QUEEN ELIZABETH II

This post has been written by Manuel Marcos Otero - 3ºA, school year 2016/17

Does anybody know anything about this "young" lady? Sure, this is Elizabeth II, Queen of England.

First of all, she is the longest reigning monarch in British history. She is also the oldest monarch to have celebrated her Diamond Jubilee, that is, she has been 60 years on the throne. It was celebrated in 2012. During that year, she travelled across the UK and visited England, Scotland, Wales and Nothern Ireland. She gave a concert at Buckingham Palace and there was a river pageant on the River Thames.

She is considered a warm and a nice monarch and she has been a good friend of many world leaders, such as Nelson Mandela or George Bush, for example.

Nowadays, the Queen continues to carry out a full programme of events.

Apart from her Royal duties, she has other interests and hobbies, such as photography or animals. She is a dog lover - she has even created a new dog breed - "the dorgi".

She is very fond of horses too. She loves going to races and some of her horses have won at Ascot.

In short, she has been an important figure: form a young girl who did not expect to become a queen to an iconinc figure who has ruled for more than 60 years. 

Thanks Manuel for your nice post. Good job!!

THE FORESTS OF BRITAIN

This post has been written by Asier Cendón, 3ºA ESO, school year 2016/17

This is the forest where Robin Hood "lived" together with his Merry Men. It is situated near Nottingham, in the North of England. It has lots of oaks.

It is a Royal Park. It belongs to the Queen. It is open to the public in some parts and it has got deer.

It is placed in Essex. It is one of the forests that was considered as a Royal Hunting Forest. It has got incredibly ancient trees. Some over a 1000 years old!!!!

This forest is placed in the South East of England, near London, in the Epping District.

Finally, the Forest of Dean which is near Gloucester. In the old times, a big area of this forest was kept for the Royal Family. They came here to hunt.

Good job, Asier. Thanks a lot!!!!

THANKSGIVING 2016

LAYLA: THE STORY BEHIND THE SONG

Layla is based on a Persian poem which tells the story of a man who falls in love with a beautiful girl. Unfortunately, the girl's father doesn't allow her to marry that man. Eventually, he went mad.

The story resembles those of impossible couples, Romeo and Juliet,... or many more related to unrequited loves. 

But this one (Layla) became very popular due to the great importance and the relationship among the characters:

- Eric Clapton, the composer of the song.

- George Harrison, one of the members of The Betles.

- Pattie Boyd (or Pattie Harrison), George Harrison's wife.

George Harrison married Pattie Boyd in 1966. He was a famous Beatle and she was a popular model.They met when The Beatles were filming A Hard Day's Night. The marriage lasted eleven years but finally they divorced after periods of drugs, infidelities and alcohol.

 

Pattie Boyd and George Harrison

During the time they were happy George composed beautiful songs, such as Something which was written for Boyd. Some consider this song as one the most beautiful love compositions ever.

Something - George Harrison

But Eric Clapton, one of Harrison's best friends at that moment, fell in love with Pattie. Clapton was not corresponded as Pattie struggled to save her marriage with Harrison. She became Clapton's obsession.

Thanks to this difficult situation, Layla was made up! This song is considered a masterpiece and it has been played all over the years. 

Layla - Eric Clapton

As Eric Clapton didn't give up and The Harrisons kept on with their marital problems, Layla left George and married Eric in 1979. 

Eric Clapton and Pattie Boyd

If Something and Layla are extremely good songs, Clapton also wrote Wonderful Tonight which was also devoted to this woman. 

Let us choose a modern version for this song in an attempt of trying to get closer to your likes. If we fail, just listen to good music!!!! 

Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton

Eventually, the whole story is here, in Pattie Boyd's words. Listen to this video and find out who she has considered the "love of her life". 

Pattie Boyd

STAR WARS

The long awaited time has finally arrived. This past December the new sequel to the Star Wars films, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, was finally released after many years of waiting. This blockbuster film was released just in time for the Christmas holidays and is bound to continue breaking many box office records in terms of sales. Few films in recent memory have generated as much interest as this one. 

There are many reasons for this interest, among which we can find the fact that George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars universe, sold the rights to the production of these films to Disney. Many people were interested to see in which artistic direction Disney would take the film, and if they could live up to the expectations that George Lucas has made for the fans of the films.

   

    Without giving away any spoilers of the plot, we will provide a short summary of the film. Being a sequel, the film largely follows the same trajectory as in the previous films in the series. The film begins where the last film leaves off with the Rebellion maintaing its fight against the Empire. A Rebel pilot has a droid which contains the secret map with instructions to find Luke Skywalker, a jedi knight and the main protagonist from the previous films. The pilot intends to return this droid to the Rebellion so they can use this information to find Luke to help in their fight against the Empire. However, the Empire does everything in its power to ensure that the Rebels do not obtain the information contained within this droid.

     This film is notable for its introduction of new characters into the Star Wars universe, as well as its inclusion of classic characters from the previous films. We recommend that you see this film for yourself and let us know what you think!

      Have a good day, and
            MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!!!

Thanks Mr. Connor Eason for this fantastic post and MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU too!!!!!

THE THIN WHITE DUKE

David Robert Jones was born in Brixton (London, England) on January 8th 1947, so Happy Birthday!!!!!

By the year 1966 he became David Bowie. He chose this surname after Jim Bowie, the designer of a popular fighting knife called the Bowie Knife!

Bowie has been a singer for more than fifty years. In fact, he is more than a singer. He is a composer, a writer, an actor, a producer,... He is a reference for many artistic movements and he has a great influence on a big number of musicians nowadays. His lyrics are deep and a lot of times they are based on literature and art. Many times he just cared about exploring new types of music instead of looking for success. He has placed music in the category of art in capital letters.

His first steps are to be found in the psychodelic rock that later turned into Glam rock. We can also find him in funk and after being in Germany he returned to England to lead the New Romantics Underground Movement. He has also written quite a lot of popular pop songs and he has even tried electronic music.

So, let's listen to some of his songs to have an idea of his work now that he is about to release Balckstar, his new album.

SPACE ODDITY (1969).-

At the same time that Men were about to reach the Moon.

CHANGES (1971)

HEROES (1977).- 

In the late seventies Bowie moved to Berlin and there he composed a three album tryptich. Heroes is the second composition.

Heroes, the song, tells the story of two lovers who meet at the Berlin Wall. It is a sad song.

ASHES TO ASHES (1980).-

This song belongs to the New Romantic Underground Movement. It became a hit in the UK and was number one in that country.

BLUE JEAN (1984)

LOVE IS LOST. REMIX. (2013).-

Such a smart video matches perfectly well with the song.
Love is Lost contains recognizable parts of Ashes to Ashes maybe just trying to show Bowie's rebirth after the health problems that kept him away from the world of music.

But, the best is yet to come...