V.E.Day, 8 May 1945 V.E Day, May 8th 1945 was the date the Allies celebrated the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler’s Reich, formally recognising the end of the Second World War in Europe. This became known as V.E (Victory in Europe) Day. By April 1945 the Allies had begun to overrun Germany from the west as Russian forces advanced from the east. On 25th April 1945, Allied and Soviet forces met at the Elbe River: the German Army was all but destroyed. Five days later, Hitler killed his dog, his new wife Eva and then committed suicide in his Berlin bunker. His successor, Admiral Karl Doenitz, sent General Alfred Jodl to General Dwight Eisenhower’s Supreme Allied Headquarters in Rheims to seek terms for an end to the war. At 2:41 a.m. on 7th May, General Jodl signed the unconditional surrender of German forces, which was to take effect from 8th May at 11:01 p.m. After six years and millions of lives lost, the Nazi scourge was crushed and the war in Europe was finally over. Great celebrations took place across Europe and North America to officially recognise the Allies’ formal acceptance of the unconditional surrender of German armed forces. In London over a million people celebrated Victory in Europe (VE) Day. Crowds massed in Trafalgar Square and up the Mall to Buckingham Palace, where King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by the Prime Minister Winston Churchill, appeared on the balcony of the Palace to cheering crowds. Amongst those crowds Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II) and her sister, Princess Margaret blended anonymously, apparently enjoying the celebrations for themselves first hand. In the United States, President Harry Truman, who celebrated his 61st birthday that same day, dedicated the victory to his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had died less than a month earlier on 12th April. The Allies had originally agreed to mark 9th May 1945 as VE day, but eager western journalists broke the news of Germany’s surrender prematurely, thus signalling the earlier celebration. The Soviets kept to the agreed date, and Russia still commemorates the end of the Second World War, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War, as The Allied victory over Japan, known as VJ Day, did not take place until some months later on 15th August 1945. Parties were organised throughout Europe and North America in May 2005 to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of VE Day. Of special significance perhaps, were those events planned to commemorate the liberation of the Channel Islands, which were the only part of Britain to fall under the domination of the Third Reich. The 75th anniversary of V.E Day in 2020 was a much smaller event due to the Covid-19 pandemic, however there was an address by the Queen to the nation and Churchill’s victory speech was broadcast on television. A national 2 minute silence was held at 11am.
0 Comments
Opening of Channel Tunnel, 6thMay 1994 Every day since 1994 LeShuttle (formerly known as Eurotunnel Le Shuttle) has run services through the Channel Tunnel, taking passengers and freight from Folkestone to Calais in a journey time of just 35 minutes. What is even more remarkable is the tunnel itself, an engineering achievement that many people consider a wonder of the modern world. The tunnel is designed to leak. Water naturally permeates down from the material above the tunnel and is then pumped away. The water is a mixture of groundwater and seawater, collected at six drainage stations along the course of the tunnel. The tunnel that LeShuttle uses is officially called the Channel Tunnel, but you might know it as ‘The Chunnel’, which is how it was often referred to while it was being built and in its early years of operation. It is also sometimes known as the Eurotunnel, which was part of our brand name until 2023. LeShuttle and the Channel Tunnel are owned and operated by a company called Getlink. Eurostar passenger trains also run through the Channel Tunnel. The Channel Tunnel is 32 miles (50.5 km) long between our two terminals in Folkestone and Calais. The undersea section is 25 miles (38 km) long, making it the longest undersea tunnel in the world. The Channel Tunnel is 75 metres below sea level at its deepest point. Napoleon by a French mining engineer, Albert Mathieu-Favier, and would have used oil lamps to light the way of horse-drawn carriages. Numerous schemes were subsequently proposed over the best part of 200 years but none successfully got off the ground. There had been talk of a tunnel linking France and England since the early 19th century. It was suggested to Excavation work on the Channel Tunnel started in 1987, with digging taking place on both sides of the Channel at the same time. The English and French tunnels met up in late 1990, and construction was completed in 1993. 13,000 people worked on the project. The total cost of building the Channel Tunnel was £4.65 billion The Channel Tunnel was officially opened on 6th May 1994 by HM Queen Elizabeth II and François Mitterrand, the President of France. The Construction Process - Timeline
LeShuttle trains can travel through the Channel Tunnel at speeds of up to 140 km/h. The journey time of a LeShuttle crossing is 35 minutes, under normal operating conditions. By comparison, the fastest ferry crossing is 90 minutes. Each shuttle is 800 metres long (that’s the equivalent of seven football pitches). The Tunnels The Infrastructure The Channel Tunnel is the longest undersea tunnel in the world: its section under the sea is 38km long. It is actually composed of three tunnels, each 50km long, bored at an average 40m below the sea bed. They link Folkestone (Kent) to Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais). Eurotunnel Shuttles, Eurostar and freight trains runs on two monodirectional single-track tunnels. They are connected every 375 metres by cross-passages to a service tunnel, a road tunnel for the maintenance operations and eventually the evacuation of passengers.The two undersea cross-overs brings flexibility to operations as trains can pass from one railway tunnel to the other, in particular during the maintenance periods which take place at night time. In normal operations, Eurotunnel Shuttles use the south tunnel in the France–UK direction, and the north tunnel when travelling from the UK to France. The two rail tunnels are 7.6m in diameter and 30m apart. Each rail tunnel has a single track, overhead power line (catenary) and two walkways (one for maintenance purposes and the other on the side nearest the service tunnel for use in the event of an emergency evacuation). The walkways are also designed to maintain a shuttle upright and in a straight line of travel in the unlikely event of a derailment. The service tunnel is 4.8m in diameter and lies between the two rail tunnels 15m away from each of them. The service tunnel allows access to maintenance and emergency rescue teams and permit the evacuation of passengers in the event of an incident. It also serves as access to the ventilation of the entire infrastructure. It is therefore kept in a state of air overpressure and remains safe from fumes in case of fire in one of the railway tunnels, for an optimum safety. A transport system was specifically conceive for the service tunnel in which vehicles drive on the left. This multi-functional system is used for mainteannce operations and in case of incidents, with the aim of reaching the scene of an incident in the minimum time. There are two types of vehicles used in the service tunnel: some unique wire-guided STTS vehicles (service tunnel transport system) made of two driving cabines at each end and a central module dedicated either to the emergency services or to the maintenance as well as some electric and diesel-powered cars for maintenance purposes. High-Tech and Fully-Connected Equipments Fully connected from its construction, the Channel Tunnel comprises more than 36,000 state-of-the-art and other systems installed in the three tunnels and linked to many equipments. The track in each rail tunnel has two continuously welded rails laid on precast concrete supports (sleeper blocks) embedded in the concrete track bed. Cooling pipes, fire mains, signalling equipment and cables are fixed to the sides of the tunnels. The cooling system is fed by the cooling plants at Shakespeare Cliff in the UK and Sangatte in France. The 25,000volts overhead catenary supplies traction power to the shuttles as well as to other trains using the Tunnel, e.g. Eurostar and rail freight trains. The catenary is divided into sections, so that maintenance work can be carried out in stages. Electrical power supplying the tunnels, drainage pumps, lighting and the trains, is provided by substations on each side of the Channel. In the event of loss of power from one side, the entire system can be supplied from the other side. Some fixed equipment, such as the lighting system or the opening of the cross-passage doors between the rail tunnels and the service tunnel can be switched on from the control Rail Control Centre (RCC) or manually in the tunnels. Various fire-protection systems, including the four Safe stations in the rail tunnels, and other detection systems are installed at points along the length of the tunnels and in the technical rooms of the Tunnel. Principal Items of the Fixed Equipment Mechanical Equipment in the Tunnels 550km of pipes 2 ventilation systems 1 cooling system with the two cooling plants at Shakespeare Cliff and Sangatte 1 drainage system with 6 pumping stations 1 fire main, with 2 huge reservoirs at each end and their pumping stations 600 cross-passage doors and the giant cross-over doors Track and Catenaries 200km of track, including 100km in the tunnels and 176 points, including 4 cross-overs 950km of catenary cables. Electricity Supply 2 substations connected to the British and French grids to supply the 25,000volts for the traction and the 21,000volts (three-phase) for other fixed equipment 175 secondary substations (high, medium and low voltage supply), 350km of supporting structures and more than 1,300km of cables in the tunnels 20,000 lighting fixtures. The service tunnel is 4.8m in diameter and lies between the two rail tunnels 15m away from each of them. The service tunnel allows access to maintenance and emergency rescue teams and permit the evacuation of passengers in the event of an incident. It also serves as access to the ventilation of the entire infrastructure. It is therefore kept in a state of air overpressure and remains safe from fumes in case of fire in one of the railway tunnels, for an optimum safety. A transport system was specifically conceive for the service tunnel in which vehicles drive on the left. This multi-functional system is used for mainteannce operations and in case of incidents, with the aim of reaching the scene of an incident in the minimum time. There are two types of vehicles used in the service tunnel: some unique wire-guided STTS vehicles (service tunnel transport system) made of two driving cabines at each end and a central module dedicated either to the emergency services or to the maintenance as well as some electric and diesel-powered cars for maintenance purposes. High-Tech and Fully-Connected Equipments Fully connected from its construction, the Channel Tunnel comprises more than 36,000 state-of-the-art and other systems installed in the three tunnels and linked to many equipments. The track in each rail tunnel has two continuously welded rails laid on precast concrete supports (sleeper blocks) embedded in the concrete track bed. Cooling pipes, fire mains, signalling equipment and cables are fixed to the sides of the tunnels. The cooling system is fed by the cooling plants at Shakespeare Cliff in the UK and Sangatte in France. The 25,000volts overhead catenary supplies traction power to the shuttles as well as to other trains using the Tunnel, e.g. Eurostar and rail freight trains. The catenary is divided into sections, so that maintenance work can be carried out in stages. Electrical power supplying the tunnels, drainage pumps, lighting and the trains, is provided by substations on each side of the Channel. In the event of loss of power from one side, the entire system can be supplied from the other side. Some fixed equipment, such as the lighting system or the opening of the cross-passage doors between the rail tunnels and the service tunnel can be switched on from the control Rail Control Centre (RCC) or manually in the tunnels. Various fire-protection systems, including the four Safe stations in the rail tunnels, and other detection systems are installed at points along the length of the tunnels and in the technical rooms of the Tunnel. Principal Items of the Fixed Equipment Mechanical Equipment in the Tunnels 550km of pipes 2 ventilation systems 1 cooling system with the two cooling plants at Shakespeare Cliff and Sangatte 1 drainage system with 6 pumping stations 1 fire main, with 2 huge reservoirs at each end and their pumping stations 600 cross-passage doors and the giant cross-over doors Track and Catenaries 200km of track, including 100km in the tunnels and 176 points, including 4 cross-overs 950km of catenary cables. Electricity Supply 2 substations connected to the British and French grids to supply the 25,000volts for the traction and the 21,000volts (three-phase) for other fixed equipment 175 secondary substations (high, medium and low voltage supply), 350km of supporting structures and more than 1,300km of cables in the tunnels 20,000 lighting fixtures. Covering an area of 650-hectare and 30-km long perimeter, the Coquelles terminal, near Calais, is one of the largest land-travel complexes in Europe (the equivalent in size to an international airport). As a result of the marshy nature of the soil, the whole area had to be covered with a 50-cm thick layer of sand before construction could begin in order to ensure a good base for the foundations. As the Coquelles terminal size is by far bigger than the Folkestone terminal, it comprises the many maintenance buildings for the infrastructure and the rolling stock, including the F46, the longest railway mainteannce building in the world. With its 838m long, it allows technicians to work on a complete Shuttle without having to disconnect and reform each section, a long and costly task. The Folkestone terminal, located at 8 km from the undersea tunnels at Shakespeare Cliff, covers a 150-hectare area, i.e. about one third of the area of the French terminal. Its construction required first to stabilise the site in order to prevent the sides of the adjacent escarpment from subsiding. The level of the whole site was then raised to level out the soil and eliminate steep slopes. Both terminals are easily reached through their direct access to the motorway network in the UK (M20) and in France (A16). They both represent the loading and unloading points for vehicles travelling on Eurotunnel Shuttles. Access to the terminals is made through tolls, for passenger vehicles and for trucks. Once the self-check-in operations are done, customers get to the border controls, carried out by British and French police and customs. All controls are carried out before departure in order to enable customers to continue their journey directly on the motorway network on the other side of the Channel. Passengers then have the opportunity to take a break at the Victor Hugo terminal in Folkestone or at the Charles Dickens terminal in Coquelles (shops, restaurants, play area, etc) or to drive towards the allocation areas before reaching the 12 platforms area, each 1-km long. Vehicles can then load on board Le Shuttle for cars, coaches, camper-vans, caravans, motorcycles,.. or on Le Shuttle Freight for trucks. There arseveral different areas on each terminal – passenger, freight, control centres, administration and maintenance buildings. Traffic control on the terminals is managed by a road Terminal Control Centre (TCC). On top of the many IT systems enabling vehicles to be recognised upon arrival at the self check-in tolls and the many screens linked to about a hundred cameras, the TCC have a direct view over the allocation lanes for vehicles. The entire Eurotunnel transport system is controlled from the RCC (Rail Control Centre). There are two centres, one on each terminal, and each can take turns to take over control of the system. The RCC manages all rail traffic (trains and shuttles) on the Concession, i.e. in the tunnels and on the terminals. The system is in two parts, the Rail Traffic Management (RTM), which controls the rail traffic system, and the Engineering Management System (EMS) which controls the fixed equipment such as ventilation, lighting, power for the catenary. The Road Traffic ControL Centres (TCC) manage, on each terminal, the customers’ vehicles of the Passenger and Freight services from their arrival just before check-in to loading onto the Shuttles as well as from their exit from the Shuttles to the exit road towards the M20 and 16 motorways. Coronation of Charles III, 6th May 2023 The coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as king and queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, took place on Saturday, 6 May 2023 at Westminster Abbey. Charles acceded to the throne on 8 September 2022 upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II. The ceremony was structured around an Anglican service of Holy Communion. It included Charles taking an oath, being anointed with holy oil, and receiving the coronation regalia, emphasising his spiritual role and secular responsibilities. Representatives of the Church of England and the British royal family declared their allegiance to him, and people throughout the Commonwealth realms were invited to do so. Camilla was crowned in a shorter and simpler ceremony. After the service, members of the royal family travelled to Buckingham Palace in a state procession and appeared on the palace's rear and front balconies. The service was altered from past British coronations to represent multiple faiths, cultures, and communities across the United Kingdom; it was shorter than Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953, and had a peak UK television audience of 20.4 million. The coronation elicited both celebrations and protest in the United Kingdom, with surveys carried out before the event suggesting that the British public was ambivalent towards the ceremony and its funding. The events in London and Windsor drew large crowds, but were also protested against by republican groups; 64 people were arrested on the day, which drew criticism from Human Rights Watch. Other celebrations included street parties, volunteering, special commemorative church services, and a concert at Windsor Castle on 7 May. The response in the other Commonwealth realms was similarly mixed; while there were many celebrations, some government officials and indigenous groups took the opportunity to voice republican sentiments and call for reparatory justice. Charles and Camilla's coronation was the first of a British monarch in the 21st century and the 40th to be held at Westminster Abbey since the coronation of William the Conqueror in 1066. Preparation Background Charles III became king immediately upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II, at 15:10 BST on Thursday 8 September 2022. He was proclaimed king by the Accession Council of the United Kingdom on Saturday 10 September, which was followed by proclamations in other Commonwealth realms. Charles's wife, Camilla, became queen consort. During Elizabeth's reign, planning meetings for Charles's coronation, codenamed "Operation Golden Orb", were held at least once a year, attended by representatives of the government, the Church of England, and Charles's staff. Service and Procession The organisation of the coronation was the responsibility of the earl marshal, the Duke of Norfolk. A committee of privy counsellors arranged the event. On 11 October 2022, the date of the coronation was announced as 6 May 2023, a choice made to ensure sufficient time to mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth II before holding the ceremony. A Coronation Claims Office was established within the Cabinet Office to handle claims to perform a historic or ceremonial role at the coronation, replacing the Court of Claims. The posts of lord high steward and lord high constable of England, which are now only named for coronations, were given to General Sir Gordon Messenger and Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, respectively. The holy anointing oil used in the service was consecrated at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on 6 March 2023 by Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, under the supervision of Hosam Naoum, the Anglican archbishop of Jerusalem. It was based on the same formula as the oil used in the coronation of Elizabeth II, but without animal products such as civet. On 3 May, Charles and Camilla, William, Prince of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales, their children, and Anne, Princess Royal, attended coronation rehearsals at Westminster Abbey. Westminster Abbey was closed to tourists and worshippers from 25 April for preparations, and would not re-open until 8 May. As at previous coronations, many attendees had an obscured view, as the abbey's nave was filled to capacity. However, on this occasion some television screens were installed in the nave to address this problem. Guests The coronation was a state event funded by the British government, which also decided the guest list. Approximately 2,200 guests from 203 countries were invited. They included members of the British royal family, representatives from the Church of England and other British faith communities, prominent politicians from the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, and foreign heads of state. The number of British political attendees was reduced significantly from 1953, when virtually the entire Parliament of the United Kingdom attended. Invitations were extended to 850 community and charity representatives, including 450 British Empire Medal recipients and 400 young people, half of whom were nominated by the British government. Following a tradition dating from 1189, fourteen barons of the Cinque Ports were also invited. Safety regulations at Westminster Abbey restricted the number of guests, as in contrast to earlier coronations no temporary stands were erected in the building. Several receptions were hosted by Charles on that day, including one for dignitaries from the Commonwealth realms at Buckingham Palace, and another reception at Marlborough House for all the leaders of the Commonwealth of Nations. In the evening, the King hosted a reception for foreign royalty and other overseas dignitaries at Buckingham Palace, and family members and guests also attended a reception at Oswald's. Vestments and Crowns In a break with tradition, Charles's coronation vestments (ceremonial clothes) were largely reused from previous coronations instead of being newly made. While it is customary for the supertunica and robe royal to be reused, Charles also wore vestments first used by George IV, George V, George VI, and Elizabeth II. Camilla similarly reused vestments, including Elizabeth II's robe of state, but also wore a new robe of state featuring her cypher, bees, a beetle, and various plants and flowers. She also wore a new coronation gown, created by Bruce Oldfield and embroidered with wildflowers, the United Kingdom's floral emblems, her cypher, a pair of dogs, and her grandchildren's names. St Edward's Crown, which was used to crown the King, was removed from the Tower of London in December 2022 for resizing. In February 2023 Queen Mary's Crown, which was used to crown Camilla, was also removed from display to be reset with Cullinan III, IV and V and for four of its eight detachable arches to be removed. The Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was not used, to avoid a potential diplomatic dispute with India; the crown contains the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which is claimed by India. The dress code for peers without a role in the ceremony was originally business suits or parliamentary robes, rather than the coronets, coronation robes, and court dress traditionally worn. This was changed in the week before the coronation after protests, with peers allowed to wear coronation robes but not coronets. The general dress code for men was morning dress, a lounge suit or national dress. Art The official photographer of the coronation was Hugo Burnand, who had previously been the official photographer for Charles and Camilla's wedding in 2005. Eileen Hogan was selected to paint the coronation ceremony, and Peter Kuhfeld and Paul Benney to paint the coronation portraits of Charles and Camilla respectively. Three alumni of The Royal Drawing School, Fraser Scarfe, Phoebe Stannard and Gideon Summerfield, were picked to document the procession. Andrew Jamieson was commissioned to create the coronation invitation, which featured the couple's coats of arms, the floral emblems of the United Kingdom, and a Green Man amid other British wildflowers and wildlife. The coronation emblem was designed by Jony Ive with his creative collective Love From, and depicts the floral emblems of the United Kingdom in the shape of St Edward's Crown. There are versions of the emblem in both English and Welsh. The procession into the abbey was led by the Cross of Wales, a new processional cross commissioned by Charles to mark the centenary of the Church in Wales. It includes relics of the True Cross gifted to the King by Pope Francis. The screen which concealed the King during his anointing was designed by iconographer Aidan Hart and embroidered by the Royal School of Needlework. It includes 56 leaves embroidered with the names of the members of the Commonwealth of Nations. The Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Simon Armitage, released a new poem, An Unexpected Guest, to mark the coronation. The poem follows a woman invited to attend the coronation in Westminster Abbey, and quotes Samuel Pepys' experience at the coronation of Charles II in 1661. Music Twelve new pieces were commissioned for the service and used alongside older works, including several used at previous coronations. Six of the new commissions were performed by the orchestra before the service — those by Judith Weir; Sir Karl Jenkins; a vocal piece by Sarah Class performed by Pretty Yende; Nigel Hess, Roderick Williams, and Shirley J. Thompson; Iain Farrington; and a new march by Patrick Doyle. New compositions by Roxanna Panufnik, Tarik O'Regan, and Andrew Lloyd Webber were part of the service, and Debbie Wiseman composed two related pieces, one of which was performed by the Ascension Choir. Existing works by William Byrd, George Frideric Handel, Edward Elgar, Walford Davies, William Walton, Hubert Parry, and Ralph Vaughan Williams were included, as they had been at previous coronations. Six pieces were performed in new arrangements by John Rutter. In tribute to the King's 64-year tenure as Prince of Wales the Kyrie was set in Welsh by Paul Mealor and was sung by Sir Bryn Terfel. A Greek Orthodox chant was included in the service in tribute to the King's father, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The director of music for the coronation was Andrew Nethsingha, the organist and master of the choristers at the abbey. Before the service John Eliot Gardiner conducted the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists. The main choir was a combination of the choirs of Westminster Abbey, the Chapel Royal, the Monteverdi Choir, Methodist College Belfast Girls' Choir and Truro Cathedral Girls' Choir. The orchestra players were drawn from the Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Regina Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Opera House Orchestra and Welsh National Opera Orchestra, which are all patronised by Charles. The orchestra, situated in the organ loft, was conducted by Antonio Pappano and led by Vasko Vasilev. The State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry and the Fanfare Trumpeters of the Royal Air Force played the fanfares. All eight of the massed bands in the coronation procession played the same music, keeping time with each other with the help of a radio broadcast click track – the first time such technology has been used on such a large-scale ceremonial event; previously bands would march to different pieces of music starting at different times. The tempo set was 108 beats per minute, slowed down from the regulation 116 beats per minute because of the size of the bands. An official coronation album, which includes all music and spoken word from the pre-service and service was recorded and released by Decca Records after the ceremony. Cost As a state event, the event was paid for by the British government as well as Buckingham Palace through the Sovereign Grant and Privy Purse. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport stated that it was "unable to give costs, or a breakdown of funding" until after the coronation, but unofficial estimates of £50 million to £250 million have been reported. The cost of the coronation was criticised by the campaign group Republic and the Scottish National Party MP Ronnie Cowan in light of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis in the United Kingdom. In comparison, Elizabeth II's coronation cost £912,000 in 1953, equating to £20.5m in May 2023, while George VI's cost £454,000 in 1937, equating to £24.8m in May 2023. George VI's coronation prior to the coronation of Charles III and Camilla was the most expensive in the last 300 years. The elevated expenses for Charles and Camilla's coronation has been partly attributed to the increased cost for security measures. Coronation Service The events of the coronation day included a procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, the coronation service itself, a procession back to Buckingham Palace, and an appearance by the King and Queen, with other members of the royal family, on the palace balcony for a flypast by the Royal Air Force. The coronation was conducted by the Church of England and contained several distinct elements, which were structured around a service of Holy Communion. Charles and Camilla first proceeded into the abbey, then Charles was presented to the people and recognised as monarch. After this Charles took an oath stating that he will uphold the law and maintain the Church of England. He then was anointed with holy oil, invested with the coronation regalia, and crowned with St Edward's Crown. After this he was enthroned and received homage from Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, and William, Prince of Wales, and the people were invited to swear allegiance. Camilla then was anointed, crowned, and enthroned. The King and Queen ended the service by taking Holy Communion, and processed out of the abbey. Several public viewing spots of the procession were prepared. Tens of thousands of people from the UK and the rest of the world were estimated to have lined the procession route. Despite the forecast for rain, spectators started camping along the procession route days before the event. On the morning of the event, authorities announced the procession route had reached capacity at 8:29 Procession to the abbey On the day of the coronation Charles and Camilla travelled to Westminster Abbey in procession. They departed Buckingham Palace at 10:20 BST and went along The Mall, down Whitehall and along Parliament Street, and around the east and south sides of Parliament Square before reaching the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey, a distance of 1.42 miles (2.29 km). Charles and Camilla used the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, drawn by six Windsor Greys, and were accompanied by the Sovereign's Escort of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment. Procession into the Abbey The procession into the abbey was led by leaders and representatives from non-Christian religions, including the Baháʼí, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Shia and Sunni Muslim, Sikh and Zoroastrian communities. They were followed by leaders from different Christian denominations, including the Church of England. After this the flags of the Commonwealth realms were carried by representatives, accompanied by their governors general and prime ministers. The choir followed. Charles and Camilla arrived shortly before 11:00 and formed their own procession. It was led by four peers carrying heraldic standards displaying the arms of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, followed by the king's champion, Francis Dymoke, carrying the royal standard. The Lord High Constable of England and the Earl Marshal also took part. Charles and Camilla were each attended by four pages of honour, including Prince George of Wales and Camilla's grandsons. Camilla was also accompanied by two ladies in attendance: Annabel Elliot, her sister, and the Marchioness of Lansdowne. Unexpectedly the Prince and Princess of Wales and their two younger children arrived at the Abbey after the King, "whose horses went a lot faster than they had in the practice", and joined the procession after the King and Queen. The choir sang Hubert Parry's "I was glad", during which the King's Scholars of Westminster School sang "Vivat Regina Camilla" and "Vivat Rex Carolus" ('Long live Queen Camilla' and 'Long live King Charles'). After this the coronation regalia was carried in procession to the altar. At Charles's request, the sixth-century St Augustine Gospels was also carried in the procession. Recognition The Coronation Chair, which housed the Stone of Scone, was used by Charles during the ceremony. For this coronation, the chair was fitted with a new seat cushion and armrests. The service, conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, began with the King and Queen having a silent moment of prayer before seating themselves on their chairs of estate, made for the 1953 coronation. In a new element of the service, the king was welcomed by one of the Children of the Chapel, to which he replied that he came "not to be served but to serve". Paul Mealor's "Coronation Kyrie" was sung in Welsh by Sir Bryn Terfel. After this the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lady Elish Angiolini, Christopher Finney, and Baroness Amos stood facing east, south, west, and north and in turn asked the congregation to recognise Charles as king; the crowd replied "God save King Charles!" each time. Charles was then presented with a new Bible by the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Oath and Accession Declaration The Archbishop of Canterbury acknowledged the existence of multiple faiths and beliefs in the United Kingdom. Charles then took the coronation oath, in which he swore to govern each of his countries according to their respective laws and customs, to administer law and justice with mercy, and to uphold Protestantism in the United Kingdom and protect the Church of England. Subsequently, he made the statutory accession declaration. Charles then signed a written form of the oath, before kneeling before the altar and saying a prayer. The service of Holy Communion then continued. The Archbishop of Canterbury delivered the collect, and the epistle and gospel were read by the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and the bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, respectively. This was followed by a sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Anointing Charles removed his robe of state and was seated on the Coronation Chair. He then was anointed with holy oil by the Archbishop of Canterbury, using the ampulla and a medieval spoon, the latter the oldest part of the coronation regalia. The anointing emphasised the spiritual role of the sovereign. It was a private part of the service; as in 1953 it was not televised, and Charles was concealed by a screen. During this the choir sang the anthem Zadok the Priest. Investment and Crowning St Edward's Crown, the Orb, the Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross, the Sovereign's Sceptre with Dove, and the Sovereign's Ring In the next part of the service, Charles was presented with several items from the coronation regalia. The spurs, armills, Sword of State, and Sword of Offering were given to the King, who touched them with his hand, before they were removed again. During this, Psalm 71 was chanted in Greek by an Orthodox choir in tribute of the King's father, Prince Philip, who was born a prince of Greece. The King was invested with the stole royal, robe royal, and the Sovereign's Orb, and presented with the sovereign's ring, which he touched but did not wear. He was then invested with the glove, the Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross, and the Sovereign's Sceptre with Dove. The King then was crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, with the Archbishop and then the congregation chanting, "God save the King!". At the moment of crowning the church bells of the abbey rang, 21-gun salutes were fired at 13 locations around the United Kingdom and on deployed Royal Navy ships, and 62-gun salutes and a six-gun salvo were fired from the Tower of London and Horse Guards Parade. Charles then received a blessing read by the Archbishop of York, the Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain, the Moderator of the Free Churches, the Secretary General of Churches Together in England, the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, representing the Anglican, Greek Orthodox, Nonconformist, ecumenical, and Roman Catholic traditions respectively. Enthronement and Homage Charles moved to the throne (originally made for George VI in 1937) and the Archbishop of Canterbury and William, Prince of Wales, offered him their fealty. The Archbishop of Canterbury then invited the people of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms to swear allegiance to the King, the first time this has occurred. Coronation of the Queen Queen Mary's Crown (here depicted in its original form) was used to crown Queen Camilla The next part of the service concerned Camilla. She was anointed in public view, thought to be the first time this has occurred, and then presented with the Queen Consort's Ring. The Queen then was crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury using Queen Mary's Crown. Camilla then was presented with the Queen Consort's Sceptre with Cross and the Queen Consort's Rod with Dove (which, unlike other queens consort, she chose not to carry), before sitting on her own throne (originally made for Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 1937) beside the King. This was the first coronation of a consort since that of Charles's grandmother Queen Elizabeth in 1937 Holy Communion The offertory followed, during which gifts of bread and wine were brought before the King and prayed over; the prayer was a translation from the Liber Regalis, which dates from c. 1382 and is one of the oldest sources for the English coronation service. Charles and Camilla then received Holy Communion from the Archbishop of Canterbury and the congregation recited the Lord's Prayer, before a final blessing. End of the Service[ At the end of the service the King changed into the Imperial State Crown, during which the congregation sang "Praise, my soul, the King of heaven". Charles and Camilla then proceeded to the west door of the abbey as the national anthem, "God Save the King", was sung. At the end of the procession the King received a greeting by leaders and representatives from the Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, and Buddhist faiths. The abbey bells rang a full peal of "Cambridge Surprise Royal". State Procession to Buckingham Palace The second procession followed the same route as the first, but in reverse and on a larger scale. The King and Queen were carried in the Gold State Coach, drawn by eight Windsor Grey horses, with other members of the royal family in other vehicles, including the Australian State Coach, the Irish State Coach and the Scottish State Coach. The armed forces of the United Kingdom, other countries of the Commonwealth, and the British Overseas Territories played a significant part. Over 5,000 members of the British Armed Forces and 400 Armed Forces personnel from at least 35 other Commonwealth countries were part of the two processions, and 1,000 lined the route. The Sovereign's Bodyguard, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Royal Watermen also took part in the procession, and the Royal British Legion formed a Guard of Honour of 100 Standard Bearers in Parliament Square. The Princess Royal and the Commander of the Household Cavalry served as the Gold Stick-in-Waiting and Silver Stick-in-Waiting, respectively. Balcony Appearances At Buckingham Palace, the King and Queen stood on the rear balcony and received a royal salute and three cheers from the armed forces, who were massed in the palace garden. They later joined other members of the royal family on the front balcony to review a flypast by helicopters and the Red Arrows aerobatic team. A six-minute flypast of 68 aircraft was planned, but prevented by rain and low cloud. A grandstand was built in front of Buckingham Palace from which to watch the procession and flypast, with 3,800 seats offered to Armed Forces veterans, NHS and social care workers, and representatives of charities with links to the King and Queen. In addition, 354 uniformed cadet forces viewed the procession at Admiralty Arch. Public Events and Commemorations United Kingdom Buckingham Palace revealed a new hashflag emoji depicting St Edward's Crown for use on Twitter. On 2 May, the King and Queen attended a celebratory pre-coronation reception at Westminster Hall. They hosted coronation garden parties at Buckingham Palace on 3 and 9 May, at Hillsborough Castle on 24 May and at the Palace of Holyroodhouse on 4 July. On 5 May, Charles, together with the Prince and Princess of Wales, greeted crowds at The Mall during a walkabout. Between 6–8 May people in Britain held "Coronation Big Lunch" street parties. More than 3,000 parties were planned, with English councils having approved the closure of 3,087 roads. Most street parties were scheduled for Sunday, 7 May. Coronation quiche was chosen by Charles and Camilla as the official dish of the Coronation Big Lunch. Pubs also remained open until 01:00 on the coronation weekend. The Coronation Concert was planned for 7 May on Windsor Castle's east lawn. In addition to performances by singers, musicians, and stage and screen actors, the show also featured a "Coronation Choir" composed of community choirs and amateur singers. During the concert, landmarks, areas of natural beauty, and street parties were featured. 5,000 pairs of free tickets were distributed by public ballot, and volunteers from the King and Queen's charities were also invited Several musical performers reportedly turned down the palace's invitation to perform citing scheduling conflicts. On the same day, the Together Coalition, in partnership with The Scout Association, the Royal Voluntary Service, and various faith groups, organised the Big Help Out initiative to encourage volunteering and community service. An estimated 6 million took part in the initiative. The Royal Voluntary Service, of which Camilla is president, also launched the Coronation Champions Awards, which recognised 500 volunteers nominated by the public. The National Literacy Trust, of which Camilla is patron, announced the opening of 50 special primary school libraries to mark the coronation. The Tower of London explored the history of the Crown Jewels in a new exhibition to mark Coronation year, which opened to the public on 26 May. Between 14 July and 24 September 2023, outfits worn by the King and Queen at the Coronation were on display in the Ballroom as part of the summer opening of Buckingham Palace. Six pairs of Coronation Chairs are to be auctioned by Christie's and the sale will raise funds for four charities chosen by the King and Queen. On 5 July, the King and Queen, along with the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay, marked the coronation in Scotland by attending a national service of thanksgiving. The Honours of Scotland were collected from Edinburgh Castle and taken to St Giles' Cathedral following a "People's Procession" involving 100 people that represented aspects of Scottish life. The King and Queen and the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay travelled from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to the cathedral in the "Royal Procession" along the Royal Mile. Following a service of thanksgiving at the cathedral where the King was presented with the Honours, a 21-gun salute from Edinburgh Castle and a fly past by the Red Arrows took place. Ecclesiastical Initiatives Twenty-eight days prior to the coronation of Charles III and Camilla, the Church of England established a period of prayer for them, and to this end, published a Book of Daily Prayers that included "daily themes, reflections and prayers for use by individuals, churches or groups". Congregations of the Church of England held special commemorative services throughout the country on 6–7 May 2023. Government Initiatives The government of the United Kingdom issued coronation medals to 400,000 individuals, including those involved in supporting the coronation, front line emergency and prison services workers, and members of the British Armed Forces. The medals are made of nickel silver and plated in nickel and feature an effigy of the King and Queen, on a red, white and blue ribbon. The Transport for London announced several initiatives. The roundels used by the London Underground, the Overground, and the Elizabeth line were redesigned to include a crown for the coronation. Voice announcement were also replaced by announcements recorded by the King and Queen on 5 May, and were used on railway station and all Underground stations throughout the coronation weekend and bank holiday on Monday. The London North Eastern Railway also named its daily 11:00 passenger train from London King's Cross to Edinburgh Waverley the Carolean Express, starting on 6 May. Natural England will mark the coronation with the creation of the King's Series of National Nature Reserves, which will see five major national nature reserves named every year for the next five years. A new Coronation Garden in Newtownabbey which features music, moving plants, bubbles and a large metal bandstand named in honour of Charles and Camilla was opened by the King and Queen on 24 May. In August, a government fund was launched to plant thousands of trees to mark the coronation and celebrate Charles' interst in the environment. Memorabilia The Royal Mint released a new collection of coins, including 50p and £5 coin depicting the King wearing the Tudor Crown. Royal Mail issued four stamps to mark the King's coronation, as it did for the coronations of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II. The company also applied a special postmark from 28 April to 10 May. The Royal Collection Trust released official coronation memorabilia to mark the occasion. In February 2023, Buckingham Palace announced it would temporarily relax the "rules governing the commercial use of royal photographs and official insignia" to allow other groups to produce coronation memorabilia. Companies that have produced coronation memorabilia include Emma Bridgewater, Jan Constantine, Merrythought, and Royal Crown Derby. Greene King produced a special brew to mark the coronation and auctioned several unopened crates of a special brew created for the cancelled coronation of Edward VIII in 1937, with proceeds from the auction going to The Prince's Trust. Crown Dependencies A public holiday was declared on 8 May in Guernsey, the Isle of Man, and Jersey. As in the United Kingdom, Big Help Outs were also organised in all three Crown Dependencies on the day of the holiday. The States of Guernsey planned events to celebrate the coronation from 5 to 8 May. A vigil was held on 5 May at Forest Methodist Church to reflect on the coronation's spiritual element. On 6 May, bells rang from Town Church, Vale, Forest, and St Pierre du Bois. A live broadcast of the coronation service was played on a large screen at the King George V Sports Ground (KGV), followed by a military parade from Fort George to the Model Yacht Pond. A 21-gun salute was fired at noon from Castle Cornet as part of the national salute. On 7 May, a Coronation Big Lunch was held at Saint Peter Port seafront, along with a service of thanksgiving at the Town Church. That evening the Coronation Concert was planned to be screened live at the KGV playing fields, and buildings including Castle Cornet and Fort Grey were illuminated in red, white, and blue in the evening. In Jersey, on 6 May, Coronation Park hosted a large-screen broadcast of the coronation, musical entertainment, and activities. Licensed establishments were encouraged to open ahead of the ceremony's broadcast, and seventh category licensed establishments could apply for special extensions to stay open until 3 am on 7 May. On 7 May, the Coronation Big Lunch took place in Liberation Square, where a public screening of the coronation concert was also held. The Isle of Man government organised three days of festivities from 6 to 8 May. A Coronation Event Fund was established to assist local authorities, community groups, and charities help finance celebrations. On 7 May, a Biosphere Bee Community Picnic took place, and the Legislative Buildings in Douglas was also lit up. A collection of 12 Isle of Man stamps featuring photos of Charles and Camilla, portraits of the King, and the royal cypher were also released in April 2023. British Overseas Territories A public holiday was declared in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and Gibraltar on 8 May. Several events were planned in Bermuda. On 6 May, commemorative tree planting and the opening of a Coronation Garden, designed to reflect Prince Charles's work in support of the environment and sustainable farming, took place at Bermuda Botanical Gardens. On 7 May, a service of thanksgiving was held at the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity, and on 8 May the Children's Reading Festival took place to recognise Camilla's commitment to literacy, particularly for young people. Celebrations in the Falkland Islands included a children's fancy dress party, a live music and karaoke event for young adults, as well as the Big Lunch and the Big Help Out. In Gibraltar, festivities took place on 3 May, including a parade of British Forces Gibraltar and essential services, garden and street parties, concerts, and a 21-gun salute performed by the Royal Gibraltar Regiment. A live screening of the event also took place at Grand Casemates Square. Canada A Canadian coronation emblem was created by Cathy Bursey-Sabourin, Fraser Herald of Arms, and registered with the Canadian Heraldic Authority. It includes Charles III's royal cypher inside a ring of 13 triangular shapes, the number corresponding to Canada's provinces and territories. The circular arrangement symbolises inclusion and the Indigenous concept of equity and the natural world's cycles. The colour green is a reference to the King's commitment to the natural environment, while the white spaces may be viewed as a sunburst, symbolising innovation and new ideas. Several commemorative items were also produced to mark the coronation, with the Royal Canadian Mint producing several commemorative coins, and the Canadian Heritage Mint producing two commemorative medallions approved by Charles. A special edition of Canadian Geographic which focused on Charles was also distributed. Federal initiatives On 6 May, a televised national ceremony to mark the coronation of the king of Canada took place at the Sir John A. Macdonald Building in Ottawa. It featured speeches by Algonquin spiritual leader Albert Dumont and aerospace engineer Farah Alibay, and performances by the Eagle River Singers, Sabrina Benaim, Florence K, Inn Echo, and the Ottawa Regional Youth Choir. During the event, Dominic Laporte created a spray-paint artpiece thematically linked to flowers, as an homage to Charles's support for the natural environment. Several items were unveiled at the ceremony, including a new standard for the monarch, a heraldic crown incorporating distinctly Canadian elements, and a definitive stamp with an image of the King by Canada Post. It was also announced that an effigy of Charles would replace that of Elizabeth II on Canadian coinage and the Canadian twenty-dollar note. The ceremony concluded with a 21-gun salute and a performance by the Central Band of the Canadian Armed Forces on Parliament Hill. Landmarks across Canada were illuminated emerald green on 6 and 7 May. Tours were offered at Rideau Hall, the official residence of the monarch and governor general of Canada, and the Central Band of the Canadian Armed Forces performed there. Members of the Governor General's Foot Guards performed changing of the guard ceremonies. Several Royal Canadian Legion branches hosted receptions. On 8 May the government announced a donation of $100,000 to the Nature Conservancy of Canada to mark the coronation. The Department of Canadian Heritage provided $257,000 to the Royal Canadian Geographical Society to produce educational material for schools on the King's association with Indigenous peoples in Canada and his tours of the country, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada approved the use of a special call sign in Canada for amateur radio operators to use from 5 May to 2 June. The government will issue coronation medals to 30,000 Canadians who made significant contributions to the country or their local region. Provincial and Territorial Initiatives Lieutenant governors and territorial commissioners organised events that included exhibitions, military parades, and tree plantings. The lieutenant governors of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan hosted events at their respective Government Houses on 6 May. Additional events were planned at Government House, Nova Scotia, for 2 May and 22 June, and at Government House, Saskatchewan for 7 and 13 May. The latter will feature a debut musical performance by Jeffery Straker, who composed a new song for the coronation. The Lieutenant Governor of Ontario hosted a panel on the coronation with the Empire Club of Canada on 2 May and will open the Lieutenant Governor's Suite at the Ontario Legislative Building to the public as a part of Doors Open Toronto on 27 and 28 May. Government House, British Columbia will host a garden festival and unveil a new garden pathway later in 2023 to mark the coronation. The Lieutenant Governor of Alberta will also hold an event at the University of Alberta Botanic Garden later in 2023 to honour the occasion. A coronation fair hosted by the government of Ontario at Queen's ParkOther celebrations organised by provincial governments included events organised at the Saskatchewan Legislative Building on 5 May and the Manitoba Legislative Building on 6 May. The government of Ontario hosted a fair at Queen's Park in Toronto and offered free admission to provincially-owned attractions and 39 provincial parks on the date of the coronation. A program by the government of Newfoundland and Labrador to distribute eastern white pine seedlings from the Wooddale Provincial Tree Nursery to the public was launched on 6 May to honour Charles's focus on environmentalism. Several coronation concerts were also organised. The Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario initiated a six-part coronation concert series for long-term care homes from April to May. Several places hosted concerts during the coronation weekend, including the Cathedral Church of St James in Toronto, Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria, and Knox-Metropolitan United Church in Regina. Australia Celebrating Charles III's coronation as king of Australia, buildings and monuments across the country were illuminated in royal purple on 6 and 7 May. A flag notice was also issued, urging the display of the national flag, the Aboriginal flag, and Torres Strait Islander flag throughout the coronation weekend. On 7 May, the Australian Defence Force fired a 21-gun salute from the forecourt of Parliament House, followed by a flypast by the Royal Australian Air Force The Federal Executive Council also made a $10,000 donation in the King's name to a charity working to conserve the western ground parrot, as an official "coronation gift" to Charles. The ballroom of Government House, Perth during an open house to mark the coronation. GovernmentHouse in Brisbane, DarwinMelbourne, Perth, and Sydney hosted open houses on 6 and 7 May, while Government House in Adelaide did the same on 21 May. A low level flypast also took place over the Queensland Government House on Coronation Day. Government Houses in Adelaide, Hobart, and Sydney also hosted garden parties and receptions during the coronation weekend, while a barbecue was held by the Governor-General of Australia at Government House, Canberra on 12 May. Government House, Melbourne will host a reception to mark the occasion later in 2023. The Australian Monarchist League hosted several low-key events and screenings of the coronation on 5 and 6 May, including in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney; but, opted not to organise street parties over concerns that they might be disrupted by republican protesters. The Australian Government was criticised by monarchists for not declaring a public holiday, or organising official government events to mark the coronation. New Zealand To celebrate the coronation of Charles III as king of New Zealand, a national event featuring performances was held at the Auckland Domain on 7 May. The New Zealand Defence Force performed a gun salute at Devonport and Point Jerningham in Wellington on the same day. Trees That Count and the Department of Conservation initiated a tree planting campaign, with the New Zealand Government providing one million dollars to support the planting of 100,000 trees by local councils during the coronation weekend. The campaign was launched on the grounds of Parliament House, Wellington on 26 April, during a tree planting ceremony with various parliamentarians, including Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Opposition Leader Christopher Luxon. NZ Post released commemorative coins and stamps on 3 May. An initiative to illuminate landmarks in purple also took place in Auckland, Hawera, and Wellington on 6 May. The chefs of Government House shared a Coronation Pie recipe to commemorate the occasion. Several other public services and private groups also organised commemorative events. The New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts is holding a special exhibition to mark the coronation from 21 April to 21 May, featuring works from 68 practising artists and pieces belonging to the Royal New Zealand Navy. Libraries in South Taranaki hosted coronation events from 1 to 6 May. The Wellington Cathedral of St Paul held a coronation festival from 5 to 7 May. Papua New Guinea[ A ceremony was held at Sir Hubert Murray Stadium in Port Moresby on 6 May to commemorate Charles III's coronation as king of Papua New Guinea. The event was held simultaneously with the coronation ceremony in the United Kingdom. The ceremony included a parade by members of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force, Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary, Papua New Guinea Fire Services, Papua New Guinea Correctional Services and St John Ambulance. A live screening of the coronation, and various speeches and live musical performances were also included with a fireworks finale. Keynote speeches by acting Governor-General Job Pomat and Prime Minister James Marape were also made at the ceremony. Solomon Islands To celebrate Charles III's coronation as king of Solomon Islands, a wake-up call by drumbeaters, pan pipers and the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force band took place in Honiara on 6 May. A commemorative church service was held at the St Barnabas Provincial Cathedral to celebrate the coronation, which also included a cake-cutting ceremony. The service was attended by several ministers of the Crown, including Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare. A public musical performance by One Drop Band was also held at the Unity Square, where a photographic slidehow of historic royal visits to Solomon Islands was also displayed. From 5 to 12 May, the National Art Gallery held an exhibition displaying portraits, historical records, and visits by members of the royal family to Solomon Islands. Antigua and Barbuda Events to mark the coronation of Charles as king of Antigua and Barbuda took place in St. John's. On 7 May, a parade featuring the Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force, Girl Guides, Boy Scouts, Boys and Girls Brigades, the Duke of Edinburgh Award recipients, Seventh Day Adventist Pathfinder, and Cadet Corps marched from the Multipurpose Cultural Centre to Government House. There, a ceremony took place that included a bonfire and performances by the ABDF Band, Salvation Army Timbralists, and SDA Parthfinders Drum Corps. On 8 May, a service of Thanksgiving to mark the occasion took place at the St John's Pentecostal House of Restoration Ministries. Vanuatu The Kastom people who worshipped Prince Philip on the Vanuatuan island of Tanna marked the coronation of his son. Events were organised in the villages of Yakel and Yaohnanen throughout 6 May, including a flag-raising ceremony of the Union Flag, and drinking and dancing. Around 5,000 to 6,000 people gathered to celebrate, with an additional 100 chiefs also attending. Coverage and ratings
The BBC provided the sole feed for the coronation in Ultra-high-definition HDR, a joint project by the BBC Research & Development and BBC Studios Events. Overall, the BBC used 7 outside broadcast trucks and over 100 HDR cameras for the coronation feed. The BBC suspended the television licence fee for the coronation weekend so that venues could screen the coronation on 6 May, and the coronation concert the next day, without needing to buy a television licence. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced that the event would be shown on big screens across 57 locations in Britain, including in Hyde Park, Green Park and St James's Park. Media outlets in Britain, Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand and the United States broadcast the coronation live. Several broadcasters in those countries provided coverage of the occasion throughout the coronation weekend. The coronation was viewed by an average television audience of 18.8 million across 11 channels, with a peak television audience of 20.4 million in the United Kingdom, making it the most-watched broadcast of the year so far. This was, however, smaller than the television audience for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral the previous year, which averaged at 26.2 million viewers and peaked at 29.2 million. The BBC showed the coronation on BBC One, BBC Two with British Sign Language interpretation and the BBC News Channel, and its peak audience of 15.5 million was the largest of any broadcaster. ITV had an audience of 3.6 million people, with ITV3 carrying British Sign Language interpretation from 10:45am to 1pm, and a further 800,000 watched on Sky News and Sky Showcase. Outside the United Kingdom, the ceremony was watched by over 3 million people in Australia, 7.6 million people in Canada, nearly 9 million people in France, over 4.8 million people in Germany, and 12 million people in the US. Coronation Quiche The official Coronation Quiche recipe for King Charles III's crowning contains spinach, broad beans and tarragon, which might be a nod to his sustainable agriculture commitment.
To make the most of the Coronation of King Charles III, communities and neighbours are encouraged to celebrate together at Coronation Big Lunches, taking place all over the United Kingdom on Sunday, 7 May. The official "Coronation Quiche" recipe has been released, and while it feeds only six people, it's a perfect dish to bring to the celebratory lunch, or any meal, for that matter. The selection of the quiche as the official Coronation dish aligns nicely with King Charles apparent affinity for eggs and cheese. In fact, in 2018, Clarence House released a recipe on social media of the then prince's favourite "cheesy baked eggs", which – like the Coronation Quiche – also contains spinach. Other produce in the quiche includes broad beans and tarragon, which is likely a nod to Charles' commitment to organic and sustainable agriculture. Coronation Quiche Serves 6 Ingredients For the Pastry: 125g (1 cup) plain flour Pinch of salt 25g (2 tbsp) cold butter, diced 25g (2 tbsp) lard 2 tbsp milk or 1 x 250g (9oz) block of ready-made shortcrust pastry For the Filling: 125ml (½ cup) milk 175ml (¾ cup) double cream 2 medium eggs 1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon Salt and pepper 100g (3½oz) grated cheddar cheese, 180g (about 6oz) cooked spinach, lightly chopped 60g (2oz) cooked broad beans or soya beans Method Step 1 To make the pastry, sieve the flour and salt into a bowl; add the fats and rub the mixture together using your fingertips until you get a sandy, breadcrumb like texture. Step 2 Add the milk a little at a time and bring the ingredients together into a dough. Cover and allow to rest in the fridge for 30-45 minutes. Step 3 Have ready one 20cm (8in) flan tin. Lightly flour the work surface and roll out the pastry to a circle a little larger than the top of the tin and approximately 5mm (⅕in) thick. Line the tin with the pastry, taking care not to have any holes or the mixture could leak. Cover and rest for a further 30 minutes in the fridge. Step 4 Preheat the oven to 190C (fan 170C) 375F. Line the pastry case with greaseproof paper, add baking beans and bake blind for 15 minutes, before removing the greaseproof paper and baking beans. Reduce the oven temperature to 160C 9fn 140C) 320F. Step 5 To make the filling, beat together the milk, cream, eggs, herbs and seasoning. Scatter ½ of the grated cheese in the blind-baked base, top with the chopped spinach and beans, then pour over the liquid mixture. If required, gently give the mixture a delicate stir to ensure the filling is evenly dispersed but be careful not to damage the pastry case. Sprinkle over the remaining cheese. Place into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until set and lightly golden. Coronation Chicken The coronation of Charles III and Camilla took place on 6 May; to celebrate, why not try making Le Cordon Bleu London's modern twist on coronation chicken? Invented for a luncheon during the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, coronation chicken is a dish of diced chicken with a creamy sauce and touch of curry powder that has endured – and evolved – in British cuisine for 70 years. But how did it all begin and how might one find it today, especially in light of the upcoming coronation of Charles III and Camilla on 6 May? In 1953, the Minister of Works asked Le Cordon Bleu London culinary school – run by Constance Spry, a celebrated florist, and Rosemary Hume, a cook and author – to serve lunch at Westminster School for 350 foreign representatives invited to attend the coronation. As students were serving the food, and the kitchen at the venue was too small to produce anything hot except for soup and coffee, the menu had to be simple but also appropriate for such a historic event. Out of this was born coronation chicken, or as it was listed on the menu, "Poulet Reine Elizabeth". Served cold, the original recipe involved poaching chicken in water and wine before coating it in a creamy sauce consisting of mayonnaise, whipped cream, apricot and tomato purée, curry powder, lemon, pepper and red wine. The dish was accompanied by a well-seasoned salad of rice, green peas and pimentos. Spry said she doubted any of those served the dish would have recognised it as a curry, instead describing it as having "a delicate and nut-like flavour". As early as 1980, recipes can be found that include seedless grapes, while sultanas were often included in stripped-back versions with little more than chicken, mayonnaise and curry powder. Many British celebrity chefs have also added their own twist to it over the years, including Heston Blumenthal, who was invited to recreate the dish – adding other spices, sultanas and nigella seeds – for Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee garden party in 2012. Seventy years after its invention, coronation chicken is still ubiquitous across the United Kingdom and can often be found in sandwiches in the largest supermarkets and the smallest cafes. Perryman illustrated its enduring appeal by explaining, "This dish carries a sentimentality that makes people think of picnics and street parties. It's also so accessible. You can adjust the spices, change the protein, use it in a salad or elevate the recipe for a dinner party. The dish has remained a proud part of our history at the institute, and we love to see how often it has been reimagined by a variety of chefs over the years." Asked how Le Cordon Bleu London will be marking this year's Coronation, Perryman said, "At Café Le Cordon Bleu and CORD Café, we will be offering a gourmet coronation chicken bun [see recipe below] and a delicious fruit tart complete with crown decoration. At CORD Restaurant, the menu will feature a three-course set menu in celebration of King Charles III, comprised of his food favourites and considering His Majesty's own ethos around sustainability and provenance." She continued, "This special menu will include the Coronation Lamb; a beautiful dish of organic British lamb with forest mushrooms, comprised of seared lamb loin, dry slow-roasted crispy shoulder, slow-cooked porcini mushroom and pancetta compote, pickled girolles, garlic cream, lamb jus and savoy cabbage. The dish has been created for CORD by Chef Emil Minev, Director of Culinary Arts at Le Cordon Bleu London." Ingredients For the Chicken 2 Roasting chicken 1 Carrot 1 Bouquet garni Water White wine (a splash) a pinch of salt 4 Peppercorns For the Sauce 2oz Onion (chopped) 2tsp Curry powder 1tsp Tomato purée 100ml Red wine Water 1 Bay leaf Lemon Lemon juice 3tbsp Apricot purée, or apricot jam ¾pint Mayonnaise 3tbsp Whipped cream, plus a little more 1tbsp Oil Salt and pepper Sugar Method For the Chicken STEP 1 Poach the chicken with the carrot, bouquet garni, salt and peppercorns in water and a little wine, for about 40 minutes or until tender. Allow to cool in the liquid and remove the bones. For the Sauce STEP 1 Fry the onion in oil for 3-4 minutes, then add curry powder. Fry for a further 1–2 minutes. STEP 2 Add tomato purée, wine, water, and bay leaf. Bring to boil, add lemon slices and juice, pinch of salt, pepper and sugar. Simmer uncovered for 5–10 minutes. Strain and cool. STEP 3 Add mayonnaise and apricot purée in stages. Season, and add more lemon juice if necessary. Mix in the whipped cream. STEP 4 Coat the chicken in the sauce and mix in a little extra cream and seasoning. Serve with salad and a little extra sauce. Death of Napoleon, 5th May, 1821 The facts about Napoleon Bonaparte’s life— his awesome military achievements against the united powers of Europe, his sweeping reforms of law and bureaucracy across an entire continent—are extraordinary. But Napoleon Bonaparte's final years were just as extraordinary, with humiliating exile, a mysterious death at age 51, and a bizarre postmortem chain of events. After Napoleon was finally defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, he abdicated his throne and surrendered to the British. Rather than execute him and potentially turn him into a martyr, the British placed him in exile on one of the most isolated places on earth—the British-held island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. Exile on Saint Helena Island A tiny island measuring only about 10 by 5 miles, its jagged cliffs must have seemed a grim sight when the former emperor first laid eyes on it. After initially enjoying two pleasant months living at the home of a former friend William Balcombe, Napoleon was then moved to nearby Longwood House, a property that had fallen into disrepair, and which was particularly damp and riddled with mould. His servants were said to have complained of “colds, catarrhs, damp floors and poor provisions.” One of the entourage of 28 people who accompanied Napoleon was the Comte de Las Cases, who described Longwood House as “a wretched hovel, a few feet square.” The island also appears to have been infested with rats, a feature that political satirists from all over Europe took as an opportunity to poke fun at the vanquished former emperor. A German political cartoon from the period mocked his situation, with a battalion of rats serving him instead of courtiers. A French cartoon showed the former Emperor sleeping in a tent while rats on the shore plot a rebellion—the caption read “Not even the rats want him.” It would only get worse. The new British governor of the island, Hudson Lowe, was determined that Napoleon would not escape from this exile as he had done from his first one in Elba, and so restricted his movement, monitoring his correspondence, and ordering that Napoleon be seen in the flesh by British officers several times a day. This led to the ex-emperor going into a bizarre form of rebellion, closing the shutters of the house and carving tiny peepholes into them so that he could look out without being seen. He also designed sunken pathways in the garden to make it harder for the officers to spot him. And despite Lowe’s orders that gifts were not permitted if they made mention of Napoleon’s imperial status, the former emperor continued to preserve royal protocol, with men in military dress and women in bejewelled gowns. He also took up a few pastimes: he dictated his memoirs, wrote a book on Julius Caesar, studied English, and played cards. In fact, he played cards so much that a range of versions of solitaire (the card game also known as “patience”) have been named after him. Eventually, the living conditions—and especially his lack of exercise—began to take their toll, and Napoleon’s health began to decline precipitously. He suffered from abdominal pain, constipation, vomiting and overall weakness. By February 1821, about four years after his arrival on St Helena, Napoleon knew his end was nigh. He reconciled with the Catholic Church after a most tumultuous relationship (which had included at one point kidnapping the pope), and made his confession and took the final sacraments. On May 5, 1821 he passed away at age 51. Shortly after Napoleon died, an autopsy was carried out by his physician Francesco Antommarchi. During this procedure, his heart and intestines were removed and put into sealed vessels, a standard treatment for the bodies of monarchs. However, Antommarchi also cut off Napoleon’s penis—no one knows why. It was then smuggled out of the island by his chaplain and would end up being bought and sold over the years by various parties, eventually ending up on display in 1927 at New York City's Museum of French Art, where TIME magazine compared it to a “maltreated strip of buckskin shoelace.” An inglorious end for one who had in a matter of years managed to conquer almost all of Europe So what killed “Old Bony,” as the English liked to call him? That has been the matter of historical debate and medical science for the last 200 years. Since his death in British custody on the island of St Helena in 1821, the claims that Napoleon Bonaparte was either murdered or spirited off the island have never completely gone away “My death is premature. I have been assassinated by the English oligopoly and their hired murderer.” These were the spiteful words of Napoleon Bonaparte when he dictated his last will and testament in April 1821. One of history’s most accomplished manipulators, Napoleon was a man who took his vendettas to the grave. The day after his 16 observers attended the autopsy, seven doctors among them. They were unanimous in their conclusion: Napoleon had died of stomach cancer. Nevertheless, the doubts Napoleon had fomented about what ‘really’ happened have never quite gone away: did the British government hasten his death? Did French rivals slip poison into his wine? Was it even Napoleon who died in Longwood House in May 1821? For nearly two centuries, all these questions and more have been discussed, disputed and recycled. . A Slow Death That death did not come suddenly. For months Napoleon suffered from abdominal pain, nausea, night sweats and fever. When he was not constipated he was assailed by diarrheal; he lost weight. He complained of headaches, weak legs and discomfort in bright light. His speech became slurred. The night sweats left him drenched. His gums, lips and nails were colourless. Briefly, he got it into his head that he was being poisoned, but then he decided he had the same cancer that had killed his father, and that all medical help was useless. On 4 May 1821, he lost consciousness. On 5 May, news went out to a shocked world that the great man was dead – and the questions began. The first conspiracy theorist was the Irish doctor Barry O’Meara, who had been ship’s surgeon on HMS Bellerophon when Napoleon surrendered to her captain after the battle of Waterloo, and became Napoleon’s personal physician. O’Meara tended the ex-emperor for three years, until he made the bombshell claim that the British governor of St Helena, Sir Hudson Lowe, had commanded him to “shorten Napoleon’s life”. He was, unsurprisingly, sacked. Sir Hudson was eminently well-cast as a sneering British villain, which is the version that has come down through history and, not by coincidence, the version that Napoleon wanted the world to believe. Napoleon had a cunning plan to escape St Helena by claiming its unhealthy climate was fatally weakening him, and using Dr O’Meara’s medical authority in support. O’Meara fell for his patient’s famous charm and obediently backed up his claims. In 1818, he accused Governor Lowe of attempting to hasten Napoleon’s death, and in 1822, he published a book claiming the British government had been determined to eliminate all possibility of another Napoleonic comeback. Many people suspected O’Meara was right, but nobody could prove it. No method yet existed to prove the presence of arsenic in a corpse, and Napoleon’s was, in any case, buried in four coffins and under a large slab of rock. If Napoleon had been murdered, it looked as if the killer had got away with it – until, that was, a pipe-smoking Swedish dentist came across the story some 100 years later and took up where O’Meara had left off. Was Napoleon Murdered? When the private papers of Napoleon’s valet de chambre were published in the 1950s, offering intimate accounts of the emperor’s final days, Dr Sten Forshufvud believed he had spotted a smoking gun. Of 31 symptoms of arsenic poisoning discovered by scientists since 1821, Napoleon presented 28, so Forshufvud asked a Scottish university to conduct a newly-invented arsenic-detection test. Neutron activation analysis (NAA) was carried out on hairs from Napoleon’s head dated to 1816, 1817 and 1818 – he was a prodigious gifter of locks – and revealed fatally high levels of arsenic in his system. O’Meara, it seemed, had been right: Napoleon had been murdered – but by whom? Canadian millionaire Ben Weider was arriving at the same conclusion by means of a different method. Convinced that Napoleon had been ‘done in’, Weider had combed the many memoirs written by members of the Longwood household for clues. When he and Dr Forshufvud collated evidence of the symptoms described in the memoirs and compared them with the peaks and troughs of arsenic absorption displayed by the NAA analysis, they believed they had evidence of doses administered at intervals over several years. Their uncompromisingly-titled book Assassination at St Helena also named a new suspect: Napoleon’s old companion Charles Tristan, marquis de Montholon, a shady character whose wife Napoleon had seduced. He was desperate to get off the island and stood to gain personally from Npoleons will. The restored Bourbon kings of France (who had as much interest as the British in keeping Napoleon down) had (they claimed) threatened to make Montholon’s embezzlement of military funds public if he did not agree to slip Napoleon an arsenical Mickey Finn [a laced drink]. This colourful theory did not convince everyone, however: even if arsenic had killed Napoleon, this did not mean someone had killed Napoleon with arsenic. In the 1980s the poisoning debate veered in a different direction, theorising that Napoleon could simply have absorbed enough arsenic from his environment to kill him off. A 19th-century house was saturated in arsenic: cosmetics, hair tonic, cigarettes, sealing wax, cooking pots, insect-repellent powders, rat poison, cake icing – all were toxic. When a Newcastle University chemist experimented on a scrap of Longwood wallpaper stolen by a 19th-century tourist, he discovered poisonous gases exhaled by a mould growing behind it could even have contributed to napoleon’s fatal decline. Later researchers tested hairs from Napoleon’s son; his first wife, the Empress Josephine; and 10 living persons, and concluded that Europeans in the early 19th century had up to 100 times more arsenic in their bodies than the average person living now. Inanimate guilty parties suddenly swarmed the crime scene. The ‘murder school’ was having none of it. For several years, the two schools of thought slugged it out with tests and counter-tests: the FBI, Scotland Yard, the Strasbourg Forensic Institute, the laboratories of the Paris police – all carried out tests, and all confirmed that high levels of arsenic had been present in Napoleon’s system, but still no one could definitely answer the question of how the poison had got there. Meanwhile, a second debate rumbled away in the background: substitution. The idea of the substitute emperor has been used in films and novels and certainly, Napoleon’s more besotted admirers were (and are) sure that he lived on – and that the man who died on 5 May was someone else. The most startling version of the substitution theories claims that Napoleon never went to St Helena at all: that a double was dispatched in his place while the ex-emperor retired to Verona and peaceably sold spectacles, until he was shot attempting to scale the walls of an Austrian palace to see his young son. Sadly, the tale has no documentary basis whatsoever. A second substitution theory revolves around Jean-Baptiste Cipriani, butler at Longwood until his death in February 1818 during a hepatitis epidemic, and buried nearby. The ‘Cipriani school’ claims that the British secretly dug up Napoleon’s body in the late 1820s for inexplicable reasons of their own. When faced with a French request in 1840 to disinter Napoleon and bring him back to Paris, the British therefore hurriedly dug Cipriani up and dropped him into Napoleon’s empty tomb. Why, the ‘Cipriani school’ has demanded, did the British officer in charge allow the French observers present to see the body only at midnight, by torchlight? Why would he not allow sketches to be made? Why was the coffin only opened for two minutes before it was shut up again and taken aboard the French frigate? Fake death masks, rotting socks, disappearing facial scars, the position of viscera-holding vases – the details claimed and denied are too many to go into here, but kept Napoleonic studies happy for years. In 1969, the bicentenary of Napoleon’s birth, a French journalist even published a deliberately sensational ‘appeal’ to the British: Anglais, rendez-nous Napoleon! (Give us back Napoleon!) His startling contention was that the British royal family had had Napoleon reburied in Westminster Abbey, the ultimate insult. The more prosaic truth is that Napoleon’s body (almost) certainly lies under the dome of Les Invalides in Paris. However, until French authorities allow the coffin to be opened for tests, theories will continue to swirl – some in respectable books and some in the more excitable corners of the internet – about the ultimate fate of one of history’s most fascinating characters. May Day Celebrations, 1st May Many folklore customs have their roots planted firmly back in the Dark Ages, when the ancient Celts had divided their year by four major festivals. Beltane or ‘the fire of Bel’, had particular significance to the Celts as it represented the first day of summer and was celebrated with bonfires to welcome in the new season. Still celebrated today, we perhaps know Beltane better as May 1st, or May Day. Down through the centuries May Day has been associated with fun, revelry and perhaps most important of all, fertility. The Day would be marked with village folk cavorting round the maypole, the selection of the May Queen and the dancing figure of the Jack-in-the-Green at the head of the procession. Jack is thought to be a relic from those enlightened days when our ancient ancestors worshipped trees. These pagan roots did little to endear these May Day festivities with the either the established Church or State. In the sixteenth century riots followed when May Day celebrations were banned. Fourteen rioters were hanged, and Henry VIII is said to have pardoned a further 400 who had been sentenced to death. The May Day festivities all but vanished following the Civil War when Oliver Cromwell and his Puritans took control of the country in 1645. Describing maypole dancing as ‘a heathenish vanity generally abused to superstition and wickedness’, legislation was passed which saw the end of village maypoles throughout the country. Dancing did not return to the village greens until the restoration of Charles II. ‘The Merry Monarch’ helped ensure the support of his subjects with the erection of a massive 40 metre high maypole in London’s Strand. This pole signalled the return of the fun times, and remained standing for almost fifty years. Maypoles can still be seen on the village greens at Welford-on-Avon and at Dunchurch, Warwickshire, both of which stand all year round. Barwick in Yorkshire, claims the largest maypole in England, standing some 86 feet in height. May Day is still celebrated in many villages with the crowning of the May Queen. The gentlemen of the village may also been found celebrating with Jack-in-the-Green, otherwise found on the signs of pubs across the country called the Green Man. May Day traditions in southern England include the Hobby Horses that still rampage through the towns of Dunster and Minehead in Somerset, and Padstow in Cornwall. The horse or the Oss, as it is normally called is a local person dressed in flowing robes wearing a mask with a grotesque, but colourful, caricature of a horse. In Oxford, May Day morning is celebrated from the top of Magdalen College Tower by the singing of a Latin hymn, or carol, of thanksgiving. After this the college bells signal the start of the Morris Dancing in the streets below. Further north in Castleton, Derbyshire, Oak Apple Day takes place on 29th May, commemorating the restoration of Charles II to throne. Followers within the procession carry sprigs of oak, recalling the story that in exile King Charles hid in an oak tree to avoid capture by his enemies. It is important to remember that without ‘The Merry Monarch’ May Day celebrations might have come to a premature end in 1660. 95 Val-D`Oise is located just north of Paris and is crossed by the river Oise, flanked by the river Seine and home to two regional nature parks, the Vexin Français and the Oise-Pays de France. Composed of a variety of picturesque scenery whose charm has inspired many famous artists, the area also boasts much built and cultural heritage of interest. These include abbeys, châteaux, typical villages, and museums, and offers a wide range of outdoor activities, from walking, horse riding, cycling and golf to water and aerial sports. The région’s fertile loams support the cultivation of wheat, corn (maize), barley, sunflowers, rapeseed, legumes, and sugar beets. Fruit, vegetables, and flowers are also grown. In Val-d’Oise between Pontoise and Montmorency, mushrooms are grown on a large scale in limestone caves. Owing to the great urban sprawl of Paris, agriculture is concentrated in the outer areas of Île-de-France, particularly in the département of Seine-et-Marne. In general, farm holdings are large, highly mechanized, and produce high yields, yet they employ only a very small percentage of the workforce. Pontoise Cabbage is a vegetable with an inimitable flavour that was once grown on nearly half of the Cergy-Pontoise plain. It is part of the big Savoy cabbage family, and has a purplish, tender centre. Montmorency Cherries are bright red and tender cherry and is ideal accompaniment to meat- and game-based dishes and also perfect for making jam and jelly. Steak Frites is the quintessential bistrot dish, steak frites, head to one of Paris’ atmospheric French brasseries. The simple pairing of a grilled steak with various optional sauces and chips is elevated to serious heights when the meat is well selected and carefully matured, and the potatoes are fresh, hand-cut and double-fried. Choose your cut of beef, your ‘cuisson’ and a sauce, be it Béarnaise or peppercorn Rhum Baba is dense cake with rum and vanilla cream. Duck Confit consists of cooking duck thighs in their own fat, until the meat is spectacularly moist and fork-tender. The classic side is pommes sarladaises, garlicky potatoes sautéed in duck fat. Rhum Baba Preparation time; 1-2 hours, Cooking time; 10 to 30 mins, Serves 4 Ingredients 220g strong flour 1 x 7g sachet fast action yeast ½ tsp salt 50g sugar, plus extra for lining tins 2 medium eggs 70ml milk 100g butter, softened For the Syrup 250g caster sugar 3-4 tbsp dark rum For the Chantilly Cream 250ml double cream 100g icing sugar 1 vanilla pod, seeds only fresh fruit, for garnish Method Place the flour in a large bowl. Place the yeast on one side of the bowl and the salt on the other side. Make sure the salt is not placed on top of the yeast, as it can kill it, making it inactive. Add the sugar and stir everything together with a spoon until evenly mixed. Mix together the milk and eggs until well combined. Add three-quarters of the combined eggs and milk to the flour and stir to combine. Mix in the rest of the liquid and knead the dough on a worktop until it’s smooth and glossy, this will take approximately 10 minutes. Add in the softened butter and work it through the dough thoroughly until it’s silky and stretchy. This should take approximately six minutes. Place the dough back into a bowl and cover with cling film. Set the dough aside to rise for at least an hour, until doubled in size. Grease and sugar the four 11cm/4½in fluted rum baba tins (savarin moulds). (Adding the sugar will help the fragile sponges come out of the moulds). Turn the dough out of the bowl, and knock it back by kneading it a few times. Place the dough into a piping bag with a large plain nozzle. Pipe the dough into the four moulds. Try and get them all as equal as possible. Preheat the oven to 180C (fan 160C) 350F/Gas 4. Allow to prove for a second time until the dough has expanded almost to the top. Be careful not to over-prove at this stage, or you will get a muffin top around the edges. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile for the syrup, put the sugar and rum in a small saucepan with 200ml/7fl oz water and bring to a rolling boil. When the babas are cooked, take them out of the oven and allow to cool a little before carefully removing the cakes from their tins. They will be very fragile. Place the babas onto a dish and pour over half the syrup. Allow them to soak up all of the liquid; then turn them over and repeat with the rest of the liquid. Transfer to the fridge to chill. Meanwhile for the Chantilly cream, whip the cream with the icing sugar and vanilla seeds. The cream must be firm enough to pipe and hold its shape on top of the babas. Transfer the cream to a piping bag and keep in the fridge until needed. Prepare the fruit as necessary. To Serve pipe the Chantilly cream, using a star nozzle, into the middle of the babas. Garnish with the mixed fruit Passover, April 23rd to April 30th, 2024 In Ferris Bueller's Day Off, a self-pitying Cameron sulks in bed and cries, "When Cameron was in Egypt's land/Let my Cameron go"—a riff on the African-American spiritual song "Go Down Moses." While it's one of the movie's more memorable comedic moments, the song actually references the Hebrew Bible story of Exodus—Moses' liberation of the Israelite slaves in Egypt—commemorated every year during the Jewish holiday of Passover. The history of Passover Jews all over the world celebrate Passover for seven days (or eight, if they're traditional Jews living outside of Israel) and, while the date varies annually, it's always the same on the Jewish lunar calendar: the 15th day of Nissan, the first month of the Hebrew monthly calendar year, typically falling in mid-spring. According to the Hebrew Bible, Moses asked the Egyptian leader, Pharaoh, to free the Israelite slaves and was rejected repeatedly. So Moses warned Pharaoh that God would punish Egypt with 10 plagues:water turning to blood, frogs, lice, flies, livestock pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and the killing of firstborn children. God told Moses to alert the Israelites to mark their homes so He would know to "pass over" their houses when casting down the last plague—hence the holiday's name. The Seder Tradition After sundown the night before the first official day of Passover, Jews conduct the Seder, a special ceremony during which they retell the story of their ancestors' liberation. During the Seder, family members read from the Haggadah, Passover's own story book, and sing traditional holiday songs. A Seder plate containing five items—each a fundamental part of the ceremony and symbolic of an element of Exodus—sits on the table. There's a spring vegetable, such as parsley, which is dipped in salt water and eaten to resemble the taste of their ancestors' sweat and tears. "Maror," usually horseradish or romaine lettuce, serves as a reminder of the bitter oppression of slavery and Pharaoh's difficult-to-swallow decree to drown Israelites' male infants. "Charoset," a mixture of chopped apples, nuts, wine, and honey, recalls the mortar Israelites used to build cities for Pharaoh. A roasted shank bone, which represents the Passover sacrificial offering, and a roasted egg, symbolizing rebirth and renewal, are always on the plate, though they aren't actually eaten. In addition, four cups of wine are drunk throughout the Seder. The wine symbolizes the four stages of redemption that the Israelites experienced. A fifth cup is set aside for "Elijah" and not imbibed; this cup represents the hope for future redemption. The Seder can last several hours, but, while lengthy, it's not intended to drag—even for those with shorter attention spans. "One of the goals is to engage children in a dialogue about the meaning of the festival," says David Arnow, Ph.D., author of Creating Lively Passover Seders. "There's a longstanding history of doing amusing things to keep kids interested," including singing a variety of Passover songs at the end of the Seder. The mood also lightens as the Seder progresses. "At the beginning, it is serious and somber because the participants recall the cruelty of Pharaoh's enslavement and infanticide," explains Rabbi Nathan Laufer, author of Leading the Passover Journey: The Seder's Meaning Revealed, the Haggadah's Story Retold. "But as the [telling of the] story proceeds and the Jewish people are liberated, the mood turns happy." The Sedar Meal The Seder is followed by a festive Seder meal, which varies greatly among households, but may include chicken, salmon, or beef brisket. However, you'll never find challah or any other bread made with yeast on the table. Instead, Jews consume matzah, a flat, cracker-like unleavened bread. The Israelites fled Egypt so quickly, the bread dough had not had a chance to rise," explains Steven L. Jacobs, author of The Jewish Experience. "Thus the matzah, or flat bread, became the staple and has evolved into all different kinds of products made with matzah meal, or unleavened dough." In fact, some Jews take it a step farther and refrain from eating any food containing grains, corn, rice, and legumes for the duration of Passover. What is Passover? Passover (or Pesach) celebrates when the Jews were freed from Egyptian slavery. In the Bible, God visited 10 plagues on the Egyptians, while "passing over" Jewish households. When is Passover? Because Passover changes according to the Jewish lunar calendar, it's on a different date every year. It's usually celebrated in March or April. When does Passover Start and End? Passover usually lasts for seven days, though some celebrate for eight. Passover 2023 begins on the evening of Wednesday, April 5, and ends on the evening of Thursday, April 13. How do I send Passover Greetings? You can start simply with a "happy holidays," "happy Passover," or just "thinking of you" or "best wishes." You could also use Hebrew greetings like "chag sameach" (happy holidays) or "chag Pesach sameach" (happy Passover). What is Afikomen? To help keep kids entertained during the Seder ceremony, a small piece of matzah is hidden. The lucky child who finds it gets a small gift. What Should I Bring as a Seder Guest? If you're lucky enough to be invited to a friend's Seder meal, a traditional host or hostess gift would be appreciated, though you may want to keep in mind the Passover traditions like not using leaveners (so skip the baked goods). Wine, which is part of the celebration, is a lovely gesture. Pesach in the Coming Years 2023: April 5-13 2024: April 22-30 2025: April 12-20 2026: April 1-9 2027: April 21-29 When Is the Seder? The Seder feast is held on the first two nights of Passover (just the first night in Israel), after nightfall. 2023: The nights of April 5 and 6 2024: The nights of April 22 and 23 2025: The nights of April 12 and 13 2026: The nights of April 1 and 2 2027: The nights of April 21 and 22 Note: The Jewish calendar date begins at sundown of the night beforehand. Thus all holiday observances begin at sundown on the secular dates listed, with the following day being the first full day of the holiday. (Thus, the first Passover seder is held on the evening of the first date listed.) Jewish calendar dates conclude at nightfall. The first two days of Passover (from sundown of the first date listed, until nightfall two days later) are full-fledged, no-work-allowed holiday days. The subsequent four days are Chol Hamoed, when work is allowed, albeit with restrictions. Chol Hamoed is followed by another two full holiday days. Saint George`s Day, 23 April The Story of Saint George and Saint Edmund Patron Saints of England Every nation has its own ‘Patron Saint’ who in times of great peril is called upon to help save the country from its enemies. St David is the patron saint of Wales, St Andrew of Scotland and St Patrick of Ireland – St George being the patron saint of England. But who was St. George, and what did he do to become England’s Patron Saint? Very little is known about St. George’s life, but it is thought he was a high ranking officer in the Roman army who was killed in around AD 303. It seems that the Emperor Diocletian had St. George tortured to make him deny his faith in Christ. However despite some of the most terrible torture even for that time, St George showed incredible courage and faith and was finally beheaded near Lydda in Palestine. His head was later taken to Rome where it was interred in the church dedicated to him. Stories of his strength and courage soon spread throughout Europe. The best-known story about St. George is his fight with a dragon, but it is highly unlikely that he ever fought a dragon, and even more unlikely that he ever visited England, however his name was known there as early as the eighth-century. In the Middle Ages the dragon was commonly used to represent the Devil. Unfortunately the many legends connected with St. George’s name are fictitious, and the slaying of the ‘Dragon’ was first credited to him in the 12th century St. George, so the story goes, killed a dragon on the flat topped Dragon Hill in Uffington, Berkshire, and it is said that no grass grows where the dragon’s blood trickled down! It was probably the 12th century Crusaders however who first invoked his name as an aid in battle. King Edward III made him the Patron Saint of England when he formed the Order of the Garter in St. George’s name in 1350, and the cult of the Saint was further advanced by King Henry V, at the battle of Agincourt in northern France. Shakespeare made sure that nobody would forget St. George, and has King Henry V finishing his pre-battle speech with the famous phrase, ‘Cry God for Harry, England and St. George!’ King Henry himself, who was both warlike and devout, was thought by his followers to possess many of the saint’s characteristics. In England St. George’s Day is celebrated, and his flag flown, on his feast day, April 23rd. An interesting piece of trivia – Shakespeare was born on or around St. George’s Day 1564, and if the story is to be believed, died on St. George’s Day 1616. An appropriate end perhaps for the man who helped to immortalise the Saint in English tradition. Saint Edmund, Edmund the Maryr And yet another interesting piece of trivia – for over 300 years the Patron Saint of England was actually an Englishman, St. Edmund, or Edmund the Martyr, the Anglo-Saxon King of East Anglia. Edmund fought alongside King Alfred of Wessex against the pagan Viking and Norse invaders until 869/70 when his forces were defeated. Edmund was captured and ordered to renounce his faith and share power with the Norsemen, but he refused. Edmund was bound to a tree and used as target practice by the Viking bowmen before being beheaded. St. Edmund’s Day is still celebrated on 20th November, particularly by the good East Anglian (Angles) people of Suffolk “south folk”. But should we instead be raising the White Dragon flag on November 20th? Born on Christmas Day 841, Edmund succeeded to the throne of East Anglia in 856. Brought up as a Christian, he fought alongside King Alfred of Wessex against the pagan Viking and Norse invaders (the Great Heathen Army) until 869/70 when his forces were defeated and Edmund was captured by the Vikings. He was ordered to renounce his faith and share power with the pagan Vikings, but he refused. According to the 10th century account of the saint’s life by Abbo of Fleury, who quotes St Dunstan as his source, Edmund was then bound to a tree, shot through by arrows and beheaded. The date was 20th November. His decapitated head is said to have been reunited with its body with the help of a talking wolf who protected the head and then called out “Hic, Hic, Hic” (“Here, Here, Here”) to alert Edmund’s followers. It is uncertain where he was killed; some accounts state Bradfield St Clare near Bury St Edmunds, others Maldon in Essex or Hoxne in Suffolk. What is known is that in 902 his remains were moved to Bedricsworth (modern Bury St. Edmunds) where King Athelstan founded a religious community to care for his shrine which became a place of national pilgrimage. King Canute built a stone abbey on the site in 1020 to house the shrine. For centuries Edmund’s resting place was patronised by the kings of England and the abbey became increasingly wealthy as the cult of St Edmund grew. Such was the influence of St Edmund that on St Edmund’s Day in 1214 rebel English barons held a secret meeting here before going to confront King John with the Charter of Liberties, the forerunner to Magna Carta which he signed a year later. This event is reflected in the motto of Bury St Edmunds: ‘Shrine of a King, Cradle of the Law’. St Edmund’s influence began to fade when, during the Third Crusade in 1199, King Richard I visited the tomb of St. George in Lydda on the eve of battle. The next day he won a great victory. Following this triumph, Richard adopted St. George as his personal patron and protector of the army. Although the banner of St. Edmund was still carried into battle by the English army, by the time of Edward I it had been joined by the flag of St. George. In 1348, Edward III founded a new order of chivalry, the Knights of the Garter. Edward made St George the patron of the Order and also declared him Patron Saint of England. What became of Edmund? During the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, his remains were removed to France where they remained until 1911. Today they are kept in the chapel in Arundel Castle. But St Edmund has not been forgotten. An attempt was made in 2006 to have St Edmund reinstated as patron saint of England. A petition was handed into Parliament but it was rejected by the government. In 2013 another campaign was launched to reinstate St Edmund as patron saint. This was the ‘St Edmund for England’ e-petition, backed by the Bury St Edmunds based brewery, Greene King. This tongue-in-cheek yet serious campaign questioned whether St George, patron saint of 16 other countries, ever even visited England. It suggested he should be replaced by an Englishman, and who better than the Anglo-Saxon martyr-king St Edmund 93 Seine-Saint-Denis is located north east of Paris and shares borders with Hauts de Seine and Val de Marne. Seine Saint Denis is one of the smallest department in France, the sixth most populated department and the third most densely populated. Agriculture in Seine Saint Denis was typically urban and suburban with aging farmlands inserted in the centre of an urban fabric. More homogenous agricultural areas persist in the north-east of the Department, in Plaine de France, Tremblay, on the hills of Aulnoye and in Vaujours and Coubron where main crops and livestock were located. The reputation of vegetable market gardeners at Plaine des Vertus, Aubervilliers and La Courneuve is well established. The different varieties of produce were named after their region of production such as Cabbages of Plaine des Vertus, the very long leeks of Plaine des Vertus, the red and black beetroot of Plaine des Vertus, the medium-sized turnip of Plaine des Vertus or the Plaine des Vertus. Its location gives the territory the name “Bread Basket” of Paris because it supplied the capital and its surroundings with fresh products. Being part of the conglomeration of Paris the gastronomy of the department naturally reflects the international tastes of the city rather than any traditional cuisine. The Montreuil Peach is a luxury fruit that's very popular with connoisseurs Harvested from mid-June to mid-October, the Montreuil peach can be eaten on its own when ripe, in pastries or poached and served with meat. Île Flottante Total duration: 15min, Serves 4 Ingredients 50 cl Alpro almond milk without sugar 110 g white sugar 50 g almonds 40 g light muscovado sugar 4 eggs Pepper (optional) Method Mix the egg yolks with the muscovado sugar and whisk vigorously. Heat the almond milk in a saucepan. Once boiling, pour it gently over the egg yolks while mixing. Return to the heat and mix with a flat spatula until a smooth texture is obtained. In a bowl, beat the egg whites with a whisk, gradually adding 60 g of white sugar, then heat for 20 seconds in the microwave. Make the dry caramel in a pan with the remaining sugar. Once it turns blonde, add the whole almonds, stir and remove to parchment paper. When the almonds are cooled, crush them with a knife. Pour the custard into a bowl, place the floating island, turning it over, add the caramelized almonds and sprinkle with a pinch of pepper. Duck and Olive Pie Total Time; 2h, Serves 6 Ingredients 550 g whole pork breast (or 400 g minced breast) 600 g duck breast with skin 3 eggs 500 g shortcrust pastry 20 g butter 5 cl single cream 150 g d black olives 3 level teaspoons of salt 3 pinches of ground pepper 550 g of jelly Method Using a knife, remove the skin from the pork belly and any bones, taking care to retain the fat, then chop into small cubes of about 7 mm. Chop half of the olives into cubes of similar size. Remove the skin from the duck breast and cut breast into cubes of about 1.5 cm. Blend the other half of the olives to obtain a texture similar to a velouté. Place the breast in the bowl of a food processor, add salt, pepper, then mix on slow speed. Pour 1 egg and the cream into the bowl then mix again until the stuffing becomes homogeneous. Add the duck to the mixed and chopped olives. Mix vigorously by hand or in a food processor at low speed for 5 minutes, then place in the fridge. Beat the remaining 2 eggs in a bowl and place in the fridge. Roll out the dough to 3 mm, cut it and line a mould. Add the contents of the bowl, close the pie then make 1 or 2 round holes in the lid. Place the mould in the cold oven. Heat at 180°C (fan 160C) for 1 hour 10 minutes, or probe with a thermometer and remove the pie from the oven when the core temperature reaches 64°C. Leave to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature then overnight in the refrigerator. The next day, pour the jelly and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. Sinking of Titanic, 14th April, 1912 Titanic, in full the Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Titanic, a British luxury passenger liner that sank on April 14–15, 1912 during its maiden voyage, en route to New York City from Southampton, England. About 1,500 passengers and ships personnel perished. One of the most famous tragedies in modern history, it has inspired numerous stories, several films, and a musical and has been the subject of much scholarship and scientific speculation. In the early 1900s the transatlantic passenger trade was highly profitable and competitive, with ship lines vying to transport wealthy travelers and immigrants. Two of the chief lines were White Star and Cunard. By the summer of 1907, Cunard seemed poised to increase its share of the market with the debut of two new ships, the Lusitania and the Mauretania, which were scheduled to enter service later that year. The two passenger liners were garnering much attention for their expected speed; (Both would later set speed records crossing the Atlantic Ocean). Looking to answer his rival, White Star chairman J. Bruce Ismay met William Pirrie, controller of the Belfast shipbuilding firm Harland and Wolff, which constructed most of White Star’s vessels. The two men agreed to build a class of large liner specialising in comfort rather than speed. It was eventually decided that three vessels would be constructed: the Olympic, the Titanic, and the Britannic. On March 31, 1909, some three months after work began on the Olympic, the keel was laid for the Titanic. The two ships were built side by side in a specially constructed gantry that could accommodate their unprecedented size. The sister ships were largely designed by Thomas Andrews of Harland and Wolff. In addition to ornate decorations, the Titanic featured an immense first-class dining saloon, four elevators, and a swimming pool. Its second-class accommodations were comparable to first-class features on other ships, and its third-class offerings, although modest, were still noted for their relative comfort. As to safety elements, the Titanic had 16 compartments that included doors which could be closed from the bridge, so that water could be contained in the event the hull was breached. Although they were presumed to be watertight, the bulkheads were not capped at the top. The ship’s builders claimed that four of the compartments could be flooded without endangering the liner’s buoyancy. The system led many to claim that the Titanic was unsinkable! Following completion of the hull and main superstructure, the Titanic was launched on May 31, 1911. It then began the fitting-out phase, as machinery was loaded into the ship and interior work began. After the Olympic’s maiden voyage in June 1911, slight changes were made to the Titanic’s design. In early April 1912 the Titanic underwent its sea trials, after which the ship was declared seaworthy. As it prepared to embark on its maiden voyage, the Titanic was one of the largest and most opulent ships in the world. It had a gross registered tonnage of 46,328 tons, and when fully laden the ship displaced more than 52,000 tons. The Titanic was approximately 882.5 feet (269 metres) long and about 92.5 feet (28.2 metres) wide at its widest point. On April 10, 1912, the Titanic set sail on its maiden voyage, travelling from Southampton to New York City. Nicknamed the “Millionaire’s Special,” the ship was fittingly captained by Edward J. Smith, known as the “Millionaire’s Captain” because of his popularity with wealthy passengers. Indeed, onboard were a number of prominent people, including American businessman Benjamin Guggenheim, British journalist William Thomas Stead, and Macy’s department store co-owner Isidor Straus and his wife, Ida. The voyage nearly began with a collision, however, when suction from the Titanic caused the docked liner, New York, to swing into the giant liner’s path. After an hour of manoeuvrings to prevent the accident, the Titanic was under way. On the evening of April 10 the ship stopped at Cherbourg, France. The city’s dock was too small to accommodate the Titanic, so passengers had to be ferried to and from the ship in tenders. Among those boarding were John Jacob Astor, his pregnant second wife Madeleine, and Molly Brown. After some two hours the Titanic resumed its journey. On the morning of April 11 the liner made its last scheduled stop in Europe, at Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland. At approximately 1:30 PM the ship set sail for New York City. Onboard were some 2,200 people, approximately 1,300 of whom were passengers. Throughout much of the voyage, the wireless radio operators on the Titanic, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, had been receiving iceberg warnings, most of which were passed along to the bridge. The two men worked for the Marconi Company, and much of their job was relaying passengers’ messages. On the evening of April 14 the Titanic to approached an area known to have icebergs. Captain Smith slightly altered the ship’s course to head farther south. However, he maintained the ship’s speed of some 22 knots. At approximately 9:40 PM the cargo ship, Mesaba, sent a warning of an ice field. The message was never relayed to the Titanic’s bridge. At 10:55 PM the nearby Leyland liner Californian sent word that it had stopped after becoming surrounded by ice. Phillips, who was handling passenger messages, complained that the Californian for interrupting him. Two lookouts, Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee, were stationed in the crow’s nest of the Titanic to watch for Icebergs. Their task was made difficult by the fact that the ocean was unusually calm that night. Calm seas produced little visual waves breaking at the base of an iceberg making it difficult to spot. In addition, the crow’s nest’s binoculars were missing. At approximately 11:40 PM, about 400 nautical miles (740 km) south of Newfoundland, Canada, an iceberg was sighted, and the bridge was notified. First Officer William Murdoch ordered both the ship “hard-a-starboard” and the engines reversed. The Titanic began to turn, but it was too close to avoid a collision. The ship’s starboard side scraped along the iceberg. At least five of its supposedly watertight compartments toward the bow were ruptured. After assessing the damage, Andrews determined that, as the ship’s forward compartments filled with water, its bow would drop deeper into the ocean, causing water from the ruptured compartments to spill over into each succeeding compartment, thereby sealing the ship’s fate. The Titanic would founder. (By reversing the engines, Murdoch actually caused the Titanic to turn slower than if it had been moving at its original speed. Most experts believe the ship would have survived if it had hit the iceberg head-on.) Smith ordered Phillips to begin sending distress signals, one of which reached the liner Carpathia at approximately 12:20 AM on April 15, and the Cunard ship immediately headed toward the stricken liner. However, the Carpathia was some 58 nautical miles (107 km) away when it received the signal, and it would take more than three hours to reach the Titanic. Other ships also responded, including the Olympic, but all were too far away. A vessel was spotted nearby, but the Titanic was unable to contact it. The Californian was also in the vicinity, but its wireless had been turned off for the night. As attempts were made to contact nearby vessels, the lifeboats began to be launched, with orders of women and children first. Although the Titanic’s number of lifeboats exceeded that required by the British Board of Trade, its 20 boats could carry only 1,178 people, far short of the total number of passengers. This problem was exacerbated by lifeboats being launched well below capacity, because crewmen worried that the davits would not be able to support the weight of a fully loaded boat. (The Titanic had cancelled its scheduled lifeboat drill earlier in the day, and the crew was unaware that the davits had been tested in Belfast.) Lifeboat number 7, which was the first to leave the Titanic, held only about 27 people, though it had space for 65. In the end, only 705 people would be rescued in lifeboats. As passengers waited to enter lifeboats, they were entertained by the Titanic’s musicians, who initially played in the first-class lounge before eventually moving to the ship’s deck. Sources differ on how long they performed, some reporting that it was until shortly before the ship sank. Speculation also surrounded the last song they performed—likely either Autumn or Nearer My God to Thee. None of the musicians survived the sinking. By 1:00 AM water was seen at the base (E deck) of the Grand Staircase. Amid the growing panic, several male passengers tried to board lifeboat number 14, causing Fifth Officer Harold Lowe to fire his gun three times. Around this time, Phillips’s distress calls reflected a growing desperation as one noted that the ship “cannot last much longer.” As the Titanic’s bow continued to sink, the stern began to rise out of the water, placing incredible strain on the midsection. At about 2:00 AM the stern’s propellers were clearly visible above the water, and the only lifeboats that remained on the ship were three collapsible boats. Smith released the crew, saying that “it’s every man for himself.” (He was reportedly last seen in the bridge, and his body was never found.) At approximately 2:18 AM the lights on the Titanic went out. It then broke in two, with the bow going underwater. Reports later speculated that it took some six minutes for that section to reach the ocean floor. The stern momentarily settled back in the water before rising again, eventually becoming vertical. It briefly remained in that position before beginning its final plunge. At 2:20 AM the ship foundered as the stern also disappeared beneath the Atlantic. Water pressure allegedly caused that section, which still had air inside, to implode as it sank. Hundreds of passengers and crew went into the icy water. Fearful of being swamped, those in the lifeboats delayed returning to pick up survivors. By the time they rowed back, almost all the people in the water had died from exposure. In the end, more than 1,500 perished. Aside from the crew, which had about 700 fatalities, third class suffered the greatest loss: of approximately 710, only some 174 survived. (Subsequent claims that passengers in steerage were prevented from boarding boats, however, were largely dispelled. Given Smith’s failure to sound a general alarm, some third-class passengers did not realize the direness of the situation until it was too late. Many women also refused to leave their husbands and sons, while the difficulty of simply navigating the complex Titanic from the lower levels caused some to reach the top deck after most of the lifeboats had been launched. The Carpathia arrived in the area at approximately 3:30 AM, more than an hour after the Titanic sank. Lifeboat number 2 was the first to reach the liner. Over the next several hours the Carpathia picked up all survivors. White Star chairman Ismay wrote a message to be sent to the White Star Line’s offices: “Deeply regret advise you Titanic sank this morning fifteenth after collision iceberg, resulting serious loss life; further particulars later.” At approximately 8:30 AM the Californian arrived, having heard the news some three hours earlier. Shortly before 9:00 AM the Carpathia headed for New York City, where it arrived to massive crowds on April 18. Although the majority of dead were crew members and third-class passengers, many of the era’s wealthiest and most prominent families lost members, among them Isidor and Ida Straus and John Jacob Astor. In the popular mind, the glamour associated with the ship, its maiden voyage, and its notable passengers magnified the tragedy of its sinking. Legends arose almost immediately about the night’s events, those who had died, and those who survived. Heroes and heroines—such as American Molly Brown, who helped command a lifeboat, and Capt. Arthur Henry Rostron of the Carpathia—were identified and celebrated by the press. Others—notably Ismay, who had found space in a lifeboat and survived—were vilified. There was a strong desire to explain the tragedy, and inquiries into the sinking were held in the United States and Great Britain. U.S. Inquiry The U.S. investigation, which lasted from April 19 to May 25, 1912, was led by Sen. William Alden Smith. In all, more than 80 people were interviewed. Notable witnesses included Second Officer Charles Lightoller, the most senior officer to survive. He defended the actions of his superiors, especially Captain Smith’s refusal to decrease the ship’s speed. Many passengers testified to the general confusion on the ship. A general warning was never sounded, causing a number of passengers and even crew members to be unaware of the danger for some time. In addition, because a scheduled lifeboat drill had never been held, the lowering of the boats was often haphazard. Perhaps the most-scrutinized testimony came from the crew of the Californian, who claimed their ship was some 20 nautical miles (37 km) from the Titanic. Crew members saw a ship but said it was too small to be the Titanic. They also stated that it was moving and that efforts to contact it by Morse lamp were unsuccessful. After sighting rockets in the distance, the crew informed Capt. Stanley Lord, who had retired for the night. Instead of ordering the ship’s wireless operator to turn on the radio, Lord instead told the men to continue to use the Morse lamp. By 2:00 AM the nearby ship had reportedly sailed away. In the end, the U.S. investigation faulted the British Board of Trade, “to whose laxity of regulation and hasty inspection the world is largely indebted for this awful fatality.” Other contributing causes were also noted, including the failure of Captain Smith to slow the Titanic after receiving ice warnings. However, perhaps the strongest criticism was levied at Captain Lord and the Californian. The committee found that the ship was “nearer the Titanic than the 19 miles reported by her Captain, and that her officers and crew saw the distress signals of the Titanic and failed to respond to them in accordance with the dictates of humanity, international usage, and the requirements of law.” British Inquiry In May 1912 the British inquiry began. It was overseen by the British Board of Trade, the same agency that had been derided by U.S. investigators for the insufficient lifeboat requirements. The presiding judge was Sir John Charles Bigham, Lord Mersey. Little new evidence was discovered during the 28 days of testimony. The final report stated that “the loss of the said ship was due to collision with an iceberg, brought about by the excessive speed at which the ship was being navigated.” However, Mersey also stated that he was “not able to blame Captain Smith…he was doing only that which other skilled men would have done in the same position.” Captain Lord and the Californian, however, drew sharp rebuke. The British investigators claimed that the liner was some 5–10 nautical miles (9–19 km) from the Titanic and that “she might have saved many, if not all, of the lives that were lost.” Both the U.S. and British investigations also proposed various safety recommendations, and in 1913 the first International Conference for Safety of Life at Sea was called in London. The conference drew up rules requiring that every ship have lifeboat space for each person embarked; that lifeboat drills be held for each voyage; and, because the Californian had not heard the distress signals of the Titanic, that ships maintain a 24-hour radio watch. The International Ice Patrol was established to warn ships of icebergs in the North Atlantic shipping lanes and to break up ice. First Man in Space, 12th April 1961 Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human in space. In 1961, he orbited Earth aboard the Vostok 1 space capsule, the first-ever crewed spacecraft. As a result, he became an international celebrity and received many awards for this achievement, both within and outside the Soviet Union. Vostok 1 was Gagarin's only spaceflight. He was on the backup crew for the Soyuz 1 mission but wasn’t allowed to go to space after that mission ended in a fatal crash because officials worried that Gagarin, a national hero, would be killed. Though he was eventually allowed to continue flying regular aircraft, he died five weeks after being cleared to fly again, when his flight-training airplane crashed. The exact cause of the crash is still unknown. Gagarin was born on March 9, 1934, in the Soviet Russian village of Klushino to parents who worked on a collective farm. Beginning in October 1941, German soldiers occupied Klushino as part of their advance on Moscow during World War II. The occupation lasted 21 months. In 1946, his family moved to the nearby town of Gzhatsk (now named Gagarin), where he went to secondary school and studied math and physics After six years of secondary school, Gagarin went to technical school in Saratov, where he also joined a local flying club and began learning to fly a plane. He went on to attend the Soviet Air Force Academy and graduated in 1957. He was one of 20 Soviet fighter pilots chosen as cosmonauts, in part because of his small size.To fit in the small Vostok capsule, cosmonauts couldn't be taller than 1.75 meters (5 feet 9 ) and Gagarin was 1.57 m tall (5 feet 5 inches). In fact, in a 1961 interview, Gagarin described the capsule as quite roomy, especially compared with airplane cockpits of the time. Alongside other cosmonauts, Gagarin participated in intensive preparation for spaceflight, including various physical and psychological experiments. A doctor doing psychological testing on him praised his "high degree of intellectual development," noting his attention to detail, strong imagination, quick reaction time and skill in doing mathematical calculations "Vostok" means "East" in Russian, as opposed to the Western world, signifying the mission's importance in the Cold War-era space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The crewed part of the capsule was spherical, with an inside diameter of about 7 feet (2 m), according to The Planetary Society. The spacecraft launched on April 12, 1961, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in what is now Kazakhstan. In response to a statement from ground control that everything seemed to be working fine, Gagarin famously replied "Poyekhali!" — "Off we go!" in Russian. Gagarin orbited Earth in the capsule for about an hour before the spacecraft re-entered Earth's atmosphere. For the most part, the flight went smoothly, though Gagarin lost communication with ground control several times. The two parts of the spacecraft also failed to correctly separate for a while during re-entry, and the spacecraft shook violently. But when the capsule was about 4 miles (6 kilometers) above the ground, Gagarin parachuted back to Earth as planned, landing on farmland outside the city of Engels, Russia. After the mission, Gagarin became an overnight international celebrity. The Soviet Union had kept his spaceflight secret until it was successful. Gagarin was known not only for his accomplishments but also for his charismatic personality and smile. Though he was barred from visiting the United States, he travelled the world and received many honours. This included the title "Hero of the Soviet Union," the nation's highest honour On April 23, 1967, the Soyuz 1 mission launched with cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov as its sole crewmember, with Gagarin as the backup. During the spacecraft's landing, the parachute failed to deploy, instantly killing Komarov when it hit the ground. Though Gagarin had nothing to do with the crash (and even reportedly tried to get the launch postponed due to safety concerns), the Soviet Union barred him from spaceflight after the crash, out of fear that their national hero would be killed. Officials also originally also banned him from flying regular aircraft. After completing additional training, Gagarin was eventually allowed to continue flying. But on March 27, 1968, the plane he was test-piloting crashed, killing him and flying instructor Vladimir Seryogin. It is unclear exactly what caused the crash. An investigation by the KGB, the former Soviet security and intelligence agency, found that the aircraft went into a spin, possibly manoeuvering sharply to avoid a weather balloon. According to the report, the two pilots couldn't regain control; they believed they were at a higher altitude than they actually were because of the inaccurate weather information they'd been given. The report is difficult to confirm, and there are many theories about the crash, including conspiracy theories that Gagarin's death was orchestrated by Soviet officials. Space Launch Vehicles The Size of The World’s Rockets, Past and Present The SpaceX Starship might be the next rocket to take humans to the moon, but it won’t be the first, and likely not the last.Starting in the mid-20th century, humanity has explored space faster than ever before. We’ve launched satellites, telescopes, space stations, and spacecrafts, all strapped to rocket-propelled launch vehicles that helped them breach our atmosphere.This infographic from designer Tyler Skarbek stacks up the many different rockets of the world side-by-side, showing which country designed them, what years they were used, and what they (could) accomplish. How Do The World’s Rockets Stack Up? Before they were used for space travel, rockets were produced and developed to be used as ballistic missiles. The first rocket to officially reach space—defined by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale as crossing the Kármán line at 100 kilometers (62 miles) above Earth’s mean sea level—was the German-produced V-2 rocket in 1944. But after World War II, V-2 production fell into the hands of the U.S., the Soviet Union (USSR), and the UK. Over the next few decades and the unfolding of the Cold War, what started as a nuclear arms race of superior ballistic missiles turned into the Space Race. Both the U.S. and the USSR tried to be the first to achieve and master spaceflight, driving production of many new and different rockets. As the Space Race wound down, the U.S. proved to be the biggest producer of different rockets. The eventual dissolution of the USSR in 1991 transferred production of Soviet rockets to Russia or Ukraine. Then later, both Europe (through the European Space Agency) and Japan ramped up rocket production as well. More recently, new countries have since joined the race, including China, Iran, and India. Though the above infographic shows many different families of rockets, it doesn’t include all, including China’s Kuaizhou rocket and Iran’s Zuljanah and Qased rockets.
Rocket Range Explained and Continued Space Aspirations Designing a rocket that can reach far into space while carrying a heavy payload—the objects or entities being carried by a vehicle—is extremely difficult and precise. It’s not called rocket science for nothing. When rockets are designed, they are are created with one specific range in mind that takes into account the fuel needed to travel and velocity achievable. Alternatively, they have different payload ratings depending on what’s achievable and reliable based on the target range. What is an orbit? An orbit is the curved path that an object in space (such as a star, planet, moon, asteroid or spacecraft) takes around another object due to gravity. Gravity causes objects in space that have mass to be attracted to other nearby objects. If this attraction brings them together with enough momentum, they can sometimes begin to orbit each other. Objects of similar mass orbit each other with neither object at the centre, whilst small objects orbit around larger objects. In our Solar System, the Moon orbits Earth, and Earth orbits the Sun, but that does not mean the larger object remains completely still. Because of gravity, Earth is pulled slightly from its centre by the Moon (which is why tides form in our oceans) and our Sun is pulled slightly from its centre by Earth and other planets. During the early creation of our Solar System, dust, gas, and ice travelled through space with speed and momentum, surrounding the Sun in a cloud. With the Sun being so much larger than these small bits of dust and gas, its gravity attracted these bits into orbit around it, shaping the cloud into a kind of ring around the Sun. Eventually, these particles started to settle and clump together (or ‘coalesce’), growing ever larger like rolling snowballs until they formed what we now see as planets, moons, and asteroids. The fact that the planets were all formed together this way is why all the planets have orbits around the Sun in the same direction, in roughly the same plane. When rockets launch our satellites, they put them into orbit in space. There, gravity keeps the satellite on its required orbit – in the same way that gravity keeps the Moon in orbit around Earth. This happens in a way that is similar to throwing a ball out of the window of a tall tower – to get the ball going, you need to first give it a ‘push’ by throwing it, making the ball fall towards the ground on a curved path. Whilst it is your throw that gives the ball its initial speed, it is gravity alone that keeps the ball moving towards the ground once you let go. In a similar fashion, a satellite is put into orbit by being placed hundreds or thousands of kilometres above Earth’s surface (as if in a very tall tower) and then being given a ‘push’ by the rocket’s engines to make it start on its orbit. As shown in the figure, the difference is that throwing something will make it fall on a curved path towards the ground – but a really powerful throw will mean that the ground starts to curve away before your object reaches the ground. Your object will fall ‘towards’ Earth indefinitely, causing it to circle the planet repeatedly. Congratulations! You have reached orbit. In space, there is no air and therefore no air friction, so gravity lets the satellite orbit around Earth with almost no further assistance. Putting satellites into orbit enables us to use technologies for telecommunication, navigation, weather forecast, and astronomy observations. Launch to Orbit Europe’s family of rockets operate from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. On each mission, a rocket places one or more satellites onto their individual orbits. The choice of which launch vehicle is used depends primarily on the mass of the payload, but also on how far from Earth it needs to go. A heavy payload or a high altitude orbit requires more power to fight Earth’s gravity than a lighter payload at a lower altitude. Ariane 5 is Europe’s most powerful launch vehicle, capable of lifting one, two, or multiple satellites into their required orbits. Depending on which orbit Ariane 5 is going to, it is able to launch between approximately 10 to 20 tonnes into space – that is 10 000—20 000 kg, which is about the weight of a city bus. Vega is smaller than Ariane 5, capable of launching roughly 1.5 tonnes at a time, making it an ideal launch vehicle for many scientific and Earth observation missions. Both Ariane 5 and Vega can deploy multiple satellites at a time. ESA’s next generation of rockets includes Ariane 6 and Vega-C. These rockets will be more flexible and will extend what Europe is capable of getting into orbit, and will be able to deliver payloads to several different orbits in a single flight – like a bus with multiple stops. Types of Orbit Upon launch, a satellite or spacecraft is most often placed in one of several particular orbits around Earth – or it might be sent on an interplanetary journey, meaning that it does not orbit Earth anymore, but instead orbits the Sun until its arrival at its final destination, like Mars or Jupiter. There are many factors that decide which orbit would be best for a satellite to use, depending on what the satellite is designed to achieve. Geostationary Orbit (GEO) Satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO) circle Earth above the equator from west to east following Earth’s rotation – taking 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds – by travelling at exactly the same rate as Earth. This makes satellites in GEO appear to be ‘stationary’ over a fixed position. In order to perfectly match Earth’s rotation, the speed of GEO satellites should be about 3 km per second at an altitude of 35 786 km. This is much farther from Earth’s surface compared to many satellites. GEO is used by satellites that need to stay constantly above one particular place over Earth, such as telecommunication satellites. This way, an antenna on Earth can be fixed to always stay pointed towards that satellite without moving. It can also be used by weather monitoring satellites, because they can continually observe specific areas to see how weather trends emerge there. Satellites in GEO cover a large range of Earth so as few as three equally-spaced satellites can provide near global coverage. This is because when a satellite is this far from Earth, it can cover large sections at once. This is akin to being able to see more of a map from a metre away compared with if you were a centimetre from it. So to see all of Earth at once from GEO far fewer satellites are needed than at a lower altitude. ESA’s European Data Relay System (EDRS) programme has placed satellites in GEO, where they relay information to and from non-GEO satellites and other stations that are otherwise unable to permanently transmit or receive data. This means Europe can always stay connected and online. Low Earth Orbit (LEO) A low Earth orbit (LEO) is, as the name suggests, an orbit that is relatively close to Earth’s surface. It is normally at an altitude of less than 1000 km but could be as low as 160 km above Earth – which is low compared to other orbits, but still very far above Earth’s surface. By comparison, most commercial aeroplanes do not fly at altitudes much greater than approximately 14 km, so even the lowest LEO is more than ten times higher than that. Unlike satellites in GEO that must always orbit along Earth’s equator, LEO satellites do not always have to follow a particular path around Earth in the same way – their plane can be tilted. This means there are more available routes for satellites in LEO, which is one of the reasons why LEO is a very commonly used orbit. LEO’s close proximity to Earth makes it useful for several reasons. It is the orbit most commonly used for satellite imaging, as being near the surface allows it to take images of higher resolution. It is also the orbit used for the International Space Station (ISS), as it is easier for astronauts to travel to and from it at a shorter distance. Satellites in this orbit travel at a speed of around 7.8 km per second; at this speed, a satellite takes approximately 90 minutes to circle Earth, meaning the ISS travels around Earth about 16 times a day. However, individual LEO satellites are less useful for tasks such as telecommunication, because they move so fast across the sky and therefore require a lot of effort to track from ground stations. Instead, communications satellites in LEO often work as part of a large combination or constellation, of multiple satellites to give constant coverage. In order to increase coverage, sometimes constellations like this, consisting of several of the same or similar satellites, are launched together to create a ‘net’ around Earth. This lets them cover large areas of Earth simultaneously by working together. Ariane 5 carried its heaviest 20-tonne payload, the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), to the International Space Station located in low Earth orbit. Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) Medium Earth orbit comprises a wide range of orbits anywhere between LEO and GEO. It is similar to LEO in that it also does not need to take specific paths around Earth, and it is used by a variety of satellites with many different applications. It is very commonly used by navigation satellites, like the European Galileo system (pictured). Galileo powers navigation communications across Europe, and is used for many types of navigation, from tracking large jumbo jets to getting directions to your smartphone. Galileo uses a constellation of multiple satellites to provide coverage across large parts of the world all at once. Polar Orbit and Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) Satellites in polar orbits usually travel past Earth from north to south rather than from west to east, passing roughly over Earth's poles. Satellites in a polar orbit do not have to pass the North and South Pole precisely; even a deviation within 20 to 30 degrees is still classed as a polar orbit. Polar orbits are a type of low Earth orbit, as they are at low altitudes between 200 to 1000 km. Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) is a particular kind of polar orbit. Satellites in SSO, travelling over the polar regions, are synchronous with the Sun. This means they are synchronised to always be in the same ‘fixed’ position relative to the Sun. This means that the satellite always visits the same spot at the same local time – for example, passing the city of Paris every day at noon exactly. This means that the satellite will always observe a point on the Earth as if constantly at the same time of the day, which serves a number of applications; for example, it means that scientists and those who use the satellite images can compare how somewhere changes over time. This is because, if you want to monitor an area by taking a series of images of a certain place across many days, weeks, months, or even years, then it would not be very helpful to compare somewhere at midnight and then at midday – you need to take each picture as similarly as the previous picture as possible. Therefore, scientists use image series like these to investigate how weather patterns emerge, to help predict weather or storms; when monitoring emergencies like forest fires or flooding; or to accumulate data on long-term problems like deforestation or rising sea levels. Often, satellites in SSO are synchronised so that they are in constant dawn or dusk – this is because by constantly riding a sunset or sunrise, they will never have the Sun at an angle where the Earth shadows them. A satellite in a Sun-synchronous orbit would usually be at an altitude of between 600 to 800 km. At 800 km, it will be travelling at a speed of approximately 7.5 km per second. Transfer Orbits and Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) Transfer orbits are a special kind of orbit used to get from one orbit to another. When satellites are launched from Earth and carried to space with launch vehicles such as Ariane 5, the satellites are not always placed directly on their final orbit. Often, the satellites are instead placed on a transfer orbit: an orbit where, by using relatively little energy from built-in motors, the satellite or spacecraft can move from one orbit to another. This allows a satellite to reach, for example, a high-altitude orbit like GEO without actually needing the launch vehicle to go all the way to this altitude, which would require more effort – this is like taking a shortcut. Reaching GEO in this way is an example of one of the most common transfer orbits, called the geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). Orbits have different eccentricities – a measure of how circular (round) or elliptical (squashed) an orbit is. In a perfectly round orbit, the satellite is always at the same distance from the Earth’s surface – but on a highly eccentric orbit, the path looks like an ellipse. On a highly eccentric orbit like this, the satellite can quickly go from being very far to very near Earth’s surface depending on where the satellite is on the orbit. In transfer orbits, the payload uses engines to go from an orbit of one eccentricity to another, which puts it on track to higher or lower orbits. After liftoff, a launch vehicle makes its way to space following a path shown by the yellow line, in the figure. At the target destination, the rocket releases the payload which sets it off on an elliptical orbit, following the blue line which sends the payload farther away from Earth. The point farthest away from the Earth on the blue elliptical orbit is called the apogee and the point closest is called the perigee. When the payload reaches the apogee at the GEO altitude of 35 786 km, it fires its engines in such a way that it enters onto the circular GEO orbit and stays there, shown by the red line in the diagram. So, specifically, the GTO is the blue path from the yellow orbit to the red orbit. Lagrange Points For many spacecraft being put in orbit, being too close to Earth can be disruptive to their mission – even at more distant orbits such as GEO. For example, for space-based observatories and telescopes whose mission is to photograph deep, dark space, being next to Earth is hugely detrimental because Earth naturally emits visible light and infrared radiation that will prevent the telescope from detecting any faint lights like distant galaxies. Photographing dark space with a telescope next to our glowing Earth would be as hopeless as trying to take pictures of stars from Earth in broad daylight. Lagrange points, or L-points, allow for orbits that are much, much farther away (over a million kilometres) and do not orbit Earth directly. These are specific points far out in space where the gravitational fields of Earth and the Sun combine in such a way that spacecraft that orbit them remain stable and can thus be ‘anchored’ relative to Earth. If a spacecraft was launched to other points in space very distant from Earth, they would naturally fall into an orbit around the Sun, and those spacecraft would soon end up far from Earth, making communication difficult. Instead, spacecraft launched to these special L-points stay fixed, and remain close to Earth with minimal effort without going into a different orbit. The most used L-points are L1 and L2. These are both four times farther away from Earth than the Moon – 1.5 million km, compared to GEO’s 36 000 km – but that is still only approximately 1% of the distance of Earth from the Sun. Many ESA observational and science missions were, are, or will enter an orbit about the L-points. For example, the solar telescope SOHO and LISA Pathfinder at the Sun-Earth L1 point; Herschel, Planck, Gaia, Euclid, Plato, Ariel, JWST, and the Athena telescope are or will be at the Sun-Earth L2 point. 94 Val-De-Marne is located in the southeast of the capital, in the inner suburbs. On the natural side, the Bois de Vincennes and the river Marne are amongst its attractions. There are many sites of heritage in the Val - de - Marne including the Château de Vincennes, d'Ivry-sur-Seine, the Rose Garden of L'Hay-les-Roses, and the Fragonard Museum of Maisons-Alfort. The Rungis international market, which visits one Friday per month, is also located in this department. The région’s fertile loams support the cultivation of wheat, corn (maize), barley, sunflowers, rapeseed, legumes, and sugar beets. Fruit, vegetables, and flowers are also grown. In Val-d’Oise between Pontoise and Montmorency, mushrooms are grown on a large scale in limestone caves. Owing to the great urban sprawl of Paris, agriculture is concentrated in the outer areas of Île-de-France, particularly in the département of Seine-et-Marne. In general, farm holdings are large, highly mechanized, and produce high yields, yet they employ only a very small percentage of the workforce. Deep-Fried Gudgeons (friture de goujons) In this dish, gudgeons (small freshwater fish) are eaten deep-fried and very crispy, with lemon quarters, chopped parsley, bread and butter. The whole thing is generally served with a glass of nice cold white wine. Escargots are presented in their shells and stuffed with a mouth watering combination of garlic, herbs, butter, Roquefort, truffle, and even curry-based sauces. The Crêpe is a treat to indulge in when it’s time for an afternoon snack. Be sure to pick a stand that cooks crêpes to order and makes them thin. Traditional filling is beurre-sucre for the true, unadulterated crêpe experience. Goujons of Lemon Sole with Parmesan Breadcrumbs There is not a better fish for goujons than lemon sole – its flavour seems to complement speedy deep-frying in a breadcrumb coating perfectly – but all of the cheaper flat fish, such as flounder, plaice and dab are improved by deep frying. The word ‘goujon’ is French for the small freshwater fish, the gudgeon. Serves 4 Ingredients 450g skinned lemon sole fillets 100g fresh white breadcrumbs 25g parmesan cheese, finely grated ½ tsp cayenne pepper Sunflower oil, for deep-frying 50g plain flour 3eggs, beaten Sea salt Lemon wedges, to serve Method Cut each lemon sole fillet diagonally across into strips about the thickness of a man’s finger – about 25mm across. Mix the breadcrumbs with the grated parmesan and cayenne pepper and set aside. Heat some oil for deep-frying to 190°C/375°F or until a cube of day-old bread will brown in about a minute. Line a baking tray with plenty of kitchen paper. Coat the goujons a few at a time in the flour, then in beaten egg and finally in the breadcrumb mixture, making sure that they all take on an even coating and remain separate. Drop a small handful of goujons into the oil and deep-fry for about 1 minute until crisp and golden. Lift out with a slotted spoon on to the paper-lined tray to drain and repeat with the remainder, making sure the oil has come back to temperature first. Pile the goujons on to 4 warmed plates and garnish with the lemon wedges. If you like, serve with a mixed whole leaf or herb salad, dressed with a little extra virgin olive oil and some seasoning. April Fools Day, 1st April April Fools’ Day, also called All Fools’ Day, is, in most countries the first day of April. It received its name from the custom of playing practical jokes on this day—for example, telling friends that their shoelaces are untied or sending them on so-called fools’ errands. Although the day has been observed for centuries, its true origins are unknown and effectively unknowable. It resembles festivals such as the Hilaria of ancient Rome, held on March 25, and the Holi celebration in India, which ends on March 31. Some have proposed that the modern custom originated in France, officially with the Edict of Roussillon, in which Charles IX decreed that the new year would no longer begin on Easter, as had been common throughout Christendom, but rather on January 1. Because Easter was a lunar and therefore moveable date, those who clung to the old ways were the “April Fools.” Others have suggested that the timing of the day may be related to the vernal equinox (March 21), a time when people are fooled by sudden changes in the weather. There are variations between countries in the celebration of April Fools’ Day, but all have in common an excuse to make someone play the fool. In France, for example, the fooled person is called poisson d’avril (“April fish”), perhaps in reference to a young fish and hence to one that is easily caught; it is common for French children to pin a paper fish to the backs of unsuspecting friends. In Scotland the day is Gowkie Day, for the gowk, or cuckoo, a symbol of the fool and the cuckold, which suggests that it may have been associated at one time with sexual license; on the following day signs reading “kick me” are pinned to friends’ backs. In many countries newspapers and the other media participate—for example, with false headlines or news stories. Some Examples The Swiss Spaghetti The news report on BBC television was produced as an April Fools' Day joke in 1957, and presented a family in the canton of Ticino in southern Switzerland gathering a bumper spaghetti harvest after a mild winter and "virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil". Footage of a traditional "Harvest Festival" was aired along with a discussion of the breeding necessary to develop a strain to produce the perfect spaghetti noodle length. Some scenes were filmed at the (now closed). Pasta Foods factory on London Road, St Albans, in Hertfordshire, and at a hotel in Castagnola, Switzerland. Panorama cameraman Charles de Jaeger dreamed up the story and the editor of Panorama, Michael Peacock, told the BBC in 2014 how he gave de Jaeger a budget of £100 and sent him off. The report was made more believable through its voice-over by respected broadcaster Richard Dimbleby. Peacock said Dimbleby knew they were using his authority to make the joke work, and that Dimbleby loved the idea and went at it eagerly At the time, 7 million of the 15.8 million homes (about 44%) in Britain had television receivers. Pasta was not an everyday food in 1950s Britain, and it was known mainly from tinned spaghetti in tomato sauce and considered by many to be an exotic delicacy. An estimated eight million people watched the programme on 1 April 1957, and hundreds phoned in the following day to question the authenticity of the story or ask for more information about spaghetti cultivation and how they could grow their own spaghetti trees; the BBC told them to "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best The islands of San Serriffe
In 1977, the Guardian published a travel guide to the mysterious island grouping of San Serriffe. The two islands, Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse, formed the shape of a semicolon. If that wasn’t enough to raise your suspicions, the part detailing education on the island read: “in addition to the mainstream subjects a San Serriffe teenager may well be offered pearl-diving as an A level choice”. Defying Gravity In 1976, renowned astronomer Patrick Moore appeared on BBC Radio 2 and announced that at 9:47am, we would feel what he called the ‘Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect’. He said that at that exact moment, the planets would align and gravity on Earth would get a tiny bit weaker, so if you jumped in the air at exactly the right moment, you would almost float. Evidently this was a load of rubbish, but it doesn’t stop the pseudo-science from being recirculated every so often by people who fall for it. Pi in the Sky Do you find the value of pi impossible to remember? Well then, this one’s for you. In 1998, news circulated that the state of Alabama was to pass a law that would redefine pi to the ‘Biblical value’ of 3, and it made people furious. When people started to write in to the Alabama state department to ask why they would do such a thing, it was revealed that physicist Mark Boslough (renowned for his humorous takes on science education) had started the rumour as an April Fools prank. Big Ben Becomes Digital Due to ongoing renovations, it’s been a while since we’ve heard the bongs of Big Ben. However, it’s been even longer since the BBC Overseas Service (now called the World Service) tried to convince the world that it would change to electronic beeps. In 1980, they announced to listeners that not only was the iconic clock face going digital, but that the first people to get in touch could win the hands of the clock. Unfortunately, this did not go down as well as they’d hoped and the BBC was apologising for weeks after the joke was made. Some people just clearly didn’t see the funny side Television In 1962, Swedish national television broadcast a 5-minute special on how one could get colour TV by placing a nylon stocking in front of the TV. A rather in-depth description on the physics behind the phenomenon was included. Thousands of people tried it. Smell-O-Vision: In 1965, the BBC purported to conduct a trial of a new technology allowing the transmission of odour over the airwaves to all viewers. Many viewers reportedly contacted the BBC to report the trial's success. In 2007, the BBC website repeated an online version of the hoax, as did Google in 2013, in tribute. In 1969, the public broadcaster NTS in the Netherlands announced that inspectors with remote scanners would drive the streets to detect people who had not paid their radio/TV tax. The only way to prevent detection was to wrap the TV/radio in aluminium foil. The next day all supermarkets were sold out of their aluminium foil, and a surge of TV/radio taxes were being paid. Great Blue Hill Eruption prank: On April 1, 1980, Boston television station WNAC-TV aired a fake news bulletin at the end of the 6 o'clock news which reported that Great Blue Hill in Milton, Massachusetts was erupting. The prank resulted in panic in Milton, where some residents began to flee their homes. The executive producer of the 6 o'clock news, Homer Cilley, was fired by the station In 2008, the BBC reported on a newly discovered colony of flying penguins. An elaborate video segment was even produced, featuring Terry Jones walking with the penguins in Antarctica, and following their flight to the Amazon rainforest. In 1988, Capital Radio in London gave all their breakfast-show time-checks one hour early, panicking listeners who needed to get up for work. The following year, when April 1 fell on a Saturday, they broadcast the usual weekday programme, together with rush-hour travel news, again worrying people into thinking they should be getting up. In 1998, UK Presenter Nic Tuff of West Midlands radio station pretended to be the British Prime Minister Tony Blair when he called the then South African President Nelson Mandela for a chat. It was only at the end of the call when Nic asked Mandela what he was doing for April Fools' Day that the line went dead. Archers Theme Tune Change: BBC Radio 4 (2005): The Today Programme announced in the news that the long-running serial The Archers had changed its theme tune to an upbeat disco style. In 2010, the UK newspaper The Independent reported that the Circle line of the London Underground was being considered as a new location for a particle accelerator by CERN. The National Geographic announced via Twitter in 2016 that they would no longer be publishing photographs of naked animals. In 2021, The Guardian UK newspaper reported that UN officials would review plans to construct a new canal called "Suez 2" along the Egypt-Israel border, prompted by the obstruction caused by the Ever Given, container ship, running aground.The story was picked up by media in Turkey, before it was marked as a fool at noon by the newspaper. Easter Sunday, 31st March - The Full Story Easter About 1960 years ago, Jesus and his friends and followers were in Jerusalem preparing for the special Passover celebrations. At the same time, the chief priests and other Jewish officials were meeting at the house of Caiaphas, the High Priest, to discuss ways of capturing Jesus quietly, and killing him. They wanted to kill Jesus because they hated how popular he was with the people and thought he might take some of their power away, and also more importantly, they did not believe Jesus's claim that he was the Son of God. "But we can't do it during the Passover celebrations," they agreed, "because the people might riot." Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus's twelve disciples, went to the chief priests, and asked, "How much will you pay me if I betray Jesus to you?" They gave him thirty silver coins. From then on, Judas watched for a chance to betray Jesus to them. On the first day of the Passover ceremonies, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where are we going to eat our Passover meal?" Jesus replied, "Go into the city and find a man carrying a water jar and tell him, 'Our Master says, my time has come, and I will eat the Passover meal with my disciples at your house.'" So the disciples did as he told them, and prepared the meal there. That evening as Jesus sat eating the Passover meal with his disciples, He broke the bread, blessed it and said, "Take this and eat it, for this is my body, which I am giving for you." He then took the cup of wine and gave thanks and said, "Drink this, all of you. This is my blood which is poured out for you." Then he said, "One of you will betray me." The disciples asked each other who would do that. But Judas knew he was talking about him and slipped out as soon as he could. Jesus and the rest of the disciples finished the meal and when they had sung a hymn, they went out to a local beauty spot, the Mount of Olives, and Jesus said to them, "This very night all of you will run away and leave me." Peter, one of Jesus's best friends, said to him, "Even if everyone else leaves you, I never will. Even if I have to die with you, I will never let you down. I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "Tonight, before the rooster crows, you will say three times that you don't know me." Then Jesus took his disciples to a place called Gethsemane and said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray. Pray for strength against temptation." He went a little way from them, knelt down and started to pray. "God, my Father, if it is possible, please take this burden from me. But do what you want, not what I want." Jesus stayed there and prayed for about an hour. When he returned to the disciples, he found them asleep and asked them, "Why are you sleeping? Couldn't you stay awake for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation, for your spirit is willing, but your body is weak." Then he went away for a second time to pray, "My Father, if it is not possible to take this painful thing from me, and if I must do it, I pray that what you want will happen." Jesus went back to his followers and found that they had fallen asleep again, so he went and prayed a third time. When he came back the last time, they were still asleep so he told them, "Wake up! It is nearly time for the Son of Man to be betrayed by sinners! Here comes my betrayer." After he left the meal, Judas had gone to the high priests and made arrangements with them and the soldiers about how they would know Jesus. "The one who I kiss is the one to arrest.", he said. When they arrived where Jesus and his disciples were, Judas went up to Jesus and kissed him and said, "Greetings, Teacher." And with that, the soldiers arrested Jesus. Jesus was taken to the court of Caiaphas (the High Priest), the teachers of the law and the Jewish Elders. Peter followed at a distance into the courtyard. He sat down with the guards to see what would happen. The priests and the Sanhedrin (the name of the Jewish parliament) brought lots of witnesses who told lies about Jesus. But nothing could be proved and Jesus would not say anything to defend himself. Finally the High Priest said to him, "I ask you under oath: Are you the Son of God?" Jesus replied, "You say that I am." Then the High Priest said, "He has spoken against God!! Do we need anymore witnesses?" The other priests replied, "He should die for what he has said!" Meanwhile, in the courtyard, a servant girl came up to Peter and said, "You were with Jesus of Galilee." Peter said, "I don't know what you're talking about." Then he went out to the gateway where another girl saw him and told the people around her, "This man was with Jesus of Galilee." Peter said, "I swear I don't know him!" After a little while, the people standing around the gate came up to Peter and said, "Surely you were with him, your accent gives you away." (People from Galilee had a different accent to people in Jerusalem.) Now Peter became angry and said, "I don't know the man!!" Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had told him, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." He went outside and cried. He had denied knowing Jesus because he was scared that he might be arrested. To sentence someone to death, the Jewish leaders had to have the Roman Governor's permission. So even thought it was now getting towards dawn (and against Jewish law!) they took Jesus before the Roman governor, Pilate, who asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus replied, "Those are your words." The priests and chief elders then began accusing him and still, Jesus did nothing to defend himself (much to the amazement of Pilate). The governor said, "Don't you hear how they're accusing you?" But still, Jesus didn't say anything! Pilate didn't know what to do with Jesus. Because he didn't think he had done anything wrong, he sent him to the Jewish King Herod. Herod was pleased that Jesus had been arrested and questioned him, but again, Jesus said nothing. So Herod made fun of him and Herod's soldiers beat Jesus up. Then Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate as he didn't know what to do with Jesus either! It was the custom, at the time Passover, for the Roman governor to release one Jewish prisoner chosen by the ordinary people. At that time, they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. When Pilate asked the crowd who they wanted released. The Priests stirred up the crowd so they called for Barabbas. Pilate asked them, "What do you want me to do with Jesus, who is called King of the Jews?" They answered back, let by the Priests, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Pilate asked them, "Why? What crime has he committed?" But, they shouted even louder, "CRUCIFY HIM!! CRUCIFY HIM!!" When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, he took some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. (This is where we get the phrase 'washing our hands of something' when we want to show that we don't want the blame if something goes wrong!) Then Pilate released Barabbas. Jesus was flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. The governor's soldiers took Jesus into the governor's palace and gathered around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him and then twisted together a crown of thorns and rammed it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" They spat on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had beaten him up, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. As the soldiers led him away, they grabbed a man named Simon, (who was from Cyrene and on his way in from the country) from the watching crowd and made him carry the cross because Jesus had been beaten so badly, he was too weak to do so. When they came to the place where they executed people, called Golgotha or 'The Place of the Skull', they offered Jesus cheap wine to drink to help stop the pain, but after he tasted it, he refused to drink it. When they had nailed Jesus up on to the Cross, the Jewish rulers among the crowd sneered at Jesus, saying, "If you are so wonderful and the King of the Jews, save yourself." An inscription, in Greek, Latin and Hebrew, was written on a bit of wood and put over Jesus' head on the cross. It read, "THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS." Jesus prayed to God, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing." Two thieves were being crucified at the same time as Jesus, one on the right and one on the left. One of the criminals who hung next to Jesus hurled insults at him, "Aren't you the Christ? Why don't you save yourself and us, too!!" But the other thief disagreed with him and said, "Aren't you afraid of God since you are under the same sentence? We are being punished because we did wrong things. But this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said to Jesus, "Remember me when you come into your Kingdom." Jesus told him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in heaven." This happened about 12noon, and from then until 3pm it was dark because the sun did not shine! At 3 o'clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "My God, My God, why have you left me?" Then Jesus cried out in a loud voice again, "It is finished!" And he died. A Roman centurion, was standing in front of Jesus and heard his cry and saw how he died. He said, "Surely, this man was the Son of God!" Because the next day was the Sabbath (Saturday, the Jewish Holy Day), the Jews didn't want the bodies left on the crosses. Later, an important Jewish council member called Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for Jesus's body. Pilate gave his permission for Joseph to remove his body. He and Nicodemus (another council member) took Jesus' body and wrapped it in strips of cloth (which was the Jewish burial custom). Near the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden that Joseph owned and in the garden was a tomb that no one else had ever used. So they buried Jesus in this tomb. The Romans put their best guards at the tomb and the Jewish Leaders had a massive stone rolled in front of it to stop Jesus's followers stealing the body and saying that he had come back to life. Early on Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus's followers, and some other women went to the tomb to put spices onto the body to stop it smelling. When they got to the tomb, they discovered that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. They wondered what had happened! Suddenly two men dressed is white robes that glowed appeared in the tomb. The women were very frightened, but the men said "He is not here! He has risen just as he said." Then the women remembered what Jesus had said. The women left the tomb and went to tell the other disciples about what had happened. The others did not believe the women because it sounded like rubbish! But Peter and John got up and ran to the tomb and found it empty with only strips of cloth lying in it. When they saw the empty grave, they believed that Jesus had risen. Then the disciples went home. Mary stayed at the tomb and was very sad and crying. She turned away from the tomb and saw Jesus there, but she didn't know it was Jesus. "Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?" Jesus asked her. She thought it was the gardener so said to him, "If you took Jesus's body away, please tell me where he is so I can go and see him." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned to look at the man properly and saw that it was Jesus. She said to him, "Rabboni!" (this means 'teacher' in Hebrew) She when to hug Jesus, but he said, "Don't hold on to me, because I have not gone back to heaven yet. But go and tell my disciples that I am going back to heaven." So Mary went back and told the disciples all about what had happened and that she had seen Jesus alive! Jesus Appears to the Disciples Later on the same day, two of Jesus's followers were walking from Jerusalem to a town called Emmaus (about 11 kilometres or 7 miles). They were talking about what had happened over the last few days. They were joined by a stranger on the road and started walking with him. It was Jesus but they didn't recognise him. Jesus asked them "What are you talking about?" They told Jesus all that had happened and about the women going to the tomb, the Angels telling them that Jesus was Alive and the other disciples finding the tomb empty. Jesus then explained to them about what the old Jewish prophets had said about Jesus coming back to life (although they still didn't recognise him!) When they had finished talking, they were near Emmaus. It was getting late, so the two men asked Jesus to stay the night with them. They sat down to dinner and Jesus said grace. As he broke the bread to eat, the disciple realised it was Jesus. (They might have seen the holes in Jesus's hands where the nails had been.) They were amazed and ran all the way back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples in Jerusalem what had happened! They found the other disciples in a locked room because they were scared of being found by the Jewish leaders. While the two disciples were saying what had happened, Jesus appeared in the room and said "Peace be with you!" They were scared and thought Jesus was a ghost. But Jesus said "Look at my hands and feet, it is me. Touch my hands where the nails went in. A ghost doesn't have a body!" He showed them his pierced hands where the nails had gone in and they believed it was him, Alive! Jesus ate some fish with them and explained why he had died and that he would soon go back to heaven. He also explained that he would send a helper, the Holy Spirit, to live in and help all of Jesus's followers. He told them not to leave Jerusalem until the Helper had come. He also told them to go and tell other people about him and that he loves everyone so much he died for them. But there was one disciple who wasn't there when Jesus first appeared, his name was Thomas and he doubted that Jesus really was alive. He said that unless he saw the holes in Jesus hands, he wouldn't believe that he was raised from the dead. The next week, the disciples were in the room again. This time Thomas was with them. Even though the room was locked, Jesus still appeared to them. He showed Thomas his hands. Thomas touched him and said, "My Lord and My God!" And believed that Jesus was alive. 40 days after Jesus rose from the dead, he got his followers together and took them out to Bethany. He prayed for them and while he was doing so, he was carried back up into Heaven. A shining cloud covered Jesus, but suddenly two men dressed in white shining clothes stood next to Jesus and said "Why are you looking into the sky? Jesus who you saw going into heaven will return the same way!" The disciples went back to Jerusalem as Jesus had told them to do. A while later, the disciples were in a house waiting to celebrate Pentecost (the Jewish harvest festival). Suddenly there was a sound like a strong blowing wind in the house. They saw things like flames of fire that came and rested on each of the disciples. They were filled with the Holy Spirit, the helper just as Jesus had promised. They went outside and to tell people about Jesus and found that people from lots of different countries could understand what they were saying. (People from different countries were staying in Jerusalem then for the Pentecost festival.) The people didn't understand this was possible, some people thought they were all drunk! But Peter said "How can we be drunk? It's nine o'clock in the morning!" The disciples found that by the power of the Holy Spirit, they could speak lots of different languages. They told all the people about Jesus and what he did for everyone. Over 3000 people became Christians that day! People have been telling others about Jesus all over the world ever since. Good Friday, 30th March 2024 Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Holy and Great Friday), and Black Friday. Members of many Christian denominations, including the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, Oriental Orthodox, United Protestant and some Reformed traditions (including certain Continental Reformed, Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches), observe Good Friday with fasting and church services. In many Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist churches, the Service of the Great Three Hours' Agony is held from noon until 3 pm, the time duration that the Bible records as darkness covering the land to Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross. Communicants of the Moravian Church have a Good Friday tradition of cleaning gravestones in Moravian cemeteries. The date of Good Friday varies from one year to the next in both the Gregorian and Julian calendars. Eastern and Western Christianity disagree over the computation of the date of Easter and therefore of Good Friday. Good Friday is a widely instituted legal holiday around the world, including in most Western countries. Some predominantly Christian countries, such as Germany, have laws prohibiting certain acts such as dancing and horse racing, in remembrance of the somber nature of Good Friday. Biblical accounts According to the accounts in the Gospels, the royal soldiers, guided by Jesus' disciple Judas Iscariot, arrested Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Judas received money (30 pieces of silver) for betraying Jesus and told the guards that whomever he kisses is the one they are to arrest. Following his arrest, Jesus was taken to the house of Annas, the father-in-law of the high priest, Caiaphas. There he was interrogated with little result and sent bound to Caiaphas the high priest where the Sanhedrin had assembled. Conflicting testimony against Jesus was brought forth by many witnesses, to which Jesus answered nothing. Finally the high priest adjured Jesus to respond under solemn oath, saying "I adjure you, by the Living God, to tell us, are you the Anointed One, the Son of God?" Jesus testified ambiguously, "You have said it, and in time you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Almighty, coming on the clouds of Heaven." The high priest condemned Jesus for blasphemy, and the Sanhedrin concurred with a sentence of death. Peter, waiting in the courtyard, also denied Jesus three times to bystanders while the interrogations were proceeding just as Jesus had foretold. In the morning, the whole assembly brought Jesus to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, under charges of subverting the nation, opposing taxes to Caesar, and making himself a king. Pilate authorized the Jewish leaders to judge Jesus according to their own law and execute sentencing. However, the Jewish leaders replied that they were not allowed by the Romans to carry out a sentence of death. Pilate questioned Jesus and told the assembly that there was no basis for sentencing. Upon learning that Jesus was from Galilee, Pilate referred the case to the ruler of Galilee, King Herod, who was in Jerusalem for the Passover Feast. Herod questioned Jesus but received no answer; Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate. Pilate told the assembly that neither he nor Herod found Jesus to be guilty. Pilate resolved to have Jesus whipped and released. Under the guidance of the chief priests, the crowd asked for Barabbas, who had been imprisoned for committing murder during an insurrection. Pilate asked what they would have him do with Jesus, and they demanded, "Crucify him" Pilate's wife had seen Jesus in a dream earlier that day, and she forewarned Pilate to "have nothing to do with this righteous man". Pilate had Jesus flogged and then brought him out to the crowd to release him. The chief priests informed Pilate of a new charge, demanding Jesus be sentenced to death "because he claimed to be God's son." This possibility filled Pilate with fear, and he brought Jesus back inside the palace and demanded to know from where he came. Coming before the crowd one last time, Pilate declared Jesus innocent and washed his own hands in water to show he had no part in this condemnation. Nevertheless, Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified in order to forestall a riot. The sentence written was "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." Jesus carried his cross to the site of execution (assisted by Simon of Cyrene), called the "place of the Skull", or "Golgotha" in Hebrew and in Latin "Calvary". There he was crucified along with two criminals. Jesus agonized on the cross for six hours. During his last three hours on the cross, from noon to 3 pm, darkness fell over the whole land. Jesus spoke from the cross, quoting the messianic Psalm 22: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" With a loud cry, Jesus gave up his spirit. There was an earthquake, tombs broke open, and the curtain in the Temple was torn from top to bottom. The centurion on guard at the site of crucifixion declared, "Truly this was God's Son!" Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin and a secret follower of Jesus, who had not consented to his condemnation, went to Pilate to request the body of Jesus Another secret follower of Jesus and member of the Sanhedrin named Nicodemus brought about a hundred-pound weight mixture of spices and helped wrap the body of Jesus. Pilate asked confirmation from the centurion of whether Jesus was dead. A soldier pierced the side of Jesus with a lance causing blood and water to flow out and the centurion informed Pilate that Jesus was dead. Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus' body, wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, and placed it in his own new tomb that had been carved in the rock in a garden near the site of the crucifixion. Nicodemus also brought 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes, and placed them in the linen with the body, in keeping with Jewish burial customs They rolled a large rock over the entrance of the tomb. Then they returned home and rested, because Shabbat had begun at sunset. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb". i.e. "After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week,...". "He is not here; he has risen, just as he said....". Dates for Good Friday, 2020–2035 Year Western Eastern Year Western Eastern 2023 April 7 April 14 2024 March 29 May 3 2025 April 18 April 18 2026 April 3 April 10 2027 March 26 April 30 2028 April 14 April 14 2029 March 30 April 6 2030 April 19 April 26 2031 April 11 April 11 2032 March 26 April 30 2033 April 15 April 22 2034 April 7 April 7 2035 March 23 April 27 Good Friday is the Friday before Easter, which is calculated differently in Eastern Christianity and Western Christianity. Easter falls on the first Sunday following the Paschal Full Moon (the full moon on or after 21 March) taken to be the date of the vernal equinox. The Western calculation uses the Gregorian calendar, while the Eastern calculation uses the Julian calendar, whose 21 March now corresponds to the Gregorian calendar's 3 April. The calculations for identifying the date of the full moon also differ.
In Eastern Christianity, Easter can fall between 22 March and 25 April on Julian Calendar (thus between 4 April and 8 May in terms of the Gregorian calendar, during the period 1900 and 2099), so Good Friday can fall between 20 March and 23 April, inclusive (or between 2 April and 6 May in terms of the Gregorian calendar). Maundy Thursday, 28th March 2024 Maundy Thursday, also called Holy Thursday or Sheer Thursday, the Thursday before Easter, observed in commemoration of Jesus Christ’s institution of the Eucharist during the Last Supper. The name is thought to be a Middle English derivation taken from a Latin anthem sung in Roman Catholic churches on that day. In most European countries, Maundy Thursday is also known as Holy Thursday. other names are Green Thursday in Germany, from the early practice of giving penitents a green branch as a token for completing their Lenten penance, and Sheer Thursday (clean Thursday), which refers to the ceremonial washing of altars on this day. In the early Christian church the day was celebrated with a general communion of clergy and people. At a special mass the bishop consecrated the chrism (holy oils) in preparation for the anointing of the neophytes at the baptism on Easter night. Since 1956 Maundy Thursday has been celebrated in Roman Catholic churches with a morning liturgy for the consecration of the holy oils for the coming year and an evening liturgy in commemoration of the institution of the Eucharist, with a general communion. During the evening liturgy the hosts are consecrated for the communion on Good Friday and the ceremony of the washing of feet is performed by the celebrant, who ceremonially washes the feet of 12 people in memory of Christ’s washing the feet of his disciples. Eastern Orthodox churches also have a ceremony of foot washing and blessing of oil on this day. In England alms are distributed to the poor by the British sovereign in a ceremony held at a different church each year. This developed from a former practice in which the sovereign washed the feet of the poor on this day. What is Maundy Money? During the Service, the King will present each recipient with two purses: one red and one white. The white purse will contain a set of specially minted silver Maundy coins equivalent in value to the age of the Monarch. The red purse will contain two commemorative coins, symbolising the Sovereign's historic gift of food and clothing. This year, one will celebrate His Majesty’s forthcoming 75th birthday and the other will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Windrush Generation. The service dates back to 600AD and these special coins have kept much the same form since 1670. The first recorded Royal Distribution was at Knaresborough, North Yorkshire by King John in 1210. Palm Sunday, 24th March 2024 Palm Sunday is a very important feast day for followers of Christianity. On the Sunday before Easter, between the various holy holidays of Lent and Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday sits as a triumphant and important feast day within the Christian religion. On this day, merriment is had as people celebrate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. During mass for this holiday, palm leaves are handed out to all patrons, thus giving it the name Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday moves like Easter, but it is always usually one week before Easter. The importance of this feast day relies solely on its origins and its part in the next year’s beginning of Lent! Palm Sunday is celebrated by many mainstream Christian denominations, including Catholic, Orthodox, Methodist, Lutheran, and more! As the purpose of the feast day relates to celebrating Jesus Christ, most of those who celebrate will often believe in the life and history of Jesus and his Holy Father to some extent! While the holiday may be renamed to suit the more readily available items (Yew Sunday or Branch Sunday are often applicable, especially to churches who cannot obtain palm leaves easily, like those situated in colder climates). Those who celebrate Palm Sunday will often attend Sunday morning mass, which is a gathering of Christian or Catholic followers coming together within a church to listen to sermons or bible verses. History of Palm Sunday Palm Sunday was originally known, from the accounts of four of Jesus' disciples (written within four Gospels), as the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. This arrival by Christ stands as the beginning of his Passion. Christ’s Passion is the period within the Bible where Jesus Christ goes through hardships, suffering, death, and then his eventual resurrection which is marked by Easter Sunday. For Christ’s arrival into Jerusalem, there are various events that occurred that have been noted within the four different Gospels. The biblical recollection of events includes:
There are many interpretations from the Gospels about where exactly Jesus and his disciples are traveling from. The Gospel of John never mentions them arriving from Jericho and instead insist they were running after the Raising of Lazarus (an event where Jesus raised a dead man back to life through a miracle) through the wilderness and instead arrived in Bethany from there. The Gospels of Matthew, Luke, and Mark say that left Jericho and entered the Mount of Olives in succession. These small differences continue, and have made the historical study of this event a challenge to decipher. Another interesting difference within the Gospel is the branches which are used to cover the road and fan Jesus as he rides into Jerusalem. While Palm Sunday is known for palm leaves, only one disciple mentions palm branches in his Gospel! Once again, John’s single mention of palm branches changes many of the holiday's symbols, but this specific item has become iconic with the holy feast. From these Gospel tales and historical studies, Palm Sunday was born. And with this holy feast day comes symbols, images, and traditions that are vital to the celebration of Christ's arrival to Jerusalem! Palm Sunday Traditions There are countless important traditions within Palm Sunday and many are only specific to certain denominations! The Saturday before Palm Sunday is known as Lazarus Saturday. Lazarus, as mentioned above, was the mind raised by a miracle and the event which led to Christ’s journey to the Mount of Olives and Jerusalem. On Lazarus Saturday, regular mass is held but many followers will aid in preparing the Church for Palm Sunday. These preparations include knotting palm leaves (or in some cases, yew branches, olive branches,or pussy willow branches) into crosses and decorating the church with the color green. On Palm Sunday, believers will arrive at Sunday mass and receive a palm leaf cross. This palm leaf cross is then carried home by the individual who received them and placed through the home, sometimes on crucifixes or other important areas within the house. Those who keep their palms can bring them back to the church before next year’s Lent, so that the church may burn the fronds down to create the ash used for Ash Wednesday. Many churches have specific traditions related to their placement in the world, their own beliefs in the Gospel, and more. There are some denominations that hold night vigils, where the entrance of the church and main chapel are lined with candles to “light the way to Jerusalem”. In the cases of these vigils, attendees are invited to take home the candles along with their palm or branch crosses to create a home altar for the remainder of the holy week. In Russia, some towns hold donkey walks, where donkey’s will be led through the town, rode by a Patriarch. Though this is rarely done nowadays, it was a prominent tradition before the 1700s. There are countless important symbols mentioned throughout the Gospels detailing Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Some of the most prominent symbols include:
Meaning and Importance of Palm Sunday The complete meaning of Palm Sunday is simple: it is the marking of the final days of Christ and his triumphant arrival into Jerusalem. Christians celebrate this feast down to continue telling the tale of Jesus Christ and celebrating his life, death, and resurrection. Palm Sunday allows church-goers to bring home their own palm fronds to bless their homes with the same victory the crowds of Jerusalem Christ was blessed with. As Palm Sunday is the first day of the Holy Week, it’s importance stands as the beginning of Christ’s Passion. What is the significance of Palm Sunday? Palm Sunday is significant because it is a vital holiday within the Christian church and the various other denominations that study and worship the Christian God and bible. It is also the first day of the week which would end Christ’s life and then, subsequently, allow him to be reborn– what can be more significant than that! Ten Facts About Palm Sunday
Holy Week, 24th March to 30th March 2024 Holy Week, in the Christian church, the week between Palm Sunday and Easter, observed with special solemnity as a time of devotion to the Passion of Jesus Christ. The name Holy Week was used in the 4th century by St. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria Originally, only Good Friday and Holy Saturday were observed as holy days. Later, Wednesday was added as the day on which Judas plotted to betray Jesus, and by the beginning of the 3rd century the other days of the week had been added. The pre-Nicene church concentrated its attention on the celebration of one great feast, the Christian Passover, on the night between Saturday and Easter Sunday morning. By the later 4th century the practice had begun of separating the various events and commemorating them on the days of the week on which they occurred: Judas’s betrayal and the institution of the Eucharist on Maundy Thursday; the Passion and death of Christ on Good Friday; his burial on Saturday; and his Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Maundy Thursday, also called Holy Thursday or Sheer Thursday, the Thursday before Easter, observed in commemoration of Jesus Christ’s institution of the Eucharist during the Last Supper. The name is thought to be a Middle English derivation taken from a Latin anthem sung in Roman Catholic churches on that day. In most European countries, Maundy Thursday is also known as Holy Thursday. other names are Green Thursday in Germany, from the early practice of giving penitents a green branch as a token for completing their Lenten penance, and Sheer Thursday (clean Thursday), which refers to the ceremonial washing of altars on this day. In the early Christian church the day was celebrated with a general communion of clergy and people. At a special mass the bishop consecrated the chrism (holy oils) in preparation for the anointing of the neophytes at the baptism on Easter night. Since 1956 Maundy Thursday has been celebrated in Roman Catholic churches with a morning liturgy for the consecration of the holy oils for the coming year and an evening liturgy in commemoration of the institution of the Eucharist, with a general communion. During the evening liturgy the hosts are consecrated for the communion on Good Friday and the ceremony of the washing of feet is performed by the celebrant, who ceremonially washes the feet of 12 people in memory of Christ’s washing the feet of his disciples. Eastern Orthodox churches also have a ceremony of foot washing and blessing of oil on this day. In England alms are distributed to the poor by the British sovereign in a ceremony held at a different church each year. This developed from a former practice in which the sovereign washed the feet of the poor on this day. Easter Sunday, is the principal festival of the Christian church, which celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his Crucifixion. The earliest recorded observance of an Easter celebration comes from the 2nd century, though the commemoration of Jesus’ Resurrection probably occurred earlier. The English word Easter is of uncertain origin. One view, expounded by the Venerable Bede in the 8th century, was that it derived from Eostre, or Eostrae, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility. This view presumes—as does the view associating the origin of Christmas on December 25 with pagan celebrations of the winter solstice—that Christians appropriated pagan names and holidays for their highest festivals. Given the determination with which Christians combated all forms of paganism, this appears a rather dubious presumption.. The Latin and Greek Pascha (“Passover”) provides the root for Pâques, the French word for Easter. Fixing the date on which the Resurrection of Jesus was to be observed and celebrated triggered a major controversy in early Christianity in which an Eastern and a Western position can be distinguished. The dispute, known as the Paschal controversies, was not definitively resolved until the 8th century. In Asia Minor, Christians observed the day of the Crucifixion on the same day that Jews celebrated the Passover offering—that is, on the 14th day of the first full moon. The Resurrection, then, was observed two days later, on 16 Nisan, regardless of the day of the week. In the West the Resurrection of Jesus was celebrated on the first day of the week, Sunday, when Jesus had risen from the dead. Consequently, Easter was always celebrated on the first Sunday after the 14th day of the month of Nisan. Increasingly, the churches opted for the Sunday celebration, and the Quartodecimans remained a minority. The Council of Nicaea in 325 decreed that Easter should be observed on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox (March 21). Easter, therefore, can fall on any Sunday between March 22 and April 25. Eastern Orthodox churches use a slightly different calculation based on the Julian rather than the Gregorian calendar (which is 13 days ahead of the former), with the result that the Orthodox Easter celebration usually occurs later than that celebrated by Protestants and Roman Catholics. Moreover, the Orthodox tradition prohibits Easter from being celebrated before or at the same time as Passover. In the 20th century several attempts were made to arrive at a fixed date for Easter, with the Sunday following the second Saturday in April specifically proposed. While this proposal and others had many supporters, none came to fruition. Renewed interest in a fixed date arose in the early 21st century, resulting from discussions involving the leaders of Eastern Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox, Coptic, Anglican, and Roman Catholic churches, but formal agreement on such a date remained elusive. Easter Customs Easter, like Christmas, has accumulated a great many traditions, some of which have little to do with the Christian celebration of the Resurrection but derive from folk customs. The custom of the Easter lamb appropriates both the appellation used for Jesus in Scripture (“behold the lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world,”) and the lamb’s role as a sacrificial animal in ancient Israel. In antiquity Christians placed lamb meat under the altar, had it blessed, and then ate it on Easter. Since the 12th century the Lenten fast has ended on Easter with meals including eggs, ham, cheeses, bread, and sweets that have been blessed for the occasion. Easter EggThe use of painted and decorated Easter eggs was first recorded in the 13th century. The church prohibited the eating of eggs during Holy Week, but chickens continued to lay eggs during that week, and the notion of specially identifying those as “Holy Week” eggs brought about their decoration. The egg itself became a symbol of the Resurrection. Just as Jesus rose from the tomb, the egg symbolizes new life emerging from the eggshell. In the Orthodox tradition eggs are painted red to symbolize the blood Jesus shed on the cross. Easter Egg Hunts originated in the United States in 1878 The Easter rabbit or bunny arose in Protestant areas in Europe in the 17th century but did not become common until the 19th century. The Easter rabbit is said to lay the eggs as well as decorate and hide them. In some European countries, however, other animals—in Switzerland the cuckoo, in Westphalia the fox—brought the Easter eggs. What is Holy Week? Sunday 24th March to Saturday 30th March 2024 Holy Week is the most sacred seven days each year in the Christian Church. It encompasses the crescendo of Lent, the sorrow of Good Friday, and the joy of the Easter Vigil leading up to Easter. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, a day on which Jesus enters Jerusalem triumphantly astride a colt, yet also anticipates his Passion and death because people can’t reconcile his being both Messiah King and the Suffering Servant. There are many other rich traditions and key events during the week, from Jesus’s institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday to the solemn events of Good Friday, including the Stations of the Cross Palm Sunday: Jesus Enters Jerusalem Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, a day that echoes with the elated cries of “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”. Jesus enters Jerusalem, where crowds lay palm branches at his feet, recognizing him as the long-awaited Messiah. The symbolic act of laying down palm branches was a gesture of homage reserved for kings and dignitaries in ancient Israel, in this case acknowledging Jesus as the rightful King of Israel. As Jesus enters the holy city riding a donkey, the crowd is filled with anticipation, reverence, and jubilation. Holy Wednesday: A Day of Preparation On Wednesday of Holy Week, Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles, decides to betray Jesus, handing Christ over to the high priests and Temple guards: So he agreed, and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of the multitude. With Judas acting as their spy, this day has become known as “Spy Wednesday.” Some traditions consider it a day of preparation. A close study of the Gospels shows that the betrayal involves detailed and time-sensitive planning. Maundy Thursday: Jesus Washing the Feet of His Disciples Maundy Thursday, also known as Holy Thursday, commemorates the Last Supper. On Holy Thursday, Jesus institutes the Eucharist and washes the feet of his apostles. This as captured in John 13:5, washing the humility, service, and love of Christ that we, his disciples, are called to emulate. In a culture where washing feet was a task relegated to servants, Jesus, the Son of God, takes on the role of a servant and thereby ordains His apostles as the first ministerial priests of the New Covenant. When he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you”. The Holy Thursday foot washing ceremony has deep religious significance: according to Tradition, it represents the service and charity of Christ, who came “not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”. The season of Lent ends on the evening of Holy Thursday, which commences the Easter Triduum or “Paschal Triduum,” a three-day period named after Jesus’s offering Himself as the New Covenant Passover Lamb of God, and which concludes with Evening Prayer (Vespers) on Easter Sunday. Good Friday: Commemorates Jesus’s Sacrifice of the Cross Good Friday, the most solemn day of Holy Week, commemorates the Passion of Jesus Christ. It is a day of reflection, penance, and deep contemplation on the ultimate sacrifice made for the redemption of humanity. Christ’s Passion, culminating in his crucifixion and death, reminds us of the weight of our sin and the unfathomable love of God. Christians around the world participate in solemn liturgies, reflecting on our Lord’s redemptive suffering, venerating the Cross, and receiving Holy Communion. They also pray the Stations of the Cross, in which the faithful meditate on our Lord’s journey to Calvary, a place also called “Golgotha,” meaning “skull.” What are the Stations of the Cross? The Christian Church observes the “Adoration of the Cross” during the Good Friday Celebration of the Passion of the Lord. In this ritual, the faithful approach the cross, often adorned with flowers, and venerate it with reverent gestures, such as kissing or genuflecting. It is a powerful ritual that encapsulates the deep sorrow of the day while acknowledging the transformative power of Christ’s sacrifice. Finally, there is also reception of Holy Communion without the Sacrifice of the Mass, because Good Friday commemorates the day Our Lord offered Himself on behalf of us. Holy Saturday: A Day of Vigil and Anticipation Holy Saturday is a day of vigil, a period of waiting and anticipation. The Easter Vigil, the summit of the Paschal Triduum on Holy Saturday evening, is a profound liturgical celebration that takes place after nightfall. This ancient tradition, dating back to the fourth century, marks the high point of the Triduum and thus ignites the celebration of our Lord’s Resurrection from the dead. At the Easter Vigil Mass, the Paschal—or Easter—Proclamation is made, which is part of the ceremony to light paschal candle. Known in Latin as “The Exsultet,” the Proclamation and the Easter Vigil’s baptismal liturgy symbolize together our journey from darkness to light and death to new life in Christ. Easter Triduum: A Sacred Triad The Easter Triduum—which “begins with the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper” on Holy Thursday, continues “through Good Friday with the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord . . . reaches its summit with the Easter Vigil, and concludes with Vespers [Evening Prayer] of Easter Sunday”— stands as the sacred triad culminating with the joyous celebration of Easter. It encapsulates the great mystery of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection. Ash Wednesday to Easter: A Season of Reflection As noted, the journey of Holy Week also marks the conclusion of Lent, a season of 40 days of fasting, prayer, and repentance that begins on Ash Wednesday. This season of reflection prepares us for the intense spiritual pilgrimage of Holy Week, encouraging introspection and renewal. As Holy Week unfolds and we conclude Lent on Holy Thursday, we are invited to delve into the depths of our Christian faith, contemplating the mysteries of redemption and salvation. Holy Week is a sacred time full of deep symbolism, ancient rituals, and timeless truths. From the triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the solemn foot washing on Maundy Thursday, the commemoration on Christ’s Passion on Good Friday, and the anticipation and celebration of His Resurrection at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday evening, each day holds a unique significance in ChristianTradition. As we embark on this spiritual pilgrimage, we are invited to walk alongside Jesus and his disciples, witnessing the unfolding drama of salvation history. May Holy Week be for you a time of deep reflection, transformative worship, and a renewed commitment to the merciful love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Holy Week Schedule 2024 March 24: Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord March 25 & 26: Monday and Tuesday of Holy Week March 27: Holy Wednesday or Spy Wednesday March 28: Holy Thursday: Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Maunday Thursday March 29: Good Friday: The Celebration of the Passion of the Lord March 30/March 31: Holy Saturday and Easter Vigil—Celebration of Easter Sunday of the Lord’s Resurrection Commences March 31 Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord 92 Hauts-de-Seine and two other small départements, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne, form a ring around Paris, known as the Petite Couronne. It is a landlocked department in the Île-de-France region of Northern France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west and Essonne to the south. It is the second most highly densely populated department of France after Paris.. Its prefecture is Nanterre. Hauts-de-Seine is best known for containing the modern office, cinema and shopping complex, La Défense, one of Grand Paris's main economic centres and one of Europe's major business districts. Hauts-de-Seine is one of the wealthiest departments in France Being the centre of a large city, there are no traditional products. Therefore all dishes are either national or international. The Île-de-France, région of France encompasses the north-central départements of Val-d’Oise, Seine-et-Marne, Seine-Saint-Denis, Ville-de-Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Val-de-Marne, Essonne, and Yvelines. Île-de-France is bounded by the régions of Hauts-de-France to the north, Grand Est to the east, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté to the southeast, Centre to the south, and Normandy to the northwest. The capital is Paris. The région lies in the centre of the Paris Basin and consists of limestone plains with a gently rolling relief. The principal rivers are the Seine and its tributaries—the Marne, Oise, and Aisn Île-de-France is the most densely populated région in France. In the century between 1850 and 1950, when most areas of France were losing population, Paris attracted migrants from all over the country, as well as a large number of immigrants. Île-de-France had a fourfold growth in population between 1850 and 1968. Since the 1960s, natural increase has remained strong, because of the région’s youthful population, but now, growth has slowed, largely as a result of migrational loss. There has been an internal redistribution in the région as people have moved from the congestion and expense of the inner districts of the capital to the outer suburbs and adjacent small towns where housing costs are lower and jobs have been relocated or created. Many of the communes belonging to Île-de-France are still classified as rural despite their proximity to Paris. The région’s fertile loams support the cultivation of wheat, corn (maize), barley, sunflowers, rapeseed, legumes, and sugar beets. Fruit, vegetables, and flowers are also grown. In Val-d’Oise between Pontoise and Montmorency, mushrooms are grown on a large scale in limestone caves. Owing to the great urban sprawl of Paris, agriculture is concentrated in the outer areas of Île-de-France, particularly in the département of Seine-et-Marne. In general, farm holdings are large, highly mechanized, and produce high yields, yet they employ only a very small percentage of the workforce. Île-de-France dominates economic activity in France, despite successive attempts to encourage businesses in other parts of the country. The région is the country’s preeminent decision-making centre, in both the public and private sectors. It remains a major industrial hub, although employment is concentrated overwhelmingly in the service sector. In industry, major activities include printing and publishing; food processing; and the manufacturing of electrical and electronic goods, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and mechanical products. Industry is not spread equally throughout. The centre of the région has lost most of its industries, and inner suburbs in Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne, and Hauts-de-Seine have experienced factory closures. As a result, industry has become concentrated in the outer urban areas and especially in the five new towns developed since the 1960s: Évry, Marne-la-Vallée, Sénart, Cergy-Pontoise, and Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. Office-based employment predominates in the centre and inner suburbs, especially to the west, in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. In Essonne, around Saclay and Orsay, many higher education and research facilities have been established, with the région accounting for more than 40 percent of France’s employment in this field. Île-de-France is renowned for the large number of corporate headquarters located both in Paris and in the business district known as La Défense, just west of Neuilly. Île-de-France is the focus of France’s various communications networks. Apart from its numerous motorways and rail links, it has a series of port zones along the Seine and Marne. Within the région the central areas of Paris are served by the Métro (underground railway), while a newer express line (Réseau Express Régional; RER) extends into the Parisian suburbs. There are two international airports, Charles de Gaulle and Orly. Chicken Supreme with Truffles and Smoked Mashed Potatoes Preparation Time; 15 minutes, Cooking Time; 15 minutes, Serves 4 Ingredients 4 free-range chicken breasts 500g of potatoes 500ml of chicken broth 2 shallots 250 ml of whipping cream 100 g of butter 1 truffle of 10/13 g 10 cl of truffle juice Method Cook the potatoes with the skin in water. Drain and let them cool Cut the whole truffle into strips and slip them under the skin of each chicken breast Season the poultry then sear the breasts on both sides Peel and mince the shallots, sweat them, deglaze with the truffle juice then pour in the chicken broth and cream Add the poultry to the cream and the broth mixture. Cook over a very low heat for 15 minutes Meanwhile, mash the potato pulp using a fork, adding smoked oil - failing this, use semi-salted butter. Once the chickens are cooked remove them and keep them warm. Reduce the cooking juices by half until a silky sauce is obtained. Dress the mashed potatoes. Adjust with salt and pepper to taste. Coat the poultry with the sauce. Saint Patricks Day, 17th March Saint Patrick was a 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and Bishop in Ireland. Much of what is known about Saint Patrick comes from the Declaration, which was allegedly written by Patrick himself. It is believed that he was born in Roman Britain in the fourth century, into a wealthy Romano-British family. His father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest in the Christian church. According to the Declaration, at the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Gaelic Ireland. It says that he spent six years there, working as a shepherd and that during. this time he found God. The Declaration says that God told Patrick to flee to the coast, where a ship would be waiting to take him home. After making his way home, Patrick went on to become a priest. According to tradition, Patrick returned to Ireland to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity. The Declaration says that he spent many years evangelising in the northern half of Ireland and converted thousands. Patrick's efforts were eventually turned into an allegory in which he drove "snakes" out of Ireland, despite the fact that snakes were not known to inhabit the region.[20] Tradition holds that he died on 17 March and was buried at Downpatrick. Over the following centuries, many legends grew up around Patrick and he became Ireland's foremost saint. According to legend, Saint Patrick used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to Irish pagans.Today's Saint Patrick's Day celebrations have been greatly influenced by those that developed among the Irish diaspora, especially in North America. Until the late 20th century, Saint Patrick's Day was often a bigger celebration among the diaspora than it was in Ireland. Celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals, Irish traditional music sessions (céilithe), and the wearing of green attire or shamrocks There are also formal gatherings such as banquets and dances, although these were more common in the past. Saint Patrick's Day parades began in North America in the 18th century but did not spread to Ireland until the 20th century. The participants generally include marching bands, the military, fire brigades, cultural organisations, charitable organisations, voluntary associations, youth groups, fraternities, and so on. However, over time, many of the parades have become more akin to a carnival. More effort is made to use the Irish language, especially in Ireland, where 1 March to St Patrick's Day on 17 March is Seachtain na Gaeilge ("Irish language week"). Since 2010, famous landmarks have been lit up in green on Saint Patrick's Day as part of Tourism Ireland's "Global Greening Initiative" or "Going Green for St Patrick's Day". The Sydney Opera House and the Sky Tower in Auckland were the first landmarks to participate and since then over 300 landmarks in fifty countries across the globe have gone green for Saint Patricks day. Christians may also attend church services and the Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol are lifted for the day. Perhaps because of this, drinking alcohol – particularly Irish whiskey, beer, or cider – has become an integral part of the celebrations. The Saint Patrick's Day custom of "drowning the shamrock" or "wetting the shamrock" was historically popular. At the end of the celebrations, especially in Ireland, a shamrock is put into the bottom of a cup, which is then filled with whiskey, beer, or cider. It is then drunk as a toast to Saint Patrick, Ireland, or those present. The shamrock would either be swallowed with the drink or taken out and tossed over the shoulder for good luck. The colour green was associated with Ireland from the 1640s, when the green harp flag was used by the Irish Catholic Confederation. Later, James Connolly described this flag as representing "the sacred emblem of Ireland's unconquered soul". Green ribbons and shamrocks have been worn on St Patrick's Day since at least the 1680s. Since then, the colour green and its association with St Patrick's Day have grown. The flags of the 1916 Easter Rising featured green, such as the Starry Plough banner and the Proclamation Flag of the Irish Republic. When the Irish Free State was founded in 1922, the government ordered all post boxes be painted green, under the slogan "green paint for a green people". In 1924, the government introduced a green Irish passport. The wearing of the 'St Patrick's Day Cross' was also a popular custom in Ireland until the early 20th century. These were a Celtic Christian cross made of paper that was "covered with silk or ribbon of different colours, and a bunch or rosette of green silk in the centre". Baileys French Toast This sinful Baileys French toast is a nice upgrade to your regular breakfast! Made with Baileys Irish Cream, this boozy dish is the ultimate treat. French toast is the ultimate weekend breakfast. The classic version is already outstanding as it is, but you can make it even more epic with a bit of Baileys. The liqueur adds that creamy coffee flavour that makes the dish even more delightful. A word of warning, though: this breakfast isn’t kid-friendly. But you know what? Ingredients Baileys Original Irish Cream – You’ll need this to make both the custard and the topping. This will give your French toast maximum Irish Cream flavor! Whipping Cream – It’s also used both in the custard and the topping. It makes the toast super-rich and creamy. Powdered Sugar – Just two tablespoons to sweeten the whipped topping. You can adjust this to taste. Vanilla Extract – To enhance the flavor of the custard. Eggs – For binding the ingredients of the custard. Sourdough Bread – The sturdier the bread, the better! Sourdough won’t disintegrate even though you soak it in the Baileys mixture for minutes. Butter – For pan-frying the bread. This ensures that crisp golden-brown exterior! Start with a tablespoon of butter and add more if needed. Tips for the Best French Toast Use room temperature whipping cream and eggs. Cold dairy will give you a grainy custard. You can also strain the custard after mixing to remove egg lumps. If you have time, chill the Baileys mixture for 2 hours or overnight for significantly better tasting toast. Let the bread soak in the Baileys mixture for a good 5 to 10 minutes per side. That way, it will absorb the flavors of the mixture beautifully. Don’t worry, your sturdy bread can handle it! If you don’t, the middle of the bread will be dry. Preheat the skillet or frying pan on medium-low heat before cooking the toast. Cooking in a cold pan will turn your toast soggy. Coat the pan generously with fresh butter. This will ensure that crisp, golden brown edge. You can also use a mixture of butter and oil for pan-frying the toast. Butter has a low smoke point, which might cook the outside of the bread too fast, while the inside remains undercooked. Do not go beyond medium-high heat when cooking the toast. Otherwise, you’ll burn the outside of the bread and undercook the inside. If the temperature is too low, the custard will spread at the bottom of the bread. Keep an eye on the toast as it cooks in the pan to avoid burning it. If you’re making a ton of toast, place the cooked ones in a baking sheet and store them in a 200 degree-Fahrenheit oven. This will keep the toast warm. What Type of Bread to Use You can’t go wrong with sourdough bread. First of all, it’s a lot sturdier and spongier than regular white bread. With sourdough, you won’t have to worry about sogginess. Aside from the consistency and texture, sourdough bread has a hint of tanginess, which tastes fantastic with the custard. If you can’t find sourdough, your next best options are baguette, challah, ciabatta, and brioche. In a pinch, you can also use stale white bread. The key is to pick a bread that’s sturdy, so that it won’t get mushy when soaked in custard. Another important aspect of French toast making is the thickness of the bread. You’ll want to slice it at least 20mm thick, again to prevent it from getting soggy. You can slice it for up to 25mm thick, but keep in mind that the thicker the bread, the longer it needs to soak. If you’re serving French toast to kids or non-alcohol drinkers, you can always swap the liqueur with Baileys coffee creamer. It’s completely non-alcoholic, but will still give you that same flavour! If you don’t mind the alcohol, but can’t get a hold of Baileys Irish Cream, that’s okay, too. You can simply sub it with a mixture of whipping cream and whiskey. How to Serve Baileys French Toast Classic French toast slathered with butter and drizzled with maple syrup is enough to put a smile on any face. But there are many ways to dress it up to make it even more irresistible! Here are some tasty options: Fresh fruits and berries contrast the heaviness of the dish, giving you a perfectly balanced meal. Top your toast with blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, mangoes, or a medley of your favorites. Make your toast a la apple pie by topping it with chopped apples and cinnamon. There’s something magical about bananas and Nutella. If you want to make someone feel extra loved, serve them French toast topped with this drool-worthy combo. Got a chocoholic in the family? Impress them with French toast topped with mini chocolate chips and chocolate syrup! Preparation Time; 5 minutes, Cooking Time; 6 minutes, Serves 2 Ingredients Whipped Topping 15g Baileys Original Irish Cream 125g whipping cream 2 tablespoons powdered sugar French Toast 75g Baileys Original Irish Cream 75g whipping cream 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 eggs 2 thick slices of sourdough bread 1 tablespoon butter Method To make the Whipped Topping Place 15g Baileys Irish Cream, 125g whipping cream, and powdered sugar in a bowl. Whisk with a hand electric mixer at high speed until the mixture forms soft peaks. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate. To make the Custard Whisk together 75g Baileys Original Irish Cream, 75g whipping cream, vanilla extract, and eggs in a shallow dish. Melt the butter in a frying pan at medium-low heat. While waiting for butter to melt, dip each side of the bread in the Baileys mixture until completely soaked, about 5-10 minutes per side, depending on thickness. Fry the bread on medium-high heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Top the bread with a dollop of Baileys whipped cream. Enjoy! Passion Sunday 17 March 2024 Passion Sunday (Black Sunday, Care Sunday, Carling Sunday, Judica Sunday, Quiet Sunday, Silent Sunday) Christians use the word "passion" to describe the suffering endured by Jesus during the last few days of his life, especially the Crucifixion. This usage harks back to the origins of the word. Although we associate the English word passion with strong emotion, it in fact comes from the Latin passio, which means "suffering." In past times the fifth Sunday in Lent was known as Passion Sunday. Christians use the word "passion" to describe the suffering endured by Jesus during the last few days of his life, especially the Crucifixion. This name came from one of the Bible readings assigned to that day in Roman Catholic churches, which compared the animal sacrifices made by ancient Jewish priests with Jesus' sacrifice of his own life. This reading reminded the congregation of Jesus' sacrificial death, to be commemorated the following week on Good Friday. Indeed, Passion Sunday inaugurated a special season within Lent known as Passiontide. During Passiontide, the last two weeks of Lent, church services turned towards the consideration of Jesus' last days on earth. Throughout the first four weeks of Lent clergy members exhorted worshipers to reflect on their own relationship with God. By contrast, during Passiontide church services encouraged the faithful to meditate on the Passion story. Several Passiontide customs marked this change of direction. The Gloria, a hymn proclaiming God's glory, was omitted from worship services during Passiontide. This omission symbolized the fact that during his last days on earth Jesus was not glorified by those he sought to teach, but rather tormented and abandoned. A custom known as veiling also helped to set the mood of Passiontide. Veils, or lengths of cloth, were cast over crucifixes, sculptures, and religious images in churches. These veils were purple, in keeping with the system of liturgical colors that governs the hue of priests' robes and church decorations throughout the year in Roman Catholic churches. Purple represents repentance in this system of church color symbolism. Some evidence suggests, however, that before the sixteenth century red, a color associated with martyrdom, may have served as the liturgical color of Passiontide. Some writers believe that the practice of veiling evolved from the last line of the Gospel reading assigned to the fifth Sunday in Lent. Gospel readings come from the section of the Christian Bible that tells the story of Jesus' life. The Gospel reading assigned to this Sunday declares that after a dispute with religious authorities Jesus left the temple and hid himself (John 8:59). Some writers suggest that the custom of veiling provided a visual representation of Jesus'disappearance. Crucifixes were unveiled on Good Friday, sculptures and other religious images during the late-night Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday. The customs associated with Passion Sunday inspired a number of folk names for the observance. In northern England Passion Sunday was called "Carling Sunday" from the custom of consuming carlings, or parched peas, on that day. In past times innkeepers often provided free carlings to their customers on Passion Sunday and housewives fried carlings in butter at home. The name "Care Sunday" may also have evolved from this practice, which died out in the twentieth century. Others suspect the name Care Sunday refers to cares, or sorrows, of Jesus, which are commemorated during Passiontide. The Germans called the day "Black Sunday " in reference to the custom of veiling religious images. In Slavic countries the fifth Sunday in Lent was known as "Silent Sunday" or "Quiet Sunday." Others called the day "Judica Sunday" in reference to the first line of the opening prayer, or introit, assigned to that Sunday's mass (for more on the Roman Catholic religious service known as the mass, see also Eucharist). In Latin it read Judica me, Deus, which means, "Judge me, God." Passion Sunday and Passiontide were observed by Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and others who followed the church calendar rooted in Roman Catholic tradition. Orthodox and other Eastern Christians did not share this observance. In 1969 the Roman Catholic Church discontinued the celebration of Passion Sunday and Passiontide. Church officials changed the Bible readings assigned to the fifth Sunday in Lent and shifted the consideration of Christ's passion to Holy Week. Holy Week begins on the sixth Sunday in Lent, known to many as Palm Sunday. Although the name Palm Sunday is still widely used, Roman Catholic officials now prefer to call the sixth Sunday in Lent "Passion Sunday." Mothering Sunday, 10th March Mothering Sunday was originally a day celebrating mother churches in the U.K., Ireland, and several other places. Its genesis can be traced to the middle ages, and it is usually held every year on the fourth Sunday of Lent, which is the period that Christians engage in their yearly fast. Set in the middle of the fasting period, Christians from every corner of the country on that Sunday would make a journey to their mother churches; that is, the church where they had received the sacrament of baptism, the main church or cathedral of the area, to worship. The pilgrimage became known as ‘going-a-mothering.’ The tradition continued and gained popularity in the 16th century in the U.K, becoming a holiday event. Domestic servants and apprentices all over the country who had left their families for a long period of time would be given a day off to make a pilgrimage to their mother churches and visit their loved ones, making Mothering Sunday a much-anticipated event. Mothering Sunday in the U.K. is tied to several Christian religious occurrences and beliefs. It is a day to honour the Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, and also to remember the story of Jesus in the bible where he fed 5,000 and granted them a break from fasting. But over time, the event began to become less popular as the fabrics of society underwent different changes. In 1908, Anna Jarvis began efforts to establish Mother’s Day in the U.S. as a day to celebrate mothers after her mother’s death. This sparked the drive by Constance Penswick Smith who created the Mothering Sunday Movement in a bid to rekindle their heritage. Mothering Sunday and Mother’s Day are now used interchangeably in recent times, but Mothering Sunday still holds in the U.K. during the period of Lent. To Help you in the future - Mothering Sunday`s in future Years
2023 March 19 Sunday 2024 March 10 Sunday 2025 March 30 Sunday 2026 March 15 Sunday |
AuthorMy name is Jack, I live in at the back of Greta Garbo`s home for wayward boys and girls Categories
All
|