CHARLES DARWIN, FUTURE & THE SCIENCE OF EVOLUTION

Today, The Winsors and The Grandma have met one of the most important scientist of all time, Charles Darwin, who contributed to the science of evolution.

Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by Charles Darwin and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce.

Darwin's theory of evolutionary selection holds that variation within species occurs randomly and that the survival or extinction of each organism is determined by that organism's ability to adapt to its environment. He set these theories forth in his book The Origin of Species (1859).

More information: Charles Darwin, The Great Genius Of The Evolution

Before the visit, the family has studied some English grammar with the Future Simple (Will/Won't), and they have talked about Tarot and the art of divination and cartomancy. They have also talked about how to build the future of countries and communities with the example of France, and two French spoken singers -Edith Piaf and Céline Dion.

Finally, they have talked about the figure of the sibyl from the ancient Greece to our days with the examples of The Song of Sibyl, the liturgical drama and a Gregorian chant, the lyrics of which comprise a prophecy describing the Apocalypse, that was declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, and the character of Professor Sybill Trewlaney in Harry Potter's saga.

More information: Future Simple

More information: The Tarot. Card Reading, Divination & Cartomancy

More information: The Song Of Sibyl, Ancient Mediterranean Culture

More information: Sybill Trelawney, Prophecies Since Ancient Times

Charles Robert Darwin (12 February 1809-19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution.

His proposition that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors is now widely accepted, and considered a foundational concept in science.

In a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding.

Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history, and he was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey.

Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species. By the 1870s, the scientific community and a majority of the educated public had accepted evolution as a fact. However, many favoured competing explanations which gave only a minor role to natural selection, and it was not until the emergence of the modern evolutionary synthesis from the 1930s to the 1950s that a broad consensus developed in which natural selection was the basic mechanism of evolution.

Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life.

Darwin's early interest in nature led him to neglect his medical education at the University of Edinburgh; instead, he helped to investigate marine invertebrates. Studies at the University of Cambridge (Christ's College) encouraged his passion for natural science.

More information: Live Science

His five-year voyage on HMS Beagle established him as an eminent geologist whose observations and theories supported Charles Lyell's conception of gradual geological change, and publication of his journal of the voyage made him famous as a popular author.

Puzzled by the geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected on the voyage, Darwin began detailed investigations, and in 1838 conceived his theory of natural selection.

Although he discussed his ideas with several naturalists, he needed time for extensive research and his geological work had priority.

He was writing up his theory in 1858 when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay that described the same idea, prompting immediate joint publication of both of their theories.

Darwin's work established evolutionary descent with modification as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature. In 1871 he examined human evolution and sexual selection in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, followed by The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872).

His research on plants was published in a series of books, and in his final book, The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Actions of Worms (1881), he examined earthworms and their effect on soil.

The publication of Darwin's theory brought into the open Charles Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection, the culmination of more than twenty years of work.

Thoughts on the possibility of transmutation of species which he recorded in 1836 towards the end of his five-year voyage on the Beagle were followed on his return by findings and work which led him to conceive of his theory in September 1838.

He gave priority to his career as a geologist whose observations and theories supported Charles Lyell's uniformitarian ideas, and to publication of the findings from the voyage as well as his journal of the voyage, but he discussed his evolutionary ideas with several naturalists and carried out extensive research on his hobby of evolutionary work.

He was writing up his theory in 1858 when he received an essay from Alfred Russel Wallace who was in Borneo, describing Wallace's own theory of natural selection, prompting immediate joint publication of extracts from Darwin's 1844 essay together with Wallace's paper as On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection in a presentation to the Linnaean Society on 1 July 1858.

This attracted little notice, but spurred Darwin to write an abstract of his work which was published in 1859 as his book On the Origin of Species.

 

 More information: Tree Hugger

Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype.

It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations.

 

Charles Darwin popularised the term natural selection, contrasting it with artificial selection, which in his view is intentional, whereas natural selection is not. Variation exists within all populations of organisms. This occurs partly because random mutations arise in the genome of an individual organism, and their offspring can inherit such mutations. Throughout the lives of the individuals, their genomes interact with their environments to cause variations in traits.

The environment of a genome includes the molecular biology in the cell, other cells, other individuals, populations, species, as well as the abiotic environment. Because individuals with certain variants of the trait tend to survive and reproduce more than individuals with other less successful variants, the population evolves. Other factors affecting reproductive success include sexual selection, now often included in natural selection, and fecundity selection.

Natural selection acts on the phenotype, the characteristics of the organism which actually interact with the environment, but the genetic (heritable) basis of any phenotype that gives that phenotype a reproductive advantage may become more common in a population.

Over time, this process can result in populations that specialise for particular ecological niches (microevolution) and may eventually result in speciation (the emergence of new species, macroevolution). In other words, natural selection is a key process in the evolution of a population.

Natural selection is a cornerstone of modern biology. The concept, published by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in a joint presentation of papers in 1858, was elaborated in Darwin's influential 1859 book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.

He described natural selection as analogous to artificial selection, a process by which animals and plants with traits considered desirable by human breeders are systematically favoured for reproduction.

The concept of natural selection originally developed in the absence of a valid theory of heredity; at the time of Darwin's writing, science had yet to develop modern theories of genetics.

The union of traditional Darwinian evolution with subsequent discoveries in classical genetics formed the modern synthesis of the mid-20th century. The addition of molecular genetics has led to evolutionary developmental biology, which explains evolution at the molecular level. While genotypes can slowly change by random genetic drift, natural selection remains the primary explanation for adaptive evolution.

More information: The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

 

 
A scientific man ought to have no wishes,

no affections, a mere heart of stone.

Charles Darwin

STEPHEN HAWKING, SEARCHING UNIVERSE ANSWERS

Today, The Grandma has visited an old friend, Stephen Hawking, the English director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge

Stephen William Hawking (8 January 1942-14 March 2018) was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Between 1979 and 2009, he was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, widely viewed as one of the most prestigious academic posts in the world.

Hawking was born on 8 January 1942 in Oxford to Frank and Isobel Eileen Hawking (née Walker). Hawking's mother was born into a family of doctors in Glasgow, Scotland. 

In October 1959, at the age of 17, he began his university education at University College, Oxford, where he received a first-class BA degree in physics. In October 1962, he began his graduate work at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where, in March 1966, he obtained his PhD in applied mathematics and theoretical physics, specialising in general relativity and cosmology.

In 1963, at age 21, Hawking was diagnosed with a rare early-onset, slow-progressing form of motor neurone disease (MND; also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's disease), a fatal neurodegenerative disease that affects the motor neurones in the brain and spinal cord, which gradually paralysed him over decades.

After the loss of his speech, he communicated through a speech-generating device, initially through use of a handheld switch, and eventually by using a single cheek muscle.

Hawking's scientific works included a collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation. Initially, Hawking radiation was controversial. By the late 1970s, and following the publication of further research, the discovery was widely accepted as a major breakthrough in theoretical physics.  

Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. 

Hawking was a vigorous supporter of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. He also introduced the notion of a micro black hole.

Hawking achieved commercial success with several works of popular science in which he discussed his theories and cosmology in general. His book A Brief History of Time appeared on the Sunday Times bestseller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks.  

Hawking was a Fellow of the Royal Society, a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. 

In late 2006, Hawking revealed in a BBC interview that one of his greatest unfulfilled desires was to travel to space. On hearing this, Richard Branson offered a free flight into space with Virgin Galactic, which Hawking immediately accepted. Besides personal ambition, he was motivated by the desire to increase public interest in spaceflight and to show the potential of people with disabilities.

On 26 April 2007, Hawking flew aboard a specially-modified Boeing 727-200 jet operated by Zero-G Corp off the coast of Florida to experience weightlessness. Fears that the manoeuvres would cause him undue discomfort proved incorrect, and the flight was extended to eight parabolic arcs.

It was described as a successful test to see if he could withstand the g-forces involved in space flight. At the time, the date of Hawking's trip to space was projected to be as early as 2009, but commercial flights to space did not commence before his death.

Hawking died at his home in Cambridge on 14 March 2018, at the age of 76.

More information: Hawking

Look up at the stars and not down at your feet.
Try to make sense of what you see,
and wonder about what makes the universe exist.
Be curious.

Stephen Hawking

NÚRIA WINSOR & DAVID BOWIE'S MARS SPACE ODDITY

Today, The Winsors and The Grandma have visited The Hampstead Scientific Society (HSS). 

They have had a wonderful partner, David Bowie, the Starman, who has driven to Mars in Space Oddity with Núria Winsor to discover the red planet during a day-trip.

Before this visit, the family has studied some English grammar with the modal verb Have to/Don't have to and they have started to read Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.

More information: Have to/Don't have to 

More information: Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe's Creator In Prision

The Hampstead Scientific Society (HSS) in north London was founded in July 1899 as the Hampstead Astronomical and General Scientific Society by P.E. Vizard. It aims to be inclusive, promoting and nurturing an interest in all branches of science, while catering for wide levels of knowledge, from layman to expert alike. The society maintains specialist astronomy and meteorology sections and runs a programme of lectures on various scientific topics in the Hampstead area of North West London.

The HSS is a registered charity which is affiliated with the British Science Association and the Richmond Scientific Society.

More information: Hampstead Scientific Society

David Robert Jones (8 January 1947-10 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie was an English singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. 

He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.

Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his innovative work during the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, and his music and stagecraft had a significant impact on popular music.

David Robert Jones was born on 8 January 1947 in Brixton, London.

Bowie developed an interest in music from an early age. He studied art, music and design before embarking on a professional career as a musician in 1963. He released a string of unsuccessful singles with local bands and a solo album before achieving his first top-five entry on the UK Singles Chart with Space Oddity (1969).

After a period of experimentation, he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with the flamboyant and androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust. The character was spearheaded by the success of Starman and album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which won him widespread popularity.

In 1975, Bowie's style shifted towards a sound he characterised as plastic soul, initially alienating many of his UK fans but garnering his first major US crossover success with the number-one single Fame and the album Young Americans.

In 1976, Bowie starred in the cult film The Man Who Fell to Earth and released Station to Station. 

In 1977, he again changed direction with the electronic-inflected album Low, the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno that came to be known as the Berlin Trilogy. Heroes (1977) and Lodger (1979) followed; each album reached the UK top five and received lasting critical praise.

After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had three number-one hits: the 1980 single Ashes to Ashes, its album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) and Under Pressure (a 1981 collaboration with Queen). He achieved his greatest commercial success in the 1980s with Let's Dance (1983).

Between 1988 and 1992, he fronted the hard rock band Tin Machine before resuming his solo career in 1993. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including industrial and jungle. He also continued acting; his roles included Major Jack Celliers in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), Jareth the Goblin King in Labyrinth (1986), Phillip Jeffries in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), Andy Warhol in the biopic Basquiat (1996), and Nikola Tesla in The Prestige (2006), among other film and television appearances and cameos. He stopped touring after 2004 and his last live performance was at a charity event in 2006.

He returned from a decade-long recording hiatus in 2013 with The Next Day. He died two days after both his 69th birthday and the release of his final album, Blackstar.

During his lifetime, his record sales, estimated at over 100 million records worldwide, made him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. Often dubbed the chameleon of rock due to his constant musical reinventions, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Rolling Stone ranked him among the greatest artists in history. 

As of 2022, Bowie was the best-selling vinyl artist of the 21st century.

Bowie died in New York City on 10 January 2016.

Bowie's songs and stagecraft brought a new dimension to popular music in the early 1970s, strongly influencing its immediate forms and subsequent development.

Perone credited Bowie with having brought sophistication to rock music, and critical reviews frequently acknowledged the intellectual depth of his work and influence.

The BBC's arts editor Will Gompertz likened Bowie to Pablo Picasso, writing that he was an innovative, visionary, restless artist who synthesised complex avant garde concepts into beautifully coherent works that touched the hearts and minds of millions.

More information: David Bowie

I find only freedom in the realms of eccentricity.

David Bowie

THE WEST END, THE PERFORMING ARTS SCENE DISTRICT

Today, The Grandma has visited the West End of London, one of the most amazing places in London.

The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, London, England, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings and entertainment venues, including West End theatres, are concentrated -and as such the term West End is used internationally as a metonym for London's theatre district and associated performing arts scene -just as Broadway is used to describe that of New York City.

The term was first used in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross. The West End covers parts of the boroughs of Westminster and Camden.

While the City of London is the main financial district in London, the West End is the main commercial and entertainment centre of the city. It is the largest central business district in the United Kingdom. It is one of the most expensive locations in the world in which to rent commercial and office space.

Medieval London comprised two adjacent cities -the City of London in the east, and the City of Westminster in the west.

Over time they came to form the centre of modern London, although each kept its own distinct character and its separate legal identity (for example, the City of London has its own police force and is a distinct county).

The City of London became a centre for the banking, financial, legal and professional sectors, while Westminster became associated with the leisure, shopping, commerce, and entertainment sectors, the government, and home to universities and embassies. The modern West End is closely associated with this area of central London.

Lying to the west of the historic Roman and medieval City of London, the West End was long favoured by the rich elite as a place of residence because it was usually upwind of the smoke drifting from the crowded City. It was close to the royal seat of power at the Palace of Westminster (now home to parliament), and is largely contained within the City of Westminster (one of the 32 London boroughs).

The Great Fire of London didn't directly affect the West End a great deal, but the huge loss of housing in the City of London, led to a building boom in the west. This began with an initial development by Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans in the 1660s. Then during the late 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, it was built as a series of palaces, expensive town houses, fashionable shops and places of entertainment. The areas closest to the City around Holborn, Seven Dials, and Covent Garden contained poorer communities that were cleared and redeveloped in the 19th century.

As the West End is a term used colloquially by Londoners and is not an official geographical or municipal definition, its exact constituent parts are up for debate. Westminster City Council's 2005 report Vision for the West End included the following areas in its definition: Covent Garden, Soho, Chinatown, Leicester Square, the shopping streets of Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street, the area encompassing Trafalgar Square, the Strand and Aldwych, and the district known as Theatreland. The Edgware Road to the north-west and the Victoria Embankment to the south-east were also covered by the document but were treated as adjacent areas to the West End.

According to Ed Glinert's West End Chronicles (2006) the districts falling within the West End are Mayfair, Soho, Covent Garden, Fitzrovia and Marylebone. By this definition, the West End borders Temple, Holborn and Bloomsbury to the east, Regent's Park to the north, Paddington, Hyde Park and Knightsbridge to the west, and Victoria and Westminster to the south. Other definitions include Bloomsbury within the West End.

One of the City of Westminster wards is called West End. This electoral unit includes some of the most prosperous areas of the borough, including Soho, Mayfair and parts of southern Marylebone. The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 10,575.

More information: Visit London

There's something about doing theatre in London
-it sinks a little bit deeper into your soul as an actor.
It's something about the tradition of theatre,
about performing on the West End stage.

Christian Slater

ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER, A GENIUS OF MUSICAL THEATRE

Today, The Grandma has visited an old friend, Andrew Lloyd Webber, the English composer.

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. 

He has composed 21 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass. Several of Lloyd Webber's songs have been widely recorded and widely successful outside their parent musicals, such as Memory from Cats, The Music of the Night and All I Ask of You from The Phantom of the Opera, I Don't Know How to Love Him from Jesus Christ Superstar, Don't Cry for Me Argentina from Evita, and Any Dream Will Do from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. 

In 2001, The New York Times referred to him as the most commercially successful composer in history.

The Daily Telegraph named him in 2008 the fifth-most powerful person in British culture, on which occasion lyricist Don Black said that Andrew more or less single-handedly reinvented the musical.

Lloyd Webber has received numerous awards, including a knighthood in 1992, followed by a peerage for services to the arts, six Tonys, seven Olivier Awards, three Grammys (as well as the Grammy Legend Award), an Academy Award, 14 Ivor Novello Awards, a Golden Globe, a Brit Award, the 2006 Kennedy Center Honors, and two Classic Brit Awards (for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 2008, and for Musical Theatre and Education in 2018).

In 2018, after Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special (Live), he became the thirteenth person to win an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is an inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.

The Really Useful Group, Lloyd Webber's company, is one of the largest theatre operators in London. Producers in several parts of the UK have staged productions, including national tours, of Lloyd Webber musicals under licence from the Really Useful Group. He is also the president of the Arts Educational Schools, London, a performing arts school located in Chiswick, west London. 

Lloyd Webber is involved in a number of charitable activities, including the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Nordoff Robbins, Prostate Cancer UK and War Child. In 1992, he started the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation which supports the arts, culture, and heritage of the UK.

 More information: Andrew Lloyd Webber

Lloyd Webber premiered The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre in the West End in 1986, inspired by the 1911 Gaston Leroux novel. 

He wrote the part of Christine for his then wife, Sarah Brightman, who played the role in the original London and Broadway productions alongside Michael Crawford as the Phantom. The production was directed by Harold Prince, who had also earlier directed Evita. Charles Hart wrote the lyrics for Phantom with some additional material provided by Richard Stilgoe, with whom Lloyd Webber co-wrote the book of the musical. It became a hit and is still running in the West End; in January 2006 it overtook Lloyd Webber's Cats as the longest-running show on Broadway.

On 11 February 2012, Phantom of the Opera played its 10,000th show on Broadway. With over 14,200 London productions it is the second longest-running West End musical. The Broadway production closed on 16 April 2023, having played 13,981 performances, the most in Broadway history.

Lloyd Webber was born on 22 March 1948, at Westminster Hospital in London, the elder son of William Lloyd Webber (1914-1982), a composer and organist, and Jean Hermione Johnstone (1921-1993), a violinist and pianist.

In 1965, when Lloyd Webber was a 17-year-old budding musical-theatre composer, he was introduced to the 20-year-old aspiring pop-song writer Tim Rice. Their first collaboration was The Likes of Us, an Oliver! -inspired musical based on the true story of Thomas John Barnardo. They produced a demo tape of that work in 1966, but the project failed to gain a backer.

Lloyd Webber was asked to write a song for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and he composed Amics per Sempre-Friends for Life with Don Black providing the lyrics. This song was performed by Sarah Brightman and Josep Carreras.

On St George's Day 2024, he was appointed a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter (KG).

More information: Instagram-Andrew Lloyd Webber

I don't know what really makes a great musical or not.
In the end, you write it, and you write it
because you want to write it.

Andrew Lloyd Webber

'PHANTOM OF THE OPERA' BY ANDREW LLOYD-WEBBER

Today, The Winsors and The Grandma are going to the London Theatre to enjoy the Phantom of the Opera, one of the most amazing musicals of all time. The family has received the great visit of Ana Maria Bean, the most famous Portuguese influencer, who is a master in making Venetian masks.

 

Before this visit, the family has studied some English grammar with the Reflexive Pronouns, written some templates and explained how to make a carnival mask.

 

More information: Reflexive Pronouns

 

 More information: From Venice to Rio de Janeiro, Shadows & Lights

 

The story of the Phantom of the Opera was originally published in a series of articles in La Galois and then in a book in 1911 entitled, Le Fantôme de l’Opéra written by a French journalist, Gastón Leroux. 

When the story was first published it was not popular and the book went out of print.

Leroux whose speciality was investigative journalism based his story on true-life incidents. In fact, many who have researched this subject believe with just a few exceptions the story has several elements that are true.

The opera house in the story was based on the real Opera Garnier in Paris. The Opera Garnier does have underground tunnels and it also has an underground lake. Leroux used this setting in several dramatic scenes in his story.

There was an incident where a chandelier did fall in the Opera Garnier setting the building on fire and killing a woman.

Leroux used a falling chandelier in his story as a distraction so his Phantom could kidnap Christine.

The romance between the Phantom and Christine in the story is just fantasy but it is believed that Leroux based both characters on real people.

 

More information: The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom is based upon a man named Erik who was born in a small village in Normandy, near Rouen. He was born with a horribly disfigured face so his parents abandoned him when he was eight. A circus basically took him and for 7 years he was used as an attraction.

It was believed that someone was secretly living in the opera house and many felt it was the ghost of the real Erik. In fact, many claimed that near Box 5 they heard ghostly voices and whispers when the area was unoccupied.

There were other witnesses that stated that they saw this phantom running through various parts of the opera house. Even more eerie these witnesses stated this figure wore a black cape and a mask over its face.

Renata de Waele in 1993 wrote a narrative that compared the fictional to the real stories. She worked in public relations at the Opera Garnier for many years. 

Some of her speculations have been proven others have not. So reality is blurred with fiction which leaves the curious with an intriguing mystery. 

More information: Archive

 

 Every legend, moreover, contains 

its residuum of truth, 

and the root function of language 

is to control the universe by describing it. 

James A. Baldwin

DOWNTON ABBEY, THE GRANDMA'S ENGLISH PROPIERTY

Today, The Grandma has invested in a new English propierty. She is the new owner of Downton Abbey, where she is going to share her home with the Crawley family and their domestic servants.

Play Downton Abbey Cards

Downton Abbey is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes.

The series first aired on ITV in the United Kingdom on 26 September 2010, and in the United States on PBS, which supported production of the series as part of its Masterpiece Classic anthology, on 9 January 2011.

The series, set in the fictional Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey between 1912 and 1926, depicts the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their domestic servants in the post-Edwardian era -with the great events of the time having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy.

Events depicted throughout the series include news of the sinking of the Titanic in the first series; the outbreak of the First World War, the Spanish influenza pandemic, and the Marconi scandal in the second series; the Irish War of Independence leading to the formation of the Irish Free State in the third series; the Teapot Dome scandal in the fourth series; the British general election of 1923 and the Beer Hall Putsch in the fifth series.

The sixth and final series introduces the rise of the working class during the interwar period and hints at the eventual decline of the British aristocracy.

Downton Abbey has received acclaim from television critics and won numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie. It was recognised by Guinness World Records as the most critically acclaimed English-language television series of 2011.

It earned the most nominations of any international television series in the history of the Primetime Emmy Awards, with twenty-seven in total, after the first two series. It was the most watched television series on both ITV and PBS, and subsequently became the most successful British costume drama series since the 1981 television serial of Brideshead Revisited.

On 26 March 2015, Carnival Films and ITV announced that the sixth series would be the last. It aired on ITV between 20 September 2015 and 8 November 2015. The final episode, serving as the annual Christmas special, was broadcast on 25 December 2015. A film adaptation, serving as a continuation of the series, was confirmed on 13 July 2018 and subsequently released in the United Kingdom on 13 September 2019, and in the United States on 20 September 2019.

The series is set in fictional Downton Abbey, a Yorkshire country house, which is the home and seat of the Earl and Countess of Grantham, along with their three daughters and distant family members. Each series follows the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family, their friends, and their servants during the reign of King George V.

More information: Movie Web

 You are being tested.
You know what they say darling,
being tested only makes you stronger.

Cora, Lady Grantham

ISAAC NEWTON, A KEY IN THE 'SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION'

Today, The Winsors & The Grandma have gone to the library to meet Isaac Newton and to borrow Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica written by him. 

 

They want to know more things about this genius and about his studies that changed our science and our lives.

 

Before meeting Newton, fhe family has studied some English grammar with Present Simple vs. Present Continuous; they have finished their second reading, and they have talked about international and English measures.

 

Finally, they have talked about the history of La Torre del Rellotge (The Clock Tower) and its relationship with the metre, l'Avinguda Meridiana (the Greenwich meridian) and l'Avinguda del Paral·lel (the 41° 22′ 34″ terrestrial parallel).

 

More information: Present Simple vs Present Continuous I & II

More information: Present Simple vs. Present Continuous I, II & III

 

Download Time For A Robbery

 

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Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642/4 January 1643-20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and author described in his own day as a natural philosopher who is widely recognised as one of the most influential scientists of all time and as a key figure in the scientific revolution.

His book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), first published in 1687, laid the foundations of classical mechanics.

Newton also made seminal contributions to optics, and shares credit with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for developing the infinitesimal calculus.

More information: Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences

In Principia, Newton formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation that formed the dominant scientific viewpoint until it was superseded by the theory of relativity.

Newton used his mathematical description of gravity to prove Kepler's laws of planetary motion, account for tides, the trajectories of comets, the precession of the equinoxes and other phenomena, eradicating doubt about the Solar System's heliocentricity. He demonstrated that the motion of objects on Earth and celestial bodies could be accounted for by the same principles.

Newton's inference that the Earth is an oblate spheroid was later confirmed by the geodetic measurements of Maupertuis, La Condamine, and others, convincing most European scientists of the superiority of Newtonian mechanics over earlier systems.

Newton built the first practical reflecting telescope and developed a sophisticated theory of colour based on the observation that a prism separates white light into the colours of the visible spectrum. His work on light was collected in his highly influential book Opticks, published in 1704. He also formulated an empirical law of cooling, made the first theoretical calculation of the speed of sound, and introduced the notion of a Newtonian fluid.

In addition to his work on calculus, as a mathematician Newton contributed to the study of power series, generalised the binomial theorem to non-integer exponents, developed a method for approximating the roots of a function, and classified most of the cubic plane curves.

Newton was a fellow of Trinity College and the second Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. He was a devout but unorthodox Christian who privately rejected the doctrine of the Trinity. Unusually for a member of the Cambridge faculty of the day, he refused to take holy orders in the Church of England. 

Beyond his work on the mathematical sciences, Newton dedicated much of his time to the study of alchemy and biblical chronology, but most of his work in those areas remained unpublished until long after his death.

Politically and personally tied to the Whig party, Newton served two brief terms as Member of Parliament for the University of Cambridge, in 1689–90 and 1701–02. He was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705 and spent the last three decades of his life in London, serving as Warden (1696–1700) and Master (1700–1727) of the Royal Mint, as well as president of the Royal Society (1703–1727).

Isaac Newton was born, according to the Julian calendar, in use in England at the time, on Christmas Day, 25 December 1642 (NS 4 January 1643) an hour or two after midnight, at Woolsthorpe Manor in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, a hamlet in the county of Lincolnshire.

From the age of about twelve until he was seventeen, Newton was educated at The King's School, Grantham, which taught Latin and Greek and probably imparted a significant foundation of mathematics.

In June 1661, he was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, on the recommendation of his uncle Rev William Ayscough, who had studied there.

At that time, the college's teachings were based on those of Aristotle, whom Newton supplemented with modern philosophers such as Descartes, and astronomers such as Galileo and Thomas Street, through whom he learned of Kepler's work. He set down in his notebook a series of Quaestiones about mechanical philosophy as he found it. In 1665, he discovered the generalised binomial theorem and began to develop a mathematical theory that later became calculus.

More information: Thought

Although he had been undistinguished as a Cambridge student, Newton's private studies at his home in Woolsthorpe over the subsequent two years saw the development of his theories on calculus, optics, and the law of gravitation.

His studies had impressed the Lucasian professor Isaac Barrow, who was more anxious to develop his own religious and administrative potential, he became master of Trinity two years later; in 1669 Newton succeeded him, only one year after receiving his MA. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1672.

Newton's work has been said to distinctly advance every branch of mathematics then studied. His work on the subject usually referred to as fluxions or calculus, seen in a manuscript of October 1666, is now published among Newton's mathematical papers.

Newton is generally credited with the generalised binomial theorem, valid for any exponent. He discovered Newton's identities, Newton's method, classified cubic plane curves, polynomials of degree three in two variables, made substantial contributions to the theory of finite differences, and was the first to use fractional indices and to employ coordinate geometry to derive solutions to Diophantine equations. He approximated partial sums of the harmonic series by logarithms, a precursor to Euler's summation formula, and was the first to use power series with confidence and to revert power series. Newton's work on infinite series was inspired by Simon Stevin's decimals.

In 1666, Newton observed that the spectrum of colours exiting a prism in the position of minimum deviation is oblong, even when the light ray entering the prism is circular, which is to say, the prism refracts different colours by different angles. This led him to conclude that colour is a property intrinsic to light -a point which had been debated in prior years.

From 1670 to 1672, Newton lectured on optics. During this period he investigated the refraction of light, demonstrating that the multicoloured spectrum produced by a prism could be recomposed into white light by a lens and a second prism. Modern scholarship has revealed that Newton's analysis and resynthesis of white light owes a debt to corpuscular alchemy.

More information: How Stuff Works

He showed that coloured light does not change its properties by separating out a coloured beam and shining it on various objects and that regardless of whether reflected, scattered, or transmitted, the light remains the same colour. Thus, he observed that colour is the result of objects interacting with already-coloured light rather than objects generating the colour themselves. This is known as Newton's theory of colour.

In his Hypothesis of Light of 1675, Newton posited the existence of the ether to transmit forces between particles. The contact with the Cambridge Platonist philosopher Henry More revived his interest in alchemy.

In 1679, Newton returned to his work on celestial mechanics by considering gravitation and its effect on the orbits of planets with reference to Kepler's laws of planetary motion.

In 1704, Newton published Opticks, in which he expounded his corpuscular theory of light.

The Principia was published on 5 July 1687 with encouragement and financial help from Edmond Halley. In this work, Newton stated the three universal laws of motion. Together, these laws describe the relationship between any object, the forces acting upon it and the resulting motion, laying the foundation for classical mechanics.

They contributed to many advances during the Industrial Revolution which soon followed and were not improved upon for more than 200 years. Many of these advancements continue to be the underpinnings of non-relativistic technologies in the modern world. He used the Latin word gravitas (weight) for the effect that would become known as gravity, and defined the law of universal gravitation.

In the same work, Newton presented a calculus-like method of geometrical analysis using first and last ratios, gave the first analytical determination (based on Boyle's law) of the speed of sound in air, inferred the oblateness of Earth's spheroidal figure, accounted for the precession of the equinoxes as a result of the Moon's gravitational attraction on the Earth's oblateness, initiated the gravitational study of the irregularities in the motion of the Moon, provided a theory for the determination of the orbits of comets, and much more.

More information: Wired

Newton made clear his heliocentric view of the Solar System -developed in a somewhat modern way because already in the mid-1680s he recognised the deviation of the Sun from the centre of gravity of the Solar System. For Newton, it was not precisely the centre of the Sun or any other body that could be considered at rest, but rather the common centre of gravity of the Earth, the Sun and all the Planets is to be esteem'd the Centre of the World, and this centre of gravity either is at rest or moves uniformly forward in a right line. Newton adopted the at rest alternative in view of common consent that the centre, wherever it was, was at rest.

Newton's postulate of an invisible force able to act over vast distances led to him being criticised for introducing occult agencies into science. Later, in the second edition of the Principia (1713), Newton firmly rejected such criticisms in a concluding General Scholium, writing that it was enough that the phenomena implied a gravitational attraction, as they did; but they did not so far indicate its cause, and it was both unnecessary and improper to frame hypotheses of things that were not implied by the phenomena.

Newton died in his sleep in London on 20 March 1727 (OS 20 March 1726; NS 31 March 1727). His body was buried in Westminster Abbey. Voltaire may have been present at his funeral. A bachelor, he had divested much of his estate to relatives during his last years, and died intestate. His papers went to John Conduitt and Catherine Barton.

After his death, Newton's hair was examined and found to contain mercury, probably resulting from his alchemical pursuits. Mercury poisoning could explain Newton's eccentricity in late life.

More information: Atlas Obscura

If I have seen further it is by standing

on the shoulders of giants.

Isaac Newton

THE ROYAL EXCHANGE, CENTER OF COMMERCE IN LONDON

Today, The Winsors & The Grandma have visited The Royal Exchange in London, centre of commerce for the City.

 

The family wants to invest in the city and buy some propierties, and they want to test commerce and business in the English capital before spending its money.

 

Before this visit, the family has studied some English grammar with Present Continuos in both aspects -present and future plans- and House Vocabulary.

 

 More information: Present Continuous

 

Download The House Vocabulary

 

Download Business Vocabulary (Not necessary for A2)

 

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Download English Commercial Acronyms & Abbreviations  

(Not necessary for A2)

 
The Royal Exchange in London was founded in the 16th century by the merchant Sir Thomas Gresham on the suggestion of his factor Richard Clough to act as a centre of commerce for the City of London.

The site was provided by the City of London Corporation and the Worshipful Company of Mercers, who still jointly own the freehold. It is trapezoidal in shape and is flanked by Cornhill and Threadneedle Street, which converge at Bank junction in the heart of the City. It lies in the ward of Cornhill.

The building's original design was inspired by a bourse Gresham had seen in Antwerp, the Antwerp bourse, and was Britain's first specialist commercial building.

It has twice been destroyed by fire and subsequently rebuilt. The present building was designed by Sir William Tite in the 1840s. The site was notably occupied by the Lloyd's insurance market for nearly 150 years. Today the Royal Exchange contains a Courtyard Grand Cafe, Threadneedle Cocktail Bar, Sauterelle Restaurant, luxury shops, and offices.

More information: The Royal Exchange

Traditionally, the steps of the Royal Exchange is the place where certain royal proclamations, such as the dissolution of parliament, are read out by either a herald or a crier. Following the death or abdication of a monarch and the confirmation of the next monarch's accession to the throne by the Accession Council, the Royal Exchange Building is one of the locations where a herald proclaims the new monarch's reign to the public.

Richard Clough initially suggested building the exchange in 1562, and oversaw the importing of some of the materials from Antwerp: stone, slate, wainscot and glass, for which he paid thousands of pounds himself.

The Royal Exchange was officially opened on 23 January 1571 by Queen Elizabeth I who awarded the building its royal title and a licence to sell alcohol and valuable goods. Only the exchange of goods took place until the 17th century.

Stockbrokers were not allowed into the Royal Exchange because of their rude manners, hence they had to operate from other establishments in the vicinity, such as Jonathan's Coffee-House. Gresham's original building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. 

A second complex was built on the site, designed by Edward Jarman and opened in 1669, but that also burned down, on 10 January 1838. It had been used by the Lloyd's insurance market, which was forced to move temporarily to South Sea House following the 1838 fire.

The third Royal Exchange building, which still stands today, was designed by Sir William Tite and adheres to the original layout -consisting of a four-sided structure surrounding a central courtyard where merchants and tradesmen could do business. The internal works, designed by Edward I'Anson in 1837, made use of concrete- an early example of this modern construction method. It features pediment sculptures by Richard Westmacott, the younger, and ornamental cast ironwork by Henry Grissell's Regent's Canal Ironworks.

It was opened by Queen Victoria on 28 October 1844 though trading did not commence until 1 January 1845.

In June 1844, just before the reopening of the Royal Exchange, a statue of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, was unveiled outside the building. The bronze used to cast it was sourced from enemy cannons captured during Wellington's continental campaigns.

Paul Julius Reuter established the Reuters news agency at No. 1, Royal Exchange Buildings, opposite and to the east of the Royal Exchange, in 1851. It later moved to Fleet Street.

More information: British History Online

The western end of the building consists of a portico of eight Corinthian columns topped by a pediment containing a tympanum with a sculptured frieze by Richard Westmacott, the younger. The central figure represents Commerce, above an inscription from the Bible: The Earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof. The Latin inscription states that the Exchange was founded in the thirteenth year of Queen Elizabeth, and restored in the eighth of Queen Victoria.

Two statues stand in niches in the central courtyard. Charles II a copy of 1792 by John Spiller after Grinling Gibbons' statue in the centre of the C17 courtyard, and Queen Elizabeth I by M. L. Watson, 1844. The Charles II statue survived the fire of 1838 that destroyed the previous Exchange. The Elizabeth I statue was commissioned as she was the monarch who had conferred the status Royal on the Exchange.

In 1982 the Royal Exchange was in disrepair -particularly the glass roof was in danger of collapse. The newly-formed London International Financial Futures Exchange (LIFFE) was the main tenant, using the courtyard for the trading floor, all done without touching the framework of the original building. Other tenants moved in later and as a result of LIFFE's presence, not only did the City experience growth in trading and greater efficiency in pricing, but also a boost to the area around the Royal Exchange which had hitherto been sleepy at best.

In 2001 the Royal Exchange, interiors and courtyard, was once again extensively remodelled, this time by architects Aukett Fitzroy Robinson. Reconstruction of the courtyard created new boutiques and restaurants to add to the existing retailers on the perimeter. The Royal Exchange is now a retail centre with shops, cafes and restaurants. The restaurants include Royal Exchange Grand Cafe, Threadneedle Cocktail Bar and Sauterelle Restaurant. Shops include Boodles, Hermès, Georg Jensen and Tiffany & Co. In 2003 the Grand Café and Bar was launched and completed the building.

In Royal Exchange Buildings, a lane by the eastern entrance to the Royal Exchange, stand two statues: one of Paul Julius Reuter who founded his news agency there, and one of George Peabody who founded the Peabody Trust and a business which became J.P. Morgan & Co.

In 2013, the Royal Exchange was sold by the Anglo Irish Private Bank to Oxford Properties, a Canadian property company. It had been announced that the site would be sold with a 104-year lease. Oxford Properties Group, a division of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, bought the retail centre for a reported £86.5 million.

More information: History

 

 

Enter into the Royal Exchange of London,

a place more respectable than many courts,

in which deputies from all nations assemble

for the advantage of mankind.

Voltaire