Prize crossword

Across

1 First name of the politician who made the infamous address dubbed by the press as the ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech in Birmingham in 1968 (5) 4 First sold in 1886 in Atlanta, US as a medicinal tonic, this drink has now become an internationally renowned beverage (4,4) 9 Name coined for Elizabeth I by poet Edmund Spenser in The Faerie Queene (8) 10 16th/17th-century Persian shah, who secured and strengthened the Safavid dynasty (5,1) 11 The former Lord Chancellor who died at Leicester, on his way to London to answer charges of treason (6) 12 Piers Plowman, a great example of English literature, is said to have been written by the 14th-century poet, William __ (8) 13 Sixth-century monk and historian who wrote On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain (6) 15 The major ones during the First World War were Great Britain (and its empire), France and the Russian empire (6) 18 The state created in 1948 by the partition of Palestine (6) 19 West London film studios famous for classic comedies of the late 1940s and early 1950s (6) 21 One of Rome’s seven hills, known in legend as the location of the cave where the she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus (8) 23 British political party established in 1900, as a result of various leftwing organisations uniting as a single body (6) 24 Primitive sort of missile-launcher, in use at least 2,000 years ago (5) 25 Isaac Butt was the first leader of the political party, __ __ League, which campaigned for Ireland’s self-government (4,4) 26 Swedish physicist, a founder of spectroscopy, after whom a unit of length is named (8) 27 Granville __ (1735–1813), biblical scholar, and one of the first English campaigners for the abolition of slavery (5)

Down

2 British naval commander, shot and killed by a French sniper during a famous sea battle of 1805 (6) 3 Swedish queen known as ‘Minerva of the North’, who caused a shockwave by abdicating for personal reasons (9) 4/16 World famous US aviator whose baby son was kidnapped and murdered in 1932 ( 7,9) 5 The body armour worn by medieval knights (9) 6 Name for a group of secret intriguers. The initials of the five ministers chosen by Charles II for such a role also happen to spell that name (5) 7 Commander of the Spartan fleet that defeated the Athenians in the Hellespont in 405 BC (8) 8/23 down Safety device named after its 18th/19th-century Cornish inventor, Sir Humphry (4,4) 14 Bank robber shot outside a Chicago cinema in 1934, as a result of an FBI entrapment (9) 16 See 4 down 17 A real-life role for actor John Wilkes Booth in a Washington DC theatre on 14 April 1865 (8) 19 Worcestershire town, near where the future Edward I defeated the army of Simon de Montfort, who was killed during the battle ( 7) 20 UK chancellor of the Exchequer from 1951 until 1955, nicknamed ‘Rab’ (6) 22 Sir Hardy __, the influential fashion designer appointed Queen’s dressmaker in 1955 (5) 23 See 8 down