Browse content similar to 28/07/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Tonight at 10: Charlie Gard, the terminally-ill baby | :00:00. | :00:08. | |
at the centre of a legal battle, has died - | :00:09. | :00:10. | |
His family today released these early images of Charlie, before his | :00:11. | :00:17. | |
Charlie's case became a campaigning issue as his parents tried | :00:18. | :00:26. | |
to get him experimental treatment in the US. | :00:27. | :00:30. | |
We'll be looking back at their fight in the courts and at how | :00:31. | :00:32. | |
Charlie became the centre of a major ethical controversy. | :00:33. | :00:35. | |
Third time unlucky - Donald Trump fails again | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
at his attempts to repeal President Obama's health care laws. | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
They should have approved health care last night, | :00:46. | :00:47. | |
Boy-oh-boy, they've been working on that one for seven years, | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
82 tower blocks are deemed to have failed a new government fire | :00:53. | :01:00. | |
safety test following the Grenfell Tower tragedy. | :01:01. | :01:03. | |
The Chancellor says Brexit in 2019 won't bring immediate changes - | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
and it's likely to be 2022 before the full process takes place. | :01:08. | :01:12. | |
And remembering one of the great battles of the Great War - | :01:13. | :01:17. | |
And coming up in Sportsday on BBC News... | :01:18. | :01:22. | |
It's a dream debut for bowler Toby Roland-Jones, as his four | :01:23. | :01:25. | |
wickets helped England take a firm hold of the third Test | :01:26. | :01:27. | |
It's been announced that Charlie Gard - | :01:28. | :01:53. | |
the baby who was at the centre of a High Court battle | :01:54. | :01:56. | |
The 11 month old was moved to a hospice where his life | :01:57. | :02:01. | |
A statement from his family said: "Our beautiful little boy has gone. | :02:02. | :02:07. | |
Our medical correspondent Fergus Walsh now looks back | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
at the story of the child whose plight became an issue | :02:12. | :02:13. | |
This is Charlie Gard without breathing or feeding tubes. | :02:14. | :02:28. | |
Born apparently healthy, but soon a devastating genetic condition | :02:29. | :02:30. | |
emerged which causes progressive muscle weakness. | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
By his side throughout have been his parents, | :02:37. | :02:38. | |
Charlie was transferred from intensive care | :02:39. | :02:42. | |
at Great Ormond Street Hospital, where he spent ten months, | :02:43. | :02:44. | |
to a hospice, where he died earlier today. | :02:45. | :02:50. | |
They'd fought a lengthy battle to keep Charlie alive, | :02:51. | :02:53. | |
refusing to accept he had suffered catastrophic brain damage. | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
And they raised funds online for experimental treatment | :02:58. | :02:59. | |
Great Ormond Street applied to court to end Charlie's life-support, | :03:00. | :03:06. | |
At the UK Supreme Court, with Charlie's parents sitting | :03:07. | :03:13. | |
behind, the hospital's barrister said his suffering should end. | :03:14. | :03:19. | |
The reality is that Charlie can't see, he can't hear, | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
he can't move, he can't cry, he can't swallow. | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
Immensely sadly, his condition is one that affords him no benefit. | :03:29. | :03:34. | |
An American doctor offering to treat Charlie with this experimental | :03:35. | :03:37. | |
powder had not seen his full medical records and it took six | :03:38. | :03:40. | |
months before he came to London to examine him. | :03:41. | :03:48. | |
Finally, on Monday, at the High Court, Charlie's parents | :03:49. | :03:51. | |
abandoned their legal fight to keep him alive, saying | :03:52. | :03:53. | |
Our son is an absolute warrior and we could not be prouder of him | :03:54. | :04:01. | |
His body, heart and soul may soon be gone, but his spirit will live | :04:02. | :04:10. | |
on for eternity and he will make a difference to people's | :04:11. | :04:13. | |
A private family tragedy was fought out in public. | :04:14. | :04:22. | |
Even the location and timing of Charlie's death became | :04:23. | :04:24. | |
Doctors and nurses at Great Ormond Street, | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
one of the world's most renowned children's hospitals, received abuse | :04:31. | :04:34. | |
and even death threats, which Charlie's parents condemned. | :04:35. | :04:38. | |
Pro-life groups adopted the cause and Charlie's plight became | :04:39. | :04:44. | |
an international issue when both the Pope and Donald Trump | :04:45. | :04:46. | |
The judge said it was a pitfall of social media that people | :04:47. | :04:54. | |
Charlie died a week before his first birthday. | :04:55. | :05:02. | |
His parents said they were sorry they could not save him, | :05:03. | :05:05. | |
but would set up a foundation in his name to help | :05:06. | :05:08. | |
What have people been saying tonight, following this news of | :05:09. | :05:23. | |
Charlie's death? Tributes led by Pope Francis, who said he was | :05:24. | :05:28. | |
praying for Charlie's parents, Great Ormond Street Hospital, where staff | :05:29. | :05:33. | |
have been caring for Charlie since October, sent heartfelt condolences. | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
Theresa May said she was deeply saddened, as did the American Vice | :05:38. | :05:42. | |
President, Mike Pence. Charlie had become an international symbol, a | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
cause that was adopted by many groups, but very few knew the | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
intricacies about his case, including the American doctor who | :05:51. | :05:54. | |
offered help to him. Astonishingly, he had not read the court judgments | :05:55. | :05:59. | |
in April which set out why Charlie should die with dignity. As you say, | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
this little boy became the subject of a major ethical battle. How did | :06:05. | :06:09. | |
that happen? It all began when trust broke down between Charlie's parents | :06:10. | :06:13. | |
and his doctors. When they could not agree on what was best for Charlie, | :06:14. | :06:17. | |
the courts had to intervene. They had to decide what was in Charlie's | :06:18. | :06:22. | |
best interests. Many will say, well, surely the parents know best? Why | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
not let them try this treatment? But the courts and neurologists said it | :06:28. | :06:35. | |
was futile and in this country it is not ethical to give treatment which | :06:36. | :06:37. | |
you know will not be of any benefit. Back in January, all of the | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
neurologists who examined Charlie said he had irreversible brain | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
damage. This is devastating for Charlie's parents. They went public | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
with their fight, but now it must be hoped that they get the privacy to | :06:51. | :06:52. | |
grieve for their son. Donald Trump has accused senators | :06:53. | :06:55. | |
of letting Americans down after they voted for a third time | :06:56. | :06:57. | |
against his flagship legislation to repeal the controversial health | :06:58. | :07:01. | |
care system known as Obamacare. The decisive vote was cast by | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
the senior Republican John McCain, who returned to the fray just days | :07:06. | :07:08. | |
after being diagnosed The setback means the President has | :07:09. | :07:10. | |
once again struggled to turn his key policies into law, | :07:11. | :07:16. | |
despite the Republicans controlling the Senate, | :07:17. | :07:19. | |
Congress and the White House. Our North America editor Jon Sopel | :07:20. | :07:22. | |
reports from Washington. The ayes are 49, the nays are 51, | :07:23. | :07:27. | |
the motion is not agreed to. The history books will record | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
that at just before two o'clock this morning, | :07:33. | :07:35. | |
Donald Trump's promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, | :07:36. | :07:37. | |
that he said would be so easy, crashed and burned | :07:38. | :07:41. | |
on the floor of the Senate. Outside, opponents who'd | :07:42. | :07:43. | |
been waiting celebrated. The coup de grace was given | :07:44. | :07:52. | |
by Senator John McCain, with a dramatic thumbs down, | :07:53. | :07:55. | |
as if a Roman emperor To gasps, the person the President | :07:56. | :07:57. | |
had hailed as a hero earlier in the week for returning | :07:58. | :08:04. | |
from treatment for a brain tumour to vote, now | :08:05. | :08:07. | |
the villain of the piece. It left the Senate leader ruing | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
a humiliating defeat. Our friends over in the House, | :08:12. | :08:14. | |
we thank them as well. I regret that our efforts | :08:15. | :08:27. | |
were simply not enough this time. And speaking to police | :08:28. | :08:36. | |
officers today, one thing was absolutely clear - | :08:37. | :08:38. | |
Donald Trump wasn't going They should have approved | :08:39. | :08:40. | |
health care last night, Boy-oh-boy, they've been working | :08:41. | :08:47. | |
on that one for seven years. But that wasn't the only | :08:48. | :08:52. | |
drama unfolding. Here at the White House, | :08:53. | :08:59. | |
the most extraordinary bare knuckle cage fight has broken out among | :09:00. | :09:02. | |
the three most senior people in the West Wing | :09:03. | :09:05. | |
who aren't the President. The new communications director, | :09:06. | :09:08. | |
Anthony Scaramucci, talking in abusive and obscene terms | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
about the chief of staff, Reince Priebus, and the chief | :09:14. | :09:15. | |
strategist, Steve Bannon. Mr Scaramucci has apologised | :09:16. | :09:19. | |
for the language used, In his conversation | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
with the New Yorker magazine, Mr Scaramucci said of | :09:24. | :09:28. | |
the chief of staff... And that only touches the sides | :09:29. | :09:36. | |
of some of the foul-mouthed In fairness, Mr Scaramucci had | :09:37. | :09:48. | |
warned earlier in the week when he spoke to the BBC, | :09:49. | :09:54. | |
that he would be more direct. One of the things I cannot | :09:55. | :09:58. | |
stand about this town is the backstabbing that goes | :09:59. | :10:00. | |
on here, OK? Where I grew up and the | :10:01. | :10:02. | |
neighbourhood I'm from, We like to tell you exactly where | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
we're from and what we're doing. Donald Trump left a storm-tossed | :10:06. | :10:12. | |
Washington earlier today to fly to Long Island, | :10:13. | :10:14. | |
New York, to look at efforts to curb Let me report a dramatic finale to a | :10:15. | :10:29. | |
dramatic week. The chief of staff, it has just been announced he has | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
gone from his post at the White House. Donald Trump tweeting, in the | :10:35. | :10:37. | |
last few minutes, I am pleased to inform you I have just named general | :10:38. | :10:44. | |
secretary John S Kelly as chief of White House staff. He is a great | :10:45. | :10:48. | |
American and leader. He's done a fantastic job at Homeland Security | :10:49. | :10:52. | |
and has been a true store of my administration. He says, I would | :10:53. | :10:58. | |
like to thank Reince Priebus for his dedication to his country, we | :10:59. | :11:01. | |
accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him. The purge of | :11:02. | :11:04. | |
establishment Republicans from the White House is pretty much complete. | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
It is now down to John Kelly to try to make the trains run on time and | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
bring a smoothness of operation to the White House that has been | :11:15. | :11:17. | |
missing in the first six months of Donald Trump's administration. | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
As well as continuing problems for Donald Trump | :11:22. | :11:23. | |
on his domestic agenda, another pressing | :11:24. | :11:24. | |
The Pentagon announced tonight that Pyongyang has tested | :11:25. | :11:30. | |
another ballistic missile, which landed in the sea | :11:31. | :11:32. | |
Rupert Wingfield-Hayes is in Tokyo tonight. | :11:33. | :11:39. | |
Rupert, what more do we know about what happened? We have a few more | :11:40. | :11:49. | |
details. It looks like this was the same type of intercontinental | :11:50. | :11:52. | |
ballistic missile that was launched by North Korea back on July the 4th. | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
It flew for about 45 minutes and it splashed down in the Sea of Japan | :11:58. | :12:04. | |
off the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, having flown about 700 | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
miles. What is significant is how Heidi missile went. The latest | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
estimates are that it went up into space about 3000 kilometres, maybe | :12:14. | :12:17. | |
2000 miles. That is very significant. It means that it could | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
reach as far as mainland United States, perhaps as far as Los | :12:23. | :12:29. | |
Angeles or Chicago. That means an ability to strike mainland United | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
States. Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has condemned the | :12:35. | :12:40. | |
launch, saying that it clearly shows the threat to our nation's safety is | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
real. This missile launchers clearly a challenge to President Trump. It | :12:46. | :12:49. | |
shows a nuclear strike, an ability to strike the US with nuclear | :12:50. | :12:55. | |
weapons by North Korea is not far off. President Trump has said he | :12:56. | :12:56. | |
will not allow that to happen. 82 buildings have failed | :12:57. | :13:00. | |
a new fire safety test, in which insulation and cladding | :13:01. | :13:02. | |
similar to the type fitted at Grenfell Tower were tested | :13:03. | :13:04. | |
for the first time. 47 of those buildings are owned | :13:05. | :13:07. | |
or managed by local authorities The Government today also announced | :13:08. | :13:10. | |
an independent review of building At least 80 people died in | :13:11. | :13:16. | |
the Grenfell Tower fire last month. Our Home Affairs correspondent | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
Tom Symonds reports. Inside the burn hall, | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
this is where the tests have been taking place, | :13:27. | :13:29. | |
upon which the fate of dozens So far, the Government's refused | :13:30. | :13:32. | |
to release video of the tests, but like this, it involves setting | :13:33. | :13:36. | |
light to cladding and insulation Test number one of a design | :13:37. | :13:39. | |
identical to that at Grenfell Tower, was supposed to last 40 minutes - | :13:40. | :13:48. | |
it was stopped before nine. The flames had reached | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
the top of the test rig. The landlords of 82 buildings, | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
47 of them social housing, In Salford, anticipating | :13:59. | :14:00. | |
a test failure, cladding The thought of it not | :14:01. | :14:06. | |
being safe and you're sleeping in bed of a night time, | :14:07. | :14:12. | |
thinking that's not safe... They should take the lot | :14:13. | :14:15. | |
off, I don't care how It's not money, it's peoples lives | :14:16. | :14:24. | |
at the end of the day. The new full-scale tests | :14:25. | :14:28. | |
are designed to replicate the way in which Grenfell Tower | :14:29. | :14:30. | |
was refurbished, with a cladding system to improve the insulation | :14:31. | :14:32. | |
and the look of the building. It's the bits that make up this | :14:33. | :14:35. | |
system that are being tested together, to see how well | :14:36. | :14:38. | |
they prevent fire spreading. The cladding itself is basically | :14:39. | :14:41. | |
a sandwich, thin sheets of aluminium with plastic | :14:42. | :14:44. | |
as the sandwich filling. And then there's an air gap, | :14:45. | :14:47. | |
designed to improve ventilation, Behind that, thick blocks | :14:48. | :14:50. | |
of foam insulation. How well did they | :14:51. | :14:55. | |
withstand the flames? The tests involve using various | :14:56. | :14:58. | |
brands of cladding and insulation, to examine how they perform | :14:59. | :15:01. | |
in a fire. These new tests were ordered | :15:02. | :15:06. | |
because when sections of the cladding were tested | :15:07. | :15:09. | |
on their own, they The Government hasn't allowed us | :15:10. | :15:11. | |
to film any of those tests, so we obtained piece of Reynobond | :15:12. | :15:18. | |
PE, the same cladding used at Grenfell Tower, | :15:19. | :15:21. | |
and asked a company specialising in plastics to show us | :15:22. | :15:23. | |
how it reacts to fire. When the flame was applied | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
to the aluminium sides... But when the sample is turned, | :15:29. | :15:30. | |
so the flame hit the plastic filling in the aluminium sandwich, | :15:31. | :15:39. | |
this is what happens. Several tests showed, | :15:40. | :15:42. | |
in similar temperatures to the Grenfell fire, | :15:43. | :15:49. | |
it drips burning plastic. If you clad a building in it, | :15:50. | :15:51. | |
you've got a fuel main source If you do a small-scale fire test, | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
it's not necessarily representative of what will happen | :15:55. | :16:01. | |
on a full-scale building. Which is why the Government is now | :16:02. | :16:05. | |
doing full-scale tests, but three separate sources | :16:06. | :16:07. | |
with direct knowledge of the type of cladding used at Grenfell Tower, | :16:08. | :16:14. | |
have told the BBC it has never been Investigators are examining | :16:15. | :16:17. | |
what fire assessments were done. The regulations say when there | :16:18. | :16:24. | |
is a proposal to use flammable material on a tall building, | :16:25. | :16:27. | |
there should be an actual fire test or a desktop study, | :16:28. | :16:30. | |
based on previous test results. Building control inspectors say | :16:31. | :16:34. | |
the regulations are a mess. We've arrived at a situation | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
where we have a series of different pieces of legislation, | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
we have a series of different tests which can be applied | :16:43. | :16:45. | |
to that legislation. We've created a system of cracks | :16:46. | :16:48. | |
and shadows that people can either fall into inadvertently, | :16:49. | :16:53. | |
or perhaps hide in Today, a new independent | :16:54. | :16:55. | |
review of fire safety was announced, to look into those | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
cracks and shadows. The Chancellor has said there's | :17:01. | :17:05. | |
broad agreement in the Cabinet for a transition deal for up | :17:06. | :17:11. | |
to three years after Brexit. Philip Hammond said that he hopes it | :17:12. | :17:21. | |
will be "business as usual", and "life as normal" the day | :17:22. | :17:24. | |
after Britain leaves Our Deputy Political Editor John | :17:25. | :17:26. | |
Pienaar is at Westminster. Philip Hammond was seen as a prime | :17:27. | :17:37. | |
candidate for the Sack of Theresa May had run a big victory in June, | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
look at it now, a pivotal figure. While Theresa May is away on | :17:42. | :17:45. | |
holiday, he is taking the lead in setting up government thinking on | :17:46. | :17:49. | |
Brexit. We know and knew that ministers want free trade with | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
Europe up to and beyond Brexit. Thanks to Philip Hammond, we know he | :17:55. | :18:00. | |
sees this broad agreement between senior ministers, including | :18:01. | :18:03. | |
hard-core Brexiteers, the British borders could remain open to all EU | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
newcomers for up to five years ahead. | :18:08. | :18:08. | |
The overriding concern as we leave the EU - | :18:09. | :18:10. | |
and the job will be done on 29th of March, 2019 - the overriding | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
concern is to make sure that we go through this process in a way that | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
avoids disruptive cliff edges for business and for | :18:19. | :18:20. | |
Well, it's not quite that simple. Ministers aren't agreed on what to | :18:21. | :18:32. | |
do when the EU starts attaching strings. Brussels wants the European | :18:33. | :18:36. | |
Court to settle trade disputes, that's a sticking point with | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
Britain. Some, including the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, may be | :18:42. | :18:44. | |
digging their heels in on that. Philip Hammond has recently idea of | :18:45. | :18:48. | |
maybe a special court. Some in government believes Britain may in | :18:49. | :18:51. | |
the end give away some sort of limited role to the European Court, | :18:52. | :18:55. | |
but it all has to be thrashed out between ministers and with Brussels. | :18:56. | :18:59. | |
Hardline Brexiteers once believed it could all be accomplished quite | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
easily and simply. Well, they know better now. Thank you, John Pienaar | :19:04. | :19:06. | |
there. A brief look at some of the day's | :19:07. | :19:08. | |
other other news stories... Three contractors working | :19:09. | :19:10. | |
on the Crossrail project - BAM, Ferrovial, and Kier - | :19:11. | :19:12. | |
have been fined more than ?1 million over the death of a worker, | :19:13. | :19:15. | |
and two other incidents. Rene Takachik died after being | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
crushed by wet concrete in 2014, while two other men were injured | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
in separate incidents Barclays bank is setting aside | :19:24. | :19:25. | |
a further ?700 million to cover payouts for mis-sold | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
Payment Protection It brings the total amount set aside | :19:31. | :19:32. | |
by Barclays to over ?9 billion. More than ?27 billion has now been | :19:33. | :19:41. | |
repaid by the banking industry A man who stalked his ex-partner, | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
who then committed suicide, Nicholas Allen bombarded | :19:47. | :19:52. | |
Justene Reece with abusive She was found hanged at her home | :19:53. | :19:58. | |
in Stafford in February after leaving a note saying she had | :19:59. | :20:06. | |
"run out of fight". The Prime Minister of | :20:07. | :20:08. | |
Pakistan Nawaz Sharif has resigned, after the country's Supreme Court | :20:09. | :20:12. | |
disqualified him from public office They stemmed from documents known | :20:13. | :20:14. | |
as the Panama Papers, The papers linked Mr Sharif's | :20:15. | :20:20. | |
children with offshore companies, and with the purchase of luxury | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
apartments in Mayfair in London. This report from our Pakistan | :20:26. | :20:28. | |
Correspondent Secunder Kermani They've been chanting | :20:29. | :20:31. | |
"Go, Nawaz, go!" Nawaz Sharif resigned | :20:32. | :20:38. | |
after Pakistan's highest court disqualified him | :20:39. | :20:47. | |
from holding office. Judges decided he'd not | :20:48. | :20:50. | |
been honest in dealing For his opponents, including | :20:51. | :20:52. | |
cricketer turned leading politician Imran Khan, | :20:53. | :20:59. | |
today's decision is an unprecedented TRANSLATION: For the first time, | :21:00. | :21:01. | |
we're hopeful that we can also A powerful man has been brought down | :21:02. | :21:08. | |
by the authority of law. This is not a personal issue | :21:09. | :21:14. | |
between me and Nawaz Sharif, This case centres around four luxury | :21:15. | :21:16. | |
flats in this building in Mayfair. It began when millions of secret | :21:17. | :21:23. | |
documents from a law firm in Panama They revealed the flats | :21:24. | :21:27. | |
were linked to a number The Supreme Court in Pakistan has | :21:28. | :21:33. | |
been trying to establish where the money to buy | :21:34. | :21:37. | |
them came from. The Prime Minister's daughter | :21:38. | :21:40. | |
is alleged to have tried to cover Maryam Nawaz had been seen | :21:41. | :21:43. | |
as her father's successor. Now they both face further | :21:44. | :21:50. | |
inquiries by the national She was defiant on Twitter, though, | :21:51. | :21:52. | |
posting this picture of the Prime Minister, | :21:53. | :21:58. | |
promising he would return to power No Prime Minister in | :21:59. | :22:00. | |
Pakistan has ever completed Nawaz Sharif himself was overthrown | :22:01. | :22:05. | |
by a military coup in the 90s. Some of his supporters claim | :22:06. | :22:15. | |
Pakistan's army is the driving force Sharif, his family and his allies | :22:16. | :22:18. | |
have always denied any wrongdoing. We have history of such | :22:19. | :22:27. | |
disqualifications in Pakistan and we have also seen that such | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
disqualifications are later turned The ruling party will now have | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
to nominate a new leader. Amongst the favourites | :22:38. | :22:45. | |
is the Prime Minister's brother, currently Chief Minister | :22:46. | :22:48. | |
of the Province of Punjab. But, for the moment, the country | :22:49. | :22:51. | |
is facing real uncertainty. It's been a dramatic day | :22:52. | :22:53. | |
at the Oval, where England's cricketers have taken control | :22:54. | :23:00. | |
of the third Test A century from Ben Stokes, | :23:01. | :23:02. | |
with the help of three consecutive sixes, saw England to a first | :23:03. | :23:07. | |
innings total of 353. Then Toby Roland Jones, | :23:08. | :23:15. | |
making his debut, took four quick At the close, the tourists | :23:16. | :23:18. | |
had slumped to 126-8. This weekend commemorations will be | :23:19. | :23:30. | |
held in the UK, and Belgium, to mark the 100th anniversary | :23:31. | :23:34. | |
of the beginning of the Third Battle of Ypres - also known | :23:35. | :23:37. | |
as the battle of Passchendaele. Three months of fighting | :23:38. | :23:39. | |
killed or injured more When it was over, the Allies had | :23:40. | :23:42. | |
gained 5 miles of German territory. Our Special Correspondent Allan | :23:43. | :23:49. | |
Little reports from Flanders on a battle that has come | :23:50. | :23:52. | |
to symbolise the horror Each ploughing season, even now, | :23:53. | :23:54. | |
the earth here gives up Human remains, too, of men | :23:55. | :24:01. | |
who disappeared a century ago. Just a metre beneath | :24:02. | :24:09. | |
this fertile topsoil, there lies hidden a substratum | :24:10. | :24:16. | |
of dense clay, through Passchendaele was the | :24:17. | :24:18. | |
infantryman's graveyard. Even the most seasoned veteran, | :24:19. | :24:24. | |
felt he'd be lucky if he went out If you're wounded and you slip | :24:25. | :24:32. | |
off the duckboards, Not only that, but every pool you'd | :24:33. | :24:35. | |
fall in with decomposed bodies The point was to break | :24:36. | :24:45. | |
through and capture the Belgian Channel ports, | :24:46. | :24:52. | |
to stop German U-boat attacks. But, like the Battle | :24:53. | :24:54. | |
of the Somme a year earlier, The iconic images of the battle, | :24:55. | :24:56. | |
the moonscape, the water-filled craters, "they died in hell | :24:57. | :25:04. | |
and called it Passchendaele", has really sunk deep | :25:05. | :25:07. | |
into our memory of the war. Mistakes were made, some incorrect | :25:08. | :25:10. | |
approaches were taken. But, overall, the British Army gave | :25:11. | :25:17. | |
a much better account of themselves. I think, crucially, they did real, | :25:18. | :25:22. | |
lasting damage the German army. Near Passchendaele village | :25:23. | :25:29. | |
there is a research centre. It collects the words the fighting | :25:30. | :25:32. | |
men wrote to their families at home. This is a letter from | :25:33. | :25:35. | |
Richard Harding, dated "My dear mother, just a line to let | :25:36. | :25:37. | |
you know that I am quite well." Nine days later, he was | :25:38. | :25:43. | |
killed in the battle. "My dear sister, just a few | :25:44. | :25:46. | |
lines to let you know And this one, from an | :25:47. | :25:52. | |
officer in the battle. "I'm sorry to tell you that | :25:53. | :25:56. | |
Major Moorhouse has been killed We'd just brought his son | :25:57. | :25:59. | |
in, mortally wounded." His son was a captain | :26:00. | :26:05. | |
in the same regiment. "The major expressed his | :26:06. | :26:08. | |
determination to go back and fetch a doctor for his son, | :26:09. | :26:11. | |
but a Bosch machine gun was sniping So this Major Moorhouse was killed | :26:12. | :26:15. | |
trying to find a doctor The public at home had a very | :26:16. | :26:22. | |
distorted sense of what was Most of the newspaper reporting | :26:23. | :26:30. | |
was highly partisan, In our own post-truth age, | :26:31. | :26:34. | |
that has renewed resonance. Here, actors rehearse a play that | :26:35. | :26:42. | |
will tour the country this autumn. Ypres, what the Belgians | :26:43. | :26:47. | |
call Wipers. The Wipers Times was a satirical | :26:48. | :26:53. | |
monthly newspaper produced by men in the trenches, | :26:54. | :26:56. | |
a poignant and sometimes hilarious counterblast to the sanitised | :26:57. | :27:00. | |
accounts of the national papers. The editors of The Wipers Times | :27:01. | :27:05. | |
really hated the journalists who came out to cover the war, | :27:06. | :27:08. | |
because they felt They felt the people | :27:09. | :27:10. | |
at home were not being told And they were furious that this | :27:11. | :27:14. | |
rubbish was being circulated. The other thing is, they were very | :27:15. | :27:21. | |
keen on pricking the bubble of what they would have not called | :27:22. | :27:25. | |
fake news, but obviously Just propaganda and nonsense, | :27:26. | :27:27. | |
written by people a long way away who didn't know | :27:28. | :27:32. | |
what they were talking about. Of the 12,000 men buried | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
here at Tyne Cot, three A further 35,000 are named | :27:37. | :27:38. | |
on the memorial wall. Their bodies were never recovered, | :27:39. | :27:46. | |
lost to the mud that gave this Allan Little, BBC | :27:47. | :27:49. | |
News, Passchendaele. Now on BBC One, its time | :27:50. | :27:59. | |
for the news where you are. | :28:00. | :28:01. |