28/09/2012 The One Show

Incredible isn't it? It is. What a story that is. Twock the Friday one

show with Chris Evans. And Alex Jones. A comedian who had his first

and only press scandal age five, which is here in this paper, Sunday

people, July 31st, 1977, a very young Lee McKillop who'd been

bitten by a German Shepherd dog and received compensation. He grew up

to be Lee Mack! Thafrpblgts's the scar. I didn't get compensation

actually. It says in here you did. It's almost like the paper's made

stories up. What had you done to warrant the security dog coming

after you. Compensation in both cases and Mr Perry caims Securicor

employees have been attacked -- claims. Maybe you got it and your

mum and dad spent it. Why did he attack you? We were in a shopping

centre, me and my brother, sliding down the escalate oreor. They

hadn't figured out how to put those things on to stop you sliding down?

That's right. The dog decided to bite me. I said yeah whatever, I

was cool then, took me to hospital... I can't remember

security companies having guard dogs. Do you think it might have

been a man dressed as a dog? don't know what it was. Maybe night

watchman but in a shopping centre?! I think they stopped doing it

because they kept biting children. I don't know if you read about it.

In Lee's new autobiography, there's more on that. Given the weather

this week, you would be forgiving for curse Agnew cloud on the

horizon, but for one man, it's great news. We have Gavin Pretor-

Pinney over here, he's a guy with his head in the clouds permanently,

but he needs your help. It's a big cloud deal. It's a bit cloudy. I

don't suppose I need these. Well, it is nearly October.

Clouds can reflect our mood, enhance the landscape juxta suppose

our mood or present a downpour. We are at the forefront of the

research when there's a cloud on the block. Introducing undulatus

asperatus. Gavin Pretor-Pinney of the UK-based Cloud Appreciation

Society, a few years ago, looked at it. In 2006, we got some

photographs sent in from Cedar Rapids. People started sending in

more pictures, so we've got a lot of them but not enough. Who named

it, because it's an interesting name isn't it? A bit strange?

I came up with it, a Latin name, asperatus means roughened. And und

lating for the other word -- undulating? Yes. Why does it

matter? One of the things, when you name something, you pay attention

to it so. To notice apay attention to it, to try and understand and

it's an ongoing process, understanding. Identifying and

naming is part of that process of understanding our environment.

It was British chemist Luke Howard later regarded as the father of

meteorology who first used Latin to name clouds, cumulus stratus and

cirrus. Gavin is working with Professor

Gyles Harrison here at the university of Reading's meteorology

department to build a case for a new cloud. What are we looking at

here? A A computer simulation of what a cloud would look like.

is it then, job done, this is a cloud? We have got an artist's

impression, but to really nail it, we need detailed observations in

these clouds when we are sure that's the right type of cloud.

difficulties of gathering weather data isn't the only thing stopping

undulatus asperatus status. It could be down to you and your

camera now to get some photographs of clouds and to have them named.

Revie was not banned from football for racism, ban ford taking another

job. Not that much of a big deal. Cloud quickly! Gavin is here,

undulatus asperatus, we could claim it as the people's cloud? The first

example of cloud crowd sourcing, because what we really need is more

examples of this cloud. If with get enough of them, we get enough of a

body of evidence for this cloud, it could become official and could

become official by people sending in photos, people who enjoy looking

at the sky and appreciating the clouds. The One Show people are

very good at this. You will be deluged by half seven. If you think

you have a photo of this new cloud, send a photo of within and where it

was taken which is very important. You will gather that evidence and

who will you take it to, who ticks the new loud box? The people who

decide whether a cloud classification is official is the

World Meteorlogical Organisation, based in Geneva. Nothing happens in

a hurry there, but in order to be made official, it needs to get into

this, the International Cloud Atlas and it's a nerdy book, it's not a

page-Turner. How does it end?! a storm. Yay! And it's got all the

official classifications in there. So you have to get it in here. The

last time they did an edition of this was 1975. They are just

thinking of doing a new edition. Nebs month, they have their meeting

-- next month. There's a chance they'll do another one. Perfect

timinging and we need the help. Will you take The One Show viewers'

pictures for evidence? If there are some good pictures in there, yes.

Give us your clouds now! Next, as a doctor of mechanical

engineering, you would is thought that Maggie Aderin Pocock liked

watching things being built. But she's brought down a chimney, a

tower block. So what's next quaking in its boots on her hit-list?

motorway bridge, now you see it now you don't. This 1,500 Tonbridge

that spanned the M1 for 50 years really did disappear overnight. But

how do you pull off a trick like that? The story starts 15 hours

earlier. It's Saturday night on the M1 outside Toddington in

Bedfordshire. But it's not a typical Saturday night.

It feels really odd to be walking along an empty stretch of motorway.

Usually, 130,000 cars whizz down here every day. But tonight, it's

closed because the bridge behind me has come to the end of the road.

In 1959, drivers on the brand-new M1 marvelled at the space age

design of these modern bridges. But 50 years on, this particular bridge

has been replaced. I'm standing on the new bridge

which, awhrong the new slip roads, has been built to accommodate the

increasing amount of traffic coming coming on to the motorway. So that

bridge needs to disappear quickly. The quickest way to get rid of it

would be to blow it up. It was built by pouring cement around a

steel frame. Giant chunks could damage the road, even with the

floor laid to protect it. Demolition expert Noel McLean is in

charge of the operation. Bringing all that weight down at once is too

high risk to impact on the carriageway so we'll talk it apart

in small bits at a time. We need monster machines to break up

concrete and steel. These machines are known as hydraulic breakers.

They act like a pneumatic drill. Each one can exert 300 tonnes of

pressure on to the bridge. That smashes the concrete into

smithereens. Ten of these giants have just 15 hours to take 1,500

tonnes of road bridge to pieces. It's 9 o'clock on Saturday night.

The road needs to be open by noon the next day.

They've been at it for about 20 minutes now. You can see how

they're ripping through it. Those machines are incredibly powerful.

We are one hour in and the team is forming ahead. The men and machines

need to demolish over 100 tonnes of road bridge every hour to keep on

schedule. It may look as if this bridge has been torn apart totally

randomly but that's not the case. The machines on either side are

working their way inwards. As it's a single piece of concrete, if one

side becomes heavier than the other, it could tip over and collapse.

This will dislodge the large slabs of concrete they've been trying to

avoid. So all the machines are carefully coordinated by Noel.

That's a really difficult balancing act. They want to get the bridge

down as quickly as possible, at the same time the machines need to work

in Unison. After three hours, the main span of the bridge has gone.

Huge lights illuminate the site as the workers push on through the

night. By the morning, the bridge is

completely down. With two hours left to go, they are scraping up

the rubble And pushing it off to the side which they'll deal with

later. The focus now is to clear the motorway as soon as possible

and get that traffic flowing. The debris is cleared but there's still

a job to be done. The hard floor has to come up. The road needs to

be cleaned. The central reservation is replaced. Time to release the

traffic and let the cars through. They've finished the with just

under one hour to spare. Most motorists will be oblivious to

the work of the demolition team who've made an entire bridge

disappear overnight. Lee's here, Mack The Life. The new

book, what is it called, super Thursday? The phrase super Thursday,

yes. There was one book behind the counter on the floor, one of my

books. I said to the woman, I don't know anything about marketing or

selling, but that's not going to sell it. It has a style, a format,

we like it. Tell people who don't know? I decided at the end of the

autobiography, Chris - good question, glad you asked it - that

it didn't dig deep enough so I took to it a psychiatrist and she could

analyse me after it. She diagnosed me with ADHD. Only went for a bit

of light fun, now I've come away with ADHD, means I can't focus or

concentrate. You go in with it though? What?! You didn't know

whether it was a good or bad thing? It givious a good excuse because

when your wife says what are you doing staring out the window

instead of feeding the kids, you go "I've got an illness, love"

have published the analysis in the book? It's the real recordings of

the conversations I had with her and I put it in script form.

say her even though you call her Brian? Give her a bit of anonymity.

I said do you want to be known or not and she said no, I want to be

anonymous, so I said I'll call you Brian. I mention in the book that

she's Jedward's cousin, which is true. That blows the anonymity a

little bit unless Jedwards have loads of cousin who is are

psychiatrists. How did that come out? In the chat I said tell me

about you and she said I'm Jedward's cousin. It's like

Hannibal electric for, tell me about you. It's strange isn't it?

Yes, but she was great. Anyway, but she had a problem with you didn't

show because you gave her the name Brian but she thought you were the

problem because you changed your name to Lee Mack. As you saw from

the newspaper article, when I was in the papers as Lee McKillop, it

resulted in dogs biting me. Since I've been Lee Mack, there's been no

assaults by Alsatians. The dog asked my name, didn't like me and

bit me. She can tease that theme throughout the book and she says

you are defensive? You have read into that too much. At least I've

read something. You have certainly read the notes the researcher gave

you. You are certainly listening in your ear piece, I'll give you that.

The golf actually. Yes, still two up! It's a defence mechanism to go

under a different name I thought. Chris Evans is not your real name,

is it, it's Mustafa Abdul? It's Christine. You are the one who

should be writing a book now. grandfather was Billy Mack without

the K so why did you do it with the K? I didn't know he spelt it like

Mac, my grandad Jack told me that so I wrote him a letter and said

"grandad Jac". If you wanted to look like an up side down

triangle... You look like a Christopher Eccleston there. What

were you doing with your life at that point? At that point I was

genuinely hand on heart rehearsing for my standup gig and that bottle

is the microphone. I know how to impress the girls! My girlfriend

had to listen to my act as I spoke into a coke bottle. Not madness is

it. There's pictures of your first settler list. -- set list. You have

got rid of the word "caution". you remember... The rude word?

The only joke I remember was the tramp one. It was my first gig so

give me some slack. The stkwrock was, a tramp came up to me in the

street and said have you got a cigarette, I said I don't smoke, he

said have you got any change and I said I still don't smoke.

thirds of the book is your story, the third half is the analysis of

them. That to me I think also feels like you're trying to write less

about you, more about the psychiatry, more of a gimmick,

maybe there is more to hide? long as knob goes round Epping

Forest digging with a spade, I'm all right. They won't do that,

they'll bite you. Am I the only person who looks up and sees the

clouds looking exactly the same. They change all the time. When you

have ADHD, you don't have time to look at clouds, too much going on.

Strictly is back next week and the class of 2012 will be all over the

Internet looking for classic clips of inspiration such as Fred Astaire.

You would have looked at Ginger Rogers. Because I'm not a man.

know that! There was a chance encounter during a trip to the UK

many years ago... Fred Astaire, the Fleetwood's

Hollywood legend immortalised by dozens of musicals during the first

half of the 21st century. But what of his sister Adele whom Fred

called the real dancer in the family?

She was destine ford great things with critics saying that she was

the more talented and charismatic of the two. So why has history all

but forgotten her name? The answer lies here in Derbyshire, at

Chatsworth House. Here, the resident expert on the

Astaire's history is Hannah. Adele was born in 1896 in Nebraska. She

had a younger brother Fred, three years younger than her. They were

very good at dancing and at the age of eight and the age of five, they

were taken off to New York City and enrolled in stage school. In 1917,

they eventually made it on to Broadway where they became a huge

hit. They carried on their success by coming over to this side of the

Atlantic and starred in the West End as well. They were now a hugely

successful double act but it was Adele that the public adored.

newspaper columns are full of the fact that she's the best American

actress that ever landed in London and she's really taken to the

hearts of England at a time. Then it comes to an end. Why? What

happens? She falls in love. In 1926, she meets the son of the Knight of

the Duke of Devonshire who owns Chatsworth amongst many other

properties. Six years after meeting, they got married at Chatsworth

House and Adele gave up her life on the stage for good, becoming the

lady of the manor instead. Despite her fame before marriage, there is

no known footage of Fred and Adele performing together in public. And

we can only imagine the sight of the pair practising in private. So

having grown up together, danced together and tasted fame together,

the Astaire brother/sister partnership broke up.

Fred and Adele's lives were heading in very different directions.

Soon after the marriage, Adele, now lady Charles Cavendish, moved to

Ireland with her husband where they lived in a castle.

After the break-up of the dance partnership, Fred was devastated by

the thought of continuing on stage alone. He was pushing 34 and feared

that the riggours of being on stage would be too much for him. But then,

movie producers suggested he try Hollywood. There's a story about

his first screen test. Can't sing, can't act, Balding, dances a little.

That's gone down in Hollywood folklore. Then the studios found

him a new dance partner, Ginger Rogers and it's this couple that

history remembers, not Fred and Adele.

We have 31 musicals in which to apraeshiate the genius of Fred

Astaire. We don't have a single movie to remember Adele --

appreciate. Despite her fame wrbgs no films to remember her by, Adele

faded from the public memory. But friends of the siblings say she was

proud of her brother and never regretted leaving the bright lights

behind. Had Adele not married and joined her brother in the movies,

there's every chance she would have ended up as big a star as Fred. One

critic once wrote, there is an element of daredevil spontaneity in

her performance, the sense that with Adele on stage, anything is

possible. What a beautiful dancer. Just as

with you last year on Strictly. Exactly the same, Chris. Do you

miss it? Of course I do. Are you the funniest one in your family?

Definitely not. That's my son. He's funny. Kids, then again, they're

great because they pass wind and then laugh for about 20 minutes and

it doesn't get any funnier than that, does it, everyone knows that.

They are in the book? Well, I've talked about them but not mentioned

them too much because I didn't want to do too much family stuff because

people don't want to hear about their families in autobiographys,

do they? Of course they do. You came across this psychiatrist who

psychoanalyses every chapter. Did you know this lady? Did a random

search on Google and said, I'll ga go to that person, I won't shop

around, I'll read the book and you can analyse me and I think she

thought it was a wind-up. Did you tell her at the beginning you are

going to be published? I might not have mentioned that bit. If the

book is a hit, have you signed her up for the second? I'm trying to

sign her up for the sitcom. I said to her, I'm doing it because I want

it to be like the sopranos. I got paranoid and thought, actually, he

ends up trying to have sex with his psychiatrist. Let's see a picture

of Billy Mack. Looks like Fred Astaire. A cross between Fred

Astaire and James Cagney. The British boxer -face, brutish. Is

that where you get the performing gene? I don't know. I don't know

what Cabbages, Cabeans and Carrots means. What are cabeans? We were

told it was a song you sing at every family gathering. I don't

know the song. I would get on the sofa and sing it if I knew it.

is heading south so go north quickly. To Scotland where Mike has

been seeing how one of our most beautiful birds is coming back from

the brink of extinction. Go, Mike! Loch Garry in western Scotland.

Framed by the rugged mountains behind. And where over the o they

are side - other side, a tiny island, the perfect place for a

black diver. These spectacular Art Deco patterned birds are one of tf

UK's rarest species.. They can barely walk on land so have to nest

on the very edge of the lochs and that's been their downfall.

In the 1950s and 1960s, many Scottish lochs had hydroelectric

power. That resulted in water levels regularly rising and falling.

A disaster for the diver's lochside nests which were left high and dry

or come plaitly swamped usually. Numbers plummeted. Until in the

1980s, someone hit on a buoyant brain wave. That's no ordinary

landmass, it's a man-made floating island created especially for the

black-throated divers. It's John Foster's job to make sure it stays

in good condition. This one's not been nested on this year so we can

take a closer look. It's stable. It's like a piece of floating

meadow. I can feel it wobbling. hope it gives the bird a nice home,

I suppose. How have you created it? There's lots of turf and birch

trees, it's remarkable? Fundamentally, it's basically three

polystyrene blocks sandwiched between wood and then we turf it.

There are 40 of these artificial islands dotted amongst Scotland's

Highland lochs. The principal is the same as the nest box in your

garden, they provide a safe and stable home for these rare birds.

That's the raft but what about the divers? This is a great time of

year because elsewhere, the birds that have been nesting on other

rafts will have hatched their chicks. I'm off to another loch to

see a floating family. Using a boat to get close would

disturb this breeding pair. I'm going to observe from a safe

distance with RSPB conservation manager Stuart Ben. They are too

good to be true. That's them. It carries across the water and we are

lucky to hear that. That's brilliant. Doesn't get more

exciting than that. The birds calling on the loch. This is one of

230 breeding pairs in the UK. But what they lack in numbers, they

certainly make up for in style. It's amazing. You would think

that's a recipe for dullness, but it's absolutely the opposite.

ImMack rat, stunning, like a Hollywood star that's all perfectly

groomed. And they are. As if to demonstrate the success of the

project... Oh, yes! Can you see it? I can, the little chicks? A little

ball of fluff almost. It was reared on the island? It was.

You can see the water levels have gone up and down here. This

floating element is the key isn't it? It really is. If that nest

would have been on the mainland, the bird would have had no chance.

So reasons to be optimistic about these birds? If you asked me that

question 20 years ago, I would have been more cautious. The rafts, like

a lot of the best ideas, are incredibly simple. Not complicated,

expensive or difficult, but it works and that's the main thing.

Thanks for all your cloud photos, we have had hundreds in, Gavin. Any

good sightings? Some great general clouds, cirrus there, we have got

this rare wave cloud. We have had three of the ones we are talking

about. What's the name again? Undulatuss a pray it is a. Ian from