DICKENS : bicentenary of his birth

Charles Dickens is one of the most famous British novelists ever. This month the world of literature is celebrating the bicentenary of his birth, which falls on the 7th of February.

Although he was a writer from the Victorian era, Dickens’s work transcends his time, language and culture. He remains a massive contemporary influence throughout the world and his writings continue to inspire film, TV, art, literature, artists and academia.

Do you want to learn a bit about his life? Watch this nice video




If you click on the link you will see the same video BUT this time you have a questionnaire online about it .

http://www.eslvideo.com/esl_video_quiz_beginning.php?id=10451



If you want to get into more serious stuff , here is a nice link where you will learn about the fantastic range of celebrations taking place to celebrate the bicentenary.

http://www.dickens2012.org/

Also , and although it is in Spanish , I leave here another very interesting link , where you have an awful lot of information about his life, his books , his characters ... really worth it !!

http://www.elmundo.es/especiales/2012/cultura/dickens/

Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her 60-year anniversary

In 1952 the woman known today as Queen Elizabeth II was just Elizabeth, a 25-year-old member of England’s royal family visiting a remote village in Kenya.

When word came on Feb. 6 of that year that her father, George VI, had died, Elizabeth cut her trip short and flew home to London. She was greeted at the airport by her country’s then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill and she was crowned Queen Elizabeth II.

Today, 60 years later, the 85-year-old Queen celebrates her Diamond Jubilee anniversary.

The anniversary makes Queen Elizabeth, already Britain’s oldest serving monarch, the country’s longest-serving monarch after Queen Victoria, who reigned for more than 63 years. The queen, mother to four and grandmother to eight, has now outlasted 11 U.S. presidents.

 

The celebrations will continue throughout the year . The main event, the 2012 Diamond Jubilee weekend, will be held in June and feature a star-studded concert and boat pageant on the Thames river with a 1,000-strong flotilla.

Watch this video taken from ABCnews.com