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• 
  

• 
  Abbots Langley
  Coordinates: 51°42′04″N 0°24′58″W / 51.701°N 0.416°W / 51.701; -0.416
  Abbots Langley is a large village and civil parish in the English county of Hertfordshire. It is an old settlement and is mentioned (under the name of Langelai) in the Domesday Book. Economically the village is closely linked to Watford and was formerly part of the Watford Rural District. Since 1974 it has been included in the Three Rivers district.
  This village has had a long history of successful human habitation. The first traces of human habitation in the area were recorded by renowned archaeologist Sir John Evans (1823 – 1908). The village sits on a saucer of clay covered by a layer of gravel, and as a result water supply has never been a problem; records show that in earlier times water could be drawn from a well just 20 ft deep^{[citation needed]}
  In 1045 the Saxon thegn Ethelwine 'the black' granted the upper part of Langlai to St Albans Abbey as Langlai Abbatis (Latin for Langlai of the Abbot, hence 'Abbot's Langley')^{[citation needed]} the remainder being the king's Langlai. By the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 the village was inhabited by 19 families.
  
  wn.com/Abbots_Langley
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  Aldenham
  Coordinates: 51°40′20″N 0°21′17″W / 51.6723°N 0.3546°W / 51.6723; -0.3546
  This article is about the village in Hertfordshire. For the London Transport Bus Overhaul Works, see Aldenham Works.
  Aldenham is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, approx. three miles north-east of Watford and two miles from Radlett. It was mentioned in the Domesday Book and is one of Hertsmere's 14 conservation areas. This secluded little village remains unspoilt and the parish itself is largely unchanged since Saxon times when the majority of the land was owned by the Abbots of Westminster Abbey.
  In the Index of Multiple Deprivation, the ward of Aldenham East was ranked the least deprived ward out of 8414 in England, while Aldenham West also featured among the least deprived three per cent in the country.
  The Church of St John the Baptist in Aldenham is seven hundred years old and there is good reason to believe that an earlier Saxon church stood on the site. After the Reformation the lands were sold off to the highest bidders and Aldenham is probably smaller today than it was 500 years ago.
  
  wn.com/Aldenham
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  Babergh
  Babergh (pronounced  /ˈbeɪbər/, BAY-bər) is a local government district in Suffolk, England. Its council headquarters is based in Hadleigh, whilst its largest town is Sudbury.
  The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Borough of Sudbury, Hadleigh urban district, Cosford Rural District, Melford Rural District and Samford Rural District. It is one of the few English second tier authorities that has never had one party or coalition of parties in control.
  Babergh has a population of roughly 85,000 and covers an area of approximately 230 square miles (600 km²).
  It is named after the old Babergh hundred, referred to in the Domesday Book. The southern boundary of the district is marked almost exclusively by the River Stour, which also forms the border with Essex, and it is separated from Suffolk Coastal by the River Orwell. Primarily a rural area, Babergh contains only 2 towns of any notable size, namely Sudbury and the administrative centre, Hadleigh.
  Most of what is termed Constable Country is contained within Babergh, attracting visitors to the conservation area Dedham Vale and the historic villages of Long Melford, Lavenham and Kersey.
  
  wn.com/Babergh
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  Baldock
  Coordinates: 51°59′23″N 0°11′20″W / 51.9896°N 0.1888°W / 51.9896; -0.1888
  Baldock is a historic market town in the local government district of North Hertfordshire in the ceremonial county of Hertfordshire, England where the River Ivel rises. It lies 33 miles (53 km) north of London, 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Bedford, and 14 miles (23 km) north northwest of the county town of Hertford. Nearby towns include Letchworth and Hitchin to the southwest and Stevenage to the south.
  Baldock was founded by the Knights Templar (also the name of the town's secondary school) in the 1140s^{[citation needed]}. Perhaps for this reason, one theory of the origin of the name Baldock is as a derivation from the Old French name for Baghdad: Baldac which the Templars had hoped to conquer during the Crusades. A rival etymology, suggesting a derivation from "Bald Oak", perhaps meaning a dead oak, is superficially plausible, but the early forms of the name are against it^{[citation needed]}. Although the Templars' connections to Baghdad were "tenuous", it was widely regarded as the most prosperous market in the world and the Templars perhaps hoped that the name would confer a similar prosperity on their own market town in England^{[citation needed]}. The modern layout of the town, and many buildings in the centre, date from the sixteenth century^{[citation needed]}, with the earliest dating from the fourteenth century^{[citation needed]}.
  
  wn.com/Baldock
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  Bedford (borough)
  Bedford is a unitary authority with the status of a borough in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. Its council is based at Bedford, which is also the county town of Bedfordshire. The borough contains one large urban area, the 71st largest in the United Kingdom that comprises Bedford and the adjacent town of Kempston, surrounded by a rural area with many villages. 75% of the borough's population live in the Bedford Urban Area and the five large villages which surround it, which makes up slightly less than 6% of the total land area of the Borough. The borough is also the location of the Wixams new town development, which received its first residents in 2009. Unlike most English districts, Bedford's council is led by a directly elected mayor of Bedford, who has been Dave Hodgson since October 16, 2009.
  The District of Bedford was formed on 1 April 1974 as a merger of the existing borough of Bedford, along with Kempston urban district and Bedford Rural District. In 1975 the district was granted a royal charter granting borough status as North Bedfordshire. The borough was renamed as Borough of Bedford in 1992. Over half of the former municipal borough of Bedford is unparished, however Brickhill is a parish, and Queens Park as well as Cauldwell & Kingsbrook elect their own urban community councils who have similar functions to parish councils. The rest of the district including Kempston is parished.
  
  wn.com/Bedford_(borough)
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  Bedfordshire
  Bedfordshire ( /ˈbɛdfərdʃər/ or /ˈbɛdfərdʃɪər/; abbreviated Beds.) is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.
  It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east.
  The highest elevation point is 243 metres (797 ft) on Dunstable Downs in the Chilterns.
  As part of a 2002 marketing campaign, the plant conservation charity Plantlife chose the Bee Orchid as the county flower.
  The traditional nickname for people from Bedfordshire is "Bedfordshire Bulldogs" or "Clangers", this last deriving from a local dish comprising a suet crust dumpling filled with meat or jam or both.
  It is the 14th most densely populated county of England and the fifth most densly populated non-metropolitan county with over half the population of the county living in the two largest built up areas of Bedford (102,000) and Luton (236,000).
  The first recorded use of the name was in 1011 as "Bedanfordscir," meaning the shire or county of Bedford, which itself means "Beda's ford" (river crossing).
  
  wn.com/Bedfordshire
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  Bedmond
  Coordinates: 51°43′13″N 0°24′38″W / 51.720249°N 0.410571°W / 51.720249; -00.410571
  Bedmond is a village in Hertfordshire, England.
  Bedmond is the birthplace of Nicholas Breakspear, the only Englishman to ever be Pope. Nicholas Breakspear was born at Bedmond Farm around 1100 AD, and the site where his home stood is marked by a plaque.
  Media related to Bedmond at Wikimedia Commons
  
  wn.com/Bedmond
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  Berkhamsted
  Coordinates: 51°46′N 0°34′W / 51.76°N 0.56°W / 51.76; -0.56
  Berkhamsted ( /ˈbɜrkəmstɛd/) is a historic town in England which is situated in the west of Hertfordshire, between the towns of Tring and Hemel Hempstead. It is also a civil parish with a designated Town Council within the administrative district (and borough since 1984) of Dacorum.
  The town's most prominent role in national affairs took place in early December 1066. Duke William of Normandy, having defeated the English army at Hastings, then crossing the River Thames at Wallingford. In Berkhamsted he was met by a delegation of the English establishment. He accepted the surrender of the English led by Aetheling Edgar (the heir to the King Harold II's English claim to the Throne of England), Archbishop Aldred, Earl Edwin, Earl Morcar and the chief men of London who swore loyalty to William in return for good government. He was offered the crown there but instead said he would accept the keys to London in Berkhamsted but would accept the crown of England in London. Thus, in Berkhamsted, William of Normandy, William the Bastard, became William the Conqueror. On Christmas Day 1066 William was crowned William I of England in Westminster Abbey. A traditonal local legend refers to Berkhamsted as the real capital of England (if only for a few minutes).
  
  wn.com/Berkhamsted
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  Bishop's Stortford
  Coordinates: 51°52′19″N 0°10′21″E / 51.8720°N 0.1725°E / 51.8720; 0.1725
  Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town and civil parish in the district of East Hertfordshire in the county of Hertfordshire in England. It is situated just west of the M11 motorway, on the county boundary with Essex and is the closest large town to London Stansted Airport and part of the London commuter belt. Bishop's Stortford is 29 miles (47 km) north east of Charing Cross in the centre of London and 35 miles (56 km) from Liverpool Street station where the railway line from Cambridge to London, which runs through the town, terminates. In the 2006 edition of the Channel 4 "Best and Worst Places to Live in the UK", East Hertfordshire was the seventh best district to live in. The town has a population of 34,826.
  Nothing of historical significance is known of the Bishop's Stortford area until it became a small Roman settlement on the Roman road of Stane Street between Braughing and Colchester. After the Roman Empire broke down, the small town was abandoned in the 5th century.^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/Bishop's_Stortford
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  Bombay Hills
  The Bombay Hills are a range of hills to the south of Auckland, New Zealand. Though only a small and seemingly insignificant range of hills, they lie at the southern boundary of the Auckland region, and serve as a divide between Auckland and the Waikato region. There is a 19th century settlement, Bombay, on the old main road south of Auckland, the Great South Road. Aucklanders and other New Zealanders have a mostly light-hearted "love-hate" relationship. Stereotypically, Aucklanders view parts of the country "south of the Bombay Hills" as provincial and unsophisticated, while the rest of the country sees Aucklanders as brash and arrogant. For this reason, the boundary between Auckland and its southern neighbours bears great significance. People on both sides of the boundary are as likely to use the phrase "New Zealand stops at the Bombay Hills". See also the term Jafa for Aucklanders, and North of Watford for a similar cultural border concept in the United Kingdom.
  The hills are located 40 kilometres (25 mi) southeast of Auckland, close to the town of Pukekohe. State Highway 1 here reaches its highest point between Auckland and Tirau in the eastern Waikato Region, 134 kilometres (83 mi) to the southeast. Bombay is the nearest settlement to the southern fringe of the Auckland metropolitan area.
  
  wn.com/Bombay_Hills
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  Borehamwood
  Coordinates: 51°39′28″N 0°16′20″W / 51.6578°N 0.2723°W / 51.6578; -0.2723
  Boreham Wood, (The correct naming^{[citation needed]}) (often spelt Borehamwood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, situated 16.5 miles (26.6 km) north of central London. It has a population of 28,546. It is within the civil parish of Elstree and Borehamhwood and the London commuter belt. There is one weekly newspaper, the Boreham Wood and Elstree Times. The town is perhaps most well known for its film and TV studios, commonly known as Elstree Film Studios, hence the associated with Elstree.
  On of the earliest mentions of Bosci de Boreham (Wood of Boreham), is in 1188:
  In 1776, the House of Lords granted:
  Up until 1909, the town was part of the ancient parish of Elstree; the two still share a local council, Elstree and Boreham Wood Town Council.
  From the 1920s onwards, the town became known as one of the main centres of the UK film, and later television, industries due to the presence of production studios.
  Following World War II, the town's population greatly increased, with large areas of council housing set up for displaced Londoners, many of which are now in private ownership. Fast train connections to central London have resulted in the town becoming a primarily residential suburb.
  
  wn.com/Borehamwood
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  Braintree (district)
  Braintree is a local government district in the English county of Essex. Its main town is Braintree.
  The main centres of population are Braintree, Witham and Halstead.
  The district was formed on April 1, 1974 by the merger of the urban districts of Braintree and Bocking, Halstead, and Witham and (for list of Parishes) Braintree Rural District and Halstead Rural District.
  Coordinates: 51°52′55″N 0°33′09″E / 51.8819°N 0.5525°E / 51.8819; 0.5525
  
  
  
  wn.com/Braintree_(district)
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  Breckland (district)
  Breckland District is a local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in East Dereham.
  Breckland District derives its name from the Breckland landscape region, a gorse covered sandy heath of south Norfolk and north Suffolk. The term Breckland is ancient, and is found as early as the 13th century in the form Brakelond.
  Breckland District was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Borough of Thetford, East Dereham Urban District, Swaffham Urban District, Wayland Rural District, Mitford and Launditch Rural District, and Swaffham Rural District.
  The district is entirely parished, and is made up of 113 civil parishes. At the time of the 2001 census, the district had an area of 1,305 km² (504 sq mi), with a population of 121,418 in 50,715 households.
  The district contains the following civil parishes:
  Coordinates: 52°38′N 0°59′E / 52.633°N 0.983°E / 52.633; 0.983
  
  wn.com/Breckland_(district)
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  Bricket Wood
  Coordinates: 51°42′35″N 0°21′31″W / 51.7097°N 0.3586°W / 51.7097; -0.3586
  Bricket Wood is a village in the county of Hertfordshire, England, approximately 4½ miles from St Albans. It is part of the parish of St Stephen. Its railway station is served by a London Midland service that runs between St Albans Abbey and Watford Junction stations.
  Close to the village stands Hanstead House, built by Sir David Yule in 1925, who is buried in the grounds. It was subsequently bought by Herbert W. Armstrong to serve as his second Ambassador College campus. It was a training centre for HSBC.
  HSBC officially closed the training centre on 23 December 2011, stating that future training needs for the group will be accommodated in other venues.
  The village is home to the border Morris Dancing team Wicket Brood, one of the best known teams in the area.
  The village of Bricket Wood has been host to at least six naturist clubs: Fiveacres Country Club, Spielplatz, The Sun-Folk Society, Gardenia (originally named Silverbirch), Diogenes Sunlight Society (also known as The Phoenix Recreational Society), and The Suncampers. Of these, Gardenia has now closed and been built on, Diogenes became the Diogenes Sun Club when it moved to near Maple Cross. The Suncampers have gone but the three remaining clubs are all still open.
  
  wn.com/Bricket_Wood
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  Broxbourne
  Coordinates: 51°44′58″N 0°01′18″W / 51.7495°N 0.0216°W / 51.7495; -0.0216
  Broxbourne is a commuter town in the Broxbourne borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England with a population of 13,298 in 2001.
  It is located 17.1 miles (27.5 km) north north-east of Charing Cross in London and about a mile (1.6 km) north of Wormley and south of Hoddesdon. The town is near to the River Lea which forms the boundary with Essex and is 4.5 miles (7.2 km) north of the M25 motorway. West of the town are Broxbourne Woods, a National Nature Reserve.
  The Prime Meridian passes to the east of Broxbourne.
  Broxbourne grew up on the Great Cambridge Road, now known as the A10. A number of old houses and inns dating from the 16th to the 19th century still line the High Street (now the A1170). The Manor of Broxbourne is described in the Domesday Book, which mentions Broxbourne Mill. The manor was held in the time of Edward the Confessor by Stigand, the Archbishop of Canterbury, but had passed into Norman hands following the Conquest. King John granted the manor to the Knights Hospitallers until the Dissolution, when it passed to John Cock, after whose family Cock Lane is named.
  
  wn.com/Broxbourne
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  Broxbourne (borough)
  The Borough of Broxbourne is a local government district and borough in Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Cheshunt, other towns include Broxbourne, Hoddesdon and Waltham Cross. The eastern boundary of the district is the River Lea. The borough covers 20 square miles (52 km²) in south east Hertfordshire having a population of about 96,000.
  The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Cheshunt and Hoddesdon urban districts.
  In Broxbourne borough, the Metropolitan Green Belt protects the surrounding countryside. The west of Broxbourne borough extends over well-wooded countryside to include Goffs Oak and the popular Lee Valley Park which marks the eastern boundary. Although urbanised with industrial and commercial activity, the whole area retains much of its rural character and is liked by people commuting to London. Most of Broxbourne is classified as part of the Greater London Urban Area, although it is not a London borough.
  The borough is twinned with the Sicilian city of Sutera.
  
  wn.com/Broxbourne_(borough)
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  Buntingford
  Coordinates: 51°56′40″N 0°00′58″W / 51.9445°N 0.0160°W / 51.9445; -0.0160
  Buntingford is a small market town and civil parish in the district of East Hertfordshire and county of Hertfordshire in England. It lies on the River Rib and on the Roman road Ermine Street. As a result of its location, it grew mainly as a staging post with many coaching inns and has an 18th century one cell prison known as 'The Cage' by the ford at the end of Church Street. It has a population of 4,820.The town also has a annual firework display at The Bury, the Buntingford Cougars HQ and also a sainsburys depot. It is Hertfordshire's smallest town.
  The Prime Meridian passes to the east of Buntingford.
  The Mayor of Buntingford is Stan Bull.
  The town has a large number of Georgian and mediaeval buildings, such as Buntingford almshouses, Buntingford Manor House and the Red House. Buntingford was a stop-over on what was the main route between London and Cambridge, now the A10. Due to its desirability as a commuter town in recent years, the town has grown considerably in the past few decades, the most noticeable recent addition being the 'Bovis Estate' (circa 1990), informally named after the housing firm that constructed there; its main road is Luynes Rise, named due to the town's twinning with Luynes (near Tours) in France. Other housing estates are: Freman Drive, Vicarage Road, Snells Mead, Downhall Ley, Monks Walk, and Kingfisher Park, currently under construction (2010).
  
  wn.com/Buntingford
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  Cambridge
  The city of Cambridge (ⁱ/ˈkeɪmbrɪdʒ/ KAYM-brij) is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia, on the River Cam, about 50 miles (80 km) north of London. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, its population was 108,863 (including 22,153 students), and was estimated to be 125,717 in mid-2010. There is archaeological evidence of settlement in the area in bronze age and Roman times, and under Viking rule Cambridge became an important trading centre. The first town charters were granted in the 12th century, although city status was not conferred until 1951.
  Cambridge is most widely known as the home of the University of Cambridge, founded in 1209 and consistently ranked one of the top five universities in the world. The university includes the renowned Cavendish Laboratory, King's College Chapel, and the Cambridge University Library. The Cambridge skyline is dominated by the last two buildings, along with the chimney of Addenbrooke's Hospital in the far south of the city and St John's College Chapel tower.
  
  wn.com/Cambridge
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  Carpenders Park
  Coordinates: 51°37′41″N 0°23′02″W / 51.628°N 0.384°W / 51.628; -0.384
  Carpenders Park is a suburb of Watford in the Watford Rural parish of the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire, England. It is located in the south western corner of Hertfordshire and close to the boundary with Greater London. It is bounded to the West by a railway line that separates it from South Oxhey, to the East by the A4008 Watford to Harrow Road (Oxhey Lane), to the South by the B4542 (Little Oxhey Lane), Green Belt and the boundary with the London Borough of Harrow and to the North by woodland (Margeholes Wood and Sherwood Wood).
  Carpenders Park was originally an estate based around a manor house of the same name. This was later a girls school, Highfields, which was demolished in 1960 to make way for USAF married quarters. These were in turn demolished in 1997/98 . The base was also known as Highfields.
  The houses and bungalows of Carpenders Park were originally built in the 1930s. There was subsequent development in the 1950s including some council housing built for the Watford Rural District Council. The vast majority of the dwellings, though, are privately owned.
  
  wn.com/Carpenders_Park
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  Cassiobury House
  Cassiobury House was a country house in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, now demolished.
  The house was started in 1546 by Sir Richard Morrison. On the marriage of his granddaughter it passed into the ownership of the Capel family, later Earls of Essex. It was demolished in 1927. Carvings from the staircase are now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The stables remain and were converted into a retirement home. Part of the grounds, but not the site of the house, now form the public Cassiobury Park.
  The dower house of the estate "Little Cassiobury" still exists. Having been designed by Lady Elizabeth Wilbraham (the first woman architect), and built in 1670 it is listed as "grade II*" and "at risk" by English Heritage. Under the supervision of the Portmeirion architect Clough Williams-Ellis here were renovations and extensions to the house in 1937-38. Soon after that Hertfordshire County Council bought Little Cassiobury in 1939 under a compulsory purchase order. They used part of its land to build Watford College, and they continued to use the house as an education office for most of the 20th century.
  
  wn.com/Cassiobury_House
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  Cassiobury Park
  Coordinates: 51°39′35″N 0°25′0″W / 51.65972°N 0.416667°W / 51.65972; -0.416667 Cassiobury Park is the principal public open space in Watford, Hertfordshire, in England. It comprises over 190 acres (0.77 km²) and extends from the A412 Rickmansworth Road in the east to the Grand Union Canal in the west.
  The area occupied by the park and the housing developments to its north and south was formerly the estate of the Earls of Essex. The house itself was demolished in 1927.
  The name "Caegesho" referred to a larger area of land granted by Offa to the Abbey of St Albans in 793. "Caeg" (Old English cæg) may have been a man's name, while Old English ho means "a spur of land" (see Hoo). It was spelled "Caissou" or "Chaissou" in the 11th century and gradually evolved into "Cassio". The suffix "-bury" occurs in many English place names. It comes from the Old English word for a fortified place, burh, whose dative, byrig, means "by the fort", or "by the manor".
  Much of the park is covered by mown grass and scattered trees. There are notable specimens of American oaks such as the Pin Oak Quercus palustris Muenchh. and the Scarlet Oak Q. coccinea Muenchh. The Cedar of Lebanon Cedrus libani A. Richard is a prominent feature, though some of the older and unsafe specimens have been removed. Many more recent plantings of exotics have been made, such as Swamp Cypress Taxodium distichum (L.) Richards and various Asian rowans Sorbus spp.
  
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  Castle Point
  Castle Point is a local government district and borough in south Essex,30 miles (48 km) from Central London. The borough comprises the towns of Canvey Island, Hadleigh, South Benfleet, and Thundersley, the site of the council headquarters.
  The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Benfleet Urban District and the Canvey Island Urban District. The name of the new district contains references to the principal landmarks of the two combined urban districts: Hadleigh Castle and Canvey Point. The district was granted borough status in 1992.
  Castle Point is twinned with three towns and counties:
  Hadleigh Castle is preserved as an ancient monument from the 13th century, forming the most important historic site in the borough and the most important late medieval castle in Essex. The Dutch Cottage Museum contains a variety of exhibits that illustrate the history of Canvey Island, and the Castle Point Transport Museum, also situated on Canvey in the retired District bus depot, features a display of over thirty old buses, coaches and commercial vehicles.
  
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  Central Bedfordshire
  Central Bedfordshire is a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It was created from the merger of Bedfordshire County Council, Mid Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire on 1 April 2009. The unitary council provides over a hundred services to 120,000 homes and over a quarter of a million people.
  Since 1974, Bedfordshire had been governed as a shire county, mostly under the control of Bedfordshire County Council. It was divided into three local government districts, Bedford Borough, Mid Bedfordshire, and South Bedfordshire. Luton Borough became a unitary authority in 1997.
  In 2006 the Department for Communities and Local Government considered reorganising Bedfordshire's administrative structure as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England. The four proposals considered were:
  On 6 March 2008 the DCLG decided to implement Proposal 2. This meant that from 1 April 2009 there would be three unitary authorities in Bedfordshire: Bedford, Luton and the new Central Bedfordshire. Bedfordshire County Council initially challenged this decision in the High Court, but on 4 April 2008 it was announced the Judicial Review in the High Court had been unsuccessful, and the County Council declared they would not be appealing the decision.
  
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  Cheshunt
  Coordinates: 51°42′07″N 0°02′06″W / 51.702°N 0.035°W / 51.702; -0.035
  Cheshunt ( /ˈtʃɛzənt/) is a town in Hertfordshire, England with a population of around 52,000 according to the United Kingdom's 2001 Census. It is a dormitory town and part of the Greater London Urban Area and London commuter belt served by Cheshunt railway station. The town is located 13 miles (21 km) from Charing Cross, making it one of the closest parts of Hertfordshire to Central London.
  The Prime Meridian passes to the east of Cheshunt.
  The town name comes from the Old English name (as recorded in the Domesday Book) for the area, Cestrehunt, which probably refers to a "castle, erected by the Romans", the word cestre (along with the form ceastre), or even its modern forms, chester and caster being derived from the Latin castrum meaning "fort". The town Chester also derives from this root and it is an element in various English place-names. This is commemorated in the arms of the former Cheshunt urban district council.
  
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  Chiltern Hills
  The Chiltern Hills form a chalk escarpment in South East England. They are known locally as "the Chilterns". A large portion of the hills was designated officially as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1965.
  The Chilterns cover an area of 833 km² (322 sq mi) and are 18 km (11 mi) at their widest and stretch 74 km (46 mi) in a southwest to northeast diagonal from Goring-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, through Buckinghamshire, via Dunstable Downs and Deacon Hill in Bedfordshire, to near Hitchin in Hertfordshire.
  The boundary of the hills is clearly defined on the northwest side by the scarp slope. The dip slope, by its nature, merges with the landscape to the southeast. Similarly, the Thames provides a clear terminal to the southwest, whereas northeast of Luton the hills decline slowly in prominence.
  
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  Chipperfield
  Coordinates: 51°42′14″N 0°29′26″W / 51.7039°N 0.4906°W / 51.7039; -0.4906
  Chipperfield is a village and civil parish in the Dacorum district of Hertfordshire, England, about 5 miles southwest of Hemel Hempstead and 5 miles north of Watford. The parish includes the hamlet of Tower Hill.
  The village centre is a large green on the edge of nearby Chipperfield common. The former U.S. President Jimmy Carter can trace his family roots to John Carter of Jeffries Farm in Chipperfield.
  The Two Brewers stands adjacent to the common and is a popular summer meeting place to drink out of doors. It was founded by Robert Waller as an ale house in 1799, originally the middle one of a row of three cottages. It eventually took over its neighbours to make a long frontage on the green. A modern hotel extension has been built to the rear. The pub acquired fame as the training quarters for many notable 19th century prize-fighters such as Jem Mace, Thomas Sayers and Bob Fitzsimmons who sparred in the Club Room and took their runs round the nearby Chipperfield Common. In addition to the Two Brewers, there are four other pubs, Blackwells Cafe & Bar, The Boot, The Royal Oak and The Windmill. Other facilities in the village include a newsagent's, a post office, Kia and Land Rover garages, an award-winning Delicatessen, and two garden centres.
  
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  Chorleywood
  Coordinates: 51°39′N 0°31′W / 51.65°N 0.51°W / 51.65; -0.51
  Chorleywood is a village and civil parish in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. It had a population of 6,814 people at the 2001 census. The parish of Chorleywood as a whole has a population of 10,775. The town lies in the far south west of Hertfordshire, on the border with Buckinghamshire. Chorleywood is located 31.8 kilometres (19.8 mi) north-west of Charing Cross in London. It is part of the London commuter belt, and included in the government-defined Greater London Urban Area.
  In a 2004 survey of neighbourhoods carried out by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Chorleywood West was found to be the neighbourhood in England with the highest quality of life. Of the 32,482 neighbourhoods surveyed, Chorleywood West came out top using thirty-seven criteria.
  In the early 1960s, researchers at the British Baking Industries Research Association in Chorleywood improved upon an earlier American bread making process. This resulted in the Chorleywood Bread Process, which is now used in over 80% of commercial bread production throughout the UK.
  
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  City of St Albans
  The City of St Albans /sɨnt ˈɔːlbənz/, also known as the City and District of St Albans or District of St Albans, is a local government district, in Hertfordshire, England. It was created in 1974 and since then has held the status of non-metropolitan district and city. The local authority is St Albans City Council. It has routes to the M1 motorway via the A414 road (formerly the M10 motorway), and rail routes to London St Pancras and Watford via St Albans City railway station and St Albans Abbey railway station respectively.
  The district includes St Albans (population c. 58,000), Harpenden (population c. 27,600), the parishes of Colney Heath, Harpenden Rural, London Colney, Redbourn, St Michael's, St Stephen's (including the villages of Chiswell Green and Bricket Wood), Sandridge and Wheathampstead. Nearby places outside the district include Hatfield to the east, Welwyn Garden City to the northeast, Luton and Dunstable to the northwest, Hemel Hempstead to the west, Watford to the southwest and Borehamwood to the south.
  
  wn.com/City_of_St_Albans
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  Colchester (borough)
  The Borough of Colchester is a local government district and borough in Essex, England, the district is named after its main town, Colchester. The borough covers an area of 125 square miles (320 km²) and stretches from Dedham Vale on the Suffolk border in the north to Mersea Island on the Colne Estuary in the south.
  The borough was formed on April 1, 1974 by the merger of the former borough of Colchester with the urban districts of West Mersea and Wivenhoe, along with Lexden and Winstree Rural District.
  The Essex County Standard of September 4, 2009 said that "Government estimates" made Colchester the largest borough in the county: its officially acknowledged population is second highest among non-London boroughs, behind Northampton.
  According to the Office for National Statistics as of 2008, Colchester had a population of approximately 181,000. Average life expectancy was 78.7 for males. and 83.3 for females.
  Based on ethnic groups, predominantly of 92.1% of the population is White (86.9% British, 0.7% Irish and 4.5 other), Asians were the second largest making up 2.5% (1.1% Indian, 0.3% Pakistani and 0.3% Bangladeshi, other 0.8%), Blacks constituted 1.5% (0.4% Caribbean, 0.9% African, 0.1% other), those of mixed race made up 1.7% and the remaining were Chinese and other ethnic groups (2.2%).
  
  wn.com/Colchester_(borough)
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  Coronation Street
  Coronation Street is an English television soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960. The show has been on the air for over 51 years. Coronation Street is produced by ITV Granada Television under ITV Studios and shown in all ITV regions. It has been filmed in Manchester at the Granada Studios since inception, but filming will move to a new set at Media City in Trafford in 2013.
  Since first being aired, it has been one of the most financially lucrative programmes on British commercial television, underpinning the success of its broadcaster ITV and its franchise Granada Television. On 17 September 2010, it became the world's longest-running TV soap opera in production, after the United States soap opera As the World Turns ended.
  The first episode was aired on 9 December 1960 and was not initially a critical success; Daily Mirror columnist Ken Iriwin claimed the series would only last three weeks. Granada Television commissioned only 13 episodes and some inside the company doubted the show would last its planned production run. Despite the criticism, viewers were immediately drawn to the serial, won over by Coronation Street's 'ordinary' characters. The programme also made use of Northern English language and dialect; affectionate local terms like "eh, chook?", "nowt" (IPA  /ˈnaʊt/, means nothing), and "by heck!" became widely heard on British television for the first time.
  
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  Croxley Green
  Coordinates: 51°38′49″N 0°26′42″W / 51.647°N 0.445°W / 51.647; -0.445
  Croxley Green is a large village and civil parish of approximately 5,000 dwellings and 12,000 residents located between Watford (to the north-east) and Rickmansworth (to the south-west) in Hertfordshire, England. Croxley is about 20 miles north-west of London.
  Croxley Green has a large village green surrounded by some of its oldest buildings (17th century) including the Croxley Green Windmill. There is extensive building from the 19th Century centred around New Road plus a good deal of housing stock from the 1930s, built at the time of the Metropolitan Line branch. The Green houses the "Revels on The Green", an annual village fair which includes a traditional maypole dance, which used to be illustrated on the road signs on entering the village.
  In 2008 a group of residents were successful in gaining "village green" status also for a small area of woodland ("Buddleia Wood") to the south of the village, thereby protecting the area for generations to come.
  
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  Croxley Rail Link
  The Croxley Rail Link is an approved plan to re-route part of a London Underground line in Hertfordshire, outside London, UK. The project would divert Metropolitan line Watford branch services after Croxley station away from Watford station to Watford Junction, via a short stretch of new line on a viaduct over the Grand Union Canal/River Gade and intermediate stations using a reopened section of track. The project, in its current form, involves the ending of passenger services between Croxley and Watford Underground Station. As this constitutes a proposal to close a route to passenger services, and to close a station, a formal closure process involving London TravelWatch is required.
  The driving force behind the scheme is Hertfordshire County Council, although it has the active support of Transport for London (TfL), the public body which owns the current Watford branch. The proposed route was featured in a Transport for London network map for 2016. The proposed rail link route is also shown in the Transport for London Indicative 2025 Transport Map; in this map the current Watford tube station does not feature.
  
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  Dacorum
  The Borough of Dacorum is a local government district in Hertfordshire, England that includes the towns of Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring and the western part of Kings Langley. The district, which was formed in 1974, had a population of 137,799 in 2001. Its name was taken from the old hundred of Dacorum which covered approximately the same area.
  The hundred of Dacorum was first recorded in 1196 although its existence dates from the 9th and 10th century when it lay on the margins of the southern boundary of Danelaw and the River Lea. Its name in Latin means "of the Danes" . In the 11th century, the Domesday Book records that the hundreds of Tring and Danais overlapped areas of the hundred of Dacorum.
  In 1974, the modern district of Dacorum was formed under the Local Government Act 1972. Major components were the municipal borough of Hemel Hempstead, the urban districts of Berkhamsted and Tring, the rural districts of Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead and those parts of the rural districts of St Albans and Watford which were within the designated area of Hemel Hempstead new town.
  
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  East Cambridgeshire
  East Cambridgeshire (locally known as East Cambs) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England. Its council is based in Ely.
  The district was formed on 1 April 1974 with the merger of Ely Urban District, Ely Rural District and Newmarket Rural District.
  According to a report by the Halifax bank in 2004, East Cambridgeshire has the fastest population growth rate of any British local authority other than the City of London.
  The recent Fenland survey of archaeological finds mentions an enumeration of findings made between 1884 and 1994 in the region to the north of Devil's Dyke and Cambridge, from the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age (the region south of Devil's Dyke is not yet included in the survey). By far the greatest quantities of bronze objects found in England were discovered in East Cambridgeshire.
  The most important Bronze Age finds were discovered in Isleham (more than 6500 pieces), Stuntney, Soham, Wicken, Chippenham, Coveney, Mepal and Wilburton. These findings include swords, spear-heads, arrows, axes, palstaves, knives, daggers, rapiers, armour, decorative equipment (in particular for horses) and many fragments of sheet bronze. The greater part of these objects have been entrusted to the Moyse's Hall Museum in Bury St Edmunds while other items are in the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge. Other finds include traces of cremations and barrows, golden torques, an extensive ditch system and a wooden track-way between Fordey Farm (Barway) and Little Thetford. Bronze razors have also been found and it is well known that Celts shaved their cheeks.
  
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  East Hertfordshire
  East Hertfordshire is a local government district in Hertfordshire, England. Its council has offices in Bishop's Stortford and Hertford (Hertfordshire's traditional county town).
  The other main towns in the district are Ware (on the River Lea), Buntingford (on the River Rib), and Sawbridgeworth (on the River Stort). Of these five major towns, all except Buntingford fall within the parliamentary constituency of Hertford and Stortford. Buntingford is part of the North East Hertfordshire constituency.
  East Herts, as its council is officially known, is bordered by North Hertfordshire, Stevenage, Welwyn Hatfield, and Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, and by Epping Forest, Harlow, and Uttlesford in Essex.
  The district was formed on 1 April 1974, as a merger of the municipal borough of Hertford with Bishop's Stortford, Sawbridgeworth and Ware urban districts, and Braughing Rural District, Ware Rural District and part of Hertford Rural District. By area it is the largest of the ten local government districts in Hertfordshire.
  
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  Elstree Airfield
  Elstree Airfield (IATA: ETR, ICAO: EGTR) is based in Elstree, located 2.6 NM (4.8 km; 3.0 mi) east of Watford, Hertfordshire, England.
  Elstree Aerodrome has a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P486) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee (Montclare Shipping Company Limited).
  
  
  
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  England
  England ⁱ/ˈɪŋɡlənd/ is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, while the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separate it from continental Europe. Most of England comprises the central and southern part of the island of Great Britain in the North Atlantic. The country also includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.
  The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Palaeolithic period, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world. The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law—the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world—developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation. England's Royal Society laid the foundations of modern experimental science.
  
  wn.com/England
• Falconer School
  Falconer School is a secondary special school in Hertfordshire for boys providing education for both day and weekly boarding pupils, who either have experienced or are experiencing emotional and behavioral difficulties. The school seeks, wherever possible, to provide the full national curriculum to all its pupils.
  It is officially categorized as a EBD secondary school The school was founded in 1974, in Bushey, Hertfordshire. It is located next to Bushey Academy (known as Bushey Hall School until September 2009). The school has a virtual learning environment, which allows children to do homework along with many other activities. It is a boys-only school which caters for up to 75 pupils of ages 11–16.
  Residential facilities are available within the school for a maximum of twelve pupils. Pupils who resident in Falconer School arrive in school on Monday morning and return home at the end of school on Fridays.
  The school's VLE is mainly in use for homework, however there are a range of other activities on the VLE, of which some can be accessed by guests, and others will require the pupil to agree to VLE guidelines and then create an account. Until 2009, the VLE had a chatroom feature where pupils could chat via text through the internet. Currently, there is a "Best Games" section on the VLE where pupils can create games and publish them. The VLE can be found here.
  
  wn.com/Falconer_School
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  Fenland
  Fenland is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England. Its council is based in March, and covers the neighbouring market towns of Chatteris, Whittlesey, and Wisbech, often called the "capital of the fens". The district covers around 500 square kilometres of mostly agricultural land in the extremely flat Fens.
  It was formed on 1 April 1974, with the merger of the Borough of Wisbech, Chatteris Urban District, March Urban District, Whittlesey Urban District, North Witchford Rural District and Wisbech Rural District.
  Fenland District Council is elected every four years, with currently 40 councillors being elected at each election. Since 1976 the Conservative party has held control of the party, apart from a period after 1995 when Labour had control, but the Conservatives regained a majority at the 1999 election. As of the 2011 election the council is composed of the following councillors:-
  The Fenland economy has for years been built upon farming and food related industry. The food industry is now well established, and related processing, storage, packaging and distribution has become more sophisticated and diverse. The predominantly rural economy of the area has also included a strong industrial tradition, including brick making, printing and engineering, but many Fenland residents already travel outside the area to work.
  
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  Forest Heath
  Forest Heath is a local government district in Suffolk, England. Its council is based in Mildenhall. Other towns in the district include Newmarket.
  The district's name reflects the fact that it contains parts of both Thetford Forest and the heathlands of Breckland. The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of the Newmarket urban district and Mildenhall Rural District.
  Forest Heath is the home to two of the largest USAF air bases in the UK, RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall, as well as the headquarters of British horse racing, Newmarket Racecourse.
  The district contains three market towns and twenty civil parishes.
  Coordinates: 52°20′46″N 0°31′08″E / 52.3461°N 0.5190°E / 52.3461; 0.5190
  
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  France
  France (English ⁱ/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km² (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km² / 4,383,000 sq mi).
  Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.
  
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  Germany
  Germany (ⁱ/ˈdʒɜrməni/), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] ( listen)), is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km² and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state and the largest economy in the European Union. It is one of the major political powers of the European continent and a technological leader in many fields.
  A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, was documented before AD 100. During the Migration Period, the Germanic tribes expanded southward, and established successor kingdoms throughout much of Europe. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation while southern and western parts remained dominated by Roman Catholic denominations, with the two factions clashing in the Thirty Years' War, marking the beginning of the Catholic–Protestant divide that has characterized German society ever since. Occupied during the Napoleonic Wars, the rise of Pan-Germanism inside the German Confederation resulted in the unification of most of the German states into the German Empire in 1871 which was Prussian dominated. After the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the subsequent military surrender in World War I, the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic in 1918, and partitioned in the Treaty of Versailles. Amidst the Great Depression, the Third Reich was proclaimed in 1933. The latter period was marked by Fascism and World War II. After 1945, Germany was divided by allied occupation, and evolved into two states, East Germany and West Germany. In 1990 Germany was reunified.
  
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  Grand Junction Canal
  The Grand Junction Canal is a canal in England from Braunston in Northamptonshire to the River Thames at Brentford, with a number of branches. The mainline was built between 1793 and 1805, to improve the route from the Midlands to London, by-passing the upper reaches of the River Thames near Oxford and by shortening the journey. The canal was bought by the Regent's Canal and from 1 January 1929 now forms the southern half of the Grand Union Main Line from London to Birmingham. The canal is now much used by leisure traffic.
  By 1790, an extensive network of canals was in place in the Midlands, or under construction. However, the only route to London was via the Oxford Canal to the River Thames at Oxford, and then down the river to the capital. The river, particularly the upper reaches, was in a poor condition for navigation compared with the modern canals. The river suffered from shallow sections and shortage of water leading to delays at locks, with conflicts with mill owners over water supplies common.
  
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  Grand Union Canal
  The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. Its main line starts in London and ends in Birmingham, stretching for 137 miles (220 km) with 166 locks. It has arms to places including Leicester, Slough, Aylesbury, Wendover and Northampton.
  The Grand Union Canal was also the original name for part of what is now part of the Leicester Line of the modern Grand Union: this latter is now generally referred to as the Old Grand Union Canal in order to avoid ambiguity.
  With competition from the railways having taken a large share of traffic in the second half of the 19th century, improvements in roads and vehicle technology in the early part of the 20th century meant that the lorry was also becoming a threat to the canals. Tolls had been reduced to compete with the railways, but there was little scope for further reduction. The Regent's Canal and the Grand Junction Canal agreed that amalgamation and modernisation were the only way to remain competitive.
  The (present) Grand Union Canal came into being on 1 January 1929, extended in 1932. It was formed from the amalgamation of several different canals:
  
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  Greater London
  Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London and the 32 London boroughs. This territory has the same boundaries as the London Government Office Region and the London European Parliament constituency. The region has by far the highest GVA per capita in the United Kingdom. It covers 1,572 km² (607 sq mi) and had a 2009 mid-year estimated population of 7,753,600. The term Greater London was in use before 1965 to refer to a variously defined area, larger than the County of London and often similar to the Metropolitan Police District.
  In addition to its administrative and statistical functions, Greater London (excluding the City of London) is one of the 48 ceremonial counties of England, and is under the Greater London Lieutenancy.
  Instead of forming a single political unit, London is divided into the small, interior City of London and the much wider Greater London. This arrangement has come about because as the area of London grew and absorbed neighbouring settlements, a series of administrative reforms did not fully amalgamate the City of London with the metropolitan area, and its unique political structure was retained. Outside the limited boundaries of the old city, a variety of arrangements governed the wider area since 1855, culminating with the creation of the Greater London administrative area in 1965.
  
  wn.com/Greater_London
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  Harlow
  Harlow is a new town and local government district in Essex, England. It is located in the west of the county and on the border with Hertfordshire, on the Stort Valley, The town is near the M11 motorway and forms part of the London commuter belt.The district has a current population of 78,889 (2010 estimate).
  There is some dispute as to where the placename Harlow derives from. One theory is that it derives from the Anglo-Saxon words 'here' and 'hlaw', meaning "army hill", probably to be identified with Mulberry Hill, which was used as the moot or meeting place for the district.
  The other theory is that it derives from the words 'here' and 'hearg', meaning "temple hill/mound", probably to be identified with an Iron Age burial mound, later a Roman temple site on River Way.
  The original village, mentioned in the Norman Domesday Book, developed as a typical rural community around what is now known as Old Harlow, with many of its buildings still standing.
  The earliest deposits are of a Mesolithic (circa 10,000 BC) hunting camp excavated by Davey in Northbrooks in the 1970s(Unpublished) closely followed by the large and unexcavated deposits of Neolithic flint located at Gilden Way. These deposits are mostly known of due to the large numbers of surface bound worked flint ; indeed there is substanital amounts to speculate on organised working of flint in the area. Large amounts of debetage litter the area and tools found include Axeheads, hammers, blades, dowles and other boring tools and multipuprpose flints such as scrapers. An organised Field Walk in the late 1990s by Bartlett(Unpublished)indicates that most of the area, some 80 hectares, produces worked flint from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age with a smattering of Mesolithic ; so basically it indicates organised industry from 5000 BC to 2000 BC. Indeed the deposits are so large and dispersed that any major archaeological work in the area will have to take this into consideration before any ground work is started.
  
  wn.com/Harlow
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  Harpenden
  Coordinates: 51°49′03″N 0°21′09″W / 51.8175°N 0.3524°W / 51.8175; -0.3524
  Harpenden is a town in Hertfordshire, England.
  The town's total population is just under 30,000.
  There are two civil parishes: Harpenden and Harpenden Rural.
  Harpenden railway station is on a frequent and fast rail link to central London now served by First Capital Connect, having been served previously by Thameslink. Some trains stop at 'all stations' on the route, others stop at St Albans before continuing non-stop to London St Pancras International (Harpenden to St Pancras International - 25 minutes). Trains run north to Luton and on to Bedford. From London, the trains continue south to Brighton via Gatwick, Sevenoaks or Wimbledon and Sutton. The rail link therefore gives direct access to London Luton Airport (one stop north) and London Gatwick Airport (approx 1hr 10 m on a limited stops train).
  In common with much of the region, Harpenden is an area of extremely high property costs. Land Registry data suggests that the average house price in Harpenden in the 1st quarter of 2006 was £500,902 (against £287,277 for St Albans District generally, and £183,598 nationally). The data also indicates that an unusually high proportion of houses in Harpenden are owner occupied (81.4%, as opposed to 69.6% in the District generally, and 66.2% nationally).
  
  wn.com/Harpenden
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  Hemel Hempstead
  Coordinates: 51°45′09″N 0°28′09″W / 51.7526°N 0.4692°W / 51.7526; -0.4692
  Hemel Hempstead is a town in Hertfordshire in the East of England, 24 miles (38.6 km) to the north west of London and part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2001 Census was 81,143 (but now estimated at around 89,000 by Hertfordshire County Council).
  Developed after World War II as a new town, it has existed as a settlement since the 8th century and was granted its town charter by King Henry VIII in 1539. It is part of the district (and borough since 1984) of Dacorum and the Hemel Hempstead constituency.
  The settlement was called by the name Henamsted or Hean-Hempsted, i.e. High Hempstead, in Anglo-Saxon times and in William the Conqueror's time by the name of Hemel-Amstede. The name is referred to in the Domesday Book as "Hamelamesede", but in later centuries it became Hamelhamsted. In Old English, "-stead" or "-stede" simply meant a place, such as the site of a building or pasture, as in clearing in the woods, and this suffix is used in the names of other English places such as Hamstead and Berkhamsted.
  
  wn.com/Hemel_Hempstead
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  Hertford
  Coordinates: 51°47′42″N 0°04′41″W / 51.795°N 0.078°W / 51.795; -0.078
  Hertford ( /ˈhɑrtfərd/ or /ˈhɑrfərd/) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. Forming a civil parish, the 2001 census put the population of Hertford at about 24,180. Recent estimates are that it is now around 28,000^{[citation needed]}. The name is Anglo Saxon and means the ford frequented by harts or stags.
  Hertford has been the county town of Hertfordshire since Saxon times when it was governed by the king's reeves. By the 13th century, these had been replaced by a bailiff, elected by the burgesses. Charters of 1554 and 1589 established a common council of eleven chief burgesses and a bailiff. Another charter of 1605 changed the bailiff's title to mayor. In 1835, Hertford became a Municipal Corporation; the ratepayers elected twelve councillors, who chose four aldermen, aldermen and councillors composing the council. This body elected the mayor.
  
  wn.com/Hertford
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  Hertfordshire
  Hertfordshire (ⁱ/ˈhɑrtfərdʃɪər/ or /ˈhɑrfərdʃər/; abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.
  Hertfordshire is one of the home counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London (to the south), Buckinghamshire (to the west), Bedfordshire (including the unitary authorities of Luton and Central Bedfordshire to the north), Cambridgeshire (to the north east) and Essex (to the east).
  Hertfordshire was originally the area assigned to a fortress constructed at Hertford under the rule of Edward the Elder in 913. The name Hertford is derived from the Anglo-Saxon heort ford, meaning deer crossing (of a watercourse). The name Hertfordshire first appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1011. Deer feature prominently in many county emblems.
  There is evidence of human beings living in Hertfordshire since the Middle Stone Age. It was first farmed during the Neolithic period and permanent habitation appeared at the beginning of the Bronze Age. This was followed by tribes settling in the area during the Iron Age.
  
  wn.com/Hertfordshire
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  Hertsmere
  Hertsmere is a local government district and borough in Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Borehamwood. Other towns in the borough include Bushey, Elstree, Radlett and Potters Bar.
  The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of the former area of Bushey Urban District and Potters Bar Urban District with Elstree Rural District and part of Watford Rural District (the parish of Aldenham).
  The name "Hertsmere" was invented for the new district by combining the name of the county with "mere", an archaic word for boundary. The name is doubly appropriate as the area is now the southern boundary of Hertfordshire with Greater London, while up to 1965 parts of the district were on either side of the county boundary with Middlesex. The name is reflected in the council's coat of arms, which shows a hart upon the battlements of a boundary wall.
  The district was awarded borough status by Royal Charter in 1977.
  The borough was originally in the Metropolitan Police District, despite being outside the modern Greater London boundaries. It was not transferred to Hertfordshire Constabulary until 2000.
  
  wn.com/Hertsmere
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  Hitchin
  Coordinates: 51°56′49″N 0°16′59″W / 51.947°N 0.283°W / 51.947; -0.283
  Hitchin is a market town in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 30,360.
  Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people mentioned in a 7th century document, the Tribal Hidage. The tribal name is Brittonic rather than Old English and derives from *siccā, meaning 'dry', which is perhaps a reference to the local stream, the Hiz. It has been suggested that Hitchin was the location of Clofeshoh, the place chosen in 673 by Archbishop Theodore of Tarsus during the Synod of Hertford, the first nationwide meeting of representatives of the fledgling Catholic churches of Anglo-Saxon England, to hold annual synods of the churches as Theodore attempted to consolidate and centralise Catholicism in England. By 1086 Hitchin is described as a Royal Manor in the Domesday Book: the feudal services of Avera and Inward, usually found in the eastern counties, especially Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, were due from the sokemen, but the manor of Hitchin was unique in levying Inward. Evidence has been found to suggest that the town was once provided with an earthen bank and ditch fortification, probably in the early tenth century but this did not last. The modern spelling 'Hitchin' first appears in 1618 in the "Hertfordshire Feet of Fines".
  
  wn.com/Hitchin
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  Hoddesdon
  Coordinates: 51°45′32″N 0°00′54″W / 51.759°N 0.015°W / 51.759; -0.015
  Hoddesdon is a town in the English county of Hertfordshire, situated in the Lea Valley. The town grew up as a coaching stop on the route between Cambridge and London. It is located 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Hertford, 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Waltham Cross and 11 miles (18 km) southwest of Bishop's Stortford. At its height during the 18th century, more than 35 coaches a day would pass through the town. It saw a boom in the mid 20th century as gravel was extracted from the area to be exhausted by the 1970s. The lakes and water pits left behind have been used for local leisure amenities. Today, Hoddesdon has a little light industry but is mainly a London commuter belt town. The town hosted the eighth Congres Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne in 1951. It is twinned with the Belgian city of Dinant.
  The Prime Meridian passes just to the east of Hoddesdon.
  The town is served by Rye House railway station and nearby Broxbourne railway station.
  
  wn.com/Hoddesdon
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  Huntingdonshire
  Huntingdonshire ( /ˈhʌntɪŋdənʃər/ or /ˈhʌntɪŋdənʃɪər/; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district within the administrative area of Cambridgeshire, covering the area around Huntingdon. Historically, it was one of the Administrative counties of England until 1974. It includes St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots, and Ramsey.
  The area corresponding to modern Huntingdonshire was first delimited in Saxon times, and the modern boundaries have remained largely unchanged since the 10th century.
  In 1889, under the Local Government Act 1888 Huntingdonshire became an administrative county, with the new County Council taking over administrative functions from the Quarter Sessions. The area in the north of the county forming part of the municipal borough of Peterborough became instead part of the Soke of Peterborough administrative county, in Northamptonshire.
  In 1965, under a recommendation of the Local Government Commission for England, it was merged with the Soke of Peterborough to form Huntingdon and Peterborough - the Lieutenancy county was also merged. Also at this time St Neots expanded westward over the river into Eaton Ford and Eaton Socon in Bedfordshire.
  
  wn.com/Huntingdonshire
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  Hunton Bridge
  Coordinates: 51°42′56″N 0°27′25″W / 51.71559°N 0.45692°W / 51.71559; -0.45692
  Hunton Bridge is a small settlement near Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, England with a historic royal connection. Its population in the 1991 census was 327.
  Its period of greatest prosperity was 1810-26 when the Sparrows Herne turnpike ran through the village. Prior to that date the turnpike had run along Gypsy Lane and Upper Highway. In 1810 it was rerouted along Old Mill Lane to the village, and up the hill to reconnect with Upper Highway. By 1826 the presence of the canal, and the works associated with it had dried out the bottom land sufficiently for the turnpike to be rerouted along what is now the A41 avoiding the climb up Hunton Bridge Hill.
  Today the village finds itself situated between the M25 London orbital motorway and a spur of the motorway leading to Watford. The A41 trunk road runs just west of the village. The Hunton Bridge filling station just off the Watford spur (Junction 19 of the M25) is a local landmark.
  
  wn.com/Hunton_Bridge
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  Ipswich
  Ipswich ⁱ/ˈɪpswɪtʃ/ is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell. Nearby towns are Felixstowe, Needham Market and Stowmarket in Suffolk and Harwich and Colchester in Essex.
  The town of Ipswich overspills the borough boundaries significantly, with 85% of the town's population living within the borough at the time of the 2001 Census, when it was the third-largest settlement in the United Kingdom's East of England region, and the 49th largest urban area in the United Kingdom.
  The modern name is derived from the medieval name 'Gippeswick', probably taken from the River Gipping which is the non-tidal section of the River Orwell. As of 2007, the borough of Ipswich is estimated to have a population of approximately 128,000 inhabitants.
  Under the Roman empire, the area around Ipswich formed an important route inland to rural towns and settlements via the rivers Orwell and Gipping.^{[citation needed]} A large Roman fort, part of the coast defences of Britain, stood at Walton near Felixstowe (13 miles, 21 km), and the largest Roman villa in Suffolk (possibly an administrative complex) stood at Castle Hill (north-west Ipswich).
  
  wn.com/Ipswich
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  Italy
  Italy ⁱ/ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301,338 km² (116,347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.6 million inhabitants, it is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and the 23rd most populous in the world.
  Rome, the capital of Italy, was for centuries a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.
  
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  Kings Langley
  Coordinates: 51°42′56″N 0°27′25″W / 51.71559°N 0.45692°W / 51.71559; -0.45692
  Kings Langley is a historic English village and civil parish 21 miles (34 km) northwest of central London on the southern edge of the Chiltern Hills and now part of the London commuter belt. The Village is divided between two local government districts with the western portion in the Borough of Dacorum and the eastern part in Three Rivers District, both in the county of Hertfordshire, England.
  It was once the location of Kings Langley Palace, a royal palace of the Plantagenet kings of England. The 12th century parish church of All Saints' houses the tomb of Edmund of Langley (1341–1402), the first Duke of York.
  It is 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Hemel Hempstead and 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Watford.
  A Roman villa has been excavated just south of the village.
  The village was probably part of the lands of the Abbey of St Albans, although actual records have been lost. At the Norman conquest the manor was given to William's half brother Robert, Count of Mortain who let it to one Ralf. It is around the manor that the present village developed as a linear village lying on the old road from London to Berkhamsted and the Midlands of England.
  
  wn.com/Kings_Langley
• Langleybury
  Langleybury was a country house and estate in Hertfordshire, England situated 2 miles north of the town of Watford on a low hill above the valley of the River Gade.
  The estate was purchased in 1711 by Robert Raymond then Solicitor General later Attorney General later Baron Raymond who was Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 1724 until 1732.
  In 1720 he demolished the original house, of which little is known and built a mansion which still stands on the site today. A park was laid out around the house in the later eighteenth century. His cipher, a griffin in a crown, can still be seen on the building.
  On the death of his son, Robert Raymond, 2nd Baron Raymond, without issue in 1756 the manor was left in his will to Sir Beversham Filmer, 5th Baronet Filmer of East Sutton, Kent. He, dying unmarried in 1763, bequeathed it to his nephew, Sir John Filmer (7th Bt). It followed the descent of the family till 1838. The Filmers were absentee landlords.
  In 1762 the road at the lower edge of the park became the Sparrows Herne turnpike, and in the 1790s the Grand Junction Canal and was dug along the valley bottom alongside the road.
  
  wn.com/Langleybury
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  Letchmore Heath
  Coordinates: 51°40′01″N 0°20′10″W / 51.667°N 0.336°W / 51.667; -0.336
  Letchmore Heath is a village in Hertfordshire in England, situated about three miles east of Watford.
  Letchmore Heath lies to the east of Watford, west of Radlett and south west of Aldenham. It is a pretty village of around 150 houses that due to its proximity to Elstree Studios has been frequently used as a set in films. It has a village green, a village pond and the pub, the Three Horseshoes, is situated on the north side of the green. The name Letchmore is derived from the Old Saxon "leche mere" meaning muddy pond. The present pond is located to the south of the village green. To the west, but still within the village, is Bhaktivedanta Manor.
  Letchmore Heath has no main roads running through it and no public transport. The nearest railway stations are at Radlett and Watford. Apart from this however it is well connected to the rest of the UK by road being close to the M1 and M25 motorways.
  A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, commonly known as the Hare Krishnas, stayed in Letchmore Heath for a few months every year after establishing Bhaktivedanta Manor, a temple, in the beautiful village.
  
  wn.com/Letchmore_Heath
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  Letchworth
  Coordinates: 51°58′41″N 0°13′48″W / 51.978°N 0.230°W / 51.978; -0.230
  Letchworth, correctly titled Letchworth Garden City, is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England with a population of 33,600.
  The town's name is taken from one of the three villages it surrounded (the other two being Willian and Norton) - all of which featured in the Domesday Book. The land used was purchased by Quakers who had intended to farm the area and build a Quaker community. The current town was laid out by Ebenezer Howard in 1903 using his radical new garden city approach which incorporated elements of the country, alongside city life. Mocked in the press at the time, the design was supported by the Arts and Crafts movement and the Quakers.
  As one of the world's first new towns and the first 'Garden city' it had great influence on future town planning and the New Towns movement; it influenced Welwyn Garden City, which used a similar approach and inspired other projects around the world including Canberra, the Australian capital, Hellerau, Germany, small village of Tapanila, Finland, and Mežaparks in Latvia), .
  
  wn.com/Letchworth
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  London
  London ⁱ/ˈlʌndən/ is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who named it Londinium. London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its square-mile mediaeval boundaries. Since at least the 19th century, the name London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core. The bulk of this conurbation forms the London region and the Greater London administrative area, governed by the elected Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
  London is a leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transport all contributing to its prominence. It is the world's leading financial centre alongside New York City and has the fifth-largest city GDP in the world (and the largest in Europe). London has been described as a world cultural capital. It was the world's most visited city during 2011 and London Heathrow is the world's busiest airport by number of international passengers. London's 43 universities form the largest concentration of higher education in Europe. In 2012 London will become the first city to host the modern Summer Olympic Games three times.
  
  wn.com/London
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  Luton
  Luton (ⁱ/ˈluːtən/ LOOT-ən, local /ˈluːʔən/) is a large town, borough and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles (50 km) north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000.
  Luton is home to Blue Square Premier team Luton Town Football Club, whose history includes several spells in the top flight of the English league as well as a Football League Cup triumph in 1988. They play at Kenilworth Road stadium, which has been their home since 1905.
  London Luton Airport, opened in 1938, is one of England's major airports. During the Second World War it doubled as an RAF base.
  The University of Bedfordshire is based in the town.
  The Luton Carnival, held on the late May bank holiday, is the largest one-day carnival in Europe.
  The town was for many years famous for hat-making, and was also home to a large Vauxhall Motors factory; the head office of Vauxhall Motors is still situated in the town. Car production at the plant began in 1905 and continued until 2002, but commercial vehicle production remains.
  
  wn.com/Luton
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  Luton Airport
  London Luton Airport (IATA: LTN, ICAO: EGGW) (previously called Luton International Airport) is an international airport located 1.5 NM (2.8 km; 1.7 mi) east of the town centre in the Borough of Luton in Bedfordshire, England and is 30.5 NM (56.5 km; 35.1 mi) north of Central London. The airport is 2 mi (3.2 km) from Junction 10a of the M1 motorway. It is the fourth-largest airport serving the London area after Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, and is one of London's six international airports along with London City and Southend.
  In 2008, over 10 million passengers passed through the airport in a single year for the first time. However, passenger numbers were slightly lower during 2011 at 9.5 million, making Luton the fifth-busiest airport in the UK. The airport serves as a base for EasyJet, Monarch Airlines, Thomson Airways and Ryanair. The vast majority of the routes served are within Europe, although there are some charter and scheduled routes to destinations in Northern Africa and Asia.
  
  wn.com/Luton_Airport
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  M25 motorway
  The M25 motorway, London Ring Motorway, or London Orbital motorway is a 117-mile (188 km) motorway that almost encircles Greater London, England, in the United Kingdom. The motorway was first mooted early in the 20th century. A few sections, based on the now abandoned London Ringways plan, were constructed in the early 1970s and it was completed in 1986. The M25 is one of the world's longest orbital roads and one of the busiest and most congested parts of the British motorway network. 196,000 vehicles were recorded in a single day near London Heathrow Airport. Plans to widen additional sections to eight lanes (four each way) were scaled back in 2009 in response to rising costs.
  Originally built mainly as a dual three-lane motorway, much of the motorway has subsequently been widened to dual four-lanes in places and to a dual five-lane section between junctions 12 and 14 and a dual six-lane between junctions 14 and 15. Further widening is in progress with plans for managed motorways on other sections.
  
  wn.com/M25_motorway
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  Maple Cross
  Coordinates: 51°37′30″N 0°30′29″W / 51.625°N 0.508°W / 51.625; -0.508
  Maple Cross is a village in Hertfordshire, England with a large proportion of the housing being either council owned or previously council owned. The area is served by junction 17 of the M25 motorway, which makes up one of the boundaries of the village. It lies about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) west of Watford.
  Many multi-national businesses have offices in Maple Cross. The UK headquarters of construction company Skanska is based here. The corporate functions of the combined Cadbury and Trebor Bassett confectionery business moved to the area in 2000. Other businesses with offices include Nissan and Renault.
  Maple Cross has one school, Maple Cross JMI, located on the main thoroughfare, Denham Way. Secondary education is generally provided for in Rickmansworth, Watford or Harefield (London).
  Maple Cross is bound by the M25 motorway. The areas main thoroughfare, Denham Way also forms part of the A412.
  One road in Maple Cross was named Bradbery, by the Three Rivers District Council in the 1960s. This was to commemorate William Bradbery, the watercress pioneer from West Hyde.
  
  wn.com/Maple_Cross
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  Mid Suffolk
  Mid Suffolk is a local government district in Suffolk, England. Its council is based in Needham Market, and the largest town is Stowmarket.
  The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Borough of Eye, Stowmarket urban district, Gipping Rural District, Hartismere Rural District and Thedwastre Rural District.
  The district has the most parishes in Suffolk, with a total of 122 parishes and towns.
  Coordinates: 52°09′22″N 1°02′56″E / 52.1560°N 1.0489°E / 52.1560; 1.0489
  
  
  
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  North Hertfordshire
  North Hertfordshire is a local government district in Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Letchworth.
  The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the amalgamation of the urban districts of Baldock, Hitchin, Letchworth, and Royston and the Hitchin Rural District.
  From eastward clockwise, it borders the districts of East Hertfordshire, Stevenage, Welwyn Hatfield, St Albans in Hertfordshire, Central Bedfordshire, Luton, Central Bedfordshire again, and South Cambridgeshire.
  Coordinates: 52°00′N 0°12′W / 52.0°N 0.2°W / 52.0; -0.2
  
  
  
  wn.com/North_Hertfordshire
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  North Norfolk
  North Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, United Kingdom. Its council is based in Cromer. The council headquarters can be found approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) out of the town of Cromer on the Holt Road.
  The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972. It was a merger of Cromer Urban District, North Walsham Urban District, Sheringham Urban District, Wells-next-the-Sea Urban District, Erpingham Rural District, Smallburgh Rural District, and Walsingham Rural District.
  The district was originally to be called Pastonacres, but changed its name by resolution of the council and permission of the Secretary of State for Environment before it formally came into existence on 1 April 1974.
  The district is entirely parished, and is made up of 121 civil parishes. At the time of the 2001 census, the district had an area of 994 square kilometres (384 sq mi), with a population of 98,382 in 43,502 households.
  The district contains the following civil parishes:
  
  
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  North Watford
  Coordinates: 51°40′23″N 0°23′24″W / 51.673°N 0.39°W / 51.673; -0.39
  North Watford is an area in Watford, Hertfordshire.
  North Watford is situated between Central Watford and Garston. It links Watford to the M1 and M25 via the A41.
  Watford North railway station serves the area; it is on the St Albans Branch Line.
  The main bus routes which serve Watford and the surrounding area all pass down St Albans Road to get to the town centre from Garston bus garage. This means the area has very good bus links, including those from other towns such as St Albans by the 724, 321, 621, 622 and 320. There are also local bus routes 1, 8, 10 and bus W19 which servers the local housing estate. There is also the R8, 319 and R16 buses which serve Asda and Sainsbury's superstore.
  The Dome Roundabout links the A41 with Watford. It also links Watford to the M1, M25 and North Circular Road. In the opposite direction, heading north east, lies St Albans. It houses a large supermarket and a hypermarket, both with large catchment areas. Also on the roundabout are 3 petrol stations. There used to be 4 until one closed down due to competition from the others. Garston Fire Station is also situated by the roundabout.
  
  wn.com/North_Watford
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  Norwich
  Norwich (ⁱ/ˈnɒrɪdʒ/ NORR-ij, (also /ˈnɒrɪtʃ/ NORR-ich) is a city on the River Wensum in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom. Until the Industrial Revolution, Norwich was the capital of England's most populous county and vied with Bristol as England's second city.
  The urban area of Norwich has a population of 194,839. This area extends beyond the city boundary, with extensive suburban areas on the western, northern and eastern sides, including Costessey, Hellesdon, Bowthorpe, Old Catton, Sprowston and Thorpe St Andrew. The parliamentary seats cross over into adjacent local government districts. 135,800 (2008 est.) people live in the City of Norwich and the population of the Norwich Travel to Work Area (i.e. the area of Norwich in which most people both live and work) is 367,035 (the 1991 figure was 351,340)^{[citation needed]}. Norwich is the fourth most densely populated local government district within the East of England with 3,480 people per square kilometre (8,993 per square mile).
  
  wn.com/Norwich
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  Ofsted
  The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England (HMCI). HMCI and Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools (HMI) are appointed by Order in Council and are thus office holders under the Crown. Though the inspectorate has existed since the mid-19th century, the office was reorganised under the Education (Schools) Act 1992, and is explicitly named in the Education and Inspections Act 2006.
  The services Ofsted inspects or regulates include: local services, childminding, child day care, children’s centres, children’s social care, CAFCASS, state schools, independent schools and teacher training providers, and colleges and learning and skills providers in England. It also monitors the work of the Independent Schools Inspectorate. HMI are empowered and required to provide independent advice to the United Kingdom government and parliament on matters of policy and to publish an annual report to parliament on the quality of educational provision in England.
  
  wn.com/Ofsted
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  Oxhey Hall
  Coordinates: 51°37′13″N 0°23′27″W / 51.62029°N 0.39082°W / 51.62029; -0.39082
  South Oxhey is a suburb of Watford in the Watford Rural parish of the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire, England. It is located in the south western corner of Hertfordshire and close to the boundary with Greater London.
  South Oxhey is a large estate built on land that was formerly part of the Oxhey Hall Estate. There was a manor house here, Oxhey Place, and a chapel. The manor house was owned by the Blackwell family of Crosse and Blackwell fame. It burnt down in 1955. Oxhey Chapel dates from 1612 and is still standing to the south of the parish church of All Saints. The church was opened in 1957 to serve the new estate built after the Second World War by the London County Council. The church was demolished and rebuilt in 2000.
  South Oxhey is a large estate almost exclusively made up of council built properties. This is in stark contrast to the neighbouring estate of Carpenders Park, whose dwellings were predominantly built privately.
  
  wn.com/Oxhey_Hall
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  Pesaro
  Pesaro (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpeːzaro] ( listen), [ˈpeːsaro]) is a town and comune in the Italian region of the Marche, capital of the Pesaro e Urbino province, on the Adriatic. According to the 2007 census, its population was 92,206.
  Fishery, furniture industry and tourism are the main strengths of the local economy.
  The city was founded as Pisaurum by the Romans in 184 BC as colony in the territory of the Picentes, the people who lived on the northeast coast during the Iron Age. A settlement of the latter tribe has been found at Novilara. The northern Picentes were invaded in the 4th century BC by the Gallic Senones, earlier by the Etruscans, and when the Romans reached the area the population was an ethnic mixture. Within it the Gauls at least were still distinct, as the Romans separated them out and expelled them from the country.
  Under the Roman administration Pesaro, a hub across the Via Flaminia, became an important center of trading and craftmanship. After the fall of the Western Empire, Pesaro was occupied by the Ostrogoths, and destroyed by Vitigis (539) in the course of the Gothic War. Hastily rebuilt five years later after the Byzantine reconquets, it formed the so-called Pentapolis, part of the Exarchate of Ravenna. After the Lombard and Frank conquests of that city, Pesaro became part of the Papal States.
  
  wn.com/Pesaro
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  Peterborough
  Peterborough ( /ˈpiːtərbrə/ or ⁱ/ˈpiːtərbərə/) is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of 173,400 in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated 75 miles (121 km) north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea approximately 30 miles (48 km) to the north-east. The railway station is an important stop on the East Coast Main Line.
  The local topography is flat and low-lying, and in some places lies below sea level. The area known as the Fens is to the east of Peterborough. The City of Peterborough includes the outlying military installation of RAF Wittering, and as a unitary authority it borders Northamptonshire and Rutland to the west, Lincolnshire to the north, and Cambridgeshire to the south and east.
  Human settlement in the area dates back to before the Bronze Age, as can be seen at the Flag Fen archaeological site to the east of the current city centre. This site also shows evidence of Roman occupation. The Anglo-Saxon period saw the establishment of a monastery, then known as Medeshamstede, which later became Peterborough Cathedral. The population grew rapidly following the arrival of the railways in the 19th century, and Peterborough became an industrial centre, particularly noted for its brick manufacture.
  
  wn.com/Peterborough
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  Potters Bar
  Coordinates: 51°41′53″N 0°10′59″W / 51.698°N 0.183°W / 51.698; -0.183
  Potters Bar is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire, England, located 18 miles (29 km) north of Central London. In 2001 it had a population of 21,618.
  The town originated in the early 13th century and remained a small settlement until the arrival of the Great Northern Railway in 1850. It is part of the London commuter belt.
  The origin of the Potters element of the town's name is uncertain but is generally thought to be either a reference to a Roman pottery, believed to have been sited locally, or alternatively to the Pottere family who lived in the South Mimms parish. The Bar is thought to refer to the gates leading from the South Mimms parish and into the Enfield Chase parish, or possibly from some sort of toll on the Great North Road. The original "Bar" is said to have been at what is now the Green Man pub, or at the current entrance to Morven House.
  Potters Bar is located on the Great North Road, one of two road routes from the City of London to the north of England. The road was originally numbered as the A1, and later the A1000.
  
  wn.com/Potters_Bar
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  Radlett
  Coordinates: 51°40′55″N 0°18′50″W / 51.682°N 0.314°W / 51.682; -0.314
  Radlett is a small affluent village in the county of Hertfordshire between St Albans and Borehamwood on Watling Street with a population of approximately 8,000. It is located in the council district of Hertsmere and is covered by two wards, Aldenham East and Aldenham West. It is located inside the M25 motorway.
  Radlett lies in the valley of Tykes Water, a stream that runs north from Aldenham Reservoir to the River Colne. Now entirely surrounded by the Metropolitan Green Belt, it is seeing significant 'infill' development and pressure to relax the Green Belt restrictions.^{[citation needed]}
  Radlett is one of the most prosperous places in Britain. The town contains many substantial detached houses with large gardens. In the older centre there are also a few streets with Victorian semi detached and terraced houses. Over the past few years, the combination of its proximity to London and good transport links have meant that Radlett has become a property hotspot^{[citation needed]} with majority of roads with an average price of over £1,000,000.
  
  wn.com/Radlett
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  Rickmansworth
  Coordinates: 51°38′18″N 0°27′57″W / 51.6383°N 0.4659°W / 51.6383; -0.4659
  Rickmansworth is the administrative seat of the Three Rivers District Council in Hertfordshire, England. With a population of 14,571 recorded at the 2001 census, Rickmansworth is a small town in South-West Hertfordshire, located mainly to the north of the Grand Union Canal and the River Colne. The nearest large town is Watford, 4.4 miles (7.1 km) to the east. It grew dramatically during the Victorian era, and then again during the 1920s and 1930s as part of the Metro-land area, due to the extension of Metropolitan Railway, and became a commuter town. Chiltern Main Line diesel-express trains from Marylebone station, London, via Harrow-on-the Hill, to Aylesbury–change for Birmingham–and fast, electric Metropolitan trains from the City of London, via Baker Street, to Amersham-on-the-Hill (all stopping at Rickmansworth station) together with the rural surroundings, have all contributed to the growth of Rickmansworth.
  
  wn.com/Rickmansworth
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  River Chess
  Coordinates: 51°42′22″N 0°36′36″W / 51.706°N 0.610°W / 51.706; -0.610
  The River Chess is a chalk stream which springs from Chesham, Buckinghamshire and runs through Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, in south-eastern England. The Chess, along with the Colne and Gade, gives rise to the name of the district of Three Rivers, in which it forms its confluence with the Colne. The River Chess falls 60 m and is 17.9 km long.
  Its name arose by back-formation from the name of Chesham. It was once known as the Pittlesburne which incorporates the old word burna used in the Chilterns to describe a clear spring-fed stream on a lower dip-slope, often with a stony bed. Examples are the rivers Misbourne and Bulbourn and the river Ver was formerly the Redbourne.
  The river rises from springs in the Vale of Chesham and in Pednor before flowing in a south-easterly direction past Waterside. The river banks are mostly not public rights of way, and only small stretches of the river are accessible. Beyond Latimer it flows to the north of Chenies and on towards Rickmansworth after which it becomes a tributary of the River Colne. It is navigable only in its lower reaches.
  
  wn.com/River_Chess
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  Russia
  Russia ⁱ/ˈrʌʃə/ or /ˈrʊʃə/ (Russian: Россия, tr. Rossiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə] ( listen)), also officially known as the Russian Federation (Russian: Российская Федерация, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə] ( listen)), is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, and the US state of Alaska by the Bering Strait. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the eighth most populous nation with 143 million people. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning nine time zones and incorporating a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources and is the largest producer of oil and natural gas globally. Russia has the world's largest forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's fresh water.
  
  wn.com/Russia
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  Sarratt
  Coordinates: 51°41′01″N 0°29′15″W / 51.683603°N 0.487523°W / 51.683603; -0.487523
  Sarratt is a village and civil parish 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, England, situated on high ground near the county boundary with Buckinghamshire. The chalk stream, the River Chess, rising north of Chesham, passes near Sarratt in the valley to the west of the village to join the River Colne in Rickmansworth. The valley to the east is dry.
  Sarratt is within the Three rivers District Council jurisdiction which is based in Rickmansworth. The Local Authority takes its name from the confluence of the Chess, the Colne and the River Gade which continues as the River Colne to its confluence with the Thames.
  The flint and brick-built Church of the Holy Cross was founded in 1190. It is the parish church of Sarratt. From the 17th century a large linear village developed nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) away. Nowadays it is called Sarratt and the area around the church is known as Church End. The village also included a Baptist Chapel and a Methodist Mission Hall, both having closed in recent years and converted to private residences.
  
  wn.com/Sarratt
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  Sawbridgeworth
  Coordinates: 51°48′50″N 0°09′00″E / 51.814°N 0.150°E / 51.814; 0.150
  Sawbridgeworth is a small, mainly residential, town and also a civil parish in Hertfordshire, England.
  Sawbridgeworth is four miles south of Bishop's Stortford, twelve miles east of Hertford and nine miles north of Epping. It lies on the A1184 and has a railway station that links to Liverpool Street station in London. The river Stort flows through the east of the town, past the Maltings (now a small business and residential area).
  Nearby towns and cities: Bishop's Stortford, Harlow
  Nearby villages: High Wych, Spellbrook, Much Hadham
  Prior to the Norman Conquest, most of the area was owned by the Saxon Angmar the Staller.
  The Manor of "Sabrixteworde" (one of the many spellings previously associated with the town) was recorded in the Domesday Book. After the Battle of Hastings it was granted to Geoffrey de Mandeville by William the Conqueror. Local notables have included Sir John Leventhorpe, who was an executor of King Henry V's will, and Anne Boleyn, who was given the Pishiobury/Pishobury estate, located to the south of the town.
  
  wn.com/Sawbridgeworth
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  Scotland
  Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Alba ([ˈalˠ̪apə]  listen (help·info))) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland constitutes over 790 islands including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.
  Edinburgh, the country's capital and second largest city, is one of Europe's largest financial centres. Edinburgh was the hub of the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century, which transformed Scotland into one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, was once one of the world's leading industrial cities and now lies at the centre of the Greater Glasgow conurbation. Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third largest city in Scotland, the title of Europe's oil capital.
  
  wn.com/Scotland
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  South Cambridgeshire
  South Cambridgeshire is a mostly rural local government district of Cambridgeshire, England. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Chesterton Rural District and South Cambridgeshire Rural District. It surrounds the city of Cambridge, which is administered separately from the district by Cambridge City Council. On the abolition of South Herefordshire and Hereford districts to form the unitary Herefordshire in 1998, it became the only English district to completely encircle another.
  The district's coat of arms contains a reference to the coat of arms of Cambridge University. The motto, Niet Zonder Arbyt, means "Not Without Work" in old Dutch; it was originally the motto of Cornelius Vermuyden who drained The Fens in the 17th century. The district council's headquarters moved from Cambridge to Cambourne in 2004.
  South Cambridgeshire has scored highly on the best places to live, according to Channel 4, which ranked South Cambridgeshire as the fifth best place to live in 2006.^{[citation needed]} A Halifax survey rated South Cambridgeshire the best place to live in rural Britain.
  
  wn.com/South_Cambridgeshire
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  South Norfolk
  South Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Long Stratton.
  The district was formed on April 1, 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of Diss Urban District, Wymondham Urban District, Depwade Rural District, Forehoe and Henstead Rural District and Loddon Rural District.
  The below table outlines the composition of South Norfolk Council from 1973 to 2007.
  2007 saw the Conservatives win 55.1% of the vote and 39 seats in total, gaining 21 seats from the Liberal Democrats, who retained 7 seats despite having 39.2% of the vote. The other parties standing received only 5.7% of the total vote, and no seats.
  The strongest local performances from other parties were Labour in Wymondham Rustens ward with 20.1%, and the Green Party in Cringleford ward with 14.4%.
  ^[1] Others: Independents, UKIP and EDP.
  Elections are held every four years, with the last elections occurring in May 2007. The next elections are due to take place in May 2011.
  The district is entirely parished, and is made up of 119 civil parishes. At the time of the 2001 census, the district had an area of 909 km², with a population of 110,710 in 46,607 households.
  
  wn.com/South_Norfolk
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  South Oxhey
  Coordinates: 51°37′13″N 0°23′27″W / 51.62029°N 0.39082°W / 51.62029; -0.39082
  South Oxhey is a suburb of Watford in the Watford Rural parish of the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire, England. It is located in the south western corner of Hertfordshire and close to the boundary with Greater London.
  South Oxhey is a large estate built on land that was formerly part of the Oxhey Hall Estate. There was a manor house here, Oxhey Place, and a chapel. The manor house was owned by the Blackwell family of Crosse and Blackwell fame. It burnt down in 1955. Oxhey Chapel dates from 1612 and is still standing to the south of the parish church of All Saints. The church was opened in 1957 to serve the new estate built after the Second World War by the London County Council. The church was demolished and rebuilt in 2000.
  South Oxhey is a large estate almost exclusively made up of council built properties. This is in stark contrast to the neighbouring estate of Carpenders Park, whose dwellings were predominantly built privately.
  
  wn.com/South_Oxhey
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  Southend-on-Sea
  Southend-on-Sea ( pronunciation (help·info)) is a unitary authority area, town, and seaside resort in Essex, England. The district has Borough status, and comprises the towns of Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, North Shoebury, Prittlewell, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, and Westcliff-on-Sea. The district is situated within the Thames Gateway on the north side of the Thames estuary 40 miles (64 km) east of central London. It is bordered to the north by Rochford and to the west by Castle Point. It is home to the longest leisure pier in the world, The Southend Pier.London Southend Airport is located 2 Miles north of the town Center, and is one of London's 6 Major Airports.
  Originally the "south end" of the village of Prittlewell, Southend became a seaside resort during the Georgian era, attracting many tourists in the summer months to its seven miles^{[citation needed]} of beaches and bathing in the sea. Good rail connections and proximity to London mean that much of the economy has been based on tourism, and that Southend has been a dormitory town for city workers ever since. Southend Pier is the world's longest pleasure pier at 1.34 miles (2158m). It has suffered fires and ship collisions, most recently in October 2005, but the basic pier structure has been repaired each time. There has been significant loss of pier-head facilities since the major fire in 1976.
  
  wn.com/Southend-on-Sea
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  St Albans
  Coordinates: 51°45′18″N 0°20′10″W / 51.755°N 0.336°W / 51.755; -0.336
  St Albans /sɨnt ˈɔːlbənz/ is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around 22 miles (35 km) north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans.
  It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt. Property prices are notoriously high within the district, which is one of the most expensive in the UK.
  St Albans has two official demonyms: Verulamian and Old Albanian. St Albans was a settlement of pre-Roman origin named Verlamion (or Verulam) by the Ancient British, Catuvellauni tribe. It became the first major town on the old Roman road of Watling Street for travellers heading north and became the Roman city of Verulamium.
  Saint Alban, the first British Christian martyr, was beheaded in AD 308 by Maximian on the orders of Emperor Diocletian, who denounced the Christian faith and had ordered the deaths of all subjects and allies of the Roman Empire who refused to give up the faith. Saint Alban consequently gave the town its modern name.
  
  wn.com/St_Albans
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  St Edmundsbury
  St Edmundsbury is a local government district and borough in Suffolk, England. It is named after its main town, Bury St Edmunds. The second town in the district is Haverhill.
  The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 (with the abolition of West Suffolk) by the merger of the Borough of Bury St Edmunds, Haverhill Urban District, Clare Rural District and Thingoe Rural District.
  Until March 2009 its main offices were in Bury St Edmunds (Angel Hill and Western Way). Thereafter a purpose built complex, West Suffolk House housed both St Edmundsbury and Suffolk County Council staff.
  In 2008 the Council submitted a proposal to the Boundary Commission which would see it as central to a new West Suffolk unitary council. Despite the considerable energies used to promote this concept the proposal was rejected and no unitary scheme for Suffolk was adopted. (For more details see also Suffolk.)
  In October 2011 St Edmundsbury Borough Council and Forest Heath District Council agreed to have one chief executive, a shared management team and a combined workforce, creating initial savings of more than £2million.
  
  wn.com/St_Edmundsbury
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  Stanmore
  Coordinates: 51°37′01″N 0°19′30″W / 51.6170°N 0.3250°W / 51.6170; -0.3250
  Stanmore is a suburban area of the London Borough of Harrow, in northwest London. It is situated 11 miles (18 km) northwest of Charing Cross. The area is home to Stanmore Hill, one of the highest points of London, 152 metres (499 ft) high.
  The area was recorded in the Domesday Book as Stanmere, the name deriving from the Old English stan, 'stony' and mere, 'a pool'. There are outcrops of gravel on the clay soil here and the mere may have been one of the ponds which still exist. By 1574 the area had become known as Great Stanmore to distinguish it from Little Stanmore.
  Stanmore Village railway station was open for train services between 1890 and 1952. Stanmore tube station opened in 1932.
  Stanmore had an outstation from the Bletchley Park codebreaking establishment, where some of the Bombes used to decode German Enigma messages in World War Two were housed.
  Stanmore was also home to RAF Bentley Priory from where the Battle of Britain was controlled, also formerly to RAF Stanmore Park, HQ of Balloon Command. RAF Stanmore Park closed in 1997 and is now a housing estate and RAF Bentley Priory closed in 2009.
  
  wn.com/Stanmore
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  Stevenage
  Stevenage is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England. It is situated to the east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), and is between Letchworth Garden City to the north, and Welwyn Garden City to the south.
  Stevenage is roughly 30 miles (50 km) north of central London. Its population was 1,430 in 1801, 4,049 in 1901, 79,724 in 2001 and 84,651 in 2007. The largest increase occurred in the 1950s and 1960s, after Stevenage was designated a new town under the New Towns Act of 1946.
  Two films have been filmed and set in Stevenage, Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush and Boston Kickout. Spy Game was partly filmed in Stevenage but set in Washington, D.C. The BBC sitcom Saxondale was set and filmed almost entirely in Stevenage.
  Stevenage may derive from Old English stiþen āc / stiðen āc / stithen ac (various Old English dialects cited here) meaning '(place at) the strong oak'.
  The name was recorded as Stithenæce, c.1060 and Stigenace in 1086 in the Domesday Book.
  The present site of Stevenage lies near a Roman road that ran from Verulamium to Baldock. Some Romano-British remains were discovered during the building of the New Town, and a hoard of 2,000 silver Roman coins was discovered in 1986 during new house building in the Chells Manor part of Stevenage. The most substantial evidence of activity from Roman times are the Six Hills, six tumuli by the side of the old Great North Road - presumably the burial places of a local family.
  
  wn.com/Stevenage
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  Suffolk Coastal
  Suffolk Coastal is a local government district in Suffolk, England. Its council is based in Woodbridge. Other towns include Felixstowe.
  The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of the municipal borough of Aldeburgh, along with Felixstowe, Leiston-cum-Sizewell, Saxmundham and Woodbridge urban districts, and Blyth Rural District and Deben Rural District.
  There are 117 civil parishes and towns in Suffolk Coastal.
  Suffolk Coastal (Parliamentary Constituency)
  Coordinates: 52°05′46″N 1°19′22″E / 52.0961°N 1.3227°E / 52.0961; 1.3227
  
  wn.com/Suffolk_Coastal
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  Tendring
  Tendring is a local government district in North East Essex, England. It extends from the River Stour in the north, to the coast and the River Colne in the south, with the coast to the East and the town of Colchester to the west. Its council is based in Clacton-on-Sea. Towns in the district include Frinton-on-Sea, Walton-on-the-Naze, Brightlingsea and Harwich. Large villages in the district include St Osyth and Great Bentley.
  Sometimes referred to as the "Tendring Peninsula", the district was formed on 1 April 1974 as a merger of the borough of Harwich, with Brightlingsea, Clacton and Frinton and Walton urban districts, and Tendring Rural District. The name Tendring comes from the ancient Tendring Hundred which is named after the small Tendring village at the centre of the area. The Tendring Poor Law Union covered the same area as the present district.
  During the English civil war, the witch-finder general, Matthew Hopkins carried out many trials throughout this and the surrounding area especially in the towns of Manningtree and Mistley on the River Stour.
  
  wn.com/Tendring
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  The Crystal Palace
  The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and plate-glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's 990,000 square feet (92,000 m²) of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in the Industrial Revolution. Designed by Joseph Paxton, the Great Exhibition building was 1,851 feet (564 m) long, with an interior height of 128 feet (39 m). Because of the recent invention of the cast plate glass method in 1848, which allowed for large sheets of cheap but strong glass, it was at the time the largest amount of glass ever seen in a building and astonished visitors with its clear walls and ceilings that did not require interior lights, thus a "Crystal Palace".
  After the exhibition, the building was rebuilt in an enlarged form on Penge Common next to Sydenham Hill, an affluent South London suburb full of large villas. It stood there from 1854 until its destruction by fire in 1936. The name Crystal Palace (the satirical magazine Punch usually gets the credit for coining the phrase) was later used to denote this area of south London and the park that surrounds the site, home of the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.
  
  wn.com/The_Crystal_Palace
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  Thurrock
  Thurrock is a unitary authority with borough status in the English ceremonial county of Essex. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The local authority is Thurrock Council.
  It lies on the River Thames just to the east of London. With over 18 miles (29 km) of riverfront it covers an area of 64 square miles (166 km²), with more than half defined as Green Belt. With Greater London to the west and the river to the south, the county of Essex abuts the Borough to the north and east, and across the river lies Kent.
  The local authority is Thurrock Council. Elections are held 3 out of every 4 years. In the last election in 2012, Labour took control after a period in which no party had overall control.
  Thurrock is covered by two parliamentary constituencies. Thurrock includes most of the borough while South Basildon and East Thurrock includes some wards in the east of the borough. Both seats were Conservative gains from Labour at the 2010 general election.
  
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  Tring
  Coordinates: 51°47′46″N 0°39′33″W / 51.7962°N 0.6592°W / 51.7962; -0.6592
  Tring is a small market town and also a civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in Hertfordshire, England. Situated 30 miles (48 km) north-west of London and linked to London by the old Roman road of Akeman Street, by the modern A41, by the Grand Union Canal and by rail lines to Euston Station, Tring is now largely a commuter town in the London commuter belt.
  Tring is positioned in west Hertfordshire, adjacent to the Buckinghamshire border, at a low point in the Chiltern Hills known as the 'Tring Gap'. This has been used as a crossing point since ancient times, being at the junction of the Icknield Way and under the Romans Akeman Street, the major Roman road linking London to Cirencester. It is transected east and west by the ancient earthwork called Grim's Dyke. It is located at the summit level of the Grand Union Canal and both the canal and railway pass through in deep cuttings. Tring railway cutting is 4 km (2.5 mi) long and an average of 12 m (39 ft) deep and is celebrated in a series of coloured lithographs by John Cooke Bourne showing its construction in the 1830s.
  
  wn.com/Tring
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  UK
  The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
  The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
  
  wn.com/UK
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  United Kingdom
  The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
  The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
  
  wn.com/United_Kingdom
• 
  United States
  The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
  At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.
  
  wn.com/United_States
• 
  Uttlesford
  Uttlesford is a local government district in Essex, England. Its council is based in Saffron Walden.
  Its name is derived from the ancient Hundred of the same name.
  The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the borough of Saffron Walden, Dunmow Rural District and Saffron Walden Rural District.
  In 2001, Uttlesford was voted as the best place to live in England, in a survey by the Sunday Times newspaper. A range of factors, including housing costs, quality of schools, and low crime contributed to the overall result.^{[citation needed]}
  Uttlesford District includes Stansted Airport, which is its major employer.
  Uttlesford has recently been found to be the healthiest place to live in the UK, due to the relatively low level of obesity problems in the area.^{[citation needed]}
  In May 2006, a report commissioned by British Gas showed that housing in Uttlesford produced the highest average carbon emissions in the country at 8,092 kg of carbon dioxide per dwelling. In response the council stated We try and lead by example but there is nothing else we can do to get people to save energy.
  
  wn.com/Uttlesford
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  Ware, Hertfordshire
  Coordinates: 51°49′01″N 0°01′45″W / 51.817°N 0.0292°W / 51.817; -0.0292
  Ware is a town of around 18,000 people in Hertfordshire, England close to the county town of Hertford. It is also a civil parish in East Hertfordshire district. The Prime Meridian passes to the east of Ware.
  The town lies on the north-south A10 road which is partly shared with the east-west A414 (for Hertford to the west and Harlow to the east). There is a large viaduct over the River Lea at Kings Meads. The £3.6m two-mile bypass opened on 17 August 1976. At the north end of the bypass is the Wodson Park Sports Centre, with an athletics track, and Hanbury Manor, a hotel and country club. The former route of the A10 is now the A1170. The railway station is on the Hertford East Branch Line and operated by Greater Anglia and is only single track.
  Archaeology has shown that Ware has been occupied since at least the Mesolithic period (which ended about 4000 BC) The Romans had a sizable settlement here and foundations of several buildings, including a temple, and two cemeteries have been found. A well-preserved Roman skeleton of a teenage girl has also been found. Ware was on Ermine Street, the Roman road from London to Lincoln. It has been said that Ware is one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe.
  
  wn.com/Ware,_Hertfordshire
• 
  Watford
  Watford ⁱ/ˈwɒtfərd/ is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated 18 miles (29 km) northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.
  Watford was created as an urban district under the Local Government Act 1894, and became a municipal borough by grant of a charter in 1922. The borough had 79,726 inhabitants at the time of the 2001 Census. The most recent official estimates put the population of Watford at 79,600 at mid-2006.
  The nearby areas of Croxley Green, Bushey, Rickmansworth, Chorleywood, Kings Langley, Abbots Langley, Carpenders Park and South Oxhey, located in Three Rivers and Hertsmere districts, also form part of the Watford postcode area. The Watford subdivision of the Greater London Urban Area, which includes much of the neighbouring districts, had a total population of 120,960 in the 2001 census.
  Watford stands on a low hill near the point at which the River Colne was forded by travellers between London and the Midlands. This route, originally a pre-Roman trackway, departed from the ancient Roman Watling Street at Stanmore, heading for the Gade valley and thence up the Bulbourne valley to a low and easily traversed section of the Chiltern Hills near Tring. The modern High Street follows the route of this road.
  
  wn.com/Watford
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  Watford Gap
  The Watford Gap is located at a minor gap between two slight hills in the county of Northamptonshire, England. Engineers from Roman times onwards have found it to be an appropriate route connecting the Midlands with the South East.
  In a width of 400 metres (0.25 mi) the A5 road, the West Coast Main Line railway, the M1 motorway and a branch of the Grand Union Canal all traverse the gap in parallel.
  An easy route between the London and Birmingham areas passes through or close to the small village of Watford, Northamptonshire, located near Daventry and Long Buckby. In the era of Roman Britain, the Watling Street Roman road, an important route from SE to NW, utilised the gap. This road developed into the A5 trunk route.
  Later the road was joined by the Leicester Arm of the Grand Union Canal. Just to the north of the Gap, this canal passes through the Watford Locks.
  The historical geographic importance of the area led to many modern communication routes passing through this narrow gap: the coming of the railways brought the London and Birmingham Railway linking London to Birmingham and later on to Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow. This is known today as the West Coast Main Line. The most recent addition, in 1959, was the M1, Britain's first inter-urban motorway which links London and Yorkshire; together with the first motorway service station.
  
  wn.com/Watford_Gap
• Watford Rural
  Coordinates: 51°38′13″N 0°21′50″W / 51.637°N 0.364°W / 51.637; -0.364 Watford Rural is a civil parish in the Three Rivers district of, Hertfordshire, England. The parish covers the areas known as South Oxhey and Carpenders Park, which although part of the Watford urban area, do not form part of the borough of Watford. Despite its name it is largely urbanised, with a population of 20,250 according to the 2001 census.
  The parish was formed in 1894 from part of the ancient parish of Watford, which was subdivided to form new civil parishes of Watford Rural and Urban. It was in Watford Rural District (covering a larger area), and then became part of Three Rivers district in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Watford_Rural
• 
  Waveney
  Waveney is a local government district in Suffolk, England, named after the River Waveney that forms its north-west border. The district council is based in Lowestoft, the major settlement in Waveney, which is the only unparished area in the district. The other towns in the district are Beccles, Bungay, Halesworth and Southwold.
  The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of the municipal boroughs of Beccles, Lowestoft and Southwold, along with Bungay and Halesworth urban districts, Wainford Rural District and part of Lothingland Rural District. The last elections to the council were held on 5th May 2011 when the council moved to a Whole Council election system meaning all 48 council seats were contested. Before the 2011 elections the council was under Conservative Party control.
  As a result of the 2011 election the Conservatives lost overall control, with both it and the Labour party represented by 23 councillors, the balance of the council being made up of one Green Party and one Independent councillor. A series of procedural moves led to the formation of a Conservative-led administration.
  
  wn.com/Waveney
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  WD postcode area
  Coordinates: 51°39′40″N 0°23′24″W / 51.661°N 0.390°W / 51.661; -0.390
  The WD postcode area, also known as the Watford postcode area, is a group of 13 postcode districts around the town of Watford in Hertfordshire, England. The main sorting office is in Watford (Ascot Road WD18) and it is divided into seven post towns.
  In October 2010 the Watford Observer published a story stating the Watford Mail Centre and Kings Langley Delivery Office would be closing with operations moving to a new centre in Hemel Hempstead with the loss of 300 jobs. The mail is now processed at the Home Counties North Mail Centre.
  The WD3 district also covers the north western extremity of London - a small and mostly unpopulated protrusion of Harefield in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It also extends into the Chiltern district of Buckinghamshire to include the village of Chenies.
  The approximate coverage of the postcode districts:
  In September 2000 districts WD17-18 and WD23-25 were created from the recoding of the WD1 and WD2 districts. BUSHEY is a new post town; having previously been part of the WD2 district of WATFORD. This was due to postcode exhaustion of WD1 and WD2 Another reason for the postcode revision was the old WD2 area included Bushey with North Watford. Bushey was to all intents a section of Watford sorting office up until 2000, all mail for WD2 was cut and tipped at Watford office. To change this new codes were created to enable direct bags to be opened at Bushey delivery office. Local union reps claim (archaic) that the reason Bushey Delivery Office was included with Watford was so Watford postal workers would attract outer London weighting as Bushey was in the London Metropoilitan Police area at the time.
  
  wn.com/WD_postcode_area
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  Welwyn Garden City
  Coordinates: 51°48′22″N 0°11′36″W / 51.8062°N 0.1932°W / 51.8062; -0.1932
  Welwyn Garden City ( /ˈwɛlɪn/) is a town within the Welwyn Hatfield borough of Hertfordshire, England. It is located approximately 20 miles (32 km) from Kings Cross. Welwyn Garden City was the second garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948).
  It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and exemplifies the physical, social and cultural planning ideals of the periods in which it was built. Because of its historical importance it attracts visitors from around the world.
  Welwyn Garden City was founded by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the 1920s following his previous experiment in Letchworth Garden City. Howard had called for the creation of planned towns that were to combine the benefits of the city and the countryside and to avoid the disadvantages of both. The Garden Cities and Town Planning Association had defined a garden city as
  "a town designed for healthy living and industry of a size that makes possible a full measure of social life but not larger, surrounded by a rural belt; the whole of the land being in public ownership, or held in trust for the community"
  
  wn.com/Welwyn_Garden_City
• 
  Welwyn Hatfield
  The Borough of Welwyn Hatfield is a local government district in southern Hertfordshire, England.
  Its covers the two towns of Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield, along with numerous smaller settlements from Woolmer Green in the north to Little Heath in the south. Each of the towns has a railway station on the East Coast Main Line and they are close to the A1 road. It borders the London Borough of Enfield.
  The district was formed on 1 April 1974, as a merger of the Welwyn Garden City urban district, with the Hatfield and Welwyn rural districts. It petitioned for borough status in 2005, which was agreed to by the Privy Council on 15 November 2005. In April 2006 a charter conferring borough status was granted, and the title of the council officially changed to Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council on 22 May 2006. The first Mayor of the borough, John Hawkins, was chosen on 22 May.
  Set within the London green belt, the towns still retain something of their own identities. Welwyn Garden City has a famous heritage being one of only two Garden Cities in the country, and is uniquely both Garden City and designated New Town. They function to some extent as dormitory towns for householders who work in London. The Welwyn Viaduct is a locally important landmark.
  
  wn.com/Welwyn_Hatfield
• West Herts College
  West Herts College is a college in Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The College has campuses in Watford, Hemel Hempstead and Kings Langley.
  Courses offered are academic, vocational and apprenticeships. The College works with local secondary schools to offer entry to applicants of 14 years of age and older. Some school pupils may transfer their full-time education to the College in order to restart their education or to take some vocational subjects at Level 1, either as full subjects or as "tasters" (to judge suitability). A few GCSE subjects are offered to gifted pupils. A full range of A-level subjects is offered to students as an alternative to school.
  Tertiary qualifications (foundation and extended degrees and Higher National Diplomas) are offered, overseen by the University of Hertfordshire (UH). The foundation degrees may lead on to full BA or BSc awards elsewhere, while extended degrees provide the entry requirements for a degree course at UH. In addition a number of stand-alone courses are offered to part-time students for personal development or leisure.
  
  wn.com/West_Herts_College

• 
  Anglo-Saxons
  The term Anglo-Saxon is used by some historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Britain beginning in the early 5th century and the period from their creation of the English nation up to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon era denotes the period of English history between about 550 and 1066. The term is also used for the language, now known as Old English, that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in England (and part of southeastern Scotland) between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century.
  The Benedictine monk Bede, writing in the early 8th century, identified the English as the descendants of three Germanic tribes:
  Their language, Old English, which derived from Ingvaeonic West Germanic dialects, transformed into Middle English from the 11th century. Old English was divided into four main dialects: West Saxon, Mercian, Northumbrian and Kentish.
  The term Anglo-Saxon can be found in documents produced in the time of Alfred the Great, who seems to have frequently used the titles rex Anglorum Saxonum and rex Angul-Saxonum (king of the English Saxons). The Old English terms ænglisc ('Angle-kin') and Angelcynn ('gens Anglorum') had already lost their original sense of referring to the Angles, as distinct from the Saxons, when they are first attested. In their earliest sense they referred to the nation of Germanic peoples who settled eastern Britain from the 5th century.^{[citation needed]} The indigenous Britons, who wrote in both Latin and Welsh, referred to these invaders as 'Saxones' or 'Saeson' – the word Saeson is the modern Welsh word for 'English people'; the equivalent word in Scottish Gaelic is Sasannach and in the Irish language, Sasanach.
  
  wn.com/Anglo-Saxons
• Arthur Peacocke
  The Reverend Canon Arthur Robert Peacocke MBE (29 November 1924–21 October 2006) was a British theologian and biochemist.
  Arthur Robert Peacocke was born at Watford in on 29 November 1924. He was educated at Watford Grammar School for Boys, Exeter College, Oxford (BA 1945, MA 1948, BSc 1947, DPhil 1948, DSc 1962, DD 1982), and the University of Birmingham (DipTh 1960, BD 1971).
  He taught at the University of Birmingham from 1948 until 1959 when he was appointed University Lecturer in Biochemistry in the University of Oxford and Fellow and Tutor of St Peter's College. In 1960 he was licensed as a Lay Reader for the Diocese of Oxford and he held this position until 1971, when he was ordained deacon and priest, unusually, both in the same year.
  From 1973 until 1984 he was Dean, Fellow, and Tutor and Director of Studies in Theology of Clare College, Cambridge, becoming a Doctor of Science (ScD) by incorporation of the University of Cambridge.
  In 1984 he spent one year as Professor of Judeo-Christian Studies at Tulane University. He returned to Oxford the following year, becoming Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre, 1988 and again from 1995 until 1999. He was appointed Honorary Chaplain of Christ Church, Oxford in 1988 and Honorary Canon in 1994. Apart from one year during which he was Royden B. Davis Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Georgetown University (1994), he spent the rest of his life in Oxford, living in St John Street, just across the road from another eminent theologian, Henry Chadwick.
  
  wn.com/Arthur_Peacocke
• Barbara Amiel
  Barbara Joan Estelle Amiel, Baroness Black of Crossharbour (born December 4, 1940) is a British-Canadian journalist, writer, and socialite. She is also the wife of former media baron and convicted felon Conrad Black.
  Amiel was born into a Jewish family in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. Her parents divorced when she was eight, after her father, Harold, left her mother for another woman. Her mother subsequently remarried and in November, 1952, the couple emigrated with Barbara, her sister and half-brother, to Hamilton, Ontario. Her father committed suicide in 1956.
  While in England, Amiel attended North London Collegiate School in Canons Park, Edgware, Greater London, an independent girls' school founded by Frances Mary Buss in 1850. Family difficulties—including some financial hardship—during the early years in Canada, precipitated her living independently for periods of time during her adolescence during which she held a variety of jobs to support herself. In 1959, she entered the University of Toronto, where she attended University College and took an honours degree in Philosophy and English. Amiel was an active communist, and was a delegate in 1962 to the Soviet-organised World Festival of Youth and Students in Helsinki, Finland.
  
  wn.com/Barbara_Amiel
• 
  Bradley Walsh
  Bradley Walsh (born 4 June 1960) is an English light entertainer, television actor, comedian and former professional footballer. Walsh rose to fame in the mid 1990s after he became a presenter on The National Lottery.
  Walsh grew up in Leavesden, near Watford. He attended what is now Francis Combe Academy, a comprehensive school in Garston, Hertfordshire. At school, Walsh showed a particular interest in sports and media, of which both he successfully passed 'O' Levels in. He was also a prominent member of the school's football squad, scoring 64 goals during his tenure. In the late 1970s, at the age of 18, Walsh became a professional football player for Brentford and although he failed to make the first team, he was regularly a member of the reserves. Separate ankle fracture injuries finished his career in the game in the early 80s after a promising loan spell with non-league minnows Dunstable, for whom he scored 15 goals in 25 league appearances. Walsh's time at Brentford also saw him play for Barnet on loan, making five league appearances in the 1978–79 season. Walsh was at Barnet at the same time as the legendary, renowned player Jimmy Greaves.
  
  wn.com/Bradley_Walsh
• Christopher J. Date
  Chris Date (born 1941) is an independent author, lecturer, researcher, and consultant, specializing in relational database theory.
  Chris Date attended High Wycombe Royal Grammar School (U.K.) from 1951 to 1958 and received his BA in Mathematics from Cambridge University (U.K.) in 1962. He entered the computer business as a mathematical programmer at Leo Computers Ltd. (London), where he quickly moved into education and training. In 1966, he earned his Master's degree at Cambridge, and, in 1967, he joined IBM Hursley (UK) as a programming instructor. Between 1969 and 1974, he was a principal instructor in IBM’s European education program.
  While working at IBM he was involved in technical planning and design for the IBM products SQL/DS and DB2. He was also involved with Edgar F. Codd’s relational model for database management. He left IBM in 1983 and has written extensively of the relational model, in association with Hugh Darwen.
  His book An Introduction to Database Systems, currently in its 8th edition, is widely regarded as one of the fundamental texts on the subject. It has sold well over 700,000 copies not counting translations, and is used by several hundred colleges and universities worldwide.
  
  wn.com/Christopher_J._Date
• 
  Commodores
  The Commodores are an American funk/soul band of the 1970s and 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed with Motown in November 1972, having first caught the public eye opening for The Jackson 5 while on tour.
  This group is best known for their ballads, such as "Easy" and "Three Times a Lady", but, for the most part, the group mainly recorded funky, driven dance-floor hits which include "Brick House", "The Bump", "Fancy Dancer", and "Too Hot ta Trot". The Commodores originally called themselves the Mystics, but wanted to change the name. To choose a new name William King opened a dictionary and randomly picked a word. "We lucked out," he remarked with a laugh when telling this story to People magazine. "We almost became The Commodes!"^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/Commodores
• 
  Craig Mackail-Smith
  Craig Anthony Robert Mackail-Smith (born 25 February 1984) is a footballer who plays for Brighton & Hove Albion as a striker. He has also played for England C and at full international level for Scotland. He was the winner of League One Player of the Year for the 2010–11 season.
  Mackail-Smith started his career with the youth system at St Albans City in 1999, scoring two goals in 30 starts and 15 substitute appearances. He was released at the end of the 2003 season and joined Arlesey Town where he played for only one season, a highlight of which was knocking Dagenham & Redbridge out of the FA Trophy. He later joined Dagenham & Redbridge in 2004 when the club was in the Football Conference, When he was at the club he scored 14 times in the league he picked up five yellow cards and received he was also substituted three times. then on 29 January 2007 he was signed by Peterborough United with Dagenham retaining 15% of any future transfer fee.
  
  wn.com/Craig_Mackail-Smith
• Cyril Fletcher
  Cyril Fletcher (25 June 1913 – 2 January 2005) was an English comedian; his catchphrase was 'Pin back your lugholes'. He was most famous for his Odd Odes, which was a section of the television show That's Life!. Fletcher had first begun performing the Odd Odes in 1937, long before they first appeared on television (though he did appear on pre-World War II television). He came up with the idea when he was short of material for a radio show. The first Odd Ode was a comic, yet sentimental, reading of Edgar Wallace's war poem Dreaming of Thee. Following this broadcast he was given a regular programme on Radio Luxembourg; it was this show that brought him to national attention.
  He also appeared as a panellist on the popular UK BBC panel show What's My Line? that ran from 1951 to 1963.
  Fletcher was born in Watford, the son of a solicitor, who was the Friern Barnet town clerk. Following schooling at Friern Barnet Grammar School, where he first began to entertain by composing witty poems about his schoolmasters, he graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Fletcher was also a successful businessman, believing it to be important to diversify in such a fickle business as show business. He was the founder of Associated Speakers, an agency for after-dinner speakers, on whose books were the likes of the Duke of Bedford and Lord Longford, as well as himself.
  
  wn.com/Cyril_Fletcher
• Declan Ganley
  Declan James Ganley (born 23 July 1968) is an Irish entrepreneur, businessman and political activist. He is founder and chairman of a political party, Libertas with pan-European ambitions. The party was unsuccessful in this ambition in the 2009 European Parliament Election, succeeding in getting only one of the hundreds of candidates elected, in France.
  Ganley himself was unsuccessful in this election, securing less than 10% of the valid poll. Ganley has started companies in forestry, telecommunications and the Internet and is currently serving as chairman of the board of Rivada Networks. During the 2008 Irish referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon, Ganley and the Libertas Institute campaigned for a No vote. He again campaigned for a No vote in the Irish European Fiscal Compact referendum, 2012.
  Ganley was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, of Irish parents. He returned with his parents to live in Glenamaddy, County Galway, Ireland, at the age of 13, and today lives in Abbeyknockmoy, County Galway with his American wife Delia and their four young children.
  
  wn.com/Declan_Ganley
• 
  Dorothy Thornhill
  Dorothy Thornhill (born 26 May 1955) is the first directly elected mayor of Watford, Hertfordshire, England. She was the Liberal Democrats' first directly elected mayor, and was also the first female directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. She has been Mayor of Watford since May 2002, being re-elected in May 2006, and in May 2010 she was re-elected for a third term.
  In May 2002, Dorothy Thornhill became the first elected mayor of Watford Borough with a majority of over 8000 after counting second choice votes.
  Thornhill increased her majority when she was re-elected as mayor in May 2006, gaining more than 50% of the vote in the first round, with a majority of over 7000.
  Thornhill was ranked the 41st most influential Liberal Democrat in the country, in an article by the Daily Telegraph. They stated:
  "Dorothy Thornhill overcame tough opposition to become the first directly LibDem mayor in 2002 and she was re-elected in 2006. Watford is a target seat for the 'LibDems' at the next election and her tenure as mayor will prove crucial to their fortunes. "
  
  wn.com/Dorothy_Thornhill
• 
  Elgar
  Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO (2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for violin and cello, and two symphonies. He also composed choral works, including The Dream of Gerontius, chamber music and songs. He was appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1924.
  Although Elgar is often regarded as a typically English composer, most of his musical influences were not from England but from continental Europe. He felt himself to be an outsider, not only musically, but socially. In musical circles dominated by academics, he was a self-taught composer; in Protestant Britain, his Roman Catholicism was regarded with suspicion in some quarters; and in the class-conscious society of Victorian and Edwardian Britain, he was acutely sensitive about his humble origins even after he achieved recognition. He nevertheless married the daughter of a senior British army officer. She inspired him both musically and socially, but he struggled to achieve success until his forties, when after a series of moderately successful works his Enigma Variations (1899) became immediately popular in Britain and overseas. He followed the Variations with a choral work, The Dream of Gerontius (1900), based on a Roman Catholic text that caused some disquiet in the Anglican establishment in Britain, but it became, and has remained, a core repertory work in Britain and elsewhere. His later full-length religious choral works were well received but have not entered the regular repertory. The first of his Pomp and Circumstance Marches (1901) is well known in the English-speaking world.
  
  wn.com/Elgar
• 
  Elizabeth Fuller
  Elizabeth Fuller (1644–1709) founded a Free School for boys and girls in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. She is often called Dame Elizabeth Fuller, as a title of respect. In the Victoria County History of Hertfordshire she is referred to as "Mrs Elizabeth Fuller".
  At the end of the 17th century there was already an existing Free School at Watford, which Mrs Elizabeth Fuller of Watford Place found too small. In 1704 she built a new Free School for forty boys and twenty girls on her land next to the churchyard, with rooms for the Master and Mistress, and in 1708 she endowed it with £52 a year.
  The Free School for boys and girls later developed into the separate Watford Grammar School for Boys and Watford Grammar School for Girls. Elizabeth Fuller is remembered every year in the present schools' Founder's Day services. Watford Grammar School for Boys and Watford Grammar School for Girls Website states:
  "In 1704 Elizabeth Fuller of Watford founded a charity school on land adjoining the parish churchyard. The original building, which was known as The Free School, may still be seen. The forty boys and twenty girls were taught to read, write and 'cast accounts'. Every year we hold a Founder's Day service to commemorate the charitable foundation of Watford Grammar School for Boys. With the help of endowments and occasional gifts, Elizabeth Fuller's original charity school survived until the 1880s."
  
  wn.com/Elizabeth_Fuller
• 
  Elton John
  Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor. He has worked with lyricist Bernie Taupin as his songwriter partner since 1967; they have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date.
  In his four-decade career John has sold more than 250 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. His single "Candle in the Wind 1997" has sold over 33 million copies worldwide, and is the best selling single in Billboard history. He has more than 50 Top 40 hits, including seven consecutive No. 1 US albums, 56 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits. He has won six Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Tony Award. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him Number 49 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.
  John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Having been named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1996, John received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for "services to music and charitable services" in 1998.
  
  wn.com/Elton_John
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  Eric Clapton
  Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, (born 30 March 1945) is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time. Clapton ranked second in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and fourth in Gibson's Top 50 Guitarists of All Time.
  In the mid 1960s, Clapton departed from the Yardbirds to play blues with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. In his one-year stay with Mayall, Clapton gained the nickname "Slowhand". Immediately after leaving Mayall, Clapton formed Cream, a power trio with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce in which Clapton played sustained blues improvisations and "arty, blues-based psychedelic pop." For most of the 1970s, Clapton's output bore the influence of the mellow style of J.J. Cale and the reggae of Bob Marley. His version of Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" helped reggae reach a mass market. Two of his most popular recordings were "Layla", recorded by Derek and the Dominos, another band he formed and Robert Johnson's "Crossroads", recorded by Cream. A recipient of seventeen Grammy Awards, in 2004 Clapton was awarded a CBE for services to music. In 1998, Clapton, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, founded the Crossroads Centre on Antigua, a medical facility for recovering substance abusers.
  
  wn.com/Eric_Clapton
• Gerald Moore
  Gerald Moore CBE (30 July 1899 – 13 March 1987) was an English pianist best known for his career as one of the most in-demand accompanists of his day, accompanying many of the world's most famous musicians. Moore was born in Watford but received most of his musical education in Toronto, Canada, to which country his family emigrated when he was a child, and where he was an organist at St Thomas' Church, Huron Street, in Toronto.
  He accompanied notable instrumentalists such as Pablo Casals and the child prodigy Josef Hassid, but is perhaps best remembered for his work with singers, with notable partnerships including Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Victoria de los Ángeles, Elisabeth Schumann, Maggie Teyte and Kathleen Ferrier. He had a particular affinity for the art song (lieder) repertoire; the BBC has featured a number of his recordings in its Building a Library recommendations, including his 1961 recording of Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin with Fischer-Dieskau and the 1958 Salzburg Festival recording of Wolf lieder with Schwarzkopf. He also gave lectures on stage and radio and wrote about music, publishing his much-admired memoir Am I Too Loud?: Memoirs of An Accompanist in 1962. He published two other volumes of autobiography: Farewell Recital: Further Memoirs (1978) and Furthermoore (1983), where he "looks back on great musicians he has known and admired".
  
  wn.com/Gerald_Moore
• 
  Geri Halliwell
  Geraldine Estelle "Geri" Halliwell (born 6 August 1972) is a British pop singer-songwriter, clothes designer, author and actress. Halliwell came to international prominence in the late 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of girl group the Spice Girls. She reportedly amassed a $30 million fortune during her last two years in the group. Halliwell launched her solo career in 1998, releasing her album Schizophonic. She has since released two more studio albums – Scream If You Wanna Go Faster and Passion – as well as four singles that reached number one on the UK Singles Chart: "Mi Chico Latino", "Lift Me Up", "Bag It Up" and "It's Raining Men". In 2008 Halliwell published a book series named Ugenia Lavender. As a solo artist, Halliwell has sold 12 million records worldwide, and been nominated for four Brit Awards (in 2000 and 2002). In 1999 she wrote her first autobiography If Only, in which she described her life as a Spice Girl. Her second autobiography was released in 2002. She is expected to release her fourth studio album "Putting On The Bling" in 2012.
  
  wn.com/Geri_Halliwell
• Grant Benson
  Grant Benson (b. Watford, U.K. 1963) is a British-born broadcaster and music consultant who currently works for Radio Number One in Milan, Italy. Benson started his career in 1981 working for the Israeli "pirate radio" station The Voice of Peace before moving to Radio Caroline, Rete 105 and RTL 102.5.
  His native language is English and he speaks Italian fluently. He currently resides in Lugano, Switzerland.
  Pop Went The Pirates, Keith Skues, Lambs' Meadow Publ. 1994. ISBN 978-0-907398-03-5
  Pirate Radio : Then And Now, Stuart Henry and Mike von Joel, Blandford Press. 1984. ISBN 0-7137-1497-2
  Radio pirata. Rock, libertà, trasgressione e nuovi linguaggi radiofonici. Le straordinarie imprese dei bucanieri dell'etere, Andrea Borgnino, Ed. Persiani
  
  wn.com/Grant_Benson
• 
  Henry I of England
  Henry I (c. 1068/1069 – 1 December 1135) was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106. A later tradition called him Beauclerc for his scholarly interests— he could read Latin and put his learning to effective use— and Lion of Justice for refinements which he brought about in the royal administration, which he rendered the most effective in Europe, rationalizing the itinerant court, and his public espousal of the Anglo-Saxon legal tradition.
  Henry's reign established deep roots for the Anglo-Norman realm, in part through his dynastic (and personal) choice of a Scottish princess who represented the lineage of Edmund Ironside for queen. His succession was hurriedly confirmed while his brother Robert was away on the First Crusade, and the beginning of his reign was occupied by wars with Robert for control of England and Normandy. He successfully reunited the two realms again after their separation on his father's death in 1087. Upon his succession he granted the baronage a Charter of Liberties, which linked his rule of law to the Anglo-Saxon tradition, forming a basis for subsequent limitations to the rights of English kings and presaged Magna Carta, which subjected the king to law.
  
  wn.com/Henry_I_of_England
• 
  Jack Collison
  Jack David Collison (born 2 October 1988) is a Welsh international footballer who plays for West Ham United. Collison is a product of West Ham's youth academy and has quickly progressed from trainee to playing first team football in the Premier League since joining at age sixteen. A versatile, all-rounded midfielder, he is able to play in centre midfield or out wide.
  As a youngster, Collison started out at Peterborough United, and later Cambridge United, but was forced to find another club when Cambridge announced their disbanding of the youth set-up after being relegated from the Football League, due to financial problems. The sixteen-year-old was offered a trial with West Ham and impressed Academy director Tony Carr enough to be offered a first year scholarship.
  Collison continued his development under Carr and his staff at Little Heath before being made reserve team captain at the start of the 2007–08 season. That summer, the teenager also featured in pre-season friendlies against Hornchurch and MK Dons. He was named in the West Ham first team squad for the first time in November 2007 for the home game against Bolton Wanderers, and made his first team debut on 1 January 2008, when he came on as a substitute for the injured Freddie Ljungberg in the Premier League away loss to Arsenal. On 11 April away at Bolton Wanderers, he was handed his first league start in place of the injured Mark Noble.
  
  wn.com/Jack_Collison
• Julian Lloyd Webber
  Julian Lloyd Webber (born 14 April 1951) is a British solo cellist who has been described as the "doyen of British cellists".
  Julian Lloyd Webber is the second son of the composer William Lloyd Webber and his wife Jean Johnstone (a piano teacher). He is the younger brother of the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lloyd Webber was a scholar at the Royal College of Music in London and completed his studies with Pierre Fournier in Geneva in 1973. He made his professional debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London in September 1972 when he gave the first London performance of the cello concerto by Sir Arthur Bliss.
  Lloyd Webber has collaborated with a wide variety of musicians, including Yehudi Menuhin, Lorin Maazel, Neville Marriner, Georg Solti and Esa-Pekka Salonen as well as Stéphane Grappelli, Elton John, Cleo Laine and Eric Whitacre.
  Lloyd Webber has made many recordings, including his BRIT Award winning Elgar Cello Concerto conducted by Yehudi Menuhin (chosen as the finest ever version by BBC Music Magazine), the Dvořák Cello Concerto with Václav Neumann and the Czech Philharmonic, Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations with the London Symphony Orchestra under Maxim Shostakovich and a coupling of Britten's Cello Symphony and Walton's Cello Concerto with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, which was described by Gramophone magazine as "beyond any rival". He has also recorded several CDs of short pieces for Universal Classics including Made in England, Cello Moods, Cradle Song and English Idyll: "It would be difficult to find better performances of this kind of repertoire anywhere on records of today or yesterday or tomorrow" - Gramophone.
  
  wn.com/Julian_Lloyd_Webber
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  LTJ Bukem
  LTJ Bukem is the stage name used by the drum and bass musician, producer and DJ Danny Williamson (born 1967). He and his record labels Good Looking and Looking Good Records are most associated with the jazzy, atmospheric side of drum and bass music.
  He was trained as a classical pianist and discovered jazz fusion in his teenage years, having a jazz funk band at one stage. However by the late 1980s he decided to become a DJ, and gained fame in the rave scene of the early 1990s. As a producer, he released a series of jungle tracks such as "Demon's Theme" (1991), "Atlantis" and "Music" (1993). His most notable release was the track "Horizons" (1995) which attained considerable popularity.
  He then dipped in visibility as a producer, with his work running the London club night Speed and his record label Good Looking Records coming to the fore. A series of compilations entitled Logical Progression highlighted a jazz and ambient influenced side of drum and bass. The style became widely known as intelligent drum and bass, although Bukem himself was opposed to the moniker, unhappy with the implication that other styles of jungle were not intelligent.^{[citation needed]} Bukem also explored the downtempo end of electronic lounge music, with sister label Cookin' and the Earth series of compilations. Some of the artists who rose to fame under Good Looking in this period include Blame, Seba, Big Bud, Blu Mar Ten, DJ Dream, Future Engineers, Tayla, Aquarius (Photek), Peshay, Source Direct and Artemis.
  
  wn.com/LTJ_Bukem
• Mark Oaten
  Mark Oaten (born 8 March 1964 in Watford, Hertfordshire) is a former British Liberal Democrat politician. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Winchester from 1997 to 2010, and was his party's Home Affairs spokesperson from 2003 to 2006. He stood for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats in the election in 2006, but withdrew from the contest when he was hit by a series of scandals which also led to his resignation as Home Affairs spokesperson. He did not run for re-election to the House of Commons at the 2010 general election.
  Oaten was educated at Queens' School, Bushey, and Hatfield Polytechnic.
  Before entering Parliament, Oaten had been a councillor and was employed as a lobbyist by various Westminster public affairs companies. He was leader of the Social Democratic Party group on Watford Borough Council. He stood for the Watford seat at the 1992 general election and polled 10,231 votes, coming third.
  He won the Winchester seat in the 1997 election with a majority of 2, but his election was later declared void by the Election Court. The defeated Conservative former MP Gerry Malone successfully challenged the election on the basis of an established precedent which voided the result where it had been affected by a decision not to count ballot papers which had not been properly stamped.
  
  wn.com/Mark_Oaten
• Matt King (comedian)
  Matt King (born 31 January 1968) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for his role as self-absorbed musician Super Hans in the British sitcom Peep Show.
  King moved to Australia where he worked as a chef before meeting Jimeoin McKeown. McKeown suggested that he become a stand up comedian. King worked in the Australian comedy circuit for 15 years before returning to the UK.
  As an actor he has played many characters, including Elton John and Terry Venables, in the Bafta-nominated comedy series Star Stories, and starred in his own self-penned sketch show Dogface, also on Channel 4. He has appeared in cult comedy series Look Around You and in the third series of Skins, playing Cook's father. He co-starred in the movie Inkheart, co-stars in the Guy Ritchie film Rocknrolla, the British film Bronson, and has a lead role in fantasy thriller Malice in Wonderland. He has also appeared in the third series of Doctor Who as Peter Streete in The Shakespeare Code and was a regular character in the BBC production Jekyll playing computer expert Freeman. He played a ticket tout in the acclaimed independent short film "Brussels" by Misha Manson-Smith.
  
  wn.com/Matt_King_(comedian)
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  Michael Bentine
  Michael Bentine CBE (26 January 1922 – 26 November 1996) was a British comedian, comic actor and founding member of the Goons. He was Peruvian Briton as a result of his father's nationality. In 1971, Bentine received the Order of Merit of Peru following his fund-raising work for the 1970 Great Peruvian Earthquake.
  Bentine was born Michael James Bentin in Watford, Hertfordshire, of a Peruvian father, Adam Bentin, and a British mother, Florence Dawkins, and grew up in Folkestone, Kent, one of his friends being the young David Tomlinson. He was educated at Eton College. He spoke fluent Spanish and French. His father was an early aeronautical engineer for Sopwith aircraft during and after World War I.
  In World War II, he volunteered for all services when the war broke out (the RAF was his first choice owing to the influence of his father's experience), but was initially rejected because of his father's nationality.
  He started his acting career in 1940, in a touring company in Cardiff playing a juvenile lead in Sweet Lavender. He went on to join Robert Atkin's Shakespearean company in Regent's Park, London until he was called up for service in the RAF. He was appearing in a Shakespearean play in doublet and hose in the open-air theatre in London's Hyde Park when two RAF MPs marched on stage and arrested him for desertion. Unknown to him, an RAF conscription notice had been following him for a month as his company toured.
  
  wn.com/Michael_Bentine
• Michaela Breeze
  Michaela Alica Breeze MBE (born 17 May 1979) is a British weightlifter. Breeze was born in Watford and raised in Cornwall and educated at Wadebridge School. She started weightlifting under the guidance of PE teacher Dave Allen.^{[citation needed]} Breeze then went onto Bodmin Community College before attending the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff.^{[citation needed]}
  After nearly eighteen months of starting weightlifting she was put in touch with a new coach, Ken Price. She sustained a back injury in 2000, which saw her miss international competition and training for over a year.
  Breeze is currently a PE teacher at Ivybridge Community College in Devon.^{[citation needed]} She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to weightlifting.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Michaela_Breeze
• 
  Mo Mowlam
  Marjorie "Mo" Mowlam (18 September 1949 – 19 August 2005) was a British Labour Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Redcar from 1987 to 2001 and served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
  Mowlam's time as Northern Ireland Secretary saw the signing of the historic Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1998. Her personal charisma, reputation for plain speaking and her fight against a brain tumour led her to be perceived by many as one of the most popular "New Labour" politicians in the UK. When Tony Blair mentioned her in his speech at the 1998 Labour Party Conference, she received a standing ovation.
  Mowlam was born at 43 King Street, Watford, Hertfordshire, England, the middle of three children of Tina and Frank, but grew up in Coventry, where her father rose to become Coventry's assistant postmaster. She would later be awarded the Freedom of the City in 1999. She was the only one of the family's three children to pass the 11-plus exam. She started at Chiswick Girls' grammar school in West London, then moved to Coundon Court School in Coventry, which, at the time, was one of the first comprehensive schools in the country. She then studied at Trevelyan College, Durham University, reading sociology and anthropology. She joined the Labour Party in her first year. She worked for then-Labour MP Tony Benn in London and American writer Alvin Toffler in New York, moving to the United States with her then-boyfriend and studying for a PhD in political science at the University of Iowa on the effects of the Swiss system of referenda.
  
  wn.com/Mo_Mowlam
• Nick Knight
  Nicholas Verity Knight (born Watford, Hertfordshire, England on 28 November 1969) is a former England cricketer. Knight's middle name was in honour of the 1930s English Test bowler Hedley Verity who was killed in World War II and is a distant family relation. A left-handed opening batsman and a fine fielder, Knight played in 17 Test Matches and 100 One Day Internationals before announcing his retirement from international cricket after the 2003 World Cup.
  He was educated at Felsted School in Essex and Loughborough University and was an outstanding cricketer from an early age. He won the Daily Telegraph 'Young Cricketer of the Year' award in 1989 and he played cricket for Brentwood cricket club in 1989/91. In domestic cricket, he began his career with Essex in 1991 before transferring to Warwickshire four years later. He was captain of Warwickshire from 2003 to 2005, and led them to victory in the County Championship in the 2004 season. He retired from first-class cricket after the 2006 season and is now a member of the Sky Sports cricket commentary team. He finished his career with 16,172 runs at 44.18 and 40 hundreds. His highest score was an unbeaten 303.
  
  wn.com/Nick_Knight
• Nick Leeson
  Nicholas "Nick" Leeson (born 25 February 1967) is a former derivatives broker whose fraudulent, unauthorized speculative trading caused the collapse of Barings Bank, the United Kingdom's oldest investment bank, for which he was sent to prison. Since leaving prison in 1999 he became, and subsequently resigned as, the CEO of Irish football club Galway United and is active on the keynote / after-dinner speaking circuit where he advises companies about risk and corporate responsibility.
  Leeson was born in Watford, where he attended Parmiter's School. After finishing school in 1985 he landed a job as a clerk with a private bank, Coutts. He then moved to Morgan Stanley in 1987 for two years, eventually ending up with Barings in 1989.
  In 1992 he was appointed general manager of a new operation in futures markets on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX). Barings had held a seat on SIMEX for some time, but did not activate it until Leeson was sent over. Leeson was sent to Singapore after he was denied a broker's license in the United Kingdom because of fraud on his application.^{[citation needed]} Neither Leeson nor Barings disclosed this denial when Leeson applied for his license in Singapore.
  
  wn.com/Nick_Leeson
• Philip Glenister
  Philip Haywood Glenister (born 10 February 1963) is a British actor, known for his role as DCI Gene Hunt in British television series Life On Mars and its sequel Ashes To Ashes.
  In the early 1990s, Glenister appeared in various TV series including Heartbeat, Dressing for Breakfast and Silent Witness. In 1997, he guest starred in Sharpe's Justice as Richard Sharpe's half-brother Matt Truman. He played William Dobbin in the 1998 mini-series Vanity Fair.
  From 1998–99, Glenister co-starred as a mini-cab driver who aspires to be a rock star in the series Roger Roger. He played factory boss Mack Mackintosh in the first three series of Clocking Off from 2000–02. In 2001, he appeared in two of the Hornblower TV movies as Horatio's antagonist Gunner Hobbs.
  Glenister played the photographer who took nude photos for a Women's Institute fundraising calendar in the 2003 feature film Calendar Girls. Also in 2003, he appeared in the mini-series State of Play. Glenister played the German commandant, Baron Heinrich Von Rheingarten, in the 2004 mini-series Island at War about the Occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II. He played social reformer and estate manager Mr. Carter in the 2007 BBC costume drama Cranford, as part of a cast including Judi Dench and Francesca Annis.
  
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• 
  Police officer
  A police officer (also known as a policeman or policewoman, and constable in some forces, particularly in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth nations) is a warranted employee of a police force. In the United States, "officer" is the formal name of the lowest police rank; in many other countries "officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank, and the lowest rank is often "constable". Police officers are generally charged with the apprehension of criminals and the prevention and detection of crime, and the maintenance of public order. Police officers may be sworn to an oath, and have the power to arrest people and detain them for a limited time, along with other duties and powers.
  Some police officers may also be trained in special duties, such as counter-terrorism, surveillance, child protection, VIP protection, and investigation techniques into major crime, including fraud, rape, murder and drug trafficking.
  Responsibilities of a police officer are varied, and may differ greatly from within one political context to another. Typical duties relate to keeping the peace, law enforcement, protection of people and property, and the investigation of crimes. Officers are expected to respond to a variety of situations that may arise while they are on duty. Rules and guidelines dictate how an officer should behave within the community, and in many contexts restrictions are placed on what the uniformed officer wears. In some countries, rules and procedures dictate that a police officer is obliged to intervene in a criminal incident, even if they are off-duty. Police officers in nearly all countries retain their lawful powers, while off duty.
  
  wn.com/Police_officer
• 
  Robbie Williams
  Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That.
  Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams left the group in 1995 to launch his solo career. On 15 July 2010, it was announced he had rejoined Take That and that the group intended to release a new album in November 2010 which became the second fastest-selling album of all-time in UK chart history and the fastest-selling record of the century.
  Williams has sold over 70 million records worldwide, which ranks him among the best-selling music artists worldwide. He is the best-selling British solo artist in the United Kingdom and the best selling non-Latino artist in Latin America. Six of his albums are among the top 100 biggest-selling albums in the United Kingdom. He has also been honoured with seventeen BRIT Awards—more than any other artist—and seven ECHO Awards. In 2004, he was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame after being voted as the "Greatest Artist of the 1990s."
  
  wn.com/Robbie_Williams
• Robert Glenister
  Robert Lewis Glenister (born 11 March 1960) is a British actor known for his roles as con man Ash "Three Socks" Morgan in the BBC television series Hustle (which ran for eight series in the UK between 2004 and 2012, Glenister being the only actor to appear in every episode), and Nicholas Blake in the BBC spy drama Spooks.
  Glenister made his first television appearance in the sitcom Sink or Swim in 1980. He has also appeared in shows such as Soldier Soldier, Doctor Who (in the serial The Caves of Androzani, opposite his Sink or Swim co-star Peter Davison), Only Fools and Horses, A Touch of Frost, and Hustle as Ash Morgan, as well as several films.
  He is probably best known for his starring role in the BBC drama Hustle; Ash Morgan is a high-level con-man who has to convincingly play various roles or characters in order to pull off a con and lure a 'mark'. He is the only actor who has appeared in every episode of the series.
  He has also had regular starring roles in the BBC dramas such as Spooks, George Gently and Spartacus.
  
  wn.com/Robert_Glenister
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  Simon Treves
  Frederick Simon Treves, known as Simon Treves, is an English actor, director and writer probably best known for playing Harold 'Stinker' Pinker in three series of ITV's Jeeves and Wooster.
  Born 19 June 1957 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, Treves is the eldest son of actor Frederick Treves and the great-great nephew of Sir Frederick Treves, the surgeon who treated Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man.
  Educated at the King's College School in Wimbledon and Birkbeck, University of London, he trained as an actor at the National Youth Theatre and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
  As an actor, he has played at many of the leading regional British theatres, including the Manchester Royal Exchange, Birmingham Rep, Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, Leicester Haymarket and Salisbury Playhouse. He made his debut with the RSC at Stratford in 1983, and returned in 1986 to play Joey Percival in Shaw's Misalliance at the Barbican, in a cast that included Brian Cox, Jane Lapotaire, Elizabeth Spriggs and Mick Ford. His association with Brian Cox continued in 1995 when Cox cast him as Buckingham in his production of Richard III at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park.
  
  wn.com/Simon_Treves
• Stephen Andrew
  Stephen Andrew is a Canadian journalist born in Watford, England and is best known for his work as a television news reporter and anchor. Andrew also works as a radio talk show host.
  His career began in Ontario writing for local newspapers and later as an announcer and producer for commercial radio. In the 1980s Andrew switched careers, working behind the camera, directing and producing news, sport and talk shows. In Toronto he worked as a story and line producer at CTV on Canada AM.
  After moving to the west coast, Andrew continued his career at Rogers Broadcasting's AM 900. In 1998 Andrew launched the weekend talk show "Sunday Magazine" with co-host David Lennam and the pair also filled in during the afternoon drive show. In 1999 Rogers decided to drop the news and talk show format.
  In April 2000, Andrew stepped in front of the camera working for Shaw TV as a producer, reporter, anchor while hosting a weekly talk show focussing on news and current events. The cable talk show quickly became one of the most talked about programs on Shaw TV earning an award from the Alliance of Community Media.^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/Stephen_Andrew
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  Stuart Parkin
  Stuart Stephen Papworth Parkin is an experimental physicist, IBM Fellow and manager of the magnetoelectronics group at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California. He is also a consulting professor in the Department of Applied Physics at Stanford University and director of the IBM-Stanford Spintronic Science and Applications Center, which was formed in 2004.
  Parkin, a pioneer in the science and application of spintronic materials, made discoveries into the behavior of thin-film magnetic structures that were critical in enabling recent increases in the data density and capacity of computer hard-disk drives. Building on the work of Fert and Grunberg who identified giant magnetoresistance in oscillatory interlayer coupling in magnetic multilayers, he discovered the same effect in sputter deposited magnetic metallic heterostructures in 1989 - the spin valve - which led to IBM's development of the spin-valve read head, which enabled a more than 1,000-fold increase in magnetic hard disk drive data density.
  
  wn.com/Stuart_Parkin
• Sue Cleaver
  Sue Cleaver (born 1965 in Watford, Hertfordshire) is an English actress. She is best known for her regular role in Coronation Street.
  She studied at the Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre (formerly Manchester Polytechnic) and her first television appearance was a small part in an episode of A Touch of Frost. She went on to star in the acclaimed drama series Band of Gold before landing a role in the film Girls' Night alongside Julie Walters and Brenda Blethyn.
  In the late 1990s she had recurring roles as Standish in The Cops, and as Glenda in the Victoria Wood penned sitcom Dinnerladies. She also had a small part in the Johnny Depp/Cate Blanchett movie The Man Who Cried. It was after filming that role in 2000 that she was cast as Eileen Grimshaw in the top rated ITV1 soap opera Coronation Street. Cleaver won praise for her portrayal of Eileen, the mother of a son - Todd - who struggles with his sexuality and announces he is gay. The character of Todd has since left the show but Eileen remains one of the more popular characters among fans.
  
  wn.com/Sue_Cleaver
• Terry Scott
  Owen John "Terry" Scott (4 May 1927 - 26 July 1994) was an English actor and comedian who appeared in seven Carry On films. He also appeared in BBC1's popular domestic sitcom Terry and June with June Whitfield. As a regular comedy performer, he went on to become one of Britain's top stars.
  Scott was born and raised in Watford and educated at Watford Field Junior School and Watford Grammar School for Boys. He was the youngest of his parents three children, and the only surviving son after his brother Aubrey died when Scott was six. He studied accounting and served in the Navy during World War II. With Bill Maynard he appeared at Butlin's Holiday Camp in Skegness and partnered him in the TV series Great Scott, It's Maynard!. During the early 1960s, he became well known to television audiences for his role alongside Hugh Lloyd in Hugh and I. Scott later appeared with Lloyd as gnomes in the 1969 sitcom The Gnomes of Dulwich.
  Scott is best remembered for starring alongside June Whitfield in several series of the comedy Happy Ever After and its successor, Terry and June. They also starred together in the film version of Bless This House.
  
  wn.com/Terry_Scott
• Tim Lovejoy
  Timothy Lovejoy (born 28 March 1968) is a British television presenter most famous for hosting Saturday morning football programme Soccer AM alongside Helen Chamberlain for over a decade.
  He began his television career as a covering VJ for MTV UK. He then joined Planet 24, working as a researcher for The Big Breakfast before going on to produce the show.
  Richard Marson's book celebrating fifty years of Blue Peter also comments that Lovejoy auditioned as a presenter in the 1990s.^{[citation needed]}
  Lovejoy began hosting and producing football show Soccer AM on SKY Television in 1996, with Helen Chamberlain. He remained on the show for eleven years.
  Following the success of Soccer AM, Lovejoy became a radio DJ, joining Xfm before moving to Virgin Radio, where he briefly presented a Sunday-afternoon show. He also hosted Tim Lovejoy and the Allstars, a show similar to TFI Friday, on Sky One, on which he chatted with celebrities, between performances from a variety of bands.
  In 2006, Lovejoy was appointed as the co-host of the car show Fifth Gear on Five for one series.
  
  wn.com/Tim_Lovejoy
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  Vinnie Jones
  Vincent Peter "Vinnie" Jones (born 5 January 1965) is an English actor and retired footballer.
  Born in Hertfordshire, England, Jones represented and captained the Welsh national football team, having qualified via a Welsh grandparent. As a member of the "Crazy Gang", Jones won the 1988 FA Cup Final with Wimbledon, a club for which he played well over 200 games during two spells between 1986 and 1998. He also previously played for Chelsea and Leeds United. Jones appeared in Celebrity Big Brother 2010, where he finished in third place behind Dane Bowers and Alex Reid.
  He has capitalised on his tough man image as a footballer and is known as an actor for his aggressive style and intimidating demeanour, often being typecast into roles as coaches, hooligans and violent criminals.
  Jones was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, to Peter Jones (a gamekeeper) and Glenda Harris Jones.
  Jones started his football career in 1984 at Alliance Premier League side Wealdstone, during which time he combined playing football with being a hod carrier. He played one season with second-level Swedish club IFK Holmsund in 1986 and helped them win the league.
  
  wn.com/Vinnie_Jones
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  Virgil
  Publius Vergilius Maro (October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil /ˈvɜrdʒəl/ in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid. A number of minor poems, collected in the Appendix Vergiliana, are sometimes attributed to him.
  Virgil is traditionally ranked as one of Rome's greatest poets. His Aeneid has been considered the national epic of ancient Rome from the time of its composition to the present day. Modeled after Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, the Aeneid follows the Trojan refugee Aeneas as he struggles to fulfill his destiny and arrive on the shores of Italy—in Roman mythology the founding act of Rome. Virgil's work has had wide and deep influence on Western literature, most notably the Divine Comedy of Dante, in which Virgil appears as Dante's guide through hell and purgatory.
  Virgil's biographical tradition is thought to depend on a lost biography by Varius, Virgil's editor, which was incorporated into the biography by Suetonius and the commentaries of Servius and Donatus, the two great commentators on Virgil's poetry. Although the commentaries no doubt record much factual information about Virgil, some of their evidence can be shown to rely on inferences made from his poetry and allegorizing; thus, Virgil's biographical tradition remains problematic.
  
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  Yehudi Menuhin
  Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE (22 April 1916 – 12 March 1999) was an American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985. He is often considered to be one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century.
  Yehudi Menuhin was born in New York City, United States, to Bielorussian Jewish parents from what is now Belarus. His sisters were the concert pianist and human rights worker Hephzibah Menuhin and the pianist, painter, and poet Yaltah Menuhin. Through his father Moshe Menuhin, a former rabbinical student and anti-Zionist writer, Menuhin was descended from a distinguished rabbinical dynasty.
  Menuhin began violin instruction at age four under violinist Sigmund Anker; his parents had wanted Louis Persinger to be his teacher, but Persinger refused. Menuhin displayed extraordinary talents at an early age. His first solo violin performance was at the age of seven with the San Francisco Symphony in 1923. Persinger then agreed to take Menuhin as a student. When the Menuhins went to Paris, Persinger suggested Yehudi go to his own teacher, Eugène Ysaÿe. He did have one lesson with Ysaÿe, but did not like his method or the fact that he was very old. Instead, he went to the Romanian composer and violinist George Enescu, after which he made several recordings with his sister Hephzibah. He was also a student of Adolf Busch. In 1929 he played in Berlin, under Bruno Walter's baton, three concerti by Bach, Brahms and Beethoven. In 1932 he recorded Edward Elgar's Violin Concerto in B minor for HMV in London, with the composer himself conducting, and between 1934 and 1936 he made the first integral recording of Johann Sebastian Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin.
  
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