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Tate Gallery

(Encyclopedia)Tate Gallery, London, originally the National Gallery of British Art. The original building (in Millbank on the former site of Millbank Prison), with a collection of 65 modern British paintings, was g...

Fowles, John

(Encyclopedia)Fowles, John, 1926–2005, English writer, b. Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, grad. Oxford, 1950. A complex, cerebral writer and a superb storyteller, Fowles was interested in manipulating the novel as a genre. ...

Royal National Theatre

(Encyclopedia)Royal National Theatre a government-funded repertory company based in London. Although the idea for such a company originated in the 19th cent., the National Theatre was not finally established until ...

Plassey

(Encyclopedia)Plassey plăsˈē [key], anglicized name of Palashi, village, West Bengal state, NE India. In the battle of Plassey, Robert Clive decisively defeated (1757) the Nawab of Bengal, preparing the way for ...

Limerick, county, Republic of Ireland

(Encyclopedia)Limerick lĭmˈərĭk [key], county (1991 pop. 161,956), 1,037 sq mi (2,686 sq km), SW Republic of Ireland. Limerick is the county seat. The region is an agricultural plain lying S of the Shannon estu...

Streep, Meryl

(Encyclopedia)Streep, Meryl, 1949–, American actress, b. Summit, N.J., as Mary Louise Streep. She attended Yale Drama School and appeared in many Broadway and off-Broadway productions during the early 1970s. Movi...

Normans

(Encyclopedia)Normans, designation for the Northmen, or Norsemen, who conquered Normandy in the 10th cent. and adopted Christianity and the customs and language of France. Abandoning piracy and raiding, they adopte...

Adams, Will

(Encyclopedia)Adams, Will (William Adams), 1564?–1620, first Englishman to visit Japan. As pilot of a Dutch ship searching for gold and trade, he reached Japan in 1600. At first imprisoned and sentenced to death,...

Haworth, Sir Walter Norman

(Encyclopedia)Haworth, Sir Walter Norman, 1883–1950, British chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Göttingen, 1911. Haworth held academic posts at Imperial College of Science and Technology in London (1911–12), the Univ. of...

Hinshelwood, Sir Cyril Norman

(Encyclopedia)Hinshelwood, Sir Cyril Norman, 1897–1967, British chemist, D.Sc. Oxford, 1924. In 1937 Hinshelwood became a professor at Oxford, where he remained until his retirement in 1964. He shared the 1956 No...