Michael Gordon “Mike” Oldfield was born 1953 in Reading (Pronounced Redding!) and is best known for his hit 1973 album Tubular Bells. At 20 years old he not only became famous but also help to establish the record laben “Virgin”.
Richard Branson even referred to Tubular Bells as “the album that changed my life”. “Mike’s mother was an alcoholic, and when he was 14 or 15, he shut himself in the loft and composed. He played every instrument himself. His expression came out in the music. He was an absolute genius” (Richard Branson).
It great to find out more about this musical genius – this has inspired us all to dive into his world, which is way more than just Tubular Bells!
We also had a great discussion about James Bond and enjoyed trying to name all the actors who have played 007!
As usual if would be great if the presenters could add their presentations and links in the comments section below – that way we can share our nominations with the rest of the English-Please community!
Look forward to hearing / seeing you next week!!
English (UK) 
Deutsch 
4 responses
Hi everybody! Here is my presentation about Mike Oldfield
And here are the links for two famous examples of the magnificant album “Music of the spheres” from 2008:
The song ” Shilouettes”:
https://youtu.be/qJa3LTxwNf8
and the song “Empyrean”:
https://youtu.be/UJ95EW6ZQm4
Do not hesitate to hear the whole album, if you like this kind of music! I think, some songs are really “music of the spheres” – or perhaps songs out of heaven?! :O)
Furthermore a link to his discography:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Oldfield#Discography
And nevertheless, Dean, thanks a lot for your contribution and the nice old video! I was a child then – but love to see and hear it!!
Thanks also to Richard for his presentation about James bond!!
Here is the text:
True or fictional
The James Bond series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections.
Resume
Agent 007 is definitely one of the most famous British fictional figures ever created. But you will find out that James Bond was born in Wattenscheid near Essen, in the Ruhr region, on November 11, 1920. James Bond was born of a Scottish father and a Swiss mother, Monique Delacroix. Both died in an accident in the early thirties. He was educated in Eton.
007
007 (double-o seven) means “licensed to kill” and is the British Secret Service code name of James Bond in the novels by Ian Fleming and in the films based on them. According to the stories, numbers beginning ‚00′ are given to Secret Service agents who are ‘licensed to kill’.