BAREFOOT IN THE PARK, ROBERT REDFORD & JANE FONDA

Today, The Grandma has visited two old friends, Paul & Corie Bretter. Together, they have spent the day visiting Central Park.

 

Meanwhile, The Grangers have been improving their Listening skills.

 

Download Cambridge KET Exam Listening Model & Audio (06) & Key

 

Barefoot in the Park is a 1967 American romantic comedy film directed by Gene Saks from a screenplay by Neil Simon, adapted from his 1963 play of the same name, starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda as a young newlywed couple. Paul, a conservative lawyer, marries the vivacious Corie, but their highly passionate relationship descends into comical discord in a five-flight New York City walk-up apartment. The supporting cast features Charles Boyer, Mildred Natwick, Herbert Edelman, and Mabel Albertson.

Barefoot in the Park was released theatrically by Paramount Pictures on May 25, 1967, to critical and commercial success, with critics praising its adaptation, light-hearted tone, and cast performances.

The film grossed $30 million worldwide on a $2 million budget. For their performances in the film, Natwick was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and Fonda was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress. Simon received a nomination for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Barefoot in the Park spent a record 12 weeks at Radio City Music Hall in New York City grossing a house record $2.3 million.

More information: On the Set of New York

Central Park is an urban park in New York City, between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan.

It is the fifth largest park in the city, covering 341 ha. It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated 42 million visitors annually as of 2016, and is the most filmed location in the world.

After proposals for a large park in Manhattan during the 1840s, it was approved in 1853 to cover 315 ha.

In 1857, landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition for the park with their Greensward Plan. Construction began the same year; existing structures, including a majority-Black settlement named Seneca Village, were seized through eminent domain and razed.

The park's first areas were opened to the public in late 1858. Additional land at the northern end of Central Park was purchased in 1859, and the park was completed in 1876.

After a period of decline in the early 20th century, New York City parks commissioner Robert Moses started a program to clean up Central Park in the 1930s. The Central Park Conservancy, created in 1980 to combat further deterioration in the late 20th century, refurbished many parts of the park starting in the 1980s.

Main attractions include landscapes such as the Ramble and Lake, Hallett Nature Sanctuary, the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, and Sheep Meadow; amusement attractions such as Wollman Rink, Central Park Carousel, and the Central Park Zoo; formal spaces such as the Central Park Mall and Bethesda Terrace; and the Delacorte Theater.

The biologically diverse ecosystem has several hundred species of flora and fauna. Recreational activities include carriage-horse and bicycle tours, bicycling, sports facilities, and concerts and events such as Shakespeare in the Park.

Central Park is traversed by a system of roads and walkways and is served by public transportation.

Its size and cultural position make it a model for the world's urban parks. Its influence earned Central Park the designations of National Historic Landmark in 1963 and of New York City scenic landmark in 1974.

Central Park is owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation but has been managed by the Central Park Conservancy since 1998, under a contract with the municipal government in a public–private partnership. The Conservancy, a non-profit organization, raises Central Park's annual operating budget and is responsible for all basic care of the park.

More information: Central Park NYC

 You don't learn from successes;
you don't learn from awards;
you don't learn from celebrity;
you only learn from wounds and scars
and mistakes and failures.
And that's the truth.

Jane Fonda

WEST SIDE STORY, THE JETS & THE SHARKS IN THE UPPER

Today, The Grandma has visited the Upper West Side. Meanwhile, The Grangers have been improving their Listening skills.

Download Cambridge KET Exam Listening Model & Audio (05) & Key

 

The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighbourhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.

It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West Side is adjacent to the neighbourhoods of Hell's Kitchen to the south, Columbus Circle to the southeast, and Morningside Heights to the north.

Like the Upper East Side opposite Central Park, the Upper West Side is an affluent, primarily residential area with many of its residents working in commercial areas of Midtown and Lower Manhattan. Similarly to the Museum Mile district on the Upper East Side, the Upper West Side is considered one of Manhattan's cultural and intellectual hubs, with Columbia University and Barnard College located just to the north of the neighbourhood, the American Museum of Natural History located near its center, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School located at the south end.

The Upper West Side is bounded on the south by 59th Street, Central Park to the east, the Hudson River to the west, and 110th Street to the north. The area north of West 96th Street and east of Broadway is also identified as Manhattan Valley. The overlapping area west of Amsterdam Avenue to Riverside Park was once known as the Bloomingdale District.

From west to east, the avenues of the Upper West Side are Riverside Drive, West End Avenue (11th Avenue), Broadway, Amsterdam Avenue (10th Avenue), Columbus Avenue (9th Avenue), and Central Park West (8th Avenue). The 66-block stretch of Broadway forms the spine of the neighborhood and runs diagonally north–south across the other avenues at the south end of the neighborhood; above 78th Street Broadway runs north parallel to the other avenues.

Broadway enters the neighbourhood at its juncture with Central Park West at Columbus Circle (59th Street), crosses Columbus Avenue at Lincoln Square (65th Street), Amsterdam Avenue at Verdi Square (71st Street), and then merges with West End Avenue at Straus Park (aka Bloomingdale Square, at 107th Street).

Traditionally the neighbourhood ranged from the former village of Harsenville, centered on the old Bloomingdale Road (now Broadway) and 65th Street, west to the railroad yards along the Hudson, then north to 110th Street, where the ground rises to Morningside Heights. With the construction of Lincoln Center, its name, though perhaps not the reality, was stretched south to 58th Street.

More information: Trevor

With the arrival of the corporate headquarters and expensive condos of the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, and the Riverside South apartment complex built by Donald Trump, the area from 58th Street to 65th Street is increasingly referred to as Lincoln Square by realtors who acknowledge a different tone and ambiance than that typically associated with the Upper West Side. This is a reversion to the neighbourhood's historical name.

The long high bluff above useful sandy coves along the North River was little used or traversed by the Lenape people. A combination of the stream valleys, such as that in which 96th Street runs, and wetlands to the northeast and east, may have protected a portion of the Upper West Side from the Lenape's controlled burns; lack of periodic ground fires results in a denser understory and more fire-intolerant trees, such as American Beech.

In the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, the Upper West Side-to-be contained some of colonial New York's most ambitious houses, spaced along Bloomingdale Road. It became increasingly infilled with smaller, more suburban villas in the first half of the nineteenth century, and in the middle of the century, parts had become decidedly lower class.

In the 1900s, the area south of 67th Street was heavily populated by African-Americans and supposedly gained its nickname of San Juan Hill in commemoration of African-American soldiers who were a major part of Theodore Roosevelt's assault on Cuba's San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War. 

By 1960, it was a rough neighbourhood of tenement housing, the demolition of which was delayed to allow for exterior shots in the film musical West Side Story. Thereafter, urban renewal brought the construction of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Lincoln Towers apartments during 1962–1968.

The Upper West Side is a significant Jewish neighbourhood, populated with both German Jews who moved in at the turn of last century, and Jewish refugees escaping Hitler's Europe in the 1930s. Today the area between 85th Street and 100th Street is home to the largest community of young Modern Orthodox singles outside of Israel. However, the Upper West Side also features a substantial number of non-Orthodox Jews. A number of major synagogues are located in the neighbourhood, including the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States, Shearith Israel; New York's second-oldest and the third-oldest Ashkenazi synagogue, B'nai Jeshurun; Rodeph Sholom; the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue; and numerous others.

More information: Untapped Cities

West Side Story is a 1961 American musical romantic drama film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. 

With a screenplay by Ernest Lehman, the film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same title, which in turn was inspired by Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, and George Chakiris, and was photographed by Daniel L. Fapp in Super Panavision 70. The music was composed by Leonard Bernstein, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.

Released on October 18, 1961, through United Artists, the film received high praise from critics and viewers, and became the highest-grossing film of 1961. It was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won 10, including Best Picture (in addition to a special award for Robbins), becoming the record holder for the most wins for a musical.  

West Side Story is regarded as one of the greatest musical films of all time.

The film has been deemed culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1997.

A second film adaptation of the same name by Steven Spielberg was released on December 10, 2021; it was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and six other Oscar nominations, winning one Oscar for DeBose's performance.

It stars Ansel Elgort as Tony, Rachel Zegler as Maria and Ariana DeBose as Anita; Moreno returns as a new character, Valentina, who is Doc's widow.

More information: Rogert Ebert

I was miserable in West Side Story.
They really miscast me.
I came from the Midwest;
what they really needed was
a guy that was street smart.
The first time I saw the movie,
I had to walk out.
I looked like the biggest fruit
that ever walked on to film.
My character was so weak.

Richard Beymer

SUSI GRANGER, GREAT PASSION FOR PERFORMING ARTS

I'm Susi Granger. I'm a fisher, a person who fishes and sails across seas and oceans. I like sea and the sound of silence.

 

-Good morning, Susi Granger, and thanks to attend us.

 

-Good morning. It's a pleasure.

-How is life in the sea?

-Difficult. It is very difficult. I think that this age influenced me a lot and, perhaps, this is the main reason about my character and way of life.

-Why?

-Because sea is very beautiful and amazing, but also very dangerous.

-Do you miss it when you are on land?

-Yes, of course. Sea is like an addiction. You always want more and more.

-When did you decide to be a fisher?

-Since the moment I had enough conscience to realize how important nature is. I needed to feel freedom and being a fisher was a way to escape. Sea makes me happy and free.

-Sea is beautiful but very dangerous, isn't it?

-Nature is impossible to control even to predict. We can try to understand it but it isn't under our hands. It's powerful and dangerous but all has a meaning in it. This is dangerous but also wonderful. You must love it because if you love nature, you respect yourself as a part of it.

-Which is the worst danger?

-Believe that you are God and can control nature.

-How do you define yourself?

-I'm a person with an open mind who likes learning things and travelling around the world. We can learn a lot and offer our knowledge at the same time.

-Which is your favourite country?

-Sea, but you can find me in a the smallest island.

-Have you visited a lot of places, then?

-Yes. All of them are full of memories and it's impossible to only talk about one.

-Which is the most dangerous sea animal for you?

-Man

-Why?

-Because we don't respect aou enivronment and we live in a way that seems that we have another planet to go when we, finally, destroy this.

-Are you an adventurer?

-If you are a fisher, you must be an adventurer.

-How do you believe we can be better with the planet?

-It's difficult. We must be proactive citizens. We must protect our environment because we can not live without it. It is a paradox -we are destroying our habitat. We are the silliest species.

-How do you feel being a member of The Grangers?

-Very well. It's an incredible experience. They are funny and we can talk about whatever we want without any kind of censorship and this create an open environment of trust and freedom.

-How is a normal day with The Grangers?

-We haven't got similar days. Every day is different and this is something very important because it offers to you the possibility of living fantastic experiences every day and enjoy them with all your heart because you know that next day you're going to put the score to zero and we're going to start again. It's a non-stopping life.

 

-Which is your best memory with The Grangers?

 

-It’s difficult to choose only one but I remember our last trip to NYC. It was exciting.
 

-Which is your favourite colour?

 

-There’s a colour for every moment but if I had to choose one, perhaps blue, because is the sea colour.

-How long have you been studying English?

 

-English is the language of commerce and travel. You must know it.

 

-Is English difficult to learn?

-Not a lot.

-You travel a lot. Recommend me a country...

-It is not a country but a continent, the Antarctida.

-Why?

-Because we haven't destroyed it, yet.

-Thank you very much, Susi Grangers.

-You're welcome.

 

More information: Flo-Joe

 

 Somewhere beyond the sea
Somewhere waiting for me
No more sailing
So long sailing
Bye bye sailing

Charles Trenet

CHINATOWN IN MANHATTAN, THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON

Today, The Grandma has visited Chinatown to meet Capt. Stanley White, the Vietnam War veteran assigned to the 5th Precinct of the New York City Police Department.

Manhattan's Chinatown, in traditional Chinese 曼哈頓華埠, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, bordering the Lower East Side to its east, Little Italy to its north, Civic Center to its south, and Tribeca to its west.

With an estimated population of 90,000 to 100,000 people, Chinatown is home to the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere.

Manhattan's Chinatown is also one of the oldest Chinese ethnic enclaves. 

The Manhattan Chinatown is one of nine Chinatown neighborhoods in New York City, as well as one of twelve in the New York metropolitan area, which contains the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, comprising an estimated 893,697 uniracial individuals as of 2017.

Historically, Chinatown was primarily populated by Cantonese speakers. 

However, in the 1980s and 1990s, large numbers of Fuzhounese-speaking immigrants also arrived and formed a sub-neighborhood annexed to the eastern portion of Chinatown east of The Bowery, which has become known as Little Fuzhou (小福州) subdivided away from the primarily Cantonese populated original longtime established Chinatown of Manhattan from the proximity of The Bowery going west, known as Little Hong Kong/Guangdong (小粵港).

As many Fuzhounese and Cantonese speakers now speak Mandarin-the official language in Mainland China and Taiwan-in addition to their native languages, this has made it more important for Chinatown residents to learn and speak Mandarin.

Although now overtaken in size by the rapidly growing Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠) (located in the New York City borough of Queens) and Brooklyn Chinatown (布魯克林華埠), the Manhattan Chinatown remains a dominant cultural force for the Chinese diaspora, as home to the Museum of Chinese in America and as the headquarters of numerous publications based both in the U.S. and China that are geared to overseas Chinese.

Chinatown is part of Manhattan Community District 3, and its primary ZIP Codes are 10013 and 10002. It is patrolled by the 5th Precinct of the New York City Police Department.

Chinese greengrocers and fishmongers are clustered around Mott Street, Mulberry Street, Canal Street (by Baxter Street), and all along East Broadway (especially by Catherine Street). 

The Chinese jewelers' district is on Canal Street between Mott and Bowery. There are many Asian and American banks in the neighbourhood. Canal Street, west of Broadway (especially on the Northside), is filled with street vendors selling knock-off brands of perfumes, watches, and handbags. This section of Canal Street was previously the home of warehouse stores selling surplus/salvage electronics and hardware.

More information: DNA Info

Year of the Dragon is a 1985 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Michael Cimino and starring Mickey Rourke, Ariane Koizumi and John Lone. The screenplay was written by Cimino and Oliver Stone and adapted from the novel by Robert Daley.

Cimino's first film after his career-ruining failure of Heaven's Gate (1980) in the wake of the studio cutting a third of the picture's running time for its general release, Year of the Dragon is a New York crime drama and an exploration of gangs, the illegal drug trade, ethnicity, racism, and stereotypes. Despite mixed reviews and being a box office flop, it has gained a cult following in the years since its release.

More information: The Culture Trip

 Chinatown is tremendously interesting...
It's a part of the city that hasn't really been explored
in crime literature or in any general literature.
It's as though Chinatown didn't exist.
People write about New York without mentioning Chinatown at all.

S. J. Rozan

'I LOVE NY', THE OFFICIAL STATE SLOGAN OF NEW YORK

Today, The Grandma has been reading about I Love New York, the official state slogan of New York created by Wells, Rich, Greene under the directorship of Mary Wells Lawrence and used since 1977.

I Love New York (stylized I ❤ NY) is a slogan, a logo, and a song that are the basis of an advertising campaign developed by the marketing firm of Wells, Rich, Greene under the directorship of Mary Wells Lawrence used since 1977 to promote tourism in the state of New York, including New York City. The trademarked logo, owned by the New York State Department of Economic Development, appears in souvenir shops and brochures throughout the state, some licensed, many not.

I Love New York is the official state slogan of New York.

The logo was designed by graphic designer Milton Glaser in 1976 in the back of a taxi and was drawn with red crayon on scrap paper. The original drawing is held in the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. The song was written by Steve Karmen and its copyright was donated by him to the state.

The logo consists of the capital letter I, followed by a red heart symbol (❤), below which are the capital letters N and Y, set in the rounded slab serif typeface American Typewriter.

More information: Creative Review

In 1977, William S. Doyle, Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Department of Commerce hired advertising agency Wells Rich Greene to develop a marketing campaign for New York State. Doyle also recruited Milton Glaser, a productive graphic designer to work on the campaign and create a design based on Wells Rich Greene's advertising campaign.

Glaser's initial sketch to accompany the agency's I Love New York slogan was conceived in a taxi. It comprised the letter I and a heart shape followed by NY, all on the same line. As the idea developed he decided to stack the I and heart shape on a line above the NY characters, later stating that he may have been subliminally influenced by Robert Indiana's LOVE pop art image.

Glaser expected the campaign to last only a couple months and did the work pro bono. The innovative pop-style icon became a major success and has continued to be sold for years. In the popular mind (though this was not the original intention) the logo has become closely associated with New York City, and the placement of the logo on plain white T-shirts readily sold in the city has widely circulated the appearance of the image, making it a commonly recognized symbol.

Glaser's original concept sketch and presentation boards were donated by Doyle to the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

The image became especially prominent following the September 11 attacks on the city, which created a sense of unity among the populace. Many visitors to the city following the attacks purchased and wore the shirts bearing the I Love New York logo as a sign of their support.

Glaser created a modified version to commemorate the attacks, reading I Love NY More Than Ever, with a little black spot on the heart symbolizing the World Trade Center site. The black spot approximates the site's location on lower Manhattan Island. The poster was printed in the New York Daily News and was a fundraiser for New York charities supporting those affected by the attacks. Added text at the bottom encouraged people to Be generous. Your city needs you. This poster is not for sale.

More information: Logo Works

I Love New York
There isn't another like it.
No matter where you go.
And nobody can compare it.
It's win and place and show.
New York is special.
New York is diff'rent' cause there's no place else
on earth quite like New York and that's why
I Love New York.

 

Steve Karmen

HAROLD W. ROSS, JANE GRANT & 'THE NEW YORKER'

Today, The Grandma has been reading The New Yorker, an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry created by Harold Ross and Jane Grant.

Harold Wallace Ross (November 6, 1892-December 6, 1951) was an American journalist who co-founded The New Yorker magazine in 1925 with his wife Jane Grant, and was its editor-in-chief until his death.

Born in a prospector's cabin in Aspen, Colorado, Ross was the son of Scots-Irish immigrant miner George Ross and schoolteacher Ida (Martin) Ross. When he was eight, the family left Aspen because of the collapse in the price of silver, moving to Redcliff and Silverton, Colorado, then to Salt Lake City, Utah.

In Utah, he worked on the high school paper (The West High Red & Black) and was a stringer for The Salt Lake Tribune, the city's leading daily newspaper. He dropped out of school at 13 and ran away to his uncle in Denver, where he worked for The Denver Post. Though he returned to his family, he did not return to school, instead getting a job at the Salt Lake Telegram, a smaller afternoon daily newspaper.

By the time he was 25 he had worked for at least seven different papers, including the Marysville, California Appeal; the Sacramento Union; the Panama Star and Herald; the New Orleans Item; the Atlanta Journal, the Hoboken, New Jersey Hudson Observer; the Brooklyn Eagle; and the San Francisco Call.

In Atlanta, he covered the murder trial of Leo Frank, one of the trials of the century.

In World War I, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Eighteenth Engineers Railway Regiment. In France, he edited the regimental journal and went to Paris to work for the Stars and Stripes, serving from February 1918 to April 1919. He claimed to have walked 150 miles to reach Paris to write for Stars and Stripes, where he met Alexander Woollcott, Cyrus Baldridge, Franklin Pierce Adams, and Jane Grant, who would become his first wife and helped back The New Yorker.

After the war, he returned to New York City and assumed the editorship of a magazine for veterans, The Home Sector. It folded in 1920 and was absorbed by the American Legion Weekly. He then spent a few months at Judge, a humor magazine.

More information: The New Yorker publishes his first issue in 1925

Jane Grant (May 29, 1892-March 16, 1972) was a New York City journalist who co-founded The New Yorker with her first husband, Harold Ross.

Jane Grant was born Jeanette Cole Grant in Joplin, Missouri, and grew up and went to school in Girard, Kansas. Grant originally trained to be a vocalist. She came to New York City at 16 to pursue singing, but fell into journalism when she joined the staff of The New York Times in the society department.

She soon worked her way into the city room as a reporter and became close friends with the critic Alexander Woollcott. As a journalist for the Times (its first full-fledged woman reporter), she covered women's issues, questioning public figures about their views on the status of women and interviewing women who worked in traditionally male professions. She wrote for the Times for 15 years.

During World War I, Grant, who was also a talented singer and dancer, talked her way onto a troopship to France by joining the entertainment with the YMCA. She joined the American Red Cross and entertained soldiers during shows in Paris and at camps. In France, Woollcott introduced her to the future Vicious Circle members, including Harold Ross. 

Grant and Ross married in 1920. The Vicious Circle later became the Algonquin Round Table. She returned to the Times after the war.

In 1921, Grant joined the Lucy Stone League, which was dedicated, in the manner of Lucy Stone, to helping women keep their maiden names after marriage, as Grant did after her two marriages.

In 1950, Grant and 22 former members restarted the Lucy Stone League; its first meeting was on 22 Mar 1950 in New York City. That year Grant won the Census Bureau's agreement that a married woman could use her birth surname as her official or real name in the census.

Grant was one of the founding members of the New York Newspaper Women's Club and served on its first board of directors after incorporation in 1924.

With the backing of Raoul Fleischmann, Grant and Ross established The New Yorker in 1925. As editor, Ross is credited with driving the success of the magazine, however Ross is quoted saying the magazine would not have been a success without Jane's contribution. Grant was chiefly a business and content consultant for the magazine and initially helped to gather investments towards starting the magazine.

She brought her friend Janet Flanner into the magazine's coterie of correspondents, commissioning her enduring Letter from Paris column. The feature continues to be published today, although it now includes many other cities. Grant later produced a special overseas issue for the armed forces during World War II.

During World War II, Grant wrote for several magazines, including Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and The New Yorker.

Grant wrote Confession of a Feminist for American Mercury in 1943. In the essay, she describes the experience of being a feminist, recounting her early career as a woman reporter among men for the Times and exploring discriminatory laws and practices.

Grant continued to be active in feminist causes, reactivating the Lucy Stone League and expanding its purpose. She continued to work for the rights of women into the 1960s, advocating for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and serving on the National Council of Women.

In 1939, she married William B. Harris, the editor of Fortune magazine. She and Harris moved from Manhattan to Litchfield, Connecticut. The couple founded White Flower Farm out of a barn on their property. In the 1950s, they started a successful mail-order business for home gardening.

In 1968, Grant published a memoir about her life entitled Ross, The New Yorker and Me (Reynal and Co., 1968 New York City). She was encouraged to do so by her second husband, William Harris, and ultimately dedicated the book to him.

Grant died in 1972 on the Connecticut farm she shared with her husband. Harris sold the nursery to Eliot Wadsworth in 1976.

More information: The New York Public Library

 Woody Allen's movies are so much a part of me.
I grew up watching them over
and over and would read
all his comic pieces for the New Yorker.

Noah Baumbach

RUBÉN GRANGER, DRIVING FAST & FURIOUS TO SUCCESS

-Good morning, Rubén Granger, and thanks to attend us.

-Good morning. It's a pleasure.

-I've never interviewed a spy.

-Well, never say never again.

 

-Is a normal interview or this never had happened.

-This interview is for your eyes only.

-When we talk about spies we think in American, English or Russian agents but you're...

-I'm not going to answer...

-Are you scared with your work?

-No, I'm not. Risk exists everywhere and my work is only a work. It's true that you have license to kill but nowadays the spies are intelligent computers and you must control and analyse the information that they offer.

-How's life living in a border?

-It's interesting because you receive lots of influences and diversity is something that offers you the possibility of having different points of view and this is something very important in our global world.

-How is the life of a spy?

-A normal life. You must be cautious, you mustn't speak a lot and it's important that nobody remembers you. You must be like a spectre.

-And the personal life? It must be difficult...

-Well, only a person who works in this can really understand you but you must choose between having a personal or professional life. The spy who loved me had to choose it. It's not an easy election.

-Which is your favourite spy?

-She is Mata Hari, of course. She was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I and executed by firing squad in France. She is a legend in my profession that demonstrated that diamonds are forever.

-And your worst enemy?

-Lots of enemies: Dr.No, Goldfinger, Thunderball, Octopussy, The man with the Golden Gun, GoldenEye... but if I had to choose one, Jaws. Without any kind of doubt. I was working in a mission named Moonraker. I knew Jaws a terrible highly skilled killed with an incredible strength. His name was in tribute to sharks. It seems that he liked shark, the animal which lives in oceans and eat fish, seals, crabs and seabirds. They find their prey with their sense of smell and they are in danger of extinction. Jaws had all these characteristics. He was very dangerous and caught him required an enormous effort.

-Have you got any secret gadget?

-A relaxing Earth ball.

-How do you feel being a member of The Grangers family?

-Very well. The Grangers are a very funny family. They respect my job and they don't ask me anything. I like them because they live and let die. For us, the family is the most important. It's the jewel of our crown and our majesty.

-How is a normal day with The Grangers?

-We haven't got a normal day because we haven't got a planning. We have an idea about our obligations but we can change all things in a second. All depends of us and this is something very interesting because offers you the possibility of being creative and non-static. You cannot control tomorrow, and then you realize that tomorrow never dies.

-How long have you been studying English?

-In my work, knowing languages is very important.

-What can you explain about your life with The Grangers?

-When you have this kind of work, you need people who understand you and give you the opportunity of having your personal moments. They know that I can't explain as things as I know and they respect this, and this fact is very important because I feel comfortable with them.

-Which is your best memory with the family?

-The day that they brought me a new car.

-You like reading, don't you? Recommend me a book...

-I'm reading about computer development. I like it and it's a necessary skill if you want to be a professional spy. You must know about computers because nowadays technology is more powerful than standard weapons. Technology is a weapon in it. You can control whatever you want if you're able to hacker the system. A mobile phone is more powerful than a gun. Believe me or not but it's true.

-You're a spy. Can you write a slogan for The Grangers?

-Die another day because you only live twice.

-Which is yout favourite place to disappear?

-Machu Picchu in Cuzco.

-One last question... is Rubén Granger your real name?

-I'm a Granger. I'm Rubén Granger. 

-Thank you very much, Rubén Granger.

-You're welcome.

This interview is going to be destroyed in 5,4,3,2,1... seconds!

More information: Cambridge Key Listening Sample Test

Our mobile phones have become 

the greatest spy on the planet.

 John McAfee