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Best of the BBC
When the prime minister calls
London seniors Joyce and Ted Hawkes were quite surprised when Downing Street called in 1997 to ask whether Britain’s new prime minister Tony Blair and his wife could come by for a cup of tea. They relived the moment with the host of the BBC’s PM program, Eddie Mair.
Fallujah doctors report rise in birth defects
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Download MP3Doctors in the Iraqi city of Fallujah are reporting a high level of birth defects, with some blaming weapons used by the US after the Iraq invasion. BBC world affairs editor John Simpson (pictured) visited a new, US-funded hospital in Fallujah where pediatrician Samira al-Ani told him that she was seeing as many as two or three cases a day, mainly cardiac defects. Download MP3
Actor George Takei remembers his internment
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The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour led, on February 19th, 1942, to Executive Order 9066 being issued by President Roosevelt. It consigned over 100,000 Japanese-Americans to internment camps. Star Trek actor and Japanese-American George Takei was just four-years-old when he, along with his parents and siblings, was removed from the family home. BBC World Service programme Witness interviewed Takei about the experience. Download MP3
Cash Cleaned for Chinese New Year
As celebrations for the Chinese Year of the Tiger continue across Asia, a creative Taiwanese businessman has come up with an ingenious service. Mr Yu Guan Cheng offers to wash dirty banknotes for customers so they can put them in red envelopes as traditional holiday gifts. Karen Chan reports for the BBC World Service World Today program.
Berlin film festival presents restored masterpiece
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Fritz Lang’s classic sci-fi movie ‘Metropolis’ from 1927 is being shown at the Berlin International Film Festival. And it won’t be just any old showing as The World’s London office discovered. The historic Brandenburg Gate will be transformed into a cinema and the newly restored version played out on a giant screen. The new part of the film had been missing for decades, presumed destroyed, but was then found halfway around the world. Listen to Steve Rosenberg’s radio report and click below to see the tv version. Download MP3
Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom
It has been 20 years since the South African authorities agreed to free Nelson Mandela – the man who would lead the struggle to end the country’s policy of racial segregation, and create a multi-racial democracy. In this audio slideshow, using the BBC archives, you can see how he left behind his cell of 27 years, to become South Africa’s first black president.
Hero Pilot: ‘I thought I was going to die’
In his first media interview, the pilot of a British Airways jet which crash landed at London’s Heathrow airport two years ago has described the moment he thought would die. Captain Peter Burkill’s jet plane lost power in the final seconds of its approach to land. Captain Burkill describes how in the space of five seconds his prediction for the imminent hard-landing changed from 100% casualties to 50%. In the event, there was only one serious injury, and Captain Burkill and his crew were hailed as heroes.
BBC interview with Gil Scott Heron
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American poet, singer, songwriter, author: Gil Scott Heron has worn many hats in his creative career, and ruffled the feathers of many. In the 1970’s he blazed the musical trail with his timeless classic ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’ and went on to record and write numerous albums and texts, much of it critical of mainstream culture and society. Heron has a new album out today. Listen to the BBC World Service arts and culture program ‘The Strand’ interview here. Download MP3
Your World, Your Way – BBC users show off video skills
Michael Schmacke’s fast animation through the center of Berlin is art of the BBC World Service MyWorld project. The film is one of many short videos being submitted by World Service users to share the things that matter to them. Michael shot his film with a digital SLR camera – he describes it as “a point of view which only could be developed by the cold war, an abstract building of childish arguments. Just like the film…”
Pakistan Earthquake – Four Years On
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In fall 2005, tens of thousands of people were killed in a massive earthquake which struck northern Pakistan. Then, as in the more recent quake in Haiti, international agencies launched massive aid progams to help the survivors. As the focus of media attention now begins to shift away from Haiti, the BBC’s Aleem Maqbool has returned to Muzzafarabad, where he’s found that reconstructing homes and rebuilding lives has been a slow process in the years since the TV cameras moved on. Download MP3
Taking A Stand – Lockerbie bombing
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Last week we highlighted an excellent radio interview with Michael Semple talking about being expelled from Afghanistan. He was interviewed by Fergal Keane as part of Radio 4’s Taking A Stand series. We thought the latest program was equally compelling. Keane talks with Jim Swire, who has waged a long campaign to expose those he believes were responsible for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, in which his daughter died. Download MP3
‘I was expelled from Afghanistan’
Our senior producer in London heard this BBC Radio 4 interview by Fergal Keane from his ‘Taking a Stand’ series. Keane talks to Michael Semple (pictured), whose ideas while working in Afghanistan, including reintegrating moderate Taliban into society, saw him expelled in 2007 by President Karzai’s government.
BBC launches radio service in Haitian Creole
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The earthquake in Haiti has left much of the population needing access to vital information. Here you can read about the BBC’s newest language section, BBC Haitian Creole, a radio service designed to provide exactly that. Listen to the show’s intro above… Download MP3
Jobs to consider after the recession
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Hear BBC Radio Host Shaun Keavney in a discussion with Scientist Kate Bellingham as they talk about jobs young people might be applying for twenty years in the future. Ranging from Space Pilot to vertical farmer it seems that technology will generate jobs that we might struggle to conceptualize in today’s world. Download MP3Ugandan witch doctors sacrifice children
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The secret shrine of a witch doctor, body parts, dead children – these are the horrific details revealed in this documentary on an apparent rise in human sacrifice in Uganda. People there believe that human body parts will appease evil spirits. In this Best of the BBC, Tim Whewell travels to Uganda to investigate. Please note this program contains disturbing accounts throughout Download MP3
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