[00:00.67] The lost world.
[00:02.16] Chapter one.
[00:03.47] The scoop of the century.
[00:10.24] I need adventure, I cried to Mr.
[00:13.55] McArdle.
[00:14.58] Send me on a dangerous mission.
[00:17.65] I don't care what it is.
[00:21.89] Mr.
[00:22.72] McArdle looked puzzled or pretended to.
[00:27.67] Tut, tut, he said.
[00:30.93] What is wrong with reporting flower shows and weddings?
[00:38.35] But Mr.
[00:39.40] McArdle, I'm never going to be famous that way.
[00:45.25] I want some big news to report.
[00:48.45] I want the scoop of the century.
[00:53.82] Perhaps I ought to introduce myself.
[00:58.69] Edward D. Malone at your service.
[01:03.68] I'm a junior reporter for the London Daily Gazette, and Mr.
[01:09.12] McArdle is my news editor.
[01:14.12] You young men are so reckless, so hot-headed, he said.
[01:20.24] Hmm.
[01:22.38] Now, where could we send you?
[01:26.83] I don't care where I go, I cried.
[01:31.27] The more dangerous, the better.
[01:35.37] Very well, said Mr.
[01:37.65] McArdle with a sly smile.
[01:41.49] I'll think about it.
[01:46.25] As I waited, my heart pounded.
[01:51.67] What far away places would he send me to?
[01:56.60] What great adventures lay in store?
[02:02.91] At last, he spoke.
[02:06.25] You can go to the Zoological Institute Hall at 8:30 tonight and report on a scientific meeting.
[02:16.32] It wasn't at all what I was expecting.
[02:21.59] My heart plunged down to my boots.
[02:27.29] Report on a scientific meeting, I repeated.
[02:34.69] Here in London?
[02:37.62] That's not risking my life.
[02:42.99] Don't be so sure, said Mr.
[02:46.49] McArdle.
[02:49.31] The great Professor Challenger is speaking, and he hates journalists.
[02:59.14] He once threw one down the stairs.
[03:03.16] I perked up again immediately.
[03:08.01] Professor Challenger, I exclaimed.
[03:13.58] The man who says he found some kind of lost world in South America, with strange and marvelous creatures in it?
[03:27.45] That's him, said Mr.
[03:29.53] McArdle.
[03:31.68] It's all nonsense, of course, this lost world stuff.
[03:37.83] The fellow is a shameless liar.
[03:41.97] So I want you to be at this meeting where he'll be shown up as the fraud he is.
[03:51.55] So that's how I found myself that night with my reporter's notebook open, waiting eagerly for the famous professor to arrive.
[04:04.14] No one had a good word to say for Professor Challenger.
[04:10.45] Stubborn, rude, and a big bully were just a few of the things I heard about him.
[04:20.58] He was violent too.
[04:24.54] It wasn't only journalists he attacked.
[04:31.25] If anyone disagreed with him, he'd say, "Come outside and fight."
[04:40.37] He'd better not try that with me, I muttered.
[04:45.33] He might get more than he bargained for.
[04:51.86] I don't like to brag, but I keep myself pretty fit.
[04:58.16] At school, I was in the boxing team.
[05:05.78] The audience around me were getting rowdy.
[05:10.57] They couldn't wait for the professor to arrive.
[05:16.09] They knew that soon sparks would be flying.
[05:21.65] Where is he?
[05:23.36] Yelled the crowd of students at the back.
[05:27.75] We want Professor Challenger.
[05:33.61] The professors at the front sat more quietly.
[05:39.16] But I could see they were eager too.
[05:43.29] Eager to prove the famous Challenger was nothing but a fraud and a liar.
[05:52.26] There was a great roar from the students.
[05:57.40] Here he is, Professor Challenger.
[06:05.82] A huge man swaggered onto the platform.
[06:11.82] He had an enormous bull-like head and a long, black, rippling beard.
[06:20.75] He didn't seem at all afraid of the jeering audience.
[06:27.16] He fixed them with steely eyes.
[06:32.38] There was something masterful about that gaze.
[06:39.00] Immediately, silence fell.
[06:48.81] There is a plateau in South America, the professor thundered.
[06:58.08] A few days trek from the Great River Amazon, where prehistoric creatures still survive.
[07:07.91] Tosh, called a student.
[07:11.85] Bosh, yelled another.
[07:16.82] Slowly, the professor's great bull head swung round.
[07:24.99] His eyes blazed into the crowd.
[07:29.77] Who said that?
[07:32.34] He roared, clenching his fists as if ready to fight all the students at once.
[07:40.65] No one spoke.
[07:45.20] I have proof, boomed the professor.
[07:53.85] The plateau has sheer cliff-like walls.
[08:00.16] I was unable to climb to the top, but I did manage to photograph one of the creatures.
[08:10.64] Let us see your photograph then.
[08:15.88] Came the quiet, scornful voice of a professor next to me.
[08:22.97] Ah, Professor Summerly, said Challenger, my old enemy.
[08:31.64] I knew you'd be here.
[08:34.94] Challenger held up a blurred grey photograph.
[08:42.69] Even though I was in the front row, I could hardly make it out.
[08:49.79] It looks like a giant bat to me, said Summerly.
[08:56.29] The students laughed.
[09:00.43] Professor Challenger's face went red as a tomato.
[09:06.47] His beard was bristling.
[09:09.98] He looked ready to explode with rage.
[09:16.27] Professor Summerly, he bellowed.
[09:22.16] Your brain is as small as a walnut.
[09:26.90] Any fool can see that it is a terdactile.
[09:35.86] And there are other prehistoric creatures living up on that plateau.
[09:42.52] I bet my life on it.
[09:46.98] But we are scientists, came Professor Summerly's quiet dry voice again.
[09:57.77] We need better proof than this.
[01:01.97] At the foot of the cliffs, said Challenger.
[01:08.68] I found a giant bone.
[01:13.96] It is from something that died quite recently.
[01:19.71] He showed the bone to us, still with shreds of flesh stuck to it.
[01:26.76] I believe it is from a stegosaurus.
[01:31.43] It must have been killed when it fell from the plateau.
[01:37.74] Pah!
[01:38.99] Scoffed Professor Summerly.
[01:42.88] All this is pure fantasy.
[01:47.24] It looks like an elephant bone to me.
[01:52.35] Challenger's reply was drowned out by mocking students.
[01:58.79] Some trumpeted like elephants, some waved their arms like trunks.
[02:06.99] Even some professors were on their feet shouting.
[02:13.47] But then Challenger crashed his giant fist onto the table.
[02:20.27] Silence!
[02:23.03] He bellowed.
[02:25.75] Professor Summerly does not believe me, he roared.
[02:34.11] So I challenge him.
[02:38.87] I challenge him to go to South America, to see for himself if my story is true.
[02:48.65] Professor Summerly stood up.
[02:51.90] The audience fell silent again, waiting to hear his answer.
[02:59.07] I accept your challenge, he said.
[03:05.36] The students cheered wildly.
[03:11.98] It will be a difficult and dangerous mission, said Challenger.
[03:20.03] He glared scornfully at the audience.
[03:24.62] Professor Summerly will need a younger companion.
[03:29.90] Who is brave enough to go with him?
[03:35.87] I was about to spring to my feet.
[03:39.55] It was just the kind of adventure I'd been dreaming of.
[03:46.58] But I was too late.
[03:50.49] A tall, wiry, red-head man had beaten me to it.
[03:58.18] I'm Lord John Roxton, he said in a calm, confident voice.
[04:07.73] I've already traveled widely in South America.
[04:13.69] I'll go with Professor Summerly.
[04:19.72] I groaned.
[04:22.66] I thought my chance had gone forever.
[04:28.71] But then Challenger said, anyone else?
[04:34.45] This time I leaped from my seat like a rocket.
[04:39.66] My name's Ed Malone, I cried, reporter on the Daily Gazette.
[04:47.73] I'll go too.
[04:50.97] The cheers were even wilder.
[04:56.21] But Professor Challenger roared, I hate journalists.
[05:04.32] They are vile, crawling scum.
[05:10.74] He rushed to the edge of the platform, his fists ready.
[05:17.88] Come outside and fight, he roared.
[05:25.57] I must admit I lost my temper.
[05:29.55] I put my fists up too.
[05:33.24] Whenever you're ready, you bully, I shouted.
[05:40.54] There were hoops and howls from the students.
[05:45.52] A fight, a fight!
[05:48.39] They chanted.
[05:51.94] It was Lord John who calmed the situation.
[05:57.41] His cool voice cut through the mayhem.
[06:01.42] He said, we shall need a journalist to report on what we find.
[06:08.36] I agree, said Summerly.
[06:13.38] Challenger was outvoted.
[06:16.93] He muttered into his beard, but at last he said grudgingly, he can come.
[06:27.53] I sat down again.
[06:30.47] I was trembling with excitement.
[06:35.84] I thought, this is your big chance, Malone.
[06:42.58] My chance to get the scoop of the century.
[06:48.23] My chance to be a world famous reporter.