GARRAF NATURAL PARK, ENJOYING NATURE & HISTORY

Today has been a cloudy grey day in Barcelona and a bit cold.

Claire Fontaine and The Grandma have decided to take their bikes and go for a little ride to Sitges to enjoy the Garraf massif and to be able to observe the birds that live there.

It is a route of about 5 hours and 80 kilometres that allows you to enjoy one of the most beautiful and, perhaps, unknown Natural Parks along the GR-92.

The Garraf Massif, in Catalan  Massís del Garraf, is a mountain range of the Catalan Coastal Range. Its cliffs reach the Mediterranean waters. Its highest point on the coastal side is La Morella, 593 metres above sea level and further inland rises the higher, although less conspicuous, Montau (657 m).

The Garraf Massif gives its name to the Garraf comarca, as well as to the little seashore village of Garraf. It is located south of Barcelona, between the coastal towns of Castelldefels and Sitges. The small town of Olivella, Plana Novella with its Buddhist monastery, as well as the abandoned village of Jafre are located in the middle of the massif, in the Natural Park area.

This coastal calcareous mountain range is sparsely wooded, and has many rocky denuded areas. The main vegetation is maquis shrubland and the Mediterranean Fan Palm is an endemic species of these mountains. It has over 400 karstic shafts and caves, including La Falconera, a very large cave with an underground lake.

The Garraf Park is a 12,376-hectare area of ​​natural interest that is part of the Network of Natural Parks protected, promoted and managed by the Barcelona Provincial Council through the Area of ​​Natural Spaces and Green Infrastructure.

The park is spread over the municipalities of Avinyonet del Penedès, Begues, Castelldefels, Gavà, Olesa de Bonesvalls, Olivella, Sant Pere de Ribes, Sitges and Vilanova i la Geltrú. It is twinned with the Italian parks of Riserva Naturale Monte Soratte (2000) and the Parco Naturale della Maremma (2001).

In the park you can find remains of ancient human occupation (such as the castle of Eramprunyà and the abandoned villages of Campdàsens and Jafre) and farmhouses that are still dedicated to agriculture or park services (such as Can Planes and La Pleta). Right on the border of the park there is also the Creu de Sant Isidre, on Puig d'en Boronet, much appreciated by the people of Sitges.

The coastal situation determines a typically Mediterranean climate, with scarce but torrential rains in spring and autumn, mild and temperate winters, and hot and dry summers. This last characteristic limits the number of animal species capable of settling there. In order to withstand these conditions, plants develop a series of adaptations aimed at survival and improving their effectiveness in competition with other plants.

The torrential nature of the rains causes an extraordinarily powerful mechanical erosion that drags away all kinds of materials; if we add chemical erosion, which dissolves the limestone rock, the effect is impressive: deep and steep valleys and streams, with a tortuous and beautiful layout that the people of the country call fondos.

More information: Parc Natural del Garraf

More information: DIBA

 Nature does not hurry, 
yet everything is accomplished.

Lao Tzu

FUTBOL CLUB BARCELONA, 126 YEARS OF GREAT HISTORY

On a day like today in 1899, Futbol Club Barcelona was founded. The Grandma and Claire Fontaine live in Barcelona and they are two eternal fans of this club since they were born. They want to celebrate this great 126 anniversary and today they have assisted to an amazing match between Futbol Club Barcelona and Deportivo Alavés.

Visca el Barça! 

Visca Catalunya!

Futbol Club Barcelona, known simply as Barcelona and colloquially as Barça, is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia.

Founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English and Catalan footballers led by Joan Gamper, the club has become a symbol of Catalan culture and Catalanism, hence the motto Més que un club, More than a club. The official Barcelona anthem is the Cant del Barça, written by Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinàs.

Barcelona is one of the most widely supported teams in the world, and the club has one of the largest social media following in the world among sports teams. Barcelona players have won a record number of Ballon d'Or awards, with recipients including Johan Cruyff, as well as a record number of FIFA World Player of the Year awards.

Barcelona is one of three founding members of the Primera División that have never been relegated from the top division since its inception in 1929, along with Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid. 

In 2009, Barcelona became the first club to win the continental treble consisting of La Liga, Copa del Rey, and the UEFA Champions League, and also became the first football club to win six out of six competitions in a single year, by also winning the Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. 

In 2011, the club became European champions again and won five trophies. This Barcelona team, which won 14 trophies in just 4 years under Pep Guardiola, is considered by some in the sport to be the greatest team of all time. By winning their fifth Champions League trophy on 6 June 2015, Barcelona became the first European club in history to achieve the continental treble twice. It is also the highest paid sports team ever.

More information: Futbol Club Barcelona

On 22 October 1899, Hans Gamper placed an advertisement in Los Deportes declaring his wish to form a football club; a positive response resulted in a meeting at the Gimnasio Solé on 29 November. Eleven players attended -Walter Wild (the first director of the club), Lluís d'Ossó, Bartomeu Terradas, Otto Kunzle, Otto Maier, Enric Ducal, Pere Cabot, Carles Pujol, Josep Llobet, John Parsons, and William Parsons- and Foot-Ball Club Barcelona was born. Officially, Futbol Club Barcelona was founded on 29 November 1899 as Foot-Ball Club Barcelona.

FC Barcelona had a successful start in regional and national cups, competing in the Campionat de Catalunya and the Copa del Rey. In 1902, the club won its first trophy, the Copa Macaya. 

In 1908, Hans Gamper, now known as Joan Gamper, became club president in a desperate attempt to save Barcelona from extinction, finding the club struggling not just on the pitch, but also financially and socially, after not winning a competition since the Campionat de Catalunya in 1905. 

He said in a meeting, Barcelona cannot die and must not die. If there is nobody who is going to try, then I will assume the responsibility of running the club from now on." Club president on five separate occasions between 1908 and 1925, he spent 25 years in total at the helm. One of his main achievements was ensuring Barça acquire its own stadium and thus generate a stable income.

On 14 March 1909, the team moved into the Camp de la Indústria, a stadium with a capacity of 8,000. To celebrate their new surroundings, the club conducted a logo contest the following year. Carles Comamala won the contest, and his suggestion became the crest that the club still wears, with some minor changes, as of the present day.

With the new stadium, Barcelona participated in the inaugural version of the Pyrenees Cup, which, at the time, consisted of the best teams of Languedoc, Midi and Aquitaine, the Basque Country and Catalonia. The contest was the most prestigious in that era. From the inaugural year in 1910 to 1913, Barcelona won the competition four consecutive times.

More information: Hans Max Gamper-Haessig, More than a founder

During the same period, the club changed its official language from Castilian to Catalan and gradually evolved into an important symbol of Catalan identity. For many fans, participating in the club had less to do with the game itself and more with being a part of the club's collective identity.

Gamper simultaneously launched a campaign to recruit more club members, and by 1922, the club had more than 20,000, who helped finance a new stadium. The club then moved to the new Les Corts, which they inaugurated the same year. Les Corts had an initial capacity of 30,000, and in the 1940s it was expanded to 60,000.

Gamper recruited Jack Greenwell as the first full-time manager in Barcelona's history. After this hiring, the club's fortunes began to improve on the field. During the Gamper-led era, Barcelona won eleven Campionats de Catalunya, six Copa del Rey and four Pyrenees Cups and enjoyed its first golden age.

On 14 June 1925, in a spontaneous reaction against Primo de Rivera's dictatorship, the crowd in the stadium jeered the Royal March. As a reprisal, the ground was closed for six months and Gamper was forced to relinquish the presidency of the club. This coincided with the transition to professional football, and, in 1926, the directors of Barcelona publicly claimed, for the first time, to operate a professional football club.

On 30 July 1930, Gamper committed suicide after a period of depression brought on by personal and financial problems.

Although they continued to have players of the standing of Josep Escolà, the club now entered a period of decline, in which political conflict overshadowed sports throughout society. Attendance at matches dropped as the citizens of Barcelona were occupied with discussing political matters. Although the team won the Campionat de Catalunya in 1930, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1936 and 1938, success at a national level, with the exception of the 1937 disputed title, evaded them.

A month after the Spanish Civil War began in 1936, several players from Barcelona enlisted in the ranks of those who fought against the military uprising, along with players from Athletic Bilbao.

On 6 August, Falangist soldiers near Guadarrama murdered club president Josep Sunyol, a representative of the pro-independence political party. He was dubbed the martyr of barcelonisme, and his murder was a defining moment in the history of FC Barcelona and Catalan identity. 

In the summer of 1937, the squad was on tour in Mexico and the United States, where it was received as an ambassador of the Second Spanish Republic. The tour led to the financial security of the club, but also resulted in half of the team seeking asylum in Mexico and France, making it harder for the remaining team to contest for trophies.

On 16 March 1938, Barcelona came under aerial bombardment from the Italian Air Force, causing more than 3,000 deaths, with one of the bombs hitting the club's offices.

A few months later, Catalonia came under occupation and as a symbol of the undisciplined Catalanism, the club, now down to just 3,486 members, faced a number of restrictions. 

All signs of regional nationalism, including language, flag and other signs of separatism were banned throughout Spain. The Catalan flag was banned and the club were prohibited from using non-Spanish names. These measures forced the club to change its name to Club de Fútbol Barcelona and to remove the Catalan flag from its crest.

In 1943, Barcelona faced rivals Real Madrid in the semi-finals of Copa del Generalísimo, now the Copa del Rey. The first match at Les Corts was won by Barcelona 3–0. Real Madrid comfortably won the second leg, beating Barcelona 11–1. According to football writer Sid Lowe, There have been relatively few mentions of the game since and it is not a result that has been particularly celebrated in Madrid. Indeed, the 11–1 occupies a far more prominent place in Barcelona's history. This was the game that first formed the identification of Madrid as the team of the dictatorship and Barcelona as its victims. It has been alleged by local journalist Paco Aguilar that Barcelona's players were threatened by police in the changing room, though nothing was ever proven.

With Helenio Herrera as coach, a young Luis Suárez, the European Footballer of the Year in 1960, and two influential Hungarians recommended by László Kubala, Sándor Kocsis and Zoltán Czibor, the team won another national double in 1959 and a La Liga and Fairs Cup double in 1960. 
 

In 1961, they became the first club to beat Real Madrid in a European Cup play-off. However, they lost 2–3 to Benfica in the final.

The 1960s were less successful for the club, with Real Madrid monopolising La Liga. The completion of the Camp Nou, finished in 1957, meant the club had little money to spend on new players. The 1960s saw the emergence of Josep Maria Fusté and Carles Rexach, and the club won the Copa del Generalísimo in 1963 and the Fairs Cup in 1966. Barcelona restored some pride by beating Real Madrid 1–0 in the 1968 Copa del Generalísimo final at the Santiago Bernabéu in front of Francisco Franco, with coach Salvador Artigas, a former republican pilot in the Civil War.

With the end of Franco's dictatorship in 1974, the club changed its official name back to Futbol Club Barcelona and reverted the crest to its original design, including the original letters once again.

More information: ESPN

The 1973–74 season saw the arrival of Johan Cruyff. Already an established player with Ajax, Cruyff quickly won over the Barcelona fans when he told the European press that he chose Barcelona over Real Madrid because he could not play for a club associated with Francisco Franco. He further endeared himself when he named his son Jordi, after the local Catalan Saint George.

Next to champions like Juan Manuel Asensi, Carles Rexach and Hugo Sotil, he helped the club win the 1973–74 season for the first time since 1960, defeating Real Madrid 5–0 at the Santiago Bernabéu en route. He was crowned European Footballer of the Year in 1973 during his first season with Barcelona, his second Ballon d'Or win; he won his first while playing for Ajax in 1971. Cruyff received this prestigious award a third time, the first player to do so, in 1974, while he was still with Barcelona.

In 1988, Johan Cruyff returned to the club, this time as manager and he assembled what would later be dubbed the Dream Team.

It was ten years after the inception of the youth programme, La Masia, when the young players began to graduate and play for their first team. One of the first graduates, who would later earn international acclaim, was future Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola. Under Cruyff's guidance, Barcelona won four consecutive La Liga titles from 1991 to 1994. They beat Sampdoria in both the 1989 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final and the 1992 European Cup final at Wembley, with a free kick goal from Dutch international Ronald Koeman. They also won a Copa del Rey in 1990, the European Super Cup in 1992 and three Supercopa de España trophies. With 11 trophies, Cruyff became the club's most successful manager at that point.

On the legacy of Cruyff's football philosophy and the passing style of play he introduced to the club, future coach of Barcelona Pep Guardiola would state, Cruyff built the cathedral, our job is to maintain and renovate it.

More information: Johan Cruyff Foundation

Barcelona B youth manager Pep Guardiola took became the new manager in 2007. Guardiola brought with him the now famous tiki-taka style of play he had been taught during his time in the Barcelona youth teams. Leo Messi has become the star of this new century.

Barça beat Athletic Bilbao 4–1 in the 2009 Copa del Rey Final, winning the competition for a record-breaking 25th time. A historic 2–6 victory against Real Madrid followed three days later and ensured that Barcelona became 2008–09 La Liga champions. Barça finished the season by beating Manchester United 2–0 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, with goals from Eto'o and Messi, to win their third Champions League title, and complete the first ever treble.

The team went on to win the 2009 Supercopa de España against Athletic Bilbao and the 2009 UEFA Super Cup against Shakhtar Donetsk, becoming the first European club to win both domestic and European Super Cups following a treble. In December 2009, Barcelona won the 2009 Club World Cup. Guardiola represents the new golden age of Barça.

The nickname culé for a Barcelona supporter is derived from the Catalan cul, in English arse, as the spectators at the first stadium, Camp de la Indústria, sat with their culs over the stand.

The club's original crest was a quartered diamond-shaped crest topped by the Crown of Aragon and the bat of Jaume I, King James, and surrounded by two branches, one of a laurel tree and the other a palm. The club shared Barcelona's coat of arms, as a demonstration of its identification with the city and a desire to be recognised as one.

In 1910, the club held a competition among its members to design a new crest. The winner was Carles Comamala, who at the time played for the club. Comamala's suggestion became the crest that the club wears today, with some minor variations. The crest consists of the St George Cross in the upper-left corner with the Catalan flag beside it, and the team colours at the bottom.

Several competing theories have been put forth for the blue and red design of the Barcelona shirt. The son of the first president, Arthur Witty, claimed it was the idea of his father as the colours were the same as the Merchant Taylor's School team. In Catalonia the common perception is that the colours were chosen by Joan Gamper and are those of his home team, FC Basel. The club's most frequently used change colours have been yellow and orange. An away kit featuring the red and yellow stripes of the flag of Catalonia has also been used many times.

 

More information: Messi 

 

Futbol Club Barcelona Femení, commonly referred to as Barça Femení or simply Barça, 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; it was originally known as Selecció Ciutat de Barcelona before taking the name Penya Femenina Barcelonista in 1971. 

 

Shortly after women's football was officially recognised, the team became known as Club Femení Barcelona in 1983 until 2002, when it officially became a section of FC Barcelona and took the official name Futbol Club Barcelona.  

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

 

More information: UEFA WCL

At Barcelona, I had the best players ever, 

and they helped me to be a successful manager. 

Pep Guardiola

THE EMPEROR CONCERTO PREMIERES IN LEIPZIG, SAXONY

Today, The Grandma is relaxing at home. She has decided to listen to some music and she has chosen Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, one of her favourite piano concertos, that was premiered on a day like today at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Saxony.

The Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, known as the Emperor Concerto in English-speaking countries, is a piano concerto composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. 

Beethoven composed the concerto in 1809 under salary in Vienna, and he dedicated it to Archduke Rudolf, who was his patron, friend, and pupil. Its public premiere was on 28 November 1811 in Leipzig, with Friedrich Schneider as the soloist and Johann Philipp Christian Schulz conducting the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Beethoven, usually the soloist, could not perform due to declining hearing.

The work's military aspects and symbolism characterize its heroic style. Beethoven used novel approaches with the piece, such as beginning the solo entrance without orchestral introduction, lengthening the concerto, and creating a new relationship between piano and orchestra. The first of its three movements, Allegro, is in sonata form and is longer than any opening movement of Beethoven's earlier piano concertos. The second movement, Adagio un poco mosso, is a nocturne that directly builds into the third movement. The last movement, Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo, is in seven-part rondo form. The concerto is approximately forty minutes.

The origin of the epithet Emperor is uncertain; it may have been coined by Johann Baptist Cramer, the English publisher of the concerto. The concerto has no association with any emperor, and according to Donald Tovey and Betsy Schwarm, Beethoven would have disliked it due to his disapproval of Napoleon's conquest. As part of his repertoire, Franz Liszt frequently performed the concerto throughout his life. Since its first recording in 1912, it has been recorded numerous times by classical pianists.

Beethoven's return to Vienna from Heiligenstadt in 1802 marked a change in musical style and is now often designated as the start of his middle or heroic period characterized by many original works composed on a grand scale.

In the autumn of 1808, after being rejected for a position at the Royal Theatre, Beethoven received an offer from Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte, the king of Westphalia, for a well-paid position as Kapellmeister at the court in Cassel. To persuade him to stay in Vienna, Archduke Rudolf, Prince Kinsky, and Prince Lobkowitz pledged to pay him a pension of 4000 florins a year. Archduke Rudolf paid his share of the salary on the agreed date. Kinsky, immediately called to military duty, did not contribute and died in November 1812 after falling from his horse. When the Austrian currency destabilized in 1811, Lobkowitz went bankrupt. To benefit from the agreement, Beethoven had to obtain recourse from the law, which in 1815 brought him some payment.

Beethoven felt the Napoleonic Wars reaching Vienna in early 1809 and completed writing the piano concerto in April while Vienna was under siege by Napoleon's armies. He wrote to his publisher in July 1809 that there was nothing but drums, cannons, men, misery of all sorts around him. To save his hearing, he fled to his brother's cellar and covered his ears with pillows. The work's heroic style reflects the war-ridden era in its military topics and heroic tone. Beethoven experimented with new techniques, such as the piano entrance beginning earlier than typical and with a cadenza.

The concerto's public premiere was on 28 November 1811 in Leipzig, with Friedrich Schneider as the soloist. Beethoven's hearing loss did not prevent him from composing music, but it made playing at concerts increasingly difficult. The concerto debuted in Vienna on 12 February 1812, with Carl Czerny, Beethoven's pupil, as the soloist. The English premiere was on 8 May 1820 with Charles Neate as soloist. Felix Mendelssohn gave an English performance on 24 June 1829. Archduke Rudolf of Austria was Beethoven's aristocratic patron, and in 1803 or 1804, Rudolf began studying piano and composition with Beethoven. They became friends, and their meetings continued until 1824. Beethoven dedicated many pieces to him, including this concerto.

The origins of the concerto's epithet, Emperor, are obscure and no consensus exists on its origin. An unlikely and unauthenticated story says that at the first Vienna performance, a French officer said, C'est l'Empereur! Other sources say that Johann Baptist Cramer coined it. According to Donald Tovey and Betsy Schwarm, Beethoven would have disliked the epithet due to his disapproval of Napoleon's conquest. Beethoven had previously reconsidered the dedication of his third symphony; initially dedicated to Napoleon, Beethoven changed it after Napoleon assumed the title of emperor in 1804. According to Yan Shen, musicologists agree that the concerto has no connection to an emperor.

The concerto is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in B♭ (clarinet 1 playing in A in movement 2), two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani in E♭ and B♭, and strings. In the second movement, the 2nd flute, 2nd clarinet, trumpets, and timpani are tacet. The concerto is divided into the following three movements:

-Allegro in E♭ major, (4/4)

-Adagio un poco mosso in B major, (4/4)

-Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo in E♭ major, (6/8)

Beethoven began innovating the piano concerto genre with his third piano concerto and continued through his fifth piano concerto. While Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's piano concertos consisted of the piano and orchestra working in tandem, in Beethoven's last two piano concertos, the pianist was the hero, the dominant and directional soloist. Also, in Mozart's concertos, the soloist was a virtuoso and more important than the composer; in Beethoven's, the pianist is a vector for the composer. Beethoven created the tradition of linking movements in concertos, especially the middle and the last. Subsequent composers connected and transitioned through all movements in an attempt to create unity in a piece.

More information: Interlude

Don't only practice your art, 

but force your way into its secrets; 
art deserves that, for it and knowledge 

can raise man to the Divine.

Ludwig van Beethoven

P. D. JAMES, THE DOYENNE OF DETECTIVE NOVELISTS

November is synonymous with the end of courses. The Grandma has finished carrying out all the projects she had approved for this 2025, and now, before preparing new ones for 2026, she will take a well-deserved holidays until next February.

Teaching is a profession that consumes many hours of preparing materials and a lot of effort in class with the unknown of knowing whether everything worked on will obtain positive results or not, but despite this handicap, it is always necessary to work constantly and meticulously and dedicate all possible material and personal efforts. The balance of 2025 is positive and we will work so that next year's is also positive. The first day of holidays is always complicated because you can do so many things with your free time that you don't know where to start, so the best way is always to open a good book and enjoy an interesting read.

The Grandma has chosen the novels of P. D. James, the English novelist famous thanks to her series of detective novels, who died on a day like today in 2014.

Phyllis Dorothy James White, Baroness James of Holland Park (3 August 1920-27 November 2014), known professionally as P. D. James, was an English novelist and life peer. Her rise to fame came with her series of detective novels featuring the police commander and poet, Adam Dalgliesh.

James was born in Oxford, the daughter of Sidney Victor James, a tax inspector, and his wife, Dorothy Mary James. She was educated at the British School in Ludlow and Cambridge High School for Girls. Her mother was committed to a mental hospital when James was in her mid-teens.

She had to leave school at the age of sixteen to work to take care of her younger siblings, sister Monica, and brother Edward, because her family did not have much money. She worked in a tax office in Ely for three years and later found a job as an assistant stage manager for the Festival Theatre in Cambridge. She married Ernest Connor Bantry White (called "Connor"), an army doctor, on 8 August 1941. They had two daughters, Clare and Jane.

Connor White returned from the Second World War mentally ill and was institutionalised. With her daughters being mostly cared for by Connor's parents, James studied hospital administration, and from 1949 to 1968 worked for a hospital board in London. She began writing in the mid-1950s, using her maiden name (My genes are James genes).

Her first novel, Cover Her Face, featuring the investigator and poet Adam Dalgliesh of New Scotland Yard, was published in 1962. Dalgliesh's last name comes from a teacher of English at Cambridge High School and his first name is that of Miss Dalgliesh's father. Many of James's mystery novels take place against the backdrop of UK bureaucracies, such as the criminal justice system and the National Health Service, in which she worked for decades starting in the 1940s. Two years after the publication of Cover Her Face, James's husband died on 5 August 1964. Prior to his death, James had not felt able to change her job: He [Connor] would periodically discharge himself from hospital, sometimes at very short notice, and I never knew quite what I would have to face when I returned home from the office. It was not a propitious time to look for promotion or for a new job, which would only impose additional strain. But now [after Connor's death] I felt the strong need to look for a change of direction. She applied for the grade of Principal in the Home Civil Service and held positions as a civil servant within several sections of the Home Office, including the criminal section. She worked in government service until her retirement in 1979.

On 7 February 1991, James was created a life peer as Baroness James of Holland Park, of Southwold in the County of Suffolk. She sat in the House of Lords as a Conservative. She was an Anglican and a lay patron of the Prayer Book Society. Her 2001 work, Death in Holy Orders, displays her familiarity with the inner workings of church hierarchy. Her later novels were often set in a community closed in some way, such as a publishing house, barristers' chambers, a theological college, an island or a private clinic. Talking About Detective Fiction was published in 2009. Over her writing career, James also wrote many essays and short stories for periodicals and anthologies, which have yet to be collected. She said in 2011 that The Private Patient was the final Dalgliesh novel. However, at the time of her death, she had been planning another Dalgliesh novel, set in Southwold.

As guest editor of BBC Radio 4's Today programme in December 2009, James conducted an interview with the Director General of the BBC, Mark Thompson, in which she seemed critical of some of his decisions. Regular Today presenter Evan Davis commented that She shouldn't be guest editing; she should be permanently presenting the programme.

In 2008, she was inducted into the International Crime Writing Hall of Fame at the inaugural ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards.

James' main home was her house at 58 Holland Park Avenue, in the area from which she took her title; she also owned homes in Oxford and Southwold.

James died at her home in Oxford on 27 November 2014, aged 94. She is survived by her two daughters, Clare and Jane, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

During the 1980s and 1990s, many of James's mystery novels were adapted for television by Anglia Television for the ITV network in the UK. These productions have been broadcast in other countries, including the US on the PBS network. Roy Marsden played Adam Dalgliesh. According to James in conversation with Bill Link on 3 May 2001 at the Writer's Guild Theatre, Los Angeles, Marsden is not my idea of Dalgliesh, but I would be very surprised if he were.

The BBC adapted Death in Holy Orders in 2003, and The Murder Room in 2004, both as one-off dramas starring Martin Shaw as Dalgliesh. In Dalgliesh (2021), Bertie Carvel starred as the titular, enigmatic detective-poet. 

Her novel The Children of Men (1992) was the basis for the feature film Children of Men (2006), directed by Alfonso Cuarón and starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine. Despite substantial changes from the book, James was reportedly pleased with the adaptation and proud to be associated with the film.

A three-episode adaptation of her novel Death Comes to Pemberley, written by Juliette Towhidi, was made into the TV series Death Comes to Pemberley by Origin Pictures for BBC One. 

More information: The Guardian

 It was one of those perfect English autumnal days 
which occur more frequently in memory than in life.

P. D. James

‘AS TIME GOES BY’, SADNESS FROM CASABLANCA TO MÍSIA

Autumn is a time of sadness and longing. The arrival of the first snowfalls in the Pyrenees lowers the temperatures in Barcelona and The Grandma, who is a shy and reflective person, chooses to listen to introspective music.

Since she left us, too soon, a long year ago, it has become very difficult to listen to Mísia, but her voice and her fados are the best cure for saudade and longing.

Today, years after the premiere of Casablanca, one of the masterpieces of cinema, The Grandma has recovered an excellent version of As Time Goes By that the Catalan-Portuguese fado singer interpreted as only she knew how to do: with excellent vocal qualities and infinite tenderness.

We miss you, Mísia, our admired friend. We remember you in every place of your and our beloved Barcelona and Lisboa, and we wish you could have listened to Memória of Rosalía and Carminho, because it is your story and you would love it.

More information: Memória by Rosalía & Carminho

As Time Goes By is a jazz song written by Herman Hupfeld in 1931. It became famous when it was featured in the 1942 film Casablanca, sung by Dooley Wilson as Sam. The song was voted No. 2 on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs special, commemorating the best songs in film, surpassed only by Over the Rainbow sung by Judy Garland.

The song was covered among others by Rudy Vallee, Billie Holiday, Jimmy Durante, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, Natalie Cole, Harry Nilsson, Carly Simon, Vera Lynn, Bob Dylan and Bryan Ferry. It was also the title and theme song of the 1990s British romantic comedy series As Time Goes By. National Public Radio (NPR) included it in its NPR 100, a 1999 list of the most important American musical works of the 20th century as compiled by NPR's music editors.

The song is a popular reflection of nostalgia and often used in films and series reflecting this feeling. Since 1999, an instrumental version of the song's closing bars has accompanied the studio logo of many Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Bros. Television productions, in reference to the studio's production of Casablanca.

Herman Hupfeld wrote As Time Goes By for the Broadway musical Everybody's Welcome, which opened on October 31, 1931. In the original show, the song was sung by Frances Williams. It was first recorded by Rudy Vallée on July 25, 1931, for Victor Records, then also by Jacques Renard and his Orchestra on Brunswick Records and Fred Rich. In 1932, Binnie Hale recorded the song. Elisabeth Welch included it in her cabaret act soon after it was released. In terms of popularity at the time, the song was a modest hit.

The song was reintroduced in the 1942 film Casablanca, where it was sung by Sam, portrayed by Dooley Wilson. Sam's piano accompaniment was played by a studio pianist, Jean Vincent Plummer; Wilson was a drummer. The melody is heard throughout the film as a leitmotif. Wilson was unable to make a commercial recording of the song at the time due to the 1942-44 musicians' strike. Unable to record new versions of the song, RCA Victor reissued the 1931 recording by Rudy Vallée, which became a number one hit eleven years after it was originally released. Brunswick also reissued the 1931 Jacques Renard recording.

Hupfeld lived his whole life in Montclair, New Jersey, and was a regular customer at the Robin Hood Inn (now the Valley Regency), a tavern built in 1922 on Valley Road, then part of Upper Montclair. He spent many hours at the piano and wrote several of his songs in this tavern. A plaque on the second floor of the Valley Regency Catering Facility in Clifton, New Jersey, commemorates the song. He wrote more than 100 songs, including Let's Put Out the Lights (and Go to Sleep), and the popular Great Depression song Are You Making Any Money?

The song was originally published in the key of E-flat major. In the film, as sung and played by Sam, it was recorded in D-flat major. It has since been played in several keys, commonly C major, but also B-flat major, as in Frank Sinatra's recording, and other keys including A major and E-flat major.

Like many later singers, Wilson in Casablanca starts with You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss..., singing only the verses and refrain (As time goes by). He entirely omits the intro that put those fundamental things into context: This day and age we’re living in gives cause for apprehension, With speed and new invention and things like third dimension. Yet, we get a trifle weary with Mister Einstein’s theory, So we must get down to earth, at times relax, relieve the tension. No matter what the progress or what may yet be proved, The simple facts of life are such they cannot be removed. At least one version moves the intro into the middle of the song.

More information: Medium

 Quem eu fui e sou em fim 
Oh meu doce coração 
Diz-me se sabes ou não 
Ainda te lembras de mim?

Who I was and who I am in the end
Oh my sweet heart
Tell me if you know or not
Do you still remember me?

Rosalía

I SEE US IN OUR DREAMS, DANCING ON SILENT WINGS...

There was a time when I would have followed you
To the end of the Earth
I was willing to share it all with you
The love, the hurt

I've seen you when your dreams were falling in the dust
But I never stopped believing in you
I always thought, our love was strong enough
One you could hold on to, whoa

You never see it coming, you just let it fly
On silent wings, silent wings
You can't hide what you feel inside
And the fire has left your eyes
On silent wings

I see us in our dreams and we're dancing
I can almost hear the song
But the prayers, they go unanswered
But we both know, we're just hanging on, ooh

I feel ashamed, but I'll never know the reason why
The rug was pulled so gently from under my feet
I only know that something good has died
Between you and me, oh, it's just a memory

You never see it coming, you just go separate ways
On silent wings, silent wings
There's no more promises to break
Or our love has slipped away
On silent wings

You never see it coming, but you know it has to end
On silent wings, silent wings, oh
I will never be the same again
I feel the whisper of the wind
On silent wings

oh-oh
On silent wings
(There's no more promises to break) on silent wings
(Or our love has slipped away) oh-oh
On silent wings, ooh, yeah
On silent wings, ooh

I will never be the same again
I feel the whisper of the wind
On silent wings, ooh
Never be the same again
On silent wings, on silent wings

This is what I want in heaven... 
words to become notes and conversations 
to be symphonies.

Tina Turner

'BLACK BEAUTY' BY ANNA SEWELL IS PUBLISHED IN 1877

Today, The Grandma has been reading an amazing book, Black Beauty, written by the English novelist Anna Sewell and published on a day like today in 1877.

Anna Sewell (30 March 1820-25 April 1878) was an English novelist who wrote the 1877 novel Black Beauty, her only published work. 

It is considered one of the top ten best-selling novels for children, although the author intended it for adults. Sewell died only five months after the publication of Black Beauty, but long enough to see her only novel become a success.

Sewell was born on March 30, 1820, in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, into a devout Quaker family. Her father was Isaac Phillip Sewell (1793-1879), and her mother, Mary Wright Sewell (1798-1884), was a successful author of children's books. She had one sibling, a younger brother named Philip. The children were largely educated at home by their mother due to a lack of money for schooling.

In 1822, Isaac's business, a small shop, failed and the family moved to Dalston, London. Life was difficult for the family, and Isaac and Mary frequently sent Philip and Anna to stay with Mary's parents in Buxton, Norfolk.

In 1832, when she was twelve, the family moved to Stoke Newington and Sewell attended school for the first time. At fourteen, Sewell slipped and severely injured her ankles. For the rest of her life, she could not stand without a crutch or walk for any length of time. For greater mobility, she frequently used horse-drawn carriages, which contributed to her love of horses and concern for the humane treatment of animals.

In 1836, Sewell's father took a job in Brighton, in the hope that the climate there would help cure her. At about the same time, both Sewell and her mother left the Society of Friends to join the Church of England, though both remained active in evangelical circles. Her mother expressed her religious faith most noticeably by writing a series of evangelical children's books, which Sewell helped to edit, though all the Sewells, and Mary Sewell's family, the Wrights, engaged in many other good works. Sewell assisted her mother, for example, to establish a working men's club, and worked with her on temperance and abolitionist campaigns.

In 1845, the family moved to Lancing, and Sewell's health began to deteriorate. She travelled to Europe the following year to seek treatment. On her return, the family continued to relocate -to Abson near Wick in 1858 and to Bath in 1864.

In 1866, Sewell's brother Philip's wife died, leaving him with seven young children to care for, and the following year the Sewells moved to Old Catton, a village outside the city of Norwich in Norfolk, to support him.

While living in Old Catton, Sewell wrote the manuscript of Black Beauty -in the period between 1871 and 1877. During this time her health was declining; she was often so weak that she was confined to her bed. Writing was a challenge. She dictated the text to her mother and from 1876 began to write on slips of paper which her mother then transcribed.

The book is considered to be one of the first English novels to be written from the perspective of an animal, in this case a horse. Although it is considered a children's classic, Sewell originally wrote it for those who worked with horses. She said a special aim was to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses. In many respects the book can be read as a guide to horse husbandry, stable management and humane training practices for colts. It is considered to have had an effect on reducing cruelty to horses; for example, the use of bearing reins, which are particularly painful for a horse, was one of the practices highlighted in the novel. In the years after the book's publication, they eventually fell out of favour.

Sewell sold the novel to Norwich publisher Jarrolds on 24 November 1877, when she was 57 years old. She received a single payment of £40 and the book was published the same year.

After the publication of her only novel, Black Beauty, Sewell fell seriously ill. She was in extreme pain, discomfort and completely bedridden for the following months, and she died on April 25, 1878, aged 58, only five months after the publication of Black Beauty. She was buried on 30 April 1878 at Quaker burial ground in Lamas near Buxton, Norfolk, not far from Norwich.

More information: Gutenberg

 There is no religion without love, and people may talk as 
much as they like about their religion, 
but if it does not teach them to be good and kind 
to man and beast, it is all a sham.

Anna Sewell

WILD GOATS IN MONTSERRAT, THE MORE MAGICAL PLACE

Today, the weather is cold in Barcelona. If a week ago, there were still very warm temperatures, the situation has changed drastically.

Claire Fontaine and The Grandma have decided to wrap up well, take their photographic equipment and go spend the day in Montserrat in search of wild goats.

The wild goat is a relatively young animal on this sacred mountain, but since it was reintroduced, it has been adapting to an ideal orography for its survival and protection. And as in any type of species observation, you need to have a very good technological team, a lot of patience, silence and, of course, luck. It has been a fantastic day that they will soon repeat, this time in the Ports de Tortosa-Beseit.

The wild goat has found its little paradise in Montserrat and the data proves it. The species was reintroduced 30 years ago with specimens from the ports of Tortosa-Beseit and, in three decades, it has gone from around twenty specimens to more than 400.

Specifically, the latest census carried out by the DARP and the Rural Agents at the end of December is at 439 goats, almost forty more than last year. The goats have found in Montserrat a very suitable habitat. These ungulates have no natural predators in the area and, therefore, it is important to control their population because an excess of animals can be incompatible with other uses of the mountain, such as climbing.

The last census was carried out on 24 December 2024 and 439 individuals were counted, while the previous year 401 were found. According to the Department of Agriculture of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the number of males and females continues to increase, while the number of kids remains stable. The census is carried out in winter because it is the breeding season when adult males and females come together. Although the counts are very accurate, it is never possible to count all the individuals, so it is estimated that, in practice, there would be more than 439 individuals.

Wild goats have found Montserrat their ideal habitat and, for this reason, their growth in recent years has been exponential. They have plenty of food and they have also found a lot of peace because they have no predators. The climate is also very favorable for them and this makes them very comfortable. The characteristics of Montserrat, with rock conglomerates, make it an ideal refuge for the goats. It is their comfort zone, where they seek security in the face of danger.

More information: Earth Times

Look carefully at the goat sitting on the edge of the cliff: 
Everything that shows you the peace 
of being fearless is a great teacher for you! 
That goat is a teacher for you, respect it!

Mehmet Murat ildan

TENIM UN NOM, EL SAP TOTHOM... TORNEM AL CAMP NOU

Today is an intense football day. While Joseph de Ca'th Lon is now in Lyon attending a French Première match, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma have gone to the Camp Nou this afternoon, accompanied by their loved ones, to attend the first match played in this stadium after its remodeling. It has been an afternoon of good football, but above all, of great memories, emotions, and reunions. The Grandma has remembered when Camp Nou was first inaugurated sixty four years ago.

Many thanks to everyone who made it possible!

 

Camp Nou is a football stadium in Barcelona, Catalonia. It has been the home of FC Barcelona since its completion in 1957. It is the largest stadium in Europe and the second largest association football stadium in the world in terms of capacity. It has hosted numerous international matches at a senior level, including a 1982 FIFA World Cup semi-final match, two UEFA Champions League finals and the football competition at the 1992 Summer Olympics.

The construction of Camp Nou started on 28 March 1954 as Barcelona's previous stadium, Camp de Les Corts, had no room for expansion. Although originally planned to be called Estadi del FC Barcelona, the more popular name Camp Nou was used. The June 1950 signing of László Kubala, regarded as one of Barcelona's greatest players, provided further impetus to the construction of a larger stadium.

The architects were Francesc Mitjans and Josep Soteras, with the collaboration of Lorenzo García-Barbón.

On 28 April 2022, the club confirmed that renovations would begin after the 2022-23 season. Renovation work on the stadium began on 1 June 2023. At that time, Barcelona president Joan Laporta stated that the club expected to return by December 2024, when most of the work will be done. Final completion of all renovations is scheduled for June 2026.

On 7 November 2025, the club staged an open training session in front of 21,795 fans.

On 17 November 2025, Barcelona confirmed that it would return to the stadium for its league fixture against Athletic Bilbao on 22 November with a capacity of 45,401 attendees. 

More information: Futbol Club Barcelona Official Site

I wrote every day between the ages 

of 12 and 20 when I stopped 

because I went to Barcelona, 

where life was too exciting to write.

 

 Colm Toibin

QUESTA NOTTE DI VENERDÌ PERCHÉ NON DORMI, SEI QUI

In questa notte di venerdì
Perché non dormi, perché sei qui
Perché non parti per un week-end
Che ti riporti dentro di te

Cosa ti manca, cosa non hai
Cos'è che insegui se non lo sai
Se la tua corsa finisse qui
Forse sarebbe meglio così

Ma se afferri un'idea che ti apre una via
E la tieni con te o ne segui la scia
Risalendo vedrai quanti cadono giù
E per loro tu poi fare di più

In questa barca persa nel blu
Noi siamo solo dei marinai
Tutti sommersi non solo tu
Nelle bufere dei nostri guai

Perché la guerra, la carestia
Non sono scene viste in TV
E non puoi dire "lascia che sia"
Perché ne avresti un po' colpa anche tu

Si può dare di più, perché è dentro di noi
Si può dare di più senza essere eroi
Come fare non so, non lo sai neanche tu
Ma di certo si può dare di più

Perché il tempo va sulle nostre vite
Rubando i minuti di un'eternità
E se parlo con te e ti chiedo di più
È perché te sono io, non solo tu

Si può dare di più, perché è dentro di noi
Si può dare di più senza essere eroi
Come fare non so, non lo sai neanche tu
Ma di certo si può dare di più

 

On this Friday night
Because you aren't sleeping
Because you are here
Why don't you leave
For a weekend
That you bring back within you
 
What are you missing, what do you not have
What is it that you're following if you don't know
If your path ends here
Maybe it would be better like this

But if you grab on to an idea
That opens the way for you
And you hold it with you
Or you follow its' path
Rising again, you'll see
How many fall down
And for them, you can
Give more
 
In this boat lost in the skies
We are only sailors
All submerged, not just you
In the storms of our troubles
 
Because war and famine
Are not scenes seen on TV
And you can't say "let it be"
Because it could even
be a little bit your fault

You can give more
Because it's inside us
You can dare more
Without being heroes
How to do it, I don't know
You don't even know
But certainly you can
Give more
 
Because time
Goes over our lives
Stealing the minutes of an eternity
And if I talk to you
And I ask you more
It's because you are me
And not just you
 
You can give more
Because it's inside us
You can dare more
Without being heroes
How to do it, I don't know
You don't even know
But certainly you can
Give more
 
How to do it, I don't know
You don't even know
But certainly you can
Give more

 

Ma se afferri un'idea che ti apre una via
E la tieni con te o ne segui la scia
Risalendo vedrai quanti cadono giù
E per loro tu poi fare di più

 

 But if you grab on to an idea
That opens the way for you
And you hold it with you
Or you follow its' path
Rising again, you'll see
How many fall down
And for them, you can
Give more

 

Umberto Tozzi

PRIMO LEVI, THE ITALIAN RESISTANCE & THE HOLOCAUST

Joseph de Ca'th Lon is enjoying his last day in Turin. He has visited emblematic places that recall the figure of one of the most important authors of Italian literature, Primo Levi, the author of Jewish origin who survived the horror of the extermination camps.

In this era of polarization and radicalization that we live in, it is important to analyze the most recent European history and work to avoid falling into the same mistakes that led the continent to two bloody world wars and some states to civil wars, the consequences of which still endure to this day. Reading Primo Levi, as The Grandma would say, is a must.

Primo Michele Levi (31 July 1919-11 April 1987) was a Jewish Italian chemist, partisan, Holocaust survivor and writer. He was the author of several books, collections of short stories, essays, poems and one novel. His best-known works include: If This Is a Man (Se questo è un uomo, 1947, published as Survival in Auschwitz in the United States), his account of the year he spent as a prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland; and The Periodic Table (1975), a collection of mostly autobiographical short stories, each named after a chemical element which plays a role in each story, which the Royal Institution named the best science book ever written.

Levi was born in 1919 in Turin, Italy, into a liberal Jewish family.

In July 1934, at the age of 15, he sat the exams for the Liceo Classico D'Azeglio, a lyceum (sixth form or senior high school) specializing in the classics, and was admitted that year. The school was noted for its anti-Fascist teachers, among them the philosopher Norberto Bobbio, and Cesare Pavese, who later became one of Italy's best-known novelists.

Levi continued to be bullied during his time at the Lyceum, although six other Jews were in his class. Upon reading Concerning the Nature of Things by English scientist Sir William Bragg, Levi decided that he wanted to be a chemist.

He enrolled at the University of Turin to study chemistry. As one of 80 candidates, he spent three months taking lectures, and in February, after passing his colloquio (oral examination), he was selected as one of 20 to move on to the full-time chemistry curriculum.

In July 1938, a group of prominent Italian scientists and intellectuals published the Manifesto of Race, a mixture of racial and ideological antisemitic theories from ancient and modern sources. The treatise formed the basis of the Italian Racial Laws of October 1938. After their enactment, Italian Jews lost their basic civil rights, positions in public offices, and their assets. Their books were prohibited, and Jewish writers could no longer publish in magazines owned by Aryans. Jewish students who had begun their course of study were permitted to continue, but new Jewish students were barred from entering university. Levi had matriculated a year earlier than scheduled, enabling him to take a degree.

In 1939, Levi discovered a passion for mountain hiking. A friend, Sandro Delmastro, taught him how to hike, and they spent many weekends in the mountains above Turin.

In June 1940, as an ally of Germany, Italy declared war against Britain and France, and the first Allied air raids on Turin began two days later. Levi's studies continued during the bombardments.

In July 1943, King Victor Emmanuel III deposed Mussolini and appointed a new government under Marshal Pietro Badoglio, which prepared to sign the Armistice of Cassibile with the Allies. When the armistice was made public on 8 September, the Germans occupied northern and central Italy, liberated Mussolini from imprisonment, and appointed him as head of the Italian Social Republic, a puppet state in German-occupied northern Italy. Levi returned to Turin to find his mother and sister in refuge in their holiday home called 'Lo Saccarello' (literally, the Sackcloth) in the village of Chieri in the hills outside Turin.

The Italian resistance movement became increasingly active in the German-occupied zone. Levi and some comrades took to the foothills of the Alps and, in October, formed a partisan group in the hope of being affiliated with the liberal Giustizia e Libertà. Untrained for such a venture, he and his companions were arrested by the Fascist militia on 13 December 1943. Believing he would be shot as an Italian partisan, Levi confessed to being Jewish. He was sent to the internment camp at Fossoli near Modena.

Fossoli was taken over by the Germans, who started arranging the deportations of the Jews to eastern concentration and death camps. On 21 February 1944, on the second of the transports, Levi and other inmates were transported in twelve cramped cattle trucks to Monowitz, one of the three main camps in the Auschwitz concentration camp complex.

Although liberated on 27 January 1945, Levi did not reach Turin until 19 October 1945. After spending some time in a Soviet camp for former concentration camp inmates, he embarked on an arduous journey home in the company of former Italian prisoners of war who had been part of the Italian Army in Russia. The long railway journey home to Turin took him on a circuitous route from Poland, through Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Austria, and Germany -an arduous journey described especially in his 1963 work The Truce- noting the millions of displaced people on the roads and trains throughout Europe in that period.

After four decades of writing works that are now considered universal, Primo Levi died on 11 April 1987.

More information: BBC

 ...how important it is in life not necessarily 
to be strong but to feel strong, 
to measure yourself at least once, t
o find yourself at least once...

Primo Levi