:00:23. > :00:30.Hello and welcome to the programme. And what has happened to Alex
:00:30. > :00:34.Jones' voice? It has happened in the last hour. Let's get on with it,
:00:34. > :00:39.tonight's guest is a star of stage and screen, and he is so end
:00:39. > :00:47.recognisable that in his latest musical, some people argued that
:00:47. > :00:53.the person they had come to see was not even in the show. Is it flame-
:00:53. > :01:03.haired crooner Mick Hucknall? Is it Welsh opera hunk Bryn Terfel? No!
:01:03. > :01:03.
:01:03. > :01:11.It is everyone's favourite musical star Michael Ball! How are, guys?
:01:11. > :01:19.Do not give me whatever you have got. Well, I did give him a little
:01:19. > :01:24.harder earlier on. But, praise indeed that your biggest fans came
:01:24. > :01:28.to see you and did not realise it was you. Yes, and honestly, they
:01:28. > :01:34.were arguing about whether or not in fact it was me, even in the
:01:34. > :01:41.poster. Well, I drove past and I did a double-take. I thought, is
:01:41. > :01:47.that Michael? It is a world away from what I have looked like before.
:01:48. > :01:53.In honour of Michael's new role in Sweeney Todd, we thought we would
:01:53. > :01:58.see if any of you have had a confrontation with a demon barber.
:01:58. > :02:02.We are looking for haircuts like this. Send them into us, and we
:02:02. > :02:10.will show them at the end of the show. Mind you, this will take some
:02:10. > :02:17.beating. That is phenomenal. Those were the days, hey, Michael?
:02:17. > :02:22.Separated at birth. Across Britain, our high streets are in trouble,
:02:22. > :02:28.with one in three shops empty in some places. But one business is
:02:28. > :02:32.bucking the trend. Simon Boazman went to investigate. It is just
:02:32. > :02:36.gone 8am, and most people are on the way to work. You will struggle
:02:36. > :02:40.to find a bank or a shop which is open, but one thing you can do is
:02:40. > :02:46.to put a bet on. Betting shop numbers have remained stable in the
:02:46. > :02:50.UK, at around 8,500, for the past decade. But overall, the number of
:02:50. > :02:54.major change shops has increased since 2009. It in a recent review,
:02:54. > :03:01.the Government concluded that bookmakers are especially prevalent
:03:01. > :03:05.in low-income areas. As the law stands, betting shops can open up
:03:05. > :03:09.in the same premises as a bank, estate agent or restaurant, without
:03:09. > :03:15.any change of planning permission. That means there can be several
:03:15. > :03:24.bookies on any high street. But what attracts the punters? How much
:03:24. > :03:31.would you spend every day? About �20 or �30. What does it give you,
:03:31. > :03:39.is it the excitement? If you win, it is nice to know you're proved
:03:39. > :03:44.right. I have just had a winner, which has put me up. I am up to
:03:44. > :03:48.about �20 overall, and I have bet around �5. It is a good feeling,
:03:48. > :03:55.which is what makes people come back. That is fine, for those who
:03:55. > :04:01.can handle it. I always think how much I need for the rest of the
:04:01. > :04:08.month beforehand. If the bookie was not here, would you bet at home?
:04:08. > :04:11.Yes, my friend, she bets at home. I prefer to come to the betting shop.
:04:11. > :04:18.Do you sometimes make sacrifices so that you can come and spend the
:04:18. > :04:24.afternoon at the bookies? I do not spend the afternoon here, I come in,
:04:24. > :04:30.have my back and go home. If you lose? I am not bothered. You can
:04:30. > :04:35.live with it? Exactly. However, there are around 450,000 problem
:04:35. > :04:43.gamblers in the UK, an increase of third in the last five years, and
:04:44. > :04:48.some believe high street bookies are part of the problem. In Suffolk,
:04:48. > :04:51.in London, there are more than 70 betting shops. This local
:04:51. > :04:55.councillor has campaigned for communities to have a greater say
:04:55. > :05:01.over the number of bookies in their area. A couple of bookies,
:05:01. > :05:04.absolutely fine, but when they are dominating the high street. Do you
:05:04. > :05:10.think they are really dominating the high street? There are more
:05:10. > :05:15.bookies than Baker's. When there are so many in one area, it ends up
:05:16. > :05:20.putting other businesses off. political parties share similar
:05:20. > :05:25.concerns. The bookies themselves say that they make a valuable
:05:25. > :05:29.contribution to high streets across the UK. We are a positive impact on
:05:29. > :05:35.the high street, we employ people, we pay rates. The ultimate test is
:05:35. > :05:40.whether customers choose to use it or not. And the type of batting
:05:40. > :05:45.available is changing. Fixed-odds gaming machines now account for 40%
:05:46. > :05:51.of profit in the industry. They're limited to four per shop. But
:05:51. > :05:57.critics say they are getting around this too easily. You can place a
:05:57. > :06:02.bet of �100 every 20 seconds on those machines, meaning you could
:06:02. > :06:06.lose �80,000 in one's up mack without speaking to anybody. With
:06:06. > :06:10.only four per shop, they are just opening a shop after shop after
:06:10. > :06:16.shop. Customers are increasingly looking for different kinds of
:06:16. > :06:21.betting activities. But would you be tempted to open up a second shop
:06:21. > :06:25.on a high street to allow you to put another four machines in?
:06:26. > :06:29.would not specifically be for that reason, it would be about whether
:06:29. > :06:34.there was demand for our services in a different part of the high
:06:34. > :06:41.street. This gambling addict has lost tens of thousands of pounds
:06:41. > :06:46.over the last 25 years. I was sometimes borrowing money to keep
:06:46. > :06:51.going, or to pay bills and make commitments, because I had gambled
:06:51. > :06:58.that money away. It really spreads into every aspect of your life.
:06:58. > :07:02.has banned himself from every book makers in his local area. Take your
:07:02. > :07:08.photograph into the shop, sign the form, and if they identify you as
:07:08. > :07:12.that person, they ask you to leave the premises. Eugene is worried
:07:12. > :07:16.about the increase in the number of bookies on the high street. My fear
:07:16. > :07:19.is that the more bookies there are on the high street, the greater the
:07:19. > :07:27.temptation for people who potentially have a gambling problem,
:07:27. > :07:32.and that could be just about anybody. Well, Simon is with the
:07:32. > :07:38.snow in the studio. Obviously, there has been a problem in this
:07:38. > :07:42.area for decades. If you compare it to the late 1960s, there were more
:07:42. > :07:47.than 15,000, and now, there are about half that number. It is not
:07:47. > :07:51.how many, it is where they are. There was a report last year which
:07:51. > :07:55.found that high streets in low- income areas were being blighted by
:07:55. > :08:00.bookies. One reason could be that bookmakers have always been in low-
:08:00. > :08:03.income areas, but as more retail space is becoming available, with
:08:03. > :08:07.shops closing, they're moving in. To give you a sense of scale,
:08:07. > :08:11.Harriet Harman's in the constituency, in Camberwell and
:08:11. > :08:16.Peckham, has more than 70 bookmakers. If you compare it with
:08:16. > :08:20.the Borough of Newham, a low-income area, with Richmond-upon-Thames,
:08:20. > :08:28.Newham will have three times as many bookmakers. So, it is not the
:08:28. > :08:33.total number, it is where. About one year ago, Mary Portas delivered
:08:33. > :08:36.her findings on British high streets. What did she say?
:08:36. > :08:42.response to that will be given in the spring. But one thing which has
:08:42. > :08:46.been announced already following her review is a thing called the
:08:46. > :08:52.Mary Portas pilot scheme, which is a competition for local areas which
:08:52. > :08:54.have an ailing high street to compete for a �1 million fund to
:08:54. > :08:59.rejuvenate the high street and turn it around. So, they have got to
:08:59. > :09:03.make a video, say how they will do it, send it into the local council,
:09:03. > :09:10.and the winners will be announced in May. It's a good idea, it could
:09:10. > :09:13.get the community spirit going. 12 winning town centres will be
:09:13. > :09:21.splitting the �1 million. So, it is not a great deal of money, people
:09:21. > :09:27.will have to be inventive. Thank you very much. Now, Michael, you
:09:27. > :09:35.are used to breaking into song at the drop of a hat.
:09:35. > :09:44.# A gentle breeze from harsher by mountain.
:09:44. > :09:47.# Softly blows... Lovely, that's so nice. The reason we are singing
:09:47. > :09:57.that is because the writer of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang passed away
:09:57. > :09:57.
:09:57. > :10:02.yesterday. Rest in peace. Here's another look at historic songs from
:10:02. > :10:07.the workplace, with Carrie Grant. The coal mines of Britain once
:10:08. > :10:17.employed one million men. The hot and dangerous work inspired deep
:10:17. > :10:22.traditions of strong men, strong unions and music. It is the brass
:10:22. > :10:28.bands of the Yorkshire coalfields which we associate most with coal
:10:28. > :10:31.miners. But another tradition also grew up - singing. There are now
:10:31. > :10:35.fewer miners than there have been for hundreds of years, but coal
:10:35. > :10:38.still binds together communities across the country, and for many
:10:38. > :10:46.miners, singing is the language which helps them to remember their
:10:46. > :10:56.lost work. They say, to understand Mining, you have to go underground.
:10:56. > :10:59.
:10:59. > :11:03.So, wish me luck. My guide is Ian, a writer and broadcaster on music,
:11:03. > :11:09.who is descended from long line of miners. Where they singing while
:11:09. > :11:15.they were working? You cannot, you're in a close in area, your
:11:15. > :11:19.briefing all of that dust, it is not... If you're breathing all of
:11:19. > :11:23.that stuff in, you will not be singing. But the music sprang up
:11:23. > :11:30.from the terrible conditions underground. This is about one
:11:30. > :11:35.metre high, but some of these tunnels were about half of that.
:11:35. > :11:44.And to think they would spend eight hours down here every day, you
:11:44. > :11:48.would really need to sing at the end of the day. Many coal miners'
:11:48. > :11:53.songs are sentimental and wistful, not unlike American working songs
:11:53. > :12:00.from the Deep South. I can draw a line from the Yorkshire coalfields
:12:00. > :12:06.to the Mississippi Delta. If you look at the blues and they're the
:12:06. > :12:12.app music, it is localised music, but it has a world appeal. -- and
:12:12. > :12:16.the Cajun music. It is talking about love, tenderness and kindness,
:12:16. > :12:24.and people in pit villages around where I live know about that as
:12:24. > :12:29.well. These things are universal. Why wouldn't you sing about it?
:12:29. > :12:37.None of these men work in the pits any more, but the Castleford male-
:12:37. > :12:47.voice choir still describe themselves as minus. -- as coal
:12:47. > :12:48.
:12:48. > :12:58.miners. They're singing Take Me Home, the lament of the boy forced
:12:58. > :13:04.
:13:04. > :13:07.to leave the mining community he # Take me home to my family. How
:13:07. > :13:15.important was singing when you were working? We used to sing on the
:13:15. > :13:21.train when we were going down. But Bath time, that was the real time.
:13:21. > :13:26.That is when all the young lads used to sing. With there are being
:13:26. > :13:30.hardly any mines left now, what do you think will happen to the songs?
:13:30. > :13:33.As long as there is anybody with any recollection of that era, the
:13:33. > :13:37.songs will survive. And I would like to think they will go on
:13:37. > :13:40.longer than that. Even though the coalmines from Yorkshire have
:13:40. > :13:44.largely disappeared, and get the feeling from everyone that the
:13:44. > :13:54.industry was about more than just work. And perhaps it is the music
:13:54. > :14:04.which is keeping the mind and spirit alive. -- the mining spirit.
:14:04. > :14:09.
:14:09. > :14:14.That has really touched me, thank you.
:14:14. > :14:19.I was listening to those songs and my grandfather was a cold miner, my
:14:19. > :14:26.Uncle Tom worked in the colliery, they are all members of a choir. I
:14:26. > :14:31.am a member of a male voice choir and there is nothing like it. You
:14:31. > :14:39.know that, that is where the voice comes from, from the Welsh side!
:14:39. > :14:44.Your role in Sweeney Todd is a bit different.
:14:44. > :14:48.You are incredibly versatile. thought you were going to say,
:14:48. > :14:53.incredibly attractive in that picture! One of the things that
:14:53. > :14:57.appealed to me about it, the idea of having left the West End as an
:14:57. > :15:05.overweight mother of one in Baltimore and coming back as a
:15:05. > :15:09.serial killer was appealing! Being able to transform myself and
:15:09. > :15:13.perform Stephen Sondheim's extraordinary music. You are
:15:13. > :15:23.bringing the show to the West End but to started in Chichester. Let's
:15:23. > :15:29.
:15:29. > :15:36.have a look at this. -- you started # Pretty women #.
:15:36. > :15:43.# Sitting in the window, standing on the stairs #.
:15:43. > :15:48.APPLAUSE. That is weird. I went to a hairdresser's, an old-fashioned
:15:48. > :15:53.barbers, to sit and learn how to do the cut-throat razor and they did
:15:53. > :15:59.it on me and it is quite nerve- racking. Is that how you do it's
:15:59. > :16:04.now? No! Having someone do it for you, using a razor, you are in
:16:04. > :16:14.their hands. It does make you think. Was it your idea to bring this
:16:14. > :16:18.back? Yes. I saw it six years ago on Broadway. I had known the music
:16:18. > :16:24.but I had never seen the show before and I thought, I would
:16:24. > :16:30.desperately loved to play the part but to do it on a big scale. We
:16:30. > :16:36.have a cast of 30, an orchestra of 16, and it is at the Adelphi
:16:36. > :16:40.Theatre, which has this big stage. A great big production. We are in
:16:40. > :16:44.rehearsal at the moment. I will be driving back to work through the
:16:44. > :16:54.night to get it ready for Saturday. Were you waiting for him of the
:16:54. > :16:55.
:16:55. > :17:00.Staunton? Yes, she came to do my radio show. -- Imelda Staunton. I
:17:00. > :17:04.could not think of anyone more perfect to play opposite me. I
:17:04. > :17:09.asked three years ago on my radio show and she said yes. I thought, I
:17:09. > :17:15.have got it recorded, there will be a lawsuit if you say no! She has
:17:15. > :17:20.got me back. She has broken my ribs. Seriously. We were recording the
:17:20. > :17:25.album last Saturday and I hurt my back to win the big number. She
:17:25. > :17:32.said, lie-down. She climbed on top of me, to try to kick it back into
:17:32. > :17:38.place, and it cracked my rib. We had some grand plans for another
:17:38. > :17:40.item but we will tell you about it later! Sweeney Todd is at the
:17:40. > :17:46.Adelphi Theatre in London on Saturday.
:17:46. > :17:51.Yesterday, we found out on the show that you should not cuddle a swan.
:17:51. > :17:57.Today's wildlife fact is that 80% of the animal species in the world
:17:57. > :18:02.are insects! And really? This is good news for George McGavin, who
:18:02. > :18:06.tonight is looking at how grasshoppers spring into action.
:18:06. > :18:15.The evolution from hunting with Spears to developing bows and
:18:15. > :18:19.arrows was a massive step for humanity. Exploiting potential
:18:19. > :18:26.energy is the key and it is what makes the bow and arrow such an
:18:26. > :18:35.incredible hunting tour. But 100 million years before us, something
:18:35. > :18:39.else had mastered these principles of physics. The grasshopper. To
:18:39. > :18:45.someone like me, the jump of the grasshopper it is miraculous. For
:18:45. > :18:49.such a small animal, they can jump a very long way indeed. They can
:18:49. > :18:54.jump up to 20 times their own body height so I want to know why and
:18:54. > :19:00.how they can do it. There is only one person I know that can help me
:19:00. > :19:05.get to the bottom of this. My old university lecturer, Dr Henry
:19:06. > :19:14.Devitt clock. If I was hitting a target and hunting an animal and I
:19:14. > :19:24.threw this, it would be very hard. Your muscles work too slowly.
:19:24. > :19:27.
:19:27. > :19:32.doing this as hard as I can! You're on is the equivalent to the
:19:32. > :19:36.muscles of the grasshoppers lakes. -- your arms. These bits of the
:19:36. > :19:41.springs of the knee joint of the grasshopper's leg. The arrow
:19:41. > :19:49.represents the grasshopper. When the grass couple wants to jump, it
:19:49. > :19:57.stores its energy... Then releasing good catch. 20p if you hit the gold.
:19:57. > :20:07.20p! That is just typical of George!, Henry. I have obviously
:20:07. > :20:07.
:20:07. > :20:12.mastered being a notch up. We have a super high-speed camera that will
:20:12. > :20:22.give us the best ever view of the grasshopper as it jumps so
:20:22. > :20:24.
:20:24. > :20:34.hopefully we will be able to see are supposed to do! Jump! Why is it
:20:34. > :20:44.
:20:44. > :20:49.they never jump when you want them time? My powers of persuasion
:20:49. > :20:54.finally started to work and with a few jumps in a can, we can really
:20:54. > :20:58.start to see the finer details. When a grasshopper wants to jump,
:20:58. > :21:04.but first thing it has to do is spend its back legs. A special
:21:04. > :21:08.catch in its new joint, it holds its legs in position as they begin
:21:08. > :21:13.to strain their tendons. This strain creates massive potential
:21:13. > :21:23.energy, so when the need is released, the grasshopper is
:21:23. > :21:29.
:21:29. > :21:33.catapulted into the air with Why did grasshoppers have to jump?
:21:33. > :21:38.It enables them to move much more quickly over the ground because if
:21:38. > :21:44.you progress as the series of hops, you can cover the ground faster.
:21:44. > :21:49.The other thing is that grasshoppers are good bird food.
:21:49. > :21:57.Yummy yummy! If they can see a bird coming at them and then jump out of
:21:57. > :22:01.the way, they will live to fight As if this marvel of microbe
:22:01. > :22:09.engineering wasn't enough, most grasshoppers can also fly. Their
:22:09. > :22:12.wings give them a turbo boost, propelling themselves into full-
:22:12. > :22:20.blown flight. Human beings are constantly trying to invent better
:22:20. > :22:29.ways of doing things, yet nature has evolved one of the neatest
:22:29. > :22:34.examples of micro engineering ever. That was magical. George is jet lag
:22:34. > :22:41.because he is back from a South American trip to the jungle and he
:22:41. > :22:49.has got a travel book... Terrible! Anyway, you had some phenomenal
:22:49. > :22:59.footage. 20 times of a grasshopper. Imagine a human three, 200 times
:22:59. > :23:00.
:23:00. > :23:04.University last year and when they slowed it down, they realised that
:23:04. > :23:10.instead of muscles, they have coiled springs in their legs and by
:23:10. > :23:16.this leave the system, a dig spines in and suddenly we least the coil
:23:16. > :23:21.springs, which causes them for fire for 200 times of their own body
:23:21. > :23:25.length! This is a Bombardier beetle! When it wants to get rid of
:23:25. > :23:35.all of its pests, like bees ands that are bothering it, look at
:23:35. > :23:40.that! -- like these and sos. It is a noxious Clywd. It is an
:23:40. > :23:46.instantaneous hot boiling reaction. It fires be chemical out of its
:23:46. > :23:50.bottom. It can control exactly where it's braise it. It is
:23:50. > :23:56.disgusting and incredibly effective! Bumble bees to finish
:23:56. > :23:59.off. Slow-motion footage. Scientists do not know how bumble
:23:59. > :24:04.bees fly but when a slow it down, they have worked out they flap
:24:04. > :24:10.their wings 230 times every second, and they also fly in a figure-of-
:24:10. > :24:16.eight, which enables them to press down twice as much. Look at them
:24:16. > :24:21.flying through this war tics of smoke. -- a vortex. It enables them
:24:21. > :24:29.to lift up. It is amazing. You liked the Beetle the best! That was
:24:29. > :24:37.An alarming number of adults only have the maths level of an 11-year-
:24:37. > :24:44.old. Earlier on, we put you to that test with a maths test. I had no
:24:44. > :24:50.idea. Before you find out, we sent our reporter to see if one class of
:24:50. > :24:55.kids were better at maths than their mums and dads.
:24:55. > :24:58.Five and five... There is no doubting the enthusiasm in this
:24:59. > :25:04.classroom but outside the school gates, it is a different story.
:25:04. > :25:09.Nearly half of adults only have the maths skills of a child of primary
:25:09. > :25:13.school age and that is a problem for all of us.
:25:13. > :25:18.17 million adults have the maths skills of primary school students.
:25:19. > :25:24.This matters a lot for them and it matters for us as a country. If you
:25:24. > :25:29.are one of those, you are twice as likely to be unemployed. If you are
:25:29. > :25:36.still at school, you are twice as likely to be excluded. If you have
:25:36. > :25:40.basic numeracy, you are likely to earn 26 more -- 26% more. And for
:25:40. > :25:46.that to happen, things have to improve inside and outside the
:25:46. > :25:50.classroom. You have got a very enthusiastic
:25:50. > :25:56.class of six and seven-year-olds. How would you get adults to respond
:25:56. > :26:00.in the same way? Children are so enthusiastic about maths that they
:26:00. > :26:06.go home and it has a knock-on effect. Parents see their children
:26:06. > :26:14.being enthusiastic. They can't wait to have a go. The parents think, my
:26:14. > :26:19.seven-year-old can do it, I can too. How will the parents of a group of
:26:19. > :26:29.nine-11-year-olds do in a One Show Maths Challenge? Who is not looking
:26:29. > :26:30.
:26:30. > :26:38.forward to this? The majority! What is the reaction? Calculator! I hate
:26:38. > :26:42.maths. I haven't got a clue. I am dreading the next question! I am
:26:42. > :26:49.going to play it safe and be the quizmaster and if you are answering
:26:49. > :26:54.at home, no calculators allowed! Here is a few of the 10 questions
:26:54. > :26:59.asked. If I eat two pieces, and she is
:26:59. > :27:09.three pieces of chocolate, which fraction remains?
:27:09. > :27:17.
:27:17. > :27:27.Some grasshoppers at the long jump competition. Calculate how much
:27:27. > :27:29.
:27:29. > :27:35.Who will come out top of the class? The pupils got 80. Collectively.
:27:35. > :27:39.And the adults got... 81. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE. Can I just
:27:39. > :27:46.say, parents, to bring you back down to earth, you should have all
:27:46. > :27:49.got top marks because that maths paper was for 11-year-olds, so your
:27:49. > :27:58.parents got virtually the same score as you. Does that disappoint
:27:58. > :28:08.you? Kind of. How well did you do? I got five, half. That means I am
:28:08. > :28:09.
:28:09. > :28:13.not even at a nine-year-old level! How did you do? I got four. It is
:28:13. > :28:19.still embarrassing that my son is proud of me and the job I have got
:28:19. > :28:24.but... This speaks for itself. it ever too late to learn?
:28:24. > :28:29.Could they improve their maths? Yes!
:28:29. > :28:39.It is the moment of truth. We have your results. I'll be
:28:39. > :28:39.
:28:40. > :28:45.ready? Michael Ball, who scored seven out of 10. -- are we ready?
:28:45. > :28:55.But you have a great voice! Thank you for the photos you have
:28:55. > :28:56.
:28:56. > :29:01.That looks a bit like me! That is journeys from East Sussex. It is
:29:01. > :29:08.like a page boy, I had one like that! What about Geoff Pearson from
:29:08. > :29:13.the West Midlands! He looks a bit Simon Grundy! This is from Sylvia
:29:14. > :29:19.Beaumont in Scotland. With Michael Ball in the 80s!