CLINT EASTWOOD, THE CULTURAL ICON OF MASCULINITY

Today, The Grandma has been watching some films interpreted by one of her favourite actors and directors, Clint Eastwood, the American actor and film director who was born on a day like today in 1930.

Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series Rawhide, Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy of spaghetti Westerns during the mid-1960s and as antihero cop Harry Callahan in the five Dirty Harry films throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, among others, have made Eastwood an enduring cultural icon of masculinity.

Elected in 1986, Eastwood served for two years as the mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.

Eastwood's greatest commercial successes are the adventure comedy Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and its action comedy sequel Any Which Way You Can (1980). Other popular Eastwood films include the Westerns Hang 'Em High (1968), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) and Pale Rider (1985), the action-war film Where Eagles Dare (1968), the prison film Escape from Alcatraz (1979), the war film Heartbreak Ridge (1986), the action film In the Line of Fire (1993), and the romantic drama The Bridges of Madison County (1995). More recent works include Gran Torino (2008), The Mule (2018), and Cry Macho (2021). Since 1967, Eastwood's company Malpaso Productions has produced all but four of his American films.

An Academy Award nominee for Best Actor, Eastwood won Best Director and Best Picture for his Western film Unforgiven (1992) and his sports drama Million Dollar Baby (2004). In addition to directing many of his own star vehicles, Eastwood has also directed films in which he did not appear, such as the mystery drama Mystic River (2003) and the war film Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), for which he received Academy Award nominations. He also directed the biographical films Changeling (2008), Invictus (2009), American Sniper (2014), Sully (2016), and Richard Jewell (2019).

Eastwood's accolades include four Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, three César Awards, and an AFI Life Achievement Award. In 2000, he received the Italian Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion award, honoring his lifetime achievements. Bestowed two of France's highest civilian honors, he received the Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1994, and the Legion of Honour in 2007.

More information: DGA

Eastwood was born on May 31, 1930, at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco, to Ruth (née Margret Runner and Clinton Eastwood.

In May 1954, Eastwood made his first real audition for Six Bridges to Cross, but was rejected by Joseph Pevney.

In late 1963, Eastwood's Rawhide co-star Eric Fleming rejected an offer to star in an Italian-made western called A Fistful of Dollars (1964), filmed in a remote region of Spain by a relatively unknown director, Sergio Leone.

Eastwood starred with Shirley MacLaine in the western Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), directed by Don Siegel.

Dirty Harry (1971), written by Harry and Rita Fink, centers on a hard-edged New York City (later changed to San Francisco) police inspector named Harry Callahan who is determined to stop a psychotic killer by any means. Dirty Harry has been described as being arguably Eastwood's most memorable character, and the film has been credited with inventing the loose-cannon cop genre.

Eastwood began working on smaller, more personal projects and experienced a lull in his career between 1988 and 1992.

Eastwood revisited the western genre in Unforgiven (1992), a film which he directed and starred in as an aging ex-gunfighter long past his prime.

In 2003, Eastwood was named Best Director of the Year by the National Society of Film Critics.

The following year, Eastwood found further critical acclaim with Million Dollar Baby. The boxing drama won four Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Hilary Swank) and Best Supporting Actor (Morgan Freeman).

Eastwood's 30th directorial outing came with Invictus (2009), a film based on the story of the South African team at the 1995 Rugby World Cup with Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela, Matt Damon as rugby team captain François Pienaar, and Grant L. Roberts as Ruben Kruger.

Eastwood has contributed to over 50 films during his career as actor, director, producer, and composer. He has acted in several television series, including his co-starring role in Rawhide.

Eastwood has been recognized with multiple awards and nominations for his work in film, television, and music.

More information: Film Comment

 It takes tremendous discipline to control the influence,
the power you have over other people's lives.

Clint Eastwood

JEANNE D'ARC, THE FRENCH HEROINE & PATRON SAINT

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Joan of Arc, the patron saint of France, who was burned at the stake in Rouen in 1431.

Joan of Arc, in French Jeanne d'Arc; in Middle French Jehanne Darc; 1412-30 May 1431, is a patron saint of France, honoured as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronation of Charles VII of France during the Hundred Years' War. Claiming to be acting under divine guidance, she became a military leader who transcended gender roles and gained recognition as a savior of France.

Joan was born to a propertied peasant family at Domrémy in northeast France. In 1428, she requested to be taken to Charles, later testifying that she was guided by visions from the archangel Michael, Saint Margaret, and Saint Catherine to help him save France from English domination. Convinced of her devotion and purity, Charles sent Joan, who was about seventeen years old, to the siege of Orléans as part of a relief army.

She arrived at the city in April 1429, wielding her banner and bringing hope to the demoralized French army. Nine days after her arrival, the English abandoned the siege. Joan encouraged the French to aggressively pursue the English during the Loire Campaign, which culminated in another decisive victory at Patay, opening the way for the French army to advance on Reims unopposed, where Charles was crowned as the King of France with Joan at his side. These victories boosted French morale, paving the way for their final triumph in the Hundred Years' War several decades later.

After Charles's coronation, Joan participated in the unsuccessful siege of Paris in September 1429 and the failed siege of La Charité in November. Her role in these defeats reduced the court's faith in her.

In early 1430, Joan organized a company of volunteers to relieve Compiègne, which had been besieged by the Burgundians -French allies of the English. She was captured by Burgundian troops on 23 May. After trying unsuccessfully to escape, she was handed to the English in November. She was put on trial by Bishop Pierre Cauchon on accusations of heresy, which included blaspheming by wearing men's clothes, acting upon visions that were demonic, and refusing to submit her words and deeds to the judgment of the church. She was declared guilty and burned at the stake on 30 May 1431, aged about nineteen.

In 1456, an inquisitorial court reinvestigated Joan's trial and overturned the verdict, declaring that it was tainted by deceit and procedural errors. Joan has been revered as a martyr, and viewed as an obedient daughter of the Roman Catholic Church, an early feminist, and a symbol of freedom and independence. After the French Revolution, she became a national symbol of France.

In 1920, Joan of Arc was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church and, two years later, was declared one of the patron saints of France. She is portrayed in numerous cultural works, including literature, music, paintings, sculptures, and theater.

More information: History

Joan of Arc's name was written in a variety of ways. There is no standard spelling of her name before the sixteenth century; her last name was usually written as Darc without an apostrophe, but there are variants such as Tarc, Dart or Day. Her father's name was written as Tart at her trial. She was called Jeanne d'Ay de Domrémy in Charles VII's 1429 letter granting her a coat of arms. Joan may never have heard herself called Jeanne d'Arc. The first written record of her being called by this name is in 1455, 24 years after her death.

She was not taught to read and write in her childhood, and so dictated her letters. She may have later learned to sign her name, as some of her letters are signed, and she may even have learned to read. Joan referred to herself in the letters as Jeanne la Pucelle (Joan the Maiden) or as la Pucelle (the Maiden), emphasizing her virginity, and she signed Jehanne. In the sixteenth century, she became known as the Maid of Orleans.

Joan of Arc was born around 1412 in Domrémy, a small village in the Meuse valley now in the Vosges department in the north-east of France. Her date of birth is unknown and her statements about her age were vague. Her parents were Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle Romée. Joan had three brothers and a sister. Her father was a peasant farmer with about 20 ha of land, and he supplemented the family income as a village official, collecting taxes and heading the local watch.

In her youth, Joan did household chores, spun wool, helped her father in the fields and looked after their animals. Her mother provided Joan's religious education. Much of Domrémy lay in the Duchy of Bar, whose precise feudal status was unclear; though surrounded by pro-Burgundian lands, its people were loyal to the Armagnac cause. 

By 1419, the war had affected the area, and in 1425, Domrémy was attacked and cattle were stolen. This led to a sentiment among villagers that the English must be expelled from France to achieve peace. Joan had her first vision after this raid.

Joan later testified that when she was thirteen, around 1425, a figure she identified as Saint Michael surrounded by angels appeared to her in the garden. After this vision, she said she wept because she wanted them to take her with them. Throughout her life, she had visions of St. Michael, a patron saint of the Domrémy area who was seen as a defender of France.

In the last week of April 1429, Joan set out from Blois as part of an army carrying supplies for the relief of Orléans. She arrived there on 29 April and met the commander Jean de Dunois, the Bastard of Orléans.

Orléans was not completely cut off, and Dunois got her into the city, where she was greeted enthusiastically. Joan was initially treated as a figurehead to raise morale, flying her banner on the battlefield. She was not given any formal command or included in military councils but quickly gained the support of the Armagnac troops. She always seemed to be present where the fighting was most intense, she frequently stayed with the front ranks, and she gave them a sense she was fighting for their salvation. Armagnac commanders would sometimes accept the advice she gave them, such as deciding what position to attack, when to continue an assault, and how to place artillery.

Joan was put on trial for heresy in Rouen on 9 January 1431. She was accused of having blasphemed by wearing men's clothes, of acting upon visions that were demonic, and of refusing to submit her words and deeds to the church because she claimed she would be judged by God alone. Joan's captors downplayed the secular aspects of her trial by submitting her judgment to an ecclesiastical court, but the trial was politically motivated. Joan testified that her visions had instructed her to defeat the English and crown Charles, and her success was argued to be evidence she was acting on behalf of God. If unchallenged, her testimony would invalidate the English claim to the rule of France and undermine the University of Paris, which supported the dual monarchy ruled by an English king.

Public heresy was a capital crime, in which an unrepentant or relapsed heretic could be given over to the judgment of the secular courts and punished by death. Having signed the abjuration, Joan was no longer an unrepentant heretic but could be executed if convicted of relapsing into heresy.

At about the age of nineteen, Joan was executed on 30 May 1431. In the morning, she was allowed to receive the sacraments despite the court process requiring they be denied to heretics. She was then taken to Rouen's Vieux-Marché (Old Marketplace), where she was publicly read her sentence of condemnation. At this point, she should have been turned over to the appropriate authority, the bailiff of Rouen, for secular sentencing, but instead was delivered directly to the English and tied to a tall plastered pillar for execution by burning. She asked to view a cross as she died, and was given one by an English soldier made from a stick, which she kissed and placed next to her chest. A processional crucifix was fetched from the church of Saint-Saveur. She embraced it before her hands were bound, and it was held before her eyes during her execution. After her death, her remains were thrown into the Seine River.

Download Saint Joan d'Arc by Mark Twain

 One life is all we have and we live it
as we believe in living it.
But to sacrifice what you are
and to live without belief,
that is a fate more terrible than dying.

Joan of Arc

SOJOURNER TRUTH & HER 'AIN'T I A WOMAN?' SPEECH

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Sojourner Truth, American abolitionist and activist for African-American civil and women rights, who delivered her famous Ain't I a Woman? speech at the Woman’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio on a day like today in 1851.

Sojourner Truth (born Isabella Baumfree; c. 1797-November 26, 1883) was an American abolitionist and activist for African-American civil rights, women's rights, and alcohol temperance.

Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. After going to court to recover her son in 1828, she became the first black woman to win such a case against a white man.

She gave herself the name Sojourner Truth in 1843 after she became convinced that God had called her to leave the city and go into the countryside testifying to the hope that was in her. Her best-known speech was delivered extemporaneously, in 1851, at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. The speech became widely known during the Civil War by the title Ain't I a Woman?, a variation of the original speech that was published in 1863 as being spoken in a stereotypical Black dialect, then more commonly spoken in the South. Sojourner Truth, however, grew up speaking Dutch as her first language.

During the Civil War, Truth helped recruit black troops for the Union Army; after the war, she tried unsuccessfully to secure land grants from the federal government for formerly enslaved people (summarized as the promise of forty acres and a mule). She continued to fight on behalf of women and African Americans until her death. As her biographer Nell Irvin Painter wrote, At a time when most Americans thought of slaves as male and women as white, Truth embodied a fact that still bears repeating: Among the blacks are women; among the women, there are blacks.

A memorial bust of Truth was unveiled in 2009 in Emancipation Hall in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. She is the first African American woman to have a statue in the Capitol building. 

In 2014, Truth was included in Smithsonian magazine's list of the 100 Most Significant Americans of All Time.

More information: The Sojourner Truth Project

Ain't I a Woman? is a speech, generally considered to have been delivered extemporaneously, by Sojourner Truth (1797-1883), born into slavery in the state of New York. Some time after gaining her freedom in 1827, she became a well known anti-slavery speaker. Her speech was delivered at the Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio, in 1851, and did not originally have a title.

The speech was briefly reported in two contemporary newspapers, and a transcript of the speech was published in the Anti-Slavery Bugle on June 21, 1851. It received wider publicity in 1863 during the American Civil War when Frances Dana Barker Gage published a different version, one which became known as Ain't I a Woman?, because of its oft-repeated question. This later, better known and more widely available version was the one commonly referenced in popular culture and, until historian Nell Irvin Painter's 1996 biography of Truth, by historians as well.

Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree, in 1797 in Ulster County, New York. Truth ran from her master in 1827 after he went back on his promise of her freedom. She became a preacher and an activist throughout the 1840s–1850s.

She delivered her speech, Ain't I a Woman?, at the Women's Rights Convention in 1851. Truth questions the treatment of white women compared to black women. Seemingly pointing out a man in the room, Truth says, That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere.

In the Gage version, she exclaims that no one ever does any of these things for her, repeating the question, And ain't I a woman? several times. She says that she has worked and birthed many children, making her as much a woman as anyone else. Despite giving birth to children just like white women did, black women were not treated with the same respect as white women. Black women were women, but because their race was seen as inferior, being a woman did not mean much if they were not white. 

There is no official published version of her speech; many rewritings of it were published anywhere from one month to 12 years after it was spoken.

More information: Learning for Justice

 There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights,
but not a word about the colored women;
and if colored men get their rights,
and not colored women theirs, you see,
the colored men will be masters over the women,
 and it will be just as bad as it was before.

Sojourner Truth

THE BASQUE CUISINE, ENJOYING 'PINTXOS' & 'TXAKOLI'

Today, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma have been enjoying Basque cuisine in Bilbo.

 

Basque cuisine refers to the cuisine of the Basque Country and includes meats and fish grilled over hot coals, marmitako and lamb stews, cod, Tolosa bean dishes, paprikas from Lekeitio, pintxos (Basque tapas), Idiazabal sheep's cheese, txakoli (sparkling white wine), and Basque cider.

A basquaise is a type of dish prepared in the style of Basque cuisine that often includes tomatoes and sweet or hot red peppers.

Basques have also been quick to absorb new ingredients and techniques from new settlers and from their own trade and exploration links. Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal created a chocolate and confectionery industry in Bayonne still well-known today, and part of a wider confectionery and pastry tradition across the Basque Country. 

Basques embraced the potato and the capsicum, used in hams, sausages and recipes, with pepper festivals around the area, notably Ezpeleta and Puente la Reina.

Olive oil is more commonly used than vegetable oil in Basque cooking.

In addition to the dishes and products of the Basque Country, there are features of the way of preparing and sharing food unique to the area.

Cider houses (sagardotegiak) are a feature of the hills around Donostia, especially near Astigarraga. These are usually large country restaurants with enormous barrels of cider. Cider is poured from a height straight into the glass for visitors, with a rustic menu invariably of salt cod omelette, grilled T-bone steak and ewes' milk cheese with walnuts and quince paste. The cider houses are only open for a few months of the year.

The txikiteo is the tapas crawl from bar to bar, but it reaches its pinnacle in Donostia, with hundreds of people on the streets of the old town wandering from bar to bar, each known for its specialty, whether it be croquettes, tortilla, toast, or seafood. The txikiteo is also popular in cities such as Pamplona and Bilbao.

Many bars will offer a combination of pre-made pintxos (such as gildas) that are typically cold as well as hot specialities that are made to order. Typically pintxos cost between one to three euros each.

Gerezi beltza arno gorriakin is a cherry soup served warm or cold. The cherries are poached in wine, often with enough sugar added to make a light syrup. A cherry without pits is preferred for this dish. To release their flavor, the cherries are carefully pitted or cut in half. Usually the soup is prepared on the day it will be served, because 24 hours is enough time for the cherries to blanch noticeably in the liquid. The soup is often served with a dollop of sour cream, crème fraîche, or ice cream.

Gastronomic societies are organisations, almost always of men, who cook and eat together in a communal txoko.

More information: The Culture Trip

 There is no sincerer love than the love of food.

George Bernard Shaw

THE GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM ON THE NERVION RIVERSIDE

Today, Claire Fontaine  and The Grandma have visited the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, an amazing trip along contemporary art.

 

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, and located in Bilbao, province of Biscay.

 

The museum was inaugurated on 18 October 1997 with an exhibition of 250 contemporary works of art. Built alongside the Nervion River, which runs through the city of Bilbao to the Cantabrian Sea, it is one of several museums belonging to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and features permanent and visiting exhibits of local and international artists.

A work of contemporary architecture, the building has been hailed as a signal moment in the architectural culture, because it represents one of those rare moments when critics, academics, and the general public were all completely united about something, according to architectural critic Paul Goldberger. The museum was the building most frequently named as one of the most important works completed since 1980 in the 2010 World Architecture Survey among architecture experts.

In 1991, the Basque government suggested to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation that it would fund a Guggenheim museum to be built in Bilbao's decrepit port area, once the city's main source of income. The Basque government agreed to cover the US$100 million construction cost, to create a US$50 million acquisitions fund, to pay a one-time US$20 million fee to the Guggenheim and to subsidize the museum's US$12 million annual budget. In exchange, the foundation agreed to manage the institution, rotate parts of its permanent collection through the Bilbao museum and organize temporary exhibitions.

The museum was built by Ferrovial, at a cost of US$89 million. About 5,000 residents of Bilbao attended a preopening extravaganza outside the museum on the night preceding the official opening, featuring an outdoor light show and concerts.

In 2008, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao announced that it was looking into building a 5,000 m2 expansion in Urdaibai, an estuary to the east of Bilbao. By 2022, the government of the Biscay province presented plans to put 40 million euros toward the expansion.

The museum was opened as part of a revitalization effort for the city of Bilbao. Almost immediately after its opening, the Guggenheim Bilbao became a popular tourist attraction, drawing visitors from around the globe. In its first three years, almost 4 million tourists visited the museum, helping to generate about €500 million in economic activity. The regional council estimated that the money visitors spent on hotels, restaurants, shops and transport allowed it to collect €100 million in taxes, which more than paid for the building cost.

More information: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

To get such beauty from something
that has been produced from the artist's
own imagination appealed to me enormously.

Solomon R. Guggenheim

SAN MAMÉS, WELCOME TO THE FOOTBALL CATHEDRAL

Yesterday, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma enjoyed the 2024 UWCL Final in San Mamés Stadium, also known as The Cathedral.

The San Mamés Stadium also known as San Mames Barria is an all-seater football stadium in Rafael Moreno Pitxitxi Kalea, Bilbao, Basque Country.

 

Inaugurated on 16 September 2013, the stadium replaced the old San Mamés as the home of Athletic Bilbao. With a capacity of 53,331 seats, San Mamés is the largest in the Basque Country. The first stages of planning occurred as early as 2004, with initial contracts signed late on in 2006, after receiving approval to build in March 2006. The new stadium was to be built next to the existing San Mamés on land that was occupied until 2003 by the Bilbao International Trade Fair.

On 26 May 2010 at 12:00 the ground-breaking ceremony took place at San Mamés. In a symbolic display, a piece of turf and a brick from the facade were removed from the old stadium and carried to the adjacent construction site by a human chain including famous players Iribar, Larrazábal, Iturraspe and Muniain as well as members of the youth system, the women's team, the reserve team and its oldest and youngest registered supporters.

Initially, three-quarters of the new stadium were built and then matches took place in it, while the old one was demolished to make room to complete the new arena.

Despite the economical woes the country was going through at the time, especially the Basque people, 52.6% of the total €211 million cost of the stadium was paid by public institution -some by the Basque Government (€50m), some by the Bilbao City Council (€11m) and some by the Biscay Provincial Council (€50m including land), as well as Athletic (€50m including land) and BBK/Kutxabank (€50m), on the proviso that the stadium would include facilities for use by the public such as a sports centre.

San Mamés was inaugurated on 16 September 2013, 102 days after the final game at the old stadium. At that time the official capacity of the partially completed arena was 35,686. The first match was a league match played at 22:00 between the hosts Athletic Club and Celta Vigo, which the local team won 3-2. A crowd of 33,000 was in attendance.  Prior to the match, the captains of each of the club's age group teams, club captain Carlos Gurpegui and president Josu Urrutia took part in a short presentation accompanied by a traditional Aurresku dance.

On 16 July 2021, the UEFA Executive Committee announced that due to the withdrawal of hosting rights for Euro 2020, San Mamés was given hosting rights for the 2024 UEFA Women's Champions League final and the 2025 UEFA Europa League final. This was part of a settlement agreement by UEFA to recognise the efforts and financial investment made to host UEFA Euro 2020.

More information: Athletic Club

Athletic, Athletic, Athletic eup!
Athletic, gorri ta zuria
danontzat zara zu geuria
Erritik sortu ziñalako
maite zaitu erriak .

Athletic, Athletic, Athletic eup!
Athletic, red and white
for all of us you are yourself
Because it was born from the town
the people love you.

Athletic Bilbao Anthem

FUTBOL CLUB BARCELONA IS THE 2024 UWCL WINNER

Today, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma have attended the 2024 UWCL Final in San Mamés Stadium, Bilbo, where FC Barcelona has proclaimed the winner after defeating Olympique Lyonnais 2-0 with goals scored by Aitana Bonmatí and Alexia Putellas.

Futbol Club Barcelona Femení, commonly referred to as Barça Femení is a Catalan professional women's football team based in Barcelona.

It is the women's football section of FC Barcelona and competes in the Liga F, playing home games at the Johan Cruyff Stadium in Sant Joan Despí, and occasionally at the Camp Nou or Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.

The club was formed in 1970 with some financial and logistical support from FC Barcelona, but without being an official section. In its inaugural season it competed in matches against other Catalan teams and was known as Selecció Ciutat de Barcelona, taking the name Peña Femenina Barcelonista in 1971. 

It was a founding member of the Liga Nacional, in 1988, when it became known as Club Femení Barcelona, and in 2002, when it officially became a section of FC Barcelona, it took the official name Futbol Club Barcelona.

Since the club's professionalisation in 2015, Barcelona cemented itself as dominant women's football team, becoming the league's most successful team in the UEFA Women's Champions League, and one of the most successful women's football teams in Europe. It won the Champions League in 2021, 2023 and 2024.

Women's football in Barcelona, had a certain level of popularity in the 1960s, but was amateur and unofficial. The embryo of Barcelona Femení was the Selecció Ciutat de Barcelona, formed in November 1970. 

In at least as early as the 1960s, FC Barcelona had women's teams play in exhibition games at the Camp Nou; the club does not consider these antecedents to its current women's team as they were teams that had been created only for that occasion, unlike Selecció Ciutat de Barcelona, which was created with the idea of continuity and laying the groundwork for a future project.

Upon Barcelona announcing Selecció Barcelona as its new women's team, El Noticiero Universal reported that the club had almost pioneered women's football many years earlier, having gone so far as to organise a game that could not be played for reasons beyond their control.

In 2020-21, they won the Champions League for the first time by defeating Chelsea 4–0 in the final.

In 2022-2023, they won the Champions League for the second time by defeating Wolfsburg 2–3 in the final.

On 25 May 2024, Barcelona completed the second continental treble and first continental quadruple in the club's history by defeating Lyon 2-0 in the 2024 Champions League final; it was their first defeat of longstanding European rivals Lyon.

Barcelona Femení has a fan base distinct from that of the men's team, even when the team has sold out the main stadiums. The popularity of the team grew vastly in the years after it became professional.

The team moved to the Johan Cruyff Stadium in 2019, located in Sant Joan Despí, a town north of the city of Barcelona. They previously played at the Mini Estadi, next to the Camp Nou. Despite playing outside of the city, by 2022 the team had averaged crowds four times larger than when they played at the Mini Estadi.

More information: FCBarcelona

Blaugrana al vent
Un crit valent
Tenim un nom, el sap tothom
Barça, Barça, Barça

Blaugrana in the wind
A brave cry
We have a name that everyone knows
Barça, Barça, Barça

FC Barcelona Anthem

BILBO, THE AMAZING BREATH OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY

Today, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma have arrived to Bilbo to enjoy the 2024 UWCL Final between FC Barcelona and Olympique Lyonnaise i San Mamés Stadium.

Bilbao is the largest city in the province of Biscay and in the Basque Country as a whole. Bilbao is also the main urban area in what is defined as the Greater Basque region.

Bilbao is located in the south of the Bay of Biscay, where the economic social development is located, where the estuary of Bilbao is formed. Its main urban core is surrounded by two small mountain ranges with an average elevation of 400 metres. Its climate is shaped by the Bay of Biscay low-pressure systems and mild air, moderating summer temperatures by Iberian standards, with low sunshine and high rainfall. The annual temperature range is low for its latitude.

After its foundation in the late 13th century by Diego López V de Haro, head of the powerful Haro family, Bilbao was one of the commercial hubs of the Basque Country that enjoyed significant importance in the Crown of Castile. This was due to its thriving port activity based on the export of wool and iron commodities extracted from the Biscayan quarries to all over Europe.

Throughout the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, Bilbao experienced heavy industrialisation, making it the center, behind Barcelona. At the same time an extraordinary population explosion prompted the annexation of several adjacent municipalities. Nowadays, Bilbao is a vigorous service city that is experiencing an ongoing social, economic, and aesthetic revitalisation process, started by the iconic Bilbao Guggenheim Museum, and continued by infrastructure investments, such as the airport terminal, the rapid transit system, the tram line, the Azkuna Zentroa, and the currently under development Abandoibarra and Zorrozaurre renewal projects.

Bilbao is also home to football team Athletic Club, a significant symbol for Basque nationalism due to its promotion of only Basque players and being one of the most successful clubs in football history.

On 19 May 2010, the city of Bilbao was recognised with the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize, awarded by the city state of Singapore. Considered the Nobel Prize for urbanism, it was handed out on 29 June 2010.

On 7 January 2013, its mayor, Iñaki Azkuna, received the 2012 World Mayor Prize awarded every two years by the British foundation The City Mayors Foundation, in recognition of the urban transformation experienced by the Biscayan capital since the 1990s.

On 8 November 2017, Bilbao was chosen the Best European City 2018 at The Urbanism Awards 2018, awarded by the international organisation The Academy of Urbanism.

The official name of the town is Bilbao, as known in most languages of the world. Euskaltzaindia, the official regulatory institution of the Basque language, has agreed that between the two possible names existing in Basque, Bilbao and Bilbo, the historical name is Bilbo, while Bilbao is the official name. Although the term Bilbo does not appear in old documents, in the play The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare, there is a reference to swords presumably made of Biscayan iron which he calls bilboes, suggesting that it is a word used since at least the sixteenth century.

Remains of an ancient settlement were found on the top of Mount Malmasín, dating from around the 3rd or 2nd century BC. Burial sites were also found on mounts Avril and Artxanda, dated 6,000 years old. Some authors identify the old settlement of Bilbao as Amanun Portus, cited by Pliny the Elder, or with Flaviobriga, by Ptolemy.

More information: Curate Trips

Untsa habiatu den lana, erdi akabirik.

Well begun, is half done.

Basque proverb

ALASKAN STRATOVOLCANO MOUNT CLEVELAND ERUPTS

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Mount Cleveland, the stratovolcano on the western end of Chuginadak Island, that erupted on a day like today in 2006. The Grandma loves volcanos and vulcanology and ut has been a very interesting reading.

Mount Cleveland (also known as Cleveland Volcano) is a nearly symmetrical stratovolcano on the western end of Chuginadak Island, which is part of the Islands of Four Mountains just west of Umnak Island in the Fox Islands of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.

Mt. Cleveland is 1,730 m high, and one of the most active of the 75 or more volcanoes in the larger Aleutian Arc. Aleutian natives named the island after their fire goddess, Chuginadak, who they believed inhabited the volcano. 

In 1894 a team from the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey visited the island and gave Mount Cleveland its current name, after then-president Grover Cleveland.

One of the most active volcanoes in the Aleutian Arc, Cleveland has erupted at least 22 times in the last 230 years. A VEI 3 eruption in 1944 produced the arc's only known volcanic fatality. Most recently Mount Cleveland has erupted three times in 2009, twice in 2010, once in 2011 and in 2016 and 2017.

The volcano's remoteness limits opportunities for its study, and the Alaska Volcano Observatory relies heavily on satellites for monitoring. The volcano is primarily hazardous to aircraft; many of the flights over the north Pacific approach the vicinity of the volcano, and volcanic ash released from eruptions can damage sensitive electronic equipment and sensors.

Mount Cleveland is located 490 km from the western end of the Aleutian Arc, a long volcanic chain extending off the coast of Alaska. 

Containing over 75 volcanoes, this volcanic arc occurs above the subduction zone where the Pacific Plate plunges under the North American plate. As the plate moves deeper into the earth, the increasing pressure results in the loss of volatiles, certain elements and compounds with low boiling points, from various hydrous minerals. One of these compounds is water; its addition to the mantle wedge formed between the subducting and overriding plates lowers the melting point enough to allow magma to form. The melted material then rises to the surface and forms a volcano -in this case, the Aleutian Arc.

The native Aleut name for Mount Cleveland is Chuginadak (the name currently given to the island as a whole), referring to the Aleut fire goddess, thought to reside in the volcano. The volcano's name is a reference to its constant activity, and shows that it was likely highly active even in the distant past.

Aleut oral tradition states that, at one time, the western and eastern halves of Chuginadak were separate islands, and that the isthmus joining them was created by volcanic activity sometime in prehistory.

The Islands of Four Mountains name, the geographic group name for Cleveland and its neighbours, was given to the islands by Russian cartographers in the 19th century. Its current name, Mount Cleveland, was given to it by a United States Coast and Geodetic Survey expedition in 1894, when it was originally observed by the USS Concord. Like the other volcanoes in the Four Islands group, which were named after prominent American politicians at the time, Mount Cleveland was named after then-president Grover Cleveland.

Mount Cleveland erupted more recently in 1951, 1953, 1954 (possibly), 1975 (possibly), 1984 through 1987, 1989, 1994, and 1997. The volcano has received more focused attention in recent times due to its increased activity: it erupted in 2001, 2005, three times in 2006, 2007, three times in 2009, and twice in 2010. Of these, the most significant eruption was the 2001 eruption, which produced a 12 km high ash plume. This plume dispersed 120 to 150 km across Alaska, an unusual distance that allowed detailed satellite observations to be made. Nikolski and the surrounding region was the site of several hours of ashfall, represented in satellite imagery as areas of discolored snow. This eruption significantly disrupted air traffic in the area.

More information: Alaska Volcano Observatory

Nature does not hurry,
yet everything is accomplished.

Lao Tzu

THE TREVI FOUNTAIN IS INAUGURATED IN ROME IN 1762

Today, The Grandma has been reading about the Trevi Fountain, the 18th-century fountain in the Trevi district in Rome, that was officially completed and inaugurated on a day like today in 1762.

The Trevi Fountain, in Italian Fontana di Trevi, is an 18th-century fountain in the Trevi district in Rome, designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini in 1762 and several others. 

Standing 26.3 metres high and 49.15 metres wide, it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world.

The fountain, at the junction of three roads (tre vie), marks the terminal point of the modern Acqua Vergine -the revived Aqua Virgo, one of the aqueducts that supplied water to ancient Rome.

In 19 BC, supposedly with the help of a virgin, Roman technicians located a source of pure water some 13 km from the city. This scene is presented on the present fountain's façade. However, the eventual indirect route of the aqueduct made its length some 22 km. This Aqua Virgo led the water into the Baths of Agrippa. It served Rome for more than 400 years.

The name of the fountain derives from the Latin word trivium (intersection of three streets). The statue is located right in the center of Via De' Crocicchi, Via Poli and Via Delle Muratte.

During the sixth century, the aqueducts were not well maintained and the 14 functioning ones were damaged during the invasion of the Ostrogoths.

The virgin water aqueduct carries the water to the Trevi Fountain, after having collected it 10 km from the Italian capital.

The aqueduct is still in use today, despite some interventions during which the fountain remained empty. Calcium-free water is thought to be one of the causes.

In 1629, Pope Urban VIII, finding the earlier fountain insufficiently dramatic, asked Gian Lorenzo Bernini to sketch possible renovations, but the project was abandoned when the Pope died. Though Bernini's project was never constructed, there are many Bernini touches in the fountain as it exists today. An early influential model by Pietro da Cortona, preserved in the Albertina, Vienna, also exists, as do various early 18th century sketches, most unsigned, as well as a project attributed to Nicola Michetti one attributed to Ferdinando Fuga and a French design by Edmé Bouchardon.

Competitions had become popular during the Baroque era to design buildings, fountains, as well as the Spanish Steps.

In 1730, Pope Clement XII organized a contest in which Nicola Salvi initially lost to Alessandro Galilei -but due to the outcry in Rome over a Florentine having won, Salvi was awarded the commission anyway. Work began in 1732.

Salvi died in 1751 with his work half finished, but he had made sure a barber's unsightly sign would not spoil the ensemble, hiding it behind a sculpted vase, called by Romans the asso di coppe, the Ace of Cups, because of its resemblance to a Tarot card. Four different sculptors were hired to complete the fountain's decorations: Pietro Bracci (whose statue of Oceanus sits in the central niche), Filippo della Valle, Giovanni Grossi, and Andrea Bergondi. Giuseppe Pannini (1718-1805), son of Giovanni Paolo Panini, was hired as architect.

The Trevi Fountain was finished in 1762 by Pannini, who substituted the present allegories for planned sculptures of Agrippa and Trivia, the Roman virgin. It was officially opened and inaugurated on 22 May by Pope Clement XIII.

The majority of the piece is made from Travertine stone, quarried near Tivoli, about 35 kilometres east of Rome.

The fountain was refurbished once in 1988 to remove discoloration caused by smog, and again in 1998; the stonework was scrubbed and all cracks and other areas of deterioration were repaired by skilled artisans, and the fountain was equipped with recirculating pumps.

In January 2013, it was announced that the Italian fashion company Fendi would sponsor a 20-month, 2.2-million-euro restoration of the fountain; it was to be the most thorough restoration in the fountain's history.

Restoration work began in June 2014 and was completed in November 2015. The fountain was reopened with an official ceremony on the evening of 3 November 2015. The restoration included the installation of more than 100 LED lights to improve the nighttime illumination of the fountain.

More information: Trevi Fountain

They say Rome wasn't built in a day,
but I wasn't on that particular job.

 

Brian Clough

RINGLING BROS., BARNUM & BAILEY CIRCUS FINAL SHOW

Today, The Grandma has been reading about the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the American traveling circus company that performed their final show at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on a day like today in 2017.

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling, is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth.

It and its predecessor have run shows from 1871, with a hiatus from 2017 to 2023. They operate as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey.

The circus started in 1919 when the Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth, a circus created by P. T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey, was merged with the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows. The Ringling brothers purchased Barnum & Bailey Ltd. in 1907 following Bailey's death in 1906, but ran the circuses separately until they were merged in 1919.

After 1957, the circus no longer exhibited under its own portable big top tents, instead using permanent venues such as sports stadiums and arenas. In 1967, Irvin Feld and his brother Israel, along with Houston judge Roy Hofheinz, bought the circus from the Ringling family.

In 1971, the Felds and Hofheinz sold the circus to Mattel, buying it back from the toy company in 1981. Since the death of Irvin Feld in 1984, the circus has continued to be a part of Feld Entertainment, an international entertainment firm headed by his son Kenneth Feld, with its headquarters in Ellenton, Florida.

In May 2017, with weakening attendance, many animal rights protests, and high operating costs, the circus performed its final animal show at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and closed indefinitely.

In May 2022, after a five-year hiatus, Feld Entertainment announced that the circus would resume touring in the fall of 2023, but without animals.

The Ringlings purchased the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth in 1907 and ran the circuses separately until 1919. By that time, Charles Edward Ringling and John Nicholas Ringling were the only remaining brothers of the five who founded the circus. They decided that it was too difficult to run the two circuses independently because of labour shortages and complications to rail travel brought about by American involvement in World War I, and on March 29, 1919, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows debuted in New York City. The posters declared, The Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows and the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth are now combined into one record-breaking giant of all exhibitions. 

Charles E. Ringling died in 1926, but the circus flourished through the Roaring Twenties.

After Walt Disney World opened near Orlando, Florida, in 1971, the circus attempted to cash in on the resulting tourism surge by opening Circus World theme park in nearby Haines City, which broke ground in April 1973. The theme park was expected to become the circus's winter home as well as to have the Clown College located there. Mattel placed the circus corporation up for sale in December 1973 despite its profit contributions, as Mattel as a whole had a $29.9 million loss in 1972. The park's opening was delayed until February 1974.

In October 2021, Feld Entertainment Chairman and CEO Kenneth Feld and COO Juliette Feld Grossman announced that the circus would be relaunched in 2023, without animal performances.

On September 29, 2023, after a six-year hiatus, the relaunched circus kicked off at Brookshire Grocery Arena in Bossier City, Louisiana.

More information: Ringling

I hate to witness animals in captivity
-or see circus elephants paraded down the streets.
When animals are caged,
it's a loss of what they are.

 

K. A. Applegate

'THEATRUM ORBIS TERRARUM', THE FIRST MODERN ATLAS

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first true modern atlas, written by Abraham Ortelius, that was originally printed in Antwerp on a day like today in 1570.

Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Theatre of the Lands of the World, is considered to be the first true modern atlas. 

Written by Abraham Ortelius, strongly encouraged by Gillis Hooftman and originally printed on 20 May 1570 in Antwerp, it consisted of a collection of uniform map sheets and supporting text bound to form a book for which copper printing plates were specifically engraved.

The Ortelius atlas is sometimes referred to as the summary of sixteenth-century cartography. The publication of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570) is often considered as the official beginning of the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography (approximately 1570s-1670s).

The atlas contained virtually no maps from the hand of Ortelius, but 53 bundled maps of other masters, with the source as indicated. Previously, groupings of disparate maps were only released as custom lots, to individual order. In the Ortelius atlas, however, the maps were all in the same style and of the same size, printed from copper plates, logically arranged by continent, region and state. In addition to the maps he provided a descriptive comment and referrals on the reverse. This was the first time that the entirety of Western European knowledge of the world was brought together in one book.

In the bibliography, in the section Catalogus Auctorum, not only were the 33 cartographers mentioned whose work was recorded in the Theatrum (which at the time was not yet customary), but also the total of 87 cartographers of the 16th century that Ortelius knew. This list grew in every Latin Edition, and included no less than 183 names in 1601.

Among the sources the following are mentioned: for the world map, the World Map (1561) by Giacomo Gastaldi; the porto Avenue of the Atlantic coast (1562) by Diego Gutierrez, the world map (1569) of Gerardus Mercator, which have eight maps derived from the Theatrum.

For the map of Europe, wall map (1554) of the Mercator map of Scandinavia (1539) by Olaus Magnus, map of Asia was derived from his own Asia-map from 1567, which in turn was inspired by that of Gastaldi (1559). Also for the Africa map he referred to Gastaldi.

More information: Utrecht University 

This work by Ortelius, consisted of a collection of the best maps, refined by himself, combined into one map or split across multiple, and on the same size (folios of approximately 35 x 50 cm). The naming and location coordinates were not normalized.

After the initial publication of Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Ortelius regularly revised and expanded the atlas, reissuing it in various formats until his death in 1598. From its original seventy maps and eighty-seven bibliographic references in the first edition (1570), the atlas grew through its thirty-one editions to encompass 183 references and 167 maps in 1612.

The online copy of the 1573 volume held by the State Library of New South Wales contains 70 numbered double-page sheets, tipped onto stubs at the centerfold, with six maps combined with descriptive letterpress on the recto of each first leaf. The legends of most maps name the author whose map Ortelius adapted. In the preface Ortelius credits Franciscus Hogenberg with engraving nearly all the maps.

The 1573 Additamentum to the atlas is notable for containing Humphrey Llwyd's Cambriae Typus, the first map to show Wales on its own.

Theatrum Orbis Terrarum is used as the centerpiece of the Fool's Cap Map of the World, which is a satirical presentation of Europe's understanding of the globe.

From the 1630s, the Blaeu family issued their work under a similar title, Theatrum orbis terrarum, sive, Atlas Novus.

The moneyed middle class, which had much interest in knowledge and science, turned out to be very much interested in the convenient size and the pooling of knowledge. For buyers who were not strong in Latin, from the end of 1572, in addition to the Latin version, Dutch, German and French editions were published. This rapid success prompted the Ortelius Theatrum to constantly expand and improve. 

In 1573, he released 17 more additional maps under the title Additamentum Theatri Orbis Terrarum, bringing the total at 70 maps. By Ortelius' death in 1598, there were twenty-five editions that had appeared in seven different languages.

More information: Library of Congress

 The earliest maps were 'story' maps.
Cartographers were artists who mingled
knowledge with supposition, memory and fears.
Their maps described both landscape and the events,
which had taken place within it,
enabling travellers to plot a route
as well as to experience a story.

Rory MacLean

NEW ENGLAND'S DARK DAY, MYSTERY & SCIENCE IN 1790

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Dark Day, an unusual darkening of the daytime sky that occurred in New England on a day like today in 1780.

New England's Dark Day occurred on May 19, 1780, when an unusual darkening of the daytime sky was observed over the New England states and parts of eastern Canada. The primary cause of the event is believed to have been a combination of smoke from forest fires, a thick fog, and cloud cover. The darkness was so complete that candles were required from noon on. It did not disperse until the middle of the next night.

According to Professor Samuel Williams of Harvard College, the darkness was seen at least as far north as Portland, Maine, and extended southwards to New Jersey. The darkness was not witnessed in Pennsylvania.

The earliest report of the darkness came from Rupert, Vermont, where the sun was already obscured at sunrise. Professor Samuel Williams observed from Cambridge, Massachusetts, This extraordinary darkness came on between the hours of 10 and 11 a.m. and continued till the middle of the next night. Reverend Ebenezer Parkham of Westborough, Massachusetts, reported peak obscurity to occur by 12, but did not record the time when it first arrived. At Harvard College, the obscuration was reported to arrive at 10:30 a.m., peaking at 12:45 p.m. and abating by 1:10 p.m., but a heavy overcast remained for the rest of the day. The obscuration was reported to have reached Barnstable, Massachusetts, by 2:00 p.m., with peak obscurity reported to have occurred at 5:30 p.m.

More information: BBC

Roosters crowed, woodcocks whistled, and frogs peeped as if night had fallen at 2:00 p.m. in Ipswich, Massachusetts. A witness reported that a strong sooty smell prevailed in the atmosphere, and that rain water had a light film over it that was made up of particles of burnt leaves and ash. Contemporaneous reports also indicated that ash and cinders fell on parts of New Hampshire to a depth of 15 cm.

For several days before the Dark Day, the sun as viewed from New England appeared to be red, and the sky appeared yellow. While the darkness was present, soot was observed to have collected in rivers and in rain water, suggesting the presence of smoke. Also, when the night really came in, observers saw the moon colored red. For portions of New England, the morning of May 19, 1780, was characterized by rain, indicating that cloud cover was present.

Since communications technology of the day was primitive, most people found the darkness to be baffling and inexplicable. Many applied religious interpretations to the event.

The likely cause of the Dark Day was smoke from extensive forest fires, for which there is evidence from the time of the Dark Day. When a fire does not kill a tree and the tree later grows, scar marks are left in the growth rings. This makes it possible to approximate the date of a past fire. Researchers examining tree rings and fire scars in trees in the area that is today occupied by Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada, see evidence of a fire in 1780 and attribute the Dark Day to that.

More information: Owlcation

O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart.
Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected
dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.

Saint Augustine

ALEXANDER B. GODUNOV, FROM BOLSHOI TO HOLLYWOOD

Today, The Grandma has been watching Witness, one of her favourite films, interpreted by Alexander Godunov, the Russian-American ballet dancer and film actor, who died on a day like today in 1995.

Alexander Borisovich Godunov, in Russian Александр Борисович Годунов (November 28, 1949-c. May 1995) was a Russian-American ballet dancer and film actor. A member of the Bolshoi Ballet, he became the troupe's Premier danseur.

In 1979, he defected to the United States. While continuing to dance, he also began working as a supporting actor in Hollywood films. He had prominent roles in films such as Witness (1985) and Die Hard (1988).

Godunov was born in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Sakhalin, Russian SFSR, USSR) in the Russian Far East. He began his ballet studies at the age of nine in Riga in 1958 in the same class as Mikhail Baryshnikov. He said his mother put him in ballet to prevent him from becoming a hooligan. He and Baryshnikov became friends and helped each other throughout their years there.

Godunov joined the Bolshoi Ballet in 1971 and rose to become Premier danseur. His teachers there included Aleksey Yermolayev.

In 1973, Godunov won a gold medal at the Moscow International Ballet Competition. After playing Vronsky in 1975's Anna Karenina and Lemisson, the Royal minstrel, in the 1978 film version of J. B. Priestley's 31 June, he became well-known in the Soviet Union as a movie actor, receiving the title of Honoured Artist of the RSFSR in 1976.

On August 21, 1979, while on a tour with the Bolshoi Ballet in New York City, Godunov contacted authorities and asked for political asylum. After discovering his absence, the KGB responded by putting his wife, Lyudmila Vlasova, a soloist with the company, on a plane to Moscow, but the flight was stopped before takeoff. After three days, with involvement by President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, the U.S. State Department was satisfied that Vlasova had chosen to return to the Soviet Union of her own free will and allowed the plane to depart.

The incident was dramatized in the Soviet docudrama film, Flight 222 (1985). Vlasova later said that while Godunov loved American culture and had long desired to live in the United States, she felt she was too Russian to live in the United States. The couple divorced in 1982.

Godunov joined American Ballet Theatre and danced as a principal dancer until 1982, when he had a falling-out with Mikhail Baryshnikov, the director of the company. A press release for American Ballet Theatre stated a change in the troupe's repertoire did not provide Godunov with sufficient roles. Following his release, he traveled with his own troupe and danced as a guest artist around the world with a number of prominent ballet troupes.

Godunov also began working in Hollywood as a film actor. His acting roles included an Amish farmer in Witness (1985), a comically narcissistic symphony conductor in The Money Pit (1986) and one of the thieves in Die Hard (1988). He declined roles which typecast him as a dancer or as an action villain, as in Die Hard.

In the mid-1990s he appeared in Canadian television commercials for Labatt Ice Beer.

Godunov married Lyudmila Vlasova, a soloist with the Bolshoi Ballet, in 1971. The couple had no children and divorced in 1982 after a long separation.

Godunov became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1987.

More information: Los Angeles Times

I guess I have been recognized like 

an actor more than a dancer
t was very tragic life for him, 

not freeing himself and his talent. 

But it is nobody's fault that he didn't know himself, 

and also there was no one
around to help him.
 

Nina Alovert