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Watling Street

(Encyclopedia)Watling Street wŏtˈlĭng [key], important ancient road in England, built by the Romans in the course of their military occupation. It ran from London generally north to the intersection with the Fos...

Rattle, Sir Simon

(Encyclopedia)Rattle, Sir Simon, 1955–, British conductor, b. Liverpool, studied Royal Academy of Music, London. Originally a percussionist, he became part of the Merseyside Youth Orchestra at 11 and of the Royal...

Shearing, Sir George Albert

(Encyclopedia)Shearing, Sir George Albert, 1919–2011, British jazz pianist, b. London. Shearing overcame lifelong blindness to become a world-famous musician, the creator of a style of jazz, and the composer of t...

Baretti, Giuseppe Marc'Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Baretti, Giuseppe Marc'Antonio jo͞ozĕpˈpā märkäntôˈnyō bärĕtˈtē [key], 1719–89, Italian writer and lexicographer. Baretti held various official positions in several Italian cities while...

Reszke, Jean de

(Encyclopedia)Reszke, Jean de zhäN də rĕshˈkē [key], 1850–1935, Polish singer. His voice, at first a baritone, developed into one of the finest tenors of the 19th cent. He first appeared as a tenor in Madrid...

Richardson, Lewis Fry

(Encyclopedia)Richardson, Lewis Fry, 1881–1953, British physicist and pioneering meteorologist, grad. Cambridge (1903), Univ. of London (B.Sc. 1929). Richardson worked at the National Physical Laboratory (1902–...

Clink

(Encyclopedia)Clink, district in Southwark, a Greater London borough, England. The Clink prison was used from the 13th cent. as a detention place for heretics. Its name is now a slang term for a prison or jail. ...

Philips, Katherine (Fowler)

(Encyclopedia)Philips, Katherine (Fowler), 1631–64, English poet. Conductor of several literary salons in London, she began the Society of Friendship under the pseudonym “Matchless Orinda.” The first collecte...

Bond Street

(Encyclopedia)Bond Street, in Westminster, London, England, famous for its fashionable shops. Among the noted residents of Bond St. have been the authors Laurence Sterne, James Boswell, and Jonathan Swift; Admiral ...

Lucerne

(Encyclopedia)Lucerne lo͞otsĕrnˈ [key], canton (1993 pop. 331,800), 576 sq mi (1,492 sq km), central Switzerland. Drained by the Reuss and Kleine Emme rivers, Lucerne is mainly an agricultural and pastoral regio...