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Yvonne: Hello, I’m Yvonne Archer – this is ‘6 minute English’ – and today, Callum’s
with me. Hi Callum…
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Callum: Hi Yvonne
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Yvonne: Now this week, we ask: is there any difference between a really big hill and a
small mountain? Dictionaries basically say that a hill is not as high as a
mountain – and a mountain is higher than a hill! Anything to add, Callum?
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Callum: Well, if big hills and small mountains were the same, we probably wouldn’t
need separate nouns for them in English for them, would we?
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Yvonne: Good point. But before we find out more, here’s a question for you: Which of
these three places is proud to have the world’s highest hill? Is it:
a) Beverley Hills
b) Dar Es Salaam or
c) Oklahoma
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Callum: Ummm – this is just going to be a guess because I really have no idea. I’m
going to guess at Oklahoma.
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Yvonne: Okay, we’ll find out the answer at the end of the programme!
Recently, a report from the BBC’s David Bamford had some people thinking
that in Snowdonia, North Wales, people were making a mountain out of a
molehill! But before we hear about that story, here’s a look at some of the
language we’ll come across. Callum, what can you tell us about ‘Ordnance
Survey maps’?
Callum: Well, ‘Ordnance Survey’ is the name for Great Britain’s official mapping
agency. So their maps are known as the most accurate, the most up-to-date and
most reliable maps available –even the government relies on them. And even –
and I do too. When I go walking, I always take an Ordance Survey map with
me and my compass.
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Yvonne: Excellent! So we’ll hear ‘Ordnance Survey maps’ in today’s report – but listen
out for the answer to this question as well: How high is a mountain?
For many years now, Wales has been very popular with both tourists and
mountaineers – people who enjoy climbing mountains. So, how would you feel
if what you proudly think of as your local mountain is officially classified as –
a mere hill?
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DAVID BAMFORD
That’s been the case ’til now for Mynydd Graig Goch, in North Wales. The locals KNEW it
was a mountain – that’s why they called it Mynydd – the Welsh word for ‘mountain’. But
British Ordnance Survey maps classified it as a hill because it was assumed to be under two
thousand feet high – that’s six hundred and nine metres – the recognized minimum height for a
mountain.
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Yvonne: So how high is a mountain? Callum?
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Callum: Well anything over two thousand feet high – now that’s six hundred and nine
metres high – that’s a mountain.
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Yvonne: And anything under – or less than – two thousand feet high is officially – a hill.
So what happened – with our mountain in Wales – what happened there?
Callum: The report said that Ordnance Survey assumed it was less than two thousand
feet high – but they didn’t actually know for sure that that was true.
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Yvonne: Ooh – a big mistake, eh?! But luckily, a group of mountaineers who live in the
area used very reliable equipment to measure their mountain and they proved
that it’s definitely not a hill. It’s six inches high – or fifteen point two
centimetres higher than the minimum – so Ordnance Survey will change their
map.
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Callum: Hurray for Wales, they’ve finally got their extra mountain!
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Yvonne: Yeah…
Callum – you’re a film buff… do you know anything about a film with a
similar story?
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Callum: Well yes, there was a romantic comedy with the actor Hugh Grant in 1995.
And that was called “The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill, But Came Down a
Mountain”.
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Yvonne: I love that title! Now as we hear what the film is about, try to guess what ‘a
cartographer’ is – what’s ‘a cartographer’?
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DAVID BAMFORD
In the film, a Welsh community fought the attempts of two English cartographers to
downgrade their local mountain to a hill. And they did so by carrying mounds of earth up to the summit when the cartographers weren’t looking.
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Yvonne: Oooh – that was very naughty! Callum, what did the community do to make
sure that their mountain wouldn’t become a hill – making it less important?
Callum: Well, what they did was they took ‘mounds of earth’ – which is piles of soil –
up to the summit – and that’s the highest point on a mountain or hill, that’s the
summit. And so they did that to make sure that it was high enough to be a
mountain when the officials measured it.
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Yvonne: Crafty – and what’s ‘a cartographer’, Callum?
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Callum: Well, a cartographer is an official whose job it is to draw maps.
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Yvonne: Great. Now onto today’s big question: Which of these three places is proud to
have the world’s highest hill? Is it:
a) Beverley Hills
b) Dar Es Salaam – or
c) Oklahoma
Callum, what was your answer?
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Callum: Well, my answer was just – purely just a guess. I guessed at Oklahoma because
Beverley Hills, well that’s a very rich suburb of Los Angeles and I don’t think
there are any really big hills there. Dar Es Salaam – I don’t know anything
about Dar Es Salaam – I’ve never been there. But I’ve never been to Oklahoma
but I can remember from movies and so on, that it’s – quite a few mountains
and hills there. So it’s purely a guess but I’m going to go for Oklahoma.
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Yvonne: Excellent guess and well worked out actually, because you’re absolutely right!
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Callum: Whoo! Excellent – oh yes!
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Yvonne: So well done to you Callum. And that’s all for today’s ‘6 minute English’.
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Y + Callum: Goodbye!
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