:00:16. > :00:21.greatest achievements of British art. And back home in the North for
:00:21. > :00:24.the next three months. The word gospel means good news in old
:00:24. > :00:29.English. And the Lindisfarne Gospels, crafted here on Holy
:00:29. > :00:34.Island, offer two lots of good news. For Christians, they offer hope of a
:00:34. > :00:36.better life, a better future, with the coming of the messiah. And the
:00:36. > :00:39.sheer beauty and creativity of them tells us something extraordinary
:00:39. > :00:49.about human spirit, innovation and endeavour - and that to me is good
:00:49. > :00:53.
:00:53. > :00:58.room for celebrating such positive attributes like endeavour and
:00:58. > :01:01.innovation. But I'm going to compile a gospel of good news stories which
:01:01. > :01:07.will show they're as strong now, as they were when the Lindisfarne
:01:07. > :01:13.Gospels were created. My two-month journey will follow parts of the
:01:13. > :01:16.route of the gospels from Holy Island to Durham. And hopefully, I'm
:01:16. > :01:26.going to find people along the way to tell me their stories and help
:01:26. > :01:46.
:01:46. > :01:51.Farne Islands, half a dozen miles or so from Holy Island. The Farnes were
:01:51. > :01:55.home to St Cuthbert. During his time there, he introduced the world's
:01:55. > :02:05.first bird protection laws. Apparently we locals liked eating
:02:05. > :02:08.the eider ducks and their eggs. He stopped that. That's why in
:02:08. > :02:17.Northumberland, eider ducks are called cuddy ducks - cuddy, after
:02:17. > :02:23.Cuthbert. Now you didn't know that, did you? The 81,000 pairs of sea
:02:23. > :02:33.birds here have been having a hard time. At this time of year I should
:02:33. > :02:36.be bombarded by Arctic terns. But they've no eggs to protect.
:02:36. > :02:43.cold, wet weather is preventing the birds from nesting. We are a couple
:02:43. > :02:52.of weeks behind. The good news is, the terns are courting like mad.
:02:52. > :02:56.More than 20 species of sea bird breed here, including shags. I
:02:56. > :02:58.wasn't quite as quick as I thought I was! The papers have been filled
:02:58. > :03:03.with gloomy stories about disappearing species. But the
:03:03. > :03:13.puffins have been a phenomenal success story. In the 1930s, there
:03:13. > :03:15.
:03:15. > :03:19.were only 3,000 breeding pairs. Which God -- we had more than 36,505
:03:19. > :03:23.years ago. We are hoping for more than 40,000 this year. The rangers
:03:23. > :03:28.are in the middle of a new puffin census - and guess what? So am I.
:03:28. > :03:33.I'm feeling to see if they're home - or have just nipped out for a snack.
:03:33. > :03:41.I've an awful feeling there may be something in here. Oh no, it's not!
:03:41. > :03:48.There are two different tunnels at the end. The burrows often have a
:03:48. > :03:58.toilet chamber. Oh, really? I've had me hand in a puffin's nettie -
:03:58. > :04:00.
:04:00. > :04:06.brilliant! Very hygienic. We are finding quite high occupancy. This
:04:06. > :04:09.summer could be quite successful. That is really good news. It's
:04:09. > :04:12.amazing to think that St Cuthbert's work is paying dividends. And the
:04:12. > :04:15.work he started protecting the birds. I suppose the good news is,
:04:15. > :04:18.believe it or not, the weather has changed for the better. The birds
:04:18. > :04:24.are sitting on eggs and the terns will be dive bombing heads pretty
:04:24. > :04:27.soon. It's great. So, the first piece of good news is
:04:27. > :04:35.entered on our gospel page, feflecting the bird conservation
:04:35. > :04:40.work of Cuthbert and the rangers. The exact route of the gospels from
:04:40. > :04:45.Holy Island is disputed. We do know they zig-zagged the North as the
:04:45. > :04:52.monks evaded Viking invaders. From the Farne Islands we go south to
:04:52. > :04:56.Billingham on Teesside. To be honest with you, it's been quite a struggle
:04:56. > :05:01.so far to gather our good news stories. We're so geared up for the
:05:01. > :05:11.bad. We all bang on about the decline of heavy industry, but did
:05:11. > :05:19.
:05:19. > :05:22.you know that here on Teesside there turbines on the sea bed. TAG Energy
:05:22. > :05:28.Solutions produces them at the former Swan Hunter shipyard at
:05:28. > :05:36.Haverton Hill. It's quite impressive, that. I feel butch just
:05:36. > :05:46.watching it. Three years ago, they had to move from offshore oil and
:05:46. > :05:47.
:05:47. > :05:53.gas or risk going under. We had 2000 quid left in the bank. We had about
:05:53. > :05:56.15 people. We now have 150 people. The supply chain we have created,
:05:56. > :05:59.probably another 150 jobs. They're the only company in Britain doing
:05:59. > :06:08.this. They have orders worth more than �20 million. Half of their
:06:08. > :06:12.output is exported to Germany. The smell reminds me of my grandad when
:06:12. > :06:18.he was little. He used to be a welder and he would smell like this
:06:18. > :06:23.when he came in from work. I spent 30 years in the Army. I got in the
:06:23. > :06:33.rank of sergeant. I have finally found a company where I want to
:06:33. > :06:35.
:06:35. > :06:41.stay. What have you got to look going on in iron and steel here on
:06:41. > :06:46.Teesside. This is the blast furnace at SSI's plant in Redcar. After
:06:46. > :06:56.being mothballed for two years, it was restarted just over a year ago.
:06:56. > :06:57.
:06:57. > :07:03.They're hitting record tonnages of iron. Thousands of more young lads
:07:03. > :07:09.have got jobs here. All getting new houses and new cars. We're over the
:07:09. > :07:19.moon. Fantastic news. Further community, everyone. You can find
:07:19. > :07:24.
:07:24. > :07:28.beauty and you. This is an amazing place. Truly awesome. Operations
:07:28. > :07:30.wise, looking fantastic. We are going to be the best in the world.
:07:30. > :07:32.Success forged by heavy industry on Teesside inspires our Good News
:07:32. > :07:36.Gospel. From Teesside, we travel north west
:07:36. > :07:43.to Cumwhinton near Carlisle. The gospels didn't travel in a straight
:07:43. > :07:46.line to make their journey. And neither do we. We're nearly there.
:07:46. > :07:56.This next story is about overcoming the odds, finding success in the
:07:56. > :08:04.
:08:04. > :08:11.face of adversity. And personally, I developed biliary atresia, a rare
:08:11. > :08:19.liver disease, when he was a child. A liver transplant saved his life.
:08:19. > :08:25.He was nearly a year old when he went a khaki colour, he was so ill.
:08:26. > :08:31.We were new parents, our first-born. This was not meant to happen. It was
:08:31. > :08:34.a complete shock. They said if he did not get a donor by the May, he
:08:34. > :08:38.would actually die. Later this month, Matthew leaves for South
:08:38. > :08:41.Africa to compete in the World Transplant Games. And this boy, who
:08:41. > :08:45.it was feared would never be able to walk before the transplant, expects
:08:46. > :08:50.to win gold. I'm doing the 200 metres, 400 metres, 800 metres, 1500
:08:50. > :08:54.metres, 5000 metres, and I'm hoping to compete in the adult 4x400 relay.
:08:54. > :09:04.What about the wheelbarrow race or the egg and spoon? Aren't there one
:09:04. > :09:06.or two you may have missed out? stick to that. There my strongest.
:09:06. > :09:15.It puts everything else into perspective. You see great people,
:09:15. > :09:20.doctors, surgeons. Then you have a donor family taking that incredibly
:09:20. > :09:24.hard decision. It strengthens your faith in human kindness. I'm really
:09:24. > :09:28.grateful for it, and lucky. Time to update our gospel, inspired by the
:09:29. > :09:31.dedication of those who have contributed to Matthew's success.
:09:31. > :09:39.The gospels were created by the monk, Eadfrith, around 1300 years
:09:39. > :09:43.ago. An extraordinary feat. Usually they were done by groups of people.
:09:43. > :09:53.I've found another good news story, so from Cumbria we go East to
:09:53. > :10:00.
:10:00. > :10:05.ounces. A first baby for Marie and Paul. We tried for a baby for five
:10:05. > :10:14.years. Eventually we tried IVF treatment and got Eliza. Every day
:10:14. > :10:23.we wake up and it's just an absolute joy. I've got a favour to ask.
:10:23. > :10:26.hope you don't mind. Any chance of a little hold? Of course!Thirty years
:10:26. > :10:29.ago there was no possibility of having a baby like Eliza with IVF.
:10:29. > :10:32.The treatment they received at Newcastle's Centre for Life was just
:10:32. > :10:42.being developed. Now couples from all over the country longing for a
:10:42. > :10:43.
:10:43. > :10:47.baby are being given a chance. 300 babies are conceived every year.
:10:47. > :10:55.There is no wait for treatment. Three cycles funded by the NHS. You
:10:55. > :11:02.have at least a 60% chance of having a baby. That's good news. A little
:11:02. > :11:05.superstar. Your unnatural. -- you are a natural. A true miracle. Our
:11:05. > :11:08.illustration in the Good News Gospel reflects the "miracle" for Marie and
:11:08. > :11:16.Paul. The Lindisfarne Gospels comprise
:11:16. > :11:20.more than 250 leaves of calf skin velum. They're remarkably preserved.
:11:21. > :11:30.The next story touches on every part of the gospels map. North, south,
:11:31. > :11:51.
:11:52. > :12:01.clue about the next bit of good news. It's all about discovering
:12:02. > :12:21.
:12:21. > :12:27.to 80 from all parts of the region. Now it doesn't say anything here,
:12:27. > :12:32.when it gets to" I'm going home... " Today is special, Sir Thomas Allen,
:12:32. > :12:36.the world famous opera star is holding a master class.
:12:36. > :12:44.# I'm going home # Think of what you're saying. You
:12:44. > :12:53.part of being a poor way faring stranger. Then there's a land beyond
:12:53. > :13:03.that. We need to go from that, this world of woe. It's incredibly useful
:13:03. > :13:10.
:13:10. > :13:14.to have woe. Oh, woe is me. As a I think you should think of being
:13:14. > :13:18.able to do that. It will make such a difference. It will be the crowning
:13:18. > :13:28.glory of the piece. It's the highest note in the piece. It will do you
:13:28. > :13:36.
:13:36. > :13:46.Zblt choir are rehearsing for a concert celebrating the return of
:13:46. > :13:52.
:13:52. > :13:56.the Lindisfarne Gospels. None of choir. It's not something I do very
:13:56. > :14:03.often. We have a lot of work to do. But there's a possibility of making
:14:03. > :14:07.something that's really very, very refind. They're very open to
:14:07. > :14:12.suggestion and ideas and it's hard work. There'll be a lot of work
:14:12. > :14:21.between now and then, whenever "then" is before it comes together.
:14:21. > :14:24.Weeks. Nonchts problem. April bull -- no, problem. Ample time. He has
:14:24. > :14:29.transformed the choir in the sound that they make. When you get it all
:14:29. > :14:38.together, the hairs on the back of your neck just come up. Magic.
:14:38. > :14:47.years people told me to shut up. Inside I was a virtuoso singer. Now
:14:47. > :14:51.I feel I'm getting there. It was just calm and level, measured
:14:51. > :15:01.and beautifully in tune. For that reason, I think they make the music
:15:01. > :15:07.ring out. We shall be ready. There is no question. We shall be ready.
:15:07. > :15:10.don't know about you, but they certainly sound ready to me. Did you
:15:10. > :15:14.recognise that piece of music? You should do. You should pay attention.
:15:14. > :15:22.We've already played it in the film. I know for a fact that the choir
:15:22. > :15:28.think that's good news. The uplifting voices of the gospels
:15:28. > :15:33.community choir inspire our Gooed News Gospel. It's believed it took
:15:33. > :15:38.up to ten years to complete the gospels. He used pigments imported
:15:38. > :15:48.from as far away as the Himalayas. Now we head to Gateshead in our
:15:48. > :15:48.
:15:48. > :15:52.quest for inspiring stories. It's 15 years since I put a pair of football
:15:52. > :15:57.boots on. You might be wondering what I'm doing. I'm wondering what
:15:57. > :16:01.I'm doing. This is North East athletic, a
:16:01. > :16:07.football club run by and for people recovering from drug and alcohol
:16:07. > :16:17.abuse. It's a remarkable success and they're good players. Much better
:16:17. > :16:17.
:16:17. > :16:23.than me. Let's face it, I'm a better spectator than a player. Today,
:16:23. > :16:28.Athletic in the blue are playing KNW in the white and black. It just
:16:28. > :16:35.works. Basically, if you give people respect and actually let them
:16:35. > :16:42.control their own affairs. There's camaraderie, stability, it's helping
:16:43. > :16:46.other people. I was in prison for violent crimes, drugs. But it's
:16:46. > :16:51.helping people. Keeping people out of prison. It's giving them jobs,
:16:51. > :16:57.hope. Of the teams is top of the league in their first season. Only
:16:57. > :17:03.one player has ever been expelled for breaking the rules. What would
:17:03. > :17:06.you do, do you think, if this didn't exist? I'd still be in a prison cell
:17:06. > :17:12.or dead, one or the other. That's the stark reality of it. The game's
:17:12. > :17:15.finished. I think the final score was 8-1. The good news is it clearly
:17:15. > :17:25.does work and it's made a huge difference to the lives of the
:17:25. > :17:31.people involved with it. I think we should all applaud that. Our Gospel
:17:31. > :17:41.page reflects North East Athletic's rehabilitation work.
:17:41. > :17:46.
:17:46. > :17:56.From Gateshead we travel south to Through this gate is a monument to
:17:56. > :17:56.
:17:56. > :18:01.community, faith and solidarity, a thing of beauty and it's good news.
:18:01. > :18:06.St Cuthbert's church, more than 800 years old and almost destroyed
:18:06. > :18:11.recently by thieves. They stole the lead from the roof seven times.
:18:11. > :18:16.There's water coming in. It was streaming down the walls. The wood
:18:16. > :18:24.work was all soaked and warped and the varnish lifting, furnishings
:18:24. > :18:31.mouldy. It was more than a loss. It was devastating, actually.
:18:31. > :18:35.congregation was asked a hard question. What do we do at this
:18:35. > :18:39.point, have we got the spirit to put this right and put it back at the
:18:39. > :18:45.centre of the community. �50,000 later the church has been restored
:18:45. > :18:50.and it has a new roof. There it is, stainless steel, I think it looks
:18:50. > :18:55.pretty actually. It's harder to take than lead because you can't roll it
:18:55. > :18:58.up and chuck it off the roof. It's cumbersome stuff. So you'd be
:18:58. > :19:02.spotted quickly if you were heading down the road with that lot under
:19:02. > :19:05.your arm. The good news is we are in touch with more people in our
:19:05. > :19:12.community and beyond our community than we ever have been before. They
:19:12. > :19:20.feel they own this place. This is their place. Look at it now. I mean,
:19:20. > :19:24.I'm just very proud. St Cuthbert's church takes its place in the Good
:19:24. > :19:29.News Gospel. The Lindisfarne Gospels consists of
:19:29. > :19:35.the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and the life and
:19:35. > :19:40.teachings of Christ. They're symbolised by a man, a lion, a calf
:19:40. > :19:44.and an eagle. A hop and skip to the borders of
:19:44. > :19:54.Teesside and North Yorkshire now. The good news stories are turning up
:19:54. > :19:56.
:19:56. > :20:05.Katherine James and her friends are off to the Middlesbrough race for
:20:05. > :20:10.life. 30 lasses, pink tutus plus me. This could be a laugh, this.
:20:10. > :20:15.They used to call me Zola Bud, believe it or not. Or crawl, we'll
:20:15. > :20:21.finish it. Katherine was diagnosed with breast cancer last December. It
:20:21. > :20:24.was discovered because she'd gone on a diet. I was at my target weight.
:20:24. > :20:31.Two weeks later I discovered a lump. If I hadn't lost the weight I might
:20:32. > :20:35.not have found it. I've been very not have found it. I've been very
:20:36. > :20:40.lucky, yeah. Three, two, one! is a 5 K race to raise money for
:20:40. > :20:49.Cancer Research UK. The good news is cancer survival rates have doubled
:20:49. > :20:54.in the last four decades. Katherine has almost finished her treatment.
:20:54. > :20:58.The prognosis is good. It's definitely made me a stronger person
:20:58. > :21:04.and more positive. I've done more things since I've found out than I
:21:04. > :21:10.would before. You look at life very differently. It's taken Katherine
:21:10. > :21:15.less than an hour to walk the course. She has been three miles
:21:15. > :21:21.behind me. And I love her. You've done it.
:21:21. > :21:31.yes. Do you feel?Great. I feel better than I did at the beginning.
:21:31. > :21:39.It's just lovely. In our Gospel, an athlete strides forward reflecting
:21:39. > :21:43.Katherine's good news. The gospels were written in Latin. An old
:21:43. > :21:50.English translation was added later by another monk, between the lines
:21:50. > :21:56.of the main text. For the final leg of our journey, we go north to
:21:57. > :22:02.Washington services on the A 1. Any minute now. What am I waiting
:22:02. > :22:05.for? What do you think I'm waiting for? I'm waiting for the next
:22:05. > :22:13.instalment of good news. There's a stroke of luck because here it is
:22:13. > :22:18.now. I've thumb be rb -- thumbed a lift with Tim Chalk, a sculptor.
:22:18. > :22:22.What's going on Tim, what's in the back? I've got St Cuthbert in the
:22:22. > :22:26.back. St Cuthbert in the back. Well, actually, it's a statue of him. It
:22:26. > :22:31.will be a central feature of the Lindisfarne Gospels exhibition in
:22:31. > :22:36.Durham. There's always problems installing statues and here's the
:22:36. > :22:41.first. We are lost. Do you know where you're going, by the way? I'm
:22:41. > :22:51.going to Durham, but I haven't seen any signs for Durham. Passed Durham.
:22:51. > :22:59.Have we? Yeah. Back on track we arrive at the exhibition hall. St
:22:59. > :23:05.Cuthbert sees the light of day. there is a height issue, at that
:23:05. > :23:10.point we just lift him off. Keep clear of that side. Slowly.Whoa!
:23:10. > :23:16.We're not going to fit through this door.
:23:16. > :23:22.I tell you what, I don't know how Tim's feeling, but my heart's coming
:23:22. > :23:26.out of my mouth. It was all going so well. I thought it was going to sail
:23:26. > :23:29.through there. The measurement has been frame to frame rather than the
:23:29. > :23:35.inside of the door to the inside. I think St Cuthbert is taking it well,
:23:35. > :23:38.though. I bet you engineered this to get good television! I'm sorry, Tim,
:23:38. > :23:42.it's almost as if some stupid presenter kept you talking so much
:23:42. > :23:48.you missed your turn-off in the van as well. You're a bit late and it's
:23:49. > :23:53.stressed you out. Eventually the door's come off. St
:23:53. > :23:57.Cuthbert is in. Here he is in the right place. It's great to see him.
:23:58. > :24:04.It makes a huge difference. What do you think? I'm over the moon. This
:24:04. > :24:09.is a really beautiful sculpture. It's fabulous to see it life-size
:24:09. > :24:15.and ready in its place. The statue reflects Cuthbert's longing for
:24:15. > :24:20.solitude on The Farnes isolated in his tower. He would have been
:24:20. > :24:25.standing there looking through the top of his roofless tower. All he
:24:25. > :24:30.would have seen is clouds and wheels wheeling across. It would have given
:24:30. > :24:34.him the sense of the spirit just taking off and lifting up. Everybody
:24:34. > :24:41.kept wanting a bit of him. I thought this cloak is like this huge,
:24:41. > :24:46.worldly burden that he has to carry. Without a shadow of a doubt, it
:24:46. > :24:56.looks beautiful. If I'm honest with you, I think he's got a little bit
:24:56. > :25:03.
:25:03. > :25:09.final leg of our journey, I wasn't quite telling the truth. There's one
:25:09. > :25:12.more thing that we need to go and see. And that is in London, well,
:25:12. > :25:16.those things are in London. That might give you a bit of a clue.
:25:16. > :25:20.Because I think it's safe to say that we've both been dying to see
:25:20. > :25:27.the gospels in real life. That's where we're heading now, to the
:25:27. > :25:31.British Library to do just that. I, for one, am properly excited. At
:25:31. > :25:39.last we get our sneak preview of the book that everyone's talking about,
:25:39. > :25:44.the book that's coming back to Durham.
:25:44. > :25:50.Look at these colours. It's fantastic. It's like a dragon that
:25:50. > :25:54.letter there. Yes.It's fascinating. The detail, you can see, the red
:25:54. > :25:58.there. Yeah, you're looking at that one page and the density of work
:25:58. > :26:03.involved. There's no doubting the beauty of the page, but one thing
:26:03. > :26:09.strikes us - where are my pretty pictures? It's virtually all words.
:26:09. > :26:17.Please don't take this the wrong way, of all of the pages, why this
:26:17. > :26:21.one? Here, you have perhaps a slight slightly lower scale artistic
:26:21. > :26:27.achievement, but it's the same artist. It's the same scribe who's
:26:27. > :26:30.working on it. So the intensity of the work is as great, it's just
:26:30. > :26:35.there's less paint on the page. fantastic. Obviously, I'm pulling
:26:35. > :26:38.your leg. I'm really pleased just to get a chance to have a look at it.
:26:38. > :26:42.The Lindisfarne Gospels is undoubtedly one of the greatest
:26:42. > :26:52.books ever made. It's one of the great peaks of British art. There
:26:52. > :26:58.are not many of those in history, but this is certainly one of them.
:26:58. > :27:03.There we are, I've seen the gospels and I have to say, I'm not
:27:03. > :27:12.disappointed at all. I think they're absolutely beautiful. On so many
:27:12. > :27:17.levels. I'm really glad I got the opportunity to go and do that.
:27:17. > :27:23.At the beginning, I set a task: To show that in the 1300 years since
:27:23. > :27:31.the gospels were created we haven't changed. That we still have the
:27:31. > :27:35.qualities that inspired such a magnificent work of art. We've seen
:27:35. > :27:38.individuals unite. We've seen communities overcome adversity.
:27:38. > :27:42.We've seen people find hidden talents deep within themselves. More
:27:43. > :27:46.important than all of that, I think we've proved beyond a shadow of a
:27:46. > :27:49.doubt that the human spirit, innovation and endeavour is just as
:27:49. > :27:57.strong as it was when the gospels were created. That is good news for
:27:57. > :28:02.all of us. So, our last bit of good news is:
:28:02. > :28:08.Today, the Lindisfarne Gospels have come home to Durham.