:00:13. > :00:16.Coming up today: Have you been watching Africa on BBC One? How did
:00:16. > :00:21.they get those amazing shots? The directors are here to show you how
:00:21. > :00:31.they got the pictures. Young Bond author Charlie Higson is
:00:31. > :00:47.
:00:47. > :00:51.APPLAUSE Hello. That was a good move. How
:00:51. > :00:56.are you doing? Blue Peter is live today and we have lots to cram in.
:00:56. > :01:00.If you like animals, you are in for a treat. The BBC is showing a
:01:00. > :01:04.brand-new wildlife series called Africa. It is made using some of
:01:04. > :01:08.the newest technology in the world. We are talking about - come back
:01:08. > :01:13.here - we have some of those new cameras - we will talk about them
:01:13. > :01:23.later. It is a brand-new series. If you haven't seen it, where have you
:01:23. > :01:55.
:01:55. > :01:59.been?! Have a look at this. You It is stunning! I have never seen
:01:59. > :02:04.anything like that. I had no idea that giraffes fought like that.
:02:04. > :02:09.Never seen anything like it! Two of the team from BBC Africa are with
:02:09. > :02:15.us. Felicity and Nick! APPLAUSE Hello. As it is your first time on
:02:15. > :02:21.the show, let's present you with your Blue Peter Badges. They are
:02:21. > :02:26.stick-on. Congratulations on such a fantastic series. I am hooked.
:02:26. > :02:32.Felicity, why does Africa make such a good place for this kind of show?
:02:32. > :02:35.The first thing we realised about Africa was that Africa is huge.
:02:35. > :02:41.It's got - you could fit the whole of the United States in there, the
:02:41. > :02:49.whole of India and most of Europe. There's masses to explore from
:02:49. > :02:56.mountains, to deserts, yeah. fantastic job! Look at that! David
:02:56. > :03:00.Attenborough there. Sir! favourite photo. Was it fun to work
:03:00. > :03:08.on? I had a fantastic experience. Can we talk about how you planned
:03:08. > :03:12.to make this show? The famous phrase is don't work with animals.
:03:12. > :03:16.So you have to plan for what happens when you get out there. How
:03:17. > :03:21.do you do it? We spent the first year of production - we have been
:03:21. > :03:26.doing it for four years. We were researching, contacting scientists,
:03:26. > :03:30.contacting all the people who live out there in the first year.
:03:30. > :03:36.Obviously, animals surprise us almost all of the time and those
:03:36. > :03:39.giraffes did surprise us. I'm sure Barney will wee on this foliage any
:03:39. > :03:47.minute! Sorry about that. Talk us through the animals. Did you plan
:03:47. > :03:51.what you were going to look for? Most of the time we had a really
:03:51. > :03:54.clear aim. We knew what we wanted and we were going to try hard to
:03:54. > :03:59.get it. We always came back with something different from what we
:03:59. > :04:05.thought we would get. What was your favourite animal? There's so many
:04:05. > :04:15.that were great to film. For me, the silver ants in Egypt are
:04:15. > :04:16.
:04:16. > :04:23.astonishing. We can see them in action now. Silver ants' armoured
:04:23. > :04:28.skin reflects light. They can only survive for less than ten minutes
:04:28. > :04:34.in the midday sun. It is a gorgeous-looking creature. What was
:04:34. > :04:41.it about the silver ant that you liked? That is a sneak preview of
:04:41. > :04:44.that sequence. You will discover as the behaviour goes on, they are
:04:44. > :04:49.like mini-computers. As they run away from their nest, they are
:04:49. > :04:57.logging every footstep and they are using the sun to work out what
:04:57. > :05:01.direction they are travelling in. See - I heard about this. I was a
:05:01. > :05:05.little sceptical. You would expect to see a silver ant with a
:05:05. > :05:12.clipboard! LAUGHTER They do know how many steps they have taken?
:05:12. > :05:17.Lots of researchers with clipboards were watching them! Lovely.
:05:17. > :05:21.were filming in a desert, so a bit of water must have been a miracle.
:05:21. > :05:27.Nick, talk us through the favourite bit that you filmed? Yes, I filmed
:05:28. > :05:31.on the edge of the Kalahari at a waterhole. Hundreds of animals
:05:32. > :05:38.turned up. It is the most astonishing place. We can see that
:05:38. > :05:44.place and that astonishing scene right now. Surrounded by miles of
:05:44. > :05:54.sun-baked mud, sweet, fresh water wells up from deep below ground.
:05:54. > :06:06.
:06:06. > :06:11.wells up from deep below ground. It is like a scene from The Lion
:06:11. > :06:14.King! Have you ever seen an elephant look so big? You have all
:06:14. > :06:18.those animals together behaving properly and then you have other
:06:18. > :06:25.scenes where you have lions who are behaving quite badly. I love this
:06:25. > :06:29.clip. Can you set it up for us? Lions have given us a few problems.
:06:29. > :06:35.We use remote cameras and this lion decided to investigate. This hasn't
:06:35. > :06:39.been on TV. To confirm, there is no camera guy behind this camera.
:06:40. > :06:46.would have been long gone! It is great that you don't know what is
:06:46. > :06:51.going to happen next. Brilliant. used to have a pet rabbit that did
:06:51. > :06:57.that. Barney the dog causes plenty of trouble. He is meant to be in
:06:57. > :07:03.that basket and he's gone off to hide! He never hits his mark.
:07:03. > :07:05.us know what your animals get up to. The e-mail address is
:07:05. > :07:11.The e-mail address is bluepeter@bbc.co.uk. Send us a
:07:11. > :07:16.photo if you can. That is the important bit. We want to see the
:07:16. > :07:21.photos. Thank you very much. See you very soon.
:07:21. > :07:26.Now, shall we talk about Totally Rubbish? Michelle came in to teach
:07:26. > :07:32.you how to make a pet beg out of an old festive jumper. You have to
:07:32. > :07:38.stuff it simply and sew it together. We made some for Socks and Cookie.
:07:38. > :07:44.They love their new beds. They are nodding off there. Loads of you
:07:44. > :07:48.loved making those pet begs for your friends. Here are some of them.
:07:48. > :07:56.Emily, Grace and Eliza sent in a picture of Bertie enjoying his new
:07:56. > :08:02.bed. Great lettering! Joseph made his cat a bed. He asked his sister
:08:02. > :08:07.for help but he stuffed it all himself! Finn made a bed for his
:08:07. > :08:13.puppy. His pet collie is using it as there wasn't a jumper big enough
:08:13. > :08:21.for him. Katriona and Corran's guinea pigs are here. They even get
:08:21. > :08:26.to eat in their bed! Ella made her dachshund Ruby a bed. Hannah's cat
:08:26. > :08:32.Pip loves her bed. Look at her there with some lovely buttons on
:08:33. > :08:37.the front. Billy's Ginger Ninja cat loved his bed so much, he had a
:08:38. > :08:44.marathon 16-hour nap on his! That is a great name. We should rename
:08:44. > :08:49.Barney the dog the Ginger Ninja! Anyway, most of what you see on
:08:49. > :08:53.Blue Peter is filmed on one of these. To film animals in the wild,
:08:53. > :08:58.you need some specialist equipment. That means a lot of gadgets and
:08:58. > :09:02.that means that Barney ran over there! You are in your element?
:09:02. > :09:07.can't wait! Nick and Felicity are still here. We showed you the
:09:07. > :09:10.picture of the naughty lion. That picture of the naughty lion. That
:09:10. > :09:13.was the cable of one of these remote cameras. If there was a
:09:13. > :09:18.camera guy there, he would have been in some bother! It is handy
:09:18. > :09:25.that you have got these? Yes, they can go to places that cameramen and
:09:25. > :09:30.the rest of us can't. We can put them in those places. To control
:09:30. > :09:34.them is this control unit. It's got a joystick. These are the same
:09:34. > :09:39.switches and buttons you would find on the normal camera? Yes. They get
:09:39. > :09:43.some great shots. This one is hooked up to a remote camera, which
:09:43. > :09:48.is over there in front of our beautiful subjects. If I show you
:09:48. > :09:53.how to use this, it is similar to a computer game. You have an up-and-
:09:53. > :09:58.down stick. He is always trying to push me out of the shot! Shall we
:09:58. > :10:03.get a close-up on Barney's nose? It is a zoom button. Up-and-down, left
:10:03. > :10:10.and right. This is handy. Camera guys don't want to get too close.
:10:10. > :10:14.I'm not very good at this. There are all sorts of footage that we
:10:14. > :10:20.have seen from the show using these cameras. The one we are going to
:10:20. > :10:23.see now has elephants in it. Can you explain what you did? The first
:10:23. > :10:28.elephants at night are very aggressive. There was no way we
:10:28. > :10:34.were going to stand on the forest floor, not knowing where they were.
:10:34. > :10:38.We used four of the cameras to hide all around the pathway we knew the
:10:38. > :10:42.elephant was using. Somewhere in rotten tree stumps, high in the
:10:42. > :10:48.branches, so the elephants would walk underneath. We also planted
:10:48. > :10:52.our cameraman high up on the tree as well. He was sitting on a
:10:52. > :10:57.platform about that size for 16 hours with this control unit on his
:10:57. > :11:05.knees. It was worth it! The 16 hours up in the tree brought us
:11:05. > :11:15.this footage. Forest elephants are very social creatures, but in dense
:11:15. > :11:16.
:11:16. > :11:24.jungle, it is hard for them to find one another. These elephants are
:11:24. > :11:31.lucky. Here in the Congo there is one special place where they can
:11:31. > :11:40.meet and mingle. A place that the elephants have created for
:11:40. > :11:50.themselves. And this is it. Amazing! That is the remote camera.
:11:50. > :11:54.We showed you the giraffes earlier on. This is a slow-motion camera.
:11:54. > :11:59.And in geek terms, it takes more frames per second, more pictures
:11:59. > :12:04.per second. It stretches time out. And that is what is happening in
:12:05. > :12:10.the giraffes. You can see the most amazing things - flesh rippling.
:12:10. > :12:16.is incredible. You have used it a few times in the series. This is
:12:16. > :12:26.exclusive and it is from next week's episode. This is all shot on
:12:26. > :12:45.
:12:45. > :12:50.slow-motion! It is amazing. It is amazing. There is a reason
:12:51. > :12:56.why the audience are captivated. Those sorts of shots are - you
:12:56. > :13:01.don't see them that often. It doesn't just happen in Africa. This
:13:01. > :13:05.same shot can be achieved here in Salford in the Blue Peter Garden
:13:05. > :13:11.and Barney was filmed earlier on and we are going to see the footage
:13:11. > :13:15.that we recorded. Look at him go! What he is trying to do is catch a
:13:15. > :13:21.ball. Those who know him well will know he doesn't like catching
:13:21. > :13:26.balls! Why would you want to stay there - bless him! That looks so
:13:27. > :13:32.good in slow-motion. It is lovely. The reason you use these cameras is
:13:32. > :13:36.it creates that drama? Absolutely. Those fish jumping out around the
:13:36. > :13:41.crocodile, we couldn't see those with our naked eye. When you are
:13:41. > :13:44.thinking about the sequences, do you think what might make a good
:13:44. > :13:50.slow-motion scene? Absolutely. That giraffe fight - we couldn't dream
:13:50. > :13:56.of it, but we did! Considering it's been that long, and here it is, it
:13:56. > :14:03.is a fantastic series. I was gripped. If you want to see it, it
:14:03. > :14:07.is on Sundays on BBC One. Thank you so much for coming in. I want one
:14:07. > :14:14.of those! Helen? You will buy one of those before the year is out!
:14:14. > :14:19.Can I defend Barney? It is not his fault, he is used to catching fresh
:14:19. > :14:25.organic chicken! Bless him. On to something completely different.
:14:25. > :14:30.This is your chance to get creative and win a fantastic prize. Every
:14:30. > :14:36.year, Chris Evans launches a writing competition. You know the
:14:36. > :14:46.fella. Your mums and dads will listen to him on the radio! Earlier
:14:46. > :14:52.
:14:52. > :14:58.on, I went along to help him launch I am at a Radio 2. Coming up, we
:14:58. > :15:04.are joined by my partner from The One Show, Blue Peter's Helen
:15:04. > :15:10.Skelton. I am here to help Chris Evans launched the Dad competition.
:15:10. > :15:15.It is an amazing studio. Chris Evans may be familiar to you as a
:15:15. > :15:19.host of The One Show. But his daily Radio 2 breakfast show is the most
:15:19. > :15:24.popular radio programme in the UK, with a whopping 8.5 million
:15:24. > :15:29.listeners every week. I am here because I am one of the ambassadors
:15:29. > :15:35.for the competition, so I will be on the show alongside Chris's One
:15:36. > :15:45.Show co-host, Alex Jones. Let's have a cheer for Helen Skelton! And
:15:45. > :15:48.a cheer for Alex Jones! Right, we are launching 500 Words. It is our
:15:48. > :15:52.short story writing competition for children aged 13 and under,
:15:52. > :15:57.returning for its third year. Your story must be completely made up,
:15:57. > :16:01.and it must be no longer than 500 words long. You can be as
:16:01. > :16:05.imaginative as you like and take us anywhere you choose with your
:16:05. > :16:09.terrific tale. It could be based in the jungle, on the moon, under the
:16:09. > :16:15.sea, in the future, wherever you fancy. This is about children
:16:15. > :16:18.across the UK getting reading and writing her. Some brilliant prizes.
:16:18. > :16:22.If you write the bronze medal winning story, you win your own
:16:22. > :16:27.height in books. If you win the silver, you win my height inbox, 5
:16:27. > :16:36.ft 6 1/2. And if you win the gold medal, you win Chris Evans's height
:16:36. > :16:41.inbox, about 5 ft 10? No, about 6 ft 2, or about 200 books. We are
:16:41. > :16:44.here to get tips and advice from viewers. A lot of viewers will
:16:45. > :16:51.enter. Standards are high, so what should they do to get the judges'
:16:51. > :16:59.eye? Last year, the standard was really high. It is all about coming
:16:59. > :17:07.up with something that can fit into 500 words, but is full of
:17:07. > :17:11.imagination and grabs attention. A gay subject you know and like,
:17:11. > :17:17.because you will find it easier -- big a subject you know and like,
:17:17. > :17:21.because you will find it easy and enjoyed it more. And had a treat in
:17:21. > :17:25.front of you - actually, three treats. The first street, you can't
:17:25. > :17:29.have until you have started. The second Street, you can't have until
:17:29. > :17:36.you are halfway through. And the third kit, you can't have until you
:17:36. > :17:44.finish. 500 Words is now open for business. Head over to bbc.co.uk/
:17:44. > :17:51.500 Words. You have both been amazing. Get out! I think that went
:17:51. > :17:54.well. He seemed up for it. We are up for it, so get writing. If you
:17:54. > :17:59.want a Windows 7 as' height in books or Alex Jones' height or your
:17:59. > :18:03.own height, get writing. We will have a celebrity reading your story
:18:03. > :18:07.live out on the radio. When we say your height in books, they are
:18:08. > :18:12.horizontal, so that is a lot of books. You will have loads to read
:18:12. > :18:18.through the summer holidays. That was just the launch. Now I have a
:18:18. > :18:21.lady to inspire you. Please welcome Millie to the studio! Millie, you
:18:21. > :18:26.were one of the finalists last year, with your fantastic stories Splash.
:18:26. > :18:29.That meant you went on to the Hay Festival and were part of the radio
:18:29. > :18:34.programme. What was that like? was an amazing experience being
:18:34. > :18:40.able to go down to Wales and meet fantastic people. Some authors,
:18:40. > :18:45.some TV presenters. Three it is a big festival that celebrates books.
:18:45. > :18:48.Talk us through how and why you entered the competition. I entered
:18:49. > :18:55.because the previous year, my friend Angus had won the Chris
:18:55. > :19:01.Evans competition. So I wanted to try and match that, and I decided
:19:01. > :19:07.to enter a story. A bit of rivalry. Anything you can do, Millie can do!
:19:07. > :19:12.If you want to read Millie's story, head over to the Radio 2 website in
:19:12. > :19:16.the 500 Words section. You can get to that via the Blue Peter website.
:19:16. > :19:20.If we look behind your head, Millie, floating behind you are some of the
:19:20. > :19:27.words from your story. Talk us through how you came up with the
:19:27. > :19:31.plot? In 2011, me and my family went to Florida on holiday. And in
:19:31. > :19:35.the Villa we were staying, just outside it, there was a pond. We
:19:35. > :19:39.used to go for walks outside the pond, and my dad would always say,
:19:39. > :19:44.don't go too near the pond, or you will get eaten by the alligator. So
:19:44. > :19:52.I thought I would write a story about an alligator and a lady or a
:19:52. > :20:00.man getting attacked. That sounds funny! And it is. You had a funny
:20:00. > :20:04.lady reading it out for you, Catherine Tate. Here she is. Splash,
:20:04. > :20:09.by Emily Al Bayda. Sonia lived in a quiet neighbourhood in south
:20:09. > :20:14.Florida. She loved the heat and did not care much for other people's
:20:14. > :20:19.company. Most afternoons, she sat out by the pond on her deck chair,
:20:19. > :20:23.reading her magazines and watching the golfers enjoying their game.
:20:23. > :20:27.This competition is called 500 Words. You have to put your story
:20:27. > :20:32.into 500 words. Alex Jones said something about squeezing it in.
:20:32. > :20:36.Was it hard to stick to that? was really hard. I started typing
:20:36. > :20:42.up my story and did the word count and realised it was well over 500
:20:42. > :20:45.words, so I had to keep going back and deleting lines, but in the end
:20:45. > :20:50.I got there. For those of you who are intimidated by the prospect of
:20:51. > :20:56.having to write 500 words, Millie's story fits on this piece of card.
:20:56. > :21:00.It all fits on a piece of A4. We will read your story again later on
:21:00. > :21:05.the website. The unenviable task of judging these entries falls upon
:21:05. > :21:09.the heads of the cream of British authors for children, among them
:21:09. > :21:14.are paying Jacqueline Wilson and David Walliams. Those are just two
:21:14. > :21:18.of the judges. Also alongside them is this guy. Charlie Higson is one
:21:18. > :21:24.of Britain's most successful children's authors. He has written
:21:24. > :21:27.no fewer than 16 books. He is the man responsible for the spine-
:21:27. > :21:30.chilling zombie horror series The Enemy and is also famous for
:21:30. > :21:34.writing the phenomenally successful Young Bond series. It follows James
:21:34. > :21:38.Bond when he was a teenager at school. The Young Bond series has
:21:38. > :21:46.sold over a million copies in the UK and has been translated into the
:21:46. > :21:51.24 different languages for children across the globe. Charlie Higson,
:21:51. > :21:56.everybody! Charlie, you are judged Millie's story. What caught your
:21:56. > :22:00.eye about that? Well, there was a big variety of stories. And because
:22:00. > :22:03.they are written by kids, they often have a central character who
:22:03. > :22:08.is a kid or it is written for naked's point of view, which is
:22:08. > :22:11.great. But they don't have to be that. Millie's story stood out
:22:11. > :22:15.because it was set in America, the main character was a woman and it
:22:15. > :22:19.was not based entirely on real life, but something terrible happens in
:22:19. > :22:24.the story which I hope has never happened to anyone you know. What
:22:24. > :22:30.are you looking for this year? Anything. I love funny stories,
:22:30. > :22:36.exciting stories, scary stories, realistic stories, fantasy stories.
:22:36. > :22:40.And I am hoping to see all of those. Charlie, you have written some
:22:40. > :22:45.fantastic books. Our viewers love the Young Bond series. You have
:22:45. > :22:51.four top tips for us. Tip number one is to write loads of things, as
:22:51. > :22:55.one idea may lead to another? It is easy to be a writer. You just
:22:55. > :22:59.right and right. If you want to write a story, you have to sit down
:22:59. > :23:02.and get going. The first the EU right at might not be brilliant,
:23:02. > :23:05.but it might give you an idea for something else or give you
:23:06. > :23:10.inspiration to go down a different route. You just have to get stuck
:23:10. > :23:14.in. Is that something you did, Millie? I had to keep writing, and
:23:14. > :23:18.then I went back to different people and said, does this work?
:23:18. > :23:22.And then they gave me pointers on what I should put down and what I
:23:22. > :23:28.should take away. Tim Pat number two is to read a lot of books, but
:23:28. > :23:32.don't copy. The yes, you can't write unless you read it. We all
:23:32. > :23:37.tell stories every day. When your mum says, what did you do at
:23:37. > :23:42.school? I did this and my mate did that. Writing a story is the same
:23:42. > :23:46.thing, but sometimes, with how you put the words together, it helps to
:23:46. > :23:50.read what other people have done. So go to the website and read
:23:50. > :23:56.Millie's story, read books of short stories or anything by other people.
:23:56. > :24:03.Don't copy that, but use it to give your ideas. For tip number three,
:24:03. > :24:06.you say, don't be put off by your first effort. A lot of writers get
:24:06. > :24:09.embarrassed and self-conscious. They write something and think, no,
:24:10. > :24:13.I am not sure. Particularly when you know other people will be
:24:13. > :24:17.reading it and judging it, you might get stuck on the first
:24:17. > :24:22.sentence. Just get the thing written. You can always change it
:24:22. > :24:26.and make it better. You have to get over the embarrassment. You have to
:24:26. > :24:29.write the story you would love to read. Is that something you were
:24:29. > :24:34.conscious of when you were writing? Were you thinking about the people
:24:34. > :24:38.who would read it? Be yes, I was thinking, if my story got through
:24:38. > :24:44.to the top 50, what with the judges think? I was worried about whether
:24:44. > :24:47.they thought it would be good. Charlie is more Smiley than we
:24:47. > :24:53.thought. Tip number four, you said once you have finished your story,
:24:53. > :24:57.we write it. The us, your first effort might not be perfect. But I
:24:57. > :25:00.imagine a lot of the kids writing will be using computers. Even if
:25:00. > :25:03.you are writing with a pen and paper, you can change it. Don't
:25:03. > :25:08.think your first effort is it, because you can always do things
:25:08. > :25:12.better. Millie was saying she was showing it to friends and family.
:25:12. > :25:17.That is good. But in the end, if you think it is right and someone
:25:17. > :25:21.else so as not to write it, stick with it. But you can change things.
:25:21. > :25:24.The his days, you can just delete it on a computer. I am so glad we
:25:24. > :25:30.have not always had computers. I was a kid, we did not have
:25:30. > :25:37.computers. I started writing when I was about 10. I loved comics as
:25:38. > :25:43.well. I was a big Tintin fan, and I tried doing a sort of Tintin-style
:25:44. > :25:48.comic. It is not very long. I am glad you did not start again. Thank
:25:48. > :25:55.you so much for joining us. If you fancy entering this competition,
:25:55. > :26:00.you can find all the details on the Blue Peter website. You can see
:26:00. > :26:04.Millie's story there, and there is loads of advice on what to do.
:26:04. > :26:11.have got some e-mails that have been sent in, inspired by the
:26:11. > :26:17.naughty lion. You pesky pets. Bella says, my cat books muddy prints all
:26:17. > :26:25.over our windowsill. Our cat likes to climb into everything he can,
:26:25. > :26:30.says Heather. Gabriel says, my dog barks at little white feathers and
:26:30. > :26:37.then eats them. But where do the feathers come from the? Is your dog
:26:37. > :26:41.eating dogs? And Another v you are says, my cat loves to eat the laces
:26:41. > :26:45.from my shoes. Thank you for getting in touch. A bat is all we
:26:45. > :26:49.have got time for today. Next week on Blue Peter, we will be telling
:26:49. > :26:53.you what we are doing this year to support Comic Relief. We have
:26:53. > :26:57.always supported the charity's Comic Relief and Sport Relief. This
:26:57. > :27:01.year, we will do something different. In the past, I have
:27:01. > :27:05.packed along the Amazon and walked along a tightrope at Battersea
:27:05. > :27:09.Power Station. This year, I need you dies. I am really hoping you
:27:09. > :27:13.will get involved not just in terms of support and sending e-mails, but
:27:13. > :27:17.I needed to come along and be part of the challenges. We will reveal
:27:17. > :27:22.all next week. I will also go to a British safari park to see some
:27:22. > :27:26.very cute babies, white rhinos that have just been born. That is not
:27:26. > :27:30.just an exclusive, it is also due to. We have all been warming --
:27:30. > :27:35.wrapping up warm in the snowy weather, but if you are a bird,
:27:35. > :27:39.what do you did to stay one? We will welcome Chris Packham into the
:27:40. > :27:45.studio, and he has a fantastic make to help keep our feathered friends
:27:45. > :27:49.nice and warm. You will love it. It is called a fat feeder. If you
:27:49. > :27:53.would like to ask him any questions next week, you can do at