Discovery zone
David Bowie with Jo Whiley
BBC radio DJ and festival style icon talks about Bowie, full version in Music Now
Hi I’m Jo Whiley and I’m a huge fan of the man that we’re going to talk about today and that is David Bowie. 1969 is remembered by most of humanity for one thing; the first time man landed on the Moon. The Apollo space mission was a very big deal. At schools across the land children had their lessons cancelled so that they could watch the Moon landings; people stayed home from work and everyone gathered around televisions to witness this monumental first for humanity.
* Moon landing
David Bowie was born David Jones, in Brixton, South London. He changed his surname to Bowie and in his early career was a folksy type, strumming his acoustic guitar whilst sitting cross-legged on stage. In 1969 he released an album which included Space Oddity, a track which was inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi film classic 2001: A Space Odyssey, which you can find out about in our Film book. It was released as a single to coincide with the televising of the Moon landings but was slow to take off in the pop charts due to the refusal of the BBC to play it until the crew of Apollo 11 were safely back on Earth. It’s about an astronaut called Major Tom who was being launched into space. The words are quite odd, but strangely poetic. The original version of the song is very different to the sound clip that you've just heard. The orchestration is much sparser so his voice seems to float as if through space.
* Music: original Space Oddity by David Bowie
Lauren Laverne’s a day in the life of a DJ
Lauren Laverne, BBC DJ shares her day
Hello I’m Lauren Laverne. A day in the life of a DJ. Well my day starts very early because em I’m on air at ten so I try and get to work a couple of hours before that and I go through a mountain of post that I get sent. People still send me physical music, CDs and I get quite a lot of vinyl because 6Music is kind of an alternative radio station and so vinyl is still very much a big deal for serious music fans. I love a bit of vinyl. So I er I spend an hour maybe more just going through post every day. I listen to probably about a 150, 200 records a week, maybe more. Em it’s a big post bag to keep a track of and that takes up quite a lot of my week to be honest! As well as that though, of course, I’ve got guests on the programme so I research and write questions to think about what I want to talk to them about and er I kind of like to research quite a lot in advance so that when we have a conversation then we can just be a bit more spontaneous so I always have got an idea of what I want to talk about but you’ve got to always be able to listen – that’s the most important thing I think when you’re a presenter – listen to what they’re saying to you don’t just kind of wait and then just ask the next thing that you want to ask on your list which you hear and see people doing all the time on TV and radio it’s really annoying. I do kind of a fair bit of research before the show, write a menu and then at ten we are on air until one. And I think that a lot of people think that the video must be a lot of sitting around while you listen to music playing out but actually it’s not really like that at all it’s really busy in between times – there’s a lot of kind of rushing around and em everything has to be run to time. Obviously you don’t want your audience to get the sense that you are dropping tracks and switching things around to make everything come in on time em you want it to sound like a bit seamless sweep of music though that is enjoyable and all kind of fits together. We come off air about one o clock and then I usually head out and do other work, I do lots of other jobs or if not then I kind of head home. I kind of catch up with more music in the evening. I have a huge post file to work through so do a bit more of that though, of course, I really love it so it’s a real pleasurable experience and I think if you’d have gone back to me when I was fourteen and told me that I was going to get free records for a living and also money on top of that for doing my job I would have thought you were just lying and ridiculous. It’s a pretty good job – I like it.
Martin Freeman talks books
The actor remembers the books he read as a child
The first book that I read and really remember losing myself in was the book version of the film ‘Time Bandits’ which came out when I was a kid. Time Bandits is a really good film and a really good book about time travel and little people and it was funny, and it was historical and I rather like that. And the next book which I read when I was about eleven, was Animal Farm by George Orwell – I really loved that and it’s still probably my favourite book to this day. I’m lucky that I grew up as a reader. There were always books all over the house so I’ve always had books and always loved books. I don’t remember reading Roald Dahl. I don’t remember reading anything like that. I know Roald Dahl now because of my children. I think I was always interested in politics and history and stuff as a kid so I think that’s what switched me on in those days.
Magical Worlds
An audio trailer for our exciting fantasy and science fiction book, starring actors from Harry Potter and the Hobbit movies!
The first Harry Potter book went on sale in June 1997. More than 500 million Harry Potter books have since been bought and there was an absolute frenzy when the seventh and last book in the series reached bookshops in 2007.
Let's dive into the wonderful worlds created by Philip Pullman in his remarkable trilogy, His Dark Materials. The trilogy features wonderfully detailed descriptions of characters, from flying witches to armoured polar bears along with bewitching explanations of scenes and places.
Bilbo is the central character of The Hobbit. We first learn about him sitting in his comfortable home which had been built by his father, Bungo Baggins. Bilbo is a bit of a homebody. Like most hobbits he doesn’t travel much and prefers to stay in his area, known as the Shire.
Kings and Queens, Derek Jacobi as King Alfred
A wonderful taster of an atmospheric dramatisation of King Alfred, full version in Kings and Queens
Greetings, child. Are you one of my subjects? You’re not sure? If you live anywhere in England, you must be. I’m sorry, did you say something. Who am I? Who am I? Do you mean you don’t recognise me? How wonderful! Everywhere I go, people kneel to me, and call me ‘the great’ – sometimes I would love to be able to go for a walk or a ride, and pretend that I am just another person, not who I really am – KING ALFRED – one of the very first kings of all England. Now have you heard of me?
Just have a look at my face and you will see what a determined character I am…
Run your fingers over the thermoform, and then find the top of the picture. There, in the centre, is my crown. In the middle of my golden crown sticking out at the top is a shape called a fleur de lis – a lily flower. It has a pointed petal in the middle and one that is bent over on each side. You can find the same shape on the top right and left of the crown too – but they feel different here, because you can only feel half of each one. Between each fleur de lis, there is another small shape, like a cloverleaf, with three round leaves joined together. Below these there are three jewels – you will need to use your fingernails to find them. If you feel very carefully, you will be able to tell that the middle one is a rectangle, while the others are circles.
Now feel my face, my long straight nose, my determined mouth just below a moustache, my eyes – I hope the artist has managed to show my real expression. I was trying hard not to smile and to look kingly. Now, trace your fingers down over my beard – can you feel how it divides in the middle? This is the latest fashion.
Anglo Saxons, Beowulf with Sean Bean
A short extract, available in full in our Anglo Saxons book
Beowulf’s eye, penetrating the gloom of the den, caught sight of an ancient sword once hefted by a giant. This massive blade matched Beowulf’s muscular sword arm and with both hands he held the hilt in an iron-hard grip. Drawing it back over his shoulder, the warrior swung the sword in a powerful, death-dealing stroke. This time the giant-forged edge did not slide harmlessly off but, singing its song of blood and death, sliced through the muscle and bone of the monster’s neck.
Beowulf, standing there with the demon’s blood dripping from his sword, had fulfilled his warrior’s oath. Looking around the gloomy lair with a heavy heart, Beowulf saw the slaughtered bodies of the warriors who had been dragged away by the monstrous fiend. Among the butchery Beowulf saw the crumbled, slain body of Grendel. Seizing the demon by his hair, Beowulf’s sword sang through the chill air one last time as he hacked off its hideous head.
Ade Adepitan on his travels
Ade's favourite go-to destinations around the world
Hi, my name is Ade Adepitan and I've been lucky enough to travel to so many places around the world. It's really difficult to pick out my favourites, but I had an opportunity, uh, quite a few years ago to go to a place called Nicaragua or Nicaragua in Central America. And I loved it because it was and actually It wasn't quite a holiday. It was a, a journey where I travelled from one side of Nicaragua to the other. But what I really loved about it was the beauty. You had the Caribbean beautiful sun kissed beaches, and then you had the diversity of the amazing rain forest with wild animals. And you could pick mangoes from the trees and you had lakes everywhere. And then you had the wild rocky side of the South, which had volcanoes and it led to the Pacific Ocean. So I love Nicaragua. It's a special place in Central America. I also love Africa. Africa is amazing. I've been there so many times. I was born there. A lot of people go to Africa for the jungle trek and to go out and do the safari. But I think something else you should do is go into the African cities, check out the markets, uh, Kumasi in Ghana has the biggest largest outdoor market in the world. And that's where you get to meet real African people in action. And finally, I went to a place called Bonaire, which is in the Dutch Antilles. It's part of the ABC islands. I really loved Bonaire because it's a diver's paradise. It's where if you want to scoop a dive, it's amazing. I've never seen sands the colour of the sands in, in, in, in, in, in, in, um, Bonaire there it's golden glowing sands and you have the sea lapping every day. And one of the great things about Bonaire is you can scoop a dive anywhere off the shores. And there are wreck dives. There are wrecks, ships that have been sunk from hundreds of years and beautiful, beautiful coral. It is like, I'd know, it's like an Olympics for your senses.
Lauren Laverne’s favourite fashion decade
The ever stylish broadcaster radio DJ on the decade for music and fashion inspired influence
Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne. My favourite decade for style is now because it's always now because I am as a person, very future focused. I'm not into nostalgia. Um, but what I also like about now is that, uh, the new kind of landscape, whether it comes to fashion or music or any kind of culture really is lateral. The internet has made everything completely available all the time forever. So whether you're into, um, I dunno, uh, hip hop, like nineties hip hop, and you like that kind of maximal super glam kind of bling thing, that still exists over there somewhere. Or if you're a kind of retro soul loving Amy Winehouse fan, who wants to dress in a bit of Westwood and wear big flicky, eyeliner that exists too. That's over here. And then, you know, there's people my age, who are for some reason stuff still buying records and dressing like we did when we were teenagers and that still exists. The internet landscape has kind of spread everything out, but allowed everything to be allowed, things to continue to exist in a way that they didn't before. You know, you had these big kind of peaks and troughs, you had these singular movements coming through and dominating everything and then just suddenly disappearing. That's not what the landscape's like now and that's because of the internet. And I find that very interesting. I think people are still working that out and still come to terms with it and kind of understanding what that means for the future. And definitely what it means for industries like the music industry and the fashion industry. But I think it's incredibly exciting so my favourite decade is now.
Iwan Thomas on carb loading for the London Marathon
Words of wisdom from a top athlete and sports personality
I'm Ewan Thomas and I'm a former Olympic athlete. I was a European and Commonwealth 400 metre champion, not quite as fast anymore, but very lucky. I now work in television talking about the sport. I love so much. I still try and keep a healthy lifestyle going, eat healthily and train at least three or four times a week. It's all very easy to go to the supermarket and buy ready-made pasta. But if you get a chance, try and make fresh pasta it’s quite satisfying. I actually was on holiday once in Tuscany and I actually went to a cookery class and I learned how to roll it through the machine and it actually tasted quite nice. And for me being an athlete, it's a great source of carbohydrates. I've done the London marathon five times and the week before London, I carb load. That means that I eat loads and loads of pasta to give myself the energy to get round that long course. My general rule of thumb is eat healthy during the week. Try and train at least three or four times. And if you've managed to do that and you want a little cheeky naughty day, then you can afford a little bit of junk food on a Sunday, but only if you've been good, the rest of the week. Drink lots of water, exercise regularly and as I say, if you feel the need for a little bit of a treat, you're allowed one day a week.
Dallas Campbell on cooking and pizza
Broadcaster and writer shares his pizza secrets
Hello. I'm Dallas Campbell. I travel a lot for my work, which is not only fascinating, but it also means I get to try food from all over the world. Even more than loving eating food. I love cooking food. I love cooking food on my own. I love cooking food with friends and family. It's something that can be shared. It's something we can all take part in. And part of my love of cooking comes from the fact that it engages all your senses. It’s about the way it looks, the way it feels, the way it tastes, the way it smells. Absolutely everything. If I had to pick one favourite dish to cook, I would probably say, yes, it's cooking proper Napoli pizza. I love making pizza. I love the process of making the bread base because it involves flour and water and yeast. So you get that wonderful smell, but also it involves getting your hands dirty. It involves kneading the dough and pulling it apart. And it's that unctuous, moist, delicious, gooey experience that makes it so fun. You can also watch that yeast transform the dough itself as it rises and rises, and then you get to punch it back, which is very, very good. If you've had a difficult and stressful day after that, of course, after you make your pizza base, you can put the tomato sauce on top, the mozzarella cheese and whatever topping you decide. So it's very, very creative. After that, It goes into a blisteringly hot oven and then the aroma, the smell start to percolate out. There is something particularly delicious about pizza. I've never met anyone who doesn't like pizza. And I have to say without blowing my own trumpet, I reckon my pizzas it's up there. I don't think anyone's made pizza as good as me.
Allegra McEvedy on Essential Cooking Tools for Fish
Top chef, restaurateur and food writer talks fish
Hi, my name's is Allegra McEvedy. I am a chef food writer, sometimes tele person, and I am fanatical about fish. Most of the year, you'll be cooking your fish indoors, and there are two bits of kit. I find absolutely indispensable for that, the first one I call my special flipper. Right. And it's just somewhere between a cake slice and a pallet knife. So it's about kind of five centimetres wide and probably about 10 centimetres long, um, and not solid it's, um, kind of got slats on it and yeah, it's extremely useful for fish because when you put fish in there pan quite often, um, skin the contracts and it will try to curl up. So if you just gently put your special flipper on top of it and press it down that way, you'll get a nice flat fillet of fish. The second thing you'll need is a really good pan and it is worth investing in a few quid in one, go for something very heavy, the heavier, the better when it comes to cooking fish, because they conduct heat in a more even way. Ideally, it'll be a cast iron skillet, and that's really heavy, but it gives you a bit of a workout too.
Warwick Davis on acting in Harry Potter
Holywood star reveals behind the scenes gems
More recently in my career, I've been very fortunate to have been cast in the Harry Potter series of films. Due to the genius of the makeup artists, I was able to play several different characters throughout those films. Sometimes two different characters within the same film, they were able to transform my look as Professor Flitwick, who's a kindly teacher of charms. They make me look like a, like quite an old man and as Grip Hook, who is quite a villainous goblin, they transformed me by giving me very big ears, very long nose, even to the extent that I had teeth, uh, which were very, very sharp, almost like a shark's teeth and very large contact lenses, which completely changed the look of my eyes. And give me a very sort of, um, soulless sort of look. As a performer it's, it's wonderful to wear these makeups because they not only transform your appearance, they give you the foundation of another character. Professor Flitwick was a fairly easy character to find, whereas Grip Hook, he's a villain he's bad. So he's very far removed from who I am, but often those sorts of characters for an actor are the most fun to play, you know, and I wanted to make them very distinctively different because of course, if I'm appearing as different characters within the same film, I have to make them poles apart. So the audience don't recognize that indeed it is the same actor. So not only do I have to change appearance, I have to change the way that I stand, the way that I walk, my body language. And of course my voice has to be very different. So professor Flitwick would talk a little bit like this, whereas Grip Hook would talk more like, um, I said, I'd get you in. I didn't say anything about getting you out. So there's a very distinct difference between how the characters sound, but it was a delight to be part of those films. And again, much like Willow and Star Wars. These will be films that will be talked about and watched for many, many decades to come.
Martin Freeman on being Bilbo Baggins
British actor talks about the Tolkien film trilogy
Well, when I played Bilbo in the Hobbit films, the day would start by my going into makeup and in the makeup chair, my makeup artist, Georgia would put on my wig, my fake big ears, my hobby ears, and my facial makeup, which although it looked fairly simple in the book had to be layered on quite carefully, partly with brushes, makeup brushes, and partly with an airbrush because that's often our makeup is put on as well. So, so you have this very faint air blowing on your face is quite nice, actually on a hot day, you kind of feel it's like someone blowing on you to call you down. The wig would take quite a while to put it off the ears, which were kind of heavy rubbery texture had to be glued onto your head, whatever hair you've got in order to put your wig on nor to fit the wig properly, whatever hair you have. And I had it quite short, but it has to be greased back with what they call gaff quit, which is a kind of glue, basically glued back to be as tight to your head as possible. So that weak fits properly. That would take about an hour and 15 minutes. Then I would go and get into my costume. And the costume would usually consist of like corduroy britches, which are kind of half knee length trousers, braces, a waistcoat or woolenl waistcoat, and usually a kind of corduroy jacket for most of the films. It was quite battered and dirty. And cause he'd been on these adventures, then I would go and get my feet put on. And so the big Hobbit feet, they take about 15 minutes to put on with the aid of two other people. So I sit down and I put my legs out. I've got no shoes or socks on I've shaved my legs. Cos the thing is, when you pull these feet up, they can catch on the leg, their hairs of your legs. So that's quite painful. I had shaved legs for all the time I was doing the Hobbit, which was kind of weird to look in the mirror and see these kinds of white plucked legs, which didn't to me look very good, but the legs would be pulled up almost like a pair of rubber tights. And I would have to fit my real foot inside this kind of skeleton of a foot inside the, uh, the rubber foot. And you could actually move your toes if you moved your toes, the toes of the rubber foot moved. And that would take, say 15 minutes. I would then get up, walk out onto set and the first time for about the first week of having these feet on, you already have to get used to holding your feet. Like, you know, walking normally is walking normally, but with the size of these feet, which were about another half foot on the size on the end of your foot, you have to lift your knees up much higher than you normally would. At first you feel a bit like you're flopping around like a duck, you know, a big sort of webbed feet on the end of your legs On set it was actually a mixture of what we call green screen. So like pretend digital backgrounds and very, very real sets. So there would be real trees, there'd be real rocks, real doors, real windows and all of that and mud and dirt and everything. And there would be some things that were not real. We also went out into the beautiful parts of New Zealand where we would be at mountains. Where would it be in Hills waterfalls like quarrys. It was, it was really beautiful. So we got to see a lot of real nature, very, very fresh air in New Zealand, which if you're from London is kind of an eye opener or nostril opener.
Julian Fellowes on Downton Abbey
Oscar winner spills the beans on the best-loved TV series
Got a message from one of the members here saying thank you, Julian, for the fun that I've had with Downton Abbey. And they'd like to know where you get your ideas from and how long does each episode take to write? It's very difficult to say how long an episode takes to write, because you write a first draft. I'd send, first of all, my process is this. I write it, I then show it to my wife. She picks up the mistakes. She also says, I don't really believe this. This bit’s very boring, you know, whatever. So I do her notes. I then may show it to my son, if he's around. Then it goes to the two other producers of the show that sort of trio at the core of the show is Gareth Neame, Liz Trubridge and me. And they give me their notes and their first lot of notes are quite big. The elephant story doesn't work, you know, whatever. And then I'll rewrite it according to that. Then they will send me a second lot of smaller notes, you know, why does she say Thursday? Shouldn't it be Tuesday? And then when I've done those, but only then does it go to ITV and, and so on. So really by the time Gareth, Liz and I have finished, it's pretty close to what will be shot. But during that process, I'll be writing other episodes. I mean, I sent off one, I might not get it back for two weeks. So by this time I'm writing two, you know, and so on. So it goes over a period of probably about six or eight weeks, but they're all plaited together. So they're all happening simultaneously. So it's quite hard to say, um, as for where I get my ideas, I don't know. I mean, I, you know, you've just think of things. Sometimes you remember things. Sometimes people say something and you think, Oh, that's good. Sometimes you take a real story and you just alter it slightly, change the sex of the protagonists or whatever. So it's quite hard to recognize, but it is in fact, uh, such and such a story sometimes, you know, you just think things up in the bath and you think, well, I know I'll give them this to do. And, and then you plait them all together. I mean, the thing about Downton is that it's lots of plates spinning on the sticks at once. And you've got big stories that go right through the series and stories that right across the episode or across two episodes. But you also have little stories, you know, is Daisy going to buy a new hat or something, and that's probably only three scene. And then you have stories that you just keep in the air, but you don't do the story story until episode four. So you've primed it, but you don't deliver it. And all of that has to be woven together and you have to, at the end, make sure that all the characters turn up a reasonable amount. I mean, they don't expect to have plum stories in every episode, they want a decent story in about every three or four episodes, but then you've got to keep them in play to make those stories land. So what you do is you involve them in someone else's story that you, them part of this group, that's trying to work out how such and such so that they've got a reason to be in the room and contributing. And in that way you keep everyone in the air at once. But you know, things like search are very useful because I will go to the top of an episode when I've written the first draft and I'll put Mrs. Patmore search. And then I look at the page numbers and it says three, seven, eleven, twenty one. And you think, got to get her in somewhere around 17, you know? And then you look at those scenes and you see one that you can drop Mrs Pat in so that you keep them all on screen, a reasonable amount. That's quite tricky in a way. It's amazing. God bless the search function. And is there a character in Downton Abbey that you particularly enjoy writing for? Well, you know, they're all my babies really. I never, I mean, you know, people always expect me to say Violet Grantham because Maggie delivers all the lines you give her so well, you know, she, she is a wonderful actress to write for because you never have to say why it's funny, you know, what, what the line is supposed to do. I don't mean they're all pretty good, quite honestly. I mean, I can't think of a duff member of the Downton cast. I think they're all top notch. And so they're all fun to, to write for really, I mean, I think what does happen is an actor takes the part and it suddenly becomes rich. They, they sort of reveal the potential of a character sometimes in a way you haven't quite seen. So, um, Kevin Doyle, for instance, with, with Molesley you know, or Lesley Nicol with Mrs Patmore or, and thinner and, uh, with the dreaded O'Bryan or Rob James Collier with Thomas, as they started to play them, you start to write for the way their play. So in a sense in you, you create the character together, the actor and the writer, um, creates the character. I've never written a series before. So that's a new expense. Normally I've written shows and film or a mini-series or something so that they get the script and then they cast the script, they play the script, but a series is an ongoing thing. So you’re, you're working with them. And I find that quite an interesting part of the process actually,
Frances De La Tour on her role as Hamlet
A great British actress talks Shakespeare
Hello, I'm Francis De La Tour and I'm an actor. Over the centuries a number of female actors have played Hamlet. Not many I have to say, but a few Sarah Bernhardt, perhaps being the most well known. I found the role of Hamlet very challenging, not for the reason you might expect, but for the sheer breadth of the role physically and emotionally. It's true. I was playing a young man though I didn't play it in a masculine way nor as a woman, but rather as an emotionally tortured young person, a youth struggling to understand his own predicament. Hamlet has the best soliloquies in the English language. And I let the poetry speak for itself. It was particularly challenging too, because our production at the then Half Moon theatre in Tower Hamlets was a promenade production, which means we didn't have a single stage as such, but a series, three or four at the most, of platforms on which we would perform different scenes and the audience, which was not seated, they stood throughout would promenade to the different stages or platforms to watch us. At the beginning of the play, the actors were on ground level with the audience so we were almost rubbing shoulders with them. This whole interaction with the audience and proximity was both nerve wracking and very stimulating. We found out later that, far from the audience being made to feel self-conscious, they found the experience very freeing. I remember I cried after the last performance, as I knew, I would never say those wonderful words of the young Hamlet ever again.
Derek Jacobi on an actor’s voice
Iconic British actor shares an insight into his craft
An actor, particularly an actor that attempts any of the great classical works, particularly the Shakespearian Malawian works has to have a voice that is capable of sounding like more than one instrument in an orchestra. If you've got an audience listening to your voice for three hours in the course of an evening, you've got to play many different instruments in order to get their attention and retain their attention, which is why I love theatre. And it's why I love classical theatre above all, because it asks of an actor to give a display of all aspects of his craft, um, and all the skills that he can control the prime one of which is vocal, which is his voice. I love radio because it depends only on voice. You have no costume to help you, you have no set to help you. I mean, it's pure really how you sound. And that can for the listener be very, very strange because I listen to people on the radio, for instance, and I get a mental picture of them. And when I meet them, if they are totally unlike what their voice conjured up. So voice is essential. The words and the voice are essential, particularly in theatre drama. Not so essential in anything to do with the camera, almost unessential in movies, because it's not always what you say. And it's very rarely about how you say it. Movies are about eyes and faces rather than voices, but from an actor's point of view, the vocal skill you need to acquire is a great thrill in itself. And it gives the, the stage actor, a great buzz. It's very important. I think it's probably the most important thing in an act as armoury, his voice.
Lauren Laverne on Alexander McQueen
An insight into an iconic British designer
Alexander McQueen studied at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and cut his teeth, making suits at the centre of gentlemen's tailoring, Savile Row. Soon McQueen was designing his own collections and wowing everyone with his elaborate fashion shows. In one of the most memorable moments at McQueen's shows, robots spray painted a dress worn by the model Shalom Harlow. We've depicted this iconic moment in fashion history on tactile picture number seven, next to the picture of Kate Moss. Feel over the top left of the tactile picture. British supermodel Shalom Harlow is standing up and facing us. Her body's slightly turned to the left and she's holding her arms gracefully up and out to the sides. In his spring summer show of 1999, McQueen created a visual spectacle that was more like theatre - Shalom wearing a white cotton strapless dress and heels walked down the catwalk and stood on a circular platform. This platform then rotated whilst two robotic guns positioned on either side of Shalom gracefully sprayed her and her white dress in yellow and black paint. Let's explore this scene. From the top left of the picture, trace down to feel Shalom's head. Her black hair is in a loose bun at the nape of her neck, but you can feel her fringe and a longer length of hair hanging loose to the right of her face. Now trace down to feel her bare shoulders. She's wearing a strapless white cotton muslin dress. Well, it's more like a long full circle of material cinched above the bust with a brown leather belt. Feel the thin raised shape of the leather belt. Trace down over the smooth white cotton fabric of the dress, which has been splattered and is literally dripping with colour. The areas of yellow and black are indicated by the raised areas on the dress. This sprayed effect is graffiti in style and look, echoing McQueen's love of mixing punk and high art. Trace below the smooth hem of the dress to feel a textured area, showing layers of white synthetic tule. These layers of netting, give the dress volume. Shalom is wearing black and white slip on sandals with a high wooden heel. However, there's a twist, as the heel of the shoe is in the middle of the sole. After a few minutes, the mechanical guns stopped spraying and the platforms stopped rotating. In an interview about the experience Shalom said:
‘And when their guns were finished, this sort of receded. And I walked almost staggered up to the audience and sprayed myself in front of them with complete abandonment and surrender. The audience was left in shock and awe.’
Now that’s trailblazing fashion, with echoes of 1970s punk, maybe. You can watch this iconic moment in fashion history on YouTube search for Alexander McQueen spray gun dress.
The International Space Station with Maggie Philbin
Science broadcaster Maggie describes the ISS
Feel across the International Space Station. (Pause) It’s not the first space station, the Russians have had several and the Americans had an earlier one, but the great thing about this one is that it is the International Space Station. Sixteen different countries – Brazil, Canada, Japan, Russia, the USA and eleven European countries including Britain – began building it in 2000. All the equipment needed to build the International Space Station was transported in a spacecraft from Earth. The Space Station is built from modules, which are fitted together, a bit like a giant jigsaw puzzle the size of a football pitch.
Astronauts and cosmonauts come and go to the International Space Station all the time, conducting hundreds of experiments on the effects of microgravity on humans and plants, to push the boundaries of our knowledge. It’s a home from home for the astronauts onboard, with a kitchen, sleeping cabins, toilets and bathrooms plus work areas, laboratories and control rooms.
Robert Winston on being a Scientist
An insight into the profession with a leading voice
Hello. My name is Robert Winston. When I wanted to be an engine driver at the age of seven, then I changed up wanting to be a scientist. And then I really wanted to do something totally different. And I did do science at university with medicine, but actually I didn't really decide to do that until after I left school. So I was not clear what I wanted to do. And I think it's a very good piece of advice. Just remember that you have far more than you realise as you study at school and you should try and look at everything because you don't need to be a scientist. And I have to say too, that you think that I'm clever, cause I'm a scientist, but actually I'm no more clever than you are.
Steve Lemacq
DJ, writer and broadcaster Steve Lamacq shares his top 3 grunge tracks
Hi, I'm Steve. Lamacq the first journalist to interview Nirvana for a feature in the New Musical Express. An interview conducted in the bedroom, of a tiny B&B in Shepherds Bush.
To help you find your way through mud and discover some grunge gold. Here are my top three album recommendations. Obviously you have to start with Nirvana and Nevermind, which is the big record, the one which changed the movement and changed the shape of radio in America. It helped rock music have an alternative style onto the tailor. It really was a radical record, but listen to it. It's an amazingly tuneful record it. It wasn't just about how distorted the guitars were, how fantastically dark some of the lyrics were. It was also inspired, the band once told me, by the music of REM. They loved melodies did Nirvana. And in Nevermind they perfectly captured just the anger, aggression, but also the understanding of youth, which makes the record so special. Add to that. Here's a couple more Piece of Cake by Mudhoney. Mudhoney if anything, were the bands who set the whole scene rolling and were an incredible live experience. The tracks on Piece of Cake, really showed what they were capable of. And strangely, some people wouldn't say this was a grunge record, but the bands who helped Nirvana gets signed by Gaffen -Sonic Youth. Everyone needs a Sonic youth album, but definitely try Goo. Goo was a record, which has both a haunting side, slightly malevolent in places, but really positive too. It was a great album.