03 Friday May 2019
Posted in My Poems
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/
30 Saturday Mar 2019
Posted in culture, discovery, Environment, History
From the BBC: Plans to build a new road in Iceland ran into trouble recently when campaigners warned that it would disturb elves living in its path. Construction work had to be stopped while a solution was found.
From his desk at the Icelandic highways department in Reykjavik, Petur Matthiasson smiles at me warmly from behind his glasses, but firmly.
“Let’s get this straight before we start – I do not believe in elves,” he says.
I raise my eyebrows slightly and incline my head towards his computer screen which is displaying the plans for a new road in a neighboring town. There are two yellow circles marked on the plans, one that reads Elf Church and another that reads Elf Chapel. Petur sighs.
“Ok,” he acknowledges wearily. “But it’s not every day in Iceland that we divert roads for elves. It’s just in this case we were warned that elves were living in some of the rocks in the path of the road – well, we have to respect that belief.” He grins shyly and picks up his car keys. 
“Come on, I’ll show you where the elves live,” he says indulgently. Read More here
01 Saturday Dec 2018
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. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02qh7v5
20 Friday Jul 2018
Posted in cats, Environment, Research
Ever wondered what your cat spends its time doing when you’re not around? Where do our purring pets go when they disappear through the cat flap? Armed with GPS tracking devices and micro-cameras, a team from BBC Two’s Horizon program in collaboration with the Royal Veterinary College set off to a Surrey village to find out. Discover more by clicking this link and selecting a cat.
