英语听力精选进阶版 14125（在线收听）

'Revolutionary' dancer

Summary

31 May 2010

Secret documents recently made public show that the British ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn was heavily involved in a plot to overthrow the government of Panama in 1959.

Reporter:

Rebecca Jones

Report

The Foreign Office documents reveal Dame Margot Fonteyn was suspected of being far more involved in the attempted coup than previously thought. They accuse her of complicity, of knowing that her husband was gathering weapons and rebels.

The British Ambassador to Panama condemned her conduct as "highly reprehensible and irresponsible". He said it "wasn't fitting in any British subject, let alone someone who's been highly honoured by the Queen".

After her arrest in Panama and subsequent release, Dame Margot flew to London where she met the Foreign Office Minister John Profumo. In a memo, which has also just been released, he reveals she told him she'd met Fidel Castro, who promised to help her husband overthrow the Panamanian government.

Profumo writes he had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming what he describes as the "comic opera story".

Rebecca Jones, BBC Arts Correspondent