Big Four

Big Four may refer to:

Companies

Big Four (British railway companies)

The Big Four was a name used to describe the four largest railway companies in the United Kingdom in the period 1923–47. The name was coined by The Railway Magazine in its issue of February 1923: "The Big Four of the New Railway Era".

The Big Four were:

The companies were formed as a result of the Railways Act 1921, in a process known as "The Grouping" (of the railways), which came into effect on 1 January 1923.

On 1 January 1948 the companies were nationalised to form British Railways as a result of the Transport Act 1947.

Characterisation

The three larger companies relied heavily on freight (especially coal) and long-distance passenger traffic. The Southern Railway, in contrast, was predominantly a passenger railway, which, despite its small size, carried more than a quarter of the UK's total passenger traffic. This was because the area covered by the railway included many of the dense commuter lines around London, as well as some of the most densely populated parts of the country. It responded to this geography by pursuing a vigorous policy of electrification.

Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest (French: Concours Eurovision de la chanson), often shortened to ESC or Eurovision, is the longest-running annual TV song competition, held, primarily, among the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1956. The competition was based upon the existing Sanremo Music Festival held in Italy.

Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. The contest has been broadcast every year for sixty years, since its inauguration in 1956, and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. It is also one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures having been quoted in recent years as anything between 100 million and 600 million internationally. Eurovision has also been broadcast outside Europe to several countries that do not compete, such as the USA and China. An exception was made in 2015, when Australia was allowed to compete as a guest entrant as part of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the event. In November 2015, the EBU announced that Australia would return in 2016. Since 2000, the contest has also been broadcast over the Internet, via the Eurovision website.