30/05/2014 The One Show

YOU MAY NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO HEAR THOSE OPENING TITLES. TODAY, WE ARE

CELEBRATING THE POWER OF THE WRITTEN WORD. We have some of the winners of

Chris's 500 words competition. With us this evening! They were here from

seven o'clock, bleary eyed but enthusiast! . But they do not know

that they will each have a cover illustration for your story done

tonight by one of these six brilliant artists from Hereford Art

college, everybody! We will also be hearing some extracts from their

stories by the likes of an addict Cumberbatch, Paloma Faith and Hugh

Bonneville. -- Benedict Cumberbatch. We have commissioned a special poem

about one of the country's most beautiful coastlines. To be honest,

two words describe tonight's guests. They would be Rob and Brydon! Hello,

Alex. You love Hay Festival. For people who do not know what the big

appeal is, sell it to us. Firstly, the location. The countryside. It is

a fantastic part of the world. Secondly, it is just a lovely

atmosphere here. You get people here who even if you just do something

like this, will suddenly start screaming. That is all you have to

do. They are an amazing crowd. Helps us out a lot. And if you do that,

they go, ooh. Later in the show, we will take a trip down memory lane

and ask the people of Hay what they used to study at school. Rob, can

you remember that far back? There is no need for that sort of humour.

Yes, I can. It was all on slate and chalk. Catcher in the Rye was one of

the first books that made a big on me. So I certainly remember that.

Weathering heights, the Thomas Hardy books. But capturing the Rye was the

one that made go, wow, this is powerful. Michael Gove has said in

the last few days, he suggested that we drop the American classics in

favour of British books. But what do the bookies of Hay think 's not the

betting people, the people who love books.

It is not everyday you get to guess up as Jane Austen and come to the

UK's biggest literature festival. I am here to find out what two's

booklovers think of Michael Gove's decision to make our syllabus more

British. What do you think of the decision? It is a terrible

decision. I know books like Of Mice And Men and To Kill A Mockingbird

have imagined. They are brilliant books. You want to see some English

writers on the curriculum like Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters. Do we

run the risk of disengaging kids? Teachers should be able to teach

what drives them. That is when children get the best learning. I

think teachers should be enabled to teach what motivates them. Next

year, I am taking my GCSEs. It is not a big disappointment, but it is

quite limiting to my learning, I guess. Would you rather read Of Mice

And Men or Emma? Of Mice And Men. It is an easier language to understand

than Emma, and it is smaller. How do you feel about the fact that this

section is now limited to contemporary British writers? Over

the years, maybe the British classics, Shakespeare and Dickens, a

passion of mine, have not been read enough in schools and are not enough

on the national curriculum. That was the general vibe on Mr Gove's

thoughts in Hay. Now let's find out more about the festival. What is

your name? Katie. And what do you like most about the festival? I saw

Michael Morpurgo in action and he was brilliant. I am a primary school

teacher. I sat in a car for four hours, and I am teaching one of his

books at the minute. And I was looking at the book and trying to

come up with questions to talk to the kids about, and suddenly he is

in front of me, talking. All I wanted to ask was, what questions

should I ask? So what did you ask? Hopefully, he is watching.

I have two ladies here in matching T-shirts. I am Carolyn. And

Melanie. What has been your favourite part of Bs today? I went

to see a fantastic musician who had everyone rocking in the aisles. But

I love books, too. They do it all here. The best thing I saw was an

economist who was here on Monday. He spoke about the productivity of

women and said that if we counted that, we would all be a lot richer.

A good man to listen to. What is your name? Run. Where are you from?

I am local. What was your favourite bit of Hay? I am looking

I am local. What was your favourite about the productivity of women. I

can't find one anywhere. We wish you all the best with that search. This

is the 27th Hay Festival, and it all started in a beer garden in the

1980s. It plays host all the major players and literati from Dame Judi

Dench to Benedict Cumberbatch, Stephen Fry. Bill Clinton came here

and called it the Woodstock for the mind. But how come it is such a big

deal? Here are some old people who might know.

Hay Festival is a celebration of stories and poems and books. A place

of excitement, a place of unexpected ideas. Vibrant, brings people of all

ages and persuasions together. And they usually do it in the mud and

rain, and it is fantastic. I am Marcus Brooks dog, a comedian and

author. The Hay Festival brings together the best minds on pretty

author. The Hay Festival brings much any subject you can think of.

Stereo photography gives you a reproduction of what you might be

seeing. You can dive straight into a subject you had never thought about

before and hear from a world expert. I am the person who led the team

that created the iPod. Here, I can learn from the minds of science,

literature, arts, to bring humanity to technology. If you think of the

iPod, it was the melding of technology with music. I have been a

musician and astronomer all my life, so there are a lot of things I do.

Depending on a different hour of the day, I will be wearing a different

hat. I would not have written my book, had I not come here. I am

dyslexic, so I was scared of dogs as a kid. It was just hanging out with

authors, -- I was scared of books as a kid. I was hearing them talk about

the process, and now I make my living reading and writing,

effectively. I am Michael Morpurgo. I write books. The one people seem

to like most at the moment is warhorse. It is not about writers

showing off how clever it is to write stories. We all tell stories.

Stories are the way we have passed on information since the days when

people sat around campfires, before there was writing. When you write a

book, you are creating something which connects with other people.

The most gratifying bit is when you meet people who said they have

enjoyed your work. That is why festivals are fun. To me, it is

joyful, because I am used to moving in circles with people who do not

read much, and it is great to realise that people do want to pick

up the real thing and enjoyable. There is nothing quite like it. What

I like about Hay is the audience. I love the questions. Members of the

audience, and say things to you that you did not expect. When is your

movie coming out? That is a really serious question, and I don't really

know. I know what I think, but I don't know what they think, and you

get some really interesting remarks from the audience. Why have you

never both done something together 's the Q and as at the end of the

sessions here are not warm, cuddly, 's the Q and as at the end of the

sessions here are friendly and fuzzy. They are really challenging.

The most special moment is when a person comes up to you and has read

a book of yours which has been life changing. Their mum may come up and

say, my little boy did not read a book until he picked up your book,

and he loved it. And that has changed his life, because he has not

stopped reading. Books can changed his life, because he has not

lives, and you learn that by coming out to Hay. It is brilliant.

lives, and you learn that by coming out to Hay. It is There are 700

events here this year. There is one session called Letters Live, where

exceptional letters from throughout history read aloud.

exceptional letters from throughout history I read one today. I had to

follow Benedict Cumberbatch, who brought the house down. But you did

a brilliant job. Shaun Usher is the author of Letters Of Note. Give us a

sense of the variety of the letters in the book? There is everything

from apology letters to job application letters, love letters,

really sad, horrifically depressing letters, which I love some strange

reason, too hilarious letters from people like Steve Martin. Mick

Jagger to Andy Warhol. Then there are old letters from 1000 BC, carved

into stone. There is a huge array of different letters. Pick some of your

favourites from the book for us? There is a letter from the Queen in

1960. President Eisenhower visited Balmoral, and Queen Elizabeth made

some drop scones from her own personal recipe. Which we have

here. This is the Queen's recipe. What about that? Fantastic.

Eisenhower loved them. So the Queen sent the recipe to him a few months

later. So in the book, you can see the letter and the recipe itself. So

you can copy it if you want. Then there was a letter from Jack the

Ripper, which was sent with half a human kidney. So it is a

roller-coaster ride. And you thought a lot about the order you put them

in. Tell us about the letter from Gandhi to hit love. As World War II

was starting, Dandy wrote to Hitler, thinking he could maybe change his

mind -- Gandhi wrote to Hitler, saying, stop for the sake of

humanity. But it got intercepted by the British government and Hitler

never received it, not that I imagine it would have helped. But it

is a hugely historical, interesting letter. So how did you collect and

put these letters together? I started four years ago, and I have

been looking in archives, libraries. I buy so many books, it is

ridiculous. Museums, book 's, and now there is a website of the same

name. It has become quite popular. A lot of readers send in their run

letters from famous people. There are loads of different avenues. What

about the most important letter in your opinion out of all of them?

Francis Crick, who co-discovered the structure of DNA by just after he

had discovered it, he wrote a letter to his son before became public and

said, I have just made the most important discovery, and explained

DNA with illustrations of the molecule and everything. And that

letter was sold last year at Christie 's auction house for ?5

million. It is the most expensive letter ever sold. And it is in the

book. They are a dying art, so they will get more expensive. Exactly. We

have turned to Twitter and e-mails and texts. Handwriting is dying out

as well. Do you find when you do write a letter, you write so rarely

that you have to warm up. That could be old age. Thank you! You can turn

against a person very quickly, can't you? I have this book, and there was

a great letter in it from Elvis to President Nixon. There is a famous

shot of them in the Oval Office. That is in there. He wrote that

letter on the plane to the White House, all to get a police badge.

People are fascinated by the book. It is in its eighth print run, so

well done. We thought it would be perfect if we had some words written

especially for us. We asked Elvis Mcgonagall to write about the place

that was special to him. About 11 years ago my wife and I decided to

come to Dorset and live in Purbeck. It is not an island as such but has

the feel of one. I was born and bred 500 miles away in Scotland and had

never lived in the countryside before. I had always lived in cities

and in the depths of our first few winters here I did sometimes think,

oh, dear, we have come to the countryside by mistake. I work as a

stand-up poet. I guess you can best describe what I do as performing

political satire and a bit of celebrity bashing. The finger of

fudge is not enough for the city. These stars and stripes fly over

formal -- Bournville Village. The tradition goes back before the

printing press was invented. You are just sharing words with people. It

is great to share them with a live audience. It is fantastic living

here. There are not many distractions and there is room to

think. I often write lines while walking in spectacular scenery. It

helps me see the bigger picture when writing about the high poxy of

politicians or venal bankers. We're walking on hundreds of millions of

years of history. It keeps things in perspective. What I have tried to do

is capture some of the spirit Purbeck and some of its marvels of

fossil and stone. It did not come quickly. It was like chipping away

at some stone and finding out what it would be like in the middle. It

was an interesting exercise. I was off piste in terms of subject matter

and style. Cast adrift from city sirens island, a sculpture shape

from limestone, clay and shale, old rocks, it's steep backbone, the

jokes buying of a whale. Land ploughed and drilled, framed by wind

wracked Cliff, shifting sand and Heath. Crowned with a castle

shattered silhouette, failed in ghostly sea fog on wet dog days,

they'd instar paid silent midnight sky is where memories are cloaked in

Mason 's dust. The muscle, grit and sweat built crispy drawls --

cathedrals. As barrels clattered on the flagstone floor. Wood panelled

walls in grained with song and story, laughter echoing voices gone

before. Mecca for apostles of the fossil. The Greiner Don 's old

coastal footpath. 200 million sun cracked years bleached white. With

hammer on chisel they awaken. I unbound beauty slowly brought to

light, engraved deep in a past long forsaken. The Gilchrist tourist

shilling bills tills. This is not England set in aspic. Life draws

breath from these ancient green hills. A carving hewn from

prehistoric bone. A deep theme of peace, space to think and dream. A

living work of art, peace, space to think and dream. A

stone. Thank you. Prose poetry. peace, space to think and dream. A

Let's get to Dylan Thomas. Let's get to you, Hay Festival and Dylan

Thomas. I did not know him personally. I'd agree may feel like

you do now. That is part of the thing with Dylan Thomas. I am sure

Alex will back me up. It does feel like part of your heritage. I went

to school in Swansea where he is from. When I went to school in

Swansea, although it was a different time, it all meshes in together.

There is a very special event tomorrow night because it is the

There is a very special event centenary of Dylan Thomas. What is

your part in that? It is me, Charis Matthews and Tom Hollander and we

are reading some of the poems. These are letters to an American lover.

They are amazing. You know it is Dylan Thomas writing it because the

language is so wonderful and emotive. We are reading some of

those. That is tomorrow night here at Hay. I think it is probably sold

out! Have you ever considered playing him? Tom Hollander has

recently. He was fantastic. I think my resemblance to Al Pacino is so...

So strong, I think it would be very hard for an audience

So strong, I think it would be very Dylan. That is a great shame. What

is going on between Dylan. That is a great shame. What

Presley? You had him rice the other day. What a lot of people do not

know is that Tim and Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the last song on the

last album this album and, foolishly, I have agreed to sing it

at this big event with proper singers. -- Elvis album. Will you

preview it now? I will give you a little bit. I do not think we have

time. It is a big, du Matic ballot. -- dramatic ballad. You may not mind

that it is over but I have a different point of view. If you want

to hear any more, you have to come to the event. That is happening at

the Royal Festival Hall. Will you be nervous? Of course I will. Is it

good to put yourself out of your comfort zone? Not really. The

comfort zone is very comfortable. Once you find your comfort zone,

I've taken a stake in it. I did not see the Italy Trip. Let's see a bit

of it now. You know the Coffey commercial he did. Coffee is a way

of life. And Al Pacino script will all have Coffey marks on it. You go,

that is Al Pacino. That is another reason why he liked crunchy nut

cornflakes. Two brooding, intense actors promoting products they

genuinely love. Al Pacino again. How much of a dent in the budget did the

fact of 50 make? You had to put loads of it on. You have agreed to

deliver a story within 25 words. Not yet. You have done that for us. The

25 words story on the way. Also shortly we will be finding out how

illustrators got on with creating covers for the winners of the 500

words competition. We had the six winners from the 108,000 entrants.

They could not have been more enthusiastic. Here is a taste of

what happened. I would love to announce the

winner. In the bronze category for ten to 13-year-olds. It is a

brilliant story. I think it is fantastic. It is Albert Onions And

Me. How glad are you that your teacher forced to into this? Quite

glad, actually. Next, Nicolas Lockhart. I think it is time to hear

the gold medal winning story. Paloma Faith, it is over to you. There is

no point in not opening your letter. I have tried every option, there is

no way out. Are you ready? Should Bes. In the margin, with her then

handwriting I read with growing horror, for the war did not end in

1918. My father never came back from France. We are should bes. No Ideas,

George by Robert Jordan. A little boy smiled a strange, eerie smile at

Daniel and then they were gone. He was alone. What a story! How about

that! That must have been a pleasure to read. Fantastic! Really

wonderful. The winners are here, everybody. What was your story

about? My story was about a boy who found a statue that came to light.

Natalie has done you an illustration. Let's have a look! How

cool is that! I you happy? Juliet, what is the name of your story?

Should Bes. It was about lots of children not being born because the

First World War went on for a year longer. Lucy has done your

illustration for you. Let's have a look. Are you happy with that? Yes.

Beautiful! Nick, what is your story called? Diary Of A Minotaur. Here is

your illustration. How cool are these? I have Susanna, the winner of

the ten to 13 gold winner in that category. What was the name of the

story? All De Time In The World. He is your illustration. What did you

think of it? Lovely, thank you. Your book was called Lost On The

Underground. I kept asking my mum when we went to London whether I

should stay on the train or get off. ) she told you to get off, didn't

she? Here is your cover. Isn't that brilliant! Arabella, you have done

one for Robert, who is only seven years and eight months. That is

fantastic. Thank you so much, Arabella. We will post it to you.

Are you ready for the 25 words story from Rob Brydon? Tell us about the

inspiration without giving too much away. The idea came to me when a

researcher... That was brilliant. That is all we have time for with

regards to the background. The writer at his paper strewn desk. Can

I write a story in 25 words? Of course, how difficult can it... ?

Very good. Rob Brydon, everybody. I dropped my family at a farmhouse.

The farmer was furious so I am going to pop in now and smooth things

over. Thank you so much to everyone here at Hay. The written word is so

important. I will be back in the studio on Monday.