Showing posts with label Have to. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Have to. Show all posts

Thursday, 14 March 2024

VISITING BUCKINGHAM PALACE, GOD SAVE THE FOSTERS!

Today, The Fosters and The Grandma have established in Buckingham Palace, the London royal residence of the King of the UK and 14 other commonwealth realms.

Before, the family has studied some English grammar with Have to and Shall, two modal verbs

More information: Have to

More info: Shall

Buckingham Palace is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It has been a focal point for the British people at times of national rejoicing and mourning.

Originally known as Buckingham House, the building at the core of today's palace was a large townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703 on a site that had been in private ownership for at least 150 years. 

It was acquired by King George III in 1761 as a private residence for Queen Charlotte and became known as The Queen's House. During the 19th century it was enlarged by architects John Nash and Edward Blore, who constructed three wings around a central courtyard. 

Buckingham Palace became the London residence of the British monarch on the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837.

The last major structural additions were made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the East Front, which contains the well-known balcony on which the royal family traditionally appears to greet crowds. A German bomb destroyed the palace chapel during the Second World War; the Queen's Gallery was built on the site and opened to the public in 1962 to exhibit works of art from the Royal Collection.

The original early-19th-century interior designs, many of which survive, include widespread use of brightly coloured scagliola and blue and pink lapis, on the advice of Sir Charles Long. King Edward VII oversaw a partial redecoration in a Belle Époque cream and gold colour scheme. Many smaller reception rooms are furnished in the Chinese regency style with furniture and fittings brought from the Royal Pavilion at Brighton and from Carlton House. The palace has 775 rooms, and the garden is the largest private garden in London. The state rooms, used for official and state entertaining, are open to the public each year for most of August and September and on some days in winter and spring.

In the Middle Ages, the site of the future palace formed part of the Manor of Ebury (also called Eia). The marshy ground was watered by the river Tyburn, which still flows below the courtyard and south wing of the palace. Where the river was fordable (at Cow Ford), the village of Eye Cross grew. Ownership of the site changed hands many times; owners included Edward the Confessor and Edith of Wessex in late Saxon times, and, after the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror. William gave the site to Geoffrey de Mandeville, who bequeathed it to the monks of Westminster Abbey.

In 1531, Henry VIII acquired the Hospital of St James, which became St James's Palace, from Eton College, and in 1536 he took the Manor of Ebury from Westminster Abbey. These transfers brought the site of Buckingham Palace back into royal hands for the first time since William the Conqueror had given it away almost 500 years earlier.

Various owners leased it from royal landlords, and the freehold was the subject of frenzied speculation during the 17th century. By then, the old village of Eye Cross had long since fallen into decay, and the area was mostly wasteland. Needing money, James VI and I sold off part of the Crown freehold but retained part of the site on which he established 1.6 ha mulberry garden for the production of silk. 

Clement Walker in Anarchia Anglicana (1649) refers to new-erected sodoms and spintries at the Mulberry Garden at S. James's; this suggests it may have been a place of debauchery. Eventually, in the late 17th century, the freehold was inherited from the property tycoon Sir Hugh Audley by the great heiress Mary Davies.

More information: Buckingham Palace

The palace is not safe 
when the cottage is not happy.

Benjamin Disraeli

Monday, 17 April 2023

AMERICAN SKIN (41 SHOTS), AMADOU DIALLO & NYPD

Today, The Grangers & The Grandma has been listening to Bruce Springsteen, who is preparing his new tour, that will start in Barcelona in a few days.
Before this visit, The Grangers have been preparing their Cambridge Exam. They have studied Have to & Whose.

 More information: Have to

More information: Relative Pronouns

Bruce Springsteen published Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live In New York City some years ago, an amazing work with old and new songs, one of them American Skin (41 Shots), a song inspired by the police shooting death of Amadou Diallo in New York.

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live In New York City is the name of a concert film done by HBO, featuring the first ever major televised Bruce Springsteen concert.

It was later released on DVD with eleven extra songs not televised, and as a CD of the same name.

All of these forms document Springsteen and the E Street Band's highly successful 1999–2000 Reunion Tour, their first concert tour together in eleven years.

Running 90 minutes, the film was recorded at concerts on June 29 and July 1, 2000. These were the final two shows in the Band's ten-show tour-ending run at Madison Square Garden in New York City. HBO received six Emmy Award nominations and won two Awards for the film.

Springsteen debuted many new songs over the final leg of the tour, and two were included on this special:

-Land of Hope and Dreams, a lengthy American ode for which a studio version would not be released until 2012's Wrecking Ball.

-American Skin (41 Shots), a controversial ballad about the shooting of Amadou Diallo. A studio version was released as a rare promo single in 2001. Springsteen re-recorded the song in 2013 and released this version on his 2014 High Hopes album.

More information: Bruce Springsteen

American Skin (41 Shots) is a song written by Bruce Springsteen, inspired by the police shooting death of Amadou Diallo.

It premiered during the band's 1999-2000 Reunion Tour in concert in Atlanta on June 4, 2000, the final concert before the tour's final ten-show run at New York City's Madison Square Garden, where it was featured again. The performance led to some controversy in New York City, where the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association called for a boycott of Springsteen's shows.

The song was first released as a live version on the Live in New York City album

The same version appeared a few years later on The Essential Bruce Springsteen. In April 2001, a studio version of the song was released as a very rare U.S.-only one-track radio promotional single on CD-R.

A music video featuring the performance from the New York City show was released in 2001 and directed by Jonathan Demme. A studio version appears on Springsteen's 2014 album High Hopes.

American Skin (41 Shots) was played at several concerts in April 2012 on the Wrecking Ball Tour in response to the killing of Trayvon Martin.

Springsteen performed the song on July 16, 2013, a few days following George Zimmerman's controversial not guilty verdict. It was again dedicated to Martin at the Limerick, Ireland, concert with Springsteen saying before the song I want to send this one out as a letter back home. For justice for Trayvon Martin.

Springsteen was recognized by the NAACP with the Humanitarian Award on December 3, 2000.

Springsteen played American Skin (41 Shots) at selected shows during The River Tour in 2016.

More information: Spectrum News NY 1

Amadou Diallo was one of four children born to Saikou and Kadijatou Diallo, and part of a historic Fulbe trading family in Guinea. 

In September 1996, he followed other family members to New York City and started a business with a cousin.

In the early morning of February 4, 1999, Diallo was standing near his building after returning from a meal. At about 12:40 a.m., officers Edward McMellon, Sean Carroll, Kenneth Boss and Richard Murphy were looking for an alleged serial rapist in the Soundview section of the Bronx. 

While driving down Wheeler Avenue, the police officers stopped their unidentified car and interrogated Diallo, who was in front of his apartment. When they ordered Diallo to show his hands, he supposedly ran into the apartment and reached into his pocket to show his wallet.

Soon afterwards, assuming Diallo was drawing a firearm, the four officers fired 41 shots with semi-automatic pistols, hitting Diallo 19 times, fatally wounding him. Eyewitness Sherrie Elliott stated that the police continued to shoot even though Diallo was already down.

The investigation found no weapons on or near Diallo; what he had pulled out of his jacket was a wallet. The internal NYPD investigation ruled that the officers had acted within policy, based on what a reasonable police officer would have done in the same circumstances. Nonetheless, the Diallo shooting led to a review of police training policy and of the use of full metal jacket (FMJ) bullets.

A firestorm of controversy erupted after the event, as the circumstances of the shooting prompted outrage both inside and outside of New York City. Issues such as police brutality, racial profiling, and contagious shooting were central to the ensuing controversy.

On March 25, 1999, a Bronx grand jury indicted the four officers on charges of second-degree murder and reckless endangerment.

On December 16, a court ordered a change of venue to Albany, New York because of pretrial publicity. 

On February 25, 2000, after three days of deliberation, a jury composed of four black and eight white jurors acquitted the officers of all charges.

More information: The New York Times


No secret my friend.
You can get killed just for living in.
You can get killed just for living in your American skin.
41 shots.
41 shots (you can get killed just for living in).

Bruce Springsteen

Wednesday, 25 January 2017

KING ARTHUR, WHEN LITERATURE PROTECTS YOU

King Arthur & His Knights Of The Round Table
Today, The Bonds are in The White House. They're meeting the new President of The USA and his special guest: Queen Elizabeth II. This meeting has been classified like top secret and this is the reason because of we haven't got any kind of photo about the event.

The Bonds have taken advantage of the visit and they're reviewing some Social English, the modal verb Have to and some Relative Pronouns. It's true. You often have to wait much time before the President receives you although you're the special guest star. 

More information: Have to

After the meeting, The Bonds have a created idea about the behaviour of The President and they're writing some comparisons between him and other special people who had strong ideas and did them in a particular way.

MJ has wanted to join the family in this special day and she has asked some questions about the meeting. You know, she's the boss and she needs information.

In addition, The Bonds are talking about how literature has protected communities and countries during the Middle Age. The Grandma is talking about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, Orlando Il Furioso, Roland, El Cid Campeador and Tirant lo Blanc, incredible heroes with powerful skills in a dark age, heroes who are part of our History and stories that we have to keep as long as we can. 
 
More information: Historic UK

Finally, Pedro Bond has talked about Horitzó 2020 a new vision about educational system which is very interesting and, perhaps, it's the clue for the closer future.


 Ask ev'ry person if he's heard the story;
 And tell it strong and clear if he has not:
 That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory
 Called Camelot.
 Camelot! Camelot!

King Arthur

Tuesday, 9 February 2016

SEE YOU SOON, ITALY!

Asun Holmes & Corto Maltese in Venice
Yesterday, The Holmes reviewed some aspects of grammar and talked about adverbs of manner. They also created a Personal Message, discussed about job webpages and its difficulties and read a little more of Charles Dickens’ A Carol Christmas. The family stayed all the weekend in Venice enjoying the carnival and sailing by gondola thanks to Asun.

The Grandma explained a story about Navajo Language and Culture and how difficult is keeping them nowadays.



Today, The Holmes have reviewed The Superlatives and some modal verbs like Must, Have to and Should. Moreover, they’ve created a composition using this new theory and they have worked Social English, too.

More information: Adverbs of Manner

For other hand, the family is spending its last hours in Italy. This morning they’ve visited Pisa; this afternoon Verona and in this moment they’re having dinner in Siena.
More information: Superlatives Adjectives

In a few hours, they’re flying to Belgium and later to London. Tomorrow, the family is going to continue its adventures. The Grandma is going to explain them some stories about numbers and they’re going to prepare new budgets and invoices.
More information: Must vs. Have to

More information: Shall vs. Should 

The new cooperative is ready and they must start to work in it.

 
How far that little candle throws his beams! 
So shines a good deed in a weary world. 

William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice