Crystal Palace FC

CRYSTAL PALACE FC

 

Crystal Palace Football Club is a renowned team. FC stands for football club. Crystal Palace is located in London. This area of London is also known as Sydenham.

In 1851 the Great Exhibition was held in Hyde Park. Many countries were invited to show what goods they could manufacture. A huge glass building was constructed. Millions of people came to see it. A journalist called the building ‘Crystal Palace’. The name stuck. In 1853 the building was dismantled. It was moved piece by piece to Sydenham and rebuilt. In 1936 a fire destroyed Crystal Palace. Nevertheless the name stuck to the area.

The football club was founded in 1905. The team has a stadium with a capacity of 25 000.  It is called Selhurst Park. The nickname of the club is known as the Glaziers. This is a reference to the glass of Crystal Palace when it still stood. Crystal is a type of expensive glass.

The symbol of the club is an eagle grasping a ball. Blue and red are the home colours of the club. The club has an alternative name of the eagles in view of its emblem.

The club attracts fervent support. It has had players from countries such as Italy, Serbia, England, Scotland, Wales, Russia, Spain, Ghana, Belgium, Ireland, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo, France and the Netherlands. SOme of the players are internationals.

There is an under 23 squad. There is also a ladies team.

Three men own the club. The manager is Hodgson.

The club has been runner up in the FA Cup. It has never won the premiership. It has won other cups such as the Surrey Cup.

The club has an intense rivalry with two other South London teams. These are Millwall and Charlton Athletic. Millwall is said to have the most moronic and violent fans. Charlton Athletic is not that good.

 

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1. When was Crystal Palace founded?
2. What does FC stand for?
3. What is the symbol of the club?
4. Has it won the FA Cup?
5. Which two clubs are major rivals of this one?
6. What is the capacity of the ground?
7. Name it.
8. What was the original Crystal Palace?
9. When was the real Crystal Palace burnt down?
10. What is a nickname of the club?
11. What is your view of the club? Five marks.

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lisa

how are you. ask the question back.

a few of peoples

she is named

plenty to say

confident.

know the history.

I love very much football.

how is it called

UK. no the.

bye.

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Dream of Putin

night before last I dreamt I was in a group of Russian adults. I was only the onle foreine

putin was there . it was an informal situation. he spoke softly.

he then spoke to me in russian. he perceived I was a foreigner. I spoke to him in his mother tongue.

I cannot remmebr what was said. twas not menacing.

Air rifle

AIR RIFLE

The first air rifle was made in Sweden in the 16th century. But air rifles were not common until the late 19th century. An air rifle involves air being stored mechanically. It is the release of this air which makes the pellet shoot. Air is stored and compressed before firing and air rifle or airgun.

An air rifle is loaded with a small metal pellet. This is unlike a gun where gas is released chemically to make a bullet shoot.

An air gun pellet can travel at a speed of up to 300 metres per second. This is much slower than a bullet. Airguns do not have a long range. But they are quite accurate. An airgun is usually used for shooting targets. Moreover, this is good training for using an actual gun. An airgun can be rifle or a handgun. A rifle has a long barrel. The inside of the barrel has ‘rifling’ which means it is twisted on the inside. This causes the pellet to come out spinning. This means the pellet travels further and straighter. It is like spin passing in rugby. Spinning makes the projectile go faster.

An airgun can kill a small animal. The pellets can usually not kill a human. But if the pellet hits  person on the temple it might kill a person. A pellet could blind a person. Never shoot a person with an airgun pellet! Even if it does not cause serious injury it will still hurt and it is a crime.

In the United Kingdom you need to be 18 to secure an airgun licence. People have sometimes effected robberies using airguns. That is because it looks like a real gun. You are not allowed to take them into banks for that reason.

 

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1. Does an air rifle involve a chemical reaction?
2. Does an air rifle fire a bullet?
3. Where was the air rifle invented?
4. Is is acceptable to shoot a pellet at a human?
5. What does ‘rifling’ the barrel of a gun mean?
6. What is the top speed of an air rifle pellet?
7. What is the purpose of an air rifle?
8. In which century did air rifles become common?
9. What sort of building are you not allowed to take an air rifle into?

 

 

Archery

ARCHERY

The practice of shooting arrows is called archery. Archery has existed throughout history. People made bows and arrows. The word bow rhymes with ‘no’ in this context. A bow is a curved item. It is almost the shape of a capital letter ‘C’. A string points the two tips of the letter ‘C’ shape. The arrow is a thin piece of wood with an arrowhead on the front. The arrowhead is made of metal or perhaps wood. An arrowhead is sharp. When the arrow is fired it is the arrowhead that is in front. The arrowhead goes into the target. An arrow usually has feathers at the back called flights.

In ancient times people used arrows to hunt animals. Later people also used bows and arrows to kill each other.

There are surnames which relate to archery. These are Archer, Bowman, Fletcher (someone who made arrows) and Arrowsmith. Fletcher is from the French word ‘fleche’ meaning ‘arrow.’ So a fletcher was a man who made arrows. Arrowsmith means the same.

In Italy and France in the Middle Ages the crossbow was invented. This had a handle a big like a gun. The bow went left to right across the archer’s body. The bow was accurate but slow to load. It had a shorter range and less penetrating power.

In Wales people extended bows. They became longbows. A longbow was almost as tall as a man. These bows had a very long range like 400 metres. They were inaccurate but had fantastic penetrating power. They could sometimes break through metal.

A long bowman would have to have enormous strength to pull the string back far enough. This was storing potential energy in the bow. When he released the string it would let the arrow fly. Some of these bowman developed curved spines from pulling back the string too much and too far.

People used to fire arrows at targets to practice. The target had concentric circles. That means circles inside circles. The objective was to hit the central circle known as the bull’s eye.

In the Middle Ages bows and arrows were vital weapons of war. The Pope was the leader of all Christians. He said that bows were so devastating that Christians must not use them to fight other Christians. But everyone ignored the Pope’s ruling.

In the early 1400s Wales started to be fully controlled by the King of England. English and Welsh soldiers became part of the same army. They fought against the French. The Welsh longbow men became a crucial part of the army.

Archers often put their arrows face down in the mud in front of them in battle. The arrowhead would stick into the ground. This made it easy for the archer to pick up another arrow when he needed to fire another one.

An arrow can travel at hundreds of miles an hour. We talk about the sound of of the arrow as the arrow ‘singing’.

Archers carry arrows in a bag called a quiver. The quiver is on the archer’s back usually.

In the Middle Ages a law was passed in England mandating every man to practice archery at least one a week. Archery was important for national defence.

In the 17th century the gun started to take over from bows as the main weapon.

Today people still practice archery for fun.

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1. What is a bow?
2. What is an arrow?

3. What is an arrowhead?

4. What is a flight on an arrow?

5. What is a Fletcher?

6. What surnames are for people who did archery?

7. What is a crossbow?

8. What part of the British Isles was best at the longbow?

9. What did the Pope say about bows?

10. What is a quiver?

 

 

Guitar

GUITAR

A guitar is a musical instrument.  Guitars have been around for hundreds of years. Spain is the country most associated with guitars. The guitar has six strings and a number of frets. People play it by moving their fingers to hold down the strings at different frets. This produces a different sound. It changes the pitch of the note. Low pitch is very deep. A high pitch is squeaky. A woman’s voice is higher and a man’s voice is lower. A guitarist plucks the strings. He or she sometimes uses a pick to help do this.

Spanish people brought to guitar to America. The guitar is now played all over the world. Someone who plays this instrument is a guitarist.

There are different types of guitar. Some people play the classic guitar. This is acoustic. In the 1950s the electric guitar was invented.

Elvis Presley was a renowned guitarist. Elvis the Pelvis as he was known also sang as he played the guitar. He often wore blue suede shoes as her performed. Elvis was known mononymically. That means by his Christian name only. Later people called him the King of Rock and Roll.

Jimi Hendrix was one of the most famous guitarists of all time. Jimi was born in the United States. He was African-American. The Hendrix family did not have much money. The guitar was one of his few possessions. Jimi joined the US Army. Army life did not suit him and he left as soon as he could. Mr Hendrix began playing the guitar in a band. His playing was so fantastic that he became the main attraction. He also did the vocals. Jimi broke away and set up his own band called the Jimi Hendrix experience. He got up to wild antics like smashing guitars on stage.

The Woodstock Concert in August 1969 was a seminal moment in American culture. Jimi was there. He famously played the American National Anthem on the electric guitar. Nobody had done that before. He could also play the guitar with his teeth.

Jimi was world famous. He was in demand in the UK and France. He spent a lot of time in London. He lived in a house right beside the house where the 18th century composer Handel had lived.

In 1970 Jimi died of a drug overdose in the Samarkand Hotel, London. He was 27. It is a warning never to touch drugs. The world mourned this extraordinarily talented man who had died so young.

The guitar remains one of the most popular musical instruments in the world.

The word guitar is feminine in Spanish and French.

 

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1. Which country invented the guitar?
2. How many strings does a guitar have?
3. How is the guitar played?
4. Did Elvis Presley sing?
5. What does it mean to be known mononymically?
6. Who was the King of Rock and Roll?
7. What Jimi Hendrix ever a soldier?
8. What part of his body could Jimi play the guitar with which is an unsual way to play it?
9. Which song did Jimi play at Woodstock?
10. When did Jimi die?
11. In French which gender is the guitar?
12. What is your opinion of guitars?

 

Gaming

GAMING

Gaming is playing video games. These have been around in some form since the 1970s. The games in the 70s were primitive compared to today. The graphics and the sound have improved immeasurably.

People watch the game on a screen which could be a computer monitor.  There are images that appear on the screen. There will be figures who appear on the screen and they represent characters. The character could be a man or a woman. Sometimes there are animals or vehicles. These games often involve fighting, a quest or a race. There are a number of buttons to press. People have to press the right buttons at the right time. Sometimes two or three buttons need to be pressed simultaneously.

A keypad or a mouse is used. Sometimes there is a joystick.

The electronic systems which support these games are known as platforms. In arcades there are coin operates machines to play these games. People mostly play these games at home on a console. There are things like X Box and Play Station.

These games require hand eye co-ordination. Some of these skills are transferable to real sports.

Some of the best known games are Mortal Kombat, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, Counterstrike and others. In the military these gaming skills are applicable. Soldiers operate drones. A drone is an unmanned plane. The soldier controlling the drone can be hundreds of miles away. He will look at a screen and press buttons or use a joystick to guide the drone. A camera on the drone will send back images in real time so the soldier can see where the drone is and what it is seeing. When the soldier sees the enemy target he will press a button to fire a missile from the drone.

A video game aficionado is called a gamer. There are international competitions for there. There is a lot of prize money to be won.

Sometimes an internet cafe will stay open all night. Lots of gamers will meet and be playing against each other on different computers. The computers will be linked. Abigail will be on one computer playing against Belinda who is on another.

This is a male dominated sector. However, there are women who are gamers too.

The countries that make most video games are the United States, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom. There is no Gaming World Cup.

Some people design video games as a living. There are university courses in making these games. Being a video game designer is rewarded with a handsome salary.  The gaming industry makes over $140 billion a year and the figure is growing rapidly. Countries like India and China are getting wealthier. More and more people can now afford to be gamers.

Gaming appeals to people from all walks of life. People of all ages play these video games. It attracts people of all races, religions and social classes. There are different personality types who play these games. Some are very sociable, some are average and some are introverted. There are gamers who are very athletic and there are those who are not.

Gaming makes people computer savvy. It can inculcate some important skills. This activity also raises self-esteem. It socialises some people who otherwise find it difficult to interact with their peers.

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1. When were video games invented?
2. What is a gamer?
3. Which are the four main countries that make video games?
4. What is an X Box?
5. How is gaming applicable to the army?
6. How much money is made by gaming each year?
7. Can you studying video game making at university?
8. Name four video games?
9. Do more women play than men?
10. What is your opinion of gaming? Five marks.