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Consol (bond)
Consols (originally short for consolidated annuities, but subsequently taken to mean consolidated stock) were government debt issues in the form of perpetual bonds, redeemable at the option of the government. The first British consols were issued by the Bank of England in 1751. They have now been fully redeemed. The United States government issued consols from 1877 to 1930, which have likewise been redeemed. History of British consols In 1752 the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister Sir Henry Pelham converted all outstanding issues of redeemable government stock into one bond, Consolidated 3.5% Annuities, in order to reduce the coupon (interest rate) paid on the government debt. In 1757, the annual interest rate on the stock was reduced to 3%, leaving the stock as consolidated 3% annuities. The coupon rate remained at 3% until 1888. In 1888, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Joachim Goschen, converted the consolidated 3% annuities, along with reduced 3% annuit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Government Bond
A government bond or sovereign bond is a form of Bond (finance), bond issued by a government to support government spending, public spending. It generally includes a commitment to pay periodic interest, called Coupon (finance), coupon payments'','' and to repay the face value on the Maturity (finance), maturity date. For example, a bondholder invests $20,000, called face value or principal, into a 10-year government bond with a 10% annual coupon; the government would pay the bondholder 10% interest ($2000 in this case) each year and repay the $20,000 original face value at the date of maturity (i.e. after 10 years). Government bonds can be denominated in a foreign currency or the government's domestic currency. Countries with less stable economies tend to denominate their bonds in the currency of a country with a more stable economy (i.e. a hard currency). All government bonds carry Default (finance), default risk; that is, the possibility that the government will be unable to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pride And Prejudice (novel)
''Pride and Prejudice'' is the second published novel (but third to be written) by English author Jane Austen, written when she was age 20-21, and later published in 1813. A novel of manners, it follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of the book, who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreciate the difference between superficial goodness and actual goodness. Her father Mr Bennet, owner of the Longbourn estate in Hertfordshire, has five daughters, but his property is entailed and can only be passed to a male heir. His wife lacks an inheritance, so his family faces becoming poor upon his death. Thus, it is imperative that at least one of the daughters marry well to support the others, which is a primary motivation driving the plot. ''Pride and Prejudice'' has consistently appeared near the top of lists of "most-loved books" among literary scholars and the reading public. It has become one of the most popular nov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Forsyte Saga
''The Forsyte Saga'', first published under that title in 1922, is a series of three novels and two interludes published between 1906 and 1921 by the English author John Galsworthy, who won the 1932 Nobel Prize in Literature. They chronicle the vicissitudes of the leading members of a large upper-middle-class English family that is similar to Galsworthy's. Only a few generations removed from their farmer ancestors, its members are keenly aware of their status as " new money". The main character, the solicitor and connoisseur Soames Forsyte, sees himself as a "man of property" by virtue of his ability to accumulate material possessions, but that does not succeed in bringing him pleasure. Separate sections of the saga, as well as the lengthy story in its entirety, have been adapted for cinema and television. ''The Man of Property'', the first book, was adapted in 1949 by Hollywood as '' That Forsyte Woman'', starring Errol Flynn, Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, and Robert Young. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German university. He became a medical student in London and qualified as a physician in 1897. He never practised medicine, and became a full-time writer. His first novel, ''Liza of Lambeth'' (1897), a study of life in the slums, attracted attention, but it was as a playwright that he first achieved national celebrity. By 1908 he had four plays running at once in the West End theatre, West End of London. He wrote his 32nd and last play in 1933, after which he abandoned the theatre and concentrated on novels and short stories. Maugham's novels after ''Liza of Lambeth'' include ''Of Human Bondage'' (1915), ''The Moon and Sixpence'' (1919), ''The Painted Veil (novel), The Painted Veil'' (1925), ''Cakes and Ale'' (1930) and ''The Razor's Edge'' (1944). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Of Human Bondage
''Of Human Bondage'' is a 1915 novel by W. Somerset Maugham. The novel is generally agreed to be Maugham's masterpiece and to be strongly autobiographical in nature, although he stated, "This is a novel, not an autobiography; though much in it is autobiographical, more is pure invention." Maugham, who had originally planned to call his novel ''Beauty from Ashes'', finally settled on a title taken from a section of Spinoza's ''Ethics''. The Modern Library ranked ''Of Human Bondage'' No. 66 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Plot The book begins with the death of Helen Carey, the beloved mother of nine-year-old Philip Carey. Philip has a club foot and his father had died a few months earlier. Now orphaned, he is sent to live with his aunt and uncle, Louisa and William Carey in Blackstable, a town in Kent. Philip lives at his uncle's vicarage. Aunt Louisa tries to be a mother to Philip, but his uncle is cold toward him. Philip's uncle has a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
P G Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeves; the immaculate and loquacious Psmith; Lord Emsworth and the Blandings Castle set; the Oldest Member, with stories about golf; and Mr. Mulliner, with tall tales on subjects ranging from bibulous bishops to megalomaniac movie moguls. Born in Guildford, the third son of a British magistrate based in Hong Kong, Wodehouse spent happy teenage years at Dulwich College, to which he remained devoted all his life. After leaving school he was employed by a bank but disliked the work and turned to writing in his spare time. His early novels were mostly school stories, but he later switched to comic fiction. Most of Wodehouse's fiction is set in his native United Kingdom, although he spent much of his life in the US and used New York and Hol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tuppenny Millionaire
''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'') ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray ( ; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was an English novelist and illustrator. He is known for his Satire, satirical works, particularly his 1847–1848 novel ''Vanity Fair (novel), Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and the 1844 novel ''The Luck of Barry Lyndon'', which was Barry Lyndon, adapted for a 1975 film by Stanley Kubrick. Thackeray was born in Calcutta, British India, and was sent to England after his father's death in 1815. He studied at various schools and briefly attended Trinity College, Cambridge, before leaving to travel Europe. Thackeray squandered much of his inheritance on gambling and unsuccessful newspapers. He turned to journalism to support his family, primarily working for ''Fraser's Magazine'', ''The Times'', and ''Punch (magazine), Punch''. His wife Isabella suffered from mental illness. Thackeray gained fame with his novel ''Vanity Fair'' and produced several other notable works. He unsuccessfully ran f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vanity Fair (novel)
''Vanity Fair'' is a novel by the English author William Makepeace Thackeray, which follows the lives of Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley amid their friends and families during and after the Napoleonic Wars. It was first published as a 19-volume monthly serial novel, serial (the last containing Parts 19 ''and'' 20) from 1847 to 1848, carrying the subtitle ''Pen and Pencil Sketches of English Society'', which reflects both its satire, satirisation of early 19th-century British society and the many illustrations drawn by Thackeray to accompany the text. It was published as a single volume in 1848 with the subtitle ''A Novel without a Hero'', reflecting Thackeray's interest in Deconstruction (literature), deconstructing his era's conventions regarding Hero#Modern fiction, literary heroism.. It is sometimes considered the "principal founder" of the Victorian domestic novel. The story is frame story, framed as a puppet play, and the narrator, despite being an authorial voice, is somewha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Howards End
''Howards End'' is a novel by E. M. Forster, first published in 1910, about social conventions, codes of conduct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. ''Howards End'' is considered by many to be Forster's masterpiece. The book was conceived in June 1908 and worked on throughout the following year; it was completed in July 1910. Premise The story revolves around three families in England at the beginning of the 20th century: the Wilcoxes, rich capitalists with a fortune made in the colonies; the half-German Schlegel siblings (Margaret, Helen, and Tibby), whose cultural pursuits have much in common with the Bloomsbury Group; and the Basts, an impoverished young couple from a lower-class background. The idealistic, intelligent Schlegel sisters seek to help the struggling Basts and to rid the Wilcoxes of some of their deep-seated social and economic prejudices. Plot summary The Schlegels, a family of intellectual and idealistic sisters, once befriended the Wilcoxe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Warren Adams
Charles Warren Adams (1833–1903) was an English lawyer, publisher and anti-vivisectionist, now known from documentary evidence to have been the author of ''The Notting Hill Mystery''. This is often taken to be the first full-length detective novel in English. Novels As a lawyer Adams became involved in bailing out the once famous London publishing firm of Saunders, Otley & Co. after the two proprietors had died. The effort was unsuccessful and liquidation ensued in 1869, but in the meantime the firm had published at least two works of Adams's own, written under the pseudonym Charles Felix. One was a crime novel entitled ''Velvet Lawn'' (1864), and the other ''The Notting Hill Mystery'' (1865 in book form), which is thought to have been the first detective story of novel length. ''The Notting Hill Mystery'' had already appeared as a serial in '' Once A Week'' in 1862–1863, illustrated by George du Maurier (1834–1896), author of ''Trilby''. Mike Ashly: "Introduction. Seeking ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Notting Hill Mystery
''The Notting Hill Mystery'' is an English-language detective novel written and serialised under the pseudonym Charles Felix from 1862 to 1863 and published in book form in 1865, with illustrations by George du Maurier. The author's identity was never revealed, but several critics have suggested posthumously Charles Warren Adams (1833–1903), a lawyer known to have written other novels under pseudonyms. It is seen as one of the first detective novels in the English language, if not the first. History ''The Notting Hill Mystery'' first appeared as an eight-part serial in '' Once A Week'' magazine beginning on 29 November 1862, then as a single-volume novel in 1865 published by Saunders, Otley, and Company, with illustrations by George du Maurier (grandfather of Daphne du Maurier). The magazine editors stated that the manuscript was submitted to them under the pseudonym "Charles Felix". In 1952, William Buckler identified Charles Warren Adams (1833–1903) as the author of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
