09/01/2012 Inside Out West Midlands

Hello, we are back with a brand new series of Inside Out, with stories

and investigations from across the Midlands. On tonight's programme...

There's a shock for Real Ale loving Adam Green as he tries to give up

alcohol for Christmas. Your intake but as you into a harmful or higher

risk category. Wow. We go behind the scenes of Stoke-

on-Trent's the Wedgwood Museum. Will it be sold or saved? It is a

collection which tells a remarkable story and it is all here. And it is

important it always stays here. And we celebrate 2012 with a visit

to the Gloucestershire town that claims it inspired the modern

Olympics. It might sound a preposterous claim that the modern

Olympic movement began here, in Chipping Campden, but it is

Happy New Year. Welcome to Shrewsbury, the county town of

Shropshire. A stunning market town with well over 600 listed buildings,

including this medieval pub. A place perhaps best avoided last

month by BBC Radio 4 show presenter Adam Green, as he joined colleagues

across the country taking on a challenge.

Welcome to my office. This is me. Radio presenter, marathon runner

and ale drink. Here's my local and here's Debbie, the barmaid. And

here's my mates, flexing their muscles. I am not a heavy drinker

but Higham somebody that will not turn down the offer of having a

pint if there's one going. But I am. See, I reckon you need a drink to

have a good night out. But I am going to put the theory to the test.

The majority, when I have told them what I am doing, they have said,

that is ridiculous. Yes, this December, I am going teetotal. But

I am not doing it alone. BBC local radio presenters from all over

England are doing the same. Here we are, having a last drink together.

And to give us some extra motivation is forensic photographer,

L'Oreal. Adam, are you ready to see how you might look in 20 years'

time if you carry on drinking as much as you do? I am nervous but

yes. Wow! I look like Henry VIII! It just shows that over time, if

you carry on and on, this can happen. And then... Before you know

it, you are there. That is really frightening. That is food for

thought, definitely, definitely. For the following morning, I am

hung over. It is day one of my challenge and I have come to West

Bromwich to see if going teetotal will improve my health. I am

nervous about what we are about to do. I am going to see a doctor to

have a health check. I suppose it is not every day that you are

revealing to somebody what you were drinking in the medical profession.

Hello. I am Adam. This is Dr Martin Hull. He does work for a drug and

dual charity. I am going to show him what I have been drinking in

recent weeks. Let's have a look at what you had last night. Six pints

of bitter, several glasses of wine. It might be more than that! Ale is

my favourite. You have a three days of the 20 units. Is that typical?

No, but certainly the 20-unit days would represent me as a drinker

rather than somebody who has two drinks a day. The doctor takes my

blood pressure, puts me on the scales and gets me to fill out a

questionnaire. And then, the verdict... 16. And that puts you

into a harmful or higher risk category. Wow. Wow... I'm asked say,

I am a little embarrassed, if I'm honest. Having come in here

thinking my drinking was sociable, every now and again, and to be told

it is potentially harmful to is a real eye-opener. And quite shocking.

So I am a little lost for words, if I'm honest. It is a big motivation

for the month ahead. Just two days later comes my first Test. Me and

the wife visit some friends. Hello. The morning after the night before.

I had a really good night. I was trying a bit harder than normal to

be involved in the conversation and just be, you know, part of the

group. But the further on the evening went, I had a cup of tea,

it was very nice, had a good night's sleep, so the first hurdle

is over, I would say. So, what is going on? Why do so many of us feel

we need alcohol to fulfil social occasions? I have come to the

University of Warwick to find out. This is Dr Martin Skinner. He is a

psychologist and expert on this. Alcohol affects our ability to do

cognitive work and if that goes, you become much more spontaneous,

much more direct, and you are able to tune in at A-level where there's

not much thinking going on. Jokes make you laugh, you can give your

opinion and it makes each other laugh and that is the basis of

social interaction. It is a very enjoyable thing to do. If you can

get past the inhibitions that make you worry about yourself, it

becomes a pleasurable and easier thing to do. So the signs backs up

what I thought to - booze makes things easier on a night out. -- so

the science. I a mate Christmas party. I am having a good time. --

I am at a Christmas party. Everybody on my table was drinking

apart from me. Initially it was, how can you get involved?

Conversation is awkward? But, no, I am having a good time. That is the

Christmas party down. Another hurdle overcome. But my optimism is

short lived. Five days later, I hit the wall. If OK? I have come to

record my diary entry and this is the nearest I have come to having a

drink. Because I am just bombarded with alcohol adverts, mentions of

alcohol, Christmas cookery programmes with alcohol in them. It

is all over the place. And my wife is watching the telly and it is all

alcohol, everywhere. And she said, I am going to have a drink right

now. And I thought, I am going to join you, in a flash. It is hard.

Depressed, I wonder if booze has become a national obsession, so I

have a look at some statistics online. Alarmingly, apart from the

North, the West Midlands is the most booze-affected region in

England. Every year, it has gone up and considerably. 10, 11% every

year. That is certainly something to think about, isn't it? But you

know what? Giving up isn't easy. This is my co-presenter Vicky and

even she doubts I can stay off the booze until January. I don't know!

If he puts his mind to it, he can do anything, but if lots of people

tempt him and they say, we won't say anything, he will come a

cropper and he will regret it the next day. I hope he does it.

Whether you will, I don't know. I am almost there. I am back in

West Brom, this time with a clear head. I am back to find out if

going teetotal has made me healthier. It turns out that both

my blood pressure and weight are down. Not by much, but a step in

the right direction. Do you feel better? I certainly feel healthier.

It is quite a sweeping statement but her feel clean on the inside.

That is the phrase I keep using. -- but I feel. And I am sleeping well.

Overall, it has been a hugely positive experience. Just for the

way I feel now compared to women for go... You know, it is not a

massive change but it is certainly a change for the better. --

compared took a month ago. Of course I will go to the pub every

now and again, but there will be the voice in the back of my head

saying, do you need this extra one? It has certainly made me have a

rethink on drinking. But you know what? I have failed! On New Year's

Eve, just hours before the end of my challenge... I succumbed to

temptation. I got very close to the end of December. Very close that we

don't feel so bad about having a drink. I have done very well. I

nearly got to the end. Didn't quite, but I am not going to beat myself

up about it. But I am going to make sure I never end up like this guy.

If you need help in tackling a problem with alcohol or one to

follow Adam's example, kind of, and just give up for a while, there's

information about organisations that can offer advice and support.

Just go online. Or you can listen to information on the action by

For our next story, we off to Stoke-on-Trent to investigate an

international outcry over a court decision which has rocked the art

world. In these rooms is a collection of

historic artifacts. At auction, it would fetch millions of pounds but

some would argue it's priceless. That is because this is what

survives of a bygone era. Evidence of a birth and the glory days of

British Industry. It is, experts say, too important to be lost.

is a collection that was a remarkable story. It is all here.

It is important that it always stays here. There is outraged

tonight after a court role but an irreplaceable collection of

Wedgwood pottery can be sold to meet pension liabilities...

museum was to be put up for sale to plug a hole in a pension scheme of

�134 million. If that happens, there is the chance it could be

broken up and sold to different investors. Wedgwood was a giant

industry and it was, and to some extent still is, a household name.

But how important is this collection and can it really be

saved? Window-shopping for the treasures of true craftsmanship.

Wedgwood Pottery, with its near- legendary reputation, is still a

tribute to the men whose skills have been handed down for

centuries... It started life in the 18th century and was the driving

force behind our ceramics industry. Some would argue it is one of

Britain's most historic companies. This is the famous Portland Vase...

And much of that history can be found in the Wedgwood Museum

Collection. A collection now under threat. But many do not want to see

it go, including Antiques Roadshow's Eric Knowles. I have got

to say that this is, without question, the most important single

ceramic collection and museum in the world. As a ceramics expert,

you would expect him to love this place. But surprisingly, he thinks

the most important artifact is... A painting. Why is this so

significant? It is, without doubt, the focal point of the entire

collection, because what you're looking at is a painting by none

other than George stocks. Wedgwood was a friend and Stubbs came along

in 17 AD. He painted the Wedgwood family and it is a statement. -- he

came along in 1780. What about a Well, with something like that, you

know, it's a bit of a cliche, how can you price it? But there are

people out there who can, and I think we're into several million,

let's put it that way. But as far as this museum is concerned, you

know, you can't, you really cannot put a price on it. And there are

other things here you certainly can't put a price on, like this

pair of vases. These were actually made on 13th June 1769, made by

Josiah Wedgwood himself, and the wheel was being turned by Thomas

Bentley. So it was cementing this wonderful partnership of Wedgwood

and Bentley. There are four in existence - six were made but two

didn't make it through the firing, so it's a bit of a cliche, but they

are the ultimate priceless vases. What about the thought, though,

that these two vases and everything else within this museum may have to

be sold off? Because it's a real possibility because of the shortage

in the pension fund. Yeah. We live in strange times. We

live in scary times, and, you know, for me it's an unthinkable

situation. It's about, you know, money versus your heritage. That's

what it's about. It's cut and dry as far as I'm concerned.

This collection's important, but what are its chances of being

saved? Well, when money has come up against heritage in Staffordshire

before, money has often been the winner. Collections at the

Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum and the Minton Ceramics Museum have

been sold to pay off debt. Stoke on Trent has a very unfortunate

history when it comes to museum collections.

Indeed, it seems to have an anti- Midas touch. What happened to the

Minton collection is just a pale foretaste of what might happen if

the Wedgwood collection's allowed to go to auction and be broken up.

If there's a clear judgment, people will realise that if they don't act,

if this collection is sold off and split up, then a few years down the

line, people will look at them and think that actually they were

idiots. Maybe people should act. But

pensions are important too. The museum has become liable for the

Wedgwood Group pension plan shortfall because it employs a few

members of the scheme. Well, here is one of my favourite exhibits of

the whole museum. It means museum campaigners, like

the Wedgwood family, need to find millions of pounds, and that's not

easy. We've been doing a lot of lobbying.

We've lobbied the Minister of Culture and people like that.

Lobbied a lot of the Lords, all kinds of academics, so we've got a

lot of emotional support, if you like. But that would have to be

turned into financial support. more do you think the family could

have done to avoid being in this situation?

If the trustees had come to us and said, look, we've got a problem,

and it can be solved, and will cost about �60,000 for us to buy out the

pensions of the few people in the museum who are on the Wedgwood

pension fund, we would have found the money within a month. I'm sure.

But now it's millions. That's the problem.

Not many people can produce �1 million at short notice. Several

million pounds. Several million There may not be many who can

easily come up with this sort of money.

It's estimated the collection's worth up to �18 million. But there

is someone locally, and he may put up the cash to stop it from being

broken up. I was really shocked, but

straightaway I knew that that couldn't be allowed to happen, we

really had to find a solution to preserving this whole museum intact.

Billionaire John Caudwell made his money in mobile phones, and he says

he is prepared to spend some of it buying the collection. But only if

all else fails. If they can't find a solution, then I am willing to

step in and attempt to buy the entire collection if possible, and

then keep the museum running for the foreseeable future. This is

likely to come with a pretty hefty price tag. Would you buy it no

matter what cost? No. No, not at any price. You know,

I am a businessman at the end of the day, it has to make sense. And

in any event, that would be giving the administrator the pure license,

wouldn't it, to charge me as much as he wanted? No, it would have to

be a very sensible price. It would have to be something I believed

would be sustainable, and probably the end goal might be to encourage

the museum to take the museum abroad on shows and try and raise

as much money as possible, maybe to buy the artefacts back from me, so

the museum can be left in public keeping for forever more.

John Caudwell would step in as a last resort, but not at any cost.

And that's the problem. The administrators must get the best

possible price, so what options does the museum have?

Well, what I hope will happen is that the administrator will have

time to make arrangements so that they agree on whatever the

appropriate price should be, and we have time to raise the money to

meet that bill. And we need a few years to do that, I believe. But

it's not a long time in the lifetime of this collection.

There has been a certain amount of criticism levelled at you and your

fellow trustees that really, you should have put something in place

to avoid this happening. Do you accept that criticism?

Well, I don't, really. I don't know who could have spotted this coming.

The law changed a matter of months before the event, but it's so

complex, so I don't except that we could have spotted it. And nobody

had hindsight, I'm afraid. The Wedgwood Museum collection is

arguably too important to be lost. But those pensions have to be paid.

Keeping these artefacts will take time and money, and there are no

guarantees. For those trying to save them, the fight has only just

started. So, it's 2012, and it's going to be amazing. I'm talking

about this summer's Olympics and Paralympics, of course. But did you

know that a small town in Gloucestershire boasts that it is

the true birthplace of the modern Olympics? We sent Professor Mark

It may sound a preposterous claim that the modern Olympic movement

began here in Chipping Campden, but it's actually true. And if you

don't believe me, then perhaps you'll be convinced by this.

When London made its successful bid for the 2012 games, they were only

too keen to acknowledge the Now, most people in the West

Country have never heard of them. The Cotswold Olympics have drawn

television crews from around the world to see the bizarre sports,

some of them little changed from those that entertained crowds in

Shakespeare's time. I've just got to have a go. Time to

get prepared. I gather that state-of-the-art

equipment is necessary for the modern Olympic athlete. Well, this

is state-of-the-art for the Well, I may not have all the

attributes for London 2012, but for Chipping Campden 2011, I think I'm

fairly well equipped. It was on this hillside just north of the

town that organised sporting games were first held, nearly 400 years

ago. It was a Cambridge-educated lawyer,

Robert Dover, whose vision it was to bring sporting ideals from the

original Greek Olympics to this natural amphitheatre in rural

Gloucestershire. His idea was to adapt the Olympic

ideal. Prizes were awarded to the winners, but the main focus was on

providing entertainment for the This flew in the face of the

puritan ideas of the day, which frowned on such merrymaking.

Dover's truly was a people's games, and still is today, with good,

clean-ish sporting fun. Oh, they've got the bucket! That's

cheating! That's not cheating, that's tactics! The rules are

almost non-existent. I don't think we've ever disqualified anybody,

and there's almost no censure. We don't tell them that, but it's

basically just carry on. As long as it's fun. Those people

on the bank of the most important part of this. There's been people

up, probably, sitting on that bank watching this for maybe 400 years.

And they would have been dressed differently, they would have

obviously spoken differently, and they would have thought differently,

but the enjoyment they feel would have been exactly the same. That's

the link, I think. From their inception, the fun and

games went on more or less continuously for the next 200 years.

By the mid-1800s, they were drawing massive crowds from right across

the Midlands. But to the Victorians, everyone enjoying themselves was

Concerns about the loose morals of the crowds flocking to the games

were voiced by the local vicar, a certain Canon Bourne. The church

took over the land on Dover's Hill, and the games were banned.

So this is it? Yes, this is the grave of George

Drinkwater Bourne, who became rector here in 1846 and was still

here in 1901. And he is the villain of the piece who closed down the

games in 1852? Well, he's the one to whom it is attributed. I think

others were involved as well, but by all accounts the games had

become very lawless by that stage, with a lot of people, maybe 30,000

people coming, referred to by one later writer as scum of the earth,

and came from all points between Birmingham and Oxford and spent a

whole week here, the week of Whitsuntide each year. So it must

have been absolute chaos, terrorising the neighbourhood? I

think so. And people said that they didn't feel safe in their houses,

there was no police, of course, you have to think of the Notting Hill

Carnival but without the police force to get the flavour of it. Of

course, I it's not like that now, It's a rather calm event. Do you go

yourself? I haven't been so far. We've been in the village for four

years and I've never ventured out. If I want shin kicking, I'll go to

a Synod! Well, bizarre as it may seem, shin

kicking does appeal to some people. And it's certainly the big

highlight of the Olympics at Chipping Campden. This is one of

the original games from Robert Dover's time. This is the rude bit!

I'm just a bit worried health and safety doesn't seem to have changed

much since Dover's day. Did it hurt a lot? A lot, yeah. Especially when

they miss, as well. When they miss and hit the side by accident, that

can really kill. Literally. BLEEP. That's what I was thinking. Ready?

This really isn't for the fainthearted, is it?

Kicking only, boys. This is absolutely epic! Look at

all the camera crews from all around the world recording this

They're tiring, I think. Look at That's the coolest sport I've ever

seen. Can I have a look at your wounds?

He didn't draw any blood, did he? Well, if anyone deserves Olympic

gold, it's these guys. I've no idea how they're still standing. How

you? What's it like to be world champion?

Really good. But also really painful. You're a natural!

don't say that, I'm not doing it again!

So with the spirit of Robert Dover presiding, 2012 will see the 400th

anniversary of his Cotswold Olympics, and perhaps London 2012

could take some tips on how to stage a closing ceremony. Here,

everyone gets to carry the Olympic This is England at its very best.

If 2012 can repeat the experience of tonight, then it's going to be a

That's all for tonight, then. Join On next week's programme, can a

winter boot camp sort out its latest recruits? Fitness fanatic