27/03/2012 The One Show

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

Tonight's guest is one of the greatest actresses this country has

ever produced. Yes, she has won Golden Globes, Emmys and even an

Oscar. And she is probably the most famous person to live in Southend

on Sea! It is Dame Helen Mirren! were saying, Southend on Sea, we

don't have this one very good authority, but is it right you used

to be a blagger in an amusement arcade? Sadly, yes! I did. Sadly it

has gone. Very briefly when I was at school, I was on a stall and it

means I had to shout from rubbish to try to get people's attention!

What kind of rubbish? You say, excuse me, did you patch in at the

gate? And they go, what?! What? And they come over. What did you say?

Anyway, it doesn't really matter. We had a lovely stall, lovely prize

is... That is how we get our guests on! Just be very vague! OK, we will

be talking more about the charity you're here to talk about a.

Dangerous dogs are in the news once more after five police officers in

London were attacked. And one British breed is being unfairly

stigmatised as dangerous when it can make a very good pet. Simon

Boazman finds out more about the misunderstood Staffy.

This is the modern-day image of is that a double terrier. The dog of

choice for those who breed it be used as a weapon. -- a

Staffordshire bull terrier. It hasn't always been the case. The

Victorians reviewed Staffies and pit-bulls as nanny dogs because

they were believed to be affectionate towards children. So,

what is the truth about the Staffordshire bull terrier? Is that

the devil dog that some people think or is it a trialled's best

friend? And why on earth would anybody want to foster one? -- a

child's best friend. Battersea Dogs Home has been inundated with a band

of Staffy needs and crossbreeds. Almost 2000 of them a ride last

year. In an attempt to get them in and out of the kennels, they set up

a fostering schemes. We have about 160 of these dogs across our sites

and the moment, and we really need help with some of the animals that

of feeling stressed in the kennels. Not all of the animals have been

treated well by their owners. Some come in with severe anti-social

behaviour? Yes, but it is not really about the breed. Any dog can

be dangerous in the wrong hands. Are they difficult to own because

of the public perception? I think initially, yes. By getting them out

of kennels and into homes, Battersea hopes to change their

image. But before any dog is fostered out, they are assessed to

see if they show any signs of aggression. Handling is very

important, so what Paddy is doing is building up handing with her. If

she were going into Weiss family -- into a family home with children,

they might start putting their hands over her because they don't

have the same inhibitions as we have. We have to make sure it is a

cable how would you, we have got a very high chance of predicting

whether there will be aggression. If the dog fails the assessment, it

will not be fostered out. If the dog is aggressive and we don't

think it is acceptable to be put back out into the public, we put it

to sleep. That must be very tough? It is, but we believe part of our

work is being responsible to the public. And when I take Brompton

out for a walk in the park, it is clear some park users are not

culpable. I don't know. It looks a vicious. Would you be happy having

this animal around your kids, your family? No. He doesn't bite, does

he? No. There have been a number of well publicised incidents in the

last decade where children have been attacked and even killed by

Staffies. However, they are not one of the four breeds banned by the

Dangerous Dogs Act. You do get aggressive dogs but it is not

specific. Often animals like that are associated with gang lads and

beyond them as a status symbol. They wanted for their image to look

hard and intimidate others. So if they have bought that dog up to be

aggressive and trended to be aggressive, regardless of the breed,

it will be. Do you think it is safe to foster a Staffy? No dog is saved.

You cannot guarantee it, just like you cannot guarantee a human will

not lose their temper. If you go on to weigh pets and website, you are

more likely to accidentally get an aggressive dog. With Doc Kearns,

they are aggression-tested, so you have some safety in there. -- with

dog homes. Only one in four applicants accepted for fostering.

We are looking for a nice, stable home with a real routine and

somebody who has regular hours and can give the dog the attention they

need. So are you saying a television reporter who is away a

lot, works on regular hours, I am not the perfect Foster? No. I have

met some great dogs today but it is clear there is much work to be done

to change public perception of Staffies and I am not sure a dog-

like Brompton would be the dog of choice for every family.

Well, Helen, you have bought eight pictures of dogs. For I love them!

But as they said on the film, it is all about the owner. And I think

people have to say that getting a - - people have to understand that

getting a dog... They are a miraculous animal who can help you

and they can do amazing things but we are still finding out about them.

To own a dog is not like owning a cat or a goldfish. You have to be

knowledgeable about them. People have to be trained in knowing any

dog and anyone who takes one should have a course in understanding

their behaviour. And you do have a bit of Ray Stubbs spot for the

Staffy type? Yes. We had them in America and they were very similar

to that type. It was a strong dog, what I would call a country dog.

And you have to remember what a dog was bred for. If you take a dog

that was bred to pull a carriage, you don't stick it in an apartment!

It is supposed to run 40 miles a day! This is great! Marvellous!

a completely different note, we have been following the story of

Fabrice Muamba, the young footballer who collapsed on the

pitch earlier this month. Something similar happened we friend of yours

at a premiere. Tell us the story. Absolutely. A young friend of mine

was invited to a premiere of mind and I was off doing my thing,

having my photo taken, talking to the press. And towards the end of

the evening, as I was leaving, somebody came up and said, do you

know Chris had a cardiac arrest? Key is in hospital. I said, what!

How? And honestly, by a miracle, when you have Prynne years, they

have medical staff prepared. -- when you have a premiere. They're

on the red carpet and they were there. There were paramedics

standing by working for the event, but also, which I learned

subsequently, these paramedics are part of an organisation now called

the voluntary response organisation, which are voluntary people who have

learned CPR and First Aid, and can use a defibrillator. It is

difficult to say! IPhone it may be fed! -- I call it v thefib. There

you are in action today. Yes, learning CPR, which is very simple.

And it is the first five, 10 minutes that toss so important in

saving someone's life. -- that are. 260 children die a-year in schools

from cardiac arrest. Every school should have a machine and people

trained in CPR. You know... Chris was unbelievably lucky. His life

was absolutely saved by these people. Not a mistake. His life was

saved. Because he was lucky enough to be near people who knew what to

do and they knew how to do it within the first few minutes of his

major cardiac arrest. And Chris is with us tonight. Was he with you

today? Yes. He has become close friends of the man who saved his

life, basically. Who is also here. There he is, standing there in his

uniform! And many of these volunteers are retired... Sorry,

not retired, working military and policemen. Men come back from

Afghanistan and immediately signed up to be volunteers. RAF Northolt,

they immediately signed up to be volunteers with the response

organisation. It is absolutely incredible that they dedicate their

free life to that. They also have a community organisation for people

who can sign up if they are living in various community situations.

But they need cars and money and volunteers, and especially they

need defibrillate as! Yes, they do. If you would like to know more

about volunteers, the details are on our website.

The outbreak of Dutch elm disease killed over 5 million trees in the

UK. But an even greater threat has survived -- arrived from abroad.

Christine went to see the damage this foreign invader has done.

Something devastating is happening to our estates as thousands of

hectares of land are having to be cut down and clear, and it is the

result of a simple chemical test that determines whether more areas

will be destroyed. One line and they are clear, but two lines...

And this is what happens. These are being cut down because they are

infected with an incredibly destructive pathogen called

phytophthora ramorum. It can affect a whole range of plants and shrubs.

Tell-tale signs are black and brown leaves and using sap. The trees

here were showing the symptoms and the infection was confirmed when

the test results came back with the dreaded two lines. These

devastating effects were first noticed on these shores only a

decade ago. Since 2009, the disease has really taken hold. Particularly

in March, in south-west England and Wales, and it is spreading at an

alarming rate. There are already 700 identified disease sites across

England and Wales which have affected millions of trees. One of

the most recently found locations is indeed he family in Wales. Chris

Jones was the first to detect a bridge here in 2000 and. His

experience first hand showed the devastating effect it can have.

forest we are standing in now, there are infected trees and

rhododendrons. So we are looking at common garden shrubs? In a lot of

cases, yes. And that is where the disease was first found in Europe.

So we could not only be that we lose a lot forests, but our gardens

as well? Yes. We could be looking at quite a significant change to

our landscape and environment. Forestry Commission have decided to

face this challenge head-on. One approach to stopping the disease

spreading is encouraging visitors to wash down bikes and dust off

clothing after they have been in the forest to stop spores being

carried into other areas. But their most aggressive strategy is

identifying and immediately cutting down the affected trees. In charge

of this process for the valley is Lee Balsam. Lee, is all this red

infection? Unfortunately, it is more than the red. We have yellow

and blue, which is also something that has been identified. So a huge

I have seen of this disease can do on the ground, but the best way to

see the devastating effect it has had on the landscape is to get up

in our balloon. Blimey! That is fast. How obvious is this disease?

If you look down in the valley bottom, you can see the dead tops

where the disease has really taken hold. How many trees do you think

are infected? Probably around 500,000. So all this is likely to

be felled? That is correct. This includes both the diseased trees

and a buffer zone of healthy ones as well to stop any further

spreading. The plan is to reply and these areas, but the disease can

lay dormant in the soil. -- we plant in these areas. We will leave

it a couple of years before we plant again, and when we do, there

will be more diverse species that are more resistant to the disease.

This rustic approach is starting to work because there has been a 14%

decline in rates of infection. But we are not out of the woods yet. We

normally go up in our balloon to celebrate the glory of our

landscape but looking at the devastation down there, I cannot

help but think that we are dealing with the disease that could

possibly be worse than the Dutch elm disease infection of the 1970s.

Chris Dean has touched down in the car-park and she is in the studio

now. -- Chris. What about our gardens? People are seeing trees

and shrubs popping their clocks and they do not realise that it is a

serious problem. Each species will die. Basically the real crux of the

matter is that the plant will drop dead within a year. It can be

perfectly healthy and then you will see colour changes, greying, loss

of colour, and then believe will die back and the leaf stem as well.

-- leaves will die back. You are all friends! Yes, we come as a

package! How is your garden getting on? Is it all right? Absolutely. My

community garden but I garden in London, well, of course with the

drought, that will cause problems. But luckily the plants are

established enough to survive a bit of drought. If people are worried

that they have got this in their garden, what should they do? Do not

true when your plants are wet. Make sure you clean your tools with

disinfectant. -- do not prune. Make sure that to disinfect your shoes.

Make sure the plants are growing well with plenty of air. Do not

steal material from the countryside, cuttings, soil, and if you have got

the vehicle make sure that the wheels are sprayed. The most

infected sites will have baths of disinfectant for you. And you

should keep a spare pair of shoes in the boat? Yes, I have a spare

pair that has never been in my garden. My neighbour was saying how

lovely it is to see bluebells all over the place. It is fascinating.

On 12th April that was the first time in a century that bluebells

flowered so early. However, this year, 1st March. The Woodland Trust

would like people to wander into the countryside and identify sites

that are not already recorded on them up and fill in the gaps. You

go onto the website, go to your garden, find them, go to the

Woodlands, and let them know. is interesting. And all the details

are on our website. Thank you. You live in Hollywood, Helen. Why are,

London, a bit of both. -- well, London. What if David Beckham asked

if you wanted to start clubbing together to save money on energy

bills, would you be in? wouldn't? It is not as mad as it

sounds because you could make some big savings and Anita Rani has all

the details. Powering up our houses, it has

become a hugely expensive business. What can you do about it? One

answer is to get a bunch of people together and try and negotiate a

better price with your energy supplier. You can start by getting

your whole street involved. The theory is simple. You for your

group and get as many people as possible to join. Then you go to

the energy companies and tell them that you have got hundreds of

people willing to switch to them if you can get a good rate. But does

it work? There are successful presidents. A consortium in Holland

has saved residents 40% off their fuel bills. There are success

stories closer to home as well. In Derbyshire there is a scheme to

help people get heating oil at reduced rates. But words like this.

Local co-ordinators find out how much oil the village needs. -- it

works like this. They then negotiate the best possible price.

Colin is hoping to drum up more interest in his village. What is

the situation? I have just taken my first delivery. Ahmad Silivri I

have saved �70. -- on that delivery I have saved �70. What would you

like to see now? I would like to see all the local people in our

village signing up, and then we can get cheaper fuel. Doing deals for

heating oil is becoming quite common but when it comes to gas and

electricity, the idea is only just gathering momentum. Consumer

campaigners Which? have been on the case for a few months now and have

already signed up 215,000 people. They plan to approach the energy

suppliers from next month to ask which one will give them the best

deal. They are not the only ones. I am going to meet Michael, who set

up a similar initiative. What are you up to? We set up this website

and it is all about getting people together so that we can negotiate a

better deal on energy prices. The concept is very simple. The more

people we get together, the better negotiating position we have with

the energy companies. We are looking at up to 20,000 people.

Jenny Howarth was one of the first to sign up with this website. With

two young children, keeping warm is vital but it does not come cheap.

All our bills are going up, petrol, food, gas, electricity. Any way

that we can get the cast down his throat. Michael approached me with

the concept and asked if I would be interested and I said yes. Some of

the websites seem simple until you go deeper and it can depend how

much energy use. Sometimes it can be cheaper and sometimes it is not.

We have nothing to lose and we will see what happens. It certainly

sounds good in theory. Will the energy companies play ball? Will

they really cut their prices to pick up more business? The energy

companies have said very little so far. I know Which? has had some

discussions with them. We will have to wait until the end of March when

we know how many people that are. It could be 100,000 and then we

will see what the energy companies do. They do not have to play

because they have got millions of customers. Even the prospect of

another 100,000 may not be that attractive. It will really depend.

Energy UK represents the largest suppliers in the country and said

the idea is interesting but it is complicated with huge commercial

implications. They say discussions are on-going about whether or not

to take part in the scheme. Paul Lewis joins us now. Nice to see you.

Some big companies have said that they will not support the Big

Switch. One of the big ones, Scottish and Southern, yes, and

three smaller ones. They have their own reasons for not joining in.

Scottish and Southern complains that Which? is making �40 every

time somebody switches. They make the company gave Which? �40, which

they think is too much and they are dropping out for that reason.

another company is saying that the prices are high to save the

environment. Yes, that is the ecological energy supplier and they

do not want to join in with Which?. They also want bigger companies not

to have predatory pricing, where they reduce the prices and then put

them up later. Which? admits that they charge �40, but that is just

to cover their costs. They are not for profit. They say that any

profits that they do make will help the consumer campaigns. Quick news

on postage stamps. They have gone up. Yes, on 30th April. Go out and

buy first and second-class stamps. You can use them forever. The ones

you buy tomorrow will be worth 30% more at the end of April. It is a

good idea. 60 pence for a first- class stamp! 50p, 10 shillings as I

call it, for second class! Amazingly high prices. They will be

queuing up in Post Offices tomorrow. That is still quite good value. If

I asked you to take my letter to Scotland for 60 pence, that would

not seem so bad! David Cameron has announced plans to put money into

propping up our ageing motorways. It is not just our roads getting

older. There are more drivers on the road past the pension age than

under 30. Carrie Grant went to meet one of Britain's oldest drivers for

a trip down memory lane. There are now more than 1 million people over

the age of 80 driving on Britain's roads. Even more impressive, there

are about 120 drivers who have passed the century mark and still

hold a licence. The compulsory driving test was introduced to the

UK in 1935. But what about if you are one of a select group of

motorists that started driving before that? Hello! Susie Dixon has

been driving for 82 years. Is it right that you have never had an

accident? No. I might have scraped the curve, perhaps not my bumper,

but I have never had an accident. My licence is clean. Cars have

changed a lot over the years. they have changed. The car that I

first drove was my father's. It was an old Morris, with the running

board and a crash gearbox. Was it difficult to drive? Very. If you

did not get your gears right then you got a horrible crunching sound.

You should go on Top gear! When Suzie started driving, tests were

not compulsory so drivers could just buy their licences. What is

this? That is the telegram from the Queen. I never thought I would get

that. You have literally just turned 100. Driving must have

changed so much in those 82 years. What is the biggest change? It is

the speed, really. I don't think there is the courtesy on the road

that they used to be. There is the age-old argument that women are not

as good drivers as men. Rubbish! am so glad you said that. What

difference has being able to drive meant for you? It is just the

ability to be able to get around without relying on other people. If

I could not drive, I would be awful, stuck in all there. When you look

to the future, do you see yourself driving? As long as I can. I will

probably be stopped after this! Since she began driving in the

early 30s, she has seen some fairly major changes on Britain's roads.

She has driven a number of different cars over the years but

the car that you learned to drive in was an 1920s Morris. We have

managed to track one down so that we can go on a trip down memory

lane. Oh, no! How could this be? Oh, I say! Isn't that wonderful? Gosh,

I have not seen one like this for years. Are we going for a ride? My

Are you ready? Oh, yes. Bring it That was delightful. What was your

first car, Helen? It was an absolute lemon that my brother sold