London: All you need for a short break.

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A London song and some videos with tips for your summer trip.

Cricket: An English Speaking Sport

Football is not the only sport played in Britain, Britons are fond of sports and love not only playing but also watching other people playing.

Cricket is the name of an insect  an it is also the name of a traditional British sport, that has been seen  since the XVIII century, as a national game.although it was already played in Tudor times, so we can say it is a very old game. It is a game known in many Commonwealth countries and this is because the expansion of the British Empire, so we can say that this sport speaks English.
You need two teams  with eleven players each.The aim of the game is to score more runs than the other team and you do this with the help of a bat and a ball. There are different ways to score, and this makes this game difficult to understand for us (it can sometimes become meaningless).
You also need a field to play, this is called "the boundary" and it is usually marked with a white rope. As you can see in the picture, cricket is played on a lawn or grass field and players usually wear white clothes.
Everything about cricket in four minutes:


Click for a cricket glossary.

British Polls Day

Click on the Ballot Box to follow the BBC link.

Although Election Day in most European countries take place on Sundays, it is a British tradition to go to the polls on a Thursday as today. If you follow the link above, there is a BBC presentation about how to vote. I know you know what voting is, but maybe you learn some new words.

Those candidates elected are called MP (that stands for Member of Parliament). Click to see how the British Parliament works.

Click  to see newspapers front pages.

Who leads the polls? It seems that the next PM (Prime Minister) will be the Tory James Cameron.
Gordon Brown is the Leader of the Labour Party and the PM at the moment.
Nick Clegg is the Liberal Democrats candidate, this is the first time the polls predict Clegg and the LB in the  second place in number of seats in Westminster.
And if you want to visit the British Parliament, enjoy this virtual tour.

Magnificient Maps Exhibition

Click on the map to follow the link.

If you think to travel to London next summer, you are lucky because you will be able to visit the exhibition of Magnificient Maps in the British Library (a great library with more things than books). But if you can't go there, you always have the possibility to visit this great  website, where you can travel through the old maps and use the zoom to get a detailed view of them.
Click here you can see an animated presentation of the BBC showing the History of Mapmaking in Europe.
Or click to explore the beautiful website the BBC has about maps.
Pictures of London, just to enjoy.
Map to find the British Library and some more tips from Time Out London.
London for free, just in case you are short of money.

The shortest reign in Britain

Lady Jane Grey was the first Queen of Britain, but her reign was the shortest in British history and maybe the shortest in the whole world. She was a Queen during nine days and after that period she was executed in the Tower of London by her cousin Queen Mary. She was beheaded on the 12 of February of 1554.

We don't know for sure if the above picture is  her real portrait, but she is shown with a book and historians tell that she was a a learned person, the most learned of the women of her time, they say.

Remembrance of the fallen

"In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below."
(In Flanders Fields, John McCrae)

This Sunday is Remembrance Day, it is a day in which British people remember all those who were killed in war, specially during World War II (they thought that they had finished with war after it, they were wrong, obviously).

This day is also called Poppy Day because it has become a tradition to wear an artificial poppy as those which grow in the fields of Belgium, where so many British died during World War I.

Art or vandalism...?

What do you think about graffiti? do you consider it art or it is simply a way to get dirty walls in our streets? watch the video from podcast in English and answer the following questions:

Where can you see an exhibition of Banksy's work?

What kind of works does Banksy do?

Why is this exhibition so unusual?

Who is Banksy?

How does Bansky paint the graffiti? Does Bansky follow any special skill?

Where can you see his work?

Which animal is a symbol for him/her?

Where has Banksy travelled lately?

Tips: first read the questions carefully and watch and listen to the video in full.

Then watch the video the times you need to get the answers, remember that you can stop it whenever you want.

It is a good idea to have a pen and paper ready at hand to write down your answers. Good luck!

 

Race day

 

Image from the telegraph 

The boat race between Cambridge and Oxford Universities took place this year as usual at the beginning  of  the spring in London. Both teams train during the whole year to defeat the other team, this year Oxford has won and you can see its team celebrating above. I know some of you enjoy rowing, I am sure you would like to be in the Thames bank and see this race.

Click to learn more about the boat race. And follow this link to know about rowing.

Have a fun April fool's day

A short post just to tell you that you will spend April fool's Day there. Follow the link if you want to search last year's post.

Do you know what will the weather be like in London next week? Don't panic, it won't be that bad (click on the first image of the sidebar and find out).

And don't forget to download your London maps from the printing stuff box on your right!

London in your computer

Hi, I have some links for those who are travelling to London . Feeling nervous? I've not forgotten you,  here you have a present for you: a London map to search the town in your computer. You can search the places you want to visit. Remember our hotel is near the British Museum, so Russell Square is a good point to start your virtual trip (write that in the "from" box) and the point where you want to go in the "to" box. If the place where you want to go is too far to walk, don't worry, you have a tube map in the same website.
Click here to explore the British Museum (it is so next to our hotel that we can't miss it).
Natural History Museum
Click here to see some images of London.
How much do you know about London? check here.
Enjoy of this pre-London trip!

The adventure of a life: Aphra Behn

All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn,... for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds. (Virginia Woolf: A room of one's own)

Today is the International Women's Day, a very special day for women, maybe you think we don't need a day dedicated only to women but it is still a long way in front of us. Aphra Behn is the woman whose life we will revise today. She was born in Kent (about 1640) when she became a widow, she had to do a lot of different things to survive, she not only travelled to Surinam, but worked as a spy for the king Charles II (England and the Dutch were at war at the time). She spent a time in prison because of her debts (king Charles was not a good payer), after that she started to write, her plays were well received by the public and she made herself a living out of her writings. And this is the most outstanding point in Aphra Behn's life, she was the first woman who could live of her earnings as a writer. Her tomb is in Westminster Abbey, a great honour for British people.

A language has died

(Photo:Flag  from the Isle of Man)
Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam.
A country without a language is a country without a soul

(Irish proverb)

Not only some animals are in a great danger of becoming extinct, that can happen to languages, too. And in that situation are some of the so called Celtic languages which are seriously endangered in Britain. Cornish is a dead language because its last native speaker (that means, the last person who learned it as his mother tongue) died in the early 19th century. There has been a revival in the use of this language because people from Cornwall have always had a strong feeling of identity, but this effort couldn't help Cornish to be declared extinct by the UNESCO . It is believed that about 3000 people are fluent in the language today.
Manx Gaelic is the name of the language spoken in the Isle of Man, although it is also in a great danger, a revival in the use of the Manx language has taken place, as people are increasingly finding their language as something valuable cultural legacy.

Click here to explore the UNESCO interactive Atlas of the world's languages in danger.

Shrove Tuesday

Did you believe that Galician people were the only ones in the whole world who eat pancakes? you were wrong. Today, Shrove Tuesday, is Pancake Day in Great Britain and Ireland, and everyone eats pancakes before lent time starts tomorrow, Ash Wednesday.
If you don't feel like eating now, you can exercise participating in a Pancake race.

Click to learn about pancake day.

The Guardian brings you some tips to cook the best pancakes in town.
The Great Spitafield Pancake Race in YouTube.
Enjoy your Shrove Tuesday!

London tube

Those of you who are planning a trip to London will find useful this link where you can download and print your bus or tube map. The tube (that's how Londoners call to the underground)is the best way to move around and it is quick and safe as well. It works from very early in the morning until midnight, after that hour you have night buses or taxis, but the latter is an expensive option. You can buy a single or return ticket but it is always cheaper and easier to buy a travelcard which always charges to you with the lower fares. Now you have your travelcard and you tube map, now you are ready to explore London.

Routemaster

Routemaster is the name of the most famous double-decker bus in London. Although it has been withdrawn from the streets and replaced for newer ones in 2004. For the delight of both tourists and Londoners, it still survives as a classic ("heritage") bus and runs two lines only (9 and 15). Routemaster buses had been working for more than fifty years.

Learn English with the British Museum

 

Some of you will visit London next month, maybe you want to explore the British Museum and see the image above and many more things, you can plan your visit and meanwhile, watch and listen to the movie about the exhibition on Babylon. It is also possible to download the mp4 podcast. Enjoy!

St. Crispin Day

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;"

William Shakespeare, (Henry V, St.Crispin Day speech)

The French village of Agincourt, now known as Azincourt, gives name to the battle that took place there between the English, led by Henry V, and the French, with a much larger and heavier armoured army at that time.

The French were totally defeated, in part because they had been so confident about their supremacy that the young English king seized the initiative. The Welsh longbow played an important part in the battle. As a result king Henry married the French princess Catherine of Valois and entered into legend. The battle was fought on the 25th of October of 1415, St. Crispin day, and was celebrated by Shakespeare with one great play.

Your trip to London

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The Beatles timeline: Survey

April fool's

"The first of April, some do say,
Is set apart for All Fools' Day.
But why the people call it so,
Nor I, nor they themselves do know.
But on this day are people sent
On purpose for pure merriment."
(Poor Robin's Almanac, 1790)



April fool's day is celebrated in all English speaking countries.
Here there are more .Follow any of the links to find out.
Here you have the top ten April fool's day hoaxes of all time.

Enjoy your day!!