Prince Harry's Book: BBC News Review

Prince Harry reveals royal secrets in new book.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil. And I'm Sian. Make sure you watch to the end

to learn vocabulary about this story.

And don't forget to subscribe to our channel, like this video

and try the quiz on our website.

Now the story.

Prince Harry's autobiography,

Spare, has finally gone on sale.

He writes about his struggles growing up as a member of the Royal Family

Harry describes dealing with his mother's death,

his anger with the media and the treatment of his wife, Meghan.

The Royal Family have said they will not comment.

You've been looking at the headlines, Sian. What's the vocabulary?

OK. So, we have 'from the horse's mouth', 'flood' and 'have their cake and eat it'.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Let's have a look at our first headline.

This one is from The Standard. Harry's memoir

Spare hits bookshelves at midnight

as fans queue to read duke's story from horse's mouth.

Yes. So, Harry's book has come out and people want to hear his story.

They want to hear it 'from the horse's mouth'

and that is the idiom that we are looking at.

It's got a horse. It's got a mouth.

Yeah, but it's an idiom,

so there are no actual horses or mouths involved.

So, if you hear something directly from the horse's mouth,

it means you hear it from the original source – so, in this case, from Prince Harry.

Yeah. So, it's saying that fans are waiting in these bookshops

to hear this story told by Harry himself – it's from the horse's mouth.

It's from the original source.

Yes, exactly. And we often see this expression written in the news

to talk about celebrities, often gossip about them.

Yeah. Because often what we read

or hear about famous people, celebrities, is just gossip.

It's what one person thinks. But if they give an interview or write a book,

that is from the original source – the horse's mouth.

We often use this in, well, we also use it

in everyday conversation as well, don't we?

Yes. So, for example, there could be a rumour at your place of work,

maybe someone's pregnant,

maybe somebody is leaving

and then that person tells you directly –

you hear it directly or straight from the horse's mouth.

Yes. And we often use things like 'straight from' or 'directly

from' just to emphasise that it comes directly from the original source.

OK, let's look at that again.

Let's have a look at our next headline.

And this is from The Telegraph. Readers flood bookshops

in midnight rush to purchase

Prince Harry's Spare.

Yes. So, the headline is saying that readers flooded bookshops. Now,

I thought 'flood' meant too much water? Yeah, normally, it does.

But this is actually quite a useful way to think about it.

So, if lots of water enters a building

in an uncontrolled way, we can say it floods the building.

But, imagine instead of water, it's people.

So, if lots of people enter a building,

we can say they flood it.

So, it means that the bookshops are so full because there are people,

lots of people, who want to buy and read this book.

Yeah. And even though we use

'floods' normally with water,

we can also use it with other words like 'people',

we just saw. Or 'sunlight' or 'complaints'.

Yes. Light can flood a room

and it means that the room is filled with light.

Yeah. And if 'complaints flood in', that means

you suddenly receive lots and lots of complaints.

Yes. Let's hope that complaints

don't flood in about us

and that you write loads of nice stuff. Yeah, that would be better.

Let's have a look at that again.

Let's have a look at our next headline.

This is from The Guardian.

Prince Harry book leaks

let papers have their cake and eat it.

Yes. So, before the official release of this book,

somebody leaked it.

It means that they published it before they were supposed to.

We are looking at the expression

'have your cake and eat it', which is another idiom.

It's got cake, I love cake.

Yeah, but unfortunately, it's an idiom,

so it's not actually about cake.

So, if you want to have your cake and eat it,

you want to gain two advantages from one thing, but it's not possible.

You have to choose.

Yes, but luckily for the newspapers,

they could 'have their cake and eat it'

this time because, firstly, they got to write about Harry

and secondly, they got to criticise him. Yes, but,

but pay attention because normally we use this phrase in a negative sense.

We say 'you can't have your cake and eat it' because it's impossible.

If you have a cake,

you can't keep the cake and also eat it –

it's just not possible.

And, so, if I want to save money and at the same time buy something expensive...

You can't do it! You can't have your cake and eat it!

Exactly. I can't have my car and my money.

Let's have a look at that again.

We've had 'from the horse's mouth' –

directly from the source.

'flood' – enter in large amounts.  

'have their cake and eat it' – try to gain two advantages from one thing.

And don't forget there's a quiz on our website at

BBCLearningEnglish.com. Thank you for joining us

and goodbye. Goodbye.