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Talk:Problem of the criterion

Larry, much of this is from your "Common sense and the Diallelus", but made a bit more encyclopedic and with less detail on Reid's views. I think it makes a better ad-hoc link with the one-word title. You might want to edit your article on Reid to cross-link them, and I will produce a more detailed treatment of Popper. I am also of mixed mind as to whether "diallelus" should be capitalized.

I'd prefer "problem of the criterion" as the title for most of the content of an article on this general subject; I'll fiddle with it anyway later...off to dinner and concert here in Boston! --LMS

Is there any reason this shouldn't be merged with Regress argument? This shit really helped me with my paper on Problem of the Criterion. Thanks.

Yeah, Regress argument is a very specific issue regarding theories of knowledge that include justification as a requisite for knowledge. The problem of the criterion (though not as cached out as it could be in this article presently) is a much broader epistemological problem that underpins any particular argument against a specific theory of knowledge. McDuderson (talk) 13:33, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

title: Talk:Problem of the criterion


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Andrew Bobola

Andrew Bobola, SJ (Andrzej Bobola; 1591 – 16 May 1657) was a Polish missionary and martyr of the Society of Jesus, known as the Apostle of Lithuania and the "hunter of souls". He was beaten and tortured to death during the Khmelnytsky Uprising. He was canonized in 1938 by Pope Pius XI.

Life
Bobola was born in 1591 into a noble family in the Sandomir Palatinate in the Province of Lesser Poland of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, then a constituent part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1611 he entered the Society of Jesus in Vilnius, then in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the other part of the Commonwealth. He subsequently professed solemn vows and was ordained in 1622, after which he served for several years as an advisor, preacher, superior of a Jesuit residence, and other jobs in various places.

From 1652 Bobola also worked as a country "missionary", in various locations of Lithuania: these included Polotsk, where he was probably stationed in 1655, and also Pinsk, (both now in Belarus). On 16 May 1657, during the Khmelnytsky Uprising, he was captured in Pinsk, and then killed in the village of Janów (now Ivanava, Belarus), by the Cossacks of Bohdan Chmielnicki.

Several descriptions of Bobola's death exist, with these invariably involving him being subjected to a variety of tortures before being killed: In contrast to the above, a Russian examination of Bobola's corpse in January 1923 found no traces of gross mechanical violence on the surviving parts of the corpse that could establish cause of death.
 * One account states that Bobola "had just offered up the holy sacrifice" when the Cossacks entered Pinsk; upon seeing them, he believed his death to be imminent and thus "fell upon his knees, raised his eyes and his hands [and] exclaimed, 'Lord, thy will be done!'". He was then captured and stripped of his habit, tied to a tree, and had a crown placed on his head, after which he was scourged, burnt with torches, and had an eye torn out; a sword was used to carve shapes resembling a tonsure and a chasuble into his head and his back respectively. The Cossacks also removed the skin from his fingers and forcibly inserted needles under his fingernails. Bobola continuously prayed for his torturers until his tongue was torn out and his head crushed, thereby killing him.
 * A second account states that the Cossacks first tried to make Bobola renounce his religion; when he refused, he was stripped, tied to a hedge, and whipped. A crown of twigs was mockingly placed on his head and he was then dragged to a butcher's shop where, after continued refusals to renounce his faith, the skin was torn off his chest and back and holes were cut into his palms. Bobola was subjected to further tortures for two hours before having an awl driven into his heart, being strung up by his feet, and being killed with a sabre just as a Polish rescue party entered Janów.
 * A third account states that Bobola was seized and severely beaten by two Cossacks who then tied him to their saddles in order to take him to Janów; there, he was subjected to tortures including burning, strangulation, and flaying, before finally being killed with a sabre.

Veneration
Bobola's body was originally buried in the Jesuit church in Pinsk. It was later moved to their church in Polotsk. By the beginning of the 18th century, however, nobody knew where Bobola's body was buried. In 1701 Father Martin Godebski, S.J., the rector of the Pinsk College, reputedly had a vision of Bobola. This caused him to order a search for the body. It was reportedly found completely incorrupt, which is recognized by the Church and its supporters as evidence of holiness.

On 23 June 1922, the coffin with the relics of Andrew Bobola was opened in Polotsk and an examination was carried out. In December 1922, the coffin with the corpse of Andrew Bobola was delivered to Moscow and placed in the hall of the Popular Exhibition on Health Protection of the People's Commissariat for Health. In January 1923, he was examined by a special commission and an act was drawn up, according to which the corpse of Andrew Bobola is a naturally mummified corpse, which is in the stage of slow decomposition. The results of the examinations were published in 1924 in the journal Revolution and Church. Later described by an American journalist as a "remarkably well-preserved mummy", to the Museum of Hygiene of People's Commissioners of Health in Moscow. The whereabouts of the remains were not known to the Catholic authorities, and Pope Pius XI charged the Papal Famine Relief Mission in Russia, headed by American Jesuit Father Edmund A. Walsh, with the task of locating and "rescuing" them. In October 1923—as a kind of "pay" for help during famine—the remains were released to Walsh and his assistant director, Father Louis J. Gallagher, S.J. Well-packed by the two Jesuits, they were delivered to the Holy See by Gallagher on All Saints' Day (1 November) 1923. In May 1924, the relics were installed in Rome's Church of the Gesù, the main church of the Society of Jesus.

Since 19 June 1938 the body has been venerated at a shrine in Warsaw, with an arm remaining at the original shrine in Rome (see photo at left).

Declared blessed by Pope Pius IX on 30 October 1853, Bobola was canonized by Pope Pius XI on 17 April 1938. His feast day was originally celebrated by the Jesuits on 23 May, but it is now generally celebrated on 16 May. In 2002, the Bishops' Conference of Poland declared Bobola a patron saint of Poland.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Andrew Bobola


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Silver City Airways

Silver City Airways was an airline based in the United Kingdom that operated mainly in Europe between 1946 and 1962. Unlike many airlines at the time, it was independent of government-owned corporations; its parent company was Zinc Corporation, an Australian company involved mainly in mining and mineral processing. The name "Silver City" originated as a nickname of Broken Hill, Australia – an area famed for silver mines, including some owned by the airline's parent company.

The first commercial flight by Silver City departed London Heathrow for Sydney via Johannesburg in late 1946. The following year, Silver City leased its first Bristol Freighter, moved its base to Blackbushe and participated in the airlift of Hindu and Muslim refugees between Pakistan and India. In 1948, control of Silver City passed from the Zinc Corporation to British Aviation Services. In July of that year, the airline inaugurated the world's first air ferry service across the English Channel between Lympne Airport and Le Touquet Airport. In 1948–49, Silver City participated in the Berlin Airlift. In 1949, it established a French sister airline.

In 1953, Silver City took delivery of its first Bristol Superfreighter. The following year, the company moved to a new permanent home at Lydd Ferryfield, Britain's first newly constructed post-war airport. The same year, Silver City Airways came under the control of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O). By the mid-1950s, Silver City had become the biggest air cargo carrier in the United Kingdom while annual passenger numbers at its "Ferryfield" base had reached ¼ of a million. During that time, the airline also inaugurated air ferry services between Scotland and Ireland and from/to the Midlands. This period also saw the launch of Silver Arrow, a London—Paris coach-air-coach/rail service, with the cross-Channel air portion operating between Lydd and Le Touquet. In 1957, Silver City accomplished its one-millionth Channel crossing. In summer 1958, Silver City's "Ferryfield" base recorded more aircraft movements than any other UK airport. That year, also marked the conclusion of Silver City's first decade of air ferry operations during which the airline operated more than 100,000 flights carrying over 200,000 vehicles and ¾ of a million passengers, with peak-day frequency exceeding 200. In 1959, Silver City took over sister airline Britavia's Handley Page Hermes fleet and Manston base. That year, the airline also began oil industry support flights in Libya.

By 1960, Silver City's 40,000 annual cross-Channel flights transported 220,000 passengers and 90,000 vehicles while network-wide freight haulage reached 135,000 tons a year. The following summer, the airline reached agreement with a French rival to co-finance construction of a branch line linking Le Touquet Airport with the nearby main railway line to reduce surface travelling time from/to Paris. Unsustainable losses as a result of the loss of the Libyan oil industry support flight contract, increasing competition from roll-on/roll-off ferries and the lack of suitable replacements for the ageing Bristol Freighters resulted in growing financial difficulties, culminating in Silver City's takeover by British United Airways (BUA) holding company Air Holdings in 1962.

The 1940s
In 1946, Air Cdre Griffith James ("Taffy") Powell got in touch with W.S. Robinson, chairman of London-based mining company the Zinc Corporation. That meeting resulted in Robinson appointing Powell as the Zinc Corporation's adviser.

One of Powell's first visits in his new capacity took him to Broken Hill, Australia, also known as Silver City. This visit resulted in the decision to set up a new air transport operator to serve the mining industry, to be named Silver City.

Silver City Airways was incorporated on 25 November 1946. British Aviation Services (BAS), an early post-World War II airline holding company and air transport operator, became one of Silver City's shareholders, initially taking a 10% stake. Air Cdre Griffith James Powell was the first managing director of both BAS and Silver City.

Silver City's first base was at Langley Aerodrome.

The airline's initial fleet comprised four ex-military Douglas Dakotas and three Avro Lancastrians, the 13-seater civil version of the Lancaster Mark 3 bomber. Two of the latter were new aircraft that had been ordered by British South American Airways (BSAA).

Lancastrian G-AHBW operated the company's first commercial flight, from London Airport (Heathrow) to Sydney via Johannesburg in November 1946. This was followed by similar operations to Johannesburg via Karachi and to Malta before the end of the year.

In October 1947, Silver City became involved in the airlift of Hindu and Muslim refugees between Pakistan and India, following the Subcontinent's partitioning. This operation constituted the fledgling airline's first major engagement. Initially, the repatriation airlift was undertaken by four Dakotas. On short journeys, the authorities granted Silver City dispensation to raise the limit on the maximum number of passengers it could carry from 28 to 52 to airlift as many people as quickly as possible.

Also that year, Silver City moved its base to Blackbushe Airport, as a result of Langley's closure due to Heathrow's expansion.

Also in 1947, Silver City leased its first Bristol Freighter from the manufacturer to replace one of the four Dakotas that had originally been allocated to the repatriation airlift in the Indian subcontinent. Like the Dakotas it had operated on that airlift, Silver City was given dispensation to increase the maximum number of passengers it could carry on the Bristol Freighter above the normal limit of 32. Actual loads on this aircraft type often exceeded 100 passengers per flight, resulting in a total of 1,105 evacuees and their belongings being transported aboard Silver City's single Freighter over a period of nine days. The airline's Bristol Freighter fleet soon expanded to four aircraft. The Freighter would play a major role in the company's development over the coming years. Powell realised that the Bristol Freighter could be adapted to fly car owners with their vehicles from Britain to Continental Europe and the Channel Islands. This "air ferry" would allow British holidaymakers avoid long waits for sea ferries and time-consuming, bumpy rides in rough waters.

On 7 July 1948, a Silver City Bristol Freighter operated the first cross-Channel air ferry service, between Lympne near Folkestone in Kent and Le Touquet on France's northern Côte d'Opale coast, with good road connections from and to London and Paris respectively. The new service, which initially operated on a seasonal charter basis, became a year-round scheduled operation in 1949. In the beginning, there was a flat £32 one-way fare to take a group of four passengers along with their car across the Channel. Once opposition from British European Airways (BEA) to the carriage of passengers travelling without vehicles was overcome, a new fare structure was introduced. For example, a group of four travelling with a small car was charged only £27, while the comparable fare for four people travelling with a large car remained at £32. By the end of 1949, this operation fully utilised five Freighters, which carried 2,700 cars and 10,000 passengers. These figures represented a significant increase over the previous year when only 178 cars and their occupants, as well as some motorcycles and bicycles had been carried until the end of the season in September.

The same year, the Zinc Corporation sold its shareholding in Silver City to BAS, making the latter the airline's sole owner. Silver City subsequently became BAS's biggest operating division.

Silver City joined the 1948–49 Berlin Airlift with a single Bristol Freighter in September 1948. Owing to heavy demand for additional civilian airlift capacity, the airline leased a further two Freighters from the Bristol Aeroplane Company. By the time the civil contribution to the Airlift was scaled down in February 1949, the company's three Bristol Freighters were the last twin-engined airliners employed in this operation. When it came to an end, the firm's Freighters had flown a total of about 800 hours.

In February 1949, Silver City established a French sister airline headquartered in Paris to operate vehicle ferry flights from Le Touquet Airport. The new company was registered under the name Société Commerciale Aérienne du Littoral (SCAL). A number of Silver City aircraft were registered to this company. These were transferred onto the French aircraft register. In addition, an agreement was reached to appoint the Automobile Club de France as Silver City's and SCAL's official representative in France. These steps were necessary to secure French approval to turn the seasonal charter flights Silver City had operated on this route into a full-fledged scheduled operation.

The 1950s
By 1950, the number of cars and passengers carried on Silver City's cross-Channel services roughly doubled to 5,000 and 24,000 respectively.

To encourage further traffic growth on its Lympne — Le Touquet cross-Channel car ferry service, Silver City reduced fares with effect from 19 September 1950: the rate for cars up to 14 feet in length was cut from £27 to £19 while the rate for larger vehicles dropped from £32 to £25. This reduction left Silver City's fares only slightly higher than the Dover—Calais ferry fares of British Railways' Southern Region and, together with the service's earlier extension permitting the carriage of cycles and motor cycles, helped establish the airline's ferry services as a serious competitor to the railways.

The success of Silver City's Lympne — Le Touquet air ferry service resulted in subsequent introduction of additional routes across the English Channel and to other parts of the United Kingdom.

Over the coming years, Silver City pursued a policy of continuous fare reductions to fill the additional capacity on its growing air ferry network. This included new car ferry services between Southampton (Eastleigh) and Cherbourg as well as between Southend (Rochford) and Ostend and a DC-3 passenger service linking Gatwick and Le Touquet. Both of the former commenced in spring 1952, while the latter was inaugurated the following year. As a result, the number of vehicles carried doubled from 5,000 to 10,000 between 1950 and 1952 and quadrupled to 40,000 by the end of the following year. The latter was the consequence of an average 40% fare reduction.

BAS's takeover of Air Kruise, an independent charter and pleasure flight operator based at Lympne, in March 1953 brought a fleet of all-passenger de Havilland Dragon Rapides and Douglas Dakotas. This acquisition resulted in formation of Silver City's "Passenger Division".

In summer 1953, Silver City leased a Breguet Br.763 to participate in the second Little Berlin Airlift on the Hamburg (Fuhlsbüttel) — Berlin (Tempelhof) route. A total of 127 round trips carried 4000000 lb of freight with up to three round trips being made in a day, each leg taking 52 minutes' flight time.

In 1953, Silver City also took delivery of its first stretched Mark 32 Bristol Superfreighter, the first of six. The Superfreighter's elongated nose enabled it to accommodate three cars or to be fitted with 60 seats in an all-passenger Super Wayfarer configuration. The new Superfreighters joined a fleet of nine standard Mark 21 Freighters. Other freight charter work at this time included flights to the Suez Canal Zone supporting the UK military forces then stationed there.

As operations expanded, the small grass airfield at Lympne became increasingly inadequate. The search for a suitable location to site a new, purpose-built airport began in 1953. Interim moves to Southend and West Malling were followed by final selection of an area covered by grazing land on the edge of the Dungeness shingle desert on the Kentish coast close to the village of Lydd. This site would host Britain's first newly constructed post-war and first privately owned airport. It would feature two runways, a control tower, passenger terminal with a restaurant, maintenance area and petrol station. The new airport — named Ferryfield — opened on 14 July 1954, after six months' work costing £400,000. However, it took almost another two years for the official opening ceremony to be performed at Ferryfield, which occurred on 5 April 1956. On that day, the Duke of Edinburgh arrived at Ferryfield just before 11.00 am on board the Royal Heron. The occasion marked the Duke's first visit to a private British airline at an all-new, privately owned airport. Following his tour of the airport's facilities, the Duke boarded one of Silver City's scheduled air ferry services to Le Touquet on Superfreighter G-AMWD. During the 19-minute flight, the Duke flew the aircraft at its scheduled en route height of 1,000 ft. The Duke's reception at Le Touquet Airport was followed by an informal lunch hosted in his honour by the president of the French Aero Clubs in the airport restaurant. The Duke then departed, flying the Royal Heron to London Airport. By 1954, the Silver City cross-Channel network comprised five routes: Gatwick — Le Touquet, Lydd — Le Touquet, Lympne—Calais, Lympne—Ostend and Southampton—Cherbourg.

Following the opening of Ferryfield in mid-1954, Silver City initially split its operations between the new airport and Lympne. For a short while, Le Touquet flights operated from the former while Calais and Ostend services continued to use the latter. The last of 33,000 Silver City flights, which had carried a total of 54,000 cars and 208,000 passengers since 1948, departed Lympne on 3 October. From then on, vehicle ferry services were concentrated at Ferryfield.

Also in 1954, control of Silver City passed to P&O via General Steam Navigation, which had acquired a 70% stake in BAS, the airline's parent company. It was also the year Silver City complemented its Gatwick — Le Touquet all-passenger operation with a vehicle ferry service.

By 1955, Ferryfield handled 250,000 passengers annually. This made it busier than Gatwick.

Also in 1955, Silver City launched its first air ferry services between Scotland and Ireland and its first such service from the Midlands. These linked Stranraer with Belfast and Birmingham with Le Touquet. In addition, the airline opened a new service from Southampton to Deauville.

That year also saw Silver City become the UK's biggest air cargo carrier with an annual freight volume of 70,190 tons.

In 1956, Silver City commenced London—Paris coach-air-coach/rail services via Lydd (Ferryfield) and Le Touquet/Étaples. As Le Touquet Airport was not linked to the French railway network at the time, the journey between the airport and Paris involved an additional change between coach and train at Étaples. DC-3s initially operated these all-passenger services, which were marketed as Silver Arrow in the UK and as Flèche d'argent in France. Silver Arrow/Flèche d'argent was a joint operation between British Railways, Silver City and Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer français (SNCF).

By 1957, BAS's airline subsidiaries included Air Kruise, Aquila Airways, Britavia, the Lancashire Aircraft Corporation and the original Manx Airlines, apart from Silver City Airways itself.

Also in 1957, Silver City completed its one-millionth Channel crossing since its inaugural Lympne — Le Touquet air ferry service took to the air in July 1948.

That year also saw Silver City become involved in supporting the oil industry in Libya, flying geologists and supplying desert camps with a fleet of DC-3s and a single DC-2 from bases at Tripoli and Benghazi. The airline's sole DC-2 was originally operated by Swissair and subsequently sold to new owners in South Africa, who leased it to Silver City.

By 1958, Ferryfield had become one of Britain's three busiest airports. It recorded more aircraft movements during the peak summer months than any other airport in the UK, and only Heathrow and Northolt were busier in terms of annual air freight volume. That year also marked the conclusion of the first decade of Silver City's air ferry services. During that period, the airline completed 125,000 ferry flights. These carried 215,000 vehicles and 750,000 passengers. At its peak, Silver City operated 222 daily ferry flights across the English Channel, as well as between Scotland and Ireland and to/from the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Cross-Channel flights to France operated between 7.30 am and 11.00 pm. The average fare was £25 per car and £4 per passenger. This was furthermore the time the Air Kruise cross-Channel services, as well as all Dragon Airways, Lancashire Aircraft Corporation and Manx Airlines operations from Newcastle upon Tyne, Blackpool and the Isle of Man were transferred to Silver City's new Northern Division to streamline BAS's fragmented airline operations. It was hoped that these measures would improve BAS's financial performance.

In May of the same year, the crew of a Silver City Dakota made the first sighting of the Lady Be Good, a WW II bomber that had disappeared in 1943 while returning from an operation to Naples, in the Libyan Desert.

In 1959, Britavia transferred its five-strong Hermes 4A fleet to sister airline Silver City, as a consequence of the loss of a trooping contract to Eagle. The Hermes were based at Manston, from where they operated Silver Arrow all-passenger services to Le Touquet and inclusive tour charters to European destinations until parent company BAS's acquisition by British United Airways (BUA) parent Air Holdings in 1962.

Also in 1959, Silver City opened a Blackpool-Dublin route.

By the end of that decade, Silver City advertised £8 18s day-return fares for its London—Paris Silver Arrow/Flèche d'argent service.

The 1960s
By 1960, Silver City made 40,000 yearly Channel crossings, carrying 90,000 vehicles and 220,000 passengers. During that year, it also moved 135,000 tons of freight across its network. This represented an increase of 35% over the previous year.

In summer 1961, Silver City agreed with rival French air ferry operator Compagnie Air Transport (CAT) for the latter to finance the construction of a two-mile rail spur into Le Touquet Airport from the nearby main line to reduce the travelling time between the airport and Paris by cutting out the coach/rail change at Étaples. In return, Silver City transferred three of its Superfreighters to CAT along with the traffic rights to operate the Ferryfield — Le Touquet and Bournemouth (Hurn) — Cherbourg routes. This arrangement gave CAT a 25% share of the car ferry market between Britain and France.

Having been outbid by Belgium's flag carrier Sabena for the Libyan oil industry support flight contract that year, Silver City's losses became unsustainable. This necessitated the sale of three Superfreighters to CAT for £192,300.

Following growing financial difficulties, Silver City was taken over by BUA parent Air Holdings in 1962. The takeover was officially announced in January of that year. Air Holdings were the owners of Channel Air Bridge, a rival air ferry operator based at Southend in Essex, which operated similar services from Southend to the Continent. The BUA-BAS merger removed BUA's last remaining independent competitor in the air ferry business. The addition of Silver City's 650,000 annual ferry passengers increased the yearly combined total to just under one million, accounting for two thirds of BUA's total passengers. However, the change in ownership failed to staunch the airline's losses. These amounted to £650,000 during the first half of 1962. By the end of the year, the Silver City name ceased to be used as all aircraft had either been repainted in BUA colours or retired.

Despite the poor financial performance, 1962 turned out to be the busiest year in Silver City's 16-year history. During that year, the airline and its French partner CAT carried 96,272 vehicles and 238,748 passengers on 43,064 flights, representing increases of 10%, 6% and 12% compared with 1961. In addition, over 43,000 tonnes of cargo were carried. However, these record-breaking traffic statistics did not alter the fact that the airline's air ferry operation was no longer economically viable. With the advent of new, high-capacity roll-on/roll-off ferries competition intensified. Established aircraft manufacturers were not interested in producing reasonably priced replacements for the ageing Bristol Freighters/Superfreighters that were suffering from wing fatigue. The airline's long-standing policy of stimulating the market by continuously reducing fares had resulted in uneconomic yields in the absence of a corresponding reduction in costs. The Hermes fleet had continued in operation serving several UK airports, mainly on inclusive tour flights, with the last example being retired from service in late 1962.

On 1 January 1963, Air Holdings merged Silver City with Channel Air Bridge to form British United Air Ferries.

Fleet details
Silver City operated the following aircraft types during its 16-year existence:
 * Airspeed AS65 Consul
 * Avro 691 Lancastrian 3
 * Breguet BR761S Deux-Ponts
 * Bristol 170 Mark 2A/21/21E Freighter
 * Bristol 170 Mark 32 Freighter (Superfreighter)
 * de Havilland DH86 Express
 * de Havilland DH89A Dragon Rapide
 * de Havilland DH90 Dragonfly
 * de Havilland DH104 Dove 1/2
 * de Havilland DH114 Heron 1B
 * Douglas DC-2-115B
 * Douglas C-47/47A/B/53D Dakota
 * Douglas C-54B Skymaster
 * Handley Page HP81 Hermes 4
 * Hurel-Dubois HD-34
 * Lockheed L-12A Electra Junior
 * Lockheed L-18H Lodestar
 * Percival P34 Proctor 3
 * Vickers Viscount 708
 * Westland-Sikorsky WS-51 Dragonfly

Fleet in 1950
In 1950, Silver City operated 16 aircraft.

Fleet in 1954
23 aircraft.

Fleet in 1958
38 aircraft.

Fleet in 1962
31 aircraft.

Accidents and incidents
There are three recorded accidents involving Silver City aircraft, two of which were fatal.

The worst accident in company history occurred on 27 February 1958. Bristol 170 Mark 21E Freighter registration G-AICS operating a charter flight from the Isle of Man to Manchester on behalf of Manx Airlines crashed in bad weather on Winter Hill near Bolton, Lancashire, destroying the aircraft and killing 35 of 39 passengers (all three crew members survived).

The aircraft was chartered by the Isle of Man motor trade to take members to the Exide battery factory in Clifton Junction, and it hit the northeast slope of Winter Hill in thick fog at a height of approximately 1460 ft and burst into flames, as a result of a navigational error committed by the first officer.

The second fatal accident occurred on 1 November 1961. Bristol 170 Mark 32 Superfreighter registration G-ANWL operating a scheduled service from Cherbourg to Guernsey crashed after losing height during a missed approach to Guernsey Airport, damaging the aircraft beyond repair and killing two out of three crew members (all seven passengers survived).

Having failed to gain height following a power increase to go around, the aircraft struck the ground with its starboard wing and cartwheeled due to a malfunctioning automatic pitch coarsening unit of the starboard propeller.

The non-fatal accident occurred on 19 January 1953. Bristol 170 Mark 21 Freighter registration G-AICM operating a non-scheduled cargo flight from West Berlin crash-landed near Tempelhof Airport as a result of fuel starvation when bad weather at the destination forced it to return to Berlin. Although the accident damaged the aircraft beyond repair, both pilots survived.

Resurrection
Air Holdings, which had retained the rights to the Silver City name following the merger between Silver City and Channel Air Bridge to form British United Air Ferries a decade earlier, resurrected Silver City for a short period during 1973.

The airline's second incarnation was as a specialist livestock carrier transporting cattle between Norwich and Germany. This operation utilised three of five Vickers Vanguards owned by Air Holdings, which had been leased to Invicta International Airlines. That airline's failure to pay for the leases had resulted in Air Holdings repossessing the aircraft and starting its own air freight operation.

Air Holdings' lack of success with its German cattle charters led to a decision to put the aircraft up for sale in October and to close down the airline the following month, with the Silver City name being de-activated by the end of the year.

In fiction

 * The company is mentioned in Ian Fleming's James Bond Novel "Goldfinger" – Goldfinger mentions to Bond that he takes his car to Europe – 'I take a plane to myself. The Silver City company knows the car. It is a regular routine, twice a year.'
 * The company features in a British Black & white Comedy "A Weekend with Lulu"
 * A Silver City Bristol 170 Car Ferry Aircraft is also featured in the Opening Titles of the Rock Hudson Movie "Come September"

title: Silver City Airways


text:
Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated Bucks) is a ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the east, Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, and Oxfordshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Milton Keynes, and the county town is Aylesbury.

The county has an area of 1874 km2 and had a population of 840,138 at the 2021 census. Besides Milton Keynes, which is in the north-east, the largest settlements are in the southern half of the county and include Aylesbury, High Wycombe, and Chesham. For local government purposes Buckinghamshire comprises two unitary authority areas, Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes. The historic county had slightly different borders, and included the towns of Slough and Eton.

The Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, occupy the south of the county and contain its highest point, Haddington Hill (267 m). The Chilterns are the source of the River Ouzel, which flows across the lowland Vale of Aylesbury in the north of the county and through Milton Keynes before meeting the River Great Ouse at Newport Pagnell. The Thames forms part of the county's southern boundary.

Notable service amenities in the county are Pinewood Film Studios, Dorney rowing lake and part of Silverstone race track on the Northamptonshire border. Many national companies have head offices or major centres in Milton Keynes. Heavy industry and quarrying is limited, with agriculture predominating after service industries.

History
The name Buckinghamshire is Anglo-Saxon in origin and means The district (scire) of Bucca's home. Bucca's home refers to Buckingham in the north of the county, and is named after the Anglo-Saxon landowner, Bucca. The county has been so named since about the 12th century; however, the county has existed since it was a subdivision of the kingdom of Mercia (585–919).

The history of the area predates the Anglo-Saxon period and the county has a rich history starting from the Brittonic and Roman periods, though the Anglo-Saxons perhaps had the greatest impact on Buckinghamshire: the geography of the rural county is largely as it was in the Anglo-Saxon period. Later, Buckinghamshire became an important political arena, with King Henry VIII intervening in local politics in the 16th century, and just a century later the English Civil War was reputedly started by John Hampden in mid-Bucks.

Historically, the biggest change to the county came in the 19th century, when a combination of cholera and famine hit the rural county, forcing many to migrate to larger towns to find work. Not only did this alter the local economic situation, it meant a lot of land was going cheap at a time when the rich were more mobile, and leafy Bucks became a popular rural idyll: an image it still has today. Buckinghamshire is a popular home for London commuters, leading to greater local affluence; however, some pockets of relative deprivation remain.

The expansion of London and coming of the railways promoted the growth of towns in the south of the county such as Aylesbury, Amersham and High Wycombe, leaving the town Buckingham itself to the north in a relative backwater. As a result, most county institutions are now based in the south of the county or Milton Keynes, rather than in Buckingham.

Geography
The county can be split into two sections geographically. The south leads from the River Thames up the gentle slopes of the Chiltern Hills to the more abrupt slopes on the northern side leading to the Vale of Aylesbury and the City of Milton Keynes UA, a large and relatively level expanse of land that is the southern catchment of the River Great Ouse.

Rivers
The county includes parts of two of the four longest rivers in England. The Thames forms the southern boundary with Berkshire, which has crept over the border at Eton and Slough so that the river is no longer the sole boundary between the two counties. The Great Ouse rises just outside the county in Northamptonshire and flows east through Buckingham, Milton Keynes and Olney.

Canals
The main branch of the Grand Union Canal passes through the county as do its arms to Slough and Aylesbury, as well as the disused arms to Wendover and Buckingham. The canal has been incorporated into the landscaping of Milton Keynes.

Landscape
The southern part of the county is dominated by the Chiltern Hills. The two highest points in Buckinghamshire are Haddington Hill in Wendover Woods (a stone marks its summit) at 267 m above sea level and Coombe Hill near Wendover at 260 m.

Mineral extraction
Quarrying has taken place for chalk, clay for brickmaking and gravel and sand in the river valleys. Flint, also extracted from quarries, was often used to build older local buildings. Several former quarries, now flooded, have become nature reserves.

Demography

The administration of Buckinghamshire is further sub-divided into civil parishes.

Today Buckinghamshire is ethnically diverse, particularly in the larger towns. At the end of the 19th century some Welsh drover families settled in north Bucks and, in the last quarter of the 20th century, a large number of Londoners in Milton Keynes. Between 6 and 7% of the population of Aylesbury are of Asian or Asian British origin. Likewise Chesham has a similar-sized Asian community, and High Wycombe is the most ethnically diverse town in the county, with large Asian and Afro-Caribbean populations. During the Second World War there were many Polish settlements in Bucks, Czechs in Aston Abbotts and Wingrave, and Albanians in Frieth. Remnants of these communities remain in the county.

Ceremonial
The ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire consists of both unitary authority areas combined. The ceremonial county has a Lord Lieutenant and a High Sheriff. Since November 2020, the Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire is The Countess Howe and the High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire is Dame Ann Geraldine Limb, DBE of Stony Stratford The office of Custos rotulorum has been combined with that of Lord Lieutenant since 1702.

The ceremonial county has two top-level administrations – both are unitary authorities –  Buckinghamshire Council, which administers about four-fifths of the county and two-thirds of its population, and Milton Keynes City Council, which administers the remainder.

Buckinghamshire County Council (1889–1997)
Buckinghamshire County Council was founded in 1889 with its base in new municipal buildings in Walton Street, Aylesbury (which are still there).

In 1966, the council moved into new premises: a 15-storey tower block in the centre of Aylesbury (pictured) designed by county architect Fred Pooley. It is now a Grade II listed building.

From 1974 (following the Local Government Act 1972 ) local administration was run on a two-tier system where public services were split between the county council and five district councils (Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, Milton Keynes, South Bucks and Wycombe).

Buckinghamshire County Council (1997–2020)
In 1997, the northernmost part of Buckinghamshire, until then Milton Keynes District, was separated to form a unitary authority, the Borough of Milton Keynes; for ceremonial purposes Milton Keynes remains part of Buckinghamshire. The administration of the remainder of the county continued to be called Buckinghamshire County Council.

Buckinghamshire County Council was a large employer in the county and provided a variety of services, including education (schools, adult education and youth services), social services, highways, libraries, County Archives and Record Office, the County Museum and the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery in Aylesbury, consumer services and some aspects of waste disposal and planning.

Buckinghamshire Council (2020 onwards)
Buckinghamshire Council is a unitary authority covering most of the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire. It was created in April 2020 from the areas that were previously administered by Buckinghamshire County Council and the district councils of South Bucks, Chiltern, Wycombe, and Aylesbury Vale.

Milton Keynes City Council
A local authority for North Buckinghamshire was formed by the Local Government Act 1972, styled as the "Milton Keynes District Council" and subordinate to Buckinghamshire County Council. Its (district) council was first elected in 1973, a year before formally coming into its powers and prior to the creation of the District of Milton Keynes on 1 April 1974. The council was granted borough status on its foundation, entitling it to be known as "Milton Keynes Borough Council" and to annually appoint a (ceremonial) Mayor of Milton Keynes. On 1 April 1997, the Borough became a self-governing unitary authority, independent of the County Council. Following award of Letters Patent in 2022, the Borough became the City of Milton Keynes, and its council became Milton Keynes City Council. The remit of the City Council extends beyond the Milton Keynes urban area, encompassing a significant rural area with villages, hamlets, and the market town of Olney.

Flag
The traditional flag of Buckinghamshire comprises a chained swan on a bicolour of red and black. The flag was registered with the Flag Institute on 20 May 2011.

Coat of arms
The coat of arms of the former Buckinghamshire County Council features a white swan in chains. This dates back to the Anglo-Saxon period, when swans were bred in Buckinghamshire for the king's pleasure. That the swan is in chains illustrates that the swan is bound to the monarch, an ancient law that still applies to wild swans in the UK today. The arms were first borne at the Battle of Agincourt by the Duke of Buckingham.

Above the swan is a gold band, in the centre of which is Whiteleaf Cross, representing the many ancient landmarks of the county. The shield is surmounted by a beech tree, representing the Chiltern Forest that once covered almost half the county. Either side of the shield are a buck, for Buckingham, and a swan, the county symbol.

The motto of the shield is Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum. This is Latin and means 'no stepping back' (or 'no steps backwards').

Economy
Buckinghamshire has a modern service-based economy and is part of the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire NUTS-2 region, which was the seventh richest subregion in the European Union in 2002. As well as the highest GDP per capita outside Inner London, Buckinghamshire has the highest quality of life, the highest life expectancy and the best education results in the country. The southern part of the county is a prosperous section of the London commuter belt. The county has fertile agricultural lands, with many landed estates, especially those of the Rothschild banking family of England in the 19th century (see Rothschild properties in England). The county has several annual agricultural shows, with the Bucks County Show established in 1859. Manufacturing industries include furniture-making (traditionally centred at High Wycombe), pharmaceuticals and agricultural processing. Pinewood Studios in Iver Heath is a principal centre of operations for film and TV production in the UK.

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Buckinghamshire at current basic prices published by the Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of Pounds sterling (except GVA index).

Places of interest
Buckinghamshire is notable for its open countryside and natural features, including the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Stowe Landscaped Gardens near Buckingham, and the River Thames. The Ridgeway Path, a long-distance footpath, passes through the county. The county also has many historic houses. Some of these are opened to the public by the National Trust, such as Waddesdon Manor, West Wycombe Park and Cliveden. Other historic houses are still in use as private homes, such as the Prime Minister's country retreat Chequers.

Claydon House (near Steeple Claydon), Hughendon Manor (near High Wycombe), Stowe Landscaped Gardens, and Waddesdon Manor (near Aylesbury) are in the care of the National Trust.

Mentmore Towers, a 19th-century English country house built by the Rothschilds is located the village of Mentmore. It is the largest of the English Rothschild houses and is known for its Jacobean-styled architecture designed by Joseph Paxton.

Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes is the site of World War II British codebreaking and Colossus, the world's first programmable electronic digital computer. Together with the co-located National Museum of Computing, it is a nationally important visitor attraction.

Examples of historical architecture in the Chiltern region are preserved at the Chiltern Open Air Museum, an open-air folk museum near Chalfont St Giles. The 45 acre site contains reconstructed buildings which might otherwise have been destroyed or demolished as a result of redevelopment or road construction.

The market town of Olney, in the Milton Keynes UA, is home to Cowper and Newton Museum which celebrates the work and lives of two famous figures: William Cowper (1731–1800) a celebrated 18th-century poet; and John Newton, a prominent slave trade abolitionist who was curate in the local church. Together, Cowper and Newton wrote the Olney Hymns, including one of the world's most popular hymns, Amazing Grace''.

Buckinghamshire is the home of various notable people in connection with whom tourist attractions have been established: for example the author Roald Dahl who included many local features and characters in his works. Artists William Callow and Harriet Anne Smart Callow produced many paintings of the area in the late 19th century.

Sports facilities in Buckinghamshire include half of the international Silverstone Circuit which straddles the Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire border, the Adams Park Stadium in the south and Stadium MK in the north, and Dorney Lake (named 'Eton Dorney' for the event) was used as the rowing venue for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Media
The county is covered by three overlapping TV regions
 * BBC South and ITV Meridian, covering the western side of the county,
 * BBC East and ITV Anglia, covering the north and east of the county, and
 * BBC London & ITV London, covering the south of the county.

Local radio stations are BBC Three Counties Radio, BBC Radio Berkshire (covering Marlow), Heart Thames Valley (now Heart South), Heart Four Counties (now Heart East), Greatest Hits Radio Bucks, Beds and Herts (formerly Mix 96) and Wycombe Sound (covering High Wycombe).

Roads
Buckinghamshire is served by four motorways, although two are on its borders:
 * M1 motorway: serves Milton Keynes in the north via junctions 13 and 14 (although the former is just outside the county boundary in Bedfordshire).
 * M4 motorway: passes through the very south of the county with only J7 in Bucks.
 * M25 motorway: passes into Bucks but has only one junction (J16-interchange for the M40).
 * M40 motorway: cuts through the south of the county serving towns such as High Wycombe and Beaconsfield.

Six important A roads also enter the county (from north to south):
 * A428: has a very small section through the county, serving the northern villages of Lavendon and Cold Brayfield.
 * A5: serves Milton Keynes.
 * A421: serves Milton Keynes and Buckingham; links the M1 to the M40.
 * A40: parallels M40 through south Bucks and continues to Central London.
 * A41: cuts through the centre of the county from Watford to Bicester, serving Aylesbury.
 * A4: serves Taplow in the very south.

Also less important primary A roads enter the country:
 * A404: serves Marlow and High Wycombe.
 * A509: serves the north of the county, starting at the A5 near Central Milton Keynes, heading north-east towards Olney via M1 J14, eventually leaving the county at Warrington for Wellingborough and Kettering.
 * A4010: runs from M40 J4 (High Wycombe) to Stoke Mandeville.
 * A4146: runs from Leighton Buzzard (Bedfordshire) to Milton Keynes.

The county is poorly served with internal routes, with the A413 and A418 linking the south and north of the county.

Rail

As part of the London commuter belt, Buckinghamshire is well connected to the national rail network, with both local commuter and inter-city services serving some destinations.

Chiltern Railways is a principal train operating company in Buckinghamshire, providing the majority of local commuter services from the centre and south of the county, with trains running into London Marylebone. Great Western operates commuter services from Taplow and Iver into London Paddington. West Midlands Trains provides these services from Milton Keynes Central into Euston or Birmingham New Street, and Southern operates commuter services via the West London Line from Milton Keynes Central to East Croydon.

Avanti West Coast operates inter-city services from Milton Keynes Central to Euston, North West England, the West Midlands, the Scottish Central Belt, and North Wales. Great Western operates non-stop services through the south of the county from Paddington to South West England and South Wales.

There are four main lines running through the county:

 * The West Coast Main Line in the north of the county serves stations in Milton Keynes
 * London to Aylesbury Line serves Aylesbury and other settlements along the A413 towards London. Once part of the Metropolitan line of London Underground, which now runs to Amersham
 * Chiltern Main Line: serves the towns along the M40 motorway including High Wycombe and Beaconsfield
 * Great Western Main Line: runs through Slough. Slough is now in Berkshire, but the line enters Bucks twice, on either side of Slough, with Taplow and Iver both having stations in Buckinghamshire.

There are the following additional lines:

 * Princes Risborough to Aylesbury Line: a single track branch that connects the Chiltern Main Line to the London to Aylesbury Line.
 * Marston Vale Line: between Bletchley and Bedford. This is a remnant of the former Varsity Line between Oxford and Cambridge
 * Marlow Branch Line: between Marlow, Bourne End and Maidenhead.
 * Metropolitan line: between Amersham and Chesham to London
 * Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway, a preserved railway.
 * The new Elizabeth line (constructed as Crossrail) serves Iver.

, contractors are working on behalf of the East West Rail Company to reinstate the route between Oxford and Bletchley via Winslow, enabling services to Milton Keynes Central from 2025. The line between Aylesbury and Claydon Junction may also be reinstated in the same programme, enabling services between Aylesbury and Milton Keynes, but this option is not programmed. Construction of High Speed 2 is also underway and is planned to run non-stop through the county at some future date.

Settlements
For the full list of towns, villages and hamlets in Buckinghamshire, see List of places in Buckinghamshire. Throughout history, there have been changes to the Buckinghamshire boundary.

Education

Artist and composer Harriet Anne Smart started a school in Buckinghamshire in the 1850s to teach local labourers how to read. Today, education in Buckinghamshire is governed by two Local Education Authorities, Buckinghamshire Council and Milton Keynes City Council. Buckinghamshire Council is one of the few remaining LEAs still using the tripartite system, albeit with some revisions such as the abolition of secondary technical schools. It has a completely selective education system: pupils transfer either to a grammar school or to a secondary modern school or free school depending on how they perform in the Eleven-Plus exam and on their preferences. Pupils who do not take the test can only be allocated places at secondary modern schools or free school. There are 9 independent schools and 34 maintained (state) secondary schools, not including sixth form colleges, in the county council area. There is also the Buckinghamshire University Technical College which offers secondary education from age 14. The unitary authority of Milton Keynes operates a comprehensive education system: there are 8 maintained (state) secondary schools in the City Council area.

Buckinghamshire is also home to the University of Buckingham, Buckinghamshire New University, the National Film and Television School, and the Open University. The University of Bedfordshire has a campus in Milton Keynes.

Notable people
Buckinghamshire is the birthplace and/or final resting place of several notable individuals. St Osyth was born in Quarrendon and was buried in Aylesbury in the 7th century while at about the same time Saint Rumbold (or Rumwald) was buried in Buckingham. In the medieval period, Roger of Wendover and Anne Boleyn also owned property in the same town. It is said that King Henry VIII made Aylesbury the county town in preference to Buckingham because Boleyn's father owned property there and was a regular visitor himself. Other medieval residents included Edward the Confessor, who had a palace at Brill, and John Wycliffe who lived in Ludgershall.

Buckinghamshire later became home to some notable literary characters. Edmund Waller was brought up in Beaconsfield and served as Member of Parliament (MP) for both Amersham and Wycombe. Mary Shelley and her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley lived for some time in Marlow, attracted to the town by their friend Thomas Love Peacock who also lived there. John Milton lived in Chalfont St Giles and his cottage can still be visited there and John Wilkes was MP for Aylesbury. Later authors include Jerome K. Jerome who lived at Marlow, T. S. Eliot who also lived at Marlow, Roald Dahl who lived at Great Missenden, Enid Blyton who lived in Beaconsfield and Edgar Wallace who lived at Bourne End and is buried in Little Marlow. Modern-day writers from Bucks include Terry Pratchett who was born in Beaconsfield, Tim Rice who is from Amersham and Andy Riley who is from Aylesbury.

During the Second World War a number of European politicians and statesmen were exiled in England. Many of these settled in Bucks as it is close to London. President Edvard Beneš of Czechoslovakia lived at Aston Abbotts with his family while some of his officials were stationed at nearby Addington and Wingrave. Meanwhile, Władysław Sikorski, military leader of Poland, lived at Iver and King Zog of Albania lived at Frieth. Much earlier, King Louis XVIII of France lived in exile at Hartwell House from 1809 to 1814.

Also on the local political stage Buckinghamshire has been home to Nancy Astor who lived in Cliveden, Frederick, Prince of Wales who also lived in Cliveden, Baron Carrington who lives in Bledlow, Benjamin Disraeli who lived at Hughenden Manor and was made Earl of Beaconsfield, John Hampden who was from Great Hampden and is revered in Aylesbury to this day and Prime Minister Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery who lived at Mentmore. Also worthy of note are William Penn who believed he was descended from the Penn family of Penn and so is buried nearby and the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who has an official residence at Chequers. John Archdale, the colonial governor of North Carolina and South Carolina, was born in Buckinghamshire.

Other notable natives of Buckinghamshire include:

• Amber Bain, musician, known as The Japanese House

• Errol Barnett, news reporter, was born in Milton Keynes

• Nick Beggs, musician, is from Winslow

• Lynda Bellingham, actress, was from Aylesbury

• Emily Bergl, actress, born in Milton Keynes, though her family moved to suburban Chicago a few years after her birth

• Emmerson Boyce, Wigan Athletic footballer, was born in Aylesbury

• Nick Bracegirdle aka Chicane, was born in Chalfont St Giles

• Den Brotheridge, British Army Officer who died taking Pegasus Bridge in France was from Aylesbury

• Charles Butler, pastor, grammarian, and pioneering beekeeper was born in the county

• Giles Cooper, entertainment producer, best known for Royal Variety Performance was born in Amersham, brought up in High Wycombe

• James Corden, actor, grew up in Hazlemere

• John Crowder (1756–1830), alderman of the ward of Farringdon Within, and Lord Mayor of London

• Lucinda Dryzek, actress, born in High Wycombe

• Emma Ferreira English contemporary artist, sculptor, photographer, entrepreneur and philanthropist

• Jack Garratt, singer-songwriter, is from Little Chalfont

• Martin Grech, musician, is from Aylesbury

• Julian Haviland, former Political Editor of both ITN and The Times newspaper, was born and brought up in Iver Heath in Iver

• James Marriott, musician and online content creator

• Howard Jones, musician, attended Royal Grammar School

• Prince Michael of Kent, member of the British Royal Family, born in Iver in south Bucks

• Arthur Lasenby Liberty, merchant, was from Chesham

• Richard Lee, footballer, attended Aylesbury Grammar School

• Jonathon Lewis, England test cricketer, was born in Aylesbury

• Al Murray, television/radio presenter also known as The Pub Landlord originates from Stewkley

• John Otway, musician, is from Aylesbury

• Leigh-Anne Pinnock, singer and member of 2011 X-Factor winning girl group Little Mix, born in High Wycombe

• Matt Phillips, footballer playing for Queens Park Rangers F.C., was born in Aylesbury

• Dominic Raab, politician, Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) and former Foreign Secretary, grew up in Gerrards Cross and attended Dr Challoner's Grammar School in Amersham

• Steve Redgrave, five-time Olympic gold medallist rower is from Marlow Bottom

• George Gilbert Scott, architect famous for his numerous Gothic revival buildings, born in Gawcott

• Simon Standage, Baroque violinist, is from High Wycombe

• Justin Sullivan, musician with New Model Army

• Michael York, actor, born in Fulmer in south Bucks

Notable celebrities living in Buckinghamshire include:

 * Cilla Black, television presenter, lived in Denham
 * Fern Britton, television presenter, lives in Holmer Green
 * Melanie Brown, musician, lived in Little Marlow
 * Roy Castle, dancer, singer, comedian, actor, television presenter and musician lived in Gerrards Cross
 * John Craven, television presenter, lives in Princes Risborough
 * Cheryl Cole, Singer, dancer, lives in Chalfont St. Peter
 * Tess Daly has a house in Fulmer
 * Iain Duncan Smith, politician, lives in Swanbourne
 * Ian Dury, musician, lived in Wingrave
 * Noel Edmonds, television presenter, once lived in Weston Turville
 * Andrew Fletcher, musician with Depeche Mode, has a home in Marlow
 * Barry Gibb, musician from Bee Gees, lives in Beaconsfield
 * Sir John Gielgud, actor, was living in Wotton Underwood when he died
 * Polly Ho-Yen, author
 * Sir David Jason, actor, lives in Ellesborough
 * Peter Jones, businessman, lives in Beaconsfield
 * Jason "Jay" Kay, musician and frontman of Jamiroquai, lives in Horsenden
 * Vernon Kay has a house in Fulmer
 * John Laurie, actor, lived in Chalfont St Peter
 * Hayley Mills and Roy Boulting lived in Ibstone
 * John Mills, actor, lived in Denham
 * Mike Oldfield, musician, once lived in Little Chalfont
 * Nduka Onwuegbute, playwright, lives in Aylesbury
 * Ozzy Osbourne, musician, has a home in Jordans
 * Liam Payne, musician, One Direction member, has a rented home in Chalfont St. Peter
 * Pauline Quirke, actress, lives in Penn
 * Joan G. Robinson, author and illustrator
 * Steve Rothery, musician with Marillion, lives in Whitchurch
 * Rothschild family, bankers, had houses in Ascott, Aston Clinton, Eythrope, Halton, Mentmore and Waddesdon
 * Tiny Rowland, businessman, lived in Hedsor
 * Chris Standring, jazz guitarist and musician
 * Jackie Stewart, three-time Formula One world championship winner, lives in Ellesborough
 * Andrew Strauss, England cricket captain, lives in Marlow
 * Dave Vitty, former BBC Radio 1 DJ, lives in Fulmer
 * Mark Webber, former Formula 1 racing driver, lives in Aston Clinton
 * Terry Wogan, radio and television broadcaster, lived in Taplow

title: Buckinghamshire


text:
Acre, Israel

Acre, known locally as Akko (עַכּוֹ, ) and Akka (عكّا, ), is a city in the coastal plain region of the Northern District of Israel.

The city occupies a strategic location, sitting in a natural harbour at the extremity of Haifa Bay on the coast of the Mediterranean's Levantine Sea. Aside from coastal trading, it was an important waypoint on the region's coastal road and the road cutting inland along the Jezreel Valley. The first settlement during the Early Bronze Age was abandoned after a few centuries but a large town was established during the Middle Bronze Age. Continuously inhabited since then, it is among the oldest continuously inhabited settlements on Earth. It has, however, been subject to conquest and destruction several times and survived as little more than a large village for centuries at a time.

Acre was a hugely important city during the Crusades as a maritime foothold on the Mediterranean coast of the southern Levant and was the site of several battles, including the 1189–1191 Siege of Acre and 1291 Siege of Acre. It was the last stronghold of the Crusaders in the Holy Land prior to that final battle in 1291. At the end of Crusader rule, the city was destroyed by the Mamluks, thereafter existing as a modest fishing village until the rule of Zahir al-Umar in the 18th century.

In 1947, Acre formed part of Mandatory Palestine and had a population of 13,560, of whom 10,930 were Muslim and 2,490 were Christian. As a result of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine and subsequent 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the population of the town dramatically changed as its Palestinian-Arab population was expelled or forced to flee; it was then resettled by Jewish immigrants. In present-day Israel, the population was in, made up of Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Baháʼís. In particular, Acre is the holiest city of the Baháʼí Faith in Israel and receives many pilgrims of that faith every year. Acre is one of Israel's mixed cities; 32% of the city's population is Arab. The mayor is Shimon Lankri, who was re-elected in 2018 with 85% of the vote.

Names
The etymology of the name is unknown. A folk etymology in Hebrew is that, when the ocean was created, it expanded until it reached Acre and then stopped, giving the city its name (in Hebrew, ad koh means "up to here" and no further).

Acre seems to be recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphs, probably being the in the execration texts from around 1800BC and the "Aak" in the tribute lists of Thutmose III (1479–1425BC).

The Akkadian cuneiform Amarna letters also mention an "Akka" in the mid-14th centuryBC. On its native currency, Acre's name was written. It appears in Assyrian and once in Biblical Hebrew.

Acre was known to the Greeks as Ákē (Ἄκη), a homonym for a Greek word meaning "cure". Greek legend then offered a folk etymology that Hercules had found curative herbs at the site after one of his many fights. This name was Latinized as Ace. Josephus's histories also transcribed the city into Greek as Akre.

The city appears in the Babylonian Talmud with the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic name Talbush of uncertain etymology.

Under the Diadochi, the Ptolemaic Kingdom renamed the city Ptolemaïs (, Ptolemaΐs) and the Seleucid Empire Antioch (Ἀντιόχεια, Antiókheia). As both names were shared by a great many other towns, they were variously distinguished. The Syrians called it "Antioch in Ptolemais" (Ἀντιόχεια τῆς ἐν Πτολεμαΐδι, Antiókheia tês en Ptolemaΐdi).

Under Claudius, it was also briefly known as Germanicia in Ptolemais (Γερμανίκεια τῆς ἐν Πτολεμαΐδι, Germaníkeia tês en Ptolemaΐdi). As a Roman colony, it was notionally refounded and renamed Colonia Claudii Caesaris Ptolemais or Colonia Claudia Felix Ptolemais Garmanica Stabilis after its imperial sponsor Claudius; it was known as Colonia Ptolemais for short.

During the Crusades, it was officially known as Sainct-Jehan-d'Acre or more simply Acre (Modern Saint-Jean-d'Acre ), after the Knights Hospitaller who had their headquarters there and whose patron saint was Saint John the Baptist. This name remained quite popular in the Christian world until modern times, often translated into the language being used: Saint John of Acre (in English), San Juan de Acre (in Spanish), Sant Joan d'Acre (in Catalan), San Giovanni d'Acri (in Italian), etc.

Early Bronze Age
Acre lies at the northern end of a wide bay with Mount Carmel at the south. It is the best natural roadstead on the southern Phoenician coast and has easy access to the Valley of Jezreel. It was settled early and has always been important for the fleets of kingdoms and empires contesting the area, serving as the main port for the entire southern Levant up to the modern era.

The ancient town was located atop Tel ʿAkkō (Hebrew) or Tell al-Fuḫḫār (Arabic), 1.5 km east of the present city and 800 m north of the Na'aman River. In antiquity, however, it formed an easily protected peninsula directly beside the former mouth of the Na'aman or Belus. The earliest discovered settlement dates to around 3000BC during the Early Bronze Age, but appears to have been abandoned after a few centuries, possibly because of inundation of its surrounding farmland by the Mediterranean.

Middle Bronze Age
Acre was resettled as an urban centre during the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000–1550BC) and has been continuously inhabited since then. Egyptian execration texts record one 18th-century ruler as Tūra-ʿAmmu (Tꜣʿmw).

Late Bronze Age

Acre was listed among the conquests of the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III.

Amarna period
In the Amarna Period (c. 1350 BC), there was turmoil in Egypt's Levantine provinces. The Amarna Archive contains letters concerning the ruler(s) of Acco. In one, King Biridiya of Megiddo complains to Amenhotep III or Akhenaten of the king of Acre, whom he accuses of treason for releasing the captured Hapiru king Labaya of Shechem instead of delivering him to Egypt. Excavations of Tel ʿAkkō have shown that this period of Acre involved industrial production of pottery, metal, and other trade goods.

In Amarna Letter EA 232, Surata (msu₂-ra-ta) is the Man of Akka (LU₂ uruak-ka). The letter is sent to the King of Egypt, and it contains Canaanite glosses. Surata is also mentioned in letters from Byblos (EA 085), Gath (EA 366), and Megiddo (EA 245).

Iron Age
During the supposed Conquest of Israel by the Hebrew leader Joshua), Acre was allotted to the tribe of Asher, who however failed to take it. Acre continued as a Phoenician city and was referenced as a Phoenician city by the Assyrians. Josephus, however, claimed it as a province of the Kingdom of Israel under Solomon.

Around 725BC, Acre joined Sidon and Tyre in a revolt against the Neo-Assyrian emperor Shalmaneser V. There is a clear destruction layer in the ruins, probably dating to the 7th century BC.

Persian period and classical-Greek antiquity
Acre served as a major port of the Persian Empire, with Strabo noting its importance in campaigns against the Egyptians. According to Strabo and Diodurus Siculus, Cambyses II attacked Egypt after massing a huge army on the plains near the city of Acre. The Persians expanded the town westward and probably improved its harbor and defenses. In December 2018, archaeologists digging at the site of Tell Keisan in Acre unearthed the remains of a Persian military outpost that might have played a role in the successful 525 BC Achaemenid invasion of Egypt. The city's industrial production continued into the late Persian era, with particularly expanded iron works.

The Persian-period fortifications at Tell Keisan were later heavily damaged during Alexander's fourth-century BC campaign to drive the Achaemenids out of the Levant.

After Alexander's death, his main generals divided his empire among themselves. At first, the Egyptian Ptolemies held the land around Acre. PtolemyII renamed the city Ptolemais in his own and his father's honour in the 260sBC.

Antiochus III conquered the town for the Syrian Seleucids in 200BC. In the late 170s or early 160sBC, AntiochusIV founded a Greek colony in the town, which he named Antioch after himself.

About 165BC Judas Maccabeus defeated the Seleucids in several battles in Galilee, and drove them into Ptolemais. About 153BC Alexander Balas, son of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, contesting the Seleucid crown with Demetrius, seized the city, which opened its gates to him. Demetrius offered many bribes to the Maccabees to obtain Jewish support against his rival, including the revenues of Ptolemais for the benefit of the Temple in Jerusalem, but in vain. Jonathan Apphus threw in his lot with Alexander; Alexander and Demetrius met in battle and the latter was killed. In 150BC Alexander received Jonathan with great honour in Ptolemais. Some years later, however, Tryphon, an officer of the Seleucid Empire, who had grown suspicious of the Maccabees, enticed Jonathan into Ptolemais and there treacherously took him prisoner.

The city was captured by Alexander Jannaeus (ruled c. 103–76BC), Tigranes the Great (r. 95–55BC), and Cleopatra (r. 51–30BC). Here Herod the Great (r. 37–4BC) built a gymnasium.

Roman colony
Around 37 BC, the Romans conquered the Hellenized Phoenician port-city called Akko. It became a colony in southern Roman Phoenicia, called Colonia Claudia Felix Ptolemais Garmanica Stabilis. Ptolemais stayed Roman for nearly seven centuries until 636 AD, when it was conquered by the Muslim Arabs. Under Augustus, a gymnasium was built in the city. In 4 BC, the Roman proconsul Publius Quinctilius Varus assembled his army there in order to suppress the revolts that broke out in the region following the death of Herod the Great.

"The Romans built a breakwater and expanded the harbor at the present location of the harbor....In the Roman/Byzantine period, Acre-Ptolemais was an important port city. It minted its own coins, and its harbor was one of the main gates to the land. Through this port the Roman Legions came by ship to crush the Jewish revolt in 67AD. It also served was used as connections to the other ports (for example, Caesarea and Jaffa)....The port of Acre (Ptolemais) was a station on Paul's naval travel, as described in Acts of the Gospels (21, 6-7): 'And when we had taken our leave one of another, we took ship; and they returned home again. And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day'."

During the rule of the emperor Claudius there was a building drive in Ptolemais and veterans of the legions settled here. The city was one of four colonies (with Berytus, Aelia Capitolina and Caesarea Maritima) created in the ancient Levant by Roman emperors for Roman veterans.

During the Great Jewish Revolt (66–73 CE), Acre functioned as a staging point for both Cestius's and Vespasian's campaigns to suppress the revolt in Judaea.

The city was a center of Romanization in the region, but most of the population was made of local Phoenicians and Jews: as a consequence after the Hadrian times the descendants of the initial Roman colonists no longer spoke Latin and had become fully assimilated in less than two centuries (however the local society's customs were Roman).

The Christian Acts of the Apostles describes Luke the Evangelist, Paul the Apostle and their companions spending a day in Ptolemais with their Christian brethren.

An important Roman colony (colonia) was established at the city that greatly increased the control of the region by the Romans over the next century with Roman colonists translated there from Italy. The Romans enlarged the port and the city grew to more than 20,000 inhabitants in the second century under emperor Hadrian. Ptolemais greatly flourished for two more centuries.

Byzantine period
After the permanent division of the Roman Empire in 395 AD, Ptolemais was administered by the successor state, the Byzantine Empire. The city started to lose importance and in the seventh century was reduced to a small settlement of less than one thousand inhabitants.

Early Islamic period
Following the defeat of the Byzantine army of Heraclius by the Rashidun army of Khalid ibn al-Walid in the Battle of Yarmouk, and the capitulation of the Christian city of Jerusalem to the Caliph Umar, Acre came under the rule of the Rashidun Caliphate beginning in 638. According to the early Muslim chronicler al-Baladhuri, the actual conquest of Acre was led by Shurahbil ibn Hasana, and it likely surrendered without resistance. The Arab conquest brought a revival to the town of Acre, and it served as the main port of Palestine through the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates that followed, and through Crusader rule into the 13th century.

The first Umayyad caliph, Muawiyah I (r. 661–680), regarded the coastal towns of the Levant as strategically important. Thus, he strengthened Acre's fortifications and settled Persians from other parts of Muslim Syria to inhabit the city. From Acre, which became one of the region's most important dockyards along with Tyre, Mu'awiyah launched an attack against Byzantine-held Cyprus. The Byzantines assaulted the coastal cities in 669, prompting Mu'awiyah to assemble and send shipbuilders and carpenters to Acre. The city would continue to serve as the principal naval base of Jund al-Urdunn ("Military District of Jordan") until the reign of Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (723–743), who moved the bulk of the shipyards north to Tyre. Nonetheless, Acre remained militarily significant through the early Abbasid period, with Caliph al-Mutawakkil issuing an order to make Acre into a major naval base in 861, equipping the city with battleships and combat troops.

During the 10th century, Acre was still part of Jund al-Urdunn. Local Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi visited Acre during the early Fatimid Caliphate in 985, describing it as a fortified coastal city with a large mosque possessing a substantial olive grove. Fortifications had been previously built by the autonomous Emir Ibn Tulun of Egypt, who annexed the city in the 870s, and provided relative safety for merchant ships arriving at the city's port. When Persian traveller Nasir Khusraw visited Acre in 1047, he noted that the large Jama Masjid was built of marble, located in the centre of the city and just south of it lay the "tomb of the Prophet Salih." Khusraw provided a description of the city's size, which roughly translated as having a length of 1.24 km and a width of 300 m. This figure indicates that Acre at that time was larger than its current Old City area, most of which was built between the 18th and 19th centuries.

First Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem (1104–1187)
After four years, the siege of Acre was successfully completed in 1104, with the city capitulating to the forces of King Baldwin I of Jerusalem following the First Crusade. The Crusaders made the town their chief port in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. On the first Crusade, Fulcher relates his travels with the Crusading armies of King Baldwin, including initially staying over in Acre before the army's advance to Jerusalem. This demonstrates that even from the beginning, Acre was an important link between the Crusaders and their advance into the Levant. Its function was to provide Crusaders with a foothold in the region and access to vibrant trade that made them prosperous, especially giving them access to the Asiatic spice trade. By the 1130s it had a population of around 25,000 and was only matched for size in the Crusader kingdom by the city of Jerusalem. Around 1170 it became the main port of the eastern Mediterranean, and the kingdom of Jerusalem was regarded in the west as enormously wealthy above all because of Acre. According to an English contemporary, it provided more for the Crusader crown than the total revenues of the king of England.

The Andalusian geographer Ibn Jubayr wrote that in 1185 there was still a Muslim community in the city who worshipped in a small mosque.

Ayyubid intermezzo (1187–1191)
Acre, along with Beirut and Sidon, capitulated without a fight to the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187, after his decisive victory at Hattin and the subsequent Muslim capture of Jerusalem.

Second Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem (1191–1291)
Acre remained in Muslim hands until it was unexpectedly besieged by King Guy of Lusignan—reinforced by Pisan naval and ground forces—in August 1189. The siege was unique in the history of the Crusades since the Frankish besiegers were themselves besieged, by Saladin's troops. It was not captured until July 1191 when the forces of the Third Crusade, led by King Richard I of England and King Philip II of France, came to King Guy's aid. Acre then served as the de facto capital of the remnant Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1192. During the siege, German merchants from Lübeck and Bremen had founded a field hospital, which became the nucleus of the chivalric Teutonic Order. Upon the Sixth Crusade, the city was placed under the administration of the Knights Hospitaller military order. Acre continued to prosper as major commercial hub of the eastern Mediterranean, but also underwent turbulent times due to the bitter infighting among the Crusader factions that occasionally resulted in civil wars.

The old part of the city, where the port and fortified city were located, protrudes from the coastline, exposing both sides of the narrow piece of land to the sea. This could maximize its efficiency as a port, and the narrow entrance to this protrusion served as a natural and easy defense to the city. Both the archaeological record and Crusader texts emphasize Acre's strategic importance—a city in which it was crucial to pass through, control, and, as evidenced by the massive walls, protect.

Acre was the final major stronghold of the Crusader states when much of the Levantine coastline was conquered by Mamluk forces. Acre itself fell to Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil in 1291.

Mamluk period (1291–1517)
Acre, having been isolated and largely abandoned by Europe, was conquered by Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf Khalil in a bloody siege in 1291. In line with Mamluk policy regarding the coastal cities (to prevent their future utilization by Crusader forces), Acre was entirely destroyed, with the exception of a few religious edifices considered sacred by the Muslims, namely the Nabi Salih tomb and the Ayn Bakar spring. The destruction of the city led to popular Arabic sayings in the region enshrining its past glory.

In 1321 the Syrian geographer Abu'l-Fida wrote that Acre was "a beautiful city" but still in ruins following its capture by the Mamluks. Nonetheless, the "spacious" port was still in use and the city was full of artisans. Throughout the Mamluk era (1260–1517), Acre was succeeded by Safed as the principal city of its province.

Ottoman period

Incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, it appeared in the census of 1596, located in the Nahiya of Acca of the Liwa of Safad. The population was 81 households and 15 bachelors, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, cotton, goats, and beehives, water buffaloes, in addition to occasional revenues and market toll, a total of 20,500 Akçe. Half of the revenue went to a Waqf. English academic Henry Maundrell in 1697 found it a ruin, save for a khan (caravanserai) built and occupied by French merchants for their use, a mosque and a few poor cottages. The khan was named Khan al-Ilfranj after its French founders.

During Ottoman rule, Acre continued to play an important role in the region via smaller autonomous sheikhdoms. Towards the end of the 18th century Acre revived under the rule of Zahir al-Umar, the Arab ruler of the Galilee, who made the city capital of his autonomous sheikhdom. Zahir rebuilt Acre's fortifications, using materials from the city's medieval ruins. He died outside its walls during an offensive against him by the Ottoman state in 1775.

Umar's successor, Jazzar Pasha, further fortified its walls when he virtually moved the capital of the Saida Eyelet ("Province of Sidon") to Acre where he resided. Jazzar's improvements were accomplished through heavy imposts secured for himself all the benefits derived from his improvements. About 1780, Jazzar peremptorily banished the French trading colony, in spite of protests from the French government, and refused to receive a consul. Both Zahir and Jazzar undertook ambitious architectural projects in the city, building several caravanserais, mosques, public baths and other structures. Some of the notable works included the Al-Jazzar Mosque, which was built out of stones from the ancient ruins of Caesarea and Atlit and the Khan al-Umdan, both built on Jazzar's orders. Under Jazzar, Acre thrived, becoming the third largest city in Ottoman Syria. Its population, then largely composed of migrants drawn by its burgeoning development, is estimated at around twenty thousand.

In 1799 Napoleon, in pursuance of his scheme for raising a Syrian rebellion against Turkish domination, appeared before Acre, but after a siege of two months (March–May) was repulsed by the Turks, aided by Sir Sidney Smith and a force of British sailors. Having lost his siege cannons to Smith, Napoleon attempted to lay siege to the walled city defended by Ottoman troops on 20 March 1799, using only his infantry and small-calibre cannons, a strategy which failed, leading to his retreat two months later on 21 May.

Jazzar was succeeded on his death by his mamluk, Sulayman Pasha al-Adil, under whose milder rule the town advanced in prosperity till his death in 1819. After his death, Haim Farhi, who was his adviser, paid a huge sum in bribes to assure that Abdullah Pasha (son of Ali Pasha, the deputy of Sulayman Pasha), whom he had known from youth, will be appointed as ruler—which didn't stop the new ruler from assassinating Farhi. Abdullah Pasha ruled Acre until 1831, when Ibrahim Pasha besieged and reduced the town and destroyed its buildings. During the Oriental Crisis of 1840 it was bombarded on 4 November 1840 by the allied British, Austrian and French squadrons, and in the following year restored to Turkish rule. It regained some of its former prosperity after linking with the Hejaz Railway by a branch line from Haifa in 1913. It was the capital of the Acre Sanjak in the Beirut Vilayet until the British captured the city on 23 September 1918 during World War I.

Mandatory Palestine
At the beginning of the Mandate period, in the 1922 census of Palestine, Acre had 6,420 residents: 4,883 of whom were Muslim; 1,344 Christian; 102 Baháʼí; 78 Jewish and 13 Druze. The 1931 census counted 7,897 people in Acre, 6,076 Muslims, 1,523 Christians, 237 Jews, 51 Baháʼí and 10 Druze. In the 1945 census Acre's population numbered 12,360; 9,890 Muslims, 2,330 Christians, 50 Jews and 90 classified as "other".

Acre's fort was converted into a jail, where members of the Jewish underground were held during their struggle against the Mandate authorities, among them Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Shlomo Ben-Yosef, and Dov Gruner. Gruner and Ben-Yosef were executed there. Other Jewish inmates were freed by members of the Irgun, who broke into the jail on 4 May 1947 and succeeded in releasing Jewish underground movement activists. Over 200 Arab inmates also escaped.

1948 Palestine War
In the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, Acre was designated part of a future Arab state. On 18 March 4 technicians from the Palestine Electric Company and five British soldiers in their escort were killed while travelling to mend a cable in an RAF camp, when an Arab ambush exploded a mine on the route just outside the Moslem cemetery east of Acre The Haganah responded by blowing up a bridge outside the city and derailing a train. Before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War broke out, the Carmeli Brigade's 21 Battalion commander had repeatedly damaged the Al-Kabri aqueduct that furnished Acre with water, and when Arab repairs managed to restore water supply, then resorted to pouring flasks of typhoid and dysentery bacteria into the aqueduct, as part of a biological warfare programme. At some time in late April or early May 1948, - Jewish forces had cut the town's electricity supply responsible for pumping water - a typhoid epidemic broke out. Israeli officials later credited the facility with which they conquered the town in part to the effects of the demoralization induced by the epidemic.

Israel's Carmeli forces attacked on May 16 and, after an ultimatum was delivered that, unless the inhabitants surrendered, 'we will destroy you to the last man and utterly,' the town notables signed an instrument of surrender on the night between 17–18 May 1948. 60 bodies were found and about three-quarters of the Arab population of the city (13,510 of 17,395) were displaced.

Israel
Throughout the 1950s, many Jewish neighbourhoods were established at the northern and eastern parts of the city, as it became a development town, designated to absorb numerous Jewish immigrants, largely Jews from Morocco. The old city of Akko remained largely Arab Muslim (including several Bedouin families), with an Arab Christian neighbourhood in close proximity. The city also attracted worshippers of the Baháʼí Faith, some of whom became permanent residents in the city, where the Baháʼí Mansion of Bahjí is located. Acre has also served as a base for important events in Baháʼí history, including being the birthplace of Shoghi Effendi, and the short-lived schism between Baháʼís initiated by the attacks by Mírzá Muhammad ʻAlí against ʻAbdu'l-Bahá. Baháʼís have since commemorated various events that have occurred in the city, including the imprisonment of Baháʼu'lláh.

In the 1990s, the city absorbed thousands of Jews who immigrated from the former Soviet Union. Within several years, however, the population balance between Jews and Arabs shifted backwards, as northern neighbourhoods were abandoned by many of its Jewish residents in favour of new housing projects in nearby Nahariya, while many Muslim Arabs moved in (largely coming from nearby Arab villages). Nevertheless, the city still has a clear Jewish majority; in 2011, the population of 46,000 included 30,000 Jews and 14,000 Arabs.

Ethnic tensions erupted in the city on 8 October 2008 after an Arab citizen drove through a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood during Yom Kippur, leading to five days of violence between Arabs and Jews.

In 2009, the population of Acre reached 46,300. In 2018 Shimon Lankri was re-elected mayor with 85% of the vote.

Climate
Acre has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa).

Demography
Today there are roughly 48,000 people who live in Acre. Among Israeli cities, Acre has a relatively high proportion of non-Jewish residents, with 32% of the population being Arab. In 2000, 95% of the residents in the Old City were Arab. Only about 15% of the current Arab population in the city descends from families who lived there before 1948.

Acre is home to Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Baháʼís. In particular, Acre is the holiest city of the Baháʼí Faith and receives many pilgrims of that faith every year.

In 1999, there were 22 schools in Acre with an enrollment of 15,000 children.

Transportation
The Acre central bus station, served by Egged and Nateev Express, offers intra-city and inter-city bus routes to destinations all over Israel. Nateev Express is currently contracted to provide the intra-city bus routes within Acre. The city is also served by the Acre Railway Station, which is on the main Coastal railway line to Nahariya, with southerly trains to Beersheba and Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut.

Education and culture
The Sir Charles Clore Jewish-Arab Community Centre in the Kiryat Wolfson neighbourhood runs youth clubs and programs for Jewish and Arab children. In 1990, Mohammed Faheli, an Arab resident of Acre, founded the Acre Jewish-Arab association, which originally operated out of two bomb shelters. In 1993, Dame Vivien Duffield of the Clore Foundation donated funds for a new building. Among the programs offered is Peace Child Israel, which employs theatre and the arts to teach coexistence. The participants, Jews and Arabs, spend two months studying conflict resolution and then work together to produce an original theatrical performance that addresses the issues they have explored. Another program is Patriots of Acre, a community responsibility and youth tourism program that teaches children to become ambassadors for their city. In the summer, the centre runs an Arab-Jewish summer camp for 120 disadvantaged children aged 5–11. Some 1,000 children take part in the Acre Centre's youth club and youth programming every week. Adult education programs have been developed for Arab women interested in completing their high school education and acquiring computer skills to prepare for joining the workforce. The centre also offers parenting courses, and music and dance classes.

The Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre is an annual event that takes place in October, coinciding with the holiday of Sukkot. The festival, inaugurated in 1979, provides a forum for non-conventional theatre, attracting local and overseas theatre companies. Theatre performances by Jewish and Arab producers are staged at indoor and outdoor venues around the city.

Sports
The city's football team, Hapoel Acre F.C., is a member of the Israeli Premier League, the top tier of Israeli football. They play in the Acre Municipal Stadium which was opened in September 2011. At the end of the 2008–2009 season, the club finished in the top five, and was promoted to the top tier for a second time, after an absence of 31 years.

In the past the city was also home to Maccabi Acre. However, the club was relocated to nearby Kiryat Ata and was renamed Maccabi Ironi Kiryat Ata.

Other current active clubs are Ahi Acre and the newly formed Maccabi Ironi Acre, both playing in Liga Bet. Both club also host their matches in the Acre Municipal Stadium.

Landmarks
Acre's Old City has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Since the 1990s, large-scale archaeological excavations have been undertaken and efforts are being made to preserve ancient sites. In 2009, renovations were planned for Khan al-Umdan, the "Inn of the Columns," the largest of several Ottoman inns still standing in Acre. It was built near the port at the end of the 18th century by Jazzar Pasha. Merchants who arrived at the port would unload their wares on the first floor and sleep in lodgings on the second floor. In 1906, a clock tower was added over the main entrance marking the 25th anniversary of the reign of the Turkish sultan, Abdul Hamid II.

City walls
In 1750, Zahir al-Umar, the ruler of Acre, utilized the remnants of the Crusader walls as a foundation for his walls. Two gates were set in the wall, the "land gate" in the eastern wall, and the "sea gate" in the southern wall. The walls were reinforced between 1775 and 1799 by Jazzar Pasha and survived Napoleon's siege. The wall was thin, at only 1.5 m, and rose to a height of between 10 m and 13 m.

A heavy land defensive wall was built north and east to the city in 1800–1814 by Jazzar Pasha and his Jewish advisor, Haim Farhi. It consists of a modern counter-artillery fortification which includes a thick defensive wall, a dry moat, cannon outposts and three burges (large defensive towers). Since then, no major modifications have taken place. The sea wall, which remains mostly complete, is the original wall built by Zahir that was reinforced by Jazzar Pasha. In 1910, two additional gates were set in the walls, one in the northern wall and one in the north-western corner of the city. In 1912, the Acre lighthouse was built on the south-western corner of the walls.

Al-Jazzar Mosque
Al-Jazzar Mosque was built in 1781. Jazzar Pasha and his successor, Sulayman Pasha al-Adil, are both buried in a small graveyard adjacent to the mosque. In a shrine on the second level of the mosque, a single hair from Muhammad's beard is kept and shown on special ceremonial occasions.

Hamam al-Basha
Built in 1795 by Jazzar Pasha, Acre's Turkish bath has a series of hot rooms and a hexagonal steam room with a marble fountain. It was used by the Irgun as a bridge to break into the citadel's prison. The bathhouse kept functioning until 1950.

Citadel of Acre
The current building which constitutes the citadel of Acre is an Ottoman fortification, built on the foundation of the citadel of the Knights Hospitaller. The citadel was part of the city's defensive formation, reinforcing the northern wall. During the 20th century the citadel was used mainly as Acre Prison and as the site for a gallows. During the Palestinian mandate period, activists of Arab nationalist and the Jewish Zionist movements were held prisoner there; some were executed there.

Hospitaller fortress
Under the citadel and prison of Acre, archaeological excavations revealed a complex of halls, which was built and used by the Knights Hospitaller. This complex was a part of the Hospitallers citadel, which was included in the northern defences of Acre. The complex includes six semi-joined halls, one recently excavated large hall, a dungeon, a refectory (dining room) and remains of a Gothic church.

Other medieval sites
Other medieval European remains include the Church of Saint George and adjacent houses at the Genovese Square (called Kikar ha-Genovezim or Kikar Genoa in Hebrew). There were also residential quarters and marketplaces run by merchants from Pisa and Amalfi in Crusader and medieval Acre.

Baháʼí holy places
There are many Baháʼí holy places in and around Acre. They originate from Baháʼu'lláh's imprisonment in the Citadel during Ottoman Rule. The final years of Baháʼu'lláh's life were spent in the Mansion of Bahjí, just outside Acre, even though he was still formally a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire. Baháʼu'lláh died on 29 May 1892 in Bahjí, and the Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh is the most holy place for Baháʼís — their Qiblih, the location they face when saying their daily prayers. It contains the remains of Baháʼu'lláh and is near the spot where he died in the Mansion of Bahjí. Other Baháʼí sites in Acre are the House of ʻAbbúd (where Baháʼu'lláh and his family resided) and the House of ʻAbdu'lláh Páshá (where later ʻAbdu'l-Bahá resided with his family), and the Garden of Ridván where he spent the end of his life. In 2008, the Baháʼí holy places in Acre and Haifa were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Archaeology
Excavations at Tell Akko began in 1973. In 2012, archaeologists excavating at the foot of the city's southern seawall found a quay and other evidence of a 2,300-year old port. Mooring stones weighing 250–300 kilograms each were unearthed at the edge of a 5-meter long stone platform chiseled in Phoenician-style, thought to be an installation that helped raise military vessels from the water onto the shore.

Crusader period remains
Under the citadel and prison of Acre, archaeological excavations revealed a complex of halls, which was built and used by the Hospitallers Knights. This complex was a part of the Hospitallers' citadel, which was combined in the northern wall of Acre. The complex includes six semi-joined halls, one recently excavated large hall, a dungeon, a refectory (dining hall) and remains of an ancient Gothic church.

Medieval European remains include the Church of Saint George and adjacent houses at the Genovese Square (Kikar ha-Genovezim or Kikar Genoa in Hebrew). There were also residential quarters and marketplaces run by merchants from Pisa and Amalfi in Crusader and medieval Acre.

In March 2017, marine archaeologists from Haifa University announced the discovery of the wreck of a crusader ship with treasure dating back to 1062-1250 AD. Excavators teams also unearthed ceramic bowls and jugs from places as Syria, Cyprus and southern Italy. The researchers thought the golden coins could be used as a bribe to boat owners in hopes of buying their escape. Robert Kool of the IAA identified these 30 coins as florins.

International relations
Acre is twinned with:

Notable people

 * Joan of Acre (1272–1307), English princess born in Acre
 * Isaac ben Samuel of Acre (13th-14th century), Jewish kabbalist who fled to Spain
 * As'ad Shukeiri (1860-1940, Palestinian religious scholar political leader and mayor of Acre
 * Issam Sartawi (1935-1983), senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
 * Ghassan Kanafani (1936–1972), Palestinian writer
 * Raymonda Tawil (born 1940), Palestinian journalist and activist
 * Mahmoud Darwish (1941–2008), Palestinian poet and author, widely considered Palestine's national poet; born in the village of Al-Birwa on the outskirts of Acre.
 * Rivka Zohar (born 1948), Israeli singer
 * Lydia Hatuel-Czuckermann (born 1963), Olympic foil fencer
 * Shai Avivi (born 1964), Israeli actor
 * Ron Malka (born 1965), Israeli diplomat and economist who served as the ambassador of Israel to India and non resident ambassador to Sri Lanka and Bhutan, from 2018 to 2021
 * Kamilya Jubran (born 1966), Israeli-born Palestinian singer, songwriter, and musician
 * Ayelet Ohayon (born 1974), Olympic foil fencer
 * Delila Hatuel (born 1980), Olympic foil fencer
 * Eliad Cohen (born 1988), Israeli producer, actor, model, entrepreneur, and prominent gay personality
 * Avigail Alfatov (born 1996), national fencing champion, soldier, and Miss Israel 2014

In popular culture

 * Acre is one of three main settings in the video game Assassin's Creed.
 * The siege of Acre is depicted at the beginning of the Knightfall TV series.

title: Acre, Israel