{| class="infobox" style="border-collapse: collapse; ="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="width:300px;" |+ Hampshire |- |-colspan=2 style="text-align: center; background: white:" |
Flag of Hampshire |- | colspan=2 style="text-align: center; background: white;" | |- | colspan=2 style="background: #f0f0f0; font-weight: bolder;" | Geography |- ! width="45%" | Status ||Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county |- !Region: |South East England |- ! style="font-weight: normal;" | Area
- Total
- Admin. council
- Admin. area |Ranked 9th
3,769 km² (1,455 mi²)
Ranked 8th
3,679 km² (1,420 mi²) |- !Admin HQ: |Winchester |- !County Flower: |Tudor Rose |- !: |GB-HAM |- !ONS code: |24 |- !NUTS 3: |UKJ33 |- | colspan=2 style="background: #f0f0f0; font-weight: bolder;" " | Demographics |- ! style="font-weight: normal;" | Population
- Total ()
- Density
- Admin. council
- Admin. pop. |Ranked

/ km²
Ranked
|- !Ethnicity: |96.7% White
1.3% S. Asian
0.8% Mixed
1.2% Other |- | colspan=2 style="background: #f0f0f0; font-weight: bolder;" " | Politics |- |colspan=2 align=center|Hampshire County Council
http://www.hampshire.gov.uk |- !Executive | |- ! Members of Parliament |

James Arbuthnot (C)

Steve Brine (C)

John Denham (L)

Caroline Dinenage (C)

Mike Hancock (LD)

Damian Hinds (C)

Mark Hoban (C)

George Hollingbery (C)

Gerald Howarth (C)

Chris Huhne (LD)

Julian Lewis (C)

Maria Miller (C)

Penny Mordaunt (C)

Caroline Nokes (C)

Desmond Swayne (C)

Alan Whitehead (L)

David Willetts (C)

Sir George Young (C)

|- | colspan=2 style="background: #f0f0f0; font-weight: bolder;" " | Districts |- |colspan=2| #Gosport #Fareham #Winchester #Havant #East Hampshire #Hart #Rushmoor #Basingstoke and Deane #Test Valley #Eastleigh #New Forest #Southampton (Unitary) #Portsmouth (Unitary) |} Hampshire ( or ) is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom, notable especially for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force. It borders Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Surrey, and West Sussex. It has an area of , with its widest points being approximately east–west and north–south. In addition to its official name, Hampshire is sometimes historically referred to as Southamptonshire, Hamptonshire, and the County of Southampton.

Today, Hampshire is a popular holiday area. Its tourist attractions include many seaside resorts, the motor museum at Beaulieu, with national parks in both New Forest and the South Downs (covering some 45% of the county). Hampshire has a long maritime history and two of England's largest ports, Southampton and Portsmouth, lie on its coast. The county is famed as home of such writers as Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, as well as the birthplace of engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The county town is Winchester.

History

The chalk downland of the South Downs and southern edges of Salisbury Plain were settled in the neolithic, and these settlers built hill forts such as Winklebury and may have farmed the valleys of Hampshire. Hampshire was part of an area named Gwent or Y Went by the Celts, which also covered areas of Somerset and Wiltshire. In the Roman invasion of Britain, Hampshire was one of the first areas to fall to the invading forces. The southern portion of the county known as the Meon and in particular the valley of the River Hamble was occupied by Jutish tribes from perhaps as early as 495. Later West Saxon migrants absorbed the Jutish tribes within Wessex after 530.

Some scholars believe there is evidence to show the traditional county boundaries of Hampshire may date back to the years of the original West Saxon settlement in c. 519. It is likely that both Winchester and Silchester would have fallen to the West Saxons between the years 508 and 514. A later thrust up the Hampshire Avon towards Old Sarum in 519 appears to have been checked by the Britons at Charford. The historian Albany Major in Early Wars of Wessex makes the case that the borders of the traditional county of Hampshire probably match those of the first West Saxon kingdom established by Cerdic and his son.

Evidence of this comes from the border between Hampshire and Berkshire which follows generally the line of the Roman road that ran east and west through Silchester, but it is deflected in the north in a rough semicircle in such a way as to include the whole of the district around the town. He argues that the capture of Silchester, of which no record has been passed down to us, was not the work of Mercian Angles but of the West Saxons probably striking north from Winchester and possibly acting in concert with a separate force making its way up the Thames Valley towards Reading. Silchester was left desolate after its fall and it is most improbable that any regard would have been paid to its side of the border had the fixing of the county boundary been made at a later period.

Study of the borders between Hampshire and Wiltshire also seem to suggest the West Saxons' westward advance was checked by about 519AD. This would corroborate the date given in the Annales Cambriae for the crucial British victory at the Battle of Mons Badonicus in 517AD which is believed to have stopped further Anglo-Saxon encroachments in south-west and midland Britain for at least a generation.

Hampshire was one of the first Saxon shires, recorded in 755 as Hamtunscir, A county is an area made up frome towns, cities est.

Governance

With the exceptions of the unitary authorities of Portsmouth and Southampton, Hampshire is governed by a county council based in Winchester, with several non-metropolitan districts beneath it, and for the majority of the county, parish councils or town councils at the local level. The districts of Hampshire are the following:

Basingstoke and Deane

City of Winchester

East Hampshire

Eastleigh

Fareham

Gosport

Hart

Havant

New Forest

City of Portsmouth (Unitary)

Rushmoor

City of Southampton (Unitary)

Test Valley

The county also contains a national park, covering the New Forest, and therefore governance of this area is carried out by the National Park Authority as well as the New Forest District Council. There is now a new National Park for the South Downs which covers the chalk downlands from Winchester eastwards which embraces a large number of local authority areas across three counties, Hampshire, West and East Sussex.

Economy

Hampshire is a relatively affluent county, with a Gross domestic product (GDP) of £32.3 billion in 2005 (£22.4 billion when excluding Southampton and Portsmouth). In 2006, Hampshire had a GDP per capita of £19,300, comparable with the UK as a whole and slightly below the South East England figure of £19,600.

Portsmouth and Winchester have the highest job densities in the county, and therefore there is a high level of commuting into the cities. Southampton has the highest number of total jobs and commuting both into and out of the city is high. The county has a lower level of unemployment than the national average, at 1.9% when the national rate was 3.3%, and as of March 2005 has fallen to 1.1%. 39% are employed by large firms, compared with a national average of 42%. Hampshire has a considerably higher than national average employment in high-tech industries, but average levels in knowledge based industry. 25.21% of the population work in the public sector.

Many rural areas of Hampshire have traditionally been reliant on agriculture, though the county was less agricultural than most surrounding counties, and was mostly concentrated on dairy farming. The significance of agriculture as an employer and wealth creator has declined since the first half of the 20th century and agriculture currently employs 1.32% of the population.

The New Forest area is a National Park, and tourism is a significant economic segment in this area, with 7.5 million visitors in 1992. The South Downs and the cities of Portsmouth, Southampton and Winchester also attract tourists to the county. Southampton Boat Show is one of the biggest annual events held in the county, and attracts visitors from throughout the country. In 2003 the county had a total of 31 million day visits, and 4.2 million longer stays.

The cities of Southampton and Portsmouth are both significant ports, with Southampton handling a large proportion of the national container freight and Portsmouth housing a large Royal Navy base. The docks have traditionally been large employers in these cities, though again mechanisation has forced diversification of the economy.

Demographics

At the Census 2001 the ceremonial county recorded a population of 1,644,249, of which 1,240,103 were in the administrative county, 217,445 were in the unitary authority of Southampton, and 186,701 were in Portsmouth. The population of the administrative county grew 5.6% from the 1991 census, Southampton grew 6.2% while Portsmouth remained unchanged, compared with 2.6% for England and Wales as a whole. Eastleigh and Winchester grew fastest at 9% each. The age structure of the population is similar to the national average.

96.73% of residents were white British, falling to 92.37% in Southampton. The significant ethnic minorities are Asian at 1.34% and mixed race at 0.84%. 0.75% of residents were migrants from outside the UK. 73.86% stated their religion as Christianity and 16.86% were not religious. Significant minority religions were Islam (0.76%) and Hinduism (0.33%).

Education

The school system in Hampshire (including Southampton and Portsmouth) is comprehensive. Geographically inside the Hampshire LEA are twenty four independent schools, Southampton has three and Portsmouth has four. Few Hampshire schools have sixth forms, which varies by district council.

There are four universities, namely the University of Southampton, Southampton Solent University, the University of Portsmouth and the University of Winchester (which also has a small campus in Basingstoke).

Politics

Hampshire is divided into eighteen parliamentary constituencies. Fourteen of these are represented by Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs), two by the Liberal Democrats and two by Labour. Labour represents the largest urban centre, holding both Southampton constituencies (Test and Itchen). The Liberal Democrats hold Portsmouth South and Eastleigh. The Conservatives represent a mix of rural and urban areas: Aldershot, Basingstoke, East Hampshire, Fareham, Gosport, Havant, Meon Valley, North East Hampshire, North West Hampshire, New Forest East, New Forest West, Portsmouth North, Romsey and Winchester. The Isle of Wight returns its own Member to the House of Commons and, in this way, it is often said that Hampshire returns nineteen Members of Parliament despite Hampshire and the Isle of Wight having been separated administratively and ceremonially for some time.

At the 2009 local elections for Hampshire County Council, the Conservative Party had a 47.72% share of the votes, the Liberal Democrats had 32.89% and Labour 7.07%. As a result, 51 Conservatives, 25 Liberal Democrats, one Labour and one Community Campaign councillor sit on the County Council. Southampton City Council, which is entirely independent, has 26 Conservative, 14 Labour and 8 Liberal Democrat councillors. Portsmouth City Council, also independent, has 23 Liberal Democrat, 17 Conservative and two Labour councillors.

Hampshire also has its own County Youth Council (HCYC) and is an independent youth-run organisation. It meets once a month around Hampshire and aims to give the young people of Hampshire a voice. It also has numerous district and borough youth councils including Basingstoke's "Basingstoke & Deane Youth Council". Along with the Youth council for the Test Valley District, youthExpress.

Wildlife

Hampshire has wildlife typical of the island of Great Britain. The River Test has a growing number of otters, although other areas of the county have quite low numbers. There are reports of Wild Boar across the county. The New Forest is known for its ponies, which have free rein over much of the area. One distinguishing feature is that Hampshire has a large free roaming herd of Red Deer, including more than 6500 stags during busy seasons. The stag population is protected by the government and hunting is prohibited.

Physical geography

Hampshire's geology falls into two categories. In the south, along the coast is the "Hampshire Basin", an area of relatively non-resistant Eocene and Oligocene clays and gravels which are protected from sea erosion by the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, and the Isle of Wight. These low, flat lands support heathland and woodland habitats, a large area of which form part of the New Forest. The New Forest has a mosaic of heathland, grassland, coniferous and deciduous woodland habitats that host diverse wildlife. The forest is protected as a national park, limiting development and agricultural use to protect the landscape and wildlife. Large areas of the New Forest are open common lands kept as a grassland plagioclimax by grazing animals, including domesticated cattle, pigs and horses, and several wild deer species. Erosion of the weak rock and sea level change flooding the low land has carved several large estuaries and rias, notably the long Southampton Water and the large convoluted Portsmouth Harbour. The Isle of Wight lies off the coast of Hampshire where the non-resistant rock has been eroded away, forming the Solent.

In the north and centre of the county the substrate is the Southern England Chalk Formation of Salisbury Plain and the South Downs. These are high hills with steep slopes where they border the clays to the south. The hills dip steeply forming a scarp onto the Thames valley to the north, and dip gently to the south. The highest point in the county is Pilot Hill, which reaches the height of 286 m (938 ft). The highest village in Hampshire is Bentworth, near Alton. The downland supports a calcareous grassland habitat, important for wild flowers and insects. A large area of the downs is now protected from further agricultural damage by the East Hampshire Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Itchen and Test are trout rivers that flow from the chalk through wooded valleys into Southampton Water. Nestled in a valley on the downs is Selborne, and the countryside surrounding the village was the location of Gilbert White's pioneering observations on natural history. Hampshire's county flower is the Dog Rose.

Hampshire has a milder climate than most areas of the British Isles, being in the far south with the climate stabilising effect of the sea, but protected against the more extreme weather of the Atlantic coast. Hampshire has a higher average annual temperature than the UK average at 9.8 °C to 12 °C, average rainfall at 741–1060 mm per year, and higher than average sunshine at over 1541 hours per year.

Cities, towns, and villages

Hampshire's county town is Winchester, a historic city that was once the capital of the ancient kingdom of Wessex and of England until the Norman conquest of England. The port cities of Southampton and Portsmouth were split off as independent unitary authorities in 1997, although they are still included in Hampshire for ceremonial purposes. Fareham, Gosport and Havant have grown into a conurbation that stretches along the coast between the two main cities. The three cities are all university cities, Southampton being home to the University of Southampton and Southampton Solent University (formerly Southampton Institute), Portsmouth to the University of Portsmouth, and Winchester to the University of Winchester (formerly known as University College Winchester; King Alfred's College).The northeast of the county houses the Blackwater Valley conurbation which includes the towns of Farnborough, Aldershot, Blackwater and Yateley and borders both Berkshire and Surrey.

Hampshire lies outside the green belt area of restricted development around London, but has good railway and motorway links to the capital, and in common with the rest of the south-east has seen the growth of dormitory towns since the 1960s. Basingstoke, in the north of the county, has grown from a country town into a business and finance centre. Aldershot, Portsmouth, and Farnborough have strong military associations with the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force respectively. The county also includes several market towns: Alton, Andover, Bishop's Waltham, Lymington, New Milton, Petersfield, Ringwood, Romsey, and Whitchurch.

Towns by population size: (2001 census)

Southampton - 244,224

Portsmouth - 187,056

Basingstoke - 90,171 (town), 152,573 (borough)

Gosport - 69,348, 77,000 (borough)

Waterlooville - 63,558

Aldershot - 58,120

Farnborough - 57,147

Fareham/Portchester - 56,010 (town), 109,619 (borough)

Eastleigh - 52,894 (town), 116,177 (borough)

Andover - 52,000

Havant - 45,435 (town), 115,300 (borough)

Winchester - 41,420

Fleet - 32,726

For the complete list of settlements see List of places in Hampshire.

Culture, arts and sport

.]] Due to Hampshire's long association with pigs and boars, natives of the county have been known as Hampshire hogs since the 18th century. Hampshire has literary connections, being the birthplace of authors including Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, and the residence of others, such as Charles Kingsley. Austen lived most of her life in Hampshire, where her father was rector of Steventon, Hampshire, and wrote all of her novels in the county. Hampshire also has many visual art connections, claiming the painter John Everett Millais as a native, and the cities and countryside have been the subject of paintings by L. S. Lowry and J. M. W. Turner. Selborne houses the Oates museum for the explorer Lawrence Oates, and entertainers Peter Sellers, Benny Hill, Carl Barat and Craig David.

Hampshire is the home of many orchestras, bands and groups. The Hampshire County Youth Choir is based in Winchester, and has had successful tours of Canada and Italy in recent years. The Hampshire County Youth Orchestra (with its associated chamber orchestra and string orchestra) is based at Thornden Hall.

.]] The game of cricket was largely developed in south-east England, with one of the first teams forming at Hambledon in 1750, with the Hambledon Club creating many of crickets early rules. Hampshire County Cricket Club today is a successful first-class team, captained by Dimitri Mascarenhas. The main county ground is the Rose Bowl, which has hosted several ODIs and following a redevelopment of the ground, it will host its first Test match in 2011. Notable players include current England batsman Kevin Pietersen. Hampshire have also been captained by former Australian Test leg-spinner Shane Warne.

Hampshire's relatively safe waters have allowed the county to develop as one of the busiest sailing areas in the country, with many yacht clubs and several manufacturers on the Solent. The sport of windsurfing was invented at Hayling Island, which is to the south east of the county.

as viewed from the Milton End in 2006.]] Hampshire has several association football teams, including Championship side Portsmouth F.C., npower League One side Southampton F.C. and npower League Two side Aldershot Town F.C.. Portsmouth F.C. and Southampton F.C. have traditionally been fierce rivals. Portsmouth won the FA Cup in 1939 and 2008 and Football League title twice, in 1949 and 1950, but have spent much of the last 50 years outside the top division and at one stage spent two seasons in the Fourth Division (the lowest division in senior football). Southampton, meanwhile, won the FA Cup in 1976, reached the final in 2003 and spent 27 unbroken years in England's top division (1978–2005). Aldershot F.C. became members of the Football League in 1932 but never progressed beyond the Third Division and on 25 March 1992 were declared bankrupt and forced to resign from the league. A new football club, Aldershot Town F.C. was formed almost immediately, and started life in Division 3 of the Isthmian League. In 2008 Aldershot Town were crowned the Conference National champions and were promoted into the Football League.

Hampshire also has a number of Non League football teams. Basingstoke Town, Eastleigh and Havant & Waterlooville play in the Conference South. Bashley and Farnborough play in the Southern Football League Premier Division.

Thruxton Circuit is Hampshire's premier motor racing course with the National Motor Museum being located in the New Forest adjacent to Beaulieu Palace House.

The Farnborough Airshow is a popular international event, held biennially.

Media

The county's news is covered on BBC TV by BBC South Today from its studios in Southampton. ITV news covers the county as part of ITV Meridian. Countless commercial radio stations cover the area, with BBC Radio Solent looking after the majority of the county and BBC Surrey keeping across in North-East Hampshire. University journalism students also broadcast bulletins for local areas - such as Winol in Winchester.

Transport

Southampton Airport, with an accompanying main line railway station, is an international airport situated in the Borough of Eastleigh, close to Swaythling in the city of Southampton. Cross-channel and cross-Solent ferries link the county to the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands and continental Europe. The South Western Main Line (operated by South West Trains) railway from London to Weymouth runs through Winchester and Southampton, and the Wessex Main Line from Bristol to Portsmouth also runs through the county as does the Portsmouth Direct Line.

The M3 motorway connects the county to London. The construction of the Twyford Down cutting near Winchester caused major controversy by cutting through a series of ancient trackways (the Dongas) and other features of archaeological significance. The M27 motorway serves a bypass for the major conurbations and as a link to other settlements on the south coast. Other important roads include the A3, A31 and A36.The roads in the county are known for their heavy traffic, especially around Southampton and Portsmouth and the M27 and A27.

The county has a high level of car ownership, with only 15.7% having no access to a private car compared with 26.8% for England and Wales. The county has a lower than average use of trains (3.2% compared with 4.1% for commuting) and buses (3.2% to 7.4%) but a higher than average use of bicycles (3.5% to 2.7%) and cars (63.5% to 55.3%).

Hampshire formerly had several canals, but most of these have been abandoned and their routes built over. Both the Chichester Canal and Basingstoke Canal have been extensively restored, and are now navigable for most their routes, but the Salisbury and Southampton Canal, Andover Canal and Portsmouth and Arundel Canal have all disappeared. The Itchen Navigation (linking Southampton and Winchester) is in process of restoration, primarily as a wildlife corridor.

Emergency services

Hampshire Constabulary

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service

South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust

See also

Business in Hampshire

List of churches in Hampshire

List of Parliamentary constituencies in Hampshire

List of places in Hampshire

New Hampshire, the US State named after the County.

Places of interest in Hampshire

Recreational walks in Hampshire

Notes

References

Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition. "Hampshire"

Bullen, Michael et al, The Buildings of England: Hampshire (Winchester and the North). Yale, 2010. ISBN 9780300120844

Draper, Jo. 1990. Hampshire. Wimborne: Dovecote Press. ISBN 0-946159-82-3

Pigot & Co's Atlas of the Counties of England, 1840. London: J Pigot & Co.

External links

Hampshire County Council

Walks Around Hampshire

BBC Hampshire

Hampshire Visitor Attractions

Hampshire Local Community Website

Polish Community in Hampshire

Days out in Hampshire

Category:Articles including recorded pronunciations (UK English) Category:Non-metropolitan counties Category:South East England

Name	The Streets
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Michael Geoffrey Skinner
Born	November 27, 1978
Origin	Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
Instrument	Vocals, keyboards, guitar|
Genre	UK garage Electronica Hip-Hop
Years active	1994–present
Label	Locked On/679 Recordings (UK) Vice/Atlantic Records (US) (2000–2010) Warner Music (Worldwide)
Url

Michael Geoffrey "Mike" Skinner (born 27 November 1978), more commonly known by his stage name The Streets, is a British rapper, musician and record producer from Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Early life and beginnings

Skinner began using a keyboard at the tender age of five. As a teenager, he built a miniature recording studio in his bedroom. He began writing hip hop and garage music in his home in West Heath in Birmingham, with a crew of other rappers including best friend Chris Panton. He describes his background as "Barratt class: suburban estates, not poor but not much money about, really boring."

In the mid-1990s, following secondary education at Bournville School, Skinner became a student at Sutton Coldfield College, in Sutton Coldfield, and was working in fast food jobs while trying to start his own independent record label and sending off demos.

Although born in Birmingham, Skinner has often been criticised for using a Mockney accent during interviews and in many songs. He can be heard speaking in his normal accent at the beginning of the song "Fake Streets Hats". Skinner has however always identified himself with Birmingham and he is a keen supporter of Birmingham City. He even wore the club's replica shirt on stage.

Music career

2000–2003: Original Pirate Material

The Streets started out as a group project but quickly became a one-man act as band members fell away. At the end of 2000, the Locked On label, who had success with The Artful Dodger featuring Craig David, agreed to release "Has It Come To This" under the name The Streets. Skinner moved from Birmingham to Brixton to pursue his recording career, he then moved to Camden Town for three years before returning to Brixton. "Has It Come to This?" proved to be a breakthrough hit for the Streets, going Top 20 in March 2001. For The Streets' debut album, Original Pirate Material, Skinner wanted to take UK garage in a new direction with material reflecting the lifestyle of clubbers in Britain. The track "Let's Push Things Forward" reflects the philosophy of the album. The album was released and proved to be successful both with critics and the general public alike. In the UK, the album was nominated for the Mercury Prize and was favourite with the bookies to win it (it was later won by Ms. Dynamite). The Streets was nominated for best album, best urban act, best breakthrough artist and best British male artist in the 2002 BRIT Awards. The NME named it as one of their top five albums of 2002. The cover image is Towering Inferno by the acclaimed photographer Rut Blees Luxemburg. Subsequent singles from that album included "Don't Mug Yourself", "Weak Become Heroes" and "Let's Push Things Forward" which all reached the top forty in the UK. Many of his songs have a UK garage feel. Original Pirate Material had debuted and peaked at number twelve in the UK album charts, and wouldn't reach any higher until his next album was released.

The success of Original Pirate Material in the UK led to a US release of the album through Vice/Atlantic in late 2002. Though the album was not a commercial success in the States, it was received positively by Rolling Stone, Spin, the New York Times, Blender, USA Today and the Los Angeles Times all nominating it as one of the albums of the year. The album was named Entertainment Weekly's "album of the year". The album reached number two on the Billboard electronic charts and the top 20 on the independent and Heatseeker charts in the US in 2003.

2004–2005: A Grand Don't Come for Free

In May 2004, he released a new single, "Fit But You Know It" which became his highest debuting and highest selling single to that point, reaching number four in the UK.

"Fit But You Know It" is from his second album, A Grand Don't Come for Free which is a concept album about a short period in the protagonist's life. The events depicted include losing a thousand pounds, the start of a new relationship, going on holiday, breaking up, and eventually finding the grand again. The MC's remix of "Fit But You Know It" features formerly underground MCs such as Kano, Tinchy Stryder, Donae'o, Lady Sovereign and Devilman (music).

The album debuted at number two in the UK album charts, but later reached the number one position. Soon after the album was released, his success grew even larger in July 2004, with the second single "Dry Your Eyes" debuting at the top of the chart in the UK. The success of this album and its singles led to a re-kindling of interest in the first album Original Pirate Material, which re-entered the UK album charts and beat its original chart peak of two years earlier. "Blinded By the Lights", the third single from A Grand Don't Come for Free, hit the Top 10 in September 2004, and a fourth and final single, "Could Well Be In", was released in late 2004.

2006–2007: The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living

Skinner's third studio album under The Streets moniker, The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living, was released on 10 April 2006 in the United Kingdom and on 25 April 2006 in North America. In the UK it debuted at number one on the album chart. It was a change in direction from his first two albums, the lyrical theme moving away from the stories about working class Britain and instead focusing on the ups and downs of the fame that Skinner encountered after the huge success of his previous albums.

The lead single, titled "When You Wasn't Famous", was released two weeks prior to the album. The song is about Skinner's troubles with trying to date a famous person, following his new found fame. It was also named 'Track of the Week' by NME in early March 2006, but when it came into the UK singles charts, it only reached the latter course of the top 10, peaking at number eight. There has been much speculation over which celebrity "When You Wasn't Famous" is about - Rachel Stevens and Cheryl Cole are two names that have been ruled out, despite Skinner dedicating the song to Cole on Top Of The Pops. This reluctance to reveal the subject may be more than simple politeness, as some of the descriptions of the unnamed starlet in the track are potentially damaging. At one point, Skinner discloses "my whole life I never thought I'd see a pop star smoke crack."

The second single, "Never Went to Church", is a tribute to Skinner's late father, and appears to use the chord progression of The Beatles' "Let It Be" as a backing beat.

The Streets appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman on 26 June 2006 to promote the new album.

The album also featured the track "Prangin Out" which later would go on to be remixed with Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty

2008–2009: Everything Is Borrowed

In September 2008, Skinner released his fourth studio album, Everything Is Borrowed. One song from the album, was on Skinner's MySpace page for a while before being replaced by a cover of "Your Song". In a posting on his MySpace blog, Skinner noted that the group's upcoming LP would contain "peaceful, positive vibes" in comparison with 2006's The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living.

In a blurb about the album on Skinner's MySpace, he says "This album started off life as parables but then I realised that it might get a bit cheesy so I got rid of the alien song and the devil song replaced them with more straight up songs. I've pretty much kept my promise that I made to myself not to reference modern life on any of them though which is hard to do and keep things personal at the same time."

2010–present: Computers and Blues

It was originally reported that Skinner said that the fifth record would be similar to Lou Reed's Berlin.

"The final Streets album (the fifth one) will be dark and futuristic. This could not be further from the album you're about to hear, but it's what is on my mind at the moment. I feel inspired by the synthesizer exhibition we just visited in Graz [Austria] after the gig we just did." He has repeatedly stated that it will be the last Streets album, remarking that he is "fucking sick" of the name and connotations that come along with it. In a Beat Stevie episode where he describes the making of Everything Is Borrowed, Skinner says that the final Streets album will be "one more banger" and will be "dancing music to drink tea to".

The album will be released on 7 February 2011.

The first single from the album will be Going Through Hell, the music video for which is currently playing on music channels.

The album's artwork features student accommodation at University of East Anglia in Norwich.

Live line-up

The Streets regularly plays live, and has performed at several major festivals.

Up until recently his playing line-up was Mike Skinner, Leo the Lion singing backing vocals, Eddie "The Kid" playing keyboard, Johnny Drum Machine playing drums, and long-time friend Morgan Nicholls playing bass and guitar. Morgan has since left the band to focus on playing with rock band Muse, playing a variety of instruments as part of their live show.

His current live line-up consists of Kevin Mark Trail on backing vocals, Wayne Vibes on guitar and bass, Chris Brown on keyboards, Magic Mike on samplers and Johnny Drum Machine as drummer and musical director. Skinner has credited Johnny Drum Machine as the only other member of The Streets to have appeared on all the albums.

Performance trademarks include crowd controlling "Go Low" (the whole audience drops to the floor) and "Go Moses" (audience parts down the middle, Skinner runs to the back and crowd surfs back to the stage) with variable success.

Other projects

The Beats Recordings

In 2005, Mike Skinner and Ted Mayhem launched the independent record label The Beats Recordings. A subsidiary of 679 Recordings, The Beats was home to British hip hop acts such as The Mitchell Brothers, Example and Professor Green. The label closed in 2007.

Beat Stevie

An online channel currently presented by Mike and business partner Ted Mayhem, Beat Stevie is an "anything goes" blog/music show also shown on Channel 4 in their 4Music late night strand. The episodes often include backstage footage and onstage hijinks.

In one of the episodes, Mike and Ted get trained by pickup artist and dating coach 5.0 of Love Systems on how to approach and talk to women.

Acting

Skinner had a cameo role in the fifth series of Doctor Who as a security guard, featuring in the episode "The Time of Angels".

In December 2010, it was revealed that Skinner had had relationships with both Rachel Stevens and Cheryl Cole (then Tweedy) circa. 2004.

Promotional and campaign work

Skinner is an ardent fan of Reebok Classics shoes; he is often seen wearing a pair of white Workout Plus trainers, and has mentioned them in the lyrics for his song "Let's Push Things Forward", in which he raps, "Let's put on our Classics and have a little dance, shall we?". In 2005, he signed up to appear in a twelve-month ad campaign for Reebok's "I Am What I Am" campaign.

Discography

Original Pirate Material (2002)

A Grand Don't Come for Free (2004)

The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living (2006)

Everything Is Borrowed (2008)

Computers and Blues (2011)

References

External links

Mike Skinner on Twitter

Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:English male singers Category:English electronic music groups Category:Music from Birmingham, West Midlands Category:Grime artists Category:People with epilepsy Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:People from Barnet Category:UK garage musicians

Keith Hampshire (born November 23, 1945 in Dulwich, London) is a English-born Canadian popular singer of the 1970s, famous in Canada for three top ten hits (including his #1 version of "The First Cut Is The Deepest", which topped the RPM 100 national singles chart on May 12, 1973), and the successful television show Music Machine. Though his voice resembles David Clayton-Thomas', Hampshire was not as successful in the United States, where his highest single only reached number 51.

Between July 1966 and mid-August 1967, he was a DJ for Radio Caroline South on 259 - 1.186 kHz AM. His show was called "Keefers Commotions", and later "Keefers Uprising".

In 1983, Hampshire released a song entitled "OK Blue Jays", which became an anthem for the Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball team. Blue Jays fans sing it during the seventh-inning stretch of home games. The song was written by Alan Smith, Pat Arbour, Jack Lenz and Tony Kosinec. The song was remixed by Rob Wells and Chris Anderson of Big Honkin' Spaceship Inc. in 2003, and still plays during the seventh-inning stretch.

On June 18, 2005 Hampshire was hired by Darren Stevens to host a 60's-70's based oldies radio show on CHAY-FM in Barrie, Ontario.

Discography

Singles

1967 - "Millions of Hearts" (b/w Lonely Boy)

1971 - "Ebenezer" (b/w Sing Angel Sing)

1972 - "Daytime Night-time" (b/w Turned the Other Way)

1973 - "The First Cut is the Deepest" (b/w You Can't Hear the Song I Sing)

1973 - "Big Time Operator" (b/w You Can't Hear the Song I Sing)

1974 - "For Ever and Ever" (b/w Jeraboah)

1974 - "Hallelujah Freedom" (b/w Waking Up Alone)

1976 - "I'm Into Something Good" (b/w Just Another Fool)

1981 - "I Can't Wait Too Long" (b/w Nobody's Child)

1983 - "OK Blue Jays" (b/w same)

Albums

1972 - Oops! (original cast recording)

1973 - The First Cut

1981 - Variations

2005 - The Best of Keith Hampshire: The Millennium Collection

External links

Official website

References

Category:Living people Category:1945 births Category:Canadian male singers Category:Canadian rock singers Category:Canadian songwriters Category:Canadian radio personalities Category:Canadian people of English descent Category:English male singers Category:English rock singers Category:English songwriters Category:English radio personalities Category:Naturalized citizens of Canada

Playername	Barry Richards
Country	South Africa
Fullname	Barry Anderson Richards
Living	true
Dayofbirth	21
Monthofbirth	7
Yearofbirth	1945
Placeofbirth	Durban
High school	Durban High School
Countryofbirth	South Africa
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right arm off break
Role	Batsman
International	true
Testdebutdate	22 January
Testdebutyear	1970
Testdebutagainst	Australia
Testcap	234
Lasttestdate	5 March
Lasttestyear	1970
Lasttestagainst	Australia
Club1	Natal
Year1	1964 – 1983
Club2	Hampshire
Year2	1968 – 1978
Club3	South Australia
Year3	1970 – 1971
Club4	Gloucestershire
Year4	1965
Deliveries	balls
Columns	3
Column1	Tests
Matches1	4
Runs1	508
Bat avg1	72.57
100s/50s1	2/2
Top score1	140
Deliveries1	72
Wickets1	1
Bowl avg1	26.00
Fivefor1	–
Tenfor1	–
Best bowling1	1/12
Catches/stumpings1	3/–
Column2	FC
Matches2	339
Runs2	28358
Bat avg2	54.74
100s/50s2	80/152
Top score2	356
Deliveries2	6126
Wickets2	77
Bowl avg2	37.48
Fivefor2	1
Tenfor2	0
Best bowling2	7/63
Catches/stumpings2	367/–
Column3	LA
Matches3	233
Runs3	8506
Bat avg3	40.12
100s/50s3	16/50
Top score3	155*
Deliveries3	270
Wickets3	7
Bowl avg3	26.42
Fivefor3	0
Tenfor3	n/a
Best bowling3	2/8
Catches/stumpings3	106/–
Date	21 March
Year	2008
Source	http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/46982.html Cricinfo

Barry Anderson Richards (born 21 July 1945) is a former South African batsman. A right-handed "talent of such enormous stature", Richards is considered one of South Africa's most successful cricketers.

Early life

Richards attended Clifton Preparatory School and the Durban High School and for many years played club cricket for DHS Old Boys' Club. He played in the Natal Nuffield week side from 1961 to 1964, and for South African schools from 1962 to 1964, scoring a century against the Western Province first class team.

County Cricket

Richards was a prolific scorer in county cricket for several years, for Hampshire, and established one of the most successful opening partnerships for that county, along with West Indian batsman Gordon Greenidge. In June 1973 he walked out to open Hampshire's innings with Gordon Greenidge during a John Player League match against Sussex in Portsmouth with a bright orange bat as part of a marketing ploy. The MCC quickly banned the innovation.

Sheffield Shield

As an overseas player for South Australia against Western Australia, Richards scored 325 runs in a single day off an attack that included Dennis Lillee, Graham McKenzie, Tony Lock and Tony Mann.

Currie Cup/SuperSport Series

Returning home to play for Natal in the next 4 seasons, he scored heavily in the Currie Cup, 1089 runs in (1971-72), 1064 runs in (1972-73), 898 runs in (1973-74) and 868 runs in (1975-76). Richards is the only player to have scored a 1000 runs in a Currie Cup season, each season consisting of only 8 matches.

Amongst his other achievements was scoring 155 not out in a score of 215-3 off 40 overs in the John Player League v Yorkshire County Cricket Club at Hull on 7 June 1970. This achievement was put into further perspective when Yorkshire replied with 74-9 off their 40 overs.

Other International ventures

He did have the opportunity for international cricket in World Series Cricket in the winters of 1977-78 and 1978-79 in Australia playing 5 Supertests for the World XI scoring 554 runs in 5 matches. This included two centuries including 207 scored v WSC Australia on 27 January 1978 at Gloucester Park, Perth.

In South Africa, Richards was player of the year in 1968. He also played for South Africa in 6 unofficial "Tests", captaining the team twice. In 1984 he came out of retirement to play against the rebel West Indian touring team in South Africa. Trevor Bisseker wrote this:

"Playing at Newlands, he held the stadium enthralled for an hour, as he simply carved up everything that was delivered at him. He played with all the time in the world and the decisive quality of a master craftsman at work. Alas the spell was broken. His concentration seem to snap and the inevitable end came. That innings put Richards into his right perspective. He was the closest thing to an insurance policy against defeat that anybody could take out. Certainly, if somebody had to bat for one's life, one would choose Richards ahead of the other world greats of the 1970s, and that includes his illustrious West Indian namesake and Graeme Pollock."

Later life and career

He is set to become the president of Hampshire, following the death of incumbent Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie.

For a number of seasons he commentated for the South African Broadcasting Corporation as well as South Africa's MNet Supersport, before parting ways after a dispute. He has also commentated in the UK for Test Match Special, Channel 4 and Five.

Richards was chosen by Dickie Bird in his autobiography as a member of his Dream team, from all players he ever saw. Richards was also chosen by Sir Don Bradman as a member of his 20th century team as an opening batsman.

Notes

External links

Category:South Africa Test cricketers Category:South African cricketers Category:South Australia cricketers Category:Gauteng cricketers Category:Gloucestershire cricketers Category:Hampshire cricketers Category:KwaZulu-Natal cricketers Category:World Series Cricket players Category:International Cavaliers cricketers Category:Wisden Cricketers of the Year Category:Cricket commentators Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:International Cricket Council Hall of Fame inductees Category:Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World