T H E F A L K N E R F L Y E R - Falkner House School

T H E F A L K N E R F L Y E R

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FRIDAY 12th FEBRUARY 2021

THE FALKNER FLYER EDITION TWO: 12.02.2021

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WELCOME to the second edition of

The Falkner Flyer, 2021, coming out early in time for half term! In this edition we look at all things love. We don’t need Valentine’s day coming up to remind us to tell people how important they are to us, but it’s a good excuse!

ON THIS DAY: No, this is not a potato. This photo is of 433 Eros, a stony and elongated asteroid of the Amor group. On the 12th February the NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) Shoemaker probe landed on the asteroid’s surface becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid. You may have already guessed what relevance this all has to love…and the answer is of course all in the name. The name of both the asteroid and its group, take their inspiration from the Latin word for love (amare), and the Greek god of

love, whose name was Eros. You might know his statue which is located in a famous spot in London: Do you recognise where the statue lives? If the wings and bow and arrow make you think of Cupid then you are on the right track, as the well-known cherub is in fact the Roman counterpart to the Greek Eros.

QUOTES OF THE DAY: there are too many wonderful quotes about love to feature only one…

“When you love someone, you love the person as they are, and not as you’d like them to be.”

LEO TOLSTOY (from Anna Karenina)

“Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.” ZELDA FITZGERALD


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HEART FACTS:

• Your heart is about the size of your two hands clasped together.

• Hearts beat 100,000 times a day.

• The beating sound is the clap of valve leaflets opening and closing.

• Every cell in the body gets blood from the heart, except for the corneas (in the eyes).

• The heart pumps blood through 60,000 miles of blood vessels (that’s nearly three times around the earth!).

(Click on the picture above for more fun facts about

the heart!)

SOME FASCINATING ANIMAL HEARTS: The blue whale has the largest heart in the world, weighing over 680kg (an average dairy cow)! At the surface, a whale’s heart beats at 25-37 times per minute (bpm). During dives this slows to 4-8 bpm, with an extreme low of only two beats when they really need to save their oxygen!

This is a bit like bears, who have heart rates of 40bpm normally, but this goes down to 8bpm when they are hibernating.

Giraffes depend on their powerful hearts (that weigh up to 12kg) to fight gravity to pump blood up their long necks.

Octopuses have three hearts! Almost as interesting as the Zebrafish which can regenerate their

hearts (in just two months it is fully regenerated after 20% of the muscle is damaged)… The above animals are just a snapshot of the amazingly diverse hearts in the animal kingdom!

FAMOUS REAL LIFE LOVE STORIES: Marie and Pierre Curie:

Marie Curie was a scientist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize (which she won with Pierre in 1903), and the first and only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMBSU-2GK3E


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On her first impression of Pierre: "I was struck by the open expression of his face and by the slight suggestion of detachment in his whole attitude. His speech, rather slow and deliberate, his simplicity, and his smile, at once grave and youthful, inspired confidence.” Within a year of meeting, Pierre asked Marie to marry him, and they wed on 26th July 1895.

Marie and Pierre Curie were the ultimate power couple duo. Though Marie’s career was sound-tracked by the grumblings of many old men who could not accept her or her discoveries because she was a woman, the Curies simply got on with making yet more incredible advances in science. The couple’s mixture of science and romance is epitomised by the fact that the blue wedding dress Marie married Pierre in functioned as her lab coat thereafter!

Sir Seretse Khama and Ruth Williams: Seretse Khama was the first President of Botswana (from 1966-1980) after they gained independence. During his presidency the country underwent rapid economic and social progress. He met Ruth Williams, an English clerk at Lloyd’s of London, in 1947, and they married after a year. As a black man marrying a white woman, their union was very controversial on an international scale, but their love and their marriage endured!

Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas: Stein was an American novelist, poet and playwright. She moved to Paris in 1903 and stayed in France for the rest of her life. Her and Toklas were famous for their literary salon in Paris, which was frequented by Picasso, T.S. Eliot, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and many more. When Toklas (far left) first met Stein, she wrote, "It was Gertrude Stein who held my complete attention, as she did for all the many years I knew her… She was a golden brown presence, burned by the Tuscan sun and with a golden glint in her warm brown hair." Wrote Stein: "One must dare to be happy." LEGO:

Challenge: ‘O my Luve is like a red, red rose’ – make a beautiful Lego garden!

Send photos of your models to: [email protected]

HAPPY FACT:

mailto:[email protected]


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NAME THAT PAIR: Now of course, not all love is romantic. Some of the best duos in literature/film/life are based on a different kind of love: true friendship. Can you pair the famous friends?

With the above in mind…our book recommendation of the week is Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel. It is beautifully illustrated, wonderfully written, and an all-round heart-warming tale of love and companionship. The two friends could not be more different (Frog is cheery and relaxed, Toad is quite cross quite a lot of the time) but through their adventures they prove time and again the value of

loyalty and friendship. Thinking of our older classes, children in Year 3 and up really must read Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver. The first in the series Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, the adventure story takes place 6000 years ago, but in it we learn the true meaning of brotherhood (Torak and Wolf), and in the later books we see what real friendship can achieve (Torak and Renn). Vividly, powerfully and emotively told – the best thing about it is that there are six books in the series to enjoy!


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MOVES OF THE DAY:

We humans may have learnt that love is about more than just what is on the outside, but what if you can’t prove your character with words? Some animals go to great lengths to show off how appealing they are in order to attract a mate! Click on the bird below (yes, it is a real bird, mid-dance!) for a trip to New Guinea to see:

They might like to display flashy moves, but when some animals pick a partner, it means for life! Take the Bald Eagle for example: this magnificent bird uses nest-building to show devotion. The pair continuously adds to the structure, so that after many seasons it is enormous and stands as a symbol of their

fidelity! Beavers are similarly house proud (and loyal to their other halves). They stay with their

partner for life, building their dams and

lodges together, where they co-parent their young until they grow up and move on to build their own! Thinking of beavers, it is now out of print but this is a must-read…

The Lazy Beaver tells the story of Boris, who very unusually for a beaver, does not enjoy hard work! It is written by Giovanni Gallo

and is tricky to find but well worth the effort if you can source it. Back to our romantic furry friends, and not to be outdone in the love and equality stakes: Prarie Voles stay with their chosen other half for life, but they also split nest-building and child-rearing duties equally! Finally – the Albatross: albatrosses sometimes spend years, or even decades, finding the right partner (and they can live

to 50 years old!). To find a mate, they perform an elaborate dancing ritual that is unique to each bonded pair. Despite these great efforts, they actually spend very little time on land and can sometimes wait many years waiting for their

chosen one to return. (Click on the photo to

watch them dance to one another!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWfyw51DQfU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1pJwOnYrs0


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MUSIC ESSENTIALS: Oh my goodness the choice. It is difficult to find a song that is not about love, so excuse the editor’s clear preference for the cheesy (click on the photos below to listen!):

My Girl – the Temptations

Not to mention: Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

And finally, a list of love songs would not be complete without:

Everything I Do – Bryan Adams

As ever, do of course email in with more suggestions for tunes we should all know! [email protected]

PHOTO OF THE DAY:

IN THE FOUNTAINS AT TRAFALGAR

SQUARE On 7 May 1945, the formal act of military surrender was signed by Germany, ending the war in Europe. The next day, celebrations broke out all over the world to mark Victory in Europe, or VE Day. People held parties, danced, and sang in the streets. Huge crowds gathered in London, and here we see two British sailors and two Land Girls wading in the fountains in Trafalgar Square. The women were Cynthia Covello and Joyce Digney, and they were best friends, having met in the summer of 1944 in the Women’s Land Army (the Land Army operated to place women with farms that needed workers, because the men had been called up to the military). They worked together on various farms across Surrey and remained in touch even when they moved apart after the end of the war. VE day must have been such a day of love, filled with bittersweet happiness that the conflict in Europe had ended, but as people also mourned the loss of so many friends and loved ones from six years of fighting.

mailto:[email protected]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEztui18cA8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C_3eYj-pOM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0pdQU87dc8


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AROUND THE WORLD: How to say I Love You in…

Italian: Ti amo

Mandarin: Wǒ ài nǐ 我爱你

Polish: Kocham Cię

Russian: Я люблю тебя. Ya lyublyu

tyebya German: Ich liebe dich

Spanish: Te amo. / Te quiero

Vietnamese: Anh yêu em

Hindi: main tumse pyar karta hoon

Arabic: ahabak

French: Je t’aime

Portuguese: eu te amo

Bengali: Āmi tōmāẏa bhālōbāsi

The list above is just a smattering of the different ways that people around the globe say ‘I love you’. It is probably unsurprising, then, that people from different cultures all show love in lots of different ways as well! For example…in Western culture it is normal to greet people with a kiss on the

cheek, or one on each cheek if you are in Spain or France. In the Netherlands, they go one step further and kiss three times (right, left, and right again)! You may also have heard of the kunik or nose rub, which is a friendly greeting among the Inuit, usually between family members and loved ones. It is a familiar greeting used by people who, when they meet outside, often have little except their nose and eyes exposed (the Inuit are a group of peoples inhabiting the Arctic, so you can imagine they wear lots of layers!).

Kunik is similar to the traditional Maori greeting, the hongi, which is also performed by two people pressing their noses together, and

sometimes touching foreheads as well. This is thought to stem from Māori mythology, in which woman was created by the gods moulding her shape out of the earth. The god Tane embraced the figure and breathed into her nostrils. She then sneezed and came to life, creating the first woman in Māori legends, Hineahuone.

In South Korea, public displays of affection are frowned upon, and couples show off their love by wearing matching outfits!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ori_mythology


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POEM: For thousands of years, poets have used the form of poetry to express love. But love does not always have to be something grand and romantic. As Pablo Neruda proved with his series of Odes to Common Things - sometimes it is good to stop and remember what we love about the little things in life! Neruda wrote these poems in honour of everything from his socks to salt, a chair, a table and a lemon! Here is an extract from his Ode to Bees (translated from the original Spanish):

Multitude of bees!

in and out of the

crimson, the blue,

the yellow,

of the softest

softness in the world;

you tumble

headlong

into a corolla*

to conduct your business,

and emerge

wearing a golden suit

and quantities of

yellow boots. *corolla: the ring of petals around the central part of a flower. The editor particularly enjoys the image of the bumble bee wearing ‘quantities’ ie. lots, of little booties on his multiple feet! CHALLENGE:

Can you write an ode (a poem addressed to a particular subject. It does not need to have a regular rhythm or rhyme) to something small in your life that you love? Your favourite household object perhaps? Or meal? The weather? Send to [email protected] Winning entries will be featured in the next edition of the Falkner Flyer! If you feel artistically inspired at the same time, Miss Benini would love to see a drawing/painting of the subject of your ode! From last week’s challenge…see the fantastic portrait submitted by Erin McConnon of her friend’s dog Finn (right):

And Claudia Dizon’s entry:

Alex Jasudasen was inspired by Picasso with his mixed media chef dog here:


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PUZZLE: Find the famous poets in the wordsearch below (no diagonals but there are some backwards!):

Answers here!

From poetry to HISTORY OF ART:

Do you recognise the famous painting here? Perhaps one of the most well-known depictions of love in art,

this is The Kiss by Gustav Klimt, painted at some point in 1907 and 1908. It is an oil on canvas painting with added gold leaf, silver and platinum, and depicts a couple embracing each other, their bodies entwined in elaborate beautiful robes. The painting hangs in the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere museum in the Belvedere, Vienna and is considered to be Klimt’s most popular work. How does it make you feel? DID YOU KNOW?


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HOUSE POINTS UP FOR GRABS: We were so impressed to see the photos and videos that you sent in after the last edition, showing how helpful some of you have been around the house! We have come up with some more fun jobs to be completed…

• Load/unload the washing machine and put it on (4 house points)

• Polish a pair of shoes (3 house points)

• Sew on a button (4 house points)

• Create a budget using Excel (10 house points)

• Change a fuse in a plug (5 house points)

As ever, photo evidence not required but do of course feel free to submit anyway – we love seeing your photos and videos! ANNOUNCEMENTS: The following people will be celebrating their birthdays over the coming week. The Falkner Flyer hopes they have a marvellous day and wishes them many happy returns:

CHRISTOPHER B. - R

LUKE K-M – Y1

CADEN S. – Y1

HAMISH W. – Y2

MAX G. – Y3

KAREN S. – Y3 FINAL THOUGHTS: You may have spotted some fun facts sprinkled throughout this week’s edition. This is part of a new initiative suggested by Miss Brown, who pointed the Editor in the direction of The Happy Newspaper, by Emily Coxhead! The Happy Newspaper has been made to remind people about all of the good news in the world (sometimes BBC News makes it tricky to remember!). Look out for fun facts and happy activities coming up in future editions! Do check out some of our favourite submissions from last week…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCX-mAJrQZY


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Like Mia Aksan’s homemade lava! https://vimeo.com/509724344/613e1e5b9e Mia also made a very impressive tower… Anika Pearce’s sticky bridge!

And Ava Jordano’s sizzling snowball! https://vimeo.com/509725881/f75810a21f Liliana Miller’s agility course: Alix Hairy’s agility course:

And Karim Korat’s structure he could sit in: And Shane McCauley’s veterinary hospital! Not forgetting the famous hounds from last edition’s quiz: Furry member of the Famous Five? Timmy Obelix’s companion? Dogmatix Four-legged friend that occasionally joins in on magic key adventures? Fluffy The multi-headed dog who guards the underworld to prevent the dead from escaping? Cerberus St Bernard film star named after a famous composer? Beethoven This dog is not in Kansas anymore… Toto The parent dalmations whose puppies are dognapped! Pongo and Perdita Tintin’s white furry mystery-solving assistant? Snowy He fights alongside the muskahounds…Dogtanian Fluffy carer to Wendy, John and Michael Darling. Nana

https://vimeo.com/509724344/613e1e5b9e

https://vimeo.com/509724344/613e1e5b9e

https://vimeo.com/509725881/f75810a21f

https://vimeo.com/509725881/f75810a21f


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And our final titbit from the Happy Newspaper:

T H E F A L K N E R F L Y E R - Falkner House School

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