August 28, 2015

Over the course of several millennia, the world has changed beyond recognition. People from different countries and different professions have sought to contribute to the development of our society. I have collected brief information about the 10 most famous people in Great Britain, whom we have heard, read about, but may not have known that they were British origin.

1. Sir Winston Churchill(1874-1965) - the brightest, smartest and most quotable politician in Great Britain. His phrases are still popular in the UK. When the Second World War was going on, he managed to raise the spirit of the British, when they no longer believed in victory and were waiting for the German invasion. At the same time, he was the initiator of the Cold War, thanks to him, the world became what it is now. Churchill was at the helm of power during the reigns of six British monarchs - from Queen Victoria to Elizabeth II. In addition to being a great politician, Churchill was also a very talented writer and journalist. In 1953, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. He also became an honorary member of the British Academy of Sciences.

2.Diana Spencer - Princess of Wales(1961-1997), first wife of Prince Charles, mother of two sons William and Henry.Name Princess Diana of Wales or, as she is called by numerous fans of this woman all over the world, Lady Di, there is no need to introduce her.

The excessive attention of the paparazzi to the royal family ultimately played a fatal role. Undoubtedly, the media created her worldwide fame, as well as the unconventional view of this courageous woman on solving many life problems, which is not typical for such a conservative European family as the Windsors.

3.Charles Robert Darwin(1809-1882) - a great biologist, naturalist, founder of the theory of the evolution of life on Earth. After graduating from Cambridge University in 1831, he went on a trip around the world on the Beagle ship, the results of which he published in his works: “The Diary of a Naturalist,” “ Zoology of the voyage on the Beagle, "Structure and distribution of coral reefs."

Then Darwin began collecting materials on the heredity, variability and evolution of wild species of animals and plants, and also studied data on methods of selection of domestic animals and cultivated plants, comparing the results of artificial and natural selection, after which he concluded that the basis of the driving force of evolution is natural selection and uncertain variability. And in 1871 he created the work “The Descent of Man and Sexual Selection”, in which Darwin made an assumption about the origin of man from an ape-like ancestor. In addition, Darwin had many scientific works on the life and development of flora and fauna, for which he received awards from scientific societies around the world.

4.Isaac Newton(1643-1727) - one of the most famous people in the history of science. He taught mathematics at the University of Cambridge. His contributions to mathematics, physics and astronomy are significant, so much so that he can even be considered the founder of modern mathematics and physics. He discovered the law of motion and the universal law of gravity. He also studied light and colors and concluded that white color consists of many different colors known as the spectrum.

5.Charles Chaplin achieved maximum popularity by creating the image of the tramp Charlie and actively filming in the format of a short comedy that combined pantomime and slapstick. This was the most sought after content produced by silent films in the 1910s.

6.Admiral Horatio Nelson(1758-1805) — the most outstanding admiral of the British fleet, as he ensured the supremacy of the British fleet on the seas for a hundred years. He is an example for sailors all over the world.

7.Margaret Thatcher(born 1925) – the first and only woman to hold the post of Prime Minister of a European state. In our country she received the nickname “Iron Lady” for her criticism of the Soviet leadership.

But in her country she is very popular, especially after her victory in the Falkland Islands. She was re-elected to the post of Prime Minister three times. As head of government, Thatcher carried out a number of political and economic reforms: she allowed the privatization of a number of unprofitable state-owned enterprises, kept inflation at the lowest level, and faced unemployment problems. But, thanks to skillful leadership, stability and economic growth appeared in the country.

8. The brave conqueror of the oceans also brought worldwide fame to England. James Cook. It is he, since the heyday of the popularity of the Soviet theater actor and singer Vladimir Vysotsky, who has been haunted by the ridiculous stamp of being eaten by cannibals.

In fact, the great and brave captain died in a battle for the property of the ship entrusted to him with the Hawaiians, who were famous for their thieving habits. This was his third expedition around the world...

10. William Shakespeare(1564-1616) – great English playwright and poet, one of the world's most famous playwrights.

In 1564, William Shakespeare was born in the small town of Stratford-upon-Avon. His father really wanted his son to receive a good education and sent him to the local grammar school. Young William loved to watch the performances of actors and actresses who came to Stratford-upon-Avon. He really liked the acting profession and decided to become an actor. To fulfill his dream, he went to London. There he got a job at a local theater, began playing on stage and writing plays. In his works he described the events of contemporary English life. His plays, which were staged in many theaters and then translated into many languages, brought Shakespeare great popularity.

His pen belongs 12 tragedies, 16 comedies, 6 historical chronicles, 4 poems and 154 sonnets.

Best wishes, English University team

WITH best wishes, English University team

At the end of 2002, the BBC invited all residents of the United Kingdom to determine "the greatest Briton in history." By voting, it was determined that the British consider Winston Churchill to be their most outstanding fellow citizen.

However, the overall list of “finalists” consisted of 10 people:

Elizabeth I (1533-1603)
The reign of Elizabeth I, considered one of Britain's most popular monarchs, is called the "Golden Age". During her years on the throne, she strengthened the Protestant faith, ended religious strife, and raised the prestige of the kingdom to an all-time high. English Protestant radicals (Puritans) were dissatisfied with her reforms and left the country.
Two Queen Marys played a fatal role in the life of Elizabeth I. The first, her half-sister, ascended the throne with the goal of returning England to Catholicism. The second, Mary Stuart, had serious claims to the English throne. She was captured, spent 19 years in the Tower and was executed. The main foreign policy victory of Elizabeth I was the defeat of the Great Armada of the Spanish King Philip II.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
The greatest English playwright and one of the best poets in Britain. Born in Startford-upon-Avon in the family of a glover. The exact date of birth is unknown - it is generally accepted that it happened on April 23. Researchers cannot say exactly how Shakespeare became an actor and playwright. His works were very popular both among the people and at court. To this day, theaters all over the world stage Shakespeare’s comedies, tragedies and dramas more often than works by other authors. Shakespeare's contribution to British history is not limited to the stage and sonnets. The British Museum houses a manuscript of the play Sir Thomas More. It is believed that this is the only manuscript of the Bard that has survived to this day.

Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658)
The most prominent figure of the civil war in England in the mid-17th century (cavaliers against “roundheads”). Despite his Puritan upbringing, Cromwell drank, danced, hunted, and appreciated music and theater (even though he banned the latter). Cromwell was not only an excellent parliamentary speaker, but also, as the war showed, a brilliant commander. During the war he received the nickname "Ironside". In 1649, Charles I was executed (“cruel necessity,” according to Cromwell). Repression and war with Charles II began in the country. Cromwell subsequently awarded himself the title of Lord Protector. In fact, he acted as king while England was a republic called the Commonwealth. Cromwell's despotism was meekly tolerated by the people. After his death, the title of Lord Protector passed to his son, who did not possess his father's talents. The monarchy was restored. Charles II ascended the throne in 1661.

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
English mathematician and natural scientist, mechanic, astronomer and physicist. It is generally accepted that the impetus for his thoughts about gravity was an apple that fell before his eyes. The apple gave him the idea that it was falling because the Moon revolves around the Earth - they are affected by the force of universal gravity. However, this idea did not come to his mind as inspiration, but matured over time. Newton studied optics and laid the foundations of differential calculus. In 1688, he was the first to construct a reflecting telescope. Newton also wrote numerous works on theology, chronology, alchemy and chemistry.
Newton's two major works are Principia and Optics. His discoveries were so great that in 1705 he was knighted.

Horatio Nelson (1758-1805)
"England expects everyone to do their duty." These were the words of Admiral Nelson, Britain's most revered military leader, addressed to the army and navy before the Battle of Trafalgar. It is still considered the most important victory of British weapons.
At the age of 12, Nelson joined the Navy. By the age of 20 he became a captain. During the capture of Corsica in 1793, he lost an eye, and 4 years later during the battle in Tenerife he lost his right hand. In 1798, he defeated Napoleon's front on the Nile. He met Emma, ​​Lady Hamilton in Naples. Horatio had a wife, Emma had a husband, but this did not prevent the lovers from having a daughter, Horatio, in 1801. That same year, Nelson became a vice admiral. Under Nelson's leadership, the British fleet had superiority over the French. Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar saved Britain from a French invasion, but cost Nelson his life: he was killed by a sniper on the first day of the battle - October 21, 1805.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859)
Outstanding engineer and inventor. Brunel's first achievement was his participation in his father's project, which completed the construction of the first tunnel under the Thames in 1843. Together with John Scott Russell, he created the Great Britain, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Brunel is also known for improving the workings of the English docks. In Britain, he is revered for the construction of the Great Western railway network, one of the branches of which connected London with Bristol. It was he who proposed introducing a broad gauge railway, replacing the standard one. Brunel also invented power-driven saws, a knitting machine for knitting stockings, a machine for copying drawings, and a nailing machine. He was involved in the construction of bridges and crossings.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
English scientist, author of the theory of the origin of species under the influence of natural selection. The emergence of the theory was given impetus by a trip around the world in the early 1830s, where Darwin was taken as a naturalist.
Darwin was prompted to the formula “survival of the fittest” by the Galapagos finches, which differed from each other in body size and beak size. Those with larger beaks got the best food. They produced healthier offspring. Darwin's conclusions were stunning: it turned out that everything on Earth was created as a result of evolution. Darwin published a number of his studies in 1859 in the book “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.” The book was met with mixed reactions: few people wanted to believe that homo sapiens is no different from other animals, and that perhaps humans descended from monkeys.

Prime Minister of Great Britain, who successfully led the country through the Second World War.
He entered the government in 1917, became Minister of Finance in 1924, and headed the cabinet in 1940. His invincible spirit and unshakable will during the war evoked a response throughout the country, although, in his own words, only “blood, toil, tears and sweat” could be expected from the war.
After the war, the people of Britain decided that Churchill was unfit to be a peacetime leader. The charismatic leader of the Conservatives, whose famous radio addresses to the nation, which supported the spirit of the British in the fight against Hitler, were known throughout the world (as, indeed, his passion for whiskey and cigars), lost in the first post-war elections to the leader of the Labor Party - his own deputy prime minister in coalition war cabinet. Churchill remained a prominent member of Parliament almost until his death.

John Lennon (1941-1980)
In just 10 years, John Lennon went from being a teenage rebel in Liverpool to one of the most famous people on the planet.
Musician, poet, artist, hippie, pacifist, drug addict, loving husband- there were many roles in his life. There were two main women in Lennon's life: his mother and Yoko Ono. The Beatles began to form back in 1956, during joint performances between Lennon and McCartney. After the Beatles' concert at the London Palladium in 1963, they became famous throughout the country, and their sensational success on American television a year later brought them international fame.
Disillusioned with the Beatles, Lennon delved into avant-gardeism. The last recording made in Britain was the song Imagine. In New York, where he left some time later, he plunged headlong into political radicalism. His last album, Double Fantasy, was released in 1980. He was killed by Mark Chapman at the entrance of his own house. This was a real tragedy for millions of fans, but turned out to be a success for record companies, which still successfully sell John Le'non's music.

Princess Diana (1961-1997)
The only one of the ten great Britons who died relatively recently. Former wife of Prince Charles, heir to the British throne. She married the Prince of Wales at the age of 20, he was 12 years older than her. She soon became the most popular member of the royal family. Diana was even called the “Queen of Hearts.” In 1982, the couple had a son, William, and two years later, Henry. After some time, it turned out that Britain's beloved princess was unhappy in her marriage. Their union with Charles broke up in 1996. She retained the title of Princess of Wales. Diana devoted the last years of her life to charitable activities. She fought to ban landmines and helped AIDS patients. Diana died in a car accident in Paris on August 31, 1997. Her death caused a wide response in the hearts of people all over the world - and made them think about the role and place of the monarchy in British society.

In 1997, Prince William invited his mother to auction off 79 of her dresses, with proceeds going to charity. Diana's funeral was watched on television by 31 million Britons and 2.5 billion people around the world.

Municipal Autonomous Educational Institution

Secondary School No. 17

Project on the topic: Prominent people of Great Britain, their contribution to science and world culture. British of Russian origin

Completed by: 6B grade student

Granovsky Vladislav

Head: O.P. Oshchepkova

I. Introduction

Significance of the project

Goals and objectives

II. Main part

1.Famous people of Britain

Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill

Charles Robert Darwin

- Michael Faraday

Margaret Hilda Thatcher

2. BritishRussianorigin

Philip Mountbatten ( Prince Philip)

3. Game

III.Conclusion

IV. List of used literature

Introduction

Do you want to know interesting facts about the lives of great British writers, artists, musicians, political and public figures, scientists? So, it’s time to start studying my project, which is called “British people who make a contribution to world culture” (“What do you know about outstanding British people?”). Great Britain has become famous for many people who, one way or another, affect the lives of not only the British. We are all well aware of the names of scientists who influenced the development of science. For example, Isaac Newton (founder of modern mathematics and physics) or Charles Darwin (theory of evolution).

It is simply impossible to avoid this writer when we touch on the topic of “Famous People of Great Britain.” William Shakespeare is one of the most famous writers in the world. His plays “Romeo and Juliet”, “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”, “King Lear”, “Macbeth” were translated into almost all languages ​​and staged in every theater. He described characters and feelings that can be called international and everlasting.
"Famous People of England", the list of which is quite extensive, includes the name of this princess, known throughout the world as Lady Di, who also needs no introduction. Her popularity and excessive attention from the paparazzi became fatal for this woman. She gained worldwide fame thanks to her unconventional approach to solving many social problems, which is not typical for a representative of such a conservative family as the Windsors.
Daniel Defoe, Robert Burns, Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll are just a few names known throughout the world.
William Hogarth, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, John Constable contributed to the treasury of world painting.
Here are a few more names known around the world.
Admiral Horatio Nelson is the most outstanding admiral of the British fleet, as he ensured the supremacy of the British fleet on the seas for a hundred years. He is an example for sailors around the world.
Margaret Thatcher is the first and only woman to hold the post of Prime Minister of a European state. In our country she received the nickname “Iron Lady” for her criticism of the Soviet leadership.
Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg; the list of famous people who were born and lived in Great Britain is very large. And I will tell you about some of them.

Goals and objectives

The main goal is to get acquainted with the life and work of famous people in Great Britain.

Objectives: to cover all spheres of society that reflected the activities of great people, to use a large amount of information about their work and life, to provide assistance to any reader interested in the life of these countries in studying their language and culture, to arouse your interest in the country of the language being studied and talk about famous people.

The British who contributed to world culture and science.

In the modern world, different cultures coexist and, one way or another, interact. The current processes of globalization are accompanied by the expansion of ties between different countries and peoples. The opportunity to communicate with representatives of different cultures has become an everyday reality. Lots of people participate in international organizations, forums and conferences, work in multinational companies, study abroad. To maintain these diverse and multi-level contacts, you need appropriate knowledge of not only a foreign language, but also a foreign culture. The recently emerged linguocultural dictionaries and dictionaries of cultural literacy are designed to create a sufficient level of cultural and communicative competence. According to M.V. Moiseev, they cannot be classified as either encyclopedic or linguistic dictionaries, since they combine the features of explanatory, encyclopedic and linguistic dictionaries. The purpose of this article is to find out how English literature is reflected in world culture, as well as to identify specific features of the construction of a dictionary entry that includes lexical units related to literature.

Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill

At the end of 2002, the BBC invited all residents of the United Kingdom to determine "the greatest Briton in history." By voting, it was determined that the British consider Winston Churchill to be their most outstanding fellow citizen.

Winston Churchill - English politician, statesman, Prime Minister of Great Britain Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (WinstonLeonardSpencer-Churchill) was born on November 30, 1874 at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, UK.

His mother was an American, the daughter of Leonard Jerome, owner and editor of the New York Times, and his father was Lord Randolph Churchill. Winston's grandfather is the seventh Duke of Marlborough, John Spencer-Churchill.

Winston Churchill was educated at the privileged Harrow School and the British Royal Military College, which he entered only on his third attempt.

In March 1895 he was commissioned into the Fourth Hussars as a lieutenant, assigned to Hackshire.

In 1896-1898 he served in India. He took part in the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), and was a war correspondent.

In November 1899, Churchill was captured by the Boer commander-in-chief Louis Botha, the future first prime minister of the Union of South Africa and a close friend of Churchill.

Great Briton. Sir Winston Churchill in The Racimor Chronicles

After his release from captivity, he left military service and spent some time in the United States, where he lectured. Returning to England, he began to build his political career.

In 1900, Churchill was elected to Parliament from the Conservative Party.

In 1904 he joined the Liberal Party, and in 1906 he entered the House of Commons as a Liberal member. In the same year he was appointed Deputy Secretary of State for the Colonies.

In 1908 he headed the Ministry of Trade, and in 1910 he took the post of Minister of Internal Affairs.

In 1911-1916 - First Lord of the Admiralty (Minister of the Navy). During the First World War, Churchill participated in the defense and evacuation of Anschwergen (1914), and was one of the active organizers of the Dardanelles operation (1915-1916), the failure of which led to his resignation.

In 1916, as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, he went to Flanders on active duty as a battalion commander of the Royal Scots Fusiliers.

From 1917 to 1918 he was Minister of Military Supply, in 1919-1922 - Minister of War and Minister of Aviation.

In 1924-1929 he served as Minister of Finance, entering parliament from the Conservative Party.

In September 1939, with the outbreak of World War II, under pressure public opinion Churchill was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty.

Winston Churchill and his Victoria

In 1940-1945 - Prime Minister of Great Britain and Minister of Defense. Leader of the House of Commons, leader of the Conservative Party.
The threat hanging over Great Britain from Nazi Germany, the real possibility of loss of sovereignty and complete enslavement by the aggressor forced Churchill, together with the United States, to take the side of the USSR in the war with Germany and to create an anti-Hitler coalition.

In August 1942 and October 1944 he met with Stalin in Moscow; repeatedly crossed the Atlantic to meet with US President Franklin Roosevelt. Took active participation in the Tehran (1943) and Crimean (1945) conferences, as well as the post-war Potsdam Conference (1945).

In 1945, having retired after Labor's victory in the parliamentary elections, Churchill did not stop active political activity. On March 5, 1946, in Fulton, Missouri, USA, he called on Western countries to form an Anglo-American military alliance to fight “Eastern communism” and to establish the dominance of the “English-speaking world.” Churchill then first used the expression “iron curtain” between Eastern and Western Europe.

In 1947, Winston Churchill urged US Republican Senator Stiles Bridge to persuade US President Harry Truman to launch a warning nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, which, in his opinion, would help stop the spread of communism to the West.

In 1951-1955, Churchill again served as Prime Minister of Great Britain. Having assessed the new balance of power between East and West in nuclear weapons, he expressed doubts about the advisability of putting pressure on the USSR. Demands for the development of joint Western defense (including West German forces) were combined in his diplomacy with proposals to seek an agreement with the USSR.

After leaving office for health reasons in April 1955, Churchill did not play an active role in politics in the last years of his life. He remained a member of parliament until 1964.

Winston Churchill is the author of many books in the historical and memoir genre. In the 1930s, he completed the multi-volume work “The World Crisis, 1916-1918” and wrote an autobiographical book “The Early Years of My Life”, worked for many years on the six-volume “family” epic “The Life of Marlborough”, published a six-volume work “The Second World War” (1948-1954), the four-volume “History of English-Speaking Peoples” (1956-1958), etc. His literary heritage amounts to more than 40 volumes.

In 1953, Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

That same year, Queen Elizabeth II awarded him the highest order of Great Britain, the Order of the Garter. In 1963, he became an honorary US citizen.

Churchill had been married to Clementine Hozier since 1908, the couple had five children - son Randolph, daughters Diana, Sarah, Marigold (who lived only three years) and Mary. Sir Randolph took care of his father's literary heritage, prepared a multi-volume collection of works for publication, and opened an Archive Center. Lady Sarah Soules contributed to the establishment of museums in memory of her father. The first was a house in Blanheim with a memorial room open to tourists. In Crimea, in the Livadia Palace, through her efforts, an office-library with unique documents of the Yalta Conference and a bust of Churchill was opened. Born Mary Spencer-Churchill, she worked for the Red Cross Society, Britain's women's voluntary service. She repeatedly accompanied her father on his trips, including to Potsdam. In recent years, she has written a number of biographical books.

In 1973, a monument to Winston Churchill was erected in Parliament Square in London.

In 1998, a monument to Churchill was unveiled in Paris on the Champs-Elysees.

In 2005, Churchill's museum, Churchill War Rooms, was opened in London in the basement of Whitehall, the former secret headquarters of the British government during the Second World War.

In May 2008, in Sochi, Russia, on the territory of the Krasmashevsky sanatorium, a monument was opened to the leaders of the three victorious powers in World War II - Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt.

CharlesRobertDarwin

Charles Robert Darwin(English: Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) - English naturalist, creator of Darwinism, foreign corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1867). Known as the founder of the doctrine of evolution.

Scientific field: biology and geology. Academic degrees: Bachelor of Arts (1832), Master of Arts (1837) and Doctor of Canon and Civil Law.

In his main work, “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection” (1859), summarizing the results of his own observations (voyage on the Beagle, 1831-36) and the achievements of contemporary biology and selection practice, he revealed the main factors in the evolution of the organic world. In his work “Changes in Domestic Animals and Cultivated Plants” (vols. 1-2, 1868), Charles Darwin presented additional factual material to the main work. In the book. “The Descent of Man and Sexual Selection” (1871) substantiated the hypothesis of the origin of man from an ape-like ancestor. Works on geology, botany and zoology. Zodiac sign - Aquarius.

Darwin's childhood, education and family

Charles Darwin was born February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. He was the son of Robert Darwin, who practiced successfully as a doctor in Shrewsbury. Mother - Suzanne Wedgwood - came from a wealthy family of owners of the famous porcelain factory. Darwin's family was connected for several generations with the Wedgwood family. Darwin himself married his cousin Emma Wedgwood. Darwin's grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, was a famous doctor, naturalist, and poet. In general, representatives of the Darwin family are characterized by high intellectual qualities and broad cultural interests.

After the sudden death of his mother in 1817, Charles Darwin was raised by his older sister Caroline. That same year, Charles began attending a school for incoming students in Shrewsbury. He did not shine with success, but even then he developed a taste for natural history and for collecting collections.

In 1818, Charles Darwin entered Shrewsbury at a “big school” with a boarding school, which for him was “just an empty place.” Darwin studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh from 1825 to 1827, and theology at Cambridge from 1827 to 1831. In 1831-36, on the recommendation of the botanist J. Henslow and the Wedgwood family, Darwin got a job as a naturalist on the Beagle and traveled around the world. He returned from his trip as a man of science.

In 1839, Charles Darwin married and the young family settled in London. Since 1842, the family lived permanently in Down, a beautiful place convenient for concentrated work and relaxation. Darwin and his wife had 10 children, three of whom died in childhood.

Geology of Darwin

On December 27, 1831, the Beagle set sail. Darwin managed to take with him the just published 1st volume of “Principles of Geology” by Charles Lyell. This volume had a great influence on the formation of the scientific views of the young researcher. Before the publication of Lyell's book, catastrophe theory dominated geology. Lyell showed that the geological forces that operated in the past continue to operate today. Darwin fruitfully applied Lyell's teachings to an object that crossed the Beagle's path. This was the island of Sant Iago. His study provided material for Darwin's first major generalization about the nature of oceanic islands. Darwin showed that both continental and island volcanoes are associated with large faults in the earth's crust, with cracks formed during the uplift of mountain ranges and continents.

Darwin's second generalization relates to the problem of secular movements of the earth's crust. Over geological periods of enormous duration, the continent of South America experienced repeated uplifts and subsidences, which alternated with periods of relative peace. Charles Darwin painted with broad strokes the origin of the Patagonian Plain and the gradual weathering (denudation) of the Cordillera.

Michael Faraday

Michael Faraday(1791-1867) - English physicist, founder of the doctrine of the electromagnetic field, foreign honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1830). Discovered the chemical effect of electric current, the relationship between electricity and magnetism, magnetism and light. Discovered (1831) electromagnetic induction - a phenomenon that formed the basis of electrical engineering. Established (1833-1834) the laws of electrolysis, named after him, discovered para- and diamagnetism, rotation of the plane of polarization of light in a magnetic field (Faraday effect). Proved the identity of different types of electricity. Faraday introduced the concepts of electric and magnetic fields and expressed the idea of ​​the existence of electromagnetic waves. He studied with the chemist and physicist, one of the founders of electrochemistry, Humphry Davy.

The founder of the modern field concept in electrodynamics, the author of a number of fundamental discoveries, including the law of electromagnetic induction, the laws of electrolysis, the phenomenon of rotation of the plane of polarization of light in a magnetic field, one of the first researchers of the influence of a magnetic field on media.

Childhood and youth

Michael Faraday was born on September 22, 1791, in London, in the family of a blacksmith. His older brother Robert was also a blacksmith, who in every possible way encouraged Michael’s thirst for knowledge and at first supported him financially. Faraday's mother, a hardworking, wise, although uneducated woman, lived to see the time when her son achieved success and recognition, and was rightfully proud of him.

The family's modest income did not allow Michael to even graduate from high school, and at the age of thirteen he became an apprentice to the owner of a bookstore and bookbinding workshop, where he was to remain for 10 years. All this time, Faraday persistently engaged in self-education - he read all the literature available to him on physics and chemistry, repeated the experiments described in books in his home laboratory, and attended private lectures on physics and astronomy in the evenings and Sundays. He received money (a shilling to pay for each lecture) from his brother. At the lectures, Faraday made new acquaintances, to whom he wrote many letters in order to develop a clear and concise style of presentation; he also tried to master the techniques of oratory.

First independent research. Scientific publications

After returning to the Royal Institution in 1815, Michael Faraday began intensive work, in which independent scientific research occupied an increasing place. In 1816 he began giving public lectures on physics and chemistry at the Society for Self-Education. In the same year his first printed work appeared.

In the period up to 1821, Michael Faraday published about 40 scientific papers, mainly on chemistry. Gradually, his experimental research increasingly shifted to the field of electromagnetism. After Hans Oersted's discovery of the magnetic action of electric current in 1820, Faraday became fascinated by the problem of the connection between electricity and magnetism. In 1822, an entry appeared in his laboratory diary: “Convert magnetism into electricity.” However, Faraday continued other research, including in the field of chemistry. Thus, in 1824 he was the first to obtain chlorine in a liquid state.

Election to the Royal Society. Professorship

In 1824, Michael Faraday was elected a member of the Royal Society, despite the active opposition of Davy, with whom Faraday's relationship had become quite difficult by that time, although Davy liked to repeat that of all his discoveries, the most significant was “Faraday's discovery.” The latter also paid tribute to Davy, calling him a "great man."

A year after his election to the Royal Society, Michael Faraday was appointed director of the laboratory of the Royal Institution, and in 1827 he received a professorship at this institute.

Faraday's disease. Latest experimental work

Constant enormous mental stress undermined Faraday's health and forced him to interrupt his scientific work for five years in 1840. Returning to it again, Faraday in 1848 discovered the phenomenon of rotation of the plane of polarization of light propagating in transparent substances along the lines of magnetic field strength (Faraday effect). Apparently, Faraday himself (who wrote excitedly that he had “magnetized light and illuminated the magnetic line of force”) attached great importance to this discovery. Indeed, it was the first indication of the existence of a connection between optics and electromagnetism. Conviction in the deep interconnection of electrical, magnetic, optical and other physical and chemical phenomena became the basis of Faraday’s entire scientific worldview.

In 1855, illness again forced Faraday to interrupt his work. He became significantly weaker and began to lose his memory catastrophically. He had to write down everything in the laboratory notebook, down to where and what he put before leaving the laboratory, what he had already done and what he was going to do next. To continue working, he had to give up a lot, including visiting friends; the last thing he gave up was lectures for children.

The importance of scientific works

One day, Michael Faraday attended one of the lectures of Humphrey Davy, the great English physicist, inventor of the safety lamp for miners. Faraday made a detailed note of the lecture, bound it and sent it to Devi. He was so impressed that he invited Faraday to work with him as a secretary. Devi soon went on a trip to Europe and took Faraday with him. Over the course of two years, they visited the largest European universities. Returning to London in 1815. Faraday began working as an assistant in one of the laboratories of the Royal Institution in London. At that time it was one of the best physics laboratories in the world. From 1816 to 1818 Faraday published a number of small notes and short memoirs on chemistry. Faraday's first work on physics, devoted to the study of singing flames, dates back to 1818.

By and large, this period was only a preparatory school for Faraday. He did not so much work independently as he studied and prepared for those brilliant works that constituted an era in the history of physics and chemistry. On June 12, 1821, Michael married Miss Bernard. Her family had long and friendly acquaintance with the Faradays; it belonged to the same sect of “Zandemans”, of which Faraday was a member. Faraday had been on best terms with his bride since childhood. The wedding took place without any pomp - in accordance with the nature of the “Zandemanism”, as well as the character of Faraday himself.

Research in electromagnetism and inductive electricity, which constitutes the most valuable diamond in Faraday's crown of glory, consumed the greater part of his life and his energies. As was his custom, Faraday began a series of experiments designed to clarify the essence of the matter. Michael wound two insulated wires parallel to each other on the same wooden rolling pin; He connected the ends of one wire to a battery of ten cells, and the ends of the other to a sensitive galvanometer. It turned out that at the moment when a current is passed into the first wire, and also when this transmission stops, a current is also excited in the second wire, which in the first case has opposite direction with the first current and the same with it in the second case and lasting only one instant. These secondary instantaneous currents, caused by the influence of primary induction, were called inductive by Faraday, and this name has remained with them to this day.

Faraday then begins to study the laws of electrochemical phenomena. The first law established by Michael Faraday is that the amount of electrochemical action does not depend either on the size of the electrodes, or on the current intensity, or on the strength of the decomposing solution, but solely on the amount of electricity passing through the circuit; in other words, the amount of electricity required is proportional to the amount of chemical action. This law was derived by Faraday from countless experiments, the conditions of which he varied to infinity.

The second, even more important law of electrochemical action, established by Faraday, is that the amount of electricity required for the decomposition of various substances is always inversely proportional to the atomic weight of the substance, or, expressed differently, for the decomposition of a molecule (particle) of any substance The same amount of electricity is always required.

Extensive and versatile work could not but affect Faraday's health. In the last years of this period of his life, he worked with great difficulty. In 1839 and 1840, Faraday's condition was such that he was often forced to interrupt his studies and go somewhere to the seaside towns of England. In 1841, friends convinced Faraday to go to Switzerland to recover his strength for new work with a thorough rest. It was the first real vacation for for a long time.

The opportunity to devote himself entirely to scientific pursuits for Faraday was determined, however, not only by a certain material security, but even more so by the fact that all external life worries were removed from him by his wife, his real guardian angel. The loving wife took upon herself all the hardships of life to give her husband the opportunity to devote himself entirely to science. Never during their long marriage did Faraday feel difficulties of a material nature, which only his wife knew and which did not distract the mind of a tireless researcher from his great works. Family happiness also served as the best consolation for Faraday in the troubles that befell him in the first years of his life. scientific activity. The scientist, who outlived his wife, wrote about his family life, referring to himself in the third person.

From magnets the researcher moved to electric currents. During these experiments, Michael Faraday made a great new discovery. It's about about "magnetic friction". The second half of the forties was occupied by work on the magnetism of crystals. Faraday then turned to the magnetic phenomena of flame, which had just been discovered by Bancalari. And finally. Faraday addresses questions of a purely philosophical nature. He tries to find out the nature of matter, determine the relationship between atom and space, between space and forces, dwells on the question of the hypothetical ether as a carrier of forces, and so on.

However, the scientist became famous not only for his numerous discoveries. Faraday wanted his discoveries to be understandable to those who had not received special education. To do this, he began to popularize scientific knowledge. Since 1826, Faraday began giving his famous Christmas lectures. One of the most famous of them was called “The History of the Candle from a Chemical Point of View.” It was later published as a separate book and became one of the first popular science publications in the world. This initiative was picked up and developed by many other scientific organizations. The scientist did not stop his scientific activities until his death.

Michael Faraday has passed away August 25, 1867, aged seventy-six years. (Samin D.K. 100 great scientists. - M.: Veche, 2000)

"The Iron Lady"

Margaret Thatcher

" Iron Lady "

Margaret Thatcher- Prime Minister of Great Britain (1979-1990)

The term Thatcherism has become firmly established in British political life. This term characterizes certain political, ideological and moral guidelines that Margaret Thatcher pursued or sought to implement, as well as her specific leadership style.
The political philosophy of Thatcherism is not without interest. It is based on several elements. This is an apologetics for free enterprise and personal initiative. Thatcher considers the main incentive to be direct material gain, the desire to “arrange life as best as possible for yourself and your family.” According to her, she thereby “appeals to the best that is inherent in human nature.”
The question of the motivation of human activity is one of the central ones in the philosophy of Thatcherism. “There is nothing wrong with creating wealth, only the passion for money for the sake of money is reprehensible,” says Thatcher. “The pursuit of equality is a mirage. Opportunities mean nothing if they are not backed by the right to inequality, the freedom to stand out from everyone else.”

To understand Thatcher's worldview, one must keep in mind that she herself, unlike most of her predecessors, does not belong to the British establishment. She comes from the petty bourgeoisie. She was born in 1925 in the small English town of Grantham into the family of a grocer and forever retained her sympathies for the environment from which she came. This largely explains the fact that an important element of the concept of Thatcherism was the “return to Victorian moral values” it proclaimed: respect for family, home and religion, law and order, frugality, accuracy, hard work, the primacy of individual rights.
Thatcher quite accurately captured the mood of certain sections of society who advocated for the country to be headed by a “strong personality” who could return Britain to its former greatness and establish “proper order” in the country. It is characteristic, for example, that in the sphere of public morality and strengthening law and order, Thatcher not only did not weaken the role of the state, but also significantly strengthened it. During her time in power, several important new laws were passed to expand the powers of the courts and police, and immigration laws were tightened.
The basis of Thatcher's economic course was the monetarist concept, which gave priority to reducing inflation by curbing the growth of the money supply and issuing it in a volume that would be directly dependent on output and the interest rate. Monetary regulation is the main lever of influence on economic conditions. The Thatcher government consistently restructured the tax system. Reducing taxation, according to her plan, should encourage business activity and increase capital turnover.
M. Thatcher energetically and decisively broke the system of state corporations that had developed in the country. Privatization of the socialized sector is one of the main elements of the economic restructuring she carried out. In conversations, including with our economists, she more than once noted the inflexibility of state enterprises and their late response to the constantly changing needs of the market. Since these enterprises, she said, are supported by the state, they do not need to worry about survival. At the same time, Thatcher repeatedly said that an important task of the government is to create the most favorable conditions for private business, which has the right to achieve increased profits subject to full responsibility for the results of its own activities. A feature of Thatcher's version of privatization is the widespread sale of shares to small owners. This line, she noted, makes it possible to introduce the mass of ordinary Englishmen to the philosophy of ownership, and, therefore, in political terms, to strengthen their base of support for conservatives.

The policies of Thatcher and her government faced significant difficulties. For example, in the social field, the creation of market competition in the healthcare sector, and in educational reforms, there was a clear tendency to divide society into “first” and “second” class people. It was in these issues that Thatcher crossed the line of what was acceptable in social maneuvering. English voters turned out to be unprepared for the restructuring of society according to the principle of “everyone for himself.” This was reflected in the processes that ultimately forced Thatcher to relinquish her leadership of the party and leave the post of Prime Minister in 1990. Of course, it is necessary to take into account the rigidity of Thatcher’s line when resolving budget issues in European Union, which put London at risk of community isolation. The methods of resolving issues in the government gave reason to interpret Thatcher's style as authoritarian, as a departure from the “art of British classical diplomacy.”
But we should not forget that Thatcher’s pragmatism allowed her to gradually move away from the initially negative line towards the Soviet Union and carry out reassessment of approaches to one of the main problems of international life - the complex of East-West relations.
Thatcher is a powerful person. Her mind, strength, extraordinary intellect - everything was devoted to state and political activities for many years. Her main passion is communication with strong people on the political stage, even if this communication results in a sharp dialogue, a principled dispute (which, by the way, happened more than once during her contacts with Gorbachev). Thatcher was drawn to statesmen, from whom, as she put it, “emanate the magnetism of power and popularity.” Especially to those who, in her eyes, are capable of conducting a dialogue with knowledge of the matter, at a high intellectual level. After her third election victory, Thatcher clearly sought to apply her strength and experience in the international arena, primarily in the sphere of East-West relations. It is natural - what, in fact, could be more important for the fate of Europe and the world? It is also quite natural that Thatcher, who already had extensive experience in communicating with government officials and prominent politicians, considered it especially important to strengthen contacts with the Soviet leader and prepared for each meeting with Gorbachev especially seriously. Under the Prime Minister, a small group of experts was created from former British ambassadors in Moscow, authoritative Sovietologists. The leading role among them was played by the talented analyst Charles Powell, who always accompanied Thatcher in conversations with the president of the former USSR.

Thatcher undoubtedly has a certain artistry, which is important in politics. Preparing for this or that meeting with Gorbachev, she not only weighed the political aspects of the upcoming conversation, but also practiced her every gesture, even her gaze. Once at the airport, when meeting Gorbachev, one of my British interlocutors, who knew Thatcher well, said: “Look at our prime minister - she has literally transformed, her eyes glow with an unusual brilliance. This is the influence of your president...” “Politicians are not guided by love or hatred, they are guided by interests, not by feelings,” noted the prominent British writer and diplomat of the 18th century, Philip Chesterfield. True, of course. And yet... The obvious mutual sympathies of Thatcher and Gorbachev undoubtedly contributed to strengthening contacts between the two leaders, making their dialogue more confidential and, consequently, more fruitful.
Stories about British-Soviet relations often feature the meeting of the British prime minister with Gorbachev in December 1984 on the outskirts of London, at the government country residence of Checkers.
Already in the mid-80s, when it became obvious that Brezhnev was seriously ill and in fact did not govern either the state or the party, analytical work began in the West and became increasingly widespread every year, the purpose of which was to calculate what promises the world and the Soviet Union a “post-Brezhnev period.” The ruling triumvirate, which actually ruled our country at that time (Ustinov, Andropov, Gromyko), was not particularly taken into account, since all members of this triumvirate had an insurmountable obstacle to the pinnacle of power - age.
M. Gorbachev was little known in the West at that time. However, his visit to Canada in 1982 and his conversations with political figures in this country provided Western politicians and the most far-sighted “Kremlinologists” with valuable information. People began to talk about Gorbachev as an ambitious and energetic politician who, unlike his colleagues in the Politburo, showed significant interest in Western methods of economic management, in the Western system of values. The Soviet ambassador to Canada - he was A. Yakovlev at that time - greatly helped Gorbachev create this initial image.
M. Thatcher met Gorbachev in February 1984, when she arrived in Moscow for Andropov’s funeral. In the autumn of the same year - for the first time after a long cooling of Anglo-Soviet relations - a delegation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was invited to visit London on an official visit.
The development of Soviet-British relations in recent years is a striking and in many respects perhaps the only example of how trust can be strengthened between two states in a relatively short period of time. During the Moscow-London dialogue, new, modern approaches were laid in relations between East and West. This process, of course, was very, very difficult, because in the course of it we had to overcome years of accumulated mutual suspicions, mistrust and negative stereotypes of perceiving each other.

British of Russian descent

PhilipMountbatten(PrincePhilip)

Prince Philip was the fifth child and only son of Prince Andrew, son of King George I of Greece and brother of the then reigning King Constantine, and at birth had the title Prince of Greece and Denmark. Prince Andrew belonged to the Danish house of Glücksburg, which reigned in Greece, his wife and Philip's mother, Princess Alice, belonged to the Battenberg family (she was the niece of the Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna).

Philip is the great-grandson of the Danish king Christian IX, the great-great-grandson of the English Queen Victoria and the Russian Emperor Nicholas I.

After Constantine's abdication in 1922, Prince Andrew's family was expelled from Greece and settled in Paris. In 1928, Philip was sent to live with relatives in London. In 1933-1935 he studied at school in Germany, then in Scotland. In 1939-40 he studied at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. After graduation, he received the rank of midshipman and served in the Navy throughout World War II, graduating with the rank of senior lieutenant.

While studying at college, he met his fourth cousins, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, who were attending educational institution along with King George VI. After this, a correspondence began between Philip and Elizabeth, and in 1946 Philip asked the king for permission to marry the heiress to the throne.

Before marriage, he adopted the surname Mountbatten (an anglicized version of his mother's surname - Battenberg) and converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism. In addition, he renounced the titles "Prince of Greece" and "Prince of Denmark" and accepted British citizenship. On the eve of the marriage, King George VI awarded his future son-in-law the title DukeEdinburgh, graphMerionetskyAndbaronGreenwich.

Philip and Elizabeth have four children: Charles, Prince of Wales (b.1948), Princess Anne (b.1950), Prince Andrew, Duke of York (b.1960) and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex (b.1964).

In 1950, he was appointed commander of the sloop Magpie. He completed active service in the Navy in 1951.

In 1952, after the death of King George VI and the accession of Elizabeth II to the throne, he became the consort of the reigning monarch, but did not accept the title of prince consort. The title of prince (usually given to direct descendants of the king) was given to Philip in 1957.

After 1952, Prince Philip devoted himself entirely to serving the royal family, performing numerous ceremonial and charitable duties. He is a patron of about 800 organizations. In 1964-1986 he was president of the International Equestrian Federation, in 1981-1996 - of the World Wildlife Fund. In 1973, he was the first member of the British royal family to visit the USSR.

During the celebrations of his 90th birthday in 2011, Prince Philip announced his intention to reduce public functions.

On December 15, 2016, he could become the longest-living male descendant of Queen Victoria. The record currently belongs to the late (died May 5, 2012 at the age of 95 years, 6 months and 5 days) Carl Johan Bernadotte.

Games

Task 1

Match English words with their translation.

Task 2

He was the grandson of the seventh Duke of Marlborough, that is, a direct descendant of the first Duke of Marlborough. However, he did not have the title of Duke, since according to English tradition, the title of nobility is inherited by the eldest son in the family, and his father was the second son. If his uncle had no sons, then he would definitely have become the ninth Duke of Marlborough, but then he would not have taken the post of Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Answer: Winston Churchill - famous English politician, statesman, Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1940-1945 and 1951-1955.

Task 3

The first and only woman to hold the post of Prime Minister of a European state. In our country she received the nickname “Iron Lady” for her criticism of the Soviet leadership.

Answer: Margaret Thatcher was re-elected three times as Prime Minister. As head of government, Thatcher carried out a number of political and economic reforms: she allowed the privatization of a number of unprofitable state-owned enterprises, kept inflation at the lowest level, and faced unemployment problems. But, thanks to skillful leadership, stability and economic growth appeared in the country.

Conclusion

Great Britain is very rich in outstanding people, as it always has been. There are many famous British musicians, athletes, scientists, writers, researchers and so on.

I asked my friends and family to name their favorite famous British people. Some people, prominent celebrities are alive today. Some are historical figures who have contributed to Britain's past.

This important twentieth-century politician and statesman received the most votes. He led the British people during the Second World War and his inspirational speeches helped people continue to hope for peace during very difficult times. He is known for his determination and his ability to unite people with powerful words. Many older Britons will be able to immediately recognize the sound of his voice. Some voters argue that more modern celebrities don't offer the same role models and inspiration as a historical figure. But there are also very famous people who show us the right example. Of course, this is Winston Churchill.

One of the most important people of humanity was Charles Darwin, who was a great explorer, scientist and writer. He traveled all over the world carefully studying the origins of humans and some animals, and then he created his famous book "On the Origin of Species" where he argued that all human beings were descended from simpler creatures through evolution and natural selection. Isaac Newton was another great man in the world of science. This outstanding Englishman is considered one of the founders of physics. Among the famous British, David Beckham, a famous footballer, is best known as the best player of Manchester United and the captain of his country. for young boys and, until recently, as an ideal family man and father.

Great Britain has given the world many talented people. The preparation of this document was quite long and sometimes hard work. But I did it with pleasure. Thanks to this I now know a lot more about some British people. It was very interesting to learn a lot of new things. I hope that my project will help you in the future.

List of used literature

Britain for you. Sozykina L.S., Karpukhina I.A. Moscow, 2001

English for everyone. C. E. Eckersley. St. Petersburg, 1995

Britain. James O'Driscoll. Oxford, 1997.

Hello my beloved readers.

What do you think of when you hear about Great Britain? Tea, the Queen and Big Ben? Oh, how neglected everything is!;) But I’m absolutely sure that somewhere on the shelves of your memory lies this little knowledge that you carefully hide.

So today I will remind you what Great Britain is famous for, besides tea and the Queen! I’ll also give you a topic in English with translation, where I’ll briefly tell you the most interesting things.

Great places

• Cities

Surprisingly, there is only one major city in the UK - London with a population of more than 7 million people. Other cities stopped at about half a million.

Every city in the country is beautiful, but there are famous places that everyone wants to visit.

Liverpool known for the group " Beatles"and the seaport, which was first built here and made the delivery of goods much faster.

By the way, the residents of Liverpool were given the nickname “ Scousers» after the same name of a popular dish in this area - potato stew. Moreover, the local dialect and accent also received this name.

Manchester famous for its football team - Manchester United. Hundreds of football fans come there every day.

The city also received a number of nicknames during the history of its existence. These were " Madchester" - from the word " mad" - crazy - and " Gunchester"in an era of rising youth crime. But, nevertheless, it still remains incredibly beautiful and popular.

• Universities

If you are asked which famous universities you know, you will immediately think about and. Well, maybe remember about London University. The merit of this is that Oxford and Cambridge universities are on everyone's lips. They take first place in the rankings, and almost everyone dreams of studying there.

• Attractions

Surely everyone knows Shakespeare, Dickens And Thomas Hardy. Everyone has heard about Jane Austen and her " Pride and Prejudice", about Lewis Carroll and an incredible journey " Alice in Wonderland"(this is still my favorite book!), about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", which are becoming more and more popular every year.

And about JK Rowling and loved by many " Harry Potter“It’s not worth saying.

Great scientists like Isaac Newton And Charles Darwin were born on this land. Famous politicians like Margaret Thatcher- the first woman in history Prime Minister And Winston Churchill significantly influenced the course of history not only of their country, but of the whole world.

And now in English

Remember, I promised at the very beginning to tell all this in English? Well, catch it.

Surprisingly, but the UK has only one big city - London, with its population over 7 million people. Other cities have on average half a million citizens.

Liverpool is famous for The Beatles and the seaport, which was the first to be built here and made the delivery of goods much faster.

By the way, the citizens of Liverpool were given the nickname “scousers” by the name of popular in this area dish - potato stew. Moreover, the local dialect and accent got this name too.

Manchester is famous for its football team - Manchester United. Hundreds of football fans arrive there every day.

Universities.

If you are asked what the most famous universities are, you instantly think about Oxford and Cambridge. Well, maybe, about the University of London too.

The reason for this is that everyone heard about Oxford and Cambridge universities. They took the first place in all rankings, and many people want to study there.

Sightseeing

We can write a three-volume book about the places to visit in the UK. From Big Ben to Loch ness lake, Tower of London, the Big Eye, hundreds of museums and galleries are all located here.

Great people.

It requires several days to name all famous people of the country. All the singers and actors, writers and poets, great political figures, and famous historical figures.

If the only famous musicians you can name are the Beatles, then you are far from the country’s music world. Mick Jagger and Sir Elton John, Tom Jones and John Lennon left a significant mark in musical history.

And as for JK Rowling and the extremely beloved “Harry Potter” it’s no use mentioning.

Great scientists like Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin were born in the country. Famous politicians like Margaret Thatcher - first female Prime Minister and the Whinstone Churchill greatly influenced the course of history of not only their country, but the whole world.

Useful expressions:

to have on average - to have on average

population over (5 million) - population more than (5 million)

popular dish - popular dish

the delivery of goods - delivery of goods

the reason for this - the reason for this

it requires - required

to influence the course of history - influence the course of history

not only... but also - not only... but also

To fully immerse yourself and feel the whole spirit of Great Britain, you need to either devote a significant part of your life to studying it, or go there on a long trip.

However, it will be interesting for children to visit Harry Potter's castle, and adults will enjoy the beautiful views of the castles and the historical spirit of the country, not just by looking at the photos.

If you want to receive even more interesting and useful materials, subscribe to my blog newsletter and stay up to date with everything new.

Until new interesting meetings!

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill (Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill) (1874 - 1965) - Prime Minister, political and statesman of Great Britain, Nobel Prize laureate, writer. Winston Churchill was born on November 30, 1874 in Blenheim, Oxfordshire into a wealthy and influential family. Until the age of eight, in the biography of Winston Churchill, a nanny was involved in his upbringing. And then he was sent to study at St. George's School, and later transferred to a school in Barighton. Churchill studied at Harrow School, where, in addition to knowledge, he acquired excellent fencing skills. And in 1893 he began to study at the Royal Military School, after which he received the rank of junior lieutenant.

He did not serve long in the hussar regiment - he was sent to Cuba. There Winston was a war correspondent, publishing articles. Then he went on a military operation to suppress the uprising of the Pashtun tribes. At the end of hostilities, Churchill’s book “The History of the Malakand Field Corps” was published. The next campaign in which Churchill took part was the suppression of the uprising in Sudan.

At the time of his resignation, Winston Churchill was known as an excellent journalist. In 1899 he unsuccessfully ran for parliament. Then, while participating in the Anglo-Boer War, he was captured, but was able to escape from the camp. In 1900 he was elected to the House of Commons as a Conservative. At the same time, Churchill’s novel “Savrola” was published. In December 1905, if we consider Churchill’s brief biography, he took the post of Deputy Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs. In 1910 he became Home Secretary and in 1911 First Lord of the Admiralty. After the First World War he became Minister of Armaments, then Aviation and Minister of War. In 1924 he again entered the House of Commons. In the same year he became Chancellor of the Exchequer. After the elections of 1931, he founded his own faction within the Conservative Party.

On May 10, 1940, Churchill took over as Prime Minister (he remained in office until July 1945). He himself took the post of Minister of Defense to direct all military actions. In 1951, in Churchill's biography, the post of Prime Minister was again occupied. He remained in office until April 1955. Churchill died on January 24, 1965.

Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin is an outstanding English naturalist, naturalist, founder of Darwinism. His works on the evolution of living organisms had a huge impact on the history of human thought and marked a new era in the development of biology and other sciences.

Darwin was born in Shrewsbury (Shropshire) on February 12, 1809 in a fairly wealthy large family of a doctor. Members of this family were characterized by a high cultural level, intelligence, and broad outlook. In particular, Erasmus Darwin, Charles's grandfather, gained fame as a doctor, philosopher, and writer.

The boy's sincere interest in the life of nature and his penchant for collecting arose in childhood. In 1817, the mother dies, and in 1818, Charles and Erasmus, the elder brother, are sent to a local boarding school. Since 1825, Charles Darwin has been studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh. Not feeling inclined towards this profession, he abandoned his studies and, at the insistence of his angry father, entered to study as a theologian at Cambridge, although he was not completely convinced of the truth of Christian postulates. Natural inclinations, participation in the life of scientific societies, acquaintance with botanists, zoologists, geologists, excursions of a natural history orientation did their job: Charles Darwin emerged from the walls of a Christian college in 1831 as a naturalist-collector.

In this capacity, for five years (1831-1836) he took part in a trip around the world by ship, where he ended up on the recommendation of friends. During the voyage, he collected remarkable collections, and he outlined his impressions and observations in a two-volume book entitled “A Voyage Around the World on the Beagle,” which made him famous in the scientific community. Charles returned from this voyage as a formed scientist, who saw science as his only calling and meaning in life.

Returning to England, Darwin worked as secretary of the Geological Society of London (1838-1841), and in 1839 he married Emma Wedgwood, who subsequently bore him 10 children. Poor health forced him to leave the English capital in 1842 and settle on the Down estate (Kent County), with which his entire subsequent biography was connected.

The main evolutionary factors were reflected in Darwin's main work (1859) “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.” In 1868, a two-volume book, “Changes in Domestic Animals and Cultivated Plants,” supplementing it with factual material, was published. The third book on evolution was The Descent of Man and Sexual Selection (1871) and its subsequent companion, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), and it was here that Darwin considered the origin of man from ape-like ancestors.

Darwin was not just an exceptionally authoritative scientist, but a simple, modest, friendly, tactful person who treated even his irreconcilable opponents correctly. While serious passions were raging in the world over the theory of evolution, the main troublemaker followed the ups and downs, leading a solitary life, and continued to engage in scientific research, despite extremely poor health.

In parallel with the victorious march of Darwinism, its author became the owner of all more all kinds of regalia from scientific communities, which began with the Copley gold medal from the Royal Society of London in 1864. In 1882, the scientist who made an unprecedented scientific revolution died quietly in Down. Charles Darwin's body was taken to Westminster Abbey, where he was buried near Newton.

Diana Princess of Wales

Diana (Diana, princess of Wales - Diana, Princess of Wales, née Lady Diana Francis Spencer (Spenser)) (July 1, 1961, Sandringham, Norfolk - August 31, 1997, Paris), ex-wife of the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, mother of Princes William and Harry. From a noble, well-born family. Diana's parents separated in 1975. The girl was educated in Switzerland and upon returning to England worked as a teacher in a privileged kindergarten. She attracted the attention of the royal family, and her budding friendship with Prince Charles immediately aroused the interest of the press.

The tragic death of Princess Diana in a car accident has caused an unprecedented response in many countries, especially in the UK. The death of Princess Diana shocked England - the square in front of Buckingham Palace was littered with flowers, hundreds of memorial candles burned on the asphalt. Thousands of people stood in a huge queue for seven hours just to sign the book of condolences. On the day of the princess's funeral, a minute of silence was declared in the country. A variety of people sought to pay the princess their last tribute of love and admiration: already created charitable foundation named after her, anti-personnel mines will soon be banned - this is exactly what Diana advocated in the last year of her life.

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare, an outstanding playwright and one of the most famous poets in the world, was a native of Stratford-upon-Avon. Here, in Warwickshire, he was born in 1564. His date of birth is unknown. It is generally accepted that this is April 23, but the day of baptism, April 26, is reliably established. His father was a wealthy artisan, a respected man in the city, and his mother was a representative of an old Saxon family.

During 1569-1571. Shakespeare was a student at Junior School and later at Stratford High School. She had a decent level of education, but it is not known for certain whether William graduated from her or not - most likely, due to family financial difficulties, he had to leave his studies and help his father. As an 18-year-old boy, William married the pregnant Anne Hathaway, who was 8 years older than him; By marrying, the young people were saved from dishonor and punishment. In 1583, the Shakespeare couple had a daughter, and 2 years later, a pair of opposite-sex twins. Shakespeare left Stratford in the 2nd half of the 80s. and moved to London.

The period of Shakespeare's biography, affecting subsequent years, is usually called the dark, or lost years, because... There is no information about his life at this time. It is generally accepted that the move to London took place approximately in 1587, but there are other versions. Be that as it may, in 1592 Shakespeare was already the author of the historical chronicle “Henry VI”.

During 1592-1594. theaters in the English capital were closed due to the plague epidemic. To fill the gap, Shakespeare writes plays, in particular, “The Taming of the Shrew,” the tragedy “Titus Andronicus,” the poems “Lucretia” and “Venus and Adonis.” Also in the period from 1594 to 1600, Shakespeare wrote a large number of sonnets. All this makes him a famous writer. When the theaters opened, in 1594 Shakespeare entered a new line-up - the so-called. a troupe of the Lord Chamberlain's servants, named after its patron. Shakespeare was not only an actor, but also a shareholder.

Throughout 1595-1596. The famous tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” was written, as well as “The Merchant of Venice” - a comedy that was later called “serious” for the first time. If earlier the authors of plays for the theater were “university minds,” then by this time their role was lost: someone stopped writing, someone died. They were replaced by Shakespeare, thereby marking a new era in the development of theatrical art.

In 1599, another significant event took place in Shakespeare’s biography - the opening of the Globe Theater, in which he was an actor, chief playwright and one of the owners. A year after this, the famous “Hamlet” was released, opening the period of “great tragedies”, which include “Othello”, “King Lear”, “Macbeth”. The comedies written at this time also had a much more serious and sometimes pessimistic content. During the same period of his life, Shakespeare became a nobleman and acquired a large house in Stratford, the second largest in the city.

After the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603 and the rise to power of James I, the king himself became the patron of the Lord Chamberlain's troupe. 1606 became the starting point for the last period in Shakespeare’s literary activity, marked, in particular, by the creation of tragedies based on the plots of antiquity (“Coriolanus”, “Antony and Cleopatra”), as well as the romantic tragicomedies “The Tempest”, “The Winter’s Tale” and etc.

Around 1612, Shakespeare, whose career was developing very successfully, unexpectedly left the capital and returned to Stratford, to his family. Researchers suggest that the reason for such a drastic step was a serious illness. In March 1616, Shakespeare drew up his famous will, which later created the ground for the so-called. Shakespeare's question, which considers the problem of the authorship of his works and his very personality. On April 3, 1616, one of the world's greatest playwrights died; he was buried on the outskirts of his hometown in the church of St. Trinity.

During his lifetime, William Shakespeare's works were published only in separate form, sometimes in the form of collections (sonnets). The first complete collection of works by friends was prepared and published in 1623. The so-called Shakespearean canon included 37 plays; During the playwright's lifetime, only 18 of them were published. His work marked the end of the process of creating the English language and culture and drew a line under the European Renaissance. To this day, his plays are an integral part and the basis of the repertoire of theaters around the world. In the age of new technologies, almost all of Shakespeare's drama has been filmed.

Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton (1643 - 1727) is a great scientist who made a great contribution to the development of physics, mathematics, and astrology.

Born in Woolsthorpe, England.

After school, Newton's education was received at Holy Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. Under the influence of physicists, Newton made several discoveries, mostly mathematical, while still a student.

In the period from 1664 to 1666, he derived Newton's binomial formula, the Newton-Leibniz formula, and derived the law of universal gravitation. In 1668, in the biography of Isaac Newton, he received a master's degree, and in 1669, a professor of mathematical sciences. Thanks to the telescope (reflector) created by Newton, significant discoveries were made in astronomy. The scientist was a member of the Royal Court (since 1703 - president), and keeper of the Mint.

Newton's laws are the foundations of classical mechanics. Newton's first law explains the conservation of body speed under compensated external influences. Newton's second law describes the dependence of the acceleration of a body on the applied force. From Newton's three laws other laws of mechanics can be derived.

Newton's love for mathematics determined a number of his greatest discoveries in this science. This is how he described integral and differential calculus, the method of differences, and the method of finding the roots of an equation (Newton’s method).

John Lennon

John Lennon is an English musician, poet, composer, artist, one of the founders of the legendary British quartet The Beatles.

John Winston Lennon was born on October 9, 1940 in Liverpool (Great Britain), since childhood he suffered from congenital myopia (and wore glasses), as well as dyslexia - a disease that manifests itself, for example, in the fact that a person confuses the letters in words. Perhaps both defects had a strong influence on the peculiarities of John Lennon’s perception of the world, on his artistic thinking and poetic talent. It could also have been influenced by the fact that John’s mother and father constantly quarreled with each other in front of his eyes, and he was especially impressed by the episode when he saw his father fighting with his mother’s lover. His mother, Julia, was generally a reckless and reckless woman, however, despite this, John loved her very much and suffered greatly when she died under the wheels of a police car (John Lennon was then 18 years old). Later, John Lennon dedicated several of his songs to her. When John Lennon was five years old, his parents gave him a choice - who he wanted to live with, his father or his mother. John chose his father, but stayed with his mother, his mother took him to Aunt Mimi and left him with her. She was a totalitarian woman and greatly oppressed everyone around her (including John Lennon).

In 1956, John Lennon founded The Quarrymen with school friends, in which John Lennon began playing guitar. On July 6, 1957, John Lennon met Paul McCartney, who soon joined The Quarrymen. John Lennon entered the Liverpool College of Art, where he met his future first wife, Cynthia Powell.

In 1959, The Quarrymen mutated into the Silver Beetles, and a little later into simply The Beatles. The further history of this group is known and deserves a separate article. It is important for us now to point out the next big milestone in the life of John Lennon. Namely: on March 14, 1969, John Lennon married Yoko Ono. The point of view that it was this Japanese avant-garde artist who became the decisive person in the formation and development of that John Lennon is consistently carried out in the article by Gleb Davydov, “John Lennon. Created by a Japanese woman." This text also denies the view of Yoko Ono as the person who ruined The Beatles. In fact, the group broke up due to the grueling lifestyle that its members, including John Lennon, led. By that time, John Lennon was using all kinds of drugs (especially a lot of LSD) and was a complete paranoid and drug addict. It was Yoko Ono who helped him come to his senses again and, in particular, through such social campaigns as Bed-in. Immediately after the wedding, John Lennon and Yoko Ono arrived in Amsterdam and announced a “bed interview” there. Journalists, expecting that John Lennon and Yoko Ono would publicly copulate, flocked to the hotel, but there it turned out that John Lennon and Yoko were just sitting in bed and shouting peaceful slogans. White pajamas, flowers everywhere and the doors of their room were wide open all day long... Anyone could come in and talk to them. Cameras, photographers, newspaper journalists and more. The protest later moved to Montreal (where John Lennon publicly recorded the anthemic song Give Peace a Chance). It was a media sensation, and thanks to it, the media was full of proposals to end the war in Vietnam. On December 15, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko held an anti-war concert, “The War Will End If You Want It.” On December 30 of the same year, British TV showed a program about John Lennon, where he was named one of the three political figures of the decade (the other two were John Kennedy and Mao Zedong).

John Lennon also advocated for giving Indians civil rights, for easing the conditions of prisoners in prisons, for the release of John Sinclair, one of the leaders of American youth, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession of marijuana (thanks to the action of John Lennon, Sinclair was released).

In 1971, John Lennon's cult disc Imagine appeared. Since September 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono began to live in the USA. Since then, John Lennon has never returned to his homeland, Great Britain.

On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was killed by a crazy maniac, a reader of Salinger's book The Catcher in the Rye. In 2002, the BBC conducted a poll to determine the hundred greatest Britons of all time. John Lennon took eighth place according to the voting results.

Ernest Shackleton

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (born 15 February 1874, Kilkee House, Kildare, Ireland - 5 January 1922, Grytviken, South Georgia) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer and figure in the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. Member of four Antarctic expeditions, three of which he commanded.

The first experience of polar research was gained in the Discovery expedition, a participant in the first trip to the South Pole (latitude 82° 11’ was reached), after which he was evacuated for health reasons. In 1907, Shackleton led his own Nimrod expedition, during which he reached 88° 23" S, 97 geographical miles (180 km) short of the South Pole. For his achievements, he was knighted by King Edward VII.

After Amundsen (December 14, 1911) and Scott (January 17, 1912) reached the South Pole, Shackleton declared that crossing the entire Antarctic continent remained "the only great goal of Antarctic travel." In 1914 he organized the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. The trip ended in disaster: before reaching the shores of Antarctica, the expedition ship Endurance was trapped by ice in the Weddell Sea and sank. Shackleton managed to save the entire crew without killing a single person, but his heroism and professional qualities were not appreciated in Britain against the backdrop of the First World War. In 1921, he led the Shackleton-Rowett expedition, but even before its work began in Antarctica, he died of a heart attack at the age of 47 and was buried on the island of South Georgia.

Shackleton was a versatile personality, tried to run for the British Parliament, organized commercial enterprises, but was not successful in any of them. After his death, he was forgotten for some time, but in the middle of the twentieth century there was a surge of interest in Shackleton’s legacy, first in the USA and then in Great Britain. In 2002, during a national poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Shackleton was ranked 11th, while Robert Scott was only 54th.

James Cook

James Cook (1728-1779), English navigator, leader of three expeditions around the world.

Born on October 27, 1728 in the village of Marton (Yorkshire). The ninth child in the family of a day laborer on a farm.

At the age of 13 he entered the service of a haberdashery merchant.

At the age of 18, he left home and got a job as a cabin boy on a ship for transporting coal. During this period, Cook seriously began to educate himself, buying books, spending almost all of his salary on them.

In 1755, during the war with France, he was taken as a sailor on a warship. Cook proved himself to be a talented cartographer: his map of the St. Lawrence River in Canada allowed the British to successfully attack the city of Quebec. And the maps of the coast of the Labrador Peninsula, subsequently compiled by Cook, were used even at the beginning of the 20th century.

In 1768, forty-year-old Cook was promoted to officer, and in the same year he was entrusted with leading an expedition to the Southern Hemisphere. The voyage lasted almost three years - from August 1768 to June 1771. Having rounded Cape Horn, on June 3, 1769, Cook reached the island of Tahiti, where the researchers were going to conduct astronomical observations. However, the equipment necessary for this was stolen by the natives. The ship moved further south and in the fall of 1769 reached New Zealand. It turned out that this is not the cape of the Southern Continent, as previously thought, but two islands. Since then, the passage between them has been called Cook Strait. Then the sailors explored the eastern coast of Australia and claimed England's rights to this territory. In addition, the Great Barrier Reef was discovered.

In the second expedition (July 13, 1772 - July 29, 1775), the ships were unable to break through the ice to the Southern continent. Cook explored the boundaries of the ice and compiled detailed maps. Navigators discovered the archipelago of Tonga and New Caledonia.

Cook's third and final voyage (July 12, 1776 - October 4, 1780) was intended to find the so-called Great Passage connecting the two oceans to the north. However, after passing through the Bering Strait, the ships were only able to reach the 71st parallel due to ice. Cook decided to wait until next summer and ordered a return to Hawaii, which he had discovered a little earlier.

Hostile natives killed Cook on February 14, 1779, and his ships returned to England under the command of J. Gore.

Margaret Thatcher

Thatcher Margaret Hilda (born 1925), Prime Minister of Great Britain (1979-1990).

Born on October 13, 1925 in the city of Grantham in the family of a grocer. After leaving school she studied at Oxford University from 1947-1951. worked as a research chemist.

In 1950, she ran for parliament for the first time, but failed.

In 1953, Thatcher received a law degree, after which she practiced law (1954-1957). In 1959 she was elected to parliament.

In 1961-1964. Thatcher served as Junior Minister for Pensions and Social Security from 1970 to 1974. - post of Minister of Education and Science.

After the defeat of the Conservative Party in the elections (1974), Thatcher was elected its leader. The Conservatives won the elections in May 1979, and Thatcher received the post of prime minister.

She associated her program for economic recovery with reducing government spending, ending subsidies for unprofitable enterprises, and transferring state corporations to private ownership; considered inflation a greater danger than unemployment.

Her firmness in defending her views and her rigidity in implementing her decisions secured the title of “Iron Lady” for Thatcher.

In 1984-1985 it made no concessions during the miners' strike, thereby maintaining low prices for fuel and electricity. Inflation has decreased and labor productivity has increased. In the June 1987 elections, Thatcher remained prime minister for a third term for the first time in the history of modern Britain.

But resistance to Britain's integration into the European monetary system has left Conservatives dissatisfied with their leader.

After leaving the post of Prime Minister, Thatcher served as Member of the House of Commons for Finchley for two years. In 1992, at the age of 66, she decided to leave the British Parliament, which, in her opinion, gave her the opportunity to more openly express her opinion on certain events

In February 2007, Thatcher became the first British Prime Minister to have a monument erected in the British Parliament during her lifetime (the official opening took place on February 21, 2007 in the presence of the former politician).

Queen Victoria

Victoria (24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen Reigning of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and the first Empress of India under the British Raj, from 1 May 1876 until her death. Her reign as queen lasted 63 years and 7 months, longer than that of any other British monarch, and her reign longer than any female monarch in history.

The time of her reign is called the Victorian era, a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific and military progress in the United Kingdom. Her reign was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. During this period it reached its zenith and became the foremost world power of the time. She arranged the marriages of her 9 children and 42 grandchildren across the continent, linking Europe and earning the nickname "Grandmother of Europe". She was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover.

Victoria was born at Kensington Palace in 1819. At the time of her birth, her grandfather, George III, was on the throne, and his three eldest sons had no legitimate surviving children. Victoria later described her childhood as quite sad. Victoria's mother was overprotective of the princess, who was raised in isolation, with a detailed set of rules and protocols.

On May 24, 1837, Victoria turned 18 years old, and in June she became Queen of the United Kingdom.

Princess Victoria first met her future husband, her cousin Prince Albert, when she was just 17, in 1836. Some authors have written that she initially found Albert rather boring. However, according to her diary, she initially enjoyed his company. They married on 10 February 1840, in the chapel of St James's Palace in London. Albert became not only the queen's companion, but also an important political adviser. They had nine children and the marriage was quite successful. The Prince Consort died of typhoid fever on December 14, 1861, due to the primitive sanitary conditions at Windsor Castle. His death devastated Victoria, who was still suffering from the death of her mother in March of that year. She went into mourning and wore black robes for the rest of her life. She avoided public appearances, and rarely visited London in the following years. Her seclusion gave her the name "Widow Windsor".

Queen Victoria's reign was marked by the gradual creation of the modern constitutional monarchy. A series of legal reforms saw the House of Commons, which led to an increase in its influence, at the expense of the House of Lords and the monarchy, and the role of the monarch gradually became more symbolic. Victoria's reign created the concept of "family monarchy" in England, with which the growing middle class identified.

Alexander Fleming

Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming was born on August 6, 1881 in Ayrshire into a farmer's family. At the age of 13, he went to London, where he worked as a clerk, attended classes at the Polytechnic Institute on Regent Street, and in 1900 joined the London Scottish Regiment.

1901, having inherited 250 pounds sterling (almost $1,200), Alexander Fleming applies for a national competition and becomes a scholarship student at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School, where he studies surgery. 1906 He becomes a member of the Royal College of Surgeons. Continuing to work in the pathology laboratory of Professor Almroth Wright of St. Mary's Hospital, in 1908 he received a Master's and Bachelor's of Science degrees from the University of London.

img4f433853ec62d Biography of Alexander Fleming

After Britain entered World War I, he served as a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps and took part in hostilities in France. While working in a wound research laboratory, Alexander Fleming became convinced that antiseptics such as carbolic acid, which by that time were widely used to treat open wounds, destroyed white blood cells, which create a protective barrier in the body, and this promotes the survival of bacteria in tissues.

1915 Fleming marries nurse Sarah Marion McElroy, of Irish descent. The couple had a son.

1922 after unsuccessful attempts to isolate the causative agent of colds, Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered lysozyme, an enzyme that kills some bacteria without harming healthy tissues. This discovery prompted the search for other antibacterial drugs that would be harmless to the human body.

Another happy accident - Fleming's discovery of penicillin in 1928 - was caused by the untidiness of the scientist, who did not throw out bacterial cultures from laboratory dishes for 2-3 weeks. Alexander Fleming never mentioned penicillin in any of the 27 articles or lectures he published in the 1930s and 1940s, even when talking about substances that caused the death of bacteria.

Penicillin might have been forgotten forever if not for the earlier discovery of lysozyme. It was this discovery that forced Flore and E. Chain to study the therapeutic properties of penicillin, and therefore the drug was isolated and clinically tested.

The 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Alexander Fleming, together with Cheyne and Flore, “for the discovery of penicillin and its therapeutic effects in many infectious diseases.”

After the death of his wife in 1949, Fleming's health deteriorated sharply. 1952 He marries Amalia Koutsouris-Vureka, a bacteriologist and his former student. Three years later, the scientist died of a myocardial infarction at the age of 73.

Michael Faraday

Faraday Michael (1791-1867), English physicist, founder of the doctrine of the electromagnetic field.

Born on September 22, 1791 in London in the family of a blacksmith. He began working early in a bookbinding shop, where he became interested in reading. Michael was shocked by the articles on electricity in the Encyclopedia Britannica: “Conversations on Chemistry” by Madame Marcais and “Letters on Various Physical and Philosophical Matters” by L. Euler. He immediately tried to repeat the experiments described in the books.

The talented young man attracted attention and was invited to listen to lectures at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. After some time, Faraday began working there as a laboratory assistant.

From 1820 he worked hard on the idea of ​​combining electricity and magnetism. Subsequently, this became the scientist’s life’s work. In 1821, Faraday was the first to rotate a magnet around a current-carrying conductor and a current-carrying conductor around a magnet, i.e., he created a laboratory model of an electric motor.

In 1824 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of London. In 1831, the scientist discovered the existence of electromagnetic induction, and in subsequent years established the laws of this phenomenon. Also discovered extra currents during closing and opening electrical circuit, determined their direction.

Based on experimental material, he proved the identity of “animal” and “magnetic” thermoelectricity, electricity from friction, and galvanic electricity. Passing current through solutions of alkalis, salts, and acids, he formulated the laws of electrolysis (Faraday's laws) in 1833. Introduced the concepts of “cathode”, “anode”, “ion”, “electrolysis”, “electrode”, “electrolyte”. Constructed a voltmeter.

In 1843, Faraday experimentally proved the idea of ​​conservation of electric charge and came close to the discovery of the law on the conservation and transformation of energy, expressing the idea of ​​​​the unity of the forces of nature and their mutual transformation.

The creator of the doctrine of the electromagnetic field, the scientist expressed an idea about the electromagnetic nature of light (memoir “Thoughts on Ray Oscillations,” 1846).

In 1854 he discovered the phenomenon of diamagnetism, and three years later - paramagnetism. Laid the beginning of magnetooptics. Introduced the concept of electromagnetic field. This idea, according to A. Einstein, was the most important discovery since I. Newton.

Faraday lived modestly and quietly, preferring experiments to everything else.

Died 25 August 1867 in London. The ashes rest in London's Highgate Cemetery. The scientist's ideas are still waiting for a new genius

Queen Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II (English Elizabeth II), full name - Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (English Elizabeth Alexandra Mary April 21, 1926, London) - Queen of Great Britain from 1952 to the present.

Elizabeth II comes from the Windsor dynasty. She ascended the throne on February 6, 1952, at the age of 25, following the death of her father, King George VI.

The future reigning queen was born in London in the family of Prince Albert (better known as King George VI) and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. Its genealogy goes back to the House of Windsor, which ruled England for many years. However, since childhood, our today's heroine could hardly count on the fact that one day she would ascend to the British throne. According to the rules of English succession to the throne, Elizabeth was only the third in the hierarchy of persons claiming the royal crown. In this list, she was inferior to her father, the Prince of York, as well as his older brother, Edward VIII.

Despite this fact, the representative of the august family was raised as a real princess from early childhood. The best teachers worked with her, giving her an excellent education; as well as private teachers who taught her horse riding, the basics of etiquette and many other disciplines, the knowledge of which was a necessary condition for her family members. It is quite remarkable that the girl herself was always very passionate about knowledge. As many literary sources telling about the early years of the life of the future queen say, she actually independently learned French and many other important subjects. Conscientious and courageous beyond her years, Elizabeth appeared before the people of Britain during the Second World War. Then her uncle Edward abdicated the throne because of his love for a married lady, and her father, George VI, ascended the English throne. During this period, the thirteen-year-old girl was remembered for the fact that she often, together with her father, gave radio messages to the British people, addressing mainly children of her age. In 1943, she first appeared in public during the king's visit to a regiment of guards soldiers. A year later, she was officially included in the number of state advisers - persons who have the right to replace the monarch during his absence. Already in this status, our today's heroine joined the women's self-defense unit, where she was trained and received the rank of lieutenant in the English armed forces.

After the end of World War II, Elizabeth began to appear in public more often and speak to British citizens. In 1947, she made her legendary speech, in which she promised to be faithful to her homeland and its people. Around the same period, the girl began dating Philip Mountbatten, an English officer whose family goes back to the Danish and Greek monarchical families. The young people had known each other for a long time, but only eight years later they began to see each other often and spend time together.

In the same year, 1947, the lovers officially tied the knot. A year later, Elizabeth and Philip had their first child, son Charles (the current Prince of Wales). In 1950, the youngest daughter of the august persons, Princess Anna, was born. In 1952, another fateful event occurred in the life of our today's heroine. In February of the above-mentioned year, her father, King George the Sixth, died of thrombosis. And the twenty-six-year-old princess became the new queen of England and all countries of the British Commonwealth of Nations. In June 1953, her coronation took place in Westminster Abbey, which was broadcast by central television in England to many countries around the world. This ceremony attracted thousands of people to the screens and, some believe, contributed significantly to the rise in popularity of television. After her ascension to the throne, Queen Elizabeth II actively participated in the political life of her country, as well as many other states that are members of the British Commonwealth of Nations. It is quite remarkable that back in the fifties she became the first representative of the British monarchy to visit New Zealand and Australia on a long-term visit. Almost forty years later, she became the first queen to make an official speech at a joint meeting of both houses of the United States Congress. Over the years of her many-year reign, Elizabeth traveled to many countries on the planet and participated in various significant events. Thus, as the Queen of Canada, she took part in the opening ceremony of the XXI Olympic Games in Montreal, and then as the Queen of England - in a similar event held in London. As befits the head of a royal house, she received representatives of foreign delegations at Windsor Castle, and also actively worked on its reconstruction after the royal palace was badly damaged by fire.

At the moment, Elizabeth II remains one of the main symbols of England and the whole of Great Britain. Having been in power for more than 65 years, she was able to strengthen the authority of the British monarchy, as well as become a true role model for millions of Britons.

Currently, Elizabeth Second, as before, is the head of the Windsor dynasty. From her marriage to Philip Mountbatten, she has four children, the eldest of whom, Prince Charles, is the current heir to the English throne.

Currently, Queen Elizabeth has eight grandchildren, as well as three great-grandchildren. The youngest great-grandson of our today's heroine, George, was born in mid-2013.

David Bowie

David Robert Jones (born January 8, 1947), better known under the pseudonym David Bowie, is a British rock musician, singer, producer, audio engineer, composer, artist, and actor.

David Bowie rose to fame in the 1970s with the advent of glam rock. He is called the “chameleon of rock music”, as Bowie has been able to adapt to new directions in the musical world for almost 40 years, boldly experimenting with different styles - from classic rock and glam to electronics and metal. At the same time, Bowie managed to maintain his own recognizable style, successfully combining it with current musical trends.

During 2000, the weekly New Musical Express conducted a survey among musicians of a wide variety of styles and genres. There was only one question: “Which musician had the greatest influence on your own work?” According to the results of the survey, Bowie was recognized as the most influential musician of the century. Bowie achieved recognition as a film actor and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

David Robert Jones was born on January 8, 1947 in Brixton, London. Since childhood, he learned to play the saxophone, then the guitar. In 1963, according to legend, David got into a fight with his friend George Underwood over a certain young lady, and he cut his eye with a ring. David spent a long time in the hospital; doctors managed to save his eye, but his left pupil remained paralyzed.

At 16, he works as an advertising agent and performs with various bands, as well as releasing unrecognized singles. At this very time American band"The Monkees", whose vocalist was Davy Jones, became famous, and to avoid confusion with the American, David decided to take a pseudonym. A big fan of Mick Jagger, he learns that “jagger” means “knife” in Old English; David took a similar nickname for himself (Bowie is a type of combat knife named after the Texas war hero).

David Bowie's birthday is considered to be January 14, 1966. It was on this day that he first appeared under that name with the Lower Third group on the cover of the album “Can’t Help Thinking About Me.”

David Beckham

David Robert Joseph Beckham (born May 2, 1975, London, England) is an English footballer and midfielder. He became popular not only on the field, but also far beyond its borders. The footballer was already a famous Manchester United player when he married Spice Girls star Victoria Adams (Luxury Spice) in July 1999. The combination of two popular personalities exerted unique pressure on the public. The couple became one of the most famous British unions.

As a player, Beckham is renowned for his light touch and impressive long-range strikes (including his famous goal from halfway against Wimbledon in 1996).Manchester United sold the player to the Spanish team Real Madrid for 35 million euros (about 25 million British pounds) in July 2003. At the 1998 championship, meeting with Argentina, Beckham was disqualified for rude, nervous behavior on the field. However, the footballer played at the championships in 2002 and 2006. From 2000 to 2006, Beckham was captain of the English national team. He left this role after losing to Portugal in the World Cup quarter-finals. In 2007, the football player signed a multimillion-dollar contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy team. He wore the new kit for the first time on July 21, 2007, in a "friendly" match with Chelsea.

Additional data: Beckham usually plays as a midfielder. His nickname is "Bex". Together with Victoria, David has three sons named Brooklyn (born March 4, 1999), Romeo (born September 1, 2002), Cruz (born February 20, 2005). When David Beckham played for Manchester United, the athlete wore uniform No. 7. After joining Real Madrid, he changed his number to 23. Beckham wore the same number when he started playing for the Galaxy. In addition to Beckham, other football stars played for Real Madrid: Figo, Ronaldo, Zidane.

In 2002, the film “Bend It Like Beckham” was released with Keira Knightley - a story about a teenage football player. Beckham did not star in the film, but his name was in the title. The film's title referenced Beckham's skill at throwing a curveball.

William Blake

Blake William (1757-1827), English poet and artist. Born on November 28, 1757 in London in the family of a merchant.

He started as an engraver and draftsman. In 1778 he entered the Royal Academy and in 1780 took part in an academic exhibition for the first time, presenting a watercolor “The Death of Earl Goodwin”.

Since 1787, Blake's passion for mysticism began. It was caused, firstly, by the impression of the death of his beloved brother Robert, and secondly, by his friendship with the artist I. G. Fusli, who developed fantastic themes, and lasted throughout his life.

1804-1818 was a difficult period in Blake's life. Based on a denunciation, he was accused of treason, tried, but acquitted. The personal exhibition of 1804 was not successful, the paintings sold poorly.

But then almost ten years of recognition and glory followed, and before his death Blake was surrounded by the worship and veneration of young painters.

Blake can be called one of the first theorists of romanticism. His poetry and painting are like a link between enlightenment and romanticism. The first two collections of poems - “Poetic Sketches” (1783) and “Songs of Innocence” (1789) - are quite optimistic in spirit. At that time, Blake was close in his convictions to the democratic London Corresponding Society. He was captivated by the spirit of the Great French Revolution, and in 1791 Blake began working on the poem “The French Revolution,” which remained unfinished.

Subsequently, he would write “Prophetic Books” (1791-1820), in which he would talk about the French Revolution and the struggle of the American colonies of England for independence, resorting to biblical allegories. Over time, optimism gradually begins to give way to twilight moods (“Songs of Experience”, 1794) and satire (“Proverbs of Hell”, 1793).

Blake's main idea is to bring humanity to a golden age through religion-art, through the search for higher intelligence and beauty not outside of man, but within himself. After Blake's death (August 12, 1827, London), interest in him began to grow, and now he is considered a classic, an exponent of characteristically English views on art.

John Harrison

John Harrison (Harrison; English John Harrison; March 24, 1693 - March 24, 1776) - English inventor, self-taught watchmaker. Invented a marine chronometer, which solved the problem of accurately determining longitude during long sea voyages. The problem was considered so intractable and pressing that the UK Parliament offered a reward of £20,000 (equivalent to $4.72 million) for its solution.

John Harrison was born in Folby, near Wakefield in West Yorkshire. He was the eldest son in a carpenter's family and from an early age helped his father in his work. In 1700 the family moved to Lincolnshire.

Harrison received only a limited education, but from childhood he had a keen interest in mechanics and clocks. He assembled his first watch, all the parts of which were made of wood, when he was 20 years old. Three of his early clocks survive today.

For a long time he worked with his younger brother James. Their first project was a tower clock, which, unlike clocks of the time, did not require lubrication.

In 1725, he invented pendulum compensation (to eliminate the effect of temperature on the duration of swing) with rods. The director of the Greenwich Observatory, Halley, recommended it to George Graham (English) Russian, who, after many experiments, found Harrison's system more convenient than his own.

Subsequently, Harrison achieved a high degree of perfection in the manufacture of chronometers, for which he received the Copley Medal and a prize of 20,000 pounds sterling, which the British Admiralty assigned back in 1713 for the invention of a clock that made it possible to determine the position of a ship at sea with an accuracy of 1°.

Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens (February 7, 1812, Portsmouth, England - June 9, 1870, Higham (English) Russian, England) - English writer, novelist and essayist.

One of the most famous English-language novelists, a renowned creator of vivid comic characters and social critic. Born in Landport near Portsmouth in the family of a clerk in the naval department. Charles was the second of eight children. His mother taught him to read, he attended primary school for some time, and from the age of nine to twelve he went to a regular school. In 1822 his father was transferred to London. Parents with six children huddled in Camden Town in dire need. At the age of twelve, Charles began working for six shillings a week in a blacking factory in Hungerford Stairs on the Strand. On February 20, 1824, his father was arrested for debt and imprisoned in the Marshalsea prison. Having received a small inheritance, he paid off his debts and was released on May 28 of the same year. For about two years, Charles attended a private school called Wellington House Academy.

While working as a junior clerk in one of the law firms, Charles began to study shorthand, preparing himself to become a newspaper reporter. He contributed to several well-known periodicals and began writing fictional essays about life and characteristic types London. The first of these appeared in the Munsley Magazine in December 1832. In January 1835, J. Hogarth, publisher of the Evening Chronicle, asked Dickens to write a series of essays on city life. In the early spring of that year, the young writer became engaged to Catherine Hogarth. April 2, 1836 The first issue of The Pickwick Club was published. Two days earlier, Charles and Catherine had married and moved into Dickens's bachelor pad. At first, the response was lukewarm, and the sale did not promise much hope. However, the number of readers grew; By the end of the publication of The Posthumous Notes of the Pickwick Club, each issue sold 40 thousand copies.

Dickens accepted R. Bentley's offer to head the new monthly Bentley's Almanac. The first issue of the magazine was published in January 1837, a few days before the birth of Dickens's first child, Charles Jr. The first chapters of Oliver Twist appeared in the February issue. Before finishing Oliver, Dickens began writing Nicholas Nickleby, another twenty-issue series for Chapman and Hall. With the growth of wealth and literary fame, Dickens's position in society also strengthened. In 1837 he was elected a member of the Garrick Club, and in June 1838 a member of the famous Athenaeum Club.

Occasional friction with Bentley forced Dickens to resign from the Almanac in February 1839. Prints The Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge. In January 1842, the Dickens couple sailed to Boston, where a crowded and enthusiastic meeting marked the beginning of the writer's triumphant trip through New England to New York, Philadelphia, Washington and beyond - all the way to St. Louis.

In 1849, Dickens began writing David Copperfield, which was a huge success from the very beginning. In 1850, he began publishing a weekly magazine, Home Reading, at a cost of two pence. At the end of 1850, Dickens, together with Bulwer-Lytton, founded the Guild of Literature and Art to help needy writers. By this time Dickens had eight children (one died in infancy), and another last child, was about to be born. At the end of 1851, Dickens's family moved into a house in Tavistock Square, and the writer began work on Bleak House.

The writer's years of tireless work were overshadowed by a growing awareness of the failure of his marriage. While studying theater, Dickens fell in love with the young actress Ellen Ternan. Despite her husband's vows of fidelity, Catherine left his house. In May 1858, after the divorce, Charles Jr. remained with his mother and the rest of the children with their father. Having stopped publishing Home Reading, he very successfully began publishing a new weekly, All Year Round, publishing in it A Tale of Two Cities, and then Great Expectations.

His last completed novel was Our Mutual Friend. The writer's health was deteriorating. Having somewhat recovered, Dickens began writing “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” which was only half written. On June 9, 1870, Dickens died. In a private ceremony on 14 June, his body was buried in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey.

Frank Whittle

Sir Frank Whittle (eng. Sir Frank Whittle; June 1, 1907, Coventry (Warwickshire) - August 9, 1996, Columbia, Howard, Maryland) is an outstanding English design engineer. Father of the turbojet aircraft engine.

Graduated from Leamington College. In 1926 he entered the British Royal Air Force School in Cranwell.

In 1928-1932, test pilot of fighter aircraft, flight lieutenant (captain).

On January 16, 1930, Frank Whittle registered the world's first British patent No. 347206 for a workable gas turbine (turbojet) engine.

Group of developers and manufacturers of the Whittle W.1 gas turbine engine. BTH company. 1941

In 1936, Whittle and his partners created the company Power Jets Ltd., where the first English turbojet engines were developed.

The first English jet aircraft, the Gloster E.28/39, powered by the Whittle engine JETS W.1 (Whittle No. 1), took off on May 15, 1941.

In 1948, Whittle was knighted (Sir) by King George VI.

In 1953 he was awarded the FAI gold aviation medal.

Despite the attempts of the British government to soften Whittle's dissatisfaction with the awarding of various titles and awards to him, in 1976 Whittle emigrated to the United States, where he received full recognition of his services to world aviation.

Since 1977 - professor at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis.

According to contemporaries, the basis for the success of Whittle's machine (engine) was determined by the development of special materials capable of withstanding high gas temperatures at the turbine inlet and high centrifugal forces.

John Logie Baird

John Logie Baird (Baird; English John Logie Baird; August 13, 1888, Helensborough (Scotland) - June 14, 1946, Bexhill, East Sussex, England) is a Scottish engineer who gained fame for creating the first mechanical television system.

After studying at school, he entered and graduated from a technical college and university in Glasgow. Due to the outbreak of the First World War, he never received his doctorate and subsequently did not return to this topic. Experiments in Television: John Baird and his "TV", circa 1925. First famous photograph image produced by Baird's device, circa 1926. Although television is the result of the work of many inventors, Baird is one of the pioneers. He will remain known as the first person to transmit a black and white (grayscale) image of an object over a distance. Many engineers worked on this topic, but Baird was the first to achieve results. This was after replacing the photoelectric element of the camera with a more advanced one and using a video amplifier. Baird's early television experiments used a Nipkow disk, and in February 1924 he demonstrated a mechanical television system capable of transmitting and displaying moving images. The system reproduced only the silhouettes of the objects being photographed, such as the bending of fingers. Already on March 25, 1925, the premiere of a three-week television demonstration took place in the Selfridges store (London). On October 2, 1925, in his laboratory, John Baird achieved success in transmitting a black and white (grayscale) image of a ventriloquist's dummy. The image was scanned in 30 vertical lines, 5 images per second were transmitted. Baird went downstairs and brought the courier, 20-year-old William Edward Taynton, to see what a human face would look like in the transmitted image. Edward Tainton is the first person whose image was transmitted using a television system. In search of an opportunity to inform the public about his invention, Baird visited the editorial office of the Daily Express newspaper. The newspaper editor was shocked by the proposed news. Later, one of the editorial staff recalled his words: For God's sake, go downstairs to the reception area and get rid of the madman waiting there. He says he invented a machine to see through the radio! Be careful - he may be armed. First public displays: On January 26, 1926, in his laboratory in London, Baird demonstrated image transmission for members of the Royal English Association. Royal Institution and reporters from The Times newspaper. By this time, he had increased the scanning speed to 12.5 images per second. This was the world's first display of a true television system that showed moving images in grayscale. He demonstrated his first color transmitter in the world on July 3, 1928, using 3 Nipkow disks in a camera and a television: in the camera in front of each disk there was a filter that passed only one of the three primary colors, and in the television behind each disk a lamp of the corresponding color was installed .

Douglas Robert Bader

Sir Douglas Robert Stuart Bader (21 February 1910 – 5 September 1982) was a Colonel in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and ace of the Second World War. Lost both legs in a plane accident, but continued to fly and took part in combat operations. He won 20 personal victories, 4 in a group, 6 personal unconfirmed, one group unconfirmed and damaged 11 enemy aircraft.

Bader joined the KVVS in 1928 and became a pilot in 1930. In December 1931, during aerobatic training, he had an accident and lost both legs. After undergoing rehabilitation after amputation of his legs, he resumed flight training and applied for reinstatement as a pilot, but was discharged from the army for health reasons. During World War II in 1939, Bader managed to reinstate himself in the RCAF. He scored his first victory at Dunkirk during the French Campaign in 1940. Bader took part in the Battle of Britain and became a friend of Trafford Leigh-Mallory, helping him master the "big wing" tactics.

In August 1941, Bader was shot down over occupied France and captured. There he met Adolf Galland, the famous German ace. The reasons why Bader was shot down are not fully understood; he may have been a victim of friendly fire. Bader visited many prisoner of war camps, the last of which was the camp at Colditz Castle, from which the pilot was released in April 1945 by the American military.

Bader left the KVVS in February 1946, and subsequently worked in the fuel industry. In the 1950s, a film and book were published about his life and career during the war. Bader was elevated to the rank of Knight Bachelor in 1976 and continued to fly until 1979. He died on September 5, 1982 from a heart attack.

Drake Francis

Drake Francis (c. 1540-1596), English navigator.

Born in the town of Tayvistoke (Devonshire) into a farmer's family. In his youth he sailed on coasting ships that entered the Thames. After his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, Drake received a position as captain of a ship in J. Hawkins' squadron. In 1567, he participated in Hawkins's naval expedition to capture the ships of Spanish slave traders and plunder Spanish possessions in the West Indies.

Since 1570, Drake carried out pirate raids every summer in the Caribbean Sea, which Spain considered its own. He captured Nombre de Dios in Mexico, plundering caravans transporting silver from Peru to Panama.

In December 1577, Drake set out on his most famous expedition. It was equipped with money from private investors, which Drake was able to obtain thanks to the patronage of the Earl of Essex, the favorite of Elizabeth I. Later, the navigator mentioned that the queen herself invested 1000 crowns. Drake was tasked with sailing through the Strait of Magellan, finding suitable places for colonies and returning back the same way. It was also assumed that he would carry out raids on Spanish possessions in America.

Drake sailed from Plymouth on December 13, 1577. He commanded the ship "Pelican" (later renamed "Golden Hind") of 100 tons; there were four more small ships in the squadron. Having reached the coast of Africa, the flotilla captured more than ten Spanish and Portuguese ships. Through the Strait of Magellan, Drake entered the Pacific Ocean; there strong storm He drove ships south for 50 days. Between Tierra del Fuego and Antarctica, Drake discovered a strait that was later named after him. The storm damaged the ships. One of them returned to England, the others drowned. The captain only had the “Golden Hind” left. Moving along the coast of South America, Drake robbed ships and harbors off the coasts of Chile and Peru. On March 1, 1579, he captured the ship Cacafuego, loaded with gold and silver bars. In July of the same year, the ship commanded by Drake crossed the Pacific Ocean. In 1580 he returned to Plymouth. Thus, the navigator made a trip around the world (the second after F. Magellan), which brought him not only fame, but also wealth.

Having received his share of the spoils (at least 10 thousand pounds sterling), Drake bought an estate near Plymouth. Queen Elizabeth granted him the title of knight in 1581. In 1585, Drake was appointed commander-in-chief of the English fleet heading to the West Indies. This marked the beginning of the war with Spain.

In March 1587, Drake unexpectedly captured the port city of Cadiz in southern Spain, destroyed it and captured about 30 Spanish ships. And again, in addition to military glory, the “pirate of Queen Elizabeth” received huge amounts of money - his personal share of the captured wealth amounted to more than 17 thousand pounds sterling.

In 1588, Drake was appointed vice admiral and played a decisive role in the defeat of the Invincible Armada. Drake's luck ran out during an expedition to the West Indies in 1595. He fell ill with dysentery and died on January 28, 1596 near Portobelo (Panama).

The vice admiral was buried according to traditional naval rites, at sea.

Nightingale Florence

Florence Nightingale (born Florence Nightingale; May 12, 1820, Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany - August 13, 1910, London, UK) - sister of mercy and public figure in Great Britain.

She was born on May 12, 1820 in Florence and was named after the city in which she was born. In her youth she traveled around Europe accompanied by family friends. In 1849, she attended the Institute of Deaconesses in Kaiserwerth (Germany) and returned to England with the firm intention of becoming a sister of mercy. In 1853 she became the manager of a small private hospital on Harley Street in London.

In October 1854, during the Crimean campaign, Florence, along with 38 assistants, among whom were nuns and sisters of mercy, went to field hospitals, first in Scutari (Turkey), and then in Crimea. Consistently implemented the principles of sanitation and care for the wounded. As a result, in less than six months, mortality in hospitals decreased from 42 to 2.2%.

In 1856, Florence, with her own money, erected a large white marble cross on a high mountain in Crimea above Balaklava in memory of the soldiers, doctors and nurses who died in the Crimean War.

The Crimean War made Florence a national heroine. Soldiers returning from the front told legends about her, calling her “the lady with the lamp,” because at night, with a lamp in her hands, she always, like a kind bright angel, walked around the wards with the sick.

On her return to England (1856) Nightingale was tasked with reorganizing the army medical service. In 1857, the government allocated funds to organize a commission to implement the necessary reforms. In 1859, Herbert again became Minister of War; with his help, Nightingale ensured that hospitals were equipped with ventilation and sewage systems; hospital staff were required to undergo the necessary training; hospitals carried out strict statistical processing of all information. A military medical school was organized, and awareness-raising work was carried out in the army about the importance of disease prevention.

Nightingale was a capable mathematician, engaged in statistical research, and became an innovator in the use of infographic methods in statistics, in particular, she used pie (pie) charts. In 1859 she was elected a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and subsequently became an honorary member of the American Statistical Association.

She wrote the books Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Efficiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army (1858) and Notes on Nursing : What It Is and What It Is Not, 1860).

During the war, Nightingale managed to collect a large sum of money by subscription, with which in 1860 the world's first school of Sisters of Charity was organized at St. Thomas's Hospital in London. Soon, graduates of this school began to create similar institutions at other hospitals, and even in other countries. Thus, Emmy Caroline Rape, who studied at this school in 1866-67, became a pioneer in creating a system for training sisters of mercy in Sweden.

Thomas Edward Lawrence

Thomas Edward Lawrence, or Lawrence of Arabia (eng. Thomas Edward Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia; 16 August 1888, Tremadoc - 19 May 1935, Bovington Camp, Dorset), was a British officer and traveler who played a major role in the Great Arab Revolt of 1916-1918 years. Author of the famous memoir "Seven Pillars of Wisdom". Lawrence is considered a military hero both in Great Britain and in a number of Arab countries in the Middle East. One of the most famous biographical films in cinema history is dedicated to him.

Thomas Edward Lawrence was born on 16 August 1888 in the Welsh village of Tremadoc, the illegitimate son of Sir Thomas Chapman. As a child he lived in Oxford, and in 1907 he entered Oxford's Jesus College. Studied history and archaeology. Lawrence explored medieval castles in France and Syria and wrote his first book, Crusaders Castles, 2 vols., published in 1936. From 1911 to 1914, Lawrence participated in the excavations of Carchemish (Jerablus), a Hittite city in the upper Euphrates, led by D. Hogarth, C. Thompson and C. Woolley, and in 1912 - in excavations in Egypt led by Flinders Petrie. In 1911 he returned briefly to England, then again went to the Middle East. Traveled extensively throughout Arabia and studied Arabic.

In March 1923, taking the surname Shaw, Lawrence joined the Royal Tank Units, and in his free time he tested new models of motorcycles. In 1925 he was again allowed to join the Air Force. Following the advice of his friend Bernard Shaw, he continued to work on The Seven Pillars of Wisdom and in 1926 released the book as a beautifully designed edition, printed in 128 copies, distributed by subscription. To recoup the costs of publication, in 1927 he released an abridged version called Revolt in the Desert. This book was a huge success in many countries around the world.

Robert Scott

Robert Falcon Scott (eng. Robert Falcon Scott; June 6, 1868, Plymouth - approx. March 29, 1912, Antarctica) - captain of the Royal Navy of Great Britain, polar explorer, one of the discoverers of the South Pole, who led two expeditions to Antarctica: "Discovery" (1901 -1904) and "Terra Nova" (1912-1913).

There are people who have become famous for great deeds and truly fearless and very courageous actions, such as the exploration of Antarctica. Robert Falken Scott was just such a man. This man lived a very bright and eventful life, and also made a very significant contribution to the study of the remote lands of Antarctica. You can book a hotel in the UK on our portal.

The famous traveler and explorer was born in 1868. As a child, Robert had very poor health, but this did not interfere with the formation of a strong-willed character. At a young age, this weak but stubborn boy from a large family had already entered the navy; his service began in 1880. After six years of impeccable service, a fateful meeting took place in the life of Robert Scott - he met K. Markham, the president of the geographical society. construction of warehouses It was this man who recommended that Robert become a member of a large-scale research expedition to the shores of Antarctica. The expedition took place - it was a study lasting more than 3 years. It was this research that became key to the development of geography and works devoted to the Antarctic at the beginning of the 20th century. During this expedition, which greatly weakened the explorer, Scott managed to explore the shores of Victoria, reservoirs, and also discover an oasis in the icy Arctic expanses. This expedition ended for Robert Scott not only with the collection of very valuable data, but also with universal recognition and awards; he was awarded many honors, as well as the rank of captain of the fleet. Using our portal you can find air tickets to the UK.

The major expedition of 1901-1904 was the beginning of a completely new period in the life of the researcher: he began to actively study and use innovations that could be indispensable for travel and research, and also give presentations, however, so measured and more related to science , than, directly, with research, life quickly became boring for the traveler. Already in 1910, he and a team of like-minded people again set out on an expedition, this time it was the conquest of the South Pole. The expedition was clearly planned and thought out to the smallest detail, however, by a tragic coincidence, it became fatal for Robert Scott: both he and his companions died due to severe weather conditions, as well as food shortages. According to the official version, the great and courageous explorer fought to the last and became the last of the expedition members to die.

Alexander Bell

Alexander Graham Bell (born Alexander Graham Bell; March 3, 1847, Edinburgh, Scotland - August 2, 1922, Baddeck, Nova Scotia, Canada) - scientist, inventor and businessman of Scottish origin, one of the founders of telephony, founder of Bell Labs (formerly . Bell Telephone Company), which determined the entire further development of the telecommunications industry in the United States.

Alexander Bell was born on March 3, 1847 in the Scottish city of Edinburgh. He added the word Graham to his name later as a sign of respect for his family friend, Alexander Graham. Several of Bell's close relatives, notably his grandfather, father and uncle, were professional rhetoricians. The father of the future inventor, Alexander Melville Bell, even published a treatise on the art of eloquence.

At the age of 13, Bell graduated from the Royal School in Edinburgh, and at the age of 16 he received a position as teacher of elocution and music at Weston House Academy. Alexander studied at the University of Edinburgh for one year, then moved to the English city of Bath.

After Alexander's two brothers died of tuberculosis, the family decided to move to Canada. In 1870, the Bells settled in Brantford, Ontario. While still in Scotland, Bell began to become interested in the possibility of transmitting signals via telecommunications channels. In Canada, he continued to invent, in particular, he created an electric piano, adapted to transmit music over wires.

In 1873, Bell received a position as professor of speech physiology at Boston University. In 1876, he received U.S. Patent No. 174465, describing "a method and apparatus... for transmitting speech and other sounds by telegraph... by means of electric waves." In fact, it was about the telephone. In addition, Bell led work on the use of light beams in telecommunications - a direction that later led to the creation of fiber optic technologies.

In 1877, Bell married his student Mabel Hubbard. In 1882, he became a naturalized US citizen. In 1888 he took part in the creation of the US National Geographic Society

Bell died on August 2, 1922 at his Beinn Brae estate near the town of Baddeck (Nova Scotia, Canada). After his death, all telephones in the United States (more than 13 million) were switched off for a minute of silence to honor his memory.

Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury (real name Farrokh Bulsara) is a British singer of Parsi origin, songwriter, vocalist of the rock band Queen. . He was the author of such group hits as “Seven Seas of Rhye”, “Killer Queen”, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Somebody to Love”, “We Are the Champions”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, etc. The musician also worked solo work. Born on September 5, 1946 in Zanzibar. At school age, Freddie was fond of tennis and boxing, studied well, and was involved in painting and music. While studying at school, I learned to play the piano. And in 1958, Freddie Mercury and his friends organized the group “The Hectics,” which played at school parties.

In 1962 Freddie returned to Zanzibar, but his family soon moved to England. There he began studying at a polytechnic school, but intensively studied painting and graphics. After leaving school, Freddie entered London's Ealing College of Art, where he studied graphic illustration. Freddie stopped living with his parents and rented an apartment for himself. Soon an important event occurred in his biography - he met the leader of the Smile group, Tim Staffel. Then he began to attend the band’s rehearsals and became better acquainted with Brian May and Roger Taylor. After graduating from art college, Mercury, together with Taylor, opened his own used clothing store.

In 1970, after Staffel left Smile, Freddie took his place. Soon the group changed its name to “Freddie Mercury - Live Aid 1985 Queen”. The place of bass guitarist, after a long search and several candidates, was taken by John Deacon. Freddie created a logo for the band incorporating elements of British heraldry. Two years later, Freddie decided to take the pseudonym Mercury (before that he had his own last name). The group's first album was released in 1972. Mercury was the author of several of Queen's first hits: "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen". The group became famous throughout the world and began touring in different countries.

1980 marked a new period for the singer; Freddie even changed his image, began to wear a mustache and cut his hair short. Taking advantage of the vacation and suspension of touring activities, Mercury began solo work. First, he released the single “Love Kills” (1984). And in 1985, his first solo album “Mr. Bad Guy." Collaboration with Monserat Caballe resulted in the next album “Barcelona”.

Freddie Mercury - last official photo Since 1986, rumors about the singer's illness appeared in the press, which he completely denied. Only those closest to him knew about his AIDS disease. In 1989, Queen abandoned the tour. Freddie Mercury devoted this period in his biography to recording songs, because he wanted to release as many as possible. The last Queen albums during Mercury's lifetime were “The Miracle” and “Innuendo”.

On November 23, 1991, Mercury officially confirmed that he had AIDS, and the next day he died of bronchial pneumonia at his London home.

Julie Andrews

Julie Elizabeth Andrews (born 1 October 1935) is a British actress, singer and writer. Winner of Emmy, Grammy, Golden Globe and Oscar awards.

Already during the war, Andrews constantly performed in the music halls of London, and when she came of age, she moved to the United States to Broadway, where she was proclaimed the “queen of the musical.”

Her performance as Eliza Dolittle in the updated version of George Bernard Shaw's play My Fair Lady caused a sensation. Such musicals as “Camelot” and “Cinderella” were written specifically for the young actress.

In 1964, Andrews tried her hand at film.

Although her signature role of Eliza Doolittle was given to superstar Audrey Hepburn by producers, Andrews signed a contract with Walt Disney Studios to star in the film version of Mary Poppins. This picture became one of the most commercially successful projects in the history of the studio and brought the actress an Oscar for Best Actress.

On the wave of success, she played the main role in the musical film “The Sound of Music,” which has already become an unfading classic of family cinema. This film won an Oscar best film of the year, and Andrews, nominated for this award for the second time, became known throughout the world.

In 1997, as a result of surgery to remove polyps, Andrews lost her amazing voice. Fortunately, her career as an actress continued. In 1999, the Queen of Great Britain awarded her the title of Dame.

The paradox is that while playing virtuous governesses, Andrews found herself “sandwiched” into a certain type that she had to fight with for the rest of her life. She essentially had nothing else to play in the musical theater, and in the film industry she was written off as a star of the early sixties. However, since The Americanization of Emily, Andrews' acting range has steadily expanded.

Andrews tried herself as a theater director, played in the children's comedy The Princess Diaries and voiced Queen Lillian in the animated film Shrek 2.

George Stephenson

George Stephenson, Stephenson (06/09/1781, Wileham, Northumberland, - 08/12/1848, Tapton House, Chesterfield), English designer and inventor, mechanical engineer, who initiated the development of steam railway transport. Born into a miner's family, he worked for hire from the age of 8, learned to read and write at the age of 18, and through persistent self-education acquired the specialty of a steam engine mechanic (around 1800). Since 1812, the chief mechanic of the Killingworth mines (Northumberland) invented a mine lamp of an original design (1815). Since 1814 he was engaged in the construction of steam locomotives. The first steam locomotive "Blücher" was built with the assistance of R. Trevithick's former assistant J. Steele for the mining railway. In 1815-1816 he created two more steam locomotives of improved designs. In 1818, together with N. Wood, he conducted the first scientific studies of the dependence of rail track resistance on loads and track profile.

In 1823, in Newcastle, he founded the world's first steam locomotive factory, which produced the steam locomotive "Movement" (1825) for the Darlington - Stockton railway, built under Stephenson's leadership, and then the steam locomotive "Rocket" (1829) for the road between Manchester and Liverpool ( 1826-1830). During the construction of this line, Stephenson for the first time solved complex problems of railway technology: artificial structures were created (bridges, viaducts, etc.), iron rails on stone supports, which allowed steam locomotives of the "Raketa" type to reach speeds of up to 50 km/h. The gauge (1435 mm), adopted by Stephenson, became the most common on the railways of Western Europe.

In 1836, Stephenson organized a design office in London, which became a scientific and technical center for railway construction. Based on the drawings of Stephenson and his son Robert, steam locomotives were built, which were operated not only in Great Britain, but also in other countries. Stephenson also resolved other technical issues in the field of transport and industry, and was the organizer of schools for mechanics.

Charlie Chaplin

Sir Charles Spencer (Charlie) Chaplin (English: Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin; April 16, 1889 - December 25, 1977) - American and English film actor, screenwriter, composer and director, universal master of cinema, creator of one of the most famous images of world cinema - the image of the tramp Charlie, who appeared in short comedies produced in the 1910s at the Keystone film studio. Chaplin actively used the techniques of pantomime and buffoonery, although starting from the 1920s, his work began to include much more serious social themes than was the case in the early period of short films.

This character is well known to the actor: after all, he himself came out of the midst of the people, having learned in childhood the full hardship of a half-starved existence. Left without a father at an early age, he began performing on stage as a child. And when he turned 18, he was accepted into the pantomime troupe of Fred Karno, with whom he went on tour to the USA in 1913.

A year later, the twenty-five-year-old actor made his screen debut in the Mack Sennett studio film Making a Living. But only with almost a dozen short films behind him (“Children’s auto racing in Venice”, 1914; “Between Two Showers”, 1914; “The Best Tenant”, 1914, etc.) did he finally find the permanent image of Charlie, so beloved by the audience Chaplin: excessively wide trousers and a tight-fitting jacket, too large broken shoes that curl up to the toes, a mustache, a bowler hat and a cane. From film to film (and 34 of them were released in 1914 alone), this tramp, trying to seem like a gentleman, ran, fell, tumbled, threw cream cakes and received responses right in the face, in a word, he used the well-known techniques of clowning and farce. In many ways, his theatrical background helped him here: most of the tricks were borrowed from English pantomime (“His New Profession”, 1914; “All Night Long”, 1915; “The Tramp”, 1915; “Woman”, 1915, etc.). However, already in “The Bank” (1915) the audience was struck by the sad look of the lonely hero, and in “The Immigrant” (1917) the first signs of Charlie’s collision with a hostile reality appeared.

These trends manifested themselves in full force in the 1920s and 30s, when Charlie Chaplin founded his own film studio and began producing full-length films, in which he was no longer only an actor, but also a screenwriter, director, and composer. The warm and humane “Baby” (1921), where the eternal tramp Charlie acted as a caring father who sheltered a boy abandoned by his parents (J. Coutan), enjoyed success. The image of the escaped convict he created in “Pilgrim” (1923) is causticly satirical. The lone gold miner in “Gold Rush” (1925) is parodied, who, as is customary in Hollywood melodramas, is lucky in the finale, leading him “from rags to riches.” The “bun dance” on forks, which the actor performed while sitting at a table, was such a huge success that Charlie Chaplin repeated it twice in the original version of the film.

Soon after the release of this film, which was included in the top ten best films of all time, a scandal erupted, of which there were quite a few in Chaplin’s biography. Despite his small stature and “unmanly” appearance, Charlie Chaplin enjoyed enormous success with women. In addition, the press, greedy for sensation, deliberately inflated his love stories and the collapse of legal marriages. She made the first noise when the actor broke up with actress Mildred Harris. But, having received a large compensation, she let him go in peace. Divorce from the mother of his two sons, the mediocre extra Lita Gray, almost cost the actor his film career. The bitterness that Chaplin developed after this story was reflected in the eccentric comedy “The Circus” (1928), where a metaphorical scene - small evil monkeys torment Charlie walking on a tightrope - suggests that the actor did not forgive this persecution to American society. Although it was not Chaplin's best film of the 1920s, it received a special Oscar for "the genius of its writing, acting, direction and production."

The pinnacle of Charlie Chaplin's creativity and the style he found - the interweaving of whimsical eccentricity, sad lyricism and sharp satire - was his first sound - only musical accompaniment - the film "City Lights" (1931, in our rental - "City Lights"). The love story of an unemployed tramp for a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill) fails, and in the eyes of Charlie, who understands this, there is sadness and despair, which he tries in vain to hide with a timid smile. This line is constantly interspersed with the hero’s “friendship” with a millionaire drunkard, shown in an openly satirical manner.

The audience first heard Charlie Chaplin’s voice only in “Modern Times” (1936), where he sings a lyrical song in some incomprehensible language. But the actor’s facial expressions and movements are so expressive that the audience easily grasps the meaning of the sad story about how a fat dandy seduced a girl with a fake ring. A fundamental innovation was that here the hero fights for his right to life and happiness not alone, but with a girl (Paulet Goddard, who played this role, soon became Chaplin’s third wife). In these two films, the comic image of the charming little tramp of the silent period develops into a deeply dramatic one. His spiritual purity and kindness stand against the stupid indifference of the rich, the rudeness of the all-powerful police, and the inhumanity of assembly line production.

In 1940, The Great Dictator was published, in which, in addition to his traditional role of the “little man,” this time a Jewish hairdresser, the actor also plays the fascist leader Adenoid Hynkel, who even looks like Hitler. His plasticity is amazing, especially in the scene of playing with the globe. This political pamphlet clearly reflected the civic position of its creator, who talentedly, using only his own means, exposed the misanthropic essence of fascism. The New York Critics Award for Best Actor crowned this difficult, but so necessary work for people at that time.

Charlie Chaplin's post-war film Monsieur Verdoux (1947) again showed the little man's clash with society, but no longer in the image of Charlie (the film was based on the real story of the Frenchman Landru, who killed women for profit). Here this story was given a social connotation: a bank employee who was left unemployed during the crisis years fed his family in such an original way. The unusual nature of the material caused a furious campaign in the United States against this film; its creator was again reproached for all mortal sins - political and moral. Then he left America forever, settling in Switzerland with Una, the daughter of the famous playwright Eugene 0"Neal, whom he married in 1943 after a peaceful divorce from Polet, and numerous children. He rented a studio in England.

The film “Footlights” (1952), which starred not only members of his family, but also many associates of his youth, in particular, Bester Keaton and Edna Purviance, Chaplin’s constant partner from 1915 to 1923 - the story of the last love of the clown Calvero, is largely autobiographical . And although the actor again achieved an amazing mixture of lyricism and comedy here, the picture was far inferior to his best creations. As, indeed, is the frankly evil satire on America “A King in New York” (1957). The melodrama “The Countess from Hong Kong” (1967), where the actor appeared in the tiny role of a steamship steward, turned out to be a clear failure. The actor never acted in films again...

The genius of Charlie Chaplin had a profound influence on the development of world cinema, although no equal to him ever appeared. The figure of this amazing master still stands apart. In 1954 he was awarded the Soviet International Peace Prize. In 1972 he was awarded a special Oscar and in the same year received the Gold Prize of the Venice International Film Festival for his work. In 1992, R. Attenborough directed the film “Chaplin,” where Robert Downey Jr. played the title role.

Since childhood, Jane devoted a lot of time to reading books by English novelists. She was fascinated by the works of Fielding, Richardson, and Shakespeare. In the period from 1783 to 1786. Together with her sister Cassandra she studied at Oxford, Southampton and Reading. Jane had no luck with schools; in the first, she and Cassandra suffered from the despotic temper of the headmistress and almost died after contracting typhus. Another school in Reading, on the contrary, was run by a very good-natured person, but the knowledge of the students was the last concern of her life. Having returned his daughters home, George Austin decided to educate them himself and was very successful in this. Skillfully guiding their reading, he instilled in the girls a good literary taste and taught them to love classical authors, whom he knew well from his own occupation. Shakespeare, Goldsmith, Hume were read. They were also interested in novels, reading such authors as Ridcharson, Fielding, Stern, Maria Edgeworth, Fanny Burney. Among the poets they preferred were Cowper, Thomson, and Thomas Gray. The formation of Jane Austen's personality took place in an intellectual environment - among books, constant conversations about literature, discussions of what was read and what was happening.

Austen's literary career began in 1789. When she was only 14 years old, she wrote her first work, “Love and Friendship.” The characters in this parody novel are a little boring and sentimental, which is why it remains little known. The most productive years creatively were 1811-1817. It was during this period of time that Jane wrote her novels “Sensibility” (1811), “Pride and Prejudice” (1811), “Northanger Abbey” (1818). The latter was published posthumously. The novel Sanditon remained unfinished.

Jane Austen loved dresses, balls, and fun. Her letters are full of descriptions of hat styles, stories about new dresses and gentlemen. Fun was combined in her with a natural intelligence and a decent education, especially for a girl of her circle and position, who had not even graduated from school.

Restraint is a feature not only of Austen’s creative image, but also an integral part of her life position. Austen came from a family with strong English traditions: they knew how to feel and experience deeply, but at the same time they were restrained in expressing feelings.

Jane Austen never married. When Jane was 20 years old, she had an affair with her neighbor, Thomas Lefroy, the future Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, and at that time a law student. However, the marriage of young people would be impractical, since both families were relatively poor and hoped to take advantage of the marriages of their offspring to improve their financial and social situation, so Jane and Tom had to separate. At the age of 30, Jane put on a cap and never took it off as a sign of renunciation of hopes for personal happiness. The writer died on July 18, 1817 in Winchester due to Addison's disease. The works of Jane Austen have forever entered world literature as novels with artless sincerity combined with gentle English humor. She is considered the so-called "First Lady" of English literature and many of her works are included in the UK curriculum.

First head of the Smallpox Vaccination Lodge in London from 1803 (now the Jenner Institute).

Soon he got a job as a mechanic at the University of Glasgow, where he began conducting experiments with steam engines. “All my thoughts,” Watt wrote to a friend, “are directed towards the steam engine: I can’t think about anything.”

Between 1764 and 1784 Watt worked on creating a heat engine. Its design was more advanced compared to the inventions of other European scientists. The machine operated due to the fact that steam from the boiler entered the cylinder and, expanding, forced the piston to move. At the same time, Watt managed to increase its power by providing a special cooling device - a condenser - for the steam to escape.

The hinge mechanism developed by Watt turned the steam engine into a universal engine for spinning and weaving machines, allowing it to be used in factories and factories, and in mining. It replaced the labor of dozens of people who previously had to set machines in motion manually. This accelerated the development of English industry.

Maxwell James Clerk (1831-1879), English physicist, creator of classical electrodynamics, one of the founders of statistical physics.

Born on June 13, 1831 in Edinburgh into the family of a Scottish nobleman. At the age of ten he entered the Edinburgh Academy, where he became the first student.

From 1847 he studied at the University of Edinburgh (graduated in 1850). Here I became interested in experiments in chemistry, optics, magnetism, and studied mathematics, physics, and mechanics. Three years later, to continue his education, James transferred to Trinity College Cambridge and began studying electricity from the book of M. Faraday. Then he began experimental research on electricity.

After successfully graduating from college (1854), the young scientist was invited to teach. Two years later he wrote an article “On Faraday lines of force.”

At the same time, Maxwell was developing the kinetic theory of gases. He derived a law according to which gas molecules are distributed according to their velocities (Maxwell's distribution).

In 1856-1860 Maxwell is a professor at the University of Aberdeen; in 1860-1865 he taught at King's College London, where he first met Faraday. It was during this period that his main work, “Dynamic Theory of the Electromagnetic Field” (1864-1865), was created, in which the patterns he discovered were expressed in the form of systems of four differential equations (Maxwell’s equations). The scientist argued that a changing magnetic field forms a vortex electric field in surrounding bodies and in vacuum, and this, in turn, causes the appearance of a magnetic field.

This discovery became a new stage in the knowledge of the world. A. Poincaré considered Maxwell's theory to be the pinnacle of mathematical thought. Maxwell proposed that electromagnetic waves must exist and that their speed of propagation is equal to the speed of light. This means that light is a type of electromagnetic waves. He theoretically substantiated the phenomenon of light pressure.

Born on January 3, 1892 in the city of Bloemfotain (South Africa). The son of an English merchant who settled in South Africa, Tolkien returned to England at a conscious age, after the death of his father. Soon he lost his mother too. Before her death, she converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism, so a Catholic priest became John’s educator and guardian. Religion had a significant influence on the writer’s work.

In 1916, after graduating from Oxford University, Tolkien married Edith Brett, whom he loved from the age of 14 and with whom he did not part until her death in 1972. Edith became the prototype for one of Tolkien’s favorite images - the elven beauty Luthien.

Since 1914, the writer was busy implementing an ambitious plan - creating a “mythology for England” that would combine his favorite ancient tales about heroes and elves and Christian values. The result of these works was the “Book of Forgotten Tales” and the mythological corpus “The Silmarillion” that grew from it towards the end of the writer’s life.

In 1937, the magical story “The Hobbit, or There and Back Again” was published. In it, for the first time in the fictional world (Middle-earth), funny creatures appear, reminiscent of the inhabitants of rural “good old England”.

The hero of the tale, the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, becomes a kind of intermediary between the reader and the gloomy, majestic world of ancient legends. Persistent requests from publishers prompted Tolkien to continue the story. This is how the fairy-tale-epic trilogy “The Lord of the Rings” appeared (the novels “The Fellowship of the Ring”, “The Two Towers”, both 1954, and “The Return of the King”, 1955, revised edition 1966). In fact, it was a continuation of not only and not so much “The Hobbit,” but also “The Silmarillion,” which was not published during the writer’s lifetime, as well as the unfinished novel about Atlantis, “The Lost Road.”

Joanne Rowling is an English writer, writing under the pseudonym Joanne Katheline Rowling, author of a series (1997-2007) of novels about Harry Potter, translated into more than 60 languages, including Russian.

The Potter books have won several awards and have sold over 400 million copies. They became the best-selling book series in history and the basis for a film series that became the highest-grossing film series in history. Rowling herself approved the film scripts and had complete control over the creative process, being the producer of the last part.

At that time she was quiet, freckled, nearsighted and terribly unathletic. Her favorite subjects are English and other languages. She used to tell stories to her friends - where they all performed brave and heroic deeds that they would not dare to do in real life.

She went to Exeter University straight after school and studied French, at the urging of her parents, who said she could make a career as a bilingual secretary. She spent several years studying at the university and working as “the worst secretary in the world.”

In 1991, at the age of 26, she went to Portugal to teach English. She says she liked it. She gave lessons in the afternoon and evening, and composed in the morning. During this time, she began working on her third novel (the first two had been dismissed as "very bad"). The new book was about a boy who discovered that he was a wizard and ended up in a wizarding school. In Portugal she met and married a Portuguese journalist. Their daughter, Jessica, was born in 1993.

After the divorce, Rowling and her daughter moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, closer to her younger sister Dee. Rowling set herself the goal of completing the Harry novel before starting work as a French teacher, and, of course, trying to publish it. She wrote on the cafe table while Jessica was sleeping. The Scottish Arts Council gave her a grant to complete the book and, after a number of rejections, she eventually sold Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to Bloomsbury (UK) for US$4,000.

A few months later, Arthur A. Levin/Teaching Literature buys the American rights to the book for enough money to enable her to quit teaching. The book was published in the UK in June 1997 (at the time of writing the first edition of this book has sold £12,000/$20,000). At that moment the confession came. Harry Potter wins the British Book of the Year and Smarties Prize. Retitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the book was published in the US in September 1998. The next, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published in the UK in July 1998, and in the US in June 1999. The third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban "was published in the UK in July 1999, and in the US in September 1999.

Rowling became an international literary sensation in 1999 when the first three books in the Harry Potter series reached the top 3 positions on the New York Times bestseller list - achieving similar success in the UK. In the summer of 2000, the first three books had sold over 35 million copies, in 35 languages, valued at approximately $480 million. In July 2000, the first printing of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was 5.3 million copies with advance orders of over 1.8 million. "Order of the Phoenix", "Half-Blood Prince" and "Deathly Hallows" also became leaders in terms of circulation and box office receipts. The total circulation of all seven books about the adventures of Harry Potter was 400 million copies. In 2000, Warner Brothers released a film based on the first book about Harry Potter; in 2011, the eighth and final film premiered - at the whim of the filmmakers, the final novel was divided into two parts. All eight films occupied the leading positions in box office collections all over the world.