Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is near the Inns of Court and Temple Church, along with Blackfriars station. The south end is near the Tate Modern art gallery and the Oxo Tower.

The first fixed crossing at Blackfriars was a 995 feet (303 m) long toll bridge designed in an Italianate style by Robert Mylne and constructed with nine semi-elliptical arches of Portland stone. Beating designs by John Gwynn and George Dance, it took nine years to build, opening to the public in 1769. It was the third bridge across the Thames in the then built-up area of London, supplementing the ancient London Bridge, which dated from several centuries earlier, and Westminster Bridge. It was originally named "William Pitt Bridge" (after the Prime Minister William Pitt) as a dedication, but its informal name relating to the precinct within the City named after the Blackfriars Monastery, a Dominican priory which once stood nearby, was generally adopted.

Norman John Baker (born 26 July 1957) is a British Liberal Democrat politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewes in East Sussex since 1997. Since May 2010 he has been Parliamentary Under Secretary for the Department for Transport.

Born in Aberdeen, Baker's family moved to Hornchurch in East London in 1968. He was educated at the Royal Liberty School in Gidea Park, near Romford, and at Royal Holloway College, University of London, where he earned a BA degree in German & History in 1978.

Baker was a regional director for Our Price Records for five years from 1978. He worked at Malling Street Service Station from 1983 to 1985. He taught English as a foreign language from 1985–97, with a spell as a Liberal Democrat environment researcher in the House of Commons in 1989–90. In 1987, he was elected as a councillor on the Lewes District Council, and two years later was also elected to the local county council of East Sussex. He became the Leader of Lewes District Council in 1991, a position he held until his election as an MP.

Roberto Calvi (13 April 1920–17 June 1982) was an Italian banker dubbed "God's Banker" by the press because of his close association with the Holy See. A native of Milan, Calvi was Chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed in one of modern Italy's biggest political scandals. A source of enduring controversy, his death in London in June 1982 was ruled a murder after two coroner's inquests and an independent investigation. In Rome, in June 2007, five people were acquitted of the murder.

Claims have been made that factors in Calvi's death were the Vatican Bank, Banco Ambrosiano's main shareholder; the Mafia, which may have used Banco Ambrosiano for money laundering; and the Propaganda Due or P2 clandestine Masonic Lodge.

Roberto Calvi was the chairman of Italy's second largest private bank, Banco Ambrosiano when it went bankrupt in 1982. In 1978, the Bank of Italy had produced a report on the Banco Ambrosiano, which found that several billion lire had been exported illegally,which led to criminal investigations. In 1981, Calvi was tried, given a four-year suspended sentence and fined $19.8 million for tranferring $27 million out of the country in violation of Italian currency laws. He was released on bail pending appeal and kept his position at the bank. During his short spell in jail he attempted suicide. Calvi's family maintains that he had been manipulated by others and was innocent of crimes attributed to him.

Robert W. Paul (3 October 1869 – 28 March 1943) was a British electrician, scientific instrument maker and early pioneer of British film.

He was born in Highbury, London, and began his technical career learning instrument-making skills at the Elliott Brothers, a firm of London instrument makers founded in 1804, followed by the Bell Telephone Company in Antwerp. In 1891, he established an instrument-making company, Robert W. Paul Instrument Company, initially with a workshop at 44 Hatton Garden, London, later his office.

In 1894, he was approached by two Greek businessmen who wanted him to make copies of an Edison Kinetoscope that they had purchased. He at first refused, then found to his amazement that Edison had not patented the invention in Britain. Subsequently, Paul himself would go on to purchase a Kinetoscope, intent on taking it apart and re-creating an English-based version. He manufactured a number of these, one of which was supplied to Georges Méliès.

However, the only films available were 'bootleg' copies of those produced for the Edison machines. As Edison had patented his camera (the details of which were a closely guarded secret), Paul resolved to solve this bottleneck by creating his own camera. He was introduced to Birt Acres, a photographic expert, who had invented a device to move film as part of the developing process. Paul thought that Acre's principle could be used in a camera. This camera, dubbed the Paul-Acres Camera, invented in March 1895, would be the first camera made in England.