
- December 2 - Georges Seurat, French painter (d. 1891)
- December 15 - L. L. Zamenhof, Russo-Polish initiator of Esperanto (d. 1917)
- December 17 - Paul César Helleu, French artist (d. 1927)

Deaths


- April 16 - Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian (b. 1805)
- May 6 - Alexander von Humboldt, German naturalist and geographer (b. 1769)
- July 8 - Oscar I, King of Sweden and Norway (b. 1799)
- August 2 - Horace Mann, American educator and abolitionist (b. 1796)
- September 15 - Isambard Kingdom Brunel, British engineer (b. 1806)
- October 4 - Karl Baedeker, German author and publisher (b. 1801)
- October 22 - Louis Spohr, German violinist and composer (b. 1784)
- November 28 - Washington Irving, American author (b. 1783)
- December 2 - John Brown, American abolitionist (hanged) (b. 1800)
- December 8 - Thomas de Quincey, English writer (b. 1785)
- December 16 - Wilhelm Grimm, German writer (b. 1786)
- Abderrahmane, Sultan of Morocco Category:1850s Category:1859 ko:1859년 ms:1859 simple:1859 th:พ.ศ. 2402

1927

1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January-March


- January 1 - Cristero War erupts in Mexico when pro-Church rebels attack secular-minded government
- January 7 - First transatlantic telephone call - New York City to London
- January 9 - Military rebellion crushed in Lisbon
- January 14 - Paul Doumer elected president of France
- January 19 - Britain sends troops to China
- January 30 - Right-wing veterans and the Republican Schutzbund clash in Schattendorf, Burgenland, Austria. One man and a child are killed by gunshots. See July 15.
- February 12 - First British troops land in Shanghai
- February 14 - Earthquake in Yugoslavia - 700 dead
- February 19 - General strike in Shanghai in protest of the presence of the British troops
- February 23 - The Federal Radio Commission (later renamed the Federal Communications Commission) begins to regulate the use of radio frequencies.
- March 4 - A diamond rush in South Africa includes trained athletes that have been hired by major companies to stake claims
- March 6 - In Britain, a 1000 people a week die from influenza epidemic
- March 10 - Albania mobilizes in case of an attack of Yugoslavia
- March 11 - In New York City, the Roxy Theatre is opened by Samuel Roxy Rothafel.

April-June


- April 1 - First female police officers in Dresden
- April 5 - In Britain, Trade Disputes Act forbids strikes of support
- April 7 - Bell Telephone Co. transmits an image of Commerce Secretary Hoover which becomes the first successful long distance demonstration of television.
- April 12 - The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 renames the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The change acknowledges that the Irish Free State is no longer part of the Kingdom.
- April 12 - Kuomintang troops kill number of communist-supporting workers in Shanghai
- April 18 - Nanking government of China, Kuomintang
- April 21 - Banking crisis in Japan
- April 22 - May 5 - The Great Mississippi Flood affects 700,000 people in the greatest national disaster in US history.
- May - Philo Farnsworth transmits first experimental electronic television pictures
- May 7 - Civil war ends in Nicaragua
- May 9 - The Australian Parliament first convenes in Canberra.
- May 11 - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the "Academy" in "Academy Awards," is founded.
- May 12 - British police raids the office of Soviet trade delegation
- May 13 - George V proclaims the change of his style from King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to King of Great Britain and Ireland.
- May 14 - Cap Arcona's launching, Blohm & Voss shipyard, in Hamburg.
- May 20 - Saudi Arabia becomes independent of the United Kingdom (Treaty of Jedda).
- May 20-21 first solo non-stop Trans-Atlantic flight from New York to Paris by Charles Lindbergh.
- May 22 - 8.6 richter scale earthquake in Xining, China kills 200,000
- May 23 - The first demonstration of television before a live audience. Nearly 600 members of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Institute of Radio Engineers view the demonstration at the Bell Telephone Building in New York.
- May 24 - Britain severs diplomatic relations with Soviet Union because of revelations of espionage and underground agitation
- May 27 - Ford Motor Company ceases manufacturing Ford Model Ts and begins to retool plants to make Ford Model As.
- June 4 - Yugoslavia severs diplomatic relations to Albania
- June 7 - Peter Voikov, Soviet ambassador to Warsaw, assassinated
- June 9 - Soviet Union executes 20 British for alleged espionage
- June 13 - Leon Daudet, leader of French monarchists, is arrested in France
- June 13 - A ticker-tape parade is held for aviator Charles Lindbergh down 5th Avenue in New York City.

July-September


- July 10 - Kevin O'Higgins, vice president of the Irish Free State, assassinated in Dublin
- July 15 - 85 protesters and 5 policemen are dead after left-wing protesters and the Austrian police clash in Vienna. More than 600 people are injured. See Massacre of July 15, 1927.
- July 24 - The Menin Gate war memorial is unveiled at Ypres.
- August 1 - Formation of the People's Liberation Army during the Nanchang Uprising
- August 7 - Peace Bridge opens between Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York.
- August 22 - In Hyde Park, London, 200 people demonstrate against the sentence of Sacco and Vanzetti
- August 23 - Sacco and Vanzetti executed.
- August 24-25 - Hurricane hits Atlantic shore of Canada causing massive damage - at least 56 dead
- September 7 - The University of Minas Gerais is founded in Brazil.
- September 14 - underwater earthquake in Japan - over 100 dead

October-December


- October 6 - The Jazz Singer opens and becomes a huge success, marking the end of the silent film era.
- October 7 - Mercedes Gleitze is the first Englishwoman to swim the English Channel
- October 9 - Mexican government crushes a rebellion in Vera Cruz
- October 27 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands opens Meuse-Waal Canal in Nijmegen
- October 28 - Pan American Airways first flight took off from Key West to Havana.
- November 10 - Unexplained explosions in Canton, Ohio
- November 12 - Mahatma Gandhi made his first and last visit to Ceylon.
- November 12 - Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin with undisputed control of the Soviet Union
- November 12 - The Holland Tunnel opens to traffic as the first Hudson River vehicular tunnel linking New Jersey to New York City.
- November 24 - Total solar eclipse over Northern England and Wales
- December 2 - Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile.
- December 12 - 1600 people hospitalized in London when they had hurt themselves on the icy streets
- December 30 - Japan's first subway line, the Ginza Line in Tokyo, opens.

Unknown dates


- The British Broadcasting Corporation is granted a Royal Charter of Incorporation.
- The Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System (later known as CBS) is formed.
- Harold Stephen Black invents the feedback amplifier.
- Voluntary Committee of Lawyers founded to bring about repeal of prohibition of alcohol in United States.

Births

January


- January 1 - Vernon L. Smith, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- January 1 - Doak Walker, American Footballer (d.1998)
- January 10 - Gisele MacKenzie, Canadian-born singer (d. 2003)
- January 10 - Johnnie Ray, American singer (d. 1990)
- January 13 - Brock Adams, American politician (d. 2004)
- January 13 - Sydney Brenner, British biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- January 17 - Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer
- January 26 - José Azcona del Hoyo, President of Honduras (d. 2005)
- January 28 - Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director
- January 29 - Edward Abbey, American environmentalist (d. 1989)
- January 29 - Lewis Urry, Canadian inventor (d. 2004)
- January 30 - Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1986)

February


- February 2 - Stan Getz, American musician (d. 1991)
- February 3 - Val Doonican, Irish singer and entertainer
- February 7 - Juliette Greco, French singer and actor
- February 7 - Vladimir Kuts, Russian runner (d. 1975)
- February 10 - Leontyne Price, American soprano
- February 15 - Harvey Korman, American actor and comedian
- February 16 - June Brown, British actor
- February 16 - Tom Kennedy, American game show host
- February 20 - Roy Cohn, American lawyer and anti-Communist (d. 1986)
- February 20 - Sidney Poitier, American actor
- February 21 - Erma Bombeck, American writer and humorist (d. 1996)
- February 21 - Hubert de Givenchy, French fashion designer
- February 27 - Lynn Cartwright, American actress (d. 2004)

March


- March 1 - Harry Belafonte, American musician and actor
- March 1 - Robert Bork, American law professor
- March 6 - Gordon Cooper, astronaut (d. 2004)
- March 6 - Wes Montgomery, American musician (d. 1968)
- March 11 - Ron Todd, TGWU General Secretary (1985-1992) (d. 2005)
- March 13 - Robert Denning, American interior designer (d. 2005

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.
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 European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Cornwall County Council has produced [http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/cornish/strategy/english/engl01.htm a draft strategy] to develop these plans. There is, however, no programme as yet for public bodies to actively promote the language. Scots is spoken by some adjacent to the Anglo-Scottish Border. Most deaf people within England speak British sign language (BSL), a sign language native to Britain. The British Deaf Association estimates that 70,000 people throughout the UK speak BSL as their first or preferred language, but does not give statistics specific to England. Like Cornish, BSL has no official status, but has been granted a degree of recognition by the government. The BBC broadcasts several of its programmes with BSL interpreters. Different languages from around the world, especially from the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations, have been brought to England by immigrants. Many of these are widely spoken within ethnic minority communities, including Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Chinese and Vietnamese. These are often used by official bodies to communicate with the relevant sections of the community, particularly in big cities, but this occurs on an "as needed" basis rather than as the result of specific legislative ordinances. Other languages have also traditionally been spoken by minority populations in England, including Romany. Despite the relatively small size of the nation, there are a large number of distinct English regional accents. Those with particularly strong accents may not be easily understood elsewhere in the country.

Nomenclature

The country is named after the Angles, one of several Germanic tribes who settled the country in the 5th and 6th centuries. There are two distinct linguistic patterns for the name of the country. The majority of European languages use names akin to "England":
- "England" (Danish, German, Swedish, Norwegian)
- "Engeland" (Dutch)
- "Inglismaa" (Estonian)
- "Angleterre" (French)
- "Inghilterra" (Italian)
- "Inglaterra" (Spanish, Portuguese, Galician)
- "Anglia" (Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Albanian)
- "Anglija" (Russian, Slovene, Lithuanian, Ukrainian)
- "Engleska" (Croatian, Serbian)
- "Αγγλία" ("Anglía") (Greek)
- "Englanti" (Finnish) The Celtic names are quite different:
- "Bro-Saoz" (Breton)
- "Pow Sows" (Cornish)
- "Sasana" (Irish)
- "Sasainn" (Scottish Gaelic)
- "Lloegr" (Welsh) — but "Saeson" for the inhabitants.
- "Sostyn" (Manx Gaelic) Except for Lloegr, which is an ancient geographic term, these names are all derived from the Saxons, another family of Germanic tribes which arrived at about the same time as the Angles. See: Wiktionary:England for a further list of non-English names for England. "England" is sometimes mistakenly used to refer to the entire United Kingdom, the island of Great Britain, or the British Isles. This may offend people from other parts of the UK. Frequently the English use the less-specific "Britain" or "the UK", even when "England" is technically correct and commonly also use "England" when "Britain" would be correct. Alternative names include:
- the slang "Blighty", from the Hindustani "bila yati" meaning "foreign"
- "Albion", an ancient name popularised by Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy in the 1st century. Supposedly referring to the white (Latin alba) cliffs of Dover, this term has also been interpreted as a relative of Alba, today the Scots Gaelic name for Scotland. Whatever its origins, "Albion" originally referred to the whole island of Great Britain and is still sometimes seen that way today — but is more often used for England.
- More poetically, England has been called "this sceptred isle...this other Eden" and "this green and pleasant land", quotations respectively from the poetry of William Shakespeare (in Richard II) and William Blake (And did those feet in ancient time). The inhabitants of England are the English. The slang terms sometimes used for them include "Sassenachs" (from the Scots Gaelic), "Limeys" (in reference to the citrus fruits carried aboard English sailing vessels to prevent scurvy) and "Pom/Pommy" (used in Australian English and New Zealand English), but these may be perceived as offensive. Also see alternative words for British.

Symbols and insignia

alternative words for British.]] The two traditional symbols of England are the St. George's cross (the English flag) and the Three Lions coat of arms (see above), both derived from the great Norman powers that formed the monarchy – the Cross of Aquitaine and the Lions of Anjou. The three lions were first definitely used by Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) in the late 12th century (although it is also possible that Henry I may have bestowed it on his son Henry before then). Historian Simon Schama has argued that the Three Lions are the true symbol of England because the English throne descended down the Angevin line. A red cross acted as a symbol for many Crusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries. It became associated with St George and England, along with other countries and cities (such as Georgia, Milan and the Republic of Genoa), which claimed him as their patron saint and used his cross as a banner. It remained in national use until 1707, when the Union Flag (which English and Scottish ships had used at sea since 1606) was adopted for all purposes to unite the whole of Great Britain under a common flag. The flag of England no longer has much of an official role, but it is widely flown by Church of England properties and at sporting events. (Paradoxically, the latter is a fairly recent development; until the late 20th century, it was commonplace for fans of English teams to wave the Union Flag, rather than the St George's Cross). The rose is widely recognised as the national flower of England and is used in a variety of contexts. Predominantly, this is a red rose (which also symbolises Lancashire), such as the badge of the English Rugby Union team. However, a white rose (which also symbolises Yorkshire) or a "tudor rose" (symbolising the end of the War of the Roses) may also be used on different occasions. The Three Lions badge performs a similar role for the English national football team and English national cricket team.

National anthems

Although England does not have an official anthem of its own, the following are widely regarded as English national hymns:
- "Jerusalem:" Words by William Blake, Music by Hubert Parry
- "I Vow to Thee, My Country": Words by Cecil Spring-Rice, Music by Gustav Holst
- "Land of Hope and Glory": Words by A C Benson, Music by Edward Elgar (although this refers to all of Great Britain, not only England)
- "Nimrod": Music by Edward Elgar "God Save The Queen" (the national anthem for the UK as a whole) is usually played for English sporting events (e.g. football matches), although "Land of Hope and Glory" has also been used as the English anthem for the Commonwealth Games. "Rule Britannia" despite being a song about Britain as a whole was often used for the English national football team when they play against another of the home nations but more recently "God Save The Queen" has been used by both the rugby and football teams. Many believe that English teams should use their own anthems, most popular of which is the use of "Jerusalem".

References


- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk Office of National Statistics]

See also


-
- English language
- English law
- English (people)
- List of monarchs of England – Kings of England family tree
- List of English people
- Angeln (region in northern Germany, presumably the origin of the Angles for whom England is named)
- UK topics
- List of not fully sovereign nations
- Education in England

References

External links


- [http://www.enjoyengland.com/ The official website of the English Tourist Board — Enjoy England]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/ BBC Nations]: articles on England and her neighbours Category:Monarchies Category:European countries als:England zh-min-nan:England ko:잉글랜드 ms:England ja:イングランド simple:England th:แคว้นอังกฤษ

Walsall

Walsall is an industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Walsall is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and a part of the Black Country. Walsall is the administrative headquarters of the Walsall Metropolitan Borough. In 2002, the town had a population of 178,600 with nearly 250,000 living in the surrounding borough. Neighbouring towns in the borough include Willenhall, Bloxwich and Aldridge.

History

The name Walsall is thought to have derived from the words "Walh halh", meaning "valley of the foreigners" (referring to the Celts). By the first part of the 13th century, Walsall was a small market town, with the weekly market being introduced in 1220. The Mayor of Walsall was created as a political position in the 14th century. Queen Mary's Grammar School was founded by Mary I of England in 1554, and the school carries the queen's personal badge as its emblem; the Tudor Rose and the sheaf of arrows of Catherine of Aragon tied with a Staffordshire knot. The industrial revolution changed Walsall from a village of 2,000 people in the 16th century to a town of over 86,000 in approximately 200 years. It is a local story, although perhaps not accurate, that Walsall declined a railway line, which was later given to Birmingham, now England's second city. Walsall finally received a railway line in 1847, 48 years after canals reached the town.

Economy

Walsall has had many industries, from coal mining to metal working, but in the late 19th century the coal mines ran dry, and Walsall became internationally famous for the leather trade. Walsall still manufactures the Queen's handbags, and Walsall leather products have been found as far afield as Italy, which prompted some embarrassment when a husband gave one to his wife as a present after a business trip, when she realised she immediately assumed that the handbag had been bought when the husband returned. Walsall is the traditional home of the English saddle manufacture industry, thus the nickname of Walsall FC: The Saddlers. Apart from leather goods, other industries in Walsall include iron and brass founding, limestone quarrying, small hardware, plastics, electronics, chemicals, and aircraft parts.

Transport


- See Walsall railway station.

Politics

The local council is presently Conservative controlled. The Mayor is Liberal Democrat Councillor John Cook. For further details, see Metropolitan Borough of Walsall.

Facilities and culture

The Walsall Memorial Gardens and Arboretum opened in 1952 and holds the second biggest Illuminations in the country. They purchase their lights second hand from Blackpool. Walsall Leather Museum is one of its key attractions, as is the Walsall Art Gallery, rebuilt in the year 2000. Walsall's football club, Walsall F.C., The Saddlers, was founded in 1888 when Walsall Town F.C. and Walsall Swifts F.C. merged. They won their first game against Aston Villa F.C.. The club currently play in Football League One and are managed by Paul Merson. Pork scratchings are the most famous local snack. A local landmark is Barr Beacon.

Famous people

The writer Jerome K. Jerome was born in Walsall, as was Noddy Holder the lead singer of the rock band Slade, the Coronation Street actress Sue Nicholls, screenwriter Mark Oakley and the Radio 2 presenter Alex Lester. Also from Walsall was the exciting 1930s Northamptonshire batsman Fred Bakewell. Comic book creator John Byrne was born in Walsall but grew up in Canada. Sister Dora, another local, is honoured by a status in the centre of town, next to the legendary Concrete Hippo. Colin Charvis, British and Irish Lion and Welsh International studied at Queen Mary's Grammar School and played for Walsall RUFC.

External links


- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/blackcountry/ BBC Black Country]
- [http://www.walsall.gov.uk Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council]
- [http://www.artatwalsall.org/ Walsall Art Gallery] (Flash)
- [http://walsall.gov.uk/leathermuseum/ Walsall Leather Museum]
- [http://www.qmgs.walsall.sch.uk/ Queen Mary's Grammar School]
- [http://www.queenmaryshigh.walsall.sch.uk/ Queen Mary's High School]
- [http://www.walsallwonderland.co.uk/home.htm Walsall Wonderland - Alternative guide to Walsall]
- [http://www.borninwalsall.co.uk/ Born in Walsall - photos of large mural]
- [http://www.fellowspark.co.uk/ Pictures of Fellows Park football ground - old home of Walsall FC]
- [http://www.sportnetwork.net/main/s44.htm/ Walsallfans.co.uk - Walsall FC supporters site] Category:Towns in the West Midlands

Staffordshire

Staffordshire (abbreviated Staffs) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Stafford. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders. It adjoins the ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire and Shropshire. The major city in Staffordshire is Stoke-on-Trent. Lichfield is also a city but is considerably smaller. Major towns include Burton-upon-Trent, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Tamworth and Stafford itself. Staffordshire is divided into a number of districts. These are Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, Newcastle-under-Lyme, South Staffordshire, Stafford, Staffordshire Moorlands and Tamworth. Stoke-on-Trent is administered as a separate unitary authority.

History

Main article History of Staffordshire. The historic county of Staffordshire included Wolverhampton, Walsall, and West Bromwich, these were removed in 1974 to the new county of West Midlands. The resulting administrative area of Staffordshire has a narrow southwards protrusion that runs west of West Midlands to the border of Worcestershire. Further, Stoke-on-Trent was removed in the 1990s to form a unitary authority, but is still considered part of Staffordshire for ceremonial purposes. Historically, Staffordshire was divided into the five hundreds of Cuttlestone, Offlow, Pirehill, Seisdon and Totmonslow.

Geography

In the north and in the south the county is hilly, with wild moorlands in the far north and <