THE ENGLISH CLUB

THE ENGLISH CLUB

6 de diciembre de 2013

NELSON MANDELA DEATH



Nelson Mandela, who guided South Africa from the shackles of apartheid to multi-racial democracy and became an international icon of peace and reconciliation, died Thursday at age 95.

Nelson Mandela in 2003
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-nelson-mandela-dead-20131205,0,6266118.story

Nelson Mandela death: World reaction

People around the world have been reacting to the news that South Africa's first black president and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela has died, aged 95.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25250082

14 de abril de 2013

ABU ABDALLAH MUHAMMAD XII ( BOABDIL)

A forensic for Boabdil
  • A group of researchers believe they have found in Fez the tomb of the last king of Granada
  • The expert Basque Etxeberria and filmmaker Francisco Javier Balaguer lead inspections.

Abu `Abdallah Muhammad XII (Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد الثاني عشر‎ Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad al-thānī ‘ashar) (c. 1460 – c. 1533), known as Boabdil (a Spanish rendering of the name Abu Abdullah), was the twenty-second and last Nasrid ruler of Granada in Iberia. He was also called el chico, the little, or el zogoybi, the unfortunate. Son of Abu l-Hasan Ali, sultan of the Emirate of Granada, he was proclaimed sultan in 1482 in place of his father, who was driven from the land.
Muhammad XII soon after sought to gain prestige by invading Castile. He was taken prisoner at Lucena in 1484. Between 1484 and 1487, he was held prisoner. Power returned to his father and then in 1485 to his uncle Muhammed XIII, also known as Abdullah el Zagal.

He only obtained his freedom and support to recover his throne in 1487 by consenting to hold Granada as a tributary kingdom under Ferdinand and Isabella, king and queen of Castile and Aragon, and not to intervene in the Siege of Málaga (1487), in which Málaga was taken.

1487 saw the fall of Baeza, Málaga and Almería. 1489 saw the fall of Almuñécar and Salobreña. By the beginning of 1491, Granada was the only Muslim-governed city in Spain.

In 1491, Muhammad XII was summoned by Ferdinand and Isabella to surrender the city of Granada, and on his refusal it was besieged by the Castilians. Eventually, on 2 January 1492, Granada was surrendered. In most sumptuous attire the royal procession moved from Santa Fe to a place a little more than a mile from Granada, where Ferdinand took up his position by the banks of the Genil.

Boabdil surrenders the keys of Granada to the Catholic Monarchs. 
La Rendición de Granada de Francisco Pradilla (1882).

Legend has it that as the royal party moved south toward exile, they reached a rocky prominence which gave a last view of the city. Muhammad XII reined in his horse and, surveying for the last time the Alhambra and the green valley that spread below, burst into tears. When his mother approached him she said :"Thou dost weep like a woman for what thou couldst not defend as a man."ابك اليوم بكاء النساء على ملك لم تحفظه حفظ الرجال Ibki l-yawma bukā'a n-nisā'i ʿalā mulkin lam taḥfuẓhu ḥifẓa r-rijāl

The farewells of King Boabdil at Granada
Alfred Dehodencq

The spot from which Muhammad XII looked for the last time on Granada is known as "the Moor's last sigh" (el último suspiro del Moro).

Muhammad XII was given an estate in Laujar de Andarax, Las Alpujarras, a mountainous area between the Sierra Nevada and the Mediterranean Sea, but he soon crossed the Mediterranean to Fes, Morocco.

9 de abril de 2013

MARGARET THATCHER DIES

Margaret Thatcher's death 
evokes polarized reaction

British politician had strong admirers, equally vocal opponents.

Former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher has died "peacefully" at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke while staying at the Ritz hotel in central London.


David Cameron called her a "great Briton" and the Queen spoke of her sadness at the death. Lady Thatcher was Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990. She was the first woman to hold the role.

She will not have a state funeral but will be accorded the same status as Princess Diana and the Queen Mother.The ceremony, with full military honours, will take place at London's St Paul's Cathedral.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22067155
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher

23 de febrero de 2013

ATTEMPTED COUP D'ETAT 1981

23-F was an attempted coup d'état in Spain that began on 23 February 1981 and ended on the following day. It is also known as El Tejerazo from the name of its most visible figure, Antonio Tejero, who led the failed coup's most notable event: the bursting into the Spanish Congress of Deputies by a group of 200 armed officers of the Guardia Civil during the process of electing Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo to be the country's new Prime Minister. King Juan Carlos I gave a nationally televised address denouncing the coup and urging the maintenance of law and the continuance of the democratically elected government. The coup soon collapsed. After holding the Parliament and cabinet hostage for 18 hours the hostage-takers surrendered the next morning without having harmed anyone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23-F
http://www.antropologiavisual.net/2006/spanish-contemporany-history-on-tv-the-tejero%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Ccoup-d%E2%80%99etat%E2%80%9D-feb-1981/

10 de febrero de 2013

VALENTINE`S DAY


Valentine's Day is celebrated on 14th February, the feast day of St. Valentine. It is a traditional celebration in which lovers, partners and married couples express their love and affection for each other. In some countries it is known asThe Day of Lovers or The Day of Love and Friendship.

Saint Valentine