Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels). Formed in 2001, the company used the name Consignia for a brief period but changed it soon afterwards. Prior to this date, Royal Mail and Parcelforce were part of the Post Office, a UK state-owned enterprise the history of which is summarised below. Long before it came to be a company name, the 'Royal Mail' brand had been used by the General Post Office to identify its distribution network.
Metro is a British freesheet tabloid newspaper published by DMG Media. The newspaper is distributed from Monday to Friday mornings on public places in areas of England, Wales and Scotland. Copies are also handed out to pedestrians. In 2018, Metro overtook The Sun to become the most circulated newspaper in the United Kingdom.
The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Games as organised by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
A mail carrier, also referred to as a mailman, mailwoman, mailperson, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, postperson, person of post, letter carrier, or colloquially postie, is an employee of a post office or postal service who delivers mail and parcel post to residences and businesses. The term "mail carrier" came to be used as a gender-neutral substitute for "mailman" soon after women began performing the job. In the Royal Mail, the official name changed from "letter carrier" to "postman" in 1883, and "postwoman" has also been used for many years.
Carols by Candlelight is an annual Australian Christmas tradition that was popularised in Melbourne in 1938. The tradition has since spread around the world. It involves people gathering, usually outdoors in a park, to sing carols by candlelight, featuring live performances by both national and international celebrities accompanied by a symphony orchestra.
"Killing in the Name" is a song by the American rock band Rage Against the Machine, and appears on their 1992 self-titled debut album. It features heavy drop-D guitar riffs. The lyrics protest police brutality, inspired by the beating of Rodney King and the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
David Ogden, is a conductor and composer, directing choirs, choral and church music workshops, courses and festivals in the UK and abroad.
Faryl Smith is a British soprano who performs opera, classical and classical crossover music. Smith rose to fame after appearing on the second series of the ITV television talent show Britain's Got Talent in 2008 as a child. After the programme, in December 2008, Smith signed a contract with Universal Classics and Jazz for a £2.3 million advance, the largest ever granted to a schoolgirl. Her debut album, Faryl, was recorded from December 2008 to January 2009 and released in March 2009. Faryl became the fastest-selling solo classical album in British chart history, selling 29,200 copies in the first week. It debuted at number six and rose to number four the following week, making Smith the third Britain's Got Talent contestant to have a top ten album. In 2010, on account of Faryl, Smith was nominated for two Classical BRIT Awards and became the youngest artist ever to receive a double nomination.
Susan Magdalane Boyle is a Scottish singer who rose to fame in 2009 after appearing as a contestant on the third series of Britain's Got Talent, singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables. As of 2021, Boyle has sold 25 million records. Her debut album, I Dreamed a Dream (2009), is one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century, having sold over 10 million copies worldwide, and it was the best-selling album internationally in 2009. In 2011, Boyle made UK music history by becoming the first female artist to achieve three successive albums debut at No.1 in less than two years.
A Royal Mail rubber band is a small red elastic loop used by the postal delivery service in the United Kingdom. In the course of its work, the Royal Mail consumes nearly one billion rubber bands per year to tie together bundles of letters at sorting offices. In the 2000s, complaints about Royal Mail rubber bands littering the streets of Britain gave rise to ongoing press interest in this minor cultural phenomenon.
The Choir is a BAFTA award-winning TV series following Gareth Malone as he tackles the task of teaching choral singing to people who have never had the chance, or experience to sing before.
Joseph McElderry is an English singer and songwriter. He won the sixth series of The X Factor in 2009. His first single "The Climb" reached number one on both the UK Singles Chart and the Irish Singles Charts. He was also the winner of the second series of Popstar to Operastar in 2011 and the first series of The Jump in 2014. In 2015, McElderry played the lead role of Joseph in the touring production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. In 2022, McElderry performed his Freedom Tour, a tribute to George Michael.
The X Factor in the UK has been subject to much controversy and criticism since its launch in 2004. This has included allegations of conflict of interest, voting irregularities and overcharging, product placement for sponsors, staging scenes, use of pitch correction technology, and exploiting vulnerable contestants. The series has also been criticised for developing singers as marketable products rather than creative individuals. As of April 2020, there have been fifteen completed series broadcast on the ITV network, as well as spin-offs The X Factor: Celebrity (2019) and The X Factor: The Band (2019).
Classic Christmas is the third studio album and first Christmas album by the British singer Joe McElderry. It was released on 25 November 2011. It is his second album released under Decca Records.
Bristol Choral Society is a large mixed-voiced choir based in Bristol, England, founded in 1889. As of 2002, it is conducted by Hilary Campbe, it has around 140 auditioned members. The choir stages at least three concerts annually at the Bristol Beacon in Bristol with professional orchestras and soloists, and another annually at Bristol Cathedral in addition to other performances and broadcasts in Bristol and further afield.
Here's What I Believe is the fourth studio album released by English singer, Joe McElderry. It was released on 10 September 2012 under Decca Records. It is McElderry's third album with the label, and his first album featuring self-penned songs. The album's title track was released as its lead single on 3 August 2012 in Ireland and 5 August 2012 in the UK. Four editions of the album have been released: the standard, a limited edition box set, personalized copies via Mixpixe, and a digital deluxe edition featuring 3 bonus tracks.
Leeds Male Voice Choir is a choir of men founded in 1916 in Leeds, West Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. Originally formed from mining workers in Middleton, Leeds, the choir now has around sixty singers who perform regularly throughout Leeds, Yorkshire and Europe.
The Choir: Sing While You Work is a British television show broadcast on BBC Two, a spinoff of the 2006 series The Choir. In Sing While You Work choirmaster Gareth Malone creates and trains amateur workplace-based choirs, ultimately to compete against one another. The series first aired in 2012 and began a second series in November 2013.
"A Bridge over You" is a charity single recorded and released independently by the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir, the choir of the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust located in south-east London. It is a mashup of "Bridge over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel and Coldplay's 2005 single "Fix You", with additional arrangement by the choir's conductor, Peter Mitchell. It reached number one on the UK Singles Chart at Christmas 2015.
