Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest in the world. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland, an independent state covering five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. As of 2022, the population of the entire island is just over 7 million, with 5.1 million living in the Republic of Ireland and 1.9 million in Northern Ireland, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain.
The guinea was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where much of the gold used to make the coins was sourced. It was the first English machine-struck gold coin, originally representing a value of 20 shillings in sterling specie, equal to one pound, but rises in the price of gold relative to silver caused the value of the guinea to increase, at times to as high as thirty shillings. From 1717 to 1816, its value was officially fixed at twenty-one shillings.
A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large rigid or stiff neck ring in metal, made either as a single piece or from strands twisted together. The great majority are open at the front, although some have hook and ring closures and a few have mortice and tenon locking catches to close them. Many seem designed for near-permanent wear and would have been difficult to remove.
The Florentine florin was a gold coin struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54 grains of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a purchasing power difficult to estimate but ranging according to social grouping and perspective from approximately 140 to 1,000 modern US dollars. The name of the coin comes from the Giglio bottonato, the floral emblem of the city, which is represented at the head of the coin.
Sterling is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of sterling, and the word pound is also used to refer to the British currency generally, often qualified in international contexts as the British pound or the pound sterling.
Bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. Bed and breakfasts are often private family homes and typically have between four and eleven rooms, with six being the average. In addition, a B&B usually has the hosts living in the house.
"Rumpelstiltskin" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in the 1812 edition of Children's and Household Tales. The story is about an imp who spins straw into gold in exchange for a woman's firstborn child.
Michelle Smith de Bruin is an Irish lawyer and retired Olympic swimmer. She won three gold medals at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, for the 400 m individual medley, 400 m freestyle and 200 m individual medley, and also won the bronze medal for the 200 m butterfly event. Smith's rise to dominance in the 1995 European Championships, followed by her wins in Atlanta at a relatively advanced age for swimmers were marked by allegations of doping, which were never proven. Smith was, however, later banned for four years by FINA, the international swimming federation, for manipulation of an anti-doping sample, by deliberate contamination with alcohol, a decision upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport when Smith appealed. Already superannuated in swimming terms, Smith never returned to competitive swimming and later worked as a barrister, practising under her married name of Michelle de Bruin.
National Hunt racing is a form of horse racing particular to France, Great Britain, and Ireland, that requires horses to jump fences and ditches. In the UK it is divided into two major distinct branches, hurdling and steeplechase, as well as flat races called "bumpers". Hurdling involved the horses jumping over obstacles called hurdles, whereas in a steeplechase the horses jump over a variety of obstacles that can include plain fences, water jump or an open ditch. In the UK, the biggest National Hunt events of the year are generally considered to be the Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The coat of arms of Ireland is blazoned as Azure a harp Or, stringed Argent. These arms have long been Ireland's heraldic emblem. References to them as being the arms of the king of Ireland can be found as early as the 13th century. These arms were adopted by Henry VIII of England when he ended the period of Lordship of Ireland and declared Ireland to be a kingdom again in 1541. When the crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland were united in 1603, they were integrated into the unified royal coat of arms of kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. The harp was adopted as the emblem of the Irish Free State when it separated from the United Kingdom in 1922. They were registered as the arms of Ireland with the Chief Herald of Ireland on 9 November 1945.
The United Kingdom has been represented at every modern Olympic Games, and as of the 2020 Summer Olympics is third in the all-time Summer Olympic medal table by both number of gold medals won and overall number of medals. London has hosted the Summer Olympic Games three times: in 1908, 1948, and 2012.
Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed as the host nation of the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. The British Olympic Association was the National Olympic Committee responsible for organising the United Kingdom's representation. At the time British athletes competed under the team name "United Kingdom". The British team comprised 676 competitors.
A team representing Republic of Ireland as an independent state or polity has competed at the Summer Olympic Games since 1924, and at the Winter Olympic Games since 1992. The Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI) was formed in 1922 during the provisional administration prior to the formal establishment of the Irish Free State. The OFI affiliated to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in time for the Paris games.
The Great Britain men's national field hockey team represents the United Kingdom in some international field hockey tournaments such as the Summer Olympics and the FIH Pro League. The team won gold at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp and the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. The team won the 2017 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
The prehistory of Ireland has been pieced together from archaeological evidence, which has grown at an increasing rate over the last decades. It begins with the first evidence of permanent human residence in Ireland around 10,500 BC and finishes with the start of the historical record around 400 AD. Both the beginning and end dates of the period are later than for much of Europe and all of the Near East. The prehistoric period covers the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age societies of Ireland. For much of Europe, the historical record begins when the Romans invaded; as Ireland was not invaded by the Romans its historical record starts later, with the coming of Christianity.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has participated in every summer and winter Paralympic Games.
A team representing Ireland has competed at every Summer Paralympic Games but the country has never taken part in the Winter Paralympics. Irish athletes have won 178 Summer Paralympic medals, 47 gold, 57 silver and 74 bronze. Paralympics Ireland is the National Paralympic Committee. Athletes from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Paralympics, on the same basis as at the Olympics.
Ireland competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom from August 29 to September 9, 2012. There are 49 participants representing Ireland at the games, competing across ten sports.
The Gold Cup is a greyhound racing competition held annually at Shelbourne Park in Dublin.
The World Bowls Championship is the premier world bowls competition between national bowls organisations.
