The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent

Level 3 l Advanced
1 Warmer
Would you sing in public to a group of strangers? Why? Why not?

2 Key words
Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text.

outlay crackers potent moving random

homogeneous robust battered worldview trek

1. ___________________ is an informal British term for crazy.

2. A __________________________ is a long and difficult journey.
3. A __________________________ vehicle is old and damaged.
4. __________________________ things or people are chosen without any particular method or pattern.
5. If something is described as __________________________, it makes people feel emotional.
6. If something is described as __________________________, it is powerful or effective.
7. __________________________ is an amount of money that you spend on something.
8. A person’s __________________________ is the way that they see and understand global events, especially
issues such as politics, philosophy and religion.
9. __________________________ things are very similar or all of the same type.
10. In a __________________________ conversation, people express their views strongly.

3 Choose the word

Choose the correct word to fill gaps 1 to 6 in the text.
1. differed; ranged; included
2. explore; demand; underline
3. sent; broadcast; opened
4. drama; promise; undertaking
5. suitable; frequent; popular
6. bringing; encountering; having

4 Find the information

Find the following information in the text as quickly as possible.
1. How many countries did Paintin and Stenhouse visit during their Oh Europa trek in 2018?
2. What happened to them in Switzerland in August?
3. How much did their motor home cost?
4. How many songs did they record on their journey?
5. What were Paintin and Stenhouse doing when they first met?
6. How far did they travel on their epic journey?
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The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent
Level 3 l Advanced
731 love songs for Europe: the
couple who drove 20,000 miles to
unite the continent
They put a recording studio in a rickety motor
home and crossed 33 countries – asking
strangers to knock out a tearjerker
Dave Simpson
26 April, 2019
1 “People asked us, ‘Are you crackers?’” says
Gemma Paintin. She can see why. Along with
fellow Bristol artist James Stenhouse, Paintin
spent half of 2018 travelling around Europe in an
old motor home, recording love songs. Their epic
trek took in almost 20,000 miles, 33 countries,
46 languages and 731 songs – each sung in
their battered mobile studio, mostly by
random strangers.
2 These __________________________(1) from a
seven-year-old Greek boy singing the Kiss song I
Was Made for Lovin’ You (“even the guitar parts”)
to MEP Peter Simon, who contributed a German
folksong. There was a singing security guard
in Madrid and some lads in Leeds who sang
Robbie Williams’s Angels. This, says Paintin, was
“exactly how you’d expect a lad version of Angels
to sound”.
3 The 731 songs form part of Oh Europa, a project
that will see them broadcast from 41 beacons
around Europe (accessed via an app). It opened
at the Transform festival in Leeds, where visitors
were able to hear up to 20 hours of recordings,
go inside the motor home and even add a song to
the library.
4 The intention was to
__________________________(2) “what Europe
is and how we’re all interconnected,” Paintin
explains over coffee in Leeds. But after the EU
referendum, the project took on another shape.
“We thought, ‘We have to do it now.’ Whether
we’re in or out of the EU, we’re all going to have
to find a way to live together. But we didn’t want
to go around asking, ‘What are your views on
the European Union?’ We thought, ‘What if we
connect in a different way?’”
5 It certainly seems to have worked: the pair are
amazed by how many people were lured in by the
signs placed outside their van reading: “Do you
know a love song?” Paintin thinks the fact that
they have been a couple since their late teens
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NEWS LESSONS / The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent / Advanced
helped. “Somehow, it’s more poetic to be asked to
sing a love song by two people who are in
love themselves.”
6 They were equally surprised by how emotional
the experience became. “People found it very
moving,” she says. “We’d explain, ‘Your voice will
be __________________________(3) with all
these other voices.’ So a voice from Norway goes
to Athens. A song recorded in Finland goes to
Spain. A recording by Syrian refugees in Germany
goes to the Russian border. People seemed to
realize that they can be part of something
very potent.”
7 The pair, who are both 38 years old, met while
studying drama in Yorkshire, creating Action
Hero, as they term their ongoing collaboration.
One piece, Extraordinary Rendition, put a single
person inside a cabin the same dimensions as a
Guántanamo Bay cell. Oh Europa is their most
ambitious __________________________(4)
so far. “It felt exciting,” says Paintin. “Then we’d
think, ‘How are we going to do this?’”
8 Funding came from Arts Council England,
European culture foundations and Action Hero
partners such as the Pervasive Media Studio in
Bristol, where the project was developed. The
initial and biggest outlay – £12,500 – was on the
motor home, a 2001 model they bought online.
9 Everything was going swimmingly – until August.
“We’d just gone over the Swiss Alps and ended
up on a hairpin bend when the gearbox went,”
says Paintin. “Only first and fifth would work.”
They got it to a garage and learned that fixing it
would be a major job. “But the mechanic showed
us that by getting to certain revs you can change
gear without a gearbox. We had to do that for
three weeks – from the Netherlands to Romania
and back.”
10 Has the project changed their worldviews? “It
made me realize how diverse the continent
is,” says Paintin. “Britain, Norway, Lithuania,
Serbia, Macedonia … These countries feel so
different historically and culturally, and yet there’s
something between us, even if it’s an agreement
to stay in the same thing together. People say,
‘Everything’s so homogeneous nowadays.
Everywhere’s the same.’ That’s not the case
at all.”
11 Paintin was surprised by which songs proved
most __________________________(5) – not
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The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent
Level 3 l Advanced
the expected Beatles or Queen hits but German asked me if I voted for it, and I said I didn’t but
folk songs and Hungarian love songs. Some that lots of people did. He kept saying, ‘Very bad
people sang in forgotten languages – and in situation,’ and then just waved us through.”
France, they hosted a group of teenagers from
13 Paintin says she could do Oh Europa for
Ivory Coast who sang in their native tongue.
ever. The motor home has a new gearbox,
“Kids of 15, 16, who’d arrived in the country
and there are plans for more treks, hopefully
unaccompanied. It becomes about the journey of
__________________________(6) more
these languages.”
memorable characters, like the man in Kirkgate
12 Paintin and Stenhouse (whose dad, Peter, Market, Leeds who “only sings at karaoke”. At
a Northumberland folk singer, contributed a first, says Paintin, he was too nervous to perform.
traditional song to the project) are thinking about “But he came back half an hour later with the
taking Oh Europa into leave-voting heartlands, words to the Tony Bennett hit The Good Life on
but don’t want to politicize it too much. Perhaps his notepad – and the most incredible voice
surprisingly, the subject of Brexit didn’t come up came out.”
that much on their travels, beyond the occasional
© Guardian News and Media 2019
“robust conversation”, says Paintin. “I get the
First published in The Guardian, 26/04/19
impression that most people don’t want us
to leave,” she says. “When we were passing
between Hungary and Croatia, the border guard

5 Comprehension check
Choose the best answer according to the text.

1. Why did Stenhouse and Paintin travel around Europe recording love songs?
a. because they are in love themselves and wanted people to share their experience
b. because they wanted to find out how people in Europe are interconnected
c. because they wanted to show how much they opposed Brexit

2. What will happen to the 731 love songs?

a. They will be released on a series of CDs.
b. They will be broadcast around Europe via an app.
c. They will be kept in a library in Leeds.

3. Which songs were the most popular?

a. songs in the native languages of the people who took part
b. famous songs by bands such as the Beatles and Queen
c. songs by more recent bands and artists such as Kiss and Robbie Williams

4. What happened after the gearbox on their motor home went?

a. They had to spend a lot of money to buy a new one.
b. The mechanic at a nearby garage replaced it for free.
c. They learnt how to change gear without a gearbox.
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NEWS LESSONS / The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent / Advanced
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 The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent
Level 3 l Advanced
6 Find the word
Find the following words and phrases in the text.

1. an adjective meaning long and difficult (para 1)

2. a noun meaning an occasion when everyone in a country can vote to make a decision about a particular
subject (para 4)
3. a two-word phrasal verb meaning attract someone by the promise of some type of reward (para 5)
4. a two-word verb phrase meaning proceed in an extremely satisfactory or successful way (para 9)
5. a noun (usually in the plural) meaning a complete circular movement of an engine (used as a unit for
measuring engine speed) (para 9)
6. an adjective meaning alone when going somewhere (para 11)
7. a verb meaning bring an issue to the attention of the public so that it can be discussed (para 12)
8. a two-word phrasal verb meaning make a signal with your hand that allows a person to go through a gate or
other entrance (para 12)

7 Word-building
Complete the sentences with the correct form of the word in brackets at the end of each sentence.

1. The intention of the project was to explore how people in Europe are __________________________.
[CONNECT]
2. Many countries felt very different to them both culturally and __________________________. [HISTORY]
3. __________________________, the subject of Brexit didn’t come up very much. [SURPRISE]
4. However, they did have the __________________________ robust conversation. [OCCASION]
5. They hope they will meet more __________________________ characters. [MEMORY]
6. They received __________________________ from Arts Council England. [FUND]

8 Discussion
• What do you think of this project? Is it something you would like to do yourself?
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NEWS LESSONS / The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent / Advanced
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The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent
Level 3 l Advanced
KEY

2 Key words 5 Comprehension check

1. crackers 1. b
2. trek 2. b
3. battered 3. a
4. random 4. c
5. moving
6. potent
7. outlay 6 Find the word
8. worldview
9. homogeneous 1. epic
10. robust 2. referendum
3. lure in
4. go swimmingly
3 Choose the word 5. revs
6. unaccompanied
1. ranged 7. politicize
2. explore 8. wave through
3. broadcast
4. undertaking
5. popular 7 Word-building
6. encountering
1. interconnected
2. historically
4 Find the information 3. surprisingly
4. occasional
1. 33 5. memorable
2. the gearbox on their motor home went 6. funding
3. £12,500
4. 731
5. studying drama
6. almost 20,000 miles
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NEWS LESSONS / The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite the continent / Advanced
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