Flatmates celebration

Hello, I’m Callum Robertson and this is Entertainment. Next Monday, Augustth27 , in Britain is a national holiday or what we call a bank holiday and severalthousand people will be heading off to a small village in Wales which ishosting the World Bog 1 Snorkelling 3 Championships.
　　What is this sport Bog Snorkelling? I hear you ask. Well first you have to knowwhat a bog is. A bog is an area of land in the countryside which is always softand wet. When you walk through it your feet might get stuck and it makes asquelching noise. The particular bog in question is what's known as a peat bog.
　　So that's a bog. And what about the snorkelling part? Well normallysnorkelling is what you do on holiday, in the warm blue sea. Swimming withyour head underwater breathing through a plastic tube called a snorkel 2.
　　Bog Snorkelling then is a combination of those two things. And to learn moreabout it I spoke 4 to one of the organisers and founders 5 of the World BogSnorkelling Championships, Gordon Green.
　　Gordon GreenWhat we’ve done is we’ve dug a trench 6 in the peat bog so that it fills with a nice dirty water.
　　Callum:  Gordon says that they dig a trench in the bog. A trench is a kind of an oblonghole. And when they dig this trench in the bog it fills up with dirty water whichthe competitors, the people taking part in the competition have to swim through.
　　Listen again, this time listen out for how long the trench is and how far thecompetitors have to swim. Gordon uses the traditional measurement of a yard.
　　A yard is about .9 of a metre, so nearly a metre.
　　Gordon GreenWhat we’ve done is we’ve dug a trench in the peat bog so that it fills with a nice dirty waterand the trench is 60 yards long and the competitors have to swim two lengths of this bog sothey’re swimming 120 yards.
　　Callum:  The trench is 60 yards long and the competitors have to swim two lengths,that's 120 yards which is about 110 metres. Gordon goes on to explain moreabout the rules.
　　Gordon GreenBog snorkelling is a sport where you have to breathe, through a snorkel, you can use flippersand the majority do use flippers, but you have to breathe through a snorkel and you’re notallowed to do a crawl or a breast stroke, you have to keep your arms straight in front of you ordo a dog paddle.
　　Callum:  The competitors aren't allowed to use any traditional swimming strokes, likefront crawl or breast stroke though they can use what we call a doggy paddle, away of swimming using your arms like a dog uses its legs when swimming.
　　They have to breathe through a snorkel and they can wear flippers, or fins 7, ontheir feet.
　　Swimming is now not the only bog snorkelling event. If you want to you canalso try Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling. I asked Gordon to describe that.
　　Gordon GreenWe’ve dug a deeper trench and we have to have a special bike. What we do is fill the framefull of lead, put water in the tyres instead of air. We’ve got lead weights on the bike and theperson that’s riding it has to wear a lead belt round his waist or her waist and also lead in arucksack so we’ve got the correct buoyancy so that when you cycle under the water you canactually do that and breathe through your snorkel. They have to then cycle underwater and it’slike cycling in treacle 8, it’s very hard work and that’s become a very popular event as well.
　　Callum:  So the trench for the Mountain Bike event is deeper and the contestants 9 ride aspecial bike with lots of weight. They have to cycle through the bog,underwater, again, breathing through the snorkel!
　　I then asked Gordon how it started, where did the idea come from to get peopCallum:  Hello, I’m Callum Robertson and welcome to this very special edition ofEntertainment.
　　I’m backstage at the International Learning English Awards, the mostprestigious awards of their kind and they are just about to announce the awardfor the best Learning English Soap Opera Set In A Flat. It’s very exciting and Ithink, yes, we can go over to the main auditorium 10 now to hear theannouncement.
　　AnnouncerAnd the winner is(sound of envelope opening)Very exciting, I wonder who it could be!
　　The Flatmates!
　　(Cheers and applause)Callum:  Well that’s fantastic, the Flatmates from bbclearningenglish.com have won andcoming up to accept the award is the show’s creator Nuala O’Sullivan.
　　Nuala:  Wow, what a night! Thank you, thank you everybody. It’s such a surprise, Idon’t know what to say! I’m speechless. Today is really a special day. Adouble celebration. Not only have we won this fantastic award, but today isalso our birthday!
　　(Cheers and applause)Thank you, thank you. Two years ago today Michal, Tim, Alice and Helenwere introduced to the world and I don’t think any of us ever believed that wewould have come so far. But it’s all down to you. Thank you so much for yoursupport, for voting every week and sending in your comments. Without themwe wouldn’t be where we are today. And of course many thanks to the stars ofthe show, who have worked through thick and thin, though of course for theflatmates that should be thin and thinner rather than thick and thin.
　　(Laughter)But seriously, thank you everyone. I’m speechless.
　　(Applause)Callum: That was Flatmates creator Nuala O’Sullivan receiving her award. They’re justcoming back stage now and I’m going to try and grab a few quick words withher. Nuala, Nuala.
　　Nuala:  Hello, helloCallum:  First, congratulations on the award and the second anniversary of the Flatmates,how do you feel?
　　Nuala:  Proud, overwhelmed, ecstatic and just happy, happy, happy.
　　Callum:  I can tell that, so, tell us how it all began?
　　Nuala:  Well seriously I never fancied a life in politics but I was always rather attractedto the idea of controlling people’s lives. And then the ideal opportunity just fellinto my lap. I met Helen in a coffee shop and we got chatting. She seemedperfect and after a while I persuaded her to let me control her life and sincethen every week we’ve shown some of the things that she and her flatmateshave been getting up to.
　　Callum:  I see. So what you’re saying is that the Flatmates isn’t a soap opera, it’sactually a reality show?
　　Nuala:  Well, just between you and me, yes. Today we are broadcasting our 104thedition. For two years we’ve been following and control ..guiding the lives ofthe friends.
　　Callum:  And what led you to choose this particular group of friends?
　　Nuala:  Well I thought that was obvious.
　　Callum:  Uh?
　　Nuala:  Because they’re two dimensionalCallum:  Aah, they’re flatNuala:  Because they’re flat andCallum:  They’re friendsNuala:  Yes, they are flat friends. And another name for friends isCallum:  MatesNuala:  And they live togetherCallum:  In a flat.
　　Nuala:  And people who share a flat are known as …Callum:  Flatmates!
　　Nuala:  Exactly!
　　Callum:  They're flat flatmates. You know, that really is very clever, it works on somany different levelsNuala:  You think soCallum:  YesNuala:  Thanks, thanksCallum:  You’re welcome. Nuala O’Sullivan, thank you very muchNuala:  Thank you, now I’ve got a birthday party to go to.
　　Callum:  Well that’s all from this special Flatmates birthday edition of Entertainment.
　　And in the unlikely event you were convinced by our special effects and maybewondering and worrying, it was an imaginary award ceremony and Nuala isn'treally a megalomaniac with flat friends, or is she …… mmmRemember you can catch a new episode in the lives of the Flatmates everyTuesday on bbclearningenglish.com and if you want to control their lives, don'tforget to vote.
　　leto swim through dirty water in a field and how long has it been going.
　　Gordon GreenWell it started like all these things do late a night in a pub when we’d all been drinking andwe were wanting to raise some money for a charity at the time and someone said that theydidn’t have anything in their garden but a bog and then someone else said well let’s swim in itand that’s how it came along.
　　When was this?
　　That was some 18 years ago now, so we’ve been running it a long time.
　　Callum:  Gordon says it started 18 years ago with a plan after a night drinking in the pub!
　　But it is all in for a good cause. The money that they get from the competition,you have to pay to enter and pay to go and watch, goes to support a charity.
　　That's all from this edition of entertainment.