:00:21. > :00:25.Hello and welcome to The One Show with Alex Jones. And Matt Baker.
:00:25. > :00:33.Tonight's guest does a mean impression of Tom Jones and Ronnie
:00:33. > :00:40.Corbett. Tonight, he is starring as himself. It is Rob Brydon! And good
:00:40. > :00:45.to see you. Of course, you are co- hosting Comic Relief. Yes.
:00:45. > :00:51.Direction are doing the official single. They have a fantastic
:00:51. > :00:57.record coming out. Obviously, I am well up on One Direction. "a
:00:57. > :01:02.fantastic record"! We wondered if you could perhaps join them? This
:01:02. > :01:12.is what you would look like in the band. That is one of the saddest
:01:12. > :01:14.
:01:14. > :01:19.sights you will ever see. I met Harry styles, actually. I had a
:01:19. > :01:24.photo with him and showed it to my daughter, and my credibility went
:01:24. > :01:31.through the roof. Are you going to sing with him like you did with
:01:31. > :01:34.Tom? It is a worrying thought, from their point of view! Well, you have
:01:34. > :01:38.joined us on a great night, because we have a lovely film later about
:01:38. > :01:43.what it was like growing up with the The Lion, The Witch And The
:01:43. > :01:48.Wardrobe or the CS Lewis. And that got us thinking - what is in yours?
:01:48. > :01:52.As in, your wardrobe? Have a rummage around and if you find
:01:52. > :01:58.anything weird or wonderful, take a picture of yourself with it and e-
:01:58. > :02:04.mail it to us. Rob, kick us off. What is the weirdest thing in your
:02:05. > :02:09.wardrobe? I have a loincloth. I did a series in Australia a few days
:02:09. > :02:13.ago -- a few years ago called Supernova, and there was a scene in
:02:13. > :02:19.that where I had to be wandering around the outback in a real
:02:19. > :02:26.loincloth, so I kept it. Thought it might spice things up at home. But
:02:26. > :02:34.it hasn't. Does it come out often? In it doesn't. Not since that while
:02:34. > :02:39.the fate for first time. I felt it wise not to repeat that experience.
:02:39. > :02:44.Time for a bit of Mastermind. Our specialist subject tonight is tax
:02:44. > :02:48.and how to avoid paying it. Asking the questions today, a powerful
:02:48. > :02:55.group of demanding MPs. In the hot seat, the firms that make millions
:02:55. > :03:01.by helping others pay less tax. The One Show had special permission to
:03:01. > :03:05.go behind the scenes and get access to the chair of the Public Accounts
:03:05. > :03:09.Committee Margaret Hodge, as she prepared to give the tax advisers a
:03:09. > :03:15.run for their money. Labour MP Margaret Hodge is not a
:03:16. > :03:19.woman to be messed with. I don't know what you takers for. We need
:03:19. > :03:25.proper answers to proper questions. The idea that you come here and do
:03:25. > :03:30.not answering questions, it is not on. As chair of the Public Accounts
:03:30. > :03:34.Committee, it is her job to make sure taxpayers don't get short-
:03:34. > :03:38.changed. This robust probing of tax affairs of Google, Amazon and
:03:38. > :03:43.Starbucks raised eyebrows and helped force the US coffee giant
:03:43. > :03:46.into paying more tax in the UK. Behind this door, Margaret Hodge is
:03:47. > :03:53.gearing up for her committee's next moment in the spotlight. She agreed
:03:53. > :04:01.to give me some insight into how she prepares for battle. We are
:04:01. > :04:05.here to talk about tax. I never feel confident. Maybe that is me. I
:04:05. > :04:12.feel really nervous, really conscious that I am not an expert
:04:12. > :04:15.in this world. But I hope this time, I have prepared. Facing the Public
:04:15. > :04:18.Accounts Committee's questions today will be the senior
:04:18. > :04:22.accountants to help multinationals lower their tax bills by exploiting
:04:22. > :04:26.the legal loopholes in our tax system. Former tax inspector
:04:26. > :04:31.Richard Brooks's keen to see that the committee does not pull its
:04:31. > :04:34.punches. Everybody else expects rich people and a big companies to
:04:34. > :04:38.pay a reasonable amount of tax on their profits. These characters
:04:38. > :04:41.advise companies on how not to do that. So I think Margaret Hodge's
:04:41. > :04:45.best chance of success is to show the difference between what they do
:04:45. > :04:49.and the public expects. I am like Richard, few MPs have specialist
:04:49. > :04:53.backs knowledge, so Margaret and her committee make sure they do
:04:53. > :04:58.their homework. Our have done a lot of preparation. We have the
:04:58. > :05:04.National Audit Office, whose job it is to prepare reports for us on
:05:04. > :05:09.value for money. I have talked to a lot of experts in the field, and we
:05:09. > :05:13.do go a heck of a lot. How robust will you be in your questioning?
:05:13. > :05:20.Firstly, they always say, everything we do is legal. But we
:05:20. > :05:26.know that they take fantastic risks. Secondly, all too often, these guys
:05:26. > :05:30.come into government and help write the new tax laws. So it is a
:05:30. > :05:34.poacher turned gamekeeper, and then back to poacher again. Before a big
:05:34. > :05:39.hearing, the committee meets for a final briefing. MPs are drawn from
:05:39. > :05:43.different parties to ensure, at least in theory, that the committee
:05:43. > :05:47.does not split along party lines. We don't often wash our dirty linen
:05:47. > :05:52.in public. We will have a private meeting, thrash out the issues and
:05:52. > :06:00.come to a consensus. To date, Margaret wastes no time in getting
:06:00. > :06:07.stuck in. So you have deliberately taken them offshore so that they
:06:07. > :06:11.don't pay their fair share of tax in the UK. That stinks. I don't
:06:11. > :06:16.agree, Madam Chairman, obviously. I think we are giving the best advice
:06:16. > :06:19.we can. By Esther advice in what context? To businesses that are
:06:19. > :06:23.competing internationally. Best advice to them, or to the
:06:23. > :06:30.collective good? We are giving the best advice to the client and the
:06:30. > :06:37.options they have. Margaret, I am here to ambush you. How did it go?
:06:37. > :06:41.I am exhausted. I think it went well. Nobody cried. You did not
:06:41. > :06:46.have any breakdowns, or anybody sobbing and saying, I have done
:06:46. > :06:51.wrong. I have never had anybody cry in giving evidence to us. But I
:06:51. > :06:56.think I got more than I hoped. We are trying to make sure everybody
:06:56. > :07:00.pays their fair share according to the profits they make.
:07:00. > :07:05.Well, tax specialist Richard Murphy joins us now, someone else who has
:07:05. > :07:12.been liaising with Margaret. We heard her reaction to this morning.
:07:12. > :07:16.Do you think they landed any big punches? Not the way they did with
:07:16. > :07:20.Google, Starbucks and Amazon, but we learnt a lot. We learnt that
:07:20. > :07:23.these big firms do sell tax avoidance. It took two hours to get
:07:23. > :07:27.them to admit it, which is some indication of how careful they are
:07:27. > :07:34.about the language they use. We learnt that they have so many
:07:34. > :07:37.branches in tax havens that one of the people they did not even know
:07:37. > :07:43.where his firms have offices and have to be reminded. We know that
:07:43. > :07:46.their auditors sign the deal's off. We know that these companies are
:07:46. > :07:50.not only selling tax avoidance, but as Margaret pointed out, they are
:07:50. > :07:53.also helping to write the law for the Government. So a lot of issues
:07:53. > :07:58.came out this morning which let people understand better what the
:07:58. > :08:03.roles of these firms are. mentioned Google, Starbucks and
:08:03. > :08:08.Amazon. We all know about those three. But how began operation is
:08:08. > :08:14.tax avoidance? A HM Revenue and Customs reckon tax-avoidance costs
:08:14. > :08:19.the UK �5 billion a year. I reckon it costs �25 billion a year. There
:08:19. > :08:22.is obviously a big difference there. Google, Starbucks and Amazon are
:08:22. > :08:26.not actually in the revenue's estimates at all, because they
:08:27. > :08:30.don't think that problem can be solved yet, so they have not added
:08:30. > :08:34.it into the total, but I have. It is a lot of money we are talking
:08:34. > :08:38.about. I am sure those in the firing line would argue that what
:08:38. > :08:42.they are doing is not illegal, but what will the Government do to
:08:42. > :08:46.crack down on this? It is not illegal, but nor is it definitely
:08:46. > :08:53.legal. It happens firstly between different states, not just in the
:08:53. > :08:59.UK. So you are finding loopholes. That is what tax-avoidance is,
:08:59. > :09:04.going round the law. Surely it is clear if somebody is doing it.
:09:04. > :09:10.Could you not make it illegal? some extent, it is clear. You
:09:10. > :09:14.recognise it when you see it, but try to define it is hard. It is
:09:14. > :09:24.like an elephant. But that is great, and it has a trunk. I should not
:09:24. > :09:27.have said that next to a comedian! You have a slim grasp of reality,
:09:27. > :09:33.my friend. The The ayes to the right is that we can grasp the
:09:33. > :09:37.reality, because what is actually reported and where it is happening
:09:37. > :09:41.and where it is going on, that is the big test. Is it possible to
:09:41. > :09:45.make it illegal? The government is trying. It has a law coming up. I
:09:45. > :09:52.don't think that will work well enough. We have to push harder to
:09:52. > :10:00.solve this. There is a tax deadline out today. You have four hours and
:10:00. > :10:05.50 minutes to get your tax return in. Online, you can still do it.
:10:05. > :10:08.You can do it before midnight. As we have already seen on The One
:10:08. > :10:12.Show this week, parts of the country have been affected by
:10:12. > :10:17.flooding yet again. By but one area of Cheshire is still recovering
:10:17. > :10:22.from the September floods of last year.
:10:22. > :10:26.The Trent and Mersey canal is 93 miles long and 235 years old, but
:10:26. > :10:33.in September last year, part of this historic waterway dramatically
:10:33. > :10:39.gave way, draining into a farmer's field. Whoa can't go much further.
:10:39. > :10:45.Local tea room a Warner Belinda saw the breach happened. What happened?
:10:45. > :10:51.It was amazing. Let me show you an image. You were one of the first on
:10:51. > :10:55.the scene. Yes. This was at about eight in the morning. There were
:10:55. > :11:05.cracks where I was stood. I was pinned right back against the hedge.
:11:05. > :11:06.
:11:06. > :11:10.The were you not scared? Ferry. You can see I was shaking. People
:11:10. > :11:16.obviously using the canals and the boats, they can't get this far up.
:11:16. > :11:20.No. The Cheshire Ring is now a dead end. So you need it fixed quickly.
:11:20. > :11:23.Very much so. It is not just the boaters and holidaymakers we will
:11:23. > :11:28.miss, it has the walkers and a lot of people using it for dog-walking.
:11:28. > :11:33.A round 2000 miles of canal in the UK is looked after by a charity
:11:33. > :11:38.called the canals and river Trust. They rely heavily on donations.
:11:38. > :11:44.Ince is the operations director in charge of rebuilding the canal.
:11:44. > :11:49.Gobsmacked at how big this is. is a bit of a job. The Trent and
:11:49. > :11:52.Mersey Canal ran along here. Embankment, keeping the water high
:11:52. > :11:59.up above the fields of the wonderful Cheshire countryside.
:11:59. > :12:03.Because of all the rain we had last summer, this bank burst away.
:12:03. > :12:09.Thousands of cubic material were washed away. Millions of litres of
:12:09. > :12:14.canal water. Was it a sudden break of the bank? We had about 24 hours'
:12:14. > :12:17.notice. We knew something was wrong. There have been five times as many
:12:17. > :12:23.land slips in this country in the second half of last year than in
:12:23. > :12:29.any previous year, because of the saturated ground. Being here, it is
:12:29. > :12:35.hard to get across the sheer scale of the devastation. But where I am
:12:35. > :12:40.standing, you could fit 12 double- decker buses! You have to fill this
:12:40. > :12:44.with modern-day materials. What would have been used originally?
:12:44. > :12:48.200 and 50 years ago, they used the material that was here. They dug
:12:48. > :12:53.out from the hillside, created the Embankment and then lined it with
:12:53. > :12:57.clay. The clay forms the seal. We will now use modern materials that
:12:57. > :13:01.will look exactly as it did, but it will be more secure. How important
:13:01. > :13:05.is it to Britain to continue this heritage of canals? Were well, I am
:13:05. > :13:10.biased, but that it is massively important. If you remember the
:13:10. > :13:14.Olympic opening ceremony, everyone was in awe of the industrial
:13:14. > :13:20.revolution and how it was depicted. The canals were part of that. The
:13:20. > :13:25.canal industry generates �500 million of value for the country.
:13:25. > :13:29.We are at the lowest level here on the flood plain, so we will have to
:13:29. > :13:34.gradually step it up. When it is finished, get the canal bed back in,
:13:34. > :13:38.let the water in, boating continues. So for the summer, hopefully you
:13:38. > :13:43.will be ready. It would be lovely if we could come back and see the
:13:43. > :13:52.finished article. You are welcome. Deal. The last one back up their
:13:53. > :13:57.makes the tea. No milk in mind, Euan! Another job well done by a
:13:57. > :14:04.water expert. Rob, you are hosting Comic Relief
:14:04. > :14:09.this year. How long is your stint? There are a lot of posts. I think
:14:09. > :14:12.mine is an hour or an hour and a half. Add it happens to be 25 years
:14:12. > :14:18.of Comic Relief. It isn't that amazing? There are so many
:14:18. > :14:23.highlights over the years. I always remember when Dawn French snog Hugh
:14:23. > :14:27.Grant. I remember that. I remember waiting for that. And when Lenny
:14:27. > :14:34.Henry did the thing with Tom Jones. The singing thing. I always
:14:34. > :14:38.remember those moments. But Comic Relief Bay, Red nose night, always
:14:38. > :14:43.has special moments. What have you got planned? Big things. We are
:14:43. > :14:46.sitting on something big. The new sound vague, Rob. Her I am like a
:14:47. > :14:51.politician. I think it would be wrong at this stage to get into
:14:51. > :14:57.specifics, but let me say this - you will not be disappointed.
:14:57. > :15:02.one of the big pushes this year is malaria and preventing malaria. So
:15:02. > :15:12.you went to Africa, and here is you with a mother and child affected by
:15:12. > :15:13.
:15:13. > :15:19.Hey, there, you are a smiler, aren't you? We have found out that
:15:19. > :15:27.this little girl does have malaria. Don't you? Yes. If you are there
:15:27. > :15:34.thinking, your �5 does not count, well, �5 would pay for a malaria
:15:34. > :15:37.net it may have stopped this little girl getting malaria.
:15:37. > :15:41.Lovely little girl. Such a lovely girl.
:15:41. > :15:47.She was gorgeous. Her mother brought her in early. It is really
:15:47. > :15:52.hard to do those things. Even now as I sit here, you start to fill up.
:15:52. > :15:55.Now that little girl was, the mother brought her in early. She
:15:56. > :16:00.looked full of life. Charming and a smiler, but the majority of the
:16:00. > :16:04.kids they are bringing in are lifeless, limp little things.
:16:04. > :16:09.We witnessed something, I think it will end up in one of the films,
:16:09. > :16:15.where they brought in a little boy, they were trying to put a drip into
:16:15. > :16:20.him, an IV line. They were trying to find a vein. They could not find
:16:20. > :16:26.one on the arms. They were trying to get in through the head. Trying
:16:26. > :16:30.to get this needle in, the nurse could not do it. Then they got one
:16:30. > :16:36.in but there are just lines of mothers with their children. So
:16:36. > :16:41.they get it in, give them the drip. Then the mother carries the child
:16:41. > :16:45.to the ward and, now, don't think of the ward being lovely beds it is
:16:45. > :16:51.awful. They have not got enough drip stands for the drips. So you
:16:51. > :16:55.get four on one. The mothers are sitting on the floor. These
:16:56. > :17:00.children, people are having their dinner now but these children have
:17:00. > :17:04.problems with their waterworks, that is all going on.
:17:04. > :17:10.It is horrendous. I have watched these films and I've
:17:10. > :17:14.been affected by them. But when you are there... And the
:17:14. > :17:18.smell... Oh, it was a real, it was very hard.
:17:18. > :17:25.It stays with you a long time. You are carrying that through on
:17:25. > :17:28.the night. The last time that Comic Relief was on, �74 .3 million on
:17:28. > :17:33.the night. That figure goes up it is
:17:33. > :17:37.remarkable, but when you see... When you see the films. I have been
:17:37. > :17:43.privilegeed to go and see it. The way that we live here, I know you
:17:43. > :17:46.have been out, Alex but you can't compete, really it is like another
:17:47. > :17:51.planet, not another continent. The thing is that it does not have to
:17:51. > :17:55.be that way. Especially with malaria. It is preventable. The
:17:56. > :18:00.nets cost �5. It is about educating and then giving the equipment that
:18:00. > :18:04.is needed. Let's hope that people will be as
:18:04. > :18:08.generous this year. I really hope so. I know these are
:18:08. > :18:13.difficult times, but by our standards it is very little one has
:18:13. > :18:18.to give to make a massive difference.
:18:18. > :18:25.Completely. Now he is impossibly cute and spiky.
:18:25. > :18:30.Thank you! He puts in the occasional... I am 47, yet there is
:18:30. > :18:35.a youthful energy it is odd. That's it. We are not talking about you.
:18:35. > :18:39.No, we are not even talking about Chris Evans, we are talking about
:18:39. > :18:44.the British hedgehog and wildlife experts are worried that hedgehogs
:18:44. > :18:51.could be under threat because of some problems.
:18:51. > :18:55.Miranda has been to the Channel Islands to track down a rarer type
:18:55. > :18:58.of hedgehog. Alderney covers three square miles
:18:58. > :19:04.with 2,000 residents, but it has unusual wildlife.
:19:04. > :19:10.Along with all of the bees, rabbits and birds, there are around 700
:19:10. > :19:14.hedgehogs on the island. But these are no ordinary hedgehogs.
:19:14. > :19:20.Over half of them are not brown, they are blonde.
:19:20. > :19:25.Back in the 1950s, there were no hedgehogs on the islands, but local
:19:25. > :19:32.legend has it in the 60s, three brown pairs were brought back from
:19:32. > :19:36.the mainland as pets and escaped. James is from the Alderney Wildlife
:19:36. > :19:42.Trust. A certain number of the hedgehogs
:19:42. > :19:48.are blonde hedgehog. They are not albinos? No, it is a
:19:48. > :19:53.gene that is carried by brown hedgehogs. If there are two that
:19:53. > :19:58.carry it, then one out of four of their off spring will be blonde.
:19:58. > :20:04.For a night-time animal it is seems a strang adaptation. There are
:20:04. > :20:07.blonde hedgehog on the UK mainland but this are rare. Here they make
:20:07. > :20:12.up 60% of the population that is likely to rise.
:20:12. > :20:16.Here we don't have foxes or badgers, so they are safe from these types
:20:16. > :20:21.of pred tores. Some locals feed them in the
:20:21. > :20:26.gardens and head out to catch a glimpse of them at night. Some will
:20:26. > :20:32.even join the hedgehog surveys to count the browns, versus the blonde.
:20:33. > :20:39.I am excited as I have never seen a blonde hedgehog before. So, tonight,
:20:39. > :20:44.it may be the night! Within ten minutes of searching, we find
:20:44. > :20:48.something. Is it blonde? Unfortunately, for me it is a
:20:48. > :20:54.juvenile brown one, but it is important for the survey. They need
:20:54. > :21:00.to know if it is a male or female. It's a boy. As for us, we are back
:21:00. > :21:05.on the search for the blonde. It is not long before we strike lucky.
:21:05. > :21:09.Look, that is definitely a blonde hedgehog, look how white it is.
:21:10. > :21:15.Look at that! That is cute and ridiculous all at once.
:21:15. > :21:20.Look at that little white nose. There are no fleas on the hedgehogs.
:21:20. > :21:29.In the UK there would be 500 fleas on it. It would be obvious.
:21:29. > :21:35.They leave tubing on a couple of their spines so they don count the
:21:35. > :21:38.hedgehogs twice. There we go, the first time I see a
:21:38. > :21:42.blonde hedgehog. They are so unusual, you can see why the
:21:42. > :21:47.islanders have taken them into their hearts. Let's hope that they
:21:47. > :21:55.continue to thrive here on Alderney. There you go little chap.
:21:55. > :21:59.I like the blonde little ones. It is a change! LAUGHTER If you want
:21:59. > :22:02.it take part in the survey, it starts tomorrow. There is more
:22:02. > :22:09.information available on the website.
:22:09. > :22:15.And a nice change for you, Rob, was your West End debut, wasn't it?
:22:15. > :22:20.Why did you do it? I spent four months in the West End with A
:22:20. > :22:25.Chorus Of Disapproval. It is hard work. With Trevor Nunn. You know it
:22:25. > :22:29.is hard work. You think you go on stage once a night but for me it
:22:29. > :22:33.was hard. I have never done anything for that long.
:22:33. > :22:40.But I thoroughly enjoyed it. have good reviews. Although there
:22:40. > :22:46.are some that we cannot make head nor tail of. The Guardian saying he
:22:46. > :22:55.unleashs a terrific riff. Is that good? They are not saying that I
:22:56. > :23:03.broke wind! What about this one, a deliciously, bossyness about him.
:23:03. > :23:09.And the Wales Online saying Rob Brydon appear tobs a natural at
:23:09. > :23:12.this testing medium! In this brave new medium of theatre! It is a new
:23:12. > :23:16.idea! Another thing you were a natural of in a testing medium was
:23:17. > :23:20.working on the Shopping Channel. This is you.
:23:21. > :23:26.There we are. So we thought why not give you this.
:23:26. > :23:36.I will hold this. There we are. And now do the hard sell on the
:23:36. > :23:41.Comic Relief noses! OK, well, our next item is this
:23:41. > :23:49.fantastic, red nose 2013 nose. Now, let me show you. It measures
:23:49. > :23:54.about... It is measuring, oops, the wrong end of the ruler.
:23:54. > :24:00.It is about uninch there. For anybody watching in Scandinavia,
:24:00. > :24:04.that is three inches across the bottom and up to the top four to
:24:04. > :24:12.four-and-a-half inches. There are so many things to do. You can fit
:24:12. > :24:17.it on your nose like that. And you can't put this on without
:24:17. > :24:21.doing a little bit of Ronnie Corbett! Brilliant! There is the
:24:21. > :24:25.klaxon. They are very comfortable, those
:24:25. > :24:31.noses. I remember having a nosebleed from the early ones.
:24:31. > :24:37.Back in the early days of Comic Relief, the noses were barbaric. We
:24:37. > :24:42.think that they prompted riots, the great riots of' 8, but these are
:24:42. > :24:47.soft.. Better to have them on than off!, Right, then, in Chronicles of
:24:47. > :24:52.Narnia, everyone remembers the characters of the lion, the witch
:24:53. > :24:59.and the wardrobe. The stories lts featured the man
:24:59. > :25:04.named Mr Tumnus. I have very small feet. With a wide
:25:04. > :25:11.bottom, I look like Mr Tumnus. The question is, what would it be
:25:11. > :25:15.like to grow up with CS Lewis? Let's see.
:25:16. > :25:22.People see CS Lewis on the spines of books, Clive Staples "CS" Lewis,
:25:22. > :25:27.the great scholar, writer, but to me, he was not CS Lewis at all, he
:25:28. > :25:32.was just Jack. He was the man who first became my friend and later my
:25:32. > :25:39.stepfather. Later, Jack was the man that I admired and respected and
:25:39. > :25:44.loved most in the world. My brother and I came to Oxford in 1953. I was
:25:44. > :25:51.taken to meet CS Lewis, the man on speaking terms with high king,
:25:51. > :25:56.Peter of Narnia and Aslan, the great lion. I expected him to
:25:56. > :26:03.bewaring a sword and armour, but instead, when I came to the back
:26:03. > :26:07.door, there was a balding stooping man, in shabby clothes. With
:26:08. > :26:16.cigarette-stained fingers and teeth. He looked strange to me, but soon,
:26:16. > :26:23.he became so much more. Jack was a fellow of English At
:26:23. > :26:27.Oxford for almost 30 years. He would take us walking out around
:26:27. > :26:34.the University. Because of who he was, I got lots of privileges. I
:26:34. > :26:40.felt so chuffed that I could see him around the place and get into
:26:40. > :26:46.the areas where no-one else could. The movie ShadowLands is a
:26:46. > :26:52.wonderful film, slightly fictionallised of how Jack and his
:26:52. > :26:57.wife got together. First it started off as a penmanship.
:26:57. > :27:01.My mother had longed to go to England. While she was here, she
:27:01. > :27:06.was going to see if she could meet CS Lewis. That is how they met. A
:27:07. > :27:11.lot of people think that my mother was hunting Jack as a gold digger
:27:11. > :27:16.kind of a situation. She was not. I am glad to see that the house is so
:27:16. > :27:21.well looked after. The CS Lewis Foundation have gone to great pains
:27:21. > :27:25.to restore it to what it would have been in the 19'50s. It is very much
:27:25. > :27:29.similar to how it was when we lived in it. The eight acres that the
:27:30. > :27:35.house sits in, most was sold and destroyed by the gopers but the
:27:35. > :27:39.lake and the -- by the developers but the lake and the woods is still
:27:39. > :27:45.as it was when we were here. Now this is where I spent a great
:27:45. > :27:53.deal of my childhood. It is a magical place. Right now it is
:27:53. > :27:57.hauntingly Narnia. One expects a fawn or a centaur to appear at any
:27:57. > :28:02.moment. Many people regard Jack as sun who lacked himself in a study
:28:02. > :28:08.with a dim light and locked himself away. He was not like that at all.
:28:08. > :28:12.He was athletic. He loved walks in the countryside. One does not think
:28:12. > :28:16.of Jack as being the brave type, but he fought in the First World
:28:16. > :28:21.War, and there was a great deal of character in the man. He was an
:28:21. > :28:25.amazing character. Being a child here had huge advantages, the
:28:25. > :28:32.learning advantages were huge. There were great conversations
:28:32. > :28:36.between my mother and Jack in the diningroom. They would play
:28:36. > :28:40.Scrabble using all known languages. You only have to prove that the
:28:40. > :28:44.world you were using existed in a book in the house and you got away
:28:44. > :28:50.with it. They would tone it down for my benefit but there was no
:28:50. > :28:55.hope of me ever winning. I know that Jack and my mother, in the
:28:56. > :29:00.time before her remission, were the happiest in their lives. My mother
:29:00. > :29:04.died when I was 14, my father committed suicide a year-and-a-half
:29:04. > :29:10.later, Jack died a year-and-a-half after that. It was a traumatic
:29:10. > :29:18.childhood, in a sense. Everyone I ever loved died. This whole area
:29:18. > :29:23.holds many attachments to me, but they are no longer the heavy,
:29:23. > :29:28.grieving morose as they used to be. I can go down to the grave and look