welcome. let s start in cuba, with yourfamily, 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 time for cuba anybody could participate, to everything that society offers. obviously education was free, there was a lot of community parties that brought the community together. i was a very restless, wild kid, and it was in the 80s where the breakdancing movement started in cuba and everything, so i was into the breakdancing scene. obviously, later on in my family, my mother started to have some problems, and then i started to experience some problems with my father being injail and things like that, but i felt for the most part it was a very, very good time for cuba. an artistic family? you are the youngest of 11 kids. that s right, on my father s side. he was a truck driver, and before he met my
hello. i mjohn wilson. welcome to this cultural life, the radio 4 podcast series 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 birmingham royal ballet. welcome. let s 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 time for cub
coolio, an influentialfigure in the west coast rap scene of the 90s, has died at the age of 59. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. hurricane ian is battering the us state of florida with powerful winds and a severe storm surge, that has flooded communities along the southwest coast. there s also been flooding inland as the category four storm advances. more than a million people have been left without electricity. azadeh moshiri reports from tampa. a life threatening hurricane is now barrelling towards america s sunshine state. and put millions under evacuation orders across the west coast. ian is unpredictable. it s already caused widespread damage in cuba, wiping out power to the country s entire grid, with some residents killed. but now its hurricane force winds are leaving the gulf of mexico and taking aim at florida s coast. this satellite image shows the eye of the hurricane packed with lightning. clearly, this is a very powerful, major hurr
gangsta s goodbye the us rap star coolio dies at the age of 59. and proof that dogs really are man s best friend they can even tell when we re under stress. hello and welcome. one of the most powerful storms in us history has hit florida s southwest coast, with winds of up to 150mph and torrential rain. some towns have been almost entirely submerged under floodwater that hurricane ian, a category 4 storm has brought. our correspondent azadeh moshiri has this report. a life threatening hurricane is now barrelling towards america s sunshine state. and put millions under evacuation orders across the west coast. ian is unpredictable. it s already caused widespread damage in cuba, wiping out power to the country s entire grid, with some residents killed. but now its hurricane force winds are leaving the gulf of mexico and taking aim at florida s coast. this satellite image shows the eye of the hurricane packed with lightning. clearly, this is a very powerful, major hurricane,
hello. the president of the european commission has said sabotage was the cause of rare gas leaks in two major pipelines connecting russia and europe. ursula von der leyen has warned of the strongest possible response if active european energy insfrastructure is attacked. earlier, ukraine accused russia of causing the leaks in what it described as a terrorist attack . here s our diplomatic correspondent, james landale. nord stream 1 and nord stream 2 are huge pipelines that bring gas from russia to germany, 700 miles along under the baltic. they are the largest pipelines of their kind in the world. but look at this, significant disturbance to the sea near denmark, caused by leaking gas, it is thought. the danish military say this area of turbulence was more than half a mile wide and shipping is being kept out of the area. the gas is leaking here near a danish island, bornholm, it is thought there are a couple of leaks in nord stream 1, and a third in nord stream 2. it s no