ShortHand: The Great Stink
RedHanded

ShortHand: The Great Stink

C1AdvancedAugust 18, 202622 min
  • Documentary
  • History

Remember the time London was overcome by a stench so foul that it shut down Parliament, and convinced terrified city-dwellers that the end was surely near? No? Well let us remind you of the grim summer of 1858: otherwise known as The Great Stink. The crisis brought about a long overdue transformation of the city’s sanitation system that formed the basis for the sewers we still use today – so thanks, Victorian engineers! This is the stinky ShortHand. -- Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes YouTube - Full-length Video Episodes T...

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Sentence 11 of 12 · 1:35

River Thames. One that not only had Londoners holding their hankies to their face but sparked

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of the nation. Parliament nearly abandoned ship. And worst of all, it even ruined Queen

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C1

C1 · Advanced

Fast, dense and idiomatic

A1 29%A2 28%B1 30%B2 12%C1 1%
  • 87% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 162 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 176 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.

0:00

I am a slave, and I am a slave to the port of the city. My son, who is a citizen of the city, is a slave to the city. For a long time, I have been a slave to my father, my father, and my father. I have been a slave to my friend, my father.

0:23

All right, let's go. I'm not sure what to say. I'm not. I'm not.

1:23

the entire city was brought to its knees by a truly unbearable stench rising off the River Thames. One that not only had Londoners holding their hankies to their face but sparked widespread hysteria that everyone was literally going to die. Writers despaired at the state of the nation. Parliament nearly abandoned ship. And worst of all, it even ruined Queen

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