England

The University of West London is a public university based in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in Ealing and Brentford, London, and Reading,... Berkshire and soon to also be in Slough. The University has roots back to 1860, when the Lady Byron School was founded, which later became Ealing College of Higher Education. In 1990, Ealing College of Higher Education, Thames Valley College of Higher Education, Queen Charlotte's College of Health Care Studies and the London College of Music merged to form the Polytechnic of West London. In 1992, the Polytechnic of West London became a university and adopted the name Thames Valley University. In 2004, Thames Valley merged with Reading College and School of Arts and Design. A former campus in Slough was closed in 2010. In August 2010, the University announced that it had been granted permission to change its name to the University of West London, to reflect a focusing of operations onto its Ealing and Brentford campuses. The new name was formally adopted on Wednesday 6 April 2011.
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The University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham, United Kingdom. Although it received its Royal Charter in 1948,... its predecessor institution, University College Nottingham has been in existence since 1881. With the recent opening of further campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the university has been described by the Times as Britain's "only truly global university". Nottingham had more than 49,000 applications for 5,500 places in 2011, making it the third most popular university in the United Kingdom. It has been described by the Times as a "prime alternative to Oxbridge". Nottingham consistently ranks among the top 10 in UK in the most highly regarded world and national rankings. It is particularly strong in traditional courses such as Law, Economics and Medicine. Entry into these courses are among the most competitive in the country. In the past decade, Nottingham has produced two Nobel Laureates in the fields of Medicine and Economics.
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The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. The university was formed in October 2004 by the... merger of the Victoria University of Manchester and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology . It is a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities, the N8 Group and a "red brick" university having gained a royal charter under its Victoria University predecessor in 1903. The University of Manchester and its constituent former institutions have 25 Nobel Laureates among their past and present students and staff, the third highest number of any single university in the United Kingdom . Four Nobel laureates are currently among its staff - Andre Geim , Kostya Novoselov , Sir John Sulston and Joseph Stiglitz . Following the merger, the university was named Sunday Times University of the Year in 2006 after winning the inaugural Times Higher Education Supplement University of the Year prize in 2005.
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Andrew Nicholas Castle is an English retired tennis professional, former British No. 1, and now television presenter. Castle was born in Epsom,... Surrey. His mother, Lavinia Pollock , was adopted shortly after her birth. She married fishmonger Frank Castle in April 1953. The couple had five children: James; Richard; David; Fiona; and Andrew, who was born in 1963. Castle's father was a master fishmonger who ran the fishmongers in Westerham, Kent, where his customers included the lady of nearby Chartwell House, Winston Churchill's wife Clementine. He went on to own shops in North Cheam; Norbury; Stoneleigh, Surrey; and in Taunton, Somerset. At the age of nine, Andrew was asked by a friend to come and play tennis: "I can remember every detail about the day, from the feel of the ball to how it sounded when coming off the net. I insisted we played for eight hours non-stop." His parents supported him, but ran out of money, and his father was declared bankrupt, so both of them became taxi drivers.
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Francesca Schiavone is an Italian tennis player who turned professional in 1998. She won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first... Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She was also runner-up at the 2011 French Open. As of 16 January 2012, Schiavone's ranking is World No. 11; her career high ranking is World No. 4, achieved on 31 January 2011. Schiavone employs an all court game and has a very classic approach to her clay game. She uses an extreme eastern grip on her one handed backhand. Chris Fowler and Brad Gilbert described her forehand as a "buggy whip." Schiavone has won four singles titles on the WTA tour, but has also achieved ten runner-ups in total, eight of them since the autumn of 2005. Schiavone lost her first eight career finals before finally winning her first title in July 2007. She and her Italian teammates Mara Santangelo, Flavia Pennetta, and Roberta Vinci beat the Belgium team 3–2 in the 2006 Fed Cup final. Justine Henin had to retire in the fifth and final match due to an injury in her right knee, which let Italy win their first Fed Cup trophy.
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Timothy Henry "Tim" Henman OBE is a retired English professional tennis player and former British Number One. Henman played a serve-and-volley style... of tennis that suited the grass courts of Wimbledon. He was the first player from the United Kingdom since Roger Taylor in the 1970s to reach the semi-finals of the Wimbledon Men's Singles Championship. Henman never reached the finals of any Grand Slam but having reached six Grand Slam semi-finals, won 15 career ATP titles , and been ranked number 4 in the world, Henman was one of Britain's most successful open era male tennis players. He retired after helping Great Britain defeat Croatia in a Davis Cup match played in September 2007. Nicknamed "Tiger Tim", Henman is worth £17 million and remains a celebrity among the public. Tim Henman comes from a talented sporting family: his father Tony, a solicitor, was accomplished at various sports, including tennis and squash. His mother Jane, a dress designer, played Junior Wimbledon and introduced Tim and his older brothers Michael and Richard to tennis as soon as they could walk on the family's grass tennis court.
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Patrick Hart "Pat" Cash is a retired Australian professional tennis player who won the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1987. Cash first came to... the tennis world's attention as a junior player in the early 1980s. He was ranked the top junior player in the world in 1981, and in 1982 he won the junior titles at both Wimbledon and the US Open. He turned professional in 1982 and won his first top-level singles title that year in Melbourne. Cash established a reputation on the tour as a hard-fighting serve-and-volleyer and for wearing his trademark black-and-white checked headband and his cross earring. In 1983, Cash became the youngest player to play in a Davis Cup final. He won the decisive singles rubber against Joakim Nyström as Australia defeated Sweden 3–2 to claim the cup. In 1984, Cash reached the men's singles semi-finals at both Wimbledon and the US Open. He lost in three sets in the Wimbledon semi-finals to John McEnroe and was defeated in the semi-finals at the US Open by Ivan Lendl, who won their match in a fifth set tiebreaker.
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Wales , Welsh: Cymru; pronounced [ˈkəm.rɨ]  is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain,... bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km² . Wales has over 1,200 km of coastline, including its offshore islands; the largest, Anglesey , is also the largest island in the Irish Sea. Generally mountainous, its highest mountains are in the north and central areas, especially in Snowdonia , which contains Snowdon , its highest peak. During the Iron Age and early medieval period, Wales was inhabited by the Celtic Britons. A distinct Welsh national identity emerged in the centuries after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, and Wales is regarded as one of the modern Celtic nations today. Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was recognised as king of Wales in 1057. Llywelyn ap Gruffydd's death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of England's conquest of Wales. The castles and town walls erected to ensure its permanence are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
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