CLAIRE FONTAINE & THE GRANDMA IN CALELLA DE MAR

Today, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma have visited Maria Santanyí, an old friend of them, who was spending the day in Calella de Mar, a wonderful town in the Maresme region, near Barcelona, Catalonia.

Calella is a municipality in the Maresme region, located 50 km from Barcelona, 50 km from Girona and 6 km from the Montnegre-Corredor Natural Park. It is known as the tourist capital of the Costa del Maresme and is characterized by being a cosmopolitan city with a typical Mediterranean climate.

Its urban layout, with a central pedestrian and commercial area, green spaces and wide range accommodation offer, make of Calella an important tourist destination.

Calella has beaches three kilometers in length and more than 180,000 m2 of golden sand, blue waters, and natural areas such as Dalmau Park, Manuel Puigvert promenade, Garbí promenade, The Lighthouse or The Turrets.

Calella is a city with almost 700 years of history. It has been, and still is today open to the sea and the mountains, jealous of its history, of a past rich in facts and always open to Catalanness, which has become, over the years, a newcomers receiving community.

For some years now, an ambitious process has been set in motion: to become a city of reference in sports, health, cultural and family tourism. The population's clear commitment to sport and culture is demonstrated in a wide range of sports, cultural, artistic, leisure and family activities promoted by the City Council, as well as in the wide variety of facilities and sport disciplines that can be practiced in the city.

From the 1st century BC, the progressive process of Romanization gave rise to numerous villas in the lower areas of the coast, connected by the Roman road that lead to Barcino (Barcelona). These were agricultural mansions dedicated to the production of wheat, oil or wine. 

In Calella, the remains of a Roman villa that could be dated between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD have been excavated close to the city hospital.

It is not until the 11th century that we have data of the existence of a settlement in the Capaspre area integrated into the parish of Pineda de Mar and under the stately dependence of the Lord of Montpalau Castle. It consisted of a small number of farmhouses located at the top of the stream, with a defense tower and a couple of chapels dedicated to Saint Quirze and Saint Julita.

More information: Ajuntament de Calella

The name Calella has been documented since the beginning of the 12th century. From then on, away from the Saracen danger, some residents of the Capaspre area built their first fishermen's houses near the mouth of the stream. The will of Bishop Bernat Umbert, written in 1101, is the oldest document found that refers to Calella.

Other important dates related to the birth of the city are in 1327, when Viscount Bernat II of Cabrera, lord of Montpalau, granted the privilege of having a market and the settlement charter, and in 1338 when the market privileges were enlarged.

These privileges, upheld in 1423 by Violant de Cabrera on behalf of her husband, and in 1426 by Bernat Joan de Cabrera himself, along with the fishing development, favored urban growth: during the 15th century many peasant families from neighboring villages settled in the village. By then it had a defense tower and a new chapel dedicated to Saint Elm.

During the sixteenth century the city was drawing up its urban framework and, in 1525 the Pope authorized the construction of a church. Three years later, the works of the temple began. While the Church was being built, the people of Calella received the sacraments in the chapel of Sant Elm. 

In 1564 the new church was consecrated and in 1599 Gastó de Moncada, Marquis of Aitona and Viscount of Cabrera, granted new privileges establishing the definitive organization of the municipal council, represented by juries and councillors, renewable annually, and dividing the inhabitants into three classes: wealthy, craftsmen and day labourers. 

In the 1570s, Abraham Ortelius first mapped Calella's name on a map of the peninsula. In 1586, Calella already had an urban plan made to scale.

After a long period of stagnation due to the wars and epidemics that ravaged the country during the seventeenth century, from 1714, once the War of Succession ended, the city began a process of demographic and economic growth, going from the 768 inhabitants in 1718 to 2,637 in 1787. During these years, the traditional agricultural and fishing activities were expanded with boat construction. The last third of the century, thanks to the liberalization of trade with the American colonies, was the golden age of overseas trade, which contributed decisively to the industrial development of the entire region. 

In 1790 there were already more than 200 looms dedicated to the manufacture of silk and cotton stockings.

By the end of the century, many new streets had been added to the initial nucleus, becoming Església Street and Jovara Street the new central streets.

More information: Fem Turisme

Despite wars and revolutions, industrial activity (textiles) and transatlantic trade maintained their production. 

In 1854 the construction of large boats and fishing boats began. 

On August 1, 1861, the train officially arrived in Calella, although it had been stopping at a Calella temporary stop since 1859. The population began a period of growth, from 3,500 inhabitants in 1860 to 4,316 in 1900. The cause of this growth was the installation of the first steam-powered factories, which offset the upheaval in maritime trade caused by the loss of the colonies.

The first decades of the 20th century were a time of splendour for Calella's industry, which was cut short by the civil war. The decline of the textile sector went hand in hand with the spectacular development of tourism, especially from the sixties onwards. This process is clearly reflected in demographics: strong growth from 1900 to 1930, stagnation between 1930 and 1960, and spectacular growth during the 1960s and 1970s.

In the 1970s until the mid-1990s, Calella became a very important tourist destination for Central European tourism (German, Dutch, Danish, English, French), and was thus popularly known as Calella dels Alemanys as its population tripled in the high tourist season (which coincides with the end of spring, summer and the beginning of autumn). Currently the variety of tourism has grown, and visitors are received from virtually every country in Europe.

The Lighthouse is one of the most characteristic symbols of the city. It is located at the top of the Capaspre, the same place where an old medieval tower had stood. It was inaugurated in 1859, with an olive oil light lantern. The lighthouse housed the lighthouse keeper's house on the ground floor, and both the lantern and the building have undergone several modifications over time. Since 2011 it has housed the Calella Lighthouse Interpretation Center, where the lighthouse's communication relationships with its surroundings are explained.

Around the figure of the Calella Lighthouse, the Centre aims to explain the communication relations from three perspectives: the maritime communications, for this intrinsic functionality of orientation to boats, the terrestrial communications, through optical telegraphy that we can contemplate in The Turrets, close to the Lighthouse, and the urban communication with the city, by means of church bells and various bell towers. The contents are explained in an entertaining way through audio-visual.

More information: Calella

A fallen lighthouse is more dangerous than a reef.

Navjot Singh Sidhu

LYNN ANDERSON, THE COUNTRY VOICE OF 'ROSE GARDEN'

Today, The Grandma has been listening to some country music. She loves it, and she has wanted to remember Lynn Anderson, the American country singer who died on a day like today in 2015.

Lynn Rene Anderson (September 26, 1947-July 30, 2015) was an American country singer and television personality.

Her crossover signature recording, Rose Garden, was a number one hit in the United States and internationally. She charted five number one and 18 top-ten singles on the Billboard country songs chart. 

Anderson is regarded as one of country music's most significant performers.

Born in Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States, she was raised in California by her mother Liz Anderson, who was also a country music artist. Daughter Lynn was signed to a recording contract to Chart Records in 1966 when she was heard singing along with her mother at an industry function. Previously she had recorded some demo tapes of her mother's songs and appeared on television in California on regional country music shows.

In 1967, she had her first top ten hit with the single If I Kiss You (Will You Go Away). Soon after, Anderson joined the cast of The Lawrence Welk Show where she performed country music weekly to a national audience.

In 1970, Anderson signed with Columbia Records where she was produced by her first husband, Glenn Sutton. She had her biggest commercial success with Rose Garden. The song reached positions on the Billboard country, pop, and adult contemporary charts, also charting in other countries and earning her a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.

More information: Genestout

Throughout the decade, Anderson also had number-one hits with You're My Man, How Can I Unlove You, Keep Me in Mind, and What a Man My Man Is. She also became a television personality, with appearances on The Tonight Show, specials with Bob Hope and Dean Martin, and her own prime-time specials.

After a brief hiatus, Anderson returned with the studio album Back (1983). The album spawned three singles, including the top ten hit You're Welcome to Tonight, with Gary Morris. She continued recording sporadically throughout the 1980s. This included a revival of the pop hit Under the Boardwalk and the studio album What She Does Best (1988).

Anderson continued releasing new albums into the new millennium, such as 2004's The Bluegrass Sessions. Towards the end of her life, Anderson struggled with alcohol addiction, but continued performing until her death in 2015. For her work as a crossover artist, she was ranked on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time and CMTs 40 Greatest Women of Country Music.

Lynn Rene Anderson was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota, on September 26, 1947, to Casey and Liz Anderson. Her grandparents were Scandinavian immigrants who established a North Dakota saddle club. According to Anderson, she could ride horses before she could walk. While she was still a young child, the family relocated to a subdivision in Fair Oaks, California.

Anderson died on July 30, 2015, at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 67.

Anderson's music is rooted in the country genre. It is also rooted in the sub-genres of the Nashville Sound, Countrypolitan, bluegrass, western and gospel. Early on, Anderson had a traditional country style that featured instruments such as the steel guitar and the banjo. These recordings also incorporated some elements of the Nashville Sound style.

More information: The Guardian

 I don't play music very well, so I've always surrounded myself
with people who played a lot better than I did.
I'm a loyal person, and I just tend to leave it to the experts.

Lynn Anderson

2005, THE DWARF PLANET 136199 ERIS IS DISCOVERED

Today, The Grandma has received the wonderful visit of one of her closest friends, Joseph de Ca'th Lon.  

 

Joseph loves Astronomy and Science and they have been talking about Eris, the minor-planet whose discovering was announced on a day like today in 2005.

Eris (minor-planet, 136199 Eris) is the most massive and second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System. It is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) in the scattered disk and has a high-eccentricity orbit. Eris was discovered in January 2005 by a Palomar Observatory-based team led by Mike Brown and verified later that year.

In September 2006, it was named after the Greco-Roman goddess of strife and discord. 

Eris is the ninth-most massive known object orbiting the Sun and the sixteenth-most massive overall in the Solar System (counting moons).

It is also the largest object that has not been visited by a spacecraft. Eris has been measured at 2,326 ± 12 kilometers (1,445 ± 7 mi) in diameter; its mass is 0.28% that of the Earth and 27% greater than that of Pluto, although Pluto is slightly larger by volume.

Eris has one large known moon, Dysnomia. In February 2016, Eris's distance from the Sun was 96.3 AU (14.41 billion km; 8.95 billion mi), more than three times that of Neptune or Pluto. With the exception of long-period comets, Eris and Dysnomia were the most distant known natural objects in the Solar System until the discovery of 2018 VG18 in 2018.

Because Eris appeared to be larger than Pluto, NASA initially described it as the Solar System's tenth planet. This, along with the prospect of other objects of similar size being discovered in the future, motivated the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to define the term planet for the first time. Under the IAU definition approved on August 24, 2006, Eris, Pluto and Ceres are dwarf planets, reducing the number of known planets in the Solar System to eight, the same as before Pluto's discovery in 1930. Observations of a stellar occultation by Eris in 2010 showed that it was very slightly smaller than Pluto, which was measured by New Horizons as 2,377 ± 4 kilometers (1,477 ± 2 mi) in July 2015.

More information: NASA

Eris was discovered by the team of Mike Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz on January 5, 2005, from images taken on October 21, 2003. 

The discovery was announced on July 29, 2005, the same day as Makemake and two days after Haumea, due in part to events that would later lead to controversy about Haumea. The search team had been systematically scanning for large outer Solar System bodies for several years, and had been involved in the discovery of several other large TNOs, including 50000 Quaoar, 90482 Orcus, and 90377 Sedna.

Routine observations were taken by the team on October 21, 2003, using the 1.2 m Samuel Oschin Schmidt telescope at Palomar Observatory, California, but the image of Eris was not discovered at that point due to its very slow motion across the sky: The team's automatic image-searching software excluded all objects moving at less than 1.5 arcseconds per hour to reduce the number of false positives returned.

When Sedna was discovered in 2003, it was moving at 1.75 arcsec/h, and in light of that the team reanalyzed their old data with a lower limit on the angular motion, sorting through the previously excluded images by eye. In January 2005, the re-analysis revealed Eris's slow motion against the background stars.

Eris is named after the Greek goddess Eris (Greek Ἔρις), a personification of strife and discord. The name was proposed by the Caltech team on September 6, 2006, and it was assigned on September 13, 2006, following an unusually long period in which the object was known by the provisional designation 2003 UB313, which was granted automatically by the IAU under their naming protocols for minor planets.

More information: Jet Propulsion Laboratory-CIT

Who are we?
We find that we live on an insignificant planet
of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away
in some forgotten corner of a universe
in which there are far more galaxies than people.

Carl Sagan

FREDERICK GRANT BANTING, INSULINE & BLOOD SUGAR

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Frederick Grant Banting, the Canadian medical scientist, physician, painter, and Nobel laureate noted who co-discoverer of insulin and its therapeutic potential.

Sir Frederick Grant Banting (November 14, 1891-February 21, 1941) was a Canadian medical scientist, physician, painter, and Nobel laureate noted as the co-discoverer of insulin and its therapeutic potential.

In 1923, Banting and John Macleod received the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Banting shared the honours and award money with his colleague, Charles Best. That same year, the government of Canada granted Banting a lifetime annuity to continue his work. As to this day, Frederick Banting, who received the Nobel Prize at age 32, remains the youngest Nobel laureate for Physiology/Medicine.

Frederick Banting was born on November 14, 1891, in a farm house near Alliston, Ontario. The youngest of five children of William Thompson Banting and Margaret Grant, he attended public high school in Alliston.

In 1910, he started at Victoria College, part of the University of Toronto, in the General Arts program. After failing his first year, he petitioned to join the medical program in 1912 and was accepted. He began medical school in September 1912.

In 1914, he attempted to enter the army on August 16, and then again in October, but was refused due to poor eyesight. Banting successfully joined the army in 1915 and spent the summer training before returning to school. His class was fast-tracked to get more doctors into the war and so he graduated in December 1916 and reported for military duty the next day.

He was wounded at the Battle of Cambrai in 1918. Despite his injuries, he helped other wounded men for sixteen hours, until another doctor told him to stop. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1919, for heroism.

In 1918, he was awarded the license to practice medicine, surgery, and midwifery by the Royal College of Physicians of London.

More information: National Inventors-Hall of Fame

Banting returned to Canada after the war and went to Toronto to complete his surgical training.  He studied orthopedic medicine and, in 1919-1920, was Resident Surgeon at The Hospital for Sick Children.

Banting was unable to gain a place on the hospital staff and so he decided to move to London, Ontario to set up a medical practice. From July 1920 to May 1921, he continued his general practice, while teaching orthopedics and anthropology part-time at the University of Western Ontario in London because his medical practice had not been particularly successful.  From 1921 to 1922 he lectured in pharmacology at the University of Toronto. He received his M.D. degree in 1922, and was also awarded a gold medal.

An article he read about the pancreas piqued Banting's interest in diabetes. Banting had to give a talk on the pancreas to one of his classes at the University of Western Ontario on November 1, 1920, and he was therefore reading reports that other scientists had written.

Research by Naunyn, Minkowski, Opie, Sharpey-Schafer, and others suggested that diabetes resulted from a lack of a protein hormone secreted by the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. Schafer had named this putative hormone insulin.

The hormone was thought to control the metabolism of sugar; its lack led to an increase of sugar in the blood which was then excreted in urine. 

Attempts to extract insulin from ground-up pancreas cells were unsuccessful, likely because of the destruction of the insulin by the proteolysis enzyme of the pancreas. The challenge was to find a way to extract insulin from the pancreas prior to its destruction.

More information: The Conversation

Insulin is not a cure for diabetes; it is a treatment.
It enables the diabetic to burn sufficient carbohydrates
so that proteins and fats may be added to the diet
in sufficient quantities to provide energy
for the economic burdens of life.

Frederick Banting

SIR BERNARD CRIBBINS, GOODBYE TO WILFRED MOTT

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Bernard Cribbins, the English actor and singer, well-known by his character of Wilfred Mott in Doctor Who, who has died today.

Bernard Joseph Cribbins (29 December 1928-27 July 2022) was an English actor and singer whose career spanned seven decades.

During the 1960s, Cribbins became known in the UK for his successful novelty records including The Hole in the Ground and Right Said Fred and appearances in comedy films including Two-Way Stretch (1960) and the Carry On series. His other screen roles include Albert Perks in The Railway Children (1970), barman Felix Forsythe in Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy (1972) and pretentious hotel guest Mr. Hutchinson in the Fawlty Towers episode The Hotel Inspectors (1975).

On television, he was a regular and prolific reader for the BBC series Jackanory from 1966 to 1991, he narrated the children's programme The Wombles (1973-1975) and played the title role in the CBeebies series Old Jack's Boat (2013-2015).

In the 1966 film Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., Cribbins portrayed Tom Campbell, a companion to Dr. Who. Forty-one years later, he began appearing in the revival series of Doctor Who as Wilfred Mott, the grandfather of regular companion Donna Noble and a temporary companion to the Tenth Doctor.

More information: BBC

Bernard Joseph Cribbins was born on 29 December 1928 in the Derker area of Oldham, Lancashire, the son of the cotton weaver Ethel and the First World War veteran John Edward Cribbins (1896-1964).

He had two sisters, alongside whom he grew up close to poverty. He described his father as a jack of all trades who also dabbled in acting. 

Cribbins left school at the age of 13 and found a job as an assistant stage manager at a local theatre club, where he also took on some small acting roles, and then served an apprenticeship at the Oldham Repertory Theatre. 

In 1947, he began national service with the Parachute Regiment in Aldershot, Hampshire, as well as Mandatory Palestine.

Having played Tom Campbell, a companion to Dr. Who in the feature film Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966), Cribbins returned to Doctor Who in 2006, when a photograph of him and fellow Doctor Who alumna Lynda Baron at a wedding appeared on the BBC's tie-in website for the television episode Tooth and Claw.

In January 2007, Cribbins had a guest role as glam rock promoter Arnold Korns in Horror of Glam Rock, a Doctor Who audiodrama by Big Finish Productions.

In December 2007, he appeared as Wilfred Mott in the Christmas television special, Voyage of the Damned; he then appeared in a recurring capacity as the same character for the 2008 series, as the grandfather of companion Donna Noble.

He became a Tenth Doctor temporary companion himself in The End of Time, the two-part 2009-10 Christmas and New Year special, when his character was inadvertently responsible for that Doctor's demise. 

Cribbins's role as Wilfred Mott makes him the only actor to have played two companions, and the only actor featured alongside the Doctor's enemies, the Daleks, in both the TV and cinema versions of Doctor Who. 

Cribbins was set to return alongside David Tennant and Catherine Tate in a 2023 Doctor Who episode celebrating the programme's 60th anniversary, which he had been filming before his death in July 2022.

More information: The Guardian

Do you wanna swap?

Wilfred Mott

BRAMLEY VS HAMBLEDON, FIRST WOMEN CRICKET MATCH

Today, The Grandma has been reading about the first women's cricket match, played on a day like today in 1745.

The history of women's cricket can be traced back to a report in The Reading Mercury on 26 July 1745 and a match that took place between the villages of Bramley and Hambledon near Guildford in Surrey.

The Mercury reported:

The greatest cricket match that was played in this part of England was on Friday, the 26th of last month, on Gosden Common, near Guildford, between eleven maids of Bramley and eleven maids of Hambledon, all dressed in white. The Bramley maids had blue ribbons and the Hambledon maids red ribbons on their heads. The Bramley girls got 119 notches and the Hambledon girls 127. There was of bothe sexes the greatest number that ever was seen on such an occasion. The girls bowled, batted, ran and catches as well as most men could do in that game.

Early matches were not necessarily genteel affairs. A match, on 13 July 1747, held at the Artillery Ground between a team from Charlton and another from Westdean and Chilgrove in Sussex spilled over into the following day after it was interrupted by crowd trouble.

Contemporary records show that women's matches were played on many occasions between villages in Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey. Other matches, often held in front of large crowds with heavy betting on the side, pitted single women against their married counterparts. Prizes ranged from barrels of ale to pairs of lace gloves. The first county match was held in 1811 between Surrey and Hampshire at Ball's Pond in Middlesex. Two noblemen underwrote the game with 1,000 guineas, and its participants ranged in age from 14 to 60.

Originally, cricket deliveries were bowled underarm. Legend has it that the roundarm bowling action was pioneered in the early 19th century by Christiana Willes, sister of John Willes, to avoid becoming ensnared in her skirts. In fact, roundarm was devised by Tom Walker in the 1790s.

The first women's cricket club was formed in 1887 at Nun Appleton in Yorkshire and named the White Heather Club. 

In 1890, a team known as the Original English Lady Cricketers, toured England, playing in exhibition matches to large crowds. The team was highly successful until its manager absconded with the profits, forcing the ladies to disband.

James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual for 1890 has a photograph of the team and short article on women's cricket. As an exercise, cricket is probably not so severe as lawn tennis, and it is certainly not so dangerous as hunting or skating; and if, therefore, the outcome of the present movement is to induce ladies more generally to play cricket, we shall consider that a good result has been attained.

More information: Home Counties Women Cricket League

The Women's Cricket Association was founded in 1926. The England team first played against The Rest at Leicester in 1933 and undertook the first international tour to Australia in 1934–5, playing the first Women's Test match between England and Australia in December 1934. After winning two tests and drawing one. England travelled on to New Zealand where Betty Snowball scored 189 in the first Test in Christchurch.

The founding mother of women's cricket in Australia was the young Tasmanian, Lily Poulett-Harris, who captained the Oyster Cove team in the league she created in 1894. Lily's obituary, from her death a few years later in 1897, states that her team was almost certainly the first to be formed in the colonies. Following this, the Victoria Women's Cricket Association was founded in 1905 and the Australian Women's Cricket Association in 1931. The current competition is run by the Women's National Cricket League.

The International Women's Cricket Council was formed in 1958 to coordinate women's cricket which was now being played regularly in Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, the West Indies, Denmark and the Netherlands. Test cricket has now been played by Australia, England, India, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies.

131 women's Test matches have been played to date, the majority featuring England or Australia. Originally these were three-day matches, but since 1985 most have been played over four days. England have played 87 Test matches since their first in 1934, winning 19, losing 11 and drawing 57. Australia have played 67 in the same period, winning 18, losing nine and drawing 40.

Club and county cricket in England has undergone constant evolution. There is currently a National Knock-Out Cup and a league structure culminating in a Northern and Southern Premier league. The major county competition is the LV Women's County Championship, while Super Fours, featuring teams named after precious stones, bridges the gap for the elite players between domestic and international competition.

More information: The Conversation

 No cricket team in the world depends on one or two players.
The team always plays to win.

Virat Kohli

PAUL A. SORVINO, NEAPOLITAN ROOTS IN BROOKLYN

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Paul Sorvino, the American actor, opera singer, businessman, writer, and sculptor, who has died today.

Paul Anthony Sorvino (April 13, 1939-July 25, 2022) was an American actor, opera singer, businessman, writer, and sculptor.

He often portrayed authority figures on both the criminal and the law enforcement sides of the law.

Sorvino was particularly known for his roles as Lucchese crime family caporegime Paulie Cicero (based on real life gangster Paul Vario) in Martin Scorsese's 1990 gangster film Goodfellas and as NYPD Sergeant Phil Cerreta on the second season of the TV series Law & Order. He also played a variety of father figures, including Juliet's father in Baz Luhrmann's 1996 film Romeo + Juliet, as well as guest appearances as the father of Bruce Willis' character on Moonlighting and the father of Jeff Garlin's character on The Goldbergs. He took on additional supporting roles in A Touch of Class, Reds, The Rocketeer, The Cooler, and Nixon (as Henry Kissinger).

Although usually cast in dramatic supporting roles, he had occasional leads in films including Bloodbrothers, and also in comedic roles including his turn as a bombastic Southern evangelist in Carl Reiner's Oh, God!.

Sorvino was also nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor for the 1972 play That Championship Season, and later starred in film and television adaptations. He was the father of actors Mira Sorvino and Michael Sorvino.

More information: The Vulture

Sorvino was born on April 13, 1939, and raised in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. 

His mother, Angela Maria Mattea, was a homemaker and piano teacher of Italian (Molisan) descent who was born in Connecticut. His father, Ford Sorvino, was an Italian (Neapolitan) immigrant who worked in a robe factory as a foreman.

Sorvino attended Lafayette High School (where he was a classmate of painter Peter Max) and the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.

Sorvino lived in Los Angeles and Madison, Indiana. He had three children: Mira, Michael, and Amanda from his first marriage with Lorraine Davis. Mira and Michael are actors.

Sorvino died at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, on July 25, 2022, aged 83. He was interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

More information: The New York Times

 Technically, I'm a knight.
My family goes back a thousand years in the Naples area.
We're a titled, noble people.

Paul Sorvino

MAYTE VISITS OS DE CIVIS & LES VALLS DE VALIRA

Today, The Grandma has received wonderful news from Mayte, who has spent some days visiting Os de Civís, a wonderful town in the municipality of Les Valls de Valira in the county of L'Alt Urgell, Catalonia.

Os de Civís is a village in the central Pyrenees mountains, in the municipality of Les Valls de Valira in Catalonia, and is located to the west of Andorra, near the villages of Aixàs and Bixessarri.

Civís is the nearest Catalan village. It is the most populated village in the municipality.

Os de Civís is very close to the Catalonia–Andorra border, and is unique in being the only Catalan village that can be reached by vehicle only by going through Andorra.

The border crossing is unique in Andorra in that there is no border control: Andorra is in neither the Schengen Area nor the European Union, and thus operates full border and customs checks at all other border crossings with Catalonia South and Catalonia North, but the crossing to Os de Civís is unpoliced as the road leads solely to the village, with no access to anywhere else in Catalonia.

The village has a number of medieval buildings, including a Romanesque church.

Les Valls de Valira is a municipality in the comarca of the Alt Urgell in Catalonia, that surrounds the south and south-west border of Andorra. It includes a small exclave to the south-east.

More information: Map Carta

 There are truths on this side of the Pyrenees
which are falsehoods on the other.

Michel De Montaigne

D-DAY, CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT

Today, The Newtons & The Grandma have returned to Barcelona. After some weeks enjoying New York City, the D-Day has arrived and The Newtons have an interesting adventure to live: an A2 Cambridge English Exam.

 

They haven't been alone. David Stone has accompanied this part of The Newtons' family in this important day.

Good luck Fatimas, Raquel and Yamina! You have already won this game.

Cambridge Assessment English or Cambridge English develops and produces Cambridge English Qualifications and the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

The organisation contributed to the development of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), the standard used around the world to benchmark language skills, and its qualifications and tests are aligned with CEFR levels.

Cambridge Assessment English is part of Cambridge Assessment, a non-teaching department of the University of Cambridge which merged with Cambridge University Press to form Cambridge University Press & Assessment in August 2021.

Each Cambridge English Qualifications focuses on a level of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

English qualifications designed for adult learners. A2 Key, B1 Preliminary and B2 First have the same exam format as the schools versions of these qualifications, but use different topics and content suited to adult learners.

In the 1980s Cambridge Assessment English, the British Council and IDP Education formed the international IELTS partnership which delivers the IELTS tests.

More information: Cambridge English

In 2010 Cambridge Assessment English and the English Language Institute Testing and Certificate Division of the University of Michigan agreed to form a not-for-profit collaboration known as CaMLA (Cambridge Michigan Language Assessments). Cambridge Assessment English owns 65% of the venture.

Since 2011 Cambridge Exams Publishing, a partnership between Cambridge Assessment English and the English Language Teaching (ELT) business of Cambridge University Press, develops official Cambridge preparation materials for Cambridge English and IELTS exams.

In 2013 Cambridge Assessment English formed a joint venture with the Box Hill Institute to deliver the Occupational English Test, known as OET.

In 2019 Cambridge Assessment English acquired English Language iTutoring (ELiT), an artificial intelligence developed off technology from the University of Cambridge, to support new English language assessment products.

Cambridge Assessment English was involved in the early development of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and all Cambridge English qualifications and tests are aligned with the levels described by the CEFR.

Each Cambridge English Qualification targets specific CEFR levels but the exam also contains test material at the adjacent levels. For example B2 First is aimed at B2, but there are also test items that cover B1 and C1. This allows for inferences to be drawn about candidates’ abilities if they are a level below or above the one targeted. Candidates are encouraged to take the exam most suitable to their needs and level of ability.

More information: Cambridge English

In 1913 the exam could be taken in Cambridge or London, for a fee of £3 (approximately £293 in 2012 prices). The exam lasted 12 hours and included:

-Translation from English into French or German: 2 hours.

-Translation from French or German into English, and English Grammar: 2.5 hours.

-English Essay: 2 hours.

-English Literature: 3 hours.

-English Phonetics: 1.5 hours.

-Oral test: dictation (30 minutes); reading aloud and conversation (30 minutes).

The main influence behind the design of the exam was the grammar-translation teaching approach, which aims to establish reading knowledge, rather than ability to communicate in the language.

In 1913, the first requirement for CPE candidates was to translate texts. Translation remained prominent in foreign language teaching up until the 1960s. It was a core part of CPE until 1975 and an optional part until 1989.

However, CPE was also influenced by Henry Sweet and his book published in 1900: A Practical Study of Languages: A Guide for Teachers and Learners, which argued that the most natural method of teaching languages was through conversation. Due to this influence, speaking was part of Cambridge English exams from the very beginning.

-1209. University of Cambridge founded.

-1534. Cambridge University Press founded.

-1858. University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) founded.

-1913. Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) introduced. Now known as C2 Proficiency.

-1939. Lower Certificate in English (LCE) introduced. Renamed First Certificate in English (FCE) in 1975 and now known as B2 First.

-1941. Joint agreement with the British Council-British Council centres established.

-1943-1947. Preliminary English Test (PET) introduced. It was reintroduced in 1980 and is now known as B1 Preliminary.

-1971. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) initiated.

-1988. The Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Examination Board becomes part of UCLES.

-1989. Specialist EFL research and evaluation unit established.

-1989. IELTS launched. A simplified and shortened version of ELTS launched in 1980.

-1990. Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) founded.

-1991. Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) introduced. Now known as C1 Advanced.

-1993. Business English Certificates (BEC) launched.

-1994. Key English Test (KET) introduced. Now known as A2 Key.

-1995. University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations (UODLE) becomes part of UCLES

-1997. Young Learner English Tests (YLE) introduced. Now known as Pre-A1 Starter, A1 Movers, and A2 Flyers.

-1997. BULATS launched.

-2001. CEFR published.

-2002. UCLES EFL renamed University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations (Cambridge ESOL).

-2002. One million Cambridge ESOL exam candidates.

-2010. CaMLA established (Cambridge Michigan Language Assessments).

-2011. Cambridge Exams Publishing joint venture with Cambridge University Press established.

-2013. Cambridge ESOL renamed Cambridge English Language Assessment.

-2015. Cambridge English Scale introduced.

-2016. Linguaskill reading and listening introduced.

-2016. Linguaskill writing introduced.

-2017. Cambridge English Language Assessment renamed Cambridge Assessment English.

-2020. The University of Cambridge announces it plans to merge two of its non-teaching departments, Cambridge Assessment and Cambridge University Press.

-2021. Cambridge Assessment and Cambridge University Press merge to become Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

More information: Cambridge English

Cambridge is heaven, I am convinced
it is the nicest place in the world to live.
As you walk round, most people look incredibly bright,
as if they are probably off to win a Nobel prize.

Sophie Hannah

NEW YORK CITY & THE NEWTONS, MEMORIES 'FOREVER'

Today, The Newtons and The Grandma have enjoyed their last day in New York City. Before saying goodbye to this amazing city, The Grandma has visited two great old friends, Dr Henry Morgan and Detective Jo Martinez. She wants to remember NYC forever.

 

Forever is an American fantasy crime drama television series that aired on ABC as part of the 2014–15 fall television season. 

Created by Matt Miller, it centers on the character of Dr. Henry Morgan, an immortal New York City medical examiner who uses his extensive knowledge to assist the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in solving crimes and to discover a way to end his immortality. Flashbacks within each episode reveal various details of Henry's life.

The series' network aired a sneak preview on September 22, 2014, and resumed the series at 10 p.m. EST on September 23, 2014. Reception of the series was mixed. In the United States, television critics were divided over the series' similarity to other crime dramas and its premise. In contrast, voters in several online polls ranked the series as one of the best of the television season.

Although ABC gave the series a full-season episode order on November 7, 2014, it cancelled Forever after one season. ABC cited the show's low ratings as the rationale behind the decision.

Television critics believed that other factors explained the network's decision, as the show gained viewers who watched up to seven days later on their DVRs. Fans of the series reacted strongly, creating a social media campaign to save the series; despite these efforts, the series remains canceled.

More information: Just Watch

Dr. Henry Morgan (Ioan Gruffudd) is a New York City medical examiner who studies the dead for criminal cases, and to solve the mystery of his own immortality.

His first death was 200 years ago while trying to treat a slave as a doctor aboard a ship in the African slave trade; one of the ship's owners becomes frustrated with the time and effort Henry is putting into this and orders him to stop, shooting Henry and throwing him overboard when he fails to comply.

Each time he dies, Henry disappears almost immediately and returns to life naked in a nearby body of water, the only sign of injury being a scar at the site of his original gunshot wound from long ago. He has also stopped aging.

Henry's long life has given him broad knowledge and remarkable observation skills which impress most people he encounters, including New York Police Department Detective Jo Martinez (Alana de la Garza). Only antiquarian Abe (Judd Hirsch), whom Henry and his now-deceased wife Abigail found as a newborn in a German concentration camp during World War II, knows that he is immortal.

Henry is stalked by Adam, who is also an immortal, and claims to have been alive for around 2,000 years.

The concept for Forever came from a conversation between series creator Matt Miller and his five-year-old son about death. After the conversation, Miller began to imagine what life would be like if a person was immortal but everyone else, including that person's own children, were mortals.

He created a character who viewed immortality as a curse because of the pain of seeing family and friends die and who would attempt to find a way to end his immortality. That concept informed Miller's decision to make his character a doctor-turned-medical examiner who used his occupation for research into his immortality and Miller's decision to structure the series as a procedural. The details about the character's immortality and his ability and his desire to end it would serve as the series' main story arc.

Another series-long story arc explored how other people learn of Henry's immortality. The first storyline in the arc was the season's second story arc, Henry's determination to learn the identity of a second immortal who knows about it.

The second immortal character's morals would contrast his protagonist's morals, serving as an antagonist for the main character. As for the family element, Miller created a family with a 35-year-old immortal having a mortal son in his 70s.

Miller stated in an interview with BuddyTV writer Catherine Cabanela that he had never seen that type of family on television before, and he believed that it provide the show with an emotional element.

To demonstrate Henry's immortality, Miller decided that Henry would die and would feel the pain every time he died. Anything on Henry's body would disappear with his body during each death.

Miller felt that Henry's naked rebirth in water would be an interesting way to keep the show's protagonist alive during the series by completing the death and rebirth process; the nakedness would create several comedic moments within the series.

Miller intended to use Henry's death and rebirth process sporadically after the first two episodes so that the series would focus on Henry's long life.

The first person cast was Judd Hirsch as Abe. When Miller and casting director Barbara Fiorentino developed a list of actors for the role, they felt that Hirsch would be the best actor to portray Abe. Hirsch was the first person asked about the role. When they sent the script to him, Hirsch liked the series' premise, its historical aspect, its intelligence,and the idea that the audience would see life from Henry's perspective.

Two days after casting Hirsch, Ioan Gruffudd was cast as Dr. Henry Morgan. Miller wanted the actors to read the script so that he could see whether the audience would believe that the man had been alive for over 200 years.

The search for an actor to portray Henry was more difficult than Miller expected. Miller and Fiorentino unsuccessfully auditioned actors from New York City, Los Angeles, Canada, London, Australia, and South Africa for the role, but the role was uncast.

One day, Miller noticed Gruffudd in the carpool lane while they picked up their children from preschool. For Miller, Gruffudd's period work, such as in the series Horatio Hornblower, made him an obvious selection for the role. Gruffudd liked the script and felt that he could portray Henry. The story, the science fiction element, and the believability also attracted Gruffudd to the role.

More information: Forever Fandom

Alana de la Garza was cast as NYPD Detective Jo Martinez. The show's procedural aspect, the series' serialized nature, and the believability of the world interested de la Garza. She also liked the idea that, in contrast to de la Garza's characters on other procedurals, Jo had flaws.

Beginning with the pilot, Miller structured each episode by telling two stories in the episode. The first was a traditional procedural plotline. The second story was a flashback from Henry's past.

The flashback either related to the episode's main present-day storyline, such as Henry's involvement in investigating the Jack the Ripper case, or was a scene from Henry's backstory, such as his life in the Lower East Side's tenements in the 1890s. Both the father-son relationship between Henry and Abe and one of the two season-long story arcs, Henry's relationship with his wife Abigail, were told through flashbacks.

When planning an episode, the writers started with the idea for the episode and determined the main story arc. They discussed which plot element could be associated with a previous incident from Henry's life and how the flashbacks connected the two stories. From there, they determined Abe's viewpoint about the case or his connection to the case. Then, they planned the story on whiteboard.

One plot device used in the pilot, Henry's pocket watch, proved to be difficult to use in subsequent episodes. In the beginning, the writers would have Henry's pocket watch fall out of his pocket so that it would not disappear with the rest of his body. It became more difficult for writers to develop believable scenarios in which Henry would lose his watch, so they did not write it into the plot as frequently in later episodes.

Miller and the filming crew had planned to film the rebirth scenes in the pilot in several bodies of water, but they could film it in only one location. During the episode's production, Gruffudd and the crew filmed the rebirth scene against a green screen in a university swimming pool due to the strength of the East River's current. The crew later covered Gruffudd with water.

To depict Henry's death in different years, the crew refilmed the scene with Gruffudd wearing various hair styles. The producers then edited the scene by superimposing the film of Gruffudd's swim in the pool with film of the East River to give the illusion that the scene occurred in the river.

More information: IMDb

Yes, some memories are precious...
and we need to hang on to them.
But Emily Dickinson wrote,
'Forever is composed of nows,'
and she's right.
If we root ourselves too deeply in the past,
we'll miss what's right in front of us.

 

Henry Morgan

CAROLE KING KLEIN, YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND IN NEW YORK

Today, The Grandma has visited an old New Yorker friend, Carole King.

 

Meanwhile, The Newtons have been preparing their Cambridge Exam. They have practised some A2 Speaking Practice.

 

More info: A2 Speaking

Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at the Brill Building and later as a solo artist.

Regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of all time, King is the most successful female songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century in the US, having written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

King also wrote 61 hits that charted in the UK, making her the most successful female songwriter on the UK singles charts between 1962 and 2005.

King's major success began in the 1960s when she and her first husband, Gerry Goffin, wrote more than two dozen chart hits, many of which have become standards, for numerous artists.

She has continued writing for other artists since then. King's success as a performer in her own right did not come until the 1970s, when she sang her own songs, accompanying herself on the piano, in a series of albums and concerts.

After experiencing commercial disappointment with her debut album Writer, King scored her breakthrough with the album Tapestry, which topped the U.S. album chart for 15 weeks in 1971 and remained on the charts for more than six years.

More information: Carole King

King has made 25 solo albums, the most successful being Tapestry, which held the record for most weeks at No. 1 by a female artist for more than 20 years. Her record sales were estimated at more than 75 million copies worldwide.

She has won four Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. She has been inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a performer and songwriter. She is the recipient of the 2013 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, the first woman to be so honoured. She is also a 2015 Kennedy Center Honoree.

King was born Carol Joan Klein on February 9, 1942, in Manhattan, New York City, to Jewish parents Eugenia, a teacher, and Sidney N. Klein, a firefighter.

King attended Queens College, where she met Gerry Goffin, who was to become her songwriting partner. When she was 17, they married in a Jewish ceremony on Long Island in August 1959 after King became pregnant with her first daughter, Louise.

They quit college and took day jobs, Goffin working as an assistant chemist and King as a secretary. They wrote songs together in the evening.

Neil Sedaka, who had dated King when he was still in high school, had a hit in 1959 with Oh! Carol. Goffin took the tune and wrote the playful response, Oh! Neil, which King recorded and released as a single the same year. The B-side contained the Goffin-King song A Very Special Boy. The single was not a success. After writing the Shirelles' Billboard Hot 100 number 1 hit Will You Love Me Tomorrow, the first No.1 hit by a black girl group, Goffin and King gave up their daytime jobs to concentrate on writing. Will You Love Me Tomorrow became a standard.

More information: Twitter-Carole King

My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue,
an everlasting vision of the ever changing view.

Carole King

ENJOY THE ROCKEFELLER CENTER & THE TOP OF THE ROCK

Today, The Grandma has visited the Rockefeller Center and the Top of the Rock Observation Deck.

 

Meanwhile, The Newtons have been preparing their Cambridge Exam. They have practised some A2 Listening Practice.

 

More info: Exam English

 

30 Rockefeller Plaza (officially the Comcast Building; formerly RCA Building and GE Building) is a skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the Midtown Manhattan neighbourhood of New York City.

Completed in 1933, the 66-story, 260 m building was designed in the Art Deco style by Raymond Hood, Rockefeller Center's lead architect. 

30 Rockefeller Plaza was known for main tenant, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), from its opening in 1933 until 1988 and then for General Electric until 2015, when it was renamed for its current owner, Comcast.

The building also houses the headquarters and New York studios of television network NBC; the headquarters is sometimes called 30 Rock, a nickname that inspired an NBC sitcom of the same name. The tallest structure in Rockefeller Center, the building is the 28th tallest in New York City and the 60th tallest in the United States.

30 Rockefeller Plaza's massing consists of three parts: the main 66-story tower to the east, a windowless section at the center, and a 16-story annex to the west. Though the building was designed to conform with the 1916 Zoning Resolution, it rises mostly as a slab, with setbacks mostly for aesthetic value. The facade is made of limestone, with granite at the base, as well as about 6,000 windows separated by aluminum spandrels.

In addition to its offices and studios, 30 Rockefeller Plaza contains the Rainbow Room restaurant and an observation deck called Top of the Rock. 

30 Rockefeller Plaza also includes numerous artworks and formerly contained the mural Man at the Crossroads by Diego Rivera.

The entire Rockefeller Center complex is a New York City designated landmark and a National Historic Landmark, and parts of 30 Rockefeller Plaza's interior are also New York City landmarks.

30 Rockefeller Plaza was developed as part of the construction of Rockefeller Center, and work on its superstructure started in March 1932. 

The first tenant moved into the building on April 22, 1933, but its official opening was delayed due to controversy over Man at the Crossroads.

The Rainbow Room and the observation deck opened in the mid-1930s, and retail space was added to the ground floor in the 1950s. The building remained almost fully occupied through the 20th century and was renamed for GE in 1988. Since the late 1990s, NBC has owned most of the lower floors, while Tishman Speyer has operated the rest of the building. 

30 Rockefeller Plaza was extensively renovated in 2014 and was renamed for Comcast in 2015.

30 Rockefeller Plaza is part of the Rockefeller Center complex in the Midtown Manhattan neighbourhood of New York City. It was intended as the central structure of Rockefeller Center, both physically and symbolically.

The construction of Rockefeller Center occurred between 1932 and 1940 on land that John D. Rockefeller Jr. leased from Columbia University. 

The Rockefeller Center site was originally supposed to be occupied by a new opera house for the Metropolitan Opera.

More information: Rockefeller Center

Father was the eldest son and the heir apparent,
and he set the standard for being a Rockefeller very high,
so every achievement was taken for granted
and perfection was the norm.

 

David Rockefeller