262. The Missing Actor (B1 Story)

Practising English

M. A. Bilbrough Practice English Cambridge Exam Listening Grammar Vocabulary Stories Podcasting Education Speak Explanation

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4d ago 21:06

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The story audioscript for the story. The B1 words are shown in black.

The missing actor

Detective Anna Jones had a long career solving strange crimes. One rainy night, the police had called her to a dark hotel outside the village to help them. A film actor and celebrity, John Kelly, had disappeared from his locked room. The manager had knocked on the door, to bring his dinner, but there had been no reply.

Unfortunately, the local police had been careless, and Anna realised they had touched and moved objects in the room. Anna couldn’t stand this lack of professional behaviour. It made her job even more complicated.

However, she couldn’t help feeling that probably there was a simple explanation to this mystery – despite the locked door. There usually was.

Although the window had been pushed shut, it wasn’t, in fact, locked. The actor had left by the window. The room was only on the first floor. But why?

‘Search the gardens around the hotel,’ she ordered. ‘He can’t have gone far.’

Walking through the rain, Anna went in a different direction from the police.
She came to a part of the huge gardens where there was a single lamppost, and in its light, a young man was dancing and singing holding an umbrella.

‘He’s mad!’ thought Anna.

John Kelly then saw Anna. ‘Hello,’ he said.

‘Good evening, Mr Kelly. I’m Detective Jones. We’ve been looking for you. Are you all right?’

John Kelly laughed. ‘Yes, thank you! Please don’t tell anybody. They’ll think I’m crazy. But I’m practising for a play in the West end – Singing in the Rain. I saw this lovely lamppost in the hotel garden, and it was raining. I thought what a wonderful opportunity!’

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Mike Bilbrough (Secondary school English teacher and Doctor in English philology)

263 episodes

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