Browse content similar to Episode 7. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
1991191 hallooed, and welcomed to The One Show: The Best of Britain, | :00:05. | :00:12. | |
with Miranda Krestovnikoff the and Matt Allwright. It is a chance to | :00:12. | :00:22. | |
:00:22. | :00:26. | ||
see some more of our favourite One Yes, we are on the island of Arran, | :00:26. | :00:31. | |
which some people call Scotland in miniature because it has beautiful | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
mountains in the north and stunning lowlands in the south. None of | :00:35. | :00:40. | |
which, of course, you can see today. It is covered in cloud, probably | :00:40. | :00:46. | |
like the rest of Scotland. Arran is a little island off the west coast | :00:46. | :00:50. | |
of Scotland in the Firth of Clyde, only a couple of hours away from | :00:50. | :00:55. | |
Glasgow. The island is 90 miles long and a wildlife paradise. 250 | :00:55. | :01:00. | |
bird species have been spotted here, including the rare golden eagle and | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
hen harrier. I believe I can see a red squirrel or a red deer if I am | :01:05. | :01:10. | |
lucky? Not today, not unless one happened to pop up to the Post | :01:10. | :01:16. | |
Office. We have seals just off the coast here, amazing animals, very | :01:16. | :01:21. | |
inquisitive and interactive with humans, as I found out just off the | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
humans, as I found out just off the Farne Islands. | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
Just a few miles from the Northumberland coast, it is merely | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
seal pup in time. Grey seals are the only British mammal to give | :01:33. | :01:38. | |
birth in the autumn, and as the females gather at their breeding | :01:38. | :01:43. | |
grounds it is the perfect time to see them. Today I am heading to the | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
Farne Islands to dive with somebody who knows these seals perhaps | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
who knows these seals perhaps better than anyone else. Hello, how | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
are you? For the past nine years when he is | :01:52. | :01:58. | |
not working professionally as a GP, Ben Burville has spent every spare | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
moment on his favourite pastime, filming seals. What is it about the | :02:03. | :02:10. | |
seals? They are my passion. Everybody needs a way to relax. | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
Being with wildlife in close interaction is a privileged thing | :02:13. | :02:19. | |
to do. Because of its extensive rocky coastline, Britain is home to | :02:19. | :02:23. | |
nearly half the world's population of grey seals. We will not have a | :02:23. | :02:30. | |
problem finding seals! There are loads! If tiny coastal islands like | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
the Farne Islands are the perfect environment for them as they need | :02:34. | :02:39. | |
to come ashore within birth but state in easy access of the sea. | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
-- they need to come ashore to give birth but stay within easy access | :02:43. | :02:53. | |
:02:53. | :03:26. | ||
Hello! Come on! Oh! There are four, They all look as though they are | :03:26. | :03:36. | |
:03:36. | :03:44. | ||
just waiting for us to play. They Around the time that they pup, they | :03:44. | :03:48. | |
become more sociable, it is a good time to be around them, but you | :03:48. | :03:56. | |
have to be careful and respect them. It is easy to see how, over the | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
years, Ben's respect for these animals has earned him the trust of | :04:01. | :04:09. | |
this particular colony. They even seem to recognise him. | :04:09. | :04:14. | |
It is lovely when you get up close, you can see how streamlined the | :04:14. | :04:20. | |
body is. They are beautifully designed. They can slip through the | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
water as fast as possible. Everything is tucked in, their | :04:23. | :04:30. | |
front flippers and back flippers are tucked in. | :04:30. | :04:36. | |
And these big, big eyes, they are so appealing. It is also exactly | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
what they need to feed at very deep depths where there is not a lot of | :04:40. | :04:47. | |
light. Can they get up to about 250 metres when they are diving? | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
Sometimes even deeper. They can lower their heart rate. Your and my | :04:52. | :04:58. | |
heart rate is pretty much 60, they can lower theirs to four or five | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
beats per minute at very deep levels. | :05:02. | :05:07. | |
That is a pregnant female. It is a very, very fat one that has just | :05:07. | :05:15. | |
descended behind me. The females have had all summer to | :05:15. | :05:20. | |
fatten up, and the fatter they are, the richer their milk will be, | :05:20. | :05:25. | |
giving their newborn pups the very best chance of survival. I can feel | :05:25. | :05:35. | |
:05:35. | :05:40. | ||
something tugging at my things! You were very good with them. I had | :05:40. | :05:45. | |
great fun, it is always fun when a wild animal seems to want to | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
interact with you and investigate and just play. | :05:49. | :05:55. | |
Are you ready for a mystery? Yes. You were reading upon the local | :05:55. | :06:03. | |
history? You see the mountain behind us? There is a lot of cloud. | :06:03. | :06:09. | |
I got you a postcard! That mountain is Goat Fell. In 1889, two climbers | :06:09. | :06:15. | |
went up Goat Fell but only one came down! Edwin Rose's body was | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
discovered underneath a bolder, and his climbing partner John Laurie | :06:19. | :06:24. | |
was accused of his murder. Lorries said I only robs him, I did not | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
kill him, but nevertheless he was convicted of murder, given the | :06:28. | :06:33. | |
death sentence, which was commuted to a life sentence. He spent 41 | :06:33. | :06:38. | |
years and died in the Scottish Prison, and for a short time Arran | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
was the centre of a media maelstrom, the ire of the storm. A great | :06:43. | :06:50. | |
mystery. Something that dear Gyles Brandreth might like? Speaking of | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
Gyles, he is on fine form investigating another mysterious | :06:54. | :06:59. | |
character, Bram Stoker's Dracula. The ancient Yorkshire town of | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
Whitby, a beautiful place, remaining as it always has - busy | :07:03. | :07:08. | |
both with fishermen and tourists. But in the 19th century it would | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
find a new frame, giving inspiration for one of the most | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
frightening literary characters of all time. It is 1890 and an | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
Irishman called Bram Stoker, a theatre manager and would-be | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
Auxerre, has come to take a six- week holiday here. -- a would-be | :07:25. | :07:30. | |
author. He has the germ of an idea for a terrifying tale about the | :07:30. | :07:33. | |
supernatural villain. The story would become the horror classic | :07:33. | :07:39. | |
Dracula. As the cloud passed, I could see the ruins of the Abbey | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
coming into view. The church and churchyard became gradually visible. | :07:43. | :07:48. | |
The light struck a half reclining figure, snowy white, but it seemed | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
to me as though something dark stood behind. What it was, man or | :07:52. | :08:00. | |
beast, I could not tell. It is here in the St Mary's | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
churchyard that Count Dracula claimed his first victim. And here, | :08:04. | :08:09. | |
too, that Stoker came for inspiration. In this graveyards | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
even the stones tell you that Stoker came here when he was | :08:12. | :08:17. | |
writing the Dracula story. From the grave stones heated names for his | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
characters. One grave bears the name of Swales, which would be | :08:21. | :08:26. | |
taken for an old seafarer in the story. From another, Jon Stewart, | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
he inspires the name of Jack psyllid, one of the heroes of the | :08:29. | :08:35. | |
books. The Gothic atmosphere of nineteenth-century Whitby which so | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
inspired Bram Stoker survives today in this gallery. The work of the | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
town's renowned Victorian photographer Frank Sutcliffe gives | :08:43. | :08:48. | |
a vivid look at the town that Bram Stoker new. Mike runs the shop. | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
These pictures are so evocative and atmospheric. Gothic horror is | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
written all over the photograph? You can see how Bram Stoker was | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
inspired by both Whitby and these photographs. I am especially | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
interested in one photograph of a ship, ran aground here five years | :09:06. | :09:11. | |
before Bram Stoker visited. In the book, Count Dracula himself arrives | :09:11. | :09:18. | |
in Whitby in a very similar way. The waves rose in growing fury and | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
swept the light houses which rise from eyes appear of Whitby Harbour. | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
Before long the searchlight discovered a schooner with all | :09:27. | :09:32. | |
sails set. It was rushing in such speed that, in the words of one of | :09:33. | :09:38. | |
salt, she must fetch up somewhere, even if only in Hull. The ship ran | :09:38. | :09:42. | |
aground on this beach beneath the East Cliff of Whitby, within | :09:42. | :09:47. | |
earshot of the bells of St Mary's. A local historian can tell me more. | :09:47. | :09:53. | |
It was on this very beach that Dracula landed? Of a Russian ship, | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
in the guise of a large, black dog. Five years before Stoker wrote his | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
book, a Russian ship ran aground here. The difference between fact | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
and fiction was that in the fictional version, Stoke Abbott | :10:06. | :10:11. | |
captain dead, lashed to the steering wheel, clutching his | :10:11. | :10:15. | |
crucifix and rosary -- Stoker had the captain dead. In real life, the | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
captain was charged with being drunk and disorderly in charge of a | :10:19. | :10:25. | |
vessel. It came from a Black Sea ports in both the book and the real | :10:25. | :10:32. | |
story. He made an anagram of the port? Yes. And what was the ship | :10:32. | :10:37. | |
called? In real life it is called Demeter. Very similar to the name | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
and the book. He is playing games with us. | :10:40. | :10:45. | |
Among these houses and cobbled streets, Stoker not only found key | :10:45. | :10:50. | |
locations for his horror story but the most important thing of all. | :10:50. | :10:56. | |
And he found it right here in what is now a modern waterfront bar. In | :10:56. | :11:01. | |
his time, it was Whitby's Library and the place where he spent hours | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
reading. In his head, Stoker had a great story, the perfect setting | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
and a sinister character in the shape of the count. At first he | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
called him Count Wampyr, and then one damp afternoon sitting in this | :11:15. | :11:20. | |
very place, reading an old history of Romania, he came across this | :11:20. | :11:24. | |
sentence. The King of Hungary, preparing to make war against the | :11:24. | :11:30. | |
Turks, engaged Dracula up to form an alliance with him. It was the | :11:30. | :11:35. | |
first time that Stoker had ever seen the name Dracula, and the | :11:35. | :11:42. | |
author's footnotes, Dracula means devil. In an instant, Count Wampyr | :11:42. | :11:48. | |
became Count Dracula. It was a lucky chance, and it happened here | :11:48. | :11:54. | |
in Whitby. Count Wampyr, it does not have the | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
same ring to it. It would not have worked. I don't think so, not for | :11:59. | :12:05. | |
me. What he had lived in a place like this? I suppose so. It is | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
imposing enough. Welcome to Brodick Castle and the | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
beautiful grounds which seemed to stretch for miles and miles. | :12:12. | :12:17. | |
They are lovely. I was reading in a guide book recently that this one | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
we are standing in his over 300 years old, one of many within the | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
castle grounds and home to hundreds of different types of plants, trees | :12:24. | :12:29. | |
and shrubs. The castle belonged to the Hamilton family for many | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
centuries and it was the daughter of the 12th Duke of Hamilton, Mary, | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
Duchess of Montrose, who had the green fingers and was responsible | :12:37. | :12:42. | |
for most of the gardening. She had a little army of explorers who went | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
around the world, bringing back seeds, especially rhododendron | :12:46. | :12:51. | |
seeds. It really is beautiful. Do you know who has it absolutely | :12:51. | :12:56. | |
covered when it comes to taking pictures of fruit and flowers? It | :12:56. | :13:03. | |
is our resident photographer Jamie Crawford. Check this out. | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
John Keats' season of mists and mellow fruitfulness brings with it | :13:07. | :13:12. | |
the apple harvest, which due to 2009's exceptionally cold winter | :13:12. | :13:17. | |
has produced this latest British apples for decades. These days, | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
apples are such a staple of everyday life it is easy to forget | :13:20. | :13:25. | |
how beautiful and very they can be. And with a palette of colours | :13:25. | :13:31. | |
ranging from pale yellow to deep reds, an orchard in autumn really | :13:31. | :13:34. | |
can be a special place. But what is the best way to capture all that | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
colour in a photograph? The good news is you can make both fair | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
weather and foul your friend if you know how to approach them. If you | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
catch a sunny day like today, the best time to take photographs is | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
around sunrise and sunset, the Golden hour when the light is soft | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
and the shadows are long. It if you are shooting by 7:30am, you might | :13:56. | :14:01. | |
get one of these, laced in early- morning dew. Picking up the | :14:01. | :14:05. | |
sunlight. Don't worry if you are not, because | :14:05. | :14:09. | |
a planned Mr full of water and a few drops of glycerine can produce | :14:09. | :14:14. | |
exactly the same effect. The non- toxic grocery makes the water more | :14:14. | :14:20. | |
viscous, creating longer-lasting droplets. Spiders like these have | :14:20. | :14:24. | |
been around all summer but only now do you start to spot them, when the | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
females have bred and they are laying eggs. But much like the | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
apples they will not be around Paul Long, most will die in the winter | :14:31. | :14:40. | |
Here at Barrington Court in Somerset, Rachel Brewer is a | :14:40. | :14:42. | |
National Trust garden and is responsible for preserving some of | :14:42. | :14:48. | |
the rarest apples in the UK. last count we have just over 90 | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
different varieties. They are spread over 10 acres. What is the | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
aim of the apple growing project? All the we do actually produce | :14:56. | :15:00. | |
apple juice and cider, it is more of a conservation project. Apples | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
are really famous for weird names. What have you got in your line-up? | :15:04. | :15:09. | |
We have got some of the strangest varieties. Things like Kingston | :15:09. | :15:18. | |
Black, sheep's noes and slap my girdle! What I like about taking | :15:18. | :15:21. | |
pictures here is there is an amazing contrast between shapes and | :15:21. | :15:25. | |
colours. Look at the fruit. You've got bright red apples, perfectly | :15:25. | :15:30. | |
round, against these pointy, jagged, dark green leaves. All of that, | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
hopefully, makes for a great photograph. Within the orchards | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
there is an entire world of tiny but fascinating detail. If you by | :15:40. | :15:45. | |
using an SLR, why not try taking your lens off and holding it back- | :15:45. | :15:54. | |
to-front to create an extreme lens? In fact, it's so close up that it | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
goes out of focus. Close-ups and playing with contrasts of colour | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
and shape our great ways to mitigate the effects of the | :16:01. | :16:04. | |
changeable light conditions in autumn. But what if you want to go | :16:04. | :16:08. | |
wider? If you want to take a classic portrait of an amazing | :16:08. | :16:12. | |
apple tree, this would be the perfect subject. But that a lot of | :16:12. | :16:16. | |
colour, light and detail. How will I get it all in one photograph? | :16:16. | :16:20. | |
First, we'll turn the camera on its side because there's lots of | :16:20. | :16:25. | |
vertical detail I want to include, the grass, the tree and the sky. We | :16:25. | :16:29. | |
also get a typical and take two instead of one. One will taking | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
delight bits, the other will take in the dark bits. Then we stick | :16:33. | :16:39. | |
them together. Come the return of Golden hour, towards sunset, the | :16:39. | :16:44. | |
warm and slanting sun provides plenty of opportunity to play with | :16:44. | :16:48. | |
flares and shadow. To create imagery that evokes the wistful | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
feeling of summer coming to a close. The other great thing about | :16:52. | :16:56. | |
photographing apples is, if the weather turns miserable and you run | :16:56. | :17:01. | |
out of ideas, then you can just come inside. Apples make fantastic | :17:01. | :17:06. | |
subjects. With over 7000 varieties worldwide, you're never going to be | :17:06. | :17:12. | |
short of shots. So, this year, why not forget the cliche of fallen | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
golden leaves and head to an orchard to photograph the real | :17:15. | :17:25. | |
:17:25. | :17:33. | ||
Some sound advice from Jamie Crawford. I think I might stop | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
using my phone as a camera and actually take a leaf out of his | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
book, using the real thing. carry all of that kit around? It's | :17:40. | :17:45. | |
a right pain in the bum. Just a little pocket one would do it. | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
the years, you must have made hundreds of wild life once for The | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
One Show. We've been all around the country, do most of the species. | :17:52. | :17:57. | |
can't imagine you ever made films about pigeons, everybody hates them. | :17:57. | :18:01. | |
People think they are vermin, they described them as rats as -- with | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
wings. That some of them were positively heroic. | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
When one thinks of the two world wars, it is that human suffering | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
that comes most to mind. But did you know that thousands of animals | :18:13. | :18:18. | |
were also killed in action? It is commemorated here, at Park Lane in | :18:18. | :18:27. | |
London, at the animal war memorial. Animals were awarded the Dickin | :18:27. | :18:32. | |
Medal, the animal equivalent of a deep Victoria Cross. Of the 53 that | :18:32. | :18:40. | |
were awarded, 32 were given to the small, silent achiever, the pigeon. | :18:40. | :18:45. | |
At the outbreak of World War II, 7000 pigeon fanciers were asked to | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
donate their pigeons to the war effort. They were needed to act as | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
message carriers for the newly formed National Pigeon Service. | :18:52. | :18:56. | |
Bletchley Park is better known as the site of the UK's main | :18:56. | :19:00. | |
decryption establishment. It was here that Germany's Enigma code was | :19:00. | :19:06. | |
broken. It was also come to carrier pigeons and their lofts. So, why | :19:06. | :19:11. | |
were pigeons used during the war? Well, mainly to obtain information, | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
particularly from the occupied territories of Holland, Belgium and | :19:15. | :19:24. | |
France. They were absolutely necessary, in the event of advance | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
units wanting radio silence, they employed the pigeons. That was the | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
only means of getting messages through without using the radio. | :19:32. | :19:37. | |
How did you get them into occupied territory? By parachute. Each one | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
was put into a cardboard container. There was pigeon food, a message | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
career, a message pad, a pencil that was sharpened at both ends. On | :19:47. | :19:52. | |
the reverse, in the language of the country that they were being | :19:52. | :19:57. | |
dropped, full instructions on how to handle the pigeon and apply the | :19:57. | :20:02. | |
message carrier to its leg. We dropped 16,000, just during that | :20:02. | :20:11. | |
period, 1941-1945. Of the returns we have 1852 with valuable | :20:11. | :20:16. | |
information. So, their effort was invaluable? Oh, yes. These days, | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
pigeons are Riyait for racing by dedicated pigeon fanciers. -- Riad | :20:21. | :20:24. | |
for racing. Today we are going to get a bird's-eye view of their | :20:24. | :20:30. | |
flight from Bletchley Park to their loft seven miles west. We are | :20:30. | :20:36. | |
placing a camera on one of them. It's just below its chest. We are | :20:36. | :20:38. | |
placing a message container on another one. It's the sort of | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
container that would have been used in the war? Definitely. Since we | :20:42. | :20:48. | |
are doing an experiment, can I give you a message from The One Show? We | :20:48. | :20:58. | |
:20:58. | :21:04. | ||
will roll that up. Hopefully we We set the pigeons off about a | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
minute to go and I'm racing back to the loft. Let's see if I beat them. | :21:09. | :21:14. | |
I'm limited to 30 miles an hour, the pigeons can fly at over 60 mph. | :21:14. | :21:18. | |
Crucially, they only fly in one direction, that being home ground. | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
To navigate, pigeons use their natural homing skills, the soul and | :21:24. | :21:28. | |
magnetic compass, along with landmark recognition. During the | :21:28. | :21:37. | |
war they would fly in excess of 300 miles. One message container! | :21:37. | :21:44. | |
message is delivered, safe and sound. It is still there. So, every | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
single pigeon is back safe and sound? All home, safe and sound. | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
Excellent. During World War II, pigeon lofts | :21:52. | :21:56. | |
were built at all RAF and army bases. Even mobile lofts were | :21:56. | :22:01. | |
created, as it was the demand for services. It estimated that 250,000 | :22:01. | :22:06. | |
pigeons flew messages during the war. As a result, thousands of | :22:06. | :22:08. | |
servicemen's lives were saved thanks to the actions of these | :22:08. | :22:13. | |
heroic birds. So, has that altered your opinion | :22:13. | :22:18. | |
about pigeons? A bit. It doesn't excuse what they do to my car. They | :22:18. | :22:21. | |
lift the paint right off, it's terrible. I will never forgive. | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
What about the weather, it's not getting any better? Not really, | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
that's a shame. I would have loved to have shown you this wonderful | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
island of Arran, formed by volcanic activity. A glacier pushed its way | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
through to make this incredible shape. Do you know why you know | :22:39. | :22:43. | |
that stuff? It's all down to wait chap called James Hutton. He's the | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
founder of modern geology and he was attacked -- attracted to the | :22:46. | :22:51. | |
island by the amazing rocks that we find here. He came up with the idea | :22:51. | :22:54. | |
that different rocks are formed in different ways, volcanic rock, | :22:54. | :23:02. | |
sedimentary rock. Really? And tan stone has been used for all sorts | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
of exciting things, to build with, and you can use it to colour things | :23:06. | :23:11. | |
with. They use it for curling stones on ice rinks as well. Even | :23:11. | :23:21. | |
:23:21. | :23:24. | ||
that is not the most exciting thing Every September the tiny Scottish | :23:24. | :23:30. | |
island of Easdale plays host to the stone skimming World Championships. | :23:30. | :23:35. | |
It started in 1983, when one islander came up with the idea of | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
using a disused slate quarry as a venue for the competition. Today, | :23:39. | :23:44. | |
it attracts people from around the world. So, what is the secret of | :23:44. | :23:49. | |
making one of these skip almost magically across the water? And can | :23:49. | :23:56. | |
science help us all become champion skimmers? Donald, nice to meet you. | :23:56. | :24:01. | |
Donald Melville organises the stone skimming championships. Apparently, | :24:01. | :24:07. | |
there are strict rules governing the competition. This is the lane | :24:07. | :24:10. | |
that the Stones have to go along during the competition. The idea is | :24:10. | :24:14. | |
that I have to get it is get as many times as possible within a | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
lane? No, that is what they do in the world stone skipping | :24:18. | :24:22. | |
championships in America. The record there is 51. We go by the | :24:22. | :24:25. | |
distance it goes. It's got to bounce at least twice before it is | :24:25. | :24:29. | |
valid and it's got to sink with in this plane. First minute the | :24:29. | :24:39. | |
perfect stone? Yes, and I need -- know the very place. The ones that | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
work best are a regular oval in shape, about the size of the palm | :24:42. | :24:48. | |
of your hand and the weight of a tennis ball. But why is a flat | :24:48. | :24:52. | |
stone better than a rounded stone? Well, when any stone hits the water | :24:52. | :24:57. | |
it pushes some water out of the way. That water pushes back up and the | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
facts don't pushers more water out of the way, weight for weight, than | :25:02. | :25:07. | |
the rounded stone. So the flat stone gets pushed back off the | :25:07. | :25:14. | |
surface and it skips. The rounded stone sinks. Now I've got some | :25:14. | :25:21. | |
textbook stones I've got to discover the textbook technique. | :25:21. | :25:26. | |
Eric Robertson is a former skimming world champion. He won the | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
competition in 2008 with a throw of 54 metres. What are the important | :25:30. | :25:35. | |
pointers you have got for me? first thing would be the speed of | :25:35. | :25:41. | |
the stone. A fast arm is very important. To achieve a record- | :25:41. | :25:47. | |
breaking skim, it needs to leave your hand at about 50 mph. Secondly, | :25:47. | :25:51. | |
the angle that the stone hits the water is crucial. We've got to | :25:51. | :25:56. | |
throw it almost parallel to the water. Very good, yes. You need to | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
impart as much spin as possible using your forefinger and your | :25:59. | :26:04. | |
wrist. The spinning helps to stabilise it as it goes on its | :26:04. | :26:12. | |
roller-coaster ride. All those skimmers have discovered these key | :26:12. | :26:15. | |
rules through practice, but there is actually some solid -- solid | :26:15. | :26:21. | |
physics behind them. In fact, the science of skimming has been deemed | :26:21. | :26:26. | |
worthy of intensive research by French scientists. By using a | :26:26. | :26:30. | |
catapult and some spinning discs, they worked out the magic angle | :26:30. | :26:33. | |
that a stone should hit the water. It needs to be as close to 20 | :26:33. | :26:40. | |
degrees as possible. So, Donald, you have shown me the perfect stone, | :26:40. | :26:44. | |
you have shown me the perfect technique. You have also gathered a | :26:44. | :26:51. | |
crowd for me. A motley crew. The pressure is on, I suppose I should | :26:51. | :27:01. | |
:27:01. | :27:12. | ||
Yes, that's the one! Her cracked it, nice one forced up that was a good | :27:12. | :27:21. | |
You did exceedingly well, even though you didn't hit the back wall. | :27:21. | :27:31. | |
Stone skimming, that really reminds me of childhood. I still do it, | :27:31. | :27:36. | |
what is your record? I'm rubbish, about five or six. 18! You should | :27:36. | :27:42. |