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Neil Gerrard

Neil Gerrard

Neil Francis Gerrard (born 3 July 1942, Farnworth, Lancashire) is a politician in the United Kingdom, and Labour Member of Parliament for Walthamstow. He is a left-winger within the party, and is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group. He used to be a member of CND's national council.

External links


- [http://www.neilgerrard.co.uk/ Neil Gerrard] official site
- [http://www.epolitix.com/EN/MPWebsites/Neil+Gerrard/ ePolitix - Neil Gerrard]
- [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-1906,00.html Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Neil Gerrard MP]
- [http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/neil_gerrard/walthamstow TheyWorkForYou.com - Neil Gerrard MP]
- [http://publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpn=Neil_Gerrard&mpc=Walthamstow The Public Whip - Neil Gerrard MP] voting record
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/481.stm BBC News - Neil Gerrard] profile 16 March, 2005 Gerrard, Neil Gerrard, Neil Gerrard, Neil

3 July

July 3 is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 181 days remaining.

Events


- 324 - Battle of Adrianople Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium
- 533 - Battle of Ad Decimum: Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals near Carthage.
- 987 - Hugh Capet was crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty which ruled France till the French Revolution in 1792.
- 1250 - Louis IX of France is captured by Baibars' Mamluk army at the Battle of Fariskur while he is in Egypt conducting the Seventh Crusade; he later has to ransom himself.
- 1608 - Quebec City founded by Samuel de Champlain.
- 1754 - George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French forces during the French and Indian War.
- 1775 - George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- 1778 - British forces massacre 360 men, women & children in Wyoming, Pa, and Prussia declares war on Austria.
- 1819 - The first savings bank in the United States (The Bank of Savings in New York City) opens.
- 1839 - The first state normal school in the United States opens in Lexington, Massachusetts with 3 students.
- 1844 - The last pair of Great Auks is killed.
- 1848 - Slaves are freed in the Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands).
- 1852 - Congress establishes the United States's 2nd mint in San Francisco, California.
- 1863 - U.S. Civil War: The final and bloodiest day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
- 1866 - Austro-Prussian War decided at Battle of Königgratz, resulting in Prussia taking over as the prominent German nation from Austria.
- 1884 - Dow Jones published its 1st stock average.
- 1886 - The New York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating typesetting by hand.
- 1890 - Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.
- 1928 - First color television broadcast in London.
- 1932 - First Sunday game at Fenway Park, the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 13-2, and John McGraw retires from baseball.
- 1938 - World record for a steam railway locomotive is set in England, by the "Mallard", which reaches a speed of 203 km/h (126 mph).
- 1952 - Puerto Rico's Constitution is approved by the Congress of the United States.
- 1962 - The Algerian War of Independence against the French ends
- 1964 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits segregation in public places.
- 1969 - Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones drowns in his swimming pool. The band plays a concert at Hyde Park, London two days later in his honor.
- 1970 - A British Dan-Air De Havilland Comet chartered jetliner crashes into mountains north of Barcelona, Spain killing 112 people.
- 1971 - Singer Jim Morrison of The Doors is found dead of a heart attack in his bathtub.
- 1976 - Israeli commandos rescue 105 hostages at Entebbe Airport, Uganda during Operation Yonatan.
- 1977 - The Senegalese Republican Movement (MRS) is founded.
- 1979 - US President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
- 1988 - United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
- 1993 - Prince Alois of Liechtenstein weds Duchess Sophie of Bavaria.
- 1993 - Steffi Graf wins Wimbledon.
- 1994 - Pete Sampras beats Goran Ivanisevic to win Wimbledon;
- 1994 - Romania eliminates Argentina 3-2 in the World Cup.
- 2001 - A Vladivostokavia Tupolev TU-154 jetliner crashes on approach to landing at Irkutsk, Russia killing 145 people.
- 2004 - Official opening of Bangkok's subway system.
- 2005 - Part of Australia's Twelve Apostles rock formation collapses. The national law legalizing same-sex marriage takes effect in Spain.

Births


- 1423 - King Louis XI of France (d. 1483)
- 1442 - Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan (d. 1500)
- 1511 - Giorgio Vasari, Italian painter and architect (d. 1574)
- 1530 - Claude Fauchet, French historian (d. 1601)
- 1567 - Samuel de Champlain, French explorer (d. 1635)
- 1676 - Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian field marshal (d. 1747)
- 1683 - Edward Young, English poet (d. 1765)
- 1685 - Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, British cavalry officer (d. 1768)
- 1728 - Robert Adam, Scottish architect (d. 1792)
- 1731 - Samuel Huntington, Continental Congress president and signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (d. 1796
- 1738 - John Singleton Copley, American painter (d. 1815)
- 1793 - John Clare, British poet (d. 1864)
- 1854 - Leos Janacek, Czech composer (d. 1928)
- 1870 - Richard Bedford Bennett, eleventh Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1947)
- 1875 - Ferdinand Sauerbruch, German surgeon (d. 1951)
- 1879 - Alfred Korzybski, Polish linguist
- 1883 - Franz Kafka, Austrian writer (d. 1924)
- 1893 - Mississippi John Hurt, American musician (d. 1966)
- 1906 - George Sanders, Russian-born actor (d. 1972)
- 1908 - M. F. K. Fisher, American writer (d. 1992)
- 1913 - Dorothy Kilgallen, American columnist and television personality (d. 1965)
- 1921 - Susan Peters, American actress
- 1927 - Ken Russell, British director
- 1930 - Carlos Kleiber, Austrian conductor (d. 2004)
- 1935 - Harrison Schmitt, astronaut
- 1937 - Tom Stoppard, Czech-born playwright
- 1940 - César Tovar, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (d. 1994)
- 1946 - Leszek Miller, Prime Minister of Poland
- 1947 - Dave Barry, American writer
- 1947 - Betty Buckley, American actress
- 1949 - Jan Smithers, American actress
- 1950 - James Hahn, American politician
- 1951 - Richard Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer
- 1952 - Alan Autry, American football player, actor, and politician
- 1955 - Sanma Akashiya, Japanese television performer and actor
- 1957 - Laura Branigan, American singer (d. 2004)
- 1959 - Julie Burchill, British journalist and author
- 1960 - Tim Smith, English singer (Cardiacs)
- 1962 - Tom Cruise, American actor
- 1964 - Joanne Harris, British author
- 1964 - Yeardley Smith, American actress
- 1966 - Moises Alou, baseball player
- 1969 - Kevin Hearn, Canadian keyboardist (Barenaked Ladies)
- 1970 - Teemu Selänne, Finnish hockey player
- 1970 - Shawnee Smith, American actress
- 1973 - Johnny Terris, Canadian-born actor and director
- 1976 - Andrea Barber, American actress
- 1980 - Roland Mark Schoeman, South African swimmer

Deaths


- 683 - St. Leo II, pope
- 1570 - Aonio Paleario, Italian humanist
- 1642 - Maria de' Medici, queen of Henry IV of France (b. 1573)
- 1672 - Francis Willughby, English biologist (b. 1635)
- 1704 - Sophia Alekseyevna, regent of Russia (b. 1657)
- 1749 - William Jones, Welsh mathematician (b. 1675)
- 1795 - Louis-Georges de Bréquigny, French historian (b. 1714)
- 1795 - Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish general and governor of Louisiana (b. 1716)
- 1863 - George Hull Ward, American general (b. 1826)
- 1904 - Theodor Herzl, Austrian Zionist (b. 1860)
- 1914 - Joseph Chamberlain, British politician (b. 1836)
- 1918 - Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1844)
- 1933 - Hipólito Yrigoyen, President of Argentina (b. 1852)
- 1935 - André Citroën, French automobile pioneer (b. 1878)
- 1969 - Brian Jones, English musician (The Rolling Stones) (drowned) (b. 1942)
- 1971 - Jim Morrison, American singer (The Doors) (b. 1943)
- 1977 - Alexander M. Volkov, Russian novelist and mathematician (b. 1891)
- 1979 - Louis Durey, French composer (b. 1888)
- 1986 - Rudy Vallee, American singer (b. 1901)
- 1989 - Jim Backus, American actor (b. 1913)
- 1993 - Joe DeRita, American actor and comedian (b. 1909)
- 1995 - Pancho Gonzales, American tennis player (b. 1928)
- 1998 - Danielle Bunten Berry, American software developer (b. 1949)
- 2000 - Kemal Sunal, Turkish actor (b. 1944)
- 2001 - Mordecai Richler, Canadian author (b. 1931)
- 2003 - Gaetano Alibrandi, papal diplomat (b. 1914)
- 2004 - Andrian Nikolayev, cosmonaut (b. 1929)
- 2005 - Alberto Lattuada, Italian film director (b. 1914)
- 2005 - Gaylord Nelson, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin (b. 1916)

Holidays and observances


- Start of the Dog Days
- Feast day of Saint Thomas

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/3 BBC: On This Day] ---- July 2 - July 4 - June 3 - August 3 -- listing of all days ko:7월 3일 ms:3 Julai ja:7月3日 simple:July 3 th:3 กรกฎาคม

1942

This article is about the year. For the 1984 Capcom arcade game, see 1942 (video game). 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January


- January 1 - World War II: The term "United Nations" is first officially used to describe the Allied pact.
- January 2 - World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces. The Japanese Admiral stays in Solvec (owned by Charles Henry de Silva), Philippines.
- January 5 - Amy Johnson disappears in flight over River Thames estuary - assumed drowned
- January 6 - Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to have a flight go around the world.
- January 7 - World War II: Siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins
- January 11 - World War II: Japan declares war on the Netherlands and invades the Netherlands East Indies.
- January 11 - World War II: The Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur.
- January 12 - President Franklin Roosevelt creates the National War Labor Board.
- January 13 - Henry Ford patents a plastic automobile, which is 30% lighter than a regular car
- January 16 - Airplane crashes near Las Vegas. Dead include Carole Lombard and her mother
- January 19 - World War II: Japanese forces invade Burma.
- January 20 - World War II: Nazis at the Wannsee conference in Berlin decide that the "final solution to the Jewish problem" is relocation, and later extermination.
- January 25 - World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom
- January 26 - World War II: The first American forces arrive in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.

February


- February 9
  - World War II: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.
  - Daylight-saving time goes into effect in the United States.
- February 11 - Operation Cerberus - Flotilla of Kriegsmarine ships dash from Brest through the English Channel to northern ports; British fail to sink any one of them
- February 15 - World War II: Singapore surrenders to Japanese forces.
- February 19
  - World War II: 242 Japanese warplanes attack Darwin, Australia.
  - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs executive order 9066 allowing the United States military to define areas as exclusionary zones. These zones affect the Japanese on the West Coast, and Germans and Italians primarily on the East Coast.
- February 20 - Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace
- February 22 - World War II: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defense of the nation collapses.
- February 23 - Japanese submarine I-17 fires sixteen high-explosive shells toward an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California, causing little damage.
- February 24 - Propaganda: The Voice of America begins broadcasting.
- February 25 - Princess Elizabeth registers for war service
- February 26 - Coal dust explosion in Honkeika mine in China - 1549 dead
- February 27 - World War II: the USS Langley, the first United States aircraft carrier, is sunk by Japanese warplanes off Java.

March


- March 9 - The Secretary of War reorganized the United States Army into three major commands - Army Ground Forces, Army Air Forces, and Services of Supply, later redesignated Army Service Forces

April-June

Army Service Forces.]]
- April 3 - World War II: Japanese forces begin an all-out assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula. Bataan fell on April 9 and the Bataan Death March began.
- April 5 - Second World War: Japanese Navy attacks Colombo in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Royal Navy Cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.
- April 9 - Second World War: Japanese Navy launches air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); Royal Navy Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Vampire are sunk off the country's East Coast.
- April 27 - World War II: A national plebiscite is held in Canada on the issue of conscription.
- May - first test of an undersea oil pipeline in Operation Pluto
- May 6 - World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
- May 8 - World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end. This is the first time in the naval history where two enemy fleets fought without seeing each other's fleets.
- May 8/May 9 - Second World War: On the night of 8/9 May 1942, gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebelled. Their mutiny was crushed and three of them were executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
- 1942 - World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov - In the eastern Ukraine, the Soviet Army initiates a major offensive. During the battle the Soviets will capture the city of Kharkov from the German Army, only to be encircled and destroyed.
- May 15 - World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
- May 20 - First colored seamen taken into US Navy
- May 27 - World War II: Operation Anthropoid - assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in Prague
- June 4 - World War II: Reinhard Heydrich dies in Prague due to the assassination by Czechoslovak paratroopers (Operation Anthropoid)
- June 4-June 7 - World War II: The Battle of Midway.
- June 7 - World War II- Japanese forces invade the Aleutian Islands. This is the first invasion of American soil in 128 years.
- June 9 - World War II: Nazis burn the Czech village of Lidice as reprisal for the killing of Reinhard Heydrich.
- June 10 - World War II: the Gestapo massacred 173 male residents of Lidice, Czechoslovakia in retaliztion for the killing of a Nazi official.
- June 12 - Holocaust: Future essayist Anne Frank receives a diary for her thirteenth birthday.
- June 13 - The United States opens its Office of War Information, a center for production of propaganda.

July


- July 1 - July 27 - World War II: the First Battle of El Alamein
- July 9 - Holocaust: Anne Frank's family goes into hiding in an attic above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
- July 13 - World War II: German U-Boats sink three more merchant ships in Gulf of St. Lawrence.
- July 16 - Holocaust: On order from the Vichy France government headed by Pierre Laval, French police officers round-up 13,000-20,000 Jews and imprison them in the Winter Velodrome.
- July 16 - Georges Bégué and others escape from Mauzac prison camp
- July 18 - World War II: The Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me-262 using only its jets for the first time.
- July 19 - World War II: Battle of the Atlantic - German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz orders the last U-boats to withdraw from their United States Atlantic coast positions in response to an effective American convoy system.
- July 22 - Holocaust: The systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto begins.
- July 31 - The Oxford Committee of Famine Relief (OXFAM) founded

August-September


- August 7 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal begins - US Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with a landing on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
- August 8 - World War II: In Washington, DC, six German would-be saboteurs are executed (two others were cooperative and received life imprisonment instead).
- August 8 - Quit India resolution was passed by the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), which led to the start of a historical civil disobidience movement across India
- August 9 - Indian leader, Mohandas Gandhi is arrested in Bombay by British forces.
- August 13-14 night - In London instruments detect a massive burst of cosmic rays
- August 16 - Polish-Jewish teacher Janusz Korczak follows a group of Jewish children into Treblinka death camp
- August 19 - World War II: The Dieppe Raid - Allied forces raid Dieppe, France.
- August 22 - World War II: Brazil declared war on Germany and Italy.
- September 3 -
  - Francisco Franco fires foreign minister Serrano Súñer
  - An attempt by the Germans to liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Lakhva leads to an uprising.
- September 24 - Andrée Borrel and Lise de Baissac became the first female SOE agents to be parachuted into occupied France.

October


- October 2 - British cruiser Curacao collides with the liner Queen Mary off the coast of Donegal and sinks - 338 drowned
- October 3 - First successful launch of A4-rocket from Test Stand VII at Peenemünde, Germany. The rocket flew 147 kilometres wide and reached a height of 84.5 kilometres and was therefore the first man-made object reaching space.
- October 9 - Statute of Westminster Adoption Act formalizes Australian autonomy.
- October 11 - World War II: Battle of Cape Esperance - On the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, United States Navy ships intercept and defeat a Japanese fleet on their way to reinforce troops on the island.
- October 14 - A German U-boat sinks the ferry SS Caribou, killing 137.
- October 16 - Hurricane and flooding in Bombay - 40,000 dead
- October 23 - November 4 - World War II: the Second Battle of El Alamein
- October 28 - The Alaska Highway is completed.
- October 29 - Holocaust: In the United Kingdom, leading clergymen and political figures hold a public meeting to register outrage over Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews.

November

Jew
- November 3 - World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein ends - German forces under Erwin Rommel are forced to retreat during the night.
- November 8 - World War II: Operation Torch - United States and United Kingdom forces land in French North Africa.
- November 8 - World War II: French resistance Coup in Algiers, by which 400 French civil resistants neutralized the vichyist XIXth Army Corps and the vichyist generals (Juin, Darlan, etc.), so allowing the immediate success of Operation Torch in Algiers, and from there in the whole French North Africa.
- November 9 - World War II: U.S serviceman Edward Leonswki hanged at Melbourne's Pentridge Prison for the "Brown-Out" Murders of three women in May
- November 10 - World War II: In violation of a 1940 armistice, Germany invades Vichy France following French Admiral François Darlan agreement to an armistice with the Allies in North Africa.
- November 12 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal begins - A naval battle near Guadalcanal starts between Japanese and American forces.
- November 13 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal - Aviators from the USS Enterprise sink the Japanese heavy cruiser BB- Hiei.
- November 15 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal ends - Although the United States Navy suffered heavy losses, it was able to retain control of Guadalcanal.
- November 19 - 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.
- November 21 - The completion of the Alaska Highway (also known as the Alcan Highway) is celebrated (the "highway" was not usable by general vehicles until 1943, however).
- November 22 - World War II: Battle of Stalingrad - The situation for the German attackers of Stalingrad seems desperate during the Soviet counter-attack Operation Uranus and General Friedrich Paulus sends Adolf Hitler a telegram saying that the German 6th army is surrounded.
- November 23 - German U-boat sinks SS Ben Lomond off the coast of Brazil. One crewman, Chinese second steward Poon Lim, is separated from the others and spends 130 days adrift until he is rescued April 3 1943
- November 27 - World War II: At Toulon, the French navy scuttles its ships and submarines to keep them out of Nazi hands.
- November 28 - In Boston, Massachusetts, a fire in the Cocoanut Grove night club kills 491 people.
- November 28 - The large-scale German "pacification" of Zamojszczyzna begins.

December


- December 2 - Manhattan Project: Below the bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, a team led by Enrico Fermi initiate the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction (a coded message, "The Italian navigator has landed in the new world" was then sent to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt).
- December 4 - Holocaust: In Warsaw, two Christian women, Zofia Kossak and Wanda Filipowicz risk their lives by setting up the Council for the Assistance of the Jews.

Undated


- Catavi massacre - Bolivian soldiers shoot miners
- Serial killer Singing Strangler in Melbourne
- Grand Coulee Dam finished in Columbia River
- DDT first used as a pesticide

Ongoing events


- World War II (1939-1945)
- Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)
- 1942 in art
- 1942 in film
  - Mrs. Miniver
  - Bambi
  - Casablanca starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman
  - Quattro passi fra le nuvole by Alessandro Blasetti.
- 1942 in literature
  - Mythology
- 1942 in music
  - "White Christmas" - Bing Crosby
- 1942 in rail transport
- 1942 in sports
- 1942 in television
  - April 13 - The FCC minimum programming time required of TV stations is cut from 15 hours to four hours a week during the war.

Births

Unknown date


- Roger Angleton, American murderer (d. 1998)
- Priscilla Davis, American socialite (d. 2001)

January


- January 1 - Martin Frost, American politician
- January 1 - Gennadi Sarafanov, cosmonaut
- January 2 - Hugh Shelton, American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- January 3 - John Thaw, English actor (d. 2002)
- January 5 - Maurizio Pollini, Italian pianist
- January 5 - Charlie Rose, American talk show host
- January 7 - Vasily Alexeev, Soviet weightlifter
- January 8 - Stephen Hawking, British physicist
- January 8 - Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan
- January 8 - Yvette Mimieux, American actress
- January 8 - George Passmore, English artist (Gilbert and George)
- January 15 - Charo, American singer and actress
- January 17 - Muhammad Ali, American boxer
- January 17 - Cus D'Amato, boxing manager (d. 1985)
- January 17 - Ulf Hoelscher, German violinist
- January 17 - Nancy Parsons, American actress (d. 2001)
- January 19 - Michael Crawford, singer and actor
- January 25 - Carl Eller, American football player
- January 25 - Eusébio, Portuguese footballer
- January 31 - Derek Jarman, English director and writer (d. 1994)

February


- February 1 - Terry Jones, Welsh actor and writer
- February 2 - Graham Nash, English musician
- February 5 - Roger Staubach, American football player
- February 9 - Carole King, American singer and composer
- February 12 - Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel
- February 13 - Peter Tork, American musician and actor
- February 19 - Paul Krause, American football player
- February 20 - Phil Esposito, Canadian hockey player
- February 21 - Margarethe von Trotta, German actress, film director, and writer
- February 24 - Joseph Lieberman, American politician
- February 27 - Robert H. Grubbs, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 28 - Brian Jones, English musician (The Rolling Stones) (d. 1969)

March


- March 2 - John Irving, American author
- March 2 - Lou Reed, American singer and guitarist
- March 4 - Charles C. Krulak, U.S. Marine Corps commander
- March 5 - Felipe González Márquez, Spanish politician
- March 7 - Tammy Faye Bakker, American evangelist
- March 7 - Michael Eisner, American film studio executive
- March 9 - John Cale, Welsh composer and musician
- March 13 - Dave Cutler, American software engineer
- March 16 - James Soong, Taiwan politician
- March 17 - John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer (d. 1994)
- March 23 - Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian and political figure
- March 25 - Aretha Franklin, American singer
- March 25 - Richard O'Brien, English-born actor and writer
- March 26 - Erica Jong, American author
- March 27 - John E. Sulston, British chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- March 27 - Michael York, English actor

April


- April 2 - Hiroyuki Sakai, Japanese chef
- April 3 - Marsha Mason, American actress
- April 3 - Wayne Newton, American singer
- April 5 - Peter Greenaway, Welsh filmmaker
- April 5 - Pascal Couchepin, Swiss Federal Councilor
- April 6 - Barry Levinson, American film producer and director
- April 14 - Valeriy Brumel, Russian athlete (d. 2003)
- April 14 - Valentin Lebedev, cosmonaut
- April 26 - Bobby Rydell, American singer
- April 26 - Michael Kergin, Canadian diplomat

May


- May 2 - Jacques Rogge, Belgian International Olympic Committee president
- May 5 - Tammy Wynette, American musician (d. 1998)
- May 9 - John Ashcroft, United States Attorney General
- May 12 - Ian Dury, British musician (d. 2000)
- May 17 - Taj Mahal, American singer and guitarist
- May 18 - Albert Hammond, English-born musician and composer
- May 18 - Nobby Stiles, English footballer
- May 19 - Gary Kildall, American computer scientist (d. 1994)
- May 22 - Theodore Kaczynski, American bomber
- May 22 - Calvin Simon, American musician (P Funk)
- May 26 - Levon Helm, American musician (The Band)
- May 28 - Stanley B. Prusiner, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

June


- June 3 - Curtis Mayfield, American musician (d. 1999)
- June 10 - Preston Manning, Canadian politician
- June 12 - Bert Sakmann, German physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 17 - Mohamed ElBaradei, Egyptian International Atomic Energy Agency director, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- June 18 - Roger Ebert, American film critic
- June 18 - Paul McCartney, English musician and composer (The Beatles)
- June 18 - Hans Vonk, Dutch conductor

July


- July 4 - Floyd Little, American football player
- July 4 - Prince Michael of Kent
- July 7 - Carmen Duncan, Welsh-born actress
- July 10 - Pyotr Klimuk, cosmonaut
- July 10 - Ronnie James Dio, American singer
- July 13 - Harrison Ford, American actor and producer
- July 13 - Roger McGuinn, American musician
- July 15 - Mil Mascaras, Mexican professional wrestler
- July 17 - Tim Brooke-Taylor, English radio and television personality
- July 23 - Myra Hindley, English murderer
- July 24 - Chris Sarandon, American actor
- July 27 - Dennis Ralston, American tennis player
- July 29 - Tony Sirico, American actor

August


- August 1 - Jerry Garcia, American musician (d. 1995)
- August 2 - Isabel Allende, Chilean writer
- August 4 - David Lange, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 2005)
- August 7 - Garrison Keillor, American writer and radio host
- August 19 - Fred Thompson, U.S. Senator and actor
- August 20 - Isaac Hayes, American singer and actor
- August 26 - Dennis Turner, British politician
- August 28 - Sterling Morrison, American musician (d. 1995)

September


- September 1 - John Lange, American scientist
- September 19 - Freda Payne, American singer and actress
- September 22 - David Stern, American commissioner of the National Basketball Association
- September 28 - Marshall Bell, American actor
- September 29 - Madeline Kahn, American actress (d. 1999)
- September 29 - Jean-Luc Ponty, French jazz violinist
- September 30 - Frankie Lymon, American singer (d. 1968)

October


- October 11 - Amitabh Bachchan, Indian actor
- October 12 - Melvin Franklin, American musician (d. 1995)
- October 13 - Jerry Jones, American football team owner
- October 19 - Andrew Vachss, American author and attorney
- October 20 - Earl Hindman, American actor (d. 2003)
- October 20 - Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- October 21 - Elvin Bishop, American musician
- October 22 - Annette Funicello, American actress
- October 23 - Michael Crichton, American author
- October 26 - Bob Hoskins, British actor

November


- November 1 - Ralph Klein, Premier of Alberta
- November 8 - Angel Cordero Jr., Puerto Rican jockey
- November 8 - Fernando Sorrentino, Argentine writer
- November 10 - Robert F. Engle, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- November 10 - Hans-Rudolf Merz, Swiss Federal Councilor
- November 13 - John P. Hammond, American singer
- November 15 - Daniel Barenboim, Argentine-born pianist and conductor
- November 17 - Martin Scorsese, American film director
- November 20 - Joe Biden, U.S. Senator from Delaware
- November 27 - Henry Carr, American athlete
- November 27 - Jimi Hendrix, American musician (d. 1970)
- November 28 - Paul Warfield, American football player
- November 29 - Michael Craze, British actor (d. 1998)
- November 29 - Philippe Huttenlocher, Swiss baritone

December


- December 4 - Gemma Jones, British actress
- December 6 - Peter Handke, Austrian novelist
- December 7 - Peter Tomarken, American game show host
- December 9 - Dick Butkus, American football player
- December 11 - Donna Mills, American actress
- December 17 - Paul Butterfield, American musician (d. 1987)
- December 20 - Bob Hayes, American athlete
- December 21 - Carla Thomas, American singer
- December 29 - Rajesh Khanna, Indian actor

Unknown date


- Moammar Al Qadhafi, leader of Libya

Deaths


- January 6 - Henri de Baillet-Latour, Belgian International Olympic Committee president (b. 1876)
- January 14 - Porfirio Barba-Jacob, Colombian poet and writer (b. 1883)
- January 16 - Carole Lombard, American actress (b. 1908)
- January 26 - Felix Hausdorff, German mathematician (suicide) (b. 1868)
- February 19 - Frank Abbandando, American gangster (executed) (b. 1910)
- February 28 - Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (sinking ship) (b. 1889)
- March 1 - Cornelius Vanderbilt III, American military officer, inventor, and engineer (b. 1873)
- March 8 - José Raúl Capablanca, Cuban chess player (b. 1888)
- March 10 - William Henry Bragg, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
- March 21 - J.S Woodsworth, Canadian politician (b. 1874)
- April 15 - Robert Musil, Austrian-born novelist (b. 1880)
- April 17 -

Lancashire

 Lancashire is a county of England, lying on the Irish Sea. Its traditional county town is Lancaster, though the county council is based at Preston. The Royal Mail abbreviated its name to Lancs. The highest point of the county is Green Hill, near Whernside, which reaches a height of 687m (2250 ft). A red rose is the traditional symbol for Lancashire and the House of Lancaster, immortalized in the verse "In the battle for England's head/York was white, Lancaster red" (referring to the 15th century War of the Roses).

Industry

Lancashire grew out of the cotton industry and slave industries in the 19th century which gave Lancashire its wealth. Lancashire is also a proud mining and fishing county. Today Lancashire is home to firms such as BAE Systems (who have four factories in Lancashire), Heinz, TVR cars, Leyland Trucks and Marconi telecoms.

Environs and divisions

The ceremonial county borders Cumbria, North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, and the metropolitan counties of Greater Manchester, and Merseyside; and contains the unitary authorities of Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen. Lancashire is divided into a number of local government districts. These are Burnley, Chorley, Fylde, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, the Ribble Valley, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire, and Wyre. Some parts of the traditional county fall under the ceremonial counties of West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cumbria.

Law Enforcement

Lancashire is policed by Lancashire Constabulary which covers the current county of Lancashire. Its HQ is in Preston and is split into six divisions. Like most British police forces Lancashire Officers are not armed but armed response teams are on patrol around the county armed with G36 assault rifles and Glock pistols. Lancashires railways are policed by the British Transport Police

Settlements

These are the main towns in Lancashire. For a complete list of settlements see list of places in Lancashire.
- Accrington, Adlington
- Bacup, Bamber Bridge, Barnoldswick, Bickerstaffe, Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley, Burscough, Brindle
- Carnforth, Chipping, Chorley, Clayton-le-Moors, Cleveleys, Clitheroe, Colne
- Dalton, Darwen, Dunsop Bridge (one of 2 main contenders for the location of the exact geographic centre of Great Britain)
- Earby
- Fleetwood, Freckleton
- Galgate, Garstang, Gisburn, Goosnargh, Great Harwood, Grimsargh
- Haslingden, Heysham, Hoghton
- Kirkham, Knott End-on-sea
- Lancaster, Lathom, Leyland, Longridge, Lytham
- Mawdesley, Morecambe
- Nelson
- Ormskirk, Oswaldtwistle
- Padiham, Parbold, Pendle, Poulton-le-Fylde, Preston
- Rawtenstall, Ribchester, Rufford
- Silverdale, Skelmersdale, Slaidburn, St Annes
- Tarleton, Thornton, Trawden, Tyldesley
- Upholland
- Whalley

Places of interest

Whalley
- Astley Green Colliery Museum, Tyldesley
- Astley Hall
- British Commercial Vehicle Museum, Leyland
- East Lancashire Railway, a heritage railway
- Helmshore Textile Museum
- Hoghton Tower
- Samlesbury Hall
- Lathom Park Chapel, site of Lathom Hall, seat of the Earls of Derby
- Lancaster Castle
- The Pennines, provide great opportunity for Mountain Biking, and
- Rock Climbing is also popular with the area having some 6600+ routes to climb many of which are in disused quarries (Quarry)
- Pendle Hill
- Forest of Bowland
- Forest of Bowland AONB - Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
- RSPB Leighton Moss nature reserve, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
- Morecambe Bay
- WWT Martin Mere, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve, Burscough
- Wyre Forest NNR National Nature Reserve
- Leeds and Liverpool Canal, Ribble Link
- River Ribble, River Douglas, River Tawd, River Lostock, River Irwell, River Roch
- Williamson Park and the Ashton Memorial

History

:Main article: History of Lancashire The traditional county was established in 1183. In the Domesday Book, its lands had been treated as part of Cheshire and of Yorkshire. It borders Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire. It was divided into the six hundreds of Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland, Lonsdale, Salford and West Derby. Lonsdale was further partitioned into Lonsdale North, which was the detached part north of Morecambe Bay (also known as Furness), and Lonsdale South. The Loyal Toast, 'The Queen, the Duke of Lancaster' is still in regular use. See also Duchy of Lancaster. The modern administrative area is now rather smaller than that of the traditional county due to a local government reform. Between 1889 and 1974 there was an administrative county of Lancaster which was much smaller than the historic County Palatine. For example, it did not include Liverpool, Manchester, Preston or Wigan all of which were technically separate adminsitrative county boroughs. On April 1, 1974 the Furness exclave was given to the new county of Cumbria, the south east being given to Greater Manchester, and the south-west becoming Merseyside. Warrington and surrounding districts including the villages of Winwick and Croft and Risley and Culcheth were annexed to Cheshire. A part of the West Riding of Yorkshire near Clitheroe, was transferred to Lancashire also. In 1998 Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen became independent of the county as unitary authorities, but remained in Lancashire for ceremonial purposes, as well as for fire and rescue and policing.

Fame

Lancashire is famous for these things:
- Industrial revolution
- TVR
- Football
- Sirloin steak
- Black Pudding
- Eurofighter

Rejected options for change

On May 25, 2004 the Boundary Committee for England published recommendations for systems of Unitary Authorities to be put to referendum as described under Subdivisions of England, but on Thursday 4 November 2004 the referendum for the North East decided by a margin of 78% to 22% against an elected regional assembly. On 8 November the Deputy Prime Minister announced "I will not therefore be bringing forward orders for referendums in either the North West, or Yorkshire and the Humber".
- [http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_about/documents/page/odpm_about_032697.hcsp Statement by Deputy Prime Minister]

See also


- County Watch

External links


- [http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/ Lancashire County Council]
- [http://www.forl.co.uk/ Friends of Real Lancashire]
- [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/15271 Traditions of Lancashire], Volume 1 (of 2), by John Roby
- [http://www.lancashirerock.co.uk/ Lancashire Rock] Climbing Guidebook produced by the British Mountaineering Council
- [http://www.galloways.org.uk/ Galloway's Society for the Blind, est. 1867 Lancashire's oldest charity serving blind and visually impaired people]


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