Battle of Babylon Hill

Battle of Babylon Hill.
The Battle of Babylon Hill was a skirmish between Royalist and Parliamentarian forces in South West England, on 7 September 1642, during the early stages of the First English Civil War. After a failed Parliamentarian siege of Sherborne, about 350 Royalists were sent to reconnoitre near Yeovil. Under the command of Sir Ralph Hopton (pictured), the detachment established itself on Babylon Hill, on the outskirts of the town. When they were withdrawing late in the day a force of Parliamentarians approached. A chaotic battle ensued, mostly due to the inexperience of the soldiers involved. The Parliamentarian force made a cavalry attack, which the Royalists were able to repel, though sections of both forces were routed. In the confusion, the Royalists were eventually able to pull back under the cover of darkness. Both sides claimed they had killed sixty or more; a modern estimate suggests that the Royalists lost around twenty, and the Parliamentarians five.

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Katie Joplin

Katie Joplin.
Katie Joplin is an American sitcom created by Tom Seeley and Norm Gunzenhauser that aired for one season on The WB Television Network from August to September 1999. Park Overall plays the title character, a single mother who tries to balance her job as a radio program host with parenting her teenage son Greg (Jesse Head). Supporting characters include her boss, played by Jay Thomas (pictured), her niece (Ana Reeder), and her co-workers (Jim Rash and Simon Rex). The series was optioned as a mid-season replacement for the 1998–1999 television season, but was delayed for a year after production issues. Katie Joplin received the lowest ratings for any original program The WB aired in its time slot. Of the seven episodes filmed, only five were aired. Critics recommended Katie Joplin prior to its premiere and discussed the delay in its airing. Retrospective reviews of the series were negative.

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Abberton Reservoir

Abberton Reservoir.
Abberton Reservoir is a pumped storage freshwater reservoir in England near the Essex coast, with an area of 700 hectares (1,700 acres). Most of its water is pumped in from the River Stour. Constructed between 1935 and 1939, it is currently owned by Essex and Suffolk Water, and lies 6 km (4 mi) south-west of Colchester. In World War II, the reservoir was mined to deter invading seaplanes, and it was used by the RAF's No. 617 Squadron ("The Dam Busters") to practise for the bombing of the German dams in the Ruhr. A project to increase the reservoir's capacity to 41,000 megalitres (9.0×109 imperial gallons) was completed in 2013, along with a new link to transfer water from Norfolk's River Ouse to the Stour. The reservoir is important for its breeding cormorants, wintering and moulting waterfowl, and migrating birds. It is an internationally important wetland, designated as a Ramsar site, SSSI and SPA and listed in A Nature Conservation Review. A small part of the site is managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust.

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Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan

Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan.
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (c. 646 – 705) was the fifth Umayyad caliph, ruling from April 685 until his death. At his accession, Umayyad authority in the Caliphate had been restricted to Syria and Egypt as a result of the second Muslim civil war. Abd al-Malik reunited the Caliphate after defeating the Zubayrids at the Battle of Maskin in Iraq in 691 and the siege of Mecca in 692. The wars with Byzantium recommenced, resulting in Umayyad advances into Anatolia and Armenia and the recapture of Kairouan, which led to the conquests of Northwest Africa and most of the Iberian Peninsula during the reign of his son and successor, al-Walid I. Abd al-Malik founded the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, the earliest archaeologically attested religious monument built by a Muslim ruler. He introduced a single Islamic currency and established Arabic as the language of the bureaucracy, replacing Greek in Syria and Persian in Iraq. His centralized government became the prototype of later medieval Muslim states.