document_title: Finance commission

question_text: under whose chairmanship the 15th finance commission has been constituted by the union government

text: Finance commission

text: History[edit]

text: As a federal nation, India suffers from both vertical and horizontal fiscal imbalances. Vertical imbalances between the central and state governments result from states incurring expenditures disproportionate to their sources of revenue, in the process of fulfilling their responsibilities. However, states are better able to gauge the needs and concerns of their inhabitants and therefore more efficient at addressing them. Horizontal imbalances among state governments result from differing historical backgrounds or resource endowments, and can widen over time.

text: The Finance Commission was established in 1951 by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the then-incumbent law minister, to address these imbalances. Several provisions to bridge the fiscal gap between the Centre and the States were already enshrined in the Constitution of India, including Article 268, which facilitates levy of duties by the Centre but equips the States to collect and retain the same. Similarly, Articles 269, 270, 275, 282 and 293, among others, specify ways and means of sharing resources between the Union and States. In addition to the above provisions, the finance commission serves as an institutional framework to facilitate Centre-State Transfers.[citation needed]

text: Article 280 of the Indian Constitution defines the scope of the commission:

text:
The President will constitute a finance commission within two years from the commencement of the Constitution and thereafter at the end of every fifth year or earlier, as the deemed necessary by him/her, which shall include a chairman and four other members.
Parliament may by law determine the requisite qualifications for appointment as members of the commission and the procedure of selection.
The commission is constituted to make recommendations to the president about the distribution of the net proceeds of taxes between the Union and States and also the allocation of the same amongst the States themselves. It is also under the ambit of the finance commission to define the financial relations between the Union and the States. They also deal with the devolution of unplanned revenue resources.

text: Functions[edit]

text:
Distribution of net proceeds of taxes between Center and the States, to be divided as per their respective contributions to the taxes.
Determine factors governing Grants-in-Aid to the states and the magnitude of the same.
To make recommendations to the president as to the measures needed to augment the Fund of a State to supplement the resources of the panchayats and municipalities in the state on the basis of the recommendations made by the finance commission of the state.
Any other matter related to it by the president in the interest of sound finance.
A finance commission is an autonomous body which is governed by the government of India.

text: The Finance Commission (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1951[edit]

text: The Finance Commission (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1951 was passed to give a structured format to the finance commission and to bring it to par with world standards, by laying down rules for the qualification and disqualification of members of the commission, and for their appointment, term, eligibility and powers.[6]

text: Qualifications of the members[edit]

text: The Chairman of a finance commission is selected from people with experience of public affairs. The other four members are selected from people who:

text:
Are, or have been, or are qualified, as judges of a high court,
Have knowledge of government finances or accounts, or
Have had experience in administration and financial expertise; or
Have special knowledge of economics

text: Procedure and Powers of the commission[edit]

text: The commission has the power to determine their own procedure and:

text:
Has all powers of a civil court as per the Civil Procedure Code, 1908.
Can summon and enforce the attendance of any witness or ask any person to deliver information or produce a document, which it deems relevant.
Can ask for the production of any public record or document from any court or office.
Shall be deemed to be a civil court for purposes of Sections 480 and 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.

text: Disqualification from being a member of the commission[edit]

text: A member may be disqualified if:

text:
He is mentally unsound;
He is an undischarged insolvent;
He has been convicted of an immoral offence;
His financial and other interests are such that it hinders the smooth functioning of the commission.

text: Terms of Office of Members and Eligibility for Reappointment[edit]

text: Every member will be in office for the time period as specified in the order of the President, but is eligible for reappointment provided he has, by means of a letter addressed to the president, resigned his office.

text: Salaries and Allowances of the members[edit]

text: The members of the commission shall provide full-time or part-time service to the commission, as the President specifies in his order. The members shall be paid salaries and allowances as per the provisions made by the Central Government.

text: List of finance commissions[edit]

text: So far 14 finance commissions have been appointed which are as follows:[7]

text:
Finance commission
Year of establishment
Chairman
Operational duration

First
1951
K. C. Neogy
1952–57

Second
1956
K. Santhanam
1957–62

Third
1960
A. K. Chanda
1962–66

Fourth
1964
P. V. Rajamannar
1966–69

Fifth
1968
Mahaveer Tyagi
1969–74

Sixth
1972
K. Brahmananda Reddy
1974–79

Seventh
1977
J. M. Shelat
1979–84

Eighth
1983
Y. B. Chavan
1984–89

Ninth
1987
N. K. P. Salve
1989–95

Tenth
1992
K. C. Pant
1995–2000

Eleventh
1998
A. M. Khusro
2000–2005

Twelfth
2002
C. Rangarajan
2005–2010

Thirteenth
2007
Dr. Vijay L. Kelkar
2010–2015

Fourteenth[8]
2013
Dr. Y. V Reddy
2015–2020

Fifteenth[9]
2017
N. K. Singh
2020–2025

text: 14th Finance Commission[edit]

text: Major Recommendations of 14th Finance Commission headed by Prof. Y V Reddy

text:
The share of states in the net proceeds of the shareable Central taxes should be 42%. This is 10 percentage points higher than the recommendation of 13th Finance Commission.
Revenue deficit to be progressively reduced and eliminated.
Fiscal deficit to be reduced to 3% of the GDP by 2017–18.
A target of 62% of GDP for the combined debt of centre and states.
The Medium Term Fiscal Plan (MTFP) should be reformed and made the statement of commitment rather than a statement of intent.
FRBM Act needs to be amended to mention the nature of shocks which shall require targets relaxation.
Both centre and states should conclude 'Grand Bargain' to implement the model Goods and Services Act (GST).
Initiatives to reduce the number of Central Sponsored Schemes (CSS) and to restore the predominance of formula-based plan grants.
States need to address the problem of losses in the power sector in time bound manner.

text: 15th Finance Commission[edit]

text: The Fifteenth Finance Commission was constituted by the Government of India, after the approval from the President of India, through a notification in the Gazette of India in November 2017.[10][11] Nand Kishore Singh was appointed as the commission's chairman, with its full-time members being Shaktikanta Das and Anoop Singh and its part-time members being Ramesh Chand and Ashok Lahiri.[12][13][14][15]

text: The commission was set up to give recommendations for five years commencing on 1 April 2020.[10][11] The main tasks of the commission were to "strengthen cooperative federalism, improve the quality of public spending and help protect fiscal stability".[16][17] Some newspapers like The Hindu and The Economic Times noted that commission's job was harder because of the rollout of goods and service tax (GST), as, it had taken certain powers related to taxation away from states and the Union and had given it to the GST Council.[18][19]

text: Finance commission versus Planning Commission[edit]

text: It is alleged[by whom?] that Planning Commission (PC) which is neither a constitutional nor a statutory body has usurped the role of finance commission (FC). PC has restricted FC's role to mere recommend grants to states on revenue account only under article 275 of Indian constitution. However, after the formation of NITI Aayog (National Institute of Transforming India), which comes to replace the Planning Commission seeks to empower FC with the originally envisaged task of distribution of revenue to the states.[citation needed]


document_title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

question_text: who played helen lawson in valley of the dolls

root

text: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: Three young women meet when they embark on their careers. Neely O'Hara (Duke) is a plucky kid with undeniable talent who sings in a Broadway show—the legendary actress Helen Lawson (Hayward) is the arrogant star of the play—while Jennifer North (Tate), a beautiful blonde with limited talent, is in the chorus. Anne Welles (Parkins) is a New England ingenue who recently arrived in New York City and works as a secretary for a theatrical agency that represents Lawson. Neely, Jennifer, and Anne become fast friends, sharing the bonds of ambition and the tendency to fall in love with the wrong men.

tag: p

text: Neely is fired from the show because Lawson considers her a threat to her top billing in the play. Assisted by Lyon Burke (Paul Burke), an attorney from Anne's theatrical agency, Neely makes an appearance on a telethon and is given a nightclub act. She becomes an overnight success and moves to Hollywood to pursue a lucrative film career. Once she's a star, however, Neely not only duplicates the egotistical behavior of Lawson, she also falls victim to the eponymous "dolls" (prescription drugs, particularly the barbiturates Seconal and Nembutal and various stimulants). She betrays her husband, Mel Anderson (Martin Milner); her career is shattered by her erratic behavior triggered by her drug abuse, and she is committed to a sanitarium for rehabilitation.

text: Jennifer follows Neely's path to Hollywood, where she marries nightclub singer Tony Polar (Tony Scotti) and becomes pregnant. When she learns that he has the hereditary condition Huntington's chorea—a fact his domineering half-sister and manager Miriam (Lee Grant) had been concealing—Jennifer has an abortion. As Tony's mental and physical health declines, Jennifer and Miriam check him into the same sanitarium along with Neely. Faced with Tony's mounting medical expenses, Jennifer finds herself working in French "art films" (soft-core pornography) to pay the bills.

text: Anne's natural beauty lands her a lucrative job promoting a line of cosmetics in TV commercials and print ads. She also falls under the allure of drugs to escape her doomed relationship with cad Lyon (Burke), who has an affair with her erstwhile friend, Neely.

text: Neely, committed to the same institution as Tony to recover from her addictions, meets him there and they sing a duet at one of the sanitarium's weekly parties. Neely is released and given a chance to rebuild her career, but the lure of drugs and alcohol proves too strong and she spirals into a hellish decline.

text: Meanwhile, Jennifer is diagnosed with breast cancer and needs a mastectomy. She phones her mother, seeking moral support; but her mother is only concerned with the reaction from her friends at Jennifer's "art films". Jennifer then succumbs to depression and commits suicide by drug overdose.

text: Anne abandons drugs and her unfaithful lover and returns to New England. Lyon ends his affair with Neely and travels to New England to ask Anne to marry him. She decides to move on with her life and declines his offer.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Barbara Parkins as Anne Welles
Patty Duke as Neely O'Hara
Paul Burke as Lyon Burke
Sharon Tate as Jennifer North
Tony Scotti as Tony Polar
Susan Hayward as Helen Lawson
Martin Milner as Mel Anderson
Charles Drake as Kevin Gillmore
Alexander Davion as Ted Casablanca
Richard Angarola as Claude Chardot
Lee Grant as Miriam Polar
Naomi Stevens as Miss Steinberg
Robert H. Harris as Henry Bellamy
Jacqueline Susann as Reporter #1 at Jennifer's suicide

tag: ul

text: Production[edit]

text: The ending to the film was changed dramatically from the novel. In the film, Anne and Lyon never marry and do not have a child together. Rather, she leaves Lyon and returns to Lawrenceville, which is described as the one place she found real happiness. Lyon later visits her to propose but she refuses. These last-minute changes in the script, so out of keeping with Anne's established character (well known to millions of readers), prompted original screenwriter Harlan Ellison, who wanted to keep the original downbeat ending, to remove his name and credit from the film.

text: Another important difference is that the film is clearly set in the mid-to-late 1960s, whereas in the book the story started in 1945 and developed throughout two decades, much unlike in the film, where the events unfolded over the course of a few years.

text: Judy Garland was originally cast as Helen Lawson, but was fired when she (reputedly) came to work drunk;[5] Susan Hayward replaced her in the role after production had already begun. On July 20, 2009, Patty Duke appeared at the Castro Theater in San Francisco for a benefit screening of the film, and said that director Mark Robson made Garland wait from 8am to 4pm before filming her scenes for the day, knowing that Garland would be upset and drunk by that time. Hayward reportedly had a difficult relationship with the cast and crew, and her clashes with Duke became part of the dramatic tension between their characters.

text: 20th Century Fox wanted contract star Raquel Welch to play Jennifer but she refused, not wanting to play a "sexpot" role. She asked to play Neely but the studio refused.[6]

text: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, a 1970 satirical pastiche, was filmed by Twentieth Century-Fox while the studio was being sued by Jacqueline Susann, according to Irving Mansfield's book Life With Jackie. Susann created the title for a Jean Holloway-scripted sequel that was rejected by the studio, which allowed Russ Meyer to film a radically different movie with the same title. The suit went to court after Susann's death in 1974; the estate won damages of $2 million against Fox.

text: Richard Dreyfuss appears briefly as a stagehand.

text: Home media[edit]

text: Along with its parody Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Criterion Collection released both films on September 2016 on DVD and Blu-ray. While the former film had previously been released by Arrow Films in the United Kingdom in the same year, this will be the latter film's first Blu-ray release.[7]

text: Reception[edit]

text: The film at the time of release received generally negative reviews with a 32% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 28 reviews. The film has gained a cult following in subsequent years.[8]

text: Award nominations[edit]

text:
Academy Award for Best Music (Scoring of Music – Adaptation or Treatment) (John Williams)
Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Female (Sharon Tate)
Grammy Award for Best Original Score from a Motion Picture or Television Show (André Previn)

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text:
Valley of the Dolls (Soundtrack)

Studio album by Various artists

Released
1967 (1967)

Recorded
1967

Genre
Pop

Label
20th Century Fox Records

tag: table

text: The soundtrack was released in 1967. Dionne Warwick sang the title track; however, her version is not on the soundtrack album, only on the actual film soundtrack. According to Susann, she wrote her own lyric for the film title track as she felt that Dory Previn's lyric did not establish the story background. Warwick was signed to Scepter Records at the time and could not contractually appear on the soundtrack album. Therefore, a re-recorded version appears on the LP Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls. The film contains two versions of the theme song with different lyrics: one version plays over the opening credits, and the other, with the same lyrics as Warwick's recorded version, is heard towards the end of the film.

text: Margaret Whiting recorded "I'll Plant My Own Tree" for the film, while Eileen Wilson recorded it for the soundtrack album: the song is dubbed for Susan Hayward, while "It's Impossible" and "Give a Little More" are both dubbed by Gaille Heidemann for Patty Duke. Heidemann and Wilson are uncredited on the soundtrack label.

text:
"Theme from Valley of the Dolls" – 4:04 (vocal by Dory Previn; narration by Barbara Parkins)
"It's Impossible" – 2:12 (vocal by Gaille Heidemann for Patty Duke)
"Ann at Lawrenceville" – 2:37 (instrumental)
"Chance Meeting" – 2:31 (instrumental)
"Neely's Career Montage" – 1:59 (instrumental)
"Come Live with Me" – 2:01 (vocal by Tony Scotti)
"I'll Plant My Own Tree" – 2:24 (vocal by Eileen Wilson for Susan Hayward; Margaret Whiting dubbed Susan Hayward in the film but she was under contract to a different label, so veteran voice double Eileen Wilson sings "I'll Plant My Own Tree" on the soundtrack album)
"The Gillian Girl Commercial" – 2:04 (instrumental)
"Jennifer's French Movie" – 2:26 (instrumental)
"Give a Little More" – 2:02 (vocal by Gaille Heidemann for Patty Duke)
"Jennifer's Recollection" – 2:52 (instrumental; contains a reprise of "Come Live with Me", vocal by Tony Scotti)
"Theme from Valley of the Dolls Reprise" – 3:00 (vocal by Dory Previn)

tag: ol

text: The original version of "I'll Plant My Own Tree", as recorded by Judy Garland before she was fired from the film production, was finally released in 1976 on a compilation LP Cut! Out-takes from Hollywood's Greatest Musicals.

text: In "Lovely Me: The Life of Jacqueline Susann" by Barbara Seaman, it is stated that Ruth Batchelor, who wrote lyrics for Elvis Presley, wrote the lyrics for a title song for the movie, which was rejected by the studio as the Previns had already written the soundtrack. It was recorded by The Arbors and used as the opening theme to the 1967 documentary, "Jacqueline Susann and the Valley of the Dolls".


document_title: Bob's Burgers (season 8)

question_text: when does new bob's burgers come out

question_tokens: when does new bob 's burgers come out

text: Bob's Burgers (season 8)

text:
Bob's Burgers (season 8)
Promotional posterCountry of origin
United StatesNo. of episodes
21ReleaseOriginal network
FoxOriginal release
October 1, 2017 (2017-10-01) – May 20, 2018 (2018-05-20)Season chronology
← PreviousSeason 7
List of Bob's Burgers episodes

text: The eighth season of the animated comedy series Bob's Burgers began airing on Fox in the United States on October 1, 2017, and concluded on May 20, 2018.[1]

text: On October 7, 2015, the series was renewed for an eighth production cycle, which premiered during the eighth broadcast season.[2]

text: The season features guest appearances from Adam Driver, Jack McBrayer, Thomas Middleditch, Fred Savage and Vanessa Bayer.[3][4][5]

text: Episodes[edit]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.codeU.S. viewers(millions)1301"Brunchsquatch"Mauricio Pardo & Ian HamiltonLizzie Molyneux & Wendy MolyneuxOctober 1, 2017 (2017-10-01)7ASA142.93[6]
In this episode inspired by actual fan-art of the Bob's Burgers characters, the Belcher kids want a dog, but Bob and Linda refuse. After seeing Jimmy Pesto serve brunch at his restaurant, Bob decides to do the same thing at Bob's Burgers, but Linda overdoes it with the serving of the mimosas. Meanwhile, the kids hide Felix from Mr. Fischoeder.
1312"The Silence of the Louise"Chris SongGreg ThompsonOctober 15, 2017 (2017-10-15)7ASA092.43[7]
Louise teams up with the psychotic Millie to find out who mutilated Mr. Frond's therapy dolls. Meanwhile, Teddy attempts to make an inspirational poster.
1323"The Wolf of Wharf Street"Mauricio PardoLizzie Molyneux & Wendy MolyneuxOctober 22, 2017 (2017-10-22)7ASA073.02[8]
On Halloween, Linda takes the kids out to search for a wolf that may have been scaring the townspeople. Meanwhile, an injured Bob thinks that Teddy might be a werewolf.
1334"Sit Me Baby One More Time"Brian LoschiavoNora SmithNovember 5, 2017 (2017-11-05)7ASA082.89[9]
Tina's babysitting business gets derailed when her longtime nemesis, Tammy, is forced to work with her. Meanwhile, the other Belchers have dinner at a restaurant known for its burgers.
1345"Thanks-Hoarding"Tyree DillihayJon SchroederNovember 19, 2017 (2017-11-19)7ASA152.37[10]
The Belchers agree to help out Teddy after his family announces that they will be coming over for Thanksgiving. During the preparation, the Belchers discover that Teddy is secretly a hoarder.
13513667"The Bleakening: Parts 1 & 2"Brian LoschiavoChris SongSteven DavisKelvin YuDecember 10, 2017 (2017-12-10)7ASA167ASA173.17[11]
In this hour-long musical Christmas episode, Linda decides to throw a festive party at the restaurant, but someone steals Linda's Christmas tree and her ornaments. The kids suspect it might be a character from a folk tale told to them by Teddy.
1378"V for Valentine-detta"Ian HamiltonLizzie Molyneux & Wendy MolyneuxJanuary 14, 2018 (2018-01-14)7ASA224.76[12]
On Valentine's Day, Tina gets her heart broken, so Linda and Louise attempt to cheer her up by taking her on a girls' limo night out. Meanwhile, Bob and Gene become closer than ever when they attempt to perform a trapeze act.
1389"Y Tu Ga-Ga Tambien"Brian LoschiavoScott JacobsonMarch 11, 2018 (2018-03-11)7ASA121.84[13]
Gene disapproves of a new playground game, which throws the school into chaos. Meanwhile, Linda develops a storyteller persona when she fills in at the local library.
13910"The Secret Ceramics Room of Secrets"Tyree DillihayDan FybelMarch 18, 2018 (2018-03-18)7ASA191.72[14]
The kids set out to find a secret ceramics room in their school, after Linda tells them to make their own gifts for her mother's birthday. Meanwhile, Teddy moves his phone repair service into the restaurant, much to Bob's annoyance.
14011"Sleeping with the Frenemy"Brian LoschiavoGreg ThompsonMarch 25, 2018 (2018-03-25)7ASA201.74[15]
Tina sets Tammy up with Brett, a boy from out of town, after she allows Tammy to stay with the Belchers during Spring Break. Meanwhile, Gene loses his last baby tooth, so he and Bob enlist Dr. Yap's help in finding a replacement to complete Linda's teeth collection.
14112"The Hurt Soccer"Damon WongRachel HastingsApril 1, 2018 (2018-04-01)7ASA231.54[16]
After forgetting that they signed up Louise for a soccer league, the Belchers must help her prepare to play in the season's last game. Meanwhile, Linda and Gene seize an opportunity to turn the restaurant into a piano bar.
14213"Cheer Up, Sleepy Gene"Tyree DillihayStory by : H. Jon Benjamin & Holly Schlesinger Teleplay by : Holly SchlesingerApril 8, 2018 (2018-04-08)7ASA101.74[17]
Gene gets invited to his first sleepover, and things do not go as planned. Meanwhile, Bob and Linda record themselves while sleeping to prove who snores more.
14314"The Trouble with Doubles"Ian HamiltonHolly SchlesingerApril 15, 2018 (2018-04-15)7ASA181.83[18]
When Bob and Linda go on a double date with another couple, they all end up getting trapped in an escape room. Meanwhile, at the Belcher house, Louise hosts a zombie movie night, and Tina has to take charge when everyone else gets scared of the zombies.
14415"Go Tina on the Mountain"Tyree DillihayRich RinaldiApril 22, 2018 (2018-04-22)8ASA011.66[19]
The kids, at Tina's suggestion, go on a team building field trip, but, due to the rain, it does not turn out as Tina thought it would be. Meanwhile, with no kids in the house, Bob and Linda attempt to recapture their romantic spark, but end up falling asleep.
14516"Are You There Bob? It's Me, Birthday"Tyree DillihayKelvin YuApril 29, 2018 (2018-04-29)8ASA041.91[20]
The family forgets Bob's birthday, and attempt to make it up to him with a surprise party. Hugo and Ron distract Bob by taking him with them on their health inspection run.
14617"Boywatch"Mauricio PardoRich RinaldiMay 6, 2018 (2018-05-06)7ASA111.56[21]
Tina signs up to be a junior lifeguard just to meet boys. Meanwhile, Bob and Linda decide to allow their customers to use their Wi-Fi, but Sgt. Bosco does an undercover sting operation to find a hacker in their restaurant.
14718"As I Walk Through the Alley of the Shadow of Ramps"Chris SongScott JacobsonMay 13, 2018 (2018-05-13)8ASA021.56[22]
Louise starts a turf war with a crazy food truck driver. Meanwhile, Linda keeps discouraging Gayle from quitting her new job.
14819"Mo Mommy, Mo Problems"Ian HamiltonSteven DavisMay 13, 2018 (2018-05-13)8ASA031.88[22]
On Mother’s Day, Linda convinces the family to attend open houses for free food, but starts to feel bad when she realizes she’s cheating the newly mothered realtor. Meanwhile, the kids discover an old woman upset about her son trying to sell her house.
14920"Mission Impos-slug-ble"Chris SongNora SmithMay 20, 2018 (2018-05-20)7ASA211.65[23]
After Tina snitches on Louise and gets her trading cards confiscated by Ms. LaBonz, the kids sneak to her house to reobtain them.
15021"Something Old, Something New, Something Bob Caters for You"Chris SongJon SchroederMay 20, 2018 (2018-05-20)8ASA051.62[23]
A couple who met at the restaurant asks Bob to cater for their wedding, but everything goes wrong. Meanwhile, Linda is shocked the couple is marrying after only three months, and the kids have a photobombing contest.


document_title: Skeleton in the closet (idiom)

question_text: where did the term skeletons in the closet come from

text: Skeleton in the closet (idiom)

text: Skeleton in the closet or skeleton in the cupboard is a colloquial phrase and idiom used to describe an undisclosed fact about someone which, if revealed, would have a negative impact on perceptions of the person; it hyperbolically evokes the idea of someone having had a (presumedly human) corpse concealed in their home so long that it had decomposed but for its bones. "Cupboard" is used in British English instead of the American English word "closet". It is known to have been used as a phrase, at least as early as November 1816, in the monthly British journal The Eclectic Review, page 468.[1] It is listed in both the Oxford English Dictionary, and Webster's Dictionary, under the word "skeleton". The "Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary" lists it under this but also as a separate idiom. In the most derisive of usage; murder, or significant culpability in a years-old disappearance or non-understood event (a mystery), may be implied by the phrase.


document_title: Longest rivers of the United Kingdom

question_text: what is the longest river in britain called

text: Longest rivers of the United Kingdom

text: This is a list of the longest rivers of the United Kingdom.

text: Longest rivers of the United Kingdom[edit]

text:
Rank
River
Length (miles)
Length (km)
Country

1
River Severn[1]
220
354
Wales/England

2
River Thames[1]
215
346
England

3
River Trent[1]
185
297
England

4
River Great Ouse[1]
143
230
England

5
River Wye[1]
134
215
Wales/England

6
River Ure/River Ouse, Yorkshire
129
208
England

7
River Tay[1]
117
188
Scotland

8
River Clyde
109
176
Scotland

9
River Spey
107
172
Scotland

10
River Nene[1]
100
161
England

11
River Bann / Lough Neagh
99
159
Northern Ireland

12
River Tweed[1]
96
155
Scotland/England

13
River Avon, Warwickshire
96
154
England

14
River Eden, Cumbria
90
145
England

15
River Dee, Aberdeenshire
87
140
Scotland

16
River Witham
82
132
England

17
River Teme
81
130
Wales/England

18=
River Don, Aberdeenshire[1]
80
129
Scotland

18=
River Foyle
80
129
Northern Ireland/Republic of Ireland

20=
River Teifi[2]
75
122
Wales

20=
River Tywi
75
121
Wales

20=
River Ribble
75
120
England

20=
River Avon, Bristol
75
120
England

24
River Tyne[1]
73
118
England

25
River Derwent, Yorkshire
72
115
England

26=
River Aire
71
114
England

26=
River Nith
71
114
Scotland

28=
River Tees
70
113
England

28=
River Medway
70
113
England

28=
River Mersey
70
113
England

31=
River Dee, Wales[1]
70
112
Wales/England

31=
River Don, South Yorkshire
70
112
England

text: There seems to be little consensus in published sources as to the lengths of rivers, nor much agreement as to what constitutes a river. Thus the River Ure and River Ouse can be counted as one river system or as two rivers. If it is counted as one, the River Aire/ River Ouse/Humber system would come fourth in the list, with a combined length of 161 miles (259 km); and the River Trent/Humber system would top the list with their combined length of 222 miles (357 km).[3]  Also, the Thames tributary, the River Churn, sourced at Seven Springs, adds 14 miles (23 km) to the length of the Thames (from its traditional source at Thames Head). The Churn/Thames' length at 229 miles (369 km) is therefore greater than the Severn's length of 220 miles (354 km). Thus, the combined Churn/Thames river would top the list. Sue Owen et al., in their book on rivers, generally restrict the length to the parts that bear the same name. Thus the River Nene is quoted at 100 miles (160 km), but would be around 5 miles (8 km) more if the variously named sources were included. Many of the above lengths are considerably different from Sue Owen's list, some longer and some shorter.[1]

text: Where a river ends in an estuary the conventional British approach has been to treat the river as ending at the end of the administrative zone. Thus the Severn ends at the mouth of the Bristol Avon and the Thames at the Yantlet Line. The currently accepted end of the Severn Estuary is about 18.5 miles (29.8 km) further, and the PLA's authority stretches now to Margate, 30 miles (48 km) further. Other countries have different conventions, making comparisons of limited value.


document_title: Carter's Little Liver Pills

question_text: what did carter's little liver pills do

question_tokens: what did carter 's little liver pills do

text: Carter's Little Liver Pills

text: Carter's Little Liver Pills (Carter's Little Pills after 1959) were formulated as a patent medicine by Samuel J. Carter of Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1868.[1][2] The active ingredient was changed when it was renamed in 1959 to be the laxative bisacodyl.

text: History[edit]

text: Carter's trademark was a black crow. By 1880 the business was incorporated as Carter Products. The pills were touted to cure headache, constipation, dyspepsia, and biliousness.[3] In the late 19th century, they were marketed in the UK by American businessman John Morgan Richards.[4]

text: Carter's Little Liver Pills predated the other available forms of bisacodyl and was a very popular and heavily advertised patent medicine up until the 1960s, spawning a common saying (with variants) in the first half of the 20th century: "He/She has more _________ than Carter has Little Liver Pills". In 1951 the Federal Trade Commission required the company to change the name to "Carter's Little Pills", since "liver" in the name was deceptive.[2]

text: The senator Robert Byrd, after winning re-election in 2000, is quoted as saying, "West Virginia has always had four friends, God Almighty, Sears Roebuck, Carter's Liver Pills and Robert C. Byrd."[5]


document_title: Here I Am, Lord

question_text: who wrote the hymn here i am lord

question_tokens: who wrote the hymn here i am lord

text: Here I Am, Lord

text: "Here I Am, Lord",[1] also known by its first line, "I, the Lord of sea and sky", is a Christian hymn written by Dan Schutte in 1981.[2] Its words are based on Isaiah 6:8 and 1 Samuel 3. It is published by OCP Publications.

text: Schutte's hymn is sung in many Protestant worship services and is found in at least 47 hymnals.[3]

text: In 2004 a survey conducted by the Tablet, an international Catholic magazine, reported "Here I Am, Lord" as reader's favorite.[4][dead link] A poll conducted by the National Association of Pastoral Musicians found among members that it came in second among "songs that make a difference".[5]

text: In 2013 a survey conducted by Songs of Praise, "Here I Am, Lord" was named as the fifth most popular hymn in Britain.[6]


document_title: Terminology of the British Isles

question_text: when did the term united kingdom come into common use

question_tokens: when did the term united kingdom come into common use

text: Terminology of the British Isles

text: At a glance[edit]

text: Below is a visual reference guide to some of the main concepts and territories described in this article:

text:
The British Isles

The British Islands

The United Kingdom

Great Britain (island)

Ireland (island)

England

Scotland

Wales

Republic of Ireland

Northern Ireland

The Isle of Man

The Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey)

text: Terminology in detail[edit]

text:
Britain is a political and geographic term which can refer to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,[14] or the island of Great Britain.
Great Britain is the largest island in Europe and the political union of three nations, these being:

text: England and Wales is a political and administrative term referring to the two home countries of England and Wales, which share the same legal system. Between 1746 and 1967 the term "England" did legally include Wales.

text:
England (see also the historical Kingdom of England).
Wales (see also the historical Principality of Wales).

text: Scotland (see also the historical Kingdom of Scotland)

text:
The historical Kingdom of Great Britain is Britain for the period 1707–1801.
Britannia is the Roman province of Britain, or a poetic reference to later Britain, or a personification of Britain.

text: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, usually shortened to the United Kingdom (abbreviation UK), is the sovereign state comprising Great Britain plus Northern Ireland since 1927. (The Partition of Ireland took place in 1922, but the consequent change in the official title of the UK was only made by Act of Parliament five years later.) The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is often shortened to Britain, even on official websites.[15][16] A proposal to rename the political entity as the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ulster" was formally recommended by civil servants to the Cabinet in 1949 but ultimately rejected.[17]

text: The historical United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was Great Britain plus Ireland, for the period 1801 to 1922, although the name change after the secession of the Irish Free State only took place in 1927.

text: Ireland (in Irish, Éire) refers, geographically, to the island of Ireland, or to any of the following:

text:
The Kingdom of Ireland was Ireland for the period 1541–1801. (The King of Ireland remained Head of State in the Irish Free State and Ireland/Éire until the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 abolished that status).
The Irish Republic, established by the Irish Declaration of Independence, was a 32-county republic encompassing the entire island, during the period 1919–22—though its de facto rule did not encompass all of the island. During this period, according to British law, Ireland remained part of the UK though its independence was recognised by Russia.
Southern Ireland was a proposed Home Rule 26-county state under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. It never came into practical existence, being superseded by:
The Irish Free State is Ireland excepting Northern Ireland during the period 1922–37.

text:
Ireland (in Irish, Éire) is the political entity consisting of the island of Ireland excepting Northern Ireland, 1937–present. This is the name of the state according to the Irish Constitution and the United Nations.
The Republic of Ireland is a commonly used description of Ireland excepting Northern Ireland, 1949–present. It is also the name used by the international Association Football team.

text:
Northern Ireland 1922–present. That part of the island of Ireland northeast of the line of partition of 1922, and which is still part of the United Kingdom. Various alternative names have been used or proposed for Northern Ireland. It is sometimes referred to as "the North of Ireland", "the Six Counties" or (in extremist usage) the "occupied six counties", especially by Irish Nationalists.
Ulster. The name of one of Ireland's four traditional provinces. The area contains nine northern counties, six of which make up Northern Ireland, and three of which are part of the Republic of Ireland. It is also often used by Unionists to refer to the smaller Northern Ireland. Though Ulster has not been a political entity since the ancient Gaelic provincial kingdoms, it remains associated with a geographical area and is used in sporting and cultural contexts. See Ulster (disambiguation).

text:
In Gaelic games, no distinction is recognised between the GAA counties of the Republic and those of Northern Ireland. County teams play in their provincial championships (where the six counties of Ulster within Northern Ireland and three within the Republic all play in the Ulster championship) and the winners of these play in the All-Ireland championship. Even within Northern Ireland, a tricolour, the flag of the Republic of Ireland, is flown at all games. At bigger games, where an anthem is played, it is always the national anthem of the Republic. In the case of the International Rules series against Australia, an Irish national team is chosen from all 32 counties.
In Association Football, the teams correspond to political entities: Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In accordance with UEFA and FIFA's rules, each of these countries has its own football league: the Irish League and the League of Ireland respectively.
In rugby union, rugby league, field hockey, cricket, boxing, golf, athletics and others the Ireland team is drawn from the whole island (i.e. both the Republic and Northern Ireland). Many sports organisations are subdivided along provincial lines e.g. Gaelic Athletic Association, golf.

text:
The British Isles is a term used to mean the island of Great Britain plus the island of Ireland and many smaller surrounding islands, including the Isle of Man and, in some contexts, the Channel Islands (Guernsey and Jersey). See British Isles naming dispute for details of the conflict over use of this term.
Great Britain and Ireland, or variants like "Britain and Ireland" or "The UK and Ireland" are sometimes used as alternatives to the term British Isles.
Anglo-Celtic Isles is an alternative term (in limited use) for the geographic region comprising Britain & Ireland, more commonly referred to as the 'British Isles'. 'Anglo-Celtic Islands' is a derivative of this. It is intended as a geographic term free of any political implication and uses the macro-cultural grouping term Anglo-Celtic, referring to the peoples from which the majority of the island group's population are descended—the Anglo-Saxons and the Celts (it can also be inclusive of the Anglo-Normans).
Islands of the North Atlantic is another suggested replacement term for 'British Isles', without the same political connotations. However, its convolution and impracticality due to implying inclusion of fellow North Atlantic islands such as Iceland have made it unworkable and it has not come into common use. The term was used as part of the Strand 3 level of negotiations for the Belfast agreement. (Its acronym, IONA, is also the name of the small but historically important island of Iona off the coast of Scotland.)
British Islands (a legal term not in common usage) is the UK, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands.
Brittany, itself a corruption of 'Britain', and sometimes formerly known as 'Little Britain' is a historical Duchy in the West of France, now a French region; for this modern administrative sense, see Brittany (administrative region).

text: Geographical distinctions[edit]

text: The British Isles[edit]

text: The British Isles is a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Continental Europe. It includes Ireland, Great Britain, the Isle of Man, Shetland, Orkney, and thousands of smaller islands. Traditionally the Channel Islands, are included, however these specific islands are geographically part of mainland continental Europe, as they are positioned off the French coast of Normandy. The term is disputed (see British Isles naming dispute).

text: Great Britain[edit]

text: Great Britain is the largest of the British Isles. On Great Britain are located three constituent countries of the United Kingdom: Scotland in the north, England in the south and east and Wales in the west. There are also numerous smaller islands off its coast (not coloured red on the attached map) that are administered as part of England, Scotland and Wales. The inclusion of these smaller islands means political 'Great Britain' covers a slightly larger area than the island of Great Britain.

text: Ireland[edit]

text: The second largest island in the group is Ireland. Most of the island is in the Republic of Ireland. The north east of the island (Northern Ireland) is part of the United Kingdom. There are also numerous smaller islands off the coast of Ireland.

text: Isle of Man[edit]

text: The Isle of Man lies between Great Britain and Ireland. It is governed as a British Crown dependency, having its own parliament, but with the United Kingdom responsible for its defence and external relations.

text: Channel Islands[edit]

text: Although the Channel Islands are associated with the United Kingdom politically as Crown dependencies, they are an outcrop of the nearby French mainland, and historically they are the last remaining parts of the former Duchy of Normandy.

text: Political terms in more detail[edit]

text: The United Kingdom[edit]

text: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the official full title of the state. This name appears on official documentation such as British passports. For convenience, the name is usually shortened to United Kingdom, UK or Britain.[9]

text: The United Kingdom is a sovereign state. Its four constituent countries are sometimes considered to be of different status. This view may be supported by the existence of devolved governments with different levels of power in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales (see Asymmetrical federalism).

text: Wales is also often erroneously[19] described as a principality of the United Kingdom. The title of Prince of Wales is usually given to the heir apparent to the British throne but it has no political or other role in respect of Wales. The International Organization for Standardisation (ISO) has defined Wales as a "country" rather than a "principality" since 2011, following a recommendation by the British Standards Institute and the Welsh Government.[20]

text: Northern Ireland is sometimes described by United Kingdom citizens as a province of the United Kingdom, which derives from the Irish province of Ulster, of which Northern Ireland is a part. Northern Ireland also had, until 1972, a far greater degree of self-government than the other constituent parts of the UK.

text: Great Britain is both a geographical and a political entity. Geographically, it is one island, but as a political entity it also includes the smaller offshore islands that are administered as part of its constituent nations – England, Wales and Scotland – such as England's Isle of Wight, Wales' Anglesey and Scotland's Inner Hebrides, Outer Hebrides, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands.

text: The abbreviation GB is sometimes officially used for the United Kingdom, for example in the Olympics, or as the vehicle registration plate country identification code for UK-registered cars (see also British car number plates). SCO in Scotland, CYM for Wales (Cymru), NI for Northern Ireland, or ENG for England can also be used.[21]

text: The internet code .gb, although allocated to the UK, is virtually unused and UK web domains use .uk.

text: The four constituent parts of the UK are also known, particularly in sporting contexts, as Home Nations or the "Four Nations". The BBC refers to its UK-wide broadcasting operation as Nations and Regions [22] ("regions" referring to geographic regions of England. Thus the UK naming conventions tend towards describing distinct regions or nations which exist within a single sovereign state.

text: In sport, the UK Nations mostly have their own separate national teams – England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, for example in football. Sporting contests between the Four Nations are known as "Home internationals" (an example is the British Home Championship in football).

text: The governing body for football in Northern Ireland is called the Irish Football Association (the IFA), having been in existence since some forty years before Partition. Its counterpart in the Republic (plus Derry City FC) is the Football Association of Ireland (the FAI). The Northern Ireland national team retained the name "Ireland" for some fifty years after partition. Since around 1970 the two teams have been consistently referred to as "Northern Ireland" and "Republic of Ireland" respectively. The UK competes as Great Britain at the Olympic Games. According to the Olympic Charter the Olympic Council of Ireland represents the entire island of Ireland.[23] Olympic athletes from Northern Ireland may choose whether to represent the UK or the Republic of Ireland.

text: Since the Good Friday Agreement and the subsequent implementation legislation, sporting organisation (and several other organisations, e.g. tourism, Irish Gaelic and Ulster Scots language boards) on the island of Ireland has increasingly been cross-border.

text: Citizens of the UK are called British, Brits, Britons or Britisher (archaic). The term Unionists may also be used, sometimes pejoratively, for example by supporters of Scottish independence when referring to supporters of the Union. Some older slang names for Britons are Tommy (for British soldiers) and Anglo. Anglo properly refers only to England, but it is sometimes used as a broader reference as an element in compound adjectives: for example, "Anglo-French relations" may be used in newspaper articles when referring to relations between the political entities France and the United Kingdom. Anglo-Saxon may be used (particularly in Continental European languages) when referring to the whole English-speaking world.

text: Ireland[edit]

text: Since the adoption of the Constitution of Ireland in 1937, Ireland has been the English name of the state which covers approximately five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The name Éire is used when writing in Irish.

text: Since the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, the term "Republic of Ireland" is the term used as the additional description of the state. This term is useful in avoiding ambiguity between the name of the island and the name of the state. However, the term "Ireland" is always used in formal diplomatic contexts such as the European Union or the United Nations. The passport of the Republic of Ireland bears the name Éire – Ireland.

text: Before the introduction of the 1937 constitution and the new name, the Irish Free State occupied the same territory as the modern state of Ireland. The Irish Free State became an autonomous dominion of the British Empire in 1922 when it seceded from the United Kingdom through the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The King ceased to be its Head of State in 1936 and the state ceased to be a Dominion and left the Commonwealth in 1948.

text: Traditionally, the island of Ireland is divided into four provinces – Leinster, Connacht, Munster and Ulster, with each of the provinces further divided into counties. The Republic of Ireland takes up 83% of the island, twenty-six of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Northern Ireland takes up the remaining area, six of the traditional nine counties of Ulster.

text: On the island of Ireland the naming of places often raises political issues. The usage of "Ireland" as the official name of the state causes offence to some Unionists in Northern Ireland, who believe it implies that the state still has a territorial claim to the whole island – the terminology of "Republic of Ireland" or "Éire" is much preferred by Northern Irish unionists when referring to that political state. Similarly, some Nationalists in Northern Ireland also prefer to reserve the usage of "Ireland" to refer to the whole island.

text: In Northern Ireland, Irishness is a highly contested identity, with fundamentally different perceptions of national identity between unionists (who generally perceive themselves as being British) and nationalists (who generally consider both communities to be part of the Irish nation).[24]

text: The Republic of Ireland is often referred to by the Nationalist and Republican communities by the term "the Twenty-six Counties", with the connotation that the state constituted as such forms only a portion of the ideal political unit of the Irish Republic, which would consist of all of the thirty-two counties into which the island is divided. The term "the Six Counties" (of Northern Ireland) is also used. Other Nationalist terms in use include "the North of Ireland" and "the North". These latter are terms also used by the Irish national broadcaster RTÉ.[citation needed] More extreme terms for Northern Ireland include "the occupied six counties" or "occupied Ireland", which are often used by people who reject the idea of Northern Ireland as a separate entity from the Republic of Ireland.

text: The Irish passport is available to Irish citizens and can also be applied for abroad through Irish Consular services and the local Irish Embassy. As per the Irish nationality law, any person born on the island of Ireland before 2005, or otherwise a first generation descendant of such a person, is allowed to apply for an Irish passport. As such, people born in Northern Ireland and their children may be Irish citizens and hold an Irish passport if they choose.

text: British Islands[edit]

text: Under the Interpretation Act 1978 of the United Kingdom, the legal term British Islands (as opposed to the geographical term British Isles) refers to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, together with the Crown dependencies: the Bailiwicks of Jersey and of Guernsey (which in turn includes the smaller islands of Alderney, Herm and Sark) in the Channel Islands; and the Isle of Man. On the front of passports issued to residents of the Crown dependencies, the words "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" are replaced with "British Islands" followed by the name of the issuing state or island.[25]

text: Historical aspects[edit]

text: Origins of terms[edit]

text: The earliest known names for the islands come from ancient Greek writings. Though some of the original texts have been lost, excerpts were quoted or paraphrased by later authors. Parts of the Massaliote Periplus, a merchants' handbook describing searoutes of the sixth century BC, were used in translation in the writings of Avienus around AD 400. Ireland was referred to as Ierne (Insula sacra, the sacred island, as the Greeks interpreted it) "inhabited by the race of Hiberni" (gens hiernorum), and Britain as insula Albionum, "island of the Albions".[26] Several sources from around 150 BC to AD 70 include fragments of the travel writings of the ancient Greek Pytheas around 320 BC, use the terms Albion and Ierne[27][28] and have been described as referring to the British Isles, including Ireland, as the Prettanic or Brettanic Islands (Βρεττανικαὶ νῆσοι) or as αἱ Βρεττανιαι, literally "the Britains".[26][28][29] Greek writers called the peoples of these islands the Πρεττανοί, later Bρεττανοί (alternative spellings of this and of all relative words have a single tau or a double nu), a name that possibly corresponds to the Priteni.[26] These names derived from a "Celtic language" term which is likely to have reached Pytheas from the Gauls[29] who may have used it as their term for the inhabitants of the islands.

text: The Romans called the inhabitants of Gaul (modern France) Galli or Celtae, the latter term deriving from the Greek name Κελτοί for a central European people. Antiquarians of the seventeenth century who found language connections developed the idea of a race of Celts inhabiting the islands, but this term was not used by the Greeks or Romans for the inhabitants of Britain or Ireland,[30] nor is there any record of the inhabitants of the British Isles referring to themselves as such. Nevertheless, Roman administration later incorporated the province of Britannia into the praetorian prefecture of Gaul, in common with Hispania, which had Celtiberians. Armorica, where the Bretons would settle[when?], was part of Gallia Celtica, so there were tertiary relations between the Britons and Gallic Celts at least. In addition, the Parisii of Gallia Celtica are thought to have founded Aldborough in Britain. Belgae and Silures also came from Gallic areas, although not strictly "Celtic", but from Gallia Belgica and Aquitainia.

text: Priteni is the source of the Welsh language term Prydain, Britain,[29] and has the same source as the Goidelic term Cruithne. The latter referred to the early Brythonic speaking inhabitants of the Scottish highlands and the north of Scotland,[29] who are known as the Cruithne in Scottish Gaelic, and who the Romans called Picts or Caledonians.

text: Romans[edit]

text: Caesar's invasions of Britain brought descriptions of the peoples of what he called Britannia pars interior, "inland Britain", in 55 BC. Throughout Book 4 of his Geography, Strabo is consistent in spelling the island Britain (transliterated) as Prettanikē; he uses the terms Prettans or Brettans loosely to refer to the islands as a group – a common generalisation used by classical geographers. For example, in Geography 2.1.18, …οι νοτιώτατοι των Βρεττανών βορειότεροι τούτων εισίν ("…the most southern of the Brettans are further north than this").[31] He was writing around AD 10, although the earliest surviving copy of his work dates from the 6th century. Pliny the Elder writing around AD 70 uses a Latin version of the same terminology in section 4.102 of his Naturalis Historia. He writes of Great Britain: Albion ipsi nomen fuit, cum Britanniae vocarentur omnes de quibus mox paulo dicemus. ("Albion was its own name, when all [the islands] were called the Britannias; I will speak of them in a moment"). In the following section, 4.103, Pliny enumerates the islands he considers to make up the Britannias, listing Great Britain, Ireland, and many smaller islands. In his Geography written in the mid 2nd century and probably describing the position around AD 100,[29] Ptolemy includes both Great Britain (Albion) and Ireland (Iwernia) in the so called Bretanic island group. He entitles Book II, Chapter 1 of as Iwernia, Bretanic Island, and Chapter 2 as Alwion [sic], Bretanic Island.[32]

text: The name Albion for Great Britain fell from favour, and the island was described in Greek as Πρεττανία or Βρεττανία, in Latin Britannia, an inhabitant as Βρεττανός, Britannus, with the adjective Βρεττανικός, Britannicus, equating to "British".[26] With the Roman conquest of Britain the name Britannia was used for the province of Roman Britain. The Emperor Claudius was honoured with the agnomen Britannicus as if he were the conqueror, and coins were struck from AD 46 inscribed DE BRITAN, DE BRITANN, DE BRITANNI, or DE BRITANNIS. With the visit of Hadrian in AD 121 coins introduced a female figure with the label BRITANNIA as a personification or goddess of the place. These and later Roman coins introduced the seated figure of Britannia which would be reintroduced in the 17th century.[33]

text: In the later years of Roman rule Britons who left Latin inscriptions, both at home and elsewhere in the Empire, often described themselves as Brittanus or Britto, and where describing their citizenship gave it as cives of a British tribe or of a patria (homeland) of Britannia, not Roma.[26] From the 4th century, many Britons migrated from Roman Britain across the English Channel and founded Brittany.

text: Mediaeval period[edit]

text: While Latin remained the language of learning, from the early mediaeval period records begin to appear in native languages. The earliest indigenous source to use a collective term for the archipelago is the Life of Saint Columba, a hagiography recording the missionary activities of the sixth century Irish monk Saint Columba among the peoples of what is now Scotland. It was written in the late seventh century by Adomnán of Iona, an Irish monk living on the Inner Hebridean island. The collective term for the archipelago used within this work is Oceani Insulae meaning "Islands of the Ocean" (Book 2, 46 in the Sharpe edition = Book 2, 47 in Reeves edition), it is used sparingly and no Priteni-derived collective reference is made.

text: Another early native source to use a collective term is the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum of Bede written in the early eighth century. The collective term for the archipelago used within this work is insularum meaning "islands" (Book 1, 8) and it too is used sparingly. He stated that Britain "studies and confesses one and the same knowledge of the highest truth in the tongues of five nations, namely the Angles, the Britons, the Scots, the Picts, and the Latins", distinguishing between the Brythonic languages of the "ancient Britons" or Old Welsh speakers and other language groups.[34]

text: Brythonic, Saxon and Viking kingdoms such as Strathclyde, Wessex, and Jórvík amalgamated, leading to the formation of Scotland, and England. Wales was sometimes united under princes or kings such as Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. Between 854 and 1171, a kingship of Ireland was established by kings of the regional kingdoms such as Máel Sechnaill mac Máele Ruanaid, Toirdelbach Ua Briain, Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn, and Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair, something not achieved in Britain until 1707. In subsequent Norman Ireland, local lords gained considerable autonomy from the Lordship of Ireland until it became the Kingdom of Ireland under direct English rule.

text: Renaissance mapmakers[edit]

text: Abraham Ortelius makes clear his understanding that England, Scotland and Ireland were politically separate in 1570 by the full title of his map: Angliae, Scotiae et Hiberniae, sive Britannicar. insularum descriptio ('A representation of England, Scotland and Ireland, or the Britannic islands'). George Lily's 1546 map divides Britain into the two kingdoms of England and Scotland, with Ireland alongside. Some maps from this period also appear to mark Wales, and sometimes Cornwall, as separate areas within Britain, while the history of England created by Polydore Vergil[35] for Henry VIII states, "The whole country of Britain is divided into four parts, whereof the one is inhabited by Englishmen, the other of Scots, the third Welshmen and the fourth of Cornish people."[36][37]

text: Maps of the Mediaeval, Renaissance and later periods often referred to Albion. This archaic term was originally used by Ptolemy and Pliny to mean the island of Great Britain. In later centuries its meaning changed to refer only to the area we now call Scotland (Albany, or Alba in Gaelic). Albion has survived as a poetic name for Britain but it is not in everyday use.

text: 18th and 19th centuries[edit]

text: Following the Acts of Union 1707, a fashion arose, particularly in Scotland, for referring to Scotland and England as North Britain and South Britain respectively. These terms gained in popularity during the 19th century. The most lasting example of this usage was in the name of the North British Railway, which became part of the London and North Eastern Railway in 1923, and in the name of the North British Hotel, built by the railway in Edinburgh in 1902, which retained the name until it reopened in 1991 as the Balmoral Hotel.

text: Evolution of kingdoms and states[edit]

text: The diagram on the right gives an indication of the further evolution of kingdoms and states. In 1603 the Scottish King James VI inherited the English throne as "James I of England". He styled himself as James I of Great Britain, although both states retained their sovereignty and independent parliaments, the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. (The term "Great Britain" itself reportedly dates from as early as 1474, and was in common usage from the mid-16th century onwards.[38])

text: The 1707 Act of Union united England and Scotland in the Kingdom of Great Britain under the Parliament of Great Britain, then in 1800 Ireland was brought under British government control by the Act of Union creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Irish unrest culminated in the Irish War of Independence and the 1922 separation of the Irish Free State, which later became a republic with the name Ireland. The majority Protestant northeast continued to be part of what became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

text: British overseas territories such as Bermuda, Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands have various relationships with the UK. The Commonwealth of Nations, initially formalised in 1931 (the British Commonwealth until 1949), is an association of independent states roughly corresponding to the former British Empire. (This has no connection with the Commonwealth of England, a short-lived republic replacing the previous kingdoms during the English Interregnum (1649–1660).)

text: Adjectives[edit]

text: The adjectives used to describe the contents and attributes of the various constituent parts of the British Isles also cause confusion.

text: In the absence of a single adjective to refer to the United Kingdom, British is generally used to refer to the United Kingdom as a whole. However, in a specifically physical geographical sense, British is used to refer to the island of Great Britain.[39] The adjectival phrase Great British is very rarely used to refer to Great Britain, other than to contrive a pun on the word great, as in "Great British Food".

text: Irish, refers to people or a characteristic "of Ireland".[40] As such, its meaning is contextual on the meaning of "Ireland" being used: it can relate both to the Irish state, and to the island of Ireland. Northern Ireland, as a constituent part of the United Kingdom, can thus be both British or Irish, reflected in the ability for residents of Northern Ireland to take either British or Irish citizenship.[41] In order to be more specific, Northern Irish is therefore in common usage. Members of the Nationalist communities would not describe themselves as British and would only use the terms Irish, or specifically Northern Irish where needed.

text: The term Ulster can also be used as an adjective (e.g. "Royal Ulster Constabulary"), but this is more likely to be used by Unionists and has political connotations in the same fashion as its use as a proper noun (because only six of the traditional nine counties of Ulster, namely Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone, are included in Northern Ireland with the remaining three counties Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan forming part of the Republic). The term Ulsterman (or Ulsterwoman) is common and holds no such political connotation. Likewise, Nationalists might describe, say, a lake in Northern Ireland as Irish.

text: Note that the geographical term Irish Sea thus far appears to have escaped political connotations, even though territorial control of the waters of the Irish Sea is divided between both the Republic of Ireland and the UK, and also includes a British Crown dependency, the Isle of Man—as yet there appears to be no controversy with the term’s usage to mirror that of "British Isles". The "Northern" in "Northern Ireland" is not completely accurate. The most northerly point on the island, Malin Head, is in the Republic of Ireland—in County Donegal's Inishowen Peninsula.

text: Problems with use of terms[edit]

text: British Isles[edit]

text: The dictionary definition of British Isles is that it is a geographical term that refers to the whole of Ireland and Great Britain as well as the surrounding islands. It is sometimes incorrectly used as if identical to the UK;[citation needed] or to refer to Great Britain and the surrounding islands, excluding the island of Ireland entirely.[42][43][44] The BBC and The Times have style guides that mandate the dictionary definition but occasional misuse can be found on their web sites.[45][46]

text: The term British Isles can also be considered irritating or offensive by some[47] on the grounds that the modern association of the term British with the United Kingdom makes its application to Ireland inappropriate.

text: The term British Isles can also be considered to imply a proprietary title on the entire archipelago.[48]

text: The policy of the government of Ireland is that no branch of government should use the term,[49] and although it is on occasion used in a geographical sense in Irish parliamentary debates, this is often done in a way that excludes the Republic of Ireland. In October 2006, The Times quoted a spokesman for the Irish Embassy in London as saying that they would discourage its use.[50]

text: During a stop-over visit to the Republic of Ireland in 1989, the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, indicated that he assumed Ireland's head of state was Queen Elizabeth II, given that she was the British Queen and his officials said that Ireland was a part of the British Isles.[51]

text: In Northern Ireland, some nationalists reject the term and instead use these islands, these isles or "Britain and Ireland" as an alternative.[52]

text: There have been several suggestions for replacements for the term British Isles. Although there is no single accepted replacement, the terms Great Britain and Ireland, The British Isles and Ireland and Britain and Ireland are all used.

text: England[edit]

text: The word "England" is often used synecdochically to refer to Great Britain—or the United Kingdom as a whole[53][54]—which often causes offence, particularly to those from the non-English parts of Britain. In a similar way, references to England as an island,[55] to an "English passport",[56] or to Scottish or Welsh places as being in England[56][57] are examples of this usage of the term "England".

text: Because of the offence likely to be taken by Scots, Welsh and Irish at this usage, most politicians and official figures have avoided this usage since the early 20th century. However, there are frequent examples of this usage from earlier times.[58][59][60] For a long time it was common for fans of the England football team to wave the British Union Flag—with the use of the specifically English St George's Cross flag only gaining popularity at the Euro 96 tournament.[56]

text: The colloquial usage of "England" as a synonym for "Britain" is still widespread outside the UK. In Germany, the term "England" is often used to mean Great Britain or even the entire United Kingdom. In many other languages, such as Chinese, Japanese or Korean, the word for "English" is synonymous with "British"—see the article on Alternative words for British for more detail.

text: Europe[edit]

text: The term "Europe" may be used in one of several different contexts by British and Irish people: either to refer to the whole of the European continent, to refer to only to Mainland Europe, sometimes called "continental Europe" or simply "the Continent" by some people in the archipelago. Europe may also be used in reference to the European Union (or, historically, to the European Economic Community). A comedic treatment of the different uses of this word appears in an episode of the BBC sitcom To the Manor Born. When tradesmen are taking measurements in metric, and Audrey fforbes-Hamilton objects on the grounds that the house was built "in feet and inches", a tradesman says "We're in Europe now", referring to the European Economic Community. Audrey fforbes-Hamilton retorts "Well you may be, but I'm staying here!" - implying that to her, the word "Europe" referred only to mainland Europe, excluding Britain and Ireland.

text: Great Britain[edit]

text: The word "Great" means "larger", in comparison with Brittany in modern-day France. One historical term for the peninsula in France that largely corresponds to the modern French province is Lesser or Little Britain. That region was settled by many British immigrants during the period of Anglo-Saxon migration into Britain, and named "Little Britain" by them. The French term "Bretagne" now refers to the French "Little Britain", not to the British "Great Britain", which in French is called Grande-Bretagne. In classical times, the Graeco-Roman geographer Ptolemy in his Almagest also called the larger island megale Brettania (great Britain). At that time, it was in contrast to the smaller island of Ireland, which he called mikra Brettania (little Britain).[61] In his later work Geography, Ptolemy refers to Great Britain as Albion and to Ireland as Iwernia. These "new" names were likely to have been the native names for the islands at the time. The earlier names, in contrast, were likely to have been coined before direct contact with local peoples was made.[62]

text: Ireland[edit]

text: The word Ireland has two meanings.

text:
It is the official name of the state that occupies five sixths of the island, formally named the Republic of Ireland.
It is a geographical term for the whole island, which may be referred to as "the island of Ireland" to avoid ambiguity.

text: Ulster[edit]

text: The terminology and usage of the name Ulster in Irish and British culture varies. Many within the unionist community[63] and much of the UK press refer to Northern Ireland as Ulster – whereas the nationalist community refer to the traditional Irish province of Ulster, which is a nine-county entity that incorporates the three counties of Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan (which are in the Republic) along with the counties of Armagh, Antrim, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone in Northern Ireland.

text: Thus, the word Ulster has two usages:

text:
It is the name of one of the four Provinces of Ireland, consisting of the nine northern counties of the island, that was partitioned between the United Kingdom (six counties) and the Republic of Ireland (three counties).
It is an alternative name for Northern Ireland, used by many in the Unionist community. It consists of the six north-eastern counties of the island that remain part of the United Kingdom.

text: Further information[edit]

text: Isle of Man and Channel Islands[edit]

text: The Isle of Man and the two bailiwicks of the Channel Islands are Crown dependencies; that is, non-sovereign nations, self-governing but whose sovereignty is held by the British Crown. They control their own internal affairs, but not their defence or foreign relations. They are not part of the United Kingdom or part of the European Union.

text:
The Isle of Man is part of the British Isles, situated in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland.
The Channel Islands consist politically of two self-governing bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey. They are the remnants of the Duchy of Normandy, which was once in personal union with the Kingdom of England. They are sometimes, despite their location next to mainland France, considered part of the British Isles. This usage is political rather than geographic.
The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are British Islands in United Kingdom law.

text: Celtic names[edit]

text: There are five living Celtic languages in the region. Each has names for the islands and countries of the British Isles. They are divided into two branches:

text:
Brythonic – which includes Welsh and Cornish
Goidelic – which includes Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx

text: Some of the above are:

text:
English
Cornwall
Wales
Ireland
Northern
Ireland
Republic of
Ireland
Scotland
Mann
England

Cornish
(Kernewek)
Kernow
Kembra
Iwerdhon
Iwerdhon Gledh
Repoblek
Iwerdhon
Alban
Manow
Pow an Sawson

Welsh
(Cymraeg)
Cernyw
Cymru
Iwerddon
Gogledd Iwerddon
Gweriniaeth
Iwerddon
Yr Alban
Manaw
Lloegr

Irish
(Gaeilge)
an Chorn
an Bhreatain Bheag
Éire
Tuaisceart Éireann
Poblacht na
hÉireann
Albain
Manainn
Sasana

Scottish Gaelic
(Gàidhlig)
a' Chòrn
a' Chuimrigh
Èirinn
Èirinn a Tuath
Poblachd na
h-Èireann
Alba
Manainn
Sasann

Manx
(Gaelg)
y Chorn
Bretyn
Nerin
Nerin Hwoaie
Pobblaght
Nerin
Nalbin
Mannin
Sostyn

text: The English word Welsh is from a common Germanic root meaning "Romanised foreigner" (cognate with Wallonia and Wallachia, and also cognate with the word used in Mediaeval German to refer to the French and Italians).[64]

text: The English names Albion and Albany are related to Alba and used poetically for either England or Scotland, or the whole island of Great Britain.

text: English Erin is a poetic name for Ireland derived from Éire (or rather, from its dative form Éirinn).

text: Terms for the British Isles in the Irish language[edit]

text: In Irish, the term Oileáin Bhriotanacha is a translation of the English term British Isles. Another translation is Oileáin Bhreataineacha, which was used in the 1937 translation from English to Irish of a 1931 geography book.[65]

text: Earlier dictionaries[66] give Oileáin Iarthair Eorpa as the translation, literally meaning West European Isles. Today the most common term Éire agus an Bhreatain Mhór is used, meaning literally as Ireland and Great Britain, as provided by terminological dictionaries.[67]

text: Slang[edit]

text: Blighty is a slang word for Britain derived from the Hindustani word bilāyatī ("foreign"). Depending on the user, it is meant either affectionately or archly. It was often used by British soldiers abroad in the First World War to refer to home.