Donald Trump came to our office in Toulouse for an interview for the job as a podcaster – we think he would make a great podcaster and as he has time on his hands at the moment he came in and did an interview with us.
This isn’t the first time that Donald has joined us and it was a great pleasure to get some answers to those burning questions that most journalists just don’t ask him.
Did you know he was a keen quizzer?
That is just one on the revelations that he shares with the English podcasts team.
The last Thursday in November is a major celebration day in the USA, it is a national holiday and a time for friends and family to get together.
You have surely heard of Thanksgiving, it is often portrayed in American movies and TV series, but do you really understand why it’s so important to Americans.
Try this 20 question step by step quiz which will give the answers to all your questions.
The quiz of course covers the FACTS of the events, but before doing the quiz it is important to note that the Thanksgiving celebration is not universally accepted and is indeed quite controversial.
For many Americans Thanksgiving is a special holiday and a precious time spent with friends and family.
However, for others, the celebration is deeply controversial – as Thanksgiving has a contentious history that goes far beyond when the first feast was held.
For many Thanksgiving is considered to be a “national day of mourning to be viewed as terrible time when colonists wiped out Native Americans and their culture. They feel that this period of history is “white-washed”- which leads many Americans to ignore the holiday.
Many Native Americans see Thanksgiving as an embellished view of “Pilgrims and Natives looking past their differences” to break bread together. Critics of the Thanksgiving myth protest that young children in American schools are taught about Thanksgiving in school in a totally unrealistic way which ignores the harsh reality of the bloody conflict between the colonists and the Native Americans.
For several decades now, the militant group, the United American Indians of New England (UAINE), has staged demonstrations in Plymouth each Thanksgiving their intention being to awaken the country to the darker side of Plymouth.
So although Thanksgiving may be a celebration of people coming together, that is not the whole story when it comes to the history of the day.
So while doing the quiz it’s important to bear in mind the debate between “the heroic Pilgrim fathers” and the “day of national shame”.
The How to Understand Thanksgiving Quiz
Have you heard about Thanksgiving but have never really understood what the
fuss is about ? The 20 questions in this step by step quiz will help you to
appreciate why Americans go crazy on the last Thursday of November every
year.
The Battle of the Somme (French: Bataille de la Somme, German: Schlacht an der Somme), also known as the Somme Offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British and French empires against the German Empire.
It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on both sides of upper reaches of the River Somme in France and was the largest battle of the First World War on the Western Front; more than one million men were wounded or killed, making it one of the bloodiest battles in human history.
The French and British had committed themselves to an offensive on the Somme during Allied discussions at Chantilly, Oise, in December 1915.
The Allies agreed upon a strategy of combined offensives against the Central Powers in 1916, by the French, Russian, British and Italian armies, with the Somme offensive as the Franco-British contribution.
Initial plans called for the French army to undertake the main part of the Somme offensive, supported on the northern flank by the Fourth Army of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).
When the Imperial German Army began the Battle of Verdun on the Meuse on 21 February 1916, French commanders diverted many of the divisions intended for the Somme and the “supporting” attack by the British became the principal effort.
The first day on the Somme (1 July) saw a serious defeat for the German Second Army, which was forced out of its first position by the French Sixth Army, from Foucaucourt-en-Santerre south of the Somme to Maricourt on the north bank and by the Fourth Army from Maricourt to the vicinity of the Albert–Bapaume road.
The first day on the Somme was also the worst day in the history of the British army, which had c. 57,470 casualties, mainly on the front between the Albert–Bapaume road and Gommecourt, where the attack was defeated and few British troops reached the German front line.
The British troops on the Somme comprised a mixture of the remains of the pre-war regular army, the Territorial Force and the Kitchener Army, which was composed of Pals battalions, recruited from the same places and occupations.
The battle is notable for the importance of air power and the first use of the tank.
At the end of the battle, British and French forces had penetrated 6 miles (9.7 km) into German-occupied territory, taking more ground than in any of their offensives since the Battle of the Marne in 1914.
The Anglo-French armies failed to capture Péronne and halted 3 miles (4.8 km) from Bapaume, where the German armies maintained their positions over the winter.
British attacks in the Ancre valley resumed in January 1917 and forced the Germans into local withdrawals to reserve lines in February, before the scheduled retirement to the Siegfriedstellung (Hindenburg Line) began in March.
Debate continues over the necessity, significance and effect of the battle.
It’s a little known fact that Donald Trump is both a keen quizzer and a huge fan of English podcasts.
Mr Trump took up the challenge of a quiz in our studio in Toulouse, France – now you know why he hasn’t been out too much in public in America since the election.
Now you know – he also stayed around to give us an interview and some advice on podcasting for the team at English Podcasts.
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