27/12/2016 South Today - Oxford

Now on BBC One it's time for the news where you are.

Good evening, I'm Edward Sault,

with the news in the south.

The Hampshire author Richard Adams has died at the age of 96.

He was best known for his novel Watership Down,

which was first published in 1972.

It was set in north Hampshire near to where Richard Adams grew up.

Here's Sophia Seth.

Like... Like trees in November.

It became a worldwide bestseller, an animated film,

and made its creator a millionaire.

Watership Down was a fantasy and originally advised

devised to keep his daughters entertained on long car journeys.

Its setting was authentic.

Richard Adams had grown up near the real

Watership Down in Hampshire.

In one respect, the book is anything but fantastic

which it takes place

because the topography and the landscape in

which it takes place is all completely real.

This is the country where I was born and where I

grew up, and I know it all like the back

grew up, and I know it all like the back of my hand.

And that love for the south of England

landscape was still deeply rooted

when South Today spoke to him about the novel in 2014.

It's my country.

Berkshire, Hampshire is my country, I know where I am,

I know what it smells like, and I think,

to have written, if it is immortal,

an immortal book about my home ground

is what pleases me most.

Richard Adams who's died in Hampshire at the age of 96.

A 71-year-old man has died after being hit by a car

in the New Forest tonight.

It happened on the A35 in Burley at half past five.

The man from Bournemouth died at the scene.

The road remains closed.

More details have emerged about the millions of pounds

George Michael donated to charity.

The singer died at his home in the Oxfordshire on Christmas Day.

Today, the founder of Childline, Esther Rantzen said he had helped

hundreds of thousands of children.

She spoke to our reporter Ben Moore from her Hampshire home.

# In your eyes....

This is the song that showed not just a musician's talent,

but also revealed George Michael's extraordinary generosity.

# Like Jesus to a child...

All the royalties from his number one hit Jesus To A Child

went to the charity Childline.

It was an intensely personal gift.

He didn't want razzmatazz,

he didn't want publicity of any kind,

he just wanted to help us,

and he did, year after year after year.

A concert had been planned to say thank you to him

as part of Childline's 30th anniversary celebrations.

You don't really understand a person til they've gone.

And I think the public are understanding

perhaps for the first time how much George Michael gave.

Not only in terms of his music,

but in terms of his personal generosity,

vision, sensitivity, imagination, and practical help.

So, as news of George Michael's philanthropy spreads,

there's a very public grief,

over what was, until now, a very hidden generosity.

Gosport sailor Alex Thomson has passed Cape Horn

in the solo round-the-world Vendee Globe yacht race.

Well, here is the famous Cape Horn! Woo hoo!

It's great to be here, great to be here so quickly.

Shame I'm not here in the first place, but full credit to Areml

for that, he's done a great job, and I've got to try my hardest

to try and catch him.

He is currently in second place and is slowly catching

the Vendee Globe leader Armel Le Cleac'h,

who is 380 nautical miles ahead of Hugo Boss.

Brighton and Hove Albion moved back to the top of the Championship

following a comfortable 3-0 win over QPR at the Amex.

The victory lifts the Abion two points clear of rival Newcastle,

and stretches their unbeaten run to 17 games.

Hello, and a very good evening to you.

Now we've got another cold night on the cards.

Some frost as well as some fog and in fact we

could see some freezing fog in spots.

There is a yellow weather warning in place from the Met Office

for the foggy conditions which could cause trouble on our roads right

through from midnight tonight into midday tomorrow,

so that fog could linger

so that fog could linger

through much of the morning tomorrow.

There will be some brighter skies developing,

particularly for some areas along the coast, we could see

temperatures, here, peaking at eight or 9

degrees, but when you keep that

cloud and fog certainly staying on the chilly side.

cloud and fog certainly staying on the chilly side.

That chilly theme takes us right up into the New Year.

We've got quite a lot of cloud through the coming days,

so the summary.

We do have that warning for the foggy conditions early tomorrow.

Then we may see some brightness, but cloudy

conditions right through the

tail end of this week.

That's all from us for now.

More on the BBC News website.

Our next programme is during BBC Breakfast.