In The History Of Rock And Roll and a remarkable number of them will be british. There are the beatles, the rolling stones, and also pink floyd. Their albums the dark side of the moon and the wall remain rock classics. I speak to roger waters, who was a prominent figure in the band until he quit in 1985. He is still performing and he remains one of the most controversial of rock stars. So what motivates him . Roger waters, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you. Its more than 30 years since you wrote the wall. Youre still touring it. It was born out of pain and anger. I wonder if you still feel the pain and anger . Um. The feelings involved, i mean feelings come up as they do, but my feelings at 70 are different from at 30 odd. Does that make it harder to put the show together and do it with feeling . No. There was a very long hiatus between the shows that happened in 1979, 80, and 81 and when we started touring again in 2010. I started working on a new production in 2009. When i started, i thought i can only really do this if i reinvent the show to suit who i am now. In 1979, the show was the product of an angry, almost but not quite middle aged man, whod had problems with relationships, women. There was some political content but i was determined to focus more on the politics and much less of a personal narrative. I want to talk about the politics and the way you as an Artist Put Politics in the shows. I want to stick with the personal for a second. The wall is almost like a form of memoir. So much of it seems to be in essence about the terrible loss you suffered as a baby. Your father was lost in the war. You never really knew him. Also, you hated your school and your educational experience. I wonder, even though the pain has maybe gone, whether those experiences still shape you. Well, my father, clearly. You know, im so grateful that i carry his genes. My father was a wonderful man. He died very young, he was only 30 when he died, when he was fighting the nazis. But he was an extremely interesting man who died absolutely for his principles. He was a Conscientious Objector at the beginning of the second world war. Then he worked as an Ambulance Driver through the blitz and he then started doing voluntary work on bomb sites, where he met my mother, and together they became interested in politics. They probably both joined the Communist Party either before or around that time. He eventually decided that his communism and the need to fight fascism trumped his christianity. And so, devout though he was, he went back to the Conscription Board and said, excuse me, ive changed my mind, i want to go and fight. He did all this training and was then shot and killed. What intrigues me is that you have such passion for him even though you never knew him. But maybe the fact of not knowing him has intensified the desire to do something with your life that you believe he would have been proud of. Well, youre absolutely right. On a gig, somewhere in america, we have vets who come at half time to every show. At one gig there was this chap who was out of the main circle of people wanting to take pictures and get autographs. He stopped me and put his hand out and i took his hand and said, im glad you could come. He looked me in the eyes. Its hard for me to tell you this. He said, yourfather would be proud of you. That meant a lot . It wasnt him saying it that meant it. I cant not be moved, even at age 70, at what my father might have thought about what i do. In retrospect, i admired him so much. And my mother, i must say. Thats a very powerful personal motivation. Lets talk about politics. Your dad was political, you mentioned he was a member of the Communist Party for a while. You have become associated with very Strong Political opinion. The wall, the show you are still doing, is loaded with political imagery and you could say political comment. It is. You are correct. Perhaps the strongest reaction you have got is from people who see some of the imagery, particularly that imagery of the inflatable pig, which is a central part of the show, some people see it as anti israeli and anti semitic. Well, this has become an old chestnut now. This whole question of this particular pig, which appears in the second part of the show, where im playing the part of a fascist demagogue, is satire, and it is recognised as being that. This record has been out there with the lyrics that contain the work which is part of the narrative for as you say, since 1979. So the use of different symbols on the pig, which include the star of david, the crucifix, the dollar sign, the hammer and sickle, and all kinds of other symbols, theyve been a part of the show since 2010. I was accused of being anti semitic by the adl which is the anti defamation league. It is an organisation in the united states. It purports to be set up to protect judaism and the jewish people from defamation. Hang on, let mejust finish. This is very important. So i wrote back to them in 2010 when this thing started. They sent people to see the show and they made the decision that this was satire and it was not anti semitic. I dont want to spend too long on this. Neither do i becuase the shows not about that. The show is about my desire to break down the walls between different people, ethnicities, nationalities. Understood. We will definitely move on because there is more we want to talk about. The fact that some jewish people who have seen the show had been upset by it, have found it offensive, has it ever given you pause, perhaps prompted you to think about whether youre going to change the way you present the show . Of course. I think about it every day. Of course it does. You cant dismiss peoples feelings. Its with me the whole time. But you havent changed it. No, because. How could i put it . You cantjoin the 0strich society, lets bury our heads in the sand, pretend the problems dont exist in the middle east. Elie wiesel, the romanian born American Writer who wrote night says the greatest sin of all is to stand by to stand by, silent and indifferent. I would suggest that that should be true of any act of repression or any predicament that human beings find themselves in, irrespective of their religion or their race or their nationality. Ok, if we may leave politics. Theres a lot i want to talk about, connected to the music and your solo career. Im interested in what you just said about not believing you are always right. I want to go back to the creative beginning of pink floyd, when you and a bunch of fellow students got together in the mid 60s and you co founded the band. When you look back on those early years now, on the way that you related to the other members of the band, and well talk about them, do you think you got some things wrong in the way you handled relationships and the band . I dont think you are talking about the early years. Because the very early years were 6a, 65, 66. Then we turned pro in 1967. And then sid left the band in 68. Yes, thats true. And davejoined the band and it was difficult after that. Syd was important, because he wrote 90 of the songs. I wrote one or two. Basically, it was in his hands. You have described him as a visionary. Was it the drugs that destroyed syd barrett as a member of pink floyd . And, if it was, how close did drugs come in that era of acid and psychedelia to actually destroying the band . My personal belief is that drugs, lsd, was not solely responsible for syds illness. I felt at the time that syd was kind of drifting off the rails and when youre drifting off the rails the worst thing you can do is start messing around with hallucinogenics. Theres no question. I wasnt living with him at the time. I wonder whether you, David Gilmour and others were on the same path at the time . Not at all. I took lsd once in my life and it was amazing but both thought, wow i dont want to do that again. But it definitely exacerbated the symptoms that loosely strung together what you and i might call schizophrenia. He heard voices, he became uncommunicative. He turned into a different person. They were black holes in the sky. It cleary affect you and the band deeply. But after his departure, you created music that will live as long as Rock And Roll will live. Dark side of the moon is, still is, one of the most popular albums to download in the world. Another interesting thing you have said about that is that that was, in essence, the moment when you felt the band had achieved what it had set to do, and so from then on, you clung together more out of fear than hope. Well, thats my opinion. So was it a downward slide from dark side of the moon . Well, no, of course not. Because if you look at what we did together, uncomfortable as it was, to be in that relationship. We were no longer four guys in the garage. We were a real group. Four guys driven by the ambition of making it. With the dark side of the moon, we made it and those ambitions ceased to be so important. So the cracks which led to the schism in 1983 or whenever it was, those feelings are different over the years. That is very honest. What kind of life was it like . Maybe for David Gilmour, more than anybody. How can you live side by side, Work Together and actually rub each other up the wrong way, have a deteriorating relationship and, excuse my language, p each other off . Must have been a very weird life. We did not live side by side. 0utside working hours, we never saw each other. We couldnt stand the sight of each other. It became increasingly clear, as the years went by, we did not have much in common but we worked well. The work we did together, in spite of the fact that we were not blood brothers, was remarkable. We both made contributions. With respect, over years since, you have talked about the fact that, you know, you felt the song writing, frankly, was more and more being yours. You thought they were not contributing very much. Towards the end. These are facts. Towards the end, David Gilmour said certain sessions and recording meetings, he thought there was no point in turning up because you were so controlling. You are such a stirrer. Im not going there. That is it. I am not going any further. We had a great career together. It was fantastic. I look back upon it with huge pride, you know. With great feeling of. It almost surprised that we managed to somehow to create this great work. I am not going to applaud it or blame anybody. Sorry to interrupt. It is so interesting. For people around the world who know the band and know the story of the band, the rancour that came out in 1985 and when you walked away, the years of legal battles because you did not want the pink floyd name to continue, you thought it was wrong because you went from the band . I did think it was wrong. And i was wrong. Were you . Of course i was. Who cares . It was a commercial decision. One of the few times the Legal Profession has taught me something. When i went to the chaps, i said, listen. Were broke. This isnt pink floyd anymore. They said, what do you mean . It is irrelevant. It is a label and it has commercial value. You cant say it is going to cease to exist. You obviously dont understand englishjurisprudence. It is not about what you think but what it is. Sorry to go on. The law is everything that we have. That is what the wall was about. It is about 1789, 1776. The wall is about 19118, human rights. It is about our declaration. I have got ya. But the wall is all about is you. Im fishing for an explanation or a description of how and why you really changed after the rancour of the mid 80s. Ill read out something you said. You said, i was frightened, defensive, embarrassed, sexually insecure. That is why i was aggressive. That was the old you. After that, you found a way back to a relationship with the band. In 2005, you played for live eight when pink floyd came together again. So what happened . Live aid. After our schism, when David Gilmour and nick mason went off and played all over the world and i was moving around with different bands that i put together, with solo albums, it was difficult. Nobody had any idea what it was and nobody was interested. They knew who you were. They didnt. The critics at the time did not like your solo material. That might be true as well. Joe public would not respond to anything. How was that for you . It was very character forming. There was a famous occasion when i was in cincinnati and i played in a,000 capacity arena and then, the next day, the chaps were playing to a sold out show, 70,000 people, ina stadium. The chaps being pink floyd . Yeah. That must have hurt. No. You know what . This is character forming. Who was it . Jung always said, im worried about so and so. He has suffered a great success. Not saying thatjung has the answer to everything. But i do not think there was anything wrong with a little bit of humbling. You talked about being wrong in terms of the legal lawsuits against the band in the mid 80s. Looking back, do you think there is some truth in the caricature of you as being a control freak, domineering, just trying too much too often to drive the band exactly where you wanted it to go . Yes. Yes, and no. I might be domineering. But you either have ideas or you do not. And if you do have ideas, you cant be expected to sit on them like that, just because somebody else isnt having ideas. So thats why it was a great thing for us to split up, or for me to leave, if you like, so i could express my ideas u nfettered. And my ideas are still. I have had a few breakthroughs recently. I will not talk about them. I will make another record. I have a strong idea and i shall pursue it. I will make at least one more record. Im looking forward to getting my teeth stuck into it. I could not do that if somebody was looking over my shoulder saying, i do no think that is good. Well, do something yourself then. I might need a few years before i write a song. How frustrating has it been . The Rock Industry is obsessed with reunions and reworking the past that, i dare say, pretty much every week, since you walked out of pink floyd, and despite the mini reunion, you still constantly get asked. No, i dont. People have finally realised that they are flogging a dead horse. Do you think we really have . Yes. Absolutely. People rarely bring it up with me at all. Is there a part of you that looks at mickjagger and the rolling stones, david bowie, all of these. David bowie has not toured for years and years. He has released an album. I just wonder whether you sometimes look at that and you think, you know what . Pink floyd could still produce new music. No. Its so weird that you should be asking these questions. Normally, you are really intelligent and you ask proper questions. You know, about proper things. Why would the reasons for me leaving in 1985 would not pertain now 30 years later . Because you changed. But the situation has not changed. Fundamentally, i have not changed at all. You are right when you say i like to be in charge of my own destiny and i like to pursue my. Having said that, i also like to work with other people who are creative. It is one of the great pleasures of being. It is not like being a painter. Final question. This is about you as an artist. Your motivation. Do you have to believe that your best work is still to come or is there a part of you that acknowledges that the work that will define you as an artist happened a long time ago . That is a good question. The third album i made on my own, amused to death, in my view, never received the attention it deserved. In your view, is it up there on the same artistic level as the dark side of the moon or the wall . Yes. And it surpasses Wish You Were Here or animals, or any other work that we did. By quite a large margin. However, to answer the question, i am as excited about what i am going to do, when the tour has finished, as i am about either of those works or the dark side of the moon. I will have to end there. Roger waters, thank you very much. I have enjoyed it immensely. Thank you. Hello, good evening. Theres something wrong with the weather at the moment, today was a mixture of sunshine and heavy april showers and weve got more showers this evening and overnight. The heavy ones more recently in the south east should tend to ease away but well keep them going in the west and particularly further north across Northern Ireland, scotland and Northern England and those showers could be heavy enough for a rumble or two of thunder. Some clearer spells overnight but lows of around 13 or 12 even in the cooler air. Perhaps not many showers at all in much of england and wales on friday morning, decent sunshine before the cloud tends to increase from the south west and we will keep a scattering of showers further north. Eventually well see some rain coming in across england and wales but for most of the day for the cricket at the oval, it may well be dry, not really expecting any interruptions to play until the evening session. We will have showers further north and they will keep going on and off all day across scotland and Northern Ireland and for a while in Northern England and they could be heavy and blustery too. But there will be some sunshine in between those showers before the cloud thickens up from the south west and by mid to Late Afternoon weve got outbreaks of rain coming into wales, across the South West Of England and by the evening time pushing its way towards the south east as well, where highs are very similar to today, we could sneak 20 or 21 or so, nothing particularly great for this time of year. Wet weather pushes its way across england and wales very quickly during the evening and the first part of the night and the rain could be quite heavy in some of the Western Hills and doesnt really clear from the south west corner and we keep showers going in the north west close to that area of low pressure. Thats going to be a dominant feature in the next few days and around the base of the low pressure these Weather Systems will bring pulses of rain. The next area of rain still there on the south coast through the English Channel will pep up again later on in the day, turning very wet as we head towards the evening. Otherwise a good slice of sunshine and dry weather before we back into those showers, some heavy again in scotland, especially the West Of Scotland and also Northern Ireland where temperatures again a disappointing 16 or 17. Wet weather develops through the evening, scoots away overnight but we still have lots of showers on sunday, especially towards the west, likely to be heavy and thundery with a top temperature in the south east of 21. So rather cool this weekend and there will be some rather strong winds as well. Some sunshine at times and all is well but some showers and longer spells of rain as well. Welcome to bbc news. Im Sharanjit Leyl in singapore. The headlines the worlds worst humanitarian crisis deepens. Yemens war leaves millions on the brink of famine. Now disease threatens many more. Many in yemen are dying needlessly because they cannot get the most basic treatment. After more than two yea rs of basic treatment. After more than two years of war, half the Health Facilities in the country are not functioning. Congress in washington votes overwhelmingly to impose new sanctions on russia, iran and north korea, despite president trumps objections. Im kasia madera in london. Also in the programme, as the us bans its citizens from visiting north korea, the communist state says it doesnt care a bit. And the woman at the centre of a