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Creativity: A To Z Of Britain’s King Charles III

Published

2 years ago

September 17, 2022

Here is an A to Z of the new King Charles III:

– A for action man –
Charles earned the nickname in his daredevil youth, jumping out of planes, escaping from submarines, windsurfing, playing polo and waterskiing.

– B for black spider –
Before becoming king, he bombarded government ministers with letters, dubbed the “black spider memos” for his messy annotations.

– C for Camilla –
Charles was devastated when, while away on naval service, she wed Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973. Charles turned to Camilla after his marriage to Diana collapsed. They married in 2005.

– D for Diana –
A badly-matched couple, their “fairytale” marriage fell apart in explosive fashion. They separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996, a year before her shock death in a car crash.

– E for environment –
A fervent environmentalist, Charles is driven by environmental preservation and organic farming. He was outspoken on climate change long before it became mainstream.

– F for faith –
The new head of the Church of England sees his role as defending the free practice of all faiths. Charles has studied Judaism and Islam and tries to encourage inter-faith dialogue.

– G for Gordonstoun –
Charles hated his years at the stark Scottish boarding school, describing his years there as a lonely “prison sentence”. Toughing it out for duty’s sake formed part of his character.

– H for homeopathy –
Charles is convinced by alternative medicine and even uses it on his farm animals. His outspoken views have often infuriated some in the scientific community.

– I for income –
Before his accession, Charles’s money came from the Duchy of Cornwall, the heir to the throne’s private land and property portfolio. The surplus funded his family’s public, charitable and private activities and he voluntarily paid income tax.

– J for jubilee speeches –
His moving, rousing addresses closing Queen Elizabeth II’s 2002, 2012 and 2022 jubilee celebrations, in which he referred to her as “Mummy”, helped endear him to the nation.

– K for Knatchbull –
The one that got away. Encouraged by Lord Mountbatten, Charles proposed to Amanda Knatchbull, his second cousin and Mountbatten’s grand-daughter, in 1979, but she declined.

– L for lengthy wait –
Charles was the longest-serving heir apparent in British history, since the age of three in 1952, and the longest-serving prince of Wales, since the age of nine in 1958.

– M for Mountbatten –
The prince’s great uncle Louis Mountbatten was his mentor and closest confidant, guiding his early life. His assassination by Irish republican paramilitaries in 1979 left Charles distraught.

– N for Navy –
Charles served on the ships from 1971 to 1976, taking command of a coastal minehunter for his last 10 months. He served in the Caribbean and around the Pacific and learned to fly helicopters.

– O for offspring –
Charles was a more hands-on parent to Princes William and Harry than his own parents had been. However, he has grown estranged from Harry after he quit royal duties and moved to California, sniping at Charles on the way.

– P for Prince’s Trust –
Charles launched the Prince’s Trust with his £7,500 navy severance pay and the charity had helped more than a million disadvantaged youngsters by the time of his accession to the throne.

– Q for Queen Mother –
Charles adored his “darling grandmother”, queen Elizabeth, the queen mother. “For me, she meant everything”, he said in a moving tribute after her death in 2002.

– R for residences –
Charles will now be expected to move into Buckingham Palace, giving up his Clarence House official London residence. He also inherits the Sandringham estate in eastern England and Balmoral in the Scottish Highlands.

– S for style –
Old-fashioned for some, impeccably suave for others, Charles’s sartorial style is unwavering, perhaps because his outfits are the same: shoes from 1968, a coat from 1985 and immaculate double-breasted suits.

– T for Transylvania –
The king, who claims descent from Vlad the Impaler, bought and restored several properties in Romania to help preserve its stunning nature and unique rural traditions.

– U for university –
He went to Trinity College at the University of Cambridge, becoming the first heir to the throne to take a degree, graduating in 1970 with a 2:2. He switched from anthropology and archaeology to study history.

– V for Vision of Britain –
Charles’s 1989 book outlines his cherished architectural principles, calling for proportionate, aesthetic development in keeping with local tradition. He put his theories into practice, building Poundbury, a model suburb.

– W for Wales –
Queen Elizabeth II made Charles the Prince of Wales aged nine, and he learnt Welsh before his inauguration ceremony in 1969.

READ: Photos From King Charles’ Proclamation

– X for X-Rated –
A secretly-recorded 1989 phone call with Camilla, published in 1993, was deeply embarrassing after tabloid newspapers got a hold of it and published transcripts.

– Y for youth –
Charles thinks Britain could emulate Germany’s national community or military service, as part of his drive to unlock latent talent in the nation’s youngsters.

– Z for Zaza –
Also known as a gin and Dubonnet. The royals’ preferred cocktail before lunch. Former prime minister Tony Blair referred to them as “true rocket fuel”.

AFP/PUNCH

Headline

Man Wielding Sword In London Arrested After Attacking, Injuring 5 [VIDEO]

Published

29 mins ago

May 1, 2024

Editor

A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and two police officers on Tuesday, April 30, in the east London community of Hainault before being arrested, police said.

The London Ambulance Service said emergency workers treated five people and took them to the hospital.

The Metropolitan Police said they were called early Tuesday to reports of a vehicle being driven into a house in a residential street and people being stabbed close to the Hainault underground station.

A 36-year-old man was arrested at the scene, police said.

Video on British media showed a man in a yellow hoodie holding a long sword or knife walking near houses in the area.

Witnesses say they heard police shouting at the suspect, urging him to put down the weapon as they chased after him.

“This must have been a terrifying incident for those concerned,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said.

“I know the wider community will be feeling shock and alarm. People will want to know what has happened and we will provide more information as soon as we can.”

He added that police do not believe there is a threat to the wider community.

“We are not looking for more suspects,’’ he said.

”This incident does not appear to be terror-related.”

Transport for London said Hainault underground station was closed due to a police investigation in the area.

Watch a video from the scene below:

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LIST: Nigerian Passport Ranked Among Worst Globally

Published

4 hours ago

May 1, 2024

Editor

The Nigerian passport has been ranked among the worst on the globe highlighting significant challenges for Nigerian travelers seeking international mobility.

The latest assessment by VisaGuide’s World Passport Index ranked the Nigerian passport at 191 out of 199 countries above countries like North Korea (192), Iraq (193), Libya (194), Sudan (195), Pakistan (196), Afghanistan (197), Syria (198) and Somalia (199).

The ranking will raise concerns about the West African cpuntry’s recent efforts to improve mobility, including e-visa initiatives.

Meanwhile, the Singaporean passport came first on the chart as the strongest in the world, followed by the Italian, Spaniard, French, and German passports.

The report added that the factors that contributed to this decline include visa-free access, diplomatic relations, and security concerns.

Other factors are visa-free travel, electronic travel authorisation, visa on arrival, electronic visa (e-visa), embassy or other government-approved visas, passport-free travel, and banned entry.

Additionally, the Henley Passport Index, which considers the number of countries passport holders can enter without a visa, previously listed the Nigerian passport among the worst 10 performing travel documents worldwide.

This consistently low ranking highlights the pressing need for Nigeria to address the underlying issues affecting its passport’s global standing.

See the list of top 20 passports in the world

Singapore
Italy
Spain
France
Germany
Hungary
Austria
Ireland
Netherlands
Belgium
Switzerland
Luxembourg
Finland
Japan
Sweden
Denmark
Norway
Czech
Portugal
Poland

Headline

14-year-old Boy Killed In London Sword Attack

Published

19 hours ago

April 30, 2024

Editor

A 14-year-old boy died on Tuesday after a man wielding a sword stabbed the youth, two police officers and two other people, in a street attack in east London, police said.

The man used what appeared to be a Samurai-type sword in the Hainault district shortly before 7:00 am (0600 GMT).

Police said they arrested a 36-year-old man using Taser stun weapons and took him into custody. The incident is not believed to be terror-related, they said.

Chief Superintendent Stuart Bell, from London’s Metropolitan Police, said all five victims were taken to hospital.

The two police officers were awaiting surgery for “significant” injuries, he added. But they, and those sustained by the two members of the public, were not believed to be life-threatening.

“It’s with great sadness that one of those injured in this incident… has died from their injuries,” he told reporters at the scene.

“He was taken to hospital after being stabbed and sadly died a short while after.”

King Charles III called the stabbings “horrific” and paid tribute to the “courage” of the emergency services, Buckingham Palace said.

“His thoughts and prayers are with all those affected — in particular, the family of the young victim who has lost his life,” a spokesman said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the stabbings “shocking”. “Such violence has no place on our streets,” he added in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“I’d like to thank the emergency services for their ongoing response, and pay tribute to the extraordinary bravery shown by police on the scene.”

Video footage and photographs posted on social media appeared to show a man in a yellow jumper on the streets near houses with the weapon.

Emergency service vehicles, including police, fire and ambulances, were seen behind cordons, including near the town’s underground railway station.

Hiding

One resident, who asked not to be named, said she hid behind a window while the suspect was outside her home shouting at police that “do you believe in God?”

“We were very scared and trying to hide and not show ourselves through the window because he was standing right next to our house and he could have seen us if he looked up,” she added.

“We were very scared and we didn’t know what to do.”

Another witness said he saw two police chasing the man, shouting at him to put down the weapon.

Police in England, Scotland and Wales are not routinely armed but do carry Taser weapons to disable suspects.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he was “absolutely devastated” by the incident and was in close contact with the city police commissioner.

“The police offices and emergency services showed the best of our city — running towards danger to protect others and I thank them from the bottom of my heart,” he said.

Last week, Sunak criticised the mayor’s record on knife crime in the British capital.

According to official statistics, knife crime increased in London by 20 percent in 2023, with 14,577 offences — one percent lower than pre-pandemic levels in the year to March 2020.

In England and Wales as a whole, there was a seven-percent increase in knife crime to 49,489 offences, with most (29 percent) in metropolitan areas, the Official for National Statistics said

AFP