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Outstanding
People of Britain
Great Britain is famous for its poets, writers, musicians and
scientists. It gave birth to such famous people as William
Shakespeare, Robert Burns, Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle,
Alexander Bell, Princess Diana, Sir Sean Connery, Joanne Rowling
and many others. The Beatles band was also founded in Britain.
However, it is very important to know contemporary British
outstanding people and celebrities. This group includes writers,
artists, actors, singers, sports people and politicians.
Joanne Rowling
Joanne Rowling is one of the most famous English writers in the
world. Her Harry Potter series has been translated into many
languages. Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born on the 31st of July
in 1965, in Bristol, England. In her childhood she dreamt of
becoming a writer. At the age of six Joanne wrote her first book
about a rabbit. Like Hermione Granger, one of the characters of
Harry Potter books, she was a know-it-all and a bookworm and her
favourite subjects at school were English and foreign languages.
After graduating from Exeter University, she worked as a
secretary and then went to Portugal to teach English. Rowling
had busy afternoons and evenings, but free mornings when she
could write. In Portugal she married a TV-journalist, but the
marriage wasn't successful, so she returned to Britain with her
4-month-old daughter. Joanne settled in Edinburgh, Scotland. The
idea of a book about a young magician occurred to her in 1990,
when she was going by train from Manchester to London. She
quickly invented the main plot and some of the characters and in
July 1997, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was published.
It became an immediate success and was published in eight
countries. There are seven Harry Potter books, five films based
on the novels, Harry Potter computer games and a lot of goods
with the Harry Potter trademark.
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery is an Academy Award-, Golden
Globe-winning Scottish actor and producer who is best known as
the first actor to have played James Bond in cinema, starring in
seven Bond films. Sean Connery was born on August 25, 1930 in
Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, to the family of a cleaning lady and
a factory worker and truck driver. Connery's first job was as a
milkman in Edinburgh, then he joined the Royal Navy, but was
later discharged on medical grounds. Afterwards, he worked as a
lorry driver, labourer, artist's model for the Edinburgh College
of Art, coffin polisher, and bodybuilder. According to Connery's
official website, he placed third in the 1953 Mr. Universe
bodybuilding contest which led Connery to stage, television, and
film work. Connery's breakthrough came with the role of secret
agent James Bond. He acted in seven Bond films including Dr. No,
From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live
Twice, Diamonds Are Forever and Never Say Never Again. In 1987,
he won the Academy Award for the Best Supporting Actor for his
role in The Untouchables. Sir Sean Connery was knighted by Queen
Elizabeth II in July 2000. Connery is known for keeping his
Scottish accent in films, regardless of the nationality of the
character played. Despite being older than most contemporary
actors, he has repeatedly been named as one of the most
attractive men alive by various magazines due to his good looks.
David Beckham
,
David Robert Joseph Beckham is an English footballer, who is
playing for and is the captain of Major League Soccer's Los
Angeles Galaxy. Beckham was born on May 2, 1975 in England. His
career began when he signed a professional contract with
Manchester United, making his first-team debut in 1992 aged 17.
He left Manchester United to sign for Real Madrid in 2003, where
he remained for four seasons. While at Madrid, Beckham became
the first British footballer to play 100 Champions League
matches. In January 2007, it was announced that Beckham would
leave Real Madrid and sign a five-year contract with the Los
Angeles Galaxy. Beckham's new contract with the Galaxy,
effective on July 1, 2007, gave him the highest salary of any
Major League Soccer player in history. He has twice been
runner-up for FIFA World Player of the Year, and in 2004 was the
world's highest-paid footballer. Beckham was captain of England
National Team from November 15, 2000 to July 2, 2006. Alongside
with his career as a footballer, Beckham has become famous
through his marriage to former Spice Girls member, Victoria
Beckham, leading to various sponsorship deals and advertising
campaigns and an estimated joint wealth of £112 million. The
couple has 3 sons and 1 daughter and currently live in
California, USA.
Robbie
Williams
Robbie Williams, born on February 13, 1974 in Stock-on-Trent,
England, is a Grammy Award-nominated, 15-time British Record
Industry Trust Awardwinning English singer and songwriter. His
career started as a member of the pop band Take That in 1990. He
left the band in 1995 to start his solo career, after selling 25
million records with the group. His album sales stand at over 55
million, with singles sales over 17 million. Williams entered
the Guinness Book of World Records when in just one day he sold
more than 1.6 million tickets for his 2006 world tour. He has
been the recipient of many awards, including fifteen BRIT and
six ECHO awards. In 2004, he officially became a member of the
UK Music Hall of Fame, after being voted as the greatest artist
of the 1990s. Robbie Williams is the artist who is currently
featured the most in the UK Now That's What I Call Music!
TV-show.
Andrew Lloyd
Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber is a highly successful British composer of
musical theatre. Webber started composing at the age of 6 and
published his first piece at the age of 9. Lloyd Webber has
received great popular success, with several musicals that have
run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway.
He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations
and two film scores. He has also gained a number of honours,
including a knighthood in 1992 followed by a peerage, three
Grammy Awards, an Oscar, an International Emmy, a Golden Globe
and many others. Several of his songs, notably Don't Cry for Me,
Argentina from the musical Euita, Memory from Cats, and The
Music of the Night from The Phantom of the Opera have been
widely recorded and were hits outside of their parent musicals.
His company, the Really Useful Group, is one of the largest
theatre operators in London.
Margaret
Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher is a British politician, who used to be Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of
the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She is the first and
only woman to hold either post. Thatcher's term as Prime
Minister was the longest continuous period in office since the
tenure of Lord Liverpool who was Prime Minister in the early
19th century. She was the first woman to lead a major political
party in the UK, and the first of only three women to have held
any of the four great offices of state. Among other things, she
defiantly opposed the Soviet Union, and her tough-talking
rhetoric gained her the nickname t|he "Iron Lady". She currently
has a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher, of Kesteven in the
County of Lincolnshire, which entitles her to sit in the House
of Lords. Not long ago a film was shot about Thatcher's life and
career (The Iron Lady).
ПЛАН-ОТВЕТ. OUTSTANDING PEOPLE OF BRITAIN
1. Вступление (Great Britain is famous for its poets, writers,
musicians and scientists. It gave birth to such famous people as
William Shakespeare, Robert Burns, Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan
Doyle, Alexander Bell, Princess Diana, Sir Sean Connery, Joanne
Rowling and many others. The Beatles band was also founded in
Britain. However, it is very important to know contemporary
British outstanding people and celebrities. This group includes
writers, artists, actors, singers, sports people and
politicians.).
2. Рассказать кратко об известных людях Великобритании по
следующей схеме: occupation (writer/singer/actor/politician,
etc.), date of birth/place of birth, childhood and family,
achievements (awards/famous books/roles, etc.), your personal
opinion about him/her.
QUESTIONS
1. What world-famous writers, inventors and poets did Britain
give birth to?
2. Who is Joanne Rowling and what is she famous for?
3. What can you tell about Rowling in brief?
4. Have you read Harry Potter books or watched the films?
5. Which did you like more: books or films? Why (not)?
6. What can you tell about Sir Sean Connery?
7. Do you like this actor? What films have you seen with Sean
Connery, if any?
8. Who is David Beckham and what is he famous for?
9. Have you ever watched a football match with Beckham playing?
10. What do you know about Robbie Williams? Do you like his
songs? Why (not)?
11. Who is Andrew Lloyd Webber?
12. What are Webber's achievements?
13. Who is Margaret Thatcher and what do you know about her?
14. What are Thatcher's achievements?
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