INFORM DIGEST

1. September-October 2014 INFORM DIGEST

2. Pages 1. Land of traditions 2. Interesting to know Famous people You ask – we answer English humor

3. European Day of Languages September 26 September the 26th is the European Day of Languages. The Council of Europe and the European Union (EU) created the day on the 6th of December 2001. Its main aim is to encourage language learning across Europe. Other objectives are to alert the public to the wide range of languages to increase multilingualism and intercultural understanding, and to promote the rich linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe. All Europeans are encouraged to take up a new language. The founders of this day also hope those responsible for providing access to language learning are encouraged to make it easier for people to learn languages. There is an emphasis on learning a language other than English. There are about 225 languages native to Europe. This is about three per cent of the world's total. With an increase in immigration to Europe, the continent has become more multilingual. The EU spends more than thirty million Euros a year promoting language learning and linguistic diversity. Since the end of the 18th century, the most widespread language of Europe (both in terms of geography and the number of native speakers) has been Russian, which replaced French.

4. Fun & Interesting Facts About London • During the time of the Roman Invasion, London was known as Londinium. In Saxon times, it was known as Lundenwic and during the kingdom of Alfred the Great, its name was changed to Lundenburg. • London is the most densely populated area in Britain and is the ninth largest city in the world. • London is formed by two ancient cities - City of London and City of Westminster, both cities forming the region of Greater London • London presents more live comedy than any other country in the world. Contrary to what many people believe, Big Ben in London is not the name of the clock or the tower, but a 13-ton bell inside the clock. The tower is known as St. Stephen’s Tower. • The city of London is home to four World Heritage Sites - the Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament), the Tower of London, Maritime Greenwich and Kew Botanical Gardens. • Thames River in London is the longest river in England. It begins life as a trickle in a Gloucestershire meadow and flows for more than 135 miles, before reaching London. • The London Eye or Millennium Wheel of the city is the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe. • Wilton’s Music Hall is the world’s oldest surviving musical hall, which was built in 1743. • The London Underground, built in 1863, and popularly called ‘Tube’, is the first metro of the world.

5. Amazing facts, animal facts, interesting facts A cheetah can run 76 kilometres per hour (46 miles per hour) - that's really fast! The fastest human beings runs only about 30 kilometres per hour (18 miles per hour). A cheetah does not roar like a lion - it purrs like a cat (meow). Did you know Sailor, Dead Leaf, Paper Kite, Blue Striped Crow, Julia and Great Egg Fly are all names of BUTTERFLIES The original name for the butterfly was 'flutterby'! • The largest frog in the world is called Goliath frog. Frogs start their lives as 'eggs' often laid in or near fresh water. Frogs live on all continents except Antarctica. Frogs belong to a group of animals called amphibians. Some scientists believe that the earth began billions of years ago as a huge ball of swirling dust and gases. If you dig in your backyard, don’t worry about running into the earth’s core. You’d have to dig a hole 4,000 miles (6,437 kilometers) deep! Didaskaleinophobia is the fear of going to school. -A chameleon's tongue is twice the length of its body. -A chimpanzee can learn to recognize itself in a mirror, but monkeys can't. -A rat can last longer without water than a camel can. -About 10% of the world's population is left-handed. - A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue! - A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

6. Agatha Christie 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976 Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie was an English crime novelist, short story writer, and playwright. She also wrote six romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best known for the 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections she wrote under her own name, most of which revolve around the investigations of such characters as HerculePoirot, Miss Jane Marple, MrSatterthwaite, and Tommy and Tuppence. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, The Mousetrap. Agatha Christie was born in Devon, England , the youngest of three children in a conservative, well-to-do family.Taught at home by a governess and tutors, as a child Agatha Christie never attended school. She became adept at creating games to keep herself occupied at a very young age. A shy child, unable to adequately express her feelings, she first turned to music as a means of expression and, later in life, to writing. FAMOUS PEOPLE In 1914, at the age of 24, she married Archie Christie, a World War I fighter pilot. While he was off at war, she worked as a nurse. It was while working in a hospital during the war that Christie first came up with the idea of writing a detective novel. Although it was completed in a year, it wasn't published until 1920, five years later. In 1926, Archie asked for a divorce. She later found happiness with her marriage in 1930 to Max Mallowan, a young archaeologist who she met on a trip to Mesopotamia. Christie ultimately became the acknowledged Queen of the Golden Age. Several of her works were made into successful feature films, the most notable being Murder on the Orient Express (1974). Her work has been translated into more than a hundred languages. In short, she is the single most popular mystery writer of all time. In 1971 she was awarded the high honor of becoming a Dame of the British Empire.

7. Margaret Thatcher The Right Honourable The Baroness Thatcher LG OM PC FRS 13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013 Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and the Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century and is the only woman to have held the office. A Soviet journalist called her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. As Prime Minister, she implemented policies that have come to be known as Thatcherism. FAMOUS PEOPLE Margaret Hilda Roberts was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, Her father was Alfred Roberts, originally from Northamptonshire, and her mother was Beatrice Ethel (née Stephenson) from Lincolnshire.She spent her childhood in Grantham, where her father owned two grocery shops. Alfred Roberts brought up his daughter as a strict Wesleyan Methodist attending the Finkin Street Methodist Church. She went to Oxford University and then became a research chemist, retraining to become a barrister in 1954. In 1951, she married Denis Thatcher, a wealthy businessman, with whom she had two children. Margaret Thatcher's birthplace, in Grantham, above her father's grocery shop In 2002, after a series of minor strokes, Baroness Thatcher retired from public speaking. She died of a stroke on April 8, 2013, at the age of 87.

8. You ask – we answer - What is the difference between American English and British English?

9. English Humor Teacher: What’s the longest word in the English language? Pupil:Smiles – because there is a mile between the first and last letters! Some city boys were hiking in the country. One of them came upon a pile of empty milk bottles and yelled excitedly to his friends, “Come quick. I’ve found a cow’s nest”. -What is worse than finding a worm in an apple? -Finding only half a worm.