Rowling, J(oanne) K(athleen) (b. July 31, 1965, Chipping Sod- bury, near Bristol, Eng.) British author, creator of the popular and criti¬ cally acclaimed Harry Potter series. The first book in the proposed seven- volume series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (U.S. title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone), was published in 1997. Featuring vivid descriptions and an imaginative story line, the book followed the unlikely hero Harry Potter, a lonely orphan who discovers that he is actually a wizard. The book was an immediate success, appealing to both children (its intended audience) and adults. Succeeding volumes— Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000), Harry Pot¬ ter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003), and Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince (2005)—were also best sellers. Rowling was credited with renewing children’s interest in reading, and in 2001 she was appointed OBE (Officer of the British Empire). That year also marked the release of the film adaptation of the first Harry Potter book. It became one of the top-grossing movies in the world, and subsequent volumes were also made into highly successful films.
Roxas \'ro-kas\ (y Acuna), Manuel (b. Jan. 1,1892, Capiz, Phil.—d. April 15, 1948, Clark Field, Pampanga) First president (1946-48) of the Republic of the Philippines. A lawyer, he began his political career in 1917. An advocate for Philippine independence from the U.S., he was a member of the convention that drew up a constitution under the revised Philippine Independence and Commonwealth Act (Tydings-McDuffie Act; 1934). He collaborated with the pro-Japanese administration during World War II but was defended in postwar trials by Gen. Dougas Mac- Arthur. He became president of the Philippines when independence was achieved (1946). Roxas obtained rehabilitation funds from the U.S. but was forced to allow the U.S. to maintain military bases and make other major concessions. His government was marred by corruption and police brutality, setting the stage for the Hukbalahap Rebellion.
Roy, Jamini (b. April 15, 1887, Baliatore, India—d. April 24, 1972, Calcutta) Indian artist. In the late 1920s and early ’30s he rejected his
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1648 I Roy ► Royall
academic training and instead developed a linear, decorative, colourful style based on Bengali folk traditions. During the 1930s and ’40s the popularity of his paintings represented the passage of modern Indian art from its earlier academic leanings to new nativist predilections. Roy’s subject matter ranged from the Ramayana to Christ to portraits of con¬ temporary figures such as Mahatma Gandhi. He is one of the best-known Indian artists of the 20th century.
Roy, Ram Mohun (b. May 22, 1772, Radhanagar, Bengal, India—d. Sept. 27, 1833, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Eng.) Indian religious, social, and political reformer. Born to a prosperous Brahman family, he traveled widely in his youth, exposing himself to various cultures and developing unorthodox views of Hinduism. In 1803 he composed a tract denouncing India’s religious divisions and superstitions and advocating a monotheis¬ tic Hinduism that would worship one supreme God. He provided modern translations of the Vedas and Upanishads to provide a philosophical basis for his beliefs, advocated freedom of speech and of religion, and denounced the caste system and suttee. In 1826 he founded the Vedanta College, and in 1828 he formed the Brahmo Samaj.
Royal Academy of Arts Britain’s national academy of art. It was founded in 1768 by George III. Its first president (1768-92) was Joshua Reynolds. The number of its members, who are selected by members and associates, is fixed at 40; members’ names are frequently followed by the initials R.A. (“Royal Academician”). Its galleries contain works by such former members as Thomas Gainsborough and J.M.W. Turner. The acad¬ emy opened a new wing, the Sackler Galleries, in 1991.
Royal Air Force (RAF) Armed service charged with the air defense of Britain and other international defense obligations. It originated in 1911, when an air battalion of the Royal Engineers was formed with one balloon and one airplane company. The air battalion was assumed into the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in 1912, and in 1918 the RFC and Royal Naval Air Services were merged into the RAF. (The Fleet Air Arm was returned to the Royal Navy in 1937.) The Royal Air Force College was established at Cranwell, Lincolnshire, in 1920 and the RAF Staff College at Andover, Hampshire, in 1922. During World War II, pilots of the RAF Fighter Command distinguished themselves in the Battle of Britain, and Bomber Command conducted massive bombing raids on the German homeland. All front-line units are now combined under the RAF Strike Command; Personnel and Training Command handles recruiting, training, pensions, and other personnel issues. Uniformed RAF personnel numbered some 48,000 at the start of the 21st century.
Royal Ballet English ballet company and school. In 1931 Ninette de Valois and Lilian Bayus organized the Vic-Wells Ballet, naming it for the two theatres (Old Vic and Sadler’s Wells) where it performed. In the 1940s the group was called the Sadler’s Wells Ballet, after its theatre; it moved to Covent Garden in 1946. Alicia Markova, Margot Fonteyn, and Robert _ Helpmann were among the company’s early members. By the 1950s the
Sadler’s Wells Ballet had expanded to include its own school and a sepa- wm rate touring company; in 1956 it received a royal charter and was renamed
ifl the Royal Ballet. Dancers such as Rudolf Nureyev and choreographers such
as Frederick Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan, and Bronislava Nijinska were wm associated with the company.
■■ Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew See Kew Gardens
Royal Canadian Mounted Police or Mounties Federal police force of Canada. It is also the criminal and provincial force in all prov¬ inces except Ontario and Quebec and the only force in the Yukon, North¬ west, and Nunavut territories. It was founded as the North West Mounted Police (1873) with a force of 300 men to bring order to western Canada, where U.S. traders were creating havoc by trading whiskey to the Indi¬ ans for furs. That success was followed by peacekeeping in the Klondike gold rush (1898) and later settlement of the west. The group assumed its current name in 1920, when it became a federal force and its headquar¬ ters were moved to Ottawa.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC formerly Royal Dutch/Shell Group
Multinational corporation comprising two founding companies, Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. of The Hague, Neth., and Shell Transport and Trad¬ ing Co., PLC, of London, Eng. The two companies began as rivals. In London in 1878, Marcus Samuel took over his father’s import-export business (which included Oriental shells) and started selling kerosene; he later entered the oil business in East Asia, and in 1897 he founded Shell Transport and Trading Co., Ltd. Meanwhile, in 1890 a group of Dutch
businessmen founded the Royal Dutch Co. for the Exploitation of Oil Wells in the Dutch Indies, which built its first refinery in Sumatra in 1892. In 1907 the two companies merged into the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, which acquired producing concerns in Egypt, Iraq, Romania, Russia, Mexico, Venezuela, California, and Oklahoma. The group, commonly referred to as Shell, has used the scallop shell as its logo since the early 1900s. With interests in liquefied natural gas and petrochemicals as well as aviation, shipping, and automotive fuels. Royal Dutch Shell ranks among the largest oil companies in the world.
Royal Greenwich \'gre-nich\ Observatory Astronomical observa¬ tory, oldest scientific institution in Britain, founded for navigational pur¬ poses in 1675 by Charles II at Greenwich, England. Its main contributions have been in navigation, timekeeping, determination of star positions, and almanac publication. In 1767 it began publishing The Nautical Almanac, based on the time at the longitude of Greenwich; its popularity among navigators led in part to the Greenwich meridian’s being made Earth’s prime meridian and the starting point for international time zones in 1884 (see Greenwich Mean Time).