A、He missed his plane. B、The taxi driver overslept. C、He heard a terrible accident reported over the radio. D、He would have been

James wrote a play for television about an immigrant family who came to England from Pakistan and the problems they had settling down in England. The play was surprisingly successful and it was bought by an American TV company. James was invited to go to New York to help with the production. He lived in Dulwich, which is an hour’ s drive away from Heathrow airport. The flight was due to leave at 8:30 a. m. , so he had to be at the airport about 7:30 in the morning. He ordered a taxi for 6:30, set his alarm for 5:45 and went to sleep.
    Unfortunately he forgot to wind the clock and it stopped shortly after midnight. Also the driver of the taxi had to work very late that night and overslept. James woke up with that awful feeling that something was wrong. He looked at his alarm clock. It stood there silently with the hands pointing to half past twelve. He turned on the radio and discovered it was in fact ten to nine. Ten minutes later, he heard the news over the radio that Boeing 727 he should have taken crashed shortly after taking off this morning. James turned pale. He thought he was fortunate that he escaped from that disaster.
Questions 17 to 20 are based on the passage you have just heard.
17. What was James?
18. Why was James going to New York?
19. What is James’ play about?
20. Why did James turn pale?