Sometimes a simple idea can have an enormous effect. A suggestion from a group of British teenagers could brighten Christmas for hundreds of thousands of families living on the breadline. The group of 13 teenagers from Exeter in southwest England participated in a National Citizen Service programme last summer. One of the steps was to … Continue reading “A Gift for Christmas”
St Andrew’s Day, 30 November, is the Scottish national day. It’s a time to wear some tartan, listen to some bagpipes playing “Oh Flower of Scotland”, dance a Highland fling and eat some haggis and shortbread with a wee glass of malt whisky! A typical Scottish expression at this time of year is, “The nights … Continue reading “Go Scottish for St Andrews”
Raise awareness about bullying in November. On the 8th it’s Anti-Bullying Day in French schools. And it’s Anti-bullying Week in the UK from 12 to 16 November. Both campaigns are putting a focus on cyberbullying. The theme for this year’s French Anti-Bullying Day is cyberbullying with sexist or sexual content. The main theme for Anti-bullying … Continue reading “Fighting Bullying”
Seventy-five years ago, Norman Rockwell painted four iconic covers for The Saturday Evening Post depicting the Four Freedoms promoted by President Roosevelt: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Fear and Freedom from Want. The Freedoms would ultimately lead to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The iconic pictures, and other socially engaged paintings, … Continue reading “Towards Human Rights”
Fifty years after the Mexico Olympics, when African-American medallists Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a Black Power salute to protest at discrimination, all three men on the podium that day have been recognised for their courage. On 16 October, 1968, two American sprinters made a symbolic gesture that became an iconic image of fight … Continue reading “Black Power at the 1968 Olympics Fifty Years On”
The Invictus Games, initiated by Prince Harry for injured service people, is in Sydney, Australia for its fourth edition from 20 to 27 October. It is especially poignant in the weeks before the commemoration of the end of the First World War. Prince Harry served in the British Armed Forces for ten years. In 2013, … Continue reading “Game On Down Under”
One of golf’s biggest competitions is coming to France for the first time: the Ryder Cup will take place from 25-30 September. The competition pits the twelve best male golfers in Europe and the U.S.A. against each other every two years. And the Junior Cup is for the 12 best under-18-year-old players from each continent, … Continue reading “Golf 101”
250 years ago, Captain James Cook led the first of three expeditions to the Pacific which led to the colonisation of Australia and New Zealand. An exhibition at the British Library looks at the legacy of those expeditions, for Britain but also for the populations in the territories Cook visited. Cook was a Royal Navy … Continue reading “Captain Cook: Voyages to the Pacific”
Emily Brontë was born 200 years ago on 30 July. She is the most mysterious of the famous Brontë family and little is known about her. What’s more, the manuscript of her only novel, Wuthering Heights, has never been found. A bicentenary project invited 12,000 visitors to the Brontë Museum to recreate the manuscript, line … Continue reading “Emily Brontë 200”
Being buried in Westminster Abbey is the highest honour a British person can be given. And yet, like so many British traditions, it has developed in an organic way, with no real rules or system. It is sometimes described as Britain’s Pantheon or Valhalla. The Abbey itself, in London, is a thousand years old and … Continue reading “Westminster Abbey: Britain’s Pantheon”