Written and read for you by Muriel Murch with WSM by my side.
Today – May 8th – Sir David Attenborough celebrates his one hundredth birthday. While he was thinking it would be quiet affair, England is having none of that and a big celebration of his life’s work will be held at The Royal Albert Hall tonight. Sir David recorded a brief audio message saying how touched he is by the loving appreciation that is being shown to him around the world.
In one of the images shared on the Royal Family’s Instagram account, Sir David introduced Cocky, the cockatoo to Prince Charles with his sister Princess Anne in 1958
In these weeks I am recording ‘Harvesting History While Farming the Flats’ to be released as an audio book later this year.
And May is also the birthday month for KWMR.org radio. And as I turn the pages of Harvesting I find this on page 197…
In 1995 Walter is happily in Rome. He is part of a multi-national production team and has an editing crew of English and Italians whom he loves dearly, and a project, The English Patient, that will prove challenging. We are not sure how long we will be apart. He will be engrossed in the work with his team and I am caught with the excitement of birthing a new community radio station. And while still a part of the KPFA-FM Drama and Literature Department, I am also gleaning programs for our new small, tiny-at-the-moment station-that-could. Next up in the studio is Sir David Attenborough with his new book, ‘The Private Life of Plants’. I’m more than on home ground and the book is a breeze for me. Sir David is a good old pro.
‘The Private Life of Plants’ appears almost a knockoff for him, a quick fill-in between bigger projects with which to keep him busy. Sir David is still cresting his prime, always on the go, happily absorbed in his passion. I know the type. I think he finds me a bit of a relief as he travels around North America answering the same questions with unflinching enthusiasm. We meet in the lobby of KPFA and neither of us needs much prep time. After introducing myself, congratulating him on another fine piece of work I add, “I’m going to work you rather hard.” And explain about our tiny new radio station now beginning in West Marin. “Think of it like BBC Wales.” “Oh, not Wales my dear. Please not Wales.” And we laugh our way into the recording studio.
It is an easy conversation and, as always, his enthusiasm for his life’s work overflows into his charm, which allows his knowledge to fall gently from him to his audience. After reading the book, even as we talk, I learn more: blackberry vines, Rubus rosaceae, can grow an inch a day; fireweed, Chamaenerion angustifolium is so called as it is the first plant to emerge from the forest floor after a fire; a bright and soothing balm for the regrowth of a forest. How little did we know that day how that tiny piece of knowledge would bring hope and comfort to the residents of Inverness, West Marin and beyond. The conversation was a delight and remains a joyous memory for me, even as I accept that for Sir David I was just one more appointment done and dusted.
Happy Birthday Sir David and Happy Birthday KWMR.org.
This has been A Letter From. A Broad Written and read for you by Muriel Murch with WSM by my side and as always supported by Beatrice from MurchStudio
When in August 2021 western Military forces withdrew from Afghanistan, a plane-load of dogs was evacuated from the country leaving even less room for those Afghani families who had helped the allied troops during the war. Today in the UK an estimated 9,000 Afghans are still living in temporary accommodation in hotels along the Bayswater Road. Some settling occurred. Jobs were found, low-paying and under the table for sure; children went to school and learned English along with math as they began to make a new life. Now the British government plans to move these families to Yorkshire. It won’t even be the same English.
Rumor has it – via The Daily Mail – that Boris Johnson has made over five million quid since leaving office as Prime Minister, not a bad haul for a bumbling bear. And with that – (offers accepted at over four million) – his offer has been accepted on a manor house – with a moat. But the moat only runs around three sides of the house so it won’t do a lot of good when the people finally come for him. He may think he is safe in Oxfordshire, but outside of the university Quad, there are country folk who know what he has done.
Brightwell Manor behind the church
As Polly Toynbee writes in The Guardian, the true legacy of Boris Johnson is that dishonesty is standard, the Commons has lost sight of the truth. The former leader’s disregard for truthfulness emboldens others happy to follow his example, knowing the system rarely holds them to account.
Nicola Sturgeon is stepping down as First Minister of Scotland. This is a big blow for the independence movement she has championed for her entire political career. Nicola, recognized in the western world, like Angela, by her first name, is a deeply respected politician. Her daily briefings through the Covid pandemic were a relief to everyone in the British Isles. When mistakes were made by her politicians, the retribution was swift. Nicola’s level of honesty was never equaled in the English government and only highlighted the ‘let the bodies pile up’ leadership south of the border. Though there may be plenty of young politicians coming up through the Scottish ranks, the question of Scotland’s independence remains in deadlock. Nicola insisted that her decision to step down was anchored in what she felt was “Right for the country, for my party, and the independence cause I have devoted my life to.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin thought he had Alexei Navalny ‘done and dusted’ when last year Navalny was sentenced to 20 plus years in jail. For a few months, Putin could allow himself a grin and a chuckle thinking of all the lost years of family and political life that Navalny would endure. If Navalny did survive the sentence, Putin could hope that he would emerge a husk – a broken man. But this month that grin turned tight-lipped. The documentary film Navalny was nominated for both a British BAFTA and the American Oscar Awards. And on Sunday it won the British BAFTA for the best documentary film.
Navalny won the BAFTA for best documentary in Feb 2023.
However, the Bulgarian investigative journalist Christo Grozev, who features in the film Navalny was, along with his family, banned from attending the ceremony in London due to a public security risk. In the film, Grozev and his fellow journalists tracking the poisoning of Navalny clearly show the Russian States’ involvement. Pushing the blame hockey puck around the stadium, the British Metropolitan police force said that while it could not comment on the safety of an individual or advice given to them, it was “absolutely concerned” with the “hostile intentions of foreign states” on UK soil. And they have a point. The finger of accusation points straight northeast to Russia with the successful poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the botched attempt on Sergei Scribal and his daughter Yulia that killed a British woman, Dawn Sturgess, in error. All this, mind you, when the aforementioned past Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave a cozy seat to the Russian newspaper mogul (owning among other things the Evening Standard) Lord Lebedev, in 2020. A heavy sum supporting the Conservative party was added to their coffers. I can’t get the image out of my mind of a snake charmer playing his flute as his pet cobra rises in the woven basket of his hiding.
But the Met Office truth remains that “the situation that journalists face around the world, and the fact that some journalists face the hostile intentions of foreign states whilst in the UK, is a reality. Which begs the next question, How will the American academy respond to the nomination of #Navalny? Navalny knows this film is his cross on Calvary and that he may be the one who does not make it down from the Hill. Havel made it through – Mandela made it through – will Navalny?
Found lying on the streets of Bucharest 1999 by Walter Slater Murch and Dei Reynolds. Looked to be used by someone homeless as a cardboard mat. Brought home to remains as relevant as ever.
In the early days following the news of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, a friend of a friend wrote letters, and – as we spread the news of this tragedy – we share them. Tuna Şare wrote to Lucia Jacobs who wrote to A. Broad. Here is a part of Tuna’s letter and I have updated the numbers ….
“I am deeply shaken, still in Oxford but will go to Turkey in two days to join the rescue and help operations.
You may have heard about the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. Two earthquakes (7.8 and 7.6 in magnitude) affected 10 cities in Turkey. The area affected is the size of the entire United Kingdom. Earthquakes caused an unprecedented energy discharge equivalent to 130 atomic bombs, and the earth’s crust moved by 3 meters, damaging roads, bridges, and airports.
The recent estimates of the people under the rubble (and dead by now) are around 47,000, and millions are left homeless in bitter winter conditions. The scale of destruction is apocalyptic. Our beloved city of Antioch, for example, is literally all gone along with its cultural heritage. Many archaeologists and academics, students have died and lost their families. Homes too.
Best Wishes”
Tuna
Mother is very angry. She has tried to hide it, burping and farting, holding her wind in as best she can until she exploded. Two weeks after this initial emesis she has vomited again. The latest death count is up to 47,000 and still rising. How can one care for the fusses of politicians and small scrappy wars where the planet is so attacked by the creatures who feed off of her.
As we hear the news I think about those still buried – alive – and waiting for help that may or may not still come.
There is a line -a scene – at the end of the film The English Patient where Katharine is mortally injured and alone in the cave. Almasy has gone to get help and left her with a flashlight, a pencil, and paper.
Katharine is writing. The FLASHLIGHT is faint. She shivers.
“…the fire is gone now, and I’m horribly cold. I really ought to drag myself outside but then there would be the sun … I think of those still living, trapped, crushed, buried in the rubble of our making The light has gone out … and we watch it flicker and fade.”
KATHARINE (O/S) – The English Patient
This has been A Letter From A. Broad. Written and Read for you by Muriel Murch
Muriel Murch 