{ holidays }
uk holidays and Cultural events
Nigel Haward (Great Britain)
can picnic with your champagne and cucumber sandwiches on the lawns and in the gardens of Glyndebourne near Lewes in East Sussex, England, during the intervals . In May to August this year, operas will include Verdi’s Macbeth and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion .
glastonBury festival
The Glastonbury Festival in Somerset in England is a major contemporary music festival that takes place in the fields of a farm near Glastonbury in June. Many groups and musicians have played here such as Coldplay, Kaiser Chiefs and Paul McCartney.
the BBC proms at the royal alBert hall
From July to September each year, The Royal Albert Hall in London is the venue for the world’s largest classical music festival. With over 70 concerts, it culminates with the televised ‘last night of the proms’ (‘the proms’ is a colloquial abbreviation for Promenade Concerts). Traditional English tunes such as ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, the unofficial English national anthem, are sung.
notting hill Carnival
The end of August is carnival time in London. Steel bands , parades and calypso competitions bring music, rhythm and the colour of the Caribbean and Brazil to the streets of Notting Hill.
Approximately 1 million people attend the Notting Hill Carnival each year to watch the costumed parades and dancing and to listen to music.
Bank holidays
the Protestant dominance of Ireland. When the Orangemen try to march with pipes and drums through protestant residential areas, serious rioting occurs. Most people try to be away on holiday at this time.
In the United Kingdom, we call official days off bank holidays. The banks close for a day, and so do most businesses and services. New Year’s Day is the first bank holiday in the year. May Day is in early May, Spring Bank Holiday at the end of May and then finally Summer Bank Holiday at the end of August, when there is a mass rush to the seaside . Christmas and Easter are also considered bank holidays.
Cultural festivals
edinBurgh festival and the ‘fringe’
The Edinburgh Festival and the Edinburgh ‘Fringe’ with its music and drama take place each August in the city. Aspiring actors, singers, comedians and dancers hire local venues to perform their work to small audiences. Street theatre is very popular.
In Northern Ireland, there is also the Orangeman’s Day on July 12th . This commemorates the victory of the protestant Prince William of Orange over Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, which strengthened
glyndeBourne festival opera
The actors and comedians sometimes wear masks when performing in the streets during the Edinburgh Fringe.
The attraction, apart from the opera, is that you
Y Vocabulary
when there is a mass rush to the seaside - kdy lidé hromadně odjíždějí k moři to commemorate [k@“mEm@reIt] - připomínat, oslavovat to march [mA:tS] - pochodovat pipes and drums [paIps drVmz] - dudy a bubny residential area [rEzI”dEnS(@)l “E:rI@] - obytná čtvrť rioting [“raI@tIN]- pouliční bouře aspiring [@“spaI@IN] - usilující prorazit, nadějný to hire [“haI@] - pronajmout si cucumber [kju:kVmb@] - okurkový lawn [lO:n] - trávník interval [“Int@v(@)l] - přestávka, pauza contemporary [k@n”tEmp(@)r(@r)i] - současný to culminate [“kVlmIneIt] - vrcholit colloquial abbreviation [k@“l@UkwI@l @bri:vI”eIS(@)n] - hovorová zkratka steel band [sti:l] - bubnová kapela calypso [k@“lIps@U] - hudba z oblasti Karibiku
ö Language point
Fringe can describe anything on the outside, or on the edge. (“I live on the fringe of the city.”) The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is named because the performances of the musicians and actors are not mainstream.
úBritish versus American English
interval (BrE) – intermission (AmE)
10 10 Bridge 06/2006–2007