Nat & Andy: A Love Story

After a freezing week in Northern France, unearthing thousands of photos of Aussie Diggers from WWI, we were glad to go to the ever-so-slightly warmer city of Wurzburg in Germany (trust me those few degrees really make a difference). We were there to tell the inspirational story of a young couple who’d endured more than most people could manage.

Natalie Langworthy and Andy Fairclough are both British but have lived in Australia for many years. They met in 2007 through mutual friends and – as they told us – it was pretty much love at first sight. Both were young, fit, sporty and enthusiastic about life; now they had found true love, they had found the person they wanted to grow old with. In September 2008 Nat fell pregnant. Incredibly excited, she devised an intricate ‘treasure hunt’ inside their flat to break the news to Andy. The treasure hunt trail finally led to the oven – inside she had placed a bun. Andy was overjoyed.

Sunday Night tracks down an Aussie treasure

The outbreak of World War I was greeted with great enthusiasm in Australia and, before England even declared war on Germany, the Australian Prime Minister Joseph Cook pledged support for the Mother Country and mobilized troops. Little did the Australian soldiers know the horrors that awaited them – 52% of the 400,000 Aussie troops were killed or severely wounded.

After having fought in German New Guinea, Gallipoli and the Middle East, in 1916 the Anzacs were posted to the Western Front in France and Belgium. During two years of trench warfare the Australians suffered 115,000 casualties in battles like Fromelles, Bullecourt, Messines, Pozieres and Villers-Bretonneux.

Many wives, parents, sons and daughters lost loved ones in these massacres, and due to the lack of communication of the day, they often remained completely ignorant of how their loved ones died, or even where they died or where they were buried.

Apologies

I apologize for the delay in blog updates, but many of the stories I have been working on have not yet been broadcast. Over the next couple of weeks most of them will go to air, so stay tuned for more!

Hippos of the Luangwa

The Luangwa River in Zambia is one of the four biggest rivers in Africa and is a major tributary of the mighty Zambezi. It is also home to the largest hippo population in the world. During the dry season (March until November) the river shrinks, and the hippopotami (better known as hippos) are forced into ever-diminishing living spaces forming bigger and bigger herd (or pods). Hippos as a norm aren’t peaceful beasts (in fact they are considered by many the most aggressive and dangerous of the African wildlife), and as the pods grow larger spectacular fights rage along the river.

Africa! I was going to Africa! I could hardly believe my luck when my father told me that we were going to shoot two stories in the Dark Continent, first stop Zambia.

Roman cuisine: over 2000 years it hasn’t changed much 25/10/2010 – 28/10/2010

The Roman Empire was once the center of the world, and the center of this Empire was – of course – Rome. Its vast influence on the entire “known” world created the first form of globalization, thus exporting Roman culture all over the world. It also globalized Roman “Italian” food – a trend that has never really stopped. Italian food is now one of the most popular in the world and most common recipes have ties to Italian cuisine.

I had the opportunity to work with an American director Mark Ganguzza and his offsider Sean on a pilot for a series about the origins of food. The host was food anthropologist Sergio Grasso, a food expert who appears in many of the national Italian Rai network shows. Sergio defines himself as a gastrosofer (a mix between a gastronomist and a philosopher). Mark Brewer was the cameraman, and the watch-collecting Antongiorgio Sabia was the soundman (every day he arrived wearing a different watch).

It wasn’t as tiring as the previous work I’d been doing (Seven Australia’s intense coverage of the Mary MacKillop canonization) – but it was fascinating.

The Big Week: 10/10/2010 – 17/10/2010

October 10th: only one week left before Australia officially gains membership in the Saint’s Club. After a few days of rest at home my dad and I drove back down to Rome. The week didn’t really start well: as soon as I got out of the car at the hotel I dropped my iPhone. Amazingly it still worked perfectly, apart from the small disadvantage of piercing my thumb with glass every time I touched the screen.

Mary MacKillop souvenirs: Scarves and Medals 21/09/2010 – 23/09/2010

The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart did every thing they could to ensure that the souvenirs of St. Mary of the Cross remained strictly official, not tacky like these.

They commissioned two companies to make commemorative scarves and medals for the canonization. We shot pieces on both companies: Mozzoni Srl in Rome which produced the scarves; and Colombo Medaglie in Milan which created the medals.

We first visited the scarf company, a small family business run by father Natale Mozzoni and his two sons. They were great people and in classic Italian style had closed their company for the day just to let us film there, after which they invited us all to a sumptuous Roman lunch and refused to let us pay.

The next day we headed up to Milan. I took the evening off to meet a good friend of mine who is at university there. It’s a beautiful city and refreshingly easy to get around compared to Rome, because of its extensive Metro system.

Did I witness a miracle?: San Gennaro 19/09/2010

September 18th: my father, cameraman Mark Brewer, Italian fixer Lorella Muzi and I headed down to Naples to shoot a TV report on the miracle of San Gennaro (or Januarius), the city’s patron saint.

I’d only been to Naples once, on an excursion with school, and I’d never visited its historical centre. It was utter chaos; cars everywhere doing impossible things in tiny streets, boisterous Neapolitans shouting and beeping their horns at each other, but fortunately we had wisely decided to take the train. We arrived at our Bed and Breakfast’s supposed address but there was no sign of any kind of accommodation. After rudely calling and interrupting the manager’s dinner, he arrived and we were led into a courtyard, then up four or five flights of rickety stairs (carrying all our camera gear). We finally got to our rooms needing a long shower. We finished the evening with a typical Neapolitan seafood dinner, savouring the warm southern air.

Legend has it that around 300 A.D. Gennaro was the Bishop of Naples. During the one and a half year-long persecution of Christians by Emperor Diocletian, Gennaro hid his fellow Christians to prevent them from being caught. Unfortunately he was finally arrested and condemned to death by being thrown to the wild bears in the Flavian Amphitheater at Pozzuoli. Allegedly the wild beasts refused to eat him, so instead he was beheaded. A woman named Eusebia saved some of his blood in a vial.

We went to Naples to witness the ‘miraculous’ liquefaction of San Gennaro’s blood that happens in Naples’ main cathedral every year.

The first Australian saint: St. Mary of the Cross 16/09/2010 – 17/10/2010

17th of October 2010: Australia gets its first Saint. Her name is Mary MacKillop; she lived from 1842 to 1909, and founded the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart. My father and I worked with the Seven Network Australia which was extensively covering this historic event.

We began preparing for this television coverage a month before the canonization; scouting out locations for hosts and shooting short pieces for Seven’s News broadcast and the “Sunday Night” program.

My first job: Franco Zeffirelli 15/09/2010

Monday 13/09/2010, my first day of work, looking forward to a year of new and interesting experiences. Well, let’s just say that my first one was pretty interesting. My dad tells me that I will be going with cameraman Mark Brewer to be soundo for an interview with Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli. Initially I didn’t know who he was, but I quickly corrected my ignorance by researching him and finding out just how much of a bigshot he is. I was very nervous because it was my first “assignment” and I was very afraid of screwing up.

On the 15/09/2010 we picked up the journalist who was doing the story and drove to Zeffirelli’s villa in the Appia Antica, in the outskirts of Rome.