10/12/2013 The One Show

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

Tonight's guest is one of EastEnders' best loved characters.

But long, long, long before she was Dot Cotton, we were amazed to

discover that she starred in a certain rival soap.

You have no idea where Mrs Sharples might be. There is not much time.

Tony owes a lot to her. Tony has a surprise for her. We have left it

rather late. If we do not get hold of her, everything will be ruined.

It's June Brown of course! It is so great to have you here. Tony Warren

was a big fan of yours when he was a little boy. I was just an actress at

the Manchester Theatre Royal. It was our first matinee. There was a

little boy and a little girl, both about ten, at the stage door. He

asked for my autograph. I said, you do not want mine. He said, you might

be one day. We thought that was so enchanting we took him out to tea.

On the way we saw Sir Alec Guinness. Nobody recognised him

because he played so many different parts. I said, run across the road

and ask him for his autograph. He got his autograph taken as well. And

that was Tony Warren. I could go even longer with that story. I

nearly brought my stopwatch. We will get through a fuel of these stories.

We're looking forward to hearing about June's long life and career as

a Shakespearean actress among other things which she's chronicled in her

new autobiography. Our studio is full of Dots. They are all in. We

want to join the dots tonight. Maybe you can add to these. Send us your

pictures of you in your best outfits. Shops are seasonably

crowded at the moment. Not that retailers are complaining of course.

But there is one type of customer they don't want. Now or at any time

of the year. Christmas shopping. The windows, the lights, the excitement,

the crowds. It is also the perfect environment for pickpockets. When

you are out on a busy street, you may be surprised how vulnerable you

are too light fingered thieves. any pickpocketing opportunities. We have

pickpockets around here. I would not like to see you lose your wallets.

What other pickpockets doing? The more switched on tactics we use, it

is a game of cat and mouse. Uniformed officers provide a

presence on the streets. The best way to catch a pickpocket red-handed

is to go undercover. These policemen are plainclothes police officers, on

the hunt for pickpockets in the busy west end. You are about to go out on

the street. What will you be doing? We will focus on places where we see

an increase in this type of crime. At the moment we will focus on some

of the shoe shops in and around Oxford Street. Free mouse will leave

their backs down around their sides and the bags will be left

unattended. Be filmed the officers using hidden cameras. The officers

pay a visit to this shoe shop, which has had a recent spate of bag

thefts. While they are there, this man comes in. He is not here to buy

footwear. He is a repeat offender they have been trying to catch for

more than a month. The police are on to him. Then, right in front of the

undercover officers, the thief snatches an unsuspecting customer 's

bank. Police. The officers break cover and arrest him. You are under

arrest for at least five, possibly six, accounts of bag thefts in this

area, this shop and others. He had been caught in the act. This was not

the first time in the had targeted a shoe shop. This gentleman has been

wanted by us for a while. He is one of our most prolific targets that we

have been after for a while. Later, the thief pleaded guilty to six

theft offences, all at shoe shops. He is being held on

I have seen people go for a coffee and leave their phone on the table.

We have got to microfilms to show you, have a quick look at this, this

was at King's Cross railway station. They guy is waiting to get off the

train, but the suitcase is not his. He is looking back in the carriage

to see if anyone has spotted it. Some people would keep an eye on it,

but others don't. Nobody has gone towards it, he has had another quick

look, he stepped off in case anybody goes for it. And he has gone. That

is the end of your suitcase. Have a look at this, this is Leeds, have a

look at the woman in pink, look. See that? She is taking another woman's

handbag out. Along comes an accomplice, and there they go, that

is someone who has lost their handbag, a pregnant lady making that

move, someone perhaps above suspicion, but keep your eyes

everywhere. Those suspects have not been found, British Transport Police

as saying, if you have seen anything on the railways, this is the number.

June and I were just saying, we would be the type who would not

watch our luggage on trains and that would happen. Well, I do now,

actually, because I had a handbag taken in a restaurant, they had

taken away the chair beside me, I had been joined by some friends, and

I put my bag down here, and my friend was Rosemarie, the singer.

She has got long legs, she kept kicking my shins. Every time she

said sorry, and then one time there was a kick on my shin and nobody

said sorry. I didn't think anything of it, but somebody had taken my

bag. Now I put my foot through the strap, you see? They would take me

as well! They would have a right shock! Before you go, we have

developments on what we were talking about last night with the price of

food. Yes, we were discussing speculation that the cost of

groceries in Scotland could increase as the result of Scottish

independence. The Scottish Government have had their say, they

say, look, the was old of independence, they propose that they

would lower corporation tax, introduce a fuel duty regulator to

cut costs, and they say already their business rate regime is the

most competitive in the UK. So they argue that costs would go down. I

think it is bad to say at this stage, there are two sides to every

argument, there are many agendas in this argument, and all we can say

with any certainty is that it is all hypothetical until the referendum

takes place. Now the launderette has been the scene of many dramas over

the years. Countless life changing confessions. Mr Poppa Doppler 's

have no idea what is going on. Tell Athis is the first scene in the

launderette in 1985. I know I said I would come in 20 minutes early but I

got held up. I did not realise they would keep me so long. Does it feel

like yesterday? Do you notice what a high voice I had? I used to have a

much higher voice. Launderettes outside the world of television are

places where people go to wash their clothes, or are they?

Excuse me. Can I have somehow? Am I doing this right? You do not want to

put that in. You should put whites and colours separate in case they

run. How long have you been working here? About ten, 11 years. I can

tell you a story, we had a man in here who came in to do his washing

and he took his clothes off. He took his trousers off and his top and he

was down two boxes. The old ladies were loving it. I said, that is as

far as you can go. I have a gentleman coming in for a service. I

cannot chat all day. I will get the sack. It is a bit difficult. You

need a degree in maths to work this out. How long have you been here? We

have had the business about 25 years. This bloke came in and wanted

a service wash. A new girl did the wash and she came back to pick it up

but she had no money. He went and came back with a trifle. I said I

could not give it to you. He did get his washing back because he lived on

the street and I felt sorry for him. A lot of people do not buy washing

machines because they love to come in here and chat with other people.

They meet loads of people. I you all right? Lovely. Hallow, it is still,

isn't it? What you like about working in a launderette? I like

working with these young boys. You are a bit too old for me. What kind

of people come in? Neighbours. We get a lot of students. They do not

know what whole to put it in but we help them. You must know all that

goes on, all the gossip. Everybody's family, the grandkids. I know what

everyone gets up to, I know it. They are all over the moon with that. I

have been photographed in a washing machine. How did you get in there?

Wow! A nice photographer. I was more agile. We have seen you on your

first appearance in EastEnders. This issue as Lady Macbeth opposite

Albert Finney. Isn't that a gorgeous photographs! There you are again.

All of this, do you recognise that? I will have to get up and have a

look. Yes, yes it is me. Classic. You didn't mind me getting up, did

you? All of this may not have happened had it not been for your

sister. We did not take the times. She saw the advertisement for a

school which was opening up in the January and she brought it home.

That is why I applied. How old were you then? I was 19. I've had been in

the wrens and did not know what I was going to do. How was acting

then? Very different. It is called a business now back then it was a

profession. People would do things on stage to make people laugh and

they do not do that now. We were very serious about it. I just do not

know. There was hardly any television. Just the radio. We only

thought we would be stage actors or, maybe if we were lucky film actors.

It is just lovely. We laughed so much. I do not know why people do

not laugh so much. The world seemed easier. I do not know what it was.

People think the 50s were awful but they were not. It was lovely. The

book finishes. It says, to be continued. It was basically your

life before EastEnders. How did it come about?

It was incredibly popular in a very short time, and I put it on one day,

and I saw Lou Beale and Pauline, they were having a row, and I

thought, I can't watch this! So I didn't bother, then I got offered

this job, I thought, I had better have a look, otherwise I will not

know who the actors are! Imagine going up to Dirty Den and saying,

who do you play? It was through him I got it. You have become one of the

best loved characters in the soap, and you were BAFTA nominated for

that monologue, which was just you on your own, it was fantastic, we

can see a little bit of on the screen. Where would you'll I Dot to

go as a character? -- you like. People do different things during

different parts of their lives, so as long as you have got writers with

imagination, there is every possibility they can find a new

storyline for you. I have got a new storyline coming up when I go back.

Is that Christmas? No, I am not much in it at Christmas, I think I get

thrown out of the pub, I can't remember. Did you film that quite a

while ago? Yes, I was so busy writing this book, I have lost a

stone and ?6, I know, I cannot afford to lose that. You have lost

weight. That was the rickshaw, what it? We will put it back on over

Christmas, won't we? Are you writing the second book now? You have said,

to be continued. I am thinking about the paperback. It is an awful thing,

you cannot get rid of it. It is finished, there she was on the floor

like a fly with their legs and arms wiggling, Sophie like a circus

horse, because we had had all these deadlines, as far as the Sahara

desert they stretched, and we finally got it done two minutes

before the final deadline. I had not gone up to bed until 4:30, and I got

up at 6:30 and it was finished. Well, I thought it was finished, but

fiddling around, going around, doing this, that and the other, I am

exhausted! But you have got time for the second half, haven't you? I

don't know, it is going to be more difficult, because the next book

would involve the children. Offspring, mine or not children

anymore, you know how much they hate you saying anything about them. They

are over there, yes, we are going to be sitting with them shortly.

Terrified! Well, the book, Before The Year Dot, is out in shops now.

While many family businesses have fallen by the wayside, one firm has

flourished because it has not been afraid to get its hands dirty. Year

is June's pal Larry Lamb. There's nothing quite like an open

fire, and it will not be long before something like smoke is disappearing

up the nation's chimneys. Posting a letter up the chimney, or trying to,

is the old-fashioned way to send your wishes to Santa, and of course

someone might soon be trying to squeeze down the chimney himself.

Christmas is the busiest time of year for the PS family. They have

been sweeping chimneys for over 400 years. -- Pearce. According to

family legend, and there is plenty of it, they helped revolutionise the

chimney sweeping trade. Before the 1820s, boys were climbing up with a

hand brush, and they would shimmy up and brush it with their hand brush.

We were the first to use rods and brushes. And we bought a job lot so

that other sweeps could use them. We had the monopoly environs and

brushes! -- on the rods. It is kit that has hardly changed in 200

years. On one job, a big house in Clapham, I found a big box, and when

I opened it up, it was full of diamonds. We once found a live fish

that had been dropped down the chimney, we threw it in a pond and

it survived. Yes, frogs, bones, anything you can think of, we have

pulled out of chimneys. The family tree is over three feet long, and it

stretches back as far as the 18th century. My father did say that I

was the fifth generation. Yeah. So the thing is, that would make my son

the sixth and my grandson the seventh. I have got an idea my

grandfather was there as well. Dennis started in the family firm at

14 and worked for more than half a century. I myself am really proud,

you know. Stephen goes to customers now that I was going to 40 or 50

years ago. By the early 1900s, there were over 100 Pearces working as

sweeps around London and Essex. This is the memoirs of my grandfather of

being a chimney sweep from the age of, I think, 13 years old. And it

was all handwritten, as you can see. As late as the 1930s, Percy was

still climbing inside chimneys as well as sweeping them. My

grandfather used to climb a big chimney at Denmark Hill, the

Salvation Army, he had a 150 foot chimney. That has to be cleaned by

climbing, the only chimney and boiler Klima who would tackle it.

They would not pay him until he could prove he had been to the top.

According to legend, shaking a sweep's hand is supposed to bring

you luck, so five in one room, that is a lot of luck, right? How did

this thing of chimney sweeps and luck start off? According to my

grandfather Percy, years ago, the 18th century, I think it was, on a

procession through London, the King of England was on his horse, and it

bolded and reared. Out from the crowd, a chimney sweep came out and

stopped the horse throwing the King off. He said, who are you, young

man, and what do you do? He said, I am a Pearce and a chimney sweep, and

that got turned around to sweeps being lucky. He was not slow to cash

in. He said, let's make the most of it, and he started kissing brides at

weddings to make some money, and he thoroughly enjoyed that. And

finally, a toast to the next generation. To here is to be chimney

sweep's luck and the Pearce! We were chatting on there! Sorry,

Larry! Thanks, Larry. We are joined by June's daughters, lovely to have

you with us. You say that your book is a saga of a working mum, because

you work through all your pregnancies, but for you girls, how

hard was it to have a mum who was such a busy actress and just kept

going? How long have you got?! It was hard when she was away, she

would go away onto a sometimes, but on the other hand it was quite

exciting, because it was quite an conventional, and we used to go with

mum sometimes and hang out backstage in theatres and on film sets. So I

saw it as a plus side, actually. When she was away, we had to watch

our own socks! Is that when you realised your life was quite

different to your friends? Yes! Yes, it was very different, we had

conventional lives at school, because everyone else, their parents

did normal jobs, but I certainly felt like a bit of a misfit several

times. June, I am sure lots of mothers out there would be amazed to

hear, you had six children, how did you keep that... How did you keep

that turnaround of babies and work going? Well, yesterday I said, I

don't know how I did it, I just did. We helped. We changed the

nappies. Up at five, she could change nappies. Very good, really.

Yes, that was it, you used to look after Chloe, Naomi was more

difficult because she would choose our own clothes. I had my own

style! Sophie, you helped your mum to write the book, but was there

anything that surprised you? Were their stories you didn't know about?

Well, I had heard it all before, really! I thought we had got to

write it. What about you? There is one bit at the end that I didn't

know the details of mum's first husband's suicide, so that was a bit

upsetting, to read that. I do not think there were any other

surprises. Mum talks quite a lot about the past. You have a great

relationship, you worked together as a family to get through difficult

times and what have you, but it is a sisterly kind of relationship that

you have got, you have fun together. It is, really, considering the age

gap! But you get on, you have got your recent new friends, Lady Gaga!

She invited me to a private performance in a nightclub, I had

never been there before, but I was doing another programme on Saturday,

and this was Friday, and I thought, I can't be late, I would have to

look rather smart or peculiar, whichever you would like to think of

it as, so I said, please ask me next time you are here. What was your

reaction to your mum in there with Lady Gaga? Gaga and Gaga! Have you

been thinking that one up?! We asked earlier for your pictures of you in

disguise as Dot, and we have had loads of them in. This is Verity

Hammond, thank you for that. Do you want some? This is Jeeraan the dog,

look at this! Just show that two camera four. This

is Michael Heinen, Rhianna as Dot Cotton. This is all the Dot Cottons

in the making. Did you have any idea that you would be creating this

incredible character? No, I just got the script and it was a list of

illnesses! I thought, well, I cannot play a list of illnesses, she must

be a hypochondriac, why is she a hypochondriac? Nobody loves her, her

son is very unkind, although she says he is a tower of strength,

after he had threatened her with a knife, Charlie is living with their

hard sister up in the north somewhere, so she can only think

about herself. I like to when she was selfish like that. She got less

selfish when she got married to Jim, because Jim cared about her. Maybe

she ought to get a bit like that again! We will see Dot in the

squares for years to come, hopefully. Before The Year Dot is

out now. Thank you all for coming in. Tomorrow we will be joined by

Cilla Black and Micky Flanagan.