The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, consisting of Guernsey, Alderney, Sark and some smaller islands. They are considered the remnants of the Duchy of Normandy and, although they are not part of the United Kingdom, the UK is responsible for the defence and international relations of the islands. The Crown dependencies are not members of the Commonwealth of Nations nor of the European Union. They have a total population of about 164,541, and the bailiwicks' capitals, Saint Helier and Saint Peter Port, have populations of 33,500 and 18,207, respectively.
The history of Guernsey stretches back to evidence of prehistoric habitation and settlement and encompasses the development of its modern society.
Sark is a part of the Channel Islands in the southwestern English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, France. It is a royal fief, which forms part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of laws based on Norman law and its own parliament. It has a population of about 500. Sark has an area of 2.10 square miles (5.44 km2).
Lihou is a small tidal island located just off the west coast of the island of Guernsey, in the English Channel, between Great Britain and France. Administratively, Lihou forms part of the Parish of St. Peter's in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, and is now owned by the parliament of Guernsey, although there have been a number of owners in the past. Since 2006, the island has been jointly managed by the Guernsey Environment Department and the Lihou Charitable Trust. In the past the island was used by locals for the collection of seaweed for use as a fertiliser, but today Lihou is mainly used for tourism, including school trips. Lihou is also an important centre for conservation, forming part of a Ramsar wetland site for the preservation of rare birds and plants as well as historic ruins of a priory and a farmhouse.
Alderney is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is 3 miles (5 km) long and 1 1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) wide. The area is 3 square miles (8 km2), making it the third-largest island of the Channel Islands, and the second largest in the Bailiwick. It is around 10 miles (15 km) from the west of La Hague on the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy, in France, 20 miles (30 km) from the north-east of Guernsey and 60 miles (100 km) from the south coast of Great Britain. It is the closest of the Channel Islands to the United Kingdom. It is separated from Cap de la Hague by the dangerous Alderney Race.
The Bailiff is the Chief Justice in each of the Channel Island bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey, also serving as president of the legislature and having ceremonial and executive functions. Each bailiwick has possessed its own bailiff since the islands were divided into two jurisdictions in the 13th century. The Bailiffs and Deputy Bailiffs are appointed by The Crown,, and may hold office until retirement age.
The Bailiwick of Guernsey is one of three Crown dependencies.
ChucK is a concurrent, strongly timed audio programming language for real-time synthesis, composition, and performance, which runs on Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, and iOS. It is designed to favor readability and flexibility for the programmer over other considerations such as raw performance. It natively supports deterministic concurrency and multiple, simultaneous, dynamic control rates. Another key feature is the ability to live code; adding, removing, and modifying code on the fly, while the program is running, without stopping or restarting. It has a highly precise timing/concurrency model, allowing for arbitrarily fine granularity. It offers composers and researchers a powerful and flexible programming tool for building and experimenting with complex audio synthesis programs, and real-time interactive control.
BBC Radio Guernsey is the BBC Local Radio service for the Channel Island of Guernsey and the other islands in the Bailiwick - Alderney, Sark and Herm. It broadcasts from its studios at Broadcasting House on 93.2 MHz FM-VHF and 1116 kHz AM-MW in Guernsey and 99 MHz FM-VHF in Alderney.
Guernésiais, also known as Dgèrnésiais, Guernsey French, and Guernsey Norman French, is the variety of the Norman language spoken in Guernsey. It is sometimes known on the island simply as "patois". As one of the langues d'oïl, it has its roots in Latin, but has had strong influence from both Old Norse and English at different points in its history.
A guernsey, or gansey, is a seaman's knitted woollen sweater, similar to a jersey, which originated in the Channel Island of the same name, sometimes known as a knit-frock in Cornwall.
Guernsey Airport is an international airport on the island of Guernsey and also largest airport in the Bailiwick of Guernsey. It is located in the Forest, a parish in Guernsey, 2.5 nautical miles southwest of St. Peter Port and features mostly flights to Great Britain and some other European destinations.
Aurigny Air Services Limited, commonly known as Aurigny, is the flag carrier airline of the Bailiwick of Guernsey with its head office next to Guernsey Airport in the Channel Islands, and wholly owned by the States of Guernsey since nationalisation in 2003. It operates passenger and freight services between the Channel Islands and the United Kingdom. Its main base is Guernsey Airport, with other aircraft and crew based at Alderney Airport. Aurigny is one of the longest serving regional airlines in the world, and is the second oldest established airline in Britain after Loganair. The origin of its name lies in the cognate across Norman languages for Alderney.
The Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey is the representative of the British monarch in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a Crown dependency of the British Crown. The role of the Lieutenant Governor is to act as the de facto head of state in Guernsey and as liaison between the governments of Guernsey and the United Kingdom. The holder of this office is also ex officio a member of the States of Guernsey but may not vote and, by convention, speaks in the Chamber only on appointment and on departure from post. The duties are primarily diplomatic and ceremonial.
The Royal College of Elizabeth, formerly the Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School and better known as Elizabeth College, is an independent day school for boys in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey. One of the earliest members of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), it is a public school in the British sense of the term. Founded on 25 May 1563 by royal charter from Queen Elizabeth I in order that students would go on to preach as clergymen in local churches according to the principles of the Protestant Reformation, the school is one of the oldest public schools in the British Isles, and the oldest in the Channel Islands. Upper Canada College, in Toronto, Ontario, was founded in 1829 by Sir John Colborne, based on the school.
La Mare de Carteret High School is a high school on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands, located in the Castel parish.
The Ladies' College is a 2½–18 independent school and sixth form for girls in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey. It was established in 1872.
Guernsey is the second largest of the Channel Islands. It is part of the Common Travel Area, allowing passport-free travel to and from the United Kingdom or Jersey. Travel to and from mainland Europe requires a passport or an EU national identity document. Non EU citizens may need a visa.
The Courts of Guernsey are responsible for the administration of justice in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands. They apply the law of the Island, which is a mixture of customary law dating back as far as the 10th century and legislation passed by the legislature, the States of Deliberation.
