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This morning all the newspapers opened their first pages with Fidel Castro’s resignation.For nearly fifty years, Castro has been the leader of one of the most thrilling and romantic revolutions in Humanity. He and some other people headed a social riot in the sixties, in Cuba.Among them, another important and well-known personality in that event was the mass-media icon Che Guevara. Unfortunately, he was assassinated some years later in the forests of Bolivia. Just when he was trying to initiate a common and massive social revolution in all Latin America.Coming back to Fidel, after having been defeated in his country to the dictator Batista, Fidel declared himself and his revolution orientated to communist principles, getting for then the former Soviet Union assistance. On the other hand this declaration brought him and Cuba, with all their inhabitants, the current worldwide empire –United States- opposition for all these decades; including some American attempts for killing him.However, Castro got to deal with all these inconvenients. The most important one was the awful and unfair harassment and blockade that USA, unilaterally, forced against all the Cuban people.Cuba and Fidel also had to resist American-Cuban-opponents-to-Fidel invasion and, as regards to me, the worst unjust and hypocritical act from North-America policy: the support or an illegal American military base in Cuban territory.During all this time that Fidel was in charge of the Cuban state, Cuba improved the standard of living for all the citizens much, much more than the rest of the countries in the same geographical region, especially if we refer to Health and Education. In these areas the Cuban system increased highly its items in quality, extension and spreading. As they were considered by Fidel and the whole society social rights for everybody.Moreover, Cuba and Fidel showed to the world good examples of solidarity taking their advances in these fields to some undeveloped countries in Africa; providing them many of its doctors and teachers.

The only, and big, mistake of Fidel Castro, is the long time he kept in the Power. At this point, if he had left it some years ago to other people, nobody, now, could criticise him. More

Juan A. Martínez

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Writing a biography: Terry Pratchett

by Montse Bode

For this writing I’ve chosen one of my favorite English writers, possibly my favourite one. Born in 1948, Terence David John Pratchett (best known as Terry Pratchett) is one of the most famous British fantasy and science fiction author. Nowadays, Pratchett is the second most read writer in the UK (after J.K.Rowling and her Harry Potter) and his work has been translated into 33 different languages. He became famous thanks to his “Discworld series”, a group of humour and fantasy novels in which his characters can criticize politics, wars, racism, or adapt fairy tales or Shakespeare plays too, although he usually doesn’t need any outside influence to create his peculiar stories. His books have inspired computer games, plays for the theatre, TV films, comic books, radio programs…

He was born in Beaconsfield and he always knew that he wanted to write. In spite of being a “nondescript student”, as he always explains in interviews, he began to write at the very early age of 13. This first short story “The Hades Business”, was published first in his school magazine and two years later professionally sold to a literary magazine. In those years, Pratchett, the boy who once had wanted to be an astronomer, began to work as a journalist for the Bucks Free Press. It was in 1968 when he was only 20 years old that he met Peter Bander van Duren (the co-director of a small publishing company) during an interview and he commented that he had written a novel. “The Carpet People” was his first published book and other two followed this one in 1976 and 1981. He went on working in different newspapers and writing in his free time until 1983, when he became Press Officer for the Central Electricity Generating Board, giving up his career as journalist. The same year was published “The Colour of Magic”, the first Discworld novel. Three years later, after finishing “Mort” (the fourth Discworld novel and my favourite one) he gave up his job for the CEGB to make his living through writing. He has written more than forty books and has been awarded many times. Among others, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and has honorary Doctorates of Literature by the universities of Warwick, Portsmouth, Bath and Bristol.

Terry Pratchett and his wife Lyn got married in 1968. They have a daughter, Rhianna, who is also a writer and since 1993 they’ve been living in Wiltshire, in the south west of Salisbury.

Last December, Pratchett was diagnosed with a very rare form of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. This was a terrible new for all his fans, although he tried to calm them down with his special sense of humour. He relies on been able to write at least a few more books and of course, to get over Alzheimer too.

Audrey Hepburn

· Her childhoodAudrey Kathleen Ruston was born in
Brussels, the 4^th of May of 1929. Her father, Joseph Hepburn-Ruston was an English bank manager and her mother, Ella van Heemstra, was a Dutch aristocrat. From 1935 to 1938 Audrey attended boarding school in
England. But then, her parents divorced and she and her mother settled-down in
Holland. There, she started to take dancing lessons. It´s then, in the year 1939, when the German occupation begins. Audrey will suffer from famine during all the war and it will affect her health for the rest of her life. Actually, it’s the reason of her envied thinness. During the last period of the Second World War, being only fifteen years old, Audrey colaborates as a messenger of the Resistance group against Nazism. · Her youthWhen the war ended, Hepburn and her mother moved to
London, where she went on with dancing lessons with Marie Rambert, Nijinski’s teacher. She started to work as a fashion model and she was also choosen to appear in an instructional film called ‘Dutch in seven lessons’. In 1951, without imaging what the future had in store for her, she oficially started to work as an extra actress, what it wasn´t a problem for her, because it made her stablish her reputation as an actress not only in England, but also in the USA. Soon she is contracted to act in a leading role in ‘Gigi’, a musical work in Broadway, which was on for six months. · Her careerThis success makes her get her next important role in the American film, ‘Roman Holiday’, with Gregory Peck as her partner. Hollywood would have wanted to see Audrey and Gary Grant working together in this film, because
Gary was the most fashioned actor by then. But he refuses to act in the film, considering himself too old to make Audrey fall in love with him in the screen. He thought it would be unreal. So it was finally Gregory Peck who worked with her. She won the Oscar for that film and she would be nominated four times more during her career. It´s the year 1953 and Audrey Hepburn is now considered one of the most famous and required actresses. By that time, she meets Hubert de Givenchy, a very important fashion designer who works for Dior. Givenchy becomes her best friend and the ‘Audrey´s look’ designer. Audrey becomes his muse. All eyes focus on her talent, elegance and glamour. In the following fifteen years she won´t stop working. She will act in a lot of very sucessful films such as ‘Charade’, where she finally works with Gary Grant, ‘Sabrina’ next to Humphrey Bogart, ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ with George Pepard or ‘My fair lady’ with Rex Harrison.Since 1967, and after having success in every film she starred in, she colaborates in a few films only from time to time. Her last appearance was in ‘Always’, a Steven Spieberg’s film, where she played the part of an angel – a perfect role for her in many people´s opinion- and some months later she is named UNICEF’s special embassador. Hepburn devoted the rest of her life to helping the children in the poorest countries through this organization. Even three months before her death, ill with colon cancer, she went to
Somalia, representing UNICEF in a campaign against aids, this dignified even more her modest and humane way of understanding life.· Her personal lifeAudrey was married twice. Mel Ferrer was her first husband. She had her first son with him. Her second husband was Andrea Dotti, an Italian doctor who was thirteen years younger. He was her second son’s father. In her last years of life she was sentimentally involved with Claudio Jones, a famous music composer.

She died in
Switzerland the 20^th of January of 1993. That very same day, Elizabeth Taylor said that ‘God would be pleased to have an angel like Audrey with him’ .

Some months ago, the black silk dress she wore in ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ was auctionned off for 467.200 £, a quantity which was donated to create a school in Bengala.

Aniria 4-5.30

Christian Dior

• His childhood.

He was born in Granville, Normandy, the 21st of January of 1905. He was brought up in a well-off family. His father had made a fortune with fertilizer´s business and his mother had always wanted to give their five children an elegant life style, according to the tedencies and preferences of the members of the bourgeosie.

The Parisian used to go to Granville in summer and springtime. They would go to parties, private clubs, and the casino, and although the Dior´s family loved to be in touch with them, they would always prefer to stay isolated at home. During those days Christan would spend most of his time in the garden o the house, trying to memorize the names of the flowers, plants and trees that his mother taught him. He obviously inherited his mother´s taste for gardening, exotic flowers and art.

• His youth.

In 1910 the family moved to Paris. His parents had always wanted to give their children the best education. Nevertheless, they would go back to Granville every summer.

At the age of 20, Christian Dior started his degree in Politic Sciences and he also did the military service, only in order to keep their parents happy, because what he really wanted to do was devote his time to art. He actually did it. He tried to be in touch with people related to cultural events there in Paris. That was how he met Salvador Dalí, who was one of his closest friends.

Dior wanted to open an art gallery and asked his father to help him. He accepted, but two years after being opened, the gallery had to close because his father was ruined.

• The beginning of his career.

The family had to return to Granville. It was there and then, when his mother died of tuberculosis. Christian went into depression. He had always been very dependent on his mother and now that she was dead, he felt terribly alone. He thought it was time to live by himself. He picked up tapestry making lessons and started to make fashion illustrations. It was easy for him to sell them in Paris. Soon he started to be in touch with the fashion world. Then, he met one of the most important textile tycoon of the moment, Marcel Boussac, who had opened a fashion house some time before, but he also had to close it. Those were not good times for business, because the second world war was coming. Boussac suggested to Dior that they could open a new fashion house. Dior accepted on only one condition: It should be opened under his own name, Dior.

After the war, he designed his first collection, which was titled ‘The New Look’.

He couldn´t enjoy his success for a long time. In 1957, at the age of 52, he died in Montecatini. Today, Dior is an enormous fashion empire. Many wellkown designers colaborate with the brand name, such as Karl Laggerfeld, John Galiano, or Alexander Mc.Queen.

Aniria Blanco Pascual