Today, The Fosters & TheGrandma have visited one of the greatest actors of all time, Charles Chaplin, who is spending some days in London.
Before this amazing visit, the family has been studying English grammar with the Comparative of Equality.
Finally, The Grandma has explained some stories about Charlie Rivel, the best clown of all time, and MarcelMarceau, the best mime of all time.
Charlie Rivel and Marcel Marceau were as prosecuted as Charles Chaplin for political reasons. All three had to exile or escape from terrible situations helping lots of people on their searching of freedom.
Charles Spencer Chaplin (1889-1977) is an English actor who famed in the silent film era.
Chaplin's childhood in London was one of poverty and hardship. His father was absent and his mother struggled financially -he was sent to a workhouse twice before the age of nine.
When he was 14, his mother was committed to a mental asylum. Chaplin began performing at an early age, touring music halls and later working as a stage actor and comedian.
Chaplin
started in the film industry at age 14 and since that moment his career
was meteoric co-founding the distribution company United Artists in
1919 andplaying successful films as The Kid, Modern Times, Limelight or The Great Dictator where he satirised Hitler and attacked fascism.
At 19, he was signed to the Fred Karno company, which took him to the United States. He was scouted for the film industry and began appearing in 1914 for Keystone Studios. He soon developed the Tramp persona and attracted a large fan base. He directed his own films and continued to hone his craft as he moved to the Essanay, Mutual, and First National corporations.
By 1918, he was one of the world's best-known figures.
Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, edited, starred in, and composed the music for most of his films. He was a perfectionist, and his financial independence enabled him to spend years on the development and production of a picture. His films are characterised by slapstick combined with pathos, typified in the Tramp's struggles against adversity. Many contain social and political themes, as well as autobiographical elements.
His popularity declined when he was accused of communist and the FBI opened an investigation.
He received an Honorary Academy Award for the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century in 1972, as part of a renewed appreciation for his work. He continues to be held in high regard, with The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator often ranked on lists of the greatest films.
Chaplin was forced to leave the US and he settle in Switzerland where he died on 25 December. The king of the smile died
on Christmas Day but his legacy is eternal.
The Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is played on outdoor grass courts, with retractable roofs over the two main courts since 2019.
Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the others being the Australian Open, the French Open, and the US Open. Wimbledon is the only major still played on grass, the traditional tennis playing surface. Also, it is the only Grand Slam that retains a night-time curfew, though matches can now continue until 11.00 pm under the lights.
The tournament traditionally takes place over two weeks in late June and early July, starting on the last Monday in June and culminating with the Ladies' and Gentlemen's Singles Finals, scheduled for the Saturday and Sunday at the end of the second week. Five major events are held each year, with additional junior and invitational competitions also taking place.
In 2009, Wimbledon's Centre Court was fitted with a retractable roof to lessen the loss of playing time due to rain. A roof was operational over No. 1 Court from 2019, when a number of other improvements were made, including adding cushioned seating, a table and 10 independently operable cameras per court to capture the games.
Wimbledon traditions include a strict all-white dress code for competitors, and royal patronage. Strawberries and cream are traditionally consumed at the tournament. Unlike other tournaments, advertising is minimal and low key from official suppliers such as Slazenger and Rolex. The relationship with Slazenger is the world's longest-running sporting sponsorship, providing balls for the tournament since 1902.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 Wimbledon was cancelled, the first cancellation of the tournament since World War II. The rescheduled 134th edition was staged from 28 June 2021 to 11 July 2021, following from the 2020 cancellation. The 135th edition was played between 27 June 2022 and 10 July 2022, and regularly scheduled play occurred on the middle Sunday for the first time. It marks the centenary of the inaugural championships staged at the Centre Court. The ATP, ITF, and WTA did not award ranking points for the 2022 tournament, due to controversy over the tournament excluding players representing Russia and Belarus.
The 2023 Wimbledon Championships will be the 136th staging and will run from 3 July 2023 to 16 July 2023 and it will be the first event of King Charles III since the death of the former patron, Queen Elizabeth II, on 8 September 2022.
The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is a private club founded on 23 July 1868, originally as The All England Croquet Club. Its first ground was at Nursery Road off Worple Road, Wimbledon.
In 1876, lawn tennis, a game devised by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield a year or so earlier as an outdoor version of real tennis and originally given the name Sphairistikè, was added to the activities of the club.
In spring 1877, the club was renamed The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club and signalled its change of name by instituting the first Lawn Tennis Championship. A new code of laws, replacing the code administered by the Marylebone Cricket Club, was drawn up for the event. Today's rules are similar except for details such as the height of the net and posts and the distance of the service line from the net.
The inaugural 1877 Wimbledon Championship started on 9 July 1877 and the Gentlemen's Singles was the only event held. 22 men paid a guinea to enter the tournament, which was to be held over five days. The rain delayed it four more days and thus, on 19 July 1877, the final was played. Spencer Gore, an old Harrovian rackets player, defeated William Marshall 6–1, 6–2 and 6–4 in 48 minutes. Gore was presented with the silver challenge cup, valued at 25 guineas and donated by the sports magazine The Field, as well as a prize money of 12 guineas. About 200 spectators paid one shilling each to watch the final.
The lawns at the ground were arranged so that the principal court was in the middle with the others arranged around it, hence the title Centre Court. The name was retained when the Club moved in 1922 to the present site in ChurchRoad, although no longer a true description of its location. However, in 1980 four new courts were brought into commission on the north side of the ground, which meant the Centre Court was once more correctly described. The opening of the new No. 1 Court in 1997 emphasised the description.
Wimbledon is widely considered the world's premier tennis tournament and the priority of the club is to maintain its leadership. To that end a long-term plan was unveiled in 1993, intended to improve the quality of the event for spectators, players, officials and neighbours.
Today, The Grandma has been walking across CentralPark. She loves this place, and she has remembered when she wasthere onSeptember 19, 1981 listening to Paul Simon and ArtGarfunkel in an unforgettable concert where they played one of her favourite songs, Aheart inNew York.
Meanwhile, The Grangers have continued preparing their Cambridge Exam. They have studied Too/Enough and Comparative of Equality.
The Concert in Central Park is the first live album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, released on February 16, 1982, by Warner Bros. Records.
It was recorded on September 19, 1981, at a free benefit concert on the Great Lawn in Central Park, New York City, where the pair performed in front of an audience reported at the time as 500,000 people.
Later
estimates determined that the maximum number of people who could fit in
the park space was 48,500. A film of the event was shown on TV and
released on video. Proceeds went toward the redevelopment and
maintenance of the park, which had deteriorated due to lack of municipal
funding.
The concert and album marked the start of a three-year reunion of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.
The concept of a benefit concert in Central Park
had been proposed by Parks Commissioner Gordon Davis and promoter Ron
Delsener. Television channel HBO agreed to carry the concert, and they
worked with Delsener to decide on Simon and Garfunkel as the
appropriate act for this event. Besides hit songs from their years as a
duo, their set-list included material from their solo careers, and
covers.
The show consisted of 21 songs, though two were not used in the live album. Among the songs performed were the classics The Sound of Silence, Mrs.Robinson, and The Boxer; the event concluded with a reprise of Simon's song Late in the Evening.
Ongoing personal tensions between the duo led them to decide against a
permanent reunion, despite the success of the concert and a subsequent
world tour.
The album and film were released the year after the concert. Simon and Garfunkel's
performance was praised by music critics and the album was commercially
successful; it peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 album charts
and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association
of America (RIAA).
The
video recordings were initially broadcast on HBO and were subsequently
made available on Laserdisc, CED, VHS and DVD. A single was released of Simon and Garfunkel's live performance of The Everly Brothers's song Wake Up Little Susie, which reached No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982; it is the duo's last Top 40 hit.
New York City's Central Park, an oasis that functions as the city's green lung, was in a state of deterioration in the mid-1970s. Though Central Park
had been designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962, at the start
of the 1980s, the city lacked the financial resources to spend an
estimated US$3,000,000 to restore or even to maintain the park. The
nonprofit Central Park Conservancy was founded in 1980, and began a successful campaign to raise renovation funds.
The concert took place on Saturday, September 19, 1981, on the Great Lawn, the central open space of Central Park. The first spectators, many carrying chairs or picnic blankets, arrived at daybreak to secure a good spot.
The
Parks Department originally expected about 300,000 attendees. Although
rain fell throughout the day and continued until the start of the
concert, an estimated 500,000 audience members made this the
seventh-largest concert attendance in the United States in history.
Later estimates determined that the maximum number of people who could
fit in the park space was 48,500.
The River Mersey is a river in the North West of England. Its name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon language and translates as boundary river.
The river may have been the border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria, and for centuries it formed part of the boundary between the historic counties of Lancashire and Cheshire. The start of the Mersey is at the confluence of the River Tame and River Goyt in Stockport. It flows westwards through the suburban areas of south Manchester, then into the Manchester ShipCanal at Irlam, becoming a part of the canal and maintaining the canal's water levels.
After 6.4 km the river exits the canal, flowing towards Warrington where the river widens. It then narrows as it passes between the towns of Runcorn and Widnes. From Runcorn the river widens into a large estuary, which is 4.8 km across at its widest point near Ellesmere Port.
The course of the river then turns
north as the estuary narrows between Liverpool and Birkenhead on the
Wirral Peninsula to the west, and empties into Liverpool Bay. In total,
the river flows 113 km.
A railway tunnel between Birkenhead and Liverpool as part of the MerseyRailway opened in 1886. Two road tunnels pass under the estuary from Liverpool: the Queensway Tunnel opened in 1934 connecting the city to Birkenhead, and the Kingsway Tunnel, opened in 1971, to Wallasey.
A road bridge, completed in 1961 and later named the Silver Jubilee Bridge, crosses between Runcorn and Widnes, adjacent to the Runcorn Railway Bridge which opened in 1868.
A second road bridge, the Mersey Gateway, opened in October 2017, carrying a six-lane road connecting Runcorn's Central Expressway with Speke Road and Queensway in Widnes.
The Mersey Ferry operates between Pier Head in Liverpool and Woodside in Birkenhead and Seacombe, and has become a tourist attraction, offering cruises that provide an overview of the river and surrounding areas.
Water quality in the Mersey was severely affected by industrialization, and in 1985, the MerseyBasin Campaign was established to improve water quality and encourage waterside regeneration.
In 2009, it was announced that the river is cleaner than at any time since the industrial revolution and is now considered one of the cleanest in the UK. TheMersey Valley Countryside Warden Service manages local nature reserves such as Chorlton Ees and Sale Water Park. The river gave its name to Merseybeat, developed by bands from Liverpool, notably the Beatles.
In 1965, it was the subject of the top-ten hit single Ferry Cross the Mersey by Gerry and the Pacemakers.
Its name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon mǣres, of a boundary and ēa, a river.
The Mersey was possibly the border river between Mercia and Northumbria. Its Welsh name is either Afon Mersi in essence a respelling of the name Mersey or Afon Merswy, apparently no older than the nineteenth century, with the suffix wy replacing the final syllable of the name, thought at the time to mean water; river and appropriate for forming river names.
Today, The Stones have sailed along the Mersey River. Before sailing along the river, the family had been studying some English grammar. They have revised Comparatives of Equality and the Order of Adjectives.
While they were contemplating the amazing, wonderful views, the boat has suffered a terrible accident, and it has sunk. All the members of the family has arrived swimming to the shore. All except Mireia Stone who is missing. The family has phoned the police, and they have started a great campaign in social networks asking for help and support.
Today, The Jones have continued their trip across the Highlands. After meeting Nessie and spending a wonderful day with him yesterday, this morning the family has revised some Social English. Later, they have practised PresentSimple vs. Present Continuous and the Adjectives of Equality.
The Grandma has explained to her family that she had bought a new propierty in the island: a beautiful Scottish castle next to the Loch Ness.
The family has talked about which residence to choose to spend their summer holidays. The selection is easy: or S'Estaca in Majorca Island or Urquhart Castle in Loch Ness.
Finally, The Jones have played some word games to improve their vocabulary and enjoy good moments together before having lunch with their last guests: Sean Connery, Annie Lennox and Amy Macdonald.
This afternoon, the family is meeting William Wallace, an old Grandma's friend, a local hero, who has a very beautiful story of bravery and honour to explain. After this visit, The Jones are preparing their suitcases again because Paris is waiting for them.
William Wallace
Sir William Wallace, in Scottish Gaelic UilleamUallas, is a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence.
Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in September 1297. He was appointed Guardian of Scotland and served until his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk in July 1298. In August 1305, Wallace was captured in Robroyston, near Glasgow, and handed over to King Edward I of England, who had him hanged, drawn, and quartered for high treason and crimes against English civilians.
Since his death, Wallace has obtained an iconic status far beyond his homeland. He is the protagonist of Blind Harry's 15th-century epic poem The Wallace and the subject of literary works by Sir Walter Scott and Jane Porter, and of the Academy Award-winning film Braveheart.
William Wallace
William Wallace was a member of the lesser nobility, but little is definitely known of his family history or even his parentage. When Wallace was growing up, King Alexander III ruled Scotland. His reign had seen a period of peace and economic stability. On 19 March 1286, however, Alexander died after falling from his horse.
The heir to the throne was Alexander's granddaughter, Margaret, Maid of Norway. As she was still a child and in Norway, the Scottish lords set up a government of guardians. Margaret fell ill on the voyage to Scotland and died in Orkney on 26 September 1290. The lack of a clear heir led to a period known as the Great Cause, with several families laying claim to the throne.
With Scotland threatening to descend into civil war, King Edward I of England was invited in by the Scottish nobility to arbitrate. Before the process could begin, he insisted that all of the contenders recognize him as Lord Paramount of Scotland. In early November 1292, at a great feudal court held in the castle at Berwick-upon-Tweed, judgment was given in favour of John Balliol having the strongest claim in law.
William Wallace
Edward proceeded to reverse the rulings of the Scottish Lords and even summoned King John Balliol to stand before the English court as a common plaintiff. John was a weak king, known as Toom Tabard or Empty Coat. John renounced his homage in March 1296 and by the end of the month Edward stormed Berwick-upon-Tweed, sacking the then-Scottish border town. In April, the Scots were defeated at the Battle of Dunbar in East Lothian and by July, Edward had forced John to abdicate. Edward then instructed his officers to receive formal homage from some 1,800 Scottish nobles, many of the rest being prisoners of war at that time.
On 11 September 1297, an army jointly led by Wallace and Andrew Moray won the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Although vastly outnumbered, the Scottish army routed the English army. John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey's feudal army of 3,000 cavalry and 8,000 to 10,000 infantry met disaster as they crossed over to the north side of the river.
In April 1298, Edward ordered a second invasion of Scotland. Two days prior to the battle 25,781 foot soldiers were paid. More than half of them would have been Welsh. There are no clear cut sources for the presence of cavalry, but it is safe to assume that Edward had roughly 1500 horse under his command. They plundered Lothian and regained some castles, but failed to bring William Wallace to combat; the Scots shadowed the English army, intending to avoid battle until shortages of supplies and money forced Edward to withdraw, at which point the Scots would harass his retreat.
The English quartermasters' failure to prepare for the expedition left morale and food supplies low, and a resulting riot within Edward's own army had to be put down by his cavalry. In July, while planning a return to Edinburgh for supplies, Edward received intelligence that the Scots were encamped nearby at Falkirk, and he moved quickly to engage them in the pitched battle he had long hoped for.
William Wallace
By September 1298, Wallace resigned as Guardian of Scotland in favour of Robert the Bruce, Earl of Carrick and future king, and John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, King John Balliol's nephew.
Wallace evaded capture by the English until 5 August 1305 when John de Menteith, a Scottish knight loyal to Edward, turned Wallace over to English soldiers at Robroyston near Glasgow. The site is commemorated by a small monument in the form of a Celtic cross. Letters of safe conduct from Haakon V of Norway, Philip IV of France, and John Balliol, along with other documents, were found in Wallace's possession and delivered to Edward by John de Segrave.
Wallace was transported to London, lodged in the house of William de Leyrer, then taken to Westminster Hall, where he was tried for treason and for atrocities against civilians in war, sparing neither age nor sex, monk nor nun. He was crowned with a garland of oak to suggest he was the king of outlaws. He responded to the treason charge, I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject.
Antonio Bean'sDeclaration. January, 12. 14:05-East Time. New York.
The Beans in the Statue Cruises boat
We started the day practising some English grammar. We talked about Likes and Dislikes and about Comparatives of Equality. We practised some Social
English, Vocabulary about Places and Crimes and reviewed some grammar.
We
talked about the importance of being a member of a community and about the common
work in cooperatives.
We were very happy because a new member had joined to our family.
She's
Tania from San Marino. She’s a nice person and a great veterinary. She was
going to take care of Rhini during our travel. In fact, she's not an unknown
person for me because she's my sister. My family kept this secret during a lot
of years but I discovered and I wanted to come to the USA to meet her.
Now,
she's missing as the rest of my family. Last time I remember her, she was talking with Anton about an interesting website to download books.
We were enjoying our moment, sharing some sweets and talking about our
personal experiences as a normal family when we heard the terrible sound.
Something had happened on the first floor of the boat because the water
started to cover all of it. Only five minutes later, the boat had disappeared and
all the family was trying to save each other. It was a dramatic moment. I could
see Rhini arriving to the shore of Liberty Island but I couldn't see anything more,
only water. I closed my eyes and I started to pray God thinking in one of my
favourite prayers Near my God to Thee. It's curious. This song was also the
last song which was played in the Titanic.
I prayed and prayed and prayed...
I don't remember anything more. I'm so sorry. I'm exhausted and sad.
In these moments, I remember a William Shakespeare's quote: It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.
Today, The Poppins have been talking about the
differences between Present Simpleand PresentContinuous; between as and like and practising some Comparatives
of Equality.
They have
read two more chapters of Oscar Wilde’s
The Picture of Dorian Grey and they’ve
compared some famous sci-fi characters and they have created some micro plots
about The Legend of Saint George.
Finally,
they’ve watched a video about perceptions and how to look at something and see
nothing.
Tomorrow, they’re preparing some budgets and
they’re planning the next travel to Brazil.
Moreover, they’re deciding which house they’re going to buy.
Facts matter not at all. Perception is everything. It's certainty.
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