Piss Pronouncing Worms

I know I'm a pedant but something that really frustrates me is hearing mispronounced words, for example "fus-trated" instead of "frustrated". Listen to what I've recorded on my phone, two sounds I hear most days on the commute to work and when I'm on my break. Can you guess where I recorded these two sounds and which phrase they have in common which is mispronounced?

Olympic Dreams

Over the last few weeks I've been working on a series for BBC Radio Derby called 'Olympic Dreams'. I'm tracking the progress of four athletes in the build up to London 2012. They are Leon Taylor who is the Paralympic football team goalkeeper from Chaddesden, Rebecca Peake, a shotputter from Kilburn, women's boxer from Oakwood Talia Anthony and one of Derbyshire's most successful current athletes, the swimmer Ross Davenport. I've been out to see them train in Derby and Loughborough. My colleague Gavin who works on the BBC Derby website, has written an article from my interview and used a snap I took of Ross at the pool at Loughborough. Click here to read it.

Working on this series, which has started on BBC Radio Derby this week, has given me a deeper interest in the sports the athletes compete in. I've really enjoyed learning about the intricacies of the athletes' training and the sacrifices they make in order to try to make it to London 2012. For example, Rebbecca (below) works as a lecturer at Loughborough College, trains before at lunchtime and after work. She trains for a week every month with her coach in Holland.









She's also a good laugh. Before researching my interviews with the athletes, I did research on them on the internet. This is one of the videos I found of Rebecca Peake, she says she was bored while on a training camp in the States!

Reporting on the Bombardier Rally

Today I've been covering the Bombardier march and rally in Derby. I reported live from the Bass Recreation Ground where the five to six thousand protesters gathered (photo 1), on the march through the city (photo 2) and at the rally on Cathedral Green (photo 3). I also recorded some interviews for Monday's breakfast show including one with Derby South MP Margaret Beckett. I took photos on my iPhone and emailed them on location to BBC News online. My pictures were used on the BBC article which featured on the home page of the BBC News England website.

It was quite amazing to see so many thousands of people marching through the heart of Derby with their colourful placards and banners against the government's decision to give a £1.4 billion contract to German firm Siemens rather than Derby-based Bombardier. I hadn't expected there to be as many as five to six thousand, and among them, so many Derbyshire people with no connection to Bombardier.

Below is a 60 second recording I made on my phone using the Audioboo app during the march. I let the recording breathe so you can hear plenty of the atmosphere.