Browse content similar to 12/11/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the next half an hour, We reveal the story of a Geordie Football | :00:04. | :00:13. | |
agent, a Belgium club and some broken dreams. It sounded great, IQ | :00:13. | :00:21. | |
money and cars and that was a clan. They've withstood siege and | :00:21. | :00:23. | |
survived for centuries, but we uncover the latest threat to our | :00:23. | :00:33. | |
:00:33. | :00:34. | ||
historic buildings. Best this says start at six -- complained to is | :00:34. | :00:42. | |
about a problem of you're in dipping into the shops or false up | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
And Terry Deary flies the flag for one of Wearside's forgotten heroes. | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
A definite contender for his own blue plaque if ever there was one. | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
That's what he needs, a blue plaque. Stories from the heart of the North | :00:52. | :01:02. | |
:01:02. | :01:10. | ||
Now, why would a well-known Geordie soccer agent help mastermind the | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
takeover of a tiny Belgian football club, a deal which left a huge | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
trail of debt and damaged the careers of promising young players? | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
Well, I've uncovered a secret plan to establish a foothold in the | :01:21. | :01:22. | |
highly lucrative international transfer market despite rules | :01:22. | :01:30. | |
designed to stop just that. This Belgian Football club should be | :01:30. | :01:32. | |
celebrating its centenary, but instead it's fighting for survival | :01:32. | :01:38. | |
after being taken over by a company called Diamond Sports International. | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
And it's the man behind the deal, Peter Harrison, that I'm interested | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
in. Harrison spent most of his playing days in the lower leagues | :01:45. | :01:52. | |
in England and then had a spell as manager at Blyth Spartans. So how | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
come he turns up running a club in Belgium? Harrison had a knowledge | :01:57. | :02:04. | |
of Belgian football and he spoke the local lingo. He played here in | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
the 80's for Sporting, but it was the city's other much smaller club, | :02:07. | :02:17. | |
Olympic Charleroi, which attracted Harrison in 2010. Here he is using | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
his best Geordie French to talk up his grand plans for the Belgian | :02:21. | :02:31. | |
:02:31. | :02:40. | ||
third division side nicknamed the I cut about getting into the First | :02:40. | :02:45. | |
Division. It might be two years' or three years or five years but I | :02:45. | :02:50. | |
will stay here until they are in the first division. When he came | :02:50. | :02:56. | |
back to Charleroi everybody was happy. We know a local hero that is | :02:56. | :03:03. | |
coming back, it's a good thing. Dogues had certainly had their day | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
and needed a white knight. But was Harrison motivated by a love of the | :03:07. | :03:12. | |
game or did he see the potential of Olympic as a big earner? A feeder | :03:12. | :03:15. | |
club where he could bring in players and sell them later for a | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
tidy profit? As a well known agent, Harrison had the contacts to put | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
together a team from across the globe, attracting 37 players from | :03:22. | :03:24. | |
11 countries, a different nationality for every position on | :03:24. | :03:33. | |
the pitch. Several were from the North East. One was Nathan Porrit | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
from Middlesborough, another was Jonny Rowell. He's from Newcastle, | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
I'm from Newcastle. To a young kid like me, it sounded great. We had | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
good enough players, good money, all cars, apartments. That was the | :03:46. | :03:53. | |
plan. Slowly that plan disintegrated. There was a Japanese | :03:53. | :03:59. | |
Goalkeeper, an Australian, a Madagascan and two Ghanaians. | :03:59. | :04:03. | |
came down and watched me play, and started talking about big teams. | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
Said I've got all these players in my camp and I said that's good. | :04:07. | :04:09. | |
reason behind the takeover of Olympic becomes clear when you read | :04:10. | :04:13. | |
this. It's a business plan for Diamond Sports International. The | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
document was aimed at investors. It reveals Harrison's master plan. He | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
intends using Olympic as a feeder club to import and develop | :04:20. | :04:26. | |
promising players to be sold on as the next generation of stars. | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
Harrison values his team at �5.5 million and says the club can make | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
between 2 and 3.5 million a year on player trading alone, but why do it | :04:33. | :04:43. | |
in Belgium? You can be in Belgium between 700 and 1,000 days and | :04:43. | :04:46. | |
after which - happy days - you can apply for EC citizenship, and then | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
Europe's your oyster and you don't have to worry about work permits to | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
go into the big football nations, be it France, Italy, Spain or | :04:52. | :04:57. | |
England. So the bridgehead for players into Europe was established, | :04:57. | :05:03. | |
but now Harrison had to make it work. Players were brought in from | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
across the world. And for some it appeared to be the start of the | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
high life. They were put up in this hotel with the club picking up the | :05:12. | :05:19. | |
tab. We had Japanese guys, guys from Serbia, African players, | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
Holland, France. Players from all over the world, all staying in this | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
hotel. With a third of the hotel occupied by players, a massive bill | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
began to rack up. When the debt topped 60,000 euros, it was time to | :05:30. | :05:38. | |
show the players the door. So presumably you had to tell the | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
players sorry but you'll have to go? Yes, we have to tell to the | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
players tomorrow it is finished for you. We don't get any money from | :05:45. | :05:55. | |
:05:55. | :05:58. | ||
the club, it's not possible. I was very sad of it but the players | :05:58. | :06:01. | |
understood but we were in a bad position. A very bad position. | :06:01. | :06:05. | |
you ever been paid? No. The players went from three star comfort to | :06:05. | :06:12. | |
downmarket digs and some even had to find a floor to bed down on. | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
rent some apartments for us and there was nothing in them. No | :06:15. | :06:20. | |
television, no chairs, nothing. He bought us a small mattress and we | :06:20. | :06:25. | |
put it in a corner to sleep. players from Africa had nothing | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
left. They would often come asking for a bottle of water, some coins | :06:28. | :06:33. | |
to buy something from the shop. They couldn't afford their bills so | :06:33. | :06:39. | |
they had no electricity, nothing. The supporters used to buy them | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
food and do their shopping. One of those supporters owns this | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
restaurant. He's a former player and club President. He offered to | :06:49. | :06:55. | |
feed the team, but once again no- one picked up the tab. How much | :06:55. | :07:04. | |
money? That's 46,500 euros owed to Mr Vejis which buys an awful lot of | :07:05. | :07:08. | |
pizza. Meanwhile, others took their share of helping as the club | :07:08. | :07:16. | |
spiralled into crisis. I heard about a player who was out at night | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
and a friend came over and bring him back to his own for sleeping at | :07:20. | :07:26. | |
night because he had nothing. We had a player we had to find shoes | :07:26. | :07:34. | |
for him to get on the ground. It was terrible. Here in the dressing | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
room, feelings were running high. The players had had enough. Without | :07:38. | :07:44. | |
fresh kit or even transport to get to games, they went on strike. If | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
that wasn't enough, damage to the roof of the main stand forced the | :07:47. | :07:52. | |
closure of the bar and corporate hospitality area. With the | :07:52. | :07:59. | |
supporters becoming restless, Harrison spoke to the local press. | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
It's not my fault that the whole stadium is broken. I have had four | :08:03. | :08:06. | |
or five investors walk away when they have seen the stadium in that | :08:06. | :08:12. | |
state. Me, I stayed. I believe in the plan. We're still here. As the | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
grand plan unraveled, the situation became desperate. We've seen e- | :08:16. | :08:18. | |
mails to Harrison circulating in Belgium which spell out the | :08:18. | :08:25. | |
financial crisis. Things are getting urgent. We have not | :08:25. | :08:27. | |
fulfilled our duties to get the license. Players want to leave | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
because no-one speaks to them. Despite everything, Harrison was | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
still trying to attract investors to make the plan work. He produced | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
this glossy prospectus for his new company, Ultra Sports Management. | :08:40. | :08:46. | |
It sets out plans to sell Olympic for �10 million in 2015. But it | :08:46. | :08:55. | |
ended in disaster and debt. 150,000 euros owed for the purchase of the | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
club, and how much was more to people in Charleroi? It's 700,000 | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
euros. The club was declared bankrupt and the debts were written | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
off. On the plus side, it has reformed with a new owner and a new | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
team but that's little consolation to those players who were lured to | :09:10. | :09:17. | |
Charleroi by Harrison. How much do you think you are owed by the club? | :09:17. | :09:21. | |
Now it's almost 50,000 euros. makes you not want to play, not | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
enjoy football. You're playing for some guy who wants to make money | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
from you, And as a football agent, Peter Harrison has made a great | :09:28. | :09:34. | |
deal of money - �1 million in a single deal back in 2000. But was | :09:34. | :09:44. | |
:09:44. | :09:44. | ||
Harrison allowed to takeo ver a football club? -- take over. | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
rules are clear cut. You can't have a position in a working capacity - | :09:48. | :09:51. | |
anything official within a club, you simply can't be that - if you | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
are a licenced agent. It's black and white. There is a huge conflict | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
of interest if you become the buyer and the seller. Yet none of the | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
football authorities tried to stop Harrison. Perhaps surprising when | :10:01. | :10:08. | |
you consider the last time he made headlines. If you've got a good | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
relationship with six or seven managers, you can make a lot of | :10:11. | :10:15. | |
money but you'll have to pay the manager to get them on side. Back | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
in 2006, the BBC filmed him boasting of paying bungs to | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
managers. Harrison was also filmed trying to sell on young players he | :10:21. | :10:31. | |
:10:31. | :10:33. | ||
represented without the knowledge That's Nathan Porrit, then only 15 | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
and the same player he took five years later to Charleroi. At the | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
time, Harrison denied being a corrupt agent and said he was just | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
engaging in pub gossip and banter. An explanation the Football | :10:42. | :10:45. | |
Association must have believed as he was allowed to keep his agent's | :10:45. | :10:50. | |
licence. Only this year - back in June did the FA act - and revoke | :10:50. | :10:56. | |
Harrison's agents licence. They've refused to reveal why - although a | :10:56. | :10:59. | |
very well placed source told us it's because Harrison's financial | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
background was deemed inappropriate. We contacted the FA with our | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
information. They didn't want to record an interview but told us The | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
FA was not made aware of Mr Harrison's involvement with Olympic | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
but it is very disappointed to hear of any club that has experienced | :11:12. | :11:15. | |
severe financial distress where players have not been paid sums | :11:15. | :11:20. | |
that they are due. The Belgian FA told us they thought Peter Harrison | :11:20. | :11:26. | |
was only an investor in Olympic Charleroi and not an official. And | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
what about Peter Harrison? He told us that that although he'd spent | :11:30. | :11:38. | |
300, 000 euros on Olympic, he'd earned nothing from the club. Well, | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
we wrote to him two months ago asking for an interview. His | :11:42. | :11:45. | |
lawyers sent us a letter describing him as an ambassador for the club | :11:45. | :11:50. | |
who simply encouraged players to sign. Mr Harrison said he was not | :11:50. | :11:56. | |
in breach of FIFA rules as he had no official role with Charleroi. Mr | :11:56. | :11:58. | |
Harrison didn't answer our questions so we have come here to | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
find out more. Can I have a word, Peter? Why did you mastermind the | :12:02. | :12:08. | |
takeover of Charleroi? Well, I think Mr Harrison really doesn't | :12:08. | :12:13. | |
want to speak to me. But he certainly seems to be living a | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
footballer's dream. A shame that dream isnot shared with all the | :12:17. | :12:27. | |
:12:27. | :12:27. | ||
players and supporters of the club he took over. | :12:27. | :12:35. | |
Still too, to make. The next six hours fly past - at least they do | :12:35. | :12:40. | |
for me! Now, we've a heritage to be proud | :12:40. | :12:42. | |
of here in the north. Some beautiful ancient buildings and | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
stunning cities. But as Jacey Normand has been finding out, | :12:45. | :12:55. | |
:12:55. | :12:55. | ||
criminals are no respecters of the past. | :12:55. | :12:58. | |
If these streets could talk, what stories would they tell of | :12:58. | :13:06. | |
Chester's past? It was invaded by the Romans in 79AD. It was besieged | :13:06. | :13:12. | |
by the royalists during the English Civil War. But now it's facing its | :13:12. | :13:22. | |
biggest challenge yet. Spending a penny, whatever you call it, when | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
you get the call of nature, you have to answer, but surely you | :13:25. | :13:30. | |
wouldn't do it here? Well, you and I wouldn't, but that's exactly what | :13:30. | :13:32. | |
the town's late night revellers have been doing, turning Chester's | :13:32. | :13:40. | |
historic rows into an open air toilet. We became really aware of | :13:40. | :13:42. | |
the problems when businesses started complaining to us about the | :13:42. | :13:45. | |
problem of urine dripping through from the rows into the shops below. | :13:45. | :13:50. | |
Seriously? It was a horrendous situation. Getting through the wood, | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
beneath to the shops? Dripping all the way through. They're an ancient | :13:53. | :13:56. | |
structure. You can see there some of the damage that's been caused by | :13:56. | :13:59. | |
people who have chosen to urinate on the rows. And that, that paint | :13:59. | :14:02. | |
that's been worn away, that is from urine eroding it? That's right. So | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
we started to have a look at what the extent of the problem was, and | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
we had some of the cleanup teams reporting to us when they were | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
finding pools of urine. We were horrified to find that there were | :14:12. | :14:16. | |
up to 30 incidents on any night of the week of people urinating in the | :14:16. | :14:20. | |
city centre. 30 people a night? to 30 people a night, and many of | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
them on these ancient rows. Public urination's nothing new, cities the | :14:23. | :14:28. | |
world over are plagued by it. It's a public order offence and carries | :14:28. | :14:32. | |
a hefty fine of up to �400. But when it threatens somewhere like | :14:32. | :14:42. | |
:14:42. | :14:44. | ||
Chester, it's a heritage crime. Chester Council has come up with a | :14:44. | :14:54. | |
:14:54. | :14:55. | ||
unique way of dealing with it. It's Friday night. Chester's medieval | :14:55. | :14:58. | |
past is forgotten, drowned out by boozy revellers and the clack of | :14:58. | :15:01. | |
high heels. Everyone's out on the town. All except Paul Hunt and his | :15:01. | :15:11. | |
team. We are able to zoom in on people and restore all that | :15:11. | :15:21. | |
:15:21. | :15:23. | ||
information for 21 days. It's 2am and the pubs and clubs are shutting | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
up. If you're caught short, even at this hour, the public loos are | :15:26. | :15:29. | |
still open, but this man's taken matters into his own hands. Can we | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
just ask you just then, we just saw you weeing in the Chester Rows? We | :15:33. | :15:37. | |
just saw you, why did you do that? Did you not want to go to a toilet | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
instead? There's no public toilets around. But do you realise that | :15:40. | :15:43. | |
because so many people are urinating in the rows in Chester | :15:43. | :15:45. | |
that the medieval walkways are actually eroding and they wont ever | :15:45. | :15:49. | |
be able to be saved. So shall I wee in a bin instead? Well, getting | :15:49. | :15:52. | |
anyone to curb their ways after they've had a few isn't easy, but | :15:52. | :15:56. | |
this is where the council's clamp down kicks in because this man is | :15:56. | :15:59. | |
about to get a rude awakening. Is there any 5-1s who can attend The | :15:59. | :16:02. | |
Cross? Go ahead, David. Just confirm for us that you've still | :16:02. | :16:11. | |
got this man on camera and his location. Yes, yes. Carry on. | :16:11. | :16:13. | |
Offenders usually face a court appearance, �400 fine and a | :16:14. | :16:19. | |
criminal record. But Chester's pioneering a different approach. | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
Instead, anyone caught can pay �75 to go on an awareness course, and | :16:22. | :16:28. | |
if they do their slate is wiped clean. We bring them in at six | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
o'clock in the morning and they get to hear video presentations on how | :16:31. | :16:34. | |
it affects local businesses, how it affects schools, residents and then | :16:34. | :16:44. | |
:16:44. | :16:46. | ||
we bring them out on the rows. of course Chester's not alone in | :16:46. | :16:48. | |
suffering from heritage crime. English Heritage say that | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
nationally more than 70,000 listed buildings were damaged in the last | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
year, but the greatest threat of all is to our churches. | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
Howarth, a traditional Yorkshire village. It'd be little more than a | :16:59. | :17:04. | |
footnote in a guidebook, except for one thing. This is the parsonage in | :17:04. | :17:07. | |
Howarth, which was home to the 19th Century literary dynasty the | :17:07. | :17:13. | |
Brontes. In fact, it was in this very room that Emily Bronte wrote | :17:13. | :17:17. | |
the masterpiece Wuthering Heights. Howarth depends on tourists for its | :17:17. | :17:21. | |
survival. Among the sights is the church where the Brontes' brother | :17:21. | :17:27. | |
Branwell was parson, attracting over a million visitors a year. But | :17:27. | :17:30. | |
now its gates lie closed, another victim of heritage crime. While | :17:30. | :17:33. | |
I've been here, we've had three lead thefts and you can actually | :17:33. | :17:37. | |
see where some of the lead has gone right up along there, and that's | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
caused the water to come in which has exacerbated the problems we're | :17:40. | :17:43. | |
suffering. How much is it costing to do all these repairs? Well, | :17:43. | :17:46. | |
we've reached our insurance limit so it's probably cost us about | :17:46. | :17:49. | |
�5,000 at least, and the gain of the value of the metal, probably | :17:49. | :17:54. | |
�100 at the most. It looks bad from out here, but it's only when you | :17:54. | :18:04. | |
:18:04. | :18:07. | ||
step inside that the true cost of the lead theft is revealed. Well, | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
have a look at the top there, you can see that quite a bit of the art | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
work has disappeared. Just the way that the paint's chipping away. | :18:14. | :18:17. | |
It's the parish church, it's the parish of Howarth. It belongs to | :18:17. | :18:20. | |
the people of Howarth, so it's not protecting the church for the sake | :18:20. | :18:23. | |
of the building, it's protecting it for the sake of our community and | :18:23. | :18:26. | |
actually Britain generally because it's an income generator. There are | :18:26. | :18:29. | |
many types of Heritage crime but many are fuelled by metal theft, | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
and in the North East this takes on a sinister form. They enter | :18:32. | :18:34. | |
illegally at night. They target historic sites. And they plunder | :18:34. | :18:40. | |
and steal our national heritage. Welcome to the world of the | :18:40. | :18:46. | |
Nighthawk. Nighthawking is unauthorised metal detecting. | :18:46. | :18:49. | |
People that go on scheduled sites and dig the stuff up and you don't | :18:49. | :18:56. | |
know what they're taking and you don't know where it's going. This | :18:56. | :18:59. | |
is Low Chibburn in Northumberland, the ruins of a 14th Century | :18:59. | :19:04. | |
monastery run by the Knights Templar. It's a protected site of | :19:04. | :19:06. | |
archaeological significance, now under threat from illegal metal | :19:06. | :19:14. | |
detecting. Some time ago, we had a couple of incidents reported which | :19:14. | :19:17. | |
led to the site being visited by myself and English Heritage, and | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
what we found was quite clearly some of the turf and grass had been | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
cut and lifted back. My real concern is that they're actually | :19:24. | :19:27. | |
going to damage the structure. If we had people digging around the | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
foundations, as you can see it's been left in situ for people to | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
come and enjoy but if they continue to dig there's a real issue with | :19:34. | :19:42. | |
the integrity of the building. In your opinion, is ignorance ever a | :19:42. | :19:45. | |
defence? My own personal opinion is no. It's not ignorance. You can | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
have a look round, it is fenced off. It has signs here telling you what | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
it is and now it has further signs saying that you can't disturb the | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
site, so ignorance wouldn't be a defence in my opinion. Well, so far | :19:55. | :19:58. | |
there haven't been any more disturbances at Low Chibburn, but | :19:58. | :20:00. | |
Northumbria Police are still monitoring the site to ensure the | :20:00. | :20:03. | |
nighthawks don't return. Since we filmed in Haworth the Summer we're | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
happy to report that the church roof is now fixed and St Michael's | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
is open again to be enjoyed by tourists and parishioners alike. | :20:09. | :20:11. | |
And in Chester, their pioneering approach to anti-social behaviour | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
crime is paying off. But until there's a wider understanding of | :20:15. | :20:18. | |
heritage crimes across the north of England, our past remains under | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
threat. And that means keeping an everwatchful eye, and protecting | :20:22. | :20:32. | |
:20:32. | :20:35. | ||
our unique heritage for future Remember Harry Watts? No? Well, | :20:35. | :20:38. | |
according to one horrible historian his name should be as familiar to | :20:38. | :20:43. | |
us all here in the North East as Grace Darling or Lord Collingwood. | :20:43. | :20:50. | |
Terry Deary has a mission to sort that out. | :20:50. | :20:53. | |
The grave of a man the American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie | :20:53. | :21:03. | |
:21:03. | :21:06. | ||
called "the bravest man I have ever met." Not that! This old and worn | :21:06. | :21:10. | |
stone here. Carnegie also said, "Never let the memory of this | :21:10. | :21:12. | |
Sunderland man die." Yet there he lies. Sunderland's forgotten hero, | :21:12. | :21:21. | |
Harry Watts. Never heard of him. Exactly! Next April sees the 100th | :21:21. | :21:23. | |
anniversary of his death. I'm going to Sunderland to commemorate the | :21:24. | :21:26. | |
life of our hero, or my name isn't Terence Montmorency Deary. Actually, | :21:27. | :21:33. | |
it isn't. It's just plain Terry Deary, but you know what I mean. So | :21:33. | :21:36. | |
why Harry Watts you may ask? Because he was one of the greatest | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
lifesavers this country has ever known. Born in 1826, by his mid-20s | :21:41. | :21:48. | |
he'd saved 18 people from drowning. I think Sunderland Museum should | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
recognize Harry Watts. Although, they do claim to have a Harry Watts | :21:52. | :21:57. | |
exhibition! There's a wall of heroes, so where's the big display | :21:57. | :22:03. | |
for Harry? That's it? One paragraph and a little case? Harry seems to | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
attract this sort of treatment. In 1878, one of the good people of | :22:06. | :22:11. | |
Sunderland pinched his bravery medals. And that display! It's | :22:11. | :22:16. | |
daylight robbery. My training shoes came in a bigger box than that! I | :22:16. | :22:19. | |
know he's forgotten but Sunderland Museum could do something to | :22:19. | :22:27. | |
commemorate him. We have been looking at naming one of our rooms | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
after him. We are also looking at doing a larger display about his | :22:31. | :22:39. | |
life. That is a really good start! Here's a surprise - Harry didn't | :22:39. | :22:45. | |
stop at saving 18 lives. From 1861, he worked as a diver on the Wear. | :22:45. | :22:50. | |
In the next three decades Harry Watts saved another 26 lives. I | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
need to use the RNLI to tell you the next bit. Harry was also a | :22:54. | :22:57. | |
lifeboat and Life Brigade volunteer, and assisted in saving another 120 | :22:57. | :23:04. | |
people. That makes a grand total of 44 lives saved by himself, plus 120 | :23:04. | :23:10. | |
he assisted in saving. A definite contender for his own blue plaque | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
if ever there was one. That's what he needs, a blue plaque. But | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
there's a snag. I need the backing of Sunderland Antiquarian Society | :23:17. | :23:27. | |
:23:27. | :23:31. | ||
to get a blue plaque. This is me trying to get it. That went well. | :23:32. | :23:37. | |
I am afraid we have been negligent, he should be remembered. We would | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
all throw our weight behind the petition for a blue plaque. They're | :23:41. | :23:45. | |
going to back the plaque. And so is the City Council. Round two to | :23:45. | :23:48. | |
Harry. In the 19th century, when Harry was fishing them out like | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
trout, little value seemed to be placed on human life. Once he | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
rescued a boy from near the South Pier. His mother said "Ah it's | :23:56. | :23:59. | |
nowt! He's been in a few times!" And slammed the door in Harry's | :23:59. | :24:09. | |
:24:09. | :24:10. | ||
face. So we pinch his medals, and then we slam the door in his face. | :24:10. | :24:20. | |
:24:20. | :24:22. | ||
It's a scandal - that I'm going to put right! We need his name on | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
something big, high profile with an impact. So I was thinking the Harry | :24:26. | :24:35. | |
Watts Stand. No? The Harry Watts Box?That was a very long shot. What | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
about the Harry Watts football shirt? They admire Harry, but | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
they'd lose a fortune in sponsorship. I'm still a bit miffed, | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
though! Right, the Sunderland Empire have to name a box after | :24:46. | :24:56. | |
:24:56. | :25:00. | ||
Harry! That's a great idea. could not name the box but we could | :25:00. | :25:03. | |
put a plaque in his memory which would encourage the theatre goers | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
to see it and find out the bit more about him. | :25:08. | :25:11. | |
Harry's heroism wasn't always appreciated. Once he dived into the | :25:11. | :25:18. | |
Wear to save a drowning boy. When Harry asked a couple in a boat to | :25:18. | :25:21. | |
help because he was nearly done in, the woman threatened him with a | :25:21. | :25:31. | |
:25:31. | :25:33. | ||
shover for splashing her. -- shovel. 1910, the foundation stone of | :25:33. | :25:36. | |
Monkwearmouth Library is laid. It was here that the millionaire | :25:36. | :25:38. | |
philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, shook Harry's hand and said we | :25:38. | :25:46. | |
should never let his memory die. used to come here and I had not | :25:46. | :25:50. | |
idea of the connection between Andrew Carney, at Harry Watts and | :25:50. | :26:00. | |
:26:00. | :26:02. | ||
Miss building. Will the sponsor a memorial? No. They said he sounds | :26:02. | :26:06. | |
like an interesting and courageous man but they have no record of him. | :26:06. | :26:09. | |
Grand Central Rail can't name a little thing like an engine after | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
him either! But they did offer us some free tickets! So, that's: | :26:12. | :26:15. | |
Threatened with a shovel, never heard of him, you can't have an | :26:15. | :26:19. | |
engine. I'm not depressed. Oh no, not me! I'm a tryer. Everyone says | :26:19. | :26:24. | |
I'm trying. After three disappointments, two nice pats on | :26:24. | :26:30. | |
the head. Sunderland University is to theme glass blowing on Harry. | :26:30. | :26:40. | |
:26:40. | :26:40. | ||
And the Sunderland Echo is to launch a "Recognise Harry" campaign. | :26:40. | :26:45. | |
I am arranging a literary lunch. I've decided Harry needs a new | :26:45. | :26:48. | |
biography. So, I'm going to use my "oeuvre" - that's my books to you | :26:49. | :26:58. | |
and me - to impress the publisher. I have written one or two bits | :26:58. | :27:08. | |
:27:08. | :27:09. | ||
myself. The next six hours fly past - well, at least they do for me! | :27:09. | :27:14. | |
That was the result. They're going to write and publish Harry's | :27:14. | :27:17. | |
biography. It should be on the bookstands next year. I reckon | :27:17. | :27:27. | |
:27:27. | :27:28. | ||
that's a technical knock-out. When I set off on this campaign, I never | :27:28. | :27:32. | |
imagined he would have any living relatives to help us. How wrong I | :27:32. | :27:36. | |
was! After fighting my way through a man trap, I found his great | :27:36. | :27:42. | |
nephew Jim in Chester le Street. think it's a good idea and it was | :27:42. | :27:49. | |
about time it was done as well. One of the jocks was he used to push | :27:49. | :27:57. | |
them into get them out! -- jokes. We stole his medals. We threatened | :27:57. | :28:01. | |
him with a shovel. We forgot him. But on the centenary of his death | :28:01. | :28:04. | |
next April, Harry Watts will have a new biography, a proper museum | :28:04. | :28:07. | |
exhibition, possibly a blue plaque. And I'm going to get him a | :28:07. | :28:14. | |
gravestone you can read. An injustice has been righted. So, | :28:14. | :28:17. | |
Harry Watts - life saver, inspiration, hero. If you're | :28:17. | :28:27. | |
:28:27. | :28:29. | ||
listening, Sunderland remembers That's it for tonight. You can read | :28:29. | :28:32. |