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American Morning
Year in Review 'Over There'
Aired December 31, 2002 - 07:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The New Year is about 16 hours and, oh, 8 minutes or so away from those of us here in the Eastern Time zone, but it's even closer to those in Europe.
So, let's go "Over There" now to take a look back at some of the year's biggest developments on the continent. And of course, you know that means a visit from our man, Richard Quest. He joins us now from London.
Good to see you again -- Richard. Happy New Year to you.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And a happy New Year. You'll be pleased to know that I'm still here, peddling the CNN bicycle for a few more hours to go.
HARRIS: Well, we're glad to hear that. What do you have for us?
QUEST: All right, Leon, this has been a year where really the world was gripped and the continent of Europe was gripped by the World Cup. Even in the United States, there were some football or soccer fever. The games were held in South Korea and Japan, which was terrible for time zones for the rest of the world. We were up in the middle of the night watching football at all sorts of odd hours, when we should have been doing something more productive.
But, England of course had a fantastic victory over Argentina. It was in a grudge match that had people in the Trafalgar Square fountain. It had them in the pubs drinking more than was honest and decent. Of course, England eventually did go out to Brazil.
But the United States, Leon -- I mean, I even had a bet with that old comer (ph), Jack Cafferty, that they wouldn't do very well...
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: I remember that.
QUEST: I lost. I had to buy him breakfast. The United States even did brilliantly. Finally of course, going out in the quarter final against Germany.
And the winner of the World Cup was Brazil, and Renaldo (ph) the soccer player was basically the player of the century almost. It was a phenomenal year for soccer.
And what was great about it was the underdogs -- the U.S., Senegal -- countries like that did rather well. Unfortunately, Brazil won.
HARRIS: All right, you mean to tell me that after you've had all this time to come up with the best stories from the past year, that's it? The World Cup, that's the best thing you've got for us this morning?
QUEST: That merely shows how little interest you lot over there care about the world's biggest game. Just...
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: Yes, you ain't lying about that.
QUEST: Now, the other big story, of course, that was very important, and it was the flooding in Europe, which was absolutely dramatic. Right across the continent in Prague, in Budapest, in Germany, major rivers. They didn't just burst their banks. This was a flood almost of biblical proportions, Leon. Buildings that were hundreds of years old were damaged; some were destroyed.
And even now, if you go across large parts of central Europe, you'll still see the damage, and we're just getting ready for another wave of floods that are going to hit the continent.
So, in a year that was absolutely obsessed by the war against terror, security threats, Afghanistan, and of course now more recently Iraq, these were the other issues that really sometimes gave us a laugh out in the royal family in Britain, but we're not going to start that one now. Or indeed the World Cup, where we all went rah, rah, rah! Or indeed in the case of Prague, where we've said this is a great shape (ph).
Final question for you, Leon, we know it's a 24-hour clock around the world, you're watching New Year's Eve coming in. But how many time zones are there around the world?
HARRIS: You know, that's a great question, because I remember doing the first and last shift on our millennium coverage, and we started doing stuff I think from the Christmas Islands a couple of hours before it was 24 hours. I want to guess 26 times zones, am I right?
QUEST: I don't know. I can't find out the answer. Some people say -- according to Greenwichmean.time.com, there's 25 times zones. But if you add in the half-hours for India and some other places, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) says there's 37 times zones. What I do know is this is one thing that's a great cocktail party conversation, and viewers I'm sure have their own thoughts (ph).
HARRIS: There you go, and if you drink enough, it doesn't matter what time zone you're in, so...
QUEST: Absolutely.
HARRIS: Exactly. You're going to feel the same no matter what. All right, thanks, Richard. Hey, happy New Year to you and the rest of the gang over there in London.
QUEST: Thank you.
HARRIS: All right, have a good one.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired December 31, 2002 - 07:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The New Year is about 16 hours and, oh, 8 minutes or so away from those of us here in the Eastern Time zone, but it's even closer to those in Europe.
So, let's go "Over There" now to take a look back at some of the year's biggest developments on the continent. And of course, you know that means a visit from our man, Richard Quest. He joins us now from London.
Good to see you again -- Richard. Happy New Year to you.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And a happy New Year. You'll be pleased to know that I'm still here, peddling the CNN bicycle for a few more hours to go.
HARRIS: Well, we're glad to hear that. What do you have for us?
QUEST: All right, Leon, this has been a year where really the world was gripped and the continent of Europe was gripped by the World Cup. Even in the United States, there were some football or soccer fever. The games were held in South Korea and Japan, which was terrible for time zones for the rest of the world. We were up in the middle of the night watching football at all sorts of odd hours, when we should have been doing something more productive.
But, England of course had a fantastic victory over Argentina. It was in a grudge match that had people in the Trafalgar Square fountain. It had them in the pubs drinking more than was honest and decent. Of course, England eventually did go out to Brazil.
But the United States, Leon -- I mean, I even had a bet with that old comer (ph), Jack Cafferty, that they wouldn't do very well...
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: I remember that.
QUEST: I lost. I had to buy him breakfast. The United States even did brilliantly. Finally of course, going out in the quarter final against Germany.
And the winner of the World Cup was Brazil, and Renaldo (ph) the soccer player was basically the player of the century almost. It was a phenomenal year for soccer.
And what was great about it was the underdogs -- the U.S., Senegal -- countries like that did rather well. Unfortunately, Brazil won.
HARRIS: All right, you mean to tell me that after you've had all this time to come up with the best stories from the past year, that's it? The World Cup, that's the best thing you've got for us this morning?
QUEST: That merely shows how little interest you lot over there care about the world's biggest game. Just...
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: Yes, you ain't lying about that.
QUEST: Now, the other big story, of course, that was very important, and it was the flooding in Europe, which was absolutely dramatic. Right across the continent in Prague, in Budapest, in Germany, major rivers. They didn't just burst their banks. This was a flood almost of biblical proportions, Leon. Buildings that were hundreds of years old were damaged; some were destroyed.
And even now, if you go across large parts of central Europe, you'll still see the damage, and we're just getting ready for another wave of floods that are going to hit the continent.
So, in a year that was absolutely obsessed by the war against terror, security threats, Afghanistan, and of course now more recently Iraq, these were the other issues that really sometimes gave us a laugh out in the royal family in Britain, but we're not going to start that one now. Or indeed the World Cup, where we all went rah, rah, rah! Or indeed in the case of Prague, where we've said this is a great shape (ph).
Final question for you, Leon, we know it's a 24-hour clock around the world, you're watching New Year's Eve coming in. But how many time zones are there around the world?
HARRIS: You know, that's a great question, because I remember doing the first and last shift on our millennium coverage, and we started doing stuff I think from the Christmas Islands a couple of hours before it was 24 hours. I want to guess 26 times zones, am I right?
QUEST: I don't know. I can't find out the answer. Some people say -- according to Greenwichmean.time.com, there's 25 times zones. But if you add in the half-hours for India and some other places, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) says there's 37 times zones. What I do know is this is one thing that's a great cocktail party conversation, and viewers I'm sure have their own thoughts (ph).
HARRIS: There you go, and if you drink enough, it doesn't matter what time zone you're in, so...
QUEST: Absolutely.
HARRIS: Exactly. You're going to feel the same no matter what. All right, thanks, Richard. Hey, happy New Year to you and the rest of the gang over there in London.
QUEST: Thank you.
HARRIS: All right, have a good one.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
