05/02/2014 The One Show

Hello and welcome to The One Show, with Alex Jones... And Matt Baker.

Coming up tonight... Practice is nearly over for the big performance

tonight. Wayne Sleep and his big ballerinas will say why size doesn't

matter if you want to be a dancer. Yes, looking forward to that.

Geraldine Ward is going to ask for your help to find the owner of that

medal she's holding. And Marty Jopson is going to do this. Blowing

up a piece of cotton on his hand. And he is going to do it to him.

Billabong! How come you are setting fire to my hand? Well, we were so

grateful because you said yes. You are such a lovely chap. Yes, set

fire to me, why not?! In Lee's new TV show, called Duck Quacks Don't

Echo, famous facts are put to the test, like the fact that your

armspan is the same as your height. So, in honour of Duck Quacks Don't

Echo, tonight we have our own One Show boffins in the studio, and

they're ready to verify your favourite facts. They are Mike

Dilger, Sarah Jarvis and Marty Jospon. Here is my favourite fact.

Rain drops aren't tear-shaped, they are shaped like mini hamburgers.

That gives people a different perspective! On the rain falling at

the moment. Isn't that right? If they are big enough and the wind...

Yes, they will come out as hamburgers. Yeah, the recipe has to

be perfect but there you go. This is my favourite. You know people say

there is no word that rhymes with orange. There is a word. And it's

"sporange". That's a rarely used botanical word that's part of a fern

or similar plant. Well, aren't you the party pooper for finding a word

that rhymes with orange! We want everybody at home to get involved as

well. There is the address, so whatever it is you have been

fascinating your family with four years, send it to our team and we

will verify it. Well, those hamburger raindrops are still

falling, and millions of pounds are being spent on flood defences. But

Tony has met a man who has been doing it on the cheap, using some

fallen trees and a leaky barrier, and that is the technical term.

One of the worst hit areas was in Kent, where the ledges spent

Christmas day with floods gushing through their streets and into their

homes. When David Cameron came to view the damage, one villager,

Erica, took the chance and confronted him. Since Monday we have

been trying to contact them. Nothing! Nothing? A month on and I'm

eating Erica. She is still dealing with the damage of the floods. It is

up to waste time now. The whole floorboards, yes, all over the

floor. What will this cost you? At the moment we are looking at

?10,000. The government says it is investing ?3 million in flood

defences but demand is high and towns and villages across the UK are

queueing up to get flood defences. In Erica's Village, where 200 homes

flooded, there is no guarantee they will get any. That's see if we can

find some kind of solution. OK. The parish council proposal is budgeted

at ?50 million. Could there be a cheaper way? I have brought Erica to

Belford in the north-east of England, where the village suffered

five floods in two years. Until an unusual scheme was implemented.

Doctor Paul Quinn from Newcastle University is responsible for the

Belford flood alleviation scheme, funded by the Environment Agency. He

takes the unique approach of using natural methods to stop flooding.

What are you doing, Paul? Well, basically, we're trying to work with

the forces of nature and getting them to do what nature does.

Basically fell these trees and put them across the river and it causes

a flood wave to hit it and slow it down, and all the rest of the water

is thrown onto the flood plain and flows slowly back into the river. To

look at it, you would not believe these were flood defences. 90% of

our flood water comes through these channels and if you wait, it is too

late. But you need them all over the land. And in the fields, there is

another unusual flood defence. This is a leaky barrier, designed to

leak. When it is really rainy, the land flow flows downhill, comes to

this point and we put a barrier here to stop it. In full flood condition,

the barrier creates a pond, holding back the water from the river long

enough for the storms to pass. There is the water coming in and then the

water leaking over the top and going through... That is where we were

standing now. And the key thing is, you need a network of these. We have

put 40 of these features in and it has been spread across six square

kilometres. What is the cost of this? Well, the traditional scheme

was estimated at ?2.5 million and the scheme we have put in is

?200,000. Much cheaper. And it looks nicer. The key is whether these

would work elsewhere. Exactly. What works for one place might not work

for another. Catherine is from the chartered institution of water and

environmental management. It seems so simple. Why isn't the Government

doing this everywhere? It takes a long time to gather the scientific

proof for flood risk management and I think the Government is naturally

cautious about where it invests its money. There are currently about a

dozen natural flood management pilot schemes in the UK. One of the

problems with this would be dealing with landowners? You have to work

with them and has to be in their interests to be able to make it

happen. They have to want to make it do it. You cannot force farmers to

do something they don't feel is right on their land. This won't be

perfect for everywhere, will it? They work especially in the right

place. There will be a way of finding the right technique for your

area. So, after a day's research in the north-east, what does Erica

think? These things do work. I've seen for myself that they work. And

if it is going to prevent all the misery and heartache, then why not?

Fighting flooding is a complexes you and I know every case is different.

But having spent the day here in Belford, where they have harness

nature, you have to ask the question, should the Government be

spending more of their annual budget on fighting floods this way? Some

very canny ideas there. It is so clever and so cheap and it is

working with nature rather than against it. And we saw you flying

over much of the area in Somerset. Prince Charles was following in my

wake! Absolutely dramatic, though, what is happening. He was on a boat,

was in a helicopter. This is Dawlish in Devon. This is the ready famous

railway line, one of the most bit dress in Britain. The surge came in,

washed away the sea wall. You can see the rail is suspended but

Network Rail reckon it will be closed for four to six weeks and

that is the longest closure since it was built in the 1840s by Isambard

Kingdom Brunel. We have been seeing images like that for weeks and up

and down the country we have been battered by these floods. I'd guess

we want to know how we can help, so are they charities that are set up

already? There is an Emergency Committee and I'm at the Red Cross

and the Salvation Army, who are coordinating what is going on on the

ground. Part of the pots that you put in will help what is going on in

Somerset and further afield. Prince Charles donated ?50,000 from the

countryside fund. 25,000 is going to the farmers and 25,000 towards the

community trust in Somerset. The Duke of Westminster has matched that

and the RSPB have a flooding from, too. And local people and local

charities supporting whatever is happening locally in the area, so

watch this space for details. Lee, you've been hit by the floods,

haven't you? We had it quite easy. Nothing like that. I want to make it

sound ground but there is a Japanese the house. I'm not very good... How

big is that? -- there is a dapper beneath the house? -- a hole. The

costume woman on this very show... Herself is flooded as well. So come

Friday, you will be in trouble! She keeps the costumes down there. It is

all right because it is not the river that has gone over, it is the

water table that has risen. Your vintage wine collection? Yeah, both

bottles of Lamborghini are knackered! We mentioned Lee's show

earlier. He's been asking celebrities to bring him their

favourite facts. Here's Dara O'Briain's. Touching somebody's up

mum will help you get what you want from them. -- pop-up arm. If it is

somebody you dislike... Get a cup of tea food. There is probably a curve

in the chart. Could you make me a cup of tea... A cup of tea? A cup of

tea! See, we've naturally been trying out that theory. And it works

a treat. What did you get out of it? Nothing! You've got to want

something! You've got to ask something where there is a no and

then you touch the arm and there is a yes. Let's start at the beginning,

though. So, the show, Duck Quacks Don't Echo. Is that fact? Well, they

are bringing on some things which are supposed to be true to some

degree and we test out how true they are. So the title of the show has to

be true and we found out too late that it is not true at all. So now

can I say, it is a terrible idea and it was not my idea! So they do echo.

But if you called the show Duck Quacks Do Echo, that would be a

weird show. Can't remember who brought this on but we talked about

the custard condensing. If you get a speaker from a hi-fi and you pour

custard into it, on its side, otherwise it will fall out, and you

pump music through the Speaker, it has to be a certain type and

consistency of custard, just putting the kids off trying it, the custard

will change from liquid to a semisolid and start dancing up and

down and you can pick it up in your hands, and it will suddenly melt on

your hands. But it would be something with a beat, like dance

music? Our first Friday show and we ran this, because when you hit it at

a certain speed it becomes hard. Tonight on the one show, running

across batter! But do you think Google has killed fact? Because

people used to sit around and discuss facts but now we can check.

I think it is the opposite. People accept everything on Google as fact

so now there are more facts but half of them are not true. Because if you

type something in a read it back, you will read it and go, that must

be true, and deny read it and find out I'm Russ Abbot's nephew, which

I'm not. -- and I've read it. My favourite fact? Probably ever, it is

from the show, and did like the idea that the safest place to be in

lightning is in a car. Because I was led to believe the opposite because

it is metal. They put us in a car and electrocuted us with lightning.

Terrifying! Nothing worse than thinking you're going to die,

looking to your left and seeing a member of JMS! Nobody wants to go

like that! I am going on tour. This has more facts based on it now? Yes!

No fact in the tour, you will be pleased to hear. We read a quote and

you said, I am once again very excited about the prospect of being

able to eat food that pasties alone in a service station at 3am. They

are marvellous! It is getting to eat like a pig but not feel guilty

because you have no choice. What else can you eat at 3am apart from a

Cornish pasty? That is how I'm justifying it to myself! And I will

miss the screaming kids every morning! It will be awful in the

hotel, lovely, quiet! But you can mix it up. Absolutely. And all your

adoring fans. Let's auburn fans. Not sure about adoring. So, the show

starts on sky one at 10pm on Friday. Some viewers have sent in their

facts for our panel, so keep them coming in. Let's see if some of them

are true or not. if Stephen Price has been telling everybody this the

years, you can make a syntax inch and a -- a 6-inch nail from all of

the iron in the human body. I am taking it that it is an adult. What

you make of that? It is such a bloke question, I am hard as nails! You

are only half the man you thought you were, it is a 3-inch nail, not a

6-inch nail. Most of it is in your blood. I am in your blood. There you

are. -- iron in your blood. A good effort, though. Technically, if you

want to be picky, it is fiction. A bit harsh. If you are really tall,

it is a 6-inch nail. I have one here for Mike, and it says, is it true

that snails have approximately 25,000 teeth by Schumacher --? I

have never counted them but they have a conveyor belt full of teeth

and it goes round and round and basically grinds down vegetation. I

have a world record for sales on my face on the One Show and I can

confirm I felt a lot of teeth, so it is true.

Well, we need more of your so-called facts, keep them coming in. Here is

a fact that it doesn't need verifying, never trust an offer that

sounds too good to be true, especially when it concerns giving

someone you don't know your entire pension fund.

When money is tight, the idea of accessing your pension fund a bit

early can be sorely tempting. But whenever there is a lump sum of cash

to be had, you can be sure someone else has got their eyes on it. Craig

from Derby wanted to go to America, so his youngest son could meet his

grandfather for the very first time. Craig already wanted to

transfer his ?25,000 pension to a new scheme. So when he found a

company willing to pay him to do that, he thought he had also found a

way of funding that family trip. So what did the company of you? For my

?25,000 transfer into one of their schemes, they give me