The Imran Series (Urdu عمران سیریز) is an Urdu spy fiction novel series created by Pakistani writer Ibn-e-Safi. Ali Imran is the pivotal character, a comical secret agent who controls the secret service as X-2 but appears to work as a normal member of the secret service. Except for a handful of people, no one knows his status as the chief of the service.

The first book of the Imran series, Khaufnaak Imarat (The House of Fear) or (The Terrifying Building), (recently translated and published as The House of Fear by Random House, India) was published in October 1955. In early books Imran appears as a solo detective, but in the ninth book, Dhuaen ki Tehreer (The Scribbling in Smoke), he is portrayed as the chief of Secret Service as X-2.

Humour, mystery, suspense, psychology is the essence of Ibn-e-Safi books. Ibn-e-Safi wrote 120 books of Imran Series and 125 books of Jasoosi Dunya "Detective World" 'Fareedi Hameed Series'. Before creating the Imran Series in August 1955, Ibn-e-Safi created Jasoosi Dunya 'The Detective World' 'Fareedi Hameed Series' in March 1952 and continued to write until his death in 1980.

Ibn-e-Safi created Imran Series and Jasoosi Duniya "Spy World 'Fareedi Hameed Series' and he is the best Imran Series writer. Both series created by him reached the peak of popularity. His character are famous in subcontinent and internationally. More than two hundred fake writers of Imran Series such as N Safi, Najma Safi, Naghma Safi, Aban Safi, H Iqbal, S Qureshi, MA Rahat, Azhar Kaleem, Mazhar Kaleem, Safdar Shaheen etc. used the popularity of Imran Series and Jasoosi Duniya for themselves.

Overview
Following the footsteps of the first best-selling series, Jasoosi Dunya, this series features Ali Imran – a playful, yet deceiving personality. He is a bright young Oxford graduate with MSc and PhD degrees in chemistry. His comical and apparently incompetent persona hides his identity as head of a secret service. This series has been widely acclaimed for its high literary quality and strong character development.

Imran Series explains the workings of a country's secret service that operates from the capital of the country (supposed by many to be Karachi in Pakistan which was the capital when initial Imran Series novels were written. Although Ibn-e-Safi was careful to never explicitly state this, villains often refer to the country as the "one from South Asia"). The Secret Service is administered by the Secretary of Internal Affairs, Sir Sultan, who offers Imran the position as its head after getting personal help from him in Raat ka Shahzadah (The Prince of Night – #8).

Ali Imran

Ali Imran is a pivotal character in Imran Series. Handsome and bright, the young-man holds MSc, and PhD degrees from Oxford University and has extraordinary sex appeal. He always appears comical and moronic, using these features to camouflage himself as one of the stupidest men. Always shown acting stupid, insane, and funny, he keeps the readers in hysterics at his every action. He never reveals his true side to anyone. He usually dresses eccentrically; for example, a pink coat, a light green shirt, a yellow necktie, white pants, and a purple flat hat with a red rose in it is his typical apparel. Ibne Safi refers to this as Imran's "Technicolor Outfit."

Imran is son of Amma Bi and Mr. Abdul-ur-Rahman, director general of the Central Intelligence Bureau and as being from Genghis Khan's bloodline, he has Mongol lineage. He resides in an apartment with his two most trusted assistants: Sulaiman, the cook, and Joseph Mugunda, his bodyguard. He is, most of the time, seen driving a two-seater sports car.

Imran purposefully keeps multi facets to his personality. As Imran—Ali Imran—he acts as an opportunist who can turn either a police informer or a blackmailer as the situation demands. A perfect cover to his profession.  His other most significant personality facet is the Chief of the Secret Services: X-2. Only three other characters know his secret: Sir Sultan, Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; "Black Zero," or Tahir, who acts as X-2 in Imran's absence; and Roshi, a long time friend and a trusted partner. The other two personalities Imran assumes now and then are the Prince of Dhump, a warlord of a fictitious state known as Dhump, and Rana Tahavvar Ali Sandooqui, a wealthy landlord and businessman.

Imran works as a normal member of the Secret Service and none of the other members had a slightest clue of his being their chief officer. These agents usually laugh him off and sneer at him, but as X-2, they really dread him. Imran's favourite agent is Safder Saeed.
Imran has perfected the art of dodging bullets. It is called "Sing Art," which he learns from an international Chinese criminal, Sing Hee. Imran calls him Uncle Sing (Chacha Sing) and in return, Sing Hee refers him as nephew. His another old time foe is T3B, Theresia Bumble-Bee of Bohemia. Theresia has a great crush on him but Imran hardly pay heed to her rather jeer at her sentiments.

He, like Col. Ahmad Kamal Faridi, has impregnable character vis-à-vis women. Due to his naive appearance and innocent looks, women are smitten with him, but he usually gives them a cold shoulder.

Other characters

One of Ibn-e-Safi's distinguished writing qualities include formation and development of characters. He has established characters in such a fashion that they appear to be real and materialised. And, Imran Series has a range of diverse, colourful, and sentient characters.

X-2, the chief of the secret service, in fact is Ali Imran (sometimes played by Tahir aka Black Zero). The members of the X-2's team are: Juliana Fitzwater, Safdar Saeed, Tanveer Ashraf, Khawar, Chauhan, Nomani, Siddeeque, Zafar ul Mulk, Jameson, and Nimi.  Sir Sultan, Secretary of the Ministry of foreign affairs,

is Imran or X-2's boss. Roshni, an Anglo-Burmese girl, is Imran's long time friend; she was Imran's working partner for sometime, but later left him.

Captain Fayyaz is the Superintendent of the Central Intelligence Bureau. Not very sharp or intelligent, he with the help of Imran is able to solve numerous cases, which resulted in his promotions.

Imran resides in a flat with his cook, Sulaiman, Sulaiman's wife, Gul-Rukh and the Central African bodyguard, Joseph Mugunda.

Imran's family includes his father Karam Rahman (also mentioned as Abdul Rahman in initial books), Director General of Central Intelligence Bureau, mother Amma Bi, and sister Suraiya. Suraiya marries Dr. Shahid in the books, Adha Teetar and Adha Batair.

In series written by Ibn-E-Safi, One of a biggest foe of Imran was Tsung Hi, a chinese criminal who on certain occasions favored Imran by not killing him or harming him and vice versa. He was described as a tall, very thin man with glowing eyes full of energy. Imran considered him one of his worthy adversary and vice versa. Tsung Hi was a master in martial art as well as a very intelligent individual. He knew a very lesser known art of deceiving bullets from a very close range which Imran was able to learn from him in their first encounter in London during his study in Oxford. He joyfully calls Imran Bhatija (son of one's brother) meaning nephew in return to which Imran used to call him chacha meaning uncle.

Headquarters of the Secret Service
Daanish Manzil was the initial headquarters of the Secret Services. It, however, was exposed thus destroyed in one of the adventures (see Sugarbank trilogy) and the Secret Services was forced to shift its headquarters to a new building called "Psycho Mansion," which operates under the semblance of a psychiatric clinic. Till Safi's last book "Psycho Mansion" maintains its status of being the headquarters. The members of the Secret Service, from time to time, also use another building, the mansion of "Rana Palace," as a hideout and operations centre.

Plagiarism

During 1960–1963, while Ibn-e-Safi was suffering from schizophrenia, many amateur writers started posing themselves as Ibn-e-Safi and produced third class copies of his work, distorting the character of not only Ali Imran, but also of Colonel Faridi and Captain Hameed. These acts of vandalism were reported by Ibn-e-Safi himself in the preface of Daidh Matwaalay (One and a Half Amused – #42), the book he returned with after his recovery. Some writers and publishers still continue to write on Safi's characters, much to the annoyance of many fans. Safi used to mention fans' complaints sometimes in the prefaces, and mocked the fake publishers and writers in his own witty style.

During Ibn-e-Safi's life, many writers started writing on his characters illegally, and many wrtiers continued to write even after Ibn Safi's death, such as MA Rahat, S Qureshi, Mazhar Kaleem, Safdar Shaheen, MA Peerzada, Mushtaq Ahmed Qureshi, MS Qadri, Zaheer Ahmed (Author), Jahanzeb Aziz, Ibn-e-Rahat, Ali Nawazish, Irshad Alaser Jaferi, Syed Ali Hassan Gillani etc. Ayne Safi (N Safi), MA Sajid, Ibne Kaleem, Nasir Javed, Azhar Kaleem, Humayun Iqbal, writes books in the series, and has introduced many new characters in the series.

MA Rahat died on 24 April 2017. Ibn-e-Kaleem died on 12 March 2017. Mazhar Kaleem died on 26 May 2018. Some fans of Ibn-e-Safi dismiss many fake Imran Series writers books, arguing that they distorted the original 'feel' of the series, and that he deformed the key characteristics of many characters, including Ali Imran. Nevertheless.

See also

 Ali Imran
 Family of Ali Imran
 Imran series characters
 List of Imran Series by Ibn-e-Safi

References

Ibn-e-Safi
Imran Series
Spy novel series
Urdu-language fiction
Pakistani spy novels
Detective fiction

Imran series


The 497th Bombardment Group was a group of the United States Army Air Forces. The unit was inactivated on 31 March 1946.

The unit was part of the United States Army Air Forces and Twentieth Air Force during World War II. The 497th BG engaged in very heavy (B-29 Superfortress) bombardment operations against Japan. Its aircraft were identified by a "A" and a square painted on the tail.

Its history and lineage are carried on by the present 497th Air Expeditionary Group.

History

World War II
The unit was established in late 1943 at El Paso Municipal Airport, Texas, being formed as a B-29 Superfortress Very Heavy bombardment Group. The unit was formed with four bomb squadrons (869th, 870th, 871st and 872d), all being newly constituted.

It moved to Pratt Army Air Field, Kansas in December 1943 to begin training. Due to a shortage of B-29s, the group was equipped with former II Bomber Command B-17 Flying Fortresses already at Pratt which were previously used for training heavy bomber replacement personnel. In the spring of 1944, it finally received newly manufactured B-29 Superfortresses. In May shortages in aircraft and equipment led to the 872d Bomb Squadron being inactivated, with its personnel being consolidated into other group squadrons.

As a three squadron group, the 497th was deployed to Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO) in September 1944, being assigned to the XXI Bomber Command 73d Bombardment Wing in the Northern Mariana Islands; being stationed at Isley Field, Saipan. Upon arrival the group's personnel were engaged in Quonset hut construction. By mid-October most personnel were able to move into the huts from the initial tents which they were assigned on arrival. The group began operations in October 1944 with attacks against Iwo Jima and the Truk Islands. Took part in the first attack (24 November 1944) on Japan by AAF planes based in the Marianas. Flew many missions against strategic objectives in Japan; on numerous raids, made its attacks in daylight and from high altitude.

Received a Distinguished Unit Citation for a mission on 27 January 1945. Although weather conditions prevented the group from bombing its primary objective, the unescorted B-29's withstood severe enemy attacks to strike an alternate target, the industrial area of Hamamatsu. Awarded a second DUC for attacking strategic centers in Japan during Jul and August 1945. Assisted the assault on Okinawa in April 1945 by bombing enemy airfields to cut down air attacks against the invasion force. Beginning on 19 March and continuing until the end of the war the group made incendiary raids against Japan, flying at night and at low altitude to bomb area targets. The group released propaganda leaflets over the Japanese home islands, July–August, continuing strategic bombing raids and incendiary attacks until the Japanese Capitulation in August 1945.

After V-J Day, the 497th dropped supplies to Allied prisoners, participated in show-of-force missions, and flew over Japan to evaluate bombardment damage. In November 1945 the unit returned to the United States; initially being assigned to Continental Air Forces's (CAF) Fourth Air Force at March Field, California. At March Field, the 513th Bombardment Squadron joined the group; it previously being a Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberator squadron based in Italy, having been returned to the United States in May and was undergoing B-29 Very Heavy Bomber upgrade training in Nebraska when its former assigned group, the 376th Bombardment Group, was inactivated.

In January 1945, the 498th was reassigned to the CAF Third Air Force at MacDill Field, Florida. It later was transferred to the new Strategic Air Command on 21 March 1946, being one of SAC's initial bombardment groups. Demobilization, however, was in full swing and the group turned in its aircraft and was inactivated on 31 March.

Lineage
 Constituted as 497th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) on 19 November 1943
 Activated on 20 November 1943
 Inactivated on 31 March 1946

Assignments
 73d Bombardment Wing, 20 November 1943 – 31 March 1946 (attached to 17th Bombardment Operational Training Wing), 13 April 1944 – 18 July 1944

Components
 513th Bombardment Squadron: 1 November 1945 – 31 March 1946
 869th Bombardment Squadron: 20 November 1943 – 31 March 1946
 870th Bombardment Squadron: 20 November 1943 – 31 March 1946
 871st Bombardment Squadron: 20 November 1943 – 31 March 1946
 872d Bombardment Squadron: 20 November 1943 – 10 May 1944
 15th Photographic Laboratory Squadron

Stations
 El Paso Mun Aprt, Texas, 20 November – 1 December 1943
 Clovis AAF, New Mexico, December 1943 – 13 April 1944
 Pratt AAF, Kansas, 13 April – 18 July 1944
 Isley Airfield, Saipan, Mariana Islands, 17 September 1944 – 1 November 1945
 Camp Stoneman, California, 14–26 November 1945
 March Field, California, 26 November 1945 – 5 January 1946
 MacDill Field, Florida, 5 January – 31 March 1946

References

Notes

Bibliography

 Goforth, Pat E. (ed). The Long Haul: The Story of the 497th Bomb Group (VH). San Angelo, Texas: Newsfoto Publishing Company, 1946.
 Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. .
 Thomas, Captain Rowan T. Born in Battle: Round The World Adventures of the 513th Bombardment Squadron. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: John C. Wilson Company, 1944. (republished 1983 by Zenger Publishing Company, .)
 Brown, Mark David "Roy & Carmela, A World War II Love Story. Coral Gables, Florida, (ISBN 978-0-578-55308-5)  Published by Mark David Brown for MDBMD 2019

Bombardment groups of the United States Army Air Forces
Bombardment groups of the United States Army Air Forces in the Japan campaign
Military units and formations established in 1943

497th Bombardment Group


A flashlight (in American English) or torch (in Commonwealth countries) is a small, portable spotlight. Its function is a beam of light which helps to see. It usually requires batteries.

The light is made by a small light bulb.  In the 20th century, it was usually an incandescent bulb.  Nowadays most use LEDs, which work slightly differently.  In 1896, the first dry cell battery was invented. Unlike previous batteries, it used a paste electrolyte instead of a liquid. This was the first battery suitable for portable electrical devices, as it did not spill or break easily and worked in any orientation.  Sometimes the electricity comes from a small generator instead of a battery.

The torch can also refer to a flammable stick that is lit on fire to provide light and (or) heat.

Origin

Hundreds of years ago, people used candles or oil lamps for indoor light. Candles were expensive, and once the candle was gone, you would have to buy or make a new one or be stuck in the dark. When electricity was discovered and the light bulb was invented, David Misell, a British man working in Hubert's New York shop in 1898, came up with the idea of a light bulb that you could take with you, anywhere you wanted to go. Then, the torch was invented. The first flashlight has three D batteries which powered a small incandescent bulb. The bulbs would glow with a simple ON/OFF switch.

References

Light sources

Flashlight


Mary Burnett Talbert (born Mary Morris Burnett; September 17, 1866 – October 15, 1923) was an American orator, activist, suffragist and reformer. In 2005, Talbert was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Career
Mary Morris Burnett was born in Oberlin, Ohio in 1866. As the only African-American woman in her graduating class from Oberlin College in 1886, Burnett received a Bachelor of Arts degree. She entered the field of education, first as a teacher in 1886 at Bethel University  in Little Rock, then as an assistant principal of the Union High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1887, the highest position held by an African-American woman in the state. In 1891, she married William H. Talbert and moved to Buffalo, New York, where she joined Buffalo's historic Michigan Avenue Baptist Church.

Talbert earned a higher education degree at a time when a college education was controversial and extremely rare for women and people of color. When women's organizations were segregated by race, Talbert was an advocate of women of all colors working together to advance their causes.

Described by her peers as "the best-known colored woman in the United States," Talbert used her education to take part in anti-lynching and anti-racism work, alongside supporting women's suffrage. In 1915, she spoke at the "Votes for Women: A Symposium by Leading Thinkers of Colored Women" in Washington, D.C. During her national and international lecture tours, Talbert spoke to audiences about oppressive conditions in African-American communities and the need for legislation to address these conditions.

As a founder of the Niagara Movement, Talbert helped to launch organized civil rights activism in America. The Niagara Movement was radical enough in its brief life to both spawn and absorb controversy within the Black community, preparing the way for its successor, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Central to the efforts of both organizations, Mary Talbert helped set the stage for the civil rights gains of the 1950s and 60s. Talbert's long leadership of women's clubs helped develop black female organizations and leaders in New York and the United States.

Talbert saved the Frederick Douglass home in Anacostia, D.C. after other preservation efforts had failed.  Buffalo's 150-year-old Michigan Avenue Baptist Church, to which the Talbert family belonged, has been named to the United States National Register of Historic Places.  Many prominent African-Americans worshiped or spoke there. The church also had a landmark role in abolitionist activities. In 1998, a marker honoring Talbert, who served as the church's treasurer, was installed in front of the Church by the New York State Governor's Commission Honoring the Achievements of Women.

In October 2005, Talbert was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. She has several clubs and buildings named after her, including:
 National Association of Colored Women (NACW) branches named after her in Buffalo, New York; Detroit, Michigan; Gary, Indiana; and New Haven, Connecticut;
 City Federation of Women's Clubs named after her in Florida and Texas;
 Talbert Hall at the University at Buffalo;
 Talbert Mall Housing Development (later renamed Frederick Douglass Towers), Buffalo, New York; and
 Mary B. Talbert Hospital  (merged with Booth Memorial Hospital, later taken over by Cleveland Metropolitan Hospital), Cleveland, Ohio.

Talbert died on October 15, 1923, and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery. A small collection of Talbert family papers, concerned mostly with property and estate matters, survives in the Research Library of the Buffalo History Museum.

Accomplishments
Established the Christian Culture Congress, a literary society and forum in 1901, which brought Black leaders such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Mary Church Terrell to Buffalo to speak at the Michigan Avenue Baptist Church.
Protested the exclusion of Blacks from the 1901 Pan-American Exposition Planning Commission, which resulted in the inclusion of a Negro Exhibit on cultural and economic achievements of African Americans. During the same year, Talbert lectured at the Biennial Conference of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) in Buffalo as was instrumental in local arrangements.
Joined the Phyllis Wheatley Club, the first club in Buffalo to affiliate with the NACWC, eventually served as the club's president.
Co-organized the Niagara Movement, a precursor to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the beginning of 20th century American civil rights activism.
Co-founded Buffalo's first chapter of the NAACP in 1910, as well as NAACP chapters in Texas and Louisiana; elected Board member and vice president of the NAACP; served as National Director of the NAACP Anti-Lynching Campaign in 1921; eighth recipient and the first woman to be awarded the highest honor by the NAACP, the Spingarn Medal.
Served as a YMCA secretary in Romagne, France during World War I; offered classes to African-American soldiers; sold thousands of dollars of Liberty Bonds as a traveling speaker; served on the Women's Committee of National Defense.
Appointed to the Women's Committee on International Relations, which was responsible for selecting female nominees for positions in the League of Nations.
Joined the Empire State Federation of Colored Women as a Charter Member, eventually serving as the Federation's Parliamentarian and President.
Elected President (1916–1921) of the NACWC; represented the NACWC as the first African-American delegate to the International Council of Women (ICW) at their 5th congress in Norway in 1920
Restored the Frederick Douglass home in Anacostia, D.C.; elected president-for-life of the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association
Lectured in 11 European nations on the conditions of African-Americans in the United States, earning extensive press coverage.
Cofounded the International Council of Women of the Darker Races in Washington, D.C., in 1922.
First Worthy Matron of Naomi Chapter No.10 Prince Hall Order Eastern Star, subordinate chapter of Eureka Grand Chapter Prince Hall Order Eastern Star Inc. State of NY.

References

Bibliography
Axinn, J., & Stern, M. J. (2005). Social Welfare: A History of the American Response to Need (6 ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
 Brown, Nikki L.M. Private Politics and Public Voices: Black Women's Activism from World War I to the New Deal. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, c2006. (The work of Talbert and the National Association of Colored Women is featured throughout.)
Brown, Hallie Q. "Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction." Xenia, OH: Aldine Publishing Co., 1926, pp. 217–219
Brown, M. J. (2000). Eradicating this Evil: Women in the American Anti-Lynching Movement, 1892-1940. New York: Routledge.
Davis, Marianna W. "Contributions of Black Women to America." Columbia, SC: Kenday, 1982
Eberle, Scott. "Second Looks: A Pictorial History of Buffalo and Erie County." Norfolk, VA: Donning Co., c1987, p. 99
Eggenberger, David, ed. "Encyclopedia of World Biography, Twentieth Century Supplement, v.15. Palatine, IL: Jack Heraty & Associates, Inc., c1987, pp. 396-399
Hardy, Gayle. "American Women Civil Rights Activists." Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., c1993, pp. 370–375.
Heck, James R. "Contributions of Blacks in Western New York at the Turn of the Century." Buffalo, NY: Buffalo Public Schools, c1987, pp. 81–84
Logan, Rayford, ed. "Dictionary of American Negro Biography." New York: W.W. Norton & Co., c1982, pp. 576–577
Nahal, Anita, and Lopez D. Matthews Jr.,"African American Women and the Niagara Movement, 1905-1909," Afro-Americans in New York Life and History, Vol.32, No.2, July 2008, http://www.thefreelibrary.com/African+American+women+and+the+Niagara+Movement%2c+1905-1909.-a0182027493
Ovington, M. W. (1920, December 17). Talbert Timeline, from African American History of Western New York: http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/0history/hwny-talbert.html#phylis%20wheatley%20club
"Profiles of Negro Womanhood," v.1. Yonkers, NY: Educational Heritage, 1964–6, p. 317
"Remembering a Remarkable Woman." Buffalo News, 1 October 1998, p. B-4 (photograph with caption)
The New York Public Library by Hallie Q. Brown. (1999). Mary Burnett Talbert, from Digital Schomburg African American Women Writers of the 19th Century: http://digilib.nypl.org/dynaweb/digs/wwm97253/@Generic__BookTextView/4179;pt=4040
Talbert, Mary. "What Role is the Educated Negro Woman to Play in the Uplifting of her Race?" in Culp, Daniel Wallace, ed.  Twentieth Century Negro Literature. Toronto, Canada; Naperville, IL; Atlanta, GA: J. L. Nichols & Co., 1902.
Talbert, M. B. (1922, October 21). Letter from Mary B. Talbert to Mary White Ovington. NAACP Papers, The Anti-Lynching Campaign 1912–1955, Part 7: http://womhist.alexanderstreet.com/lynch/doc18.htm
Talbert, Mary. "Women and Colored Women." The Crisis, August 1915, p. 184
Woloch, N., & Johnson, P. E. (2009).  originally from Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia
Williams, Lillian Serece. "Mary Morris Burnett Talbert," in Hine, Darlene Clark, ed. "Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia." Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Publications, c1993, pp. 1137–1139
Williams, Lillian Serece. Strangers in the Land of Paradise: The Creation of an African-American Community, Buffalo, New York, 1900-1940. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, c1999 (Talbert and family are mentioned throughout)

External links
 Mary B. Talbert: A Selected Bibliography with links where available, courtesy of the Buffalo History Museum.

Women of the Hall: Mary Burnett Talbert
Uncrowned Queens: Mary Morris Burnett Talbert
Talbert Timeline

1866 births
1923 deaths
Activists for African-American civil rights
Oberlin College alumni
Burials at Forest Lawn Cemetery (Buffalo)
Spingarn Medal winners
American anti-lynching activists
American suffragists
Presidents of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs
African-American suffragists
20th-century African-American women
Women civil rights activists
19th-century African-American women
19th-century African-American people

Mary Burnett Talbert


William Averell (baptised 12 February 1556 – buried 23 September 1605) was an English pamphleteer, prose writer, parish clerk, and schoolmaster. He is best known as the author of A Mervalious Combat of Contrarieties (1588) that William Shakespeare used as the source for the parable of the revolt of the members against the belly in Coriolanus.

Birth, life, and death
Averell's baptism on 12 February 1556 is recorded in the records of the parish of St Peter upon Cornhill. His father, a joiner, was John Averell (d. 1569), and his mother Margareth (d. 1578). Nothing is known about his early life and education, but William E. Burns, writing about Averell in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, notes that he was a member of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors and the Worshipful Company of Vintners. Burns also notes that Averell's prose is Euphuistic and draws on classical knowledge, despite there being no record of his having graduated from Oxford or Cambridge.

On 2 November 1578 he married Gyllian Averell, née Goodale (1556–1596), the daughter of a baker, Robert Goodale and his wife, Ann. Their first child, Annes, was born three months after the wedding. Burns points out the irony of Averell conceiving a child before marriage given the moralism of some of his pamphlets. Gyllian Averell died in 1596, shortly after the birth of their 17th child.

Averell remarried and had a further daughter, Elizabeth, born 28 November 1597. Averell died in 1605 and was buried in St Peter upon Cornhill on 23 September.

Works
Averell supported himself by working as a parish clerk and schoolmaster in St Peter upon Cornhill, where he adorned the parish registers with drawings and poems. He was also a pamphleteer and prose writer, and "published several works showing literary versatility and a keen desire to acquire the patronage of the London civic élite."

His first known publication, An excellent historie, both pithy and pleasant, on the life and death of Charles and Julia, two Brittish, or rather Welsh lovers (1581), was a verse story of star-crossed lovers set in the period of British mythology at the time of Brutus of Troy, and was dedicated to Henry Campyon, a mercer and brewer. Burns describes it as "not a distinguished piece of literature", but it was one of the few romantic poems of the period that used a British rather than Italian setting.

The next was A wonderfull and straunge newes, which happened in the county of Suffolke, and Essex, the first of February, being Friday, where it rayned wheat, the space of vi or vii miles compass (1583). This was a prodigy pamphlet that took a zealously Protestant stand, arguing that the referenced wonder was a sign of the end of the world. It was followed by A Dyall for Dainty Darlings (1584), dedicated to William Wrathe, warden of the Mercers' Company. This was expanded and reissued as Four Notable Histories (1590), now dedicated to Hugh Ofley.

The publication for which Averell is best known is A Mervalious Combat of Contrarieties (1588). It begins as a dialogue between the parts of the body in which the tongue urges the body to revolt against the belly and back because of their greed and pride, but is ultimately unmasked as a traitor. Averell eventually abandons the dialogue format and concludes with an exhortation to loyalty to the queen. It was published during the Armada crisis, dedicated to Sir George Bond, the Lord Mayor of London, and includes fierce attacks on Roman Catholics and Jesuits. It was also the principal source for William Shakespeare's use of the parable of the revolt of the members against the belly in Coriolanus.

Notes and references

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

1556 births
1605 deaths
English pamphleteers
People of the Elizabethan era

William Averell


The Devil's Advocate (marketed as Devil's Advocate) is a 1997 American supernatural horror movie directed by Taylor Hackford, written by Jonathan Lemkin and Tony Gilroy. It starred Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, and Charlize Theron. It is based on Andrew Neiderman's novel of the same name.

It is about a successful young Floridian lawyer (Reeves) invited to New York City to work for a major firm. As his wife (Theron) becomes haunted by visuals, the lawyer slowly begins to realize the owner of the firm (Pacino) is the Devil.

The movie has a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes.

References

1997 horror movies
American horror movies
Movies based on books
Movies directed by Taylor Hackford

The Devil's Advocate (1997 movie)


Lititz Academy for Boys was a nineteenth century boarding school in the Moravian village of Lititz, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  It drew students from throughout the eastern U.S. and even from Canada, the Caribbean and Europe.  In total, 2,326 pupils passed through Beck's curriculum, including Major General John F. Reynolds, a Union army leader killed at Gettysburg and his older brother Admiral William Reynolds; a number of successful businessmen, educators and Congressmen; railroad president Franklin B. Gowen; and the nephew of the abolitionist and Reconstruction politician, Thaddeus Stevens.

History
The school's founder, John Beck, was born in Frederick County, Maryland on June 16, 1791.  While a child, his family moved to Lancaster County and then to Lebanon County.  With no local school available, his parents sent John to Nazareth Hall, in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, a precursor of Moravian College.  His accomplishments there were sufficiently undistinguished that they determined, when he was fifteen, to apprentice him to learn a trade under the care of a "religious and strictly moral man. . . whose views in that regard accorded with their own."  Looking about they located a shoemaker in Lititz "whom they believed worthy of their confidence."

Beck's teaching career started in 1813, a short time after completing his apprenticeship, when he was engaged to tutor five local apprentice boys.  From this beginning, Beck next became master of the village school in Lititz, with twenty-two boys. In 1818, when Beck was offered a $300 salary to run the parochial school in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the people of Lititz dissuaded him by offering to turn their school over to him on his own terms.  The school grew in the next several years from a single classroom in a converted blacksmith shop to a newly built, multi-room building; and simultaneously from simply the village school into a boarding school, John Beck's Boys Academy.

The boys lived with the families of the village, which was owned and governed by the local Moravian congregation.  Studies went well beyond the usual "3 R's" to include more advanced subjects such as astronomy, chemistry, algebra, trigonometry and German.  The school term was long, with only four weeks' vacation a year.  Classes were held in morning and afternoon sessions; during the winter there were also evening lectures on "the various branches of Natural philosophy" and "the Manners and Customs and forms of Government of Nations."

References

Boarding schools in Pennsylvania
Defunct schools in Pennsylvania
Educational institutions established in 1818
Educational institutions disestablished in 1865
Lititz, Pennsylvania

John Beck's Boys Academy


Paweł Frenkiel (sometimes also Frenkel, ;
1920–1943) was a Polish Army officer and a Jewish youth leader in Warsaw and one of the senior commanders of the Jewish Military Union, or the ŻZW. Although one of the most important leaders of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the Jewish resistance in the months preceding April 1943, Frenkiel is also one of the least well known to historians, and both his earlier life and his ultimate fate are a subject of some controversy.

Biography
Paweł Frenkiel was born in Warsaw, Poland. At the age of 18 he joined the revisionist Zionist youth movement Betar.

Following the outbreak of World War II, German conquest of Poland and the start of German repressions against the Jewish population of Poland, he joined the Jewish Military Union and became one of its highest-ranking members. It is unclear what his exact capacity was. Earlier publications and accounts by Tadeusz Bednarczyk, Henryk Iwański and Kałmen Mendelson assert, that Paweł Frenkel was one of the deputies of JMU's commander Dawid Moryc Apfelbaum. However, other accounts, including those by Dawid Wdowiński and Cezary Szemley suggest, that Frenkiel was indeed the leader of the entire organisation. In recent years some historians went as far as to suggest that Apfelbaum did not even exist at all.

In any way, it is probable that Paweł Frenkiel personally commanded one of the armed companies of armed fighters during the ill-fated Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943. According to a widespread opinion he was killed in action while defending the headquarters of the Jewish Military Union at #7 Muranów Square. According to some other sources he was killed on 19 June 1943 in Grzybowska Street in Warsaw.

References

External links
 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising leader gets recognition – at last
 "Flags Over the Ghetto". Israeli stamp with Paweł Frenkiel

1920 births
1943 deaths
Polish Zionists
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising insurgents
Jewish Military Union members
Resistance members killed by Nazi Germany
People who died in the Warsaw Ghetto
Betar members

Paweł Frenkiel


Sudden Death is a 1977 action film directed by Eddie Romero, starring Robert Conrad, and costarring Thayer David, Larry Manetti and Nancy Conrad, Robert Conrad's real life daughter.

Plot

When Ed Neilson's (Ken Metcalf) entire family is viciously murdered, he pleads with retired CIA operative Duke Smith (Robert Conrad) to investigate. Smith refuses, but relents after Neilson too meets an explosive death.

With the aid of a former associate Wyatt Spain (Felton Perry), Smith attempts to find out who was responsible for the death of Neilson and his family. Meanwhile, a government agent, named John Shaw (John Ashley), has one of his men (Larry Manetti) follow Smith as Shaw was working with members of Neilson's company to get him out due to his sympathy for some people who are fighting for rights who call themselves "The Brown Hats".

Shaw enlists the services of hit-man Dominic Aldo (Don Stroud) from Corsica to take care of Smith. Smith has an associate, named "Buffalo" Tinker (Angelo Ventura), take his daughter Melissa (Nancy Conrad) and his wife Maya (Aline Samson) into hiding until things blow over. Aldo kills Tinker, and Smith and Spain kill the men responsible for the deaths of Neilson and his family. Smith shoots Shaw and fights Aldo, killing him.  At the end, Smith and Spain go to an island only to find that Aldo had earlier killed Smith's daughter and Maya.

Cast
 Robert Conrad as Duke Smith
 Don Stroud as Dominic Aldo
 Felton Perry as Wyatt Spain
 John Ashley as John Shaw
 Thayer David as Hauser
 Larry Manetti as Dan
 Chuck Courtney
 Eddie Garcia as Raoul Hidalgo

Production
The film was written for Conrad and Jim Kelly but Kelly dropped out. Conrad suggested Don Stroud and Ashley recommended Eddie Romero to direct it, "because he's not only knowledgeable, but oriented toward our end of the business over here in the U.S." said Ashley. Ashley produced the film for Caruth Byrd, who he called "a very wealthy guy from Dallas. It's actually a pretty decent little movie, but Caruth was not real knowledgable about the business. He found some fly-by- night company [Bryanston]that gave him some kind of deal, what was in his mind, a really good one. I kept saying that it's only a good deal if the picture makes money. I didn't know the company, and it didn't feel right to me."

Reception
Ashley said "The picture finally came out in a very limited release, no  publicity, nothing. It died and immediately went to tape. Tape then was not the big thing it is today... Bob Conrad was very upset about how  Caruth threw the movie away."

References

Note

External links

Trailer at YouTube

1977 films
Films directed by Eddie Romero
1977 action films
Philippine action films
Films shot in the Philippines
1970s English-language films
American action films
1970s American films
English-language Philippine films
English-language action films

Sudden Death (1977 film)


Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is  north of Manchester and  east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Brun.

The town is located near the countryside to the south and east, with the towns of Padiham and Brierfield to the west and north respectively. It has a reputation as a regional centre of excellence for the manufacturing and aerospace industries.

The town began to develop in the early medieval period as a number of farming hamlets surrounded by manor houses and royal forests, and has held a market for more than 700 years. During the Industrial Revolution it became one of Lancashire's most prominent mill towns; at its peak, it was one of the world's largest producers of cotton cloth and a major centre of engineering.

Burnley has retained a strong manufacturing sector, and has strong economic links with the cities of Manchester and Leeds, as well as neighbouring towns along the M65 corridor.  In 2013, in recognition of its success, Burnley received an Enterprising Britain award from the UK Government, for being the "Most Enterprising Area in the UK". For the first time in more than fifty years, a direct train service now operates between the town's Manchester Road railway station and Manchester's Victoria station and onward to Wigan Wallgate via the restored Todmorden Curve which opened in May 2015.

History

Toponymy
The name Burnley is believed to have been derived from Brun Lea, meaning "meadow by the River Brun". Various other spellings have been used: Bronley (1241), Brunley (1251) and commonly Brumleye (1294)

Origins
Stone Age flint tools and weapons have been found on the moors around the town, as have numerous tumuli, stone circles, and some hill forts (see: Castercliff, which dates from around 600 BCE). Modern-day Back Lane, Sump Hall Lane and Noggarth Road broadly follow the route of a classic ridgeway running east–west to the north of the town, suggesting that the area was populated during pre-history and probably controlled by the Brigantes.

Limited coin finds indicate a Roman presence, but no evidence of a settlement has been found in the town. Gorple Road (running east from Worsthorne) appears to follow the route of a Roman road that may have crossed the present-day centre of town, on the way to the fort at Ribchester.  It has been claimed that the nearby earthworks of Ring Stones Camp (), Twist Castle () and Beadle Hill () are of Roman origin, but little supporting archaeological information has been published.

Following the Roman period, the area became part of the kingdom of Rheged, and then the kingdom of Northumbria. Local place-names Padiham and Habergham show the influence of the Angles, suggesting that some had settled in the area by the early 7th century; sometime later the land became part of the hundred of Blackburnshire.

There is no definitive record of a settlement until after the Norman conquest of England. In 1122, a charter granted the church of Burnley to the monks of Pontefract Abbey. In its early days, Burnley was a small farming community, gaining a corn mill in 1290, a market in 1294, and a fulling mill in 1296. At this point, it was within the manor of Ightenhill, one of five that made up the Honor of Clitheroe, then a far more significant settlement, and consisted of no more than 50 families. Little survives of early Burnley apart from the Market Cross, erected in 1295, which now stands in the grounds of the old grammar school.

Over the next three centuries, Burnley grew in size to about 1,200 inhabitants by 1550, still centred around the church, St Peter's, in what is now known as "Top o' th' Town". Prosperous residents built larger houses, including Gawthorpe Hall in Padiham and Towneley Hall.

In 1532, St Peter's Church was largely rebuilt. Burnley's grammar school was founded in 1559, and moved into its own schoolhouse next to the church in 1602. Burnley began to develop in this period into a small market town, with a population of not more than 2,000 by 1790. It is known that weaving was established in the town by the middle of the 18th century, and in 1817 a new Market House was built. The town continued to be centred on St Peter's Church, until the market was moved to the bottom of what is today Manchester Road, at the end of the 19th century.

Industrial Revolution

In the second half of the 18th century, the manufacture of cotton began to replace wool. Burnley's earliest known factories – dating from the mid-century – stood on the banks of the River Calder, close to where it is joined by the River Brun, and relied on water power to drive the spinning machines. The first turnpike road through the area now known as Burnley was begun in 1754, linking the town to Blackburn and Colne eventually leading to the area of Brun Lea developing into a town, and by the mid 19th century, there were daily stagecoach journeys to Blackburn, Skipton and Manchester, the latter taking just over two hours.

The 18th century also saw the rapid development of coal mining on the Burnley Coalfield: the drift mines and shallow bell-pits of earlier centuries were replaced by deeper shafts, meeting industrial as well as domestic demand in Nelson, Colne & Padiham, and by 1800 there were over a dozen pits in the modern-day centre of the town alone.

The arrival of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1796 made possible transportation of goods in bulk, bringing a huge boost to the area's economy and the town of Burnley was born. Dozens of new mills were constructed, along with many foundries and ironworks that supplied the cotton mills and coal mines with machinery and cast and wrought iron for construction.  The town became renowned for its mill-engines, and the Burnley Loom was recognised as one of the best in the world.

A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of Burnley Barracks in 1820.

Disaster struck the town in 1824, when first its only local bank (known as Holgate's) collapsed, forcing the closure of some of the largest mills.  This was followed by a summer drought, which caused serious problems for many of the others, leading to high levels of unemployment and possibly contributing to the national financial crisis of 1825.

By 1830, there were 32 steam engines in cotton mills throughout the rapidly expanding town, an example of which, originally installed at Harle Syke Mill, is on display in the Science Museum in London.

Around 1840, a traveller described the town as ugly, stating that: "parts of it were so situated that good architectural effects might have been obtained had the disposition and the resources co-existed".

The Great Famine of Ireland led to an influx of Irish families during the 1840s, who formed a community in one of the poorest districts.  At one time, the Park District (modern-day town centre, around Parker St.) was known as Irish Park.

In 1848, the East Lancashire Railway Company's extension from Accrington linked the town to the nation's nascent railway network for the first time. This was another significant boost to the local economy and, by 1851, the town's population had reached almost 21,000.

The Burnley Building Society, incorporated in Burnley in 1850, was, by 1911, not only 'by far the largest in the County of Lancashire... but the sixth in magnitude in the kingdom'.

The Cotton Famine of 1861–1865, caused by the American Civil War, was again disastrous for the town. However, the resumption of trade led to a quick recovery and, by 1866, the town was the largest producer of cotton cloth in the world. By the 1880s, the town was manufacturing more looms than anywhere in the country.

In 1871, the population was 44,320, and had grown to 87,016 by 1891. Burnley Town Hall, designed by Holton and Fox of Dewsbury, was built between 1885 and 1888.

The Burnley Electric Lighting Order was granted in 1890, giving Burnley Corporation (which already controlled the supply of water and the making and sale of gas) a monopoly in the generation and sale of electricity in the town. The building of the coal-powered Electricity Works, in Grimshaw Street, began in 1891, close to the canal (the site of the modern-day Tesco supermarket) and the first supply was achieved on 22 August 1893, initially generating electricity for street lighting.

The start of the 20th century saw Burnley's textile industry at the height of its prosperity. By 1901 there were 700,000 spindles and 62,000 looms at work in the textile industry. Other industries at that time included: brass and iron foundries, rope works, calico printing works, tanneries, paper mills, collieries and corn mills and granaries. By 1910, there were approximately 99,000 power looms in the town, and it reached its peak population of over 100,000 in 1911.  By 1920, the Burnley and District Weavers', Winders' and Beamers' Association had more than 20,000 members.  However, the First World War heralded the beginning of the collapse of the English textiles industry and the start of a steady decline in the town's population. The Bank Parade drill hall was completed in the early 20th century.

There is a total of 191 Listed buildings in Burnley – one Grade I (Towneley Hall), two Grade II* (St Peter's Church and Burnley Mechanics) and 188 Grade II.

World Wars
Over 4000 men from Burnley were killed in the First World War, about 15 per cent of the male working-age population.

250 volunteers, known as the Burnley Pals, made up Z Company of 11th Battalion, the East Lancashire Regiment, a battalion that as a whole became known by the far more famous name of the Accrington Pals. Victoria Crosses were awarded to two soldiers from the town, Hugh Colvin and Thomas Whitham, along with a third to resident (and only son of the chief constable) Alfred Victor Smith. In 1926 a memorial to the fallen was erected in Towneley Park, funded by Caleb Thornber, former mayor and alderman of the borough to ensure the sacrifice of the men lost was commemorated. The local school of art created pages of vellum with the names of the fallen inscribed. These were framed in a rotating carousel in Towneley Hall for visitors to see. There were 2000 names inscribed – less than half the number of actual casualties.

During the Second World War, Burnley largely escaped the Blitz, with the only Luftwaffe bomb to known to have fallen within the town landing near the conservatory at Thompson Park on 27 October 1940. In early 1941 a network of five Starfish site bombing decoys were established in the rural areas near Burnley, designed to protect Accrington. A site was located near Crown Point in Habergham Eaves with two on Hameldon Hill, and others in Worsthorne-with-Hurstwood and near Haslingden.

On 6 May 1941, a stick of eight bombs straddled houses around Rossendale Avenue on the southern edge of town, causing only minor damage. On the night of 12 October the control shelter at the Starfish site near Crown Point suffered a direct hit, killing Aircraftman L R Harwood, and severely injuring four other men.

Although the blackout was enforced, most of the aircraft in the sky above the town would have been friendly and on training missions, or returning to the factories for maintenance. Aircraft crashes did occur, however: In September 1942 a P-38 Lightning from the 14th Fighter Group USAAF crashed near Cliviger, and Black Hameldon Hill claimed a Halifax from No. 51 Squadron RAF in January 1943, and also a B-24 Liberator from the 491st Bombardment Group USAAF in February 1945. Lucas Industries set up shadow factories, producing a wide range of electrical parts for the war effort. Notably they were involved with the Rover Company's failed attempts (and Rolls-Royce's later successful ones) to produce Frank Whittle's pioneering jet engine design, the W.2 (Rolls-Royce Welland) in Barnoldswick. Magnesium Elektron's factory in Lowerhouse became the largest magnesium production facility in Britain. An unexpected benefit of the conflict for the residents of Burnley occurred in 1940. The Old Vic Theatre Company and the Sadler's Wells Opera and Ballet Companies moved from London to the town's Victoria Theatre.

For their actions during the war, two Distinguished Service Orders and eight Distinguished Conduct Medals, along with a large number of lesser awards, were awarded to servicemen from the town. Burnley's main war memorial stands in Place de Vitry sur Seine next to the central library.

Post-Second World War
The Queen, together with Prince Philip, first visited the town as well as Nelson and the Mullard valve factory at Simonstone near Padiham in 1955.

There were widespread celebrations in the town in the summer of 1960, when Burnley FC won the old first division to become Football League champions.

The Queen paid a second official visit to the town in summer 1961, marking the 100th anniversary of Burnley's borough status. The rest of the decade saw large-scale redevelopment in the town. Many buildings were demolished including the market hall, the cattle market, the Odeon cinema and thousands of mainly terraced houses. New construction projects included the Charter Walk shopping centre, Centenary Way and its flyover, the Keirby Hotel, a new central bus station, a large scale housing development known as Trafalgar Gardens, and a number of office blocks. The town's largest coal mine, Bank Hall Colliery, closed in April 1971 resulting in the loss of 571 jobs. The area of the mine has been restored as a park.

In 1980 Burnley was connected to the motorway network, through the construction of the first and second sections of the M65. Although the route, next to the railway and over the former Clifton colliery site, was chosen to minimise the clearance of occupied land, Yatefield, Olive Mount and Whittlefield Mills, Burnley Barracks, and several hundred more terrace houses had to be demolished. Unusually this route passed close to the town centre and had a partitioning effect on the districts of Gannow, Ightenhill, Whittlefield, Rose Grove and Lowerhouse to the north. The 1980s and 1990s saw massive expansion of Ightenhill and Whittlefield. Developers such as Bovis, Barratt and Wainhomes built large housing estates, predominantly on greenfield land.

In summer 1992, the town came to national attention following rioting on the Stoops and Hargher Clough council estates in the south west of the town.

The millennium brought some improvement projects, notably the "Forest of Burnley" scheme, which planted approximately a million trees throughout the town and its outskirts, and the creation of the Lowerhouse Lodges local nature reserve.

In June 2001, during the 2001 England riots, the town again received national attention following a series of violent disturbances arising from racial tensions between some of its White and Asian residents.

Governance
Burnley was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1861, a Parliamentary Borough returning one member in 1867 and became, under the Local Government Act 1888, a county borough outside the administrative county of Lancashire. Under the Local Government Act 1972 Burnley's county borough status was abolished, and it was incorporated with neighbouring areas into the non-metropolitan district of Burnley.

Burnley has three tiers of government: Local government responsibilities are shared by Burnley Borough Council and Lancashire County Council; at a national level the town gives its name to a seat in the United Kingdom parliament. While the town itself is unparished, the rest of the borough has one further, bottom tier of government, the parish or town council.

Borough Council

Burnley Borough Council is currently governed by a multi-party coalition. The role of mayor is a ceremonial post which rotates annually and for 2020-21 is Wajid Khan (Labour Party).

The borough comprises 15 wards, 12 of which – Bank Hall, Briercliffe, Brunshaw, Coal Clough with Deerplay, Daneshouse with Stoneyholme, Gannow, Lanehead, Queensgate, Rosegrove with Lowerhouse, Rosehill with Burnley Wood, Trinity, and Whittlefield with Ightenhill – fall within the town itself. The remaining three – Cliviger with Worsthorne, Gawthorpe, and Hapton with Park, cover the neighbouring town of Padiham and a number of villages.

County Council
Lancashire County Council is currently controlled by the Conservative Party and has been since 2017. They have had only one other term in power between 2009 – 2013, the rest of the time from 1981, the council has been under Labour control. The borough is represented on the council in six divisions: Burnley Central East, Burnley Central West, Burnley North East, Burnley Rural, Burnley South West, and Padiham & Burnley West.

National
The constituency of Burnley elects a single member of Parliament (MP). Since the general election in 2019, the town has been represented by Antony Higginbotham, its first Conservative Party MP in over 100 years. The constituency had been represented by MPs of the Labour Party since 1935, apart from 2010 – 2015, when it was represented by Gordon Birtwistle, a Liberal Democrat. Richard Shaw was the town's first MP in 1868. Arguably its most notable MP was former leader of the Labour Party and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Arthur Henderson.

Geography

The town lies in a natural three-forked valley at the confluence of the River Brun and the River Calder, surrounded by open fields, with wild moorland at higher altitudes. To the west of Burnley lie the towns of Padiham, Accrington and Blackburn, with Nelson and Colne to the north. The centre of the town stands at approximately  above sea level and  east of the Irish Sea coast.

Areas in the town include: Burnley Wood, Rose Hill, Healey Wood, Harle Syke, Haggate, Daneshouse, Stoneyholme, Burnley Lane, Heasandford, Brunshaw, Pike Hill, Gannow, Ightenhill, Whittlefield, Rose Grove, Habergham, and Lowerhouse. Although Reedley is considered to be a suburb of the town, it is actually part of the neighbouring borough of Pendle.

To the north west of the town, and home of the Pendle Witches, is the imposing Pendle Hill, which rises to , beyond which lie Clitheroe and the Ribble Valley. To the south west, Hameldon Hill rises to , on top of which are the Met Office north west England weather radar, a BBC radio transmitter, and a number of microwave communication towers. This site was the first place in the UK chosen for an unmanned weather radar, beginning operation in 1979; it is one of 18 that cover the British Isles. Also since 2007 the three turbines of the Hameldon Hill wind farm have stood on its northern flank. To the east of the town lie the  Boulsworth Hill and the moors of the South Pennines, and to the south, the Forest of Rossendale. On the hills above the Cliviger area to the south east of the town stands Coal Clough wind farm, whose white turbines are visible from most of the town. Built in 1992 amidst local controversy, it was one of the first wind farm projects in the UK. Nearby, the landmark RIBA Award-winning Panopticon Singing Ringing Tree, overlooking the town from the hills at Crown Point, was installed in 2006.

Due to its hilly terrain and mining history, rural areas of modern Burnley encroach on the urban ones to within a mile of the town centre on the south, north west and north east.

The Pennine Way passes six miles (10 km) east of Burnley; the Mary Towneley Loop, part of the Pennine Bridleway, the Brontë Way and the Burnley Way offer riders and walkers clearly signed routes through the countryside immediately surrounding the town.

Burnley has a temperate maritime climate, with relatively cool summers and mild winters. There is regular but generally light precipitation throughout the year, contributing to a relatively high humidity level. While snowfall occasionally occurs during the winter months, the temperature is rarely low enough for it to build up on the ground in any quantity. The town is believed to be the first place in the UK where regular rainfall measurements were taken (by Richard Towneley, beginning in 1677).

Demography

The 2001 United Kingdom census showed a total resident population for the Burnley subdivision of the Burnley Built-up area of 73,021. The entire built-up area, which includes Nelson, Colne and Brierfield had a population of 149,796; for comparison purposes, this was about the same size as Oxford or Swindon in South England. At that time the racial composition of the wider local government district (the Borough of Burnley) was 91.77% white and 7.16% South Asian or South Asian/British, predominantly from Bangladesh. The largest religious groups were Christian (74.46%) and Muslim (6.58%). 59.02% of adults between the ages of 16 and 74 were classed as economically active and in work. In the 2011 United Kingdom census, these figures had changed to 87.4% white and 10.7% South Asian or South Asian/British, with 63.6% identifying as Christian and 9.9% Muslim. The Burnley Built-up area, had a population of 149,422 according to the 2011 census. The ONS annual population survey for the year Apr 2013–Mar 2014 showed that 63.1% of adults between the ages of 16 and 64 were classed as economically active.

The majority of its Asian residents live in the neighbouring Daneshouse and Stoneyholme districts.  In total, the size of its Asian community is much smaller than that in nearby towns such as Blackburn and Oldham.

In February 2010, the Lancashire Telegraph reported that Burnley topped Home Office figures for the highest number of burglaries per head in England and Wales between April 2008 – April 2009. This claim (minus the dates) was repeated during one of the questions in the first of the televised 2010 general election debates. However, in May 2010, the NPIA Local Crime Mapping System (believed to be the source of the data in the report) listed a 49.5% drop in this rate on the previous year.

Burnley has some of the lowest property prices in the country, with numerous streets appearing in the annual mouseprice.com most affordable streets in England and Wales report. These streets are concentrated in areas of terrace housing in poorer neighbourhoods adjacent to the town centre. Between 2005 and 2010, approximately £65m of government funds was invested into these areas through the Elevate East Lancashire housing market renewal company (replaced by Regenerate Pennine Lancashire in 2010).

Economy

In 2013, Burnley was awarded an Enterprising Britain award from the UK Government for being the 'Most Enterprising Area in the UK'. This accolade subsequently received praise from the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, and His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales.

A series of high-profile regeneration schemes, including: a direct rail link to Manchester, an aerospace supply village and multimillion-pound investment in the former Victorian industrial heartland through a project called 'On The Banks'  are radically transforming the economy of the Lancashire town. Although traditional manufacturing has been in decline in the town for several decades, high end advanced manufacturing remains very strong in the town. The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable, said in 2013: "Burnley in the north of Lancashire is currently now booming economically on the back of manufacturing and proximity to the aerospace industry." Cable praised the town again in 2014 saying: "If every other part of Britain was like Burnley we wouldn't be talking about a recession".

The last deep coal mine, Hapton Valley Colliery, closed in February 1981 and the last steam-powered mill, Queen Street Mill, in 1982. Over the next two decades, Burnley's three largest manufacturers closed their factories: BEP in 1992, Prestige in July 1997 and  Michelin in 2002. The town has struggled to recover: its employment growth between 1995 and 2004 placed it 55th of England's 56 largest towns and cities, and as of 2007 it was the 21st most deprived local authority (out of 354) in the United Kingdom. In 2016, a study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation put Rochdale, Burnley and Bolton at top of a list of the 74 largest UK cities and towns faring worst compared with UK trends. 10.1% of its working age population currently claims incapacity benefit and ESA (national average 6.2%). The largest employment sector in the town is now Health (21%), followed by Manufacturing (16%).

Home shopping firm Shop Direct announced in January 2010 that it was to close its Burnley call centre with the loss of 450 jobs. The company, which owns Littlewoods, Additions Direct, Very, Empire Stores and Marshall Ward, had been in the town for over 30 years, originally as Great Universal Stores but now known as GUS plc.

Modern economic developments have been industrial estates and business parks with the following currently in Burnley: Heasandford, Rossendale Road, and Healeywood Industrial Estates; Network 65, Shuttleworth Mead, Smallshaw & Chestnut, Elm Street, and Gannow Business Parks; and Burnham Gate Trading Estate. A further large business park called Burnley Bridge, on a site near Hapton formerly belonging to Hepworth Plastics has recently opened.

Key manufacturing employers today are in highly specialised fields: Safran Aircelle (aerospace), GE subsidiary Unison Engine Components (aerospace), AMS Neve (professional audio), and TRW Automotive and Futaba-Tenneco UK (automotive components). In 2011 Gardner Aerospace, which made parts for the Eurofighter Typhoon, closed its site, with the loss of 120 jobs. The town has also had a long association with Endsleigh Insurance Services, providing its main training facility and an important call centre. Endsleigh acquired a number of the former Burnley Building Society's properties in the town centre following its merger with the Provincial Building Society and subsequent merger with the Abbey National. It also hosts the head office of The Original Factory Shop chain. In 2004, the Lancashire Digital Technology Centre was opened by Sir Digby Jones on land formerly occupied by the Michelin factory, to provide support and incubation space for start-up technology companies. The rest of the Michelin site has recently been opened as Innovation Drive, a new business park aimed at businesses in the Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing supply chain.

Continuing the town's historic association with fabric weaving is Ian Mankin Ltd, a company which manufactures high quality, natural woven fabrics and furnishings using only natural, recycled or certified organic fibres, at Ashfield Mill, Active Way, Burnley BB11 1BS, on the northern edge of the Weavers' Triangle. The company also supplies fabrics to the Landmark Trust for use in their restoration of historic buildings across the UK.

Burnley's main shopping area is St James Street, along with the nearby Charter Walk Shopping Centre. The YMCA claimed to have opened the largest charity shop in the UK in 2009, when they temporarily took over the former Woolworths store in the centre. The shopping centre was sold in 2001 by Great Portland Estates to Sapphire Retail Fund, which was 50% owned by the Reuben Brothers. The centre was bought in March 2011 by Addington Capital following the 2010 collapse of Sapphire Retail Fund. The centre incorporates the council-run market which is open four days a week.

The town centre is home to a large number of high street multiples, along with other shops, including specialist food shops, independent record shops and an independent bookshop. On the edge of the town centre, there are four retail parks; there are also a number of mill shops. Plans have been in place since 2004 to construct a second town centre shopping centre, originally called 'The Oval'. By the time a sufficient number of tenants had signed up to begin construction, the effects of the financial crisis cast doubts over the project. In early 2011 fresh plans were released for a considerably smaller scheme involving a cluster of retail units. The site is now earmarked for a cinema and restaurants and is due to open in 2016 As well as Woolworths, the financial crisis has also led to the closure of several other shops in the last few years, including T J Hughes, Miss Selfridge, and HMV but has gained new high street names in large retail units including Next and River Island. The Market Square is currently under redevelopment with a number of retailers already moved in and more said to be 'signed up' to move in once the development is complete.

As well as traditional motor dealerships, the town is home to the second Motorpoint car supermarket in the UK.

The local brewery, Moorhouse's, which was founded in 1865, produces a range of award-winning beers – including the very popular Pride of Pendle and Blond Witch – and currently operates six pubs in the area. The Worsthorne Brewing Company produces a number of cask ales including Chestnut Mare, Packhorse, Foxstones Bitter, Some Like It Blonde, Old Trout, Collier's Clog and Winter Ales. The Moonstone Brewery is operated within the "Ministry of Ale", Burnley's first Brewpub. Reedley Hallows Brewery, whose ales include Old Laund Booth and Pendleside was launched in 2012 by the former Head Brewer at Moorhouses.

Religion

St Peter's Church, around which the town developed, dates from the 15th century, and is designated a Grade II* listed building by English Heritage. St Andrew's Church on Colne Road was built in 1866–67, to a design by J. Medland Taylor, and was restored in 1898 by the Lancaster architects Austin and Paley. It is designated a Grade II listed building. There are many other places of worship including those for Roman Catholics, Baptists, United Reformed Church, Methodists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Latter-Day Saints and Spiritualists.

The chapel at Towneley Hall was the centre for Roman Catholic worship in Burnley until modern times. Well before the Industrial Revolution, the town saw the emergence of many non-conformist churches and chapels. In 1891 the town was the location of the meeting which saw the creation of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland.

Burnley has ten mosques, with the first purpose-built premises opening in 2009. A total of 17 religious buildings or structures are designated as listed buildings – all Grade II by English Heritage.

Landmarks

Leeds and Liverpool Canal
Along the Burnley section of the canal are a number of notable features. The  long and up to  high almost perfectly level embankment, known as the Straight Mile, was built between 1796 and 1801 (before the invention of the steam shovel), to avoid the need for locks. It is regarded as one of the original seven wonders of the British waterways. The much more modern (1980) Whittlefield motorway aqueduct is believed to be the first time a canal aqueduct was constructed over a motorway in the UK.

Weavers' Triangle
The Weavers' Triangle is an area west of Burnley town centre, consisting mostly of 19th-century industrial buildings, clustered around the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The area has been identified as being of significant historical interest as the cotton mills and associated buildings encapsulate the social and economic development of the town and its weaving industry. From the 1980s, the area has been the focus of major redevelopment efforts.

Singing Ringing Tree

The Singing Ringing Tree is a wind powered sound sculpture resembling a tree, set in the landscape of the Pennines,  south of Burnley town centre.

Completed in 2006, it is part of the series of four sculptures within the Panopticons arts and regeneration project created by the East Lancashire Environmental Arts Network (ELEAN). The project was set up to erect a series of 21st-century landmarks, or Panopticons (structures providing a comprehensive view), across East Lancashire as symbols of the renaissance of the area.

Designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu, the Singing Ringing Tree is a  tall construction comprising pipes of galvanised steel, which harness the energy of the wind to produce a slightly discordant and penetrating choral sound covering a range of several octaves. Some of the pipes are primarily structural and aesthetic elements, while others have been cut across their width enabling the sound. The harmonic and singing qualities of the tree were produced by tuning the pipes according to their length by adding holes to the underside of each.

In 2007 the sculpture was one of 14 winners of the National Award of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for architectural excellence.

Towneley Hall

Towneley Hall was the home of the Towneley family for more than 500 years. Various family members were influential in the scientific, technological and religious developments which took place in the 17th and 18th centuries. The male line of the family died out in 1878 and in 1901 one of the daughters, Lady O'Hagan, sold the house together with  of land to Burnley Corporation.
The hall contains the 15th-century Whalley Abbey vestments and has its own chapel, which contains a finely carved altarpiece made in Antwerp in about 1525.

Transport

Burnley is served by Junctions 9, 10 and 11 of the M65 motorway, which runs west to Accrington, Blackburn and Preston (where it connects to the M6), and northeast to Nelson and Colne. From the town centre, the A646 runs to Todmorden, the A679 to Accrington, the A671 to Clitheroe, and the A682 (a nearby rural section of which has been classified as Britain's most dangerous road) south to Rawtenstall and north east to Nelson and the Yorkshire Dales.  The A56 dual carriageway skirts the western edge of the town, linking to the M66 motorway heading towards Manchester and the M62.

Rail services to and from Burnley are provided by Northern. The town has four railway stations: Burnley Manchester Road, Burnley Central, Burnley Barracks and Rose Grove. A fifth station, Hapton, serves Padiham and Hapton to the west of the town, but inside the borough. Manchester Road station has an hourly semi-fast service west to Preston (the nearest station on the West Coast Main Line) and Blackpool North, and east to Leeds and York, whilst the Central and Barracks stations provide an hourly stopping service west to Blackpool South and Preston, and east to Nelson and Colne.

In May 2015, a direct train service to Manchester and onwards to Wigan Wallgate was reinstated. This provides a direct route to Manchester Victoria for the first time in over fifty years with the construction of a short section of track at the Hall Royd Junction of the Caldervale Line (known as the Todmorden curve). This has reduced the journey time between Burnley and central Manchester from around 1 hour and 25 minutes via Blackburn and Bolton and 1 hour and 4 minutes via Hebden Bridge to approximately 45 minutes via Todmorden and Rochdale where Metrolink tram connections via Oldham are possible. In preparation for this new direct service a new Manchester Road station building including a ticket office and waiting rooms has recently been completed, which has made Manchester Road the new principal station for the town

Burnley bus station, designed by Manchester-based SBS Architects, won the UK Bus Award for Infrastructure in 2003. The main bus operator is Burnley Bus Company, with Tyrer Bus operating some tendered town services. Other services are provided by First West Yorkshire (591/592 to Halifax), Blackburn Bus Company (152 to Preston) and Rosso (483 to Bury). National Express operates three coach services to London each day, and one to Birmingham. The X43 Witch Way service (operated by Burnley Bus Company) runs from Burnley to Manchester via Rawtenstall and Prestwich using a fleet of specially branded double-decker buses. The fastest journey takes about an hour.

Burnley does not have an airport, but there are four international airports within an hour's travel of the town: Manchester Airport at , Liverpool John Lennon Airport at , Leeds Bradford Airport at , and Blackpool Airport at .

Since 2009, the Reedley Marina has provided a 100-berth facility, on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal on the northern edge of town.

Sport

The town's sporting scene is dominated by Burnley Football Club, nicknamed "The Clarets" and founded in 1882. They were one of the first to become professional (in 1883), and subsequently put pressure on the Football Association to permit payments to players. In 1888, Burnley were one of the 12 founder members of the Football League. From the 1950s until the 1970s, under chairman Bob Lord, the club became renowned for its youth policy and scouting system, and was one of the first to set up a purpose-built training ground (Gawthorpe). The team currently compete in the English Premier League, the first tier of English football.

The club has played its home matches at Turf Moor since 1883, with average attendances of 20,000 in the Premier League. The club is well supported in the town, and is one of the best supported sides in English football per capita. Burnley have been champions of England twice, in 1920–21 and 1959–60, have won the FA Cup once, in 1913–14, and have won the FA Charity Shield twice, in 1960 and 1973. When the team won the 1959–60 Football League, the town of Burnley became one of the smallest to have an English first tier champion. It is one of only five English league clubs to have been champions of all four professional league divisions (along with Wolverhampton Wanderers, Preston North End, Sheffield United and Portsmouth).

There are two members of the Lancashire Cricket League in the town. Burnley Cricket Club play their home matches at Turf Moor, their ground being adjacent to the football ground, while Lowerhouse Cricket Club play at Liverpool Road. England Cricketer James Anderson started his career at Burnley Cricket Club and TV weatherman John Kettley used to play for them.

Burnley is also home to Burnley Rugby Club (formerly Calder Vale Rugby Club 1926–2001). They field three senior sides, with teams at most junior age groups, and play at Holden Road, the site of Belvedere and Calder Vale Sports Club.

Rugby League is represented in the town by Burnley and Pendle Lions RLFC. They train and play their home games at Prairie Sports Village. They are in the North West Men's Merit League.

Burnley Tornados is the American Football club in the town.

Burnley held greyhound racing and speedway at Towneley Stadium, that existed from 1927 until 1935.

Burnley has good public sporting facilities for a town of its size. The £29m St Peter's Centre (opened in 2006) offers swimming, squash courts and a fitness suite, while the nearby Spirit of Sport complex includes a large sports hall, and several indoor courts and outdoor synthetic pitches. There is an outdoor athletics track at Barden Lane, where the Burnley Athletic Club meets. For golfers, there are both 9-hole and 18-hole municipal golf courses at Towneley Park, along with an 18-hole pitch and putt course. Burnley Golf Club have a private course, established in 1905 above the town in Habergham Eaves. There are tennis courts at Towneley Park, and at the Burnley Lawn Tennis Club, as well as eleven bowling greens around the town, and a £235,000 skate park at Queens Park, which opened in 2003. There are also basketball, caving and judo clubs in the town.  In 2001, the private Crow Wood Leisure Centre was established in countryside on the edge of the town, offering a combination of fitness facilities, racquet and equestrian sports. In 2013 Crow Wood opened its own day Spa, the Woodland Spa, which was named Day Spa of the Year at the Professional Beauty Awards 2014, just one year after opening.

Culture and entertainment

Museums and galleries
On the outskirts of the town there are galleries in two stately homes, the Burnley council-owned Towneley Hall and Gawthorpe Hall in Padiham, which is owned by Lancashire County Council and managed by the National Trust. There are also two local museums: the Weavers' Triangle Trust operates the Visitor Centre and Museum of Local History in the historic surroundings of the Weavers' Triangle, while the Queen Street Mill Textile Museum is unique as the world's only surviving steam driven cotton weaving shed.

Mid Pennine Arts were instrumental in the Panopticons project and run exhibitions and creative learning projects across the town and wider area.

Parks
There are several large parks in the town, including Towneley Park, once the deer park for the 15th century Towneley Hall, and three winners of the Green Flag Award, Queens Park which hosts a summer season of brass band concerts each year, and Thompson Park which has a boating lake and miniature railway. The other parks include Scott Park, Ightenhill Park and Thursby Gardens. A greenway route linking Burnley Central Station along a former mineral line and incorporating the former Bank Hall colliery and reclaimed landfill site at Heasandford extends out of the town towards Worsthorne at Rowley Lake. The lake was constructed in the 1980s as a means to divert the river Brun away from former mine workings that were causing significant pollution of the river.

Activities

There is a modern 24-lane ten pin bowling centre on Finsley Gate, operated by 1st Bowl. A 9-screen multiplex cinema opened in 1995 (with 3 3D screens as of 2010), operated by Reel Cinemas. The town's theatre, named after its former use as a Mechanics Institute, hosts touring comedians and musical acts and amateur dramatics. In 2005, Burnley Youth Theatre moved into a second, purpose-built £1.5 million performance space next to Queen's Park, one of only two purpose-built youth theatres in the UK.

Festivals
Each year Burnley hosts the two-day Burnley International Rock and Blues Festival, which started as the Burnley National Blues Festival in 1988. The renamed festival moved from Easter to the early May Bank Holiday. The festival introduced a new logo, website and branding in a bid to attract new and younger audiences, and to encourage cross-town participation with a 'Little America' theme. It is one of the largest blues festivals in the country, drawing fans from all over Britain and beyond to venues spread across the town. In the 1970s the town was also an important venue for Northern soul and several local pubs still hold regular Northern soul nights. In recent years the town has also hosted the annual Burnley Balloon Festival in Towneley Park and a science festival at UCLan's local university campus. A funfair is usually held around the second weekend in July at Fulledge Recreation Ground, which is also the venue for the town's main Guy Fawkes Night celebration.

Nightlife

Major bars and nightclubs in Burnley include Panama's, Genesis, Projekt, BB11, Koko's, the Mix, Pharaoh's, The Jungle, Mr Green's, Mojitos, Remedy, Smackwater Jack's Bar, Inside-Out and Sanctuary Rock Bar. There are also chain-owned bars, such as Wetherspoons and Walkabout. Lava & Ignite, which was a leading nightclub, closed in 2014.

Curzon Street in Burnley was also the site of the legendary Angels nightclub.

Burnley has a small gay scene, centred on the Guys as Dolls showbar in St James Street. In 1971 the granting of a licence to the town's first gay club, The Esquire, caused considerable controversy, with Tory deputy council leader, Alderman Frank Bailey, suggesting that the building be bought by the corporation to stop the plan. A rainbow plaque was unveiled at Burnley Library on 30 July 2021 marking the 50th anniversary of a meeting organised by the Campaign for Homosexual Equality regarding the gay club.

Bénédictine and hot water, known locally as "Bene 'n' Hot" is a popular drink in east Lancashire, after soldiers stationed in Normandy during the First World War brought back a taste for the drink. The Burnley Miners' Club is the world's largest consumer of the French liqueur, and has its own Bénédictine Lounge.

Media
Local radio for Burnley and its surrounding area is currently provided by Capital Manchester and Lancashire (formerly 2BR) and BBC Radio Lancashire.

Local television news programmes are BBC North West Tonight and ITV Granada Reports.

There are two local newspapers: the Burnley Express, published on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the daily Lancashire Telegraph, which publishes a local edition for Burnley and Pendle. Two free advertisement-supported newspapers, The Citizen and The Reporter, are posted to homes throughout the town.

Burnley was one of seven sites chosen to be part of Channel 4's The Big Art project in which a group of 15 young people from all over the town commissioned artist Greyworld to create a piece of public art. The artwork, named "Invisible", is a series of UV paintings placed all around the town centre displaying public heroes.

Appearance in television and cinema
Parts of the 1961 British film Whistle Down the Wind, and the two BBC television series All Quiet on the Preston Front and Juliet Bravo, were filmed in the town. Burnley Fire Station was the location of Social Services in the first series of Juliet Bravo, and Burnley Library was used for exterior shots of the magistrates' court in the series. Numerous locations in the town were used in the 1996–1998 BBC comedy drama Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. Ashfield Road, which runs between the Burnley College and DIY superstore, was used as a film location in the 1951 film The Man in the White Suit.

Queen Street Mill textile museum was used for a scene in the 2010 Oscar-winning film The King's Speech, and for scenes in the 2004 BBC dramatisation of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, as well as Life on Mars (S1 E3; 2006). It has also featured in the following BBC documentaries:  Fred Dibnah's Industrial Age (E2; 1999), Adam Hart-Davies' What the Victorians Did for Us (E1; 2001), and Jeremy Paxman's The Victorians (2009), as well as Who Do You Think You Are? (Bill Oddie episode), Flog It and UKTV History's The Re-Inventors (2006).

Towneley Hall featured in the BBC comedy drama Casanova (2005) and the BBC antiques quiz Antiques Master is currently filmed there.

The canal embankment featured in the 2007 ITV documentary Locks and Quays (S2 E9) and two families in Burnley have been featured in the ITV series 60 Minute Makeover (S6 E28 and S7 E70).

In 2023 Netflix released a comedy "Bank of Dave" billed as a true-ish story of a Burnley's businessman David Fishwick, who in 2011 opened 'Burnley Savings & Loans' trading under the slogan 'Bank on Dave'.

Education

Burnley Grammar School was first established in St Peter's Church in 1559, with its first headmaster a former chantry priest, Gilbert Fairbank. In 1602, one of the governors, John Towneley, paid for a new schoolhouse to be built in the churchyard; the school moved again in 1876 to a new building on Bank Parade, which can still be seen today. The first technical school, in Elizabeth Street, was erected in 1892. The equivalent school for girls, Burnley Girls' High School, was established in 1909 on a site in Ormerod Road (along with the Technical School and Art School) later moving to Kiddrow Lane in the 1960s. The tripartite system of Education established by the Education Act 1944 affected Burnley in the following ways: Heasandford Technical High School for Girls and Towneley Technical High School for Boys were established (Burnley Technical High School was formed in 1956 by the merger of the two), as were Barden, Burnley Wood, Rosegrove & St. Mary's (Roman Catholic) Secondary Modern Schools.

The borough completed the move to comprehensive education in 1981.

Secondary Schools: Habergham (mixed), Ivy Bank (mixed), Gawthorpe (mixed), Towneley (mixed), Barden (boys), Walshaw (girls), St Theodores RC (boys), St Hilda's RC (Girls).

Further education: Habergham and St Theodores Sixth Forms and Burnley College (all mixed).

In 2003 a plan was devised to replace all the secondary schools in the town as part of the first wave of a nationwide programme funded by the Department for Education and Skills called Building Schools for the Future. Funding was secured in 2004 and in 2006 the new schools opened (in the buildings of their predecessors).

Today there are still five 11–16 secondary schools:

Shuttleworth College moved into new buildings in 2008, Sir John Thursby in 2009, and Blessed Trinity, Hameldon and Unity in 2010.

Thomas Whitham Sixth Form, which forms a sixth element of the BSF programme, offers sixth form provision at its Burnley campus (opened 2008) on Barden Lane.

University Technical College Lancashire is a university technical college for 14- to 19-year-olds that opened in Burnley in September 2013. Burnley High School is a free school for 11- to 19-year-olds that opened in Burnley in September 2014.

Burnley College has its heritage in the mid 19th century and is the borough's main tertiary education (post 16) provider, offering a comprehensive range of 40 A Levels, a range of advanced vocational courses and professional training. Apprenticeship courses provided over 1000 local apprenticeship places in 2013, within businesses across Pennine Lancashire. Burnley College in partnership with the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan Burnley) also provides adult education and 70 degree courses.

Burnley College moved to a new £80 million campus, (in partnership with the University of Central Lancashire), off Princess Way in 2009. It achieved 'outstanding' status in that year's OFSTED inspection. The inspection awarded the College 54 out of 54 areas grade one status.

The Mohiuddin Trust charity subsequently purchased the former College site for £2m, and opened the Mohiuddin International Girls' College in October 2010.

Attainment
The town's educational attainment has continued to improve over the last few years. In 2012, 82% of children at the end of Key Stage 2 achieved Level 4 or above in English and 81% in Mathematics.

In 2012 59% of students at the end of Key Stage 4 achieved A*-C grades or above at GCSE and in 2012 Burnley College reported a 99.8% A Level pass rate and a record number of A and A* grades.

People

Art
Keith Coventry, the winner of the 2010 John Moores Painting Prize, was born and educated in the town. The watercolourist Noel Leaver studied and also taught at the former Burnley School of Art, later attended by Greta Tomlinson.

Entertainment
Possibly the best-known Burnley figure in the field of entertainment is actor Ian McKellen, who was born in the town in 1939. There is a blue plaque on the house where he lived, but where he says he was not born. Other actors born in the town include J. Pat O'Malley, Mary Mackenzie, Irene Sutcliffe, Julia Haworth, Richard Moore, Jody Latham, Kathy Jamieson, Hannah Hobley, Natalie Gumede and Lee Ingleby. Coronation Street regular Malcolm Hebden grew up in the town. Screenwriter Paul Abbott, creator of Shameless, and television producer and executive Peter Salmon were also born here.

Musicians born in the town include Danbert Nobacon, Alice Nutter, Lou Watts and Boff Whalley (all of Chumbawamba), Eric Haydock (bassist in The Hollies), classical composer John Pickard, the DJ Anne Savage, Record Producer Ady Hall of Sugar House, young soprano Hollie Steel. and singer Cody Frost.

The 19th-century author and clergyman Silas K. Hocking wrote his most famous work, Her Benny (1879), while living in Burnley. Crime writer Stephen Booth is another native of the town, as are journalist and broadcaster Tony Livesey and author and documentary maker Stewart Binns.

Politics and the church
David Waddington, Lord Waddington of Read (former Conservative Home Secretary and former Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords), Phil Willis, Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate & Knaresborough, and the diplomat Sir Vincent Fean were born in Burnley, as was the 16th-century Catholic martyr Robert Nutter, and the 17th-century Catholic martyr Thomas Whittaker. Suffragettes Margaret Aldersley was born in Burnley in 1852 while Ada Nield Chew died in the town in 1945.

Military
James Yorke Scarlett, commander of the Heavy Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava, was married to a Hargreaves coal heiress and lived at Bank Hall. 2nd Lieutenant Hugh Colvin VC and Private Thomas Whitham VC both served during World War I.

Science and industry
Engineer Sir Willis Jackson was born and educated in the town. James Drake, a pioneer of British motorways, was also born here. 17th-century mathematician Sir Jonas Moore was from Higham but is believed to have been educated at the Grammar School. Moore's contemporary, Richard Towneley, pioneered many scientific and technological developments at Towneley Hall. Scottish cardiology pioneer Sir James Mackenzie lived and practised medicine in the town for more than a quarter of a century. The Lasker Award-winning molecular biologist Edwin Southern, inventor of the Southern blot, was born and raised in Burnley.

Sport
Burnley's sporting figures include England and Lancashire cricketer James Anderson, former England international footballers Jimmy Crabtree, Billy Bannister, and Jay Rodriguez, Northern Ireland international Oliver Norwood, Pakistan international Adnan Ahmed, former England Women's goalkeeper Rachel Brown, ex-Manchester United player Chris Casper, Commonwealth Games Gold Medal-winning gymnast Craig Heap. Supercars Championship driver Fabian Coulthard, second cousin of Formula One driver David Coulthard, was born in Burnley along with Neil Hodgson, 2003 World Superbike champion. Also long-time Burnley F.C. chairman Bob Lord, football pioneer Jimmy Hogan (who grew up in the town), football manager Harry Bradshaw, handball player Holly Lam-Moores, middleweight boxer Jock McAvoy, World Rally Championship navigator Daniel Barritt, and hammer thrower Sophie Hitchon.

See also
 Pendelfin, a Burnley-based stoneware company named after Pendle Hill
 Collieries in the Burnley area of Lancashire
 List of mining disasters in Lancashire

References
Footnotes

Bibliography

 Brian Hall & Ken Spencer, Burnley: A Pictorial History, Phillimore, 1993,
 Guy Rickards, "Icarus Soaring: The Music of John Pickard" in Tempo, n.s., 201 (July 1997), pp. 2–5
 Kev Roberts, Northern Soul Top 500, Goldmine Publications, 2000,

Further reading
 Walter Bennett, The History of Burnley, 4 vols., Burnley Corporation, 1946–1951
 Ken Bolton & Roger Frost, Burnley, Francis Frith, 2006
 Mike Townend, Burnley, Tempus Publishing, 2004
 Mike Townend, Burnley Revisited, Tempus Publishing, 2006

External links

General information
 Burnley Borough Council Official council site
 Visit Burnley Official tourism site

Maps and photographs
 Ordnance Survey Map of Eastern Burnley in 1890
 Ordnance Survey Map of Western Burnley in 1890
 Ordnance Survey Map of Burnley in 1910
 Ordnance Survey Map of Burnley in 1953–55
 Photographs of Burnley at Geograph (UK)
 Burnley in 2007 | Photographs of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in Burnley
 Image Burnley

Towns in Lancashire
Market towns in Lancashire
Unparished areas in Lancashire
Former civil parishes in Lancashire

Burnley


The City National Bank Building, located at 1001 McKinney Avenue in Houston, Texas, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 3, 2000.

Description and history
The firm of Alfred C. Finn designed the building for City National Bank in 1947. City National Bank was the name of the Houston bank which descended from Guaranty Trust Company, the original bank founded by James Anderson Elkins, Sr. in 1924.

When the building first opened, the bank leased the retail frontage to Corrigan's Jewelry, while the bank occupied the rest of the ground space, but with ceilings raised to a third floor elevation. The bank also let 19 floors of the upper floors as office space. The top two floors are reserved for the building's infrastructure. The McKinney Street side of the building takes the whole block running from Main Street to Fannin Street, running 250 feet along that side. Instead of a rectangular profile, the top floors form the smallest tier, and each tier grows broader until the building's base, which occupies the whole lot. The Main Street side of the building has a narrow profile. The building also featured modern infrastructure, including eight high-speed elevators, and a kind of modular flooring which hid the conduits.

The City National Bank Building leased almost all of its space by the time it had opened. Among it tenants were well-known national companies such as Braniff, DuPont, Humble Oil (later known as Exxon), Monsanto, and Phillips Petroleum. A local radio station, KPRC, transmitted from the 23rd floor.

City National Bank operated out of the ground floor lobby for about a decade.

A parking garage was added in 1999, which is attached to the original building via a skyway at the 6th floor. The building has direct access to the Houston underground pedestrian system.

See also
 National Register of Historic Places listings in Harris County, Texas

References

External links

1946 establishments in Texas
Alfred C. Finn buildings
Bank buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas
Buildings and structures in Houston
Moderne architecture in Texas
National Register of Historic Places in Houston
Office buildings completed in 1946

City National Bank Building (Houston)


Mario Raskin (born 1952) is an Argentine harpsichordist.  He was born in Buenos Aires and lives in Paris, France.

Background

Raskin was born in Buenos Aires, and studied music at the National Conservatory of Buenos Aires. He developed an interest in the harpsichord and chose it early in his studies as his primary instrument. He also studied harmony, counterpoint, analysis and composition. He was a fellow of the Fundación Bariloche, where he received instruction from Monica Cosachov.

In 1978 he met Rafael Puyana in Buenos Aires and was offered an internship at the Festival of Granada and Saint Jacques de Compostela. He then moved to Paris to continue his training with the Colombian harpsichordist. In 1980, during a workshop given by Kenneth Gilbert and Scott Ross, he was invited to continue his studies at Laval University in Quebec, and he went on to obtain a Masters in Performance from Laval University in 1983.

Music career

After completing his studies, Raskin returned to Paris in 1983 to pursue a career as a harpsichord soloist and chamber musician. He has recently performed recitals and conducted master classes in Skopje and Buenos Aires. He has also appeared in Montreal, Barcelona, Alcala de Henares, Malta, Brussels and in several cities in France.  He became the first Argentine harpsichordist to participate in the Festival van Vlaanderen competition in Bruges.

With harpsichordist Oscar Milani, Raskin has formed a duo that records and performs regularly in concert. Part of their program includes transcripts of works by Piazzolla and Bach performed on two harpsichords.

Raskin teaches harpsichord at the music school at Joinville-le-Pont. He was also the artistic director of "Season Montsoreau Musical" (Maine et Loire), created in 1996, for seven years.

Raskin has recorded works by Duphly, Forqueray, Soler, Bach, Boutmy, Royer and Tangos by Piazzolla for two harpsichords.

References

Living people
Argentine emigrants to France
Argentine classical pianists
French harpsichordists
21st-century classical pianists
1952 births

Mario Raskin