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Harold Acton
Sir Harold Mario Mitchell Acton (5 July 1904 – 27 February 1994) was a British writer, scholar, and aesthete who was a prominent member of the Bright Young Things. He wrote fiction, biography, history and autobiography. During his stay in China, he studied the Chinese language, traditional drama, and poetry, some of which he translated. He was born near Florence, Italy, to a prominent Anglo-Italian family. At Eton College, he was a founding member of the Eton Arts Society before going up to Oxford to read Modern Greats at Christ Church. He co-founded the avant garde magazine ''The Oxford Broom'' and mixed with many intellectual and literary figures of the age, including Evelyn Waugh, who based the character of Anthony Blanche in '' Brideshead Revisited'' partly on him. Between the wars, Acton lived in Paris, London, and Florence, proving most successful as an historian, his '' magnum opus'' being a 3-volume study of the Medicis and the Bourbons. After serving as an RAF ...
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Order Of The British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V and comprises five classes across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom#Modern honours, knight if male or dame (title), dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order. Recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire were originally made on the nomination of the United Kingdom, the self-governing Dominions of the Empire (later Commonwealth) and the Viceroy of India. Nominations continue today from Commonwealth countries that participate in recommending British honours. Most Commonwealth countries ceas ...
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Brideshead Revisited
''Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'' is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles Ryder, most especially his friendship with the Flytes, a family of wealthy English Catholics who live in a palatial mansion called Brideshead Castle. Ryder has relationships with two of the Flytes: Sebastian and Julia. The novel explores themes including nostalgia for the age of English aristocracy and Catholicism. A faithful and well-received television adaptation of the novel was produced in an 11-part miniseries by Granada Television in 1981. Plot The novel is divided into three parts, framed by a prologue and epilogue. ''Prologue'' The prologue takes place during the final years of the Second World War. Charles Ryder and his battalion are sent to a country estate called Brideshead, which prompts his recollections of the rest of th ...
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Art Institute Of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 million people annually. Its collection, stewarded by 11 curatorial departments, is encyclopedic, and includes iconic works such as Georges Seurat's ''A Sunday on La Grande Jatte'', Pablo Picasso's '' The Old Guitarist'', Edward Hopper's '' Nighthawks'', and Grant Wood's '' American Gothic''. Its permanent collection of nearly 300,000 works of art is augmented by more than 30 special exhibitions mounted yearly that illuminate aspects of the collection and present cutting-edge curatorial and scientific research. As a research institution, the Art Institute also has a conservation and conservation science department, five conservation laboratories, and one of the largest art history and architecture libraries in the country—the Ryerson an ...
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John J
John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Epistle of John, often shortened to 2 John * Third Epistle of John, often shortened to 3 John People * John the Baptist (died c. AD 30), regarded as a prophet and the forerunner of Jesus Christ * John the Apostle (lived c. AD 30), one of the twelve apostles of Jesus * John the Evangelist, assigned author of the Fourth Gospel, once identified with the Apostle * John of Patmos, also known as John the Divine or John the Revelator, the author of the Book of Revelation, once identified with the Apostle * John the Presbyter, a figure either identified with or distinguished from the Apostle, the Evangelist and John of Patmos Other people with the given name Religious figures * John, father of Andrew the Apostle and Saint Peter * Pope John ...
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Arthur Acton
Arthur Mario Acton (1873–1953) was a British architect, art dealer and collector. Early life Arthur Acton was the illegitimate son of Eugene Arthur Roger Acton (1836–1895), counsellor to the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce. Personal life Acton married the wealthy Chicago heiress Hortense Lenore Mitchell (1871–1962), whose father, was William Hamilton Mitchell (1817-1910), her inheritance came through John J. Mitchell (1853–1927), who was president of the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank from 1880 to 1923, then president of its successor, the Illinois Merchants Trust Company, from 1923 until his death. They lived at the Villa La Pietra, Florence. Their elder son was the writer, scholar, and aesthete Sir Harold Mario Mitchell Acton (1904–1994). Their younger son, William Hamilton Mitchell Acton (1906–1945), was an artist. Acton also fathered a daughter, Liana Beacci (1917–2000), with his secretary Ersilia Beacci (died 1953). Liana's daughter is ...
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Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to the north, Staffordshire to the east, Worcestershire to the southeast, and Herefordshire to the south. A unitary authority of the same name was created in 2009, taking over from the previous county council and five district councils, now governed by Shropshire Council. The borough of Telford and Wrekin has been a separate unitary authority since 1998, but remains part of the ceremonial county. The county's population and economy is centred on five towns: the county town of Shrewsbury, which is culturally and historically important and close to the centre of the county; Telford, which was founded as a new town in the east which was constructed around a number of older towns, most notably Wellington, Dawley and Madeley, which is ...
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Ferdinand I Of The Two Sicilies
Ferdinand I (12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was the King of the Two Sicilies from 1816, after his restoration following victory in the Napoleonic Wars. Before that he had been, since 1759, Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinand III of the Kingdom of Sicily. He was also King of Gozo. He was deposed twice from the throne of Naples: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799 and again by Napoleon in 1805, before being restored in 1816. Ferdinand was the third son of King Charles VII of Naples and V of Sicily by his wife, Maria Amalia of Saxony. On 10 August 1759, Charles succeeded his elder brother, Ferdinand VI, becoming King Charles III of Spain, but treaty provisions made him ineligible to hold all three crowns. On 6 October, he abdicated his Neapolitan and Sicilian titles in favour of his third son, because his eldest son Philip had been excluded from succession due to imbecility and his second son Charles was heir-apparent to th ...
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Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's administrative limits as of 2022. Metropolitan City of Naples, Its province-level municipality is the third-most populous Metropolitan cities of Italy, metropolitan city in Italy with a population of 3,115,320 residents, and Naples metropolitan area, its metropolitan area stretches beyond the boundaries of the city wall for approximately 20 miles. Founded by Greeks in the 1st millennium BC, first millennium BC, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited urban areas in the world. In the eighth century BC, a colony known as Parthenope ( grc, Παρθενόπη) was established on the Pizzofalcone hill. In the sixth century BC, it was refounded as Neápolis. The city was an important part of Magna Graecia, played a major role in the merging ...
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Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet
Sir John Francis Edward Acton, 6th Baronet (3 June 1736 12 August 1811) was a French-born English gentleman who served as Commander of the naval forces of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and later as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Naples under Ferdinand IV. He served at Naples during the turbulent times when French Revolutionary fervour under Napoleon was sweeping across Europe and threatening to extinguish the monarchy he served. Origins John was born on 3 June 1736 at Besançon in France, the son of Edward Acton, an English-born physician who had settled in that town, the great-grandson of Sir Walter Acton, 2nd Baronet (1623–1665) of Aldenham Park, Morville, in Shropshire, England. In 1791, aged 55, John succeeded his second cousin once removed as 6th Baronet. Career Service in Tuscany He served under his uncle in the navy of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. In 1773, while serving as Captain of the Tuscan frigate ''Austria'', he destroyed several vessels in the Gulf of Tunis. Wh ...
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Baron Acton
Baron Acton, of Aldenham in the County of Shropshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 11 December 1869 for Sir John Dalberg-Acton, 8th Baronet, a prominent historian and Liberal Member of Parliament. His son, the second Baron, was a diplomat and also held minor office in the Liberal administrations of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith. In 1919, he assumed by Royal licence the additional surname of Lyon, which was that of his father-in-law. His son, the third Baron, sold the family home in 1947 and settled in Rhodesia. The fourth Baron, who succeeded his father in 1989, lost his seat in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999. However, on 17 April 2000, he was created a life peer as Baron Acton of Bridgnorth, of Aldenham in the County of Shropshire. Consequently, Lord Acton was able to return to the House of Lords, where he sat on the Labour benches. As of 2014, the titles are held by his son, the fift ...
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Acton Baronets
There have been two baronetcies created for persons with the surname Acton, both in the Baronetage of England. One creation is extant. The Acton Baronetcy, of the City of London, was created in the Baronetage of England on 30 May 1629 for Sir William Acton, a merchant and King Charles I's choice of candidate for the position of Lord Mayor of London in 1640 (he was rejected in the Court of Common Hall election, which was unprecedented). He had no sons and the title became extinct on his death in 1651. His only daughter, Elizabeth, married Sir Thomas Whitmore, 1st Baronet. The Acton Baronetcy, of Aldenham in the County of Shropshire, was created in the Baronetage of England on 17 January 1644 for Edward Acton, MP for Bridgnorth (first cousin once removed of Sir William Acton). For more information on this creation, see the Baron Acton. Acton baronets, of the City of London (1629) * Sir William Acton, 1st Baronet (before 1593–1651) Acton baronets, of Aldenham (1644) *see the B ...
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Villa La Pietra 01
A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity, sometimes transferred to the Church for reuse as a monastery. Then they gradually re-evolved through the Middle Ages into elegant upper-class country homes. In the Early Modern period, any comfortable detached house with a garden near a city or town was likely to be described as a villa; most survivals have now been engulfed by suburbia. In modern parlance, "villa" can refer to various types and sizes of residences, ranging from the suburban semi-detached double villa to, in some countries, especially around the Mediterranean, residences of above average size in the countryside. Roman Roman villas included: * the ''villa urbana'', a suburban or country seat ...
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