Great Britain

Great Britain, also known as Britain ⁱ/ˈbrɪ.tən/, is an island in the North Atlantic off the north-west coast of continental Europe. With an area of 209,331 km² (80,823 sq mi), it is the largest island in Europe and the ninth-largest in the world. In 2011 the island had a population of about 61 million people, making it the third-most populous island in the world, after Java in Indonesia and Honshu in Japan. It accounts for the majority of the British Isles archipelago, along with over 1,000 smaller surrounding islands, including the island of Ireland to its west.

The island is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, constituting most of its territory: most of England, Scotland, and Wales are on the island, with their respective capital cities, London, Edinburgh, and Cardiff. Politically, the term Great Britain usually extends to include surrounding islands that form part of England, Scotland, and Wales.

A single Kingdom of Great Britain resulted from the Union of Scotland and England (which already comprised the present-day countries of England and Wales) in 1707. More than a hundred years before, in 1603, King James VI, King of Scots, had inherited the throne of England, but it was not until 1707 that the Parliaments of the two countries agreed to form a unified state. Subsequently, in 1801, Great Britain united with the neighbouring Kingdom of Ireland, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The state was renamed the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" after five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom in 1922.

Great Britain (play)

Great Britain is a satirical play written by Richard Bean. It received its world premiere at the Royal National Theatre, London on 30 June 2014, before transferring to the West End's Theatre Royal Haymarket.

Production history

Great Britain is written by English playwright Richard Bean. In May 2013, it was revealed Bean was working on a new play based on the phone hacking scandal, having been commissioned by National Theatre artistic director Sir Nicholas Hytner, whilst still working on his hit play One Man, Two Guvnors. Speaking about the play he revealed that it would be set in a tabloid newsroom and is a play about the state-of-the-nation, press, politics and police in bed with each other. In March 2014, it was revealed that an undisclosed Bean play would premiere as part of the National Theatre 2014-15 season. The season would mark Hytner's last as artistic director of the National Theatre. In May 2014, it was revealed that Billie Piper and Oliver Chris were taking part in workshops for the play and that the cast and crew had signed non-disclosure agreements for the as yet untitled production.

List of Cyborg 009 characters

This is a list of fictional characters appearing in the Cyborg 009 manga by Shotaro Ishinomori and its adaptations.

Protagonists

00 Cyborgs

Joe Shimamura (島村ジョー, Shimamura Jō) - Cyborg 009, and the main character/leader

Joe is originally from Japan, although he is actually half-Japanese who's unknown father was presumably a soldier in the US Army stationed in Japan after World War II. A delinquent youth who was shunned by his peers because he was a Half Breed, he escaped from a juvenile detention facility before being captured by Black Ghost. In the 2001 anime, after his father disappeared and his mother died on the steps at his childbirth, he was an orphan taken in by a Catholic priest from Kanazawa along with their street friends Mary Onodera (perhaps a tribute to Shotaro Ishinomori, his birth name being Shotaro Onodera), Shin'ichi Ibaraki and Masaru Oyamada, then when he turned 18 his mentor was killed by Black Ghost members after they used a group of children that he raised in the church as guinea pigs for the Cyborg project; Joe was wrongfully blamed, then captured by the priest's killers and made into a cyborg. In the 1960 and 1980 film versions, Joe was a famous racer, nicknamed "Hurricane Joe", who gets into a crash and is recovered by Black Ghost (similar to 004's origin). Joe received several body enhancements during the process of being turned into a cyborg. He is super-humanly strong, resistant to damage, can leap large distances, and can breathe underwater. His most prominent ability is the power to move at a speed so fast that everything else looks like a statue to him, this is triggered by a switch embedded in his teeth. However, he cannot touch any normal creatures such as humans in this state; the high speeds would kill or otherwise cause serious injury to the creature through air friction. During each of the series, he acts as the field leader and first line attack of the 00 Cyborgs.

SS Great Britain

SS Great Britain is a museum ship and former passenger steamship, which was advanced for her time. She was the longest passenger ship in the world from 1845 to 1854. She was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Steamship Company's transatlantic service between Bristol and New York. While other ships had been built of iron or equipped with a screw propeller, Great Britain was the first to combine these features in a large ocean-going ship. She was the first iron steamer to cross the Atlantic, which she did in 1845, in the time of 14 days.

The ship is 322 ft (98 m) in length and has a 3,400-ton displacement. She was powered by two inclined 2 cylinder engines of the direct-acting type, with twin 88 in (220 cm) bore, 6-foot (1.8 m) stroke cylinders. She was also provided with secondary sail power. The four decks provided accommodation for a crew of 120, plus 360 passengers who were provided with cabins and dining and promenade saloons.

When launched in 1843, Great Britain was by far the largest vessel afloat. However, her protracted construction and high cost had left her owners in a difficult financial position, and they were forced out of business in 1846 having spent all their funds re-floating the ship after she was run aground at Dundrum Bay after a navigational error. In 1852 she was sold for salvage and repaired. Great Britain carried thousands of immigrants to Australia from 1852 until converted to sail in 1881. Three years later, she was retired to the Falkland Islands where she was used as a warehouse, quarantine ship and coal hulk until scuttled in 1937.

Great Britain national Australian rules football team

The Great Britain National Australian Rules Football team is known as the British Bulldogs. The team is made up of the best British born players selected from the clubs of AFL Britain affiliated competitions in England, Wales and Scotland. Generally professional AFL players (such as in Brad Moran and Will Thursfield) are ineligible due to either learning the game in Australia or not being released by their respective clubs.

The Bulldogs are currently coach by Mark Pitura, former Richmond, Essendon and Collingwood player after former coach Charlie Kielty resigned in June 2009. Charlie took over from Matt Connell (Adelaide Crows) after the 2005 exhibition match at the Oval.

Identity

Although the team represents the island of Great Britain rather than the whole of the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland forming part of a cross-border Ireland Team), the Bulldogs wear the colours of the union flag.

History

The Bulldogs have participated in the Australian Football International Cup held in Melbourne finishing 6th in both 2002 and 2005 as well as the Atlantic Alliance Cup in 2001.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a sovereign state in the European Union. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, it includes the island of "Great Britain" (a term also applied loosely to refer to the whole country), the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands.Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to its east, the English Channel to its south and the Celtic Sea to its south-southwest. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of 93,800 square miles (243,000 km²), the UK is the 80th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also is the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 64.5 million inhabitants.

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. Its capital city is London, an important global city and financial centre with an urban population of 10,310,000, the fourth-largest in Europe and second-largest in the European Union. The current monarch—since 6 February 1952—is Queen Elizabeth II. The UK consists of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The latter three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast, respectively. The nearby Isle of Man, Bailiwick of Guernsey and Bailiwick of Jersey are not part of the United Kingdom, being Crown dependencies with the British Government responsible for defence and international representation.

Cyborg 009

Cyborg 009 (サイボーグゼロゼロナイン, Saibōgu Zero-Zero-Nain) is a manga created by Shotaro Ishinomori. It was serialized in many different magazines, including Monthly Shōnen King, Weekly Shōnen Magazine, Shōnen Big Comic, COM, Shōjo Comic, Weekly Shōnen Sunday, Monthly Shōnen Jump and Monthly Comic Nora in Japan. The first two arcs of the manga were published in English by Tokyopop with all the sound effects left out untranslated; as of 2006 it is out of print. However, in 2012, comiXology acquired the digital distribution rights to Shotaro Ishinomori's catalogue.

Story

Nine regular humans are kidnapped by the evil Black Ghost organization to undergo human experiments which resulted in nine cyborgs with each one having super human powers. The nine cyborgs band together to fight for their freedom and to stop Black Ghost. The evil organization's goal is to start the next world war by supplying rich buyers with countless weapons of mass destruction.

After the destruction of Black Ghost, the nine cyborgs also fought a variety of threats, from mad scientists, to supernatural beings and ancient civilizations.