The Boy Who Knocked Stalin Down
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 7 March 2013
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Correspondents' stories. Today: Steve Rosenberg's in Moscow as Russians debate the legacy of Josef Stalin sixty years after his death. There's speculation that Turkey could be poised to sign a peace deal to end the long conflict with Turkish rebels - James Reynolds has been investigating. Steve Vickers tells us why the Swedish authorities want to move their northernmost city to a new location two miles away. Owen Bennett Jones reflects on how much the instability and violence in today's Pakistan has shaped a new generation of successful novelists and Judith Kampfner's returned to Singapore, where she was born and brought up, and found it readier than ever to embrace its multi-ethnic history. She also enjoyed its wobbly cakes! From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello from the from our own correspondent studios at Broadcasting House in London. |
| 0:04.8 | You've downloaded the latest edition of the program broadcast on BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:09.2 | It's introduced by Kate Aide. |
| 0:11.8 | Today, the boy who knocked Stalin to the floor and lived to tell the tale. |
| 0:17.3 | All eyes on a high security prison in the sea of Marmara as Turkey prepares to do a deal with a man many regard as public enemy number one. |
| 0:26.8 | Why the Swedes have decided to move their northernmost city to a new location two miles away, and come with me to taste the delights of |
| 0:36.1 | Singapore an invitation a new husband couldn't refuse. |
| 0:40.8 | Hundreds of people descended on Moscow's Red Square on Tuesday to mark the 60th anniversary |
| 0:47.2 | of the death of Joseph Stalin. Red carnations were laid by his grave and there was |
| 0:52.4 | much talk of the great Soviet |
| 0:54.1 | empire he'd created which stretched across the world from the Baltic states to the |
| 0:58.8 | Pacific Ocean. But Steve Rosenberg says the Russian people are divided over Stalin's role in their country's history, |
| 1:06.0 | and whether he was a savior or simply a tyrant who slaughtered millions of innocent people. |
| 1:12.0 | It's 60 years since Boris Lovovitch got into big trouble at school. |
| 1:18.0 | He was mucking about with some of his friends in the corridor. |
| 1:21.0 | They were having piggy-back races when suddenly crash |
| 1:25.0 | a bust of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin |
| 1:28.0 | was on the floor and it was in pieces. |
| 1:31.0 | Within minutes the incident had been reported over the school Tanoi. |
| 1:35.0 | Boris was terrified. He toppled the Voshed, the glorious leader, |
| 1:40.0 | albeit a plaster of Paris version, and there were bound to be consequences. |
| 1:45.6 | At that moment, Boris tells me, I feared the very air around me and waited to see what my |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
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.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

