:00:07. > :00:13.Gaudi cathedral. In Spain it is a summer of dramatic change in
:00:14. > :00:21.Barcelona. Capital of the fiercely independent region of Catalonia. It
:00:21. > :00:26.has always had a tradition of going insane way, but now people are
:00:27. > :00:31.rejecting the controversial blood sport of bullfighting. It is part
:00:31. > :00:36.of a bigger transformation which is pitting modernity against centuries
:00:36. > :00:42.of Spanish culture. In Barcelona they have turned this boring into a
:00:42. > :00:48.shopping mall. On the 50th anniversary of the death of Ernest
:00:48. > :00:53.Hemingway, it is less Death In The Afternoon, more to have or have not.
:00:53. > :01:00.More than anyone else, the famous American writer brought the ball
:01:00. > :01:04.fight to the wider world. He said it was not a sport, but a tragedy.
:01:04. > :01:14.Many say Catalonia's will not be truly modern until bullfighting has
:01:14. > :01:19.
:01:19. > :01:29.finally gone. Now, many have lost their case for such things. -- lost
:01:29. > :01:32.
:01:32. > :01:36.their taste. Bullfighting is the only art in which the artist is in
:01:36. > :01:46.danger of death and in which the degree of brilliance of the
:01:46. > :01:49.
:01:49. > :01:54.performance is left to the fighters only. The American novelist Ernest
:01:54. > :02:00.Hemingway travelled to Spain in the 1920s and 1930s and watched Wall
:02:00. > :02:06.fights. He wrote them up in his famous account: Death In The
:02:06. > :02:10.Afternoon. He was an aficionado, but he was honest about what he saw.
:02:10. > :02:14.I suppose the bullfight is indefensible and I should not
:02:14. > :02:20.defend it now and the to tell honestly the things I have found
:02:20. > :02:25.true about it. However squeamishly you approach the pages of Hemingway,
:02:25. > :02:30.if at all, his bald and bullfighting itself seemed to say
:02:30. > :02:36.something about Spanishness, something of the centuries. But he
:02:36. > :02:41.Spain that Hemingway documented is disappearing it seems. This summer,
:02:41. > :02:48.the 50th anniversary of Hemingway's death, sees the final season of
:02:48. > :02:53.bullfighting in Barcelona. To some it is a long overdue end to a
:02:53. > :02:58.barbaric practice. But others see it as a political act, as
:02:58. > :03:06.Catalonia's waving a red rag at the rest of Spain and its cultural
:03:06. > :03:15.heritage and that includes the fiesta of balls. Former matador
:03:15. > :03:20.Enrique Molina is a grizzled veteran of the ring. TRANSLATION:
:03:20. > :03:30.The, it is something that shakes me. This will ring has been the best in
:03:30. > :03:38.the world. -- bullring. We will no longer be able to see balls in
:03:38. > :03:46.Barcelona. The regional government was persuaded by campaigners like
:03:46. > :03:51.Helen Escoda that bullfighting is cruel. Bullfighting supporters
:03:51. > :04:01.disagreed with us, but I do not think they understand that
:04:01. > :04:06.
:04:06. > :04:12.bullfighting is cruel. It is the morning of the bullfight at the
:04:12. > :04:17.Arena. A ritual dating back hundreds of years. Any one with a
:04:17. > :04:22.stage in the fiesta is here to cast his eyes over the Bulls. The
:04:22. > :04:26.managers and agents of the bullfighters, the representatives
:04:26. > :04:31.of the Breeders, journalists, even retired matadors who cannot stay
:04:31. > :04:37.away. It is a cross between a cattle auction and backstage at a
:04:37. > :04:45.prize fight. The bulls are putting pens ready for the afternoon's
:04:45. > :04:55.events. And the agents of the matadors draw lots to see which
:04:55. > :04:55.
:04:55. > :05:03.animals their clients will be confronting in a few hours. In a
:05:03. > :05:12.bid to eke Barcelona hotel Damian Castano is being dressed in the
:05:12. > :05:19.bullfighter's so-called suit of lights. He is 19, painfully slight
:05:19. > :05:23.and about to face a ball weighing just over a ton. TRANSLATION: These
:05:23. > :05:29.moments are difficult because you are one hour from playing with your
:05:29. > :05:39.life. And also a beautiful, because when the EU dress up in the lights,
:05:39. > :05:41.
:05:41. > :05:47.it is a beautiful feeling. -- when if you dress up. LA Monumental, the
:05:47. > :05:52.last bull ring in Barcelona. It is early in the last season and none
:05:53. > :05:59.of the superstars of the Spanish circuit are on the bill. All the
:05:59. > :06:06.same, only one-fifth of the seats are occupied. To many, the case
:06:06. > :06:16.against bullfighting is cut and dried. It is cruel. Others, like
:06:16. > :06:22.
:06:23. > :06:28.Hemingway, make out that the ethical arguments are more nuanced.
:06:28. > :06:33.One what is good is what you feel good about and what is bad is what
:06:33. > :06:38.you do not feel good about. The bullfight is very moral because I
:06:38. > :06:46.have a feeling of life and death and mortality and the mortality.
:06:46. > :06:50.After it is over I feel very sad but very fine. The crowd offers
:06:50. > :06:59.some encouragement to Damian Castano, the novice, and at least
:06:59. > :07:04.he survives his afternoon, which is more than can be said for the ball.
:07:04. > :07:08.But it is a bumpy ride and he is not judged good enough by the
:07:08. > :07:16.spectators to deserve the macabre trophy awarded to the best
:07:16. > :07:19.matadors: The ball's ear. Others enjoyed more success but come the
:07:20. > :07:29.autumn this bull ring will fall silent and what goes on here now
:07:30. > :07:34.
:07:34. > :07:44.will be forbidden. Rosa Gil is the widow of the last man to die in
:07:44. > :07:48.
:07:48. > :07:53.Barcelona. He was killed in 1974. said I think I love you.
:07:53. > :07:58.restaurant used to be a canteen for bullfighters on the taller, but it
:07:58. > :08:07.is quieter these days. It is the finish of bullfighting all over the
:08:07. > :08:17.world. Our kids have different attitudes. Different attitudes to
:08:17. > :08:18.
:08:18. > :08:28.animals, two trees. Maybe that is better though? At think it is
:08:28. > :08:32.
:08:32. > :08:38.normal. Life is like that. But one of Rosa's regulars, a bullfight
:08:38. > :08:44.critic who reviews the fiesta for a newspaper, is angry with
:08:44. > :08:47.politicians in Catalonia. He says their ban is gesture politics,
:08:47. > :08:52.directed at the National establishment in Madrid.
:08:52. > :08:57.TRANSLATION: The people who have ban these are the politicians and
:08:57. > :09:03.they and supporters of the bans speech from a position of ignorance.
:09:03. > :09:07.They base their position on animal rights, which do not exist. Animals
:09:07. > :09:16.have always been used in the service of human beings throughout
:09:16. > :09:21.the story of creation. At his splendid medieval palace in bowser
:09:21. > :09:26.Lower Dir, the president of Catalonia it is proud of his
:09:26. > :09:31.government's independence., but he insists that this had nothing to do
:09:31. > :09:37.with the ball five ban. Easy to do with the fact that all fighting can
:09:37. > :09:46.be seen as a Spanish thing rather than a Catalonian thing? No. It is
:09:46. > :09:51.not related to the Spanish issue or the Spanish feelings. Don't forget
:09:51. > :09:57.that the bullfighting tradition is very old in Catalonia. Isn't that
:09:57. > :10:07.all the more reason for keeping it? Wire up said a minority who are in
:10:07. > :10:11.favour of it? Because the society is undergoing a cultural evolution
:10:11. > :10:20.and at the beginning of the 21st century some rights are more
:10:20. > :10:24.respected than they were decades ago, even rights for the animals.
:10:24. > :10:30.In The Independent minded Spanish region of Catalonia, people are
:10:31. > :10:36.turning away from bullfights but turning out to see their football
:10:36. > :10:40.club. Barcelona is owned by its 150,000 members and it looks like
:10:40. > :10:50.all of them are on the streets Tito's the conquerors of Spain and
:10:50. > :10:51.
:10:51. > :10:59.the rest of Europe. These are the true heroes of the Catalan, the
:10:59. > :11:03.players of Barcelona. Even more than in he other great footballing
:11:04. > :11:10.cities of Europe, Barcelona's success feels like the people's
:11:10. > :11:15.success. Kong regulations. Could you describe for me the unique
:11:15. > :11:24.relationship between these football club and the people of Catalonia's?
:11:25. > :11:34.The people love this club. They are identified because they love it and
:11:35. > :11:39.
:11:39. > :11:43.they give their heart. But also because of the way we play. It is
:11:43. > :11:53.part of the culture of this little country. And that little country is
:11:53. > :11:55.
:11:55. > :12:05.changing in ways that would once have seemed unimaginable. That is
:12:05. > :12:15.indicated by what is happening on the skyline of Barcelona. Hired
:12:15. > :12:16.
:12:16. > :12:20.James Gabi supposed take over from in his monarch banks are. It has
:12:20. > :12:30.been the source of great controversy, which is being renewed
:12:30. > :12:32.
:12:32. > :12:42.even as the building edges toward It has a futuristic feel in a 70s
:12:42. > :12:52.way. It is like the first cathedral on Mars. This is the spectacular
:12:52. > :12:59.Sagrada Familiar, by silica to the Home -- the Holy Family forever
:12:59. > :13:03.associated with the brilliant Catalan architect Antonio Gaudi,
:13:03. > :13:08.the greatest symbol of the region of Catalonia. For decades, ever
:13:08. > :13:13.since Gaudi died, leaving it unfinished, it has been a monument
:13:13. > :13:19.to enigmatic genius. Frozen at the moment when the one man who could
:13:19. > :13:23.completed was no longer around to do so. This eastern facade of La
:13:23. > :13:28.Sagrada Familia is true to Gaudi's extraordinary vision, completed
:13:28. > :13:32.before his death in the 20s. Some people who come here and look at
:13:32. > :13:38.his Nativity think maybe the old boy was off his trolley. He was
:13:38. > :13:41.obsessive, compulsive, fanatical about getting detail right. He had
:13:41. > :13:47.Turkey's anaesthetised so he could make plaster casts of them and see
:13:47. > :13:53.how they would look up here. He even had a live braying donkey
:13:53. > :13:57.winched up the side of the basilica. To get a perspective on how that
:13:57. > :14:02.might look in his Nativity scene. Talking of perspective, you may
:14:02. > :14:08.think all of this work by Gaudi's successor was would be appreciated
:14:08. > :14:14.but some say the building would have been better left unfinished.
:14:14. > :14:17.It is a queer piece that will not take the centre. It will not be a
:14:17. > :14:27.place that architects come for inspiration. The EU do not think
:14:27. > :14:30.
:14:30. > :14:35.so? Not at all. -- you do not think so. The Sagrada Familiar is an
:14:36. > :14:42.architectural tour de force, a huge tourist attraction and a working
:14:42. > :14:47.church. The Pope was here to consecrate La Sagrada Familia last
:14:47. > :14:52.year, a consecration from the mother church at a temple Gaudi
:14:52. > :14:59.hadn't mentioned as a great forest. While Father Luis Bonet attempts to
:14:59. > :15:01.the soles of his flock at La Sagrada Familia... His brother
:15:02. > :15:11.Jordi Bonet is responsible for their physical well-being while
:15:12. > :15:13.
:15:13. > :15:21.they are under this roof. Jordi Bonet, chief architect here for 20
:15:21. > :15:31.years has finally achieved what Gaudi failed to do - keep the rain
:15:31. > :15:42.
:15:42. > :15:47.out. Gaudi made models so we can build if exactly to the real deal.
:15:47. > :15:57.The sees true to his vision? This is the building of Gaudi. -- this
:15:57. > :15:58.
:15:58. > :16:02.is true. This is the old city. David Mackie begs to differ, a
:16:02. > :16:11.British architect based in Barcelona who helped to transform
:16:11. > :16:21.the port area and when the Olympics came 20 years ago. He says Gaudi's
:16:21. > :16:23.
:16:23. > :16:30.critics got it wrong. It is not Gaudi. He was a person concerned
:16:30. > :16:34.with structure. The columns are not vertical. They lean towards each
:16:34. > :16:40.other. It is not broken stone, everything is in reinforced
:16:40. > :16:46.concrete. Do you think it is a travesty? If you are looking for
:16:46. > :16:53.Gaudi, yes. If you are looking for an excellent building, No.
:16:53. > :17:03.Japanese are seen to like it enormously. -- the Japanese seem of.
:17:03. > :17:17.
:17:17. > :17:27.If I'd team at -- we are 70 metres off the ground. One central steeple
:17:27. > :17:37.to be added will take the for height to 170 metres. Gaudi's
:17:37. > :17:39.
:17:39. > :17:48.original design called for 18 towers. You are going to put
:17:49. > :17:56.another one here? It will never be finished! I may not see it finished
:17:56. > :18:00.but it will be finished in the future. Some observers go even
:18:00. > :18:04.further than saying they should have just left it alone. Were
:18:04. > :18:12.acquitted in London says they should take a machine-gun and shoot
:18:12. > :18:22.away some of the sculpture and some of the new things. What do you say?
:18:22. > :18:23.
:18:23. > :18:33.Always in the world are people that have some idea as of destruction
:18:33. > :18:33.
:18:33. > :18:41.and think that we build something that the majority of our people
:18:42. > :18:48.like that we continue. He gets about the site with an agility
:18:48. > :18:53.other 86-year-olds might envy. Even other 46-year-olds. He told me he
:18:53. > :18:59.enjoyed mountaineering as a young man and I do not doubt it. In
:18:59. > :19:03.another 30 years, you may have difficulty getting up these. Even
:19:03. > :19:09.though La Sagrada Familia is finally habitable, so to speak, the
:19:10. > :19:14.work goes on inexorably. The most recently posted deadline is 2026,
:19:14. > :19:20.100 years since Gaudi's death. As long as the tourist revenue
:19:20. > :19:23.continues, they will keep building, or rather his successor as well. Is
:19:23. > :19:32.there something about La Sagrada Familia that became an obsession
:19:32. > :19:42.for Gaudi? Has it became -- has it become an obsession for you? If No,
:19:42. > :19:48.
:19:48. > :19:55.This extraordinary building will surely grow ever familiar to
:19:55. > :20:04.visitors was even as it becomes less and less like the half
:20:04. > :20:10.finished shell left by Gaudi, its creator. Here in Catalonia,
:20:10. > :20:19.architecture or is embedded in change. This shopping mall in
:20:19. > :20:24.Barcelona has been converted from a 15,000 seat Bull Ring. Replacing
:20:24. > :20:30.the blood-soaked and pheromone drenched arena with sweet-smelling
:20:30. > :20:38.boutiques is adding insult to injury, as long as -- as far as the
:20:38. > :20:42.true aficionado is concerned. TRANSLATION: It's a bad thing. It's
:20:42. > :20:46.make a difficult time for us to keep the Barcelona bullring going
:20:46. > :20:51.because it would appear at the politicians do not want there to be
:20:51. > :20:56.bulls. The Ernest Hemingway was a big fan of the ball fights and he
:20:56. > :21:04.died 50 years ago this summer. He would probably be horrified by what
:21:04. > :21:09.you decided to do here. A but a lot of people are happy. I think
:21:09. > :21:15.Spaniards are in a revolution as other countries. I know it was not
:21:15. > :21:23.the same 20 years ago but now Spain is not so old-fashioned, like 20
:21:23. > :21:27.years ago. Aficionados, the fans of bullfighting, claimed Catalonia
:21:27. > :21:34.will no longer be so banished after the last bullfight is held here
:21:34. > :21:44.this summer. Others in Barcelona and elsewhere say it is part of a
:21:44. > :21:58.
:21:58. > :22:02.It may not be the forecast this time -- you want at this time of
:22:02. > :22:06.year but we lose the bulk of the wet weather and it is a slow
:22:06. > :22:10.improvement over the weekend. After a disappointing start for many, it
:22:10. > :22:15.slowly brightens up today. Bright rather than sunny, the best I can
:22:15. > :22:18.give you. Some rain around at the moment and some of that will turn
:22:18. > :22:21.heavy into the south-east towards dawn. With all the cloud and wet
:22:21. > :22:25.weather around it will be a mild start to Once Were Wild weekend.
:22:25. > :22:35.You can see it will be grey and white particularly through central
:22:35. > :22:35.
:22:35. > :22:38.and eastern areas so temperatures already in the midst -- need teens.
:22:38. > :22:43.You can see improvements along the Dorset coastline through the Isle
:22:43. > :22:47.of Wight and as we head towards London around nine o'clock it will
:22:47. > :22:50.be cloudy, grey and wet, at the same too for East Anglia but then
:22:51. > :22:55.it will be an improvement eventually. Some brightness and
:22:55. > :23:02.glimpses of sunshine to the east of the Pennines. That cloud and rain
:23:02. > :23:10.clears from the Northern -- Northern Ireland. A better morning
:23:10. > :23:14.in inIreland but it will be cloudy. A lot of cloud for Wales if
:23:14. > :23:17.you are Kevin here first thing. It will be a good morning to have a
:23:17. > :23:22.lie in, I suspect the same thing too into the south-west because we
:23:23. > :23:28.are optimistic the cloud will lift and Brighton somewhat in one or two
:23:28. > :23:33.places as the rain eases away. There will be some holes in that
:23:33. > :23:37.cloud for some sunny spells. With some sunshine coming through, like
:23:37. > :23:45.yesterday it will feel humid in the south-eastern corner and
:23:45. > :23:49.temperatures will reflect this. Further west, more stubborn and
:23:49. > :23:59.thicker cloud. It will certainly be good weather all in all. Maybe some
:23:59. > :24:01.
:24:01. > :24:07.light drizzle the showers for QPR this Bolton. If we look at later on
:24:07. > :24:10.Saturday, this front wriggles down south, affecting the coast into the
:24:10. > :24:20.early hours of Sunday morning but we are more hopeful of more