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82-677: Rank was born on 22 or 23 December 1888 at Kingston upon Hull in England into a Victorian family environment, which was dominated by his father Joseph Rank who had built a substantial flour milling business. He was educated at The Leys School in Cambridge. Joseph is reported to have told his son Arthur that he was "a dunce at school" and that the only way that he could succeed in life would be in his father's flour mill. J. Arthur ventured on his own with Peterkins Self-Raising Flour, but when that business failed he returned to work for his father. That

164-610: A market town , military supply port, trading centre, fishing and whaling centre and industrial metropolis. Hull was an early theatre of battle in the English Civil Wars . Its 18th-century Member of Parliament, William Wilberforce , took a prominent part in the abolition of the slave trade in Britain. More than 95% of the city was damaged or destroyed in the blitz and suffered a period of post-industrial decline (social deprivation, education and policing). The destroyed areas of

246-450: A non-metropolitan district of the newly created shire county of Humberside. Humberside (and its county council ) was abolished on 1 April 1996 and Hull was made a unitary authority area . The single-tier local authority of the city is now Hull City Council (officially Kingston upon Hull City Council), headquartered in the Guildhall in the city centre. The council was designated as

328-468: A clutch of prestige topics such as the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953 and filmed performances by The Royal Ballet . Although his critics claimed that many of the films that he had produced under the name of Rank were not exactly in keeping with his original intention of producing "family-friendly" films (which John Davis had said was company policy) to challenge American competition, he nevertheless kept to his core beliefs. To that end in 1953 he set up

410-678: A lot of charitable work, and in 1953 they founded the J. Arthur Rank Group Charity, now The Rank Foundation . The Foundation continues to support activities which encourage, develop and support young people, and other disadvantaged groups. It also supports activities promoting Christian principles through media such as film. As of July 2020 there are three chairpersons of the organisation: Rank's son-in-law, Robin Cowen, and his grandsons Fred Packard and Joey Newton. Donations were made from The Rank Foundation to endow The Rank Prize Funds, established shortly before Rank's death, on 16 February 1972. The two Funds,

492-401: A new flood defence scheme to protect homes and businesses, stretching 4 miles (6.4 km) from St Andrews Quay Retail Park to Victoria Dock , linking to other defences at Paull and Hessle . Started in 2016, it was completed in early 2021. The scheme was officially opened on 3 March 2022, by Rebecca Pow . At around 00:56 GMT on 27 February 2008, Hull was 30 miles (48 km) north of

574-503: A waste gasification process. Commissioning of the plant was undertaken in 2019 with full operation expected to be late 2019. Hull Marina was developed on land formerly occupied by the railway docks in the centre of the city. It was repurposed and opened in 1983, it has 270 berths for yachts and small sailing craft. MGM-British Studios MGM-British was a subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer initially established (as MGM London Films Denham ) at Denham Film Studios in 1936. It

656-462: Is 36.9 °C (98.4 °F), set in July 2022. Typically, the warmest day should reach 28.8 °C (83.8 °F), though slightly over 10 days should achieve a temperature of 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) or more in an "average" year. All averages refer to the 1991–2020 period. The absolute minimum temperature is −11.1 °C (12.0 °F), recorded during January 1982. Winters are generally mild for

738-526: Is expected to be at increasing levels of risk from flooding due to global warming. Historically, Hull has been affected by tidal and storm flooding from the Humber; the last serious floods were in the 1950s, in 1953, 1954 and the winter of 1959. Many areas of Hull were flooded during the June 2007 United Kingdom floods , with 8,600 homes and 1,300 businesses affected. Further flooding occurred in 2013, resulting in

820-562: Is part of the Humber Enterprise Zone . Although the fishing industry, including oilseed production, declined in the 1970s due to the Cod Wars , the city remains a busy port, handling 13 million tonnes of cargo per year. The port operations run by Associated British Ports and other companies in the port employ 5,000 people. A further 18,000 are employed as a direct result of the port's activities. The port freight railway line,

902-549: Is the largest. The city is surrounded by the rural East Riding of Yorkshire. Some areas of Hull lie on reclaimed land at or below sea level. The Hull Tidal Surge Barrier is at the point where the River Hull joins the Humber Estuary and is lowered at times when unusually high tides are expected. It is used between 8 and 12 times per year and protects the homes of approximately 10,000 people from flooding. Due to its low level, Hull

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984-429: Is west of the River Hull and close to the Humber. The city is built upon alluvial and glacial deposits which overlie chalk rocks but the underlying chalk has no influence on the topography. The land within the city is generally very flat and is only 2 to 4 metres (6.5 to 13 ft) above sea level . Because of the relative flatness of the site there are few physical constraints upon building and many open areas are

1066-603: The Time Out list of the 15 best places to visit in the UK in 2024, with the guide commenting that the city has got "The Deep, an enormous aquarium with 3,000 species, a picturesque old town which survived the city's relentless WWII bombings, and lots of up and coming indie art galleries like Ground and Artlink. Don't sleep on Hull". In 2016, it was named as one of the top 10 cities in the world to visit by Rough Guides alongside cities such as Seoul, Vancouver, Amsterdam and Reykjavik. In 2017,

1148-493: The 2007 local elections , ending several years in which no single party had a majority. They retained control in the 2008 local elections by an increased majority and in the 2010 local elections . Following the UK's local elections of 2011 , the Labour Party gained control of the council, increasing their majority in the 2012 and retained this following the 2014 local elections . They increased their majority by one in

1230-399: The 2015 local elections , but lost it in the 2016 local elections . In the 2018 local elections all of the council was up for election following boundary changes that reduced the number of seats by 2. Labour retained control of the council but with a much reduced majority, while in the 2019 local elections there was no change to the make-up of the council. In the 2021 local elections

1312-540: The House of Commons and at the last general election, in 2019 , elected three Labour MPs: Emma Hardy , Diana Johnson and Karl Turner . William Wilberforce is the most celebrated of Hull's former MPs. He was a native of the city and the member for Hull from 1780 to 1784 when he was elected as an Independent member for Yorkshire . Kingston upon Hull is on the northern bank of the Humber Estuary . The city centre

1394-483: The Hull Docks Branch , operates 22 trains per day. In January 2011 Siemens Wind Power and Associated British Ports signed a memorandum of understanding concerning the construction of a wind turbine blade manufacturing plant at Alexander Dock. The plan would require some modification of the dock to allow the ships, used for transporting the wind turbine blades, to dock and be loaded. Planning applications for

1476-679: The Liberal Democrats gained a couple of seats but Labour retained control by just three seats. On 3 March 2022, Labour councillor Julia Conner defected to the Liberal Democrats, reducing the Labour majority to one. The Liberal Democrats won overall control of the City Council in the 2022 local elections to end ten years of Labour rule, increasing their majority in the 2023 local elections . The city returned three members of parliament to

1558-750: The Lime Grove Studios (later bought by BBC Television ) and acquired the Paramount Cinemas chain, so that by 1942 the Rank Organisation owned 619 cinemas. Other interests were acquired (such as the Bush Radio company in 1949) which would be added to the interests in a few more years) within a new company called the Rank Organisation . Rank retired as Chairman in 1962 and was succeeded by John Davis , who had been Managing Director since 1948. It

1640-508: The ancient parishes of Hessle and North Ferriby , but was remote from either parish church. A chapel of ease dedicated to Holy Trinity was built to serve the part of the borough in Hessle parish; that church subsequently became Hull Minster . St Mary's Church similarly began as a chapel of ease for the part of the borough in North Ferriby parish. In 1440, a further charter incorporated

1722-543: The epicentre of an earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter Scale which lasted for nearly 10 seconds. This was an unusually large earthquake for this part of the world. Another notable quake occurred early in the morning of 10 June 2018. Located in Northern England , Hull has a temperate maritime climate which is dominated by the passage of mid-latitude depressions. The weather is very changeable from day to day and

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1804-467: The old town (including its museum quarter) and the marina . Hull University was founded in 1927 and had over 16,000 students in 2022. Rugby league football teams include clubs Hull F.C. and Hull Kingston Rovers . The city's association football club is Hull City ( EFL Championship ). Hull RUFC and Hull Ionians both play in the National League 2 North of rugby union. The city came 2nd in

1886-464: The 1950s, fewer adventurous film projects were attempted and Rank concentrated on producing solidly commercial ventures, mainly aimed at the family market. These include the popular Norman Wisdom comedies and the Doctor... films. However some more serious films were produced during this era including: Carve Her Name With Pride (1958), A Night to Remember (also 1958) and Victim (1961), as well as

1968-451: The 1991 UK census, and has been officially estimated as 256,200 in July 2006. In 2001, approximately 53,000 people were aged under 16, 174,000 were aged 16–74, and 17,000 aged 75 and over. Of the total population 97.7% were white and the largest minority ethnic group was of 749 people who considered themselves to be ethnically Chinese. There were 3% of people living in Hull who were born outside

2050-511: The Baltic and the Low Countries were all key trading areas for Hull's merchants. In addition, there was trade with France, Spain and Portugal. Sir William de la Pole was the town's first mayor. A prosperous merchant, de la Pole founded a family that became prominent in government. Another successful son of a Hull trading family was bishop John Alcock , who founded Jesus College, Cambridge and

2132-623: The Boom, in Hull. After the decline of the whaling industry post the Second World War, emphasis shifted to deep-sea trawling until the Anglo-Icelandic Cod War of 1975–1976. The conditions set at the end of this dispute started Hull's economic decline. In 2017 Hull was awarded the title of 'City of Culture' by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Within the city there

2214-575: The Human and Animal Nutrition and Crop Husbandry Fund and the Optoelectronics Fund, support sciences reflecting Rank's business interests through his "connection with the flour-milling and cinema and electronics industries", and also because Rank believed that they would be of great benefit to humanity. There are two Rank Prizes , and the Funds also recognise, support and foster excellence among young people in

2296-539: The J. Arthur Rank Group Charity to promote Christian belief. The charity later became known as The Rank Foundation. He was a governor of The Peckham Experiment in 1949. In 1957 J. Arthur Rank was raised to the peerage as Baron Rank , of Sutton Scotney in the County of Southampton ( Sutton Scotney is a small village between Andover and Winchester in Hampshire ). Rank and his wife were philanthropists who performed

2378-575: The New World, with thousands of emigrants sailing to Hull and stopping for administrative purposes before travelling on to Liverpool and then North America. Parallel to this growth in passenger shipping was the emergence of the Wilson Line of Hull (which had been founded in 1825 by Thomas Wilson ). By the early 20th century, the company had grown – largely through its monopolisation of North Sea passenger routes and later mergers and acquisitions – to be

2460-452: The Old Town's historic streets and buildings, plans for a purpose-built film studio complex have been approved by Hull City Council. The £3m complex could open by the end of 2025. The city has earned the nickname "Hullywood" in recent years, after productions including The Crown , Enola Holmes 2 , The Personal History of David Copperfield , Victoria and Blitz have been filmed in

2542-776: The Rank organisation until 1955, when it was renamed J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors. In 1939 Rank consolidated his film production interests in both the Pinewood Film Studios and the Denham Film Studios . In 1938 Rank bought the Odeon Cinemas chain and the Amalgamated Studios in Borehamwood, although the latter were never used as film studios by Rank. In 1941, it absorbed Gaumont-British , which owned 251 cinemas, and

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2624-549: The Tide as a second feature, but this was not enough exposure for the company to make a profit. Having first created a film production company and having made a movie at another studio, Rank, Lady Yule and John Corfield began talking to Charles Boot who had recently bought the estate of Heatherden Hall at Iver Heath , Buckinghamshire , for the purpose of turning it into a movie studio that would rival those in Hollywood . In 1935,

2706-400: The UK's worst performing authority in both 2004 and 2005, but in 2006 was rated as a two star 'improving adequate' council and in 2007 it retained its two stars with an 'improving well' status. In the 2008 corporate performance assessment the city retained its "improving well" status but was upgraded to a three star rating. The Liberal Democrats won overall control of the City Council in

2788-679: The United Kingdom, a "J. Arthur" is slang for a shank. Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull , usually shortened to Hull , is a port city and unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire , England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, 25 miles (40 km) inland from the North Sea and 37 miles (60 km) south-east of York ,

2870-530: The United Kingdom. In 2006, the largest minority ethnic grouping was Iraqi Kurds who were estimated at 3,000. Most of these people were placed in the city by the Home Office while their applications for asylum were being processed. In 2001, the city was 71.7% Christian. A further 18% of the population indicated they were of no religion while 8.4% did not specify any religious affiliation. Historically, minorities of many faiths and nationalities have lived around

2952-465: The advantageous situation of this hitherto neglected and obscure corner. He foresaw it might become subservient both to render the kingdom more secure against foreign invasion, and at the same time greatly to enforce its commerce". Pursuant to these thoughts, Craggs continues, Edward purchased the land from the Abbot of Meaux, had a manor hall built for himself, issued proclamations encouraging development within

3034-494: The area of the present city. The area was attractive to people because it gave access to a prosperous hinterland and navigable rivers but the site was poor, being remote, low-lying and with no fresh water. It was originally an outlying part of the hamlet of Myton, named Wyke. The name is thought to originate either from a Scandinavian word Vik meaning inlet or from the Saxon Wic meaning dwelling place or refuge. The River Hull

3116-417: The city centre was destroyed. Hull had 95% of its houses damaged or destroyed, making it the most severely bombed British city or town in terms of number of damaged or destroyed buildings, apart from London, during the Second World War. More than 1,200 people died in air raids on the city and some 3,000 others were injured. The worst of the bombing occurred in 1941. Little was known about this destruction by

3198-471: The city cooler than inland areas during summer. It is also one of the most northerly areas where the July average maximum temperature exceeds 21.5 °C (70.7 °F), although this appears to be very localised around the city. Flooding in June 2007 caused significant damage to areas of the city. Droughts and heatwaves also occur such as in 2003, 2006 and recently in 2018. The absolute maximum temperature recorded

3280-446: The city had a high proportion, at 6.2%, of people of working age who were unemployed, ranking 354th out of 376 local and unitary authorities within England and Wales . The distance travelled to work was less than 3 miles (4.8 km) for 64,578 out of 95,957 employed people. A further 18,031 travelled between 3.1 and 6.2 miles (5 and 10 km) to their place of employment. The number of people using public transport to get to work

3362-484: The city was featured in The Sunday Times Best Places to Live Guide and in 2024 was named as one of the UK's most "up and coming" places to move to. Kingston upon Hull stands on the north bank of the Humber Estuary at the mouth of its tributary, the River Hull . The valley of the River Hull has been inhabited since the early Neolithic period but there is little evidence of a substantial settlement in

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3444-443: The city were rebuilt in the post–Second World War period. In the early 21st century spending boom before the late 2000s recession the city saw large amounts of new retail, commercial, housing and public service construction spending. The city offers a variety of museums, art galleries, stunning architecture, and a thriving arts scene. Due to Hull's growing appeal as an outdoor film location, particularly for period dramas using

3526-631: The city. A senior council official has said that interest from the film industry was almost non-stop at the moment. In 2017, it was the UK City of Culture and hosted the Turner Prize at the city's Ferens Art Gallery . Other notable landmarks in the city are the Minster , the tidal surge barrier , the Paragon Interchange and The Deep Hull's award-winning aquarium. Areas of the town centre include

3608-562: The cost of building work, and in February 1939 sold the facility to the Rank Organisation , which was not interested in using the studios itself, but wanted to stop John Maxwell 's rival British International Pictures (BIP) from being able to compete more effectively with Rank's recently opened Pinewood Studios . During the war, the studios were leased from Rank by the Ministry of Works which used them for storage purposes. MGM-London purchased

3690-596: The docks, Old Town and City Centre, coming in from European ports like Hamburg, aided by continental railways and steam-ships from the mid-1800s. Over 2 million passed through Hull between 1850 and 1914, on the way to a new life in America and elsewhere, but some planned or decided to stay. Dutch, Jews , Germans, Scandinavians and others were sometimes prominently involved in the life of the port city. They found opportunity but endured discrimination at times, such that these communities have now largely dispersed. Also in 2001,

3772-489: The era before World War II . In 1935 Rank arrived at a solution to his distribution problems. Because the middlemen controlled the distribution pipeline from production to exhibition, he decided to buy a large part of both the distribution and exhibition systems. He began by forming a partnership with film maker C. M. Woolf to form General Film Distributors , which in 1936 was incorporated in Rank's General Cinema Finance Corporation but continued to handle all distribution for

3854-623: The form of several well-maintained buildings from the period, including Wilberforce House , now a museum documenting the life of William Wilberforce . During the English Civil War , Hull became strategically important because of the large arsenal located there. Very early in the war, on 11 January 1642, the king named the Earl of Newcastle governor of Hull while Parliament nominated Sir John Hotham and asked his son, Captain John Hotham, to secure

3936-514: The former Amalgamated Studios, Borehamwood , in April 1944, and changed its name to MGM British Studios Ltd in 1946. After improvements, the studio contained seven stages with over 70,000 square feet (7,000 m ) of floor space. MGM's Edward, My Son (1949), with Spencer Tracy and Deborah Kerr , was the first film to be produced at the studio. Films made at the MGM-British Studios for

4018-521: The historic county town . With a population of 268,852 (2022), it is the fourth-largest city in the Yorkshire and the Humber region after Leeds , Sheffield and Bradford . Hull has more than 800 years of seafaring history and is known as Yorkshire's maritime city. The town of Wyke on Hull was founded late in the 12th century by the monks of Meaux Abbey as a port from which to export their wool. Renamed Kings-town upon Hull in 1299, Hull had been

4100-523: The largest privately owned shipping company in the world, with over 100 ships sailing to different parts of the globe. The Wilson Line was sold to the Ellerman Lines – which itself was owned by Hull-born magnate (and the richest man in Britain at the time) Sir John Ellerman . Hull's prosperity peaked in the decades just before the First World War ; it was during this time, in 1897, that city status

4182-467: The latitude with snow only occurring a couple of times a year on average and mostly only staying for a day or two before melting. It is frequently cloudy and the North Sea winds make it feel colder than it actually is. An average of 32.5 nights should report an air frost. Heavy snowfalls do occasionally occur such as in 2010. On 23 November 1981, during the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak , Hull

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4264-526: The parent company included Ivanhoe (1952) and The Dirty Dozen (1967). Production designer Alfred Junge 's castle setting for the former was to dominate the Borehamwood skyline for some years afterwards. The facilities were hired by other companies; 20th Century Fox shot the films Anastasia (1956) and The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), for which a large set of a Chinese town, complete with artificial lakes, covering some 500,000 square feet,

4346-561: The plant were submitted in December 2011, and affirmed in 2014, concerning 75-metre (246 ft) blades for the 6 MW offshore model. A 12.5-acre (5.1 ha) site waste-to-energy centre costing in the region of £150 million is also planned to be built by the Spencer Group. Announced in mid-2011, and named 'Energy Works', the proposed plant would process up to 200,000 tonnes of organic material per year, with energy produced via

4428-563: The primary causes behind the closure of the studio, owing to Stanley Kubrick 's production occupying more and more of the available studio space—eventually using all of it—for almost two years. The studio facility was in operation until 1970, one of the last productions being ITC's UFO television series. At that time, MGM made a production and distribution deal with EMI , and began to use its facility ( EMI-Elstree Studios , formerly Associated British Elstree Studios) becoming MGM-EMI , an arrangement which only lasted until 1973, with MGM having

4510-556: The problem and a solution with Lady Yule of Bricket Wood . The net result of these meetings was the formation of the British National Films Company . The first commercial production by this company was Turn of the Tide (1935), a film based upon a 1932 novel by Leo Walmsley called Three Fevers . Having created their film, British National then had to get it distributed and exhibited, but this proved to be more difficult. Some commercial screens began showing Turn of

4592-415: The rest of the country at the time, since most of the radio and newspaper reports did not reveal Hull by name but referred to it as "a North-East town" or "a northern coastal town". Most of the city centre was rebuilt in the years following the war. As recently as 2006 researchers found documents in the local archives that suggested a non-exploded wartime bomb might be buried beneath a major new redevelopment,

4674-400: The south and east the advancing suburbs had already reached it. The four villages were, nevertheless, distinct communities, of a largely rural character, until their absorption in the borough—Drypool and Sculcoates in 1837, Marfleet in 1882, and Sutton in 1929. The current boundaries of the city are tightly drawn and exclude many of the metropolitan area 's nearby villages, of which Cottingham

4756-401: The subject of pressures to build. The parishes of Drypool , Marfleet , Sculcoates , and most of Sutton parish, were absorbed within the borough of Hull in the 19th and 20th centuries. Much of their area has been built over, and socially and economically they have long been inseparable from the city. Only Sutton retained a recognisable village centre in the late 20th century, but on

4838-481: The town and instituted local government consisting of a mayor, a sheriff and twelve aldermen . In his Guide to Hull (1817) , J. C. Craggs provides a colourful background to Edward's acquisition and naming of the town. He writes that the King and a hunting party started a hare which "led them along the delightful banks of the River Hull to the hamlet of Wyke ... [Edward], charmed with the scene before him, viewed with delight

4920-561: The town at once. Sir John Hotham and Hull corporation declared support for Parliament and denied Charles I entry into the town. Charles I responded to these events by besieging the town . This siege helped precipitate open conflict between the forces of Parliament and those of the Royalists . After the Civil War, docks were built along the route of the town walls , which were demolished. The first dock (1778, renamed Queen's Dock in 1854)

5002-677: The town, and bestowed upon it the royal appellation, King's Town . The port served as a base for Edward I during the First War of Scottish Independence and later developed into the foremost port on the east coast of England. It prospered by exporting wool and woollen cloth, and importing wine and timber. Hull also established a flourishing commerce with the Baltic ports of the Hanseatic League . From its medieval beginnings, Hull's main trading links were with Scotland and northern Europe. Scandinavia,

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5084-598: The trio became owner-operators of Pinewood Film Studios . Lady Yule later sold her shares to Rank while John Corfield resigned from its board of directors. The problems encountered in the distribution of Turn of the Tide were addressed when Rank discovered that the people who controlled the British film industry had ties to the American movie industry and that for all practical purposes he was shut out of his own domestic market. American films occupied 80% of British screen time during

5166-424: The two fields of nutrition and optoelectronics . The Rank Prize for Optoelectronics supports, encourages, and rewards researchers working at the cutting edge of optoelectronics research, initially (from 1976) awarded annually, now a biennial prize worth £30,000. The Rank Prize for Nutrition was awarded at various intervals since 1976, but now also awarded biennially, and worth £40,000. The Arthur Rank Centre

5248-596: The warming influence of the Gulf Stream makes the region mild for its latitude. Locally, the area is sunnier than most areas this far north in the British Isles, and also considerably drier, due to the rain shadowing effect of the Pennines. It is somewhat warmer than west coast areas at a similar latitude such as Liverpool in summer due to stronger shielding from maritime air but also colder in winter and North Sea breezes keep

5330-508: The world. Docks were opened to serve the frozen meat trade of Australia, New Zealand and South America. Hull was also the centre of a thriving inland and coastal trading network, serving the whole of the United Kingdom. Throughout the second half of the 19th century and leading up to the First World War, the Port of Hull played a major role in the emigration of Northern European settlers to

5412-416: Was Michael Balcon . However, he left after a single film and was replaced by Victor Saville . The subsidiary was in abeyance during the war. Meanwhile, Amalgamated Studios Ltd constructed a large studio on the north side of Elstree Way, Borehamwood, between 1935 and 1937. A January 1937 deal for eight films to be made for the American studio Columbia Pictures soon collapsed. The company was unable to meet

5494-418: Was 12,915 while the number travelling by car was 53,443. Men in the University ward had the fourth lowest life expectancy at birth, 69.4 years, of any ward in England and Wales in 2016. The traditional industries of Hull are seafaring (whaling and later seafishing) and later heavy industry which both have since declined in the city. Companies BP and Reckitt Benckiser , have facilities in Hull. The city

5576-411: Was a good haven for shipping, whose trade included the export of wool from Meaux Abbey , which owned Myton. In 1293, the town of Wyke was acquired from the abbey by King Edward I, who, on 1 April 1299, granted it a royal charter that renamed the settlement King's town upon Hull or Kingston upon Hull. The charter is preserved in the archives of the Guildhall . When first created, the borough straddled

5658-401: Was a patron of the grammar school in Hull. The increase in trade after the discovery of the Americas and the town's maritime connections are thought to have played a part in the introduction of a virulent strain of syphilis through Hull and on into Europe from the New World . The town prospered during the 16th and early 17th centuries, and Hull's affluence at this time is preserved in

5740-427: Was a series of festivals in public spaces to promote the city and its newly given title. At the start of the year there was a huge firework display attracting a crowd of 25,000. Following the Local Government Act 1888 , Hull became a county borough , a local government district independent of the East Riding of Yorkshire. This district was dissolved under the Local Government Act 1972 , on 1 April 1974 when it became

5822-457: Was built in the area occupied by Beverley and North gates, and the intermediate walls, which were demolished, a second dock ( Humber Dock , 1809) was built on the land between Hessle and Myton gates, and a third dock between the two was opened 1829 as Junction Dock (later Prince's Dock ). Whaling played a major role in the town's fortunes until the mid-19th century. As sail power gave way to steam, Hull's trading links extended throughout

5904-635: Was called Mastership . When the Methodist Times newspaper began to complain about the negative influence that British and American films shown in Britain were having on family life, their editorial was answered by the London Evening News who suggested that instead of complaining, the Methodist Church should provide a solution. Rank took up the challenge and via an introduction by a young film producer named John Corfield, he discussed both

5986-403: Was constructed. When Ealing Studios sold its own studios in 1956, the company moved production of their last few films to MGM-British (with their logo now reading Ealing Films rather than Ealing Studios). Lew Grade 's ITC used it for filmed television series, including The Prisoner (1967–68). One of the last films shot there, MGM's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), has been cited as one of

6068-454: Was first used for the 1964 film Mary Poppins since it had superior colour and blur allowances. The last known film to use this process was Dick Tracy (1990). During the 1940s, the companies Rank controlled produced some of the finest British films of the period, including: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), Henry V (1944), A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Black Narcissus (1947), and The Red Shoes (1948). From

6150-612: Was founded in 1972 with the support of the Rank Foundation to provide resources, training, and advocacy for rural Christians, rural churches and the communities they serve, across England and Wales . Inspired by his personal knowledge of the Brazilian Fundação Estudar , the Rank Fellowship was created in 2003 by Rank's eldest grandson, Fred Arthur Rank Packard, who became Chairman of the Rank Foundation in 2000. Fred

6232-465: Was granted. Many of the suburban areas on the western side of Hull were built in the 1930s, particularly Willerby Road and Anlaby Park, as well as most of Willerby itself. The city's port and industrial facilities, coupled with its proximity to mainland Europe and ease of location being on a major estuary, led to extremely widespread damage by bombing raids during the Second World War ; much of

6314-571: Was in limbo during the Second World War ; however, following the end of hostilities, a facility was acquired in Borehamwood (one of several known as Elstree Studios ), which remained in use until it was closed in 1970. MGM London Films Denham Ltd was formed in 1936. The films produced during the initial period at Denham Film Studios were A Yank at Oxford (1938), The Citadel (1938), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) and Busman's Honeymoon (US: Haunted Honeymoon , 1940). The first production head

6396-632: Was one of the founders of the Brazilian investment banking firm Banco Garantia , along with Jorge Paulo Lemann , Marcel Telles and Carlos Alberto Sicuperia . Rank married Nell (1890–1971), and they had two daughters, Shelagh (who was married first to Fred Packard who lived in Hollywood, and then to Robin Cowen) and Ursula (born 1920). When he died in March 1972, aged 83, his barony became extinct. J. Arthur Rank's name

6478-644: Was parodied on the PBS children's educational TV show The Electric Company as "J. Arthur Crank" (voiced and later performed by Jim Boyd ), a character wearing a plaid shirt, suspenders and a porkpie hat , who was in a perpetually cranky mood (hence his name) whenever he interrupted sketches to complain when spellings or pronunciations confused him or when he was mistaken for someone else. "J. Arthur Rank" has also been used as cockney rhyming slang , both for " bank " and "wank" (slang for masturbation ), typically shortened to "J. Arthur" or just "Arthur". In golf, especially in

6560-442: Was struck by two tornadoes which passed through, and caused damage to residential buildings across the north-eastern suburbs of Hull and uprooted trees. According to the 2001 UK census , Hull had a population of 243,589 living in 104,288 households. The population density was 34.1 per hectare. Of the total number of homes 47.85% were rented compared with a national figure of 31.38% rented. The population had declined by 7.5% since

6642-626: Was the business (Joseph Rank Limited) that he later inherited and which became known as Rank Hovis McDougall (now owned by British food conglomerate Premier Foods ). Rank was a devout member of the Methodists and in his middle age he taught at Sunday School to which he began to show religious films. This practice expanded to other churches and schools and it led to his formation of the Religious Film Society in 1933 to which he then distributed films that he had also made. His first production

6724-565: Was then that Rank developed the special prism needed to make the Sodium Vapour Process of film matte special effects technique work. This analogue method used amber light to mask images so they could be placed over a different background. The prism caused light to be split into two beams where two film strips would record the same image on both black & white and colour film. There were only three of these prisms ever made and were licensed by Rank for use by Walt Disney Studios. This process

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