TED vocabulary p.5

-reciprocity
A good relationship should be based on reciprocity.
-welfare
Not only humans care about welfare.
-consolation
When I'm sad I can always count on my friends for consolation.

"Tootsie" review

   "Tootsie" is a comedy directed by Sydney Pollack, released in 1982. The main protagonist is played by amazing Dustin Hoffman.The action takes place in New York. I watched the film a few days ago, during my english class. 

    The film tells the story of unemployed actor, Michael Dorsey who can never get the job because of his explosive and difficult temper. Finally he makes a desperate decison to change his indendity to Dorothy Michales and get a part in a new soap opera. Throughout the film the viewer might observe the development of the main character and also consequences of that radical decision.

   The aspect of the film that impressed me the most was the acting. The movie is so good mostly because of the great job that Dustin Hoffman did. I can't imagine how difficult that role could have been.

   What makes that film even more convincing is the characterisation. It's obviously one of the most important factor when it comes to men playing women and vice versa. Apparently the make-up artist must  have been really good.

   I can honestly recommend watching "Tootsie", bacause not only it is a very funny and amusing story but it also concerns really important topics, such as the position of a woman in the world (not only in that times) or how lies might complicate people's lives. I  think, that film is worth seeing for everyone who likes good but not stupid comedies.

   

  

The Guilds and Livery Companies

  Since London's bigger advantage is a good location for the trade, the majority of the London's citizens were craftspeople and merchants. Since Saxon times they have started to organise themselves into groups called "Guilds". Soon they became a very influential part of the London society.
  What I've found really intresting is that people from the same Guild usually worked and lived very closely to eachother. As a result a lot of streets of London were named after Guilds that stationed there. For example Bread St - where bakers lived or Friday St - where fishmongers were making quite a good buisness selling fish on Friday when Catholics couldn't eat meat.
  As the time passed these naturally-made groups oficially became "Livery Companies".
The main role of these Guilds were to protect the quality and reputation of a trade and the whole company.
  Suprisingly for me The Livery Companies were very strict about how members of the Guild should behave. Some historicians even reckon that anyone who was found on laziness or spending too much time on worthless activities would be excluded from the company.
  Very often Livery Companies' members were very well positioned in the London community.
  Such an influential and important group needed a common meeting place. So in 1440 the construction of Guildhall was finished. It is one of very few buildings that are still stnading in the City after the Great Fire.
Suprise! Livery Companies still exist in The City of London :)

Source:

http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-london/the-guilds-and-livery-companies

TED vocabulary p.4

-Wrap up

When someone shouts at me I wrap myself up.

-To govern

My dad governs our family budget.

-Tweak

Little tweaks can lead us to big changes.

London Bridge

   London has a lot of very popular monuments that are recognizable all over the world. One of them and probably the oldest is definately London Bridge.

   Until Medieval times it was very hard to cross the river Thames. It was only possible by using a ferry or a rickety wooden bridge. Fortunately it all changed in 1176. Due to the fact that all of the wooden bridges were destroyed by the fire, Henry II bade to build a pernament stone crossing. It took 33 years to built the bridge, but with all repairs and remodellings it was nearly 600 years! 

   The finished bridge was very impressive. It was 275 m long and was supported on 20 arches. But the most suprising is that the London Bridge featured a drawbridge,  a chapel, houses, shops, gates and even a waterwheel and a mill. It seems unbelievable that all of that was situated in the bridge. What is quite ironic, I think is that building the London Bridge didn't make crossing the Thames much quicker, because the buildings inside took a lot of space, making the actual rode very narrow. Crossing could take almost an hour!

   However the London Bridge wasn't uncredited during tragic fires, when people had to jump from the bridge straight into the water. Some parts of the Bridge also collapsed on several occassions. One of them will be always remebered in a popular rhyme : "London Bridge is falling down".

   The London Bridge we can cross now was opened by Queen Elisabeth II in 1973.

   Although the majority of the people mixes London Bridge up with Tower Bridge  I think it is a very interesting place to visit and know its history better while being in London.

TED vocabulary p.3

-Allegedly 

The man allegedly killed 3 people but there's no evidence for that.

-Cognitive

That child's cognitive skills are developing really fast.

-Fringe group

The local fringe group representants visited houses in our neighbourhood to invite people to their meetings.

Anglo-Saxon London

   We left London in ruins, during its so-called Dark Ages. But the city's location on Thames was too good for that decline to last any longer. And eventually in 7th century London grew once more, stronger and greater than it was before. It didn't mean the end of London's problems of course.
  After Dark Ages Saxons moved in to London. They built a new settlement which they called "Lundewic"   (in Old English it was a name of a trading town). For archeologists' suprise traces of that early Saxon period were found not where the Roman Londinium was located, but much further on the west. 
  London developed and was becoming wealthier and much more attractive for foreign tribes. In 9th century Danish Vikings sailed to the river Thames and from 830 they attacked London regulary.

  The one who kicked off the Danes from British lands ,was Alfred the Great in 886. He made London a part of his kingdom called Wessex but after his death London was again in hands of Danish vikings. During Danish occupation London was attacked by Anglo-Saxons and Norwegian vikings. These attacks stopped when the Dunish king Knut managed to unite Anglo Saxons with Danes. After his death Edward the Confessor came into power of London.

(1st picture - Edward the Confessor, 2nd picture - William the Conqueror)

  After death of Edward the Confessor the new king was crowned in the abbey in Westminister - it was William the Conqueror.

London was now the most prosperous and largest citity in the British island, however it wasn't the capital...

...yet. Although everybody knew that it wasn't just a normal city. It was meant to be something greater.

Sources:

http://www.britainexpress.com/London/anglo-saxon-london.htm

http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-london/from-anglo-saxons-to-a-norman-invasion

  

TED vocabulary p.2

-worse off/better off
-material affluence
-to put off

TED vocabulary p.1

- DUST OFF 
- DRIP OFF
- TO YEARN

Dark Ages of London

When London was abandoned..

  Every place, every city has its worse times that people usually don't like to recall or even remember. The capital of United     Kingdom is not an exception this time.

  Historians assume that the last Roman soldier could left Britain in 407 AD, but what happenned next? 

It isn't a very often said fact but at that time London was probably abandoned and we could say that it didn't really exist as a city. The majority of the city was in ruins but archeologists found some evidence that there were people living in London at these hard times. There were mostly inhabitants living by farming or fishing but it's not impossible that there also lived merchants. Unfortunately, due to the troubled and tough nature of times , the merchandise were slaves.

   The city have been known by the celtic name : "Caer-Lundein".

  As I said before : every place has its own "dark times", when life is really tough and hard. But I think we shouldn't forget about it or try to hide it somehow, because history, the truth cannot be long hidden. Sooner or later people will know that their city also has the times it is ashamed of, although I think it shouldn't be. The harder it was it the past the greater progress may be noticed and appreciated, I guess.  

But London was too precious and too well situated to be abandoned forever.

My sources:

http://www.localhistories.org/london.html

http://www.britannia.com/history/londonhistory/darlon.html