06/05/2014 The One Show

Hello and welcome to The One Show with Matt Baker. And Alex Jones. Our

guests tonight are two master illusionists whose Las Vegas show is

one of the longest-running and best-selling ever. So good are their

skills that you might be forgiven for thinking one of them has managed

to make his own voice disappear. He hasn't, he just doesn't say much,

it's Penn and Teller. Penn, you are in good voice this

evening? Happy to talk? Teller on the other hand is producing 50p

pieces from everywhere. We use dollars in the US. You have been

doing this show in... That was remarkable! You have been

doing your show in the Rio Hotel in Vegas for 13 years now. I believe we

are the longest running headliners in Las Vegas history. How do you

keep it fresh because that is a long time? We don't have too because we

write new material all the time. The general theory of Las Vegas that was

that you got a show together, you became popular and you went to Las

Vegas to die. Teller and I went there and followed the same formula

except we have done about five and a half hours of new material, just

while we were in Vegas, like a band doing a different set list. We have

been doing a lot of different material, and also the stuff we do

over and over, it's wonderful to feel like you can get good at

something. And you are going to do a trick for us later on. Yes, we have

never done it before. World exclusive then! We have some things

on the show that are right up your street. You have a Houdini corner,

don't you? Teller has the first letter that Houdini wrote to his

mother, where he talks about how he is happy and content on stage but at

no other time. Also a letter that Houdini wrote to Arthur Conan Doyle

after Arthur Conan Doyle's wife had done a spirit reading. Houdini is

pointing out to Arthur Conan Doyle that maybe this isn't as accurate as

you would think because the spirit reading is in English, which

Houdini's mother didn't speak. Also there is a cross at the top, and his

mother was the wife of a rabbi, so there are a few subtle mistakes in

there. Houdini was good friends with Arthur Conan Doyle and was trying to

be kind. Well, magicians are well known for making things disappear

and appear but tonight we'd like to see pictures of things that have

have mysteriously appeared in your own home. We've no idea what we're

going to get. We were talking to Richard on camera three earlier, he

lives in a cul-de-sac and a chicken appeared at his door. Very good! A

chicken! Now, when you're feeling a bit under the weather and you're not

sure what's wrong, it's tempting to go online and research your

symptoms, which sometimes causes worry. However, a new online service

is promising to allow you direct access to GPs at a touch of a button

on your phone, but it does come with a cost.

These days, getting to see your GP can be a real mission. With a

growing population and fewer GPs than ten years ago, 15% of patients

in England now have to wait at least a week to see their doctor. Could

your phone hold the key? There is a new app called Babylon, and users

can book video phone consultations, text question to a GP or nurse, and

arrange consultations with specialists at a price. How did you

come up with the idea? In other areas of our lives we have got used

to using technology, we read books, we download music, we see our

friends, why not see doctors? Who are the doctors you are using? They

have a minimum of five years experience, on average 15 years, and

they spend their time working in GP surgeries, or they are specialists

who work in their free time. Aren't you just offering a fast-track

system for people who can afford it? You can have this service for

less than ?2 a week and we worked incredibly hard to make it

affordable to everyone. This busy GP surgery in London has 10,000

patients so demand for appointments is high. I have come to give three

patients the chance to try out the video consultation to see what they

make of it. My name is Doctor Glen, I am one of the Babylon health

doctors. What symptoms have you got? I have had a swollen throat and

swollen glands. I have been getting migraines again. You have got a long

history of migraine, have you? Yes, and in the last few days I have had

two. Are you normally fit and well person? Is your vision affected? If

it doesn't settle down and 48 hours we would make another consultation,

or you can see your own GP. How was that? It is more convenient than

booking in appointment and going to the doctor, that was superb. Could

you see yourself using a app like this? It is ideal. In terms of

further symptoms I had, a sore throat and swollen gland, it was

perfect, but perhaps with others it wouldn't be. Can you see yourself

paying for a service like this? For the convenience yes, but I would

rather have someone sitting in front of me in person. What did the GPs at

the surgery think? For some people who really value getting it sorted

quickly more than having a personal relationship with their doctor, this

technology could be really useful. If you have a patient who needs

technology could be really useful. blood checking, or who needs an

examination, there will be some things that are difficult to pick

up. With chickenpox, you would see a child covered with spots, but with

more subtle rushes you need to be able to feel it to pinpoint what it

could be, perhaps it could be a meningitis rush which has huge

complications. Surely this can never be a substitute for a face-to-face

consultation? Our doctors will never take a risk, they will always tell

you to go to see your GP physically if it is necessary. It is just

something that is available when we need it. Lucy is here now. So has

this service which allows you to access a GP using your phone been

approved by the NHS? No, it has been registered with the Care Quality

Commission so it was registered in February 2014, but it has not been

endorsed. It is a legal requirement to register with the CQC before you

can operate. The Royal College of GPs advocate caution because they

say nothing can replace face-to-face consultation with your doctor in the

surgery. NHS England simply said the app has not been endorsed. The

General Medical Council has not endorsed it but it hasn't seen it

yet. It is not an NHS app, but because there has been a surge in

these apps, they have put together a health app library online. There are

about 160. About 170, with more being reviewed and more in

development. And this is the home page we are seeing here, isn't it?

Yes, this is the websites that you can find them on. Health Fabric Has

A 5-star Review, It Helps You To Manage Your Healthcare And Maybe If

You Have A Long-standing Condition Like Diabetes It Gives You Lots Of

Information But You Can Also Pay To Enable Your Gp Records To Be Used As

Part Of The App. The Other One Has Been Very Successful Is Big White

Wall The Mental Health, And It Has Been Particularly Useful For Members

Who Have Been Part Of The Armed Forces. You Can Get In Touch With

Your Therapist Via Video And It Is A 24/7 Service.

The Prime Minister announced in October last year there was going to

be a fond of ?15 million, 250 practices across England submitted

proposals, 20 have been taken up and these are pilot projects. We won't

know the outcome because they only started last month for another year

really, but if you look at them 19 out of 20 are about increasing

access to GPs so they understand that is a real issue and they are

trying lots of different systems like video consultations, e-mailing

appointments so we will keep an eye on that. Our American friends have

trash cans, whereas we have dustbins. They have gas, we have

petrol, and they have Houdini so what do we have? We have Alan Alan.

If you think of a man wriggling upside down in a straitjacket, you

think of one name, Harry Houdini. A master showman with a knife of

publicity so acute that his name is as famous today as it was in his

heyday, but we in Britain have our own Houdini. A man just as gifted at

hogging the headlines. Houdini was his hero, but the British equivalent

of the American maestro took the showmanship and raised it to another

level. His name has slipped from public consciousness now, but for

years, in the second half of the 20th century, Alan Alan played to

packed crowds and hungry film cameras. Crisscross is the latest in

the illustrious line of escapologist and he knows that he owes everything

to the greats of the past. They were masters of promotion, geniuses at

playing the press and dreaming of big stunts to turn heads. They were

pioneers of escapologist. Houdini was famous for escaping upside down

suspended in chains in front of the audience. Alan Alan took the trick

and set fire to the rope. He even used swords. People like to sit on

the edges of their seats. People actually want to see the person

fail. They are waiting for something to go wrong. Allen had several

accidents where the rope snapped and he fell to the floor. It was never

seriously hurt but the drama created by the very real possibility of

failure made him an irresistible draw to audiences. His most famous

brush with death was in 1949 at the beginning of his career. In 1915

Houdini had attempted a buried alive stunts, where he was buried in loose

earth and began to dig his way out. Just as his hands broke the service,

-- surface, Houdini fell unconscious. Alan Alan wanted to do

one better. He was determined to grab the attention of the world. Are

you sure about this? OK. Alan Alan is to be buried alive. He is going

to attempt the one thing that Houdini said was impossible, the

grave. The earth was compact it tightly. His life was in genuine

danger. Dig him out was the order. They have to work fast to avert

disaster. He was dragged out alive and distressed but the newsreel and

papers delivered acres of precious publicity. At heart, he was a

magician 's magician. He passed on his skills to a young magician,

Michael Vincent. Mix them up together. He meant what him for

years. This is all about bringing order. -- mentored. The pair became

close friends. There has not been an escapologist who had a flair for

gymnastics like Houdini. In some cases, Alan Alan had the edge. Why?

Because of television. He was identical. In the context of show

business, I think he is one of the greatest British entertainers and

speciality acts of all time. He is 87 and is fully retired. Like his

hero, Houdini, who died a month before he was born, he pushed the

boundaries of magic, knowing it was always the possibility of failure

that made him so compelling. That is the reputation he cannot escape. We

had to have an ending like that. Alan Alan had many a close shave.

You could claim Houdini is British. He made it over here. He was not

successful in the US until he came over to Britain and made it big. He

was like Jimi Hendrix in that way. He was also born in Budapest.

Claiming he was an American magician requires a lot of cheating. He moved

to Budapest at three years old... Move to America, sorry. Lying about

being from America, he's American. We had about the love of Houdini

from you earlier on that you are celebrating 40 years of magic with

UK tour. Is there an element of danger? I believe very strongly, as

Houdini did, that nothing you do in entertainment should be more

dangerous than sitting in your living room. The idea that people

are really waiting for someone to get hurt does a disservice to the

audience. I think you are supposed to be celebrating life. You do stuff

that looks dangerous, like a roller-coaster. You go on a

roller-coaster and this really it is dangerous but really you know you

are safe. The kind of stuff that David Blaine does, when they pretend

to starve themselves and go without air, is a little bit distasteful.

Houdini always came out OK. Either way, so did Alan Alan. Of all the

things you have done, what do you think has been the most successful?

Will you be including that in this tour? I think we will be doing a

very bloody soaring, soaring a person in half. We have tried to

make it so there is no element of danger. We do the bullet catch which

you cannot do over here. We do it in the US and the gun crazy culture. We

do the bullet catch, which is the most dangerous trick imaginable. We

have been doing it for 15 years and never the slightest injury. It is

important when asking people to watch stuff that looks dangerous to

know we are safe. In any sort of competition, the person who does not

get hurt is the one who wins. That is what we are going for. You are on

tour from 13th to the 22nd. I hope you know because I do not. We do not

usually do this but we are going to show you a boring film next. Please.

When we say boring, what we actually mean is tunnelling. It is a very

happy birthday to the Channel Tunnel. In 1802, the French engineer

was the first person to propose the idea of a cross Channel Tunnel. As

France and Britain were at war, the idea was rejected by Napoleon

themselves. It was until 192 years later, in 1994, that Britain and

France were linked for the first time since the ice age. Creating the

tunnel took vision, imagination, a hefty budget and engineering

precision. When it opened, the American Society of civil engineers

added it to their list of wonders of the modern world, alongside the

golden gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Panama Canal and the

Empire State Building. The Channel Tunnel is not just one tunnel, it is

three. As that is where I am heading today, no need for a train ticket.

Measuring 31.4 miles, it is the longest undersea tunnel in the

world. It took almost seven years to build and cost ?9.5 million.

Sanctioned by the British and French government, this was to be a

privately funded project. It began in 1988. Nice to meet you. Today I

am here to talk to Dave Johnson, one of the original engineers who worked

on the project. How did you actually did this thing? What did you use?

Tunnel boring machine is, basically. These were huge bit of

agreement with a massive cutting edge at the front, which rotated

with sharp, hard teeth, which basically tore away at the chalk.

The material was deposited in a conveyor belt system which went

behind, all the way back to the working surface. Does boil removed

from the tunnel could have filled Wembley Stadium 13 times. -- the

spoil. The waste was used to extend the Kent coastline by 90 acres.

Today it is a haven for wildlife. In particular, rare orchids. British

and French engineers were tunnelling at the same time needed to meet

exactly in the middle. To achieve this, they both wallowed a seam of

chalk marl, which ran under the Channel. It was soft enough to cut

through and did not let in water. You have all these machines digging

away and yet you are following the chalk. How did you know where it

would meet? A lot of it was down to laser technology. It guided the

tunnel boring machine, so you could get it pretty much exactly where you

wanted it. It was not without its problems. Early on in the project,

sea water penetrated the walls and cause delays and the costs

spiralled. Engineers were determined to push forward. It was incredibly

ambitious. The world 's longest tunnel being dug from either end.

They met within a few millimetres when the breakthrough occurred on

1st of December, 1990. Took the drills a few moments to cut through

the final obstacle. Then a miner from Calais was exchanging thanks

with his opposite number from Dover. Dave is taking me to the very spot

where Britain and France became joint. This is it. This is the

midpoint. What was it like, that day? What was the feeling like?

There was a real sense of euphoria. It was a historic moment when the

breakthrough came. There was a big cheer that went up. Everybody knew

we had done it. I tagged it would take a further four years to

complete the rout when the breakthrough came. There was a big

cheer that went up. Everybody knew we had done it. I tagged it would

take a further four years to complete the row in schedule and

doubled the projected cost. Since then, it has transported over 1

million cats and dogs, 20 million tracks, 40 million cards and a

staggering 330 million passengers. To put that into perspective, that

is more than the populations of the UK, France, Italy and Germany all

added together. There were someone to full statistics to wrap the film

up with. All right, the boys are now going to wow us with some Vegas

style magic. You bought these two decks of cards. We did not buy them.

You did not buy them yourself. Yes, we did. No, we didn't. One is red

and one is blue. We will do this with you. I will go red. We have a

razor blade should you need help opening it. I am all right. Here we

go. We have the razor blade here. Four and a half minutes is going

with me opening a packet of cards. That is not normally considered the

hardest part of the trick. Here we go. Open it up. You will see it is

sealed. Pull the cards out carefully. You will notice they are

in a particular order. They are delivered to you in a particular

order. Pull them out carefully. Let's see the order we have. Found

them out. Throw those away. Turn them face up. You should have a

joker and a joker. They go face up... Do not change the order. Those

cards are in the exact same order. We are starting out with identical

deck. Do you do any impersonations? Only a dolphin. Do a dolphin. On the

spot, it is very difficult. Teller does physical impersonations. He is

a very good mimic. He will do an impersonation of your shuffling. He

was shuffle exactly like you. Do one over hand shuffle. Do it slowly and

shuffle. He is copying you. Careful, careful. Looks right to me.

Square them up. How are you doing? They should be in the same order.

Shuffle again. Go a bit faster and make it hard for them. Here we go.

Have you got it? Put the cards over there.

Pick it up. Do not let the audience see it and do not let Teller see it.

You will see, even though you shuffled, some of the spades stayed

together. It is not a perfect shuffle. How did you do? Beautiful.

I think we managed. Look through yours and find one near the middle

and pull it out. Pick one at random and pull it out. Pull it out the

deck. Put that back onto the top. Now, cut it into the middle remember

what it is and cut it into the middle. Teller has done the same

thing. Take the card back. Take his tech. Teller will take your deck and

find your card game. It should be near the same place, wherever you

cut it. Teller did the same thing you did. Do not cut them, just take

the card out. Take the card out and they sit right down there. Do not

cut it. Now, here is the hard part of this whole thing. Put the cards

down there. I want you to make a cut... This is sometimes where he

has trouble. Cut deep, about 40 cards off and leave about 12. Cut

deep. Teller should be matching you there. Beautiful, beautiful. Come

on, Teller. Matching you there. Pick them up. Just like Teller is, count

them. How many did you get? He has much to perfectly so far. These two

cards should be the same. Turned the top card over. That should be there

and that should be there. And turned that one over. That should be there

and that should be there. He has matched you completely. Very good.

Wow! I will tell you what... He has followed you exactly. Ruth was on

holiday and Jesus turned up. That is remarkable. This peacock has been

sent him by Ben. A Goldring from Clacton. No explanation. Andrew

Hargreaves had this coat ten art on his front door. Thank you both. The

tour starts from the 13th of June. See you tomorrow night. Back then.

Does anybody know exactly what they're eating?

When these birds are gone, what happens to this place?