The White House

One of the most famous buildings in the world is surely the home of the president of the USA, The White House. I'm going to tell you ten interesting things about it, so listen up. Work started on the building in October 1792 and the first president to live there was John Adams in 1800, even though it wasn't completely finished. In fact, in one sense this building has never been finished as each new resident has the right to change it as he or she sees fit.

Surprisingly there are six floors - it doesn't seem that tall - and in total there are 132 rooms. If you cleaned eight bathrooms every day, it would take you four days to finish cleaning all of them!

The White House's name was chosen by Teddy Roosevelt in 1901. Before that it was called Executive Mansion, the President's House and President's Palace. I think the White House is better.

The British Army burned the house during the war of independence in 1812. Obviously, it survived.

The White House has its own kitchens and employs a number of full time chefs. How many exactly? Two, three? No, a grand total of five work there and can prepare up to 140 meals at any one time.

The President and his family have to pay for the meals they eat there. They then get the money back on their expense account. Why bother in the first place?

Most of the exterior walls are made of thick concrete and steel. Well, you'd think so at least. No, in fact they're made of wood. The cost of maintaining the White House, that is to say fuel bills, repairs, furnishings etc is a mere $25,000 dollars. That doesn't seem much, until you realise that I mean $25,000 a day! Wow!

You can visit here free of charge, and around 6000 people do every day. If you're really lucky you can bump into the president coming out of the many bathrooms. Finally, it was designed by an Irishman, James Hoban, whose design won the competition, beating off eight other contenders.

So, there you have it. A grand, traditional home of which you now know just a little more about.

Recorded by mother-tongue American speaker, Harvey Utech (eslpodcards.com)