The Air Balloon, Birdlip
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The Air Balloon, Birdlip
The Air Balloon is a road junction and former pub in Birdlip, Gloucestershire, England. The junction is on the A417 at a significant congestion point. The pub was open from the late 18th century to 2022, when it closed as part of road improvements, and was subsequently demolished. Location The pub stood next to a roundabout junction on the A417, a major road between Swindon and Gloucester via Cirencester. The A436 meets the A417 at this point; the two roads together form a de facto bypass of Cheltenham between Oxford and Gloucester. History The pub opened in 1784 and was probably named after one of the first British balloon flights: the launching of a small hydrogen balloon by Edward Jenner on 2 September of that year, which flew from Berkeley Castle to Kingscote and then on to a field near Birdlip. This was the year after the pioneering flights of the Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon and Jacques Charles's hydrogen balloon in Paris. It was known as the Balloon by 1796 a ...
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The Air Balloon - Geograph
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pronoun ''thee'') ...
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M4 Motorway (Great Britain)
The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is the third longest motorway in the United Kingdom, running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely complete by 1980, though a non-motorway section around Briton Ferry bridge remained until 1993. On the opening of the Second Severn Crossing in 1996, the M4 was rerouted over it. The line of the motorway from London to Bristol runs closely in parallel with the A4. After crossing the River Severn, toll-free since 17 December 2018, the motorway follows the A48, to terminate at the Pont Abraham services in Carmarthenshire. The M4 is the only motorway in Wales apart from its two spurs: the A48(M) and the M48. The major towns and cities along the routea distance of approximately include Slough, Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff, Bridgend, Port Talbot and Swansea. History A new road from London to South Wale ...
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Road Junctions In England
A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. The words "road" and "street" are commonly considered to be interchangeable, but the distinction is important in urban design. There are many types of roads, including parkways, avenues, controlled-access highways (freeways, motorways, and expressways), tollways, interstates, highways, and local roads. The primary features of roads include lanes, sidewalks (pavement), roadways (carriageways), medians, shoulders, verges, bike paths (cycle paths), and shared-use paths. Definitions Historically, many roads were simply recognizable routes without any formal construction or some maintenance. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines a road as "a line of communication (travelled way) using a stabili ...
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Roundabouts In England
A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection (road), intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary,'' Volume 2, Clarendon Press, Oxford (1993), page 2632 In the United States, engineers use the term modern roundabout to refer to junctions installed after 1960 that incorporate design rules to increase safety. Compared to stop signs, traffic signals, and earlier forms of roundabouts, modern roundabouts reduce the likelihood and severity of collisions greatly by Traffic calming#Engineering measures, reducing traffic speeds through horizontal deflection and minimising Side collision#Broadside or T-bone collision, T-bone and head-on collisions. Variations on the basic concept include integration with tram or train lines, two-way flow, higher speeds and many others. For ped ...
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Former Pubs In Gloucestershire
A former is an object, such as a template, gauge or cutting die, which is used to form something such as a boat's hull. Typically, a former gives shape to a structure that may have complex curvature. A former may become an integral part of the finished structure, as in an aircraft fuselage, or it may be removable, being used in the construction process and then discarded or re-used. Aircraft formers Formers are used in the construction of aircraft fuselage, of which a typical fuselage has a series from the nose cone to the empennage, typically perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft. The primary purpose of formers is to establish the shape of the fuselage and reduce the column length of stringers to prevent instability. Formers are typically attached to longerons, which support the skin of the aircraft. The "former-and-longeron" technique (also called stations and stringers) was adopted from boat construction, and was typical of light aircraft built until the ...
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Seven Springs, Gloucestershire
Seven Springs is a hamlet in the heavily wooded parish of Coberley in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire in England, south of Cheltenham. Including the intersection of the A435 and A436 roads, it has the sources of the River Churn, which flows south across almost a full cross-section of the Cotswolds, through Cirencester, and joins the Thames near Cricklade. Source of the Thames Seven Springs features in the long-running discussion over the true source of the River Thames.Two plaques at the site read "Hic tuus o Tamesine Pater septemgeminus fons" (Latin for "Here, O Father Thames, is your sevenfold spring"). Seven Springs is further from the mouth of the Thames than the medieval preferred source at Thames Head near Kemble. In 2012 Coberley Parish Council posted a notice, on site, that "Seven Springs is certainly one of the sources of the River Thames and is held by many to be the ultimate source." The notice adds that the site is the source of the River Churn, which ...
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A436 Road
List of A roads in zone 4 in Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ... starting north of the A4 and south/west of the A5 (roads beginning with 4). __TOC__ Single- and double-digit roads Triple-digit roads Only roads that have individual articles have been linked in the "Road" column below. Four-digit roads (40xx) Four-digit roads (41xx) Four-digit roads (42xx and higher) References {{UK road lists 4 4 ...
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Vandalism
Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The term finds its roots in an Enlightenment view that the Germanic Vandals were a uniquely destructive people, as they sacked Rome in 455 AD. Etymology The Vandals, an ancient Germanic people, are associated with senseless destruction as a result of their sack of Rome under King Genseric in 455. During the Enlightenment, Rome was idealized, while the Goths and Vandals were blamed for its destruction. The Vandals may not have been any more destructive than other invaders of ancient times, but they did inspire English poet John Dryden to write, ''Till Goths, and Vandals, a rude Northern race, Did all the matchless Monuments deface'' (1694). However, the Vandals did intentionally damage statues, which may be why their name is associated with ...
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John Challis
John Spurley Challis (16 August 1942 – 17 September 2021) was an English actor. He had an extensive theatre and television career but is best known for portraying Boycie, Terrance Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in the long-running BBC Television sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses'' (1981–2003) and its sequel/spin-off ''The Green Green Grass'' (2005–2009), as well as Monty Staines from the seventh series onwards in the ITV sitcom ''Benidorm (British TV series), Benidorm'' (2015–2018). Challis was an established stage actor, making appearances for companies including the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre, National Theatre. Early life John Spurley Challis was born on 16 August 1942 at St Andrews Nursing HomeBath Weekly Chronicle and Herald 22 August 1942, Sat · Page 11 Clifton, Bristol, Clifton, Bristol, England. An only child, his family moved to southeast London when he was a year old. He grew up in Epsom, after the family moved to Tadworth in Surrey. Challis ...
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New Year's Eve
In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinking, and watching or lighting fireworks. Many Christians attend a watchnight service to mark the occasion. New Year's Eve celebrations generally continue into New Year's Day, January 1, 1 January, past midnight. The local time zone determines the advent of the New Year; the first places to welcome the New Year are west of the International Date Line: the Line Islands (part of Kiribati), Samoa and Tonga, in the Pacific Ocean. In contrast, American Samoa, Baker Island and Howland Island (part of the United States Minor Outlying Islands) are among the last. By region Africa Algeria In Algeria, New Year's Eve is usually celebrated with family and friends. In the largest cities, there are fireworks at midnight. The Martyrs' Memorial, Algiers, Ma ...
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Site Of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man. SSSI/ASSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in the United Kingdom are based upon them, including national nature reserve (United Kingdom), national nature reserves, Ramsar Convention, Ramsar sites, Special Protection Areas, and Special Area of Conservation, Special Areas of Conservation. The acronym "SSSI" is often pronounced "triple-S I". Selection and conservation Sites notified for their Biology, biological interest are known as Biological SSSIs (or ASSIs), and those notified for geological or Physical geography, physiographic interest are Geological SSSIs (or ASSIs). Sites may be divided into management units, with some a ...
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