Author Archives: Luke Thompson

About Luke Thompson

I've been teaching English for over 20 years in London, Japan and France. I also do an award-winning podcast for learners of English called "Luke's English Podcast". In my free time I'm a stand-up comedian who regularly performs shows in English in Paris and sometimes London.

101. A Note from Luke

2 Replies

This post was written in May 2012, and the audio was recorded later, in 2014.

I’m sick with a sore throat and a temperature today so I can’t record a podcast, but I wanted to communicate with you my listeners, followers, fans, subscribers, students, friends, whatever you want to call yourselves. So in this message I’d just like to say a few things, and I’m going to do that now:

Voting in the competition is now closed. Thanks so much for your votes. I’m now planning to announce the winner. I think the best way to do that is to announce it in a podcast episode. As I said, I’m ill at this moment, so I can’t do that now but I will asap. Actually, you can find out the winner by just counting the votes from the comments sections on the 3 competition entry episodes. Votes added in the comments box on the side of this website have not been counted. Sorry :( but those were the rules.
I am REALLY PLEASED with the competition, because I think the competition entries from listeners were AWESOME and LOVELY, and because lots of people voted and got involved. It’s touching to hear responses from people in other countries.
Hello to Priyank from India – I said I would say hello to you in a podcast, and I will do it with my voice rather than in text like this. You can look forward to it mate! Also hi to Hacer from Turkey and my classroom in London recently. I’ll say “hi” to you too and we’ll see if I can pronounce your name correctly (fingers crossed).
I hate sitting at home feeling sick because I feel there are so many things to do, but I should rest today because you’ve got to look after your health. That’s what my Mum says anyway.
I am stupidly busy these days, which is why I haven’t uploaded for a few days. In an ideal world I would regularly upload lots of podcasts and other things for you to enjoy and learn from, and as a result I would become even happier and proud and the world would be a slightly better place. Please listen to episodes again and again, you will find that to be more and more useful for you. You’ll notice things you didn’t notice before. Repeat listening will help you pick up more vocabulary. You might find something funny the 2nd time that you thought was just normal the 1st time. Of course, you might find it annoying and less funny but there’s not much I can do about that, is there?
Sorry, I haven’t asked how you are. How are you? Are you well? That’s good, I’m glad to hear it. Look after yourself won’t you. Take care and keep in touch. Keep listening to the podcast. Are you on Facebook? Why don’t you ‘like’ my Facebook page? Just go to FB and search for Luke’s English Podcast. I post videos and other stuff there sometimes. If you ‘like’ the page, you’ll see those things in your timeline, and that’ll be cool. I’m on Twitter too (@englishpodcast) and I add a few comments and links there from time to time too.
I think I might get a new mobile phone, like maybe a Samsung or something but I’m not sure I can afford it. Also, I’m quite sceptical about buying these gadgets. i heard somewhere that Samsung also make really nasty weapons which get used in wars. It kind of made me think twice about getting one of their products, but that Galaxy S2 looks really good… Decisions decisions… Perhaps I’ll stick with the Blackberry for a while.
The weather in London is really crap at the moment. It’s just grey and wet. It’s a bit depressing to be honest but I’m sure it’ll improve soon and we’ll have some great days of sunshine. I admit, I talk about the weather a bit too much, but if you lived here in the UK you’d know why.
The Olympics are due to start here in London in the summer, and the Queen is celebrating her 60 year jubilee. This means that the whole city seems to be preparing for some massively patriotic celebration of being British. On one hand that’s great and really exciting to be part of, but on the other hand it could make London busy and crowded and sometimes it feels like the whole thing will just cost a huge amount of money. Isn’t there a massive financial crisis going on? Shouldn’t we be saving money?
Banksy has done a new piece of graffiti on a wall in North East London. It’s been in the news. It looks like a comment on the patriotic celebration and pageantry of the Jubilee and Olympics. While we celebrate and spend loads of money, kids in sweatshops on the other side of the world are making the bunting and flags we use to celebrate. It makes you think twice about everything. You can see a picture of it http://londonist.com/2012/05/new-banksy-with-bunting-in-wood-green-high-road.php
I recently saw a great bit of stand up by the London based stand-up comedian Mickey Flanagan. Have a look at this video. It’s hilarious. I wonder if you understand everything, or find it funny. I would explain it all here but it would take ages and ages. Try watching the video anyway, it should give you a good laugh if you give it a chance. You can see the video below this text…
That’s it for now. Again, I’m really GLAD that the competition went well. I will announce the winner in a podcast as soon as I can. Please be patient! Remember I do this podcast on my own while also juggling a full-time job, a stand-up comedy ‘career’, 2 bands, a lot of laundry and washing, my health and well-being and last but definitely not least the attention of my lovely girlfriend. It means I don’t always have time to do podcast episodes quickly. I’m not the BBC, not yet anyway ;)
PEACE, LOVE,  ICE-CREAM, GREEN TEA, GOOD MUSIC & LAUGHTER !
Luke x

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCGPIR_4gI8&w=400&h=225]

100. Going To The Pub (with James)

25 Replies

This is your complete guide to how to go to the pub in the UK, including what to say, what to do, and how to get served at the bar.

Small Donate ButtonRight-click here to download this episode.

Contents

In this episode you’ll learn everything you need to know about going to the pub, including:
– what does a pub look like?
– types of pub
– are you welcome?
– opening times
– how to order
– where to stand
– how to get served
– the order of being served
– buying drinks for others
– tipping
– what to say to the barman
– making conversation with locals
– types of drink
– useful phrases
– what you will find in the pub
– places to sit
– things to do
– smoking
– food
– trouble
– locals
– banter
– football
– pub lunch
– after work drinks
– night out
– beer garden
– What NOT to do
– binge drinking
– getting drunk
– words for ‘drunk’
– the pub in British culture – films, tv shows
If you find the podcast useful, why not donate some money to help me pay for website costs, etc. It’s very simple to do and you can use your PayPal account for other things like online shopping. It’s completely safe and trustworthy.

The pub in English films and TV shows, and other videos:
*Comedy is difficult to understand sometimes, especially in another language. If you don’t find any of this funny, never mind!*
This is a scene from classic comedy show Only Fools and Horses. People describe this scene as “the bit when Del Boy falls through the bar”
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63rcdLeXiU8&w=400&h=301]
This is a useful guide to the different kinds of pub you can find in London. Here’s a quick summary: Tourist Pubs – they’re bad because they’re really big, fake, the beer is flat, the food is stodgy. Old Man Pubs (often found in Soho or Mayfair, but anywhere in London really) are great because they’re quite small, authentic, have interesting interior design, friendly people (usually), cheaper, more relaxing, a good place to buy good ale, a good place for banter or intelligent conversation with locals. Hipster Hangouts (typical trendy pubs in East London) are where you find fashionable cutting-edge cool young people. Family Pubs can be found in quieter parts of London, e.g. the suburbs or areas near the river for example near Hammersmith Bridge, which is my neighbourhood. The Dove in Hammersmith that’s my local, and a great pub!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMrBcc5kdSE&w=560&h=315]
This is a home-made video. The commentator sounds like a cockney. See what happens when an American goes to a pub in the UK. He makes a few mistakes, the muppet. (‘Muppet’ is a cockney slang word meaning ‘idiot’ – it’s an affectionate insult)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XHyze2trng&w=420&h=315]
This is Al Murray The Pub Landlord. He is a comedy character based on the cliche of British pub landlords. He’s patriotic, small minded and ridiculous. He’s a horrible, stupid guy and that is the joke (yes, it’s weird British humour). One thing I should say – this character is a criticism of this kind of stupid character but also a kind of celebration too. It’s complicated.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyGgL_omNbI&w=420&h=315]
This clip is from a disgusting, rude and hilarious (in my opinion) BBC comedy called “Bottom”. The show is about two characters called Richie and Eddie. They are both sad lonely perverts who live in London. They are desperate to pick up some girls and ‘have it off’ with them, but they have absolutely no charm whatsoever. They have no luck with women. This is because they are stupid, sex-obsessed, completely unsophisticated and downright rude. In this episode they have bought some ‘sex spray’. This is a chemical which they believe will make them irresistibly attractive towards women. They go to the pub to try and pick up some ‘birds’. In fact, the spray doesn’t work at all. It only attracts dogs, which chase them through the street outside the pub. All their pathetic attempts to seduce the women fail miserably. Richie and Eddie are played by actors Rik Mayall and Ade Edmonson, who are two of the UK’s favourite TV comedy actors. Enjoy the clip, but watch out if you’re easily offended by very crass humour. It’s a rude show, but I love it.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uVWlbh30HM&w=400&h=301]
A nostalgic and slightly sad documentary film about the decline of the pub in Britain.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ASxxiuCAcA&w=400&h=301]
Barack Obama drinks a pint of Guinness in a pub in Ireland (the best place to drink good Guinness). You might here them saying Slainte (pronounced Slanche), which what they say in Ireland before having a drink (like ‘cheers’ in the UK). Enjoy – and doesn’t it make you want a pint of Guinness?
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5206QjFWmAk&w=400&h=233]

99. The Rotary Sushi Bar of English

3 Replies

In this episode I challenged myself to talk for 30 minutes. I ended up talking for 1 hour, mainly about food in different countries.

[DOWNLOAD]

Contents
Here is a moment by moment tracklist for this episode:
1. The kinds of food we eat
2. Japanese sushi
3. Tsukiji Market
4. Green tea
5. Korean food
6. Chinese food at markets
7. Weird things I’ve eaten
8. First time I tried sushi
9. Sushi in London
10. The Japan Centre
11. American food
12. South American food
13. French bread
14. German food
15. Russian food
16. Chicken Kiev
17. Indian food
18. Birmingham’s Balti
19. Curry
20. African food
21. Other episodes about food
22. Buying a new kitchen
23. Homebase rant
24. Share price gamble
25. Finding another topic
26. My Dad bought me a watch
27. Obey
28. Banksy
29. Advertising
30. Half way point
31. Conclusions?
32. Memory loss
33. False ending
34. Directions game idea
35. Other things in the pipeline
36. Music show
37. YouTube video
38. False ending 2
39. Subliminal English learning through sleep
40. Winding down the episode, but keeping going
41. Brighton Comedy festival
42. Snigger Happy with Paul Langton and Alex Love – 21-24 May, Temple Bar, Brighton 7pm
43. Just bear with me – THERE’S A BEAR WITH YOU?!
44. Surprise jingle
45. Technical difficulties
46. Keeping it real
47. Podcasts with Paul and Alex
48. The 40 minute mark
49. Call it a day
50. False ending 3
51. Naming the episode
52. Green tea
53. Put down the guns
54. Peace among men
55. The cup of tea episode?
56. In memory of hot bottles of green tea on the Tokaido Line
57. Nova
58. The McDonald’s School of English
59. Learning how to teach
60. 10 minutes
61. Listening to students
62. How to use Luke’s English Podcast to improve your English
63. Lexical chunks
64. Prepositions
65. 2 ways of learning English using this podcast
66. Write down word for word what I say
67. Underline certain things
68. Visual learners
69. Learning words by reading + effect on pronunciation
70. Learn English by hearing it
71. The rotary sushi bar of English
72. Talking to yourself
73. The danger of becoming a bit mental
74. Listening when you’re young
75. Improving your pronunciation
76. The competition
77. Voting closes 16 May
78. False ending 4
79. Finding a name
80. Stream of consciousness
81. Thanks
82. Hitting my stride after 30 minutes
83. Aiming for dead-on one hour
84. Someone has posted a comment on your YouTube video
85. Dethroned318
86. The final stages of the episode
87. 59:10
88. 35 seconds left to keep on rolling
89. Jingle
90. A perfect ending
91. End with a final conclusive ending point at the end where we reach the 60 minute mark which I think will come up now, thanks for listening to this episode of the podcast bye bye bye bye bye

98. Luke vs Oliver (Part 2) Comparing and describing things

1 Reply

We continue our discussion of various ‘vs battles’ in this episode, in order to present some descriptive language. Listen, and add your comments below!

Small Donate ButtonRight-click here to download the episode.
VS Battles in this episode:
Analogue vs Digital (Vinyl vs Digital)
Clock Time vs Experiential Time (What a weird discussion!)
McDonald’s vs Burger King
Red Sauce vs Brown Sauce
Book vs Kindle
Prince William vs Prince Harry
Gibson vs Fender
Tea vs Coffee
Cats vs Dogs
Indiana Jones vs Lara Croft
Football vs Rugby
Individualism vs Collectivism (not discussed)
Jason Bourne vs James Bond
Cowboys vs Aliens
Bear vs Shark
Pirates vs Ninjas
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR7227_ndqQ&w=400&h=301]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJTF8wA5u6c&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU61xJJ-fTs&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRVCv-lXVrw&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt2Luu08f70&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVtCR5UQgsk&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dugipeVZtE&w=400&h=301]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA5ThymLbKQ&w=400&h=301]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlZyQylOKv4&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiTnVX_IRt0&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdmupNxobP0&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfs2FRgp-ow&w=400&h=301]

97. Luke vs Oliver (Part 1) Comparing and describing things

1 Reply

Listen to Luke and Oli as they discuss, compare and describe a variety of different topics, ideas, themes and people. The idea behind this episode is to compare and contrast different pairs of things, not only to decide which is the best, but also to explore them in great depth.

Small Donate ButtonRight-click here to download this episode.
The idea behind this episode is to compare and contrast different pairs of things, not only to decide which is the best, but also to explore them in great depth.

Here is a list of the things we compare in this episode. Feel free to contribute a transcript if you wish. Part 2 of this episode will be uploaded soon. Add your comments below ;)

‘Vs Battles’ in this episode:
Star Wars vs Lord of the Rings
Early Birds vs Night Owls
Simile vs Metaphor
Sean Connery vs Roger Moore
Apple vs Microsoft
Al Pacino vs Robert DeNiro
John Lennon vs Paul McCartney
Innovation vs Imitation
Coke vs Pepsi
The Beatles vs The Rolling Stones


[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbeXERfshNc&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1c6zF9aJxs&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lea3Ynnklm4&w=400&h=301]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeSdeQRbhPs
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkP56x8kxnU&w=400&h=301]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fqVwJs9UaY&w=400&h=233]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMo6o0BtFG8&w=400&h=301]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVjkgNaqlWE&w=400&h=301]

94-96. Competition Entries

1 Reply

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED – THANKS FOR YOUR VOTES EVERYONE – I WILL ANNOUNCE THE WINNER & RUNNERS UP SOON! Click here to find out who won the competition.

Episode 1/2

[DOWNLOAD]

Voting closes on 16 May.

In this episode you will hear competition entries from: Camila from Brazil, Cristina from Italy, Daniel from Spain, Dimitri from Russia, Elisa from Finland, Ewelina from Poland, Farrux and Nodir from Uzbekistan, Genival from Brazil ,Hiroshi from Japan, Juan Carlos from Mexico, Kirill from Belarus

How to vote: Vote for your favourite comment/recording. Choose the one you like the most, and vote by adding a comment. Just write the name and country of the person you are voting for. The winner is the one with the most votes.

Listen to the whole episode to hear all the comments. There are more comments in the next episode too.

To help you learn English I have added some language feedback comments at the end of each competition recording.

Enjoy, and please VOTE!

Competition Entries Part 2

Episode 2/2

[DOWNLOAD]
In this episode you can listen to competition entries from these people: Kiyomi from Japan, Luigi from Italy, Marco from Italy, Nadia from Bulgaria, Nina the Dog, Regina from Russia, Romain from Switzerland, Romina from Iran, Samuel from Brazil, Stef from Bulgaria, Vagner from Brazil, Vanessa from Germany Yoshida from Japan.

Listen to all the comments and then vote below. You can vote by adding a comment below. Just type the name and country of your favourite. The winner will get the Macmillan Phrasal Verbs Dictionary. [Voting is now closed]

The Lost Competition Entry
Hi there. I forgot to add this competition entry to the last episode, so please listen to it and if you like it, vote!

[DOWNLOAD]

This entry is from Vagner in Brazil.

93. Weird… or just different? (with James & Aaron)

11 Replies

This episode is all about cultural differences. When you visit another country, you sometimes feel that the lifestyle there is strange, but is it really strange? In most cases, what we perceive as being weird, strange or bizarre about another culture is in fact totally normal from their point of view. So, we should remember to be open minded about other cultures and see the differences between us as fascinating and fun, rather than strange or wrong.

Small Donate ButtonRight-click here to download this episode.
In this episode I talk to my brother James and our friend Aaron about customs, culture and behaviour from around the world and discuss the question: Is it weird, or is it just different? Our conversation is inspired by a TED video I saw by Derek Sivers entitled “Weird… or just different?”. You can watch the video of his presentation and read the transcript below.

You can find a list of the things we talk about below. Feel free to add your comments below. You can share your thoughts, ask questions or tell us what things you find interesting and different about other cultures. You don’t need to sign in to add comments.

I was not sure if I should upload this episode. This is because I felt the conversation was quite chaotic and I feel embarrassed about interrupting James and Aaron so much. Normally I don’t interrupt my friends so much, but in this episode I was trying to reach conclusions and I was trying to manage the conversation. I’ve decided to upload it anyway because I still believe it is interesting and good for your English!

James, Aaron and I are good friends and here (particularly in the middle) we talk quite fast and often talk over each other. In fact, interrupting other people in conversation is another interesting cultural trait. In some cultures people interrupt each other a lot, and conversations tend to be very noisy and chaotic. Other cultures tend to have less interruption as people wait for each other to stop talking before they start. Here in the UK we are somewhere in the middle, although close friends will often talk over each other and interrupt a lot, like in this conversation. Your challenge in this episode is to try to keep up! Imagine you are in the room and you’re trying to follow the conversation. You probably won’t catch everything. My advice is – don’t give up! Don’t worry about the bits that you can’t hear or can’t catch. Just move on and stay with the conversation. In the end, it will be more rewarding for you. In real life too, you don’t always understand everything – we just have to survive in a conversation by focussing on the parts we DO understand, and guess the rest. Enjoy the episode, feel free to leave comments below and make a donation if you would like to. Thanks.

Cultural behaviour we mention in this episode:
1. Kissing or hugging people when you meet them
2. Having two taps in the bathroom (I’m obsessed with this subject!)
3. Wearing school uniform
4. Having milk in tea
5. Having advertising which features nudity
6. Publicly criticising the government
7. Girls wearing mini-skirts in the middle of winter (e.g. in a queue for a night club)
8. Eating scorpions / spiders / toads / frogs
9. Hawking / spitting in the street
10. Smacking children
11. Killing animals before you eat them / Having animals killed as part of an industrialised food production process
There are many more things which we didn’t discuss in this podcast, so I must do a follow up episode in the future.

Derek Sivers’ TED Talk + transcript:
http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf
So, imagine you’re standing on a street anywhere in America and a Japanese man comes up to you and says,

“Excuse me, what is the name of this block?”

And you say, “I’m sorry, well, this is Oak Street, that’s Elm Street. This is 26th, that’s 27th.”

He says, “OK, but what is the name of that block?”

You say, “Well, blocks don’t have names. Streets have names; blocks are just the unnamed spaces in between streets.”

He leaves, a little confused and disappointed.

So, now imagine you’re standing on a street, anywhere in Japan, you turn to a person next to you and say,

“Excuse me, what is the name of this street?”

They say, “Oh, well that’s Block 17 and this is Block 16.”

And you say, “OK, but what is the name of this street?”

And they say, “Well, streets don’t have names. Blocks have names. Just look at Google Maps here. There’s Block 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19. All of these blocks have names, and the streets are just the unnamed spaces in between the blocks.

And you say then, “OK, then how do you know your home address?”

He said, “Well, easy, this is District Eight. There’s Block 17, house number one.”

You say, “OK, but walking around the neighborhood, I noticed that the house numbers don’t go in order.”

He says, “Of course they do. They go in the order in which they were built. The first house ever built on a block is house number one. The second house ever built is house number two. Third is house number three. It’s easy. It’s obvious.”

So, I love that sometimes we need to go to the opposite side of the world to realize assumptions we didn’t even know we had, and realize that the opposite of them may also be true.

So, for example, there are doctors in China who believe that it’s their job to keep you healthy. So, any month you are healthy you pay them, and when you’re sick you don’t have to pay them because they failed at their job. They get rich when you’re healthy, not sick. (Applause)

In most music, we think of the “one” as the downbeat, the beginning of the musical phrase: one, two, three, four. But in West African music, the “one” is thought of as the end of the phrase, like the period at the end of a sentence. So, you can hear it not just in the phrasing, but the way they count off their music: two, three, four, one.

And this map is also accurate. (Laughter)

There’s a saying that whatever true thing you can say about India, the opposite is also true. So, let’s never forget, whether at TED, or anywhere else, that whatever brilliant ideas you have or hear, that the opposite may also be true. Domo arigato gozaimashita.

92. UK Royal Family Opinions – Video (Part 2) [TRANSCRIPT]

6 Replies

This is the transcript to my YouTube video “UK Royal Family Opinions (Part 2)”. Some of the vocabulary is defined at the bottom of this blog post.

Transcript of UK Royal Family Opinions – English Speaker Interviews in London (PART 2)

Girl: Hello!

Luke: So, whereabouts are you from, in the country?

Girl: Um, from London

Luke: Ok, great, which part of London?

Girl: North West

Luke: Oh yeah

Girl: Queen’s Park

Luke: Queen’s Park, alright. So, err, having a nice day?

Girl: Yeah, it’s really good, yeah

Luke: Um, what do you think of the Royal Family?

Girl: I like the Royal Family. I liked the wedding. I thought it was nice that everyone was coming together. Yeah, I think they’re alright.

Luke: What about, erm… let’s see… Who’s your favourite member of the Royal Family?

Girl: Harry

Luke: Why?

Girl: (Be)cause he’s kind of my age-ish, seems alright, seems quite normal. I think both of the younger ones seem quite normal.

Luke: Yeah, okay. What do you mean by normal?

Girl: As in, like, not too, they kind of try and be as normal as, like, they can, like go to uni, army, stuff like that.

Luke: Yeah?

Girl: Yeah

Luke: You think the others aren’t normal?

Girl: I just think they seem a bit more, higher. I dunno, like maybe can’t relate to them as much.

Luke: If you had a choice would you get rid of them? Keep them?

Girl: I don’t think they’re doing any harm. I don’t think I’d get rid of them. I think it’s nice for the country to have a Royal Family. I think it’s nice.

Luke: Anything else to say to the people of the world?

Girl: Yey London!

Luke: Alright

Girl: I don’t know!

Luke: Thank you very much!

Couple in Green Park

Luke: So I’m asking people about the Royal Family. What do you think? Do you think they’re a good thing or a bad thing?

Man: I think you can differentiate between the Queen and some of the other members of the Royal Family. The Queen does an excellent job. I think it’s more difficult for the  others to know quite what their role is supposed to be.

Luke: Right, okay. Right what do you think?

Woman: I think… I admire them and I think a lot of them work hard but I think the media can give them a bad profile. They’re quite invasive [the media] and I think if anyone was under the spotlight they wouldn’t come out glowingly. I do admire The Queen and also the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, I think she works very hard, does a lot of work for charity. I’ve actually met her so I think that overall they’re good for the country, they’re good for tourism and I think they keep, generally keep good standards, so yeah, that’s my opinion.

Luke: Ok, right, thank you very much

Both: Thank you

Party Animals near Buckingham Palace. The girl is from Lancashire and the guy is from Yorkshire.

Luke: Right, so, I’m asking people about The Royal Family. What do you think, are they a good thing or a bad thing?

Girl: I think they bring valuable tourism, but that’s as far as it goes really. I don’t, yeah I’m not interested in them in the slightest.

Guy: I think they give us a British persona, we wouldn’t be British without a famous monarch, and she does look bloody lovely on the coins, much better than in person.

Luke: Ok, right, have you got a favourite Royal?

Guy: Yes!

Luke: Who?

Girl: It’s Kate Middleton!

Guy: YEAH!

Luke: So you like Kate then?

Guy: She makes a lovely breakfast

Luke: Have you had breakfast with her?

Guy: I ate with her in the morning

Luke: She makes a lovely breakfast?

Guy: Yes

Luke: Okay and, err, who do you like?

Girl: Yeah, obviously Kate, in that dress

Guy: Prince Harry’s a nice guy, he seems like the most genuine person who you could actually have a beer with in the Royal Family, I’d suggest, the only ginger person who is attractive to women in England as well, no offence interviewer [Luke: I’M NOT GINGER!]

Girl: And, I met the Queen… I met the Queen’s husband, I met the Queen’s husband once

Guy: Oh Prince Philip

Girl: Yeah

Luke: You met Prince Philip? This is fascinating

Girl: Yeah because he opened part of my college up, so I had to represent

Luke: What was he like?

Girl: He was a pretty funny guy. Dead posh, and he was in Salford so he was probably shit scared!

Guy: I met Prince Charles at our university opening and forgot to stand up but I had been drinking, very very much

Luke: Alright, thank you very much

Guy: I’m sorry Luke

Guy from Australia

Luke: Right, so what do you think of the Royal Family?

Aussie: Erm, neither here nor there really, like I suppose they’re a symbol of an era gone by. I think they bring in England a great deal of revenue. I think they’ve been a good money spinner for England.

Luke: Are they good for Australia? Big question isn’t it, I suppose.

Aussie: I think they’re good for a lot of the smaller countries that depend on the commonwealth, you know, and that symbolism at the top really holds a lot of those small countries together and gives them a voice whereas a lot of the Pacific nations wouldn’t have a voice if it wasn’t for being in the commonwealth, yeah

Luke: What do you like about William?

Aussie: He seems pretty… he’s not up himself for a start, he doesn’t seem to be up himself, he doesn’t mind getting in and getting

Luke: Getting his hands dirty

Aussie: Getting his hands dirty you know, his younger brother he’s not too bad either. He does some bad, some stupid things but all young blokes do. People have got to just accept that and get over it. Yeah but they both put their arses on the line for their country, you know?

Luke: Right, well thank you very much I appreciate that

Guy from Birmingham

Luke: So what do you think of the Royal Family?

Brummie: I think overall it’s a good thing. They’re an example, and you know they’ve… for the past couple of years they’ve really come into their own again. We’ve got Charles, you know, looking like he’s going to be one hell of a king, of course that’s if the Queen doesn’t outlive him. We’ve got erm, Harry and William who look like they’re going to be two excellent princes and one day king, so yeah they’re… I like them. I like the fact that we have a Royal Family. I think we should be proud of such.

Luke: Really yeah. What would you say to people who think that we shouldn’t have one?

Brummie: Most people who I’ve spoken to about it seem to object to the cost, which is fair enough, yes the Royal Family does cost but they do an immense amount of work for that and per head it’s actually very very small so I don’t mind that.

Luke: Yeah, okay, who’s your favourite Royal?

Brummie: I’d say if you asked me around the same time of the wedding I would have said William but overall as a head of state I’ve got to say The Queen.

Luke: Really, yeah. Why is that?

Brummie: She’s just an immense woman and she’s served for so long and still she wants to serve, you can see it, and she’s quite stylish.

Russian girl

Girl: Hello

Luke: So, err, where are you from?

Girl: I’m from Russia

Luke: Okay and how long have you been in…

Girl: For 3 years

Luke: Okay, right, so I’m asking people about the Royal Family. What do you think of the Royal Family in England, in Britain?

Girl: Well, it’s a nice tradition. I think it’s nice that they have here a Queen. People enjoy it.

Luke: People enjoy it, yeah okay. Erm, who’s your favourite Royal?

Girl: Prince William, Prince Harry as well

Luke: Yeah? Why do you like them?

Girl: I fancy them

Luke: Do you really? Which one is more attractive?

Girl: Maybe Prince Harry because he’s still available.

Luke: Okay. So, Harry if you’re watching, err, what’s your name?

Girl: Daria

Luke: Daria

Girl: That’s my boyfriend there!

Luke: Oh your boyfriend’s here, okay you’ll have to deal with him first. So you like Harry, umm, okay, fine, so what about Kate, what do you think of her?

Girl: Well she’s very nice. They’ve been [in] a long term relationship before the wedding so they’re a great couple. I was here when it was a [the] wedding, so actually I made some videos and I sent them to Russian TV and they used it on [the] news, Russian news

Luke: Do you work for Russian news?

Girl: No I don’t, it was just, like a favour for my friend

Luke: Oh that’s good

Girl: So I appear on Russian TV!

Luke: Great, wow, fame and fortune is [are] one the way

Vocabulary in this video:

whereabouts = where exactly. E.g. “Whereabouts in London do you live?”

-ish = this is a suffix which means ‘approximately’

relate to them = understand them / feel that you’re similar to them

get rid of them = throw them away / remove them

differentiate = see clear differences

admire = respect and look up to

invasive = invades your privacy

under the spotlight = in the eyes of the media a lot

they wouldn’t come out glowingly = they wouldn’t look good

I’m not interested in them in the slightest = I don’t care about them

persona = an identity

genuine = real / true

ginger = with red hair

dead posh = very posh

shit scared! = very scared

neither here nor there  = without strong feelings for or against

an era gone by = an old time

revenue = income for the government

a good money spinner = something that makes a lot of money

blokes = men (infomal)

get over it = recover from it / learn that it isn’t a problem any more

put their arses on the line = take risks

they’ve really come into their own again = they’re being successful again

one hell of a king = a great king

immense = big and impressive

I fancy them = I think they’re sexually attractive

Competition Update

1 Reply

The competition is now closed. Voting ends on 16 May 2012.

Thank you very much for your entries. I am now processing them and I will upload them in a podcast (or two) in the very near future, and you will be able to listen to all the comments people have sent me. Then you can vote on which one is your favourite.

Other news, I am back from my skiing holiday and I had a great time. I did fall over a lot, but I didn’t injure my mouth so I can still speak!

Expect more podcast episodes to be uploaded soon.

Luke

91. The A to Z of Random Thoughts (A Rambling Episode)

9 Replies

This is probably the most random episode of the podcast so far, and certainly the longest. It’s about the same length as a football match, in fact, why not listen to this while watching an actual football match? It might make it more interesting.

Small Donate ButtonRight-click here to download this episode.
In this one, I didn’t have time to prepare very much because I am going on holiday tomorrow and I have to pack. However, I wanted to publish something tonight so I decided to go through the alphabet from A to Z and just think of words randomly, and then make a few comments about those words. You can see the words I mention below in a long list.

Please feel free to add your comments to this podcast episode. I’d really like you to contribute your thoughts.

I also give you an update to the competition I launched in the last episode. I have received a few mp3s but not as many as I expected. So, I’ve decided the change the rules of the competition. You can now send me emails with your responses to podcast episodes. Write no more than about 200 words in response to an episode. Please write the word ‘competition’ in the email so I know it is a competition entry. I will read out your emails on a podcast in the near future and then listeners can vote for their favourite mp3 or email response. The winner will get the Phrasal Verbs dictionary.

Here’s the A to Z list I talk about in this episode. There are also some videos at the bottom for you to check out. Have fun, and please donate some money (even a small amount helps) so I don’t lose out by doing this podcast. Your donations make this podcast possible. If you’d like to donate, click the button below. It’s easy and PayPal is a very safe and secure way of transferring money online (you can use it for eBay and other stuff too)…

A to Z
Remember that I just wrote these words down randomly in a couple of minutes. In the podcast I talk about these things. There’s no overall theme. It’s just a random collection of ideas, all improvised into the microphone.
Action
Ambition
Business
Batman
Comedy
Destruction
Deserve
Dogs
Elephants
Eggs
Easter
French
Germany
Greece
Gravy
Hamburgers
Health
Hicks (Bill Hicks)
Holidays
Ice-cream
Igloo
iPad
James
Jimi Hendrix
Jazz
Jogging
Jobs (Steve)
Keith Richards
Keith Moon
Kissing
Luke/luck/look
Luck
Lazy
Lemon and Lime
Lennon (John)
Mum
Maths
Monopoly
Nose
Orange Juice
Obstacles
Opportunities
Police (crime fighters)/ The Police (rock band)
Pressure
The Queen (monarch) / Queen (rock band)
Qualifications
Questions
Respect
Remember/Remind
<b>Random</b>
Stones (Rolling)
Stone (in your shoe)
Stupid
Sorry
Trailers
Trees
Underwear
Underground
Violence
Women’s day
Wookie
Why?
Xylophone
X-Men / ex-men
X-Box
Yesterday
Yes
Yellow
Zebra
Zoo
Zen

Batman’s night out in Toronto
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLOps4qA5rM&w=400&h=233]