Tuesday, 27 July, 2021
Arise Ariarne! New queen of the pool; the bridge that released an album; Meteor lights up Norway; and the lady who knitted a castle.
LINKS
Ariarne Titmus’ coach reaction: https://twitter.com/AUSOlympicTeam/status/1419488700069683201
Young Olympians: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-57945947
Syria’s 12 year old table tennis Olympian: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-57925985
The Tokyo Sprint podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/sport-today/id1554210927
Golden Gate Bridge Duets: https://video.link/w/Ff14c
Meteor above Norway: https://twitter.com/astronewth/status/1419219481264631814
Knitting a castle: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/queen-elizabeth-sandringham-castle-mini-knitted-version
Squiz Kids Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/squizkids/?hl=en
Got a birthday coming up and you want a shout-out? Send us an email at [email protected]
Squiz Kids is proudly supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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At the age of only 20 years old, and in a race against one of the greatest swimmers the pool has seen, Tasmanian-born, Brisbane-raised Aussie swimmer Ariarne Titmus yesterday joined the elite club of Olympic gold medallists turning in an epic swim in the women’s 400 metre freestyle final.
“To become a legend, you have to beat a legend” said the race commentator as Ariarne touched the wall, beating American rival Katie Ledecky.
Now – just stop for a moment and compare the stats. This is Ariarne’s first Olympics. Katie has competed in three. This is Ariarne’s first Olympic gold medal. Katie has won five. It’s why Ariarne, who was born in Launceston and lived there throughout most of her childhood before her family moved to Brisbane, was yesterday being described as a ‘giant slayer’.
Ariarne’s effort in the pool took Australia to 4th place on the medal tally – but it’s early days yet in the Olympic competition – and there are lots of medals still up for grabs.
Also putting in a gold medal performance in Tokyo was Ariarne’s coach, Dean Boxall whose wild reaction when his charge won gold went viral around the world.
And if you thought winning an Olympic gold medal at the age of 20 was incredible – what about Japan’s Momiji Nishiya who made a little bit of history herself yesterday, winning the first ever Olympic gold medal in women’s street skateboarding … at the age of only 13 years old.
Unbelievable …
But she’s not even the youngest girl competing at this year’s Games. That honour goes to Syria’s Hend Zaza – who competed in the table tennis competition at the age of only 12 years old.
Talk about girl power!
There are links to videos in today’s episode notes of Ariarne’s coach’s reaction and a cool video showcasing some of the youngest Olympians ever to compete. Get involved.
SPIN THE GLOBE
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Each day we give the world globe a spin and find a news story from wherever it stops .. and today we’ve landed in the United States … San Francisco, to be exact, the Northern California city famous for its sourdough bread, cable cars, and the iconic Golden Gate Bridge… which for the last year has been one of the biggest wind instruments in the world, and now has its own album.
It all started last year, when engineers installed some new slats on one side of the bridge. When the wind hits those slats at just the right angle, the bridge makes music. Some have described it as a wheezing kazoo – that funny little musical instrument to make the buzzy sound – others describe it as a ghostly chant. Local residents say it’s driving them crazy, but guitarist Nate Mercereau saw the potential.
He drove up from Los Angeles and made recordings of the bridge, then wrote an album of four duets between himself and the Golden Gate. It was released this week, and of course there’s a link in your episode notes, so you can hear for yourself. Lucky Nate got there when he did – San Francisco bridge authorities have said they’re working on a plan to make the bridge quiet again.
SPACED OUT
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Here at Squiz Kids HQ – we love nothing more than a story about space … oh, you’ve noticed? Which is why this little tidbit from the country of Norway caught our wandering eye .. Folks in the Scandinavian nation were dazzled on Sunday night when a huge meteor lit up the night’s sky above them.
A meteor is a piece of space rock that enters the Earth’s atmosphere and burns up as it gets closer to our planet.
Residents south of the Norwegian capital Oslo made frantic calls to police after hearing a series of loud bangs and bright flashes in the sky above them.
Scientists are now scouring a large forest south of Oslo hoping to find what’s left of the space rock. Scouring is a fancy word for searching really hard.
There’s a link to video of the meteor in today’s episode notes. Get involved.
SQUIZ KIDS SALUTES
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And today we send a huge S quiz Kids salute to Margaret Seaman, a 92 year-old great-grandmother from England who has just finished knitting a 5 and a half metre replica of one of the Queen’s palaces.
Sandringham Estate is one of the houses that the Queen of England lives in. Yeah – she’s got several houses – a couple of castles, a few palaces. It’s good to be the Queen.
And for the past two years, keen knitter, Margaret Seaman has used the various lockdowns in her country to knit a miniature model of Sandringham House and its gardens.
It takes up an entire room, is incredibly detailed, and even features knitted figurines of the Queen and Prince William and his three kids.
And we’re not the only ones impressed. When Margaret was visiting Sandringham House and setting up her knitted masterpiece for public display, the Queen herself made a surprise visit and told Margaret how remarkable she was. Hear hear…
And yes, of course there’s a link in today’s episode notes to photos of the knitted castle.
THE S’QUIZ
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This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you’ve been listening …
- Aussie Ariarne Titmus won gold yesterday, beating swimmer Katie Ledecky who comes from which country?
- What’s the name of the bridge that’s just released an album?
- A 92 yo great grandmother from England has just finished a miniature replica of one of the Queen’s castles using what popular handicraft?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s July 27 .. It’s Chicken Finger Day in some parts of the world, and National Creme Brulee Day in the United States .. i know which one i’ll be celebrating …
It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today .. Rayden from Fairfield Heights, Amelia from Sunnybank, Benji from Bathurst, Lexi from Randwick, Issy from Sydney, Archie from Belgrave South, Max from Springwood, Bonnie from Warrnambool, Bella from Leichhardt, Bryce from Eastwood and Rosie from NSW.
Belated birthday shout outs go to …Declan from Jindalee, Muslek from Narellan and Harveen from Forest Lake.
Plus!! … Because so many of us are in lockdown around the country – we’re sending out Home Learning Herograms ..
Today’s herograms go to…Classes 2/3H, 3/4D, 3/4M & 4C at Lindsay Park Public School who are all working so hard with their online learning and
and loving listening to Squiz Kids while they have their fruit at home each day. Your teachers are so proud of all your hard work and miss seeing your smiling faces every day. Also a big shout out to class 1W at Leichhardt and their amazing teachers Mr Hanscombe and Mr Richardson. The students want to thank you for keeping them smiling and happy throughout home learning!
… plus a special Herogram from Sam in Kindy at Cranbrook School in Sydney, on behalf of all the kindy kids to all the kindy teachers there – take it away Sam.
And finally, a couple of classroom shout outs to those of you not in lockdown and actually still in your classrooms …3/4 K & S and their teachers Miss Grieve and Miss Stoltenberg at Broken Hill North Public School, Class 6G and Mrs Smith at Forest Lake State School and lastly Class C3 and Mr Weston at Settlers Primary School.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- USA
- Golden Gate Bridge
- Knitting