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Sir Max Aitken, 2nd Baronet

Sir Max Aitken, 2nd Baronet

The Honourable Sir John William Maxwell "Max" Aitken, 2nd Baronet, DSO, DFC (February 15 1910–April 30 1985), formerly 2nd Baron Beaverbrook, was a British Conservative politician and press baron, the son of Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook. Born in Montreal, Aitken was educated at Westminster School. He served as a pilot with the "No 601 Hurricane Squadron" during World War II, earning the Distinguished Service Order and Distinguished Flying Cross. He reached the rank of Group Captain. He entered the family newspaper business, as a director of the Express Group, and would become Chairman of Beaverbrook Newspapers Ltd. At the 1945 general election, Aitken was elected Member of Parliament for Holborn with a majority of just 925. Unfavourable boundary changes meant that the Labour Party took the successor seat in 1950 comfortably and Aitken did not stand at that or subsequent elections. He also served as Chancellor of the University of New Brunswick. Aitken married three times: firstly Cynthia Monteithin 1939, divorcing in 1944; secondly, Ursula Kenyon-Slaney, in 1946, divorcing in 1950; thirdly, Violet de Trafford in 1951. He had two daughters with his second wife and a son and daughter with his third wife. He succeeded his father as Baron Beaverbrook on his death on June 9 1964, but disclaimed the title three days later on June 12, stating that he wished there to be only one Lord Beaverbrook in his lifetime. On his death in 1985, his son, also Max Aitken, took on the title.
Aitken, Max Aitken, Max Aitken, Max Aitken, Max Beaverbrook, Max Aitken, 2nd Baron Aitken, Max

The Honourable

The prefix The Honourable or The Honorable (abbr. The Hon. or formerly The Hon'ble) is a title of quality attached to the names of certain classes of persons.

Commonwealth usage

Entitlement

In the United Kingdom, all sons and daughters of viscounts and barons and the younger sons of earls are styled with this prefix. (The daughters and younger sons of dukes and marquesses and the daughters of earls have the higher style of Lord or Lady before their first names, and the eldest sons of dukes, marquesses and earls are known by one of their father or mother's subsidiary titles.) The style is only a courtesy one, however, and on legal documents they are described as, for instance, John Smith, Esq., commonly called The Honourable John Smith. As the wives of sons of peers share the titles of their husbands, the wives of the sons of viscounts and barons and the younger sons of earls are known as, e.g., The Hon. Mrs John Smith. Some persons are entitled to the prefix by virtue of their offices. Rules exist that allow certain individuals to keep the prefix The Honourable even after retirement.
- Judges of the High Court and other superior courts in the Commonwealth (if the judge is a knight, the style Sir A B is used socially instead of The Honourable Mr Justice B.);
- Members of executive councils (and by extension, cabinets);
- Members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada;
- Members of legislative councils (or senates) where the legislature is bicameral; and
- Certain representatives of the Sovereign, e.g. Lieutenant-Governors of Canadian provinces. Many corporate entities are also entitled to the style, for example:
- The Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament Assembled;
- The Honourable East India Company;
- The Honourable Artillery Company; etc.

Usage

The style The Honourable is always written on envelopes (where it is usually abbreviated to The Hon), and formally elsewhere, in which case the style Mr or Esq. is omitted. In speech, however, The Honourable John Smith is referred to simply as Mr John Smith. In the House of Commons and other lower houses of Parliament and other legislatures, members refer to each other as honourable members etc. out of courtesy, despite the fact that they are not entitled to the style in writing. Where a person is entitled to the prefix The Right Honourable he will use this higher style instead of The Honourable.

American usage

In the United States, the prefix The Honorable is used for a large number of high ranking (and not so high ranking) government officials, including:
- The President and Vice President of the United States
- Members of the Congress and state legislatures
- Members of the Cabinet
- Senior officers of executive departments
- Ambassadors
- Supreme Court Justices, Federal judges and magistrate judges
- Governors of States of the Union
- Mayors of cities
- City council members
- State and municipal judges and magistrates
- Other elected officials The term Your Honor as a spoken form of address is usually reserved for judges, justices, and magistrates (who are addressed as such when presiding in court). [http://www.bartleby.com/185/20.html H.L. Mencken on the American usage of "The Hon."]

Australian usage

In Australia, all ministers in Commonwealth and state (but not territory) governments are entitled to be styled The Honourable. Except in New South Wales and South Australia, the title is retained for life because it recognises that their appointment to the relevant executive council (when they first become a minister) is an appointment for life, and the person technically remains "an executive councillor-on-call". In New South Wales and South Australia the premier can advise the Queen to grant former ministers the title for life. The Presiding officers of the parliaments of the Commonwealth and the states are also styled The Honourable but normally only during their tenure of office. Special permission is sometimes given for a former presiding officer to retain the title after leaving the office. The title "The Honourable" is not acquired through membership of either the House of Representatives or the Senate. A member or senator may have the title if they have acquired it separately, eg. by being a current or former minister. During proceedings within the chambers, forms such as "The honourable Member for ...", "The honourable the Leader of the Opposition", or "My honourable colleague" are used. This is a merely a parliamentary courtesy and does not imply any title. Traditionally, members of the Legislative Councils of the states were also styled The Honourable. This practice is still followed in New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia. It is not followed in Tasmania. In Victoria, the practice was abolished in 2003.

Canadian usage

In Canada, the following people are entitled to the style The Honourable (or l'honorable in French) for life:
- Members of the Canadian Senate
- Members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada
- Provincial Lieutenant-Governors In addition, some people are entitled to the style while in office only:
- The Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons
- Judges of the Supreme Court of Canada and other superior courts
- Members of provincial Executive Councils while holding office
- Speakers of provincial legislatures while holding office. It is usual for Speakers of the House of Commons to be made Privy Councillors, in which case they keep the style for life, and provincial Premiers are sometimes also made Privy Councillors. Members of the Canadian House of Commons and of provincial legislatures refer to each other as "honourable members" (or l'honorable député) but are not entitled to have The Honourable as a prefix in front of their name. The Governor General of Canada, the Prime Minister of Canada, the Chief Justice of Canada and certain other eminent persons are entitled to the style The Right Honourable (or le/la Très honorable in French). see [http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/pe/address1_e.cfm Styles of Address (Canada)]

Hong Kong usage

In Hong Kong, the prefix "the Honourable" is used for the following people:
- Members of the Legislative Council
- Members of the Executive Council
- The Chief Executive
- Chief Secretary, Financial Secretary, Secretary of Justice, and Secretaries of Bureaux
- Judges of the Court of Final Appeal
- Judges of the High Court
- Bearers of the title Grand Bauhinia Medal, the highest medal in Hong Kong's honours system

New Zealand usage

In addition to the standard Commonwealth usage, the Speaker of the House of Representatives is entitled to be referred to as "the Honourable". New Zealand office holders who are "honourable" ex-officio are usually personally granted the title for life as a courtesy when they vacate the office.

See also


- The Right Honourable
- The Most Honourable
- Style (manner of address)
- Excellency
- Your worship
- UK topics
- Use of courtesy titles and honorifics in professional writing Category:Titles Category:Honor

Distinguished Flying Cross (UK)

This article is about the awards given by various British Commonwealth countres. For the American award, see Distinguished Flying Cross (USA). ---- Distinguished Flying Cross (USA) The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy". The award was established on June 3, 1918, shortly after the formation of the RAF. It was originally awarded to air force commissioned officers and to Warrant Officers. Since World War II the award has been open to army and naval aviation officers, and since 1993 to other ranks as well; the Distinguished Flying Medal, previously awarded to other ranks, has been discontinued. Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross are entitled to use the post-nominal letters "DFC". A bar is added to the ribbon for holders of the DFC who received a second award. The cross is a cross flory and is 2 1/8 inches wide. The horizontal and bottom bars are terminated with bumps, the upper bar with a rose. The front of the medal features aeroplane propellers superimposed on the vertical arms of the cross and wings on the horizontal arms. In the centre is a wreath around the letters RAF surmounted by an Imperial Crown. The reverse features the Royal Cypher in the centre and the year of issue engraved on the lower arm. The ribbon was originally white with purple broad horizontal stripes, but changed in 1919 to the current white with purple broad diagonal stripes.

See also


- British and Commonwealth orders and decorations Category:Military cross decorations

February 15

February 15 is the 46th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 319 days remaining (320 in leap years).

Events


- 399 - The philosopher Socrates is sentenced to death.
- 1637 - Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1764 - The city of St. Louis, Missouri is established.
- 1805 - Harmony Society officially formed.
- 1852 - Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, London, admits first patient.
- 1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant attacks Fort Donelson, Tennessee.
- 1879 - Women's rights: American President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.
- 1898 - Spanish-American War: The USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor in Cuba, killing more than 260. This event leads the United States to declare war on Spain.
- 1903 - Morris Michtom and his wife Rose introduce the first teddy bear in America.
- 1906 - The British Labour Party is organized.
- 1933 - In Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead shoots Chicago, Illinois Mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds on March 6, 1933.
- 1942 - World War II: The Fall of Singapore. Following an assault by Japanese forces, the British General Arthur Percival surrenders. About 80,000 Indian, United Kingdom and Australian soldiers become prisoners of war, the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history.
- 1944 - World War II: Assault on Monte Cassino, Italy begins.
- 1950 - The Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China sign a mutual defense treaty.
- 1953 - Seventeen-year-old Tenley Albright becomes the first American to win the world figure skating championship.
- 1961 - A Boeing 707 crashes in Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team and several coaches.
- 1965 - A new red-and-white maple leaf design is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner.
- 1970 - A Dominican DC-9 crashes into the sea during takeoff from Santo Domingo, killing 102
- 1971 - Decimalisation of British coinage is completed on Decimal Day.
- 1980 - Television One and Television Two (formerly South Pacific Television) under the newly formed Television New Zealand goes to air for the first time
- 1982 - The drilling rig Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing 84 rig workers.
- 1989 - Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan: The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops had left Afghanistan.
- 1991 - The Visegrád Agreement, establishing cooperation to move toward free-market systems, is signed by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.
- 1995 - Hacking: Kevin Mitnick is arrested by the FBI and charged with breaking into some of the United States' most "secure" computer systems.
- 1999 - Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the terrorist organization Kurdistan Workers Party, is arrested in Kenya by Turkish agents.
- 2000 - Indian Point II nuclear power plant in New York vents a small amount of radioactive steam when a steam generator fails.
- 2002 - At the Tri-State Crematory in La Fayette, Georgia, investigators find that bodies that were supposed to have been cremated were in fact disposed of in the woods and buildings on the crematorium's property. The discovery reveals one of the worst incidents of abuse in the funeral service industry.
- 2003 - Global protests aganinst the Iraq war occur in over 600 cities worldwide. Estimates from 10,000,000-15,000,000 make this the largest day of protest in history.
- 2004 - John Daly the PGA golfer, wins his first PGA TOUR event in 9 years by winning the Buick Invitational golf tournament on the first hole of a playoff in San Diego, California.

Births


- 1458 - Ivan the Young, Ruler of Tver (d. 1490)
- 1471 - Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (d. 1503)
- 1543 - Charles II, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1608)
- 1564 - Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer and physicist (d. 1642)
- 1620 - François Charpentier, French archaeologist (d. 1702)
- 1705 - Charles-André van Loo, French painter (d. 1765)
- 1710 - King Louis XV of France (d. 1774)
- 1723 - John Witherspoon, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1794)
- 1725 - Abraham Clark, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1794)
- 1739 - Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart, French architect (d. 1813)
- 1759 - Friedrich August Wolf, German philologist and archaeologist (d. 1824)
- 1803 - John Sutter, California pioneer (d. 1880)
- 1809 - Cyrus McCormick, American inventor (d. 1884)
- 1812 - Charles Lewis Tiffany, American jeweler (d. 1902)
- 1815 - Constantin von Tischendorf, German Biblical scholar (d. 1874)
- 1820 - Susan B. Anthony, American feminist and suffragist (d. 1906)
- 1825 - Carter Harrison, Sr., Mayor of Chicago (d. 1893)
- 1835 - Demetrius Vikelas, Greek International Olympic Committee president (d. 1908)
- 1841 - Manoel Ferraz de Campos Salles, President of Brazil (d. 1913)
- 1845 - Elihu Root, American statesman and diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1937)
- 1847 - Robert Fuchs, Austrian composer (d. 1927)
- 1856 - Emil Kraepelin, German psychiatrist (d. 1926)
- 1861 - Charles Edouard Guillaume, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1938)
- 1873 - Hans von Euler-Chelpin, German-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1964)
- 1874 - Sir Ernest Shackleton, British polar explorer (d. 1922)
- 1882 - John Barrymore, American actor (d. 1942)
- 1883 - Sax Rohmer, English author (d. 1959)
- 1892 - James Forrestal, first United States Secretary of Defense (d. 1949)
- 1895 - Earl Thomson, Canadian athlete (d. 1971)
- 1896 - Arthur Shields, Irish actor (d. 1970)
- 1898 - Totò, Italian actor, writer, and composer (d. 1967)
- 1898 - Allen Woodring, American runner (d. 1982)
- 1899 - Georges Auric, French composer (d. 1983)
- 1899 - Gale Sondergaard, American actress (d. 1985)
- 1905 - Harold Arlen, American composer (d. 1986)
- 1907 - Jean Langlais, French composer and organist (d. 1991)
- 1907 - Cesar Romero, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1909 - Miep Gies, Dutch biographer of Anne Frank
- 1909 - Guillermo Gorostiza Paredes, Spanish footballer (d. 1966)
- 1914 - Hale Boggs, American politician (d. 1972)
- 1914 - Kevin McCarthy, American actor
- 1916 - Mary Jane Croft, American actress (d. 1999)
- 1918 - Allan Arbus, American actor
- 1919 - Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1996)
- 1922 - John Bayard Anderson, U.S Congressman and presidential candidate
- 1927 - Harvey Korman, American actor and comedian
- 1929 - Graham Hill, British race car driver (d. 1975)
- 1929 - James Schlesinger, American politician
- 1931 - Claire Bloom, British actress
- 1934 - Niklaus Wirth, Swiss computer scientist
- 1935 - Susan Brownmiller, American feminist and writer
- 1935 - Roger Chaffee, astronaut (d. 1967)
- 1940 - John Hadl, American football player
- 1943 - Geoff Edwards, American television game show host
- 1946 - Marisa Berenson, American actress
- 1947 - Rusty Hamer, American actor (d. 1990)
- 1948 - Ron Cey, baseball player
- 1948 - Art Spiegelman, American cartoonist
- 1949 - Ken Anderson, American football player
- 1951 - Melissa Manchester, American singer
- 1951 - Jane Seymour, British actress
- 1954 - Matt Groening, American cartoonist
- 1955 - Christopher McDonald, American actor
- 1960 - Mikey Craig, British musician (Culture Club)
- 1964 - Chris Farley, American actor and comedian (d. 1997)
- 1971 - Renée O'Connor, American actress and director
- 1972 - Jaromír Jágr, Czech hockey player
- 1973 - Sarah Wynter, Australian actress
- 1974 - Seattle Slew, American racehorse (d. 2002)
- 1974 - Ugueth Urbina, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- 1976 - Brandon Boyd, American musician (Incubus)
- 1978 - Tuan Le, American poker player
- 1979 - Alenka Kejžar, Slovenian swimmer
- 1980 - Conor Oberst, American singer and songwriter (Bright Eyes)
- 1984 - Dorota Rabczewska, Polish singer (Virgin)

Deaths


- 1145 - Pope Lucius II
- 1621 - Michael Praetorius, German composer
- 1637 - Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1678)
- 1738 - Matthias Braun, Czech sculptor (b. 1684)
- 1775 - Peter Dens, Belgian Catholic theologian (b. 1690)
- 1781 - Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German author and philosopher (b. 1729)
- 1818 - Friedrich Ludwig, Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen, Prussian general (b. 1746)
- 1835 - Henry Hunt, British politician (b. 1773)
- 1848 - Hermann von Boyen, Prussian field marshal (b. 1771)
- 1857 - Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer (b. 1804)
- 1932 - Minnie Maddern Fiske, Broadway actress (b. 1865)
- 1959 - Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
- 1964 - Robert L. Thornton, American businessman, philanthropist, and Mayor of Dallas, Texas (b. 1880)
- 1965 - Nat King Cole, American singer and musician (b. 1919)
- 1973 - Wally Cox, American actor (b. 1924)
- 1973 - Tim Holt, American actor (b. 1919)
- 1974 - Kurt Atterberg, Swedish composer (b. 1887)
- 1981 - Mike Bloomfield, American musician (b. 1944)
- 1981 - Karl Richter, German conductor (b. 1926)
- 1984 - Ethel Merman, American singer and actress (b. 1908)
- 1988 - Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
- 1996 - Tommy Rettig, American actor (b. 1941)
- 1996 - McLean Stevenson, American actor (b. 1929)
- 1999 - Big L (Lamont Coleman), American rapper (b. 1974)
- 1999 - Henry Way Kendall, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1926)
- 2002 - Howard K. Smith, American journalist (b. 1914)
- 2002 - Kevin Smith, New Zealand actor (b. 1963)
- 2004 - Jens Evensen, Norwegian minister and International Court of Justice judge (b. 1917)
- 2004 - Jan Miner, American actress (b. 1917)
- 2005 - Samuel Francis, American journalist (b. 1947)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/15 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050215.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- February 14 - February 16 - January 15 - March 15 -- listing of all days ko:2월 15일 ja:2月15日 simple:February 15 th:15 กุมภาพันธ์

April 30

April 30 is the 120th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (121st in leap years), with 245 days remaining, as the last day in April.

Events


- 313 - Roman emperor Licinius unifies the entire Eastern Roman Empire under his rule.
- 711 - Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus).
- 1483 - Orbital calculations suggest that on this day Pluto moved inside Neptune's orbit, making Neptune the furthest planet from the Sun until July 23, 1503.
- 1492 - Spain gives Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration.
- 1671 - Petar Zrinski, the Croatian Ban from the Zrinski family, is executed.
- 1794 - The Battle of Boulou is fought, in which French forces defeated the Spanish under General Union.
- 1789 - On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office to become the first elected President of the United States.
- 1803 - Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling – overnight – the size of the young nation.
- 1812 - The Territory of Orleans becomes the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana.
- 1838 - Nicaragua declares independence from the Central American Federation
- 1894 - Coxey's Army reaches Washington, D.C. to protest the unemployment caused by the Panic of 1893.
- 1900 - Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as governor.
- 1900 - Casey Jones dies attempting to save the runaway train Cannonball Express.
- 1904 - The Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair opens in Saint Louis, Missouri.
- 1920 - Peru becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
- 1925 - Automaker Dodge Brothers, Inc is sold to Dillon, Read & Company for USD $146 million plus $50 million for charity.
- 1927 - The Federal Industrial Institute for Women, opens in Alderson, West Virginia, as the first women's federal prison in the United States.
- 1938 - The animated cartoon short Porky's Hare Hunt debuts in movie theaters, introducing Bugs Bunny.
- 1939 - Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to appear on television.
- 1939 - The 1939 New York World's Fair opens.
- 1943 - World War II: Operation Mincemeat – The submarine HMS Seraph surfaces in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Spain to deposit a dead man planted with false invasion plans and dressed as a British military intelligence officer.
- 1945 - Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for one day.
- 1947 - In Nevada, the Boulder Dam is officially renamed Hoover Dam again.
- 1948 - In Bogotá, Colombia, the Organization of American States is established.
- 1966 - Anton LaVey founds the Church of Satan.
- 1973 - Watergate Scandal: President Richard Nixon announces that top White House aids H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and others have resigned.
- 1975 - Communist forces gains control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Duong Van Minh.
- 1980 - Accession of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
- 1983 - Michael Jackson's song "Beat It" hits number 1 on the Billboard music charts.
- 1988 - In Dublin, Ireland, Céline Dion wins the thirty-third Eurovision Song Contest for Switzerland singing "Ne partez pas sans moi" (Don't leave without me).
- 1991 - A tropical cyclone hits Bangladesh killing an estimated 138,000 people.
- 1992 - The last episode of the Cosby Show airs.
- 1993 - The World Wide Web was born at CERN
- 1993 - During a changeover at a tennis tournament in Hamburg, Germany, Monica Seles is stabbed in the back by a deranged fan of rival Steffi Graf. Seles would not play competitively for more than two years after the incident.
- 1994 - In Dublin, Ireland, Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan win the thirty-ninth Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland singing "Rock'n'Roll Kids".
- 1995 - U.S. President Bill Clinton becamethe first U.S. President to visit Northern Ireland.
- 1997 - Ellen DeGeneres's character comes out of the closet on the sitcom Ellen.
- 1999 - NATO membership expands by approving the admission of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.
- 1999 - Cambodia joins the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bringing the total members to 10.
- 1999 - Neo-nazi bomber David Copeland detonates his third bomb in front of the Admiral Duncan pub and is arrested the night after.
- 2001 - Chandra Levy, a former intern to California Congressman Gary Condit, is last seen in Washington, D.C.
- 2002 - A referendum in Pakistan overwhelmingly approves the Presidency of Pervez Musharraf for another five years.
- 2002 - The law N26-РЗ "On the National Flag of the Udmurt Republic" has appeared.
- 2004 - The last edition of NPR's Morning Edition with Bob Edwards as host airs.

Births


- 1586 - Saint Rose of Lima, Peruvian saint (d. 1617)
- 1602 - William Lilly, English astrologer (d. 1681)
- 1623 - François de Laval, first bishop of New France (d. 1708)
- 1651 - Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, French educational reformer (d. 1719)
- 1662 - Queen Mary II of England (d. 1694)
- 1664 - François Louis, Prince of Conti, French general (d. 1709)
- 1710 - Johann Kaspar Basselet von La Rosée, Bavarian general (d. 1795)
- 1723 - Mathurin Jacques Brisson, French naturalist (d. 1806)
- 1721 - Roger Sherman, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1793)
- 1777 - Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (d. 1855)
- 1857 - Eugene Bleuler, Swiss psychiatrist (d. 1940)
- 1865 - Max Nettlau, German anarchist and historian (d. 1944)
- 1870 - Franz Lehár, Austrian composer (d. 1948)
- 1877 - Alice B. Toklas, American companion of Gertrude Stein (d. 1967)
- 1883 - Jaroslav Hašek, Czech novelist (d. 1923)
- 1893 - Joachim von Ribbentrop, Nazi foreign minister (d. 1946)
- 1901 - Simon Kuznets, Ukrainian-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
- 1902 - Theodore Schultz, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
- 1909 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands (d. 2004)
- 1910 - Al Lewis, American actor and politician
- 1916 - Claude Shannon, American engineer and mathematician (d. 2001)
- 1916 - Robert Shaw, American conductor (d. 1999)
- 1925 - Johnny Horton, American musician (d. 1960)
- 1930 - Lawton Chiles, American politician (d. 1998)
- 1933 - Willie Nelson, American musician, composer, and actor
- 1938 - Larry Niven, American author
- 1940 - Burt Young, American actor
- 1941 - Johnny Farina, American guitarist (Santo and Johnny)
- 1943 - Bobby Vee, American singer
- 1944 - Jill Clayburgh, American actress
- 1945 - Annie Dillard, American writer
- 1945 - Michael Smith, astronaut (d. 1986)
- 1946 - King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
- 1946 - Don Schollander, American swimmer
- 1948 - Perry King, American actor
- 1949 - Phil Garner, baseball manager
- 1949 - Antonio Guterres, Prime Minister of Portugal
- 1954 - Jane Campion, New Zealand film director
- 1955 - Nicolas Hulot, French journalist and author
- 1956 - Jorge Chaminé, Portuguese baritone
- 1956 - Lars von Trier, Danish film director
- 1961 - Isiah Thomas, American basketball player, coach, and team owner
- 1964 - Barrington Levy, Jamaican musician
- 1969 - Paulo Jr., Brazilian bassist (Sepultura)
- 1969 - Clark Vogeler, American guitarist (The Toadies)
- 1975 - Elliott Sadler, American race car driver
- 1981 - John O'Shea, Irish footballer
- 1982 - Kirsten Dunst, American actress
- 1982 - Justin Green, National Football League fullback
- 1983 - Troy Williamson, American football player

Deaths


- 65 - Lucan, Roman poet (b. 39)
- 1063 - Emperor Renzong of China (b. 1010)
- 1341 - John III, Duke of Brittany (b. 1285)
- 1439 - Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, English military leader (b. 1382)
- 1524 - Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard, French soldier (b. 1473)
- 1544 - Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden, Lord Chancellor of England
- 1555 - Pope Marcellus II (b. 1501)
- 1632 - Johan Tzerclaes, Count of Tilly, Bavarian general (b. 1559)
- 1642 - Dmitry Pozharsky, Russian prince (b. 1578)
- 1660 - Petrus Scriverius, Dutch writer (b. 1576)
- 1655 - Eustache Le Sueur, French painter (b. 1617)
- 1696 - Robert Plot, British naturalist (b. 1640)
- 1712 - Philipp van Limborch, Dutch protestant theologian (b. 1633)
- 1736 - Johann Albert Fabricius, German classical scholar and bibliographer (b. 1668)
- 1758 - François d'Agincourt, French composer (b. 1684)
- 1792 - John Montagu, Supposed inventor of the sandwich (b. 1718)
- 1847 - Archduke Charles, Austrian general (b. 1771)
- 1865 - Robert Fitzroy, English admiral and meteorologist (b. 1805)
- 1875 - Jean Frederic Waldeck, French explorer, lithographer, and cartographer (b. 1766)
- 1883 - Édouard Manet, French painter (b. 1832)
- 1903 - Emily Stowe, Canadian physician and suffragist (b.1831)
- 1936 - Alfred Edward Housman, English poet (b. 1859)
- 1943 - Otto Jespersen, Danish philologist (b. 1860)
- 1945 - Eva Braun, German mistress of Adolf Hitler (suicide) (b. 1912)
- 1945 - Adolf Hitler, Austrian dictator of Germany (suicide) (b. 1889)
- 1956 - Alben W. Barkley, Vice President of the United States (b. 1877)
- 1970 - Inger Stevens, Swedish actress (b. 1934)
- 1974 - Agnes Moorehead, American actress (b. 1900)
- 1982 - Lester Bangs, American music journalist, author, and musician (b. 1949)
- 1983 - George Balanchine, Russian-born dancer and choreographer (b. 1904)
- 1983 - Muddy Waters, American musician (b. 1915)
- 1985 - Charles Francis Richter, American seismologist
- 1989 - Yi, Bang-ja, Crown Princess of Korea (b. 1901)
- 1989 - Sergio Leone, Italian filmmaker (b. 1929)
- 1998 - Nizar Qabbani, Syrian poet (b. 1926)
- 2003 - Peter 'Possum' Bourne, New Zealand race car driver (B. 1956)
- 2003 - Wim van Est, Dutch cyclist (b. 1923)
- 2005 - Ron Todd, TGWU General Secretary (1985 - 1992) (b. 1927)

Holidays and observances


- Scandinavia - The arrival of spring, Walpurgis Night
- Sweden - Birthday of King Carl XVI Gustav, an official flag day
- The Netherlands - Queen's Day
- Roman Empire - third day of the Floralia in honor of Flora
- Bealtaine Eve (From either Irish Bealtaine or Scottish Gaelic). Originally a Celtic Druid holiday
- Vietnam - Liberation Day
- Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
  - Saint Maximus, 3rd century martyr
  - Saint Louis, Amator, and Peter, martyred by the Moors in 855
  - Saint Marianus and James, martyrs in Numidia in 259
  - Suitbert the Younger (d. 807)
  - Catherine of Siena
  - Joseph Benedict Cottolengo
  - Pius V, pope
  - Robert

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/30 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/4/30 Today in History: April 30] ---- April 29 - May 1 - March 29 - May 29 – listing of all days ko:4월 30일 ms:30 April ja:4月30日 simple:April 30 th:30 เมษายน

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<