British Culture
REMEMBRANCE DAY_11th NOVEMBER
Κάθε χρόνο στις 11 Νοεμβρίου οι Άγγλοι κατεβάζουν το κεφάλι. Όποιος βρεθεί στην Αγγλία αυτές τις μέρες θα αντικρύσει μια περίεργη εικόνα.
Άνθρωποι όλων των ηλικιών, φτωχοί και πλούσιοι, Εργατικοί, και Συντηρητικοί, τραγουδιστές, ηθοποιοί, ποδοσφαιριστές, τηλεπαρουσιαστές, υπάλληλοι, εργάτες, τραπεζίτες, οδοκαθαριστές, σερβιτόρες, μαθητές… όλοι οι Άγγλοι με ρίζες στη χώρα, τιμούν τους ΝΕΚΡΟΥΣ τους που έπεσαν στο πεδίο της μάχης από τον Α’ Παγκόσμιο πόλεμο και μετά. Είναι η Ημέρα Μνήμης ή «Poppy Day» της Μ. Βρετανίας.
Όλοι οι Βρετανοί φορούν στο πέτο τους αυτό το λουλουδάκι (παπαρούνα) ως ένδειξη μνήμης και τιμής. Ταξί, λεωφορεία, εφημερίδες… κυκλοφορούν με αυτό το σήμα. Και κάθε χρόνο σαν σήμερα στις 11 το πρωί παγώνουν τα πάντα, στέκονται όλοι ακίνητοι και με χαμηλωμένο το κεφάλι για ένα λεπτό.
Christmas sweater Garland
http://www.meandmyinklings.com/index.php/2014/11/24/ugly-sweater-garland-with-free-printable/
a clever idea to make a christmas garland…..print the pattern and design your own special sweaters…..
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum dedicated to human history, art, and culture, located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection, numbering some 8 million works, is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence and originates from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present.
The British Museum has one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive collections of antiquities from the Classical world, with over 100,000 objects. These mostly range in date from the beginning of the Greek Bronze Age (about 3200 BC) to the establishment of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire, with the Edict of Milan under the reign of theRoman Emperor Constantine I in 313 AD.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum
London Eye
The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. Also known as theMillennium Wheel, its official name was originally published as the British Airways London Eye, then the Merlin Entertainments London Eye, then the EDF Energy London Eye. Since mid-January 2015, it has been known in branding as the Coca-Cola London Eye, following an agreement signed in September 2014.
The entire structure is 135 metres (443 ft) tall and the wheel has a diameter of 120 metres (394 ft). When erected in 1999 it was the world’s tallest Ferris wheel. Its height was surpassed by the 160 m (520 ft) Star of Nanchang in 2006, the 165 m (541 ft) Singapore Flyer in 2008, and the 167.6 m (550 ft) High Roller (Las Vegas) in 2014. Supported by anA-frame on one side only, unlike the taller Nanchang and Singapore wheels, the Eye is described by its operators as “the world’s tallest cantilevered observation wheel”.
It is currently Europe’s tallest Ferris wheel, and offered the highest public viewing point in London until it was superseded by the 245-metre (804 ft) observation deck on the 72nd floor of The Shard, which opened to the public on 1 February 2013. It is the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom with over 3.75 million visitors annually, and has made many appearances in popular culture.
The London Eye adjoins the western end of Jubilee Gardens (previously the site of the former Dome of Discovery), on the South Bank of the River Thames between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth.
Madame Tussauds
https://www.madametussauds.co.uk/london/en/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_Tussauds
Anne-Marie “Marie” Tussaud (1 December 1761 – 16 April 1850) was a French artist, who became known for her wax sculptures and Madame Tussauds, the wax museum that she founded in London.
Marie Tussaud was born 1 December 1761 in Strasbourg, France. Her father, Joseph Grosholtz, was killed in the Seven Years’ War just two months before Marie was born. Her mother, Anne-Marie Walder, took her to Bern where she worked as a housekeeper for Dr. Philippe Curtius (1741–1794), a physician and wax sculptor who Marie would call her uncle. Curtius initially used his talent for wax modeling to illustrate anatomy. Later, he did portraits.
Curtius moved to Paris in 1765 to establish a cabinet de portraits en cire (wax portrait exhibition). In that year, he made a waxwork of Louis XV‘s last mistress, Madame du Barry, a cast that is the oldest work currently on display. A year later, Tussaud and her mother joined Curtius in Paris. The first exhibition of Curtius’ waxworks was shown in 1770 and attracted a large crowd. In 1776, the exhibition was moved to the Palais Royal and, in 1782, Curtius opened a second exhibit, the Caverne des Grands Voleurs, a precursor to the later chamber of horrors, on Boulevard du Temple.
It was Curtius who taught Tussaud the art of wax modeling. She showed talent for the technique and began working for him as an artist. In 1777, she created her first wax figure, that of Voltaire. From 1780 until the Revolution in 1789, Tussaud created many of her most famous portraits of celebrities such as Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin. At the same time, she remained on good terms with the French royal family. She claimed in later years to have been employed to teach votive making to Élisabeth the sister of Louis XVI. In her memoirs, Tussaud claimed that it was in this capacity that she was frequently privy to private conversations between the princess and her brother and members of his court. She also claimed that members of the royal family were so pleased with her work that she was invited to live at Versailles.
The History of Halloween….
The history of Halloween and other useful videos!
http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween
http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween/videos/halloweens-origins
source: http://www.history.com/