In November 1998 I was asked to post-produce, present and narrate a series that was predicted to run two to three years at the most. Last year that series celebrated 10 years on air. The 2000th episode of Global Village will go to air on September 20 this year. Thanks to you all!

If I said, ‘Mull of Kintyre’ how many of you would know what it is? I'd guess the majority of you, if you weren't of British extraction, would have said it’s the hit song by Paul McCartney and his band WINGS. Correct! But what IS the Mull of Kintyre? It’s a Scottish Peninsula. Why is it a song? Because Sir Paul McCartney lived and had a recording studio there since the late 1960’s. He must have loved the place! I write this, as it’s not mentioned in the program about the Irish coastline. Hang on! Mull of Kintyre is in Scotland, laddie!

As a child growing up in Sydney I often heard my relatives talking about the old country and the oppression that people felt living under their leader, one Josip Broz Tito. The 'old country' was, the now non-existent, Federal Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia. As no-one in my family was a member of the ruling political party (apparently the vast majority of Yugoslavs weren't) I guess they needed to feel apprehensive if not a touch paranoid lest Big Brother was watching and listening to them. He did exist in the form of the state secret police.

Ask people from any country what their favourite possessions are, their response might just echo our own; my car, my TV set, my washing machine, my laptop, my machete…"Machete"? Oh yes, that was in a previous episode. If you asked people what they'd really like to have some might say a bigger house, bigger possibly than their neighbours' house. Others may have a more meaningful reason.

After decades of civil war since it gained independence in 1975, the African nation of Angola is suffering a serious humanitarian crisis. Although a third world country it is immensely rich in petroleum whose profits should help it to stabilise the crisis.

The old saying, "you can't get blood out of a rock" takes on a whole new meaning with the story of French emigrants who turned a desolate and inhospitable area of Mexico into a fertile and thriving livelihood.

Negombo in Sri Lanka is one of those picture perfect destinations that tourists flock to in order to escape their rat race at home. Travel brochures spruik its fine sandy beaches, colonial architecture, old churches, and hotels. Part of Negombo's attraction is its lagoon and many fishing villages dotted around it. But travel brochures don't say much about these fishing villages.

Australian entrepreneurs and businessmen were often advised they needed to learn more about Chinese culture and the Chinese way of doing business before they could expect to deal successfully with them. Learning Mandarin or Cantonese is one way, but maybe it's not enough.