Archives for March 2009
"It's all in the game"
Some of you have been emailing in asking to listen again to Victoria's interview with Dominic West who plays Detective Jimmy McNulty in The Wire.
So for fans of the programme, which gets its terrestrial debut on BBC Two tonight, here it is:
And if that's not enough, you can hear more with Dominic on Richard Bacon's programme on Thursday night from 22:00.
Fed up with fat abuse
We're talking to two members of the Chawner family this morning - they've been the subject of ridicule in the national newspapers over the past couple of weeks because the four of them together weigh over 80 stone, none of them works and they claim tens of thousands of pounds in benefits. In their home town of Blackburn when they go out they are subject to abuse. They're on the programme today to put their side of the story. You can watch a video of them here:
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UPDATE
We spoke to the family this morning. You can hear the interview here:
Do you know your Just Jacks from your Jack Penates?
On Monday we're reviewing:-
Peter, Bjorn and John's album - Living Things
Just Jack's single - Embers
Jack Penate's single - Tonight's Today
Ironik's single - Tiny Dancer
If you get a chance, have a listen to them over the weekend and tell us what you think on Monday's programme. And if you reckon you've got what it takes to be a listener reviewer email Victoria and tell her why.
Cub Reporters
As you may have heard, it's School Report day today, where students from across the UK get a chance to make their own bulletins and programme features.
Students at Phoenix High School, who've been working at the QPR study support centre in west London, chose to look at why QPR Ladies team don't get paid, even though they're top of their league.
Martino Chevannes, manager of QPR Ladies(pictured, middle) , told Ousama (left) and Omar(right) that while the game is not professional at the moment, there are changes due to come in England during the next year.
These include the introduction of a women's super league, through which the women's game will be on its way to becoming as professional as it is in Europe and America. First team player Hannah Curnow said that by turning professional there would be more people focusing on women's football, which would be a massive achievement.
You can listen to their report here...and, who knows, you might catch them presenting 606 in a couple of years time.
The first to go on The Apprentice
So, series 5 of the Apprentice doesn't appear to have lost any of its sparkle. 8.3 million of us tuned in to watch Anita Shah get evicted in the first episode -- that's well over a million more than watched the first episode of the last series. Victoria spoke to her this morning and you can listen to the interview below.
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Murdered by thieves
Police in Thailand are looking for the body of a British man who was killed by thieves on his yacht. Malcolm Robertson (pictured right with his wife Linda), from East Sussex, is believed to have been hit with a hammer and thrown overboard. Three men have been arrested.
The ordeal for Linda went on for hours -- but she survived. Victoria spoke to her brother John Clee this morning - he explained what happened. Listen to the interview here:
The Apprentice is back!
An unscientific show of hands in the office shows that most of us are going to be glued to the telly tonight at 9pm for the return of The Apprentice on BBC One. But how will a show about climbing the corporate ladder fare in the middle of the economic downturn and can it keep on producing the sort of watercooler moments we've come to expect from it?
Every Thursday we'll hear from the latest hopeful to have Sir Alan barking "You're Fired!" at them, finding out what their experience of the show was and who, of those left, they think will win. We want you to get involved too. If you'd like to help interview them each week email Victoria now.
We'll be posting their interviews on the blog each week.
When you're not face-to-face
Interviewing a guest when they're not sitting opposite you in the same studio can occasionally be tricky.
Eye contact and body language are fabulously helpful tools for gauging a person's mood, state of mind and willingness to open up.
Today Alistair Little talked to me about shooting dead a young Catholic man when he was a 17 year-old member of the UVF. Alistair was in our studio in Belfast. He spoke quietly and powerfully and compelled you to listen.
I wanted to see the expression on his face as he described getting out of the car and raising the gun to aim at his teenage victim.
Listen back to my interview with him below.
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Face-to-face with Paul Gascoigne
Although I've interviewed him before today is the first time I've met Paul Gascoigne face-to-face. He didn't look up at first when I introduced myself to him outside our studio - which made me apprehensive. I wondered if he'd rather be somewhere else. We've been inviting him on the programme for a while and finally he agreed after we wrote to him.
I sat next to him on the sofa, he introduced me to his dad John, and I talked to him about the areas I wanted to cover. Despite the fact that he said "I like off-the-cuff questions" my feeling was that he was slightly defensive. Who can blame him though ? He seemed very keen to include his dad in the conversation which was courteous and appropriate.
Gascoigne looked tanned, slim, his face a little gaunt, his hair bleached white. He looked younger than 41 but spoke like an older man, possibly with a very slight slur - perhaps to do with medication, or the effects of drinking so much and taking cocaine.
You can watch some of the interview below:
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Hear the whole interview with Paul Gascoigne on the BBC iPlayer (available until 30th March 2009).
John sat next to him in the studio throughout the interview - the expression on John's face remained exactly the same for most of the hour: impassive. Gascoigne appeared to love talking to those listeners who remembered joyfully the way he played football. But he was cross at those listeners who challenged him about domestic violence or his relationship with his children. When Alistair in Warrington asked if he was in denial about the assault on Sheryl, John motioned to Paul not to respond. But he did.
Monday's Music: Royksopp's new album reviewed
Victoria will speak to the Noisettes and Royskopp's Svein Berge during the review. If you want to get involved in the music review or put a question to Royksopp and the Noisettes let us know.
This week we'll be reviewing:
The Decemberists album The Hazards of Love
The Noisettes single Don't Upset the Rhythm
Jennifer Hudson's single If This Isn't Love
Royksopp's album Junior
Gazza talks to us
Not content with the load of football we had on the programme today, we've got a cracker on Monday too. Paul Gascoigne will be taking your calls from 10am, and you'll be able to watch it all live online too as we're filming it.
If you want to speak to him you can email your questions now to victoria@bbc.co.uk - if you add your number we'll try and call you back.
Or, if you just want us to ask him a question for you, post here on the blog.
Three football bosses
Lots of football on the programme this week. On Wednesday Hull City boss Phil Brown told Victoria he's standing by his claim that Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas spat at his assistant manager Brian Horton. Brown also claimed that Arsene Wenger refused to shake his hand after each of the clubs' three meetings this season. But photographs have since emerged that suggest such a handshake did take place after Hull's win at the Emirates Stadium in September. You can listen to the interview here:
On Friday Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn told us his players will take a 40% wage cut if they're relegated this season. This text from Sally in Liverpool is typical of the sort of response we had to our interview: "I want to praise Niall Quinn for such a good interview. It is a refreshing change to hear someone being so sensible as well as passionate about football. I particularly love his attitude towards sensible financial contracts with the Manager. I'm really enjoying listening".
And then we heard from Graeme Souness. He'd been accused in some of the papers of swearing at his son's under-10s football match. He wanted to come on to put the record straight about what happened but he also managed to have a pop at Victoria. Have a listen to it here:
Loads of you got in contact to back either Graeme or Victoria:
"Souness' comments are spot on"
"At last.someone saying what he thinks. Good on Souness. He was not patronising. Victoria's just a chippy BBC presenter."
"Souness is rude and has a short fuse. Well done victoria! Why do football people always get petulant, patronising and enraged?"
"l winced in agony throughout that interview as Souness remorselessly dug himself deeper into a hole. Victoria was remarkably restrained under the circumstances, but as l'm not bound by professional etiquette, may l say, Souness is a plonker!"
All that, plus the Champions League draw.
Phil Packer's first unaided steps
Major Phil Packer came on the programme last November to talk about the horrific spinal injury he suffered in a rocket attack in Basra last year. It's fair to say you were incredibly impressed by him. He told us he was informed by the medical professionals that he was unlikely he would ever walk again. Last week he took his first steps without help. We asked him to post something here... and underneath that, you can watch Phil walking...
FROM PHIL: "My recent ability to take my first unaided steps has been a positive yet emotional part of my journey. The rehabilitation I have received at Headley Court and the support from family and friends has been a huge assistance to me.
Whilst I still have paralysis from my waist to my thighs, and am very limited to how far I can walk, I know how lucky I am when I see so many fellow injured servicemen with injuries far worse than mine. It is this that inspires me and drives me to raise £1million for the Help for Heroes charity and to provide them with opportunities in as many sports as possible.
The Flora London Marathon is a challenge that I hope I can use to gain the support of the public to help me to help them by donating towards my £1million quest through my website, www.philpacker.com. I am sincerely grateful to everyone who is joining me on this journey."
Have a look at Phil taking his first steps in the short clip below:
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3 tours of duty
Today 5 live's taking a special look at the British armed forces.
Here's one soldier's personal story of 3 tours of duty in Iraq. Sergeant Mike Robertson, B Company, Five Rifles, is currently in Basra.
Listen to his interview with 5 live's James Shaw.
We're live in Kisumu this morning
Welcome to a noisy, chaotic, steamy children's centre in Kisumu.
It's packed full of kids between the ages of six to 18 years and they are so excited that the BBC is broadcasting from here (although one or two are disappointed we can't be heard in America).
Join us at 10 when we'll talk to loads of children, the people who run this place and find out how Comic Relief money helps.
P.S. It's about 35 degrees out here!
UPDATE
We've finally been able to upload our pictures. You can see them in the slideshow below
Visiting the slums around Kisumu
Today we were taken to the slums surrounding Kisumu. Some of the money raised by Comic Relief directly helps dozens of children who live there.
The first thing you notice is the smell: there are no sewers and people use plastic bags before throwing them in trenches they've dug outside their homes. Pigs and goats are nosing around those trenches looking for food. People's homes are mud huts with tin roofs consisting of one room. A family of nine can live in that tiny space.
Litter is everywhere - plastic, paper, tins, the remnants of burning fires - and children have to play in the middle of all that.
Comic Relief cash helps pay for food and education for some of the kids who live here. If that money wasn't forthcoming, you know their lives would be even bleaker.
Kenya and Comic Relief
I'm flying to Nairobi tomorrow, and Kenya's third largest city Kisumu on Wednesday, ready to do Thursday's programme from the Hope for Victoria Children Centre. It's one of the places that received money from you if you donated to Comic Relief back in 2007 (Comic Relief is every 2 years).
We'll talk to loads of children, to doctors, teachers and people who live there who've benefitted from CR cash. Most people have to survive on under $1 a day.
We'll talk to the International Development Minister Douglas Alexander who'll be out there too and some of the people who work for Comic Relief.
I'll be updating regularly on twitter. If you want to follow me my twitter name is vicderbyshire.
Oasis, Starsailor, PJ Harvey and Pete Doherty
It's the music review on Monday. This week we're reviewing
Starsailor's new album - All the Plans;
PJ Harvey and John Parish's single - Black Hearted Love;
Oasis's single - Falling Down;
Pete Doherty's single - Last of the English Roses.
Starsailor frontman James Walsh will join Victoria, as will I'll Do Anything and Oliver! star Jodie Prenger, Casper Llewellyn-Smith from Observer Music Monthly, 5live listener Joe Dodson and Julie Cullen from 6 Music.
Snore Draw
Is the Premier League getting boring? And if so, is it such a bad thing? We've been taking a look at the stats and the number of goalless draws is running at it's highest for 10 years. There have been 32 so far this season, compared to just 26 in the whole of last year. At this rate there will be 44 come the end of the season, meaning well over one for every round of Premier League games. You've been talking about this on Victoria's facebook page.
Still Bad?
Michael Jackson's due to make a "special announcement" in London tomorrow afternoon. It's thought he'll announce a series of up to 50 concerts at the O2 arena. Kim Wilde toured with Jacko for five months in 1988. She told Victoria she only got to meet him once during the entire tour. Listen to the interview here -- and stick with it, to hear Victoria "duet" with Kim on Kids in America.
Michael Jackson was the undisputed King of Pop in the 1980's (we only managed to find a couple of 5live listeners who didn't own Thriller at some point or another) -- but has he still got what it takes? Will you fork out around £75 to see him in concert?
Is your child safe online?
"Suddenly we were part of a world we never ever thought we'd have to confront." That was the stark reality for one family as they were getting ready for Christmas last year.
After checking her 12-year-old daughter's texts on Christmas Eve, the girl's mother said she found explicit messages that brutally burst the happy family holiday bubble. Inspite of all the parents' efforts to keep their children safe online, somehow it had all gone wrong. Their daughter had secretly set up a socal networking account and was being groomed by a paedophile.
Victoria spoke exclusively to that mother about what happened and how the family coped. You can listen to the interview below (it has been voiced by an actor to protect her identity).
Victoria also talked to a young man who was groomed in a separate case. He'd started chatting online to someone he'd been introduced to by a family friend. He thought he was talking to a woman who lived in Australia and says, as a 15 year old, he was flattered she was interested in him. You can listen to his interview below.
He spent months chatting to "her" online even though he kind of knew it was all a bit "iffy". The final straw came, he says, when "she" started to pester him to use a webcam - at that point he ended the online relationship.
Later he discovered "she" was a he who'd been grooming him. He didn't tell his parents because the man involved was still known to the family.
He said he thought he knew about the dangers involved online. But he still got caught up in it all and was left feeling angry and guilty when the case came to court.
Both these young people knew what they were doing was wrong. But they carried on despite all the safety messages. So is it part of being a teenager to rebel and do something like this? Or, are we not being told enough about how to be safe online?
"I'll never have another smear test"
That's what Vicki from Dumfries told us this morning. She finds cervical cancer screening too intrusive and has opted out of ever having another test. We also heard from Lauren in Belfast, who says she'd rather not know if she's got cancer, so she's also decided not to have any more smears. And there are plenty more of you avoiding smears - more than 20% of women eligibale for screening do not go for regular tests. Are you one of them? Why?
Hear Vicki and Lauren talking to Tessa Shewan, who had cervical cancer herself and now raises awareness for Jo's Trust and Macmillan Cancer Support.
If you or someone you know if affected by cancer Macmillan Cancer Support can help. Visit www.macmillan.org.uk or call 0800 500 800 to speak to a nurse.
Boxing and blogs
Hello I'm not able to respond to any of your comments at the moment for some reason. So I'm not ignoring you there just isn't a facility to post on an ongoing thread - I have to start a new one each time. Anyway loved the boxing although I did wince everytime someone got hit. I was expecting the arena to smell of perspiration and middle-aged men - it didn't. A colleague had warned me that boxing was a "dark, chauvinistic world". I was only there for a couple of hours but noone treated me any differently to the men I was working with.
James Degale's fight went the distance and the crowd started to get impatient in the third round. His opponent from Georgia was dogged and prepared to take a load of punches before starting to fight back.
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~20~RS~)