:00:08. > :00:18.The first gold for Great Britain at the London 2012 Games, as Helen
:00:18. > :00:19.
:00:19. > :00:29.Glover and Heather Stanning win the women's pair rowing. COMMENTATOR:
:00:29. > :00:32.Great Britain into the record books and fab -- fabiously well done. And
:00:32. > :00:41.they make history too as they become the first British women ever
:00:41. > :00:43.to win Olympic gold in rowing. so overjoyed. I wanted to collapse.
:00:43. > :00:47.Tears on the podium as Great Britain's new golden girls enjoy
:00:47. > :00:49.the glory. Are they on the road to more medals? The women's individual
:00:49. > :00:52.time trials are under way. High hopes for Lizzie Armitstead and
:00:52. > :01:02.Emma Pooley. And golden hopes for Bradley Wiggins in the men's race
:01:02. > :01:04.
:01:04. > :01:07.this afternoon. That's unforgivable. Charged - eight Olympic badminton
:01:07. > :01:11.players are accused of not using their best efforts to win a match.
:01:11. > :01:14.The conflict in Syria - President Assad says the fate of the nation
:01:14. > :01:17.is at stake. Hoping to boost the economy and the property market - a
:01:17. > :01:20.new scheme to get banks lending to businesses and homeowners comes
:01:20. > :01:30.into force today. And the celebrated American author and
:01:30. > :01:30.
:01:30. > :01:35.political commentator, Gore Vidal, has died at the age of 86. Later -
:01:35. > :01:39.there will be no change to London's Olympic strategy, as businesses
:01:39. > :01:49.claim a sharp drop in trading. We'll have the roundup of the
:01:49. > :02:01.
:02:01. > :02:04.Afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One from our studio at the
:02:04. > :02:07.Olympic Park in East London. Good And it's gold at last for Team GB
:02:07. > :02:12.after Helen Glover and Heather Stanning won the women's pair
:02:12. > :02:16.rowing in impressive style. They also made it into the history books
:02:16. > :02:19.as the first British women ever to win Olympic gold in rowing. Their
:02:19. > :02:22.win was all the more extraordinary given that 26-year-old Helen Glover
:02:22. > :02:32.only starting to row four years ago after being picked out as someone
:02:32. > :02:32.
:02:33. > :02:42.with potential for her height. There's been more success for Team
:02:43. > :02:45.
:02:45. > :02:50.GB with a bronze in the men's eight. They waited beside a lake built for
:02:50. > :02:55.rowing. In Afghanistan they shared the same anticipation. The Royal
:02:55. > :02:59.Artillery willing on their team- mate, Captain Heather Stanning. By
:02:59. > :03:03.rights, Stanning in the cap and Helen Glover should still be
:03:03. > :03:07.learning to row together. Glover only got into a boat for the first
:03:07. > :03:16.time four years ago, recruited because of her height, almost six
:03:16. > :03:20.feet tall. Inside two minutes they had a clear lead in lane three.
:03:20. > :03:23.That's their style - go hard from the start. Their lead over the rest
:03:23. > :03:32.was nearly three seconds with a quarter of the race gone. At half-
:03:32. > :03:36.way the gap was even better. Even the world champions from New
:03:36. > :03:41.Zealand in second were in a different race. Logic suggested the
:03:41. > :03:44.British pair couldn't sustain that level of performance, maintain
:03:44. > :03:50.their dominance, but the gap told you they were getting better and
:03:50. > :03:55.better. Forget the days Britain had been waiting for a gold at these
:03:55. > :03:59.Games. Never before had there been female British rowing champions.
:03:59. > :04:04.COMMENTATOR: The crowd are roaring them on again. Over the final
:04:04. > :04:12.metres the other closed, but -- the others closed, but never to
:04:12. > :04:17.threaten the outcome. A triumph of team work, stamina and utter
:04:17. > :04:21.commitment. Glover and Stanning, Britain's first Olympic champions
:04:21. > :04:25.of 2012. The recent history of British rowing is famously
:04:25. > :04:28.successful, but there's so much to live up to. The presence of Sir
:04:28. > :04:34.Steve Redgrave was almost too much for Helen. That's a powerful
:04:34. > :04:40.shoulder to cry on, but they summoned their composure to talk
:04:40. > :04:46.about the race. Shattered and overjoyed. I want to jump around. I
:04:46. > :04:50.don't know. I'm probably talking rubbish now. Matthew and Steve were
:04:50. > :04:56.watching and you smiled with 250 to go and they were saying, don't
:04:56. > :05:00.smile, you haven't won it yet. was probably a grimace. I never
:05:00. > :05:07.thought we had this. We went through the orange buoys and then I
:05:07. > :05:10.thought we've got this. Suddenly for Team GB as a whole, the
:05:10. > :05:19.burden's lifted. This was the reaction at team headquarters in
:05:19. > :05:28.East London. No longer the nagging question for the first gold. It was
:05:28. > :05:36.delivered on the lakeside at Eton Dorney and this is what a gold
:05:36. > :05:42.medal looks like around a British neck in 2012. Andy Swiss is there
:05:42. > :05:46.for us now. Everyone really still catching their breath after a quite
:05:46. > :05:50.extraordinary morning here. An extraordinary performance by Helen
:05:50. > :05:56.Glover and Heather Stanning to win gold in the most emphatic fashion
:05:56. > :06:00.possible. I'm joined by the five- times Olympic gold medallist, Sir
:06:00. > :06:04.Steve Redgrave. Wow, what a performance? It's been a great
:06:04. > :06:08.morning. The girls have done us proud and shown a lot of promise
:06:08. > :06:11.over the last couple of years. I was quoted in the New Zealand press
:06:11. > :06:15.when the world championships were out there two years ago, they've
:06:15. > :06:19.done a fantastic job to make the final, but that's as good as it
:06:19. > :06:23.gets and they went on to win silver that time. Repeated that last year,
:06:23. > :06:28.after dominating the circuit and this year, have taken the circuit
:06:28. > :06:32.apart. I've been telling everyone they'll win gold. There's no-one
:06:32. > :06:37.else who will put them under pressure. I kept saying to myself,
:06:37. > :06:41.you can't say that. You've been in the situation before, you can't say
:06:41. > :06:44.that. They've just blown everyone away. I was standing next to Matt
:06:44. > :06:49.and he was concerned at one stage that they were going to win by more
:06:49. > :06:53.than five seconds when Matt and I first raced with each other in the
:06:53. > :06:58.Barcelona Games they could have won by much more, but the emotion and
:06:58. > :07:02.the crowd, that they knew they had just not consciously eased off, but
:07:02. > :07:08.they knew they didn't need to gun it to the line. What can you tell
:07:08. > :07:14.us about them and their careers? Helen, four years ago, watched the
:07:14. > :07:18.Games on TV and thought, "I fancy doing that. I could be a rower." It
:07:18. > :07:22.was around the same time I launched a programme in this programme for
:07:22. > :07:26.looking for tall people within rowing, handball volleyball and she
:07:26. > :07:30.was one that came through the programme. It shows you that if you
:07:30. > :07:34.get the right people in the right sports, they can achieve great
:07:34. > :07:38.things. The first Olympic gold medal for Great Britain here in
:07:38. > :07:41.London. How will their lives change, because as you know, winning gold
:07:41. > :07:46.is something that changes your life? Tomorrow, all the papers will
:07:46. > :07:50.have their picture on it. There's a few chances with cycling going on
:07:50. > :07:56.with the time trial, so we could have multiple golds tomorrow, but
:07:56. > :08:00.to be the first gold of the Games is pretty special, but the first in
:08:00. > :08:04.the women's rowing crew at the Games. We've had a couple of
:08:04. > :08:09.chances, but nobody's done it yet and I think in a couple of days'
:08:09. > :08:14.time we have Kathrine Grainger and she'll do it as well. The men's
:08:14. > :08:20.eight, who won a bronze. Greg Searle at 40, another medal for
:08:20. > :08:23.him? I feel for him in some ways there was a silver up for offer for
:08:23. > :08:27.them. They said they were going for gold and they did everything all
:08:27. > :08:31.the experts said they should do to try to beat the Germans and put
:08:31. > :08:37.everything on the line and one stage I thought they would do it.
:08:37. > :08:41.The Germans were hugely impressive and very, very impressive. They
:08:41. > :08:45.rowed away. They have a bronze. I saw it being put around their neck
:08:45. > :08:49.and I was thinking that could have been a silver. It doesn't make a
:08:49. > :08:52.difference. As a country we should be hugely impressed by their
:08:52. > :08:57.attitude, determination. It was gold or nothing. They've got a
:08:57. > :09:02.bronze. Thank you very much indeed for talking to us. There we have it,
:09:02. > :09:05.an extraordinary morning here. Britain has its first gold medal of
:09:05. > :09:10.the Games and two new sporting heroes in Helen and Heather and it
:09:10. > :09:13.could be the start of a golden week for rish boroughing. Thank you very
:09:13. > :09:16.much. I'm joined by someone who knows Team GB's rowers very well,
:09:16. > :09:24.Nathaniel Reilly O'Donnell, who was in the men's eight rowing squad for
:09:24. > :09:31.the last four years. It was gold or nothing and it really did look like
:09:31. > :09:35.they could do it. They got the lead they were looking for into the
:09:35. > :09:40.final last quarter and they just ran out of gas. They risked
:09:40. > :09:45.everything. A real defiant factor of the crew is before the Beijing
:09:45. > :09:48.race they didn't want to lose the silver and the last four years has
:09:48. > :09:53.been everything we won't be the nearly men and it will be all about
:09:53. > :09:58.the gold and they put everything in. They risked all sorts of things,
:09:58. > :10:04.physically, things with family, at work, all those commitments and
:10:04. > :10:09.they put it out there and they put themselves into that position. The
:10:09. > :10:16.German crew is phenomenon. They haven't been beaten in the last
:10:16. > :10:19.Olympiad. The guys should be proud, because it takes real guts.
:10:19. > :10:24.Absolutely. They have a bronze medal. You know them very well.
:10:24. > :10:27.What will they be going through right now? They'll be disappointed.
:10:27. > :10:30.They will be really disappointed and it will take time, but they'll
:10:30. > :10:35.know that it's been a huge achievement and I think the manner
:10:35. > :10:38.in which they raced, the manner in which they put themselves into that
:10:38. > :10:45.position, they will be proud that they did it like that. They didn't
:10:45. > :10:48.shy away. They stepped you and took that risk and you have to put
:10:48. > :10:51.yourself in those sorts of positions. Huge determination.
:10:52. > :10:55.We'll talk about Helen Glover as well. An extraordinary story, given
:10:55. > :11:03.she only started rowing four years ago. Picked out because of her
:11:03. > :11:09.height. She was the right height. There is the world-class star
:11:09. > :11:13.programme and they look for well- trained people and so she knew
:11:13. > :11:16.sport and transfer the skills she had learnt elsewhere and she's had
:11:16. > :11:21.fantastic ability to be able to learn very quickly the boat skills
:11:21. > :11:24.needed and to be able to then bring in her experiences from other
:11:24. > :11:29.sports and achieve what she has achieved today. Incredible. Thank
:11:29. > :11:32.you very much for joining us. So now Team GB's next medal hope is in
:11:33. > :11:35.the cycling with all eyes on Bradley Wiggins. Fresh from his
:11:36. > :11:38.historic victory in the Tour de France, he's favourite to win the
:11:38. > :11:41.men's time trial this afternoon. The women's event is already under
:11:41. > :11:44.way with medal hopes resting on Emma Pooley and Lizzie Armitstead,
:11:44. > :11:47.who'll be aiming for her second medal of the Games. The races
:11:47. > :11:57.finish at Hampton Court and our sports correspondent, Dan Roan, is
:11:57. > :11:59.
:11:59. > :12:03.there. As you say, Bradley Wiggins is very much the king of the Tour
:12:03. > :12:06.de France, after he became the first Briton in history to win the
:12:06. > :12:10.biggest bike race in the world, just a couple of weeks ago. Today,
:12:10. > :12:15.he could become Olympic Royalty, because he already has six Olympic
:12:15. > :12:19.med alds to his name, three golds, two bronze and one silver from the
:12:19. > :12:24.Olympics at Sydney, Athens and Beijing. If he wins a seventh here
:12:24. > :12:28.today, he will overtake Sir Steve Redgrave and become the most
:12:28. > :12:33.decorated Olympian in British sporting history. In the very
:12:33. > :12:37.appropriate and palatial surroundings of Hampton Court
:12:37. > :12:43.Palace. Huge crowds here ahead of the men's time trial, which gets
:12:43. > :12:48.under way in a short time. He will be going for gold, and he's
:12:48. > :12:51.favourite and it will be his fourth and it would become the second gold
:12:51. > :13:01.of the day for Team GB. Bradley Wiggins has been speaking to the
:13:01. > :13:07.
:13:07. > :13:14.BBC. The The country has gone Wig - tastic. It's good that it has that
:13:14. > :13:19.effect. It's a bit strange for me. Ultimately I only do it to be
:13:19. > :13:25.individual, but it's good. biggest name in cycling, you're the
:13:25. > :13:29.winner of the Tour de France. bigger than Cavendish now I haven't
:13:29. > :13:34.done the head and shoulders shot yet! The scale of the win and
:13:34. > :13:38.reaction in this country, do you pinch yourself? It was a bit
:13:38. > :13:42.overwhelming. I was so used to see that happen to others like Chris
:13:42. > :13:46.Hoy coming back from Beijing and I guess I don't think any of us
:13:46. > :13:50.appreciate what cycling is going through at the moment, because you
:13:50. > :13:53.are concentrating on your performance and we are all pretty
:13:53. > :13:58.down-to-earth guys by the nature of the sport. We don't fully
:13:58. > :14:03.appreciate what it's doing for the profile of sport. To win the Tour
:14:03. > :14:08.de France takes many sacrifices. What did you have to do to get
:14:08. > :14:13.where you are? A lot. Apart from the training and physical side, I
:14:13. > :14:17.have to six weeks of the year live on top of a mountain in Tenerife
:14:17. > :14:20.and I miss children's birthdays and the kids break up and you are
:14:21. > :14:25.leaving over Easter. They don't know where you are and I sleep in
:14:25. > :14:29.the spare bedroom and in the tent for weeks on end, so having a
:14:29. > :14:32.family and being a father and husband and all that isn't
:14:32. > :14:40.conducive to trying to win the Tour de France. The two don't go
:14:40. > :14:49.together, but if you've got a support -- a supportive family like
:14:50. > :14:53.I have, you can do it. I don't know how long you can do it for though.
:14:53. > :14:57.This is your fourth Olympics. You've won six medals and you are
:14:57. > :15:01.steeped in Olympic history. What do the Games mean to you? This is like
:15:01. > :15:06.something that I always come back to every four years. Because it's
:15:06. > :15:10.not every year you don't ever miss them. To come back here for the
:15:10. > :15:16.same people and staff and it's good. Every four years I get a bit older
:15:16. > :15:19.and a bit more successful. From the 19-year-old lad in Sydney and some
:15:19. > :15:29.people think I haven't changed a bit I'm looking forward to going
:15:29. > :15:35.
:15:35. > :15:39.out and trying to win the fourth in Bradley Wiggins there, who today
:15:39. > :15:43.goes for his first ever Olympic medal on the road. His previous six
:15:43. > :15:46.have been on the track. A big day for him. A big day for Team GB. Now
:15:46. > :15:51.the women's time trial is under way. We'll show you live pictures in a
:15:51. > :15:55.moment. Let me tell you about the course. Behind me is Hampton Court
:15:55. > :15:59.Palace. Thousands of cycling fans have made their way here, many of
:15:59. > :16:03.them on the bridge across the Thames. The women come over the
:16:04. > :16:08.bridge and carry straight on. The men will bend around this road and
:16:08. > :16:12.then loop along the river. Their route is a few miles longer than
:16:12. > :16:20.the women's time trial and that will begin in a short time. Bradley
:16:20. > :16:25.Wiggins will begin his time trial at 3.07pm. Let's show you live
:16:25. > :16:29.pictures now. They're under way. The competitors are on the road.
:16:29. > :16:34.The big British hopes are Lizzie Armitstead, who of course, won
:16:34. > :16:39.silver in the road race on Sunday. Regarded as the bigger contender,
:16:39. > :16:45.the specialist is Emma Pooley who won silver in Beijing and who got
:16:45. > :16:50.under way as well a short while ago. The course isn't perhaps as hilly
:16:50. > :16:55.as she would like. According to the experts Emma Pooley stands a very
:16:55. > :16:58.good chance of a medal. All eyes however will be on Bradley Wiggins
:16:58. > :17:02.as he tries to secure historic achievement, his first medal on the
:17:02. > :17:08.track, his seventh medal overall. It would be a great day for him and
:17:08. > :17:11.for Britain if he can deliver. Eight women badminton players have
:17:11. > :17:18.been disqualified from the Olympics for not trying hard enough to win
:17:18. > :17:21.their matches. Four players of players had already qualified for
:17:21. > :17:24.the quarter finals. Then it's claimed that they deliberately
:17:24. > :17:28.tried to lose in order to get an easier draw later in the
:17:28. > :17:31.competition. Today Lord Coe called the incident depressing and
:17:31. > :17:38.unacceptable. Let's speak to our Olympics correspondent James Pearce
:17:38. > :17:43.in the park now. That decision to disqual the players has been
:17:43. > :17:46.announced in the past half hour. In the end the decision taken to
:17:46. > :17:49.protect the integrity of the competition and to punish players
:17:49. > :17:57.who gave spectators who'd paid to come in and watch them nothing
:17:57. > :18:02.worth watching at all. An Olympic match which descended
:18:02. > :18:06.into farce. If you're one of the world's best players, you'd be
:18:06. > :18:11.expected to be able to serve into the court. The Korean and Chinese
:18:11. > :18:14.pairs simply took turns to the shuttlecock into the net. The crowd
:18:14. > :18:22.booed and eventually the referee came onto the court and threatened
:18:22. > :18:26.to disqualify them. The following match and a similar story. This
:18:26. > :18:29.time it was South Korea against Indonesia. The problem was these
:18:29. > :18:36.pairs had already qualified for the knock-out stages and had decided
:18:36. > :18:40.that they'd get a better draw if they lost. I was dismaid and
:18:40. > :18:43.disgusted. I couldn't believe what was going on last night. It was
:18:43. > :18:47.incredible scenes in. All my badminton career I've never seen
:18:47. > :18:51.anything like it. Spectators at the venue last night took to the air
:18:51. > :18:54.waves to vent their frustration. Just really frustrating. You come
:18:54. > :19:01.here to watch entertaining badminton and all you see is them
:19:01. > :19:06.serving it into the net. We thought they'd got somebody off the car
:19:07. > :19:10.park to play. We hit it over the net more. Pathetic. You would
:19:10. > :19:14.expect more from professionals. sport's governing body met this
:19:14. > :19:18.morning to consider what action to take. Other condemned what happened
:19:18. > :19:24.Yeah, depressing. Who wants to sit through something like that? The
:19:24. > :19:29.sadness of it is I was at badminton yesterday and I saw you know a
:19:29. > :19:33.British competitor narrowly fail to progress, but the games were
:19:33. > :19:37.incredibly competitive in front of really large, enthusiastic
:19:37. > :19:42.audiences. Unacceptable. I know the badminton federation really well.
:19:42. > :19:47.They will take it really seriously. It is unacceptable. An evening of
:19:47. > :19:50.shame for the sport of badminton. The tough action take been in
:19:50. > :19:54.throwing them out of the Olympics sends out a clear message that this
:19:54. > :19:58.won't be tolerated but also deprives the competition of some of
:19:58. > :20:03.its most talented players. So tough action taken by the
:20:03. > :20:05.federation. But there is a debate, because the problem is this,
:20:05. > :20:08.although they haven't played within the spirit of the rules, they
:20:08. > :20:16.haven't actually broken rules of the competition. Some people, for
:20:16. > :20:20.example, one of Britain's Olympic rowers Zac Purchase tweeting, "What
:20:20. > :20:25.have they done wrong?" Many other woz have done the same in their
:20:25. > :20:30.position, by realising they get a better draw by losing. But it is
:20:30. > :20:40.about winning an Olympic Gold Medal. about winning an Olympic Gold Medal.
:20:40. > :20:50.
:20:50. > :20:56.Let's look at the overall medal Our top story this lunch time: It's
:20:56. > :20:59.gold number one for Team GB, as Helen Glover and Heather Stanning
:20:59. > :21:04.win the Women's Pair rowing in impressive style. They become the
:21:04. > :21:09.first British women rowers ever to claim Olympic gold. Coming up:
:21:09. > :21:13.Tributes to the American author and commentator Gore Vidal who's died
:21:13. > :21:17.at the age of 86. Later on BBC London: We hear from
:21:17. > :21:27.the gardener keeping the Olympic Park in bloom for the Games. And
:21:27. > :21:36.
:21:36. > :21:39.we'll have all the latest travel In Syria the battle for control of
:21:39. > :21:49.Aleppo continues, opposition forces say government aircraft are still
:21:49. > :21:53.
:21:53. > :21:59.pounding rebel positions in the The battle for Aleppo continues
:21:59. > :22:07.unabated. The army again shelling rebel strong holds to regain
:22:07. > :22:12.control of this crucial city. It's the largest in Syria. With the army
:22:12. > :22:19.offensive now in its fifth day, the number of casualties is getting
:22:19. > :22:22.ever larger. Amongst them, many civilians trapped inside the city.
:22:22. > :22:26.From what we're hearing from opposition activists across the
:22:26. > :22:30.border inside Syria is that the battle for Aleppo could be about to
:22:30. > :22:35.become much more intense. They are saying that a big column of
:22:35. > :22:41.military vehicles is now on its way to Aleppo to reinforce the army
:22:41. > :22:47.units already fighting inside the city. But the rebels remain
:22:47. > :22:51.confident they can hold out against the army. This unverified video
:22:51. > :22:59.shows a large haul of assault rifles taken from captured troops,
:22:59. > :23:04.who the rebels say are demoralised and willing to defect. This is a
:23:04. > :23:09.rebel fighter who's been battling government forces inside Aleppo. He
:23:09. > :23:15.says they've captured heavy weapons in recent days.
:23:15. > :23:24.TRANSLATION: We make a tactical checkpoint and we take eight tanks
:23:24. > :23:29.and also we are using everything to fight the army. Already tens of
:23:29. > :23:34.thousands of civilians have fled Aleppo. Some crossing the border
:23:34. > :23:38.into Jordan and Turkey. With the Syrian government determined to win
:23:38. > :23:48.the battle for Aleppo at any cost, there could soon be a flood of
:23:48. > :23:51.refugees pouring into these camps. A new scheme starts today to make
:23:51. > :23:55.more money available to home owners and businesses. The funds will come
:23:55. > :24:03.from the Bank of England and will be borrowed by banks at below
:24:03. > :24:07.market rates, but only if they pass it on to businesses and consumers.
:24:07. > :24:09.It's a plan hatched by the governor of the Bank of England and the
:24:09. > :24:14.Chancellor designed to get more money flowing round the economy in
:24:14. > :24:18.the shape of new loans to businesses and consumers. And since
:24:18. > :24:21.details were announced last month, some mortgage lenders have already
:24:21. > :24:26.started cutting their rates in anticipation of the cheap funding
:24:26. > :24:32.which comes on stream today. couple of weeks ago, the cheapest
:24:32. > :24:38.five-year fixed rate was 3.69%. We've now got three lenders offered
:24:38. > :24:43.the same time below 3%. Though you need a 40% equity to get the
:24:43. > :24:45.cheaper rates that gives an idea of the impact. The scheme called
:24:45. > :24:49.Funding for Lending will provide cheaper credit to the banking
:24:49. > :24:54.system. The Bank of England hopes to lend around �80 billion to banks
:24:54. > :24:58.and building societies with an interest rate of 0.75%, as long as
:24:58. > :25:01.they maintain or increase lending to companies and households. But if
:25:01. > :25:07.lending falls, there'll be penalties with the bank's borrowing
:25:07. > :25:11.cost rising as high as 2%. For the last few months, the Treasury's
:25:11. > :25:16.been advertising the National Loan Guarantee Scheme, a Government plan
:25:16. > :25:19.designed to encourage business lending by banks. It was only
:25:20. > :25:23.launched in march. Now we're told it's going to be wound down because
:25:23. > :25:26.of the new initiative which started today. Labour claims George
:25:26. > :25:30.Osborne's previous scheme, which was launched with a lot of
:25:30. > :25:34.publicity, has been axed because it wasn't working. This is policy
:25:34. > :25:37.making on the hoof. It's a shambolic way of making decisions
:25:37. > :25:42.to announce a scheme in a March budget and then U-turn and drop it
:25:42. > :25:45.a few months later. But the Treasury argues the new scheme will
:25:45. > :25:52.be more attractive to the banks and that the previous initiative did
:25:52. > :25:57.succeed in boosting lending and is not being abolished.
:25:57. > :26:03.Roulz Rausing, one of Britain's richest men, has pleaded guilty to
:26:03. > :26:09.preventing the lawful burial of his wife eva. It's thought her body may
:26:09. > :26:13.have lain for up to two month's in their home.
:26:13. > :26:19.The American writer Gore Vidal has died at the age of 86. He was one
:26:19. > :26:24.of the country's most distinguished authors, but was well known for his
:26:24. > :26:30.outspoken comments on sex, religion and politics.
:26:30. > :26:35.Gore Vidal was a brilliant writer, with an acid tongue and assured
:26:35. > :26:42.sense of style. Here he is in a single chat show appearance with
:26:42. > :26:46.whit sixes about politics and why he ran for office himself. I like
:26:46. > :26:50.crowds. I have depths of insincerity as yet unplumbed.
:26:50. > :26:54.There's nothing like a crowd to really inspire that. I ran the
:26:54. > :26:58.first time only out of greed and vanity, the two things which drive
:26:58. > :27:01.my character. I'm unlike other people as you know. I suppose you
:27:01. > :27:05.write about what interests you. I have always liked politicians
:27:06. > :27:12.better than people. Do you find you've been able to influence
:27:12. > :27:15.politics in America by your writing? Are you joking? Nobody
:27:15. > :27:19.reads in America. LAUGHTER
:27:19. > :27:23.APPLAUSE He'd been born into one of
:27:23. > :27:26.America's most famous dynasties. His grandfather founded the state
:27:26. > :27:31.of Oklahoma. Advice President Al Gore was a cousin, Jackie Kennedy
:27:31. > :27:37.was his step sister. His first novel in 1946 was an immediate hit.
:27:37. > :27:41.There after he was constantly in demand for film scripts like Ben
:27:41. > :27:44.Hur, newspaper articles, books, a series of masterful historical
:27:44. > :27:48.novels traced American history from the war of independence to the Cold
:27:48. > :27:53.War. He thought the US had become an empire controlled by the few and
:27:53. > :28:00.had forgotten its democratic and republican roots. For years he
:28:00. > :28:06.lived in Italy but visited America often, a biting satirist, a man of
:28:06. > :28:10.formidable intellect who spoke his mind with francness and originality.
:28:10. > :28:14.The American writer Gore Vidal who as died. Now the weather. Chris has
:28:14. > :28:16.the latest for us. Wet and rainy the latest for us. Wet and rainy
:28:17. > :28:21.here at the moment. That's right, hour-by-hour the
:28:21. > :28:25.cloud thickening up over the lidge pick -- Olympic Park. The cloud is
:28:25. > :28:29.producing spots of rain, just showers really. Those showers will
:28:29. > :28:34.ease away through the rest of this afternoon here. Whereas further
:28:34. > :28:39.west we will see further outbreaks of rain from a cold front. You can
:28:39. > :28:42.see this cold front is the rain moving into Wales and south-west
:28:42. > :28:45.England. That rain will be heavy at times as it moves across the
:28:45. > :28:51.Midlands and Wales through this afternoon. To the south we have a
:28:51. > :28:55.clutch of showers working in across the English Channel. They're
:28:55. > :28:58.working in the south-east. A lot of that rain is evaporating so spots
:28:58. > :29:02.of rain here and there. Increasingly through the rest of
:29:02. > :29:07.afternoon, we should see things becoming drier and brighter. So the
:29:07. > :29:13.weather set fair for example, Bradley Wiggins gets on in the
:29:13. > :29:17.cycling in the next 45 minutes or. So later, we'll see Andy Murray
:29:17. > :29:21.with Laura robson in the tennis. The weather should be drier and
:29:21. > :29:25.brighter with a low risk of a shower at Wimbledon. For the rest
:29:25. > :29:31.of the country, patches of rain through central southern England
:29:31. > :29:35.and in the Midlands, heavy for a time in the Midlands. North West
:29:36. > :29:39.England is cloudy and damp. There will be further heavy outbreaks of
:29:39. > :29:44.rain particularly into say sterlingshire, north of the central
:29:44. > :29:47.low lands. In Northern Ireland, one or two showers knocking around. For
:29:47. > :29:51.the football, the men's football taking place at the Millennium
:29:51. > :29:56.Stadium in Cardiff, it's a bright prospect here with sunny spells.
:29:56. > :30:01.Taize mild evening as well. During this evening, we see the rain
:30:01. > :30:05.clearing away, could be an odd spot across East Anglia maybe the far
:30:05. > :30:09.north of Scotland. But it's dry across most parts of the country,
:30:09. > :30:12.temperatures 11 to 15 degrees or so. Tomorrow morning, it starts off
:30:12. > :30:16.bright, most areas see decent sunshine to start the day, however,
:30:16. > :30:20.we're going to see showers quickly across Wales and south-west England.
:30:20. > :30:23.Through the day they push north and eastwards. There's thunder storms
:30:23. > :30:26.into the afternoon. It looks like the worst of the showers will stay
:30:26. > :30:29.to the north and west of London, so for London it's a low risk of a
:30:29. > :30:33.shower, essentially it will stay dry. In the sunshine temperatures
:30:33. > :30:37.into the high teens, if not the low 20s. Friday, another day of
:30:37. > :30:40.sunshine and showers. Again most of the showers will be favoured across
:30:40. > :30:44.western parts of the British Isles. That's where the low pressure is.
:30:44. > :30:47.The London area staying dry and bright. Into the weekend, the low
:30:47. > :30:51.moves over eastwards and that brings increased threat of down
:30:51. > :30:57.pours to the Olympic Park this weekend.
:30:57. > :31:01.A reminder of our top story - Team GB has won its first Gold Medal of
:31:01. > :31:05.the London 2012 Olympics. Helen Glover and Heather Stanning won the