85-579: The CB postcode area , also known as the Cambridge postcode area , is a group of sixteen postcode districts in the east of England , within five post towns . These cover much of south and east Cambridgeshire (including Cambridge and Ely ), plus parts of west Suffolk (including Newmarket and Haverhill ) and north-west Essex (including Saffron Walden ), and a very small part of Norfolk . Districts CB21 to CB25 were formed in September 2006 from
170-511: A few weeks of hot, balmy weather with prolonged warm to hot temperatures. The number of summer storms from the Atlantic, such as the remnants of a tropical storm , usually coincides with the location of the jet stream . The East tends to receive much less rain than the other regions. Autumn (mid-September – mid-November) is usually mild with some days being very unsettled and rainy and others warm. At least part of September and early October in
255-597: A local event, resulting in minor injuries. Witnesses described the event as unexpected, noting that such phenomena are rare in the area. In the 2015 general election there was an overall swing of 0.25% from the Conservatives to Labour and the Liberal Democrats lost 16% of its vote. All of Hertfordshire and Suffolk became Conservative. The region's electorate voted 49% Conservative, 22% Labour, 16% UKIP, 8% Liberal Democrat and 4% Green. Like other regions,
340-571: A prosperous economic hub with the largest economy of any region in the UK, after London . The region is home to Gatwick Airport , the UK's second-busiest airport, and Heathrow Airport (the UK's busiest airport) is located adjacent to the region's boundary with Greater London . The coastline along the English Channel provides numerous ferry crossings to mainland Europe . The region is known for its countryside, which includes two national parks:
425-604: A revision of the Regional Spatial Strategy for the East of England, was published on 12 May 2008. It was revoked on 3 January 2013. The official region consists of the following subdivisions: In the Eurostat Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), the East of England was a level-1 NUTS region, coded "UKH", which was subdivided as follows: After the UK's departure from
510-701: Is a 144-ft beech at Devil's Dyke in Newtimber Woods in West Sussex. Until 1999, there was a south east Standard Statistical Region , which also included the counties of Bedfordshire , Greater London , Essex and Hertfordshire . The former south east Civil Defence Region covered the same area as the current official region. In unofficial usage, the South East can refer to a varying area – sometimes only to London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, and Surrey; but sometimes to an area corresponding to
595-527: Is a level-1 NUTS region, coded "UKJ", which is subdivided as follows: Buckinghamshire, Medway and Kent, and Slough have an almost completely selective education system – not just a few grammar schools as other English areas may have – with secondary modern schools as the alternative. Kent has 33 grammar schools, Buckinghamshire 13, Medway 6 and Slough 4. The other areas are comprehensive . The top thirty schools at A level are almost exclusively selective schools; one or two are sixth form colleges . However,
680-530: Is a pioneering hospital in the UK, based at Cambridge Biomedical Campus . The most famous university in the region is the University of Cambridge . The university has been officially rated as the best in the world in 2010. It has the second-best medicine course in the world, and in 2010 became the only university outside of the US to raise over £1 billion in charitable donations. There are eight universities in
765-551: Is an official region for statistical and strategic planning purposes, but is not served by any directly elected regional government. From 1998 to 2010 local councils sent to the voluntary South East England Regional Assembly , based in Guildford . Delegates met six times a year and it was responsible for the South East England Development Agency , a project which oversaw investment projects in
850-616: Is at the junction of the Varsity Line (between Oxford and Cambridge) and the West Coast Main Line . The Harwell computer (Dekatron), now at the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley, was built in 1949 and is believed to be the oldest working digital computer in the world. John Wallis of Kent introduced the symbol for infinity and the standard notation for powers of numbers in 1656. Thomas Bayes
935-854: Is one of the nine official regions of England in the United Kingdom at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of Berkshire , Buckinghamshire , East Sussex , Hampshire , the Isle of Wight , Kent , Oxfordshire , Surrey and West Sussex . Cities and towns in the region include Aldershot , Ashford , Aylesbury , Basingstoke , Bracknell , Brighton and Hove , Canterbury , Chichester , Crawley , Eastbourne , Farnborough , Gosport , Guildford , Hastings , High Wycombe , Margate , Maidstone , Medway , Milton Keynes , Newport , Oxford , Portsmouth , Ramsgate , Reading , Slough , Southampton , Winchester , Woking and Worthing . South East England
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#17327905910261020-514: Is strong support for other parties, for example, Oxford , Slough and Southampton Test for Labour and Brighton Pavilion which is held by the Green Party . Out of 84 parliamentary seats, the Conservatives hold 72. In the 2017 general election, the Conservatives won 54.8% of votes, Labour 28.6%, Liberal Democrats 10.6%, Greens 3.1%, and UKIP 2.2%. In the Eurostat Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), South East England
1105-543: Is the airfield from where SOE secret agents for Europe took off, with 138 Sqn which parachuted agents and equipment and 161 Sqn which landed and retrieved agents. 19 Sqn at Duxford was the first to be equipped with the Spitfire on 4 August 1938. The 81st Tactical Fighter Wing was at RAF Bentwaters from January 1952 and also at RAF Woodbridge ; in the late 1980s some of the aircraft went to RAF Alconbury . Alconbury closed in 1992 and Bentwaters closed in 1993, with
1190-442: Is the third-largest region of England, with a land area of 19,072 square kilometres (7,364 sq mi), and is also the most populous with a total population of 9,379,833 in 2022. The region contains eight legally chartered cities : Brighton and Hove , Canterbury , Chichester , Milton Keynes , Oxford , Portsmouth , Southampton and Winchester . The region's close proximity to London has led to South East England becoming
1275-700: The A10 and north of Royston . UK Trade & Investment for the region is in Histon with its international trade team based next to Magdalene College . The Greater Watford area is home to British Waterways , Vinci (which bought Taylor Woodrow in 2008), the UK of the international firm Total Oil , retailers TK Maxx , Bathstore , Majestic Wine , Mothercare , Costco and Smiths Detection , Iveco , BrightHouse (at Abbots Langley ), Leavesden Film Studios , Sanyo , Europcar , Olympus , Kenwood and Beko electronic goods manufacturers, Wetherspoons pub chains,
1360-517: The A1303 in the east of the town, towards Teversham . South of the airport, Carl Zeiss NTS makes scanning electron microscopes in Cherry Hinton. Syngenta is to the east of Cambridge, on Capital Park at Fulbourn . Premier Foods has a large plant in Histon making Robertson's and Hartley's jam, Gale's honey, Smash instant potato , and Rose's marmalade . Addenbrooke's Hospital
1445-455: The A134 ; Multiyork makes furniture and Baxter Healthcare has a manufacturing plant in the south of the town. Aunt Bessie vegetable products (roast potatoes) are made by Heinz at Westwick , in a factory built by Ross Group . Around Cambridge on numerous science parks , are high technology (electronics and biochemistry) companies, such as ARM Holdings on Peterhouse Technology Park in
1530-714: The A32 , is an example of a site where the Romano-British grew Roman grapes . Much of the Battle of Britain was fought in this region, especially in Kent. RAF Bomber Command was based at High Wycombe . RAF Medmenham at Danesfield House , west of Marlow in Buckinghamshire, was important for aerial reconnaissance . Operation Corona , based at RAF Kingsdown (at West Kingsdown next to Brands Hatch in Kent, between
1615-616: The Atlantic lose a lot of moisture over land (and therefore are usually much weaker) by the time they reach Eastern England. Winter (mid-November – mid-March) is mostly cool, but non-prevailing cold easterly winds can affect the area from the continent. These can bring heavy snowfall if the winds interact with a low-pressure system over the Atlantic or France . Northerly winds also can be cold but are not usually as cold as easterly winds. Westerly winds bring milder and, typically, wetter weather. Southerly winds usually bring mild air (if from
1700-533: The Cambridge-Ipswich railway , on the eastern edge of Cambridge. The East of England Ambulance Service is on Cambourne Business Park on Cambourne , of the A428 (the former A45 ) west of Cambridge. The East Anglian Air Ambulance operates from Cambridge Airport and Norwich Airport ; Essex Air Ambulance operates from Boreham . The former electricity company for the area, Eastern Electricity , has
1785-570: The English football league system today are Ipswich Town , Norwich City , Watford and Luton Town , who have competed in the top flight at various points. Alongside teams Peterborough United , and Cambridge United . Children's author Dodie Smith lived near the town of Sudbury in Suffolk , and part of her famous novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians which inspired the Disney animated film of
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#17327905910261870-601: The Hemel Hempstead relay transmitter is a relay of the London services from Crystal Palace , bringing London television into parts of Hertfordshire. Northwestern parts of Norfolk including Kings Lynn receive a better TV signal from the Belmont transmitter that broadcast BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and ITV Calendar . Some editions of Look East and ITV News Anglia broadcast split news programming for
1955-1070: The New Forest and the South Downs , as well as the North Downs , the Chiltern Hills and part of the Cotswolds . The River Thames flows through the region and its basin is known as the Thames Valley . It is also the location of a number of internationally known places of interest, such as HMS Victory in Portsmouth, Cliveden in Buckinghamshire, Thorpe Park and RHS Wisley in Surrey, Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, Windsor Castle in Berkshire, Leeds Castle ,
2040-795: The Toddington services ). Luton is home to EasyJet ,(based at the airport ), Hain Celestial Group (which makes Linda McCartney Foods and is based on the B579 in Biscot ), Eurolines (UK office), Thomson Holidays (based at Wigmore on the eastern edge of the town) and Chevrolet (at Griffin House, the Vauxhall head office). At the 85-acre Capability Green off the A1081 and junction 10a of
2125-707: The White Cliffs of Dover and Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, Brighton Palace Pier , and Hammerwood Park in East Sussex, and Wakehurst Place in West Sussex. The region has many universities; the University of Oxford is the oldest in the English-speaking world, and ranked among the best in the world. South East England is host to various sporting events, including the annual Henley Royal Regatta , Royal Ascot and The Derby , and sporting venues include Wentworth Golf Club and Brands Hatch . Some of
2210-468: The circulation of blood . The Lilly Research Centre in Windlesham, Berkshire, part of Eli Lilly , developed Olanzapine in 1996 (for bipolar disorder , selling around $ 5bn worldwide annually). Beecham Research Laboratories at Brockham Park in 1959 discovered meticillin (or methicillin), the first semi-synthetic penicillin ( beta-lactamase stable), deriving from their discovery in 1958 of 6-APA ,
2295-773: The flying tail or all-moving tail also known as a stabilator ; this would solve the problem of stability and aircraft control at supersonic speeds , and its design was taken wholesale into the American Bell X-1 , the first supersonic aircraft . The first Harrier aircraft XV738 flew on 28 December 1967; this was the first aircraft of the RAF to have a head-up display avionics system. The first two-seat Harrier XW174 flew on 24 April 1969, later crashing at Larkhill in June 1969. The British Aerospace Sea Harrier XZ450 first flew on 20 August 1978; on 4 May 1982 this aircraft
2380-654: The pager in 1956, for St Thomas' Hospital ; and Snap-on Diagnostics makes diagnostic tools for garages. British Sugar's Wissington is the world's largest sugar beet factory in Methwold , on the B1160 near the River Wissey . Lotus Cars and Team Lotus are on the eastern edge of the former RAF Hethel , east of Wymondham (A11) at Hethel ( Bracon Ash ). Jeyes Group makes household chemicals in Thetford , off
2465-586: The plan position indicator method of radar display as most commonly known ever since; the site became Plessey Radar in 1965, and currently is run by BAE Systems. Sperry Gyroscope in Bracknell produced the guidance systems for Britain's 1960s space rockets. The Wealden iron industry in the Weald was the site of the first blast furnace in Britain in 1491, and produced much of Britain's cast iron until
2550-533: The 1770s. Portsmouth Block Mills were the site of the world's first metal machine tools , built for the manufacture of wooden pulleys , invented by Henry Maudslay , and the site of the world's first industrial assembly line in 1803. South Foreland Lighthouse on 8 December 1858 was the world's first lighthouse with electric light, with the first type of industrial electrical generator made by Frederick Hale Holmes , from work he had carried out with Floris Nollet of Belgium, and 36 permanent magnets. By 1880, of
2635-648: The 1950s and 1960s. In the late 1960s, the Roskill Commission considered Cublington in Buckinghamshire, Thurleigh in Bedfordshire, Nuthampstead in Hertfordshire and Foulness in Essex as locations for a possible third airport for London. A new airport was not built, but a former Royal Air Force base at Stansted , which had previously been converted to civilian use redeveloped and expanded in
CB postcode area - Misplaced Pages Continue
2720-639: The 1950s, RAF Wyton was an important reconnaissance base for the RAF, mainly 543 Sqn . The base is now home of the Defence Intelligence Fusion Centre , previously known as JARIC, or the Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre from 1956. NHS East of England , which was the strategic health authority for the area until the abolition of these areas in 2013, is on Capital Park, next to Fulbourn Tesco, Fulbourn Hospital , and
2805-477: The A20 and M20), was implemented to confuse German night fighters with native German-speakers, and coordinated by the RAF Y service . Bletchley Park in north Buckinghamshire was the principal Allied centre for codebreaking. The Colossus computer , arguably the world's first, began working on Lorentz codes on 5 February 1944, with Colossus 2 working from June 1944. The site was chosen, among other reasons, because it
2890-786: The American air forces being in the area for 42 years; the USAF aircraft subsequently moved to Spangdahlem Air Base in Rhineland-Palatinate , Germany. At RAF Marham in west Norfolk, 214 Sqn with the Vickers Valiant developed the RAF's refuelling system; later the squadron would be equipped with the Handley Page Victor . Work on refuelling had also taken place at RAF Tarrant Rushton in Dorset . From
2975-484: The Atlantic or North Africa ) but chill if coming from further east than Spain. Spring (mid-March – May) is a transitional season that initially can be chilly but is usually warm by late-April/May. The weather at this time is often changeable (within each day) and occasionally showery. Summer (June – mid-September) is usually warm. Continental air from mainland Europe or the Azores High usually leads to at least
3060-736: The EU, the UK NUTS regions were renamed as International Territorial Level regions in 2021. The East of England was a major force and resource for Parliament and, in particular, in the form of the Eastern Association . Oliver Cromwell came from Huntingdon. Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex played host to the American VIII Bomber Command and Ninth Air Force . The Imperial War Museum at Duxford has an exhibition, commemorating their participation and sacrifice, near to
3145-423: The East have warm and settled weather, but only in rare years is there an Indian summer where fine weather marks the entire traditional harvest season. Dust devils were reported in Essex and Cambridgeshire on 17 August 2024, causing minor injuries and some disruption. These small whirlwinds, which form from the ground up, are less powerful than tornadoes. In Essex, they caused tents and gazebos to be lifted during
3230-1207: The European HQ of the Hilton hotel group and Nestlé Waters; in Garston is the UK headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church , on the A412 and the Building Research Establishment . Comet Group and Camelot Group (owners of the National Lottery ), on the A4145 , are in Rickmansworth . Ferrero (maker of Nutella and Kinder Chocolate ) is in Croxley Green . Renault and Skanska (construction) are in Maple Cross . Moto Hospitality has its headquarters at Toddington in Bedfordshire (at
3315-402: The Hardwick Industrial Estate at the A47/ A149 junction is PinguinLutosa the UK, which packs frozen vegetables , and Caithness Crystal . Foster Refrigerator is the UK's leading manufacturer of commercial refrigerators and blast chillers , owned by Illinois Tool Works , based on the industrial estate; with Multitone Electronics , which has a manufacturing plant there, and which invented
3400-471: The M1, is the Stonegate Pub Company (owner of Scream Pubs , Yates's , Slug and Lettuce and Hogshead ), InBev UK (which bought most of Whitbread's beer brands), Chargemaster ( electric vehicle network under the POLAR brand), AstraZeneca 's UK Marketing Company division and Alexon Group (ladies clothing). Vauxhall produced its last Vauxhall Vectra in March 2002 at the plant near the A6/A505 roundabout, and now makes vans ( Vivaro / Renault Trafic ) at
3485-427: The M11 south of Cambridge. Stansted Airport was RAF Stansted Mountfitchet , home to the 344th Bombardment Group . The de Havilland Mosquito was mainly assembled at Hatfield and Leavesden, although much of the innovative wooden structure originated outside the region from the furniture industry of High Wycombe ; the Mosquito entered service in 1942 with 105 Sqn at RAF Horsham St Faith . RAF Tempsford in Bedford
CB postcode area - Misplaced Pages Continue
3570-414: The M40); on 13 March 1962, the first in-flight rocket-powered ejection took place by Peter Howard , an RAF doctor based at Farnborough's Institute of Aviation Medicine in Meteor WA364 at 250 ft over Chalgrove, with the rocket giving a maximum force of 16G. The Miles M.52 , designed at Woodley Aerodrome in Berkshire by Miles Aircraft , was an advanced design of aircraft which had the innovation of
3655-445: The UK was at Epsom telephone exchange from 18 May 1912. It was introduced as standard across the UK's 6,700 telephone exchanges in 1922, lasting for around 70 years; it could handle up to 500 lines. It used the Strowger design and was made by Automatic Telephone Manufacturing Company of Liverpool. The world's first automatic telephone exchange had opened in La Porte, Indiana in November 1892. UK-Belgium 5 , laid in 1986 from Kent,
3740-427: The UK, at Farnborough; on 14 May 1909 he flew it for more than a mile. On 13 August 1909, his wife was the first woman in the UK to fly in a plane, also at Farnborough. The first human airborne ejection seat firing took place on 24 July 1946 over Chalgrove Airfield , Oxfordshire, in a Meteor , piloted by Bernard Lynch ; the first dummy ejection had been 10 May 1945 over RAF Oakley in west Buckinghamshire (today near
3825-426: The West (Home Counties) and East (East Anglia/Essex) of the region, with the West subregions broadcasting from Sandy Heath; the BBC's Western opt-outs are broadcast from studios in Cambridge, also the base of BBC Radio Cambridgeshire , whilst both versions of the ITV Anglia output have broadcast from Anglia House in Norwich since the split service was introduced in 1990. South East England South East England
3910-421: The administrative capital of England some time in the 13th century as its influence waned while the City of London dominated commerce. The last monarch to be crowned at Winchester was Richard II in 1377, although the last monarch to be crowned by the Bishop of Winchester was Queen Mary I in 1553. The Meonhill Vineyard, near Old Winchester Hill in east Hampshire on the South Downs south of West Meon on
3995-421: The area's distribution now looked after by UK Power Networks at Fore Hamlet in Ipswich . UK Power Networks also looks after London and most of the South-East. Business Link in the East of England is near to the headquarters of Ocado in Hatfield, at the roundabout of the A1057 and the A1001 on the Bishops Square Business Park. The region's Manufacturing Advisory Service is at Melbourn in Cambridgeshire, off
4080-412: The astronomer, from Kent, invented the term photography in 1839, meaning light writing . and discovered the first photographic fixer , sodium thiosulphate , known as hypo , also in 1839. GLEEP was Britain's first nuclear reactor, in August 1947 at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE) at Harwell, it would stay operational until 1990. William Harvey of Folkestone, in Kent, discovered
4165-416: The city, Colman's makes a wide range of mustards, and Britvic makes Robinsons squash, which was owned by Colman's until 1995. Across the River Yare near the A47/ A146 junction in Trowse with Newton is May Gurney , the construction company. Bernard Matthews Farms has a large turkey farm on the former RAF Attlebridge in Weston Longville . Campbell Soup was made in Kings Lynn until 2008, and on
4250-414: The conurbation known as the Greater London Urban Area . The South East has the highest percentage of people born outside of Britain other than London . According to the 2021 census, 78.8% of residents were White British , 7.1% Other White (inc. 0.8% Irish ), 7.0% British Asian , 2.8% Mixed Race , 2.4% Black British , and 1.4% of other groups . There was no census in 1941. South East England
4335-430: The core constituent; the team, led by Prof George Rolinson, won the Mullard Award in 1971. Bipyridine compounds (Paraquat-Gramoxone and Diquat) were discovered for herbicide use in 1954 by William Boon at ICI's Plant Protection division at Jealott's Hill, being released onto the market in 1958. AZT/Retrovir ( zidovudine ) was first manufactured by Wellcome in 1987 in Kent; they also introduced Zovirax ( aciclovir ), and
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#17327905910264420-475: The division of seats favours the dominant party in the region and the Conservatives had 52, Labour 4 ( Cambridge , Luton South , Luton North and Norwich South ), UKIP 1 ( Clacton ) and 1 Liberal Democrat ( North Norfolk ). In the 2019 United Kingdom general election , the Conservatives gained Peterborough and Ipswich from Labour. They also gained North Norfolk from the Liberal Democrats but lost St Albans to Daisy Cooper . The East of England Plan,
4505-434: The early 1960s. Donald Watts Davies invented packet switching in the late 1960s at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington . Packet-switching was taken up by the Americans to form the ARPANET , the precursor to the Internet. Surrey's Alec Reeves invented pulse-code modulation (PCM) in 1937 (at ITT 's research laboratories in Paris), the standard for digital audio recordings. Sir John Herschel , son of
4590-469: The events of the 2012 Summer Olympics were held in the south east, including the rowing at Eton Dorney and part of the cycling road race in the Surrey Hills . In medieval times , South East England included much of the Kingdom of Wessex , which was the precursor to the modern state of England . Winchester was the capital of England after unification of the various states, including the kingdoms of Kent , Sussex and Mercia . Winchester stopped being
4675-439: The first point of sale terminal in Europe - the NCR 280 in 1973. The National Fruit Collection is the largest collection of fruit trees in the world, at Brogdale , and is next to the M2 at the A251 junction in Ospringe . Scalextric was invented by Fred Francis in 1956, who founded Minimodels in Havant; initially the model cars had been clockwork ; it was made from 1967 at Triang in Margate. The world's first Mars Bar
4760-405: The first to assign the correct atomic number to elements in periodic table ; he did not receive any Nobel Prize as it is not awarded posthumously (he was killed in 1915 at Gallipoli with the Royal Engineers). Carbon fibre was invented in 1963 at the RAE in Farnborough by a team led by William Watt. The Apollo LCG space-suit cooling system originated mostly from work done at RAE Farnborough in
4845-468: The following decades. The East of England succeeded the standard statistical region East Anglia (which excluded Essex , Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire , then in the South East ). The East of England civil defence region was identical to today's region. Essex, despite meaning East-Saxons, previously formed part of South East England , along with Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, a mixture of definite and debatable Home counties . The earliest use of
4930-410: The former Bedford Vehicles plant, based in the north of the town at the GM Manufacturing Luton plant. The economy in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk is traditionally mostly agricultural. Norfolk is the UK's biggest producer of potatoes. Nationally known companies include the RAC , Archant (publishing), Virgin Money and Aviva (formerly Norwich Union ) in Norwich. In Carrow, to the east of
5015-414: The former Standard Statistical Region. The South East is also occasionally used as a synonym for the home counties . The population of the region at the 2011 census was 8,634,750 making it the most populous English region. The major conurbations of the region include South Hampshire (855,000), Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton (474,000) and Reading (318,000). Settlements closer to London are part of
5100-403: The highest population in the region. The population of the East of England region in 2022 was 6,398,497. Bedford , Luton , Basildon , Peterborough , Southend-on-Sea , Norwich , Ipswich , Colchester , Chelmsford and Cambridge are the region's most populous settlements. According to Census 2021 , Peterborough is the largest city in the East of England at 215,000. The southern part of
5185-563: The lowest point in the country in the village of Holme : 2.75 metres (9.0 ft) below mean sea level. This area formerly included the body of open water known as Whittlesey Mere . The highest point in the region is at Clipper Down at 817 ft (249 m) above mean sea level, in the far southwestern corner of the region in the Ivinghoe Hills . Communities known as New Towns , responses to urban congestion and World War II destruction, appeared in Basildon and Harlow (Essex), as well as in Stevenage and Hemel Hempstead (Hertfordshire), in
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#17327905910265270-421: The naturally occurring digoxin , a cardiac glycoside . After a plane crashed near his house in Oxford in 1940, Sir Peter Medawar helped the injured pilot, and in the process discovered homograft rejection , leading to organ transplantation using azathioprine . Viagra ( Sildenafil ) was synthesized at Pfizer in Sandwich, Kent. Sir Francis Pettit Smith of Kent invented the screw propeller . On 3 May 1830
5355-472: The parts of districts CB1 to CB5 lying outside of the city of Cambridge. The approximate coverage of the postcode districts: East of England The East of England is one of the nine official regions of England in the United Kingdom . This region was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics purposes from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire , Essex , Hertfordshire , Norfolk and Suffolk . Essex has
5440-409: The region are at state secondary schools (the highest in England) with 101,000 in Kent (the highest in England for a county and completely selective) then 70,000 in Hampshire, 60,000 in Surrey, 45,000 in West Sussex, 36,000 in Oxfordshire, 35,000 in Buckinghamsire. The lowest is 6,000 at Bracknell Forest, then Reading with about 6,000. Of all regions, the South-East has the greatest percentage that attend
5525-438: The region do. The largest university by student numbers is ARU, and the next biggest is Cambridge. The smallest is Essex. For total income to universities, Cambridge receives around £1 billion—around six times larger than any other university in the region. The University of Bedfordshire receives the least income. Cambridge has the lowest drop-out (discontinuation) rate in the region. Once graduated, over 50% of students stay in
5610-462: The region include University Centre Peterborough , University of Suffolk and Writtle College . . The University of Cambridge receives almost three times as much funding as any other university in the region, due to its huge research grant—the largest in England (and the UK). The next largest, by funding, is UEA in Norwich. The University of Essex and Cranfield University also have moderately large research grants, but no other universities in
5695-565: The region is the chimney of Grain Power Station at 801 ft; it is the second-tallest chimney in the UK after Drax power station . George Albert Smith developed the first colour film process, known as Kinemacolor , in 1906 at Southwick, West Sussex . George E. Davis from Slough, is the founding father of chemical engineering. Wiggins Teape, later ARJO Wiggins Fine Papers , had the largest paper research centre in Europe at Butlers Court in Beaconsfield; built in 1891 and vacated in 2009. Bentalls in Bracknell (now Fenwick since 2017) had
5780-428: The region lies in the London commuter belt . The East of England region has the lowest elevation range in the UK. Twenty percent of the region is below mean sea level, most of this in North Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and on the Essex Coast. Most of the remaining area is of low elevation, with extensive glacial deposits. The Fens , a large area of reclaimed marshland, are mostly in North Cambridgeshire. The Fens include
5865-460: The region, with 25% going to London and 10% going to the South East. Very few go elsewhere—especially the North of England. During the nineteenth century, several formulations of the laws of football, known as the Cambridge rules , were created by students at the University. One of these codes, dating from 1863, had a significant influence on the creation of the original laws of The Football Association . East of England's top representatives in
5950-452: The region. It was abolished on 31 March 2009 and replaced with South East England Councils in Kingston upon Thames . The region is divided into several local council areas, most composed of two-tiered councils (the tiers are county councils and district councils) and unitary authorities : The South East of England is the most Conservative voting region of Britain in terms of both seats and votes. The area also has some seats where there
6035-536: The region. Cambridge hosts two universities: the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University . It is also the home of the Open University 's East of England branch. Norwich also hosts two universities: the University of East Anglia and Norwich University of the Arts . There are also other towns and cities in the region which have universities including Bedford and Luton ( University of Bedfordshire ), Colchester ( University of Essex ) and Hatfield ( University of Hertfordshire ). Other higher education centres in
6120-601: The results for each county as a whole are not always directly related to the number of grammar schools, as Kent and Medway perform below average at A-level. The King's School, Canterbury claims to be oldest in England: 597 AD. Herschel Grammar School in Slough is the most oversubscribed school in England, with 14 people per place, Langley Grammar School in Slough is next with 13 per place, then Burnham Grammar School. 508,000 in
6205-754: The same name takes place in the town at St Peter's Church. Much of the region receives the BBC East and ITV Anglia television services, both based in Norwich (the BBC moving from All Saints' Green to The Forum in 2003, and Anglia remaining at its original base, Angia House.) These services broadcast from the Sandy Heath , Sudbury and Tacolneston transmitter groups. Some areas in close proximity to London, including Luton and south Essex , may receive their service from BBC London and ITV London ; in addition,
6290-723: The south-east of the town, Adder Technology ( KVM switches ) at Bar Hill at the A14 /B1050 junction north of the town, Monsanto , Play.com on the Cambridge Business Centre. The Wellcome Trust Genome Campus has the European Bioinformatics Institute at Hinxton east of Duxford near the M11 spur for the A11. These form the so-called Silicon Fen . Marshall Aerospace is at Cambridge Airport on
6375-525: The ten lighthouses with electric light, five were in the UK. From the lighthouse in 1899, the first international radio broadcast to France was made. Zénobe Gramme of Belgium made a much better design in 1870 with self-excitation of magnets, and the first modern dynamo . North Foreland Lighthouse was the UK's last-staffed lighthouse until 1998. Portland cement was developed in Northfleet, Kent, by William Aspdin, son of Joseph Aspdin . The development
6460-732: The term is from 1695. Charles Davenant , in An essay upon ways and means of supplying the war , wrote, "The Eleven Home Counties, which are thought in Land Taxes to pay more than their proportion..." then cited a list including these four. The term does not appear to have been used in taxation since the 18th century. East Anglia is one of the driest parts of the United Kingdom, with average rainfall ranging from 450 to 750 mm (18 to 30 in). The area receives such low rainfall amounts because low pressure systems and weather fronts from
6545-602: The world's first bus service was by Eastbourne Buses from Eastbourne railway station to Meads . The world's first submarine telephone cable was laid between England and France in 1891 by HMTS Monarch, enabling London-Paris calls from April 1891. On 3 December 1992, Neil Papworth of Reading, an engineer from Sema Group Telecoms at Vodafone in Newbury, sent the world's first text message from his computer to an Orbitel 901 handset of Richard Jarvis, Vodafone's technical director. The first public automatic telephone exchange in
6630-488: The world's first multi-channel flight data recorders in 1965. Although the Comet is generally accepted as the world's first production-run jet airliner, the first jet airliner ever built (individual) was a Nene -powered Vickers VC.1 Viking on 6 April 1948 from Wisley Airfield ; the world's first turboprop airliner would fly from there on 16 July 1948 by Mutt Summers . In 1939 at Cowes ( Northwood ) John Godeck invented
6715-583: The world's first passenger train service, the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway (6 miles or 10 km) began. It was built by George Stephenson and hauled by the locomotive Invicta . It introduced the world's first railway season ticket in 1834. Maidenhead Railway Bridge , known for its flat arch, was built in 1839 with 39-metre spans. The Military Vehicles and Engineering Establishment , in Chertsey, developed Chobham armour . On 12 April 1903,
6800-553: Was an important statistician from Tunbridge Wells; his theorem (of probability theory ) is used for spam filters and Google's search . Sir David N. Payne at the University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre invented the erbium-doped fibre amplifier , a type of optical amplifier , in the mid-1980s, which became essential for the internet. Henry Moseley at Oxford in 1913 discovered his Moseley's law of X-ray spectra of chemical elements that enabled him to be
6885-722: Was built in 1986. This is the world's highest-capacity submarine HVDC cable; it goes from France and lands near Folkestone, with the large transformer station (built by GEC) squeezed between the CTRL and the M20 in Aldington and Smeeth , made of eight 270 kV cables. On 16 October 1908 the British Army Aeroplane No 1 , flown by the American Samuel Franklin Cody , was the first aircraft flown in
6970-656: Was hit by anti-aircraft fire at Goose Green , killing the pilot with 800 Naval Air Squadron from HMS Hermes ; the aircraft had no radar warning receiver (RWR), due to testing the Sea Eagle , so could not detect the Skyguard radar had locked on to it. It was destroyed with the Oerlikon GDF (35mm) of GADA 601 ; it was the first Sea Harrier lost in the Falklands campaign. Royston Instruments of Byfleet developed
7055-747: Was made in Slough in 1932; it was modelled on the Milky Way , popular at the time in the USA. Twix was introduced at Slough in 1967, with production moving to eastern France (Mars Chocolat France at Haguenau in Alsace ) in 2005. The Ford GT40 was developed by Ford Advanced Vehicles at Slough in the mid-1960s. The highest point is Walbury Hill in Berkshire at 297 m (974 ft). Britain's tallest native tree, according to The Tree Register in April 2015,
7140-589: Was the world's first optical fibre submarine cable, and is 36 miles long. ThrustSSC , the fastest car in the world in 1997, was built in Aldingbourne , West Sussex, by G-Force Engineering, designed by Ron Ayers , with further work done by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency at Farnborough. The BritNed 1000MW power-supply submarine cable from Isle of Grain to Rotterdam, was built in 2009. The HVDC Cross-Channel (2000MW) submarine cable
7225-497: Was to heat the ingredients to around 1450 °C, producing clinker . Previously, temperatures were taken to only 800 °C, which was not enough. The first ever cement kiln is still in Northfleet today in a cardboard factory. In the late 1800s, the rotary kiln made the process much more efficient. Concrete, effectively human-made stone, is the most widespread human-made material. 5% of all carbon emissions worldwide are from concrete production. The tallest freestanding structure in
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