'Mozart of chess’ and the deepest man-made hole in the world

The History Hour

BBC

History, Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.4 • 879 Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2024

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We hear from Magnus Carlsen, who in 2014, became the first player ever to win all three world chess titles in one year, achieving the highest official rating of any player in history.

Woman grandmaster, three times British champion and chess historian, Yao Lan is our guest. She talks about the origin of chess.

In the 1970s and 80s, scientists in Russia, managed to dig a hole more than 12,000 metres deep. It was called the Kola Superdeep Borehole. One of the geophysicists involved tells us about the deepest man-made hole in the world.

Plus, one of the most controversial political scandals in modern US history, the Iran-Contra affair. And from 2010, the first HIV positive passenger to travel legally to the US after a 22-year ban.

Finally, the story behind the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing tv show.

Contributors:

Magnus Carlsen - chess grandmaster and five-time World Chess Champion

Yao Lan - chess woman grandmaster, three times British champion and chess historian.

Professor David Smythe – geophysicist.

Clemens Ruland – first HIV positive passenger to travel legally to the US after a 22-year ban.

Karen Smith - co-creator and executive producer Strictly Come Dancing.

(Photo: Magnus Carlsen in 2014. Credit: Francois Nel/Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the History Hour podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Max Pearson,
0:10.4	the past brought to life by those who were there. This week, we look into the deepest borehole in the world.
0:16.7	It's probably the most difficult geophysical experiment that has ever been conducted.
0:21.6	The idea of taking 100 tons of equipment and straight-of-the-art computers to the middle of nowhere.
0:28.6	From the 1980s, Oliver North and the US-Iran-Contra affair.
0:32.6	My reaction at the time was that initially it didn't sound like a very good idea. I knew well that
0:39.2	that kind of thing would potentially lead to more of the same. Plus the origin of the BBC's
0:44.9	Strictly Come Dancing TV show and from 2010 the first HIV positive passenger to legally travel to
0:52.8	the US after a 22-year ban.
0:55.4	I feel honoured that I had the opportunity to do this.
1:00.5	I'm not just a virus. I'm more than a virus. I'm just a human being.
1:06.3	That's all coming up later in the podcast. But first this week, a sporting witness.
1:11.5	But this isn't from the sweaty fields of football, rugby or cricket,
1:16.0	nor from the track and field or swimming pool of the Olympics.
1:19.4	No, this is from the world of the cerebral contest that is chess,
1:24.1	a world that in recent years has a new superstar.
1:28.9	Ben Henderson has the story.
1:32.5	We start in the Indian city of Chennai in 2013.
1:39.4	A Norwegian man in a tuxedo is thrown headfirst into a swimming pool.
1:44.9	He climbs to his feet, still in the water, and points to the night sky.
1:55.3	I could introduce the suited swimmer now, but I couldn't better this intro from best-selling author and BBC presenter Richard Osmond.
2:03.2	Magnus Carson is a world champion. He became world number one at the age of 19. He's a part-time model as well. He owns over a million euros a year.
	...

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