B: Any relationship to Queen Elizabeth of Britain?
A: Exactly. Bush is her 13-th cousin. It’s a matter of common knowledge now.
B: How very interesting! And who is the common ancestor Clinton and Bush are descended from?
A: Both are descended from King John of England, Bush through John’s son Henry III and Clinton through his daughter Eleanor>2.
B: Fancy that! Both have connections to ancient noble families and even to the royal ones!
A: There is one more interesting point. Clinton also descended from Eleanor’s husband, Simon>3 de Montfort, Earl of Leicester>4, who was a great democrat of his days and was called “the champion of Parliament”.
B: So, the descendant of a democrat is himself a representative of the Democratic Party of the USA.
A: Yes, exactly! At the same time, Bush is a representative of the opposition party, the Republicans.
B: So, Henry III and Simon, brothers-in-law, were opponents in those far away days, and their descendants were presidential contenders in the fall of 1992.
Notes:
>1 issue - выпуск, номер
>2 Eleanor ['elma]
>3 Simon ['saiman]
>4 Leicester ['testa]
(®) 8 Brigitte Bardot. An Improptu>1 Marriage
A: I looked through an English newspaper and came across a short article titled “Bardot admits improptu marriage”.
B: Is it about the famous French actress who starred in so many films in the 60’s and 70’s?
A: Yes, she is not in films any more. She is on the bad side of her fifties and she leads a secluded>2 life rarely appearing in public.
B: How did she meet her present husband, then?
A: They met at a party, they say.
B: Does it say there that they decided to marry? Love at first sight?
A: Not quite so. The urge to get married came upon them when they took their trip to Norway, where Brigitte’s son lives.
B: They both had to get divorced from their previous marriages, I suppose.
A: No, Brigitte had been divorced for 23 years. It was her fourth marriage, by the way.
B: Which marriage is her son by?
A: Brigitte’s son Nicolas was born during her second marriage. His father was an actor, too.
B: What does her present husband do?
A: He is a businessman, 7 years her junior.
B: Was it a marvellous wedding ceremony in a church?
A: Nothing of the kind. This is how Brigitte describes it, “We came upon a chapel>3 I lost in the romantic countryside. It was raining hard. We went through the doors of the chapel. And there, suddenly, we decided to get married.”
B: But the pastor could give them his blessing only in the presence of witnesses.
