26/07/2011

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:00:05. > :00:07.Hello and welcome to Midlands Today, with Nick Owen and Suzanne Virdee.

:00:07. > :00:15.While the national economy almost stagnates, signs of a genuine

:00:15. > :00:20.recovery in the motor industry. want to create more jobs in the

:00:20. > :00:23.area and bring in more money, and we want to export more, and we are

:00:23. > :00:27.doing all those things. Reliving her dramatic rescue, the

:00:27. > :00:30.pensioner who thought she was going to die after falling down a well.

:00:31. > :00:34.can remember seeing the wall of the well and then just going down into

:00:34. > :00:37.the water, and I didn't think, that's it.

:00:37. > :00:41.A lorry driver is killed and a motorway's closed for more than 12

:00:41. > :00:51.hours, causing rush-hour chaos. And the schoolgirl who's tee-ed up

:00:51. > :00:59.

:00:59. > :01:02.her place against the world's best Good evening and welcome to

:01:02. > :01:06.Tuesday's Midlands Today, from the BBC. Tonight, the economy's still

:01:06. > :01:08.in the doldrums but there are signs of a recovery in the car industry.

:01:08. > :01:12.Two of our biggest carmakers recently announced plans to expand,

:01:12. > :01:16.and a major components firm has re- hired workers it was forced to lay

:01:16. > :01:20.off during the slump. And today the Society of Motor Manufacturers said

:01:20. > :01:23.it expects that recovery to continue into next year and beyond.

:01:23. > :01:27.Some positive news on a day that new figures show productivity in

:01:27. > :01:32.the UK is barely growing at all. Giles Latcham reports now on the

:01:32. > :01:36.drive for jobs. It's getting busier at the biggest

:01:36. > :01:39.wheel-maker in the Black Country. Two years ago, in the jaws of

:01:39. > :01:46.recession, a third of the workforce was laid off and the company came

:01:46. > :01:51.close to collapse. A lot of the lads were coming in and they would

:01:51. > :01:56.not know if they were going to be in a job next week. It is an

:01:56. > :02:01.amazing turnaround. It isn't until you sort of stand here and look

:02:01. > :02:04.back that you realise how much we have achieved over such a short

:02:04. > :02:08.period, to be honest. Before the recession, Rimstock was turning out

:02:08. > :02:11.about 9,000 wheels a week, many of them for motorbikes. In the slump

:02:12. > :02:20.that fell to about 3,000, but now it's back up to 5,000, and the

:02:20. > :02:24.kinds of wheels they're making has changed too. These wheels are for a

:02:24. > :02:27.company that specialises in upgrading Range Rovers of

:02:27. > :02:31.Premiership footballers and other celebrities. They are not cheap,

:02:31. > :02:35.they are aspirational, and an example of how this company is

:02:35. > :02:41.diversifying into a niche market to survive. We have increased our

:02:41. > :02:44.level of employees. We are at 250 people now. We have some real

:02:44. > :02:51.opportunities going for it but every day is a challenge. It is far

:02:51. > :02:54.from easy. But higher very confident about our future. -- but

:02:54. > :02:57.I am very confident. Elsewhere, Jaguar Land Rover seem set to

:02:57. > :02:59.expand beyond Castle Bromwich and Solihull, to build a new plant near

:03:00. > :03:03.Wolverhampton. BMW is planning major investment at Hams Hall in

:03:03. > :03:06.Warwickshire, to build on the success of the Mini. But only last

:03:06. > :03:09.week, a components firm in Burton- on-Trent, Kongsberg, said it was

:03:09. > :03:12.moving to Poland, with the loss of 150 jobs. It helps that Rimstock's

:03:12. > :03:15.marketing director is also a leading touring car driver. They've

:03:15. > :03:24.ventured into motorsport with Honda and developed new products along

:03:24. > :03:28.the way. We sell and we test wheels on the track in race situations,

:03:28. > :03:31.and then the innovation we have done with those comes onto the road

:03:31. > :03:34.market. There's no reinventing the wheel, but innovation's given this

:03:34. > :03:37.firm a future once very much in doubt.

:03:37. > :03:42.Our business correspondent, Peter Plisner, is outside the Jaguar

:03:42. > :03:45.factory at Castle Bromwich now. Peter, today disappointing news

:03:45. > :03:52.nationally on the economy, so how are big car manufacturers like

:03:52. > :04:02.Jaguar Land Rover managing to do so well? It's a mixed picture. Across

:04:02. > :04:03.

:04:03. > :04:09.the UK, manufacturing is up but sales are down. Jaguar sales in

:04:09. > :04:13.June are down almost 18% when compared with June 2010. Of course,

:04:13. > :04:17.sales elsewhere in the world aren't as bad. Emerging markets like China

:04:17. > :04:20.and India are doing really well. Components firms who were very

:04:20. > :04:24.optimistic earlier in the year are now much more pessimistic about the

:04:24. > :04:27.future. As you saw in the film, many have had to diversify or move

:04:27. > :04:32.into niche markets to survive the recession. Some are still

:04:32. > :04:36.struggling. What about all those jobs that JLR said they would be

:04:36. > :04:39.creating? Are they still going ahead? Well, generally, according

:04:39. > :04:42.to a recent survey, many companies have called a halt of new

:04:42. > :04:45.recruitment, preferring instead to get more productivity out of their

:04:45. > :04:48.existing workforce. The good new is there's no increase in redundancies

:04:48. > :04:51.at the moment. At JLR, it's different. They are still

:04:51. > :04:54.recruiting as they need to develop new product and fulfil demand from

:04:54. > :05:00.abroad. Today the company told me they were looking for 1,300 people

:05:00. > :05:02.and they've now recruited around 900 of them.

:05:02. > :05:07.Still ahead in tonight's programme, anti-social behaviour or just high

:05:07. > :05:17.jinks? As one local authority calls for greater tolerance, claims we're

:05:17. > :05:20.being too hard on the youth of A grandmother who can't swim has

:05:20. > :05:25.been re-living the moment she was rescued from more than 30 feet down

:05:25. > :05:29.a well in her garden. Denise Brooks spent an hour and a half clinging

:05:29. > :05:33.to a rope. She'd fallen off a ladder as she tried to retrieve a

:05:33. > :05:36.water pump. She says she thought she was going to die. Andy Newman

:05:36. > :05:39.reports. Staring into the abyss. Denise

:05:40. > :05:46.Brooks poses with her husband next to the well where clinging to life

:05:46. > :05:49.meant clinging to a rope for an hour and a half. She fell from the

:05:49. > :05:53.bottom rung of a ladder which had been lowered into cavity to

:05:53. > :06:00.retrieve a pump. As she dropped, she went under the water, and she

:06:00. > :06:03.can't swim. It all happened in a split second, but how can remember

:06:03. > :06:10.seeing the wall of the well and then just going down under the

:06:10. > :06:15.water. And I did think, that's it. In that split second, I thought,

:06:15. > :06:19.that is it. I am not going to come back up. But come back, she did,

:06:19. > :06:26.somehow managing to wedge herself above the water, holding on to a

:06:26. > :06:30.rope attached to them as income. Had I tried to go down, I could

:06:30. > :06:34.have slipped and toppled on proper for. I could have knocked bricks on

:06:34. > :06:39.top of her. When the emergency services arrived at their home,

:06:39. > :06:46.Denise was appalled to the surface, where medical teams were waiting to

:06:46. > :06:49.attend to have. The Midlands Air Ambulance and an emergency response

:06:49. > :06:53.team were called to her home. In the event, she was slightly

:06:53. > :06:57.hyperthermic but basically OK. was incredibly calm for somebody

:06:57. > :07:01.who had fallen and had been stuck down a well. But she was

:07:01. > :07:06.communicating with us the whole time so we knew she did not have

:07:06. > :07:14.life-threatening injuries. I have got out to tell the tale. Would you

:07:14. > :07:21.be going down again? No! I will not. And the ambulance people said she

:07:21. > :07:24.seemed amazingly calm. It is that that helped her out. Incredible!

:07:24. > :07:28."A massive fireball" - that's how witnesses have described a crash on

:07:28. > :07:31.the M5 which killed a driver. Some said the impact shook nearby homes.

:07:31. > :07:34.The lorry ploughed into a bridge near Junction 3 at Halesowen in the

:07:34. > :07:38.early hours of morning. The motorway was shut for more than 12

:07:38. > :07:41.hours because of fears the bridge was unsafe. As Ben Godfrey reports,

:07:41. > :07:45.thousands of drivers were caught in the chaos.

:07:45. > :07:48.This was all that was left of the HGV, such was the force of the

:07:48. > :07:51.impact with the Carters Lane bridge near Quinton. The driver, a 59-

:07:51. > :07:56.year-old man from Cheshire, had been heading northbound on the M5

:07:56. > :08:05.shortly before 2am this morning. He was killed instantly. People living

:08:05. > :08:10.nearby reported hearing loud explosions. As we rushed out of our

:08:10. > :08:15.house, the lorry was engulfed in flames and there was a series of

:08:15. > :08:20.three or four explosions. It was quite terrifying. Police closed the

:08:20. > :08:24.motorway completely between Junctions 3 and 4. You can see the

:08:24. > :08:28.fire has completely engulfed the cabin of a lorry. Investigators

:08:28. > :08:32.have been here for more than 12 hours. The accident happened at a

:08:32. > :08:38.time when overhead lights on this stretch of the M5 were turned off,

:08:38. > :08:43.under a scheme to reduce pollution. At this stage, we cannot confirm

:08:43. > :08:48.what happened. But we know a lorry came in contact to -- with the

:08:48. > :08:51.bridge. Police are hoping other motorists will come forward. Late

:08:51. > :08:53.this afternoon, the lorry was taken away for further analysis.

:08:53. > :08:56.Engineers were satisfied that the bridge, despite some external

:08:56. > :09:00.cracks, is structurally safe. The motorway has re-opened for the rush

:09:00. > :09:04.hour but may close for a time overnight, for road resurfacing.

:09:04. > :09:06.And police are warning drivers to avoid the M42 tonight close to its

:09:06. > :09:10.junction with the M5, after an accident has shut the northbound

:09:10. > :09:12.carriageway. Trading Standards officers have

:09:12. > :09:17.carried out raids across Birmingham to remove potentially harmful clay

:09:17. > :09:22.tablets from sale. The so-called Sikor tablets are traditionally

:09:22. > :09:24.used by pregnant Asian women as a remedy for cravings. But samples

:09:24. > :09:34.recently bought in Birmingham were found to contain dangerously high

:09:34. > :09:35.

:09:35. > :09:38.levels of lead. Are we growing less tolerant of the

:09:38. > :09:41.behaviour of youngsters? As the summer holidays start, street

:09:41. > :09:45.wardens in Coventry are handing out leaflets urging adults not to be

:09:45. > :09:47.too quick to judge. They're pointing out that most young people

:09:47. > :09:50.hanging out on street corners aren't looking for trouble and are

:09:50. > :09:53.only doing what their own parents and grandparents did. Here's Kevin

:09:53. > :09:58.Reide. Is this anti-social behaviour or

:09:58. > :10:01.kids just doing what they do? And is it intimidating to others? With

:10:01. > :10:04.six weeks of school holidays ahead, Coventry Council aims to quell any

:10:04. > :10:13.tensions before they begin, and its wardens are spreading the message

:10:13. > :10:16.with these leaflets. It is about tolerance of youths and then need

:10:16. > :10:19.to hang out and be together. leaflet states that 96.5% of young

:10:19. > :10:24.people never get into serious trouble with the police, and it

:10:24. > :10:28.asks older people living in the area to be more tolerant. Young

:10:28. > :10:32.people in large groups can be intimidating. Part of the problem

:10:32. > :10:36.could be that as people get older, they forget what it is like to be

:10:36. > :10:40.young and hang around with your friends and talk. And for the

:10:40. > :10:42.majority of young people, that is all they're doing. It's a tricky

:10:42. > :10:46.message to get across. Willenhall has higher-than-average social

:10:46. > :10:49.depravation and high levels of unemployment. There's not a lot for

:10:49. > :10:51.young people to do, and with nearly �500,000 in cuts to Coventry

:10:51. > :10:56.Council's youth service provision, there're fears there'll be even

:10:56. > :11:00.less. We are going to use this Dickie Dodds and I want you to put

:11:00. > :11:03.the dot where you live. But this Junior Rangers scheme has just been

:11:03. > :11:08.launched, and aims to get children and teenagers interested in where

:11:08. > :11:12.they live. It encourages people to explore and use the green space on

:11:12. > :11:17.their doorstep and brings lots of people from across the community

:11:17. > :11:20.together. It also means some pride of ownership for those green spaces,

:11:20. > :11:23.which will be beneficial in the long run. It is great because it

:11:23. > :11:27.get you out of the house and you get to do things like walking

:11:27. > :11:32.through the forest. You get to see places you might not have seen

:11:32. > :11:36.before. It gets the kids learning about their environment and getting

:11:36. > :11:41.involved. And doing things and sharing experiences with other

:11:42. > :11:44.people. It's one of a number of schemes in the area aimed at

:11:44. > :11:47.tackling anti-social behaviour. The holidays are just beginning in

:11:47. > :11:49.Coventry, and it's hoped there'll be just enough for youngsters to do

:11:50. > :11:52.to keep them on the right side of the law.

:11:53. > :12:01.And Kevin joins us now from Willenhall in Coventry. Over to you,

:12:01. > :12:05.Kevin. I am now joined by a Sylvia Lanigan, who is chair of the

:12:05. > :12:09.Willenhall Community Forum and also lives in the area. You have seen

:12:09. > :12:13.the cuts coming. Can you sustain the level of activities? It is

:12:13. > :12:16.difficult because a lot of the activities we put on a short-term

:12:16. > :12:22.funded and you have got activities for the children and then you run

:12:22. > :12:26.out of money and they take them away. So there is no continuity.

:12:26. > :12:32.The children behind me have just finished a bike project, but when

:12:32. > :12:36.the money runs out, how will we keep it going? You have been

:12:37. > :12:41.unemployed up until recently, haven't you? How difficult is it to

:12:41. > :12:46.keep children occupied? It is difficult but it is not impossible.

:12:46. > :12:52.It does not have to be the theme parks. They can ride their bikes

:12:52. > :12:57.and there of projects like this now. It gets them out of the house and

:12:57. > :13:00.off the computers. So there's a lot of things you can do. So the

:13:00. > :13:04.message here is if the community pulls together and keeps to these

:13:04. > :13:11.schemes and keeps them running, and anti-social behaviour is not

:13:11. > :13:15.necessarily a problem. They look like models citizens to

:13:15. > :13:19.me any way! Have you been affected by anti-

:13:19. > :13:24.social behaviour? Are you concerned about the impact of cuts on youth

:13:24. > :13:27.projects? If so, we'd like to hear from you. Get in touch and we could

:13:27. > :13:30.be telling your story later this week.

:13:30. > :13:33.Still to come, high excitement in the world of science as researchers

:13:33. > :13:38.in Birmingham get closer to finding the missing link that's eluded

:13:38. > :13:41.generations of physicists. And from physics to meteorology.

:13:41. > :13:44.I'll be here with the weather forecast, and it's looking pretty

:13:44. > :13:54.good for the next few days, with some cloud, some sunshine, and

:13:54. > :13:55.

:13:55. > :14:00.feeling warm as well. Join me for As a boy, Nathan Wood was severely

:14:00. > :14:04.burned by a 25,000 volt overhead train cable. He says it still

:14:04. > :14:07.affects him today. As the school holidays begin, Nathan has been

:14:07. > :14:12.talking about his ordeal in the hope of stopping other youngsters

:14:12. > :14:16.from risking their lives. Bob Hockenhull reports.

:14:16. > :14:20.This railway bridge will haunt Nathan Wood from Tamworth forever.

:14:20. > :14:23.As a 12-year-old, Nathan suffered a severe electric shock. He was

:14:23. > :14:33.playing a game throwing a discarded electric wire, when it hit an

:14:33. > :14:33.

:14:33. > :14:39.overhead cable. I tell you something, it was like hell. I was

:14:39. > :14:43.screaming. The pain was unbearable. I thought I was going to dive. I

:14:43. > :14:48.broke a lot of heart and upset a lot of people. For what I thought

:14:48. > :14:53.was fun. It was not worth it. meant a year off school for Nathan.

:14:53. > :14:57.Now 25 and a father of two, he's still suffering the consequences.

:14:57. > :15:01.suffer in the cold. I have got to be careful in the sun because of

:15:01. > :15:07.the skin grafts, which mean I could get cancer. This CCTV footage shows

:15:07. > :15:14.many children still have a blatant disregard for safety, though.

:15:14. > :15:17.Network Rail's saved it -- concern is that it is still a problem with

:15:17. > :15:21.children. Nearly two-thirds of parents have not told their

:15:21. > :15:26.children about the dangers of railway lines and four intended not

:15:26. > :15:28.realise that overhead cables power of the trains. Deaths from

:15:28. > :15:32.accidents on railway lines fell nationally last year to 27,

:15:32. > :15:37.compared with 49 the year before. But Network Rail says trespassing

:15:37. > :15:41.is still a major problem, particularly in school holidays.

:15:41. > :15:46.With 25,000 volts going through the overhead wires, if you touch that,

:15:46. > :15:51.the likelihood is, you are going to die. Nathan is extremely lucky he

:15:51. > :15:54.didn't. It is not worth it. If I could turn back time, I would.

:15:54. > :16:03.Nathan says the scars and the consequences of one moment of folly

:16:03. > :16:08.will be with him forever. My goodness. What telegraphic

:16:08. > :16:11.message. A message from a man who knows what he is talking about.

:16:11. > :16:13.The world of physics is swirling with talk that the mysterious

:16:13. > :16:17."Higgs Boson" has been discovered at the Large Hadron Collider in

:16:17. > :16:21.Geneva. So what is the curiously named Higgs Boson? Well, it's often

:16:21. > :16:23.called the God particle. It's far smaller than an atom and has so far

:16:23. > :16:26.remained undetected. Birmingham University scientists have been

:16:26. > :16:32.playing a key role in the research. Here's our science correspondent,

:16:32. > :16:35.David Gregory. We visited the Large Hadron

:16:35. > :16:42.Collider back in 2007 to see some what Birmingham researchers were

:16:42. > :16:50.doing. Since then, it's been smashing together protons and

:16:50. > :17:00.looking at what's produced. Top of the watch list, the mysterious

:17:00. > :17:03.

:17:03. > :17:07.Higgs Boson. So have they found it? Actually, only just last week, I

:17:08. > :17:11.was away, and there have been rumours going around, but everybody

:17:11. > :17:14.has been rather tight lipped. rumours can be traced back to the

:17:14. > :17:17.leak of this internal memo, which appeared to suggest the Higgs Boson

:17:17. > :17:20.might have been found. If true, it would mean that our theoretical

:17:20. > :17:30.models of how the universe works are actually correct, as Professor

:17:30. > :17:30.

:17:30. > :17:34.Brian Cox tweeted. Has it been found? We are not yet in a position

:17:34. > :17:39.to say it has been discovered. But if there is a Higgs Boson and it

:17:39. > :17:44.has a mass that we are expecting, it would look like what we are

:17:44. > :17:48.seeing at the moment. What's needed now is more data. Ten times as much.

:17:48. > :17:55.Taking us into 2012. And of course there's a chance this effect might

:17:55. > :18:00.just be a blip, not a Boson. around the end of 2012, if it is

:18:00. > :18:04.there, we will either say, there's the Higgs Boson and this is its

:18:04. > :18:14.mass, or we will be able to say it doesn't exist and we need a new

:18:14. > :18:14.

:18:14. > :18:20.theory. It is going to be a tense few months for particle physics.

:18:20. > :18:24.David, for a poor science imbecilic me, can you explain it? Well,

:18:24. > :18:28.scientists have a model of the universe and the different parts

:18:28. > :18:32.that are needed to make it work. You have the model and the

:18:32. > :18:37.experiment, and if you put them together, you understand what makes

:18:37. > :18:43.the universe tick. That is pretty good. What benefit will this mean

:18:43. > :18:51.for us? Well, the concern is that it cost billions of pounds. But

:18:51. > :18:54.when they were working out how to move the data around, they

:18:54. > :19:00.developed the internet and how we use it. That is a pretty good spin-

:19:00. > :19:04.off. The electron was discovered around 100 years ago. At the time,

:19:04. > :19:10.it was really esoteric, but now it is vital to modern life. So it

:19:10. > :19:16.could be that in 50 years, it develops something essential.

:19:16. > :19:19.you, David. Now on to something we all understand - golf.

:19:19. > :19:22.Lauren Taylor made golfing history last month. The 16-year-old became

:19:22. > :19:25.the youngest to win the British Women's Amateur Golf Championship.

:19:26. > :19:28.Now Lauren faces an even bigger challenge. She's up against many of

:19:28. > :19:31.the world's finest golfers, professionals in other words, at

:19:31. > :19:34.the British Women's Open in Scotland. Ian Winter reports.

:19:34. > :19:41.What an opportunity. A rare chance to caddy for a British golf

:19:42. > :19:45.champion. You've got a bit of water in the bottom here that you've got

:19:45. > :19:49.to watch. What do you reckon? Normally, Lauren Taylor's dad

:19:49. > :19:55.carries her bag at big tournaments. But he was at work, so I stepped in

:19:55. > :19:58.on the first tee, at Stratford Oaks Golf Club. Perfect. All part of

:19:58. > :20:01.Lauren's normal routine, of course. But a big relief for her rookie

:20:01. > :20:08.assistant. And as we walked, we talked about her dedication to golf

:20:08. > :20:12.and the sacrifices required to reach the very top. People are

:20:12. > :20:17.saying, you should be going out with your friends all the time, but

:20:17. > :20:20.I can go out with my friends when I am older and world number one.

:20:20. > :20:24.month, Lauren made golf history, as the youngest player ever to become

:20:24. > :20:27.Women's British Amateur Champion aged only 16. As a kid, she was

:20:27. > :20:34.talented at football and tennis. But once golf became her passion at

:20:34. > :20:38.11, she's never looked back. And now you off to the Open? Yes, it is

:20:38. > :20:43.going to be one of the best experiences of my life. If you do

:20:43. > :20:46.well, you do well, I guess, but I am just going to have fun and see

:20:46. > :20:49.what happens. Lauren's certainly not over-awed by facing the world's

:20:49. > :20:53.finest players this week. And no wonder, if she delivers shots like

:20:53. > :20:57.this. A couple of weeks ago, she watched Tom Lewis win the silver

:20:57. > :21:01.medal as the best amateur player at the Open Championship. Lauren would

:21:01. > :21:07.love to do the same at the Women's Open. But her coach believes she's

:21:07. > :21:11.so talented, the sky's the limit. You either go to make the numbers

:21:11. > :21:17.up or to win, and if she wants to be the best in the world she has to

:21:17. > :21:20.compete against those girls. But she just has that little bit extra.

:21:20. > :21:24.I've never known a girl with such drive and determination to achieve.

:21:24. > :21:28.She can go to number one in the world, without question. Any time

:21:28. > :21:32.soon, without any help from me, I reckon Lauren Taylor will face a

:21:32. > :21:35.long putt like this to win a major title. And when it drops, this 16-

:21:35. > :21:45.year-old from Rugby will achieve her goal to join the best women

:21:45. > :21:46.

:21:46. > :21:49.golfers in the world. I get the feeling she will not need

:21:50. > :21:54.much luck. And looking further ahead in the

:21:54. > :21:58.sporting calendar, tomorrow marks a year to the start off London 2012

:21:58. > :22:02.and the prospects for next year's Olympics is therein memories for

:22:02. > :22:08.our only surviving medallist from the London Games. Tommy Godwin, who

:22:08. > :22:12.is 90, won two cycling gold medals. They were known as the austerity

:22:12. > :22:17.Games, coming so soon after the Second World War. Our reporter has

:22:17. > :22:22.been to meet Tommy, to reflect on the Olympic Games coming back to

:22:22. > :22:27.Britain. I have been to the site on a number

:22:27. > :22:34.of occasions and the development. It is out of this world. It must be

:22:34. > :22:43.the finest bowler Drome in the world, the one built. The first one

:22:43. > :22:49.was built in the 1,800s. Now, perfection. Where ours was so

:22:49. > :22:54.amateur and antiquated. Coming into the last lap, and Tommy Godwin,

:22:54. > :23:02.number seven, has raised print left in the bag. Here it comes and it

:23:02. > :23:07.wins him the race. -- has a sprint. You have run recently, haven't you?

:23:07. > :23:13.Yes, and I quite enjoyed it. It was nice to be invited along to take my

:23:13. > :23:21.bike down. They told me off because they thought I was only going to do

:23:21. > :23:25.one lap. But then I was told, you have got a bit of the old fireback!

:23:25. > :23:30.The whole thing now is wonderful to me, because I have been living on

:23:30. > :23:36.my own having lost my wife in January, and it is filling up a big

:23:36. > :23:42.gap in my life. My wife was so much part of my career, and the

:23:42. > :23:49.sacrifices and the dedication she gave to me. Going back to 1948,

:23:49. > :23:54.that was a real celebration after the horrors of war? Indeed so. When

:23:54. > :23:57.you think that in 1948, we were still on rations. The track was

:23:57. > :24:02.resurfaced and the running track was only laid down at White City a

:24:02. > :24:07.couple of weeks before. The hurdles and that sort of thing were brought

:24:07. > :24:12.in later and then we were supposed to be getting food parcels. I won

:24:12. > :24:17.in May and that was supposed to have put me through July and August.

:24:17. > :24:23.What are your memories of the moment she won your medals?

:24:23. > :24:29.Tremendous, because I thought we had not had enough training but

:24:29. > :24:37.they picked four of us about two weeks before and told us we were in

:24:37. > :24:40.the Games. Five of us had only ridden once before. If we had had a

:24:40. > :24:47.few months more training together, we would obviously have been in a

:24:47. > :24:51.higher position. But it was so basic and amateurish. You have won

:24:51. > :24:57.lots and lots of prizes in your time, but I should think those two

:24:57. > :25:02.Olympic medals a very special? so much so that I had said and

:25:02. > :25:10.stated categorically that they mean more to me every year of my life.

:25:10. > :25:17.To win an Olympic medal at the age of 27, go to my father, a hard man,

:25:17. > :25:25.a hard man who had worked all his life, and he broke down in tears.

:25:25. > :25:30.Something special. It is lovely to talk to you. Thank you.

:25:30. > :25:38.Full of emotion. So poignant. A lovely chap as well. There will be

:25:38. > :25:47.more from Tommy on the series inside out in the autumn. And we

:25:47. > :25:52.will be looking at preparations for It hasn't always been spectacularly

:25:52. > :25:58.sunny, but it has been dry and warm, and that is how which continues

:25:58. > :26:01.through this week. Some sunshine around at times. The reason for the

:26:01. > :26:05.set of conditions is this high- pressure sitting down here to the

:26:05. > :26:12.south-west, trying to exert its influence. It is doing a pretty

:26:12. > :26:16.good job, keeping this rain at bay. We will keep some big lumps of

:26:16. > :26:20.cloud floating around through tonight. Some clear spells,

:26:20. > :26:25.particularly in the rest of the region. Temperatures will be down

:26:25. > :26:29.to 11 or 13 degrees. Tomorrow, we will start off quite cloudy through

:26:29. > :26:34.the eastern half of the region. Further west, a fair bit of

:26:34. > :26:40.sunshine, but through the day, things will even out. So where it

:26:40. > :26:45.started sunny, we will see more cloud, and where it stars sunny, we

:26:45. > :26:50.will see cloud increasing. It will remain sunny, with temperatures up

:26:50. > :26:54.to 24 degrees down in Hereford. Some bits of sunshine here and

:26:54. > :26:58.there to end the day tomorrow, and that takes us into Thursday, which

:26:58. > :27:03.will bring us a fair amount of sunshine again. Perhaps more than

:27:03. > :27:09.we have seen in the last couple of days. The eagle eyed amongst you

:27:09. > :27:13.might have noticed a few dribbles of rain out to the West, and that

:27:13. > :27:18.is going to move across us for Thursday night. Once that clears

:27:18. > :27:22.through, by Friday and Saturday, it turns dry again. Not looking too

:27:22. > :27:26.bad. Before we leave you, and a cut the

:27:26. > :27:29.main headlines. The UK economy slows down and officials blame the

:27:29. > :27:33.warm weather, the Royal Wedding and the Japanese tsunami.