Once upon a time there was a country the largest in the world in fact it was an empire. It was called the soviet union shortly before its seventieth birthday it benefited from the man. Who gave. Me a sheepish if they behaved well a good deal believe if you take the stove with you. With. The union of the soviet socialist republics as the state was officially called was one of the global powers of the Twentieth Century two hundred ninety Million People lived in it locked up behind the socalled iron curtain. The soviet union was founded in one nine hundred twenty two and broke up in one thousand nine hundred ninety one. But the average Life Expectancy of a soviet man at the time was sixty three years so sixty nine trilling wasnt a bad age to reach. You already machine a former submarine commander has been running a museum devoted to the soviet union since his retirement. In fact many still Wax Nostalgic about the soviet union looking back chiefly on its power and internal cohesion and the
In my first play with the rsc, but when i came in the next day, there was someone from the wardrobe waiting for me, and they said, we heard about what happened last night and were very sorry, but we understand why you did it, and we have taken your cloak and made it much shorter so it wont happen again. Thats the kind of people you work with in the Wardrobe Department of the Royal Shakespeare company. If, around the world, fans of the rsc knew this was happening, they would flock here just to take a little piece of history away with them. And my wife has yet found more garments to wear. What am i going to do . Put my hand in my pocket, i suppose. Prices start atjust £1, so pretty affordable to make all the world your stage. Hannah bayman, bbc news. Time for the weather now. It feels summary. Time for the weather now. It feels summary. It has been a pretty dismal septembers so far. We have a southerly and its going to improve as we go into the weekend. We have a weather front arriving
Rebecca jones. Im here at the British Library to guide you through five moments in chinese history that helped shape the country. Well meet an archaeologist whos worked on the Terracotta Army site for decades. A man who took part in the student protests at Tiananmen Square, and a former red guard. But our first witness is sidney rittenberg. He visited china as a gi during world war ii and stayed on. He joined the communist party. And during chinas civil war, he got to know the revolutionary leader, chairman mao. He was so idolised. And it was so impossible to criticise him. He finally convinced himself that china needed an emperor figure. I think mao before coming to power and after coming to power were two quite different personalities. But he was enormously courteous. He was disarming. He could make you forget that you were in the presence of someone from history. He was a large man and he had great personal dignity and was very easy to talk to. Yunnan was the nerve centre of the ent
He says grass roots supporters will dominate the conference, meaning some shadow cabinet members and labour mayors wont get the chance to speak from the main stage. 0ur deputy Political Editor john pienaar reports from brighton. You would never know he had lost the election, but to the labour army of corbyn supporters, he is a winner the leader who ran the tories close when few believed he was a winner at all. Their leader, who is now setting about shifting power from the mps who often doubted him to the grass roots members, many of whom trusted him and bought into his socialist vision from the start. His message he was heading not just a party but a movement, and one that could win. To bring about the socialjustice we want, to bring about the society we want, the unity we want and together, together, together, we can, and will do it thank you very much. Cheering. The leaders plan is to give the grass roots, many of them members of the pro corbyn group momentum, more power and more of
From Late Wednesday onwards. Hello. This is bbc news. The headlines the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, resists calls from within his own party to commit to keeping britain in the european Single Market and Customs Union indefinitely after brexit. The important priority is to ensure that we have a tariff free trade access to the european market. Half of all our trade is with europe. I would also say that we need to look very carefully at the terms of any trade relationship. Shadow home secretary diane abbott says labour would recruit thousands of new police officers, accusing the government of trying to protect the country on the cheap. Labour in government will work to make communities safe, and we will recruit 10,000 new police officers. Voters in germany are casting their ballots in a general election which is expected to give Angela Merkel a fourth term as chancellor. Nfl players kneel during the american anthem at wembley in defiance of president donald trump. Now on bbc news, a spe