export_ofoct.com (1)
[00:00.96] Finn Thank you! Thank you sound effects!
[00:04.41] Thank you, Neil! Is this all for me?
[00:06.80] I feel like quite a celebrity!
[00:08.94] Neil: Yes, a celebrity – someone famous - particularly someone in show business, that's the world of entertainment, theatre and film.
[00:18.76] Today we're talking about fame, and teaching you some related vocabulary.
[00:23.01] Finn: Yes. Some celebrities are famous for their talent, which means by their ability to do something well, like singing, acting or telling jokes
[00:33.10] Neil: And others are famous for… well, for being famous or being associated with someone who is.
[00:40.54] The names Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian come to mind: wealthy women with their own TV shows.
[00:47.18] But, talking about celebrity, let me ask you a question.
[00:50.63] Finn: Actually Neil, only if you play that lovely applause again.
[00:54.88] Go on Neil!
[00:55.68] Neil: I knew you would love this.
[00:57.01] Right. Here it goes.
[01:04.71] Finn: Yes! Anyway, Neil... I can give you my autograph later…
[01:10.29] Neil: You mean signature?
[01:12.15] An autograph is the signature of a famous person, Finn.
[01:16.40] Fans collect these and things like photographs.
[01:18.79] Finn: Yes, we call things like those memorabilia.
[01:22.51] Neil: For example, Michael Jackson's leather glove with shiny crystals
[01:27.02] it became very famous in the 1980s when he presented his moonwalk to the world.
[01:32.07] How much was it sold for at auction in 2009?
[01:36.59] Was it:
[01:37.39] a)US$ 150,000
[01:40.04] b)US$ 250,000 or
[01:42.96] c) US$ 350,000
[01:46.68] Finn: I think Michael Jackson has some big fans in the world so I'll say c) US$ 350,000.
[01:54.65] Neil: Okay. I'll give you the answer at the end of the programme.
[01:57.84] Finn: So the idea of celebrity seems very modern in some ways – does it have a long history?
[02:05.54] Neil: Well, Lord Byron, a very famous English poet born in 1788, is considered by some experts to be the world's first modern-style celebrity.
[02:15.37] Let's hear Dr Corin Throsby, English Literature researcher at Cambridge University.
[02:20.95] Finn: Why was Byron a celebrity?
[02:23.87] Neil: Listen out for the noun she uses in the first sentence meaning a product, or something for sale.
[02:30.51] If we think of celebrity as the moment where someone's personality becomes a commodity.
[02:37.41] So, for Byron the fact that he was popular on this scale that had never been achieved before because his career had coincided with mass printing.
[02:46.44] But something more than that, that there was a sort of a secondary industry of Byron stuff, you know, that there were Byron neck ties, people wanted to look like Byron.
[02:57.34] There was this mass of people that loved him.
[03:01.32] He could no longer control his image.
[03:03.18] I think that's what separates celebrity from the fame that had preceded that.
[03:09.29] Finn: So the noun was 'a commodity'.
[03:12.48] She said that when someone's personality becomes a product, that's when they turn into a celebrity.
[03:20.18] Neil: She talked of fame so big you can't control your own image – that's your reputation, the way other people think about you and imagine you.
[03:29.21] Someone interesting in this respect is Justin Bieber.
[03:32.40] Finn: Yeah. Are you a fan, Neil?
[03:34.79] Neil: I'm a massive fan of Justin Bieber.
[03:36.91] I love him.
[03:37.71] Finn: I believe you.
[03:38.51] Neil: He's a big name and he's always in the newspapers.
[03:41.43] His fans are called 'Beliebers'…
[03:44.35] Finn: and Byron's fans were called 'Byron maniacs'.
[03:48.60] That's the name his wife gave his adoring fans.
[03:51.26] Though she wasn't too happy about them.
[03:54.45] Neil: Yes. Byron's life was full of scandals, actions which cause shock and disapproval among people.
[04:01.62] Finn: And for Byron it was mainly his love life.
[04:04.28] He had affairs with men and women.
[04:06.93] Neil: For Justin Bieber it's about his behaviour.
[04:09.85] He was accused of driving after drinking alcohol, and of vandalism.
[04:14.37] Finn: Vandalism means causing damage to property.
[04:18.09] Neil: Poor Justin Bieber!
[04:19.94] Finn: Though he's very popular - his career started when he was in his early teens and I think it must have been difficult growing up with this global fame.
[04:30.57] Still, I wonder how much his autograph is worth in the current market…
[04:35.09] Neil: Well,I don't know about Justin Bieber's autograph but I do know about Michael Jackson's shiny glove.
[04:41.19] It became iconic in the 1980s, but how much was it sold for?
[04:45.98] Was it US$ 150,000; US$ 250,000 or c) US$ 350,000?
[04:53.68] Finn: I said c) US$ 350,000.
[04:57.40] Neil: And you were right.
[04:58.73] Finn: Wow! That's rare.
[04:59.79] Neil: Did you buy it?
[05:00.85] Finn: It wasn't me. No.
[05:03.24] Neil: Well, our time's up but let's remember the words we heard from today. Finn.
[05:08.29] Finn: We heard:
[05:09.35] celebrity
[05:10.94] show business
[05:12.27] talent
[05:13.60] autograph
[05:14.93] memorabilia
[05:16.26] commodity
[05:17.58] image
[05:18.91] scandal
[05:20.24] vandalism
