Today, The Weasleys & The Grandma have visited the most incredible ancient Londoner stone building, WestminsterAbbey,thearge, mainly Gothic abbey church in the City of Westminster.
Westminster Abbey,formally titled the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, is a large, mainly Gothic abbey church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster.
It is one of the United Kingdom's most notable religious buildings and the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English and, later, British monarchs. The building itself was a Benedictine monastic church until the monastery was dissolved in 1539. Between 1540 and 1556, the abbey had the status of a cathedral. Since 1560, the building is no longer an abbey or a cathedral, having instead the status of a Church of England Royal Peculiar -a church responsible directly to the sovereign.
According
to a tradition first reported by Sulcard in about 1080, a church was
founded at the site, then known as Thorn Ey in the seventh century, at
the time of Mellitus, a Bishop of London. Construction
of the present church began in 1245, on the orders of King Henry III.
Since the coronation of William the Conqueror in 1066, all coronations of English and British monarchs have been in Westminster Abbey. There have been 16 royal weddings at the abbey since 1100.
A
late tradition claims that Aldrich, a young fisherman on the River
Thames, had a vision of Saint Peter near the site. This seems to have
been quoted as the origin of the salmon that Thames fishermen offered to
the abbey in later years -a custom still observed annually by the
Fishmongers' Company. The recorded origins of the Abbey date to the 960s or early 970s, when Saint Dunstan and King Edgar installed a community of Benedictine monks on the site.
Between 1042 and 1052, King Edward the Confessor began rebuilding St Peter's Abbey to provide himself with a royal burial church. It was the first church in England built in the Romanesque style. The building was completed around 1060 and was consecrated on 28 December 1065,
only a week before Edward's death on 5 January 1066. A week later, he
was buried in the church; and, nine years later, his wife Edith was
buried alongside him. His successor, Harold II, was probably crowned in
the abbey, although the first documented coronation is that of William
the Conqueror later the same year.
The only extant depiction of Edward's abbey, together with the adjacent Palace of Westminster, is in the Bayeux Tapestry.
Some of the lower parts of the monastic dormitory, an extension of the
South Transept, survive in the Norman Undercroft of the Great School,
including a door said to come from the previous Saxon abbey. Increased
endowments supported a community increased from a dozen monks in
Dunstan's original foundation, up to a maximum about eighty monks.
The abbey became the coronation site of Normankings.
None were buried there until Henry III, intensely devoted to the cult
of the Confessor, rebuilt the abbey in Anglo-French Gothic style as a
shrine to venerate King Edward the Confessor and as a suitably regal
setting for Henry's own tomb, under the highest Gothic nave in England.
The Confessor's shrine subsequently played a great part in his
canonization.
Henry VIII assumed direct royal control in 1539 and granted the abbey the status of a cathedral by charter in 1540, simultaneously issuing letters patent establishing the Diocese of Westminster.
By granting the abbey cathedral status, Henry VIII gained an excuse to
spare it from the destruction or dissolution which he inflicted on most
English abbeys during this period.
Westminster diocese was dissolved in 1550, but the abbey was recognised, in 1552, retroactively to 1550, as a second cathedral of the Diocese of London until 1556. The already-old expression robbing Peter to pay Paul
may have been given a new lease of life when money meant for the abbey,
which is dedicated to Saint Peter, was diverted to the treasury of St
Paul's Cathedral.
The abbey was restored to the Benedictines under the Catholic Mary I of England, but they were again ejected under Elizabeth I in 1559. In 1560, Elizabeth re-established Westminster as a Royal Peculiar -a church of the Church of England responsible directly to the Sovereign, rather than to a diocesan bishop- and made it the Collegiate Church of St Peter, that is, a non-cathedral church with an attached chapter of canons, headed by a dean.
Westminster suffered minor damage during the Blitz on 15 November 1940. Then on May 10/11 1941, the Westminster Abbey precincts
and roof were hit by incendiary bombs. All the bombs were extinguished
by ARP wardens, except for one bomb which ignited out of reach among the
wooden beams and plaster vault of the lantern roof of 1802 over the
North Transept. Flames rapidly spread and burning beams and molten lead
began to fall on the wooden stalls, pews and other ecclesiastical
fixtures 130 feet below.
Despite
the falling debris, the staff dragged away as much furniture as
possible before withdrawing. Finally the Lantern roof crashed down into
the crossing, preventing the fires from spreading further.
Westminster Abbey is a collegiate church governed by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, as established by Royal charter of Queen Elizabeth I dated 21 May 1560, which created it as the Collegiate Church of St Peter Westminster, a Royal Peculiar under the personal jurisdiction of the Sovereign.
The
members of the Chapter are the Dean and four canons residentiary; they
are assisted by the Receiver General and Chapter Clerk. One of the
canons is also Rector of St Margaret's Church, Westminster, and often
also holds the post of Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons.
In addition to the Dean and canons, there are at present three full-time
minor canons: the precentor, the sacrist and the chaplain. A series of
Priests Vicar assist the minor canons.
Joan Chandos Baez (born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist whose contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest or social justice.
Baez
has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing over 30 albums.
Fluent in Spanish and English, she has also recorded songs in at least
six other languages. Although generally regarded as a folk singer,
her music has diversified since the counterculture era of the 1960s,
and encompasses genres such as folk rock, pop, country, and gospel
music.
Although a songwriter herself, Baez
generally interprets other composers' work, having recorded songs by
Bob Dylan, the Allman Brothers Band, the Beatles, Jackson Browne,
Leonard Cohen, Woody Guthrie, Violeta Parra, the Rolling Stones, Pete
Seeger, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and many others. On her past several
albums, she has found success interpreting songs of more recent
songwriters, including Ryan Adams, Josh Ritter, Steve Earle, Natalie
Merchant and Joe Henry.
She began her recording career in 1960 and achieved immediate success. Her first three albums, Joan Baez, Joan Baez, Vol. 2, and Joan Baez in Concert all achieved gold record status.
Songs of acclaim include Diamonds & Rust and covers of Phil Ochs's There but for Fortune and The Band's The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. She is also known for Farewell, Angelina, Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word, Forever Young, Here's to You, Joe Hill, Sweet Sir Galahad and We Shall Overcome.
She was one of the first major artists to record the songs of Bob Dylan in the early 1960s; Baez was already an internationally celebrated artist and did much to popularize his early songwriting efforts. Baez also performed fourteen songs at the 1969 Woodstock Festival and has displayed a lifelong commitment to political and social activism in the fields of nonviolence, civil rights, humanrights and the environment.
Baez was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 7, 2017.
Baez was born on Staten Island, New York, on January 9, 1941. Joan'sgrandfather, the Reverend Alberto Baez, left the Catholic Church to
become a Methodist minister and moved to the U.S. when her father was
two years old. Her father, Albert Baez (1912–2007), was born in Puebla,
Mexico and grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where his father preached to
-and advocated for- a Spanish-speaking congregation.
Due to
her father's work with UNESCO, their family moved many times, living in
towns across the U.S, as well as in England, France, Switzerland, Spain,
Canada, and the Middle East, including Iraq.
Joan Baez became involved with a variety of social causes early in her career, including civil rights and non-violence. Social justice, she stated in the PBS series American Masters, is the true core of her life, looming larger than music.
The opening line of Baez's memoir And a Voice to Sing With is I was born gifted, referencing her singing voice, which she explained was given to her and for which she can take no credit. A friend of Joan's
father gave her a ukulele. She learned four chords, which enabled her
to play rhythm and blues, the music she was listening to at the time.
Her parents, however, were fearful that the music would lead her into a
life of drug addiction.
When Baez was 13, her aunt and her aunt's boyfriend took her to a concert by folk musician Pete Seeger, and Baez
found herself strongly moved by his music. She soon began practicing
the songs of his repertoire and performing them publicly. One of her
very earliest public performances was at a retreat in Saratoga,
California for a youth group from Temple Beth Jacob, a Redwood City,
California Jewish congregation. A few years later in 1957, Baez bought her first Gibson acoustic guitar.
Her true professional career began at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival. Following that appearance, she recorded her first album for Vanguard, Joan Baez (1960), produced by Fred Hellerman of The Weavers, who produced many albums by folk artists.
From the early-to-mid-1960s, Baez
emerged at the forefront of the American roots revival, where she
introduced her audiences to the then-unknown Bob Dylan, and was emulated
by artists such as Judy Collins, Emmylou Harris, Joni Mitchell, and
Bonnie Raitt.
Baez's distinctive vocal style and political activism had a significant impact on American popular music. She was one of the first musicians to use her popularity as a vehicle for social protest, singing and marching for human rights and peace.
May your hands always be busy May your feet always be swift May you have a strong foundation When the winds of changes shift May your heart always be joyful May your song always be sung And may you stay
Today, The Stones and The Grandma are still confined at their hotel. They are spending their free time enjoying their private beach and all the hotel facilities. They have received wonderful news from Europe. MJ is preparing their admissions to their Cambridge A2 Exams. They are happy and excited.
The Grandma has explained some concepts about The Superlative and she has remembered an old story about Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale, two of her favourite actors, and their relationship with orchids and Polynesian Islands while the family has been discussing about Kailani and Iván Stone relationship.
The Orchidaceae are a diverse and widespread family of flowering plants, with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant, commonly known as the orchid family.
Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering plants. The Orchidaceae have about 28,000 currently accepted species, distributed in about 763 genera. The determination of which family is larger is still under debate, because verified data on the members of such enormous families are continually in flux.
Regardless, the number of orchid species is nearly equal to the number of bony fishes, more than twice the number of bird species, and about four times the number of mammal species.
The family encompasses about 6–11% of all seed plants. The largest genera are Bulbophyllum (2,000 species), Epidendrum (1,500 species), Dendrobium (1,400 species) and Pleurothallis (1,000 species).
It also includes Vanilla, the genus of the vanilla plant, the type genus Orchis, and many commonly cultivated plants such as Phalaenopsis and Cattleya. Moreover, since the introduction of tropical species into cultivation in the 19th century, horticulturists have produced more than 100,000 hybrids and cultivars.
Orchids are easily distinguished from other plants, as they share some very evident derived characteristics or synapomorphies. Among these are: bilateral symmetry of the flower (zygomorphism), many resupinate flowers, a nearly always highly modified petal (labellum), fused stamens and carpels, and extremely small seeds.
A study in the scientific journal Nature has hypothesised that the origin of orchids goes back much longer than originally expected. An extinct species of stingless bee, Proplebeia dominicana, was found trapped in Miocene amber from about 15-20 million years ago. The bee was carrying pollen of a previously unknown orchid taxon, Meliorchis caribea, on its wings. This find is the first evidence of fossilised orchids to date and shows insects were active pollinators of orchids then.
This extinct orchid, M. caribea, has been placed within the extant tribe Cranichideae, subtribe Goodyerinae, subfamily Orchidoideae. An even older orchid species, Succinanthera baltica, was described from the Eocene Baltic amber.
Genetic sequencing indicates orchids may have arisen earlier, 76 to 84 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous.
The overall biogeography and phylogenetic patterns of Orchidaceae show they are even older and may go back roughly 100 million years.
Using the molecular clock method, it was possible to determine the age of the major branches of the orchid family. This also confirmed that the subfamily Vanilloideae is a branch at the basal dichotomy of the monandrous orchids, and must have evolved very early in the evolution of the family.
Since this subfamily occurs worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions, from tropical America to tropical Asia, New Guinea and West Africa, and the continents began to split about 100 million years ago, significant biotic exchange must have occurred after this split, since the age of Vanilla is estimated at 60 to 70 million years.
Genome duplication occurred prior to the divergence of this taxon.
Today, The Grandma has continued her Logistic course in Sant Boi. They have been talking about modes of transports and handling equipment. Transport is essential in Logistics. If you want to send something to somewhere you need a good transport and a quick and cheap route.
Since the beginning of the humanity, people have created routes to exchange products, to create commerce, to enjoy tourism or to escape from wars, prosecutions or natural disasters. These last routes are also known as the routes of exile.
These historical routes are the same routes that nowadays are used for commercial reasons and where we used GPS today, ancient cultures used maps -The Game of the Goose- or travelled following the stars.
China is working in a new silk route that, probably, will change the future of transport, commerce and communications.
The Silk Road was a network of trade routes which connected the East and West, and was central to the economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between these regions from the 2nd century BCE to the 18th century. The Silk Road primarily refers to the land routes connecting East Asia and Southeast Asia with South Asia, Persia, the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa and Southern Europe.
The Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in silk carried out along its length, beginning in the Han dynasty in China (207 BCE–220 CE). The Han dynasty expanded the Central Asian section of the trade routes around 114 BCE through the missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoy Zhang Qian, as well as several military conquests. The Chinese took great interest in the security of their trade products, and extended the Great Wall of China to ensure the protection of the trade route.
The Silk Road trade played a significant role in the development of the civilizations of China, Korea, Japan, the Indian subcontinent, Iran, Europe, the Horn of Africa and Arabia, opening long-distance political and economic relations between the civilizations.
Though silk was the major trade item exported from China, many other goods and ideas were exchanged, including religions (especially Buddhism), syncretic philosophies, sciences, and technologies like paper and gunpowder. So in addition to economic trade, the Silk Road was a route for cultural trade among the civilizations along its network. Diseases, most notably plague, also spread along the Silk Road.
In June 2014, UNESCO designated the Chang'an-Tianshan corridor of the Silk Road as a World Heritage Site. The Indian portion is on the tentative site list.
The mode of transportation is an important consideration when planning the shipment process. Besides the costs, the urgency of the shipment, the value of the goods being shipped as well as the size and weight of the goods need to be evaluated when determining the form of transportation. In this article, we want to help you determine, which mode is best to transport your cargo and freight!
OCEAN
Seaborne trade accounts for about 90% of the global trade, and as per UNCTAD, 1687 million tons (2015 estimate) were carried in around 177.6 million containers (2015 estimate) covering 998 billion ton-miles (2016 estimate).
Because of size or volume, there are several types of cargoes that cannot be or is economically unviable to move by other modes of transport than the sea.
Ocean freight
Ocean freight is a less expensive method of shipping goods, but the drawback is a longer transit time. Another benefit for ocean freight is while size and weight may be an issue for air; it is not for ocean freight.
Ocean freight is used quite extensively for the movement of bulk commodities such as agri-products (wheat, maize, soya, etc.), coal, iron ore or for wet bulk products such as crude oil and petroleum. Also, larger, odd-shaped items including engines and propellers may move via this mode as well, depending on how sensitive the delivery time is.
Ocean freight is also a preferred mode of transport for the movement of high volume and heavy cargo such as minerals, metals, ores, steel coils, etc. which would be impossible to move by air freight.
Additionally, businesses are placing more of an emphasis on the environmental impact on shipping. An air freight service emits a higher amount of polluting gases with less space capacity compared to sea freight services which are considered a much greener transportation mode with a higher carrying capacity.
Key benefits of ocean freight include:
-Suitable for wide range of products with long lead times
-Large volumes. A single, ultra-large container ship can carry +/-20,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU)
-Most environmental friendly among all modes of transport
-Economical. Liner shipping is the most efficient mode of transport for goods
Over the next 15 years, as the world GDP grows, there will be a demand for higher value goods. As per Boeing's 2016-2017 world air cargo forecast, there will be a proportionate growth in the value per ton of total traded goods around the world.
To meet the demand for growth, world air cargo traffic is forecasted to grow an average 4.2 percent per year.
Air freight
Air freight
is a critical mode of transport. It serves markets and supply chains
that demand speed.
One of greatest examples goes back to 1997 when Apple
began innovating on the nitty-gritty details of supply-chain
management. Almost immediately upon Steve Jobs’ return. At the time,
most computer manufacturers transported products by sea, a far cheaper
option than air freight. Steve Jobs took advantage of the benefit of air freight and used an innovative strategy. He paid $50 million to buy up all the available holiday air freight space to ensure that the company’s new, translucent blue iMacs would be widely available during Christmas season giving them a massive competitive advantage over their rivals. -It was an Oh s- moment, recalls former HP supply chain chief Mike Fawkes.
Other industries such as the automotive and retail industry also utilize air freight to achieve just-in-time (JIT) inventory replenishment. JIT option allows stores, production lines to place order fulfillment based on demand as, and when required. It provides greater flexibility and reduces inventory and storage costs.
Also, perishable goods such as foods, flowers, and some pharmaceuticals also take advantage of shorter transit time. Another positive for air freight is that there's less handling of cargo overall, so the likelihood of damage or theft is less likely when utilizing air.
But air freight also has its own disadvantages such as being one of the most expensive due to the requirement of speed and the fuel that is used.
It also has its size and weight limitations. Regulatory bodies limit what can and cannot be transported by air, and as such, oddly shaped or very large items may be more suitable for other modes of transport.
Another mode of transport which is also considered a green option is rail. Trains burn less fuel per ton-mile than road vehicles and a train, which can have as many than 100 wagons, only needs one driver. There are, however, some additional costs which are incurred in a rail journey: at each end of the rail transit, a road delivery will be needed, and there will be a lift cost to transfer the container between the train and the road vehicle.
On average, longer journeys tend to be less expensive by rail, and shorter journeys are less costly by road. Where the point of cost neutrality comes is governed by many factors which are route and commodity specific, but in general, the point of cost neutrality can be expected to lie in the range of 130 to 150 miles.
Rail freight
In 2015, the first freight train carrying ISO freight containers from China arrived in the Port of Rotterdam in 18 days as against the normal 44 odd days by the sea.
This movement of containerized cargo by rail from China to logistics hubs in Europe such as in the Netherlands, UK is seen as a significant step in the development of trade between the two continents. It has encouraged multinationals such as Hewlett-Packard and Ricoh to use the route from Europe to China for their cargoes.
The Manager of European Transport at Ricoh notes that if one can set up an effective planning, rail is a relatively quick mode of transport taking only 20 days to China. In addition, the move by rail also has some advantages such as all containers being transported to the location in one go, while being environmentally friendly as a train releases far less CO2 than a plane.
Key benefits of rail freight include:
-Reliable transit times and schedules
-Railroads are the most efficient form of land transportation. One train can haul the equivalent of over 400 trucks
-Fast and cost-effective deliveries over long distances. Typically over 500 miles
-Traditionally, rail has a strong safety record
-Helps in alleviating road congestion, thus lowering emissions
Road freight is one of the most common of all modes of transportation. It is widely used in continents such as Europe, Africa, and North America. The single customs document process provides a seamless movement of goods even across various states and countries.
Road freight provides several advantages over other modes of transportation such as:
-Cost-effectiveness
-Quick and scheduled delivery
-Local, over border, long or short haul deliveries even in rural areas
-Flexible service
-Saving in Packing Cost compared to other modes
-Track and trace of cargo and truck
-Complete door-to-door service and it is one of the more economical means of transport.
However, truck transport is limited somewhat as to what it can carry by the size of the vehicles used and by size and weight restrictions. Another limitation is that it is affected by weather, road conditions and traffic.
Another option to keep in mind is multimodal solutions -the utilization of more than one mode of transport.
Multimodal is a combination of different modes of transportation such as rail, road, and sea which allows the customer to cost-effectively manage shipments from start-to-end, ensuring optimum care and efficiency every step of the way.
Multimodal
One such example is the cross region rail network combined with truck.
Providers including DHL, Geodis, UPS and DB Schenker are offering such a solution along China’s Silk Road network.
According to UPS, the service can offer savings of up to 65% versus air freight costs while providing transit times up to 40% faster than standard ocean movements.
Sea-Air is another example of multimodal transport. The service is considered less expensive than air and quicker than ocean service.
An alternate solution to pure air or ocean, Sea-Air provides the global transportation industry time and cost savings along with eco-friendliness.
Sometimes using this mode of transport helps to avoid demurrage fees.
Key benefits of multimodal transport include:
-Cargo can be moved to any part of the world using multiple modes of transport
-Reduces the distance for the goods between the manufacturer and consumer
-Customers can deal with one entity to handle all modes of transport under one document
Conclusion. What mode of transportation should you use?
There are numerous options for transporting goods, and there may not be one solution for your transportation needs. Each mode of transport has its advantages and disadvantages. Prioritizing your needs, understanding your shipment and comparing costs is important when planning your shipment and choosing the best mode of transport.
When you have chosen your best transport, it is time to talk about which type of goods you want to send and which containertype you are going to use. An intermodal container is a large standardized shipping container, designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different modes of transport -from ship to rail to truck- without unloading and reloading their cargo. Intermodal containers are primarily used to store and transport materials and products efficiently and securely in the global containerized intermodal freight transport system, but smaller numbers are in regional use as well.
These containers are known under a number of names, such as simply container, cargo or freight container, ISO container, shipping, sea or ocean container, sea van or (Conex) box, sea can or c can. Intermodal containers exist in many types and a number of standardized sizes, but ninety percent of the global container fleet are so-called dry freight or general purpose containers, durable closed steel boxes, mostly of either 6.1 or 12.2 m standard length. The common heights are 2.6 m and 2.9 m -the latter are known as High Cube or Hi-Cube containers.
Just like cardboard boxes and pallets, these containers are a means to bundle cargo and goods into larger, unitized loads, that can be easily handled, moved, and stacked, and that will pack tightly in a ship or yard.
Intermodal containers share a number of key construction features to withstand the stresses of intermodal shipping, to facilitate their handling and to allow stacking, as well as being identifiable through their individual, unique ISO 6346 reporting mark. In 2012, there were about 20.5 million intermodal containers in the world of varying types to suit different cargoes. Containers have largely supplanted the traditional break bulk cargo -in 2010 containers accounted for 60% of the world's seaborne trade. The predominant alternative methods of transport carry bulk cargo -whether gaseous, liquid or solid- e.g. by bulk carrier or tank ship, tank car or truck. For air freight, the lighter weight IATA-defined unit load device is used.
Finally, The Grandma has explained how to make comparisons and how to avaluate which is the best transport or container using comparative and superlative adjectives.
Today, The Jones have revised some English Grammar like Future Simple, Present Simple vs. Continuous, Relative Pronouns, the Comparative and the Superlative. The family has talked about some women who were the best in their professions: Édith Piaf, the best French singer; AudreyHepburn, the best Belgian actress and Mercè Rodoreda, the best Catalan writer.
Merche Jones has talked about Ponferrada and its wonderful Templar castle and The Grandma has taken profit to talk about the Templar Order and its influence in all the Mediterranean, from Malta to Aragon, from Rhodes to Jerusalem, from Catalonia to Syria, from Campania to Sicily firstly and other lands in the Atlantic like France, England or Scotland later.
Templar Knights helped all the pilgrims who need protection to escape or to exile until Friday, October 13, 1307 when French Templars were simultaneously arrested by agents of King Philip, following the order of the Pope Clement,later to be tortured into admitting heresy and other sacrilegious offenses in the Order and killed. It has been a terrific story that has explained the origins of the legend of Friday, 13 as a day plenty of misfortune.
This afternoon, The Jones are going shopping in the best and the most luxurious Parisian shops in Avenue Montaigne before travelling to Euro Disney to spend this next weekend.
In tough times, we all hope for knights in shining armor,
or the cavalry, to show up and effect change.
Dean Devlin
Édith Piaf (1915-1963), nee Édith Giovanna Gassion, was a French singer, songwriter, cabaret performer and film actress noted as France's national chanteuse and one of the country's widely known international stars.
Piaf's music was often autobiographical and she specialized in chanson and torch ballads about love, loss and sorrow. Her most widely known songs include La Vie en rose, Non, je ne regrette rien, Hymne à l'amour, Milord, La Foule,L'Accordéoniste and Padam, padam.
Édith Piaf
Much of Piaf's life is unknown. She was born Édith Giovanna Gassion in Belleville, Paris. Legend has it that she was born on the pavement of Rue de Belleville 72, but her birth certificate cites that she was born on 19 December 1915 at the Hôpital Tenon, a hospital located at the 20th arrondissement.
She was named Édith after the World War I British nurse Edith Cavell, who was executed for helping French soldiers escape from German captivity. Piaf –slang for sparrow– was a nickname she received 20 years later.
In 1935, Piaf was discovered in the Pigalle area of Paris by nightclub owner Louis Leplée, whose club Le Gerny's off the Champs-Élysées was frequented by the upper and lower classes alike.
Piaf's career and fame gained momentum during the German occupation of France. She performed in various nightclubs and brothels, which flourished during the 1940–1945 Années Erotiques. She lived above the L'Étoile de Kléber, a famous nightclub and bordello close to the Paris Gestapo headquarters.
Piaf was deemed to have been a traitor and collaboratrice. She had to testify before a purge panel, as there were plans to ban her from appearing on radio transmissions. However, her secretary Andrée Bigard, a member of the Résistance, spoke in her favour after the Liberation. Piaf was quickly back in the singing business and then, in December 1944, she went on stage for the Allied forces together with Montand in Marseille.
Edith Piaf's Homebirth
Although she was denied a funeral Mass by Cardinal Maurice Feltin because of her lifestyle, her funeral procession drew tens of thousands of mourners onto the streets of Paris and the ceremony at the cemetery was attended by more than 100,000 fans.
Charles Aznavour recalled that Piaf's funeral procession was the only time since the end of World War II that he saw Parisian traffic come to a complete stop.
In 1973 the Association of the Friends of Édith Piaf was formed followed by the inauguration of the Place Édith Piaf in Belleville in 1981. Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Georgievna Karachkina named a small planet, 3772 Piaf, in her honor.
In Paris, a two-room museum is dedicated to her, the Musée Édith Piaf. On 10 October 2013, fifty years after her death, the Roman Catholic Church gave her a memorial Mass in the St. Jean-Baptiste Church in Belleville the parish into which she was born.
Mercè Rodoreda i Gurguí (1908-1983) was a Catalan novelist, who wrote in Catalan. She is considered by many to be the most important Catalan novelist of the postwar period. Her novel La plaça del diamant, translated as The Time of the Doves (1962) has become the most acclaimed Catalan novel of all time and has been translated into over 30 languages.
She was born at 340 carrer de Balmes, Barcelona, in 1908. In 1928, just 20 years old, she married her uncle Joan Gurguí, 14 years her senior, and in 1929 she had her only child, Jordi.
Grandma's memories with Mercè Rodoreda
She began her writing career with short stories in magazines, as an escape from her unhappy marriage.
She then wrote psychological novels, including Aloma which won the Crexells Prize, but even with the success this novel enjoyed, Rodoreda decided to remake and republish it some years later since she was not fully satisfied with this period of her life and her works at that time.
At the start of the Spanish Civil War, she worked for the Generalitat de Catalunya, the autonomous Government of Catalonia. She was exiled in Franceand later Switzerland, where in 1957 she broke her silence with the publication of her book Twenty-Two short stories, which earned her the Víctor Català Prize.
With El Carrer de les Camèlies (1966) she won several prizes. In the 1970s, she returned to Romanyà de la Selva in Catalonia and finished the novel Mirall trencat in 1974.
Amongst other works came Viatges i flors and Quanta, quanta guerra in 1980, which was also the year in which she won the Premi d'Honor de les Lletres Catalanes. During the last period of her lifetime, her works developed from her usual psychologic style to become more akin to symbolism in its more cryptic form.
In 1998 a literature prize was instituted in her name: the Mercè Rodoreda prize for short stories and narratives. She was made a Member of Honour of the Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana, the Association of Writers in Catalan Language.
She died in Girona and interred in the cemetery of Romanyà de la Selva.
Today, The Jones have had a day full of news. This morning, Noelia Jones has communicated to her family that she has decided to live in Urquhart Castle forever and don't continue travelling with the family.
Noelia has reached her dream and the family are the happiest people around the world knowing that she is going to stay in Loch Ness and enjoy her life in Scotland.
Carla Jones has decided to travel to Bahamas Islands to live there forever with an old native Caribbean friend who is going to be her husband in a few days. Congratulations both girls, Carla and Noelia, you deserve the best in your lives.
After this news, the family has continued with their English classes. They have revised some Social English, The Superlative and the Relative Pronouns.They have also read another chapter of Oscar Wilde's The picture of Dorian Gray and they have been choosing transports and talking about their advantages and disadvantages.
Finally, MJ has sent some bureaucratic papers to fill them and the family has been talking about some international holdings which had humble origins and nowadays they are important enterprises around the world.
This afternoon, The Jones are visiting the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, one of the most famous monuments in Paris, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the center of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Place de l'Étoile -the étoile or star of the juncture formed by its twelve radiating avenues.
The Jones and their transports
The Arc de Triomphe should not be confused with a smaller arch, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, which stands west of the Louvre.
The Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.
As the central cohesive element of the Axe historique, historic axis, a sequence of monuments and grand thoroughfares on a route running from the courtyard of the Louvre to the Grande Arche de la Défense, the Arc de Triomphe was designed by Jean Chalgrin in 1806, and its iconographic program pits heroically nude French youths against bearded Germanic warriors in chain mail. It set the tone for public monuments with triumphant patriotic messages.
Inspired by the Roman Arch of Titus, the Arc de Triomphe has an overall height of 50 metres width of 45 m, and depth of 22 m, while its large vault is 29.19 m, high and 14.62 m, wide.
The Grandma in the funeral ceremony for Victor Hugo
The smaller transverse vaults are 18.68 m high and 8.44 m wide. Three weeks after the Paris victory parade in 1919, marking the end of hostilities in World War I, Charles Godefroy flew his Nieuport biplane under the arch's primary vault, with the event captured on newsreel.
The Arc is located on the right bank of the Seine at the centre of a dodecagonal configuration of twelve radiating avenues. It was commissioned in 1806 after the victory at Austerlitz by Emperor Napoleon at the peak of his fortunes.
Laying the foundations alone took two years and, in 1810, when Napoleon entered Paris from the west with his bride Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria, he had a wooden mock-up of the completed arch constructed.
The architect, Jean Chalgrin, died in 1811 and the work was taken over by Jean-Nicolas Huyot. During the Bourbon Restoration, construction was halted and it would not be completed until the reign of King Louis-Philippe, between 1833 and 1836, by the architects Goust, then Huyot, under the direction of Héricart de Thury.
Napoleon Bonaparte
On 15 December 1840, brought back to France from Saint Helena, Napoleon's remains passed under it on their way to the Emperor's final resting place at the Invalides. Prior to burial in the Panthéon, the body of Victor Hugo was displayed under the Arc during the night of 22 May 1885.
Beneath the Arc is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldierfrom World War I. Interred on Armistice Day 1920, it has the first eternal flame lit in Western and Eastern Europe since the Vestal Virgins' fire was extinguished in the fourth century. It burns in memory of the dead who were never identified, now in both world wars.
A ceremony is held at the Tomb of the UnknownSoldier every 11 November on the anniversary of the armistice signed by the Entente Powers and Germany in 1918.
In 1961, American President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy paid their respects at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, accompanied by French President Charles de Gaulle. After the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy, Mrs Kennedy remembered the eternal flame at the Arc de Triomphe and requested that an eternal flame be placed next to her husband's grave at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. President Charles de Gaulle went to Washington to attend the state funeral, and witnessed Jacqueline Kennedy lighting the eternal flame that had been inspired by her visit to France.
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