… I can tell by your eyes That you've probably been cryin' forever And the stars in the sky Don't mean nothin' to you, they're a mirror
… I don't wanna talk about it How you broke my heart If I stay here just a little bit longer If I stay here, won't you listen to my heart? Oh, whoa, heart
… If I stand all alone Will the shadow hide the color of my heart? Blue for the tears, black for the night's Fears the stars in the sky Don't mean nothin' to you, they're a mirror
… I don't wanna talk about it How you broke my heart If I stay here just a little bit longer If I stay here, won't you listen to my heart? Oh, my heart
… I don't wanna talk about it How you broke this old heart If I stay here just a little bit longer If I stay here, won't you listen to my heart?
Oh, my heart My heart Oh, my heart
Lyrics are coming to you all the time. I get inspiration in the middle of the night.
Today, The Morgans and The Grandma have been resting after a night of endless dancing.
This evening, the family wants to go to the Hippodrome, one of London's most famous casinos, to have a good time and play a little time: how much money? how many games? how many hours will they be there? No one knows.
Cristina Morgan has broken another heart. This time Connor MacLeod's one,the most famous Scottish immortal, whom she has wished all the luck in the world and may he remain forever young.
Before enjoying this promising evening, the family has been studying a little English grammar with Countable & Uncountable and May.
Tomorrow, the family is going to travel to Maunché in Normandy, where they are going to visit Mont Saint Miché and to neighbouring Brittany where they will visit Penn-ar-Bed (Finistère), Aodoù-an-Arvor (Côtes-d’Armor), Mor-Bihan (Morbihan) and Ill-ha-Gwilen (Ille-et-Vilaine).
The Hippodrome is a building on the corner of Cranbourn Street and Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, London.
The name was used for many different theatres and music halls, of which the London Hippodrome is one of only a few survivors. Hippodrome is an archaic word referring to places that host horse races and other forms of equestrian entertainment.
The London Hippodrome was opened in 1900.
It was designed by Frank Matcham for Moss Empires chaired by Edward
Moss and built for £250,000 as a hippodrome for circus and variety
performances. The venue gave its first show on 15 January 1900, a music
hall revue entitled Giddy Ostend with Little Tich. The conductor was Georges Jacobi.
Entry
to the venue was through a bar, dressed as a ship's saloon. The
performance space featured both a proscenium stage and an arena that
sank into 400 tons, when full, for aquatic spectacles. The tank featured
eight central fountains, and a circle of fountains around the side.
Entrances at the side of the auditorium could also be flooded, and used
for the entry of boats.
Shows
included equestrian acts, elephants and polar bears, and acrobats would
dive from a minstrels' gallery above a sliding roof, in the centre of
the proscenium arch. The auditorium featured cantilevered galleries,
removing the columns that often obstructed views in London
theatres, the whole was covered by a painted glass retractable roof,
that could be illuminated at night. The building included the
headquarters of Moss Empires.
In
1909, it was reconstructed by Matcham as a music-hall and variety
theatre with 1340 seats in stalls, mezzanine, gallery and upper gallery
levels. It was here that Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake received its
English première by the Ballets Russes in 1910. The Albert de Courville
revues were performed here from December 1912.
The Hippodrome hosted the first official jazz gig in the United Kingdom, by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, in 1919.
Its reputation was for revue and musical comedy, among them The Five O'Clock Girl, the West End production of Vincent Youmans' hit Broadway musical Hit The Deck (1928) and also Mr. Cinders, both in 1929; Ivor Novello's Perchance to Dream in 1945 with Margaret Rutherford; and the revue High Spirits in 1953 with Cyril Ritchard and Diana Churchill.
Julie Andrews made her stage debut here at the age of 12. From 1949 to 1951 it was the London equivalent of the Folies Bergère.
The original interior was demolished in 1958, and Bernard Delfont had theHippodrome converted into the nightclub The Talk of the Town. It featured appearances by many of the popular artistes of the time.
In 2009, the lease on the Hippodrome
was acquired by Leicester-born father and son entrepreneurs Jimmy and
Simon Thomas, who began an extensive restoration programme taking the
Hippodrome back to Matcham's original designs for use as a casino and
entertainment venue. During the planning stage, the adjacent Cranbourn
Mansions building became available and plans were redrafted to
incorporate this former gentlemen's apartment block into the design,
doubling the eventual floorspace and linked using a new structure sited
within the existing light well between the two buildings.
Investment
in the building reportedly came to over £40 million, the funds being
raised by the Thomas family from the sale of a number of bingo halls
prior to the UK smoking ban, which made it illegal to smoke within an
enclosed workplace, on 1 July 2007.
The Hippodrome Casino was opened on 13 July.
The
venue on opening included four floors of gaming, including a Gold Room
casino sited in the original basement with access directly into
Chinatown to the rear of the building, Heliot restaurant, six bars, a
smoking terrace and The Matcham Room cabaret theatre. The restoration
and construction of the casino was followed on the blog of LBC presenter
Steve Allen.
In
January 2013, the casino was awarded Best Land-based Casino at the
Totally Gaming Awards, which also gave Jimmy Thomas a Life Achievement
award for his contribution to the gaming and entertainment industries.
On 4 March 2013, Simon Thomas announced the opening of Pokerstars LIVE, a collaboration between the Hippodrome
and Pokerstars, the world's largest online poker website. While
initially on the fourth floor, in 2020 Pokerstars LIVE moved to the
third floor where it currently resides.
The Matcham Room at the Hippodrome Casino is currently the home of Magic Mike Live London.
In 2020, construction was completed on an expansion of the fourth floor smoking area to include gaming, and the creation of The Rooftop, a new bar and dining space, on the fifth floor.
Today, The Morgans and The Grandma are having a busy day. This morning they have been studying English grammar with the invocative Let's, Some/Any/No for Countable Nouns and the Relative Pronoun Whose.
Carme Ruscarella, the Catalan chef with seven Michelin stars, has paid them a surprise visit and they have been talking about English cuisine and its differences from other cuisines.
Later, the family has been debating whichcar to give to Valentina Morgan, who istaking her driver's license exam tomorrow.
Tonight, the family is invited to Stereo, afantastic live music venue in Covent Garden where another old friend of The Grandma, David Bowie, is waiting for them, with whom fun and good music are guaranteed.
David Robert Jones (8 January 1947-10 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie was an English singer, songwriter, musician, and actor.
He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.
Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his innovative work during the 1970s. His career was marked by reinventionand visual presentation, and his music and stagecraft had a significant impact on popular music.
David Robert Jones was born on 8 January 1947 in Brixton, London.
Bowie
developed an interest in music from an early age. He studied art, music
and design before embarking on a professional career as a musician in
1963. He released a string of unsuccessful singles with local bands and a
solo album before achieving his first top-five entry on the UK Singles
Chart with Space Oddity (1969).
After
a period of experimentation, he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock
era with the flamboyant and androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust. The
character was spearheaded by the success of Starman and album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which won him widespread popularity.
In 1975, Bowie's style shifted towards a sound he characterised as plastic soul, initially alienating many of his UK fans but garnering his first major US crossover success with the number-one single Fame and the album Young Americans.
In 1976, Bowie starred in the cult film The Man Who Fell to Earth and released Station to Station.
In 1977, he again changed direction with the electronic-inflected album Low, the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno that came to be known as the Berlin Trilogy. Heroes (1977) and Lodger (1979) followed; each album reached the UK top five and received lasting critical praise.
After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had three number-one hits: the 1980 single Ashes to Ashes, its album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) and Under Pressure (a 1981 collaboration with Queen). He achieved his greatest commercial success in the 1980s with Let's Dance (1983).
Between
1988 and 1992, he fronted the hard rock band Tin Machine before
resuming his solo career in 1993. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued
to experiment with musical styles, including industrial and jungle. He
also continued acting; his roles included Major Jack Celliers in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), Jareth the Goblin King in Labyrinth (1986), Phillip Jeffries in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), Andy Warhol in the biopic Basquiat (1996), and Nikola Tesla in The Prestige (2006),
among other film and television appearances and cameos. He stopped
touring after 2004 and his last live performance was at a charity event
in 2006.
He returned from a decade-long recording hiatus in 2013 with The Next Day. He died two days after both his 69th birthday and the release of his final album, Blackstar.
During
his lifetime, his record sales, estimated at over 100 million records
worldwide, made him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. Often
dubbed the chameleon of rock due to his constant musical
reinventions, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
1996. Rolling Stone ranked him among the greatest artists in history.
As of 2022, Bowie was the best-selling vinyl artist of the 21st century.
Bowie died in New York City on 10 January 2016.
Bowie's songs and stagecraft brought a new dimension to popular music in the early 1970s, strongly influencing its immediate forms and subsequent development.
Perone credited Bowie with having brought sophistication to rock music, and critical reviews frequently acknowledged the intellectual depth of his work and influence.
The BBC's arts editor Will Gompertz likened Bowie to Pablo Picasso, writing that he was an
innovative, visionary, restless artist who synthesised complex avant
garde concepts into beautifully coherent works that touched the hearts
and minds of millions.
Today, The Morgans and TheGrandma have visited CamdenMarket where they have enjoyed an excellent foodie day talking about the personal selection for their Scottish castle. It is a rigorous process because there is nothing more important than knowing in which hands you are leaving your home.
Before the visit, the family have practiced some English grammar with Countable and Uncountable Nouns and with the Vocabulary of Containers.
Camden Town, often shortened to Camden, is anarea in the LondonBorough of Camden, around 4.1 km north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London.
Laid out as a residential district from 1791 and originally part of the manor of Kentish Town and the parish of St Pancras, Camden Town became an important location during the early development of the railways, which reinforced its position on the London
canal network. The area's industrial economic base has been replaced by
service industries such as retail, tourism and entertainment. The area
now hosts street markets and music venues associated with alternative
culture.
Camden Town is named after Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden. His earldom was styled after his estate, Camden Place near Chislehurst in Kent (now in the London Borough of Bromley), formerly owned by historian William Camden. The name, which appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1822, was later applied to the early-20th-century Camden Town Group of artists and the LondonBorough of Camden, created in 1965.
The emergence of the industrial revolution in the 19th century meant Camden was
the North Western Railway's terminal stop in 1837. It was where goods
were transported off the tracks and onto the roads of London by 250 000 workhorses. The whole area was adapted to a transportation function: the Roundhouse (1846), Camden Lock and the Stables were examples of this.
Camden Town stands on land that was once the manor of Kentish Town. Sir Charles Pratt, a radical 18th-century lawyer and politician, acquired the manor through marriage.
In 1791, he started granting leases for houses to be built in the manor.
In 1816, the Regent's Canal was built through the area. Up to at least the mid-20th century, Camden Town was considered an unfashionable locality.
The Camden Markets, which started in 1973 and have grown since then, attract many visitors.
On 9 February 2008, Camden Canal market suffered a major fire, but there were no injuries. It later reopened as Camden Lock Village, until closed in 2015 for redevelopment.
Camden Town was contained within the Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras between 1900 and 1965, when it became part of the new LondonBorough of Camden, of which it is the namesake and administrative centre.
Camden Town
is on relatively flat ground at 30 m above sea level, 4.0 km
north-northwest of Charing Cross. To the north are the hills of
Hampstead and Highgate; to the west is Primrose Hill. The culverted,
subterranean River Fleet flows from its source on Hampstead Heath
through Camden Town south to the River Thames. The Regent's Canal runs through the north of Camden Town.
Camden is well known for its markets.
These date from 1974 or later, except for Inverness Street market, for
over a century a small food market serving the local community, though
by 2013 all foodstuff and produce stalls had gone and only touristy
stalls remained. Camden Lock Market proper started in a former timber yard in 1973, and is now surrounded by five more markets: Buck Street market, Stables market, Camden Lock Village, and an indoor market in the Electric Ballroom.
The markets are a major tourist attraction at weekends,
selling goods of all types, including fashion, lifestyle, books, food,
junk/antiques and more bizarre items; they and the surrounding shops are
popular with young people, in particular, those searching for alternative clothing. While originally open on Sundays only, market activity later extended throughout the week, though concentrating on weekends.
Today, The Morgans and The Grandma had a morning of business closing the purchase of their wonderful castle in the Highlands.
The family has opened a recruitment process to work in their new Scottish residence and the search is being very interesting because the CVs of the first candidates have already started to arrive.
Before attending to these matters, the family has been studying a little English grammar with the ConditionalTense and TheSuperlative and talking about one of the hardest works: finding a good job.
Finally, They have been talking about the Tube, London Underground and its vital importance during the Second World War as a refuge for the population to protect themselves from enemy bombings, a history parallel to that experienced years earlier by cities such as Barcelona, Viladecans or Gavà, among many others.
The London Underground, commonly known as the Tube, is one of the most iconic public transport systems in the world. Serving the city of London and surrounding areas, it is also the oldest underground railway network, with its first line opening in 1863.
Originally built to reduce street congestion, the early system used steam-powered trains running through tunnels constructed with a cut-and-cover method. Over time, technological advances led to the introduction of electric trains in 1890, making it the first electric underground railway.
Throughout the 20th century, different private railway lines were gradually integrated into a unified network, helping shape modern London. The system also played a crucial role during both World Wars, when stations were used as air-raid shelters.
Today, the Underground consists of an extensive network of hundreds of stations and hundreds of kilometers of track, transporting over a billion passengers annually. Although known as an underground, a significant portion of the network actually runs above ground.
Managed by Transport for London since 2003, the system continues to modernize with improved accessibility, new trains, and infrastructure upgrades.
Today, The Morgans and The Grandma have said goodbye to their Scottish friends. It's not a goodbye, but a see you later as TheGrandma has bought a wonderful castle for the whole family and while they restore it, adapt it and hire the necessary staff, the family are going to be in London already living together the last month of preparation for their Cambridge exam.
The Morgans have invested in a couple of businesses: tartans and bagpipes and have said goodbye to the Highlanders singing Flower of Scotland at the top of their voices. It has been very emotional.
During the trip back to London, the family has been studying a little English grammar with the Future (Be Going To) and Reflexive Pronouns.
Tartan is a patterned textile defined by intersecting horizontal and vertical lines in multiple colours, forming a distinctive checked design.While similar patterns have existed in various cultures for thousands of years, tartan is most strongly associated with Scotland, where it was traditionally woven in wool and used in garments such as the kilt.
Over time, specific tartan designs became linked to Scottish clans, families, or regions, turning them into symbols of identity and heritage. However, this system of association was largely formalized between the 17th and 19th centuries, particularly during a period of cultural revival in Scotland.
Following the Jacobite uprising of 1745, tartan was briefly banned, but it later experienced a major resurgence and gained international popularity. It evolved from a regional tradition into a widely recognized cultural and fashion element.
Today, tartan is used not only to represent clans but also in military uniforms, institutional identities, and contemporary fashion. With thousands of registered patterns, it has become a global symbol that extends far beyond its Scottishorigins.
The bagpipes are a traditional woodwind instrument that produces sound using air stored in a bag, which feeds one or more reed pipes. The player inflates the bag -either by blowing into it or using bellows- and then controls the airflow to create a continuous sound. The melody is played on a pipe called the chanter, while additional pipes, known as drones, produce steady background notes.
Although strongly associated with Scotland -especially the famous GreatHighland bagpipe -bagpipes have been used for centuries across many regions, including Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia.
Their origins are ancient and somewhat uncertain, with references dating back to classical antiquity. Over time, they evolved from simple folk instruments into ones also used in courts and later in military traditions.
Today, bagpipes exist in many regional varieties, each with distinct sounds and construction. Despite their global presence, they remain a powerful cultural symbol, particularly in Scottish heritage and music.
Flower of Scotland is a Scottish patriotic song written in the 1960s by folk musician Roy Williamson. Although Scotland does not have an official national anthem, it is widely used as an unofficial one, especially at sporting events.
The song's lyrics recall the historic victory of Robert the Bruce over Edward II of England at the Battle of Bannockburn, a key moment in the Wars of Scottish Independence.
It celebrates Scottish resistance and encourages a sense of national pride and identity.
Despite its relatively modern origin, the song has become deeply embedded in Scottish culture. It is particularly associated with rugby and football matches, where it is sung by players and fans alike, creating a powerful collective atmosphere.
Today, Flower of Scotland stands as one of the most recognizable symbols of Scotland, bridging history, music, and national identity, both at home and on the international stage.
Today, The Morgans and TheGrandma are travelling to Inbhir Nis, to visit Loch Nis, home of an old and legendary friend: Nessie.
Loch Ness, in Scottish Gaelic Loch Nis, is a large deep lake in the ScottishHighlands extending for approximately 37 kilometres southwest of Inverness.
Its surface is 16 metres above sea level. It is connected at the
southern end by the River Oich and a section of the Caledonian Canal to
Loch Oich. At
the northern end there is the Bona Narrows which opens out into Loch
Dochfour, which feeds the River Ness and a further section of canal to
Inverness, ultimately leading to the North Sea via the Moray Firth. It
is one of a series of interconnected, murky bodies of water in Scotland; its water visibility is exceptionally low due to a high peat content in the surrounding soil.
At Drumnadrochit is the Loch Ness Centre and Exhibition which examines the natural history and legend of Loch Ness. Urquhart Castle
is located on the western shore, 2 km east of Drumnadrochit and
lighthouses are located at Lochend (Bona Lighthouse) and Fort Augustus.
Loch Ness is known as the home of the Loch Ness Monster, also known as Nessie, a cryptid, reputedly a large unknown animal. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland
and elsewhere, though its description varies from one account to the
next. Popular interest and belief in the animal's existence has varied
since it was first brought to the world's attention in 1933.
In Scottish folklore, the Loch Ness Monster or Nessie, is an aquatic being which reputedly inhabits Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland
and elsewhere, and is often described as being large in size, with a
long neck and one or more humps protruding from the water. Popular
interest and belief in the creature has varied since it was brought to
worldwide attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal,
with a few disputed photographs and sonar readings.
The creature commonly appears in Western media where it manifests in a variety of ways. The scientific community regards the Loch Ness Monster
as a phenomenon without biological basis, explaining sightings as
hoaxes, wishful thinking, and the misidentification of mundane objects.
The creature has been affectionately called Nessie, in Scottish Gaelic: Niseag, since the 1940s.
The word monster was reportedly applied for the first time to the creature on 2 May 1933 by Alex Campbell, water bailiff for Loch Ness and a part-time journalist, in an Inverness Courier report.
On
4 August 1933 the Courier published a report by Londoner George Spicer
that several weeks earlier, while they were driving around the loch, he
and his wife saw the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that I have ever seen in my life trundling across the road toward the loch with an animal
in its mouth. Letters began appearing in the Courier, often
anonymously, claiming land or water sightings by the writer, their
family or acquaintances or remembered stories. The accounts reached the
media, which described a monster fish, sea serpent, or dragon and eventually settled on Loch Ness monster.
On 6 December 1933 the first purported photograph of the monster, taken by Hugh Gray, was published in the Daily Express; the Secretary of State for Scotland soon ordered police to prevent any attacks on it. In 1934, interest was further piqued by the surgeon's photograph.
That
year, R. T. Gould published an account of the author's investigation
and a record of reports predating 1933. Other authors have claimed
sightings of the monster dating to the sixth century AD.
The earliest report of a monster in the vicinity of Loch Ness appears in the Life of St. Columba by Adomnán, written in the sixth century AD.
According to Adomnán, writing about a century after the events described, Irish monk Saint Columba was staying in the land of the Picts with his companions when he encountered local residents burying a man by the River Ness. They explained that the man was swimming in the river when he was attacked by a water beast which mauled him and dragged him underwater.
Although
they tried to rescue him in a boat, he was dead. Columba sent a
follower, Luigne moccu Min, to swim across the river. The beast
approached him, but Columba made the sign of the cross and said: Go no further. Do not touch the man. Go back at once.
The creature stopped as if it had been "pulled back with ropes" and
fled, and Columba's men and the Picts gave thanks for what they
perceived as a miracle.
Believers in the monster point to this story, set in the River Ness rather than the loch itself, as evidence for the creature's existence as early as the sixth century.
Sceptics
question the narrative's reliability, noting that water-beast stories
were extremely common in medieval hagiographies and Adomnán's tale
probably recycles a common motif attached to a local landmark. According
to sceptics, Adomnán's story may be independent of the modern Loch Ness Monster legend and became attached to it by believers seeking to bolster their claims.
Moonlight falls upon the dormant land Where peaceful calm reclines Upon the shimmering lake Ripples form and then reveal A dark silhouette rising out of water.
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