Rebecca Byrne. Hi Rebecca.

Rebecca: Hi Kate.

Kate: Well, I'm happy to say that summer is finally here and the sun is shining

(although in the UK we can never be sure for how long ….). But, for the

moment anyway, everyone seems to be sunning themselves outside in parks

and gardens while they try to build up their tans.

Rebecca: Yes, the practice of 'tanning' or making your skin go brown is very popular

with some people here in the UK. It's probably because the weather is not so

good for most of the year and people associate being tanned with feeling and

looking healthy.

Kate: Tanning is so popular that often you can see very dark, tanned people in the

middle of winter which is always rather surprising…

Rebecca: Well yes, but I'm sorry to tell you in most cases it's unlikely that their tan will

be real. Most of the time, it's fake and comes from a special cream or from

going on a sunbed. A sunbed is a machine which produces light similar to

sunlight. You can lie down on it and it gives you a tan similar to one you

would get if you sunbathed on a beach. So you can see why sunbeds are they

popular in colder countries! 

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Kate: But being tanned or brown hasn't always been desirable in our society. Here's

my question for this week. Which designer first made it fashionable to have

tanned skin?

a) Yves Saint Laurent

b) Coco Channel

c) Gianni Versace

Rebecca: answers

Kate: We'll find out the correct answer at the end of the programme. Having a tan is

regarded differently all over the world. In some countries it's seen as attractive

and in other parts of the world, people want to be as pale as possible.

What about you Rebecca, are you trying to get a tan this summer?

Rebecca: answers

Kate: I'm afraid I'm the same – I never really try to get a tan.

Rebecca: I know, I think we're both living in the wrong era in history as before the 20th

century, the fashion was for pale skin. Only the poor were tanned as they often

had to work outside and the upper classes covered their bodies, and hid behind

wide brimmed hats (hats which provide lots of shade) and parasols (a type of

sunshade which looks a bit like an umbrella designed to provide shade from

the sun) or they even used cosmetics to make their skin look lighter.

Kate: But by the 1920s, being outdoors had become fashionable and having a tan was

suddenly in vogue or fashionable and since then many women have aspired to

have brown skin. Now we're going to hear from a lady called Ilda De Vico. She

mentions a sun lounger – this is a type of long chair which people lie down on

to sunbathe. Have a listen…does she like tanning or does she prefer to stay pale? 

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Extract 1

When we go on holiday, I do not move from my sun lounger and all I do is turn while my

husband bastes me so I can get the maximum amount of sun I can, to get as brown as I can, to

relax and do absolutely nothing.

Rebecca: Wow – she sounds like a professional sun worshipper (this is when someone

likes sunbathing very much). She said her husband 'bastes' her – a very

strange choice of word as baste means to grease a piece of meat while it is

cooking.

Kate: Hmm…..Have another listen – see if you can hear exactly what her views are

on being brown. She mentions 'fake tan' – what's this?

Rebecca: Fake tan refers to a type of body cream which essentially dyes your skin

brown.

Extract 2

Everyone thinks they look better brown. You see everyone out there and it's either their makeup,

their foundation, the fake tan. You see the celebs on TV, they're all sprayed up. Being

tanned is popular.

Rebecca: She definitely thinks that people look better brown and thinks that it is very

popular at the moment. She mentioned ways of creating a false tan – 'makeup',

'foundation' and 'fake tan'. These are all types of creams to create a tan.

She also mentioned the word celeb – this is short for celebrities– famous

people who appear in magazines and on TV. Some celebrities are very

tanned indeed.

Kate: Well, that might be so but personally I don’t really like the fake tan look.

Some people just overdo it and end up looking orange! 

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Let's have look at the vocabulary we've come across today:

sunbed is a machine which produces light similar to sunlight. You can lie down on it and it

gives you a tan similar to one you would get if you sunbathed on a beach.

wide brimmed hats which are hats which provide lots of shade

parasols a type of sunshade which looks a bit like an umbrella designed to provide shade

from the sun

in vogue means to be fashionable

sun lounger is a type of long chair which you lie down on to sunbathe

sun worshipper is when someone likes sunbathing very much

bastes means to grease a piece of meat while it is cooking.

fake tan refers to a type of body cream which essentially dyes your skin brown.

celeb or celebrities which are famous people who appear in magazines and on TV

Kate: And finally the answer to the question I asked you earlier. Which fashion designer

made tanning popular? The correct answer was in fact Coco Channel. In 1923,

after cruising from Paris to Cannes, designer Coco Chanel stepped off a yacht

with a suntan which she had apparently got by mistake. The press and fashion

world assumed she was making a fashion statement and since that day, sunbathing

has been popular.

Kate: That's all we have time for today. Until next time. Goodbye.