Special, Part Two Five Minutes With...

leading to frost and a special risk of ice in the north and west were

the showers will be wintry for the morning. Continuing through the day,

we could see showers continuing along the western part of England

with a stiff westerly breeze. They will gradually clear. Many central

and eastern areas will dry through but in the West, further showers.

It will feel quite chilly. The strength of the wind will not help

but the temperatures. A stormy You're watching BBC News. Here are

the main headlines at half-past 10. The 20-year-old man has been

charged with the murder of this Indian student Anuj Bidve in

Salford. He was shot dead on Boxing Day while walking with friends.

Kiaran Stapleton from the Ordsall district of Salford will appear

before magistrates tomorrow. Celebrations have taken place today

to mark the start of the Olympic year. The chairman of London 2012

Lord Coe said the event would show that Britain was open for business

but the Olympics minister has warned that spot fixing by betting

syndicates is the biggest threat to the reputation of the Games.

European leaders have given a sombre assessment of the financial

prospects for the year ahead. President Sarkozy said the eurozone

debt crisis was not yet resolved while the German Chancellor, Angela

Merkel, said Europe was experiencing its most severe test

in decades. Council tenants to sub-let their

homes could face prison sentences or prosecutions under new proposals

set out. High salary tenants may also have to pay market rates or

face eviction. Now here on BBC News, it is time

for a special programme of Five Minutes With..., timed interviews

Five, four, three, two, one. How would you describe yourself in a

sentence or two? Bald, good looking for my age! Always learning,

continuously being surprised. And generously good of heart and spirit.

What has it been like making a transition from acting to making

documentaries on the front line? Not as difficult as you might think.

The fact that people want to put people in boxes particularly in the

UK but in my transition, I have got family who are journalists and

friends were journalists, I spend a lot of time with journalists but

not actors so the transition was not difficult. Moving into a made -

- from a made up world into a real world. Would you do more acting?

Not many people have asked me. you think you are seen in the

public eye these days? -- how do you think. Depends who you are.

Some people see me as some celebrity who has decided to go and

make documentaries. Some people who have fully see me as informing them

around the world. Other people see me as a barman in the east end in

Walford. How do you see yourself? In the mirror! On TV. What have

been the ideas behind York series? Are you trying to say things?

original idea behind Afghanistan was to see what it was like for a

young man fighting in the 21st century who grew up with a month

making toast and having a duvet and a Nintendo, and all of a sudden he

is having to watch his friends bleed out, having to kill people,

watching incredible suffering and how he coped with that transition.

Now, the film's have changed and have grown and our present in

Afghanistan have changed. The gangs programme came about because they

met a man who had been shot several times in Compton in Los Angeles and

I saw him and asked him, if he had been born elsewhere, would you have

had a different life? He was very intelligent, he had self taught

himself to quite a high level. The only thing he was a victim of the

circumcised and someone. Did you feel under threat in Afghanistan

yes. Do you think you have ever got in the way of the soldiers? I have

never jumped in front of somebody else's bullet, that is for sure.

The main thing for me before we went out there in Afghanistan was

that we would never, ever in danger anybody's life while we were out

there. Particularly a soldier's life. That would not make a

training film for the enemies. you see yourself as brave?

really. I see myself as a man who goes into what is considered to be

dangerous situations. We do not have personal security. If we do,

it has only ever been on Kabul. Never had it on the front line or

in the gangs programme. Having security around two draws its own

specific problems but I am not particularly brave. If I have to --

too difficult to enter, I did enter. How much to get involved in the

editing process? Much to the annoyance of the director. What was

it like growing up as Ross Kemp? Quite enjoyable, I think. I had a

furtive imagination. I liked going out in the small street I grew up

in and we played everything from knights of the round Table two

soldiers in Stalingrad, believe it or not. I was heavily influenced by

what was on television in the 60s and 70s. Television was really

coming into its own. It was the main focus of most living rooms in

the seventies be in particular. Television had a great quality them.

What did you want to be when you're growing up? I wanted to be an actor

but I never really accomplished that! Quickly tell me what your

interests are outside of work. Five seconds. Out of work, I have not

got any, it is all work at the 5, four, three, two, one. Can you

remember when you are first called multi-? Yes, it was in Suffolk my

father sent me to a Methodist school, my name quickly got

abbreviated and I have been called that for ages and I will probably

be called it for the rest of my life. Who is the best Blair you

have ever commented -- commentated? Eric Cantona would be a leading

candidate but Thierry Henry for his performance it in Arsenal would

what run in very close. Is there a most memorable moment? Yes, there

is. When David Beckham took his free-kick against Greece in Old

Trafford in 2001 which effectively put us through to the World Cup

finals in the 94th minute, Trevor Brooking and I lost our cool.

Microphones were pulled out and tables were not over, commentators

ran down the gantry which I must say, I have never allowed myself to

do before or sense! A most memorable match? Germany 1, England

5 in Munich in 2000 went Sven-Goran Eriksson had just taken over --

2001. Michael Owen had scored a hat-trick and I was delighted to

see us beat our closest rival and I saw as getting better and better

and a voice came up behind me and a voice whispered, it is getting

better and better and better, and it was then Goran Eriksson. He had

just watched the video. A amazing! The you know how many matches you

have commentated on? I have done it for 40 years and I have normally

average between 40 and 50 games a season so it would be some way

short of 2000. Which do you prefer, commentating on radio or

television? The most difficult question you have asked me. I get a

great deal of pleasure out of both. I do everything exactly the same

thing for each. I have quite a lot of enjoyment about the flexibility

of radio. You do not have to be governed by the picture people are

watching the television is very challenging and where people can

see everything going on on the pitch, the commentator as to find a

way of avoiding obvious description and going into more interpretation.

A tell me a little bit more about your preparation, how do you do it?

My wife keeps a meticulous record book season after season, week

after week. She notes all the Games and results and scorers,

appearances, newspaper cuttings. I have got a great start there. On a

Thursday afternoon and Friday, I draw up a chart with felt-tip pens.

I am very non computer trained, I am afraid. I have the players'

names on one side of the chart in different colours with biographical

notes alongside each of them and on the back of the piece of card, I

have my statistics and sequences for what each team has been doing

in recent weeks, how much they have gone unbeaten, when they last lost

at home, that sort of stuff. When I have done that chart, I like to

think I have committed most of it to memory so although I have it in

front of me while I am doing a game, hopefully I don't have to refer to

it too often. Are there nerves before a game? There used to be

when I started. I used to get very wound up if I made a mistake. I

have learned to be calmer. I am still apprehensive in that I need

to convince myself that I need to know all the players, the numbers

and subsidies and I will not be caught out by something of beers.

But if things do not go quite perfectly, -- something obvious, I

do not get quite upset about it now. Do do want to be a commentator

growing up? Not directly. I wanted to be a football reporter which is

what I was when I left school, I joined a local newspaper in Barnet

and did the written word. I moved to the Sheffield Telegraph and one

afternoon, I had written a piece of copy and the sub-editor on the

other side of the desk said, not some, if I were you, I would stick

to broadcasting and forget writing. I had been doing some freelance

radio work so I think they knew where my strengths and weaknesses

lay. How was football changed since you started commentating? Immensely.

No sponsors when I started, not much advertising, the corporate

side had not blossomed. The money was a lot less. The players were

all 1-11. Not as much glamour around the Games as well. People

did not come on the pitch like it is theatre now. It is

unrecognisable from then. Is there one thing you would like to change

about football as it is today? would like to give the forwards

more advantage when it comes to offside. We are giving the benefit

of the doubt to the defender too often. In just outside football,

quickly? Theatre, running, popular music, reading. And that... BELL

If you could only play one more composer for the rest of your life,

he would that be? I would say for 2011, I would say Franz Liszt.

would you say is the hardest composer to play? For you? Probably

Johann Sebastian Bach. How much scope is there for a pianist to

interpreter? We always need to think about what we're trying to

interpret and we need to know the background and we need to see

through the note behind the bar. you try consciously to create your

own personal musical style? Everybody, when they perform,

automatically they are creating your own personal style. It is the

music of your mind and even though it is the same music, everybody is

sort of playing differently. Do you see yourself in any way as some

sort of showman? Depends what piece I am going to do. If it is a

showpiece, then IMA show man but if it is not a showpiece? I am not a

showman. What do you feel before you go on stage? It is like a quick

journey. When you walk out from the backstage entrance to the stage,

the journey starts. And then when you sit down at the bench you are

into the musical planet. Are you superstitious? Not really. Are you

religious? Yes. Where do you get to inspiration from? When you start a

new piece for the first time? Normally, I listen to music and

then I have a kind of sense of whether this connect to me or not.

When it connect to me, I love and learn the peace. But sometimes you

do have a wrong impression of a certain pieces until you start to

physically playing on the keys of. Do you listen to other pianists?

Absolutely. From the great maestro has to the new generations,

absolutely. What do you think is the difference between the sting to

a piece of music as a recording and actually being at a concert and

seeing and hearing it live? Live is more challenging, love is more fun.

Because you know what the recording will be. But recordings can be

great to because you spend so much time on every note over those ideas

so it can beat a great thing to listen but if you really want

actions, you must come to a live concert. Do you feel you have a

When I perform, I don't focus on who is listening. But when you

perform you need to give everything. From what you know, what you have

learned and what you are trying to achieve. And to everyone who is

listening to you. You need to bring complete love and passion to the

people who are listening. De you feel like you develop a

relationship with the composers? Yes, through their music. They just

lead you into the musical world. you think you can equate to some of

the great classical composers with some of the great pop or rock

composers? It is not so easy but everything is possible when you

have the right fit. I would say Michael Jackson, for example. He is

probably equally as genius as Mozart, at 200 or 300 years ago.

I'm sure that one day... I'm sure there will be a great synergy level.

How old were you when you started to play the piano? I started when I

was two. One was that like, did you feel pressure to succeed from an

early age? Not really, but obviously my parents really had

high hopes for me. But you never know whether you will make it or

not until later. Quickly, what are your interests outside of music?

Movies and foundation work, charity. That is five minutes. Did you enjoy

it? Yes, it was called. I could feel the heartbeat! We are still

recording. You feel the heartbeat and continuity of this atmosphere.

It is kind of like a live concert. How did you get to become cold

pixie, because it's not your real name, is it? It's not, but I was

nicknamed that from birth, I was born six weeks premature. For can

you describe yourself in a sentence or two? Pretty much just it pixie

like person who is passionate about music and creative things, like

film and fashion. I have a zest for life. Did you learn to sing and

dance early on? I did. I did and Lerner, I just loved doing it. I

was just doing it of my own accord from a young age. Mainly music and

singing for family and staff. But when I turned 10 I started to go to

dance class. So that I could get into a performing arts school. So I

started doing that at about 10. you sort of living your dreams now?

We put it like that, definitely doing what I love. I do feel very

grateful and lucky because I love performing, I love writing music

and being a part of it all. Described to me the moment just

before you step on stage. I get really excited and kind of smile...

Kind of like I am now. I jump around and do one of these things

with the band. I just get really excited. If it's a big show I might

jump around. Do you get involved in the writing of a lot of your music?

Yes. I was writing my new album this year from about January. I was

in the studio every day. With Britain about 70 songs, so it's

hard to pick just 12 for the album. But we've got a deluxe as well

which has an extra six songs. It's hard to pick because I get attached

to all of the songs so easily and I do find it hard, but we have to

make decisions. Were you writing songs quite early on? I did start

writing early on. Just by myself. I used to get on my bike and ride

round the little garden and saying things out loud. They weren't very

good but I did enjoy doing it. would you describe the difference

between this album and your first album? My first album, I started

writing it when I was about 13 or 14. There are songs from that age

and the vocal stuff from then. When it came to touring I was still

singing songs I'd written when I was 14, 15, 16. I can still relate

to them but I feel like I've moved on a bit. Now things are more

relevant, it feels like how I am at the moment and it is more mature

and soulful, just because I think I've moved on a little bit. What

was touring like? Touring is the best thing that I've done, I've

enjoyed it the most. The past two years at been in the public

releasing my music. I wasn't a support act so I knew the audience

had come to see the show. I got to do what I wanted, I had by dancers

and my friends from school. I got to decide on the set myself and

have a band. I loved it. I feel like I have to talk really fast

because it's only five minutes long! How do you describe your

genre of music? It is definitely pop, but it's got more of a soulful

edge. Some of the songs are more feel-good and bouncy, which is fun.

But it is definitely soul for pop. What sort of music did you listen

to growing up? I grew up listening to a lot of soul music was a Motown,

I love Stevie wonder, I love big voices like Mariah Carey and

Whitney Houston, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding. Antyukh worked with Stevie

Wonder for your second album. Luckily enough, yeah. I met him,

being in the right place at the right time. I ended up writing a

song what somebody and he heard it. He put the harmonica part in it. It

sounds amazing. I don't think anyone can play the harmonica quite

like Stevie wonder. I was overwhelmed. Quickly described to

me what it is like having a number one single. It is just such... I

didn't expect it at all when it first happened, so I was so happy

and it was such a relief because it is such hard work leading up to it.

Then it pays off and you are so pleased everyone has supported it.

Just really lucky and happy that it's going accordingly. Has it been

a challenge being in the public eye from a young age? Now, I don't

think it has been a challenge because I don't get fazed by things

at all. I'm not affected by things, it just feels like it's something I

Do you think there is a key to writing good fiction? No, I don't.

The formula you arrive that will be formulaic. Therefore in the end the

writing will be weak. No, it should be magic. Are you a big reader

yourself? No, and there should be. I never was as a child. I read

biography, history and poetry but I don't read as much as I should.

fast reader? No, quite so. I find it quite a laborious business,

Reading. Do you re-read books sometimes? No, because my boredom

threshold doesn't help me. If I read things once that is usually

sufficient. How important do you think telling stories around -- out

loud is? It is critical. Telling them out loud is wonderful because

adding the boys to the written word seems to give power to the story

that isn't there necessarily on the page. Why you told stories as a

boy? My mum told me stories in bed, that was wonderful and gave me a

taste for rich. I had a lecturer at college and a good English teacher

at school who did read. What was good about all three of them is

their red stuff they loved, I picked up on that. How important

are illustrations for children's literature to go with the text?

many children I think they are critical. But some doubt - that

it's somehow breaks the text of for them. It allows them access to the

story. It also adds something wonderful to a story. If you got a

great illustrator it is simply not a matter of decoration, it's a

matter of adding something. Do you target a particular readership when

you are writing, children or adults? Not at all. I write about

children, not for them. I think that is rather important because

otherwise you can patronise children if you just write to them.

How many books have you written? I'm told 127, which is far too many.

How did you become a writer? accident. I was teaching primary

school and discovered that the best way of communicating with them was

to tell a story at the end of the day. It was the only way I could

gather all 35 of them. We don't lose ourselves in the same story.

You were a Children's Laureate, did you feel a sense of responsibility

then? Not just then but before as well. I think most children's

writers do. It's very important to us that we spread his love of

reading and the stories and poems in amongst children as much as

possible, and amongst parents and teachers. It is an access to

understanding. Understanding is so important for the rest of their

lives. Do you think that literature today is in as good shape as it's

ever been? I think so. I wasn't alive in another era. But it's

spread widely now, as education spreads. It's not all doom and

gloom, it is spreading. The reading of books is spreading like crazy.

The one thing about children is a access stories in whatever form.

They are brilliant with this technology and have many ways of

accessing it. There are wonderful writers and illustrators out there.

What sort of influence did Ted Hughes have on your career as a

writer? Massive, not just as a writer. He lived on the road from

us. He wasn't my mentor as a writer. He was a terrific support to me as

a young writer when I was fumbling around. He also hugely supported

the charity that myself and my wife set up. He was our first patron and

has been a supporter of it, was a supporter of it all his life.

is that project? It enables city children from all over the country

to come and live and work on a farm in Devon. We have three farms now,

thanks to Ted. 100,000 children now come down from their towns and

cities to live and work on the farm. That is over the last 35 years.

Tell me about War Horse. It's the book you wrote, it's been adapted

for stage and has now been adapted for film. Yesterday you saw the

film for the first time. What was it like? I'm still in a bit of a

days after it. It is the most extraordinary epic that he has

created. This is Steven Spielberg. Yes. He has done what he does best,

which is to make a wonderful, epic movie that is both beautiful and

horrifying. It takes us on this extraordinary journey of horse and

young boy who loves this course and goes searching for it. But it comes

after this wonderful production with the National Theatre, which I

have also been involved with. It is now in America and his plane to

Australia. It has had a wonderful journey. That horse has Trott did

all over the world. There were others involved in the adaptation

for film. Richard Curtis and Lee Hall. You were pretty good at rugby

at school. Very good, but I never played for England which is really

sad for me. And he did a year at Sandhurst. Yes, it was good

training for a young and arrogant man. And also university elsewhere.

A bit of a shock to the system coming over the next 24 hours. It

is set to turn colder for many of us. That trend starts tonight. The

rain we've seen across eastern England is clearing. It should

remain largely drive for the rest of the night. Showers in the West

but as the cold air sets in, North West England and Northern Ireland

have rate and sleet showers. For all, temperatures only a few

degrees above freezing, if not below. It leads to frost and the

risk of ice in the north and west where the showers will be wintery

in the morning. We could see some heavy showers running along

southern counties of England on a stiff westerly breeze. They will

gradually clear. Many central and eastern areas should be dry and

bright through the day but in the west there are further showers.

They remain went we in the north and west. But the breeze it will