BBC Online

250px
URL	www.bbc.co.uk
Commercial?	No
Type of site	Portal
Registration	1994
Owner	BBC
Created by	BBC
Launched	1997
Alexa rank	49 (June 2012[update])[1]
Current status	Active

BBC Online is the brand name and home for the BBC's UK online service. It is a large network of websites including such high profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services co-branded BBC iPlayer, the pre-school site Cbeebies, and learning services such as Bitesize. The BBC has had an online presence supporting its TV and radio programmes and web-only initiatives since 1994 but did not launch officially until December 1997, following government approval to fund it by TV licence fee revenue as a service in its own right. Throughout its short history, the online plans of the BBC have been subject to various public consultations and government reviews illustrating concerns from commercial rivals that its large presence and public funding distorts the UK market.

The website has gone through several branding changes since it was launched. Originally named BBC Online, it was then rebranded as BBCi (which itself was the brand name for interactive TV services) before being named bbc.co.uk. It was then branded BBC Online again in 2008.^[2] The Web-based service of the BBC is one of the world's largest and most visited websites (thirty-ninth most visited according to Alexa in April 2011).^[3] As of 2007, it contained over two million pages.

On 26 February 2010 The Times claimed that Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC, proposed that the BBC's web output should be cut by 50%, with online staff numbers and budgets reduced by 25% in a bid to scale back BBC operations and allow commercial rivals more room.^[4] On 2 March 2010, the BBC reported that it will cut its website spending by 25% and close BBC 6 Music and Asian Network.^[5][6] On 24 January 2011, the confirmed cuts of 25% were announced leaving a £34 million shortfall. This resulted in the closure of several sites, including BBC Switch, BBC Blast, 6-0-6, and the announcement of plans to sell on the Douglas Adams created site h2g2.^[7]

History[link]

BBC Networking Club[link]

The service's original home was www.bbcnc.org.uk (the "nc" standing for "networking club") launched by BBC Education on 11 May 1994 as a non-profit paid subscription service. For a joining fee of £25 and a monthly subscription of £12, members of the club were given access to an early type of social networking site featuring a bulletin board for sharing information and real-time conversation, along with a dialup internet connection service.^[8]. Early members of the BBCNC production and development team included Peter Riding, Julian Ellison, Naomi Troski, Gordon Joly, Emma Howard and Dominik von Malaisé.

Within 12 months, the BBC offered "auntie" on-line discussion groups; web pages for select web-related programs and BBC departments; free web pages for associate members; and an internet connection service www.bbc.co.uk^[9] was introduced in 1996 though the old address also remained active for some time afterwards.

BBC Online[link]

The BBC Director General John Birt sought government approval to direct licence fee revenue into the service, describing planned BBC internet services as the “third medium” joining the BBC's existing TV and Radio networks, achieving a change in the BBC Charter. This led to the official launch of BBC Online at the www.bbc.co.uk address in December 1997.

For a time, www.bbc.co.uk was used for the organisation's corporate and educational site, while entertainment-based content appeared on www.beeb.com. The two sites were merged in 1998 to become BBC Online,^[10] at www.bbc.co.uk. By December 1998, the BBC Homepage was being described as "your gateway to 200 sites and 25,000 pages" ^[11]

In 1999, the BBC bought the www.bbc.com domain name for $375,000, previously owned by Boston Business Computing,^[12] but the price of this purchase was not revealed until 6 years later.^[13] As of 2005, www.bbcnc.org.uk no longer exists. The beeb.com address now redirects to the BBC Shop website run by BBC Worldwide, at www.bbcshop.com.

BBCi[link]

In 2001 BBC Online was rebranded as BBCi. The BBCi name was conceived as an umbrella brand for all the BBC's digital interactive services across web, digital teletext, interactive TV and on mobile platforms.^[14][15] The use of letter "i" prefixes and suffixes to denote information technology or interactivity was very much in vogue at this time, according to the BBC, the "i" in BBCi stood for "interactivity" as well as "innovation".^[16]

As part of the rebrand, BBC website pages all displayed a standard navigation bar across the top of the screen, offering a category-based navigation: Categories, TV, Radio, Communicate, Where I Live, A-Z Index and a search.^[17] The navbar was designed to offer a similar navigation system to the i-bar on BBCi interactive television.

bbc.co.uk and the return of BBC Online[link]

After three years of consistent use across different platforms, the BBC began to drop the BBCi brand gradually; on 6 May 2004, the BBC website was renamed bbc.co.uk, after the main URL used to access the site.^[18] Interactive TV services continued under the BBCi brand until it was dropped completely in 2008. The BBC's online video player, the iPlayer has, however, retained an i-prefix in its branding.

On 14 December 2007, a beta version of a new bbc.co.uk homepage was launched, with the ability to customise the page by adding, removing and rearranging different categories, such as 'News', 'Weather' and 'Entertainment'. The widget-based design was inspired by sites such as Facebook and iGoogle, and allowed the BBC to add new content to the homepage without cluttering it and still retaining personal choice.^[19] The new homepage also had a simple searchbox taskbar with the clock design used in the 1970s on the BBC's television service. The homepage also featured a box containing featured content of the website, located on the right hand side of the main page. The new BBC homepage left beta stage on Wednesday, 27 February 2008 to serve as the new BBC Homepage under the same URL as the previous version did. This very different look was disorientating at first, but easier to understand later on.

On 30 January 2010, a new webpage design became available as a beta version,^[20] that by May 2010, replaced the old homepage. This homepage expanded on the modules idea and the customisation theme. The website allowed certain themes that interested the viewer to be tracked, via a new module. It also included a new 'Media Zone' where featured content could be displayed, with this new featured box being located across the entire top of the webpage, below the header. The Media Zone was also changed so that the content changed by running the mouse over the tabs. The header was again changed to include the headings of the major sections of the website, these being: Home, News, Sport, Weather, iPlayer, TV, Radio and more, spread out evenly across the header. This new header was included across the entire website. Despite the cosmetic appearance of the relaunch, the new website was actually relaunched using a completely different operating system, allowing the site's four different international versions to be changed and altered easier. It also brought their website layouts and operations closer to that of the main website.

Following the launch of the new BBC News Website, which altered the header bar on that site, in October 2010, the new style of header was launched across the whole website, starting off with some of the larger, yet not obvious, sites, such as Doctor Who, first before relaunching all of the sites, including the homepage with the new look. This new style of header included the headings as before, but with the search box redesigned and aligned right, as with the links which are significantly smaller. Other links, such as BBC id login and mobile versions of the website also appear on the header, just to the right of the smaller BBC logo.

On 21 September 2011, a new BBC Homepage went into beta testing that was drastically different from those before it. The new homepage was based on feedback that stated that the current page was too narrow in focus and not distinctive enough, with the homepage not displaying the full extend of the BBC Online site and that some didn't realise it was the homepage. As a result, they launched a new version that featured as a centrepiece a revolving carousel of content on the BBC Online website, with filters beneath to restrict it to, and to show more of entertainment, lifestyle, knowledge and news and sports topics. At the top of the page, a new header has been inserted giving the date, the time through the use of the vintage BBC clock, as well as weather prospects for the next three days through the use of the traditional weather symbols. Below the carousel, boxes contain links to the most popular video material, web articles and pages on the site, as well as TV and Radio listings alongside an A-Z list of the BBC's top level domains.^[21] This new site replaced the previous one on 30 November 2011. In a blog post^[22] from the same day, James Thornett explained reasoning for the changes but the blog attracted over 1000 comments, almost entirely negative, due to the styling, reduced volume of content, lack of functionality and removal of customisation options featured on the previous incarnation of the site.

Content[link]

The websites include news from the BBC News Online, a sports section, music, science, technology and entertainment pages, amongst other things. As might be expected, the website has a British orientation, although the home page, news section and sports section each provide different content between UK and "International" visitors. There are also separate pages for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland written by the BBC Nations and individual county pages containing local news and programme schedules.

The website focuses around the primary top level domains of News, Sport, Weather, iPlayer, TV and Radio. These are easily accessible from the taskbar running across the top of all current BBC Online pages. However other top level domains are also in existence: some are available from a drop down list on the taskbar including CBBC, CBeebies, Comedy, Food, Health, History, Learning, Music, Science and Nature, while other top level domains are only available through the A-Z index on the BBC website. These include Archive, Arts & Culture, Ethics, Gardening, Parenting, Religion and Travel news. However there are many more top level domains – some 400 in March 2010^[23] however this number has decreased as top level domains now frequently link to a lower domain name – that link to websites for individual services or programmes.

In February 2001, BBC Online incorporated Douglas Adams' previously independent h2g2 project into its group of web sites, and eventually replaced all its existing message boards, which used an archaic system called Howerd, with the DNA software derived from that project. The site's now archived Collective magazine also used the DNA software along with numerous other sites created after the BBC's acquisition of h2g2.

The website has extensive technical information available about its operation. The BBC also makes some of the content on bbc.co.uk and the BBC News Website available in XML format on its developer network backstage.bbc.co.uk. Also, through participation in the Creative Archive Licence group, bbc.co.uk allows legal downloads of selected material via the Internet.

Further, you can also solve quizzes, especially designed to improve your comprehension and understanding of the English language.^[24]

Children's[link]

The BBC runs a comprehensive children's website at www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc. It includes information on all of CBBC's shows along with several sub-sites covering art, sport, news, and other current events. Its message boards are especially popular with children who use them to communicate with each other about all of CBBC's output among other salient topics for kids like bullying, books, and personal problems.

In conjunction with the Children's sub-site, the BBC also runs an online revision website using the Bitesize brand and also ran a message board for students. This latter service, now called "BBC Student Life" and previously called "Onion Street", was launched in 2001 and is aimed at young people between the ages of 11 and 16. The site offers a pre-moderated forum discussion on school work, revision and other areas of learning.^[25]

The BBC previously ran a page to help young people sort out their life difficulties entitled "Your Life".^[26] The page featured agony uncle "Ask Aaron," a professional psychotherapist who provided regular answers to children's questions across the message boards; after the page's closure, the agony uncle has moved on to Radio One's Sunday Surgery as their mental health expert.

There is integration between television output and website content with aspects of children's programming have followup information on their websites.

BBC Blast[link]

BBC Blast was the BBC's network for creative teenagers. It provided access to mentors both online and at free events and workshops across the UK. The website specifically catered for 13 to 19 year olds but the BBC Blast project also ran a variety of work experience schemes for young adults between the ages of 18 to 25. Blast was running from 2002 until 2011. It included a forum where participants could upload videos, audio tracks and images and comment on each others work. In the past the BBC Blast tour featured workshops and talks with stars from a variety of backgrounds, including rapper Akala, director and actor Noel Clarke, BBC Radio 1Xtra DJs Ace and Vis, singer-songwriter Jay Sean, rapper Chipmunk, Panjabi Hit Squad and Yngve & The Innocent.

Blast worked with a number of partners to put on events and give content a chance to be promoted at a higher level. These partners included the Victoria and Albert Museum, RSC, National Portrait Gallery, National Theatre, Zoo Nation, and the British Film Institute.

On 24 January 2011, the BBC announced the closure of BBC Blast as part of a 25% cut to the BBC Online budget, resulting in a £34 million shortfall.^[7]

Programmes[link]

BBC Programmes is a service of BBC Online which provides a page for every television and radio programme broadcast by the BBC in the United Kingdom. It was launched in October 2007 and gives each programme a eight digit alphanumeric identifier which is used to provide a permanent URL.^[27][28] It currently only holds data from the launch date plus a selection of high profile programmes (notably Natural History programmes and Radio 4 programmes), but Jana Bennett, Director of BBC Vision, said in June 2008 that the BBC will eventually add a page for each programme it has broadcast over its history to the service.^[29]

BBC Programmes is available as HTML and RDF/XML and JSON.

The BBC Programme Catalogue is an internal archive of the BBC back catalogue which was briefly available online to the public in beta.

Streaming media[link]

A service, called BBC iPlayer, was launched in December 2007, which allows users to download both radio and TV content for up to seven days after broadcast. The television version allows users to either stream programmes or to download them using peer-to-peer and DRM technology.

Initially streams were generally broadcast in the RealAudio and RealVideo formats controlled by RealNetworks and the BBC drew criticism with some for using those closed formats which, at the time, could only be played using RealPlayer. In response to such criticisms, the BBC negotiated a deal with RealNetworks a 'cut-down' version of RealPlayer which did not contain as much advertising and marketing.

Windows Media has also been adopted and since Autumn 2006, a Windows Media stream of all national BBC radio stations has been available.

More recently, the BBC has been experimenting with MP3 downloads and podcasting facilities for an increasing number of radio shows, with a high level of success^{[citation needed]}; a less publicised trial of Ogg Vorbis streams for certain programmes was less successful, and has now been discontinued.

During major events, the BBC often features liveblogs which publish the most recent text and image posts from BBC correspondents; particularly-significant political events may pair live blogs with live video streams or recorded video loops relevant to the event.

Tracking cookies and privacy policy[link]

BBC Online uses several third-party companies to log information from users, by means of cookies. The BBC lists the companies it uses in its privacy policy:^[30]

• Nielsen/Net Ratings and SageMetrics
• Nedstat
• Websidestory
• Doubleclick
• Bango

Users that block certain of these tracking domains will find certain parts of the BBC's websites inaccessible^{[citation needed]}.

Funding[link]

The BBC's site was initially entirely free from advertising, this was due to the BBC's funding, derived primarily from compulsory television licence fees from UK viewers. BBC Worldwide who exploit BBC brands commercially have had several attempts at launching services online including Beeb.com in the late 1990s.

In 2006, the BBC began making controversial plans to raise revenue by including advertising on the international version of BBC News Online accessed from outside the United Kingdom.^[31] BBC Online is currently freely available worldwide (via various URLs including bbc.com/news) but planned video services and a lower than expected licence fee settlement paid for by UK residents only led to the BBC introducing banner advertisements to the site from November 2007.^[32] The BBC Trust approved the plans for introducing advertisements which also involved creating bbc.com as a part of BBC Worldwide.^[33] Sir Michael Lyons, Chairman of the Trust, confirmed the BBC would not charge for online news following News International's planned introduction of charges for online content.^[34]

Prior to this there had been criticism from some, as web users outside the UK could use the services (including the entire BBC radio services) without having to pay for them.^[35] In addition, where rights to sporting events (such as certain football or cricket matches) do not include international online coverage, users from outside the UK are blocked from listening to commentaries.

On 24 January 2011, it was announced that the BBC was to cut its online budget by 25% or £34 million. To cope with this, many BBC websites would be closed including BBC Switch, BBC Blast, 6-0-6, BBC raw, Video Nation, and planned to sell the Douglas Adams created website h2g2, as well as the automation of many programme websites and radio websites.^[7]

Graf report[link]

In early 2004, the site was made the focus of a government review, launched by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, led by Philip Graf. Sections of the UK internet industry had argued that the BBC site offered things that were available in the commercial sector, creating unnecessary competition.

The review was published in July 2004 and it was recommended that the BBC "prioritise news, current affairs, education and information which is of value to the citizen." In response the BBC also shut down a small number of sections of the site, including the Soaps section.

In November 2004, the Governors of the BBC announced a newer, much more tightly drawn remit for bbc.co.uk as part of their response to the review. They also announced, as Graf had recommended, a new approach towards external providers which will see bbc.co.uk aiming to spend at least 25% of its eligible budget on content and services through independent commissions by the end of 2006/07.

The implementation of the Graf report has seen the popular message boards in the BBC Sport section shut down, as the BBC tries to promote its 606 brand, but these changes have proved unpopular as the interface has proven unusable and large numbers of content providers have abandoned the BBC site^{[citation needed]}.

Cult TV[link]

From 1999 to 2005, the BBC ran a popular sub-site called Cult TV. This sub-site had news, star interviews, trivia, and other content popular with fans of the cult TV shows they covered. Examples of covered TV shows include The X-Files, Doctor Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Farscape and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

On 15 July 2005, the BBC announced that the site was closing as of the end of the month, although the Doctor Who section would be unaffected as the series was an ongoing BBC concern. The announcement explained that this was "part of the restructuring of the BBC's online activities". It was promised that some of the content would be moved to new places on bbc.co.uk, although as of March 2008 it is currently still all online at the no-longer-updated Cult site. In recent years, some of the content covered in the Cult section was included in the BBC's Archive section, such as content and information on the 25th Anniversary of Children's BBC.

Vulnerabilities in the system[link]

In March 2007, a vulnerability was exposed in the BBC's "Most Emailed" and "Most Read" news sections.^[36]

See also[link]

BBC portal

• BBC News Online
• BBC Guide to Comedy

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Latest on plans for bbc.co.uk including archive
• Summary of results of Graf Review
• BBC's response to Graf review
• Press release concerning radio podcasting and download trials
• Press release announcing extended trial of iMP
• BBC Politics 97 Site – look at an old BBC web page that is still active since 1997
• Backstage
• BBC Home Archive
• Creative Archive
• BBC Commissioning
• Engineering Data

External links[link]

• BBC Online

v t e The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Services Television (station list) Radio (station list) BBC Online BBC Red Button (Ceefax) BBC iPlayer Management BBC Trust Lord Patten (Chairman) Mark Thompson (Director-General) Departments Television Radio News Sport Weather Children's CBeebies CBBC Natural History Monitoring BBC Films BBC Archives BBC Academy Nations and regions England East East Midlands London North East and Cumbria North West South South East South West West West Midlands Yorkshire Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Northern Ireland Scotland Gàidhlig Wales Commercial subsidiaries BBC Worldwide BBC Records BBC Studios and Post Production History Timeline British Broadcasting Company Logo of the BBC Coat of Arms Board of Governors BBC controversies Key properties London (Broadcasting House London Bush House Television Centre London White City London Media Village London Maida Vale Studios) Belfast (Broadcasting House, Belfast) Birmingham (The Mailbox Drama Village Birmingham) Bristol (Broadcasting House, Bristol) Cardiff (Broadcasting House Cardiff Drama Village Cardiff Bay Upper Boat Studios) Glasgow (Pacific Quay Glasgow) Manchester (New Broadcasting House Manchester) Newcastle (Broadcasting Centre, Newcastle) Salford (MediaCityUK) Southampton (Broadcasting House, Southampton) (Full List) Finance Television licence (history) Projects Dirac The Box backstage.bbc.co.uk Domesday YouView Freesat (channel list) Redux Category  Commons Portal WikiProject

Not to be confused with A Child of Our Time, an oratorio (1944) by Michael Tippett

Child of Our Time is a documentary commissioned by the BBC co-produced with The Open University and presented by Robert Winston which follows up on the lives of 25 babies who were born around the turn of the 20th to 21st century as they grow from infancy, through childhood and on to becoming young adults. The aim of the series is to build up a coherent and scientifically accurate picture of how the genes and the environments of growing children interact to make a fully formed adult. The series will follow the people each year from birth to the age of 20. It sets out to answer many unanswered questions, and a large portion of Child of Our Time is made up of experiments on the 25 people to answer some of these questions. One of the most important questions that the series is seeking to answer is "Are we born or are we made?" The series has since been put on hold until 2013 ^[1]

The children[link]

The 25 children born to 22 families chosen to appear on the Child Of Our Time documentary represent the widest possible range of genetic, social, geographical and ethnic backgrounds. They are:

• Alex and Ivo: Identical twins Alex and Ivo Lloyd-Young were born eleven weeks early to parents Berenice Lloyd and Alastair Young. They live in Glasgow.
• Calvin: Born ten weeks early to parents Helen Kirkham and Andy Pearson, Calvin has an older sister, Lauren. Helen and Andy have now split up.
• Charlie: Charlie's mother Toni was sixteen when she fell pregnant with her daughter Charlie. Toni's mother and grandmother also had babies early. Toni split up with Charlie's father before Charlie was born and fell in love with electrician Rob Plaster. Rob treats Charlie like his own daughter and he and Toni have had two more children, Kayla and Alex.
• Charlotte: Charlotte Burke was born as a result of IVF treatment to parents Richard and Jacqui. She had a twin brother, Alexander, who was stillborn. Her parents married three months after the birth of Charlotte's sister Jasmine, but have now divorced. They try to remain amicable for the sake of their daughters.
• Charlotte: Charlotte Goldsmith was born in Essex. She has one older brother and her parents Emma and Paul separated six months after her birth.
• Ethan: Before Ethan's birth his mother Kerri lost two girl babies; one was miscarried and one was still born. She also lost Ethan's twin through miscarriage in the third month of pregnancy. Ethan loves playing computer games but struggles at school and has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Ethan had a problem with his speech which affected his ability to make friends in school, but it resolved itself soon after. Ethan and his family live in Northern Ireland.
• Eve: Eve's parents, Tim and Caroline Scarborough, are Evangelical Christians who tried for years to conceive a baby through IVF but were unsuccessful. Eve was unplanned and conceived naturally. Her parents were delighted but Caroline suffered post-natal depression. It was announced at the end of the episode 'The Age of Stress' that Caroline, Eve's mother, had died from cancer.
• Helena: Born at just twenty-five weeks, Helena is the sole survivor of triplets. Because of her premature birth her doctors believed she would have major respiratory and developmental problems. Helena did not crawl until eighteen months and did not speak her first word until two years. However Helena learnt to walk, talk, run and join in with everything and became advanced intellectually. She is now happy, confident and bossy and a loving older sister to Bella. Helena's parents decided to separate after 13 years of marriage.
• Het: Born to parents Vijay and Tejal in a close-knit, extended family, Het talks in both English and her first language of Gujarati. In 2005 Het's mother became pregnant and had a baby in October. Before this, her parents were considering sending her to an Indian boarding school but for now have considered otherwise.
• James: James's mother Carol comes from a very deprived background and suffers from a mild learning difficulty. She split up from the father of her elder child Bernie and James's father. James has asthma and was kidnapped at age five by Carol's ex-boyfriend, Ian.
• Jamie: After suffering post-natal depression with her two eldest children, Sharon Craven was sterilised; it did not work and she became pregnant with Jamie, who was slow to learn to talk and speak. Doctors diagnosed a hearing problem so had grommets put in his ears - after this, he blossomed. Jamie was diagnosed with diabetes aged just four years old. His condition needs constant monitoring and frequent injections.
• Mabel, Alice and Phoebe: Non-identical triplets Mabel, Alice and Phoebe have three elder siblings. Their parents Nigel and Tracey Baller claim to be calm and easygoing with all the children. The triplets have developed different temperaments; Mabel is a tomboy, Alice is dominant and Phoebe is quiet and mischievous.
• Matthew: The younger brother of Robert and the second son of Kathryn and Graham Singleton, Matthew is sweet but slightly shy and anxious.
• Megan: Megan is the daughter of Rhodri, a Welsh farmer, and Gaynor Davies. She has one older brother and sister.
• Nathan: A cheery, enthusiastic boy who is being brought up by parents Ruth and Richard Price. Nathan was a big baby and is being brought up by his parents with strong values. The family spent several years living a self-sufficient, organic lifestyle in the countryside, but eventually moved to be closer to the school Nathan is in.
• Parys: Alison Lapper is the single mother of Parys. She is disabled, born with no arms and very short legs. While pregnant with Parys, she had casts made of her body to create a giant marble statue of her. Artist Marc Quinn created this statue, which was placed on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square in 2005. Alison is an artist who has also written an autobiography entitled 'My Life in My Hands.' Parys was born by caesarean section and did not sleep well as a baby. He has had a lot of carers helping Alison take care of him over the years and has a strong bond with his mother.
• Rebecca: A very small child whose parents Mark and Gill Saunders are Jewish. Rebecca has an older brother and likes dressing up in pink.
• Rhianna: The only child of Tanya Knights and Andy Lees, Rhianna is fascinated by nature and history. Although Rhianna was a happy baby and easy to care for, she grew into a very anxious little girl; so much so that her parents took her to see a child psychiatrist. There was tension in Tanya and Andy's marriage and they displayed very different parenting styles; Rhianna was picking up on all this. Nothing seriously wrong was found with her and Tanya and Andy are trying to work through their problems.
• Rubin: Rubin was born at thirty seven weeks and rushed to intensive care. He had to be hospitalised again at two months old as he contracted pneumonia. Rubin is the third of four boys; mother Debbie Bayfield was single for a while but married the father of her fourth son. In 2008, he gained a place at the Choral school in Westminster.
• Taliesin: Taliesin is the second child and first son of Olivia and Robin Stevenson who split up before his birth but got back together again. Olivia became a teenage mother with Taliesin's sister, Emily, and left education behind at an early age after being bullied. She hopes her children will be happier than her at school.
• Tyrese: The third child and only son of Marie and Jamal Hakeem, Tyrese is determined and outgoing, like his mother. Marie suffers from dyslexia and wants Tyrese to learn about race and racism. Marie is concerned that Tyrese will fall into trouble; she believes that black boys find it much harder to be successful in life and so is determined he does not fall into the stereotype. She split up with Jamal when Tyrese was three. He lives in North Birmingham
• William: Keen on sport and outperforming, as well as harassing his older brother, William was born by caesarean and lives in a small town in Yorkshire.

Episode guide[link]

Series One (2000)

1. Babies

Series Two (2001)

1. The Personality Test
2. Tomboy or Sissy?
3. Brain Magic

Series Three (2002)

1. Thanks for the Memories
2. Power Struggles
3. Active or Idle

Series Four (2004)

1. Zero to Hero
2. Read My Lips
3. The Making of Me

Series Five (2005)

1. Identity Crisis
2. State of Play
3. What are Dads for?
4. Tried and Tested

Series Six (2006)

1. Happiness
2. Flesh and Blood
3. Right and Wrong
4. Your Recipe for Success

Series Seven (2007)

1. The Will to Win
2. Fitting In or Standing Out
3. Killing Creativity

Series Eight (2008)

1. The Divide of the Sexes
2. The Age of Stress
3. 24 Hours
4. A Revolution in Childhood (BBC4)

Series Nine (2010)

1. The Big Personality Test (broadcast on 30 May)
2. The Big Personality Test (broadcast on 31 May)

Child of Our Time - The Children's Stories[link]

In 2006, Child of Our Time had a spin-off series showing a 30-minute programme each week on one child and their story so far from birth to their current age of 6. The programmes did not add anything significant to that which had already been covered in the six years of the programme so far; they are essentially clip shows.

See also[link]

The Up Series is a series of documentary films that have followed the lives of fourteen British children since 1964.

References[link]

• BBC Child of Our Time website

External links[link]

• Open University website accompanying the series Covers the science behind the show in more detail
• Short video clip from the program - Google Video Short video showing Alice forming a 3 word sentence
• Child of Our Time at the Internet Movie Database

Jessica Cox
Born	(1983-02-02) February 2, 1983 (age 29)[1] Sierra Vista, Arizona, USA[1]
Residence	Tucson, Arizona
Other names	In Dodowa, Ghana: Ayerkie Dede
Ethnicity	Filipino American[1]
Citizenship	United States of America
Alma mater	University of Arizona[1]
Occupation	Motivational Speaking, Keynote Speaker
Years active	Since November 2005
Employer	Jessica Cox Motivational Services
Known for	Armless Surfing, Armless Scuba Diving, Armless Ercoupe Pilot[1]
Religion	Roman Catholic[1]
Awards	Guinness World Record: The Only Pilot to Fly With Their Feet[1]
Website
www.rightfooted.com

Jessica Cox (born 1983 in Arizona) is the world's first licensed armless pilot, as well as the first armless black-belt in the American Taekwondo Association (she now has two black belts in Taekwondo). ^[2][3][4] She was born without arms due to a rare birth defect. ^[5] She earned her pilot's license on October 10, 2008, after three years of training, and is qualified to fly a light-sport aircraft to altitudes of 10,000 feet; she received her training through an Able Flight scholarship. ^[2][5][6] Cox has not used prosthetic arms since she turned 14. ^[6]. Using her feet as most people use their hands, she is able, among other things, to drive a car (she has an unrestricted license and drives a car without modifications), to type on a keyboard (25 words per minute), to pump her own gas, and to put in and remove her contact lenses. ^[7][8] She is also a certified SCUBA diver. ^[7] Cox holds a Bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Arizona and works as a motivational speaker. ^[7][5]

See also[link]

• Stephen Hawking, theoretical physicist, cosmologist and survivor of ALS.
• Patrick Henry Hughes, musician born blind and unable to fully utilize his limbs.
• Hirotada Ototake, sports writer and survivor of Tetra-amelia syndrome.
• Mile Stojkoski, humanitarian and wheelchair ultramarathon runner.
• Nick Vujicic, motivational speaker and survivor of Tetra-amelia syndrome.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jessica Cox's website

Russell Joseph Howard^{[citation needed]} (born 23 March 1980)^[2] is an English comedian and presenter best known for his TV show Russell Howard's Good News and his appearances on the topical panel TV show Mock The Week. He won "Best Compère" at the 2006 Chortle Awards and was nominated for an if.comedy award for his 2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe show.

Personal life[link]

Howard has two younger siblings, twins, Kerry, an actress, and Daniel,^[3] a systems analyst who suffers from epilepsy,^[4] a fact which Howard often references during his act. Indeed, in April 2010, Howard ran the Virgin London Marathon for the first time with both his brother and sister, to raise money for the National Society for Epilepsy. He completed the 26 mile course in 4 hours and 15 minutes, beating his target time of 5 hours. Sponsorship has raised over £7,000 to date.^[5]

Howard supports Liverpool Football Club and says that he is "deadly serious" about football.^[6] "I still go down the pub and play football with my mates", he commented in 2010.^[6]

In terms of political views, Howard appeared at Friends of the Earth's LIVEstock comedy and music event at the Hammersmith Apollo in support of the green campaign group's Food Chain Campaign for planet-friendly farming, on 12 November 2009.

For Sport Relief 2010 he took part in the BT Sport Relief Million Pound Bike Ride, with David Walliams, Jimmy Carr, Fearne Cotton, Miranda Hart, Patrick Kielty, and Davina McCall. They cycled from John O'Groats in Scotland to Land's End in 4 days trying to raise 1 million pounds.^[7]

Career[link]

TV and radio work[link]

In 2004 he was commissioned by BBC Radio 1 to write, sing and perform on the comedy series The Milk Run. Howard has also appeared on the shows Banter (hosted by Andrew Collins) and Political Animal for BBC Radio 4.^[8]

Until 2010, Howard was a regular panelist on Mock the Week. He has also appeared on 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Would I Lie To You?, Live At The Apollo, The Secret Policeman's Ball 2008, Law of the Playground and Never Mind the Buzzcocks (Series 18, Episode 2 and Series 20, Episode 4).^[9]

He was one of several comedians picked as the best comedy talent from the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe that recorded 10–15-minute spots for the 'Edinburgh and Beyond show' which was aired on Paramount Comedy 1 in the autumn of 2006.^[10] The show was filmed at The Bloomsbury Theatre. From 2009, he took over as compère of this show from Al Murray.^[11]

From November 2006 to July 2008, Russell co-hosted The Russell Howard Show^[12] on BBC 6 Music with fellow comedian Jon Richardson in a Sunday morning slot previously hosted by Russell Brand. The show continued to air, without Howard, until March 2010. He has since explained that his main reason for leaving the show was that he finds radio "really restrictive" and "I gorge off the audience as a performer, but you can't gauge a reaction on the radio."^[13][14]

Russell was commissioned to make a comedy show called Russell Howard's Good News, aimed at under-25s, for BBC Three. The first episode aired on 22 October 2009 and the show ran for seven episodes as well as a "Best Of" show and a Christmas Special. It went on to become BBC Three's highest ever rating entertainment series.^[15][16] In the show, he gave his take on the week's major news stories, as well as giving attention to some of the more light-hearted stories of the week. Two more series of the show were commissioned, with the second series starting on March 25, 2010.^[17] A fourth series began on 24 March 2011 on BBC Three.

While recording an episode of Good News which aired on 17th November 2011, he broke his wrist when a stunt went wrong, being that Russell tried to do push ups on a collapsible stool which inevitably collapsed. He then revealed on the following show some of the texts sent by his friends and family following the accident.

He made his United States television début on the August 3, 2011 episode of Conan.

Live comedy[link]

A show from his 2007 Adventures tour was released on DVD on 17 November 2008,^[18] under the title "Russell Howard Live". The show on the DVD was recorded at The Bloomsbury Theatre.^[19]

Howard started touring his show Dingledodies in September 2008 and played various dates through to December. Due to overwhelming demand he further extended the tour twice into 2009. It sold in excess of 125,000 tickets,^[20] including three sell-out shows at the Hammersmith Apollo as well as several large arenas such as Wembley Arena and Manchester's MEN Arena. The DVD of this tour was released on 9 November 2009^[21] and features a recording of the show from the Brighton Dome.^[20]

He was named "Best Theatre Show" at the 2009 Chortle Comedy Awards.^[22]

Howard performed 10 UK dates between 11 and 20 December 2009 for his "Big Rooms and Belly Laughs" tour.^[23]

In 2011 the far right English Defence League threatened to picket outside one of his live gigs in retaliation at material poking fun at them in one of his TV performances.^[24]

He performed his latest arena tour in 2011, titled Right Here Right Now. The tour sold out in days and was extended twice, with new dates in December 2011 announced on 3 May 2011.

It was reported in The Independent that Howard earned £4 million in 2009 alone,^[25] which he denies.^[26]

Credits[link]

Television[link]

• Never Mind the Buzzcocks BBC 2 (2006)
• Mock The Week BBC 2 (2006–2010)
• Never Mind the Buzzcocks BBC 2 (2007)
• Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive BBC Three (2007)
• Would I Lie To You? BBC 1 (2007)
• Live at the Apollo BBC 1 (2007)
• Law of the Playground Channel 4 (2008)
• The Secret Policeman's Ball 2008 Channel 4 (2008)
• 8 out of 10 Cats Channel 4 (2008)
• Live at the Apollo BBC 1 (2009)
• Russell Howard's Good News BBC Three (2009–)
• Conan (2011)
• Children in Need 2011 (2011)

Radio[link]

• The Milk Run BBC Radio 1 (2004)
• Political Animal BBC Radio 4 (2004)
• Banter BBC Radio 4 (2005)
• The Russell Howard Show BBC 6 Music (2006–2008)

Writing[link]

• The Milk Run BBC Radio 1 (2004)

Stand-Up DVDs[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Russell Howard Official Website