A quick history of circus

Open air circuses with acrobats, chariot races, bareback riders and comedy acts were popular in ancient Rome. In the 18th century fixed buildings were used, and in the early 19th century traveling circuses appeared in Europe and America. Troupes moved from place to place, setting up a large tent, or “big top”. The most famous American circus proprietor was Phineas T.Barnum (1810 – 91). His shows were spectacular, with trick riding, juggling, trapeze acts, tightrope walking, strong men, and wild – cat tamers. They also featured “human oddities”, or freak shows, in which Siamese twins, giants or bearded ladies were often paraded before the curious crowd. Since the 20th century, all – human Chinese and Russian circus companies have toured the world, as well as alterative circus troupes such as Circus Oz, Ra Ra Zoo and Archaos, whose acts have included juggling with chainsaws and jumping over blazing motorbikes.

Top singles of all time

“White Christmas” was the world’s bestselling single for more than 50 years until it was overtaken by Elton John’s tribute to Princess Diana in 1997. In 2004 British rock band Arctic Monkeys released their songs only on the internet. In 2004 download charts were published in the UK. Westlife had the first No.1 downloaded single with “Flying Without Wings”. By January 2005, digital downloads outsold physical singles in the UK for the first time. The official singles chart now included both downloads and sales of singles. In 2006 over 525 million individual tracks and 32.6 million full albums were downloaded in the USA. In 2006, “keep Tryin” by Utada Hikaru (Japan) set a new record for 2.5 million downloads. From 2003 to January 2008, iTunes had sold 4 billion downloads, over 70% of all online music sales.

Scrabble

Scrabble was invented in the USA during the 193s by an architect named Alfred Mosher Butts. First he called it Lexiko, then It and Criss – Cross, before hitting on the name Scrabble. Well over 100 million sets have been sold in more than 130 countries. The numbers of letters included vary according to the language. In Dutch, for there are 18 Es, 10 Ns and two Js. The Slovak version has 41 different letters – more than any other version. The first computer games were played on televisions and appeared in the 1970s. They were basic arcade games like PONG (1972), an electronic table – tennis game, and Pac – Man (1980), in which a yellow blob is steered round a maze, gobbling up everything in its path. As computer technology advanced, games and consoles improved, with better graphics, sound and choice of themes.

Fairy tale authors

Fairy tales are fantastic stories for children that do not always involve fairies. They are traditional tales that were retold from generation to generation. The writers below collected the stories and wrote or re – wrote them in books that became hugely popular all over the world. Many fairy tales have been made into films – especially animated films by Disney. French writer Charles Perrault (1628 – 1703) put together a collection of stories with the help of his son Pierre (1678 – 1700). Their collection contained Cinderella, Little Red Riding – Hood, Sleeping Beauty and Puss in Boots. The stories were translated into English in 1729. Later editions had the French title, Contes de ma mere l’Oye, or Mother Goose’s Tales. Dansih author Anderson (1805 – 75) wrote 156 fairy tales, including The Little Mermaid, The Emperor’s New Clothes and The Ugly Duckling. His stories first appeared in English in 1846.

Monopoly

Monopoly was invented in 1934 by an unemployed engineer called Charles Darrow, who lived in Philadelphia, USA. In his first version of the game he used street names from
Atlantic City in New Jersey because he dreamed of going here, but could not afford the fare. The game was so successful that Darrow became a millionaire and spent the rest of his life traveling and growing rare orchids. There are many national and local versions around the world, as well as specialized versions including those for animal lovers, Birdopoly, Dogopoly and Horse – opoly, based on films such as James Bond and Shrek, as well as Bible – opoly and Elvis Monopoly. Parkers, the US manufacturers of the game, print more Monopoly money than the US Treasury prints dollars. As computer technology advanced, games and consoles improved, with better graphics, sound and choice of themes. These are popular consoles of different generations.

Sacred books 1

Sikhs believe that the Guru Granth Sahib is the supreme spiritual authority and head of the Sikh religion, rather than any living person. The original version was complied by Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth sikh guru, in 1604. He collected the compositions of previous gurus over a number of years. The text includes almost 6000 hymns and poems composed at different times and in different languages, which makes it very difficult to translate. It also includes Hindu and Muslim writings, reflecting the religions tolerance of the gurus. The Christian sacred book is called the Bible. It is made up of two parts – the Old Testament describes the history of the Israelites and contains books of history, law, poetry and wisdom. It was written by different people, probably between 1100 and 200 BC. The New Testament describes the story of Jesus’ life and his importance of Christians. It was probably written between AD 50 and 150. Passages from the Bible are read at Christian church services, and Christian also see the Bible as containing a code to live by and guidance in following their faith.

Sacred books

The four books of the Vedas contain the earliest Hindu beliefs and they have also influenced Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. The Rig Veda is the oldest of the Vedas. It was composed about 1500 BC, although it was not written down until around 300 BC. The Vedas include rituals and hymns that give us a glimpse of life in ancient India. Another important Hindu text is the Bhagavad Gita, or Song of the Lord. This is one section of a very long epic poem called the Mahabharata. The Bhagavad Gita is about 700 verses long and sets out Hindu philosophy, explaining the importance of selflessness, duty, devotion and meditation. The Pali Canon is a collection of sacred texts followed by the Theravada school of Buddhism. The teachings of the Buddha were first passed on through the spoken word and were not written down until the first century BC.

Cables under the Sea

Soon after telegraph cables came into use in the 1840’s attempts were made to lay them across rivers and between islands and main lands. Most didn’t work. In 1850 the first cable was laid across the English Channel. It had to resist attack by salt water, ocean currents and water pressure, so had thick, water – resistant, steel cover. Inside were copper wires that carried the power and signal. Technical improvements and the demand for faster communications led to cables being laid over ever greater distances. Several attempts to lay them across the Atlantic failed when the cables snapped, but one was completed in 1858. To mark the occasion, Queen Victoria sent a telegraphic message to President Buchanan in the USA. It took almost 18 hours. Attempts were made to increase the pace by raising the voltage, but this burned out the cable. In 1865 the world’s largest ship at the time, the Great Eastern, laid the first continuous cable across the Atlantic.

Internet milestones 1

In 1991 the World Wide Web (www) was created. By 1994 about 40 million people were connected to the Internet. They could exchange information, sell goods and work from any computer with a phone line. Schools started using it as an electronic library. By 1996 users in almost 150 countries around the world connected to the Internet. High – speed broadband and wireless access is now widespread and more and more businesses are using the Internet. The number of people using the Internet more then doubled from 2000 to 2007, with the number in China increasing nearly six times. More than one billion people use the Internet worldwide. The Internet began to be used commercially and by governments and universities.