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BBC Accessibility links * Skip to content * Skip to local navigation * Accessibility Help BBC iD Sign in BBC navigation * News * Sport * Weather * Earth * Future * Shop * TV * Radio * More… Search term: ____________________ (BUTTON) Search BBC News Magazine Monitor * Home * UK * Africa * Asia * Australia * Europe * Latin America * Mid-East * US & Canada * Business * Health * Sci/Environment * Tech * Entertainment * Video 3 October 2014 Last updated at 13:45 GMT Share this page * Delicious * Digg * Facebook * reddit * StumbleUpon * Twitter * Email * Print Weekendish: The best of the week's reads Magazine Monitor Magazine Monitor A collection of cultural artefacts The Queen Mary liner Continue reading the main story More from the Monitor * The sheikh who listened to Nazi radio * 10 things we didn't know last week * Weekendish: The best of the week's reads * The Magazine in full A collection of some of the best reads from the BBC News website this week, with an injection of your comments. It looked like a "great white cliff", but one with a fashionable nod to Art Deco. Eighty years ago the Queen Mary was launched, but what was its lure? Why does it give off such a whiff of nostalgia? Its four-day Atlantic crossings were the height of style, with black-tie dinners, tennis courts and even telephones. It was glamorous, entertaining the likes of Winston Churchill, Marlene Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor and more. But despite being a titan of its time, the Queen Mary eventually lost out to the transatlantic flight and now pales in comparison to modern cruise liners. Taller and almost three-times the tonnage, today's cruise liners may be monsters, but they lack the luxury of 1934. Queen Mary: Liner that helped launch monster cruise ships 464 gray line Almaz's story Cartoon frames of Almaz cleaning and cooking Last year writer Benjamin Dix and cartoonist Lindsay Pollock introduced Magazine readers to Amiir and Family via this cartoon: Somali family living in Norway. This week, they were back with another. It tells the disturbing story of Almaz - a young Ethiopian girl living in poverty who travels to Saudi Arabia to work as a maid. She is tricked and her employers abuse her. As they complain about her cooking, speak condescendingly to her and talk of luxuries with wealthy friends, she is raped and refused her salary. Her passport has been taken and she is trapped. She is also cut off from her mother - unable to write or send money to her. Abused and unpaid - the story of an African servant in Saudi Arabia 464 gray line The first trainspotter Train drawn by Jonathan Backhouse, 1825 He may not have been the first trainspotter, as we know them now. But Jonathan Blackhouse certainly has a good claim for being the first train enthusiast. In September 1825 he watched the inaugural journey of the Stockton to Darlington railway. The drawing he made, and his enthusiastic letter to his sisters are now on display at the National Railway Museum York until 1 March 2015 as part of their trainspotting season. Amy Banks, the exhibition manager, describes the drama of a steam train going past, its 1960s heyday and the controversial steam or diesel question. Locospotters are an enthusiastic bunch who yearn to tick train numbers off their list and will climb up signal lights to do it. The craze started with Blackhouse and continues with Nick Beeson on Facebook, who calls it the "best hobby ever!" Who was the world's first trainspotter? 464 gray line A Taste of history Woman in silhouette drinking from litre jug of beer at Oktoberfest Beer and sausages? It's got to be Germany. Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, tells BBC News Magazine readers about the importance beer and sausages have in German culture and identity. The ornate tankards they drank from were statements of pride and the act of drinking itself was used as a pledge of good faith or an oath of allegiance. As well as beer, the great emblem of Germany's national diet is the sausage. From coronation specials to plain ones in a bun, sausages are Germany's history on a plate. With Oktoberfest being the largest popular festival in the world, German culture has a long future. The country with one people and 1,200 sausages 464 gray line Japan's deserted beaches Children playing in the sea in Japan Japan has nearly 30,000km of coastline but people only visit the beach in the summer Japanese children have it drilled into them at school: "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down." They follow this so closely that on 1 September Japanese beaches are deserted, outdoor pools are locked up and swimwear put away for another year. A beach that had thousands basking in the sun will overnight be emptied despite no change in weather the next day. Michael Fitzpatrick explains the strong and strict social norms which cause this. Not going to the beach might be a form of "kata", which governs the behaviour in many situations from making tea to whether to wear short-sleeve shirts. It is a strong sense of what should be done and is diligently followed. Andrew Gould tweets: "I used to see the short sleeve to long sleeve seasonal change (and vice versa) on the train in Japan. It's so striking!" Why Japan's beaches are deserted - despite the sunshine 464 gray line Magazine monitor Lee Ben David's cutlery Magazine monitor, a collection of cultural artefacts, had some treats this week. There was the origin of the recently much-used phrase "boots on the ground", the reasons why so many drivers are still shunning seatbelts, whether yoga is actually about exercise and the strange world of super-specialist cutlery. 464 gray line Here are some things we've enjoyed this week from elsewhere around the web: The Gender Politics of Pockets - The Atlantic To understand life in East Germany, all you need is this board game - PRI Parenting as a Gen Xer: We're the first generation of parents in the age of iEverything - Washington Post The Self-Made Man: The story of America's most pliable, pernicious, irrepressible myth - Slate Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox. More on This Story More from the Monitor * Old radio The sheikh who listened to Nazi radio Early in World War Two, Britain's agent in Sharjah noticed an alarming rise in support for Nazi Germany - so he slipped on a disguise to find out who was responsible. ______________________________________________________________ * woman praying with crucifix 10 things we didn't know last week Women are almost two thirds more likely to believe in God than men, and other nuggets. ______________________________________________________________ * Weekendish: The best of the week's reads But there's more * The Magazine in full Share this page * Delicious * Digg * Facebook * reddit * StumbleUpon * Twitter * Email * Print Follow us * twitter Magazine on Twitter You can follow the latest updates on Twitter ______________________________________________________________ * facebook …and on Facebook You can also become a fan of the Magazine on Facebook ______________________________________________________________ Our archive * Monitor And previously Click here to read older posts from our blog Elsewhere on the BBC * RV Life on the road Real stories on the joys and pains of mobile living Programmes * Circus performer The Travel Show Watch Mama Africa’s circus school - the ground-breaking production seen by seven million people Services * Mobile * Connected TV * News feeds * Alerts * E-mail news About BBC News * Editors' blog * BBC College of Journalism * News sources * Media Action * Editorial Guidelines BBC links * + Mobile site + Terms of Use + About the BBC * + Advertise With Us + Privacy + Accessibility Help * + Ad Choices + Cookies + Contact the BBC * + Parental Guidance BBC Copyright © 2015 BBC. 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