In summer, Gibraltar was again at the centre of a centuries-old diplomatic dispute between the UK and Spain, but the reason why we are bringing this video clip to your attention has to do with the opportunity this BBC video clip offers English students to get acquainted with the accent of the Gibraltarians.
Self-study activity:
Watch the BBC video clip and answer the questions below about it.
The activity is suitable for intermediate students.
1 What does John Charles Guy do?
2 What customers ask Mr Guy questions about the Rock?
3 What does 'nine' refer to?
4 Where do Spaniards who cross the border work?
5 Where does Elizabeth Walker live?
6 What is the source of the 'recent tension here'?
To check your answers, you can read the transcript below.
In llama land there's a one-man band
And he'll toot his flute for you
Come fly with me, let's fly, let’s fly away
Come fly with me, let's float down to Peru
John Charles Guy is an all-singing, passionate and very proud Gibraltarian taxi driver.
First of all, I feel British, but Gibraltarians we have an allegiance for the Queen which I think it’s unparalleled by any other. I get a lot of expats coming into my car and they ask me, ‘Why don’t you want to belong to Spain?’ or ‘Why don’t you want to be Spanish?’ My answer to them is Gibraltar is yours, it’s British.
And the idea of being part of Spain?
Never, I’d rather be dead.
John might have been born in Scunthorpe, but moved to Gibraltar when he was just nine, and asked about Gibraltar’s future, he is defiant.
Gibraltarians will always stand together, we will always come together. You can’t take us over. You cannot divide us. You cannot conquer us. And you can’t give us away.
Gibraltar, that’s my home town.
British pride is everywhere is Gibraltar. A town of just thirty thousand, in some ways it feels more British than the Britain most of us know. Several thousand Spaniards cross the border to work in the restaurants, bars and offices every day. And, of course, temperatures have been rising here because of increased checks and delays.
Elizabeth Walker’s family runs this fish and chips shop. She was born here but grew up in Britain.
I’m not Gibraltarian, but I’m a very proud Gibraltarian.
Now she crosses Gibraltar’s border every day from her home in Spain.
When someone looks at the map and they see Spain and then see this tiny bit of land at the edge and they say to you, ‘how can that be British?’, what do you say?
It’s British since three hundred years ago. They won it in the battle of Trafalgar and it became British and it belongs to Britain and the people on Gibraltar want to be British, they don’t want to be Spanish, so, you know, they have a right to determine what they are and what their future holds, and they’ll always want to be British.
Up here at the top of the rock, you get a sense of the geography here. Take a look down to the left and you can see the town of Gibraltar. Just beyond that and you can see the airport. A little bit further on, it’s the border with Spain. And just beyond that it’s the Spanish town of La Línea de la Concepción. If we then go left, you can begin to see the number of boats in the waters here. And these disputed waters are the source of the recent tension here.
With these monkeys up top, some will always see Gibraltar as a peculiar place, but there is a lot of history here, and the vast majority of those living on the rock, from where you can see Africa, passionately tell you that this will always be a slice of Britain in the sun.
Tom Burridge BBC News in Gibraltar
