Podcast 54 - The Tudor Conspiracy (chapter 8)

Vocabulary listening test - the words to listen out for in context

Chapter starts at 4:47

Old manuscripts

Fake / forgery
"I’m sorry to tell you but that quarto is a fake."
"A what?" said Isabel, looking across at Philip and then back to David.
"A fake, a forgery," said David. "It’s not authentic."

Gaze (verb)
Philip moved over beside her and looked too. Both were silent as they gazed. Eventually, Isabel was able to focus her eyes on the cover, which read, in a beautiful script, The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth. Under that, it said The Prologue and then Actus Primus, Scena Prima.

Gaze (noun)
His gaze then wandered to the other side of the road. The car was still there. It had been there for over an hour. David then looked up and down the road. He must be there somewhere. Anyway, that was his problem now.

Nod
Then Isabel spoke. "David. We want to tell you the real reason we are interested in the Henry VIII quarto." She looked at Philip for his reaction. Philip nodded, so Isabel continued. "We have been sent to look for this quarto because apparently there is an undiscovered Shakespeare play inside."

Out of breath
Isabel arrived at the door first and Philip came just after very much out of breath. They both looked at the front door – the only door into the premises. It was locked, and there was no 'closed' sign in the window.

Stain
On one page, there was a brown ring, which looked like a coffee stain. Isabel began to dig into her knowledge of history and tried to remember whether people drank coffee in the 17th century, or perhaps the stain occurred in a later century.

Takeaway
"Sorry, you must have thought I was closed. I just went out to get a spot of lunch and I got talking to a mate of mine and forgot the time. I must have been over an hour chatting, so I just grabbed a takeaway in the end. Have you been waiting long?"

Read this novel while you listen. B2 level students: The Tudor Conspiracy...