Bright Lives series
True stories of brave animals and amazing trees — learn English from A1 to B2. New stories every Tuesday and Saturday.
3:37DoneIn 1914, a Canadian soldier paid $20 for a bear cub with no mother and named her Winnie, after his city, Winnipeg. She went to London Zoo, where a boy called Christopher Robin loved her so much that he gave his toy bear her name. Learn five A1 words and the possessive 's with the true story of the real Winnie.
4:44DoneA small Japanese white pine, cared for by one family for about five generations, survived the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. In 1976 it became a gift to the United States — but nobody at the museum knew its story until two young brothers walked in in 2001. Learn five B2 words and the pseudo-cleft 'What … was …' with its true story.
4:11DoneEvery evening, Hachikō met his owner at Shibuya Station in Tokyo. In 1925, the professor died suddenly at work, but Hachikō kept going back to the station for nearly ten years. Learn five A2 words and 'wait for someone to do something' with his true story.
5:08DoneIn January 1925, children in Nome, Alaska, were getting sick, and the medicine was more than 1,000 km away. About 20 mushers and 150 dogs carried it in a relay — and a 12-year-old husky called Togo ran the longest part. Learn five B1 words and 'while + past continuous' with his true story.
3:53DoneIn 1956, a scientist put a tag on the leg of an albatross. In 2002, he found the same bird again. Today Wisdom is at least 75 — the oldest known wild bird — and she still flies over the ocean. Learn five A1 words and the present simple with her true story.
5:43DoneIn the 1960s, only 14 giant tortoises were left on Española, one of the Galápagos Islands. One more was living far away, in a zoo in California. Diego went back to the Galápagos to join a breeding programme, and today more than 2,000 tortoises live on Española. Learn five B2 words and the expression 'on the brink of' with his true story.
4:22DoneIn 1945, soldiers in the Philippines needed a cable under a runway. Digging would take three days. Their smallest friend, a Yorkshire terrier only 18 cm tall, went through a narrow pipe instead. Learn five A2 words and small enough to with Smoky's true story.
DoneIn October 1918, about 550 American soldiers were surrounded in a forest in France, and their army's guns began firing at them by mistake. They had one pigeon left. Learn five B1 words and the first conditional with the true story of Cher Ami — and why historians still ask questions about it.
3:57DoneIn 1971, the astronaut Stuart Roosa took small bags of tree seeds around the Moon. Back on Earth, the bags broke open. Would the seeds still grow? They did — and you can still see Moon trees today. Learn five A1 words and can / can't with this true story.
5:34DoneIn the 1960s, archaeologists found date seeds at Masada, an ancient desert fortress. In 2005, a scientist planted three of them, and one grew. Years later, a female tree from more ancient seeds, Hannah, gave real dates. Learn five B2 words and 'enable + someone + to + verb' with this true story.
4:43DoneIn 1969, two young friends bought a lion cub in a London shop. When he grew too big, they took him to Kenya to live in the wild and said goodbye. A year later they went back. Would he remember them? Learn five A2 words and 'ago' with this true story.
4:51DoneIn 1942, Polish soldiers in Iran adopted a hungry bear cub. Pets were not allowed on British ships, so they made him a private. At Monte Cassino, the soldiers said he carried boxes of ammunition. Learn five B1 words and 'be allowed to + verb' with this true story.
4:02DoneIn March 1966, someone took the World Cup in London. One week later, on a Sunday walk, a little dog called Pickles smelled something under a plant. It was the cup! Learn five A1 words and 'this / that' with this true story.
4:55DoneIn Cambodia, millions of landmines were hidden in the ground. A rat called Magawa learned to find them by their smell, and he was too light to set them off. Learn five B1 words and 'can be + past participle' with this true story.
4:08DoneIn 1923, a family lost their dog Bobbie on a long car trip. Six months later, a thin, tired dog walked into their town. It was Bobbie! Learn five A1 words and 'him, her, them' with this true story.
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