Barratts Shoes

Barratts is a brand of high street shoe shops operating in the UK and Ireland. The Barratts shoes brand trades from 100 UK and Ireland stores.

The company was established in Northampton in 1903, and became a highly successful brand known for its lavishly produced boot catalogues during the 1920s. In 1964, it was bought by the company Stylo and, under the Barratts brand name, expanded to over 400 stores at its height, before foreign competition in the 1990s reduced its market share.

Barratts entered administration for the third time in five years on 11 November 2013, with Duff & Phelps appointed as administrators. The brand and website were bought by the footwear entrepreneur Harvey Jacobsen and the former buying and merchandising director of Barratts, Simon Robson, in January 2014.

History

W Barratt Boot and Shoe Company was established in 1903, and soon became one of the leading shoe manufacturers in Northampton. In 1913 it moved into a neo-Baroque factory designed by John Macvicar Anderson. The Barratts brand entered a new era of prosperity in the 1920s with the publication of luxurious promotional catalogues, including specially commissioned artwork and decorative pages. The 1923 catalogue featured an endorsement by the famed couturier Lady Duff Gordon, who also contributed an illustrated introduction to the women's section of this edition. The firm continued to flourish into the mid-20th century under the advertising slogan "Walk the Barratt Way".

Stylo (song)

"Stylo" is the first single from British virtual band Gorillaz's third studio album Plastic Beach. The song features guest vocals from Bobby Womack and Mos Def. The single was released on 26 January 2010.

Production

Bobby Womack knew nothing about Gorillaz and was initially unsure about the collaboration; however, his daughter liked Gorillaz and convinced him to do it. Womack was told to sing whatever was on his mind during the recording of "Stylo". "I was in there for an hour going crazy about love and politics, getting it off my chest", said Womack. After an hour of recording, Womack, a diabetic, started to pass out. He was sat down and given a banana, before waking up minutes later.

Music and lyrical content

Fictional band member Murdoc Niccals stated the following about "Stylo" in a track-by-track commentary:

Reggae singer Eddy Grant claimed that this song bears similarities to his 1983 song "Time Warp" stating that "I am outraged that the Gorillaz have infringed the copyright of my song Time Warp, claiming their song Stylo to be an original composition" and within weeks of its release he began consulting lawyers.

Doctor of Philosophy

A Doctor of Philosophy degree (PhD or Ph.D. or DPhil) or a Doctorate of Philosophy, from the Latin Doctor Philosophiae (for DPhil) or Philosophiae Doctor (for PhD or Ph.D.), is a type of doctorate awarded by universities in many countries.

The degree varies considerably according to the country, institution, and time period, from entry-level research degrees to higher doctorates. A person who attains a doctorate of philosophy is automatically awarded the academic title of doctor. During the studies that lead to the degree, the student is called doctoral student or PhD student, but also "doctoral candidate" at the appropriate stage.

In the context of academic degrees, the term philosophy does not refer solely to the field of philosophy, but is used in a broader sense in accordance with its original Greek meaning, which is "love of wisdom". In most of Europe, all fields (history, philosophy, social sciences, mathematics and natural philosophy/natural sciences) other than theology, law, and medicine (the so-called professional, vocational, or technical curriculum) were traditionally known as philosophy, and in Germany and elsewhere in Europe the basic faculty of liberal arts was known as the faculty of philosophy.

PHD

PHD or PhD may refer to:

Academia

Entertainment

Organizations

Science and technology

Ph.D. (band)

Ph.D. were a British group best known for their UK Top 10 hit "I Won't Let You Down" in April 1982, although the song had been a hit the previous year throughout Europe. The band took its name from the initial letters of its three founding members' surnames; Phillips, Hymas and Diamond. The name was written so as to be a visual pun on the letters denoting a degree of the same name.

Band history

Singer Jim Diamond formed the group with former Jeff Beck Group members Tony Hymas and Simon Phillips in the early 1980s. Their self-titled début album, originally released in 1981, spawned a hit with their ballad "I Won't Let You Down" which peaked at number three in the UK Singles Chart in 1982, and number five in Australia. Following the single's success the album was re-issued and finally entered the UK Albums Chart.

Their video for "Little Suzi's on the Up" was notable for being the fifth video shown on MTV's first broadcasting day, being 1 August 1981 in parts of the U.S. They released their second album Is It Safe? in 1983. The first single, "I Didn't Know," failed to make the UK Top 40, but did well in Europe.