The British ships rolled at anchor, sent out picket boats and waited for orders from London.

* 1941 – World War II: The Italian convoy Duisburg, directed to Tunisia, is attacked and destroyed by British ships.

* 1781 – American Revolutionary War: British and French ships clash in the Battle of Fort Royal off the coast of Martinique.

*, a prestigious ship name in the British Royal Navy, often the name of the Fleet Flagship, has been given to five ships

* 1740 – War of Jenkin's Ear: Three British ships capture the Spanish third-rate Princesa.

Phillip's plan was for a squadron of three ships of the line and a frigate to mount a raid on Buenos Aires and Monte Video, then to proceed to the coasts of Chile, Peru and Mexico to maraud, and ultimately to cross the Pacific to join the British Navy's East India squadron for an attack on Manila.

In 1796, during the French Revolution and three years after the declaration of war between France and Great Britain, Étienne-Gaspard Robert met with the French government and proposed the use of mirrors to burn the invading ships of the British Royal Navy.

Trapped in a crossfire, the leading French ships were battered into surrender during a fierce three-hour battle, while the centre was able to successfully repel the initial British attack.

Striking southwards in the hope of collecting information about French movements, Nelson's ships stopped at Elba and Naples, where the British ambassador Sir William Hamilton reported that the French fleet had passed Sicily in the direction of Malta.

In deploying his ships in this way, Brueys hoped that the British would be forced by the shoals to attack his strong centre and rear, allowing his van to use the prevailing northeasterly wind to counterattack the British once they were engaged.

Brueys ' dispositions had a second significant flaw: the 160 yard gaps between ships were large enough for a British ship to push through and break the French line.

The ships are firing on eight ships flying the British flag that are steadily approaching them from the right of the picture.

The French initially reported just 11 British ships, as Swiftsure and Alexander were still returning from their scouting operations at Alexandria, and so were to the west of the main fleet, out of sight.

By 16: 00, Alexander and Swiftsure were also in sight, although some distance from the main British fleet, and Brueys gave orders to abandon the plan to remain at anchor and instead for his line to set sails, although Blanquet protested the order on the grounds that there were not enough men aboard the French ships to both sail the ships and man the guns.

Nelson then gave orders for his leading ships to slow down in order to allow the British fleet to approach in a more organised formation.

Nelson's plan, shaped through discussion with his senior captains during the return voyage to Alexandria, was to advance on the French and pass down the seaward side of the van and centre of the French line, so that each French ship would face two British ships and the massive Orient would be fighting against three.

To ensure that in the smoke and confusion of a night battle his ships would not accidentally open fire on one another, Nelson ordered that each ship prepare four horizontal lights at the head of their mizenmast and also to hoist an illuminated White Ensign, which was different enough from the French tricolour that it would not be mistaken in poor visibility, reducing the risk that British ships might fire on one another in the darkness.

Shortly after the French order to set sails was abandoned, the British fleet began rapidly approaching once more and Brueys, now expecting to come under attack on that night, ordered each of his ships to also place springs on their anchor cables and prepare for action.

The Alerte was sent ahead, passing close to the leading British ships and then steering sharply to the west over the shoal in the hope that the ships of the line might follow and become grounded.

By 18: 00, the British fleet was again under full sail, Vanguard sixth in the line of ten ships as Culloden trailed behind to the north, and Alexander and Swiftsure hastened to catch up to the west.

Some years ago Julian Huxley proposed to an audience made up of members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science that `` man's supernormal or extra-sensory faculties are ( now ) in the same case as were his mathematical faculties during the ice age ''.

They emerged as interchangeable cogs in a faulty but formidable machine: shaved nearly naked, hair queued, greatcoated, jackbooted, and best of all -- in the opinion of the British professional, Major Semple-Lisle -- `` their minds are not estranged from the paths of obedience by those smatterings of knowledge which only serve to lead to insubordination and mutiny ''.

I have heard people talk with contempt about the British regulars, but that only proves that a lot of people talk about things of which they are deplorably ignorant.

It truly relives another age for the inhabitants use carriages rather than autos and old British and French forts are left intact for tourists to visit and record.

Likewise, and equally fascinating, is the news that such unlikely synonyms as `` pratakku '', `` sweathruna '', and the tongue-twister `` nnuolapertar-it-vuh-karti-birifw- '' all originated in the same village in Bathar-on-Walli Province and are all used to express sentiments concerning British `` imperialism ''.

The Indians and Pakistanis are chafing under similar restrictions on the British market for similar reasons.

Rather, they are impressed with the British Government's success in forcing -- and helping -- the British textile industry to shrink and to change over to other products.

Many of the coal seams in the nationalized British mines are twisting, narrow and very deep.

The only other regions so blessed are the British Isles, western Europe, eastern China, southern Chile and parts of Japan, New Zealand and Tasmania.

International and domestic services are maintained by TAAG Angola Airlines, Aeroflot, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa, Air France, Air Namibia, Cubana, Ethiopian Airlines, Emirates, Delta Air Lines, Royal Air Maroc, Iberia, Hainan Airlines, Kenya Airways, South African Airways, TAP Air Portugal and several regional carriers.

Much like the relationship between British English and American English, the Austrian and German varieties differ in minor respects ( e. g., spelling, word usage and grammar ) but are recognizably equivalent and largely mutually intelligible.

By the Naturalisation Act 1870, it was made possible for British subjects to renounce their nationality and allegiance, and the ways in which that nationality is lost are defined.

So British subjects voluntarily naturalized in a foreign state are deemed aliens from the time of such naturalization, unless, in the case of persons naturalized before the passing of the act, they have declared their desire to remain British subjects within two years from the passing of the act.

Persons who from having been born within British territory are British subjects, but who at birth became under the law of any foreign state subjects of such state, and also persons who though born abroad are British subjects by reason of parentage, may by declarations of alienage get rid of British nationality.

Almost all of Agatha Christie's books are whodunits, focusing on the British middle and upper classes.

* 1979 – A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb kills British World War II admiral Louis Mountbatten and three others while they are boating on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland.

* On the British game show BrainTeaser, contestants are shown a word broken into randomly arranged segments and must announce the whole word.

The idea of an " aerial torpedo " was shown in the British 1909 film The Airship Destroyer, where flying torpedoes controlled wirelessly are used to bring down airships bombing London.

By the mid-twenties the British film industry was losing out to heavy competition from Hollywood, the latter helped by having a much larger home market-in 1914 25 % of films shown in the UK were British, but by 1926 this had fallen to 5 %.

Winston Churchill ordered that all of them be shown to the British public in theaters.

The photographs were shown by the American media, but British media were reluctant to republish them – royal aides suggested that Clarence House may contact the Press Complaints Commission ( PCC ) if the pictures are used by British publications.

As shown on British Channel 4 news, Spann asks Lindh, " Are you a member of the IRA?

However, it was not until 1924 that its existence was shown by British scientist Edward V. Appleton, for which he received the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physics.

For the original British and Australian releases, a spoof travelogue narrated by John Cleese Away From It All, was shown before the film itself.

The exhibition Shades of British Impressionism Lamorna Birch and his Circle was shown at Warrington Museum & Art Gallery in the Mezzanine in October 2004.

This was the belief that the British cinema must break away from its class-bound attitudes and that non-metropolitan Britain ought to be shown on the nation's screens.

Religious works by Botta, including the Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center were shown in London at the Royal Institute of British Architects in an exhibition entitled, Architetture del Sacro: Prayers in Stone.

The British sitcom Peep Show is shown entirely through the viewpoints of the characters and lets the audience hear the two lead characters ' thoughts.

In the late 19th century the clergy had shown themselves to be a powerful political force in Iran initiating the Tobacco Protests against a concession to a foreign ( British ) interest.

In the original UK DVD release, the scene in which Connery throws a knife through a sentry's throat and says " you must never hesitate " to Cage was cut, although this scene was shown on British television.

With the exception of the two-part episode " The Five Daughters Affair ," shown as part of Granada Plus's run of the series, the episodes which became movies have never aired on British television.

Her performance in the West End production of A Streetcar Named Desire, described by the theatre writer Phyllis Hartnoll as " proof of greater powers as an actress than she had hitherto shown ", led to a lengthy period during which she was considered one of the finest actresses in British theatre.

Outside of the UK, advertising is shown because the licence fee only applies to the BBC's British operations.

By the 1920s, the British Government were seeking a replacement for their book code systems, which had been shown to be insecure, and which proved to be slow and awkward to use in practice.

With Lauda out of the contest, Ferrari boycotted the Austrian GP in protest at what they saw as preferential treatment shown towards McLaren driver James Hunt at the Spanish and British GPs.

* Transmission ( TV series ), a British music television programme shown in the UK

Even the expulsion of Germans from central and eastern Europe after World War II was apparently sanctioned in article 13 of the Potsdam communiqué, although research has shown that both the British and the American delegations at Potsdam strongly objected to the size of the population transfer that had already taken place and was accelerating in the summer of 1945.

British shows are also sometimes shown on the three commercial television networks in Australia ; in particular Network Seven screened many popular UK sitcoms during the 1970s.

The breed was defined in the 19th century and British Shorthairs were shown at the 1871 Crystal Palace cat show.