:00:11. > :00:13.16 years after the deadliest terrorist attack during the Northern
:00:14. > :00:22.Ireland Troubles, a 43-year-old man appears in court.
:00:23. > :00:27.Seamus Daly is accused of murdering 29 people in the Omagh bombing in
:00:28. > :00:30.August 1998. The car bomb went off in the town centre on a busy
:00:31. > :00:35.Saturday afternoon. Relatives of the victims were in court. We have to
:00:36. > :00:38.know the truth about what happened and we have to see those responsible
:00:39. > :00:45.being brought before the courts, with proper evidence and sentenced.
:00:46. > :00:47.Also on the programme tonight: The Co-Op apologises to its customers
:00:48. > :00:52.after announcing its biggest losses in history.
:00:53. > :00:54.Oscar Pistorius tells his murder trial that he didn't hear his
:00:55. > :01:01.girlfriend shout or scream as he fired at the locked toilet door.
:01:02. > :01:06.An emotional reunion for Ed Miliband on his first major foreign policy
:01:07. > :01:09.trip as Labour leader. And Sue Townsend, the woman behind
:01:10. > :01:19.Adrian Mole, has died at the age of 68. In Sportsday, the latest from
:01:20. > :01:24.the Masters as Bubba Watson reminds everyone how he won at Augusta two
:01:25. > :01:41.years ago, with an impressive second-round 68 today.
:01:42. > :01:50.Good Evening. Almost 16 years after the Omagh bombing a key suspect has
:01:51. > :01:52.appeared at a criminal court to face charges. Seamus Daly, a
:01:53. > :01:57.self-confessed member of the Real IRA, was arrested on Monday. He is
:01:58. > :02:00.accused of detonating a massive car bomb in Omagh town centre on a
:02:01. > :02:07.sunny, Saturday afternoon in 1998. 29 people died. More than 300 were
:02:08. > :02:11.wounded in what was the deadliest bombing in Northern Ireland's
:02:12. > :02:16.Troubles. Seamus Daly was first linked to the crime by a BBC
:02:17. > :02:20.Panorama investigation in 2000. Last year he was found liable for the
:02:21. > :02:22.attack in a landmark civil case. But he's always denied any involvement.
:02:23. > :02:29.Our Ireland Correspondent, Chris Buckler is live in Omagh tonight.
:02:30. > :02:36.The Omagh bombing is in many ways a difficult crime to even comprehend.
:02:37. > :02:41.29 people killed in a single explosion in a single town on a
:02:42. > :02:45.single day. Seamus Daly has been identified as a suspect before but
:02:46. > :02:49.he has always denied any involvement in causing the explosion. Today, in
:02:50. > :02:56.court, we learned the first details of the police's case against him.
:02:57. > :03:02.The streets and shops of Omagh are rarely quiet. And it was all-too
:03:03. > :03:08.busy on 15th August 1998. The bombing here killed 29 people. It
:03:09. > :03:12.stands out, even among the decades of violence that scarred Northern
:03:13. > :03:16.Ireland. It was a day that ripped the heart out of this town. For some
:03:17. > :03:23.families, even today, every time they walk into this town centre, it
:03:24. > :03:27.brings back vivid images and dreadful memories, of a day when a
:03:28. > :03:34.shopping trip ended in nothing less than horror. Today, amid tight
:03:35. > :03:39.security, Seamus Daly was driven to court in Dungannon and charged with
:03:40. > :03:42.all 29 murders. While he stood in the dock in
:03:43. > :03:46.handcuffs, a Detective Inspector laid out the case against him. He
:03:47. > :03:51.said the police have telephone, witness and forensic evidence but
:03:52. > :03:54.Seamus Daly's lawyer said there was significant weaknesses in the case.
:03:55. > :03:59.Watching the heated exchanges in the court room was Michael Gallagher,
:04:00. > :04:03.whose son Aidan was killed in the bombing. Over the past 15 years I
:04:04. > :04:09.have spent a lot of time in courts in Dublin and in Belfast and with
:04:10. > :04:14.the civil action take taking almost ten years, it can be
:04:15. > :04:17.soul-destroying. 14 years ago, the BBC's Panorama programme secretly
:04:18. > :04:22.filmed the man who has now been charged. I would like to ask you
:04:23. > :04:26.some questions, please, about the Omagh bombing. Seamus Daly has
:04:27. > :04:31.always strongly denied any involvement in the bombing. But
:04:32. > :04:35.Panorama claimed he did play a role. Seamus Daly has a conviction for
:04:36. > :04:39.membership of the Real IRA. He pleaded guilty at the special
:04:40. > :04:44.criminal court in Dublin a few years ago. He is a committed dissident
:04:45. > :04:50.republican. In Omagh, remembrance is more important than responsibility.
:04:51. > :04:54.The names of all 29 victims are engraved in stone in the town's
:04:55. > :04:57.memorial garden, where mirrors have been built, to reflect light into
:04:58. > :05:05.the town, but this is a place where people will always feel the shadow
:05:06. > :05:08.of the bombing. The Co-op Bank has apologised to its
:05:09. > :05:12.customers after announcing losses of ?1.3 billion, the largest in its
:05:13. > :05:17.history. The bank said it did not expect to make a profit this year or
:05:18. > :05:19.next. But it revealed that the Bank's Chief Executive will receive
:05:20. > :05:23.a ?2.9 million pay package, including a performance-related
:05:24. > :05:27.bonus. The figures come as the bank struggles with bad debts and failed
:05:28. > :05:35.ventures. Here's our Business Editor Kamal Ahmed.
:05:36. > :05:39.It's been a disasterous year for the Co-Op Bank. Its takeover the
:05:40. > :05:42.Britannia Building Society ended with a bill of over ?1 billion. Then
:05:43. > :05:45.the bank's Chairman was forced to quit and later face allegations of
:05:46. > :05:52.drug-taking. Today it announced the loss of ?1.3 billion. The Chief
:05:53. > :05:57.Executive, brought in to rescue the bank, Niall Booker, will be paid
:05:58. > :06:00.?2.9 million a year. He announced further cost-cutting ahead with the
:06:01. > :06:05.closure of 44 branches and the possibility of more redundancies.
:06:06. > :06:08.Our members who work in bank branches across the country are very
:06:09. > :06:14.concerned about what the future holds for the group. There's been a
:06:15. > :06:18.lot of change. We have lost over 1,000 jobs in the last few years,
:06:19. > :06:21.and the real fear is that there'll be more job losses to come.
:06:22. > :06:26.Many customers have remained loyal to the bank and all deposits are
:06:27. > :06:29.guaranteed up to ?85,000. But others, like Andrew Baird, who
:06:30. > :06:31.runs a solar panel business in Northern Ireland, have decided to
:06:32. > :06:34.move their business elsewhere. It seems to be more focussed on
:06:35. > :06:38.competing with the Barclays, and the HSBCs of this world and that does
:06:39. > :06:41.seem to be at the expense of good, rigorous financial control, strong
:06:42. > :06:56.governance and so it has seemed to have lost all control and lots its
:06:57. > :07:01.way. The Co-Op Bank, it is still dealing with problems of the past.
:07:02. > :07:06.It is said it will withhold up to ?5 million from former executives.
:07:07. > :07:11.It'll also pay ?412 million in compensation for previous mistakes.
:07:12. > :07:16.Now, it needs to look to the future. An ethical review will promote
:07:17. > :07:20.community banking. It also wants to raise ?400 million to secure the
:07:21. > :07:25.business. Analysts say there are still tough decisions to be made. We
:07:26. > :07:29.can only hope that that's the end of the bad news - we have had the news
:07:30. > :07:33.about the extra ?400 million and there isn't anything else to find in
:07:34. > :07:36.the closet. We've got to trust that the management know what they are
:07:37. > :07:39.doing and there is a chance of recovering the position from here
:07:40. > :07:43.but it is still going to take a long time and it is going to be a
:07:44. > :07:47.difficult thing to rebuild the capital base. Attention now turns to
:07:48. > :07:49.the Co-Op Group results next week. The supermarkets and pharmacies'
:07:50. > :07:52.owner is expected to reveal heavy losses and a new set of problems for
:07:53. > :07:59.Britain's troubled cooperative movement.
:08:00. > :08:02.The South African athlete, Oscar Pistorius, has faced a third day of
:08:03. > :08:08.intense cross-examination at his murder trial in Pretoria. He told
:08:09. > :08:10.the court he didn't hear his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, shout
:08:11. > :08:17.or scream as he grabbed his gun and fired at the locked toilet door last
:08:18. > :08:20.year. Mr. Pistorius denies murder and says he thought there was an
:08:21. > :08:26.intruder in his house. From Pretoria, Andrew Harding reports. At
:08:27. > :08:29.the end of a punishing week, another session of cross-examination. Oscar
:08:30. > :08:33.Pistorius repeatedly accused of lying about how and why he shot
:08:34. > :08:38.Reeva Steenkamp. As usual, no video images of the athlete giving
:08:39. > :08:42.evidence were allowed. Prosecutor, Gerrie Nel asked him why he didn't
:08:43. > :08:46.talk to his girlfriend and check where she was, the moment he felt
:08:47. > :08:51.they were in danger that night. When you have got your gun, you were
:08:52. > :08:57.right next to her. I was overcome by fear. I had to keep my eyes on the
:08:58. > :09:03.passage and I had to arm myself. I spoke to Reeva and I said to her,
:09:04. > :09:08."Get down, call the police." A reasonable person would have looked
:09:09. > :09:14.where Reeva was. You just grabbed the gun. On your own version, you
:09:15. > :09:17.did not find out if she was OK or scared. Pistorius argued of it
:09:18. > :09:22.instinct that prompted him to rush from the bedroom to the bathroom to
:09:23. > :09:27.confront intruders. I find your instinct strange. Instinct would
:09:28. > :09:32.have made sure Reeva is safe. My lady, I think everybody's instinct
:09:33. > :09:38.was different. Your instinct wasn't to make sure she was safe. I thought
:09:39. > :09:41.she was. Pistorius's sister, Amy, listened intently. The prosecutor
:09:42. > :09:46.returned again and again to the exact moment he fired those four
:09:47. > :09:50.shots, insisting of regardless of whether he thought his girlfriend or
:09:51. > :09:55.an intruder was hiding in the toilet, his aim was to kill. You
:09:56. > :10:01.shouting, you screaming, three metres from her. Did she scream at
:10:02. > :10:07.all whilst you shot her four times? Are you sure, Mr Pistorius that
:10:08. > :10:12.Reeva did not scream after the first shot? I wish she'd let me know she
:10:13. > :10:17.was there. After you fired the first shot, did she scream? I don't think
:10:18. > :10:24.I would have heard after the gunshot that went off, my ears were wringing
:10:25. > :10:28.Reeva Steenkamp's mother Never took her eyes off him.
:10:29. > :10:35.The leader of the Scottish National Party, Alex Salmond will tomorrow
:10:36. > :10:38.tell his party's conference if Scotland votes for independence he
:10:39. > :10:44.intents to start negotiating within days. It is the SNP's last
:10:45. > :10:49.conference before September. Nicola Sturegon, the deputy leader, said
:10:50. > :10:53.the campaign was unstoppable. It is 80 years this week since their
:10:54. > :10:57.party was founded and they believe themselves finally on the threshold
:10:58. > :11:01.of their founding purpose. Alex Salmond has dominated the party for
:11:02. > :11:06.decades but for the faithful, the rising star is his deputy.
:11:07. > :11:10.Today, she appealed beyond the confines of the SNP, in the belief
:11:11. > :11:16.that many disaffected traditional Labour voters are now tempted to
:11:17. > :11:21.vote yes. To every Labour voter in the country, I say this - the "yes"
:11:22. > :11:28.campaign is not asking you to leave your party. Instead, it offers you
:11:29. > :11:33.the chance to get your party back. A Labour Party free to make its own
:11:34. > :11:38.decisions, no longer dancing to a Westminster tune. The polls put the
:11:39. > :11:42.anti-independence independence campaign ahead but the gap has
:11:43. > :11:46.narrowed markedly. Rural Aberdeenshire is one of the most
:11:47. > :11:50.prosperous parts of Britain. Tough territory for those advocating
:11:51. > :11:56.radical change but even at this livestock market, we found mixed
:11:57. > :12:00.views. I'm voting no. REPORTER: Why? Well, there is a lot of things you
:12:01. > :12:05.don't know what can happen if you vote yes. There are dozens of
:12:06. > :12:10.questions that remain unanswered and we are told by Mr Salmond, oh, this
:12:11. > :12:14.is all to be negotiated but negotiations doesn't say which way
:12:15. > :12:19.the answers are going to come. If we don't GP independent, not just for
:12:20. > :12:22.our generation -- if we don't go independent, but for future
:12:23. > :12:26.generations down the line to come, will be sorry. Tomorrow, Alex
:12:27. > :12:31.Salmond will tell the conference that in the event of a "yes" vote he
:12:32. > :12:34.intents to start negotiating independence within days, certainly
:12:35. > :12:38.before the end of September. He also says he wants to appoint a team of
:12:39. > :12:41.negotiators from Scotland drawn from across the political spectrum.
:12:42. > :12:45.People from all political parties, and from none.
:12:46. > :12:50.Again, the SNP attempt to broaden the appeal of a "yes" vote bound the
:12:51. > :12:54.boundaries of its own traditional support. With the message - you
:12:55. > :12:58.don't have to like the SNP to vote "yes". They'll have to make big
:12:59. > :13:03.in-roads into Labour territory if they are to win in September. For,
:13:04. > :13:11.in Scotland, politics are famously tribal, and old loyalties die hard.
:13:12. > :13:14."Don't underestimate me" - that's the message from the Labour leader,
:13:15. > :13:17.Ed Miliband, to his political opponents. Speaking during a
:13:18. > :13:20.three-day visit to Israel, he told the BBC that he is ready to be Prime
:13:21. > :13:23.Minister. He said his family's experience of persecution had given
:13:24. > :13:31.him a mission "to help mend a broken world". Our political editor, Nick
:13:32. > :13:36.Robinson, reports. These are the faces, the names, the
:13:37. > :13:40.people behind the grimmest of all statistics. The 6 million Jews
:13:41. > :13:44.killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust. Amongst them, Ed
:13:45. > :13:47.Miliband's grandfather. The Labour leader and his wife Justine have
:13:48. > :13:52.come to Israel to connect with his past, as well as to talk about the
:13:53. > :13:55.future of the Middle East. It is a trip the man who might be prime
:13:56. > :14:03.minister in a little over a year's times as he will not forget. It was
:14:04. > :14:07.awful, if I'm honest. It is awful because you see the suffering. It is
:14:08. > :14:15.awful for anybody, seeing that suffering. But it was incredibly
:14:16. > :14:20.painful for me. They presented me at the end with a document which I have
:14:21. > :14:25.got here about my family history, about my grandfather who I never
:14:26. > :14:31.met, who died in one of the camps. He says this is more than history,
:14:32. > :14:34.it is the key to understanding the values his parents, refugees who
:14:35. > :14:40.both came to Britain, gave to him. They inculcated in me a sense of,
:14:41. > :14:45.you have got to try and repair the broken world in the way that you
:14:46. > :14:49.can. How broken the Middle East is, you can see from here. On the top of
:14:50. > :14:53.a hillside just above the Gaza Strip, Justine and Ed Miliband were
:14:54. > :15:01.shown where the rockets are fired which rain down on this Israeli
:15:02. > :15:06.town. They send thousands of rockets to our land, just to kill the
:15:07. > :15:14.people. This is no ordinary playgroup. The kids here are only
:15:15. > :15:18.safe because they don't play under the deep blue sky, but under a roof
:15:19. > :15:22.of thick reinforced concrete. It has brought it home to me. We have a
:15:23. > :15:28.three and a four-year-old at home who play. And they have a choice to
:15:29. > :15:33.go outside, so I was struck by it. Last night, the Labour leader met
:15:34. > :15:38.Israel's prime minister Netanyahu. Tomorrow, he will travel from
:15:39. > :15:40.Jerusalem to the West ranked to meet the leader of the Palestinian
:15:41. > :15:46.Authority to discuss stalling peace talks. This is his first major trip
:15:47. > :15:50.as opposition leader. He has not been to the White House or Beijing
:15:51. > :15:56.or Delhi or Berlin. But he told me his foreign policy can be simply
:15:57. > :16:01.summed up. I want to be a post-Iraq prime minister. David Cameron wanted
:16:02. > :16:06.us to intervene in Syria. We shouldn't have done. The Labour
:16:07. > :16:11.Party and Parliament were right to stop the rush to war. But I put it
:16:12. > :16:15.to him that over 100,000 have died in Syria and 6 million been forced
:16:16. > :16:21.from their homes. Some say this is the defining collective failure of
:16:22. > :16:27.this century. There are failures associated with Syria. Is it the
:16:28. > :16:32.defining failure of the century? It is a very bad situation. You know
:16:33. > :16:36.whose words those were? The former Labour Foreign Secretary, your
:16:37. > :16:40.opponent in the Labour leadership contest, your brother. I was not
:16:41. > :16:45.disagreeing that there are failures in relation to Syria, but if you are
:16:46. > :16:48.asking me she should we intervene militarily in Syria, at the moment
:16:49. > :16:51.the answer is no. I don't see a route to doing so which will work.
:16:52. > :16:57.This trip has been about the personal, not the political.
:16:58. > :17:02.Tonight, Ed Miliband's visit to Israel ended in the warm embrace of
:17:03. > :17:05.his extended family, including Sara, his mother's cousin, who
:17:06. > :17:11.survived internment in a Nazi concentration camp. The Labour
:17:12. > :17:16.leader's message to voters at home - this is what makes me tick, this is
:17:17. > :17:22.who I am. Nick Robinson, BBC News, Jerusalem.
:17:23. > :17:26.Scientists and officials are putting the final touches to the latest
:17:27. > :17:29.report from the United Nations on how to tackle climate change. Last
:17:30. > :17:34.month, scientists warned that the in act is likely to be severe,
:17:35. > :17:36.pervasive and irreversible. The recommendations are expected to
:17:37. > :17:40.include a major push for in renewable energy. Our science editor
:17:41. > :17:47.David Shukman is in Berlin, where the report will be published this
:17:48. > :17:51.weekend. Yes, the report they are working on
:17:52. > :17:55.in Berlin six to lay out the options for heading off the worst of global
:17:56. > :17:58.warming. So no surprise that there has been a lot of wrangling over the
:17:59. > :18:03.detail of this text all week and indeed tonight. But the key message
:18:04. > :18:07.that will come out is of the urgent need for the world to switch from
:18:08. > :18:10.fossil fuels to greener technology. But as we all know, that is far
:18:11. > :18:13.easier said than done, as I have been finding out.
:18:14. > :18:23.Each scoop is the size of a small car. Everything about this mine is
:18:24. > :18:26.on a massive scale. It stretches for miles, and although Germany bills
:18:27. > :18:29.itself as a leader in green technology, it produces more of this
:18:30. > :18:39.dirty, polluting type of fuel than anywhere else in the world. What
:18:40. > :18:42.they are digging up here is the remains of an ancient forest that
:18:43. > :18:48.grew here 17 million years ago, and then got compacted and turned into
:18:49. > :18:53.lignite or brown coal. You can still see remains of the old trees inside
:18:54. > :18:56.it. This is exactly the kind of fossil fuel that the UN climate
:18:57. > :19:03.panel says the world should be moving away from. But mines like
:19:04. > :19:06.this are expanding. There is a lot of coal, and it is easy to get at,
:19:07. > :19:13.which makes it relatively cheap. Demand is growing. Coal will be with
:19:14. > :19:16.us for decades to come. Coal generates nearly half of Germany's
:19:17. > :19:26.electricity, so could the coal industry ever imagine being phased
:19:27. > :19:30.out? No, right now I can't, says Uwe Grosser of the company Vattenfall.
:19:31. > :19:38.Our supply, he says, is constant, unlike wind and solar. Right next
:19:39. > :19:43.door is a village that may be destroyed if the mine expands.
:19:44. > :19:45.Villages have been lost before, but this place, Proschim, is a showcase
:19:46. > :19:49.for green technology, with solar panels on the roofs and gas made
:19:50. > :19:57.from farm waste, all at risk because of the demand for coal. We have
:19:58. > :20:00.solar panels and biogas, and the coal is an old kind of engineering,
:20:01. > :20:10.and the past will destroy the future in Proschim. This is terrible. This
:20:11. > :20:15.is crazy. Germany is now the world leader in solar power. Renewable
:20:16. > :20:18.energy in all its forms is changing traditional views of the German
:20:19. > :20:24.landscape. But completing a shift away from fossil fuels is proving
:20:25. > :20:27.extremely hard. It is a tough challenge, because politicians have
:20:28. > :20:32.so far only been focusing on the phase-out of nuclear and the phasing
:20:33. > :20:37.in of renewables. We didn't look at coal, but that is what we now need
:20:38. > :20:41.to do. And that will be tough, because a lot of regions depend on
:20:42. > :20:47.coal. The coal industry provides thousands of jobs, but coal itself
:20:48. > :20:50.is linked to global warming. How this plays out in Europe's largest
:20:51. > :21:00.economy will be watched around the world. David Shukman, BBC News, in
:21:01. > :21:03.Germany. Pope Francis has issued his
:21:04. > :21:06.strongest condemnation to date of the child abuse scandal which has
:21:07. > :21:09.rocked the Catholic Church in recent years. He asked for personal
:21:10. > :21:13.forgiveness for the evil committed by priests and said those
:21:14. > :21:16.responsible had to face sanction is. TRANSLATION: I feel compelled to
:21:17. > :21:19.take upon myself all the evil and ask forgiveness for the damage they
:21:20. > :21:29.inflicted for the sexual abuse of children. We don't want to take a
:21:30. > :21:33.step back in dealing with this problem and the sanctions that must
:21:34. > :21:38.be imposed. On the contrary, I think we must be even stronger. You don't
:21:39. > :21:44.play around with the lives of children.
:21:45. > :21:48.Conservative MPs are being given a new code of conduct setting out
:21:49. > :21:51.guidelines on how they should treat their staff. It follows allegations
:21:52. > :21:55.of bullying and abuse made by some researchers and office staff. The
:21:56. > :22:00.new code of conduct, which is voluntary, says that should be able
:22:01. > :22:04.to work in an environment free from discrimination, victimisation and
:22:05. > :22:08.harassment. Our political correspondent Vicky Young reports.
:22:09. > :22:12.Few were willing to talk publicly about what goes on in the bars and
:22:13. > :22:15.offices around Westminster, but privately, staff say the line
:22:16. > :22:18.between professional and personal is often blurred.
:22:19. > :22:23.I describe a huge power imbalance between politicians and
:22:24. > :22:27.researchers, which discourages staff from making formal complaints about
:22:28. > :22:34.bad behaviour. It can range from language they choose to address
:22:35. > :22:38.staff, inappropriate touching. We have had instances where staff have
:22:39. > :22:42.had objects thrown at them. Lucille has worked here for five years and
:22:43. > :22:48.is a union wrapped in the Commons. She says that are usually too scared
:22:49. > :22:53.to speak out. We have been told in several cases that MPs are
:22:54. > :22:58.threatening their staff with ruining their career. I will ruin your
:22:59. > :23:03.career. MPs have many connections. They are very well networked people.
:23:04. > :23:07.Today, the Conservatives issued a code of conduct to MPs and their
:23:08. > :23:11.staff. It says MPs must lead by example to encourage an atmosphere
:23:12. > :23:17.of respect and tolerance, and they must not use their position to me or
:23:18. > :23:22.abuse. But the code is voluntary. A former researcher says the MPs who
:23:23. > :23:25.employed him treated him well, but a more professional approach is
:23:26. > :23:31.needed. Most MPs don't know what they are doing. Most try very hard.
:23:32. > :23:36.Some do. But ultimately, the MP is king of the castle and if you get
:23:37. > :23:40.into problems, you are on your own. Of course, MPs see it differently.
:23:41. > :23:44.One told me they feel vulnerable to false accusations which can ruin
:23:45. > :23:49.their careers. Another said staff sometimes try to extract money from
:23:50. > :23:52.MPs who might be worried about the bad publicity from an employment
:23:53. > :23:59.tribunal. As for the code of conduct, not all Conservatives are
:24:00. > :24:03.convinced. A voluntary code of conduct, I don't quite see what will
:24:04. > :24:10.be said in it, that I do know that people should know how to behave
:24:11. > :24:13.decently anyway. A confidential helpline is now being set up for
:24:14. > :24:16.Parliamentary workers to report inappropriate behaviour. It is a
:24:17. > :24:22.step in the right direction, say staff, but they think it will take
:24:23. > :24:25.years to change the culture here. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
:24:26. > :24:29.have taken part in a yacht race on the latest stage of their tour of
:24:30. > :24:34.New Zealand. They took to the waters off the Auckland coast, racing each
:24:35. > :24:37.other an America's Cup yachts. The Duchess won both competitions,
:24:38. > :24:45.leaving the Duke to Job only blame sabotage. -- jokingly.
:24:46. > :24:48.Sue Townsend, the author famous for writing The Secret Diary Of Adrian
:24:49. > :24:51.Mole, has died after suffering a stroke at the age of 68. The diaries
:24:52. > :24:55.of the angst ridden teenager made millions laugh out loud. The
:24:56. > :24:58.novelist had been working on her latest Adrian Mole book, which would
:24:59. > :25:02.have been the tent in her best summing series. Our arts correspond
:25:03. > :25:05.David Sillito looks back at her life.
:25:06. > :25:08.Spots on my chin for the first day of the new year. Adrian Mole's diary
:25:09. > :25:12.of teenage angst was the biggest selling book of the '80s. 'There's a
:25:13. > :25:15.new girl in our class. Her name is Pandora'. No one understood Adrian,
:25:16. > :25:18.or recognised his literary genius. His creator, Sue Townsend, was
:25:19. > :25:24.brilliant at laughing at life's struggles. And she had had many -
:25:25. > :25:29.poverty, and she lost her sight. Adrian wasn't just a character, he
:25:30. > :25:34.was part of her. Have you got a book called Prejudice Or Pride by a woman
:25:35. > :25:39.called Jane Austen? All prose is a disguise for the author, I think.
:25:40. > :25:45.Perhaps diaries, more so, yeah. In a sense, he is my worst side! If
:25:46. > :25:56.people realised that I was so near to Mole, they would be less...well,
:25:57. > :25:59.they wouldn't admire me. She was joking, of course, but she did feel
:26:00. > :26:02.for the underdog. She herself had failed her 11+, left school at 15
:26:03. > :26:07.and at 23 was working in a petrol station, bringing up three children.
:26:08. > :26:10.Adrian transformed her life, but the books also became a satire, an
:26:11. > :26:17.alternative history of modern Britain, from the Falklands to
:26:18. > :26:22.Pandora becoming a Blair Babe. You're so beautiful! But if you were
:26:23. > :26:33.going to play Adrian, she had strong views. When I auditioned to play
:26:34. > :26:37.Adrian, I remember meeting her. She told me that Adrian couldn't be too
:26:38. > :26:40.good-looking. She pulled out a huge magnifying glass, came right up to
:26:41. > :26:44.my face as I was just in the last stages of going, and scanned me all
:26:45. > :26:47.over and said that I was indeed not good-looking enough to play the
:26:48. > :26:52.part. Her health had gradually failed. She had lost her sight, but
:26:53. > :26:56.she kept on writing - plays, novels another Adrian diary was on its way.
:26:57. > :27:05.Growing up can be painful. Sue Townsend made it funny.
:27:06. > :27:10.Sue Townsend, who has died at the age of 68.
:27:11. > :27:11.That is all from us. There is a first look at the papers on the BBC