Watt's workshop!

BBC Learning English
6 Minute English
Watt’s workshop
NB: This is not a word for word transcript
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
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Alice: Hello, I'm Alice.
Stephen: And I'm Stephen.
Alice: And this is 6 Minute English! This week we’re talking about an inventor’s
workshop which has been reassembled after almost 200 years.
Stephen: Reassembled – reconstructed or rebuilt.
Alice: This is the workshop of James Watt, an inventor born in Scotland in 1736. He’s
often credited with inventing the steam engine – though in actual fact, he
improved on one which had already been developed. He’s seen as a key figure
in the Industrial Revolution. But anyway Stephen, before we find out more I’ve
got a question for you.
Stephen: Ok – I’m feeling clever today!
Alice: Oh, well, in that case here’s a difficult one. Can you put these four inventions
in chronological order - that’s the oldest one first? Ready?
Stephen: Ok.
Alice: The hot air balloon, Morse code, the vacuum cleaner and the typewriter.
Stephen: That’s hard. I’m going to have to think about that and get back to you!
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
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Alice: Ok, good. So, let’s talk about today’s topic. Curators at the Science Museum in
London have reassembled the workshop of 18th century inventor James Watt,
so people can see what it was like. Here’s the BBC’s science correspondent,
Tom Fielden:
Insert 1: Tom Fielden
When Watt died in 1819, this workshop was locked up and its contents left pretty much
undisturbed until the 1920s when it was more or less picked up lock, stock and barrel by
the Science Museum and put into storage. It’s been a long wait, but the contents, a
regular cornucopia of gadgets, tools, contraptions, you name it, have all been
painstakingly reassembled here in the main hall of the Science Museum. I think, really,
it’s its spiritual home if nowhere else.
Alice: Watt’s workshop was locked up after his death in 1819 but curators from the
Science Museum in London collected all the things they found there, lock,
stock and barrel.
Stephen: Lock, stock and barrel – those are the three parts of an old-fashioned gun. It’s a
term that’s used in English to mean everything. They took everything in the
workshop and put it in storage.
Alice: Tom Fielden says Watt’s workshop was a relative cornucopia of gadgets, tools
and contraptions.
Stephen: A relative cornucopia – a cornucopia in classical mythology is a horn full of
food and drink. But in modern English it’s often used to mean a collection of
wonderful things.
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
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Alice: In this case, a cornucopia of gadgets, tools and scientific contraptions. Tom
Fielden says that Watt’s workshop has found its spiritual home at London’s
Science Museum.
Stephen: Its spiritual home – a place where it feels very comfortable.
Alice: The Curator of Mechanical Engineering at the Science Museum, Ben Russell,
says the workshop is full of inventions and interesting objects – bits of
machinery, engines, sculptures and musical instruments. He says it is a
treasure trove.
Stephen: A treasure trove – full of wonderful, valuable things.
Insert 2: Ben Russell
It’s an absolutely astonishing… it’s a treasure trove, really. We actually counted 8,430
objects, and it’s a complete physical record of Watt’s entire working life and interests,
going back to the 1750s. So it’s unparalleled anywhere. But really what the workshop
does, it shows the engine, and there are some fragments about the engine, but it shows a
lot of his other projects as well, from chemistry to pottery, instrument making, even
musical instrument making. So it shows how diverse a bloke he was.
Alice: Curator Ben Russell says the workshop is unparalleled anywhere. It’s unique.
It shows that Watt was interested in lots of different things – not only steam
engines but other inventions. The workshop shows what a diverse bloke he was.
Stephen: A diverse bloke indeed – that’s a conversational way of saying he was a wellrounded
man. He had lots of interests.
Alice: Here’s Andrew Nahum, the Curator of Innovation Curator at London’s Science
Museum:
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
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Insert 3: Andrew Nahum
He didn’t just do steam, as Ben said, he was a chemist, he was a potter, he built bridges
and harbours and canals. He was, if you like, a one man innovation centre.
Alice: Andrew Nahum says James Watt didn’t just ‘do steam’.
Stephen: He wasn’t interested in just one thing - steam - but lots of other things.
Alice: He was a chemist, a potter and he built bridges, harbours and canals. Andrew
Nahum uses a nice phrase to describe him - he was a one man innovation
centre.
Stephen: A one man innovation centre – a man full of ideas and inventions.
Alice: And the improvements he made to the steam engine led the way to developing
sophisticated machinery. OK, Stephen, have you had a chance to think about
my invention question?
Stephen : OK, this is very hard, so I’m going to try: hot air balloon, typewriter, Morse
code and then vacuum cleaner.
Alice: Stephen, you’re brilliant! (Alice and Stephen laugh) Hot air balloon, developed
in the 1780s, typewriter, 1830, Morse code, 1832 and the vacuum cleaner in
1860. Though the one on 1860 wasn’t electronic – that came a bit later. So,
you’ve done so well – will you read the words and phrases we’ve had today?
Stephen: Sure:
inventor
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
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workshop
credited
chronological order
cornucopia
treasure trove
Alice: Thanks very much, Stephen.
Stephen: You’re welcome.
Alice: Well, that’s all we have time for today, and we’ll have more 6 Minute English
next time.
Both: Bye!
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
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Vocabulary and definitions
inventor
person who makes items which have not been made before
workshop room or area where things are built or designed
credited
given recognition, or believed to be responsible for
chronological order
the order in which things happened
cornucopia
large, varied and magnificent collection
treasure trove
a collection of wonderful, valuable objects
More on this story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9432000/9432194.stm
Read and listen to the story online:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2011/03/110331_6min_english_watt_page.shtml