116-874: South East England 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
232-403: A "Sub-National Review of Economic Development and Regeneration". Most of their functions transferred to the relevant regional development agency and to local authority leaders' boards . In June 2010, the incoming Coalition Government announced its intentions to abolish regional strategies and return spatial planning powers to local government. These plans include the withdrawal of funding to
348-408: A bricklayer, from the 1920 regatta. According to the minutes of the regatta's Committee of Management, Kelly was excluded both because he was not eligible under the manual labour rules and because he was a member of Vesper Boat Club , which was banned in 1906 because members of its 1905 Henley crew had raised money to pay for their trip through public donations – making them professionals in the eyes of
464-615: A course of exactly one mile and 550 yards (2,112 metres). During the whole regatta, during racing hours there are numerous safety boats provided by the Colwick Park Lifeguards to keep competitors safe. The regatta organisers arrange for a first aid provider to be present, who have an on site hospital-style area. At a public meeting in Henley town hall on 26 March 1839, Captain Edmund Gardiner proposed "that from
580-752: A decade later the Labour administration also founded the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships (RIEPs) with £185m of devolved funding to enhance councils' capacity to improve and take the lead in their own improvement. The Maastricht Treaty encouraged the creation of regional boundaries for selection of members for the Committee of the Regions of the European Union : Wales , Scotland and Northern Ireland had each constituted
696-712: A grammar school: 12%; the next highest is the South-West with 6%. The most-educated people ( NQF level 4 or above) in the region live in Elmbridge (51%), then Waverley, and Epsom and Ewell; 33% of people are at this level for the South-East, only second to London at 40%. Regions of England The regions of England , formerly known as the government office regions , are the highest tier of sub-national division in England . They were established in 1994 and follow
812-515: A moving the start of the course to the Berkshire side of Temple Island. At the time this channel was a winding, shallow backwater and it would clearly not be possible to lay a course of the full Henley distance without significant alteration to the bank, the island and the riverbed. For the 1923 regatta, the Stewards therefore decided to try a shorter experimental straight course which started at
928-516: A part-time regional minister within the Government. House of Commons regional Select Committees were established in 2009. However, the chambers and select committees were abolished in May 2010, restoring these functions to the main tier of local government, with limited functions transferred to the regional local authority leaders' boards created in 2009. Regional ministers were not reappointed by
1044-465: A point just upstream of Temple Island. At the first regatta in 1839, the finish line was Henley Bridge itself, but it was presumably quickly realised that this had inherent problems. From 1840 onward the finish was moved downstream slightly; eventually a point opposite the lawn of the Red Lion Hotel became the standard finish line. A grandstand was erected for the Stewards and their guests outside
1160-571: 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:
1276-735: A region, but England represents such a large proportion of the population of the United Kingdom that further division was thought necessary. The English regions, which initially numbered ten, also replaced the Standard Statistical Regions . Merseyside originally constituted a region in itself, but in 1998 it was merged into the North West England region, creating the nine present-day regions. The nine regions were used as England's European Parliament constituencies from 1999 until Britain's departure from
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#17327825085021392-721: A series of referendums were planned to establish elected regional assemblies in some of the regions. The first was held in London in 1998 and was passed. The London Assembly and Mayor of London of the Greater London Authority were created in 2000. A referendum was held in North East England on 4 November 2004, but the proposal for an elected assembly was rejected. In 2007, a Treasury Review for new Prime Minister Gordon Brown recommended that greater powers should be given to local authorities and that
1508-432: A source of amusement and gratification to the neighbourhood, and the public in general." The regatta was first staged in 1839, and proved so successful that it was expanded the next year from one day to two. As the regatta's popularity has grown it has further expanded: to three days in 1886, four days in 1906 and five days in 1986. The regatta has been known as Henley Royal Regatta since 1851, when Prince Albert became
1624-401: A special meeting of the Stewards that: This meeting…while fully prepared to promote the establishment of an international regatta upon a proper course and under suitable conditions, is of the opinion that Henley Regatta does not provide either a proper course or suitable conditions for international competitions. William Grenfell He proposed amendments to the rules restricting entries to
1740-589: A very close race against Tom Edwards-Moss , the eventual winner. Shoe-wae-cae-mette, rowing with then-unusual swivel rowlocks, reached the final of the Stewards' but lost to London Rowing Club . Columbia won the Visitors' Challenge Cup , becoming the first foreign winners of a Henley trophy. Accusations that both G.W. Lee and the Shoe-wae-cae-mette crew were not amateurs, led to a new, tighter, definition of amateurism in 1879. Any entries from outside
1856-701: 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
1972-527: 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,
2088-550: 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
2204-400: Is apparent that there are a number of outstanding crews in an event, they may be 'selected' by the Stewards, to prevent them from meeting too early in the competition. The regatta insists that selection is not the same as seeding , the main difference being that there is no 'rank order' as is usually the case in, for example, a tennis tournament. The draw is a public event that takes place in
2320-438: Is assigned to row on either the 'Bucks' ( Buckinghamshire ) or 'Berks' ( Berkshire ) side of the race course. The coxswains or steersmen are expected to keep their crew on the allocated side of the course at all times during the race, else they risk disqualification. The only exception is when a crew leads by a sizeable margin and is not deemed by the umpire to be impeding the trailing crew. There are several progress markers along
2436-615: 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
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#17327825085022552-521: Is flowing, the Berks station enjoys considerable shelter from the stream, particularly in the last ¼ mile. Conversely, when there is a strong south-westerly wind it is better to be on the Bucks station because it is more sheltered from the wind. The course is now piled and boomed along its entire length, except for crossing points. The booms can present a hazard for the inexperienced coxswain or steersman. When
2668-671: Is organised by a self-perpetuating body of Stewards, who are largely former rowers themselves. One exception to this rule is that the Mayor of Henley-on Thames Council is an ex-officio Steward. Pierre de Coubertin modelled elements of the organisation of the International Olympic Committee on the Henley Stewards. The regatta is regarded as part of the English social season . As with other events in
2784-649: 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
2900-441: 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
3016-441: Is wide enough to allow two crews to race down with a few metres between them. As such it is not uncommon for inexperienced steersmen or coxswains to crash into the booms, possibly costing their crew the race. The race begins at the downstream end of Temple Island, where the crews attach to a pair of pontoons. The race umpire will then call out the names of the two crews and start them when they are both straight and ready. Each crew
3132-713: 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
3248-643: The Committee of the Regions , with members drawn from the elected councillors of the local authorities in the region. The final nominations were made by central government. Although they were publicly funded, one of the Regional Assemblies claimed not to be a public authority and therefore not subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 . As power was to be devolved to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales without corresponding devolution in England,
3364-734: The First World War . In 1912, the Third Home Rule Bill was passing through parliament. The Bill was expected to introduce a devolved parliament for Ireland, and as a consequence calls were made for similar structures to be introduced in Great Britain or "Home Rule All Round". On 12 September the First Lord of the Admiralty , Winston Churchill , gave a speech in which he proposed 10 or 12 regional parliaments for
3480-602: The Henley Town Hall , normally at 3 pm on the Saturday before the regatta. For each event the names of all selected crews are placed on pieces of paper which are then drawn at random from the Grand Challenge Cup. These crews are then placed on pre-determined positions on the draw chart, as far apart as possible. The remaining qualifying crews are then drawn from the cup, filling in from the top of
3596-1013: 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 ,
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3712-765: 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
3828-468: 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 ,
3944-773: 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
4060-588: The heptarchy . The boundaries of some of these, which later unified as the Kingdom of England , roughly coincide with those of modern regions. During Oliver Cromwell 's Protectorate in the 1650s, the rule of the Major-Generals created 10 regions in England and Wales of similar size to the modern regions. Proposals for administrative regions within England were mooted by the British government prior to
4176-461: The new county structure ". A minority report by Lord Crowther-Hunt and Alan T. Peacock suggested instead seven regional assemblies and governments within Great Britain (five within England), which would take over substantial amounts of the central government. Some elements of regional development and economic planning began to be established in England from the mid-1960s onwards. In most of
4292-586: 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
4408-533: 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
4524-410: The 1974–96 county borders. They are a continuation of the former 1940s standard regions which followed the 1889–1974 administrative county borders. Between 1994 and 2011, all nine regions had partly devolved functions; they no longer fulfil this role, continuing to be used for limited statistical purposes. While the UK was a member of the European Union , they defined areas ( constituencies ) for
4640-534: The 1986 Government Green Paper and 1989 White Paper on The Future of Development Plans , which proposed the introduction of strong regional guidance within the planning system, and by the Government's issuing of Strategic Guidance at a regional level, from 1986 onwards. In April 1994, the John Major ministry created a set of ten Government Office Regions for England. Prior to 1994, although various central government departments had different regional offices,
4756-477: 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
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4872-571: The ARA rules; Henley's rules were changed the following day, coming into effect from the 1938 regatta. In September 1997, FISA removed all references to amateurism in its rules and in December 1998 Henley followed suit. The regatta is therefore now entirely open. The first 'overseas' entry to the regatta was in 1870 when Trinity College, Dublin entered the Grand, Ladies', Visitors' and Wyfold. As Dublin
4988-540: The Amateur Rowing Association of Great Britain would also cause a 66-year schism in British rowing, when in 1890 a rival National Amateur Rowing Association was set up, with a less restrictive definition of amateurism under which persons who worked in manual labour as their occupation could still be considered amateur rowers. One well-known incident was the exclusion of future Olympic champion John B. Kelly Sr. , who had served an apprenticeship as
5104-409: The Berkshire side upstream of Poplar Point, in an attempt to minimise the advantage given to the crew on the Berkshire station. In 1884, a sub-committee of the regatta's Committee of Management discussed options for reducing the unfairness of the course. Their recommendation was to move the finish line downstream to Poplar Point (thus avoiding the bend) and the start to the bottom of Temple Island. This
5220-478: The Buckinghamshire bank and provided shelter from the prevailing wind. The course now ran close to this bank and crew on the Buckinghamshire station gained the advantage of shelter whenever a 'Bushes Wind' was blowing. From 1886 to 1905, Bucks took 59% of wins against 41% on Berks. To attempt to reduce the effect of the Bushes Wind, the course was narrowed and pushed further to the centre of the river. The width
5336-495: The Committee will examine the form and calibre of the entrants and may choose to pre-qualify some of them. The qualifying races take the form of a timed processional race up the regatta course, with the fastest crews qualifying. Times are released for non-qualifying crews only. This does not stop an enthusiastic band of unofficial timers with synchronised watches working out how fast their first round opposition might be. If it
5452-586: The European Union ; and as statistical NUTS level 1 regions. Since 1 July 2006, there have also been ten strategic health authorities , each of which corresponds to a region, except for South East England , which is divided into western and eastern parts. In 1998, regional chambers were created in the eight English regions outside London under the provisions of the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998 . The powers of
5568-508: The Henley Stewards. Kelly's exclusion was widely reported in newspapers in both the UK and USA, with many seeing it as an attempt to prevent an American from winning the Diamonds. Kelly's son John B. Kelly Jr. would dramatically win the 1947 Diamond Sculls, and his daughter would become the famous Academy Award-winning actress and Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly , keeping the incident in the public eye for decades afterwards. In 1936, there
5684-524: 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
5800-609: The Red Lion. Other spectators could watch from the adjacent roadway (in front of the Little White Hart Hotel) while those with carriages surveyed the scene from a vantage point on Henley Bridge. There were three racing stations (Berkshire, Centre and Buckinghamshire). When only two crews raced, the Centre Station was not used. The Old Course had a large lefthand bend in the last quarter-mile. This benefited
5916-436: The Regional Chambers should be phased out of existence by 2010. The same year, nine Regional Ministers were appointed by the incoming Brown ministry . Their primary goal was stated as being to improve communication between central government and the regions of England. The assemblies were effectively replaced by smaller local authority leaders' boards between 2008 and 2010, and formally abolished on 31 March 2010, as part of
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#17327825085026032-443: The UK was UK and the NUTS standard had hierarchy of three levels, with 12 first level regions, which are currently mirrored by the ITL classification, of which 9 regions are in England . The sub-structure corresponds to administrative divisions within the country. Formerly, the further NUTS divisions IV and V existed; these have now been replaced by Local Administrative Units (LAU-1 and LAU-2 respectively). Between 1994 and 2011,
6148-444: 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,
6264-427: 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
6380-460: The United Kingdom had to be made on or before 1 March and had to be 'accompanied by a declaration made before Notary Public with regard to the profession of each member of the crew', which then had to be certified by the British Consul , the mayor, or the chief authority of the locality. Under these new rules, Shoe-wae-cae-mette were refused entry in 1879 as were Hillsdale Boat Club of Michigan in 1882. The Germania Ruder Club of Frankfurt became
6496-476: The United Kingdom. Within England, he suggested that London, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the Midlands would make natural regions . While the creation of regional parliaments never became official policy, it was for a while widely anticipated and various schemes for dividing England devised. By the 1930s, several competing systems of regions were adopted by central government for such purposes as census of population, agriculture, electricity supply, civil defence and
6612-421: 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
6728-408: The assemblies were limited, and members were appointed, largely by local authorities, rather than being directly elected. The functions of the English regions were essentially devolved to them from Government departments or were taken over from pre-existing regional bodies, such as regional planning conferences and regional employers' organisations. Each assembly also made proposals for the UK members of
6844-412: 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
6960-485: The central government as well. These were abolished in 2012, with statutory functions returning to local authorities and central government; however, smaller scale local enterprise partnerships were voluntarily established to take on some functions relating to coordinating economic priorities and development. After about 500 AD, England comprised seven Anglo-Saxon territories— Northumbria , Mercia , East Anglia , Essex , Kent , Sussex and Wessex —often referred to as
7076-412: 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
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#17327825085027192-430: 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
7308-423: The course came to be described as "about 1 mile and 550 yards (2,112 metres)", which was the distance covered by an eight. In 1967 the start of the Straight Course was relocated exactly 1 mile 550 yd from the finish. In the same year, moving pontoons were introduced at the start which allowed all boats, from singles to eights, to be aligned with their bows precisely on the start line. Since then all crews have raced
7424-408: The course. Intermediate times are recorded at two of them – "the Barrier" and "Fawley", in addition to the time to the finish. The regatta has official commentary, which is announced at these points along the course. The commentary is renowned for being unemotional and factual, with the commentator only allowed to announce the rate of striking , which crew is leading, the distance between the crews, and
7540-418: The creation of eight provinces in England, which would see power devolved from central government. Edward Heath 's administration in the 1970s did not create a regional structure in the Local Government Act 1972 , waiting for the Royal Commission on the Constitution , after which government efforts were concentrated on a constitutional settlement in Scotland and Wales for the rest of the decade. In England,
7656-401: The crew on the Berkshire side of the course not only because they raced a shorter distance but also because they avoided the worst of the river's current. Between 1866 and 1885, 57.7% all races were won by the crew on the Berkshire station, with the Buckinghamshire and Centre crews sharing 42.3%. The course was not boomed or piled, although between 1871 and 1873, poles were roped across the bay on
7772-404: The deadly inroad of professionalism, which is already making a business of so much that ought only to be pleasure, and threatens to crush the life out of the sports of "merrie England". Let us restrict our Henley pots to the United Kingdom and set up a proper international regatta elsewhere, if that is thought desirable. Edmond Warre, The Times W.H. Grenfell MP proposed a motion for
7888-425: The draw chart downwards, until all places have been filled. Each event in the regatta takes the form of a knockout competition, with each race consisting of two crews racing side by side up the Henley course. The course is marked out by two lines of booms (wooden bars which float on the water, secured between vertical poles), which are placed along the river to form a straight course 2,112 metres long. The course
8004-434: 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
8120-469: 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
8236-420: The existing eight Local Authority Leaders' Boards, with their statutory functions also being assumed by local councils. The boards in most cases continue to exist as voluntary associations of council leaders, funded by the local authorities themselves. No appointments as Regional Ministers were made by the incoming UK government in 2010. These changes did not affect the directly elected London Assembly , which
8352-802: 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
8468-527: The first entry from continental Europe in 1880, losing in a heat of the Grand to London Rowing Club. Foreign entries grew over the next twenty years, to the consternation of some who felt that the regatta should be restricted to domestic entries only. There were also a number of disputes over amateurism and the two issues were often bound up together, as in this letter to The Times from Edmond Warre , headmaster of Eton College in 1901: I most earnestly desire that our amateur oarsmanship may be preserved from
8584-427: The first royal patron. Since his death, every reigning monarch has agreed to be the patron. At the regatta's inception it was intended for amateur oarsmen rather than those who rowed professionally. In 1879 Henley produced its first formal definition of an amateur: No person shall be considered an amateur oarsman or sculler, or coxswain: Henley Royal Regatta, 1879 In 1884, amateur status for overseas oarsmen
8700-579: 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
8816-412: 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
8932-476: The headline policies of local authorities. The remaining two regions no longer have any administrative functions, having abolished their regional local authority leaders' boards. In 1998, regional chambers were established in the eight regions outside London, which produced strategic plans and recommendations to local authorities. Each of the regions also had an associated (central) Government Office with some responsibility for coordinating policy, and, from 2007,
9048-770: The incoming Coalition Government , and the Government Offices were abolished in 2011. From 2011, combined authorities have been introduced in some city regions , with similar responsibilities to the former regional chambers (and in some cases, replacing a regional local authority leaders' board on a smaller scale), but which also receive additional delegated functions from central government relating to transport and economic policy. Regional development agencies were public bodies established in all nine regions in 1998 to promote economic development. They had certain delegated functions, including administering European Union regional development funds, and received funding from
9164-443: The lively interest which had been manifested at the various boat races which have taken place on the Henley reach during the last few years, and the great influx of visitors on such occasions, this meeting is of the opinion that the establishing of an annual regatta, under judicious and respectable management, would not only be productive of the most beneficial results to the town of Henley, but from its peculiar attractions would also be
9280-567: The majority of the Commission "suggested regional coordinating and advisory councils for England, consisting largely of indirectly elected representatives of local authorities and operating along the lines of the Welsh advisory council". One-fifth of the advisory councils would be nominees from central government. The boundaries suggested were the "eight now [in 1973] existing for economic planning purposes, modified to make boundaries to conform with
9396-530: 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
9512-763: The nine regions had an administrative role in the implementation of UK Government policy, and as the areas covered by (mostly indirectly) elected bodies. Local government in England does not follow a uniform structure. Therefore, each region is divided into a range of further subdivisions . London is divided into London boroughs and the City of London , while the other regions are divided into metropolitan counties , shire counties and unitary authorities . Counties are further divided into districts and some areas are also yet further divided into civil parishes . Regions are also divided into sub-regions, which usually group socio-economically linked local authorities together. However,
9628-431: The progress marker which the crews are passing. Henley Royal Regatta has always been raced over a distance of 'about one mile and 550 yards' from Temple Island upstream towards Henley Bridge. However, four distinct courses have been used over the regatta's history, with smaller changes also being made incrementally. Changes to the course have all been aimed at improving the prospects for fair and safe racing. This ran from
9744-537: The purposes of elections to the European Parliament . Eurostat also used them to demarcate first level Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) regions ("NUTS 1 regions") within the European Union , which in 2021 were superseded by International Territorial Level (ITL) regions ("ITL 1 regions"). The London Region has a directly elected Mayor and Assembly . Six regions have local authority leaders' boards to assist with correlating
9860-541: The purposes of statistical analysis, simply as Regions. International Territorial Level (ITL) is a geocode standard for referencing the subdivisions of the United Kingdom for statistical purposes, used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Between 2003 and 2021, as part of the European Union and European Statistical System , the geocode standard used for the United Kingdom were Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics or NUTS . The NUTS code for
9976-564: The regatta is the Grand Challenge Cup for men's Eights, which has been awarded since the regatta was first staged. As the regatta pre-dates any national or international rowing organisation, it has its own rules and organisation, although it is recognised by both British Rowing (the governing body of rowing in England and Wales) and FISA (the International Federation of Rowing Associations). The regatta
10092-530: 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
10208-689: 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
10324-506: 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
10440-627: The regions they used tended to be different and ad hoc . The stated purpose was as a way of co-ordinating the various regional offices more effectively: they initially involved the Department of Trade and Industry , Department of Employment , Department of Transport and the Department for the Environment . Following the Labour Party 's victory in the 1997 general election , the government created regional development agencies . Around
10556-418: The regulation of road traffic. Nine "standard regions" were set up in 1946, in which central government bodies, statutory undertakings and regional bodies were expected to cooperate. However, these had declined in importance by the late 1950s. Creation of some form of provinces or regions for England was an intermittent theme of post- Second World War British governments. The Redcliffe-Maud Report proposed
10672-545: 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
10788-605: The season, certain enclosures at the regatta have strict dress codes. Entries for the regatta close at 6 pm sixteen days before the Regatta. In order to encourage a high quality of racing, create a manageable race timetable and to ensure that most crews race only once a day, each event has a limited number of places. Qualifying races are held on the Friday before the regatta. The regatta's Committee of Management decides at its absolute discretion which crews are obliged to qualify;
10904-561: The standard regions, Economic Planning Councils and Boards were set up, comprising appointed members from local authorities, business, trade unions and universities, and in the early 1970s, these produced a number of regional and sub-regional planning studies. These institutions continued to operate until they were abolished by the incoming Conservative government in 1979. However, by the mid-1980s local authorities in most regions had jointly established standing conferences to consider regional planning issues. Regional initiatives were bolstered by
11020-496: The start and finish positions of the Old Course had become established, the distance between them was found to be 1 mile 570 yds (2,131 metres). However, boats were aligned by their sterns at the start and judged by their bows at the finish. This meant that the course was slightly longer for shorter boats (such as single sculls) than for longer boats (such as eights). The length of an eight was assumed to be twenty yards and as such
11136-496: The sub-regions have no official status and are little used other than for strategic planning purposes. Henley Royal Regatta 51°32′55″N 0°53′39″W / 51.5487°N 0.8941°W / 51.5487; -0.8941 Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta , its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames , England. It
11252-525: 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
11368-474: The top of the island. This produced 53.2% wins on Bucks and 46.8% on Berks, deemed enough of an improvement on the New Course to justify a permanent change. The consent of the landowners of the Berkshire bank and Temple island (Lord Hambleden and W.D. Mackenzie respectively) was obtained to widen and deepen the Berkshire channel; 10,000 cubic yards (7,600 m ) of material were excavated. The Straight Course
11484-425: The upstream end of Phyllis Court, very close to the current finish line. There were two slight bends (at Remenham and just after Fawley) and a staggered start to compensate for them. The course was also piled for the first time, although not boomed. Unfortunately, it became apparent that in trying to eliminate the unfairness of the Old Course, a new problem had been introduced. Downstream of Fawley, bushes grew alongside
11600-602: 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
11716-487: 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
11832-583: 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,
11948-402: Was 135 feet in 1887, in 120 feet in 1888 and then progressively until by 1914 it was down to 100 feet at the start tapering to 80 feet at the finish. In 1899, floating booms secured between the pilings which mark the course were also introduced along part of its length in an attempt to keep spectators from obstructing races. In around 1920, the Stewards carried out a survey canvassing the idea of
12064-589: Was a further controversy when the Australian national eight, preparing for the Berlin Olympics, was excluded from the Grand Challenge Cup because the crew was composed of policemen, deemed to be 'manual workers'. The resulting embarrassment persuaded the Amateur Rowing Association and the Stewards of Henley Royal Regatta of the need for change. On 9 June 1937, the offending references to manual labourers, mechanics, artisans and menial duties were deleted from
12180-553: 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
12296-609: Was at that time within the United Kingdom , this was not a foreign entry. TCD won the Visitors' and reached the final of the Ladies'. The first international competitors came in 1878 when G.W. Lee of New Jersey and G. Lee of Boston entered the Diamonds, Shoe-wae-cae-mette BC of Monroe, Michigan , a crew of French Canadian watermen, entered the Stewards' and Columbia College entered the Stewards' and Visitors'. Lee of Boston made little progress but Lee of New Jersey lost his heat in
12412-722: 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
12528-487: Was established by separate legislation as part of the Greater London Authority . In 2011, Greater London remains administered by the Greater London Authority, which consists of an elected London Assembly and a separately elected Mayor of London . Following the abolition of the Government Offices in 2011, it was announced that the former Government Office Regions (GOR) would henceforth be known, for
12644-595: Was established on 26 March 1839. It differs from the three other regattas rowed over approximately the same course, Henley Women's Regatta , Henley Masters Regatta, and Henley Town and Visitors' Regatta, each of which is an entirely separate event. The regatta lasts for six days (Tuesday to Sunday) ending on the first weekend in July. Races are head-to-head knock out competitions, raced over a course of 1 mile 550 yards (2,112 m). The regatta regularly attracts international crews to race. The most prestigious event at
12760-656: 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
12876-747: 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,
12992-486: Was not popular with spectators as it made previous viewing points obsolete. The sub-committee also recommending reducing the racing lanes from three to two and extending racing from two days to three. The Committee gained support from the Captains of competing Clubs and the changes were introduced for the 1886 Regatta. The New Course started just downstream of Temple Island, on the Buckinghamshire side and finished opposite
13108-467: Was now ready for use. The Straight Course runs from the upstream end of Temple Island to a point opposite the upstream end of the Phyllis Court. It is 80 feet (24 m) wide. The Straight Course has generally addressed the problems of unfairness: for example, between 1975 and 1984, 50.52% of races were won on Bucks and 49.31% on Berks (with the remainder dead heats). However, when a strong stream
13224-414: Was put on the same basis as for home oarsmen, thus ending the concession on racing for money prizes. By 1886 a phrase had also been added debarring any person "engaged in any menial activity". These rules would become the cause of growing controversy as international entries to Henley increased; most foreign countries having a different definition of amateur. The adoption of Henley's definition of amateur by
13340-589: 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
13456-497: 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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