WEBVTT

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Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Colin Lowther
and I'm Lis Wade. Spotlight uses a

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special English method of broadcasting. It
is easier for people to understand no matter

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where in the world they live.
One hundred years ago, the night was

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dark, the sea was rough,
the waves were high, and the wind

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was strong. The sailor was worried. He had sailed a long way,

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and he knew that he was close
to land and dangerous rocks. If he

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sailed too close to the rocks,
they would wreck his boat. He could

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drown. But then he saw it. He saw something that would keep him

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and his boat safe. He saw
a bright light in the distance. The

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light was shining on and then off. He stopped worrying. It was a

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lighthouse. This tall building, a
tower with a bright light at its top,

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would guide him. It warned those
at sea to keep away from the

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rocks around it. With its light, the sailor knew where to sail to

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keep safe. Lighthouses like this have
been a guide for sailors for hundreds of

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years, But what is their future? Today's spotlight is on lighthouses. Imagine

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a world without GPS or computers.
How would you know where you are?

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In the dark. Sailors depended on
lighthouses for many hundreds of years. They

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were built on the coast, on
islands, rocks, and even the sea

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floor. Lighthouses guided sailors. The
lights showed sailors where to sail and where

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not to sail, but lighthouses also
helped sailors to identify where they were.

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Each lighthouse was different, Each had
its own colors and marks, and each

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lighthouse had its own system or pattern
of light flashes, so sailors knew where

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they were just by looking at the
lighthouse, both in the day and at

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night. Before lighthouses existed, fires
on top of hills sometimes guided sailors.

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Later people built towers to make the
fires more noticeable. The first known lighthouse

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was the Faros of Alexandria in Egypt. It was built over two thousand years

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ago. For many centuries, this
lighthouse was one of the tallest buildings in

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the world. It was about one
hundred and six meters tall. That ancient

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lighthouse no longer exists, but some
other ancient lighthouses do. The Tower of

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Hercules in northwest Spain is one such
lighthouse. It was built by the Romans

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during the first or second Sanctuary.
This lighthouse is the oldest working lighthouse in

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the world. Today it is a
UNESCO World Heritage Site. Experts say that

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the age of modern lighthouses began in
the eighteenth century. In this period,

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engineers improved the way that lighthouses were
lit. Some lighthouses used coal fires to

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create the important light, others still
used wood fires, and some used oil

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lights or even wax candles. But
all all these forms of light produced smoke,

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and the smoke made the glass of
the lighthouse black and dirty. When

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the glass was dirty, sailors could
not see the light. But in seventeen

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eighty two, a Swiss scientist solved
the problem. He invented a method of

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burning oil that did not produce smoke. Other engineers produced equipment to increase the

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intensity or power of the light.
Over the years, lighthouses used different methods

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of shining a light out into the
sea, but in every case someone needed

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to look after the light in the
lighthouse. Someone had to light it at

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night, someone had to keep the
equipment working, so lighthouse keepers were needed.

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George Medlicott was a lighthouse keeper in
the United Kingdom for thirty two years.

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He told The Independent about his memories
of living and working in a lighthouse.

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It was not an easy job.
Some of the lighthouses did not have

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running water, working toilets or heating. Winters were not great. We stayed

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in small rooms and often spent hours
in the dark. Often a lighthouse keeper

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had to live away from his family, but sometimes his family stayed with him.

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Ebony Gregory had an unusual time as
a child. Her father was an

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assistant lighthouse keeper. She lived with
him on a lonely island off the coast

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of Australia. She told The Guardian
about his job and how it affected her.

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My father helped the head lighthouse keeper
run and care for the lighthouse and

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island. They took turns to turn
the light on every night and off in

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the morning. They cleaned the glass. They made weather reports. Our food

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arrived by air every two weeks,
along with any letters. If there was

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bad weather, the food drops would
be delayed. I did not have any

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friends. A picture of my second
birthday party shows no one my age,

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just the two families on the island. But times have changed for lighthouses.

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New technology for lighthouses and navigation has
arrived. Soon there may be no lighthouse

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keepers living in lighthouses. Many countries, including Australia, Finland, Ireland and

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Japan, no longer employ lighthouse keepers. Punta Karrena is an important lighthouse on

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the edge of the island of Capri
in Italy. Lighthouse Keepers worked there for

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over one hundred and fifty one years, but now its last lighthousekeeper has left.

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Carlo Doriano was the last lighthouse keeper
of Punter Karrena. He did not

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want to leave. He felt that
it was important to have a person in

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a lighthouse in case anything went wrong
with the te technology. As he prepared

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to leave his lighthouse home and job, he talked with the BBC. He

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remembered storm waves crashing into his window
twenty five meters up the lighthouse. He

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remembered storm winds that made the lighthouse
shake. At first I believed these shakes

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were small earthquakes or shocks, But
over the years I have learned that the

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anger of the sea is more beautiful
than a quiet sea. It makes you

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remember that nature exists, and that
this mass of water is open and alive.

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Only someone who lives alone can understand
this. My heart is here.

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When I can no longer keep the
light, I think part of me will

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turn off. Two. What do
you think is lost when lighthouse keepers have

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to leave? Do you think technology
can do a better job guiding boats at

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night? Do we even need lighthouses
anymore? Tell us what you think.

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You can leave a comment on our
website or email us at Radio at Radio

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English dot net. You can also
comment on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash

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spot Light Radio. The writer of
this program was Katie Blake. The producer

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was James Totten. The voices you
heard were from the United Kingdom and the

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United States. All quotes were adapted
for the program and voiced by Spotlight.

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You can listen to this program again
and read it on the internet at www

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dot Radio English dot net. This
program is called Living in a Lighthouse.

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Visit our website to download our free
official app for Android and Apple devices.

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We hope you can join us again
for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye, h