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Constituencies, wards and local councils

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Constituencies (a.k.a. parliamentary constituencies): each electing one Member of Parliament (MP) every 5 years to the House of Commons (Parliament). There are 650 constituencies in the UK.Wards (a.k.a. electoral divisions or electoral wards) is the primary unit of English electoral geography for borough and district councils, county councils or city councils. Each ward elects either one or two councillors to be members of the local council. There were 9,456 electoral wards/divisions in the UK and each ward has an average electorate of about 5,500 people, but ward population can vary substantially.Local council is made up of a number of Councillors (Cllr) who meet regularly to make decisions about the direction of the council and the work it does for the community. As elected bodies local councils are responsible to their local community. Attending a council meeting is the best way to find out what they do and how they make decisions. Members of public can attend public council meetin…
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When did British start to eat bananas?

By Jim Sheng
Can you imagine that in 1940s, people in Derby had never eaten bananas.

I am reading an article written by Peter Saunders, Hoylake, Wirral, in the article, he wrote: "and I recall the excitement when there was a rumour that bananas would be on the menu for our sweet one day. We only knew them from pictures in books, although there was understood to be a banana tree out-of-bounds in one of the park glasshouses."

It's understood that all tropical fruits and vegetables might not have been on their table too. We can see Lychee sold in supermarket, 8 bananas a pack only for under one pound today.
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coat-of-arms

By Jim Sheng
Heraldry probably began with the knights in armour. When wearing a helmet in battle or in tournaments a knight could not be recognised; so he used symbols to decorate his shield and surcoat. The surcoat was the loose garment worn over the armour to protect it from rain or hot sun and actually was the "coat-of-arms"; it was decorated on the front and back with the same device as on the shield.
The correct expression for entire design is an achievement. An achievement consists of the shield, helmet, rest, wreath, mantling and motto. These are the main parts. To them can be added supporters and a compartment.

In the centre is the most important part, the shield. The surface of the shield is called the field and on it the colourful charges are placed. The shield is called the arms or coat-of-arms and can be drawn in any shape - in an upright position or slanting, which is the position it would fall into if hung on a peg. In Heraldry it slants to dexter.


The helmet denotes the ran…
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Is Aladdin a Chinese?

By Jim Sheng
Aladdin is an Arabic name, but he lived in China.  Is he a Chinese?
Aladdin's wonderful Lamp was included in the first European version of the Book of the Thousand and One Nights (1704-1717), but not in the original Arabic manuscript.
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BADROULBADOUR - And you will live here, dear Aladdin? ALADDIN -  Yes, And livery servants in most gorgeous dresses shall wait upon you - you shall hear the lark Sing from you…
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The Meaning of Derby City Council Logo

By Jim Sheng
The logo of Derby City Council looks quite abstract and modern. I wonder what's the meaning of it? The lower-left part of the logo looks like a snail (or the initial letter D in Derby?), the upper-right part seems a river, (Derwent river?) these two parts are connected by a straight line at the bottom.

I did some searches on the web trying to find out the true meaning of Derby City Council logo, but without success. So, I wrote to tourist information, and got the answer from Michael:
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In this coats of arms, we can see the deers both in shield (arms) and supporter, but the…
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