30/10/2012 The One Show

Hello. It's you I've been looking for. We're dancing... On the

Not bad moves, there. We've just managed to washed the disco dust

out of our hair, because of course, it is Lionel Ritchie. I know how

long it took me to pull that off. Incredible. By the way, I was

terrified to do that, because they only gave me four days to do that

and Fred astair had four weeks to learn how to do that. You know I

was bruised at the end of that. You did it pretty well. We had 30

seconds. A lot of glue. I was lucky enough to see you at the O2 in

concert on Sunday. Absolutely phenomenal, Lionel. You know what's

getting me now is that the more I come back, the louder the crowd

gets. Did you notice that? I'm singing and at one point I just

want to stop and go, "Do you want me to sing?" I'll just play and

it's fascinating. I'm glad you saw it. It was absolutely brilliant.

Matt really missed out. I was on the way back from our holidays and

we would have loved to have come. I got the airport from Abu Dhabi from

Alex. She text me this. That face says everything. That's perfect.

The crowd were brilliant and lots of people got emotional on the

fight because your songs mean so much to lots of different people

out there. So, what we would like to do is hear from you at home

about why Lionel's music is so special. Take a picture. Send us a

story and maybe he'll read some out later. Good. Excellent. Lionel,

obviously incredibly busy with the tour and wrapping it up before

Christmas, but it must be difficult seeing what is going on back at

home with Superstorm Sandy? I am getting the stories now and there's

a funny side to this. I had a group of friends from Europe who said

they wanted to come to New York to spend Hallowe'en. They went there

and the joke is on them. They are now stranded in Queens. Have you

spoken to them? What's their reaction? It's devastation. It's

just more water than water and everything is blown away. What I'm

just amazed at is what is this with the subway system? They'll have to

pump this out. It's 100-plus-year- old system. Give me a break and

plus, just the houses on Long Island. I can't imagine. This is

not just an easy fix. This is going to take. This is the Hurricane

Katrina on the east coast. Lionel, you are going to be here all night.

All night long! A few months ago we reported on how landlords are

exploiting low-paid workers by renting out back garden sheds as

homes. Today, we return to see how one local council is cracking down

on these landlords. Here's Lucy. The London borough of Newham has

been home to one of the largest regeneration schemes Britain has

ever seen, but behind some of these Victorian terraces lie Britain's

21st century slums. So called sheds with beds, which have become home

to vulnerable people and illegal immigrants. Today, the council is

taking drastic action to stamp out these. This is thought to be the

first in the UK to be demolished under the Housing Act. Russell is

heading up the council's Task Force. I think we are determined to deal

with the minority of rogue landlords who are happy to exploit

desperate people. We have 30 orders that are out with landlords to have

these properties taken down in the next six months, so where the

landlord doesn't do it, we'll step in and take it down for them. In

the last 12 months we have prosecuted 60 rogue landlords for

offences and in the next 12 we'll double that and we'll keep going

until we have driven this out. would you describe the conditions

in there? When we came across it, we had six men living in there with

a single shower and toilet. You can imagine, it was very tight and cold.

When you see people living in those sort of conditions, what do you

think? How does it make you feel? It breaks my heart when you see

women and children in these properties and to think that's

where they call their home. That's very sad and we can't accept that

in London in the 21st century. really hard when you look around to

reconcile there's a loo and there was a sink and obviously electrics

in there. This was home to six people. There was even a picture.

With Newham Council taking a stance and the illegal structures,

charities are concerned that the vulnerable that they once housed

could be forced on to the streets where they face other dangers.

have heard from many of people who have said it's the only thing they

can find. They've got nowhere else to go. They can't afford to get

into the private rental sector and the councils might not have

accommodation, so what's really important if the people are taken

out of sheds that the councils and the Government provide decent

accommodation for them when this happens to them, because everyone

wants a roof over their head. Nobody should spiral so far they

have to find the only come decision is a shed with a bed in it. What we

need to make sure is if people are being moved out of this

accommodation that they are found somewhere decent to live. Well,

Lucy is here and we'll just continue on that point. What is

happening to those people that are being removed? It's a very good

question. Local authorities will work with the voluntary sector and

charities who are experts in housing, because their priority is

to get vulnerable people into the proper accommodation and make sure

they don't end up on the streets. It has to be said that they also

work with UK Border Agency and people are repatriated if it's

deemed the best thing to do, so that's happening too. As way from

sheds, the bigger problem really is that we have a huge housing problem,

isn't it? Yes. The statistics show us we have 390,000 new families in

the UK last year and just 100,000 homes for them. Obviously, there is

a shortfall and that's borne out by a report that came out on Friday,

which said we need to triple the amount of housing being built to

solve what they called basically a crisis. Shelter also said we have

1.7 million people waiting for social housing, so something needs

to be done. People are coming up with quite innovative ways of

solving this? Yes. One scheme that really caught our eye when we were

researching that story. The Building Trust and the winning

architect came up with a project in Hackney. This is to turn garages in

Hackney, they are disused, into good, standard temporary

accommodation. Just in case people think this sounds like the sheds we

have seen. It's nothing similar. The infrastructure is the shell of

the garage. It is made and dropped in and it meets all regulations and

it's insulated and well done. It's a concept, but we need interesting,

good solutions. Yep. Brilliant. Thank you. It's just ten days until

our rikshaw riders start their epic 411-mile challenge from Llandudno

to London for Children in Need. Happy there. They have no idea

what's instore. Are you kidding me? We wondered this, because we wanted

to get you on board, but we didn't have the time, but the good news is

we stound a stand-in. He's Lionel Rikshaw.

# You're once, twice # Three times a rikshaw

# You guys. That was good. Pretty good standard. I tell you what, we

are doing a big show on Friday, 16th November for Children in Need.

If you are about in London, pop in. One Direction will be there too.

The screams are there. The reason why everybody is taking part is to

raise money, so if you can spare �5 please donate using your phone.

Lionel, do us a favour and read out the details straight down the

camera. Sure. OK. To show your support text Team to 70705.

Messages will cost �5 plus your standard network charge and �5 will

go to Children in Need. Perfect. Remember, you must ask the bill

payer's permission before you text and for full terms and conditions

visit the website. Our riders will be joining us here in the studio

tomorrow night. Talking of big challenges, Lionel, the tour, that

must be that? Rikshaw driver is a pretty big challenge. Yours must be

doing the tour. This is actually a calmer tour, if you want to believe

it. We did 62 shows on the last time we came across and now we are

down to 39. Well, 42 before it's all over with, but you think about

two-and-a-half hours on stage and the adrenaline and the crowd

continues to do this to you, so whatever was your bad day, you no

longer have a bad day, because they want to see you. They want to see

you and you were there, so you know. Absolutely brilliant. They are so

wonderful and I think it's probably the best drug you could ever be on

in life is the adrenaline drug, because once you get out it's

massive. What a career. We want to cast your mind back to 1986.

don't remember, I tell you. Dancing on the ceiling was a huge hit. It

was also a big year for Swedish rockers who enjoyed incredible

success, but don't worry, you're still our favourite. Thank you very

much. There are pop songs and there are rock anthems. In the late 80s

the Final Countdown was sung by crowds all over the world making

Joey Tempest and his band Europe, international rock Gods. It was a

kaizy time. Private jets and -- crazey time, private jets and we

couldn't walk the streets. That was strange to us. There's not that

many that get the feeling or go through being one of the biggest

bands on the planet. Everybody wants a piece of you and it's kind

of crazy. They all grew up in Sweden, influenced, like a whole

generation, by Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and thin Lizzie. They wrote

in English and called themselves Europe. We had a band called WC,

which was toilet in Swedish and the guitar player came along and I was

blown away. I thought I had to form a band. We dreamed as kids to tour

in the UK and the US. If we can do that like our heroes, so we were

fighting for it and then we got a chance. After a few years' hard

work, recording and touring, the band were signed to CBS in America

and band recording their third album, looking for a grand, opening

track and Joey dug out an old recording he had made as a teenager.

I borrowed a keyboard in school and it was the sound that fed me the

idea. You were sitting on that hook? Yes, for a number of years.

That night I came up with that bit and I knew it was special, but as a

songwriter I wasn't there to write it, but on the third album, I

thought yet. Joey remembered one of his favourite records as a boy,

David Bowie's Space Oddity. remember thinks lyrics floating in

a tin can and I I was fascinating with his fascination with space, so

I thought it would work for the theme for the song. The song, and

then the title, Final Countdown, the world is spent and finished and

we have to seek another place to live. For me, it's like a

soundtrack. The track was a huge hit, going to

number one in 25 different countries. But with success comes

pressure. We all know that once you start selling records, the business

of music can be quite different. yes. We went on promotional tours

for maybe two months, doing 20 interviews a day, 10 photo sessions,

and then doing a show, a Playback show, miming and just pretending.

Being musicians, we said, we cannot do this. Because it becomes

something else. You do not play, you do something other people

wanted to do all of the time. guitarist left, and the band made

two more albums, before calling it a day in 1992. A decade later, the

original line-up reformed, and 10 years on, they are out on the road

again. The band have gone back to their hard rock roots, but they

cannot get away without playing that track. Is it still a crowd-

pleaser? Yes. You can feel the ground move, even on a field. It is

a jumping song. It has that amazing communication with the audience.

What a song, and great to hear Lionel joining in with the chorus.

Yes, they were trying to sing it to me in the dressing room. I could

not figure it out. They were singing it, but I kept saying, I do

not know... Incredibly, we heard Joey saying that his lead guitarist

was in a band called WC. Tell us your story about The Commodores.

could not agree on a name, so we said, enough of this, let's throw

our finger into the dictionary, pick a name, which is not serious,

and that's what came out. And the guys said, look how close we came

to being The Commodes. And using some hits by The Commodores on tour.

You start off with one song, you have at least four hit records you

can play. Now, we have another problem, a great problem - we have

so many songs that we cannot put all of them in the show. What you

can expect is that there will be lots of The Commodores, lots of the

1980s, and then everything in between that we can put in. You can

guarantee that we will walk off that night and people will say, he

did not play... But we will try to cover as many as possible. It was

just hit after hit, but quite short. The thing about it is, we have to

play it, and then play another one. Otherwise, in 2.5 hours, we will

miss lots of them. I can tell you what, one of those songs which are

not included, we have got a few of them here, some absolute classics.

# All Night Long... # We are the children...

APPLAUSE How do you feel looking back at those times?

I just keep looking at her hair. Now, I have an 18-year-old son.

Every time he walks into the room with his hair like this, I tell him,

you have got to cut your hair. And then he brings out my picture and

says, are you kidding me? I cannot fight him! But this is an

incredibly busy year for you, new album, called Tuskegee. Why is it

called that? That was very good! The thing is, I decided I was going

to do something different, but they kept saying to me, do you want to

do, Lionel does Gershwin? I was saying, no. And then I realised

country was so close to what I was doing, and because I was from

Tuskegee, I decided to do a country version of this on my soles, and I

found out that the country artists, they know every one of my songs.

She Nia twain did one of my songs, as did can he Rogers, who did Lady.

-- as did Kenny Rogers. That was a period of time when there were no

summers. I do not remember a summer between 1978 and 1989. I was in the

studio from January till April, and then touring from May until

December, and then back in the studio. It is like living in Great

Britain, we do not have any Summers, either. I did say something last

night, I said something about, the sky is blue, except here in

London... Now, we know you love art - how big is the biggest painting

in your house? Well, you know, what comes with art is wall space. I

have a number of super large pieces, but in my house, I can only go for

about maybe 6 by 8. That's feet. So, when you start thinking of wall

space, if you want to have more than five paintings, you have to

scale them in a bit. This would not work for you. This one is

absolutely massive - have a look at this. The Irish love their horse

racing, so I have come to the right place to find a thoroughbred. I did

not expect to find one so soon! Here in County down, Northern

Ireland, you can find a painting depicting one of the most famous

racehorses that has ever lived. It might not be a gallery, but this

beautiful listed building run by the national Trust is the perfect

spot to showcase this champion thoroughbred. And here he is, life-

size, in fact, his name was Hambletonian, and he was the

greatest racehorses of the 18th century. The painting, by Dean

Mauny, shows Hambletonian getting rubbed down by his stable boy after

a race. -- by George Stubbs. He is looking a bit tired... Yes, he has

just won the most enormously important race at Newmarket, which

was on 25th March 17 99. The race was against one other horse,

diamond, the greatest racehorse from the south of England, and

Hambletonian was the greatest from the north of England at the time.

The owner bet that his horse could beat diamond. The race was a huge

event. Hambletonian won, amid what was described as a hurricane of

applause. It was neck and neck in the last half mile or so, but he

won by a head. It was a great triumph for him and for his owner.

He commissioned George Stubbs, who was without doubt the greatest

painter of horses at the time in England, and probably ever, to

paint this race. It does not scream of victory, they should be happy?

To me, what is extraordinary about this painting is that it is all

about the horse, showing the cost of that race to the horse. Although

he is exhausted, he is shown in the foreground, so close, that we could

almost touch him. For George Stubbs, painting such a realistic depiction

of an exhausted horse was a major departure. He had acquired his

status as the most famous equine artist in the world by painting

triumphant images, like his most famous work. Just look at that pose,

and compare it to the tired, worn out and Hambletonian. Stubbs was

not the only one choosing to show the world a more realistic image of

horseracing. At the same time, a book was published which raised

concerns about the way horses were treated. It told how some jockeys

cut their horses during races through excessive use of the whip.

This race was no exception. In 17 99, there were no rules for the

welfare of horses. Jockeys had whips and Spurs like these. It was

reported that when both horses crossed the finishing line, they

were both badly bleeding. Tim Cox is a trustee of the national

Horseracing museum. Was this kind of treatment of race horses, and?

think it was, although it does not get featured in the pictures of the

time. Everything points to the horse getting cut during the race.

-- was it comma? One thing which is missing from the painting is the

blood and gore which would have been associated with it, and Stubbs

has cut that out. Even though he did not paint any injuries, by

departing from his usual style, Stubbs helped to mark a turning

point in our relationship with horses. It is a wonderful painting,

epitomising the change between the 18th century relationship with

animals, to the more 19th century, romantic idea of a horse as

something to be revered. It is a masterpiece. I do not have a wall

or anywhere near big enough for that. Maybe a yond! Earlier on, we

said how your music has inspired lots of people, and Alex is with

some fans who may want to ask you a few questions. Yes, I am with David,

Maggie and Jessica. You have seen Lionel Richie money terms, but

you're going to see him on this tour? Yes, in Liverpool and

Manchester. You will have a brilliant time. And you have got a

question, Jessica? Yes, have you ever considered doing a duet with

One Direction? Everything is possible. We want to change things

up, and it would be something to which people would go, what? Well,

here is something for you to take a look at... Like I said, it fits!

Inspiration is the keyword, and a group of US soldiers from the

national Guard have nicked named themselves the All-Night Longers,

because of the hours that they fly. Let's have a look. Lionel, have a

good time in Europe. Thanks for keeping us all flying all night

long. I just want to say that my office might be a bit cooler than

yours, but I will not hold that against you. I think you are right

- thanks for the CD, Lionel. takes it to another level, when you

think of Ooh music getting played in that situation. I cannot tell

you how inspiring that is for me. You write a song and you think it

is going to be presented in a certain way - these guys are in

harm's way every five minutes of their lives, and yet they find

something that I have done, that will inspire them or give them what

they need. I will tell you a great story about that - when they

invaded Iraq, the first thing they found was that the shop owners

wanted to announce, we are friendly, please come on in, so they played

All Night Long when the troops came in, and the troops played Dancing

On The Ceiling on the vehicles coming in, because that was their

battle cry. You hear these stories, and you just want to go... We have

had loads of people who have been sending in their pictures. We have

been inundated. This one is from Richard and Lorna, their first

dance, in June, to Penny Lover. This one says, we love you, Lionel,

we had My Destiny as a first dance just a couple of weeks ago. This

one says, please show Lionel my pumpkin that I can't, of him!

that unbelievable? And this couple say, eight years ago, and our first

dance was, Stuck On You. Two nights ago, that was the loudest thing.

was incredible, my favourite song. If you want to hear any more of

Lionel Richie performing around the country, he will be in Liverpool,