Sport is Great - Part 2

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/britain-great/sport-great-part-2

Transcript

I’ve come to Weymouth and Portland Bay where you’ll find some of the best natural sailing waters in the UK. During the Olympics this incredible coastline will host 10 exciting sailing events from dinghy racing to windsurfing. The area is a natural open-air venue, which means there are plenty of places to watch the sailing from – like here.

This is the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy and, thanks to the Olympics, it’s become a state-of-the-art facility for professional training, competitions and the local community… so everyone will benefit from the Olympics – even when it’s gone.

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Peter Allam works for LOCOG, the Olympic Organisers.

Richard: Peter, why has this stretch of coastline been chosen for Olympic sailing?

Peter: One thing we can always rely on at Weymouth and Portland is the wind... and you can probably just hear it whistling in the background so we get good wind. We also have fantastic waters here to which we can set the race courses, the good sea conditions are favourable, and the shape of the bay and the harbour here, within Portland Harbour, gives us plenty of opportunity to sail whatever the conditions.

Richard: And you're an Olympian yourself.

Peter: I've been lucky. Twice, I've been to the Olympics. The first time was in 1984, the second time was in '92, and I was very fortunate in '84 to win a bronze medal, although we were favourites for the gold, I'm very happy to have come away with a medal.

Richard: So what makes this facility so state of the art?

Peter: The great thing about this academy is that it caters for all ability levels, from the elite athletes to the first-time sailor. It also has plenty of space. You need space for lots of boats and lots of people.

Richard: All this sea air and talk of sailing has given me an idea!

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Snug! This is the Official Test Centre, next to the sailing academy. It offers something for everyone from professionals to beginners – like me. So, let’s see what this coastline has to offer.

Windsurfing instructor Tris Best is taking me out on the water.

Tris: That's it. Lovely job. And then hand over hand nice and gently when you're ready. No rush. Lovely job. And then just grab in the mast below the boom. Perfect! Well done.

Richard: Got it.

Tris. OK. Keep your knees nice and bent, back straight. That's how, nice and upright. Perfect. That's it. Perfect. Here we go. Too easy!



Oh, this is it! I'm getting there. Yes! A carve gybe! Oh, and a flare gybe! I'm all over it! Just flip a 180! Yes, that's a beautiful gust. Yeah, alright, OK, I admit it. I've got a little way to go when it comes to windsurfing... but Great Britain is so passionate about sport I think I'm going to try a few more of them. Now, where did I put my cricket bat?

Sport is Great - Part 1

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/britain-great/sport-great-part-1

Transcript

Britain is a sport-loving nation. It’s the birthplace of some of the world’s favourite sports including cricket, rugby and football, and it’s the home of some of the world’s most iconic sporting venues.

From world-class football stadiums and Formula 1 circuits to the greatest arena of all, an Olympic village, Britain has it all.

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This is Silverstone Circuit, one of the world’s most famous motor sport venues. Every year hundreds of thousands of fans come here to watch some of the most exciting motor racing events on the planet.

Over the last 60 years this circuit has changed with the times and its most recent development is a new pit and paddock called the Silverstone Wing.

Richard Phillips is the Managing Director of Silverstone. He oversees everything that takes place here.

Richard: So what would you say to someone who's never been to a race before?

Richard Phillips: I think you have got to come to Silverstone. We have the biggest and most knowledgeable crowd in the world, 320,000 people over the weekend of a Grand Prix. It's the biggest outdoor event in the country.

All the great British names have driven here: Nigel Mansell, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, and… me! I’ve always wanted to drive a Ferrari and what better place to do it than the home of British motor sport?

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Racing instructor Chris Ward is going to give me a high-speed driving lesson.

Chris: So, right click into second. Just nice and steady to begin with. Let me just check we're all clear behind. Circuit's clear, so we're free to pull out onto the circuit. Squeeze the throttle, let's give it some power... Power, power, power! Down the left-hand side. Let the car rev a little bit more before you change gear. Into fifth. That's it. Keep the power going. And more power, and more power. What's it feel like being on the Grand Prix circuit at Silverstone?

Richard: It's a fantastic feeling, it really is.

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Britain is mad about sport. From hockey to sailing, basketball to athletics, and grass court tennis is a national obsession. Rugby was invented here, as was cricket, and then exported round the world.

London is also home to a tribute to a footballing legend...

This is Bobby Moore, one of the all-time greatest footballers, and behind me is Wembley Stadium, one of the all-time greatest sporting venues… and I’m about to get a peek behind closed doors.

The stadium has recently undergone a huge makeover. It’s home to the England National Football Team and the FA Cup Final. Wembley also hosts other sports like American football and big music concerts.

And with 90,000 seats to choose from there’s plenty of room for all the fans.

This is where it all happens. The world’s finest football players have given us some of history's greatest sporting moments on this very pitch.

The stadium is one kilometre all the way round and above me stands a 133 metre tall steel arch which is also 315 metres across. It’s the longest single piece of roof section in the world and you can see it on the other side of London. It also moves to allow light and air onto the pitch.

This is the Press Conference Room. Up to 190 members of the media fill these seats after every game to ask the world's most famous football players the burning questions we all want to hear. Oh, it's my turn!

But there’s no time to stop, there’s sport everywhere in Great Britain.

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/britain-great-episodes/sport-great

Green is Great - Part 2

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/britain-great/green-great-part-2

Transcript

It looks like something from outer space, but it’s a wind turbine and it’s revolutionary!

Wind power has been around for centuries, but this is something new. Big wind farms have managed to harness the power of the wind off-shore or on high ground where it’s windy, but what about places where there’s not so much space or wind?

Award-winning British company ‘Quiet Revolution’ have developed a turbine with an upright axis which can be put practically anywhere and is near silent.

Harnessing wind energy in urban areas and tight spaces is a challenge. As wind travels past buildings, it changes speed and is difficult to catch. That’s where this micro turbine is clever. The turbine is small and so catches small wind… But it surprisingly generates a lot of power.

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And all that energy can be used on site, so it’s good for the environment and it saves money! Plus, I think it looks like a work of art; I wouldn’t mind one in my back garden!

The sun is another important source of renewable energy. Solar Century is a leading solar energy company. The panels use the sun's rays to generate power. This technology is becoming more efficient as a way of creating energy.

Behind me is the incredible Olympic Park where much of the action will take place during London’s Olympic Games.

This whole park has been designed to be the greenest Olympic Park in the history of the Olympic Games. Protecting and preserving the environment has been a priority during the planning, construction and building stages. The legacy of this ‘environmentally friendly’ park will last for a very long time.

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David Stubbs is Head of Environment and Sustainability for LOCOG, the Olympic organisers.

Richard: This is really impressive. What was here before?

David: Polluted rivers, contaminated land, broken-down factories. There were a few small industries here, but largely speaking it was a vast area of emptiness.

Richard: David, give me some examples of why these are the greenest Games ever.

David: We put a lot of attention to the buildings, to the design, to all the materials used in them, to the energy that was used in them, so there's a lot of attention to making sure that we minimise waste upfront and then we recycle and reuse as much as possible. Across the board, I think we've done a lot of different things which add up to a sustainable Games.

Green is Great - Part 1

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/britain-great/green-great-part-1

Transcript

Green issues are really important to Great Britain. The people here work really hard to protect the environment.

The nation is trying to reduce the impact their daily lives have on the planet, which in turn means reducing their carbon footprint. Let’s find out how…

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Britain has the largest indoor rainforest in the world, which is used for environmental research. It’s also a world leader in wind energy at sea and on land.

And the London 2012 Olympics are the first truly sustainable ever, which means the environmental benefit of the Games will last for a very long time.

This is the Eden Project in Cornwall. It’s a place where green ideas are explored and built to try and reduce the impact on the environment and it’s been so successful that tourists visit from around the world.

The Eden Project started life over ten years ago as an old china clay pit; it was just a hole in the ground. The big bubble shaped area, or biome, is twice as high as Big Ben and works as a greenhouse home for some of the world's most important plants.

The Eden Project features a number of different biomes. These ecosystems are maintained to simulate different climatic conditions that are found in different parts of the world. I met up with Hetty Ninnis, who works here.

Richard: Hetty, what’s the idea behind the Eden Project?

Hetty: So, the Eden Project is here to show people how we can live with the planet without destroying it.

Richard: And tell me about this biome.

Hetty: So, this is the tropical rainforest biome. It's a garden and it's here to show people sort of where everyday products they might find in the supermarket come from, so they can see where bananas come from, where chocolate comes from.

Richard: And you recycle water here?

Hetty: Yes, we do. We collect water up the top of the pit and then we use that to water our plants 3 days a week in here. So do you fancy coming along and pollinating some plants?

Richard: Why not? Lead the way.

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Richard: So, Hetty, what are we doing?

Hetty: We're going to be pollinating the jade vine, a very rare plant from the Philippines.

Richard: So, how are we going to pollinate it?

Hetty: OK, out in the wild it's fruit bats that do the pollinating, so today we're going to pretend to be fruit bats.

Richard: We're going to pretend to be a fruit bat? O... kay. How do we do that?

Hetty: We're going to do that by, if you can see here on these little flowers, when a fruit bat comes down, it hangs upside down from up here, and he pushes his face into that flower, and as he does, the pollen gets pushed out of here, so we take a little bit of pollen on the paintbrush and then move on to the second flower, taking that pollen with us and then hopefully it will set fruit in a few months' time.

Richard: And this is a very green and efficient way of doing things?

Hetty: Well, it's a really important job because this plant is so rare in the wild now that we need to make sure we've got seeds so we can keep it going in the future.

Richard: Well, since I'm up here, I'd better have a go, so can I pollinate it?

Hetty: OK, if you feel confident, please have a go.

Richard: I wouldn't say confident. It's a rare plant, right, alright? Let's be very careful.

Hetty: Be gentle.

Richard: I'll give it a go. Just dab that in there and pop that in there. Yes, yes. That's pollinated.

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The Eden Project tries to be as self-sufficient with energy as possible. They are world leaders in green technology.

This is WEEE man and he’s a monster! He’s made entirely of the rubbish that one person will throw away in their lifetime; that's a lot of waste!

Much of the energy at the Eden Project comes from green sources, but there are also exciting developments in creating energy from sources of power that won't run out. Renewable energy.

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/britain-great-episodes/green-great

Creativity is Great - Part 2

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/britain-great/creativity-great-part-2

Transcript

Another side of British culture that attracts tourists is the range of visual arts on show.

There are over 300 world-class museums and art galleries just in London. This is Tate Britain - right here, in Millbank. It’s the home of British art from the 1500s right up to the present day - let’s go take a look.

Tate Britain is the world centre for British art. Some of the greatest artists of all time are British and this gallery has them all under one roof.

Tate Britain is one of four Tate galleries across the country, and the oldest. Over the years, it’s been threatened by bombing in the war and flooding from the Thames. There are hundreds of works of art here.

These are some of the earliest paintings in the gallery, including this portrait of Queen Elizabeth the First.

Penelope Curtis is the director of Tate Britain. It’s her job to decide which art pieces are exhibited.

Richard: Penelope, tell me about Tate Britain.

Penelope: Tate Britain is the national gallery of British art. It was founded by Henry Tate about a hundred years ago.

Richard: And what does your role involve?

Penelope: I'm the director, and that means looking after everything, but particularly the collections and the displays that you can see in the gallery.

Richard: And you have some fabulous pictures here, including this very popular one.

Penelope: They say this is our most popular painting. It's hard to know, but it certainly sells the most postcards, but that's rather an old-fashioned measure.

Richard: What is it about British art that's so exciting?

Penelope: Well, what's particular about British art is that we're an island nation, so things become very concentrated here. People travel from all over the world to be here; other people never leave at all, so things that you might see in the rest of the world become more concentrated in Britain.

Richard: What's the future of British art and creativity?

Penelope: I think the fact that we don't know is what's exciting about it. Here, we can make history speak to the present and inform what people are doing now, and that's one of our important roles.

And the future of British art is bold and exciting.

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Artistic creativity in Great Britain isn’t always found at museums or galleries; sometimes it’s worth taking a closer look at the walls around the city.

Street art used to be a form of protest and was often painted over by the authorities. These days it’s a celebrated art form. Some pieces are worth a fortune.

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Another art form that is booming in Britain is building computer games.

The UK produces more than a quarter of the world’s computer games and independent developer Blitz Games Studios here in Leamington Spa has created some top sellers. Popular games like Puss in Boots, Karaoke Revolution and The Biggest Loser are developed here. Blitz Games Studios have a passion for games, technology and creativity.

Philip Oliver is a game developer and set up Blitz Games Studios with his brother.

Richard: Philip, how did this all start?

Philip: My twin brother and I, Andrew, started playing video games in the early eighties. We got ourselves a 8-bit computer and started writing games just as a hobby but, by the mid-eighties, we were actually able to sell games. We set up Blitz Games Studios and started employing people with the idea we would make games for a global audience, and today we have over 220 talented, creative people making video games for all the biggest publishers in the world.

Richard: What makes games development so creative?

Philip: Games are just a fantastic medium. I'm sorry, but I'm absolutely hooked, and I hope so many other people are. We are the entertainment of the twenty-first century. There are no limits.

Do you know, when it comes to computer games, I don’t think I'm very good at building them. I'm much better at playing them. Yes! Come on! Go up, up, up, up! Get the star! Go on! Go - Oh, no, no, ah.