INTRODUCTION

Holiday Time

Some of the stories are quite similar to what you would normally find in our Outlook or real.time sections. That is particularly true of the main feature each day.

Last week, Holiday Time had a feature that I thought might interest many of you who use our Friday Post tips column. I have reproduced most of it for you on this page.

The focus of the feature is young television personality Suthipongse "Heart" Thatphitakkul. You will find out a lot about the kind of person he is, but pay particular attention to the parts that explain how he became so successful. As you read, consider the following:

1. What was the one event which gave his career the biggest boost, i.e., what was the "break" that began his rapid climb to television fame?
2. Why is his English so good?
3. What kind of career did he train for?
4. The writer says that for a long time, he had a "double life". What does that mean?
5. Is Suthipongse the kind of person you would expect to find late at night in a fancy night club? Why or why not?
6. The first sentence of the story (beginning with "Cutting short a session…") is very long and full of details. This is something most writers try to avoid doing. Why do you think this writer began with such a long sentence.
   
   a) to begin with as much important information as possible
   b) to create a fast-moving, busy feeling
   c) to make the information easier and faster to read
   

Got to have Heart One time pop star Suthipongse – Heart – Thatphitakkul is one of Thailand’s most sought after TV news anchors and show hosts Perfectly poised fot the Channel 3 news Sirima Chaiyawat Cutting short a session at a swanky fitness club to dash a couple of blocks to Channel 3 HQ at The Emporium Towers for a rendezvous with Holiday Time in his dressing room moments before going on air to read a prime-time evening news segment at 8 and fielding frequent calls on his mobile along the way, this is how the star formerly known as "Heart" spends most of his waking hours these days. It all started to pile up around the end of 1998 when MC Traipop Limprapat of Millionaire Millennium and Twilight fame called him in to co-host an interview with Ricky "the pelvis" Martin. Having spent his formative years in Bangkok, followed by high school and university in the US, Suthipongse was one of a handful of professional presenters with the necessary bilingual skills. After that, the phone started ringing and "I haven’t stopped working since", he explains. Things really got rolling after the Asian Games in late ‘99 when there was a major change in the news presentation style. "Having traditionally trailed Channel 7 in the ratings battle, the powers-that-be at Channel 3 hit upon a more entertaining approach and gave me the job of delivering the off-beat items on the 7.30 ‘News Pulse’ slot," he recalls. Currently you can catch him hosting "Real TV", a slice of life home video show from Hollywood where they splice the original presenter out and insert Suthipongse instead. Then there’s "Prisana"(Riddles), a quiz show for Thai high school kids on ITV and a "Wheel of Fortune" makeover with a tasty top prize of 1 million baht on Channel 7. Plus he reads the news in English on Channel 11. And to cap it all, the man with heart has acquired cult status as co-presenter of Thailand’s most talked-about sex education programme which airs late night Thursdays on Channel 3. So it’s busy, busy, busy these days for Suthipongse. But the path ahead hasn’t always been so clearly defined. Son of a senior bureaucrat, he worked his way up from a modest background and was groomed for a similar career path. Leaving Bangkok at age 12 to attend junior high school in Tennessee, he stayed for high school in California and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics at UCLA. Pursuing his musical interests stateside eventually led to a partnership with Bird and the release of Hang glai (far away) which had a long season in the sun on Thailand’s radio play lists in 1998. A follow-up album also faired well in the charts. But as successful as the albums were, it was not enough to persuade Suthipongse to throw off the more serious-minded career his father had planned for him. "I realised that you can’t make hits forever, even Elvis had his day," he says. And so he continued with his UCLA studies, finally getting his masters in 1991 at age 25. After that he immediately took up a position with the Department of Export Promotion. Even so, he was destined to continue leading a double life after landing a part- time job reading the news in English on "Good Morning Thailand", a Channel 9 morning programme launched by the Thai government. It was there that he first worked with and developed great admiration for Dr Yongyut Mayulat, a current Channel 5 newscaster. But as strong as the team was, the timing was wrong and the show went off the air in 1994. By that time, Suthipongse had flitted from the DEP to the Interior Ministry. "It was enough for me to realise how much I hated being a civil servant," he reflects. The only problem was how to break the news to Dad. "I managed to get round that one by telling him I was quitting the government to run for parliament with the Prachakorn Thai Party." Dad gave his blessing. But it was not enough. Suthipongse didn’t make it. "About that time, friends started telling me that if I wanted to get into politics I had to make a name for myself first and they said the best way to do that was to read the news. After all, there you have an instant audience of millions. I took their advice and fronted up to the then boss of Channel 7, Khun Surang Prengpree, and lo and behold she took me on board." "Most people have to serve their time, working their way up from being a reporter and such, so it was amazing good fortune just to walk into the job like that." And there he stayed, getting a little better known every day for the next two and half years. "Then suddenly they fired me – no reason." Once again, Suthipongse took the crisis as a cue to try his hand at politics, this time allowing Sudarat Keyuraphan to persuade him to stand for office in the Bangkok City Council elections of 1998. But just in case, he also applied to Channel 3 to read the news and got the job. In all, he’d only been off the air for a couple of months. Suthipongse — research amd preparation in his office "Again I didn’t win but it was then that I started to become a winner at Channel 3," he recalls. And the rest, as they say, is history. The only outstanding question then is how he enjoys all the fame and plaudits coming his way. "I’m a pretty regular guy. I don’t drink or smoke – not out of any virtue, just because I don’t enjoy it. So I don’t go out and party after work or anything like that. My only indulgence is good food," he admits. swanky very expensive and fashionable rendezvous a meeting pelvis the area below the waist and above the legs, i.e., the part of the body Ricky Martin likes to shake formative years the early years in which a child’s knowledge, experience and character are formed handful a very small number off-beat strange in an interesting way splice out to cut out of a film makeover a change or adaptation cap to be the final of a series cult status something which has a very loyal group of followers bureaucrat permanent government official (i.e., a civil servant) groomed specially prepared junior high school (in US) Grades 7-8, usually at ages 12-13 high school (in US) grades 9-12, usually ages 14-17 or 18 lo and behold a saying used to introduce something surprising and interesting plaudits praise indulgence something which you allow yourself to do or use to excess

Follow up activity

Here is another example of a very common word which has some less common meanings. Read the example sentences and try to figure them out. Then answer the question at the end. deliver (da LIV er) Lawyer Sirichai Piyapicketkul failed to deliver on his promise to present the news media with convincing proof that Thai police took a 25-million-baht bribe to allow Indian mafia boss Chhota Rajan to escape. Abhisit Vejajiva, deputy leader of the Democrat Party, said a Thai Rak Thai government will be unable to deliver on its ambitious policy proposals and will have to water them down in the face of budget limitations. TV reporter Arthur Duke arrived dripping wet from the rain to deliver a live report on a massive tornado that had almost taken his life. Even though the mother was in her early forties – quite old for giving birth for the first time – doctors had no difficulty delivering the child. 1. From the example sentences it is clear that deliver can have all the following meanings except: to give to carry out a promise to pay a bill to assist in a birth Go to, then bookmark our words in the news so you can check out new words six days a week.

Thai schools are closed for the New Year break, so post tips will take a break too. We’ll be back on Friday, January 5 with another classroom lesson plus Exploring the Premier League and Words in the News.

See you then!