Episode 3 12 Again

Coming up. Three celebs become 12 Again.

I had ridiculously spikey hair

and I can remember having to make sure that it was perfect.

We had school food. School food wasn't great.

Actually, I was one of these girls, like, no,

I haven't got time for a boyfriend, I'm concentrating on my career.

Plus we catch up with Britain's Got Talent star Ronan Parke.

I just feel like I'm doing things that I really love.

And, it's... I don't know, I don't feel like a celebrity.

Want to know what they're all talking about?

Well, have you ever wondered what it would've been like to be best mates

with your favourite celebs when they were your age?

What did they get up to? What were their favourite songs?

And what TV shows did they watch?

Because despite the glamorous lifestyles they now lead,

once they were a kid with a dream, just like you.

This show lets you look back in time

with your favourite celebs as they become 12 Again.

She is the best dancing, singing, presenting TV judge

there is in showbiz.

Fun, flirty and fearless. Your confidence is growing,

I can really feel that. You just need to refine some of your steps.

That's now, but in 1990, Alesha Dixon was a girl

who was seriously interested in growing up.

When I was 12 years old, I was...

an adult trapped in a young person's body.

I always felt like I knew more than I should at 12.

He's the somersaulting, twisting, back-flipping, crow-hopping,

gold-medal-winning, star diver.

But in 2006, Tom Daley was just starting to make waves.

When I was 12, that was the age

when I started to get a little bit of attitude.

I started to become a bit more grown-up, a bit more independent.

I used to start answering back

and as soon as I answered back I'd be like...

Good morning, this is Breakfast with Sian Williams and Bill Turnbull.

He's the newsreader who has breakfast

-with the country every morning.

-This muffin's lovely.

That's now,

but in 1968, Bill Turnbull wasn't all that calm and content.

I suppose

I was quite a, sort of, cheerful child.

I remember I used to worry an awful lot.

Sort of constantly worry, which is good

because I got it all out of my system.

All are massive celebs today and, for the first time ever,

we're going to find out everything

about what they were like when they were kids.

So, let's meet their 12-year-old selves.

I was goofy. It was before the days I had braces.

Friends of mine that see photographs of me when I was 12

they say, "You look the same."

When I was 12, I felt I was a little bit chubby.

I wasn't very proud of my looks at that time.

I had ridiculously spikey hair.

When I used to see girls in the playground, I used to spike them.

I can always remember using it as a bit of weapon

rather than for it to look good.

When I was 12, I had fair hair.

I had a very straightforward fringe,

which I hated.

The other kids had stiffer, firmer hair and it did stuff.

But not me, it was just like...

I wasn't one of those girly girls.

I was more of a tomboy.

And I remember have a conversation with my nan when I was about 12.

She was like, "When are you going to wear dresses?"

I'm like, "I'll wear a dress when I feel like wearing a dress.

When they weren't arguing with grandparents over what to wear,

what else did our celebs get up to?

When I was 12, the only thing that I knew I wanted to be

was a diver and to compete in the Olympic Games.

And that was my main idea.

I had qualified for the Commonwealth Games.

Travelled to loads of different countries, like Australia

Canada, America and I could just remember it being the year where,

it was kind of when I first stepped onto the senior circuit.

It all changed and got a bit more serious, really.

So, while Tom was travelling the world,

Bill's world only belonged in school.

I went to a boarding school and it was very strict.

Every last minute, virtually, of the day was regulated.

We had very little free time

and very little room for self-expression.

From the moment we woke up, a bell rang us all up in our dormitory.

We'd get up, get dressed, put our uniforms on, brush our teeth.

Before we had breakfast, we had to go to Chapel.

As soon as that was finished, then we had to do our,

usually our Latin construe,

where we had to sit and translate Latin.

I wonder if Alesha did that?

I was one of the rare people that loved school.

I was part of the EZ Posse.

And there was about six girls, we were all in the same form.

-Guess not.

-We were notorious at the school.

Everybody knew who the EZ Posse were.

Quite opinionated, loud girls.

And we used to make up routines together, dance routines.

When I think of school, I think of those girls

cos we went through the experience together

and we're still friends to this day.

We had school food.

School food wasn't great.

I used to get very tense about the food.

We had all sorts of tough, dark meat things.

Cabbage that's been cooked to death.

One time, we got served something which had tubes coming out of it.

I don't want to know what that was.

And, sometimes, the food was really hard to eat.

And I remember, once, I did actually put it in my pocket.

It was leeks.

I remember being 12 years old and writing out a diary for myself.

This is going to sound bizarre.

Even if it was something as simple as going the shops, homework,

whatever activities I was doing that day, I would plan my day.

And my diary now is exactly the same.

From morning till I go to bed.

There's always something during the day.

And, in a way, it's like how my life's always been.

And that works for me because I am somebody that likes,

I like a bit of order and I like things to be, kind of, in place.

And I think I was like that at 12 as well, weirdly.

When I was 12, I didn't have a crush on anyone in particular

because I was doing my school, I was training and things like that.

I just didn't really think about anything like that.

Tom was too busy for girls,

but could Alesha break herself from the EZ Posse for a crush?

I did have a crush on somebody at school,

specifically Brady Gallivan. He did ask me out one day.

But I didn't, I didn't want to go...

It was weird, it almost, having a crush on someone

was all I needed. I didn't really want to have a boyfriend.

I was one of these girls, like,

"I haven't got time for a boyfriend, I'm concentrating on my career."

So, Alesha may have been more worried about her career

than boyfriends.

But what sort of music were our three celebs listening to?

I can remember the Rihanna song, Umbrella, when I was 12

because it was, like, it was number one for absolutely ages.

# When the sun shines We'll shine together

# Told you I'll be here forever

# Said I'll always be your friend. #

Everything that you used to say,

you used to have to pronounce it, the last syllable with ella, ella

quite a few times. But it was... I can remember

it changed the vocabulary of many young people at that age.

Not only did the song seem to change people's vocabu-ella,

sorry, I mean vocabulary,

it also appeared as if it had a bad affect on the weather.

While this song was number-ella, sorry, number one,

Britain had some of the worst floods in recent history.

The coincidence led The Sun newspaper to think

this song was cursed and the floods will stop

if Umbrella was knocked off number one.

The funny thing was it did.

Of course, it was all a coincidence or was it?

No, it definitely was.

So, let's see what Alesha was listening to.

Musically, I loved so much so this is a hard question for me.

But somebody who I really loved was Paula Abdul from American X Factor,

because she is an incredible dancer.

# Two steps forward... #

Before her huge success on the American X Factor,

in the '80s and '90s,

Paula Abdul was one of America's biggest female pop artists.

But it was Paula's rapping cartoon cat

that might've had the biggest influence on Alesha.

She had some incredible videos.

The one with the cat being my favourite. Skat Kat.

SKAT KAT RAPS: Here's a little story and you're sure to like it

Swift and sly and I'm playing it cool

With my home girl, Paula Abdul.

That's how I became an emcee, because of that cat.

Could you imagine?

I have to thank, you know, emcee Skat Kat,

for teaching me how to emcee!

# My time, show time, hook line, let's roll, let's roll... #

Yes, this really is Alesha Dixon,

way before becoming the star of Saturday night TV

that we know today.

Alesha was known as the shouty, rappy one from girl band Mis-Teeq.

I think it was three-four on those tracksuits.

I didn't start rapping till I was 17, 18.

Music was always my passion and my love

but how naive of me to go through school saying,

"I'm going to be a singer."

It wasn't something I could say, even though it was a passion.

But at 12 years old, I didn't know that it could be a career,

apart from my friend who turned to me in class one day and said,

"You're going to be a popstar one day."

I looked at her like she was an alien.

Like, who says that? You know, to me, that was just otherwordly.

OK, let's leave Alesha rapping to her heart's content.

And hop back to 1968 to find out

if Bill was listening to a bit of the old rap.

-We weren't allowed radios.

-Thought not.

-Let alone, well,

they didn't have CDs. They were record players,

-we couldn't have those.

-No rap then.

When you had got to the age of 12, you were allowed a transistor radio.

Mr Rankin, the old maths teacher, put on the radio

and we'd listen to Pick Of The Pops.

And number one was Jumpin' Jack Flash by The Rolling Stones.

# But it's all right now... #

Radio 1 had just started.

It was in its infancy and we were listening to

everything we could get our ears on.

Because there was, there was no commercial radio.

Before the launch of Radio 1, the only cool radio station

you could listen to were pirate stations.

Not that type of pirate, although some of them broadcast illegally

from ships just off the coast.

When Bill was a kid, Radio 1 was brand new

and quickly became the UK's favourite station.

# Just for fun

# Music

# Too much. #

Good morning, everyone, welcome to the exciting, new sound of Radio 1.

It was super cool.

It had this long progression of programmes from Tony Blackburn,

Terry Wogan in the afternoon

and then, gradually, it'd creep towards real music in the evening.

And, the, I suppose the highlight was John Peel.

John Peel was the DJ that played the latest, cutting edge music

and is considered a hero to many radio DJs today.

I felt so happy one night

when I was working in the BBC Broadcasting House.

I went up to the canteen, and in the queue next to me

was John Peel having supper. I thought, gosh, that's really...

I'm finally in the room, the same room as the great man. Wonderful.

Still to come, we catch up with Ronan Parke

and find out what it's like to become famous at 12.

My mum and dad and friends were really shocked

that I auditioned for a talent show.

Alesha and Bill reveal some of the best game show prizes

there was to win on TV.

Cuddly toy!

Can you imagine going on a quiz show today and coming away with a pencil?

And Tom teaches a Blue Peter presenter to dive. Kind off.

But first we find out what big news stories

were hitting the headlines when our three celebrities were 12.

I remember the World Cup being a massive deal.

Hello, again.

England's hopes of World Cup glory finally ended last night

when they were beaten by West Germany in a last-gasp penalty shootout.

Yes, 1990 World Cup will be remembered

for the England team doing what they do best,

losing.

But in this World Cup there was one big moment

that has gone down in footballing history.

One of the things I remember was Paul Gascoigne crying,

which is an image that we all remember.

Paul Gascoigne, the Wayne Rooney of the day, made headline news

when he started crying after getting a yellow card,

meaning he'd miss the final if England went through

but you needn't worry, Paul, cos they didn't.

# Love's got the world in motion

# And I know... #

I remember the song more than I do the actual football.

The official World Cup song, which was a song by New Order,

it really captured the spirit of the country at the time.

Since 1990, World Cups have come and gone

and England are waiting for that winning moment,

maybe one day, I just wouldn't hold your breath.

In 2007, when Tom was 12, a huge story shocked the nation.

Welcome to Newsround.

The little girl who went missing on holiday.

I can remember, when I was 12, hearing about Madeleine McCann.

Madeleine McCann disappeared from her family's holiday apartment

in Portugal on 3rd May 2007.

When her family discovered she was missing,

a massive search for her began.

If you have seen this little girl...

..please, could you go to your local authorities or police

and give any information that you have.

Her disappearance was incredibly shocking

and had a huge effect on everyone in the country.

To think that a little girl like her, so close to me,

it's just very unreal, really. And it's horrid.

I feel really upset for the parents.

And I want Madeleine to return safely.

It was quite a scary thing to hear about

cos it was something that you never expect to happen.

And it kind of made things feel like not everything was safe any more.

The campaign to try and find Madeleine was huge.

The country came together,

many people wanted to help the search for her.

She became one of the most recognisable faces in the world.

2007 will always be remembered

as the year Madeleine McCann went missing.

In 1968, Bill was exploring new frontiers.

We have connect. We have, we have liftoff.

Liftoff at 7:51 am.

Apollo 8 was a really ground-breaking mission

towards the end of the year.

It was the first time they'd put a rocket round the back of the moon.

The crew of Apollo 8 were the first ever people to leave planet Earth

and travel around the moon. It took three days to get there

and they had to travel half a million miles.

The crew were seen as heroes as no-one knew they'd ever return.

The tension mounted as Apollo 8 went behind the moon

-and communications were cut off.

-I remember seeing there was a gap

when they went round the back of the moon.

There was radio silence and you weren't sure

if you were ever going to hear from them again.

Waiting, waiting, waiting, it was like ssshhh.

And then, finally, the signal came back and they'd made it.

Whilst orbiting the moon on Christmas Eve,

astronauts Bill Anders and his crew, took photographs of our planet.

The photographs are one of history's most important pictures.

It was also the first time you got amazing images of the Earth

from the distance and perspective of the moon.

And I remember, in some ways,

it felt almost as important as landing on the moon itself,

which happened the next year.

Cos you knew once they'd done that, they could actually go and land.

That's exactly what happened.

A year later a man actually did land on the moon

but the crew of Apollo 8 will always be a part

of one of the most important space missions ever taken.

Still to come, we ask the all-important question

what would our celebs do if they were 12 again?

12 is a weird age, I've got to say that.

The best thing about being 12 was just feeling

I was beginning to grow up.

You're getting to that age where people start to you

about future prospects and future career possibilities.

And, you know, the big, wide world seems quite daunting when you're 12.

First, we caught up with Ronan Parke

and he told us all about his amazing 12th year in two minutes.

He started his 12th year as a normal kid in Norfolk.

He ended it with a record contract

and about to release his first music video.

What made Ronan Parke enter Britain's Got Talent?

My mum and dad and friends were shocked that I auditioned.

I just, sort of, did it out of the blue.

I didn't want to tell anyone in case anyone tried to talk me out of it.

Before I auditioned, it was completely different

to what it is now

because there's people recognising me.

Going round the country, doing all kind of gigs and stuff,

I just feel like I'm doing things that I really love

and it's... I don't know, I don't feel like a celebrity.

Whilst Ronan is adjusting to celebrity life,

what kind of music does he listen to?

My favourite artists are Lady Gaga and Beyonce.

# All the single ladies All the single ladies... #

I want to be as successful as, like, them. I'd love to do that,

tour around the world. Like, that would be amazing.

But Ronan's dreams of being as big as his idols were almost ruined

when he was getting ready for the biggest performance of his life,

the Britain's Got Talent final.

Someone posted lies about Ronan on the internet

claiming the competition was a fix.

Doing the show, there was also negative press.

There was a blogging thing that went out on the internet

saying that Simon Cowell, like,

trained me to go on Britain's Got Talent.

None of it was true.

And when I was reading it, I just laughed

because I thought how could people come up

with stupid things like that?

From what I've experienced, if someone was being bullied,

I'd say to them to be strong, ignore the bully and tell someone.

You've always got to tell someone.

But despite all this, he didn't let it spoil his time

on Britain's Got Talent.

If I was 12 again, I think I'd just love to do it all over again

because I had such an amazing experience.

I'm glad he enjoyed it.

Let's get back to our three celebs

as we find out what they were watching on telly when they were 12.

And Tom liked two very different shows.

When I was 12, there was loads of things that I used to watch on TV.

I can remember being obsessed with Dick & Dom In Da Bungalow.

# Go, go, Dick & Dom In da bungalow. #

I used to love anything, like, with a bit of humour.

and things like that. And I used to love all the Blue Peter things.

Making loads of different things and collecting,

I think there was shoe appeals and things like that.

All those kinds of things were really good fun.

I appeared first on Blue Peter when I was 12.

Hi, I'm Tom Daley, I'm 12 years old and I'm from Plymouth

And I want to win an Olympic gold medal in...

diving.

Not only did Tom show off a few of his diving skills,

but he also gave Blue Peter presenter Gethin

a few diving lessons,

which went terribly. Ouch.

You were fantastic

and I'm sure there's more success coming your way.

To say a big thank you for today,

here's you very own Blue Peter badge.

I remember getting a Blue Peter badge.

It was really cool cos I can remember watching Blue Peter

and wanting to get a badge but to be given one was really cool.

So, on one hand, Tom liked Dick & Dom.

But on the other, he liked Blue Peter.

Thanks to all of you who've sent in your shoes.

Two very different shows.

But in 1968, there was only one show that was special for Bill.

When it came to children's programmes when I was 12,

the one show we all remember was Crackerjack.

Which was live!

Well, they said it was live.

It's Friday, it's five to five, it's Crackerjack!

Crackerjack!

We have a real cracker of a programme.

Crackerjack was on our tellies from 1955 to 1984.

-Crackerjack!

-Crack-er-jack!

They made over 400 episodes of Crackerjack.

Crack-er-jack!

All right, enough of that.

The main part of the show was a game called Double or Drop.

-You're not running short of prizes.

-No, we have manicure sets...

To win these prizes, kids were asked questions

and would have to hold their prizes if they got they answer right,

if they got the answer wrong, they'd have to hold on to a cabbage.

Cabbage.

And it would all then pile up until you dropped one.

But who could lose with such easy questions like this?

Could you tell me what was the state of Ghana formerly called?

See, easy.

All right, Cyril, cabbage for you.

Still, not all was lost if you didn't win the game.

Your consolation prize was always

that you got a priceless gift to take home

a Crackerjack pencil.

And here's your special Crackerjack pen and pencil.

Can you imagine going on a quiz show today and coming away with a pencil?

I don't know, Bill, that kid looks pretty excited / terrified.

Let go of his arm!

While Bill was all about Friday evening,

Alesha was all about Saturday night.

Monday to Friday at school, Friday would come and you'd think,

"Yes, it's Saturday tomorrow." You'd have fun during the day,

and then, Saturday night,

you'd always look forward to Saturday night TV.

You really did look forward to the big shows.

I used to cuddle up with Mum on the sofa, cup of tea

Rich Tea biscuits, Generation Game here we come.

# And I want to play the game with you. #

The Generation Game had many hosts, but when Alesha was 12,

there was one TV legend who she is now very familiar with.

Thank you very much, indeed.

Good evening, ladies, gentlemen and children,

welcome to the Generation Game. Nice to see you, to see you...

-ALL:

-Nice!

-Nice to see you, to see you... ALL:

-Nice!

Yep, that's right, it's our very own Bruce Forsyth.

Brucey is an institution. He is incredible.

The fact that we used to sit there, when we were young, watching him

on all of his shows,

and he's still up there as a legend on Strictly Come Dancing,

is just amazing.

When Alesha was 12,

the Generation Game and Brucey had not been on TV since the '70s

where he was doing, well, the same thing he always does.

-Nice to see you, to see you again... ALL:

-Nice!

The teams on the Generation Game were family members

who took on other families at challenges based on fun activities

Fun things such as plate spinning, chiselling,

no idea what that is.

The show climaxed with a memory game

where you had to remember your prizes.

I remember the conveyer belt where you had to guess all the items

and you get to keep all the items and I was always terrible at that.

Video recorder, espresso coffee maker.

But the prize everyone remembered was...

Cuddly toy!

A cuddly teddy bear.

There was always this running gag at the end,

there'd always be the cuddly toy and some dodgy appliance.

And everyone remembers the cuddly toy,

but that's never what you wanted to take home.

Oh! Didn't they do well?

The show ran for 23 years, until they ran out of cuddly toys.

So, those were the TV memories of our three celebs

but what do they remember he most about being 12?

12 is a weird age, I've got to say that.

Thinking about it now, I did feel a lot older when I was 12

and I felt like I was quite an old person.

But then, looking back on it now,

I do remember how young I must have actually been.

and how different it feels inside your head when you're 12.

I think being 12 is a difficult age.

Because you're on the cusp of being a teenager.

You're finding yourself. you're discovering who you.

You're getting to that age where people start to talk to you about

future prospects and future career possibilities.

And the big, wide world seems quite daunting when you're 12.

A couple of pieces of advice for my 12-year-old self.

One is, try not to worry so much. I used to worry all the time.

I'd worry about everything and it's just wasted energy.

I do remember feeling quite adult at 12.

Even though, to an adult, I would have looked like a child,

I remember feeling like an adult.

You're going through an identity crisis

cos you're just coming out of the young phase,

the primary school era

and now, you're entering into secondary school

and it's all, everything's a little bit more serious

and slightly more grown-up and a bigger mind field.

And it's just, it's an interesting age.

I would say to my 12-year-old self that you've just got to go out there,

enjoy yourself, have fun and find something that you like to do,

stick with something and pay attention to detail

when you're doing something.

The best thing for me about being 12

was feeling I was beginning to grow up a bit.

Just beginning to make more sense of the world,

learning more grown-up subjects

and use a part of our brains we didn't before.

If I was 12 again, I would go into my diving career with more motivation,

more inspiration. Knowing everything that I know now,

the experience that I've had

and the only way you can get success

and make sure that you're at the top of your game

is by a lot of hard work and dedication.

For some reason, even at 12, I remember thinking

that life is a gift and you must make the most of it

and that's why I tried to do.

The only thing cool is being yourself

and not worrying about what people think.

So, what have we learnt?

If you're on a game show,

make sure you brush up on your African geography.

What was the state of Ghana formerly called?

Even if you're a gold medal winning diver,

it doesn't make you a great teacher. Ouch.

If you're ever going to choose a TV catch phrase,

make sure it can stand the test of time.

-Nice to see you, to see you...

-ALL:

-Nice!