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Sounds Music Radio podcasts,

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Today. A year on from the

0:50

earthquake. Which struck Turkey's had a

0:52

province. We hear what happened to the

0:54

people who lived there and. The Long Road

0:57

to Reconstruction. We meet

0:59

the brick kiln workers of

1:01

Cambodia contending with some of

1:03

the world's hottest and harshest

1:05

working conditions in Canada the

1:07

removes to make forestry more

1:09

sustainable both to protect the

1:11

environment and indigenous culture but

1:14

each soaring up challenges for

1:16

people's livelihoods and were in

1:18

a remote region of Chilean

1:20

Patagonia where we travel pass

1:22

sea lions and alone penguin

1:24

to a place that can

1:26

only be reached by boat.

1:29

First to France where this

1:31

week farmers surrounded the capital

1:33

in protests dubbed the Siege

1:35

of Paris. No were not

1:38

alone as farmers across the

1:40

country and elsewhere in Europe

1:42

have been venting their anger

1:44

in recent weeks over falling

1:46

incomes, rise in bureaucracy, and

1:48

increased competition from imports to

1:50

of the main French farmers

1:52

unions have now press pause

1:55

on the protests. off to

1:57

the government announced new concessions,

1:59

but. these latest protests to hit

2:01

France are perhaps sign of

2:03

a broader social and political

2:05

schism emerging in the country, says

2:08

our Paris correspondent Andrew Harding.

2:12

It's good to see so many of the cliches

2:14

are still true. Paris

2:16

remains stunningly, swaggeringly

2:18

beautiful. Its elegant

2:21

boulevards like limestone canyons

2:23

still crowded with history

2:25

and surprise. The

2:27

trees in the Jardin de Luxembourg are

2:29

still manicured within a centimetre of their

2:31

perfect lives. The English word

2:33

for the process is polarded. In

2:36

French I've learned it's et

2:38

t'était. And Parisians are

2:40

still earnestly committed to their museums,

2:42

their markets and their cafes. Slim

2:45

young men with scarves and large

2:48

hand gestures hunched over miniature tables,

2:50

arguing outside even on the coldest

2:52

days of winter. There

2:55

are still no charity shops here.

2:57

Instead, there's a chemist on

3:00

every corner, indeed on every block. It's as

3:02

if there's a rule that one should never

3:04

be more than ten metres from a new

3:06

type of antibiotic or skin cream. And

3:09

the book shops are still ever

3:11

so slightly intimidating. Solum

3:14

temples lined with white-spined works

3:16

of intellectual genius into which

3:18

only the chosen seem to welcome. There

3:21

is, fundamentally, still a consensus

3:24

about the way things should be

3:26

done in France. And not

3:28

done. A breezy, alluring

3:30

confidence about the relationship between the

3:32

individual and the state, the waiter

3:34

and the diner, the correct way

3:36

to wrap up an eclair to

3:39

order a steak. But

3:41

after fifteen years living in South Africa, it's

3:43

the Parisian pavements that I'm still trying to

3:45

get used to. More

3:47

specifically, the pedestrians. In

3:50

Johannesburg, you don't take

3:52

out your mobile phone from your

3:54

pocket without looking around cautiously. Personal

3:56

security is something that informs almost

3:58

every waking moment. Here,

4:02

the city of Flaners, of

4:04

literary strollers and romantic boulevard

4:06

loafers, has changed into something

4:08

less fluid and harder to

4:10

navigate. It feels like every

4:12

other walker is now

4:14

wearing headphones, eyes down, chins to

4:16

chest as they scroll and swipe

4:18

and shuffle around each other. There

4:22

is excitement here about the Olympic

4:24

Games this summer, an excitement tempered

4:27

by an instinct to shrug and to

4:29

remark that it will probably be a

4:32

disaster, that the metro will

4:34

be swamped, the police will be hopeless and

4:36

the city simply overrun with

4:38

far, far too many

4:40

tourists. Wealthier Parisians

4:43

are already making plans to abandon

4:45

the place for the summer as

4:47

usual, to skip the beach volleyball

4:49

courts beside the Eiffel Tower, the

4:51

skateboarding near the Louvre, the swimming

4:54

in the elaborately purified River Seine.

4:58

What will they find when they

5:00

leave this rich, magnificent city? France,

5:03

a bit like America, is quickly

5:06

and uncomfortably discovering quite how divided

5:08

it has become in recent years,

5:10

the gap between the comfortable Parisian

5:12

elites and the rest. This

5:15

week, French farmers have become the

5:17

standard bearers of that frustration, and

5:19

not for the first time, taking

5:22

their tractors to the highways and

5:24

trying to blockade Paris itself. Don't

5:28

your English farmers feel the need to protest

5:30

like we do? A young farmer

5:32

called Eve asked me as we clambered up a small

5:34

mountain of grain in one of his barns.

5:37

We were an hour or two's drive southwest

5:39

of Paris, still on the banks of the

5:41

River Seine. Eve, briefly

5:44

home from the barricades, began

5:46

listing his worries to me.

5:49

There was the fact that the river would

5:51

be closed for traffic during the Olympics,

5:53

just when the barges to transport wheat

5:55

were most needed. There was

5:58

an impending demographic crisis. 50%

6:01

of French farmers are due to retire over

6:03

the next decade, and the young aren't

6:05

signing up to replace them. It's

6:07

nearly impossible to make a profit

6:10

with soaring costs and unfair competition

6:12

from Europe and beyond. And

6:14

there are far too many rules.

6:17

Eve reckons that one European Union rule,

6:19

according to which he needs to set

6:21

aside 4% of his land

6:24

each year to help the environment and combat

6:26

climate change, is costing him the

6:28

equivalent of 300,000 baguettes each year. So

6:34

where will all this frustration

6:36

go? The French public overwhelmingly

6:38

support the farmers and their

6:41

protests. There's an almost sacred

6:43

and long-standing pact. We

6:46

love our food, one pensioner explained

6:48

to me in a moss-covered medieval

6:50

town nearby. And we're

6:52

all struggling these days, said his wife. It's

6:56

likely that France's far-right party, the

6:58

National Rally, will be the main

7:00

beneficiary of this disgruntledment. There are

7:02

elections to the European Parliament in

7:04

June, and the party of Marine

7:07

Le Pen is expected to do

7:09

well. Beyond that, Paris

7:12

will always be Paris. But

7:15

France is changing. Andrew

7:18

Harding. This

7:20

week marks a year since Turkey and

7:22

Syria were hit by a devastating earthquake,

7:25

one of the worst in the region's

7:27

history, which killed more than 60,000 people.

7:31

One of the worst affected areas

7:33

was Turkey's historic Hadei Province, once

7:36

the heart of the ancient Silk Road

7:38

trading route, where more than 75,000 buildings

7:40

were destroyed. In

7:44

the immediate aftermath, President Erdogan vowed

7:46

to rebuild the southern part of

7:48

the country within the year. But

7:51

in many parts of this ravaged

7:53

region, that deadline is nowhere close

7:55

to being met, as

7:57

Victoria Craig discovered. In

8:00

the city of Antakya, the biblical

8:02

Antioch in the Hittai province, there's

8:04

history everywhere you walk. Take

8:07

Liberation Street, for example. It was once

8:09

the heart of global trade, a stopping

8:11

point on the ancient Silk Road, and

8:14

the first street in the world to

8:16

be illuminated by torchlight so that trading

8:18

could continue at night. But

8:20

now, in this once thriving city, the

8:23

streets are full of half-collapsed homes and

8:25

shops, surrounded by vast expanses of

8:27

land that have been cleared of rubble. In

8:30

many parts of the neighborhood, all that's

8:32

left is a carpet of crumbled concrete,

8:35

glass, and painted tiles. As

8:37

I walked through the now vacant

8:39

lots, I stepped past random items

8:41

left behind. A tiny child's shoe,

8:43

kitchen towels, a jacket, some trousers.

8:46

When I gazed up into the buildings that had

8:48

split in two, I saw the wall of a

8:50

shower still standing intact on the second story of

8:52

one home. Hooks stuck

8:54

to the remaining wall, a sponge

8:57

in the basket, towels somehow still

8:59

dangled from hooks as if waiting to be

9:01

picked up and used again. All

9:03

that remained of lives once lived here.

9:06

Umit Oskaya is a taxi driver in

9:09

Antakya. Driving through the broken streets of

9:11

his city is a constant reminder of

9:13

what he lost. All of

9:15

his extended family died in the earthquake a year

9:17

ago, and he had to beg

9:20

bulldozer operators to help dig out the bodies

9:22

of his father and sister from the rubble.

9:25

My heart simply can't bear it anymore,

9:27

he told me. I don't

9:29

even know how to convey my feelings. I've

9:31

lost many of my emotions. Crying

9:34

is something we no longer do. There

9:36

are no tears left in my eyes.

9:39

Umit's wife and two children survived the

9:42

disaster, but they're not in Antakya. Unlike

9:45

many families, they were unable to secure one

9:47

of the hundreds of thousands of temporary homes

9:49

that have been made available, shelters

9:51

made from shipping containers. And

9:54

because of his daughter's kidney condition, Umit's wife

9:56

moved with their children to a city three

9:58

hours away. Umit stayed and

10:00

said he's been living in his taxi for the last

10:03

11 months, trying to make

10:05

enough to support them. Although

10:07

Antakya has been reduced to ruins, he

10:09

can't leave. Hopefully, we will

10:11

see better days, he said. But believe me, it

10:13

won't be like it used to be. Every

10:16

day the landscape here changes as damaged

10:18

buildings are torn down and cleared away.

10:21

Forklift trucks and diggers remove rubble throughout

10:23

the day and the night. It can

10:26

be difficult to reorient yourself to the

10:28

changing topography, and many people here say

10:30

that not only do they feel the government

10:32

has failed to provide enough support and basic

10:34

necessities like clean water, they

10:37

feel forgotten by almost everyone.

10:40

There is a lot of pain left in

10:42

this city, but for some, there is also

10:44

a hint of optimism. Forty-year-old

10:46

Sati Damir owns a business

10:48

selling appliances. He lived in

10:50

Antakya his whole life. His shop was one

10:53

of the few buildings left standing in this

10:55

neighborhood after the earthquakes, but he told me

10:57

the government now plans to demolish it along

10:59

with many others in the area so they

11:01

can rebuild something stronger. For

11:04

the past few months, he has sold refrigerators

11:06

and TVs to people in containers. Five or

11:08

six items a day, he told me. When

11:11

I asked how he is feeling about everything, he said,

11:13

we are fine because we have to be. Life

11:15

goes on. We don't look back because if

11:17

we do, we can't forget anything that happened. We

11:20

have to look forward. The

11:23

governor of Hatai Province, Mustafa Masatla,

11:25

who was appointed in June by

11:27

President Erdogan, told me 380,000

11:30

people have received financial assistance here, and

11:32

they set up a food bank with

11:35

other essentials like clothes and hygiene products

11:37

that help feed and clothe the lowest-income

11:39

families. But he acknowledged

11:41

for some, access to basic necessities is

11:44

still an issue. More

11:46

than 3 million people in this region were

11:48

displaced by last year's disaster. Thousands

11:50

of thousands fled to other cities, and it's

11:52

not clear how many will return. What

11:56

is clear is that reconstruction will likely

11:58

go on for years. As

12:00

I wrapped at the conversation with

12:03

omit, he turned his taxi onto

12:05

the historic Liberation Street. His wheels

12:07

think deep into potholes that flood

12:09

and sometimes render rose impassable. He

12:11

half heartedly jokes that his city

12:13

now more resembled Venice than and

12:15

Hakia. I turned

12:18

off my recorder and he shook

12:20

my hand, thanking me for my

12:22

interest in his story and for

12:24

listening because like so many people

12:26

living in a never ending state

12:28

of change and destruction, he finds

12:30

comfort and words in the constancy

12:32

of human connection. Victoria.

12:35

Creek Cambodia's experiencing a building

12:37

boom and bust. A result

12:39

has an insatiable appetite for

12:41

bricks. This means the country's

12:43

brick kiln workers are being

12:45

pushed to the limits and

12:47

on already hard job has

12:49

been made even tougher by

12:51

soaring temperatures increasing the intense

12:53

heat workers have to deal

12:55

with. In terms, the effects

12:58

of climate change is forcing

13:00

more people into this dangerous

13:02

work. Many use to be

13:04

farmers. Who abandon their land because

13:06

of different laura because so up

13:08

close the life threatening houses with

13:11

which the kiln workers have to

13:13

cope. It's. Hard to

13:15

breathe and said the brick kiln

13:17

on the outskirts of Cambodia's capital

13:20

known pence your wall then on

13:22

all sides apart from a small

13:24

arts we introduce. The. Main

13:27

chamber is cramped and yes,

13:29

in this small space city

13:31

workers are swollen. Savvy prevails

13:33

a strict. Bleeps and getting

13:35

them ready to send construction

13:37

sites can. Hear the were have

13:39

a huge ellipse had signed nearby.

13:42

Some. Of the colleagues have dragged it

13:44

in front of the art. sweet and

13:46

the hope it will offer some respite

13:48

A slight breeze to break up the

13:50

inescapable and oppressive heat. But

13:52

all it does is kick up dust. Only

13:55

in the kiln Said a few

13:57

minutes and assange. Claustrophobic. Can

14:00

we read? I can barely

14:02

see the workers, but a

14:04

can hear them as an

14:06

almost constant clunk of nearly

14:08

made bricks being stats together.

14:10

Production really stops. The.

14:12

Brakes are needed to seat Cambodia's

14:15

building. Boom! A few children are

14:17

in here to working alongside their

14:19

parents, helping to load the bricks

14:21

until weekend Truck two babies only

14:23

a few months old and left

14:26

sleeping in comics and the sweltering

14:28

heat as mother's whack. Dozens of

14:30

families both live and work in

14:32

these pricks trees. All.

14:34

Of them are dressed head to

14:37

toe and baggy clothing despite the

14:39

stifling conditions beneath the skin. Covered

14:41

in the twisted if it is the

14:43

fit fit. The. Temperature

14:45

inside, pizza today and sixteen

14:48

hundred degrees celsius then once

14:50

the bricks or seat. The

14:52

fire kills a little and workers can head

14:54

and to stack them as soon as the

14:56

heat becomes be edible. Or.

14:59

Here because we want to know

15:01

how hot is too hot to

15:03

work, especially as temperatures around the

15:06

what old continue to climb. Researchers

15:08

from Royal Holloway University in London

15:10

have some of the answers and

15:13

Cambodia's brick kilns for people toil

15:15

in some the hottest working conditions

15:17

in the what old. We.

15:20

Spoke to several workers who said they sweat

15:22

so much to the day that it felt

15:24

as if the would in a hot bath.

15:27

Fainting is com and. Possibly. Because

15:30

they become dehydrated. We.

15:32

Have to stay out of sight. The workers

15:34

are happy to talk to his but they

15:36

don't want to kill owners to know where

15:38

the at. The. Worried they'll be

15:40

punished. But. In Cambodia. The.

15:43

Heat is not. The only

15:45

problem. And. Several brick

15:47

factory with the workers using

15:49

a mix of operate plastic

15:51

and robert to seal the

15:53

killings. These are off cuts

15:55

of waste from Cambodia's many

15:57

garment factories. The. Smoke.

16:00

Pin through the hat is set

16:02

and black. This may appear a

16:04

neat way of getting rid of

16:06

the waste, but the scraps of

16:08

material have consists of bleach, formaldehyde,

16:10

it and ammonia as well as

16:12

heavy metals, pvc and residents used

16:14

in the domain and printing process.

16:17

It's a toothpick mix. Of

16:19

imposing headaches, nose bleeds and

16:21

other illnesses see researchers. Disposing

16:24

of the dominant waste in this

16:26

week is also can't prove suppose

16:29

for major western brands since million

16:31

labels are scattered in the deep

16:33

layers of dust and ask others

16:35

are picking out of the huge

16:37

bags of waste I say labels

16:40

from Disney Eats and then clocks

16:42

choose among others. When we contacted

16:44

the company's the all promised he

16:46

would investigate. These

16:49

families have no choice but to

16:51

stay here no matter how suit

16:53

poop seek the conditions the are

16:56

trapped. Most. Brick

16:58

Kiln workers were once farmers. that

17:00

successive traits have killed off crops

17:02

in parts of Cambodia to survive.

17:04

Many farm workers to kwan loons

17:06

that could never pay them off.

17:09

The had no choice but to

17:11

migrate to the city to find.

17:13

Work. Brick. Kiln owners

17:15

spotted an opportunity the have paid

17:17

off the farmers debts in return

17:20

for a lifetime of work. The.

17:22

Workers and a bonded to the kills. One.

17:25

Woman told me she feared she would be put

17:27

in prison as she west. As

17:29

we drive away from the rules

17:31

of factories with their record he

17:34

had wrists and make her way

17:36

towards the city centre. The last

17:38

decade of development in Phnom Penh

17:40

starts to come into view power

17:42

after terrorists agony new air conditioned.

17:45

Departments. Reach towards the

17:47

sky. Cambodia's. Brick

17:49

Kilns have long been accused of

17:51

unsafe and on see are working

17:54

conditions. But. Climate change

17:56

could be exacerbated those inequalities.

17:59

Not. Just. here, but around the

18:01

world. Laura Bicker.

18:04

In British Columbia, in Canada, old

18:06

growth forests are highly valued, and

18:09

the trees can soar well over

18:11

100 metres in height. They've

18:14

historically played an important part

18:16

in the province's regional economy,

18:18

which relies heavily on forestry.

18:21

The ward is often used in high-end products

18:24

such as fine furniture or

18:26

musical instruments, but

18:28

there's growing opposition from conservationists

18:30

over the harm the forestry

18:32

industry is doing to the

18:34

area's biodiversity, a view

18:37

not always supported by the

18:39

region's indigenous population. Louis

18:42

Hanat O'Mara has met a community

18:44

of Canada's First Nations people to

18:46

hear why the issue is proving

18:49

divisive. Louis Hanat O'Mara.

18:51

I'm in the back of a van

18:53

I hailed, after Vancouver Island's public transport

18:55

services let me down. In the

18:57

front are Nico and Thomas, both about 20 or

18:59

so. Nico

19:01

is slim, with a dark 80s

19:04

style moustache, sunglasses and a cap.

19:06

Thomas has curly blonde hair and

19:09

a babyish face. They're excited

19:11

at having picked up a hitchhiker. We

19:13

want to take you somewhere, Nico calls back to me,

19:16

his hand firm on the wheel. It's

19:18

real special, Thomas chips in, if

19:21

you've got time. I have time, I

19:23

say, but I'll be cutting it fine.

19:26

I'm on my way to a meeting with

19:28

the Tlacuyac First Nation community in Tofino, the

19:30

coastal town where these two islanders are

19:33

headed to catch some surf. Siamasso,

19:36

the man I'm meeting, is

19:38

hoping to take me to see Mears

19:40

Island, his ancestral homeland, which is famous

19:43

for its redwood trees. Well

19:45

then, Nico says, you should like

19:47

where we're going. We turn

19:50

off into a forest via a dirt track

19:52

that would be invisible to the average driver.

19:55

Getting out and following them over a

19:57

rotten log, I have to say, I'm

19:59

in the back of a van. impressed. A

20:01

giant redwood looms over me, more

20:03

than one hundred feet tall. It's

20:06

anywhere between five hundred and two

20:08

thousand years old, and has grown

20:10

in layers, one of my young

20:12

tour guides explains. If

20:15

one section is damaged, the tree

20:17

allows it to die and transfers

20:19

the energy elsewhere. This

20:21

way the hole regenerates and survives.

20:24

It not only sequesters hundreds of

20:26

tons of carbon over its lifetime,

20:29

but also supports the island's

20:31

unique biodiversity. It's only

20:33

by luck this one has survived. The

20:36

rest of the grove was felled decades ago.

20:39

Less than three percent of these

20:42

old growth trees remain on Vancouver

20:44

Island, a fact that has eco-activists

20:46

sounding the alarm. Nico

20:49

and Thomas are both nature lovers themselves,

20:52

but the regional economy relies

20:54

heavily on forestry. And

20:57

while they are opposed to old growth logging, many

21:00

of their relatives argue that the practice is

21:02

too valuable to set a size. After

21:05

waving the pair goodbye, I meet with Saya Maso.

21:08

Maso is the natural resources manager for

21:10

the Tlacuya. He's a big man,

21:12

with long hair tied back in a bun,

21:15

and an affable demeanor. He

21:17

gives me the full sweep of the

21:19

region's history as we hop into the

21:21

small black motorboat and head toward Mears

21:24

Island's hilly bristling silhouette. The

21:26

First Nations people here were central to a

21:28

series of 1990s protests

21:30

against loggers. They argued

21:32

that the loggers wanted to harvest Mears

21:34

Island's old growth trees and take the

21:36

cash for themselves. In

21:39

what was then Canada's largest case

21:41

of civil disobedience, First Nations people

21:43

and eco-activists led to a change

21:45

in the law. First Nations

21:47

were granted the tree farm licenses, entitling

21:50

them to a say in logging practices

21:52

on their hereditary land, and

21:54

to a portion of profits made by

21:56

loggers. Many First Nations groups

21:59

have since cured model environmental protections

22:01

for their land. But

22:03

I know from conversations with

22:05

other indigenous leaders not all

22:07

groups have chosen to reduce

22:09

tree farming. Since being

22:12

forced into poverty by colonizers hundreds of

22:14

years ago these communities

22:16

have learned to rely on whatever sources of

22:18

income they can find which

22:20

in the past few decades has often

22:23

meant leasing their land to loggers. First

22:25

Nations people even run some of the logging

22:28

companies so they're often

22:30

unwilling to bring old growth logging

22:32

to an end without substantial government

22:34

support. When I mention this

22:36

to Maso he reminds me that much

22:38

old growth logging has been temporarily paused

22:40

due to a government edict. Negotiations

22:43

are underway between First Nations

22:45

communities and Canada's government to

22:47

reduce old growth logging but

22:49

he concedes that Tlaquiat leaders have

22:52

been reluctant to stop altogether for

22:54

economic reasons as well as cultural.

22:57

These trees are part of our heritage he

22:59

says we use them to make

23:01

our canoes and totem poles. Looking

23:04

over Meers Island as we head back to shore I

23:07

consider the tension between saving the

23:09

region's ancient trees the indigenous

23:11

groups wanting to hold on to their

23:13

heritage and those people trying to

23:15

make enough money to get by. People

23:17

who aren't so different from Maso, Nico

23:19

and Thomas who have been left waiting

23:22

wondering when the promised resolution might

23:25

arrive. Louis Harnett

23:27

Amara. The challenge of

23:29

deforestation has been high on the

23:31

agenda at every recent COP Environment

23:34

Summit including the recent one

23:36

in Dubai. Scientists

23:38

agree that any pathway to

23:40

lowering the world's temperature must

23:42

include protecting remaining wilderness that

23:45

we humans haven't yet destroyed.

23:48

Kirsty Lang has been to

23:50

Chilean Patagonia One of the

23:52

last wild places on earth and

23:54

now one of the most protected,

23:56

thanks in part to the work

23:58

of two American philanthropists. The

24:01

play some during can only be reached by

24:03

boat. There were no roads. I'm deep inside

24:06

a sealed on the coastline of the northern

24:08

tip of Chilean puzzle Gonia. With.

24:10

All sea lion sunbathing on the

24:13

rocks and alone penguin diving success.

24:16

The steep hills on either side a

24:18

cupboard and dense temperate rainforest. Interrupted.

24:21

By the occasional waterfall. Snow.

24:23

Capped volcanoes leave in the

24:25

distance. After six

24:27

hours sale followed by another forty minutes

24:30

in a wooden skiff, the outboard motors

24:32

splutters to stop. At a small

24:34

sandy cove. We. Clamoring to

24:36

be greeted by an enthusiastic young man.

24:39

Who. Introduces himself as and to

24:41

new Delgado. He is

24:43

the resident caretaker and guides for this

24:46

conservation area and lives here all year

24:48

round. Where the first

24:50

vistas he's had in weeks? Must.

24:52

Be lonely as say. He nod

24:54

sadly, especially in the winter. In

24:56

the spring and summer seasons the

24:58

mountaineers arise to climb Douglas Point,

25:01

the granite massive pairing over our

25:03

heads and they stay in a

25:05

wooden candid with dmitri beds in

25:07

the kitchen. The peak

25:09

is named after the late Douglas Tompkins,

25:11

the founder of the Outdoor Clothing

25:13

and Plan know face. He was passionate

25:16

about conservation. Tompkins. Who was

25:18

killed in a kayaking extant until he and

25:20

twenty fifteen used his money to buy a

25:22

form a sheep and cattle farms in the

25:24

area which he then we wilde it after

25:26

selling off the lights. The

25:29

Tompkins Foundation, which he sounded with

25:31

his wife Christine, created seven new

25:33

national parks into the in Patagonia,

25:36

conserving one of the most pristine

25:38

corners of the planet. But

25:40

you the and friend said it was a great deal

25:42

of suspicions about the to Outsiders to begin with. Conspiracy.

25:45

Theories abound it they said that Tompkins was

25:47

bind the land to see could he still

25:50

needs a waste. Another rumor was that he

25:52

was an agent of the Argentine government. but

25:55

these fears faded of the foundation

25:57

donated all the land to the

25:59

chileans helping to create

26:01

an almost continuous 2,000 kilometer

26:04

corridor of national parks from the city

26:06

of Port-Au-Mont in the north to

26:09

Cape Horn in the south. I'm

26:11

visiting one of their first conservation projects,

26:13

Pumilin National Park, named after the pumas

26:16

that roam this area. Antonio

26:18

shows me a video of a big cat from a stop-motion

26:20

camera in the very

26:22

same place we're standing on a small wooden

26:24

bridge over a stream in the forest. Should

26:27

I be worried? Not at all, he says. Pumas

26:30

are shy. But if you see one,

26:32

never turn your back, otherwise they think you'll

26:34

prey. So look the puma in

26:36

the eye and make yourself big by shouting and

26:39

flapping your arms around. I take

26:41

note. In the 90s, Tompkins

26:43

developed this land as a nursery for native

26:45

tree species. Shortly before his

26:47

death, he sold it to a Chilean philanthropist

26:50

knowing that he would need allies amongst

26:52

the local Chilean elite. One

26:55

of the first things the new owner did was

26:57

to build a wooden church dedicated to the American

26:59

conservationist. The plaque outside reads,

27:02

For the greater glory of God and

27:04

in memory of Douglas Tompkins. Only

27:07

20 people live in and around this field,

27:09

and they're quite dispersed, so there's not much

27:11

call for a church, and they're yet

27:13

to have a wedding or a funeral. But

27:15

a priest does visit four or five times a year,

27:18

and they have a barbecue after every service. It's

27:20

one of the few times the community gets together.

27:24

Antonio makes me wait outside as he enters the church. Minutes

27:27

later, he throws open the doors with great fanfare. The

27:30

place is lit up like a Christmas

27:32

tree with recorded church music pumping out

27:34

the loudspeakers. And then

27:36

stretched across the dome ceiling

27:38

is a huge, rather lurid

27:40

mural depicting a blue

27:42

whale leaping out of the water

27:44

against a backdrop of forests and

27:47

snow-capped mountains. Behind

27:49

the altar, the artist has painted a

27:52

tree with cobalt-blue leaves. And

27:55

for reasons that Antonio cannot explain, tiny

27:58

sheep climbing up its trunk. I

28:01

gaze open-mouthed at this Patagonian answer

28:03

to the Sistine Chapel. I'm

28:05

sure what to say. There's something utterly

28:07

surreal about stumbling across this place in

28:10

the middle of nowhere. A

28:12

lavishly decorated church without a priest or

28:14

a congregation. A graveyard without

28:16

dead, laid out like a municipal park

28:18

with street lighting and even a rather

28:20

ugly concrete fountain. But

28:22

then this wild stretch of land at the

28:24

uttermost end of the earth is

28:27

full of such surprises. Kirsty

28:29

Lang. And that's all for today.

28:31

We'll be back again next week

28:33

on both Thursday and Saturday morning.

28:36

Do join us. I

28:39

think the power of the sun was crazy back then.

28:42

The X Factor promised to turn ordinary

28:45

people into pop stars. We stood

28:47

there behind the dogs when 60

28:49

million people were about to watch you go on stage.

28:51

And Simon just said actually like, good luck

28:53

girls, good luck. I'm

28:56

Chiti Zindu. For years I was a BBC

28:58

showbiz journalist who covered every

29:01

twist and turn. I

29:03

wanted to go behind the scenes

29:05

to find out from staff and

29:07

contestants what it was like. You

29:10

don't just want average people. You wanted, you know, it

29:12

was so bad. They were comical. I feel like I

29:14

was humanly aided just for the entertainment. Did the show

29:16

ever come back and they said to me, Sam, will

29:19

you come on and do it again? I'd be like,

29:21

what time do you want me? Over

29:23

six episodes I'm looking back at

29:25

the good and the bad of

29:27

one of Britain's biggest TV shows.

29:30

So BBC Radio 4, this is

29:32

off stage inside the X Factor.

29:35

Listen on BBC Sounds.