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