Hello. Imjohn wilson. Welcome to this cultural life, the radio 4 podcast in which i talk to leading creative figures about the key moments of their life and the most important cultural works that have fired their imagination and had a profound impact on their own art. My guest is carlos acosta, the cuban born ballet star who, over a 30 year career, is now regarded as one of the greatest dancers of all time. He became the first black principal of the royal ballet and set new standards of grace and athleticism in theatres around the world. Having retired from the classical stage, he set up his own cuban dance company, acosta danza, and is also director of the berlin royal ballet. Of the birmingham royal ballet. Welcome. Lets start in cuba, with your family, your upbringing. A happy childhood . Very happy, i must say, although in the 80s in cuba, still, our family was on the. I would say it was poorer than most families, but still there was a big, big sense of community. It was a good ti
surprised by this but homelessness grew a staggering 10% in the city last year and 9% in la county. my office staff is afraid, and it s so sad forthe people that are homeless and it s a tragedy for the community. when i went outside, there were just like families walking around, people walking their dogs. it was completely quiet and safe and boring in a good way. and now i m afraid to go out without my pepper spray. laura: horrific. and in the big apple things are off the chart bad with city shelters busting at the seams filled with illegals. now it s so bad that earlier this month, mayor eric adams even floated the idea of housing the would-be asylumees inside homes. you don t know nothing about those people. what he s doing is not good for the city. he s trying the city. i wouldn t want some stranger, illegal or not illegal, just a stranger in general. so you re saying if this opportunity keim to you you wouldn t take it? i absolutely would not. laura: it
and she s already told me that if it s snowing or ice you re going to come pick-me-up in your four-wheel drive pickup. we know what cold weather is, just have to warm the car up and put another coat on. the weather never stopped us, blizzards, cold, rain, snow, it doesn t make any difference. neil: they re a hearty bunch, the iowans. but not the airport. and there s great food. that was not meant to be and we had to stay in new york, which isn t a bad alternative, it s beautiful here, but the backdrop in midtown manhattan is slightly different than the beautiful state of iowa and des moines where we will be because we re flowing out after this show for the big event on monday and all weekend coverage. in the meantime, there s this nasty cold wave that you ve heard a lot about, not only affecting iowa. in michigan, it s one doozy of a storm and certainly record low temperatures and in grand rapids, max. it s not as cold as iowa, but chilly temperatures in the 20 s and qu
at issue, noises pinging from near the titanic site. the site and search area is massive. try twice the size of connecticut. time is running short. all this as more vessels head to the area. three more arriving this morning including one ship with side-scanning sonar all to reach a minivan size sub that could be two miles aabove the surface. no guarantee that the crew members in the submersible haven t already tried, if they could. fears more than half a dozen backup systems from sandbags to emergency inflatable balloons failed. all of them failed. amid new warnings that have come to light about the vessel s safety during its development in the first place. one enthusiast cancelled his plans because of those safety concerns. he never took the trip. know growing concern for the five on board this missing titan sub that did. welcome, everybody. i m neil cavuto. fox on top of a rescue drama right now that could be unfolding nearly two miles below the ocean surface. we go to moll
this is uzbekistan. once part of the enormous soviet union, uzbekistan is a country of arid deserts, lush mountains and ancient cities. in its long history, it s been home to many civilisations, remnants of which can still be seen today. and now its more recent past is as much of a draw. i m starting myjourney here in tashkent, the biggest city in the whole of central asia. it s dynamic, full of young people with almost half under the age of 30 and it s booming. though wherever you look, you are reminded of its soviet past. so what s this impressive building? incredible. this is our circus. munis nur has been studying the unique blend of soviet and islamic architecture that tashkent is known for. after a massive earthquake in the 60s, the soviets rebuilt the whole city. at that time, as you know, many different architects came from the soviet union, and all the architects tried to build the ideal city here. the circus is one of the many examples of the era s modernist arc