my concern at all. I’m just worried about the appalling example they set others. Yes, of course, nurses and doctors are human beings. They are fallible and can’t be expected to have perfect, blemish-free lives. They struggle with having a healthy lifestyle like everyone else. But when you are on the coalface, seeing patients, you are a professional and therefore have a duty to uphold basic principles of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and take a role in health promotion. If you can’t stick to the basic principles that you are promoting yourself, then in my opinion you have no business being on the front line. No patient is going to take you seriously unless you can demonstrate that you at least try to practise what you preach. It’s a serious professional failing, because being obese as a nurse or doctor will mean patients won’t listen to what you say and, I suspect, when they feel they can’t listen to you on lifestyle, they’ll soon stop listening to what you say on other topics as well. It undermines the entire relationship. It also sends the disastrous message of “do as I say not as I do” which is never going to result in someone changing their ways. You wouldn’t take advice about reducing your drinking from an alcoholic, would you? So why should you be expected to listen to an overweight healthcare professional who is telling you to shed a few pounds. It’s the total hypocrisy that would stick in my craw and that I simply can’t believe patients accept. Of course, there are lots of instances when a doctor or nurse’s personal struggles can really help. Many people working in substance misuse, for example, are former addicts and the care they give is all the better for it. They understand the mind of an addict better than anyone. Likewise, I used to smoke and I find this actually helps me because I can relate to patients—I know their struggles, I know their concerns and I know the things they say to themselves to avoid confronting quitting. I like to think that knowing that I used to smoke helps me come across as more human to my patients—I’ve done daft things but I’ve changed and so can they. Similarly, a nurse who was previously obese but has now lost weight could be a real motivation for patients. But until they have lost weight and can demonstrate that they practise what they preach, they risk alienating the very patients they are charged with helping. n OCTOBER 2022 • 49 THEY RISK ALIENATING THE VERY PATIENTS THEY ARE CHARGED WITH HELPING
HEALTH us hard, or because our clotting is slower than it should be or our blood vessels are more fragile. We tend to bang and bash our limbs most, which is why it occurs most often on our arms or legs. As we age, our skin thins and our blood vessels are more frail, and this is why people start to find they bruise more easily. Medications can also increase bruising, especially aspirin, which “thins” the blood, as well as medications like steroids and some antidepressants. Easy bruising could also be a sign of underlying diseases. Liver disease, including cirrhosis of the liver caused by alcohol, can affect the blood’s clotting. Vasculitis—a group of conditions that cause inflamed blood vessels—can also trigger bruising, as can malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies. Rarely, bruising can be a sign of cancer, particularly leukaemia. The best thing to do is to pop to the GP, who can do some basic blood tests and examine you to rule out any underlying causes. n Got a health question for our resident doctor? Email it confidentially to [email protected] The Doctor Is In Q: Dear Dr Max, I have noticed that I bruise very easily on my legs. Any ideas why this is happening and how I can stop bruising so easily? Thank you! - Jo, via email A: Dear Jo. This is actually a very common query. People often find that they are bruising easily and worry something is wrong but, thankfully, in most cases it’s nothing to worry about. There are a few causes though that do need to be ruled out. You don’t give your age, medical history or whether you are on medication, and these are things that would usually be considered. Bruises are caused by blood trapped under the skin. They occur when there has been damage to the underlying tissue and blood vessels break open in the area. Damage to tissue is actually quite normal—we are always banging and bashing ourselves without realising it, which affects the tiny blood vessels under the skin. Usually the blood clots before it can spread and we notice it, but in some cases it doesn’t clot quick enough—either because the damage is too much, such as when something hits Dr Max Pemberton 50 • OCTOBER 2022 illustration by Javier Muñoz
52 • OCTOBER 2022 Many of our memory systems are driven by one single, powerful urge: to survive. We seem to be hard-wired to remember routes, so we can navigate our local environments safely. We’re also naturally talented at recognising faces. Ever since we lived in groups, us humans have needed to know who’s “part of the pack”, and who isn’t, as a vital part of staying safe. And we’re excellent at remembering things that might put our wellbeing at risk. A recent research study showed that we’re remarkably accurate at recalling anything connected with infection. Even imaginary dangers can sharpen our memory skills. In the study, volunteers were shown a set of objects that they would be tested on later. But there was a twist. Some of the items were held by a researcher who was said to have COVID. And guess what? Those “contaminated” objects proved to be significantly easier to recall. None of the volunteers would ever have to touch those things themselves. But their minds still prioritised them, locking in the information for later— just in case it could keep them safe. HEALTH And it’s a reflex that you can use to your advantage. When you’ve got something important to remember, why not “tag” it with one of those unpleasant feelings that your brain can’t help holding on to? • Worried about forgetting the milk from your shopping list? Picture the bottle, and imagine opening it only to discover that it’s weeks out of date. Think about how it would look—and smell! Thanks to the power of disgust, you’ll have a much better chance of remembering the fresh milk you need. • Maybe you have to visit the library before it closes. To jog your memory, visualise the library tables piled high with all the foods you absolutely hate. See if your instinct for selfprotection keeps the library in your thoughts more than normally! • And how about learning the PIN for your debit card by imagining that only the correct buttons on the ATM are safe? The first time you type the four digits, pretend that all the other keys are covered in deadly germs, imprinting the “safe” pattern on your memory. Tap into your drive to survive. Don’t try this technique too often, though, or you’ll end up always feeling on edge! But, in those moments when your memory needs a boost, a small bit of revulsion can be very healthy for your recall. n Have A Disgustingly Good Memory Negative feelings can nudge your brain, says our memory expert, Jonathan Hancock
Great for general cardio fi tness, exercise bikes can be a brilliant way of training at home. However, choosing the right bike is incredibly important, which is something that Roger Black and his team recognised when creating the Roger Black Folding Exercise Bike. Just Cycle And fold away Roger Black is off ering a 10% discount on the full www.rogerblackfi tness.com range of home fi tness equipment for all Reader’s Digest readers. Please use discount code DIGEST10 at checkout. Standard T&Cs apply There’s no excuse not to get on your bike this Winter. Get your indoor cycling fix and feel the benefits. “Best Present EVER are the words from my 77-year old father who received his Roger Black fi tness bike for his birthday. He said it is so simple and easy to use, with no complicated gadgets. The seat is VERY comfortable, so using it everyday is a pleasure. It folds away neatly so it can be stored behind a door if need be” Anna, Farnham
Monica Karpinski is a writer and editor focused on women’s health, sex, and relationships. She is the founder of women’s health media platform The Femedic W hat makes you feel attracted to another person? Perhaps it’s the sound of their voice or the chiselled shape of their face? What if I told you that your hormones are making you feel this way—and that they have the power to change the sort of people you fancy? It’s an idea that science has been toying with for some time now, and to be honest, it’s not so far-fetched. Mostly, researchers have looked at the effects of high testosterone, which is known to influence our sex drive. Testosterone is even recommended as off-label hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to help menopausal folks with low libido. But can a boost in testosterone really change our taste in other people? The University of Aberdeen was one of the first to look into this in 2007. They showed 70 women pictures of 20 men and 20 women, whose faces had varying degrees of “feminine” (a rounder jaw, a smaller face) and “masculine” (a more square jaw, a wider-set face) features. Women were asked which faces they found more attractive over the course of their menstrual cycle, when levels of oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone were naturally in flux. Guess what they found? When women’s testosterone levels were higher, they went for more masculine faces, even though they preferred more feminine faces in general. The theory here is that because testosterone levels are raised around the time that we ovulate, the body takes this as a cue to look for a viable mate—which, apparently, is people who look more masculine. Put another way: when our body gets the message that it’s time to 54 • OCTOBER 2022 DATING & REL ATIONSHIPS Can Hormones Change Who You’re Attracted To?
procreate, we’re more likely to fancy people with a Chris Hemsworth vibe. But while this is super interesting, these findings haven’t really held up. In 2018, the journal Psychological Science published a review of studies done on the matter. They looked at data from a total of 598 heterosexual women and found no link between testosterone levels and the preference for masculine faces. Sorry, Chris! Proof that attraction to more masculine voices, or even that masculine people smell nicer when our testosterone is higher, is also pretty patchy and inconsistent. A key flaw with many of these studies is that they rely on selfreported data, which is subjective. We might feel drawn to someone in the moment, but does that necessarily mean we want to tear their clothes off? Nope, it doesn’t, according to a 2017 paper in Scientific Reports. They found that what people said they were attracted to didn’t correlate with their pupil dilation, which is a physical sign that we’re sexually or romantically aroused. OK, so there’s no direct link between testosterone levels and who we fancy. But—and hear me out here—could testosterone influence our desires via its effect on libido? Maybe. After all, we know that testosterone can make us more sensitive to touch and arousal, which might make sex feel more appealing or exciting. One review of 36 clinical trials that had 8,480 postmenopausal participants between them found that testosterone supplements increased their sexual desire, pleasure, arousal, orgasm and even improved how they saw themselves. If we’re feeling good about ourselves and also excited about sex, won’t we be more up for trying new things? Our sex drive is a big picture of many moving parts. Hormones are certainly a part of this picture, but they aren’t the whole story. For example, taking testosterone could make sex feel easier, but if your dip in libido is due to relationship issues, it might not have much of an effect. That’s why HRT can work really well for some people but less so for others. But, if it’s safe for you to take and helps you to feel happier in bed—embrace it, I say! n OCTOBER 2022 • 55 If we’re feeling good about ourselves and excited about sex, won’t we be more up for trying new things?
them and build your confidence. Kissing will undoubtedly feel a bit different, but if your dentures have been fitted securely they shouldn’t fall out while you do this. Plus, anyone will tell you that a good kiss is about connecting with someone in that moment—not how much contact you had with their teeth! When it comes to sex, whether you choose to leave your dentures in is completely up to you. If you don’t feel comfortable deciding in the moment, let your partner know you need a break and stop if you need to. The same goes for sharing that you’re a dentures wearer. This isn’t an apology or disclaimer you need to give before meeting someone new, it’s something to mention when you’re ready. As you get to know each other you’ll build up a natural intimacy, and you’ll find a moment that feels right. Your dentures are no indication of what kind of partner you’d be, nor take away from how funny, kind, interesting, or patient you are. So, don’t let them! n Got a question for our resident sex and relationships expert? Email it confidentially to [email protected] Relationship Advice Q: I’ve just started wearing dentures and I’m feeling insecure about it, but I’m especially nervous when it comes to the idea of dating new people. Do you have any advice for how I can navigate this? Should I disclose that I wear them upfront, for example? - Doris A: It’s human nature to feel insecure about things we think others might not like about us. But dentures are not a personality trait—they’re medical devices that can really improve the quality of life of people who use them. Sadly, wearing dentures (or any other prosthetics) doesn’t fit in with our culture’s narrow ideals of beauty and desirability. But these are arbitrary standards and trying to meet them is a game that none of us can win. Unlearning this isn’t easy, so try to be kind and patient with yourself as you get used to this new aspect of your life. On a practical note, there are things you can do to make dating with dentures a bit smoother. For one, practising eating and speaking with dentures on your own or with friends first can help you get used to Monica Karpinski 56 • OCTOBER 2022 DATING & REL ATIONSHIPS
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Discover the incredible stories of the extreme-conditions medics swapping their prescription pads and stethoscopes for rafts and snake venom… EXTREME MEDICINE By Parisa Hashempour
INSPIRE OCTOBER 2022 • 59 C osta Rica’s jungles might seem an unlikely spot for a group of medics to converge. But trekking through this dense stretch of Central American wilderness, that’s exactly who you might encounter. Trading stethoscopes and lab-made pharmaceuticals for rafts and snake venom, these medics come together under the guidance of World Extreme Medicine, an organisation training paramedics, physiotherapists, nurses, and doctors to work in the world’s most volatile and remote conditions. Extreme medicine is a subdiscipline of medicine in which healthcare providers respond to crises in war zones, assist those left behind after humanity's most horrific disasters, and conduct medicine not just on land, but also deep beneath the sea and even in outer space. While all medics need to think on their feet, Mark Hannaford, the founder of World Extreme Medicine, explains that for extreme medics, that need is heightened. Medics might treat a patient in the blistering heat of a desert, on an ice-cold tundra, or stabilise a person at altitude or in the dark. Despite this, he says, “you don't need to run a marathon with a rucksack on every day to be an extreme medic.” Physical fitness is not the challenge. “The challenge is adequately preparing yourself for the environment you are going into.” “You really have to steward good self-care in these environments,” adds pre-hospital lead and extreme medicine trainer, Eoin Walker. In places like Costa Rica, Oman and Slovenia, he teaches medics skills in security, diet, wound closure, hydration and facilitating team dynamics on expedition. But medics also learn to care for their own physical and mental health. “In the UK, we don’t have to remember to drink every hour, or clean and dry our feet, or look at our calorie content or how much we’re carrying—but you do in that environment,” he says. As for the medicine itself, it’s often lacking in the surgical glamour we see on TV. “People who live where disaster hits still have issues like diabetes, babies are still being born, people need physiotherapy,” says Mark. And with more disasters set to strike, their needs will only increase. “Training extreme medics is becoming more important as we face environmental challenges like climate change,” he adds. Here, we speak with three extreme medics, to understand what it’s really like to save lives in some of the world’s harshest locations. EXTREME HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS RESPOND NOT JUST ON LAND, BUT ALSO DEEP BENEATH THE SEA AND EVEN IN OUTER SPACE
YORKSHIRE'S ATLANTIS 60 • OCTOBER 2022
READER’S DIGEST Taryn Anderson, Remote Area Nurse How extreme? From Sierra Leone’s Ebola outbreak to war in Iraq. The motivation: “Humanity is amazing—it’s incredibly cool and at the same time, it’s horrible. When you come back to this lovely, moderate world in the UK, you don’t necessarily know these balances are playing out. With extreme medicine, you’re playing in that middle band.” Most memorable mission: Gaining her nursing degree through the Australian military, Taryn responded to hurricanes in Mozambique and Haiti, supported nurses in Kenya and Nepal and assisted during the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, where her employers sat her down to write a will before deployment. Taryn’s most memorable mission, however, is working as a pre-hospital lead, setting up convalescence stations during the Battle of Mosul in Iraq between March 2017 and 2018: “It was the best and worst job I’ve ever done.” On call 24/7, Taryn would be woken throughout the night to deal with patient influxes. “One of the biggest challenges was that for the first month we didn't have a morgue,” says Taryn. But it was less the gory sights, and more the everyday personal stories of struggle that made an impact, like the fighter who was nursed back to health at the hospital, only to be captured, and likely killed, at a checkpoint set up to entrap him upon his release; or the pair of teenagers who, madly in love, attempted suicide because their families would not let them marry. Despite the difficulties, Taryn revelled in moments of joy, with one particular incident standing out to her. “We received a call saying we had casualties coming to us, people who had been trapped in Mosul. Unfortunately, one of them was a woman who was eight months pregnant. She was trapped in the basement for over a week and had been shot through the abdomen by a sniper.” The team were preparing for two potential deaths, and there was especially little chance that the baby would survive the gun wound. “But when she arrived, there was a foetal heartbeat!” says Taryn. The medics rejoiced, quickly diving into action. The bullet had grazed the baby’s elbow, and the elbow had then plugged a hole in the mother’s uterus, keeping her baby alive inside. “It was this absolute miracle of a child who we were able to deliver, and Mum and baby went home three or four days later!”. OCTOBER 2022 • 61
62 • OCTOBER 2022 Dr Steve Simmons YORKSHIRE'S ATLANTIS
OCTOBER 2022 • 63 READER’S DIGEST Lucy Coulter, Doctor in Emergency Medicine How extreme? From air ambulance to Antarctica. The motivation: “The NHS is such a difficult place to work that you need something different to keep you sane, to have a part of your work life that you have agency in.” Most memorable mission: “I was in Antarctica for two months this year,” says the A&E doctorturned-explorer. Lucy has delivered care in the air ambulance service over the UK’s midlands, atop Kilimanjaro and in rural Cuba, but what stays with her most is journeying to the Weddell Sea in Antarctica. Lucy looked after 111 people including expeditionists and the ship’s crew as they searched for the wreckage of Endurance, Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship, which had been lost since it sank in 1915. While the expedition itself lasted 43 days, the trip took four months of medical preparation, consisting of screenings and sourcing essential medicine and COVID testing equipment. Lucy had to make tough calls as to who was allowed to travel, and who couldn’t. With an entire onboard hospital to run, the trip was an unusual set-up for a medic used to working out of a helicopter. “I’m so used to doing expeditions and having very little by way of resources. It felt like the responsibility was greater because I had the ability to do almost everything,” she says. Thanks to extensive preparations, the expedition ran almost without mishap. “The crew do a King Neptune initiation ritual when the ships pass through the Antarctic Circle; they make everybody lie on the deck and spray them with icecold water and then dip them into a bucket of slops—it was horrible! So we had one case of mild hypothermia from that… we just treated them with warm drinks, blankets and warming up in the shower.” Aside from that and two isolated COVID-19 cases, the trip ran smoothly. When Endurance was found, the crew and expeditionists celebrated on the Antarctic ice, surrounded by penguins and seals. “We played football and golf, and we ate beef massaman and chicken rolls on the ice floes!”.
64 • OCTOBER 2022 YORKSHIRE'S ATLANTIS
OCTOBER 2022 • 65 READER’S DIGEST Luca Alfatti, Senior Paramedic How extreme? Luca helped to found Medics4Ukraine, a World Extreme Medicine project delivering equipment and training to frontline Ukrainians. The motivation: Luca is inspired by the resilience of everyday Ukrainians like Svetlana, a woman in her mid-twenties who crosses the Polish border daily, ferrying people and supplies and passionately assisting Medics4Ukraine. Most memorable mission: For Luca, helping set up Medics4Ukraine, a medical convoy that has provided £1.2 million worth of lifesaving supplies and delivers medical training to Ukrainian civilians-turned-fighters, has been the most poignant moment in his extreme medicine career. “I recently trained about 90 people over the course of one week in three different locations around Ukraine, the Special Forces and Territorial Army,” he says. Preparing convoys and organising training, all while working as a full-time paramedic in the UK, has been exhausting. But with direct requests from his networks of Ukrainian volunteers streaming in, he is determined to keep the work going. One hot day, training conscripts in a small village gym filled with weights and dojo mats, stands out to Luca. Soldiers, some as young as 16, began to fill the room. Their nervousness was palpable; it wouldn’t be long until these young men left for the frontline. But by the end of the session, and with new skills in saving lives during combat under their uniformed belts, the feeling in the room had shifted. “There were lots of shouts of ‘Sláva Ukraíni!’, they were energised,” Luca says. “I felt like I was a local, like I was one of them, that we were going to get through this together,” he says. But for extreme medics, a strong connection to those you wish to help can result in a disconnect at home. Luca found leaving his family in the UK especially challenging, and when video calling with his tearful children after spending hours in a bomb shelter, even considered never returning to war. In the end, however, he felt he could not give up on those who had become his friends, saying, “I know them, they know me, we’re friends and I want to help.” n To donate to Medics4Ukraine, visit gofundme.com/f/medics4ukraine To learn more about extreme medicine training, visit worldextrememedicine.com
My Britain: MILFORD HAVEN By Anna Walker
Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire, Wales, has been a working port town since the Middle Ages, and today is the biggest energy port in the UK. Having first developed as a whaling town in the late 17th century, it is one of the deepest natural harbours in the world. It's said that during the early part of the 20th century, when the dock was the base for a booming fishing industry, it was possible to walk across the entire width of the dock on the decks of trawlers. Today, Milford Haven is a bustling port town, with attractive restaurants, cafes and shops lining the quayside. Local museums tell the fascinating marine history of the town, though fun water activities have now replaced the once-busy fishing fleets. Visitors can partake in paddle boarding or kayaking amid the stunning marine scenery, though perhaps the best way to explore is through a walk along Milford Haven's historic waterfront. We spoke to two residents about life in this beautiful port town. INSPIRE 657
MY BRITAIN: SOUTHAMPTON I’m a proud “Milfordian” and I was born and bred in Milford Haven. I can remember watching my father work around Milford Docks while I was growing up. When I was a child, we'd always come down on the weekends and help him out with little jobs. If we were lucky, we would be allowed to get on the trawler and have a trip from the lock gates over to the dock walls. After leaving school in 1996, l was lucky enough to get an apprenticeship at the local dry dock. When I finished there, I got a job at Milford Marina where I’ve been for the last 20 years. The thought of leaving Milford Haven has never crossed my mind! My family’s connection with the docks and port goes back many Davey Barrett David Barrett, 42, known to everyone as "Davey", is a marina operative and has worked on the site for 20 years. He has long-standing family connections to the fish docks and port. 68 • OCTOBER 2022
years—I'm the sixth generation “Barrett” to work on the docks. My father’s grandfather and great grandfathers all worked on the docks within the fishing industry. Other members of my family were trawler skippers, and my great-great grandfather was actually one of the pioneer fishermen for the Port! Although the Barrett name carries a lot of the fishing history in my family, my grandad on my mother’s side of the family also arrived over here in Milford Haven as a fisherman from the west coast of Ireland in Castletownbere. That’s how he ended up meeting my grandmother, who was working in the braiding room making the fishing nets. I love Milford Haven and its laid-back pace of life. The best part [of living here has been] seeing how the town has developed over the years, especially the marina. From the installation of the new lock gates in 2015 to how Milford Waterfront has developed into a vibrant and popular destination. My favourite place is the Milford Haven Waterway. I just love being on the water and anything about it. Every day is different with a mix of leisure and commercial vessels using it. I enjoy sailing out to the islands, but you just can’t beat voyaging down the waterway, especially to find a sweet spot to watch the sunset on a warm summer evening. OCTOBER 2022 • 69
MY BRITAIN: SOUTHAMPTON 70
I was born in Rhyl, in North Wales, but my father's family had lived in Milford for three generations and at the end of the Second World War, we moved back. In 2000, I ran away to sea, joining the Jubilee Sailing Trust as Medical Purser on their ship, Tenacious. Eight amazing years at sea followed, with Milford as my home base. I retired in 2008 and worked locally for a couple of years to get my land legs back! Currently I'm a Trustee of Milford Museum and am secretary to the Board of Trustees. Talking to visitors and making our history come to life is so satisfying! I particularly enjoy taking groups of school children round. Explaining how things were used is great fun and the children are often amazed. Milford Museum was started over 35 years ago. The current building, one of the first built in the town, was originally the Customs House, which dealt with the import of whale oil. The museum has always been run by volunteers and all the exhibits have been donated by local people, which gives each item a personal aspect. Our volunteers are mainly retired local people who have long memories which we find gives our visitors a sort of "living history" feel to their visit. My favourite place in Milford Haven is difficult to choose, as it's all tied up in childhood memories. Cunjic/ Conduit Beach was just below the house we lived in. Almost every day, from Easter through the summer, we would race home from school, change, and run down to the beach for a swim! It was where we went crabbing with a piece of string, a small stone to weight it and limpets for bait. It was also the place where we kids collected seaweed (to put in the trenches for growing potatoes) and were paid three pence a sack by my father! The other place is Great Castle Head. We were fortunate to own a motorboat (an old ship's lifeboat bought by my grandfather) which we went out in almost every weekend. Castle Head could only be reached from the water, so we were usually the only people there. We would spend all day swimming, shrimping in rock pools and eating sandwiches and cake! By the time we reached home we were almost asleep on our feet. Such happy times with so many freedoms. I can't imagine living anywhere else. n Visit milfordwaterfront.co.uk to learn more Sue Kenny Sue Kenny, 77, is a trustee and volunteer at the Milford Haven Museum. OCTOBER 2022 • 71 READER’S DIGEST
We could opt to live our lives backwards. Starting our lives in old age, we would keep getting younger and feeling better. We’d do our main life’s work at the peak of our knowledge and strength, becoming more youthful as we go. Then we’d quit our jobs and go to college to unlearn everything before we become teenagers unravelling until we get to act like children and eventually, we’d be babies without a care in the world. Finally, after perhaps a bit of a tricky passage reversing our way through Beth Nielsen Chapman 72 Grammy-nominated Songwriter’s Hall of Fame inductee Beth Nielsen Chapman has written hits for everyone from Elton John to Neil Diamond. Her 15th studio album CrazyTown is out on September 23, via Cooking Vinyl the birth canal, we’d keep shrinking until we were only a few cells and then go out with a bang! We’d shapeshift our way to global empathy. For an hour every day, each human would be transplanted into someone else’s body, smack dab in the middle of that person’s circumstances. This would happen to everyone at the same time every day, so it would be part of life as we know it. There’d be books written about it, how to navigate that “hour of strange”. In the flash of an instant you might go from being a CEO of a major corporation in New York to a nineyear-old blind girl living on the streets of Nepal. This would clear up a lot of unconscious greed and ignorance among humans. Every day we’d get to try being a different gender or race or weight, or see what it’s like to have physical limitations of different levels. 72 • OCTOBER 2022 The World PATRICIA O’DRISCOLL If I Ruled
People who experience this would be much kinder and interested in finding real solutions that improve the standard of living for everyone. There would be full disclosure. All aspects of global and national finance would have complete transparency and airtight accountability. Corruption would be on full display. Cheaters and bad guys would have nowhere to hide. It would be great for the music industry, too! All plastic would be cancelled. We would stop production of all single-use plastic immediately and eventually replace all plastic with something that disintegrates back into the earth in a nourishing way. The same goes for unnecessary chemicals. One of my friends, Olivia, who has since passed, asked me to join this board of directors of an organisation that she founded called “Healthy Child Healthy World”. It started because her daughter’s best friend died of a tumour that was caused by environmental stuff that she was exposed to. The mother of that child and Olivia started this organisation to try and tackle the problem. So I would cancel plastic and unnecessary chemicals. Teachers would be paid like rock stars. I can’t think of a more important job than shaping the world’s future. It is a disaster that teachers are so OCTOBER 2022 • 73 INSPIRE undervalued. They should have comfortable salaries with full benefits and guaranteed health insurance and, crucially, we should prioritise their safety in this culture of gun violence. Good behaviour would be rewarded. Everyone that lived with integrity, generosity and kindness towards others would qualify for a once-amonth surge in artistic genius. You could pick any 24-hour period within that month in which you would wake up and choose your art-form. You then enjoy having the ability to paint like Van Gogh, play guitar like Jimmy Hendrix or dance like Fred Astaire. Wouldn’t that just be the best incentive for contributing goodness into the world instead of being a selfcentred drain on society? Sleep would be optional. I find that there just aren’t enough hours in a day. If I ruled the world there would be some magic elixir that I could take occasionally that would fix it so I didn’t have to sleep. In addition to being a recording artist and a songwriter, I’m a granny, a mother, a wife, a sister, a daughter, and on top of all that, I’m also someone with full-blown ADHD so I am never caught up! If I could get back some of the time I spend in dreamland I might have a chance to get ahead of the backlog. As told to Alice Gawthrop
BRING BACK THE Cabaret is a little controversial. In fact, it was designed to be that way. Whether it's flouting old censorship laws or flaunting new liberties, cabaret intentionally stirs the pot. Hillary Sukhonos delves into the fascinating history behind this art form INSPIRE 75 SHOWGIRLS!
BRING BACK THE SHOWGIRLS! 76 • OCTOBER 2022 A new era of nightlife began for Great Britain when cabaret arrived at the start of the 20th century. The year 1912 marks the beginning of modern cabaret in London, when Austrian writer and impresario, Frida Strindberg, opened Cave of the Golden Calf. Located underground near Regent Street, it attracted the upper crust of artists, outcasts and thinkers. This was akin to Le Chat Noir in Paris, whose famous bohemian artists kicked off the start of cabaret in 1881. Both venues offered drinks and entertainment in dimly lit, richly decorated surroundings, meant to stimulate creativity. Frida went bankrupt in 1914 and the Golden Calf closed—but London nightlife would remain forever changed. Cabaret became the new kid on the block in Britain's live entertainment landscape. At the time, variety shows reigned supreme, chorus lines like the Tiller Girls swept Europe and the US, and Gaiety Burlesques (lighthearted plays starring women) were the talk of the town. In fact, Laura Henderson, the future owner and director of the Windmill Theatre, attended Gaiety Burlesques with her husband and wrote about her experience: “I, like most girls of that period, had been taught to Cave of the Golden Calf, Frida Strindburg, Le Chat Noir poster
READER’S DIGEST regard legs as something you might perhaps meet in your bath, but never elsewhere, and my horror at the legs—rows and rows of them— I shall never forget.” Years later, after the death of her husband and only son, Mrs Henderson would have a dramatic change of heart and buy the Windmill Theatre. Theatre directors stole, mixed, and fused together different genres to the tune of what sold the most tickets. Manchester’s Tiller Girls, for example, developed a new dance style called "precision dance" which became a hit all across Europe and the US. Meanwhile, the satirical form of cabaret seeded into neighbouring countries which were grappling with political and social strife. Germany debuted its first cabaret in 1901 and became known for gallows humour, a trait immortalised in the 1972 film Cabaret, directed by Bob Fosse. In 1911 North American cabaret ignored segregation laws to form “black and tan” clubs where jazz and mixed-race couples mingled. Assuming power to bend social barriers and embrace change, cabaret championed civil rights, women’s rights, and the sexual revolution during this period. A cocktail of liberation and taboo, half chorus girl and half cancan dancer—the topless showgirl was born. The first large-scale topless cabaret premiered at the Gaîté theatre of Paris in 1920. Though it OCTOBER 2022 • 77 Manchester’s Tiller Girls
78 • OCTOBER 2022 ruffled a few feathers, the French public generally celebrated topless revues. Topless showgirls would not be popularised on the same scale in Great Britain until the founding of Laura Henderson’s Windmill Theatre 11 years later. Based in Piccadilly, it opened in 1931. Henderson famously negotiated with the Lord Chamberlain to loosen centuries-old censorship laws in order for women to perform nude on their stage. With the Lord Chamberlain's permission, Windmill Theatre manager, Vivian Van Damm, wasted no time introducing his tableaux vivants (a static scene containing one or more actors or dancers) in 1932. Inspired by the Folies Bergère, nude or draped women were surrounded by fantastical moving sets while dancers whirled and wafted large feather fans. The feather fans slyly concealed or revealed their nudity. This eventually created the “fan dance” still performed in contemporary showgirl revues today. The Bluebells “They were like angels who had come down from somewhere— like goddesses!” exclaims Rachel Williams when recalling her first impression of a Bluebell Girl, who is a specific brand of topless showgirl headquartered in Paris. A selfdescribed Welsh-Londoner, Rachel grew up performing in church before Dr Steve Simmons BRING BACK THE SHOWGIRLS! (Right) Rachel and Rowena; ( Above) Laura Henderson, owner of the Windmill Theatre with some of the girls during a break in rehearsals, August 1943 TRINITY MIRROR / MIRRORPIX / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
OCTOBER 2022 • 79 READER’S DIGEST discovering the Lido de Paris in 1987, where the Bluebell Girls danced. The day after seeing the show, she strode down the long corridor of the theatre and asked for an audition. Rachel premiered as a Bluebell Girl on her 20th birthday, beginning an esteemed international career at the Lido de Paris, the Moulin Rouge, Cats on the West End, a sister-act in Las Vegas followed by her solo show in Los Angeles. “Showgirl is a quality that one carries throughout life. The carriage of the body and how I present myself has taken me through several chapters of my life and will continue to be my defining quality,” says Rachel, who continues to perform into her fifth decade back home in England with Welsh Stars. A showgirl is in a class of her own. Rowena Harker Leder MBE, a showgirl from Yorkshire Dales, attests, “I don’t ever remember thinking that all the men were being turned on in the show—our costumes were so stunning. I was wearing costumes worth thousands! Our shows were visually inventive and so elegant.” Indeed, showgirls are more likened to the Venus de Milo, if the Venus was only allowed to don feathers and rhinestones. Rowena and Rachel are both part of a unique showgirl family called Bluebell Girls. Bluebell Girls, like
80 • OCTOBER 2022 the Tiller Girls, began as a team of smiling beauties performing precision dance technique in fantastical costumes established in 1932. The founder was Irish born dancer, Margaret “Bluebell”, known professionally as Miss Bluebell on account of her clear blue eyes. Miss Bluebell set a new precedent in cabaret by requiring a height of more than 5ft 9. The tall and leggy Bluebell Girls dazzled audiences at the Folies Bergere and Casino de Paris under some of the biggest headliners of the day, Mistinguett and Josephine Baker. She preferred British dancers for their height, charm and sterling work ethic. Over the next 90 years, Bluebell would gainfully employ 14,000 artists and offer a passport into luxury entertainment like no one before her. “If people knew the history of Margaret Kelly…” reflects Jane Sansby, the current ballet mistress at the Lido de Paris. “I was inspired by Miss Bluebell’s story when I was 12 years old. The BBC did a great special on her.” This special dives into Miss Bluebell’s fortitude during the occupation of Paris in the Second World War. While running small performances, Miss Bluebell was invited to the office of Colonel Feldman who offered her an opportunity to entertain German troops abroad. Handsome pay and ample rations were promised, yet Bluebell would not compromise her allegiance to her countrymen. Written by her official biographer, George Perry in the book Bluebell, Miss Bluebell replied to the colonel, saying: “That may be so, but I have a British passport, and I am a British subject. I have many relatives who are soldiers and are fighting against you Germans. You must understand why I cannot for a moment contemplate entertaining your troops!”. The colonel ended the interview, but the thick folder on his desk with her name on it remained. Shortly after, her husband would be captured by the Nazis on account of his Jewish heritage. Bluebell would face interrogations and ultimately BRING BACK THE SHOWGIRLS! Jane Sansby
OCTOBER 2022 • 81 READER’S DIGEST succeed in finding ways to hide her husband until the war's end. Miss Bluebell’s integrity during the war ensured her good reputation during the post-war boom when she was offered a post at the Lido de Paris. At the time the Lido was a new venture and under Miss Bluebell it became synonymous with the best of French entertainment. A French newspaper, Le Monde, reviewed their show in 1954: “I don't think there is currently a more 'impressed' and charmed public than that of the Lido. The new revue [Désirs] is a concentrate of audacity and good taste.” The show was a topless revue. By 1954 Miss Bluebell reintroduced the topless line of girls called “nudes”, reviving the pre-war elegance of her earlier career. It was all considered very glamorous. Celebrities began to flock to see the Bluebell Girls. “I was there in 1958, you know. People used to ring up from Tokyo and Sydney to the Stardust Hotel saying they’d stay only if they were guaranteed tickets to the Lido show,” recounts Rowena, now 85 years old. In her day, Lido transplanted its brand of cabaret to the Las Vegas strip with help from Donn Arden, the producer credited with creating the glitzy Las Vegas showgirl image. Rowena Harker Leder served as the archetype for this reinvented showgirl. Margaret Kelly and the Bluebells
82 • OCTOBER 2022 “I was in the first (Bluebell) show that ever left Europe to go to America, which never happened before.” Exuding elegance and confidence, Rowena describes a vivid picture of the early days in Las Vegas. “There were tumbleweeds flying down the strip and so few cars. We were 28 girls and when we arrived in Las Vegas it was absolutely wonderful because they treated us like royalty. And our accents, they loved our accents, of course! Plus, we were nearly all six feet tall." Certainly, showgirls are vibrant and attractive women. But their beguiling physique threatens to eclipse what really matters: personality and talent. After 28 years at the Lido de Paris, Jane Sansby, the ballet mistress, pinpoints what defines a showgirl: “I have had dancers trained at the Royal Ballet, and West End Theatre dancers. What do all the dancers have in common? Determination, professionalism and great quality dance training. The question really is, what type of lifestyle do the dancers want to live?”. That lifestyle might include a weekend gala at the Cannes Film Festival to stand side by side with Leonardo DiCaprio, for example. In Rowena’s era, it had been Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack. BRING BACK THE SHOWGIRLS!
OCTOBER 2022 • 83 READER’S DIGEST High profile events and celebrities have been consistent touchstones throughout the decades. Beginning of the end It seems no matter how elegant the venue, expensive the costume, or educated the women, baring breasts never ceased to create a fuss. Sadly, both Miss Bluebell’s Hellenic beauties in Paris and the US, as well as Laura Henderson’s house of feminine delight in England, have met their end. Grand spectacles starring gorgeous women dripping in sophistication no longer exist in the UK. The Windmill, having been eclipsed by private strip clubs, closed in 1964. Though it reopened in 2021 as a modern nightclub called The Windmill Soho, it is without the topless element. The Lido de Paris closed earlier this year on July 30 after it was bought by Europe’s largest hospitality company, Accor Hotels. The closure made headlines around the world. “What happened to the Lido de Paris was a shock to the entertainment world,” remarks Jane Sansby. Young showgirls, who are now the last generation of Bluebells, will no longer have these employment opportunities or access to the lifestyle. “We may be a dying breed,” laments Rowena, who feels that popular entertainment today lacks a certain sophistication. Will the sparkle of a Bluebell Girl, a Windmill Girl, or a Tiller Girl ever shine again? “I think the memory will stay and the history of the Bluebell girls will never be forgotten. It is unforgettable,” claims Jane Sansby assuredly. It will ultimately be up to adventurous theatre owners and British audiences to decide. n Read more showgirl stories at birdintheworld.com by author, Hillary Sukhonos. Hillary is a former Bluebell and American ballet dancer now JANSOS / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO capturing stories from her life in Paris
G ra ffiti In 2013, MadC singlehandedly painted this 550-square-metre wall in only seven days in Leipzig, Germany No longer a sign of urban deca art is becoming priz y, street ed G r o w s Up By Nick Morgan
ffiti Photo: ©marco Prosch/getty images When Aileen Makin went to sleep in her home in Bristol, on December 9, 2020, it was worth some £300,000. When she woke up, it was worth as much as £5 million O vernight, renowned street artist Banksy had painted onto the side of her house an old woman, sneezing so hard that her false teeth were flying out. As crowds gathered, a friend covered the artwork with protective plexiglass and security was called in to keep it safe from vandals. The success over the past three decades of this elusive British “guerrilla” artist has changed the view that graffiti is vandalism. Riikka Kuittinen, author of Street Art: Contemporary Prints, says, “Street art has evolved into a new global artistic phenomenon. Where it was once just about the individual or marking territory, it now has an outward perspective, often commenting on the community we live in.” The best artists build huge followings on social media—art that’s scrubbed off walls the next day stays on Instagram. They can even make serious money selling prints, T-shirts, or stickers, bypassing the galleries that are the traditional gatekeepers between artists and buyers. What does it take to excel in this new movement? Five of Europe’s best-known street artists tell us. INSPIRE OCTOBER 2022 • 85
GRAFFITI GROWS UP Millo, Italy Millo, 42, from Mesagne, typically starts by painting a simple black-andwhite cityscape. He then adds figures the size of Godzilla. But rather than terrorising the city, they perform activities like having a bath or a haircut. After studying architecture, Millo (Francesco Camillo Giorgino) became disenchanted by its bureaucracy and limitations. While looking for a new direction 11 years ago, he was asked to paint a wall in the village of Montone for an arts festival. “The brick surface had capers growing on it. So I drew a giant naked character eating the plants. The local old ladies laughed at the size of his penis.” Soon a family of characters populated the urban jungles he’d been trained to build. “Tall walls without windows make the best canvases for my city This is one of 13 art works by Millo, who transformed building facades into canvasses as part of the B Art competition in Turin, Italy, in 2014
READER’S DIGEST landscapes, but I still adapt my work to the surface.” Millo has been invited to paint around the world. He sells some of his work in galleries; prints are around £500. His work often sells out in minutes—then pops up on eBay for three times the price. Fin DAC, Ireland Fin DAC, born Finbarr Notte in Cork, paints large-scale murals of modern women in traditional and ethnic garments around the world. His limited-edition prints sell out in minutes as thousands of online buyers compete. The self-taught artist started his street-art career in 2008, but things really took off when he experimented with “masks” of splattered colour across the eyes of his figures. This quickly became his motif. “I needed something that separated my work from others,” says the artist, now 54. “A visual identity.” He was inspired by the face painting of tribes around the world, the character Pris from Blade Runner and even pop star Annie Lennox. His signature mask “gives the wearers an air of quiet strength and force within.” All of Fin DAC’s art is bound together with this look. When you glimpse his work out of the corner of your eye, you instantly know whose it is. Lidia Cao, Spain At just 24, Lidia Cao from La Coruña is hailed as one of the most important female street artists. She favours desaturated colours (rare in street art), and women are the theme of her powerfully narrative work. For the 2020 Parees mural festival in Oviedo, she painted the 20th-century Spanish writer Dolores Medio, who was censored under the Franco regime. Lidia depicts her at her typewriter, but over each shoulder hover vultures, ready to pick apart her words. In A Stolen Childhood, painted for the 2019 Rexenera public-art festival in Galicia, a sombre girl holds a OCTOBER 2022 • 87 Photos: (banksy) ©getty images. (millo mural and artist) courtesy of the artist. Fin DAC created Magdalena in 2019 in Guadalajara, Mexico, to honour Mexican artist Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo
88 • OCTOBER 2022 birdbox. On it, a bird of prey has a smoking match in its beak. Lidia allows us to connect the dots, but the image is about abuse and resilience. “I use the female figure to represent life,” Lidia says, “to tell a personal story beyond simple aesthetics.” Lidia’s work can be seen across Spain and in Portugal, Switzerland and France. Blek le Rat, France Xavier Prou started his career four decades ago by covering his native Paris with an infestation of millions of rats over three years. His inspiration came from teenagers he saw one day in 1981 in a small park behind a supermarket. They had found discarded, halfused paint pots and brushes and were splashing their names, abstract shapes, and smiling faces on a shed wall. It reminded Xavier of gang tags covering New York subway trains. But this had a more playful, positive energy. “The two things came together.” Later he made a simple stencil of a rat, reached for some black spray paint and hit the streets, signing his work “Blek le Rat.” “I wanted to say, ‘Yes, your city is beautiful, but beneath your feet is another city of wild animals,’” says Xavier, now 70 and still painting. He graduated to full-size figures. Napoleon was a favourite, but twisted—sometimes followed by a sheep, or wearing a motorbike helmet. “I don’t like Napoleon,” says Xavier. “He killed millions in France. So I make him look ridiculous.” Xavier’s work has landed him in hot water with police several times around the world, but he has no regrets. “We are at a turning point in art,” he says. “This graffiti art will change everything.” MadC, Germany At 16, Claudia Walde, from Bautzen, picked up a spray can and wrote her name on a wall. “I discovered that it’s difficult to use GRAFFITI GROWS UP This mural by Lidia Cao was part of the DesOrdes Creativas festival 2018 in La Coruña, Spain Photos: (mural) ©ulises ruiZ/afP via getty images. (artist) ©nicholas hunt/getty images / Photos: (mural and artist) courtesy of the artist
89 READER’S DIGEST square metres in size along the train line between Halle and Berlin. “It was tough, with only ladders for four months. But I could experiment with techniques and find my own style.” Today she paints letters and words, abstracted into bright colours and translucent layers. Now 41, MadC gets global mural commissions and exhibits canvases in galleries. “But street energy powers everything I do.” n Shown is a portion of MadC’s 700 Wall. The massive painting along a German train line took four months Blek le Rat ‘s Sleeping Man (with signature rat) in San Fransisco in 2008 one! But I found like-minded people. I was entering a cosmopolitan world, breaking out of small-town life to create an identity and find respect through my skill.” Claudia’s wild enthusiasm for painting earned her the nickname The Mad One, in time shortened to MadC. She attended art school in Halle and London, but her break came in 2010 when she got permission to paint a wall almost 700 Photos: (mural) eric lin. (artist) Jasmin shah / Photos: (mural) courtesy of the artist. (artist) marco Prosch
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Join Mirthy for free today. Simply visit www.mirthy.co.uk/rd for more information. We hope to see you at an event soon! Reader’s Digest have partnered with Mirthy to bring you online talks, virtual tours, fitness classes and much more - all to enjoy from the comfort of your home. There’s over 100 online events per month to try so whether you have a desire to get fitter, to try your hand at a new skill, or simply wish to sit back and relax with a virtual tour whilst being part of a friendly online community – signing up for classes and events with Mirthy could be just what you have been looking for. WIth so much to enjoy, what will you choose? Perhaps a virtual tour of some of the UK’s most historical buildings, with your own personal guide? Or will you try something new in the kitchen and cook up a storm? Or perhaps you’ll decide to start the day right with some laughter yoga... Best of all? It’s completely free to use. You get to enjoy any 4 events every month, for free! Simply sign-up at Mirthy.co.uk/rd and then choose which class to join (or join each class if you’re up for it!). If you can’t make the live event, Mirthy will even send you an email with a recording for you to enjoy at a convenient time. Mirthy’s events are enjoyed by over 45,000 people - find out why by joining for free today! Here are a few upcoming events to look forward to!: • Feel good with the Feel-good club! • Learn more about Photography: Creativity and technique • A talk on the Battle of Hastings • Knit and natter with Anna • Plus regular Early-morning stretch, Tai-Chi, Yoga and Pilates
Swimming With Orcas 92 TRAVEL & ADVENTURE
Photographs & Text by Pete McBride From SmithSonian magazine A female orca, which has a dorsal fin much smaller than that of a male A plunge into forbidding waters off Norway leads to an extraordinary encounter
94 • OCTOBER 2022 If you want to see wild orcas, they can be found in every ocean, from the Arctic to Antarctic. The coast of Canada’s British Columbia, Argentina’s Valdes Peninsula, and Australia’s Bremer Bay are all popular orca-watching spots. The water is cold inside Norway’s northernmost fjords. When I slipped in headfirst, wearing a thick wetsuit, the fourdegrees-Celsius surface temperature made the water feel dense and biting on my exposed face. Diving down, I crossed a threshold into another world—dark, frigid, seemingly bottomless, and home to giant carnivores that eat fish, seals, and porpoises. Despite their “killer whale” nickname, orcas don’t prey on humans. But they are the largest dolphins on the planet, with seven main ecotypes that vary in pigmentation pattern, diet, and sonar dialect. Members of these groups don’t usually mate with one another, though scientists are divided on whether to consider them different species. Most countries set limits on how close you can get to orcas. That’s not the case in Norway, which has no laws against swimming with dolphins and whales (the country’s whaling laws are also notoriously lax). This makes Norway an alluring destination for orca lovers, but it can also lead to danger for both humans SWIMMING WITH ORCAS
OCTOBER 2022 • 95 and animals. At one point during my visit, I saw three young tourists from Spain block a pod of orcas with their sailboat, jump into the water, and try to approach by paddleboard. Their tactics scared the orcas into hiding far below the surface. What’s more, the tourists could have ended up stranded out there beyond the fjords, three miles from the nearest shoreline, left to the mercy of the fierce Arctic weather and currents. My tour operator, Jacques de Vos, went to great lengths to avoid such situations. De Vos is a South Africanborn diver who has been studying orcas in this region for the last seven winters and has a reputation for being sensitive to the animals and their habitat. He knows how to locate orcas without disturbing the pods or breaking up families. The orcas in this area feed on herring, which they corral into clusters called bait balls. It takes a lot of energy for cold-water mammals to orchestrate these feeding sessions— de Vos makes sure his divers don’t get in the way. He uses his radio to keep in touch with nearby researchers so he can stay attuned to the animals’ behaviours and help locate individual members of the pods. I went to Norway partly because the COVID-19 pandemic presented a unique opportunity to photograph (Opposite) Author and photographer Pete McBride prepares to go diving with orcas; (Above) A pod of orcas swims near the village of Skjervoy in the far north of Norway
96 • OCTOBER 2022 orcas in their element. There were far fewer commercial tours operating, so the animals would be significantly less harassed. More importantly, as shipping and fishing slowed worldwide, researchers were able to identify more whale and dolphin vocalisations. Before de Vos would let me swim with the orcas, I spent a day on his boat learning about their behaviour. He tested my swimming ability, watching me carefully as I dove and climbed back on board, weighed down with diving gear. I listened to his instructions: “Don’t swim aggressively toward the orcas. Move calmly and let them come to you. Don’t splash your flippers loudly on the surface or make jerky motions.” Before we slid into the sea, de Vos played me a recording full of clicks, whistles, and zipperlike sounds. Amazingly, each orca pod uses its own distinct language of notes and tones. Behind the conversations, I heard the moans of humpback whales. De Vos pays attention to these humpbacks, too. They tend to follow orcas and steal their bait balls. Humpbacks can be as large as 50 feet In the early dawn light, a pod of orcas feeds on herring in the waters near Skjervoy
long and weigh more than 40 tonnes. They don’t attack humans, but once in a while, they inadvertently scoop up divers who get too close to their food (this reportedly happened to a lobster diver on the east coast of the United States in 2020. Remarkably, the whale spat him out and he survived). On the recording de Vos played for me, the humpbacks called to each other in low baritones, ascending the musical scale. He explained that low and high notes travel different distances. A whale will call out to a podmate, and the pitch of the reply may indicate how far away it is. De Vos compares the giant creatures to truck drivers speaking to each other on different radio channels. I never knew how powerful an orca’s sonar pulse could be until I got into the water and felt one reverberate deep in my chest, like the notes from a bass guitar at a rock concert. The sensation was so weirdly moving I hooted through my snorkel. When a six-tonne orca swims directly at you and pings you with his echolocation device—trying to identify who and what is swimming in his Arctic hunting waters—you realise that you are in a completely alien world. I swam alongside this eight-metrelong male for a few moments. We looked each other in the eye before he surfaced for a breath. His twometre dorsal fin broke the water just metres in front of me, then he accelerated back down into the darkness with one swoosh of his fluke. Through my wetsuit hoodie, I faintly heard a click and a highpitched whistle. Two female orcas appeared about six metres below me, corralling herring into a bait ball. The pair seemed unbothered as I dove down to get a closer look. They started pushing the herring toward me as if I had arrived to help. Suddenly, the male re-emerged from the depths. As he glided next to me, his pectoral fin, nearly the size of my entire body, slid under my stomach. We eyed each other again before he rolled left and swept his dorsal fin, the size of a small plane’s tail, just over my head. The strafe felt more playful than territorial, like an orca high-five—a moment of connection with an enormous intelligent being in a place where sound is sight and the noisy natural glory of nature still reigns. n SmithSonian magazine (october 2021), copyright © 2021 by pete mcbride READER’S DIGEST OCTOBER 2022 • 97
M y wife and I visited Berlin during the heatwave of July 2022 when the mercury was hitting 40 degrees, but the city positively shimmered beneath impossibly blue skies. Our hotel was ideally situated for our first stop, the Reichstag, where we had booked a visit to the roof and dome. The dome, designed by Norman Foster, is made of glass, and has a spiral walkway that presents an excellent 360-degree panorama, perfect for getting one’s bearings and for planning trips to different sections of the city. Berliners are obviously proud of their city, as there are several landmarks allowing spectacular views, the most imposing being the Television Tower. When built as a symbol of communist might in the late 1960s, it was the fourth-highest freestanding structure in the world, and it remains the tallest in Germany. The other prominent legacy of the Cold War is the remnants of the Berlin Wall. The best-known section is the East Side Gallery, where the wall is adorned with paintings by 118 artists from 21 countries, including the most photographed section, Our reader Peter Gallagher on his recent trip to the German capital Beautiful Berlin My Great Escape: 98 • OCTOBER 2022 POWERED BY