The ‘Battle of the Surfaces’ and becoming a republic

The History Hour

BBC

Personal Journals, History, Society & Culture

4.4 • 912 Ratings

🗓️ 16 November 2024

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We hear about the half-clay, half-grass exhibition match between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Argentinean creative entrepreneur and tennis fan Pablo del Campo tells Uma Doraiswamy how he made the iconic court possible in May 2000. Fiona Skille, professor of Sports History at Glasgow Caledonian University, explains the history of sport exhibition matches.

In 1974, Greece held a referendum to decide the future of the country’s monarchy, and whether Constantine II would remain their king. In December 1974 4.5million million people went to the polls to cast their vote. The result was two to one in favour of a republic. Jane Wilkinson looks through the BBC archives to find out more.

Next, a mountain massacre in base camp of the Nanga Parbat mountain in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan killed 19 people. . Polish climber Aleksandra Dzik, aged 30, was on the mountain that night, at camp two, and speaks to Megan Jones.

Plus, India’s coal-mine rescue. On 16 November 1989, mining engineer Jaswant Singh Gill saved 65 miners from the Mahabir Coal Mine, in India. The miners, who had been trapped for three days after a flood, were winched out one by one using a tiny, steel capsule. Rachel Naylor speaks to Jaswant's son, Sarpreet Singh Gill.

In 2013, a six-year-old from Argentina became one of the youngest people in the world to legally have their gender changed on official documents through self-declaration. Gabriela Mansilla reveals, the fight for recognition was not easy for her daughter Luana.

(Photo: 'The Battle of the Surfaces' at The Palma Arena on May 2, 2007 in Mallorca. Credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the History Hour podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Max Pearson, the past brought to life by those who were there.
0:13.7	This week, the late King of Greece on the vote that ended his reign.
0:18.0	It hurts simply because you've had a vote that didn't go your way, but it
0:22.6	ceases hurting when you know how that vote came about and the circumstances which brought it about,
0:27.2	and then you live with it. Plus, a high-altitude massacre in the Himalayas. I remember hearing
0:32.1	the guy, it was my friend from Azerbaijan, he said there were Taliban in Baiscom and they killed all the
0:39.2	people. I remember this belief. No, it couldn't happen. And the hero of a daring mission to rescue
0:44.5	trapped miners in India. But that was not an astronaut. So at one time, he did feel that maybe this is
0:53.9	not the right decision.
0:55.0	Maybe I should go back.
0:57.1	That's all coming up later in the podcast.
0:59.4	But first, a memorable moment from the world of professional tennis.
1:03.6	Many will recall, or will have heard about, the Battle of the Sexes,
1:07.0	the much-hyped match in 1973 between Billy Jean King
1:11.3	and the former world number one men's player Bobby Riggs.
1:14.7	More on that later.
1:15.8	But what about the battle of the surfaces?
1:18.5	Some players are better on grass and some on clay.
1:22.1	There have been obvious recent contenders for being the best on each, but not both.
1:26.7	Here's Uma Deriswamy.
1:30.3	The king of grass was Roger Federer, and the king of clay was Raffa Nadal. And for a long time,
1:37.5	when they played each other and stuck to their own preferred surface, they won. So if that was the
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.