This is an excerpt from the first issue of Metternich, the newsletter edited by Alberto Simoni, Foreign Editor. Every Wednesday analysis, reading advice, reportage, characters. In order to receive it every week you can register here.
The protagonists of the week
Three names, Noura Al Matrooshi, Lee Elder and Prince Philip. Let’s go in order.
A blow to the crystal ceiling of rights comes from the United Arab Emirates which, in a list of 4 thousand candidates, have chosen Noura Al Matrooshi, 27, for a training at NASA in Houston: she will become the first Arab astronaut. Mechanical engineer, employee at Abu Dhabi National Petroleum Construction, he has an obviously stellar track record. She was also a math Olympian.
Tomorrow will be Jackie Robinson Day, sports America (and not only) recalls the figure of Robinson, a Dodgers player, six times at the All star game. An absolute champion, but in history Robinson – whose jersey number 42 was definitively retired in 1997 – enters because he was the first African American to perform on the Baseball National League diamond. The memory of Robinson brings me to Lee Elder, the first black golfer to be admitted to the Augusta Master in 1975. A beautiful story that of Lee Elder, on Golf Digest you can reread it and scroll through some photos. On Thursday the golfers paid him a dutiful tribute. Without Lee there would have been no Tiger Woods, but without Lee America would still be a step backwards. Here is another nice portrait / interview with the great Elder.
I will take it for granted but Churchill cannot fail to mention among the people of the week the Duke of Edinburgh, who passed away at 99 years old. At the cost of being irreverent, I limit myself to linking a video of La Stampa with a summa of the gaffes, I like more to define jokes, some highly incorrect, of the prince consort. In recent days, liters of ink and tons of paper have been consumed and who knows how many gigabytes for articles and images on the life of Filippo. Too many? Judging by the reactions of many Brits and the complaints received by the BBC for the “H24” coverage of the event, perhaps yes. The grandfather of the country called him Prince Charles. Elizabeth, the sovereign wife, greeted him on the official Buckingham Palace Instagram with a phrase from 1997, (at the time it was on the occasion of the 50th wedding anniversary): “It was quite simply my strength”. Applause. The grandchildren meanwhile send two separate notes.