Harry and Meghan interview: BBC News Review

Hello and welcome to News Review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil. Joining me is Catherine – hello Catherine.

Hello Neil. Hello everybody.

Now, today's story is about an interview given on American television

by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

The interview contains some potentially very damaging claims

for the British Royal Family.

If you want to test yourself on any of the vocabulary you hear today,

you can do a quiz on our website at bbclearningenglish.com.

But now, let's find out some more about our story

from this BBC News bulletin:

Yes. So, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – that's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle –

have given an interview on American television

about the reasons they gave up their roles in the British Royal Family.

Meghan in fact said she had been under so much pressure

that she even considered suicide.

Prince Harry said his father is no longer taking his phone calls.

He added that they both felt they weren't given enough support

by the British Royal Family. Meghan also added

that somebody in the Royal Family, and they haven't named this person,

expressed concerns about the skin colour of her unborn first child.

OK. Well, you've been looking at this story, Catherine.

You've picked out three really interesting expressions and words.

What have you got?

We have: 'lays bare', 'bombshell' and 'salvo'.

'Lays bare', 'bombshell' and 'salvo'.

So, let's have a look at your first headline please.

Yes, we're starting in Canada with CP24 – the headline:

'Lays bare' – reveals something previously not known.

Yes. Now, this is a verb phrase. It's made of two words:

'lays' – L-A-Y-S – and 'bare' – B-A-R-E.

So, you can 'lay bare something' or you can 'lay something bare'

and it means to reveal something that was previously unknown

or hidden or possibly partially hidden.

If you 'lay something bare' you show everything about it.

Everything is available for view or scrutiny

and nothing is hidden or secret.

Yeah, it's actually quite clear from the two parts of this verb phrase:

'lay' means to put something in a place, often visible place,

and 'bare' – 'bare' is another word for naked – so, exposed.

Yes, exactly. 'Expose' is a very, very good synonym for 'lay bare'.

And this is an expression which is very useful, isn't it?

It's neither formal nor informal.

Yeah, you can use it really for most situations.

If you 'lay something bare', you just let the truth be known about it.

Yeah. So, for example, you could 'lay bare' the truth

about a relationship that's not going very well on a personal level,

but you could also say, for example:

'The data about coronavirus laid bare the need to have a national lockdown.'

Good example, yeah.

So, it can be used there, sort of, for the personal

and also for more, kind of, important matters.

Most definitely. It's a very versatile expression.

Let's get a summary:

We've just been looking at the expression 'lay bare'.

It contains that word 'lay', which is often confused with 'lie' –

but no need for further confusion, is there Catherine?

There is no need for that confusion. If you have any,

we can clear it up in just one minute when Sian will tell you

about the difference between the English words 'lay' and 'lie'.

To watch that, just click the link.

OK. Let's have a look at your next headline please.

And we're now with Sky News, here in the UK – the headline:

'Bombshell' – describes a shocking event or piece of news.

Yes. It's all one word: B-O-M-B-S-H-E-L-L – 'bombshell'.

It's a military term. Neil, you know what a 'bomb' is, don't you?

Yes. A 'bomb' is a device that explodes in order to destroy things

like buildings or military hardware – those type of things.

Yes. And a 'bombshell' – excuse me – is the casing around the bomb.

So, 'bomb' or 'bombshell'. And yes, a 'bombshell' will destroy everything:

it's a shocking, life-changing, momentous event.

Nothing will be the same after a 'bombshell'

and that's the idea behind the word in this context.

A 'bombshell interview' is something that really shocks:

potentially very damaging, devastating even.

So, 'bombshell' is something really, really serious.

And we're talking about figurative damage here; we're not saying

that Harry and Meghan actually used a weapon of any kind.

No, no, no. Not unless you count words as a weapon.

Yeah, there's no actual weaponry involved here.

Yeah. In this example, 'bombshell' is an adjective, so we're talking about

a 'bombshell interview' – we can say a 'bombshell moment'.

But it's also often used as a noun and with the expression 'to drop a bombshell'.

Yes – 'to drop a bombshell'.

If you 'drop a bombshell', you give very important, unexpected news.

So, your news – if you 'drop a bombshell', you're giving shocking

and surprising news at the same time. So, for example,

if your family have always expected you maybe to go to university.

You've always said you're going to go to university

and then, the day before you're supposed to go to university,

you say, 'Actually, I'm not going.'

That would be... you would be 'dropping a bombshell'

or you'd be giving some 'bombshell news'.

Yeah and the degree to which this news is shocking is of course relative.

You know, it might be very important to an individual,

but not important on an international scale.

Yes, of course. Yeah, you don't have to be leaving a royal family

to 'drop a bombshell' – it's literally what's important to you

and the person that you're giving this news to.

OK. Well, let's get a summary:

If you like stories about Meghan and Harry,

we can go back to happier times, can't we Catherine?

We can. We covered the royal wedding and to find out

the words we used on those days, just click the link.

Now, for your next headline please.

Yes, we are now going to the Telegraph – here is the headline:

'Salvo' – sudden multiple releases.

Yes. Now, this is another military term.

It's spelt S-A-L-V-O. It is a noun and often used with the verb 'to fire'.

If you 'fire a salvo', in military terms that means

a lot of weapons fire at one target at the same time.

So, several guns all firing at the same thing together – that's called a 'salvo'.

Now, back to the interview –

there were lots of different things that Harry and Meghan said:

they said that Meghan had considered committing suicide,

they said that somebody was expressing concerns

about the skin colour of their unborn child,

Harry said his father was no longer taking his calls

and many other things.

So, this is not just one accusation or allegation;

there were lots and lots of things they said about the Royal Family.

So, that's why we're using the term 'salvo':

it means lots of damaging attacks all together.

Yeah. It's not always used in a negative context though.

For example, there could be an 'opening salvo' of a speech,

meaning that the opening few sentences were very attention-grabbing.

Yes. I mean, that's the idea of 'salvo' in that sense:

it's about the impact – making a great impact

by making several interesting, noteworthy remarks

or comments in the beginning of a speech.

So, that's the idea of multiple things that have an impact.

Yeah. With the... another set expression there: an 'opening salvo'.

And we can also talk about a 'salvo of laughter', if we want to be really positive,

which means a sudden outburst of lots and lots of laughter.

Yes – from lots of different people, yeah.

OK. Let's get a summary:

Time now then for a recap of our vocabulary please, Catherine.

Yes we had 'lays bare' – reveals something previously not known.

'Bombshell' – describes a shocking event or piece of news.

And 'salvo' – sudden multiple releases.

If you want to test yourself on the vocabulary,

check out the quiz on our website: bbclearningenglish.com.

And also have a look for us on social media.

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Take it easy, take care and see you next week. Goodbye.

Bye.