Sir Robin Knox-Johnston

BBC Learning EnglishPeople and PlacesSir Robin 1 Knox-JohnstonCallum: Hello I’m Callum Robertson and this is People andPlaces. In the programmetoday we hear from Sir Robin Knox-Johnston who has justcompleted a very tough race. The Velux 5-Oceans race. This isa sailing race where competitors sailaround the world single-handed. This means they do it solo,they do it by themselves.
　　This is an incredibly tough challenge for anybody, but RobinKnox-Johnston’s achievement is even more remarkable 2 when youlearn that he is 68 years old.
　　But Sir Robin is no stranger to the sea. And no stranger tolong sea voyages. In fact in 1969 he was the first personever to sail solo around the world.
　　This most recent race lasted from October 2006 to May, thisyear, 2007. Shortly after his return from his voyage he spoketo BBC Radio 4 about his experience. He was first asked howhe was feeling. What was his response?
　　Sir Robin Knox-JohnstonVery well thanks, slowly recovering. Takes a bit longer now I’m older to get over a long voyage like that. When I was inmy 30s I probably got over it in a couple of days. Takes abit longer for the batteries to recharge, it’s happening andI’m beginning to start bouncing around again.
　　Callum: He says that he is slowly recovering! When he wasyounger he recovered faster, but now it takes a bit longer.
　　He uses the word recovering and two other expressions whichhave a similar meaning. Listen again and see if you can catchthem.
　　Sir Robin Knox-JohnstonVery well thanks, slowly recovering. Takes a bit longer now I’m older to get over a long voyage like that. When I was inmy 30s I probably got over it in a couple of days. Takes abit longer for the batteries to recharge, it’s happening andI’m beginning to start bouncing around again.
　　Callum: He talks about ‘getting over’ his voyage. To ‘getover something’ is a prepositional verb which means torecover from something; it could be something physical oremotional. In this clip it was a long physically 3, demandingrace.
　　He also said that now he was older it took longer for the‘batteries to recharge’. To recharge your batteries isanother expression which means to recover from feeling tiredor exhausted 4.
　　This is People and Places and today we’re hearing about theround-the-world yachtsman Sir Robin Knox Johnston. One thingthat has been highlighted by the media is his age. At 68years old he is the oldest person to do the race, but is hethe oldest person to sail around the worldSir Robin Knox-JohnstonI’m the oldest person to actually do the race, a Japanesefriend of mine’s gone round and he’s 71, so I’m not theoldest person, I’m the oldest person to do this race.
　　Callum: He says that the oldest person to go round the worldis not him, but a 71 year-oldJapanese friend. Does Sir Robin like the attention he getsbecause of his age?
　　Sir Robin Knox-JohnstonNo because I feel that again it’s sort of pointing out thatit’s strange that someone of my agewould want to do something like this whereas I don’t thinkit’s strange at all, I’m sure there’s a lot of otherpeople of my age who’d like to do similar active things andshould be getting on with it,in my view.
　　Callum: He doesn’t really like his age being highlightedbecause he feels that it is not strange or unusual forsomeone of his age to be doing something like this. For himit is what he does, it’s natural and age is not an issue. Hethinks, in fact, that more people in his age group should geton and do active, physical things. Listen again.
　　Sir Robin Knox-JohnstonNo because I feel that again it’s sort of pointing out thatit’s strange that someone of my agewould want to do something like this whereas I don’t thinkit’s strange at all, I’m sure there’s a lot of otherpeople of my age who’d like to do similar active things andshould be getting on with it,in my view.
　　Callum: So what now for Sir Robin. What’s his nextchallenge? He mentions two things he might do, one thing heis doing and one thing he won’t do. What are they?
　　Sir Robin Knox-JohnstonI’ve got a book to write, which hopefully will come out thisyear. I’m not sure yet, I’m thinking of taking up flying. I’d like to take that up. I may do a bit more racing 5, whoknows, but I certainly will not be going solo around theworld again.
　　Callum: The one thing he is going to do is write a book, onething he might do is take up flying, to take up flying, tolearn how to do it, he also might race again and the onething he says he won’t do? That’s go solo around the worldagain. Listen once more.
　　Sir Robin Knox-JohnstonI’ve got a book to write, which hopefully will come out thisyear. I’m not sure yet, I’m thinking of taking up flying. I’d like to take that up. I may do a bit more racing, whoknows, but I certainly will not be going solo around theworld again.
　　Callum: Well I just hope that when I get to Sir Robin’s ageI am as fit and active and with as huge an appetite for life.
　　That’s all from this edition of People and Places.