he+is+not+running+again

ask someone not to come

be / have come under the spell / sway of

come / get dangerously / threateningly close

come across vividly

come away empty-handed

come back into fashion

come blowing in

come charging along

come flying along

come from

come from a working-class background

come from Baden

come off

come on, one for the road

come on, out with it / spit it out

come out on top

come over someone

come panting along

come pelting along

come roaring along

come roaring up

come running along

come sailing along

come shooting along

come sneaking up

come streaming along

come swarming along

come to an agreement

come to an agreement on

come to an arrangement / agreement

come to terms with someone

come to terms with someone something

come to the conclusion that

come to the conclusion that

come to the wrong place

come under someone's spell

come under someone's sway / spell

come unhooked

come up with

come whizzing along

do / come off

enter on / come into an inheritance

have come to the end of the road

have come to the wrong place

he was the last to come in

he's come down to earth again

he's come to the end of the road

I would love to have come

I'm afraid I can't come after all

I've come by car

that's still to come

write to someone to say one can't come / that the party is off

your hour is come

1) быть избранным на выборах, прийти к власти

2) быть модным

3) быть, стоять на подаче ( в крикете)

4) гореть

5) быть собранным ( об урожае)

6) подниматься, достигать высшей отметки ( о приливе)

7) быть свойственным, характерным для кого-л.

8) ( be in for) с тревогой ожидать, предчувствовать

9) ( be in for) быть занесённым в списки участников ( соревнования)

10) ( be in for) добиваться, просить ( место)

11) ( be in on) разг. участвовать; играть активную роль в (чём-л.)

12) ( be in with) разг. быть на дружеской ноге с (кем-л.); делиться секретами с (кем-л.)

1) infml

2) infml

3) AmE infml

4) AmE sl

5) AmE sl

6) AmE sl

7) AmE sl

1) infml

2) sl

1) повсюду, везде

2) в беспорядке

3) ужасно, отчаянно

on [ɒn]

sur ⇒ 1A (a)-(d), 1A (f), 1B (a), 1C (a), 1C (d), 1D (a)-(c), 1D (j) à ⇒ 1A (c), 1D (f), 1D (h), 1D (i), 1D (j), 1F (c), 1F (f) en ⇒ 1A (c), 1F (g) par rapport à ⇒ 1C (e) selon ⇒ 1D (d) de ⇒ 1F (d) allumé ⇒ 3 (a) ouvert ⇒ 3 (a) en marche ⇒ 3 (a) de garde ⇒ 3 (c) de service ⇒ 3 (c)

1 preposition

A.

(a) (specifying position) sur;

∎ the vase is on the shelf le vase est sur l'étagère;

∎ put it on the shelf mets-le sur l'étagère;

∎ on the floor par terre;

∎ on the ceiling au plafond;

∎ there are posters on the walls il y a des affiches aux ou sur les murs;

∎ there was blood on the walls il y avait du sang sur les murs;

∎ a coat was hanging on the hook un manteau était accroché à la patère;

∎ the post with the seagull on it le poteau sur lequel il y a la mouette;

∎ he has a ring on his finger il a une bague au doigt;

∎ to lie on one's back/side être allongé sur le dos/côté;

∎ on this side de ce côté;

∎ on the other side of the page de l'autre côté de la page;

∎ on page four à la quatrième page, à la page quatre;

∎ on the left/right à gauche/droite

(b) (indicating writing or painting surface) sur;

∎ I had nothing to write on je n'avais rien sur quoi écrire;

∎ red on a green background rouge sur un fond vert

(c) (indicating general location, area)

∎ he works on a building site il travaille sur un chantier;

∎ they live on a farm ils habitent une ferme;

∎ there's been an accident on the M1 il y a eu un accident sur la M1;

∎ room on the second floor chambre au second (étage);

∎ on Arran/the Isle of Wight sur Arran/l'île de Wight;

∎ on Corsica/Crete en Corse/Crète;

∎ on Majorca/Minorca à Majorque/Minorque

(d) (indicating part of body touched) sur;

∎ I kissed him on the cheek je l'ai embrassé sur la joue;

∎ someone tapped me on the shoulder quelqu'un m'a tapé sur l'épaule

(e) (close to)

∎ the village is right on the lake/sea le village est juste au bord du lac/de la mer

(f) (indicating movement, direction)

∎ the mirror fell on the floor la glace est tombée par terre;

∎ to climb on(to) a wall grimper sur un mur;

∎ they marched on the capital ils marchèrent sur la capitale;

∎ don't tread on it ne marchez pas dessus

B.

(a) (indicating thing carried) sur;

∎ I only had £10 on me je n'avais que 10 livres sur moi;

∎ she's got a gun on her elle est armée

(b) (indicating facial expression)

∎ he had a scornful smile on his face il affichait un sourire plein de mépris

C.

(a) (indicating purpose of money, time, effort spent) sur;

∎ I spent hours on that essay j'ai passé des heures sur cette dissertation;

∎ she spent £1,000 on her new stereo elle a dépensé 1000 livres pour acheter sa nouvelle chaîne hi-fi;

∎ to put money on a horse parier ou miser sur un cheval;

∎ what are you working on at the moment? sur quoi travaillez-vous en ce moment?

(b) (indicating activity undertaken)

∎ I am here on business je suis ici pour affaires;

∎ to be on strike être en grève;

∎ he's off on a trip to Brazil il part pour un voyage au Brésil;

∎ to go on safari faire un safari;

∎ she was sent on a course on l'a envoyée suivre des cours;

∎ I'm on nights next week je suis de nuit la semaine prochaine;

∎ he's on lunch/a break il est en train de déjeuner/faire la pause;

∎ she's been on the committee for years ça fait des années qu'elle siège au comité

(c) (indicating special interest, pursuit)

∎ she's keen on music elle a la passion de la musique;

∎ he's good on modern history il excelle en histoire moderne;

∎ she's very big on equal opportunities l'égalité des chances, c'est son cheval de bataille

(d) (indicating scale of activity)

∎ on a large/small scale sur une grande/petite échelle

(e) (compared with) par rapport à;

∎ imports are up/down on last year les importations sont en hausse/en baisse par rapport à l'année dernière;

∎ it's an improvement on the old system c'est une amélioration par rapport à l'ancien système

D.

(a) (about, on the subject of) sur;

∎ a book/film on the French Revolution un livre/film sur la Révolution française;

∎ we all agree on that point nous sommes tous d'accord sur ce point;

∎ I need some advice on a legal matter j'ai besoin de conseils sur un point légal;

∎ could I speak to you on a matter of some delicacy? pourrais-je vous parler d'une affaire assez délicate?;

∎ the police have nothing on him la police n'a rien sur lui

(b) (indicating person, thing affected) sur;

∎ it has no effect on them cela n'a aucun effet sur eux;

∎ a tax on alcohol une taxe sur les boissons alcoolisées;

∎ try it on your parents essaie-le sur tes parents;

∎ the government must act on inflation le gouvernement doit prendre des mesures contre l'inflation;

∎ he has survived two attempts on his life il a échappé à deux tentatives d'assassinat;

∎ it's unfair on women c'est injuste envers les femmes;

∎ the joke's on you! c'est toi qui as l'air ridicule!

(c) (indicating cause of injury)

∎ I cut my finger on a piece of glass je me suis coupé le doigt sur un morceau de verre

(d) (according to) selon;

∎ everyone will be judged on their merits chacun sera jugé selon ses mérites;

∎ candidates are selected on their examination results les candidats sont choisis en fonction des résultats qu'ils ont obtenus à l'examen

(e) (indicating reason, motive for action)

∎ on impulse sur un coup de tête;

∎ the police acted on information from abroad la police est intervenue après avoir reçu des renseignements de l'étranger;

∎ I shall refuse on principle je refuserai par principe

(f) (included in, forming part of)

∎ your name isn't on the list votre nom n'est pas sur la liste;

∎ the books on the syllabus les livres au programme;

∎ on the agenda à l'ordre du jour

(g) (indicating method, system)

∎ they work on a rota system ils travaillent par roulement;

∎ reorganized on a more rational basis réorganisé sur une base plus rationnelle

(h) (indicating means of transport)

∎ on foot/horseback à pied/cheval;

∎ on the bus/train dans le bus/train;

∎ she arrived on the midday bus/train elle est arrivée par le bus/train de midi;

∎ on a bicycle à bicyclette

(i) (indicating instrument played)

∎ to play a tune on the flute jouer un air à la flûte;

∎ who's on guitar/on drums? qui est à la guitare/à la batterie?

(j) Radio

∎ , Television & Theatre I heard it on the radio/on television je l'ai entendu à la radio/à la télévision;

∎ it's the first time she's been on television c'est la première fois qu'elle passe à la télévision;

∎ what's on the other channel or side? qu'est-ce qu'il y a sur l'autre chaîne?;

∎ on stage sur scène

(k) (indicating where information is stored)

∎ it's all on computer tout est sur ordinateur;

∎ on file sur fichier

E.

INDICATING DATE, TIME ETC

∎ on the 6th of July le 6 juillet;

∎ on or about the 12th vers le 12;

∎ on Christmas Day le jour de Noël;

∎ I'll see her on Monday je la vois lundi;

∎ on Monday morning lundi matin;

∎ I don't work on Mondays je ne travaille pas le lundi;

∎ on a Monday morning in February un lundi matin (du mois) de février;

∎ on a fine day in June par une belle journée de juin;

∎ on time à l'heure;

∎ every hour on the hour à chaque heure;

∎ it's just on five o'clock il est cinq heures pile;

∎ just on a year ago (approximately) il y a près d'un an

F.

(a) (indicating source of payment)

∎ have a drink on me prenez un verre, c'est moi qui offre;

∎ the drinks are on me/the house! c'est ma tournée/la tournée du patron!;

∎ you can get it on the National Health ≃ c'est remboursé par la Sécurité sociale

(b) (indicating source or amount of income)

∎ to live on one's private income/a student grant vivre de ses rentes/d'une bourse d'études;

∎ you can't live on such a low wage on ne peut pas vivre avec des revenus aussi modestes;

∎ familiar they're on the dole or on unemployment benefit ils vivent du chômage ou des allocations de chômage^□ ;

∎ to retire on a pension of £5,000 a year prendre sa retraite avec une pension de 5000 livres par an

(c) (indicating source of power) à;

∎ it works on electricity ça marche à l'électricité

(d) (indicating source of nourishment) de;

∎ they live on cereals ils se nourrissent de céréales;

∎ we dined on oysters and champagne nous avons dîné d'huîtres et de champagne

(e) (indicating drugs, medicine prescribed)

∎ is she on the pill? est-ce qu'elle prend la pilule?;

∎ I'm still on antibiotics je suis toujours sous antibiotiques;

∎ the doctor put her on tranquillizers le médecin lui a prescrit des tranquillisants;

∎ he's on insulin/heroin il prend de l'insuline/de l'héroïne;

∎ he's on drugs il se drogue;

∎ familiar figurative what's he on? il se sent bien?

(f) (at the same time as) à;

∎ he'll deal with it on his return il s'en occupera à son retour;

∎ looters will be shot on sight les pillards seront abattus sans sommation;

∎ on the death of his mother à la mort de sa mère;

∎ on my first/last visit lors de ma première/dernière visite;

∎ on the count of three à trois

(g) (with present participle) en;

∎ on hearing the news en apprenant la nouvelle;

∎ on completing the test candidates should… quand ils auront fini l'examen les candidats devront…

2 adverb

(a) (in place)

∎ the lid wasn't on le couvercle n'était pas mis;

∎ put the top back on afterwards remets le capuchon ensuite

(b) (referring to clothes)

∎ why have you got your gloves on? pourquoi as-tu mis tes gants?;

∎ the woman with the blue dress on la femme en robe bleue;

∎ what had she got on? qu'est-ce qu'elle portait?, comment était-elle habillée?;

∎ he's got nothing on il est nu

(c) (indicating continued action)

∎ to read on continuer à lire;

∎ the car drove on la voiture ne s'est pas arrêtée;

∎ they walked on ils poursuivirent leur chemin;

∎ from now or this moment or this time on désormais;

∎ from that day on à partir ou dater de ce jour;

∎ well on in years d'un âge avancé;

∎ earlier/later/further on plus tôt/tard/loin;

∎ on with the show! que le spectacle continue!

(d) (indicating activity)

∎ I've got a lot on this week je suis très occupé cette semaine;

∎ have you got anything on tonight? tu fais quelque chose ce soir?

(e) (functioning, running)

∎ put or turn or switch the television on allume la télévision;

∎ turn the tap on ouvre le robinet;

∎ the lights had been left on les lumières étaient restées allumées;

∎ the tap had been left on le robinet était resté ouvert;

∎ the car had its headlights on les phares de la voiture étaient allumés

(f) (in betting)

∎ I have a bet on j'ai fait un pari

(g) familiar (idiom)

∎ to be or go on about sth parler de qch sans arrêt^□ ;

∎ he's on about his new car again le voilà reparti sur sa nouvelle voiture;

∎ what's she on about? qu'est-ce qu'elle raconte?;

∎ he's always on about the war/teenagers il n'arrête pas de déblatérer sur la guerre/les adolescents;

∎ my parents are always on at me about my hair mes parents n'arrêtent pas de m'embêter avec mes cheveux;

∎ I've been on at them for months to get it fixed cela fait des mois que je suis sur leur dos pour qu'ils le fassent réparer

3 adjective

(a) (working → electricity, light, radio, TV) allumé; (→ gas, tap) ouvert; (→ engine, machine) en marche; (→ handbrake) serré; (→ alarm) enclenché;

∎ the radio was on very loud la radio hurlait;

∎ make sure the switches are in the "on" position vérifiez que les interrupteurs sont sur (la position) "marche";

∎ the "on" button le bouton de mise en marche

(b) (happening, under way)

∎ to be on (actor) être en scène;

∎ we're on in ten minutes c'est à nous dans dix minutes;

∎ there's a conference on next week il y a une conférence la semaine prochaine;

∎ the meeting is on right now la réunion est en train de se dérouler;

∎ the match is still on (on TV) le match n'est pas terminé; (going ahead) le match n'a pas été annulé;

∎ it's on at the local cinema ça passe au cinéma du quartier;

∎ the play was on for weeks la pièce a tenu l'affiche pendant des semaines;

∎ your favourite TV programme is on tonight il y a ton émission préférée à la télé ce soir;

∎ there's nothing good on (on TV, radio) il n'y a rien de bien;

∎ is the party still on? est-ce que la soirée se fait toujours?;

∎ is our deal still on? est-ce que notre affaire tient toujours?;

∎ the kettle's on for tea j'ai mis de l'eau à chauffer pour le thé;

∎ hurry up, your dinner's on dépêche-toi, ton dîner va être prêt

(c) (on duty → in hospital, surgery) de garde; (→ in shop, administration) de service;

∎ I'm on at three o'clock, then off at nine o'clock je commence à trois heures et je finis à neuf heures

(d) (in betting)

∎ the odds are twenty to one on la cote est de vingt contre un

(e) familiar (unacceptable)

∎ such behaviour just isn't on! une telle conduite est tout à fait inadmissible!^□ ;

∎ British it's not on! ça va pas du tout!

(f) familiar (feasible, possible)

∎ we'll never be ready by tomorrow, it just isn't on nous ne serons jamais prêts pour demain, c'est tout bonnement impossible

(g) familiar (in agreement)

∎ are you still on for dinner tonight? ça marche toujours pour le dîner de ce soir?;

∎ shall we say £10? - you're on! disons 10 livres? - d'accord ou tope là!;

∎ if you wash the dishes, I'll dry them - you're on! si tu fais la vaisselle, je l'essuie - ça marche!

(h) British familiar

∎ to be on (menstruating) avoir ses ragnagnas

4 on and off adverb

∎ we went out together on and off for a year on a eu une relation irrégulière pendant un an

5 on and on adverb

sans arrêt;

∎ he goes on and on about his minor ailments il nous rebat les oreilles avec ses petits problèmes de santé;

∎ the play dragged on and on la pièce n'en finissait plus

SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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Francis Crossley was the youngest of three brothers employed in their father's carpet-weaving business in Halifax and who took over the running of the company on their father's death in 1837. Francis seems to have been the one with technical ability, for it was he who saw the possibilities of weaving by power. Growth of the company was rapid through his policy of acquiring patents and then improving them, and it was soon at the forefront of the carpet-manufacturing trade. He had taken out rights on the patents of John Hill of Manchester, but his experiments with Hill's looms for weaving carpets were not successful.

In the spring of 1850 Francis asked a textile inventor, George Collier of Barnsley, to develop a power loom for carpet manufacture. Collier produced a model that was a distinct advance on earlier looms, and Francis engaged him to perfect a power loom for weaving tapestry and Brussels carpets. After a great deal of money had been expended, a patent was taken out in 1850 in the name of his brother, Joseph Crossley, for a loom that could weave velvet as well as carpets and included some of the ideas of the American E.B. Bigelow. This new loom proved to be a great advance on all the earlier ones, and thus brought the Crossleys a great fortune from both sales of patent rights and the production of carpets from their mills, which were soon enlarged.

According to the Dictionary of National Biography, Francis Crossley was Mayor of Halifax in 1849 and 1850, but Hogg gives this position to his elder brother John. In 1852 Francis was returned to Parliament as the Liberal member for Halifax, and in 1859 he became the member for the West Riding. Among his benefactions, in 1855 he gave to the town of Halifax a twelve-acre park that cost £41,300; a statue of him was erected there. In the same year he endowed twenty-one almshouses. In 1863 a baronetcy was conferred upon him in recognition of his commercial and public services, which he continued to perform until his death. In 1870 he gave the London Missionary Society £20,000, their largest single donation up to that time, and another £10,000 to the Congregational Pastor's Retiring Fund. He became ill when on a journey to the Holy Land in 1869, but although he made a partial recovery he grew worse again towards the end of 1871 and died early in the following year. He left £800,000 in his will.

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SUBJECT AREA: Photography, film and optics

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Dickson was born in France of English and Scottish parents. As a young man of almost 19 years, he wrote in 1879 to Thomas Edison in America, asking for a job. Edison replied that he was not taking on new staff at that time, but Dickson, with his mother and sisters, decided to emigrate anyway. In 1883 he contacted Edison again, and was given a job at the Goerk Street laboratory of the Edison Electric Works in New York. He soon assumed a position of responsibility as Superintendent, working on the development of electric light and power systems, and also carried out most of the photography Edison required. In 1888 he moved to the Edison West Orange laboratory, becoming Head of the ore-milling department. When Edison, inspired by Muybridge's sequence photographs of humans and animals in motion, decided to develop a motion picture apparatus, he gave the task to Dickson, whose considerable skills in mechanics, photography and electrical work made him the obvious choice. The first experiments, in 1888, were on a cylinder machine like the phonograph, in which the sequence pictures were to be taken in a spiral. This soon proved to be impractical, and work was delayed for a time while Dickson developed a new ore-milling machine. Little progress with the movie project was made until George Eastman's introduction in July 1889 of celluloid roll film, which was thin, tough, transparent and very flexible. Dickson returned to his experiments in the spring of 1891 and soon had working models of a film camera and viewer, the latter being demonstrated at the West Orange laboratory on 20 May 1891. By the early summer of 1892 the project had advanced sufficiently for commercial exploitation to begin. The Kinetograph camera used perforated 35 mm film (essentially the same as that still in use in the late twentieth century), and the kinetoscope, a peep-show viewer, took fifty feet of film running in an endless loop. Full-scale manufacture of the viewers started in 1893, and they were demonstrated on a number of occasions during that year. On 14 April 1894 the first kinetoscope parlour, with ten viewers, was opened to the public in New York. By the end of that year, the kinetoscope was seen by the public all over America and in Europe. Dickson had created the first commercially successful cinematograph system. Dickson left Edison's employment on 2 April 1895, and for a time worked with Woodville Latham on the development of his Panoptikon projector, a projection version of the kinetoscope. In December 1895 he joined with Herman Casier, Henry N.Marvin and Elias Koopman to form the American Mutoscope Company. Casier had designed the Mutoscope, an animated-picture viewer in which the sequences of pictures were printed on cards fixed radially to a drum and were flipped past the eye as the drum rotated. Dickson designed the Biograph wide-film camera to produce the picture sequences, and also a projector to show the films directly onto a screen. The large-format images gave pictures of high quality for the period; the Biograph went on public show in America in September 1896, and subsequently throughout the world, operating until around 1905. In May 1897 Dickson returned to England and set up as a producer of Biograph films, recording, among other subjects, Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 1897, Pope Leo XIII in 1898, and scenes of the Boer War in 1899 and 1900. Many of the Biograph subjects were printed as reels for the Mutoscope to produce the "what the butler saw" machines which were a feature of fairgrounds and seaside arcades until modern times. Dickson's contact with the Biograph Company, and with it his involvement in cinematography, ceased in 1911.

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SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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Isaac Holden's father, who had the same name, had been a farmer and lead miner at Alston in Cumbria before moving to work in a coal-mine near Glasgow. After a short period at Kilbarchan grammar school, the younger Isaac was engaged first as a drawboy to two weavers and then, after the family had moved to Johnstone, Scotland, worked in a cotton-spinning mill while attending night school to improve his education. He was able to learn Latin and bookkeeping, but when he was about 15 he was apprenticed to an uncle as a shawl-weaver. This proved to be too much for his strength so he returned to scholastic studies and became Assistant to an able teacher, John Kennedy, who lectured on physics, chemistry and history, which he also taught to his colleague. The elder Isaac died in 1826 and the younger had to provide for his mother and younger brother, but in 1828, at the age of 21, he moved to a teaching post in Leeds. He filled similar positions in Huddersfield and Reading, where in October 1829 he invented and demonstrated the lucifer match but did not seek to exploit it. In 1830 he returned because of ill health to his mother in Scotland, where he began to teach again. However, he was recommended as a bookkeeper to William Townend, member of the firm of Townend Brothers, Cullingworth, near Bingley, Yorkshire. Holden moved there in November 1830 and was soon involved in running the mill, eventually becoming a partner.

In 1833 Holden urged Messrs Townend to introduce seven wool-combing machines of Collier's designs, but they were found to be very imperfect and brought only trouble and loss. In 1836 Holden began experimenting on the machines until they showed reasonable success. He decided to concentrate entirely on developing the combing machine and in 1846 moved to Bradford to form an alliance with Samuel Lister. A joint patent in 1847 covered improvements to the Collier combing machine. The "square motion" imitated the action of the hand-comber more closely and was patented in 1856. Five more patents followed in 1857 and others from 1858 to 1862. Holden recommended that the machines should be introduced into France, where they would be more valuable for the merino trade. This venture was begun in 1848 in the joint partnership of Lister \& Holden, with equal shares of profits. Holden established a mill at Saint-Denis, first with Donisthorpe machines and then with his own "square motion" type. Other mills were founded at Rheims and at Croix, near Roubaix. In 1858 Lister decided to retire from the French concerns and sold his share to Holden. Soon after this, Holden decided to remodel all their machinery for washing and carding the gill machines as well as perfecting the square comb. Four years of excessive application followed, during which time £20,000 was spent in experiments in a small mill at Bradford. The result fully justified the expenditure and the Alston Works was built in Bradford.

Holden was a Liberal and from 1865 to 1868 he represented Knaresborough in Parliament. Later he became the Member of Parliament for the Northern Division of the Riding, Yorkshire, and then for the town of Keighley after the constituencies had been altered. He was liberal in his support of religious, charitable and political objectives. His house at Oakworth, near Keighley, must have been one of the earliest to have been lit by electricity.

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SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace

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Son of a successful mining engineer, Sopwith did not shine at school and, having been turned down by the Royal Navy as a result, attended an engineering college. His first interest was motor cars and, while still in his teens, he set up a business in London with a friend in order to sell them; he also took part in races and rallies.

Sopwith's interest in aviation came initially through ballooning, and in 1906 he purchased his own balloon. Four years later, inspired by the recent flights across the Channel to France and after a joy-ride at Brooklands, he bought an Avis monoplane, followed by a larger biplane, and taught himself to fly. He was awarded the Royal Aero Society's Aviator Certificate No. 31 on 21 November 1910, and he quickly distinguished himself in flying competitions on both sides of the Atlantic and started his own flying school. In his races he was ably supported by his friend Fred Sigrist, a former motor engineer. Among the people Sopwith taught to fly were an Australian, Harry Hawker, and Major Hugh Trenchard, who later became the "father" of the RAF.

In 1912, depressed by the poor quality of the aircraft on trial for the British Army, Sopwith, in conjunction with Hawker and Sigrist, bought a skating rink in Kingston-upon-Thames and, assisted by Fred Sigrist, started to design and build his first aircraft, the Sopwith Hybrid. He sold this to the Royal Navy in 1913, and the following year his aviation manufacturing company became the Sopwith Aviation Company Ltd. That year a seaplane version of his Sopwith Tabloid won the Schneider Trophy in the second running of this speed competition. During 1914–18, Sopwith concentrated on producing fighters (or "scouts" as they were then called), with the Pup, the Camel, the 1½ Strutter, the Snipe and the Sopwith Triplane proving among the best in the war. He also pioneered several ideas to make flying easier for the pilot, and in 1915 he patented his adjustable tailplane and his 1 ½ Strutter was the first aircraft to be fitted with air brakes. During the four years of the First World War, Sopwith Aviation designed thirty-two different aircraft types and produced over 16,000 aircraft.

The end of the First World War brought recession to the aircraft industry and in 1920 Sopwith, like many others, put his company into receivership; none the less, he immediately launched a new, smaller company with Hawker, Sigrist and V.W.Eyre, which they called the H.G. Hawker Engineering Company Ltd to avoid any confusion with the former company. He began by producing cars and motor cycles under licence, but was determined to resume aircraft production. He suffered an early blow with the death of Hawker in an air crash in 1921, but soon began supplying aircraft to the Royal Air Force again. In this he was much helped by taking on a new designer, Sydney Camm, in 1923, and during the next decade they produced a number of military aircraft types, of which the Hart light bomber and the Fury fighter, the first to exceed 200 mph (322 km/h), were the best known. In the mid-1930s Sopwith began to build a large aviation empire, acquiring first the Gloster Aircraft Company and then, in quick succession, Armstrong-Whitworth, Armstrong-Siddeley Motors Ltd and its aero-engine counterpart, and A.V.Roe, which produced Avro aircraft. Under the umbrella of the Hawker Siddeley Aircraft Company (set up in 1935) these companies produced a series of outstanding aircraft, ranging from the Hawker Hurricane, through the Avro Lancaster to the Gloster Meteor, Britain's first in-service jet aircraft, and the Hawker Typhoon, Tempest and Hunter. When Sopwith retired as Chairman of the Hawker Siddeley Group in 1963 at the age of 75, a prototype jump-jet (the P-1127) was being tested, later to become the Harrier, a for cry from the fragile biplanes of 1910.

Sopwith also had a passion for yachting and came close to wresting the America's Cup from the USA in 1934 when sailing his yacht Endeavour, which incorporated a number of features years ahead of their time; his greatest regret was that he failed in his attempts to win this famous yachting trophy for Britain. After his retirement as Chairman of the Hawker Siddeley Group, he remained on the Board until 1978. The British aviation industry had been nationalized in April 1977, and Hawker Siddeley's aircraft interests merged with the British Aircraft Corporation to become British Aerospace (BAe). Nevertheless, by then the Group had built up a wide range of companies in the field of mechanical and electrical engineering, and its board conferred on Sopwith the title Founder and Life President.

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CM / JDS