22/11/2013 The One Show

Hello and welcome to Friday's One Show with Chris "Worsels' fan"

Evans. And Alex, "NKOTB" -- New Kids On The Block Fan. It's Wear Your Old

Band T-shirt to Work Day. See if you can tell who today's guest is by

their t-shirt. Here we go. Clearly, the inner rocker has never

left him, he is taking it on tour. Please welcome, Jack Dee!

Hi. Judas Priest. Are you genuinely a fan of Judas Priest? Judas Priest

for a brief period when I was younger. I talk about it on the DVD,

which is why I'm wearing it today. Can you play Judas Priest on the

mandolin? No, I can't. I do my own songs on the mandolin, I am a singer

songer writer nowadays. We want you to send in pictures of you in your

old band T-shirts. We will show as many as we can at the end of the

show, usually about two! We never leave any time to show them. We

might do three tonight. Let us go for three. It was a big night last

night. You finished this mammoth stint? The tour has been going on

for nearly two years including warmups. Was it relief, sadness?

There is always a thing where you think, I'm looking forward to it

being over. Then you think, what will I do next? I'm in limbo. You

have to see your family. I went on tour because I wanted to spend less

time with my family and talk about them. They have all grown since I've

been been away. You talk about that on tour. It's the perfect way to run

a relationship? From a distance. You text each other. It's great.

Terrible. Miss you too - send. It's done. Perfect way to have a

relationship. All right. You would be hard pressed not know that today

is the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassinations. Months before he was

killed President Kennedy was in East Sussex for a day. The stars of our

next film will never forget. 50 years ago today a gunshot

reverberated around the globe. The world's most powerful man had been

assassinated. Four Sussex schoolboys and an Irish photographer were you

lucky enough to have an encounter the the President before he died.

For the first time since the 1960s the boys are reuniting to share

their memories of meeting JFK. Robert, nice to see you again. It's

a long time. Shall we go in? Let's do that. Tell me about the day that

JFK visited, why was he here? He had been to Europe. He was here for a

weekend before going back to the States to meet Macmillan. It was an

important visit. There was no Chequers, there was Birch Groove.

What do you remember We lined the drive. There was excitement about

this man whom we had heard so much about at the time of the Cuban

Missile Crisis. We were terribly impressed I think by the cars and

the walkie talkies and all that sort of thing. Just terribly exciting.

Look at that one? He looks all powerful. That captures it exactly

as I have it framed in my mind. There are the secret service people.

Lady Dorothy Macmillan. He towered above us. Asked us about the school.

He thanked us for lining the drive. It will live with me me forever

that. That was fantastic. 50 years ago now, it's a bigger point in your

life than you probably realised at the time. Months earlier Kennedy had

also visited Ireland which he saw as his an kestrel home. Stanley Shields

was there to capture the President's emotional visit. Lovely. Fantastic.

I didn't realise I was photographing the most powerful man in the world.

As far as I was concerned, it was another job. All the the other

photographers were taking pictures. There's no point taking his back. I

touched him on the shoulder and said, "Mr President, will you look

this way" he turned round. I got his picture. He got into the car. I

winked at him first, he winked back. Then he nodded his head. I went up

to the car, opened the door, got in, lifted up my camera and there were

two fellas on top of me. Kennedy say, "it's OK, Jim, he's a friend."

They let me go. The two fellas are keeping an eye on me. I think he's

amused by me. It really was a privilege to meet President Kennedy.

I was honoured. He gave me the picture. To this day I treasure

having taken. Here we are, this is the driveway? This is it. I remember

it as bushier. The drive felt three times the length of this at the

time. He would have parked here? About here. We were dotted down each

side. They came for some reason I decided to cross over. He shook

hands with the people on the right and not with the people on the left.

Error! You were on the right! I know that Robert you kept a diary

religiously for the whole year of 1963? I did. There it is. Written in

pencil. That is incredible. An entry for every day of the year. What did

you write on the day you found out he had been assassinated? Friday

22nd November, I used to hate Friday fish, Friday fish was not bad. Ate

it with tomatoes, quite nice. At 7.00pm, heard that President Kennedy

had been shot. Did not believe it until I was told through the radio.

He died at about 7.30pm. Felt very shocked and frightened as to what

was to happen to the world. Super, quite nice hchlt a bath, quite fun.

Aneat join us in the studio. Nice bob. Thank you. The assassination

resonates with people 50 years on, doesn't it? Spending time with those

four Oldboy, the stories they were saying. They explained that at that

time this man had just taken, he had become the leader of the free world.

He was young, dynamic, charismatic. Even though we are in Britain and he

is the President of the USA it affected them as well. He turned up

to Birch Groove, they were in a privileged position where they were

lined up to greet him. He didn't have to stop his limousine and get

out. Charles de Gaulle was there a few months earlier and driven past.

He parked the car up, he shook their hands. He had the common touch. The

charisma oozed out of him. This tall, bronzed man walked towards

them. They felt they were in the presence of somebody great. The You

have someone special with you tonight? Never seen before footage

of the day of the assassination. OK. Never seen before! Let's have a

look. What is this now? This was taken by a chap called Andre Leche.

He had a new camera. He is on the north side of main street. This is

the motorcade coming down with John F Kennedy. It's a minute away when

they turned into Dealey Plaza, where he was assassinated. It's just taken

a minute before the shooting. That has never been seen before. The chap

who took that footage, Andre died in 1987. This year his son was going

through his stuff and found this Kodak box on it was written

"Kennedy." That was fwh it. Incredible. There are o lot of

conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination. Jack, do you believe

hes those theories? No. I read a book about it recently. I think Oz

Oz Oz, he was a loner. -- Lee Harvey Oswald, he was a loner. A sad o, I

don't think he was in league with anyone. A nut case. Is a hankering

to be a better story? That is all it was. He wanted to prove himself to

the world and his wife. He was a failure. I think he was trying to

make his mark. The theories go from the plausible to the ridiculous.

Everybody from the CIA to the mob, to Cuba, the Soviets to Jackie,

sitting next to him. To Vice-President Johnson. So many

conspiracy theories. Have to talk T-shirts. Off you go. The Smiths. It

was one summer, the previous year at school I was the biggest Blockhead!

Yeah. Somebody at school's older brother was into the Smiths, a tape

was being passed around. The next summer I'm not into those sados any

more, I'm into proper music. My teenage years were spent alone

listening to the Smiths. It's hot. Very hot. Come on, girls, focus. A

delightful tale of children's author, Judith Kerr a woman

enchanted by the strangeness of our feline friends. Who better to meet

her than Phil "The Cat" Tuffnell who spent the day listening to her

incredible story. Judith Kerr is a children's author whose books have

been bestsellers for almost 50 years. She is the lady who created

the hugely successful Mog the Forget Cat and The Great Granny Gang. She

wrote the books and illustrated them as well. Her first book, The Tiger

Who Came To Tea, has never been out of print and was written in 1965.

What has been the secret of your success? I was very lucky when I

started because it was just the beginning of a great interest in

picture books because realised that they were very important for helping

children to read. The tiger was a story I made up for my little

daughter when she was two going on three. The story centres on a tiger

who pay as surprise visit to Sophie and eats all the food in the house.

Somehow Judith researches her illustrations has changed

considerably since her first book. I used to go to the zoo to draw

tigers. Now you can Google it. Wonderful. You can Google "open

mouthed tigers" a whole lot of open-mouthed tigers come up. Her

writing is not always fictional. Her 1971 book, When Hitler Stole Pink

It. My father was a well-known writer in Germany. He was witty and

made fun of Hitler and warned people against him very early on. He was

second on Hitler's Hit List. Six months before they came into power

they published a list of people in their Nazi newspaper and these were

people they said, when we come to power we will stand these people up

against the wall and shoot them. My dad was second on the list. It

wasn't really a good place to stay. We got out. We got across the

frontier and got to Switzerland. Terrible for my parents. They lost

everything. The What made you write Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit? I thought

I would write this book to try and explain what it was like. Tells the

story of a family fleeing the Nazis. It's a set text in many schools. In

Germany they have to write essays about it. I used to hate writing

essays about books. I don't think they make them do here, which is

nice. As a child she didn't have a pet. Her children had many. One in

particular inspired her Mog The Forgetful Cat series. I was

fascinated by all the things she did. They are weird cats. They do

odd things. She did all these things. She wanted her super. She

would the sit on the telly and hang her tail down in front of the

screen. I thought I would do a book about all the things this cat did.

You are not afraid to tackle difficult subjects. You killed off

Mog, didn't you? Well, I mean, pets do die. Upset a few people, didn't

it? It was very funny because when I asked in the shops after it was out,

people told me that the children all took it in their stride but the mums

all wept. Judith is a master when it comes to illustrating cats. I'm

wondering how my drawing will measure up. Where would we start? I

start with the head. Yes. Eyes. Smile. Yes. And ears. And then the

tail. What do you think of my chap? Unusual. It's square! I quite like.

It Sort of essence of cat. That's what I'm getting. I could sit here

drawing cats with you all day. Well, why not! Why not! Meow! It's like a

bear cat. You drew a bear. It wasn't very good. He is a spin bowler, they

are all crazy. Let us see yours? It's the first cat I have ever

drawn. I don't believe you. I drew the body, I ran out of space for the

ears. They aren't very big. Monster Cat! A slit for a mouth? He has a

bowl there. The mouth does open. Right, good. You will see that cat

again on the Doctor Who Special tomorrow night. It was hard to

choose a clip from your DVD? Normally it's impossible to find a

funny bit from a DVD. Local handy man, no job too small. To me, that

is like a challenge. I rang him up. I said, I got your flyer, I wonder

if you could please come over because I've got a pencil that needs

sharpening. Jack, small ads, you meet a Japanese tourist asking for

directions, that is funny. Buying paracetamols is that funny. Can you

make everything funny? With me, it's the tiny stuff. That is what I like

to focus on. Big stuff, on the news, it writes its own comedy. Everyone

can figure their own jokes. I like to go in for stuff under your nose

and make you laugh about that. That is what I've done. Do you have a go

at some subjects. They seem so mundane? Sometimes. I did stuff

about religion and conspiracy theories, those are big subjects.

They don't expand for me in the same way that just little tiny stuff

does. I love to completely unpack. That is where I've got the most fun.

I think the audience have with me. Can we talk about your gumpiness?

Everyone knows you are pretty grumpy. A little bit miserable. The

Me! ? We think you might be in a a transitional phrase you could go

content or super grumpy? I'm not happy with this grumpy description.

Never heard that before? No. The next tour I will call it No More Mr

Nice Guy. I will show people my true nature, it will be ugly. Do you fear

contentment, it isn't funny at all? If I get contentment, I have had it.

I make the point of never being happy or satisfied with anything.

Jane, my wife will say, do you want to go to the restaurant? I say, is

it nice? She says yes, I'm not interested. I'm not interested in

nice times. This is the first DVD that your twins can legally watch.

What do they make? -- make of it? They are now 15. One of my boys eats

Coco Pops. He said, you could have told me not to. I felt dreadful as

he was enjoying them. Python is getting back together, have you got

an opinion? Why would they want to do that. They are legends. Good

luck. They are my heroes. I think, you have made your mark. You have

done your best thing possible. I hope it's fun. Would you buy a

ticket? If I could, I would. It would be sold-out, what is the point

of trying! They will sell-out too quickly. You would Raith ter would

sell-out and you couldn't get a ticket. Everything I want to go

sells out too quickly. I really have to work to sell my tickets. You said

goodbye to like two years worth of material last night. I asked you

about some of the routine. It's almost like you have already deleted

it. You couldn't remember last night's - into no, it has gone out

of my head. You said - what comes after that bit? I'm like, I don't

know. It's gone now. It will probably never come back. I don't

keep it in my head. Unless I'm on the stage, then I'm living it again.

It comes back. Then it flows. Hopefully you haven't forgotten how

to play the mandolin. Why did you learn? For the tour. I had an idea

for a song. I played guitar. The guitar is like I'm taking myself too

seriously. I bought a mandolin. The song is on the DVD. I will be able

to say this is from my latest album! It is. I bought a mandolin. When you

are on tour you have spare time. Prove you can play it then? Do you

want a little bit of it? Yes, if you don't mind.

What are you doing? ! Having fun. Jack Dee, come on, let's hear it it

for Jack. I was getting into that, they ruined it. That is your talent.

We found out earlier that Chris does have a talent. OK, blink and you

will miss it. OK. It's a wood pigeon. Often mistake as an owl by

people from your dressing room. There may be over a million of them

but the pigeon is perhaps the most overlooked bird in the UK. Yes,

surprisingly this unassuming animal has contributed towards human

civilisation in more ways than any other species of bird. The pigeon's

rich history hasn't always been associated with their reputation of

fly vermon. Darwin studied and wrote expensively about the pigeon and

they became decorated national heroes during both world wars. The

pigeon is in fact a hugely important and successful bird. Maybe it just

needs to be looked at differently. One person who does have an

enlighten views of pigeons is Adam Rogers. He has been investigating

some of the reasons for their success. These pigeons are

fantastic. They have an image problem, I reckon. If you look at

them, they are amazingly intelligent gent species. They have a sense of

self. They can recognise their own reflection in a mirror on a TV

screen. That puts them up there with dolphins, elfants, Why are they

successful in the urban environment? Our urban environment with our

high-rise flats and buildings is a perfect replica where they would

have come from. They breed all year round. The pigeon's agility has

helped in their success. They are surprisingly athletic. Their strong

flight muscles give them power and they can access the city's nooks and

crannies and they can escape easily from predators. They can take off

almost vertically. We have decided to take a closer look at this

special skill in the most urban of settings. We have brought along a

time slice rig, 4 mini cameras and slow motion camera. We can freeze

and move around the, action, usually only in a semi circle. We are are

able to get the full 360 degree look. We will not rely on a wild

pigeon. This is S MUGE. It takes a lot of energy to achieve

that vertical takeoff. It happens in the blink of an eye. With our

cameras, we can reveal their flight in much more detail. Leaping into

the air is the start. Next raising their wings until they meet in a

loud clap and peeling them apart again, it creates air pressure

differences that almost suck the bird into the air. Pigeons share

something in common with the much more specialised hummingbirds. They

can generate significant lift on the wings upstroke as well as the down

stroke. Pausing the action reveals that the vertical body position

during her high energy assent. This is happening on every stroke of her

rapid wing beat. Every beat is seven times faster than a human blink.

Seeing them like this, you can't help but admire this avain acrobat.

Next time you are out shopping, why not take a moment to appreciate what

a fabulous bird the pigeon is. They really are our urban hummingbirds.

Thank you very much. The Now, they do wonderful things at University

College London, one of them is in the studio right now, it is a pigeon

simulator. Jack here has been tasked with trying it out. Why does Britain

need a pigeon simulator? We are trying to make London smart and the

UK smart and every time you use your phone, every time you tweet you let

a little bit of your self-out. We can grab that, grab your location

and learn about how places work. Let us give it a go then. Jack is the

pigeon. We are at London Bridge. Jack, your task is to fly home to

the Apollo. The Put your arms directly out. Like a pigeon. You are

flying around. You can flap to go higher. This isn't a joke. Jack is

controlling this. It's not a joke, I can do that. He can zoom, lean

forward, dive. If I see rubbish, can I go down and have a bit of a meal?

Find the Apollo. It's your spiritual home. It's on tonight. You are going

east. You are going west. What is the purpose then of this? Left,

Jack, left. I don't look stupid, do I? You are going round in circles.

I'm a confused pigeon. I haven't done this before. They are putting

it in schools. It will go into classrooms. We are viewing it as a

learning tool. They do fantastic work which is putting information

into the world. We want them to fly about it in a new and fun way to

learn about place, space and geography. You look like you are

having more fun? I'm enjoying it. I always wanted to do this. Do you

have fly dreams? Don't stop! Andrew, if someone tried to buy this off you

for million pounds It's completely free. It's all out there. Can you

come here and we will do these band t-shirt things. You have Judas

Priest there. Thank you, Andy. That was great. The Undertones shirt

there. This is Martin. This is with his Judas Priest. Here's Rosie and

her dad in his ACD t-shirt. His brand new DVD is very funny. It's

Hardenne to get a very funny comedy DVD. So What? Is out now. Kids are

going to love this. What is happening over the weekend? Lots of

different things over the weekend. On Monday we will be back with

Esther Rantzen. It's the 40 anniversary of the That's Life.

Don't miss Doctor Who tomorrow night. Goodbye.