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What secrets lie within the walls of Goodwood Park Hotel? In this episode, Reuben Dhanaraj uncovers the rich and hidden history of this iconic building. From its origins as a German club to its confiscation during World War I and its crucial role during the Japanese Occupation, Reuben reveals the untold stories behind the hotel's changing fate. He follows the trail of a mysterious portrait tied to post-war intrigue, war crimes trials, and the shifting tides of history. As Reuben explores the hotel's layers of history, he brings to light the forgotten moments and hidden remnants of a past that shaped Singapore's legacy.
About the show:
What secrets lie hidden in plain sight? In this captivating four-part documentary series, we uncover the forgotten stories buried within Singapore's most iconic landmarks and abandoned sites. From derelict military forts to repurposed power stations, grand hotels to historic courtrooms, each episode peels back layers of history to reveal lost secrets, hidden passageways, and pivotal moments that shaped the nation. These places are more than just remnants of the past – they are silent witnesses to ambition, resilience, and transformation, waiting to be rediscovered.
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Straits Times
08-08-2025
- Straits Times
Astronaut Jim Lovell, commander of Nasa's Apollo 13 moon mission, dies aged 97
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Jim Lovell commanded Nasa's ill-fated 1970 Apollo 13 mission, which went horribly wrong when an onboard explosion on the way to the moon put in danger the lives of the three astronauts onboard. WASHINGTON - American astronaut Jim Lovell, commander of the failed 1970 mission to the moon that nearly ended in disaster but became an inspirational saga of survival and the basis for the hit movie Apollo 13, has died at the age of 97, Nasa said on Aug 8. Hollywood superstar Tom Hanks played Lovell in director Ron Howard's acclaimed 1995 film. It recounted Nasa's Apollo 13 mission, which was planned as humankind's third lunar landing but went horribly wrong when an onboard explosion on the way to the moon put the lives of the three astronauts in grave danger. Lovell and crew mates Jack Swigert and Fred Haise endured frigid, cramped conditions, dehydration and hunger for three and a half days while concocting with Mission Control in Houston ingenious solutions to bring the crippled spacecraft safely back to Earth. 'A 'successful failure' describes exactly what (Apollo) 13 was - because it was a failure in its initial mission - nothing had really been accomplished,' Lovell told Reuters in 2010, in an interview marking the 40th anniversary of the flight. The outcome, the former Navy test pilot said, was 'a great success in the ability of people to take an almost-certain catastrophe and turn it into a successful recovery.' The Apollo 13 mission came nine months after Neil Armstrong had become the first person to walk on the moon when he took 'one giant leap for mankind' during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969. There was drama even before Apollo 13's launch on April 11, 1970. Days earlier, the backup lunar module pilot inadvertently exposed the crew to German measles but Lovell and Haise were immune to it. Ken Mattingly, the command module pilot, had no immunity to measles and was replaced at the last minute by rookie astronaut Swigert. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore PM Wong calls on S'poreans to band together for nation to remain exceptional in National Day message Singapore Nation building is every Singaporean's responsibility, not the work of one party alone: Pritam Singapore Four foreign leaders to attend NDP 2025 at the Padang Singapore 'This is home', for retired shop owner putting up 11th flag display in Toa Payoh to mark SG60 Singapore Singapore leaders send congratulatory letters to South Korean counterparts to mark 50 years of ties Singapore Relaxed rules 'not a silver bullet', but a step in right direction, say nightlife businesses Business Singapore's digital banks trim deposit rates, mirroring moves by incumbent players Singapore Chief Justice allows founder of site that ran fake KKH story to be called to the Bar The mission generally went smoothly for its first two days. But moments after the crew finished a TV broadcast showing how they lived in space, an exposed wire in a command module oxygen tank sparked an explosion that badly damaged the spacecraft 320,000km from Earth. The accident not only ruined their chances of landing on the moon but imperiled their lives. 'Suddenly there's a 'hiss-bang. And the spacecraft rocks back and forth,'' Lovell said, in a 1999 Nasa oral history interview. 'The lights come on and jets fire. And I looked at Haise to see if he knew what caused it. He had no idea. Looked at Jack Swigert. He had no idea. And then, of course, things started to happen.' 'Houston, we have a problem' Swigert saw a warning light and told Mission Control: 'Houston, we've had a problem here.' In the movie, the line is instead attributed to Lovell and famously delivered by Hanks - slightly reworded - as: 'Houston, we have a problem.' With a dangerous loss of power, the three astronauts abandoned the command module and went to the lunar module - designed for two men to land on the moon. They used it as a lifeboat for a harrowing three-and-a-half-day return to Earth. The astronauts and the US space agency experts in Houston scrambled to figure out how to get the crew safely home with a limited amount of equipment at their disposal. Electrical systems were turned off to save energy, sending temperatures plummeting to near freezing. Water was drastically rationed, food was short and sleep was nearly impossible. The crew had to contrive a filter system to remove high levels of carbon dioxide that could have proven deadly. 'The thought crossed our mind that we were in deep trouble. But we never dwelled on it,' Lovell said in the Nasa interview. 'We never admitted to ourselves that, 'Hey, we're not going to make it.' Well, only one time - when Fred looked at... the lunar module and found out we had about 45 hours worth of power and we were 90 hours from home.' People worldwide were captivated by the events unfolding in space - and got a happy ending. The astronauts altered course to fly a single time around the moon and back to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near Samoa on April 17, 1970. Lovell never got another chance to walk on the moon after Apollo 13, which was his fourth and final space trip. His first trip had been the Gemini 7 mission in 1965, featuring the first link-up of two manned spacecraft. His second was Gemini 12 in 1966, the last of the programs that led to the Apollo moon missions. Lovell's third mission was Apollo 8 in December 1968, the first to orbit the moon. During a telecast to Earth from their spacecraft on Christmas Eve, Lovell and crew mates Frank Borman and William Anders read verses from the Bible's Book of Genesis. Lovell, who later had a moon crater named in his honour, retired as an astronaut in 1973, working first for a harbour towing company and then in telecommunications. He co-authored a 1994 book, Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage Of Apollo 13, that became the basis for Howard's film. Lovell recalled a meeting with Howard in which the director asked the astronaut which actor he would want to play him. 'I said, 'Kevin Costner',' Lovell said. 'And Hanks never lets me forget that... But Hanks did a great job.' Lovell made a cameo appearance in the film as the commander of the US Navy ship that retrieves the astronauts and shakes hands with Hanks. James Lovell was born in Cleveland on March 25, 1928. He was just five when his father died and his mother moved the family to Milwaukee. He became interested in space as a teenager, and graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1952, becoming a test pilot before being selected as a Nasa astronaut in 1962. He had four children with his wife, Marilyn. REUTERS
Straits Times
08-08-2025
- Straits Times
Jim Lovell, commander of NASA's Apollo 13 moon mission, dies at 97
FILE PHOTO: Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell (L to R), former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin, Sen. John Glenn and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden talk at a private memorial service celebrating the life of Neil Armstrong at the Camargo Club in Cincinnati, Ohio in this August 31, 2012 NASA handout photo/File Photo WASHINGTON - American astronaut Jim Lovell, commander of the failed 1970 mission to the moon that nearly ended in disaster but became an inspirational saga of survival and the basis for the hit movie "Apollo 13," has died at the age of 97, NASA said on Friday. Hollywood superstar Tom Hanks played Lovell in director Ron Howard's acclaimed 1995 film. It recounted NASA's Apollo 13 mission, which was planned as humankind's third lunar landing but went horribly wrong when an onboard explosion on the way to the moon put the lives of the three astronauts in grave danger. Lovell and crew mates Jack Swigert and Fred Haise endured frigid, cramped conditions, dehydration and hunger for 3-1/2 days while concocting with Mission Control in Houston ingenious solutions to bring the crippled spacecraft safely back to Earth. "A 'successful failure' describes exactly what (Apollo) 13 was - because it was a failure in its initial mission - nothing had really been accomplished," Lovell told Reuters in 2010 in an interview marking the 40th anniversary of the flight. The outcome, the former Navy test pilot said, was "a great success in the ability of people to take an almost-certain catastrophe and turn it into a successful recovery." The Apollo 13 mission came nine months after Neil Armstrong had become the first person to walk on the moon when he took "one giant leap for mankind" during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969. There was drama even before Apollo 13's launch on April 11, 1970. Days earlier, the backup lunar module pilot inadvertently exposed the crew to German measles but Lovell and Haise were immune to it. Ken Mattingly, the command module pilot, had no immunity to measles and was replaced at the last minute by rookie astronaut Swigert. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore PM Wong calls on S'poreans to band together for nation to remain exceptional in National Day message Singapore Nation building is every Singaporean's responsibility, not the work of one party alone: Pritam Singapore Four foreign leaders to attend NDP 2025 at the Padang Singapore 'This is home', for retired shop owner putting up 11th flag display in Toa Payoh to mark SG60 Singapore Singapore leaders send congratulatory letters to South Korean counterparts to mark 50 years of ties Singapore Relaxed rules 'not a silver bullet', but a step in right direction, say nightlife businesses Business Singapore's digital banks trim deposit rates, mirroring moves by incumbent players Singapore Chief Justice allows founder of site that ran fake KKH story to be called to the Bar The mission generally went smoothly for its first two days. But moments after the crew finished a TV broadcast showing how they lived in space, an exposed wire in a command module oxygen tank sparked an explosion that badly damaged the spacecraft 200,000 miles (320,000 km) from Earth. The accident not only ruined their chances of landing on the moon but imperiled their lives. "Suddenly there's a 'hiss-bang. And the spacecraft rocks back and forth,'" Lovell said in a 1999 NASA oral history interview. "The lights come on and jets fire. And I looked at Haise to see if he knew what caused it. He had no idea. Looked at Jack Swigert. He had no idea. And then, of course, things started to happen." 'HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM' Swigert saw a warning light and told Mission Control: "Houston, we've had a problem here." In the movie, the line is instead attributed to Lovell and famously delivered by Hanks - slightly reworded - as: "Houston, we have a problem." With a dangerous loss of power, the three astronauts abandoned the command module and went to the lunar module - designed for two men to land on the moon. They used it as a lifeboat for a harrowing 3-1/2 day return to Earth. The astronauts and the U.S. space agency experts in Houston scrambled to figure out how to get the crew safely home with a limited amount of equipment at their disposal. Electrical systems were turned off to save energy, sending temperatures plummeting to near freezing. Water was drastically rationed, food was short and sleep was nearly impossible. The crew had to contrive a filter system to remove high levels of carbon dioxide that could have proven deadly. "The thought crossed our mind that we were in deep trouble. But we never dwelled on it," Lovell said in the NASA interview. "We never admitted to ourselves that, 'Hey, we're not going to make it.' Well, only one time - when Fred looked at ... the lunar module and found out we had about 45 hours worth of power and we were 90 hours from home." People worldwide were captivated by the events unfolding in space - and got a happy ending. The astronauts altered course to fly a single time around the moon and back to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near Samoa on April 17, 1970. Lovell never got another chance to walk on the moon after Apollo 13, which was his fourth and final space trip. His first trip had been the Gemini 7 mission in 1965, featuring the first link-up of two manned spacecraft. His second was Gemini 12 in 1966, the last of the programs that led to the Apollo moon missions. Lovell's third mission was Apollo 8 in December 1968, the first to orbit the moon. During a telecast to Earth from their spacecraft on Christmas Eve, Lovell and crew mates Frank Borman and William Anders read verses from the Bible's Book of Genesis. Lovell, who later had a moon crater named in his honor, retired as an astronaut in 1973, working first for a harbor towing company and then in telecommunications. He co-authored a 1994 book, "Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13," that became the basis for Howard's film. Lovell recalled a meeting with Howard in which the director asked the astronaut which actor he would want to play him. "I said, 'Kevin Costner,'" Lovell said. "And Hanks never lets me forget that... But Hanks did a great job." Lovell made a cameo appearance in the film as the commander of the U.S. Navy ship that retrieves the astronauts and shakes hands with Hanks. James Lovell was born in Cleveland on March 25, 1928. He was just 5 when his father died and his mother moved the family to Milwaukee. He became interested in space as a teenager. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1952 and became a test pilot before being selected as a NASA astronaut in 1962. He had four children with his wife, Marilyn. REUTERS
Asia News Network
07-08-2025
- Asia News Network
Which Korean books are winning over readers abroad?
August 7, 2025 SEOUL – Sales of Korean literature abroad more than doubled in 2024, driven by a wave of international enthusiasm and a historic Nobel Prize win by Han Kang, according to new data released by the Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea) on Wednesday. Books supported by LTI Korea's translation and publication grants sold about 1.2 million copies abroad last year, a jump of more than 130 percent from 520,000 in 2023. The survey also showed that between 2020 and 2024, 942 titles across 40 languages sold a cumulative 2.68 million copies — up 730,000 from the previous five-year period (2019-2023). Both the number of titles released and overall sales soared in 2024. The average number of copies sold per book hit a record high of 1,271, with 45 titles surpassing 5,000 copies and 24 exceeding 10,000. Among the bestsellers were Han Kang's 'Greek Lessons' (English), Kim Ji-yun's 'Yeonnam-dong's Smiley Laundromat' (English), Park So-young's 'Snowglobe' (English), Lee Mi-ye's 'The Dallergut Dream Department Store' (French), Kim Ho-yeon's 'The Second Chance Convenience Store' (German) and Son Won-pyung's 'The Majestic Fox Tail' (Russian). Several titles have established themselves as steady sellers, including Bora Chung's 'Cursed Bunny' (English), Park Sang-young's 'Love in the Big City' (English) and Cho Nam-ju's 'Kim Ji-young, Born 1982' (German), each selling more than 4,000 copies annually for three consecutive years. Healing fiction continued to show strong growth in overseas markets. Korean runaway bestsellers like 'The Second Chance Convenience Store,' 'The Dallergut Dream Department Store' and 'Marigold Mind Laundry' have steadily built wide readerships abroad, said an LTI Korea official. In Turkey, 'Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop' sold over 80,000 copies in 2024 alone, while in Poland, over 20,000 copies of 'The Second Chance Convenience Store' were sold. Genre literature also made gains. The German edition of the first book in Lee Yeong-do's 'Bird That Drinks Tears' series sold more than 20,000 copies, while Keum Suk Gendry-Kim's graphic novel 'Grass' (Spanish) has surpassed 10,000 annual sales for three years running. Han's Nobel win in 2024 proved a decisive catalyst for Korean literature's global reach, according to LTI Korea. Han's works, translated into 28 languages and published in 77 editions with LTI Korea support, sold approximately 310,000 copies last year alone. Interest extended beyond her latest releases: Annual overseas sales of her pre-2023 titles jumped fivefold, from about 30,000 copies in 2023 to 150,000 in 2024.
