DISCOVERING KØBENHAVN, THE CAPITAL OF DENMARK

The Watsons & The Grandma in Copenhagen

Today, The Watsons and The Grandma have been invited by Lord Mayor Frank Jensen to visit the Copenhagen City Hall. It has been an interesting visit where the family has been able to know the History of Copenhagen and its future plans.

Although the earliest historical records of Copenhagen are from the end of the 12th century, recent archaeological finds in connection with work on the city's metropolitan rail system revealed the remains of a large merchant's mansion near today's Kongens Nytorv from c. 1020. Excavations in Pilestræde have also led to the discovery of a well from the late 12th century. The remains of an ancient church, with graves dating to the 11th century, have been unearthed near where Strøget meets Rådhuspladsen.

These finds indicate that Copenhagen's origins as a city go back at least to the 11th century. Substantial discoveries of flint tools in the area provide evidence of human settlements dating to the Stone Age. Many historians believe the town dates to the late Viking Age, and was possibly founded by Sweyn I Forkbeard.

The natural harbour and good herring stocks seem to have attracted fishermen and merchants to the area on a seasonal basis from the 11th century and more permanently in the 13th century. The first habitations were probably centred on Gammel Strand, literally old shore, in the 11thcentury or even earlier.

More information: Copenhagen

The earliest written mention of the town was in the 12th century when Saxo Grammaticus in Gesta Danorum referred to it as Portus Mercatorum, meaning Merchants' Harbour or, in the Danish of the time, Købmannahavn. Traditionally, Copenhagen's founding has been dated to Bishop Absalon's construction of a modest fortress on the little island of Slotsholmen in 1167 where Christiansborg Palace stands today.

In 1186, a letter from Pope Urban III states that the castle of Hafn  in Copenhagen and its surrounding lands, including the town of Hafn, were given to Absalon, Bishop of Roskilde 1158–1191 and Archbishop of Lund 1177–1201, by King Valdemar I. On Absalon's death, the property was to come into the ownership of the Bishopric of Roskilde. Around 1200, the Church of Our Lady was constructed on higher ground to the northeast of the town, which began to develop around it.

As the town became more prominent, it was repeatedly attacked by the Hanseatic League, and in 1368 successfully invaded during the Second Danish-Hanseatic War. In the mid 1330s, the first land assessment of the city was published.

Arriving to the City Hall, Copenhagen

With the establishment of the Kalmar Union (1397–1523) between Denmark, Norway and Sweden, by about 1416 Copenhagen had emerged as the capital of Denmark when Eric of Pomerania moved his seat to Copenhagen Castle.

The University of Copenhagen was inaugurated on 1 June 1479 by King Christian I, following approval from Pope Sixtus IV. This makes it the oldest university in Denmark and one of the oldest in Europe. Originally controlled by the Catholic Church, the university's role in society was forced to change during the Reformation in Denmark in the late 1530s.

In disputes prior to the Reformation of 1536, the city which had been faithful to Christian II, who was Catholic, was successfully besieged in 1523 by the forces of Frederik I, who supported Lutheranism. The Netherlands had also become primarily Protestant, as were northern German states.

During the reign of Christian IV between 1588 and 1648, Copenhagen had dramatic growth as a city. On his initiative at the beginning of the 17th century, two important buildings were completed on Slotsholmen: the Tøjhus Arsenal and Børsen, the stock exchange. To foster international trade, the East India Company was founded in 1616. To the east of the city, inspired by Dutch planning, the king developed the district of Christianshavn with canals and ramparts. It was initially intended to be a fortified trading centre but ultimately became part of Copenhagen. Christian IV also sponsored an array of ambitious building projects including Rosenborg Slot and the Rundetårn. In 1658–59, the city withstood a siege by the Swedes under Charles X and successfully repelled a major assault.

By 1661, Copenhagen had asserted its position as capital of Denmark and Norway.

Copenhagen lost around 22,000 of its population of 65,000 to the plague in 1711. The city was also struck by two major fires which destroyed much of its infrastructure. The Copenhagen Fire of 1728 was the largest in the history of Copenhagen.

More information: Visit Copenhagen

A substantial amount of rebuilding followed. In 1733, work began on the royal residence of Christiansborg Palace which was completed in 1745. In 1749, development of the prestigious district of Frederiksstaden was initiated. Designed by Nicolai Eigtved in the Rococo style, its centre contained the mansions which now form Amalienborg Palace.  Major extensions to the naval base of Holmen were undertaken while the city's cultural importance was enhanced with the Royal Theatre and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.

In the second half of the 18th century, Copenhagen benefited from Denmark's neutrality during the wars between Europe's main powers, allowing it to play an important role in trade between the states around the Baltic Sea.

On 2 April 1801, a British fleet under the command of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker attacked and defeated the neutral Danish-Norwegian fleet anchored near Copenhagen. Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson led the main attack.

Visiting the City Hall, Copenhagen

The Second Battle of Copenhagen or the Bombardment of Copenhagen (16 August-5 September 1807) was from a British point of view a preemptive attack on Copenhagen, targeting the civilian population in order to yet again seize the Dano-Norwegian fleet.

The devastation was so great because Copenhagen relied on an old defence-line whose limited range could not reach the British ships and their longer-range artillery.

Despite the disasters of the early 19th century, Copenhagen experienced a period of intense cultural creativity known as the Danish Golden Age. In the early 1850s, the ramparts of the city were opened to allow new housing to be built around The Lakes, in Danish Søerne that bordered the old defences to the west. By the 1880s, the districts of Nørrebro and Vesterbro developed to accommodate those who came from the provinces to participate in the city's industrialization. Electricity came in 1892 with electric trams in 1897.

By the beginning of the 20th century, Copenhagen had become a thriving industrial and administrative city. With its new city hall and railway station, its centre was drawn towards the west.

As a result of Denmark's neutrality in the First World War, Copenhagen prospered from trade with both Britain and Germany while the city's defences were kept fully manned by some 40,000 soldiers for the duration of the war.

More information: Copenhagen Portal

In Denmark during World War II, Copenhagen was occupied by German troops along with the rest of the country from 9 April 1940 until 4 May 1945.

In August 1943, after the government's collaboration with the occupation forces collapsed, several ships were sunk in Copenhagen Harbor by the Royal Danish Navy to prevent their use by the Germans. Around that time the Nazis started to arrest Jews, although most managed to escape to Sweden.

On 8 May 1945 Copenhagen was officially liberated by British troops commanded by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery who supervised the surrender of 30,000 Germans situated around the capital.

Shortly after the end of the war, an innovative urban development project known as the Finger Plan was introduced in 1947, encouraging the creation of new housing and businesses interspersed with large green areas along five fingers stretching out from the city centre along the S-train routes.

Motor traffic in the city grew significantly and in 1972 the trams were replaced by buses. Copenhagen Airport underwent considerable expansion, becoming a hub for the Nordic countries. In the 1990s, large-scale housing developments were realized in the harbour area and in the west of Amager. The national library's Black Diamond building on the waterfront was completed in 1999.

Since the summer of 2000, Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmö have been connected by the Øresund Bridge, which carries rail and road traffic. As a result, Copenhagen has become the centre of a larger metropolitan area spanning both nations.

On the cultural front, the Copenhagen Opera House, a gift to the city from the shipping magnate Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller on behalf of the A.P. Møller foundation, was completed in 2004.

More information: Lonely Planet

I was very affected as a foreigner

coming from Copenhagen,

which is the safest,

most liberal town in the entire galaxy.

Nicolas Winding Refn

THE WATSONS VISIT DENMARK, CORAIMA'S COUNTRY

Arriving to the Copenhagen Airport Kastrup

Today, in the morning, The Watsons have been preparing their next travel to Denmark. They have written budgets and some plannings to stay the next five days in Coraima's country.

The Grandma has also explained the importance of Sant Boi de Llobregat as a sanctuary city for European minorities during the Middle Age, especially gipsies and cathars.

Denmark, in Danish Danmark, is a Nordic country in Northwest Europe.

Denmark proper, which is the southernmost of the Scandinavian countries, consists of a peninsula, Jutland, and an archipelago of 443 named islands, with the largest being Zealand, Funen and the North Jutlandic Island. The islands are characterised by flat, arable land and sandy coasts, low elevation and a temperate climate. The southernmost of the Scandinavian nations, Denmark lies southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and is bordered to the south by Germany. The Kingdom of Denmark also includes two autonomous territories in the North Atlantic Ocean: the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

During the flight from Barcelona to Copenhagen, the family has been studying some English grammar. They have practised Prepositions of Time (In-On-At) and they have played some word games like Scatergories, The Bomb, The Hanger and Simon.

More information: Prepositions of Time (In-On-At)

More information: How to Create a Budget

More information: How to Create an Effective Action Plan

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In the evening, they have arrived to the Villa Copenhagen, the hotel where they are going to stay during these five days in Denmark.

At night, they have gone to rest waiting to live an amazing experience in the country of Hans Andersen, the most popular tales writer.

More information: Villa Copenhagen Hotel

Copenhagen, in Danish København, is the capital and most populous city of Denmark. It forms the core of the wider urban area of Copenhagen and the Copenhagen metropolitan area.

Copenhagen is situated on the eastern coast of the island of Zealand; another small portion of the city is located on Amager, and it is separated from Malmø, Sweden, by the strait of Øresund. The Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by rail and road.

Originally a Viking fishing village established in the 10th century in the vicinity of what is now Gammel Strand, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the early 15th century.

The Grandma in Villa Copenhagen Hotel

Beginning in the 17th century it consolidated its position as a regional centre of power with its institutions, defences and armed forces. During the renaissance the city served as the de facto capital being the seat of government of the Kalmar Union, governing the entire present day Nordic region in a personal union with Sweden and Norway ruled by the Danish monarch serving as the head of state. The city flourished as the cultural and economic center of Scandinavia under the union for well over 120 years, starting in the 15th century up until the beginning of the 16th century when the union was dissolved with Sweden leaving the union through a rebellion.

After a plague outbreak and fire in the 18th century, the city underwent a period of redevelopment. This included construction of the prestigious district of Frederiksstaden and founding of such cultural institutions as the Royal Theatre and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.

After further disasters in the early 19th century when Horatio Nelson attacked the Dano-Norwegian fleet and bombarded the city, rebuilding during the Danish Golden Age brought a Neoclassical look to Copenhagen's architecture. Later, following the Second World War, the Finger Plan fostered the development of housing and businesses along the five urban railway routes stretching out from the city centre.

More information: The Independent

Since the turn of the 21st century, Copenhagen has seen strong urban and cultural development, facilitated by investment in its institutions and infrastructure. The city is the cultural, economic and governmental centre of Denmark; it is one of the major financial centres of Northern Europe with the Copenhagen Stock Exchange.

Copenhagen's economy has seen rapid developments in the service sector, especially through initiatives in information technology, pharmaceuticals and clean technology. Since the completion of the Øresund Bridge, Copenhagen has become increasingly integrated with the Swedish province of Scania and its largest city, Malmø, forming the Øresund Region. With a number of bridges connecting the various districts, the cityscape is characterised by parks, promenades and waterfronts.

More information: Visit Copenhagen

Copenhagen's landmarks such as Tivoli Gardens, The Little Mermaid statue, the Amalienborg and Christiansborg palaces, Rosenborg Castle Gardens, Frederik's Church, and many museums, restaurants and nightclubs are significant tourist attractions. The largest lake of Denmark, Arresø, lies around 43 kilometers northwest of the City Hall Square.

Copenhagen is home to the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen Business School and the IT University of Copenhagen. The University of Copenhagen, founded in 1479, is the oldest university in Denmark.

Copenhagen is home to the FC København and Brøndby football clubs. The annual Copenhagen Marathon was established in 1980. Copenhagen is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world.

The Watsons walk across Copenhagen at night

The Copenhagen Metro launched in 2002 serves central Copenhagen. Additionally the Copenhagen S-train, the Lokaltog, private railway, and the Coast Line network serves and connects central Copenhagen to outlying boroughs. 

Serving roughly two million passengers a month, Copenhagen Airport Kastrup, is the busiest airport in the Nordic countries.

Copenhagen's name reflects its origin as a harbour and a place of commerce. The original designation in Old Norse, from which Danish descends, was Kaupmannahǫfn, meaning merchants' harbour. By the time Old Danish was spoken, the capital was called Køpmannæhafn, with the current name deriving from centuries of subsequent regular sound change.

An exact English equivalent would be chapman's haven. However, the English term for the city was adapted from its Low German name, Kopenhagen. Copenhagen's Swedish name is Köpenhamn, a direct translation of the mutually intelligible Danish name.

Copenhagen is part of the Øresund Region, which consists of Zealand, Lolland-Falster and Bornholm in Denmark and Scania in Sweden. It is located on the eastern shore of the island of Zealand, partly on the island of Amager and on a number of natural and artificial islets between the two.

More information: Arrival Guides

Copenhagen faces the Øresund to the east, the strait of water that separates Denmark from Sweden, and which connects the North Sea with the Baltic Sea. The Swedish towns of Malmö and Landskrona lie on the Swedish side of the sound directly across from Copenhagen. By road, Copenhagen is 42 kilometres northwest of Malmö, Sweden, 85 kilometres northeast of Næstved, 164 kilometres northeast of Odense, 295 kilometres east of Esbjerg and 188 kilometres southeast of Aarhus by sea and road via Sjællands Odde.

The city centre lies in the area originally defined by the old ramparts, which are still referred to as the Fortification Ring (Fæstningsringen) and kept as a partial green band around it. Then come the late-19th- and early-20th-century residential neighbourhoods of Østerbro, Nørrebro, Vesterbro and Amagerbro. The outlying areas of Kongens Enghave, Valby, Vigerslev, Vanløse, Brønshøj, Utterslev and Sundby followed from 1920 to 1960. They consist mainly of residential housing and apartments often enhanced with parks and greenery.

More information: Rough Guides

Copenhagen is in the oceanic climate zone. Its weather is subject to low-pressure systems from the Atlantic which result in unstable conditions throughout the year. Apart from slightly higher rainfall from July to September, precipitation is moderate. While snowfall occurs mainly from late December to early March, there can also be rain, with average temperatures around the freezing point.

June is the sunniest month of the year with an average of about eight hours of sunshine a day. July is the warmest month with an average daytime high of 21°C. By contrast, the average hours of sunshine are less than two per day in November and only one and a half per day from December to February. In the spring, it gets warmer again with four to six hours of sunshine per day from March to May. February is the driest month of the year. Exceptional weather conditions can bring as much as 50 cm of snow to Copenhagen in a 24-hour period during the winter months while summer temperatures have been known to rise to heights of 33°C.

Because of Copenhagen's northern latitude, the number of daylight hours varies considerably between summer and winter. On the summer solstice, the sun rises at 04:26 and sets at 21:58, providing 17 hours 32 minutes of daylight. On the winter solstice, it rises at 08:37 and sets at 15:39 with 7 hours and 1 minute of daylight. There is therefore a difference of 10 hours and 31 minutes in the length of days and nights between the summer and winter solstices.

More information: Times of India

Denmark has long been regarded

as one of the world's most attractive nations,

for citizens and tourists alike.

My own visits there,years ago as a student,

were delightful.

Elliott Abrams

DR JOHN H. WATSON, SHERLOCK HOLMES'S BEST FRIEND

Having tea with Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson

Today, The Grandma has received the amazing exciting wonderful visit of John H. Watson, aka Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes, the famous detective. They have been talking about The Watsons, The Grandma's new family in Sant Boi de Llobregat, and Dr Watson has explained her some secrets to help her family members to improve their English.

John H. Watson, known as Dr Watson, is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Watson is Sherlock Holmes' friend, assistant and sometime flatmate, and the first person narrator of all but four of these stories.

He is described as a typical Victorian-era gentleman, unlike the more eccentric Holmes. He is astute, although he fails to match his friend's deductive skills. Whilst retaining his role as Holmes's friend and confidant, Watson has been adapted in various films, television series, video games, comics and radio programmes.

In Conan Doyle's early rough plot outlines, Sherlock Holmes's associate was named Ormond Sacker before Conan Doyle finally settled on John Watson. He was probably inspired by one of Doyle's colleagues, Dr James Watson. 

More information: Arthur Conan Doyle

William L. DeAndrea wrote that Watson also serves the important function of catalyst for Holmes's mental processes... From the writer's point of view, Doyle knew the importance of having someone to whom the detective can make enigmatic remarks, a consciousness that's privy to facts in the case without being in on the conclusions drawn from them until the proper time. Any character who performs these functions in a mystery story has come to be known as a 'Watson'.

Dr Watson's first name is mentioned on only four occasions. Part one of the very first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, is subtitled Being a reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., Late of the Army Medical Department.

Sherlock Holmes & Dr. John H. Watson

The preface of the collection His Last Bow is signed John H. Watson, M.D., and in The Problem of Thor Bridge, Watson says that his dispatch box is labelled John H. Watson, M.D.

His wife Mary Watson appears to refer to him as James in The Man with the Twisted Lip; Dorothy L. Sayers speculates that Mary may be using his middle name Hamish (an Anglicisation of Sheumais, the vocative form of Seumas, the Scottish Gaelic for James), though Doyle himself never addresses this beyond including the initial. David W. Merrell, on the other hand, concludes that Mary is not referring to her husband at all but rather to (the surname of) their servant.

In 1881, Watson is introduced by his friend Stamford to Sherlock Holmes, who is looking for someone to share rent at a flat in 221B Baker Street. Concluding that they are compatible, they subsequently move into the flat. When Watson notices multiple eccentric guests frequenting the flat, Holmes reveals that he is a consulting detective and that the guests are his clients.

Throughout Doyle's novels, Watson is presented as Holmes's biographer. At the end of the first published Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, Watson is so incensed by Scotland Yard's claiming full credit for its solution that he exclaims: Your merits should be publicly recognised. You should publish an account of the case. If you won't, I will for you. Holmes suavely responds: You may do what you like, Doctor. Therefore, the story is presented as a reprint from the reminiscences of John H. Watson, and most other stories of the series share this by implication.

More information: Sherlockian

A Study in Scarlet, having just returned from Afghanistan, John Watson is described as thin as a lath and as brown as a nut. In subsequent texts, he is variously described as strongly built, of a stature either average or slightly above average, with a thick, strong neck and a small moustache.

Watson used to be an athlete: it is mentioned in The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire (1924) that he used to play rugby union for Blackheath, but he fears his physical condition has declined since that point. In The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton (1899), Watson is described as a middle-sized, strongly built man—square jaw, thick neck, moustache... In His Last Bow, set in August 1914, Watson is described as ...a heavily built, elderly man with a grey moustache....

John Watson is intelligent, if lacking in Holmes's insight, and serves as a perfect foil for Holmes: the archetypal late Victorian/Edwardian gentleman against the brilliant, emotionally detached analytical machine. Furthermore, he is considered an excellent doctor and surgeon, especially by Holmes.

For instance, in The Adventure of the Dying Detective, Holmes creates a ruse that he is deathly ill to lure a suspect to his presence, which must fool Watson as well during its enactment. To that effect in addition to elaborate makeup and starving himself for a few days for the necessary appearance, Holmes firmly claims to Watson that he is highly contagious to the touch, knowing full well that the doctor would immediately deduce his true medical condition upon examination.

Download A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

My dear Watson, you were born to be a man of action.

Your instinct is always to do something energetic.

Sherlock Holmes

THE WATSONS, A NEW FAMILY IN SANT BOI DE LLOBREGAT

The Grandma always returns to Sant Boi

Today, The Grandma has arrived to Sant Boi de Llobregat to start a new English course with a new family, The Watsons.

Sant Boi de Llobregat is a town of 82,142 inhabitants in the Barcelona province in Catalonia, located aside the Llobregat river.

Though the main business activity is centred in the trading and service sector, Sant Boi also has a remarkable industrial activity, especially for metallurgy; agriculture is stimulated by the fertile alluvial lands at the mouth of Llobregat river and a mild climate, producing a wide variety of vegetables like the famous Llobregat's delta artichokes.

The finding of archeological remains corresponding to Iberian colonies (VI-I bC) and the Romans (I-V aC) - a noteworthy Roman bath is located near the river -suggests that the origins of Sant Boi can be found in pre-Roman times.

Like most of the surrounding lands, from the 8th to the 11th century the town was controlled by the Moors, until their expulsion from Iberia during the Reconquista. The Moors called it Alcala, which means castle, due to the existence of a hillock from where the river and the valley were dominated.

More information: Ajuntament de Sant Boi de Llobregat

During the Middle Ages the village was progressively populated, growing from the surroundings of the castle to adjacent zones. A baroque-style church was built during the 16th century. The growth kept on during the following centuries, giving rise to numerous Masies, typical Catalan agricultural housing, near the river and the most fertile lands. At the end of the 19th century Sant Boi was a village of nearly 5000 inhabitants, with an economy mainly based in agriculture.

At the beginnings of the 20th century the first industries flourished in Sant Boi, ranging from brick manufacture to metalwork. With the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939 there is a massive inflow of immigration coming from diverse points of the Spanish geography. These flows of population consisted mainly in people from villages and small towns searching a job and career opportunities in the town of Barcelona, stimulated by the increasing demand of workmanship in the regrowth of the Catalan industry during the post-war period.

More information: Catalunya

The population rises from 10.000 people in 1940 to 65.000 in 1975. This period is characterized by the construction of complete quarters (Casablanca, Camps Blancs, Cooperativa) dedicated to housing for the immigration.

The Grandma with some nice old British friends

Nowadays Sant Boi is a town with more than 80,000 inhabitants, with well-established industrial and services sectors, and a healthy cultural and recreational offer. The town is divided into six districts: Ciutat Cooperativa-Molí Nou, Marianao-Can Paulet, Barri Centre, Vinyets-Molí Vell, Camps Blancs-Canons-Orioles and Casablanca.

It borders to the north with the towns of Santa Coloma de Cervelló, Sant Joan Despí and the village of Sant Climent de Llobregat, to the east with the town of Cornellà de Llobregat, to the west with Viladecans and to the south with El Prat de Llobregat, having a narrow land extension to the south that enters into the Mediterranean Sea.

More information: Fem Turisme

The Watsons are a family integrated by twelve nice young European women who want to improve their English and who have worked very hard on their first day.

It is always a great pleasure to return to Sant Boi where The Grandma has wonderful old friends. She has met MJ again and they have been talking about this new course.

After introductions, The Grandma has started to talk about the course and The Watsons have studied the Imperative, how to convert Infinitives to Nouns (Gerunds) and the article A/An. They have also studied which is the correct order of the adjectives in English.

They have created some profiles and they have written a password game to play during the next days. Finally, after a little listening about the origin of the name of Sant Boi and the importance of the Roman baths, they have played with the bomb, one of The Grandma's favourite games.

It has been a nice wonderful short day!

More information: Imperative I, II, III & IV

More information: Gerunds as Nouns

More information: A/An Article

More information: Order of Adjectives I & II

Roman civilization had achieved,

within the bounds of its technology,

relatively as great a mastery of time

and space as we have achieved today.

Arthur Erickson

MINERS DISCOVER SOME SKULLS IN CALAVERAS COUNTY

Tina Picotes visits Calaveras County, California

Today, The Grandma is resting at home. She has received news from Tina Picotes, one of her closest friends. Tina is visiting California and she has sent her some photos and information about the Calaveras County Skulls a controversial story ocurred in those lands when on a day like today in 1866 a skull was found there.

Some scientists believed these skulls belonged to ancient humans while other think they are a fake. It does not matter for The Grandma because she appreciates the idea of something that has become a legend and every legend has lights and shadows, trues and lies.

The Calaveras Skull was a human skull found by miners in Calaveras County, California, which was purported to prove that humans, mastodons, and elephants had coexisted in California. It was later revealed to be a hoax. Coincidentally, calaveras is the Spanish word for skulls.

On February 25, 1866, miners claimed to have found a human skull in a mine, beneath a layer of lava, 40 m below the surface of the earth, which made it into the hands of Josiah Whitney, then the State Geologist of California as well as a Professor of Geology at Harvard University.

More information: Calaveras County

 

A year before the skull came to his attention, Whitney published the belief that humans, mastodons, and mammoths coexisted; the skull served as proof of his convictions. After careful study, he officially announced its discovery at a meeting of the California Academy of Sciences on July 16, 1866, declaring it evidence of the existence of Pliocene age man in North America, which would make it the oldest known record of humans on the continent.

Its authenticity was immediately challenged. In 1869 the San Francisco Evening Bulletin reported that a miner had told a minister that the skull was planted as a practical joke. Thomas Wilson of Harvard ran a fluorine analysis on it in 1879, the first ever usage of such on human bone, with the results indicating it was of recent origin. It was so widely believed to be a hoax that Bret Harte famously wrote a satirical poem called To the Pliocene Skull in 1899.

More information: Go Calaveras

Whitney did not waver in his belief that it was genuine. His successor at Harvard, F. W. Putnam, also believed it to be real. By 1901 Putnam was determined to discover the truth and he headed to California. While there, he heard a story that in 1865 one of a number of Indian skulls had been dug up from a nearby burial site and planted in the mine specifically for miners to find. 

Putnam still declined to declare the skull a fake, instead conceding, It may be impossible ever to determine to the satisfaction of the archaeologist the place where the skull was actually found. Others, such as adherents of Theosophy, also were unwavering in their belief in the authenticity of the skull.

The Calaveras Skull

To further complicate the issue, careful comparison of the skull with descriptions of it at the time of its discovery revealed that the skull Whitney had in his possession was not the one originally found.

Anthropologist William Henry Holmes of the Smithsonian Institution investigated around the turn of the century. He determined that the plant and animal fossils that had been discovered near the skull were indeed genuine, but the skull was too modern, and concluded that to suppose that man could have remained unchanged... for a million years, roughly speaking... is to suppose a miracle. Likewise, J. M. Boutwell, investigating in 1911, was told by one of the participants in the discovery that the whole thing was indeed a hoax. The miners of the Sierra Nevada apparently did not greatly like Whitney, being an Easterner of very reserved demeanor, and were delighted to have played such a joke on him.

Furthermore, John C. Scribner, a local shopkeeper, claimed to have planted it, and the story was revealed by his sister after his death. Radiocarbon dating in 1992 established the age of the skull at about 1,000 years, placing it in the late Holocene age.

Despite evidence to the contrary, the Calaveras Skull continues to be cited by some creationists as proof that paleontologists ignore evidence that does not fit their theories, although others have acknowledged that the Calaveras Skull is a hoax.

More information: Archaeology

Calaveras County, officially the County of Calaveras, is a county in the northern portion of the U.S. state, California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 40,171. The county seat is San Andreas. Angels Camp is the only incorporated city in the county.

Calaveras is the Spanish word for skulls; the county was reportedly named for the remains of Native Americans discovered by the Spanish explorer Captain Gabriel Moraga.

 

Tina Picotes visits the Calaveras County Archives

Calaveras Big Trees State Park, a preserve of giant sequoia trees, is in the county several miles east of the town of Arnold on State Highway 4. Credit for the discovery of giant sequoias here is given to Augustus T. Dowd, a trapper who made the discovery in 1852 while tracking a bear. When the bark from the Discovery Tree was removed and taken on a tour around the world, the trees became a worldwide sensation and one of the county's first tourist attractions. The uncommon gold telluride mineral calaverite was discovered in the county in 1861 and is named for it.

Mark Twain set his story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, in the county. The county hosts an annual fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee, featuring a frog-jumping contest, to celebrate the association with Twain's story. Each year's winner is commemorated with a brass plaque mounted in the sidewalk of downtown Historic Angels Camp and this feature is known as the Frog Hop of Fame.

The Spanish word calaveras means skulls. The county takes its name from the Calaveras River; it was said to have been named by Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga, during his 1806–1808 expeditions, when he found many skulls of Native Americans along the banks of the stream. He believed they had either died of famine or been killed in tribal conflicts over hunting and fishing grounds. A more likely cause was a European epidemic disease, acquired from interacting with other tribes near the Missions on the coast.

More information: Creation History

The Stanislaus River, which forms the southern boundary, is named for Estanislao, a Lakisamni Yokut who escaped from Mission San Jose in the late 1830s. He is reported to have raised a small group of men with crude weapons, hiding in the foothills when the Mexicans attacked. The natives were quickly decimated by Mexican gunfire.

In 1836, John Marsh, Jose Noriega, and a party of men, went exploring in Northern California. They made camp along a river bed in the evening, and when they woke up the next morning, discovered that they had camped in the midst of a great quantity of skulls and bones. They also gave the river the appropriate name: Calaveras.

The writer Mark Twain spent 88 seminal days in the county, during which time he heard the story that became The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County in the Angel Hotel in 1865. This short story kicked off Mark Twain's career and put Calaveras County on the map. 

The Calaveras Skull

Calaveras County was one of the original counties of the state of California, created in 1850 at the time of admission to the Union. Parts of the county's territory were reassigned to Amador County in 1854 and to Alpine County in 1864.

The county's geography includes beautiful landmarks, rolling hills, and giant valleys. It is also known for its friendly communities, and businesses such as agriculture management and construction engineering. It has numerous caverns, such as Mercer Caverns, California Cavern and Moaning Cavern that are national destinations for tourists from across the country. Other attractions include a thriving wine making industry, including the largest of the Calaveras wineries: Ironstone Vineyards, mountain sports recreation and the performing arts.

Gold prospecting in Calaveras County began in late 1848 with a camp founded by Henry Angel. Angel may have first arrived in California as a soldier, serving under Colonel Frémont during the Mexican War. After the war's end, he was found themselves in Monterey where he heard of the fabulous finds in the gold fields. He joined the Carson-Robinson party of prospectors and set out for the mines.

The company parted ways upon reaching what later became known as Angels Creek. Henry Angel tried placer mining but soon opened a trading post. By the end of the year, over one hundred tents were scattered about the creek and the settlement was referred to as Angels Trading Post, later shortened to Angels Camp.

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Placer mining soon gave out around the camp, but an extensive gold-bearing quartz vein of the area's Mother Lode was located by the Winter brothers during the mid-1850s, and this brought in the foundations of a permanent town. This vein followed Main Street from Angels Creek up to the southern edge of Altaville.

Five major mines worked the rich vein: the Stickle, the Utica, the Lightner, the Angels, and the Sultana. These mines reached their peaks during the 1880s and 1890s, when over 200 stamp mills crushed quartz ore brought in by hand cars on track from the mines. By the time hard rock mining was done, the five mines had producing a total of over $20 million in gold.

The telluride mineral calaverite was first recognized and obtained in 1861 from the Stanislaus Mine, Carson Hill, Angels Camp, in Calaveras Co., California. It was named for the County of origin by chemist and mineralogist Frederick Augustus Genth who differentiated it from the known gold telluride mineral sylvanite, and formally reported it as a new gold mineral in 1868.

A California Department of Forestry report lists the county's area in acres as 663,000, although the exact figure would be 2,685.00000 km2. There are a number of caverns located in Calaveras County.

More information: The Museum of Hoaxes

There's a saying among prospectors:

'Go out looking for one thing,

and that's all you'll ever find.'

Robert J. Flaherty

BOBBY MOORE, THE LEGEND OF WEST HAM UNITED FC

Bobby Moore

Champions League Day. The Grandma loves football and tomorrow is a special day for her because her two favourite teams are going to play one against the other. Napoli vs. Barcelona. The two cities she loves more and the most important ones in her life. It will be a great match full of emotion and memories.

To prepare this magic moment, The Grandma has been watching an amazing film, Escape to Victory, a 1981 American sports war film directed by John Huston and starring Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, Max von Sydow and Pelé. The film is about Allied prisoners of war who are interned in a German prison camp during the Second World War who play an exhibition match of football against a German team.

The film received great attention upon its theatrical release, as it also starred professional footballers Bobby Moore, Osvaldo Ardiles, Kazimierz Deyna, Paul Van Himst, Mike Summerbee, Hallvar Thoresen, Werner Roth and Pelé. Numerous Ipswich Town players were also in the film, including John Wark, Russell Osman, Laurie Sivell, Robin Turner and Kevin O'Callaghan.

Bobby Moore, the English football player considered one of the best defenders of the history of football, is one of the main characters of this film. The Grandma wants to talk about him to remember him and his legacy 27 years after her premature death. Football is a sport for gentlemen and Bobby Moore was one of them.

More information: West Ham United

Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941-24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He most notably played for West Ham United, captaining the club for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England national team that won the 1966 FIFA World Cup. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all time, and was cited by Pelé as the greatest defender that he had ever played against.

Widely regarded as West Ham's greatest ever player, Moore played over 600 games for the club during a 16 year tenure, winning the FA Cup in 1963–64 and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1964–65. During his time at the club he won the FWA Footballer of the Year in 1964 and the West Ham Player Of The Year in 1961, 1963, 1968 and 1970. In August 2008, West Ham United officially retired his number 6 shirt, 15 years after his death.

Bobby Moore in Escape to Victory

Moore was made captain of England in 1964, at age 23, going on to lift the World Cup trophy in 1966. He won a total of 108 caps for his country, which at the time of his international retirement in 1973 was a national record. This record was later broken by Peter Shilton.

Moore's total of 108 caps continued as a record for an outfield player until 28 March 2009, when David Beckham gained his 109th cap. 

Moore is a member of the World Team of the 20th Century. A national team icon, a bronze statue of Moore is positioned at the entrance to Wembley Stadium.

A composed central defender, Moore was best known for his reading of the game and ability to anticipate opposition movements, thereby distancing himself from the image of the hard-tackling, high-jumping defender. Receiving the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1966, he was the first footballer to win the award and he remained the only one for a further 24 years.

Moore was given an OBE in the New Year Honours List. He was made an inaugural inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his impact on the English game as a player and in the same year he was named in the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest Britons.

More information: National Football Museum

Moore was born in Barking, Essex. He attended Westbury Primary School Barking, and Tom Hood School, Leytonstone, playing football for both schools.

In 1956, Moore joined West Ham United as a player and, after advancing through their youth set-up, he played his first game on 8 September 1958 against Manchester United. In putting on the number six shirt, he replaced his mentor Malcolm Allison, who was suffering from tuberculosis.

Allison never played another first team game for West Ham nor indeed any other First Division game as Moore became a regular. A composed central defender, Moore was admired for his reading of the game and ability to anticipate opposition movements, thereby distancing himself from the image of the hard-tackling, high-jumping defender. Indeed, Moore's ability to head the ball or keep up with the pace was average at best, but the way he read the game, marshalled his team and timed his tackles marked him out as world class.

Moore was sent off once over the course of his West Ham career, for a foul on Dave Wagstaffe in the final moment of a match against Manchester City in November 1961. The referee had simultaneously blown his whistle for the offence and for full time. As red cards were not issued at that time, the dismissal didn't become apparent until after the match.

England won the World Cup in Wembley, 1966

Moore also played cricket for the Essex youth team alongside fellow West Ham player Geoff Hurst.

In 1960, Moore earned a call up to the England Under-23 squad. His form and impact on West Ham as a whole earned him a late call-up to the full England squad by Walter Winterbottom and The Football Association selection committee in 1962, when final preparations were being made for the summer's World Cup finals in Chile.

Moore was uncapped as he flew to South America with the rest of the squad, but made his debut on 20 May 1962 in England's final pre-tournament friendly a 4–0 win over Peru in Lima. Also debuting that day was Tottenham Hotspur defender Maurice Norman. Both proved so impressive that they stayed in the team for the whole of England's participation in the World Cup, which ended in defeat by eventual winners Brazil in the quarter finals at Viña del Mar.

On the verge of his greatest triumph, details were released to the press in early 1966 that Moore wanted to leave West Ham. Moore had let his contract slip to termination, and only after the intervention of Sir Alf Ramsey and realisation he was technically ineligible to play, did he re-sign with West Ham to allow him to captain the England team of 1966.

More information: Bobby Moore Online

Ramsey had summoned West Ham manager Ron Greenwood to England's hotel and told the two of them to resolve their differences and get a contract signed up. Moore was the leader of the World Cup winning side and established himself as a world-class player and sporting icon.

With all their games at Wembley, England had got through their group with little trouble, they then beat Argentina in their quarter final and a Eusébio-led Portugal team in the semi-finals. West Germany awaited in the final.

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In the final, England went 1–0 down through Helmut Haller, but Moore's awareness and quick-thinking helped England to a swift equaliser. He was fouled by Wolfgang Overath midway inside the German half and, rather than remonstrate or head back into defence, he picked himself up quickly while looking ahead and delivered an instant free kick on to Hurst's head, in a movement practised at West Ham. Hurst scored.

The West Ham connection to England's biggest day became stronger when Peters scored to take England 2–1 up, but the Germans equalised in the final minute of normal time through Wolfgang Weber, as Moore appealed unsuccessfully for a handball decision, to take the match into extra time.

Bobby Moore

Ramsey was convinced the Germans were exhausted, and after Hurst scored a controversial and heavily debated goal, the game looked over.

With seconds remaining, and England under the pressure of another German attack, the ball broke to Moore on the edge of his own penalty area. Teammates shouted at Moore to just get rid of the ball, but he calmly picked out the feet of Hurst 40 m upfield, who scored to bring the score to 4–2.

Of many memorable images from that day, one is of Moore wiping his hands clean of mud and sweat on the velvet tablecloth before shaking the hand of Queen Elizabeth II as she presented him with the Jules Rimet trophy (World Cup). The Guardian wrote Moore is the calmest person in the stadium as he leads the England players up to the Royal Box.

Moore became a national icon as a consequence of England's success, with him and the other two West Ham players taking the World Cup around the grounds which West Ham visited during the following domestic season. He was awarded the coveted BBC Sports Personality of the Year title at the end of 1966, the first footballer to do so, and remaining the only one for a further 24 years. He was also given an OBE in the New Year Honours List.

Moore surpassed West Ham's appearances record in 1973 when he played for the club for the 509th time.

Moore played his last game for West Ham in an FA Cup tie against Hereford United in January 1974. He was injured in the match.

On 14 March the same year, he was allowed to leave West Ham after more than 15 years, taking with him the club record for appearances, since overtaken by Billy Bonds, and the most international caps for an outfield player.

More information: GQ

Moore's first brush with cancer was in 1964, two years before the historic World Cup win. On 14 February 1993, he publicly announced he was suffering from cancer. Three days later, he commentated on an England match against San Marino at Wembley, alongside his friend Jonathan Pearce. That was to be his final public appearance; seven days later on 24 February, at 6:36 am, he died at the age of 51.

The Bobby Moore Fund is a charity in the United Kingdom, formed in 1993 by Stephanie Moore, and Cancer Research UK (CRUK) in memory of her late husband to raise money for research into bowel cancer and also public awareness of the disease. A campaign, Make Bobby Proud was initiated in 2013 to fundraise. As of February 2013 the Bobby Moore Fund had raised £18.8m towards bowel cancer research.

More information: The Guardian

If you never concede a goal,

you're going to win more games than you lose.

Bobby Moore