Eponym

An eponym is a person, a place, or thing for whom or for which something is named, or believed to be named. For example, Elizabeth I of England is the eponym of the Elizabethan era.

Many genericized trademarks such as aspirin,heroin and thermos are based on their original brand eponyms.

The adjectives derived from eponym, which include eponymous and eponymic, similarly refers to being the person or thing after whom something is named, as "the eponymous founder of the Ford Motor Company" refers to founder's being Henry Ford. Recent usage, especially in the recorded-music industry, also allows eponymous to mean "named after its central character or creator".

History

Time periods have often been named after a ruler or other influential figure:

Elizabethan Express

Elizabethan Express is a 1954 British Transport Film that follows The Elizabethan, a non-stop British Railways service from London to Edinburgh along the East Coast Main Line. Although originally intended as an advertising short, it now acts as a nostalgic record of the halcyon years of steam on British Railways and the ex-LNER Class A4.

It was directed by Tony Thompson, with a tongue-in-cheek poetic commentary written by Paul Le Saux. It is also notable for its music by Clifton Parker, who also wrote the score for Blue Pullman and several other British Transport Films. He was later to write the music for the 1959 version of The Thirty-Nine Steps, which also features an A4.

Synopsis

The film follows the preparation behind the service, as well as focusing on one particular journey. The 'star' of the film is the Gresley A4 60017 Silver Fox, although the film makes a point of featuring many railway employees, for example the maintenance men, the driver and fireman and the station master at Waverley Station "who has a very high sense of occasion". The train completes its journey in its timetabled 6hrs 30mins.

Elizabethan era

The Elizabethan era is the epoch in English history marked by the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia was first used in 1572, and often thereafter, to mark the Elizabethan age as a renaissance that inspired national pride through classical ideals, international expansion, and naval triumph over the Spanish — at the time, a rival kingdom much hated by the people of the land. In terms of the entire century, the historian John Guy (1988) argues that "England was economically healthier, more expansive, and more optimistic under the Tudors" than at any time in a thousand years.

This "golden age" represented the apogee of the English Renaissance and saw the flowering of poetry, music and literature. The era is most famous for theatre, as William Shakespeare and many others composed plays that broke free of England's past style of theatre. It was an age of exploration and expansion abroad, while back at home, the Protestant Reformation became more acceptable to the people, most certainly after the Spanish Armada was repulsed. It was also the end of the period when England was a separate realm before its royal union with Scotland.

The Supersizers...

The Supersizers Go... and The Supersizers Eat... are BBC television series about the history of food, mainly in Britain. Both are presented by journalist and restaurant critic Giles Coren and broadcaster and comedian Sue Perkins.

The series originated in a one off edition in April 2007 as part of a season of programmes on the Edwardian period, "Edwardian Supersize Me", a reference to the film Super Size Me by Morgan Spurlock. This programme set the format for the subsequent television series in that Coren and Perkins adopted the persona of a couple living in the Edwardian period and for a week ate the food which people from that period would have eaten. In addition they would take part in the interests and activities of them too, even going so far as adopting the dress and mannerisms of the time, with plenty of sarcastic humor. Before and after the experience they were subject to medical tests to see how the diet affected them.

As of 2 August 2010 the series was being broadcast on the UKTV channel Good Food. The episodes shown on Good Food were cut to 47 minute versions of the original, to accommodate commercial breaks. The series also broadcasts on Yesterday and Watch.