Date |
Event |
Details |
|---|---|---|
| May 31st | Whit Sunday | Whit Sunday and Whit Monday are a celebration of Pentecost also known as Whitsuntide, which in Greek, means the fiftieth day. Pentecost takes place 50 days after Easter, which is the Jewish feast of Shavuot. Whit Sunday and Monday have been celebrated since the 3rd Century AD. Many modern scholars believe that many of the traditions and celebrations were borrowed from pagan celebrations of the Spring. |
| June 1st | Whit Monday | A religious bank holiday in the UK. For an explanation see above. |
| Jun 4th | Cotswold Olimpicks | What I hear you say! Yes, the Olympic Games, well the Cotswold Olympick Games anyway. The Cotswold Olimpicks (sic) were founded by Robert Dover in 1612 - they were called the Olimpicks long before the modern Olympic games - and they have been a feature of life in Chipping Campden ever since. They are even supported by the British Olympic Association. Robert Dover's games include a painful sounding shin-kicking contest, along with welly-wanging, a tug of war and a torchlight procession. The games are held every year at Dover's Hill near Chipping Campden. |
| Jun 6th | D-Day Landings | On this day in 1944 the first D-Day landings took place in Normandy. 130,000 men landed on the beaches and a bridgehead was established. Within a month the allies had over 1 million troops in France. |
| Jun 11th - Jul 11th | World Cup | The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the 19th. It is scheduled to take place in South Africa. The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the culmination of a qualification process that began in August 2007 and involved 204 of the 208 FIFA national teams. You will be able to read about it in the Football Diaries. |
| Jun 12th | Man vs Horse Marathon | The Man versus Horse Marathon is an annual marathon, with human and (mounted) equine contestants, which takes place in the Welsh town of Llanwrtyd Wells. The event started in 1980, when local landlord Gordon Green overheard a discussion between two men in his pub, the Neuadd Arms. One man suggested that over a significant distance across country, man was equal to any horse. Green decided that the challenge should be tested in full public view, and organised the first event. But the first time a man beat the horses, on foot, was in 2004, when Huw Lobb finished in 2 hours, 5 minutes and 19 seconds. |
| Jun 13th | Trooping the Colour | Held to celebrate the Queen's official birthday (it is sometimes called The Queen's Birthday Parade) this is a day of pageantry at Horse Guards in London. Precisely as the clock on the Horse Guards Building strikes eleven, the Royal Procession arrives and the soldiers from the Queen's Household Division are inspected by the Queen, they carry ("troop") their regimental flag ("colour"), and march past and the Queen takes the Royal Salute. The Queen drives slowly down the ranks of all eight Guards and then past the Household Cavalry. After the event, the Royal Family gathers on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch an RAF flyby. Her real birthday of course is in April, so I don't know if she gets any presents. |
Jun 13th |
The World Toe Wrestling Championship | "One, two, three, four, I declare a toe war!" Toe wrestling is similar to arm wrestling, but with toes. It is played in bare feet, and it is common courtesy for each player to remove the other players shoes and socks. Players link toes and each players feet must touch flat on the other person's feet. The aim is to attempt to pin (capture or trap) your opponent's feet for three seconds. |
| Jun 15th | Signing of the Magna Carta | King John met the leaders at Runnymede, near London, on 15 June 1215, to seal the Great Charter called, in Latin, Magna Carta, which is considered to be one of the most important legal documents in the history of democracy. |
| Jun 15th - 19th | Royal Ascot - Horse vs Horse | Royal Ascot is arguably the most prestigious horse racing event in the world. Its mix of top class flat racing and traditional English hospitality and style make it a unique experience. Not so much of a horse race as a fashion parade! |
| Jun 22nd | World Nettle Eating Championships | Believe it or not competitors come from all over the world to the Bottle Inn in Dorset in order to compete in an hour-long contest to see who can eat the most stinging nettles. It began in 1986 when two farmers were arguing about who had the longest stinging nettles in their field. The competition to see who had the longest-nettles turned into a competition to see who could eat the most nettles when one of the farmers, Alex Williams, promised to eat any nettle which was longer than his. It's not as mad as it may seem; nettles have been used as a medicinal herb for centuries. |
| Jun 21st - 22nd | Summer Solstice | At sunrise (around 4:45am) the Summer Solstice, otherwise known as Midsummer's Day, is celebrated in the UK. It's the longest day of the year and it marks the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere. "Why, this is very midsummer madness." William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream |
| Jun 21st - Jul 4th | Wimbledon | Anyone for tennis? The Official 2008 Wimbledon Web Site, provides fast and comprehensive coverage of The Championships. |
| Jun 23rd - 27th | Glastonbury Festival | This year the three main charities are Oxfam, Water Aid, and Greenpeace. The site will only be selling Fairtrade coffee and hot chocolate. If like me, you haven't got a ticket, the BBC provides excellent radio and TV coverage. It's almost like being there if you just sit with your feet in a bucket of muddy water. |
| June 26th | World Worm Charming Championship | Worm charmers from around the world arrive at the small village of Willaston near Nantwich in Cheshire's Upper Weaver Valley, all to charm worms from the soil! No digging allowed. |
| May - July | Glyndebourne | Glyndebourne is a 700-year old country house and opera house near Lewes in East Sussex, England. Since 1934 it has been the venue of the annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The festival is regarded as part of the London/English summer season. Performances, which start in the afternoon, enable Londoners to leave town after lunch, and finish in time for them to catch the last train back. A long interval allows opera-goers the opportunity for picnic dinners on the extensive lawns or in one of the restaurants in the grounds. |
| Special Features | ||
| The English Magazine | Check out this month's English Magazine. With poetry, short stories, articles, recipes, jokes and much, much more. | |
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Free - Beginners Lessons on-line | A series of free lessons on-line, which include grammar, vocabulary and day-to-day English. |
| Pen Pals on-line | Want to get in touch with other English speakers? Then look at my EPals page. |
