Twickenham

Coordinates: 51°26′56″N 0°20′13″W / 51.449°N 0.337°W / 51.449; -0.337

Twickenham is a town in south west London on the River Thames in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, located 10 miles (16 km) southwest of the centre of London. The administrative headquarters of the borough are at York House in Twickenham, which is of equal importance to Richmond in the London Plan. It expanded rapidly during the suburban growth of London from 1881 until 1961, when its population grew and its farms and common were converted to other use. In 1926 it was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Twickenham, which merged into the present Greater London borough in 1965.

This area has three grand period mansions with public access: York House, Marble Hill and Strawberry Hill House. Another has been lost, that belonging to 18th century aphoristic poet Alexander Pope. Among these is the Neo-Gothic prototype home of Horace Walpole which has given its name to a whole district, Strawberry Hill, and is linked with the oldest Roman Catholic university in the country, St Mary's University, Twickenham.

Twickenham Stadium

Twickenham Stadium (/ˈtwɪkənəm/; usually known as Twickenham or Twickers) is a stadium in Twickenham, south west London, England.

It is primarily a venue for rugby union and hosts England's home test matches, the Middlesex Sevens, the Aviva Premiership final, the LV Cup and Heineken Cup matches. It has also hosted concerts by Rihanna, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Genesis, U2, The Rolling Stones, The Police, Eagles, R.E.M. and Lady Gaga, rugby league's Challenge Cup final and conventions of Jehovah's Witnesses, and will host American football as part of the NFL International Series from 2016.

It is the second largest stadium in the UK, after Wembley Stadium, and the fourth largest in Europe.

Overview

Twickenham is often referred to as the home of rugby union. The stadium, owned and operated by the RFU, hosts rugby union fixtures year round. It is the home of the English rugby union team, who play nearly all their home games at the stadium. Twickenham hosts England's home Six Nations matches, as well as inbound touring teams from the Southern Hemisphere, usually annually around November.

Noel Gallagher

Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English musician, singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He served as the lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the rock band Oasis. Raised in Burnage, Manchester, Gallagher began learning guitar at the age of thirteen. After a series of odd jobs in construction, he worked for local Manchester band Inspiral Carpets as a roadie and technician in 1988. Whilst touring with them, he learned that his brother Liam Gallagher had formed a band of his own, known as the Rain, which eventually took on the name Oasis. After Gallagher returned to England, he was invited by his brother to join Oasis as songwriter and guitarist.

Oasis' debut album, Definitely Maybe (1994), marked the beginning of the band's rise to fame as part of the Britpop movement. Oasis' second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995), reached the top of the album charts in many countries and their third studio album, Be Here Now (1997), became the fastest-selling album in UK chart history. Britpop eventually declined in popularity and Oasis' next two albums failed to revive it. However, the band's final two albums, Don't Believe the Truth (2005) and Dig Out Your Soul (2008), were hailed as its best efforts in over a decade and found renewed success. On 28 August 2009, following an altercation with Liam prior to a gig in Paris, Noel Gallagher announced his departure from Oasis and on 23 October 2009, he confirmed he would embark on a solo career. Gallagher would go on to form Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds are an English rock band formed in 2011 as the solo moniker of former Oasis lead guitarist/songwriter Noel Gallagher. The band consists of former Oasis session pianist Mike Rowe, drummer Jeremy Stacey of The Lemon Trees, The Zutons bassist Russell Pritchard and guitarist Tim Smith. The band also has a variety of guests on their debut album such as the Crouch End Festival Chorus and The Wired Strings.

Since his departure from Oasis in August 2009, many speculated that Gallagher might record a solo album. In July 2011, he held a press conference to confirm that this was the case, after denying rumours from his brother Liam Gallagher that he had already heard the tracks featured on it.

The singles for Gallagher's debut album are "The Death of You and Me", "If I Had a Gun...", "AKA... What a Life!", "Dream On" and "Everybody's on the Run". "AKA... What a Life!" made its debut on a Vauxhall Motors television advertisement.

Gallagher announced that he will begin touring a week after the album is released. He stated, "We're going to go out on tour a week after the album is out. We're going to start off slow in small theatres. If it's good enough to get bigger than that then it'll get bigger than that. I don't think there'll be a huge great big tour this year. I think this year it'll be a quick whizz around the world and try and do the major cities and then it will probably be a bigger tour next year."

Yucca brevifolia

Yucca brevifolia is a plant species belonging to the genus Yucca. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names: Joshua tree, yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca.

This monocotyledonous tree is native to southwestern North America in the states of California, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada, where it is confined mostly to the Mojave Desert between 400 and 1,800 m (1,300 and 5,900 ft) elevation. It thrives in the open grasslands of Queen Valley and Lost Horse Valley in Joshua Tree National Park. A dense Joshua tree forest also exists in Mojave National Preserve, in the area of Cima Dome.

Taxonomy

The name Joshua tree was given by a group of Mormon settlers who crossed the Mojave Desert in the mid-19th century. The tree's unique shape reminded them of a Biblical story in which Joshua reaches his hands up to the sky in prayer. Ranchers and miners who were contemporary with the Mormon immigrants used the trunks and branches as fencing and for fuel for ore-processing steam engines. It is also called izote de desierto (Spanish, "desert dagger"). It was first formally described in the botanical literature as Yucca brevifolia by George Engelmann in 1871 as part of the Geological Exploration of the 100th meridian or Wheeler Survey.