A journey of one thousand miles begins

with a single step

I phoned him in Hong Kong a few days before the birth. He was as anxious – or was it terrified - as any father expecting his first baby. Having just had a child myself I, of course,I considered myself an established expert on of fatherhood. As we talked of how the birth would affect him and Anne, and how it might change his attitudes to journalism and being a foreign correspondent, I asked him to do a piece for From Our Own Correspondent after the baby was born. He was not enthusiastic. But when I phoned again, after the birth, to offer my congratulations and again asked him to tell us how he felt, he was so overtaken by fatherhood, so surprised and overjoyed ... and with so much to say about it, that he agreed. His letter was played down in Hong Kong during the early hours of February the 15th, 1996.Immediately after the programme had gone out, the telephone hadn't stopped ... the fax machine was jammed ... the BBC Information Office was trying to get more details from us ... and there were calls from several national newspapers. During the course of that afternoon, I spoke to perhaps a hundred people It was hard to do any other business that week. Within seven days we'd taken close on a thousand calls. No other piece of radio I've been involved with has had a similar response.In the months which followed, the text was published in various newspapers and magazines

Tony Grant, producer of From Our Own Correspondent, in the FOOC office in Broadcasting HouseTony Grant, the producer of BBC Radio 4's From Our Own Correspondent programme, explains how a report from correspondent Fergal Keane in 1996 became a radio classic

The letter to a new-born son which touched the hearts of millions

A Letter to a newborn son Fergal Keane is a BBC foreign correspondent. He recorded this letter to his

newborn son for a programme called From Our Own Correspondent while he was working in Hong Kong. Following the broadcast, hundreds of people jammed the BBC switchboard in tears because they were so moved by his words.

• You are asleep cradled in my left arm and I am learning the art of one-handed typing.

• One man said you were the first baby to be born in the block in the year of the Pig.• Your coming has turned me upside down and inside out.• Like many foreign correspondents I know, I have lived a life that, on occasion, has veered close to the edge: war zones, natural disasters, darkness in all its shapes and forms.• And it's also true that I am pained, perhaps haunted is a better word, by the memory, suddenly so vivid now, of each suffering child I have come across on my journeys.• But there is something more, a story from long ago that I will tell you face to face, father and son, when you are older. It's a very personal story...1 What do the lines tell you about Fergal's

feelings on the birth of his son?2 What is the year of the Pig?3 What do you learn of his job as a foreign correspondent?4 What do you think the personal story from long ago might be?

(Group 2) (Group 3)Answer the questions.

a young woman - a snowbound big citya taxi driver - a shop doorwayan alcoholic man - a one-roomed flata baby boy - the Adventist Hospital

Correct the false ones.1 His Chinese friends saythat his son has to be givena Chinese name.

2 He might call him Son ofthe Eastern Star after thebeautiful sunrise.

3 He used to be veryambitious in his work.

4 These children hementions were all hurt infloods.Andi Mikail from Eritrea Sharja from Afghanistan

Domingo and Juste

from southern Angola Three young children from Rwanda

1 Who are these people?2 How are they connected to the places?3 What indications are there that Fergal's parents loved him and each other?4 Describe his father. What is Fergal's attitude to him and his problems? 5 What regrets does he have about his father?

• What does Fergal Keane mean when he says:

'So much that seemed essential to me has, in the past

few days, taken on a different colour.'• How will his relationship with his son

differ from the one with his own father?• What lessons about life does Fergal

Keane want his son to learn from this letter?

• Which parts of the letter do you think particularly moved the listeners to the BBC?

• What lessons have you learned from your upbringing that you would like to pass on to your children?

‘When I was fourteen years old, I wasamazed at how

unintelligent my father

was. By the time I turned twenty-one,

Iwas astounded by how much he had

learned in the last seven years.’

Mark Twain

“Father and son” 1. Why do teenagers often feel

misunderstood by their parents and dream of leaving home to start a life of their own?

What advice would you give to a young person feeling this way?

2. Decide if the sentences below are

A: The conservative advice of a parent от B: The radical advice of a friend.

• It's not time to make a change Just relax You should settle down and get married.

 • You only live once. • You've just got to get away and live a little. • Just take it easy - don't rush into things. • You ought to take your time and think things

through. • You're vegetating at home - get a life. And I know that it's not easy

Which of these pieces of advice would you give to a young person?

3. Listen to the song. What does the father advise? How does the son feel?

4. Look at these phrases from the song. What do you think they mean?– you're still young, that's your fault– you will still be here tomorrow but your

dreams may not– it's them they know not me

5. You a teenager. What are you like ? Are you rebellious and eager to escape the restrictions of home? What words of wisdom might influence you ? Who do you listen to?

Imagine you are going to have a son what would

you like to tell him about.