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Witness History: Spelling Bee - The Children's Competition that Grips America

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Spelling Bees - The Children's Competition that Grips America

02/01/2018 GMT

Spelling Bee - The Children's Competition that Grips America

BBC World Service - Witness History, Spelling Bee - The Children's Competition that Grips America

The first child of South Asian background to become America's Spelling Bee champion.

Thirteen-year-old Balu Natarajan became the first child of South Asian background to win the most famous children’s competition in the world in 1985.

In 1985 one of the most famous children’s competitions in the world was won by an Indian-American for the first time. Balu Natarajan was 13 years old when he won the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which has been running in the USA since 1925. Balu tells Farhana Haider how he first got interested in competitive spelling and why he thinks people of South Asian background have excelled in the Bee.

Photo: Balu Natarajan poses with his National Spelling Bee championship trophy 1985. Credit: Balu Natarajan.

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