08/08/2011 The One Show

Hello and welcome to the One Show. Tonight's guest went from being in

Auf Wiedersehen Pet to a Harry Potter bad de! By royal appointment,

it is Timothy Spall! Good to see you. Does it feel strange not be

you on a boat? I was starting to rock a bit but I thought I was

going to bang my head! The Queen is a big fan of your new series that

seats you and your wife travelling around on your barge. We will speak

about that later. But first I guessed you must be pleased you are

at sea with all of the business going on in areas of London and

areas that are very close to where you grew up in Battersea. What are

your thoughts? My first thought is, what a shame that people have to

get frightened, elderly people, vulnerable people. The thing is, I

don't want to make light of it because it is horrible and

frightening and I suppose on one level you could say people have an

axe to grind, whatever that is. But I'm afraid I have seen it before. I

lived in Brixton during the Brixton riots and it was half a mile up the

road and I can remember seeing it on the news. I saw someone pinched

a scooter from next door but I didn't hear anything. It is one of

those things that becomes localised very quickly and often disperses. I

don't think it will turn into a revolution. If it does, come on the

boat! Having said that, lots of people have lost their homes.

terrible. People were smashing a bus with a piece of wood a few

minutes ago. We would like to hear your thoughts. Send your thoughts

to the One Show. For the past four years, one community that has been

doing the country proud is Wootton Bassett, which has led tributes to

our forum servicemen and women. next month, the route that the cost

intakes will change meaning the public will not be able to pay

their respects in the way they have been in the past. Christina Schmid,

who lost her husband in 2009, tells us what she thinks.

This is my husband, Oz Schmid, who was killed in Afghanistan while

defusing a Taliban bomb. He always said if the worst happened, he

expected me to be there for him on the streets of Wootton Bassett when

he came home. And though it was one of the hardest days of my life, I

was there, displaying my love and honour. But from next month, the

bodies will no longer be flown into RAF Lyneham and the extraordinary

displays of community spirit that have made the Wiltshire town famous

the world over will come to win end. Instead they will land at RAF Brize

Norton in Oxfordshire. That means a new route for the cortege! To

travel to be John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. I wanted to see

the new route for myself. The hearse will leave the base from

here. It is not a main gate and that has led critics to describe it

as a backdoor exit for those killed in action but according to the RAF,

the choice was an obvious one. we used any other gate, it would

mean routing the cortege down some of the more industrial areas of the

station, which for my mind is not a dignified way for the families of

our fallen heroes to see them leave their last military establishment.

Back on the road and having left the base, the corteges will come to

the village of Brize Norton. But instead of going through the nearby

town of Carterton, the route will bypass it, upsetting some local

people. What support have you had

nationally and locally? Initially we started off as a Facebook group

and it quickly gained up to 5,000 supporters. We also went into the

local town and other areas of Oxfordshire with a written petition

to gain support, which we are at the moment looking at around 1200

signatures. I have been touched by how passionately people here care

about this issue. It is important to them that our fallen are

appropriately honoured. Leaving Carterton behind, I continue

driving down the new route. It is brand new, it is quite stairwell,

but I genuinely think it is still preferable to being in a built-up

area where people are living and you can see families. That reminds

you that you have not got your family any more. Personally, I

found the very public nature of Oz's repatriation and funeral very

tough to deal with but I realise not everyone will share these views.

Oxygen Caddick council were heavily involved in deciding the new route

the corteges will follow -- Oxford she County Council. They hope this

memorial garden will act as a focal point for those wishing to pay

their respects. Are you worried that by avoiding

the centre of Carterton, you are denying people the right to pay

their respects? We stand only about 10 minutes away from the centre of

Carterton and what is important about this, is that this place is

an area of safety, where people can pay their respects, and if people

want to pay their respects, to come 10 or 15 minutes is surely not

asking too much. After passing the site of the new memorial garden,

the corteges will head towards the motorway and finally to the

hospital in Oxford. I think it is very hard to replicate what

happened at Wootton Bassett because by its very nature, that was

organic and unique. Then nice touch about this is at least there is a

flagpole in the same company that donated one to Wootton Bassett,

they are going to donate for the Garden of Remembrance that is

literally just been built, and that flagpole will have some

significance and acknowledge Wootton Bassett and the spirit of

that. I feel that Wootton Bassett

provided an important outlet for people to show their respect and

support for the sacrifices made by our forum service personnel and in

future, whatever arrangements are put in place, I know that people

will still find a way of coming together and sharing their respect.

Thank you Kristina for sharing your memories, because it cannot have

been easy. When will we see the last

repatriations? They had been happening through RAF Lyneham since

2007 and as of September 1st, released soon, it will change and

it will be happening through RAF Brize Norton. Unfortunately there

is nothing we can do about it because it is all down to the

horrendous budget cuts. That is the harsh reality. The armed forces are

facing cuts like lots of public sector services and as part of

their strategic review, RAF Lyneham will be completely shut down by the

end of next year. Having said that, people can still go and pay their

respects because they are erecting a memorial garden and a bell for

people to go and pay their last respects to the fallen. They are

trying to raise funds for a special bell to be put into the memorial

garden, which will be in Brize Norton in September, because the

people who have to be considered above and beyond other families of

the dead servicemen and women who are coming back, so if members of

the public want to pay their respects, this garden will be

opening. That is the difficult thing because the families of the

soldiers want to keep it private and the rest of Britain wants to

show their respect. Absolutely, a very noble lady, that lady, who

suffered this loss, but it's so level-headed League considering she

has so much invested in it. -- she was so level-headed. It is what the

people who have lost someone, their opinions are the most important,

but when we have soldiers in a war there are people, old soldiers who

like to show respect, but fundamentally, the final decision

will be with the Government but it has to be taken in consideration

that people have lost people, people have died tragically in

battle for the causes of our country. Absolutely. Thank you so

much. We have all seen of the last few

days the terrible images of people destroying their own communities in

parts of London. But QED spirit is not completely lost. -- community

spirit is not completely lost. Lucy Siegle went to Wales.

Swansea Canal, built in the late 18th century, originally running

for 60 miles. It is so nice to be outside. And then I look key and it

is full of rubbish. Plastic, cardboard, I can even see a pair of

jeans. Such a shame because this could be properly beautiful and

that is ugly and it says something So today, the locals have brought

their litter pickers and are Do you find lots of bizarre things?

We found a machine gun once! That is true. We drag it out of the

canals. We have also found a cannonball. These bolt cutters,

this is to release a shopping trolley which we found amazingly

padlocked to retreat. It is bizarre, isn't it? -- to the tree. It is

beautiful but nobody wants to see it again so we want to make

everything clean for other people to walk on the pathway. Does it

make you annoyed when you come back and people have put more rubbish?

Yes. If people just throw it in the bin or my cycle it, it would keep

the earth cleaner. -- recycle it. In all honesty, do you think they

will stop? I don't think so but if they do, it will be a very happy

thing for us here. The what we are finding seems to be progressively

more strange! There is a go-kart! It is quite heavy.

Until I have had this experience now, it would not have occurred to

me to go and help to clean a canal out. Is that bad? I know what you

are saying that if you live by it and you see the results you have

got, then it you would come to appreciate it. People have to

realise what they have got. At some point in time, they won't have it.

It is not just the locals who take an interest in this canal. British

Waterways fight a continuous battle to keep the nation's 2200 miles of

canals tidy. The canal is a national treasure. How do you

persuade people to give up their weekend and put rubbish out of a

canal? It is a good way of getting active. It might be pulling rubbish

out that you could also get involved with being a lock keeper,

arranger, as well. Unbelievable. In two hours, volunteers have pulled

all of this rubbish out of the canals. why it was there in the

first place is a different question, but the fact is, it is out, thanks

to all of this hard words. There is always a trolley. I said,

didn't I? Yes. I have seen a few trolleys! I have gone over a three-

piece suite. I saw three televisions once. When we first had

a boat, we had a canal boat, in narrowboat, and my kids were always

on the dead dog watch. No! Dad, it is a dead dog! But went the canals

are not used very much, they become a public dump because they cannot

be seen until they are surfaced. Or until you propeller catches it. I

have pulled off things like underpants! And that is just your

washing. TV celebrities who I have been looking for! As we said, you

and your wife on a journey around Britain for the second series that

will be shown on BBC Four. Yes. were watching it early and you have

got to be mad! Do you a vet regret taking on such a huge feet? I don't

regret it. Sometimes we think, what the hell are we doing here. You do

feel very small when you get onto the sea and especially when you

can't see the land and it is a bit choppy and there is a tanker coming

towards you. It can be quite scary. But when the sea comes down and you

are going around a beautiful place like Porth Dinllaen, which I can

now say and I couldn't before, or Cornwall, the west coast of Wales,

we go across to the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, back to Scotland,

the Caledonian Canal. The privilege of discovering your own country and

the wonderment of the beauty of the place, it is a joy. But you have to

put up with it and occasionally, when we left Milford Haven to go to

Fishguard, it was like being in a biblical sea and I felt very alone

and very experienced! We went backwards at one time for four

hours because I got the tides wrong. You have to learn how to sell

properly. You can learn on the job as it were. It is a good way of

applying your experience. Sometimes I wish somebody would have taught

me how to do something, but in the end, it is a compulsion more than a

desire and we are nearly there! We have done more than three quarters,

I suppose... More than three- quarters of the British Isles. We

are on the home straight. You have seen some beautiful places. Porth

Dinllaen, great pronunciation, As soon as I saw it, up I thought,

it has got to be done. You have to remember, what we are doing is not

a race, it is about discovering. just love it. This could be the

Greek islands, the Caribbean, South America, or even Wales!

It is such a lovely, honest programme about your adventures.

The Queen loves it. So I believe. I believe she applied... She did not

have to apply! She asked to see it. I am sure she knows these places

anyway, but I was chuffed, to know that we are reaching all corners of

the viewers! Your Majesty will be delighted that Timothy Spall is

back, Back At Sea starts on Wednesday night on BBC Four. If you

want to get a good look at a good piece of art, you would expect to

queue up at a gallery. But Tuffers has snuffed out a cracker at the

The stunning of what he did inside this thatched church is nothing

short of remarkable. Today's masterpiece is important, not just

because it is beautiful or old, but because it has survived at all.

Inside the church at Thornham Parva it is an altarpiece which was

painted in the 13 hundreds. -- 1300s. Its original home is thought

to have been with the monks at Thetford Priory, about 20 miles

away. This painting was produced in the 13 30s, and it is the time that

English art reaches its peak. The colours, the flowing lines, the

hands, this was intended as a work of great beauty. But in the 15

hundreds, the masterpiece was in grave danger. King Henry VII

ordered the monastery is be dissolved. Catholic churches and

monasteries across the country were destroyed, along with their

contents, as Henry raged against the Pope's. In the middle of the

16th century, you have a cultural revolution in Europe, hardly

anything survived, perhaps 99% of all art in churches in England was

destroyed at that time. This is such a rare survival. But why was

this painting sped? During its modern restoration, tantalising

clues were discovered, which could explain what really happened when

King Henry's men descended on the altarpiece. If you look closely,

you can see that her eye has been crossed out. Vandalised. In a

specific way, defaced. Who would have done that? A Protestant who

did not like the Catholic world, and who would have destroyed the

entire altarpiece. The Catholic who rescued it probably came to some

kind of agreement, so the damage is very minimal. We are lucky there is

only that small amount of damage. Yes, the vast majority are

destroyed. We suspect it might have been secreted away by a family and

kept in a private chapel. It did not appear again until 1778. It

avoided these poor relations. theory, hidden for private worship,

it is supported by the detailed examination. Fair is a lot more

flesh Pate lost then you would expect. That evidence that it was

kissed, we are almost certain this was bent into a small place, hidden

in a family attic. That is why the paint has been lost. Amazing. The

painting next appeared in 1778. It is known to have been and on salt

lot at auction. From then until 1927, it vanished again. It was

eventually found in a farm building. In a barn. Yes, stored in a stables.

It is lucky it survived at all. could have been thrown on the

bonfire. Given to the church by a local landowner Lord Henniker, who

sought its significance, the altarpiece is a living piece of

history. It's skilful restoration reveals the amazing details of its

story. And the beauty of a lost golden age of British art is now

saved for all to see. With all of its run-ins with fanatics and being

lost for hundreds of years, I think it has got to be the luckiest

painting I have ever seen. Foretaste of the! You are an artist.

I have been known to take to the pencil! Are still do a bit of

drawing. I treat it -- I try to keep my hand. But I think, I cannot

do rate! We have got a game for you. That altarpiece had a great story.

We have got three other artifacts, hidden treasures, and you have got

to guess which story goes with which treasure. Let's play. It is

quite simple. The first clue. A receipt for underwear linked me

with a very famous owner. This is the second one. I was a gift from

Princess Margaret to the person who transformed Mustique into a

millionaire's playground. Finally come up I was found in a charity

shop, and I am worth thousands. You have got 10 seconds. Let's play!

Isa! We have got six seconds left! What is that? Do not worry about

that. Where is the underwear? tell you what, this is unbelievable,

we can reveal that you have got all three bite! -- correct! Yes,

underwear, made out to Mrs Mallowan, Agatha Christie's married name.

These cufflinks were given as a present to Lord Glenconner from

Princess Margaret. They are a bit tasty. I would not have gone for

green. They are worth about 3000. The picture, Lisa, she bought this

picture for �12 from Age Concern, and she had it valued at �3,000!

She is just behind you. What will you spend the money on? White cat

sanctuary in Morecambe. I did not expect that!

We are coming to the end of the hay fever season. More people than ever

are suffering from it. Marty Jopson has the story of the scientist who

discovered why we get the stables. A debilitating condition affects 50

million people in the UK. -- 15 million. The cause of this

midsummer malady was completely unknown. The only clues were the

time of year that it occurred and, for sufferers like me, being

committed to a meadow -- being too near to a meadow would bring gone

and attack, hence the origin of its name, hay fever. In 1873, Charles

Harrison Brackley arrived on the scene. Despite making his own

hayfever worse, he spent 50 years obsessing about the connection

between summer meadows and his own symptoms. At first, he thought that

it was the smell of freshly cut hay that was to blame. But that did not

explain why he still suffered from hay fever in a field full of on cut

hay. He examined the plant and eliminated all but one element

which still cause to symptoms. It had to be the crass flower. Pollen.

Microscopic particles, so small they enter the body as airborne

allergens. In his time, an understanding of the Kenyan system

was non-existent, and allergic reactions were unheard. He had to

prove his theory from scratch, and scratches are what he resorted to.

He devised the first allergy test, almost identical to those used

today. Through each of the drops, we will do a pinprick. A little

pinprick! Let's get this over with! By placing samples of pollen on to

the cut, the skin will swell if I have an allergy to pollen. There

was no reaction to tree pollen, but I am definitely allergic to grass

pollen. He was the first person to describe an allergic reaction. The

biggest mystery was how hayfever stroke sufferers in the city. His

theory was that pollen must be carried great distances by the wind,

so he set about testing for pollen in the upper atmosphere. This is

how he did it, with age huge Kite, loads of stringed and an ingenious

clockwork device that only exposes a sticky pollen catching surface

when it reaches the correct altitude, which in this case is an

astounding 1000 feet. To recreate the stand, we have done more than

play few strings. The Civil Aviation Authority have cleared the

air space. Helping Austin launched the kite is Martin Barber. --

helping us to launch the kite. The sum's raised create warm air, which

lifts pollen high into the atmosphere. Charles Blackley found

more pollen applied that at field level. We had twice as much pollen

and on the ground. This is how pollen from the country was ending

up hundreds of miles away in the cities. Today, predicting pollen

counts is something the Met Office takes very seriously. What is this

machine? This is a pollen trap, a step on from what Charles Blackley

was trying to do. The pump Paul's air in at the breeding rate. We can

forecast the next day, the next five days, are two a month. -- up

to a month. Charles Blackley discovered the cause and a method

for testing sufferers, but he also managed to silence the critics that

did not understand how that was that you could have hayfever when

you were in the middle of the city of Van standing in a meadow full of

grass. Polland, exactly what I am doing. I would like to get out of

this field and go and take my I do not suffer. I am all right. My

sister does. We have had loads of e-mails about what happened with

the riots, loads of you are furious. John M4 code says, having watched

the thugs on the news, it is time the government stood up and took

control. Send in the army. There is no respect for law. Steve in

Sheffield says, the law is too poor, it does not help with the prison

overcrowding. Christine says, what do people expect hefty vicious cuts

made by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats? Violence is not

right, but the government are attacking communities. Catherine

says, more praise should be given to the police. My partner would 22