At three and a half years old, here, i caught polio. There was an epidemic at that time. They said, stephen wont live through this. But during those years in and out of hospital, he developed a passion for music, and after a spell as a journalist, he began trying out his songs at folk clubs before finally hitting the big time. But when his chart success began to slide, his attention shifted to another musical avenue. Sing once again with me. He was given the chance to record the single for andrew lloyd webber s phantom of the opera, but he was devastated when he wasnt chosen to play the role for the west end. Youve done it all, broken every code. Nevertheless, he continued to perform. The effects of his childhood polio were lifelong, but onstage in the spotlight he said it was the one place he could forget it all and simply be steve harley, the rock star. Ooh ooh, la la la. That is David Sillito looking back at the life of steve harley, the front man of Cockney Rebel who has died at th
He later apologised for what he called rude comments. Plenty of people saw the remarks straightaway as racist but it took an age in political terms for rishi sunak to agree. At a rally on friday night in hackney, diane abbott told the crowd to stand firm against racism. This is about the way that black women are disrespected. Decade upon decade. The conservative Cabinet Minister and transport secretary, mark harper, spoke to laura kuennsberg, on her sunday morning programme, she asked him Whether Frank Hester s comments were racist. Did you think these comments were racist . Yes, look, the Prime Minister made it very clear at Prime Ministers questions on wednesday that they were racist. It took him some time to do that. Did you think straight they were racist . You said it took an age in political terms but it didnt take long at all, the Prime Minister said it on wednesday and his spokesperson was clear the day before that they were racist comments and unacceptable. And frank hester ap
Princess dianas brother was speaking in an interview to be broadcast tomorrow on the bbc s sunday with laura kuenssberg. Earlier i spoke to graham satchell, who has been reviewing the material in the interview and asked him what the main thrust of earl spencers comments were. Well, this was a searingly honest interview with earl spencer, and at times difficult to watch, to be honest. He has written a book about his experiences of his childhood, particularly at boarding school, and he talks about suffering shocking levels of violence from the age of eight and being sexually abused from the age of 11. He also talks in some detail about his experience at home with his sister, princess diana, and particularly suffering at the hands of a violent nanny, nanny forster. And this is what he had to say. Really damaging violence to children is going to affect them, whatever house they come from, whatever family theyre born into. And that nanny who did that to us, i mean, she used to crack our Hea
We start with efforts to get desperately needed aid into gaza, lets ta ke lets take you to live pictures in larnaca with a Spanish Charity ship is leaving the port carrying some 200 tonnes of food to gaza along what is going to become a new Maritime Aid Corridor that was announced by the eu. This vessel is being operated by world central kitchen, and it has been in larnaca for the last three weeks. It is towing a barge loaded with items which have been provided by world central kitchen. It is being organised by open arms, you can see the vessel has 0pen organised by open arms, you can see the vessel has open arms written on it. The open arms people say that on that barge being told our 200 tonnes of basic foodstuffs, including things like rice and flour and cans of tuna. The ship will take around two or three days to reach as i but we do not know where it will dock in gaza because there are no ports, so anything which has been set up will have to be temporary. It is an under closed loc
Many of the top awards. The budget the government unveiled on wednesday has left the Shadow Chancellor with a major headache. Jeremy hunt cut National Insurance by 2 pence for the second time in six months, as well as stealing two of labours revenue raising policies. The party had planned to use these to Fund Breakfast clubs in schools and reduce nhs Waiting Lists, if it wins the next election. Earlier, the Shadow Chancellor, Rachel Reeves spoke to the bbc s Laura Kuennsberg about how they plan to raise money now, and began by discussing her plans to create a National Wealth fund. Yes. We have committed to an extension of workers rights, including banning zero hour contracts, getting rid of fire and rehire and having a real minimum wage. Obviously, the low Pay Commission will set that, but this is a big extension of the rights of working people, because if an economy is not working for working people, its not working at all. And at the moment, too many people are stuck in insecure, pre