1. 5. British tv

Read the text and find out what channels are there on the British TV

Watching television is one of the great British pastimes. Broadcasting in the United Kingdom is controlled by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA). The BBC receives its income from the government, but the private companies controlled by the IBA earn money from advertising.

The BBC has two TV channels. BBC 2 has more serious programmes and news features. The IBA is responsible for looking after the regional independent TV companies who broadcast their own programmes and those they have bought from other regions. There is a break for advertisements about every 15-20 minutes. The most recent independent channel is called Channel 4 and it has more specialized programmes than the main channels. In general, people think the programmes offered on British television are of a very high standard. Some people, however, are becoming worried about the amount of violence on TV, and the effects this may have on young people.

TV and Radio are also two of the main teaching channels used by the Open University. This "university of the air" allows many thousands of students to study at home for degrees they never would have obtained in the main educational system. They also have to do without sleep as most of their programmes are broadcast early in the morning or late at night.

Exercise

Find and read the answers to the following questions

1. What companies earn money for advertising?

2. How many channels does the BBC have?

3. What other channels are there?

4. What is the function of the Open University?

1. 6. Folk music

Read the text and find out what forms of music influenced pop music

Pop music has always been influenced by other forms of music: by jazz, the blues, classical music, etc. Another important influence is folk music.

Folk songs are the songs composed and sung by country people. The songs may be hundreds of years old, so nobody knows who originally composed them. Folk music is often music for dancing. In Britain it was traditionally played on instruments like the fiddle (another name for the violin), flute, bagpipes, accordion, concertina, etc.

In the 1950s and 1960s the people who wrote songs and played them on acoustic guitars were also called folk singers. The songs were often "protest songs", telling about bad things happening in society. Famous American singers of this type included Woody Gutrie in the 1950s, and Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and James Taylor in the 1960s. When these people appeared on the stage they were called contemporary folk singers.

Bob Dylan, for example, influenced a generation in the early 1960s with protest songs like Blowing in the Wind and by 1965 had become the biggest force in rock music. Dressed in blue jeans and a black jacket with a grey scarf which was wrapped around his throat, Dylan walked onto the stage, with an electric guitar over his shoulder, and along with the Band, sounded the first notes of the concert. "

In the 1960s several pop groups began to play tradi­tional folk songs in the style of pop or rock music. Groups like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span became famous playing "electric folk". Other musicians are also influenced by the style of English folk songs. The tradi­tional folk song, in the style it was sung over one hundred years ago, is still popular with a lot of people in England. There are traditional folk clubs in most towns because people are interested in folk music. Even more popular is traditional Irish music.

In parts of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales people still play folk music, although they also watch television and listen to pop records like everyone else.

Exercise

Find in the text the answers to the questions:

1. Who are folk songs composed and sung by ?

2. What instruments was folk music traditionally played on in Britain ?

3. What did the “protest songs” tell about?

4. Find and read about the singers of the 1950s and 1960s.

5. What was Bob Dylan famous for?