Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix

Spa-Francorchamps
Race Date: 29 Aug 2010
Number of Laps: 44
Circuit Length: 7.004 km
Race Distance: 308.052 km
Lap Record: 1:45.108 – K Raikkonen (2004)

F1 Timetable:
- Fri 27 August 2010
- Practice 1 10:00 – 11:30
- Practice 2 14:00 – 15:30
- Sat 28 August 2010
- Practice 3 11:00 – 12:00
- Qualifying 14:00
- Sun 29 August 2010
- Race 14:00

Formula 1 Magyar Nagydij 2010

Budapest
Race Date: 01 Aug 2010
Number of Laps: 70
Circuit Length: 4.381 km
Race Distance: 306.630 km
Lap Record: 1:19.071 – M Schumacher (2004)

F1 Timetable:
- Fri 30 July 2010
- Practice 1 10:00 – 11:30
- Practice 2 14:00 – 15:30
- Sat 31 July 2010
- Practice 3 11:00 – 12:00
- Qualifying 14:00
- Sun 01 August 2010
- Race 14:00

Formula 1 Grand Prix of Germany

Hockenheim
Race Date: 25 Jul 2010
Number of Laps: 67
Circuit Length: 4.574 km
Race Distance: 306.458 km
Lap Record: 1:13.780 – K Raikkonen (2004)

F1 Timetable:
- Fri 23 July 2010
- Practice 1 10:00 – 11:30
- Practice 2 14:00 – 15:30
- Sat 24 July 2010
- Practice 3 11:00 – 12:00
- Qualifying 14:00
- Sun 25 July 2010
- Race 14:00

Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix

Silverstone
Race Date: 11 Jul 2010
Number of Laps: 60
Circuit Length: 5.141 km
Race Distance: 308.355 km
Lap Record: 1:18.739 – M Schumacher (2004)

F1 Timetable:
- Fri 09 July 2010
- Practice 1 10:00 – 11:30
- Practice 2 14:00 – 15:30
- Sat 10 July 2010
- Practice 3 10:00 – 11:00
- Qualifying 13:00
- Sun 11 July 2010
- Race 13:00

British Open 2010 at St. Andrews, Scotland

 The Old Course at St. Andrews

11 holes out, the same 11 holes back, and starting and finishing on the mound behind the first tee: Such was the way that golf was first contested over the links at St Andrews. But despite this unfamiliar description, today’s golfers would recognise the ‘Old’ Course of the 1700s and note that the challenges it presented have changed little in three centuries. 

As legend has it, the game has been enjoyed en masse on the links since the 12^th century, when shepherds would knock stones into rabbit holes with rudimentary clubs. By 1457, the popularity of the game had reached such a level that King James II outlawed it for taking men away from their archery practice! 

And in 1552, on the proviso that Archbishop of St Andrews, John Hamilton, was able to retain possession of the rabbits on the course, the town’s right to play golf on the links was officially established. 

Fast-forward 200 years and the custodians of the course, by this time the Society of St Andrews Golfers — later to become The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews –, take the decision to reduce the number of holes from 22 to 18, so creating the format that would come to represent the standard course layout the world over. Yet there was still one hole on each green, which was played twice; the homeward groups taking priority over those on their way out. Teeing-off occurred by the hole-side and the course meandered around and through dunes and narrow corridors in the whins. 

In 1832, golf on the Old Course made its next leap towards the modern game. Two holes were cut in the putting surface, creating the double-greens for which St Andrews has become so famous. Soon after, separate teeing-grounds were created, fairways were widened both naturally and unnaturally, and golf began to be played in a left-hand loop from — as today’s golfer would understand it — the first tee to the 17^th green and following the inland holes to the turn before retuning on the seaward half. 

It was quickly recognised that playing the ‘right-hand loop’, as it was known, had many virtues and for 30 or 40 years the layout was altered from day-to-day and from week-to-week. Indeed, on one day a year, golf is still played ‘backwards’ on the Old, bringing into play all those bunkers which, on first encounter, reveal no rhyme nor reason for their location. 

The construction of the first green on the far side of the Swilcan Burn in 1870 represented a more permanent move towards the modern right-hand-loop. Records of play on the left-hand-loop continue — including the Amateur Championship of 1886 when Tom Morris Senior, then the 65-year-old Keeper of the Green, forgot to set up the course correctly — but by 1873, the year of St Andrews’ first Open Championship, the favoured loop was the one that would go on to welcome Arnold Palmer in 1960, Jack Nicklaus in 1970 and Tiger Woods in the year 2000. 

The Old Course has now staged 27 Open Championships and will look forward to hosting its 28^th in 2010. 

For more info visit the official homepage : British Open 2010

F1 Grand Prix of Europe

Valencia
Race Date: 27 Jun 2010
Number of Laps: 57
Circuit Length: 5.419 km
Race Distance: 308.883 km
Lap Record: 1:38.683 – T Glock (2009)

F1 Timetable:
- Fri 25 June 2010
- Practice 1 10:00 – 11:30
- Practice 2 14:00 – 15:30
- Sat 26 June 2010
- Practice 3 11:00 – 12:00
- Qualifying 14:00
- Sun 27 June 2010
- Race 14:00

Championship Events

Play is scheduled to start on Centre and No. 1 Courts at 1pm for the first 11 days of play and at 2pm on finals days. On all other courts play is scheduled to start at midday for at least the first eight days and 11am for junior matches on the middle Saturday and during the second week.

Dates 2010
- Monday 7 June LTA wild card play-off at the AELTC begins.
- Tuesday 8 June Wild Cards announced
- Monday 14 June Qualifying begins
- Wednesday 16 June Seedings announced
- Thursday 17 June Qualifying ends
- Friday 18 June Wimbledon Draw
- Monday 21 June Wimbledon 2010 starts
- Saturday 3 July Ladies’ Singles Final
- Sunday 4 July Men’s Singles Final

For more info visit the official homepage : Wimbledon

Le quatorze juillet - French Revolution Day

Le quatorze juillet (le jour de la prise de la Bastille) French Independence Day

French Independence Day

Bastille Day, the French national holiday, commemorates the storming of the Bastille, which took place on 14 July 1789 and marked the beginning of the French Revolution.

The Bastille was a prison and a symbol of the absolute and arbitrary power of Louis the 16th’s Ancient Regime. By capturing this symbol, the people signaled that the king’s power was no longer absolute: power should be based on the Nation and be limited by a separation of powers.

Although the Bastille only held seven prisoners at the time of its capture, the storming of the prison

Storming the Prise de la Bastille

was a symbol of liberty and the fight against oppression for all French citizens; like the Tricolore flag, it symbolized the Republic’s three ideals: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity for all French citizens. It marked the end of absolute monarchy, the birth of the sovereign Nation, and, eventually, the creation of the (First) Republic, in 1792.

Bastille Day was declared the French national holiday on 6 July 1880, on Benjamin Raspail’s recommendation, when the new Republic was firmly entrenched. Bastille Day has such a strong signification for the French because the holiday symbolizes the birth of the Republic. As in the US, where the signing of the Declaration of Independence signaled the start of the American Revolution, in France the storming of the Bastille began the Great Revolution. In both countries, the national holiday thus symbolizes the beginning of a new form of government.

Bastille Day

On the one-year anniversary of the fall of the Bastille, delegates from every region of France proclaimed their allegiance to a single national community during the Fête de la Fédération in Paris – the first time in history that a people had claimed their right to self-determination.

The French Revolution

The French Revolution had numerous causes which are greatly simplified and summarized here:

1.Parliament wanted the king to share his absolute powers with an oligarchic parliament.
2.Priests and other low-level religious figures wanted more money.
3.Nobles also wanted to share some of the king’s power.
4.The middle class wanted the right to own land and to vote.
5.The lower class were hostile toward everyone and farmers were angry about tithes and feodal rights.
6.Some historians claim that the revolutionaries were opposed to Catholicism more than to the king or the upper classes.

F1 Grand Prix Du Canada

Montreal
Race Date: 13 Jun 2010
Number of Laps: 70
Circuit Length: 4.361 km
Race Distance: 305.270 km
Lap Record: 1:13.622 – R Barrichello (2004)

F1 Timetable:
- Fri 11 June 2010
- Practice 1 10:00 – 11:30
- Practice 2 14:00 – 15:30
- Sat 12 June 2010
- Practice 3 10:00 – 11:00
- Qualifying 13:00
- Sun 13 June 2010
- Race 12:00

FIFA Worldcup Africa 2010

72 days to go

Michel Platini

UEFA president and former France forward Michel Platini, who played in three FIFA World Cups™, made 72 international appearances.

The former Nancy, St Etienne and Juventus player was the captain and inspiration of the France team which reached the semi-finals of the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain – where they lost on penalties to West Germany following a 3-3 draw – and won Euro 1984 on home soil.

Platini, who won the Ballon d’Or in 1983, finished Euro 1984 as the tournament’s top scorer with nine goals, including hat-tricks against Denmark and Yugoslavia and the opener in the 2-0 final win over Spain.

Looking for more info like this and the lastest news..?

Visit the official homepage : FIFA World Cup 2010