the united kingdom and the official
residence in office of the first lord of
the treasury
a post which for much of the 18th and
19th centuries and since 1905
has been held by the prime minister of
the united kingdom it's been the locale
of british prime minister since 1735
and prime ministers have officially
lived here full time since 1997
the famous black bricks of the house are
actually yellow underneath
they were blackened by the london smog
during the 19th century
and as a result were painted black
during the 1960s since people were
accustomed to seeing him that way
exactly
10 downing street is named after sir
george downing who was a preacher
soldier statesman diplomat spymaster and
politician
whose allegiances notably changed during
his career he was greatly responsible
for arranging the acquisition of new
york from the dutch
interested in power and money he saw an
opportunity to make his fortune in
property
many of his contemporaries accuse him of
meanness and of being a miser
in 1654 he acquired land adjacent to
saint james's park
where he built a street of red brick
terraced houses designed by sir
christopher wren
who also designed saint paul's cathedral
this later became downing street
the address was actually 5 downing
 |
street until 1779
how long you're in the uk for uh two
weeks oh yeah yeah
enjoy it excuse me guys
in the 20th century alone the first and
second world wars were directed from
here
as were the key decisions about the end
of the empire the building of the
british nuclear bomb
and the handling of economic crises from
the great depression in 1929 to the
great recession
near 10 downing street on whitehall is
the monument to the women of world war
ii which was sculpted by john w mills
unveiled by queen elizabeth ii
and dedicated by baroness boothroyd in
july 2005.
the bronze monument stands 22 feet high
16 feet long
and 6 feet wide the lettering on the
sides replicates the typeface used on
wartime ration books
there were 17 individual sets of
clothing and uniforms around the sides
symbolizing the hundreds of different
jobs women undertook in world war
ii and then gave back to the homecoming
men at the end of the war
also near 10 downing street on whitehall
in the other direction is the cenotaph
a war memorial it was originally a
temporary structure erected for a peace
parade following the end of world war 1
but after an outpouring of national
sentiment it was replaced in 1920 by a
permanent structure
and designated the united kingdom's
official national war memorial
an annual service of remembrance is held
at the site in remembrance sunday
the closest sunday to november 11th
armistice day each year
the memorial is now also used to
remember the dead of later wars
in which british servicemen and service
women have fought
English (auto-generated)
No comments:
Post a Comment