:00:09. > :00:14.Welcome to Midlands Today. They headlines: The whole region is now
:00:14. > :00:17.officially a drought zone but there will be no hosepipe ban. In part of
:00:17. > :00:22.the Midlands, we are looking at a lack of rainfall over the last 18
:00:23. > :00:27.months that we would normally only see once in a hundred years.
:00:27. > :00:32.Pakistan's hockey team becomes the latest side to choose a West
:00:32. > :00:40.Midlands to train for the Games. An elected mayor should have powers
:00:40. > :00:46.be on the city. Following the death of the
:00:46. > :00:56.Gloucestershire trained Synchronised, is the race simply
:00:56. > :00:59.
:00:59. > :01:03.too came to us? -- dangerous? Welcome to the start of the week.
:01:03. > :01:06.Our top story, the whole region has been declared a drought zone.
:01:06. > :01:12.Drought orders effective from today mean all of the West Midlands is
:01:12. > :01:18.now on alert. The region's biggest water company, Severn Trent Water,
:01:18. > :01:24.says there will not be a hosepipe ban this summer. We have continued
:01:24. > :01:28.the dry trend we have seen for the last two years with only between 31
:01:28. > :01:33.and 40% of the expected rainfall. That has had a pronounced impact on
:01:33. > :01:35.river levels. Many are now exceptionally low, including the
:01:35. > :01:40.Wye, the Trent and the Avon. What across the region, groundwater
:01:40. > :01:46.levels are also classed as exceptionally low. David Gregory
:01:46. > :01:51.begins his report from a potato have bombed.
:01:51. > :01:56.-- potato farm. When levels of this low, this is
:01:56. > :01:59.only useful to passing swans. are looking at a lack of rainfall
:01:59. > :02:04.in the last 18 months we would only expect to see once every hundred
:02:04. > :02:10.years, so it is quite a significant impact, and with the two dry
:02:10. > :02:15.windows we have had, levels are low. It could have a serious impact upon
:02:15. > :02:20.the environment. On this farm, the Environment Agency has been working
:02:20. > :02:23.with the farmer. Relaxing rules and allowing him to take water from
:02:23. > :02:28.this river at a time which is traditionally outside the
:02:28. > :02:32.abstraction season. It is a lie on the farm to recharge the reservoirs.
:02:32. > :02:36.But farmers would like to see other changes to help them survive the
:02:36. > :02:41.drought. Especially when it comes to planning and building new
:02:41. > :02:45.reservoirs on their land. We have been through the planning process
:02:45. > :02:51.with one and we have had a lot of help with it, but it has taken
:02:51. > :02:56.about 18 months to get it through, which is too long. And the cost of
:02:56. > :02:59.doing that, to get consultants in, sometimes takes the project out of
:02:59. > :03:06.reach for us doing it because we are spending too much money on
:03:06. > :03:10.getting the product -- the project already rather than building up the
:03:10. > :03:15.reservoir of. This could mean poorer quality crops for farmers
:03:15. > :03:25.here in the Midlands. We can cross live to David Gregory
:03:25. > :03:30.now. Just how serious is the water level situation? I guess we have
:03:30. > :03:34.had two years where we have had less than average rainfall, so we
:03:34. > :03:38.need two years of above-average rainfall and it is winter that is
:03:38. > :03:48.key, because it is that we trod period where for use the rain to
:03:48. > :03:49.
:03:49. > :03:53.fill up a will rivers -- v re- charge period. We need persistent
:03:53. > :03:58.rain that serves the ground and makes it nice and wet so any
:03:58. > :04:04.further rain fall soaks ride in and recharges the ground water. That is
:04:04. > :04:08.something we have not had. -- soaks right in. How can the water
:04:08. > :04:16.companies be confident we will not have a hosepipe ban this summer
:04:16. > :04:19.when we are in a drought? This is a Severn Trent Water reservoir that
:04:20. > :04:22.supplies Rugby and they have built her pipeline to refill it from a
:04:22. > :04:27.nearby river and they would argue that thanks to this kind of moving
:04:27. > :04:31.of water, they are definitely able to keep the water flowing into our
:04:31. > :04:35.taps, and that is what many companies say as well. So while
:04:35. > :04:39.there may not be an official hosepipe ban, if we are still
:04:39. > :04:43.talking about a drought in 12 months' time, whatever water we
:04:43. > :04:47.save this summer and winter, we might turn out to be very great for
:04:47. > :04:55.forehead and a year's time. Everybody should be thinking more
:04:55. > :04:58.carefully about what we used a waterfall. -- grateful for it.
:04:58. > :05:04.Under the hammer - the irreplaceable medical library sold
:05:04. > :05:08.off to pay the bills. It has emerged a would-be suicide
:05:08. > :05:12.bomber jailed for plotting to blow up an aeroplane has been released
:05:12. > :05:16.only after he helped prosecutors in the United States. Saajid Badat,
:05:17. > :05:22.from Gloucester, was arrested in 2003 and admitted conspiring to
:05:22. > :05:27.place a device on an aircraft. Articulate, intelligent, full of
:05:27. > :05:31.promise. Saajid Badat was the grammar-school boy turned would-be
:05:31. > :05:35.terrorist. He was arrested nine years ago at a family home in
:05:35. > :05:39.Gloucester where police found a dismantled bomb stored in suitcases.
:05:39. > :05:43.He admitted plotting to use the device hidden in his shoe to blow
:05:43. > :05:46.up a transatlantic airliner but he never went through with it. He was
:05:46. > :05:52.jailed for 13 years but the sentence has now been cut to 11
:05:52. > :05:56.years. This was one of the most serious terrorist threat to our
:05:56. > :06:02.nation since September 11th. It is because he has agreed to give
:06:02. > :06:06.evidence against a 25-year-old man involved in a plot to blow up the
:06:06. > :06:11.city's subway system in New York. It is extremely common for people
:06:11. > :06:15.either under threat of conviction or who have been convicted to
:06:15. > :06:20.agreed to testify to get a reduction of sentence. It is far
:06:20. > :06:27.less common in the UK is so it is very interesting in terms of
:06:27. > :06:32.transatlantic co-operation. Badat's plot was very similar to that of
:06:32. > :06:38.Richard Reid, the shoe bomber. Following his arrest it was decided
:06:38. > :06:42.that Badat could not face being a courier of death and he rejected
:06:42. > :06:46.terrorism. Four workers had complained about
:06:46. > :06:52.the behaviour of Mr Schu council's former leader before he went on to
:06:52. > :07:01.sexually assault a teenage girl at County Hall. -- Gloucestershire
:07:01. > :07:06.council. George Lord was accused of sexual assault on a 14-year-old
:07:06. > :07:09.girl. The council was deemed to have acted appropriately but
:07:09. > :07:14.communication could have been better. The councils say they do
:07:14. > :07:19.with the previous complaint at the time. In all cases, action was
:07:19. > :07:23.taken to stop the unwanted attention and it did stop. On that
:07:23. > :07:26.basis, I don't think anybody could have predicted the next case was
:07:26. > :07:29.going to be a serious sexual assault.
:07:29. > :07:34.The former Birmingham City player Trevor Francis has been discharged
:07:34. > :07:37.from hospital in Burnham -- in Birmingham after suffering a
:07:37. > :07:41.suspected heart attack. He was admitted to Heartlands Hospital on
:07:42. > :07:45.Friday. He had emergency surgery over the weekend.
:07:45. > :07:49.Elected mayors of Birmingham and Coventry should take a leading role
:07:49. > :07:53.well outside the city boundaries, effectively becoming the voice of
:07:53. > :07:57.the region. That is according to new research published today. In
:07:57. > :08:01.less than three weeks, the people go to the polls to decide if they
:08:01. > :08:07.want elected mayors with far- reaching powers. The research has
:08:07. > :08:11.been commissioned by Warwickshire University.
:08:11. > :08:14.The Midland Metro does not just run through Birmingham. It stretches
:08:14. > :08:22.through the Black Country. Unlike the wit of an elected mayor, which
:08:22. > :08:27.would stop at the City borders. -- unlike that of an elected mayor.
:08:27. > :08:34.But some say their powers should be extended to places where people
:08:34. > :08:37.have not actually voted them in. There is an argument for leading
:08:37. > :08:40.without authority, that just because you do not have political
:08:40. > :08:47.authority over an economic which, doesn't mean you cannot use your
:08:47. > :08:51.authority to do something about a region. If you look at the West
:08:51. > :08:55.Midlands region, we have got Coventry, which is a city, which
:08:55. > :09:03.might have a mayor, and then Birmingham. We also have
:09:03. > :09:11.Wolverhampton, so the real question is, how do you co-ordinate this? No
:09:11. > :09:14.one person can have a mandate for the whole read -- region.
:09:14. > :09:18.cities that say yes in the referendum, how much to pay the
:09:18. > :09:22.mayor could become a political minefield. And then there is the
:09:22. > :09:26.question of what is more accountable. Council leaders are
:09:26. > :09:29.chosen by other councillors, whereas a directly elected mayor is
:09:30. > :09:34.chosen by the voters. The counter argument goes that it could be
:09:34. > :09:39.dangerous to put all of a power in hands of just one person. The
:09:39. > :09:42.Warren Commission's answer is for the Government to put a system in
:09:42. > :09:47.place so that counsellors can expel mayors who abuse their power. But
:09:47. > :09:52.it is the voters who will decide whether council leaders get to stay
:09:52. > :09:56.in the driving seat. Those votes to decide whether an
:09:56. > :10:01.elected mayor should run Birmingham and Coventry take place on the same
:10:01. > :10:06.day as local council elections. In some councils, all the seats are
:10:06. > :10:11.being contested. In others, just a third of seats are up for grabs.
:10:11. > :10:15.Patrick Burns has been looking at what is at stake.
:10:15. > :10:20.Launching their manifesto in Solihull today, the Greens launched
:10:20. > :10:24.their manifesto today to create jobs and help small businesses. But
:10:24. > :10:29.Birmingham, like Parliament itself, is run by a Conservative-Liberal
:10:29. > :10:34.Democrat coalition. Labour need four more seats to regain power
:10:34. > :10:37.here after eight years. And what other partnership faces a similar
:10:37. > :10:41.Labour challenge at Newcastle- under-Lyme, one of 18 councils
:10:41. > :10:45.holding elections or stop the Conservatives control nine,
:10:45. > :10:51.including some wafer-thin majorities. Labour have three and
:10:51. > :10:57.another three are under no overall control, leaving just one with
:10:57. > :11:04.overall Lib Dem majority. With the whole council up three election,
:11:04. > :11:08.they could lose control to the Conservatives. So the coalition
:11:08. > :11:14.partnership in Westminster have daggers drawn. Could we be looking
:11:14. > :11:18.at an old-fashioned fight? Well, what price the new politics?
:11:18. > :11:28.Traditionally, the third party have struggled in our part of the world.
:11:28. > :11:28.
:11:28. > :11:36.Their only even doubt been a region with 60 constituencies. There could
:11:36. > :11:40.be the credit squeeze between the juggernauts. In Walsall, there is a
:11:41. > :11:48.minority Conservative constituency there. May be in Walsall only need
:11:48. > :11:54.four net gains on their own account to have a majority of their own. --
:11:54. > :12:01.Labour in Walsall. You could be likely to have the opposition
:12:01. > :12:05.picking up seats? It is extraordinary how successive
:12:05. > :12:09.governments have found themselves becoming unpopular. We have seen
:12:10. > :12:13.the documented woes of the Tory party and the so-called Tory spring
:12:14. > :12:23.and their coalition partners, the Lib Dems, their poll ratings rooted
:12:23. > :12:32.stubbornly at around 12%. There is this mid-term Blues factor, which
:12:32. > :12:37.is on my blog Page, and it affects a team in our part of the world. In
:12:37. > :12:43.Rugby, they have a whole council election. It could be a moment when
:12:43. > :12:48.we find out which way the political wind is blowing.
:12:48. > :12:53.A still head the Stephen, penalty or a dive? Ashley Young is in the
:12:53. > :12:58.firing line after Manchester United won a penalty for this.
:12:58. > :13:08.And spring could still feel like winter, but how fitting that rain
:13:08. > :13:11.is in full flow this week after the drought zone announcement.
:13:11. > :13:15.With the start of the Olympic Games just over 100 days away, the
:13:15. > :13:19.Pakistan hockey squad has become the latest side to choose the West
:13:19. > :13:24.Midlands as its base during the Games. They will train at Chase
:13:24. > :13:27.Park. They arrived in the UK head of the Olympics. Pakistan played
:13:27. > :13:31.England in a series of internationals three years ago and
:13:31. > :13:34.were impressed with the facilities. There are the latest in a growing
:13:35. > :13:39.list of international squads choosing to base themselves outside
:13:39. > :13:42.the capital as the countdown to London 2012 continues.
:13:42. > :13:52.The Olympics is the greatest show on earth, and if you cannot be the
:13:52. > :13:57.host city, there are always fringe benefits. Cannock hockey club will
:13:57. > :14:00.host Pakistan. We are one of the few venues that can has the team
:14:00. > :14:05.because of the facilities and we are always looking to develop our
:14:05. > :14:08.facilities to enable any visiting country to be able to play at a top
:14:08. > :14:11.Staffordshire county council worked hard with the club to attract
:14:11. > :14:16.Pakistan here. They're hoping it will provide a short-term financial
:14:16. > :14:20.boost for local businesses but also raise the county's wider profile.
:14:21. > :14:25.The first one is to the local community, and people are selling
:14:25. > :14:29.their merchandise here. The second one is to prove what an ideal
:14:29. > :14:36.situation the county is in, two of four world class accommodation for
:14:36. > :14:39.sporting facilities. It was also confirmed today that the University
:14:39. > :14:42.of Wolverhampton has attracted the Australian judo team to train at
:14:42. > :14:44.it's Walsall campus. Coventry will benefit too. The small Asian
:14:44. > :14:49.kingdom of Bhutan will base its archers, boxers and taekwondo squad
:14:49. > :14:52.at the University of Warwick. Dominica's boxers are in
:14:52. > :14:55.Wolverhampton and Malawi's entire team in Cheltenham are more about
:14:55. > :14:58.feeling a part of the Olympics. At the other end of the scale it's
:14:58. > :15:01.been estimated that Birmingham's scoop in signing up the American
:15:01. > :15:03.and Jamaican athletics teams could give the city a �20 million boost.
:15:03. > :15:06.But it's the sporting benefits that are getting these young stars
:15:06. > :15:10.excited. The ability to watch the world's best on your doorstep and
:15:10. > :15:13.even take them on. I've only played against under 21s, this would be a
:15:14. > :15:16.massive opportunity to see if I can keep the ball out! Some economists
:15:16. > :15:18.argue about how realistic the claimed financial benefits are. But
:15:19. > :15:21.this Olympics is also about creating a legacy of increased
:15:21. > :15:31.sports participation. Bringing the world's best to the West Midlands
:15:31. > :15:33.will surely help them achieve that goal. We do seem to be getting more
:15:33. > :15:36.and more involved. Dan's here with tonight's sport,
:15:37. > :15:42.and there's been plenty of reaction to Villa's game at Old Trafford.
:15:42. > :15:46.Plenty of reaction between now and -- to what happened between
:15:46. > :15:48.Manchester United and Aston Villa. Yes, Gordon Taylor of the PFA
:15:48. > :15:50.players union says blatant diving cannot be tolerated. And Stan
:15:50. > :15:53.Collymore wants the Premier League to introduce retrospective
:15:53. > :15:55.punishment. The former Villa striker was incensed to see Ashley
:15:55. > :15:58.Young awarded a penalty for Manchester United, as Ian Winter
:15:58. > :16:01.reports. It's certainly got the tabloids
:16:01. > :16:04.talking, the broadsheets bristling, and former footballers fuming. Stan
:16:04. > :16:07.Collymore is the ex-Villa player turned media pundit.. He was
:16:07. > :16:11.watching closely when Ashley Young took an early tumble at Old
:16:12. > :16:21.Trafford. 75,000 home fans screamed penalty - match referee Mark Halsey
:16:22. > :16:22.
:16:22. > :16:28.said penalty, and Stan the Man said: When he is looking to check
:16:28. > :16:31.on to his right foot, he is live -- leaving his leg in. If you are
:16:31. > :16:35.looking to contact somebody, more often than not, you're going to
:16:35. > :16:40.find somebody, so as far as I'm concerned, it is a cheat, it is a
:16:40. > :16:43.dive. It should be under the laws of retrospective punishment.
:16:43. > :16:46.slow motion, it doesn't look good. The slightest of touches from
:16:46. > :16:49.Ciaran Clarke, and Ashley Young is poleaxed inside the penalty area. A
:16:49. > :16:52.free gift for Wayne Rooney. And frustration for Alex McLeish. 1-0
:16:52. > :17:01.down to that all-important early goal, and a 4-0 defeat soon
:17:01. > :17:07.followed. I have seen the replay, he tries to pull his leg away, but
:17:07. > :17:10.actually has thrown his leg towards Ciaran Clarke and has got his team
:17:10. > :17:17.appeared to At least he never pulled those sort of tricks when he
:17:17. > :17:19.played for the Villa. Did he? Well yes, he did, actually. In fact,
:17:19. > :17:24.Villa fans like Stan can recall several embarrassing moments like
:17:24. > :17:27.this before his �17 million move to Old Trafford. It is a yellow card
:17:28. > :17:35.for diving. They always loved his precocious talent, but never warmed
:17:35. > :17:39.to this side of Ashley's game. you say to a youngster, don't do it,
:17:39. > :17:47.but then they get a professional contract, and the manager says, so
:17:47. > :17:50.long as we get the result, do it for your life. So, did he dive, or
:17:50. > :17:53.did he not? The debate will rage on and Villa fans have the
:17:53. > :17:54.collywobbles, with five games left to preserve their Premier League
:17:54. > :17:57.status. And there's more from Stan
:17:57. > :17:59.Collymore on tonight's Late Kick- off with Manish Bhasin, here on
:17:59. > :18:02.BBC1 at 11.05pm. The show includes all the goals
:18:02. > :18:05.from the Football League, including Coventry's 1-1 draw at Burnley.
:18:05. > :18:08.Clive Platt's equaliser, mid-way through the second half, leaves the
:18:08. > :18:12.Sky Blues four points adrift of safety, with only three games left,
:18:12. > :18:15.starting at home to Millwall tomorrow night.
:18:15. > :18:19.The former Coventry striker Marlon King did his old club a favour by
:18:19. > :18:22.scoring against their main relegation rivals Bristol City.
:18:22. > :18:32.Nikola Zigic got Birmingham's second, as the Blues fought from 2-
:18:32. > :18:34.0 to earn a valuable point. Shrewsbury Town are moving ever
:18:34. > :18:37.closer to automatic promotion from League Two. Terry Gornell scored
:18:37. > :18:40.two of the goals as they beat Rotherham 3-1 on Saturday. It means
:18:40. > :18:45.they're still the only team in all four divisions to remain unbeaten
:18:45. > :18:51.at home this season. The win lifts the Shrews up to second, now four
:18:51. > :18:54.points clear of the chasing pack with four games to go.
:18:54. > :18:56.Walsall welcomed a VIP guest to the Banks's Stadium on Saturday to
:18:56. > :18:59.watch their 1-0 home defeat by Tranmere. The Saddlers' former
:18:59. > :19:02.goalkeeper Bert Williams MBE received a great reception from the
:19:02. > :19:07.fans at half-time. Bert, who's 92, began his career at Walsall before
:19:07. > :19:12.going on to play for Wolves and England. His visit raised �400 for
:19:13. > :19:15.the Alzheimer's Society. Trainer Jonjo O'Neill is said to be
:19:15. > :19:18.heartbroken at the death of Gold Cup winner Synchronised in
:19:18. > :19:22.Saturday's Grand National. Synchronised broke a leg while
:19:22. > :19:28.running loose and was put down. He was one of two horses which died
:19:28. > :19:31.during Saturday's race, provoking debate about the safety of the race.
:19:31. > :19:39.It was dramatic and produced the closest finish in the race's
:19:39. > :19:42.history. Neptune Collonges is diving! It took a photo-finish to
:19:42. > :19:43.separate the winner - Neptune Collonges from the runner up
:19:43. > :19:48.Sunnyhill Boy. It meant Gloucestershire trainer Jonjo
:19:48. > :19:51.O'Neill had lost the race by a nose. But far worse news soon surfaced -
:19:51. > :19:56.that Gold Cup winner Synchronised had suffered a fatal injury and had
:19:56. > :19:59.been put down. Synchronised and jockey Tony McCoy fell at Bechers
:19:59. > :20:07.Brook on the first circuit. He then galloped on alone and suffered
:20:07. > :20:10.injury jumping the 11th as a loose horse. Synchronised was the stable
:20:10. > :20:13.star at Jackdaws Castle in Temple Guiting having won the Gold Cup
:20:14. > :20:22.just four weeks ago. His trainer was still too upset to talk about
:20:22. > :20:26.his death today, but spoke about the horse last week. I have done
:20:26. > :20:30.everybody, it is a fantastic feeling, it is just a nice to know
:20:30. > :20:34.that you have done it, really, and hopefully, everything goes well and
:20:34. > :20:37.it continues that way for him. second horse, According to Pete,
:20:37. > :20:42.was also put down on Saturday. He suffered a broken leg after being
:20:42. > :20:50.brought down. The safety of the National is under scrutiny. There
:20:50. > :20:53.were too many loose horses still running across the horse. The field
:20:53. > :20:57.is just too big, so when mistakes get made, there is nowhere for the
:20:57. > :21:00.jockeys and horses to go other than into each other, and death and
:21:00. > :21:02.injury occurs. It has taken the spotlight away form the winner
:21:02. > :21:06.Neptune Collonges. His owner, Shropshire businessman John Hales
:21:06. > :21:10.has defended the race, and so has the trainer. Obviously it is sad
:21:10. > :21:14.when that happens, we all know there is an element a brisk before
:21:15. > :21:20.it even starts. Anything we can look out over the next few months
:21:20. > :21:27.with Aintree and the BH a to see what we can do, learn any lessons,
:21:27. > :21:31.will be done. The death could change the story of the Grand
:21:31. > :21:35.National for good. You have spoken to people at the
:21:35. > :21:40.yard, what have they said? I called them this morning, and they are
:21:40. > :21:46.understandably devastated. The last Gold Cup winner to die in the Grand
:21:46. > :21:51.National was in 1972. To enjoy a road that horse. That is a dreadful
:21:52. > :21:56.irony. It will be a long time until they get back to normal. There is
:21:56. > :22:02.always debate about the Grand National, you sometimes -- somehow
:22:02. > :22:06.feel this time it is under more threat than ever. Because a Gold
:22:06. > :22:10.Cup horse -- winning horse has been involved. It is not as simple as
:22:10. > :22:14.just changing the fences, they have done that before, because there is
:22:14. > :22:18.an argument that they go faster. There is talk about having a
:22:18. > :22:23.smaller field, I think that could be sensible, some people say it
:22:23. > :22:27.takes an element away from the race. It will take a while until anything
:22:27. > :22:32.is decided. I think that is the sensible thing, led the emotion
:22:32. > :22:42.died down, and look at it in the months ahead, don't rush into it.
:22:42. > :22:42.
:22:42. > :22:45.But it has to look -- be looked at again. It is a very sad.
:22:45. > :22:48.There was Olympic delight and despair for members of the Stafford
:22:48. > :22:52.and Stone canoe club at the British team trials at the weekend. Lizzie
:22:52. > :22:55.Neave won all three of her races on the Olympic course at Lee Valley.
:22:55. > :22:58.It ensures the 24-year-old will go to her first games this summer as
:22:58. > :23:07.the only woman in the single kayak class. But club team-mates Mark
:23:07. > :23:10.Proctor and Tom Brady missed out on Olympic selection. And this
:23:10. > :23:14.stunning shot from Graham Dorrans was enough for West Bromwich Albion
:23:14. > :23:22.to beat QPR and guarantee Premier League football at the Hawthorns
:23:22. > :23:25.next season. Call me biased! But it was pretty spectacular.
:23:25. > :23:28.One of Britain's oldest medical societies is having to sell its
:23:28. > :23:32.library to prevent a financial crisis. The Birmingham Medical
:23:32. > :23:36.Institute faces increasing rents and falling income.
:23:36. > :23:38.Some of the books being sold date back to 1500 and others are so rare
:23:38. > :23:41.they've never appeared on the market. Here's our health
:23:41. > :23:46.correspondent, Michele Paduano. The Birmingham Medical Institute
:23:46. > :23:51.began in 1875. It keeps doctors, dentists and nurses up to date with
:23:51. > :23:53.medical practice. But it needs to secure its financial future. Its
:23:53. > :24:02.ancient books, many donated by Birmingham Library and studied
:24:02. > :24:08.until recently at the University will be sold at auction with regret.
:24:08. > :24:13.It is enormous. Particularly the University, the middle -- Medical
:24:13. > :24:16.School, it is a sad day for them indeed. But we feel we have to face
:24:16. > :24:19.up to the realities of the situation today.
:24:19. > :24:23.These books dating back to 1502 survived the war in crates. The
:24:23. > :24:29.collection is so vast it's been divided into two sales. Even the
:24:29. > :24:33.dealers set to profit see the tragedy. Even though I have been
:24:33. > :24:38.dealing in books for 60 years, it is very sad to see this being
:24:38. > :24:42.disbursed, because to my mind, it should never have been put on the
:24:42. > :24:45.market, it should have been kept at the library. This vellum book is
:24:45. > :24:49.the first complete anatomy valued at �15,000. Next to it, the first
:24:49. > :24:55.English anatomy which is even rarer rare. The sale should fetch half a
:24:55. > :24:59.million pounds. Usually it is the same kinds of books that go round
:24:59. > :25:04.and round, but in amongst here are books I have never heard of, not
:25:04. > :25:12.just one or two, but dozens and dozens. These are going to cause a
:25:12. > :25:18.real sensation. This doctor noticed that milkmaids who had cowpox had
:25:18. > :25:22.smallpox. In 7096 he injected a country boy with limb from Enoch
:25:22. > :25:29.made, and then he gave him small pox. The boy remained well. It was
:25:29. > :25:31.the beginning of worldwide fascination. -- vaccination.
:25:31. > :25:39.Birmingham is sacrificing its medical heritage, so that its
:25:39. > :25:48.historic institute can survive. A beautiful day today, if a little
:25:48. > :25:52.We still have some way to go until we sort out these drought
:25:52. > :25:59.conditions, but we are heading in the right direction. As far as low
:25:59. > :26:04.pressures go, this one is a bit of a beast. It has got quite a tightly
:26:04. > :26:10.set pack of isobars around it, which means that as well as it been
:26:10. > :26:14.a wet, we will see strong winds. That is the only drawback, because
:26:14. > :26:19.it means that as well as it been cold, those winds are going to
:26:19. > :26:25.enhance the feel of the cold. But back to this deluge I mentioned
:26:25. > :26:30.earlier in the programme, it is heading our way tonight. We will
:26:30. > :26:35.have to see how long this heavy rain last, because it might
:26:35. > :26:40.decrease as it moves eastwards, and it might become a lighter. You can
:26:40. > :26:45.see we have some heavy rain to come, by the time it is all over, by the
:26:45. > :26:51.end of tomorrow morning, we are looking at up to 20 mm of rain in
:26:52. > :26:59.places. We can see gusts of up to 40 mph on the higher ground, those
:26:59. > :27:05.temperatures are going to be above freezing tonight. It is going to be
:27:05. > :27:10.a wet and windy rush-hour tomorrow morning, that rain clearing
:27:10. > :27:14.Eastwood, followed by a rash of showers and sunshine. We are
:27:14. > :27:22.looking at gusts a gain of 40 mph, that will make it feel colder, even
:27:22. > :27:25.A look at tonight's main headlines: Anders Breivik goes on trial in
:27:25. > :27:28.Norway and admits killing 77 people, but claims he was acting in self
:27:28. > :27:30.defence. And despite the region being
:27:30. > :27:33.declared a drought area, water companies say there'll be no
:27:33. > :27:36.hosepipe ban. That's all from us this evening,