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jay

(Encyclopedia)jay, common name for a number of birds of the family Corvidae (crows and jays), found in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The best-known representatives in America are the blue jay, Cyanocitta cristata...

Durham, John George Lambton, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Durham, John George Lambton, 1st earl of dûrˈ əm [key], 1792–1840, British statesman. A stormy liberal career in Parliament (1813–32), which earned him the nickname Radical Jack, culminated in ...

Blackburn, Elizabeth Helen

(Encyclopedia)Blackburn, Elizabeth Helen, 1948–, Australian-American molecular biologist, b. Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1975. Blackburn was a professor at the Univ. of California, Berkeley, fro...

MacInnes, Colin

(Encyclopedia)MacInnes, Colin məkĭnˈəs [key], 1914–76, English novelist, b. London. Son of the novelist Angela Thirkell, MacInnes was educated in Australia and served in the British intelligence corps during ...

Roses, Wars of the

(Encyclopedia)Roses, Wars of the, traditional name given to the intermittent struggle (1455–85) for the throne of England between the noble houses of York (whose badge was a white rose) and Lancaster (later assoc...

Thames , river, England

(Encyclopedia)Thames tĕmz [key], Rom. Tamesis, principal river of England, c.210 mi (340 km) long. It rises in four headstreams (the Thames or Isis, Churn, Coln, and Leach) in the Cotswold Hills, E Gloucestershire...

Tower Hamlets

(Encyclopedia)Tower Hamlets, inner borough (1991 pop. 153,500), of Greater London, SE England. Tower Hamlets was formed in 1965 by the merger of the metropolitan boroughs of Bethnal Green, Poplar, and Stepney. The ...

Croydon

(Encyclopedia)Croydon, outer borough of Greater London, SE England. It is London's second largest shopping and cultural center after West End. London's first airport,...

Oswald, Lee Harvey

(Encyclopedia)Oswald, Lee Harvey, 1939–63, presumed assassin of John F. Kennedy, b. New Orleans. Oswald spent most of his boyhood in Fort Worth, Tex. Later, he attended a Dallas high school, and enlisted (1956) i...

Jones, James Earl

(Encyclopedia)Jones, James Earl, 1931–, American actor, b. Tate co., Miss. Jones made his stage debut at the Univ. of Michigan and appeared thereafter for seven years with the New York Shakespeare Festival in Mac...