In London Life today, we visit a big exhibition which hasjust opened in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. It’sentirely dedicated to Kylie Minogue, the Australian popsinger and international icon. And the crowds are flockingin. So what’s on show? Well, her costumes – rememberthose gold hot pants?!
And who better to show us around the exhibition thanWilliam Baker, who has been Kylie’s stylist for the past10 years? A stylist is a person who gives advice on style– how you look, what to wear and so on. He talks to BBCreporter Liz Pearson about looking after Kylie’s image.
And the first thing he told her isthat Kylie is his muse. A muse is somebody who inspires anartist.
Now here is William Baker talking about why Kylie is sopopular. He says that because she starred in the TV soapopera ‘Neighbours’, most young people in Britain feel asif they grew up with Kylie! A soap opera is a serial thatdeals with the lives of a group of characters, especiallyin a melodramatic or sentimental way. As you listen, try tocatch the word William uses to describe what people feltabout Kylie. He says they felt a real kind of ….?
William Baker‘I grew up with Kylie as much as anyone in my generation.
(You’re in your 30s?) I’m 33. You know, ‘Neighbours’
was on when I came home from school and stuff, so she’svery much part of everyone’s life I think. It was thefirst time a soap opera had been on every dayof the week so you felt this kind of real intimacy. And Ithink this is the main reason why people have stayed withher so long is because everyone grew up with her.’
Amber: So William says people who are aged about 30 inBritain remember Kylie as a soap opera star. They feel areal kind of intimacy with her because she was on TVeveryday! Intimacy means a close relationship.
2011年2月11日星期五
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a wonderful, round building inLondon which was officially opened in 1871. It was namedafter and 'commissioned' by Queen Victoria's husband andConsort, Prince Albert – so he arranged for it to be builtand paid for it. Prince Albert's dream was that the countryshould always havea place to celebrate the arts, industry and sciences. Butdid The Royal AlbertHall make his dream come true? Let's hear from a tour guide…CLIP FROM GUIDED TOUREverything Albert dreamed of came true. And do you know,even today, this area is still known as Albertopolis. Isn'tthat lovely? I want one of them. What do you think?
Yvonne: Sadly, Prince Albert died 10 years before the RoyalAlbert Hall was finished, but as it's still being usedtoday, I think it's fair to say that his dream did cometrue! Here's another chance to hear that short clip again,but this time, try to catch the unofficial name for thearea where The Royal Albert Hall was built…CLIP FROM GUIDED TOUREverything Albert dreamed of came true. And do you know,even today, this area is still known as Albertopolis. Isn'tthat lovely? I want one of them. What do you think?
Yvonne: Hmmm – I don't think Yvonneopolis has quite thesame ring as Albertopolis, do you? As we heard, the areawhere The Royal Albert Hall is built is still known as'Albertopolis'. This suggests that it's one of the mostimportant buildings in the area - and that Albert was a manof the people.
The suffix 'polis' – spelt P-O-L-I-S… comes from theGreek for 'city' and the Latin for 'belonging to thepeople' – so as the tour guide suggested, it's a lovelysuffix to add to a name. Other places which also make useof the suffix 'polis' include the Acropolis in Greece,Teresópolis and Petrópolis in Brazil, which are believed tohave been named after Teresa and Peter of the Portugueseroyal family. And of course, who can forget the Metropolisin the film "Superman"?!
Is there an important place or building where you live thatuses the suffix 'polis'? Who's it named after? And is thereanyone who you think should be honouredin this way?
IDENTYvonne: Linda Clifford is the longest serving steward atthe Royal Albert Hall and isnow Head Steward. She started working there in 1986 andtold us about two very special ladies who visit the Hallonce a year. Who are they – or at least – who do youthink they were?
Linda CliffordThere are several ghosts. Two ladies that walk just belowus on a certain day in the year. Now I've been here whenthe lights have been switched off. I have to admit, it'squite creepy. The doors creak and you could turn around and– maybe there was something there?
Yvonne: Perhaps the two ladies were performers who appearedat the Royal Albert Hall in the past. And maybe one of themcould even be Queen Victoria?! Well, whether you believe inghosts or not, Linda says there are several at the RoyalAlbert Hall… it's 'haunted'! So with the lights off, theghosts and the creaking doors, it's a 'creepy' building –it's a bit frightening and eerie.
Linda CliffordThere are several ghosts. Two ladies that walk just belowus on a certain day in the year. Now I've been here whenthe lights have been switched off. I have to admit, it'squite creepy. The doors creak and you could turn around and– maybe there was something there?
Yvonne: Probably best known as the venue for the Proms, theRoyal Albert Hall can seat 7,000 people and over 300performances take place there each year. But what type ofpeople do they hope will come to those performances? Listenout for the terms 'cross section' and 'narrow section'
which mean opposite things as the Chief Executive at theRoyal Albert Hall explains…Chief Executive, Royal Albert HallWhat we're looking for is a balance of programming over thecourse of a year that enables us to provide something foreverybody so that we can reach young, old – really, anentire cross- section. Because the one thing the hall isnot about is being elitist and only appealing to a narrowsection of the audience.
Yvonne: Sadly, Prince Albert died 10 years before the RoyalAlbert Hall was finished, but as it's still being usedtoday, I think it's fair to say that his dream did cometrue! Here's another chance to hear that short clip again,but this time, try to catch the unofficial name for thearea where The Royal Albert Hall was built…CLIP FROM GUIDED TOUREverything Albert dreamed of came true. And do you know,even today, this area is still known as Albertopolis. Isn'tthat lovely? I want one of them. What do you think?
Yvonne: Hmmm – I don't think Yvonneopolis has quite thesame ring as Albertopolis, do you? As we heard, the areawhere The Royal Albert Hall is built is still known as'Albertopolis'. This suggests that it's one of the mostimportant buildings in the area - and that Albert was a manof the people.
The suffix 'polis' – spelt P-O-L-I-S… comes from theGreek for 'city' and the Latin for 'belonging to thepeople' – so as the tour guide suggested, it's a lovelysuffix to add to a name. Other places which also make useof the suffix 'polis' include the Acropolis in Greece,Teresópolis and Petrópolis in Brazil, which are believed tohave been named after Teresa and Peter of the Portugueseroyal family. And of course, who can forget the Metropolisin the film "Superman"?!
Is there an important place or building where you live thatuses the suffix 'polis'? Who's it named after? And is thereanyone who you think should be honouredin this way?
IDENTYvonne: Linda Clifford is the longest serving steward atthe Royal Albert Hall and isnow Head Steward. She started working there in 1986 andtold us about two very special ladies who visit the Hallonce a year. Who are they – or at least – who do youthink they were?
Linda CliffordThere are several ghosts. Two ladies that walk just belowus on a certain day in the year. Now I've been here whenthe lights have been switched off. I have to admit, it'squite creepy. The doors creak and you could turn around and– maybe there was something there?
Yvonne: Perhaps the two ladies were performers who appearedat the Royal Albert Hall in the past. And maybe one of themcould even be Queen Victoria?! Well, whether you believe inghosts or not, Linda says there are several at the RoyalAlbert Hall… it's 'haunted'! So with the lights off, theghosts and the creaking doors, it's a 'creepy' building –it's a bit frightening and eerie.
Linda CliffordThere are several ghosts. Two ladies that walk just belowus on a certain day in the year. Now I've been here whenthe lights have been switched off. I have to admit, it'squite creepy. The doors creak and you could turn around and– maybe there was something there?
Yvonne: Probably best known as the venue for the Proms, theRoyal Albert Hall can seat 7,000 people and over 300performances take place there each year. But what type ofpeople do they hope will come to those performances? Listenout for the terms 'cross section' and 'narrow section'
which mean opposite things as the Chief Executive at theRoyal Albert Hall explains…Chief Executive, Royal Albert HallWhat we're looking for is a balance of programming over thecourse of a year that enables us to provide something foreverybody so that we can reach young, old – really, anentire cross- section. Because the one thing the hall isnot about is being elitist and only appealing to a narrowsection of the audience.
British breakfasts
In London Life today, we sit down to a traditional Britishbreakfast in a smart London restaurant and a ‘greasy-spooncafé’! A ‘greasy-spoon café’, or ‘caff’, is theopposite of a smart restaurant!
We find out what the traditional British breakfast is madeof, and why is it becoming more and more popular,especially in London, to eat breakfast in a café beforearriving at the office for a hard day’s work.
Our first guest is an American anthropologist. Ananthropologist studies all aspects of human culture anddevelopment. Kaori O’Connor says that strangers to Englandhave a ‘vague vision’, an unclear picture in their minds,of what the traditional British breakfast is – perhaps it’s served from silver dishes on a grand ‘sideboard’…As you listen, try to catch what Kaori lists as the threemain ingredients of the great British breakfast.
Kaori O’Connor‘It’s a meal that everyone outside of England has heardof, and dreams about, and we don’t know what it is, butwhen we come here, we want to eat it. And we have somevague vision of, you know, a sideboard with silver dishesand it’s just going to be the most wonderful thing onearth and I got here, and I went to a café and there wasthe bacon, eggs and chips, and Ithought – gosh, is this all there is?!’
Amber: Did you catch it? Kaori says she went into a Londoncafé for breakfast and there it was ‘bacon, eggs and chips’! Bacon is meat from a pig that has been salted anddried, and it is fried for a traditional English breakfast!
The eggs are usually fried too, and there is also usuallysome kind of bread – perhaps fried bread or even, as Kaorisaw, chips – fried potatoes!
So now let’s go to a smart London restaurant where chefLawrence Keogh is frying a traditional breakfast! You canhear the sizzling in the background! He explains why heeats breakfast – the egg and bacon are ‘protein’, forexample – protein is healthy. He says ‘it keeps you goingall day’. It’s‘sustenance’, nourishment, healthy food.
As you listen, try to catch what he says is a new trend, orfashion inLondon’s top restaurants.
Lawrence Keogh‘I think it’s fundamental to the start of the day. If I’
ve got a long day at work, I try and eat egg and bacon inthe morning because it’s protein – it keeps you going allday. Well, it’s sustenance isn’t it? You know really, wedo a lot of business meetings as well now in the morning –the place is very busy – and I think you see it acrossLondon now, there’s lots more people having businessmeetings in top restaurants and it’s getting veryfashionable to have breakfast.’
Amber: Did you catch it? Laurence says that more and morepeople are having ‘business meetings in top restaurantsand it’s getting very fashionable to have breakfast.’
Well our last stop today is a greasy-spoon café. RussellDavies is an expert on these! He’s written a book called‘Egg, Bacon, Chips and Beans: 50 Great Cafes and the StuffThat Makes Them Great’. He explains what makes a greatbreakfast in a down-market London café, or ‘caff’. Try tocatch two or three of the things he talks about.
Russell Davies‘I would say the café experience, you know, it’s lessthan 50% the food, as it were, there’s also theatmosphere, there’s the fact that in a decent caff, they’
re not going to hurry you out. There’s the smells, there’
s the sounds, you know - the badly-tuned radio, theeccentric art on the wall, the kind of odd condiment choice- and most cafes are so small that it’s the best place foreavesdropping and just kind of listening to the world goby.’
Amber: So Russell Davies says the key ingredients of agreat breakfast in a down- market London café are: theatmosphere, they won’t hurry you out, the smells, thesounds, for example, the badly-tuned radio, the unusual or‘eccentric’ art on the wall, the odd condiments, forexample, tomato sauce, and the fact that you can listen toother people’s conversations!
We find out what the traditional British breakfast is madeof, and why is it becoming more and more popular,especially in London, to eat breakfast in a café beforearriving at the office for a hard day’s work.
Our first guest is an American anthropologist. Ananthropologist studies all aspects of human culture anddevelopment. Kaori O’Connor says that strangers to Englandhave a ‘vague vision’, an unclear picture in their minds,of what the traditional British breakfast is – perhaps it’s served from silver dishes on a grand ‘sideboard’…As you listen, try to catch what Kaori lists as the threemain ingredients of the great British breakfast.
Kaori O’Connor‘It’s a meal that everyone outside of England has heardof, and dreams about, and we don’t know what it is, butwhen we come here, we want to eat it. And we have somevague vision of, you know, a sideboard with silver dishesand it’s just going to be the most wonderful thing onearth and I got here, and I went to a café and there wasthe bacon, eggs and chips, and Ithought – gosh, is this all there is?!’
Amber: Did you catch it? Kaori says she went into a Londoncafé for breakfast and there it was ‘bacon, eggs and chips’! Bacon is meat from a pig that has been salted anddried, and it is fried for a traditional English breakfast!
The eggs are usually fried too, and there is also usuallysome kind of bread – perhaps fried bread or even, as Kaorisaw, chips – fried potatoes!
So now let’s go to a smart London restaurant where chefLawrence Keogh is frying a traditional breakfast! You canhear the sizzling in the background! He explains why heeats breakfast – the egg and bacon are ‘protein’, forexample – protein is healthy. He says ‘it keeps you goingall day’. It’s‘sustenance’, nourishment, healthy food.
As you listen, try to catch what he says is a new trend, orfashion inLondon’s top restaurants.
Lawrence Keogh‘I think it’s fundamental to the start of the day. If I’
ve got a long day at work, I try and eat egg and bacon inthe morning because it’s protein – it keeps you going allday. Well, it’s sustenance isn’t it? You know really, wedo a lot of business meetings as well now in the morning –the place is very busy – and I think you see it acrossLondon now, there’s lots more people having businessmeetings in top restaurants and it’s getting veryfashionable to have breakfast.’
Amber: Did you catch it? Laurence says that more and morepeople are having ‘business meetings in top restaurantsand it’s getting very fashionable to have breakfast.’
Well our last stop today is a greasy-spoon café. RussellDavies is an expert on these! He’s written a book called‘Egg, Bacon, Chips and Beans: 50 Great Cafes and the StuffThat Makes Them Great’. He explains what makes a greatbreakfast in a down-market London café, or ‘caff’. Try tocatch two or three of the things he talks about.
Russell Davies‘I would say the café experience, you know, it’s lessthan 50% the food, as it were, there’s also theatmosphere, there’s the fact that in a decent caff, they’
re not going to hurry you out. There’s the smells, there’
s the sounds, you know - the badly-tuned radio, theeccentric art on the wall, the kind of odd condiment choice- and most cafes are so small that it’s the best place foreavesdropping and just kind of listening to the world goby.’
Amber: So Russell Davies says the key ingredients of agreat breakfast in a down- market London café are: theatmosphere, they won’t hurry you out, the smells, thesounds, for example, the badly-tuned radio, the unusual or‘eccentric’ art on the wall, the odd condiments, forexample, tomato sauce, and the fact that you can listen toother people’s conversations!
Slow London
Many people love the excitement of living in a big citysuch as London. But for others, things happen a bit toofast – people seem busy and stressed all the time. A groupcalled 'Slow London' wants everyone to slow down and takesome time to relax. Perhaps you could walk to work one dayinstead of driving. Or when you buy a newspaper, take thetime to have a friendly chat with the newsagent. But whatdo people living in London think about all this? Is life inthe capital really too fast?
ClipLondon Life probably is a bit fast, yeah, walking down thestreet, rushing to work, getting on the tube, constantlybeing busy…yeah, I would say it's too fast compared toother cities.
Jackie: She thinks it is a bit fast. She talkedabout people rushing to work. To'rush' somewhere is to go there very quickly.
Clip…rushing to workJackie: Rushing to work – something I do everymorning. Maybe I should stop and have a coffee on the wayin… I'm sure my boss won't mind if I'm a bit late. Whatdoes this girl think about the speed of life in London?
ClipIf you can't cut it in this city, you should leave!
Jackie: Ooh, harsh words! 'If you can't cut it, youshould leave!' 'You can't cut it'
means you can't handle it, you're not strong enough to copewith it.
ClipI don't think London Life is too fast. If you can't cut itin this city, you should leave!
Jackie: So, perhaps a rather typically Londonmessage from that girl – if you can't cut it in this city,you should leave! Does this man think life in the city istoo fast?
ClipSometimes it is, yeah, yes of course it is.
Do you ever find yourself trying to slow down?
Oh I do, absolutely. I make it a part of my daily scheduleto have a moment of slowing down – I go for a swim.
Jackie: Life in London does sometimes seem too fastfor him. And he makes it part of his daily schedule to slowdown - every day he takes some time to go swimming.
ClipI make it a part of my daily schedule to have a moment ofslowing down – I go for a swim.
Jackie: This next person works in London, but livesin a small village in the countryside. Does she notice abig difference between the two?
ClipWell, I find London Life quite fast because I don'tactually live in London – I work in London, I live out inKent, in the countryside so I really notice how differentthe pace is from out in the countryside.
Jackie: She says there's a difference in the pace– 'the pace', the speed of things.
The pace in London is faster than in the countryside.
ClipI really notice how different the pace is from out in thecountryside.
Jackie: Our next person is originally from Walesand she also notices the difference in pace.
ClipYes, being originally from Wales, it is a lot faster thanlife down there, when I go back it's at a snail's pace. ButI'm young, so I enjoy it here.
Jackie: She says in Wales things seem to go 'at asnail's pace' – very slowly, at about the speed of asnail. She enjoys the faster pace of London.
Clip…when I go back it's at a snail's pace. But I'm young, soI enjoy it here.
Jackie: But does she ever feel the need to try andslow down when she's inLondon?
ClipYes, I've taken more 'me time' this year – it was one ofmy New Year's resolutions to have more 'me time' becauseyou could do something every night if you wanted to and itwas getting all too much for me.
Jackie: Did you get the answer? Yes. She does tryto slow down. She talks abouttaking more 'me time'. To take 'me time' is an expressionmeaning to spend more time on yourself and relax or dosomething you enjoy – instead of putting all your energyinto work or family or other things you feel you have todo. She says she decided she needed more 'me time' becauseit was getting all to much for her – she couldn't copewith it.
ClipYes, I've taken more 'me time' this year – it was one ofmy New Year's resolutions to have more 'me time' becauseyou could do something every night if you wanted to and itwas getting all too much for me.
ClipLondon Life probably is a bit fast, yeah, walking down thestreet, rushing to work, getting on the tube, constantlybeing busy…yeah, I would say it's too fast compared toother cities.
Jackie: She thinks it is a bit fast. She talkedabout people rushing to work. To'rush' somewhere is to go there very quickly.
Clip…rushing to workJackie: Rushing to work – something I do everymorning. Maybe I should stop and have a coffee on the wayin… I'm sure my boss won't mind if I'm a bit late. Whatdoes this girl think about the speed of life in London?
ClipIf you can't cut it in this city, you should leave!
Jackie: Ooh, harsh words! 'If you can't cut it, youshould leave!' 'You can't cut it'
means you can't handle it, you're not strong enough to copewith it.
ClipI don't think London Life is too fast. If you can't cut itin this city, you should leave!
Jackie: So, perhaps a rather typically Londonmessage from that girl – if you can't cut it in this city,you should leave! Does this man think life in the city istoo fast?
ClipSometimes it is, yeah, yes of course it is.
Do you ever find yourself trying to slow down?
Oh I do, absolutely. I make it a part of my daily scheduleto have a moment of slowing down – I go for a swim.
Jackie: Life in London does sometimes seem too fastfor him. And he makes it part of his daily schedule to slowdown - every day he takes some time to go swimming.
ClipI make it a part of my daily schedule to have a moment ofslowing down – I go for a swim.
Jackie: This next person works in London, but livesin a small village in the countryside. Does she notice abig difference between the two?
ClipWell, I find London Life quite fast because I don'tactually live in London – I work in London, I live out inKent, in the countryside so I really notice how differentthe pace is from out in the countryside.
Jackie: She says there's a difference in the pace– 'the pace', the speed of things.
The pace in London is faster than in the countryside.
ClipI really notice how different the pace is from out in thecountryside.
Jackie: Our next person is originally from Walesand she also notices the difference in pace.
ClipYes, being originally from Wales, it is a lot faster thanlife down there, when I go back it's at a snail's pace. ButI'm young, so I enjoy it here.
Jackie: She says in Wales things seem to go 'at asnail's pace' – very slowly, at about the speed of asnail. She enjoys the faster pace of London.
Clip…when I go back it's at a snail's pace. But I'm young, soI enjoy it here.
Jackie: But does she ever feel the need to try andslow down when she's inLondon?
ClipYes, I've taken more 'me time' this year – it was one ofmy New Year's resolutions to have more 'me time' becauseyou could do something every night if you wanted to and itwas getting all too much for me.
Jackie: Did you get the answer? Yes. She does tryto slow down. She talks abouttaking more 'me time'. To take 'me time' is an expressionmeaning to spend more time on yourself and relax or dosomething you enjoy – instead of putting all your energyinto work or family or other things you feel you have todo. She says she decided she needed more 'me time' becauseit was getting all to much for her – she couldn't copewith it.
ClipYes, I've taken more 'me time' this year – it was one ofmy New Year's resolutions to have more 'me time' becauseyou could do something every night if you wanted to and itwas getting all too much for me.
Wine
Christmas is approachingand, as usual, I haven't done my Christmas shopping yet –I suppose that’s because I hate doing it: the huge crowds,the annoying Christmas songs being played in shops and mostof all, a complete lack of inspiration when it comes toideas for what to buy people. It seems the shops are justselling the same old thing every year. But there’s hope!
There are some places in London where Christmas shoppingcan be a bit more interesting and inspiring. These includemarkets. Today we’re going to find out about onewhich is particularly popular for Christmas shopping andthat's Spitalfields. Both visitors and traders love itslively atmosphere. Emily has a smallshop selling unusual home decorations and clothes. Whatdoes she like about Spitalfields?
EmilyWell, there’s always something quite magical about thisarea anyway. I think Spitalfields Market has such a longhistory. It’s always been involved with creativity, there’s a lot of artists that live in the area and there’s agreat energy about the place, so, particularly in festivetimes such as Christmas, this really comes to the fore.
Jackie: Well, Emily says ‘creativity’ has always been apart of Spitalfields.
Creativity – the ability to come up with new and differentideas and make unusual things. She talks about a greatenergy at the market. She saysthese things really come to the fore in festive times. Whatdoes that mean? If something ‘comes to the fore’, itbecomes more noticeable. ‘Festive times’ are times whenpeople are celebrating some kind of event, like Christmas.
So Emily reckons that at Christmas you can really see theenergy and creativity at Spitalfields market. Now let’shear about one trader who is being particularly creativefor Christmas. Gary is selling Christmas decorations –‘Christmas decorations’ – things that people put uparound the house during the Christmas period to make itlook nice…things like sparkly candles and tinsel. But Garygoes a bit further. What’s he offering?
GaryWe try to make each year different. We’ve got, like,Santa on a spaceship, this is, like, supersonic Santa, andwe’ve got, like, a reindeer dressed up quite sassy -Twinkletoes.
Jackie: Gary likes to make each year different. This yearit’s Santa – or ‘Father Christmas’ but on a spaceship– not something we usually associate with FatherChristmas. Gary also sells models of reindeer, the four-legged animals supposedly pull Santa’s sleigh when heflies through the sky. But they're not ordinary models ofreindeer, they're actually dressed up and they look quite'sassy', he says – 'sassy' – quite stylish, as if they'reabout to go and have a party. Now let’s hear from Diana,who makes jewellery which she sells at Spitalfields. Whydoes she think the market is a good place to go?
DianaEveryone knows their goanna get original stuff if they comehere.
Jackie: Diane says people go to the market because theyknow they can find‘original’ things. ‘Original’ – things that areunusual, a bit different. Diana thinks Spitalfields is notonly a good place to visit; it’s also a good place towork. Why is that?
DianaThe people that run it are very fair. They always welcomenew people. They always encourage art, they alwaysencourage crafts, they always encourage people that maketheir own things to come in and do it. A lot of businessstarted up here.
Jackie: Diana reckons Spitalfields is a good place to workbecause new people are welcome and art and creativity isencouraged. She says a lot of businesses started up there.
Diana also likes Spitalfields because of the kinds ofpeople there. What does she like about them? See if you canidentify three thingsDianaThere's a lot of people around here – they're creative andintelligent as well. And very generous, really. Most peopleare very generous here, really sweet.
Jackie: Diana says people are creative, intelligent andgenerous – generous – kind to others and willing to helpthem. Spitalfields is, of course, not the only market inLondon. And each market has something different and specialabout it, whether it’s the fascinating antiques ofPortobello Road or the delicious food of Borough market.
There are some places in London where Christmas shoppingcan be a bit more interesting and inspiring. These includemarkets. Today we’re going to find out about onewhich is particularly popular for Christmas shopping andthat's Spitalfields. Both visitors and traders love itslively atmosphere. Emily has a smallshop selling unusual home decorations and clothes. Whatdoes she like about Spitalfields?
EmilyWell, there’s always something quite magical about thisarea anyway. I think Spitalfields Market has such a longhistory. It’s always been involved with creativity, there’s a lot of artists that live in the area and there’s agreat energy about the place, so, particularly in festivetimes such as Christmas, this really comes to the fore.
Jackie: Well, Emily says ‘creativity’ has always been apart of Spitalfields.
Creativity – the ability to come up with new and differentideas and make unusual things. She talks about a greatenergy at the market. She saysthese things really come to the fore in festive times. Whatdoes that mean? If something ‘comes to the fore’, itbecomes more noticeable. ‘Festive times’ are times whenpeople are celebrating some kind of event, like Christmas.
So Emily reckons that at Christmas you can really see theenergy and creativity at Spitalfields market. Now let’shear about one trader who is being particularly creativefor Christmas. Gary is selling Christmas decorations –‘Christmas decorations’ – things that people put uparound the house during the Christmas period to make itlook nice…things like sparkly candles and tinsel. But Garygoes a bit further. What’s he offering?
GaryWe try to make each year different. We’ve got, like,Santa on a spaceship, this is, like, supersonic Santa, andwe’ve got, like, a reindeer dressed up quite sassy -Twinkletoes.
Jackie: Gary likes to make each year different. This yearit’s Santa – or ‘Father Christmas’ but on a spaceship– not something we usually associate with FatherChristmas. Gary also sells models of reindeer, the four-legged animals supposedly pull Santa’s sleigh when heflies through the sky. But they're not ordinary models ofreindeer, they're actually dressed up and they look quite'sassy', he says – 'sassy' – quite stylish, as if they'reabout to go and have a party. Now let’s hear from Diana,who makes jewellery which she sells at Spitalfields. Whydoes she think the market is a good place to go?
DianaEveryone knows their goanna get original stuff if they comehere.
Jackie: Diane says people go to the market because theyknow they can find‘original’ things. ‘Original’ – things that areunusual, a bit different. Diana thinks Spitalfields is notonly a good place to visit; it’s also a good place towork. Why is that?
DianaThe people that run it are very fair. They always welcomenew people. They always encourage art, they alwaysencourage crafts, they always encourage people that maketheir own things to come in and do it. A lot of businessstarted up here.
Jackie: Diana reckons Spitalfields is a good place to workbecause new people are welcome and art and creativity isencouraged. She says a lot of businesses started up there.
Diana also likes Spitalfields because of the kinds ofpeople there. What does she like about them? See if you canidentify three thingsDianaThere's a lot of people around here – they're creative andintelligent as well. And very generous, really. Most peopleare very generous here, really sweet.
Jackie: Diana says people are creative, intelligent andgenerous – generous – kind to others and willing to helpthem. Spitalfields is, of course, not the only market inLondon. And each market has something different and specialabout it, whether it’s the fascinating antiques ofPortobello Road or the delicious food of Borough market.
Queuing
The topic came to mind while I was waiting in a queue inthe supermarket to buy my lunch. It was a very long queuethat went all the way along one aisle and round the back ofthe shop. I wouldn't normally wait in such a long queue butI know at this particular supermarket at this particulartime of day they have a lot of staff at the check-outs andthe queue moves very quickly.
While I was waiting I thought how calm, patient and politethe people in the queue were and that is something that isoften experienced in Britain and not always in otherplaces. I remember once in a country that I won't name, Iwas at an airport waiting to check in. I arrived early andthere was a short queue waiting for the check-in to open. Iwas the second or third person in the queue and gradually aline of passengers arrived behind me. I was glad I hadarrived early as the queue then was very long. However, assoon as the check-in opened there was a mad rush and allthe people who had been behind me, pushed forward, allwanting to check-in at the same time. I ended up more orless at the back of the queue.
The British are traditionally much better organised when itcomes to queuing although a recent survey has revealed thatour attitudes to queuing are changingand particularly in London we are getting less patient.
Greg Twitcher is Vice President of Visa UK who commissioneda survey to look into our attitudes to queuing. Whatreasons does he give for our changing attitiudes?
Greg TwitcherWell I think it's probably down to the fact that oureveryday lives have changed and I think what it is is thatour lives are so busy and there are so many more optionsavailable to us now we just think, well why in the is dayand age should I queueCallum: Greg thinks that our attitudes are changing becauseour lives are changing. We are much busier in our lives nowand we have more options to get the things we want. He usesthe expression 'in this day and age', 'in this day andage'. 'Why in this day and age should I queue?' Thisexpression means in this modern world with all itstechnology.
Listen again to Greg. He also goes on to mention what someof the other options are what things were like a few yearsago.
Greg TwitcherWell I think it's probably down to the fact that oureveryday lives have changed and I think what it is is thatour lives are so busy and there are so many more optionsavailable to us now we just think, well why in this day andage should I queue when I can go on the internet, I can goto 24 hour convenience stores and I am a little bit oldenough to remember the fact when shops were closed on aThursday afternoon and not open on a Sunday, so we have somany more choices now and we just say look I'm not going toput up with this and a lot of people are just walking outof shops.
Callum: These days we have access to internet shopping andthere are a lot of 24 hour convenience stores. In the pastmany shops closed for one afternoon a week and most onSundays. There were fewer convenience stores and nointernet so if you wanted something and the shop was verybusy, you just had to wait. But that has changed now. Manypeople will walk out of shops if they see a long queue.
Let's now hear from some Londoners and find out what theythink about queuing, are they patient in queues?
VOICESI get sick of it but I'm quite patient, but only ifeverybody else is patient, if people start pushing in frontor trying to get to the front of the queue then that makesme lose my patience.
I've never abandoned a queue. I always stick around andwait. I tend to get really impatient and I will just leaveitI try to be patient but generally find myself gettingirritable the longer I have to stand aroundI think it depends what time of the day it is. It it'searly in the morning or if it's lunch time and I'm in themiddle of work I wish the queue would be shorter, butotherwise I'm usually quite patient.
Callum: Well there does seem to be a mostly patientattitude to queuing though it can depend on the time ofday, how busy we are and what the other people in the queueare doing. Listen again.
VOICESI get sick of it but I'm quite patient, but only ifeverybody else is patient, if people start pushing in frontor trying to get to the front of the queue then that makesme lose my patience.
I've never abandoned a queue. I always stick around andwait. I tend to get really impatient and I will just leaveitI try to be patient but generally find myself gettingirritable the longer I have to stand aroundI think it depends what time of the day it is. It it'searly in the morning or if it's lunch time and I'm in themiddle of work I wish the queue would be shorter, butotherwise I'm usually quite patient.
While I was waiting I thought how calm, patient and politethe people in the queue were and that is something that isoften experienced in Britain and not always in otherplaces. I remember once in a country that I won't name, Iwas at an airport waiting to check in. I arrived early andthere was a short queue waiting for the check-in to open. Iwas the second or third person in the queue and gradually aline of passengers arrived behind me. I was glad I hadarrived early as the queue then was very long. However, assoon as the check-in opened there was a mad rush and allthe people who had been behind me, pushed forward, allwanting to check-in at the same time. I ended up more orless at the back of the queue.
The British are traditionally much better organised when itcomes to queuing although a recent survey has revealed thatour attitudes to queuing are changingand particularly in London we are getting less patient.
Greg Twitcher is Vice President of Visa UK who commissioneda survey to look into our attitudes to queuing. Whatreasons does he give for our changing attitiudes?
Greg TwitcherWell I think it's probably down to the fact that oureveryday lives have changed and I think what it is is thatour lives are so busy and there are so many more optionsavailable to us now we just think, well why in the is dayand age should I queueCallum: Greg thinks that our attitudes are changing becauseour lives are changing. We are much busier in our lives nowand we have more options to get the things we want. He usesthe expression 'in this day and age', 'in this day andage'. 'Why in this day and age should I queue?' Thisexpression means in this modern world with all itstechnology.
Listen again to Greg. He also goes on to mention what someof the other options are what things were like a few yearsago.
Greg TwitcherWell I think it's probably down to the fact that oureveryday lives have changed and I think what it is is thatour lives are so busy and there are so many more optionsavailable to us now we just think, well why in this day andage should I queue when I can go on the internet, I can goto 24 hour convenience stores and I am a little bit oldenough to remember the fact when shops were closed on aThursday afternoon and not open on a Sunday, so we have somany more choices now and we just say look I'm not going toput up with this and a lot of people are just walking outof shops.
Callum: These days we have access to internet shopping andthere are a lot of 24 hour convenience stores. In the pastmany shops closed for one afternoon a week and most onSundays. There were fewer convenience stores and nointernet so if you wanted something and the shop was verybusy, you just had to wait. But that has changed now. Manypeople will walk out of shops if they see a long queue.
Let's now hear from some Londoners and find out what theythink about queuing, are they patient in queues?
VOICESI get sick of it but I'm quite patient, but only ifeverybody else is patient, if people start pushing in frontor trying to get to the front of the queue then that makesme lose my patience.
I've never abandoned a queue. I always stick around andwait. I tend to get really impatient and I will just leaveitI try to be patient but generally find myself gettingirritable the longer I have to stand aroundI think it depends what time of the day it is. It it'searly in the morning or if it's lunch time and I'm in themiddle of work I wish the queue would be shorter, butotherwise I'm usually quite patient.
Callum: Well there does seem to be a mostly patientattitude to queuing though it can depend on the time ofday, how busy we are and what the other people in the queueare doing. Listen again.
VOICESI get sick of it but I'm quite patient, but only ifeverybody else is patient, if people start pushing in frontor trying to get to the front of the queue then that makesme lose my patience.
I've never abandoned a queue. I always stick around andwait. I tend to get really impatient and I will just leaveitI try to be patient but generally find myself gettingirritable the longer I have to stand aroundI think it depends what time of the day it is. It it'searly in the morning or if it's lunch time and I'm in themiddle of work I wish the queue would be shorter, butotherwise I'm usually quite patient.
School builds huge camera obscura
In London Life today, we visit a school to hear about avery unusual new piece of playground equipment!
The Michael Faraday School is in the middle of a largecouncil estate in South London. A council estate is acommunity of houses or flats built by the government andavailable at a reduced rent.
Two years ago, the nine-and-ten-year-old children at theschool worked with a local group of architects to designsome new playground equipment. And recently, the firstextraordinary piece arrived. It’s a huge camera obscura –a small, dark room into which an image of what is outsideis projected using a small hole, and sometimes a simplelens.
And this rather special camera obscura is made from arecycled grain silo – a silo is a tall tower used forstoring grain or cereal crop. So it’s extremely heavy!
Child and teacher‘We’re from Michael Faraday School and we’re watchingthe big camera obscura being delivered! And I’m worriedthat the playground is going to collapse!’
Amber: But it didn’t! And when all the camera obscura’ssubmarine-style hatches, or small doors, are closed, itprojects onto its walls a 360 degree image of theplayground, the school and the surrounding flats. When thedoors are open, it’s a kind of tree house you can climb upinto!
Here’s architect Clare Price talking about the idea forthe camera obscura which was ‘generated’, or created, bythe school children themselves. She says it wasa ‘strong’ idea – a strong idea is likely to besuccessful. And it seemed ‘to stick’
– it was memorable – and it ‘made a lot of sense’ – itwas a sensible idea! As you listen, try to catch what kindof ‘little world’ the camera obscura creates for thechildren.
Architect‘It was a very, very strong idea that was generated fromthe children – the idea for this tree house, because Ithink that they really liked the idea of rising up into anillicit, secret, little world that’s raised off theground. And gradually, we came up with the idea ofcombining a tree house with a camera obscura, and thatseemed to be an idea that seemed to stick and make a lot ofsense.’
Amber: So the camera obscura is ‘an illicit, secret,little world’ for the children. If something is ‘illicit’ it is forbidden!
Next, a teacher involved in the project explains what thechildren learn from the camera obscura. She says it showshow a camera works – it is a way of bringing photography‘back to basics’ – of talking about the most importantor essential part of photography. Back to basics.
As you listen, try to catch the word for the opening in acamera that light travels through.
Project teacher‘They learn the magic of photography and light, and howsimple it is to view a photographic image. We’re so farremoved these days, just looking through a viewfinder andclicking a button – they don’t actually understand howcameras work. So this is a way of bringing photography backto basics and showing children that it’s just simply lighttravelling through an aperture.’
Amber: An ‘aperture’ is an opening in a camera or amicroscope, for example, that lets light pass through alens or mirror.
Now 20 children go inside their camera obscura where theywill see an image of their friends outside in theplayground - upside down and back to front! And we learnthe etymology – the origin or history - of the words‘camera obscura’.
Project teacher and children‘So, we’re inside a camera obscura. I’m going to shutthis door and it’s going to become completely blackinside. No light whatsoever. But, can you see all theseround things that you were looking at? They’re all lenses.
And some of them are open, and some of them are closed. OK?
And basically, what we’re going to do is, we’re going toshow you how a photographic image is produced naturally,just through a hole. Are you ready? …Does anyone know what ‘camera obscura’ means? In Latin,it means ‘dark room’ – the word‘camera’ means ‘room’ and ‘obscura’ means ‘dark’ -and we are standing in a dark room, aren’t we? Can you seethere’s an image on the bottom of the wall? It’s quiteblurry isn’t it? And now everyone look at the picture!’
Amber: Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?
The Michael Faraday School is in the middle of a largecouncil estate in South London. A council estate is acommunity of houses or flats built by the government andavailable at a reduced rent.
Two years ago, the nine-and-ten-year-old children at theschool worked with a local group of architects to designsome new playground equipment. And recently, the firstextraordinary piece arrived. It’s a huge camera obscura –a small, dark room into which an image of what is outsideis projected using a small hole, and sometimes a simplelens.
And this rather special camera obscura is made from arecycled grain silo – a silo is a tall tower used forstoring grain or cereal crop. So it’s extremely heavy!
Child and teacher‘We’re from Michael Faraday School and we’re watchingthe big camera obscura being delivered! And I’m worriedthat the playground is going to collapse!’
Amber: But it didn’t! And when all the camera obscura’ssubmarine-style hatches, or small doors, are closed, itprojects onto its walls a 360 degree image of theplayground, the school and the surrounding flats. When thedoors are open, it’s a kind of tree house you can climb upinto!
Here’s architect Clare Price talking about the idea forthe camera obscura which was ‘generated’, or created, bythe school children themselves. She says it wasa ‘strong’ idea – a strong idea is likely to besuccessful. And it seemed ‘to stick’
– it was memorable – and it ‘made a lot of sense’ – itwas a sensible idea! As you listen, try to catch what kindof ‘little world’ the camera obscura creates for thechildren.
Architect‘It was a very, very strong idea that was generated fromthe children – the idea for this tree house, because Ithink that they really liked the idea of rising up into anillicit, secret, little world that’s raised off theground. And gradually, we came up with the idea ofcombining a tree house with a camera obscura, and thatseemed to be an idea that seemed to stick and make a lot ofsense.’
Amber: So the camera obscura is ‘an illicit, secret,little world’ for the children. If something is ‘illicit’ it is forbidden!
Next, a teacher involved in the project explains what thechildren learn from the camera obscura. She says it showshow a camera works – it is a way of bringing photography‘back to basics’ – of talking about the most importantor essential part of photography. Back to basics.
As you listen, try to catch the word for the opening in acamera that light travels through.
Project teacher‘They learn the magic of photography and light, and howsimple it is to view a photographic image. We’re so farremoved these days, just looking through a viewfinder andclicking a button – they don’t actually understand howcameras work. So this is a way of bringing photography backto basics and showing children that it’s just simply lighttravelling through an aperture.’
Amber: An ‘aperture’ is an opening in a camera or amicroscope, for example, that lets light pass through alens or mirror.
Now 20 children go inside their camera obscura where theywill see an image of their friends outside in theplayground - upside down and back to front! And we learnthe etymology – the origin or history - of the words‘camera obscura’.
Project teacher and children‘So, we’re inside a camera obscura. I’m going to shutthis door and it’s going to become completely blackinside. No light whatsoever. But, can you see all theseround things that you were looking at? They’re all lenses.
And some of them are open, and some of them are closed. OK?
And basically, what we’re going to do is, we’re going toshow you how a photographic image is produced naturally,just through a hole. Are you ready? …Does anyone know what ‘camera obscura’ means? In Latin,it means ‘dark room’ – the word‘camera’ means ‘room’ and ‘obscura’ means ‘dark’ -and we are standing in a dark room, aren’t we? Can you seethere’s an image on the bottom of the wall? It’s quiteblurry isn’t it? And now everyone look at the picture!’
Amber: Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?
Taxi!
Callum: Hello, I'm Callum Robertson and this is LondonLife. In the programme today– what do you think would be the most stressful anddangerous job in Britain, a police officer, perhaps a deepsea fishermen? Well no, according to a recent survey beinga London taxi driver takes that prize.
As this taxi driver says:
Taxi driverIt is a really tough job, mentally, physically, traffic isgetting worse and worse.
Callum: It's a really tough job – a tough job – it'sreally hard, really difficult, not just physically, butmentally as well. One reason is the amount of traffic.
According to the driver it's getting worse and worse.
Taxi driverIt is a really tough job, mentally, physically, traffic isgetting worse and worse.
Callum: In London there are a lot of traffic jams. Oftenthe traffic runs very slowly because of this congestion.
Congestion, this a word used to talk about the situationwhen there is a lot of traffic which can't move at areasonable speed, congestion. For most of us if we have tosit in a traffic jam for a few minutes we get stressed andirritated. But imagine if you had to do that all day,everyday as your job! Perhaps then it's a little easier tounderstand why taxidrivers feel so stressed about their jobs.
Before we hear from another taxi driver, here's a littlebit of background. One of the typically recognisable imagesof London is that of the black taxi also known as a blackcab.
The word 'cab' is a shortened form of the French wordCabriolet. Originally they were horse-drawn vehicles andthe 'driver' was known as a 'cabbie'. This term is stillused today for a taxi driver, a cabbie. Cabbies and theircabs have to be licensed and to get a licence the driver inLondon has to pass a very difficult test called 'TheKnowledge'.
To prepare for the test would-be drivers have to memoriseroutes and places of interest around central London. Thisis an area which has about 25,000 streets! They need to beable to take passengers from A to B without having to lookat a map and without having to ask for directions. From Ato B – this short expression means from one place toanother place. It usually takes nearly three years fordrivers to learn the streets and pass the test.
One of the interesting side effects of being a taxi driveris that research has shown that parts of the brains ofcabbies are actually larger than those in the generalpopulation. It seems as if learning all the streets andways of getting from A to B makes part of the brain grow.
Now, let's hear some more from a London cabbie. MickeyTarbuck explains why he feels that the job is stressfulMickey TarbuckWell, during the course of the day we're in traffic all daylong and the passengers that get into the back just want toget from A to B as quickly as possible and sometimes theyput you in a position where as soon as they get in they say"I've got 15 minutes to get there" and straightaway you'reunder pressure to get 'em there.
Callum: Mickey says that stress comes from being in trafficall day, passengers get in tothe cab and want to get from A to B as quickly as possible,they are in a hurry and that puts more pressure on. Listenagain.
Mickey TarbuckWell, during the course of the day we're in traffic all daylong and the passengers that get into the back just want toget from A to B as quickly as possible and sometimes theyput you in a position where as soon as they get in they say"I've got 15 minutes to get there" and straightaway you'reunder pressure to get 'em there.
Callum: Mickey goes on to talk some more about the traffic.
Earlier in the programme we had the word congestion.
Congestion. A few years ago there was a new scheme inLondon to try and make the congestion less. This is calledthe congestion charge, and it means that people who drivein the centre of London have to pay a special fee – theidea is that if people have to pay to drive in the citythen some might decide not to do it and therefore thecongestion will get less. Listen to Mickey, does he thinkthe congestion charge is working?
As this taxi driver says:
Taxi driverIt is a really tough job, mentally, physically, traffic isgetting worse and worse.
Callum: It's a really tough job – a tough job – it'sreally hard, really difficult, not just physically, butmentally as well. One reason is the amount of traffic.
According to the driver it's getting worse and worse.
Taxi driverIt is a really tough job, mentally, physically, traffic isgetting worse and worse.
Callum: In London there are a lot of traffic jams. Oftenthe traffic runs very slowly because of this congestion.
Congestion, this a word used to talk about the situationwhen there is a lot of traffic which can't move at areasonable speed, congestion. For most of us if we have tosit in a traffic jam for a few minutes we get stressed andirritated. But imagine if you had to do that all day,everyday as your job! Perhaps then it's a little easier tounderstand why taxidrivers feel so stressed about their jobs.
Before we hear from another taxi driver, here's a littlebit of background. One of the typically recognisable imagesof London is that of the black taxi also known as a blackcab.
The word 'cab' is a shortened form of the French wordCabriolet. Originally they were horse-drawn vehicles andthe 'driver' was known as a 'cabbie'. This term is stillused today for a taxi driver, a cabbie. Cabbies and theircabs have to be licensed and to get a licence the driver inLondon has to pass a very difficult test called 'TheKnowledge'.
To prepare for the test would-be drivers have to memoriseroutes and places of interest around central London. Thisis an area which has about 25,000 streets! They need to beable to take passengers from A to B without having to lookat a map and without having to ask for directions. From Ato B – this short expression means from one place toanother place. It usually takes nearly three years fordrivers to learn the streets and pass the test.
One of the interesting side effects of being a taxi driveris that research has shown that parts of the brains ofcabbies are actually larger than those in the generalpopulation. It seems as if learning all the streets andways of getting from A to B makes part of the brain grow.
Now, let's hear some more from a London cabbie. MickeyTarbuck explains why he feels that the job is stressfulMickey TarbuckWell, during the course of the day we're in traffic all daylong and the passengers that get into the back just want toget from A to B as quickly as possible and sometimes theyput you in a position where as soon as they get in they say"I've got 15 minutes to get there" and straightaway you'reunder pressure to get 'em there.
Callum: Mickey says that stress comes from being in trafficall day, passengers get in tothe cab and want to get from A to B as quickly as possible,they are in a hurry and that puts more pressure on. Listenagain.
Mickey TarbuckWell, during the course of the day we're in traffic all daylong and the passengers that get into the back just want toget from A to B as quickly as possible and sometimes theyput you in a position where as soon as they get in they say"I've got 15 minutes to get there" and straightaway you'reunder pressure to get 'em there.
Callum: Mickey goes on to talk some more about the traffic.
Earlier in the programme we had the word congestion.
Congestion. A few years ago there was a new scheme inLondon to try and make the congestion less. This is calledthe congestion charge, and it means that people who drivein the centre of London have to pay a special fee – theidea is that if people have to pay to drive in the citythen some might decide not to do it and therefore thecongestion will get less. Listen to Mickey, does he thinkthe congestion charge is working?
Princess Beatrice
Callum: Hello and I'm Callum Robertson, and this is LondonLife. They are somethingof a British institution, they have their own specialisedvocabulary and there are over 6000 of them in London alone.
What am I talking about? Well it's the good old pub, ofcourse. Going to the pub is something that isquintessentially British, it's something that is part ofour heritage our culture and it's an experience which isn'treally the same anywhere else in the world.
So first, what do we mean by a pub. The word pub is shortfor public house, a public house. A public house is a placewhere alcoholic drinks are sold for people to consume onthe premises. What makes a pub a pub and not simply a baris that pubs usually have some kind of homely atmosphere.
There might be lots of wood in the décor, carpets on thefloor and if you're lucky an open fire where you can sitwith your drink and keep warm on a cold winter's night.
Pubs are usually identified by a sign hanging outside.
These signs were originally compulsory following a 14thCentury law which said that whoever was making beer to besold had to hang out a sign.
These days most pubs are still marked by a sign hangingoutside and the names of pubs are also very traditional,like The King's Head, The Rose and Crownand the Carpenter's Arms.
There is a lot a specific vocabulary associated with pubsand pub is not the only word they are known by. Booze is aslang word for alcohol and so the boozer is another namefor a pub.
A pub that you go to regularly you call your local, and inyour local you are known as a regular.
So what is it about the pub experience that makes it sospecial? Dean Fetzer runs a website which provides a guideto and reviews of thousands of London pubs told us why.
Dean FetzerWell, it's about the whole package, it's about theenvironment, the atmosphere, the people who work in thepub, the people who visit the pub and the beer is importantbut it's not the ultimate part of the experience, it'sabout how you find the pub.
Callum: So according to Dean it's not the beer that's mostimportant about going to the pub, it is important but it'snot the ultimate part of the experience. That is theoverall atmosphere and environment, the people who arethere are the people who work there. It makes it all a verysocial and enjoyable experience. Listen again.
Dean FetzerWell, it's about the whole package, it's about theenvironment, the atmosphere, the people who work in thepub, the people who visit the pub and the beer is importantbut it's not the ultimate part of the experience, it'sabout how you find the pub.
Callum: In most pubs you can buy a wide range of alcoholand soft drinks, wines and spirits but because most pubshave a connection with breweries, companies that brew orproduce beer, this is the main product sold. There are manydifferentbeers and lagers. In Britain if you order a beer what youget what is called, bitter, a dark beer which is not verygassy. Lager is the golden drink with more gas that is morecommon in many other countries. So if this is what you wantand you're in an English pub be sure to ask for lager. Andalthough you canbuy beer and lager in a bottle it's more usual for it to beserved by a pump which brings up the drink from barrels inthe cellar of the pub.
In Britain beer and lager from the pump is sold in measuresof a pint or half a pint. Just those two. A pint is abouthalf a litre. The word 'pint' is very useful to remember.
With British people you can use it when arranging a drinkand buying a drink. For example a very common phrase to useis this one:
Fancy a pint, fancy a pintIt means, "Would you like to come to the pub with me andhave a drink" Quite a long sentence there – so it's usefulto remember the short version:
Fancy a pint?
And of course the word 'pint' is used when ordering yourdrinks in the pub. A pint of bitter pleaseI'll have a pint of lager pleaseAnd if you don't want a pint, but a half pint, then we justuse the word 'half' Half a bitter pleaseHalf a lager pleaseFinally if you're going to an English pub there's anotherthing to remember. Here's Dean Fetzer again.
Dean FetzerDon't expect a waiter to come to your table and take anorder 'cos it doesn't happen in a lot of them, some aredoing it now, but it's quite a new thing.
What am I talking about? Well it's the good old pub, ofcourse. Going to the pub is something that isquintessentially British, it's something that is part ofour heritage our culture and it's an experience which isn'treally the same anywhere else in the world.
So first, what do we mean by a pub. The word pub is shortfor public house, a public house. A public house is a placewhere alcoholic drinks are sold for people to consume onthe premises. What makes a pub a pub and not simply a baris that pubs usually have some kind of homely atmosphere.
There might be lots of wood in the décor, carpets on thefloor and if you're lucky an open fire where you can sitwith your drink and keep warm on a cold winter's night.
Pubs are usually identified by a sign hanging outside.
These signs were originally compulsory following a 14thCentury law which said that whoever was making beer to besold had to hang out a sign.
These days most pubs are still marked by a sign hangingoutside and the names of pubs are also very traditional,like The King's Head, The Rose and Crownand the Carpenter's Arms.
There is a lot a specific vocabulary associated with pubsand pub is not the only word they are known by. Booze is aslang word for alcohol and so the boozer is another namefor a pub.
A pub that you go to regularly you call your local, and inyour local you are known as a regular.
So what is it about the pub experience that makes it sospecial? Dean Fetzer runs a website which provides a guideto and reviews of thousands of London pubs told us why.
Dean FetzerWell, it's about the whole package, it's about theenvironment, the atmosphere, the people who work in thepub, the people who visit the pub and the beer is importantbut it's not the ultimate part of the experience, it'sabout how you find the pub.
Callum: So according to Dean it's not the beer that's mostimportant about going to the pub, it is important but it'snot the ultimate part of the experience. That is theoverall atmosphere and environment, the people who arethere are the people who work there. It makes it all a verysocial and enjoyable experience. Listen again.
Dean FetzerWell, it's about the whole package, it's about theenvironment, the atmosphere, the people who work in thepub, the people who visit the pub and the beer is importantbut it's not the ultimate part of the experience, it'sabout how you find the pub.
Callum: In most pubs you can buy a wide range of alcoholand soft drinks, wines and spirits but because most pubshave a connection with breweries, companies that brew orproduce beer, this is the main product sold. There are manydifferentbeers and lagers. In Britain if you order a beer what youget what is called, bitter, a dark beer which is not verygassy. Lager is the golden drink with more gas that is morecommon in many other countries. So if this is what you wantand you're in an English pub be sure to ask for lager. Andalthough you canbuy beer and lager in a bottle it's more usual for it to beserved by a pump which brings up the drink from barrels inthe cellar of the pub.
In Britain beer and lager from the pump is sold in measuresof a pint or half a pint. Just those two. A pint is abouthalf a litre. The word 'pint' is very useful to remember.
With British people you can use it when arranging a drinkand buying a drink. For example a very common phrase to useis this one:
Fancy a pint, fancy a pintIt means, "Would you like to come to the pub with me andhave a drink" Quite a long sentence there – so it's usefulto remember the short version:
Fancy a pint?
And of course the word 'pint' is used when ordering yourdrinks in the pub. A pint of bitter pleaseI'll have a pint of lager pleaseAnd if you don't want a pint, but a half pint, then we justuse the word 'half' Half a bitter pleaseHalf a lager pleaseFinally if you're going to an English pub there's anotherthing to remember. Here's Dean Fetzer again.
Dean FetzerDon't expect a waiter to come to your table and take anorder 'cos it doesn't happen in a lot of them, some aredoing it now, but it's quite a new thing.
Being the Mayor
Ken LivingstoneWhen I wake up, I have two small children, so the first hour of the day is revolved around getting them dressed and fed and then I get off to work and I come in on the tube and so I get that 40 minutes time reading papers.
Jackie: Ken goes to work on London's underground public transport system – the tube and on the way, he reads newspapers. He spoke quite quickly there, so don't worry if you didn't get those answers. We'll listen to that clip again.
Ken LivingstoneWhen I wake up, I have two small children and so the first hour of the day is revolved around getting them dressed and fed and then I get off to work and I come in on the tube and so I get that 40 minutes time reading papers.
Jackie: So that's the journey to work. What about once he's in the office, what does he spend most of his time doing?
Ken LivingstoneOnce I get in the building, it's just wall-to-wall meetings, the meetings just go on endlessly. I get very little time to read or do anything, just people come through the door, one after the other with problems. And I only ever know what's going wrong, no- one comes to me and says 'This is all going right.'
Jackie: Ken says he has wall-to-wall meetings, which means lots and lots of meetings one after another all day. He says people only ever come to see him with problems; no-one comes to tell him if everything is going well. Listen again.
Ken LivingstoneOnce I get in the building, it's just wall-to-wall meetings, the meetings just go on endlessly. I get very little time to read or do anything, just people come through the door, one after the other with problems. And I only ever know what's going wrong, no- one comes to me and says 'This is all going right.'
Jackie: Despite the wall-to-wall meetings where he has to listen to people's problems, Ken Livingstone still thinks he's got a pretty good job. He says it’s more fun to be the mayor of a city than the leader of a country. Why is that?
Ken LivingstoneTo be the mayor of a great world city is one of the best jobs in the world. When I met Mayor Giuliani when he was mayor of New York, he was loving it, even when things were going wrong, it's still an amazing job. 'Cos if you're a president or prime ministerof a country, you live in a bubble, security protects you and you don't get out and about much, except in organised visits. If you're the mayor a city, you actually live in the city, you travel in the city, you understand it.
Jackie: Ken Livingstone certainly does like his job! He says he thinks it's good to be the mayor of a city because you can really live in it. If you're apresident or prime minister, you're surrounded by security all the time and, Ken says, you live in a bubble, which means you don’t have real contact with the outside world. Listen again:
Ken LivingstoneTo be the mayor of a great world city is one of the best jobs in the world. When I met Mayor Giuliani when he was mayor of New York, he was loving it, even when things were going wrong, it's still an amazing job. 'Cos if you're a president or prime minister of a country, you live in a bubble, security protects you and you don't get out and about much, except in organised visits. If you're the mayor a city, you actually live in the city, you travel in the city, you understand it.
BBC Learning EnglishJackie: What does Ken like least about his job? Listen to find out.
Ken LivingstoneI suppose I like least the generally negative drip, drip, drip of hostility from the British media. Quite unlike the media in Europe or America or China, everything's wrong, things are only ever getting worse.
Jackie: Ken goes to work on London's underground public transport system – the tube and on the way, he reads newspapers. He spoke quite quickly there, so don't worry if you didn't get those answers. We'll listen to that clip again.
Ken LivingstoneWhen I wake up, I have two small children and so the first hour of the day is revolved around getting them dressed and fed and then I get off to work and I come in on the tube and so I get that 40 minutes time reading papers.
Jackie: So that's the journey to work. What about once he's in the office, what does he spend most of his time doing?
Ken LivingstoneOnce I get in the building, it's just wall-to-wall meetings, the meetings just go on endlessly. I get very little time to read or do anything, just people come through the door, one after the other with problems. And I only ever know what's going wrong, no- one comes to me and says 'This is all going right.'
Jackie: Ken says he has wall-to-wall meetings, which means lots and lots of meetings one after another all day. He says people only ever come to see him with problems; no-one comes to tell him if everything is going well. Listen again.
Ken LivingstoneOnce I get in the building, it's just wall-to-wall meetings, the meetings just go on endlessly. I get very little time to read or do anything, just people come through the door, one after the other with problems. And I only ever know what's going wrong, no- one comes to me and says 'This is all going right.'
Jackie: Despite the wall-to-wall meetings where he has to listen to people's problems, Ken Livingstone still thinks he's got a pretty good job. He says it’s more fun to be the mayor of a city than the leader of a country. Why is that?
Ken LivingstoneTo be the mayor of a great world city is one of the best jobs in the world. When I met Mayor Giuliani when he was mayor of New York, he was loving it, even when things were going wrong, it's still an amazing job. 'Cos if you're a president or prime ministerof a country, you live in a bubble, security protects you and you don't get out and about much, except in organised visits. If you're the mayor a city, you actually live in the city, you travel in the city, you understand it.
Jackie: Ken Livingstone certainly does like his job! He says he thinks it's good to be the mayor of a city because you can really live in it. If you're apresident or prime minister, you're surrounded by security all the time and, Ken says, you live in a bubble, which means you don’t have real contact with the outside world. Listen again:
Ken LivingstoneTo be the mayor of a great world city is one of the best jobs in the world. When I met Mayor Giuliani when he was mayor of New York, he was loving it, even when things were going wrong, it's still an amazing job. 'Cos if you're a president or prime minister of a country, you live in a bubble, security protects you and you don't get out and about much, except in organised visits. If you're the mayor a city, you actually live in the city, you travel in the city, you understand it.
BBC Learning EnglishJackie: What does Ken like least about his job? Listen to find out.
Ken LivingstoneI suppose I like least the generally negative drip, drip, drip of hostility from the British media. Quite unlike the media in Europe or America or China, everything's wrong, things are only ever getting worse.
Film predicts a future London
In London Life today, we zoom forward in time to consider avision of London in the year 2027!
How is that possible? You ask. Well, we’ll be listening toa review of a new film set in a dark and dangerous London-of-the-future.
Children of Men is a science fiction thriller set in Londonin the year 2027, and the human race is dying out. Globalinfertility means no babies have been born for 18 years.
The film follows a character called Theo, played by CliveOwen. He’s a rather reluctant hero! A pregnant woman hasbeen found – the human race’s last hope of survival –and it’s Theo’s job to keep her alive!
Children of Men is based on a novel by the British thrillerwriter P D James and it’s directed by acclaimed Mexicanfilm-maker Alfonso Cuaron.
As you’ll hear, the critic Nigel Floyd thinks the film’sstrength is that it’s really concerned with life today,even though it’s set in the future. It’s a warningabout the terrible things that could happen.
Nigel Floyd says it’s a very exciting film with plenty offast action – it’s ‘a chase movie’ – and it movesforward like ‘a shark’! Sounds frightening, doesn’t it?
Try to catch the term Nigel Floyd uses to describe the film– what kind of‘tale’, or story, is it?
Nigel Floyd‘The funny thing about it is: like all science fictionfilms, it’s not actually about ‘then’, it’s about ‘now’. And what you do is – by way of a cautionary tale –you say to people: Now look, if we allow things to continuethe way they’re going now, it will get this bad. So it isabout ‘today’, and it digs in, it really does addressthose issues on a big scale – it’s not just a chasemovie. I mean it is mainly a chase movie! Because the wholething moves forward like a shark! It’s like it has to keepgoing forward in order to live.’
Amber: So Nigel Floyd says Children of Men is a cautionarytale – it’s a warning. And if that’s not enough to makeyou tense, listen to what he says next about the way themovie is filmed. There are fast sequences filmed with ahand-held camera following the characters. You feel as ifyou’re on some kind of fast fairground ride without asafety rail to protect you!
Try to catch the expression Nigel Floyd uses to describehow the audience behaves when it watches a tense, fast-moving movie.
Nigel Floyd‘What keeps this film going - and what keeps the audienceon the edge of its seat - is that it moves forward all thetime. There are amazing hand-held camera scenes where thecamera actually sort of dives in through the front of abuilding, follows the characters up the stairs, through aseries of rooms, down corridors, out the window, out intothe garden … and it all appears to be one continuous shot.
It’s almost as if the camera’s become like anothercharacter in the film – like a rather curious characterthat’s following the action. That sucks you in. And thenevery now and then, there’s a setback - there are theseplot switches - that absolutely take your breath away andyou sit there, and you think: Oh, my God, someone hasremoved the safety rails!’
Amber: Nigel Floyd says the audience is ‘on the edge ofits seat’ – if you’re on the edge of your seat when you’re watching a film, you feel completely involved in theaction and probably rather scared! And it sounds as ifthere is a lot to be frightened ofwhen it comes to the setting of this movie - London in theChildren of Men is a place torn apart by violence andanarchy.
Nigel Floyd begins his last speech by making a joke aboutseeing a future London in a film as very grey, dreary andfrightening. But what does he say is still running?
Nigel Floyd‘Nice to see London getting a bit down and dirty in thefuture! There are still double-decker buses running, butthere’s almost no energy left. So the place seems verygrim, it seems very sort of broken down. There are variousanarchist groups and right-wing groups who are battling itout on the streets of London. People are trying to go abouttheir business, but what’s the point?’
Amber: So even in this dreadful London of 2027, there arestill red double-decker buses running!
How is that possible? You ask. Well, we’ll be listening toa review of a new film set in a dark and dangerous London-of-the-future.
Children of Men is a science fiction thriller set in Londonin the year 2027, and the human race is dying out. Globalinfertility means no babies have been born for 18 years.
The film follows a character called Theo, played by CliveOwen. He’s a rather reluctant hero! A pregnant woman hasbeen found – the human race’s last hope of survival –and it’s Theo’s job to keep her alive!
Children of Men is based on a novel by the British thrillerwriter P D James and it’s directed by acclaimed Mexicanfilm-maker Alfonso Cuaron.
As you’ll hear, the critic Nigel Floyd thinks the film’sstrength is that it’s really concerned with life today,even though it’s set in the future. It’s a warningabout the terrible things that could happen.
Nigel Floyd says it’s a very exciting film with plenty offast action – it’s ‘a chase movie’ – and it movesforward like ‘a shark’! Sounds frightening, doesn’t it?
Try to catch the term Nigel Floyd uses to describe the film– what kind of‘tale’, or story, is it?
Nigel Floyd‘The funny thing about it is: like all science fictionfilms, it’s not actually about ‘then’, it’s about ‘now’. And what you do is – by way of a cautionary tale –you say to people: Now look, if we allow things to continuethe way they’re going now, it will get this bad. So it isabout ‘today’, and it digs in, it really does addressthose issues on a big scale – it’s not just a chasemovie. I mean it is mainly a chase movie! Because the wholething moves forward like a shark! It’s like it has to keepgoing forward in order to live.’
Amber: So Nigel Floyd says Children of Men is a cautionarytale – it’s a warning. And if that’s not enough to makeyou tense, listen to what he says next about the way themovie is filmed. There are fast sequences filmed with ahand-held camera following the characters. You feel as ifyou’re on some kind of fast fairground ride without asafety rail to protect you!
Try to catch the expression Nigel Floyd uses to describehow the audience behaves when it watches a tense, fast-moving movie.
Nigel Floyd‘What keeps this film going - and what keeps the audienceon the edge of its seat - is that it moves forward all thetime. There are amazing hand-held camera scenes where thecamera actually sort of dives in through the front of abuilding, follows the characters up the stairs, through aseries of rooms, down corridors, out the window, out intothe garden … and it all appears to be one continuous shot.
It’s almost as if the camera’s become like anothercharacter in the film – like a rather curious characterthat’s following the action. That sucks you in. And thenevery now and then, there’s a setback - there are theseplot switches - that absolutely take your breath away andyou sit there, and you think: Oh, my God, someone hasremoved the safety rails!’
Amber: Nigel Floyd says the audience is ‘on the edge ofits seat’ – if you’re on the edge of your seat when you’re watching a film, you feel completely involved in theaction and probably rather scared! And it sounds as ifthere is a lot to be frightened ofwhen it comes to the setting of this movie - London in theChildren of Men is a place torn apart by violence andanarchy.
Nigel Floyd begins his last speech by making a joke aboutseeing a future London in a film as very grey, dreary andfrightening. But what does he say is still running?
Nigel Floyd‘Nice to see London getting a bit down and dirty in thefuture! There are still double-decker buses running, butthere’s almost no energy left. So the place seems verygrim, it seems very sort of broken down. There are variousanarchist groups and right-wing groups who are battling itout on the streets of London. People are trying to go abouttheir business, but what’s the point?’
Amber: So even in this dreadful London of 2027, there arestill red double-decker buses running!
Sheffield
Sheffield is situated in the north of England and KateBetts a media trainer and consultant and Sheffield residentsent us a report on the city. In the first part of thereport she tells us about what made the city famous and wasthe city's main industry. What is that industry and whatitems does she find in her kitchen draw related to thatbusiness?
KATE BETTSSheffield is often called the Steel city – this is becauseit’s one of the most important places in the world formaking steel - the industry really took off about 250 yearsago… connected with that there’s tool making,engineering and the manufacture of cutlery… have a rummagein any kitchen drawer and you’ll probably find a knife orfork saying “made in Sheffield”. These days not so manypeople work in the steel industry, but it’s said moresteel than ever before is now being made in Sheffield.
Callum: Sheffield is a city well-known for producing themetal steel. One of its most common products is cutlery –the tools we use to eat – knives, forks and spoons– and it is these utensils that are found in many people'skitchen drawers.
So as an industrial town you might think Sheffield wouldn'tbe a very nice place to live. What does Kate say aboutthis?
KATE BETTSWith all that industry you might be tempted to think thatSheffield would be a rather unpleasant place to live well Icame to live here about 15 years ago…one thing I noticedis how green the city is.. there are something like 2million trees in the city – that’s more trees per personthan any other European city… and there are dozens anddozens of parks – likethis one – Meersbrook park, near where I live.
Callum: Sheffield is a very green city, there are manyparks and about 2,000,000 trees.
Surprisingly for an industrial city in the north of EnglandSheffield has something in common with the Italian city ofRome. What is that? Here's Kate Betts.
KATE BETTSSheffield has five major rivers running through it, one3 ofthem being the River Sheaf which gives the city its name.
And Sheffield is said to be like Rome in Italy in that it'sbuilt on seven hills, but ask anyone if they could namethese hills and these are typical of the answers you'll get….
Callum: Like Rome Sheffield is built on seven hills -though the local residents weren't able to name the hills!
Sheffield also has a strong sporting tradition. What recordis held by one of its football teams?
KATE BETTSAsk them to name the city’s two football teams – andeveryone could say Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday… but not everyone knows about Sheffield FC – they’resaid to bethe oldest football club in the world. They were formedback in 1857 and are still going strong…Callum: Sheffield boasts the oldest football club stillplaying – Sheffield FC – which was formed in 1857.
Over the years Sheffield has proved attractive to peoplefrom all over the world as a place to come and find work.
Which countries does Kate mention and how does Kosovanimmigrant Blyrta Syla describe the city?
KATE BETTSNow I came to live here from another part of Britain, butlots of people have come toSheffield from other parts of the world. In the 1930speople came from Somalia to work in the steel industry. Inthe 1950s and 60s they came from the Yemen for the samereason – and people have come for better lives or toescape problems from places as diverse as Chile, Vietnam,Poland and Kosovo. Blerta Syla came from Kosovo in 1999 toescape the fighting with the Serbs.
BLERTA SYLAI can consider Sheffield as my second home. I have settledhere very well since I came over in1999. It's a place I wouldn't swap with anywhere else. Ifeel very comfortable, people are very friendly and it'svery multi-cultural.
Callum: People have come to Sheffield from Somalia in the1930s, from Yemen in the1950s and 60s. Other countries mentioned are Chile,Vietnam, Poland and Kosovo. Blerta describes Sheffield asher second home, she finds it friendly and multicultural –multicultural, people for different cultures living andworking happily together.
KATE BETTSSheffield is often called the Steel city – this is becauseit’s one of the most important places in the world formaking steel - the industry really took off about 250 yearsago… connected with that there’s tool making,engineering and the manufacture of cutlery… have a rummagein any kitchen drawer and you’ll probably find a knife orfork saying “made in Sheffield”. These days not so manypeople work in the steel industry, but it’s said moresteel than ever before is now being made in Sheffield.
Callum: Sheffield is a city well-known for producing themetal steel. One of its most common products is cutlery –the tools we use to eat – knives, forks and spoons– and it is these utensils that are found in many people'skitchen drawers.
So as an industrial town you might think Sheffield wouldn'tbe a very nice place to live. What does Kate say aboutthis?
KATE BETTSWith all that industry you might be tempted to think thatSheffield would be a rather unpleasant place to live well Icame to live here about 15 years ago…one thing I noticedis how green the city is.. there are something like 2million trees in the city – that’s more trees per personthan any other European city… and there are dozens anddozens of parks – likethis one – Meersbrook park, near where I live.
Callum: Sheffield is a very green city, there are manyparks and about 2,000,000 trees.
Surprisingly for an industrial city in the north of EnglandSheffield has something in common with the Italian city ofRome. What is that? Here's Kate Betts.
KATE BETTSSheffield has five major rivers running through it, one3 ofthem being the River Sheaf which gives the city its name.
And Sheffield is said to be like Rome in Italy in that it'sbuilt on seven hills, but ask anyone if they could namethese hills and these are typical of the answers you'll get….
Callum: Like Rome Sheffield is built on seven hills -though the local residents weren't able to name the hills!
Sheffield also has a strong sporting tradition. What recordis held by one of its football teams?
KATE BETTSAsk them to name the city’s two football teams – andeveryone could say Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday… but not everyone knows about Sheffield FC – they’resaid to bethe oldest football club in the world. They were formedback in 1857 and are still going strong…Callum: Sheffield boasts the oldest football club stillplaying – Sheffield FC – which was formed in 1857.
Over the years Sheffield has proved attractive to peoplefrom all over the world as a place to come and find work.
Which countries does Kate mention and how does Kosovanimmigrant Blyrta Syla describe the city?
KATE BETTSNow I came to live here from another part of Britain, butlots of people have come toSheffield from other parts of the world. In the 1930speople came from Somalia to work in the steel industry. Inthe 1950s and 60s they came from the Yemen for the samereason – and people have come for better lives or toescape problems from places as diverse as Chile, Vietnam,Poland and Kosovo. Blerta Syla came from Kosovo in 1999 toescape the fighting with the Serbs.
BLERTA SYLAI can consider Sheffield as my second home. I have settledhere very well since I came over in1999. It's a place I wouldn't swap with anywhere else. Ifeel very comfortable, people are very friendly and it'svery multi-cultural.
Callum: People have come to Sheffield from Somalia in the1930s, from Yemen in the1950s and 60s. Other countries mentioned are Chile,Vietnam, Poland and Kosovo. Blerta describes Sheffield asher second home, she finds it friendly and multicultural –multicultural, people for different cultures living andworking happily together.
London Chocolate Week
Now don't get me wrong, chocolate's great but I seem to beone of the few people who can live without it. Here aresome of the reactions I got about the news of LondonChocolate Week. It seems that chocolate may be magical –so try to catch the special chocolate term that one personuses to describe herself and her family!
INSERTOh I think that's a great idea to have a chocolate week –ooh that's very nice! I mean I like chocolate, I don'tabsolutely adore it but I do, I have to say I'm very fondof it.
I do like chocolate, I could say I love chocolate.
Oh I love chocolate, especially very, very dark chocolate– very expensive chocolate – I love it. I come from afamily of chocoholics.
Yvonne: Cath's from a family of 'chocoholics' – a wholefamily of people who are addicted to chocolate! So theymust have it – and they really can’t do without it. Cathenjoys very, very dark chocolate – so chocolate that'smade with lots of cocoa and that reminded me how much Ienjoy the odd bit of whitechocolate… chocolate with just a little bit of cocoa. Sowhat's Nuala's reaction to that?
NualaOoh no, oooh - I hate white chocolate. Ooh, it just givesme the creeps. No, I have to lick my teeth just to get thetaste away.
Yvonne: No white chocolate for Nuala's birthday then! Shehates it so much that it gives her 'the creeps' – it givesher a very unpleasant feeling when it's in her mouth. Nualasays she has to ‘lick her teeth’ after eating whitechocolate – rub her tongue over her teeth to take thetaste away as quickly as possible. Oh well, more for methen!
Mark du Market, a chocolatier – a chocolate maker –explains what he thinks are the best chocolates. Listen outfor how they're made and for a very special ingredient thatcan't be grown or bought…INSERT - Mark du MarketI would say it's the hand-made chocolate using the bestbeans and ask your chocolatiers,where do you source your chocolates from? You don't justwant to look at the percentage; you want to see that thebeans are of good quality and that there's passion behindit.
Yvonne: Mark thinks that the best chocolates are made byhand rather than by a machine.
He says we should ask our chocolatiers where the cocoabeans come from – as he put, where they 'source' the beans– as well as how much is used in the chocolate. So, isthere a high percentage of cocoa in the chocolate? But didyou also notice that Mark says there should be 'passion'
behind making chocolates? So the best chocolates are madeby people who love making them.
The ancient Aztecs from South America discovered chocolateand thought of the cocoa tree as a source of wealth andstrength. They used the beans like money but also crushedthem and mixed them with spices to make a type of bitter-tasting hot chocolate drink. So it was very different tothe sweet hot chocolate that we enjoy today.
But that's history and London Chocolate Week is all aboutwhat's new in the world of chocolate. So have our friendsmade any recent discoveries? Try to catch the differenttypes of chocolate they mention:
INSERTMy favourites I think are orange dark chocolate and I alsoreally like butterscotch chocolate. Pepper and chocolate –wonderful combination – delicious. Cadmium tastes reallynice, lavender tastes very good, rosemary, thyme, oregano…I think organic chocolate is something that's quite new andthat seems to be very delicious.
Yvonne: Well, as delicious as organic, fruity or even herbflavoured chocolates are, people still feel as though theyshouldn't eat it? Try to catch the three main reasons why…INSERT:
Chocolate is not very good to me. Not only does it make meput on weight and is bad for my teeth but it also, andbelieve it or not and I'm a man in my 50s - but I still getspots when I eat chocolate.
Well I suppose because it's fattening and I suppose peopledo say it's quite good for you. They say it's good for theheart and good for the blood but I suppose I do still havein the back ofmy mind that it's a bit too indulgent and I shouldn'treally be doing it.
Yvonne: Do you also find chocolate 'too indulgent' – it'sso enjoyable that yousometimes you eat more of it than is good for you? And didyou catch the three main reasons why Kaz and Cath try notto eat too much chocolate? We heard how it makes them 'puton weight' - 'it's fattening'. We also heard how it's badfor our teeth – because chocolate is made with lots ofsugar. And poor Kaz says that chocolate still gives himspots – something that mainly young people get! Butsomehow, I doubt that Kaz or Cath will ever stop eatingtheir beloved chocolate.
INSERTOh I think that's a great idea to have a chocolate week –ooh that's very nice! I mean I like chocolate, I don'tabsolutely adore it but I do, I have to say I'm very fondof it.
I do like chocolate, I could say I love chocolate.
Oh I love chocolate, especially very, very dark chocolate– very expensive chocolate – I love it. I come from afamily of chocoholics.
Yvonne: Cath's from a family of 'chocoholics' – a wholefamily of people who are addicted to chocolate! So theymust have it – and they really can’t do without it. Cathenjoys very, very dark chocolate – so chocolate that'smade with lots of cocoa and that reminded me how much Ienjoy the odd bit of whitechocolate… chocolate with just a little bit of cocoa. Sowhat's Nuala's reaction to that?
NualaOoh no, oooh - I hate white chocolate. Ooh, it just givesme the creeps. No, I have to lick my teeth just to get thetaste away.
Yvonne: No white chocolate for Nuala's birthday then! Shehates it so much that it gives her 'the creeps' – it givesher a very unpleasant feeling when it's in her mouth. Nualasays she has to ‘lick her teeth’ after eating whitechocolate – rub her tongue over her teeth to take thetaste away as quickly as possible. Oh well, more for methen!
Mark du Market, a chocolatier – a chocolate maker –explains what he thinks are the best chocolates. Listen outfor how they're made and for a very special ingredient thatcan't be grown or bought…INSERT - Mark du MarketI would say it's the hand-made chocolate using the bestbeans and ask your chocolatiers,where do you source your chocolates from? You don't justwant to look at the percentage; you want to see that thebeans are of good quality and that there's passion behindit.
Yvonne: Mark thinks that the best chocolates are made byhand rather than by a machine.
He says we should ask our chocolatiers where the cocoabeans come from – as he put, where they 'source' the beans– as well as how much is used in the chocolate. So, isthere a high percentage of cocoa in the chocolate? But didyou also notice that Mark says there should be 'passion'
behind making chocolates? So the best chocolates are madeby people who love making them.
The ancient Aztecs from South America discovered chocolateand thought of the cocoa tree as a source of wealth andstrength. They used the beans like money but also crushedthem and mixed them with spices to make a type of bitter-tasting hot chocolate drink. So it was very different tothe sweet hot chocolate that we enjoy today.
But that's history and London Chocolate Week is all aboutwhat's new in the world of chocolate. So have our friendsmade any recent discoveries? Try to catch the differenttypes of chocolate they mention:
INSERTMy favourites I think are orange dark chocolate and I alsoreally like butterscotch chocolate. Pepper and chocolate –wonderful combination – delicious. Cadmium tastes reallynice, lavender tastes very good, rosemary, thyme, oregano…I think organic chocolate is something that's quite new andthat seems to be very delicious.
Yvonne: Well, as delicious as organic, fruity or even herbflavoured chocolates are, people still feel as though theyshouldn't eat it? Try to catch the three main reasons why…INSERT:
Chocolate is not very good to me. Not only does it make meput on weight and is bad for my teeth but it also, andbelieve it or not and I'm a man in my 50s - but I still getspots when I eat chocolate.
Well I suppose because it's fattening and I suppose peopledo say it's quite good for you. They say it's good for theheart and good for the blood but I suppose I do still havein the back ofmy mind that it's a bit too indulgent and I shouldn'treally be doing it.
Yvonne: Do you also find chocolate 'too indulgent' – it'sso enjoyable that yousometimes you eat more of it than is good for you? And didyou catch the three main reasons why Kaz and Cath try notto eat too much chocolate? We heard how it makes them 'puton weight' - 'it's fattening'. We also heard how it's badfor our teeth – because chocolate is made with lots ofsugar. And poor Kaz says that chocolate still gives himspots – something that mainly young people get! Butsomehow, I doubt that Kaz or Cath will ever stop eatingtheir beloved chocolate.
From City to Sea
BBC Learning EnglishLondon LifeFrom City to SeaJackie: Hello, I'm Jackie Dalton. Have you everwanted to escape your everydaylife and go and do something completely different? If youlive in a house in a big noisy city, like London, perhapsyou could sell it and go and live on a small boat. Well,one man has and he now lives on his boat just off thesouthern English town of Brighton. We're going to hear fromBrian Bessy – well, that's his real name. But he also hasa nickname – an affectionate name used by people who knowhim. What's his nickname?
AlbertAnyway, my name is Brian, Brian Bessy. That's the realname, although I'm sort of affectionately known as UncleAlbert.
Jackie: Did you catch Brian's nickname? He said hewas affectionately known as'Uncle Albert'. How long has Uncle Albert been living onthe boat and why did he move there?
AlbertI've been down here now for the best part of 12 years. Iused to live in London. God knows what London's like thesedays, but I ended up on this. The family had grown up, thewife had passed on and I had this big house… cutting grassand decorating… and I thought who for? I'm going to go andlive on the boat.
Jackie: Did you get those answers? Uncle Albertsays he's lived on the boat for the best part of 12 years– which means nearly 12 years. 'For the best part of…' Sowhy did he decide to move there from London? Because hiswife had died, his children had grown up and he was left onhis own in a big house – which seemed silly when it wasjust him.
BBC Learning English.comIs Albert glad he decided to leave London and live on aboat in Brighton?
AlbertBest decision I've ever made. Put years on me I think. Ioften look back and I think 'IfI'd have stayed up there I'd have probably put my head inthe oven.'
Jackie: Uncle Albert says it was the best decisionhe ever made. So he's pretty pleased he moved. But, surely,after life in a big house in London, it must be a bituncomfortable living on a boat. Does Albert agree? Whatcan you do on a boat that you can't do in a house? Listento find out.
AlbertAll these boats have got all the comforts that [are]
required for living on board: microwaves, televisions,fridges, you name it. If you don't like your neighbours,you can go and park somewhere else or wander off to anotherharbour.
Jackie: Uncle Albert says on a boat you have allthe comforts you need – a television, a microwave and soon and, perhaps best of all, if you don't like yourneighbours, you can go somewhere else or park in adifferent harbour – a harbour – a place where boats arekept. Albert thinks it's a great lifest yle and, as he'sabout to tell us, he doesn't understand whymore people don't do it…AlbertOne of the things that always strikes me is the fact that,this being a lovely way to live, you'd think there would bemore young couples… instead of trying to raise a mortgage,which is hard for them, a boat is a fraction of the costand the life itself is ten times better, you know, so…Jackie: Well, he's got a point, hasn't he? Amortgage is a legal agreement when you borrow money from abank to buy a house and you have to pay back that moneyover a period of time. And I can tell you, living in Londonat the moment, if you want to buy a house here you've gotto have a pretty big mortgage as housing is very expensive.
So, as Uncle Albert argues, why get a big mortgage when youcan go and live on a boat?
AlbertOne of the things that always strikes me is…Jackie: 'One of the things that always strikes meis…' that's a nice phrase. It's a way of saying 'Somethingthat I find interesting or surprising…'
AlbertOne of the things that always strikes me is…Jackie: Let’s listen to Albert again. What aresome of the other things he likes about being on the boat?
AlbertThere's a lot going for living on board. I love everythingthat's down here. I love these lovely nights, the lovelysunsets. People pay for this, you know, they ask me sillyquestions like 'Where do you go for your holiday?' and Ilook out here and I look at them and I think: 'Every day isa holiday!
Jackie: Albert loves the nights and the sunsets,and when people ask where he goes on holiday he thinks it'sa silly question. Every day is a holiday! And how right hemust be. In fact, I'm almost feeling tempted myself.
AlbertAnyway, my name is Brian, Brian Bessy. That's the realname, although I'm sort of affectionately known as UncleAlbert.
Jackie: Did you catch Brian's nickname? He said hewas affectionately known as'Uncle Albert'. How long has Uncle Albert been living onthe boat and why did he move there?
AlbertI've been down here now for the best part of 12 years. Iused to live in London. God knows what London's like thesedays, but I ended up on this. The family had grown up, thewife had passed on and I had this big house… cutting grassand decorating… and I thought who for? I'm going to go andlive on the boat.
Jackie: Did you get those answers? Uncle Albertsays he's lived on the boat for the best part of 12 years– which means nearly 12 years. 'For the best part of…' Sowhy did he decide to move there from London? Because hiswife had died, his children had grown up and he was left onhis own in a big house – which seemed silly when it wasjust him.
BBC Learning English.comIs Albert glad he decided to leave London and live on aboat in Brighton?
AlbertBest decision I've ever made. Put years on me I think. Ioften look back and I think 'IfI'd have stayed up there I'd have probably put my head inthe oven.'
Jackie: Uncle Albert says it was the best decisionhe ever made. So he's pretty pleased he moved. But, surely,after life in a big house in London, it must be a bituncomfortable living on a boat. Does Albert agree? Whatcan you do on a boat that you can't do in a house? Listento find out.
AlbertAll these boats have got all the comforts that [are]
required for living on board: microwaves, televisions,fridges, you name it. If you don't like your neighbours,you can go and park somewhere else or wander off to anotherharbour.
Jackie: Uncle Albert says on a boat you have allthe comforts you need – a television, a microwave and soon and, perhaps best of all, if you don't like yourneighbours, you can go somewhere else or park in adifferent harbour – a harbour – a place where boats arekept. Albert thinks it's a great lifest yle and, as he'sabout to tell us, he doesn't understand whymore people don't do it…AlbertOne of the things that always strikes me is the fact that,this being a lovely way to live, you'd think there would bemore young couples… instead of trying to raise a mortgage,which is hard for them, a boat is a fraction of the costand the life itself is ten times better, you know, so…Jackie: Well, he's got a point, hasn't he? Amortgage is a legal agreement when you borrow money from abank to buy a house and you have to pay back that moneyover a period of time. And I can tell you, living in Londonat the moment, if you want to buy a house here you've gotto have a pretty big mortgage as housing is very expensive.
So, as Uncle Albert argues, why get a big mortgage when youcan go and live on a boat?
AlbertOne of the things that always strikes me is…Jackie: 'One of the things that always strikes meis…' that's a nice phrase. It's a way of saying 'Somethingthat I find interesting or surprising…'
AlbertOne of the things that always strikes me is…Jackie: Let’s listen to Albert again. What aresome of the other things he likes about being on the boat?
AlbertThere's a lot going for living on board. I love everythingthat's down here. I love these lovely nights, the lovelysunsets. People pay for this, you know, they ask me sillyquestions like 'Where do you go for your holiday?' and Ilook out here and I look at them and I think: 'Every day isa holiday!
Jackie: Albert loves the nights and the sunsets,and when people ask where he goes on holiday he thinks it'sa silly question. Every day is a holiday! And how right hemust be. In fact, I'm almost feeling tempted myself.
Grumpy Londoners
Growling pussycatJackie: Do you ever feel a bit like this in themorning? Well you're not theonly one and it's now official, Londoners are the mostgrumpy people in England when it comes to getting up in themornings. 'To be grumpy' means to be in a bad mood. WhenI'm feeling grumpy I findeveryone else really annoying and get very cross when mybus to workis late – like it was this morning.
Well, a new survey by the Sleep Council shows that peopleliving in London are more grouchy in the morning thanpeople in the rest of England. Listen to this news report.
What percentage of people in London spends most of theirmorning in a bad mood?
News reportLondoners are the grumpiest in the morning compared toanyone else in the country. That's according to researchersat the Sleep Council, who say nearly twenty per cent of usin the capital stay in a bad mood for up to four hoursafter waking up.
Jackie: Did you catch that figure? Nearly twentyper cent of Londoners stay in a bad mood for up to fourhours – that's a lot of people! I asked three people whomoved to London in the last few years whether they agreedthat Londoners are especially irritable. What did they haveto say? Listen out for some more words meaning 'grumpy'.
InterviewsLondoners are definitely more grumpy.
I don't know about grumpy, but I find them kind of quietand sullen and surly and sort of sulky, even.
On the tube in the morning, Londoners look really seriousand nobody is smiling and it's a really solemn atmosphere.
As long as anyone's had a cup of coffee they're not toobad, but I don't think you should speak to anyone beforethey've had their morning cup of coffee.
Jackie: Well, that's pretty unanimous; we are amiserable bunch here in the capital. Did you spot any newwords? We heard 'sullen', 'surly' and'sulky' – all good words to describe someone who isgrumpy. We also heard 'solemn', which means very serious.
So what is it that makes people miserable in the earlyhours of the day?
InterviewsWell, I'm pretty good in the mornings, I don't really getto grumpy but I think if my routines is disturbed in anyway, I can get quite grouchy about that.
I think I'm quite grumpy in the mornings especially if I amstill sort of half awake and have people ringing me in themorning that makes me grumpy.
If I can’t get into the bathroom in the morning, thatmakes me grumpy…if I've run out of milk and I can't havemy breakfast and if I'm late – if I'm running late.
Jackie: No milk, not being able to get into thebathroom, being late – all things that get people into asulk. Life just seems too difficult sometimes!
BBC Learning English dot comJackie: Another finding in the research was thatwomen are generally more grumpy in the morning than men.
Why could that be? Let's hear now from Judith Holder, whohas just published a book called The diary ofa grumpy woman. Why does she think women are more grumpyin the mornings?
JudithWell I'm not surprised that women are more grumpy… areyou, really? I mean, we've got so much more to do and Ithink most women actually feel if they don't do absolutelyeverything then it's not going to get done, nobody else isgoing to do it and I think that's the main kind of thrustof it, isn't it?
Jackie: Judith thinks women are more irritable inthe mornings because they've got so much to do. What sortsof things have they got to do?
JudithWe are our own worst enemy because we've got to have thebeds made and the dishwasher on and I'm sort of like a badtempered Mary Poppins in the morning, kind of doing allthese things that really I'm the one that cares about.
Jackie: Judith complains women have to do thingslike make the beds, put the dishwasher on. Although shedoes admit that women are they own worst enemies – nowthat's an interesting expression. 'To be your own worstenemy' means to behave in a way that causes problems toyourself. Judith is arguing that actually the beds don'treally have to be made and the dishwasher doesn't reallyhave to go on. But women create their own problems byconvincing themselves that these things do have to happen.
Well, a new survey by the Sleep Council shows that peopleliving in London are more grouchy in the morning thanpeople in the rest of England. Listen to this news report.
What percentage of people in London spends most of theirmorning in a bad mood?
News reportLondoners are the grumpiest in the morning compared toanyone else in the country. That's according to researchersat the Sleep Council, who say nearly twenty per cent of usin the capital stay in a bad mood for up to four hoursafter waking up.
Jackie: Did you catch that figure? Nearly twentyper cent of Londoners stay in a bad mood for up to fourhours – that's a lot of people! I asked three people whomoved to London in the last few years whether they agreedthat Londoners are especially irritable. What did they haveto say? Listen out for some more words meaning 'grumpy'.
InterviewsLondoners are definitely more grumpy.
I don't know about grumpy, but I find them kind of quietand sullen and surly and sort of sulky, even.
On the tube in the morning, Londoners look really seriousand nobody is smiling and it's a really solemn atmosphere.
As long as anyone's had a cup of coffee they're not toobad, but I don't think you should speak to anyone beforethey've had their morning cup of coffee.
Jackie: Well, that's pretty unanimous; we are amiserable bunch here in the capital. Did you spot any newwords? We heard 'sullen', 'surly' and'sulky' – all good words to describe someone who isgrumpy. We also heard 'solemn', which means very serious.
So what is it that makes people miserable in the earlyhours of the day?
InterviewsWell, I'm pretty good in the mornings, I don't really getto grumpy but I think if my routines is disturbed in anyway, I can get quite grouchy about that.
I think I'm quite grumpy in the mornings especially if I amstill sort of half awake and have people ringing me in themorning that makes me grumpy.
If I can’t get into the bathroom in the morning, thatmakes me grumpy…if I've run out of milk and I can't havemy breakfast and if I'm late – if I'm running late.
Jackie: No milk, not being able to get into thebathroom, being late – all things that get people into asulk. Life just seems too difficult sometimes!
BBC Learning English dot comJackie: Another finding in the research was thatwomen are generally more grumpy in the morning than men.
Why could that be? Let's hear now from Judith Holder, whohas just published a book called The diary ofa grumpy woman. Why does she think women are more grumpyin the mornings?
JudithWell I'm not surprised that women are more grumpy… areyou, really? I mean, we've got so much more to do and Ithink most women actually feel if they don't do absolutelyeverything then it's not going to get done, nobody else isgoing to do it and I think that's the main kind of thrustof it, isn't it?
Jackie: Judith thinks women are more irritable inthe mornings because they've got so much to do. What sortsof things have they got to do?
JudithWe are our own worst enemy because we've got to have thebeds made and the dishwasher on and I'm sort of like a badtempered Mary Poppins in the morning, kind of doing allthese things that really I'm the one that cares about.
Jackie: Judith complains women have to do thingslike make the beds, put the dishwasher on. Although shedoes admit that women are they own worst enemies – nowthat's an interesting expression. 'To be your own worstenemy' means to behave in a way that causes problems toyourself. Judith is arguing that actually the beds don'treally have to be made and the dishwasher doesn't reallyhave to go on. But women create their own problems byconvincing themselves that these things do have to happen.
Rhyming slang
BBC Learning EnglishLondon LifeRhyming slangCallum: Hello I'm Callum Robertson and this is London LifeIn the programme today we take a brief look at rhymingslang, an interestingform of vocabulary where an expression which rhymes withword you mean is used, for example, the phrase 'boat race'
– the boat race is a famous sporting event held in Londonbut the phrase 'boat race' is also rhyming slang for'face'.
'Race' rhymes with 'face'.
One of the features of rhyming slang is that often the wordthat rhymes is not actually said. So for example 'boatrace' is shortened to just 'boat'. 'She's got a prettyboat' means she's got a pretty face.
It's not unusual to hear rhyming slang expressions all overthe country but perhaps it's best known as Cockney rhymingslang. A cockney is someone who comes from a particularpart of east London, but what is rhyming slang andhow did it come about?
Here is a true cockney, Larry Barnes to explain. What doeshe say the word slang stands for and where does he say itcomes from.
LARRY BARNESRhyming slang was originally, well, s – lang, secretlanguage, which I was always taught as a youngster, it wasthe secret language of the markets so that if a stallholderwanted to talk to astallholder on the opposite side of the street without thepunters in the middle knowing what he was talking abouthe'd use rhyming slang.
Callum: He says that slang stands for s – lang, secretlanguage and that it came from the markets. The people whowork on a market are the stallholders and if they wanted totalk to each other without the customers, or punters, as hecalls them understanding, they would use rhyming slang.
Listen againLARRY BARNESRhyming slang was originally, well, s – lang, secretlanguage, which I was always taught as a youngster, it wasthe secret language of the markets so that if a stallholderwanted to talk to a stallholder on the opposite side of thestreet without the punters in the middle knowing what hewas talking about he'd use rhyming slang.
Callum: He goes on to give an example of a sentence usingtraditional rhyming slang.
LARRY BARNESHe wouldn't say do you fancy a walk down the road to thepub for a quick pint of beer, he's say do you fancy a balldown the frog to the rubber for a quick pint of wallop.
Callum: Mmm, I think that needs a little translation!
First, let's hear the normal English sentence again.
LARRY BARNESHe wouldn't say do you fancy a walk down the road to thepub for a quick pint of beer,Callum: Do you fancy a walk down the road to the pub for aquick pint of beer? Now what about the rhyming slangversion?
LARRY BARNESDo you fancy a ball down the frog to the rubber for a quickpint of wallop,Callum: do you fancy a ball down the frog to the rubber fora quick pint of wallop. Let's translate that now!
Do you fancy – would you likeA ball – ball is the shortened form of the expression balland chalk, which is cockney rhyming slang for 'walk'.
Next down the frogFrog is the shortened form of frog and toad which isrhyming slang for 'road' Rub is rub a dub - pubThen we have a quick pint of wallop, wallop isn't rhymingslang but it is an old slang word for beer.
So putting that all together we have – Do you fancy a balldown to the frog for a quick pint of wallop!
A feature of rhyming slang is that it changes and develops.
A new book has been published which updates rhyming slang.
It's called 'Shame about the boat race' and Duncan Blackworks for its publisher Collins. He explains howcelebrities and characters from television have become partof rhyming slang and he mentions a number of celebrities.
Britney Spears is one of them, what is her name rhymingslang for?
DUNCAN BLACKWell generally new slang terms tend to focus around popculture and celebrities. My personal favourites areBritneys, for Britney Spears, beers, Basil as in BasilFawlty, balti. Or Billie Piper as in Windscreen wiper.
Callum: Britney Spears – beers – so now you can say yougo down to the pub for a few Britneys. He also mentionedsome names from British TV, Basil Fawlty – rhyming slangfor the Indian food 'balti' and Billie Piper, slang forwindscreen wiper.
Because the slang is coming from celebrities who come andgo it means the language changes very quickly, but makingnew rhyming slang is very easy and is egalitarian.
Egalitarian means anyone can do it, it's not something thatonly specialists and experts can do. Duncan Black explainshow.
DUNCAN BLACKIt's very easy to use, it's egalitarian, anyone can have ago, you just need a name or something or someone whichrhymes with something.
– the boat race is a famous sporting event held in Londonbut the phrase 'boat race' is also rhyming slang for'face'.
'Race' rhymes with 'face'.
One of the features of rhyming slang is that often the wordthat rhymes is not actually said. So for example 'boatrace' is shortened to just 'boat'. 'She's got a prettyboat' means she's got a pretty face.
It's not unusual to hear rhyming slang expressions all overthe country but perhaps it's best known as Cockney rhymingslang. A cockney is someone who comes from a particularpart of east London, but what is rhyming slang andhow did it come about?
Here is a true cockney, Larry Barnes to explain. What doeshe say the word slang stands for and where does he say itcomes from.
LARRY BARNESRhyming slang was originally, well, s – lang, secretlanguage, which I was always taught as a youngster, it wasthe secret language of the markets so that if a stallholderwanted to talk to astallholder on the opposite side of the street without thepunters in the middle knowing what he was talking abouthe'd use rhyming slang.
Callum: He says that slang stands for s – lang, secretlanguage and that it came from the markets. The people whowork on a market are the stallholders and if they wanted totalk to each other without the customers, or punters, as hecalls them understanding, they would use rhyming slang.
Listen againLARRY BARNESRhyming slang was originally, well, s – lang, secretlanguage, which I was always taught as a youngster, it wasthe secret language of the markets so that if a stallholderwanted to talk to a stallholder on the opposite side of thestreet without the punters in the middle knowing what hewas talking about he'd use rhyming slang.
Callum: He goes on to give an example of a sentence usingtraditional rhyming slang.
LARRY BARNESHe wouldn't say do you fancy a walk down the road to thepub for a quick pint of beer, he's say do you fancy a balldown the frog to the rubber for a quick pint of wallop.
Callum: Mmm, I think that needs a little translation!
First, let's hear the normal English sentence again.
LARRY BARNESHe wouldn't say do you fancy a walk down the road to thepub for a quick pint of beer,Callum: Do you fancy a walk down the road to the pub for aquick pint of beer? Now what about the rhyming slangversion?
LARRY BARNESDo you fancy a ball down the frog to the rubber for a quickpint of wallop,Callum: do you fancy a ball down the frog to the rubber fora quick pint of wallop. Let's translate that now!
Do you fancy – would you likeA ball – ball is the shortened form of the expression balland chalk, which is cockney rhyming slang for 'walk'.
Next down the frogFrog is the shortened form of frog and toad which isrhyming slang for 'road' Rub is rub a dub - pubThen we have a quick pint of wallop, wallop isn't rhymingslang but it is an old slang word for beer.
So putting that all together we have – Do you fancy a balldown to the frog for a quick pint of wallop!
A feature of rhyming slang is that it changes and develops.
A new book has been published which updates rhyming slang.
It's called 'Shame about the boat race' and Duncan Blackworks for its publisher Collins. He explains howcelebrities and characters from television have become partof rhyming slang and he mentions a number of celebrities.
Britney Spears is one of them, what is her name rhymingslang for?
DUNCAN BLACKWell generally new slang terms tend to focus around popculture and celebrities. My personal favourites areBritneys, for Britney Spears, beers, Basil as in BasilFawlty, balti. Or Billie Piper as in Windscreen wiper.
Callum: Britney Spears – beers – so now you can say yougo down to the pub for a few Britneys. He also mentionedsome names from British TV, Basil Fawlty – rhyming slangfor the Indian food 'balti' and Billie Piper, slang forwindscreen wiper.
Because the slang is coming from celebrities who come andgo it means the language changes very quickly, but makingnew rhyming slang is very easy and is egalitarian.
Egalitarian means anyone can do it, it's not something thatonly specialists and experts can do. Duncan Black explainshow.
DUNCAN BLACKIt's very easy to use, it's egalitarian, anyone can have ago, you just need a name or something or someone whichrhymes with something.
The English-Speaking Union Awards
One of the most famous buildings in London is BuckinghamPalace and perhapsLondon's most famous residents are the Royal Family.TheQueen and her husband Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburghfor whom Buckingham Palace is their official London home,as well as representing the United Kingdom are alsoinvolved in many charities and other organisations.One ofthose charities is the English-Speaking Union, or the ESUand last week their annual awards were presented atBuckingham Palace by the Duke of Edinburgh.
The day before the awards were presented I spoke toElizabeth Stokes the Director of Education of the English-Speaking Union to find out more about the ESU and theawards. I asked her first about the history of the ESU.
When was it foundedand what was its aim? Listen out for that information.
Elizabeth StokesThe English-Speaking Union was originally founded in 1918and it was post the First World War and the idea was topromote international understanding and friendship throughthe use of the English Language.
Callum: The ESU was founded in 1918, after the end of theFirst World War and its aim was to use the English languageto encourage friendship and understanding around the world.
Originally the ESU was established in Britain and NorthAmerica. Elizabeth goes on to explain how it has expandedsince then. She uses the nounremit – the organisations' remit. A remit is a word forwhat an organisation hasLondon Life ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 1 of 3bbclearningenglish.comresponsibility for. She talks about how the organisation'sremit has grown, they have become responsible for morethings.
How many English-Speaking Unions does she say there are nowaround the world?
Elizabeth StokesThe English-Speaking Union was originally founded in 1918and it was post the First World War and the idea was topromote international understanding and friendship throughthe use of the English Language. We really feel that thisis vitally important nowadays and really our remit hasgrown, originally it was between 1918 as a link betweenEngland and America, the idea of fostering understandingbetween the two countries but we now have ESUs on all fivecontinents. We have nearly 50 internatonal ESUs. They docome together once a year for an international conferenceand the idea really is to promote international friendshipand understanding through the medium of the Englishlanguage.
Callum: Now there are nearly 50 ESUs around the world onall five continents who meet every year. The goal is stillto promote international understanding and I asked how theydid this.
Elizabeth StokesWe have international conferences, we hold cultural events,we run a book award annually for the Duke of EdinburghEnglish Language Book Award and the President's Award whichrewards new technologies in English Language Teaching. Wealso have a centre for speech and debate which runs aSchool Mace competition and we have university debatingcompetitions as well.
Callum: The activities of the English-Speaking Unioninclude cultural events, debating competitions in schoolsand universities and awards for books and new technologiesin English Language Teaching and it is these awards thatwere to be presented the following dayElizabeth StokesTomorrow afternoon the Duke of Edinburgh has kindly allowedus to use Buckingham Palace for our annual awards ceremony.
The Duke of Edinburgh will be presenting the Duke ofEdinburgh English Language Book Award and the President'sAward to books which we feel are outstanding and innovativein the field of English Language Teaching. Following thoseawards being giventhe winners of our school awards including the SchoolDebating competition and the national Public Speakingcompetition will also come up and receive certificates fromthe Duke of Edinburgh.
Callum: The Duke of Edinburgh presented the awards foroutstanding and innovative books. Outstanding means of veryhigh quality, very special and innovative means original,using new and interesting ideas. One of these awards is thePresident's Award for technology. Elizabeth told me aboutthis year's winner. What kind of product was it and wherewas it created?
The day before the awards were presented I spoke toElizabeth Stokes the Director of Education of the English-Speaking Union to find out more about the ESU and theawards. I asked her first about the history of the ESU.
When was it foundedand what was its aim? Listen out for that information.
Elizabeth StokesThe English-Speaking Union was originally founded in 1918and it was post the First World War and the idea was topromote international understanding and friendship throughthe use of the English Language.
Callum: The ESU was founded in 1918, after the end of theFirst World War and its aim was to use the English languageto encourage friendship and understanding around the world.
Originally the ESU was established in Britain and NorthAmerica. Elizabeth goes on to explain how it has expandedsince then. She uses the nounremit – the organisations' remit. A remit is a word forwhat an organisation hasLondon Life ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 1 of 3bbclearningenglish.comresponsibility for. She talks about how the organisation'sremit has grown, they have become responsible for morethings.
How many English-Speaking Unions does she say there are nowaround the world?
Elizabeth StokesThe English-Speaking Union was originally founded in 1918and it was post the First World War and the idea was topromote international understanding and friendship throughthe use of the English Language. We really feel that thisis vitally important nowadays and really our remit hasgrown, originally it was between 1918 as a link betweenEngland and America, the idea of fostering understandingbetween the two countries but we now have ESUs on all fivecontinents. We have nearly 50 internatonal ESUs. They docome together once a year for an international conferenceand the idea really is to promote international friendshipand understanding through the medium of the Englishlanguage.
Callum: Now there are nearly 50 ESUs around the world onall five continents who meet every year. The goal is stillto promote international understanding and I asked how theydid this.
Elizabeth StokesWe have international conferences, we hold cultural events,we run a book award annually for the Duke of EdinburghEnglish Language Book Award and the President's Award whichrewards new technologies in English Language Teaching. Wealso have a centre for speech and debate which runs aSchool Mace competition and we have university debatingcompetitions as well.
Callum: The activities of the English-Speaking Unioninclude cultural events, debating competitions in schoolsand universities and awards for books and new technologiesin English Language Teaching and it is these awards thatwere to be presented the following dayElizabeth StokesTomorrow afternoon the Duke of Edinburgh has kindly allowedus to use Buckingham Palace for our annual awards ceremony.
The Duke of Edinburgh will be presenting the Duke ofEdinburgh English Language Book Award and the President'sAward to books which we feel are outstanding and innovativein the field of English Language Teaching. Following thoseawards being giventhe winners of our school awards including the SchoolDebating competition and the national Public Speakingcompetition will also come up and receive certificates fromthe Duke of Edinburgh.
Callum: The Duke of Edinburgh presented the awards foroutstanding and innovative books. Outstanding means of veryhigh quality, very special and innovative means original,using new and interesting ideas. One of these awards is thePresident's Award for technology. Elizabeth told me aboutthis year's winner. What kind of product was it and wherewas it created?
The real James Bonds
On the banks for the River Thames at a place calledVauxhall there's a verydistinctive building. In the movies this building is thehome of James Bond. In real life? It's also the home ofBritain's Secret Intelligence Service.
The new James Bond film Casino Royale is proving verysuccessful at the box office. James Bond is an agent, a spyfor the British Secret service. He famously has a licenseto kill – official permission to kill people. But what isthe job of a real secret service agent? Do they live asexciting and glamorous a life as James Bond does and dothey have a license to kill?
Recently the BBC's Colin Murray had the opportunity tointerview two real secret service officers as they areknown. Because of the job that they do their identitiesremain secret and their voices were electronically changed.
Listen to one of the officers now, Officer A, and try tocatch the following information. What is the name of theorganisation they work for, and what is the role of thatorganisation?
Officer AWe're both officers of the secret intelligence servicewhich most people know as MI6 and is indeed theorganisation that James Bond is supposed to work for andit's the organisation that collects secret intelligenceoverseas for the British Government which is unlike thesecurityservice, MI5, which is responsible for domestic security inthe UK.
London Life ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 1 of 3bbclearningenglish.comCallum: Did you catch the information? They work for theSecret Intelligence Service,which most commonly known as MI6. Their job is to collectsecret intelligence overseas. In other words they have toget secret information from foreign countries.
Officer A and B are operational officers and their job isto recruit sources, to recruit sources, which means theyget people to work for them and give them information. Theofficers explain a little more about their roles.
Officers A & BWhat we do is identify individuals who've got, can provide,the intelligence that we need and our job is to establish arelationship with them and then to develop thatrelationship to the point where they are motivated to workwith us and help us.
It's basically about finding people and talking to them,communicating with them and encouraging them to help us, tohelp the British government understand and mitigate thethreats that we all face.
Callum: Their jobs are to encourage people to talk to themand give them information. For what reason? To help thegovernment understand and mitigate threats, to understandand mitigate threats. This means they try to getinformation which will help the government stop attacksagainst the country.
We've heard what the real officers do, but what about howthey go about it doing it. Do real MI6 officers have, likeJames Bond, a license to kill? Here's Officer AOfficer ANo, it's a complete myth.
Callum: No, they don't, it's a complete myth, he says. Acomplete myth, there's no truth in it at all. Officer Agoes on to explain more.
Officer ANo, it's a complete myth. I'm sorry, it's good to be ableto say that. The job of the service is to obtainintelligence to inform government policy and to helpprevent, for example, terrorist attacks.
In doing that we work under UK law and the work of theservice is overseen both politically and legally. Sothere's absolutely no room in that for killing people.
The new James Bond film Casino Royale is proving verysuccessful at the box office. James Bond is an agent, a spyfor the British Secret service. He famously has a licenseto kill – official permission to kill people. But what isthe job of a real secret service agent? Do they live asexciting and glamorous a life as James Bond does and dothey have a license to kill?
Recently the BBC's Colin Murray had the opportunity tointerview two real secret service officers as they areknown. Because of the job that they do their identitiesremain secret and their voices were electronically changed.
Listen to one of the officers now, Officer A, and try tocatch the following information. What is the name of theorganisation they work for, and what is the role of thatorganisation?
Officer AWe're both officers of the secret intelligence servicewhich most people know as MI6 and is indeed theorganisation that James Bond is supposed to work for andit's the organisation that collects secret intelligenceoverseas for the British Government which is unlike thesecurityservice, MI5, which is responsible for domestic security inthe UK.
London Life ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 1 of 3bbclearningenglish.comCallum: Did you catch the information? They work for theSecret Intelligence Service,which most commonly known as MI6. Their job is to collectsecret intelligence overseas. In other words they have toget secret information from foreign countries.
Officer A and B are operational officers and their job isto recruit sources, to recruit sources, which means theyget people to work for them and give them information. Theofficers explain a little more about their roles.
Officers A & BWhat we do is identify individuals who've got, can provide,the intelligence that we need and our job is to establish arelationship with them and then to develop thatrelationship to the point where they are motivated to workwith us and help us.
It's basically about finding people and talking to them,communicating with them and encouraging them to help us, tohelp the British government understand and mitigate thethreats that we all face.
Callum: Their jobs are to encourage people to talk to themand give them information. For what reason? To help thegovernment understand and mitigate threats, to understandand mitigate threats. This means they try to getinformation which will help the government stop attacksagainst the country.
We've heard what the real officers do, but what about howthey go about it doing it. Do real MI6 officers have, likeJames Bond, a license to kill? Here's Officer AOfficer ANo, it's a complete myth.
Callum: No, they don't, it's a complete myth, he says. Acomplete myth, there's no truth in it at all. Officer Agoes on to explain more.
Officer ANo, it's a complete myth. I'm sorry, it's good to be ableto say that. The job of the service is to obtainintelligence to inform government policy and to helpprevent, for example, terrorist attacks.
In doing that we work under UK law and the work of theservice is overseen both politically and legally. Sothere's absolutely no room in that for killing people.
Indian Jewellery
And in today’s programme we focus not so much on Londonlife as one aspect of Indian cultural life that recentlycame to London. A London gallery recently hosted anexhibition of Indian jewellery most of which was made byjewellery makers from the Indian city of Jaipur.
Jaipur has been a centre for jewellery making for manyyears - priceless gems including rubies, diamond andemeralds have all been turned into jewellery for the mogulemperors of the past and jewellery is still made theretoday. BBC reporter, Anna Macnamme, was shownaround the exhibition by the curator, Harry Fane. She askedhim to describe one of the pieces of jewellery in theexhibition. How many diamonds are there on this necklace?
How many diamonds are there on that one? There are alot of diamonds because we have this top fringe whichcontains there must be 200 what they call Moguul-cutdiamonds and then you’ll see a whole range of these tear-shaped diamonds set in enamel which are much larger thatthe ones above and the bottom ones probably weigh about 2-3carats each.
Anna: Did you catch how many diamonds are on on thatnecklace? Well Harry said that there are 200 Mogul-cutdiamonds. The word mogul refers to an important person whohas great wealth or power. Harry says that you can see a “whole range” - there’s a whole set - of tear shapeddiamonds on the necklace – diamonds that are in the shapeof a tear. He tells Anna that the diamonds are set inenamel which is a glass like substance often used fordecoration. The diamonds that are set in the enamel eachweigh about 2-3 carats – a carat is a unit for measuringthe weight ofjewels.
London Life ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 1 of 3bbclearningenglish.comBut why did Jaipur become such an important centre forjewellery making? Annaasked Her Royal Highness the Maharini of Jaipur thisquestion. What does she reply?
Maharaja Jai Singh of Jaipur who built the city of Jaipuris responsible for that. He built the city of Jaipur withstraight streets and beautifully designed city. And so topopulate it he invited people from all over India to comeand settle there, so many jewellers or artisans came fromBengal and from all over the Punjab and everywhere andtheir descendants are still in Jaipur and they’re the oneswho do the work for the jewellery and so that’s why Isuppose Jaipur became a centre of jewellery.
Anna: According to Her Royal Highness the Mahararni(Marherrarnee) of Jaipur, the reason why Jaipur became acentre for jewellery making was because of a decision byone man. Maharaja Jai Singh built Jaipur and he madesure that it was a beautifully designed and constructedcity. But he also needed people to live thereso he invited people from all over India to settle in thenew city. These people included artisans – people who doskilled work with their hands. It was some of theseartisans who became the jewellery makers in Jaipur. Andit is their descendants – their relatives from latergenerations who are still working as jewellery makers inJaipur today.
Anna: But why was the jewellery so popular with Indianprinces? Anna put this question to Alan Jaffer, the authorof a recently published book about Indian jewellery. Whydid Indian princes like wearing jewels so much?
We have to remember of course that jewellery also forms avery, very easily liquidated asset. So in fact when aprince is wearing jewellery he is wearing his Treasury andrepresenting his wealth and his authority for thepossession of rare and wonderful stones.
Anna: Well according to Alan Jaffer Indian princes usedto like wearing jewellery because it immediately showedother people how wealthy or rich they were. They would beable to display their wealth through their jewellery and itrepresented their Treasury – how much money they had. Hesays it was also a very easily liquidated asset –jewellery was a very valuable item that could easily besold and turned into money if necessary. Alan Jaffer goesonto describe a photograph of an Indian prince who iswearing a lot of jewellery. What is the word he uses whichdescribes the male ruler of an Indian state?
He’s the rather extraordinary Maharaja Patialla and he wasa particularly extravagant man – great great taste forshow and display. He loved medals he loved jewels he lovedcars he loved women – he had a great taste for all thatwas best in life. And its rather dazzling when you look atthese photographs of these princes who were literallyshowered with diamonds.
Anna: The word he uses is Maharaja which means the maleruler of an Indian state. Alan describes him as anextravagant man – someone who’s extravagant spends moneyin a rather uncontrolled way. This maharaja loved luxuryand all the good things in life which included expensivejewellery – Alan says that it was rather “dazzling” –rather exciting – to see these old photographs of princeswho were showered or covered with diamond jewellery.
Jaipur has been a centre for jewellery making for manyyears - priceless gems including rubies, diamond andemeralds have all been turned into jewellery for the mogulemperors of the past and jewellery is still made theretoday. BBC reporter, Anna Macnamme, was shownaround the exhibition by the curator, Harry Fane. She askedhim to describe one of the pieces of jewellery in theexhibition. How many diamonds are there on this necklace?
How many diamonds are there on that one? There are alot of diamonds because we have this top fringe whichcontains there must be 200 what they call Moguul-cutdiamonds and then you’ll see a whole range of these tear-shaped diamonds set in enamel which are much larger thatthe ones above and the bottom ones probably weigh about 2-3carats each.
Anna: Did you catch how many diamonds are on on thatnecklace? Well Harry said that there are 200 Mogul-cutdiamonds. The word mogul refers to an important person whohas great wealth or power. Harry says that you can see a “whole range” - there’s a whole set - of tear shapeddiamonds on the necklace – diamonds that are in the shapeof a tear. He tells Anna that the diamonds are set inenamel which is a glass like substance often used fordecoration. The diamonds that are set in the enamel eachweigh about 2-3 carats – a carat is a unit for measuringthe weight ofjewels.
London Life ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 1 of 3bbclearningenglish.comBut why did Jaipur become such an important centre forjewellery making? Annaasked Her Royal Highness the Maharini of Jaipur thisquestion. What does she reply?
Maharaja Jai Singh of Jaipur who built the city of Jaipuris responsible for that. He built the city of Jaipur withstraight streets and beautifully designed city. And so topopulate it he invited people from all over India to comeand settle there, so many jewellers or artisans came fromBengal and from all over the Punjab and everywhere andtheir descendants are still in Jaipur and they’re the oneswho do the work for the jewellery and so that’s why Isuppose Jaipur became a centre of jewellery.
Anna: According to Her Royal Highness the Mahararni(Marherrarnee) of Jaipur, the reason why Jaipur became acentre for jewellery making was because of a decision byone man. Maharaja Jai Singh built Jaipur and he madesure that it was a beautifully designed and constructedcity. But he also needed people to live thereso he invited people from all over India to settle in thenew city. These people included artisans – people who doskilled work with their hands. It was some of theseartisans who became the jewellery makers in Jaipur. Andit is their descendants – their relatives from latergenerations who are still working as jewellery makers inJaipur today.
Anna: But why was the jewellery so popular with Indianprinces? Anna put this question to Alan Jaffer, the authorof a recently published book about Indian jewellery. Whydid Indian princes like wearing jewels so much?
We have to remember of course that jewellery also forms avery, very easily liquidated asset. So in fact when aprince is wearing jewellery he is wearing his Treasury andrepresenting his wealth and his authority for thepossession of rare and wonderful stones.
Anna: Well according to Alan Jaffer Indian princes usedto like wearing jewellery because it immediately showedother people how wealthy or rich they were. They would beable to display their wealth through their jewellery and itrepresented their Treasury – how much money they had. Hesays it was also a very easily liquidated asset –jewellery was a very valuable item that could easily besold and turned into money if necessary. Alan Jaffer goesonto describe a photograph of an Indian prince who iswearing a lot of jewellery. What is the word he uses whichdescribes the male ruler of an Indian state?
He’s the rather extraordinary Maharaja Patialla and he wasa particularly extravagant man – great great taste forshow and display. He loved medals he loved jewels he lovedcars he loved women – he had a great taste for all thatwas best in life. And its rather dazzling when you look atthese photographs of these princes who were literallyshowered with diamonds.
Anna: The word he uses is Maharaja which means the maleruler of an Indian state. Alan describes him as anextravagant man – someone who’s extravagant spends moneyin a rather uncontrolled way. This maharaja loved luxuryand all the good things in life which included expensivejewellery – Alan says that it was rather “dazzling” –rather exciting – to see these old photographs of princeswho were showered or covered with diamond jewellery.
Connie Fisher
And in today’s programme we look at how a young womancalled ConnieFisher succeeded in her dream to play one of the best knownparts in musical theatre. Connie took part in arecent BBC television programme which aimed to search for anew and previously unknown actress to play the part ofMaria Von Trapp for the new West End production of TheSound of Music. Connie managed to beat many other hopefulsto secure the part of Maria in the famous musical.
Connie is 23 years old and comes from Wales. She trained asan actress but had never succeeded in getting a major partuntil now. In today’s programme we hear a lot oflanguage associated with the world of theatre and music aspeople who work in show business tell us what they think ofConnie Fisher. The person you are about to hear has workedwith Connie for many years. He is talking about her on theday that The Sound of Music opened in the West End. Does hethink she will succeed in the world of show business?
I have not the slightest doubt that unless some awfulaccident happens or something that she is going to emergeas one of the most important stars that we’ve had inmusical theatre for many a decade.
Anna: Well he says that he doesn’t have “the slightestdoubt” – he is absolutely sure that Connie will becomeone of the most important stars – she will become oneof the best and most successful performers in musicaltheatre for a long time.
London Life ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 1 of 3bbclearningenglish.comSo he’s obviously very confident that Connie will become ahuge success. What about the producer of The Sound of Music– is he as confident? The producer is the person who makesthe practical and financial arrangements needed to make atheatre production happen. Here is the producer of TheSound of Music – listen out for some of the words he useswhich are connected with the world of theatre and musicals.
She’s fabulous – she’s had to go through the wholeprogramme process as well as therehearsals for the stage show and now get to opening night– 2,000 people every night –she’s wonderful. She’s been very professional in herattitude – she learned the part along with the rest of thecast – she’s been directed by the director, choreographedby thechoreographer and there’s been no difference in theprocess.
Anna: Well the show’s producer seems to be just asconfident about Connie’s ability.
He says that she has managed to survive the selectionprocess during the TV programmes and has approached herwork in a very professional way. As well as the TVprogrammes she’s also attended the rehearsals for thestage show – the rehearsal period is when actors learntheir lines before performing in front of a theatreaudience and now she’s got to the opening night – thefirst night of the show. He says that she learnedher part – she’s learned how to play the character ofMaria, She has also worked with the director – the personwho directs the actors acting skills and also she’s workedwith thechoreographer – the person who directs the performersmovements into dances that are to be performed. And he saysshe has done all of these things without needing any extrahelp during the rehearsals.
Another person attending the opening night of the The Soundof Music was Graham Norton who presented the TV series tofind the new Maria. How does he think Connie will perform?
If she hadn’t won, I think her head might have exploded –she wanted this so badly, so she’ll be nervous but at thesame time I think she’ll be like a racehorse straining atthe bit. She’ll want to get out on that stage and showpeople what she can do. She was born for this.
Anna: Well Graham says that Connie will probably benervous but “like a racehorse straining at the bit” shewill be very keen to get up on the stage – to get on thearea where the actors perform – and show the audience whatshe can do. And finally we hear from Cilla Black – a veryfamous singer from the 1960s. What shortened adjective doesshe use to describe Connie?
Connie is 23 years old and comes from Wales. She trained asan actress but had never succeeded in getting a major partuntil now. In today’s programme we hear a lot oflanguage associated with the world of theatre and music aspeople who work in show business tell us what they think ofConnie Fisher. The person you are about to hear has workedwith Connie for many years. He is talking about her on theday that The Sound of Music opened in the West End. Does hethink she will succeed in the world of show business?
I have not the slightest doubt that unless some awfulaccident happens or something that she is going to emergeas one of the most important stars that we’ve had inmusical theatre for many a decade.
Anna: Well he says that he doesn’t have “the slightestdoubt” – he is absolutely sure that Connie will becomeone of the most important stars – she will become oneof the best and most successful performers in musicaltheatre for a long time.
London Life ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 1 of 3bbclearningenglish.comSo he’s obviously very confident that Connie will become ahuge success. What about the producer of The Sound of Music– is he as confident? The producer is the person who makesthe practical and financial arrangements needed to make atheatre production happen. Here is the producer of TheSound of Music – listen out for some of the words he useswhich are connected with the world of theatre and musicals.
She’s fabulous – she’s had to go through the wholeprogramme process as well as therehearsals for the stage show and now get to opening night– 2,000 people every night –she’s wonderful. She’s been very professional in herattitude – she learned the part along with the rest of thecast – she’s been directed by the director, choreographedby thechoreographer and there’s been no difference in theprocess.
Anna: Well the show’s producer seems to be just asconfident about Connie’s ability.
He says that she has managed to survive the selectionprocess during the TV programmes and has approached herwork in a very professional way. As well as the TVprogrammes she’s also attended the rehearsals for thestage show – the rehearsal period is when actors learntheir lines before performing in front of a theatreaudience and now she’s got to the opening night – thefirst night of the show. He says that she learnedher part – she’s learned how to play the character ofMaria, She has also worked with the director – the personwho directs the actors acting skills and also she’s workedwith thechoreographer – the person who directs the performersmovements into dances that are to be performed. And he saysshe has done all of these things without needing any extrahelp during the rehearsals.
Another person attending the opening night of the The Soundof Music was Graham Norton who presented the TV series tofind the new Maria. How does he think Connie will perform?
If she hadn’t won, I think her head might have exploded –she wanted this so badly, so she’ll be nervous but at thesame time I think she’ll be like a racehorse straining atthe bit. She’ll want to get out on that stage and showpeople what she can do. She was born for this.
Anna: Well Graham says that Connie will probably benervous but “like a racehorse straining at the bit” shewill be very keen to get up on the stage – to get on thearea where the actors perform – and show the audience whatshe can do. And finally we hear from Cilla Black – a veryfamous singer from the 1960s. What shortened adjective doesshe use to describe Connie?
Mexican Food
BBC Learning EnglishLondon LifeMexican FoodJo: You’re listening to London Life onbbclearningenglish.com. I’m Jo and todaywe’re talking about my favourite kind of food – Mexicanfood!
Now, there are people from countries all around the worldliving in London and not surprisingly, there arerestaurants selling food from most of those countriesincluding Mexico. But if we look on the internet to findout some interesting facts about Mexican food in London youwill come across some comments like these:
LondonersI’ve wondered for years why there aren’t more Mexicanrestaurants in London… Is it possible to eat authentic,imaginative Mexican food in London?
Jo: Is the Mexican food available for us to eat inLondon anything like the food Mexicans eat in Mexico? Wespoke to Miguel Molina, a Mexican who has lived in Londonfor ten years.
Miguel MolinaIn London Mexican food is Mexican food by name but in reallife it’s something else – it’s a curious mix of foodbut Mexican proper – no – if my dad came and I took himto eat Mexican food in London he wouldn’t be pleased.
Jo: Miguel says Mexican food in London is Mexican foodby name only – it’s onlyMexican food because someone chose to call it Mexican food.
However, really it’s something different – it’s acurious mix, a strange mix of other foods. Buthe says if his father came to London to eat the Mexicanfood, he wouldn’t be pleased because it’s different tothe food eaten in Mexico.
Miguel MolinaThey use a lot of cumin for instance or they think thatchilli sauce has got more tomato than chilli. And I can’tunderstand that – so that’s why I no longer go torestaurants at least Mexican food restaurants – I’drather cook at home and it’s good.
Jo: Now, cumin is a spice used for cooking,particularly cooking curries, and a chilli is a very hotpepper – so chilli sauce is made from this and it’s veryhot! But Miguel says in London the hot chilli sauce has gotas lot of tomato in it so it’s maybe not so hot here as inMexico. Because the food is so different, he no longer goesto Mexican food restaurants – he doesn't go to Mexicanrestaurants anymore.
So why is it then, that there aren’t many good Mexicanrestaurants in London?
Miguel MolinaThe trick is in the numbers – there are fewer than 5,000Mexicans living in the United Kingdom. How many Chinese?
How many Indians? How many Pakistanis? Of course they knowwhere to go and of course they can get stuff. But 5,000Mexicans you cannot even make a political party out of thatmuch less good food. Every time a Mexican comes here theyask me – take me to a Mexican restaurant. I take them andthe first thing they say – ah this is not Mexican food.
Jo: A trick is something which deceives someone, makessomeone thinksomething is true that isn’t – so the problem that istricking us is the number ofMexicans living in London. There are only 5,000 compared tothe large number of Chinese, Indians or Pakistanis – sothey can easily get stuff, thingsto cook their own food. 5,000 people is a very small numberto do anything so that’s why there aren’t many goodMexican restaurants in London.
So finally, what would Miguel do to improve, to makebetter, the Mexican food in London now?
Miguel MolinaFirst of all I would make it cheaper – I could make itvery cheap, as cheap as possible, you need to make somemoney but very cheap. Second I could research for theoriginal ingredients and if possible I could spend sometime there cooking and eating.
Jo: While you need to make money from having a Mexicanrestaurant, Miguel thinks food could be much cheaper. Hewould also research, study, original ingredients.
Ingredients are foods used to make up a particular dish –so Miguel would want to find original Mexican ingredientsthat are used in authentic dishes in Mexico. And he wouldhope to spend some time in Mexico eatingand cooking as part of his research.
Now, there are people from countries all around the worldliving in London and not surprisingly, there arerestaurants selling food from most of those countriesincluding Mexico. But if we look on the internet to findout some interesting facts about Mexican food in London youwill come across some comments like these:
LondonersI’ve wondered for years why there aren’t more Mexicanrestaurants in London… Is it possible to eat authentic,imaginative Mexican food in London?
Jo: Is the Mexican food available for us to eat inLondon anything like the food Mexicans eat in Mexico? Wespoke to Miguel Molina, a Mexican who has lived in Londonfor ten years.
Miguel MolinaIn London Mexican food is Mexican food by name but in reallife it’s something else – it’s a curious mix of foodbut Mexican proper – no – if my dad came and I took himto eat Mexican food in London he wouldn’t be pleased.
Jo: Miguel says Mexican food in London is Mexican foodby name only – it’s onlyMexican food because someone chose to call it Mexican food.
However, really it’s something different – it’s acurious mix, a strange mix of other foods. Buthe says if his father came to London to eat the Mexicanfood, he wouldn’t be pleased because it’s different tothe food eaten in Mexico.
Miguel MolinaThey use a lot of cumin for instance or they think thatchilli sauce has got more tomato than chilli. And I can’tunderstand that – so that’s why I no longer go torestaurants at least Mexican food restaurants – I’drather cook at home and it’s good.
Jo: Now, cumin is a spice used for cooking,particularly cooking curries, and a chilli is a very hotpepper – so chilli sauce is made from this and it’s veryhot! But Miguel says in London the hot chilli sauce has gotas lot of tomato in it so it’s maybe not so hot here as inMexico. Because the food is so different, he no longer goesto Mexican food restaurants – he doesn't go to Mexicanrestaurants anymore.
So why is it then, that there aren’t many good Mexicanrestaurants in London?
Miguel MolinaThe trick is in the numbers – there are fewer than 5,000Mexicans living in the United Kingdom. How many Chinese?
How many Indians? How many Pakistanis? Of course they knowwhere to go and of course they can get stuff. But 5,000Mexicans you cannot even make a political party out of thatmuch less good food. Every time a Mexican comes here theyask me – take me to a Mexican restaurant. I take them andthe first thing they say – ah this is not Mexican food.
Jo: A trick is something which deceives someone, makessomeone thinksomething is true that isn’t – so the problem that istricking us is the number ofMexicans living in London. There are only 5,000 compared tothe large number of Chinese, Indians or Pakistanis – sothey can easily get stuff, thingsto cook their own food. 5,000 people is a very small numberto do anything so that’s why there aren’t many goodMexican restaurants in London.
So finally, what would Miguel do to improve, to makebetter, the Mexican food in London now?
Miguel MolinaFirst of all I would make it cheaper – I could make itvery cheap, as cheap as possible, you need to make somemoney but very cheap. Second I could research for theoriginal ingredients and if possible I could spend sometime there cooking and eating.
Jo: While you need to make money from having a Mexicanrestaurant, Miguel thinks food could be much cheaper. Hewould also research, study, original ingredients.
Ingredients are foods used to make up a particular dish –so Miguel would want to find original Mexican ingredientsthat are used in authentic dishes in Mexico. And he wouldhope to spend some time in Mexico eatingand cooking as part of his research.
A Mexican in London
BBC Learning EnglishLondon LifeA Mexican in LondonYvonne: As we know, London is a very cosmopolitan city –so it’s possible to meetpeople here from countries that we may never visit.
And that’s just what we’re doing today on London Lifewith Miguel Molina from Mexico. This isbbclearningenglish.com and I’m Yvonne Archer. Hello!
Miguel has been living in London for about ten years andworks as an Editor in the BBC’s Latin American Service.
So he’s an old friend! But life is not all about work, sowhat do Miguel and other Mexicans in London do for fun? (Isthat a fair question?) Also try to spot two different waysthat Miguel uses the word ‘party’. Now there’s a bigclue for you!
Miguel MolinaThere’s not ‘a’ Mexican way of being, but some, they’reyoung, they have nothing else to do, so they like to partyand you can find them, you know, having fun. Others thatare becoming old, like me, just for fun, they could just gosit down in the garden and have a nice chat with friendsand (are) no longer partying.
Yvonne: By the way, Miguel really isn’t that old but yes,he does enjoy a nice ‘chat’ - talking with friends in thegarden – that’s if it’s not raining! We’ll look at theword ‘party’ in a moment but first did you catch thatuseful phrase - ‘There’s not A Mexican way of being’?
That’s a lovely way to explain that not all Mexicans arethe same.
Miguel MolinaThere’s not ‘a’ Mexican way of beingYvonne: Sometimes it’s believed that people who speak thesame language or are from the same continent for example,are the same. So Miguel’s phrase is a good way to answerquestions based on such beliefs without upsetting people.
Note the way we say ‘A’ and ‘AN’ - for example, ‘There’s not ‘a’ Chinese way of being’ and ‘There’s not‘an’ Arabic way of being’.
Now onto the word ‘party’. Miguel says of youngMexicans in London:
Miguel MolinaThey have nothing to do so they like to party…Yvonne: And the older Mexicans in London?
Miguel Molina(They’re) no longer partying.
Yvonne: So there’s the noun ‘a party’ – an event whenpeople have fun talking, playing music and dancing, forexample. And we heard the word used as a verb - ‘to party’ and ‘partying’. Do you like ‘to party’? Doyou like ‘partying’? So you’ve a few things to discussafter today’s London Life?!
Although London has many interesting events to go to andplaces to visit for free, lots of people who were born heredon’t actually go to them! But that’s certainly notthe case for people from other countries who live here.
Miguel says that Mexicans living in London generally have‘a very developed taste for cultural things’. Forexample, they enjoy visiting places like art galleries andmuseums.
Miguel MolinaMexicans in general, but more so Mexicans who go liveabroad, not as tourists, have a very developed taste forcultural things. That is, you find them in placessuch as the National Gallery or the British Museum or youfind them looking at historical places in London.
Yvonne: Are there ‘historical’ places where you live thatyou can easily visit but don’t?
Why not?
Of course, Miguel now lives in London but where is his‘home’ – the place where his heart really is – or even,his guitar?!
Miguel MolinaI live here – this is home for me. Yes, I go back toMexico and it’s home in Mexico as well. But home is, well… an artist would say: ‘home is where your guitar is’.
I don’t have a guitar, I don’t play anything, so….
And that’s just what we’re doing today on London Lifewith Miguel Molina from Mexico. This isbbclearningenglish.com and I’m Yvonne Archer. Hello!
Miguel has been living in London for about ten years andworks as an Editor in the BBC’s Latin American Service.
So he’s an old friend! But life is not all about work, sowhat do Miguel and other Mexicans in London do for fun? (Isthat a fair question?) Also try to spot two different waysthat Miguel uses the word ‘party’. Now there’s a bigclue for you!
Miguel MolinaThere’s not ‘a’ Mexican way of being, but some, they’reyoung, they have nothing else to do, so they like to partyand you can find them, you know, having fun. Others thatare becoming old, like me, just for fun, they could just gosit down in the garden and have a nice chat with friendsand (are) no longer partying.
Yvonne: By the way, Miguel really isn’t that old but yes,he does enjoy a nice ‘chat’ - talking with friends in thegarden – that’s if it’s not raining! We’ll look at theword ‘party’ in a moment but first did you catch thatuseful phrase - ‘There’s not A Mexican way of being’?
That’s a lovely way to explain that not all Mexicans arethe same.
Miguel MolinaThere’s not ‘a’ Mexican way of beingYvonne: Sometimes it’s believed that people who speak thesame language or are from the same continent for example,are the same. So Miguel’s phrase is a good way to answerquestions based on such beliefs without upsetting people.
Note the way we say ‘A’ and ‘AN’ - for example, ‘There’s not ‘a’ Chinese way of being’ and ‘There’s not‘an’ Arabic way of being’.
Now onto the word ‘party’. Miguel says of youngMexicans in London:
Miguel MolinaThey have nothing to do so they like to party…Yvonne: And the older Mexicans in London?
Miguel Molina(They’re) no longer partying.
Yvonne: So there’s the noun ‘a party’ – an event whenpeople have fun talking, playing music and dancing, forexample. And we heard the word used as a verb - ‘to party’ and ‘partying’. Do you like ‘to party’? Doyou like ‘partying’? So you’ve a few things to discussafter today’s London Life?!
Although London has many interesting events to go to andplaces to visit for free, lots of people who were born heredon’t actually go to them! But that’s certainly notthe case for people from other countries who live here.
Miguel says that Mexicans living in London generally have‘a very developed taste for cultural things’. Forexample, they enjoy visiting places like art galleries andmuseums.
Miguel MolinaMexicans in general, but more so Mexicans who go liveabroad, not as tourists, have a very developed taste forcultural things. That is, you find them in placessuch as the National Gallery or the British Museum or youfind them looking at historical places in London.
Yvonne: Are there ‘historical’ places where you live thatyou can easily visit but don’t?
Why not?
Of course, Miguel now lives in London but where is his‘home’ – the place where his heart really is – or even,his guitar?!
Miguel MolinaI live here – this is home for me. Yes, I go back toMexico and it’s home in Mexico as well. But home is, well… an artist would say: ‘home is where your guitar is’.
I don’t have a guitar, I don’t play anything, so….
How to be a stand-up
BBC Learning English reporter Clare Mace recently spoke tostand up comedian Shappi Korsandi to ask for some tips onhow to make people laugh. A stand-up comedian is someonewho stands up on stage in front of an audience and tellsjokes and funny stories to make them laugh. Shappi isIranian and comes from London – Clare asked her whatqualities you need as an individual to become a stand upcomedian. As you listen try to note down what qualitiesShappi describes.
Shappi KorsandiYou need to have a very thick skin, you need to have a lotof confidence, you need to be able to take rejection welland by well I mean you need to have a kind of madness aboutyou – that even when you don’t do well on stage, evenwhen the audience boo you - you must have a need to getback on a stage again the next day. So you’ve got to be alittle bit crazy, a little bit mental and above all elseyou have to really want to do it more than anything else.
Anna: Shappi says that you need a “very thick skin” –which means you need to be not easily made unhappy bycriticism. The opposite of this is to have a “thin skin”
– which means that you become unhappy very quickly ifcriticised. She also says that you need to have a lot of “confidence” – you need to be certain of your ownabilities. Shappir says that you need to be able to “takerejectionwell” – you have to accept that others do not like or donot accept what you aredoing.
Vox: He’s got a very thick skin – he never noticeswhen people are laughing at him.
She always gets upset when people criticise her – she’sgot a very thin skinWhen he wasn’t picked for the national team he took therejection very well.
Anna: As well as these qualities Shappi says that standup comedians need to have a bit of madness about them too -She uses two other words which also mean a little mad –those words are “crazy” and “mentalAnna: Shappi goes on to talk about how you learn theskill of becoming a stand up comedian. How can youlearn how to do it?
Shappi KorsandiObviously it’s not a job that you can study at college –you have to learn on the job. But if you stick at it forlong enough and if you do just get better and better thedifference between stand up comedy and other art forms likeacting for example – you can be the best actor in thewhole world but not get a job but as long as you’re a goodstand up you’ll always earn a living. So actually it’s areally good living – it’s a bit like being a bricklayer– it’s a skill that you have and as long as no-one tearsyour tongue out you can always make a living from it.
Anna: According to Shappi you need to learn “on the job,” which means you can’t learn how to do it at college –you have to learn the skill while doing the job. She saysif you “stick at it” for long enough – if you carry ondoing it for long enough – then you you just get betterand better – you improve all the time. Shappi believe youcan always earn or make a living from stand up – you canalways support yourself and get enough money to live on.
So what would be her advice to people wanting to becomestand-up comics? What does she say?
Shappi KorsandiMy advice would be to watch as much comedy, as much livecomedy as you can and learn from it and just start doingit. Get three or four minutes of material together and justperformit and die, and perform it and die, perform it and die‘cos that’s the only way you’re going to learn. And whatdo you mean by die? Dying is when you’re on stage andnobody laughs and its called dying because it feels likedeath!
Shappi KorsandiYou need to have a very thick skin, you need to have a lotof confidence, you need to be able to take rejection welland by well I mean you need to have a kind of madness aboutyou – that even when you don’t do well on stage, evenwhen the audience boo you - you must have a need to getback on a stage again the next day. So you’ve got to be alittle bit crazy, a little bit mental and above all elseyou have to really want to do it more than anything else.
Anna: Shappi says that you need a “very thick skin” –which means you need to be not easily made unhappy bycriticism. The opposite of this is to have a “thin skin”
– which means that you become unhappy very quickly ifcriticised. She also says that you need to have a lot of “confidence” – you need to be certain of your ownabilities. Shappir says that you need to be able to “takerejectionwell” – you have to accept that others do not like or donot accept what you aredoing.
Vox: He’s got a very thick skin – he never noticeswhen people are laughing at him.
She always gets upset when people criticise her – she’sgot a very thin skinWhen he wasn’t picked for the national team he took therejection very well.
Anna: As well as these qualities Shappi says that standup comedians need to have a bit of madness about them too -She uses two other words which also mean a little mad –those words are “crazy” and “mentalAnna: Shappi goes on to talk about how you learn theskill of becoming a stand up comedian. How can youlearn how to do it?
Shappi KorsandiObviously it’s not a job that you can study at college –you have to learn on the job. But if you stick at it forlong enough and if you do just get better and better thedifference between stand up comedy and other art forms likeacting for example – you can be the best actor in thewhole world but not get a job but as long as you’re a goodstand up you’ll always earn a living. So actually it’s areally good living – it’s a bit like being a bricklayer– it’s a skill that you have and as long as no-one tearsyour tongue out you can always make a living from it.
Anna: According to Shappi you need to learn “on the job,” which means you can’t learn how to do it at college –you have to learn the skill while doing the job. She saysif you “stick at it” for long enough – if you carry ondoing it for long enough – then you you just get betterand better – you improve all the time. Shappi believe youcan always earn or make a living from stand up – you canalways support yourself and get enough money to live on.
So what would be her advice to people wanting to becomestand-up comics? What does she say?
Shappi KorsandiMy advice would be to watch as much comedy, as much livecomedy as you can and learn from it and just start doingit. Get three or four minutes of material together and justperformit and die, and perform it and die, perform it and die‘cos that’s the only way you’re going to learn. And whatdo you mean by die? Dying is when you’re on stage andnobody laughs and its called dying because it feels likedeath!
A Pole in London
BBC Learning EnglishLondon LifeA Pole in LondonYvonne: You’re listening to “London Life” withbbclearningenglish.com and I’mYvonne Archer. Hello!
As we know, people from all over the world live right herein London. But have you ever wondered why they came hereand how? Today, we’ll hear the story of how a Polish ladybecame a Londoner – plus, a little bit of Polish historyalong the way. The lady’s story is told by Kaz Janowski,one of our friends from the BBC Learning English office!
But who is the lady and what happened just after she wasborn?
INSERTMy mother’s name is Aniela, she was born in 1913, so itwas just before the outbreak of the1st World War, and she came from a part of Poland which wasPoland then but is now a part of the Ukraine.
Yvonne: So the lady is Kaz’s mother who was born inPoland. And just after she was born, the first World Warbegan. As Kaz put it, she was born just before ‘theoutbreak of’ the 1st World War’. Now you might also hearthat term ‘the outbreak of something’ used to talk aboutthe start of other negative things or situations, forexample, a disease – an ‘outbreak of TB’ – as well asabout wars and conflicts. So do listen out for it…INSERTJust before the outbreak of the 1st World War…Yvonne: Poland has had a difficult history but Anielareally loved the beautiful little village in the mountainswhere she grew up. As Kaz continues this amazing story, tryto find out what else Aniela loved about her village…INSERTOne of the things about it that she particularly rememberedand cherished was that you had Russians, you hadUkrainians, you had Poles, you had lots of Jews, you hadGermans, you had mountain people, Hungarian type of people,Romanian – it was an amazing mixture, an ethnic mixture.
Yvonne: Throughout her life, Aniela held fond memories ofthe village where she grew up and talked about them. As Kazsaid, she ‘cherished’ the memories of her village becauseit was such ‘an amazing ethnic mixture’. Today, we mightdescribe it as ‘cosmopolitan’, like London, because somany different types of people lived there.
INSERTOne of the things about it that she particularly rememberedand cherished was that it was an amazing mixture, an ethnicmixture.
Yvonne: Aniela learned a new skill in her village whichturned out to be more useful than she could ever havethought possible. What was that skill and who did she learnit from?
INSERTShe learnt how to do needlepoint from a Ukrainian girl whoshowed her how to do these beautiful designs onheadscarves.
Yvonne: A Ukrainian girl taught Aniela how to sew beautifuldesigns onto scarves using different coloured threads – askill called ‘needlepoint’. Then women wore the scarveson their heads.
As with many young women, Aniela grew up, met someone, fellin love and got married. But…Czestaw was a soldier andjust weeks after their marriage, the Second World War brokeout. He was sent to Hungary and then to the Middle East andit was almost a decade - 10 years - before the couple saweach other again. Aniela and the rest of her family weredeported – they were forced to leave their country. Butwhere did they go and how did they get there?
INSERTThey were put on a train, they were allowed to take one ortwo items and several weeks later, they arrived at astation… In the middle of the steps in Kazakhstan, theywere told to get out and just get on with their lives. Theywere told that if they worked, they would earn a living. Ifthey didn’t work, they would die.
Yvonne: The family arrived in Kazakhstan after travellingfor several weeks on a train and had to work to survive.
There were farms that they could work on - but Aniela hadher needlepoint to help earn money for the family. She hadno choice but to ‘get on with life’ as instructed – todo the best she could under the circumstances, so she didjust that!
Eventually things changed again but Aniela and her husbandwere still separated. Czestaw joined the British army andthe Poles in Kazakhstan were allowed to leave. They went tocountries like India and Iran; Aniela and her mother wentto Uganda!
INSERTI mean this was a revelation to somebody who’d grown up ina Polish village with snow in winter. And there she wassuddenly in the middle of tropical Africa.
As we know, people from all over the world live right herein London. But have you ever wondered why they came hereand how? Today, we’ll hear the story of how a Polish ladybecame a Londoner – plus, a little bit of Polish historyalong the way. The lady’s story is told by Kaz Janowski,one of our friends from the BBC Learning English office!
But who is the lady and what happened just after she wasborn?
INSERTMy mother’s name is Aniela, she was born in 1913, so itwas just before the outbreak of the1st World War, and she came from a part of Poland which wasPoland then but is now a part of the Ukraine.
Yvonne: So the lady is Kaz’s mother who was born inPoland. And just after she was born, the first World Warbegan. As Kaz put it, she was born just before ‘theoutbreak of’ the 1st World War’. Now you might also hearthat term ‘the outbreak of something’ used to talk aboutthe start of other negative things or situations, forexample, a disease – an ‘outbreak of TB’ – as well asabout wars and conflicts. So do listen out for it…INSERTJust before the outbreak of the 1st World War…Yvonne: Poland has had a difficult history but Anielareally loved the beautiful little village in the mountainswhere she grew up. As Kaz continues this amazing story, tryto find out what else Aniela loved about her village…INSERTOne of the things about it that she particularly rememberedand cherished was that you had Russians, you hadUkrainians, you had Poles, you had lots of Jews, you hadGermans, you had mountain people, Hungarian type of people,Romanian – it was an amazing mixture, an ethnic mixture.
Yvonne: Throughout her life, Aniela held fond memories ofthe village where she grew up and talked about them. As Kazsaid, she ‘cherished’ the memories of her village becauseit was such ‘an amazing ethnic mixture’. Today, we mightdescribe it as ‘cosmopolitan’, like London, because somany different types of people lived there.
INSERTOne of the things about it that she particularly rememberedand cherished was that it was an amazing mixture, an ethnicmixture.
Yvonne: Aniela learned a new skill in her village whichturned out to be more useful than she could ever havethought possible. What was that skill and who did she learnit from?
INSERTShe learnt how to do needlepoint from a Ukrainian girl whoshowed her how to do these beautiful designs onheadscarves.
Yvonne: A Ukrainian girl taught Aniela how to sew beautifuldesigns onto scarves using different coloured threads – askill called ‘needlepoint’. Then women wore the scarveson their heads.
As with many young women, Aniela grew up, met someone, fellin love and got married. But…Czestaw was a soldier andjust weeks after their marriage, the Second World War brokeout. He was sent to Hungary and then to the Middle East andit was almost a decade - 10 years - before the couple saweach other again. Aniela and the rest of her family weredeported – they were forced to leave their country. Butwhere did they go and how did they get there?
INSERTThey were put on a train, they were allowed to take one ortwo items and several weeks later, they arrived at astation… In the middle of the steps in Kazakhstan, theywere told to get out and just get on with their lives. Theywere told that if they worked, they would earn a living. Ifthey didn’t work, they would die.
Yvonne: The family arrived in Kazakhstan after travellingfor several weeks on a train and had to work to survive.
There were farms that they could work on - but Aniela hadher needlepoint to help earn money for the family. She hadno choice but to ‘get on with life’ as instructed – todo the best she could under the circumstances, so she didjust that!
Eventually things changed again but Aniela and her husbandwere still separated. Czestaw joined the British army andthe Poles in Kazakhstan were allowed to leave. They went tocountries like India and Iran; Aniela and her mother wentto Uganda!
INSERTI mean this was a revelation to somebody who’d grown up ina Polish village with snow in winter. And there she wassuddenly in the middle of tropical Africa.
The Great Fire of London
BBC Learning EnglishLondon LifeThe Great Fire of LondonCallum: Hello, I'm Callum Robertson and this is LondonLife. I'm not in the comfort ofthe studio today, as you might be able to hear, I'm out andabout in London. To be exact I'm in a street called PuddingLane.
And it was here in this street that 440 years ago, inSeptember 1666, the GreatFire of London began.
To tell us a bit more about the fire and this particularlocation, I've been joined by James Clare who is theHistoric Buildings Architect for the City of London. James,440 years ago at the time of the Great Fire, what wasLondon like?
James: London was a very large medieval city, one of themajor cities in Europe and it was full of timber buildingswhich were a great fire hazard. The streets were verynarrow, there were courtyards which were very cramped, thehouses were sub-divided and multi-occupied by people,families and people.
Callum: The houses being made of wood and the streets beingvery narrow, there was a real danger of fire throughoutLondon. And we're here in Pudding Lane where the firestarted. What do we know of how it started?
James: It started in the premises of a baker and itstarted very early in the morning and so it could have beenan accident from his domestic fireplaces or a candle or anoil lamp or it could have been his ovens for baking whichmaybe overheated.
But certainly there was a fire there and it started fairlyslowly but once it caught hold, it was very rapid inspreading to adjacent premises.
Callum: And I suppose because the streets were so narrowand the buildings were made of wood it was really adisaster waiting to happen.
James: Absolutely. There were fires every so often butnone were as great as this.
Compared to earlier fires it took hold and it was fanned bya very strong wind from the east which pushed the fireacross the city towards the west and there was very little,if anything, that people could do to fight the fire at thattime although efforts were made to.
Callum: And how long did the fire last?
James: It lasted between four and five days although itcontinued to smoulder, the debris continued to smoulder formany days after that.
Callum: How did the fire finally come to an end? Did itburn itself out?
James: It certainly had burnt so much of the city thatthere was relatively little left to burn. However the fire-breaks did help, the demolition of buildings, indeedblowing some buildings up. But the most significant factorwas that the wind dropped and this allowed the peopletrying to fight the fire to finally overcome it.
And it was here in this street that 440 years ago, inSeptember 1666, the GreatFire of London began.
To tell us a bit more about the fire and this particularlocation, I've been joined by James Clare who is theHistoric Buildings Architect for the City of London. James,440 years ago at the time of the Great Fire, what wasLondon like?
James: London was a very large medieval city, one of themajor cities in Europe and it was full of timber buildingswhich were a great fire hazard. The streets were verynarrow, there were courtyards which were very cramped, thehouses were sub-divided and multi-occupied by people,families and people.
Callum: The houses being made of wood and the streets beingvery narrow, there was a real danger of fire throughoutLondon. And we're here in Pudding Lane where the firestarted. What do we know of how it started?
James: It started in the premises of a baker and itstarted very early in the morning and so it could have beenan accident from his domestic fireplaces or a candle or anoil lamp or it could have been his ovens for baking whichmaybe overheated.
But certainly there was a fire there and it started fairlyslowly but once it caught hold, it was very rapid inspreading to adjacent premises.
Callum: And I suppose because the streets were so narrowand the buildings were made of wood it was really adisaster waiting to happen.
James: Absolutely. There were fires every so often butnone were as great as this.
Compared to earlier fires it took hold and it was fanned bya very strong wind from the east which pushed the fireacross the city towards the west and there was very little,if anything, that people could do to fight the fire at thattime although efforts were made to.
Callum: And how long did the fire last?
James: It lasted between four and five days although itcontinued to smoulder, the debris continued to smoulder formany days after that.
Callum: How did the fire finally come to an end? Did itburn itself out?
James: It certainly had burnt so much of the city thatthere was relatively little left to burn. However the fire-breaks did help, the demolition of buildings, indeedblowing some buildings up. But the most significant factorwas that the wind dropped and this allowed the peopletrying to fight the fire to finally overcome it.
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