IN MY FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS

IN MY FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS
by Chris Rose
This is the day. Today’s the day.
Andy knew it the moment he woke up that morning. This was the day he had to make a decision. The sun came in slowly through the red curtains in his bedroom and made him wake up earlier than he wanted to. It didn’t matter. It didn’t matter because today was the day. Andy stayed in his bed for some time, thinking about what he should do.

It didn’t matter – he had lots of time – he had woken up very early this morning. He lay in his bed thinking about the day that was to come. He lay there thinking about what he should do. The sun shining in through his red curtains became stronger and stronger and eventually he got up, stretched, yawned and went into the bathroom to get washed.

When he was in the bathroom washing his face he looked at himself in the mirror. “What shall I do today?” he asked his reflection in the mirror. “Should I stay at home, like every Saturday, or should I go?” His reflection didn’t reply to him. He looked at his face, his hair, his eyes. He thought about how much he looked like his father. He was now 32 years old. This was the same age that his father was when Andy was born. 32 years old. Was today the right time to make the journey? When Andy’s father was 32 years old he had already made that journey hundreds of times. For Andy, it was going to be the first time.

Andy went back into his bedroom and carefully took his clothes out of his wardrobe. He had made the decision. Yes – his lucky shirt. And then, his favourite trousers. He hoped his trousers were going to be lucky trousers too. Then he went into the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea and some toast for breakfast. As he was eating he thought about other people in other parts of the world who went on journeys like the journey he was going to do today.

He was still thinking about it when he went out of his house and walked down the road to the train station. Such an ordinary beginning for such a special day! he thought. This day, he thought, was more than any ordinary journey. Today was a pilgrimage. Today – for Andy – was a day like going to Rome, or sick people to Lourdes, or the people walking to Santiago de Compostela, or even Mecca.
Perhaps this was a wicked thought, but that’s how he felt. He thought about his father and he felt how extremely important this day was to him.

The train arrived and he saw a lot of other people getting on the train who were also making the same pilgrimage as he was. Even though he didn’t know them, they smiled at each other and nodded their heads at each other in a greeting. They recognised each other even though they didn’t know each other. The train started to move out through the town where he grew up – he saw the school where he went when he was little, the park where he played football with his father, and eventually the cemetery where his father was now buried.

His father had made this pilgrimage many times, but Andy had never gone with him. Andy hadn’t had a good relationship with his father when he was alive, but since he had died a year ago Andy found himself thinking more and more about his father. Now he was going to make the same pilgrimage that his father made so many times because he wanted to understand and remember his father. His father had made this pilgrimage, and his father’s father before that. And now he was doing it. It was a tradition which he felt happy – no, more than happy – he felt proud to be a part of.
Andy smiled again at the other people on the train. One man smiled back at him. “I haven’t seen you here before”, he said, “Is this your first time?”

“Yes, yes it is” replied Andy.

“I’ve been coming here for years” said the man. The train arrived at the station and they all got off. Now there were hundreds – no, more than hundreds – there were thousands of people there. They were all dressed in the same colours. They were all walking in the same direction.

“Makes you feel proud, doesn’t it?” said the man to Andy. He was right – Andy did feel proud. They walked together out of the station and onto the main road. The place of pilgrimage was there in front of them, only a few hundred metres away now. The thousands of other people became tens of thousands of people, everybody walking in the same direction, everybody together, lots of people singing old songs. Andy remembered his father singing some of those songs. He was happy now that he had come. He knew he had made the right decision.

As the tens of thousands of people walked slowly together along the road, Andy finally understood why his father and his grandfather had made this journey so often. It wasn’t the object of the journey that was important – it was the journey itself that was important. It was important to do the same things with lots of other people sometimes, to feel a sense of a shared faith, and shared ideals. Andy turned round and smiled at the man beside him. The man smiled back at Andy. Even though these two men didn’t know each other, they could see that they had something in common. They were walking in Andy’s father’s footsteps.

They walked in and up the concrete stairs. The noise of the tens of thousands of people was so loud that it was deafening. Andy started to laugh. He had made the right choice this morning. He was happy that he had come. He could almost feel his father standing there beside him. The teams ran out onto the pitch. There was a huge cheer.

The match was about to begin.
THE END

Download The Audio Here ^_^

THE BIRTH OF A STAR

THE BIRTH OF A STAR

by Chris Rose

June 5th 2006
Henry looks carefully into the telescope which lets him see far, far away, as far away as the distant nebulae on the far edges of the Milky Way. Henry is an astronomer. He looks at the sky, and at stars in particular. Even though he spends much of his time looking at detailed computer reports, which are just lists and lists of numbers, his favourite thing about his job is looking through the telescope. And today he is very excited. He isn’t sure yet, but he thinks he has seen a dense cloud which might be the beginning of a new star.

July 5th 2006
Henry is still looking for a tiny point of light in the sky. He checks the lists and lists of numbers that his computer produces, and tries to make sense of them. He tries to turn the basic data into an image, a picture of the star he hopes to see, but it is not yet possible.
He arrives home feeling tired. His wife Anna sits down next to him. “I’ve got some news…” she says.

August 5th 2006
Henry is so excited about being a father that he has forgotten about his star. Anna is feeling sick and tired. Henry is no longer thinking about nebulae and clouds and gases. He is thinking about pushchairs and nappies.

September 5th 2006
Anna and Henry go to the doctor. Anna has an ultrasound scan. Henry is used to seeing distant images of planets and stars and clouds, and now he looks at this image. It almost looks like a cloud, but it is much clearer. He can see the outline of a head, the features of a face. And he realises that this means much more to him than the distant stars he is used to looking at.

October 5th 2006
Anna finally starts to get fatter. Henry is feeling terrified. For the first time now, he realises exactly what it means. In a few months time, he will be a father.

November 5th 2006
Anna looks at her tummy and now starts to feel that there is another living person inside her. She thinks about Henry’s job, and remembers how excited Henry was a few months ago when he thought that he could see a new star.

December 5th 2006
Henry thinks that Anna looks a bit like a whale, but that she is very beautiful anyway. He thinks that next Christmas everything will be very, very different.

January 5th 2007
Anna feels like she wants to sleep all the time. She feels like the baby already wants to come out. The baby is kicking her from inside. She feels like a football. She can’t wait to become a mother. Henry calls her ten times a day on her mobile phone.

February 5th 2007
It can take as long as ten million years for a star to form, but Henry doesn’t care about seeing his star any more. He knows that although he may be the first person to see a new star, it is impossible for him to see the birth of a star, from its beginning to its appearance. But he doesn’t care because a new star has just entered his life.
“But we haven’t thought of a name!” says Anna, holding the tiny baby in her arms.
“I have” says Henry. “I’ve got a beautiful name for her.”
“What is it?”
“Stella. Let’s call her Stella.”

Download The Audio Here ^_^

NOT A DROP TO DRINK

NOT A DROP TO DRINK




by Chris Rose
Two thousand years ago the Romans tried to turn this desert into an oasis, a place full of rivers and lakes and canals. The Romans wanted to build big white temples and big houses under the hot sun. They wanted to turn this desert into a new paradise, full of trees and flowers and fields. They planned to sail their ships across the desert. But they failed.

The Romans failed because they looked only at the surface of the land. They tried to make the desert into a paradise with water and trees by digging canals and building aqueducts. They dug canals to connect the sea and the rivers. They built their aqueducts, long pipes to carry water, for many miles across the desert, to carry water from one town to another.

Now, I can still see some of the old aqueducts. There are a few white stone arches under the hot sun in the dry desert. They are falling down. The water in the aqueducts dried up. There is nothing left of the Roman canals. The water in the canals disappeared and the canals filled up with sand again, but if you look carefully it is still possible to see where they were. There are lines across the desert that look like very old roads.

In 1777 a Portuguese explorer called Emanuel de Melo Pimento came to this desert with a plan to turn it into an oasis. At that time in history, everybody was very excited by new discoveries in science and technology and engineering. Emanuel de Melo Pimento was a man of his times, one of the new scientist-philosopher-engineers who believed that all the problem of people in the world could be solved by science and philosophy. He believed that he could turn the hot, dry desert where nobody had enough water to drink into an oasis, into a utopia. He wanted to build a completely new city here, he wanted to build a completely new country. He wanted to call it “Pimentia”, named after himself, of course.

Emanuel de Melo Pimento had a lot of money. He had a lot of money because a lot of rich people in Portugal and Spain gave him money to go around the world and explore. These rich people invested in Emanuel de Melo Pimento’s journeys of exploration and discovery. Now they had given him money to build a new city, a new country, a utopia, to create an oasis in the desert. These rich people hoped to become even richer. Emanuel de Melo Pimento took their money and used it not to try and change the surface of the land, like the Romans, but to change what is under the surface of the desert. Emanuel de Melo Pimento wanted to dig canals under the desert, to make big underground rivers where the water would not dry up under the heat of the sun.

He failed, of course.

Some of his plans still survive. I have some of them here in my office in the Institute of Hydrogeological Research where I write this. They are very beautiful works of art. But not one of his plans was ever completed – they needed too much money, more money than even the rich people in Portugal and Spain gave to Emanuel de Melo Pimento. Instead, Emanuel de Melo Pimento spent all the money on building beautiful buildings where he could live and dream of his new city.

From where I write in my office in the Institute I can still see one of the old buildings that Emanuel de Melo Pimento lived in before he went mad and died here. He failed because he tried to look only under the land. The Romans failed because they looked only at the surface of the land. Now, I will succeed, because I am not looking at the surface of the desert, or under it. I am looking up above the desert. I am looking up at the sky.

Now, at the beginning of the 21st century we have the ability to go up into space. We have the ability to build satellites. Some people have said that I am mad, just like Emanuel de Melo Pimento, but I know that I will succeed. I have spent many years making plans to build satellites that can not only forecast the weather, but change it.

The first of the satellites went up into space last week, and now, using a computer here in my office, I am telling it what to do. The programmes I spent many years planning and designing all work perfectly.

I look up at the sky, and it is starting to rain.

It has now been raining for three weeks. It has not stopped raining for 21 days. At first, the people were very happy to see so much rain. Now the desert has flooded. Where before there was only sand, now there is water. Where there was desert, now there is sea.

But the rain that has come down from the sky has destroyed many houses. Some people now have nowhere to live. The rain was stronger and heavier than I planned. I was right to look up above the desert, not at its surface or under the sand, but I did not expect the force of nature to be so strong.

Have I too failed? I do not know. Will people in the future think of me as I now think of the Romans and of the failed mad scientist Emanuel de Melo Pimento?
I have turned the desert into a sea. We can now sail ships across the desert, like the Romans dreamed. But the people do not thank me. They have water, but they have nothing to drink.

THE END

Download The AUDIO here ^_^

FAIRY TALE MAGIC

FAIRY TALE MAGIC

Cinderella

Cinderella lived with her stepmother and two stepsisters, who were jealous of her and treated her very badly. She had to spend all day, every day doing work around the house.
One day an invitation arrived from the prince, who was having a ball. Cinderella had to help her stepmother and stepsisters make beautiful dresses for the ball, and on the night they went off and left the poor girl alone.
She was very sad, but suddenly her Fairy Godmother appeared and turned Cinderella’s old clothes into a beautiful gown. She turned a pumpkin into a golden coach and some mice into lovely black horses and a rat into a coachman. So Cinderella went to the ball, but her Fairy Godmother warned her that she had to leave the ball by midnight.
When the prince saw Cinderella he thought she was so beautiful that he danced with her all evening. Suddenly the clock began to strike twelve, and Cinderella remembered what her Fairy Godmother had told her. She ran out of the palace and was in such a hurry that one of her glass slippers came off as she was racing down the stairs.
The prince found the slipper and ordered his servants to go out into his kingdom and make every girl try the slipper on until they found its owner. Eventually they arrived at Cinderella’s house and discovered that the slipper fitted her.
They took her back to the palace and she married the prince and they lived happily ever after.


Jack and the Bean Stalk

Jack lived with his mother and they were very poor. Jack went to market to sell their cow, but exchanged it for some magic beans. His mother was angry and threw them out the window. Next morning a giant plant was growing up into the sky.
Jack climbed up into the clouds where there was a magic land. He saw a huge castle and so went there. The castle belonged to a giant, who was out hunting. The giant’s wife let Jack come in, and when the giant came home she hid Jack. After dinner the giant brought out a hen that laid a golden egg. When the giant fell asleep Jack stole the hen and went back home.
For a while Jack and his mother were happy as they had money, but then Jack decided to go back up the beanstalk. He returned to the giant’s castle and this time when the giant fell asleep Jack stole two bags of money. When he got home his mother was ill, but cheered up when she saw him.
Again they were happy for a while and again Jack decided to go back up the beanstalk. This time the giant got out a magic harp after dinner, which played beautiful music all by itself. When the giant fell asleep Jack stole the harp, but the harp woke the giant, who started chasing Jack.
Jack raced back down the beanstalk, took an axe, and as the giant was climbing down he chopped it down. The giant fell all the way to the ground and was killed. And Jack and his mother lived happily ever after.

Pied-Piper of Hamelin

The town of Hamelin was suffering from a terrible plague of rats. The town council tried everything to get rid of them, but couldn’t. At last, the Mayor promised a big reward to anybody who could put an end to the plague.
A stranger dressed in bright clothes arrived and said he could rid Hamelin of the rats. At night, the stranger began playing a tune on his flute, drawing all the rats out of the houses and barns and into the river, where they drowned.
The Mayor would not pay the piper because he said that playing a flute was not worth the reward. He ordered the piper to leave Hamelin.
But the piper came back one day, and started to play his flute. This time, all the children followed him, and he left the village towards the mountains. Suddenly, a cave opened in the mountain and the piper and all the children went in. The cave closed behind them and the children were never seen again in Hamelin.

Puss in Boots

When a poor old man died he left his only three possessions to his three sons. The oldest boy got his mill, the second got his donkey and the youngest one got his cat.
The young boy was disappointed until the cat began to speak to him and asked him to give him a bag and a pair of boots. Then the cat went and caught a rabbit, put it in the bag and took it to the King, saying that it was a present from his master, the Prince of Carabas. After that the cat caught many more animals, and each time offered them to the King with the same message.
One day the King went for a ride in his coach near the river, and the cat told the boy to go for a swim. When he was in the water the cat hid his clothes, and then went up and told the King that his master – the Prince of Carabas – was swimming when some thieves had stolen his clothes. The King gave the boy some new clothes.

The boy got into the coach with the King and his daughter, the princess, and went for a ride. The cat ran ahead and tricked all of the people to tell the King that the land they were working on belonged to the Prince of Carabas, so the King thought that the boy was very rich.
Near there was a castle owned by a horrible ogre. The cat knew all about the ogre, and went to the castle. There he asked the ogre if it was true that he could turn himself into any animal. The ogre said that it was true, and to prove it he turned himself into a lion. The cat then asked the ogre if he could also turn himself into a small animal, like a mouse. The ogre did this, and the cat then ate him.
When the King, the princess and the boy arrived at the castle the cat said that it belonged to the Prince of Carabas. The King was so impressed that he offered the boy the hand of the princess in marriage. So they were married and live happily ever after.

Rumpelstiltskin

There was once a poor man who, in order to make himself seem more important to a king, told him that his daughter could spin straw into gold. The king ordered the girl to be brought to him, and he locked her in a room full of straw. He said he would return next day, and if the straw had not been spun into gold she would be killed.
The girl did not know what to do, but then a little man appeared and told her if she gave him a present he would spin the straw into gold. She gave him a necklace and he did what he had promised and then disappeared. The king was very pleased to see all the gold, but because he was greedy he put the girl into a bigger room full of straw and again threatened her with her life if she didn’t spin it into gold. Once more the little man appeared, she gave him a ring this time, he spun all the straw into gold and then disappeared.
The greedy king wanted still more gold, so he repeated the whole thing one more time. The little man appeared, but the girl didn’t have anything to offer him, so he said that the would spin the straw into gold if she promised to give him the first child that was born to her. The girl agreed and he spun the straw into gold and disappeared.
When the king saw all the gold he asked the girl if she would marry him, and she said yes. Some time later the Queen gave birth to a baby, and suddenly the little man appeared again and said that she had to give him the child. She was horrified, and begged the little man to let her keep her child, but he said that she had promised and so had to keep her promise. The Queen began to cry and the little man took pity on her and said that if she could find out her name in three days then she could keep the child.
Each day the little man returned, and each day the queen guessed his name, but each time he said no. Finally, just when the queen began to think that she would have to give the little man her child, one of her servants returned and said that he had seen a little man dancing around and singing that his name was Rumpelstiltskin.
So when the little man returned again on the third day the queen knew his name and so could keep her child, and they all lived happily ever after.

Sleeping Beauty

Once upon a time a King and Queen had a beautiful daughter, and held a big party to celebrate. They invited all the fairies in the land to come to the party, but they forgot to invite one old fairy.
On the day of the party all the fairies granted the princess wonderful wishes, except the old fairy, who had come even though she didn’t have an invitation. She cast a spell on the princess, saying that when the baby grew into a young lady, she would prick her finger and die of the wound. Luckily, all the other fairies got together and changed the terrible spell, so that instead of dying, the princess would fall asleep for a hundred years when she pricked her finger, and then be awoken by the kiss of a prince.
The King and Queen tried to make sure that there was nothing sharp in the palace, but one day when she had grown up she found a needle and pricked her finger. She immediately fell into a deep sleep. The fairies then cast another spell, which made all of the people in the palace except the King and Queen also sleep for a hundred years, until the princess awoke.
So a hundred years passed by and then one day a prince was riding his horse when he came across the palace. Going in he discovered everyone asleep. When he saw the princess he knelt down and kissed her, and she immediately woke up, as did all of her servants. They were married and lived happily ever after.

Snow White

Snow White was the daughter of a beautiful queen, who died when the girl was young. Her father married again, but the girl’s stepmother was very jealous of her because she was so beautiful.
The evil queen ordered a hunter to kill Snow White but he couldn’t do it because she was so lovely. He chased her away instead, and she took refuge with seven dwarfs in their house in the forest. She lived with the dwarfs and took care of them and they loved her dearly.
Then one day the evil queen was told by her talking mirror that Snow White was still alive, and she changed herself into a witch and made a poisoned apple. She went to the dwarfs house disguised as an old woman and tempted Snow White to eat the poisoned apple, which put her into an everlasting sleep.
Finally, a prince found her in the glass coffin where the dwarfs had put her and woke her up with a kiss. Snow White and the prince were married and lived happily ever after.

Download The Audio Here ^_^

BIRTH

BIRTH

by Jo Bertrand

It is difficult to think about this word without first considering the enormity of it’s meaning. Without birth we would not exist. It is a fundamental starting point of life which implies creativity and the beginning of something positive.
The birth of a child is without a doubt one of the most inspiring facts of life and one which allows us to continue into the future. Not only is this word extremely meaningful when used alone, it also has several collocations which expand its significance. I have chosen just a few to explore briefly here.

Birth certificate This is more than just a piece of paper. It is an integral part of our identity. It gives us a sense of belonging and can be a source of pride. Having dual nationality, and so having two birth certificates, can link you emotionally to both countries. Most certificates have the name of both the father and the mother although it is possible that the one or other of the biological parents decides to remain anonymous.

Birth control In England there is a charity called the fpa (Family Planning Association). Their objective is to advise and provide assistance to people, young and old, who need help with birth control or sexual health. One of their aims is to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and trying to limit the number of teenage pregnancies through communication and making guidance available to young people in schools.


Birthday It depends on what family you come from but many families celebrate birthdays in a big way. In our family when we were younger we always had a homemade cake covered with candles. We don’t have saint’s days in England like they do in France so our birthday is the one day that is focused on us. It is the day when we are really allowed to self-indulge. Nowadays most people receive cards and presents and organise a party or celebrate their birthday with friends in other ways. Mine is the 29th November if you want to make a note in your diaries!

Birth partner Nowadays the father-to-be is often in the delivery room assisting his wife while she gives birth. This is not however always the case and sometimes there is a third or even fourth person who accompanies the mother-to-be through labour, both physically and emotionally. Around the world there are mid-wives and other professional birthing assistants who play an important role in the birth process.

Birth Place Famous birthplaces include the house where Shakespeare was born and lived in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England. In the South of Wales you can find the birth places of many famous singers, actors and poets such as Tom Jones, Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs), and Dylan Thomas. In London and other big cities in England you can often see plaques on the outside wall of buildings stating that a famous person was born there.

Birth plan This is a very Anglo-Saxon concept. When asked what her birth plan was a French friend of mine replied that she planned to travel to her to her parents’ village a month before the birth. It wasn’t quite the answer that the doctor was expecting. A birth plan is what the expectant parents write and present to the delivery team explaining how they would like the birth of their child to be carried out. This can include details such as having the lights turned down low, music playing in the background to more medical aspects such as refusal of pain relief medication. However, what is written in a birth plan and what happens in reality are often two contrasting stories.

Birth rate At the moment Japan has the lowest birth rate with the highest life expectancy in the world which could mean that in years to come the ageing population may not have enough people working to pay for their pension funds. China’s birth rate is high and remains a potential source of financial problems for the country. This explains the government’s efforts, dating from the 1990s, to restrict how many children people have so that they can keep the birth rate down.

Birth rituals In China the mother and baby stay at home for the first month without washing to preserve the purity of the child and to protect him from the outside world. Elsewhere, Hindu rituals include feeding a newborn baby honey and whispering the name of God into his ear. They also attach a lot of importance to the baby naming ceremony. A strange ritual that apparently takes place in India during a difficult childbirth is to give the woman a glass of water to drink in which her mother-in-law has put her toes! This is supposed to speed up the birth.

Birth stone The day we are born corresponds to a zodiac sign and supposedly a colour, number and precious stone all of which are meant to reveal something about our personality. With my birthday in November my birth stone is topaz which, according to Polish tradition, signifies fidelity. Our zodiac sign is determined by the rotation of the earth and I am a Sagittarius and am therefore supposed to be frank, honest and am meant to like travelling. Most of this is true!

To give birth This is for me the most significant word association. Having been through this experience twice I can easily say that it is one of the most amazing moments of my life. The rush of emotion when you are presented with your newborn baby is indescribable. Many years ago giving birth was a perilous event for women. Nowadays the risks are much more limited and it is a wonderful event.

Re-birth According to some religions such as Buddhism, when we die it is only our physical body that ceases to exist. Many people believe that our soul continues to live on and will be reincarnated in the form of an animal or another human being. This makes life a cyclical process rather than a linear one.

You Can DOWNLOAD the Audio By clicking the DOWNLOAD.

AWARDS

by Chris Rose
The Nobels are the originals, of course. Alfred Nobel, the man who invented deadly explosives, decided to try and do something good with all the money he earned, and gave prizes to people who made progress in literature, science, economics and – perhaps most importantly – peace.




Not all awards are as noble as the Nobels. Even though most countries have a system for recognising, honouring and rewarding people who have done something good in their countries, there are now hundreds of awards and awards ceremonies for all kinds of things.
The Oscars are probably the most famous, a time for the (mostly) American film industry to tell itself how good it is, an annual opportunity for lots of big stars to give each other awards and make tearful speeches. As well as that there are also the Golden Globes, apparently for the same thing.




But it’s not only films – now there are also Grammies, Brits, the Mercury Prize and the MTV and Q awards for music. In Britain, a writer who wins the Booker prize can expect to see their difficult, literary novel hit the bestseller lists and compete with the “Da Vinci Code” for popularity. The Turner Prize is an award for a British contemporary artist – each year it causes controversy by apparently giving lots of money to artists who do things like display their beds, put animals in glass cases or – this year – build a garden shed.
Awards don’t only exist for the arts. There are now awards for Sports Personality of the Year, for European Footballer of the year and World Footballer of the Year. This seems very strange – sometimes awards can be good to give recognition to people who deserve it, or to help people who don’t make a lot of money carry on their work without worrying about finances, but professional soccer players these days certainly aren’t short of cash!
Many small towns and communities all over the world also have their own awards ceremonies, for local writers or artists, or just for people who have graduated from high school or got a university degree. Even the British Council has its own awards for “Innovation in English Language Teaching”.
Why have all these awards and ceremonies appeared recently? Shakespeare never won a prize, nor did Leonardo da Vinci or Adam Smith or Charles Dickens.
It would be possible to say, however, that in the past, scientists and artists could win “patronage” from rich people – a king or a lord would give the artist or scientist money to have them paint their palaces or help them develop new ways of making money. With the change in social systems across the world, this no longer happens. A lot of scientific research is now either funded by the state or by private companies. Perhaps awards ceremonies are just the most recent face of this process.
However, there is more to it than that. When a film wins an Oscar, many more people will go and see it, or buy the DVD. When a writer wins the Nobel prize, many more people buy their books. When a group win the MTV awards, the ceremony is seen by hundreds of thousands of people across the world. The result? The group sell lots more records.
Most awards ceremonies are now sponsored by big organisations or companies. This means that it is not only the person who wins the award who benefits – but also the sponsors. The MTV awards, for example, are great for publicising not only music, but also MTV itself!
On the surface, it seems to be a “win-win” situation, with everyone being happy, but let me ask you a question – how far do you think that publicity and marketing are winning here, and how much genuine recognition of achievement is taking place?

Taken from BBC Radio

You can download the Audio by clicking Audio ^_^