VISITING SAINT PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, SEAT OF ANGLICISM

Today is the perfect day to visit an important religious building and enjoy an Anglican mass to understand better English culture and idiosyncrasy.

The Morgans have chosen St Paul's Cathedral, perhaps one of the most important cathedrals of this amazing city. 

After mobilizing the best detectives in search of The Grandma, the family has decided to burn the last cartridge: pray to God.

Before praying, the family has been practising some A2 Cambridge Tests and has been practising some English vocabulary about Useful Things, Other Countries and In The Classroom.

 

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St Paul's Cathedral in London, is an Anglican cathedral, the seat of the Bishop of London and the mother church of the Diocese of London.

It sits on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grade I listed building. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. The present cathedral, dating from the late 17th century, was designed in the English Baroque style by Sir Christopher Wren. Its construction, completed in Wren's lifetime, was part of a major rebuilding programme in the City after the Great Fire of London.

The cathedral is one of the most famous and most recognisable sights of London. Its dome, framed by the spires of Wren's City churches, has dominated the skyline for over 300 years. At 111 metres high, it was the tallest building in London from 1710 to 1967. The dome is among the highest in the world. St Paul's is the second-largest church building in area in the United Kingdom after Liverpool Cathedral.

Services held at St Paul's have included the funerals of Admiral Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Winston Churchill and Baroness Thatcher; jubilee celebrations for Queen Victoria; peace services marking the end of the First and Second World Wars; the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer; the launch of the Festival of Britain; and the thanksgiving services for the Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilees and the 80th and 90th birthdays of Queen Elizabeth II. St Paul's Cathedral is the central subject of much promotional material, as well as of images of the dome surrounded by the smoke and fire of the Blitz.

A list of the 16 archbishops of London was recorded by Jocelyn of Furness in the 12th century, claiming London's Christian community was founded in the 2nd century under the legendary King Lucius and his missionary saints Fagan, Deruvian, Elvanus and Medwin. None of that is considered credible by modern historians but, although the surviving text is problematic, either Bishop Restitutus or Adelphius at the 314 Council of Arles seems to have come from Londinium. The location of Londinium's original cathedral is unknown.

More information: St Paul's Cathedral

Bede records that in AD 604 Augustine of Canterbury consecrated Mellitus as the first bishop to the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Saxons and their king, Sæberht. Sæberht's uncle and overlord, Æthelberht, king of Kent, built a church dedicated to St Paul in London, as the seat of the new bishop. It is assumed, although not proved, that this first Anglo-Saxon cathedral stood on the same site as the later medieval and the present cathedrals.

On the death of Sæberht in about 616, his pagan sons expelled Mellitus from London, and the East Saxons reverted to paganism. The fate of the first cathedral building is unknown.

Christianity was restored among the East Saxons in the late 7th century and it is presumed that either the Anglo-Saxon cathedral was restored or a new building erected as the seat of bishops such as Cedd, Wine and Earconwald, the last of whom was buried in the cathedral in 693. 

This building, or a successor, was destroyed by fire in 962, but rebuilt in the same year. King Æthelred the Unready was buried in the cathedral on his death in 1016; his tomb is lost. The cathedral was burnt, with much of the city, in a fire in 1087, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

The present structure of St Peter upon Cornhill was designed by Christopher Wren following the Great Fire of London in 1666. It stands upon the highest point in the area of old Londinium, and medieval legends tie it to the city's earliest Christian community. 

In 1995, however, a large and ornate 5th-century building on Tower Hill was excavated, which might have been the city's cathedral.

On 2 December 1697, 31 years and 3 months after the Great Fire destroyed Old St Paul's, the new cathedral was consecrated for use. The Right Reverend Henry Compton, Bishop of London, preached the sermon. It was based on the text of Psalm 122, I was glad when they said unto me: Let us go into the house of the Lord. The first regular service was held on the following Sunday.

More information: Standard

  

 I wonder, by my troth, 

what thou and I did till we loved?

John Donne

THE WINSORS DISCOVER WHO THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE IS

Today, The Winsors and The Grandma have discovered who the Half-Blood Prince is.

 

Half-blood is the term commonly given to wizards and witches who had known Muggle or Muggle-born parents or grandparents. 

Half-bloods were the most common type of wizard or witch, as the pure-blood wizarding population would have become extinct had they not inter-married with Muggles and Muggle-borns.

 

Before discovering the Half-Blood Prince, the family has been preparing their Cambridge Exam studying some English vocabulary about Useful Things, Other Countries and In The Classroom. They have also practised an A2 Cambridge Test.

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Download A2 Cambridge Test_04 (Reading & Listening)

 

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a fantasy novel written by British author J.K. Rowling and the sixth and penultimate novel in the Harry Potter series.

Set during Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts, the novel explores the past of Harry's nemesis, Lord Voldemort, and Harry's preparations for the final battle against Lord Voldemort alongside his headmaster and mentor Albus Dumbledore.

The book was published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury and in the United States by Scholastic on 16 July 2005, as well as in several other countries. It sold nine million copies in the first 24 hours after its release, a record that was eventually broken by its sequel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

There were many controversies before and after it was published, including the right to read copies delivered before the release date in Canada. Reception to the novel was generally positive, and it won several awards and honours, including the 2006 British Book of the Year award. 

Reviewers noted that the book took on a darker tone than its predecessors, though it did contain some humour. Some considered the main themes to be love, death, trust, and redemption. The considerable character development of Harry and many other teenage characters also drew attention.

The film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released 15 July 2009 by Warner Bros.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth book in the Harry Potter series.

The first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was first published by Bloomsbury in 1997, with an initial print-run of 500 copies in hardback, 300 of which were distributed to libraries. By the end of 1997, the UK edition won a National Book Award and a gold medal in the 9- to 11-year-olds category of the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize.

More information: Wizarding World I & II

The second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was originally published in the UK on 2 July 1998 and in the US on 2 June 1999.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was then published a year later in the UK on 8 July 1999 and in the US on 8 September 1999.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published on 8 July 2000 at the same time by Bloomsbury and Scholastic.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the longest novel in the Harry Potter series, was released 21 June 2003.

After the publishing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the seventh and final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was released 21 July 2007. The book sold 11 million copies within 24 hours of its release: 2.7 million copies in the UK and 8.3 million in the US.

J.K. Rowling stated that she had Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince planned for years, but she spent an entire two months going over her plan before she began writing the story seriously.

This was a lesson learned after she did not check the plan for Goblet of Fire and had to rewrite an entire third of the book. She started writing the book before her second child, David, was born, but she took a break to care for him.

The first chapter, The Other Minister, which features meetings between the Muggle Prime Minister, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, and his successor, Rufus Scrimgeour, was a concept J.K. Rowling tried to start in Philosopher's Stone, Prisoner of Azkaban, and Order of the Phoenix, but she found it finally works in Half-Blood Prince.

She stated that she was seriously upset writing the end of the book, although Goblet of Fire was the hardest to write. When asked if she liked the book, she responded, I like it better than I liked Goblet, Phoenix or Chamber when I finished them. Book six does what I wanted it to do and even if nobody else likes it and some won't, I know it will remain one of my favourites of the series. Ultimately you have to please yourself before you please anyone else!"

More information: Screen Crush

J.K. Rowling revealed the title of Half-Blood Prince on her website on 24 June 2004. This was the title she had once considered for the second book, Chamber of Secrets, though she decided the information disclosed belonged later on in the story.

On 21 December 2004, she announced she had finished writing it, along with the release date of 16 July. Bloomsbury unveiled the cover on 8 March 2005.

The film adaptation of the sixth book was originally scheduled to be released on 21 November 2008 but was changed to 15 July 2009. Directed by David Yates, the screenplay was adapted by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman and David Barron.

The film grossed over $934 million worldwide, which made it the second-highest-grossing film of 2009 worldwide and the fifteenth-highest of all time. Additionally, Half-Blood Prince gained an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography.

More information: The Guardian

Download Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

 

You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips,

you dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare...

He dared — he dares — he stands there — filthy half-blood.

Bellatrix Lestrange

STATEN ISLAND, FROM THE LENAPE TO DUTCH COLONISTS

Today, The Grandma has visited Staten Island. Meanwhile, The Grangers have been practising some English vocabulary about Other Countries and In The Classroom, and improving their Speaking. They have also studied Still, Already and Yet (Present Perfect).

More information: Still/Already/Yet

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Download Cambridge KET Exam Speaking Models (03)

 

Staten Island is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. 

Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull and from the rest of New York by New York Bay.

With a population of 495,747 in the 2020 Census, Staten Island is the least populated borough but the third largest in land area at 152 km2.

A home to the Lenape indigenous people, the island was settled by Dutch colonists in the 17th century. 

It was one of the 12 original counties of New York state.

Staten Island was consolidated with New York City in 1898. It was formally known as the Borough of Richmond until 1975, when its name was changed to Borough of Staten Island.

Staten Island has sometimes been called the forgotten borough by inhabitants who feel neglected by the city government.

The North Shore -especially the neighbourhoods of St. George, Tompkinsville, Clifton, and Stapleton- is the island's most urban area. It contains the designated St. George Historic District and the St. Paul's Avenue-Stapleton Heights Historic District, which feature large Victorian houses. 

The East Shore is home to the 4-kilometer F.D.R. Boardwalk, the world's fourth-longest boardwalk.

The South Shore, site of the 17th-century Dutch and French Huguenot settlement, developed rapidly beginning in the 1960s and 1970s and is now mostly suburban. 

The West Shore is the island's least populated and most industrial part.

Motor traffic can reach the borough from Brooklyn by the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and from New Jersey by the Outerbridge Crossing, Goethals Bridge and Bayonne Bridge. 

Staten Island has Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) bus lines and an MTA rapid transit line, the Staten Island Railway, which runs from the ferry terminal at St. George to Tottenville.

More information: Silive

Staten Island is the only borough not connected to the New York City Subway system. 

The free Staten Island Ferry connects the borough to Manhattan across New York Harbor. It provides views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Lower Manhattan.

As in much of North America, human habitation appeared on the island fairly rapidly after the Wisconsin glaciation. Archaeologists have recovered tool evidence of Clovis culture activity dating from about 14,000 years ago. This evidence was first discovered in 1917 in the Charleston section of the island. Various Clovis artifacts have been discovered since then, on property owned by Mobil Oil.

The first recorded European contact on the island was in 1520 by Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano who sailed through The Narrows on the ship La Dauphine and anchored for one night.

The Dutch did not establish a permanent settlement on Staaten Eylandt for many decades. Its name derived from the Staten Generaal, the parliament of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. From 1639 to 1655, Cornelis Melyn and David de Vries made three separate attempts to establish one there, but each time the settlement was destroyed in conflicts between the Dutch and the local tribe.

In 1661, the first permanent Dutch settlement was established at Oude Dorp (Dutch for Old Village) by a small group of Dutch, Walloon, and French Huguenot families, just south of the Narrows near South Beach. Many French Huguenots had gone to the Netherlands as refugees from the religious wars in France, suffering persecution for their Protestant faith, and some joined the emigration to New Netherland. At one point nearly a third of the residents of the Island spoke French.

The last vestige of Oude Dorp is the name of the present-day neighborhood of Old Town adjacent to Old Town Road.

Staten Island was not spared the bloodshed that culminated in Kieft's War. In the summer of 1641 and in 1642, Native American tribes laid waste to Old Town.

In addition to the main island, the borough and county also include several small uninhabited islands:

-The Isle of Meadows (at the mouth of Fresh Kills).

-Prall's Island (in the Arthur Kill).

-Shooters Island (in Newark Bay; part of it is in New Jersey).

-Swinburne Island (in Lower New York Bay).

-Hoffman Island (in Lower New York Bay).

More information: Time Out

The geology of Staten Island 
is the most complex of the city's boroughs, 
containing the terminal moraine of the last ice age, 
a fault line from 470 million years ago, 
the southern tail of the Palisades formation, 
and sediments collected over the millennia.

Sergey Kadinsky