Pakistan and Afghanistan’s beautiful carnivore, French history, the listener mailbag

This week on The Sound Kitchen, you’ll hear the answer to the question about the national heritage animal of Pakistan and Afghanistan. There’s “On This Day”, your letters, great music - and of course, the new quiz question. Just click on the arrow in the photo, and enjoy!

David Franklin/Getty Images/A Terrade

Hello everyone!

Welcome to The Sound Kitchen. You can catch the programme on-the-air every Saturday at 6:15, 7:15, 14:45 and 16:45 universal time. You’ll hear the winner’s names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you have grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and tune in every Saturday.

For our DX enthusiast friends: Our shortwave frequency is 13725 kHz on the 22m band, from 06.00 to 07.00 UT every day. We’ve had reception reports from Algeria, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Columbia, Cuba, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, Sierra Leone, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and the US, and although the frequency is “aimed” (or however that works) towards the African continent, give it a try. You never know … and be sure and send us your reception reports. Maybe we can get more time, which would be wonderful.

You can also look for our programs on WRMI (http://www.wrmi.net/) and WRN (http://www.wrn.org/listeners/). In Paris, you can hear us on World Radio Paris (http://www.worldradioparis.fr/) on DAB+. These broadcasters diffuse our programs out of the goodness of their hearts (and thank you thank you thank you WRMI, WRN, and World Radio Paris!), but unless you tell us how you heard us, we have no way of knowing … so do write and tell us how you listen to us.

This week’s quiz: On 12 March, I asked you to send in the name of a very beautiful endangered animal. It lives at high elevations in central and South Asia, and it is the national heritage animal for both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The answer is: The panthera uncia, better known as the snow leopard.

The winners are: Mr Shah Nawaz from Sindh and Jiskani Farrukh Ahmad from the RFI Seven Stars Listeners Club in Chiniot District, both in Pakistan; Mrs P Sathyavathi from the RFI Listeners Club in Hyderabad, India; Jaroslaw Jedrzejczak from Fabianki, Poland, and Rachel Imuron of the Kumi Central RFI Listeners Club in Kampala, Uganda.

Congratulations winners!

This week’s question ... you'll have to listen to the show to participate. You have until 6 June to enter this week's quiz. The winners will be announced on the 11 June program. When you enter, be sure you send your postal address in with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

[e-mail]

or

Susan Owensby
RFI – The Sound Kitchen
80, rue Camille Desmoulins
92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux
France

or

By text … You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen mobile phone. Dial your country’s international access code, or “ + ”, then 33 6 31 12 96 82. Don’t forget to include your mailing address in your text – and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

To find out how you can win an RFI wireless computer mouse, click here:
http://www.english.rfi.fr/culture/20141218-sound-kitchen-essay-contests

To find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or to form your own official RFI Club, click here:
http://www.english.rfi.fr/culture/20141218-how-form-official-rfi-listeners-club