Icons of the uk - final magazine

Escuela Oficial de Idiomas Ponferrada 2017/2018: 1º NA - A

ICONS OF THE UK

Academic Year 2017/2018: 1º NA – A

BIG BEN

To begin with, the monument I am going to write about is the clock tower of Westminster Palace. Big Ben is the most famous clock in the world and is located in London, which is the British capital, its original name was Clock Tower, but now is named Elizabeth Tower since 2012, this monument began to be built in 1843 after the great London´s fire and it was ended in 1858.

Most people call Big Ben to the entire tower because they think that is its name but Big Ben is only the bell´s name which is located inside the tower. It´s a big bell that weighs about 13 tones, furthermore, the first time that it sounded was on 31 May, 1859. After that, the clock became a punctuality symbol and one of the main attractions in the city to be visited.

But really, who was Big Ben? It is not clear, there are a lot of legends about this name and two main hypotheses. On one hand, people think that the name is due to Benjamin Hall, who was the person in charge of building the bell. On the other hand, people believe that the name is due to Ben Caunt, who was the most famous boxer at that time in London and who helped raise the bell to the bell tower.

Mateo Fortes Brito

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REMEMBRANCE POPPY by Jose Ă lvarez Castro

During the two weeks before 11 November the gardens of the former Britain Empire have and endless array of artificial flowers decorating them, concretely poppies. We are wondering about the origins of this tradition, and as usually happens everything was the result of a coincidence.

In 1915 the young males did not argue about political corruption or lack of work, they were dying in millions buried in trenches across the European borders. In the Belgian front a Canadian soldier wrote a poem in memory of a friend lost in battle. This poem is known as “In Flanders Fields�. The poem is about hope and life before the devastation caused by war, and how the poppy blows over the battlefields (see picture below).

In 1918 a volunteer worker of the American YMCA (one of the first non-profit organization in the world) inspired by the poem appeared in a conference with a silk poppy pinned to her coat and distributed 25 more to those attending. This was the first appearance of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance. In this conference a French woman was inspired to introduce the artificial poppies commonly used today.

The Royal British Legion is the organization that holds a fund-raising drive each year in the weeks before Remembrance Sunday and provide the poppies in return for a donation.

In the end, the final reason why the gardens of England are full of fake poppies on the 11 November was the devotion of two women for a poem written by a Canadian soldier.

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TEA IN BRITAIN - A BRIEF HISTORY Since the eighteenth century, the United Kingdom has been one of the world’s greatest tea consumers. Tea exported from China was first introduced in coffeehouses of London in 1660, where women were forbidden to enter. The first factor that contributed to the rise in popularity of tea was its reputation as a medical drink.

Catherine of Braganza, King Charles II’s wife, introduced it to ladies. This fact was significant because it made tea an acceptable drink for both sexes. As a result, tea drinking became a central aspect of aristocratic society in England by the 1680s, particularly among women who drank it while gossiping at home. Another factor was the addition of sugar, which was already well-established among the Upper classes. Tea’s popularity finally reached the working class in the late eighteenth century and it was soon considered as a daily habit among poor laborers.

“Afternoon Tea in Britain”: Anna, 7th Duchess of Bedford is credited with the invention of this tradition in 1840. Traditionally dinner was not served until 8:30 or 9:00 in the evening and she often became hungry. She ordered a small slice of bread, butter or cakes and biscuits. This became a habit of hers and she began inviting friends to join her.

Traditionally, afternoon tea is served at 4 p.m.

“Traditional tea drinking” comprises good manners, such as: not to lift your little finger when you raise the tea cup, avoid circular motions and instead stir with back and forth motions (6, 12, 6, 12)-if imagining it as a clock face as well as taking small sips and do not slurp.

The perfect way to prepare a cup of tea is with freshly boiled water in a kettle and a little milk may be added after the tea. Black tea is still the most popular tea in Britain.

Moreover, the word tea was also a British invention.

There is no real time: English people drink tea at every hour of the day, from the minute they get up to last thing before going to bed. They drink 31/2 cups of tea on average. UK citizens are particularly proud of being “tea-people”. This reputation is not just a typical stereotype since they have had a love affair with tea for 358 years.

Mª Jesús Yebra Domínguez

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Sherlock Holmes is a famous fictional detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who is well-known for his logic-reasoning and observational capacity. The story is narrated by Doctor Watson who helps him in his battle against the supervillain Moriarty.

The character appeared for the first time in 1887, as a short story titled "A Scarlet Study". It was printed in the Strand magazine and followed by 55 other short stories and four novels.

Sherlock has got the Guinness record as the most portrayed movie character, which has been played by many actors as Viggo Larsen, John Barrymore, Benedict Cumberbatch... Each generation has had its own Sherlock.

The novels reflect perfectly Victorian England and they are part of the English popular culture. Sherlock is more than a fictional character almost a "real character" Sir Arthur Conan Doyle chose 221B Baker Street as the address of his detective. In 1930 when London´s street numbers were reassigned, Baker Street numbers from 215 to 229 were assigned to a a building known as "Abbey House" ,which started to receive letters asking for help from the detective.

The bank that occupied the building answered the letters saying: "Sherlock is now a beekeeper, he is no longer a private detective". They were trying to keep the magic.

Elia Castro GĂłmez 5

JAMES BOND, FROM REALITY TO FICTION

Who would you say I´m talking about if I tell you he is arrogant, bold, good-looking and has license to kill?... Bond, James Bond, is one of the most popular characters of spy films of the last fifty years, starring twenty-four films since April 1965, when Dr. No was released as the first film of the saga. Despite being more known thanks to Hollywood, 007 agent was created as a literature figure during The World War II. Ian Fleming was born in London in 1908 and worked as a journalist until the end of the war, when he started to write. He wrote twelve novels about James Bond and some other less known books. It was his own experiences that made possible to create such a successful character. In fact, he himself was a real spy who worked for the British government in several mission trying to beat the Nazis. Since Fleming died in 1964 there have been some other writers who have continued his work, however, he was the inventor, the mind behind the spy.

Fleming created Bond based on the personality of another spy he had met during a mission in Portugal. Dusan Popov was a Yugoslavian secret agent who made Fleming noticed him by daring to bet $40.000 to keep his alibi and fool the Germans. This impressed the writer and made the idea come to his mind. Some years later, in 1952 he published Casino Royale which started the myth. Whereas, James Bond was named after someone who had nothing to do with war or espionage. The real Bond was an American ornithologist who the author admired.

There´s no doubt the cinema has been helping the icon grow through the years, over all, thanks to the excellent performances of actors like Roger Moore, Sean Connery or Daniel Craig. But music has taken part in the way to success too, as a few particular notes remind us of 007.

Alexia Garay Fernández

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The Beatles were a legendary rock group formed in Liverpool in 1960. The burst on the pop music scene and changed it forever.

In July of 1957, Paul McCartney met John Lennon. Paul impressed John with his mastery of the acoustic guitar and was invited to join Lennon’s group, The Quarrymen. George Harrison joined then in 1958. In 1960 The Beatles toured in Hamburg, Germany. There, they were joined by Ringo Starr, who previously played with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.

The first album was “Please Please Me” and it was an immediate hit. The devotion of their fans was called Beatlemania.

The band transformed popular music as a creative, highly commercial art form over the next decade. They experimented with several musical styles, ranging from pop ballas and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock. The Beatles have been one of the most popular bands of all time, producing songs like “Yesterday”, “Hey Jude”, “Penny Lane” and “With A Little Help From My Friends”.

Tinabuna Martín González

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The K2 kiosk was Britain's first

red telephone box. It was the winning

design from a 1924 competition to find the design for a national kiosk; the competition was organized by the Metropolitan Boroughs Joint Standing Committee and Birmingham Civic Society. Designed by British architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the K2 was introduced in 1926 and over the next nine years some 1,700 examples were installed mostly in London.

The designer Gilbert Scott was influenced by classical architecture, especially the mausoleum of the architect Sir John Soane. The K2 kiosk is constructed of cast-iron sections bolted together, standing on a concrete base. Its general form is a four-sided rectangular box with a domed roof. At the beginning the colour was not red but silver, however, the GPO changed for red colour because it was easier to see than other colours. The prototype K2 was made of wood and it is still installed in Piccadilly. Although K2 was a success, they were very big and heavy, it weighed a ton and it was very expensive to make.

In 1935 GPO motivated by the celebration of the jubilee of King George V called a new competition to find another design of the kiosk. Sir Giles Gilbert Scott was the winner again with the new K6 Silver Jubilee Kiosk , it had a more solid and compact structure, measuring 2.50 in height, on the 2.80 meters of K2 and was 25% lighter, with a weight of three quarters of a ton and red colour, too. It was more successful than Kiosk K2; in fact there were installed more than 60,000 units until 1968.

Other models were made such as K3, K4, K5, K7, K8 and K100, all of them with some changes and different colours but less successful than K2 and K6, which have 2 important differences such as the red colour and the shield of King George V, on top of the kiosk, on all four sides.

If you go to London, do not forget to take a picture next to the best icon of London.

Paulino RodrĂ­guez RodrĂ­guez 8

Stonehenge is a massive stone monument located on the Salisbury plain, 81 miles west of London and it is one of the wonders of the world and the best-known prehistoric monument in Europe.

Radiocarbon dating of the site indicates that the building of the monument began around the year 3100 BC and ended around the year 1600 BC. The biggest stones, known as “sarsens”, are up to 30 feet high and weigh 25 tons on average. It is widely believe that they were brought from Marlborough Downs, a distance of 20 miles.

Smaller stones, referred to as “bluestones” weigh up to 4 tons and come from several different sites in western Wales, having been transported as far as 140 miles.

The most common theory of how prehistoric people moved megaliths has them creating a track of logs on which the large stones were rolled along. Another megalith transport theory involves the use of a type of sleigh running on a track greased with animal fat.

Many archaeologists have argued that Stonehenge was the terminus of a long, ritualised funerary procession for treating the dead, which began in the east, during sunrise at Woodhenge (a timber circle monument located 2 miles of Stonehenge) and Durrington Walls, moved down the Avon river and then along the Avenue reaching Stonehenge in the west at sunset. The journey from wood to stone via water was, they consider, a symbolic journey from life to death.

Laura Diz González

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THE BRITISH MUSEUM The origins of the British Museum began in the 18th century when the famous doctor, naturalist and collector Sir Hans Slone started to collect old objects like books, manuscripts and natural specimen with some antiques like coins, medals, prints and drawings and some ethnographic material. When Slone died, he bequeathed the whole collection to Kings George II for the nation and on 7 June 1753 the king established the British Museum.

The British Museum opened to the public on 15 January 1759. It was housed in an old mansion in Bloomsbury on the site of today´s building. The Museum saw a great expansion over the next centuries. In the 19th century, there were a number of high level acquisitions.

These included The Rosetta Stone, The Townley Collection and The Parthenon sculptures. A key figure during the 19th and 20th century was Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, who collected British and medieval antiquities and a large group of prehistoric, ethnographic and archaeological material.

The Museum celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2003 with the restoration of the king´s Library and during the beginning of the 21th century; the Museum has continued to expand its public facilities with a new galleries like the one with Chinese ceramic or The TombChapel of Nebamun. The Museum is now looking forward to its new project, the World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre.

German Abramo González

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Harry Potter is a series of fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the life of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story concerns Harry's struggle against Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard who intends to become immortal.

The central character in the series is Harry Potter, who lives with his aunt, uncle, and cousin – the Dursleys -, who discovers, at the age of eleven, that he is a wizard, though he lives in the ordinary world of non-magical people known as Muggles. The wizarding world exists parallel to the Muggle world, albeit hidden and in secrecy. Harry becomes a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and it is here where most of the events in the series take place.

Each of the seven books is set over the course of one school year. Harry struggles with the problems he encounters, and dealing with them often involves the need to violate some school rules. If students are caught breaking rules, they are often disciplined by Hogwarts professors.

The success of the books and films has allowed the Harry Potter franchise to expand, with numerous derivative works such as, a travelling exhibition, a studio tour in London and a digital platform on which J.K. Rowling updates the series with new information and insight.

Sara Vega GarcĂ­a

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Royal Guard is called the Queen´s Guard. They are responsible for guarding Buckingham Palace and ST. Jame´s Palace in London. They usually consist of Foot Guards wearing full‐dress uniform of red tunics and bearskins. Altogether the Guard consists of three officers and 36 soldiers.

When the Queen is in resedence, there are four Foot Guards at the front of the building, when she is away there are only two.

Traditionally the Queen´s Guards are not allowed to move. Typically, a Guardman spends two hours on duty and four off. He is not expected to stand still for any more than ten minutes at a time.

Changing of the Guard The Queen´s Guard changes in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace at 11.30 am, and lasts about 45 minutes. There is no Guard Mounting in very wet weather.

During the autumn and winter, Guard Mounting takes place on alternate days, but is held daily during spring and summer. Also during wet or cold weather the guards wear grey coats.

The

first female infantry Captain of the Queen's Guard

A Canadian soldier was the first female infantry officer to command troops guarding the Queen at Buckingham Palace. Captain Megan Couto, has been given the prestigious role of Captain of the Queen's Guard and said modestly she would just focus on doing her job to the best of her ability.

Ana B. Robleda Fernández 12

Ángeles Morán

William Shakespeare is probably the most internationally known character in the United Kingdom. His works have been translated into all the languages in the world and are read all over the world. Although he was born in 1564 and died in 1616 in Stratford-upon-Avon, a town located south of Birmingham. He is identified mainly with the city of London because in 1588, leaving his wife and children, settled in London and wrote his first works there.

Shakespeare is the creator of the national theatre in England. Man of theater (actor, author and entrepreneur), his deep knowledge of the human heart allowed him to press the most varied strings of emotion and connect with the diverse sensibility of the widest audience, and this in all times and places. But, above all, Shakespeare is the great creator of universal prototypes. Thus, Othello remained forever as an embodiment of jealousy; Macbeth, of ambition; Hamlet, of the paralyzing doubt; Romeo and Juliet, of miserable youthful love...

We can find in the city of London an icon that represents William Shakespeare: “The Global Theater”. It was the theatre company of which William Shakespeare was co-owner the first who built it. This building had many incidents: it burned, moved to another place and was demolished. In 1997 the theater reopened its doors under the name of Shakespeare's Globe Theater respecting the forms of the old construction. The site is located about 200 meters from the site where it opened its doors for the first time. Just like the original, but plays are only exhibited during the summer season.

The Globe Theatre

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Eduardo Marqués Fernández

The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is played on outdoor grass courts.

Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the others being the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open. Since the Australian Open shifted to hardcourt in 1988, Wimbledon is the only major still played on grass. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is a private club founded on 23 July 1868, originally as "The All England Croquet Club". Its first ground was at Nursery Road off Worple Road, Wimbledon.

The inaugural 1877 Wimbledon Championship started on 9 July 1877 and the Gentlemen's Singles was the only event held. It was won by Spencer Gore, an old Harrovian* rackets player, from a field of 22. About 200 spectators paid one shilling each to watch the final Matches in the Gentlemen's Singles and Gentlemen's Doubles are best-of-five sets; all other events are best-of-three sets. A tiebreak game is played if the score reaches 6–6 in any set except the fifth (in a five-set match) or the third (in a three-set match), in which case a twogame lead must be reached.

Until 1922, the winners of the previous year's competition (except in the Ladies' Doubles and Mixed Doubles) were automatically granted byes into the final round (then known as the challenge round). This led to many winners retaining their titles in successive years, as they were able to rest while their opponent competed from the start of the competition. From 1922, the prior year's champions were required to play all the rounds, like other tournament competitors. * A member of Harrow School

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Whisky is one of the most important traditional drinks in the United Kingdom and it is the national drink in Scotland.

It is produced from cereals like barley, rye and wheat. Whisky is made by a traditional process in rural areas on the north of the United Kingdom.

It is believed that was San Patrick in the 4th century who introduced this beverage. At first it was related to monastic orders but the origin is actually a bit confusing. Whisky was used for medicinal purposes and it was known as “aqua vitae”. Usually it was drunk in funerals to alleviate the grief. Also, it was used to treat different illnesses like smallpox and colic.

It was in 1644 when “aqua vitae” began to have taxes and when the number of illegal distilleries started to grew. Also, in 1919 the dry movement in the EEUU made that lots of distilleries were closed. Currently, whisky supposes around a quarter of the food and drinks exports in the United Kingdom. This industry creates nearly 35,000 jobs. Nowadays whisky is called “liquid gold”.

By Raquel Rebollo

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LODON BRIDGE

London Bridge was the first bridge over the River Thames, between the city of London and southward. The current London Bridge was inaugurated in 1973 and it´s the last of a succession of bridges. In the current place a bridge has existed for 2000 years. The first bridge was built by the Romans and it was made of wood. After the Romans left, the bridge fell into disuse.

After the bridge destruction in 1136, Peter Cole Church proposed replacing the wooden bridge by a permanent stone construction. Its construction began during the reign of Enrique II in 1176, and it was finished in the reign of Juan I. It took 33 years and was finished in 1209. Juan I had the idea of building shops on the bridge. Straightaway it was full of shops. That caused the traffic stopped there and the people only walked to cross it.

The current bridge was built by John Mowlem. It has 283m in length and cost 4 million of sterling pounds. In 1984, the frigate HMS Jupiter crashed into the bridge and caused significant damage. For Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2004, several London bridges were decorated with red lighting that improved London bridge appearance, so it was decided to keep it till now.

Aloha Cristina Van Lierde GonzĂĄlez

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Tomasa Elena RodrĂ­guez Campillo 17

THE BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION BBC

On 18-10-1922 a consortium of British radio manufactures founded The British Broadcasting Company Ltd. John Reith was its first executive director. In 01-06-1927 a royal established a public entity, The Broadcasting Corporation ,as a successor of the BBC, JOHN Reith was appointed its general director. “Bush House” has been the headquarters of the BBBC since 1940, its name is due to its builder, Irving T.bush In 1954 the BBC lost the monopoly of television within the UK. The BBC is public, but independent of commercial and/or political controls, and operates under a royal statute that guarantees its independence. The BBC is financed by a television tax paid by those who have a TV receiver in the UK , this tax is set annually by the British government and agree to in Parliament, It is also financed by the sale of programs, magazines, books and DVDs produced by the BBC. The BBC has more than 250 correspondents and transmits in more than 100 capital cities around the world. Wherever you are, you can tune into the BBC, it broadcasts in more than 30 languages through radio and internet.

In 2012/2013 the chain expenses were a total of 4896 million. Obviously, there have been criticisms towards the chain, for example, during the war of the Malvinas some English spectators accused it of “treason” because the BBC in its information treated as equals England and Argentina. Also, the Episcopal conference denounced the hostility of the BBC against Pope Paul II and the Vatican.

However, the truth is that the BBC is an example for everyone because of its independence and the freedom of opinion, its editorials and articles have a great credibility around the world.

Micaela Inés Álvarez Martínez 18

The London Eye is one of the most beautiful tourist attractions in all of London. It provides spectacular views of the city and is exceptional to take pictures, on a clear day, you can see about 40 km from the top, this is about the distance to the Windsor Castle on the outskirts of the city.

But there are many other interesting things that you do not know about the London Eye than you think. First of all, do you know how much it cost to build it? I'll tell you, seven years and 75 million pounds. The construction of the mill began in 1998 and was officially opened on December 31, 1999 but due to some technical problems, had to wait until March 2000 to make the first round. Although at the beginning it was not called the London Eye, it was called The Wheel of the Millennium and it was not until 2011 that they changed the name to The London Eye. Also, the London Eye has the capsules numbered from 1 to 33, but there are only 32 capsules and that is why there is a superstition with that number, since it gives bad luck. On the other hand, each capsule represents each one of the neighbourhoods of the city, and as a curious fact, it is the fourth tallest structure in London, having 135 meters high, just the same as 64 telephone booths placed one above the other. Also, the capsules are not just for sightseeing, you can rent them for many other things such as a wine or chocolate tasting, or as it was done once, convert each capsule into a makeshift hotel room.

Another point in favour of the London Eye is its shows of lights at night that usually used for large celebrations such as the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton in which it was brightened with the British flag.

And finally, do you know how fast the London Eye works? Well at 0.9 km per hour which is a little faster than the movement of a turtle. To make visual idea, it advances 26 cm every second so it does not even have to stop for people to enter or leave the capsule.

VĂ­ctor GonzĂĄlez MariĂąo 19

THE QUEEN Elizabeth II Elizabeth Alejandra Mary) born on 21 April 1926 is the Queen of The United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms. Elizabeth was born in London as the first child of the Duke of York, she was educated privately at home.

Her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother King Eduard VIII in 1936, since that time she was to be the heiress. She started to take care of public duties during World War II serving in The Auxiliary Territorial Service. In 1947 she married Philip Duke of Edinburgh with whom she has four children.

When her father died, in February in 1952, she became head of The Commonwealth.

She was crowned in 1953 and her Diamond Jubilee was in 2012, which marked 60 years on the throne. She is the longest serving British monarch in history.

Elizabeth has occasionally had negative feeling and criticism from the Republicans and the press against the royal family, in particular after the divorce of their children, The Windsor Castle fire in 1992 (her annus horribilis) and the death in 1997 of her daughter-inlaw Diana. However, support for the monarchy is still very high in the UK and the personal popularity of Elizabeth II makes her one of most important icons of the United Kingdom.

FĂŠlida RodrĂ­guez Carrera

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Learning a new language is an all-access pass to discover and explore a new culture, an all-access pass to a new life.

Guadalupe Núùez Barredo Teacher

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