Lizzie McGuire was a situation comedytelevision series that ran from 2001 until 2004 about the daily life of a thirteen year old American girl, Lizzie McGuire (played by Hilary Duff), and her family and friends. The series started with the main character buying her first bra and followed her as she grew up and left school. Research Lizzie McGuire
Charles II was King of England, Ireland and Scotland from 1660 to 1685. He was the sone of son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria of France. He was a refugee at the Hague on the death of his father, on which he immediately assumed the royal title. Oliver Cromwell was then all-powerful in England; but Charles II accepted an invitation from the Scots, who had proclaimed him their king in July, 1650, and, passing over to Scotland, he was crowned at Scone in 1651. Oliver Cromwell's approach made him take refuge amongst the English royalists, who, having gathered an army, encountered Oliver Cromwell at Worcester, and were totally defeated. With great difficulty Charles II escaped to France. On the death of Oliver Cromwell the Restoration effected without a struggle by General Monk set Charles on the throne after the declaration of Breda, his entry into the capital on the 29th of May, 1660 being made amidst universal acclamations.
Despite the bitterness left from the Civil Wars and Charles I's execution, there were few detailed negotiations over the conditions of Charles II's restoration to the throne. Under the Declaration of Breda of May 1660, Charles had promised pardons, arrears of Army pay, confirmation of land purchases during the Interregnum and 'liberty of tender consciences' in religious matters, but several issues remained unresolved. However, the Militia Act of 1661 vested control of the armed forces in the Crown, and Parliament agreed to an annual revenue of 1, 200,000 pounds. The bishops were restored to their seats in the House of Lords, and the Triennial Act of 1641 was repealed - there was no mechanism for enforcing the King's obligation to call Parliament at least once every three years.
Under the 1660 Act of Indemnity and Oblivion, only the lands of the Crown and the Church were automatically resumed; the lands of Royalists and other dissenters which had been confiscated and/or sold on were left for private negotiation or litigation.
In 1662 Charles II married the Infanta of Portugal, Catharine of Bra-ganza, a prudent and virtuous princess, but in no way calculated to acquire the affection of a man like Charles. For a time his measures, mainly counselled by the chancellorLordClarendon, were prudent and conciliatory. But the indolence, extravagance, and licentious habits of the king soon involved the nation as well as himself in difficulties. Dunkirk was sold to the French to relieve his pecuniary embarrassment, and war broke out with Holland. A Dutch fleet entered the Thames, and burned and destroyed ships as far up as Chatham. The early years of Charles's reign saw an appalling plague which hit the country in 1665 with 70,000 dying in London alone, and the Great Fire of London in 1666 which destroyed St Paul's amongst other buildings. Another misfortune included the second Dutch war of 1665 (born of English and Dutch commercial and colonial rivalry). Although the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam was overrun and renamed New York before the war started, by 1666 France and Denmark had allied with the Dutch. The war was dogged by poor administration culminating in a Dutch attack on the Thames in 1667; a peace was negotiated later in the year.
In 1667, Charles dismissed his LordChancellor, Clarendon - an adviser from Charles's days of exile. As a scapegoat for the difficult religious settlement and the Dutch war, Clarendon had failed to build a 'Court interest' in the Commons. Clarendon was dismissed, and was succeeded by a series of ministerial combinations, the first of which was that of Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington and Lauderdale. Such combinations (except for Danby's dominance of Parliament from 1673 to 1679) were largely kept in balance by Charles for the rest of his reign. Charles's foreign policy was a wavering balance of alliances with France and the Dutch in turn.
A triple alliance between England, Holland, and Sweden, for the purpose of checking the ambition of Louis XIV, followed; but the extravagance of the king made him willing to become a mere pensioner of Louis XIV, with whom he arranged a private treaty against Holland in 1670 - the secret treaty of Dover under which Charles would declare himself a Catholic and England would side with France against the Dutch, in return Charles would receive subsidies from the King of France (thus enabling Charles some limited room for manoeuvre with Parliament, but leaving the possibility of public disclosure of the treaty by Louis). Practical considerations prevented such a public conversion, but Charles issued a Declaration of Indulgence, using his prerogative powers to suspend the penal laws against Catholics and Nonconformists. In the face of an Anglican Parliament's opposition, Charles was eventually forced to withdraw the Declaration in 1673.
The Cabal ministry was by this time in power, and they were quite ready to break the triple alliance and bring about a rupture with the Dutch. As the king did not choose to apply to parliament for money to carry on the projected war he caused the exchequer to be shut up in January, 1672, and by several other disgraceful and arbitrary proceedings gave great disgust and alarm to the nation. The war ended in failure, and the Cabal ministry was dissolved in 1673.
In 1677 Charles married his niece Mary to William of Orange partly to restore the balance after his brother's second marriage to the Catholic Mary of Modena and to re-establish his own Protestantcredentials. This assumed a greater importance as it became clear that Charles's marriage to Catherine of Braganza would produce no legitimate heirs (although Charles had a number of mistresses and illegitimate children) , and his Roman Catholic brother James's position as heir apparent raised the prospect of a Catholic king.
Throughout Charles's reign, religious toleration dominated the political scene. The 1662 Act of Uniformity had imposed the use of the Book of Common Prayer, and insisted that clergy subscribe to Anglican doctrine (some 1,000 clergy lost their livings). Anti-Catholicism was widespread; the Test Act of 1673 excluded Roman Catholics from both Houses of Parliament. Parliament's reaction to the Popish Plot of 1678 (an allegation by Titus Oates that Jesuit priests were conspiring to murder the King, and involving the Queen and the Lord Treasurer, Danby) was to impeach Danby and present a Bill to exclude James (Charles's younger brother and a Roman Catholic convert) from the succession.
In 1679 the Habeas Corpus Act was passed, and the temper of the parliament was so much excited that the king dissolved it. A new parliament which assembled in 1680 had to be dissolved for a like reason, and yet another which met the year following at Oxford. Finally Charles, like his father, determined to govern without a parliament, and after the suppression of the Rye House plot and the execution of Russell and Sidney Charles became as absolute as any sovereign in Europe.
Charles sponsored the founding of the Royal Society in 1660 to promote scientific research. Charles also encouraged a rebuilding programme, particularly in the last years of his reign, which included extensive rebuilding at Windsor Castle, a huge but uncompleted new palace at Winchester and the Greenwich Observatory. Charles was a patron of Christopher Wren in the design and rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral, Chelsea Hospital and other London buildings. Charles II died in 1685, becoming a Roman Catholic on his deathbed. Research Charles II
Brassieres date from the early 1900s. A design for a brassiere made from two handkerchiefs and narrow ribbon was patented in the USA in 1914 by Mary Phelps Jacob (Caresse Crosby). Until the mid- 1920s, brassieres were boneless and were designed to flatten the bust and push it downwards. They were widely adopted during the 1920s when fashionable at-home dresses and, later, cocktail dresses were often made of revealing, semi-transparent fabrics. By 1925, brassieres had adjustable front straps and a division between the breasts in the bandeau front. During the late 1920s the Kestos Company of America produced a brassiere made of two triangular pieces of fabric secured to elastic that was pulled over the shoulders, crossed at the back, and buttoned at the front under a darted 'cup'.
During the late 1920s and 1930s corsetry companies began manufacturing brassieres which were boned and stitched into different cup sizes. A boned strapless brassiere appeared in the late 1930s and it was during this decade that the word 'bra' came into popular usage. In the 1940s the use of foam pads gave additional shape to many bras. Their outline was most exaggerated during the 1950s, when bras were both wired and stitched in circular patterns to further stiffen the fabric. The strapless bra was popular during the 1950s, when it was worn under off-the-shoulder, strapless dresses. The same decade saw manufacturers beginning to produce bras for teenagers.
With the 1960s came greater flexibility of design and further liberation and comfort for women through the introduction of fabrics containing Lycra. Since the 1970s, mouldings of thermoplastic fibres at high temperatures have produced one-piece seamless bras. In 1964 a Canadian company, later purchased by Sara Lee Intimates, designed a 'Wonderbra', a padded, under-wired, push- up bra that made a more pronounced breast shape. This style gained wide popularity from 1994, in the wake of adverse publicity for artificial breast implants. Research Brassiere
An uplift bra is a brassiere designed to enhance and amplify the perceived size and shape of the breasts. The most famous uplift bra is the 'Wonderbra'. Research Uplift Bra
Bra is an Italian traditional farmhouse and co-operative natural-rind hard cheese made from un-pasteurised cow's milk in the Piedmont region. Research Bra
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