14/01/2013 Inside Out West Midlands

In eight months' time this dramatic building will be the Library of

Birmingham, where a new chapter in the city's literary history will

begin - and I'm here because one of our films tonight chronicles the

books that for many defined their childhood. Everybody in this

country but have come across a Ladybird book. -- will have come

across. Also on the show: Serving up a fight back: Despite an

alarming slump in pub beer sales, we meet the people refusing to say

"Time, gentlemen, please." It was amazing how many people said, yes,

we want to do that. Every year, hundreds of thousands

of people are diagnosed with cancer. For many, desperation will lead

them to try any treatment that promises results, even if that

means stepping away from conventional medicine. But how sure

can you be that the alternatives have any value or are even safe?

Here's Alastair McKee. The search for a cure has taken scientists to

the edge of medical knowledge, but there are those who claim they

already have the medical answers. Alternative healers, who say they

have the power to treat cancer at a price. We are investigating a his

spiritual he left who claims her special diet holds the key to

treating cancer. our undercover team takes the cancer survivor to

see for himself what she offers. And even a real expert is shocked

We know this kind of thing goes on, but actually to see it happening is

quite scary. And it gets worse. She believes her treatment used on

animals may have served -- saved a This is Dr Corascendea Cathar. At

her Cheltenham-based centre of healing, she sells a treatment

called Dhaxem. She says it is the ultimate form of healing and she is

the sole master. We have discovered something disturbing. Doctor

Corascendea Cathar claims she can help heal cancer. In the past, she

has claimed miraculous results. It might sound ridiculous, but there

are plenty of people who are desperate to belief such claims. --

believe it. When you're told you really have a few months to live,

you're very desperate. However crazy, however expensive. Chris

Geiger it is a writer from Somerset. He uses his experience of cancer to

give others hope after being successfully treated in his mid-

twenties. I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a tumour in my chest

the size of a dinner plate. When you put it appear, you can see the

real size of this thing. I had two years of treatment. I tried

everything that would try to help me. Many sufferers turned it

medical forums for help. That is where Dr Corascendea Cathar has

touted her Dhaxem treatment. But much -- much of what she claims is

plain wrong. On this form, somebody asks, why mum has got cancer, can

you help? She is talking about her animal come up comparing her

treatment to her dog with this poor girl's mother who has got cancer.

Doctor Corascendea Cathar uses these forums to steer people to her

own website where she offers a healing session for �280, despite

it being against the law to advertise cancer treatment. Chris

has agreed to go undercover to find out exactly it what Doctor

Corascendea Cathar offers in person. I'm going undercover because I want

to stop people like this taking advantage of thick, ill and

desperate people who have been told that their disease may kill them

soon. In the meantime, we've done some more digging on the mysterious

he left. Before she changed her name, Dr Corascendea Cathar was

called another name. She is indeed a doctor and has worked in the NHS

but has no medical expertise. She did a doctrine in sociology and

philosophy. She is not qualified in any way to treat people with cancer.

Doctor Corascendea Cathar claims her King's Troop, Royal Horse

Artillery -- claims her Dhaxem was invented by a spiritual guide. What

he has taught Dr Corascendea Cathar, we are about to find out banks do

it the cancer survivor, Chris. -- banks to. Cris tout Doctor

Corascendea Cathar his real medical history, but for our purposes, he

is saying he is certain his cancer has returned. This is far from the

normal consultation. I had a tumour in my chest. The treatment itself

But when it comes to Doctor Corascendea Cathar's dietary advice,

Doctor Corascendea Cathar also offers Chris a herbal remedy to

Medical experts have told us there is no scientific evidence this

particular herbal remedy helps cancer patients. In fact, it could

be harmful to people with kidney problems. Chris has already told

Doctor Corascendea Cathar he suffered from kidney stones. Doctor

Corascendea Cathar says she gave one patient the Dhaxem treatment

after it had worked on her dog. After two hours, Doctor Corascendea

Cathar promises to draw up a Dhaxem diet for Chris and declines to take

the �60 agreed for the session. Chris, who has battled cancer

himself, has found the whole appointment deeply unsettling.

come back from a very interesting appointment. Two hours of listening

to her. But they'd be feel really angry when I hear what she was

saying today. -- it makes me feel really angry. Her spirit told us

what I should be eating, it makes my blood boil. But what does the

cancer expert think's is professor is the research director for the

charity leukaemia and lymphoma research. He has agreed to view a

undercover footage. When her cancer came back, she decided to take all

of her medication... So, you have seen all the footage, what you

think of the advice? I think it is dangerous. Some of the alarming

footage you saw was a total lack of understanding for the biology of

cancer. I think the dialogue with the spirit, that is very

emotionally manipulative. Particularly in the case of a real

patient can we have got in your minds that that the original

treatment hasn't really worked because the cancer has come back.

The implication is when she talks about the patient who is taking

some of her medication, there's a strong inference that she doesn't

believe that was doing anything, that it was her own treatment that

was helping. That is very unlikely. His car -- if Chris was as old as

he says he is in the pitch, where could he be by following Dr --

Doctor Corascendea Cathar's advice? He would probably reach a stage

where he was no longer recoverable if he was still alive. So what do

died have been any good? We have got the diet that the doctor has

centre Chris as -- at a cost of �90. The recommendation to drink white

cabbage juice, early today, because it beat cancer, that is a very

dangerous claim. It is time to find out why Doctor Corascendea Cathar

believes what she's doing can help cancer sufferers. We asked her for

an interview on camera. She declined to talk to us but we meld

his statement. -- but she e-mailed We ask to speak to these clients,

but Dr Corascendea Cathar declined to put us in touch with them. Since

we approached her, she has now stopped offering her Dhaxem healing

treatment on the internet. Meanwhile, Chris hopes his

undercover work will help encourage other cancer patients to look for

treatment in the right places. can totally understand how

desperate people are, but they should really take qualified advice

rather than surfing the internet and believing the ludicrous stories

and claims that they are reading You can talk to us on Twitter and

if you have a story you think we should be covering, drop me an e-

mail. Still to come: we will be leafing through the pages of the

Ladybird books, which for many it will revive happy childhood

memories. It whisks you back and certain pictures which rushy three

years. This sales in pubs across the Midlands are falling at a

faster rate than anywhere else in England according to the British

Beer and Pub Association. Over the last four and a half years, sales

have dipped by 28 % and combined this with the all too familiar

picture of boarded-up pubs and out would not seem the ideal time to

buy a pub, or would it? The declines are alarming. There

whole swathes of Birmingham where the paths are closed.

statistics disturbing. We ERC in an ever-widening gap between the price

of beer that you can drink at home and the prize in the pub. But maybe,

just maybe it is not quite time, gentlemen, please. This is what

makes it worthwhile when you see people dining, eating, drinking and

laughing and even playing darts badly. On any high street in any

town that you will probably see something like this. A depressing

sight. Unfortunately, it is called the to a familiar sight of the

times. Take a look at this. 18 pubs are closing across the country. The

Campaign for Real Ale reckons up to 6,000 pubs have shot since 2008.

Away from the big cities to life for problem 0 can be tough can

sometimes cities drastic action that is required to insure the

village pub remains the village harbour. Like many in our region,

this village is struggling to retain its services and the pub has

been no different where the locals have had a real battle on their

hands are just to keep it going. They decided to put their money

where their mouths were. Welcome to the Hollybush. Just three miles

from staff that it is a pub where the locals have a vested interest

in keeping it open. 71 of them now own it. The pub closed three years

ago but was brought back to life just before Christmas after

villagers stumped up �199,000. That must have given you quite a lot of

confidence because it is one thing to complain about losing local

services, it is another to put your hand in your pocket. People made a

big jump of faith putting money into buying a pub. We are talking

about the beginning of 2012 this year just after one of the biggest

recessions we have had for years and we were saying to people, put

your money into buying a pub. It was amazing how many said, we want

to do that, we want our World Cup back. We have lost our post office,

our shop, developers are looking at buying a pub and building houses on

it. If we lose that, it has gone for ever. What the part that really

needed was some TLC. By the time that came along the pub had been

empty for more than a year. We had a leaking roofs, carters, we found

out we had dangerous electrics. We had budgeted to spend a lot of

money -- money on it but it was a lot more time and effort than we

thought. What has been incredible is what shareholders have given in

terms of time and skills. We found out we have got electricians,

plumbers, people who own businesses. My living in the next village was

the boss of Stoke-on-Trent's Titanic Brewery. He agreed to lease

the pub from the villagers. last pub in each village is

critical. Without the pub how does anyone interact with each other?

They all sit at home drinking their cheap lager from the supermarkets.

I have already met people I did not know in the village that I want to

interact with, talk to. Dave runs the Titanic with his brother Keith.

It is the only Beaulieu in Stoke and provides evidence that real ale

is enjoying a real resurgence. started out brewing seven barrels a

week and we now brew 2.5 million pints a year. Betrayed has been in

decline for some time and we are bucking the trend and hopefully

giving customers what they want. in fact, Titanic runs seven pubs

but this is the first time they have brought real ale to a rural

setting. It is a massively important part of life in the UK.

We want to support it. The experiment is whether people want

to come back out to pub. We have to make the experience better than

being stuck on the couch. The fight to save the great British pub has

even reached Westminster. The beer tax escalator pros 10 pence on the

pint every year and some MPs want it scrapped. The this is a great

opportunity for the minister to be the man who saves Britain's brewing

industry, the man who protects the nation's pubs and for him to be the

minister who saves the Great British pint. Scrap the duty.

Behind the headlines, behind the rhetoric I have discovered a

fightback inspired by a real ale renaissance. In the heart of

Birmingham City sentence. Pakistan's the Wellington. she is

important but it is more what you are offering. We offer something

different than your basic pub. People are becoming more discerning.

The only growth sector in the drinks market is real ale. Nine job

has been a number of the Campaign for Real Ale for 36 years. He has

seen good times and bad. You can only drink proper real ale in a

park. You cannot buy it from the supermarket and drink it at home.

The should be the key to the fight back. Customers are not so easy to

find in the countryside, but that does not put people off. A in the

last year, more than 100 groups have contacted pub is the hub which

organises advice. Villages have a financial stake in the Mary Lyon in

Warwickshire. It is going very well. Way beyond our expectations. It is

different but we have adapted to the original plan. It has been much

more successful than we ever thought possible. In six months,

Nigel has had just three evenings off. He has pledged to years of

total commitment to make the pub a success. We are a village pub and

in villages there is no dress code. You don't know if you are talking

to the dustman, postmen, Lord of the manor. It is the last great

meeting place of a village. You can just walk in a door and expect

conviviality. People come and talk. Communities without pubs are just

become a dormer true. It is not how village life should be. Back at the

Holly Bush, the target for Peter and his fellow shareholders is

clear. The fight is not over yet. We did what we intended to do and

saved our part. We are now looking at other things as well.

You are watching Inside Dell for the West Midlands. Our final film

tells the story of a man who developed a new way of educating

children in post-war Britain. Douglas Keen was responsible for

the Ladybird books with millions of children learning to read through

the Adventures of Peter and Jane and their faithful dog.

The television set is a familiar piece of equipment in homes

throughout the world. Nearly all the boys like to play football.

everyone knows in England that 5th November is bonfire night. If you

were young in the 60s and 70s you will remember these. But the man

who had the idea was ignored for years. Higher can remember my

father going round very worried at the time thinking, if this does not

work, I am done for. The gambols launching the reading scheme

featuring Peter and Jane. Be to still very much alive and well.

Peter and Jane are still teaching children to read. It all began in

this doggish a market town. A commercial salesman called Douglas

Keen had a big idea. He lived with his wife and mother in goal and

then rolled them both into his plan. It was there that my father got the

idea of doing educational books for children, which were the sort of

thing that adults could use as well. The is would be stories to capture

every child's imagination about the world they lived in. Books unlike

the Ladybird children's stories during World time to keep the

printers busy. We didn't start making those classic Ladybird books

until the 1940s until it meant that ordinary business was not ticking

over that well. But Douglas Keen's plan for the Ladybird brand was

slapped down. They told him to go away and concentrate on selling

brochures. Be service from Jim Clegg he was at the time the firm's

accountant and later became manager and director. It is not anticipated

our books will form a major part of our turnover. We feel that while

not wishing to discourage your interest in books it would be wiser

to focus your mind on the more commercial side of printing. Keane

was not easily put off. He made use of his mother in-laws ability of

art. He put together a prototype on the kitchen table. He was going

around thinking I have to convince them somehow. This came about at

that house. They us is the prototype he put together in order

to convince the directors. My father had a lot of books on birds

so I imagine he sorted out the format. My mother did the little

black and white illustrations of the nest and the eggs. My father

wrote the text. The hard work paid off. Wills and have worth changed

their tune. A I must say that however lukewarm my reaction may

have been some 18 months ago, I am now 100 % in favour of publishing

this book. It ended up looking remarkably similar. The format is

almost identical. They were something about them that draws you

in. You start off getting a book and thinking, I remembered that,

and the next thing is you want to collect the said. The little bit of

youth that likes a ticking a box collects the set. Helen has ticked

every box. She has the lot. A love of books generated from learning

from them and remembering them. She still has one from her childhood

among the collection. Looking at them today, you can just look at a

picture and remember looking at that so deeply as a child. Long

before the Romans conquered Britain, men had lived in these islands for

hundreds of years. Police men are on duty day and night. 150 years

ago there were no police man on our streets and people often attacked

by thieves. Helen has a collection of original art fraud some of the

books. Douglas Keen commissioned the artist himself. For the 1950s

they were quite exotic. John Berry smoked, had been divorced, had a

sports car, it was all rather exotic. One of the artist was

Martin who had worked for bonds. He had done work for Eagle comic that

was initially turned down by Douglas Keen. He looked at me and

he said, I'm afraid you will not be suitable. I said, let me have

another go. He was taken on to illustrate the Ladybird Key Words

Reading scheme. This was a huge task based on the theory by William

Murray that 12 words make up the English language. So far they have

sold 80 million copies. Nostalgia today means the pictures Martin

painted are still popular. We still use the same illustrations said

that retro feel to Peter and Jane is very much as it was in the 70s

when they were first we illustrated. Right up to date, those same books

are now readable as an application on a small phone and tablet.

reach those children and to get them to learn to read we have to

look at the different devices, platforms. Lots and lots of older

generation people are getting very nostalgic about it, recording their

own sound effects but then also using it with their children, which

is brilliant because it brings everything full circle.

That is it for tonight but you can find more information about any of

the films on tonight's programme on our Facebook age but it from

Birmingham, good night. Next week's Inside Out is a health special. We

will be asking just how safe are patients on hospital wards. We do