Preston (UK Parliament constituency)

Preston is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2000 by Mark Hendrick, a member of the Labour Party and of the Co-operative Party.

History

The seat was created for the Model Parliament and sent members until at least 1331 then the lack of records until a new (possibly confirmatory) grant of two members to Westminster followed. From 1529 unusually extending beyond the 19th century until 1950 the seat had two-member representation. Party divisions have tended to run stronger since 1931 before which two different parties' candidates frequently came first and second at elections under the bloc vote system.

In 1929 recently elected Liberal, Sir William Jowitt decided to join the Labour Party and called for a by-election (which implies a single vacancy) to support this change of party which he won to take up for two years the position of Attorney General of England and Wales as part of the Government. He became the highest judge during the Attlee Ministry, the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and Speaker of the House of Lords under a then hereditary-dominated House leading to a Conservative majority. Consequently, he was selected to be elevated to a peerage as 1st Earl Jowitt. With no sons was to be the last Earl and wrote a Dictionary of English Law.

Preston (singer)

Samuel Dylan Murray Preston (born 16 January 1982) more commonly known as Preston, is an English singer, who is the lead singer of The Ordinary Boys. He also appeared in the reality television show Celebrity Big Brother in 2006, in which he finished fourth. After The Ordinary Boys split in 2008, he embarked on a songwriting career. In 2013 he officially reunited The Ordinary Boys and in 2015 they released their self-titled comeback album.

Early life

Samuel Preston was born in Worthing, West Sussex. He was educated at Sompting Abbotts public School and Bishop Luffa School. He is son to Anthony and Miranda Preston (born in Philadelphia), and brother to Alex and Lucy Preston. His grandfather is the Princeton University English professor Samuel Hynes. His brother, Alex Preston, is a novelist. In his teenage years Preston lived in Philadelphia with his Mother's side of the family.

Music career

Preston became the lead singer of Worthing-based pop group, The Ordinary Boys. They had a string of top-ten hits in the UK Singles Chart. Their most famous song, "Boys Will Be Boys", featured in the 2007 film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

HM Prison Preston

HM Prison Preston is a Category B men's prison, located in the St Matthew's area of Preston in Lancashire, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.

History

There has been a prison on the current site of HMP Preston since 1790, however it was completely rebuilt as a Victorian radial design prison between 1840 and 1895. Closed from 1931 to 1939, the prison was used by the military from 1939 to 1948. That year, the prison was converted back to civilian use. It was re-roled as a Category B prison for local adult males in 1990.

In October 1999, an inspection report from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons stated that progress at the prison was being impeded by "obstructive and uncooperative staff" who "used a heavy-handed approach with inmates and relied on strength of numbers rather than personal relationships to keep order."

In July 2001, it was revealed that Preston was the most overcrowded prison in England and Wales. Statistics showed that Preston had a 78% rate of overcrowding. Three years later, a report from the Prison Reform Trust again highlighted Preston as being the most overcrowded prison, with 90% of inmates sharing single cells.

Atomic (song)

"Atomic" is a hit song by the American new wave band Blondie, written by Debbie Harry and Jimmy Destri and produced by Mike Chapman. It was released as the third single from the band's Platinum-selling 1979 album Eat to the Beat.

Song information

Atomic was composed by Jimmy Destri and Debbie Harry, who (in the book "1000 UK #1 Hits" by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh) stated "He was trying to do something like "Heart of Glass", and then somehow or another we gave it the spaghetti western treatment. Before that it was just lying there like a lox. The lyrics, well, a lot of the time I would write while the band were just playing the song and trying to figure it out. I would just be scatting along with them and I would just start going, 'Ooooooh, your hair is beautiful.'" The word atomic in the song carries no fixed meaning and functions as a signifier of power and futurism.

The song was produced as a mixture of new wave, rock and disco which had proven to be so successful in their No.1 hit from earlier in 1979, "Heart of Glass". It is written in E natural minor ("Call Me" is written in E♭ natural minor).

Atomic (magazine)

Atomic (or Atomic MPC) was a monthly Australian magazine and online community focusing on computing and technology, with an emphasis on gaming, modding and computer hardware. Atomic was marketed at technology enthusiasts and covered topics that were not normally found in mainstream PC publications, including video card and CPU overclocking, Windows registry tweaking and programming. The magazine's strapline was 'Maximum Power Computing', reflecting the broad nature of its technology content.

In November 2012 publisher Haymarket Media Group announced that Atomic would close and be merged into sister monthly title PC & Tech Authority (beginning with the February 2013 issue of PCTA), although the Atomic online forums would continue to exist in their own right and under the Atomic brand.

History

With a small team of writers led by magazine founder and ex-editor Ben Mansill, who is also the founder of the magazine's only competitor, PC Powerplay, the first issue of Atomic was published in February 2001. This team consisted of John Gillooly, Bennett Ring, Tim Dean and Daniel Rutter. Gillooly and Ring later left the magazine.

Atomic (album)

Atomic is the third studio album by the American rock band Lit, released on October 16, 2001 by RCA Records. It peaked at #36 on the US Billboard 200.

"Happy in the Meantime" is featured on the soundtrack for Mr. Deeds and is played as the credits roll.

"Over My Head" was originally featured on the soundtrack for the 2000 animated science fiction film Titan A.E..

"Lipstick and Bruises" was featured in the soundtrack for the 2001 cult comedy film Out Cold.

"The Last Time Again" was featured in the final credits of the 2001 film American Pie 2, but is mistakenly listed as "Last Time Again."

Track listing

Tracks released as non-LP B-sides

Personnel

Ryan (film)

Ryan is a 2004 animated documentary created and directed by Chris Landreth about Canadian animator Ryan Larkin, who had lived on skid row in Montreal as a result of drug and alcohol abuse. Landreth's chance meeting with Larkin in 2000 inspired him to develop the film, which took 18 months to complete. It was co-produced by Copper Heart Entertainment and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), and its creation and development is the subject of the NFB documentary Alter Egos. The film incorporated material from archive sources, particularly Larkin's works at the NFB.

The film is an animated interpretation of an interview of Larkin by Landreth, and includes interviews with Larkin's previous partner and coworkers, as well as Landreth. Development of the characters was partially inspired by the plastinated human bodies of the Body Worlds exhibition. The distorted and disembodied appearance of the film's characters is based on Landreth's use of psychological realism to portray emotion visually, and expression is modelled by use of straight ahead animation. The animation was created at the Animation Arts Centre of Seneca College in Toronto. Some of the animation was based on cords, mathematical equations modelling the physical properties of curves and used to animate filamentous objects in the film. The visual effects of the film has been described by reviewers and film critics as difficult to describe and having a distinctive visceral style.