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00:00:22Whoa, I've never driven a steam car before, happy Easter from Hampshire, wind in the air,
00:00:29steam coming out of the bottom, the rumble of the engine, the sense of the ground beneath it,
00:00:34it's just like having your own steam engine really. Oh goodness me, welcome to Love Your Weekend.
00:01:19Happy Easter.
00:01:20You know, spring into summer really is the most glorious time of year to be outside and the
00:01:27perfect time of year to delve into all things seasonally British. Say hello to Manor Farm's
00:01:34very own Easter bunny. This is Cottontail. Originally, much like me, she's absolutely itching to get going.
00:01:42So let's hop to it this Easter Sunday. That suit you, Cottontail? You don't look as if you're going to
00:01:48hop
00:01:48to anything, do you? But you're very happy, that's all right. Coming up, funny, feisty, honest, and she
00:01:53makes for brilliant company. Dame Sheila Hancock on her incredible zest for life. And from a handsome
00:01:59pilot in Foil's War, to winning the hearts of Lady Mary in Downton Abbey, to starring in a whole host
00:02:07of
00:02:07musicals, Julian Ovendon continuing to captivate audiences once more as he returns to the West End
00:02:13stage, this time in Cole Porter's High Society. And Simon Lycett takes his Easter floral decorations
00:02:21to a whole new level. And it's not just the kids having fun this Easter. Tom Serge is here with
00:02:27his
00:02:28tempting chocolatey cocktails, including a chocolate bunny martini. Don't be alarmed, Conte.
00:02:34And a white chocolate amaretto. And it's time of hard work and long hours for farmers,
00:02:41but it's also a time made joyful by cuddling newborns. We catch up with one young farmer currently
00:02:49in the throes of the lambing season.
00:02:56But first, our leisurely morning starts right here. Please welcome to the Manor Farm stage,
00:03:01Dame Sheila Hancock and Julian Ovendon. And since it's Easter, the Manor Farm mimosas are out. Look,
00:03:08a nice big treat there, isn't it? I mean, how special is Easter, Sheila, to you?
00:03:13Actually, it's very special to me. I'm a Quaker and we don't celebrate any anniversaries particularly,
00:03:20but I always find Easter a very moving time, the crucifixion. And it's full of human suffering.
00:03:30And a man behaving unbelievably well while people are hating, rejecting, ignoring him. And still,
00:03:40he remains a good man. And he's such a good example. I turn to it constantly. There's a wonderful thing,
00:03:48you like classical music, and so do I, but one of my most favourite phrases in St. Matthew's Passion,
00:03:54and there's this marvellous phrase in the music, and he wept bitterly.
00:03:59Yeah, I know, glorious. It's clear classical music is very close to both of you. You're particularly
00:04:05well-known, Julian, if you're musicals, but what sort of classical music do you listen to?
00:04:10Well, I started, I suppose, with a diet of English choral music. I went to school as a chorister,
00:04:16so I was generally at school still singing. But then I love all sorts of, all sorts of music.
00:04:26It's weird. I live with an opera singer, so a lot of opera.
00:04:29Kate Royal. Yeah, a lot of opera. Lovely.
00:04:33I, it's difficult. So when you're doing it, it's a bit like, it's a bit like being actor. You don't
00:04:38necessarily want to sort of surround yourself when you're, you know, clocking off in the evening,
00:04:42and not necessarily surrounding yourself with the thing you do in the day. So we don't actually
00:04:45listen to an awful lot of music at home. But I want, I so want everybody to have the opportunity
00:04:53to try it. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? I'm passionate. I do a lot of work with youngsters,
00:04:58introducing them to music. You know, they hear a piece of music in the lift and they think,
00:05:03oh, that's nice. Oh, did you know that's by a bloke called Brahms and he's actually written this bit.
00:05:09Do you want to hear this bit? Especially live, though. There is something amazing,
00:05:13amazing and also essential if you're experiencing something to have it live. I think that surprises a
00:05:19lot of people who don't go to live music, you know, pop concerts apart, but who don't go to
00:05:24orchestral music, big orchestral concerts. It's amazing. And when you go in and when you're part
00:05:28of it and it surrounds you and it grabs your emotions. I mean, it's so emotional. Let's have
00:05:33a bit of fun. Two great stage actors here and film actors and television actors. Mishaps,
00:05:39things that go wrong, because we all love it when you have these, you know, things collapse,
00:05:44things go wrong. I've had so many. We were just saying we've had so many. Audiences love it when
00:05:50things go wrong. I was doing a show in New York and I had to, it was a very, very
00:05:57simple scene.
00:05:57I had to come in and sit down on, I was playing the character of Death and I had to
00:06:01come in and sit
00:06:01down on this quite slightly flimsy rattan sort of sofa and as I came on, I was singing at the
00:06:08time and
00:06:08I sat down and I went straight through it. Completely broke the whole thing and ended up on my,
00:06:14on my bum. It slightly ruined the, uh, the impression that I was trying to go in. Falling over on
00:06:19stage is
00:06:19always... Well, if you're playing Death, you're dying on stage. You gave it a new meaning then, really. Indeed.
00:06:24I once played, at the Royal Shakespeare Company, I did a play called Titus Andronicus. I had to
00:06:30end up eating my sons in a pie, which you can imagine was quite difficult not to giggle. And Roger,
00:06:36Roger Allen was one of my sons and we had to make our entrance with a wonderful old prop that
00:06:42belongs
00:06:42to the RSC, which are these horses. They're very heavy wooden horse heads with long skirts, which
00:06:49you're under and you gallop on like this and it looks as though you're coming on on a horse. Well,
00:06:55I came on, Patrick Stewart was playing Titus Andronicus and he took it terribly seriously. Men
00:07:01loved playing Kings, you know, and he really loved it. I fell over and I was on the floor,
00:07:09surrounded by my skirt with the head having died on the floor and Roger Allen then started giggling.
00:07:16I started giggling. Patrick Stewart was livid with us because we were in at the entrance.
00:07:23It was just one. And it went on for the entire show. And I had this scene where I had
00:07:28to realise
00:07:29that I, my sons were cooked in a pie. I just could not stop laughing. It just seems so silly.
00:07:36It's a one, it's sort of a, both a wonderful experience not being able to stop laughing and
00:07:40also horrendous. And you dread it every night when you come to that bit. Yeah. You think,
00:07:45I mustn't laugh. I mustn't laugh. And I, you spend the whole day thinking, I will not laugh at that
00:07:49bit tonight. And the more you've got someone in this case, like Patrick Stewart, being cross.
00:07:53Oh, the more you want to laugh. Absolutely. Ian McKellen. I was in a play with Ian McKellen and
00:07:59everybody had to die at the end of it. And I, I had to die over a thing and I
00:08:04was giggling as usual.
00:08:05And he actually turned to me and said, stop it. Pull yourself together. I got worse. I got worse.
00:08:15But on the whole, that's awfully bad behaviour. But I, I. People love it though. Oh, they do.
00:08:20They do, but it's naughty. It is naughty. Naughty sometimes nice. Well, you can be as naughty as you like
00:08:25on the show.
00:08:26You can laugh as much as you want as well. Now you've both had the opportunity to play villains,
00:08:31which I've always suspected is far more fun than playing somebody who's a goody two shoes.
00:08:37I, I certainly find it more fun. Do you? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Much, much more fun.
00:08:42Who wants to play good people? Good people are boring. Yes. Well, no, I would say that.
00:08:47But I, I, I, I actually, it's fun to get inside the mind of somebody who behaves badly.
00:08:55I mean, an actor's job is to actually feel what that person, if you're a murderer, you've got to find
00:09:02a way of feeling the way that person felt when they committed that murder.
00:09:07Up to a point, presumably, and then stop. Yes. You don't actually do it. But you have to think of
00:09:12it.
00:09:12Also, it's like, it's, it's a mistake to think that we're good or bad. I mean, as an actor, you're
00:09:16trying to, you're trying to empathise with something, as Sheila said.
00:09:19You're trying to understand. Absolutely. Because we've all got all these elements inside. But the trouble is, you always end
00:09:24up, don't you, as an actor, actually believing your right to have murdered that person.
00:09:30Yes. And the, and the, the evilness of you is, is utterly justified. Have you, villainous role, Julian? Yeah, quite
00:09:38a lot in, on television.
00:09:39You know, I mean, I've done a lot of, of American television and being English, they like you to be
00:09:43the villain. You know, um, I think Keir Starmer is finding that at the moment.
00:09:50I have to say, I've, I've been watching an old series of yours. Oh, yeah.
00:09:55Of Foil's War. I've, I've got obsessed with this wonderful series. Oh, it's superb.
00:10:00It's from way back. It actually, I think took over on, after John's programme, Morse Finish. Sure.
00:10:06And it's the most amazing depiction of what I remember the war was like. The calmness,
00:10:13the lack of emotional weeping and wailing and being frightened, just getting on with it.
00:10:20Stoicism, yeah. There you are. Did you pay her 15 quid for that?
00:10:22Money well spent. Thank you both. Much more from Sheila and Julian later on.
00:10:28Coming up, there'll be no abstinence in today's Best of British. Our very own Willy Wonka, Tom Sergi,
00:10:33is tempting us with some chocolatey cocktails, including a cream egg white Russian with a coffee
00:10:39liqueur. Simon Lycett's making the most of the seasonal bounty with his Easter bouquet,
00:10:45packed with spring delights. And they called it puppy love. Oh, I guess they'll never know.
00:10:58Yes. A cockapoo called Bramble and a Cocker Spaniel called Ivy. Oh, they love it. We meet the puppies,
00:11:06taking man's best friend to a whole new level. Bramble, I've got my eye on you. Be very,
00:11:11very, very careful. He likes having his tummy tickled. Don't we all? Ah, the memories, the memories.
00:11:18Yes, I'll be back with Simon, his bouquets, and the puppies right after this. Julian,
00:11:23help yourself to a cucumber sandwich. I've been enjoying you. Cheers, all. Cheers.
00:11:42Welcome back to Love Your Weekend. It's the first week of April and life abounds.
00:11:48Lambing is in full swing. Tractors are back to work after winter's pause. And the trees are becoming
00:11:55vibrant and verdant. The promise of more to come. And there's more to come on the show today,
00:12:00including Easter chocktails, baby lambs. And Leslie Joseph gets up close and personal with
00:12:07magnolias. And he can sing, act, dance, and woo with the best of them. Just ask Lady Mary.
00:12:15Star of Downton Abbey, Foil's War, and man of a thousand musicals, Julian Ovenden, on why we're
00:12:21all invited to the most swell party of the year, as he takes to the stage in Cole Porter's High
00:12:27Society.
00:12:28But first, Easter, for the lucky ones among us, is a time to relax and reflect.
00:12:33But for the green-fingered, it's also a perfect time to appreciate all the beautiful British flowers
00:12:40that this time of year has to offer. To showcase how to use some of your garden blooms. To bring
00:12:46a
00:12:46splash of colour to your Easter celebrations, floral designer Simon Lycett with a cornucopia
00:12:53of goodies here. Aren't they lovely? And did you lay that yourself?
00:12:57This was laid by the ooh-ah bird, I think. And I think we all know why. It's an ostrich,
00:13:03Jane.
00:13:03It's fantastic, isn't it? How do you get the top off? Well, and they're almost like porcelain,
00:13:07so you have to use one of those little hand-cutty drill things. A bit triggering,
00:13:12because the noise is quite dental and the smell is very dental. They come with a tiny hole,
00:13:17so you could just use them as a bud vase, but I've made a bit of a bigger hole, and
00:13:20it becomes a
00:13:22gorgeous vase. And then I've got a little urn, which acts as a wonderful egg cup for it. Add a
00:13:29bit of water. They're not porous, so they're nice. Aren't they actually, as you said, they are porcelain,
00:13:34aren't they? Yes, pretty much. And then just using your hand as a vase, just an assortment of stems,
00:13:41things like these really cute little butterfly ranunculus, which are one of the newer flowers
00:13:46that we're getting now. They're gorgeous, aren't they? Aren't they cute? They look like Japanese
00:13:49lemones, don't they? And they've got a sort of iridescence to the petals, which just shimmers
00:13:54and sparkles. These is one of my favourites, Ertel Muscari. Muscari, yeah. And the thing about them
00:13:59is, of course, they have to track the early insects, which is why they need as much in their
00:14:03armoury as possible to just draw them in. And then, of course, we love a little bit of
00:14:07a little bit of fragrance Solidor. So I'm threading the flowers in. I'm making sure that I haven't got any
00:14:14lower stems. You want to trim off or remove all those leaves, otherwise the water can get a bit
00:14:18soupy. Now, I've got to ask you about helibods. I know I ask every time, because a lot of people,
00:14:21you cut these, you put them in water and get... They do. Secret? Secret really is, if you're going
00:14:26to cut them from the garden, try and cut them, get them straight into water. But a lot of people
00:14:31will
00:14:31use a knife and just take one slice, very lightly, all the way down the length of the stem. I
00:14:36also
00:14:37sometimes will put them into hand-hot water, leave them, then top them up with cold water.
00:14:42They are tricky things to deal with. So ideally, always arrange in water and especially when it's
00:14:48your helibors. Right. And then just tie it off. I've got... This is a paper-covered wire,
00:14:54so it's not too aggressive on the stems because spring stems are all quite soft. It looks just
00:14:59like... Yeah, it looks... It's the same colour as the green plastic coating, but yeah. So it goes around,
00:15:04a couple of twists, snip that off and then trim those stems. And because I've got some lilac in there,
00:15:11I just want to go in and find that lilac stem and split the end because lilac again is something
00:15:16that is a bit tricky within your vase. And then you have a gorgeous little fragrant
00:15:21treat for Easter. It's as good as a Burford brown, that isn't it?
00:15:26Now, are you back later? I am, yes. Wonderful. More ideas.
00:15:30More ideas. Well, they're always inspirational and these tell you that Easter's a ride, don't they?
00:15:40Now, spring has always been a season of renewal and not much captures the spirit of Easter and new
00:15:46beginnings quite like a litter of lively puppies. These tiny bundles of fur, much like Easter itself,
00:15:54are a celebration of hope and fresh starts. So sit back, relax and get ready for a dose of puppy
00:16:02joy.
00:16:02Welcome back Manor Farm Vet, Bolo Esser, along with puppy trainer Carol Wright. Welcome to you both.
00:16:09And we've got with us here, we have Anique with Biscuit and Rachel with Waffle, two of the best behaved
00:16:16puppies
00:16:16I have ever seen. Rachel, what is your dog and how old?
00:16:22Waffle is a Sheltie, a Shetland sheepdog and he's four and a half months old.
00:16:26Right. And Anique? This is Biscuit, she's 15 weeks old and yeah, she's a bundle of joy.
00:16:32And the breeds then from your point of view, Bolo? I think they're both excellent breeds. I'm a bit of
00:16:37a
00:16:37terrier person as well. So we've got some working lines in there as well. So there is that instinct
00:16:42to work from both of them as well. But the thing is that with a terrier you've got a lot
00:16:45more of that
00:16:46ratting and chasing small game kind of instinct there. So sometimes they can lean towards destructive
00:16:52behaviours if we haven't nicked it in the bud early when they're a young puppy. And then with our
00:16:57Shelties, they're a little bit more calmer than our terriers. Now Carol, training isn't the same
00:17:01for every kind of puppy. It obviously has to vary a bit. Well, the training that they need is actually
00:17:06very similar. I think the basics, the foundations of training are the same for all puppies. But
00:17:14obviously there are some distinct breed differences when you're working with them. Some obviously are
00:17:21very quick to learn, some really struggle because of distraction and particularly, you know, you do
00:17:27find in classes you have some puppies that are actually quite shy and lack confidence and we need
00:17:33to spend time with them building confidence. And I think a lot of people underestimate
00:17:40how much time they need to actually spend with their puppy. Rachel, is that true of you and Waffle?
00:17:46Yes. Yeah, we knew that having a puppy would be quite a responsibility in terms of time and things,
00:17:53but completely ignored the fact that he wants to be involved in everything we do,
00:17:58whether it's unloading the dishwasher, doing the laundry, getting ready for work, everything and
00:18:05anything he wants to be involved in. So everything takes longer. Yeah. And how about you and Biscuit?
00:18:10I mean, same sort of thing. Yeah, dishwasher surfer is what we call her.
00:18:14You have to remember that at this age, this is the age where their brains are forming,
00:18:18their brains are, so they really want that, there's that inquisition, they're interested in everything.
00:18:21So they're finding their boundaries, aren't they? Exactly. The boundaries that we create for them. Exactly.
00:18:27This early learning stage is super important for them because all the behaviours they learn now,
00:18:33they will carry into adulthood. And because they're like sponges in terms of learning,
00:18:38they very quickly pick up not just the good behaviours that we want, but also some of the behaviours that
00:18:44we don't want. So we're about to meet another puppy, I think. Yes, we've got a little sprocker called
00:18:48Jerry. Right. And your sprocker is a Springer and Cocker Spaniel. Yes. Probably the most alert
00:18:57mix of spaniels that you can possibly get. Absolutely. So our sprocker is Jerry and his
00:19:03handler is Abbey. Welcome to you both. Now this is a Cocker with longer legs from the Springer,
00:19:09isn't it really? Exactly. So the Springer is slightly bigger than the Cocker and then we've got the best of
00:19:13both worlds here. We hope it's the best and not the worst. Exactly. And when you've got the Springer Cocker
00:19:17mix,
00:19:18you're definitely going to get that highly incentivised dog, nose, lots of energy, they're
00:19:23full of beans, so they just want to go and play and play. So I think this is where training
00:19:26gets
00:19:26a lot more important. But also it's finding that motivator because some dogs are motivated by food
00:19:32and something like a Cocker, a Sprocker, you're going to be motivated more so by maybe activities.
00:19:38By people. Exactly. Abbey, is that your experience as well? Tell us about Jerry. Age?
00:19:44So he's coming up to six months now. Right. Yes, we got him into training a bit later on
00:19:48than we probably should have, which Carol might tell you. But he's had two sessions now.
00:19:56Have you noticed the difference? Yes, absolutely. He's a lot calmer. I know it doesn't look like it,
00:20:01but he actually is. I think the environment, this is one of these high arousal environments for this
00:20:08type of breed. Yeah. And I think the other thing is, I think the training is important for all dogs,
00:20:14but I think particularly once you start talking working breeds and spaniels and collies,
00:20:21they all need a job. Yeah. And they all really thrive on the training. And I think the thing about
00:20:28them is that if you don't give them that job, if you don't give them enough to do, they tend
00:20:32to go
00:20:33self-employed. Exactly. What a lovely way of putting it. Well, Abbey and Jerry, who's now occupied in eating
00:20:40something, I'm sure is okay. Thank you very much indeed. Let's have a look at the basic training
00:20:47exercises then. First up, Jason and Bramble. Bramble is about seven months old, a Cocker Spaniel,
00:20:53working Cocker. Close. And she's quite excited by her environment, but that is absolutely fine.
00:20:59Jason's doing exactly the right thing. Bramble would love to come and have a really good sniff
00:21:04around the bales. Yeah. Oh, he's beginning to get around here. And around the cameras. So we are just
00:21:11waiting. That's it. That's really good, Jason. Being a Cocker Spaniel, we can smell absolutely
00:21:16everything that's on here. Bramble, close. So we've just lost our concentration, but look,
00:21:22that's super. Bolo, what's becoming really evident here is the requirement of patience in the owner.
00:21:27It's very easy for you to be frustrated by a puppy at such a young age. So you want to
00:21:31have a lot of
00:21:32patience, deep breaths, control your energy as you're training them, because you want to make
00:21:36sure that you're calm so that they can remain calm. And when I talked to Myrian with Sheepdogs,
00:21:41he was saying it's always short spells of doing it. Don't tire them doing it. Give them in regular,
00:21:47short spells of it. A few minutes at a time. It's absolutely plenty for a young puppy. Well,
00:21:51the cones have gone. We now have toys sprinkled everywhere for Maple, who's here with Monica.
00:21:56So what's going to happen here then, Cal? We're going to be doing a recall. Now,
00:22:00we've got quite a lot of distractions already here, but we've added some in the form of toys
00:22:05for Maple. And Monica is just going to be showing Maple that she's got a very, very yummy treat.
00:22:12And hopefully that treat is going to be sufficient that Maple's not going to feel inclined to
00:22:18head for all the other lovely snippy snails that are going. And if Monica wants to walk to the end
00:22:23of
00:22:23that alley, and then we're going to call Maple to us. Now, if you haven't got her focused,
00:22:31don't call her. Don't call her. Go back. But yeah, so let's go back with that treat and show it
00:22:38again,
00:22:38because she got a little bit distracted. That's much better. Oh, right. You've got the eye.
00:22:43OK. Now call her. People come.
00:22:48Well, that's interesting. There we are. Well done. So you went and you got the look,
00:22:52and then call. Yes. We've got their attention and they're locked in. That's when you know that
00:22:56you can tell them what to do or how you want them to respond. That's exactly right. So while we've
00:23:01been
00:23:01talking, the course has been set. And now we can let Ivy do a bit with Iona at the helm.
00:23:10So tell us
00:23:10what's going to happen here, Carol. OK, so Iona is going to be asking Ivy to sit and wait. And
00:23:17Iona's
00:23:18going to walk to the other side of the three jumps. And she's going to recall Ivy through. And then
00:23:25she's
00:23:26going to ask Ivy to come into the middle position at the end. So she's doing essentially a
00:23:31recall into middle. Here we go then. Sit. And wait. No distractions. Look at that. Looking.
00:23:44Ivy, come. Middle. Oh, impressive.
00:23:49Yes. Well done, Iona. Well done, Ivy. So what breed have we got here? This is a working
00:23:56Cocker Spaniel. Really? Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Iona, well done. With all the cameras on you and Ivy.
00:24:03So sure as well. So that, you were saying, 16 months old here now. Yes, absolutely. So we've seen the
00:24:07passageway right the way through now. Yeah, absolutely. Yes. Well, thank you to Bola and
00:24:12Carol and to all our, I was going to say contestants, but they are in a way, aren't they?
00:24:18Coming up, well, the Easter bunny may be bringing baskets of chocolate and candy. Tom
00:24:23surges making sure that the adults are having a great time too, even after the egg hunts are well
00:24:28and truly over. He's here with his selection of choctales, including a tempting sounding
00:24:34chocolate bunny martini and a cocoa twist on a pina colada. Oh, excuse me. Intriguing.
00:24:42And to a man who always intrigues with his suave charm, impeccable vocals and undeniable screen presence.
00:24:50Life's so not fair. Yes, from Edelweiss, to People Will Say We're In Love, to
00:24:55Some Enchanted Evening. Some Enchanted Evening. He sung them all. Julian Ovenden on starring in nearly
00:25:01all of my favourite musicals. Join me, I'm Julian, for some enchanting chat right after this.
00:25:22Welcome back to Love Your Weekend. Still ahead. Intelligent, social and naturally curious with fantastic memories.
00:25:30There are a few things in the world as cute as a newborn lamb. It's a shame to grow up
00:25:36in there.
00:25:36How one young farmer's coping with the busiest time in the farming diary.
00:25:40Lambing season. Not much sleep, I would imagine. Also coming up, we meet the first ever sculptor
00:25:46in residence for the British Army's Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.
00:25:50Zoe Carmichael takes equine inspiration to a whole new level.
00:25:54But first, to a theatrical jack-of-all-trades, from dramas like Foyle's War, Downton Abbey,
00:26:02and calling the shots in trigger point, to lighting up the musical stage with performances like these.
00:26:09Oh, what a whistled morning. Oh, what a whistled day.
00:26:18My God, a whistled ceiling. As this is going, I will come, I will come, I will come, I will
00:26:33come.
00:26:39Oh, we have to get ready. Get ready. Get ready. Get ready. For the church might be.
00:27:18Oh, what a beautiful morning, Maria.
00:27:21Get happy, being alive and with a huge orchestra.
00:27:25I don't really like you, Julian Ovendon.
00:27:28Why am I sitting here talking to someone who can do all that?
00:27:33The feeling when you're doing that.
00:27:35Yeah, oh, it's some of the most wonderful vocal music ever written.
00:27:39Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm terrified doing it because they're in big,
00:27:42often big halls and stuff like that.
00:27:44But to do it with such an amazing orchestra, it's, yeah, it was a dream for me.
00:27:50Is it the high notes that are terrifying?
00:27:55Maria is a particularly difficult song, but, you know, I like a challenge.
00:28:00But it is a little bit of a tightrope walk.
00:28:05Actually, the hardest thing about that song is you do that big high thing
00:28:07and then the end of the song is very, very, very small and intimate
00:28:12and also quite high and that's much harder, technically.
00:28:15We'll talk about drama in a minute, but it's drama and music.
00:28:18And music and singing and musicals have always been at the core of what you do.
00:28:23Are those the real, this is why I do this, because this is the feeling I like best?
00:28:28I didn't set out to do musicals, I have to say.
00:28:30My musical training was much more kind of classical and choral.
00:28:33I was a chorister when I was a kid.
00:28:36And when I started out to be an actor, you know, I wanted to be Peter O'Toole or Roger Moore.
00:28:43But I sort of fell into musicals.
00:28:45My second job was a musical at the Donmar Stephen Sondheim show.
00:28:49And I sort of discovered it as I went along.
00:28:53Did you work with him?
00:28:54I did.
00:28:55He came to the dress rehearsal.
00:28:57In fact, there's a great moment.
00:28:59We were, we, the show Merrily Wrong starts as a school graduation.
00:29:03And the show at the Donmar, the production we did, we started outside as kids.
00:29:09And then we processed in, in our robes, and we started the show.
00:29:13And we were doing the, we were doing the dress rehearsal, the first, yeah, the first run-through maybe.
00:29:19And we were outside in the foyer of the Donmar.
00:29:22And then out of the corner of my eye, I saw, I saw this elderly gentleman in a sort of
00:29:27slightly dirty Mac.
00:29:28So thinking I was being helpful, I went up to him and said,
00:29:32Oh, excuse me, sir, the show doesn't start for another week, but if you want to get tickets,
00:29:36the box office is downstairs and I'm sure they'll be able to help you.
00:29:39And he looked at me and he went, I wrote this stuff.
00:29:43So that was my first meeting with him.
00:29:46But his, why his music and his shows work still is that they speak to people on a very human
00:29:53level.
00:29:54And it's about real, real people and what real people feel.
00:30:00And a lot of musicals are a sort of a sort of fantasy lands, perhaps, you know, and his stuff
00:30:07is always anchored in, in quite uncomfortable feelings.
00:30:11Yes.
00:30:12And there's often a lot of heartbreak and resentment.
00:30:16You're about to go into High Society playing Bing Crosby.
00:30:20Yeah.
00:30:21Or Cary Grant.
00:30:23Or, no, yes, yes.
00:30:25So High Society, Cole Porter musical, fantastic, you know, very, very famous film,
00:30:29which is based on a fantastic other film, which I think is based on a play called The Philadelphia Story.
00:30:34So, yes, we're doing it at the Barbican and then on a national tour around the country, around the British
00:30:39Isles and Dublin for the rest of the year.
00:30:43So it's going to be, yeah, it's going to be fun.
00:30:44Shall I give you a taster of what you're meant to evaluate?
00:30:47Oh, do you have to?
00:30:47Oh, go on.
00:30:48Well, just to remind everybody just how brilliant High Society is.
00:30:51Go on then.
00:30:51Here's the film.
00:30:52Have you heard it's in the stars?
00:30:55Next July we collide with Mars.
00:30:59Well, did you ever?
00:31:01What a swell party.
00:31:05Swell party.
00:31:08Swelligan, elegant party.
00:31:17Swell party.
00:31:18Such deliciously close harmony, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. Pure Hollywood.
00:31:23I mean, you can see the kind of old school confidence and charm they both have there, can't you?
00:31:28Isn't it? It's interesting watching them both.
00:31:30It's a little bit like comparing Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire in terms of their dancing techniques.
00:31:35Bing Crosby is almost not, he almost not sings.
00:31:39Do you know what I mean? It just sort of comes out of him, it's like effortless.
00:31:42He speaks music.
00:31:43Do you know what I mean?
00:31:44Yeah, I do.
00:31:44Whereas Frank Sinatra, I mean, it's one of the greatest singers of all time and his phrasing
00:31:49and everything, but there's much more of a sense of, I don't know, craft about Sinatra
00:31:55and he's thought about it.
00:31:57It's wonderful, yes.
00:31:59So what, I mean, I'm in trouble.
00:32:01No you're not, no you're not, because we've seen your musical credentials, you'll be okay.
00:32:05But it's fine, it's nice to do something, it's nice to reinvent something.
00:32:09Going to the straight acting, I mean, it's wonderful to discover that Sheila at the top of the show said,
00:32:14Foil's War, I've just discovered Foil's War.
00:32:17And you had this series that we at home love and we watch playing Foil, Christopher Foil, Michael Kitchen's son,
00:32:26during that whole episode of the start of the war right the way through to the end.
00:32:31Here is Julian in Foil's War.
00:32:34I hate goodbyes.
00:32:36Oh, come on, Sam.
00:32:37It's only Depton.
00:32:38It's not that far.
00:32:40I know.
00:32:43We're all right.
00:32:44And there are always weekends.
00:32:46Please don't try to cheer them up anymore, Andrew.
00:32:50Well, you'll look after Dad for me.
00:32:54We'll look after each other.
00:32:57Good luck, Sam.
00:32:57And you.
00:33:01Here we go.
00:33:14Here we go.
00:33:23Here we go.
00:33:27foils war you honeysuckle weeks Michael kitchen it's terribly moving still it's
00:33:33a shame you were such a cad because you've left her down didn't you I can
00:33:39take you to task about this yeah people get very angry about it well it shows
00:33:43your characters believable doesn't it I suppose so yes I mean for me it was a
00:33:47great experience because it was my first first job on camera I'm working with
00:33:53Michael who I think is a great a great actor and also great technician like
00:34:01it's a little bit of a mystery working on camera how to be natural as I'm sure you
00:34:08know I mean you're brilliant at it no but I can only play one carry no no but you're
00:34:12in terms of being natural and being yourself that's the hardest thing to do
00:34:16and to be able just to be able to breathe and to be able to be still and to be
00:34:21able to let the audience in he was he's brilliant at that and I certainly
00:34:26learned an awful lot I remember Alan Bennett saying to me once he'd been
00:34:30working with Kenneth Branagh way back on fortunes of war yeah I remember that
00:34:35yeah yeah with Emma Thomas Emma Thomas yeah and Alan played a part of the
00:34:40professor or lecture yeah and he said oh no love he says I felt watching Ken work
00:34:44it I just felt as though I were pulling faces and it is that there's a stillness
00:34:49about it isn't there and Michael's like that particularly yeah because the camera
00:34:53you let the cameras I suppose do the work although you are working I mean people
00:34:58say you need to do less on camera but to a certain sense that's true but I think
00:35:02you have to work harder emotionally you have to work harder inside yes just you
00:35:08know and let and then let the camera just pick it up but it was an amazing experience and also
00:35:15to
00:35:15be in a show where you know people still like Sheila today mmm saying how much she
00:35:21loves it has a place in a kind of it has a sort of national I don't know
00:35:27consciousness which is yeah it's a rather it was honest it showed what it
00:35:33really felt like to be there yeah it wasn't sensationalist or gung-ho no
00:35:37anything like that it should know yeah yeah and I suppose yeah because a lot of
00:35:41drama now is very much you know there's a lot of tears yeah people think that you
00:35:46have to kind of you know go to to get an award to get an award yeah you have to
00:35:51be
00:35:51operatic and grandstanding and I think that I don't I turn for me I don't tend to be
00:35:57moved by that I tend to be moved by people who are trying not to cry rather than you
00:36:03know cry now to quote William Shakespeare April hath put a spirit of youth in
00:36:12everything and with it come longer days and more opportunities to capture nature
00:36:17and wildlife in the beautiful British countryside you've been busy doing just
00:36:22that so it's only right we show off some of your wonderful photography it's
00:36:26time you guessed for walk on the wild side
00:36:33you
00:36:37you
00:36:45you
00:36:46you
00:36:47you
00:36:47you
00:37:00you
00:37:01you
00:37:01you
00:37:01you
00:37:02you
00:37:03you
00:37:16you
00:38:19Thank you for all your wonderful pictures there. Please do keep sending them in. Still ahead, with long stems, daffodils,
00:38:26heliballs, anemones, tulips, hyacinths. What's not to like about Simon Lycett's Easter bouquet? We'll see you with Simon and his
00:38:32impressive blues right after this.
00:39:20And a bona fide pioneer of stage and scream, Dame Sheila Hancock on why taking life easy simply isn't an
00:39:28option.
00:39:28But first, it's time to enjoy a poetic interlude in this week's Voice of Nature. Here's Clare Rushbrook with Round
00:39:37the Year by Coventry Patmore.
00:39:47The Crocus, while the Crocus.
00:39:49The Crocus, werd the Crocus, as he moved and instructions, Ah!
00:39:49And terrible ŃĐ°ŃĐŸĐČ awaiting, as the Crocus aserdark unfolds its saffron sheen. At April's touch, the crudest bark discovers gems
00:39:57of green.
00:39:58Then sleep the seasons full of might, while slowly swells the pod, and rounds the peach,
00:40:07and in the night the mushroom bursts the sod.
00:40:11The winter falls, the frozen rut is bound with silver bars,
00:40:17the snowdrift heaps against the hut, and night is pierced with stars.
00:40:31Thank you Claire, lovely words.
00:40:34Now, heavily scented hyacinths, daffodils with their golden trumpets,
00:40:39and the many textures and colours of tulips,
00:40:43they're all associated with happiness and hope, and quite right too.
00:40:47There really is no season like spring, and as our gardens wake up from their winter sleep,
00:40:53it's no wonder displays of our early risers can put a smile on anyone's face,
00:40:58showing us how we can make the most of this season's blooms.
00:41:03For all designer, the master himself, Simon Lycett, I'll put your tulips down again now,
00:41:08because I felt I wanted to hold them just to explain, you know.
00:41:11Perfect. Aren't they gorgeous?
00:41:12Do you know, it's a shot in the arm, isn't it?
00:41:14Especially when the sun shines. All that winter wet and grey.
00:41:18What a difference, a few bits of sun make, and some gorgeous spring flowers.
00:41:22I mean, look at this. What have you done?
00:41:25How many hours did it take you to do that?
00:41:27So, there's some fake eggs that you can find,
00:41:30lots of sort of craft suppliers sell them, secured to the basket,
00:41:33and then I just poke some moss in amongst it.
00:41:36A little bit of gingham ribbon to add a bit of Easter fun,
00:41:39and then inside I've got a bowl with some two-inch mesh of chicken wire
00:41:43that I've scrunkled up, and some water.
00:41:45This is pure Doris Day, this isn't it?
00:41:47Pretty much.
00:41:48But I have a bit.
00:41:51And then anything that's a woody stem, like this lovely gelder.
00:41:55Yeah.
00:41:55So here I'm going to cut it on an angle,
00:41:58and then I'm just going to split that stem as well.
00:42:00And this makes them take out the moisture better.
00:42:02It makes a lot of difference.
00:42:03And also, if you can give it a drink for a day or two beforehand,
00:42:07any of the early foliage that we're starting to cut now from our gardens
00:42:11really benefits if you can let it have two or three days cut,
00:42:17stand it in water, in the cool, and then arrange it.
00:42:20And with tulips, I often do them right up to the neck of the flower.
00:42:23Yes.
00:42:23So they don't do that swallow down.
00:42:25And it also means when you arrange them,
00:42:27your vases don't need topping up quite as much,
00:42:30because it's amazing how much water they all take up.
00:42:33So using those to form some little clusters,
00:42:36and then another fabulous favourite kick of green...
00:42:38Green, yeah.
00:42:39..is these heavenly hellebores.
00:42:40You know, when you look inside a flower like that,
00:42:43in the spring sunshine,
00:42:45and you see the work of art with those golden-tipped stamens
00:42:48and the petals, dainty white, flushed with lime green.
00:42:53I mean, it's just...
00:42:54And as the petals fall, you get the...
00:42:57or as the central part of the flower falls,
00:43:01you get the back half of it, as it were,
00:43:04going green rather than white.
00:43:06So it lasts and lasts and lasts.
00:43:08And I like to grow mine in pots,
00:43:10because they can be a little bit sort of...
00:43:12They'll sort of hang their heads quite often.
00:43:15Yeah.
00:43:15So I grow mine in pots, and then you can move them around...
00:43:17Lift them up.
00:43:17They're breeding them now, these lenten hellebores,
00:43:19with a more upright habit,
00:43:21so that the flowers turn up more than hanging down.
00:43:25And then...
00:43:25Oh, look, lilac.
00:43:26A little bit of lilac.
00:43:27And again, this is a really woody stem,
00:43:29so cut on an angle and split up the stem.
00:43:32And the way I'm arranging,
00:43:33as I'm pushing into my container,
00:43:35what I don't want to do is just jam it down in onto the wire.
00:43:40You need to just negotiate the stems through.
00:43:42Right the way through.
00:43:43Which is why you use that wider chicken wire
00:43:45rather than the narrow one, which is more difficult.
00:43:47And then things like these anemones that are just...
00:43:50To me, they're a fabulous spring flare.
00:43:52They're one of my real faves.
00:43:54Absolutely gorgeous.
00:43:56This...
00:43:56I mean, there's nothing...
00:43:58There's a kind of bashfulness about the way the flower sits there,
00:44:01but nothing remotely bashful about its colour when it fully opens like that.
00:44:05And that black centre's magnificent, isn't it?
00:44:07Yeah.
00:44:07And that little ruff of green calyx behind the corolla,
00:44:12just a bit of bottomy there.
00:44:14Now, with your tulips, do you take any leaf off?
00:44:16I try and take quite a bit off.
00:44:17And also, when you're arranging tulips,
00:44:19they will grow about three or four inches during the vase life.
00:44:23So just be aware, if you're arranging something
00:44:26and you're not going to use it for a few days,
00:44:28cut them a little bit shorter to allow for them growing.
00:44:31Yeah.
00:44:31But you can always pop them out, just trim it down
00:44:33and put them back in again afterwards.
00:44:35Yeah.
00:44:35It's the...
00:44:36It's a whole range of colours, the range of, you know,
00:44:39the parrot tulips with their frilly petals
00:44:42that have been sliced at the edges.
00:44:44The lily flower that go in and then come out again.
00:44:47The range of tulips you can get now to grow in the garden.
00:44:50And if you've got a veg patch...
00:44:52Oh!
00:44:53..go wild and buying tulip bulbs come the autumn.
00:44:56You can plant them right up to Christmas tulips.
00:44:57They're quite happy being planted late.
00:44:59And then, if you plant them on the veg patch,
00:45:01you don't mind cutting them.
00:45:03No.
00:45:04As a cutting...
00:45:05And some of them will come up year after year after year.
00:45:07So little furinunculus in there.
00:45:09Look at that.
00:45:11It's gorgeous.
00:45:12I mean...
00:45:13A Barbara Cartland of a flower.
00:45:15It is, isn't it?
00:45:16It's a fully doubled tutu.
00:45:17There's a ballet.
00:45:18You know, in the old days when Strictly Come Dancing,
00:45:21when they used to wear frocks like that.
00:45:22In the days of Peter West and Terry Wogan
00:45:25doing Come Dancing.
00:45:27That's for the older members of our audience.
00:45:29He'll go back that far.
00:45:31With patent leather hair on all the men
00:45:33and a million sequins on the ladies.
00:45:34Yes.
00:45:35All sewn on thy hand by their mothers.
00:45:37Yes.
00:45:38Remember that well.
00:45:39I'm getting a nice little bunch here.
00:45:40Look at these.
00:45:41Oh, look at that, Simon.
00:45:42Now, what are you doing with that?
00:45:43A little cone of just some bobby-dazzle coloured paper.
00:45:47They were actually sold as little baskets.
00:45:49But then, look, I've got some of these.
00:45:51Oh!
00:45:52Little Easter eggs.
00:45:54So just sit those in there.
00:45:56Yeah.
00:45:57And then just nestle that in amongst your arrangement.
00:46:01How wonderful.
00:46:02Look at that.
00:46:02And it means that you can share a few eggs.
00:46:04Yeah, with all the family.
00:46:06But particularly, me.
00:46:09I'll give you one for later.
00:46:10Oh, thank you.
00:46:10Right.
00:46:11Give me a little bunch here.
00:46:13Wonderful.
00:46:14Go on, you put that.
00:46:14I'll put that one in there.
00:46:15Yeah.
00:46:15I'm always worried about putting things in your arrangement.
00:46:20Oh, superb.
00:46:21Simon, you are, as ever, a genius.
00:46:24Pleasure.
00:46:25Who wouldn't want that on their table at Easter?
00:46:29Simon, you're a genius.
00:46:30Thank you very much.
00:46:31Happy Easter.
00:46:32Happy Easter.
00:46:33Oh!
00:46:34Don't eat the ones with silver paper on.
00:46:42You all right?
00:46:43Thank you for those.
00:46:44Thank you very much.
00:46:47Caught me on my very own Easter egg hunt in Manor Farms Chicken Coop.
00:46:51Now, did you know egg-giving at Easter goes back hundreds of years?
00:46:56The earliest record of an Easter egg in England was almost 800 years ago, in 1290, when King
00:47:03Edward I bought 450 eggs, had them decorated, then gave them to members of his household.
00:47:11Finding 450 here might be a bit of a stretch.
00:47:14I've got a couple.
00:47:14While I'm looking, time for the latest in our series on Britain's Young Farmers.
00:47:19Today, we're heading to East Sussex to visit Luke Curtis, who's deep in the throes of that most Easter-y
00:47:27of periods, the lambing season.
00:47:39Get him up, then.
00:47:42My journey in farming began when I was 12 years old.
00:47:45I used to help a close family friend out at lambing time in the evenings after school.
00:47:50And then, yeah, my passion for farming began there and just carried on with me until I went to Agricultural
00:47:56College to play for their football academy as a profession.
00:47:59But I knew the head of agriculture there and he taught me into joining the course.
00:48:03And I never played a game of football after that.
00:48:07In this journey of farming, you don't have to come from a family farm.
00:48:11It's all about the people you meet and the opportunities that can arise around those people that makes it one
00:48:17of the best jobs in the world.
00:48:19I first started my sheep journey with four ewes, which I got as a graduation present from college and then
00:48:26many moons ago.
00:48:27And now we're at 300 ewes of my own on this holding, currently expanding all the time.
00:48:34So another part of the diversification in my life is that I come and help subcontract.
00:48:39A local farmer gets me in to do the sheep management.
00:48:42We've been lambing here for the past two months.
00:48:45It's a tiring job at this time of year because we are up 24-7.
00:48:50This really is the start of lambing.
00:48:52Now we've got 300 left to do.
00:48:55So we mark up the ewes and lambs with the same number so that when they go outside we can
00:49:00identify who they belong to,
00:49:02if there's an issue that may arise, and then we can sort out the problem.
00:49:06It's a good management tool.
00:49:09We've just come in this morning and we've just walked in and we've seen this ewes started lambing.
00:49:13And we can tell that this lamb's coming backwards.
00:49:16Normally you want them presented obviously two front legs and a nose because it's the most streamlined for them.
00:49:21But when they're coming backwards you have to kind of intervene and make sure you get them out.
00:49:25So that is what we're going to do is give her a little helping hand and make sure it comes
00:49:30out nice and quick
00:49:31because you don't want the lamb taking its first breath inside the sheep
00:49:34because then it can obviously drown in the birthing fluid.
00:49:37So what we've got now is the second lamb is jumbled up with its brother or sister
00:49:42because she's got three on board.
00:49:44So it's a little bit of a jumble up in there.
00:49:48So now we've got to try and determine which legs belong to which lamb.
00:49:52And we're going to try and make mummy do a fair bit of the work.
00:49:56Seeing as that's a natural way she would normally do it.
00:49:59But we've had to help her out a little bit.
00:50:03We've got to get one more out now.
00:50:13So when they come out we want to make sure that all their air rays are clear as possible
00:50:17which is to kick start them in this fascinating cycle of them getting up and bonding with the mother.
00:50:25But what we also do is make sure they're sitting with their two front legs out so it naturally makes
00:50:31them lift their head up and it extends their airways so they can get a good breath.
00:50:37So this first lamb is no longer than what two minutes old and he's already trying to find his feet
00:50:43to get his close bond with his mum and try and get towards that milk which is so vital for
00:50:47them surviving in this early stage.
00:50:49Because the first bit of colostrum they get from the ewe is like gold dust.
00:50:53It's so strong of all the antibodies they need to survive.
00:51:00So what we've got happening now is a sheep's seen the newborn lambs and decided she wants to be an
00:51:06auntie and try and mother up with one of these lambs even though they're not hers.
00:51:11Because one of these newborn lambs could think that this sheep is her new mother so then actually this ewe's
00:51:18not given birth yet so she's gained a lamb and then if you try and put the newborn lamb back
00:51:23to her mother she might reject it.
00:51:25So it's important now that we take the ewe that's just given birth with the lambs into an individual pen
00:51:31where she can create that bond between her and her newborn lambs without somebody else interfering.
00:51:40I'm very happy because that's a good start today's the due date and they're on time which is the main
00:51:45thing you know that means I've done my part right.
00:51:54Thank you Luke.
00:51:55Coming up how brewers and distillers are getting in on the act.
00:51:59It's a good start.
00:51:59Luring adult sweet tooths with classic Easter flavors and capturing the spirit of the season with whimsical Easter cocktails.
00:52:08That keen connoisseur of confection Tom Sergi has all bases covered in today's best of British.
00:52:14And she's the household cavalry sculptor in residence.
00:52:19After years in a city job Zoe Carmichael was destined to devote herself to the antique discipline of sculpture and
00:52:27immortalize her favorite subjects horses in bronze.
00:52:31I'll see you with Zoe and her equine bronzes right after this.
00:52:48Welcome back to Love Your Weekend.
00:52:51Coming up you name it she's done it.
00:52:53Dame Sheila Hancock on being top of her game for over seven decades.
00:52:58And he's been on his very own Easter egg hunt to find the perfect treats for us.
00:53:02Tom Sergi indulging us with his eclectic selection of Easter chocolatey tipples.
00:53:08I see he's dressed for the occasion.
00:53:10I ask no questions.
00:53:12Now earlier you saw me in a vehicle so quirky it could be straight out of wacky races.
00:53:17And so vintage it makes the Reliant Robin look like a spaceship.
00:53:21My short drive in the 1900 locomobile steam car thought to be the world's first mass produced car
00:53:30wasn't nearly enough to satisfy my murder and curiosity.
00:53:33So owner Tony Slingo has hopped back in the driving seat to explain how he came into possession of this
00:53:41time capsule on wheels.
00:53:43When you hear a sound like that well it thrills me.
00:53:47Well stopped Tony.
00:53:49I'm getting very good at this now.
00:53:50You're very good as you can imagine.
00:53:52I really enjoyed it.
00:53:53It was a bit scary at the top of the show.
00:53:55Tell me about it.
00:53:56I mean 1900 the first mass produced car.
00:53:59It's thought to be the world's first mass produced car between 1897 and 1904.
00:54:07It's thought that 3,000 were made.
00:54:09Gosh.
00:54:10And but sadly now only about 12 worldwide survive.
00:54:14So this is extraordinarily rare.
00:54:17Yeah.
00:54:17How did you come upon it?
00:54:18It's I bought this actually from a steam specialist.
00:54:21Yeah.
00:54:21Down in Exeter.
00:54:22Did it look like this?
00:54:23No it didn't.
00:54:24No.
00:54:24It was in many boxes of bits.
00:54:28And but I was looking for a challenge having restored many classic cars over the year.
00:54:32How did you work out what went where?
00:54:34Well luckily I found someone up in Cambridge that also owns a car.
00:54:37Yeah.
00:54:38And he kindly allowed me to pop up there and photograph his car and detail it.
00:54:42Which helped me obviously enormously.
00:54:44But it's a delightful run and it feels like driving Chitty Bang Bang when you're on top
00:54:48of it.
00:54:49You've got steering here.
00:54:50Steering.
00:54:51That's the steering column.
00:54:53So that just moves the wheels left and right.
00:54:54That's right.
00:54:55This here is the throttle.
00:54:58Steamed throttle.
00:54:58Yes.
00:54:59And this is so that's forwards and you put that back and it's reverse.
00:55:02End of controls.
00:55:04That's right.
00:55:04But I did feel it was a bit like doing this.
00:55:06It's exactly that way.
00:55:07Yeah.
00:55:08Yeah.
00:55:08But a lot of fun.
00:55:09So it's powered obviously by water.
00:55:12Steam.
00:55:13Yes.
00:55:13Heated the water.
00:55:14What heats the water?
00:55:15It's got a petrol fired burner underneath which was actually quite advanced for its day.
00:55:20Prior to this obviously most of the steam engines were coal fired.
00:55:23Yeah.
00:55:23So this was a huge leap forward in technology for the day.
00:55:27Pressurized fuel which is injected into the engine through a vaporizer and then that
00:55:33comes out of the vaporizer back into the burner to produce the obviously the flame that
00:55:38you need to heat the steam.
00:55:39Yeah.
00:55:39So I mean how big is the water tank?
00:55:42It holds 19 litres so it's actually quite small and it consumes about a gallon of water
00:55:47per mile.
00:55:49So you can go what about 15-20 miles?
00:55:5115 miles or so you're knocking on someone's door looking for a pond basically.
00:55:55But that's the way it was.
00:55:57And how fast can you go?
00:55:58Because I have to say when I came round that car I thought crumbs this is faster than that.
00:56:01Well it's sort of cruising speed comfortably sort of 15-20 miles an hour.
00:56:05Yeah.
00:56:05But it will do 30 miles an hour.
00:56:08Which given the controls is actually as you know from yourself you have to be quite brave.
00:56:13When you've got a broom handle there.
00:56:13Exactly.
00:56:14Have you done the London to Brighton in it?
00:56:15No I haven't.
00:56:16No.
00:56:16No.
00:56:18What I would like to do actually is complete the John de Groot's land's end journey.
00:56:24This was one of the first cars to actually make that journey.
00:56:27How long did it take?
00:56:2916 days.
00:56:30That's an awful lot of 20 gallons.
00:56:32But the springs on it.
00:56:33I felt it was really quite comfortable coming down.
00:56:36It is quite comfortable and of course the seat's nice and warm because you're actually
00:56:38sitting on the burner and the boiler.
00:56:40So it's actually a nice place to be.
00:56:43You can see though kind of what it developed from.
00:56:45The horse has carried.
00:56:47Oh absolutely.
00:56:47It's just missing the horse at the front isn't it?
00:56:49You've even got this sort of classic buckboard sort of shape.
00:56:51Team of horse in the front.
00:56:52Yeah.
00:56:53Wouldn't look out of place at all.
00:56:55Well done you for putting it together.
00:56:57And do you get a chance to use it a lot now?
00:56:59As much as I can yes.
00:57:00I mean it's still under development.
00:57:02There's still work to do.
00:57:03But we're making good progress with it.
00:57:05Well we've had an absolutely glorious day being with you.
00:57:08And I'm thrilled to bits.
00:57:10That is now officially the oldest car I've ever driven.
00:57:13I've done the one that was about 1903.
00:57:15Oh right.
00:57:15The Moors in the London to Brighton.
00:57:17Well I've been on it and I drove a little bit of it.
00:57:19Probably an internal combustion engine in that one.
00:57:21Yes it was.
00:57:22Yeah.
00:57:22Well this takes probably three quarters of an hour to raise steam.
00:57:26So of course as soon as the internal combustion engine came along no one wanted a steam car.
00:57:30Ah but you see you're talking to a patron of the watercress line down here in Hampshire.
00:57:34Absolutely.
00:57:34Very happy to be.
00:57:35Yeah.
00:57:35Anywhere near steam.
00:57:36Yes.
00:57:36Well I should begrudgingly let you go now.
00:57:38It's been a delight to be with it.
00:57:40And to have actually driven a steam car.
00:57:42Thank you Tony.
00:57:43Pleasure to be here today.
00:57:49Did you know that in some parts of Germany they don't have visits from the Easter bunny at this time
00:57:56of year.
00:57:56But from an Easter fox.
00:57:58A strange thought isn't it?
00:58:00Don't worry.
00:58:00I can't tell I'm much happier with bunnies.
00:58:03Rabbit man myself.
00:58:05Now anybody can write a diary.
00:58:07But what it really needs is a wealth of lived experience.
00:58:11That's why the very best tell-alls concern those with a fair few years under their belt.
00:58:16What better subject for this week's spring diaries then than the ancient magnolia 95 million years old.
00:58:25Leslie Joseph puts pen to paper in chapter three of her spring diaries.
00:58:35Dear diary.
00:58:36Last night I travelled through the night to Lindhurst.
00:58:39Ahead of Mr Biggin's grand arrival.
00:58:42I confess to feeling quite spent.
00:58:44That was until my eyes caught sight of what could only be described as spring spectacle of splendour.
00:58:52That I was quite compelled to halt my promenade.
00:58:55Clutch my parasol.
00:58:57And allow myself a moment of genuine admiration.
00:59:01Dear diary.
00:59:03You would not believe it.
00:59:05The magnolia has begun.
00:59:07I am bewitched by her presence.
00:59:10One does not simply notice a magnolia in bloom.
00:59:14No.
00:59:14One encounters it.
00:59:16Like arriving at a grand ball.
00:59:18And discovering a duchess already stationed at the top of the staircase.
00:59:22Draped in silk.
00:59:24With a feather in her hair.
00:59:26And every eye.
00:59:27Fixed firmly upon her.
00:59:30I know jealousy is unbecoming.
00:59:32But there are times one does struggle.
00:59:35For if ever a tree knew how to command attention.
00:59:39It is the magnolia.
00:59:42I would be wrong to deny her such greatness.
00:59:45Because magnolias are positively ancient aristocrats of the plant world.
00:59:50In fact.
00:59:51They were blooming on earth long before bees had even evolved.
00:59:55More than 90 million years ago.
00:59:58Oh.
00:59:59What beautiful blooms they are.
01:00:02Many magnolias flower before a single leaf appears.
01:00:05Leaving their branches decorated only.
01:00:08With those glorious chalice shaped blossoms.
01:00:12Each one poised on a twig.
01:00:14Like a champagne glass.
01:00:15Waiting to be filled.
01:00:17Daring you to lift it to your lips.
01:00:19And taste spring itself.
01:00:22Oh.
01:00:23I hear Mr Biggins has arrived.
01:00:25So with great speed I must put quill and paper down.
01:00:28Yours as ever.
01:00:30L Joseph.
01:00:35Thank you Leslie very much indeed.
01:00:37Did you know that the scent of some magnolia flowers.
01:00:40Can trigger brain receptors associated with romantic feelings.
01:00:45Botanical romance at its best.
01:00:48Who knew.
01:00:48No.
01:00:49She's an internationally recognised sculptor.
01:00:52Known for capturing the spirit movement and power of equine life in extraordinary detail.
01:00:58After training in a legendary Florence art school.
01:01:02Zoe Carmichael went on to become the first ever sculptor in residence.
01:01:06With the British Army's Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.
01:01:11Where she continues to capture the military horses in bronze.
01:01:15With such a pedigree.
01:01:16I'm delighted that Zoe's carved some time out from a busy schedule.
01:01:21Sorry about that.
01:01:22To visitors here at Manor Farm.
01:01:24Zoe.
01:01:25Lovely to see you.
01:01:26What astonishes me is that you've only been doing this for about four years.
01:01:31You began your working life in the city.
01:01:34Yes I did.
01:01:35As what?
01:01:36I was head of account management at a market data finance firm.
01:01:40And that's the way in to start sculpting things.
01:01:42How astonishing.
01:01:43What triggered the change apart from bravery?
01:01:47Well I fancied a two week holiday to Florence and I picked a two week sculpting course.
01:01:53And I got there and then thought, hold on a second, this all makes quite a lot of sense.
01:01:58And they went back home.
01:01:59Quit my job.
01:02:00Everybody thought I was having a nervous breakdown.
01:02:03Moved to Florence for a year.
01:02:04And here we are.
01:02:05What a wonderful, wonderful story.
01:02:07Well let's have a look at the process.
01:02:09And also some of the glorious things that you've made.
01:02:12First sculptor in residence for the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.
01:02:15Wow.
01:02:16And they begin life like this.
01:02:18Yes, this is the armature.
01:02:20And you've got to make the armature quite strong, especially for sculptures like Juno,
01:02:25which carry a lot of weight.
01:02:26And it starts off with a T.
01:02:29Yeah.
01:02:29And then you add on the extra appendages for legs and tails or rhino horns and things like that.
01:02:37And you can see where I've added it on, how I start.
01:02:39So, you know, you kind of just take it and you just squish it round.
01:02:43And then we go to...
01:02:45Yeah.
01:02:45And then you start to put the clay on.
01:02:48So this is about day three, I would say.
01:02:51Yeah.
01:02:52And where I...
01:02:53You can see it's still quite rough, but you can start to see the general...
01:02:56When this is finished then and refined, and this is, you know, part of the way through at the moment,
01:03:00the next stage then presumably involves this down here, does it?
01:03:04So...
01:03:04Yeah.
01:03:05So then you put the silicon...
01:03:08I'll show you.
01:03:08Should we...
01:03:09Do you mind helping me open it?
01:03:10Yeah.
01:03:10Okay.
01:03:11So...
01:03:11There we go.
01:03:13Woo.
01:03:14So...
01:03:14So this is when you get the foundry involved and you work together with them.
01:03:19And this is the silicon layer.
01:03:21Now, so we take that...
01:03:23Yeah.
01:03:24We put it in...
01:03:25In what?
01:03:26Well, you just drip.
01:03:28This would be liquid and you drip.
01:03:30It's like...
01:03:31You've never had your nails done.
01:03:32Er...
01:03:33No, not recently.
01:03:34I'm a gardener.
01:03:35They're awful.
01:03:37I'm a sculptor.
01:03:38Mine are too.
01:03:39So you pour liquid silicon on and it sets.
01:03:42Right.
01:03:42And you do another layer.
01:03:43Yeah.
01:03:43And then you put a plaster layer on the top.
01:03:45And so you do it in two halves, like you can see with the rhino.
01:03:48Yes.
01:03:49This mould.
01:03:50This is done.
01:03:51This has had its mould taken.
01:03:53Is this what comes out?
01:03:54Yes.
01:03:55So the liquid wax gets poured in there.
01:03:57Right.
01:03:58And you let it set.
01:03:59And then...
01:03:59So you'll see that this fits...
01:04:02Fits in there.
01:04:03Exactly.
01:04:04Yeah.
01:04:05In like that.
01:04:06And then you...
01:04:07So that is just wax now.
01:04:09Yeah.
01:04:10And you join it back together.
01:04:11Yeah.
01:04:12Two halves.
01:04:12Yeah.
01:04:14I'm only asking these naive questions on behalf of the viewer.
01:04:17Because I don't know either.
01:04:19So it's...
01:04:19It's quite light.
01:04:20Yes, but this is fragile, isn't it?
01:04:21Very fragile.
01:04:22They are.
01:04:23Yeah.
01:04:23It's very light.
01:04:24Yeah.
01:04:24Please take it off me.
01:04:25Yes, they're great.
01:04:26And then, what you do is you take this sculpture and the foundry attach runners, so they're wax lines.
01:04:36Yes.
01:04:36And you dip it in a ceramic liquid.
01:04:39Yeah.
01:04:39Which you dip over a period of, say, two weeks.
01:04:42And it sets hard.
01:04:43And you put that in a kiln.
01:04:44So then the ceramic will set completely hard.
01:04:47Right.
01:04:48And the wax will evaporate.
01:04:49So from clay to wax to ceramic.
01:04:52Yep.
01:04:52To...
01:04:53Pour in liquid molten bronze.
01:04:55Bronze.
01:04:55Wow.
01:04:55That is...
01:04:56You see, that's beautiful.
01:04:58But when you do this to it...
01:05:00Yes.
01:05:01Oh my goodness.
01:05:02I'm back in Venice.
01:05:04With the horses on some marks.
01:05:06Those amazing horses.
01:05:07I love that patination.
01:05:08Isn't that great?
01:05:08That took quite an experimentation.
01:05:10So what do you use?
01:05:11What do you put on it?
01:05:11So this is fresh bronze.
01:05:13Yeah.
01:05:13You have to polish it down like this.
01:05:15So there's not any kind of residue in your fingers or anything.
01:05:18Right.
01:05:18And then you need a lot of acid and heat to create different parts of the process.
01:05:23But your real piÚce de résistance, Zoe, is Juno the drum horse in silver.
01:05:29We've got the bronze version over there.
01:05:32But this is astonishing.
01:05:34And, I mean, what an honour.
01:05:36Because the Queen named Juno, I think, didn't she?
01:05:39Yes.
01:05:39Yep, Juno is named by the Queen, yeah.
01:05:41Yeah.
01:05:42And then casting it in silver.
01:05:43Yeah.
01:05:43This is my first silver piece.
01:05:45And the first silver of the drum horse.
01:05:48Yeah.
01:05:48And she's the first mayor to the Household Cavalry Managed Regiment.
01:05:52So it's a really special piece to do.
01:05:54I'll tell you what.
01:05:55Don't go back to the city.
01:05:58Absolutely breathtaking.
01:05:58I'm quite busy now.
01:06:00I've got too much to do.
01:06:00I bet you're quite busy now.
01:06:01And you can, obviously, make a living at it as well.
01:06:04With many conditions.
01:06:04I feel very lucky, yes.
01:06:06Well, I think we feel very lucky.
01:06:07Having seen exactly what you do.
01:06:09Thank you so much, Zoe.
01:06:10Thank you for having me.
01:06:11You're welcome.
01:06:12Come back again.
01:06:13I'm enamored.
01:06:15Glorious, glorious work.
01:06:16Coming up, we haven't spent ourselves entirely, in spite of this glory here.
01:06:22Five Easter Choctales that are worth hopping to the bar for.
01:06:26Tom Sergis serving up a cream egg white Russian and chocolate bunny martini at the end of
01:06:32the show.
01:06:33And she's an Olivier Award winner, an OBE recipient, and now a dame.
01:06:38Sheila Hancock on the twists and turns of an impressive acting career.
01:06:42And now Betty Davis inspired her to keep going.
01:06:46I'll see you with the dame and more right after this.
01:07:02Welcome back to Love Your Weekend.
01:07:04Coming up, chocolate and boozy treats.
01:07:06Need I say more?
01:07:08Could it be Easter?
01:07:09First, do a treat of a different kind and somebody who never fails to entertain.
01:07:14My next guest is one of the most respected actresses and writers of our time.
01:07:18She became a household name in the 1960s sitcom The Rag Trade.
01:07:23Whistle everybody out.
01:07:24Miriam Carlin, remember that.
01:07:25Since then, she's started everything from Carry On Cleo, the award winning Cabaret, the
01:07:31Sixth Commandment and Edie.
01:07:33But I wonder what was going through her mind when she got the call to star opposite this
01:07:38Hollywood icon.
01:07:39I'd like to see my grandchildren occasionally, Terry.
01:07:42They're waiting for you, Mum.
01:07:44They're waiting to see what I bought them.
01:07:46Well, what have you bought them then, Mum?
01:07:49You see, Shirley, no subtleties with Karen.
01:07:52What have you bought them?
01:07:54If you want to know, I'm giving them money.
01:07:57Oh, good idea.
01:07:58Then they can buy what they like.
01:08:00I've already bought it.
01:08:02I'm putting the money in trust funds so no one can get their hands on it.
01:08:09They're impatient, I know.
01:08:12I've had three chicks of my own.
01:08:15Only three, I grant you, Karen.
01:08:18But natural good manners told me when to put the plug in.
01:08:26I'm not surprised they are opposite Betty Davis, one of the most intimidating Hollywood
01:08:32actresses of all time.
01:08:35And from your point of view of acting with her, because you'd been in the stage play of
01:08:38the anniversary, then you went to appear with her in the film of the anniversary.
01:08:42I would have been quaking in my boots, Sheila, opposite her.
01:08:46I think I was.
01:08:48I actually was.
01:08:49I remember the first day she appeared on set, we were told to, she had to make an entrance
01:08:55down the staircase and we were told to go to the bottom and applaud her as she came down.
01:09:00She was actually a woman who needed support, really.
01:09:04She was surrounded by protectors and you couldn't get to her, really.
01:09:10And I remember once her saying, I did a shot with her and she did the voices off, which people
01:09:16don't normally do when they reach the kind of stardom that she had.
01:09:19But she did.
01:09:20And then she did her reverse and I did the voices off.
01:09:24And I actually said, gosh, well done, Miss Davis.
01:09:27And she said, oh, thank you, honey.
01:09:29The most I ever get is printed.
01:09:32And, you know, obviously nobody dared approach her.
01:09:36And we ended up being quite good friends at the end.
01:09:38But it was kind of forced on her.
01:09:42And she fought Hollywood.
01:09:44You know, this woman, she was so courageous and so strong.
01:09:49But she had hideous men always in her life.
01:09:53And I ended up deeply respecting her.
01:09:56She sacked everybody.
01:09:58When she arrived, the director we had was one of our top directors, Alvin Rakoff.
01:10:03She wasn't having any of that.
01:10:05I mean, she knew that they wanted this.
01:10:08Yes.
01:10:08And she lit herself.
01:10:09She got rid of the lighting cameraman and she knew.
01:10:12We all looked about 103 and she looked two on the screen, you know.
01:10:17And she got rid of Alvin because he tried to make her play it utterly realistically.
01:10:23And she knew that wasn't what the public wanted.
01:10:26Was it founded on insecurity, do you think?
01:10:29I don't.
01:10:30But no, I think it was founded on being battered like so many of that Hollywood generation,
01:10:36like Judy Garland, like Streisand, like all sorts of people.
01:10:40They were treated abominably badly, I think.
01:10:43And she had enormous talent and nobody listened to her.
01:10:47You know, but she was wonderful.
01:10:50Did you ever get to work with Olivier?
01:10:52No, I got to work with his wife and I met him quite a bit on and off.
01:10:57John understudied him actually.
01:10:59My husband John Thor, he understudied him in a play and he went on.
01:11:03And he was rather better than Olivier because it was a modern play that Olivier wasn't at all happy in.
01:11:09And John went on and did it because it was a northern part and all that.
01:11:13And he felt more at home.
01:11:15I admired Olivier.
01:11:17I mean, you know, thank you, National Theatre and all that.
01:11:20I'm not knocking him.
01:11:21But I don't think he was a film actor because he was a superb stage actor.
01:11:28Although, actually, probably if the young people today watched him, they wouldn't think that.
01:11:32Because it's of its era.
01:11:34It's of its time.
01:11:34It's slightly mannered.
01:11:35Yes.
01:11:36Your career has been so diverse.
01:11:38But I've known you as long as I've known you on television and film, and I do remember Carry On
01:11:42Clear.
01:11:43I've known you for radio as well, particularly Just A Minute.
01:11:46Yes.
01:11:47And you became a rarity, i.e. a very close friend of Kenneth Williams, who allegedly was not easy to
01:11:53get to know.
01:11:54But you were very close.
01:11:56Yes, I loved him.
01:11:58He would have been 100 this year, astonishingly.
01:12:01He would.
01:12:01We did a thing at the British Library remembering him because it would have been his 100th birthday.
01:12:06It was my birthday as well.
01:12:07I was 93 because we had the same birthday.
01:12:11And I loved him.
01:12:13He asked me to marry him once.
01:12:14And I said, but, Ken, I'm already married.
01:12:18And he said, yes, but it's a rubbish marriage.
01:12:19We would be much better.
01:12:21But everybody says that he was deeply unhappy.
01:12:24He wasn't, you know.
01:12:25He had lots of friends.
01:12:27He was hugely talented.
01:12:29But he wanted to be taken seriously as an actor.
01:12:33He was self-educated.
01:12:35He was always, for just a minute, he would read things up.
01:12:39And he was very knowledgeable.
01:12:41And I used to say, you know, nobody takes me seriously.
01:12:44And I used to say to him, Ken, honestly, anybody can play Hamlet if they learn the lines.
01:12:50But nobody can do what you do.
01:12:53You're utterly individual.
01:12:55I don't want to do what I do.
01:12:56Do you know?
01:12:57So in that way, he was a bit unhappy.
01:13:00And if he'd been in America, they would have built shows around him.
01:13:04And he would have been a huge, huge star.
01:13:07But we're not very good in this country of dealing with people who are a bit odd.
01:13:11I mean, sometimes he'd let me go in the flat.
01:13:14He didn't like people going in the flat.
01:13:16And in those days, I smoked.
01:13:17And he wouldn't let me smoke.
01:13:18He wouldn't let me use his loo.
01:13:20I had to go down and use his mother's loo.
01:13:22His mother lived in the flat below.
01:13:24It was terrible.
01:13:25And the only decoration he had were crystals and things like that.
01:13:29He collected beautiful things like that.
01:13:32But he liked...
01:13:34Sometimes he'd say, right, I've had enough of you.
01:13:36Now go.
01:13:37Because he wanted to be on his own.
01:13:39And I'm a bit like that as well.
01:13:42I totally...
01:13:42I didn't mind at all.
01:13:44Because I knew how he felt.
01:13:46You wrote this book, Old Rage, which is wonderfully feisty.
01:13:50Oh, bless you.
01:13:50And, you know, you've done a second edition of it in paperback.
01:13:55But there's an anger in there.
01:13:57But the thing is, yes, you rant.
01:13:59But I love your rants.
01:14:01Because they're not bitter rants.
01:14:03They're just sort of frustrations of...
01:14:07And there's humour shot through it.
01:14:10I mean, it seems to me that your life is...
01:14:12You've had to have a really good sense of humour and a sense of the ridiculous.
01:14:16You know, you...
01:14:17Two husbands, very fond of you.
01:14:19And then John Thor, and lost both of them.
01:14:22And you've battled on.
01:14:23You're still here.
01:14:24Yeah.
01:14:24If I'm allowed to say, 93.
01:14:26An incredible example to us all.
01:14:29Way to go.
01:14:30You know.
01:14:31But...
01:14:32You're angry, but you're not.
01:14:34No, I'm not.
01:14:34I think life is so wonderful.
01:14:37And I get so angry at the people that are destroying it.
01:14:41Because it's so beautiful.
01:14:43Here we are today.
01:14:44The weather is wonderful, isn't it?
01:14:46I mean, I came.
01:14:47I only took the job because I wanted to see the country.
01:14:50I came down here.
01:14:51Thanks, you know.
01:14:52No.
01:14:53Seriously, no.
01:14:54I wanted to see you as well.
01:14:56But mainly, I just am so grateful to have been alive.
01:15:03And I don't want it to be spoiled.
01:15:06I will fight tooth and nail until the...
01:15:08And that's the only reason I don't want to die.
01:15:10Because I feel there's so much to be done.
01:15:14We've got to make it all right.
01:15:15And I think, particularly, women have got to make their voice heard.
01:15:20And they are doing it.
01:15:22They are doing it a lot.
01:15:24But we've got to balance the male characteristics.
01:15:31I'm not talking gender necessarily here.
01:15:34And the female characteristics.
01:15:36And this lovely Easter time, when we look at the examples of a man who believed in the world
01:15:43and believed in human life and died for it.
01:15:47And I just think that we've got to cherish life.
01:15:52That's what I think.
01:15:53And keep a sense of humour too.
01:15:55Yes.
01:15:56Well, I do laugh a lot.
01:15:56Does that drive you through?
01:15:57You laugh a lot.
01:15:58Yeah, I do.
01:15:58I do.
01:15:59I laugh at myself sometimes.
01:16:01I think, what are you talking about, you silly cow?
01:16:05That makes no sense at all.
01:16:07I mean, sometimes I listen to myself.
01:16:09I occasionally, by mistake, listen to myself on the radio and think, what am I talking about?
01:16:15That's absolute rubbish.
01:16:18Well, you're welcome to come here and talk rubbish any time you want, Sheila.
01:16:22Bless you.
01:16:22Love it to be with you, as always.
01:16:24Bless you.
01:16:25We'll give you a little treat at the end of the show.
01:16:27Good.
01:16:27Time now to pause, reflect and take a moment to enjoy some wonderful footage,
01:16:32which really rather makes a point of what Sheila's saying.
01:16:36Wonderful footage set to equally wonderful music and reminding us all what is out there,
01:16:40especially at this time of year at Easter.
01:16:42It's today's Ode to Joy.
01:16:45.
01:16:46.
01:16:46.
01:16:46.
01:16:46.
01:16:46.
01:16:46.
01:16:51.
01:16:52.
01:16:52.
01:16:52.
01:16:54.
01:16:57.
01:16:58.
01:16:58.
01:16:58.
01:16:58.
01:16:59.
01:16:59.
01:16:59.
01:16:59.
01:17:00.
01:17:01.
01:17:05.
01:17:34VIOLIN PLAYS
01:18:03VIOLIN PLAYS
01:18:08VIOLIN PLAYS
01:18:08VIOLIN PLAYS
01:18:11VIOLIN PLAYS
01:18:12VIOLIN PLAYS
01:18:14VIOLIN PLAYS
01:18:15VIOLIN PLAYS
01:18:15VIOLIN PLAYS
01:18:42VIOLIN PLAYS
01:18:45Crack on. What an idler I am.
01:18:47Still ahead, delicious, decadent and devilishly creamy.
01:18:51Tom Sergi serves up his ever-so-tempting Easter cocktails.
01:18:55So tempting that Julian and Sheila have started already.
01:19:00If you leave some with me,
01:19:01I'll see you with the chocolate and the guests right after this.
01:19:20Now, with Easter celebrations well and truly underway,
01:19:24whether you're hosting a long, lazy Easter lunch,
01:19:27planning a garden gathering,
01:19:28or simply indulging in a little bank holiday treat,
01:19:31King of the Cocktail, Tom Sergi, is here
01:19:33to shake, stir and sip his way and our way
01:19:38through this week's Best of British,
01:19:40courtesy of some sumptuous Easter Choctales
01:19:44and when you look at these,
01:19:45oh my goodness, what we're in for, Tom.
01:19:48It's a segment based entirely on that, isn't it?
01:19:50The word Choctales, which is lovely, which is so good.
01:19:53So we are doing five very chocolatey.
01:19:56Only five?
01:19:57Only five.
01:19:58We can go back through them if we've got time.
01:20:00Are there people who don't like chocolate?
01:20:02No, I love chocolate. I love it.
01:20:04Love chocolate.
01:20:05Everyone loves chocolate.
01:20:06And alcohol.
01:20:07Exactly.
01:20:07Two together.
01:20:08And there's a great range of things like chocolate liqueurs on the market
01:20:11and you can make, you know,
01:20:12quite a lot of this is quite like baking, really.
01:20:15You know, you can make white chocolate ganaches and things
01:20:17and mix them into drinks.
01:20:19Honestly, it's easy.
01:20:20It's easy.
01:20:21A couple of the chocolate martinis
01:20:22and then, you know, you can try anything.
01:20:24It's absolutely great.
01:20:24Okay.
01:20:25So we'll begin with my Easter Bunny martini.
01:20:28So garnished with a little chocolate bunny, of course,
01:20:31this is sapling vodka,
01:20:32which is a climate-positive, regeneratively-farmed,
01:20:35really beautiful vodka made in the UK
01:20:38that plants a tree for every bottle sold.
01:20:41So I like them a lot.
01:20:42Wow.
01:20:42And what we've done is we've shaken that with a chocolate cream liqueur
01:20:46and a little bit of hot chocolate.
01:20:48And what it does is it gives you a very boozy, punchy, ice-cold, creamy chocolate.
01:20:53That is totally outrageous.
01:20:54Hot chocolate, you mean it was hot when it went in?
01:20:57I made some hot chocolate, I let it cool down
01:20:58and I put 50 mils of that in a shaker.
01:21:01Oh, yes, I can taste that.
01:21:01And you're away.
01:21:02I love that.
01:21:03And so you can make these beforehand, you can pre-batch them
01:21:06and then as long as you shake them and get them nice and cold.
01:21:08And the trick is...
01:21:09Really?
01:21:09Yeah, lots of vodka as well.
01:21:10You need lots of vodka to keep the consistency.
01:21:12You put the vodka in at the beginning?
01:21:13Everything in all at once.
01:21:14Everything in all at once.
01:21:15I'm afraid I've eaten my bunny.
01:21:17That's entirely fair enough.
01:21:18What we're moving on to, if you like,
01:21:20is I wanted to play around with a bit of white chocolate
01:21:22and the priline, that amazing combination of creaminess,
01:21:27that white chocolate, a bit of a kind of nuttiness,
01:21:30a little bit of toffee.
01:21:31And so what I've done here is we have put the amazing Cool Swan,
01:21:35which is an Irish whiskey-based cream liqueur,
01:21:37based on white chocolate, cream and Irish whiskey.
01:21:41We've put that into a shaker alongside some amaretto,
01:21:44beautifully kind of almond-y, nutty.
01:21:46I was like, I don't buy the coffee vodka.
01:21:47Where do you buy these things?
01:21:49Where do you buy that white stuff?
01:21:51This is very easy, honestly.
01:21:52Quick Google and you'll find that.
01:21:53Really?
01:21:53Or quick search online and you'll find that.
01:21:55It's like an upmarket Baileys.
01:21:57It is like a...
01:21:57It is.
01:21:58It is a bit like that.
01:21:59And you could build it up off that.
01:22:01And so cream liqueur,
01:22:03a little bit of toffee vodka,
01:22:04something to give it a bit of sweetness.
01:22:06Toffee vodka?
01:22:06Really nice.
01:22:07You need some toffee vodka in your line.
01:22:08What you then add is a bit of amaretto for the nuttiness.
01:22:10Yeah.
01:22:10And then finally, a pinch of sea salt.
01:22:13What you need is a little bit of salt in there.
01:22:14Yeah, because white chocolate can be very kind of cloyier.
01:22:16How do you come to get the recipe?
01:22:20I made it up.
01:22:20I spent hours toiling away in my kitchen.
01:22:23So you think, oh, that needs a bit of salt.
01:22:25I'll put a bit of salt in there.
01:22:27Yeah, exactly.
01:22:27And I'm tempted to come in and wake him up.
01:22:30Yes, exactly.
01:22:30Exactly.
01:22:32But it's, yeah, not a bad cake.
01:22:33Do you like this?
01:22:34I love this one.
01:22:35Yeah, because I don't really like white chocolate,
01:22:37but this is really delicious.
01:22:38But it's got a nice, it's not sickly, is it?
01:22:41No.
01:22:41It's just rich, but sort of clean in a way.
01:22:45One hundred percent.
01:22:46Now, next up, there is a drink out in Spain
01:22:50that when it's in any other country is highly contentious.
01:22:53But when you go to Spain, it's kind of, you know, respected and it's fun.
01:22:56And that is a Calimocho.
01:22:59And Calimocho is a combination of red wine and Coca-Cola.
01:23:03Or cola.
01:23:05And so red wine and cola, half and half, 50% of each, you know, equal measures.
01:23:11And what I've done with this to give it its lovely theme is we've put it into an egg.
01:23:16So you cut the top off an egg.
01:23:17It creates a very, very good glass for you.
01:23:21You can eat it afterwards.
01:23:23And into that, into that red wine and cola mix, I've put equal parts,
01:23:28so a third of each, this amazing Moorish Morello cherry brandy liqueur
01:23:33from the brilliant producer, which is Spirit of the South Downs.
01:23:38And the Spirit of the Downs make really high-quality, grape-based spirits.
01:23:43They make brandies, all of them based from waste material
01:23:47that is pressed grapes for English wine,
01:23:49with some of the best vineyards in the country,
01:23:51that they then take to their distillery, ferment, distill.
01:23:54And so it's a completely kind of closed-circle, really beautiful,
01:23:59kind of sustainable model.
01:24:00And this is Kent and Sussex cherries, steeped in beautiful grape spirit.
01:24:06It's pretty good, isn't it?
01:24:07I think my teenage daughter would love this.
01:24:09I mean, it's so much work, isn't it?
01:24:13It's all been done for you, just drink it.
01:24:15It's so complicated.
01:24:17It's Coca-Cola and something.
01:24:19Coca-Cola, red wine and cherry liqueur.
01:24:21That's exactly it.
01:24:22What's so nice about this is really high-quality cherry liqueur,
01:24:25like the Spirit of the Downs one.
01:24:27It does, it sits beautifully alongside Coke, alongside the red wine.
01:24:30I've used an English Pinot Noir as the red wine.
01:24:33And equal combinations, a bit like a great Negroni.
01:24:35All these equal parts hit a perfect harmony.
01:24:38Let's carry it down.
01:24:39Oh, this one is amazing.
01:24:40I mean, this is real Del Boy stuff.
01:24:41But you can't get at the drink because it's got so much on top.
01:24:44It's real Del Boy stuff, you're absolutely right.
01:24:46So this is my Choco Colada, okay?
01:24:49And as far as I know, no-one's made one of these before.
01:24:52It's a Pina Colada.
01:24:53Oh, this is fab.
01:24:55It's beautiful coconut cream.
01:24:57It's really, really high-quality, not from concentrate pineapple juice.
01:25:01That's important.
01:25:01Oh, that's nice.
01:25:02That's good.
01:25:02And it's this amazing myth, non-alcoholic coconut cane spirit,
01:25:06which I love.
01:25:07That's really good.
01:25:08Rice wine vinegar, real coconut.
01:25:10That's pretty much it.
01:25:11A little bit of sugar.
01:25:12It's a very straightforward, non-alcoholic spirit alternative.
01:25:15And it tastes this of just incredibly pure coconut.
01:25:18You could have this at the start because these other ones feel like they're at the end of the meal.
01:25:22Yeah.
01:25:22They feel like dessert.
01:25:22This is nice.
01:25:23But this is more, you know what I mean?
01:25:25I do.
01:25:26And a good Pina Colada, what makes a good Pina Colada is quite a lot of pineapple.
01:25:29If they're too heavy and dense, they're challenging.
01:25:32You want loads of pineapple.
01:25:33And what I've added is a little bit of hot chocolate.
01:25:35Very simply, into the mix you add a bit of hot chocolate.
01:25:37And funnily enough, pineapple and cocoa and a bit of coconut.
01:25:41It really works.
01:25:42It's good, isn't it?
01:25:43I'd love to see you at it.
01:25:45There you go.
01:25:46Sheila.
01:25:47No, Sheila.
01:25:48Drink your drink.
01:25:50We knew what you meant.
01:25:52Downhill.
01:25:53A bit of pink with this in there and a bit of chalk and all that.
01:25:56Sheila, we'll try and see if we can range for you to see him at it.
01:26:00We've got one more drink.
01:26:02Come on.
01:26:02Here we go.
01:26:03This is gorgeous.
01:26:04I like this one very much.
01:26:05That is superb.
01:26:07Absolutely wonderful.
01:26:08Now, just a little pick-me-up at the end.
01:26:10I thought we'd do a twist.
01:26:11Pick-me-up?
01:26:11A little pick-me-up here.
01:26:12This is, it's based on a white Russian.
01:26:15And so this is my white chocolate, white Russian.
01:26:19It's quite cream egg-like.
01:26:22I think there's a kind of cream egg white Russian vibe to it.
01:26:24And what it is, is it is this fantastic Café Solo cold-brewed coffee liqueur mixed with
01:26:31incredible Isle of Wight distillery, mermaid, salt, vodka.
01:26:36So Isle of Wight sea salt spiked vodka, which is absolutely beautiful.
01:26:39I like that one.
01:26:40And the combination of those two things really kind of softens the bitterness of coffee,
01:26:44elevates the flavour, a little bit of salt there.
01:26:46And then I've stirred into it, over the top, drizzled over the top, a little white chocolate
01:26:51ganache.
01:26:52So it's single cream and white chocolate.
01:26:53I can't taste the alcohol very much.
01:26:55I could start the day with this.
01:26:57Yes.
01:26:57And I think you probably will, Julian.
01:27:00Are you just...
01:27:02It's got a little bit of the lovely coffee kind of...
01:27:04No, I don't like this one so much.
01:27:06I don't like it.
01:27:07No.
01:27:07I know, Sheila, give me another one.
01:27:08It tastes like camp coffee.
01:27:10Camp coffee?
01:27:10Oh, yes.
01:27:11Do you remember?
01:27:12You used to get camp coffee during the war.
01:27:14Yeah.
01:27:14It was...
01:27:15And I...
01:27:15Sorry.
01:27:16No, don't be sorry.
01:27:17I'm interested.
01:27:18I've never had camp coffee.
01:27:19It was in a bottle.
01:27:21And it's coffee and chicory.
01:27:22So I've toiled away and recreated camp coffee, which, look, I'm pretty happy with.
01:27:26I think that's all right.
01:27:28Cream egg, white Russian there, gang.
01:27:30It's absolutely delicious.
01:27:31Julian, not having tasted camp coffee, do you like what you're drinking?
01:27:33I love a camp coffee.
01:27:36Do you like this one?
01:27:37I quite like this one.
01:27:38Yeah, me too, Sheila.
01:27:39Yeah, I quite like the one.
01:27:40Do you?
01:27:41Yeah, yeah.
01:27:41Well, I think the great thing is, this will put any of us three off saying, no, just a
01:27:45small sherry for me, because these are absolutely...
01:27:49You've excelled yourself, Tom.
01:27:51Brilliant.
01:27:52I'd have a job to choose between them, would you, Julian, or just the one you'd go for
01:27:55more than any other?
01:27:56Well, I did like the first.
01:27:56I mean, I liked them all, I have to say, I liked them all, yeah.
01:27:59That's it, basically, thanks to all my guests, to Sheila, particularly, Julian and Tom.
01:28:05They're lovely.
01:28:06And the menagerie of dogs, lambs and rabbits.
01:28:09What an Easter Sunday.
01:28:10Join me next week for some more barnside banter.
01:28:13Fletcher's Farm, Family Farm, as you see, it's telling, isn't it?
01:28:17Fletcher's Family Farm's up next, but I'll leave you now with this quote from celebrated
01:28:21American poet, Ogden Nash.
01:28:23I love Ogden Nash.
01:28:24Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker, yeah.
01:28:27Let's hope the Easter money's taking notes.
01:28:30Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and from us, a happy Easter.
01:28:34Cheers!
01:28:34Cheers!
01:28:35Cheers!
01:28:48Cheers!
01:28:50Cheers!
01:28:52Cheers!
01:28:54Cheers!
01:28:56Cheers!
01:28:58Cheers!
01:28:59Cheers!
01:29:01Cheers!
01:29:01Cheers!
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