Beaky is cockatiel that lives in a house in Locking, England. Cockatiels like to explore the world around them. Helen, Beaky’s owner, often allows the bird to fly around the house.

One day Helen was cleaning and took the brush off the vacuum cleaner hose. Beaky flew down to have a look – and was
sucked into the pipe.

‘Beaky!’ cried Helen, turning off the machine. She could hear Beaky scratching inside. The cockatiel was stuck half way down the pipe.

‘We blew down the other end of the pipe,’ a fire-fighter explained after the rescue. ‘Beaky rolled onto the floor. He didn’t look very pleased.’



Kieran McGovern has been described as being 'amongst the best writers of language learner materials in English’. He has written over twenty graded readers & provides online ELT learning resources.