Archives for October 2008
Has the wrong person paid the price?
Several papers this morning wonder whether the resignation of Lesley Douglas over the phone scandal was the wrong scalp. She was a widely respected Controller of Radio 2 - but quit because the incidents happened "on her watch".
UPDATE
DJ Paul Gambaccini, a Radio 2 insider, had a take on the story that might not have been heard before. You can listen to it below (there are a couple of edits on legal advice).
The Astronaut in the room
It's not every day your presenter doesn't need to be told who their next guest is. So, I'll forgive Hasit who was in charge of this morning's programme for telling Nicky who the man in the spacesuit was sitting opposite him.
And it's not every day that you get to talk to someone who has been into space, which is why it was great to hear from Richard Garriott this morning.
Richard's story is doubly interesting for the facts that his father was an astronaut as well and that he paid 17 million pounds for the privilege. You can hear what he had to say on the subject of space travel below.
Homeward bound?
We've all heard of the Lithuanian cleaners, Polish builders and Portuguese fruit pickers who came over to fill vacancies when the economy was booming.
Now that it looks like we're heading into a recession, some of them are packing up and heading home.
We report from Poland and Peterborough to asses how the new economic climate is affecting where foreign workers decide to live and work.
Mapping Antarctica
Professor Martin Siegart, a Glaciologist from Edinburgh University was on the show today telling us about plans to map the Antarctic landscape detail for the first time.
Researchers hope to examine the composition, density and texture of the underlying rock. At it's thickest part the ice is believed to be 4,776 metres thick, that's almost five kilometres!
If you missed it this morning then you can listen again to the interview below.
More information on the project is available at http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/research/ellsworth/
Can Harry halt the White Hart pain?
I had to correct a friend over the weekend. He told me that Harry Redknapp was the new manager of Spurs.
I told him that was incorrect as Redknapp was, of course, the manager of Portsmouth and that Juande Ramos had been given the backing by Spurs Chairman Daniel Levy only a few days ago.
That dreaded vote of confidence, it makes people look so foolish. Ramos' predecessor Martin Jol got one of them too.
It was a good job it was lunchtime as my hat tasted really nice.
There must be a pretty nasty taste in the mouth of Portsmouth fans though. They lost the manager who won them their first piece of major silverware in 69 years and led them into European football in this year's UEFA Cup, but now surely comes the fear for the future.
One thing that can follow a good manager out of the door can be his best players. It must be a sombre mood down by the Solent.
A gr8 way to text!
On a programme that relies heavily on text messages to gauge the enthusiasm or otherwise of the audience we thought we would speak to a "textpert" this morning.
Professor David Crystal from Cambridge University has written a book about "txting" and is on a panel of judges today tasked with finding the nation's best text poet.
He spoke to Phil Williams about why texting has developed in the way it has, but also why words such as "obviously" and "like" are so annoying to so many people when used in conversation.
Have a listen to the interview and you can learn some text lingo.
ta4nw (that's all for now)
David
The falling pound
The pound has been having a hard time on the currency markets. It's down to $1.59.1 from a high of over $2.
Our money man Andrew Verity answered your questions on air and on the blog during the programme about the impact of the fall in the pound.
Don't forget you can get your daily dose of money advice with the free Wake Up To Money podcast.
Listen and read Andrew's answers below.
Q: I'm going to Europe on holiday next week should I change $600 that I have to euros or use pound sterling? Dee
A Shining Beacon or just deja vu?
He's been jailed for assault and affray, he's been given a separate suspended sentence for attacking a team mate, he's even stubbed out a cigar on a colleague's face but now Joey Barton says he's cleaned up his act and he wants to be a role model for other disillusioned youngsters. This got you going didn't it?
"Joey Barton is just a thug, a leopard can never change its spots" (Brian, Manchester)
In an extremely frank interview Barton talks openly about his time in prison and his battles with alcohol and says that he is on his very last chance. Listen to the interview below.
Beginning of the end for speed cameras?
There was a powerful exchange on the programme this morning between a mother whose son was killed by a speeding driver and a campaigner against speed cameras.
Becky Garrod's son Christopher was killed on Christmas Day last year by a speeding driver in Swindon and we heard this morning that Swindon Council has now become the first in the country to pull the plug on funding speed cameras.
We asked Claire Armstrong who is from Safe Speed, an organisation which campaigns against speed cameras to explain to Becky why the roads would be safer without speed cameras. Listen to the interview below.
The Conservative councillor responsible for transport, Peter Greenhalgh, who became a folk hero on Top Gear after announcing the cuts in funding, told us that Swindon council were looking at alternative ways to combat speeding and that the cameras were not improving road safety.
=== UPDATE ===
Richard Hammond spoke to Simon Mayo. Watch the video below. You can also download the podcast with Simon and Richard here.
He's not Mr Know-it-all.
Never let it be said that Nicky Campbell is a know-it-all. In the last few days on the programme there have been a couple of jaw-dropping moments for co-presenters (Aasmah and Shelagh) as he's revealed alarming knowledge gaps.
The first was when he told a breathless nation that he didn't know what an infinity pool was (for anyone else who doesn't know here's a picture. You quite often find Shelagh Fogarty in one - at least in her dreams).
Then he said "what?" when a young pup reporter on the radio from somewhere in contintental Europe referred to Slivovitz which, the rest of the listening public knew, was a rather potent local tipple.
We'll be keeping a close eye on Mr Campbell in case of any more worrying lapses.
Want to save some money?
Not another blog entry about the credit crunch I hear you say. Well don't worry this one is worth reading (honest) because it could save you money.
Shelagh and Alan Duncan
A flurry of comment about the interview Shelagh did with Alan Duncan on Monday morning.
You can listen again to the interview below or read the original blog post here.
There has been a lot of response to the interview in other blogs.
The walls come tumbling down blog reckons Shelagh can do no wrong. And on the ecademy blog it's claimed that Alan Duncan lost the plot.
A post on the Guido Fawkes' blog says that Alan Duncan floored Shelagh with his handbag.
The exchange was also flagged up on the Telegraph online and Alan Duncan's performance was praised on the 10 Drowning Street blog.
Leaving your mark
Have you ever scratched your initials in a public place?
We're going to be hearing on Tuesday how a window which Lord Nelson scratched his initials on has been rediscovered at a pub in Old Portsmouth.
We'll be hearing how the pub manager, Paul Goldthorpe rediscovered the window just before it was about to be thrown out.
I've asked around the office and the most daring place anyone has admitted to leaving their initials was in some freshly laid concrete on a London street (very rock and roll).
Is Andy Murray the best of British?
That's the debate I was having with several colleagues in the sportsroom this morning after Murray beat Gilles Simon to win the Madrid Masters on Sunday afternoon.
Saving small businesses
A report out this morning says that the UK is now in recession. The Ernst and Young Item Club says the UK economy has "deteriorated dramatically" in the last three months and things are going to keep getting worse until 2010.
Free beer at Bolton!
A pint and an afternoon at the football go hand in hand.
The first 1,000 Bolton Wanderers fans at Saturday's home game against Blackburn will receive a free pint of beer. The club hope it will bring fans together to create a better atmosphere at the Reebok stadium.
The chairman Phil Gartside spoke to Phil Williams for the Weekend Breakfast programme and you can hear the full interview here....
London 0 Hull 4?
Hull face West Ham in the Premier League this weekend.
If they win, it will mean the fulfilment of the prediction made long ago by the Housemartins with their famous album London 0 Hull 4; Hull have already beaten Tottenham, Arsenal and Fulham this season.
On Saturday's Weekend Breakfast you'll hear Phil Williams talking to the former Housemartins and Beautiful South singer, Paul Heaton, who spent many years living in Hull. Here's the interview to listen back to:
The most deserving champion......
This time last year I predicted that with 2 races to go in the Formula 1 season Lewis Hamilton would lose the Drivers' Championship despite having a seemingly insurmountable 17 point lead on his closest rival. Am I psychic or just a pessimist when it comes to British sport stars?
Well, this year I predict that Hamilton WILL be crowned Champion despite only having a 5 point lead - but would he be the most deserving Champion? Not according to a former World Champion.
This morning on Breakfast Vassos interviewed 1997 Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve as this years title goes down to wire. He thinks that Robert Kubica - currently third in the standing - deserves the Championship over Hamilton and Felipe Massa as he has driven consistently fast the whole season in what is regarded as a slower car than the the McLaren and Ferrari.
You can listen to the Jacque Villeneuve interview here as well as hearing BMW's Mark Webber refute reports that he said Lewis Hamilton's driving could kill someone....
Peter Purves and his autocue ban
Most of us grew up watching Blue Peter and today is its 50th anniversary.
Here's a fact for you. Blue Peter is the longest-running children's programme in the world and was first broadcast for 15 minutes on 16 October 1958. More surprisingly it was only supposed to fill a six-week gap in scheduling.
Cheer for our heroes
Vassos is reporting from central London ahead of Thursday's big parade for Britain's Olympians and Paralympians.
If you want to know the route click here
And action, Your Majesty
The Queen, accompanied by The Duke of Edinburgh, is going to visit the Google headquarters on Thursday.
The Queen only learnt to use a computer two years ago but is no stranger to the World Wide Web. She already exchanges emails with her grandchildren and she has her own channel on YouTube called The Royal Channel.
Here is one of the videos that you can view on The Royal Channel.
When is an Eskimo not an Eskimo...
Quite a few people have been texting us about using the term Eskimo during our reports from Alaska.
Here's the view from our reporter Stephen Chittenden
Name the puppy
Whales, polar bears - and now a puppy. All part of Stephen Chittenden's reporting trip to Alaska. This cute little fella followed Stephen around for a while - but lost his footing which explains the snow on his nose.
Changing times?
On Wednesday, Jersey will vote on whether to use the same time zone as France, Central European Time (CET).
At the moment the island uses the same time as the UK, but a YES vote could see Jersey an hour ahead of the UK.
We thought it would be fun to see how the country would be split if a time zone line was drawn north of Jersey.
Incy Wincy Spider
Do you remember the film Arachnophobia, when Jeff Daniels and John Goodman come face-to-face with a bunch of deadly spiders that are taking over a small California town.
Well, on Tuesday's programme we're going to be hearing about how exotic and sometimes aggressive species of spider are making their homes in the UK.
The spiders in Arachnophobia were brought into the United States through the inside of the coffin of one of its victims.
Although not as gruesome scientists believe that the species are arriving in the UK in imported fruit and plants and are now able to survive and spread because of our increasingly mild climate.
Watch the video below to see what happened when a dangerous Brazilian spider was found hiding in a bunch of bananas at a North Yorkshire primary school.
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
The man behind the mask
Breakfast blogger Andy had a different role on Friday - during Mark Kermode's film review on Simon Mayo's show. He was the master of disguise in the absence of Simon - who was in America.
In from the cold .....
Stephen Chittenden has been in Alaska for the past two weeks.
He has been looking at issues, including oil, the environment, the state of the economy and whether Alaska's most famous hockey mom Sarah Palin would make a good Vice President.
We've had a lot of texts from listeners asking when is an Eskimo not an Eskimo? So we rang up Stephen for an answer and he gave us his verdict which you can read here.
Before he left we armed him with a camera so he could snap away and document his trip. We've put a slideshow together of his best pictures below.
Have a look at his slideshow and then listen to his reports to find out what else he got up to in Alaska.
MP in the house....
Mark Pougatch will be with us on Monday morning.
Nicky's off for the morning - but those who need a dose-of-Campbell-a-day should tune in to the first programme in the new series of Watchdog on BBC at 7.30pm.
Thank goodness it's Friday because....
To be honest this has been a pretty traumatic week.
Not only did Alistair Darling unveil a £50bn rescue package for the UK's banking system and John Terry admitted that he was likely to miss the England match but Nicky threatened to pose naked for a calendar.
So with all that in mind (it's a lot to take in) we want you to finish this sentence.
'Thank goodness it's Friday because.....'
Icy blast for councils
We heard on the programme this morning how some councils have lost hundreds of millions of pounds in the financial crisis.
At least twenty councils in England and Wales have deposits with failed Icelandic banks - which could mean bills have to go up.
Yesterday the Government pledged to protect the personal savings of all UK customers that have money with such banks, but the Chancellor failed to extend the offer to town halls.
The Local Government Association wants the savings secured. Nicky spoke to Edward Welsh from the LGA and this is what he had to say.
For details about the councils go here
See what the Local Goverment Association has to say here.
Naked Nicky
We got to considering whether Breakfast should do it's own naked calendar - after an item about the row over one involving air ambulance crew. So we did a mock up of how it could look. Please be assured that isn't really Nicky's body....(but you can see it here).
We think we might leave it for this year - anyone disagree?
Alistair Darling on the 50bn rescue package
The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, has unveiled a £50bn rescue package for the UK's banking system.
The Chancellor explained his plan for British banks to Nicky and you can listen to the interview below.
Get ready ladies here's Mr December
It's that time of year again when charity fundraiser's thoughts turn to the tasteful nude calendar (don't worry we havn't convinced Nicky yet).
The North West Air Ambulance however has produced one, to help cover the costs of keeping their helicopter in the air.
Maybe it's best to take the children out of the room at this point because here's Mr December......
Football Hall of Fame
During our programme planning meeting one of the sports producers mentioned that on Wednesday night nine footballing legends will be inducted into a special European Hall of Fame.
As part of the European Capital of Culture celebrations there is going to be a special night in Liverpool to acknowledge a European Hall of Fame. The Selection Panel have deliberated to select the greatest players and managers of all time in the English game based on performance in Europe.
And the nine footballing legends that are going to be inducted (If you don't want to know the results look away now) are...
They don't make programmes like they used to....
What's the most watched British TV show of all time?
Data has been collected from the British Audience Research Board (BARB), the British Film Institute and the Office of National Statistics to provide an overview of British TV viewing figures and popular TV shows to date.
It could be anything from a major sporting event to an episode of Eastenders.
I think i've watched series 1 episode 4 of The Office a good 30 times so i've been keeping my fingers crossed that it made the top 10.
However the results have been counted and......
Credit Crunch - Nicky needs you!
Nicky has just rung up the office asking for your assistance.
He wants to know exactly how the credit crunch is affecting you. You can fill in the questionnaire that Watchdog have set up here.
The questionnaire will close at midnight on Wednesday 8 October, and the results will be included in the first programme of the new series of Watchdog on Monday 13 October, at 7.30pm.
The Breakfast bloggers
The programme is not just what you hear - this blog shows you what else happens. Sometimes a look behind the scenes, sometimes some office or programme gossip, often a glimpse of what goes on when the programme leaves the studio.
We are the Breakfast bloggers and we've each chosen our favourite Breakfast item as a symbol to accompany our posts.
Richard Jackson - Doesn't spend all his life in meetings. Some of it is spent going to and from meetings.
Chris Hunter - tends the shop of a weekend, when he can be found fretting over the fate of Middlesbrough Football Club or the England cricket team, depending on the time of year. Occasionally sees his family, which is probably down to an oversight on someone's behalf.
Gill Edmonds - masterminds many of the Breakfast OBs. Sometimes reads the news at weekends. Nicky rates her singing (quite an accolade).
Olie D'Albertanson - Was once at Southampton FC's Centre of Excellence. Thwarted by injury (knee and hip). Now an excellent guitarist in a band - "imagine Indie meeting Ennio Morricone".
Purvee Pattni - Can't run very fast, but is pretty quick on her bike. Biggest hates are washing dishes and ironing. Would love to meet Beck.
Breakfast bloggers past
Nikki Brown - Spends too much time getting wet on a bike, on a tennis court, in a swimming pool or by the side of a football pitch. Always pining for warm weather.
David Lennon - Rules the roost over Breakfast at the weekend. Supports Coventry City. Often needs cheering up (by the way that's a picture of a bacon sandwich).
Ellie Reuter - Learned to type one-handed after a short-lived and accident-prone attempt at learning to snowboard. Never grumbles.
Harriet Oliver - A big fan of Holby City, a devotee of thrash metal, fluent in Japanese and once spent £100 to have a hamster put down. Only two of these facts are true.
Andy Hall - Imagine Shaggy from Scooby Doo meets Patrick Kielty. Yep, weird isn't it. If we have a problem, if no one else can help and if we can find him, then we give him a call.
Splash on the tan and flex those muscles
In case you didn't know it, today is the National Amateur Body-Builders' Association "Universe" competition in Southport. Muscle-bound men and women from across the globe have descended on the Merseyside resort to show off their pecs, abs and fake tans. Our reporter James Kelly is there to find out how much fake tan the competitors get through, he also spoke to veteran bodybuilder, 52-year-old Gary Kamil from the US (pictured).
Read more about the National Amateur Body-Builders' Association here.
Salma Hayek pays a visit
It was almost impossible to get in to the 5 live Breakfast studio this morning due to the mass of people all trying to get a glimpse of Hollywood actress Salma Hayek.
She came in to tell us about the Pampers and Unicef campaign to vaccinate more women and babies against Tetanus in developing countries. You can read more about the campaign here .
It was sports presenter Matt Williams last day on Breakfast today, he obviously thought that he had nothing to lose as he tried chatting Salma up at the end of her interview.
Listen again to the full interview below
"Stay calm and stay in your own homes"
25 years ago, the BBC drafted a statement to be broadcast in the event of nuclear attack. We asked Harry Shearer, the voice of The Simpsons' newsreader Kent Brockman, to offer us his interpretation of the statement.
So he did it in the style of seminal 1970s newscaster Walter Cronkite... and here's the result.
Full time for Matt
It's the end of an era on Friday when Matt Williams reads his last sports desks on Breakfast.
In his time on the programme there have been many memorable moments - like the day he took a bath in ice
He was with Breakfast in Istanbul when Liverpool won the Champions League - and in Athens when they were pipped by Milan. He even demonstrated his footballing skills
Matt also cut a sober figure during the World Cup in Germany
Matt will be swopping the Breakfast shifts for Drive. His infectious enthusiasm will be missed by us all in the morning - Matt is a great fan as well as a sports reporter, and his heart is never far away from his sleeve. You can't ignore his booming laugh either.
Breakfast will undoubtedly be a quieter place without him.
As Matt himself often says; "Cheers, mate!"
Eating fish from a bra.....
is one of the initiation ceremonies thet we've been hearing about at universities after we told you about the video footage of an initiation ceremony from the University of Gloucestershire.
A university spokesman said a formal inquiry was being launched into alleged "bullying and intimidation" during initiation ceremonies.
The National Union of Students has called for a ban on initiations.
Read more on the story here
Take a look at the footage and tell us what you think.
Jump to more content from this blog
About this blog
Subscribe to 5 live Breakfast
You can stay up to date with 5 live Breakfast via these feeds.
5 live Breakfast Feed(ATOM)
If you aren't sure what RSS is you'll find our beginner's guide to RSS useful.
Podcast
5LNPI: Is Katie Price our creation? 23 Nov 09
10:14 Mon, 23 Nov 09
Katie Price - or Jordan as she's sometimes known - has walked out of the TV reality show I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. She's complained about the public picking on her all week, and she genuinely divides opinion. So is she our creation? Does she simply reflect us?
Download or subscribe to this programme's podcast
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~59~RS~)