Some showers all possible to night mostly fine but chilly the overnight low going down to 0 degrees Celsius tomorrow sunny in the morning cloud would increase in the afternoon with the chance of showers as a matter is all Lacey's news and weather the next to fall. Into b.b.c. Radio whereas the year. The b.b.c. . Say fine is on digital radio. You know some odd speak it. Has been a guest many a time before. His latest book a pig cooled Alice the story of one man and his fault that story. Straight up to this for. You. To. Believe it. 7 minutes past the Monday afternoon with Rachel for Stephen Foster on the way between 4 and 7 having a right up to date with the latest news now this I guess today. Then writing is broadcasting. Championing courses although we're not talking horses today and not yet anyway his latest book is the story of his pick called Alice which I gather that as a Christmas present for his wife writer and broadcaster Libby. It was. Quite a spectacle the story goes. I was just I was just thinking of starting this little farm of mine I'd spent some time in the late 1980 s. At the clock's famous fall. Down it's the story by naval and with Charles well and I got really infected by the whole business of you know small scale farming my real interest was the it was the Suffolk Punch you know which is as we all know in this county is the biggest animal ever to have walked the earth but if you're going to have a proper old fashioned suffered from which is what I was trying to recreate if you're going to do that you've got to have a pig and it's got to be a breed that was local to the part and the larger black capital a capital b. Was that pig so I decided we would have. Would have a large black pig and I didn't say anything to live because I don't quite. Quite a difficult thing to know what to say isn't it I'm just popping out I'm off to buy a long and bloody. It was just before Christmas and the story goes that I said What do you want for Christmas and she said something expensive Black and Sexy and so I bought out I started like. Only a writer broke out that actually given the money as a as a thank you to Tara Lynn nice to have I had just. As I had because they were exceptionally kind to me I was there sort of is there I was there to write a book but I was there also as their apprentice and. I thought I'd give them a present and they said that they wanted a black pick as well because they thought you know a proper suffered from needs a black paint on it so I actually bought bought them one as a present and Alice was the offspring of because when you. See Dorothy had to take . That leap you even go into that I. Think that is pink I went to see I went to see Mr Mr churchyard who is a well known quite distinguished breeder of large black pigs up. On the Norfolk border somewhere. And I said I think I'm going on the Tuesday as I browned on Thursday for the p.t.o. You'll be all right. So I turn up and there is this pig that I bought for the Clark. In a silver cardboard box with 12 piglets because she'd had them the night before he wasn't quite so he knew that she wasn't paying because I Pacific I wanted a south that was empty. You know plants could breed to breed a bigger and he came up with this lovely expression which I'd never heard before which was he said Oh I'm sorry but she had them last night he said I wasn't too certain when she was going to have her piglets because she'd had a running service. Oh. The idea is that the mind boggles what I wrote any service might be like but he didn't know when when Room answer taken place. Bit of a guess and he was obviously out by a couple of days so I had to I was terrified Riddick I was suddenly I had a pig and I'd taken a trailer to put the put the salve in that was no problem but what was I going to these 12 piglets and we just put them in the boot of the car and I drove them as good a way I judge of and understood when I enter number very well here and I think in the book it says that he was you open that they never thought and to sleep if they don't sleep sleep not the slightest bit interested Yeah so that's the take me. Back to the story of as you deliver job at pigs I did did Libby no one was arriving before you arrived with well I tried to get whether she knew or not I don't really know but I went and picked this. Pick up. From the clocks just before Christmas and our neighbors just down the road we were living in not sure that a neighbor's just down the road had no picked up in their garden because it's always been part of a farm so they said we could keep it there in the secrecy and we walked down on Christmas morning. There was Alison Merry Christmas. What's left to think. Alice was the 1st because she became a real famous pig didn't say Alice did become famous and she did say social media she would have been oh in the new days of social media she would have been a world she was you know how they were and Facebook Payson though they were the card absolutely no doubt about it she is the only pig ever to have been on the London Underground not literally speaking but I used to write a column in The Times newspaper about what went on a little farm and it featured Alice quite often because she was such a star of the show and The Times had not typing campaign and they used bits from various columns on adverts on the London underground so you could say she's been around the circle of life time p. People people. Have been stopped in Oxford Street in London and asked how Alice was . That there is some special relationship between us and pigs which is I really you know I want to be able to explain it but I can't but it does exist people people have a fondness for a pig in the way that they will not have the funds for say a sheep. Possibly possibly cattle but less so but pigs people can find they can somehow bond this interest because a film by sort of said their way out there is a yes we have as well sad but we don't write yes yes you should i thought i think you should I think we should be I think we should be open about it what you've got to remember is these are called farm animals and the fact that they're farm animals means that they are on farms for the purposes of producing food. That's what they are there for but people have this I think slightly wrong idea that if we were to stop farming animals a tall then the world would be full of happy pigs and sheep and cattle rooming around having a nice time the fact is they wouldn't they would become extinct because they have no real use except to provide food you can talk about wall and leather and that kind of thing but that's normal anyone who's kept a flock of sheep will know that the money you get for a fleece is really not worth having so they would just disappear so I don't really have any I've never really had a problem with with eating farm animals I mean you touch. You know I don't know not but this wasn't for me she became she lived lived a happy life we did what I found is that even the hardest hearted of farmers always have at least one animal that they're fond of and know no harm must come its way. And that was certainly the case with Alex we kept a phone we kept her for a long time. We didn't know how long she would live because most people. People don't have any idea how long pigs live because they never later find out if you know to be. A pivot is born today will probably be bacon in 5 or 6 months time. So you know how long does a picture for the answer now is Alice's cases just short of even when you found one seed. Dead in they all said we lived in the orchard in her later life which is a perfect place for people because you know a pig the gets is nice to get his nose into the ground is a really happy pig and all that stuff that falls off apple trees and trees Norma's you know. It's just absolute bliss for pick an orchard absolutely perfect place and we just went to feed one morning and she was dead. Then we had the problem of. Disposing of her and I probably did the wrong thing Actually I'm probably going to be arrested I think when I leave the studio but we buried her I don't know if we were allowed to do that but anyway we got digger in and dug an enormous hole and I mean a seriously enormous hole and we rolled old Alice into it and she went down into this hole with a thump and we had a grand old boy helping us out on the farm called Derek Philby who lived in laced and and Derek had he'd been if he'd been a farm worker or all his life. And he was helping in particular because he was he was really very good at powering all those things you were doing with with Suffolk horses at very interesting that. Comes on this program quite a lot and all those expressions you he's I've heard him talking about the expressions that die out and you know we're losing all these expressions all these expressions that he talks about these are the ones that used all the time coming to who is holy wet or. That was just his language it wasn't. Just the way he taught it he gave his hand to. Roll Alice into her gray just as he did so he gave the most enormous sneeze and his false teeth shot. Landed on top of Alice and so you had to jump down into Alice is a grave and pull the false teeth. Only put them straight back. In the book or you just tell lotsa stories about Alice but also I mean it was a way of learning about pigs wasn't it which was going to be part of your farm for the future one story you say we must talk about was her affair with a god switch for Yes Well this is all a bit embarrassing really afternoon it isn't after. The one of the slight problems with a large black peak from the point of view of the meat they produce is that they do have a massive amount of fat on their back which is very unfashionable. I was in a I was in a function for a couple of days ago and I got some lovely pork chops from Gloucester on spot pigs and you know that the fat of it was a couple of inches thick apps you know if you're into that down and save it for dripping you know you know you'll never catch cold ever but it's out of fashion and people want one lean meat and the way to get a slightly lean piglet from a large black pigs to cross it with a large white pick. You also get rather amusing piglets because they tend to be blackened by Dr sporty although from the look like maps of Europe you know. The question was where to get. A large white boar for Alice and my different Tom warned Tom and Sandy Warner who live in which they had found that home with the tile I'm sure. He had a large wipe or called Cyril who lived in Ipswich I said What do you mean it lives in its region he lives in Ipswich lives in the middle of it which is a killer live in the middle of it he does yeah and there was a slight problem with several because he came home to keep his company but in whatever it was that he lived in Ipswich. It was next door to a bakery. And 4 o'clock every afternoon as the shop was closing all the stuff that was unsold went straight over the war to fatten up this giant ganti boar called Cyril when Cyril came to us and we started to feed conventional pig food like you know ground up barley and midlands and mangle words and stuff like that. He had. To do. It to be a bit like only ever having eaten pizza and suddenly presented with Chinese food you wouldn't know where to start. He didn't lose any weight as he would have you know in the end he would be anything but it was very successful they got on quite well. In just a minute. I think it was. Like yes they're old and I think. Because it was a very special. So this is a pig is the story of one man and his whole and it's published by the history press law on the show and they've given away the book already say you have to. Be away and Iran has to see the competition. And I think. Translates slowing down if you're heading from Woodbridge to southbound side of the eights well from the sacred roundabout the road reports of the place to read dealing with obstruction of some kind. And temporary traffic lights the road just getting out of it changed towards Heathrow is quite slow in the speed sensors. Rather he sat looking quite heavy as well. And it was starting at least. 40. Straight down to the patchy from Josh Norman Barrington straight in the directions . Both directions high street. I'm. A travel if you see something. 1014121 cheap one. D.a.b. Digital radio this is b.b.c. Radio. Yes with us on the highways talking about his latest how many of us have you written that pulled your. Many. One wild song that was my voyage to Cape Horn which was I think we talked back on to me a funny thing about writing books. People say to me I've stopped doing television and people say to me What are you doing these days. I'm writing a book and they said oh you're not working that. Well I guess it depends if you're in the cold on the way and so on their idea but might not feel a lot like well so when you write it I've. Just had to season sailing in Iceland so I ask about Iceland and ask if he was like oh this is easy is a key difference I think the last time you or I can safely I know that's precedent . Name one of the posters you have or used to have on your bedroom. Did you. Realize it yes I can actually and I don't know why it was there. It was posted for Rose ranch come. What it will be my choice at the time I can't imagine why I certainly would have it now. Never ending the rolls or is that funny you'll be wondering that for days and I play a bit of music and I will come back and talk more with. Arabic. We play the music. If I get you somewhere with the $3.00 to $4.00 just over half an hour to go before we catch up with all these got Dominick on the show television with Lynn Mortimer all the news in detail from 5 o'clock and then the final are the police guitarist John Abell and jell Fisk who's going to be at the Help in Billings on new program new ish programs that between 7 and 10 tonight. Different sports in the county and a particular meeting women and girls across the county have powering on in this scene from skateboarders to rugby players football to read. With the between 7 and 10 Nicklaus be with you at 10 o'clock. The radio. Heinie is with a Suffolk man as well how long have you lived. In 183 was when we 1st pitched up here how was that unlike you can you take. Your 40. 7 years yeah to think that counts as likely Well I don't really. Probably and I think suffocates it. Would come back and talk more about your pick called us and a little bit about yourself and stories is on here as well but citing is the light is a sort of the last passions in the things you've been writing about most in the last year the saying goes. Way way beyond all the all the farming so often predates certainly coming to Suffolk the 1st but must be my very early twenties I can tell you exactly how it happened a lot of things in my life seem to happen entirely by accident you know it was coming across the clocks and their farm which was a great influence in my life that was accidental but I was working in. It must have been in the mid seventies I was working as a reporter on a brand new programme on Radio one which was called News beat and when I told people these days that I used to be on Radio one they can't quite believe it or another can I but this was a news program and it was brand new here trying to bring news to do young people who weren't in the slightest bit interested in it and it was a Finn news day it was New Year's Day And so the editor said to me he said it's the 1st day of the London Boat Show go down and bring me back a story. So I got my little portable record or am I rather heavy and big this is a really. Terrible of the year I got on the bus and went to court and I never did find a story but I did buy a boat. I bought I bought a dinky which is completely completely and utterly wrong but because I I just got this idea that what I really wanted to do was sail across horizons in one way or another and I thought well a little bit like a dinghy was what you needed to do that and of course is exactly the wrong kind of it and I soon discovered that I really needed was a boat in which you could make a cup of tea and a boat in which you didn't get very wet and so I ended up. Buying you you know cruising boat eventually but the one that I bought was on the river crouch in Essex and I did I did sail up to Suffolk I can remember bravely she was only a little 17 foot boat but I can remember bravely coming up the river Orwell which seemed to me like the far end of the earth like big zip big ships with no you know you know do go past that and I was having to come through you know through 3 feet because there are inherent chop and all the rest of it but I can remember I can remember doing that it felt like such a brave thing to do to see it all the way from Burnham on Crouch up to the river or you did to me so round the world as well not really rather one I've sailed the sail from the both ends of the Atlantic Ocean because I set off from here about 5 or 6 years ago. To sail down to Cape Horn and back again and that was an 18000 mile round trip and I sailed 11000 of those miles on my own. And that was a produced a book called one wild song Wild song being the name of the boat and that was probably the biggest saving adventure. That I didn't put you off either of this thing well you know you have good days and bad days some days it is absolute bliss and some days you would give anything to be able to get off one of the problems with. With. Being on your own and being on a boat is that. Your whole world shrinks to the size of that boat and there is nothing else beyond it you just have to live within the space that that provides you know there's no going out to the shops or driving here there everywhere and sometimes you get a bit fed up you get a bit depressed knew you just know you just know what would sort all this out in your head and that is to go for a walk and that is the one thing you can never ever do you and so useless like have to put up with it did you do you learn something about yourself or did it make you realize that you do that maybe you are allowed Leben not to say I did a little of evil research when did you did you learn anything about yourself to which I say thank goodness no. No I can't I can't I can't say no I can't say I can't honestly say that I did in that sense know so tell me about it so I could have been signing in Iceland that I'd be saying I saw the on a boat with a cup it's a little bit with a cup of tea and some way to lie down there. And some warmth Yeah Iceland is Iceland is very interesting it's a hugely popular tourist destination there it's a very small place in terms of its population there are only 300000 people in Iceland so it's the same size as Coventry in terms of population spread out over this over this island which is actually mostly barren volcanic country the whole center bit apart from one or 2 settlements is entirely deserted everything happens around the fringes. And really they've the prosperity until recently was derived from the fact that it is the most amazing place in the world for card to grew and that's what their prosperity was based on the catching of course but what I did discover in research. That the trade between Suffolk and Iceland has been going on since the 1415 hundreds and this this well. That. I'd be interested in if you're surprised by this Leslie but in the early 15 hundreds every year 150 ships left Southwold Harbor to sail to Iceland and back again and that was an annual train they used to set off in March which is not a very nice time of year and they'd go up there and they'd take grain or whatever it is they were exporting and they'd bring back dried fish or fish that they caught themselves there and salted down in barrels and then they'd bring it back but. I mean. Difficult to imagine 150 ships in South let alone 150 Shipley weeks of course it was not you cited different because it was connected to the to the dunnage river as I let it have to go out through the through the river entrance but . I found it quite interesting it's funny quite interesting they used to they used to say look these coast obviously. And. A few sailors would die on the way and there are graves of Suffolk seamen on Orkney because that's the 1st place they could stop to bury them and then they'd pressgang some Orkney lads to sail to Iceland but then they'd come back and they'd all try to be back by. End of July because that was the start of the herring season in the North Sea But this huge trade between something in Iceland which we knew nothing about really we didn't I we did a pedo it's us and him last weekend and the thing they think about the those people the angles was that they traded everything was by their boats everywhere they went to Europe and saw you know lots about I mean a vast amount of charm in them but everyone knows the dunny story but the the you know the vast amount of trade that happened between dunnage and all those hands the attic ports you know in the Baltic and Northern Germany and so on absolutely colossal you know didn't you let the cell read and rest and we said all the way around Britain in 1908 we had a book built for us at Robertson's boat yard in Woodbridge and we sent all the way around Britain Ipswich to switch in 1009 days. 99 days and you know that Libby wrote that book I guess I was graced that was cool you know I'm not your patron of one of the citing charities here I think you were once there yes I am yes in fact I've just I've just agreed to be a patron of adventure sailing and before to get involved in it we're going to come back because the punches before you obviously I said we must talk so much is it Ok if I may have an idea horses as if. What was the range of your 1st car which wasn't a Rolls Royce it certainly wasn't a Rolls Royce. You know I haven't got a clue about the car it was a thing called a helmet. Now if it's. Anyone out there who remembers having helm an imp they will now be groaning because they were terrible little machines. They had the engine in the back for a start which was quite unusual but the engine was made of value minium and they didn't get it quite right and so by the time they done 30000 miles it was time to chuck them away basically. No I can't remember. Doesn't hate I don't it's coming back. F. H. . The number and far h. Was the 1st 3 letters under the is anyway and that if. He wasn't good enough to make him to dust let me. But does of the. Oh yeah. Never the common people to. Be talking about his. Comeback to that in just a minute and original as I think we have. A little fun. Because you decided I could use 3 television I think. To decide that you wanted to go back to the days of Palin with yes it was really. Of being at the Clarks farmers don't buy Nayland in the late in the late eighty's because I met them more or less by accident and you know being a writer and being a journalist you can always spot a good story when you when you see you and I thought this is incredible this is these 2 people they're not. They were then in their prosperity forty's they weren't old timers they were doing it because they had this fundamental skill they had of unmatched way of working working the land with such a punch I mean. Those 2 people probably knew more about Suffolk horses than any other people alive at the time and I just found it very very infectious I had never been a horseman in any way but prior to that I did a series in the 180 s. For the b.b.c. Called. In at the deep end. And one of my. Because they were like challenges and they were like you know it was a yeah that's right was the Challenger crew son and I used to do it and my challenge was to take part in a horse driving championship I had lessons from the Duke of Edinburgh you know because I was. Still does it not the competition to do sometimes is ponies and so I spent a lot of time with horses with John Parker up near a nudist who'd been my tutor. And. I suddenly found out that she got I got on with horses some people don't get on with horses but I got on with horses and I wasn't I wasn't frightened of them I was nervous and. Rightfully I think nervous around them if you don't know them but I wasn't frightened of them like some people are and so. I think that that farming experience was development of what had happened to me during the making of a television program and you know I've really enjoyed having horses in my life it's been you know been very very satisfying and when you took it on did it was it because you knew it be material for books and programs or was it just purely because you really wanted it out as no in the material for you know it wasn't it wasn't that was the other way around really it started off as a material gathering operation trying to put it that way but then I soon realized that it was it was rather more than that and so I decided to take it one stage further although I did obviously I did write about it but. That wasn't the prime mover which was your 1st holes take me through I had to I had a pair of horses called the 1st use of a punch record punch and star. Star was a brilliant horse he was he was a great looker but you know he had an absolute heart of gold and you know he. He was such an Anna beady and horse I mean he was an absolute joy to work with him because you'd have him there in the car pulling a load of something or other and if you sit in a stand. Don't move. You're going to have your dinner and it's still with there when you go back and just sitting there asleep behind the blinkers you know. Chewing away but open she was a bit trickier and I remember Roger Clancy into me said because I bought these 2 horses from Russia and Russia said to me should. If you have 2 options that are too easy you won't learn anything. And we. Struggled a bit with a punch he had this habit of walking down the for and for no reason whatsoever other than the thought it crossed his mind he would stop dead all of a sudden and not want to do any more and that's when horsemanship which I was rather short of that's where horsemanship comes through because anyone who knows what they're doing can deal with a horse that does that but for a novice like me you know I had to learn how to think you were lucky and in the sense you did get to meet some of the really old stuff that I did so I said I did I did and you know looking back on it now I think virtually all gone and you know we have in the time since I was doing it was the 1990 s. In the 1990 s. Of getting scarce but now they must be very very rare breeds Indeed them and also the gear you know when I was starting you who still get around to a farm sale and the you know a few horse collars and a few hours and bits and pieces like that but I doubt very much whether there will be now now I have this awful whole society best of love the fact that you got involved and it's a minute since you took it started and that work I mean is that in the last 1015 years that we've talked about the rarity of the of the Suffolk Yes I mean I suppose he did get some publicity for the breed but I mean but the people who who should get all the credit in the Suffolk or society are the people who breed horses and keep them going because the breeding of Suffolk branches is the most takes you know it's an expensive business you know you've you start to get vets in and all I can. Thing you can spend a fortune. And not really get much return for it you know they're not like race horses which you can sell for a 100000 pounds you know they're just working horses and you know very few practical uses these days and so really breeding them which I never did but breeding them is a labor of love and the fact that the. Course is still with us is all credit to the people who stuck with them over the years and it's very good to see you know you know I read the Suffolk Punch as the site is so of course his newsletter. And he knew you see lots of young faces now taking horses around the ring and so on that's very very good Larry important I think I think there that is I mean that's what they need today that they get be up in chess and be the terrible one that to not have any stuff is left a little to be. The troubles you can creep up on you you know it's one of those things you can get to that tipping you know is it is like there's a tipping point where it's too early or go right here so so me that hath pigs Alison your life at that think at the moment a local says no no yes but I do but I do miss them to some extent but you can do these things for ever you know it is very hard work keeping livestock of any kind and the years tick by and you know you become less enthusiastic but I don't regret for one minute having had all these creatures and all these characters in my life and people can read about that Alice of his they said just give it a little recap of what people find a new book well this is this is a story of this this large black pig called Alice. Who was she had such an imposing character that. She was a bit like royalty in a way in that you felt you had to behave yourself in front of her but what I think I liked most about Alice was that she was although we kept her she was pretty much an independent character and you know. You could put stuff down in her stuff I but if she didn't want it there she would move it around until she was happy she she sort of made a life of her own within the life that we provided for her and I thought she was just an admirable character and she was very good to talk to. If you know if you want to double check with her you just going to know you're right Alice and she would. You should look up what you she had luckiest and look big don't see much because the years are over but what should sometimes do when she'd throw a head up when she heard you and then her ears would float but for a brief moment and event then she'd see Oh you were I think I think in in truth what she was trying to do was to see if you were bringing food which was a main interest but I mean she helped us out in a number of occasions. After the year we had when the children had birthday parties really was a chocolate cake left over and I remember this glorious glorious sight of this chocolate cake which is well past its sell by date and no want to Dean it and so we took the whole cake out to Alice and she she went up to this very slowly with her snout. And then shoot her mouth when a pig opens its mouth is much bigger than everyone expected absolutely enormous and then with one or more. Chocolate cake went down in one go. And I think she slept for the rest of the other. Reason why we should all have ours is that the bottom of our goal to get rid of all our waste that we had to. Pull thank you so much for coming in a pig called Alice the story of one man and is published by the history press calling that it's as good as rank as you mentioned your 1st car was in Helmand in the years you must read the book The Apprentice t. Boys assistance mate because to do the same have to get the book All right well thank you very very much for that to read as I see the rest goes. Thank you for coming you have know my pleasures over. Travel east from b.b.c. Radio Suffolk just to hear where Barry. Thanks was Lesley mentioning those. I. Reports that the place been dealing with an obstruction they have been on the fungicide that that obstructions that she broke down. As had from the would run about down towards the roundabout in a. Building up. Into town the Bury road is slowing up just into the bait as well. As currently. Building up a very. Very short South Bend the. If you see something called 101412121. After this from. Let's go. I have another lovely prize when my guest on the sofa tomorrow afternoon Johnny It's 4 o'clock the latest news now read by Steve Blow thank you falls Good afternoon there's been a concession to the consensus from the leader of the pranks it policy Nigel Farage has announced he won't fail candidates in the sates the conservatives won in the 277 election but there won't be a clear run elsewhere election expert Professor John Curtis says it doesn't guarantee success for Boris Johnson but will help whether fighting the Liberal Democrats the Brits a party standing done particularly in the those seats were serving our guts and charging Whether it's quite a live vote places like North Como North Devon could well be advantageous to the conservatives though we've no big quite sure how well though their workouts are going to do in some of those seats and about a building used by the Muslim community in Hafer Oh has been subject to an arson attack fire crews were called to campus wrote us around $1145.00 last night and she was forced inside and a small file was Starseed the attack is being treated as racially motivated a man from Los stuff has been charged with an arson attack in the town fire crews were called to Maidstone road on choose to give the 19th of March serious damage was Coles to the property in a number of other houses were also affects it parents embarrass and adman's Well tonight's guest advice about how to protect their children from gangs involved in drug dealing it's taking place at the West Suffolk college 17 year old Karen Haywood who killed a man in Ipswich over drugs came.