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Culture note: Oedipus the King
Oedipus the King is a play by the ancient Greek playwright
Sophocles. At one point in the story, Oedipus is on his way
to the city of Thebes when he quarrels with a stranger and
kills him. He then meets a Sphinx, who will not let him
pass unless he can answer the famous riddle. Oedipus
answers it correctly, and so wins the throne of the dead
king of Thebes, Laius, and marries his widow, Jocasta.
What no one knows is that the stranger that Oedipus has
killed is his real father and that therefore he has married
his mother. When the truth comes out, Jocasta commits
suicide and Oedipus blinds himself.

Transcript
1 My name’s Bilal and I live in Bradford in the north of England.
Both sets of my grandparents emigrated from Pakistan in the
1960s, just before my parents were born. My dad worked on
the buses and my mum stayed at home and brought up the
family. Dad would like a change of career but it’s a bit late for
him now to change jobs. I think he’s just looking forward to
retiring. I’ve got a sister who’s 25. She didn’t leave home until
last summer, when she got married. My dad wants me to go
to university in Birmingham and study law. But I think I’d like
to start my own business, creating computer games.
2 Boy Tell me a bit about your background, Sandra.
Girl Well, I grew up in the village where my family has
lived for generations. My great-great-grandad moved here
from Birmingham in the 1930s, looking for work.
B What kind of work did he find?
G He found a job on a farm, just outside the village. He
settled down, married a local girl and started a family.
They worked incredibly hard and over the years they
managed to save quite a bit of money and eventually
bought a small farmhouse with some land.
B And does your family still own that land?
G Yes, it does. My great-great-grandparents had a son.
When he got married, he bought more land and now the
farm is quite big. I don’t have any brothers or sisters so one
day I’ll inherit it and keep it running.
3 My mum met my dad while she was on holiday in France.
She’s British and he’s French. They fell in love, got engaged
after a week and were married a month later. And then
I was born! They named me Charlotte as it’s both an English
and a French name. Anyway, unfortunately the marriage
didn’t last. They split up when I was just a toddler and got
divorced a few months later. I was brought up by my mum
after she moved back to the UK. It was tough for her being
a single parent. But she went to university, got a degree and
then became a teacher. She met my step-dad at university
and they’ve been married for about 10 years.
4 My name’s Callum. My mum’s parents were from poor
working-class families in Glasgow. They left school at
sixteen and didn’t go to university. But they started
a successful business and didn’t retire until they were in
their seventies. My mum inherited quite a bit of money
when they passed away, but she didn’t want to work in the
family business and sold it. She moved south and settled
down in Liverpool. She got married and took an office job.
But she soon wanted a change of career. I think she was fed
up with the cold, wet weather too, because she persuaded
my dad to emigrate to Australia when I was two. I’d love
to visit Glasgow and Liverpool one day and see where my
mum and her parents lived before emigrating