Podcasts about Embankment

In this podcast we look at a section by the side of the Thames opposite the London Eye, which hasn't always been there! So join us for a look at this area and why it is so important to London!

What is the secret of the curiously empty seat on the Embankment between the Avenue and Westminster Bridge?This original recording is an audio presentation by Jasper L'Estrange for EnCrypted Horror. “ON THE EMBANKMENT” by Hugh E. Wright (1919).CREATOR'S NOTE: Due to some copyright confusion, Spotify have alerted me to the fact that 61 episodes of the podcast (basically most of the early episodes that feature a piece of music called "The Black Waltz" as a theme tune) may soon disappear from the platform. I am trying to resolve this. The composer allows his music to be used under a creative commons licence provided he receives attribution, so I'm not sure what's going on. But if you find episodes disappearing from Spotify...that's what's happened!

This time on Bylines Reports, our host across the border in Scotland, Ronnie Barbour, comes to us from Embankment, interviewing a group called Patriotic Millionaires.Patroitic Millionaires are a group of British Millionaires who are advocating for higher taxes on the wealthy, to help out struggling services and economy.

This week: Studio Series 86 Galvatron found at US retail. Also, that Trypticon redeco is going to hurt our wallets.

This week: Studio Series 86 Galvatron found at US retail. Also, that Trypticon redeco is going to hurt our wallets.

Ken heads back to his roots and where he first started out in London for a tour of the Victoria Embankment Gardens. #gardeningtips #gardeningadvice #winter #xmas #garden == We're delighted to have Gro-rite Horticulture sponsoring World Radio Gardening, find out about automatic pot watering systems available for mail order delivery: https://bit.ly/3wCPyHy For 2024, World Radio Gardening is planning a series of 4 exclusive newsletters. These will be loaded with extra special content and deals for you as a gardener. Make sure you don't miss out by signing up today via sign-up page: https://bit.ly/3RWwhYR The second newsletter is out now here: https://bit.ly/3RWwhYR – don't miss the next one! Also, don't forget – if you like what we do, why not tip Ken and team with a coffee – Buy us a coffee (https://bit.ly/48RLP75) – as a thank you for the work done to bring this website to life.

今回のRADIO YAMABONは、6月8日・9日に広島県 佐伯区湯来町で行われた「ユルマル湯来珈琲まつり」の会場で公開収録を行いました！ゲストは、エチオピア旅のメンバーでラストとなりますEMBANKMENT Coffee 上田真也さん！ さすがは from 大阪！緊張気味のMOUNT 山本をほぐしてくれる軽快トークで、いつも通りのユルマル収録となりました。 「バリスタ」のかっこよさに惹かれ、18歳からコーヒーの世界へ飛び込んだうえしんさん。カフェやバリスタを教育の現場でしっかり学び、自分の好きなスタイルを確立させていった道のりは、MOUNT山本とはまた違うコーヒー人生でとても興味深く、また同じエチオピア旅でもそれぞれ異なる決意を新たに帰国していたことも改めて伺えたのがとても良かった。 「バリスタ」への思いや、次の世代への期待など、これまでのエチオピアメンバーとは違う視点や姿勢で、ラストにして新鮮なトーク。 旅をともにしたメンバーが同じ湯来の会場でそれぞれコーヒーを淹れているシチュエーションもなんだか奇跡みたいで、嬉しい嬉しい公開収録でした。 うえしんさん、そしてエチオピア旅を共にしたロースターのみなさん、改めてありがとうございました！ thank you!!! うえしん!! >>>EMBANKMENT Coffee うえしんさんのpodcastはこちら！>>>コーヒーと色々。

"Being the account of the hole, the wonderful way it was filled, and with what. Written for the wireless by Spike Milligan." On the 12th August 1957 a Daily Mirror reporter encountered Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan larking about around Cleopatra's Needle on London's Embankment: ""This is 1887!" yelled Spike Milligan, standing on the base in a pair of rust corduroy trousers, green shoes, a tail coat - and a topee. ""We've just brought this back from Africa, a well-known place." "Alongside him were Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers in tail coats and toppers. Harry screeched (and ducked): "Look out - pigeon!" then started to sing a song about "Lord Palmerston I love you..." "Having all convinced themselves that they had just brought the needle back across the seas, Harry announced: "I now declare this needle well and truly threaded!" "Then they sang: "There'll always be an England" and gave three hearty cheers for the Empire." Some three years after the interesting experimental edition of the Goon Show called The Starlings which was performed more as a radio play without an audience, in August 1957 the Goons reconvened ahead of the 8th series to record The Reason Why in a similar fashion. It purported to tell the story behind the transportation of Cleopatra's Needle from Alexandria to London but through a typically Goonish filter. Produced by Jacques Brown and also featuring Goon Show rep company player Valentine Dyall, The Reason Why was not quite as successful in its execution as The Starlings, but still a fascinating curio and this week Phil Shoobridge joins Tyler to talk about it.

In this episode, I talk to the wonderful comedian, RED RICHARDSON. The comedian Red Richardson is the son of director and screenwriter Peter Richardson of The Comic Strip fame. Known for his hysterically funny jittery side full of angst, Richardson has a wonderful delivery and presence on stage.  His two Edinburgh Fringe solo shows Seeing Red in 2018 and Shots Fired in 2022 both won critical acclaim. I have seen Richardson appear as a guest for the Boatshow Comedy Club at The Tattershall Castle on The Embankment in London in 2022.  Thank you so much for listening to my podcast, if you like what you hear, please subscribe and I hope you enjoy the interview. Please read Red Richardson's blog at: www.arichcomiclife.blog/2022/10/09/red-richardson/ Red Richardson's links:   Twitter (X): www.x.com/redrichardson1 Instagram: www.instagram.com/redrichardsoncomedy/ Website: www.redrichardsoncomedy.com  

#UK: AntiSemitism remains a problem in Labour.  Dr. Alan Mendoza is the founder and executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, a UK-based foreign and security policy think tank.. Malcolm Hoenlein @Conf_of_pres @mhoenlein1 https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1891163/Labour-candidate-Israel-chief-whip 1874 The Embankment

GOOD EVENING: The show begins in the Federal Reserve boardroom with Jerome Powell's dilemma -- to raise interest rates three times in 2024 or to maintain the highest rate in 23 years? Then to Radio City Music Hall for the Three Presidents event to raise money and enthusiasm for President Biden's reelection campaign. Next, to Damascus, Tehran, and Qom for the succession struggle. To Gaza, Jerusalem, and Washington D.C. To London for Easter in the City, then to Addis Ababa, Damascus, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, and Washington D.C. To Moscow, Pyongyang, and Beijing. Finally, to Beirut, waiting on Hezbollah to launch or stand down. Thank you. 1874 John O'Connor, "The Embankment."

17th March 2024 The Spokesmen Cycling Podcast EPISODE 349: Turn on Strava for everyday journeys, it could reshape streets for the better SPONSOR: Tern Bicycles HOST: Carlton Reid GUEST: Tom Knights, Strava Metro LINKS: https://www.the-spokesmen.com/ https://www.ternbicycles.com https://twitter.com/CarltonReid https://press.strava.com/articles/stravas-metro-reaches-significant-milestone-of-10-year-anniversary https://metro.strava.com Carlton Reid 0:13 Welcome to Episode 349 of the Spokesmen cycling podcast. This show was engineered on Sunday 17th of March 2024. David Bernstein 0:28 The Spokesmen cycling roundtable podcast is brought to you by Tern bicycles. The good people at Tern are committed to building bikes that are useful enough to ride every day and dependable enough to carry the people you love. In other words, they make the kind of bikes that they want to ride. Tern has e-bikes for every type of rider. Whether you're commuting, taking your kids to school or even carrying another adult, visit www.ternbicycles.com. That's t e r n bicycles.com to learn more. Carlton Reid 1:03 I'm Carlton Reid. On today's show, I'm talking with Tom Knights. He's the senior manager of partnerships and marketing for Strava Metro. This is a super-useful active travel city-making dataset-service from the athlete tracking app. And if you bristled at the word athlete, because you think there's no sport in transport, listen on ... Strava metro was very, very insistent in 2020. About how successful cycling and and walking in all active mode because of the pandemic and the blog posting was, you know, we're very pained to say this. However, you know, it's really, really, we're going crackers with the amount of cycling as you know, the bike boom, yeah, what did go amazing. Now, the bike industry right now is famously and woefully massively down in the dumps. So what have you seen with usage? So what has happened since 2022? actual usage of bicycles not just, you know, we know the sales are bad. Is the usage bad also? Tom Knights 2:21 Yeah, that's a really good question. And actually like to say the kind of the free, the free, free call to Strava Metro kind of suddenly going free was actually very well timed, unfortunately, under very difficult circumstances globally. One of the reasons like I say, we kind of made Strava Metro free wasn't actually because of the pandemic and the looming kind of crisis. And obviously, this switch to human powered transportation. It was like, almost like an unfortunate timing, but but obviously beneficial for cities and all the planners that start to use this data. So yes, we definitely saw this huge boom during the kind of 2020 21 era. And thankfully, because a lot of cities and a lot of regions and governments had the foresight to start investing in protecting cycle lanes in safe routes, which we know is one of the biggest barriers to people actually kind of picking up a bicycle. Lot of those initiatives have stayed, and we hope that they've stayed because actually, they've been able to see some of the Strava activity straight through Strava Metro, and then use that against other data sources to start to understand actually, is this being used in terms of trends, and overall, we've definitely seen more of a normalisation but again, what we are seeing is obviously, people looking for alternatives to either commute, and then well, kind of 2024 the word commute looks a bit different than maybe it did in 2019. But anything that's a utility trip, and essentially through safe and accessible infrastructure. That's what we know. And I'm sure you know, from all the kind of conversations you've had over the years, that's the biggest driver to people, making it feel safe. So, long story short, yes, we've definitely seen a normalisation now, in terms of growth Carlton Reid 4:06 Normalisation, that sounds like quite a bit of a euphemism for, for what? Tom Knights 4:12 So I guess the new the new normal as it were, so we've definitely seen that growth. And then now what we've seen, like I say, as people who are consistently cycling now, and then obviously, we hope that through infrastructure improvements into society into communities, that will then also encourage even more folks to pick up a bicycle on that front. Carlton Reid 4:33 I'm gonna carry on digging here, because I think it's quite important. So that graph that was on the Strava Metro, I remember it well, the human powered transportation one Yep. Yeah. So I mean, that was that was great. But, you know, so when you've been normalisation, is that graph, it went up like crazy. And do you mean by normalisation that it went down so well usage is down or has plateaued, Tom Knights 5:00 so not I mean, it's difficult to say but I wouldn't say plateau because we're always seeing kind of growth. And that's what's so exciting a and I can't necessarily kind of say a lot more about the Strava core Strava world because of course, that's a different kind of department as it were. But in terms of the Metro world, and what we're seeing in terms of cycling, in general, we've just seen that spike from 2019 to 2020, that continued growth into 2021. And now what is is probably more of that kind of continuous steady growth. As opposed to that, we I wouldn't say we've definitely seen any kind of drop off as it were on that front. Carlton Reid 5:34 So it's interesting, because we now have metrics that we just didn't have, you know, 10, 15 20 years ago, from an industry perspective, used to be able to track sales of number of bikes, and but you never knew whether, actually people even though a few bikes sold, actually, people might actually be riding more, potentially. So now we have metrics from from people like you, where you can not only track the number of bikes sold, but you can also track roughly whether people are using those bikes. So that's fascinating information from a market point of view. And the way I'm going from on that is you've got some high end holiday companies, you know, Glorious Gravel going to Sri Lanka, Namibia, all these amazing places with people who got clearly a lot of money and a fair bit of time. Yeah, still getting out there cycling. So when we haven't seen that end shift at all. But no, that's the rarefied end, isn't it? That's like, Yeah, from from a metro point of view. Tom Knights 6:42 Yeah, definitely. I mean, I in terms of, you know, think travel and tourism, that is obviously a kind of luxury. And, you know, for kind of people a having the kind of means to kind of jump on a plane or to kind of visit and take the time off. And that's great, though, for kind of seeing that, that boom, because we want people to kind of get an introduction to cycling in general. And if that means discovering it on a holiday tour, fantastic. Hopefully, that then translates into cycling into work maybe two or three days a week, or suddenly dropping a car trip once a week, because they've discovered the joy of cycling. But I think January what we're hoping, though, is we see this bike boom, fueled by better and safer streets. That's, that's our kind of main concern is that, if you build it, I know, you've heard this phrase a lot before, you know, if you build it, people will come. And we know that from Strava Metro data, when you look at the kind of streets where there's been investment, the Before and After Effects is amazing. See this kind of increase in trips. Now, of course, you might say, Well hold on Strava growth. But actually, what we're seeing is that Strava Metro data alongside Eco-counter or Telraam data, you can start to kind of normalise and build a model. And I think that's what we're we're hoping that people can start to, as you mentioned, all these amazing datasets start to pull these together, and then really build this picture to kind of tell a different story than perhaps maybe the negative stories are saying in terms of, you know, cycling booms over or no one's using this bike lane, etc. Carlton Reid 8:10 And this is an obvious question, okay. And this is a question that I'm sure you are incredibly well used to batting away, and you know, you're gonna get it. And you, you could almost do it yourself. So that is in your documentation. It's all about athletes. Of course, when you put that into Strava Metro, you're talking about non lycra. I know you discuss this on your blogs, but just just tell me now, why I would be wrong to suggest that Mamils, women on bikes and lycra why the data is robust, even though you talk about athletes? Tom Knights 8:53 Yeah, no, you're quite right. And it's a, it's a really good point. And I suppose, from the data point of view, we're not looking at, we look at those as activities and people and trips so that the athletes is more of a kind of Strava kind of communications in a playful way to call our community athletes, and you've probably seen various different messages over the years about, you know, if you're an athlete, you're on Strava. And, and essentially, there is a lot of truth in that, you know, we want anyone who moves through human powered transportation, or through moves and find their joy in discovering movement ways we would define as an athlete, you know, anyone who is doing that, now appreciating the world of transportation planning and bike lanes and commuting, you might not think, you know, cycling across the Waterloo Bridge in the morning at 830. You're an athlete, but essentially, from a metro point of view, what we're looking to do is see these community based trips as data points, like say that can be used for improving infrastructure on that front. And I think the way that actually I would position it personally is often thinking, well, everyone who uploads a ride on to Strava is a human powered counter, because through through Metro That's going towards some kind of better cause in terms of funding and reviewing active travel investment. But I do understand your point about you know, Mamil. And you know, a lot of drivers growth in the early days was fueled by that amazing core set of athletes. And you know, I grew up in this town called Dorking, which you're probably familiar with, from the classic ride, sorry, and I'm very familiar, you know, the weekends kind of seeing, you know, the the kind of, I say the kind of more sportive rides coming through the town. But actually, what that served is actually an inspiration for more people's go. Actually, that was quite fun. I should try that. And I think the data we're seeing through Year in Sport that we've done anecdotally, through Metro data, that actually we've got a lot more 18 to 34 year olds, who are now also discovering the joy of active transportation. And again, Metro data is telling us that it's not just, you know, the weekend, you know, the Saturday morning at 10am, in the Surrey Hills or on the the kind of Yorkshire Dales it's actually taking place on the streets of Manchester, or the streets of London, etc. And I think that's what we're hoping is that story through community or athletes, as you know, we're calling it that that helps planners to see that trend is is not just, you know, the kind of Lycra brigade Who are you know, cycling and I would all use what the same people that are cycling at the weekends, you know, on the kind of right sorry, classics or up in the Yorkshire Dales are also the same people that are using bike lanes. And equally as important when we're thinking about counting. Carlton Reid 11:30 Of course, you're not getting the invisible in American terms, it's called the invisible cyclists. So these are often Latino. Basically poor people on bikes, who are definitely not going to be using Strava. But going to using bikes, and then they call them invisible cyclists, because they're not on bicycles that perhaps an enthusiast would ride, but they are using bicycles and all power to their elbow, but power to their knees. Now, you're not capturing them. So if you're not capturing a significant number of people who are using the roads, does that not suggest that you're missing an important chunk of people who are not using? You just can't capture everybody? And how important is that? Tom Knights 12:27 Yeah, really, really good point. And I guess a couple of bits on that is that essentially no data set, you know, the world is accurate, you think about a, you know, a bicycle counsellor on the embankment or, you know, in the middle of Manchester, or even in the rural area, you know, if someone doesn't go through that specific kind of counting station, as it were, you're not being picked up in the count. And I think that's what Strava Metro is really kind of aiming to do is essentially colouring the map with all the blank spots that aren't being picked up. And being free, which is, again, one of these kind of opportunities to kind of get this data into the masses, allows transportation planners allows Safe Streets advocates, anyone who's focused on transportation equity and environmental racism to dive into that data and go, Okay, looks like actually, there's people going through this counting station here. But actually, Strava Metro is also showing us that people are going down this route. So what's interesting what's going on there. And again, you're quite right to call out that the heat map, for example, in, you know, maybe underrepresented areas, or places that don't necessarily have the same political will have, you know, more affluent areas who have perhaps built cycle lanes or made their streets more attractive from things like heat islands, you think about kind of cities outside of the UK that suffer a lot from high temperatures, you know, the streets are not necessarily designed for being walkable and bikable. That's what we're really hoping we can also use the Strava data to show what's not happening, as well as what's happening. And again, a lot of the work that Metro is involved in is ties back into this kind of social impact piece. It's not just, you know, we obviously want this data to be used by, you know, transportation planners, but we're also hoping we can start to, you know, work a lot more with, you know, say advocacy groups, anyone likes easy, bold environmental racism and transportation equity, to really kind of look at that data, and metrics looks, it's been designed that anyone including myself, I'm not a geospatial professional, but I can see, you know, through a map and looking at certain areas where people are cycling and when they're not cycling, but also we want to build a product and I can't really, you know, say I'm not necessarily holding the Strava product side, but we want to build an experience, which is all encompassing for everyone on there, but I definitely understand your point about the barriers to entry, you know, just in general, you cycling you need to have a bike to join Strava you need a mobile phone that supports you know, obviously your Strava although we do have connections with lots of fitness devices, but again, that comes at a cost, but hopefully, the more people that learn about Metro and the authenticity and the kind of the fact that it's free. The fact that Strava is free to join, it gives people a sense of empowerment that actually, I can change something that's happening on my street. And that's a big part of the messaging that, you know, I'm working on, and certainly have been working on for the last five years, because as you say, maybe the association with Strava is it's just for athletes, or people who are doing k runs, and Q RMS, etc. But actually, what we're seeing is that more and more people are turning to Strava, to kind of log their activities, and hopefully through when they learn about Metro, they'll realise that they're actually changing their communities, because that data is really kind of playing a part in helping to shape your better infrastructure or, essentially, build a political case for more investment. Carlton Reid 15:45 Good point. So somebody like me, who's been a Strava member since 2013 I discovered by looking into my profile this morning, Tom Knights 15:53 and then thank you for your long term membership. Carlton Reid 15:57 I would say, I'm not a frequent updater. But I should be, shouldn't I? So what you're saying is people like me who have it on our phones, don't use it, you know, because I don't consider myself an athlete. Yeah, that should be turning on, for even everyday journeys, because it helps. Tom Knights 16:18 So I've been, you know, I'd have that in writing. And, as it quite, you know, when we kind of go out to advocacy kind of events and talk to kind of people because I think, as you've just said, you know, the more people that discover about this, you know, cycle of like Strava, being free and then wanting to make streets better. And then Metro, obviously, enabling that, we think there's a really compelling story. And I genuinely there's, this is such a passionate thing to kind of work on. And I think we're very lucky, you know, part of the metro team to be able to have these conversations with partners all over the world. And I think we are we've met at Velo-city a couple of times before. And the one thing that comes up all the time at these conferences is, you know, how are we measuring it? Or how do we win the case for safer streets? And, you know, this is our answer to that and to say, well, let's come together and bring all these amazing datasets that are available out there. You know, let's build a case and get people to see that this is available. Carlton Reid 17:12 And those datasets, the expectation is, from your point of view, that a transportation planning department will be using multiple sources, they won't be just using Metro. They'll be using their own counting devices, hopefully, if they've got them. And they'll be plotting everything. And they'll have some sort of, will they have a desktop with everything on? Or have they got like a look at lots of different screens? Tom Knights 17:40 Yeah, so what we hear from from foreigners, they use a lot of geospatial kind of software, you know, there's obviously various different enterprise kind of grade level software and data analytics tools where you can always ingest multiple sorts of data. So we make extracting the data from from Metro, which is, I'm sure, hopefully, everyone realises completely anonymized, obviously, and then also aggregated, we make that very easy for partners to essentially download, and then upload back into, like, say, all of this data planning tools. And obviously, you know, there's multiple data sets out there. And largely, like I say, we use the same mapping tools as well. So OpenStreetMap is really important, you know, in terms of, actually, how do you paint a picture of your infrastructure in your area. And like, say, planners will then use that to build reports to kind of maybe produce research, and then essentially come up with this kind of our number, which says, you know, for every X number of trips on Strava, you can say that there's 100 trips of normal, non non Strava usage, for example, send your Strava. But, and we've seen a couple of examples that, you know, the Office of National Statistics have done that, in rural remote areas, Transport for London, have been using it to kind of model traffic lights through London and the timing that you get on green times, you know, and it's not just Strava D. So you don't want to build cities just around one particular user. But that's why being like I say, a free tool to do that allows us to kind of plug into all these other datasets. Unknown Speaker 19:12 Let's let's go backwards a little bit into Carlton Reid 19:16 that, that I'll use your term, the athlete, so you basically got a rider? Yeah, going along. I'll use like, even though I'm like to 50 miles away. I'll use London as an example. So going along the Embankment. Yeah, yeah, yes, you've anonymized all the data. So this is not you know, you know, you don't know this particular person on a bike at all. You can't track anything. But you can see at a granular level, whether they are on the road or whether they are on the Embankment cycleway, and you can see where they make that you know, sudden turn like there's a there's a few turns on the embankment where you've got to make quite a shift to get on to the cycleway. So you in Strava Metro, you can see that too. happening? Tom Knights 20:01 Exactly that so we can see, like I say the, I think there's something like 420 million edges in the whole world. So edge is referred to as streets on OpenStreetMap. And if you've got some enthusiastic mapping listeners on this podcast, hopefully they might be able to write in and correct me in some tell me how many exactly edges there are. But if you think about the world as all of these kind of different edges and routes that are built up, where there's been a Strava activity gone over the top of that, and, of course, where there's been a minimum of free, which allows us to kind of aggregate those activities, we can exactly that show you where people have turned left, how many trips went off, on a certain direction? Was this route busier because of a road closure one week? Or was this route more improved year on year because of a safer kind of passageway? You know, I appreciate we're talkinh about cycling here. But if you think about running and walking, you know, was this improved? Because there was better lighting? Or were more people using this pathway, because, you know, there was a kind of nice new path put down. So I think this is like it's this kind of colouring in the map with all the other kind of datasets that are available. And then Strava can kind of tell you that picture of where, you know, there has been activity. Carlton Reid 21:12 So when Nick Ferrari goes on the radio and says, I got stuck behind a cyclist on the Embankment, they should be on the cycleway. You could or anybody could go to Strava Metro, and say, well, actually, that must have been just a completely unusual person. Because look, 99.9% of of cyclists are going on to the cycleway. And here look, we can show you the heat map where that is happening. That's what you can do? Tom Knights 21:42 Exactly that. And like I say you want one colour, I would say is it's not anyone. So that was one of the caveats to the authenticity of the kind of Metro project. And I know that word authenticity thrown a lot you know about but that the only reason Metro works is because the Strava community buy into this idea that the data has been used for something good, not for commercial purposes. So not anyone can access Metro, but TfL can access it, for example, in your example of the bike lanes in London, London cycling campaign could access this because of course, you know, they're involved in advocacy work. Unfortunately, LBC wouldn't be able to access this, because obviously they're using it for other purposes. But actually anyone involved in safe infrastructure, and we hope that this is it, you know, when the the transportation teams, all these different medical authorities or local authorities can actually go, actually what we have seen on the street is that X percentage of people are using this bike lane on there. And that's, that's what I think it's going to take to kind of not win the argument, but really convinced people that bike lanes are being used, and they're a good investment. They're just incredibly efficient, because you never see anyone in traffic. And then yes, people are constantly moving. Carlton Reid 22:53 Yes. Now, I know you're not on this side of it. So it's a slightly unfair question to ask, but I'd like one I'd like you to tell me about anyway. So at the end, not not now. But at the end, I'd like you to go through and just tell people how much it costs to, you know, go the full fat version of Strava. But before you do that, and that's going to be the end anyway, just let's just, you know, just confirm this right now, you do not need to use Strava Metro for is free for transportation planners, anybody else. But you don't need any, you're not going to get hassled to become a pro member. To be one of these people like me who just want to do good for the community by turning metro or Strava on for our normal daily rides, you won't be charged for that you can get a free membership that will do everything apart from all the pro level stuff that you don't need anyway, if you're just one of these lapsed people? Tom Knights 23:56 Yeah, it's possible. And so, you know, Strava is like has always operated on that kind of freemium model, as it were, that you know, at its simplest, you can download the app, join the community upload rise. And then if you've made that road public, so I should have added that caveat as well, that will contribute to metric because of course, you know, people might want to hide the start or the end of their journeys, they won't count. Some people might want to also hide a certain route. But hopefully, like say when they hear about the project and go actually, this is a pretty good idea, I should start uploading my routes and maybe, you know, further down the line as they kind of start to explore Strava they want to kind of look at a route or they want to kind of go oh, that could be quite a good tool to have because I've got more into my cycling journey, then yes, of course. Strava is open for them. But at its source and Metro, they are both free. Carlton Reid 24:46 Mm hmm. Okay. At this point, I would like to cut away to my colleague, David who will give a short break. David Bernstein 24:56 This podcast is brought to you by Tern bicycles. The good people at Tern are committed to building bikes that are useful enough to ride every day and dependable enough to carry the people you love. In other words, they make the kind of bikes that they want to ride. Tern has e-bikes for every type of rider. Whether you're commuting, taking your kids to school or even carrying another adult, visit www.ternbicycles.com. That's t e r n bicycles.com to learn more. This podcast is brought to you by Tern bicycles. The good people at Tern understand that while a large cargo bike can carry oodles of stuff, many of us prefer something a little more manageable. That's why they've come up with the HSD e-cargobike for folks with big aspirations to go car free, delivered in a compact size, with its rear shock, 280 kilos, and a combined hauling capacity of 180 kilos. The robust new HSD is stable and easy to manoeuvre, even when under load. And with its Bosch eBIKE SYSTEM tested and certified to meet the highest UL standards for electric and fire safety you'll be able to share many worryfree adventures with a loved one whether it's your kiddo or Nan. Visit www.ternbicycles. That's te r n turn bicycles.com to learn more Carlton Reid 25:57 Thanks, David. And we're back with Tom Knights of Strava Metro, and I was looking at your LinkedIn profile. And as you do when you when you want to talk to somebody and you want to find out their background, and you've kind of similar background to me, in that you did classics you did you did like nothing to do with what you're doing in your day job. You did like it will tell me what you did it was Exeter University exactly what you did. So I kind of found found myself essentially looking at degree subjects where, you know, I was interested in more the kind of anthropological aspects of history and actually Classical Studies, and I'm always very much told by classic students that classics versus Classical Studies is a very different subjects. Obviously, one focuses heavily on Latin language in Greek texts, whereas Classical Studies is more about, you know, the discovery of what was going on during the Roman Empire in the Greek Empire period. So that was always a passion of mine about kind of understanding society, and maybe what was the kind of political kind of themes at the time and, you know, fascinated about some communities on there. And, of course, the story for the dad joke, but like, most people, when you study history, there's no future in it. I'll use that. Tom Knights 27:24 But yeah, obviously, you know, that allowed me, you know, I suppose to back in the kind of early 2000s, when I was at university, you know, it was a very privileged time, when they weren't necessarily crippling university fees and structure. So it allowed me to kind of study a subject, which was more of a passion project. But of course, you know, didn't necessarily elude me into kind of a specific career working in British museum or on an archaeological site in antiquity. And actually, in hindsight, I think geography would have been more of my passion, because that's ultimately what's kind of landed me in this area of transportation and maps and bicycles. Geography was always my kind of first passion. Carlton Reid 28:04 But you're a man after my own heart, because I did a degree, that was nothing connected to what I eventually did. And that was religious studies and comparative religion. And I did Hebrew, as well. So I did do a not a classic language, but I did a language that was known to antiquity. I'd say, yeah, we've come similar backgrounds. But then you've if you look at your career progression, it went very quickly from something that's completely useless to and affect your career. If I look at your career arc has been certainly tech. So from the very first it was you went from classics, blummin' heck,, to tech, that's that's a leap. And then you've carried on that, that that trajectory. Tom Knights 28:45 Yeah, definitely, I think that kind of, you know, almost juxtaposes the kind of interest in history, but I think a lot of my friends maybe went into, you know, in the early 2000s, like most people kind of found their way going into financial services, I'd always kind of been more interested in the world of tech and technology. And then working my way up through various kind of research firms and kind of people teams in that world of headhunting and kind of early days of, of search, when it comes to kind of jobs and careers. Allow me I suppose just to suppose learn a lot more about the world of tech, and then actually through interviewing people and and candidates and helping people on their search journey. That then opened my eyes into this whole world of kind of software, which again, early 2000s was really interesting, and then tied into that passion for sports and maps and mapping, landed, actually initially at a company when I lived in Hong Kong for five or six years, which was doing event registration for marathons and five K's and stuff like that, which is obviously very relevant to the Strava world nowadays. But it was when Strava Metro came along and said that they were looking for someone to essentially grow the community on Strava Metro in Europe. It was too good an opportunity not to kind of put my CV forward so You know, tied into all my passions around mapping and transportation. Carlton Reid 30:04 And, and getting out there and doing stuff. As in Yes. Being an athlete if you want to use that term. Tom Knights 30:11 Exactly. And you know, that's a it's an interesting point to kind of call up. But essentially the the advice, actually the CEO at the time, who was a gentleman called James, and actually Michael Hogarth, the founder of Strava, they said, The most important thing you can do in this role at Strava Metro is get out there and see bike lanes and infrastructure, or really understand what the kind of partners are doing. So over the last five years, that's kind of allowed me to get involved and actually see some of these projects. And you know, one of the best moments of the year or certainly at conferences, or events we go to whenever there's a bike parade, and I've never had a bike tour or a technical tour around the cities that you can visit, and you can really start to see the, you know, how those numbers come to life, actually, in the physical world, because, again, we've focused a lot on on this talk, we talked a lot about the Embankment. But actually, there's a whole multitude of examples around the European continent, and also across the world of bike lanes, which we visited and gone. Gosh, that's really interesting, what innovative design and oh, look at how that impacted this number of people. Carlton Reid 31:13 Tell me about your day them. So you've got somebody flagged out that yes, sometimes travelling around a bit. So what what do you do, Tom, scribe, what you actually do to people who don't know what you might be doing day to day? Tom Knights 31:28 I love it. So my biggest kind of responsibility is to grow the awareness of Strava Metro. And obviously, the more people that hear about Metro, hopefully, from listening to this, the more people might go, okay, that's really interesting. I didn't know that. So essentially, that's our, our main focus is to speak to the folks that active travel England through to the city of Paris, and obviously, the, the onset of zoom and online meetings has made that a lot more accessible now, which is great. So as much as I'd love to go visit all these places, a lot of them are done by kind of video conferencing, which is allowed us to scale and obviously tell the story in a kind of much more scalable way. But where possible, I'll always try and visit partners and learn about what they're doing on the ground. And then actually, one of the biggest kind of tasks this time around is to then how do we communicate these back to the Strava community, and then get all these 120 million athletes who are on Strava, to actually learn about these projects that their movement has contributed to, because that's going to be the power of when they understand that your cycles work, even though it's providing you with your exercise or your means of transportation. It's also having a big impact on how, for example, you transport Greater Manchester or Transport for London to building your roads and your cycling. So if it helps with that extra bit of motivation, to get out of bed on a kind of cold January morning to kind of, you know, get cycling or walking to work, then, you know, we've done our job. Carlton Reid 32:57 Isn't there an argument and I am playing devil's advocate here a little bit, council employee, a transportation but oh, maybe a councillor could actually use your data, which shows us lots and lots of people using a certain road? At a certain time? Yeah. And you would say, to a council? Officer? Well, look, we need to improve this route. Because look, how many cyclists are using it, we need to improve that. So it's more comfortable besides blah, blah, blah. But, you know, a councillor could use that exact same argument and say, Well, why do we need to improve anything? You're just telling me there's loads of cyclists using this road? Great, job done? Tom Knights 33:44 Well, I think the answer that is the kind of the theory that maybe, you know, a lot of highways and motorways around the world have used, which is what more lanes will fix it. And what did what happens when you get one more loan, we'll fix it, you get more cars driving? Well, I think the principle for that applies in terms of, if you keep fixing and increasing the number of cycle paths and bike lanes, then you'll see an increase in even more cyclists on there. So that would be my kind of caveat to say is, you know, the same way that we saw, you know, mass growth of roads and kind of infrastructure around the country, the same way that you could, if you keep investing, you'll, you'll see those increases come even more, as well. So it's just the start. I think this is the kind of the key point. And, you know, this has only really been what I've been in the industry for what five or six years intended, specifically around the world of transportation planning. And I've, I've read your in as another student of history, read your history of bike lanes, and what we're seeing is nothing new. You know, this obviously happened in the 1920s, as you've written about, it's happened, you know, the early 1950s. And we hope that obviously, this bike boom is going to continue, but we know that the secret to that is obviously infrastructure, but the extra secret sauce and I'm gonna say this with my Strava hat on so apologies is that you know, other people keep other people motivated. And that's where Strava comes into it as a motivation machine. Carlton Reid 35:06 So that game, gamification of it almost. Exactly, which is a good segue, thank you very much into my next question, which will be at the White House. So that's a that's a gamification, so, so just tell me exactly I know it's not UK, but this is a, this is a podcast that goes ... it's very popular in America. So Strava, not Strava Metro, but Strava is working with the White House on something. So just tell us what what you're doing. And then the gameifacation angle of that? Tom Knights 35:34 Yeah. So from obviously, my understanding internally of the team that's been working on that is very similar to other kind of projects or campaigns, or let's say gamification, or challenges that we would work on this time, though, there's obviously a social impact cause attached to it, I think what's happened and from what I understand is that the White House, obviously have a campaign or a kind of cause that they're looking to mobilise the community on, they had a commercial partner in work, which is, you know, obviously, kind of, I suppose, helping to kind of measure that through the through the wearable side. But the White House is partnering with Strava, to support physical activity, as part of its challenges to end hunger and build healthier communities. Now, as part of the social impact strategy, let's say the call to action is to raise awareness of that campaign through movement. And obviously, that movement there is on Strava. And it's very similar to lots of other campaigns that we might work with, from brands, but also also other charities, you know, that might want to also mobilise their community on Strava, through that kind of challenge format. Carlton Reid 36:38 So that's a US initiative. Obviously, it's the White House as in the White House. What other stuff might you be doing UK or maybe even worldwide, similar to that? Tom Knights 36:50 Well, I think ultimately, it's if if we've done our job, right, and you know, the more people that learn about these challenges for good for social impact, we hope that people will start to see Strava as a platform, where they can actually start to tell their message to what's a very engaged community. You know, like I say, not every cyclist is on Strava. But we do have, you know, in the UK, again, I'm going to correct myself on every one in seven adults has joined Strava, or something around 15% of the population. So that's not everyone, but it is a very engaged audience. It's bonkers, actually. So how many What's that in millions? Is that like 10 million downloads or something, I will come back with some specific figures. And James can help with that. On on, on our team, but Yeah, certainly, we obviously are in the millions of users in the UK. And of course, that's a really engaged community who are using Strava a for their movement, but also then can attach that through a challenge for a social impact campaign, or brand campaign. And again, these challenges are completely optional for people to dive into should they wish to. And I think that's one of the kind of key things to get at the Strava community, you know, having that say and what they do, and that's what's probably kept people coming back stronger over time, is that they get they have a choice in what they can join. And the challenges that the the team in Bristol, who in the UK run those operations for similar to the White House challenge, they do a fantastic job of making sure that there's some really exciting challenges to come onto the platform and keep people motivated. Carlton Reid 38:26 So can you now tell me the different pricing options, so people are like, they've got the free version? They maybe like me that don't. They will now start using the free version a bit more for the reasons we've discussed before. But if you wanted to up the game, what would you be paying? And what would you be getting? Tom Knights 38:46 So for UK based users, obviously Strava premium is an option and that it costs £8.99 per month, or £54.99 per year. Obviously, there's a freemium model, in terms of the kind of ability to join Strava and not have to, like, say, necessarily choose to subscribe. But again, the compelling products, and the opportunity that the product team in the US and all the amazing kind of engineers that work on Strava have built an experience that should you wish to subscribe. There's a really compelling reason to mostly through our amazing routing, mapping discovery tools, looking at new routes to explore. Obviously, like saying you've got access to technical data, should you wish to kind of see things like your heart rate and health and kind of segments and leaderboards, etc. So there's something on Strava for a lot of folks, and of course, you know, that community element and clubs and groups is really exciting. And another way for local authorities and governments to really drive engagement back to Metro, for example. Carlton Reid 39:54 And then you got things like integration with fat map so you can like do all sorts of stuff with that as well because it's Strava. Did you buy fat map? Is that was that? Tom Knights 40:02 Yeah, so there was a strategic acquisition of fat map and you know, the the, that's the exact date has been going on for the last year. So again, all these amazing tools and some mapping tools are such a good driver for people to discover the world around them. And I think that's what's really exciting is that, you know, yes, you might go on a bike ride and you know, kind of cycle from A to B on one of the cycle highways. But at the weekend, that same bike hopefully, is being used to then go, that that route is quite interesting, or I saw my friend do that route. You know, the other day that looks like I could probably do that I've got a spare couple of hours. And it's basically just keeping people active. Again, you've probably heard this one for every minute spent on Strava, you can attribute 30 minutes of activity back to your kind of daily life. So rather than that, and that's because you could you look at heat map, you see, you're in an unusual destination, you don't you're you're at your bike, and you fire up the heat map. It's like, everybody's gone that way. That way, then is that what you mean? Yeah, essentially, you know, like I say, you might, or it might just be on your activity feed that, you know, kind of been suggested a route or suggested a, an area to kind of move through. And I think that's what's really exciting is when you get somewhere new, you know that there's a community, because obviously, we're a global community that has cycled there before. And I say you can either look at the heat map, or you might be able to see someone's route. And they've recommended it as a kind of place to ride. That inspiration you get from not just like, say, scrolling through maybe another social network or Doom scrolling, should I say, hopefully, that movement and inspiration of people being active for something that's going to be a positive driver for people being, you know, engaged on Strava. Carlton Reid 41:44 There is another active travel analogy, which sometimes gets wheeled out. And that is, you can't tell why you need a bridge from the number of people swimming across the river. Because they aren't going to swim across the river with a bike, they probably aren't going to swim across the river full stop. But when you put a bridge in it suddenly get, you know, the heat map would go crazy. But once you put the bridge in, so is any of your cleverness your your text, can any of it can I spot? Well, if you only had something here, it would open up, you know, is this something that you can pinpoint that you can say that a bridge analogy can be used? Tom Knights 42:25 Absolutely. And thank you so much for asking that, because that's something we just updated last year in our metro product that obviously the planners and the transportation teams can see. And a lot of it ties back into some of the the kind of accessibility transportation equity, environmental racism that we talked about. What we've shown is that, when you put a pin on the map, we've also been able to kind of draw almost like a kind of circle around what's accessible within say, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, etc. And people can see data within that kind of circle, which, again, will show you that where there's a massive motorway with no bridge crossing, that's that part of the community can't access the park on the other side of it, or where there's, for example, a big brownfield site where there's been industrial use, it's not safe to cycle through. So people have kind of diverted around it, we had a really good example, actually, recently in Germany, where, you know, there was a curb on the side of a bike lane. And you could see very clearly actually three desire lines on the on the actual grass and the verge that people were kind of going off this curb through the woods to kind of cut out maybe a mile. And again, using Strava, Metro, this German transportation team who are based in Frankfurt, actually, I'll share the example with you because it's fascinating see how even at a really small local level, these little changes can make a massive difference. And they're not expensive to do, I think it only cost them something a couple of 1000 euros to drop the curb, because they then saw that that was having an impact on where people were then cycling. So you know, the famous analogy of when it snows, you can really see the designs of cars. Actually, when you look at the design on the heat map, and then in turn, look at that on Strava, you can start to see Oh, that's interesting. And again, another great example that was Hartfordshire county council had a bicycle counsellor in one location. And they realised that the Strava count was actually higher than the bicycle counter. And they thought well hold on what's happening there. And actually, there was a kind of dangerous crossing just slightly further up from this bicycle counter. And they were able to then use the Strava data to kind of, I suppose understand that actually, people were going this way because it was a safer journey. And that's the these are the kind of insights that yes, we want to do the big high level projects and you know, make sure that we get new infrastructure and cycleways across major cities. But actually the really exciting ones when local advocacy groups or local councils who don't necessarily have big budgets for you to accessing data can make these small changes and really improve these kind of everyday life for their community. Carlton Reid 44:56 Can the Netherlands which obviously every week, look Up to is like, the absolute nirvana of cycling. Do you like do you have like, Dutch people go, Oh, we could use this. It's like, Jesus, they even removing even more, you haven't done so. So basically, can you improve the Dutch cycle network? Tom Knights 45:15 Yeah, definitely. And actually, we've had some interesting conversations with the folks over in Copenhagen, and obviously, in Amsterdam, and across the Netherlands as well. So not just Denmark and Holland. But, of course, the Netherlands is such a stays a bellwether of the cycling industry, but they're always looking at new ways to improve, you know, the technology that they're using and counting data. We are in Leuven, just at the end of November for the policy network events. And again, we are understanding that the kind of technical university they are leaving, we've been using metro to kind of understand, you know, and this is a really forward thinking Belgium city, which has got great cycle access, but they still need data to understand and counter. So rather than, you know, developing another app to count people, and getting the community to download it, they've seen that correlation between actually Strava and Strava, Metro. So again, they don't need to necessarily go and kind of reinvent the wheel, so to speak with, you know, building another kind of engagement tool with local community to get them to join, because Metro is hopefully fulfilling that service. Carlton Reid 46:20 Brilliant, Tom that's been absolutely fascinating. And we could go on for a good amount of time, probably on Classics literature, even while we discussed, what's your Roman Empire? Yes, exactly. But we can't, because we people just won't listen to 10 hours of us chatting away. Tom Knights 46:42 I'm sure they will. Carlton Reid 46:43 Now, could you tell us where people can find out? I'm sure people know where you can get onto Strava. But how they find out about Strava Metro, and and maybe how they can contact you? Tom Knights 46:56 Yeah, definitely. So the best way to get in touch with myself and travel metric is on metro.strava.com. And then on that website, you'll be able to learn more about case studies about how cities how researchers, communities have used the actual kind of practical steps of the data. There's also some frequently asked questions on there about you know, privacy and how the data is used, etc. And then most importantly, there's an apply button. So you can click apply for access. And then what we ask is that a you're a organisation that is involved in working to improve active transportation. If you're a consultancy, or an engineering firm, we also accept those applications as well. As long as you're under contract with say, for example, the local government or the city authority, we know that Metro kind of appearing as a line item as it were. And then, again, like saying, at its source, transportation planners around the world can can access, we ask that you use a work email, not a Gmail email. So normally an org or dot.gov, etc. And then just a short abstract, essentially, of how you're going to use the data. And so then we know that it's being used for a positive kind of cause, and then you will give you access to the area of interest that you've selected. Be it London, Birmingham, Somerset, wherever it is, as long as there's been Strava activity, you can start to really start to see trends and patterns, then hopefully feed that into other datasets to build the infrastructure. Carlton Reid 48:20 And Nick.Ferrari@LBC.co.uk or whatever his email address will just be rejected out of hand, that's nefarious use? Tom Knights 48:28 Yeah, I reserve the right not to comment on on LBC and Nick. Carlton Reid 48:34 Thanks for listening to Episode 349 of the Spokesen podcast brought to you in association with Tern bicycles. Show notes and more can be found at the-spokesmen.com The next episode – 350 – will be out next month. Meanwhile, get out there and ride ...

“All good cities don't turn their back on the river”Dive into the transformational journey of Manchester's urban landscape. John Hughes has been a key player in the city's development for the past 20 years in his role at Ask Real Estate. John started work just days after leaving university in 1997 when the city was still recovering from the IRA bomb. He's since shaped some of the city's groundbreaking developments, like First Street, HOME and Embankment. From the days of post-industrial decline to the bustling metropolis Manchester is today, discover the inside track on the city's regeneration. This conversation takes you through the placemaking and relationships that have formed the city.So what does John think about gentrification and the rapid growth of Manchester? What are the values Ask Real Estate is keeping at the forefront whilst leaving a lasting legacy on the city's skyline? You'll hear about all this and more in this episode. ------Your host, Lisa Morton, started PR company Roland Dransfield in 1996, one month after the fateful IRA bomb that tore apart the city centre. From that point, the business, and its team members, have been involved in helping to support the creation of Modern Manchester – across regeneration, business, charity, leisure and hospitality, sport and culture.To celebrate the 26 years that Roland Dransfield has spent creating these bonds, Lisa is gathering together some of her Greater Mancunian ‘family' and will be exploring how they have created their own purposeful relationships with the best place in the world.Connect with Lisa and Roland Dransfield: Via our websiteOn InstagramOn X FKA TwitterOn SpotifyConnect with Ask Via their websiteOn InstagramOn X FKA Twitter

‘Two people walk past. They are together but not close to each other, their pace very slow and in time.' Please note before you start listening: this podcast is recorded in 3D sound! So make sure that you're wearing headphones for the very best experience. The small details in life can pass you by. Unless you take the time to stop to notice them. Which is exactly what author, actor and social media personality Miranda Keeling does in this podcast series. Expanding on the observations she shares on her popular Twitter account, she invites you to join her out and about as she captures those small, magical moments of everyday life, in sound. Thanks to 3D recordings, you'll hear everything she does as if you were right there with her. There are new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. These short but lovingly crafted episodes are an invitation to escape from life's hustle, immersing you in Miranda's world for a few minutes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

‘Fish are entwined around the bottom of the lampposts, with bulbous eyes and scales – gorgeously grotesque.' Please note before you start listening: this podcast is recorded in 3D sound! So make sure that you're wearing headphones for the very best experience. The small details in life can pass you by. Unless you take the time to stop to notice them. Which is exactly what author, actor and social media personality Miranda Keeling does in this podcast series. Expanding on the observations she shares on her popular Twitter account, she invites you to join her out and about as she captures those small, magical moments of everyday life, in sound. Thanks to 3D recordings, you'll hear everything she does as if you were right there with her. There are new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. These short but lovingly crafted episodes are an invitation to escape from life's hustle, immersing you in Miranda's world for a few minutes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is the 4pm All Local update for September 21, 2023

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kev and John reflect on Posh's playoff woes and give their views on a new stadium. They also look ahead to new events, discuss the success of Peterborough Celebrates, and speak to Dave Poulton from up the Garden Bath.

On this month's episode, we chat with the principal of ARU Peterborough, Professor Ross Renton. Obviously, there was a lot of talk about the University's development and how things have gone since it opened in September 2022, and what the future holds as it continues to grow.We also talked about its place on the Embankment; the relationships they require with the Council and Combined Authority; how further education will develop as time goes on; whether the Government has been providing enough support; and whether Professor Renton has considered moving into politics in the past or future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Freak Ships of the Nineteenth Century is the title of a pamphlet written in 1966 by J. Guthrie, then an employee of the maritime classification society Lloyds Register. It was written for private circulation amongst the staff. Guthrie realised that, as the premier classification society Lloyds Register were able to produce a very good technical description of vessels, often directly from plans, reports and records of conventional ships. But this left a gap in their knowledge - 'But what of the unorthodox ships, the rebels from tradition: those monsters and freaks of the nautical world which, throughout the whole of the 19th century attained transient fame (or notoriety) before disappearing from the scene for ever?'. Guthrie's pamphlet aimed to answer that question by exploring some of the most radical nautical designs of the nineteenth century.This episode, the last of four, looks at the unique iron vessel that was designed and built to bring 'Cleopatra's Needle' - a 3500 year-old, 224-ton, 21-metre high ancient Egyptian obelisk made of granite - from Alexandria to London, where it still can be seen on the banks of the Thames at Embankment. This is the remarkable story of how it got there.For the Egyptians, obelisks were sacred objects for the sun god, Ra; it's thought that the shape symbolised a single ray of sun. They were placed in pairs at the entrances of temples, so that the first and last light of day touched their peaks. The obelisk that became known as Cleopatra's needle was made around 1450 BC, in Heliopolis in what is now a part of Cairo. It was moved to Alexandria by the Romans in 12 BC, where it remained, lying on a beach, for almost two millennia.But in 1819, to commemorate Horatio Nelson's great naval victory over Napoleon in 1798 at the battle of the Nile, the Sultan of Egypt presented the obelisk to the government of Great Britain….but with no suggestion as to how the British might claim their reward. In Ebay terms – this was ‘collection only'. Unsurprisingly, The obelisk stayed where it was.Fifty-eight years later a Scottish traveller and soldier in the British army, James Alexander, heard of the story and became interested in the challenge that Cleopatra's needle posed to a mighty maritime Empire. He convinced a wealthy and philanthropic businessman, William Wilson, to fund a project to move the 224-ton granite obelisk, 3000 miles to London – a seemingly impossible task. Enter John Dixon, a talented and energetic civil engineer from Durham, who had made his name building the first railway in China. Dixon's solution was to make a pre-fabricated iron vessel in London; take it in pieces to Alexandria and assemble it around the obelisk. The iron tube with the obelisk nestling inside, would then be towed back to London. The journey was nearly a disaster...To go with this audio episode we have created a video animation which explains the history of the needle, the design of the Cleopatra, and her fraught journey to London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The voice announcement at Embankment Station in London is unlike any other announcement on the Tube.  

Today's episode is really special- we were invited to record a live episode of Jimmy's Jobs at the Conservative Home Future Jobs conference, held at the RSA in Embankment where we interviewed the amazing Justine Greening. Justine is perhaps best known for being the Secretary of State for Education, Transport and International Development in past governments, as well as being the MP for Putney until 2019.She is now running the Social Mobility Pledge, campaigning to improve social mobility and equality for opportunity, working with huge businesses from Tesco to PWC to universities across the country.You could even say she has quit politics to do even more policy.Thank you to Conservative Home for hosting us and organising such an inspiring event. You can find them at https://conservativehome.com/In this episode we talk about:The Purpose Coalition and driving levelling up.The changing interaction between politics, academia and businesses. The relationship between net-zero and levelling up.What businesses can do to be more socially mobile. How the Department of Education can identify the skills young people need. Her advice for young people on how to build their resilient skillset.How PWC shaped her career and her decision to an executive MBA.Justine's accidental entrance into politics.Why she decided to leave the Cabinet.Why next elections will be decided by a levelling up agenda.Dev InterruptedBehind every successful tech company is an engineering org. We tell their story.Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Our 419th episode, which aired on March 20, 2022, and featured the re-release of Andy Irvine & Paul Brady's 1976 duo album. Andy Irvine & Paul Brady – The Plains of Kildare, Andy Irvine & Paul Brady Andy Irvine & Paul Brady – Lough Erne Shore, Andy Irvine & Paul Brady Andy Irvine & Paul Brady – Fred Finn's Reel/Sailing Into Walpole's Marsh, Andy Irvine & Paul Brady Andy Irvine & Paul Brady – Bonny Woodhall, Andy Irvine & Paul Brady Andy Irvine & Paul Brady – Arthur McBride & the Sergeant, Andy Irvine & Paul Brady Andy Irvine & Paul Brady – The Jolly Soldier/The Blarney Pilgrim, Andy Irvine & Paul Brady Andy Irvine & Paul Brady – Autumn Gold, Andy Irvine & Paul Brady Andy Irvine & Paul Brady – Mary & The Soldier, Andy Irvine & Paul Brady Andy Irvine & Paul Brady – Streets of Derry, Andy Irvine & Paul Brady Andy Irvine & Paul Brady – Martinmas Time/The Little Stack of Wheat, Andy Irvine & Paul Brady Andy Irvine, Paul Brady & Donal Lunny – Set of Jigs, recorded live at the Embankment 1976

“Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice,”

Wake up to the sounds of Bob Joseph and Kathy Whyte bringing you the most important news from around the Southern Tier!

E153 - 9/11 , Rope Rescue Scenario and FR Medical This week we looked back on 9/11. We discussed what that means to us after 20 years. We went on to discuss our recent scenario that had a patient over embankment and then a second water rescue drowning was toned out half way through. WHO WE ARE As a group of Rural Volunteer Firefighters, our Fire Department has built our firefighter training from both old and new tactics in the fire service and adapted them to fit the realities of equipment, manpower, and costs around what our community requires. WHAT WE DO We create video, audio and written word content to share these training and tactics methods with our Brothers and Sisters in our extended fire families, and to showcase to those that may be interested in becoming firefighters the fun you can have and the amazing skills and abilities you get to learn, whilst keeping the lives of the people around you safe! WHY WE SHARE Firefighters are problem solvers whose role requires them to be on their best day whilst others are having their worst day, and while we do not claim to be perfect we are willing to put our lives on the line to try. It's during the trying that we continue to develop the mindset, tactics, and training that allow us to be effective, safe and successful where it's needed the most, and by sharing our experiences we hope that it may help other Fire Departments in creating what works for them to help bring everyone home safe. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT If you would like to help support us then you can visit us by clicking the link to your favorite social media platform below to Subscribe and be the first to see more of our content! Stay Safe Fire Family and Stay DTFF! JOIN OUR FIRE FAMILY - Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/VFFPodcastDTFF/ - Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dtffpodcast/?hl=en - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBnJUapYv-APV_vavv_nTLQ/ - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@downtofightfire - LinedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dtff-the-volunteer-firefighter-podcast-6b8b12199/ WHAT WE HIGHLIGHT IN OUR CONTENT Firefighter Training Firefighter Tactics Firefighter Interviews Firefighter Wellness & Mental Health Leadership Product Reviews Product Discounts CAUSES WE SUPPORT - https://www.StopTheBleed.org/ - Learn how to Stop The Bleed TODAY and get better prepared to save your life and the lives of those around you - HTTP://www.2ndAlarm.org - Firefighter numbers are Down and so 2nd Alarm is ringing the bell to call those brave enough to join us! TOOLS & EQUIPMENT WE LIKE - DISCOUNT CODES - https://ca.motisfirerescue.com/ - Snagger (hose handling) Tool, Wedges, kit pouches and more! MOTIS Discount Code: Use the code DTFF5 to save 5% off your order - https://ignitionusa.us/ - Soft entry tools! SEARAT Discount Code: Use the code DTFF2020 for 20% off your order #DTFFpodcast #DownToFightFire #Firefighting #Volunteer #Firefighter #FireFamily #Firefighters #EMS #Rescue #Fire #Emergency #FireDepartment #FirstResponders #Firedept #FireDepartment #FireHouse #FireRescue #ThinRedLine #FireService #BrotherHood #SisterHood #FireFighterLife #Fireman #VolunteerFirefighter #VolunteerFirefighters #StopTheBleed #StayDTFF

The SWD boys are back in town, and there's only one topic of discussion on the table. Sports. To be particular, Football news, Derailments, UFC Recaps and Previews. You know, the good ol' Sports With Dorks you're used to by now. *Mwa* big kiss for you cutie.

Ladies, unite! Unite under a bridge and check out how dirty it is underneath. Because we are here for the ladies' input this week, as we take a look at Waterloo Bridge and find out if there is any truth to the often quoted rumour that this was built by women during WW2. We also take a look at the nearby impressive Somerset House and find out why it has a more interesting history than it might seem at first glance. Thanks to Rachel Pearson for the request of topic! Plus we find out who won the Podcast Pedestal and Emily gets her sweaty hands on the wheel again for another chance to see where we will get to chat about next week. Let us know what you think on Instagram, or on our websites. Instagram @ladieswholondonpodcast Email ladieswholondon@gmail.com Websites www.guideemily.com and www.alexlacey.com/links where you can also book for our virtual and real life walking tours. Thanks to Susie Riddell for our voiceover jingles www.susieriddell.com and our jinglemeister Ben Morales Frost, can be found on www.benfrostmusic.com

Our guest for this episode is Amie Liebowitz, an Australian broadcast journalist living in the UK, who first met Ben a decade ago. Amie talks to us about learning British history in a Commonwealth country, her trip with Ben to Ely, its 'English Braveheart' and a cheese-inspired alternative landmark.

In this podcast we take a trip to the Embankment, which goes all the way from Blackfriars Bridge on the North Bank of the Thames to Chelsea. In an area that was previous under the water of the great river, we'll tell you all about it....

Mind the gap! Un annuncio che ascoltiamo continuamente se ci troviamo a viaggiare nelle tentacolari linee della tube londinese. Per Margaret McCollum, tuttavia, esso ha tutt'altro significato. La voce soave protagonista dell'annuncio, infatti, è quella del celebre attore inglese Oswald Laurence, suo marito. A seguito della sua morte, Margaret McCollum si è recata ogni giorno al capolinea della Northern Line, nella stazione di Embankment, per poter ascoltare la voce del defunto marito ancora ed ancora. I tempi cambiano, tuttavia. E con essi le tradizioni e così l'annuncio di Oswald Laurence registrato nel lontano 1968 ha raggiunto l'età pensionabile, ed è stato sostituito da un messaggio computerizzato che ha visto modificato persino il testo originale. Ma... Ascolta con il cuore e sorridi! Iscriviti al #podcast, commenta e condividi con i tuoi amici le #puntate di #thebigfatvoice, seguiti sui #social, rimani in contatto e buon ascolto! Visita il sito http://www.thebigfatvoice.com/ (www.thebigfatvoice.com) Segui la pagina Facebook https://www.facebook.com/thebigfatvoice (https://www.facebook.com/thebigfatvoice)  Segui il profilo Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thebigfatvoice (https://www.instagram.com/thebigfatvoice) Per avere maggiori informazioni puoi visitare i siti: http://www.mbgvoice.com/ (www.mbgvoice.com) http://www.counselingtorino.com/ (www.counselingtorino.)it Puoi metterti in contatto con Massimiliano scrivendo a thebigfatvoice@gmail.com Fai girare la voce… o meglio… fai girare #thebigfatvoice Musica originale by #audiio www.audiio.com

लखनऊ स्मार्ट न्यूज़ के इस एपिसोड में सुनिए, अभ्युदय योजना का हुआ शुभारंभ, गोमती नदी के किनारे पर बन रहे चार लेन की तटबंध परियोजना के बजट के बारे में और तेजस एक्सप्रेस का अपडेट | 

Una mattina di novembre del 2012, alla stazione Embankment della metropolitana di Londra, una donna è leggermente sotto choc. La voce che annuncia l'arrivo e la partenza dei treni è stata sostituita da una voce metallica. la storia che si cela dietro questo piccolo insignificante evento è la romantica storia di un amore che resiste e del confine sottile fra questo e l'altro mondo. Vuoi essere aggiornato su tutte le novità? (Non più di un msg al giorno!) Iscriviti al canale Telegram: t.me/SimoneRepetto • Vuoi saperne di più del mio progetto e magari sostenerlo? Fa un salto su Tipeee: https://it.tipeee.com/simone-repetto • Vuoi commentare o farmi un saluto? Mi trovi su tutti i social: https://linktr.ee/simonerepetto • Hai mai pensato a promuovere i tuoi prodotti o la tua azienda con un podcast? Parliamone! simone.repetto@gmail.com • Il brano royaltyfree usato per questo podcast è: "Long way home" (feat. Zebadias) di Giulio Cercato Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we go to the Embankment to look at Cleopatra's Needle, find out it's history and other hidden facts very few know! Join us...

In this episode, I head out on a steady plod along the Southbank, The Embankment and into Green park, with Chloe Guest, leader of RunTalkRun Hackney and North London. We will be talking about mental health and the safe space that running provides to enable people to open up and communicate better. We discuss the background to Run Talk Run, a community mental health group that offers mental health support, how anyone can get involved, Chloe's own involvement and relationship with running and the future for Run Talk Run. In addition to this, we will be talking about Ali Turpie, a friend who I ran with a couple weeks ago, to record a podcast and IGTV for his challenge 10k Turpie. The podcast however, which covered a very intense and in depth conversation about both of our mental health experiences, didn't record. We had devastating news the week of recording this episode with Chloe that Ali had suffered a stroke to the left side of his brain leaving him with verbal Apraxia; unable to speak. Having postponed the run with Chloe to process this, when the time felt better to meet Chloe, it was important for me to share Ali's challenge. To share the amazing message he has spread to so many people about the power of talking to each other and the impact it can have on building relationships and making us feel less alone. I want to dedicate this conversation with Chloe to Ali, and his family and friends. If you would like to donate to www.gofundme.com/f/mending-ali that would be amazing!

Readings from The Embankment of Separation by Gour Govinda Swami --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dhruva-maharaja-dasa/support

Readings from The Embankment of Separation by Gour Govinda Swami --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dhruva-maharaja-dasa/support

Readings from The Embankment of Separation by Gour Govinda Swami --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dhruva-maharaja-dasa/support

Readings from The Embankment of Separation by Gour Govinda Swami --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dhruva-maharaja-dasa/support

Readings from The Embankment of Separation by Gour Govinda Swami --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dhruva-maharaja-dasa/support

Readings from The Embankment of Separation by Gour Govinda Swami --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dhruva-maharaja-dasa/support

“I don’t know when, I don’t know how, but I will repay you.“From nights spent sleeping on the Embankment to an afternoon at Buckingham Palace, we’re delighted to share Jay Flynn’s story.We get started with his promise to repay the charity who got his life back on track. We head north to settle down and become the life and soul of the local before he receives a hundred thousand invitations to living rooms around the country as the host of Jay’s Virtual Pub Quiz. There’s tech fails, book deals and letters from the Prime Minister. We talk about the importance of a small radio to stay in touch with the world and the significance of a coffee in accepting a little help. Along the journey we travel from Leicester Square to Leicester Square, get the nod from Gareth Southgate and Harry Kane before picking up an MBE. There’s an online community, a crowd waiting at the Coach and Horses, and of course a Guinness World Record as he keeps his word.---You can find us on www.domoregood.uk or follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Get in touch if you'd like to feature or star on the show. It goes without saying really but the episodes contains our opinions - essentially things we overheard in meetings, stole from presentations and read in magazines. Thanks for listening.

Readings from The Embankment of Separation by Gour Govinda Swami --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dhruva-maharaja-dasa/support

Readings from The Embankment of Separation by Gour Govinda Swami --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dhruva-maharaja-dasa/support

Readings from The Embankment of Separation by Gour Govinda Swami --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dhruva-maharaja-dasa/support

Readings from The Embankment of Separation by Gour Govinda Swami --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dhruva-maharaja-dasa/support

You can’t walk those streets without thinking ‘this is what it must be like for a beetle to go for a walk up on the counter of an ice cream parlour.”

On this episode of the Construction Engineering Show, I discuss the 2, no wait, 3 performance criteria required for building quality embankments. This episode is a 100-level class review of density & moisture, but we dive into stability, which I believe, is the most-important performance criteria of the three. I close the show riffing about the need for construction engineers to get into the dirt - You need to have a ground-level understanding about soil behavior, and the only way you get that is by having your boots on the ground. Example Density/Moisture Curve Connect with me and let me know what you think - Cheers!! LinkedIn: Bob Hildebranski, PE Website: Hildebranski.com Contact Page Link --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/bob-hildebranski/message

Tony May was only weeks old when he was abandoned as a baby on the Victoria Embankment in London in 1942. There was no clue to who he was or why he was left by the river Thames in the middle of World War Two. Raised by loving adopted parents who named him, Tony has never been able to discover the identity of his birth parents. Now in his 70s, Tony may finally be able to solve the mystery thanks to advances in DNA testing and painstaking detective work by genealogist Julia Bell. Will Tony be happy with the answers he finds?

"it's so unexpected"

............EVERY.LITTLE.COUNTS......................................... By Anatoly Brooks http://www.filefactory.com/file/7e1pwnvb8h4d/Every%20Little%20Counts.mp3 01. Ulrich Schnauss – Passing by 02. Gastão Cruz – Embankment (feat. Luís M. Cintra) 03. Barzin – Sometimes the night… 04. Immanu El – Home 05. Great Lake Swimmers – Unison falling into harmony 06. Ryan Teague - Remote outliers 07. Young Marble Giants – Wurlitzer juke box 08. Ryan Teague – Shadow play 09. New Order – Every little counts 10. The XX – VCR 11. Black Heart Procession – Last chance 12. Helen Steller – Io (this time around) 13. Idaho – Dah aji 14. Hrsta – Haunted pluckley 15. Squirrel Flower – Headlights 16. OMD – The new dark age 17. Blonde Readhead – Dr. Srangeluv 18. Heroín and Your Veins – Akrasia 19. Connect.ohm – Take off 20. Camera Obscura – A sister social agony Total time – 1.14:20 A photo by Esther Steinbach Sultry voice of Radio Etiopia – Ana Ribeiro www.radioetiopia.com Phase 108.1: http://www.phase108.net/Show.aspx?podcastId=13 https://radiolisboa.pt/

Firefighters have spent hours tackling a huge blaze which has destroyed a floating restaurant in Maidstone town centre.Embankment went up in flames on the river at around 8 this morning, sending thick smoke into the air and causing disruption for hundreds of drivers.Also in today's podcast: find out how mental health support could help tackle knife crime, and hear from a charity who are looking for volunteers to help run an Elmer art trail. https://www.kentonline.co.uk/

#54 Our little guy went to his first movie in a proper cinema today. You can find me, Werner Puchert on LinkedIn and Twitter.  

Pedestrians, traffic, roadworks, protest; the corner of Somerset House where Waterloo Bridge meets Embankment is a hive of often unpredictable activity and noise. Acknowledging and working with this to define a compositional framework, Marclay invited a series of guests to collaborate in bringing the outdoors inside for an evolving series of electro-acoustic performances. Studios resident Lawrence Lek is an artist, filmmaker and musician whose virtual worlds and animated films create alternate versions of real places. For ASSEMBLY he invited collaborators Seth Scott and Robin Simpson to present a site-specific simulation that acts as an uncanny virtual and sonic double of the performance space. Their performance, Doom, reflects the atmosphere during the Extinction Rebellion protests when Waterloo Bridge – which the Lancaster Rooms overlook – was closed to traffic and filled with warning signs of the coming apocalypse. Christian Marclay’s ambitious and accomplished practice explores the juxtaposition between sound, photography, video and sculpture. His installations display provocative musical and visual landscapes and have been included in exhibitions around the world including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Venice Biennale, Centre Pompidou Paris and Kunsthaus Zurich. More recently, he exhibited The Clock at the Tate Modern (debuted at White Cube in 2010) – an artwork created from thousands of edited fragments, from a vast range of films to create a 24-hour, single-channel video. Podcast produced by Reduced Listening for Somerset House Studios ASSEMBLY Production by Music Hackspace and sound system by Call & Response, with sound and interaction programming from Black Shuck and Preverbal Studio. Lighting design by KitMapper. ASSEMBLY is supported by PRS Foundation’s The Open Fund, The Adonyeva Foundation and the John. S Cohen Foundation.

Artist and producer Beatrice Dillon’s new piece for ASSEMBLY, infraordinary, combines installation and performance, in which specially composed sounds are triggered using the system’s Kinect camera, alongside a live controlled sound mix of the street. Inspired by writer Georges Perec’s concept of the ‘infra-ordinary’ - taking account of the micro events of the everyday - the performance attempts to examine and reframe the rhythmic patterns of the street outside. Pedestrians, traffic, roadworks, protest; the corner of Somerset House where Waterloo Bridge meets Embankment is a hive of often unpredictable activity and noise. Acknowledging and working with this to define a compositional framework, Marclay invited a series of guests to collaborate in bringing the outdoors inside for an evolving series of electro-acoustic performances.  Beatrice Dillon is an artist and music producer who has produced solo and collaborative releases across Boomkat Editions, Hessle Audio, The Trilogy Tapes, PAN, Timedance and Where To Now? Recent performances include Barbican Centre, Tokyo’s wwwX, MUTEK Montreal, Dekmantel, Documenta Athens, Cairo’s Masåfåt Festival, Norway’s Insomnia and Documenta Athens. With a background in fine art, Beatrice has produced sound and music commissions for Outlands Network, Lisson Gallery, Études Paris, AND Festival, Somerset House and has collaborated with visual artists and choreographers across ICA, TATE, Southbank Centre, York Mediale, Centre d’Art Contemporain Geneva, MACVAL Paris, Nasher Center Dallas and Mona Tasmania amongst others. She was the recipient of Wysing Arts Centre’s artist residency, is a resident at Somerset House Studios and presents a show on NTS Radio. Christian Marclay’s ambitious and accomplished practice explores the juxtaposition between sound, photography, video and sculpture. His installations display provocative musical and visual landscapes and have been included in exhibitions around the world including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Venice Biennale, Centre Pompidou Paris and Kunsthaus Zurich. More recently, he exhibited The Clock at the Tate Modern (debuted at White Cube in 2010) – an artwork created from thousands of edited fragments, from a vast range of films to create a 24-hour, single-channel video. Podcast produced by Reduced Listening for Somerset House Studios ASSEMBLY Production by Music Hackspace and sound system by Call & Response, with sound and interaction programming from Black Shuck and Preverbal Studio. Lighting design by KitMapper. ASSEMBLY is supported by PRS Foundation’s The Open Fund, The Adonyeva Foundation and the John. S Cohen Foundation.

For ASSEMBLY, Karen Gwyer approached the street noises as drums. Building over the course of the performance, Karen will use and process the ambient sounds to create a multilayer, polyrhythmic piece created from the more punchy and identifiable sounds as well as distorting the general hum. The mood and intensity will shift as the performance progresses. On top of the rhythmic street sounds, layers of synths will build to create a moving yet sobering composition that draws on Karen’s own emotions around her 12 years as a Londoner, both the pain and relief of leaving, and the conflict of looking at it now from afar. Pedestrians, traffic, roadworks, protest; the corner of Somerset House where Waterloo Bridge meets Embankment is a hive of often unpredictable activity and noise. Acknowledging and working with this to define a compositional framework, Marclay invited a series of guests to collaborate in bringing the outdoors inside for an evolving series of electro-acoustic performances. Karen Gwyer was born in the southern US and raised in the north. Now based in Berlin after more than a decade in London, she shifts between pumping, thickly melodic, just left-of-techno dancefloor vibes and diversionary acidic psychedelia in her expansive, largely analogue live electronic performances. To date, she has released a handful of acclaimed recordings on Don’t Be Afraid, Nous Disques, Opal Tapes and Kaleidoscope, among others. She has produced remixes for labels such as InFiné, Software, and Public Information, and has created a number of commissioned pieces for Berlin’s Pop-Kultur festival and Open Music Archive in London. Christian Marclay’s ambitious and accomplished practice explores the juxtaposition between sound, photography, video and sculpture. His installations display provocative musical and visual landscapes and have been included in exhibitions around the world including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Venice Biennale, Centre Pompidou Paris and Kunsthaus Zurich. More recently, he exhibited The Clock at the Tate Modern (debuted at White Cube in 2010) – an artwork created from thousands of edited fragments, from a vast range of films to create a 24-hour, single-channel video. Podcast produced by Reduced Listening for Somerset House Studios. ASSEMBLY Production by Music Hackspace and sound system by Call & Response, with sound and interaction programming from Black Shuck and Preverbal Studio. Lighting design by KitMapper. ASSEMBLY is supported by PRS Foundation’s The Open Fund, The Adonyeva Foundation and the John. S Cohen Foundation.

Chad Leger | 18-Wheeler vs. I-10 Embankment

Tuben i London har hatt mange stemmer på høyttaleranlegget sitt opp gjennom årene. En av dem var Oswald Laurence og han var der i 43 år, helt til hele anlegget ble modernisert i 2012. Men Oswald forsvant bare i ett år før han kom tilbake, for alltid! https://www.fiffig.fi/oswald

About the Artist: Vladislav Petrov / Lives in St. Petersburg, Russia / Sound artist / Was engaged in the creation of sound installations, sound design for dance-move performances and sound design for documentaries and experimental films / Currently exploring urban and natural sound landscapes, making multi-channel field recording //

We hear of floods in the northeastern state of Assam almost every year, sometimes multiple times in the same year! And with increasing rainfall intensities because of climate change, are the existing embankments in Assam a good adaptation mechanism or are they adding to the problem? Anupam Chakravartty, an independent journalist based out of Guwahati, reaches out to the experts and most vulnerable communities by travelling to Kaziranga and unearthing the reality of the situation. This ground report brings to you perspectives that are hardly discussed in the Media. For instance, is the govt policy to build concrete houses good adaptation mechanism or going against age-old practices of building houses on stilts? While every year Kaziranga is flooded we see animals being rescued but we see very little about tribal communities which live in harmony with the animals? Why is there very little discussion on the need for people living around Kaziranga?  Are Embankments just another fraudulent practice for speculative profits? Anupam discusses this and more with Pranab Tulip, a member of a mass organisation called Gipal krishak sangathan and researcher Mirza Zulfequr Rahman.  For more stories like this, you can listen on www.sunoindia.in (http://www.sunoindia.in/) . Also follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/sunoindia.in) , Twitter (https://twitter.com/SunoIndia_in) or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/sunoindia.in) .

Iain does the show from his own house, Iain chats with author Mark Mason who is walking from Victoria to Embankment, the Tube's second-oldest line and chats The Beatles and Paul McCartney, Iain then chats with Darren Young who is crowdfunding to get double amputee and Afghan war veteran James Rose to the top of Mt Kilimanjaro, Mary talks singing in the last 60's, Sheila gets a special song and Iain goes missing?

Facebook's cryptocurrency move, 5G in rural areas, Google steals lyrics, Apple hedges on China, JJ Abrams cuts a big deal with Warner Media, Snapchat's original programming strategy, and much more.

Episode 14 of The Flo State Podcast is live. Click the link in my bio to download the latest episode or head over to your favorite podcast platform.In this week's podcast, we talk about:-Recap of our travels-Tyler dealing with feelings of guilt-And how learning with your kids instead of teaching them your ways can profoundly effect the way we approach lifeIf you like the podcast, please consider subscribing! Please rate and review. Please enjoy!

This episode tours the many waterways of St Petersburg, looking first at some of the canals and bridges and then taking a stroll along the Neva, up the Palace Embankment, starting at St Isaac's Cathedral, whose gleaming dome soars above the city 'like a shining mitre'. The walk continues past the Winter Palace whose 1000+ rooms were once the home of imperial families, but which is now better known as one of the world's best art galleries and we finish at the Summer Gardens and Summer Palace, the idyllic riverside refuge designed by Peter the Great as a venue for summer parties and outdoor frolics. http://www.citybreakspodcast.co.uk

In the last episode of the season, Tube Talk discuss the love stories of the London Underground. Is the tube a place to meet a potential 'bae?' What's the love story behind Embankment station? Would you read a love poem on your daily commute? Tune in to Soppy Talk to find out!

今天，我想先跟你讲几个关于思念的故事。很多时候我们会觉得，想一个人到极致会很难熬，放不下一个人也很痛苦。但我们往往不太会意识到，思念也是一种力量。一个人的思念可以有多深？深到有时候，因为有这一份牵挂，我们才感到更有力气继续往前走下去。深到能让我们跨越生死的边界。再过几天，马航 MH370 就整整失联 5 年了。看完下面这些故事，你会发现，有些过往、有些回忆，永远不应该被放下。因为我们正是靠着它们活下去。1 “桃花开的时候，我们成的亲”河南省洛阳市偃师南部山区，一位名叫宋丙跃 72 岁的老人用 11 年时间，在荒山上种了一整山的桃树。20 岁刚谈恋爱时，妻子曾跟他夸过村口的桃树开了花很美，结婚后，他就在自己家种了一棵桃树。“当年桃花开的时候我们成的亲，老伴喜欢桃花，家里桃树开花的时候她都笑了。” 但妻子 35 岁就患病去世了。之后的 20 年，老宋一个人把孩子拉扯大，直到三个孩子都结婚成家，他开始实施自己的计划：承包了葬着妻子的那片荒山，盖了座简易窝棚，开荒种桃树。11 年过去，老宋已经在这片荒山上种了近 300 棵桃树。每年春天，桃花开的时候，他都相信妻子一定能看到，会喜欢。 2 “5 年，我每天梳妆打扮好来这里，就为等这个短暂的瞬间”从 2007 年起，伦敦一位满头白发、穿戴整洁的太太，每天早晨都会独自一人来到 Embankment 地铁站。每次她都坐在候车的长椅上，却从不搭车。她总是默默等着列车进站、缓缓停下，直到车门打开，听到一句：“Mind the gap.（小心空隙）”她脸上就会露出欣喜、满足的表情。——这是她去世的丈夫的声音。老太太的丈夫是一名演员，曾为伦敦地铁系统配音，录制了这一句乘客提示。已经播放了 40 多年。2007 年丈夫去世后，她为了能听到他的声音，每天都精心打扮着，来这个地铁站等。她说，当年初次见面，她也是被丈夫的声音吸引的。每次听到这个声音，就像一次重逢。 可是，2012 年 11 月，伦敦公交系统更新，把原来的语音提示也一起换掉了，换成一个女声的版本。听到新提示音的那一刻，老太太整个人都慌了：“心里有什么东西被完全地、彻底地摧毁了。”她跑去问列车员，能不能把丈夫的录音拷给她一份，答案是没有。于是她决定写信给伦敦公交的主管部门，几个月后，终于收到了回应：工作人员不仅把地铁站的播报声音换回她丈夫的版本，还特地把这段声音录成CD，寄给了老太太。到现在，她仍然保持着去地铁站的习惯。对她来说，只要听到这段录音，她的丈夫就从来没有离开。 3 “爸爸去世 30 年后，我成了他的战友”父亲杨会禄牺牲时，杨欣才 4 岁。杨会禄是空军飞行员。1982 年 12 月 16 日，他驾驶的直-9试验机坠毁，机组 3 人无一生还。父亲生前曾被选派去法国参加飞行培训，回国时特意给杨欣带了巧克力。巧克力盛在蓝色圆铁盒里，她说印象中，再也没有吃过那么好吃的巧克力。她能想起关于巧克力的诸多细节，唯独想不起送巧克力的父亲生前的样子。只记得一些大概：“照片上的人是爸爸，爸爸是开飞机的，爸爸是英雄。”2010 年，杨欣听说，空军在中国航空博物馆新建成了一座英烈墙，上面有父亲杨会禄的名字。这个消息像电流一样击中了她，她有种感觉：“父亲就安息在那里。”博士毕业、已经在当老师的杨欣决定申请加入空军。34 岁，她终于被调入航空博物馆工作。穿上空军制服后，她做的第一件事，就是来到英烈墙前向父亲报告：“爸爸，现在咱俩就是战友啦！”“那种感觉你可能无法理解，转了那么大一圈，我终于和父亲离得那么近了。” 4 一座根本没接线的电话亭，和 30000 多通播给思念之人的电话日本 NHK 电视台在 3·11 大地震 5 周年时，拍摄了一部纪录片，叫《风之电话亭》。讲的是在日本大槌町，有一座奇怪的电话亭。里边的电话没有接线，但 5 年时间里，从这里拨出了 30000 多通电话。地震时，仅仅 30 分钟内，13 米的海浪就毁掉了这座海边小镇。861 人死亡，421 人至今“失联”或“失踪”。电话亭所在的位置地势高，没被水冲走。陆陆续续开始，有很多人都来这里打电话。有人很坚定——一位头发花白的老人，打给地震中失踪的儿子时，：“电话上我说得很严厉。一定要回来，一定要早点回来。我不会死心的，再过多少年也不会死心的。”有人有条不紊地汇报新生活——一位奶奶带着两个小男孩，来给消失在海啸中的爷爷打电话：“喂，爷爷，身体好吗？学期过完我就四年级了，真快吧。醍奉明年也是二年级学生了。”弟弟接着哥哥说：“大川爷爷，我的作业全都做好了。还有呢，大家身体都很好。”奶奶说，老公之前最大的愿望就是看着孩子们长大。如今他们很健康地长大了。有人还不太敢面对——一位中年母亲总是和另外两位妈妈相约而来，朋友鼓励她了好多次，才终于走进电话亭。在电话里她哭着跟儿子说：“每次有车子开过。我就觉得好像是你回来了。”有人很内疚，虽然自己并没什么错——一个中年男人在电话里哽咽：“新家建好了，可爸妈、海音（妻子）、一成（1 岁的儿子）都不在了。原谅我，原谅我没能救你们。”也有人劝过他，忘记吧，放下吧。他说：“的确很伤心。可是如果我因为难过，就试图把家人的事遗忘，那还有谁来证明他们曾经生存过呢？”“所以我到死也绝不会忘记。"还有个中年男人，拿起话筒，却沉默了好久。最后说了一句：“孩子她妈，你在哪里？快点回来吧。”“好寂寞啊。”15 岁的中学生幸崎廉。一个人拿着地图，花了 4 个小时才找到电话亭的位置，拿起电话第一句说的是：“爸爸，我们全家四个人都在顽强努力。”他爸爸是个卡车司机，地震那天临时换班，在海边的路上失去了音讯。现在廉和妈妈、弟弟、妹妹一起生活。一家四口全靠妈妈推销保险维生。瞳太太说，“每年一到这个时期，有人就会说已经过去五年了之类的。但是对我们而言，那只是过去了五年。”初春的时候，一家人又一起来了电话亭。玲被哥哥推着走进去，一开始是尴尬地不知说什么好，沉默了一会，她哭着说：“请原谅我常说爸爸身上好臭。你曾经答应给我买的小提琴，我自己会买的。中一时喜欢的杰尼斯明星，现在还是没变。”在此之前，小玲从来对爸爸的事绝口不提。挂完电话，妈妈说：还有一位中年妇女。拨通了自己家里的电话，却一句话也没有说。5 年前，她的丈夫和房子一并被海啸冲走了。后来的日子，所有的大事都得自己一个人决定了。现在她在另一个城市的一家土特产店打工。因为业绩低迷，店铺即将停业了，她也不知道以后该如何安身。一个人在旧公寓里住着。但每天回家，开门都会说：“我回来啦，孩子他爸。”她的先生是位打渔人。从前，先生总是一边饮酒，一边认真地听妻子诉说各种烦恼。如今，她也养成了喝酒的习惯。会对着丈夫的照片将酒斟满，说：“剩下的我喝了。”边喝酒边说，想等天气暖和起来的时候，再去电话亭，把自己今后生活的打算告诉丈夫。“光想伤心事不好。打算今后要体验，各种各样开心的事情。” 5 “再等等，我们还没有好好说再见呢”再过几天，就是马航 MH370 失联 5 周年的纪念日（3 月 8 日）。马航的失联名单上有个人叫李志锦。他曾在手账本里写了个小目标：“7 月 15 日总结，苹果 4S 必须拿下送给我爱人。——李志锦”买手机是 2012 年，失联是 2014 年。到现在，他的妻子刘伶，还用着他送的这部 iPhone4 手机：“想你就听你在唱吧里录的歌，声音是那么真实，感觉你就在身旁。你曾许下诺言，说你爱我会一生一世不离不弃照顾我一辈子，5 年了，你可曾还记的曾经的诺言。——伶”57 岁的马来西亚幼儿园老师Jacquita，丈夫是 MH370 的机舱事务长。2016 年时，人生中第二次，她被诊断出乳腺癌。上一次得病，是丈夫的支持让她缓解了病情。这一次丈夫不在了，她本以为自己撑不过去了，没想到她挺过了手术，活了下来。Jacquita 说，每次听说身边有朋友去世时，他们的伴侣守在身边，她就觉得嫉妒。丈夫还没回来，她也不能一个人死掉：“我们还没有好好说再见。”她的口头禅是：“We will wait.”家在河北的栗二有也经常给自己失联的儿子打电话：“淼淼，今天又星期六了。上次打电话你接到没有？家里已经下霜了，记得穿厚一点。”这些年他去了两次马来西亚，一次马达加斯加，跑了几十次北京，火车票铺了一床。为了不让自己累垮，他强制自己晚上 2 点前必须睡觉，早上 6 点准时起床打太极。中午一定要午休。“没有一个好身体，等不回来的。”去年年底，马来西亚 MH370 事故调查小组宣布解散。上周有新闻说，马来西亚考虑重启搜索工作。因为一家公司有了新技术的支持，似乎又有了很小一点的希望。我们仍然不确定未来结果会怎样。但就像一个 9 岁的广东小朋友，给154 名失联家属的一封信里说的那样：《每个人心中都有一架 MH370》。“妈妈说，每个人心中都有一个马航 MH370。我心目中的 MH370 就是寻找它，记住它，怀念它。”——只要还思念着，就没有彻底失去。来源：新世相播音：蔡钰婷责编：杨程昊

Catherine Bohart is a really funny Irish comedian. The kind of funny whose jokes actually pay the rent (not in the ideal gaff she would necessarily choose to, but still).

Before the revolution that—very unexpectedly—brought them to power, the Bolsheviks lived nomadic lives. They were always on the run from the authorities. That the authorities were always after them is not really a mystery, for all the Bolsheviks really wanted to do was take their authority away. What they would put in place of that “old” authority, they were not sure. Time would tell. They were, however, sure that they would, once in power, stop running around and settle down. Since Moscow was their new capital, they stayed in Moscow’s hotels for a time while they tried to puzzle out how to build the world’s first communist state. Clearly, however, it wouldn’t due to have the People’s Commissars staying in fancy (if a bit down-at-the-heel) “bourgeois” hotels; it just didn’t feel right. The Soviet elites needed a place of their own. In 1928, they started to build it and a few years later it was done. It came to be known as the “Government House on the Embankment.” As Yuri Slezkine writes in his novelesque history The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution (Princeton University Press, 2017), their new home was where the Revolutionaries came to live and the Revolution came to die. Slezkine has some very interesting and to some, I’m sure, controversial things to say about the two generations of residents he discusses in the book. One is reminded a bit of Turgenev’s “Fathers and Sons,” though in reverse: In the “House,” revolutionaries raised counter-revolutionaries. Listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before the revolution that—very unexpectedly—brought them to power, the Bolsheviks lived nomadic lives. They were always on the run from the authorities. That the authorities were always after them is not really a mystery, for all the Bolsheviks really wanted to do was take their authority away. What they would put in place of that “old” authority, they were not sure. Time would tell. They were, however, sure that they would, once in power, stop running around and settle down. Since Moscow was their new capital, they stayed in Moscow’s hotels for a time while they tried to puzzle out how to build the world’s first communist state. Clearly, however, it wouldn’t due to have the People’s Commissars staying in fancy (if a bit down-at-the-heel) “bourgeois” hotels; it just didn’t feel right. The Soviet elites needed a place of their own. In 1928, they started to build it and a few years later it was done. It came to be known as the “Government House on the Embankment.” As Yuri Slezkine writes in his novelesque history The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution (Princeton University Press, 2017), their new home was where the Revolutionaries came to live and the Revolution came to die. Slezkine has some very interesting and to some, I’m sure, controversial things to say about the two generations of residents he discusses in the book. One is reminded a bit of Turgenev’s “Fathers and Sons,” though in reverse: In the “House,” revolutionaries raised counter-revolutionaries. Listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Family drama, circa 1930: Yuri Slezkine tells the saga of the House of Government, a communal residence where top Soviet officials and their families lived, loved, died, and disappeared in the years after the Russian Revolution; Caroline Moorehead introduces American audiences to the story of the Rossellis, the family at the forefront of the fight against Mussolini’s fascism. • Episode Page: https://theamericanscholar.org/back-in-the-ussr/ • Go beyond the episode: • Yuri Slezkine’s House of Government • Watch Neighbors of the Kremlin, a documentary about the House on the Embankment • Caroline Moorehead’s A Bold and Dangerous Family • Read poetry by Carlo Rosselli’s daughter, Amelia (named after his mother), whose work has only recently been translated • Explore the Fondazione Rosselli archives online • Tune in every two weeks to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek. • Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • Acast • Have suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. And rate us on iTunes!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS     When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmescases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many whichpresent strange and interesting features that it is no easymatter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however,have already gained publicity through the papers, and others havenot offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friendpossessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object ofthese papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled hisanalytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings withoutan ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, andhave their explanations founded rather upon conjecture andsurmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear tohim. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkablein its details and so startling in its results that I am temptedto give some account of it in spite of the fact that there arepoints in connection with it which never have been, and probablynever will be, entirely cleared up.The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greateror less interest, of which I retain the records. Among myheadings under this one twelve months I find an account of theadventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur MendicantSociety, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of afurniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of theBritish barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of theGrice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of theCamberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered,Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, toprove that it had been wound up two hours before, and thattherefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--adeduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up thecase. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none ofthem present such singular features as the strange train ofcircumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe.It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial galeshad set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind hadscreamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so thateven here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forcedto raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life andto recognise the presence of those great elemental forces whichshriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, likeuntamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grewhigher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child inthe chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of thefireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at theother was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories untilthe howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text,and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash ofthe sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for afew days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at BakerStreet."Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely thebell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?""Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encouragevisitors.""A client, then?""If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man outon such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is morelikely to be some crony of the landlady's."Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for therecame a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. Hestretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself andtowards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit."Come in!" said he.The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at theoutside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something ofrefinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrellawhich he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof toldof the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked abouthim anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that hisface was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who isweighed down with some great anxiety."I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez tohis eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I havebrought some traces of the storm and rain into your snugchamber.""Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may resthere on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up fromthe south-west, I see.""Yes, from Horsham.""That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps isquite distinctive.""I have come for advice.""That is easily got.""And help.""That is not always so easy.""I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergasthow you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal.""Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards.""He said that you could solve anything.""He said too much.""That you are never beaten.""I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by awoman.""But what is that compared with the number of your successes?""It is true that I have been generally successful.""Then you may be so with me.""I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour mewith some details as to your case.""It is no ordinary one.""None of those which come to me are. I am the last court ofappeal.""And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, youhave ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain ofevents than those which have happened in my own family.""You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us theessential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwardsquestion you as to those details which seem to me to be mostimportant."The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet outtowards the blaze."My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have,as far as I can understand, little to do with this awfulbusiness. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you anidea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of theaffair."You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Eliasand my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry,which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. Hewas a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his businessmet with such success that he was able to sell it and to retireupon a handsome competence."My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man andbecame a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have donevery well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army,and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. WhenLee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, wherehe remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he cameback to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham.He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and hisreason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and hisdislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise tothem. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, veryfoul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiringdisposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, Idoubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two orthree fields round his house, and there he would take hisexercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leavehis room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked veryheavily, but he would see no society and did not want anyfriends, not even his own brother."He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at thetime when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. Thiswould be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine yearsin England. He begged my father to let me live with him and hewas very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to befond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he wouldmake me his representative both with the servants and with thetradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quitemaster of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where Iliked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him inhis privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for hehad a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which wasinvariably locked, and which he would never permit either me oranyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peepedthrough the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such acollection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in sucha room."One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamplay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not acommon thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were allpaid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'FromIndia!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What canthis be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five littledried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began tolaugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sightof his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, hisskin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which hestill held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, andthen, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!'"'What is it, uncle?' I cried."'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to hisroom, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelopeand saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above thegum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing elsesave the five dried pips. What could be the reason of hisoverpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as Iascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key,which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a smallbrass box, like a cashbox, in the other."'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,'said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in myroom to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.'"I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked tostep up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in thegrate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burnedpaper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As Iglanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid wasprinted the treble K which I had read in the morning upon theenvelope."'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leavemy estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, tomy brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend toyou. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find youcannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliestenemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can'tsay what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paperwhere Mr. Fordham shows you.'"I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away withhim. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepestimpression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it everyway in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet Icould not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it leftbehind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passedand nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. Icould see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever,and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of histime he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon theinside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzyand would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with arevolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man,and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, byman or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he wouldrush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him,like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terrorwhich lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seenhis face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though itwere new raised from a basin."Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not toabuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of thosedrunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, whenwe went to search for him, face downward in a littlegreen-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. Therewas no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep,so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity,brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he wincedfrom the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myselfthat he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed,however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, andof some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank.""One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee,one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let mehave the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, andthe date of his supposed suicide.""The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weekslater, upon the night of May 2nd.""Thank you. Pray proceed.""When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at myrequest, made a careful examination of the attic, which had beenalways locked up. We found the brass box there, although itscontents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was apaper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath.These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which hadbeen destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there wasnothing of much importance in the attic save a great manyscattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life inAmerica. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he haddone his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier.Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southernstates, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he hadevidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bagpoliticians who had been sent down from the North."Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live atHorsham, and all went as well as possible with us until theJanuary of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard myfather give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at thebreakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly openedenvelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in theoutstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at whathe called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he lookedvery scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come uponhimself."'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered."My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I."He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here arethe very letters. But what is this written above them?'"'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over hisshoulder."'What papers? What sundial?' he asked."'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but thepapers must be those that are destroyed.'"'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in acivilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind.Where does the thing come from?'"'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark."'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to dowith sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of suchnonsense.'"'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said."'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.'"'Then let me do so?'"'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about suchnonsense.'"It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinateman. I went about, however, with a heart which was full offorebodings."On the third day after the coming of the letter my father wentfrom home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who isin command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was gladthat he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther fromdanger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was inerror. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegramfrom the major, imploring me to come at once. My father hadfallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in theneighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. Ihurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recoveredhis consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning fromFareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him,and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation inbringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.'Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, Iwas unable to find anything which could suggest the idea ofmurder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, norobbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads.And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease,and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had beenwoven round him."In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask mewhy I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was wellconvinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon anincident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be aspressing in one house as in another."It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and twoyears and eight months have elapsed since then. During that timeI have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope thatthis curse had passed away from the family, and that it had endedwith the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon,however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape inwhich it had come upon my father."The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, andturning to the table he shook out upon it five little driedorange pips."This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark isLondon--eastern division. Within are the very words which wereupon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put thepapers on the sundial.'""What have you done?" asked Holmes."Nothing.""Nothing?""To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, whitehands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poorrabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be inthe grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresightand no precautions can guard against.""Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you arelost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time fordespair.""I have seen the police.""Ah!""But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced thatthe inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are allpractical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were reallyaccidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected withthe warnings."Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredibleimbecility!" he cried."They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain inthe house with me.""Has he come with you to-night?""No. His orders were to stay in the house."Again Holmes raved in the air."Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did younot come at once?""I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to MajorPrendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come toyou.""It is really two days since you had the letter. We should haveacted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, thanthat which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail whichmight help us?""There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coatpocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tintedpaper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance,"said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers Iobserved that the small, unburned margins which lay amid theashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheetupon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that itmay be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out fromamong the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyondthe mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I thinkmyself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing isundoubtedly my uncle's."Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper,which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn froma book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were thefollowing enigmatical notices:"4th. Hudson came. Same old platform."7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and John Swain, of St. Augustine."9th. McCauley cleared."10th. John Swain cleared."12th. Visited Paramore. All well.""Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning itto our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose anotherinstant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have toldme. You must get home instantly and act.""What shall I do?""There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You mustput this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brassbox which you have described. You must also put in a note to saythat all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and thatthis is the only one which remains. You must assert that in suchwords as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, youmust at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Doyou understand?""Entirely.""Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. Ithink that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have ourweb to weave, while theirs is already woven. The firstconsideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatensyou. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish theguilty parties.""I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on hisovercoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shallcertainly do as you advise.""Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself inthe meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt thatyou are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do yougo back?""By train from Waterloo.""It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust thatyou may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself tooclosely.""I am armed.""That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case.""I shall see you at Horsham, then?""No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seekit.""Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with newsas to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in everyparticular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outsidethe wind still screamed and the rain splashed and patteredagainst the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have cometo us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheetof sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by themonce more.Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunkforward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then helit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the bluesmoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling."I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases wehave had none more fantastic than this.""Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four.""Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seemsto me to be walking amid even greater perils than did theSholtos.""But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as towhat these perils are?""There can be no question as to their nature," he answered."Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursuethis unhappy family?"Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon thearms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The idealreasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown asingle fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all thechain of events which led up to it but also all the results whichwould follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a wholeanimal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer whohas thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidentsshould be able to accurately state all the other ones, bothbefore and after. We have not yet grasped the results which thereason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the studywhich have baffled all those who have sought a solution by theaid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highestpitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able toutilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and thisin itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of allknowledge, which, even in these days of free education andencyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not soimpossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledgewhich is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I haveendeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on oneoccasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limitsin a very precise fashion.""Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document.Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, Iremember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards themud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistryeccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crimerecords unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, andself-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were themain points of my analysis."Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, asI said then, that a man should keep his little brain-atticstocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and therest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where hecan get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one whichhas been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to musterall our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you.Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may bededuced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strongpresumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason forleaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all theirhabits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida forthe lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme loveof solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear ofsomeone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesisthat it was fear of someone or something which drove him fromAmerica. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that byconsidering the formidable letters which were received by himselfand his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of thoseletters?""The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and thethird from London.""From East London. What do you deduce from that?""They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship.""Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt thatthe probability--the strong probability--is that the writer wason board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In thecase of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat andits fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days.Does that suggest anything?""A greater distance to travel.""But the letter had also a greater distance to come.""Then I do not see the point.""There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the manor men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always sendtheir singular warning or token before them when starting upontheir mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the signwhen it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in asteamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter.But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that thoseseven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat whichbrought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought thewriter.""It is possible.""More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadlyurgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw tocaution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time whichit would take the senders to travel the distance. But this onecomes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay.""Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentlesspersecution?""The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vitalimportance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I thinkthat it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them.A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a wayas to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several init, and they must have been men of resource and determination.Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may.In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of anindividual and becomes the badge of a society.""But of what society?""Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward andsinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?""I never have."Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here itis," said he presently:"'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance tothe sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secretsociety was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in theSouthern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed localbranches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee,Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power wasused for political purposes, principally for the terrorising ofthe negro voters and the murdering and driving from the countryof those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usuallypreceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantasticbut generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in someparts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving thisthe victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or mightfly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death wouldunfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange andunforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of thesociety, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly acase upon record where any man succeeded in braving it withimpunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to theperpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spiteof the efforts of the United States government and of the betterclasses of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there havebeen sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.'"You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "thatthe sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with thedisappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It maywell have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and hisfamily have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track.You can understand that this register and diary may implicatesome of the first men in the South, and that there may be manywho will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered.""Then the page we have seen--""Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sentthe pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning tothem. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, orleft the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, asinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may letsome light into this dark place, and I believe that the onlychance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I havetold him. There is nothing more to be said or to be doneto-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget forhalf an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserableways of our fellow-men."It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with asubdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over thegreat city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I camedown."You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, Iforesee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case ofyoung Openshaw's.""What steps will you take?" I asked."It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries.I may have to go down to Horsham, after all.""You will not go there first?""No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and themaid will bring up your coffee."As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table andglanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent achill to my heart."Holmes," I cried, "you are too late.""Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was itdone?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved."My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'TragedyNear Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account:"Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the HDivision, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help anda splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark andstormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, itwas quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, wasgiven, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body waseventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentlemanwhose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in hispocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham.It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catchthe last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste andthe extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edgeof one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The bodyexhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt thatthe deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident,which should have the effect of calling the attention of theauthorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages."We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed andshaken than I had ever seen him."That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a pettyfeeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personalmatter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set myhand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and thatI should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chairand paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with aflush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping andunclasping of his long thin hands."They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How couldthey have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on thedirect line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was toocrowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson,we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!""To the police?""No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they maytake the flies, but not before."All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late inthe evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmeshad not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before heentered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard,and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously,washing it down with a long draught of water."You are hungry," I remarked."Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing sincebreakfast.""Nothing?""Not a bite. I had no time to think of it.""And how have you succeeded?""Well.""You have a clue?""I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall notlong remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilishtrade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!""What do you mean?"He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces hesqueezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five andthrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote"S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "CaptainJames Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia.""That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling."It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure aprecursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him.""And who is this Captain Calhoun?""The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first.""How did you trace it, then?"He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered withdates and names."I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registersand files of the old papers, following the future career of everyvessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in'83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which werereported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,'instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reportedas having cleared from London, the name is that which is given toone of the states of the Union.""Texas, I think.""I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship musthave an American origin.""What then?""I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became acertainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at presentin the port of London.""Yes?""The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to theAlbert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river bythe early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wiredto Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, andas the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past theGoodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight.""What will you do, then?""Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as Ilearn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others areFinns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three awayfrom the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who hasbeen loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-shipreaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, andthe cable will have informed the police of Savannah that thesethree gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder."There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans,and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive theorange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and asresolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and verysevere were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long fornews of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. Wedid at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic ashattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the troughof a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that isall which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star."

We explore the back alleys around Embankment with Katie Wignall of Look Up London. Plus we meet an underwater photographer and find out where to get a cup of coffee for £1 near Temple tube. Seriously. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

#GuideDog #vance #london #train #2015

Claire, Paul and I travel from Oxford Circus to the river Thames on the Bakerloo line, including using four different escalators with our three guide dogs. #GuideDog #Underground #Tube #OxfordCircus #Embankment #Escalator #vance #usher #ben

"Hugging the Embankment" Paulette visits an elderly cardiologist who prescribes medicine that has an hallucinogenic effect.

Located in Angkor, the West Baray holds over 12 billion gallons of water and required 200,000 people to construct its tall embankments. Ten centuries later, its water is still being used to irrigate... The latest in science, culture, and history from Smithsonian Channel.

The history of flooding in the region and the threat of future surges that overwhelm our current defences.

Redesigning traditional homes. Local tradesmen in Bangladesh are trained to build storm-resistant structures.

Transcript -- Redesigning traditional homes. Local tradesmen in Bangladesh are trained to build storm-resistant structures.

Transcript -- The history of flooding in the region and the threat of future surges that overwhelm our current defences.

Redesigning traditional homes. Local tradesmen in Bangladesh are trained to build storm-resistant structures.

Transcript -- Redesigning traditional homes. Local tradesmen in Bangladesh are trained to build storm-resistant structures.

The history of flooding in the region and the threat of future surges that overwhelm our current defences.

Transcript -- The history of flooding in the region and the threat of future surges that overwhelm our current defences.

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the artist Rachel Whiteread.She came to public prominence in 1993 with the life-size concrete cast of a Victorian house in East London. The sculpture prompted a public debate about what conceptual art is - the house was destroyed shortly afterwards. At the same time, Whiteread was named winner of the Turner Prize at the age of 30. She had studied sculpture at the Slade School of Fine Art and became one of the generation of Young British Artists, with her work displayed alongside that of Damien Hirst. Her most controversial work - a memorial to 65,000 Austrian Jews who died in the Holocaust - was unveiled in Vienna in 2000 amid heightened political tension. Much of her work focuses on casting hidden spaces, with the inside of a box as the inspiration for the 14,000 boxes which form her latest exhibit, Embankment, on display at Tate Modern, London, until the end of April.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: The Köln Concert Part 1 by Keith Jarrett Book: A reference book on the natural history of the island Luxury: Ink, pen, paper and correction fluid

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the artist Rachel Whiteread. She came to public prominence in 1993 with the life-size concrete cast of a Victorian house in East London. The sculpture prompted a public debate about what conceptual art is - the house was destroyed shortly afterwards. At the same time, Whiteread was named winner of the Turner Prize at the age of 30. She had studied sculpture at the Slade School of Fine Art and became one of the generation of Young British Artists, with her work displayed alongside that of Damien Hirst. Her most controversial work - a memorial to 65,000 Austrian Jews who died in the Holocaust - was unveiled in Vienna in 2000 amid heightened political tension. Much of her work focuses on casting hidden spaces, with the inside of a box as the inspiration for the 14,000 boxes which form her latest exhibit, Embankment, on display at Tate Modern, London, until the end of April. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Köln Concert Part 1 by Keith Jarrett Book: A reference book on the natural history of the island Luxury: Ink, pen, paper and correction fluid