27/01/2012 South East Today


27/01/2012

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Welcome to South East Today, I'm Rob Smith. And I'm Polly Evans.

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Tonight's top stories: A year after Pfizer's closure

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announcement, a breakthrough deal which could save hundreds of jobs.

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Five years' jail for the Sussex legal secretary who went on a

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"frivolous and extravagant" spending spree with clients' money.

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We're live with the details. Also in tonight's programme:

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Six months from the Opening Ceremony - anger in the Kent and

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Surrey villages snubbed by the How Charles Dickens, the Victorian

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author, made the county of Kent world-famous on the silver screen.

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And could they be the answer to convincing children to eat their

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greens? Chocolate-covered brussels Good evening. Workers at the

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pharmaceutical company Pfizer in Sandwich have been told that a

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potential buyer has been found for the site. Last February, the drugs

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giant announced that it would be pulling out of East Kent, with the

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loss of nearly 2,500 jobs. Now, it has emerged investment firm London

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and Metropolitan International Developments Limited are in

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detailed talks with Pfizer, which it hopes could see hundreds of jobs

:01:24.:01:34.
:01:34.:01:36.

saved. It is almost a year since Pfizer

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announced it was leaving its site. Today, it seems the site has found

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a buyer. Deals always need to be finalised, so there is no certainty,

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but I have met the company and they are very committed. They have

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already committed money and time over the last nine months to this

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process. They have got a strong vision for the area, as I think it

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will be very useful and important. Last February, Pfizer announced it

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would be pulling out of east Kent. In November, the company said six-

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under and 50 jobs would be retained. Today, Pfizer is in talks for a

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buyer. -- 650. That buyer is a consortium. The developer behind

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project in the UK and Europe, including Bicester Village.

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Because it is still early days, no one from Pfizer was available to

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talk. But the company are describing this as a "positive

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milestone". The possibility of jobs here is very welcome at News.

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can't say no to extra trade. When the news broke, we were all very

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worried, but Sandridge has been very good and this last year.

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seems such a terrible shame to waste all those wonderful buildings,

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and not being able to work. Business leaders in Thanet are

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giving the news a cautious welcome. It is in the early stages, and with

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exercises like this, there are commercial confidences that must be

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respected. They have to be reported to the city before we find out

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about them in the public realm, but it is great news, and we are

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delighted the government is taking this so seriously. Today,

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celebrations were held to mark Firth sale of Pfizer's Social Club.

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The new owners say it will become a community sports centre. In three

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or four months, we should know if the main site up the road will also

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have a happy ending. Well, our political editor, Louise

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Stewart, joins me now. Louise, there's been a lot going on behind

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the scenes to secure a future for the park? Yes, it is almost a year

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sense a taskforce was set up, led by the leader of Kent County

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Council, along with the local MPs. That is trying to secure the future

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of the side. In of August, the site was awarded enterprise zone status.

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What that means is that businesses get better tax breaks, faster

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broadband, easier planning rules if you like. This is not a done deal

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yet. This is a very positive step forward, but the company say the

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fact that this site has enterprise zone status, it is it very positive

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way to market it. A Sussex legal secretary - who

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stole nearly half a million pounds from clients to fund a "frivolous

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and extravagant spending spree" - has been jailed for nearly five

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years. Arscotts Solicitors in Hove went bust after 25-year-old Leanne

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Harris made a string of transactions between clients'

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accounts in an attempt to cover up what she was doing. Our reporter,

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Steve Gaisford, was at court for sentencing. He joins us from there

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now. Steve, what was her motivation? Shortly before

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sentencing, her defence lawyer spoke of her husband's psychotic

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personality that led to her feeling the need to placate and please them.

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She did so through extravagant spending. Although not responsible

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for the law firm's demise, the judge said "you have done huge

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damage to those who trusted to". This was the response on behalf of

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the firm and families she stole from. The fact she has contributed

:06:01.:06:10.
:06:11.:06:11.

to was a lot of 30 jobs. She caused great upset to the families, and

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deprived a 19-year-old lady of all her life savings. Despite Lehane

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Harris being ashamed of what she did, she started custodial sentence,

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and will no doubt have time to think about the lives she has

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affected because of her financial greed.

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In a moment: Taking on the elements - a new exhibition of Turner's work

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in his hometown of Margate. It's exactly six months to go until

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the opening ceremony of the olympic Games in london - but while many

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places are gearing up to welcome the Torch relay, five villages in

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Kent and Surrey say they have been snubbed. The route takes the torch

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along the M25 for a short stretch - and the villages alongside say they

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are missing out on a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity as a result.

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Michael is definitely on the ball when it comes to the Paralympic

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sport. So he was disappointed when he heard the relay has snubbed one

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of the most historic court regions in Kent. I think it would have lots

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of inspiration. A similar sentiment shared at the neighbouring schools.

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When you have got these historic villages and towns, to show care to

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the rest of the world, they have missed it. The torch will make its

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way through the South East. However, when it leaves Sevenoaks, it will

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head along the M25 missing out all these villages. I think it is a bit

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sad, that this place will be missed out and it will go down the

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motorway. I hope that people will be able to take part in the

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Some of whom were lucky enough to see the flame carried through the

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town it was this man. This is the athlete that was chosen to run up

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with the flame. In actual fact, I saw the torch in a matter of

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seconds. Villagers say they will celebrate the torch relay, even if

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they must travel further. The administrators of Thamesteel in

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Sheerness - which has just made 350 workers redundant - are to take out

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an advert in a national newspaper to try and find a buyer for the

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factory. The local MP says he hasn't given up hope that the steel

:09:05.:09:15.
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manufacturing plant can be saved, but he is planning for the worst.

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The administrators were only appointed yesterday, but they have

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been in touch with people who have expressed an interest with

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purchasing the side. A new �420 million redevelopment of

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the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton has been unanimously

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approved by Brighton and Hove Council. The Trust wants to replace

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some of the old buildings with a new 12-storey block. It also wants

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to create a Major Trauma Centre for Sussex.

:09:47.:09:50.

A 67-year-old woman has been charged in connection with the Gary

:09:50.:09:53.

Hampson murder investigation. Gary Hampson was reported missing in

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January last year. His blood was found at the garage he managed in

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Little Western Street, Brighton. Linda Rosenberg has been charged

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with acts intending to pervert the course of justice.

:10:05.:10:08.

For the last decade, the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment has been

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fighting almost continuously on the front line in Afghanistan. Mainly

:10:14.:10:16.

recruiting across the South East, they are currently on tour in

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Helmand Province, on what's probably their last tour. In a

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moment, we will be talking live to our correspondent, Mark Norman, who

:10:23.:10:28.

is in Lashkar Gah. But first, he has sent us this report about their

:10:28.:10:38.
:10:38.:10:45.

work with local Afghan police. This is how most of us arrived, the

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helicopter. But when the 1st Battalion arrived, they had a job

:10:55.:10:59.

to do - to mental local police forces, so that eventually, they

:10:59.:11:06.

would become responsible for security when we go home. Two

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Afghan police officers are getting a lesson in how to deal with

:11:14.:11:19.

casualties. What happening is it that they are conducting a basic

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first aid training. They also go out to a lot of post explosions etc

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and have to do with casualties, because the are the first

:11:32.:11:37.

respondents to this scene. Because we have the capability in our

:11:37.:11:47.
:11:47.:11:47.

forces, we are given good guys these lessons. The battalion are

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putting a huge effort into getting the local police into shape. The

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local headquarters are outside the British base. For security reasons,

:11:56.:12:06.
:12:06.:12:13.

an officer took my camera. Control of the area it was handed over to

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the Afghans in July. This is their control room. There is a success,

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but also challenges. One of the greatest challenges is that the

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literacy rates are low. We are seeing progress, in their ability

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to operate as police rather than just soldiers. Also, their ability

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to plan operations. But progress will have to be fast, because they

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will be leaving. International forces are scheduled to leave

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Afghanistan at the end up 2014. Soldiers are playing their part,

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and after that date, Afghanistan's security will be in the hands of

:12:59.:13:02.

the Afghan people. That report by Mark Norman. Well,

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he joins us live now from LashKar Gah. Mark, the training has been a

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long process. How optimistic are they that the Afghan police will be

:13:08.:13:18.

ready to take over when the British eventually leave? People here are

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optimistic but there are challenges. The army working with Afghan police

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to try and get that sorted. The politicians have to create

:13:28.:13:32.

institutions, and then there is the question of that deadline,

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impacting on those other two challenges. The regiment of feel

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they have dumped some very good work, so yes, optimistic, but they

:13:42.:13:52.
:13:52.:13:52.

The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is in detailed talks with a potential

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buyer for its operation in east Kent. The company announced nearly

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a year ago it would be closing its operation in Sandwich, which

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employed 2,400 people. A deal could save hundreds of jobs.

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Also tonight, how Britain's greatest novelist inspired

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Britain's greatest film-maker. Brussels sprouts - just gift-wrap

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them and cover them in chocolate. His connection to Margate is such

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that the town's new gallery is named after him. Well, tomorrow a

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major exhibition of the work of JMW Turner opens at the Turner

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Contemporary. It brings together more than 80 pieces of his work,

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including those inspired by that very stretch of Kentish coast. Sara

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Smith is live at the Turner Contemporary for tonight's special

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report. Sara, this is a big moment for the Turner Contemporary, isn't

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it? It certainly is. They have always had at least one Turner

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painting since the gallery opened nine months ago. Now they have 88.

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Tonight is the launch party but we got to have our look around earlier

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today before anyone arrived. From the eye of the storm to the

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calm of the seashore. Fiery sunsets to domineering mountains. Even

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where the subject appears man made, it is nature which provides the

:15:22.:15:26.

drama. All the time Turner is developing his work, breaking the

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artistic principles of his day. This is quite a different look at

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her -- at things and how he developed his way to paint. How he

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developed a parting from watercolour technique his flowing

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style that was so much criticised during his lifetime. In the centre

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of this exhibition, these pieces are grouped to give some impression

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of the impact this town had on the artist. Living here as a boy and

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again as a young man, his fascination with the sea and sky

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was said to have sprung from the hours he spent absorbing this

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landscape with this particular north coast like. This room

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demonstrates his fascination with the elements and retells the story

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of how the natural world had come to dominate his work. From the

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power of the sea to the destructive force of fire. He himself witnessed

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the Houses of Parliament ablaze in 1834. After the gallery, where the

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visitors have exceeded all expectations, this exhibition is

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another cause for celebration. is the moment we have been waiting

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for for 10 years. An exhibition Democrat -- dedicated to JMW Turner

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in Margate. It is a special moment for all this. The exhibition

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includes experimental works by Turner which have never been seen

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before but which helped him to create his style. It culminates in

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a room our future oils which brings together everything he had learnt.

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-- book massive oils. I doubt this will be anything but a massively

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popular exhibition. They have not struggled bringing the people in

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since they opened nine months ago. It opens to the public tomorrow, it

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is free to get into and it runs until May.

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Next month marks the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens, one

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of the greatest authors this country has produced. The writer,

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who spent his childhood in Kent and returned to the county to live,

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often used it as a vivid backdrop to his tales.

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Tales which, because of his brilliant powers of description and

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the continuing relevance of his themes, have been adapted for stage

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and screen over and over again. For the first in our series of special

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features marking the bicentenary, I've been finding out more about

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:18:17.:18:26.

why film-makers keep returning to Of my father's family name be

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Philip and my Christian name Philip, my infant at tongue could make of

:18:31.:18:41.
:18:41.:18:43.

both names nothing longer than Pip, so I called myself A pit. -- called

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myself A pit. This is David Lean's adaptation of Great Expectations

:18:52.:18:58.

and it is hard to think of anything that better captures the cinematic

:18:58.:19:05.

quality of Dickens' scene-setting and his mastery of suspense. The

:19:05.:19:15.
:19:15.:19:15.

film captured the imagination of a post-war audience, with Pip's story

:19:15.:19:23.

capturing the desire for better times. Fast forward to 2010 and

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again the north Kent marshes are recreated in all of their bleakness

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for BBC adaptation. The themes of greed and ruin and above all hope

:19:32.:19:39.

for the future once again seemed so pertinent. Dickens' scene-setting

:19:39.:19:44.

is undeniably vivid but it is also a incredibly well developed

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characters that keep audiences gripped. It is such a roller-

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coaster ride, and that is what drew me to the character, the

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relationships he has with so many characters. It is rare to have

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relationships with so many which characters. Do you not think as I

:20:06.:20:16.
:20:16.:20:28.

Yes. From the start, Dickens' work was illustrated and adapted for the

:20:28.:20:33.

stage and, although he died two decades before the advent of cinema,

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in the silent film era no less than 100 movies were based on his work.

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He is the only writer of the 19th century that thought cinematically

:20:44.:20:48.

before movies existed. The descriptions he wrote are

:20:48.:20:52.

incredibly visual. He thought visually, he thought theatrically,

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which was why he was so popular for theatre adaptation in the 19th

:20:57.:21:01.

century. And he is not afraid to leave characters behind and then

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pick them up later on in his work. You see that a lot in cinema, don't

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you? To way in which restructures his story and creates his

:21:12.:21:18.

characters was very complicated for the time in which she wrote. -- the

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way. It was a way which was a gift to cinema. Cinema can cut between

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time and place, between all kinds of places and countries and

:21:29.:21:36.

different time periods and Dickens did that in his fiction first.

:21:36.:21:40.

Moving back and forth from violent glimpses of the criminal underworld

:21:40.:21:47.

like this in David Lean's other masterpiece, Oliver Twist, to be

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sentimental heroes struggling for the better life, the author lit --

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always leaves his public wanted me -- wanting more. Please, sir, I

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want some more. Now, you have the chance to join us,

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as well as stars of stage and screen, for a special screening of

:22:06.:22:09.

David Lean's 1946 classic Great Expectations in the nave of

:22:09.:22:12.

Rochester Cathedral on 10th February.

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There are a limited number of pairs of tickets on offer. You need to be

:22:16.:22:20.

over the age of 14 and be able to get to the screening by 6:45 on the

:22:20.:22:22.

evening. Go to our website bbc.co.uk/kent and look for the

:22:22.:22:26.

Dickens link on the TV and radio page. Fill out the application and

:22:26.:22:30.

if you are successful we will be in touch.

:22:30.:22:32.

Brighton take on Premiership Newcastle in football's oldest

:22:32.:22:35.

competition, the FA Cup, at the Amex on Saturday. But the manager,

:22:36.:22:39.

Gus Poyet, isn't taking anything for granted.

:22:39.:22:42.

The omens are good because the Seagulls have yet to lose this year

:22:42.:22:45.

and the visitors have conceded seven goals in their last two away

:22:45.:22:55.
:22:55.:22:56.

Neil Bell has more. And Crawley Town have signed 20-

:22:56.:22:59.

year-old striker Sanchez Watt on loan from Arsenal in time for their

:22:59.:23:02.

tough FA Cup tie at Hull City tomorrow. Last season the Reds

:23:02.:23:05.

famously took on Manchester United in the competition. Around 1200

:23:05.:23:07.

Crawley fans are heading to Hull, but manager Steve Evans admits,

:23:08.:23:10.

despite performances in the Cup this season, his side go into the

:23:10.:23:13.

tie as underdogs. Meanwhile, in League One, leaders

:23:13.:23:16.

Charlton travel to Exeter having extended the deal of leading scorer

:23:16.:23:18.

Bradley Wright-Phillips until the summer of 2013. The 26-year-old

:23:18.:23:20.

made his 25th League appearance of the season last weekend,

:23:20.:23:22.

automatically triggering the extension.

:23:22.:23:25.

And in League Two Gillingham boss Andy Hessenthaler says his team

:23:25.:23:27.

need to "get back on track very quickly" after two successive

:23:27.:23:31.

defeats. New signing Gavin Tomlin - who scored twice in last Saturday's

:23:31.:23:34.

home defeat - hopes to be fit to face Accrington Stanley despite

:23:34.:23:38.

picking up a calf strain. What is it with Brussels sprouts?

:23:39.:23:42.

They are healthy and nutritious and packed with vitamin A and C and

:23:42.:23:46.

folic acid and dietary fibre. And yet for some reason getting kids to

:23:46.:23:50.

eat them is often a challenge. In a bid to convert the unwilling,

:23:50.:23:53.

a farmer near Gravesend is trying to rehabilitate the little

:23:53.:23:57.

brassicas, by selling them gift- wrapped and covered in chocolate.

:23:57.:24:07.
:24:07.:24:11.

Yes. Lynda Hardy reports. The Brussels sprout. That famous

:24:11.:24:13.

festive Lovett or hated vegetables. You would think it would be really

:24:13.:24:17.

rather redundant now the festive season is a distant memory. Not so

:24:17.:24:22.

in this part of Kent, where they have thought up an unusual way of

:24:22.:24:28.

Remarketing be more commonly seen at Christmas vegetable. We got the

:24:29.:24:33.

idea at Christmas dinner. My son Charlie does not like Brussels

:24:33.:24:38.

sprouts and he pushed them off the plate. It came up as a joke about,

:24:38.:24:43.

I bet he would if they were covered in chocolate. Who better to test

:24:43.:24:49.

the and then some unsuspecting children in Tunbridge Wells? --

:24:49.:24:57.

test them. The outside is really nice. I'm not sure about the inside,

:24:58.:25:07.
:25:08.:25:08.

though. What do you think? Nice. What do you think is inside it?

:25:08.:25:18.
:25:18.:25:18.

Brussels sprouts. His last -- is that what it is? Cool! Do you like

:25:18.:25:27.

Brussels sprouts? Created by a couple who run the

:25:27.:25:31.

local granary bakery, the sprouts are simply washed with their top

:25:31.:25:35.

layer taken off before being coated in chocolate just in time for

:25:35.:25:40.

Valentine's Day. So it would seem that a Brussels sprout is not just

:25:40.:25:50.
:25:50.:25:50.

for Christmas. There is your Valentine's Day

:25:50.:25:56.

present for the missus. And congratulations to Neil Bell.

:25:56.:25:59.

He's just been awarded Sports Journalist of the Year at today's

:25:59.:26:09.
:26:09.:26:12.

For the first time this winter we are looking to the east our weather.

:26:12.:26:19.

In the next few days it will get very gradually colder day-by-day. A

:26:19.:26:24.

fair number of showers are round at the moment but that will slip away.

:26:24.:26:28.

A weather front desperately trying to move in from the west will grind

:26:28.:26:34.

to a halt because high pressure is increasing to the east of us. Cold

:26:34.:26:40.

winds mackerel slowly setting. Today we started off gloriously

:26:40.:26:44.

sunny. Showers will be making their way south across the course of the

:26:44.:26:49.

day. We have had a fair number of showers today. Even some rumbles of

:26:49.:26:53.

thunder along the south Sussex coast. We will keep these showers

:26:53.:26:57.

for a few hours, spreading eastwards and that gradually

:26:57.:27:05.

spreading away. A touch of frost in some spots as temperatures dip down

:27:05.:27:10.

to freezing or just above. A grey start tomorrow but it should be

:27:10.:27:16.

largely dry. The cloud breaking, sunny intervals developing, but it

:27:16.:27:20.

will be a cold day, colder than today, best temperatures five or

:27:20.:27:24.

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