Abide With Me

For 25 years Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847) had been vicar of the Devonshire fishing village of Lower Brixham. However by the age of 54, his health had broken and he was preparing to leave for the south of France. "Abide With Me" was written shortly before his departure from Lower Brixham after taking his final service. He died of consumption at Nice in southern France three weeks later. So "Abide With Me" is a hymn about death, but also about faith.

"Abide with Me" was one of the songs repeatedly played by the seven musicians of the Titanic's band as the ship went down. No member of the band survived.

The hymn was much parodied by soldiers in the First World War, one common version being. "We've had no beer, we've had no beer today."

"Abide With Me" provided much comfort to Edith Cavell (1865-1915), the British World War 1 nurse, who was imprisoned and condemned to death by the Germans for helping wounded soldiers to escape. Permission was given for the English chaplain, Stirling Graham, to visit her in her cell the night before she was to be shot and together they sung the words of this hymn.

"Abide with Me has been sung just before the start at the English FA Cup Final since 1927.

Taken from Abide With Me Songfacts

Aberdeen

Aberdeen is the third largest city in Scotland. Its population is estimated to be 196,670 for the city of Aberdeen and 228,800 for the local council area.

Aberdeen received Royal burgh status from David I of Scotland (1124–53), transforming the city economically.

Much of Aberdeen is built of granite, earning it the nickname the Granite City.  Because of the silver-grey color of the stone, Aberdeen is called the "Silver City by the Golden Sands".

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Aberdeen is home to Scotland's oldest newspaper the Press and Journal, which was first published in 1748.

The wealth of Aberdeen was based on a variety of industries, but by the 1970s, it was North Sea oil that bought a boom to the city.

Often referred to as the Flower of Scotland due to its abundance of floral displays, Aberdeen has won the ‘Britain in Bloom’ competition eleven times. At one point after winning a period of nine years straight, Aberdeen was banned from the Britain in Bloom competition for three years in order to give another city a chance.

In 1306, during the war of independence, the townspeople stormed Aberdeen Castle while it was held by Edward I of England, using the password ‘Bon Accord’, which was later incorporated as the city's motto.

Aberdeen is home to Brig o'Balgowrie, which is considered the oldest bridge in Scotland. Legend has it that Robert the Bruce completed the bridge after Bishop Henry Cheyne started work towards the end of the 13th Century. 

Aberdeen's iconic Union Street was named to commemorate the Union of Britain and Ireland.

Aberdeen has far milder winter temperatures than one might expect for its northern location, although statistically it is the coldest city in the United Kingdom.

Source Hutchinson Encyclopedia

Peter Abelard

French scholastic philosopher and theologian Peter Abelard (1079-1142) studied under the French realist philosopher William of Champeaux (c. 1070–1121) in the school of the cathedral of Notre-Dame. They fell out because Abelard challenged some of his ideas, and William thought Abelard was too arrogant.

In 1113 Abelard moved to Laon in  northern France to attend the lectures of Anselm on Biblical exegesis and Christian doctrine at the cathedral school there. Unimpressed by Anselm's teaching, Abelard began to offer his own lectures on the Old Testament book of Ezekiel. Anselm forbade him to continue this teaching, and Abelard returned to Paris where, in around 1115, he became master of the cathedral school of Notre Dame.

As the master of the cathedral school, Abelard he found himself falling in love with Héloïse, a pupil of his, who was 20 years his junior. Héloïse got pregnant and they married covertly but their secret was discovered after the birth of a son, whom they named Astrolabe (fl. 1118–50).

Abelard persuaded Héloïse to take holy vows at the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Argenteuil. Her uncle Canon Fulbert of Notre Dame, decided that Abelard had abandoned Héloïse at the abbey and had him castrated.

Abelard and Heloïse in a manuscript of the Roman de la Rose (14th century)

Abelard decided to become a monk at the monastery of St Denis, near Paris, where he continued his controversial teaching. Héloïse reluctantly became a nun at Argenteuil.

Abelard's lectures on theology and logic were heard by crowds of students. Using his studies of the Bible and the writings of the leaders of the church as his basis, he wrote Sic et Non (Yes and No), which discussed the relationship between faith and reason,

After being cited for heresy, Abelard moved to a deserted place near Nogent-sur-Seine in Champagne. He built a cabin of stubble and reeds, where he lived as a hermit. Students flocked there from Paris so he began to teach again there. Abelard also founded an oratory at Nogent-sur-Seine, there called the Paraclete.

In 1125 Abelard was elected abbot of the monastery at Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuis. Héloïse, who meanwhile had become prioress at Argenteuil, was called to the Paraclete as abbess of the convent established there

Abelard's autobiographical Historia Calamitatum (known in English as "Story of His Misfortunes" or "A history of my Calamities") was written in 1132 or soon after. One of the first autobiographical works in medieval Western Europe, it  presents a remarkably honest self-portrait of a man who could be arrogant and often felt persecuted.

Correspondence began between Abelard and Héloïse around the time that Historia Calamitatum began to circulate. The famous exchange of letters between the two former lovers became a classic of romantic correspondence.

In his philosophical treatise Ethics, Peter Abelard argued that infidels who sincerely believe themselves to be honouring God are not guilty of sin 

Peter Abelard spent his final months at the priory of St. Marcel, near Chalon-sur-Saône. He passed away from a combination of fever and a skin disorder, most likely scurvy on April 21, 1142. He is said to have uttered the last words "I don't know", before expiring.

Abelard was first buried at St. Marcel, but his remains were soon carried off secretly to the Paraclete,  Héloïse was laid by his side in 1164.

Statue of Abelard at Louvre Palace in Paris by Jules Cavelier

Abelard was later recognized as one of the major Christian thinkers of his day. His scholastic text, Sic Et Non (Yes And No) was read by learned men throughout western Europe,.

The story of Abelard and Héloïse was sung by the Medieval minstrels and troubadours of the Middle Ages.

It was Josephine Bonaparte, so moved by their story, who ordered that the remains of Abelard and Héloïse be entombed together at the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

Abdomen

The abdomen (belly) is the part of the body below the thorax, containing the digestive organs.

Anatomy of the human abdomen, by Ties van Brussel 

In insects the abdomen is the hind part of the body and is characterized by the absence of limbs.

In mammals, the female reproductive organs are in the abdomen.

A lobster's nervous system is located in its abdomen.

Scorpions breathe through four pairs of book lungs on the underside of their abdomen.

In 1809 an American surgeon, Ephraim McDowell, performed the first successful ovariotomy on 47-year-old Jane Todd Crawford, removing a twenty-pound tumorous ovary without the patient incurring any infection. Despite never having obtained a medical degree McDowell became known as the best surgeon west of Philadelphia and gained a reputation as the "father of abdominal surgery."

The scar on comic actor Will Ferrell's abdomen is from a surgery he had as a baby to treat pyloric stenosis.

Source Hutchinson Encyclopedia

Abbreviation

An abbreviation (from Latin brevis, meaning short) is a letter or group of letters used in writing, printing, and speech to represent a word or phrase in shortened form. Abbreviations are used to save space and time. The most common are arbitrary signs or initial letters for the words themselves.

STYLE CONVENTIONS

Although no specific rule governs the formation of abbreviations, certain kinds have become standard. The most common are (1) first and last letters, for example, Ga. for Georgia (2) first and second letters, for example, Fl. For Florida (3) key identifying letters, for example, apt. for apartment; (3) syllables, for example, anon. for anonymous; (4) initials, as with titles or long names, for example, OAS for Organization of American States.

Unit abbreviations start with a capital letter when they are named after someone (e.g. K for Kelvin, Hz for Hertz ...), otherwise they are lower case (e.g. m for meter, s for second …)

A period (full stop) is often used to signify an abbreviation, but opinion is divided as to when and if this should happen.

FAMOUS ABBREVIATIONS

Shortened word forms have been in use since antiquity, and many current abbreviations have come from Latin.

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The word university was originally an abbreviation of the Latin universitas magistrorum et scholarium ("guild [or union] of masters and students"), organized for mutual advantage and legal protection.

The abbreviation for pound, "lb.," comes from the astrological sign Libra, meaning "balance."

The name "gin" is an abbreviation of the word geneva, a corruption of either the French genièvre or the Dutch junever, both meaning "juniper."

The cello's full name is the Italian violoncello, meaning little violin, but the abbreviation is more commonly used today.

The abbreviation of 'omnibus', 'Bus' first appeared in 1832. By the 1890s the word 'omnibus' was already archaic, replaced by 'bus'.

The earliest known use of the abbreviation ‘photo’ was by Queen Victoria in a letter in 1860.

The abbreviation “brolly” for an umbrella arrived in 1873.

Taxi was originally an abbreviation of ‘taximeter' (or taxametre), which was the name of the device indicating the fare due.

The abbreviation zip for zipper was also first recorded in 1925.

The abbreviation BBQ for a barbecue was first recorded in Los Angeles in 1938.

The abbreviation “veggie”, for a plant used as food, only began to be used in 1907, while “veggie” meaning a vegetarian was first seen in 1942.

The name jeep for a, sturdy, all-purpose, small but high-powered open automobile is derived from "g.p.," the abbreviation for general-purpose vehicle.

The abbreviation TV for television was first seen in 1948.

Source Funk & Wagnall's Encyclopedia

Abbey Theatre

Dublin's Abbey Theatre, converted from a former morgue, was the gift of an English admirer of W. B. Yeats, Annie Horniman in 1904.

The curtains went up on opening night on December 27, 1904. The bill consisted of three one-act plays, On Baile's Strand and Cathleen Ní Houlihan by W.B. Yeats, and Spreading the News by Lady Gregory. In the Shadow of the Glen by J.M. Synge replaced the second Yeats play on the second night.

J M Synge became the Abbey Theatre’s director in 1906, and staged there his best-known and most controversial play, the comedy The Playboy of the Western World (1907), which caused riots for the frankness of its language and the implication that Irishmen would glamorize a murderer.

In 1925 The Abbey Theatre became the first state-subsidized theater in the English-speaking world.

The original theater was destroyed by fire in 1951.

The present building holds two auditoriums, the main one upstairs devoted mainly to the Irish classics and the Peacock Theatre downstairs, which is largely given over to experimental drama.

ABBA

ABBA is a pop music group formed in Stockholm, Sweden in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They had many hits in the 1970s and early 1980s.

ABBA on Dutch TV in April 1974. By AVRO - Beeld En Geluid Wiki - Gallerie: Toppop 1974

When the band formed, Benny and Anni-Frid were a couple, as were Björn and Agnetha. The band name is their initials as an acronym.

ABBA had to ask the ABBA seafood company, which produces marinated herrings, to share their name. The firm said, "they were not to harm ABBA's good reputation."

ABBA aren't all Swedes. Anni-Frid Lyngstad was born in the Norwegian village of Bjørkåsen on November 15, 1945 to a Norwegian mother and German soldier father — the result of a Nazi project to ‘enrich’ the Aryan gene pool. Her mother and grandmother were branded as traitors and ostracized in their home village in Norway, and were forced to flee to Sweden.

Agnetha was just 17-years-old when she had her first number one song in Sweden. It was her debut single "Jag Var Så Kär" ("I Was so In Love"), which she also wrote.

ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest singing "Waterloo" on April 6, 1974, launching their international career. Their first attempt to sing for Sweden had ended in failure the previous year. The act that did represent the country in 1973, Nova and The Dolls, came fifth.

In 1973, ABBA promoted Semper’s baby food, and it was Björn and Agnetha’s daughter Linda who debuted in this advert.

The glittering hotpants, sequined jumpsuits and platform heels that ABBA wore, were chosen because of Swedish tax law. If they bought clothes for performance they could get a tax deduction, but they had to prove they couldn't be worn on the street. According to Björn in Abba: The Official Photo Book, "we looked like nuts [...] Nobody can have been as badly dressed on stage as we were."

When ABBA was active, only the Volvo car company made more money in Sweden.

S.O.S. by ABBA was the only Top 20 hit in history in which the title of the song and the name of the artist are both palindromes - they spell the same thing forward and backward.

When ABBA toured America for the first and only time, they visited the White House. They met there President Carter's daughter Amy, who was a big fan.

In 1992, Anni-Frid married German prince Prince Heinrich Ruzzo of Reuss, Count of Plauen. She officially became Princess Reuss and Countess of Plauen with the style of Her Serene Highness following their marriage. He died in 1999.

Anni-Frid Lyngstad during the opening of ABBA: The Museum in 2013. By Frankie Fouganthin 

ABBA were the first group from a non-English-speaking country to achieve consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries,

Sources Abba Artistfacts, Event magazine, Daily Mail