Tag: celebrities

Sports

Andy Murray’s Golden Year

Andy Murray is having a good year—a very good year.

All of his career, the 25-year-old tennis player has been plagued by the fact that he has never won a major tennis tournament.

On the weekend, he put that doubt to rest by winning the US Open.

The US Open is one of the big four, “Grand Slam” tennis tournaments.

The others are the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon.

Britain has been waiting 76 years for a male player to win a Grand Slam singles event.

Murray had been waiting all his life.

Environment News Science

Neil Armstrong, First Man On The Moon, Will Long Be Remembered

Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, has died. He was 82 years old.

Armstrong was an American astronaut and the commander of the Apollo 11 spacecraft on its mission to put men on the moon.

Apollo 11 was launched on July 16, 1969, and began orbiting the moon three days later. On July 20, Armstrong and his co-pilot, astronaut Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, took off from Apollo 11 in a small landing craft called Eagle. A third astronaut, Michael Collins, remained in the main ship, orbiting the moon until they returned.

Hundreds of millions of people around the world watched on TV as the Eagle landed on the moon. When Armstrong stepped out of the ship and onto the moon’s surface, he said, “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.”*

Armstrong and Aldrin explored the moon for more than two hours and collected about 50 pounds of moon rocks. They left behind a plaque which said: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”

The Eagle remained on the moon for about 21 hours and then rejoined Apollo 11 for the return trip to Earth. Once the astronauts were back on Earth, they spent 16 days in quarantine to make sure they had not brought back any germs from space.

News Sports

Highlights From The 2012 Summer Olympics

Here’s a look at some of the highlights from the spectacular 2012 Summer Olympics.

• U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps now holds the most Olympic medals of any athlete in history. He has 22 Olympic medals, four more than the next highest Olympic medal holder (gymnast Larisa Latynina, from the Soviet Union, who has 18).

Not only that, but he has 18 gold medals—twice as many as any other Olympian.

Phelps won six medals in the 2012 Olympics.

• Four of the world’s top badminton women’s doubles teams were kicked out of the Olympics for throwing their matches.

The women deliberately tried to lose by serving wildly and hitting shots into the net or out of the court. Why?

If they had won their first matches, they would have had to play more difficult opponents. By losing their first matches, they would have been able to play easier, more beatable teams.

However, you’re not allowed to “throw” a match by losing on purpose so they were eliminated from the Olympics.

Entertainment Lighter News

Surprise! That’s Justin Bieber Busking At The Avon Theatre

Theatre-goers in Stratford, Ont. are used to seeing buskers.

(In this case, a busker is someone who performs music on a street corner for money that people throw into their hat or guitar case.)

But they were surprised and thrilled when they came out of the theatre last Saturday and saw that the busker on the steps was pop superstar Justin Bieber.

Bieber grew up in Stratford, and some members of his family still live there. However, he’s usually out of the country on tour or recording.

He was in town for the Much Music Video Awards.

Busking on the steps of the Avon Theatre is nothing new to Bieber. In the early days, before he became an international pop icon, he often used to busk there.

However, this time it was a bit different. For one thing, although he had his guitar case open in front of him he wasn’t collecting any money for his performance. (According to an estimate by Forbes magazine, Bieber earned $55-million last year.)

News

Flotilla A Highlight Of Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations

When someone’s done the same job for 60 years, she deserves a party. And that’s what happened in London, England this week.

The party for Queen Elizabeth II lasted four days.

On the first day, she attended the Royal Derby, a big horserace held every year.

The second day, more than a million guests lined the River Thames and watched the Queen and members of her family float along in the royal barge, majestically surrounded by a flotilla of 1,000 boats. A flotilla is a group of small boats together on the water.

Health Kids News

Mike Holmes To Help Rebuild High Park Children’s Castle

The people who are rebuilding the High Park castle are getting some high-profile help.

Mike Holmes is a celebrity contractor. A contractor is someone who is skilled at the kinds of jobs needed to build or renovate homes. Contractors hire and oversee all of the work—for instance, electrical, plumbing, carpentry and design work.

Holmes became famous for his motto, “make it right.” On his TV show, he rescues homeowners from renovations that have gone wrong and he brings in workers who fix the house properly and “make it right.”

Holmes also does a lot of charity work. On one of his TV shows, he helps people in New Orleans whose houses were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Now he’s lending a hand to help rebuild the children’s play castle in the High Park neighbourhood of Toronto, Ont. Much of the wooden structure was destroyed by a fire last March.

Entertainment

Hip Hop Legend MCA Passes Away

You may not have heard of Adam Yauch, but you have probably heard of the Beastie Boys.

Yauch – better known as MCA – was one of three members of the legendary hip-hop group from New York City. He died from cancer early this month.

Yauch and the rest of the Beastie Boys were famous for wild, silly songs and wild, silly behaviour.

A perfect example is their most famous song: “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party).”

Yauch taught himself to play the bass guitar in highschool and formed the Beastie Boys for his 17th birthday party along with the group’s two other members: Michael “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Adrock” Horovitz.

Breaking News News Sports

Brett Lawrie Loses His Cool (Column)

On Tuesday, Brett Lawrie — a baseball player for the Toronto Blue Jays — lost control of his emotions during a game.

Lawrie was batting, and the umpire made a couple of calls that Lawrie disagreed with.

In Major League Baseball (MLB), there are four umpires including the home-plate umpire.

He is the one who decides if a pitch was a “ball” or a “strike.”

The pitcher pitches and when the ball crosses home plate the umpire makes a quick decision as to whether it was a good pitch (called a strike) or a bad pitch (called a ball).

If a batter gets three strikes against him he strikes out.

If a batter gets four balls against him he gets a ‘walk’ and is allowed to go to first base.

Entertainment News Sports

Poor Sportsmanship Leaves Door Open For Man City Soccer Victory

England loves soccer. English soccer teams play in the Premier League (PL).

Two of the biggest soccer teams in the PL are two of the bitterest rivals: Manchester City, known as “Man City” and Manchester United, known as “Man United.”

Last weekend, one of the most exciting games in the PL took place… and it came down to the final moments. It was a game that would decide who took home the cup.

If Man City won its game against the Queens Park Rangers, Man City would end up with more points than its rival, Man United. In that case, Man City would win its first PL championship in 44 years.

However, a win wouldn’t come easy.

News Politics

Girls Rule

Queen Elizabeth II is the queen of 54 Commonwealth countries. 16 of these countries are called Commonwealth Realm countries and Canada is one of them.

When Elizabeth steps down or dies, her son, Prince Charles will become King. If he steps down or dies, his first-born son, Prince William will become King–even though Princess Anne is the Queen’s only daughter and is next in age to Prince Charles.

In other words, because she is female, the crown wouldn’t go to Princess Anne.

Since the beginning of the British monarchy, men have been chosen first to become the next ruler.

A woman can only be chosen when there are no men in the monarch’s direct line, (like a brother or a brother’s sons).

That is how Elizabeth became queen. Her father, King George VI, had two daughters and no sons.