MY NAME IS BOND, JAMES BOND

We are deadly sure than when Ian Flemin wrote his first James Bond novel, he did not realize how popular his secret agent would be.

007, Bond's code number, is a British secret agent that works for the British Crown. Although he works worldwide, he can be easily recognised by his English manners. He is smart, he is polite, he shows good manners, he knows how to behave in every difficult situation he has to face, and he has a high sense of patriotism. 

In short, Bond is Great Britain.

The character has gone through a growth in his personality. At first, Bond was just a secret agent working for Her Majesty but nowadays, the current James, has undergone some changes in his personality. Bond is a cold, tough guy who does not show his feelings and does not get involved with the rest of the characters but, sometimes, the last James Bond can feel and can fail. 

But he still owns these well-known "likes":

- ALCOCHOL: Bond always drinks Martini but... his way!!!

 - WOMEN: From the first Bond's girl (Ursula Andres) to last (Monica Bellucci), being a Bond's girl has been considered a priviledge. Actresses have not to be good at acting but they must very, very pretty. Even beauty is placed above age. We mus keep in mind that Bellucci is in her fifties!!!



This Italian actress has been the last signing.

All of them only appear in one film and leave room for others.

- CARS: Cars are one of Bond's soft spot. This feature has been a good way of advertising for Aston Martin, the British car manufactuting company.

"Q" is the person in charge of showing James all the special cars prepared for him and cars go together with the rest of the gadgets: the watch, the mobile phone,... all made for the occasion.

- THE ACTOR: All of them have become very famous. Playing Bond can be tiring as many spectators assossiate actors with the character for life!!!!

From Sean Connery to Daniel Craig, all of them have been handsome, athletic,... they have followed the stereotype but evolution is evident!!! It is not just the colour of the hair or that sometimes Mr Craig does not wear a tuxedo... it is that James has entered the XXI century!!!

WE'LL MEET IN SEPTEMBER AGAIN!!!

Well, it is time to say goodbye. We hope you have used and learnt from this blog as much as you did last year!!
Anyway, all the members of the English Department wish you a happy summer to all of you. We will meet in September again so enjoy your summer holidays. You deserve it!!
See you later aligator!!!
Bye.bye!!!

SAINT GEORGE'S DAY: 23rd April

St. George is the patron saint of England. 

Our aim in this post is not to talk about who St. George was or what he did but we will talk about symbols and emblems. Today, April 23rd, St. George gives us the excuse to talk about them!!

THE ANTHEM: God save the Queen is the British Anthem and it represents the whole of the UK but many times it is used as the English Anthem. Wales and Scotland have their songs which they sing, especially when playing against England in sport matches. Land of may Fathers is sung by Welsh people and Scottish people sing Flower of Scotland and Scotland the Brave. 

THE COURT OF ARMS: On the left, the shield is supported by the English lion. On the right, it is supported by the Unicorn of Scotland. The unicorn is chained because in medieval times a free unicorn was considered a very dangerous beast.

The Court of Arms is used by the Queen.

THE SHIELD: The shield contains the Three Lion's Crest to represent England. It is ususally used as a badge.

THE ROSE: The rose is the floral emblem of England. The fower was adopted since the time of the Wars of Roses (civil wars between the house of Lancaster whose emblem was the red rose and the house of York whose emblem was the white rose).

ENGLISH FLAG: St. George's cross is usually used as the flag of England and of the flags that are contained in the British flag. (The Union Jack)

English flag

British flag

THE MOTTO OF ENGLAND: 'Dieu et mon Droit', (God and my right) was first used by King Richard I and adopted as the royal motto of England in the time of Henry VI.

Eventually, let's go back to our first character in this post, St. George.

There are many legends used to talk about this figure. Let us mention  one of them, the most romantic one which is summarize in this sentence: St. George fought against a dragon (Devil) to rescue a princess in danger. 

.

Maybe you have met your St. George. Some have already met him!!!

CHARLES MARTINET

Post written by Ángel Raga, 3ºB.

Charles Martinet was born on September 17, 1955. He is an American actor and voice actor. He provides the voice of Mario in the Nintendo's game. He is also Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Toadsworth, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, among other characters from the same series. He plays the majority of the male characters.

He has been working for Nintendo since 1990. He started voicing Mario with a system called "Mario in Real-Time" or "MIRT". He had sensors on his face that drove his facial movements to a Mario's head on a screen. Now he is the official voice of Mario.

He is also an actor. He started performing Shakespeare's plays. In fact, he says that Mario's voice is based on his voice for Gremio, a character from The Taming of Shrew. He played Michael Douglas' father in the film The Game.

He can speak French and Spanish and, suprisingly, a little BIT of Italian!!

His favourite actors are Robert de Niro, Collin Firth and Robin Williams.

COLOUR IDIOMS

It is time about time we talked about grammar!
As a faithfull reader of our Blog, you have probably noticed that we deal with grammar from time to time. In this post, we will give a brief revision to our particular painter's palette.

BLUE

ONCE IN A BLUE MOON: Something that happens very rarely.

His sister lives in another country. They see each other once in a blue moon.

A BLUE JOKE is an obscene joke.

I cannot believe he told a blue joke to his little daughter!!

PINK

TICKLED PINK means the same as 'delighted', v'ery pleased', ,..

Mum was tickled pink when she saw my school marks.

IN THE PINK OF HEALTH: in an excellent physical condition.

After losing a lot of weight, he was in the pink of health.

WHITE

A WHITE LIE when you tell something that is false in order to protect someone or avoid hurting feelings.

I told him a white lie instead of telling him the bad news.

AS WHITE AS A SHEET can be used when someone turns pale from a shock. 

She became as white as a sheet when she saw the criminal.

BLACK

A BLACK SHEEP The black sheep of the familiy behaves differently, badly,... he does not follow the rules.

My uncle was the black sheep of the family: he did not work, he was getting into trouble all the time,...

RED

CATCH SOMEBODY RED-HANDED can be used when discovering somebody committing a crime. 

They arrested the hacker. They caught him red-handed copying files and downloading music.

RED IN THE FACE to become embarrassed.

Susan was red in the face when she saw her father dancing.

GREY

A GREY AREA is a problem or a situation that is not clearly defined with no clear rules.

There is not a law for this type of immigration. It is a bit of a grey area. 

Well, these are just a few. Maybe, we could go on adding idioms to the list next time. Thanks M. Gustave for the pictures!!

LEVI'S, JUST A PAIR OF JEANS?

Don't take for granted that this post is going to deal with fashion. Well, it DOES deal with fashion but it also has to do with the Gold Rush, with denim, with a pair of jeans and with the American Dream. But let's take it bit by bit!

One of the most famous migrations in the 19th century took place in the United States. Workers form all parts of the country, and from Europe too, came to the west coast looking for gold. The idea of becoming rich was the lure for many whose will to answer the call was so strong as to travel to the antipodes if necessary.

Apart from being workers, gold miners became settlers, that is, they were the inhabitants of the new frontier. They transmitted the values of the civilized world and established a society based on strict puritan behaviour. Their working conditions were -without a doubt- wretched.

Portsmouth Square, San Francisco, during the Gold Rush, 1851

Gold Rush miners

In this environment, Löb Strauss arrived in San Francisco after having crossed the Atlantic from Germany to New York with his widow mother and sisters. He was decided to make quick profit by selling supplies to miners. "Overalls" or "waist overalls", as jeans were called at that time, were part of the workers' outfit. They were meant to be resistant but, on the contrary, they were not long-lasting nor resistant.

Jacob Davis, a taylor from Nevada, developed an original idea to make working overalls resistant. He suggested it to Löb Strauss (later Levi) and the fisrt pair of Levi's saw the light!! They were made of denim, which they imported from Nimes (France). Denim was the traditional fabric for workwear in those days, and later they dyed it indigo blue.

Eventually, they added the rivet which makes them resistant and durable.

From that moment on, this brand has not stopped: They have added the two-horse-leather label and the red tab which make them so unmistakable.

They are also considered one of the boundless symbols of the USA. Have a look at the Bruce Springsteen cover of his Born in the USA album.

Today, Levi's is directly connected to advertisement. Here, we have selected one of the best commercials. What do you think?

 Or, maybe, you feel like watching the last one:

So, as you can imagine Levi Strauss became a millionaire and his business is still alive and kicking!! In fact, it is a very profitable business all over the world.

Levi is one of the countless examples of people who achieve the so-called American Dream; that is, he represents the self-made man, the inmigrant looking for a new beginning in a land where everything is possible if you work hard. It seems as if he had followed Crevecoeur's words when he was referring to the pioneers, to the first American settlers and what the States meant to them: "Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world. . . . An immigrant when he first arrives . . . no sooner breathes our air than he forms new schemes, and embarks in designs he never would have thought of in his own country. . . "

In short, watch this last video just in case you have not understood the story: