06/11/2017 The One Show

Hello and welcome to

the One Show with Alex Jones.

And back in the studio

after two weeks away,

it's Matt Baker!

How were your holidays?

Lovely, I

was carb loading in warmer climes

for the rickshaw challenge. Thanks

for asking.

Now they say people often end up

looking like their animals.

That could be a problem

for tonight's guest.

He's got ten chickens,

nine barn owls,

eight sheep, six pigs,

five dogs, three goats.

And various ducks that come

and go at they please.

But hopefully

no partridge in a pear tree.

He may not look like

his animals,

but do his animals look like him?

Oh, they do! It is, of course, Paul

O'Grady!

Thanks for having me on!

We

are pleased to have you with us.

I

will tell you what animal I did look

like in Africa, a baby African

vulture, there was a resemblance, I

have to say! Somebody took a photo,

is that a relation?! Slightly

similar.

I thought it would be a

dog, but a vulture will do! You

recently got married, to Andre.

He

is 98, a billionaire. We have got

this lovely sweeping oak staircase

in our mansion, I polished it this

morning, so hopefully I will find

him when he gets in!

Is EAP fan of

animals?

He has got no choice!

We

know there are a lot of animal

owners who watch our show, and we

want to hear from you tonight. If

you have a collection of pets, a

posse of pussycats or a mixture...

As many animals as you can manage in

one photo.

But please remember,

don't put your pet predator

next to potential prey,

because it'll end in tears.

And we'll speaking to Paul more

about life with his animals later.

But first, in the run-up to

Remembrance Sunday, we always hear

poignant stories about the brave men

and women who have

served their country.

This year marks a special milestone,

as it represents 100 years

since women were first allowed

to join the Armed Forces.

One of those who joined up

during the Second World War

is Sheila Campbell,

whose son just so happens

to be broadcaster Nicky.

Mum is an extraordinary woman,

everyone loves her. My mum Sheila

and I are close, but there is one

area of her life I know little about

- her experiences during the Second

World War. I have not spoken to her

about her feelings, her motivations,

what she thought about what was

going on in the world. In 1941, she

was studying at St Andrews

university, but halfway through her

degree, she dropped out and signed

up to the women's auxiliary Air

Force.

Here he comes. Goodbye she

was selected to become a radar

operator, helping to track enemy

bombers.

We were checking for planes coming

into our area, the friendly once had

a certain little blip, so we knew it

was friendly. The ones that did not

have and were -- did not have that

were questionable, possibly enemy.

It was tense. We played cards in

between. When you were off duty, you

went to dancers, you went out

drinking.

I can't imagine what it

must have been like for Mum

embracing this new-found fun while

adjusting to the gravity of the

role, a job which also asked to

identify targets for British bombers

as they took the fight to Germany.

One was aware of what one was doing,

bombing just a little bit out of the

troops, praying that you got

measurements right and that the

troops were not going to be hit by

you. The fact that people were

involved and lived in some of the

places we were bombing just never

ended our heads, we didn't think

about it.

Didn't you?

No. Or at

least if anybody did, it was never

discussed. I think it would have

been difficult to carry on, in a

way, to do the job.

Mum was

stationed on a mobile operations

room, and as the Allies battled

their way through France, she and

her female colleagues expected to

get their chance to serve just

behind the British advance.

And then

the annoying thing was, of course,

they sent all the men and none of

the women, and we were very angry.

Were you?

Yes, oh yes! All the young

men that I had trained, that had

been in so recently, they went, took

our trailers and did the work, and

we were left behind.

And you wanted

to get at there?

Yes, we wanted to

carry on doing what we were doing.

182,000 WAAF personnel played an

important part in the Everett three

is of World War II. Historically,

their roles were often overshadowed

by their male counterparts. -- in

the air victories. We are going to

meet Bessie. It is a privilege to be

with you. Mum is hoping that she can

answer a long-held question.

Did you

ever get a medal of any kind? Just

for having served?

One, I didn't get

the two.

I didn't get any!

You are

entitled to it, why didn't you get

one?

Nobody ever sent me one!

More

than 70 years on, I have brought Mum

and the family to meet Group Captain

gas wells at the RAF Museum. At long

last, she is getting recognition for

her service.

On behalf of the Royal

Air Force, it is a pleasure and a

privilege as well to be able to

present you with these long overdue

1939-45 medal. The work that you and

your contemporaries did throughout

the war is very much part of our

heritage, and it guides what we do

today, so you really are an

inspiration to us all, thank you

very much indeed.

Oh, my goodness,

at last! How lovely!

I feel that she

kind of represents so many women and

what they did, so it has been such a

proud day for the family, fantastic

day for Mum, and that is going to go

right on her mantelpiece.

I feel

sort of rounded off so to speak,

Waterwise.

Completion!

Completion of

the war, yes, the war is over!

APPLAUSE

What a wonderful moment to share,

you can hear more from them in the

Women At War series, which continues

on BBC One tomorrow morning.

If you're a woman or man

who served in the forces

in the Second World War,

you too can apply for a medal.

The details are on our website.

Your dad served in the RAF during

the Second World War, didn't he?

Yes, he had a few medals, they were

in a draw in the bureau, but he

never spoke about the war, I mean, I

know very little about my father in

the war, expect when they were at

Normandy, when they landed on the

beach, he couldn't swim, and he said

he was on tip toes with his rifle

above him, and the Channel was up to

there. What freaked him out was

drowned soldiers floating past him.

Oh, gosh.

They never got to the

shore, that really frightened him.

But that was it, and might mum is

the same, two little babies, my

brother and sister, lived very close

to the shipbuilder's, Camel lights,

so she was on the front line. She

got flea bites down the air age

shelter, so she would be giving out,

and when there had been an air raid,

she would go down to the

shipbuilder's to fill it up with

coal from the sidings. She was 19,

soaked up, and my dad was 20, he was

Irish, he didn't have to sign up,

but he didn't approve of fascism, so

off we went, so young, so resilient.

And you owe your name to a military

register. What happened there?

Our

family name was Grady, but they made

a mistake and put O in front of it.

Paul Grady doesn't sound quite

right, does it?

I am 98% Irish and

11% Prussian!

Prussian?! I did my

recently, and I am Lithuanian.

I am

Lithuanian too, that is Prussian, we

could be related! You never know!

And you went back to your childhood

home in Birkenhead, and you

discovered something amazing just

behind the wall?

It was after my mum

died, we were giving the house up

and all that, and there was a piece

of wallpaper, I thought, I will pull

that, and it has all come off the

wall, and when we used to decorate,

you would draw something on the

wall, and it all went back to the

1930s, my dad's RAF, and there was a

thing called, what, no potatoes,

drawings of Mickey Mouse I had done

as a kid, my brother and sister had

done, the whole family. They didn't

have a camera, it was before mobile

phones, and I had to leave it. I was

tempted to get a skip, you know,

take the whole wall with me. But it

was fascinating to see, upsetting as

well, because I was leaving a piece

of valuable family history.

So when

did the city boy become the country

boy? What happened?

I had spent a

lot of my childhood with my father's

family in County Roscommon, really

rural, no electricity or running

water, we used to go down to the

spring, no toilet facilities, no

bathroom, so it was very rural,

cutting the turf and all that kind

of stuff. And I loved it, because

you didn't have to wear shoes, you

could get out of the bedroom at six

o'clock, jump on the roof, ride the

donkey, nobody flinched!

Tell me

about it!

A lovely life for kids,

and by the age of seven, I could

milk a cow, I knew all sorts of

things. It left me with a love for

the countryside, and I always

thought, if I get a few bob, I will

buy a place with some land so I can

get a cow, that was my ambition, not

a home in Barbados. Somewhere in the

countryside, so I did.

And it is all

reflected in your new book, which is

lovely. Matt is a farmer.

You know

your stuff.

What would he learn from

your book?

Probably never to go back

to the country again! I mean, for

me, I couldn't teach Matt anything,

here is an expert, but for somebody

considering the move to the country,

getting livestock, it is not cut and

dried. It is a sinkhole for money,

you have vet bills, you have to get

up to feed sheep when it is snowing,

I have learned to deliver a lamb,

deliver piglets, I can tend to a

broken wing, all that kind of stuff,

then I learnt about all the various

wild plants in the woods, and I knew

none of this before I moved to the

country, how to grow my open.

There

is a lot about herbs.

There is, I am

a great believer in the medicinal

qualities, this daisy like plant,

but a couple of leaves in a piece of

bread, it is so bitter, it can cause

ulcers, but it gets rid of a

headache like that, completely.

There is all sorts of stuff.

When

you recognise the pace of nature,

you live your life differently.

You

also recognise the seasonings more

so than in the city, when it is

spring, winter, and you respect the

land, because it is your land, so

you are not going to polluted in any

way. Gradually, I went from being in

a club in bean -- Dean Streets to

really appreciating the fresh air

and the lambs around me, and I like

village life. They were terrified in

our village when they heard that

Lily Savage was moving in, they

thought it would be wild orgies

every night!

How did you introduce

yourself?

In the post office, hello!

Put on your telephone voice!

Yes, my

posh voice, but then I got involved

in the village school and all that

kind of thing, going in the local

pub, so gradually you integrate

yourself. I will always be an

outsider, even though high of almost

been there two decades, but I don't

mind, you know, because it is my

home, not a second home, it is where

I live, and it is always a full

house, it is great, you can have

guests down, kids love it, the wood,

the animals. So I really enjoy

living in the countryside.

Also lots

of things in the book, recipes from

family members, a good residue for

egg mayonnaise sandwiches.

Disgusting! They are cheap and

cheerful. I would have to wear a

gasket -- a gas mask. I have never

eaten chicken or anything like that.

You put a recipe in that you could

not read.

I thought I would have to

put in easy to feed the kids! Give

them egg mayonnaise!

Paul O'Grady's

Country Life is out now.

The clock is ticking -

only three days to go

until Team Rickshaw and myself ride

from this very studio

to start our 500-mile

journey to Glasgow,

hopefully raising lots of money

for BBC Children in Need as we go.

Don't ask me!

You are more than

welcome to join us!

Get yourself in

the West End of a night, charge the

tourists 300 quid. You will make a

fortune! I will become a tout for

you! You want to get on that! It is

at rubble of view, it is a healthy

journey, you know. -- it is

admirable of you. Are you doing it?

No, I am holding the fort!

All of our six riders will need

to have bags of stamina

and determination

on their Ride to the Clyde,

and we just know Shona

is made of the right stuff.

Welcome to Loch Ness. My name is

Shona. This is one of my favourite

places. I haven't seen this year,

but I know he's out there somewhere.

I live up the road in Inverness with

my mum, my dad, my two sisters, and

my guinea pigs. Our family is the

best.

Probably first noticed it when

she was 13. We miss took it 14 age

clumsiness, but it didn't go away.

It is degenerative.

We got the

diagnosis a month or two before her

16th birthday. We waited a few weeks

before we told Shona, because we

needed to come to terms with it.

It

is a build-up of cholesterol in the

cells, which become cancerous.

We

both went through a grieving

process, grieving for her lost

future. And then she would walk into

a room, and there she was as you had

always known her. But yet, we knew

what the future likely head for her.

Before I got diagnosed, I was able

to do my laces without even thinking

about it. My handwriting has gotten

a lot slower. Sometimes I trip over

the stairs, I end up falling flat on

my face. I've had to totally rethink

my future plans. I know now that I

won't ever be able to drive. I don't

think I'll get to go to uni.

Shona is undergoing a blind medical

trial at Birmingham Children's

Hospital. There isn't a cure at the

moment, but the best that we could

hope for is with a drug that slows

down the deterioration. They have

been incredible with support for

ourselves as parents, and Shona as

an individual.

My role is a clinical

nurse specialist. Children In Need

have been funding this position for

around 15 years. I meet with them

won a futile deer, and provide

emotional support. We keep in

contact, I have been to meet with

her schoolteachers, and her local

health getting, to make sure Shona

is receiving the right support.

For

us, it has been important to speak

to somebody who understands the

condition. Shona was very excited to

be nominated for the rickshaw

challenge. She took it in her stride

and started training, really, at

that point.

I've been going for

practice on Wednesday afternoon.

She

has come on leaps and bounds since

she started. She has mastered the

art of cycling in a straight line,

doing the corners correctly, stating

on the road.

I can still do things

that other people can't.

I think it

will be a real adventure for her,

something she will remember. For

her, it is important to give

something back for the help and

support she has had.

Shona is

constantly surprising us, achieving

more than we realised she could.

Yeah, I have got a disability, but

that's not the end of everything.

Please give what you can. Thank you.

Isn't she something. She said to me

on selection day, "I really want to

do this while I still can." In the

next week, we will have the most fun

we possibly can, and we need your

support.

And if you want to support Shona,

Team Rickshaw and Children in Need,

you can donate by sending

a simple text message.

Paul has the numbers you need.

I have. I would like to wish you all

the best. And what an admirable

young lady she is.

You can donate £5 by texting

the word "TEAM" to 70405.

To donate £10, just text

the word "TEAM" to 70410.

And to donate £20, text

the word "TEAM" to 70420.

Those texts will cost your donation

plus your standard network message

charge, and all of your donation

will go to BBC Children in Need.

You must be 16 or over and please

ask for the bill payer's permission.

For full terms and conditions,

please go to bbc.co.uk/pudsey,

where you can also donate online

if you want to give

a different amount.

There's also the website to go

to if you want to sign up

for our virtual rickshaw.

You can use your own pedal

power to help raise

money for Team Rickshaw

and Children in Need.

Please donate if you can.

Remember, we start on Thursday.

It

has come around quickly.

Now, we couldn't have one

of Britain's biggest dog lovers

on the show without a film

featuring our four-legged friends.

These are little legs!

Angellica has been to meet one

of the biggest strings

of sausages in the UK.

Sausage dogs, that is.

Sometimes when you are walking the

dog, it is nice to join up with

like-minded Powles. Maybe even a

small group, or a bigger group. If

you are really obsessed, you could

gather if you hundreds of your best

friends here at Caldicot Castle. The

woman who has created a network of

sausage dog Dot owners is Charlotte

Baldwin. By day, she works for the

blood transfusion service. But on

evenings and weekends, she is a

full-time mum to Barney and Rosie.

This way!

These dogs really do have

minds of their own.

What is it about doubters that you

love?

It is so funny to watch. They

are stubborn and determined, they

are funny, they have got human like

faces, the way they look at you. We

are slaves to the Datsun 's.

He is a

bit of a diva dog. He has more

wardrobe changes today than ten won.

You love them, and he loves you.

What's not to love!

Because Datsun

's don't like walking with larger

dogs, Charlotte wanted to get

like-minded sausage dog owners to go

on walks together with her two. She

advertised on social media and was

overwhelmed by the response.

I

thought there would be 40-50 people

but joined from south Wales. Within

18 months, I had 4000 members, with

support coming from Japan, America,

Ireland, everywhere. It is amazing

what has happened.

These Datsuns

fans go on walks, but today they are

raising funds. Sausage dogs are

susceptible to back problems, bred

to hunt badgers, their bodies look

longer mainly because of their

little limbs.

We raise money for

strollers and wheelchairs for that

simpler Orr that suffer. One in four

can suffer this. We Hebert to help

them to recovery.

The effects of IV

DDE lead to pressure on the spine,

causing extreme pain, and sometimes

paralysis. Charlotte loaned out the

strollers and wheelchairs so they

can get out and about during their

recovery.

Tell me about your wonderful dog.

Two years ago, she suffered a first

episode. We came home and she

wouldn't move. Two days later, she

had an MRI and spinal surgery. It

was a nightmare, a horrible

nightmare.

What is it for you to see

other dogs owners with strollers?

We

are a hell of a community, emotional

support has been brilliant from this

group, and I love them all.

There are hundreds of Datsuns here

today. Entering competitions like

fancy dress and cutest puppies. And

I am getting so old over by all the

lovely sausages, I agreed to judge

my first dog the event ever, wagging

the tail. The more wagging, the

happier they are.

We want them to be

happy and wagging their tails, that

is what we are looking for.

Come on!

Come on, Bradley!

Are you going to

wag your tail? No! I don't do it on

camera!

It's such a hard choice, but it's

got to be Chocolate, who takes the

biscuit. And as my hard work is

done, it's time for the main event.

Wright, Charlotte. Everyone is in

position, are you ready? Let's get

going! On your marks, get set, go!

It's nice to meet people that have

the same interests, and just sausage

dog mad!

It's lovely to have the

experience, and it is such a good

cause.

What does it mean to you, looking

around today, seeing all the people

that have come to support you?

It is

overwhelming.

I am trying to keep my emotions in

check. People keep thanking me and

saying I am a fairy godmother. But

without their support, I couldn't do

what I am doing.

They are adorable dogs, lovely. My

wife is desperate for one of them.

Paul, you must meet a lot of dogs

with health issues.

I do. It is

because of backstreet breeding and

puppy farms. There are a lot of

French bulldogs that have breathing

difficulties, and pugs. Eraso many

of them at the moment. It is a dog

that becomes fashionable. Or the

various reasons, it ends up in the

home.

Well, Life Of Dogs is

currently in the middle

of its sixth series, and here's

a teaser from Thursday's episode,

when you meet some pooches

with a weighty problem.

I remember those two.

My, God, Almighty! Look at the size

of these two. If they jumped up,

they will push me over. This is

shocking. Look, I know...

A very

affectionate girl indeed.

What were

they feeding them on?

The dogs had

trained the owners as to when they

wanted food. They would walk into

the front room, cry at them until

they fed them. Very manipulative,

these two. They know what they want

and they know how to get it.

They are beauties.

Very chubby.

The number of dogs that would have

wiped your chops.

I feel like I have

been filming an alien film, because

I am hanging. Other bits and pieces,

which we won't discuss at this hour,

you know... People avoid me! They

see me coming down the street! Those

two dogs were huge, but really

lovely natured dogs. One of them was

heavier than me. He sat on my knee

and the bench cracked. Seriously

huge, like a cow.

A year ago, you featured a gorgeous

puppy who was sickly, called

Bernard.

I remember Bernard. He had

a bad heart.

That's right, exactly.

We have a Suprise Suprise moment for

you.

Is he here?

Helen, come in.

Look at Bernard.

How is he doing? Bernard! Come up

here. Let me see her. Bernard, do

you remember me?

Beric is. Isn't he

lovely.

He is very well.

Is he still

on the Viagra?

LAUGHTER

Not anymore.

He is not happy about

that.

Doing incredibly well, it is

like watching an episode.

Isn't he

lovely.

From your life with dogs to

your lives with dogs, thank you for

the photos. Paul, can you read that

one out quickly.

I love this one.

These are Catherine's rescued guinea

pigs, she takes them out to rescue

homes. Thank you for the picture.

Tonnes of them! Here are Lucy's ten

rabbits, that one is George, that

one is Steve.

Thank you to Paul for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

Paul O'Grady's Country

Life is out now.

We're back tomorrow when actress

Anna Maxwell Martin

will be talking about her hilarious

new sitcom, Motherland.

See you at seven.

Good night.