:00:21. > :00:25.Hello and welcome to The One Show Best of Britain with Gyles
:00:25. > :00:30.Brandreth. And Miranda Krestovnikoff. We're here in the
:00:30. > :00:33.beautiful Mountains of Mourne in County Down. Standing testimony to
:00:33. > :00:37.the wonders of geology, this landscape is often said to have
:00:37. > :00:39.been "born of the fire, shaped with the ice, and finally cooled down by
:00:39. > :00:42.the rains." That's right. Originally, this incredible area of
:00:42. > :00:48.outstanding natural beauty that we see now was the bottom of the
:00:48. > :00:51.seabed. A long period of bubbling molten rock, at least six ice ages
:00:51. > :00:53.and 420 million years later, we have been left with this unusually
:00:53. > :00:56.compact range of mountains and stunning terrain. And this
:00:56. > :00:58.particular part, the Silent Valley Reservoir, also has a much more
:00:58. > :01:01.practical purpose these days. In the 1920s, local civil engineer
:01:01. > :01:04.Luke Livingstone McCassey was tasked with the job of finding a
:01:04. > :01:07.water source big enough to service the people of Belfast. He chose
:01:07. > :01:13.this area for the purity of its water and it's remained the water
:01:13. > :01:16.source for thousands of people in Northern Ireland ever since. It has
:01:16. > :01:22.touched the lives of millions of people through literature and I
:01:22. > :01:26.discovered this by watching a film made by Dan Snow when he went in
:01:26. > :01:36.the footsteps of CS Lewis, who knew this part of the world and used it
:01:36. > :01:37.
:01:37. > :01:42.Belfast, home to the Titanic, birthplace of George Best and
:01:43. > :01:45.inspiration for one of our best- loved authors. CS Lewis may have
:01:45. > :01:48.written The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe and the rest of The
:01:48. > :01:52.Chronicles Of Narnia whilst living and working in Oxford, but it was
:01:52. > :01:57.in this house in Belfast that he first started writing stories in
:01:57. > :02:00.the attic with his brother. They wrote about a magical kingdom
:02:01. > :02:05.complete with talking animals and it was this that sowed the seeds of
:02:06. > :02:10.the ideas that were to make him famous 40 years later. The
:02:10. > :02:12.Chronicles Of Narnia tell the story of the Pevensie children who
:02:12. > :02:19.discover an uncharted land through Narnia through the back of a
:02:19. > :02:23.wardrobe. They are guided through it by a lion called Aslan. It was
:02:23. > :02:33.the rugged landscape Lewis explored as a boy in Ireland which gave him
:02:33. > :02:36.
:02:36. > :02:42.This is one of his childhood haunts. The castle on the Antrim coast. A
:02:42. > :02:48.source of inspiration as CS Lewis experts Sandy Smith explains. What
:02:48. > :02:52.a day, an incredible place and he would have visited here. His family
:02:52. > :02:56.came to the north coast from 1902 when he was a child. His brother
:02:56. > :03:00.brought him up here for family holidays. It painted the entire
:03:00. > :03:06.picture he had. At the end of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe,
:03:06. > :03:13.the famous castle he describes could have been based on this site.
:03:13. > :03:23.This is where the lion of Marney and met the sea. -- Lion of Narnia.
:03:23. > :03:31.
:03:31. > :03:36.To Peter it looked like a great Closer to Lewis's childhood home in
:03:36. > :03:41.Belfast, this hill was Monmouth the models for a description of Narnia
:03:41. > :03:46.from the prequel to The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. All Narnia,
:03:46. > :03:54.many coloured with lawns and rocks and heather, and the river winding
:03:54. > :03:59.through it. You can already see off the top of the hills. Great more
:03:59. > :04:04.land sloped gently to the horizon. On the left the mountains were much
:04:04. > :04:11.higher but every now and again there was a gap. They could see
:04:11. > :04:19.southern lands that lay beyond them. I remember reading these as a kid.
:04:19. > :04:26.It seems like... This is where it was. It is also unbelievably cold.
:04:26. > :04:31.Let's get back in the car. CS Lewis is still remembered around Belfast.
:04:31. > :04:36.There is even some Northern Irish murals commemorating his work. Some
:04:36. > :04:40.key images from his books. But why did he choose to make a talking
:04:40. > :04:48.live in the main character? The answer could be found in a church
:04:48. > :04:53.where his grandfather was the rector. The young Louis's regular
:04:53. > :04:58.visits to the rectory seem to have had a regular -- last effect.
:04:58. > :05:05.Imagine a small child coming up to this house and seeing, from about
:05:05. > :05:11.head height, the Lion, a powerful image on the door. That is Aslan!
:05:11. > :05:14.very strong image of the lion. Absolutely. It is easy to see how
:05:14. > :05:21.this landscape captured the imagination of the young CS Lewis.
:05:21. > :05:28.The stories they inspired have been translated into more than 40
:05:28. > :05:38.languages and read by over 100 million people around the world.
:05:38. > :05:38.
:05:38. > :05:43.Who couldn't fall in love with the real Narnia? What do the initials C
:05:43. > :05:50.S stand for? I did a bit of swotting up, it is Clive Staples
:05:50. > :05:55.Lewis. You are very clever! You probably will be able to tell me
:05:56. > :06:00.what this heather is. That is yellow gorse. That is heather.
:06:00. > :06:05.is where my early love life went wrong. I gave the girl a bunch of
:06:05. > :06:11.lucky course, it turns out. That whoever provides a beautiful purple
:06:11. > :06:16.hue to the mountains. Three species survived. And some juniper. Named
:06:16. > :06:20.after the Greek goddess of gin. tonic. It does really well up here
:06:20. > :06:25.because the sheep cut the grass short and it gives the juniper a
:06:25. > :06:30.bit of room to survive and thrive. We could go and look for some.
:06:30. > :06:34.we could head down and find a coffee shop. I think it is a matter
:06:34. > :06:39.of going up the hill and looking for flora and fauna so Mike Dilger
:06:39. > :06:44.is the man for the job. The beautiful Snowdonia mountains
:06:44. > :06:52.are home to one of the rarest and most hard to find wild flowers in
:06:52. > :06:56.Britain. We are talking about the Snowdon Lily. This diminutive flour
:06:56. > :07:01.is found at high altitudes in North America and Europe. In the UK it
:07:01. > :07:07.has been hanging on for survival in the Snowdonia mountains since the
:07:07. > :07:12.last Ice Age. 10,000 years ago. Today there are only a few 1002
:07:12. > :07:16.wild bulbs left and like other mountain plants it is threatened if
:07:16. > :07:22.by climate change. The Snowdon Lily is flowering two-to-three weeks
:07:22. > :07:29.earlier than normal. My mission is to track one down. Helping me in my
:07:29. > :07:35.quest is how all Roberts from the Countryside Council for Wales. How
:07:35. > :07:39.long is the height? Depends how fit you are. We are talking about an
:07:40. > :07:44.hour and a half. You have to be well prepared for hiking in
:07:44. > :07:54.Snowdonia. The Lily lives at an altitude over the 2000 ft and the
:07:54. > :07:54.
:07:54. > :07:59.About halfway up we came across another rare alpine plant. It is
:07:59. > :08:06.being pushed to the brink of extinction by climate change. Come
:08:06. > :08:12.down here. Have a look at this. Lovely plant. These are stone
:08:12. > :08:16.breakers. I studied my master's degree at anger and I used to love
:08:16. > :08:23.coming to look for flowers like this. This clump is virtually
:08:23. > :08:28.cleaving it away the rocks. That is a stellar plant. Finding this loden
:08:28. > :08:32.Lilley is a lot tougher. Its leaves look like grass and a descent group
:08:32. > :08:36.-- sensitive to temperature so it only grows in particular locations.
:08:36. > :08:40.On the flowers are always on the tops of the mountains? Not just on
:08:40. > :08:49.the top, but the north and north- east facing crags. They will be in
:08:50. > :08:54.the shade, even in bright midday We are getting a bit exciting now,
:08:54. > :09:03.as they say. For your sake, I would like you to walk up ahead and see
:09:03. > :09:07.if you can find it. Look at that! It is just so gorgeous. I have to
:09:07. > :09:14.say, for those of you that haven't seen many rare plants, you will
:09:14. > :09:19.never find one rarer than this. Welsh name is descriptive for that
:09:19. > :09:23.plant. It means the rush like leaves of the mountain. The Snowdon
:09:23. > :09:28.Lily is a member of the lily family and it is not the only one in the
:09:28. > :09:34.UK. This is related to the bluebells and the lily of the
:09:34. > :09:38.valley. A beautiful flower indeed, but one that is facing many threats.
:09:38. > :09:44.Elvin Jones, the National Trust warden for the area, is trying to
:09:44. > :09:47.save the plant from becoming extinct in the UK. 100,000 people a
:09:47. > :09:53.year come into this reserve and if they all want it all over the place,
:09:53. > :09:57.the plants would be trampled. They are having good path built out of
:09:57. > :10:03.local stone. It has enable people to enjoy the place without causing
:10:03. > :10:08.damage. I know the area well and the one thing that has changed is
:10:08. > :10:12.the sheep on the mountain. A lot of flowers. Yes. Eight years ago the
:10:12. > :10:16.National Trust took the unprecedented decision to remove
:10:17. > :10:23.sheep from this family, which is Wales's premiere natural nature
:10:23. > :10:27.reserve. Isn't this where the going to mark the death of the snow
:10:27. > :10:30.Lilli? It likes it cold. Scientists are telling us that in the last 50
:10:30. > :10:34.years there has been a one degree increase in temperature in this
:10:34. > :10:39.area on average. The Snowdon Lily likes it in the coldest places up
:10:39. > :10:42.the sunshine. It has nowhere to go. You are right and if the
:10:42. > :10:47.temperature continues to get warmer, we will see some of these plants
:10:47. > :10:52.becoming extinct. The Snowdon Lily has been clinging to that rock face
:10:52. > :10:59.for 10,000 years. Now with the threat of climate change, let's
:10:59. > :11:06.hope it hangs on for another 10,000. Well done for trekking that one
:11:06. > :11:10.down. From the snowy mountains of Snowdon... Today's misty mountains.
:11:10. > :11:15.If you weren't here, I would not know how to get down. Without my
:11:15. > :11:20.sat nav I am a lost individual. are such a townie! If you did get
:11:20. > :11:26.lost up here, I have the perfect method of finding it. Let me
:11:26. > :11:29.introduce you to two gorgeous dogs. This is Jodi and Paddy. Paddy is
:11:29. > :11:35.three-quarters bloodhound. I always recognise a bloodhound because I
:11:35. > :11:39.was brought up on Disney films so why recognise the bloodhound.
:11:39. > :11:43.in your kennel! Their work in different ways. Jodie is an air
:11:43. > :11:49.scenting dog. If you walked up amounting you would leave a trail
:11:49. > :11:52.of cent. From the back of the net. It would not be in a straight line,
:11:52. > :11:56.it would form a cone cent -- cone- shaped as it is dissipated. Jody
:11:56. > :12:02.would be worked in a zig-zag fashion up the mountain, following
:12:02. > :12:07.the trail. The smell comes down on the wind. It does and she works
:12:07. > :12:13.well on a blustery day. Paddy is a trailing dog. If you are lost up
:12:13. > :12:18.the mountain... His ears! We would find an item of clothing and he
:12:18. > :12:24.would pick up your cent on this item of clothing. I love dogs and
:12:24. > :12:30.at home we have got two dogs. A very sophisticated French poodle
:12:30. > :12:34.and a mongrel I have had for years. It is amazing, the relationship
:12:34. > :12:40.people have had with dogs going back millennia. Angellica Bell made
:12:40. > :12:45.a wonderful film about a very special group of dogs that changed
:12:46. > :12:49.the lives of their owners. This is the tale of a claim to fame
:12:49. > :12:54.in Royal Leamington Spa and this is the front end of the story. Isn't
:12:54. > :12:57.she beautiful? Leamington is where you'll find the breeding centre of
:12:57. > :13:02.the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, the biggest trainer of
:13:02. > :13:09.working dogs in the world. The charity is celebrating its 80th
:13:09. > :13:13.birthday. Look at all these signs that it will go on and on. 19 in
:13:13. > :13:17.every 20 guide dogs in the UK are bred here. There are more than
:13:17. > :13:20.1,000 puppies born in Leamington each year and even at this early
:13:20. > :13:27.stage and wrap them knowing it, they are being trained. Look up
:13:27. > :13:33.there. Daytime television. They are getting used to it normal noises.
:13:33. > :13:37.The real life they have to get used to. There are around 380,000 blind
:13:37. > :13:43.and partially-sighted people in this country, but almost half of
:13:43. > :13:49.that number never leave home alone, independently. Guide Dogs hopefully
:13:49. > :13:54.can make a real difference to many of those people. Back in the early
:13:54. > :14:00.1930s, this was the inspiration. Dogs showing humans the way. A
:14:00. > :14:06.brave new idea pioneered in Switzerland. In the UK, two dog
:14:06. > :14:10.lovers brought the idea to Wallasey on Merseyside. They hired a Swiss
:14:10. > :14:17.trainer, a commanding figure who had been an officer in the Russian
:14:17. > :14:21.Imperial Guard. Here are his pupils. One of the four said he had been
:14:21. > :14:26.given site itself, a feeling of glorious freedom and independence.
:14:26. > :14:30.But they were pioneers and Andrea Cooper, who is registered blind and
:14:30. > :14:34.depends on her guide dog, is amazed how brave they were. Personally I
:14:34. > :14:38.could not imagine doing that, knowing it was a scheme that had
:14:38. > :14:42.not been tried and tested. It must have taken an incredible leap of
:14:42. > :14:45.faith for them to put their trust in this kind of scheme. I am just
:14:45. > :14:51.so thankful they did it because I would not have her otherwise.
:14:51. > :14:56.me about what you experience. her when I was 14. I walked to
:14:56. > :15:00.school with my twin brother. Being able to go on a bus on my own for
:15:00. > :15:10.the first time with her, being able to walk on my own, at university I
:15:10. > :15:10.
:15:10. > :15:16.had to get a couple of buses, it The idea of breeding Guide Dogs for
:15:16. > :15:20.the blind to cough. In a few years, they had outgrown the premises on
:15:20. > :15:24.Merseyside, and then they move to limit as Bath. The movement has not
:15:24. > :15:30.stopped growing, opening in the summer, a new �20 million
:15:30. > :15:34.headquarters. This is this one- year-old's chance to prove she is a
:15:34. > :15:40.guide dog. Only seven out of ten make the cut. This is her first
:15:40. > :15:48.confidence test. We will set off a loud noise. We will see how she
:15:48. > :15:52.reacts. Was that a good reaction? At perfect. She looked across to
:15:52. > :15:57.see what it was, but it did not bother her. That is what we need
:15:57. > :16:02.for a guide dog. Kerrin is expensive. Looking after and
:16:02. > :16:06.treating a single dog from birth to retirement costs nearly �50,000.
:16:06. > :16:10.Pretending you are on the road is the final challenge, and two-year-
:16:10. > :16:15.old Nina seems to know the way. As a sighted person, I can't imagine
:16:15. > :16:20.how I would cope without being able to see. Like the trainees in 1930,
:16:20. > :16:27.the thought of relying on a guide dog is pretty daunting. But today I
:16:27. > :16:33.have the privilege of finding out for myself. Off we go. Take it nice
:16:33. > :16:40.and gently. Keep encouraging her. She will bear off to the left. Well
:16:40. > :16:46.done. How does that feel? OK? I just trust that Nino will not let
:16:46. > :16:50.me walk into a wall. No, she is a cautious dock. Slowing down a bit
:16:50. > :16:54.to determine the best way. It is very crowded. She has to
:16:54. > :17:02.concentrate a lot in a busy environment. You do not want people
:17:02. > :17:07.distracting her or trying to talk to her. Thank you! What a feeling
:17:07. > :17:13.of freedom this must bring to the 4500 people with guide dogs. You
:17:13. > :17:17.are an eye-opening claim to fame for the people of Leamington Spa.
:17:17. > :17:21.Gyles, I bring you to one of the most beautiful parts of Northern
:17:21. > :17:25.Ireland and all you are concerned with is getting a cup of tea.
:17:25. > :17:30.all have our priorities. I believe in combining civilisation with
:17:30. > :17:37.nature. The coffee is top notch. a look at the scenery. We have
:17:37. > :17:41.mountains, woodland, Morland, fantastic. The wildlife that here
:17:41. > :17:46.is fantastic. There is a healthy badger population, dragonflies,
:17:46. > :17:52.lizards. You can get coffee anywhere, but here you can get red
:17:52. > :17:58.kites, ravens, red grouse. You make films about birds. What is the
:17:58. > :18:03.favourite bird of yours? Mike Dilger is usually your bird man,
:18:03. > :18:07.but I do love puffins. Small, charismatic, but see little sea
:18:07. > :18:10.birds, often called the clowns of the sea because they have these
:18:10. > :18:14.wonderful, brightly coloured beaks. They always seem to be in a hurry
:18:14. > :18:20.to get from A to B. Is this why you have chosen the film we are going
:18:20. > :18:27.to see? Yes. There is a large puffin colony on a Skomer island in
:18:27. > :18:34.west Wales. That is where we are heading next.
:18:34. > :18:37.Last year I was left with a bit of mystery when I visited Skomer
:18:37. > :18:42.island of the west Wales coast. It is here that thousands of puffins
:18:42. > :18:47.arrive every spring to breed, but then in August they disappear. And
:18:47. > :18:52.no one was sure where they went or how long they stayed. That is why I
:18:52. > :18:57.am on my way back, because some of the returning puffins now have the
:18:57. > :19:03.answer. Puffin numbers are dropping dramatically around the British
:19:03. > :19:08.Isles, especially in the north-east. So last year, Tim Guilford and his
:19:08. > :19:11.team from Oxford University tact puffins here on Skomer island with
:19:11. > :19:15.geolocators to find out what is happening to them when they leave
:19:15. > :19:19.the island. As soon as the puffins go to sea and my great common
:19:19. > :19:25.knowledge tries up. We know nothing about where birds from individual
:19:25. > :19:29.colonies go to feed or where they go to winter. That is the gap we
:19:29. > :19:35.are trying to fill. It is an important part of the puffin's life
:19:35. > :19:40.cycle. The future of the health species depends on it. Last year,
:19:40. > :19:45.80 puffins had geolocators attached to them, but with over 13,000
:19:45. > :19:49.puffins on the island now, how will Tim locate the ones he tagged?
:19:49. > :19:54.Luckily, the puffins themselves offer the solution. One of the
:19:54. > :19:58.remarkable things about puffins is that they come back to breed in the
:19:58. > :20:03.same burrows you should be. They are very sight faithful. They will
:20:03. > :20:07.go out for the winter, come back and the same pair will meet at the
:20:07. > :20:11.Colony and defend and claim the same burrow. So in theory, they
:20:11. > :20:18.just have to put a net over each of the borrowers. When it comes back
:20:18. > :20:24.to feed its chicks, it will get stuck in the net. Then it is a case
:20:24. > :20:28.of a good old-fashioned stake out, hoping they all come home. Let me
:20:28. > :20:34.find a piece of grass without puffin poo on it. Once we are
:20:34. > :20:38.sitting uncomfortably, it is a matter of waiting, patiently. On
:20:38. > :20:43.average, puffins live up to 25 years, but the current record on
:20:43. > :20:49.Skomer island is more than 38. So confidence is high that the tag
:20:49. > :20:57.ones will return. And one does just that. There is one coming in.
:20:57. > :21:00.go. Follow me. Keep a close. Speed is essential to free the puffin
:21:00. > :21:10.from the net, but these birds are defensive, and putting a hand down
:21:10. > :21:17.
:21:17. > :21:22.a puffin hole will hurt. It has gone in quite deep. Ow! And this
:21:22. > :21:28.one is not coming quietly. I will have well lacerated hands by the
:21:28. > :21:34.end of this. Has it drawn blood? We are trying to aid your Com's --
:21:34. > :21:39.conservation. I will put it straight in a back to calm it down.
:21:39. > :21:47.It will try and get your fingers. They do come down in the dark,
:21:47. > :21:50.don't they? This is the moment of truth. The data is downloaded
:21:50. > :21:55.instantly, and they are getting surprising results. After leaving
:21:55. > :21:59.Skomer island, the puffins are overwintering in two stages,
:21:59. > :22:02.firstly heading north and west, with some going as far as Greenland,
:22:02. > :22:06.before heading south to the mid- Atlantic or off the southern coast
:22:06. > :22:11.of Europe. It is exciting to see that the puffin has been collecting
:22:11. > :22:15.dust data over that entire period. It is rough, but it is still
:22:15. > :22:20.exciting to get that picture. They move up to the north west of
:22:20. > :22:23.Ireland, then come up over to the north of Scotland and back down to
:22:23. > :22:28.the South before coming back to Scotland. For such an ambitious
:22:28. > :22:33.project, the early results are a good start. The fact that you can
:22:33. > :22:36.do this with such a small device and such a small C Bird, and do it
:22:36. > :22:42.on multiple individuals, although it is a bit of effort, the amount
:22:42. > :22:47.of data we are getting is amazing. And as more data is processed, it
:22:47. > :22:55.should reveal how long these birds are staying in each place. And more
:22:55. > :22:59.importantly, why. It is sad leaving Skomer island, but with most of the
:22:59. > :23:02.tact puffins already returned, it is hoped that the information held
:23:02. > :23:07.on their geolocators will give us an insight into how to protect
:23:07. > :23:12.their future. Thank you, Miranda, for bringing me
:23:12. > :23:18.out of the coffee shop and into the rain. Sorry, but the puffins were
:23:18. > :23:28.good. That was an award-winning film. Now, pub quiz question. What
:23:28. > :23:28.
:23:28. > :23:33.do you call baby puffins? Puff flat? I don't think so! Boo they go
:23:33. > :23:40.to puffballs? Baby puffins are called pufflings.
:23:40. > :23:44.Would they be able to fly this high? They would not get a
:23:44. > :23:51.beautiful aerial view of the Mourne wall behind us. This is the
:23:51. > :23:56.celebrated Mourne wall. It was erected to defy the catchment area
:23:56. > :24:01.in Silent Valley. It was built in 1904 and took 18 years to build.
:24:01. > :24:06.Thousands of men were involved in its construction. It links the
:24:06. > :24:11.peaks of 15 mountains and his 22 miles long. I am thinking about the
:24:11. > :24:15.coffee shop. It is only an eight mile trek back to it. I have my
:24:15. > :24:19.favourite film earlier. What was yours? I have enjoyed almost all
:24:19. > :24:24.the films, but the one I want to show people today is one that gets
:24:24. > :24:31.me into a wrestling ring. The outfit is something you will enjoy
:24:31. > :24:35.it. Viewers of a more sensitive nature may prefer to look away now.
:24:35. > :24:43.Britain has a long history of competitive prize-fighting, whether
:24:43. > :24:46.it is boxing, wrestling, brawling - honourable, unarmed combat has
:24:46. > :24:53.entertained the great British public for centuries. And in the
:24:53. > :24:56.1960s, it all went mainstream. On January 2nd, 1965, ITV launched
:24:56. > :25:01.world of sport, and British wrestling hit the airwaves. From
:25:01. > :25:06.then on, it had a regular slot every Saturday night, hurling the
:25:06. > :25:12.sport into the homes and hearts of the British public. Overnight, Big
:25:12. > :25:16.Daddy, giant haystacks and Nagasaki became household names. It was the
:25:16. > :25:22.theatrics as well as the fighting that we loved. But all good things
:25:22. > :25:27.come to an end. In 1987, wrestling was ousted from the world of sport.
:25:27. > :25:31.The Golden Age of British wrestling was over, replaced by its
:25:31. > :25:37.undramatic American cousin. Your favourite wrestler? Big Daddy and
:25:37. > :25:42.giant haystacks. Big Daddy. Mick McManus. He was the guy who used to
:25:42. > :25:46.give it all that. One of the worst things they did was take it away.
:25:46. > :25:50.wish it was still there. Heard of any wrestlers? Bit past my time.
:25:50. > :25:55.What happened to the legacy of British wrestling? What are those
:25:55. > :26:02.big names doing now? Sadly, not many of them are around to tell the
:26:02. > :26:06.tale. But there are a few legends left if you know where to look.
:26:06. > :26:10.Weighing the three-times world champion, what is the move you best
:26:10. > :26:15.remember? The flying head-butt. Have you found that used for
:26:15. > :26:22.running the pub on a Friday-night for? Sadly, I cannot run across the
:26:22. > :26:27.ring any more. Here is a fellow champion, Frank. And Sarah, you are
:26:27. > :26:32.a champion, too. What for you guys was the secret of wrestling's
:26:32. > :26:36.attraction? I think it was the camaraderie amongst the wrestlers.
:26:36. > :26:40.Each one in that era was a character. Different shapes and
:26:41. > :26:46.sizes. They looked and acted the part. They could entertain you for
:26:46. > :26:50.hours. They were storytellers in their own right. So the big stars
:26:50. > :26:55.may have disappeared from the small screen, but what of British
:26:55. > :27:02.wrestling itself? Is it still going? John is a two-times British
:27:02. > :27:06.heavyweight champion. He is now training a new generation of
:27:06. > :27:12.wrestlers, keeping the British style alive. You were there in the
:27:12. > :27:17.golden age. What was it like? was great, lovely people. I was on
:27:17. > :27:20.four or five nights a week. Why was wrestling axed from British TV in
:27:21. > :27:26.1987? They said there was no interest in it and it was a
:27:26. > :27:30.working-class sport. It was taken off the TV. The older guys were not
:27:30. > :27:34.passing on their knowledge, and it declined. What is the future for
:27:34. > :27:40.British wrestling? It is alive and kicking. Will it comeback on the
:27:40. > :27:50.box? I would like to think so. Maybe you can help. The TV revival
:27:50. > :28:21.
:28:21. > :28:28.begins tonight! Stay tuned. I have And so, dull, worthy bouts for
:28:28. > :28:32.real? There was some showmanship. Modern times demand that. But they
:28:32. > :28:36.were real moves. What you are seeing was real wrestling. It in
:28:36. > :28:40.its heyday, British wrestling was a national institution, watched and
:28:40. > :28:44.loved by millions glued to their sets on a Sunday afternoon. We may
:28:44. > :28:48.have lost the flamboyant costumes and big names on the small screen,
:28:48. > :28:53.but the sport lives on, thanks to wrestling academies like this. And
:28:53. > :29:01.as for it not having a broad, popular appeal, let me tell you on