10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Prince of Wales

When you’ve spent months intensively researching a cover story, it feels like a release to write. I tried to explain this to the Prince of Wales. “I’m looking forward to not thinking about you all the time,” I blurted. But writing brings the fresh pain of making choices, sacrificing fun facts and revealing anecdotes you just can’t squeeze in to your main text.

 

Here, rescued from the metaphorical cutting room floor, are 10 such details that deserve a proper heiring.

1. He’s fit. Several of the Prince’s friends complained about the difficulties of keeping up with him when they go hiking together. At 64, he’s still always king of the mountain, arriving at the highest peak first. He suffers from a bad back, but to alleviate the symptoms gets up early every morning to perform a rigorous series of exercises. “Occasionally in the Royal Train you hear a frightful bump,” says Julia Cleverdon, special adviser to the Prince’s charities.
2. He really knows his sheep. Emma Sparham was unemployed when the Prince’s Trust gave her support to start her business, the White Chicken Company, selling natural poultry and livestock products. At a June 20 reception for the Prince’s Trust at St James’s Palace, she mentioned to her host that she also raises soay sheep. “If I was to say the word ‘soay’ to 100 people, maybe five of them might know what it is,” says Sparham. “He knew exactly what it was, what island they come from and he knows the nature of the animal. He asked if I could catch them because they are renowned for being uncatchable.”
3. He didn’t design a fire station. PRINCE CHARLES’S POUNDBURY FIRE STATION IS A DAFT MESS, headlined the Guardian. PICTURED: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU LET A PRINCE DESIGN A FIRE STATION, sniped the Daily Mail Poundbury fire station earned a 2009 shortlisting in the Carbuncle Cup, Building Design magazine’s annual ranking of Britain’s worst buildings. (The anti-prize derives its name from a famous speech given by Prince Charles in 1984, in which he derided a proposed extension to London’s National Gallery as a “monstrous carbuncle.”)
Poundbury, a model village abutting the city of Dorchester in Southwest England, is his brainchild, an attempt to build a contented community by deploying traditional materials and local vernacular, mixing commercial and residential properties, rich and poor, calming traffic and encouraging walking. But here’s the thing: the Prince didn’t design its fire station. That honor, says Ewen Miller, managing director of Calderpeel architects, must be shared between his practice and Leon Krier, the master planner for Poundbury, who rejected the architects’ initial proposal for a barn-type structure. “Fire engines are pretty large brutes and therefore require big garage door openings,” says Miller. “It’s difficult to make a building look historically accurate when you’re making an opening physically larger than would have been possible in days gone by, before the advent of concrete and steel structures.”
4. The Prince has won the grudging respect of at least one architect. Miller used to regard the Prince as an irritant, meddling in the built environment without any qualifications to do so. In 2000 the Prince, invited by the BBC to deliver one of its prestigious Reith lectures, talked about how architects need to better engage with clients and communities. “I sat down with a glass of wine ready to throw it. I was quite upset that he really started to make a lot of sense,” says Miller.
5. You can book a holiday at the Prince’s private retreat in Wales. The Duchy of Cornwall estate, held in trust for heirs to the throne, rents out two cottages adjoining the main farmhouse at Llwynywermod. How to ask directions? “Llwyn” rhymes with ruin. The double L, technically known as a “voiceless alveolar lateral fricative,” sounds a little like throat clearing. Y is pronounced “uh,” “werm” and “od” are both pretty much as you’d guess. But if that’s too daunting, pack garlic and crucifixes and head to properties the Prince has renovated in Romania as part of his drive to promote sustainable tourism. Altogether now: “Please can you tell me the way to Zalanpatak and Viscri?”
(Click here to join TIME for as little as $2.99 to read Catherine Mayer’s full cover story on Prince Charles.)

6. His friends don’t really know what to call him. By tradition, even his chums are expected to call the Prince “Sir.” More than one member of his inner circle confesses to avoiding calling him anything at all. When talking about him to other people, his staffers usually refer to “HRH,” short for His Royal Highness.
7. He sometimes calls himself “Carrick.” One of his titles is Earl of Carrick. He signs some personal notes with the name and prints of his watercolor paintings are marketed by A.G. Carrick, a trading arm of the Prince of Wales Charitable Foundation.
8. His 1993 lecture on Islam and the West is still remembered. “There is nothing to be gained, and much harm to be done, by refusing to comprehend the extent to which many people in the Islamic world genuinely fear our own Western materialism and mass culture as a deadly challenge to their Islamic culture and way of life,” he said.
9. Eight-year-olds have strange ideas about what the Prince actually does. “Sometimes he works in the garden,” says Silvana. It’s July 3 and she’s part of a crowd hoping to meet the Prince who is due to visit Treharris, a town in South Wales, as part of his annual summer trip to the region. The Prince “crossed the Amazon,” ventures her friend Lexy, also 8. “He tells people what to do and if they don’t, he’ll behead them,” says Ryan, another 8-year-old standing further down the street.
10. Adults aren’t necessarily much clearer on the matter. Members of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, scrutinizing the tax affairs of the Duchy of Cornwall at a hearing on July 15, express concern at the tax arrangements of the Duchy and of the Prince and ask a number of questions about what the heir to the throne does. “His business, if you like, is being the Prince of Wales,” replies William Nye, his Principal Private Secretary,

JURULATIH SINGAXII :Aide harap Fandi dilantik

pan » Sukan

AIDE ISKANDAR: Rela berkorban demi memastikan masa depan bola sepak negara dapat terus mekar. - Foto TAUFIK A. KADER

 

Ketua jurulatih Skuad Bawah 23 Tahun tiada masalah bekerjasama, malah hormati ikon negara

SAYA berdoa Fandi Ahmad dilantik menjadi Ketua Jurulatih SingaXII.
Demikian harapan ikhlas Ketua Jurulatih Skuad Bawah 23 Tahun, Aide Iskandar, apabila diajukan pertanyaan sama ada beliau boleh berganding dengan ikon bola sepak Singapura itu.
Jika ditakdirkan beliau dilantik menjadi pembantu Fandi pada suatu hari nanti, Aide, yang meminati legenda bola sepak negara itu sejak di bangku sekolah lagi, menyatakan kesediaan bekerjasama dengannya.
Bagi Aide, beliau fokus dengan tugas dan hasrat mahu membimbing pemain muda dan mahukan kesinambungan dalam corak permainan pasukan negara.
"Saya sentiasa memandang tinggi dan menghormati Fandi kerana pencapaian dan pengalaman yang diraihnya sebagai pemain dan jurulatih.
"Saya juga tidak ada masalah berkomunikasi dengan beliau.
"Kami sering juga berbual dan ini sudah tentu dapat memudahkan kami jika kami ditakdirkan digandingkan - beliau sebagai jurulatih dan saya sebagai pembantunya - pada suatu hari nanti.
"Tetapi beliau perlu membuat permohonan bagi jawatan itu terlebih dahulu," jelas Aide, yang ditugaskan membimbing Skuad Bawah 23 Tahun Singapura mengharungi cabaran Sukan SEA Myanmar Disember ini.
Khamis lalu, Persatuan Bola Sepak Singapura (FAS) mendedahkan bahawa ia telah menerima sekitar 12 permohonan bagi mengisi jawatan Ketua Jurulatih SingaXII selepas V. Sundramoorthy memutuskan tidak melanjutkan kontraknya yang berakhir pada 31 Disember ini.
Sundram, sebaliknya, memilih berhijrah ke Negeri Sembilan untuk mencari cabaran baru membimbing pasukan itu merebut semula tempat dalam Liga Super Malaysia (MSL) selepas diturunkan ke Liga Perdana pada musim depan.
Laporan media mengatakan bahawa Sundram ditawarkan gaji lumayan sekitar $25,000 sebulan bagi kontrak selama dua tahun itu.
Menurut Aide, yang pernah menjadi kapten pasukan nasional dan memiliki semua kelayakan yang membolehkannya menjadi jurulatih nasional, beliau turut berkongsi falsafah permainan dengan Fandi.
"Kami gemar corak permainan yang sama iaitu menyerang. Ini yang sedang saya usahakan dalam pasukan muda Singapura yang kini di bawah bimbingan saya.
"Dengan kehadiran Fandi, kami dapat memastikan terdapat kesinambungan dalam bentuk latihan yang diterapkan dalam permainan Skuad Bawah 23 Tahun negara," kata Aide.
Ketua Jurulatih Pasukan Nasional, Bernd Stange, turut memperkenalkan corak permainan yang sama menerusi gaya tika-taka ala Sepanyol atau hantaran pendek dan permainan pantas.
"Saya sebenarnya bersedia menyokong dan bekerjasama dengan siapa sahaja calon yang dilantik FAS menjadi Ketua Jurulatih SingaXII.
"Saya fokus dengan tugas saya membimbing pemain-pemain muda ini dalam Sukan SEA Myanmar dan Sukan SEA 2015 yang bakal diadakan di Hab Sukan Singapura," ujar Aide.
"Jika anda berdoa dan berharap orang lain menjadi Ketua Jurulatih SingaXII, bagaimana pula dengan peluang anda mengambil alih tugas itu?" tanya wartawan.
Aide tidak menjawab soalan itu.
Beliau hanya membalas dengan senyuman ikhlas yang membayangkan banyak kemungkinan.
Tetapi yang jelas, beliau sanggup berkorban demi memastikan masa depan bola sepak negara dapat terus mekar.
Demikian pengorbanan seorang bekas kapten dan demi cintanya pada bola sepak.
"Saya sentiasa memandang tinggi dan menghormati Fandi kerana pencapaian dan pengalaman yang diraihnya sebagai pemain dan jurulatih... Kami sering juga berbual dan ini sudah tentu dapat memudahkan kami jika kami ditakdirkan digandingkan - beliau sebagai jurulatih dan saya sebagai pembantunya - pada suatu hari nanti."
SAMBUNG BACAAN...

10 warga tua maut dalam kebakaran hospital Jepun

RENTUNG: Beginilah keadaan tingkat satu bangunan hospital ortopedik di Fukuoka yang hangus dijilat api awal pagi semalam. - Foto AP

 

TOKYO: Kebakaran di sebuah hospital di Jepun ketika pesakit tidur membunuh 10 warga tua semalam dan menyebabkan kerajaan menuntut agar semakan keselamatan diadakan di seluruh negara.

Kebakaran yang berlaku pada 2.20 pagi itu turut menyebabkan lima orang cedera, kata pihak polis, dengan agensi pengurusan api dan bencana menyatakan empat daripada mereka mengalami kecederaan serius.
Rakaman video yang disiarkan NHK menunjukkan ahli bomba mengelilingi hospital di bandar Fukuoka itu sedang asap berkepul-kepul dari pintu depan bangunan yang hampir terbakar keseluruhannya.
"Kami telah mengesahkan kematian 10 orang - lapan pesakit dan dua kakitangan hospital," kata jurucakap polis.
Menurut polis, dua kakitangan hospital yang terkorban merupakan mantan pengarah hospital dan isterinya.
Kesemua mangsa berusia antara 70 tahun dengan 89 tahun.
Kebakaran berlaku sekitar dua jam di hospital empat tingkat yang dibuka sebagai hospital ortopedik pada 1970.
Kakitangan hospital tinggal di tingkat atas bangunan, kata seorang pegawai bomba.
"Kami telah lakukan sebaik mungkin memadamkan api... tetapi keadaannya sukar, kata seorang pegawai bomba semasa sidang media yang diatur secara tergesa-gesa.
"Kami menerima berita tentang kebakaran setelah api terlalu marak dan tiada usaha ( kakitangan hospital) cuba memadamkan api di awal kebakaran.
"Pesakit di tingkat dua dan tiga juga terdedah kepada asap tebal kerana pintu pengadang asap yang sepatutnya mengurangkan asap keluar asap dibiarkan terbuka," kata pegawai itu lagi.
Tambahnya, pihak bomba akan mula menyiasat punca kebakaran.
Beberapa jam setelah tragedi itu, agensi pengurusan api dan bencana Jepun mengeluarkan panduan pentadbiran kepada ibu pejabat bomba di seluruh negara.
Panduan itu meminta pegawai bomba memeriksa hospital untuk memastikan mereka sedia menghadapi kemungkinan berlakunya kebakaran pada waktu malam.
Agensi itu turut menghantar tujuh pegawai ke tapak kebakaran untuk menyiasat punca kejadian, kata jurucakap agensi itu. SAMBUNG BACAAN..

http://suffianzone.blogspot.com/2013/10/pm-libya-tuduh-parti-lawan-jadi-dalang.html

BINATANG PELIK DITEMUI DI BAWAH LAUT

Atlantic wolffish membuat rumah dalam berbatu kedalaman pantai sehingga 1,600 kaki (500 meter) di bawah. Mencapai 5 kaki (1.5 meter) panjang, wolffish mempunyai gigi yang mudah dilihat sesuai untuk diet moluska ketam, keras-dibuang kulit, dan landak laut. Ini sepasang mengawan ditemui dalam den laut dalam di luar pantai Maine.
SAMBUNG BACAAN