Kate Moss

BBC Learning EnglishPeople and PlacesKate MossCallum:  Hello, I’m Callum Robertson and this isPeople and Places.
　　One of the things that the British are known for is ourability to queue! If it were an Olympic sport I’m sure we’dbe favourites for the gold medal.
　　Recently there have been a number of queuing events whichhave made the news. One was the release of a new bag, a plainshopping bag by the supermarket Sainsbury’s. It was a bag bywell known designer Anja Hindmarch and was selling for only ?
　　5, about $10. Hundreds of Londoners queued overnight to snapup this designer bargain. Although the bag was a specialpromotion to encourage people to reuse the same bag forshopping, it wasn’t long before they were being sold oninternet auction 2 sites for much higher prices.
　　And at the beginning of May the high street clothes retailerTopshop launched a new line of clothing designed by theBritish model Kate Moss 1. The shop’s London branch was openedat midnight and attracted large crowds of shoppers andonlookers. This is how BBC reporter Nick Cosgrove describedthe scene. What does he say people in the crowd were hopingto do?
　　Nick CosgroveThere are thousands of people here hoping to catch a glimpseof Kate Moss. Half of them are queuing, the other half arewondering what is going on. And all for the opening of ashop, ashop that’s open every day.
　　Callum:  He says that the thousands of people werehoping to ‘catch a glimpse of’ Kate Moss, which means theywere hoping to see her. He went on to speak to some of thepeople waiting to find out more about why there were there.
　　What was their answer?
　　Nick CosgroveWhy are you here?
　　Well we like her, we like Kate Moss and we want to look likeher, basically. Well the clothes, and her style’s reallynice.
　　Callum:  They like Kate Moss and they want to looklike her, they like her clothes and style. Nick went on tospeak to some other people who were queuing and suggested tothem that designer clothes were just a label, just a label.
　　The clothes are only popular because of the name that is inthem, not because they are good clothes. What did they thinkof this and how do they describe Kate Moss? This is what theysaid.
　　Nick Cosgrove Isn’t it just a label? VoicesYea but it’s the style of clothes, it’s Kate Moss, everyonewants to be like Kate Moss, It’sKate Moss, she’s gorgeous man, she’s stunning 3.
　　Callum:  They liked the style of clothes and like theother people queuing they wanted to be like Kate Moss. Twoadjectives are used to describe her, gorgeous and stunning.
　　Gorgeous and stunning. Both of these are ways of saying thatsomeone is very good looking, very attractive.
　　At the moment in the UK celebrities 4 are big business. Photosof them in the tabloid 5 papers increase the circulation ofthose papers so much that even grainy,poor quality pictures from mobile phones can make the frontpage. This is particularly true if the celebrit y beingpictured is doing something the paper decides he or sheshouldn’t be doing.
　　This kind of publicity 6 has damaged the careers of many peoplein the publiceye but some celebrities are able to weather the storm ofnegative publicity and still come out on top. Kate Moss isone such celebrity 7. Now in her thirties has been a modelsince her mid-teens. The tabloid newspapers frequently writeabout her rock and roll lifestyle and in 2005 one tabloidprinted photos which seemed to show her taking drugs. Shewasn’t charged with any crime by the police but she did losea number of high-paying jobs as a result. However this provedto be just a small blip and now she is even more successfuland popular than ever, at least with the public, if not thetabloids.
　　Why does she remain so popular? One reason commentators 8 thinkthis is is that she very rarely gives interviews. Compared toother celebrities she is relatively 9 silent. Hadley Freeman,Deputy Fashion editor The Guardian 10 newspaper explains whybeing silent has been good for Kate Moss.
　　Hadley FreemanHer silence is definitely the secret to her career and thereason why she has lasted almost 20 years now and most othermodels haven’t had careers lasting 11 half that amount of time.
　　The reason she’s so successful is people can put onto herany image they want and they can do that because she’scompletely silent. So she can represent older sister, thecool rock and roll girlfriend, anything that they like.
　　Callum:  Hadley Freeman thinks because she is silentit is very easy for people to imagine she is whatever theylike. This gives her a wide appeal because she hasn’t saidanything to contradict their image of her.
　　Kate Moss did make a very brief appearance at the Topshoplaunch. She posed in the window with some of her designs asthe crowds outside waited patiently for their turn to shop.
　　So a few of the lucky customers were able to see their idolas well as buy the clothes that they hoped would make themmore like her.
　　That’s all from this edition of People and Places.