Captain Macheath is a fictional character who appears both in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, its sequel Polly and roughly 200 years later in Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera. Origins Macheath made his first appearance in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera as a chivalrous highwayman. He then appeared as a pirate in Gay's sequel. He was probably inspired in part by Jack Sheppard who, like Macheath, escaped from prison and enjoyed the affections of a prostitute, and despised violence. His nemesis is Peachum who, in John Gay's original work, keeps an account book of unproductive thieves (so...

The invention of tradition is a concept made prominent in the eponymous 1983 book edited by E. J. Hobsbawm and T. O. Ranger. In their Introduction the editors argue that many "traditions" which "appear or claim to be old are often quite recent in origin and sometimes invented." They distinguish the "invention" of traditions in this sense from "starting" or "initiating" a tradition which does not then claim to be old. The phenomenon is particularly clear in the modern development of the nation and of nationalism. Application of the term and paradox The concept and the term have been wide...

Wicca () is a modern pagan, witchcraft religion. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and it was introduced to the public in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant. It draws upon a diverse set of ancient pagan and 20th century hermetic motifs for its theological structure and ritual practice. The word witch derives from Middle English wicche, Old English wicce () (feminine) "witch" and wicca () (masculine) "wizzard". Wicca is a diverse religion with no central authority or figure defining it. It is divided into various lineages and de...

Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total population of 97,000 in 2011, whilst the wider borough has a population of 318,100. Historically in the county of Lancashire, Wigan during classical antiquity was in the territory of the Brigantes, an ancient Celtic tribe that ruled much of northern England. The Brigantes were subjugated in the ...