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Dogs must be carried on the escalator.
A special steam train at Farringdon station, to celebrate 150 years of the London Underground. Photo by diamond geezer/flickr. Here in Britain, we have been celebrating a birthday. Not the birthday of a person, however, but the birthday of a railway. One hundred and fifty years ago, in January 1863, the first underground railway in the world carried its first passengers. It ran for 6 kilometres from Paddington in London to a place close to the City, which is the name we call London’s main...
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Mid-life Crisis
Will your mid-life crisis look like this?………. Do you know what I mean when I say that someone is “middle-aged”? If you are “middle-aged” you are probably 40 years old or older. You have stopped being interested in pop music. You don’t go to night clubs any more. You have sold the motor-bike which you drove all around Europe a few years ago. You no longer share a flat with six of your student friends. Instead, you are married, with children. You have bought a house in the suburbs. You lie...
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The King under the Car Park
King Richard III of England. Are the remains found under a car park in Leicester his? In the city of Leicester, in central England, a group of archaeologists has been busy. They have been digging up a car park. Last week they announced that they had found a human skeleton. Of course, archaeologists often dig up human remains. Human bones can tell us interesting things about the past – what people ate, how tall they were, what diseases they suffered from, and how they died. The car park...
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School dinners
This is one of the school meals which Martha Payne photographed for her blog. She had carrot soup, pasta with meat and vegetables and more carrot, and yoghurt. Today we visit Scotland, to find out what a Scottish schoolgirl thinks of her school meals. And because the European Cup Football matches have reached an interesting stage, and poor old England have been knocked out by Italy, this might be a good time to learn a new football expression. Martha Payne is 9 years old. She lives in a...
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Dull and Boring
Dull, twinned with Boring Do you know the English word “dull”? “Dull” is the opposite of “bright”. Often it means “uninteresting”. We can talk about dull weather, which means cloudy weather, probably some rain and certainly no sunshine. We can talk about a dull book or a dull lesson. And we can say that someone is dull – a dull person is probably not very intelligent, and has nothing interesting or lively or amusing to say. We have a saying in English that “All work and no play makes Jack a...
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Titanic
A poster advertising Titanic. The 14th of April 2012 was the centenary – the 100th anniversary – of the sinking of the passenger ship Titanic in the north Atlantic. This podcast is about Titanic. I hope it will help you to learn some new words and expressions about ships and the sea, and that you will learn about “unsinkable” words. (Don’t know what “unsinkable” words are? Then listen carefully to the rest of the podcast!) Titanic has appeared in one of these podcasts before. Just over a...
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England's Newest Tourist Attraction
A traffic jam on the M25 motorway. Are you planning a visit to England? Are you thinking to yourself, “What shall we do in England? Are there any really special places that we must go to when we are there?” You are? Good, then this podcast is for you. When you are in England, you could visit the Tower of London. But everyone visits the Tower of London. Or you could spend a day in Stratford-on-Avon, where Shakespeare was born. But everyone goes to Stratford. No, England’s newest tourist...
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Going to the Dogs
Elizabeth, the Lhasa Apso dog which won the Best in Show award at Crufts 2012. Photograph copyright onEdition, used here with permission. We have an expression in English “going to the dogs”. If something is “going to the dogs”, it means that everything seems to be getting worse and worse. There is a special sort of English person – perhaps you have met one – who will tell you that England is going to the dogs. He means that he doesn’t like the sort of clothes that young people wear, that he...
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Lord Lucan cannot cope
Lord Lucan. Have you seen this man? He cannot cope with life abroad. Today I am going to tell you about Lord Lucan. But first we need to talk about the verb “to cope”. Helen has three children. They are all less than five years old, which means that none of them is yet at school. Her husband often has to travel for his job, so he cannot help to look after the children. Helen’s mother lives in the next road, and Helen often has to go to visit her, and cook food for her, and clean her house....
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Singing in the rain
This young lady is singing in the rain, and dancing in the rain, and splashing in the puddles in the rain. Photo by James White/flickr. If you are as old as I am, you probably remember a Hollywood film called Singing in the Rain. That was Gene Kelly singing a song from that film. In the film he was indeed ‘singing in the rain’, and ‘dancing in the rain’ as well, and fooling around with an umbrella in the rain. Of course, you probably noticed that he says ‘singin’ in the rain’ instead of...
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Scott of the Antarctic
A famous photograph of Scott, writing in his journal, at the expedition base camp. Do you know what “centenary” means? It means the 100-year anniversary of something. This week is the centenary of the arrival at the South Pole of the first British explorers , led by Captain Robert Scott. The English word “Arctic” means the area of the world around the North Pole. The Arctic is not land, but sea – frozen sea. However, the South Pole is in the centre of an icy continent, Antarctica, and 100...
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The New Pandas
One of the new pandas at Edinburgh Zoo, enjoying a snack of bamboo shoots. This is a new Listen to English podcast, the first for a very long time. No, I am not dead, as some of you seem to think. Nor am I ill, nor have I run away to the Caribbean with a beautiful film star. I have simply been busy. (However, if you know any beautiful film stars who would like to run away with me, perhaps you could let me know). This podcast is about pandas. I am sure you know what a panda looks like, even...
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The Scariest Day of the Year.
Some very scary Halloween pumpkins. Photo by Pedro J Ferreira/flickr Today is 31 October, and it is the scariest day of the year. Do you know the verb “to scare”? If you scare someone, you frighten them, you make them afraid. So, “scary” means “frightening” and today is a special, scary sort of day, as I shall explain. Today is Halloween. “Halloween” means “the evening of (that is, the day before) All Hallows Day”, and “All Hallows Day” is an old Christian festival which takes place on 1...
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Greyfriars Bobby
Tourists from all over the world come to be photographed beside the statue of Greyfriars Bobby, outside Greyfriars Church in Edinburgh. In the podcast today, we will talk about “fact” and “fiction”. A “fact” is something which is true; something which I, or someone else, can prove to be true. For instance, it is a fact that the earth is round. And “fiction” is the opposite of fact. It means something which is invented, something which is made up something which comes from the imagination. In...
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Swimming in the River Thames
The River Thames at Lechlade. The swans are waiting to attack David Walliams as he swims past. Listen to English has had a long summer break, but now I am back with a few more podcasts to help you improve your English listening skills. I want to remind you of two words along and across. I have a friend who lives in a house on the other side of the road where I live. If I want to visit her, I walk across the road from my side of the road to her side of the road. On my road, there is a...
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I Go Without my Breakfast
This is Evan. He has a croissant and a cup of coffee for breakfast. Today’s podcast is about breakfast. Probably most people think of “breakfast” as the meal you eat at the beginning of the day, when you first wake up. However, it is more complicated than that. First, let’s look at what the word “breakfast” really means. As you probably know, the word “fast” has several, completely different meanings in English. One of the meanings of “fast” is a period when you do not have any food to eat....
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Good manners, bad manners
This young lady has good manners. She will have no problems with her future mother-in-law. We have a saying in English Manners maketh man. Maketh is an old form of makes or make. So the expression means that, if you want to be a real man, you have to have good manners. Manners means the way that you behave to other people, particularly in public. If you have good manners you are polite and courteous. You remember to say please and thank you. You make people feel welcome and at ease. And if...
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Spotting Tigers
nutmeg66/flickr spotted these spotted ladybirds. She calls the photo Spot the difference! (ie Look and try to see the difference!) In today's podcast, we are going to talk about spots and spotting! If you look up the word spot in a dictionary, you will see that it has two meanings two completely different meanings. First, a spot can be a mark, normally a small mark, roughly circular in shape. Look at the picture at the top of the webpage or on your iPod screen. It is a picture of some...
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Domesday
A page from the Domesday Book In March, I recorded a podcast about the census in this country that is, the counting of everyone who lives here. Today's podcast is also about a census the very first census to take place England. In the year 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, and became King of England. It was one of the most important events in English history. It completely changed the way of government in England, and it had a big effect on the...
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The Grauniad
The Guardian newspaper today. In today's podcast, we are going to talk about a birthday, and learn the English words for some of the things which you may find in a newspaper. First, the birthday. 190 years ago, on 5 May 1821, people in Manchester were able to buy the first edition of a new newspaper, the Manchester Guardian. It was a weekly newspaper, though it became a daily a few years later. It had 4 pages, and it cost 7 old pence (see the podcast on Old Money, New Money which explains...
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A Nice Cup of Tea
A nice cup of tea. Photo by James Shade/flickr That was Miss Binnie Hale, singing a song called A Nice Cup of Tea', which she recorded 70 years ago, in 1941. We British love tea. We drink more tea per head of population than any other country in the world, except for Ireland. If you go to the Tea Council website, you will see a counter at the top of the page which shows how many cups of tea we have drunk so far today. By the end of the day, the counter will reach 165 million that is three...
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The launch
Launch of the liner Kenya Castle at Harland and Wolff, Belfast, in 1951. Last weekend I visited Belfast, the largest city in Northern Ireland. When I was a child, I lived in Belfast for several years, and the reason for my visit was a re-union of the pupils who many years ago were in the same class at school as I was. They all looked so old but not me of course. You probably know about the problems in Northern Ireland between the Catholic and Protestant communities, but if you get an...
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How many of us are there?
A postman delivering a census form. The forms have been sent to every household in the country. Let's start today's podcast by looking at the title How many of us are there? The title is asking a question How many people are there in Britain? But instead of talking about people in Britain, I have used a pronoun us. And when we use a pronoun after how many or how much, we have to use the little word of as well. So How many of us are there? not how many us are there? Here are some more...
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This and that
Can you walk in those?' Photo by hh_g/flickr We have lots to do in today's podcast. First, we will learn something about the words this, that, these and those. Then we will go shopping with Kevin and Joanne. And finally, we will hear about Ms Nancy Sinatra, and what she is going to do with her boots. This and that are what I call finger pointing words as if you were pointing your finger at something to show exactly what you mean. We use this when we point to something close to us, and that...
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Old money, new money
The government printed this leaflet to tell us about the new coins and how much they were worth in old money'. There was an important anniversary this week. Forty years ago, on 15 February 1971, Britain changed its currency, that is, its money system. This is what happened. When I was a child in the fifties and sixties, Britain had a wonderfully complicated currency system. We had pounds, like we do now, but each pound was divided into 20 shillings, and each shilling was divided into 12...
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I am lucky
Lucky's cafe. Photo by it's d-lo/flickr Like lots of people, I have Google as the home page on my web browser. On the Google page, there is a search box where I can type what I am looking for. For example, I can type English lessons if I want to find web sites which teach people English. Underneath the search box, there are two buttons. One says Search. If I click this button, I get a page of Google search results about English lessons. The other one says I'm feeling lucky! I have often...
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The Ghost Village.
The old school at Tyneham. Photo by Adrian Purkiss/flickr. Today, we will visit a little village on the south coast of England. Its name is Tyneham, and it is a ghost village. What does ghost village' mean? It means that the village is deserted, there is no-one there. Many of the houses, the church and the school are still standing, but no-one lives in Tyneham any more. If you believe in ghosts, perhaps you feel that the ghosts of the people who used to live there still haunt the village. It...
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A Bossy Podcast
I'm Bossy, by F.Lady/flickr Before we begin, I have an apology to make. In the last podcast, about the Archers, I talked about a woman whom I called Helen Carter and her new baby. I should have said Helen Archer. I do not know why I got her name wrong. Perhaps I am getting old. When you get old, you do things like walking into a room and then forgetting why you are there. Some people call this a senior moment. Perhaps I had a senior moment while I was making the podcast. Do you know the...
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The Archers
Nigel and Elizabeth Pargetter with their (fictional) children. Nigel fell from a roof and was killed. The music which you have just heard is a signature tune. A signature tune is the music which you hear at the beginning of a radio or TV programme. This signature tune is the signature tune of a radio soap opera called The Archers. The BBC describe The Archers as an everyday story of country folk. It is about the lives of a farming family, the Archers, and their friends and neighbours in the...
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Bootifull!
Bernard Matthews. Great Witchingham Hall, his first turkey farm, is in the background. This podcast is about turkeys. I don't mean the country Turkey, of course. I mean the big birds that many people eat at Christmas. There is a picture on the website if you want to know what a turkey looks like. A few days ago, the newspapers reported that a man named Bernard Matthews had died. He was 80 years old, and he was the biggest turkey farmer in Britain, and possibly in the world. There is an...
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William and Kate are engaged!
Prince William and Kate Middleton are engaged to be married. Last week, the newspapers and television told us about an engagement. An engagement is when two people decide to get married. We say that the couple are engaged to be married, or simply that they are engaged. The engagement which was announced last week was between a helicopter pilot and a buyer for a well-known chain of clothing shops. So why was it on the front pages of the newspapers? You probably know the answer already. The...
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The Lighthouse Man
Henry Winstanley's wood and stone lighthouse on the Eddystone Rocks. Britain is an island. We are surrounded by sea. Nowdays, you can get here by plane, or by train through the Channel Tunnel. But before planes were invented, and the Channel Tunnel was built, the only way to come to Britain was by sea. The seas around Britain can be very dangerous. The Romans, who conquered England in 43 AD, knew this. They built lighthouses at Dover in England and Boulogne in France to guide ships across...
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