Ralph Bennett (historian)
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Ralph Bennett (historian)
Ralph Featherstone Bennett FIMechE, FCILT, FRSA (3 December 1923 – 10 November 2015) was a British transport administrator who was general manager of Manchester City Transport from 1965 to 1968 and chairman of the London Transport Executive from 1978 to 1980. Bennett introduced one-man operation to buses in Manchester and London and promoted London Underground's extension of the Piccadilly line to Heathrow Airport and the construction of the Jubilee line. Career Bennett was born in Plymouth, Devon on 3 December 1923. After an education at Plympton Grammar School and Plymouth Technical College, he joined Plymouth City Council's Transport Department as an articled clerk in 1940. From 1955 to 1958 he was deputy general manager of transport in Plymouth before becoming general manager of transport in Great Yarmouth (1958–60), Bolton (1960–65) and Manchester (1965–68). When at Manchester, he changed the name of the Manchester Corporation Transport Department to Manchester ...
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Plymouth
Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and southwest of London. It is the most populous city in Devon. Plymouth's history extends back to the Bronze Age, evolving from a trading post at Mount Batten into the thriving market town of Sutton, which was formally re-named as Plymouth in 1439 when it was made a borough status in the United Kingdom, borough. The settlement has played a significant role in English history, notably in 1588 when an English fleet based here defeated the Spanish Armada, and in 1620 as the departure point for the Pilgrim Fathers to the New World. During the English Civil War, the town was held by the Roundhead, Parliamentarians and was besieged between 1642 and 1646. In 1690 a dockyard was established on the River Tamar for the Royal Navy and Plymouth grew as ...
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Bolton
Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and villages that form the wider Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, borough, of which Bolton is the administrative centre. The town is within the Historic counties of England, historic county boundaries of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a centre for textile production since the 14th century when Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area, introducing a wool and cotton-weaving tradition. It was a 19th-century boomtown, development largely coincided with the introduction of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution. At its peak in 1929, its 216 cotton mills and 26 bleaching and dyeing works made it one of the largest and most productive centres of Spinning (textiles), cotton spinning in the world. The Brit ...
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Businesspeople From Plymouth, Devon
A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) to generate cash flow, sales, and revenue by using a combination of human, financial, intellectual, and physical capital to fuel economic development and growth. History Medieval period: Rise of the merchant class Merchants emerged as a social class in medieval Italy. Between 1300 and 1500, modern accounting, the bill of exchange, and limited liability were invented, and thus, the world saw "the first true bankers", who were certainly businesspeople. Around the same time, Europe saw the " emergence of rich merchants." This "rise of the merchant class" came as Europe "needed a middleman" for the first time, and these "burghers" or "bourgeois" were the people who played this role. Renaissance to Enlightenment: Rise of t ...
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2015 Deaths
This is a list of lists of deaths of notable people, organized by year. New deaths articles are added to their respective month (e.g., Deaths in ) and then linked below. 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 Earlier years ''Deaths in years earlier than this can usually be found in the main articles of the years.'' See also * Lists of deaths by day * Deaths by year (category) {{DEFAULTSORT:deaths by year ...
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1923 Births
In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ''(Gregorian Calendar).'' Events January–February * January 9, January 5 – Lithuania begins the Klaipėda Revolt to annex the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory). * January 11 – Despite strong British protests, troops from France and Belgium Occupation of the Ruhr, occupy the Ruhr area, to force Germany to make reparation payments. * January 17 (or 9) – First flight of the first rotorcraft, Juan de la Cierva's Cierva C.4 autogyro, in Spain. (It is first demonstrated to the military on January 31.) * February 5 – Australian cricketer Bill Ponsford makes 429 runs to break the world record for the highest first-class cricket score for the first time in his third match at this level, at Melbourne Cricket Ground, giving the Victor ...
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Peter Masefield
Sir Peter Masefield (19 March 1914 – 14 February 2006) was a leading figure in Britain's post war aviation industry, as Chief Executive of British European Airways in the 1950s, and chairman of the British Airports Authority in the 1960s. Life Peter Gordon Masefield was born in 1914 in Trentham, Staffordshire. Initially educated at Westminster School and Chillon College in Montreux, Switzerland, Masefield studied engineering at Jesus College, Cambridge. Following a childhood fascination with aircraft, Masefield gained his pilot's licence while in Cambridge which he maintained for the rest of his career. Masefield initially worked as a junior draughtsman at Fairey Aviation from 1935 to 1937, before moving into journalism on the staff of ''The Aeroplane'' 1937–1943. He became aviation correspondent for ''The Sunday Times'', and at the start of the Second World War was sent to France to cover the RAF Advanced Air Striking Force. Turned down by the Royal Air Force as a pilot due ...
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Kenneth Robinson (British Politician)
Sir Kenneth Robinson (19 March 1911 – 16 February 1996) was a Labour Party (UK), British Labour politician who served as Secretary of State for Health, Minister of Health in Harold Wilson, Harold Wilson's first government, from 1964 to 1968, when the position was merged into the new title of Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Secretary of State for Social Services. Early life The son of Dr Clarence Robinson and a nurse, Ethel Marion Linell, Kenneth Robinson was born on 19 March 1911 in Warrington, northwest England. He was educated at Malsis School in North Yorkshire, before attending Oundle School up to the point of his father dying when he was just 15 years old. After his mother pulled him from the school because of costs, he later worked as a writer, insurance broker and company secretary. He joined the Royal Navy during World War II as an ordinary seaman, was commissioned in 1942 and promoted to Lieutenant commander (Royal Navy), lieutenant-commander in 1944. He ser ...
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Greater London Council
The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985 and its powers were devolved to the London boroughs and other entities. A new administrative body, known as the Greater London Authority (GLA), was established in 2000. Background In 1957 a Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London had been set up under Edwin Herbert, Baron Tangley, Sir Edwin Herbert to consider the local government arrangements in the London area. It reported in 1960, recommending the creation of 52 new London boroughs as the basis for local government. It further recommended that the LCC be replaced by a weaker strategic authority, with responsibility for public transport, road schemes, housing development and regeneration. The Greater London Group, a research centre of ac ...
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AEC Routemaster
The AEC Routemaster is a Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport Executive, London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The first prototype was completed in September 1954 and the last one was delivered in 1968. The layout of the vehicle was conventional for the time, with a half-cab, front-mounted engine and open rear platform, although the coach version was fitted with rear platform doors. Forward entrance vehicles with platform doors were also produced as was a unique front-entrance prototype with the engine mounted transversely at the rear. The first Routemasters entered service with London Transport in February 1956 and the last were withdrawn from regular service in December 2005, although two TfL heritage routes were subsequently operated by Routemasters in central London until 2019. Most Routemasters were built for London Transport (brand), London Tra ...
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London Transport Board
The London Transport Board was the organisation responsible for public transport (except main-line trains) in London, England, and its environs from 1963 to 1969. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of the organisation was London Transport. History The London Transport Board (LTB) was established on 1 January 1963 pursuant to the Transport Act 1962 and replaced the London Transport Executive (LTE) upon the dissolution of the British Transport Commission. It was an independent statutory undertaking reporting directly to the Minister of Transport, whose responsibilities were similar to those of the LTE, but with the addition of some railway lines previously the responsibility of British Railways. The first Chairman was Alexander Valentine, who had been the Chairman of the LTE. The LTB was responsible for the London Underground and for bus and coach services within the London Passenger Transport Area, an a ...
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Mancunian Double-decker Bus
The Mancunian double-decker bus is a type of bodywork for double-decker bus designed by Manchester Corporation Transport Department (MCT) and built on Leyland Atlantean and Daimler Fleetline chassis. A total of 472 Mancunians were ordered by the department between 1965 and 1968 and delivered from 1968 until 1972 with bodywork by Park Royal, East Lancs, Metro Cammell Metro-Cammell, formally the Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company (MCCW), was an English manufacturer of railway carriages, locomotives and railway wagons, based in Saltley, and subsequently Washwood Heath, in Birmingham. The com ... and Charles H Roe. The first 96 buses ordered (48 each from Leyland and Daimler) used a chassis, but the majority were long. A further 20 were built for Salford City Transport (SCT) but were delivered new to SELNEC PTE.
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Trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trolleyDunbar, Charles S. (1967). ''Buses, Trolleys & Trams''. Paul Hamlyn Ltd. (UK). Republished 2004 with or 9780753709702.) is an electric bus that draws power from dual overhead wires (generally suspended from roadside posts) using spring-loaded or pneumatically raised trolley poles. Overhead line#Parallel overhead lines, Two wires, and two trolley poles, are required to complete the electrical circuit. This differs from a tram or streetcar, which normally uses the track as the return path, needing only one wire and one pole (or pantograph (transport), pantograph). They are also distinct from other kinds of Battery electric bus, electric buses, which usually rely on Automotive battery, batteries. Power is most commonly supplied as 600-volt ...
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