11/08/2016

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:00:00. > :00:10.The Inquiry into child sexual abuse gets its fourth head in two years.

:00:11. > :00:13.Alexis Jay will spend up to ten years on the investigation.

:00:14. > :00:23.Is she, finally, the right person for this huge job?

:00:24. > :00:29.Can the enquiry satisfy those campaigning for justice?

:00:30. > :00:33.One of the three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green who fled to join

:00:34. > :00:42.She had expressed a desire to come back. The problem with that was, the

:00:43. > :00:45.risk factors around leaving were quite terminal also.

:00:46. > :00:48.She takes me to the cutting field, where there are notches on the tree

:00:49. > :00:53.She was a fearless reporter, and our colleague, who travelled

:00:54. > :00:56.to the most dangerous parts of the world to report on the plight

:00:57. > :00:59.of women shunned, abused, tortured and killed for their gender.

:01:00. > :01:02.She left behind a book in which she pays tributes

:01:03. > :01:14.Her daughter is hear to tell her story.

:01:15. > :01:21.That is the verdict of the shadow minister for preventing abuse,

:01:22. > :01:24.on the new, fourth, head of the Independent Inquiry

:01:25. > :01:28.into Child Sexual Abuse, Alexis Jay.

:01:29. > :01:30.Professor Jay, a child protection expert who led the Inquiry

:01:31. > :01:33.into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, promised

:01:34. > :01:37.she would handle her work with "pace, confidence and clarity."

:01:38. > :01:40.The Home Secretary Amber Rudd said that the government's commitment

:01:41. > :01:47.So is she the right person for the job and, if so, what will be

:01:48. > :01:57.Three times a high-profile lawyer has been appointed to lead

:01:58. > :02:01.Three times they have ended up resigning,

:02:02. > :02:09.Today the replacement was unveiled - not a lawyer.

:02:10. > :02:12.Professor Alexis Jay was already a member of the inquiry panel,

:02:13. > :02:17.With a background in social work, she is best known as the author

:02:18. > :02:20.of an inquiry into Rotherham's failure to deal with local abuse.

:02:21. > :02:23.There were examples of children being doused

:02:24. > :02:27.with petrol and threatened with being set alight.

:02:28. > :02:30.They were threatened with guns, made to witness brutally violent

:02:31. > :02:35.rapes and threatened they would be the next if they told anyone.

:02:36. > :02:38.That damning report led to major changes for the town.

:02:39. > :02:41.Resignations and change followed, but there are still some concerns

:02:42. > :02:48.The first two chairs of the inquiry had to stand down

:02:49. > :02:49.because, being members of the establishment,

:02:50. > :02:55.they happened to know some central government decision-makers

:02:56. > :02:57.whose work it was likely they would end up scrutinising.

:02:58. > :03:00.Alexis Jay's appointment has been broadly welcomed, but there

:03:01. > :03:02.are similar concerns about her background in social work

:03:03. > :03:09.She's a social worker, when one of the key aspects of this

:03:10. > :03:12.enquiry is looking at the abject failure of the social work

:03:13. > :03:17.profession, and the amount of paedophiles who were social

:03:18. > :03:20.workers - every week there is one arrested, or it's a teacher.

:03:21. > :03:23.These are not the people you would go to to lead the enquiry.

:03:24. > :03:31.The first is that Professor Jay isn't even a lawyer,

:03:32. > :03:34.and this sort of inquiry would usually be chaired by a judge.

:03:35. > :03:36.The second is that perhaps no one could manage this inquiry.

:03:37. > :03:41.There are 13 separate investigations that have formed part of it.

:03:42. > :03:44.Perhaps, some people suggest, we should aim for a smaller,

:03:45. > :03:53.Take Lambeth, the subject of one of the 13 enquiry strands.

:03:54. > :03:55.They've received 5000 documents from an old inquiry,

:03:56. > :04:00.a further 100,000 items will need to be sifted,

:04:01. > :04:03.and there are another 26,000 archive boxes to deal with.

:04:04. > :04:06.I think Alexis Jay could be a very good chair.

:04:07. > :04:09.She would need support on the legal side and if she gets that I think

:04:10. > :04:13.In terms of the remit of the inquiry, and is this

:04:14. > :04:16.If you interpret the terms of reference literally,

:04:17. > :04:19.then yes it is, but I think the inquiry will adopt a much

:04:20. > :04:21.narrower and focused approach and look at institutions,

:04:22. > :04:24.they will look at the most serious examples of failure,

:04:25. > :04:26.and they will draw from that the evidence they need

:04:27. > :04:31.While Professor Jay has wide support, the survivor representative

:04:32. > :04:36.Some core participants in the inquiry are angry

:04:37. > :04:38.that they were not consulted about her appointment.

:04:39. > :04:41.This is vitally critical to our lives and healing process,

:04:42. > :04:43.but we were treated as we were children,

:04:44. > :04:55.And that affects our faith and our confidence in an inquiry.

:04:56. > :04:59.Professor Jay has a much harder task than she did in Rotherham.

:05:00. > :05:02.She needs to keep survivors contributing to this inquiry,

:05:03. > :05:06.but it's two years old, it's on its fourth chair,

:05:07. > :05:12.and it's still years from drawing any conclusions.

:05:13. > :05:15.Well, here in the studio are Gabrielle Shaw from

:05:16. > :05:19.the National Association for People Abused in

:05:20. > :05:21.Childhood and the barrister Anthony Heaton-Armstrong,

:05:22. > :05:24.who is an expert on evidence in sexual cases and has personal

:05:25. > :05:30.But first let's talk to Esther Baker, who has made

:05:31. > :05:32.allegations of being abused as a child and has previously been

:05:33. > :05:46.Good evening to all of you. First of all, Esther Baker, what do you make

:05:47. > :05:51.of the appointment? I think this is a good appointment. I think it's the

:05:52. > :05:57.first time the enquiry has managed to get a good chair. What is it

:05:58. > :06:04.about her that gives you faith? I've got faith that Alexis Jay has proven

:06:05. > :06:09.herself in the past with the Rotherham enquiry. I think she's got

:06:10. > :06:13.a good concept of listening to survivors, which none of the former

:06:14. > :06:17.chairs have had experience in. What do you make of the fact she doesn't

:06:18. > :06:24.have a legal background? She isn't a lawyer. She's not a lawyer, but I

:06:25. > :06:29.think in this case it's a good thing. She has a good legal team

:06:30. > :06:32.around her. I think not being a lawyer will make her more

:06:33. > :06:40.approachable for survivors. You heard in the film that there are

:06:41. > :06:43.also concerns about social workers being involved. Social workers do

:06:44. > :06:50.not have the cleanest of hands always. No, I think he's right in

:06:51. > :06:53.one respect that social workers haven't got the best reputation at

:06:54. > :06:59.the moment within the enquiry, however I think that we will never

:07:00. > :07:04.find somebody who is completely not associated with abuse or any of the

:07:05. > :07:11.strands in any way. It's physically not possible. Before we finish, can

:07:12. > :07:16.we talk about the time frame. In the terms of reference of the enquiry,

:07:17. > :07:20.there is an interim report promised by 2018, two and a half years, but

:07:21. > :07:25.it looks as if Alexis Jay will have to work for ten years. What do you

:07:26. > :07:29.think about the timescale for the enquiry? The timescale worries a lot

:07:30. > :07:33.of people, but I think if we are to do the right job and get justice and

:07:34. > :07:37.correct recommendations for survivors in the future, then it

:07:38. > :07:42.will take time. It's not something that can be rushed. A rushed job

:07:43. > :07:50.will not please anybody. Thank you for joining us. Anthony, a barrister

:07:51. > :07:56.with decades of experience and your own experience, do you think this is

:07:57. > :08:00.a good appointment? I don't know the new chairman very well. I've read a

:08:01. > :08:06.little bit about her, but I doubt she is the right person for this

:08:07. > :08:10.massive job. Why? I don't believe she has the experience that is

:08:11. > :08:17.needed for somebody to manage such a huge operation. And I agree with

:08:18. > :08:21.those who consider that a lawyer with the right sort of experience

:08:22. > :08:25.would be the correct appointment. Except they're rather very few

:08:26. > :08:29.people who have dealt with an enquiry on this scale in the United

:08:30. > :08:35.Kingdom and abroad as we know. Maybe that's not the key criteria. No, I

:08:36. > :08:40.don't suggest that the person that ought to have been appointed needs

:08:41. > :08:45.similar experience, in other words, managing such a massive operation,

:08:46. > :08:51.but they need to have experience of operating a public enquiry. What do

:08:52. > :08:56.you think, Gabrielle? Do you have the same concerns? No, not

:08:57. > :09:02.particularly. I would like to pick up on something we heard from Ms

:09:03. > :09:06.Baker, a survivor herself. It's about confidence. Adult survivors of

:09:07. > :09:11.sexual abuse as children, for them to come forward and give evidence,

:09:12. > :09:14.which the enquiry wants them to do with the truth projects and hearings

:09:15. > :09:19.etc, they want to have confidence in the chair and somebody who

:09:20. > :09:23.understands what's happening. Alexis Jay has proven herself through

:09:24. > :09:29.Rotherham. You talk about the truth project which is just one of 13

:09:30. > :09:33.strands. It's there in front of us, the terms of reference, there will

:09:34. > :09:38.be an interim report in less than three years at the end of 2018. If

:09:39. > :09:45.this is about being thorough and, as Crick Chris Cook says, the documents

:09:46. > :09:50.from Lambeth itself, how good you have an interim report of any merit

:09:51. > :09:54.in less than three years? A great point, and public confidence in the

:09:55. > :09:58.enquiry has been knocked by the resignations of the three previous

:09:59. > :10:03.chairs. Communication needs to improve. There needs to be more

:10:04. > :10:07.regular output. That's what a lot of people and survivors would urge,

:10:08. > :10:12.regular output and regular reports. We do talk about progress reports to

:10:13. > :10:15.be fair. We can't wait two and a half years or five years for a

:10:16. > :10:19.magical report that will suddenly solve everything. We need to rebuild

:10:20. > :10:24.that confidence. Anthony, what do you think about the terms of the

:10:25. > :10:30.enquiry, is it too broad and should it be honed down? I think it's much

:10:31. > :10:34.too broad. I think the ambitions set for it are totally unrealistic. What

:10:35. > :10:39.has to be thought about is what the enquiry can achieve for the future,

:10:40. > :10:44.and for the future protection of potential victims of sexual abuse.

:10:45. > :10:48.Not what has happened in the past. The enquiry needs to look at

:10:49. > :10:53.procedures that have already been set in place by a number of the

:10:54. > :10:58.institutions whose activities or in activities are under the spotlight.

:10:59. > :11:02.Given it could be another ten years before we get a final report, going

:11:03. > :11:07.historically back through every institutions' track record would not

:11:08. > :11:12.even be productive, it would end up being frustrating for people. I

:11:13. > :11:16.think the focus should be on the progress that has been made by the

:11:17. > :11:19.institutions whose activities or in activities are under the spotlight.

:11:20. > :11:23.Is that the more realistic thing or does it mean things will be brushed

:11:24. > :11:27.under the carpet? I slightly disagree with that. Surely the best

:11:28. > :11:34.way, if you fail to learn the lessons of the past you are doomed

:11:35. > :11:38.to repeat them. This scale is massive, but so is the scale of the

:11:39. > :11:43.problem. Children are being abused and failed by the state on an

:11:44. > :11:46.industrial scale in the past. It's not pleasant, nobody wants to think

:11:47. > :11:51.that they live in a society where this happens to children and they

:11:52. > :11:57.failed time and time again. But they have been, and on a huge scale. So

:11:58. > :12:03.the enquiry must be commenced at to encompass that. Of scale, it makes

:12:04. > :12:07.more sense to have one enquiry, massive as it is, to oversee these

:12:08. > :12:10.13 different strands of work. The lessons, the failings that have

:12:11. > :12:14.happened, are likely to be similar and there are likely to be themes

:12:15. > :12:19.that come through that. If you break it down to 13 different enquiries,

:12:20. > :12:25.is not good or wise. Have it under one roof, one enquiry. That would

:12:26. > :12:30.suggest you could actually report on the 13th one by one, it doesn't have

:12:31. > :12:35.to come out in a Big Bang. What Gabrielle seems to be saying is that

:12:36. > :12:41.there is a massive problem historically. If everyone is agreed

:12:42. > :12:45.that there is, the focus should be on the cure, and making sure that

:12:46. > :12:49.procedures are put in place, if they haven't already been, that will

:12:50. > :12:52.prevent the same thing happening again. What is the point in

:12:53. > :12:57.investigating things that everybody seems to accept have happened in the

:12:58. > :13:03.past? Before I finish, we are on the fourth head in two years. When Judge

:13:04. > :13:07.Goddard was brought over from New Zealand, that was going to be it,

:13:08. > :13:14.this was the best person to conduct and complete this enquiry, and look

:13:15. > :13:19.what's happened. Are we sure that Alexis Jay will actually work on

:13:20. > :13:24.this for another decade? I think so. She has the past, the history to

:13:25. > :13:30.prove that she can take on an enquiry of this nature. I think she

:13:31. > :13:34.has the will as well. We heard some reporting a past saying it's a

:13:35. > :13:39.poisoned chalice. I don't think it is. I think it's a great opportunity

:13:40. > :13:42.for right to come to survivors in the past. If this one doesn't work

:13:43. > :13:48.though, they presumably can't keep doing it. This has to be it? This

:13:49. > :13:55.has to be it, as in it it has to be the last attempt? I think the

:13:56. > :13:58.enquiry, within the scope set for it is totally unmanageable, and I think

:13:59. > :14:05.it will hit the rocks again, frankly. I can't see anything coming

:14:06. > :14:08.out of it with its present scope being anything particularly useful

:14:09. > :14:10.for the protection of future potential victims. You are

:14:11. > :14:16.optimistic? I have to be. One of the three schoolgirls

:14:17. > :14:19.from Bethnal Green Academy who ran away to join IS in Raqqa in February

:14:20. > :14:22.last year has been killed, Five months after they fled, two

:14:23. > :14:27.of the teenagers told their families by phone and social media

:14:28. > :14:31.that they were now married. Amira Abase and Shamina Begum

:14:32. > :14:32.were 15 and Kadiza Sultana

:14:33. > :14:34.was one year older. Secunder Kermani is here with more

:14:35. > :14:48.details on the death. A lot of people remember this case

:14:49. > :14:52.because it provoked a lot of national soul-searching about the

:14:53. > :14:58.reasons why young British Muslim in were travelling off to Syria to join

:14:59. > :15:03.Isis. Kadiza was 16 when she left her family home in east London in

:15:04. > :15:08.February last year to go off to Syria. You can see her in this

:15:09. > :15:14.image, she is the girl in the middle with the glasses. It was a case that

:15:15. > :15:16.sparked a lot of soul-searching. Their families released very

:15:17. > :15:22.emotional pleas for them to return home when they first disappeared.

:15:23. > :15:26.Images of CCTV were released of the three girls at Gatwick Airport as

:15:27. > :15:30.they were flying out to Turkey. More images were released of them in

:15:31. > :15:35.Turkey as they took a bus to the Syrian border. Tonight I TV news

:15:36. > :15:41.have been reporting that Kadiza Sultana has been killed in an air

:15:42. > :15:44.strike in Raqqa. The family lawyer says the family were informed of

:15:45. > :15:46.this a few weeks ago although they have not been able to independently

:15:47. > :15:49.confirm it for themselves. My understanding is that the family

:15:50. > :15:53.received a call from someone in Syria explaining that Kadiza had

:15:54. > :15:56.been killed in an air strike, and it was thought to be

:15:57. > :15:59.a Russian air strike. There's nothing worse than finding

:16:00. > :16:06.out your sibling or your family By all accounts she was a young girl

:16:07. > :16:13.with a very promising future, and it's a great loss

:16:14. > :16:17.to us all, really. Every effort was made from the very

:16:18. > :16:21.beginning to try to avoid this fateful news,

:16:22. > :16:23.and despite all efforts, it's unfortunate we find ourselves

:16:24. > :16:38.with the loss of a young life, There are reports that Kadiza was

:16:39. > :16:41.trying to escape from IS? That's right, I understand that after the

:16:42. > :16:46.man she married was killed she became disillusioned with life with

:16:47. > :16:50.Isis and she began to develop with her family in Britain very secretive

:16:51. > :16:54.and potentially dangerous plans to be able to return to the UK. In the

:16:55. > :16:57.end it seems she was never able to do that.

:16:58. > :16:58.She had expressed a desire to come back.

:16:59. > :17:02.The problem with that was that the risk factors around leaving

:17:03. > :17:07.are quite terminal also, in that if Isis were to detect

:17:08. > :17:09.and capture you then their punishment was quite brutal

:17:10. > :17:16.And the week where she was thinking about these issues, a young Austrian

:17:17. > :17:19.girl had been caught trying to leave Isis territory and was,

:17:20. > :17:25.by all reports, beaten to death publicly.

:17:26. > :17:28.So given that that was circulated in the region as well as outside,

:17:29. > :17:31.I think Kadiza took that as a bad omen and decided not to take

:17:32. > :17:42.Well, I think she found out pretty quickly that the propaganda doesn't

:17:43. > :17:50.She had made some enquiries and some plans of her own volition,

:17:51. > :18:03.When these three schoolgirls left for Syria last February that was

:18:04. > :18:07.almost, if you like, part of the peak of this problem of young people

:18:08. > :18:11.travelling out to Syria. The scale of the numbers now travelling out to

:18:12. > :18:15.Syria has diminished somewhat, although that will not be much

:18:16. > :18:19.consolation for the family of Kadiza Sultana. And what we don't know much

:18:20. > :18:20.about is the fate of the other two girls who travelled out to Syria

:18:21. > :18:23.with her. The desperate plight

:18:24. > :18:25.of the girls from Bethnal Green, was exactly the kind of story that

:18:26. > :18:27.campaigning investigative journalist, our colleague,

:18:28. > :18:29.Sue Lloyd Roberts who died last She travelled the world,

:18:30. > :18:33.often undercover, reporting on the worst atrocities

:18:34. > :18:37.inflicted on women. When she died after a journalistic

:18:38. > :18:42.career spanning thirty years, she left behind an almost-finished

:18:43. > :18:46.book which told vivid stories of Yazidi Women,

:18:47. > :18:48.women in Saudi Arabia, forced marriage; female genital

:18:49. > :18:51.mutilation in Gambia and Glasgow. But she very determinedly

:18:52. > :18:55.wanted the book not to be about her, but about the tremendous

:18:56. > :18:57.spirit, resilience - and sometimes death-courting

:18:58. > :18:59.defiance of the women After Sue's death her daughter

:19:00. > :19:08.Sarah Morris put the book The War I'll be speaking to her in a moment

:19:09. > :19:13.but first here is a flavour of Sue Lloyd Roberts at work,

:19:14. > :19:27.and some quotes from her book. She takes me to the cutting field

:19:28. > :19:38.where there are notches on the tree for every girl cut. " We cut them

:19:39. > :19:43.one after another. The cut girl is taken away and they bring another

:19:44. > :19:48.until we finish them all. Why is it, I ask myself, that women who make up

:19:49. > :19:52.51% of the world's population, are still campaigning for fair and

:19:53. > :19:55.humane treatment in the 21st-century, as if we were just

:19:56. > :20:00.another of the world's persecuted minorities.

:20:01. > :20:08.The discovery in June that some 800 babies had died at a former mother

:20:09. > :20:11.and baby home run by nuns in Ireland and that their bodies had been put

:20:12. > :20:20.in an unmarked and horribly inappropriate graves shocked the

:20:21. > :20:24.world. It's a sewage tank. Why are their children buried in a sewage

:20:25. > :20:28.area? When I look back on 30 years of human rights reporting, the

:20:29. > :20:33.majority of my attempts to draw attention to injustice and suffering

:20:34. > :20:34.from Texas to two G to stamp via Ireland and Pakistan have involved

:20:35. > :20:48.women. And your sister had with her a

:20:49. > :20:59.ten-year-old friend? Are women doomed to be just another

:21:00. > :21:05.hopeless cause? And if so, why? Well with me now is Sue's

:21:06. > :21:07.daughter Sarah Morris, who finished the book

:21:08. > :21:16.that her mother started. Good evening. I mean, you were very

:21:17. > :21:24.close to sue. I wonder if you learn something about her finishing,

:21:25. > :21:27.policy polishing this book? I did, I think what I really learned was how

:21:28. > :21:33.angry she was. She was really quite a joyful person in many ways. But in

:21:34. > :21:37.the book it comes to that she was quite a cross person. And I think

:21:38. > :21:41.her reports on the BBC were obviously constructed by editorial

:21:42. > :21:45.balance and being impartial, but in the book she is really able to let

:21:46. > :21:52.loose. The thing she was really angry about is how all over the

:21:53. > :21:55.world, whether it was FGM or honour killings, she was told that these

:21:56. > :21:59.things happen in the name of tradition, and in her eyes it was so

:22:00. > :22:04.clear that it was abuse. And she just wanted to scream when she would

:22:05. > :22:09.interview the father of an honour killing victim who would say, this

:22:10. > :22:16.is just what we do, here. And in her head she wanted to scream. Because

:22:17. > :22:20.why is such a convenient excuse? But do you think, in the end, she was

:22:21. > :22:24.quite an optimistic person? I thought she was quite an optimistic

:22:25. > :22:28.person. I read this book and I realise there is still so much to

:22:29. > :22:34.do. Still so much to do. I think she was a really good example of a

:22:35. > :22:37.pessimist of the intellect and an optimist of the will. Intellectually

:22:38. > :22:40.she could see that so much was wrong but she had so much faith in

:22:41. > :22:44.humanity that she was optimistic for the future. In this but you can see

:22:45. > :22:53.her faith in women for their resilience. Some of the stories

:22:54. > :22:58.about FGM and the Yazidi women stand out for me, and actually she was

:22:59. > :23:03.fiercely proud of other women. She was. And although it is called The

:23:04. > :23:07.War On Women, and many of the stories are horrifying and

:23:08. > :23:12.devastating, it is also the Brave ones who fight back. This is the

:23:13. > :23:17.voices of these women who are doing incredible things to fight back,

:23:18. > :23:21.like you say, the woman in Gambia who was destined to be a cutter for

:23:22. > :23:26.her village and decided to flee because she thought it was wrong.

:23:27. > :23:30.And now she's here in London. She was absolutely the pre-eminent

:23:31. > :23:37.journalist who actually explored women's stories. I wonder if you

:23:38. > :23:42.think progressively she sought out women's stories. I think she did.

:23:43. > :23:46.And as a female journalist herself, when she first started, there was

:23:47. > :23:51.nobody doing what she was doing. She was really a pioneer. She had no one

:23:52. > :23:55.to look up to. She started at ITN doing things like the Chelsea flower

:23:56. > :23:59.show and following the royals around, which, as a strong

:24:00. > :24:06.Republican, bought her to tears. I think her legacy is showing other

:24:07. > :24:09.women that they can do what she did. But I wonder, because you were

:24:10. > :24:13.young, she was awake doing incredibly madcap things, some of

:24:14. > :24:18.her disguises were downright dangerous and so forth, did you

:24:19. > :24:23.worry about her as much as she must have worried about you guys at home?

:24:24. > :24:26.I think we were just used to it. And actually I must say that she often

:24:27. > :24:31.would lie to me about stories. Later on when I was a bit older and in my

:24:32. > :24:34.20s she would say, oh, I'm going to Africa to do a story about

:24:35. > :24:39.elephants. She wouldn't tell me until she got back what she'd

:24:40. > :24:43.actually been doing. I remember being much more worried about her as

:24:44. > :24:48.an adult than I was as a child. As a child it seemed normal. At we had a

:24:49. > :24:52.rule where she would phone every night, whenever she could get a

:24:53. > :24:56.signal. The rule was we didn't ever discussed the story in case someone

:24:57. > :25:01.was listening in. And all of that was quite exciting as a child. If

:25:02. > :25:06.there was one story that stands out to you as mattering deeply, what

:25:07. > :25:09.would it be? I think it was female genital mutilation. I think she had

:25:10. > :25:15.a bit of a renaissance later in her career and discovered this going on.

:25:16. > :25:19.And I think before she started doing it, people would pitch the idea of

:25:20. > :25:23.FGM to newspapers and they would say, that's disgusting, that's not

:25:24. > :25:27.something we are going to do. She just had a way of doing it that

:25:28. > :25:30.meant it would get noticed and because of her we've had legislation

:25:31. > :25:34.changing Parliament. People didn't really know what it was until she

:25:35. > :25:37.started talking about it. Thank you very much indeed.

:25:38. > :25:39.Rio 2016 now, and no one could fault the dedication

:25:40. > :25:42.of our correspondent Stephen Smith, who has been submitting himself

:25:43. > :25:45.to a gruelling regime of stretching for his snacks as he follows

:25:46. > :25:50.But no Olympic project is worth a candle these

:25:51. > :25:53.And who better than former Blue Peter legend Peter Purves

:25:54. > :26:02.to encourage our man to upcycle his empties?

:26:03. > :26:09.All the members of the British squad have now been chosen.

:26:10. > :26:16.It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

:26:17. > :26:19.And when Rio 2016 flags for an instant what I like to do

:26:20. > :26:22.is look back at how old games were covered.

:26:23. > :26:33.I think Sharon and Joy have done fantastically well.

:26:34. > :26:40.I've kind of settled in for the duration.

:26:41. > :26:43.I'll tell you what, I could make something out of that.

:26:44. > :26:45.How hard will he go, is the question?

:26:46. > :26:48.You know much more about this than me.

:26:49. > :26:56.Wasn't he Prime Minister for a while?

:26:57. > :26:58.I used to ride but one day I was sitting up

:26:59. > :27:00.there and I thought, I don't like this,

:27:01. > :27:07.I don't know if that's been diagnosed officially but you'll

:27:08. > :27:16.probably get a grant and some counselling.

:27:17. > :27:24.Do you think golf, tennis, sports like that, should

:27:25. > :27:26.really be at the Olympics, Peter?

:27:27. > :27:35.I was listening to something on the radio about people applying

:27:36. > :27:38.Somebody was saying they wanted petanque in there.

:27:39. > :27:42.For goodness sake, it's marbles with big balls, it's pointless.

:27:43. > :27:45.Actually my wife's very good at this.

:27:46. > :27:49.So if you hear something in the night, you send

:27:50. > :27:54.Well, that is the iciest water I have ever swum in.

:27:55. > :27:59.Yes, got all my life-saving badges and everything.

:28:00. > :28:03.You were the kind of David Hasselhoff of your day?

:28:04. > :28:11.If you were at a party and people offered you a funny cigarette...

:28:12. > :28:14.Because that was happening in London in those days,

:28:15. > :28:22.If there was no press there I wouldn't have said that.

:28:23. > :28:28.I had friends who partook, if that's the correct phrase.

:28:29. > :28:32.No, I wouldn't have been averse to that, at all.

:28:33. > :28:35.I can't watch this any more, this is distracting me too much.

:28:36. > :28:37.I'm going to make something out of it.

:28:38. > :28:59.Don't be silly, that's a diving board.

:29:00. > :29:10.I don't want to jinx things but I smell BAFTA.

:29:11. > :29:15.Before we go, this week one of the most eagerly-anticipated

:29:16. > :29:18.video games of the decade - No Man's Sky - was released.

:29:19. > :29:21.In the game, you get to explore as many of

:29:22. > :29:22.the eighteen quintillion - yes quintillion -

:29:23. > :29:27.The game's visual palette pays homage to the golden age of sci-fi,

:29:28. > :29:30.so we decided to go one further, with a soundtrack that

:29:31. > :29:57.These are the voyages of the starship enterprise. Its five-year

:29:58. > :30:03.mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new

:30:04. > :30:35.civilisations. To boldly go where no man has gone before.

:30:36. > :30:44.Hello. Somewhat and windy weather across the North in the evening and

:30:45. > :30:45.through to Friday morning. Ahead of the rain it will be lively across