21/04/2016 BBC News at Six

Celebrations in Windsor as the Queen turns 90 -

the first British monarch to reach such a milestone

Thousands filled the streets in the town here to greet the Queen

on her birthday walkabout - among them some also

The Queen spoke to me, asked me my age.

Never really imagined I would meet her.

I never imagined I would be 90, let's face it!

Across the UK traditional gun salutes to mark the Queen's nine

decades as Prince Charles turns to Shakespeare to pay

She shall be to the happiness of England an aged Princess.

Many days shall see her and yet no day without a deed to crown it.

Also on tonight's programme: The government is ready to take

Taxpayers would own up to a quarter of the company and a new owner

could also get hundreds of millions in support.

The biggest ever seizure of illegal weapons in Britain.

The gang were filmed smuggling the guns into the country by boat.

A new plan to change the way GP surgeries in England work -

and why you won't always see a doctor.

Arsene Wenger says it's down to his side to change opinions,

as fans look set to stay away from their Premier League match

Good evening and welcome to the BBC news at 6 from Windsor

Thousands of people - young and old - came here to line

A few had even camped out all night just to catch a glimpse of Britain's

the sound of happy birthday rang out through the streets beneath

on the day the Queen reached another milestone in her long life.

She may be a Queen who lives in a castle.

Close by, as ever, the Duke of Edinburgh.

It certainly does cut. there was that prerequisite

It had been baked specially for the Queen by Nadia Hussain,

the winner of the BBC's The Great British Bake Off.

The one thing I never set my sights on was meeting the Queen

I got to bake her her 90th birthday cake, and that's monumental.

I didn't ever imagine that I would ever do something like that.

And there were other 90-year-olds to meet,

men and women whose lives have moved along in parallel

I never really imagine that I would meet her.

I never imagined I would be 90, let's face it!

She was in the bombing of London, so was I.

And then she was called up, and so was I.

So we've had a long, long life together.

As the Queen stepped out in Windsor, gun salutes were fired in

Buckingham Palace issued this photograph of the Queen two

of her grandchildren and her five great grandchildren -

the youngest of whom, Princess Charlotte, is sitting

on her lap, next to her brother, Prince George.

The wider world has also been paying its birthday tributes,

led in the House of Commons by the Prime Minister,

who recalled the 64 years the Queen has been on the throne.

Throughout it all, as the sands of culture shift and the tides

of politics ebb and flow, Her Majesty has been steadfast.

A rock of strength for our nation, for our Commonwealth,

and on many occasions, for the whole world.

The Leader of the Opposition is a Republican.

Today we are talking about a highly respected

And, Mr Speaker, whatever differing views that people across this

country have about the institution, the vast majority share an opinion

that Her Majesty has served this country and has overwhelming support

with a clear sense of public service and public duty.

In a BBC documentary tonight, the Queen will be seen reminiscing

In a separate broadcast, Prince Charles paid tribute

to his mother, quoting lines from Shakespeare's Henry VIII.

She shall be to the happiness of England an aged princess.

And yet, no day without a deed to crown it.

Back in Windsor, on this first day of her tenth decade,

Elizabeth II was doing what she has done for so much of her long

A greatly respected monarch at close quarters with her people, receiving

Nicholas Witchell, BBC News, Windsor.

Let's just show you some live pictures now from

Large crowds are gathering again tonight - because in about an hour's

time the Queen will leave this castle again for her last public

appearance of the day to light this beacon -

the first in a series that will be lit tonight

Our Royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell is here with me now.

there are huge crowds again tonight. The Queen has had an incredibly warm

reception. It is funny, the underlying mood of the country has

been best summed up by the most prominent Republican, Jeremy Corbyn,

saying never mind what you think of the institution, the vast majority

of people think she has done a remarkably good job of service to

the country which underlines a good monarch unites opinion rather than

divides it stop she enjoyed the Walkabout and entered into the

spirit. It underlines what robust health she is in at the age of 90.

There are issues, there are bound to be, climbing stairs is more of a

challenge, staff adapt her programme. To take account of her

age, but nothing dramatic. The day is not over. There is the beacon

lighting and the dinner hosted by the Prince of Wales and attended by

60 family and close friends. Windsor Castle is where the Queen wanted to

celebrate. It is where she feels most at home.

But so to is the Sandringham estate in her Norfolk,

Just a few miles from it is the town of King's Lynn

which is said by some to contain the highest number

Reeta Chakrabarti went along to speak to some of them.

A stone's throw from Sandringham, King's Lynn has always been one

Its schools, hospitals and fire stations and the town hall have

VOICEOVER: In King's Lynn from a building that stood

the word is proclaimed, Elizabeth is Queen.

At the beginning of her reign, as the town's name suggests,

King's Lynn has retained strong links with loyalty.

These are the visitors books from when the Queen visited each time?

For the former mayor and present council leader,

meeting the Queen has one of he has been one of the huge

I've met her three times, twice in the last five years.

I think to dedicate one's whole life to that form of duty is remarkable.

Early in her reign, the young Queen visited

A tradition has now been established.

Every year the sixth former with the best results has a private

It was a surreal experience because the house is magnificent

and you are meeting the Queen, which is like a figure you never

And Freddie also met the Queen when he was in junior school.

She has a great sense of humour as well.

I was saying, I might see you in a couple of years

It is such a royal town, everyone seems to have

going in search of someone who hasn't.

Rumour has it King's Lynn has the largest number of people

Yes, not just around Sandringham, even in the streets.

The Queen is popular here because she seems

to give as much attention to ordinary life as ceremony.

The bond between monarch and town looks set to endure.

Many people met the Queen in Windsor today. The celebrations public and

private will carry on into the evening. I will be back later in the

programme on this landmark birthday for the Queen.

Britain's struggling steel industry has been thrown a lifeline today -

the government has made it clear that it's ready to take

a 25% stake in Tata Steel's operations.

Whoever buys the company will also be offered hundreds of millions

of pounds of taxpayers' cash to ease the transition.

Let's join Hywell Griffith in Port Talbot where 4,000

Yes, for weeks workers have wondered how far the government would be

prepared to go and today they found out, not just hundreds of millions

of pounds of public money put into a loss-making business but a lot of

political capital as the government suggested it could as an option go

into a part nationalisation of the British industry, something we have

not seen in decades on that scale. Could you, me and every British

taxpayer could soon own a part of this? The government pledged public

money to keep these fires burning, saying it could take a 25% share

alongside a private buyer. The government does not want a role in

running it, and it is about the priority we are showing to attract

an investor. Any investor will be able to see the numbers the

government has made available. For a workforce tired of promises, it

feels like something more than hot air. We have been told things in

meetings that yes there is taxpayers' money may be available.

No detail. To get the government and Welsh Assembly to commit to

something is great. What state support would be on offer? A 25%

stake in the steel business would be shared between British and Welsh

governments. An alternative would be to help finance the debt of any

buyer, potentially worth hundreds of millions. But ministers would not be

taking control of the company. It would be a commercial investment. At

a workers meeting import Talbot, it brings hope that more buyers may

come forward. Some like Vince Lewis have spent over 30 years at the

local works. This will giving courage to some of the big players

in the industry that they will be supported. We have not heard

details, but with luck, this will give confidence to the major firms

that they can invest import Talbot and there will be a long-term future

here. The question many workers are left with is why this offer was not

made sooner, before Tata Steel put the business up for sale. If

hundreds of millions of public money is available now, should the money

had been offered to them? The answer may be because it wanted to avoid a

repeat of this, the part nationalisation of British Leyland

in the 70s did not end well. Some thought this deal could go the same

way. Tata Steel has looked for a bias and 2014 and if they cannot

find one in the open market it means the only way the government can help

is to sweeten the deal and if we are doing that it means we are propping

up an unproductive industry and doing that it means we are propping

productive. If it helps find a buyer, the workers know the next few

years will be hard. We may soon all have a stake in their future also.

With me now is our business editor Simon Jack.

A lot of money and a surprising move from the government. It is a big

moment. It is not a U-turn because they did not rule out the option

will stop the idea of a government taking a stake in manufacturing

industry runs counter to every instinct of a Conservative

government. You have to reach back to the 1970s British Leyland and

Rolls-Royce find similar situations. Taking a stake plus hundreds of

millions of loans is an enormous carrot to flush out a buyer and that

is the key thing. None of this happens unless a buyer is found, and

the government admitted that although the hundreds of millions on

commercial terms of loans are OK, taking a 25% stake is a great area

when it comes to EU state aid. A buyer needs to be found and the

justice of the Sea off the move also. -- legitimacy.

The Queen becomes for first reigning British monarch to reach 90

as she celebrates her birthday in Windsor.

The singer and musician Prince has been found dead in America.

Two men have been found guilty at the Old Bailey of conspiring

to import and sell automatic weapons - following what's believed to be

the largest such seizure ever made on the UK mainland.

The weapons were said to be worth ?100,000.

Three others had already pleaded guilty

to smuggling the weapons into the country.

Our Home Affairs Correspondent Daniel Sandford

In an extraordinary security operation, heavily armed police

officers have been stationed around the Old Bailey throughout this

A trial concerning the biggest ever seizure of guns in

22 fully automatic assault rifles, nine Scorpion

submachineguns and one and a half thousand rounds of ammunition.

These were weapons that could cause mass casualties, both types of

weapon can fire 800 rounds a minute and you could imagine the

devastation that would cause if they were in the wrong hands.

Harry Shilling was the leader of the gun

smuggling gang, helped by Michael Defraine and Richard Rye.

They'd persuaded boat enthusiasts to help them.

The guns were shipped across the Channel from France in this

The next day on the River Medway in Kent, surveillance

officers filmed the gang on loading heavy bags containing the weapons,

heaving them into an anonymous white van.

Moments later, armed police moved in and arrested the men on the

And they seized an enormous Arsenal of fully automatic guns, 30

Some of the guns had come from this shop, 800 miles

converted back into lethal killing machines.

One such gun from the same shop had made it into the hands of

the man who killed four hostages at a Jewish supermarket in Paris

He can be seen with the gun in this video, released

The National Crime Agency has established that at least

some of the guns came from this shop in Slovakia,

but at that point, they

were perfectly legal yet committed weapons.

What happened next is that

somebody, and we don't know who, reactivated them, making them

When the National Crime Agency arrested

gang leader Harry Shilling in the car park of Homebase, he had a panic

Richard Wright, by the window, was caught in the local

The huge haul of weapons that in the wrong hands could have

wreaked havoc in Britain, all safely in the hands

The musician Prince has died in Minneapolis.

He was 57 and had been struggling with illness for a while.

Our entertainment correspondent Lizo Mzimba is here with more details.

We had a statement that Prince had been suffering ill-health and had to

cancel concerts. He went to hospital at the weekend. There have been

rumours that a death in the last couple of hours at Paisley park and

now the confirmation the sad news that Princess died at the age of 57.

How would you describe his legacy? He will be remembered as someone who

produced a huge range of music, mixing different styles. In the

early part of his career he realised the importance of the media and

publicity, famously changing his name to a symbol. People will

remember the albums in the 80s and 90s. They sold millions of copies

around the world. He continued producing music at a prodigious rate

and a lot of it was recorded and never actually released. He had an

incredible stage presence as people who saw him in the UK a couple of

years ago will testify. And today the sad news he has died. He will be

remembered as a great talent and also one of music's great

characters. Thanks very much. Volkswagen has agreed a deal

in America to fix or buy VW has admitted cheating

on emissions tests on up There has been no agreement yet

on compensation or fixes for cars The former Sheffield United

and Wales striker Ched Evans has had his conviction for rape

quashed at the Court of Appeal. He was released from jail in 2014

after serving half his sentence. Our Sports Editor Dan

Roan was in court. Ched Evans leaving court today

after the most significant victory Supported by his fiancee,

he had won an appeal against his rape conviction but knew

he now faces a retrial. Minutes earlier, he had

been in court to hear We have concluded that we

must allow the appeal. And that it's in the interests

of justice to The appellant will be retried

on the allegation of rape. The former Wales international

served half of a five year sentence after he

was convicted of raping a 19 year old woman in his north

Wales Hotel in 2011. Public opposition prevented Evans

from resuming his footballing career but he has always maintained

his innocence and appealed through the Criminal Cases Review

Commission. At a hearing last month fresh

evidence was presented that was deemed to have rendered his

conviction unsafe - reporting restrictions mean that evidence

cannot be made public. Ched Evans looked tense but showed

little reaction or emotion here as he heard the judgment,

surrounded by members of his family. Relieved, no doubt, that his appeal

had been successful, but that this Ched Evans is extremely

grateful that the Court of Appeal has ruled that his conviction

for rape is unsafe and should be The former Sheffield United striker

could now look for a new club, but sources close to Evans

say his focus is firmly on his family rather than football,

as he prepares for a retrial. How often have you tried

to get an appointment with your GP and been told -

you'll have to wait. It's just one sign of how much

pressure the service faces. Now the NHS in England has come up

with billions of pounds of extra funding to put general practice

"back on its feet". Spending on GPs will go up

from the current 8 percent This will help pay for 5,000 extra

GPs and for 4,500 pharmacists As our Health Editor Hugh Pym

reports, the GP service could end up It is one new approach

to handling patients. This GP surgery in West Yorkshire

has nurses and other staff on site, able to see people,

so taking pressure off the doctors. It's not going to change

things overnight, of course not, but it should

go some way to help Patients at the surgery

welcome any hope for their When I was younger, it were easier

for GPs but not now. It's long hours for people,

and they do need to put a lot more The head of NHS England

told me general practice Over the last ten years,

the GP services have in some ways lost out relative to other parts

of the NHS. Today what we're saying

we need to back this General practice has been

under intense pressure. Surveys suggest that 29% of GPs

want to leave the NHS in the And nearly 11% of patients

couldn't make an appointment last time they tried,

with the number of GP consultations up 11% since 2010,

the workload keeps on rising. Some GPs like this doctor in east

London, say the new Any increased funding to general

practice has to My concern with it is it's actually

they're talking about doing it over the next four years,

and I don't know what state general practice will be in

in four years' time, whether it will survive

that long to enable us to still

have a service to offer patients. The theory is that investing more

money closer to home and so take

pressure off hospitals. But if that doesn't work,

the rest of the NHS, where the budget will rise less

rapidly than GPs, may Doctors' leaders say

the measures should make a big difference

but the challenge will be to find enough

new GPs and initial funding The weather behaved beautifully

today, according across the skies, but for the lighting of the beacons,

it's going to be a mostly dry affair. It has been warm in the

spring sunshine to the north and west, for Mr Day of the year so far

in Portsmouth dock, but a breeze off the North Sea making it the

supporting the call on the east Coast. For the lighting of the

beacons we could see the spot or two of showery rain, but elsewhere,

clearer skies, particularly North. This further front will bring up

bricks of rain as we go through the overnight period, and some of the

rain turning heavy as well -- outbreaks of rain. Chile in the far

north of Scotland. The rain, fairly persistent, perhaps heavy as well

across Cornwall and Devon and South Wales but light and patchy across

the Channel into the afternoon but it will feel noticeably cooler,

particularly under the cloud and rain. The breeze, quite noticeable

on exposed coasts stop maybe the odd showery spell of rain through the

Midlands. Sunshine through the North of England, Northern Ireland into

Scotland, in the far north-east, cooler. Into the weekend, that theme

is set to continue, feeling cold, sunshine and showers turning

increasingly wintry. Let's not well on that.

Welcome back to Windsor Castle - where tonight the Queen will be

attending a family dinner hosted by Prince Charles

for the whole royal family as well as a few close friends.

We know very little about it except that there will be

entertainment and we're told a few surprises - but it certainly

will be a very private end to a very public day of celebrations

the oldest reigning monarch in British history.

We leave you tonight with some of the highlights from today.