SQUASH

Squash is a racquet sport played by two players (or four players for doubles) in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball.

The court size was codified in the 1920s at 9.75 m (32 ft) long and 6.4 m (21 ft) wide. The front wall has a "front wall line" 4.57 m (15 ft) above the floor, connected by a raking "front" line meeting the "out" line on the back wall at 2.13 m (7 ft) above the floor. The front wall also has a "service line" whose top is 1.83 m (6 ft) above the floor with the "tin" (made out of a special material, often metal, designed to make a distinctive sound when hit by a quickly moving ball) 48 cm (18.9 inches) high. The floor is marked with a transverse "half-court" line and further divided into two rear "quarter courts" and two "service boxes", as shown in the diagram above.

BASIC RULES AND GAMESPLAY

The court

The squash court is a playing surface surrounded by four walls. The court surface contains a front line separating the front and back of the court and a half court line, separating the left and right hand sides of the back portion of the court, creating three 'boxes' - the front half, the back left quarter and the back right quarter. Both the back two boxes contain smaller service boxes. All of the floor-markings on a squash court are only relevant during serves.
There are four walls to a squash court. The front wall, on which three parallel lines are marked, has the largest playing surface, whilst the back wall, which typically contains the entrance to the court, has the smallest. The out line runs along the top of the front wall, descending along the side walls to the back wall. There are no other markings on the side or back walls. Shots struck above the out line, on any wall, are out. The bottom line of the front wall marks the top of the 'tin', a half meter-high metal area which if struck means that the ball is out. The middle line of the front wall is the service line and is only relevant during serves.

Service

The players usually spin a racket to decide who commences serving at the start of the match. This player starts the first rally by electing to serve from either the left or right service box. For a legal serve, part of one of the server's feet must be in contact with the floor within the service box while not touching any part of the service box lines (the rest of that foot can reside over the line so long as it is not touching the ground) while striking the ball; after being struck by the racket, the ball must strike the front wall above the service line and below the out line and land in the opposite quarter court. The receiving player can choose to volley a serve after it has hit the front wall. If a server wins a point, the two players switch sides for the following point.

Play

After the serve, the players take turns hitting the ball against the front wall, above the tin and below the out line. The ball may strike the side or back walls at any time, as long as it hits below the out line. It must not hit the floor after hitting the racket and before hitting the front wall. A ball landing on either the out line or the line above the tin is considered to be out. After the ball hits the front wall, it is allowed to bounce once on the floor (and any number of times against the side or back walls) before a player must return it. Players may move anywhere around the court but accidental or deliberate obstruction of the other player's movements is forbidden. Players typically return to the center of the court after making a shot.

Some Famous Actors and actresses of the UK

Ewan Gordon McGregor born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor, singer, and adventurer who has had success in mainstream, indie and art house films. He is perhaps best known for playing the lead role in Danny Boyle's Trainspotting, his portrayal of the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, his role as the romantic penniless writer Christian in the 2001 award-winning Moulin Rouge!, and his motorcycle adventures with friend Charley Boorman in Long Way Round and Long Way Down. He is due to appear in the upcoming films I Love You Phillip Morris and Amelia and portrayed the Camerlengo Patrick McKenna in the film adaption of Angels & Demons, released in May 2009.Aside from his film work, McGregor has starred in theatre productions of Guys and Dolls. He also appeared in television series such as The Scarlet and the Black, Lipstick On Your Collar, Tales from the Crypt, and ER. He was ranked No. 36 in Empire magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.

Kate Elizabeth Winslet (born 5 October 1975) is an English actress and occasional singer. She is noted for having played diverse characters over her career, but probably best-known for her critically acclaimed performances as Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility, Rose DeWitt Bukater in Titanic, Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Sarah Pierce in Little Children, April Wheeler in Revolutionary Road, and Hanna Schmitz in The Reader. Winslet has been nominated for six Academy Awards and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in The Reader. She has won awards from the Screen Actors Guild, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, as well as being nominated for an Emmy. At the age of 22, she became the youngest actress to receive two Oscar nominations; at age 33, she is now the youngest actor of either sex to receive six nominations. David Edelstein of New York Magazine hails her as "the best English-speaking film actress of her generation".

Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom (born 13 January 1977) is a classically trained English actor. He had his break-through roles in 2001 as the elf-prince Legolas in The Lord of the Rings and blacksmith Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy of films, and subsequently established himself as a lead in Hollywood films, including Troy, Elizabethtown and Kingdom of Heaven. Bloom most recently appeared in the sequels Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. He is starring in the upcoming ensemble film New York, I Love You, Sympathy for Delicious and Main Street. Bloom made his highly anticipated professional stage debut in the West End play In Celebration at the Duke of York's Theatre, St. Martin's Lane, which ended its run on 15 September 2007.

Keira Christina Knightley born 26 March 1985 is an English film and television actress. She began her career as a child and came to international prominence in 2003 after co-starring in the films Bend It Like Beckham and Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. Knightley has appeared in several Hollywood films and earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in Joe Wright's 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. Two years later she again was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, as well as the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Atonement. In 2008, Forbes claimed Knightley to be the second highest paid actress in Hollywood (behind Cameron Diaz), having reportedly earned $32 million in 2007, making her the only non-American person on the list of highest paid actors or actresses. However, Knightley has denied such a figure.

Grant is recognized as a divisive movie star in both critical reviews and popular media profiles He has stuck to the genre of comedy, especially the romantic comedy, for the entirety of his mainstream movie career and never ventures to play characters who are not British. While some film critics, such as the respected Roger Ebert, have defended the limited variety of his performances, others have dismissed him as a one-trick pony. Eric Fellner, co-owner of Working Title Films and a long-time collaborator of Grant said, "His range hasn't been fully tested, but each performance is unique. A majority, though, tend to change their opinion of Grant from film to film, especially differentiating between his roles as Richard Curtis' alter ego and the cynical, smart and sometimes sleazy rogue of several films released in the new millennium.


Hurley made her first film appearance in Aria (1987). She has since appeared in movies such as Passenger 57, EDtv, Bedazzled, and Serving Sara. In 1997, she received her first and only acting award, the ShoWest Supporting Actress of the Year, for her performance in the spy spoof Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.When Hugh Grant founded and became the director of Simian Films in 1994, Hurley was credited as one of the producers for the company's two Grant vehicles, Extreme Measures (1996) and Mickey Blue Eyes (1999). Critics such as Julie Burchill, who has called Hurley's acting "a notch above pornography," have dismissed her performances. In 2000, she was publicly criticised for breaking a five-month acting strike to film an Estée Lauder advertisement, for which she was fined $100,000 (£70,000 in 2000) by the Screen Actors Guild and labeled "Elizabeth Scably" by protesters.

Collin Farrell had a number of small parts in various television shows and films, including the BBC drama Ballykissangel in 1998 and his film debut in Tim Roth's The War Zone. Then in 2000, he was cast in the lead role of Private Roland Bozz in Tigerland, an American film directed by Joel Schumacher. Farrell's next American films, American Outlaws (2001) and Hart's War (2002), were not commercially successful, but his 2003 films, including Phone Booth, S.W.A.T., and The Recruit were well-received box office successes. Farrell is also a proven supporting actor, given his performances as an ambitious cop who chases after a potential criminal, played by actor Tom Cruise in Minority Report (2002), and as the skilled villain Bullseye in Daredevil (2003).

By: Juliana y Cristina

BADMINTON

Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players (singles) or two opposing pairs (doubles), who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their opponents' half of the court. A rally ends once the shuttlecock has struck the ground, and each side may only strike the shuttlecock once before it passes over the net.
The shuttlecock (or shuttle) is a feathered projectile whose unique aerodynamic properties cause it to fly differently from the balls used in most racquet sports; in particular, the feathers create much higher drag, causing the shuttlecock to decelerate more rapidly than a ball. Shuttlecocks have a much higher top speed, when compared to other racquet sports. Because shuttlecock flight is affected by wind, competitive badminton is best played indoors. Badminton is also played outdoors as a casual recreational activity, often as a garden or beach game.
Since 1992, badminton has been an Olympic sport with five events: men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles, in which each pair is a man and a woman. At high levels of play, the sport demands excellent fitness: players require aerobic stamina, agility, strength, speed and precision. It is also a technical sport, requiring good motor coordination and the development of sophisticated racquet movements.

Rut Arteaga y Blanca Cortés

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has been practiced over the centuries; the chariot races of Roman times are an early example, as is the contest of the steeds of the god Odin and the giant Hrungnir in Norse mythology. It is often inextricably associated with gambling. The common sobriquet for Thoroughbred horse racing is The Sport of Kings.

Great Britain
Main article: Horseracing in Great Britain

Eclipse legendary undefeated British racehorse
In Great Britain, there are races which involve obstacles (either hurdles or fences) called National Hunt racing and those which are unobstructed races over a given distance (flat racing). GB has provided many of the sport's greatest ever jockeys, most notably Sir Gordon Richards. In GB there are rules that stop the jockey using the whip too much, such as: they are not allowed to raise their whip over their shoulder. This stops them hitting the horse too hard.
Races in GB are not referred to as Race 1, Race 2, etc., but by the starting time. For instance, the "1:35" or the "3:10". Each race may also have a name, which may include a sponsor's name, associated with

Famous Movies filmed in the UK

Have you ever watched a movie and thought, "hey, that's the coffee shop I eat at every day!" Check out a lot of great UK set locations of famous Hollywood movies. The Hunt For Red October, Braveheart, Batman, Gladiator, Mission Impossible, Saving Private Ryan, Tomb Raider 2, Notting Hill, Patriot Games, Superman, First Knight, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves






Cristina y Juliana

TYPICAL FOOD IN THE UK

In the United Kingdom, we have three main meals a day:


- Breakfast - between 7:00 and 9:00,

- Lunch - between 12:00 and 1:30 p.m.
- Dinner - The main meal. Eaten anytime between 6:30 and 8:00 p.m. (Evening meal)

BREAKFAST

The traditional English breakfast consists of eggs, bacon, sausages, fried bread, baked beans and mushrooms. Even though not many people will eat this for breakfast today, it is always served in hotels and guest houses around Britain.

The traditional English breakfast is called the 'Full English' and sometimes referred to as 'The Full English Fry-up'.

LUNCH

Many children at school and adults at work will have a 'packed lunch'. This typically consists of a sandwich, a packet of crisps, a piece of fruit and a drink. The 'packed lunch' is kept in a plastic container.

Below is a sample of the typical foods served in pubs.

Starters

Soup of the Day (see chalkboard) £3.50: A large selection of delicious home-made soups served with a freshly baked baguette Breaded

Mushrooms £3.75: Deep fried and served with a garlic dipBBQ

Spare Ribs £4.50: Crispy Coated Camembert £4.25Deep fried and served with Cranberry sauce


Chicken Yakatori £4.25: Tender skewers of chicken marinated in a Japanese Yakatori sauce

Prawn Cocktail £4.25: Served in the traditional 60's way


Garlic Bread £2.10: or topped with melted Mozzarella cheese 2.30

Main Course

Fish

Beer Battered Cod with Chips & Peas £7.95

Breaded Scampi with Garden Peas & Chips £7.95

Meat

Steak and Kidney Pudding £8.75: A traditional English classic, prime steak and kidney in a suet case. Served with fresh vegetables, sauté potatoes and gravy.

Steak and Guinness Pie With Mash £8.95: Tender Steak and Smoked Bacon slowly cooked in a rich Guinness gravy, with Puff Pastry lid and served wtih Seasonal Vegetables and creamy Mashed Potatoes

Bangers & Mash £9.95: Three of the finest Cumberland pork sausages served with creamy mashed potato and a rice mushroom and onion gravy

Gammon, Double Egg & Chips £7.95

Individual Lasagne with Garlic Bread £7.95

Lamb Henry £9.75: A large joint of shoulder of lamb, slow roasted with red wine and fresh garden mint


Cheese and Bacon Burger with Chips £6.50: 100% Beefburger, topped with Mature Cheddar Cheese and Crispy Bacon, served with a Salad Garnish and Chips



Chicken Kiev £8.95: Breast of chicken stuffed with garlic butter, served with ratatouille and fries.

Chasseur Chicken Supreme £8.75: Grilled Chicken Breast with Mashed potato and French Beans, topped with a rich Chasseaur Sauce

Pasta



Pasta Bake with garlic bread £7.75: Mediterranean vegetables and pasta cooked in a delicious wine, cream and ratatouille sauce, topped with melted Mozzarella cheese.



Pasta Pepperoni or Chilli Beef £7.95: As for pasta bake but spiced up with pepperoni or chilli beef added.

Vegetarian

Cauliflower Cheese with garlic bread £7.75: Cooked in a mature cheddar sauce and then topped with Mozzarella cheese.

Wild Mushroom Risotto £8.95: A medley of mushrooms and Arborio rice, in a white wine and cream sauce, with Wilted Rocket Leaves and Parmesan Cheese

Egg

3 Egg omelette served with chips and salad garnish

Cheese
£3.75

Cheese and ham
£4.00

Cheese and mushrooms
£4.00

Cheese, ham and tomato
£4.25

Cheese, ham and mushrooms
£4.25

TYPICAL DISHES IN THE UK

england: fish and chips

This is England's most famous dish. Cod or pollack are the traditional fish, but you can use sole, flounder, or whitefish fillets. It is imperative, however, that you purchase a tabloid newspaper to serve your finished product.

ingredients

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
4 - 6 ounces ale
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups vegetable oil for frying
4 large russet potatoes
2 pounds fish fillets, cut in half, crosswise

cooking directions

Preheat oven to 250° F. Prepare batter: Mix flour, cornmeal and salt together. Add ale and mix well. Batter should be thin.

Cut potatoes in even, finger-sized pieces.

Heat oil in deep fryer. DO NOT FILL TO TOP. The potatoes and the fish will cause the oil to bubble. Allow room for the oil to rise.

Cook 1/3 of the potatoes until golden brown, about five minutes. Drain on paper towels. Place in warmed oven. Repeat process until potatoes are done. Do not put in too many potatoes at a time. It will cool the oil too much.

Dip fish in batter, allowing excess to drip off. Fry in batches until golden brown, about 5 to 8 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Keep warm in oven until all fish are cooked.

Wrap in tabloid newspaper shaped like a cone. If lacking, a plate will have to suffice.

Serve with a sprinking of malt vinegar.

scotland: haggis

Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish. There are many recipes, most of which have in common the following ingredients: sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours.





Haggis is traditionally served with "neeps and tatties" (Scots: swede, yellow turnip or rutabaga and potatoes, boiled and mashed separately) and a "dram", especially as the main course of a Burns supper. However it is also often eaten with other accompaniments, or served with a whisky-based sauce.

ingredients




1 sheep's stomach bag

1 sheep's pluck - liver, lungs and heart

3 onions

250g beef Suet

150g oatmeal

salt and black pepper

a pinch of cayenne

150mls of stock/gravy

cooking directions


1. Clean the stomach bag thoroughly and soak overnight. In the morning turn it inside out.



2. Wash the pluck and boil for 1.5 hours, ensuring the windpipe hangs over the pot allowing drainage of the impurities.



3. Mince the heart and lungs and grate half the liver.



4. Chop up the onions and suet.



5. Warm the oatmeal in the oven.



6. Mix all the above together and season with the salt and pepper. Then add the cayenne.



7. Pour over enough of the pluck boiled water to make the mixture watery.



8. Fill the bag with the mixture until it's half full.



9. Press out the air and sew the bag up.



10. Boil for 3 hours (you may need to prick the bag with a wee needle if it looks like blowing up!) without the lid on.


11. Serve with neeps and tatties.

wales: salt duck

Ingredients

1 Duck

600ml (1 pint) Stock, (made with duck giblets)

300ml (½ pint) Dry Cider

1 Onion, sliced

Sea Salt

¼ tsp Saltpetre

Freshly Ground Pepper

cooking directions

Liberally sprinkle a deep earthenware dish with sea salt.

Rub the inside of the duck liberally with sea salt, place the duck in the dish.

Sprinkle the top with a mixture of sea salt and saltpetre.

Leave in a cool place for 24 hours turning once or twice.

Wash the duck thoroughly, pat dry with kitchen paper.

Pre-heat oven to 180°C: 350°F: Gas 4.

Place the onions in the base of an flameproof dish, placing the duck on top.

Pour over the stock and cider, season with pepper.

Bring to the boil over a medium heat, skim as needed.

Transfer to the pre-heated oven to 180°C: 350°F: Gas 4.

Bake 1¾ hours, or until tender.

Serve with Onion Sauce, green vegetables and potatoes.

northern ireland: champ

A delicious comfort food dish of potatoes mashed with lots of butter, warm milk and chopped spring onions or, as we call them, scallions.

ingredients

4 pounds (1.8kg) potatoes
1/2 pint (300ml) milk
1 cup (225g) chopped spring onions (green onions)
1/2 cup (110g) butter
Salt and black pepper

cooking directions

Peel potatoes and cook in boiling water.

Simmer milk and spring onions together for five minutes.

Strain potatoes and mash thoroughly.

Add hot milk, and the spring onions, salt and pepper, and half the butter.

Champ is served piled high on the dish, with a well of melted butter in the center.

It is eaten with a spoon from the outside, each spoonful being dipped in the well of melted butter.

If you want more recipes, go to the following URL of 'BBC Recipes':

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/

SPORTS (1): Cricket

What's cricket?


Cricket is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players. 15 players are selected to form each "squad" and 11 players are selected from that squad. Each team has its own captain, multiple batsmen, multiple bowlers and other players acting as fielders. It is a bat-and-ball game played on a roughly elliptical grass field, in the centre of which is a flat strip, called a pitch.





How to play cricket:



- The Field:


Step 1: Find an oval field to play on. The field should have a strip that runs down the field length wise, called the pitch. This is where the bowler (pitcher) will bowl the ball to the other team's striker. A boundary line should be clearly marked all around the field. Regulation play has the field at 22 yards in length.


Step2: Mark the field with lines that indicate the creases. Marked should be the batting, return, popping and bowling creases.


Step3: Place the wickets on the field--one set behind the bowler and the other behind the striker. Each wicket has three stumps that stand side by side. At the top of the stumps are bails that connect the stumps.



Step4: Outfit the wicket keeper behind the striker with the gloves. He or she crouches behind the striker ready for the ball to be hit and is the only fielder that has gloves.



Step5: Start the game with a striker and a non-striker out on the field for the batting team. The non-striker is located by the bowler, and is the striker's partner. The striker is ready to be bowled to by standing in a batting position in front of the wicket ready to hit the ball.












- The Game



Step1: Toss a coin to see who gets to choose which team is on the field. The winner of the toss may choose to take the field or bat first. Cricket captains are the ones that make this and most of the decisions for the teams.


Step2: Bowl the ball to the striker, with usually one bounce before it reaches the striker. The bowler is trying to hit the wicket behind the striker to get him over.


Step3: Hit the ball and both the batsmen run to try to reach the opposite popping crease. When both successfully touch, by body or bat, the ground behind the opposite crease, a run is scored. Depending on where the ball is they may try to score another run by running back to the starting popping crease. This must be done before the other team's fielders knocks the bails off the stumps with the cricket ball, which is an over.


Step4: Score six runs by hitting the ball over the boundary with out touching the ground. If the ball reaches the boundary and touches the ground in doing so, the batting team is granted four runs. These runs are automatic unless the runners have scored more.


Step5: End an inning when ten of the batsmen are over, or the score required to meet is reached.













- Get an Over:



Step1: Get the striker over with six successive bowls that he has not hit and are all strikes. Un-hittable balls are not included in the six bowls. After the over, the bowler turns direction and pitches to the reverse side of the field.


Step2: Catch the ball in the air, while in the boundary, and the striker is out. Both feet of the fielder must be in the boundary. If the batsman touches the ball with his hand that is not touching the bat on purpose it is an over.


Step3: Break the wicket behind the bowler by direct hit from the bowler or reflected off the striker is an over. Also if a batsman touches or breaks a wicket with his body or equipment is an over.


Step4: Reflect the ball with your body so it doesn't hit the wicker is called an over by the umpire.


Step5: Stumping the batsman is when the wicket-keeper gets the striker over by breaking the wicket when the striker steps outside of his crease while trying to play the ball.


Step6. Overs can happen if the next striker takes more than two minutes to appear on the field after the preceding wicket falls. Also if the striker it's the cricket ball twice while not defending the wicket.


Step7: Interference by a batsman is called an over. This doesn't include running through the path of the fielder with the ball to deter him from throwing the ball to the wicket.







Things You'll Need




- A wicket
- Bats
- Balls






Do you want to know all the news about cricket?? Then click the following URL to BBC Cricket News:


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/default.stm

Or you can also click this URL, wich is from a page all about Cricket

http://www.cricinfo.com/