23 Wednesday Jun 2021
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From BBC News Magazine: The post-war reconciliation between France and Germany was enshrined in a treaty signed 50 years ago. But many believe a song recorded the following year did as much to thaw relations.
Barbara was her stage name – she had been born Monique Serf in Paris in 1930. She was Jewish and so a target for the Nazis. But, two decades after the end of the war, she travelled to the German city Goettingen, as near to the heart of Germany as you can get. Read more here….
12 Wednesday May 2021
London has the red double-decker bus, New York the yellow taxi, and the Philippines has the Jeepney.
The country’s most popular means of public transport zipping by adds a flash of vibrancy in the often frustrating, gridlocked streets of metropolitan Manila.
With names like Delilah and Rosa emblazoned across the front, each one is individually adorned with religious and nationalistic artwork – no two are identical.
For Ed Sarao, head of Sarao Motors – one of the first makers of Jeepneys – the vehicle represents the multi-cultural history of the Philippines.
“There is bit of Spanish, Mexican traits there; how they incorporate vivid colours, fiesta-like feelings. There is a little of the Americans because it evolved from the Jeep. There is a little Japan because of the Japanese engine. But it was built by Filipino hands,” he says.
But while it was once part of the Philippines’ image and identity, the Jeepney has now become something of a dinosaur – and newer, more economical vehicles are starting to take its place. Read the full story HERE.
27 Wednesday Jan 2021
Posted in Holocaust
Following the end of the World War Two, the BBC began a series of special radio appeals on behalf of a group of children who had survived the Holocaust but were now stranded as orphans in post-war Europe. A recording of one of these moving broadcasts still exists in the BBC archives. Seventy years on, Alex Last set out to find out what had happened to the 12 children named in this recording. They had been in many camps, including Auschwitz, Muhldorf, Kauferng, Theresienstadt, Belsen, and Dachau, and the modern-day search took him to Germany, Israel and the United States.
Five of the Holocaust survivors are still alive today, and four of them were well enough to speak to Alex, who was able to piece together their stories of courage and humanity.
02 Wednesday Dec 2020
Posted in Uncategorized
Interesting post from the BBC.
Writer Ann Morgan set herself a challenge – to read a book from every country in the world in one year. She describes the experience and what she learned.
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20130715-reading-the-world-in-365-days
Ann Morgan’s reading list can be found here: http://ayearofreadingtheworld.com/thelist/
18 Friday Sep 2020
By Geeta Pandey BBC News, Delhi: For centuries, professional letter writers have helped millions of illiterate Indians but many have long disappeared from the cities – but not in Delhi, where one man claims to be the last letter writer left in the country’s capital.
An abiding memory of my childhood years in the Indian city of Calcutta is of my mother writing letters for our domestic help, Kailash. Kailash was 50, he was from the neighboring state of Orissa and had never been to school. Every month, my mother would put pen to paper and consult him before writing each sentence. The letters would always begin with “Dear son…” and would then ask after the well-being of his large family. They contained all his news and instructions on how to spend the money he was sending them. In our teenage years, my sister and I took on the responsibility of composing his letters. Kailash lived in our home and he could come to any of us to write his letters.
Jagdish Chandra Sharma is perhaps the Indian capital’s last surviving professional letter writer. Continue reading the main story
23 Thursday Jul 2020
London has the red double-decker bus, New York the yellow taxi, and the Philippines has the Jeepney.
The country’s most popular means of public transport zipping by adds a flash of vibrancy in the often frustrating, gridlocked streets of metropolitan Manila.
With names like Delilah and Rosa emblazoned across the front, each one is individually adorned with religious and nationalistic artwork – no two are identical.
For Ed Sarao, head of Sarao Motors – one of the first makers of Jeepneys – the vehicle represents the multi-cultural history of the Philippines.
“There is bit of Spanish, Mexican traits there; how they incorporate vivid colours, fiesta-like feelings. There is a little of the Americans because it evolved from the Jeep. There is a little Japan because of the Japanese engine. But it was built by Filipino hands,” he says.
But while it was once part of the Philippines’ image and identity, the Jeepney has now become something of a dinosaur – and newer, more economical vehicles are starting to take its place. Read the full story HERE.
RichardbBrunner 