His activities

Physics of New Material

Edward Coke used to be an army officer, but he is in prison now. Every day is exactly the same for him. It is winter now, and Coke and all the other men get up at six, when it is still cold and dark. ...

The two tall girls walked along the busy Sydney street: the fair one, Leonie, with superb natural grace, looking neither to right nor left; the dark-haired girl, Janie, self-consciously in her first p...

Did knis tsin iqo erti bichi romeli sakheli Robinson Crusoe iqo. Is ver interesebdi skolaze; sdzulda tsignebi da leksiebi: dziritalad uqavda ghdza - misi sigane da mogzaubrebis dapireba - da marto mog...

Despite the renewed attention on Crimea, Monday’s summit was conducted in Ukrainian, English and Crimean-Tatar, but notably not in Russian, which is the native tongue of a majority of Crimea’s residen...

Crusoe soon got used to life on the island. Every morning he went hunting with his dog. He shot birds and wild goats for food. Sometimes he clambered over the cliffs looking for birds’ eggs to cook fo...

Long ago, there lived a boy called Robinson Crusoe. He wasn’t at all interested in school, or books. All he could think about was becoming a sailor. As soon as he was old enough, he set off on his tra...

Chapter I IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AND PASSEPARTOUT ACCEPT EACH OTHER, THE ONE AS MASTER, THE OTHER AS MAN Mr. Phileas Fogg lived, in 1872, at No. 7, Saville Row, Burlington Gardens, the house in which ...

The novel's main character is 16-year-old Michel Dufrénoy, who graduates in literature and the classics, but finds they have been forgotten in a futuristic world where only business and technology are...

It is 6.30 in the evening now, and the wind is still blowing. It is getting colder. About ten miles away from Princeville Prison a man is hiding in a field. The wind is cutting through his thin priso...

It is six o’clock on a very cold winter evening. All over England people are sitting down in their living-rooms and are watching the news on television or are listening to it on the radio. There is on...

Edward Coke used to be an army officer, but he is in prison now. Every day is exactly the same for him. It is winter now and Coke and all the other men get up at six – when it is still cold and dark. ...

One of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli had a cult following and became a legend in his own life-time. Stories abound about this eccentric, reclusive perfection...

Leonardo lived in style. “He owned, one might say, nothing and he worked very little,” says Vasari, “yet he always kept servants as well as horses”—the great artist. His patrons were forever after him...

One of Australia’s rarest stamps – a twopenny King Edward VIII stamp which was never issued because of the king’s abdication and was supposed to be burnt – has caused excitement among collectors after...

The road to Bénivay-Ollon leads to nowhere else. It winds up the valley along the course of the shallow Ayguemarse river, between craggy limestone outcrops and emerald-green forest, to a village of 66...

For little-known hedge-fund manager Jim Davis, 2020 is a career-defining year. The one-time analyst for famed hedge-fund manager Julian Robertson Jr. came into the year managing $675 million at his ...

After two people die in unrelated instances outside the school walls, Holmes deduces from the circles around articles names in the newspaper in the professor’s laboratory that the deaths must all be r...

To a voice-over recalling these events, we see Watson arriving at the boarding school where he immediately meets the Young Sherlock Holmes, struggling to master the violin. Within seconds we find out:...

Young Sherlock Holmes follows the adventures of a young John Watson and young Sherlock Holmes when Watson goes to boarding school in Victorian London (maybe around 1860). There he meets the brilliantl...

The man whom I almost ran into insisted on taking me for a meal and a change of clothes - my tweed trousers had been badly torn by the hedge, and the rest of my outfit had been pretty well reduced to ...

The officers – and Coke – are enjoying tasty local chicken, beautifully-cooked French fries and a nice Burgundy wine. Except for the driver – who is drinking lemonade.‘This is my only chance – I have ...

Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing i...

Today, just shy of two months since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, the media are once again flooded with cures, patients such as Michigan State Representative Karen Whitse...

Alibaba Group Holding executives shook hands with top Belgian leaders a year ago on a deal to make the eastern city of Liege the first European hub for the company's Electronic World Trade Platform. T...

The company accelerated its push to study remdesivir after Chinese scientists said Jan. 9 that they had identified the source of the outbreak as a coronavirus, a family of diseases common in animals t...

A team of a dozen executives at drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc. GILD 1.14% meets daily to discuss the coronavirus epidemic in China and the company’s cross-continental scramble to develop the first dru...

Europe’s languages are quite closely related. There are the Germanic languages, which likely started life in southern Sweden over three thousand years ago and now include German, Swedish, Dutch, Danis...

SPAIN, MADRID and RESTAURANTS - Spain is a country of contradictions. Madrid seduces in a way no other city does. It made such a favourable impression That Hemingway wrote: “it is the most Spanish of ...

Van Gogh painted Starry Night at the end of his life, when he was in Arles, in the South of France. At this time, he also made an iconic painting of the cafe in the Place du Forum in the town, which s...

Clockwise is a comedy film from the eighties. It depicts the adventures of a punctual school headmaster as he driver to a conference he had to attend in Norwich. His adventures end up with him being a...

Fu Jianguo is the type of person who would spend his life in complete silence if others didn’t initiate conversations. In his 30-year career as a bird conservationist, the 55-year-old has gotten used ...

Japan’s Red-crowned Crane. The Kushiro Wetlands in Hokkaido. The Kushiro wetlands in eastern Hokkaido is the largest in Japan, covering over hectares. With magnificent scenery and abundant wildlife it...

Welcome to Rome's most famous steps; Scalinata Spagna -- also known as the Spanish Steps. This beautiful place is not only one of Rome's most popular gathering places, but the steps are also one of th...

You've no doubt seen sweeping shots of the iconic Christ the Redeemer monument overlooking Rio de Janeiro. Beyond its breathtaking views, the statue has a colorful history that’s worth exploring, and ...

"Welcome to Fryderyk Chopin Airport, Warsaw,” intones the flight attendant. And sure enough, there on the outside of the terminal building, looming through the darkness of a wintry evening, giant lett...

Among the trains at Strasbourg station once a month a special charter pulls in its full of staff from the European Parliament. Because every four weeks for just four days at a cost of a hundred and fi...

All right, Thomas, make me understand... ...because I tell you, to me this looks like cowardice! All right, I will. This isn't reformation, this is war against the Church. Our King has declared war on...

Blackout from all landing sites continues this evening. Hold on, we are just hearing... I'm being told we're going to cut this report to tell you breaking news... ...China has called an emergency pres...

We're done here! We're taking this with us. I can read it. I know what it is. What? It's not a weapon. It's a gift. The weapon is their language. They gave it to us. Do you know what that means? So we...

I think our work here is done. It's in the hands of our superiors now. What the hell is she doing? Oh, my god! Oh, god, no! Costello... Where's Abbott? Abbott is death process I'm sorry. We're sorry. ...

There must be a way to get the message to them. To our allies, maybe, but it's too little too late. What we need is to get all the other nations online before one starts global war. And there's no way...

We need to talk to the other sites, help them with what they've gotten from the heptapods. We're blacked out. China just threatened to destroy their shell. We're on our own. But this says that all of ...

It's time you opened that bottle you've been hiding. You cracked something, didn't you? Yeah. Come here. Take a look at this section. It seems to be talking about time. Their symbol for time is everyw...

China is on the offensive. They're positioning the military to blow the alien vessel right out of the sky. And if this happens, we can't sit around waiting for retaliation. So, get prepared. The air ...

You suffered a concussion. Just lie back. How do you feel? How is Ian? Same as you. He's okay. Who, um... Who did this? Ah, some soldiers. They've been watching too much TV. What is that? Take it eas...

No, no, no. Dr. banks, you can't go in there. I just need to ask one question. Dr. banks! The session is finished. You can't... you can't go back in. It's dangerous. Look, we just need five minutes. D...

We've never re-entered a session before. Louise, trust me, okay? We've got time. We've just gotta step on it, all right? "Use weapon." This is the alien message said to have provoked the Chinese gover...

Right away, we go back in and we clear this up. It's more complicated than that. How is it more complicated than that? Colonel, the secretary of defense is on the line for you. We need to sit on this ...

Heptapods' purpose. Heptapod purpose earth. What is your purpose? Do we only have Costello? Okay. There you are. What does it say? Offer weapon. You saw what they wrote! Using a word they don't fully ...

Do you know Mandarin? It is shifting. The voice you're about to hear belongs to the Chinese military chief... General Shang. Pull it up! We got a satellite feed here of who he's talking to, if you wan...

Tonight, the first photograph of the aliens goes viral. Biological contamination is a major risk factor at the Montana site. So say environmental pressure groups. 800,000 march on Washington to protes...

Scene 7a Cromwell (who's also present) urges Richard Rich to join his side, wanting info on More. Rich says he can't tell him anything. Scene 7b More reassures Alice about his tiff with the king. Scen...

Catching the Tide. The king ends up leaving prematurely, to the consternation of More and Alice, without eating, and laughing as he leaves some of his courtiers on the bank. This may seem cruel, but o...

The king got permission from the Pope to marry his brother's widow. But he's convinced that this was wrong and unbiblical. He was wrong; but so was the Pope. His wife hasn't given birth to a male heir...

Scene 6 - King's visit - 1 Back at the More residence, King Henry is about to pay Thomas a visit and have an informal chat. Everyone in the household is astir, nervous. When the king arrives on a boa...

Back at the More residence, King Henry is about to pay Thomas a visit and have an informal chat. Everyone in the household is astir, nervous. When the king arrives on a boat, he's accompanied by court...

Scenes 4 and 5 When More arrives at his house in the early morning after the night-time discussion with Wolsey, his daughter's suitor, Will Roper, is there. He asks for her hand in marriage. Thomas re...

At the Cardinal's office, More debates with Wolsey: Wolsey says that More opposed him but declares that he still wants his help. Wolsey wants to put pressure on the Church to force them to grant King ...

Scene 1 We see ferocious gargoyle statues at Hampton, before observing Cardinal Wolsey, King Henry VIII's Chancellor, writing a letter. A messenger takes it down the Thames, which is full of natural b...

(Some days or weeks into the action) IAN AND LOUISE Nice out here, huh? Yeah, it's a nice view. Away from the noise. You know, I was just thinking about you. You approach language like a mathematicia...

All junior xenolinguistics and science personnel must observe 7 general curfew unless expressly authorized 8 for extended work hours by unit CO’s. Curfew in effect as of 22 hours. Notice to all la...

Scenes 7 a-d What's this? - You crossed him! - Somewhat. - Why? - I couldn't find the other way. You're too nice altogether, Thomas. - Woman, mind your house! - I am minding my hou...

On the 9th of May 1509 King Henry the Seventh was laid to rest in his magnificent memorial In Westminster Abbey To the late medieval mind A king should be first and foremost a war leader Hen...

...are at 2.79.. Oxygen level: 21.4.%. Over. Condor, Alpha's now in the nave. Setting up equipment and telemetry. Over. Let's get started. Louise. Louise. I am Louise. What is that? Is that a new symb...

We think we were able to reproduce some prime number sequences back at them. So that's something. Well, congratulations. You're a parrot. It's a lot more than that, you cheeky bastard, don't you see? ...

T-minus minutes to shell access. T-minus minutes to shell access. T-minus minutes to shell access. T-minus minutes to shell access. What's that for? A visual aid. Look, I'm never gonna be able to spe...

Scene Eight (Before contact and first, shadowy glimpse of the Heptapods) We're gonna go down there, and you're gonna start your job. Okay. Okay? Okay. Everybody, move out! Alpha detail is in position...

Is it anything interesting, Matthew? Bless you, sir. I don't know. Bless you too, Matthew. To be sure, we have some holy priests in England. Oh, name some. Brother James. Man's a s...

I want you to take these two to Dr. Kettler. Yes, sir. Follow the captain to medical. It should take just a few minutes, and then we'll get started. We'll take care of your bag. I'll take your cell ph...

What kind of radiation exposure are we walking into? Nominal. These are just for safety. So, is there any physical contact with the, um... Am I the only one having trouble saying "aliens"? There's a w...

It's like we're insects on a piece of paper, and they're easing us out of the house. At exactly 112 minutes and 19 seconds, gravity starts to shift and slides us out of the room. Have you found a sci...

An agreement on sharing scientific discoveries looks closer tonight, as Russia and China join talks at the united nations. Meanwhile, financial markets across the world are in crisis as the Dow Jones...

VARIOUS NEWSREADERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD A communications blackout from all twelve landing sites continues this evening. The possibility of... The two questions on everyone’s mind are... Hold on, we ...

Dr. Banks... A pleasure. General , the pleasure is mine, really. Your president said he was honored to host me at the celebration... Yeah. ...but I confess, the only reason why I'm here is to meet you...

Dr. Banks... A pleasure. General Shang, the pleasure is mine, really. Your president said he was honored to host me at the celebration... Yeah. ...but I confess, the only reason why I'm here is to me...

...blackout from all twelve landing sites continues this evening. Hold on, we are just hearing... I'm being told we're going to cut this report to tell you breaking news... ...China has call...

Here are some of the things we know about heptapods. Greek. Hepta, "seven." Pod, "foot." Seven feet. Heptapod. Who are they? We can see them and hear them, but the heptapods leave absolutely no footpr...

Five hundred years ago an eighteen year old boy sat on this chair in Westminster Abbey to be crowned king of England. He would grow up to become the most infamous monarch in history. Henry VIII is the...

As the movie begins, we see ferocious gargoyle statues in London, symbolizing death, before observing Cardinal Wolsey, King Henry VIII's Chancellor, signing a magnificent letter. A messenger takes it ...

Using a wonderful quill pen, black ink, parchment and a beautiful swirling script, CARDINAL WOLSEY is completing a letter summoning THOMAS MORE to visit him straight away at night, at WOLSEY's reside...

I'm Colonel G.T. Weber. We never formally met, but two years ago, you did some Farsi translations for army intelligence. Oh. You made quick work of those insurgent videos. You made quick work of thos...

Mr. Gilbert? Yes - Good morning We thought you might have caught the earlier train, sir... Yes I did, but it was late - and getting a taxi wasn't easy... Allow me... The historic Hall - built 1550; de...

For now, we're simply asking for cooperation while authorities assess the object. So, you're saying it's not ours? Do you even know if it's from earth? We're still collecting information. We're coord...

Good morning. Morning. Where is everyone? Okay. Well, let's get started. Today we are talking about Portuguese and why it sounds so different from the other romance languages. The story of Portuguese ...

I used to think this was the beginning of your story. Memory is a strange thing. It doesn't work like I thought it did. We are so bound by time, by its order. I remember moments in the middle. And thi...

David Lean’s “Brief Encounter” captures love at its most ephemeral. It depicts the emotional affair between two middle-aged married people aware enough to know their relationship is unsustainable but ...

How Realistic Is the Way Amy Adams’ Character Hacks the Alien Language In Arrival? We Asked a Linguist. Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival makes being a linguist look pretty cool—its hero Louise (Amy Adams) g...

Or are we intending to construct something mysterious, perhaps something akin to Arnold Bax’s ‘Tintagel’ or John Ireland’s, ‘The Darkened Valley’? Or something like the bare Welsh hills in blazing Ind...

The Inner Mindscape Considered Further. What kind of inner mindscape are we priming, in our Dylan-Thomas-like agency (‘the force that through the green fields drives the flower...’)? Are we building a...

Parsimony of Review We try to shy away from too-formally analyzing our gains (acquis), in order to maintain – as far as possible – the maximum clarity for the emerging artistic image being deposited. ...

The Direction of Intellectual Travel. Teaching and learning happens, primordially – top down; but is nurtured by patiently-acquired bottom up accretions. If the ‘chaos theory’ of language-learning may...

The Learning Mind. The teacher and the students together may cooperate to create the ideal ‘learning mind’ in the class situation. This mind should be still, calm, gently stimulated: undistracted, and...

The Inner Mindscape:Ludic Object and Learning Mind. The ‘Ludic Object’. Differentiated Learning anchors itself in different modes of perceiving the ludic object. Rejecting the notion that there is a s...

“No matter what they tell you – women, we are always alone.” That’s a cry that echoes through writer/director Alfonso Cuarón’s gently sweeping , awards-tipped epic , his first Mexican-based movie sinc...

Newcomer Yalitza Aparicio makes an astonishingly natural debut as Cleo, domestic worker for a well-to-do family headed by Doctor Antonio (Fernando Grediaga), at their spacious townhouse in the Colonia...

Acting as his own director of photography (he also edits), Cuarón conjures widescreen monochrome images that combine eerie beauty with startling authenticity. Long takes allow conversations and intera...

The aim of this course is to write a piece of film criticism as sharp and beautiful as, ‘No matter what they say’. This is not going to be easy, because that piece was written by one of the finest fil...

Now, the only real criticism which I had about my last course was about the transparency of my scoring. Even though this criticism, in the event, came from a girl who got (to use the famous phrase in...

Chess and Football: Let’s Learn Strategy! There was a time when, in both football and chess, England was No 1. China has adapted well to both sports, and should be a world force in both before you are...

Now, the only real criticism which I had about my last course was about the transparency of my scoring. Even though this criticism, in the event, came from a girl who got (to use the famous phrase in...

No artist, teacher and student can survive without sustaining criticism. Criticism hurts – especially if it is unjust. But it is best to get used to it. If you should work on a ship, or in the hotel i...

The moment of the introduction of a teacher to new students and new students to a teacher is one of excitement; but also one of fear. The students commonly do not realize that the teacher – exactly l...

We are going to write something from top down. That means, we will handle difficult ideas from the very first. You may think that this is going to be difficult. Do not worry, I am there to guide you! ...

The Moon could be a "beautiful" source of minerals and energy, according to top Chinese scientists. Exotic materials including helium-3 and the moon’s potential for solar power could prove invaluab...

As a boy, Elgar loved _ _ _ _ _ _ [ 6 ]: the Worcestershire _ _ _ _ _ [ 5 ] were close to his house and he would ride his father’s _ _ _ _ [ 4 ] to the top of a little _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [ 8 ], from w...

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [ 8 ] in Hawaiian means ‘_ _ _ _ _ [5] time visitor from far_ _ _ _ [ 4] ’ This strange _ _ _ _ _ _ [ 6 ] is the first interstellar body ever _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [ 8 ]in our solar _ _ _ _...

When we look at art or _ _ _ _ _ [ 5 ] we remember, in England, _ _ _ _ _ _ [ 6 ] for painting and _ _ _ _ _ [ 5 ] for music. This was great romantic art, often an important _ _ _ _ _ _ [ 6 ]_ _ _...

Oumuamua in Hawaiian means ‘first time visitor from far away’ . This strange object is the first interstellar body ever detected in our solar system. Astronomers discovered it last year with the Pan-S...

Imagine if we could replace fossil fuels with our very own stars : recent research in nuclear fusion is helping us get there. The experimental advanced superconducting fusion reactor in China can rea...

A 1931 photo of a summer bathing party in Norfolk shows Hitchens alongside some of the most promising artists of the time: Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson. Whereas his companions are s...

About the painting itself as a painting forgetting about its history we're talking about what I would call a mid period Hitchens that's to say they are paintings that he painted between 1940 and 1960...

Tristan de Cunha was exactly the way I imagined. Overcast at first, but then the light came into play. And I climbed to the top of the volcanic mound from the 1962 eruption. Today the island is a p...

In the ancient lake bed here we can see evidence of the forming lake: a canyon cutting through the crater rim was carved by a river. As the water entered the lake it precipitated sand and mud which wa...

This Mars flyover was produced from NASA images taken from orbit. The blue circle indicates the area the rover will probably land. The arcing hills in the centre, about 1600 feet high, form the rim of...

For many of us the music of Edward Elgar is instantly recognizable Characteristic of the confident Edwardian age he lived in and part of the national heritage just like the man But we are ...

Adolphe Adam was born in Paris, to Jean-Louis Adam (1758–1848), who was a prominent Alsatian composer, as well a professor at the Paris Conservatoire. His mother was the daughter of a physician. As a ...

On 11 December, one of the biggest votes since the second world war will take place in the House of Commons. There will be no hiding place for any of us – each MP will have to make a decision. The im...

On a beautiful June day, Edward Elgar’s music floats through the air at the place where he was born 156 years ago. For the audience in the Elgar Museum, in Lower Broadheath, Worcestershire, it’s a lit...

Chief Islander Ian Lavarello's Tour to Europe 2016 Chief Islander Ian Lavarello arrived by train at London's Euston Station on Sunday 30th October from Manchester, where he has been staying with relat...

What scientists want to do is try to understand the nature of the planet itself: we want to characterize the surface : what material is on the surface? We would like to measure temperatures; we would ...

If you were on the planet Mercury, what you would see is the Sun rising in the East; then it would climb into the sky, and then the Sun would stop at a certain point, move slightly backwards, stop aga...

We have seen two comets; we have seen the other planets; but we do not know a lot about Mercury. What we do know points to a forbidding world pock– marked with craters. Mercury, for us, is a planet...

The Mercury of Roman mythology was an erratic and volatile character; and this Swift moving messenger lent his name to one of the solar system's most mysterious worlds, the planet Mercury. Merc...

When Elgar was a boy 当埃尔加还是个男孩的时候 he spent hours on his own 他 (自己 ta ziji) 花了几个很多小时骑 骑 riding 在他父亲的小 on his father's pony 沿着 along 莫尔文丘陵的山脊上。 the ridges of the Malvern Hills. 埃尔加出生于185...

this was the coldest day I have ever felt. It was the last day of February, 1890. I could have died with the cold. There was only one thing to do: cut their losses. The 'house to let' sign went up on ...

The-winter-here # has-been-truly-awful # wrote Elgar.埃尔加写道==这里的冬天==非常**糟糕

The winter here has been truly awful, wrote Elgar. The fogs are terrifying and make us very ill. Yesterday all day and today until noon we've been in a sort of yellow darkness, Mrs. Elgar noted in her...

Harold mentioned potato patches : that's about a mile down the road the road, the only road. And, of course, there's a bus. The potato patches are the island’s farm. Every family owns several fields t...

Scattered across all seven seas are the islands and archipelagos that make up the fourteen UK overseas territories. One of the most remote of all lies 2500 kilometers west of Cape Town in the centre o...

When Elgar was a boy he spent hours on his own riding on his father pony among the riches of the Malvern Hills. Elgar was born in MDCCCLVII in the shadow of the hills which would have such an influenc...

This is the Galle cricket stadium, one of the most picturesque cricket grounds in the world. But international cricket matches may not be played here again. The stadium is right in the middle o...

Fawlty Towers – Analysis A funny joke in this story is the picture – he never puts the picture up. Basil tries at least five times to put the picture up. At the end of the episode, Basil smashes the p...

Lexi Finnigan 21 Sep 2015 A serial conman, who posed as an aristocrat in a Fawlty Towers-type scam, racked up bills of more than £10,000 in a string of luxury hotels, a court has heard. Alexander Wood...

WINE, OR THE FERMENTED JUICE OF GRAPES AND OTHER FRUITS, has been recognized as long as there have been written recordings of human civilization. Originally, yeast, a living organism found on the skin...

Wines, or the grapes they are made from, obtain their distinctive characteristics as a result of ‘terroir’  a concept which includes the geographic location, climate, soil type, sun exposure, altitud...

Lyrics Like a 454 With the four on the floor Deuce coupe coming at you Avoiding the capture Fall from stop and drop Than we ready to rock And city of steel Catch me cruisin down the block ...

So, if Parliament votes down the Prime Minister’s deal, or she can’t reach a deal, that is not the end of the debate. And Labour must stand up again and shape what happens next. Our preference, ...

Keir Starmer’s speech to the Labour conference in Liverpool was significant for two reasons: for what it said, and for how it went down. As usual, time will tell; but both the speech and the response ...

Finally I found someone mentally unstable enough to lend me his car  at least I think it’s a car...! But Nishan Wurasurya wasn't about to give way to me. He hurried up the hill in 46 seconds. Then it...

With night descending on Nuwara-Eliya, I headed to the Hill Club: for some inspiration and a cup of tea. Built in 1930, it's the bastion of all things British. You see over the years people who kept u...

‘The Mechanic’ doesn't look so sure. Let's have a look under the bonnet, shall we? Just like the old days! Back at Mahagastota, it's practice day; and normally quiet country roads have been turned int...

I'm gonna give you a good fight; and I guess the best man will win but we guys give you a fair chance: and let's see how you guys can fool yourselves! With the gauntlet thrown down, I sought the adv...

The cooling climes of Sri Lanka's hill-country were once as delicious to British colonizers as a warming cup of tea. The best tea plantations are high up here, along with what's left of the ‘Best of B...

They provide health care, child care and other services. But there is still a lack of basic facilities. When they parade in the morning for work, sometimes they’re late; so when you ask the basic que...

This is hard work. This lady and hundreds of thousands of plantation workers like her spend six to eight hours a day harvesting tea-leaves. They are the descendants of people from India, brought to Sr...

86 These days only about 1% of goods are transported by rail. 87 Mr Yonekar has made sure for the past 33 years that everything runs smoothly. 88 I'm the senior conductor on the train during the whole...

63 We've left Kandy behind. The mountain landscape has some visual treats in store for us. Other treats await us on the train. 64 Nileme sells small snacks in the carriages. He's done this for many ...

36 Building the railway line took place under severe conditions. Many of the three thousand workers died of malaria and cholera. 37 Mainline goes through very rough country. It goes through ravines a...

16 We cross the Kelani, one of Sri Lanka's largest rivers, and leave Colombo behind. The entire trip costs between one Euro fifty in third-class and eight Euros in first-class. 17 Sri Lankans are very...

Mainline railway is supposed to be the most beautiful line in the railway. It has such a scenic beauty - you cannot get this type of scenic beauty anywhere in the world. Be it the Pearl of the Indian ...

Poetry in the Landscape. In the fields. A sunny day at the end of winter. A wonderful moment to reflect and to look forward: and to walk out onto the local lands, which I’ve known now for seven years....

Jayant Narlikar Stephen (Narlikar shows Stephen Hoyle's latest paper) A time-symmetric new theory of gravity. It's brilliant. Hoyle at his best. Did you start as his PhD student? (suspecting Hawking's...

Astonish me, young man! Stephen Sciama [Sciama is telling Stephen off but also challenging him) (quite strongly) Science isn't theatre. (defending himself) It needed to be said... (still critical) In ...

Stephen Sciama Mrs Sciama (somewhat obscurely) It's unstable (pouring coffee; not understanding) Sorry? (Interested) Go on.... (pursuing his line of thought) It's unstable You need a negative energy f...

8 Dimensional Penrose Penrose Bar Lady Students (Penrose is absorbed in thought) You alright? Fine. Beer? Yes please. (However Penrose is not paying attention) (to clarify) Did you want another? (P...

5 Brains, balls and cash! Fred Hoyle Stephen (somewhat arrogantly) Hello, young man. - Do I know you? (shyly) Stephen Hawking. (after a small pause) - I applied for you to supervise my PhD. Too busy...

[Stephen and Jane at the theatre] [Before the play] Stephen Jane (they discuss music: Stephen favours Wagner; Jane favours Brahms. Stephen is talking about Brahms...) (critically, dismissively) Poor o...

7. Pass With Distinction The girl Stephen (pretends to make a pass) Excuse me, have you got the time please? I make it half past seven. What time do you make it? (rejecting what she sees as an inap...

3. You Do It By Carrying On (they are worried, and discussing Stephen's diagnosis) He's young, that'll work in his favour. (Frank Hawking is far away in his thoughts...) (to get his attention) Fran...

Happy birthday! - Should we go outside? - What? (Jane gazes at the stars) It makes me feel...small. Very small. All that out there. Us, here. (Joking) Don't worry. Galileo was wrong. St. Albans is abs...

There you are. Your mother sent me to find you. --new matter, which is being created to replace old matter, this process has always existed and will continue forever. Nothing changes, nothing has ever...

PENROSE: You all have big biceps. strong arm muscles. You're right armed. Because you spend half of your lives scrawling tons of chalk dust, across miles of blackboard. I....don't do that.I have somet...

...new matter, which is being created to replace old matter,this process has always existed and will continue forever.Nothing changes,nothing has ever changed.It's my theory.And I've given it a name.I...

Who knows, in any one year, whether the old when they have crossed the passes will be able to face the final test: the crossing of the Bazoft River ? Three months of melt-water have swollen [the ri...

The Bakhtiari bake bread in the biblical manner, in unleavened cakes on hot stones. The girls and the women wait to eat until the men have eaten. The function of women is to produce men-children; ...

There are some nomad tribes who still go through these vast transhumance journeys from one grazing ground to another: the Bakhtiari in Persia, for example. And you have actually to travel with them...

Man is a singular creature. He has a set of gifts which make him unique among the animals: so that, unlike them, he is not a figure in the landscape - he is a shaper of the landscape. This is the Paci...

The scene where we meet Hoyle for the first time: - Action! The universe expands. As galaxies move apart, new galaxies are formed to fill the gaps left behind. The new replaces the old at just ...

The history of man is divided very unequally. There is his biological evolution, all the steps that separate us from ape ancestors. That occupied some millions of years. And then there is his...

Poetry in the Landscape. I In the fields. A sunny day at the end of winter. A wonderful moment to reflect and to look forward: and to walk out onto the local lands, which I’ve known now for seven year...

Stephen Hawking's Big Ideas Made Simple. We all know that Stephen Hawking has worked on some of the biggest questions about our cosmos. But what are those ideas? What’s at the center of a black hole? ...

When we talk about the ancient world we tend to think of rare and exotic artefacts or the monumental remains of epic architecture. But these are just the empty shells that got left behind when the tid...

Istanbul in Turkey a city poised between east and west and between the present and the past. It's a good place to think about where all this comes from not the physical structures of thi...

The Text: Writing’s Tree of Life. Studying English – or any language -is best done with reference to texts. Older teaching methods understood this; the Ancients had nothing else. No methods, no textbo...

Sailing the Seven Seas of Semantics You can look at What? and Why? but expressing your views in what is fast becoming the default communication tool of humanity (the English language) requires us al...

In the corner of the western seas, in the stagnant waters of a great morass, Truly was produced a qilin, whose shape was as high as fifteen feet. With the body of a deer and the tail of an ox, and a...

The final section of the meditation on electricity and the internet, inspired by Horace and Tim Harford.

The middle section of the meditation after Tim Harford

Three things are involved (1) the intentions of the maker (2) the experiment as such; and (3) the input of language itself, influencing the shape of the overall result. It's a quantum field. The 'mat...

Second part of a meditation on the useful arts of electricity and the internet, and how these intermesh with the Ancient World and my own autobiography.

A meditation on innovations such as the micro-chip and electricity placed in the context of the wider human imperative towards renewal.

China's period of global exploration ceased abruptly with the death of Yong Le in 1424; and after that the country 'turned in on itself'. Niall Ferguson teases out the irony that the most globalized e...

China - today a world power increasingly billed as being the most dynamic and promising in the early, globalized, 21st century - was not always so open-minded. In 2011, the energetic and forceful Brit...

Trial 7

Trial 6

Trial 5

Trial 4

Trial 3

Trial 2

Trial

The conclusions about the gold rush in Ivory Coast - that it comes at a cost to the environment; and so should be monitored and regulated.

Just as in Burkina Faso, there is a gold rush in Ivory Coast. So a country first famous for elephant tusks is now famous for gold. But much of the mining is illegal and damaging to the environment. Th...

Sometime in 1413, sailors from Malindi arrived at the court of King of Bengal, India, with a host of tributes. Among them was a giraffe...

A very fair-minded and upbeat - although realistic - documentary from Al-Jazeera yields two interesting texts - entirely reprocessed by the students here at Jiangnan.

A contrasting piece. In the north of Burkina Faso, advanced farming practices are allowing for the regeneration of a depleted environment. This is a success story in a country which has already captur...

Telavi, the former capital of the Kingdom of Kakheti, is a beautiful town with spectacular views of the Alazani Valley and Caucasian mountains. In the 18th century, King Erekle II reigned from Telavi....

Tamta Maridashvili, a young Georgian researcher and economist, has published a lively story in the blog of the ISET (The Institute of Economics of Tbilisi State University) about the entreprenurial sk...

In the Montpellier Film Festival in the South of France, we often discover unexpected nuggets among the long films. One such film is Dede, Mariam Khatchavani's first film.Snowy, mystical and lucid, De...

The BBC's James Copnall at Ouagadougou - Part Two

The BBC's James Copnall writes about a Film Festival held recently in Ougadougou - Burkina Faso (Part One)

Second part of a simplified version of William Moseley's Al-Jazeera report

William Moseley's Al-Jazeera report - simplified. Part 1

Follows on from previous exercise - same GEF source. Features the word 'Ouagadougou' as a blank to be filled in.

A text from the following source (https://www.thegef.org/news/helping-burkina-faso-eliminate-mercury-use-artisanal-and-small-scale-gold-mining-sector) which considers how best to help the artsinal gol...

Sentences - chosen by he students - according to theme (organizational, economic, process) about the Fandura artisanal gold mine in Burkina Faso. Source: 'Journeyman' film on YouTube.

Second half of 'Global Economy 2' - uploaded for those who would like a quicker quiz...

Fifth series of six texts expounding Tim Harford's BBC World Series on, 'Fifty Things Which Made the Modern World'.

Fourth series of six texts expounding Tim Harford's BBC World Series on, Fifty Things which Made the Modern World'.

Third in series of six texts expounding Tim Harford's BBC World Series on, Fifty Things which Made the Modern World'.

Second in series of six texts expounding Tim Harford's BBC World Series on, 'Fifty Things which Made the Modern World'.

First in series of six texts expounding Tim Harford's BBC World Service series on, 'Fifty Things which Made the Modern World'.

We travel to Chile to sample the fog there. Finally we get bored with South American approximations and venture to Rio.

Second text about fog collecting in Peru and Chile.

A trio of small clips illustrate the interesting and ingenious solution to Peru's water problem - where there is little water, but plenty of fog.

Third installment about gold mining by hand in West Africa

600 mines are active – both industrial and traditional. The former president, Blaise Compaore, has let the gold rush get out of control. A gold rush that has helped the country ‘s development. ...

Evocation of challenging gold economy in Burkino Faso, West Africa - first extract.

In the same series as Georgios and Florence Lee, this specially-commissioned interview highlights the life of Coralyyn, a first year Food Science student at Jiangnan University, China.

Geographical theme - Kazakhstan (from Avantour website)

Dramatization of Guardian foreign student interview with a Chinese student at Birmingham.

Next section of interview with Greek Student (source, The Guardian - adapted)

A dramatization of the interview the Education Guardian published with Georgios, a Greek student in the UK

An interview with an International Student (source The Guardian)

Fill the blanks from BBC feel good springtime report (2013)

Announcements. The interhouse boat race was won by Ironsides, and we have to thank, for the excellent organization, Mr Hunter...   Tomorrow, 2pm cricket match Staff and Old Boys versus School Fi...

So that's what you're doing here!? Well, not entirely. What, then? Duck. I thought I might do some shooting. Such lovely creatures and all you men can think of ...

Dollman, skipper of the Medusa, has every reason to feel nervous when he spots an Englishman, Davies, sailing nearby. Dollmann's secret is that he is secretly working for the Germans against the Engli...

We see Carruthers smoking a cigar at his desk, in the Foreign Office in London. Outside it is sunny and green, but he has to stay in, with nothing to do. He is bored. In real life when you are bored, ...

Trial