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miércoles, 30 de enero de 2013

World's Cup of Football England 1966

The VIII World Cup was held in England, between 11 and 30 July 1966.
16 teams participated in the final round, being divided into 4 groups of 4 teams where two teams from each group advanced to the quarterfinal round, from which were knockout duels.
The final was played at Wembley Stadium between England and West Germany. After tying two goals in regulation, an extension was made that Geoff Hurst scored one of the most controversial goals in the history of the sport, which to this day remains in doubt whether or not entered the goal . Finally, a fourth goal to give England its first and so far only World Cup, which they received from the hands of Queen Elizabeth II.
The scorer was the Portuguese player Eusebio, with nine goals. Moreover, for the first time in World Cup history was presented a mascot, Willie the Lion.England, West Germany and Spain submitted nominations in 1960 for organizing the eighth World Cup tournament, however the Iberian country lowered its presentation days before the election on August 22, 1960 in the city of Rome, Italy. There, the country of origin of the sport beat Germany by 34 votes to 27, mainly due to the active participation of the president of FIFA, the Englishman Stanley Rous, and as a way to celebrate the centenary of the foundation of England's Football.
In the qualifying process, 71 teams participated. 10 places were available to be distributed to areas of Europe, 4 seats to South America, North America and one remaining quota according to the rules imposed by FIFA should be played between teams from Africa and Asia, prompting an outcry from participants Africans who claimed to be entitled to a quota itself. Because FIFA's refusal to reconsider the measure, the 15 African teams withdrew as Syria and South Korea, in solidarity with the other selections.
In addition, selections of Congo, Philippines and Guatemala did not participate due to errors in registration. South Africa was also excluded as a form of rejection of its policy of apartheid. North Korea defeated Australia in search of the only quota for Asia and Oceania, which caused problems because of the lack of diplomatic relations between the host country and the North Korean republic and that almost caused the latter's absence due to lack of approval of visas.
Finally, the 14 teams ranked over England and Brazil, the defending champion, were divided into four groups in a draw held at the "Royal Garden Hotel Kingston" in London. Its format was to divide the 16 teams into four blocks, which came out a team for each group. The four blocks were "South America", "Europe Mediterranean", "Rest of Europe" and finally the selections considered "modest" (Mexico, Bulgaria, North Korea, and Switzerland).
During March 1966, the completion of the event was put in jeopardy after the theft of the Jules Rimet Trophy, which was exhibited to the public at a church in Westminster. The trophy remained lost for eight days, after which a dog named Pickles found it in the garden of a house. The thief was eventually sentenced to two years in prison, while Pickles achieved great popularity being showcased during the opening day of the event, which was first broadcast on television around the world via satellite.

martes, 29 de enero de 2013

Tower Bridge


The Tower Bridge, Tower Bridge in English, is a drawbridge located in London over the River Thames. It is situated near the Tower of London, which gives it its name.
The bridge is maintained by Bridge House Estates, a non-profit company under the tutelage of Corporation of London, one the city council of the City of London.
During the second half of the nineteenth century, economic development in East London, led to the need for a new step on the river below London Bridge. You could not build a traditional fixed bridge because it would cut off access to the port at that time were at the Pool of London (the Port of London original), between London Bridge and the Tower of London. A tunnel under the Thames, Tower Subway opened in 1870, but served only to pedestrian traffic.
In 1876 a special committee was formed to find a solution to pass over the river, which held a competition to choose the design of the future bridge. More than 50 designs were proposed, including one of Sir Joseph Bazalgette. The evaluation of the designs was surrounded by controversy, and it was not until 1884 when created by Horace Jones, the City Architect, was approved.
Jones's design was a drawbridge of 244 m in length, with two towers of 65 m height. The center distance of 61 m between the two towers, is divided into two cams that can be raised to an angle of 83 degrees to allow river traffic to pass. Although each cam weighs more than 1000 tons, are counterbalanced to minimize the energy required to elevate one minute. The original hydraulic mechanism used pressurized water stored in six accumulators. The water was pumped into the accumulator by steam engines. Currently, the original hydraulic machinery still opens the bridge, but has been modified to use oil instead of water, and electric motors have replaced the place of steam engines and accumulators. The former mechanism is open to the public. The bridge can carry more than 2000 tons.

sábado, 19 de enero de 2013

Literature after the Norman Conquest


It was not until the beginning of the thirteenth century, when Albion became independent and its relations with France became more distant, the time when the language began to change. While the Normans were assimilated into the culture itself, the French penetrated the lower social classes, changing an important part of the grammar and vocabulary of Old English. Although it became a Romance language, the English of Chaucer is more like the current language that was spoken in England a century earlier.
In the late medieval period (1200-1500), the ideals of courtly love came to England and began writing romances authors, both in verse and prose. They were especially popular issues with King Arthur and his court. The poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight shows many of the characteristics of literature from this period located in the Time of legendary Arthur, the book emphasizes the behavior of knights with religious overtones. At that time, the mystery plays were staged in towns and cities to celebrate major holidays, they also conducted less formal representations with religious themes.
The first great English author Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400), wrote in Middle English. His most famous work is The Canterbury Tales, a collection of stories of disparate genres narrated by a group of pilgrims traveling to Canterbury. Although Chaucer is an English author, his work was inspired by the changes and developments taking place in Europe, especially in Italy. The Canterbury Tales are clearly indebted to Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron. The Renaissance was making its way in England.

miércoles, 16 de enero de 2013

JK Rowling

Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE (Yate, South Gloucestershire, UK, July 31, 1965) who writes under the pseudonym J. K. Rowling is a writer and British film producer, best known for being the creator of the Harry Potter book series, whose idea was conceived during a train trip from Manchester to London in 1990. The Harry Potter books have attracted worldwide attention, won multiple awards and sold over 450 million copies.

Besides writing these novels, Rowling is equally famous for its history of having grown from a humble to be billionaire in just five years. A 2008 edition of the Sunday Times Rich List estimated Rowling's fortune at £ 560 million, being the twelfth richest woman in Britain. Forbes ranked Rowling in the fortieth place in its list of the most powerful celebrities in 2007, and Time magazine selected her as "Person of the Year 'in the same year, highlighting the social inspiration, moral and political has given the Harry Potter characters. It has become a notable philanthropist, supporting such charities as Comic Relief, One Parent Families, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain

In 1995, Rowling finished her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on an old machine escribir.44 Given the enthusiastic response of Bryony Evans, a reader who had been assigned to review the first three chapters of the book, Christopher Little Literary Agency Agents agreed to represent Rowling in her quest for a publisher. The book was submitted to twelve publishing houses, which rejected the manuscrito.33 A year later, finally received approval (and a £ 1500 advance) editor Barry Cunningham from Bloomsbury, a small British publishing house in London, Inglaterra.45 33 The decision to publish Rowling's book apparently owes to Alice Newton, the daughter of eight-year-old chairman of Bloomsbury, who received the first chapter for review and immediately asked segundo.46 Although Bloomsbury agreed to publish although the book, Cunningham says that Rowling suggested to get a job, as he believed that he had little chance of making money with books niños.47 Soon after, in 1997, Rowling received an £ 8000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council to enable it to continue writing 48 The following spring he held an auction in the United States for the rights to publish the novel, which was won by Scholastic Inc., for $ 105,000. Rowling said she "nearly died" when she heard the noticias.49
In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with a thousand copies, five hundred of which were distributed to libraries. After the worldwide success of the books, those copies went to be worth between £ 16,000 and £ 25.000.50 Five months later, the book won its first award, the Children's Book Award Nestlé. In February, the novel won the prestigious British Book Award, in the category Children's Book of the Year, and later, the Award for Best Children's Book. Its sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published in July 1998.51 In October 1998, Scholastic published Philosopher's Stone in the United States under the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: a change which Rowling has repented, since stated that he had fought more to keep the title if he had been in a better posición.4
In December 1999, the third novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, won the Best Children's Book Prize, making Rowling the first person to win three times this premio.52 later delayed the release of the fourth novel Harry Potter to allow other books were appreciated by the public. In January 2000, Prisoner of Azkaban won the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year, but lost the Book of the Year award against Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf.53
The fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was released on sale simultaneously in the UK and in the U.S. on July 8, 2000, and broke sales records in both countries. Approximately 372,775 copies of the book were sold in its first day in Britain, almost equaling the number of copies sold of The Prisoner of Azkaban in the first year to venta.54 In the U.S., the book sold three million copies in its first 48 hours, shaking all sales records libros.54 Rowling admitted that during a time of crisis while writing the novel, "When I was in the middle of the room, I realized that there was a serious failure argument. .. I went through one of my darkest moments with this book ... I rewrote a chapter thirteen times, but anyone who has read it can realize what the chapter or realize how difficult it was to create it "55 Rowling was named author of the year at 2000.56 British Awards
There was a wait of three years between the release of Goblet of Fire and the fifth Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This gap led to press speculation that Rowling had developed the "writer's block", which she denied fervientemente.57 Rowling later admitted that writing the book had been like an annoying household chore. "I think the Order of the Phoenix could have been shorter", she told Lev Grossman, "I knew that, and I ran out of time and energy when I reached the end '.58
The sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released for sale on July 16, 2005. He also broke sales records, selling nine million copies in its first 24 hours in the mercado.59 While writing, she told a fan, "the sixth book has been planned for years, but before you start writing seriously spent two months revisiting the sketches and making sure he knew fully what he was doing "60 published on its website that the first chapter of the sixth book, which is based on a conversation between the Minister of Magic and the British Prime Minister, was originally to be the first chapter of Philosopher's Stone, then Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of late Azkaban.61 In 2006, Half-Blood Prince received the award for Best Book of the Year Awards for Best Books Británicos.62
The title of the seventh and final Harry Potter book was revealed on December 21, 2006: Harry Potter and the Deathly Muerte.63 In February 2007 it was reported that Rowling wrote in her room at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, there was where he had finished writing the seventh book, the 11th of January that año.64 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released for sale on July 21, 2007 and broke the record of his predecessor , making the book more quickly exhausted all tiempos.65 sold 11 million copies in the first day of release only in the United Kingdom and the United Unidos.65 Joanne said that the last chapter of the book was written "a day 1990 "as part of his early writings serie.66 During the period of a year in which Rowling completed the last book, allowed to be filmed for a documentary which aired in Britain on ITV on December 30, 2007 . It was entitled J.K. Rowling ... A year in the life and was returning to his former home of Edinburgh, where he completed the first book of Harry Potter.67 Returning to his apartment after so many years did mourn, saying it was the place "where the completely changed my life "67
Harry Potter became a trademark globally worth around 7 billion pounds, 68 and the last four Harry Potter books have set records as the fastest selling book of historia.69 65 series, with a total of 4,195 pages 70 has been translated, totally or partially, 74 idiomas.5
In 2007, following the publication of the seventh and final book in the series, Bloomsbury organized a contest in which fans were able to witness a thousand Rowling reading the first pages of the book at the Museum of Natural History Londres.71
The Harry Potter books have also been known to spark interest in reading among the young at a time when they prefer to use their time to watch TV or surf the Internet instead of reading, 72 although the impact of the books on the habits reading children have been questioned

lunes, 14 de enero de 2013

Sherlock Holmes: The most important fictional detective in the literature


Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character created in 1887 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is an English detective of the late nineteenth century, noted for his intelligence, his skillful use of observation and deductive reasoning to solve difficult cases. He stars in a series of four novels and fifty-six fictional stories, making up the "canon holmesiano" mostly published by The Strand Magazine.

Sherlock Holmes is the epitome of excellence brain researcher and influenced heavily on detective fiction after its appearance. Although we consider Auguste Dupin, created by Edgar Allan Poe, as a character very similar predecessor, one eccentric genius he did not reach the enormous popularity and author Holmes reached in his lifetime.

Sherlock Holmes was born on January 6, 1854. His father was an English landowner and his mother descended from a line of French painters. He has a brother, Mycroft, thanks to the prodigious powers to manage vast amounts of information held, works almost anonymously as general coordinator and internal affairs reporter from the British government.

Sherlock Holmes seems to have been a student in college, probably that of Oxford, Cambridge but definitely not. After graduation, staying near the British Museum to study the sciences necessary for the development of his later career. Meet Watson in 1881, at the Saint Bartholomew. Refuses knighted (Sir), but accepts the Legion of Honor.

His great enemy, also of extraordinary intellectual powers, is Professor Moriarty, who apparently came to end the life of eminent detective in the cascade of Reichenbach, Switzerland (The Adventure of the Final Problem). Doyle had to choose to resurrect his hero when thousands of readers protested wearing black ribbons on their hats as a sign of mourning. Sherlock Holmes returns in the case The Empty House (The return of Sherlock Holmes, 1903).

After a career of twenty years, of which seventeen Watson shared with him, Holmes retired to Sussex, where he focused on beekeeping, and even wrote a book entitled Manual of beekeeping, with some remarks on the separation of the queen, and, almost incidentally, solved one of their toughest cases: the Adventure of the lion's Mane (1907). Following his retirement as detective spent two years painstakingly preparing a major counterintelligence action shortly before the start of the First World War. Nothing about it has since 1914.

The extensive bibliography of Arthur Conan Doyle in which recounts the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and his partner Watson, known collectively as "canon holmesiano" consists of four novels and fifty-six stories collected in several volumes:
novels
-Study in Scarlet (1887)
-The Sign of Four (1890)
-The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901-1902)                                          
  -The Valley of Fear (1914-1915)

Collections of short stories
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
-Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1893)
-The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1903)
-His Last Bow on stage (1917)
-The archive of Sherlock Holmes (1927)


domingo, 13 de enero de 2013

Anglo-Saxon Literature and Dance and theatre in England

The first words in English, written in Anglo-Saxon dialect known as Old English, appeared in the early Middle Ages. The earliest known is the anthem of Caedmon. At that time it was very important oral tradition and much of the literary works were written in order to be represented. Epic poems were very popular and some, like Beowulf, have survived to this day.
This language is closely related to the current Norwegian and Icelandic language, so the Anglo verses were probably an adaptation of the first war poems and Germanic Vikings who came from the mainland. When this poem reached England, still transmitted orally from generation to generation, the constant presence of alliterative verse, or rhyme, that whites helped the easily remembered.
The first written literature appears in the time when St. Augustine of Canterbury founded monasteries primitive Christians language adapted to the needs of Christian readers. Even without its bloodiest lines, the Vikings were bloodthirsty war poems: in the stories there was always a sense of imminent danger. Sooner or later everything had its purpose. When William the Conqueror in England became part of the Norman kingdom (in 1066), Old English poetry continued reading and language usage spread.

martes, 8 de enero de 2013

Data

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, while the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separate it from continental Europe. Most of England comprisers the central and southem part of the island of Great Britain in the North Atlantic. They country also includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle
of Wight.
The área now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Palaeolithic period, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world. The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law—the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world—developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation. England's Royal Society laid the foundations of modern experimental science.