Continental or mainland Europe is the continuous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and by Europeans, simply the Continent.
The British Armed Forces, also known as Her Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military services responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and the Crown dependencies. They also promote Britain's wider interests, support international peacekeeping efforts and provide humanitarian aid.
Dame Penelope Anne Constance Keith, is an English actress, active in all genres, including radio, stage, television and film and primarily known for her roles in the British sitcoms The Good Life and To the Manor Born. She succeeded Lord Olivier as president of the Actors' Benevolent Fund after his death in 1989, and was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to the arts and to charity.
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The service provides national radio stations covering the majority of musical genres, as well as local radio stations covering local news, affairs and interests. It also oversees online audio content.
Dame Penelope Alice Wilton is an English actress. She is known for starring opposite Richard Briers in the BBC sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles (1984–89); playing Homily in The Borrowers (1992) and The Return of the Borrowers (1993); and for her role as the widowed Isobel Crawley in the ITV drama Downton Abbey (2010–15). She also played the recurring role of Harriet Jones in Doctor Who (2005–08).
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V and comprises five classes across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order.
Commonwealth Day, replacing the former Empire Day, is the annual celebration of the Commonwealth of Nations, often held on the second Monday in March. It is marked by an Anglican service in Westminster Abbey, normally attended by Queen Elizabeth II as Head of the Commonwealth along with the Commonwealth Secretary-General and Commonwealth High Commissioners in London. The Queen delivers an address to the Commonwealth, which is broadcast throughout the world.
Martin John Christopher Freeman is an English actor and comedian, known for portraying Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit film trilogy (2012–2014), Tim Canterbury in the original UK version of sitcom mockumentary The Office (2001–2003), Dr. John Watson in the British crime drama Sherlock (2010–present), and Lester Nygaard in the dark comedy-crime drama TV series Fargo (2014).
Julian Wyatt Glover is an English classical actor, with many stage, television and film roles since commencing his career in the 1950s. He is a recipient of the Laurence Olivier Award.
Sheila Cameron Hancock, is an English actress and author. Hancock trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before starting her career in repertory theatre. Hancock went on to perform in plays and musicals in London, and her Broadway debut in Entertaining Mr Sloane (1966) earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Lead Actress in Play. She won a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical for her role in Cabaret (2007) and was nominated at the Laurence Olivier Awards four other times for her work in Sweeney Todd (1980), The Winter's Tale (1982), Prin (1989) and Sister Act (2010).
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online news coverage. The service maintains 50 foreign news bureaus with more than 250 correspondents around the world. Fran Unsworth has been Director of News and Current Affairs since January 2018.
The British Empire Medal is a British medal awarded for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown. The current honour was created in 1922 to replace the original medal, which had been established in 1917 as part of the Order of the British Empire.
Shepherd's Bush Empire (currently known as O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire for sponsorship reasons, and formerly called BBC Television Theatre) is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, London, run by the Academy Music Group. It was built in 1903 as a music hall and in 1953 became the BBC Television Theatre. Since 1994, it has operated as a music venue. It is a Grade II listed building.
Anita Lonsbrough,, later known by her married name Anita Porter, is a former swimmer from Great Britain who won a gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics.
BBC Arabic may refer to the Literary Arabic language radio station run by the BBC World Service, as well as the BBC's satellite TV channel, and the website that serves as an Literary Arabic language news portal and provides online access to both the TV and radio broadcasts.
Sir David Lee Pearson, CBE is an 11-times paralympic games gold medallist having represented British para-equestrianism in Sydney, Athens, Beijing London and Rio. Over the course of his career he has won 30 gold medals at European, World and Paralympic level.
London Calling was a monthly magazine that contained programme listings for the BBC World Service shortwave radio broadcasting service. Originally called the Empire Programme Pamphlet and then BBC Empire Broadcasting, the title was changed to London Calling in mid-1939 when the magazine expanded from 12 pages to 16. The title alludes to the BBC World Service's station identification: "This is London calling ...", which was used during World War II, often in broadcasts to occupied countries.
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng is a British Conservative Party politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Spelthorne since 2010. On November 16, 2018, Kwarteng was appointed Under-Secretary of State at the
Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU), following the resignation of Suella Braverman.
