Where are they now?

Source: Speak Up

Language level: Pre-intermediate

Speaker: Chuck Rolando

Standard: American Accent

PATTY HEARST

 source of the picture: http://www.nndb.com/people/363/000025288/

Have you seen the 1941 Orson Welles movie Citizen Kane? Orson Welles based “Charles Foster Kane” on a real person: William Randolph Hearst, a rich newspaper publisher and politician. In the movie Kane lived in a enormous palace called Xanadu. In reality Hearst lived in an enormous palace in California called Hearst Castle. Hearst was famous in America in the first half of the 20^th century. His granddaughter, Patty Hearst, was famous in the 1970s.

TERRORIST

William Randolph Hearst died in 1951. His granddaughter Patty was born in 1954. She had a typically rich childhood, but that changed in February 1974. Patty was in an apartment in Berkeley (near San Francisco) when terrorists kidnapped her. The terrorists were members of the Symbionese Liberation Army. Patty  was their hostage and the SLA ordered Patty’s parents to donate food to the poor families of California. The Hearst family gave $6 million worth of food, but the SLA said was of bad quality!

THE BANK JOB

In April 1974 Patty made a shocking announcement. She said she was a member of the SLA and that her new name was “Tania.” A few days later members of the SLA robbed a bank in San Francisco. Patty was a member of the gang. The police arrested Patty and other SLA members in 1975. Her trial began in 1976.

     

The big question was this: was Patty really a terrorist, or did the SLA brainwash here?

According to the jury, she was a terrorist. She went to prison. Her sentence was 35 years, but it was reduced to seven years. After two years President Jimmy Carter ordered her release and she left prison in 1979.

A DOG’S LIFE

Today Patty Heasrt is 56. She is married and has two adult daughters who are models. Patty Hearst has never worked – her family is extremely rich – but she has a new passion in life: dogs. She owns French bulldogs and they often win dog shows. Patty refuses to talk about her past. But she is happy to talk about her dogs!