#East Somerset Railway

[guerrerense]

Cranmore Somerset por Anthony Plowman Por Flickr: 5786 was built by the Great Western Railway in 1930 and, unlike many of its siblings, didn’t get scrapped by British Railways, but was sold on to The London Transport Passenger Board. 5786 is one of over 800 57xx Pannier Tank locomotives built. They were used mainly for heavy shunting, short-distance goods and branch line passenger duties. Built at Swindon, 5786 entered service in January 1930 at Aberdare shed. 5786 remained in South Wales throughout its life with the GWR and BR(W). Its last depot was Cardiff Canton. In 1958 it was overhauled at Swindon and transferred to London Transport where it was painted Maroon and numbered L92. The next eleven years were spent working maintenance trains, goods traffic and shunting from Lille Bridge and Neasdon Depots.

[askyoungiron]

This one goes out to all the 9f’s out there who wish to answer and because they should get some love too.

What was it like during the 1950s up until the end of steam?

Was there a “leader/s�� of your class like SirNigel or Pretty Polly was?

Finally what was the Franco-Crosti boilers like?

BLACK PRINCE: Hello there. Thank you for the question. I'll answer this question for you unless you were hoping for another of my classes to answer for you.

The end of steam was filled with anxiety and backstabbing. Many engines turned on each other because in those days if you came up with a fault there was a high chance that you would be written off and sent to the scrapyard.

Many engines sold others out, even their siblings for the chance to be preserved. Previously nice engines turned desperate and vicious all for a chance to be preserved. My little Sister, Evening Star, was preserved off the production line and she was bullied into selective mutism.

Yes, there were leaders of almost every class and I am proud to say that I was the leader of the 9fs. That does not say much as I allowed Evening Star to be bullied.

Franco-Crosti boilers are the only boilers to have. Why settle for less than the best?

[frankendykes-monster]

Railway owner Canadian Pacific Kansas City is leading cleanup and track repairs following a freight train derailment and fire in Maine that sent three railway workers to the hospital for treatment, officials said Sunday.

The three workers were treated and released Saturday after three locomotive engines and six train cars carrying lumber and electrical wiring went off the track in Somerset County, officials said.

The locomotives and four derailed lumber cars caught fire. Two derailed cars carrying the flammable liquids ethanol and pentamethylheptane, both classified as hazardous materials, escaped the fire and no chemicals spilled, said C. Doniele Carlson, spokesperson for Canadian Pacific Kansas City.

Canadian Pacific Kansas City, created by a merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern that was completed Friday, is leading cleanup, salvage and repair, working with state agencies and local fire and rescue, said Jim Britt from the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Workers were removing derailed locomotives and rail cars, cleaning up crash debris and repairing the rail line. It was unclear how long the process would take.

Derailments and railroad safety have been a growing concern nationwide since the fiery Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment outside East Palestine, Ohio, that forced evacuations and created lingering health concerns because of the chemicals released.

Maine officials said Sunday there was no public threat and no evacuations.

The railway and the state blamed the derailment on a washout. But the Federal Railroad Administration, which sent an inspector to the site, suggested it will be weeks before full details of the accident are released.

[jobey-wan-kenobi]

i'm at 4500...

the GWR 4500 class was a development of the 4400 class. altogether, they were all called "Small Prairies" ("Prairies" are 2-6-2s, the way that 4-6-2s are Pacifics)

the 4500s were mixed-traffic tank engines, mostly used on branch lines

these were Churchward engines, first produced in 1904, and the first batch are significant because they were the last engines built at Stafford Works in Wolverhampton

one of these engines from 1904 was not withdrawn until 1963. it would be the last Wolverhampton engine in service.

there were 5 batches of 4500s all told. the last batch was produced under Collett's tenure. they were all withdrawn by 1964

they had Swag. at least, Swag of the Gangly Churchward Variety

45°-angled smokebox supports and outside cylinders ftw

three have been preserved. two of them (4561 and 4566) were rescued from Barry's and restored to running order, although at the moment both are in overhaul or waiting for one. 4555 returned to steam in 2020 and is on a three-year loan to the East Somerset Railway

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.8 (after 1960)

1960 – In Huntsville, Alabama, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1). 1962 – Last run of the famous Pines Express over the Somerset and Dorset Railway line (UK) fittingly using the last steam locomotive built by British Railways, BR Standard Class 9F 92220 Evening Star. 1966 – The landmark American science fiction television series Star Trek premieres with its first-aired episode, "The Man Trap". 1970 – Trans International Airlines Flight 863 crashes during takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, killing all 11 aboard. 1971 – In Washington, D.C., the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inaugurated, with the opening feature being the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass. 1973 – World Airways Flight 802 crashes into Mount Dutton in King Cove, Alaska, killing six people. 1974 – Watergate scandal: US President Gerald Ford signs the pardon of Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office. 1975 – Gays in the military: US Air Force Tech Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, appears in his Air Force uniform on the cover of Time magazine with the headline "I Am A Homosexual". He is given a general discharge, later upgraded to honorable. 1978 – Black Friday, a massacre by soldiers against protesters in Tehran, results in 88 deaths, it marks the beginning of the end of the monarchy in Iran. 1986 – Nicholas Daniloff, a correspondent for U.S. News & World Report, is indicted on charges of espionage by the Soviet Union. 1988 – Yellowstone National Park is closed for the first time in U.S. history due to ongoing fires. 1989 – Partnair Flight 394 dives into the North Sea, killing 55 people. The investigation showed that the tail of the plane vibrated loose in flight due to sub-standard connecting bolts that had been fraudulently sold as aircraft-grade. 1994 – USAir Flight 427, on approach to Pittsburgh International Airport, suddenly crashes in clear weather killing all 132 aboard, resulting in the most extensive aviation investigation in world history and altering manufacturing practices in the industry. 2000 – NASA launches Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-106 to resupply the International Space Station. 2004 – NASA's uncrewed spacecraft Genesis crash-lands when its parachute fails to open. 2005 – Two Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft from EMERCOM land at a disaster aid staging area at Little Rock Air Force Base; the first time Russia has flown such a mission to North America. 2016 – NASA launches OSIRIS-REx, its first asteroid sample return mission. The probe will visit 101955 Bennu and is expected to return with samples in 2023. 2017 – Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announce the beginning of the Deir ez-Zor campaign, with the stated aim of eliminating the Islamic State (IS) from all areas north and east of the Euphrates. 2022 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom dies at Balmoral Castle in Scotland after reigning for 70 years. Her son Charles, Prince of Wales, ascends the throne upon her death as Charles III. 2023 – A magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes Morocco, killing nearly 3,000 people and damaging historic sites in Marrakesh.

[swooptaxi]

How to Travel Into Bath City Centre (Without Paying for Parking)

Whether you live or work in Bath, or regularly travel to the city centre, you’ll know that our beautiful city isn’t the best for public transport.

With the arrival of the Clean Air Zone, it’s become a little trickier for travellers (particularly businesses) who need to get to Bath but aren’t keen on paying inflated parking charges or emission zone penalties.

Now, we’re clearly going to favour our innovative, budget-friendly Swoop ride-hailing service, but to give you an informed view of the options, we’ll cover here all the ways to travel to Bath!

Why Is Bath Parking and Public Transport So Bad?

There are two big questions here (which we hope to have answered!), but the reality is that Bath, as great a city as it is to live in, simply isn’t large enough to warrant a comprehensive public transport system or any real expansion on the city centre roads.

Even though Bath is the second most visited city tourist destination nationwide, there are only around 100,000 residents when the summer has passed.

That’s about a fifth of neighbouring Bristol, which makes it very hard to attract big-name ride-hailing apps or taxi firms to the city, with such a lucrative, higher populated cousin right around the corner!

However, if you need to get to college, uni, work, or one of our world-famous attractions, there are several options.

Parking in Bath City Centre

If you look hard enough, you might be lucky to snag a free parking space, although they’re only available between 8 pm and 8 am (you’ll be very fortunate to find any free daytime parking!).

 Visitors and workers can use Broad Street, Avon Street, Charlotte Street or Manvers Street car parks for free, but that’s only applicable if you work a night shift.

Street parking is even more unusual, but you might be able to locate a space on Cleveland Walk (about 0.8 miles from the centre) or Milton Avenue (0.9 miles) – that’s around a 20-minute walk, so fine if you have comfy shoes, but not so suitable for many.

The issue with street parking is that it’s equally only free during unsociable hours – mostly from 7 pm to 8 am or only on Sundays; not quite so handy if you have a meeting to get to!

Spending a day sightseeing gets pretty expensive if you’re paying £15 or above for parking (plus fuel), and some of the short-stay car parks don’t permit you to keep your car there for over four or six hours, so choose wisely!

You can review all the up-to-date parking charges via the Bath & North East Somerset Council website.

Travelling to Bath by Train

Our next option is to take the train – almost certainly your go-to if you are visiting from further afield!

The downside is that you have one choice and one only – Bath Spa.

Only one railway travels here (Great Western) although you can travel from London Paddington, Portsmouth Harbour and Cardiff Central.

There are also tons of connections with Bristol, so Bath acts as a stop-gap because you can be in Bristol in about ten minutes, delays and cancellations notwithstanding.

Unfortunately, train travel is only possible if you’re coming from elsewhere outside the city; there are no intra-city trains or metros, connection routes or tubes, so it’s impossible to get into Bath by train without needing an onward solution.

If you’re interested in walking, it’s only about half a mile into the centre, which takes around ten minutes depending on the weather and where you’re heading.

Coach Travel Into Bath

The other potential option is to use the National Express coach system, with the bus station relatively close to the train station, but the same limitations apply.

You can take a coach from Bristol, Reading, Exeter, Plymouth or London Victoria, but it’ll take several hours longer than a train, and you’ll still need to take a walk or taxi to get to the city centre.

Booking a Cab Into Bath City Centre

Our most convenient option is to order a taxi, but there is a huge demand for a small number of cab companies (you won’t find the likes of Uber or Lyft in such a small city!).

The Fare Car service is a great choice for budget-conscious travellers.

Still, it is massively limited, with bookings required by a cut-off and only one route and drop-off and pick-up point, which makes it suitable only for people who happen to live or work in the immediate vicinity and along the route.

Over the last two years, a shortage of experienced local drivers, closure of cab firms and ever-inflating prices have made it difficult to take a taxi in Bath.

If you’re a regular visitor, you’ll be familiar with the lengthy taxi rank queues that don’t bode well if you’re on a time limit!

Swoop – the New Bath Ride-Hailing System

We live in Bath and love everything about our historic, laid-back city – but the transport situation needed something fresh!

Welcome Swoop Bath Taxi Services, a forward-thinking taxi app that works just like those super-convenient services you’ll find elsewhere but specific to Bath and the local Somerset area.

Why is Swoop better than another taxi company in bath also public transport option?

You get a verified, vetted driver, door to door.

Book your cab line – no phone calls or queues to speak of.

Convenient payments; pay with a card, PayPal or Apple Pay as suits you best.

Although Bath has long been a brilliant destination, it’s also been a nightmare for travellers, and we’re proud to have developed a solution suited to the needs of our small but mighty city.

Next time you’re comparing train fares, scouting around for a pricey parking space or deciding whether to take the long walk from the bus station, why not Swoop instead – we’re confident it’ll be the best option going.

Resource URL: - https://swoopbathtaxis.blogspot.com/2023/10/how-to-travel-into-bath-city-centre.html

[rainbowbadges]

East Somerset Railway - Cranmore Station - Vintage pin badge

[keybladestrength]

[tracksacrossbritain]

The East Somerset Railway is a charming, short preserved line not far from Cheddar, Somerset. The line really captures the true essence of branch line railways in the countryside. The rover ticket shows true value on a line of this length but also is a great line to visit on short holidays where you are packing visits to multiple attractions in one day.

[bookloversofbath]

The East Somerset and Cheddar Valley Railways :: Richard Harman

The East Somerset and Cheddar Valley Railways :: Richard Harman

The East Somerset and Cheddar Valley Railways :: Richard Harman soon to be presented for sale on the exceptional BookLovers of Bath web site! Lydney: Lightmoor Press, 2009, Hardback in dust wrapper. Includes: Track plans; Gradient diagrams; Further reading list; Black & white photographs; Chronological tables; Maps; List of sources; Title page vignette; 2-column text; Appendices (8); Plans; From…

[airmanisr]

British Railways (BR) Standard 9F 2-10-0 No. 92203 'Black Prince' - Toddington Loco Yard Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway (GWR) - 31.5.2010 by Kenneth Simms Via Flickr: On this day 12 years ago, and just edited, sees BR Standard 9F 2-10-0 No. 92203 'Black Prince' stabled outside Toddington Loco Yard, during the GWR's May 2010 Gala on Sunday 31st May 2010. Why post it now you may well ask.....so here's why..... I'm yet to see it running in preservation. This coming Saturday 4th June 2022, however, I'm hoping to redress that when attending the GWR's 2022 Cotswold Festival of Steam: Somerset and Dorset (S & D) Remembered - when it heads the 'Pines Express' running non stop between Broadway and Cheltenham Racecourse - timed to coincide with the arrival of the original service at Cheltenham Spa in the 1950's and 1960's. It's 60 years since the last 'PInes Express' used the S & D before its closure on 7th Macrh 1966. Because of COVID 19 this 'Commemorative Event' was postponed from 2020. 92203 was designed by Robert Riddles and built at Swindon Works in 1959. It only lasted 8 years in service, because of ongoing dieselisation and electrification to the UK's mainline network, before its withdrawal in November 1967; when it was purchased straight from BR by the artist David Shepherd who named her 'Black Prince' - a name never carried in BR service. It was then moved to the Longmoor Military Railway until its closure, whereupon between 1973 and 1998 it was based on the East Somerset Railway - thereafter spending many years at the GWR before moving to the North Norfolk Railway (NNR) in 2011. In 2015, David Shepherd sold it to the NNR after nearly 50 years of private ownership. This 'Iconic' locomotive is one of the five guest engines appearing at the forthcoming GWR's Steam Festival between Friday 3rd and Sunday 5th June 2022. All bodes well for a 'Fantastic Event' with nine engines in steam - including four from the home fleet!

[guerrerense]

Portrait of steam train Ivatt 46447 por Dunkable Bath Por Flickr: Workhorse Ivatt 2MT 46447 in steam for the East Somerset Railway spring gala. The engine is a favourite at the railway with visitors and enthusiasts

[conradscrime]

Amelia Dyer: World’s Most Prolific Female Serial Killer?

April 28, 2021 

Amelia Dyer (born Ameila Hobley) was born in a small village called Pyle Marsh east of Bristol in 1836, being the youngest of 5 children born to Samuel and Sarah Hobley. 

Amelia’s mother suffered from mental illnesses caused by typhus and from a young age Amelia watched her mother fly into violent fits and had to take care of her until she died in 1848, when Amelia was 12 years old.

After Amelia’s mother died she moved in and lived with one of her aunts in Bristol, gaining an apprenticeship with a corset maker. Amelia’s father died in 1859 and in 1861 at the age of 24 Amelia married a man named George Thomas. George was 59 at the time and both had lied about their ages on the marriage certificate. 

Amelia trained as a nurse after marrying George. However, soon after this Amelia met a midwife where she discovered that an easier way to make money was by opening up her home as a place to stay for women who were having babies illegitimately, that is, getting pregnant without being married first. The women could stay until they had their baby and then the babies would be farmed off for either adoption or they would die from neglect and malnutrition (similar to the Butterbox Babies, previously covered on this blog). 

Amelia’s husband died in 1869 which left her needing an income fast. She began to advertise her services which included nurse care, adoption services, and just childcare for parents who needed it and they could come reclaim their children at a later date. Amelia told the women that she was respectable and married and their babies would be safe with her. 

In 1872 Amelia married a man named William Dyer and they had two children of their own. Amelia eventually left William but kept his surname throughout the rest of her life.

There is no specific details of when this began exactly but at one point during this baby farming career, Amelia began to forgo the expense of letting the young babies and children die through starvation and after the receipt of each child she would murder them. This allowed her to keep most of the fees. 

It was easy for Amelia to get away with this for quite some time because the mothers of the babies and children usually did not go looking for them after birth, and if they did they were too embarrassed to get a welfare check done on the child because it was very looked down upon to have an illegitimate child. 

In 1879 a doctor became suspicious of Amelia due to the number of child deaths he had been called to certify. However, Amelia was only sentenced to complete 6 months of hard labour for neglect. According to some, this sentence of hard labour was extremely difficult on Amelia and resulted in her having poor mental health and suicidal tendencies. She was also heavily drinking alcohol and abusing opium-based products when she first began to kill which some think attributed to her poor mental health. 

Because of the doctor’s constant suspicions, Amelia decided to stop involving him to issue death certificates and so she began to murder the babies and then dispose of the bodies herself. A lot of people were keeping eyes on her, not only authorities but also parents who wanted to reclaim their children again. To try to avoid this, Amelia and her family would relocate to different cities and she would use a number of aliases to keep her true identity hidden. Keep in mind this is the end of the 19th century -- it was easy to relocate and start a new life at this time. 

Due to her suicide attempts and mental health struggles Amelia was sent to asylums a few times in her life and in 1893 she was discharged the last time from the Somerset and Bath Lunatic Asylum near Wells. In 1895 she moved to Reading, Berkshire with a woman named Jane “Granny” Smith, Amelia’s daughter, Polly, and Polly’s husband Arthur. “Granny” was to be called “mother” in front of the unwed mothers handing over their children so that they felt safe, knowing they were giving their child to a caring home. 

In January 1896 a woman named Evelina Marmon, 25, gave birth to a daughter illegitimately and she was named Doris. Evelina placed an advertisement for a respectable woman to come take her child for a short period of time while she went back to work. She had full intentions of reclaiming her child. 

Evelina saw an advertisement for a couple who were looking to adopt a healthy child and she responded to a “Mrs. Harding” (Amelia Dyer) who promised she would take care of the baby. Amelia took the baby one week later, wrote a letter to Evelina telling her all was well and then she was never heard of again. 

Amelia had told Evelina that she was taking the young Doris to Reading, Berkshire, however she actually took her to Willesden, London where Polly was living. Amelia took some white edging tape used for dressmaking and wound it twice around the baby’s neck, tying a knot. Then Amelia and Polly wrapped the body up in a napkin. The next day, April 1, 1896, a 13 month old boy named Harry Simmons was given to Amelia and because she had no edging tape left she took the tape from around Doris’ neck and used it to murder the boy. 

On April 2, she took both bodies and stacked them on top of each other into a carpet bag along with some bricks to add some weight. She then took the bag and took it to the River Thames, forcing it through the railings. 

Unlucky for Amelia, her scheme was up. On March 30, 1896 what appeared to be a package that was not weighted adequately from the Thames had been spotted by a bargeman. Inside was the body of a baby girl who was later identified as Helena Fry. They discovered the package belong to a “Mrs. Thomas” and found an address. 

On April 3, 1896 Amelia was expecting a new client to show up on her doorstep but didn’t know this “new client” was actually a decoy set up by police. When she opened her door, police raided her home. They found no human remains in the house, though the whole place smelled like decomposition. They found a lot of other evidence, such as pawn tickets for children’s clothing, telegrams with adoption arrangements, white edging tape and letters from mother’s asking about their children. 

Amelia Dyer was arrested and charged with murder on April 4, 1896. Police estimated that in the previous couple of months at least 20 children had been placed in her care, and they also discovered she was getting ready to move again, to Somerset. Some estimated that Amelia Dyer murdered over 400 babies and children.

They also searched the Thames and found 6 more bodies including Doris and Harry’s who were the last victims. Amelia pleaded guilty to only the murder of Doris on May 22, 1896. The defense used insanity, claiming that Amelia was unstable and had been committed to asylums in her life. However, the prosecution claimed Amelia only was committed to asylums as a ploy to keep her undetected, she only went to these asylums when she felt her crimes may be exposed.

The jury found Amelia Dyer guilty in 4 and a half minutes. Amelia Dyer was hanged by James Billington at Newgate Prison on June 10, 1896. Her last words were, “I have nothing to say.” 

Stricter adoption laws were put in place, allowing local authorities to police baby farms to stop abuse from happening within them. Despite this however this abuse didn’t stop. In 1898 two years after Amelia’s execution, a couple of railway workers found a parcel with a 3 week old baby girl inside. The girl was still alive and had been the daughter a widow named Jane Hill who claimed she had given the baby to a woman by the name of “Mrs. Stewart” for 12 pounds. It has been claimed that “Mrs. Stewart” was Polly, Amelia Dyer’s daughter. 

[justforbooks]

The French Riviera (known in French as the Côte d'Azur) is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend from Cassis, Toulon or Saint-Tropez on the west to Menton at the France–Italy border in the east, where the Italian Riviera joins.

The coast is entirely within the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France. The Principality of Monaco is a semi-enclave within the region, surrounded on three sides by France and fronting the Mediterranean. Riviera is an Italian word that corresponds to the ancient Ligurian territory, wedged between the Var and Magra rivers.

The Côte d'Azur or French Riviera, is a nickname given by France to the County of Nice after its annexation in 1860, because the rain and the Mistral (south French cold wind) were stopped by the Alps and the climate was similar to that of the north of Italy, even in winter, with a sky as blue as its sea, the French Riviera. When the Mistral and the Tramontane are blowing, this provokes an upwelling phenomenon between Languedoc and Provence : they push the surface waters out to sea and bring deeper, cooler waters up to the seaside.

Consequently, on these beaches, the temperature of the Mediterranean can be very cool in summer depending on the wind regime. This phenomenon is observed very little or not on the coast between the French Riviera and the Italian Riviera. After the 2000s it was extended to the rest of Southern France, although the geography, culture or climate is different. The County of Nice is a mountainous area like Italy which stands out from the South of France. While the Saharan warm wind Sirocco blows over Italy, the cold wind Mistral blows over the south of France. As the County of Nice is protected by the Alps, it has a northern Italian climate. This corresponds to the mountain range of the Apennines and Ligurian Alps and located between the rivers of Var and Magra.

This coastline was one of the first modern resort areas. It began as a winter health resort for the British upper class at the end of the 18th century. With the arrival of the railway in the mid-19th century, it became the playground and vacation spot of British, Russian, and other aristocrats, such as Queen Victoria, Tsar Alexander II and King Edward VII, when he was Prince of Wales.

In the summer, it also played home to many members of the Rothschild family. In the first half of the 20th century, it was frequented by artists and writers, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Francis Bacon, Edith Wharton, Somerset Maugham and Aldous Huxley, as well as wealthy Americans and Europeans.

After World War II, it became a popular tourist destination and convention site. Many celebrities, such as Elton John and Brigitte Bardot, have homes in the region. Officially, the French Riviera is home to 163 nationalities with 83,962 foreign residents, although estimates of the number of non-French nationals living in the area are often much higher. Its largest city is Nice, which has a population of 340,017 as of 2017.

The city is the centre of a métropole – Nice-Côte d'Azur – bringing together 49 communes and more than 540,000 inhabitants and 943,000 in the urban area. Nice is home to Nice Côte d'Azur Airport, France's third-busiest airport (after Charles de Gaulle Airport and Orly Airport), which is on an area of partially reclaimed coastal land at the western end of the Promenade des Anglais. A second airport at Mandelieu was once the region's commercial airport, but is now mainly used by private and business aircraft.

The A8 autoroute runs through the region, as does the old main road generally known as the Route nationale 7 (officially now DN7 in Var and D6007 in Alpes-Maritimes). High-speed trains serve the coastal region and inland to Grasse, with the TGV Sud-Est service reaching Nice-Ville station in five and a half hours from Paris.

The French Riviera has a total population of more than two million. It contains the seaside resorts of Cap-d'Ail, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Villefranche-sur-Mer, Antibes, Juan-les-Pins, Cannes, Saint-Raphaël, Fréjus, Sainte-Maxime and Saint-Tropez. It is also home to a high tech and science park (French: technopole) at Sophia-Antipolis (north of Antibes) and a research and technology centre at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis. The region has 35,000 students, of whom 25 percent are working toward a doctorate.

The French Riviera is a major yachting and cruising area with several marinas along its coast. According to the Côte d'Azur Economic Development Agency, each year the Riviera hosts 50 percent of the world's superyacht fleet, with 90 percent of all superyachts visiting the region's coast at least once in their lifetime. As a tourist centre, the French Riviera benefits from 310 to 330 days of sunshine per year, 115 kilometres (71 miles) of coastline and beaches, 18 golf courses, 14 ski resorts and 3,000 restaurants.

The term French Riviera is typical of English use. It was built by analogy with the term Italian Riviera, which extends east of the French Riviera (from Ventimiglia to La Spezia). As early as the 19th century, the British referred to the region as the Riviera or the French Riviera, usually referring to the eastern part of the coast, between Monaco and the Italian border. Originally, riviera is an Italian noun which means "coastline".

The name Côte d'Azur was given to the coast by the writer Stéphen Liégeard in his book, La Côte d’azur, published in December 1887. Liégeard was born in Dijon, in the French department of Côte-d'Or, and adapted that name by substituting the azure colour of the Mediterranean for the gold of Côte-d'Or.

In Occitan (Niçard and Provençal) and French, the only usual names are Còsta d'Azur in Occitan and Côte d'Azur in French. A term like "French Riviera" (Ribiera Francesa in Occitan, Riviera Française in French) would only be used in literal translation, or adaptations of it.

In 1864, six years after Nice became part of France following the Second Italian War of Independence the first railway was completed, making Nice and the Riviera accessible to visitors from all over Europe. One hundred thousand visitors arrived in 1865. By 1874, residents of foreign enclaves in Nice, most of whom were British, numbered 25,000.

In the mid-19th century British and French entrepreneurs began to see the potential of promoting tourism along the Côte d'Azur. At the time, gambling was illegal in France and Italy. In 1856, the Prince of Monaco, Charles III, began constructing a casino in Monaco, which was called a health spa to avoid criticism by the church. The casino was a failure, but in 1863 the Prince signed an agreement with François Blanc, a French businessman already operating a successful casino at Baden-Baden (southwestern Germany), to build a resort and new casino. Blanc arranged for steamships and carriages to take visitors from Nice to Monaco, and built hotels, gardens and a casino in a place called Spélugues. At the suggestion of his mother, Princess Caroline, Charles III renamed the place Monte Carlo after himself. When the railway reached Monte Carlo in 1870, many thousands of visitors began to arrive and the population of the principality of Monaco doubled.

The French Riviera soon became a popular destination for European royalty. Just days after the railway reached Nice in 1864, Tsar Alexander II of Russia visited on a private train, followed soon afterwards by Napoleon III and then Leopold II, the King of the Belgians.

Queen Victoria was a frequent visitor. In 1882 she stayed in Menton, and in 1891 spent several weeks at the Grand Hotel at Grasse. In 1892 she stayed at the Hotel Cost-belle in Hyères. In successive years from 1895 to 1899 she stayed in Cimiez in the hills above Nice. First, in 1895 and 1896, she patronised the Grand Hôtel, while in later years she and her staff took over the entire west wing of the Excelsior Hôtel Régina, which had been designed with her needs specifically in mind (part of which later became the home and studio of the renowned artist Henri Matisse). She travelled with an entourage of between sixty and a hundred, including chef, ladies in waiting, dentist, Indian servants, her own bed and her own food.

The Prince of Wales was a regular visitor to Cannes, starting in 1872. He frequented the Club Nautique, a private club on the Croisette, the fashionable seafront boulevard of Cannes. He visited there each spring for a two-month period, observing yacht races from shore while the royal yacht, Britannia, was sailed by professional crewmen. After he became King in 1901, he never again visited the French Riviera.

By the end of the 19th century the Côte d'Azur began to attract artistic painters, who appreciated the climate, the bright colors and clear light. Among them were Auguste Renoir, who settled in Cagnes-sur-Mer and in Mougins, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

The First World War brought down many of the royal houses of Europe and altered the nature and the calendar of the French Riviera. Following the war, greater numbers of Americans began arriving, with business moguls and celebrities eventually outnumbering aristocrats. The 'High Society' scene moved from a winter season to a summer season.

Americans began coming to the south of France in the 19th century. Henry James set part of his novel, The Ambassadors, on the Riviera. James Gordon Bennett Jr, the son and heir of the founder of the New York Herald, had a villa in Beaulieu. Industrialist John Pierpont Morgan gambled at Monte Carlo and bought 18th-century paintings by Fragonard in Grasse – shipping them to the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

A feature of the French Riviera in the inter-war years was the Train Bleu, an all first-class sleeper train which brought wealthy passengers down from Calais. It made its first trip in 1922, and carried Winston Churchill, Somerset Maugham, and the future King Edward VIII over the years.

While Europe was still recovering from the war and the American dollar was strong, American writers and artists started arriving on the Côte d'Azur. Edith Wharton wrote The Age of Innocence (1920) at a villa near Hyères, winning the Pulitzer Prize for the novel (the first woman to do so). Dancer Isadora Duncan frequented Cannes and Nice, but died in 1927 when her scarf caught in a wheel of the Amilcar motor car in which she was a passenger and strangled her. The writer F. Scott Fitzgerald first visited with his wife Zelda in 1924, stopping at Hyères, Cannes and Monte Carlo – eventually staying at Saint-Raphaël, where he wrote much of The Great Gatsby and began Tender is the Night.

While Americans were largely responsible for making summer the high season, a French fashion designer, Coco Chanel, made sunbathing fashionable. She acquired a striking tan during the summer of 1923, and tans then became the fashion in Paris.

During the abdication crisis of the British Monarchy in 1936, Wallis Simpson, the intended bride of King Edward VIII, was staying at the Villa Lou Viei in Cannes, talking with the King by telephone each day. After his abdication, the Duke of Windsor (as he became) and his new wife stayed at the Villa La Croë on the Cap d'Antibes.

The English playwright and novelist Somerset Maugham also became a resident in 1926, buying the Villa La Mauresque toward the tip of Cap Ferrat, near Nice.

When Germany invaded France in June 1940, the remaining British colony was evacuated to Gibraltar and eventually to Britain. American Jewish groups helped some of the Jewish artists living in the south of France, such as Marc Chagall, to escape to the United States. In August 1942, 600 Jews from Nice were rounded up by French police and sent to Drancy, and eventually to death camps. In all about 5,000 French Jews from Nice perished during the war.

Following D-Day in Normandy, Operation Dragoon (initially Operation Anvil), the code name for the Allied invasion of Southern France, commenced on 15 August 1944, when American parachute troops landed near Fréjus, and a fleet landed 60,000 troops of the American Seventh Army and French First Army between Cavalaire and Agay, east of Saint-Raphaël. German resistance was not as fanatical as Hitler and the High Command had ordered, and crumbled in days.

Saint-Tropez was badly damaged by German mines at the time of the liberation. The novelist Colette organized an effort to assure the town was rebuilt in its original style.

When the war ended, artists Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso returned to live and work.

The Cannes Film Festival was launched in September 1946, marking the return of French cinema to world screens. The Festival Palace was built in 1949 on the site of the old Cercle Nautique, where the Prince of Wales had met his mistresses in the late 19th century. The release of the French film Et Dieu… créa la femme (And God Created Woman) in November 1956 was a major event for the Riviera, making an international star of Brigitte Bardot, and making an international tourist destination of Saint-Tropez, particularly for the new class of wealthy international travellers called the jet set.

The marriage of American film actress Grace Kelly to Prince Rainier of Monaco on 18 April 1956, attracted world attention once again. It was viewed on television by 30 million people.

During the 1960s, the Mayor of Nice, Jacques Médecin, decided to reduce the dependence of the Riviera on ordinary tourism, and to make it a destination for international congresses and conventions. He built the Palais des Congrès at the Acropolis in Nice, and founded a Chagall Museum and a Matisse Museum at Cimiez. High-rise apartment buildings and real estate developments began to spread.

At the end of August, 1997, Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed spent their last days together on his father's yacht off Pampelonne Beach near Saint-Tropez, shortly before they were killed in a traffic accident in the Alma Tunnel in Paris.

Events and festivals

Several major events take place:

Monaco and southeast France: Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo, January

Monaco: International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo, January / February

Mandelieu-la-Napoule: La Fête du Mimosa, February

Nice: Carnival, February

Menton: Lemon Festival, February

Tourrettes-sur-Loup: Violet Festival, March

Monaco: Monte-Carlo Masters, April–May

Monaco: Formula One Grand Prix race, May

Grasse; Rose Festival, May

Cannes: Cannes Film Festival and Cannes Film Market, May

Nice: Jazz Festival, July

Juan-les-Pins: Jazz à Juan, late July.

Grasse: Jasmine Festival, August

Toulon: Toulon Tournament, Tall Ships' Race

Painters

The climate and vivid colors of the Mediterranean attracted many famous artists during the 19th and 20th centuries. They included:

Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947); retired to and died at Le Cannet.

Roger Broders (1883–1953); Parisian travel poster illustrator.

Marc Chagall (1887–1985); lived in Saint-Paul-de-Vence between 1948 and 1985.

Henri-Edmond Cross (1856–1910); discovered the Côte d'Azur in 1883, and painted at Monaco and Hyères.

Maurice Denis (1870–1943); painted at St. Tropez and Bandol.

Raoul Dufy (1877–1953); whose wife was from Nice, painted in the region, including in Nice.

Albert Marquet (1873–1947); painted at St. Tropez.

Henri Matisse (1869–1954); first visited St. Tropez in 1904. In 1917 he settled in Nice, first at the Hôtel Beau Rivage, then at the Hôtel de la Méditerranée, then at la Villa des Alliés in Cimiez. In 1921 he lived in an apartment in Nice, next to the flower market and overlooking the sea, where he lived until 1938. He then moved to the Hôtel Régina in the hills of Cimiez, above Nice. During World War II he lived in Vence, then returned to Cimiez, where he died and is buried.

Claude Monet (1840–1927); visited Menton, Bordighera, Juan-les-Pins, Monte Carlo, Nice, Cannes, Beaulieu and Villefranche, and painted a number of seascapes of Cap Martin, near Menton, and at Cap d'Antibes.

Edvard Munch (1863–1944); visited and painted in Nice and Monte Carlo (where he developed a passion for gambling), and rented a villa at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in 1891.

Pablo Picasso (1881–1973); spent each summer from 1919 to 1939 on the Côte d'Azur, and moved there permanently in 1946, first at Vallauris, then at Mougins, where he spent his last years.

Auguste Renoir (1841–1919); visited Beaulieu, Grasse, Saint-Raphaël and Cannes, before finally settling in Cagnes-sur-Mer in 1907, where he bought a farm in the hills and built a new house and workshop on the grounds. He continued to paint there until his death in 1919. His house is now a museum.

Paul Signac (1863–1935); visited St. Tropez in 1892, and bought a villa, La Hune, at the foot of citadel in 1897. It was at his villa that his friend, Henri Matisse, painted his famous Luxe, Calme et Volupté in 1904. Signac made numerous paintings along the coast.

Yves Klein (1928–1962); a native of Nice, considered an important figure in post-war European art.

Sacha Sosno (1937–2013); French painter and sculptor who lived and worked in Nice.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

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Iveria Condo

The Iveria, an expensive cosmopolitan boutique development, that's sitting on an elevated site in a highly sought-after Prime District 9 address at Kim Yam Road in River Valley precinct. A cosmopolitan lifestyle inspired by the urban lifestyles of Manhattanites, New York. The Iveria is that the maiden launch residence of The Ove Collection, a prestigious freehold address with 51 exclusive residences, iconic architecture, stylish urban interiors, panaromic city skyline views with an infinity pool. Enjoy the town Skyline view of downtown Singapore, from Marina Bay and Clarke Quay to Orchard Road and beyond. The Iveria, is a high-quality and luxurious development that offers the residents a timeless lifestyle brand, that's contemporary, trendy and bold, curated by Millennials for the Millennials…a beautifully conceptualized, rare & iconic new Freehold Development. Each residence curated with designer’s fittings – from materials selected to the color palette, with good interflow of spaces, lighting, top-class quality and finishes. Iveria offers you a spacious, flexible layout to fit your home according to your personal style and taste where spaces are often customized for other purposes, a perfect home for the new generation. Aspiring homeowners may now view and download The Iveria floor plan & The Iveria E-Brochure.

The Iveria Showflat

Kindly book an appointment here or call us at +65 6677 2500 before making your way right down to view The Iveria Showflat as we could also be closed on certain days/times. Secure your Appointment to view Iveria Showflat via this official website. you'll also contact +65 6677 2500 before heading to Iveria showflat. However, due to the present regulations and social distancing management, ad-hoc walk-in won't be served. As such, it might be advisable to book an appointment prior to visiting Iveria showflat so as to avoid any disappointment and waste of travel time.

The Iveria Location Map

The Iveria is located in Prime District 9 address at 2 Kim Yam Road in River Valley precinct. The Iveria has strategically located some minutes’ strolls to Somerset MRT Station. it's in close proximity to the Orchard Shopping Belt, Fort Canning Park, and the nightlife of Clarke Quay. it's only one station to Orchard railway station and three stations faraway from Raffles Place. The Dhoby Ghaut MRT Interchange is simply a stop faraway from where the Circle Line and North-East Line are available. With these nearby train services, Iveria’s residents will get to enjoy great connectivity, a really convenient and comprehensive transport network.

The Iveria Developer

The Iveria is developed by the Macly Group, a Singapore-based property company is founded in 1987. Macly Group is best known for his or her niche and boutique developments spanning from residential to commercial sectors, it's one among the primary to be pioneering the affordable and compact trend. the company has a good track record of developing residential private Condominiums, cluster and landed housing, commercial and mixed developments. a number of the projects and most of them have been developed successfully include Mackenzie 138, Thomson V1, Thomson V2, Newton Edge, Zedge, Fivenine, Suites at Owen, Suites at Amber and Guillemard Edge.

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Events 9.8 (after 1900)

1900 – Galveston hurricane: A powerful hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 8,000 people. 1905 – The 7.2 Mw  Calabria earthquake shakes southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 557 and 2,500 people. 1914 – World War I: Private Thomas Highgate becomes the first British soldier to be executed for desertion during the war. 1916 – In a bid to prove that women were capable of serving as military dispatch riders, Augusta and Adeline Van Buren arrive in Los Angeles, completing a 60-day, 5,500 mile cross-country trip on motorcycles. 1921 – Margaret Gorman, a 16-year-old, wins the Atlantic City Pageant's Golden Mermaid trophy; pageant officials later dubbed her the first Miss America. 1923 – Honda Point disaster: Nine US Navy destroyers run aground off the California coast. Seven are lost, and twenty-three sailors killed. 1925 – Rif War: Spanish forces including troops from the Foreign Legion under Colonel Francisco Franco landing at Al Hoceima, Morocco. 1926 – Germany is admitted to the League of Nations. 1933 – Ghazi bin Faisal became King of Iraq. 1934 – Off the New Jersey coast, a fire aboard the passenger liner SS Morro Castle kills 137 people. 1935 – US Senator from Louisiana Huey Long is fatally shot in the Louisiana State Capitol building. 1941 – World War II: German forces begin the Siege of Leningrad. 1943 – World War II: The Armistice of Cassibile is proclaimed by radio. OB Süd immediately implements plans to disarm the Italian forces. 1944 – World War II: London is hit by a V-2 rocket for the first time. 1945 – The division of Korea begins when United States troops arrive to partition the southern part of Korea in response to Soviet troops occupying the northern part of the peninsula a month earlier. 1946 – A referendum abolishes the monarchy in Bulgaria. 1952 – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation makes its first televised broadcast on the second escape of the Boyd Gang. 1954 – The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) is established. 1960 – In Huntsville, Alabama, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1). 1962 – Last run of the famous Pines Express over the Somerset and Dorset Railway line (UK) fittingly using the last steam locomotive built by British Railways, BR Standard Class 9F 92220 Evening Star. 1966 – The landmark American science fiction television series Star Trek premieres with its first-aired episode, "The Man Trap". 1970 – Trans International Airlines Flight 863 crashes during takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, killing all 11 aboard. 1971 – In Washington, D.C., the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inaugurated, with the opening feature being the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass. 1973 – World Airways Flight 802 crashes into Mount Dutton in King Cove, Alaska, killing six people. 1974 – Watergate scandal: US President Gerald Ford signs the pardon of Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office. 1978 – Black Friday, a massacre by soldiers against protesters in Tehran, results in 88 deaths, it marks the beginning of the end of the monarchy in Iran. 1986 – Nicholas Daniloff, a correspondent for U.S. News & World Report, is indicted on charges of espionage by the Soviet Union. 1988 – Yellowstone National Park is closed for the first time in U.S. history due to ongoing fires. 2004 – NASA's uncrewed spacecraft Genesis crash-lands when its parachute fails to open. 2017 – Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announce the beginning of the Deir ez-Zor campaign, with the stated aim of eliminating the Islamic State (IS) from all areas north and east of the Euphrates. 2022 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom dies at Balmoral Castle in Scotland after reigning for 70 years. Her son Charles, Prince of Wales, ascends the throne upon her death as Charles III.