0:00:00 > 0:00:00The Commonwealth On Film FKA D105E/01 HDS144741
0:00:32 > 0:00:35It is with much pleasure that I greet you,
0:00:35 > 0:00:38the representatives from the Parliaments
0:00:38 > 0:00:42of all the lands within our Commonwealth family of nations
0:00:42 > 0:00:45which enjoy a responsible government.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52It has different ties of race, faith, language and finance,
0:00:52 > 0:00:55and yet the Commonwealth is there.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58It cannot be stated exactly, but it lives and works.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05Well, it should mean the relations
0:01:05 > 0:01:07between everybody of sharing and giving and taking.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16Each Commonwealth, methink, is a celebration of continuity
0:01:16 > 0:01:20in community and each is also a challenge
0:01:20 > 0:01:25to find the ways to advance that common purpose.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45We hope that everyone, artists and onlookers alike,
0:01:45 > 0:01:49will thoroughly enjoy the stimulating diversity of art forms
0:01:49 > 0:01:51from 22 Commonwealth countries.
0:02:00 > 0:02:01It's a family celebration,
0:02:01 > 0:02:05the first of its kind ever held by this great family of nations.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08Under the patronage of the Queen, as head of the Commonwealth,
0:02:08 > 0:02:09this Festival of the Arts
0:02:09 > 0:02:12will be seen in London, Cardiff, Glasgow and Liverpool.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16Music and dancing speak an international language.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18We begin our selection of some of the highlights
0:02:18 > 0:02:20with this group of Maoris from New Zealand
0:02:20 > 0:02:22performing in Trafalgar Square.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26CHOIR SINGS
0:02:37 > 0:02:40STEEL DRUMS PLAY
0:02:40 > 0:02:42A steel band from Trinidad and Tobago
0:02:42 > 0:02:46gives a beat for the lithe, athletic limbo dancers.
0:03:01 > 0:03:02We saw one of the highlights
0:03:02 > 0:03:05of these limber limbo dancers at the Albert Hall -
0:03:05 > 0:03:08flaming limbo under a bar soaked in paraffin.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18The Ministry of Works objected to us seeing the naked truth
0:03:18 > 0:03:21in Trafalgar Square, but there was no censorship on the stage.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23In fact, the Sierra Leone dancers
0:03:23 > 0:03:25acquired a lot of useful advance publicity
0:03:25 > 0:03:27thanks to the Ministry's sensitivity.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31So far, there has been more controversy
0:03:31 > 0:03:33about whether your girl dancers should appear
0:03:33 > 0:03:35dressed or half-dressed than anything.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37What is your viewpoint on that?
0:03:37 > 0:03:38Well, I think it's unfortunate
0:03:38 > 0:03:41because we offer so much more than just bare-breasted dancers.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44We have a very unique culture. My objection is one of principle.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47Here we are invited to participate in a strictly cultural festival
0:03:47 > 0:03:50as a member country of the Commonwealth
0:03:50 > 0:03:52and the Mother Country, as it were, that plays host to us
0:03:52 > 0:03:56demands that it should present it, at least at Trafalgar Square,
0:03:56 > 0:03:58according to their own tradition.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01I think it's ludicrous when you turn it the other way round.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03If English dancers were to come to Sierra Leone
0:04:03 > 0:04:07and participate in a festival of this nature, which is strictly cultural,
0:04:07 > 0:04:10and we told them that our dancers danced in semi-nudity,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13therefore the English dancers should dance in semi-nudity,
0:04:13 > 0:04:17I'm sure they would be just as appalled as I am.
0:04:24 > 0:04:33HUBERT OGUNDE SINGS
0:04:36 > 0:04:38Meet Chief Hubert Ogunde,
0:04:38 > 0:04:40showman extraordinary
0:04:40 > 0:04:42and father, or Baba, as we say,
0:04:42 > 0:04:45of the Nigerian popular travelling theatre.
0:04:50 > 0:04:55I write the story of what is happening in the society.
0:04:55 > 0:04:56That is how I believe it.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59It may be social, it may be religious,
0:04:59 > 0:05:03it may be folkloric and may be political, if you like.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05But, to me,
0:05:05 > 0:05:10the theatre is to reflect the image of the society in which we live.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15In this society of ours, it is not surprising that nowadays Ogunde
0:05:15 > 0:05:18is writing plays which brings traditional ideas
0:05:18 > 0:05:20face-to-face with modern life.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31His two senior wives are jealous of the new young wife,
0:05:31 > 0:05:32a sweet natured girl,
0:05:32 > 0:05:36who the King has recently married.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Forced to do a servant's work, she is told to fetch water
0:05:39 > 0:05:42so the more senior wife can take her bath.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15It's the familiar folktales of his people
0:06:15 > 0:06:17that Ogunde takes into his theatre.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23They grow out of Ogunde's own village background.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26Here, masked performers, or Masqueraders as they are called,
0:06:26 > 0:06:28would entertain.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32They dance and sing stories about the trial for good over evil,
0:06:32 > 0:06:34of life over death.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43Here in the village, everybody joins in.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46No Nigerian is prepared to just sit and watch a show!
0:06:46 > 0:06:49Our audience may be a bit different
0:06:49 > 0:06:52from the white audiences I have seen,
0:06:52 > 0:06:54in that our audience really talk back to you.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56They will speak to you.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01They will even say some words for you to say back to them.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05And so you can know the way they are going,
0:07:05 > 0:07:07unlike in Europe or in Britain,
0:07:07 > 0:07:12where people just sit down quietly like that and watch.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16Here, the audiences are part of the show.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33Throughout eastern Canada,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37and here at Ironsides, near Ottawa, the sugar bush becomes a lively spot.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40The students of St Alexander's College get a holiday
0:07:40 > 0:07:43to go into the woods and collect sap.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00In case you don't know it, this is the sap of the maple,
0:08:00 > 0:08:03which we boil in long vats in the sugar house
0:08:03 > 0:08:05and then draw off to be canned.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07This is maple syrup.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20On weekends, Ottawans, especially the kids,
0:08:20 > 0:08:25take a trip to Ironsides just a sample the maple sugar taffy.
0:08:33 > 0:08:38The taffy is hardened on pans of snow and there is plenty for everyone.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00Our folk arts in Pakistan are so rich in content,
0:09:00 > 0:09:03so deeply rooted in our soil,
0:09:03 > 0:09:07that we are not frightened of new industry drying them up.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10In Pakistan, they are part of life.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13Their themes are universal.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17One of them, in East Pakistan, deals with the harvest.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19THEY SING
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Across to Central Africa and its broadcasting service.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08This is the Central African broadcasting station...
0:10:08 > 0:10:11A handful of men operate this station,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14yet its true value is incalculable.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16In our country, where the written word
0:10:16 > 0:10:20has never governed the understanding of my people,
0:10:20 > 0:10:24the spoken word is now spreading knowledge and enlightenment.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Nothing has brought the ways of this century
0:10:27 > 0:10:30more convincingly to distant villages than broadcasting.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37MUSIC PLAYS
0:11:10 > 0:11:15A complete service, in every sense, is provided by Lusaka Radio.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19Our service is technically run by 12 engineers,
0:11:19 > 0:11:22for two million of my fellow countrymen.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26Only a fraction of that number has been able to afford sets,
0:11:26 > 0:11:28but cheap saucepan radios
0:11:28 > 0:11:33and group listening habits are widening the audiences every year.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38It is our service which reminds us not merely of European achievements,
0:11:38 > 0:11:41but of our own civilisation too.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44From noon to nine, the Central African Air
0:11:44 > 0:11:48links our villages on one wavelength.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52THUMB PIANO PLAYS
0:12:04 > 0:12:07What was once the pleasure of a privileged few,
0:12:07 > 0:12:09is now freely offered to millions.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11For radio links together the homes of India,
0:12:11 > 0:12:14the North to the South, the East to the West,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17helping a nation to know itself.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24RADIO PLAYS
0:12:34 > 0:12:38The freedom is yours to listen to whatever you please.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21Hong Kong is one of the richest cities in the world,
0:13:21 > 0:13:24but it still has to cope with the problem
0:13:24 > 0:13:29of fitting three million people into its usable area of 62 square miles.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31It's a problem that's hard to get away from,
0:13:31 > 0:13:34but I did manage to take an hour or so off
0:13:34 > 0:13:37to look at one of the famous floating restaurants.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40What happens is that when you arrive,
0:13:40 > 0:13:44your car is descended on by a horde of healthy, strapping Chinese girls
0:13:44 > 0:13:46who offer to row you across in their sampans.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48Well, I've already been selected by mine.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51There she is, waiting there to make sure I don't get away.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55Well, she's just about to row us across to our floating restaurant.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57OK, let's go.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04Well, there are the floating restaurants, just behind me.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06The thing that gave me the idea of coming out here
0:14:06 > 0:14:09was something I read in a magazine and it said,
0:14:09 > 0:14:11"Have you ever eaten a fish that was alive ten minutes earlier
0:14:11 > 0:14:15"on a floating house-like junk, that is made into a fairyland
0:14:15 > 0:14:19"of lights and rests on a lake of polished black lacquer?"
0:14:19 > 0:14:21That's the sea here.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23"Have you ever eaten crab," it says,
0:14:23 > 0:14:26"cooked in a sauce invented in the Ming Dynasty?
0:14:26 > 0:14:29"Have you seen a million lights in the water
0:14:29 > 0:14:33"and a million lights above, while you ate shrimps as soft as butter
0:14:33 > 0:14:37"and sipped Chinese wine like old scented sherry?"
0:14:37 > 0:14:39Well, personally, I can't wait!
0:14:49 > 0:14:53I just didn't know there were so many different kinds of fish around.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55There were over 1,000 different varieties,
0:14:55 > 0:14:59all swimming around in tanks for you to choose from.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01I suppose if you were very particular,
0:15:01 > 0:15:03you could even select the particular one you wanted.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09When you think of the choice offered by 1,000 different
0:15:09 > 0:15:12kinds of fish by about 100 different ways of cooking them,
0:15:12 > 0:15:15it was a bit surprising to find that nearly all of the customers
0:15:15 > 0:15:19in the restaurant were, in fact, actually playing mah jong
0:15:19 > 0:15:23and not eating fish at all, not even a bit of boiled cod.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26But I hadn't been rowed all the way out to the floating restaurant
0:15:26 > 0:15:30by that strong, silent woman just to play mah jong.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44Well, I've had eight courses tonight and each one of them was fish.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46I've got the chopsticks to prove it!
0:15:46 > 0:15:50The only thing I didn't get was fish ice cream. Good night.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01There are still great blanks on the world television map.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03India has only a tiny experimental service.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07The Union of South Africa has declared itself against television.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11But, elsewhere in native Africa, it is starting in a few places -
0:16:11 > 0:16:14in Rhodesia and here in Nigeria.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16Everybody is watching Ibadan,
0:16:16 > 0:16:19capital of the Western region of Nigeria,
0:16:19 > 0:16:22which won the race for the prestige of being first
0:16:22 > 0:16:24and started programmes at the end of 1959.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27What will television do to Nigeria?
0:16:27 > 0:16:30And what is Nigeria doing with television?
0:16:32 > 0:16:33THEY CHANT
0:16:33 > 0:16:36HE SPEAKS IN NATIVE TONGUE
0:16:40 > 0:16:44OK, now, can we just rehearse the chant once more, please?
0:16:44 > 0:16:47THEY CHANT
0:16:47 > 0:16:50Here in Africa, it's just the beginning.
0:16:50 > 0:16:51The service is mainly in English,
0:16:51 > 0:16:53although many of the people in Nigeria,
0:16:53 > 0:16:58particularly the women and children, don't understand English.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Camera two, release now. Pull right back.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03Go to the studio, establish shot number one.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05All right, come in a bit more.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07So far, not many sets have been sold,
0:17:07 > 0:17:09but those that have been sold
0:17:09 > 0:17:12are watched by 40 or 50 people at a time.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15The Governor General, who arrived in London on a five-week visit,
0:17:15 > 0:17:18relaxed yesterday in his London hotel
0:17:18 > 0:17:21as no official engagements were scheduled.
0:17:22 > 0:17:2560 miles away at the village of Igigbo
0:17:25 > 0:17:27is Africa's first community viewing centre.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32For a few pennies, the villagers can come and see the evening's programmes.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35- Go on, get in there.- Dad!
0:17:35 > 0:17:38One move out of either of you and I will blast her to bits.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40Drop that gun.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42And those who can't afford to pay can get a glimpse
0:17:42 > 0:17:43of it all through the fence.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47- Struck it rich, huh?- The joke's on you, you snivelling skunk!
0:17:47 > 0:17:52The mine tunnel fell down and hid the vein. There ain't any gold!
0:17:53 > 0:17:55I don't envy you.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01Put a shot in what's left!
0:18:01 > 0:18:04GUNSHOTS FROM WESTERN ON TV
0:18:05 > 0:18:07Now throw down your guns!
0:18:07 > 0:18:08APPLAUSE
0:18:14 > 0:18:19In the Punjab, harvest time gives birth to spontaneous dancing,
0:18:19 > 0:18:23following no rule or technique - the bhangra.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26Beat the drum vigorously, oh, drummer,
0:18:26 > 0:18:30this world will last only for today and none will stay forever.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35THEY SING
0:18:52 > 0:18:56Hey, mate! Can you tell me something?
0:18:56 > 0:18:59Is it Ancient Egyptians or Ancient Romans?
0:18:59 > 0:19:01We're Egyptians, mate!
0:19:01 > 0:19:04Egyptians, that's what I thought, yeah, yeah.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06To look at Australian pleasure,
0:19:06 > 0:19:07a good place to start is here,
0:19:07 > 0:19:12at Sydney's annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15It is the extreme public expression of our national hedonism
0:19:15 > 0:19:17for gays and straights alike.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22It attracts well over half a million people
0:19:22 > 0:19:26and a few years ago it actually outdrew the Pope's visit to Sydney.
0:19:26 > 0:19:31It would have been unimaginable in the Australia of my youth.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35Listen, just do me a favour and vogue a bit, will you?
0:19:35 > 0:19:38Fantastic, thank you!
0:19:38 > 0:19:40During the warm-up to the parade
0:19:40 > 0:19:43I met my date for the evening, Vanessa Wagner,
0:19:43 > 0:19:45who hosts its television coverage.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49See, I've got no basis of comparison
0:19:49 > 0:19:51because I've never actually been
0:19:51 > 0:19:53to a Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras before.
0:19:53 > 0:19:58But I have the impression that it is somewhat less ideological
0:19:58 > 0:20:02in its spirit than the ones that I've been to the United States.
0:20:02 > 0:20:03Do you think that is true?
0:20:03 > 0:20:04I think so.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08People are fighting all the time to get their messages across,
0:20:08 > 0:20:10so I see it as a celebration.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13It's a celebration of pleasure, fundamentally, isn't it?
0:20:13 > 0:20:14It is, and it's also a chance
0:20:14 > 0:20:16to actually give the viewers in Australia
0:20:16 > 0:20:19- something to actually put on their colour television sets.- Yes.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22Let's face it, we've had colour television for a long time
0:20:22 > 0:20:24and we don't really utilise it.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26You certainly do that, mate!
0:20:26 > 0:20:30It is the finest cross-cultural codpiece I've seen in my whole life,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33not that I have seen many, but that is really a beauty.
0:20:33 > 0:20:38Since 1959, the west end of Kingston, Jamaica,
0:20:38 > 0:20:42has throbbed with a musical beat.
0:20:42 > 0:20:47A hypnotic sound of surging excitement and power.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50People hearing it became caught up in a frenzy
0:20:50 > 0:20:56and couldn't help moving to this pulsating, almost religious beat.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59This is ska!
0:21:01 > 0:21:05SKA MUSIC PLAYS
0:21:06 > 0:21:10Yes, this is ska - original and indigenous.
0:21:10 > 0:21:17The music of guitar, saxophone, trumpet, bass and drums.
0:21:17 > 0:21:22These instruments are playing a monotonic grassroot rhythm.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25There are four basic steps to the ska.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29The first is to keep the beat with the upper half of the body,
0:21:29 > 0:21:33bowing forward with a straight back and a slight bend in both knees.
0:21:33 > 0:21:39Basic step number two is practically the same as step number one,
0:21:39 > 0:21:42but with the addition of a sidestep.
0:21:42 > 0:21:48Step number three is, once again, very similar. Only the arms change.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52First right, then left swing up and down in front of the body,
0:21:52 > 0:21:56finishing with a body beat when the right arm is in the air,
0:21:56 > 0:21:59and then when the left arm is in the air.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02Finally, our fourth basic step.
0:22:02 > 0:22:07This is perhaps the most energetic of all the basics ska steps.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11It is being done by two members of the band and is called rowing.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27On a flyblown rubbish dump at on the edge of the city,
0:22:27 > 0:22:30the Lucknow Kite Flying Association organises kite tournaments
0:22:30 > 0:22:34in which the object is to cut down your opponent's kite
0:22:34 > 0:22:36using a string that's been basted with powdered glass
0:22:36 > 0:22:41and not only is the undisciplined tangle encouraged, it is obligatory.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44Until the strings of the two kites are in a tangle,
0:22:44 > 0:22:46the contest can't begin.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06You just take it in the air and it will go on.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08- It will just go on its own?- Yes.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11- Not for me, it won't!- Really? - Will it?- Yes, it will!
0:23:11 > 0:23:13Well, it never does on Wimbledon Common!
0:23:13 > 0:23:17- Pull it from that side and leave the string gradually.- Right.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21You see, I am a curse on kites!
0:23:21 > 0:23:26You get it in the air and leave the string.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32To the anarchic uncertainties of kite flying
0:23:32 > 0:23:34- will the damn thing go up? -
0:23:34 > 0:23:36is added the absolutely undisciplined activity
0:23:36 > 0:23:39of various ragged parties who control the betting.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42Under the leadership of an ancient zealot, who, on this occasion,
0:23:42 > 0:23:45had gambled his own false teeth and lost.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04This is Jamaica - island in the sun.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08In June of every year, as if on a cue for beauty,
0:24:08 > 0:24:10the whole island gets ready for the season's crop
0:24:10 > 0:24:12of lovely girls to appear.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15This is a time when one sees smiles that one has never seen before,
0:24:15 > 0:24:17new faces.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23The girls who have been chosen to compete for the title
0:24:23 > 0:24:27set out to meet and be met by as many different people as possible.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29Suddenly, the girls are everywhere.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35They arrive at the races, and, that day,
0:24:35 > 0:24:39horses are not the only favourites being discussed as winners.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45After Kingston, the scene shifts
0:24:45 > 0:24:47to the Casa Montego Hotel in Montego Bay,
0:24:47 > 0:24:51which is the thriving centre of the tourist industry in the island.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54A perfect setting for the most essential ritual
0:24:54 > 0:24:58of any beauty contest, the poolside parade.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05By this time, each girl has sorted herself out from the crowd.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08She is no longer just a pretty and new face.
0:25:08 > 0:25:10She has become a new person, too,
0:25:10 > 0:25:13capable of capturing an audience all her own.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16Steadily building up a following day by day.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20At last, the night of the finals and the Grand Ball arrives.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22Dressed in beautiful gowns,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25created specially for them by the leading couturiers in the island,
0:25:25 > 0:25:28feeling a little nervous, perhaps, but managing to hide it
0:25:28 > 0:25:31with the experience of the past few weeks behind them.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34Visiting beauty queens from neighbouring lands sympathise,
0:25:34 > 0:25:37for they can remember all too well the turbulent feeling
0:25:37 > 0:25:39hidden behind the easy elegance.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45It is beautiful Margarette Luas,
0:25:45 > 0:25:47fittingly, one of the first girls
0:25:47 > 0:25:49anyone arriving in Jamaica is likely to meet,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52for she is a ground hostess at Kingston's Palisadoes Airport.
0:25:52 > 0:25:57She is crowned by last year's Miss Jamaica, Judy Willoughby,
0:25:57 > 0:25:59and as she smilingly hands over the crown of office,
0:25:59 > 0:26:03it's as though Judy is saying, enjoy every minute of this,
0:26:03 > 0:26:06nothing quite like it will ever happen again.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17Marlborough House in fashion-conscious London
0:26:17 > 0:26:20is the scene of a display of fashion from the Commonwealth
0:26:20 > 0:26:22and Princess Margaret is the guest of honour.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28The idea is that models from one country show fashions from another,
0:26:28 > 0:26:33like this girl from Singapore in a white mink coat from London.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36Vivienne from India in a Persian-style ensemble.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46From Nigeria, a Nigerian blouse and skirt.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48Nigeria's University College Hospital at Ibadan
0:26:48 > 0:26:50is also among the beneficiaries.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53So, too, are many of the research projects
0:26:53 > 0:26:55of the East African University.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00From Singapore, Mona, dressed Singapore style.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03This model is called Lady Precious Stream.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07Worth its weight in gold, 20 pounds of it!
0:27:07 > 0:27:10Girl and dress come from Pakistan.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14The dress is 100 years old, the girl rather younger.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17An English rose from an English garden,
0:27:17 > 0:27:21Stephanie in a London-style multi-mini skirt and full cape.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31Washed by the waters of the Arabian Sea,
0:27:31 > 0:27:35on the west coast of India is the region of South Canara.
0:27:36 > 0:27:41One of our enthusiastically attended sports is buffalo racing.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12The end of the race - back to work.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21If you'd like to learn more
0:28:21 > 0:28:24and trace the progress of the English language across the Commonwealth
0:28:24 > 0:28:30through an interactive timeline, go to bbc.co.uk/commonwealthonfilm
0:28:30 > 0:28:34and follow the link to the open University.