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Auxiliary Fire Service

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126-806: The Auxiliary Fire Service ( AFS ) was first formed in 1938 in Great Britain as part of the Civil Defence Service . Its role was to supplement the work of brigades at local level. The Auxiliary Fire Service and the local brigades were superseded in August 1941 by the National Fire Service . After the war the AFS was reformed alongside the Civil Defence Corps , forming part of the UK's planned emergency response to

252-538: A 4×2 (two-wheel drive) version based on the Bedford SHZ chassis powered by a 6-cylinder 110-brake-horsepower (82-kilowatt) Beford petrol engine, carrying 400 imperial gallons (1,800 litres) of water and a 1,000 imp gal/min (4,500 L/min) Sigmund FN4 centrifugal pump. Later versions were based on the Bedford 4×4 RLHZ chassis, with the same pump and 300 imp gal (1,400 L) water capacity. Their primary role

378-402: A Coventry Climax 10.8 hp 4-cylinder engine, the same horsepower rating as the 66 mm bore F type. The engines were available either separate or in unit construction with a three speed gearbox. Also displayed at the 1923 Olympia Motor Show was a 1,005 cc twin cylinder 2-stroke engine. The bore was 80 mm and the stroke 85 mm. The main engine of interest at the 1923 show was

504-454: A Goidelic language, Manx . Northern Scotland mainly spoke Pritennic , which became Pictish , which may have been a Brythonic language. During the period of the Roman occupation of Southern Britain (AD 43 to c.  410 ), Common Brythonic borrowed a large stock of Latin words. Approximately 800 of these Latin loan-words have survived in the three modern Brythonic languages. Romano-British

630-469: A Transportable Water Unit more commonly known as "Bikini Units". These were floated on a raft so they could draw directly from a water and also use water under pressure to propel the raft. The AFS (and the Civil Defence Corps ) has never had any connection with any of the British armed forces, even though they used the same bronze-green paint colour. Although the supply of vehicles and equipment to both came via

756-574: A collective name for the British Isles. However, with the Roman conquest of Britain , the Latin term Britannia was used for the island of Great Britain, and later Roman-occupied Britain south of Caledonia . The earliest known name for Great Britain is Albion ( Greek : Ἀλβιών ) or insula Albionum , from either the Latin albus meaning "white" (possibly referring to the white cliffs of Dover ,

882-452: A common ancestral language termed Brittonic , British , Common Brythonic , Old Brythonic or Proto-Brythonic , which is thought to have developed from Proto-Celtic or early Insular Celtic by the 6th century AD. Brythonic languages were probably spoken before the Roman invasion at least in the majority of Great Britain south of the rivers Forth and Clyde , though the Isle of Man later had

1008-588: A dry sump system. Carburetion was by two twin-choke Weber DCO side-draft carburettors. It started life as a 1,475 cc Formula Two engine by enlarging the 2.95 in bore of the FPE to 3.2 in with the slightly increased 2.8 in (71 mm) stroke, and was gradually enlarged for use in Formula One . A 1,964 cc (3.4" x 3.3") version took Stirling Moss and Maurice Trintignant to Cooper 's first two Grand Prix victories against 2.5 L opposition in 1958. After

1134-489: A major shareholder of Lansing Bagnall at the time, formed the company, independent of his other interests for the purpose of acquiring Coventry Climax. In 1986 Coventry Climax went into receivership and was acquired by Cronin Tubular . In 1990, a further change of ownership came with the engine business being sold to Horstman Defence Systems of Bath, Somerset , thus breaking the link with Coventry. Kalmar Industries acquired

1260-453: A marriage between Cecily , daughter of Edward IV of England , and James , son of James III of Scotland , which described it as "this Nobill Isle, callit Gret Britanee". The Scottish philosopher and historian, John Major (Mair), published his 'History of Great Britain, both England and Scotland' ( Historia majoris Britanniae, tam Angliae quam Scotiae ) in 1521. While promoting a possible royal match in 1548, Lord Protector Somerset said that

1386-591: A new engine for the three-litre formula. The company was purchased by Jaguar Cars in 1963, which itself merged with the British Motor Corporation (BMC) in 1966 to form British Motor Holdings (BMH). In May 1964, the Royal Automobile Club presented the Dewar Trophy , which is given at the recommendation of RAC's Technical and Engineering Committee for the most outstanding British achievement in

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1512-758: A new group called BL Commercial Vehicles (BLCV) under managing director David Abell . In the early 1970s, the fire pump business was sold back into private ownership, and the Godiva Fire Pumps company was formed in Warwick . In 1977 Coventry Climax acquired the Warrington forklift truck business of Rubery Owen Conveyancer , renaming it Climax Conveyancer . In 1982 BL sold off the Coventry Climax forklift truck business back into private ownership to Coventry Climax Holdings Limited. Sir Emmanuel Kaye , also chairman and

1638-508: A nuclear attack. It was disbanded in the UK in 1968. Members of the AFS were unpaid part-time volunteers, but could be called up for whole-time paid service if necessary. This was very similar to the wartime establishment of the police Special Constabulary . Men and women could join, the latter mainly in an administrative role. A first-hand account of the type of work they undertook is given by A S Bullock in Gloucestershire Between

1764-566: A peninsular extension of mainland Europe until catastrophic flooding between then and 130,000 years ago resulted in the creation of the English Channel and Britain becoming an island during warm interglacial periods like the Last Interglacial/Eemian (130–115,000 years ago), though it remained connected to mainland Europe during glacial periods when sea levels were low. Archaic humans repeatedly occupied Britain before abandoning

1890-497: A race-winning, works Maserati F1 engine he had on loan into Coventry Climax, where it produced 225 bhp running on the same dynamometer upon which the FPE had made 264 bhp after some development. Ultimately, development on the engine was abandoned in favour of focusing on the FPF engine, which was already proven competitive in 1.5L form with side-draft Weber carburetors in the F2 races, and

2016-746: A result of this eventful geological history, the island shows a rich variety of landscapes . The oldest rocks in Great Britain are the Lewisian gneisses , metamorphic rocks found in the far north west of the island and in the Hebrides (with a few small outcrops elsewhere), which date from at least 2,700  My ago. South of the gneisses are a complex mixture of rocks forming the North West Highlands and Grampian Highlands in Scotland. These are essentially

2142-699: A similar sense to fauna, and for similar reasons, the flora consists of fewer species compared to much larger continental Europe. The flora comprises 3,354 vascular plant species, of which 2,297 are native and 1,057 have been introduced. The island has a wide variety of trees , including native species of birch , beech , ash , hawthorn , elm , oak , yew , pine , cherry and apple . Other trees have been naturalised, introduced especially from other parts of Europe (particularly Norway) and North America. Introduced trees include several varieties of pine, chestnut , maple , spruce , sycamore and fir , as well as cherry plum and pear trees . The tallest species are

2268-422: A trailer as a mobile fire fighting appliance this was to be a great success. The economic problems of the 1930s hit the business hard, and Leonard Pelham Lee , who had taken over from his father, created a separate division of the company for the fire pumps. While the motor car engine business suffered during the recession, the mobile fire pump division of Coventry Climax became a great success, particularly during

2394-401: A very extended period of time. Changing latitude and sea levels have been important factors in the nature of sedimentary sequences, whilst successive continental collisions have affected its geological structure with major faulting and folding being a legacy of each orogeny (mountain-building period), often associated with volcanic activity and the metamorphism of existing rock sequences. As

2520-431: A water pump and an oil filter, whereas the 4 cylinder engine relied on thermosyphon alone and no oil filter. The FW 38 hp 1,020 cc straight-four SOHC was designed by Hassan and Mundy as the motive unit for a portable service fire pump which was supplied to the government under three contracts totaling over 150,000 units. This engine was revolutionary in its lightness, with a bare weight of 180 pounds, combined with

2646-524: A young Colin Chapman , Lee concluded that success in competition could lead to more customers for the company, and so the team designed the FWA, a F eather W eight engine for A utomobiles. The first Coventry Climax racing engine appeared at the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans in the front of one of two Kieft 1100 sports racers, but both cars (one with an MG engine) failed to finish the race due to problems unrelated to

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2772-649: Is G. On the Internet, .uk is the country code top-level domain for the United Kingdom. A .gb top-level domain was used to a limited extent, but is now deprecated; although existing registrations still exist (mainly by government organizations and email providers), the domain name registrar will not take new registrations. In the Olympics, Team GB is used by the British Olympic Association to represent

2898-743: Is also more than 1000 species of bryophyte including algae and mosses across the island. The currently known species include 767 mosses, 298 liverworts and 4 hornworts . There are many species of fungi including lichen -forming species, and the mycobiota is less poorly known than in many other parts of the world. The most recent checklist of Basidiomycota (bracket fungi, jelly fungi, mushrooms and toadstools, puffballs, rusts and smuts), published in 2005, accepts over 3600 species. The most recent checklist of Ascomycota (cup fungi and their allies, including most lichen-forming fungi), published in 1985, accepts another 5100 species. These two lists did not include conidial fungi (fungi mostly with affinities in

3024-619: Is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe , consisting of the countries England , Scotland and Wales . With an area of 209,331 km (80,823 sq mi), it is the largest of the British Isles , the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world . It is dominated by a maritime climate with narrow temperature differences between seasons. The island of Ireland , with an area 40 per cent that of Great Britain,

3150-484: Is quoted as producing more than 300  bhp , and a corporate decision was made not to release FPE to Kieft in light of the lack of proper fuel injection, leaving the Kieft F1 project, as well as other prospective users, HWM and Connaught , high and dry. There were reports to the effect that the engine was not run because of fears about the rumoured power of other 2.5L GP engines, but shortly after, John Cooper brought

3276-463: Is subject to continuing urbanisation , which have contributed towards the overall loss of species. A DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) study from 2006 suggested that 100 species have become extinct in the UK during the 20th century, about 100 times the background extinction rate . However, some species, such as the brown rat , red fox , and introduced grey squirrel , are well adapted to urban areas. Rodents make up 40% of

3402-855: Is the capital city of Scotland , and is the seat of the Scottish Government as well as the highest courts in Scotland . The Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Cardiff is the capital city of Wales , and is the seat of the Welsh Government . In the Late Bronze Age, Britain was part of a culture called the Atlantic Bronze Age , held together by maritime trading, which also included Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal. In contrast to

3528-577: Is the largest denomination in Wales . There are other non-conformist minorities, such as Baptists , Quakers , the United Reformed Church (a union of Congregationalists and English Presbyterians ), Unitarians . The first patron saint of Great Britain was Saint Alban . He was the first Christian martyr dating from the Romano-British period, condemned to death for his faith and sacrificed to

3654-519: Is the largest species, with roe deer and fallow deer also prominent; the latter was introduced by the Normans . Sika deer and two more species of smaller deer, muntjac and Chinese water deer , have been introduced, muntjac becoming widespread in England and parts of Wales while Chinese water deer are restricted mainly to East Anglia. Habitat loss has affected many species. Extinct large mammals include

3780-780: Is the name for the Latinised form of the language used by Roman authors. British English is spoken in the present day across the island, and developed from the Old English brought to the island by Anglo-Saxon settlers from the mid 5th century. Some 1.5 million people speak Scots —which was indigenous language of Scotland and has become closer to English over centuries. An estimated 700,000 people speak Welsh , an official language in Wales . In parts of north west Scotland, Scottish Gaelic remains widely spoken. There are various regional dialects of English, and numerous languages spoken by some immigrant populations. Christianity has been

3906-589: Is to the west – these islands, along with over 1,000 smaller surrounding islands and named substantial rocks , comprise the British Isles archipelago . Connected to mainland Europe until 9,000 years ago by a landbridge now known as Doggerland , Great Britain has been inhabited by modern humans for around 30,000 years. In 2011, it had a population of about 61 million , making it the world's third-most-populous island after Honshu in Japan and Java in Indonesia , and

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4032-466: The British Olympic team . The Olympic Federation of Ireland represents the whole island of Ireland , and Northern Irish sportspeople may choose to compete for either team, most choosing to represent Ireland. Politically, Great Britain refers to the whole of England , Scotland and Wales in combination, but not Northern Ireland ; it includes islands, such as the Isle of Wight , Anglesey ,

4158-797: The Celtic languages to the island. During the Iron Age , Britain was inhabited by various different Celtic tribes . The Romans conquered most of the island (up to Hadrian's Wall in northern England) and this became the Ancient Roman province of Britannia . In the course of the 500 years after the Roman Empire fell, the Britons of the south and east of the island were assimilated or displaced by invading Germanic tribes ( Angles , Saxons , and Jutes , often referred to collectively as Anglo-Saxons ). At about

4284-937: The Douglas firs ; two specimens have been recorded measuring 65 metres or 212 feet. The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire is the oldest tree in Europe. There are at least 1,500 different species of wildflower . Some 107 species are particularly rare or vulnerable and are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 . It is illegal to uproot any wildflowers without the landowner's permission. A vote in 2002 nominated various wildflowers to represent specific counties. These include red poppies , bluebells , daisies , daffodils , rosemary , gorse , iris , ivy , mint , orchids , brambles , thistles , buttercups , primrose , thyme , tulips , violets , cowslip , heather and many more. There

4410-512: The Gregorian mission . It was the main religion for around a thousand years. There are over 5 million adherents today, 4.5 million Catholics in England and Wales and 750,000 in Scotland , although fewer than a million Catholics regularly attend mass . The Church of Scotland , a form of Protestantism with a Presbyterian system of ecclesiastical polity , is the third most numerous on

4536-502: The Index of Thermal Efficiency once during the 24 Hours of Le Mans . The FW series engines in modified forms also powered Lotus Eleven cars which took three class wins at Le Mans and one Index of Performance win. In 1966–67, Fisher-Pierce of America imported an 85 hp version of the FWB with twin-carburetors to be mounted vertically in their outboard marine unit. This boat engine came out to

4662-473: The Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia . Judaism figured slightly more than Buddhism at the 2011 census, having 263,000 adherents (excluding Scotland's about 6000). Jews have inhabited Britain since 1070. However, those resident and open about their religion were expelled from England in 1290, replicated in some other Catholic countries of the era. Jews were permitted to re-establish settlement as of 1656, in

4788-559: The Isles of Scilly , the Hebrides and the island groups of Orkney and Shetland , that are part of England, Wales, or Scotland. It does not include the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands . The political union which joined the kingdoms of England and Scotland occurred in 1707 when the Acts of Union ratified the 1706 Treaty of Union and merged the parliaments of the two nations, forming

4914-692: The Kingdom of Great Britain , which covered the entire island. Before this, a personal union had existed between these two countries since the 1603 Union of the Crowns under James VI of Scotland and I of England . The oldest evidence for archaic humans in Britain are the Happisburgh footprints and associated stone tools found in Norfolk , dating to around 950–850,000 years ago. Prior to 450,000 years ago, Britain formed

5040-579: The Old English Breoton, Breoten, Bryten, Breten (also Breoton-lond, Breten-lond ). Britannia was used by the Romans from the 1st century BC for the British Isles taken together. It is derived from the travel writings of Pytheas around 320 BC, which described various islands in the North Atlantic as far north as Thule (probably Norway ). The peoples of these islands of Prettanike were called

5166-578: The Privy Council of England was drafting the proclamation of the new king, Charles I, a Scottish peer, Thomas Erskine, 1st Earl of Kellie , succeeded in insisting that it use the phrase "King of Great Britain", which James had preferred, rather than King of Scotland and England (or vice versa). While that title was also used by some of James's successors, England and Scotland each remained legally separate countries, each with its own parliament, until 1707, when each parliament passed an Act of Union to ratify

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5292-454: The Treaty of Union that had been agreed the previous year. This created a single kingdom with one parliament with effect from 1 May 1707. The Treaty of Union specified the name of the new all-island state as "Great Britain", while describing it as "One Kingdom" and "the United Kingdom". To most historians, therefore, the all-island state that existed between 1707 and 1800 is either "Great Britain" or

5418-433: The brown bear , grey wolf and wild boar ; the latter has had a limited reintroduction in recent times. There is a wealth of birdlife , with 628 species recorded, of which 258 breed on the island or remain during winter. Because of its mild winters for its latitude, Great Britain hosts important numbers of many wintering species, particularly waders , ducks , geese and swans . Other well known bird species include

5544-520: The golden eagle , grey heron , common kingfisher , common wood pigeon , house sparrow , European robin , grey partridge , and various species of crow , finch , gull , auk , grouse , owl and falcon . There are six species of reptile on the island; three snakes and three lizards including the legless slowworm . One snake, the adder , is venomous but rarely deadly. Amphibians present are frogs , toads and newts . There are also several introduced species of reptile and amphibian. In

5670-548: The mammal species . These include squirrels , mice , voles , rats and the recently reintroduced European beaver . There is also an abundance of European rabbit , European hare , shrews , European mole and several species of bat . Carnivorous mammals include the red fox , Eurasian badger , Eurasian otter , weasel , stoat and elusive Scottish wildcat . Various species of seal , whale and dolphin are found on or around British shores and coastlines. The largest land-based wild animals today are deer . The red deer

5796-520: The pagan gods . In more recent times, some have suggested the adoption of St Aidan as another patron saint of Britain. From Ireland, he worked at Iona amongst the Dál Riata and then Lindisfarne where he restored Christianity to Northumbria . The three constituent countries of the United Kingdom have patron saints: Saint George and Saint Andrew are represented in the flags of England and Scotland respectively. These two flags combined to form

5922-694: The " Kingdom of Great Britain ". Great Britain lies on the European continental shelf, part of the Eurasian Plate and off the north-west coast of continental Europe , separated from this European mainland by the North Sea and by the English Channel , which narrows to 34 km (18 nmi; 21 mi) at the Straits of Dover . It stretches over about ten degrees of latitude on its longer, north–south axis and covers 209,331 km (80,823 sq mi), excluding

6048-577: The 'popular Coventry Climax engines' as the six-cylindered L6 and the four-cylindered B4 – the latter being of 'especially modern design with wet liners'. Examples of vehicles using the engines include the 1932 Karrier Bantam refuse truck, and the 1935 Gilford Motors CF176 coach. Going into the war, Coventry Climax used their marine diesel experience to further develop and build the Armstrong Whitworth supercharged H30 multifuel engine for military use. This has been fitted as an auxiliary engine in

6174-413: The 1920s and 1930s, the company supplied engines to many companies manufacturing light cars such as Abbey , AJS , Albatross , Ashton-Evans , Bayliss-Thomas , Clyno , Crossley , Crouch , GWK , Marendaz , Morgan , Triumph , Swift , Standard , and Waverley Cars of London. In the early 1930s, the company also supplied engines for buses, and in 1935 supplied the 'L' engine to David Brown tractors for

6300-648: The 1950s the AFS was reequipped. This included 1,000 Green Goddess (Bedford RLHZ Self Propelled Pump) fire engines, Land Rovers, motorcycles and support vehicles such as pipe carriers, mobile kitchens, and foam and water carriers. It was anticipated there would be some warning of the nuclear attack allowing some regular fire fighting equipment to join the AFS columns which would head to wherever they were required. These were substantial columns comprising many types of vehicles designed to be self-sufficient, so including motorcycles to go ahead and control traffic (e.g. AJS and Matchless), and carry messages, control vehicles such as

6426-494: The 550 Model A, being a collaborative venture with Ferguson. In the 1920s, the company moved to Friars Road, Coventry, and in the late 1930s, they also acquired the former Riley premises on Widdrington Road, Coventry. With the closure of Swift in 1931, the company was left with a stock of engines that were converted to drive electric generators, a field in which they had experience from building WW1 searchlight generators. They also started to make engine driven pumps, and mounted on

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6552-588: The Angles. Germanic speakers referred to Britons as Welsh . This term came to be applied exclusively to the inhabitants of what is now Wales, but it also survives in names such as Wallace and in the second syllable of Cornwall . Cymry , a name the Britons used to describe themselves, is similarly restricted in modern Welsh to people from Wales, but also survives in English in the place name of Cumbria . The Britons living in

6678-547: The Ascomycota but known only in their asexual state) or any of the other main fungal groups (Chytridiomycota, Glomeromycota and Zygomycota). The number of fungal species known very probably exceeds 10,000. There is widespread agreement among mycologists that many others are yet to be discovered. London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom as a whole, and is the seat of the United Kingdom's government . Edinburgh

6804-533: The British Chieftain and Challenger battle tanks and Rapier anti-aircraft missile systems. In the late 1940s, the company shifted away from automobile engines and into other markets, including marine diesels, and forklift trucks – plus continuing to make their very successful fire pumps . In 1946, the ET199 forklift was announced, which the company claimed was the first British-produced forklift truck. The ET199

6930-434: The Church is the monarch of the United Kingdom, as the Supreme Governor . It has the status of established church in England. There are just over 26 million adherents to Anglicanism in Britain today, although only around one million regularly attend services. The second largest Christian practice is the Latin Church of the Catholic Church , which traces its history to the 6th century with Augustine of Canterbury and

7056-410: The English and Scots were, "like as twoo brethren of one Islande of great Britaynes again." In 1604, James VI and I styled himself "King of Great Brittaine, France and Ireland". Great Britain refers geographically to the island of Great Britain. Politically, it may refer to the whole of England , Scotland and Wales , including their smaller offshore islands. It is not technically correct to use

7182-519: The FPE during the 10 years, and the car, one spare chassis, and the FPE parts were sold in a lot at Bonhams Chichester auction on 15 September 2012 for £185,000. The FPF was a double overhead cam all-aluminium four-cylinder that was essentially half of the above FPE V8 engine, which was designed as a pure racing engine from the outset. Designed in 1955 and becoming available in 1956, it had gear-driven camshafts, steel alloy cylinder sleeves, and individual oil scavenge as well as pressure feed pumps for

7308-403: The FPF engine followed. Stirling Moss scored the company's first Formula One victory in Argentina in 1958, using a 2-litre version of the engine. In general terms, however, the engines were not powerful enough to compete with the 2.5-litre machinery, and it was not until the 2.5-litre version of the FPF arrived in 1959 that Jack Brabham was able to win the world championship in a Cooper-Climax. At

7434-541: The FW together. The following design aspects are credited to these two people, except the last two items, in which Peter Windsor Smith played a considerable role in place of Mundy, who left the firm in 1955 and returned in 1963. At the Olympia Motor Show in 1923, Coventry Climax listed four F-type 4-cylinder water cooled engines. All had 100 mm stroke, and the bores were 59 (1,094 cc displacement), 63 (1,247 cc), 66 (1,368 cc) and 69 mm (1,496 cc). The GWK car had featured in Coventry Climax adverts from late 1920 with

7560-454: The FWA named the 744 cc FWC, as used by Dan Gurney early in his career in US club racing. The objective of this engine was for Lotus to campaign for the 750 cc Le Mans Index of Performance prize in 1957, three engines were made for this purpose, and it won the prize in a Lotus Eleven driven by Cliff Allison and Keith Hall. Lotus also campaigned the FWC at Le Mans in 1958. The FWE powered Lotus Elites won their class six times and

7686-404: The FWA stroke for a displacement of 1,216 cc. In exchange for a 1,000 unit purchase agreement signed by Chapman , it was specifically designed with forged steel crank for the Lotus Elite but became a favourite with a number of sports car racing firms for its racing durability and high power-to-weight ratio. Other FW variants included a short-stroke (1.78 inches) steel crank version of

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7812-480: The Land Rover and Austin Gipsy, field telephone equipment, fire fighting vehicles, pipe, water and foam carriers, as well as breakdown trucks and stores and catering. The AFS equipment was painted in British Standard 381C colour Deep Bronze Green, and carried large AFS door transfers. Each fire station typically had an AFS division, and so AFS crews frequently attended fires and accidents alongside their regular colleagues. They provided significant assistance at some of

7938-455: The London area sinking at double this partly due to the continuing compaction of the recent clay deposits. Animal diversity is modest, as a result of factors including the island's small land area, the relatively recent age of the habitats developed since the last glacial period and the island's physical separation from continental Europe , and the effects of seasonal variability. Great Britain also experienced early industrialisation and

8064-428: The Ministry of Supply, the AFS equipment was civilian registered and not military registered. When the AFS was disbanded in 1968, the 4×2 Green Goddess units were auctioned, but the 4×4 version and Land Rovers and Austin Gipsys were mothballed against some future emergency. Local authority fire brigades could borrow Home Office vehicles to meet exceptional needs, and 500 Green Goddesses were brought out of retirement during

8190-410: The OC was made with a capacity of 1,122 cc as a straight-four using a bore of 63 mm and stroke of 90 mm with overhead inlet and side exhaust valves, producing 34 bhp (25 kW). It was introduced in the early 1930s and also built under licence by Triumph . The OC engine had morphed into the MC engine by 1933. It looked virtually identical, but there were internal differences. It

8316-405: The UK government yearbooks have used both Britain and United Kingdom . GB and GBR are used instead of UK in some international codes to refer to the United Kingdom, including the Universal Postal Union , international sports teams, NATO , and the International Organization for Standardization country codes ISO 3166-2 and ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 , whilst the aircraft registration prefix

8442-462: The UK, from 1992 the Green Goddess pumps were all relocated to the large TNT Truck Care depot in Marchington , Staffordshire. In 1997 a total of 96 low-mileage Austin Gipsies were auctioned by the Home Office at Measham, and the Green Goddesses and remaining Gipsies were sold in 2005, many going to fire brigades in developing countries, particularly in Africa, some to preservation. Great Britain Great Britain (commonly shortened to Britain )

8568-408: The Wars: A Memoir . An AFS was formed in every county borough , borough and urban district , and there was also one in the London County Council area. Each AFS was commanded by a commandant , with deputy and assistant commandants in the larger services. The services operated their own fire stations , each commanded by a section officer, and station areas were divided into fire beats, each under

8694-408: The amount of water specified in the previous outline, with half the weight. This was designated the FW for "Feather Weight". The engine was displayed at the Motor Show in London and attracted attention from the motor racing fraternity for its very high " horsepower per pound of weight ". With strong persuasions at the show, including those by Cyril Kieft (who had Stirling Moss as an F3 driver) and

8820-431: The area during cooler periods. Modern humans arrived in Britain about 40,000 years ago, as evidenced by remains found in Kents Cavern in Devon, following the disappearance of Neanderthals . Prior to 9,000 years ago Britain retained a land connection to the continent, with an area of mostly low marshland ( Doggerland ) joining it to what are now Denmark and the Netherlands . During the Mesolithic period, Britain

8946-402: The areas now known as Wales, Cumbria and Cornwall were not assimilated by the Germanic tribes, a fact reflected in the survival of Celtic languages in these areas into more recent times. At the time of the Germanic invasion of southern Britain , many Britons emigrated to the area now known as Brittany , where Breton , a Celtic language closely related to Welsh and Cornish and descended from

9072-483: The automotive field, to Leonard Pelham Lee. The citation reads: "Awarded to Coventry Climax Engines Ltd. for the design, development, and production of engines which have brought British cars to the forefront in the field of Grand Prix racing." The history of this trophy dates back to 1906. The last time the Dewar Trophy was awarded before 1964, the recipient was Alec Issigonis for British Motor Corporation (BMC) in 1959 on

9198-702: The basis of the Great Britain royal flag of 1604. Saint David is the patron saint of Wales. There are many other British saints. Some of the best known are Cuthbert , Columba , Patrick , Margaret , Edward the Confessor , Mungo , Thomas More , Petroc , Bede , and Thomas Becket . Numerous other religions are practised. The 2011 census recorded that Islam had around 2.7 million adherents (excluding Scotland with about 76,000). More than 1.4 million people (excluding Scotland's about 38,000) believe in Hinduism , Sikhism , or Buddhism —religions that developed in

9324-529: The bed of the North Sea was dry and acted as a land bridge, now known as Doggerland , to the Continent. It is generally thought that as sea levels gradually rose after the end of the last glacial period of the current ice age, Doggerland reflooded cutting off what was the British peninsula from the European mainland by around 6500 BC. Great Britain has been subject to a variety of plate tectonic processes over

9450-603: The breaching of the Weald-Artois Anticline , a ridge that held back a large proglacial lake , now submerged under the North Sea. Around 10,000 years ago, during the Devensian glaciation with its lower sea level , Great Britain was not an island, but an upland region of continental north-western Europe, lying partially underneath the Eurasian ice sheet. The sea level was about 120 metres (390 ft) lower than today, and

9576-439: The command of a patrol officer. Services with five or more stations divided them into divisions, each under the command of a divisional officer. These ranks were not laid down by the government, and some services used different systems. In this job it was hampered severely by the incompatibility of equipment used by these different brigades – most importantly the lack of a standard size of hydrant valve. The Auxiliary Fire Service

9702-468: The departure of Stroyer, it was relocated to Paynes Lane, Coventry , and renamed as Coventry-Simplex by H. Pelham Lee , a former Daimler employee, who saw a need for competition in the nascent piston engine market. An early user was GWK , who produced over 1,000 light cars with Coventry-Simplex two-cylinder engines between 1911 and 1915. Just before the First World War , a Coventry-Simplex engine

9828-844: The design and production of the ADO15 Mini . BMH merged with the Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968 to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation, which was then nationalised in 1975 as British Leyland (BL). Coventry Climax became part of the British Leyland Special Products Division, alongside Alvis , Aveling-Barford , and others. At the end of 1978, BL brought together Coventry Climax Limited, Leyland Vehicles Limited (trucks, buses, and tractors), Alvis Limited (military vehicles), and Self-Changing Gears Limited (heavy-duty transmissions) into

9954-460: The drought of 1976. The government used Army and Royal Navy personnel to man and operate fire appliances during the firemen's strikes, including Home Office equipment brought out of storage. The Fire Service Circular in 1984 showed 1,079 Green Goddess emergency pumps, 142 Land Rovers/Austin Gipsies, 369 trucks and 2,321 lightweight portable hose pumps held in reserve. Although they had been stored all over

10080-544: The dynamometer at Chrysler 's Kew facility. Remnants of other FPE parts were much later found by the then-owner of 1954 Kieft F1 chassis, Gordon and Martyn Chapman, in an air-raid cellar in the abandoned building which used to belong to Bill Lacey (of Power Engines Ltd., a Coventry Climax specialist) near the main entrance of Silverstone Circuit , including 3 blocks, 2 cranks, 16 cylinder heads, 20-some cam covers (carriers?), two card boxes full of timing gears and camshafts, which all belonged to "Doc Murfield" who had purchased

10206-451: The engines. The FWA became popular in sportscar racing and was followed by the Mark II and then by the FWB, which had a capacity of nearly 1.5-litres. The new Formula Two regulations suited the 1.5-litre engine, and it quickly became the engine to have in F2 racing. By 1957, the first Climax engines began to appear in Formula One in the back of Cooper chassis. Initially, these were FWBs, but

10332-596: The entire stock of parts was sold to Andrew Getley in the mid-1960s. When the Formula One regulation changed to 3 Litres for 1966, Mr. Getley permitted Paul Emery to rebuild one FPE to 3 Litre format and fit it into a one-off Shannon steel monocoque chassis to make the Shannon F1 car named SH1 driven by Trevor Taylor at 1966 British Grand Prix . Bored out to 3 Litres and Tecalemit Jackson fuel injection installed, this Emery-built FPE produced 312 bhp on

10458-505: The first view of Britain from the continent) or the "island of the Albiones ". The oldest mention of terms related to Great Britain was by Aristotle (384–322 BC), or possibly by Pseudo-Aristotle , in his text On the Universe , Vol. III. To quote his works, "There are two very large islands in it, called the British Isles, Albion and Ierne ". The first known written use of the word Britain

10584-519: The forklift truck interests of Coventry Climax in 1985. The company traded as "Kalmar Climax" for a few years but is now trading as Kalmar Industries Ltd. The 'Coventry Climax logo trademark is the property of Canadian Peter Schömer, based in Chichester .   Within the complicated corporate lineage, the reputation of Coventry Climax as a top-rate engine designer-builder is largely credited to Walter Hassan and Harry Mundy , who designed and developed

10710-702: The generally accepted view that Celtic originated in the context of the Hallstatt culture , since 2009, John T. Koch and others have proposed that the origins of the Celtic languages are to be sought in Bronze Age Western Europe, especially the Iberian Peninsula. Koch et al.'s proposal has failed to find wide acceptance among experts on the Celtic languages. All the modern Brythonic languages (Breton, Cornish, Welsh) are generally considered to derive from

10836-411: The intention to use the fuel injection system made by Skinners Union (SU). However, this fuel injection system, designed for aeroplane engines, was found not to have the means to enrich the mixture for acceleration, which is not suitable for automobile use. FPE initially showed 240 bhp using Weber carburettors, but the press at the time reported the rumoured fuel-injected Mercedes 2.5L GP engine

10962-614: The interim 2,207 cc (3.5" x 3.5") version, a larger block was cast to result in 2,467 cc (3.7" x 3.5") in 1958, and then to a full-sized 2,497 cc (3.7" x 90 mm ) in 1960. Jack Brabham won the World Championship of Drivers in both 1959 and 1960 driving FPF powered Coopers. The FPF with a larger block (to accommodate larger bores) was then adapted to the new 1.5-litre Formula One of 1961 as 1,499.8 cc (82 mm x 71 mm) FPF Mk.II and won three World Championship Grand Prix races in that year. In addition, capacity

11088-453: The interregnum which was a peak of anti-Catholicism. Most Jews in Great Britain have ancestors who fled for their lives , particularly from 19th century Lithuania and the territories occupied by Nazi Germany . Coventry Climax Coventry Climax was a British manufacturer of forklift trucks , fire pumps, racing engines, and other speciality engines. The company was started in 1903 as Lee Stroyer , but two years later, following

11214-543: The island group as αἱ Πρεττανικαὶ νῆσοι (the Prettanic Isles). The Greco-Egyptian scientist Ptolemy referred to the larger island as great Britain (μεγάλη Βρεττανία megale Brettania ) and to Ireland as little Britain (μικρὰ Βρεττανία mikra Brettania ) in his work Almagest (147–148 AD). In his later work, Geography ( c.  150 AD ), he gave the islands the names Alwion , Iwernia , and Mona (the Isle of Man ), suggesting these may have been

11340-404: The island of Great Britain as Britannia major ("Greater Britain"), to distinguish it from Britannia minor ("Lesser Britain"), the continental region which approximates to modern Brittany and had been settled in the fifth and sixth centuries by Celtic Briton migrants from Great Britain. The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for

11466-555: The island with around 2.1 million members. Introduced in Scotland by clergyman John Knox , it has the status of national church in Scotland. The monarch of the United Kingdom is represented by a Lord High Commissioner . Methodism is the fourth largest and grew out of Anglicanism through John Wesley . It gained popularity in the old mill towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire , also amongst tin miners in Cornwall . The Presbyterian Church of Wales , which follows Calvinistic Methodism ,

11592-451: The language of the emigrants, is still spoken. In the 9th century, a series of Danish assaults on northern English kingdoms led to them coming under Danish control (an area known as the Danelaw ). In the 10th century, however, all the English kingdoms were unified under one ruler as the kingdom of England when the last constituent kingdom, Northumbria, submitted to Edgar in 959. In 1066, England

11718-528: The largest religion by number of adherents since the Early Middle Ages : it was introduced under the ancient Romans, developing as Celtic Christianity . According to tradition, Christianity arrived in the 1st or 2nd century . The most popular form is Anglicanism (known as Episcopalism in Scotland). Dating from the 16th-century Reformation , it regards itself as both Catholic and Reformed . The Head of

11844-421: The late 1930s and this continued during the war. Another diversification was into commercial vehicle engines. This started in 1929 with the launch of a large (5.8 litre) six-cylinder side-valve petrol engine intended for buses and trucks, and was followed in 1931 by a six-cylindered 6.8 litre petrol engine of inlet over exhaust ( IOE ) design, and a 4-cylinder engine in 1932. In 1934 Commercial Motor referred to

11970-454: The later type twin spark plug heads in the stock, was run in the original 1954 Kieft -Climax V8 Grand Prix chassis with downdraft Weber 40IDF carburetors when they were finally mated, and the construction finished on 21 September 2002 at VSCC Silverstone Meeting, and this car was campaigned in VSCC events for the next 10 years. Four sets of period-correct Weber 40DCNL carburetors were installed on

12096-485: The maintenance-free valve adjustment using shims under an overhead camshaft. In 1953 it was adapted for automotive racing as the 1,098 cc FWA retaining the cast crank three main bearing construction of the FW but with a distributor ignition in place of a magneto, a different camshaft, and a higher, 9.8:1 compression ratio. With a bore of 2.85 inches and a stroke of 2.625 inches, it produced 71 hp (53 kW) and

12222-442: The market as Bearcat 85. Commission Sportive Internationale announced in 1952 that 2.5L naturally aspirated engines would be a part of Formula One regulation starting 1954. Walter Hassan and especially Harry Mundy having their roots deeply in the racing field, started discussions and preliminary designs of a 2.5L 8 Cylinder GP engine in 1952 without a formal directive from the father and son Pelham Lees . Because this project

12348-532: The most populated island outside of Asia . The term "Great Britain" can also refer to the political territory of England , Scotland and Wales , which includes their offshore islands. This territory, together with Northern Ireland , constitutes the United Kingdom . The archipelago has been referred to by a single name for over 2000 years: the term ' British Isles ' derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe this island group. By 50 BC, Greek geographers were using equivalents of Prettanikē as

12474-478: The most successful. There were a total of 22 Grand Prix victories before 1966 with crossplane , flat-plane , two- and four-valve versions of the FWMV. When the new, 3-litre, formula was introduced, Coventry Climax decided not to build engines for the new formula and withdrew from racing after the unsuccessful FWMW project, with the exception of the new 2-Litre version of the FWMV. Also, in the early 1960s, Coventry Climax

12600-489: The much smaller surrounding islands. The North Channel , Irish Sea , St George's Channel and Celtic Sea separate the island from the island of Ireland to its west. The island is since 1993 joined, via one structure, with continental Europe: the Channel Tunnel , the longest undersea rail tunnel in the world. The island is marked by low, rolling countryside in the east and south, while hills and mountains predominate in

12726-506: The names of the individual islands not known to him at the time of writing Almagest . The name Albion appears to have fallen out of use sometime after the Roman conquest of Britain , after which Britain became the more commonplace name for the island. After the Anglo-Saxon period, Britain was used as a historical term only. Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae ( c.  1136 ) refers to

12852-458: The new 6-cylinder 1,753 cc CX engine. This had 61 mm bore and 100 mm stroke, and was rated at 13.8 hp. The same six-cylinder engine appeared in the Waverley car at the 1925 Olympia motor show. The engine size had increased to 1,991 cc (65 mm bore, 16 hp rating), with overhead valves and Lanchester style vibration damper, it was coupled to a 4-speed Meadows gearbox. At first,

12978-521: The parts from Andrew Getley in 1968-69 and had entrusted them to Bill Lacey. These parts were assembled into two engines under the ownership of Gordon Chapman and then under Bill Morris, who bought the engine parts and the Kieft chassis after Gordon Chapman's death. One engine was sold by Chapman to the then-owner of Shannon SH1, and this FPE is said to be in Austria together with Shannon SH1. Another using two of

13104-465: The remains of folded sedimentary rocks that were deposited between 1,000 My and 670 My ago over the gneiss on what was then the floor of the Iapetus Ocean . In the current era the north of the island is rising as a result of the weight of Devensian ice being lifted. Counterbalanced, the south and east is sinking, generally estimated at 1 mm ( 1 ⁄ 25  inch) per year, with

13230-569: The same time, Gaelic tribes from Ireland invaded the north-west, absorbing both the Picts and Britons of northern Britain, eventually forming the Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century. The south-east of Scotland was colonised by the Angles and formed, until 1018, a part of the Kingdom of Northumbria . Ultimately, the population of south-east Britain came to be referred to as the English people , so-named after

13356-699: The same time, the company produced the FWE engine for the Lotus Elite , and this enjoyed considerable success in sports car racing , with a series of class wins at the Le Mans events in the early 1960s. In 1961, there was a new 1.5-litre formula, and the FPF engine was given a new lease on life, although the company began work on a V8 engine, designated the FWMV, and this became competitive in 1962 predominantly in Lotus, Cooper, Brabham, and Lola chassis, with Jim Clark's Lotus outstandingly

13482-468: The term to refer to the whole of the United Kingdom which includes Northern Ireland , though the Oxford English Dictionary states "...the term is also used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom." Similarly, Britain can refer to either all islands in Great Britain, the largest island, or the political grouping of countries. There is no clear distinction, even in government documents:

13608-452: The western and northern regions. It is surrounded by over 1,000 smaller islands and islets . The greatest distance between two points is 968.0 km ( 601 + 1 ⁄ 2  mi) (between Land's End , Cornwall and John o' Groats , Caithness ), 838 miles (1,349 km) by road. The English Channel is thought to have been created between 450,000 and 180,000 years ago by two catastrophic glacial lake outburst floods caused by

13734-510: The work of Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia , who travelled from his home in Hellenistic southern Gaul to Britain in the 4th century BC. The term used by Pytheas may derive from a Celtic word meaning "the painted ones" or "the tattooed folk" in reference to body decorations . According to Strabo, Pytheas referred to Britain as Bretannikē , which is treated a feminine noun. Marcian of Heraclea , in his Periplus maris exteri , described

13860-492: The worst fires, such as that at Billingsgate Market and at Barking wood yard. AFS personnel were trained in firefighting by their own officers and with assistance from full-time fire officers. Many were trained to the St John Ambulance Higher First Aider Certificate standard – often proving invaluable at major incidents involving injury. The Green Goddesses were used in two forms, initially

13986-561: The Πρεττανοί, Priteni or Pretani . Priteni is the source of the Welsh language term Prydain , Britain , which has the same source as the Goidelic term Cruithne used to refer to the early Brythonic -speaking inhabitants of Ireland. The latter were later called Picts or Caledonians by the Romans . Greek historians Diodorus of Sicily and Strabo preserved variants of Prettanike from

14112-476: Was conquered by the Normans , who introduced a Norman -speaking administration that was eventually assimilated. Wales came under Anglo-Norman control in 1282, and was officially annexed to England in the 16th century. On 20 October 1604 King James , who had succeeded separately to the two thrones of England and Scotland, proclaimed himself "King of Great Brittaine, France , and Ireland". When James died in 1625 and

14238-418: Was Albion; but at a later period, all the islands, of which we shall just now briefly make mention, were included under the name of 'Britanniæ.'" The name Britain descends from the Latin name for Britain, Britannia or Brittānia , the land of the Britons. Old French Bretaigne (whence also Modern French Bretagne ) and Middle English Bretayne , Breteyne . The French form replaced

14364-419: Was a pure racing engine from the beginning, which was in stark contrast to the corporate product history up to FWA, the engine was named FPE for Fire Pump Engine (Eight according to another lore) by the playful minds of Hassan and Mundy. After the corporate blessing was given to the project with the name ' Godiva ', this DOHC, 90-degree, steel crossplane crank V8 engine was built in 1954 for an F1 Kieft with

14490-564: Was an ancient Greek transliteration of the original Proto-Celtic term in a work on the travels and discoveries of Pytheas that has not survived. The earliest existing records of the word are quotations of the periplus by later authors, such as those within Strabo's Geographica , Pliny's Natural History and Diodorus of Sicily's Bibliotheca historica . Pliny the Elder (AD 23–79) in his Natural History records of Great Britain: "Its former name

14616-424: Was approached by Rootes to mass-produce FWMAs for use in a compact family car project called Apex with an all-aluminium alloy overhead cam engine combined with a full- synchromesh aluminium transaxle . This combination was considered very radical at the time, especially the synchromesh on all forward gears, which had been declared 'impossible' by Alec Issigonis of BMC Mini fame. The adoption to mass-production

14742-486: Was as a mobile pump, and they could combine to provide a pipe relay over great distances when connected using 6-inch (150 mm) hose, supplying 1,000 imp gal/min (4,500 L/min) from one location to another, often the seat of a major fire. An inflatable dam was often used as the source for the relay, usually fed by using several light portable pumps powered by Coventry Climax FWP engines. Water could be drawn from "open water" supplies (rivers, lakes or reservoirs) by

14868-403: Was designed to carry a 4,000 lb (1,800 kg) load with a 24-inch (610 mm) load centre, and with a 9 ft (2.7 m) lift height. In 1950, Harry Mundy joined Coventry Climax, and a new lightweight all-aluminium overhead camshaft engine was developed in response to the government's ambitious requisition outline asking for a portable fire pump that was capable of pumping double

14994-404: Was first used at Le Mans in 1954 by Kieft Cars . After the FWA was introduced, the FW was renamed to FWP (Pump). The larger bore (3 inches) and longer stroke (3.15 inches) 1,460 cc FWB engine followed; it retained the FWA head but had a forged steel crank and produced a nominal 108 bhp (81 kW). The most significant of the series was the FWE which used the FWB bore size and

15120-522: Was increased to 2,751 cc (96 mm x 95 mm) for the Indianapolis 500 and this larger variant was also utilised for sports car racing, the Intercontinental Formula and Formula Libre racing. It also served as a stopgap in the new 3.0 L Formula One regulation, which went into effect in 1966. The old 2,497 cc FPF gained a new lease of life in 1964 with the introduction of

15246-498: Was inhabited by hunter gatherers. Neolithic farmers , of Anatolian origin, arrived in Britain around 4000 BC, replacing the pre-existing hunter gatherers. Around 2000 BC, the Bronze Age Bell Beaker Culture arrived in Britain, which genetic evidence suggests was associated with another episode of nearly complete population replacement. Later significant migration to southern Britain around 1000 BC may have brought

15372-406: Was reformed in 1948 alongside the Civil Defence Corps , starting initially with old National Fire Service equipment. However the role of the AFS was to provide mobile fire fighting columns that could be deployed to areas that had suffered a nuclear attack (it being assumed that the local fire fighting capability would most likely have been lost). The old equipment was not suitable for this task, so in

15498-464: Was still 1,122 cc, I.O.E., and four cylinders inline, but the camshaft was different, as were the cam followers. The timing marks on the flywheel are now observed from the top of the engine rather than the underside as on the OC. Carburation varied, from the side draught Solex , the down draught SU , to the progressive choke down draught and then a larger side draught SU system on Triumph engines. The engine

15624-481: Was successful, and the project came out to the market as the 875cc Hillman Imp totaling over 400,000 units made by 1976, including the later 998cc version. At Earls Court in 1962, Coventry Climax chairman, Leonard Pelham Lee announced the withdrawal from building Formula 1 engines, stating that the company was losing money and not gaining enough publicity from their involvement. Nonetheless, Coventry Climax remained in Formula One until they were unable to come up with

15750-701: Was used by Lionel Martin to power the first Aston Martin car. Ernest Shackleton selected Coventry-Simplex to power the tractors that were to be used in his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914. Hundreds of Coventry-Simplex engines were manufactured during the First World War to be used in generating sets for searchlights . In 1919, Pelham Lee acquired an existing company, Johnson & Smith Ltd, and changed its name to Coventry Climax Engines Ltd with premises at East Street, Coventry. [Board of Trade Certificate, Herbert Collection, Coventry] (Coventry Simplex continued under separate management). Throughout

15876-501: Was water-cooled by thermosyphon with no water pump or fan. A six-cylinder version of the MC engine, the JM, was made with a capacity of 1,476 cc with a 59 mm bore, developing 42 bhp (31 kW). The JMC version had its capacity increased to 1,683 cc by increasing the bore to 63 mm and produced 48 bhp (36 kW). It was different from the 4 cylinder engine in that it had both

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