Boston

Today I'm in Boston, New England. It gets its name from Boston in the UK where many of the original English settlers were from. The city was founded as far back as 1630 which makes it one of America's oldest. It has quite a few nicknames including The City on a Hill, which is a biblical reference, Beantown because the Bostonians used to make baked beans and The Athens of America, not because it has hot weather and terrible traffic but for its intellectual and cultural influence. Believe it or not there are in excess of 100 universities and colleges the most famous of which is undoubtedly Harvard, founded in 1636 and America's oldest institute of higher education.

Boston played a key role in the American Revolution. The 1770s saw the British imposing taxes on the American colonies but without giving them any form of representation in the Parliament at Westminster, London. A boycott of tea supplied by the British East India Company was organised, which in turn forced the British government to bring in the Tea Act. This meant the East India Company could sell directly to the colonies rather than to the local tea merchants. In response, the merchants prevented the ships from landing in the ports. However, Boston had a British-appointed governor who agreed to let the ships to land here.

On December 16, 1773, a group of Bostonian protestors named The Sons Of Liberty boarded three tea ships in Boston harbour and destroyed all the crates of tea. It was a revolutionary act, but all rather civilized. They did almost no damage to anything else or harmed any person. In fact, they cleaned up after themselves and the next day they even sent someone to repair a door they had broken. This event has been named the Boston Tea Party. The British reaction was swift and harsh. The port was closed and new laws were introduced. However, this act by the Bostonians inspired others elsewhere and is said to be one of the main causes of the American revolution.

Now, let's change the subject completely. Sport. Boston has top teams in the four major US sports. The Boston Red Sox play baseball, The New England Patriots play American Football, The Boston Celtics play basketball and the Boston Bruins play ice-hockey. I want to tell you a little about the Red Sox.

The rules of baseball are quite complicated but very very basically the pitcher throws the ball to the batter on the opposing team who has to hit the ball and then run to first, second, third and home bases consecutively to score one run. The pitcher's team try to recover the ball and throw it to one of the bases before the hitter can get there, so eliminating him from the game. When three men are 'out', the teams change roles. This happens for a total of nine 'innings'. The team with the most runs at the end of the ninth inning wins. There. Simple.

The Red Sox were founded in 1901 and have played at Fenway Park since 1912, the oldest surviving Major League stadium in the country. The aim of any team is to win the World Series, misnamed somewhat as the competition is only open to American teams. There are two divisions in baseball and the winners of each division play in this World Series. Anyway, the Red Sox achieved this no less than five times up to 1918 and then . . nothing. Not until 2004 when they won their sixth title, beating the St. Louis Cardinals. Anyone younger than 86 wouldn't have seen the last time they won it! Their biggest rivals are the New York Yankees which goes all the way back to the time when the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to them. Boston's fortunes on the field declined while the Yankees went on to have great success, largely thanks to the hard hitting of Babe Ruth.

Watching a game at Fenway Park is a true American sporting experience. From the singing of the national anthem at the start of the match, to the organist who plays his little tunes to get the crowd more involved, to the different songs played on the p.a system according to who is batting, to the enormous hot-dog and glass of ice-cold beer. At all stadiums there's what's known as the seventh inning stretch. It's a song which everyone in the stadium sings together and a tradition which dates back to I don't know when. It's great fun.

If you do decide to go and see a game, make sure you brush up on your statistics. Baseball is all about statistics. Baseball fans can sit for hours discussing RBI, slugging, pitching and fielding averages. If you don't understand what people are saying, just make up some of your own and sound like you know what you're talking about. "Hey buddy, this batter's got a .633 average against married left-handed pitchers with blonde wives on Wednesday afternoons, when it's not raining."