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Post by tod2 on Jul 22, 2013 11:04:15 GMT
After my initial lack of interest in this year's Tour, I got my old feelings back and sat spellbound for the last week as they tackled the mountain stages. Funnily in past years I sometimes couldn't bare watching this part of the race because of the , (I'll use a nice word but they don't deserve it) 'idiots' that annoy the riders and motorbike cameramen by running alongside and almost bumping into them at times. I witnessed Froome shove a guy so hard that the fat dickhead nearly fell backwards over the barrier - wish he had.... I am very proud of my countryman winning this year's special Tour, but would like to know how he got British citizenship. I'm born in Kenya too, long before him and they told me to whistle Dixie when I applied for a British Passport OK, enough wishing in vain!! The end of the Tour was in my opinion the most incredible ending EVER! I reveled in the helicopter scenes over Versailles, the fact they rode around the Arc DE Triomphe and wow, wow, wow what a laser light show screened onto the Arc at the end. Totally superb in every way. I'd love to know how they are going to top that next year but in reality I suppose it will be back to business as usual.... Our TV channel ended there so we did not see any fireworks - except the laser ones.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2013 11:54:48 GMT
Apparently the fireworks were just the virtual ones. The news people obviously got the wrong impression from reading the description of the event that was being prepared.
I was extremely perplexed as to how they would do fireworks if it turned out to be true. I have seen fireworks at the Arc de Triomphe before, but this means closing the top for about two days to install all of the rockets, and I had seen the top absolutely full of people just the day before. Also, the entire traffic circle has to be totally empty to create a security zone, which was not the case either...
Therefore... virtual fireworks.
As for what they will do next year, I imagine the success of this year's evening arrival is going to be the subject of major analysis to determine if that's how they should do it in the future.
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Post by bjd on Jul 22, 2013 11:56:30 GMT
Tod, all through the Tour on French radio they called Froome" British". Today, when they talked about the end (finally, thank God), they mentioned that he was born in Nairobi, then lived in S Africa and somewhere else, but that his father was British, hence eligible for a the British passport.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2013 12:11:23 GMT
As a Kenyan citizen, he used to represent Kenya, but his British bloodline was magically validated in 2008 and he got a British passport. I would imagine that one reason for this was that when his international career started taking off, it was a pain for everybody to have to get visas for him everywhere. I saw that the very first race he won was one of the stages of the Tour de Maurice. While Mauritius certainly has some challenging mountain roads, I can't imagine the race lasting very long!
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Post by tod2 on Jul 22, 2013 15:46:37 GMT
Thanks bjd and Kerouac - If his father is British he automatically gets a passport ( and....I think, citizenship) My husband has a British father and he can get a passport BUT if my son wishes to get a passport he can because of his grandfather, but citizenship - 5 years in Britain does it! So unfair, both my husband and son are born in SOUTH AFRICA - I was born in BRITISH KENYA!
The funniest part ( because if I don't laugh I'll cry) is that not only does my birth certificate reflect "British Subject By Birth" but it says my parents are 'British subjects by Birth'!!!
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Post by patricklondon on Jul 23, 2013 7:36:28 GMT
The law changed when someone woke up to the fact that "British subjects by birth" could apply to a very large number of people throughout the Commonwealth and a few other countries.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2013 7:53:30 GMT
Yes, his father IS British. His mother is Kenyan of British descent. Just wondering -- can British citizenship also be passed by a British mother and a foreign father?
I am French because my mother is French.
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