0:00:00 > 0:00:03Now on BBC News it's time for Reporters.
0:00:15 > 0:00:16Welcome to Reporters.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18I'm Philippa Thomas.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21From here in the world's newsroom, we send out correspondents to bring
0:00:21 > 0:00:23you the best stories from across the globe.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25In this week's programme...
0:00:25 > 0:00:27CHANTING: Justice for Michael Brown!
0:00:27 > 0:00:30The New Black Panthers - as racial tensions rise
0:00:30 > 0:00:33in the United States, Gabriel Gatehouse meets
0:00:33 > 0:00:36the African-Americans arming themselves with guns to protect
0:00:36 > 0:00:39themselves from the police.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41But down that road leads to war, surely?
0:00:41 > 0:00:42We are at war.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45Yeah, we are already at war.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48Ten years after Israel's war with Hezbollah, Katy Watson joins
0:00:48 > 0:00:54Israeli forces guarding the Lebanese border against attacks by the group.
0:00:54 > 0:00:55WHISPERING: We've got to the stakeout.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58We had to scramble down the hillside in complete darkness,
0:00:58 > 0:01:01and we can't talk beyond a whisper.
0:01:01 > 0:01:07We are 500 metres away from Lebanon.
0:01:07 > 0:01:12India's fat tax - Sameer Hashmi asks whether one state's idea for making
0:01:12 > 0:01:18fast food more expensive is the way to stop obesity.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22And a history of the Wimbledon tennis ball.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25Graham Satchel takes a trip down memory lane to hear from the former
0:01:25 > 0:01:29factory workers who made them for decades.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33If it bounces like that, it's no good.
0:01:33 > 0:01:38If it bounces like that, it's fine.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44You have to go back decades to find a time when race relations
0:01:44 > 0:01:48in the United States were as fraught as they are now.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51But if you do go back to the 60s and 70s, you might remember
0:01:51 > 0:01:54the Black Panther movement, a party of armed political radicals
0:01:54 > 0:01:57challenging police brutality.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Well, now there's a new Black Panther party,
0:02:00 > 0:02:03and there is a new move among black Americans to carry guns,
0:02:03 > 0:02:06in what's being seen by some as a kind of arms race
0:02:06 > 0:02:09with the police.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13Gabriel Gatehouse has been in Dallas meeting some of them.
0:02:13 > 0:02:20GUNFIRE Keep going, back-up, back-up!
0:02:23 > 0:02:27My biggest threat is the police department.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29They're the biggest gang in our country.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34CHANTING What is happening?
0:02:34 > 0:02:40What is happening to our country?
0:02:40 > 0:02:42We are already at war.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46We already have casualties of war.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52And we're just sitting there, and all of a sudden
0:02:52 > 0:02:52we hear tat-tat-tat-tat...
0:02:52 > 0:02:55They're shooting now, and there is an officer down...
0:02:55 > 0:03:00And people are running...
0:03:00 > 0:03:02It began as a peaceful protest against the killing
0:03:02 > 0:03:07of black men by police, and it ended with Micah Johnson,
0:03:07 > 0:03:13a black man, shooting five police officers dead.
0:03:15 > 0:03:22I felt hurt, but I also felt hurt because we had to march for those
0:03:22 > 0:03:26four brothers that had been killed by the police.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31He said we saw Alton Sterling being assassinated...
0:03:31 > 0:03:37Olinka Green was one of the organisers of the protest,
0:03:37 > 0:03:39which marched under the banner Black Lives Matter.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42The killer told police he was not affiliated with any organisation,
0:03:42 > 0:03:45but he had shown an interest on social media in various black
0:03:45 > 0:03:47power groups in Dallas.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50I don't know the guy, I don't know the shooter,
0:03:50 > 0:03:55but I can tell you if you opress a people for so long,
0:03:55 > 0:03:57the revolt is inevitable.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Can I just be clear - you are not advocating
0:04:00 > 0:04:00shooting police officers?
0:04:00 > 0:04:01Just to be clear.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03Not at all.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05We're not advocating shooting police officers at all.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08We are advocating survival, survival of our people.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10Here in Dallas, people really are coming together around
0:04:10 > 0:04:15the police force, and it is worth just taking a look at the numbers.
0:04:15 > 0:04:1926 police officers have been shot dead in the line of duty
0:04:19 > 0:04:23across America so far this year.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27The number of people killed, shot dead, by police officers,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30so far this year, is over 500.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33Just under half of those were white, and around a quarter
0:04:33 > 0:04:35were black, but when you dig into the demographics,
0:04:35 > 0:04:39you find a stark truth.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43And that is if you are black in America, you are 2.5 times more
0:04:43 > 0:04:47likely to be shot dead by the police than if you're white.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49CHANTING: Justice for Michael Brown!
0:04:49 > 0:04:53Justice for Michael Brown!
0:04:53 > 0:04:54Justice for Eric Garner!
0:04:54 > 0:04:56Justice for Eric Garner!
0:04:56 > 0:05:00A group called the Huey P Newton Gun Club is calling on black people
0:05:00 > 0:05:02to legally arm themselves.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05Huey P Newton was one of the founders of the Black
0:05:05 > 0:05:05Panthers.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09The Gun Club is affiliated with the New Black Panther Party,
0:05:09 > 0:05:13which has chapters across the United States.
0:05:13 > 0:05:18They hold occasional demonstrations in the Dallas area,
0:05:18 > 0:05:20where they parade, in public, guns on display,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23which is legal in Texas.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28This man is affiliated with the gun club.
0:05:28 > 0:05:29Then I keep my .40 on me.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31This has no safety on it.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34It is fully loaded - there is one in the chamber
0:05:34 > 0:05:41at all times, so that means that if I need to I just aim and squeeze.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43We talked a lot about the police.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45Are they the only threat around?
0:05:45 > 0:05:47I mean, who is your biggest threat?
0:05:47 > 0:05:49My biggest threat is the police department.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52There's the biggest gang in our country.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56Like the killing of Philando Castile, one of the deaths that
0:05:56 > 0:05:59sparked the demonstration in Dallas on Thursday, many fatal
0:05:59 > 0:06:04shootings by police begin as a simple traffic stop,
0:06:04 > 0:06:07for something as innocuous as a broken tail-light.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11We can't even see past tomorrow, because tomorrow is not
0:06:11 > 0:06:12promised for me.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16I can leave here right now and be pulled over for a traffic stop,
0:06:16 > 0:06:19like that young man did, Philando Castile, and end up dead
0:06:19 > 0:06:23and not make it home to my family.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27Against this backdrop, Dallas waited for a visit
0:06:27 > 0:06:30from America's first black president.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33Among the congregation at the Friendship West Baptist Church,
0:06:33 > 0:06:37many have mixed feelings about Obama's record
0:06:37 > 0:06:41on standing up for their court.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44Don't put all this on police - we put this on America.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47Can we hurt for the families of the slain police officers,
0:06:47 > 0:06:52and the families of Alton, and the families of Philando?
0:06:52 > 0:06:53APPLAUSE.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55All I'm trying to say, Mr President, if you're
0:06:55 > 0:06:58going to come to Dallas, you need to go to Baton Rouge,
0:06:58 > 0:07:01you need to go to Minnesota, you need to go to Staten Island...
0:07:01 > 0:07:05You need to go to every place where there has been an unnecessary
0:07:05 > 0:07:08slaying of a black life - that's what's up.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12APPLAUSE.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14This was a mixed audience, including representatives
0:07:14 > 0:07:20from mothers' groups, members of the Nation
0:07:20 > 0:07:23of Islam, and supporters of the Huey P Newton Gun Club.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25There's a lot of talk here about local democracy,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28about making the law work for the black community,
0:07:28 > 0:07:31about building bridges with other communities,
0:07:31 > 0:07:35but there are also some people here who are re-examining
0:07:35 > 0:07:38the founding principles of American democracy.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41There are some - not all - but some in this room who see
0:07:41 > 0:07:44the second Amendment, the right to bear arms,
0:07:44 > 0:07:47that was written into the constitution so that Americans
0:07:47 > 0:07:52could defend themselves from an oppressive Government that
0:07:52 > 0:07:55didn't represent them, and here, in the 21st
0:07:55 > 0:07:59century, they are taking inspiration from that.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03The liberal idea that the solution to America's gun violence
0:08:03 > 0:08:09is gun-control does not find favour here.
0:08:09 > 0:08:10Guns don't kill people.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13Police with guns kill people - we see this every day
0:08:13 > 0:08:14in our country.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17And they kill people and they go home without any consequence.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19But don't police with guns kill people because they're worried
0:08:19 > 0:08:22that they've got guns, and isn't that the vicious cycle?
0:08:22 > 0:08:25That's the rhetoric that they use, that's the propaganda that they use,
0:08:25 > 0:08:28but they've been killing us even before guns.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30They don't even have to have guns to kill us -
0:08:30 > 0:08:33the killed Eric Garner by choking him to death.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37Guns are the only sanctuary we have to keeping the police off of us.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39But the implication of what you are saying is very
0:08:39 > 0:08:43scary, because if you are saying that only defence you have
0:08:43 > 0:08:47from your own weapon, then down that road
0:08:47 > 0:08:51leads to war, surely?
0:08:51 > 0:08:53We are at war.
0:08:53 > 0:08:54Yeah, we are already at war.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57We already have casualties of war.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00When the Civil War was fought, did the North go to war
0:09:00 > 0:09:01without guns to face the South?
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Doesn't the battlefield need to be even?
0:09:04 > 0:09:06Because, if not, what happens?
0:09:06 > 0:09:08We lose it.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10What else do we have?
0:09:10 > 0:09:12We've tried prayer, we've tried everything else.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15We tried dialogue - do you know what I'm saying?
0:09:15 > 0:09:19I don't want to see it go to war but, hey, what do we have left?
0:09:19 > 0:09:21I not advocating this, but what is happening?
0:09:21 > 0:09:23What is happening?
0:09:23 > 0:09:26What is happening to our country, where you turn on your TV
0:09:26 > 0:09:30and within two days, two black men, who ain't did nothing
0:09:30 > 0:09:35to nobody are slaughtered...
0:09:35 > 0:09:39There are plenty of people who feel deeply uneasy about the idea
0:09:39 > 0:09:42that their best protection against their own police force
0:09:42 > 0:09:47is to carry a gun, but advocates of arming the black community
0:09:47 > 0:09:51are not confined to Dallas, and the killing of five officers
0:09:51 > 0:09:54here last week seems certain to deepen America's already
0:09:54 > 0:09:58deadly racial divide.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Gabriel Gatehouse reporting from Dallas.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03The family of Marie Colvin, the veteran Sunday Times
0:10:03 > 0:10:06correspondent killed in Syria, are suing the regime
0:10:06 > 0:10:09of President Assad, accusing it of a policy
0:10:09 > 0:10:13of deliberately killing journalists.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15Lawyers for the family see documents smuggled out of Syria show
0:10:15 > 0:10:19that the regime tracked Marie Colvin before directing the
0:10:19 > 0:10:23artillery strike that killed her four years ago.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26A lawsuit has been filed in Washington.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29A warning - Paul Wood's report contains material some
0:10:30 > 0:10:33of you may find distressing.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36In February of 2012, the Syrian regime was
0:10:36 > 0:10:42shelling the rebels of Baba Amr into submission.
0:10:42 > 0:10:47The area was cut off, the only way it was through an underground
0:10:47 > 0:10:52tunnel two miles long.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54Among the few foreign journalists to reach
0:10:54 > 0:10:57Baba Amr was Marie Colvin.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00Driven, gifted, celebrated by her peers, this was
0:11:00 > 0:11:05to be her last story.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08I watched a little baby die today.
0:11:08 > 0:11:13Absolutely horrific, just a two-year-old being hit.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16They stripped it and found the shrapnel had gone
0:11:16 > 0:11:18into the left chest.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21And the doctor just said, "I can't do anything,"
0:11:21 > 0:11:24and his little tummy was just heaving until he died.
0:11:24 > 0:11:31That is happening over and over and over.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37The Colvin family believe that broadcast was traced by Syrian
0:11:37 > 0:11:45intelligence and used to locate the Baba Amr media centre.
0:11:45 > 0:11:51The attack on the journalists was ordered that night, the family say.
0:11:51 > 0:11:52Marie Colvin and a French journalist, Remi
0:11:52 > 0:11:55Ochlik, were killed.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59Marie's photographer, Paul Conroy, was injured.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03What I will say to this day, there is no room for doubt
0:12:03 > 0:12:05that it was a professional attack, and the location -
0:12:05 > 0:12:09it was not an accidental strike on that building.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13Once they found it they kept hitting it, which was also unusual.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16They tended to just move on, in Baba Amr.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18So I have no doubt, from the evidence then,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22that it was a deliberate attack.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26This was an assassination, the Colvin family say,
0:12:26 > 0:12:30ordered by the highest levels of the Syrian regime.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33The lawsuit says there was a policy to kill journalists, decided
0:12:33 > 0:12:36by President Assad's war cabinet.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38The conspirators are said to include the president's brother,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41Maher al-Assad.
0:12:41 > 0:12:48And the President's trusted intelligence chief, Ali Mamlouk.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50The deputy defence minister Assef Shawkat is said to have
0:12:50 > 0:12:55declared, "We could destroy Baba Amr in ten minutes,
0:12:55 > 0:12:59if there were no cameras."
0:12:59 > 0:13:02One of those who organised the attack was given a reward
0:13:02 > 0:13:04by the Assad family, it is claimed - a black
0:13:04 > 0:13:08luxury saloon car.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12I am really proud to be able to bring the lawsuit.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15We know who Marie's killers are now.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18I want them to be brought to justice, I want them
0:13:18 > 0:13:20to be held accountable.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24I'm very sensitive to the suffering of the Syrian people,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27so I know I'm not the only one who has lost a sister.
0:13:27 > 0:13:33My mum is not only one who is mourning the loss of her daughter.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35It is quite possible that the Syrian government simply tries
0:13:35 > 0:13:38to ignore this lawsuit.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42If so, the court won't get the chance to examine its claims,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45but the murder of journalists is just one more crime among many
0:13:45 > 0:13:48the Syrian regime stands accused of.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52The Colvin family hope the lawsuit will be a reminder of that,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55as some in the international community seek to rehabilitate
0:13:55 > 0:13:56President Assad.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00Paul Wood, BBC News, Washington.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03It's been ten years since Israel fought a war against Hezbollah
0:14:03 > 0:14:05in southern Lebanon.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08Some Israelis still refer to the conflict with the Lebanese Shia
0:14:08 > 0:14:13militant group as a national trauma.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16Civilians in the north of the country came under attack,
0:14:16 > 0:14:18and Israel hit back - hard.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21But many feel the army could have been better prepared and now,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23a decade later, Israel is thought to be readying itself
0:14:23 > 0:14:28for a new war with Hezbollah.
0:14:28 > 0:14:33Katy Watson was given exclusive access to a night-time stakeout
0:14:33 > 0:14:37with the Israeli defence forces along the Lebanese border.
0:14:37 > 0:14:43We are with soldiers preparing for a surveillance mission.
0:14:45 > 0:14:50Packing up their kit for three days, hiding out in the bush.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52The military says it has learned lessons -
0:14:52 > 0:14:55it has had to raise its game and treat Hezbollah as stronger more
0:14:55 > 0:15:00professional fighting force.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02WHISPERING: We've got to the stakeout.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05We had to scramble down the hillside in complete darkness,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08and we can't talk beyond a whisper.
0:15:08 > 0:15:13Now over in the distance we are 500 metres away from Lebanon.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15They are keeping an eye on the movements of
0:15:15 > 0:15:16Hezbollah operatives.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19The soldiers tell me they can see weapons being stored in areas
0:15:19 > 0:15:22where civilians live.
0:15:22 > 0:15:23EXPLOSION.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26The war ten years ago is seen by some Israelis
0:15:26 > 0:15:31is a national trauma.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34It was a conflict that many feel Israel wasn't prepared for.
0:15:34 > 0:15:45Civilians came under attack, and Israel hit back hard.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49Major Levy fought in it.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52He said security has been reinforced since then, and the border's
0:15:52 > 0:15:54quiet - for now.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57TRANSLATION: The next war is only a matter of time.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00The idea is that next time, if it happens, we will hit Hezbollah
0:16:00 > 0:16:08so hard that the war after that will be decades from now.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10Eddie lives in a village on the border.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13He points out the newly built Hezbollah watchtowers.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15He is worried they may try and kidnap people
0:16:15 > 0:16:21here in the next war.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23TRANSLATION: It is not a secret that Hezbollah wants to do
0:16:24 > 0:16:27something very audacious.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31I don't think they want to take soldiers - I think they want to take
0:16:31 > 0:16:33civilians so it hits the headlines.
0:16:33 > 0:16:34For security experts, the build-up of Hezbollah's
0:16:34 > 0:16:37strength is worrying.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39Now they have more than 120,000 rockets and missiles,
0:16:39 > 0:16:41a huge number, that you don't find in any country
0:16:41 > 0:16:50in Europe, for example.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53You see all this airforce and you ask yourself one question
0:16:53 > 0:16:55- what for?
0:16:55 > 0:16:58But Hezbollah also know is that there will be no holding
0:16:58 > 0:17:01back if Israel defends itself.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05That perhaps is why there has been relative calm in recent years.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08The feeling is that both sides are deterred from war for now.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12But this is a volatile region where nothing is certain.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15But nobody is in any doubt that if there was to be another war,
0:17:15 > 0:17:17the scale of it could be far greater.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21Katy Watson, BBC News, on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24Malnutrition is still a major problem in India, so it is perhaps
0:17:24 > 0:17:29surprising that many Indians are overweight.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32In fact, obesity has become such a major concern that one state has
0:17:32 > 0:17:34now proposed a so-called fat tax on fast-food restaurants
0:17:34 > 0:17:38to try to make people more health but as Sameer Hashmi reports
0:17:38 > 0:17:47from Kochi in Kerala state, some wonder if this is the best approach.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49Grabbing your favourite pizza or biting into a burger
0:17:49 > 0:17:52is about to get more expensive in this part of India.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55Kerala plans to impose a 14.5% tax on fast-food sold
0:17:55 > 0:18:00by restaurant chains.
0:18:00 > 0:18:02It's a so-called fat tax, something already tried in places
0:18:02 > 0:18:05including Hungary and Denmark to try to put people off back eating
0:18:05 > 0:18:12so much junk food, but reaction here has been mixed.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15I think it is the right move because when people are not taking
0:18:15 > 0:18:19care of their health definitely the government should take some
0:18:19 > 0:18:23initiative so that people go back to the food that helps their diet
0:18:23 > 0:18:26and, you know, the diseases which are spreading due to the junk
0:18:26 > 0:18:30food or the improper diet.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33I don't think it will affect that much, I don't think so.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36Because those who are interested will still go after what they want.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38It doesn't matter.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41Kerala has the second highest levels of obesity in the country,
0:18:41 > 0:18:45and the state government is using that reason
0:18:45 > 0:18:48to justify its plan to put an extra tax on restaurants like McDonald's,
0:18:48 > 0:18:53Dominos and Pizza Hut.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56They say it is chains like these which are making young people
0:18:56 > 0:18:59fatter, and they hope higher prices will make them think twice.
0:18:59 > 0:19:04But popular local dishes like banana fry and urad dal that are high
0:19:04 > 0:19:08in calories will not come under the new tax rule.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11That means some are seeing this as an attack on multinational food
0:19:11 > 0:19:18chains rather than just on obesity or other illnesses like diabetes.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21The government has defended the plan but many food experts think
0:19:21 > 0:19:27that taxing food is not the right approach.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30I don't think it is the right move where health is concerned,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33because it is not going to have any impact on the health of people,
0:19:34 > 0:19:35especially in Kerala.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38It is to fill the coffers of the government.
0:19:38 > 0:19:44The emphasis should be on awareness.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47People should be made aware of the side-effects are the bad
0:19:47 > 0:19:50effects of eating high calorie food.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54Whether it is what they eat or a lifestyle that lacks exercise,
0:19:54 > 0:20:01one in five Indians is now overweight or obese.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03But with access to Western-style fast food still relatively new here,
0:20:03 > 0:20:05and many still seeing it as a status symbol,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08this is a new tax many will find hard to swallow.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13Sameer Hashmi, BBC News, Kerala.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16Now, I'm sure most of you know Andy Murray won Wimbledon this week,
0:20:16 > 0:20:21his second title in a row, but here's a fact I bet you didn't
0:20:21 > 0:20:24know - that nearly 55,000 balls were used throughout the tournament.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28The yellow balls were first used 30 years ago and have since been made
0:20:28 > 0:20:30at a factory in Barnsley, near my home town,
0:20:30 > 0:20:37in the north of England.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40Graham Satchell has been finding out about the history of the Wimbledon
0:20:40 > 0:20:43tennis ball and meeting some of the people who have been making
0:20:43 > 0:20:43them for decades.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46If it bounces like that, it's no good.
0:20:46 > 0:20:53If it bounces like that, it's fine.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56On one bench at Barnsley Tennis Club, almost a hundred years
0:20:56 > 0:20:59of experience at making the tennis balls for Wimbledon.
0:20:59 > 0:21:11Yeah, it is the hand tool we used.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13Yeah, you should know a lot about them, Ken.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15It wasn't an easy job.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18And you really had to push to get it together.
0:21:18 > 0:21:23Oh, your fingers ached.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25They started making tennis balls in Barnsley in 1945.
0:21:25 > 0:21:32The Wimbledon order always the most important.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35The actual tournament only lasted two weeks,
0:21:35 > 0:21:38but the Wimbledon Department in the Barnsley factory could last
0:21:38 > 0:21:48two months, making the balls, selecting the balls,
0:21:48 > 0:21:51actually choosing the balls that went down there -
0:21:51 > 0:21:52they had to be absolutely perfect.
0:21:52 > 0:21:53Wimbledon, 1958!
0:21:53 > 0:21:55That was the year I started.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57A 1958 Wimbledon ball.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59That is the ultimate in our profession, sort of thing.
0:21:59 > 0:22:09If you've got the Wimbledon contract, you'll always
0:22:09 > 0:22:11sell tennis balls.
0:22:11 > 0:22:12In nineteen...
0:22:12 > 0:22:15might have been 73, 74 - John McEnroe hit a ball and it
0:22:15 > 0:22:18split, and the main man of Slazenger's came into this
0:22:18 > 0:22:20department and wanted to know who had caused this problem.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23The ball came back from John McEnroe in this manager's hand,
0:22:23 > 0:22:25and he's putting it in front of my face.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27I thought, well, I don't know, I don't know.
0:22:27 > 0:22:32You know...
0:22:32 > 0:22:36It could have been a number of people who caused this.
0:22:36 > 0:22:45But it wasn't good for John McEnroe.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48We grew as a family, you see, in the factory.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52Everybody knew one another.
0:22:52 > 0:22:53It was, it definitely was.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55Somebody's son worked there, somebody's daughter worked there,
0:22:55 > 0:23:00and that is how it developed over the years.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02We all shared each other's emotions and happiness.
0:23:02 > 0:23:08Sadness, happiness - it was absolutely great.
0:23:08 > 0:23:15The factory in Barnsley closed in 2002.
0:23:15 > 0:23:16Production moved to the Philippines.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19The final batch of tennis balls made at Barnsley.
0:23:19 > 0:23:20Crikey.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24That was a sad day, wasn't it?
0:23:24 > 0:23:27"Made in Barnsley," and that, for me, is where they
0:23:27 > 0:23:32should still be made.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35But, like I say, unfortunately, living in the real world,
0:23:35 > 0:23:36that's not...
0:23:36 > 0:23:45Not to be.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47And that's all from Reporters this week.
0:23:47 > 0:24:01From me, Philippa Thomas, goodbye for now.