Meaning of Mayday

Some words have an appearance that we identify with a certain meaning because of its similarity with some in our own language, these words are called false friends but today we are going to learn the origin of mayday. It has no relation with the 1st of May but with a French expression to ask for help, remember the films....
Listen to the VOA programme and learn some others.
Can you identify these other French expressions? If so, add a comment on this post.
If you need to read the tapescript after all, here you are but try it first!