TAPESCRIPTS

Part 1.
Jim: Hello, South City Cycling Club
Woman: Oh, hi. Er … I want to find out about the club.
Jim: Right. I can help you there. I’m the club secretary and my name’s Jim
Hunter.
Woman: Oh, hi Jim.
Jim: So, are you interested in membership for yourself?
Woman: That’s right.
Jim: Ok. Well there are basically two types of adult membership. If you’re
pretty serious about cycling, there’s the Full membership. That costs 260
dollars and that covers for you not just for ordinary cycling but also for
races both here in the city and also in other parts of Australia. Q1
Woman: Right. Well, I’m not really up to that standard. I was more interested in
just joining a group to do some cycling in my free time.
Jim: Sure. That’s why most people join. So, in that case you’d better with the
Recreational membership. That’s 108 dollars if you’re over 19, and 95
dollars if you’re under.
Woman: I’m 25.
Jim: Ok. It’s paid quarterly, and you can upgrade it later to the Full
membership if you want to, of course. Now both types of membership
include the club fee of 20 dollars. They also provide insurance in case
you have an accident though we hope you won’t need that, of course. Q2

Woman: No. Ok, well, I’ll go with the Recreational membership, I think. And that
allows me to join in the club activities, and so on?
Jim: That’s right. And once you’re a member of the club, you’re permitted to
wear our kit when you’re out cycling. It’s green and white.

Woman: Yes, I’ve seen cyclists wearing it. So, can I buy that at the club?
Jim: No, it’s made to order by a company in Brisbane. You can find them
online. They’re call Jerriz. That’s J-E-R-R-I-Z. You can use your
membership number to put in an order on their website.
Woman: Ok. No can you tell me a bit about the rides I can do?
Jim: Sure. So we have training rides pretty well every morning, and they’re
really good way of improving your cycling skills as well as your general
level of fitness, but they’re different levels. Level A is pretty fast – you’re
looking at about 30 to 35 kilometres an hour. If you can do 25 kilometres
an hour, you’d probably be level B, and then level C are the novices, who
stay at about 15 kilometres per hour. Q3

Woman: Well. I reckon I’d be level B. So, when are the sessions for that level?
Jim: There are a couple each week. They’re both early morning sessions.
There’s one on Tuesdays, and for that one you meet at 5.30 am, and the
meeting point’s the stadium – do you know where that is?
Woman: Yes, it’s quite near my home, in fact. Ok, and how about the other one?
Jim: That’s on Thursdays. It starts at the same time, but they meet at the main
gate to the park. Q4
Woman: Is that the one just past the shopping mall?
Jim: That’s it.
Woman: So how long are the rides?
Jim: They’re about an hour and a half. So if you have a job it’s easy to fit in
before you go to work. And the members often go somewhere for coffee
afterwards, so it’s quite a social event. Q5
Woman: Ok. That’s sound good. I’ve only just moved to the city so I don’t actually
know many people yet.
Jim: Well, it’s a great way to meet people.
Woman: And does each ride have a leader? Q6
Jim: Sometimes, but not always. But you don’t really need one; the group
members on the ride support one another, anyway.
Woman: How would we know where to go?
Jim: If you check the club website, you’ll see that the route for each ride is
clearly marked. So you can just print that out and take it along with you.
It’s similar from one week to another, but it’s not always exactly the same.
Woman: And what do I need to bring?
Jim: Well, bring a bottle of water, and your phone. You shouldn’t use it while
you’re cycling, but have it with you.
Woman: Right.
Jim: And in winter, it’s well before sunshine when we set out, so you need to
make sure your bike’s got lights. Q7
Woman: That’s ok. Well, thank Jim. I’d definitely like to join. So what’s the best
way of going about it?
Jim: You can …
Part 2
Interviewer: Welcome to today’s edition of Science Today. A lot of people have been
claiming recently that the climate is changing. But is that really true? I’m
joined today in the studio to discuss this question by Mark Pontin. Mark is
in an excellent position to answer our questions because he is the head of
statistics at the World Climate Organisation, an international
meteorological institution with headquarters in Switzerland. Q1
So, Mark. Do people’s claims of climate change have any foundation?
Mark: Well, yes, they do. A whole series of very unusual weather phenomena
have been noted over the last month which certainly do suggest some
fundamental climate change. In the States, for example, there were more
tornadoes last month than in any preceding month since records began –
the country experienced an extraordinary total of 562 leading to the deaths
of 41 people. Q2
Interviewer: There have been similar things all over the world, though, haven’t there?
Mark: Yes, indeed. India, for example, is one of several places in the world to
have experienced particularly high temperatures over the last month – at
45 degrees, these are from 2 to 5 degrees above what would normally be
expected at this time of year. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, has
 experienced some unusually heavy rainfall. Q3This led to flooding and
landslides and a large number of deaths. The country’s economy is
expected to suffer seriously as a consequence. Q4
Interviewer: Has anything special been happening in Europe?
Mark: Well, yes. England and Wales have had remarkably strong winds and
Switzerland has been enjoying an amazingly hot spell – the country hasn’t
had such a heat-wave since the mid-18th century. Q5
Interviewer: So are these just one-off phenomena or is it possible to make some general
conclusions about what is happening to the world’s weather?
Mark: I think we can safely draw two conclusions about what is happening – at
least in the northern hemisphere. Q7 First temperatures are certainly
getting generally hotter. This tendency has been particularly noticeable
over the last three years but it is a trend that’s been observed for over
thirty years. However, at the same time the weather is not as stable as it
used to be. Extreme and unpredictable weather events seem to be
happening with increasing frequency. Q8
Interviewer: Could you tell us ...
Part 3:
Introducer: We have with us today the psychologist Simon Calvin who has recently
created quite a stir with some rather unlikely claims about Astrology. Simon, are you
indeed claiming that our lives are ruled by the stars?
Simon: No, not at all. I would not for one minute say that all of our lives are
affected by the movements of stars in the heavens. My research really concerns
things that are far more down to earth. But, before I start, I should just say that by
no means do the majority of people in general totally disbelieve the value of
astrology. An incredible 62% of British adults say that their stars are of some
interest to them (Q1) although only 3.5% would use them to choose a husband or
wife, and only 2.9% of people would refer to them in making business decisions
(Q2). But anyway, coming back to what I said before, I’m not so interested om
the stars themselves, as I am in the time of year somebody is born. Psychologists
now widely agree that both early life experiences and time of birth are a great
 influence on the development of a person’s character (Q3). Of course, this does
not make the whole of a person’s character, but rather the foundation or base on
which later changes are made. However, these later changes in character are not
connected with the person’s time of birth. So the questions is, then, after all these
personality changes have happened, can we look at an adult and see any of this
foundation or base as part of their psychological make-up? The technique I have
been using to do just this is a very simple one, but I believe, very effective. I have
simply made a statistical comparison between people’s choice of career and their
zodiac sign. Where somebody has made a strong choice in favour of a particular
kind of career, I believe that this indicates something very important in their
character. If you look at a particular profession, say entertainers, for example, and
find that more than 15% of them were born in a certain short period of the year, it
suggests that their choice of that profession is in some way connected with their
birth at that particular time of the year. And this is, in fact, the case. And
astonishing 20% of artists and entertainers were born in the period between the
12th of July and the 20th of August. This, in fact, is the most positive connection
we have found so far. But there have been others although they have been less
obvious. We looked at keen sports players participating more than five times a
week and found a sizable number were born in the winter months of January and
February (Q4). Another group of people we looked at were frequent travelers,
who we discovered were more likely to have been born in early spring while
accountants, bankers, executives and people generally in financial professions
more frequently have birthday in the late spring. Now, so far, we haven’t found
any professions containing large percentages of one particular star sign, which is a
little disappointing (Q5), but this is, no doubt, because our modern technological
world has removed us further and further from the effects of nature. If, as was the
case in the past, many people lived closer to nature, we could be seeing
percentages as high as 40 or 50 or even more. This of course would mean that we
would have …FADE.
Part 4
Interviewer: It seems only fitting that former construction engineer Roger Moffat
should’ve used his redundancy money to change direction and break into
Hollywood, creating special effects for film and television, for, by his own
flamboyant admission, he’s no conventional engineer, but a born performer who
loves an audience.
Do you remember a certain car commercial in which the car was driven down the
side of a skyscraper? The building façade and windows were built by Roger’s
own company for a daring stunt whose trade secret he will own company for a
daring stunt whose trade secret he will not divulge. He also constructed sections
of a bridge for the film Mary Reilly, which starred Julia Roberts and John
Malkovich. So, Roger, how did it all start?
Roger: Well, about ten years ago I had a heart by-pass operation and, about the same
time I was made redundant. I was feeling pretty low at the time, so I decided that
the only thing to do was to take my working life into my own hands and set up my
own business.
Interviewer: And what kind of success did you have in the early days?
Roger: You could say it was a bit like taking a roller coaster ride and wondering when
you were going to come flying off at break-neck speed! Everything was a
challenge: finance, production, marketing.
Interviewer: But that’s all in the past, you’re … you’re apparently much sought after
now. I hear forthcoming film productions are queuing up for your services.
Roger: Some – yes. There’s no doubt that we’re certainly growing rapidly but we’re still
small, and I think it’s probably important to remain that way. I’ve seen too many
organizations just grow and grow and in the end they finish up over-reaching
themselves – stretching themselves to the limit.
Interviewer: Do you have any regrets about the way things have gone? – about the way
your life has taken a different turn?
Roger:To be honest, none at all. I feel that I’ve escaped being a slave to a regular
income, from commuting, from having to justify my actions to everyone, from
having to attend the office party, from having to book my holidays in advance –
 actually, I don’t have any holidays at all at the moment, come to think of it. I’m
too busy! But best of all, I’ve nothing to do with office politics!
Interviewer: Probably the biggest advantage of all. So, what’s the secret of your
meteoric rise?
Roger: Oh, I couldn’t have done anything without the support of my wife, Lili, who’s
also my business partner, and there’s our two daughters, of course, Natasha and
Katia. They’ve all been wonderful.
Interviewer: So what kind of job did you start out doing?
Roger:I graduated in mechanical engineering and then spent about 20 years in industry.
Then my job – I was the chief engineer in an air-conditioning firm – just
disappeared overnight. Anyway, after that, I set up my own computer-aided
system that makes really intricate architectural models.
Interviewer: And you also supply components for the aerospace industry, don’t you?
Roger:We do, but I have to admit that it’s the film work that really interests me most.
Interviewer: Do you worry about the future?
Roger:No more than anyone else. I mean, there’s no job security anywhere these days, is
there? Of course, it’s a risk running your own company, but then you’re equally
as vulnerable staying employed. I decided it was safer to be in charge of my own
show than to be a part of someone else’s. naturally, I’ve had problems. We had to
sell the family house, the one I built myself. But, looking back, it all seems worth
it. I was always infuriated by having to justify myself to people whom I didn’t
consider to be my intellectual superiors!
Interviewer: How would you describe yourself? What are your strengths, weaknesses?
Roger:I think I’m a bit of an oddball character really. I suppose you might say that I was
a hard-headed romantic. I believe that an engineer has to invent ideas. You need
to be very talented. You need to have a feeling for balance and form. You also
need to feel you have status and that people value what you’re doing.
I’ve always seen engineers as sort of visionaries, if you like. Engineering can give
you great power, a position in the world and, if you don’t look after your
engineers, then you’re in great danger of losing your prestige, your position.
Engineering’s still the ‘workshop of the world’ in every country. We’ve built
 superb ships, motorbikes, motorcars. Now we’re entering a new phase with new
challenges.
Interviewer: And what about the tools of your trade? How do you view those?
Roger:To me, mechanical things are magical: a motor car is a thrilling bit of science.
The microchip is a masterpiece of theoretical design; machines of unbelievable
complexity make them. But from my point of view, the most rewarding thing of
all is that all these things are designed by engineers.
Interviewer: You certainly seem to have a passion for your profession. I think the
mystique of the film world will be pretty safe in your hands. Thanks for coming to
talk to us today, Roger.