ABC Cinemas was established in 1927 by solicitor John Maxwell[1] by merging three smaller Scottish cinema circuits. It became a wholly owned cinema subsidiary of British International Pictures when it was merged with the production arm of British National Studios, which had been formed by Maxwell in 1926.[2] During the 1930s, it grew rapidly by acquisitions and an ambitious building programme under the direction of chief architect W.R.Glen, who had been appointed in about 1929[3] and maintained a distinct house style. Existing cinemas which could not be re-modelled were usually operated as separate circuits. In 1937, the parent company, BIP was renamed Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC). ABC also ran cinemas under the Ritz brand such as the Ritz Cinema, Muswell Hill. After his death in 1940, his widow Catherine sold a large number of shares to Warner Brothers,[4] who eventually became the largest shareholders and able to exercise control, though ABPC was separately quoted on the London Stock Exchange. By 1945 it operated over 400 cinemas (usually called the Savoy or Regal) and was second only to Rank's Odeon and Gaumont chains. By the close of the 1950s ABC had started rebranding most cinemas as ABC and dropped names like Regal. Uk exhibition was characterised by alignments between distributors and exhibitors. ABC had access to Warner Brothers, MGM and its own ABPC productions, whereas rival Rank had 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Walt Disney, Columbia, Universal, United Artists and its own productions. Rival ABC, Odeon and Gaumont cinemas in a town showed their own releases and barred each other from showing the same film. Television led to a sharp decline in cinema audiences after 1952 though with the coming of commercial television from 1955 ABPC had expanded into the new medium with the creation of ABC Television Limited, which gained the Independent Television contracts for the North of England and Midlands at the weekend. ABC-TV lost its franchises in 1968, and was merged with Rediffusion to become Thames Television. As a result of the decline many suburban ABC theatres closed. Most of those remaining began, from the late 1950s to lose their individual names and were simply branded "ABC". In 1959 Rank abandoned the separate Odeon and Gaumont release and put the best cinemas from each circuit onto a new Rank release. The remaining cinemas were given a new "National" release but this was unattractive to distributors and in 1961 Paramount switched to ABC after refusing a "National" release for the Dean Martin comedy "All in a Night's Work". The "National" release soon ended entirely and there were in future just ABC and Odeon release patterns. In 1967, Seven Arts, the new owners of Warner, decided to dispose of its holdings in ABPC a ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHJJo2W2jB8

St Helens Fort is a sea fort in the Solent close to the Isle of Wight, one of the Palmerston Forts near Portsmouth. It was built as a result of the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom of 1859, in order to protect the St Helens anchorage. The fort was designed by Captain E. H. Stewart, overseen by Assistant Inspector General of Fortifications, Colonel W. F. D. Jervois. Construction began in 1865 and was completed in 1878, at a cost of £123,311.[1] It suffered badly from subsidence which forced many changes to the plans, ending up with two 10-inch 18-ton rifled muzzle-loading (RML) guns to landward and one 12.5-inch 38-ton RML gun to seaward. The fort is now in private hands and not open to the public. It was offered for sale in 2003. Any private resident would not have access to local authority services, although it has its own artesian well. A National Trust report states that during WW II, it was "used as a searchlight and anti-aircraft gun platform".[2] Periodically (often in August), on one of the lowest tides of the year, there is a mass walk from St Helens beach out to the fort and back. At this day the causeway appears from the sea upon which the original materials were carried out from the shore at St Helen's Old Church, where there was formerly a quarry. Access is from this point, but also along the spit from Bembridge. It has become traditional to hold a barbecue on the beach thereafter. This event is entirely spontaneous but safety boat services are provided by local yacht clubs.[citation needed] The other sea forts, all larger, are Spitbank Fort, Horse Sand Fort and No Man's Land Fort. The Solent Forts - often known as "Palmerston's Follies" - were built in response to a French invasion scare under Louis Napoleon III. This was due in part to the doctrines of the Jeune École of French naval thinking, which emphasised attacking ports with small craft, instead of fleet action, as well as the launch of the first ironclad warship, the Gloire. The threat of war with France receded after the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71 ended in French defeat. The forts were later used for defence in both World War I and WWII, although the heavier armaments proved unpopular with local householders due to the concussion breaking windows during firing practice. Subsequently their main useful role has been as navigational lighthouses. As of 2020, Spitbank, No Man's Land and Horse Sand Fort were also privately owned (by Clarenco); the first two had been converted into hotels after a major restoration. TEXT FROM WIKIPEDIA My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattswilli/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1228424283971624/ email me at me@thematthewwilliams.com or truthsee@gotadsl.co.uk Also present on this explore were K ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6-PBB31dJI

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