English Podcasts

David Bowie The Last Five Years

Today would have been the 70th birthday of David Bowie.

Most people do not need a lengthy introduction to the artist, actor and musician, famous for 5 decades of inspirational music that has influenced so many people in so many ways.

His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, his music and stagecraft significantly influencing popular music, right up to his last album, “Black Star” and the stageplay “Lazarus.”

Bowie was famous for his visual characters, notably Ziggy Stardust, and his ever changing persona throughout his career.

Even though, I have been a huge fan of Bowie since I was a kid, I don’t want this to be tinged with sadness, so let’s celebrate his life on what would have been hios 70th year.

Try this Bowie enthusiast’s quiz

Put this on while you are working

www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCD6FCCF7FB681357

The Tradition of Epiphany in France

Epiphany, or the 12th day of Christmas, falls on January 6 and marks the official end to the festive season for many Christians.

The ancient Christian feast day is significant as a celebration of the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, as well as a more general celebration of his birth.

The six Sundays which follow Epiphany are known as the time of manifestation.

In France it is tradition to bake La Galette des Rois (The cake of the kings) for Epiphany on 6 January, these cakes or pastries are eaten all month long and beyond.

In most of France, the galette des rois is traditionally a large, circular affair made of puff pastry with a crisp, golden top and a soft frangipane centre or sometimes filled with apple or other fruit, hiding the fève (a small porcelain figure).

In the south, the gateau (rather than galette) des rois is a ring shaped brioche draped here and there with slices of candied fruits to represent jeweld.

Served with cider, sparkling white wine, champagne – people often invite friends and neighbours to come and eat La Galette
The person who finds the fève in their slice of galette is crowned king or queen for the day, and gets the figurine as a keepsake.

Spain and Portugal have similar traditions for Epiphany, while in Italy carnival cakes bring communities together in a similar way.

New words added to the dictionary in 2016

New words added to the dictionary in 2016 – The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is updated four times a year, every March, June, September, and December.

The material added to the dictionary includes revised versions of existing entries (which replace the older versions), and new words and senses both within the alphabetical sequence of revised entries and also across the whole A to Z range.

Submissions from readers of the OED are generated by a web-based form (see below quiz).

When a reader presses the submit button a message appears on-screen confirming that the data has been captured successfully, which means that the evidence has reached the OED.

Providing the submission does not duplicate evidence already held in-house, it is filed electronically.

The data is therefore available to Dictionary editors when they come to draft or revise the relevant entry.

Readers can check whether a quotation has been included by consulting the online edition of the OED, provided they, their public library, or their institution, subscribe to the service.

The revision is a huge task, and in order to meet tough deadlines Oxford regrets that it cannot enter into correspondence about individual submissions.