Browse content similar to 10/12/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Cumbria. This week, Chris Jackson is in Tynemouth for Inside Out. In | :00:03. | :00:06. | |
the next half an hour... He's touring the North, promising he can | :00:06. | :00:14. | |
really talk to the dead. We put this man's claims to the test. | :00:14. | :00:20. | |
November. Why is it significant? was one of our greatest adventurers. | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
Now his sister wants to know just why Joe Tasker couldn't stay away | :00:23. | :00:30. | |
from the mountains. I'm hoping I'll find answers to some of the | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
questions I've been asking myself for years and years. And we follow | :00:34. | :00:36. | |
the Yorkshire facelift that's bringing a whole new sparkle to a | :00:36. | :00:42. | |
much-loved friend. I just think it's fantastic that we can take a | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
step back into the past really. For me, it's ground breaking. Stories | :00:46. | :00:56. | |
:00:56. | :01:06. | ||
from the heart of the North East He claims he has a phone link to | :01:06. | :01:10. | |
the spirits of those who have passed on. He says he has proof we | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
don't die. His name is Stephen Holbrook, and thousands of people | :01:14. | :01:18. | |
across the North believe in him. But is he a genuine medium who | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
hears voices, or is he exploiting the bereaved using traditional | :01:21. | :01:31. | |
:01:31. | :01:38. | ||
entertainers skills? Tonight, we This is a story of spirits, | :01:38. | :01:46. | |
bereavement and tricks. Central Leeds - a member of the Inside Out | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
team, wearing a secret camera - is on their way to film a man who says | :01:50. | :01:57. | |
he's a phone link to the dead. hear the spirit world. They talk to | :01:57. | :02:01. | |
me. It is as natural as breathing. I want to tell you about my hand. | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
This is Stephen Holbrook. And that's his stiff left hand. It's | :02:04. | :02:10. | |
like wood. Sometimes it turns blue. It's a sign that Archie - Stephen's | :02:10. | :02:15. | |
dead spirit guide - is on the psychic phone. The fifth. Wait, do | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
it my way! Stephen says he channels messages just like a phone. But he | :02:19. | :02:29. | |
reverses the charges, and his Activists from the Newcastle and | :02:29. | :02:31. | |
Merseyside Skeptics Societies, fresh from checking out Stephen's | :02:31. | :02:41. | |
:02:41. | :02:41. | ||
performance. They are not impressed. He does not speak to he deceased. | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
He is about as clairvoyant as a teapot. Overall, I would argue that | :02:45. | :02:48. | |
Stephen Holbrook is not psychic. who is right? Stephen Holbrook, who | :02:48. | :02:51. | |
says he can genuinely hear the spirits, and claims his powers | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
prove there is life after death, or the sceptics, who say he is an | :02:54. | :03:03. | |
entertainment performer using magician's tricks? It is important, | :03:03. | :03:06. | |
because if Stephen's phone carries nuisance calls, and Archie and the | :03:06. | :03:13. | |
spirits aren't real, there's a problem - with the law. If a trader | :03:13. | :03:15. | |
gives false information or misleading information to consumers | :03:15. | :03:17. | |
and that causes people to do something they would not otherwise | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
have done, such as buying a ticket or travelling to an event, then | :03:21. | :03:25. | |
there could potentially be a criminal offence. Some mediums say | :03:25. | :03:29. | |
the performance is for entertainment purposes only. Is | :03:29. | :03:34. | |
that sufficient? If he is actually saying, I am an entertainer, I am a | :03:34. | :03:37. | |
magician. I am using cold reading techniques and I cannot actually | :03:37. | :03:47. | |
speak to the spirit world, then But Stephen never says it is just | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
for entertainment. He repeatedly claims it is all real. You have | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
just listened to 50 minutes of people speaking from the next world. | :03:57. | :04:02. | |
So life does continue, doesn't it? Because you've just listened to it. | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
Soon audience members are in tears as he relays messages from the | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
spirits of dead babies, children, mums and dads. You are upset now, | :04:09. | :04:14. | |
aren't you? I know you are. You are crying. You didn't cry with grief | :04:14. | :04:21. | |
and didn't cry with your mum, but you cried with your dad. They cry | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
because they are desperate to make contact with the dead. It is one | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
thing if they are receiving real messages from the spirits but if | :04:28. | :04:30. | |
they are repeatedly paying to be manipulated by psychological tricks, | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
then there is a risk they can get stuck in their grief and suffer | :04:34. | :04:42. | |
real damage. I think this is a type of exploitation of the worst sort. | :04:42. | :04:49. | |
It really is manipulating people at a terrible time of their lives. | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
of the worse consequences for people who are very vulnerable is | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
that they can end up stuck in that early stage of grieving and will | :04:55. | :05:05. | |
:05:05. | :05:06. | ||
never be able to relinquish it or Back in Leeds, a large part of the | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
performance consists of Stephen asking questions. Sometimes he | :05:10. | :05:18. | |
appears to get it right. Is your mother-in-law in the spirit world? | :05:18. | :05:23. | |
Yes. Did she have to go into hospital, sweetheart, before she | :05:23. | :05:32. | |
passed away? Or into a home? often he gets it wrong. Somebody's | :05:32. | :05:38. | |
lost their dad - to do with the brain. This is... I think it's a | :05:38. | :05:44. | |
tumour, or an aneurism. I don't know what. Quickly! Somebody knows | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
what I am talking about. Stephen performs all over the North, doing | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
more than 20 shows a month, nine months a year. His website is full | :05:52. | :05:58. | |
of testimonials from satisfied customers. Thank you so much for | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
the wonderful message you gave to us in Middlesbrough. At Bolton | :06:02. | :06:08. | |
Masonic Hall, I was in shock. He confirmed that my dad knew he was | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
going to die. But he also has his critics. I thought the advert was | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
nonsensical, laughable. And then I got quite cross, knowing the sort | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
of people, vulnerable types, who were attracted to it - not just | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
attracted to it but parting with their hard-earned money - I think | :06:23. | :06:33. | |
:06:33. | :06:36. | ||
first medium Emma Marsh and three of her students had ever seen. | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
kind of questions he would ask would be very, very general. He | :06:40. | :06:42. | |
would say, why is February important to you? I was staggered | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
at that kind of question. Well, February can be important for any | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
number of reasons. People would be supplying him with the information | :06:50. | :06:57. | |
not the other way round. Ellis told Stephen about a dead boyfriend. | :06:57. | :07:03. | |
Stephen told Ellis what his spirit was saying. He spoke about the | :07:03. | :07:06. | |
funeral. He said, the funeral rocked and thank you for the | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
flowers. He also spoke about how my boyfriend loved me and that he | :07:10. | :07:16. | |
cared for me. But Ellis's dead boyfriend never existed. | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
boyfriend isn't dead and none of my boyfriends in the past have died. | :07:20. | :07:26. | |
Meanwhile, in Leeds, Stephen is seeing dogs. Did you ever have a | :07:26. | :07:36. | |
:07:36. | :07:38. | ||
cross Jack Russell terrier? It was you. But when he gets a no, he | :07:38. | :07:40. | |
changes tack and quickly picks someone else. Because your mum | :07:40. | :07:45. | |
pushed in, the dog's come back. we get three experts - all psychic | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
entertainers or magicians - to analyse Stephen's performance. They | :07:49. | :07:59. | |
:07:59. | :08:01. | ||
all say he is using traditional magicians' techniques. Like a | :08:01. | :08:07. | |
circle in a spiral... By throwing out a random date, he is going to | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
get a strong chance of a hit with at least one person in the room. | :08:10. | :08:13. | |
October, thank you. Why is October significant? August. 5th November. | :08:13. | :08:16. | |
Why is it significant? Random pieces of information, which people | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
are going to latch on to, which they are going to embellish. | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
Somebody's brother take their own life? Somebody lose their brother? | :08:22. | :08:28. | |
Yes or no? It is taking a little bit of information and scattering | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
it around to a big audience, a big group of people and finding that | :08:32. | :08:35. | |
one person who seems to give something off. They say Stephen's | :08:35. | :08:37. | |
practising cold reading, an entertainer's way of finding out | :08:37. | :08:43. | |
personal details through clever questioning. You look at someone | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
and you read their micro- experssions, their inflections. You | :08:46. | :08:53. | |
work out statistically what is most likely. Like inheriting jewellery. | :08:53. | :08:58. | |
Two rings, sweetheart. Two rings. Have you got them both? Yes? | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
wants them back. The second is a strategic approach, where you just | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
say things and they apply to everyone. You know the house you | :09:05. | :09:12. | |
live in? Yes. Beautiful. He goes straight away from just answer me | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
yes or no and he goes all the way through the process, asking open | :09:16. | :09:18. | |
ended questions, where they actually feed him. At the end of | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
this engagement with this guy, the audience will walk away believing | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
he asked no other questions and people only answered yes or no. | :09:25. | :09:31. | |
Kennedy shows how easily it's done. He asks people to write down the | :09:31. | :09:40. | |
name of somebody they haven't seen for a long time. If you could read | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
my mind... Kennedy will tell them the name, using classic magician's | :09:44. | :09:50. | |
tricks. But he also guesses their personal details using cold reading. | :09:50. | :09:55. | |
The person you're thinking of, are they younger than you? Yes. Was | :09:55. | :10:04. | |
this like a son type figure? Yes. Has your son passed on? Yes. OK. I | :10:04. | :10:12. | |
don't want you to get upset. No. it Daniel or something like that? | :10:12. | :10:20. | |
It was Daniel. Yes. He would say, too many flowers? Why? I've got a | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
load of flower bushes for his memory. OK. Is there a piece of | :10:24. | :10:30. | |
jewellery that signifies this as well? Yes. A ring? Yes. That's | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
interesting. How did it feel for you? I literally knew those things | :10:34. | :10:40. | |
about you. That was scary. A bit scary. This is the person with dark | :10:40. | :10:46. | |
hair. Yes. This length? Yes. Why is she saying about the dogs? | :10:46. | :10:55. | |
Something to do with the dog or the dogs? That's creepy. What happened? | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
Where I used to work, we'd sometimes get puppies in who were | :10:58. | :11:08. | |
:11:08. | :11:18. | ||
Who's she? Doreen. My ex-boss. She died about four years ago. I'm not | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
psychic but I'm able to work out things about you, just from your | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
responses and the way you react. That's all I'm doing. Finally, from | :11:25. | :11:29. | |
the USA, world famous mentalist Banachek throws down the gauntlet. | :11:29. | :11:31. | |
He runs the James Randi Foundation's Million Dollar | :11:31. | :11:37. | |
Challenge to mediums who can prove they're genuine. Stephen Holbrook, | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
if you truly are a genuine psychic, I challenge you to take our million | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
dollars. I'll be as accommodating as I possibly can, but it must be | :11:45. | :11:49. | |
under proper observable conditions. That's all that I ask. So, time to | :11:50. | :11:52. | |
put these back on the table. Because all our professionals say | :11:52. | :11:58. | |
that Stephen's phoneline to the dead is well, dead! So, what does | :11:58. | :12:04. | |
Stephen say? For such a good talker, he turned remarkably quiet. He gave | :12:04. | :12:08. | |
us a statement, which said he will: Never succumb to cold reading. His | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
questions are for clarification of the facts. And our experts are not | :12:12. | :12:18. | |
in the least bit qualified to judge his work. It also said Stephen | :12:18. | :12:20. | |
didn't advertise his evenings as entertainment shows, because they | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
were genuine. Yet, while he was telling us that he changed his | :12:25. | :12:30. | |
website to say they were in fact for entertainment only. He wouldn't | :12:30. | :12:35. | |
explain the contradiction. But stranger still were the messages | :12:35. | :12:37. | |
Stephen got on the psychic phone from Ellis's fictional dead | :12:37. | :12:44. | |
boyfriend. Remember, the one she made up? My boyfriend isn't dead | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
and none of my boyfriends in the past have died. His statement said | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
that was an appalling example of theft! Because the spirit's message | :12:51. | :12:56. | |
was real, and meant for another person. Ellis had stolen it. | :12:56. | :13:01. | |
Stephen wouldn't explain why the spirit didn't just say: No. That's | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
not my ex-girlfriend! We have presented evidence suggesting | :13:06. | :13:09. | |
Stephen Holbrook is not the real thing. That he uses techniques | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
employed by entertainers. He now admits on his website that he is an | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
entertainer. For years Stephen Holbrook has made a lot of money | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
from exploiting people's grief. Some may get comfort from what he | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
does but they need to consider the tricks of the trade we have shown | :13:23. | :13:33. | |
:13:33. | :13:39. | ||
On my blog this week I have written about the techniques used by the | :13:39. | :13:44. | |
street and addiction -- magician to get those astonishing results. | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
30 years ago two of Britain's most gifted climbers disappeared on | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
Everest. What happened to Joe Tasker and Pete Boardman is still a | :13:50. | :13:54. | |
mystery. But three decades on Joe's sister Terry has decided she needs | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
to get to know her brother, and his passion for the mountains, a little | :13:58. | :14:08. | |
:14:08. | :14:11. | ||
This is Joe Tasker, a climbing legend, and still greatly missed. | :14:11. | :14:14. | |
It's been 30 years since Joe and Pete Boardman lost their lives on | :14:14. | :14:24. | |
:14:24. | :14:26. | ||
Everest. A lot has been written about Joe and he was a prolific | :14:26. | :14:30. | |
writer and he has left me a treasure trove of archive which has | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
not been touched for 30 years and I hope I will find some answers to | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
some of the questions I have been asking myself for years. It is | :14:37. | :14:45. | |
strange because it is almost as though he is... Standing next to me. | :14:45. | :14:47. | |
Terry needs to discover why he pursued this career and passion | :14:47. | :14:51. | |
that cost him his life? And what went wrong on that last climb with | :14:51. | :15:00. | |
Pete? Our house was further down at the end. At the corner of the | :15:00. | :15:03. | |
street. The search for answers starts here in Hull and the street | :15:03. | :15:06. | |
where Joe was born. His cousin remembers the family playing out. | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
He was the boss, everywhere you went he was the leader. He seems to | :15:10. | :15:16. | |
have control. That was Joe. listen to him? I grew up like that. | :15:16. | :15:21. | |
He was the lead and he looked after you. He always knew what he wanted. | :15:21. | :15:27. | |
Shortly after the Taskers moved to Teesside. From a big Catholic | :15:27. | :15:32. | |
family of 10, this is Joe heading off to Ushaw College near Durham. | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
Aged 12 he went to train as a priest, and some think this is | :15:36. | :15:39. | |
where he discovered the spirit that would take him to some of the | :15:39. | :15:48. | |
world's highest peaks. He enjoyed that one because he used to try and | :15:48. | :15:52. | |
find different ways our bit. It was here, just down the road from the | :15:52. | :15:55. | |
college that Joe got his first taste of climbing at a disused | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
quarry. It would take me 10 minutes to do the overhang but it would | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
take Jobe two minutes maximum to do the overhang. He would just go up | :16:04. | :16:09. | |
and come back down again. He was the first one to do it. I wonder if | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
he ever thought from climbing that he would actually climb the highest | :16:13. | :16:18. | |
mountain in the world, probably not. I look on him still as a friend, in | :16:18. | :16:23. | |
many ways, still see pictures in books and there still think of him | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
as though we were alive. Seen Tony has helped me ground some of the | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
things I have been reading about Joe and it was really interesting | :16:31. | :16:36. | |
to see what impact he had on Joe's development because he obviously | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
featured a lot in his early life and I was pleased I did it. | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
Emotional but it was good. Joe now graduated from the Lakeland crags | :16:43. | :16:50. | |
to a bigger challenge. I went to the Alps and it was just before I | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
went to university and it was only after two or three years gradually | :16:54. | :16:58. | |
finding my feet in the Alps that I went out there with a lad I had met | :16:58. | :17:05. | |
at university, Dick. We were very different characters but on the | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
mountains we seemed to gel. We were on the same way of late. We did not | :17:09. | :17:19. | |
:17:19. | :17:19. | ||
talk a lot. -- wavelength. He was very reliable. I felt I could rely | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
on him all the time. Joe, Pete and Dick were now getting a reputation | :17:23. | :17:26. | |
as the best young climbers of their generation and they had one the | :17:27. | :17:29. | |
biggest of Mountains in their sights, K2. But things didn't go | :17:29. | :17:38. | |
according to plan. We were being buried in an avalanche and Peter | :17:38. | :17:43. | |
and Gordon survived and they'd dug it out and then they started to dig | :17:43. | :17:46. | |
me out. Another other large came half-an-hour later and it destroyed | :17:46. | :17:51. | |
our chances on that attempt. Will this be a last attempt on the | :17:51. | :17:54. | |
mountain? All three of us want to go back and finish of those last | :17:54. | :17:59. | |
few bits. You're going back? just feel there is no way we can | :17:59. | :18:05. | |
stop ourselves. You would think after that you would back away a | :18:05. | :18:12. | |
bit but each of us was hell-bent on almost self destruction relief. | :18:12. | :18:16. | |
was emotional hearing this from people like Dick telling me. It was | :18:16. | :18:19. | |
very moving. I think it must have been difficult for them as well | :18:19. | :18:25. | |
because even after all of this time, 30 years, it is still very raw. | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
years later Joe, Pete and Dick were back for the ultimate challenge, an | :18:28. | :18:36. | |
unclimbed ridge of Everest. Sir Chris Bonington led the expedition. | :18:36. | :18:41. | |
He could be quite tough and quite abrasive. He had a hard protective | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
shell, if you like. As you got to know him you realised that | :18:46. | :18:55. | |
underneath that tough shell There is a quite extraordinary warm heart. | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
Normally you can just a romp across here. Watch your foot. It was a | :19:00. | :19:02. | |
small team attempting a very ambitious climb, and soon they were | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
one man down when Dick suffered a stroke and had to leave the | :19:06. | :19:11. | |
expedition. It was heartbreaking for me really. Not only was it the | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
end of the expedition for me, it was what I thought was the end of | :19:15. | :19:21. | |
my climbing career really. Pete and Joe were going incredibly well and | :19:21. | :19:27. | |
they wanted and deserved another go at it. I said, OK, you have that | :19:27. | :19:32. | |
final go. That was a perfectly reasonable thing for them to do. | :19:32. | :19:37. | |
These are the last pictures taken by Sir Chris of the climbers. | :19:37. | :19:41. | |
Constantly you were in hope. We spend hours waiting but there was | :19:41. | :19:47. | |
no sign at all. Then you were in hope that you had just completely | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
misjudged a whole situation and they would be waiting for you at | :19:51. | :19:56. | |
base camp. Of course my heart finally realised that was not going | :19:56. | :20:02. | |
to happen and of course it did not. Two British climbers, Joe Tasker | :20:02. | :20:07. | |
and Pete Boardman have been killed near the summit of Everest. Those | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
three days were very difficult because there was always hope there | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
really. There was hope that they would find him and he would come | :20:15. | :20:20. | |
home in whatever state he was in. I think that to me is going to always | :20:20. | :20:26. | |
be the unanswered question. We never had a body to bury. When I | :20:26. | :20:33. | |
said goodbye to Joe I did not even say look after yourself because I | :20:33. | :20:40. | |
assumed he would be coming back. supposition is that one of them | :20:40. | :20:46. | |
collapsed. I think the possibility is it was Joe. I would say that | :20:46. | :20:51. | |
Peter would never ever have left Joe one he was alive. They pushed | :20:51. | :20:57. | |
hard, they took risks, that is what climbing is all about. Those last | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
days were something that I had not really heard before and to me that | :21:01. | :21:06. | |
was good because it made me feel a bit better, particularly when they | :21:06. | :21:09. | |
were saying that Pete just fell asleep in the snow when Joe was | :21:09. | :21:14. | |
probably there as well. Knowing more about what happened on Everest, | :21:14. | :21:17. | |
Terry now feels it's the right time for others to share in the | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
wonderful archive he left behind. Today she's handing it over to the | :21:20. | :21:27. | |
Mountain Heritage Trust in Penrith. What I love about archives is it | :21:27. | :21:31. | |
almost enables you to sit in the seat of that person. You were | :21:31. | :21:36. | |
reading through and you can peer Joe's voice, I did not have that | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
privilege, but obviously reading his letters and his poems and his | :21:41. | :21:46. | |
diary entries, it does help to give you a sense of that person and they | :21:46. | :21:53. | |
continue to live. I think talking to other people can bring it | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
actually to the fore and that has helped me tremendously. It was | :21:56. | :22:02. | |
something I knew would be difficult and I didn't really want to face it. | :22:02. | :22:06. | |
To a climber, one wants to try something that you think is going | :22:06. | :22:11. | |
to test you to the utmost, climbing the highest mountain in the world | :22:11. | :22:16. | |
is obviously a very big challenge. I have now got more of his story. | :22:16. | :22:22. | |
It has made be really proud of M, as a brother and of -- and as a | :22:22. | :22:29. | |
person. It is like the closing of a chapter. It's easy to marvel at | :22:29. | :22:32. | |
some of the craftsmanship that has helped shape the north even when, | :22:32. | :22:37. | |
like the Priory here, it's seen better days. But one of the | :22:37. | :22:39. | |
region's greatest treasures is being treated to a magnificent | :22:39. | :22:42. | |
facelift, a painstaking restoration that's calling on calling on very | :22:42. | :22:52. | |
:22:52. | :22:56. | ||
special skills. Keeley Donovan Among the majestic splendours of | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
York Minster there's one that many feel stands out. The Great East | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
Window. Perhaps the finest and largest Medaeval stained glass | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
window in the world, it has brought pilgrims from around the globe for | :23:06. | :23:14. | |
centuries to marvel at its intricate design. That was until | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
2008, when all this Scaffolding went up and it sadly disappeared | :23:17. | :23:19. | |
from view. Regular visitors were heartbroken as the great | :23:19. | :23:22. | |
masterpiece was taken down bit by bit, and removed for essential | :23:22. | :23:27. | |
repairs. In its place has hung this this digital reproduction, in | :23:27. | :23:37. | |
:23:37. | :23:37. | ||
itself one of the the world's biggest examples of graphic art. | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
But soon visitors will be able to see the real Great Window up close | :23:41. | :23:44. | |
and personal in a way they never could have had access before. For | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
the past few years the window has been undergoing restoration here at | :23:47. | :23:50. | |
the York Glaziers Trust, and I'm about to go inside to see how the | :23:51. | :23:58. | |
craftsmen and women are getting on in their Herculean task. The first | :23:58. | :24:03. | |
thing we do is make a robbing so we have effectively a map locating all | :24:03. | :24:08. | |
the individual glass pieces and all of their relationships to the legs. | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
Then you take the lead out? Taking the lead out of the panel and then | :24:13. | :24:17. | |
we can lay out on top of the rubbing or the individual glass | :24:17. | :24:22. | |
pieces that make up this very complicated jigsaw. She is cleaning | :24:22. | :24:32. | |
away it rested you, dirt from lamps, gas lighting, cobweb and dust. | :24:32. | :24:37. | |
residue. Taking the window as one huge storyboard its designer used | :24:37. | :24:41. | |
the stained-glass panels to reveal an epic vision of the Apocalypse. | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
He took a vision that was not uncommon in the Middle Ages but he | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
readmission good for his own time and created a work of immense | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
ambition, imagination and power. How are the techniques and skills | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
changing since the window was first made? Some of the techniques have | :24:56. | :25:01. | |
changed very little. The way that we will eventually replace the | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
window would be recognisable to medieval glaziers. One thing that | :25:05. | :25:10. | |
has changed is the way we cut glass. That means that when we are trying | :25:10. | :25:15. | |
to distinguish between medieval glass and any insertions introduced | :25:15. | :25:20. | |
from the 18th century onwards, examining the edges of the glass | :25:20. | :25:26. | |
can be very helpful. This class is actually very sturdy. It is thick | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
and solid and sometimes the glasses almost as thin as an eggshell. That | :25:30. | :25:40. | |
:25:40. | :25:42. | ||
is when you have to be really careful and it is quite nerve- | :25:42. | :25:45. | |
racking. In Thornton's day the paints would have been fixed mixed | :25:45. | :25:49. | |
with wine and urine, today they use Vinegar and lavender water. This is | :25:49. | :25:55. | |
the finished article? Now the relationship between class and led | :25:55. | :25:59. | |
is as close as the relationship that we can get it. Now we see | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
glass not submerged under lead and as a consequence of that and the | :26:03. | :26:08. | |
cleaning of the window it is brighter and lighter and the drama | :26:08. | :26:15. | |
of the scene emerges from that gloom. But the painstaking work | :26:15. | :26:18. | |
going on here is just part of a complicated jigsaw which will see | :26:18. | :26:21. | |
the panels being displayed with a very 21st century twist. A few | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
miles away from the antique glaziers, a group of high tech | :26:24. | :26:27. | |
computer experts are hard at work creating a fresh new setting for | :26:27. | :26:32. | |
some of the panels. Together with engineers and joiners, they're | :26:32. | :26:35. | |
putting together a Grand Orb, a sort of mini time capsule where | :26:35. | :26:38. | |
visitors to the Minster will soon be able to step inside and see a | :26:38. | :26:43. | |
some of the restored stained glass face to face. And today for the | :26:43. | :26:46. | |
first time those in charge of the project have come to see how their | :26:46. | :26:53. | |
plans are starting to come to life. When visitors enter the space they | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
are presented with five conserved panels from the window. They are | :26:57. | :27:02. | |
allowed to get right up to the glass so this is a once-in-a- | :27:02. | :27:04. | |
lifetime opportunity for visitors to see not only these particular | :27:04. | :27:10. | |
panes of glass but the details. am nervous but excited. I think it | :27:10. | :27:16. | |
will be a great credit to everyone who has been involved in delivering | :27:16. | :27:20. | |
theirs. Whether the team confident on the right track is start to -- | :27:20. | :27:26. | |
time to start assembling the AW. With more than 13,000 pieces to put | :27:26. | :27:36. | |
:27:36. | :27:39. | ||
together it takes a team of six many weeks to complete it. And | :27:39. | :27:43. | |
today, with everything now in place, it's time to see if this latest | :27:43. | :27:45. | |
chapter in the Minster's colourful history has gone according to the | :27:45. | :27:49. | |
script. And who better than Sarah to help me assess the finished work. | :27:49. | :27:54. | |
Well, it is so bright and clear. I am thrilled and excited. It enables | :27:54. | :27:58. | |
you to appreciate these on a par with the great paintings in the | :27:58. | :28:01. | |
National Gallery. And Sarah's not the only one who's impressed. Early | :28:01. | :28:05. | |
visitors are giving it the thumbs up too. I think it is fantastic | :28:05. | :28:09. | |
that we can see what was going through the minds of the workers. | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
But what would the designer John Thornton make of it if he was | :28:13. | :28:17. | |
teleported through time? I hope he would have been gratified that 600 | :28:17. | :28:24. | |
years later we were so impressed with his work. To see yet I eye- | :28:24. | :28:28. | |
level in an exhibition I think you would have found peculiar. | :28:28. | :28:32. | |
window is due to be fully restored and back in place in 2016 and it'll | :28:32. | :28:35. | |
be a few hundred years before anyone gets the chance to come this | :28:36. | :28:41. | |
close again. A rather beautiful end to tonight's programme. That is it | :28:41. | :28:44. | |
for tonight. Next week: The military style | :28:45. | :28:47. |