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177-791: Arthur Koestler CBE ( UK : / ˈ k ɜː s t l ər / , US : / ˈ k ɛ s t -/ ; German: [ˈkœstlɐ] ; Hungarian : Kösztler Artúr ; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was an Austro-Hungarian -born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest , and apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. In 1931, Koestler joined the Communist Party of Germany , but he resigned in 1938 after becoming disillusioned with Stalinism . Having moved to Britain in 1940, he published his novel Darkness at Noon , an anti- totalitarian work that gained him international fame. Over

354-697: A British visa. ( John le Carré used Bagot as a model for Connie Sachs in his spy novels featuring "George Smiley". Bagot was the first to warn that Kim Philby of MI6 was probably spying for the USSR.) Koestler describes the period 1939 to 1940 and his incarceration in Le Vernet in his memoir Scum of the Earth . Shortly before the German invasion of France, Koestler joined the French Foreign Legion in order to get out of

531-524: A Spanish diplomat. Some other diplomats also abandoned diplomatic protocol and rescued Jews. There are two monuments for Wallenberg, one for Carl Lutz and one for Giorgio Perlasca in Budapest. Following the capture of Hungary from Nazi Germany by the Red Army , Soviet military occupation ensued, which ended only in 1991. The Soviets exerted significant influence on Hungarian political affairs. In 1949, Hungary

708-404: A broad riband or sash, passing from the right shoulder to the left hip. Knights Commander and male Commanders wear the badge from a ribbon around the neck; male Officers and Members wear the badge from a ribbon on the left chest; female recipients other than Dames Grand Cross (unless in military uniform) normally wear it from a bow on the left shoulder. An oval eight-pointed star is worn, pinned to

885-483: A cave where fires burned or a limekiln. The first settlement on the territory of Budapest was built by Celts before 1 AD. It was later occupied by the Romans . The Roman settlement – Aquincum – became the main city of Pannonia Inferior in 106 AD. At first it was a military settlement, and gradually the city rose around it, making it the focal point of the city's commercial life. Today this area corresponds to

1062-570: A church, the Inner City Parish Church (Budapest) . The minaret and Turkish entranceway were removed. The shape of the architecture is its only hint of exotic past—"two surviving prayer niches facing Mecca and an ecumenical symbol atop its cupola: a cross rising above the Turkish crescent moon". After 1686, the Baroque architecture designated the dominant style of art in catholic countries from

1239-449: A circlet bearing the motto of the Order; the reverse bears George V's Royal and Imperial Cypher. (Prior to 1937 Britannia was shown within the circlet.) The size of the badges varies according to rank: the higher classes have slightly larger badges. The badges of Knights and Dames Grand Cross, Knights and Dames Commander, and Commanders are enamelled, with pale blue crosses, crimson circlets and

1416-466: A citizen of a Commonwealth realm can convert their appointment from honorary to substantive, and they then enjoy all privileges of membership of the order, including use of the title of Sir and Dame for the senior two ranks of the Order. (An example of the latter is Irish broadcaster Terry Wogan , who was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the Order in 2005, and on successful application for British citizenship, held alongside his Irish citizenship,

1593-655: A fellow Communist activist. They separated amicably in 1937. In 1936, during the Spanish Civil War , he undertook a visit to General Francisco Franco 's headquarters in Seville on behalf of the Comintern , pretending to be a Franco sympathiser and using credentials from the London daily News Chronicle as cover. He collected evidence of the direct involvement of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany on Franco's side, which at that time

1770-443: A gold central medallion. Officers' badges are plain silver-gilt, while those of Members are plain silver. From 1917 until 1937, the badge of the order was suspended on a purple ribbon, with a red central stripe being added for the military division in 1918. Since 1937, the ribbon has been rose-pink with pearl-grey edges (with the addition of a pearl-grey central stripe for the military division). Knights and Dames Grand Cross wear it on

1947-506: A house built, and for the next twelve years used it as a place for summer vacations and for organising symposia. In May 1958 he had a hernia operation. In December he left for India and Japan, and was away until early 1959. Based on his travels, he wrote the book The Lotus and the Robot . In early 1960, on his way back from a conference in San Francisco, Koestler interrupted his journey at

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2124-796: A letter to his parents telling them that he was going to Mandate Palestine for a year to work as an assistant engineer in a factory, in order to gain experience to help him obtain a job in Austria. On 1 April 1926 he left Vienna for Palestine . For a few weeks Koestler lived in a kibbutz , but his application to join the collective ( Kvutzat Heftziba ) was rejected by its members. For the next twelve months he supported himself with menial jobs in Haifa , Tel Aviv , and Jerusalem . Frequently penniless and starving, he often depended on friends and acquaintances for survival. He occasionally wrote or edited broadsheets and other publications, mostly in German. In early 1927 he left Palestine briefly for Berlin , where he ran

2301-606: A niece of Lytton Strachey , was also a former communist; other associates included Rupert Crawshay-Williams , Michael Polanyi , Storm Jameson and, most significantly, Bertrand Russell , who lived close by. In 1948, when war broke out between the newly declared State of Israel and the neighbouring Arab states, Koestler was accredited by several newspapers, American, British and French, and travelled to Israel. Mamaine Paget went with him. They arrived in Israel on 4 June and stayed there until October. Later that year they decided to leave

2478-508: A population of 3,303,786. It is a primate city , constituting 33% of the population of Hungary. The history of Budapest began when an early Celtic settlement transformed into the Roman town of Aquincum , the capital of Lower Pannonia . The Hungarians arrived in the territory in the late 9th century, but the area was pillaged by the Mongols in 1241–42. Re-established Buda became one of

2655-638: A rapid increase in the average temperature. The weather in late March and in April is often very agreeable during the day and fresh at night. Budapest's long summer – lasting from May until mid-September – is warm or very warm. Sudden heavy showers also occur, particularly in May and June. The autumn in Budapest (mid-September until late October) is characterised by little rain and long sunny days with moderate temperatures. Temperatures often turn abruptly colder in late October or early November. Mean annual precipitation in Budapest

2832-688: A result of Adolf Hitler's rise to power in January 1933, Koestler was no longer able to visit Germany. Koestler left the Soviet Union in 1933, and in September of that year he returned to Paris and for the next two years was active in anti-Fascist movements. He wrote propaganda under the direction of Willi Münzenberg , the Comintern's chief propaganda director in the West. In 1935 Koestler married Dorothy Ascher (1905-1992),

3009-562: A scriptwriter for propaganda broadcasts and films. In his spare time he wrote Arrival and Departure , the third in his trilogy of novels that included Darkness at Noon . He also wrote several essays, which were subsequently collected and published in The Yogi and the Commissar . One of the essays, titled "On Disbelieving Atrocities" (originally published in The New York Times ), was about

3186-457: A team of scientists and the polar aviator Lincoln Ellsworth to 82 degrees North and back. Koestler was the only journalist on board: his live wireless broadcasts, and subsequent articles and lecture tours throughout Europe, brought him further attention. Soon afterwards he was appointed foreign editor and assistant editor-in-chief of the mass-circulation Berliner Zeitung am Mittag . In 1931, Koestler, encouraged by Eva Striker , and impressed by

3363-645: A three-storey Georgian town house on Montpelier Square in London, and sold his houses in France and the United States. The first two volumes of his autobiography, Arrow in the Blue , which covers his life up to December 1931 when he joined the German Communist Party, and The Invisible Writing , which covers the years 1932 to 1940, were published in 1952 and 1954, respectively. A collection of essays, The Trail of

3540-640: A transfer away from Palestine. In September he was sent to Paris to fill a vacancy in the bureau of the Ullstein News Service. In 1931, he was called to Berlin and appointed science editor of the Vossische Zeitung and science adviser to the Ullstein newspaper empire. In July 1931, he was Ullstein's choice to represent the paper on board the Graf Zeppelin 's week-long polar flight, which carried

3717-529: A transitional climate between a humid temperate climate ( Köppen : Cfa , Trewartha : Doak ), and a humid continental climate ( Köppen : Dfa , Trewartha : Dcao ), with warm to hot summers and chilly winters. Winter (November until early March) can be cold and the city receives little sunshine. Snowfall is fairly frequent in most years, and nighttime temperatures of −10 °C (14 °F) are not uncommon between mid-December and mid-February. The spring months (March and April) see variable conditions, with

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3894-415: A wide range of styles and from distinct time periods, from the ancient times as Roman City of Aquincum in Óbuda (District III), which dates to around 89 AD, to the most modern Palace of Arts , the contemporary arts museum and concert hall. Most buildings in Budapest are relatively low: in the early 2010s there were around 100 buildings higher than 45 metres (148 ft). The number of high-rise buildings

4071-457: A year before the end of World War II , Budapest was partly destroyed by British and American air raids (first attack 4 April 1944 ). From 24 December 1944 to 13 February 1945, the city was besieged during the Battle of Budapest . Budapest sustained major damage caused by the attacking Soviet and Romanian troops and the defending German and Hungarian troops. More than 38,000 civilians died during

4248-520: Is a blend of several architectural styles, with a focus on Hungary's specialities. One of the leading Art Nouveau architects, Ödön Lechner (1845–1914), was inspired by Indian and Syrian architecture as well as traditional Hungarian decorative designs. One of his most beautiful buildings in Budapest is the Museum of Applied Arts . Another examples for Art Nouveau in Budapest is the Gresham Palace in front of

4425-519: Is a wedge with a 56 angle degree made in rusted iron that gradually becomes shiny, ending in an intersection to symbolize Hungarian forces that temporarily eradicated the Communist leadership. From the 1960s to the late 1980s Hungary was often satirically referred to as " the happiest barrack " within the Eastern bloc , and much of the wartime damage to the city was finally repaired. Work on Erzsébet Bridge ,

4602-718: Is also the headquarters of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology , the European Police College and the first foreign office of the China Investment Promotion Agency . Over 40 colleges and universities are located in Budapest, including Eötvös Loránd University , Corvinus University , Semmelweis University , University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics . Opened in 1896,

4779-512: Is an image of Britannia surrounded by the motto, with the words "For Meritorious Service" at the bottom; on the reverse is George V's Imperial and Royal Cypher, with the words "Instituted by King George V" at the bottom. The name of the recipient is engraved on the rim. This medal is nicknamed "the Gong", and comes in both full-sized and miniature versions – the latter for formal white-tie and semi-formal black-tie occasions. A lapel pin for everyday wear

4956-429: Is around 23.5 inches (596.9 mm). On average, there are 84 days with precipitation and 1988 hours of sunshine (of a possible 4383) each year. From March to October, average sunshine totals are roughly equal to those seen in northern Italy ( Venice ). The city lies on the boundary between Zone 6 and Zone 7 in terms of the hardiness zone . Weather Atlas (UV) Budapest has architecturally noteworthy buildings in

5133-411: Is difficult to defend a plain. King Béla IV of Hungary , therefore, ordered the construction of reinforced stone walls around the towns and set his own royal palace on the top of the protecting hills of Buda. In 1361 it became the capital of Hungary. The cultural role of Buda was particularly significant during the reign of King Matthias Corvinus . The Italian Renaissance had a great influence on

5310-512: Is found. Various cultures converged in Hungary seemed to coalesce well with each other, as if all these different cultures and architecture styles are digested into Hungary's own way of cultural blend. A precedent to show the city's self-conscious is the top section of the city's main square, named as Szechenyi . When Turks came to the city, they built mosques here which was aggressively replaced with Gothic church of St. Bertalan. The rationale of reusing

5487-500: Is kept low by building legislation, which is aimed at preserving the historic cityscape and to meet the requirements of the World Heritage Site . Strong rules apply to the planning, authorisation and construction of high-rise buildings and consequently much of the inner city does not have any. Some planners would like see an easing of the rules for the construction of skyscrapers, and the possibility of building skyscrapers outside

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5664-931: Is not a member of the College of Arms , as are many other heraldic officers; and the Lady Usher of the Purple Rod does not – unlike the Order of the Garter equivalent, the Lady Usher of the Black Rod – perform any duties related to the House of Lords . Since the Second World War, several Commonwealth realms have established their own national system of honours and awards and have created their own unique orders, decorations and medals. A number, though, continue to make recommendations for appointments to

5841-456: Is often used pars pro toto for the entire city in contemporary colloquial Hungarian, although it is also used to refer to all parts of the city east of the Danube. Conversely, Buda colloquially means all districts to the Danube's west—including the former Óbuda. The Danube islands—including Csepel , the city's XXI. district—are part of neither Buda nor Pest. All varieties of English pronounce

6018-599: Is the capital and most populous city of Hungary . It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second largest city on the Danube river. The city has an estimated population of 1,752,286 over a land area of about 525 square kilometres (203 square miles). Budapest, which is both a city and municipality , forms the centre of the Budapest metropolitan area , which has an area of 7,626 square kilometres (2,944 square miles) and

6195-670: The -s- as in the English word pest . The -u in Buda- is pronounced either /u/ like food (as in US : / ˈ b uː d ə p ɛ s t / ) or /ju/ like cue (as in UK : / ˌ b ( j ) uː d ə ˈ p ɛ s t , ˌ b ʊ d -, ˈ b ( j ) uː d ə p ɛ s t , ˈ b ʊ d -/ ). In Hungarian, the -s- is pronounced /ʃ/ as in wash ; in IPA: Hungarian: [ˈbudɒpɛʃt] . The origins of

6372-515: The Aromanian diaspora during the 19th century. In 1918, Austria-Hungary lost the war and collapsed; Hungary declared itself an independent republic ( Republic of Hungary ). In 1920 the Treaty of Trianon partitioned the country, and as a result, Hungary lost over two-thirds of its territory, and about two-thirds of its inhabitants, including 3.3 million out of 15 million ethnic Hungarians. In 1944,

6549-453: The Battle of Southern Buh , settled in the territory at the end of the 9th century displacing the founding Bulgarian settlers of the towns of Buda and Pest, and a century later officially founded the Kingdom of Hungary . Research places the probable residence of the Árpáds as an early place of central power near what became Budapest. The Tatar invasion in the 13th century quickly proved it

6726-584: The British Empire Medal , and the following year its recipients were granted the right to use the postnominal letters BEM. During the war, the BEM came to be used to recognise acts of bravery which did not merit the award of a George Cross or George Medal , a use which continued until the introduction of the Queen's Gallantry Medal in 1974. The designs of insignia of the order and medal were altered in 1937, prior to

6903-496: The Chain Bridge linking Buda with Pest was opened as the first permanent bridge across the Danube and in 1873 Buda and Pest were officially merged with the third part, Óbuda (Old Buda), thus creating the new metropolis of Budapest. The dynamic Pest grew into the country's administrative, political, economic, trade and cultural hub. Ethnic Hungarians overtook Germans in the second half of the 19th century due to mass migration from

7080-772: The Danube Promenade , both designed by architect Frigyes Feszl (1821–1884). Another noteworthy structure is the Budapest Western Railway Station , which was designed by August de Serres and built by the Eiffel Company of Paris in 1877. Art Nouveau came into fashion in Budapest by the exhibitions which were held in and around 1896 and organised in connection with the Hungarian Millennium celebrations. Art Nouveau in Hungary ( Szecesszió in Hungarian)

7257-573: The Empire Gallantry Medal , were given permission to use the postnominal letters EGM (and at the same time to add a laurel branch emblem to the ribbon of the medal); however, in 1940, awards of the EGM ceased and all holders of the medal were instructed to exchange it for a new and more prestigious gallantry award: the George Cross . In 1941, the medal of the order 'for meritorious service' was renamed

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7434-584: The Habsburgs began in the Hungarian capital in 1848 and was defeated one and a half years later, with the help of the Russian Empire. 1867 was the year of Reconciliation that brought about the birth of Austria-Hungary . This made Budapest the twin capital of a dual monarchy. It was this compromise which opened the second great phase of development in the history of Budapest , lasting until World War I . In 1849

7611-659: The Matthias Church , where much of the original material was used (originally built in Romanesque style in 1015). The next chapter in the history of human architecture is Renaissance architecture . One of the earliest places to be influenced by the Renaissance style of architecture was Hungary, and Budapest in particular. The style appeared following the marriage of King Matthias Corvinus and Beatrice of Naples in 1476. Many Italian artists, craftsmen and masons came to Buda with

7788-633: The New York Drama Critics Award . Koestler donated all his royalties from the play to a fund he had set up to help struggling authors, the Fund for Intellectual Freedom (FIF). In June a bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate to grant Koestler permanent residence in the U.S. Koestler sent tickets for the play to his House sponsor Richard Nixon and his Senate sponsor Owen Brewster , a close confidant of Joseph McCarthy . The bill became law on 23 August 1951 as Private Law 221 Chapter 343 "AN ACT For

7965-541: The Order of Canada . On the other hand, the Australian Honours System unilaterally created in 1975 did not achieve bi-partisan support until 1992, which was when Australian federal and state governments agreed to cease Australian recommendations for British honours; the last Australian recommended Order of the British Empire appointments were in the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours . New Zealand continued to use

8142-490: The University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , where some experimental research was going on with hallucinogens . He tried psilocybin and had a "bad trip". Later, when he arrived at Harvard to see Timothy Leary , he experimented with more drugs, but was not enthusiastic about that experience either. In November 1960 he was elected to a Fellowship of The Royal Society of Literature . In 1962, along with his agent, A D Peters and

8319-509: The White Terror under the right-wing regime of Admiral Horthy . In 1920 the family returned to Vienna, where Henrik set up a successful new import business. In September 1922 Arthur enrolled in the University of Vienna to study engineering, and joined a Zionist duelling student fraternity, 'Unitas.' . When Henrik's latest business failed, Koestler stopped attending lectures and was expelled for non-payment of fees. In March 1926 he wrote

8496-444: The coronation of King George VI , 'in commemoration of the reign of King George V and Queen Mary, during which the Order was founded'. The figure of Britannia at the centre of the badge of the order was replaced with an image of the crowned heads of the late King and Queen Mary, and the words 'Instituted by King George V' were added to the reverse of the medal. The colour of the riband was also changed: twenty years earlier, prior to

8673-561: The 14th century and No. 31 Úri Street, which has a Gothic façade that dates back to the 15th century. Other buildings with Gothic features are the Inner City Parish Church , built in the 12th century, and the Mary Magdalene Church, completed in the 15th century. The most characteristic Gothic-style buildings are actually Neo-Gothic , like the most well-known Budapest landmarks, the Hungarian Parliament Building and

8850-422: The 17th century to the 18th century. There are many Baroque-style buildings in Budapest and one of the finest examples of preserved Baroque-style architecture is the Church of St. Anna in Batthyhány square . An interesting part of Budapest is the less touristy Óbuda, the main square of which also has some beautiful preserved historic buildings with Baroque façades. The Castle District is another place to visit where

9027-427: The 1960s he took LSD with Timothy Leary . In the 1970s he was still giving lectures that impressed, among others, the young Salman Rushdie . Koestler was born in Budapest to Jewish parents Henrik and Adele Koestler ( née Jeiteles). Henrik's father, Lipót Koestler, was a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army . In 1861 Lipót married Karolina Schon, the daughter of a prosperous timber merchant, and their son Henrik

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9204-420: The 1980s, the city's population reached 2.1 million. In recent times a significant decrease in population occurred mainly due to a massive movement to the neighbouring agglomeration in Pest county , i.e., suburbanisation. In the last decades of the 20th century the political changes of 1989–90 ( Fall of the Iron Curtain ) concealed changes in civil society and along the streets of Budapest. The monuments of

9381-401: The 21st century quotas were introduced to ensure consistent representation among recipients across nine categories of eligibility: with the largest proportion of awards being reserved for community, voluntary and local service. Non-military awards of the British Empire Medal resumed in 2012, starting with 293 BEMs awarded for Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee . In 2017 the centenary of

9558-442: The 21st century, Budapest faces new challenges in its architecture. The pressure towards the high-rise buildings is unequivocal among today's world cities, but preserving Budapest's unique cityscape and its very diverse architecture, along with green areas, forces Budapest to balance between them. The Contemporary architecture has wide margin in the city. Public spaces attract heavy investment by business and government also, so that

9735-413: The 525 square kilometres (203 square miles) occupied by the city, 83 square kilometres (32 square miles) is green area, park and forest. The forests of Buda hills are environmentally protected. The city's importance in terms of traffic is very central, because many major European roads and European railway lines lead to Budapest. The Danube was and is still an important water-way and this region in

9912-484: The British Empire is a British order of chivalry , rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service . It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or a dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal , whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of,

10089-739: The British Empire . Rather than using this chapel, the Order now holds its great services upstairs in the nave of the cathedral. In addition to the Chapel of the Order of the British Empire, St Paul's Cathedral also houses the Chapel of the Order of St Michael and St George . Religious services for the whole Order are held every four years; new Knights and Dames Grand Cross are installed at these services. Knights Grand Cross and Knights Commander prefix Sir , and Dames Grand Cross and Dames Commander prefix Dame , to their forenames. Wives of Knights may prefix Lady to their surnames, but no equivalent privilege exists for husbands of Knights or spouses of Dames. Such forms are not used by peers and princes, except when

10266-443: The British Empire for Gallantry. Any individual made a member of the order for gallantry after 14 January 1958 wears an emblem of two crossed silver oak leaves on the same ribbon as the badge, with a miniature version on the ribbon bar when worn alone. When the ribbon only is worn the emblem is worn in miniature. It could not be awarded posthumously , and was replaced in 1974 with the Queen's Gallantry Medal (QGM). If recipients of

10443-432: The British sculptor Daphne Hardy . They lived together in Paris, and she translated the manuscript of Darkness at Noon from German into English in early 1940. She smuggled it out of France when they left ahead of the German occupation and arranged for its publication after reaching London that year. After the outbreak of World War II , Koestler returned from the South of France to Paris. He attempted to turn himself in to

10620-472: The Budapest radio station and demanded to publish their demands. The regime ordered troops to shoot into the crowd. Hungarian soldiers gave rifles to the demonstrators who were now able to capture the building. This initiated the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 . The demonstrators demanded to appoint Imre Nagy to be Prime Minister of Hungary . To their surprise, the central committee of the " Hungarian Working People's Party " did so that same evening. This uprising

10797-416: The Chain Bridge, the Hotel Gellért , the Franz Liszt Academy of Music or Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden . It is one of the world's outstanding urban landscapes and illustrates the great periods in the history of the Hungarian capital. The second half of the 20th century also saw, under the communist regime, the construction of blocks of flats ( panelház ), as in other Eastern European countries. In

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10974-425: The Communist Party and started work on a new novel, which was published in London under the title Darkness at Noon (1941). Also in 1938 he became editor of Die Zukunft (The Future), a German-language weekly published in Paris. Koestler's breaking with the Communist Party may have been influenced by the similar step taken by his fellow activist Willi Münzenberg . In 1939 Koestler met and formed an attachment to

11151-494: The Dinosaur and Other Essays , on the perils he saw facing western civilisation, was published in 1955. On 13 April 1955 Janine Graetz, with whom Koestler had an on-off relationship over a period of years, gave birth to his daughter Cristina. Despite repeated attempts by Janine to persuade Koestler to show some interest in her, Koestler had almost no contact with Cristina throughout his life. Early in 1956 he arranged for Cynthia Jeffries to have an abortion when she became pregnant; it

11328-443: The Hungarian language is now called Budavár [Buda Castle] and by the Germans Etzelburg [Attila Castle] There are several theories about Pest. One states that the name derives from Roman times , since there was a local fortress ( Contra-Aquincum ) called by Ptolemy "Pession" ("Πέσσιον", iii.7.§ 2). Another has it that Pest originates in the Slavic word for cave, пещера , or peštera . A third cites пещ , or pešt , referencing

11505-401: The Loyalists, the wife of one of Franco's ace fighter pilots. Koestler was one of the few authors to have been sentenced to death, an experience he wrote about in Dialogue with Death . As he noted in his autobiography, his estranged wife Dorothy Ascher had greatly contributed to saving his life by intensive, months-long lobbying on his behalf in Britain. When he went to Britain after his release,

11682-419: The Military Division of the order from the UK and across the Empire. Recommendations for all appointments to the Order of the British Empire were originally made on the nomination of the King's United Kingdom ministers (recommendations for overseas awards were made by the Foreign Office , the Colonial Office , the India Office and the Dominions Office ); but in the early 1940s the system was changed to enable

11859-434: The Nationalist rebels were still trying to conceal. He had to escape after he was recognised and denounced as a Communist by a German former colleague. Back in France he wrote L'Espagne Ensanglantée , which was later incorporated into his book Spanish Testament . In 1937 he returned to Loyalist Spain as a war correspondent for the News Chronicle , and was in Málaga when it fell to Mussolini's troops, who were fighting on

12036-425: The Nazi atrocities against the Jews. Daphne Hardy, who had been doing war work in Oxford, joined Koestler in London in 1943, but they parted company a few months later. They remained good friends until Koestler's death. In December 1944 Koestler travelled to Palestine with accreditation from The Times . There he had a clandestine meeting with Menachem Begin , the head of the Irgun paramilitary organisation, who

12213-490: The Night . When he returned to England, Mamaine Paget, whom he had started to see before going out to Palestine, was waiting for him. In August 1945 the couple moved to the cottage of Bwlch Ocyn, an isolated farmhouse owned by Clough Williams-Ellis , in the Vale of Ffestiniog . Over the next three years, Koestler became a close friend of writer George Orwell . The region had its own intellectual circle, which would have been sympathetic to Koestler: Williams-Ellis' wife, Amabel ,

12390-436: The Order of the British Empire for Gallantry received promotion within the order, whether for gallantry or otherwise, they continued to wear also the insignia of the lower grade with the oak leaves; however, they used only the post-nominal letters of the higher grade. When the order was founded in 1917, badges, ribands and stars were appointed for wear by recipients. In 1929 mantles, hats and collars were added for recipients of

12567-456: The Order of the British Empire. In 2024 appointments to the order were made by the governments of: Most members of the order are citizens of the United Kingdom or Commonwealth realms that use the UK system of honours and awards. In addition, honorary awards may be made to citizens of nations where the monarch is not head of state ; these permit use of post-nominal letters, but not the title of Sir or Dame . Honorary appointees who later become

12744-404: The Order, however, are not assigned any special precedence. As a general rule, only wives and children of male recipients are afforded privileges. Knights and Dames Grand Cross are also entitled to be granted heraldic supporters . They may, furthermore, encircle their arms with a depiction of the circlet (a circle bearing the motto) and the collar; the former is shown either outside or on top of

12921-586: The Pálvölgyi cave (total length 7,200 m or 23,600 ft) and the Szemlőhegyi cave (total length 2,200 m or 7,200 ft). The hills were formed in the Triassic Period. The highest point of the hills and of Budapest is János Hill , at 527 metres (1,729 feet) above sea level . The lowest point is the line of the Danube which is 96 metres (315 feet) above sea level. Budapest is also rich in green areas. Of

13098-466: The Secretariat of Ze'ev Jabotinsky 's Revisionist Party. Later that year, through a friend, Koestler obtained the position of Middle East correspondent for the prestigious Berlin-based Ullstein-Verlag group of newspapers. He returned to Jerusalem, where for the next two years he produced detailed political essays, as well as some lighter reportage, for his principal employer and for other newspapers. He

13275-595: The U.S. and the UK. In 1949 he also published the non-fiction Insight and Outlook . This too received lukewarm reviews. In July Koestler began work on Arrow in the Blue , the first volume of his autobiography. He hired a new part-time secretary, Cynthia Jefferies, who replaced Daphne Woodward . Cynthia and Koestler eventually married. In the autumn he started work on The Age of Longing , on which he continued to work until mid-1950. Koestler had reached agreement with his first wife, Dorothy, on an amicable divorce, and their marriage

13452-486: The UK continue to make appointments to the order. Honorary awards may be made to citizens of other nations of which the order's sovereign is not the head of state. The five classes of appointment to the Order are, from highest grade to lowest grade: The senior two ranks of Knight or Dame Grand Cross and Knight or Dame Commander entitle their members to use the titles Sir for men and Dame for women before their forenames, except with honorary awards. King George V founded

13629-559: The UK for a while and move to France. News that his long-pending application for British nationality had been granted reached him in France in late December; early in 1949 he returned to London to swear the oath of allegiance to the British Crown . In January 1949 Koestler and Paget moved to a house he had bought in France. There he wrote a contribution to The God That Failed and finished work on Promise and Fulfilment: Palestine 1917-1949 . The latter book received poor reviews in both

13806-517: The United Kingdom; those who would formerly have met the criteria for the medal were instead made eligible for the MBE. In 2004, a report entitled A Matter of Honour: Reforming Our Honours System by a Commons select committee recommended phasing out the Order of the British Empire, as its title was "now considered to be unacceptable, being thought to embody values that are no longer shared by many of

13983-564: The Universe", which also became the book's subtitle. Copernicus and Galileo were added to Kepler as the major subjects of the book. Later in 1956, as a consequence of the Hungarian Uprising , Koestler became busy organising anti-Soviet meetings and protests. In June 1957 Koestler gave a lecture at a symposium in Alpbach , Austria, and fell in love with the village. He bought land there, had

14160-474: The V. district is in the very center of Pest and inaugurates a new circle that then loops back through Pest to Buda as the VI., VII., VIII., IX., XI., and XII. districts. Districts XIII., XIV., XV., XVI., XVII., XVIII., XIX., XX., XXI., and XXII. form yet another semicircle in outermost Pest. Districts X. and XXIII. form irregularities within the overall pattern. Budapest is the most populous city in Hungary and one of

14337-557: The achievements of the Soviet Union, became a supporter of Marxism-Leninism . On 31 December 1931, he applied for membership of the Communist Party of Germany . As noted in his biography, he was disappointed in the conduct of the Vossische Zeitung , "The Flagship of German Liberalism", which adapted to changing times by firing Jewish journalists, hiring writers with marked German Nationalist views, and dropping its longstanding campaign against capital punishment. Koestler concluded that Liberals and moderate Democrats could not stand up against

14514-526: The agglomeration in Pest county. The capital extends 25 and 29 km (16 and 18 mi) in the north–south, east–west direction respectively. The Danube enters the city from the north; later it encircles two islands, Óbuda Island and Margaret Island . The third island Csepel Island is the largest of the Budapest Danube islands, however only its northernmost tip is within city limits. The river that separates

14691-478: The authorities as a foreign national several times and was finally arrested on 2 October 1939. The French government first detained Koestler at Stade Roland Garros until he was moved to Le Vernet Internment Camp among other "undesirable aliens", most of them refugees. He was released in early 1940 in response to strong British pressure. Milicent Bagot , an intelligence officer at MI5 , recommended his release from Camp Vernet, but said that he should not be granted

14868-550: The autumn he went to the United States on a lecture tour, during which he lobbied for permanent resident status in the U.S. At the end of October, on impulse, he bought Island Farm , a small island with a house on it on the Delaware River near New Hope, Pennsylvania . He intended to live there at least for part of each year. In January 1951 a dramatised version of Darkness at Noon , by Sidney Kingsley , opened in New York. It won

15045-451: The award of medal of the order to Lizzie Robinson, a munitions worker. The order had been established primarily as a civilian award; in August 1918, however, not long after its foundation, a number of awards were made to serving naval and military personnel. Four months later, a 'Military Division' was added to the order, to which serving personnel would in future be appointed. The classes were

15222-471: The base of the former Islamic building mosque and reconstruction into Gothic Church but Islamic style architecture over it is typically Islamic are still visible. An official term for the rationale is spolia . The mosque was called the djami of Pasha Gazi Kassim, and djami means mosque in Arabic. After Turks and Muslims were expelled and massacred from Budapest, the site was reoccupied by Christians and reformed into

15399-893: The best examples are the Hungarian National Museum , the Lutheran Church of Budavár (both designed by Pollack) and the seat of the Hungarian president , the Sándor Palace . The most iconic and widely known Classicist-style attraction in Budapest is the Széchenyi Chain Bridge . Budapest's two most beautiful Romantic architecture buildings are the Great Synagogue in Dohány Street and the Vigadó Concert Hall on

15576-508: The best-known landmark Buda Royal Palace and many other buildings were built in the Baroque style. The Classical architecture and Neoclassical architecture are the next in the timeline. Budapest had not one but two architects that were masters of the Classicist style. Mihály Pollack (1773–1855) and József Hild (1789–1867), built many beautiful Classicist-style buildings in the city. Some of

15753-468: The cathedral. That year, Commonwealth awards made up 40% of all OBEs and MBEs awarded (and 35% of all living recipients of the higher awards). Gradually that proportion reduced as independent states within the Commonwealth established their own systems of honours . The last Canadian recommendation for the Order of the British Empire was an MBE for gallantry gazetted in 1966, a year before the creation of

15930-402: The centre for awards in the military division). From time to time the order was expanded: there was an increase in the maximum permitted number of recipients in 1933, and a further increase in 1937. During the Second World War, as had been the case during and after World War I, the number of military awards was greatly increased; between 1939 and 1946 there were more than 33,000 appointments to

16107-950: The centre of the Pannonian Basin , lies on an ancient route linking the hills of Transdanubia with the Great Plain. By road it is 216 kilometres (134 mi) south-east of Vienna , 545 kilometres (339 mi) south of Warsaw , 1,565 kilometres (972 mi) south-west of Moscow, 1,122 kilometres (697 mi) north of Athens , 1,235 kilometres (767 mi) north-east of Rome , 788 kilometres (490 mi) north-east of Milan , 443 kilometres (275 mi) south-east of Prague , 343 kilometres (213 mi) north-east of Zagreb , 748 kilometres (465 mi) north-east of Split and 1,329 kilometres (826 mi) north-west of Istanbul . The 525 square kilometres (203 sq mi) area of Budapest lies in Central Hungary , surrounded by settlements of

16284-679: The centre of the Carpathian Basin lies at the cross-roads of trade routes . Budapest is one of only three capital cities in the world which has thermal springs (the others being Reykjavík in Iceland and Sofia in Bulgaria ). Some 125 springs produce 70 million litres (15,000,000 imperial gallons; 18,000,000 US gallons) of thermal water a day, with temperatures ranging up to 58 Celsius. Some of these waters have been claimed to have medicinal effects due to their high mineral contents. Budapest has

16461-422: The centres of Renaissance humanist culture by the 15th century. The Battle of Mohács , in 1526, was followed by nearly 150 years of Ottoman rule. After the reconquest of Buda in 1686, the region entered a new age of prosperity, with Pest-Buda becoming a global city after the unification of Buda, Óbuda and Pest on 17 November 1873, with the name 'Budapest' given to the new capital. Budapest also became

16638-483: The circle of the Comintern agent Willi Münzenberg , through whom he met the leading German Communists [and fellow-travellers] of the era, including Johannes Becher , Hanns Eisler and Bertolt Brecht . Afraid of being caught by the Gestapo while fleeing France, he borrowed suicide pills from Walter Benjamin . He took them several weeks later when it seemed he would be unable to get out of Lisbon, but he did not die. Along

16815-418: The circlet. In 1929, to bring the order into line with the other orders of chivalry, members of the first class of the order (GBE) were provided with mantles, hats and collars. Only Knights/Dames Grand Cross wear these elaborate vestments; the hat is now rarely, if ever, worn. Use of the mantle is limited to important occasions (such as quadrennial services and coronations ). The mantle is always worn with

16992-571: The city center in its broadest sense, corresponding roughly to the 1873 municipal boundaries. Budapest's districts are numbered according to three concentric semicircles. The I. district is a small area in central Buda, including the Castle Quarter . District II. is in Buda to the castle's northwest while district III. stretches along the northernmost part of Buda and includes the former Óbuda. District IV. continues this semicircle in northernmost Pest, but

17169-585: The city has gained entirely new (or renovated and redesigned) squares, parks and monuments, for example the city central Kossuth Lajos square , Deák Ferenc square and Liberty Square . Numerous landmarks have been created in the last decade in Budapest, like the National Theatre , Palace of Arts, Rákóczi Bridge , Megyeri Bridge , Budapest Airport Sky Court among others, and millions of square meters of new office buildings and apartments . But there are still large opportunities in real estate development in

17346-574: The city of Sicambria in Pannonia, where he killed Buda , his brother, and he threw his corpse into the Danube . For while Attila was in the west, his brother crossed the boundaries in his reign, because he named Sicambria after his own name Buda's Castle. And though King Attila forbade the Huns and the other peoples to call that city Buda's Castle, but he called it Attila's Capital, the Germans who were terrified by

17523-606: The city's historic core has been raised. In the chronological order of architectural styles Budapest is represented on the entire timeline, starting with the Roman City of Aquincum representing ancient architecture . The next determinative style is the Gothic architecture in Budapest. The few remaining Gothic buildings can be found in the Castle District. Buildings of note are no. 18, 20 and 22 on Országház Street, which date back to

17700-719: The city's subway system, the Budapest Metro , serves 1.27 million, while the Budapest Tram Network serves 1.08 million passengers daily. The central area of Budapest along the Danube River is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has several notable monuments of classical architecture , including the Hungarian Parliament and the Buda Castle . The city also has around 80 geothermal springs ,

17877-608: The city. Contemporary Budapest is divided into 23 districts (Hungarian: kerületek , sg. : kerület ), each with a mayor and municipal government elected separately from the general municipal government. The districts and the general municipal government have constitutionally and legally defined, non-overlapping areas of competence. Each district has a municipally recognized name, some of which correspond to how locals call that area or neighborhood (e.g., Belváros , V. district; Terézváros , VI. district), others which (e.g., Újbuda , XI. district) are neologisms. Street signs display

18054-582: The city. His library, the Bibliotheca Corviniana , was Europe's greatest collection of historical chronicles and philosophic and scientific works in the 15th century, and second in size only to the Vatican Library . After the foundation of the first Hungarian university in Pécs in 1367 ( University of Pécs ), the second one was established in Óbuda in 1395 ( University of Óbuda ). The first Hungarian book

18231-453: The city. These were great examples of Ottoman architecture , which was influenced by Muslims from around the world including Turkish, Iranian, Arabian and to a larger extent, Byzantine architecture as well as Islamic traditions. After the Holy League conquered Budapest, they replaced most of the mosques with churches and minarets were turned into bell towers and cathedral spires. At one point

18408-488: The civil division were to be divided equally between UK and overseas awards. With regard to the Medal of the Order (but not the order itself), a distinction was made in 1922 between awards 'for gallantry' and awards 'for meritorious service' (each being appropriately inscribed, and the former having laurel leaves decorating the clasp, the latter oak leaves). In 1933 holders of the medal 'for gallantry', which had come to be known as

18585-574: The co-capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire , a great power that dissolved in 1918, following World War I . The city was the focal point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and the Battle of Budapest in 1945, as well as the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 . Budapest is a global city with strengths in commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment. Hungary's financial centre , Budapest

18762-444: The collar. Although the mantle was introduced in 1929, very few mantles would have been produced prior to the 1937 design changes, as there were few occasions for wearing them in the intervening years. On certain days designated by the sovereign, known as " collar days ", members attending formal events may wear the order's collar over their military uniform, formal day dress, evening wear or robes of office. Collars are returned upon

18939-593: The conflict. All bridges were destroyed by the Germans. The stone lions that have decorated the Chain Bridge since 1852 survived the devastation of the war. Between 20% and 40% of Greater Budapest's 250,000 Jewish inhabitants died through Nazi and Arrow Cross Party , during the German occupation of Hungary , from 1944 to early 1945. Swiss diplomat Carl Lutz rescued tens of thousands of Jews by issuing Swiss protection papers and designating numerous buildings, including

19116-410: The considerably larger Pest spreads out on a flat and featureless sand plain on the river's opposite bank. Pest's terrain rises with a slight eastward gradient, so the easternmost parts of the city lie at the same altitude as Buda's smallest hills, notably Gellért Hill and Castle Hill. The Buda hills consist mainly of limestone and dolomite, the water created speleothems , the most famous ones being

19293-479: The country's population". The committee further suggested changing the name of the award to the Order of British Excellence, and changing the rank of Commander to Companion (as the former was said to have a "militaristic ring"), as well as advocating for the abolition of knighthoods and damehoods; the government, however, was not of the opinion that a case for change had been made, and the aforementioned suggestions and recommendations were not, therefore, pursued. In

19470-483: The country. He deserted in North Africa and tried to return to England. He heard a false report that the ship on which Hardy was travelling had sunk, and that she and his manuscript were lost. He attempted suicide , but survived. Arriving in the UK without an entry permit, Koestler was imprisoned pending examination of his case. He was still in prison when Daphne Hardy's English translation of his book Darkness at Noon

19647-497: The couple tried to resume their marriage, but Koestler's gratitude to her proved an insufficient foundation for a daily life together. Koestler returned to France, where he agreed to write a sex encyclopaedia to earn money to live on. It was published to great success under the title The Encyclopœdia of Sexual Knowledge , under the pseudonyms of "Drs A. Costler, A. Willy, and Others". In July 1938 Koestler finished work on his novel The Gladiators . Later that year he resigned from

19824-403: The death of their owners, but other insignia may be retained. The six office-holders of the order wear pearl-grey mantles lined with rose-pink, having on the right side a purple shield charged with the roundel from the badge. Each of these office-holders wears a unique badge of office, suspended from a gold chain worn around the neck. The British Empire Medal is made of silver. On the obverse

20001-440: The dictatorship were removed from public places, into Memento Park . In the first 20 years of the new democracy, the development of the city was managed by its mayor, Gábor Demszky . In October 2019, opposition candidate Gergely Karácsony won the Budapest mayoral election , meaning the first electoral blow for Hungary's nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán since coming to power in 2010. Budapest, strategically placed at

20178-456: The distinct sloping central square in Budapest became a bustling Oriental bazaar, which was filled with "the chatter of camel caravans on their way to Yemen and India". Budapest is in fact one of the few places in the world with functioning original Turkish bathhouses dating back to the 16th century, like Rudas Baths or Király Baths . Budapest is home to the northernmost place where the tomb of influential Islamic Turkish Sufi Dervish, Gül Baba

20355-670: The distinction between ranks in military operational gallantry awards will cease'. The reforms affected the order at various levels: for example the automatic award each year of a GBE to the Lord Mayor of London ceased; the OBE replaced the Imperial Service Order as an award for civil servants and the number of MBEs awarded each year was significantly increased. As part of these reforms the British Empire Medal stopped being awarded by

20532-517: The district and that neighborhood's colloquial name. The latter are often the names of villages that were gradually annexed to the city (e.g., Sashalom , Budafok ) or of superseded administrative units of former boroughs. After the unification of Buda, Pest, and Óbuda in 1873, Budapest initially had 10 districts. It was during the interwar period that Károly Szendy 's 1934-1944 mayoral administration first seriously considered annexing peripheral towns and villages. This only came about, however, after

20709-514: The editor of The Observer , David Astor , Koestler set up a scheme to encourage prison inmates to engage in arts activities and to reward their efforts. Koestler Arts supports over 7,000 entrants from UK prisons each year and awards prizes in fifty different artforms. In September each year, Koestler Arts run an exhibition at London's Southbank Centre . Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of

20886-517: The family moved temporarily to a boarding house in Vienna. When the war ended, the family returned to Budapest. As noted in Koestler's autobiography, he and his family were sympathetic to the short-lived Hungarian Bolshevik Revolution of 1919. Though the small soap factory owned at the time by Koestler's father was nationalised, the elder Koestler was appointed its director by the revolutionary government and

21063-515: The former was to be responsible for recording all proceedings connected with the order, issuing warrants under the seal of the order and making arrangements for investitures, while the latter (at that time the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury ) was responsible for collecting and tabulating the names of those who were to receive an award. The office of Dean was added in 1957. The King of Arms

21240-401: The governments of overseas dominions to make their own nominations; Canada and South Africa began doing so in 1942, followed by Australia, New Zealand and other Commonwealth realms. In May 1957, forty years after the foundation of the order, it was announced that St Paul's Cathedral was to serve as the church of the order, and in 1960 a chapel was dedicated for its use within the crypt of

21417-450: The highest class of the order (GBE). The designs of all these items underwent major changes in 1937. The badge is worn by all members of the order; the size, colour and design depends on the class of award. The badge for all classes is in the form of a cross patonce (having the arms growing broader and floriated toward the end) with a medallion in the centre, the obverse of which bears a crowned image of George V and Queen Mary within

21594-569: The honours system, calling it "a preposterous charade". The order has attracted some criticism for its naming having connection with the idea of the now-extinct British Empire . Benjamin Zephaniah , a British poet of Jamaican and Barbadian descent, publicly rejected appointment as an Officer in 2003 because, he asserted, it reminded him of "thousands of years of brutality". He also said that "it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised". Budapest Budapest

21771-446: The insignia to Buckingham Palace and by ceasing to make reference to their honour, but they still hold the honour unless and until annulled by the monarch. In 2003, The Sunday Times published a list of the people who had rejected the Order of the British Empire, including David Bowie , John Cleese , Nigella Lawson , Elgar Howarth , L. S. Lowry , George Melly , and J. G. Ballard . In addition, Ballard voiced his opposition to

21948-624: The junior post-nominal letters. The British sovereign is the sovereign of the order and appoints all other officers of the order (by convention, on the advice of the governments of the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth realms ). The second-most senior officer is the Grand Master (a 'Prince of the Blood Royal, or other exalted personage' appointed by the sovereign, who, by virtue of their appointment, becomes 'the First or Principal Knight Grand Cross of

22125-438: The largest cities in the European Union , with a growing number of inhabitants, estimated at 1,763,913 in 2019, whereby inward migration exceeds outward migration. These trends are also seen throughout the Budapest metropolitan area , which is home to 3.3 million people. This amounts to about 34% of Hungary's population. In 2014, the city had a population density of 3,314 people/km (8,580 people/sq mi), rendering it

22302-519: The largest thermal water cave system, second largest synagogue , and third largest Parliament building in the world. Budapest attracts around 12 million international tourists per year, making it a highly popular destination in Europe. The previously separate cities of Buda, Óbuda, and Pest were officially unified in 1873 and given the new name Budapest . Before this, the towns together had sometimes been referred to colloquially as "Pest-Buda". Pest

22479-621: The last to be rebuilt, was finished in 1964. In the early 1970s, Budapest Metro 's east–west M2 line was first opened, followed by the M3 line in 1976. In 1987, Buda Castle and the banks of the Danube were included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites . Andrássy Avenue (including the Millennium Underground Railway , Hősök tere , and Városliget ) was added to the UNESCO list in 2002. In

22656-519: The latter. Knights and Dames Commander and Commanders may display the circlet, but not the collar, surrounding their arms. The badge is depicted suspended from the collar or circlet. See List of current honorary knights and dames of the Order of the British Empire Only the monarch can annul an honour. The Honours Forfeiture Committee considers cases and makes recommendations for forfeiture. An individual can renounce their honour by returning

22833-512: The left breast, by Knights and Dames Grand Cross; Knights and Dames Commander wear a smaller star composed of 'four equal points and four lesser'. The star is not worn by the more junior classes. Prior to 1937 each star had in the centre a gold medallion with a figure of Britannia, surrounded by a crimson circlet inscribed with the motto of the order ('For God and the Empire'); since 1937 the effigies of King George V and Queen Mary have been shown within

23010-476: The most renowned and mighty King Attila descended, who, in the 451st year of Our Lord's birth, coming down from Scythia , entered Pannonia with a mighty force and, putting the Romans to flight, took the realm and made a royal residence for himself beside the Danube above the hot springs, and he ordered all the old buildings that he found there to be restored and he built them in a circular and very strong wall that in

23187-543: The names "Buda" and "Pest" are obscure. Buda was Linguistically, however, a German origin through the Slavic derivative вода ( voda , water) is not possible, and there is no certainty that a Turkic word really comes from the word buta ~ buda 'branch, twig'. According to a legend recorded in chronicles from the Middle Ages , "Buda" comes from the name of its founder, Bleda , brother of Hunnic ruler Attila . Attila went in

23364-469: The names of the former are written out in their fullest forms. Male clergy of the Church of England or the Church of Scotland do not use the title Sir (unless they were knighted before being ordained) as they do not receive the accolade (they are not dubbed "knight" with a sword), although they do append the post-nominal letters ; dames do not receive the accolade, and therefore female clergy are free to use

23541-483: The new queen. Today, many of the original renaissance buildings disappeared during the varied history of Buda, but Budapest is still rich in renaissance and neo-renaissance buildings, like the famous Hungarian State Opera House , St. Stephen's Basilica and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences . During the Turkish occupation (1541–1686), Islamic culture flourished in Budapest; multiple mosques and baths were built in

23718-603: The next 43 years, Koestler espoused many political causes and wrote novels, memoirs, biographies, and numerous essays. In 1949, Koestler began secretly working with a British Cold War anti-communist propaganda department known as the Information Research Department (IRD), which would republish and distribute many of his works, and also fund his activities. In 1968, he was awarded the Sonning Prize "for [his] outstanding contribution to European culture". In 1972, he

23895-503: The next few years, all of the former Hungarian lands, except areas near Temesvár ( Timișoara ), were taken from the Turks. In the 1699 Treaty of Karlowitz , these territorial changes were officially recognized as the end of the rule of the Turks, and in 1718 the entire Kingdom of Hungary was removed from Ottoman rule . The 19th century was dominated by the Hungarian struggle for independence and modernisation. The national insurrection against

24072-638: The now famous Glass House (Üvegház) at Vadász Street 29, to be Swiss protected territory. About 3,000 Hungarian Jews found refuge at the Glass House and in a neighboring building. Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews in Budapest by giving them Swedish protection papers and taking them under his consular protection. Wallenberg was abducted by the Russians on 17 January 1945 and never regained freedom. Giorgio Perlasca , an Italian citizen, saved thousands of Hungarian Jews posing as

24249-751: The number of Christians was down to about a thousand, and by 1647 it had fallen to only about seventy. The unoccupied western part of the country became part of the Habsburg monarchy as Royal Hungary . In 1686, two years after the unsuccessful siege of Buda , a renewed campaign was started to enter Buda. This time, the Holy League 's army was twice as large, containing over 74,000 men, including German , Croat , Dutch , Hungarian, English, Spanish, Czech , Italian, French, Burgundian , Danish and Swedish soldiers, along with other Europeans as volunteers, artillerymen , and officers. The Christian forces seized Buda, and in

24426-449: The numbers restricted to the order as full members do. Although the Order of the British Empire has by far the highest number of members of the British orders of chivalry, with more than 100,000 living members worldwide, there are fewer appointments to knighthoods than in other orders. From time to time, individuals may be promoted to a higher grade within the Order, thereby ceasing usage of

24603-580: The official version of events by the Soviet government, he claimed that those starving were "enemies of the people who preferred begging to work." Koestler wrote a book on the Soviet Five-Year Plan , but it did not meet with the approval of the Soviet authorities and was never published in Russian. Only the German version, extensively censored, was published in an edition for German-speaking Soviet citizens. As

24780-605: The order alongside its own honours until the establishment of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1996. Other Commonwealth realms have continued to use the Order of the British Empire alongside their own honours. In 1993 the Prime Minister, John Major , instituted a reform of the honours system with the aim 'that exceptional service or achievement will be more widely recognised; that greater importance will be given to voluntary service; that automatic honours will end; that

24957-569: The order to fill gaps in the British honours system : In particular, George V wished to create an order to honour the many thousands of individuals from across the Empire who had served in a variety of non-combat roles during the First World War . From its foundation the order consisted of five classes (GBE, KBE/DBE, CBE, OBE and MBE) and was open to both women and men; provision was also made for conferring honorary awards on foreign recipients. At

25134-409: The order was celebrated with a service at St Paul's Cathedral. The order is limited to 300 Knights and Dames Grand Cross, 845 Knights and Dames Commander, and 8,960 Commanders. There are no limits applied to the total number of members of the fourth and fifth classes, but no more than 858 officers and 1,464 members may be appointed per year. Foreign appointees, as honorary members, do not contribute to

25311-410: The order's establishment, Queen Mary had made it known that pink would be her preferred colour for the riband of the proposed new order, but, in the event, purple was chosen. Following her appointment as Grand Master of the order in 1936 a change was duly made and since 9 March 1937 the riband of the order has been 'rose pink edged with pearl grey’ (with the addition of a vertical pearl grey stripe in

25488-402: The order. The order was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V , who created the order to recognise 'such persons, male or female, as may have rendered or shall hereafter render important services to Our Empire'. Equal recognition was to be given for services rendered in the UK and overseas. Today the majority of recipients are UK citizens, though a number of Commonwealth realms outside

25665-477: The overpopulated rural Transdanubia and Great Hungarian Plain . Between 1851 and 1910 the proportion of Hungarians increased from 35.6% to 85.9%, Hungarian became the dominant language, and German was crowded out. The proportion of Jews peaked in 1900 with 23.6%. Due to the prosperity and the large Jewish community of the city at the start of the 20th century, Budapest was often called the "Jewish Mecca" or "Judapest". Budapest also became an important center for

25842-443: The prohibition named the city as Eccylburg, which means Attila Castle, however, the Hungarians did not care about the ban and call it Óbuda [Old Buda] and call it to this day. The Scythians are certainly an ancient people and the strength of Scythia lies in the east, as we said above. And the first king of Scythia was Magog, son of Japhet, and his people were called Magyars [Hungarians] after their King Magog, from whose royal line

26019-596: The relief of Arthur Koestler". In 1951 the last of Koestler's political works, The Age of Longing , was published. In it he examined the political landscape of post-war Europe and the problems facing the continent. In August 1952 his marriage to Mamaine collapsed. They separated, but remained close until her sudden and unexpected death in June 1954. The book Living with Koestler: Mamaine Koestler's Letters 1945–51 , edited by Mamaine's twin sister Celia Goodman, gives insight into their lives together. Koestler decided to make his permanent home in Britain. In May 1953 he bought

26196-661: The rise of state communism in Hungary . In 1950, for reasons of social and industrial policy—including the Hungarian Working People's Party 's desire to proletarianize the traditionally right-wing suburbs—7 cities with county rights and 16 towns were annexed to the capital to form contemporary Greater Budapest (Hungarian: Nagy-Budapest ). This reorganized the city into 22 districts, a number that grew to 23 after Soroksár seceded from Pesterzsébet in 1994. The contemporary city thus consists of 6 districts in Buda, 16 in Pest, and Csepel . Today, districts I., II., XI., and XII. in Buda and V., VI., VII., VIII., and IX. in Pest make up

26373-418: The rising Nazi tide and that the Communists were the only real counter-force. In the early 1930s, Koestler moved to the Soviet Union . In 1932 Koestler travelled in Turkmenistan and Central Asia, where he met and traveled with Langston Hughes . During his stay in the Soviet Union, he also lived for a time in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic , alongside physicist and writer Alexander Weissberg . At

26550-426: The same Order'). The position of Grand Master has been held by the following people: In addition to the sovereign and the grand master , the order has six further officers: At its foundation the order was served by three officers: the King of Arms, the Registrar & Secretary and the Gentleman Usher of the Purple Rod. In 1922 the Prelate was added, and the office of Registrar was separated from that of Secretary:

26727-402: The same as for the Civil Division (as it was now termed), but military awards were distinguished by the addition of a central vertical red stripe to the purple riband of the civil awards. In 1920 appointment as an MBE 'for an act of gallantry' was granted for the first time, to Sydney Frank Blanck Esq, who had rescued an injured man from a burning building containing explosives. In December 1922

26904-433: The same time, alongside the order, the Medal of the Order of the British Empire was instituted, to serve as a lower award granting recipients affiliation but not membership. The first investiture took place at Ibrox Stadium , as part of a royal visit to the Glasgow shipyards, with the appointment of Alexander Ure, 1st Baron Strathclyde as a GBE (in recognition of his role as chairman of the Scottish War Savings Committee) and

27081-437: The side of the Nationalists. He took refuge in the house of retired zoologist Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell , and they were both arrested by Franco's chief propagandist, Luis Bolín , who had sworn that if he ever got his hands on Koestler, he would "shoot him like a dog". From February until June, Koestler was imprisoned in Seville under sentence of death. He was eventually exchanged for a "high value" Nationalist prisoner held by

27258-401: The standard of the George Medal (even though, as appointments to an order of chivalry, they were listed before it on the Order of Wear . In contrast to awards for meritorious service, which usually appear without a citation, there were often citations for gallantry awards, some detailed and graphic. From 14 January 1958, these awards were designated Commander, Officer or Member of the Order of

27435-416: The statutes of the order were amended; there having been a large number of awards for war work prior to this date, these amended statutes placed the order on more of a peacetime footing. For the first time numbers of appointments were limited, with the stipulation that senior awards in the Civil Division were to outnumber those in the Military Division by a proportion of six to one. Furthermore appointments in

27612-430: The time, the Ukrainian SSR was in the middle of a catastrophic man-made famine . Much later he would describe how in the train station of Kharkiv , "[Ukrainian peasant women] held up to the carriage windows horrible infants with enormous wobbling heads, sticklike limbs, and swollen, pointed bellies" as a result of the widespread malnutrition. Nevertheless, at this time he remained a convinced Soviet sympathiser, and echoing

27789-506: The title Dame . Knights and Dames Grand Cross use the post-nominal GBE; Knights Commander, KBE; Dames Commander, DBE; Commanders, CBE; Officers, OBE; and Members, MBE. The post-nominal for the British Empire Medal is BEM. Members of all classes of the order are assigned positions in the order of precedence . Wives of male members of all classes also feature on the order of precedence, as do sons, daughters and daughters-in-law of Knights Grand Cross and Knights Commander; relatives of Ladies of

27966-414: The two parts of the city is 230 m (755 ft) wide at its narrowest point in Budapest. Pest lies on the flat terrain of the Great Plain while Buda is rather hilly. The wide Danube was always fordable at this point because of a small number of islands in the middle of the river. The city has marked topographical contrasts: Buda is built on the higher river terraces and hills of the western side, while

28143-432: The way he had lunch with Thomas Mann , got drunk with Dylan Thomas , made friends with George Orwell , flirted with Mary McCarthy and lived in Cyril Connolly 's London flat. In 1940 Koestler was released from a French detention camp, partly thanks to the intervention of Harold Nicolson and Noël Coward . In the 1950s he helped to found the Congress for Cultural Freedom , together with Melvin Lasky and Sidney Hook . In

28320-441: The Óbuda district within Budapest. The Romans constructed roads, amphitheaters , baths and houses with heated floors in this fortified military camp. The Roman city of Aquincum is the best-conserved of the Roman sites in Hungary . The archaeological site was turned into a museum with indoor and open-air sections. The Magyar tribes led by Árpád , forced out of their original homeland north of Bulgaria by Tsar Simeon after

28497-587: Was Jonas Mischel Loeb Jeitteles , a prominent 18th-century physician and essayist, whose son Juda Jeitteles became a well-known poet ( Beethoven set some of his poems to music). Adele's father, Jacob Jeiteles, moved the family to Vienna , where she grew up in relative prosperity until about 1890. Faced with financial difficulties, Jacob abandoned his wife and daughter and emigrated to the United States. Adele and her mother moved from Vienna to Budapest to stay with Adele's older married sister. Henrik and Adele met in 1898, and married in 1900. Arthur, their only child,

28674-409: Was an anti-Soviet revolt that lasted from 23 October until 11 November. After Nagy had declared that Hungary was to leave the Warsaw Pact and become neutral, Soviet tanks and troops entered the country to crush the revolt. Fighting continued until mid November, leaving more than 3000 dead. A monument was erected at the fiftieth anniversary of the revolt in 2006, at the edge of the City Park . Its shape

28851-444: Was born on 18 August 1869 in the town of Miskolc in northeastern Hungary. Henrik left school at age 16 and took a job as an errand boy with a firm of drapers. He taught himself English, German and French, and eventually became a partner in the firm. He later set up his own business importing textiles into Hungary. Arthur's mother, Adele Jeiteles, was born on 25 June 1871 into a prominent Jewish family in Prague . Among her ancestors

29028-599: Was born on 5 September 1905. The Koestlers lived in spacious, well-furnished, rented apartments in various predominantly Jewish districts of Budapest. During Arthur's early years, they employed a cook/housekeeper, as well as a foreign governess. His primary school education started at an experimental private kindergarten founded by Laura Striker ( née Polányi ). Her daughter Eva Striker later became Koestler's lover, and they remained friends all his life. The outbreak of World War I in 1914 deprived Koestler's father of foreign suppliers and his business collapsed. Facing destitution,

29205-454: Was briefly a patient of Sigmund Freud . In interwar Vienna he wound up as the personal secretary of Vladimir Jabotinsky , one of the early leaders of the Zionist movement . Travelling in Soviet Turkmenistan as a young and ardent Communist, he ran into Langston Hughes . While reporting on the Spanish Civil War , he met W. H. Auden at a "crazy party" in Valencia before winding up in one of Franco 's prisons. In Weimar Berlin he fell into

29382-421: Was declared a communist People's Republic ( People's Republic of Hungary ). The new Communist government considered the buildings like the Buda Castle symbols of the former regime, and during the 1950s the palace was gutted and all the interiors were destroyed (also see Stalin era ). On 23 October 1956 citizens held a large peaceful demonstration in Budapest demanding democratic reform. The demonstrators went to

29559-408: Was dissolved on 15 December 1949. This cleared the way for his marriage to Mamaine Paget, which took place on 15 April 1950 at the British Consulate in Paris. In June Koestler delivered a major anti-Communist speech in Berlin under the auspices of the Congress for Cultural Freedom , an organisation funded (though he did not know this) by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States. In

29736-402: Was first announced at the end of December 2006, and is available to recipients of all levels of the order, as well as to holders of the British Empire Medal . The pin design is not unique to any level. The pin features the badge of the order, enclosed in a circle of ribbon of its colours of pink and grey. Lapel pins must be purchased separately by a member of the order. The creation of such a pin

29913-466: Was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). In 1976, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and in 1979 with terminal leukaemia . On 1 March 1983, Koestler and his wife Cynthia died of suicide together at their London home by swallowing lethal quantities of barbiturate -based Tuinal capsules. [Koestler] began his education in the twilight of the Austro-Hungarian Empire , at an experimental kindergarten in Budapest. His mother

30090-469: Was made a substantive member and subsequently styled as Sir Terry Wogan). Although initially intended to recognise meritorious service, the order began to also be awarded for gallantry. There were an increased number of cases in the Second World War for service personnel and civilians including the merchant navy, police, emergency services and civil defence, mostly MBEs but with a small number of OBEs and CBEs. Such awards were for gallantry that did not reach

30267-461: Was printed in Buda in 1473. Buda had about 5,000 inhabitants around the year 1500. The Ottomans conquered Buda in 1526, as well as in 1529, and finally occupied it in 1541. The Ottoman Rule lasted for more than 150 years. The Ottoman Turks constructed many prominent bathing facilities within the city. Some of the baths that the Turks erected during their rule are still in use 500 years later, including Rudas Baths and Király Baths . By 1547

30444-400: Was published in early 1941. Immediately after Koestler was released, he volunteered for Army service. While awaiting his call-up papers, between January and March 1941, he wrote his memoir Scum of the Earth , the first book he wrote in English. For the next twelve months he served in the Pioneer Corps . In March 1942 Koestler was assigned to the Ministry of Information , where he worked as

30621-404: Was recommended in Sir Hayden Phillips ' review of the honours system in 2004. The Chapel of the Order of the British Empire is in St Paul's Cathedral . It occupies the far eastern end of the cathedral crypt and was dedicated in 1960. The only heraldic banners normally on display in the chapel are those of the Sovereign of the Order of the British Empire and of the Grand Master of the Order of

30798-520: Was resident at this time at 29 Rehov Hanevi'im, in Jerusalem. He travelled extensively, interviewed heads of state, kings, presidents and prime ministers, and greatly enhanced his reputation as a journalist. As noted in his autobiography, he came to realise that he would never really fit into Palestine's Zionist Jewish community, the Yishuv , and particularly that he would not be able to have a journalistic career in Hebrew . In June 1929, while on leave in Berlin, Koestler successfully lobbied at Ullstein for

30975-456: Was then illegal. Koestler's main political activity during 1955 was his campaign for the abolition of capital punishment (which in the UK was by hanging). In July he started work on Reflections on Hanging . Although Koestler resumed work on a biography of Kepler in 1955, it was not published until 1959. In the interim it was entitled The Sleepwalkers . The emphasis of the book had changed and broadened to "A History of Man's Changing Vision of

31152-465: Was wanted by the British and had a 500-pound bounty on his head. Koestler tried to persuade him to abandon militant attacks and accept a two-state solution for Palestine, but failed. Many years later Koestler wrote in his memoirs: "When the meeting was over, I realised how naïve I had been to imagine that my arguments would have even the slightest influence." Staying in Palestine until August 1945, Koestler collected material for his next novel, Thieves in

31329-404: Was well-paid. Even though the autobiography was published in 1953, after Koestler had become an outspoken anti-Communist, he wrote favourably of the Hungarian Communists and their leader Béla Kun . He fondly recalled the hopes for a better future he had felt as a teenager in revolutionary Budapest. Later the Koestlers witnessed the temporary occupation of Budapest by the Romanian Army and then

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