As we were going to Hungry, Kally prepared some delicious Hungarian Goulash, complete with sour cream and roasted cheese bread. Hungarian music played as we gathered, and pieced together what we could remember about Hungry.
Children’s Rhyme
Long-legged Italy,
Kicked poor Sicily,
Right into the middle
Of the Mediterranean Sea.
Austria was Hungary,
Took a bit of Turkey,
Dipped it in Greece,
Fried it in Japan,
And ate it off in China.
Stamps from Magyar, if Magyar is Hungry, why do we call it Hungry? After the Huns we thought
- A few of us went as far as Austria, but had not ventured into Hungry. But Mell did, for healing treatment for her son called Conductive Physiotherepy.
- Buddha and Pest – separated by the River Danube
- Patrick Leigh Fermoy, in his book A Time of Gifts, described his journey though Europe including Hungry in 1933, witnessing the rise of Nazi Germany. ‘Ill met by Moonlight’ is a fictional film of Fermoy’s time as a secret agent
- Fast dancing, music, the Hungarian Rapsody, wild parties
- Embroidered textiles
- I got fleeced by a taxi driver in Budhapest
- We bought furniture from Hungry – beautiful painted furniture that we sold here
- A pronographic watch
Esther’s story
Esther was born in 1944, in south Horsham in a place called The Harbour. Her family moved to Broadbridge Heath, buying a house off plan. To Reading to University where Esther studied Italian and French, and travelled to both those countries: Lyon and Naples. With some regret she returned to Reading, to the BBC Monitoring Service, from Caversham Park. Here among the staff of around 500 linguists, analysts, and radio monitors, she met Andrew, at a party, and she liked him.
Andrew’s Story
Andrew was born in 1947 in Tolna, a fishing village outside Budapest. He remembers the 1956 Hungarian Revolution: the Russian tanks entering the city, kids laying ines, and having to dodge bullets. In 1957 his family – mother father and Andrew, emigrated to England, where he settled into the Worthing Hungarian School, in which he learned a lot of Polish. In London, he sat next to Hilary, whose work he coppied including her signature. His dad used to take him out to Lyons corner house for tea. After studying languages at Sussex University, he came to London and rocked up at the BBC Monitoring Services.
Rachel’s videos – including many from the Elders – are here. The short video to Timbuktoo the longer video to Timbukto en suite (45 min
