Today, The Grandma is resting at the Cumberland Hotel and she has chosen to read about the life of MaryShelley, one of the greatest English novelists and creator of Frankenstein, a Gothic novel of universal reference.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley(1797-1851)
was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer,
and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel FrankensteinorTheModern
Prometheus(1818). She also edited and promoted the works of her husband,
the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the
political philosopher William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and
feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.
She became
famous thanks to Frankenstein the
novel that she started to write in Switzerland.
In May 1816, Mary Godwin, Percy Shelley, and their son travelled to Geneva with
Claire Clairmont. They planned to spend the summer with the poet Lord Byron, whose recent affair with Claire
had left her pregnant. The party arrived at Geneva on 14 May 1816, where Mary
called herself "Mrs Shelley". Byron joined them on 25 May, with his
young physician, John WilliamPolidori,
and rented the Villa Diodati, close to Lake Geneva at the village of Cologny;
Percy Shelley rented a smaller building called Maison Chapuis on the waterfront
nearby. They spent their time writing, boating on the lake, and talking late
into the night. It was after midnight before they retired, and unable to sleep,
she became possessed by her imagination as she beheld the grim terrors of her
waking dream, her ghost
story.
She began
writing what she assumed would be a short story. With Percy Shelley's
encouragement, she expanded this tale into her first novel, Frankenstein or TheModern Prometheus, published in 1818. She later described that
summer in Switzerland as the moment when I first stepped out from childhood
into life. The story has been fictionalised several times and formed the
basis for a number of films.
In September
2011, the astronomer Donald Olson, after
a visit to the Lake Geneva villa the previous year, and inspecting data about
the motion of the moon and stars, concluded that her waking dream took place between 2am and 3am 16 June 1816, several days after the initial
idea by Lord Byron that they each write a ghost story.
Today, The Morgans & TheGrandma have visited one of the greatest actors of all time, Charles Chaplin, who is spending some days in London.
The meetinghas been very emotional and the result of the great work done by SandraMorgan.
The family has asked several questions to the actor, who has not shied
away from answering any of them and which have served to better
understand the most important events in his life.
To commemorate this unforgettable encounter, Xènia Morgan has left her artistic mark on Shoreditch, a creative hub with colourful street art and creations.
Before the visit, the family has written letters of apology for Andrea Morgan'sbehaviour at Tower of London, where she kidnapped a striped polecat, and they have been reviewing some English grammar with Can/Can't and Too-Enough, and talking about another great genius, Marcel Marceau.
Charles Spencer Chaplin (1889-1977) was 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
1919andplaying 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.
Today, The Morgans and The Grandma have visited the Tower of London. It hasbeen a very special visit to get to know up close all the events that have taken place in this emblematic building in the history of England. While most of TheMorgans have been taking pictures and were dazzled by the CrownJewels, AndreaMorgan has kidnapped a striped polecat, also known as zorrilla (Ictonyx striatus), a mustelidae which lives in the tower gardens, without the Beefeaters noticing.
Hours earlier, they had studied a bit of English grammar with There is/There are and the Plural of Nouns and had been talking about different countries to visit, including Cuba, with which Sant Boi de Llobregat in particular and the Catalans and Basques in general has a lot of common links.
When they have arrived at the Cumberland, after visiting the Tower of London, they have received a pleasant surprise: MJ had sent them more material to continue their training.
Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower ofLondon, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separated from the eastern edge of the square mile of the City of London by the open space known as Tower Hill.
It was founded toward the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest.The White Tower, which gives the entire castle its name, was built by William the Conqueror in 1078 and was a resented symbol of oppression, inflicted upon London by the new Norman ruling class.
The castle was also used as a prison from 1100 (Ranulf Flambard) until 1952 (Kray
twins), although that was not its primary purpose. A grand palace early
in its history, it served as a royal residence. As a whole, the Tower is a complex of several buildings set within two concentric rings of defensive walls and a moat.
There
were several phases of expansion, mainly under kings Richard I, Henry
III, and Edward I in the 12th and 13th centuries. The general layout
established by the late 13th century remains despite later activity on
the site.
Tower of London has played a prominent role in English history.
It was besieged several times, and controlling it has been important to
controlling the country. The Tower has served variously as an armoury, a
treasury, a menagerie, the home of the Royal Mint, a public record
office, and the home of the Crown Jewels of England. From the early 14th century until the reign of Charles II in the 17th century, a procession would be led from the Tower
to Westminster Abbey on the coronation of a monarch. In the absence of
the monarch, the Constable of the Tower is in charge of the castle. This
was a powerful and trusted position in the medieval period.
In the late 15th century, the Princes in the Tower were housed at the castle when they mysteriously disappeared, presumed murdered. Under the Tudors, the Tower became
used less as a royal residence, and despite attempts to refortify and
repair the castle, its defences lagged behind developments to deal with
artillery.
The
zenith of the castle's use as a prison was the 16th and 17th centuries,
when many figures who had fallen into disgrace, such as Elizabeth I
before she became queen, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Elizabeth Throckmorton,
were held within its walls. This use has led to the phrase sent to the Tower.
Despite its enduring reputation as a place of torture and death,
popularised by 16th-century religious propagandists and 19th-century
writers, only seven people were executed within the Tower before the World Wars of the 20th century.
Executions were more commonly held on the notorious Tower Hill to the north of the castle, with 112 occurring there over a 400-year period. In thelatter
half of the 19th century, institutions such as the Royal Mint moved out
of the castle to other locations, leaving many buildings empty. Anthony
Salvin and John Taylor took the opportunity to restore the Tower to
what was felt to be its medieval appearance, clearing out many of the
vacant post-medieval structures.
In the First and Second World Wars, the Tower
was again used as a prison and witnessed the executions of 12 men for
espionage. After the Second World War, damage caused during the Blitz
was repaired, and the castle reopened to the public.
Today, Tower of London is one of the country's most popular tourist attractions.
Under the ceremonial charge of the Constable of the Tower, operated by
the Resident Governor of the Tower of London and Keeper of the Jewel
House, and guarded by the Yeomen Warders, the property is cared for by
the charity Historic Royal Palaces and is protected as a World Heritage
Site.
Victorious at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, the invading Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror,
spent the rest of the year securing his holdings by fortifying key
positions. He founded several castles along the way, but took a
circuitous route toward London; only when he reached Canterbury did he
turn towards England's largest city.
As the fortified bridge into London was held by Saxon troops, he decided instead to ravage Southwark before continuing his journey around southern England.
A series of Norman victories along the route cut the city's supply
lines and in December 1066, isolated and intimidated, its leaders
yielded London without a fight.
Between
1066 and 1087, William established 36 castles, although references in
the Domesday Book indicate that many more were founded by his
subordinates. The Normans undertook what has been described as the most extensive and concentrated programme of castle-building in the whole history of feudal Europe.
They were multi-purpose buildings, serving as fortifications (used as a
base of operations in enemy territory), centres of administration, and
residences.
William
sent an advance party to prepare the city for his entrance, to
celebrate his victory and found a castle; in the words of William's
biographer, William of Poitiers, certain fortifications were
completed in the city against the restlessness of the huge and brutal
populace. For he [William] realised that it was of the first importance
to overawe the Londoners.
At the time, London was the largest town in England; the foundation of Westminster Abbey and the old Palace of Westminster
under Edward the Confessor had marked it as a centre of governance, and
with a prosperous port it was important for the Normans to establish
control over the settlement. The other two castles in London -Baynard's
Castle and Montfichet's Castle- were established at the same time.
The fortification that would later become known as Tower of London was built onto the south-east corner of the Roman town walls, using them as prefabricated defences, with the River Thames
providing additional protection from the south. This earliest phase of
the castle would have been enclosed by a ditch and defended by a timber
palisade, and probably had accommodation suitable for William.
The tradition of housing the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London
probably dates from the reign of Henry III (1216-1272). The Jewel House
was built specifically to house the royal regalia, including jewels,
plate, and symbols of royalty such as the crown, sceptre, and sword.
When money needed to be raised, the treasure could be pawned by the
monarch. The treasure allowed the monarch independence from the
aristocracy and consequently was closely guarded. A new position for keeper of the jewels, armouries and other things
was created, which was well rewarded; in the reign of Edward III
(1327-1377) the holder was paid 12d a day. The position grew to include
other duties including purchasing royal jewels, gold, and silver, and
appointing royal goldsmiths and jewellers.
Today, The Morgans and The Grandma have visited London Eye, a cantilevered observation wheel on the South Bank of the RiverThames and the most
popular paid tourist attraction in England.
Before, they have studied some English grammar with Should/Shouldn't and Have Got.
The London Eye or the Millennium Wheel, is a cantilevered observation wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. It
is Europe's tallest cantilevered observation wheel, and is the most
popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom with over 3.75
million visitors annually, and has made many appearances in popular
culture.
The structure is 135 metres tall and the wheel has a diameter of 120 metres. When
it opened to the public in 2000 it was the world's tallest Ferris
wheel. Its height was surpassed by the 160-metre Star of Nanchang in
2006, the 165-metre Singapore Flyer in 2008, and the 167-metre-tall High
Roller (Las Vegas) in 2014. Supported by an A-frame on one side only,
unlike the taller Nanchang and Singapore wheels, the Eye is described by
its operators as the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel.
The London Eye used to offer the highest public viewing point in London
until it was superseded by the 245-metre-high observation deck on the
72nd floor of The Shard, which opened to the public on 1 February 2013. The
London Eye adjoins the western end of Jubilee Gardens, previously the
site of the former Dome of Discovery, on the South Bank of the River
Thames between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford Bridge beside County
Hall, in the London Borough of Lambeth.
The London Eye was designed by the husband-and-wife team of JuliaBarfield and David Marks
of Marks Barfield Architects. Mace was responsible for construction
management, with Hollandia as the main steelwork contractor and Tilbury
Douglas as the civil contractor. Consulting engineers Tony Gee &
Partners designed the foundation works while Beckett Rankine designed
the marine works.
The rim of the Eye
is supported by tensioned steel cables and resembles a huge spoked
bicycle wheel. The lighting was re-done with LED lighting from Color
Kinetics in December 2006 to allow digital control of the lights as
opposed to the manual replacement of gels over fluorescent tubes.
The wheel was constructed in sections which were floated up the Thames
on barges and assembled lying flat on piled platforms in the river.
Once the wheel was complete it was lifted into an upright position by a
strand jack system made by Enerpac. It was first raised at 2 degrees per
hour until it reached 65 degrees, then left in that position for a week
while engineers prepared for the second phase of the lift.
The project was European with major components coming from six countries: the steel was supplied from the UK and fabricated in TheNetherlands by the Dutch company Hollandia, the cables came from Italy, the bearings came from Germany (FAG/Schaeffler Group), the spindle and hub were cast in the Czech Republic, the capsules were made by Poma in France and the glass for these came from Italy, and the electrical components from the UK.
The London Eye
was formally opened by the Prime Minister Tony Blair on 31 December
1999, but did not open to the paying public until 9 March 2000 because
of a capsule clutch problem.
The nearest London Underground station is Waterloo, although Charing Cross, Embankment, and Westminster are also within easy walking distance.
Connection with National Rail services is made at London Waterloo station and London Waterloo East station.
London River Services operated by Thames Clippers and City Cruises stop at the London Eye Pier.
Today, The Grandma has visited University College London, the public research university, that was established on a day like today in 1826. She is very interested in learning how to help TheMorgans in his job search in Sant Boi de Llobregat.
That's why he's been talking about the Adult Training Centers (CFA) and the IOC, two reference centers when it comes to updating one's own training and starting a new one.
Meanwhile, The Morgans have been at the Cumberland reviewing Imperatives and Prepositions of Time.
University College London, which operates as UCL, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom.
It is a member institution of the federal University of London, and is the second-largest university in the United Kingdom by total enrolment and the largest by postgraduate enrolment.
Established in 1826,
as London University (though without university degree-awarding
powers), by founders inspired by the radical ideas of Jeremy Bentham, UCL was the first university institution to be established in London, and the first in England to be entirely secular and to admit students regardless of their religion.
It
was also among the first university colleges to admit women alongside
men in 1878, two years after University College, Bristol. Intended by
its founders to be England's third university, politics forced it to
accept the status of a college in 1836, when it received a royal charter
and became one of the two founding colleges of the University of London, although it achieved de facto recognition as a university in the 1990s.
It
has grown through mergers, including with the Institute of
Ophthalmology (in 1995), the Institute of Neurology (in 1997), the Royal
Free Hospital Medical School (in 1998), the Eastman Dental Institute
(in 1999), the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (in 1999),
the School of Pharmacy (in 2012) and the Institute of Education (in
2014).
UCL has its main campus in the Bloomsbury area of central London, with a number of institutes and teaching hospitals elsewhere in central London and has a second campus, UCL East, at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, East London.
UCL is organised into 11 constituent faculties, within which there are over 100 departments, institutes and research centres.
UCL operates several museums and collections in a wide range of fields,including
the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology and the Grant Museum of
Zoology and Comparative Anatomy, and administers the annual Orwell Prize
in political writing.
In 2021/22, UCL
had a total income of £1.75 billion, of which £525 million was from
research grants and contracts. The university generates around £10
billion annually for the UK economy, primarily through the spread of its
research and knowledge (£4 billion) and the impact of its own spending
(£3 billion).
UCL
is a member of numerous academic organisations, including the Russell
Group and the League of European Research Universities, and is part of UCL Partners, the world's largest academic health science centre. It is considered part of the golden triangle of research-intensive universities in southeast England.
UCL has publishing and commercial activities including UCL Press, UCL Business and UCL Consultants.
UCL
has many notable alumni, including the founder of Mauritius, the first
Prime Minister of Japan, and one of the co-discoverers of the structure
of DNA.
UCL
academics discovered five of the naturally occurring noble gases,
discovered hormones, invented the vacuum tube, and made several
foundational advances in modern statistics.
As of 2022, 30 Nobel Prize winners and three Fields medallists have been affiliated with UCL as alumni or academic staff.
UCL was founded on 11 February 1826 as an alternative to the Anglican universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
It
took the form of a joint stock company, with shares sold for £100
(equivalent to $8,900 in 2021) to proprietors, under the name of London University,although without legal recognition as a university or the associated right to award degrees. London University's first warden was Leonard Horner, who was the first scientist to head a British university.
UCL is primarily based in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, in Central London.
The main campus is located around Gower Street and includes the UCL
Faculty of Engineering Sciences, economics, geography, history,
languages, mathematics, management, philosophy and physics departments,
the preclinical facilities of the UCL Medical School, the London Centre for Nanotechnology, the Slade School of Fine Art, the UCL Union, the main UCL Library, the UCL
Science Library, the Bloomsbury Theatre, the Petrie Museum of Egyptian
Archaeology, the Grant Museum of Zoology and the affiliated University
College Hospital.
Close by in Bloomsbury are the UCL Cancer Institute, the UCL Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences, the UCL Faculty of the Built Environment (The Bartlett), the UCL Faculty of Laws, the UCL Institute of Archaeology, the UCL Institute of Education, the UCL School of Pharmacy, the UCL School of Public Policy and the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies.
In 2014, it was announced that UCL would be building an additional campus at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, referred to as UCL East, as part of the development of the so-called Olympicopolis site at the southern edge of the park. UCL
master planners were appointed in spring 2015, and the first University
building was, at that time, estimated to be completed in time for
academic year 2019/20.
Elsewhere in Central London are the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology adjacent to Moorfields Eye Hospital in Clerkenwell, the UCL
Institute of Child Health adjacent to Great Ormond Street Hospital, the
Royal Free Hospital and the Whittington Hospital campuses of the UCL Medical School, and a number of other associated teaching hospitals.
The UCL School of Management is on levels 38 and 50 (penthouse) of One Canada Square in the financial district of Canary Wharf. The UCL Observatory is in Mill Hill and the Mullard Space Science Laboratory is based in Holmbury St Mary, Surrey. The UCL Athletics Ground is in Shenley, Hertfordshire.
Today, The Morgans and The Grandma say goodbye to Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin and the Knights of the RoundTable while celebrating Easter Monday,a festival that unites Carolingianpeoples, from Iceland to the Valencian Country, passing through the fantastic world of Camelot.
Tomorrow, the family will return to London where they will continue their English training over the next few weeks.
It is been a few relaxing days, but also an intense literary lesson about one of the most wonderful and popular sagas in Europe, a saga which The Grandma loves and admires with all her heart.
Long live Camelot! Long live literature! Long live Easter Monday!
Easter Monday is the second day of Eastertide and a public holiday in more than 50 predominantly Christian countries. In Western Christianity it marks the second day of the Octave of Easter; in Eastern Christianity it marks the second day of Bright Week.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church and Byzantine Rite Catholic Churches, this day is called Bright Monday or Renewal Monday. The services, as in the rest of Bright Week, are quite different from during the rest of the year and are similar to the services on Pascha (Easter Sunday) and include an outdoor procession after the Divine Liturgy. While this is prescribed for all days of Bright Week,often they are only celebrated on Monday and maybe a couple of other days in parish churches, especially in non-Orthodox countries.
Should the calendar date for the feast day of a major saint (e.g. Saint George on April 23, or the patron saint of a church) or one's name day fall within Holy Week and Pascha itself, the feast is transferred to Easter Monday.
In Western Christianity, Easter Monday is the second day of Eastertide, as well as the second day in the Octave of Easter.
In the Lutheran Churches, the Gospel for Easter Monday concerns the Road to Emmaus appearance.
Easter Monday is an official public holiday in Catalonia, the Land of Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Navarre, the Basque Country, Cantabria, the village of Galvez, and La Rioja. In Catalonia, the Land of Valencia, and Murcia a feature of this day is a pastry called Easter mona. It is usually given by godparents to their godchildren, and it is traditional for families or groups of friends to gather for a trip somewhere, like the countryside, to eat the mona. Traditionally, the age of the children was reflected in the number of eggs in the mona, until they were 12 years old. Currently, it is common for godparents to give the mona to their godchildren throughout their lives.
The Easter mona tradition is tied to that of bakers, who make works of art with pastry and chocolate, and since the mid-nineteenth century, mones have lost their initial simplicity, making their presentation more complex, for they must be elaborated with caramelized sugar, sugar almonds, jams, crunchy toppings, or silver anise, before being decorated with painted Easter eggs or figures made from porcelain, wood, cardboard or fabric.
Today, The Grandma has been reading LeMorted'Arthur.
The ArthurianCycle is a wonderful compilation of stories around the main figure of KingArthur and it's a must in the universal literature, especially Middle Age one.
The Arthurian Cycle is a masterpiece from the point of view of Literature but it's also a masterpiece in Philosophy and History.
The thoughts of King Arthur
cross over cultures and languages and they become in ethical and moral
guides in our 21st century because his knowledge is timeless and
eternal.
Le Morte d'Arthur, originally spelled LeMorte Darthur, Middle French for Thedeath of Arthur, is a reworking of existing tales by Sir Thomas Malory about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin, and the Knights of the Round Table. Malory interpreted existing French and English stories about these figures and adds original material.
Malory's actual title for the work was The Whole Book of King Arthur and His Noble Knights of the Round Table, but after Malory's death the publisher changed the title to what is commonly known today. The Death of King Arthur originally only referred to the final volume in the complete work.
Le Morte d'Arthur was first published in 1485 by William Caxton and is today one of the best-known works of Arthurian literature in English. Until the discovery of the Winchester Manuscript in 1934, the 1485 edition was considered the earliest known text of Le Morte d'Arthur and that closest to Malory'stranslation
and compilation. Various modern editions are inevitably variable,
changing a variety of spelling, grammar, and/or pronouns for the
convenience of readers of modern English. Many modern Arthurian writers have used Malory as their principal source.
Sir Thomas Malory retold the story of Arthur's birth, his conquests, his friendship with Merlin, and his death. To this day, Malory's work is considered by many to be the most authoritative telling of the Arthurian Legend. Malory titled his work LeMorte d'Arthur. Translated into English, this means The Death of King Arthur.
Arthur immediately began pursuit of Lancelot and Guinevere, and they were quickly found at Lancelot's castle in Wales. For months, Arthur and his men laid siege to it. Finally, an agreement was reached whereby Guinevere was returned to Arthur, and Lancelot was sent to France in exile.
But Arthur was still angry. Lancelot had betrayed him, and he wanted revenge. He followed Lancelot into France, leaving Mordred in charge. Then Arthur received the news he dreaded worst: in his absence, Mordred had declared himself King, and had taken Guinevere as his queen. Now, Arthur had no choice but to return to Camelot to defend his kingdom.
In a dream, Arthur was warned not to fight Mordred right away, so he sent messengers into his camp to try and negotiate. During their talks, one of Mordred's men was bitten by an adder. As
he drew his sword to kill it, the sun glinted off his blade. Both
armies mistook this as a sign that someone had drawn his sword to fight,
and a great battle began. The battle raged on all day, and by
nightfall, it was down to every last man to fight. In the commotion, Arthur had dropped Excalibur and its scabbard. Seeing Mordred, he picked up a spear, and charged at him. Mordred charged back with his sword. The sword came forward and cleaved Arthur's skull just as he drove his spear through his son's hateful heart.
As Arthur lay dying, his last request was that the sword Excalibur and the scabbard be thrown back into the lake from whence they came.
Out of the mists of the lake, three Fairy Queens appeared. They placed Arthur's body on a barge, and sailed off with him to the mystical island of Avalon
to cure him of his wounds. And some say he still lays there, sleeping
in a hollow hill, and that he will awaken one day to defend Britain, when Britain has need of him.
I found Him in the shining of the stars, I marked Him in the flowering of His fields, But in His ways with men I find Him not. I waged His wars, and now I pass and die.
Idylls of the King (1856–1885) by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Passing of Arthur
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