Portion III (chapters 7-10)

Pre-reading activities

1. Browse the Internet or look up the dictionaries and make sure you know the following things and names.

Stanley Matthews — (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game and one of the greatest players of all time, he is the only player to have been knighted while still playing football, as well as being the first winner of both the European Footballer of the Year and the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year awards.

the Michaelmas term — (/ˈmɪkəlməs/ MIK-əl-məs) term is the first academic term of the academic year in a number of English-speaking universities and schools in the northern hemisphere, especially in the United Kingdom. Michaelmas term derives its name from the Feast of St Michael and All Angels, which falls on 29 September. The term runs from September or October to Christmas.

Percy Bysshe Shelley — was a British writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achievements in poetry grew steadily following his death, and he became an important influence on subsequent generations of poets, including Robert Browning, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Thomas Hardy, and W. B. Yeats.

John Keats — (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculosis at the age of 25. They were indifferently received in his lifetime, but his fame grew rapidly after his death.

Beechcroft Abbey — Sometime between 1172 and 1176, Robert FitzRanulf founded an Abbey for monks of the Premonstratensian order at Beauchief, on the outskirts of modern Sheffield. The Abbey was founded as a daughter house of Welbeck Abbey.

Harrow — (/ˈhæroʊ/) is a large town in Greater London, England, and serves as the principal settlement of the London Borough of Harrow. Lying about 9.5 miles (15.3 km) north-west of Charing Cross and 5.4 miles (8.7 km) south of Watford, the entire town including its localities had a population of 149,246 at the 2011 census, whereas the wider borough (which also contains Pinner and Stanmore) had a population of 250,149

John Constable — was an English painter best known for his paintings of the English countryside. Throughout his career, he sketched his native valley of River Stour extensively and the area later came to be known as the Constable County. John Constable was born in Suffolk, England to Golding and Ann Constable. Golding Constable was a wealthy corn merchant and used his boat 'The Telegraph' to bring corn into London.

Mr Attlee — Clement Attlee was born into an upper-middle-class family, the son of a wealthy London solicitor. After attending Haileybury College and the University of Oxford, he practised as a barrister. The volunteer work he carried out in London's East End exposed him to poverty, and his political views shifted leftwards thereafter. He joined the Independent Labour Party, gave up his legal career, and began lecturing at the London School of Economics; with his work briefly interrupted by service in the First World War.

No.10 Downing Street — Number 10 Downing Street is the official residence of the Prime Minister. Located just off Whitehall, it's a stone's throw away from the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace. The street was built in 1680 by property developer Sir George Downing. Behind the famous black door, Number 10 is actually made up of two houses joined together, a cheap terrace house at the front and a much grander building, overlooking Horse Guards Parade.

the Tories — The Conservative Party is one of the main parties in the United Kingdom. The Tories encompasses various different factions inside their party, including one-nation conservatives, Thatcherites, and traditionalist conservatives. The Tories rule a Conservative monarchy led by George V. Categories.

Boroughs — A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. A burg (at the time spelled using the insular G) in the Beowulf. In the Middle Ages, boroughs were settlements in England that were granted some self-government; burghs were the Scottish equivalent. In medieval England, boroughs were also entitled to elect members of parliament.

Opposite number — a colleague in British English;

Frank Pakenham — 7th Earl of Longford, 1st Baron Pakenham, Baron Pakenham of Cowley, KG, PC (5 December 1905 – 3 August 2001), known to his family as Frank Longford and styled Lord Pakenham from 1945 to 1961, was a British politician and social reformer. A member of the Labour Party, he was one of its longest-serving politicians.