Nobody can invent better stories

Another vital source of material for us over the years, has been people: either people we already knew, or people we have met over the years. Sometimes it’s been a chance meeting that has inspired a listening, on other occasions it’s been a case of remembering someone we knew, who we were sure could contribute an interesting interview on a particular top. Nobody can invent better stories  than those that happened to real people, nor give more interesting information.

Dagmara, the interpreter

On one of my first author tours to Poland, Dagmara, at that time the OUP sales rep in Krakow, was looking after me. She was driving me between one venue and another, when for some reason, we starting talking about cinema. ‘Actually, I worked as an interpreter with Stephen Spielberg when he was filming Schindler’s List here in Krakow’, she said. ’Oh wow, how amazing!’ I said. ‘Tell me all about it!’. I was hooked immediately, especially by the little details which you would only get from a person talking to oy, like Spielberg worrying about her being cold during the shoots.  Dagmara’s experience became one of the best-loved listenings in English File.

Marianna Leivaditaki, Chef

Stephen Andersen, Chef

I am greedy and find lessons on food always fun to write. In Intermediate, we wanted to have a spread about food and a spread about restaurants, so the obvious thing was to interview a chef. When we were writing the third edition, I was still living in Valencia, and Stephen Andersen was the chef owner of my favourite restaurant, called Seu Xerea. The food was a fusion of Asian, Mediterranean and English – Steve is half English half Burmese. He became a very good friend of mine, and agreed to be interviewed. Later after the book had come out, he told me that many people had come to the restaurant clutching a copy of English File for him to sign! For the fourth edition, we interviewed Marianna Leivaditaki, whom I had met through my nephew.  She is from Crete, where and her family had a restaurant in Crete, and her cooking is very much inspired by her homeland. In the name of research, we had many delicious meals at her London restaurant, Morito – just writing this is making me think of the divine aubergine dish we always ordered! Both chefs gave us insights into where their own love of food came from, and life working in a professional kitchen.

Beverley, Translator

Beverley and I were colleagues at the British Council in Valencia, and have been good friends ever since. She had been teaching for longer than I had and was keen to change direction, which she finally did by becoming a translator. When we were writing a lesson  about translation, I immediately thought of her.  She not only did an audio interview for fourth editions, but then very kindly did a new video interview for fifth editions, where she talked amongst other things about the use of computer-assisted translation. She gave very interesting examples about why it is actually not as good as people think, but also implied that as a result of the growth of machine translating, translators were becoming a dying breed.

John Sloboda, the music psychologist

John was an old university friend of mine, now Professor of Psychology at Keele university, specialising in music psychology. I met up with him again at a party in London where we were sitting next to each other. He was telling me about his latest book, Music and Emotion, which I thought sounded really interesting, and I was telling him a bit about my life in Valencia. ‘I’d love to visit Valencia one day’ he said. ‘Could I come and stay?’ ‘Sure’, I replied, ‘and in exchange, can I interview you about music and emotion?’. John came in to the recording studio with a keyboard which he used to illustrate the points he was making. When we are interviewing real people we always ask them to do this, rather than having what they say voiced by an actor. Apart from the authenticity, real people speak with a passion that actors simply cant imitate.  

Joel Slaatto, Stuntman

Joel’s uncle Helge is a very old friend of mine, and when he was staying in London with me a year or so ago, he told me he was going to visit his nephew who lived in London and was a stuntman. My ears immediately pricked up, as we were in the process of writing a lesson about ‘risk’ just at that moment, and he seemed like an obvious person to interview. Joel agreed to be interviewed, and he came round some time later. Most of our video interviews are filmed by a professional team (though quite a few took place at my house), but on this occasion it wasn’t possible to set it up, so I had to do it myself. I managed to film a short interview. He gave me lots of fascinating information about his job and what it involved. I always remember him telling me that stunts involving horses are way the most dangerous, and now whenever I watch a film where horses are involved, I think of him, and hope that that all the stunts were managed safely!

These are just some of the many many people who have contributed to English File over the years. We are immensely grateful to them. So watch out – if I ever meet you and we start talking, the chances are, – with your permission of course – that you will end up appearing in English File !