04/04/2014 The One Show

Tonight, Hollywood legends in the studio, we live at Aintree, learning

facts about slinkies and Chris will spend a whole programme auditioning

for Bruce's old job. I have no idea what she is talking

about. Welcome to the Friday show at seven

and motion Mark tonight 's guest is a woman who can do sexy even when it

is just her voice doing the acting. You don't know how hard it is being

a woman, looking the way I do. You don't know how hard it is being me,

looking at a woman looking the way you do. I am not bad, I am just

drawn that way. Oh, my goodness, what a voice, it is Kathleen Turner.

Welcome to the show. How do make a cartoon character that sexy? Part of

it was the lines, we found when we were finishing the drawing, we put

in a lot of sighing, we got a lot of action, which people like. You

should try that in the morning. Did you see the papers? The Pope gave a

present to Prince George. I am not sure if it is the least dangerous

toy for a child. It looks pretty lethal. The Vatican thought that is

what a six-month-old would like. Did you have a favourite childhood toy?

Did you have goals? Dolls? I used to rip their heads off. I was a tomboy.

I love your voice. We want to know if you still have a toy from your

childhood, it sent a picture in. Chris has got some new toys as well,

you have been on the roof experimenting. I was going to drop

them on Claudia Winkleman's head, my main rival for the job. Tomorrow

half a billion people around the world will watch the Grand National

from Aintree, 40 horses flying to win the first ever ?1 million prize

for the race. That is just for first place, not the whole prize pot. We

have got your ?2. This is the kind of hat we really did pass round the

office. I have to tell you which one it is. I have got Battle Group. We

can speak to network and last year's winner, Ryan Mania. It has to

do my life upside down. Last year I wouldn't imagine I would be on the

show. The whole year has been a complete thrill ride. I owe a lot of

my life now to that horse on that day. How do you feel this year as

opposed to last year? I am feeling about the same. Last year there was

no pressure, I was a bit naive about the whole thing, I had never

experienced it before. This year is kind of the same, I know what to

expect. I am riding a different horse, the pressure is off. Tell us

a bit about the ?1 million prize, it has got an amazing atmosphere, is it

even greater this year? The difference between the race now and

when we were growing up, every horse really has a chance, they frame the

race differently, there are so many great stories potentially this year.

We could get the first Welsh trained winner for over 100 years, the

top-rated horse bids to become only the third teenage horse to win, and

incredible horse, a consecutive years. And Zara Phillips has been

instrumental in preparing a horse to jump fences like this, the chair,

five foot two, the guys are doing a fantastic job still putting the

finishing touches to this magnificent obstacle, a tremendous

spectacle. I am not used to being on the One Show. Tell us about three

horses to look out for and Kathleen's horse, Battle Group. The

good news about her horse, he has won three times but not over these

big fences, the smaller obstacles. He has had a tendency not to start

his races, he is ridden by the youngest jockey in the race, Brendan

Powell Junior, his dad one at in 1988. It is a good job he is young

and fearless because Battle Group is not a horse for the faint-hearted.

But I wish you well, Kathleen Fulton --. How are you going to bed

tonight? I will not do very much, I need all the rest I can get. I will

be tended to watch Alan Carr on Channel four.

Thank you, and good luck. Thank you, both.

Have a look at this. You are not going to be taking over

from Brucey if you dance like that. This is what you need to know about

dancing. I love dancing, I have got music in my blood and honey in my

hips. Once I start I just can't stop stop if you are the kind of bloke

you cannot bust the moves that turned the ladies wild, we sages

have find -- we sages have found a way of turning you into the next Jon

Travolta. One of the psychologists at Northumbria University filmed 19

men dancing and created computerised avatars with their moves. He showed

these anonymous figures to a female audience. They rated the dancing.

They focus on the upper body. It is the movement of the upper body, the

head, neck, shoulders, chest, the speed of the movements, how fast

U-turn, how fast you bend. If you did a specific move once, and it

worked, if you kept on doing that move, people would think this is a

bit stereotypical, boring. We think the guys that are putting in all the

variability, they are also showing off things like their confidence,

intelligence, creativity, perhaps also their sense of humour. We have

asked males and females to rate females. Good female dancing is all

in the hips. It is a languid, not as jerky movements as the men. It is

more fluid. Canada my skills to the test? We have the lab prepared all

ready for you. There we go. While I wait for my avatar to be created and

want to take my dancing shoes onto the streets of Newcastle. What are

the elements that make a good dancer? Technique, posture. Not like

that. Rhythm, a bit of Samba. Don't be too repetitive. No arm movements.

If it is to van snippets you. Because it means the bloke might

be? Better than you. Be confident, improvise. Back at the lab my

dancing avatar is ready. I know I am good, the question is my

scientifically and incredible dancer? This is me. I have put a bit

of weight on. It is certainly relaxed, creative, it is fun. In

terms of our study my guess is you would have scored pretty high, not

the best, but pretty-stop almost the best.

Whatever kind of dancing you do, whether or not you throw your hands

in the air like you just don't care or shove them around doing a bit of

dad dancing at the main thing is you are enjoying yourself and stop I

know I do! I have got the music in my!

That was a great film. Have you learned something? I think he should

be my first ever Strictly. I am going to find new every time you

said. Have a look at this. Recollections of that actual moment.

I had such fun doing that film. I do all my incidents apart from swinging

across the gorge. When we were dancing, the look on her face, the

character's face, is not entirely acting. A lot of it is what is he

doing? Michael thinks he is a wonderful dancer. He is not. All us

men think we wonderful dancers and none of us. It gets worse, the Aldy

you become. Did you tell him that? Yes. I am rather known for that. You

are known for being romantically involved with him in one film, and

then not another. It was always him and Danny DeVito and me. It was

never just me and Michael. Danny makes himself known. I am going to

discount him. In War of the roses he was directing as well, which was

super. It is like being in your own club, it is safe and fun. It never

got awkward because there is a mediator. You cannot split. Half the

time I was a referee between those two. You are back in Dumb and Dumber

To. IPlayer a woman the two men both think they had an affair with 20

years ago, over they have never learnt what that is. You say it is

the silliest movie you have been involved in. Somebody said, how do

you describe your role? I couldn't call it being a straight man because

it is not the kind of humour. I would say I was a representation of

normality. The 20th anniversary with this film. And we will talk about

your new play. All the action is around a piece of work by an

American artist. Here is Giles finding out why a William Hogarth

ended up gambling with one of his own paintings.

William Hogarth is one of Britain's's most distinctive

artists. He exposed life's grim reality with satirical images of

gambling and alcoholism. This is the story of his scandalous painting,

March of the guards to Finchley which mocks the Kings troops. He is

famous for his obsession with the bleak side of life but he was a

charitable man who wanted change, particularly for children. He was a

governor of London's foundling Hospital, I have come to the museum

which keeps its name alive. This is the site of the original hospital.

In the 18th century what was it doing? It was providing refuge for

babies that would otherwise be abandoned. Their mothers, families,

the children were either illegitimate or the families were so

poor they couldn't care for them. There was no welfare state, so for

many of these mothers they had no option but to simply abandon their

babies at church steps, on the pavement, or even on rubbish heaps.

The hospital saved 100 children each year from certain death stop with

others queueing to give up their babies, money was needed. He wanted

to help and did so, with his controversial painting. So here it

is. Extraordinary, and so rich in detail. Absolutely. And some of

what's going on doesn't seem to me to al totally respectable. Yes, he

is neglecting his duties as a sergeants. He is supposed to be

guarding the colours but in fact he's groping this milkmaid. And he's

lost the ballot here. Absolutely. He is completely drunk and is reaching

out for gin from this cellar, as is the baby, who is also addicted to

gin. This is Mother Douglas, a famous brothel keeper, who is

praying that her clients come back safe and sound. Men, they are all

the same! The scandalous painting was displayed in the hospital to

draw in the public, who would hopefully make charitable donations.

But how it came to be in the hospital's possession in the first

place is a matter of some suspicion. Let's rewind a year. The painting

was hugely popular and he made prints of it. He did, he came up

with an incredibly ingenious idea that he would offer 2,000 of the

prints for sale. For an extra 3 shillings you could be entered into

a lottery to win the original painting itself. This is brilliant.

A marketing wheeze. 2,000 lottery tickets printed, and this is one of

them. This was good business for Hogarth. Absolutely. He would make a

considerable amount of money. He was aware how you could set up a win-win

situation. Hogarth sold 1,385 tickets. He gave the winner to the

Foundling Hospital. So there were 2,000 tickets in all. There were.

And the Foundling Hospital had just 157, representing a 1 in 13 chance

of winning this wonderful picture here? Not brilliant odds. OK, but

the odds are against you, madam. We are not cheating, I promise you.

Congratulations! You've won the picture! That's fantastic. It was a

win-win situation. Hogarth may have taken the equivalent of ?80,000 for

himself, and the charity won a valuable asset. Whether Hogarth

rigged the draw we'll never know. But his masterpiece hung in the

Foundling Hospital for 250 years, helping raise money for the 25,000

children who made it their home. Hogarth's view of society may have

been grotesque at times, but his scathing painting helped make

Britain just a little less ugly. Your new play is Bakersfield Mist,

and it is about a piece of artwork that your character discovers. The

character, Maude, she lives in a trailer park, like an ex-trucker and

a bartender. A rough-hewn woman? A heavy drinker, heavy smoker. She

prides herself on furnishing her life, her wardrobe and trailer from

second hand thrift stores. As a joke she finds a painting in a thrift

store and buys it for $3 to give to a friend as a joke. She thinks it's

the ugliest thing she's ever seen. Then an art teach teacher sees it

and says, "It's a Jackson Pollack." And she embarks on a journey of

discovery to prove that it is. It's a two-hand play isn't it? Ian

McDermott plays this ex-director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,

filled with his prejudices and presuppositions, distastefully has

to visit her at the trailer park. It's a wonderful funny clash of

backgrounds and education. And experience. Imagine these two coming

together. It is just grand. They meet in the middle somewhere

intellectually in their own way? Well, they learn from each other,

let's put it that way. You've got a special birthday coming up, which

will you be celebrating while you are here? I'm going to be 60. I only

celebrate fives and zeros now. Very wise. I'm hoping to have a whole

bunch of friends come over from the States to help me celebrate. You

said to us during the film, I said where do you like to hang out, but

there's not much hanging out when you do six months in the theatre.

No, you do eight shows a week. You love it here, because you've been

here a few times haven't you? I grew up here in part. This is my third

season in the West End. And you send yourself roses? I do. I like roses

in my dressing room. I have a Standing Order for two dozen a week.

If somebody else doesn't send them, no matter. And if you do, it doesn't

matter. Bakersfield Mist opens on 27th May in London and previews are

from 10th. And now it's slinky time!

Chris is going to try and play with this thing.

CHEERING We have some professionals to show us how to do it properly.

The One Show loves setting me record-breaking challenges. Last

time it was to fold a single piece of paper in half more than 12 times.

It might sound easy but we needed a roll of paper two miles long.

Today's challenge involves one of these. The self-descending spiral

toy, commonly known as the slinky. It is pretty likely you managed to

get one of these to go down maybe half a dozen steps, but what's the

maximum number you can do down? Is there a limit? And, more

importantly, can we set a record for other people to challenge?

Surprisingly in its 70 years there's never been an official record. But

Guinness World Records have set us a minimum target. We need to get one

of these to walk down 25 steps. How hard can that be? Well, to find

erects I first need to understand how springs work. And to give me a

hand is hue Hunt from the University of Cambridge. What actually is going

on? How does it go from one step to the next? One of the key things with

a shrinky is wave propagation. It is like a rubber band and you stretch

it and you let go, it snaps back. On one of these big, floppy plastic

ones you can see the waves quite well. These are waves of kinetic

energy, which have been converted from potential energy. The crucial

-- they are crucial to keeping the spring moving. To show me why he's

set up a rather engenius experiment. We are going to put this spring

through a bit of a work-out. It might look like just a bit of fun,

but this treadmill allows us to study the motion of the wave this

detail. As the spring moves it never completely recoils. The tail

continues forward, thanks to momentum, and then gravity takes

over, pulling it downwards. Crucially, the wave keeps

travelling, so the whole cycle starts again and again and again...

And this will in theory keep going indefinitely. But a treadmill is one

thing. To set a world record, we've got to keep this wave travelling

down a staircase. It's all a matter of size. This spring is too small

and it never reaches the edge of the step. And this spring is too tall,

so it runs out of oomph and never goes over the step. What you need to

do is match your slinky to your staircase.

I think we are getting there. Trouble is, we need to find a much

longer staircase. Never-ending stairs? Sadly they are against the

rules. Although this escalator has only 22 steps when it is static,

Hhgh has engineered a few extras. Time, serious. We have with us the

Guinness World Records adjudicator. Mark, tell us the rules. For this,

the slinky must travel down the steps end over end under its own

momentum with no assistance. Are you ready for this? I'm ready. Let's do

it. Thanks to the calculations staircase works. But the spring

seems to have a mind of its own. It is a lot harder than it looks.

But, finally, we got 25 steps. And it kept going, 30 steps in a row,

setting a new world record. Beat that if you can.

Congratulations, mate. Dr Hugh Hunt is here with his

certificate. A world record holder. I love slinkies, but earlier today

Chris and I discovered something that I never knew about slinkies. We

need you here specifically to explain the science behind it. Tell

me what we're going to do. You are going to hold that slinky up, nice

and still. If you just drop it... Did you see what happened? We saw

what happened because we knew what to look for. Explain to the viewers.

The bottom of that slinky didn't move. As it dropped, it compressed

like this until it was all there and then it started moving. We filmed it

earlier when I dropped it with a very special Phantom camera. It is

quite incredible. It is amazing to see that. What is

happening is that what we saw in that film just before, you get waves

that propagate down. It takes a certain amount of time for the wave

to get to the bottom. Just like a thunderclap takes time for the

thunderclap or a tsunami it takes time for it to arrive, the bottom

does not know that you've let go until the wave gets there. So seek

we shally, show us how it works? You let go and this bit drops and this

bit and this bit. The bottom doesn't know And it doesn't matter how high

you do it? Chris had to go higher, five floors. There's nothing too

complicated. I was on the fifth floor there. I

could have got a nosebleed! It looks like it is defying gravity but

that's not possible. It is not. This is gravity. You can kind of think

that the centre of the spring is there. But if I let go... The apple

and the spring... Galileo Galileo! And they can make brilliant sounds,

which you are going to help Katherine to -- Kathleen to make.

Amy has had Zippy for 30 years and took him to work this week. Abs in

East London only had marbles. Brilliant toys. Andujar yet,

46-year-old mum Kay with her Easter bunny toy. What about this noise?

Waves are going down the metal and they are dispersive. High freaks sis

travel fast and low one ones are slow. It sound like a light sabre.

Thanks Dr Hugh and of course to Kathleen Turner. Bakersfield Mist

opens at the theatre on 27th May. Good luck. Have a great Grand

National weekend. See you soon. Keep betting.