23/08/2012 The One Show

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

Tonight we're joined by a man who has escaped to the country, found

cash in the attic, sung countless praises and is still walking on air

because he's got a big new job. It I am really impressed. 10 seconds

into the link and you mention of walking on the air. Have you ever

played strip billiards in Las Vegas and naked? Not yet. How do you

think Prince Harry would have explained that to his grandmother?

I do not know really. Do you think she follows Twitter? She probably

does not care. He is young and single and can do what he wants.

Aled's career is about to take a dramatic new turn and we'll be

finding out more about that later. It is day two of The One Show's

harvesting live. You've sent us loads of pictures of your home-

This is safely with her next-door Thick -- that was Tony with his

baby carrots. Yesterday, Lucy Siegle spent the day on a farm in

Norfolk. I am in a barn on a Norfolk farm bus-stop this is a

mountain of wheat. It has been harvested so far the Shia at this

farm. -- this year. It belongs to Algy Garrod. You are disappointed.

We should not be standing here. The boards should be up and there

should be overflowing with wheat. We should not be able to get in

here. I am guessing that your coffers are not for either. We are

missing �40,000 of wheat. You are missing for 2000 quid basically.

try not to look in here. It is not all bad news. Algy Garrod has

diversified. We will be looking at some of the crops he has harvested

so far this year. One particular crop we think is rather special.

See you then. That panda wheat harvest is a common picture all

over the country. -- bad up wheat harvest. Simon Boazman reports of

my dishes were there -- on the White this year's weather could

affect the price of wheat. These fields are eerily untouched. The

unpredictable weather has not just put a damper that on things for us,

it has put the entire harvest on hold. We have had one of the

wettest summers ever. That plays havoc with the nation's crops. This

man grows wheat for biscuits, breakfast cereals and bread. His

combined he stuck in a shared. was raining again. -- his combine

harvester is stuck in the shed. There is a fine line between

success and failure. We lose all the quality when shoots appear from

here. We have spent a lot of money to produce good quality milling

wheat. If it stays wet and starts to grow, we lose all quality. It is

just good for chicken feed. A break in the showers and the possiblity

of a couple of hours of sunshine. That is too good an opportunity to

miss. The sun is about, the wind is blowing a rural see if we can

manage to cut it. Every Friday counts. Farmers are harvesting

world the wheat is relatively wet. -- every dry day counts. The main

problem seen his disease caused by the wet-weather. If you put your

finger nail through them, you will see there is nothing there. That is

bad weather and disease. There is no value. Eight weeks ago, we

looked like we were on for a huge harvest. Farmers have been

struggling since March when it started to rain to keep control of

disease. Yields are a damn. They were looking a very big yields and

now it is not. -- yields are down. Will viewers see any difference in

their price for bread? Their advantage. Wet tweed will not sell

but there is a solution. -- they are bound to. Farmers can pay to

put the wheat through massive dryers like this. It might cost �2

of �3 a term in trying costs but that is nothing to be �40 a term if

his harvest crop failed. It is crunch time. Has the wet weather

gamble paid off? We have our farmers grade. What is it testing?

It is testing the elasticity of the flower. It will determine whether

the bread will rise and stay risen or whether it will rise up and

flopped down again. We are passing the 250 mark. That is a very good

crop. That extra trying appears to have paid off. The grain gets top

marks and can be sold off to bakeries. Thousands of farmers are

to -- crossing their fingers for more dry days. This summer has been

frustrating for farmers. Further rain could spell more trouble. The

ability to adapt has meant we should keep bread on our tables. He

might have to pay a little bit more for it. That is so worth it.

Nothing nicer than fresh bread. You were brought up on local produce.

Living in North Wales, everything was organic. We buy direct from the

farmer. It is nice going past fields and looking and knowing...

You would not go to the supermarket at all. We would buy vegetables and

meat and stuff from the farmers. You were trendy before your time.

No one has ever said that to me before! A TV career it is on the up.

It is exciting. We were a little bit worried. We saw this scene in

the Olympics boost 2012 Foster Wheeler trying to find a celebrity

judge for a nationwide bell-ringing competition. -- Olympics Booth 2012.

We were trying to find. Did you come up with added Jones? No, leave

him. -- Aled Jones. That was the greatest moment of my life being on

that programme. We spent the day in Canary Wharf. The whole team were

brilliant. Did they tell you they were going to do that? I knew they

were going to take the mickey out of me for the duration of the

programme. What an honour! That was before they knew about the new job.

We filmed it three months ago. All of a sudden end as they are going

to do that bell-ringing composition competition for the Olympics. So,

it came true. You are going to be an early riser. I'm going to be

presenting Daybreak. Some people thought it was going to be the lead

singer of Stereophonics but it is not. I will be on at 7am to at

8:30am. It will have a new set. It will be a new challenge but I am

looking forward to it. They will talk about the chemistry. I have

known no rain since I was very young. She has been to be used me

numerous times. -- she has interviewed me numerous times.

you quite surprised? I was. I did not see myself like that. I am

looking forward to it. I have not had that consistency in my life. I

have spent my life in graveyards and fields. I have loved that. Now

I can do things like the school run. You have other projects. This will

be a daily show. How will you fit in Songs Of Praise and your radio

show? I will have six early mornings a week. I will do Daybreak

and then I will get up early on a Sunday as well to do the radio.

a cathedral tour. That is next year. Is all this talking good for the

boys? Of course it is. It is warming up. I panicked before eight

gig. I have to practise like everyone else. You're talking about

doing a school run. Singing is running in the family, isn't it?

son sings a lot but he thinks such singing is full girls. My daughter

sings. She was in a show last year for a year and had a great time.

She was Princess Vienna, wasn't she? She won a thank you for that.

-- Fiona. She will not thank you for that. She usually tells me I

sing things rubbish. It is not going to be like this arm Daybreak,

I will tell you that. You can see him on the show a week on Monday.

Time to go back to the shower -- to the farm in Norfolk. Still down on

the farm and work continues as the farmers tried to make up some

ground on the harvest. The weather has -- the weather has been

terrible. It has been an enormously tough hardest. This time last year,

70% of the whole wheat harvest in the UK had been brought in. The

sheet is just 25%. A massive discrepancy. -- this year is just

25%. Quite a struggle for farmers in different parts of the country.

I am in Norfolk on the east coast. It has been very dry with very good

weather. They have had two weeks of reasonable weather. That has been a

lifeline. The farm I am on today has been able to harbour some crops.

This is how we got on today. -- harvest some crops. They have been

on the farm for three generations. Quite a civilised start to the day!

Very important to get a cup of tea and slice of toast. He grows a

diverse selection of crops, including something you might not

expect - birdseed. What crops to grow? We croak a mixture of seats.

-- grow. Some wheat and some maize. Why do you put so much in it?

Different bird species like different seats. It suits all.

do you stop the birds from helping themselves? Birds will sit on the

top and help themselves. We used The wheat crop took a battering

this year. He got round that by replacing part of it with more

versatile Bali. Serious represent the largest % of our area. There is

a small issue with green straw. It is probably the ramifications of

all the wet weather we had. It is imparting moister into the straw

and becomes more difficult to separate the grain from the straw.

The field next door, which was wheat, was the disastrous yield.

Over there, disaster, only here, good. -- over here, appeared. They

have a farm shop where they sell direct to the public. There is

corner on the cob and another special treat on their menu. --

corner on the cob. Also a huge popcorn cooker. Lots of hot oil.

You are an arable farmer. Why a making popcorn? We grosgrain, why

This is different. I get meet the public. I can sell my product

greatly. The kids love it. You've got big ambitions for this popcorn?

It's in the a bit of fun? It's not a hobby? No, I would love to see

this sold across the UK, and who knows. One may we might sell to

Uncle Sam. So selling to America. Indeed. So in a minute as that

cooks we're hoping it's going to look great and we can tip it out

and have a look at that. It's about to start going now. It's going to

go off in a minute, isn't it? Is this something that you think is a

serious part of your business that'll help you. We have talked

about all the problems with the harvesting and the weather. Could

this really become a core part of your business that could help you

balance the books really Yes, it's about adding value and selling

directly to the customer. We get a larger proportion of the final

price. We can guarantee quality. We know where it comes from. We use

cold-pressed rapeseed oil locally grown. OK. It's really starting to

pop now. Let's go for this. I want to bring in two of your helpers

while you're doing that. 20 seconds now... Quickly come in. Your dadly

make lots of products - turn around for me. Which do you like best, the

birdseed or the popcorn? Definitely the popcorn. Yes. I knew that was

going to happen. Do you actually like popcorn? Yeah, we love it.

do you think it's fun daddy does this? Yes, it's brilliant. What is

a harvest like? What is it like when he's harvesting? It's good fun

because we get to run the tractors and that sort of thing. Marvellous.

So you're keen farmers yourselves? Yes. Yes. Yes? Annabelle, yes?

OK. Are we almost ready to eat some of this popcorn? Girls, stand to

the side. We're going to do what I like the call the Norfolk popcorn

tip. Let's go. Three, two, one. This is getting excited. Here we go.

Woo! The best thing is Algy, we'd like to try some as soon as you're

ready. Here we go - fresh local popcorn. This is fresh popcorn from

Norfolk. Delicious. I have definitely got the best gig. Back

to you. Jealous! The pressure was on there

- not sharing. A bowl of that would be lovely. The Paralympics start

next week, so the Games Lanes will be back in action, and the timings

on some traffic lights will be changed to say to reduce some

congestion. We know everybody has sat at a traffic light and just

wished they could change the lights. Marty Jopson had the chance.

There was a time when man controlled our junctions.

Now computers decide who gets the green light. But are we moving in

the right direction? We all know the frustration of needlessly

sitting at a red light when it's clear and it should be green. It

feels like I could do better than this. Well, there is a team of egg

nears that think I could be right. Traffic lights all over the country

are run by computerised systems like this one in Leicester. They're

called UTCs, Urban Traffic- Controllinged systems. The aim of

this is to minimise delays by giving the green light to the

busiest lanes. Sensors in the road tell them how many cars are in a

lane. The computer assumes the average of how long it will take

for a car to get through, but this engineer at the University of

Southampton thinks there might be a better way. He's created a computer

game that lets drivers control traffic lights. It's revealed

spreeks spend less time waiting at lights when humans are in charge.

traffic junction might look like a simple thing, but in fact there is

some complex behaviour going on. don't drive in the regimented way

the computer assumes. We switch lanes and drive at different speeds.

The computer just reacts to what the programmer has told it to do,

whereas a human is quite good at adapting and changing, trying out

new strategies. But Simon has never tested his theory outside the game,

so we're going to do just that. We've taken over a test track. We

have a junction with four light and 30 cars driving around continuously.

Let's see who can get the most cars through the lights - man or machine.

First up, the UTC. It has to decide if road A or road B gets the green

the junction. We've got a nice big queue on this leg, and we can see

some vehicles building up, and the junction has just given them a

green light. That was definitely a good move the compute her given

them. They're building up here. really the computer should give

them a green light. I would have done it already. This is green, but

there was nobody there. The computer uses the average time the

vehicles will take to get through the lights. When cars get through

faster, it means another lane needlessly sits at red.

If you could stop the test that would be great. Thank you. After 15

minutes, 323 cars have got through the lights under UTC control.

Right. Now you get to have a good. So how many cars can I get through?

Come on, you lot. Go, go, go, go, go. You've got to be constantly

thinking, where's the traffic? Where's it going to be? It's going

to be cleared in about - yeah. Right. I go now. They'll whip

through. OK. Yeah, that was perfectly timed. I got them through.

I am getting the hang of this. I can anticipate how long each lane

needs a green light. Two, three one, now. When you were

controlling the junction 286 cars made it through the junction, and

with the compute 233. Yes. It seems man can beat the machine.

But it's not practical to have people controlling them, so Simon

has found a way to combine the best of both words. He's using

artificial intelligence. The computer copies choices made by a

player in the game. So when it encounters a new situation, ill

will try to look through the statistical patterns it's collected

and think what will Marty do here? The more people play, the more the

computer thinks like a human. Hopefully, over time it will learn

to control the traffic better. Simon is currently working with a

company that develop traffic light systems. His artificial

intelligence technology should be Good news. Thanks, Marty. I can't

believe what you just said. He said, "I would love to drive around that

junction." He did say that. It just looks quite orderly - it does make

me sound incredibly sad. LAUGHTER

Anyway, let's get back to harvesting and all of your...

is from Julie. She says this is my husband Joe with his strawberry

crop. You have one. I have. I have one here. I have Brian Crisp with a

parsnip. Not just a parsnip - look behind him at his work top as well

- that's full. He's going to cook it with pork and apple sauce.

mentioned chillies last night. This is from Roger. He says, "This is

how you grow chillies, Alex." look nothing like this. This is

from Ian. This is his wife Sheena with her veg patch. These are not

chillies. He said "I grew these tomatoes from my seeds in

Switzerland"! If the weather stays fine I know many of you will plan

al fresco dining. But have you ever thought how your colourful picnic

could invite unwelcome guests? There is a world of mysterious

creatures out there. No matter how hard you try, you cannot escape

them. These invaders can be the bane of our lives in summertime.

I love eating outside in the summer, but insects can ruin a picnic. They

fly around. They bite us. They sting us. So how can we avoid these

pests? The secret to keeping insects at bay is to understand

what they're attracted to. First things first, this blanket was a

mistake. For a Beatle, the colours yellow and green look pretty

similar, so this yellow picnic blanket just looks like a giant

leaf. They think it's lunch. Insects generally have restricted

colour vision. They only see the world in shades of yellowy green or

blue, and yellowy green means food, so if you don't want to have

unwanted guests joining your picnic, stay away from yellow and green in

your picnic and clothes. What else attracts these beasts? What food we

have obviously attracts as a magnet for insects. There are some foods

that cause surprising reactions. Fellow entomologist Dr Adam Hart is

joining me to see what his honeybees make of my picnic. They

do look a bit sleepy. They do look a bit docile. Some of the things in

your picnic might liven them up. What do you suggest? These banana

sweets - let's put them in and see what happens. That's working.

is that? That's strong. This pheromone is found when they sting,

so you're attracting not just bees but angry bees. This chemical is

used as a sweetener in ice creams and cakes and also naturally in

bananas and apples, but in much lower concentrations, so you're

safer with those on your picnic. there anything that repels bees?

There is some evidence this substance does. It's called

heptonine. That's like blue cheese. Yeah. It is found in a pheromone

honeybees give off to warn other bees when there is danger. It's

also what gives blue cheese its taste.

So what I should do is get rid of these and replace it with a nice

Where you have your picnic also suggests how many uninvited guests

you'll attract. The classic place to find insects like midges black

flies and another dreaded menace - the male mosquito. It's only the

female mosquitos that bite us. They need a blood meal to help their

eggs develop, and we're the perfect source.

The females breed in ponds. Yes, and they lay the eggs which hatch

out into larvae which grow into these. What particularly makes them

attracted to us? We're warm, produce carbon dioxide. We're

magnets for mosquitoes. We might as well have a sign saying "Eat me."

Staying away from still water help, but the best way to avoid these

blood suckers is to time your picnic right. Most insects come out

at dusk and dawn. Now that I have top tips for avoiding intruders I

won't be put off my picnic. The only thing that can stop me now -

is the British weather. We have achieved some patchy

weather over the weekend. It's mixed. There is some sunshine in

parts. How very positive of you. you have any plans for the Bank

Holiday? No, I am going to take it easy. Last one. I might go for a

run because I aim to have a body like yours - I was pointing at

yours, actually. LAUGHTER

Going to take it easy I'll be back on the radio from 6.00 to 9.00.