Misc: Surrounding or blocking of a place by an enemy?

Questions

What useful device was invented and marketed by Charles Moncky?

Which former Marine published the first volume of his diaries in 2000?

Which British film, set in the north of England during the miners' strike, had a massive release in the U.S.A. in November 2000?

Which genus of redwood conifers was named to commemorate a great Cherokee Indian?

Edward III did well between 1346 and 1356. But what catastrophe cast a terrible blight over that decade?