End of Summer 12 Again

Coming up, loads of celebs revisit their summer holidays,

from leaving primary and making that giant leap to secondary school.

Oh, what are we going to do in our six weeks' holidays?

I remember it was like, "Yes! A new beginning now!"

And suddenly there were men at your school rather than just kids.

I wanted to grow bum fluff so I could shave it to say I was older.

-You were just, "AAAAGGGGHHHH!"

-Not everyone's a stranger.

Strangers are just friends you haven't met.

Want to know more? I know I do.

Have you ever wondered what the summer holidays were like

for your favourite celebs when they were your age?

Where did they go on holiday?

And what was it like for them going to secondary school

when the summer ended?

Because, despite the glamorous lifestyles they now lead,

once they were a kid waiting for that final bell to ring,

just like you.

This show revisits the past summer holidays of your favourite celebs

and asks them to become 12 Again.

They're some of the biggest celebs out there in showbiz today.

Thank you, fans.

I'm Hayley. He's Ricky.

Your instant download for the week ahead.

From pop stars to presenters to actors and athletes,

all are hugely successful.

Brilliant!

Yes, I like it here!

But back when they were kids,

they had the same kind of summer holidays as you do.

So let's find out what happened to our celebrities

over the holidays between primary and secondary school.

The last day that I was ever going to be in primary school. Dead exciting.

I remember the first thing that came to mind was,

"I've got no summer-holiday homework."

Oh, it's the best time ever.

You get weekends just put together in a massive block.

Not having to wear a school uniform. That was a biggie.

You have lay-ins every single day. Oh, a lay-in was amazing.

Always bubbling with your friends, and, "What are you going to do?"

and hearing what people were about to do on their holiday.

The last day of term is always so exciting,

especially cos back in my day...

You could bring in a toy.

-You could bring in a toy, you could wear your own clothes for 50p.

-Yeah.

All the really annoying teachers

would make you carry on working up to the last minute,

which seemed pointless to me.

Our very last day in primary school

was a really emotional day

because we grew up from five until 11 in this school,

in this environment, with the same head teacher,

the same teachers and the same people around you.

I remember I had this white T-shirt

and running around trying to find everyone that were my friends,

getting them to sign my T-shirt, and stuff like that.

MUSIC: "School's Out" by Alice Cooper

Waiting for that final school bell to go

just before the summer holidays was brilliant. It was so exciting.

I remember the school bell going for the last time,

and then it was like a rain shower of water bombs.

You were just, "AAAAGGGGHHHH!"

# School's out for summer... #

But then it was a weird sense of freedom

and that summer being a summer like you would never have again.

I remember it was like, "Yes! A new beginning now."

Six weeks felt like a lifetime.

It was, like, "Oh, what are we going to do in our six weeks' holiday?"

Exactly, Mark, what did you and our celebs get up to

during those all-important summer hols?

All of the people that lived on my estate

were my friends from school, so we really

made the most of that summer holidays,

playing out every single day.

You'd get up and be gone all day,

and you'd come back for your dinner. And times were great.

Parks and football

-and playing out until nine.

-Yes.

Yeah, playing out till late! That were good.

I had sleepovers at my friend's house,

and you used to have your midnight feasts.

Midnight feasts were amazing. You'd sit up till 12,

and at 12 you'd get out all the sweets and drinks

and sit and munch everything,

and you used to think, "The coolest kids always stay up till after 12.

"Oh, yeah. Did that last night."

Just long summer evenings and barbecues

and playing on the beach

and just having a great time with my sister and my friends.

I grew up in Blackpool.

There was loads to do in Blackpool - the amusement arcades...

Those ones with the 2p's, with that slidy things that comes out

and never drops 2p till you've put 5,000 in.

It's a good thing about Blackpool -

if you live there, you're always on holiday.

Never summer, though.

As well as hanging out in their home town,

there was also the big family holiday for our celebs.

We would just get all in the car

and we'd travel around Cornwall, Wales, and just do youth hostels.

In those days, we used to go camping, rain or shine.

We'd have an absolutely brilliant time. They were superb holidays.

Mainly I remember going to Tenby more than anything else.

It was quite a big event going away.

From the age of being born

up until I was 16, we spent two weeks every year in St Ives.

They were the happiest two weeks of my life each year.

Loved, loved, loved, loved it.

For years, we would go camping.

St Ives, Cornwall...

Stunning beaches.

Learning to surf

on the north Cornish coast. Wonderful!

Butlins was my favourite place in the world.

I remember when I was really, really little

and I used to chase Billy the Bear

round the room, thinking, "Whoo! I'm having the best time ever!"

But as we started to get older, it was a little bit like,

"Oh, we don't want to go to Butlins. We want to go somewhere cool!"

Every year we went to the east coast for our holidays,

Bridlington or Scarborough, which was a bit upmarket,

and we went by coach, which seemed to take all day.

It was only about two hours or three hours,

but it's a great adventure for us.

It's fair to say that the Great British holiday has changed a lot

over the years.

When John was 12, almost everybody stayed at UK seaside towns,

often in a good old-fashioned B&B.

Dinner at five o'clock, breakfast at nine o'clock.

The thought of travelling abroad was considered an absolute luxury.

I remember the first time I went abroad.

It was to Germany. We went on a German holiday, to Heidelberg.

And that was a big event, going abroad and flying for the first time.

You know, there weren't many people flying in those days.

But after the birth of the package holiday in 1950,

the cost of foreign travel became much more affordable.

Each day, dozens of chartered jets unload their pale-faced passengers

at Ibiza airport.

Millions of us boarded flights bound for Europe each summer,

and places like Benidorm haven't been the same since.

But there was one problem - the language.

So if you don't know what you want in the restaurant,

just show this up and just point to the appropriate thing

-and they should understand what you want.

-That's probably very good!

Language barriers aside,

the trend for cheap getaways continued to grow,

and soon most people could afford to go abroad.

I was about ten, 11, and me, my mum and dad went to Ibiza.

And it was a proper package holiday.

We didn't actually know where we were staying

until we actually got there.

And it was probably one of the best holidays I've ever had.

In the summer, I went to LA. That was really cool.

I went to a singing camp for two weeks with my singing teacher.

My mum didn't come with me.

That was another thing where I felt like a big girl,

going on holiday without my mum.

Although there was an earthquake.

I remember calling my mum and going, "I've just been in an earthquake".

She was, like, "Are you all right? Come back!"

I'm, like, "Mum, I'm in LA. How am I going to be, like,

" 'I'm going to go to the airport and jump on a plane to come back'?"

I went on this holiday to France with my mum and dad,

in Brittany for two weeks.

And my French teacher had told us a few months before about Bastille Day,

which is a big holiday in France, and he said,

"Oh, if you're in France on Bastille Day, don't go out,

"because everyone gets in their cars and there's traffic jams and chaos."

And we were in this small village in Brittany,

and my mum and dad wanted to go out and I refused to leave the house!

Cos I thought, "My teacher told me about Bastille Day,"

and I was, like, "I'm not getting stuck in a traffic jam".

And it was a tiny village surrounded by fields.

But for some celebs, summer didn't exactly mean holidays.

For us, it wasn't quite as...

..exciting.

Quite often, we would go to Nigeria.

My mum and dad are from Nigeria, so it meant

that if we were going to Nigeria, we were getting summer school.

Yeah. Awesome...

That's why I finished school, so I could get more school in the summer!

During one summer holiday, which I call the Summer from Hell now,

I was in Cyprus, and I was staying at my grandmother's house,

and she was looking after two of my cousins' hamsters, who lived there.

And the hamsters were in separate cages.

I thought it'd be good to put these hamsters together,

cos they looked lonely.

So I put them together, and within seconds

they went for each other, started attacking each other,

and one of them bit the other hamster's ear off

and, sadly, it passed away.

I didn't realise you're not always supposed to put hamsters together.

So yeah, that was quite a tricky summer for me.

I felt very bad about that.

Yes... So our celebs' summer-holiday memories are pretty unforgettable.

But what was the soundtrack to their summer?

Summer music...

There were some absolutely cracking tunes.

But what summer songs had our celebs feeling the heat?

Favourite summer tune...

I Wanna Be The Only One by Eternal, featuring BeBe Winans.

# I wanna be the only one to hold you

# Protect you from the rain

# I wanna be the only one to soothe you... #

U2. Beautiful Day.

# It was a beautiful day

# Don't let it get away... #

Mungo Jerry. I think it's called Summertime.

# In the summertime, when the weather is high

# You can stretch right up and touch the sky... #

Don Henley - Boys of Summer.

# I can see you

# Your brown skin shining in the sun... #

Straightaway it's my summer tune.

Roll down the windows, turn up the radio.

# ..radio on, baby... #

Yep, there's nothing our celebs like more than turning up the volume

and singing along to their feel-good summer hits.

-BOTH:

-In too deep, and I'm trying to keep...

# Up above in my head, instead of going under... #

That was, like, a massive summer song.

Big summer song for me from when I was 12 was Madonna.

-# And you can dance... #

-Get Into The Groove.

"You can dance for inspiration. C'mon!"

# Get into the groove... #

And it's got a real summer vibe to it as well.

# ..your love to me... #

Mysterious Girl.

ALL: # Mysterious girl, I wanna get close to you... #

It was so good back then. I loved it.

But there's one song that made a certain Mr Ore Oduba

really get into the mood.

Ricky Martin. Livin' La Vida Loca.

# C'mon! Upside...

# ..inside out, livin'

# ..la vida loca She'll...

# ..push and pull you...

-# ..down

-# Livin' la vida loca

# Her lips are...

# ..devil red

# And her skin's the colour of...

# ..mocha

# She will wear you out

# Livin' la vida loca Livin' la vida loca

# And she's livin' la vida loca... #

Love Ricky Martin.

I no longer love you.

But what song is the majority of our celebs' ultimate summer anthem?

It's Summertime, Fresh Prince. Will Smith. Know what I'm saying?

Like, it's perfect.

# Drums, please!

-Summertime.

-What a song.

-Yeah.

-Jazzy Jeff and Will Smith,

Summertime. I mean, that's an absolute anthem.

# Summer, summer, summertime... #

Way before Will Smith was the Hollywood megastar

we know and love today, he created some killer summer tunes.

# School is out, and there's sort of a buzz

# But back then, I really didn't know what it was

# But now I see what habit is

# The way that people respond to summer madness... #

That always makes me think of summer and the sun shining and whatnot.

I was a massive fan of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,

so I was hooked on Will Smith. He was wicked!

# And this is the Fresh Prince's new definition of summer madness... #

If that's got you in the mood,

then wait till you see what's still to come.

Our celebs reveal what kept them entertained

during the school summer holidays.

That theme tune used to really get you going.

And they brought all the presenters, all the guests, to you.

I used to get so annoyed at the kids that just threw the ball in.

You need to throw it far! Throw it far, them swim!

But first, it may be summer,

but in Britain the weather can be impossible to predict.

Let's find out from our celebs what forecasts they remember.

Why is it that when you were 12 and when you were younger,

it was always sunny in summer?

They were the days when we actually had SUMMER holidays.

-When I was a kid, summer WAS summer!

-Really sunny.

I remember it always being sunny when I was a kid.

Like, tropical.

I can't remember a rainy day.

Well, yeah, maybe it was just that, you know, you're a kid

and you're far more optimistic, but the weather seemed better.

Every day was sunny. I'm sure it weren't, though, but it...

-It does feel like that, though.

-Every day was sunny.

What our celebs are probably remembering

is the baking-hot summer of 2003.

The best thing about that summer was also the worst thing about it.

It was a giant heat wave. Like, it was just roasting.

Britain has recorded its highest temperature

since records began over 100 years ago.

In 2003, the UK had a massive heat wave,

with temperatures reaching a record high

of 38.5 degrees in Gravesend in Kent.

One thing specifically I remember from that summer

is going to visit my grandad one afternoon.

So I just got into the car.

And my grandad only lived about a three-minute drive away.

I had gone from having just sort of showered that morning, you know,

I've got in the car, feeling great.

In that three minutes, sitting in that car, I came out the other end...

looking like a pork scratching.

I'm lobster boy. So if it gets too hot, I just immediately turn red

and all my gingerisms from when I was a young boy just come out.

The heat affected everyone and everything.

Animals in zoos had to be given sun-tan cream

and food in ice lollies to cool them down.

And in some areas, train lines buckled, causing heavy delays.

But this being Britain, not every summer was like this,

and one summer in the '70s had some very odd weather.

1975, in June, there was a real bit of freaky weather.

It snowed.

Yeah, that's right, it really did snow in June!

It was so bad that a cricket match in Buxton was even cancelled.

It was a match between Derbyshire and Lancashire.

It was called off because of thick snow!

Imagine the batsmen coming out to bat in snow shoes

and a plough to get you to the wicket.

Thankfully, the snowfall was short-lived,

and after a few days, Britain was basking in glorious weather.

But the summer of 2007

saw torrential rain that caused widespread devastation.

When I left primary school

in 2007, I remember the weather that year. There was major floods.

Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes

as torrential rain flooded many areas.

Gloucestershire was the worst affected,

but floods hit large parts of the UK

and caused an estimated £3 billion in damages.

The drains had got blocked, so then the floods came in,

the rains came in, and all our street was a metre high in water.

And I remember just seeing people's houses on the news.

The bottom half of their house was water, and I used to think,

"I'm so glad that's not me," cos you'd lose everything.

And it's not just in the summer when the British weather surprises us.

Check this out from October 1987.

THUNDER CRASHES

One weather presenter famously missed a huge storm.

Earlier today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC

and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way.

Well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't.

Around the time that I was 12, Michael Fish, our weatherman,

tried to allay a lady's fears

saying, "There's going to be some huge storms. Is that right?"

And he said, "No, no, no, no, nothing to worry about."

Don't worry, there isn't.

The hurricane-force winds which lashed the capital

in the early hours of the morning were the worst ever recorded.

Hurricane winds battered southern England at speeds of up to 94mph.

Poor old Michael Fish. That didn't do his credibility any good at all.

No, it did not.

It was the largest storm of its kind for almost 300 years.

Hey, if you think the British weather is surprising,

then wait until you see what's still to come.

Our celebs remember their first day at secondary school.

I remember feeling just so, so nervous. My first day!

It was just overwhelming.

And there was about 400 people there.

350 of them you'd never met before in your life.

I'd say, "Hey, my name's Ricky. You know, do you want to...be my mate?"

But first, let's see what kept our celebrities entertained

over the summer holidays.

What I used to love about summer holiday was

summer TV used to be brilliant.

-I used to love Hannah Montana.

-Saved by the Bell.

-Wizards of Waverly Place.

-There was California Dreams, Sister, Sister.

I loved that show Raven. That was an amazing show.

I remember watching a lot of kind of cartoons.

Recess and Lizzie McGuire.

Maybe on CBBC they had a Tracy Beaker marathon.

ChuckleVision seemed to always be on.

There's only so much of "To me, to you" you can take.

But there was one show

during the school holidays that was must-see TV.

-Why Don't You?

-Why Don't You?

-Why Don't You?

-Why Don't You?

-Loved Why Don't You?

That theme tune used to really get you going.

Especially on school holidays, where you had weeks to fill,

you just wanted to have a club like Why Don't You.

That's kind of what it was.

It was hosted by a gang of schoolkids...

That's the way to do it!

..who would come up with, er, fun ideas...

-Craaaazy golf!

-..of what to do in your school holidays.

Why don't you make musical instruments?

Take the straws and stick them to the mouth of the can.

HE BLOWS

It'd be on in the holidays, and you'd watch it

and you'd think, "D'you know what? I'm going to do that!"

Bass guitar!

So you'd go out and you'd go and make

a car out of pieces of wood and some supermarket trolley wheels.

Despite dubious things they got you to make,

Why Don't You was the first time some famous faces got on TV,

namely Anthony McPartlin, as in Ant from Ant and Dec.

We're going to do tons of castle-y things today, OK?

Right, prepare the boiling oil!

We've only got margarine!

What's he going to do, hoover the castle?

I'm amazed that anyone watched Why Don't You.

# ..switch off the TV set and do something less boring instead... #

And then loads of kids like me who thought they were really funny

would go, "All right, I will," and turn it off.

So if you did turn off the TV, what else was there to do?

Well, way before Radio 1's Big Weekend was this,

the Radio 1 Roadshow, essentially a glorified mobile disco,

where instead of seeing all your favourite pop stars in one weekend,

you got this...

Phillip Schofield in Bermuda shorts.

Oh.

The one thing about radio that you'll notice

is you don't see the presenters and the artists.

You've got to use your imagination. You can visualise Jessie J.

You've got to do the rest in your head.

The great thing about the Radio 1 Roadshow

was that it brought all the presenters and guests

to you, in your home town. On a lorry!

Radio 1 would broadcast live from seaside towns

to people turning up in their thousands,

all eager to catch the fun.

I used to listen to...

# Whoo! Gary Davies on your radio! #

And...

# Steve Wright in the afternoon! #

Two, three, four.

ALL: # Mike Read, Mike Read, national Radio 1! #

I just remember as a kid hearing them on the radio,

and they'd be in Great Yarmouth or Weston-super-Mare or Skegness.

Good morning, live in Scarborough!

Good morning, Weston-super-Mare!

You were just, "Oh, come close to me to do one so that I can come to it."

It was just so hyped and so special and I never got to go!

Whilst it was good old-fashioned entertainment,

the fact it came to an end in the '90s probably wasn't surprising.

-Exhibit A.

-He's going to say something.

HE IMITATES A GOOSE

So, having seen what Radio 1 had to offer

- Steve Wright talking to a goose -

it's worth turning back on the TV.

And for many celebs, there was one sporting show

that they all wanted to go on.

I used to love stuff like We Are The Champions.

# We are the champions... #

Ron Pickering in his big, posh voice -

"And today, we have these people from this place,

"these people, and they'll battle it out."

And it's going to require a little bit of skill in this final.

It's called Dribble and Drop.

He was cool. He was like a grandad you wanted to hang out with.

And he was in charge.

And it was like being at school sports day but on the telly!

We Are The Champions ran for 22 years,

with school teams taking each other on

in what can only be described as

a bargain-bin version of Total Wipeout.

It was good back then, though.

Honest. I mean, this isn't the best example.

Oh, the Blues got there!

I remember being desperate to be part of the swimming.

As the whistle goes, you see...

And they've come adrift from their animals!

I'd get so annoyed at the kids that just threw the ball in.

You need to throw in far! Throw it far then swim.

You don't want to be faffing around with the ball.

That was one of those programmes you watched and thought,

"I really want to be part of that."

The show would climax with all the kids jumping in the pool

and going crazy!

Well, sort of.

So, whether you wanted to swim with inflated frogs,

talk to a goose or just turn off your TV,

summer had something for everyone.

But as summer draws to a close,

our celebs were faced with making that big leap to secondary school.

Getting to the end of the summer was always so devastating.

You're thinking, "I haven't really done anything that I want to do.

"Oh, no! I've only got a week left to do it. What am I going to do?"

"No! Can I have at least another week?" No. No.

I was really nervous, because you don't quite know how to react

-to the fact that you're going to big school.

-Mm.

I was so nervous that I'd bought everything on the school list.

You get given this school list of things to buy.

Now, most cool people just buy the things that are necessary.

Geeks like me buy everything,

including the school cap, the school bag, the school cagoule.

And I remember turning up on my first day laden with bags.

-Having to get textbooks.

-Yeah.

I'd never had a textbook in primary school!

I remember having to get a massive, thick maths textbook.

You're good at maths, but I've never been good at maths,

so that was daunting.

We've got to do ties. We've got to tie a tie.

I could barely tie my shoelaces, never mind tie a tie!

You'd just got comfortable with your class,

and then some of them go to the same school as you, some of them don't,

so you lose half your friends.

And then you face a load of people that you don't know.

I remember feeling just so, so nervous. My first day!

It was just overwhelming.

We went into assembly, and there was about 400 people there.

350 of them you'd never met before in your life. And it was just so...

It was scary.

That's what probably I found the hardest, actually,

going from a really small school

which you can find your way around in a matter of seconds

then going to this new school which has its own block for a library.

When I got to secondary school, everybody was giant,

and so I was worried that people would tease me

for being small. And they did.

At secondary school, you'd get all the years above you,

so there'd be, like, a kid that's about 18.

Because they were going through a change in their lives

and all the hormones and testosterone,

suddenly, there were MEN at your school rather than just kids.

I was, like, "Yes! Finally I get to be a grown-up. I finally get to..."

I wanted to grow bum fluff so I could shave it to say I was older.

It was kind of a weird moment, cos I was, like, "Oh, no,

"that part of my life has now completely gone

"and I'm now going somewhere I don't know anybody."

I was kind of ready for it. Cos that summer period is long.

We were all ready

for that new challenge and that new step and that new chapter.

I was always the one that kind of stuck out a little bit

because I was the only black face.

Everyone else was white in the school.

When I went up to the bigger school,

there was other black people and people of all different ages.

So I felt like I blended in a little bit more.

The first day, we were sitting in the hall, and then they were saying,

"Welcome to the school," and they was going to put us into tutor groups.

And I got put into a tutor group

with one of my best friends, so I was happy.

I was completely on my own.

So for me, the hardest thing was to make that first contact and say,

"Hey, my name's Ricky. You know, do you want to...be my mate?"

You lose friends along the way of life and schools,

but some of them will always stay with you,

and I think that's the nice moments.

But it was also really exciting,

cos I had made these awesome new friends that till this day...

My best friend is the same friend in those first classes in school.

You find out you've got so much in common

with people you don't even know.

There's a saying that I always say, that not everyone's a stranger.

Strangers are just friends that you haven't met.

You realise that somebody has the same interest as you

and then you get your little gang together, your group,

and you feel more comfortable.

You make new friends and within a couple of months

you would have forgotten you were ever at primary school.

So what have we learnt?

Ricky Martin is a better dancer than Ore Oduba.

# Livin' la vida loca... #

Scoring a basket with a rugby ball is really hard.

And it's out again! Oh, look at them. They can't bear to watch.

And you can never predict what our weather's going to do. Eh, Michael?

..a hurricane on the way.

Well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't.