Olympics on the Seine

This week on The Sound Kitchen you’ll hear the answer to the question about the Opening Ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. There’s “On This Day” and “The Listener’s Corner”, loads of great music, and of course, the new quiz question, so click on the “Play” button above and enjoy! 

Sound Kitchen podcast RFI

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday – here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. You’ll hear the winner’s names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you’ve grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week.

World Radio Day is just around the corner (13 February), and we’ll cook up a mighty fine banquet to celebrate. What’s the main course? Your greetings, of course! So get under your blanket with your phone – believe me, the blanket will make your recording broadcast quality – and record your World Radio Day greetings for us. Please, not too long, though. You must get it to us by 5 February. Send your recorded WRD greetings to [e-mail]

Erwan and I are busy cooking up special shows with your music requests, so get them in! Send your music requests to [e-mail]  Tell us why you like the piece of music, too – it makes it more interesting for us all!

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

In addition to the breaking news articles on our site, with in-depth analysis of current affairs in France and across the globe, we have several podcasts that will leave you hungry for more.

There’s Paris Perspective, Spotlight on France, and of course, The Sound Kitchen. We have an award-winning bilingual series – an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis. And there is the excellent International Report, too.

As you see, sound is still quite present in the RFI English service. Keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our team of journalists. You never know what we’ll surprise you with!

To listen to our podcasts from your PC, go to our website; you’ll see “Podcasts” at the top of the page. You can either listen directly or subscribe and receive them directly on your mobile phone.

To listen to our podcasts from your mobile phone, slide through the tabs just under the lead article (the first tab is “Headline News”) until you see “Podcasts”, and choose your show. 

Teachers, take note! I save postcards and stamps from all over the world to send to you for your students. If you would like stamps and postcards for your students, just write and let me know. The address is [e-mail]  If you would like to donate stamps and postcards, feel free! Our address is listed below. 

Another idea for your students: Br. Gerald Muller, my beloved music teacher from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, has been writing books for young adults in his retirement – and they are free! There is a volume of biographies of painters and musicians called Gentle Giants, and an excellent biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., too. They are also a good way to help you improve your English – that’s how I worked on my French, reading books which were meant for young readers – and I guarantee you, it’s a good method for improving your language skills. To get Br. Gerald’s free books, click here. 

Independent RFI English Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni ([e-mail]) from our Listener Relations department in all your RFI Club correspondence. Remember to copy me ([e-mail]) when you write to her so that I know what is going on, too. NB: You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload!

And don’t forget, there is a Facebook page just for you, the independent RFI English Clubs. Only members of RFI English Clubs can belong to this group page, so when you apply to join, be sure you include the name of your RFI Club and your membership number. Everyone can look at it, but only members of the group can post on it. If you haven’t yet asked to join the group, and you are a member of an independent, officially recognised RFI English club, go to the Facebook link above, and fill out the questionnaire!!!!! If you do not answer the questions, I click “Decline”.

There’s a Facebook page for members of the general RFI Listeners Club, too. Just click on the link and fill out the questionnaire, and you can connect with your fellow Club members around the world. Be sure you include your RFI Listeners Club membership number (most of them begin with an A, followed by a number) in the questionnaire, or I will have to click “Decline”, which I don’t like to do!

We have new RFI Listeners Club members to welcome: Sami Malik from Northern Pakistan; Habib Ur Rehman Sehal, the president of the International Radio Fan and Youth Club in Khanewal, Pakistan; Pradip Chandra Kundu and Ratan Kumar Paul, both from West Bengal, India, and Mahfuzur Rahman from Cumilla, Bangladesh.  

Welcome one and all! So glad you have joined us!

This week’s quiz: On 9 December I asked you a question about the opening ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympic games.  It's a security nightmare, but, as you read in our article "French sports minister says 'no plan B' for Olympics opening ceremony", there is no plan B, and the committee is committed to making it work. 

I asked you, as of 9 December and as written in our article, how many free tickets were planned to be given away, and how many paid tickets were planned to be sold.

The answer is, to quote our article: “Authorities initially planned to offer 500,000 free tickets for the ceremony as well as 100,000 paid tickets closest to the action, creating a gargantuan event with a total of 600,000 ticket holders and one of the largest spectator events in human history.”

That number has been walked back a bit: as of today, the number of paid tickets has not changed - it’s still at 100,000, but for the free tickets, it’s been moved down from 500,000 to 300,000.

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by Khuki Jahanara Yesmin from Bogura, Bangladesh: “Who is your best friend, and why?”

Do you have a bonus question idea? Send it to us! 

The winners are: Razia Khalid, a member of the RFI Seven Stars Radio Listeners Club in District Chiniot, Pakistan. Razia is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations, Razia!

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Ras Franz Manko Ngogo, the president of the Kemogemba RFI Club in Tarime, Mara, Tanzania, and Alok Bain, a member of the very active Pariwer Bandhu RFI SW Club in Chhattisgarh, India. There’s RFI Listeners Club member Bidhan Chandra Sanyal from West Bengal, India, and last but certainly not least, RFI English listener Sheuly Khatun from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Congratulations winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: Presto in B-Flat Major by Francis Poulenc, played by Olivier Cazal; “Blue Bayou” written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson, and played by Antonio de Almeida; The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “La Bicyclette” by Francis Lai and Pierre Barouh, sung by Yves Montand.

This week’s question ... you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, read Paul Myer’s article “2023 Africa Cup of Nations: 5 things we learned on Day 3 - Robust and reckless” to help you with the answer.

You have until 12 February to enter this week's quiz; the winners will be announced on the 17 February podcast. When you enter, be sure you send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

[e-mail]

or

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

or

By text … You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen mobile phone. Dial your country’s international access code, or “ + ”, then  33 6 31 12 96 82. Don’t forget to include your mailing address in your text – and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

To find out how you can win a special Sound Kitchen prize, click here.

To find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or form your own official RFI Club, click here.