Richard Wagner / javeriana.edu.co
Professional music critics tend to bicker over the greatness or otherwise of these two composers, born as almost exact contempories, within months of each other in 1813. Wagner was of course German, wrote opera principally, keeping wary of symphonies and concerti, though God knows what masterpiece he might have written if he had steered away from the human voice. (more…)
The Englishman abroad: aspects of the typical British tourist over two centuries
In the 18th and 19th centuries, two kinds of Englishman ‘went abroad’, or left Britain for a period. The first of these was the young man on the Grand Tour: He was between 19 and 25 years old, fresh from the University (which was invariably Oxford of Cambridge); rich because he had been born rich, travelling in his own coach with a driver, possibly two grooms and a valet. He may have been accompanied by friends, and a tutor who had befriended him at university. He carried at least two pistols in a case, for protection during long journeys in savage countries like France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Austro-Hungary or Spain. He aimed to stay in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Venice, Budapest, Madrid and Constantinople. His valet was usually of the same age, better looking, worse-dressed, more intelligent, cunning and always critical of ‘the young master’. He was trusted by the young man’s parents to bring the traveller back alive. (more…)
It is a much-noted historical fact (not a notion) that countries seeking empires require violent methods to keep them – once formed. Great Britain has not been backward in this respect. She may have been less violent than the Romans, more tolerant than the Spanish, less deluded than Bonaparte, but her 19th century wars in Afghanistan and Burma were, as a contemporary historian said, ‘a disgrace fraught with understandable reasons’. (more…)
Too late to repel boarders! / en.wikipedia.org
Piracy, or the practice of robbery and murder on the high seas, is in the news again. Merchant ships and even private yachts are being attacked in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea by highly mobile young men and women armed with machine guns, not cutlasses.
Piracy can be traced by the student right back to ancient history. As long as there have been navigable oceans and rivers, and unprotected merchant shipping, there have been pirates. They have been vividly described in classical literature, successful Victorian novels, and a multitude of twentieth century movies. Pirates have helped the Disney Empire to re-instate itself for the nth time, with a vastly successful series called Pirates of the Caribbean. The reverse of the coin happened to poor Roman Polanski though, with a really dreadful film of his made in 1985 starring Walter Matthau called simply, Pirates. (more…)
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (also known as the Soviet Union) used to occupy all the northern part of Asia, and a substantial part of Eastern Europe. Under that name, what was before, and is now again Russia lasted from 1936 to 1991. It comprised fifteen constituent republics. (more…)
A corner of the University of Santiago, Spain, one of the oldest universities in the world / tuhostal.com
It is an institute of higher education, responsible for taking students from the schools and giving them, through teaching, research and studies, an extended education which may lead to a Degree. The difference between a College and a University is that there may be many colleges in one university campus, each teaching different disciplines. (more…)
It is the 17 December, 2011. In seven days virtually all the countries in the world will begin a few days off work (if they have any) on a holiday that will extend to the end of the year on the evening and night of the 31 December. The following day will begin the year 2012, grimly destined by many to be the last Year of the Human in History. (more…)
/ es.doblaje,wikia,com
The fortieth President of the United States was born in 1911. He grew up to be a college athlete and a handsome actor in Hollywood movies, westerns in particular. He was by no means a bad actor, just an underrated one. In California, where the peculiar tradition of actors becoming politicians is noted, Reagan became a Republican (conservative) Governor in 1966 when he was fifty-five years old. (more…)
is a country more than twice the size of Spain on the north coast of the great land mass of Africa, bounded by Tunisia and Algeria to the west, Niger and Chad to the south, and Egypt to the east. The only truly arable part is near the coast at Tripolitania, where the climate is Mediterranean. Inland the ground rises to a desert of limestone rock. The north-west region dominated by Cyrenaica is high tableland, lightly-wooded. To the south, the grown is low and mostly sand, though oases can be found. The south of the country lies within the Sahara Desert: to the west, however in the Fezzan region, there are large oases in otherwise naked, stony plains and scrub-covered hills. (more…)
The statue of the Founder / touriststamps.co.uk
Eton is not only the name of the best-known school in the world; it is also historical, in that it was founded by a king. Henry VI, the physically weak and sick son of the hero of Agincourt Henry V, founded the college in October, 1440. The school has just passed its 570th anniversary. Obviously, it is one of the oldest established places of education in Britain, and the world. I believe the oldest is St. Albans, founded for poor boys in the 11th century: I will probably be corrected. (more…)