…a British bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound…
…the chemical element of atomic number 15, a poisonous, combustible non-metal which exists in two common allotropic forms, white phosphorus, a yellowish waxy solid which ignites spontaneously in air and glows in the dark, and red phosphorus, a less reactive form used in making matches…
…a trap consisting of a U-bend with the upper part of its outlet arm bent horizontally…
…denoting a region in a semiconductor in which electrical conduction is due chiefly to the movement of positive holes…
…a boundary between p-type and n-type material in a semiconductor device, functioning as a rectifier…
…a compound thought to be involved in the synaptic transmission of pain and other nerve impulses. It is a polypeptide with eleven amino-acid residues…
…(1916–2006), South African statesman, Prime Minister 1978–84, State President 1984-9; full name Pieter Willem Botha. An authoritarian leader, he continued to enforce apartheid but in response to pressure introduced limited reforms; his resistance to more radical change ultimately led to his fall from power…
… Baroness James of Holland Park (b.1920), English writer of detective fiction; full name Phyllis Dorothy James. She is noted for her novels featuring the poet-detective Adam Dalgleish, including A Taste for Death (1986)…
… 1st Baron Snow of Leicester (1905–80), English novelist and scientist; full name Charles Percy Snow. He is best known for his sequence of eleven novels Strangers and Brothers, which deals with moral dilemmas in the academic world, and for his lecture Two Cultures (1959)…
…(1885–1941), English novelist; full name Percival Christopher Wren. He is best known for his romantic adventure stories dealing with life in the French Foreign Legion, the first of which was Beau Geste (1924)…
…(1810–91), American showman; full name Phineas Taylor Barnum. He billed his circus, opened in 1871, as ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’; ten years later he founded the Barnum and Bailey circus with his former rival Anthony Bailey (1847–1906)…
…(1895–1972), English novelist and short-story writer; full name Leslie Poles Hartley. Much of his work deals with memory and the effects of childhood experience on adult life and character. Notable novels: The Shrimp and the Anemone (1944) and The Go-Between (1953)…
…(1837–1913), American financier, philanthropist, and art collector; full name John Pierpont Morgan. He created General Electric (1891) and the United States Steel Corporation (1901). He bequeathed his large art collection to the Museum of Modern Art in New York…
…(1808–73), US chief justice 1864–73; full name Salmon Portland Chase. He served in the US Senate 1849–55, as governor of Ohio 1855–59, and as US secretary of the treasury 1861–64, during which time he established the national banking system and issued the first “greenbacks.”…
…(1893–1960), US writer; full name John Phillips Marquand. He created the character Mr. Moto, a Japanese detective featured in several of his novels, such as Last Laugh, Mr. Moto (1942). His other works include The Late George Apley (1937), Point of No Return (1949), and Women and Thomas Harrow (1958)…
…(1890–1970), English writer and politician; full name Alan Patrick Herbert. He wrote novels, items for the magazine Punch, and libretti for comic operas. As an MP, he was best known for introducing legislation to reform the divorce laws…
…(b.1949), Welsh rugby union player; full name John Peter Rhys Williams. One of the leading full backs of the 1970s, Williams played for his country and for the British Lions…
…an account in the books of an organization to which incomes and gains are credited and expenses and losses debited, so as to show the net profit or loss over a given period…
…(1818–93), Confederate army officer; full name Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard. He served as superintendent of the US Military Academy at West Point, but resigned in 1861 to join the Confederacy. He commanded the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, which officially began the Civil War…
…(1921–2004), Indian statesman, Prime Minister 1991-6; full name Pamulaparti Venkata Narasimha Rao…
…(1881–1975), English writer; full name Pelham Grenville Wodehouse. His best-known works are humorous stories of the upper-class world of Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves, the first of which appeared in 1917…
…as much as could be bought for a halfpenny…
…the tree that yields afrormosia timber, occurring mainly in West Africa…
…a small bottom-dwelling marine fish of deep water, with a long pair of fleshy barbels beneath the chin…
…a mainly white butterfly that has caterpillars which are pests of cabbages and related plants…
…a rather large diving bird with a long neck, long hooked bill, short legs, and mainly dark plumage. It typically breeds on coastal cliffs…
…a tropical American tree or shrub with clusters of fragrant white, pink, or yellow flowers…
…a hard tough thermoplastic substance which is the coagulated latex of certain Malaysian trees. It consists chiefly of a hydrocarbon isomeric with rubber and is now used chiefly in dentistry and for electrical insulation…
…an African bird of prey with a bare yellow face, resembling a goshawk but flying like a harrier…
…a semiaquatic mammal of the tenrec family, with a sleek body and long tail, native to central and West Africa…
…a greyish-brown American mammal which has a foxlike face with a black mask, a ringed tail, and the habit of washing its food in water…
…a large dark-skinned constricting snake with paler markings and a distinctive pale mark on the crown…
