:00:07. > :00:14.The BBC heavily criticised over its handling of the Savile scandal and
:00:14. > :00:17.its aftermath - two damning reports published today. An inquiry into
:00:17. > :00:20.why it dropped a Newsnight investigation into Jimmy Savile -
:00:20. > :00:29.no cover-up but there is stinging criticism of the handling of the
:00:29. > :00:33.scandal. The BBC management system proved completely incapable of
:00:33. > :00:36.dealing with that. The level of chaos and confusion was even
:00:37. > :00:39.greater than was apparent at the time. A second report finds the
:00:39. > :00:47.programme failed to make basic journalistic checks before wrongly
:00:47. > :00:51.implicating Lord McAlpine in allegations of child abuse. The BBC
:00:51. > :00:56.will be able to rebuild its trust but it has to do so by facing up to
:00:56. > :00:59.some of its weaknesses and failings as honestly as possible. But no BBC
:00:59. > :01:03.managers are sacked. Will today draw a line under the crisis? Also
:01:03. > :01:07.tonight. At last, justice for the families of the 96 killed at
:01:07. > :01:10.Hillsborough. The verdicts of accidental death are quashed. On
:01:11. > :01:16.their way home - nearly half of Britain's troops are to be pulled
:01:16. > :01:23.out of Afghanistan by the end of next year. The Swiss bank UBS fined
:01:23. > :01:26.nearly �1 billion for fiddling the rates that banks lend to each other.
:01:26. > :01:36.And the Christmas post stolen from German troops in the Channel
:01:36. > :01:37.
:01:37. > :01:40.Islands during the war and finally delivered after 71 years. And on
:01:40. > :01:50.the BBC News Channel - are so will agree long-term contracts with five
:01:50. > :01:53.
:01:53. > :02:03.British players, including Jack water. Plus Aaron Ramsey. --
:02:03. > :02:04.
:02:05. > :02:07.Good evening and welcome to the BBC News at Six. Two reports into how
:02:07. > :02:12.the BBC handled the Jimmy Saville scandal and its aftermath have
:02:12. > :02:15.raised big questions for its managers and editors. One found
:02:15. > :02:20.that there was no deliberate attempt to cover up information
:02:20. > :02:24.about Savile's abuse. But there was chaos and confusion in the way
:02:25. > :02:27.managers handled the row that followed. A second report found a
:02:28. > :02:31.grave breach of editorial standards in a story which led to false
:02:31. > :02:34.accusations against a senior Conservative peer. But neither
:02:34. > :02:44.report will result in any sackings, a response the corporation insists
:02:44. > :02:45.
:02:45. > :02:49.is fair and proportionate. Mark Easton has more details. Chaos and
:02:49. > :02:53.confusion, disarray and distrust, leadership and organisation in
:02:53. > :02:59.short supply. The inquiry into that had BBC's handling of the Jimmy
:02:59. > :03:03.Savile scandal revealed total crisis. When the full force of the
:03:03. > :03:08.affair broke in October, the BBC management system proved completely
:03:08. > :03:14.incapable of dealing with it. The level of chaos and confusion was
:03:14. > :03:18.even greater than was apparent at the time. Good evening... At the
:03:18. > :03:21.heart of the report is the question - why the BBC abandoned an
:03:21. > :03:26.investigation into evidence that Jimmy Savile was a predatory
:03:26. > :03:30.paedophile just before broadcasting for tribute programmes to him in
:03:30. > :03:34.its Christmas Churchill. E-mails reveal how the future Director-
:03:34. > :03:39.General was warned about Jimmy Savile's dark side before his death
:03:39. > :03:48.and months before the Newsnight investigation. I feel queasy about
:03:48. > :03:53.an obituary... I saw the real truth, but once secret -- senior executive.
:03:53. > :03:58.Later, in what an executive called account is, the director of News
:03:58. > :04:02.told him about the investigation at lunch. But today's report says for
:04:02. > :04:06.intervention was too casual, fleeting and left much uncertainty
:04:06. > :04:11.about the outcome. His response was unnecessarily cautious and he took
:04:11. > :04:15.no steps to review his Christmas chez Joe. I will not get into the
:04:16. > :04:18.details... At the launch of the report, the author found no
:04:18. > :04:22.evidence that the Newsnight investigation had been told to
:04:22. > :04:26.protect the corporation or its Christmas chez Jules. The decision
:04:26. > :04:29.by the editor to drop the original investigation was clearly flawed
:04:29. > :04:34.and the way in which it was taken was wrong, though I believe that
:04:34. > :04:38.was done in good faith. It was not done to protect the Savile tribute
:04:38. > :04:42.programmes or for any improper reason. After the truth about Jimmy
:04:42. > :04:47.Savile emerged in October this year, the report says the BBC was thrown
:04:47. > :04:50.into disarray, a blocked now the news editor explained why he
:04:50. > :04:54.ditched their own investigation and it was full of errors and breached
:04:54. > :04:59.editorial guidelines. When clearly bishop was required, says the
:04:59. > :05:04.report, it was not provided. Pollard is absolutely right in
:05:04. > :05:08.saying that the BBC will be able to rebuild its trust but it has to do
:05:08. > :05:14.so by facing up to some of its weaknesses and failings as honestly
:05:14. > :05:18.as possible. One of those witnesses is perhaps giving George Entwistle
:05:18. > :05:23.a huge pay-off when the report reveals that he ignored e-mails
:05:23. > :05:26.which might well have prevented the tributes to Jimmy Savile going out
:05:27. > :05:29.across the Christmas show Jill. alternative was to go for
:05:29. > :05:34.constructive dismissal, which would have certainly cost more and would
:05:34. > :05:39.have taken longer. The �2 million inquiry into what is described as
:05:39. > :05:42.one of the worst management crisis has been the BBC history, amid
:05:42. > :05:45.disarray, Kells and a lack of leadership. The corporation's
:05:45. > :05:50.critics will be quick to point out that the response from the
:05:50. > :05:54.executive board of the corporation is to sack no-one. Good evening...
:05:54. > :05:58.A new said investigation... Today the BBC published a second internal
:05:58. > :06:02.report into how Newsnight manager put it the former Conservative
:06:02. > :06:06.Party treasurer, Lord McAlpine, in a child abuse scandal. Basic checks
:06:06. > :06:10.were not carried out, the Trust concluded, adding there had been a
:06:10. > :06:14.grave breach which had been coarsely to all concerned. The
:06:14. > :06:17.deputy head of news resigned following the Pollard Review as the
:06:17. > :06:22.editor and deputy editor of Newsnight was moved to new roles.
:06:22. > :06:27.The head of Radio Five Live would oversee news out's McAlpine report
:06:27. > :06:33.and is being moved to a new well. Will anything changed warble people
:06:33. > :06:36.be moved around and moved sideways and promoted and nothing happens? A
:06:37. > :06:42.second investigation focusing on the victims abused by Jimmy Savile
:06:42. > :06:48.will report next year. The fall-out from the scandal isn't yet over.
:06:48. > :06:54.Mark is with me. How much damage do you think has been done to the
:06:54. > :06:57.BBC's reputation? Trust in BBC News, the offer was asked about this and
:06:57. > :07:02.he was pretty confident and said that over time he thought the trust
:07:02. > :07:07.could get back to the kind of levels we knew it four years ago.
:07:07. > :07:12.It was interesting what the acting director-general said, he said yes,
:07:12. > :07:16.it can be rebuilt but we cannot assume that. We have to earn it. It
:07:17. > :07:22.was interesting what the BBC Trust said overall in responding to the
:07:22. > :07:26.Pollard report, it did not say this is structural, this is about silos,
:07:26. > :07:31.it did once say it's about compliance and following editorial
:07:31. > :07:35.guidelines. It said it was about culture, it wanted senior managers
:07:35. > :07:38.to be here properly and set a good example and said staff should stop
:07:38. > :07:45.being insular and stop looking to newspapers and distrusting each
:07:45. > :07:55.other. They see the top priority of the new director-general next year
:07:55. > :07:56.
:07:56. > :07:59.is to sort that out. Thank you very much. Thank you. A former BBC Radio
:07:59. > :08:01.One producer who worked with the presenter has been arrested. It is
:08:01. > :08:06.part of the police investigation into allegations of sexual abuse
:08:06. > :08:11.against Savile and others. 76-year- old Ted Beston is the eighth person
:08:11. > :08:14.to be arrested under Scotland Yard's Operation Yewtree. They have
:08:14. > :08:17.waited more than 20 years and finally the families of the victims
:08:17. > :08:22.of the Hillsborough disaster have got the result they've campaigned
:08:22. > :08:26.for. The High Court has quashed the verdicts of accidental deaths for
:08:26. > :08:28.the 96 Liverpool fans who were crushed that day in 1989. There
:08:28. > :08:36.will now be fresh inquests and criminal prosecutions are being
:08:36. > :08:39.considered. Judith Moritz reports from the High Court. These families
:08:39. > :08:44.and their supporters have waited nearly a quarter of a century for
:08:44. > :08:47.this moment. The UN they learnt that their relatives, who died at
:08:47. > :08:53.Hillsborough, would get a new inquest, the relief and abortion
:08:53. > :08:57.was obvious. We went through the depth and length of the judgment
:08:57. > :09:05.and could not have written it better ourselves. When you get the
:09:05. > :09:08.Lord Chief Justice, and he used vindicated, so it is clear that
:09:08. > :09:13.justice is on its way and we could come out with something like a
:09:13. > :09:17.small step for mankind but it is huge for the families. This was a
:09:17. > :09:21.particularly big day for Anne Williams, she has been as far as
:09:21. > :09:26.the European Court trying to get a new inquest for her 15 year-old son.
:09:26. > :09:32.She has been turned down at every stage, until today. Why Labour not
:09:32. > :09:36.just give us the truth from the outset? And we would still have
:09:36. > :09:42.mourned our children. What you would not have had 23 years.
:09:42. > :09:48.Fighting the system. 96 Liverpool fans were fatally crashed in the
:09:48. > :09:51.stadium disaster in April 1989. At the original inquest, controversial
:09:51. > :09:57.verdicts of accidental death were returned and the coroner suggested
:09:57. > :10:01.that all the deaths were inevitable by the afternoon of the disaster.
:10:01. > :10:05.Today, the High Court heard that was wrong and as a result, the
:10:05. > :10:10.emergency response had never been examined. Giving the ruling, the
:10:10. > :10:14.Lord chief Justice said that over the years there had been a profound,
:10:14. > :10:21.almost palpable sense by the family is that justice had not been done.
:10:21. > :10:26.He praised their determination and they responded, breaking out into
:10:26. > :10:30.spontaneous applause, one woman shouting, thank you, your honour...
:10:30. > :10:33.The catalyst for the decision was a recent publication of the
:10:33. > :10:39.Hillsborough Independent Panel report, which found new medical
:10:39. > :10:43.evidence that many fans might have been saved. When I read the
:10:43. > :10:48.Independent publication of documents and that report, it was
:10:48. > :10:52.overwhelmingly clear that the inquests had proceeded on seriously
:10:52. > :10:58.flawed basis. The youngest to die at Hillsborough was just 10 years
:10:58. > :11:03.old. The oldest was 67. More than a third were teenagers. It is likely
:11:03. > :11:06.to be many months before the new inquest gets underway, but when it
:11:06. > :11:13.does, the families said they will finally feel that justice is being
:11:13. > :11:16.done. Nearly half of all British troops currently serving in
:11:16. > :11:19.Afghanistan will return home by the end of next year. The UK currently
:11:19. > :11:26.has 9,500 troops in Helmand Province, although 500 will return
:11:26. > :11:28.before Christmas this year. All NATO operations are due to end by
:11:28. > :11:38.2014 with responsibility being transferred to Afghan forces.
:11:38. > :11:39.
:11:39. > :11:44.Jonathan Beale reports. That few days ago they were on patrol. No
:11:44. > :11:49.gunshots, no clear threat. Perhaps a sign that the security situation
:11:49. > :11:54.is improving. Last night, those same soldiers were getting ready to
:11:54. > :12:01.come home early. They are among the first 500 combat troops to be
:12:02. > :12:08.leaving Afghanistan for good. But with mixed emotions. Leaving three
:12:08. > :12:13.months in, that was disappointing, but we have to be sensible. Look at
:12:13. > :12:18.the bigger picture. And transition is going faster than expected.
:12:18. > :12:21.cost of that transition, handing over responsibility to the Afghans,
:12:21. > :12:27.the Prime Minister announced that more troops will be coming home
:12:27. > :12:29.next year. Not hundreds of thousands. Because of the success
:12:30. > :12:34.of our forces and the Afghan national security forces and the
:12:34. > :12:38.fact that we're moving from mentoring at Italian levelled to
:12:38. > :12:46.brigade level by the end of 2013, we will be able to see troops
:12:46. > :12:50.coming home in to a relatively even steps - 2013, 2014. The British
:12:50. > :12:55.prisons in Afghanistan -- presents -- peaked with 9500. The 500 coming
:12:55. > :13:02.home brings that to 9000. That will go down to just over 5000 by the
:13:02. > :13:06.end of next year. With all British troops out by the end of 2014.
:13:06. > :13:09.Along with their NATO allies, they have started the big move. These
:13:09. > :13:15.British troops are demolishing a patrol base while others have been
:13:15. > :13:19.handed over. But doubts still remain as to whether the Afghan
:13:19. > :13:23.army is ready to fight an insurgency that has not yet been
:13:23. > :13:27.defeated all on its own. They are concerned about losing some of the
:13:27. > :13:31.intelligence assets and surveillance. Those are the things
:13:31. > :13:33.they leaned upon that they cannot replicate. But their own
:13:33. > :13:39.intelligence and understanding of the population is far better than
:13:40. > :13:45.ours. The exit from Afghanistan is already underway. This is a clear
:13:45. > :13:49.sign that the war is now winding down. These are among the first 500
:13:49. > :13:55.to leave the country for good. And soon, they will be joined by
:13:55. > :14:00.thousands more. These will be back for Christmas. But 438 British
:14:00. > :14:07.troops never made it home. And no- one can say with certainty that the
:14:07. > :14:10.sacrifice has been worthwhile. The Swiss bank UBS has been fined
:14:10. > :14:14.nearly �1 billion for attempting to fiddle the interest rate at which
:14:14. > :14:16.banks lend to each other. It's the largest ever fine of its kind and
:14:16. > :14:19.the second biggest banking fine ever. The City Watchdog said
:14:19. > :14:29.misconduct at the bank had been extensive and widespread. Robert
:14:29. > :14:30.
:14:30. > :14:34.Peston has more details. UBS is a giant global bank caught trying to
:14:34. > :14:39.manipulate important interest rates and punished by regulators with
:14:39. > :14:42.�940 million of fines and confiscations of ill-gotten gains.
:14:42. > :14:46.This is some of the most shocking this conduct we have seen. This was
:14:46. > :14:50.prevalent across the firm for a period of five years with people
:14:50. > :14:53.seeking to manipulate and an internationally used benchmarks
:14:54. > :14:58.which is used for trillions of pounds worth of contracts in order
:14:58. > :15:08.to benefit their own position. Traders colluded with other firms
:15:08. > :15:12.
:15:12. > :15:16.in the market rigging. One banker Is a �1 billion fine too much, too
:15:16. > :15:20.little or about right? Well I'd say it's not about the fines, what we
:15:20. > :15:24.have to see is criminal sanctions, the money is really meaningless,
:15:24. > :15:26.it's tax deductible. The Government's amenning the Financial
:15:26. > :15:31.Services Bill to make sure the fines in future go to good causes,
:15:31. > :15:35.not back to the regulator but it's got to be about criminal sanctions.
:15:35. > :15:39.At UBS the market manipulation was so widespread and systemic
:15:39. > :15:44.according to regulators, that it's now impossible to have confidence
:15:44. > :15:47.in any of the main LIBOR prices over a period of years. That really
:15:47. > :15:51.matters, because LIBOR rates underpin the prices of more than
:15:51. > :15:56.300 trillion dollars of financial products sold to investors and
:15:56. > :16:01.people and as those investors start to sue they'll be looking for huge
:16:01. > :16:05.damages, damages that could turn out to be a multiple, even of the
:16:05. > :16:10.huge bank fines. More than a dozen big banks are
:16:10. > :16:16.being investigated for rate-rigging. This year, Barclays was hit with
:16:16. > :16:20.�290 million in fines and penalties. Martin Taylor was Barclays's boss
:16:20. > :16:25.before the rot set in. We had a rotten culture in a number of
:16:25. > :16:29.institutions in the pre-crash City, no question about that. The real
:16:29. > :16:32.issue is are these so dreadful and I believe they are, that the people
:16:32. > :16:37.in charge of the banks will now get a grip?
:16:37. > :16:41.After the humbling of UBS, will come the spanking of RBS, also
:16:41. > :16:47.implicated in the LIBOR scandal and early in the new year, due to be
:16:47. > :16:53.fined more than its great rival, Barclays.
:16:53. > :16:59.Our top story tonight: The BBC is heavily criticised over
:16:59. > :17:09.its handling of the Savile scandal and its aftermath, in two reports
:17:09. > :17:10.
:17:10. > :17:15.published today. Coming up: A Christmas cracker from 1902, the
:17:15. > :17:23.world's earliest recording of festive celebrations.
:17:23. > :17:27.Later in the business news, brought down, UBS pays fines for rigging an
:17:27. > :17:37.interest rate and Nissan will build a new luxury car in Britain
:17:37. > :17:40.creating jobs. Hundreds of cards and letters
:17:40. > :17:43.written by German soldiers who occupied the Channel Islands during
:17:43. > :17:46.the Second World War have been discovered 70 years on. They were
:17:47. > :17:49.stolen by the resistance. Now, the families of those to whom the
:17:49. > :17:56.letters were addressed are finally being sent home. Robert Hall
:17:56. > :18:02.reports. On a lane in the Frankfurt suburbs, a late delivery nears the
:18:02. > :18:07.end of its journey. Festive greetings from a war-time past.
:18:07. > :18:12.Dear Hans, dear Mary, I wish you a merry Christmas, but what I hope
:18:12. > :18:17.most is that the war will come to an end and soon. Thousands of
:18:17. > :18:20.German soldiers were posted to the channel aoeu aoeu -- Channel
:18:20. > :18:24.Islands during the occupation. Around them, communities looked for
:18:24. > :18:28.ways of fighting back. During the years of occupation, islanders did
:18:28. > :18:34.what they could to resist, to obstruct or to irritate the German
:18:34. > :18:39.forces who thronged their streets and in the run-up to Christmas in
:18:39. > :18:41.in 1941 a group hatched a plan which begins this story but
:18:41. > :18:47.remained a secret for years. These letters and cards were part of the
:18:47. > :18:54.haul they stole from the German Army Post Office. It was a high-
:18:54. > :19:00.risk plan. Bob lived through the occupation. If the offence was
:19:00. > :19:05.considered seriously enough, they would be taken to a prison on the
:19:05. > :19:10.continent, run by the SS where things were very tough. Some of
:19:10. > :19:17.those people, quite a number, did not come back, ever. My dearest
:19:17. > :19:20.Kate, I hope you... conspirators swore secrecy but
:19:20. > :19:25.decades later the letters were delivered to Jersey's archive.
:19:25. > :19:29.Weeks of postal detective work in Jersey and in a much changed
:19:29. > :19:34.Germany finally led to the first special delivery. Please tell him
:19:34. > :19:38.we are pleased to be delivering this letter today. Engelbert
:19:38. > :19:42.Bergmann was delighted to receive a card originally intended for his
:19:43. > :19:51.grandfather and more letters are now on the move. Family memories
:19:51. > :19:54.stirred once again by a seasonal gesture of goodwill.
:19:54. > :19:56.Councils in England will see their overall spending power cut by 1.7%
:19:56. > :20:00.next year, although some authorities will see their budgets
:20:00. > :20:03.down by nearly 10%. Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles
:20:03. > :20:09.told MPs the settlement represented a bargain for local authorities and
:20:09. > :20:16.promised Government support so that council taxes could be frozen. Our
:20:16. > :20:20.local government correspondent Mike Sergeant reports.
:20:20. > :20:25.Will councils still provide all of these services with less and less
:20:25. > :20:31.money from central Government? Ministers think they can, but only
:20:31. > :20:36.if they become more efficient and better at generating money locally.
:20:36. > :20:42.This settlement recognises the responsibility of local Government
:20:42. > :20:48.to find sensible savings and to make better use of its resources.
:20:48. > :20:52.It marks a new settlement for local Government based on self-
:20:52. > :20:57.determination and financial independence. Town halls are two
:20:57. > :21:02.years into this spending squeeze and they say they've made easy
:21:02. > :21:06.savings already, protecting services is getting harder. Are
:21:06. > :21:10.people noticing the impact? Ron certainly has. He works for the
:21:10. > :21:14.city council in Birmingham. Are you in fear for your job? Definitely,
:21:14. > :21:19.yeah, I don't see myself any different than anybody else. I have
:21:19. > :21:25.seen colleagues over the last two years go. Some good skilled people.
:21:25. > :21:29.It's sad. Many others, though, see much less -- seem much less
:21:29. > :21:33.concerned about finances. To me I don't see a massive change to my
:21:33. > :21:39.life because of the council cuts. Personally, it hasn't really
:21:39. > :21:43.affected me yet. I am very happy to say. But I feel it will do shortly.
:21:43. > :21:46.But the leaders of some of England's biggest cities are
:21:46. > :21:50.demanding an urgent meeting with the Secretary of State. They're
:21:50. > :21:54.warning of a looming financial crisis. There are disadvantaged
:21:54. > :21:57.individuals and communities across Birmingham who are going to see
:21:57. > :22:00.services cut. You can't get away from this. It's not about solving a
:22:00. > :22:05.budget problem through efficiency savings, we are going to have to
:22:05. > :22:10.make cuts which will affect the livelihoods, the quality of life of
:22:10. > :22:14.residents of this city. What happens if the funding isn't there?
:22:14. > :22:17.This training centre for social workers in Birmingham gets by with
:22:17. > :22:23.no council money at all. One of its directors had this message for
:22:23. > :22:27.those looking for other sources of funding. Think outside the box,
:22:27. > :22:31.guys, you can do it. It's just about using your imagination.
:22:31. > :22:35.Councils in Wales and Scotland are getting a small increase next year,
:22:35. > :22:39.but with costs increasing all the time, local authorities in England
:22:39. > :22:47.are today facing hard choices, about how to keep services going on
:22:47. > :22:50.an ever tighter budget. Thirty police officers are now
:22:50. > :22:52.investigating allegations that a serving officer falsely claimed to
:22:52. > :22:55.have heard a row between the former Government Chief Whip, Andrew
:22:55. > :22:57.Mitchell, and Downing Street police. Mr Mitchell resigned from the
:22:57. > :23:01.Government over the incident, admitting he did swear at the
:23:01. > :23:07.officers but denying that he'd called them "plebs". Our political
:23:07. > :23:12.correspondent Norman Smith is in Downing Street tonight. 30 officers,
:23:12. > :23:16.I suppose it's a sign of how serious this affair is getting?
:23:16. > :23:20.view in Downing Street tonight is that there are an awful lot more
:23:20. > :23:24.questions to answer about exactly what happened at the gates behind
:23:24. > :23:27.me during that altercation with Andrew Mitchell and the police.
:23:27. > :23:30.Questions about the validity of the claim that he called police
:23:30. > :23:36.officers plebs, questions too about the conduct of the police and
:23:36. > :23:39.whether we are talking about one rouge officer who we now know
:23:39. > :23:43.fabricated that e-mail claiming to be a member of the public who heard
:23:43. > :23:48.the police being called plebs, or whether we are talking about a
:23:48. > :23:52.wider police conspiracy because of the leaking of the police log book
:23:52. > :23:56.containing details of that encounter. What we do know is the
:23:56. > :24:00.Met are not discounting the suggestions of a possible
:24:00. > :24:05.conspiracy and of - and have assigned 30 officers to a case
:24:05. > :24:09.which they say will not be resolved swiftly. It doesn't mean Andrew
:24:09. > :24:15.Mitchell's version has been vindicated but as one of Mr
:24:15. > :24:19.Cameron's aides put it to me, he is in a better position. Thank you.
:24:19. > :24:23.Nissan says it's investing �250 million in its sun derland plant.
:24:23. > :24:27.It's going to be spent on building a new small luxury car and will
:24:27. > :24:35.create hundreds of jobs on Wearside. The first vehicle is expected to
:24:35. > :24:38.roll off the production line in 2015.
:24:38. > :24:40.Curators at the National Museum of London have discovered what are
:24:40. > :24:43.thought to be the first ever recordings of a family Christmas
:24:43. > :24:47.made over a century ago. The wax cylinder recordings of songs and
:24:47. > :24:52.hymns were made by the Wall family between 1902 and 1917 and are now
:24:52. > :24:58.being broadcast for the first time, as Pallab Ghosh reports. This wax
:24:58. > :25:02.sill independent der con-- cylinder contains events that took place
:25:02. > :25:12.more than 100 years ago. When it was played by curators, this is
:25:12. > :25:16.
:25:16. > :25:22.what they heard. # England stop... The recording is
:25:22. > :25:30.from 1904 of a a seven-year-old boy singing to his family. The scene
:25:30. > :25:34.here recreated by his great grandson, Leslie. When I first
:25:34. > :25:38.heard the recordings I have to say that the hairs on my arms stood on
:25:38. > :25:43.end. It was fantastic. It was really like a window opening into
:25:43. > :25:47.the past and like being in the same room. The recordings are of the
:25:47. > :25:51.Wall family who lived in north London. Cromwell, in the middle,
:25:51. > :25:56.was the head of the family. He with his wife on the right, and their
:25:56. > :26:04.nine children, loved to sing. Especially at Christmas. The family
:26:04. > :26:08.would gather around this this graphophone to make recordings. The
:26:08. > :26:11.oldest is this one from 1902 and it's thought to be the oldest ever
:26:11. > :26:16.recording of a family on Christmas Day.
:26:17. > :26:21.Here we are again, another Christmas, 1904. It was only
:26:21. > :26:25.recently that the descendents of the family heard the recordings.
:26:26. > :26:30.Some of them remember that the grand parties went on for years to
:26:30. > :26:40.come. That would have been typical of my grandfather, making them sing
:26:40. > :26:43.
:26:43. > :26:47.like that! The recordings are a tale of
:26:47. > :26:57.Christmas past, of warm gatherings, a tradition that Cromwell Wall's
:26:57. > :26:59.
:26:59. > :27:03.family has continued to this day. # The little Lord Jesus...
:27:03. > :27:10.Getting us into the Christmas mood, now let's look at the weather.
:27:10. > :27:14.Christmas this year doesn't look white at the moment but it does
:27:14. > :27:18.look wet between now and Christmas. We have a couple of amber warnings
:27:18. > :27:23.in force, be prepared for some problems. The first area of concern
:27:23. > :27:26.is south-west England and south- east Wales tonight as another pulse
:27:26. > :27:31.of rain arrives. It returns to Northern Ireland and all parts of
:27:31. > :27:35.the UK smothered with rain by first thing in the morning. Snow on the
:27:35. > :27:39.tops of Pennines and hills and mountains of Scotland. It will feel
:27:39. > :27:43.cold tomorrow with the wet and windy conditions which prevail for
:27:43. > :27:47.pretty much all of us. The rain extends to northern Scotland.
:27:47. > :27:51.Perhaps it will turn a little bit drier across parts of south-west
:27:51. > :27:55.England later, but for the majority across England and Wales expect
:27:55. > :27:58.rain to come and go throughout the day and a strong wind also. That
:27:58. > :28:02.rain is going to be heavy. We could see problems with this rain
:28:02. > :28:06.building up almost anywhere. It's a wet day for Northern Ireland and
:28:06. > :28:11.particularly wet across the eastern parts of Scotland. There will be
:28:11. > :28:14.snow on the hills, and that rain building up through tomorrow and
:28:14. > :28:18.tomorrow night so that is the second amber warning we have in
:28:18. > :28:21.force here, again be prepared for problems. Elsewhere, the rain
:28:21. > :28:24.starts to ease into Friday. For much of England and Wales and
:28:24. > :28:28.Northern Ireland it's a dry day on Friday with sunshine. However, it
:28:28. > :28:31.is the shortest day. There is more rain gathering to spread in across
:28:31. > :28:35.the country through the weekend and beyond into Christmas week. It
:28:35. > :28:38.looks wet and windy. If you are after a drier day, Friday is your
:28:38. > :28:44.best bet. Many of you will be making travel plans over the next
:28:44. > :28:47.few days and that rain could cause disruption.
:28:47. > :28:51.There is the floodline number, which is also on the BBC weather