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| Words in the News
Monday 27 August 2001
Vocabulary from the news. Listen to and read the report then find explanations of difficult words below.
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Notting Hill Carnival
Summary: Europe's biggest street party is taking place in West London. The carnival attracts big crowds, but at what cost? This report from Jenny Waters:
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| | The News | |
| | | The Notting Hill Carnival first hit the streets of London in 1964. It was a very modest affair, a gathering of Caribbean musicians in an area of London, where many West Indian immigrants had settled in the 1950s and 60s.
About a hundred people took part in that first Carnival. This year, two million are expected to turn up. They come to see groups of revellers dressed in lavish costumes, and to hear the steel bands and all the other styles of music on offer, ranging all the way from hip-hop to jazz.
But it's not just great music that comes to people's minds when they think of the Carnival. It's also become associated with disorder and violence. In the long hot summer of 1976, when Britain experienced the highest temperatures it had known for years, the Carnival descended into a riot. Every year there's a debate in the UK about how the event should be policed.
Last year there were two murders at the festival and the policing bill for this year's Carnival will be the biggest ever for a single event in Britain.
Jenny Waters, BBC NEWS, LONDON
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| | The Words
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| | | first hit the streets of London
first arrived in London, was first held in London
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| | | a modest affair
a small event
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| | | immigrants
people who have come to live in a country from abroad
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| | | turn up
attend
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| | | revellers
people who are enjoying themselves or having a party
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| | | lavish
extravagant, with an appearance of wealth
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| | | disorder
public disobedience, violent behaviour
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| | | descended into a riot
became violent, uncontrollable
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| | | policed
if an event is policed, it is controlled or supervised by the police
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