Coordinates: 58°13′13″N 6°22′59″W / 58.220163°N 6.38301°W / 58.220163; -6.38301

Lewis (Scottish Gaelic: Leòdhas, pronounced [ʎɔː.əs̪], also Isle of Lewis) is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides (an archipelago) of Scotland. The total area of Lewis is 683 square miles (1,770 km²).

Lewis is, in general, the lower lying part of Lewis and Harris, with the other part, Harris, being more mountainous. The flatter, more fertile land means Lewis contains the largest settlement, Stornoway, and three-quarters of the population of the Western Isles. Beyond human habitation, the island's diverse habitats are home to an assortment of flora and fauna, such as the golden eagle, red deer and seals and are recognised in a number of conservation areas.

Lewis is of Presbyterian tradition with a rich history, having once been part of the Norse Kingdom of Mann and the Isles. Today, life is very different from elsewhere in Scotland with Sabbath observance, the Gaelic language and peat cutting retaining more importance than elsewhere. Lewis has a rich cultural heritage as can be seen from its myths and legends as well as the local literary and musical traditions.

Helen Lewis MBE was a pioneer of modern dance in Northern Ireland, and made her name as a dance teacher and choreographer.

She was born in Trutnov, Czechoslovakia, in 1916, and attended Milča Mayerová’s School of Dance in Prague after leaving school. In 1942 she was deported to the Jewish Ghetto in Terezin with her husband Paul. From there, they were sent to Auschwitz and separated. Paul was later to die in Schwarzheide concentration camp, while Helen was eventually sent to Stutthof in northern Poland. After the liberation she returned to Prague and met up with Harry, an old friend whose family had emigrated to Belfast. They married in 1947, and lived in Belfast, where they had two sons, Michael and Robin.

Helen began teaching modern dance and choreographing for theatre and opera, and was a founder member of the Belfast Modern Dance Group.

In 1992 she wrote a book about her experiences before and during the war (A Time To Speak, ISBN 0-7867-0486-1), which was adapted by Sam McCready as a play and performed at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast. In 2001 she was awarded an MBE for her services to contemporary dance. Helen died on 31 December 2009.

Dame Helen Mirren, DBE (born Helen Lydia Mironoff; 26 July 1945) is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.

Mirren was born Helen Lydia Mironoff in Queen Charlotte's Hospital, Chiswick, West London. Her father, Vasiliy Petrovich Mironov (1913–1980), was of Russian origin, and her mother, Kitty (née Kathleen Alexandrina Eva Matilda Rogers; 1909–1996), was English. Mirren's paternal grandfather, Colonel Pyotr Vasilievich Mironov, was in the Tsarist Army and fought in the 1904 Russo-Japanese War. He later became a diplomat, and was negotiating an arms deal in Britain, when he and his family were stranded during the Russian Revolution. The former diplomat became a London cab driver to support his family.

His son, Helen Mirren's father, changed the family name to the Scottish-sounding Mirren in the 1950s and became known as Basil Mirren. He played the viola with the London Philharmonic before World War II, and later drove a cab and was a driving-test examiner, before becoming a civil servant with the Ministry of Transport. Mirren's mother was from West Ham, East London, and was the 13th of 14 children born to a butcher whose father had been the butcher to Queen Victoria. Mirren considers her upbringing to have been "very anti-monarchist".