13/03/2018 The One Show

Hello and welcome to

The One Show with Matt Baker.

And Angellica Bell.

It's day two of the Mother

of All Challenges.

Yesterday,

we saw Alex and her team of mums

bravely take to the freezing

cold water of Loch Ness for an open

water swim to raise money

for Sport Relief and awareness

of maternal health.

And well, it's all been

uphill since then.

They are in the Lake District now.

Join us later to find out what

happened when the final verse set

out to climb Helvellyn as part of

our Mother of all Challenges. It's

not pretty.

Thanks, Alex.

And with cycling through the Lake

District still to look forward to,

tonight we'll also be meeting

the man who designed this

bike, the Raleigh Chopper.

This is not the man who designed it.

He is an expert who will be teaching

us how to knee a how to knee a

Chopper later.

As for our guest, well, she's

another Alex who doesn't like to shy

away from a challenge.

From taking on the X Factor

judges to owning that

Strictly dancefloor

via the West End stage,

she's even found time

to write a new album -

It's Alexandra Burke!

Thanks for having me.

Are you up for

a wheelie later's eye am so up for

it.

My heels will be coming off, but

I am up for the challenge. I think

are going to fall down and it will

be hilarious.

First,

congratulations. You got engaged!

Thank you! I definitely didn't

expect it and I am still in shock

now. But it was an amazing moment

for Josh and I, so I am very happy.

This was how you announced the news

to the world.

Very dramatic.

This is

a story I have not told anyone. My

family didn't know, so I had to tell

them personally face-to-face before

I told everyone else. But I wanted

to keep that moment with the family

and his family and celebrate with

everyone in a peaceful way and then

announce it, because I think people

had guessed. My hand was hiding all

the time.

You were also hiding the

man. Tell us about him.

Such a great

guy. I met him on The Bodyguard.

Believe it or not, he wouldn't talk

to me for months. He's a very shy

person. It took months to get to

know him and he is such a great

person. I am very pleased that God

introduced me to someone so

beautiful.

So it's like a musical in

real life. You are going to be

talking about your album later and

your return to the West End stage.

Now, going to the theatre, gig or

concert should be a great night out

for everyone, so why is it that one

section of society often have to pay

more to book their tickets?

Steve

Brown has been to shine a spotlight

on the problem.

It's midweek in the West End of

London and the bright lights and

billboards are drawing in audiences

to the hit shows. These days, there

is nothing to stop wheelchair users

seeing shows like these like anybody

else. I know I love it. But there is

one small problem, and that is the

way you buy your tickets. Last

November, Fiona Jordan from Teesside

decided to get tickets for her and

her husband Donovan to see Peter Kay

at Newcastle's Metro radio Arena.

As

you get older, you dip your biscuit

in it, you don't know when it's

going to fall.

And you panic. I

can't book online because I need a

wheelchair space. And Jonathan needs

a carer ticket to come with me.

And

those are not available online.

Normally, Fiona books at the box

office in person, but she says the

Peter Kay tickets were released on

Sunday, when it was closed, she

dialled the arena's accessibility

line.

After an hour, the telephone

line went dead, so I had to queue

again for an hour, and again.

Frustrating and expensive. That is

because the Arena's accessibility

line was a business rate number,

which meant calls to cost up to 7p a

minute. That was on top of the

company's access charge, which for

Fiona was 11p a minute.

My phone

bill was about £20. It then went up

to £48 after the next few days.

After four days, Fiona managed to

get tickets, but then Peter Kay

cancelled his entire UK tour for

family reasons.

I was hoping that

when the concert was cancelled, the

call charges would also be refunded

along with the ticket charges, but

that is not happening. I find it

unfair that I had to pay these core

charges.

According to research by

the fair telecoms campaign, more

than 15 venues and ticket agents

across the country used business

rate lines to sell accessible

tickets, and many more don't offer

online booking. So how can things be

improved? Here at London's

roundhouse, they are making sure

people with disabilities are not

disadvantaged. The venue has been

working with a charity called

attitude is everything. Their chief

executive tells me about the

challenges that some disabled people

face.

It could be that people can't

get through on the booking lines and

they are spending a lot of money.

They want to book online but that is

not on offer.

So what do you want?

We want the venues, ticket sellers

and artists to get together and

understand that there needs to be

flexibility of choice online, in

person and phoning up. If people

still prefer to phone up, then there

must not be these business rate

phone lines.

So how does it work at

the Roundhouse? Claire Griffin chose

me their online ticketing system.

You can see these little icons for

the wheelchair. Then you can click

on that. You are selecting one

ticket, but it gives you two so you

can bring somebody with you.

So the

process I go through would be no

different from anybody else. Looks

simple enough, so why aren't all

venues providing this option? It's a

question I want to put it ( from the

Society of ticket agents and

retailers.

We are seeing an increase

in online booking. And we leave the

phone lines as well as over the

venue can retain that conversation

with the customer. Collectively, the

industry is focused on how to make

improvements. It is coming soon.

So

what about the venue where Fiona

tried to buy her Peter Kay tickets?

We contacted the Metro radio Arena

and their ticketing partner event

they told us that she had a man to

see the comedian meant all methods

of buying tickets were busy even

though their access line was

stuffed. They have since introduced

a cheaper number as well as an

e-mail address to book access

tickets, and in the future they aim

to provide online booking for

disabled customers and their

companions. Speaking to people

today, I realised that there is no

real reason why you should have to

phone business rate lines to be

booking accessible tickets. You

could even do it online. Surely it's

just about choice.

So the Roundhouse are leading by

example. Let's hope there is

progress from other venues soon.

Alexandra, you have appeared in the

West End before, but you are going

back?

Yes, I am going to be doing

Chess! I can't wait. I do miss The

Bodyguard and I missed Sister act as

well, because I did those

back-to-back. It was tough, but I

can't wait to start Chess, with

Michael Ball. I am playing his wife.

I saw him the other day and went,

hey, future husband. Then I said, we

do have a child together? He said

yeah, and I said, I want the right

baby to come on board to look like

it is actually our child, and he

couldn't stop laughing. I look

forward to doing something

different. There is no acting in

this, it's just a score, a beautiful

score to sing. And it's so different

for me. Any West End show that

people expect me to do, they don't

expect me to do this. I didn't. Said

to be asked to do an iconic show,

I'm like, let's give it a go.

You

are all about music at the moment.

You have an album out called The

Truth Is. And it has taken quite a

while to come to fruition. Why?

I

started writing this album in 2013,

and then some of the songs got

scrapped because they are not how I

am feeling now. I called it The

Truth Is because it has been nearly

ten years since I won the X Factor

and it was amazing, but so much has

changed in my life and along that

journey of writing, I felt like I

was getting caught into that trap.

Somebody asks you how you are and

you go, I'm fine, everything's

great, and that is not reality. I

don't want to show those who have

supported me the side to me but is

no longer there are trying to keep

up. I wanted to keep it real and be

honest about what I'm going through

in terms of my family and my life.

So much has changed but hopefully,

it will inspire people so that if

they are ever going through

something, be open. Talk about it.

You just want to be honest.

I want

to talk about what I have been

through in the last few years and

hopefully inspire others to do the

same and not shy away from your

reality.

Has this been your way of

coping with what has happened to

you?

It has now that I am releasing

it. At the moment, the way I'm

coping with everything is through

work. I throw myself into work and

some people say that is not healthy,

but that is my coping mechanism. But

being on stage, seeing my fans and

going on tour, that is what makes me

happy. I want to perform. My mum

always told me to keep going, so I

am trying my best.

You mentioned

your mum and the title track from

The Truth Is is a tribute to your

mother.

Yes, it's a song that I

wrote whilst she was unwell. And it

was tough to do that, but thankfully

I have great people around me to get

those feelings out, pen to paper,

and be as honest as possible.

Everyone goes through heartbreak.

Everyone goes through things that

change your life, maybe not for the

better. But I am hoping I can find

my night at the end of the tunnel.

For now, I'm doing what she asked of

me, keep going.

How did you get it?

I am still going through it, if I'm

honest. But I'm trying to do it in

her honour and for my family.

What

do your family make of that song?

Only my brother has heard it,

because I play him everything. But

now some of my family have heard it.

They wanted to hear it with the rest

of the world when it was released,

which is nice. It's a very deep

album. I don't want it to sound

depressing. There are heartbreak

songs, but there are happy songs as

well and it's a mixture of

everything I'm going through and

putting it out there for the world

to hear, which is causing anxiety.

It's a different sound.

I am happy

to put out an album. It has been so

long. I am in a good place to go for

it.

Come Friday, it's out there. And

Chess previews from the 26th of

April and it will be on the London

Coliseum. Of luck.

Now, it's not

just Alexandra's mum who is an

inspiration. All our mums taking

part in the Mother of all Challenges

for Sport Relief have overcome some

massive hurdles in their lives.

Every day, they are taking on a

different challenge and each day, it

is getting harder. Here is how they

got on with Dave two in the Lake

District, scaling the heights of

Helvellyn.

The mums I am doing this challenge

with have all been through their own

personal difficulties, pre-and

post-childbirth, and felt in need of

support.

I realised I wasn't happy

to stop but I didn't realise I had

postnatal depression.

I just didn't

have that connection you feel you

should have as a mother.

I was

devastated. I couldn't stop crying.

So many mums are struggling.

On the

second day of the Mother of all

Challenges, we are very much a

supportive unit, and we need to be

because quite literally, we have a

mountain to climb. Helvellyn is 950

metres above sea level. The good

news is that the mountains are

shrouded in cloud.

They will be

climbing over 650 metres, so it's

very steep. You have to appreciate

where we are and the dangers. The

environment makes a difference. In

the summer, Helvellyn is a wonderful

climb. In winter, it makes it much

more difficult.

And as we feared,

the weather begins to take a turn

for the worse. Debbie, who is 51 and

our oldest mum, is already finding

the steepness an issue.

They did say

the first mile was hard, but it is.

They weren't joking.

What is your

motivation?

There are so many

motivations.

Give it your best shot.

I am proud of you, mum.

Don't want

to let myself down or my group.

Fingers crossed.

I can't even

crossed my fingers! As we go higher,

conditions underfoot become tricky.

Whoa!

And our visibility is minimal.

We are just concentrating on looking

down, making sure your feet are on

the right path. The back of my

thighs are burning.

How soon did you

girls go back to exercising after

giving birth?

I went out running

really soon after my C-section,

which is highly advised. It only

served to shock me more and show me

that I was still understandably

miles from the person I was before I

got pregnant. My body just didn't

work like it used to.

It doesn't

cooperate.

The blue thirds started and it got

colder and colder. Three quarters of

the way up, we went silent, the talk

finished. The weather gets so bad,

we were forced to change route.

There is a steep drop of on both

sides. Unfortunately, we are going

up, we will make the summit, appear

behind us.

It is a huge blow. There

is no time for slacking because we

still have a long way to go.

You

have got snow, you are disappearing

into holes, it is not what I

expected. I thought we would get

rocks and things.

Climbing, you put

one foot in front of the other and

whatever you are going and do not

trip.

OK, sweetheart? As we near the

top, Debbie starts to struggle, but

this is a team effort.

Go at your

pace, do not rush.

Take your time.

After four hours of climbing, Debbie

finally leads us to the summit.

Here

we go! Yes!

Good effort.

Thank you.

You are at the summit.

You are at the summit. Almost 2500

feet above sea-level. They have done

incredible.

One, two, three...

Tomorrow is another day.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE. Get in. Well

done, Debbie. Berlin to getting them

up there. That was fantastic. Lovely

to see their families there.

If you

have been inspired, Alex has the

numbers you need to make a donation.

We have made it to the summit after

are second challenge, so if there is

anyone out there who would like to

support The Mother Of All

Challenges, you can donate £5.

Challenges, you can donate £5. You

can donate £5, £10 or £20.

Thank

you. Beautiful views up there.

LAUGHTER.

LAUGHTER.

Text will cost your

tradition and your standard message

charge and all the donations will go

to Sport Relief. Please ask the

permission of the bill player.

You

can also go to the website to

donate. All of this is to raise

money for a vital Sport Relief

projects, web are challenge focusing

on maternal health. One of our mums,

Leigh has been to Carlisle to see

how your donations can offer help

and support to mothers struggling to

cope. Everyone knows how physically

tough giving birth is, but a lot

less said about the fake -- the

effect can have mentally.

Experiencing mental health issues

and doubting your own instincts is

difficult for a mother, that added

to the fact that you have a baby to

look after, it can be devastating.

The majority of women experience

these problems downplay the

severity, which is why just

attending a place like Happy Mums

can help.

We offer a peer support,

being surrounded by other women who

are going through something similar,

but is really powerful in given new

hope. Maybe for the first time

realising that you will get better

and it is possible to recover.

What

support do you get?

We could not

have run the number of groups or

have the creche if we did not get

funding from Sport Relief. More

women can access our services.

Having a baby should be a joyous

moment for any mum but for the

70,000 women who experience

postnatal depression every year, it

can be a time of anxiety. Something

Mary experienced after giving birth

to her daughter.

The first step down

was the sleep deprivation, it could

have been that I would just pop back

up, but I did not. It was like

Jekyll and Hyde. You become this

angry monster. And my daughter was

there and she needs care and love

and patience. My good friend asked

if I had heard of Happy Mums

Foundation, because I needed

support. Going to the group, one

person in particular help me, she

had a similar experience. And the

way she spoke about it, I felt so

relieved. We only met once.

Amy and

her husband Ross were ecstatic when

they fell pregnant with their son

William but after a traumatic birth,

coming home was not how she

imagined.

I was trying to

breast-feed but did not realise he

was not getting anything from me and

I could not figure out why he was

hungry and there was a commentary

going on in my head telling me I was

a failure, I could not even feed my

own baby. I started to hear stronger

voices and hallucinations that they

were telling me that I had to

restore order. I used to take

everything out of the cupboards and

line it up on the kitchen floor, all

the crockery, cups, glasses, plates,

knives and forks. I remember phoning

my friend and saying, I don't think

I am very well. I just could not

cope any more.

Amy was diagnosed

with postpartum psychosis, a serious

illness which can make some women

feel suicidal. A B received urgent

medical care and was persuaded to

attend Happy Mums Foundation by her

health visitor.

She was really quite

insistent that I should give it a

go. I reluctantly went to the first

support group and the work they have

done with me is fantastic. I cannot

put it into words. Amazing.

Incredible. Inspirational.

It was

the best medication I could have

had. As mums, it is our instinct to

help others but sometimes it is so

difficult to ask for help for

ourselves. £20 could experience for

four mothers to attend a support

session. Please donate what you can.

Well, that is just one of the many

good reasons that you can donate if

possible. Tomorrow they will be

cycling through the lake District

but not on one of these. This was

the 1 million as Raleigh Chopper to

come off the production line since

its launch 50 years ago.

It is

beautiful! Gold as well. Michael has

been to meet the man who designed

it.

it.

Marble run designer Tom Caron

has had a lifelong passion for

inventing. 50 years ago he played a

part in the creation of another

British design classic. A child's

bike so revolutionary that if

anything it is just as cold today as

it was back then. The Raleigh

Chopper. -- cool.

I was desperate to own one, my

neighbour had a red one and I was so

jealous because the Chopper was the

perfect bike to perform a trick that

if you were a kid of the 70s was a

vital to. In the 1960s as more and

more families were able to afford

cars, adult bicycle sales at rally

were plummeting, so the company said

its sights on the lucrative

children's market and looked to the

Californian coastline for

inspiration. Movies like easy Rider,

the dragsters and 70s Formula 1

cars, not to mention the glorious

sunshine of West Coast America all

influenced the design of the

Chopper. It featured a log sprung

back seat, pretend disc brakes, high

rise handlebars and chunky

mismatched tyres. Even had a gear

stick like one of those big American

muscle cars, all of the flamboyant

parts were designed to appeal to

kids like me who dreams one day of

owning a motorbike and cruising down

the Californian highway. Who was

credited with this design has been a

contentious issue for more than 50

years. Alan Oakley, design director

at Raleigh was originally set to be

its creator. On a fact-finding

mission to the US, he found

inspiration in a bike called the

stingray, but although the Chopper

was influenced by this bike, Raleigh

acknowledges the part of Tom Curran

in its design. It took me a while

before I realise that they launched

without me and they gave us no

credit, but also the lady that was

in marketing at the time, and she

phoned me one day and said, we

concocted the story of Allan.

Then

she said, I warn you, he has

repeated it so often, he probably

believes it to be true.

The 1968

sketches would eventually become the

Chopper we all know and love.

I was

very keen on the big wheel at the

back, nice straight tubes, this

seat, which was like that. And the

handlebars and the disc brake. That

is what made the Chopper.

Tom's

original designs are now in the

archives of the Victoria and Albert

Museum. Raleigh went of to sell a

million Chopper is in the 1970s but

production stopped in 1979.

Affordable tees, the infatuation

lives on. Father and son have been

collecting the bikes for 17 years

and today they have more than 50 and

they regularly use their customised

models for the daily commute.

I

think every little bit on the bike

was so different from what ever else

had been out there in the past. It

was a way forward, it was space age.

When you ride one of these around

town, do people stop but?

All the

time, when you are riding along, all

you can hear is people talking about

it. If we have time, we talked to

everyone and anyone, because you

never know what stories people will

tell you.

What is the holy Grail?

We

have a ten speed model here. That is

about £2000 and it came from a swamp

in India.

Why are people so

fanatical about it?

It put you back

40 years ago, in the days when life

was just a wheelie.

For a big kids

like me, even in 50 years' time, the

Chopper will always be what Tom

Curran intended, super fun to write.

Lovely. Jake and make are here all

with some Chopper fans.

Look at the

patio. It looks amazing. You may

have heard Michael saying that the

ultimate dream was to wheelie one of

these. Aaron here set the world

record for the longest wheelie, it

was on a mountain bike, in one hour.

How far did you manage to do it in

one hour? 8.17 miles. Eight miles!

That sounds crazy. What is the

secret to a good long wheelie?

This

secret is loads of practice. Keep

calm, as you pedal, keep your hands

straight. If you keep the bike

parallel with your shoulders, it

will stop been to one side and keep

a smooth pedal on. If it feels like

you will drop over the back...

Can

you show us? There we are.

you show us? There we are. Wheelie

good.

Wheelie awesome. This is how

you do it.

you do it.

It is almost time for us

to go but thank you to Alexandra

Burke, her album is out on Friday.

I

am touring and the details are on my

website.

Tomorrow we will be talking

to Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Let's

go.

go.

Wait for a! I was going to!

LAUGHTER.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE. Well done!

Alex, looking forward to see how you

get on.

Here we go.

He was

practising. Watch out!