26/01/2012 Blue Peter

Bourn Hall in Blue Peter today, behind-the-scenes access to the

UK's newest celebrity couple. Your chance to get your photographs

published on the official Blue Peter calendar. And top DJ and

lovely person Sara Cox gives you a behind-the-scenes tour. The biggest

bands in the world are all played in-ear, pretty cool. A cheers here

too are the present the show, exciting! -- she is here to help me

Mark Owen 2 Blue Peter live in your living room wall wherever you have

got John television. Let's start with Helen Skelton. Yes, she made

it all the way to the South Pole. We could not be more proud of her.

We are going to be catching up with their late in the show. Because she

is away, we have a very special guest presenter, direct from Radio

1, D Jay Sara Cox. -- D Jay. Hello. Welcome to the show. Thank you for

having me, I am so excited, I grew up with a show, and I have got a

badger! Everybody is excited about the match. Let's talk about your

show, it has over 1.5 million people listening to that. How is

that? Television is really nice, because it feels like I'm just

chilling out with a person. It feels like I am sitting on the

toaster with them, I am in the car, so it is nice, really nice. We like

to give you the inside story here on Blue Peter, so we sent our

cameras along to Radio 1 last Sunday to see Sara in action.

He is 9 o'clock, I am off to do my show, here we are at Radio 1, but I

have got a few minutes, do want a quick tour? Isn't it glamorous

looking and exciting? Not really, but it kind of this. This is where

we keep the DJs. Who could work at a desk like this? We have got some

fashion freebies, getting sent lovely clothes, very fashionable

jacket, lots of girly make-up. Who could it be? It is Fearne Cotton,

look. A fan has sent her that beautiful portrait! Whose desk is

this? Let's have a look, a cuddly toy. We have got a popcorn Maker,

lots of awards, of course. What is this? Leeds United. It is Chris

Moyles! Hello, Radio 1? No-one there. Whose desk is this? It is

obviously somebody who is incredibly serious. There is a

gecko telephone, a massive rubber duck, cuddly toy. It could only

This is actually pretty cool, this is the world famous live lounge.

Everybody from Pixie Lott and Coldplay have played in this very

room, come on. Let's see what's going on. Edith is are now. Good

morning, gorgeous! She is looking very lovely. It doesn't look very

rock and roll in here with the sofa, the print and again, but let me

tell you, the biggest bands in the world are all played in this room.

Right then, my studio, the best bit. Working very hard, as always, is my

producer, Andy, and this is where all the action happens. A little

bit of Emily Sandy, I think. I will start my radio show and speak to

the nation live on BBC Radio 1. I will just get my microphone, like

this. Morning! Right then, nearly time to go on air, I had better get

down to business. Right now, Sara Cox. Hello! A joy, a pleasure and

indeed an honour to be here this Sara Cox, everybody! It looks like

such good fun, is there much of a difference between that and

television? I love my job, you can just rock up with your hair like

that, but on television I have got my hair curled, lipstick, as you

know. I have had mine done as well. Let's get on with the show, then!

Just before Christmas, you may remember the UK had two very

exciting arrivals, Chinese giant pandas Sweetie and Sunshine. They

travelled over 5,000 miles from China to Edinburgh Zoo. When they

offered us the chance to look after them for a day, we could not resist.

Naomi Wilkinson went to meet them. This is Edinburgh, and this is

Edinburgh Zoo, a much like any other. But less than two months ago,

it was home to the hottest story on the planet. On 4th December, the

world's media watched with awe as Chinese giant pandas Tian Tian and

Yang Guang arrived, to the delight of the locals. From then on, they

would be known by their English names, Sweetie for the female and

Sunshine for the Mail. But these two caught his creatures have not

come to Scotland for a holiday. -- gorgeous. They are an important

assignment to be the first pandas here in the UK to have a baby, so I

am here to find out how their mission is coming along. Pandas, by

their nature, are solitary animals, which means they like to spend time

by themselves. That is why Sweetie and Sunshine have separate

enclosures. Alison, you are the key that here, why is it that we have

not had pandas born here in the UK before? We have not had them here

for 17 years, so the last pandas were here at London Zoo, and

unfortunately they did not breed. But now we have got a pair, so

hopefully hours will breed. mating season only lasts for one

day per year, and Alison knows what to do to get them ready for the big

day. We allow them to see one another. There is a mess for

partition, they can look at one another, smell one another. They

know that they are there, that is very important. When she eventually

comes into season, he is no longer a stranger. So what are the

chances? Are they getting along? There has been a bit of friendly

calling, but they will let us know very quickly when they want to be

together, and that is when we will open the door and let them get

together. Let nature take its course. Indeed. But the male sleety

needs to be as calm and relaxed as possible, so we get to work on a

bit of pampering. -- E Mailer Sweetie. Our first job of the day

is to collect their favourite food, which is of course bamboo. They

have to have an enormous amount delivered each week. They even grow

some of their own on site to keep up with demand. That is because

these greedy pandas can spend up to 16 hours per day eating 30

kilograms of bamboo. That is about the same weight as your entire

What we really want to do is but a little bit of bamboo in all the

different places so that she has to go and search and look for it, just

as she would do naturally. Sweetie has to go inside while we put out

the bamboo. Pandas may look cuddly, but they are extremely strong with

huge floors and sharp teeth, and they can be as dangerous as any

other there. -- clause. Every inch of the enclosure has been designed

to make sure they feel at home, so both Sweetie and Sunshine have a

cave, a climbing structure and a water feature. In the wild, pandas

live in the forest and mountain ranges of south central China, but

sadly it is believed there are only 1,600 wild pandas left. That is why

conservation projects are so important for the survival of this

highly endangered species. That is why Alison and the other zoo

keepers want to give them a few luxuries. What special treat our

making for them? We are going to make and a cake. What is in it?

is a beat of a secret, the recipe Her aside from the secret Chinese

ingredients, there is a mixture of corn, rice, soya beans, eggs, oil

and water. It is like sawdust! what it for them. How many cakes

will this make? This will make two large cakes. So they get one each

per day? Just about a full one per day, yes. If you make it wrong,

will they turn their nose up at it? If they do not like it, they will

not eat it. It is looking good. Once they look like fakes, they get

steamed for four hours, which gives us time to get on with another job.

And it is one of the worst. The mucking out! And because the pandas

eat so much bamboo every day, they produce a lot of very weird-looking

mess. Why is it yellow? If you look through it, it is just like bamboos

them. That indicates to me that last night, out of all the stuff we

put in, she has been eating a lot of them. The brown and green

indicates she has bt -- been eating a lot of leave as well, so that is

really good, exactly what we want. Sweetie has been waiting patiently

for was to clear up, and now the cake is deemed to perfection, it is

time for her to taste. She wants you to put it through for her.

Sweeten Lee certainly seems relaxed, but whether future mate Sunshine is

in no mood for Love is anyone's I have had such a great time today,

let's hope my efforts have the desired effect and this cuddly

couple have a baby panda very soon. Look at its cute little hairy face!

I know, the panda! I want one. You can see a special documentary about

the pandas on BBC One Scotland at 8 o'clock on the 1st February. Still

to come on the show, don't go anywhere, because you can find out

how you can take amazing for the grass using just a simple drinks

can. We also speak to Helen about conquering the Antarctic. Over the

last couple of weeks, we have been following the British hopefuls at

the winter Youth Olympic Games. have seen halfpipe Skene, speed

skating, but today it is the bobsleigh with two incredible girls

whose friendship could make or break their chances of winning a

Meat jasmine and measure. At just 17 and 18 years old, they are two

of the UK's most promising young athletes. They are representing

Great Britain in bobsleigh, one of the fastest and most adrenalin

pumping sports at the Games. It can be literally one hundredth of a

second between a God medal and 4th place. You would think it would be

loads of pressure, but it is so exciting. We are really good

friends, we are really determined. These two fearless teenagers will

be competing in the women's bobsleigh event, where they will

hurtle down a narrow twisting track in a gravity power Sleigh, taking

And in a sport where milliseconds count, teamwork will be absolutely

crucial. All their training will be for nothing unless they can work

well together at the Games. We have got to get on, we have got to the A

team, and we get on really well. You do prat together, you warm up.

There are good dynamics between us, it will do well for us at the Games.

Both girls will have a different and important role to play. The

driver has to steer the sled down the track. Before you have even got

to the starting block, you have gone through the tracks so many

times in your head, so when you get to the start, all you are focusing

on is the push, but once you jump in, you can't down and just drive

the track. -- calm down. Jasmine helps to get them the fastest

possible start and pulls the break at the end of the race. The only

thing I can do to make it go faster is the start. It can make a

difference to the time it by getting awkwardly. I have got to

get in smoothly, sits down, and They both have to get off to a

quick start. They are keen to work hard on this in preparation for the

Games, but with no bobsleigh track in the UK the girls have to settle

for a Tarmac track in A bath. a point where the driver has to

push it at the same time. For the driver it is more relaxing. You

only have to think about the drive down of the Push has already taken

care of. Jasmine and Misha are the team to be reckoned with, but have

they got what it takes to win at the Winter youths Olympic Games?

think we have a good chance of getting a medal. I'd love to think

it would be a gold medal. Anything can happen to any of us but I'd

love to say that we can, because we have the potential and I think we

can go on and do it. Three weeks later, the girls arrive in

Innsbruck for the biggest sporting event of their lives. They get

straight down to training on the 1300 metre ice track will be rated

-- racing on in just a few days' time. If we were to go straight

into the race without having had any training runs, it would be an

issue of getting used to the track again. With their rivals also

training on the same track, it's important that girls stayed focused

and don't get psyched out by the competition. The error two Dutch

teams, they are our main competition. Not look at what

everyone else is doing and make sure you know what you're doing

when it comes to the race. Misha went Jasmine have now put in all

the training hours they can to prepare for their first ever

Olympic performance. We are ready, 24 hours later and the moment the

girls have been training for arrives. For this event, each

bobsleigh duo have two runs down the track. The team of the fastest

combined time wins. For the girls to do well today they need to keep

off all the walls and push really fast. It is finally time before the

girls to step up to the starting line and put all of their hard work

After their first run they are down in fourth place, behind both Dutch

teams and the Italians. Everything is now riding on their second run.

The are not in a grid position after the first run. But Jasmine

and Misha are very good at coping This time it is a much better

result for Misha and jasmine. Now all they can do is wait to see if

they have done enough for a medal. Yes! And they have a. The girls

move into third place, securing at least a bronze medal. I know we've

secured a medal - it feels amazing! The up the competition isn't over

until all of the teams have finished both of their runs. Right

now we're just waiting for that We've just found out we've secured

a silver medal. For I don't even know what is going on! For Misha

and Jasmine, there Olympic dream has finally become a reality.

is the goal we've been working towards long-term. It feels so good

that we've finally made that. came here hoping for a metal and

now that we have it feels incredible. Silver medals at 17 and

18 years old. Amazing. As you probably know come on Sunday

morning Helen completed her 500 mile journey to the South Pole for

Sport Relief. She has just boarded a plane to start a journey back.

Before she did, we managed to speak to her and ask her how it went.

the end it went really well. We had a few tough and tricky days but we

got there in one piece, we were all smiling and everyone is well. That

is the biggest achievement. Because you are distracted by the mileage

you forget what a brutal place this can be. Our cameraman has got to

film and pressed tiny little buttons wearing huge mittens. The

fact that we are all fine is good. I'm really proud of everybody.

are all proud of you as well. No one was surprised when we found out

you had done it. It's been covered in newspapers, everyone is talking

about it and there are lots of questions quite serious to ask you.

Because you can't leave anything behind the South Pole, where you go

to the toilet? You put it into a big container and take it with you.

It's all right now because we've finished, so there is a gang of us

so we can put it into a collective container. But when you're on your

own... It's quite tricky. It's not that pleasant. This is such a

pristine place, but reality is if you go to the lure on the horizon

it would stay there for a year. That is not very nice for anyone

who might travel behind you. You get rid of it. Oh, the glamour!

What are you most looking forward to doing as soon as you get home?

I'm looking forward to having a shower. Everybody around me is

looking forward to me having a shower. Honestly, we all stink.

Because we left Cape Town on 22nd December, there is no running water

out here... We've not really been able to have a wash. I've not

taking my hat off for a while, I've not taking my thermals off for

weeks because it's too cold. I've been dreaming about a shower.

can't imagine how bad that smells! Everyone has been so supportive,

we've had messages of support. Sapphire says, while, you are

amazing. Go, Helen! This one says, Helen, congratulations. I love how

much you do for charity and how extreme the things you do are.

one says, I think what you've done is amazing and all for Sport Relief,

too. It must be amazing to go to the South Pole. You should be proud

of yourself. Scarlett wants to be just like you when she is older.

That is so sweet. Helen, thank you for joining us, we can't wait to

have you back. Take it easy on the flight home. Thank you for the nice

messages. I hope you are all well and I will see you soon. If you

want to do the Sport Relief mile, go to the Blue Peter website to

find out how you can. You will find a special series for Helen's

adventure as well. That is on Monday at 4:30pm on BBC One.

Photography is one of my biggest passions, so I'm putting together a

2012 photo Callender you can print out from the Blue Peter website.

There will be a new photo for every month, each using a different

photographic technique. For January is photo I found -- I shall do my

favourite type of camera. I went to the home of photography for a new

photo for February and the new As I'm sure you already know, I

absolutely love gadgets. In fact, I think it's fair to say that I can't

get enough of the newest techno gadgets, especially when it comes

to photography. In you come up. Cheese! Did you know that you can

take amazing pictures like these... Without spending loads of money? In

fact, the camera and using today is so basic it doesn't even have a

lens. Would you believe that this camera is made from five simple

object. A can, some card, black Tade, a rubber band and a pen. It's

called a pinhole camera. You might be sat there thinking it's just an

empty can of pop and I can't take a picture with it. I can, and here is

how it works. Light bounces off an object and through a cold --

through a hole in in the can. This creates an upside-down image on the

special light reactive paper inside. Where the light falls onto the

paper it becomes dark, the rest of the paper remains light, creating a

negative image. You wouldn't think that such a simple object could

produce such amazing pictures. I'm here to meet the creator of these

amazing images to see how he does it. You've brought me here, can you

tell us why? This is Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire. In the 1830s, but

Dobbie was invented. -- photography was invented. It was Fox Talbot who

captured the world's first photograph using this technique

back in 1835. That picture still survives today. In fact, it was of

this very window. Where did it start for you? I got really hooked

with being able to create the magic, being able to create a picture

using a tiny hole and an empty aluminium can. The cameras that you

make effectively cost very little money, considering the amount of

money you can spend on a camera. The images you get are incredible.

The one that springs to mind is the one of the Angel of the North and

the trail of the Sun. It's a simple aluminium can positioned on a lamp-

post. The sunlight creates this line of the Sun. You can compress

this huge amount of time into one picture. We don't have three months

but we do have a glorious day out there. I feel a Blue Peter

challenge, not. I reckon we both take our pinhole cameras, take an

image, bring it back, get it developed and the best one gets to

go in the calendar. Before we head out we need to load up our cameras

with light-sensitive paper. This has to be done in the door from

because as soon as any light hits the paper it start to the Act. We

don't want this to happen until we take our pictures. Three pinhole

cameras, that means three chances to get the best shot. I challenge

you to a cure. The first thing I need to do to take a winning photo

with my camera is to choose a location and subject where there is

plenty of light. The building has a lovely orange glow over it. Then I

need to line up my camera and make sure the pin hole is facing the

right way. Let's see what happens. Finally, I peel away the tape

covering the pinhole and let the light through. 1, two, three, four.

It's important to hold the camera perfectly still. Remember, the more

it is open, the more light exposed. That is a beautiful scene. The only

problem is you can't tell whether or not it is on there. I wonder how

Justin is getting on. I'm doing a photograph of myself but I'm going

to be turning, holding the camera steady in relation to myself.

that could be the winner! With all six images in the can, it's time to

see what we've got. It's back to the dark room to develop our photos.

Because if we let any more light on to the paper at this stage it will

ruin our masterpieces. This is where the magic happens.

darkroom. All in a red light so it doesn't fog the paper. We have

chemicals, developer in the first trade, the Bath which stabilised

the image and that fixer, it fixes the image and keeps it permanent.

There is only one thing for it. Let's develop. This is so exciting.

As I hold my breath, our image has come to light. There we go. We have

created a bit of magic here. Six old cans of fizzy drink turned into

cameras. We've come back with these images. But they are still negative.

Yes, we've yet to make them into positives. There is some lovely

stuff here. And these are our final pictures. But Justin and I decided

that my picture of the sundial is our picture for February. And here

is that very picture. Do you like it? You should be proud of yourself.

Lookout pleased you are with yourself! Don't forget you can

decorate your bedroom at home with the calendar. You've just got to go

to the Blue Peter website and print it out. I as I've already got two

pictures on the calendar, we thought you would like to have the

chance to one of your own photographs in the month of March.

We want you to send us your snapshots. The winning picture will

be added to the calendar for everyone to see. You don't need a

special camera, all that matters is the picture is taken by you. We are

going to give you a theme. We want your photographs of animals. You

can photograph your own pet, somebody else's pet or any random

animals you see a round. Head over to the website and find out how you

can take part in the competition. It's time to go, it's the end of

the show. I've loved having you here. An exciting show next week.

You do not want to miss next week's show, we meet the biggest star of