I love the Beeb

I love the BBC (the British Broadcasting Corporation). People affectionately refer to the BBC as the Beeb.

The BBC and I were introduced in an extraordinary way!

When I was 15 (1964, a long time ago) my father used to tune in to the BBC (Portuguese Service) to be updated about home politics. You know, the old regime controlled the news, so we had to be ingenious and find other sources.

We owned a reliable Phillips set which provided a wonderful sound on short wave. One night, out of the blue, either while we were waiting for the bulletin of news in Portuguese or just after it, I realized I was listening to what turned out to be English by Radio. It was a dictation exercise, I think. That moment was undoubtedly a milestone in my personal history because it clearly showed me the way to become a teacher of English. A few years later some of my university mates used to call me Mr BBC because I was always pestering them with BBC stuff.

The first time I visited London I had made a note not to forget the Bush House, a building between Aldwych and The Strand. The famous building is still the BBC’s radio headquarters today.

I still keep dozens of old tapes with great BBC English by Radio programmes. Most of them stored hours of programmes for teachers, for example, about the English language, language skills, serials and interviews with famous EFL writers and linguists.

But among my most cherished BBC tapes is the recording of the first bulletin of news in which the BBC referred to the Carnation Revolution in the morning of April 25, 1974. “In Portugal there has been a revolt by elements of the army. A group of army officers and troups has seized a commercial radio station in Lisbon. The capital’s main square is reported to be full of tanks and soldiers, but their allegiance is not clear. Lisbon airport is closed and there are unconfirmed reports of troups marching on the capital. The rebel troups are calling themselves the Armed Forces Movement …”

Now let me introduce you to two great BBC sites: the News Front Page and BBC English Learning Home page.

The opening page of the NEWS allows you to choose from several menus. Click and go. What are you interested in? Science? Technology? Sports? Health? The UK? America? Help yourself and explore the wide choice.

Now open The BBC Learning English Home page. It’s wonderful, isn’t it? Try something. “The Flatmates”, for example. You can hear the story with the text or hiding it.

The BBC will always be part of my life, don’t you agree?