Learning English

Beatrix Potter story discovered

She was one of the most successful children's authors in literary history, selling more than 45 million copies of The Tale of Peter Rabbit alone over the past century.

It has been more than 40 years since any new Beatrix Potter tales have been published. But that is about to change.

In this programme, Neil and Rob explore the language being used by the world's media to discuss this story. Watch the programme and learn the words and phrases you need to talk about the news. Then see what you've learned with a short quiz.

Watch the video and complete the activity

The story

From a BBC report on 26th January 2016:

A lost story by one of Britain's best loved children's authors, Beatrix Potter, is to be published for the first time – more than a hundred years after it was written.

The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots, a black cat that leads a double life, was discovered in an exercise book in the writer's archive at the Victoria and Albert museum in London.

Written in 1914, it includes some of her best-loved animal characters – Peter Rabbit and the hedgehog, Mrs.Tiggy-winkle.

Rebecca Jones - BBC News correspondent

After spotting a reference to the story in an old biography of Beatrix Potter an editor at Penguin Books headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum, that's where thousands of items in the writer's archives are kept and amongst them was the manuscript, written in 1914 in an old school exercise book.

There was also a rough-colour sketch of Kitty-in-Boots. The story was finished but unedited and letters in the archive revealed why – the First World War, marriage, and even Beatrix Potter's passion for sheep farming interrupted her work. She never went back to the tale of the mischievous black cat. Now it's finally being published in September with illustrations by Quentin Blake.

Key words and phrases

published
made officially available for everyone to read, for example in a book or newspaper

double life
separate life that other people don't know about

archive
collection of historical documents, books or objects

unseen
not seen or known about

rediscovered
found again after being forgotten or lost

in a spin
worried and confused

To do

Try these questions to test your ability to use the words from this News Review.

Your challenge

Which of these is NOT an English expression:

a) To be like a rabbit caught in the headlights
b) To listen like a rabbit
c) To rabbit on

More

Learn more about this story in News Report.

End of Session 2

Join us in Session 3 for Lingohack - our video which teaches you words from the news using the latest BBC World News bulletins.