The King and I

Now an interview with Colin Firth

Source: www.speakup.com.br

Language level: Advanced

Standard: British accent

Speaker: Justin Ratcliffe

Interview

THE KING AND I

British actor Colin Firth is the star of one of the most acclaimed movies in recent years: The King’s Speech. The film, which is directed by Tom Hooper, tells the story of King George VI. Before he ascended to the throne, he was known as Prince Albert. He was destined for a life for a relative obscurity, but all that changed dramatically ally in 1936, when his older brother, King Edward VIII, abdicated in order to marry an American divorcee. Wallis Simpson, Albert –or “Bertie” –was suddenly thrust into the limelight. He suffered from a severe speech impediment and the idea of having to speak in public and make a radio broadcasts to the nation traumatised him. The film tells the story of his relationship with an Australian speech therapist, Lionel Logue, who is played by Geoffrey Rush, while Helena Ronham Carter plays King George VI’s wife. Queen Elizabeth.

THE WAR

The Second World War broke out in 1939 and George VI’s task became even harder. He died in 1952, at the age of 55, and was succeeded by his daughter, the current Queen.

When Colin Firth met with the press, he was asked about his preparation for the role, but as he admitted, he hadn’t had much contact with Britain’s Royal Family.

Colin Firth

(Standard British accent)

I was at an event where Prince Charles who’s very gracious with the people he meets, was being ushered around by his private secretary and he would try his best to give as much as of his focus and his interest and he would usually know quite a lot about the people he was speaking to, but the private secretary would be making sure that he didn’t get too long with that person because there’s somebody else in line and he would make that that’s very carefully marshaled. And it was interesting to see people who are otherwise composed and would actually claim not to be impressed by royally suddenly completely transforming and becoming very, very nervous! And you realise that, if you are a member of the Royal Family, you are surrounded by people who are like that all the time and probably that’s how you see the human race!

METHOD ACTING

As Colin Firth admits, preparing for the role of a king wasn’t easy.

Colin Firth

If I were playing a cab driver, I’d probably want to hang around with a cab driver, and maybe drive a cab, and just see what it’s like. And, you know, if I was playing an astronaut, I’d try to meet one, but you don’t get to meet kings and hang around with them, and so your information is secondary: you might meet someone who knows that person. As I said, you can look at what happens when people are around Prince Charles and think, “Wow, that’s what the world looks like to you!” but you never meet a person who’s relaxed and gives you a pat on the back and says. “What’s up?” No one does that! So you try to accumulate that kind of information.  There are a lot of letters, there are a lot of people who have been close to the Royal family, in one capacity or another, and we did speak to people in that position. And you read and you listen and then you just use your imagination.

THE LADY DI FACTOR

Not surprisingly, he was asked for his thoughts about the monarchy:

Colin Firth

I don’t watch them closely, so I don’t know. I mean, I find it very difficult to answer questions about the monarchy because I’m just not a royal watcher, you know, and some people are. I just don’t know anything about them, but it was… an extraordinary moment happened in England, I think, when, at the death o Princess Diana, because, obviously, it was enormous, the effect, emotionally. I mean, people really did become incredibly emotional right across the country. The Queen was criticised, the Palace were criticized for not lowering the flag; it took few days for that to happen and people were emoting all over the place here: “Catch up!” I don’t know what is happening in their real lives behind closed doors. They have the right not to exhibit it to the public, just as any one other family do. I don’t want to be photographed hugging my kids either! But it’s very interesting, somebody made a comment around that time – a columnist said, “It’s interesting about the …”because this idea of British repression has always been a stereotype, which is qualifiable  anyway. I think the English are just as accurately represented by the Rolling Stones, as they are By John Major, or somebody.

THE GERMANS

I mean, the Royal Family aren’t even English anyway! Philip’s Greek, the rest of them are German, you know, they’re immigrants: we (are) all a mixed nation! But this guy said: “We seem to have gone overnight from a country that can’t talk about their emotions to a country that can’t talk about their emotions to a country that cannot stop!”

Everybody was, like, holding each other and hugging each other and suddenly it became essential to hug each other, and, you know: “Have you hugged your kids lately? Have you…how many times have you told them you love them?” and the English have turned into that!

Filming The King’s Speech

Colin Firth also talked about shooting the therapy session scenes with Geoffrey Rush.

It was like doing live theatre in a way. His energy and his humorous gave me so much for nothing. What seemed to be an immense mountain to climb was incredibly easy just because I was in the hands, not only of a director like that but I had an actor who energized me in every way I needed.

What tricks did you use to get that stammer? I don’t know!

Where you able to shed to shed it at the end of the day and?

Oh no, I got a bit confused in my own speech patterns. You know, if you do an exercise often enough, your body will train itself to do that exercise. If you shoot enough baskets you’ll probably get one, you know. If you train yourself to interfere with your brain remembers that and follows it. I spoke to the head of the British Stammering Association a couple of weeks ago and he told me that the research shows now that there’s a strong neurological component. This is not a psychological problem. There’s something happening in the brain that’s physical. I said, “Does that mean that Logue’s on the wrong track trying to get to this through a psychological process? And he said, “Well no, because the therapy helps you come to an accommodation with the problem.” “You learn not be crushed by it, not to be disabled by it. You can find a way forward. There are wonderful great actors who fought stammering.  

IN THE NAME OF POP (the Sixties)

Standard:British accent

Language level: Lower-intermediate

Speaker: Justin Ratcliff

Source: she-sins.blogspot.com

Source: www.speakup.com.br

IN THE NAME OF POP (the Sixties)

      Pop groups choose names to be memorable or stylish. These names become so familiar that we no longer notice their meaning. When you hear Genesis, do you think of the Bible? Do you think of water in the desert when you see Oasis?

      The names of great bands often have hidden meanings. Here we take a look at these origins, to understanding the music and fashions of recent decades.

INSECTS

      “Many people ask what are Beatles? Why Beatles? Ugh, Beatles, how did the name arrive? So we will tell you. It came in a vision – a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them ‘From this day on you are Beatles with an ‘A’.” That is what John Lennon wrote in the Liverpool music magazine Mersey Beat in 1961 (this was before the Beatles were famous).he had tried various names: the Quarry Men, Johnny and the Moondogs, the Silver Beetles, the Silver Beats. His final choice plays on words, suggesting insects, like Buddy Holly and the Crickets, but also “The Mersey Beat” (The rock’n’roll scene of  Liverpool’s River Mersey and “the Beat Generation.”

      Insects would not come back into fashion until the 1980s, with Adam and the Ants. But the Beatles certainly influenced two groups’ name. The Byrds and the Monkees. Playing with spelling has been common ever since. Def Leppard, Megadeth, Black Crowes, Phish.

LIKE A ROLLING STONE…

      In the early 1960s, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards started playing with guitarist Brian Jones. They took their name from a blues song by Muddy Waters, “Rolling Stone” (Later, in 1967, it would also be used as the name a new rock magazine). The phrase comes from a proverb: “A rolling stone gathers no moss.” It’s a classic rock’n’roll sentiment: always keep moving, never settle down.

      Other band names capture that rock sensibility. The Animals sound wild. The Kinks sound idiosyncratic and sexy. “There’s nothing Kinky about us, “said singer Ray Davies. “Kinky is such a fashionable word: we knew people would remember it.”

SURF MUSIC

California band The Pendletones took their name from the Stylish Pendleton shirts. Imagine their surprise when they opened their first single. “Surfin,” to discover that the producer had renamed them the Beach Boys!

      Another classic band began as The Detours, then became The High Numbers, it is said that, while they were trying to think of a new name, guitarist Pete Townshend (who is now dear) kept saying “The Who?” They became The Who and the hits soon followed.

THE SUMMER OF LOVE

The late ‘60s’ brought psychedelic music, with the influence of sex and drugs. The Doors took their name from Aldous Huxley’s 1954 book on drugs. The Doors of Perception. Lou Reed’s group, The Velvet Underground, were inspired by a book on sadomasochism.

      Influenced by The Beatles’ psychedelic album, Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, many chose names reflecting their experimental music: the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Captain Beef heart and his Magic Band. Pink Floyd’s name comes from blues musicians, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council: their original name, the Architectural Abdabs, was much more bizarre.

THE SEARCH FOR SIMPLICITY

      New bands reacted against this complexity. Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker considered themselves the best blues musicians, so they called themselves Cream. Other simple names include Yes, Free, Rush, Wings, Squeeze and Kiss. Freddie Mercury chose the name Queen for its ambiguous royal and transvestite connotations. Peter Gabriel nearly called his band Gabriel’s Angels, but decided Genesis sounded fresh and new. Van Morrison changed the Gamblers name to them.

      

OFF TO THE BEACH!

Source: Speak Up

Language level: B1 Lower Intermediate

Speaker: Justin Ratcliffe

Standard: British accent

BRITISH HOLIDAYS ARE BACK

“Enjoying the Holiday?”I said to Shirley in the local café. Shirley looked at me didn’t say a word. She was dressed in her while uniform and blue apron, and she was sweating. Her customers were dressed in T-shirts and sunglasses, carrying beach balls and deck chairs. Shirley ran around, pouring cold drinks, preparing sandwiches and trying to keep the flies off the food.

Walking down Albert Road today, it seems as if everyone is on holiday. Mr. Venn’s piano shop is shut. Leo’s delicatessen has a sign: “on vacation.” Everybody is in shorts or swimming costumes. Most of them are already sun burnt. Britain’s weather is not reliable but, when the sun comes out, you can be sure we’ll get burnt!

BESIDE THE SEASIDE

“In the old says,” said Shirley, when things calmed down, “British beaches were full ever summer. With cheap rail travel, the Victorians became obsessed with holidays by the sea. Bridgton and Margate in the south, Blackpool and Scarborough in the north: all desirable destinations for rich and poor. Great hotels were built, music halls, palaces and piers.” She showed me postcards of typical British beach scenes. Beach cricket. Ice cream. Large ladies in small swimsuits. Men in deck chairs, their heads covered with a knotted handkerchief.

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

“The Emperor Louis Napoleon III of France and Empress Eugene loved the British seaside, “Shirley said. “Graham Greene describes their sute in his novel Brighton Rock.”

“So what happened?

“Cheap flights,” said Shirley simply. “When they could afford it, everybody flew abroad: Spain, Florida, Tuscany. The seaside became unfashionable. Grand hotels fell into decay; piers fell into the sea. Michael Ryan and Stelios Hai-loan-nou have a lot to answer for.” I looked at the crowds heading for the sea: “But now it’s changing?

Shirley nodded and wiped her forehead. “Global warming. Flights are expensive and damage the environment. Luckily Britain’s getting warmer. I sell English wine now, and people love it!”

The British seaside is back. Get out the bucket and spade. Send your friend a saucy postcard, and let’s building a sandcastle. You must excuse me: I’m off to the beach.

HOLIDAY GLOSSARY

Holiday comes from the Old English “halidgag” or holy day. The word meant a religious day. Today, the holidays mean any break from work or studying, but especially the Christmas, Easter and summer breaks.

If you are on holiday, it means you are not working: it can also mean you are travelling. In the USA, on vacation has both meanings.

A new variation is the stay-cation, which entered the dictionary in 20099. In this economic crisis, many people stay at home for their holidays, so they can save money and enjoy the things they normally don’t have time for.

House-swapping is another great way to have a holiday without paying for hotels. In fact, I’m borrowing my friend Harry’s house in Scotland next week. Harry called it “pigsitting” because he lives on a farm –like babysitting. Only with pigs – but this is not a real word! It’s always a good idea to look up national holidays of any country you visit. It may be difficult to shop or do business, or there may be celebrations. Try these sites: http://www.holidayyear.com http://www.bank-holidays.com

A gap year can be taken between school and university: a chance to travel, work and discover yourself. Later in your career this is “taking a year out.”

A break from the military (or prison) is called furlough, if you have permission. If you don’t, you are AWOL –“Absent Without Leave” –and in big trouble!