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Walton, Izaak

(Encyclopedia)Walton, Izaak, 1593–1683, English writer. He wrote one of the most famous books in the English language, The Compleat Angler; or, the Contemplative Man's Recreation. The first edition appeared in 16...

Walpole, Horace, 4th earl of Orford

(Encyclopedia)Walpole, Horace or Horatio, 4th earl of Orford, 1717–97, English author; youngest son of Sir Robert Walpole. Educated at Eton and Cambridge, he toured the Continent with his friend Thomas Gray from ...

Alexander, Harold Rupert Leofric George, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis

(Encyclopedia)Alexander, Harold Rupert Leofric George, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis lĕfˈrĭk [key], 1891–1969, British field marshal. His long military career began with service in World War I, followed by a per...

Liverpool

(Encyclopedia)Liverpool, city and metropolitan borough (1991 pop. 448,300), NW England, on the Mersey River near its mouth. It is one of Britain's largest cities. A large center for food processing (especially flou...

Dieskau, Ludwig August, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Dieskau, Ludwig August, Baron lo͞otˈvĭkh ouˈgo͞ost bärōnˈ dēˈskou [key], 1701–67, French general in the French and Indian Wars. In 1755 he was sent to take command of French troops in Amer...

Canning, Charles John Canning, Earl

(Encyclopedia)Canning, Charles John Canning, Earl, 1812–62, British statesman; third son of George Canning. Succeeding to the peerage conferred on his mother, he took his seat as Viscount Canning in the House of ...

Royal Academy of Arts

(Encyclopedia)Royal Academy of Arts, London, the national academy of art of England, founded in 1768 by George III at the instigation of Sir William Chambers and Benjamin West. Sir Joshua Reynolds was the Academy's...

Dover, Strait of

(Encyclopedia)Dover, Strait of, separating Great Britain from France and connecting the English Channel with the North Sea. It is 21 mi (34 km) wide between Dover and Cape Gris-Nez, near Calais, and is called Pas-d...

Regency

(Encyclopedia)Regency, in British history, the period of the last nine years (1811–20) of the reign of George III, when the king's insanity had rendered him unfit to rule and the government was vested in the prin...

Elion, Gertrude Belle

(Encyclopedia)Elion, Gertrude Belle ĕlˈēən [key], 1918–99, American pharmacologist, b. New York City, B.S. Hunter College, 1937. Unable to find research work (largely because she was a woman), she taught high...