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Best of the BBC
69 days underground
For more than two months, 33 men were trapped underground in Chile’s San Jose mine. As the rescue attempt gathered pace in the Atacama Desert above, hundreds of relatives and dozens of international media organisations set up camp there. Now – with all the men brought to the surface safely – BBC News takes a look back at the miners’ ordeal.
>>>Watch the audio slideshow
Star Spangled Hendrix
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Was Jimi Hendrix an inherently political creature, or was his influence just a sign of the times? To mark the 40th anniversary of his death on September 18, the British songwriter and BBC radio presenter Tom Robinson takes a look at Hendrix’s life through a political lens in our latest ‘Best of the BBC’. Download MP3Britain’s first car accident
Almost 4,000 people are killed on the world’s roads every day, according to the campaigning charity RoadPeace. So who was the UK’s first fatal car accident victim – exactly 114 years ago – and what happened?
The Girl in the Picture
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The picture of a girl screaming as she ran naked down a road after suffering extreme burns in a napalm attack became the one of the most famous photos of the Vietnam War. When the image was taken in 1972 a British TV news crew led by War Correspondent Christopher Wain was filming as well. Wain helped to save nine-year-old Kim Phuc’s life that day – but they haven’t seen each other for nearly 38 years. Now, exclusively for BBC Radio 4, the pair has been reunited. Download MP3
Ethiopian kids talk soccer
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Think you know a thing or two about international soccer? So do these delightful nine-year-old Ethiopian boys that the BBC’s East Africa reporter Will Ross met in the Ethiopian highlands. They don’t speak much English, but they are fluent in the language of soccer. (flickr image of kids in Addis Ababa: hypertornado) Download MP3
Jane Austen’s iPod.
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Here at The World we’ve been asking GIs in Iraq what they have on their iPods. Last weekend our partners at the BBC broadcast something kind of similar, and yet very different! This documentary, produced for the BBC’s domestic British audience, allows us to hear the tunes Jane Austen might have put on her mp3 player, had such a thing been available to her. Listen to the results in the documentary ‘Jane Austen’s iPod’. Download MP3
Audio slideshow: The Hubble is 20
The famous space telescope has been peering into some of the deepest recesses of the universe for two decades – and is now celebrating its 20th birthday. In this Best of the BBC, you can take a look at some of the fantastic sights it has seen in that time with Professor Alec Boksenberg from the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge – who was on the European team that helped build Hubble.
Best of the BBC: An ex-child soldier in Sudan
Deng Chan, a 15-year-old Sudanese boy, has dreams and aspirations like most other teenagers. But he has a past that that most of us couldn’t begin to imagine. From being stolen by Arab raiders, gaining his freedom and then joining the rebel army, he returned home to care for his large family. Listen to Deng tell his story in this audio slideshow, with photographs highlighting the difficult conditions and environment he lives in every day.
Afghanistan’s history from the Tajbeg
Multimedia photojournalist and filmmaker John McHugh traveled to Afghanistan in February 2010. He was there to cover the conflict, but during the trip he managed to gain rare access to the off-limits Queen’s Palace – a former seat of Afghanistan’s royal family – also known as Tajbeg. He says the building and its turbulent past represents the sad history of Afghanistan.
Audio slideshow: soccer kings of New York City
Martin Luther King Jr High School has a troubled history. In 2002 it made news when a student shot two fellow students, shortly afterward, MLK became one of the first in New York City to be closed due to low performance and high drop-out rates. The building now houses six smaller schools, and their boys’ soccer team, still playing under the MLK banner is a big success: it’s winning championships and the players have high graduation rates. The man behind the team’s success is Coach Jake, and he can rely on talent from all over the world.
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
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