Ulti of offending the head of state Syria says its air defenses of intercepted missiles fired by Israeli aircraft close to the capital Damascus a military official said a weapons dump was hit 3 soldiers were injured Israel confirmed the attack and said it later activated it defense systems to bring down a Syrian missile Israel has on numerous occasions targeted Iranian and Hizbullah sites in Syria Scientists in Britain have built a virtual reality 3 d. Model of a cancer providing a new way to look at the disease the research is based in Cambridge say it will increase our understanding of cancer and help in the search for new treatments Fergus Walsh reports the 3 d. Digital model of a cancer was created from a tissue sample about the size of a pinhead researches anywhere in the world can explore the Cima using virtual reality headset individual cells a color coded to show their position and how they interact with other tissues scientists can stand above below or even walk through the 3 d. Cancer the project has received 20000000 pounds from Cancer Research U.K.'s Grand Challenge awards aimed at overcoming some of the biggest hurdles facing scientists and that is the b.b.c. News 6. I can hardly believe that that was me 50 years ago back in 1968 opening the carol service at King's College Cambridge in England I can still remember it. Everything was still the chapel was bathing candlelight and there was a hush and then in that moment you take a deep breath open your mouth and then start to sing and that was my small contribution to something much bigger something that goes back 100 years the festival of 9 lessons and carols I'm booked Chilcote and having sung here as a boy and now a composer of choral music I've come back to King's College to revisit this place that has had such a big impact on my life I'll be delving into the remarkable story of a festival of 9 lessons and carols be taking a behind the scenes look at the preparation for the event meeting the people involved and exploring the new music the century old tradition has given birth to. The. Well the memories come flooding back as I come to this magnificent building I've just stepped into King's College the place which I remember so well as a boy and a student coming back here there are so many memories and as you walk into this place you realize that they remain as vivid as half hour it feels like yesterday that I was here and I can remember the sounds and smells of the place it really feels like you're stepping into somewhere closed off from the rest of the world somewhere where you can focus on learning which of course is what came to set famous for but for me it was all about music. Coming back here has made me realise all that time a guy what a fantastic time I had as a chorus to it was really cut from we used to wear it hot we learned how to stand still and to not scratch off face or to look stupid and so we began to get an idea of what it was to really be well disciplined I think probably the training for the courses is that when I say now get a procedure for a moment for us would you find page 78 G.'s and we just sing from the middle line high notes. So being in the choir requires quite a busy schedule Georgian Telia to both chorus to us in the choir we sing every day of the week of course the 1st one lessons because he's one of the most important sos in the year for us being in her just little None of us Carrolls is a very very scary prospect fast but it's a very humbling experience when you get it and I think I enjoyed most about it. It is that it's something that's been going on for so long now 100. And years feel special to be part of that long line of people who have sung in my cows. I just walked into King's College Chapel this glorious building it's where I 1st sung as a boy chorister later as a student choral scholar and then came to write music for the choir years later the beauty is just overwhelming the stone from vaulting stretches all the way down the chapel and the toll medieval stained glass windows 3 colored light on to the marble floor it's almost as if an echo of music sung in years gone by can still be heard resounding on these stone moves. And right here on this very spot was where we stood as current stars every Christmas Eve. And then at 3 o'clock there's a harsh the winter sun costs it's low res through the medieval glass the candle light flickers and is expectation. A boy chorister steps forward takes a breath and it begins. I'm sitting here with Dr Steven Cherry The dean of kings student could you give us a an idea of the overall structure of the 9 essence and carols in fact that shape and structure is immensely simple there are 9 lessons pretty evenly distributed over the time one of the aspects of the service which I think he's worth noting is that it begins very famously with a boy seen the 1st verse of Once in Royal David's City an individual voice very vulnerable very ethereal towards the end the blessing is surrounded by 2 tremendous congregational carols so you get this increased amount of energy as it goes through the other thing that's going on at least in the chapel is that as it starts at 3 o'clock stops in daylight by the time we get to 430 it's pretty much in darkness because we're we have candle light here and the windows have become black at this point so the sense of illumination an atmosphere has immensely changed during the course of the. Service and I think it's important to mention that because the service is much more than just the words or just the music it's it's the whole sensational of the experience why do you think so many people all over the world are captivated by this service my feeling is that is the service has several subtle ingredients that make it very accessible and very engaging it's based on story it doesn't have that there isn't a didactic element in it it has strong tradition elements and it also has an aspect of development and progress through new commissions and and so on there's an element of surprise in it there's also a great familiarity it's a service that belongs to a small college but he's owned and shared by many people through broadcasting I think one of the aspects of it is that people know that very many other people are listening to it and my sense is that there is an unseen congregation and that in some way we're doing the same thing together around the world I think there's this this sense of this being absolutely at a sensitive moment as the year is turning and you know in the old days it used to be the absolute beginning of Christmas. The fact that it's had by many people through the radio and that they are doing something else at home at the same time means that they're integrating these words and this music into their ordinary domestic life Other times people will find that they're listening to this service in a time when they're very unwell all very lonely these are also reasons why it connects to people and is for many people a source of tremendous spiritual solace 2 . That's Herold dark setting of in the bleak midwinter one of the most popular carols of all time and Harold dark is a musician associated with this very place the director of music here today is Stephen clear pre he's held the post for 36 years and this year is set to be his final festival of 9 lessons and carols before he steps down one thing Stephen is dumb like no at the director of music here is to introduce new music to the service to commission great composers of today to write carols to be sung by this world famous choir the Estonian composer Ave Pat so has some eminent choral composer John Rutter and current master of the Queen's music Judith Where have all contributed to this series of new carols. I've even written a piece for the choir myself the shepherds Carol which gives voice to the shepherds sitting out watching their sheep on that Christmas night. I've just arrived just outside Steven Cleeve be selfish the director of music here and simply my office and would bang on the door see if they are. There with. Steven Yes. I want to see other C.C.'s bank. But actually Stephen I'm here with the b.b.c. World Service to do a documentary about the 9 essence that countless Cephus say I'm going to be very nice to get your thoughts obviously Stephen it is 100 yes' since this festival of my lesson cost started what do you think it is about the SEVIS that it's enjoyed in the music that's into it in that time I think in terms of the musical record high it's proper to be in that subtle makes of the familia and the less Familia and I think about the service as a whole itself that at Christmas time people naturally and understandably and I do myself take some refuge in the familia and each year comes around this Christmas narrative now quite regardless of what religious position you stand in. It is actually a story about the birth of a little child and this is a story which touches everybody I just wonder what you feel about the choir as function within the service Well I think the Tosk of the choir and indeed the music that's fair isn't for the choir to sing is to complement the narrative that is carried through by the readings you start this whole new approach which has brought about some fantastic fantastic variety of meat Yes it has a great variety and I think. The reason I did it was at least 2 fold one is that this is obviously a great tradition but we don't want it to become a fossilized issue so I think it needs to be nurtured with new grace the chair and the other is that I have a very strong feeling that we should work to make the cost of this continent not sit in a kind of isolated position in a backwater of music and say I want to buy him some spin to approach some of the missed distinguished composers of our time and I've been rather pleased at the range of people who've been willing to write for us indeed I've never been refused and I think. For example to eat it with cinnamon are a recent race one of the one such high profit margin classical ready within its hive time as Atlanta yes. Judith where is a composer renowned for writing operas as well as all Castro works but in more recent years it's hard choral works that have really hit home with audiences She explains how she came to be arsed to write illumine are a year a celeb one of Stephen clear praise 1st commissioned Carol's way back in 1985. The. It was a great pleasure and surprise to be asked by Stephen to do they speak us in a way it was very much out of my comfort zone to write for acquiring my work at that time it was usually with small groups of instrumentalists and I was experimenting with very small scale opera music theatre so in a way hats off to Stephen for taking that risk. I do remember that I was going up to Scotland to spend Christmas with my parents so I particularly do remember that I was up there with them listening to it on the radio and that was the 1st time I heard it on the broadcast. I was very proud to have Carroll in this famous event in fact in a way it was all the better to hear it in its absolute truth setting which is on the radio. And then there are those composers that really break the mold like so Harrison Birtwistle the eminent British composer who famously writes complex and modernistic music and who composed the piece for the service in 2003. It's called the gleam a setting of a text by Stephen place and it cost one disgruntled listener to write to Stephen clear be saying whoever commission that Carol should be locked in a darkened room and never let out well I find it an incredible piece it's such a difficult but wonderful work and I've recorded it with the b.b.c. Singers myself there's something very majestic about it I get the feeling that Stephen clear Bree is particularly proud of having commissioned this Carol. I remember finding myself backstage in the Apatow with Harrison but was all before probably not conscious and I thought well no harm in asking I caught him that child said Harry How about Russia you can of course he said yes. I'm hiring ringing me up saying yeah well you know I'm writing this car for you as promised so will it be Ok if I get him to do stamping and shouting. Just said that's fine that's what you want we'll do it the. 3rd ecstatic thing isn't it to shout. So how are some Birtwistle I write difficult music. I think one of the most remarkable things is the standard the. Young man who's seeing the 6 through in a way that they can sing peace of mind. I'll tell you what's interesting about the gleam is the refrain it transfers itself from a cradle song people goes through stages of metamorphosis. I'm used to orchestrate this and all this stuff you know. But I like a So the challenge is to within myself and I like that challenge in everything I do beliefs version of the search for something and I think I saw about that when they did the Glee. Sahar Issa and thought it was so bad adding his own distinctive style to the century old tradition that is a festival of 9 lessons and Carols the tradition was introduced to Kings College in 1918 by the dean Eric Milne The white I visited the archives of King's with the current dean to meet archivist Dr Patricia to find out more about Mina white and about that very fast SEVIS. So among They are cards is a scrapbook of all things the college published in 1800 thank you and here is the 1st order of service the very 1st festival of my license and carols and it doesn't stop with want to move to open city it's yeah that's right in 1900 the 1st car was up good Christian folk and listen and the 2nd carriage was once in royal David city sentencing what it why do you think that change maybe I did I don't know exactly why that that happened but you can imagine that this 1st service was pretty much an experiment I think I read somewhere that this was sung by quartet from the Open Office I mean not that you can see why that would be a great way to start a setup but once they'd heard what it was like to have Once in Royal sung by a solo chorus I suppose that was we don't need to put anything in front not. The something else I wanted to mention here the 1st page of The Order of Service says a festival of 9 lessons and carols in King's College Chapel on Christmas Eve 1918 it says this service was drawn up from sources ancient and modern by Archbishop Benson Archbishop Benson So so who was he well it says he was operator Benson at the time he was archbishop of Canterbury but he did his work in this area when he was bishop of Durham this story is that he was the 1st bishop of trip so it's no cathedral there and they need to build up the whole institutional life of the church and one of the things that have been observed was that there was a custom of going round and singing in pubs in people's homes and the new bishop thought it would be splendid if people actually went to church instead so did a more imaginative service involving carols and so on for them to come along to and no to watch who knew the Benson family very well obviously heard about this and thought well now that we want to do something different at the end of the world this would be a good way to experiment as it were so what do we know a pair. Known White's experiences in World War One Well we have several letters that he wrote here for your text letters that he wrote to his parents it's got a fairly graphic description of his experiences at the front yes I can see here he says he found himself right in the middle of a modern battle the thing he says is indescribable unimaginable the fresh night air was itself rushing raw like a waterfall as a 1000 shells tore through it the dark blue sky was lit by someone like me flashed upward from the earth every 2nd but most also was the noise we felt so powerless against those splitting cracks and rolls the tramped of the metal tearing its way to the bodies of poor men. It's really really terrible. So you see the connection between the 9 lessons and carols and what happened in these terrible times in the war I do but I see it not as cause and effect exactly and more as continuity milliwatt had a strong sense of Christian ministry the need to reach out when he was in countering these terrible scenes this story of of Jesus and the birth of Bethlehem and the flight into Egypt and so on well that poet Ian depravation that was all of one so I see him doing the same thing in 2 different places with different materials. Eric Milne The White couldn't have known that 100 years on this service would continue to reach out to people bringing a sense of both solace and celebration to a different culture and context 'd through words and carols and through the new music that is written for the service each year I'm Bob Chilcote and you're listening to Carol's of the times on the b.b.c. World Service. The b.b.c. World Service is made possible by American Public Media as the largest station based Public Radio organization in the u.s. A.p.m. Offers award winning content to audiences everywhere the b.b.c. World service connects audiences to the world from international news to arts and culture programming listeners hear global stories and perspectives not heard anywhere else. I'm Lisa to starlets and co-founder of Epicentral co-working and the president of the Comm foundation I've been a member of care c.c. For over 10 years I would encourage anyone who listens to care c.c. To also become a member and you know if you listen you certainly must find the programming valuable I think that we are listening to keep up to date on what's going on in our world and it's our world that's really close to us and sometimes it's our world it's much bigger joy 91.5 k. Or c c I care c c dot org Every Christmas Eve for 100 years a service comprising of 9 Bible readings interspersed with traditional and contemporary Carole's has been held in the chapel of King's College Cambridge in England join me but Chilcote after the news well be talking to composes about the challenges they faced in writing music especially for this Christmas tradition that's carols at the times on the b.b.c. World Service b.b.c. News with McIntosh Australia and New Zealand of strongly criticised Japan's decision to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission in order to resume commercial whale hunting in a statement the Australian foreign minister described the move as regrettable conservation groups including Greenpeace of also condemned the decision. The trial of a Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Chih and Jiang on charges of state subversion his open behind closed doors amid tight security diplomats from Britain Germany Switzerland and the United States were denied access to the court house in the city of Tianjin Mr Wang took on cases of complaints against police torture and the banned Falun Gong religious movement a South Korean delegation has taken part in a groundbreaking ceremony in North Korea marking the symbolic launch of a joint project to reconnect the transport network across the divided peninsula the ceremony included the laying of railway sleepers on the tracks and the unveiling of joint signboards for political activists imprisoned in the Democratic Republic of Congo for a year have been released in the capital Kinshasa the coordinator of the opposition for Limby movement Bernie Benny and 3 of his associates were arrested in December last year after calling for a protest March against President Joseph Kabila Syria says its air defenses have intercepted missiles fired by Israeli aircraft close to the capital Damascus a military official said a weapons dump was hit 3 soldiers were injured Scientists in Britain have built a virtual reality 3 d. Model of a cancer providing a new way to look at the disease the tumour sample taken from a patient can be studied in detail and from all angles with each individual cell mapped although the human tissue sample was about the size of a pinhead within the virtual barratry it could be mounted magnified to appear several meters across. Every Christmas Eve for a 100 years separates containing 9 Bible readings into specif with traditional and contemporary carols has been held in the chapel of King's College Cambridge in England I'm Bob Chilcote and I sang in that very service as a boy and as a student anon returning to discover just what the secret is to this annual event and why it's achieved such popularity across the world. The choir of Kings College Cambridge or weld renowned for musical excellence specifically the chorus to us the boys who sing at every service when Henry the 6 founded Kings College in $1441.00 he also a stop to the choir to sing at Matins Vespers of mass and in the statutes it stipulates that there would be 16 choristers poor and needy boys of sound condition and honest conversation knowing competently how to read and sing well there we are I must have been able to do that at some stage but these boys from the very beginning they got an education and I'm on my way to the boarding house to meet 3 of the karst as now and what they have to say about life there. Well here I am King's College class school and I haven't been here for a long time and I'm here to meet 3 of the chorus those who'll be singing on the Christmas Eve service I lend money to Bob Chilcote I'm good to do a documentary for the b.b.c. World Service and what should I feel saucy good to me you found good to me I jolly nice to meet you so. It's your last one this year your last Christmas yes or yes you know and who's going to do the ones who wrote this If you or your idea no one knows no wonder this could be any of us yeah it sounds like something yes it's good and no one can call it a day or so on the day off s. From my distance and carols for boys for 5 generally all get trials on yet are tested for it and then one of those boys is chosen directly for the service in the classic point of the thing. Well for times that you feel the pressure of reproof never proper service some telling you can actually end up to Christmas Yeah I think it's going to be really interesting and enjoyable this last year because it's also it's an ongoing losses last year and of the 100th anniversary and I am so it's quite simple really I want to make here how do you feel about being away from her and how to start for real I think the Christmas fair is actually really enjoyable and I'm not sure that even if I have the option to go home for Christmas I take it seriously there are many interesting festivities that we enjoy over Christmas so yeah you wake up we have we immediately have a rehearsal time at chapel we should have to Christmas lunches on Christmas Eve which is very exciting and then obviously we go down to the service itself. After which. All these festivities and that we get unlimited amount of sleep before waking up early the next morning for a pillow fight the radio concepts and Christmas Eve recommender when we all go out into the quiet schools but want to rotate city when everyone joined in the last few hours I think probably most of us find it hard to say it was so overwhelming the amount sound you have less amazing because we're not quite used to it for years for our regular services yet we get a fairly full time but I know when they're like I guess I'm pretty easy if you get people queuing up for over a day actually bring their sleeping bags and. Every year that I've been in the choir on time Christmas it's utterly astounded me yet. 'd it is very shiny. In the build up to the service itself there are so many traditions that are unique to coral scholars Sydney popular songs to those waiting in the hundreds who queue for hours on a cold December morning for a precious ticket for a seat inside the chapel. They come from all over the world to hear the crossing carols that date back for centuries and also those that appear written by living proposes the ink still wet on the manuscript paper. That in the. 'd garden they showed you now the 'd reason. That interest was. Overcome 4000 miles to hear this program. As my 1st time here in Cambridge and I joined up with these folks who are also here from the us and excited to hear this music as well yeah I'm very happy to to come to Cedar prayer service yeah and I think it's going to be very good and very beautiful. And I guess ever since I was a small child my parents would turn it on on the radio. In early in the morning and so it's every year that's how I knew it was Christmas. It's always been good fun to stand in this pier you meet so many people from all over the world really is exciting to see what motivates people to be here in the queue I was talking with people that came from the u.s. And people that came from other countries on the other that are just from the neighborhood and I think it is an amazing opportunity to for us to hear this choir and this music that has inspired and we have here in the radio for many years. Was. The. Was. The. And it isn't just the congregation that comes from all over the world Stephen clear Bree has asked a number of international composers to contribute to his series of new Carroll's. The Swiss composer car Richie became known to Stephen clear free after composing an arrangement of the traditional Appalachian Carol I wonder as I wander which was included in the carol service at King's it wasn't long before he was asked to write something specific for the service with Stephen clear priest careful guidance the result was David's Janay Maria it was a huge honor when I was asked by Stephen Kleber to write the new Carol for 2014 another colleague of mine in England told me to do you know what that means that's like a Nobel Prize for a composer in the world. You know Stephen Kleber he's always very very kind and he told me you just do whatever you like and then I asked him but would this you're idea and he said Oh I would love to have a simple Carol with reference. Am God. And I've chosen a medieval takes cold. So it's the 12th century and it's a hymn to Holy Mary who has gave birth to Jesus and in the center is always the row frown so the reference is very heavy It means it vamp uncovered fact almost which is that of the broke of St John's Gospel. Of the. Am. I think in this coal is a very personal language of mine 1st of all because I believed. Days Yes I believe in the Christian religion very much and so dead was nothing to to do a distinctive old was the who worked. In Cambridge choices we had a marvelous singer soprano singer still in emails and in the very time when I wrote this Carol she died and she told me about a bird she always listened to and then I decided to put this bird song in the very end of this Carole me home. I've just bumped into Joe's affairs accounts to her in the quad and huge as if your working now years later after I did now how do you prepare for the carol service Well Stephen I think says that the preparation for the car service goes on all year which in many ways it does it's constant practice for it but in terms of repertoire and we tend to perform a lot of the music that we'll do for the non-S. And sing carols over the course of the time in the services that we sing every day in the chapel so by the time it gets to Christmas Eve everything very familiar you know you're in your 2nd here Joseph obviously 1st year must be marvelous have you got the good memories from then I think last year service was just a culmination of everything I've been looking forward to coming to kings you know it really it surpassed all my expectations so I was looking forward to replicating not making it better for this year the 100 anniversary. Was. For those who sing in choir as a man whose name has become synonymous with Christmas is John Rutter he's written in a range hundreds of Carol. And even being involved in editing a series of books of that very name used every Christmas by singers in small parish churches and great choral societies spreading the traditions and the music of Kings College Cambridge far and wide. And in the 1980 s. He wrote what sweeter music for King's College Cambridge. The year was 987 and I was quite ill that year with a condition called mild and careful and I like to see any short which I don't recommend to anybody and I had previously agreed to write an extended Christmas work for kings college quad to sing at one of their London concerts and I think this is the only time this has happened to me in my career but I had to say to Stephen Klee breed Stephen I cannot do it I haven't got the physical stamina and so he came to me very soon after that with a proposal to write something much smaller He said look we've got a gap in our next festival of 9 lessons and carols around about the period of the lesson when the wise men bring their gifts to the Christ child I was able to write what's we to music I will never of course fully repay the kindness of Stephen please retorts me a sick colleague. And I remember delivering the manuscript and of course the next thing you hear as a composer is when the performance takes place I can't remember if I went to any rehearsals I didn't want to interfere and I knew that it's a performance with the sound of King's College Choir in my head that's how I wrote it and I knew they would just bring that to a perfect. Perfect performance which they did and I'm very happy to say that they've done it quite a number of times since and so have various of the Cryos for instance around the world the. Christmas music is a continuing tradition it has a very long history when I've writes a new Carol which I still continue to do from time to time it's like it's a tile in a most say that school play bigger picture that stretches down the ages and I think it's for all the wonderful Christmas itself is a glorious amount of sacred and secular indeed this wonderful blend of sacred and secular is there in the text. Sick because we have the holy in the I feel grief and the lord of all this reveling and so there's plenty of secular merriment there but of course it's the birth of this Heavenly King that it's all. Stephen clear pretty has approached some of the world's greatest composers is to write new music for the festival of 9 lessons and carols including the Estonian composer Although Pat a composer well known for both his minimalistic style and also for being influenced by plain Charmant. It's the shortest one yet I think the Pentagon the tempo you take it comes in at about 58 seconds but it's action packed 58 seconds the British painted here. The. Was. The and after Pat joined the congregation back in 1990 he later recalled the effect in this way the 6. We took a car to Cambridge there was such splendor of festivity and unprecedented magnificence. Did see a gay vote was heard after the reading from the holy Gospel According to look where the Archangel Gabriel appears to the Virgin Mary announcing that she will give birth to the savior of our souls this piece has to be sung with inner joy like having a little flame in your heart. Although pouts bugger or do you see a tear of oh there's something eternal about that piece but then there are those pieces of music that relate to a very specific place and time like Richard Corstens the flight written at the height of Europe's refugee crisis Stephen clear Perry approach me quite early in 2015 and it's always difficult when that happens because one has to think oneself into a Christmassy mindset and for me Christmas has a very very special atmosphere which I struggle to capture or imagine in the rest of the year my approach was to go and look for lots of poems and although I found some incredibly beautiful poems and some not so well known ones I really struggle to find one that I felt I wanted to set and as the some a wore on I got more and more. Frustrated that nothing was really hitting home and around that time I happened to travel through Kalai and I saw the jungle refugee camp there which was a really shocking shocking sight and at the same time the news was full of the refugee crisis lot of people coming out of Syria and it suddenly struck me that it was almost for me perverse to be writing a carol about a refugee who came from probably about 20 miles from the Syrian border all those years ago Jesus and not in any way reference their massive crisis that was unfolding them and dominating the headlines. Europe's migrant and refugee crisis is being driven by the war in Syria our Middle East editor is there we want to leave and we want to survive and we are living the crisis in my view and that's where we're coming from the German capital we're discussing what some are calling the biggest movement of people in Europe since the 2nd World the latest news on those crowds of people walking from Hungary to Austria the destination is Germany. I've been working with a wonderful poets George said there should be imperfect and I decided to give him a ring to see if he might be prepared to write a new text for me and luckily he rang me back he was in Hungary and he had actually that day been at the with the precious railway station talking to the refugees who were stranded there and so it was incredible piece of synchronicity and he wrote a poem sent it within 24 hours or a day a day and a half was extraordinarily quick and immediately hit the spot for me I thought that's exactly what I want to use. I'm reminded that from the very beginning well defense where in twined in the d.n.a. Of the festival of 9 lessons and carols this isn't a saccharine sugarcoated ideal it's something that has real meaning to real people the dean Steven Cherry showed me something into King's College Chapel that reminded me of the origins of this gem in the seasonal calender. Circuit country give Obviously we go to the south side of the building and into these cycles which after the 1st World War were re imagined and rededicated as a woman warrior and this is the Memorial Chapel for the 1st World War so right Steve it is and you can see the huge number of names on the north wall here the most famous name here is probably rube Brooke the poet but a name that always catches my eye and my attention is is this one down here which is Gerald Thomas Fitzgerald he was a very very good friend of Dean Erich Milne the white and he was killed fairly early on in northern France in fact I visited his great aunt in the summer very moving to see it so Eric never White was at student at King's and he came back as championing 1912 but when war broke out he quickly volunteered to be a part rate obviously the war had a tremendous impact on him personally and when he came back I think his desire to have church services that actually spoke to the real condition of human beings was extremely exaggerated and he felt very very passionately about it introducing the festival of 9 essence in Kara's wasn't the only thing he did by any means but they're all driven by the same same great desire to connect with people actually as Bay are so out of the horrors of battle. Came something a big squeeze it beauty something that would eventually be broadcast across the world marking the beginning of Christmas for millions of people. 100 years later it has not lost its impact or its paw this year a familiar. Her face is returning to King's composer Judith we're now master of the Queen's music has written the piece for this year's service she's the only person to have been asked twice she explained what inspired this year's composition I think for a vocal work you really have to start with the words you're not going to get that far without them and this time I've been doing some work on the music of the members of the Wesley family these were the relatives of John Wesley the founder of Methodism and his brother Charles Wesley who wrote a lot of religious poetry so I guess I had a bit of that around and indeed from the internet thought I wonder if he ever route any Christmas verses Well it did he did hardly stopped and it was from that that I found the poem oversea divine it's really a nativity scene it's just what you want really for this occasion about the birth of Jesus Mary's reaction the shepherds the wise men a big element that I liked about it was its kind of friendly rhythm you know to it had a lot of those almost folk music type singing sounds an interesting feature of this commission was that request from Steven that I would include a cello in it after a while I got the image of some of these Thomas Hardy novels where musicians would accompany church music because there wasn't an organ in church so I thought of the cello as a kind of a guide it's not meant to be some big concerto type solo but it's almost a a friendly thing that's a bed really for the music to take it on the tracks next year Stephen clear Bree will be handing on his baton his musical director and the person responds. Double for nurturing the core tradition here in the future will be Daniel Hardy currently organist at St Thomas Church 5th Avenue in New York City Well I went up to King's as an undergraduate organ scholar in the year 2000 and it was a sort of childhood ambition and a teenage dream that than became a reality so that's how it started really and I know for a fact that I wouldn't be doing the things I do now or I wouldn't have done the things I've done since were it not for the opportunities that I had there for me going back to King's I hope will be an opportunity to bring not only all the things I learned to kids but all the things I've learned in the places I've worked since and to bring an opportunity and an education for future generations of choristers organ scholars chorus goes it's a little daunting I suppose because not just with the 9 lessons tradition but the actual tradition of the place if you like in modern terms the brand of King's College Choir to be the guardian of that is quite a daunting prospect although I'm sure it's one that I'll read and I'm there and I'm I'm greatly looking forward to it and Stephen's great innovation the commissioning of a carol each year something which I will obviously carry on I also hope that I'll be able to maintain and nurture the choir does and I'm looking forward to it it will be very much a sense of going home was. I wonder how the dean of Kings in 1918 would have felt if he had known that in 2018 the service of knowing the lessons and carols that he began would be so you often celebrated the world over. What is clear is that this service speaks to people afresh each year I'm Bob Chilcote and I've been exploring the enduring phenomenon that is 9 essence and carols from King's College Cambridge in England its impact both 100 years ago and today and the legacy it has a step there is for music and for people of so many traditions and backgrounds who Christmas throughout the world. You're listening to the b.b.c. World news on k. Or c c 2 Southern Colorado's n.p.r. Station broadcasts on 91.5 f.m. From our studios in Colorado Springs Colorado you can also hear cares you see in the following communities 88.5 f.m. In West Cliff and Gardner 89 point one f.m. In La Hunter 89.9 f.m. In Lyman 90 point one f.m. In Manitou Springs 91.7 f.m. In Trinidad and Raton New Mexico 94 point one f.m. 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World Service with Shai McLean and Alex Ritson great to have you with us today Jeff says his to leave the International Whaling Commission and resume commercial whaling for the 1st time in more than 30 years will get reaction to this decision Syria says its forces have shot down missiles fired by Israeli aircraft we know from the Syrian military official that weapons dump near Damascus has been fed and that 3 Syrian soldiers have been injured rescuers are using drones and dogs to find survivors of the Indonesian tsunami and further protests in Sudan as demonstrators marched on the presidential palace to demand the resignation of the amount of the Shia all of that coming up after the latest world news. Hello I'm being McHugh with the b.b.c. News a stray New Zealand have strongly criticized Japan's decision to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission in order to resume commercial whale hunting in a statement The astray in foreign minister Marie Spain described the move as regrettable more from Kim get a listen after a nearly 3 decade hiatus commercial whaling will officially resume in Japanese waters as of July 29th teen a Japanese government spokesperson said ships will only pursue whale species with healthy populations in Japan's territorial waters in economic zones the country's decision to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission means that Japan will now join Iceland and Norway and openly defying the international ban on whaling the move provoked immediate review from both the Australian and New Zealand governments as well as condemnation from conservationists like Greenpeace who call Japan's decision sneaky the trial of a Chinese human rights lawyer journey on charges of state subversion has opened behind closed doors amid tight security diplomats from Britain Germany Switzerland and the United States were denied access to the court house in the city of change in and told that proceedings were not open to the public Mr Wang to call in cases of complaints against police torture and the band of fellow religious movement. China's highest court says that in the last 3 years the country's legal system has tried more than $2800.00 cases concerning the abduction and trafficking of women and children the Supreme People's Court stated that penalties had been imposed in hundreds of cases during the same period there had been convictions in over 70000 rape cases and 11000 concerning the abuse of children a South Korean delegation is taking part in a groundbreaking ceremony in North Korea marking the symbolic launch of a joint project to reconnect the transport network across the divided peninsula the event at Panmunjom station in the border town of guess son was attended by officials from both countries as well as members of families separated when the country divided 68 years ago aid organizations in Indonesia urging people in the soon to straight hair to move to higher ground amid fears of more tsunamis because a volcanic activity and poor weather conditions in the region so I mean Hashmi reports it organizations say continued seismic activity at the noncredit power while Kaino means more tsunamis could be generated low visibility conditions have made observations difficult and authorities are not releasing much information there is already an active tsunami warning but this has been the case since the 1st one struck on Saturday night the government has since pledged doing West in a more advanced and accurate tsunami warning system Meanwhile aid and rescue efforts continue on.