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John Vane

John Vane

Sir John Robert Vane (March 29, 1927 – November 19, 2004) was a British pharmacologist. His father was the son of immigrants from Russia and his mother came from a Worcestershire farming family. He was educated at King Edward's School in Edgbaston, Birmingham, and studied Chemistry at the University of Birmingham in 1944. Vane completed a doctorate in pharmacology from Oxford University in 1953. He held a post at the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences of the University of London in the Royal College of Surgeons of England for 18 years. During that time he developed certain bioassay techniques that led to important scientific discoveries. He won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1982 for his work on aspirin in which he discovered it inhibited prostaglandin biosynthesis. In 1973 Vane left academia and took up the position of director of research of the Welcome Foundation. Twelve years later, however, he returned to academic life at the William Harvey Research Institute at St. Bartholmew's Hospital Medical School. Vane, John Robert Vane, John Robert Vane, John Robert Vane, John Robert Vane, John Robert Vane, John Robert

March 29

March 29 is the 88th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (89th in Leap years). There are 277 days remaining.

Events


- 537 - Vigilius is consecrated and enthroned as Pope, replacing Silverius.
- 1461 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton - Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King Edward IV of England.
- 1638 - Swedish colonists establish the first settlement in Delaware, called New Sweden.
- 1792 - King Gustav III of Sweden dies after being shot in the back at a midnight masquerade at Stockholm's Royal Opera just 13 days earlier. He is succeeded by Gustav IV Adolf.
- 1799 - New York passes a law aimed at gradually abolishing slavery in the state
- 1806 - Construction authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway.
- 1809 - King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden abdicates after a coup d'état. At the Diet of Porvoo, Finland's four Estates pledge allegiance to Alexander I of Russia, commencing the secession of the Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden.
- 1847 - Mexican-American War: United States forces led by General Winfield Scott take Veracruz after a siege.
- 1848 - An upstream ice jam stops almost all water flow over Niagara Falls.
- 1849 - The United Kingdom annexes the Punjab
- 1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Appomattox Court House begins
- 1867 - Queen Victoria gives Royal Assent to the British North America Act which establishes the Dominion of Canada on July 1.
- 1871 - The Royal Albert Hall is opened by Queen Victoria.
- 1879 - Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Kambula: British forces defeat 20,000 Zulus.
- 1882 - The Knights of Columbus are established.
- 1911 - The M1911 semi-automatic handgun designed by John Browning becomes the standard-issue handgun in the United States Army, and is subsequently widely used in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.
- 1930 - Heinrich Brüning is appointed German Reichskanzler.
- 1941 - World War II: British Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy forces intercept those of the Italian Regia Marina off the Peloponnesus coast of Greece in the Battle of Cape Matapan.
- 1945 - World War II: Last day of V-1 flying bomb attacks on England.
- 1951 - Red Scare: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.
- 1953 - A fire at a nursing home in Largo, Florida kills 35 people.
- 1961 - The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, DC to vote in presidential elections.
- 1969 - In Madrid, Spain, four different performers tie for first place at the fourteenth Eurovision Song Contest. The medals are shared by Spain's Salomé singing "Vivo cantando" (I live singing), United Kingdom's Lulu singing "Boom Bang-a-bang", Netherlands' Lenny Kuhr singing "De troubadour" (The troubadour), and France's Frida Boccara singing "Un jour, un enfant" (One day, a child...)
- 1971 - Francis Ford Coppola begins filming on Mario Puzo's The Godfather. The movie, released in 1972, goes on to win Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay.
- 1971 - My Lai massacre: Lt. William Calley is convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison.
- 1971 - A Los Angeles, California jury recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers.
- 1973 - Vietnam War: The last United States soldiers leave South Vietnam.
- 1974 - NASA's Mariner 10 becomes the first spaceprobe to fly by Mercury. It was launched on November 3, 1973.
- 1975 - Andy Born :-)
- 1981 - First running of the London Marathon
- 1982 - The Canada Act 1982 (U.K.) receives the Royal Assent by Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982
- 1982 - Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney release their single "Ebony and Ivory".
- 1984 - The Baltimore Colts of the NFL move to Indianapolis in the middle of the night.
- 1985 - The first Care Bears Movie, produced by Canadian animation studio Nelvana Limited, is released in US theatres by The Samuel Goldwyn Company.
- 1990 - Warning label on records: recording companies agree to put a warning label on music products that contain potentially offensive lyrics.
- 1993 - Catherine Callbeck becomes premier of Prince Edward Island and Canada's first female premier.
- 1993 - Edouard Balladur becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1999 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 10006.78 – above the 10,000 mark for the first time ever.
- 2001 - A chartered Gulfstream III jet crashes into a hillside during approach into Aspen, Colorado, killing 18 people.
- 2004 - Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO as full members.
- 2004 - The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants.
- 2006 - Predicted total solar eclipse.

Births


- 1584 - Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English general (d. 1648)
- 1602 - John Lightfoot, English churchman (d. 1675)
- 1713 - John Ponsonby, Irish politician (d. 1789)
- 1769 - Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult, French marshal (d. 1851)
- 1790 - John Tyler, 10th President of the United States (d. 1862)
- 1824 - Ludwig Büchner, German philosopher and physician (d. 1899)
- 1826 - Wilhelm Liebknecht, German journalist and politician (d. 1900)
- 1867 - Cy Young, baseball player (d. 1955)
- 1874 - Lou Hoover, First Lady of the United States (d. 1944)
- 1889 - Warner Baxter, American actor (d. 1951)
- 1891 - Yvan Goll, French-German writer (d. 1950)
- 1892 - József Cardinal Mindszenty, Hungarian Catholic cardinal (d. 1975)
- 1895 - Ernst Jünger, German author (d. 1998)
- 1897 - Ruby Muhammad, American wife of Elijah Muhammad
- 1899 - Lavrenty Beria, Soviet Communist leader (d. 1953)
- 1900 - John McEwen, eighteenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1980)
- 1901 - Carl Barks, American cartoonist (d. 2000)
- 1901 - Andrija Maurovic, Croatian illustrator (d. 1981)
- 1902 - Marcel Aymé, French writer (d. 1967)
- 1902 - William Walton, English composer (d. 1983)
- 1905 - Philip Ahn, Korean-American actor (d. 1978)
- 1908 - Arthur O'Connell, American actor (d. 1981)
- 1908 - Dennis O'Keefe, American actor (d. 1968)
- 1911 - Brigitte Horney, German actress (d. 1988)
- 1912 - Hanna Reitsch, German pilot (d. 1979)
- 1913 - Tony Zale, American boxer (d. 1997)
- 1913 - R. S. Thomas, Welsh poet (d. 2000)
- 1916 - Eugene McCarthy, American politician (d. 2005)
- 1918 - Pearl Bailey, American singer and actress (d. 1990)
- 1918 - Sam Walton, American businessman (d. 1992)
- 1919 - Eileen Heckart, American actress (d. 2001)
- 1927 - John McLaughlin, American political commentator
- 1927 - John Robert Vane, English pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2004)
- 1929 - Lennart Meri, President of Estonia
- 1931 - Aleksei Gubarev, cosmonaut
- 1936 - Judith Guest, American author
- 1937 - Billy Carter, Presidential brother (d. 1988)
- 1940 - Ray Davis, American musician (P-Funk)
- 1941 - Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr., American astrophysicist, Nobel Prize in Physics laureate
- 1943 - Eric Idle, English actor, writer, and composer
- 1943 - John Major, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1943 - Vangelis, Greek musician
- 1944 - Terry Jacks, Canadian musician, songwriter, and activist
- 1944 - Denny McLain, baseball player
- 1945 - Walt Frazier, American basketball player
- 1948 - Bud Cort, American actor
- 1949 - Michael Brecker, American jazz saxophonist
- 1952 - Teofilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer
- 1954 - Karen Ann Quinlan, American right-to-die cause célèbre (d. 1985)
- 1955 - Earl Campbell, American football star
- 1955 - Christopher Lawford, American actor
- 1956 - Patty Donahue, lead singer of The Waitresses
- 1957 - Christopher Lambert, French actor
- 1959 - Perry Farrell, American musician (Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros)
- 1960 - Marina Sirtis, English actress
- 1964 - Elle Macpherson, Australian model
- 1967 - Brian Jordan, baseball player
- 1968 - Lucy Lawless, New Zealand actress and singer
- 1976 - Jennifer Capriati, American tennis player
- 1981 - Jlloyd Samuel, West Indian-born footballer
- 1983 - Justin Tuck, NFL football player
- 1986 - Astrit Hasani, Kosovar table-tennis player

Deaths


- 1058 - Pope Stephen X
- 1368 - Emperor Go-Murakami, Emperor of Japan (b. 1328)
- 1461 - Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, English politician (b. 1421)
- 1578 - Arthur Champernowne, English admiral (b. 1524)
- 1578 - Louis I, Cardinal of Guise, French cardinal (b. 1527)
- 1625 - Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, Spanish historian (b. 1549)
- 1628 - Tobias Matthew, Archbishop of York (b. 1546)
- 1772 - Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish philosopher and mathematician (b. 1688)
- 1751 - Thomas Coram, English sea captain and philanthropist
- 1792 - King Gustav III of Sweden, (shot) (b. 1746)
- 1800 - Marc René, marquis de Montalembert, French military engineer and writer (b. 1714)
- 1826 - Johann Heinrich Voß, German poet (b. 1751)
- 1855 - Henri Druey, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1799)
- 1888 - Charles-Valentin Alkan, French composer (b. 1813)
- 1906 - Slava Raskaj, Croatian painter (b. 1878)
- 1912 - Robert Falcon Scott, English explorer (b. 1868)
- 1934 - Otto Hermann Kahn, German millionaire and benefactor (b. 1867)
- 1937 - Karol Szymanowski, Polish composer (b. 1882)
- 1959 - Barthelemy Boganda, first President of the Central African Republic (b. 1910)
- 1972 - Lord J. Arthur Rank, movie theater owner (b. 1888)
- 1980 - Mantovani, Italian-born conductor and arranger (b. 1905)
- 1991 - Lee Atwater, American politicial consultant (b. 1951)
- 1999 - Joe Williams, American jazz singer and actor (b. 1918)
- 1992 - Paul Henreid, Austrian actor (b. 1908)
- 1994 - Eugène Ionesco, Romanian-born playwright (b. 1912)
- 1994 - Bill Travers, British actor (b. 1922)
- 1999 - Joe Williams, American singer (b. 1918)
- 2001 - Helge Ingstad, Norwegian explorer (b. 1899)
- 2001 - John Lewis, American jazz pianist (b. 1920)
- 2003 - Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (SARS) (b. 1956)
- 2004 - Sir Peter Ustinov, British actor (b. 1921)
- 2005 - Johnnie Cochran, American lawyer (b. 1937)
- 2005 - Grant Johannesen, American pianist (b. 1921)

Holidays and observances


- Festival of Ishtar

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/29 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?month=10272955&day=10272994&cat=10272946 This Day in History] ---- March 28 - March 30 - February 28 (February 29) - April 29 -- listing of all days ko:3월 29일 ms:29 Mac ja:3月29日 simple:March 29 th:29 มีนาคม

November 19

November 19 is the 323rd day of the year (324th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 42 days remaining.

Events


- 461 - St. Hilarius becomes Pope.
- 1493 - Christopher Columbus goes ashore on an island he first saw the day before. He names it San Juan Bautista (later renamed Puerto Rico).
- 1794 - The United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign Jay's Treaty, which attempts to clear up some of the lingering problems left over from the American Revolutionary War.
- 1816 - Warsaw University is established.
- 1850 - Alfred Lord Tennyson becomes Poet Laureate, a position he held until his death in 1892.
- 1863 - American Civil War: Union President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address at the military cemetery dedication ceremony in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
- 1881 - A meteorite lands near the village of Großliebenthal, southwest of Odessa, Ukraine.
- 1916 - Samuel Goldfish (later renamed Samuel Goldwyn) and Edgar Selwyn establish Goldwyn Company (the company later became one of the most successful independent filmmakers.)
- 1924 - In Los Angeles, California, famous silent film director Thomas Ince ("The Father of the Western") dies of a heart attack in his bed (rumors soon surface that he was shot dead by publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst.)
- 1941 - World War II: Battle between HMAS Sydney and HSK Kormoran. The two ships sink each other off the coast of Western Australia, with the loss of 645 Australians and about 77 German seamen.
- 1942 - World War II: Battle of Stalingrad - Soviet Union forces under General Georgy Zhukov launch the Operation Uranus counterattacks at Stalingrad, turning the tide of the battle in the USSR's favor.
- 1944 - World War II: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces the 6th War Loan Drive, aimed at selling US$14 billion in war bonds to help pay for the war effort.
- 1946 - Afghanistan, Iceland and Sweden join the United Nations.
- 1954 - Sammy Davis, Jr. loses his left eye in an automobile accident in San Bernardino, California.
- 1959 - Ford Motor Company announces the discontinuation of the unpopular Edsel.
- 1961 - Michael Rockefeller, son of New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, disappears in the jungles near Atsj, Papua New Guinea.
- 1967 - The Establishment of TVB, the first wireless commercial television station in Hong Kong.
- 1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 12 astronauts Charles Conrad and Alan Bean land at Oceanus Procellarum ("Ocean of Storms") and become the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon.
- 1973 - American football player Lance Rentzel is arrested for exposing himself to a ten-year-old girl; he is later sentenced to five years' probation.
- 1977 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he meets with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement.
- 1977 - Transportes Aereos Portugueses Boeing 727 crashes in Madeira islands killing 130
- 1979 - Iran hostage crisis: Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini orders the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the US Embassy in Tehran.
- 1984 - A series of explosions at the PEMEX petroleum storage facility at San Juan Ixhuatepec in Mexico City ignites a major fire and kills about 500 people.
- 1985 - Cold War: In Geneva, US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.
- 1985 - Pennzoil wins a US$10.53 billion verdict against Texaco, in the largest civil verdict in U.S. history, stemming from Texaco establishing a signed contract to buy Getty Oil after Pennzoil had entered into an unsigned, yet still binding, buyout contract with Getty.)
- 1990 - Pop group Milli Vanilli are stripped of their Grammy Award because the duo did not sing at all on the “Girl You Know It’s True” album. Session musicians had provided all the vocals.
- 1994 - In Britain, the first National Lottery draw was held. A £1 ticket gives a one-in-14-million chance of correctly guessing the winning six out of 49 numbers.
- 1996 - Lt. Gen. Maurice Baril of Canada arrives in Africa to lead the multi national force in Zaire.
- 1997 - In Des Moines, Iowa, Bobbi McCaughey gives birth to septuplets in the second known case where all seven babies were born alive.
- 1998 - Lewinsky scandal: The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee begins impeachment hearings against US President Bill Clinton.
- 1998 - Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of the Artist Without Beard sells at auction for US$71.5 million.
- 1999 - Shenzhou 1: The People's Republic of China launches its first Shenzhou spacecraft.
- 1999 - In Istanbul, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe ends a two-day summit by calling for a political settlement in Chechnya and adopting a Charter for European Security.
- 2004 - The Malice at The Palace brawl between the Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers occurs.

Births


- 1464 - Emperor Go-Kashiwabara of Japan (d. 1526)
- 1563 - Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester, English statesman (d. 1626)
- 1600 - King Charles I of England (d. 1649)
- 1600 - Leo Aitzema, Dutch historian and statesman (d. 1669)
- 1617 - Eustache Le Sueur, French painter (d. 1655)
- 1700 - Jean-Antoine Nollet, French abbot and physicist (d. 1770)
- 1711 - Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian writer and polymath (d. 1765)
- 1722 - Leopold Auenbrugger, Austrian physician (d. 1809)
- 1722 - Benjamin Chew, Chief Justice of colonial Pennsylvania (d. 1810)
- 1805 - Ferdinand de Lesseps, French diplomat and Suez Canal engineer (d. 1894)
- 1831 - James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States (d. 1881)
- 1833 - Wilhelm Dilthey, German philosopher (d. 1911)
- 1843 - Richard Avenarius, German philosopher (d. 1896)
- 1859 - Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russian composer (d. 1935)
- 1862 - Billy Sunday, American evangelist (d. 1935)
- 1875 - Mikhail I. Kalinin, President of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (d. 1946)
- 1883 - Ned Sparks, Canadian actor (d. 1957)
- 1887 - James B. Sumner, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
- 1888 - José Raúl Capablanca, Cuban chess player (d. 1942)
- 1889 - Clifton Webb, American actor (d. 1966)
- 1893 - René Voisin, French classical trumpet player
- 1897 - Quentin Roosevelt, son of United States President Theodore Roosevelt (d. 1918)
- 1898 - Arthur R. von Hippel, German-born physicist (d. 2003)
- 1899 - Allen Tate, American poet and critic (d. 1979)
- 1900 - Mikhail Lavrentyev, Russian scientist (d. 1980)
- 1900 - Anna Seghers, German writer (d. 1983)
- 1905 - Tommy Dorsey, American bandleader (d. 1956)
- 1907 - Jack Schaefer, American author (d. 1991)
- 1909 - Peter Drucker, American management theorist (d. 2005)
- 1912 - George Emil Palade, Romanian cell biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1915 - Earl Wilbur Sutherland Jr., American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)
- 1917 - Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (d. 1984)
- 1919 - Alan Young, British-born American actor (Mister Ed)
- 1920 - Gene Tierney, American actress (d. 1991)
- 1921 - Roy Campanella, baseball player (d. 1993)
- 1922 - Yuri Knorosov, Russian epigrapher (d. 1999)
- 1924 - William Russell, British actor
- 1926 - Jeane Kirkpatrick, U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations
- 1929 - Slavko Avsenik, Slovenian musician
- 1929 - Norman Cantor, Canadian medieval scholar (d. 2004)
- 1933 - Larry King, American television interviewer
- 1935 - Bob Gibson, baseball player
- 1935 - Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian imam (d. 1990)
- 1936 - Dick Cavett, American talk show host
- 1936 - Yuan T. Lee, Taiwanese-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1938 - Ted Turner, American businessman
- 1939 - Tom Harkin, U.S. Senator
- 1941 - Dan Haggerty, American actor
- 1942 - Calvin Klein, American clothing designer
- 1942 - Sharon Olds, American poet
- 1943 - Aurelio Monteagudo, Cuban-born Major League Baseball player (d. 1990)
- 1947 - Bob Boone, baseball player and manager
- 1947 - Lamar S. Smith, American politician
- 1949 - Ahmad Rashad, American football player and sportscaster
- 1951 - Lord Falconer, British lawyer and politician
- 1953 - Robert Beltran, American actor
- 1953 - Tom Villard, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1956 - Ann Curry, American journalist
- 1957 - Ofra Haza, Israeli singer (d. 2000)
- 1958 - Michael Wilbon, Sports Analyst
- 1960 - Elizabeth Hulette, American professional wrestler (d. 2003)
- 1960 - Allison Janney, American actress
- 1961 - Meg Ryan, American actress
- 1962 - Jodie Foster, American actress
- 1963 - Terry Farrell, American actress
- 1963 - Jon Potter, British field hockey player
- 1965 - Laurent Blanc, French footballer
- 1966 - Gail Devers, American athlete
- 1966 - Rocco DiSpirito, American chef
- 1966 - Jason Scott Lee, American actor
- 1969 - Terrence Carson, American actor
- 1972 - Sandrine Holt, Canadian actress
- 1973 - Savion Glover, American choreographer, actor, and dancer
- 1975 - Sushmita Sen, Indian beauty queen and actress
- 1976 - Jun Shibata, Japanese singer and songwriter
- 1985 - Chris Eagles, British footballer

Deaths


- 498 - Pope Anastasius II
- 1478 - Emperor Baeda Maryam of Ethiopia (b. 1448)
- 1492 - Jami, Persian poet (b. 1414)
- 1557 - Bona Sforza, Queen of Sigismund I of Poland (b. 1494)
- 1577 - Matsunaga Hisahide, Japanese warlord (b. 1510)
- 1598 - Yi Sun-sin, Korean admiral (killed in battle) (b. 1545)
- 1630 - Johann Schein, German composer (b. 1586)
- 1649 - Caspar Schoppe, German scholar (b. 1576)
- 1665 - Nicolas Poussin, French painter (b. 1594)
- 1672 - John Wilkins, English Bishop of Chester (b. 1614)
- 1682 - Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Royalist commander in the English Civil War (b. 1619)
- 1692 - Thomas Shadwell, English poet and playwright
- 1723 - Antoine Nompar de Caumont, French courtier and soldier (b. 1632)
- 1772 - William Nelson, American colonial governor of Virginia (b. 1711)
- 1773 - James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster, Irish politician (b. 1722)
- 1785 - Bernard de Bury, French composer (b. 1720)
- 1798 - Wolfe Tone, Irish republican (b. 1763)
- 1804 - Pietro Guglielmi, Italian composer (b. 1728)
- 1810 - Jean-Georges Noverre, French dancer and ballet master (b. 1725)
- 1822 - Johann Georg Tralles, German mathematician and physicist (b. 1763)
- 1828 - Franz Schubert, Austrian composer (b. 1797)
- 1850 - Richard Mentor Johnson, American politician (b. 1780)
- 1883 - William Siemens, German engineer (b. 1823)
- 1887 - Emma Lazarus, American poet (b. 1859)
- 1897 - William Seymour Tyler, American educator and historian (b. 1810).
- 1915 - Joe Hill, American labor activist (executed) (b. 1879)
- 1918 - Joseph Fielding Smith, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1838)
- 1924 - Thomas Ince, American film director (b. 1882)
- 1938 - Lev Shestov, Russian philosopher (b. 1866)
- 1942 - Bruno Schulz, Polish writer and painter (shot) (b. 1892)
- 1960 - Phyllis Haver, American actress (b. 1899)
- 1967 - Charles Watters, US Army chaplain (b. 1927)
- 1974 - George Brunies, American musician (b. 1902)
- 1976 - Sir Basil Spence, British architect (b. 1907)
- 1985 - Stepin Fetchit, American actor and dancer (b. 1907)
- 1988 - Christina Onassis, daughter of billionaire, Aristotle Onassis. (b. 1950)
- 2004 - Piet Esser, Dutch sculptor (b. 1914)
- 2004 - John Robert Vane, British pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1927)
- 2005 - Erik Balling, Danish TV and film director (b. 1924)

Holidays and observances


- Church of England - Hilda of Whitby
- Also see November 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Mali - Liberation Day
- Monaco - Monegasque National Day
- Oman - Birthday of Sultan Qaboos bin Said
- Puerto Rico - Discovery of Puerto Rico (1493)
- United States - Equal Opportunity Day;
- United Arab Emirates - Pilgrimage
- World Toilet Day

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/19 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20051119.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- November 18 - November 20 - October 19 - December 19 -- listing of all days ko:11월 19일 ms:19 November ja:11月19日 simple:November 19 th:19 พฤศจิกายน

United Kingdom

:For other meanings of the terms "United Kingdom" and "UK" , see United Kingdom (disambiguation) and UK (disambiguation). :For an explanation of terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology). The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (usually shortened to the United Kingdom or the UK) is a country located off the north-western coast of continental Europe, surrounded by the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, the Irish Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean. It is composed of four constituent parts: three constituent countries—England, Scotland, and Wales—on the island of Great Britain, and the province of Northern Ireland on the island of Ireland. The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland forms the United Kingdom's principal international land border, although there is a nominal frontier with France in the middle of the Channel Tunnel. The UK has several overseas territories and the Crown dependencies of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands come under the UK's sovereignty. The UK also has close relationships with the fifteen other Commonwealth Realms, as they all share the same head of state. The UK is also one of the largest member states of the European Union and a founding partner of both the UN and NATO.

Terminology


- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: The official name for the sovereign state
- United Kingdom: an abbreviation of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Britain: an informal term that sometimes means United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and sometimes means Great Britain
- British: an informal term that sometimes means from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and sometimes means from Great Britain
- Great Britain (as a geographical term): the largest island of the British Isles
- Great Britain (as a political term): England + Wales + Scotland
- British Isles (as a geographical term): Great Britain + Ireland + many smaller surrounding islands. This term is disputed, please see below.
- Ireland (as a geographical term): the second largest island of the British Isles
- Ireland (as a political term): an abbreviation of the Republic of Ireland, a sovereign state on the island of Ireland
- Northern Ireland: a political region of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Ulster (as a geographical term): Often used to refer to Northern Ireland. It is derived from the Irish Language term 'Ulad.' It was one of the ancient Irish provinces (the others were Connaught, Leinster and Munster.). Although it is normally used to refer to Northern Ireland, Ulster also (traditionally) includes Counties Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal, which lie in the Republic of Ireland. The term Ulster is often favoured by the Protestant community.

History

Protestant Today's state is the latest of several unions formed over the last 1000 years. Scotland and England have existed as separate unified entities since the 10th century. Wales, under English control since the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, became part of the Kingdom of England by the Laws in Wales Act 1535. With the Act of Union 1707, the separate kingdoms of England and Scotland, having shared the same monarch since 1603, agreed to a permanent union as the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Act of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland, which had been gradually brought under English control between 1169 and 1691, to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was formed in 1922, after bitter fighting which echoes down to the current political strife, the Anglo-Irish Treaty partitioned Ireland into the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland, with the latter remaining part of the United Kingdom. As provided for in the treaty, Northern Ireland, which consists of six of the nine counties of the Irish province of Ulster, immediately opted out of the Free State and to remain in the UK. The nomenclature of the UK was changed in 1927 to recognise the departure of most of Ireland, with the current name being adopted. 1927 The United Kingdom, the dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century, played a leading role in developing Western world ideas of property, liberty, capitalism and parliamentary democracy - to say nothing of its part in advancing world literature and science. At its zenith, the British Empire stretched over one quarter of the Earth's surface and encompassed a third of its population. The first half of the 20th century saw the UK's strength seriously depleted from the effects of World War I and World War II. The second half witnessed the dismantling of the Empire and the UK rebuilding itself into a modern and prosperous nation. The UK has been a member of the European Union since 1973. Its attitude towards further integration is conservative, and there is significant Euroscepticism in UK politics. It has not chosen to adopt the Euro, owing to internal political considerations and the government's judgement of the prevailing economic conditions.

Government and politics

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, with executive power exercised on behalf of the Queen by the Prime Minister and other cabinet ministers who head departments. The cabinet, including the Prime Minister, and other ministers collectively make up Her Majesty's Government. These ministers are drawn from and are responsible to Parliament, the legislative body, which is traditionally considered to be "supreme" (that is, able to legislate on any matter and not bound by decisions of its predecessors). The UK is one of the few countries in the world today that does not have a codified constitution, relying instead on customs and separate pieces of constitutional law. While the monarch is Head of State and holds all executive power, it is the Prime Minister who is the head of government. The government is answerable chiefly to the House of Commons and the Prime Minister is drawn from this chamber of Parliament by constitutional convention. The majority of cabinet members will be from the House of Commons, the rest from the House of Lords. Ministers do not, however, legally have to come from Parliament, though that is the modern day custom. The British system of government has been emulated around the world - a legacy of the United Kingdom's colonial past - most notably in the other Commonwealth Realms. The Prime Minister is chosen as the MP who can command a majority in the House of Commons - usually the leader of the largest party or, if there is no majority party, the largest coalition. The current Prime Minister is Tony Blair of the Labour Party, who has been in office since 1997. In the United Kingdom the monarch has extensive theoretical powers, but his or her role is mainly, though not exclusively, ceremonial. The monarch is an integral part of Parliament (as the "Crown-in-Parliament") and theoretically gives Parliament the power to meet and create legislation. An Act of Parliament does not become law until it has been signed by the Queen (being given Royal Assent), although no monarch has refused to assent to a bill that has been approved by Parliament since Queen Anne in 1708. Although the abolition of the monarchy has been suggested several times, the popularity of the monarchy remains strong in spite of recent controversies. Support for a British republic usually fluctuates between 15% and 25% of the population, with roughly 10% undecided or indifferent [http://www.mori.com/mrr/2000/c000616.shtml]. The current monarch is Queen Elizabeth II who acceded to the throne in 1952 and was crowned in 1953. Parliament is the national legislature of the United Kingdom. It is the ultimate legislative authority in the United Kingdom, according to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty. It is bicameral, composed of the elected House of Commons and the unelected House of Lords, whose members are mostly appointed. The House of Commons is the more powerful of the two houses. The House of Commons has 646 members who are directly elected from single-member constituencies based on population. The House of Lords has 724 members (though this number is not fixed): hereditary peers, life peers, and bishops of the Church of England. The Church of England is the established church of the state in England. established church]] The two largest political parties are the Labour Party and Conservative Party. The UK has long had a two-party system, but in the last 20 years the Liberal Democrats have re-emerged as a large third party. The electoral system used for general elections is first-past-the-post. The constitution of the United Kingdom is un-codified and partially unwritten, which means that no single document regulates how the government works, and unwritten constitutional conventions are used extensively. The constitution is based on the principle that Parliament is the ultimate sovereign body in the country. There has long been a widespread sense of national identity in the Celtic nations. Throughout the late 19th century the UK debated giving Ireland home rule. The Scottish National Party was founded in 1934, and Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) in 1925. Referenda for devolution succeeded in 1997 for Scotland and Wales and in 1998 for Northern Ireland. In 1999, the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales were established, the former having primary legislative power. Proportional representation is used for the elections, which has resulted in a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition government in Scotland. Due to internal disagreements, the Northern Ireland Assembly has been suspended since 2002.

Subdivisions

The United Kingdom is a country that is divided into four constituent parts:
- England
- Scotland
- Northern Ireland
- Wales The constituent parts of the United Kingdom have administrative subdivisions as follows:
- The regions and administrative counties of England
- The council areas of Scotland
- The counties and county boroughs of Wales
- The districts of Northern Ireland The Laws in Wales Act 1535 incorporated Wales and England into England and Wales for legal purposes. Although all four have historically been divided into counties, England's population is an order of magnitude larger than the others so in recent years it has for some purposes been divided into nine intermediate-level Government Office Regions. Each region is made up of counties and unitary authorities, apart from London, which consists of London boroughs. Although at one point it was intended that each or some of these regions would be given its own regional assembly, the plan's future is uncertain, as of 2004, after the North East region rejected its proposed assembly in a referendum. Scotland consists of 32 Council Areas. Wales consists of 22 Unitary Authorities, styled as 10 County Boroughs, 9 Counties, and 3 Cities. Northern Ireland is divided into 26 Districts. Also sometimes associated with the United Kingdom, though not constitutionally part of the United Kingdom itself, are the Crown dependencies (the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey, and the Isle of Man) as self-governing possessions of the Crown, and a number of overseas territories under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.

Military

The armed forces of the United Kingdom are known as the British Armed Forces or Her Majesty's Armed Forces, officially the Armed Forces of the Crown. Their Commander-in-Chief is the Queen and they are managed by the Ministry of Defence. Ministry of Defence The British Armed Forces are charged with protecting the United Kingdom and its overseas territories, promoting the United Kingdom's wider security interests, and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They are active and regular participants in NATO and other coalition operations. The United Kingdom fields one of the most powerful and comprehensive military forces in the World. Its global power projection capabilities are second only to those of the United States Armed Forces. The British Army had a reported strength of 112,700 in 2004, including 7,600 women, and the Royal Air Force a strength of 53,400. The 40,900-member Royal Navy is in charge of the United Kingdom's independent strategic nuclear arm, which consists of four Trident Ballistic Missile Submarines, while the Royal Marines provide infantry units for amphibious assault and for specialist reinforcement forces in and beyond the NATO area. This puts total active duty military troops in the 210,000 range, currently deployed in over 80 countries. The UK's special forces, principally the SAS, provides elite commandos trained for quick, mobile, military responses; often where secrecy or covert operations are required. The Royal Navy is the second largest navy in the World in terms of gross tonnage. Despite the United Kingdom's wide ranging capabilities, recent pragmatic defence policy has a stated assumption that any large operation would be undertaken as part of a coalition. Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq (Granby, No-Fly-Zones, Desert Fox and Telic) may all be taken as precedent - indeed the last true war in which the British military fought alone was the Falklands War of 1982, in which military action was initiated by Argentina and the UK was fighting a defensive, rather than offensive, campaign. The British army has been actively involved in the Troubles in Northern Ireland. However, a programme of demilitarisation is being gradually implemented.

Geography

Troubles World Factbook Map of the United Kingdom]] Most of England consists of rolling lowland terrain, divided east from west by more mountainous terrain in the Northwest (Cumbrian Mountains of the Lake District) and north (the upland moors of the Pennines) and limestone hills of the Peak District by the Tees-Exe line. The lower limestone hills of the Isle of Purbeck, Cotswolds, Lincolnshire and chalk downs of the Southern England Chalk Formation. The main rivers and estuaries are the Thames, Severn and the Humber Estuary. The largest urban area is Greater London. Near Dover, the Channel Tunnel links the United Kingdom with France. There is no peak in England that is 1000 metres (3,300 ft) or greater. Wales is mostly mountainous, the highest peak being Snowdon at 1085 metres (3,560 ft) above sea level. North of the mainland is the island of Anglesey. The largest and capital city is Cardiff, located in South Wales. Scotland's geography is varied, with lowlands in the south and east and highlands in the north and west, including Ben Nevis, the UK's highest mountain at 1343 metres (4,406 ft). There are many long and deep-sea arms, firths, and lochs. A multitude of islands west and north of Scotland are also included, notably the Hebrides, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands. The largest city is Glasgow. Northern Ireland, making up the north-eastern part of Ireland, is mostly hilly. The main cities are Belfast ('Beal Feirste' in Irish) and Londonderry / Derry ('Doire' in Irish). The province is home to one of the UK’s World Heritage Sites, the Giant's Causeway, which consists of more than 40,000 six-sided basalt columns up to 40 feett (12 m) high. In total it is estimated that the UK includes around 1098 small islands, some being natural and some being crannogs, a type of artificial island which was built in past times using stone and wood, gradually enlarged by natural waste building up over time.

Economy

artificial island The United Kingdom, a leading trading power and financial centre, has an essentially capitalist economy, the fourth largest in the world in terms of market exchange rates and the sixth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates. Over the past three decades, the government has greatly reduced public ownership by means of privatisation programmes, and has contained the growth of the Welfare State. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanised, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with only 1% of the labour force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves; primary energy production accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any industrial state. Services, particularly banking, insurance and business services, account for by far the largest proportion of GDP. Industry continues to decline in importance, although the UK is still Europe's largest manufacturer of armaments, petroleum products, personal computers, televisions, and mobile telephones. Tourism is also important: with over 24 million tourists a year, between China (33) and Austria (19.1), the United Kingdom is ranked as the sixth major tourist destination in the world. The Blair government has put off the question of participation in the Euro system, citing five economic tests that would need to be met before they recommend that the UK adopts the Euro, and hold a referendum.

Society

Demographics

At the April 2001 census, the United Kingdom's population was 58,789,194, the third-largest in the European Union (behind Germany and metropolitan France) and the twenty-first largest in the world. Its overall population density is one of the highest in the world. Almost one-third of the population lives in England's prosperous south-east and is predominantly urban and suburban--with about 7.2 million in the capital of London. The United Kingdom's high literacy rate (99%) is attributable to universal public education introduced for the primary level in 1870 and secondary level in 1900 (except in Scotland where it was introduced in 1696). Education is mandatory from ages five through sixteen. referendum The Church of England and the Church of Scotland function as the official national religions in their respective countries, but most religions found in the world are represented in the United Kingdom. Anglicanism is the state religion that has been established in England since 1534 during the reign of King Henry VIII. During his reign, England broke ties with the Roman Catholic church and established the Church of England as the offical religion of England. Reforms to the nature of the church's relationship to the state have been ongoing, especially concerning the nature of the House of Lords and the appointment of a fixed amount of the lordships going to Lords Temporal, bishops of the Church of England. A group of islands close to continental Europe, the British Isles have been subject to many invasions and migrations, especially from Scandinavia and the continent, including Roman occupation for several centuries. Contemporary Britons are descended mainly from the varied ethnic stocks that settled there before the eleventh century. The pre-Celtic, Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse influences were blended on Great Britain under the Normans, Scandinavian Vikings who had lived in Northern France. Although Celtic languages persist in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, the predominant language is English, which is a West Germanic language descended from Old English, featuring a large amount of borrowings from Norman French.The other indigenous languages include the Celtic languages; Welsh, the closely related Irish and Scots Gaelic, and the Cornish language; as well as Lowland Scots, which is closely related to English; Romany; and British Sign Language (Northern Ireland Sign Language is also used in Northern Ireland). Celtic dialectal influences from Cumbric persisted in Northern England for many centuries, most famously in a unique set of numbers used for counting sheep. Recent immigrants, especially from the Commonwealth, speak many other languages, including Bengali, Cantonese, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. The United Kingdom has the largest number of Hindi speaking peoples outside of the Indian sub continent.

Culture

Urdu The United Kingdom contains many of the world's leading universities, including the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and the University of London (which incorporates, amongst others, Imperial College and University College London), and has produced many great scientists and engineers including Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Isambard Kingdom Brunel; the nation is credited with many inventions including the locomotive, vaccination, television, vacuum, and both the internal combustion and the jet engine. The English language has spread to all corners of the world (primarily because of the country’s empire) and is referred to as a ‘global language’. It is now taught as a second language more than any other around the world. Over the next few decades, it is estimated that approximately half the world’s population will be proficient in the language. Playwright William Shakespeare is arguably the most famous writer in the history of the English language; other well-known writers from the United Kingdom include the Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne), Jane Austen, William Thackeray, J. R. R. Tolkien, John Milton, H. G. Wells and Charles Dickens. Important poets include Lord Byron, Robert Burns, Lord Tennyson and William Blake. Notable composers from the United Kingdom have included William Byrd, John Taverner, William Lawes, John Dowland, Thomas Tallis, and Henry Purcell from the 16th and early 17th centuries, and, more recently, Sir Edward Elgar, Sir Arthur Sullivan (most famous for working with librettist Sir W. S. Gilbert), Ralph Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten in the 19th and 20th. George Frideric Handel spent most of his composing life in England. The BBC is the oldest and perhaps the most respected broadcasting network on the globe, with the BBC World Service radio channel and its news output held in particularly high regard. The other main television networks are ITV, Channel 4, five (TV) and Sky Television. Popular programmes in the UK include the three soaps Eastenders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale, as well as the comedy news quiz Have I Got News For You and Reality TV shows Big Brother and The X Factor. Various British TV formats have been exported to other nations, notably Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, The Weakest Link and The Office. The UK was, with the US, one of the two main contributors in the development of rock and roll, and the UK has provided some of the most famous rock stars, including the Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, The Who and many others. The UK was at the forefront of punk rock music in the 1970s with bands such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash, and the subsequent rebirth of heavy metal with bands such as Motörhead and Iron Maiden. In mid to late '90s, the Britpop phenomenon has seen bands such as Oasis, Blur, Radiohead and Coldplay gain international fame. The UK is also at the forefront of electronica, with British artists such as Aphex Twin, Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawhney and Lamb at the cutting edge. The United Kingdom was also associated with music from the Caribbean, with a large number of Jamaicans and other Caribbean nationals being present in the UK.

Sport

A great number of major sports originated in the United Kingdom, including football, golf, cricket, rugby, tennis and boxing. The national sport of the UK is association football, but the UK does not compete as a nation in any major football tournament. Instead, the home nations compete individually as England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is because of this unique four-team arrangement that the UK currently does not compete in football events at the Olympic Games. However, a united team will probably take part in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, as these are hosted in London. The English and Northern Irish football associations have confirmed participation in this team while the Scottish FA and the Welsh FA have declined to participate. The UK also hosts many world-renowned football clubs, such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal in England and Rangers and Celtic in Scotland. Clubs compete in national leagues and competitions and some go on to compete in European competitions. Both forms of rugby are national sports. Rugby League originates from and is generally played in the North of England, whilst Rugby Union is played all over Britain. In Rugby League the UK plays as one nation - Great Britain - whilst in union it is represented by the four nations. England are the current holders of the Rugby Union World Cup. Every four years the British and Irish Lions (comprising the best players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) tour other countries. Cricket is also played in the UK, although it is focussed in England. The Wimbledon Championships are an international tennis event held in Wimbledon in south London every summer and are seen as the most prestigious of the tennis calendar. Golf is one of the most popular participation sports played in the UK and St Andrews in Scotland is the sport's home course.

Miscellaneous topics

External links


- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/ BBC Nations] History of the nations within the UK.
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)]
- [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uk.html CIA World Factbook: UK.]
- [http://www.direct.gov.uk Gateway to UK governmental services and websites.]
- [http://www.number-10.gov.uk Number 10 Downing Street]
- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk Office of National Statistics]
- [http://www.opsi.gov.uk Office of Public Sector Information] Source for all UK legislation 1987-present (successor to Her Majesty's Stationery Office).
- [http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/britishisles/ The British Isles] Independent view of the UK.
- [http://www.royal.gov.uk The British Monarchy]
- [http://www.parliament.uk/ The United Kingdom Parliament]
- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=5703&Pos=&ColRank=1&Rank=272 Official Yearbook of the UK] factbook produced by the Office for National Statistics (years 2000 to 2005 available online).
- [http://www.ukcities.co.uk UK Cities] lists a variety of useful resources for every city in the UK.
- [http://www.justuk.org UK travel guide] United Kingdom for travellers.
- [http://www.world66.com/europe/unitedkingdom World66 Guide to United Kingdom] A travel guide written by its users.
- [http://www.multimap.co.uk www.multimap.co.uk] provides online maps and aerial photographs of the UK.
- [http://www.streetmap.co.uk www.streetmap.co.uk] an alternative to multimap.
- [http://www.freeworldmaps.net/europe/united-kingdom/map.html Physical map of United Kingdom.]
- [http://www.upmystreet.com www.upmystreet.com] detailed localised information about places in the United Kingdom.
- [http://www.parks.it/world/UK/Eindex.html UK Parks] National parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and other protected areas. ----
Category:British Isles Category:European countries Category:European Union member states Category:Members of the Commonwealth of Nations Category:Monarchies A als:Grossbritannien und Nordirland zh-min-nan:Liân-ha̍p Ông-kok ko:영국 ms:United Kingdom ja:イギリス simple:United Kingdom th:สหราชอาณาจักร

Russia

The Russian Federation (, transliteration: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya or Rossijskaja Federacija), or Russia (Russian: Росси́я, transliteration: Rossiya or Rossija), is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of Europe and Asia. With an area of 17,075,200 km² (6,595,600 mi²), it is the largest country in the world (by land mass), covering almost twice the territory of the next-largest cou