Ebury Press

Ebury Press is the non-fiction specialist of Penguin Random House. They are based in a number of London locations including the Strand and Vauxhall Bridge Road.

The London Array

The London Array is an offshore wind farm consisting of 175 wind turbines. The first turbine was installed in 2012. It was conceived as a two phase project with total capacity of 1GW.

The Olivier Awards

The Olivier Awards are Britain's most prestigious stage honours. They were first established in 1976 by the Society of London Theatre (SOLT).

What is Cymraeg?

Cymraeg ("Kim-Raag") refers to the Welsh language.

Where is New York's "Theater District"?

New York's Theater District is an area of Midtown Manhattan where most of its theaters are located. Midtown Manhattan is also the site of the Empire State (350 Fifth Avenue), Chrysler Building (junction of Lex and E 42nd Street) and the HQ of the United Nations.

Phileas in the Canton of Valais

The Canton of Valais (a.k.a. Kanton Wallis) is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland located in the South West of the country with capital Sion.

Multiple Occupations of Cologne

Facts about Cologne -
1. Origin of "eau de cologne" (or in German, Kolnisch Wasser - "Water from Cologne"). It was originally mixed by Johann Maria Farina in 1709, it is now a generic term used for perfumes with concentration of 2%-5% and 70%-90% ethanol. Farina was born on 8 December 1685 in Santa Maria Maggiore in North West Italy (Piedmont/Piemonte).
2. Cologne became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1815
3. Occupied by the British Army of the Rhine until 1926 under the terms of the Armistice
4. Over 60% of the built up area was destroyed as a result of air raids in World War 2
4. Occupied by the American First Army in 1945

The NCSC (and its Auxiliary Activities, such as Cyber Accelerator)

The NCSC is the National Cyber Security Centre of the UK which can be followed on Twitter. It is a government entity with the following top executives:

• CEO Ciaran Martin (who has also worked in the Treasury and National Audit Office)
• Dr Ian Levy, Technical Director
• Chris Ensor, Deputy Director for Cyber Skills and Growth

The NCSC runs a Cyber Accelerator program integrated with the Cheltenham Innovation Centre. A second cyber innovation centre is planned for London's Olympic Park.

The Modern Role of the PC

Privy Council, often abbreviated PC and used post-nominally to denote membership, is a body of advisers, to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom.

It is made up of senior politicians who are current or former members of the House of Lords or House of Commons, to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom.

The PC is made up of various Committees and is presided over by a Lord President. The JCPC, or Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, is one such committee. It uses the term "Michaelmas" to denote the time between September to the end of December. Cambridge, Oxford and Durham use the word to denote their Autumn terms.

The Witenagemot

The Witenagemot was the ancestor to the Privy Council and operated in Anglo Saxon England from the 7th to the 11th Century. It was an assembly of the ruling class who advised the King. In the Harry Potter books, the same name is used to represent the Wizard Council.

What is "rectification", why is it so useful, and what does a rectifier have to do with it?

A rectifier is a piece of electronic kit that converts A.C. to D.C. This process is known as rectification.

Rectifiers are often found as components of D.C. power supplies (many electronic circuits require a steady D.C. current e.g. radio, television and computer equipment).

The opposite process, of converting D.C. to A.C., requires more complex circuitry in the form of an inverter. Different types of inverters produce different "quality" waves ranging from square waveforms, sine waves to modified sine waves.

Where is Bognor Regis?

Bognor Regis is a seaside town between Portsmouth and Brighton on the South Coast of the UK.

Which Football Club is BHA?

BHA is Brighton and Hove Albion. Its history began as Brighton United in 1897. The club folded and was reinvented in 1901. The addition of Albion is a mystery. Albion is the oldest name of the island of Great Britain.

Mr Holmes (2015)

Mr Holmes is a 2015 film in which an aged Sherlock Holmes is dealing with dementia. It is based on a book called "A Slight Trick of the Mind" (published 2005) by Santa Fe-born novelist and short story writer Mitch Cullin.

Ian McKellen (English Literature graduate from St Catherine's College Cambridge, where he was a member of the Marlowe Society, a theatre club for Cambridge students, who has famously played Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, and made his professional debut in 1961 at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons) plays Sherlock with NYC-born and Julliard alum Laura Linney playing Mrs Munro. Ipswich, England-born Milo Parker plays Roger. Lambeth-born Hattie Morahan (who graduated from New Hall, Cambridge with a BA in English) plays Ann Kelmot who the mystery revolves around. Her husband is played by Patrick Kennedy.

Hiroyuki Sanada plays Umezaki with whom Sherlock Holmes meets in Japan and has an ensuing correspondence relationship.

Bees are an interesting symbol in the story, forming a bond between Sherlock and Roger, as well as Sherlock and Umezaki, via an amber fossil which Umezaki gifts Sherlock, which he passes on to Roger, and finally lays out in the final scene on the White Cliffs of Dover.

The film grossed $29m at the box office over an estimated budget of $10m.

Dr Hook

Dr Hook and the Medicine Show, later Dr Hook, was an American rock back, formed in Union City, New Jersey ("Havana on the Hudson"). Their hit "A Little Bit More" (1976) was originally sung by Bobby Gosh (1973). Lead vocalist is Dennis Locorriere.

Tree Sap

Tree sap is a nutrient rich fluid (primarily water) transported in the xylem cells of plants.

Legend of Lord Rayleigh - Co-Discoverer of Argon Known also for Clarity and Simplicity of Diction

Lord Rayleigh (John William Strutt) was a force in British physics and a President of the Royal Society.  He also won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1904. 

Some of his great achievements include:

• Rayleigh Scattering - which can explain why the sky is blue
• Co-discovered argon gas (one of the so-called noble gases)
• Predicted the existence of Rayleigh waves (surface acoustic wave, which form part of seismic waves during earthquakes)

Rayleigh's intellectual background was distinctly mathematical (leading to initial research into optics and vibrating systems) and he was also known for his clarity and simplicity of diction. His eldest son became a professor of Physics at Imperial College.

Diesel Engines Don't Use Spark Plugs - They use Glow Plugs

A glowplug (also known as glow plug) is a heating device to help start diesel engines. As the pencil-like device heats up, it emits light, hence the name glow plug. 

Ingesting Toxins in New Caledonia - The Evolution of "Hyperaccumulators"

Specialised plants, hyperaccumulators, have evolved to ingest normally toxic metals in their leaves and stems.  Some scientists believe these plants could be used to "clean" soils from toxic metals. 

These have been found in New Caledonia in the South Pacific.

New Caledonia is part of a geographical area known as Melanesia off the North East coast of Australia adjoining Polynesia and Micronesia.

Quarter of an A4... or "Postcard Size"

A6 is postcard size. It is roughly one quarter the area of an A4 sheet. Page sizes are part of the ISO 216 standard. A readable guide to the rationale behind the design is available here.

What is Tantalum? A chemical element used in Capacitors.

Tantalum is a chemical element whose name comes from the Greek villain Tantalus.

Tantalus was reputed to live in Tartarus, the deepest portion of the underworld.  He was seen there by the legendary Greek hero of Homer's Odyssey.

Tantalum is a rare, blue-grey transition metal, highly resistant to corrosion. Its main use is in capacitors for computers and mobile phones.

It was first discovered by a Swedish chemist, Anders Ekeberg, in 1802. A trade association (TIC) was formed in 1974 based in Belgium for the tantalum and niobium industries.

Science Diplomacy

Science diplomacy involves scientific collaborations between nations to a) address common problems and b) build constructive international partnerships. It has similar ideas to what Bill Gates calls "creative capitalism".

The Work of the Publicist

A publicist generates and manages publicity for a public figure. One of their jobs is to generate press coverage. They may have contacts developed over several years that make them suitable at their job. Publicists are usually skilled writers.

What is Antinomy?

Antinomy is the mutual incompatibility (real or apparent) of two laws. It is used in logic and epistemology (theory of knowledge). An example could be "There is no absolute truth", or a paradox like "this sentence is false". It was a term used by German philosopher, Immanuel Kant.

Who Said This? There can be no Whitewash...

At the White House?  Richard Nixon, addressing the nation in light of the Watergate scandal in the 1970s.

Where's West 59th Street?

West 59th Street New York is the street of many hotels. It is in Central Park South. The 5th Avenue subway station exits on this street. At the South eastern corner of Central Park there is a monument to general William Tecumseh Sherman whose memoirs can be read online. The Queensboro Bridge that crosses the East River is also known as the 59th Street bridge. It is a cantilever bridge.

Haraguchi

Genki Haraguchi is a Japanese footballer who plays for Hannover 96.  He scored the first goal in the Japan Belgium match in the FIFA World Cup 2018.

Lukaku

Antwerp-born Romelu Lukaku is a striker for Manchester United and Belgium. His parents are from Congo.

Modern Greats

Modern Greats was the old-fashioned name for PPE (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) at Oxford. Amongst the recommended reading, are J.S. Mill's Utilitarianism (J.S. Mill truly embodies PPE being both a philosopher and political economist) and Morality by B. Williams.

British Council and the FCO

The British Council promotes wider knowledge of the UK and the English language abroad, encourages co-operation with the UK (science, technology, culture, education). It is set up as a charity governed by Royal Charter (a formal document issued by a monarch) and sponsored by the FCO (often referred to informally as "The Foreign Office").  The head of the "Foreign Office" is the "Foreign Secretary" (more formally, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs). It is regarded as one of the four most prestigious positions in the Cabinet - Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary.

Ten Fun Facts about Oxfordshire

1. Oxfordshire is often abbreviated Oxon (from Oxonium, the Latin name for Oxford).

2. Oxfordshire is North West of London.

3. Reading, in Berkshire, is at the South East corner of Oxfordshire.

4. The University of Oxford has evidence of teaching as far back as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English speaking world.

5. Twenty Seven British Prime Ministers have attended Oxford, including Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and David Cameron. Thatcher was unusual in being the first Prime Minister with a scientific background, having studied Chemistry at Somerville College, at the time a women's only college. Mary Somerville, from whom the college is named, wrote about the deadlock in British mathematical sciences in her time. She was a close friend of Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron and Lady Wentworth.

6. Merton College claims to be the oldest Oxford College founded in the thirteenth Century (1264) by Walter de Merton, Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Rochester (Rochester, Canterbury). His name is believed to come from Merton, Surrey, where is believed to have been born.

7. Merton College has a lecture theatre named after T.S. Eliot, a former member of the college.

8. The National Trust has many sites in Oxfordshire

9. Conurbations include Banbury, a historic market town, famed for the Banbury Cake (spiced raisin cake), similar to the Eccles cake, but oval in shape

10. Bicester, a market town in northeastern Oxfordshire, in the Cherwell district, is one of the fastest growing towns in Oxforshire (Cherwell is the northernmost tributary of the Thames). Proximity to junction 9 of the M40 linking Bicester to London (Uxbridge) and Birmingham is part of the reason for its growth.

Rupert Friend

Rupert Friend is an English actor, director and producer who grew up in Oxfordshire. He played Peter Quinn in the political thriller Homeland. He made his stage debut in 2010 as Mitchell in UK premiere of Tony Award-nominated play, The Little Dog Laughed, written by American playwright, Douglas Carter Beane. In 2010, he also starred in the film The Kid, based on the real-life story of Kevin Lewis.

Temple of Apollo and Significance of Apollo in the Greek Pantheon

The Temple of Apollo is the oldest Doric temple in Sicily.

Doric refers to the so-called Doric "architectural order" the other canonical orders being Ionic and Corinthian. Fluted columns are quintessential to the Doric style.

The original structure consisted of 6 columns on the short side and 17 on the long side. It is located in Ortygia in Syracuse.

Apollo is associated with music, truth, prophecy, knowledge and healing. His abode is Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece. Wild boar live in the foothills of Mount Olympus.

Nautical Miles and Knots

A nautical mile is 1.852 kilometres. 

A regular mile is 1.6km. So a nautical mile is greater than a mile, by around 200m.

The knot is defined as one nautical mile per hour.

What is Gaia?

Gaia is a satellite engaged in astrometry - mapping the locations of celestial objects. It was launched from French Guiana in 2013. It is a French overseas territory, north of Brazil and east of Suriname.

Gyroscope

A gyroscope is used for measuring and maintaining angular velocity.

Combining Carbohydrates and Proteins

Glycoproteins are combinations of carbohydrate and protein. A protein as you know is a chain of amino acids.

Much of the terminology surrounding these special molecules is defined by IUPAC, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, registered in Zurich, Switzerland.

The Meaning of Peninsula and a Journey to the Nordic Iron Age

A peninsula is a piece of land surrounded almost entirely by water. Its name derives from the Latin paene (almost) and insula (island), so literally it means "almost an island". Large peninsulas include the Italian peninsula, Iberia and Jutland in Northern Europe, named after the Jutes, a Germanic people, one of the three most powerful Germanic peoples in the Nordic Iron Age, according to the Venerable Bede.

What is a Model Village?

Model villages were developed by landowners and industrialists in the late 18th Century onwards to house their workers and designed to form a self-contained community. An example is Port Sunlight on the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside.

Knights, Dames and Grand Cross Holders

The GBE, KBE and DBE confer the use of Sir and Dame.  G stands for Grand Cross, and K stands for Knight Commander; D for Dame Commander.

Las Medulas - Roman Gold Mines In Spain

Roman military commander Pliny the Elder, who was born in Lombardy, was leading mining in Spain (Hispania at the time).

Who was Rudolph Lipschitz?

Who was the mysterious Rudolph Lipschitz, from whom the famous Lipschitz Continuity gets its name? He was a German mathematician born in 1832 in Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad in Russia, the administrative centre of the Kaliningrad oblast). He studied with Gustave Dirichlet of number theory fame (also credited with introducing the modern notion of a function) at the University of Berlin. He passed away in 1903 in Bonn.

What is a WEC?

A WEC is a wave energy converter. The European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney has a classification for different types of WECs, ranging from Attenuator to Rotating Mass converters.

Sidebar - The largest island on the Orkney archipelago (roughly 70 islands) is Mainland, derived from Old Norse Meginland.

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)

Andy Serkis plays Caesar. Nassau County-born Matt Reeves directs. With a $150m budget, and $490m box office, WOPA was a financial success. Novelist Pierre Boulle created the concept underlying the franchise with his 1963 novel "La Planète des Singes" (initially released in the UK as "Monkey Planet").