The BAFTAs are set to be aired on BBC1 on February 18th at 7pm. With many popular films receiving critical acclaim, next, we’ll be begging the question of how viewer habits are changing, and whether social media has a direct impact on the success of modern cinema. Stay there for that and more.
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00:00 February 15th sees the 26th birthday of the Angel of the North. Last year the iconic North
00:08 East landmark turned 25, marking a quarter of a century since it was originally erected.
00:13 Now with this in mind, let's take a quick look back at the history of the Angel of the
00:16 North.
00:17 All those years ago, Gateshead Council was offered the simple brief of creating a piece
00:22 of ambitious artwork that would become a landmark of the region's character. Sir Anthony Gormley
00:27 then won a competition to design the sculpture in 1994. The sculpture is built on a former
00:32 colliery pit head baths, which was reclaimed and earmarked for a piece of public art in
00:37 the 1990s. Nevertheless, Gormley's sculpture did originally cause controversy. Some locals
00:43 objected to its austere design, with some worried it would distract motorway drivers.
00:48 Still Gormley persisted.
00:49 I think I sometimes still call it the Gateshead Angel when it is the Angel of the North because
00:53 it does sort of, it is the gateway to the whole of the region and there's people from
00:58 all over the world, not just all over the country, who recognise it. I've just been
01:03 told that apparently somebody in Australia has made a mock angel. Now I haven't seen
01:08 a photograph of it, I'd be very interested, but that's how far the effect that the angel
01:14 has on people, it's all over the world.
01:17 It is said that Angel's shape was chosen in the hopes the sculpture would act as a form
01:20 of a guardian, or perhaps a herald or messenger in welcoming travellers.
01:25 And the Angel of the North means to me, it reminds me of loved ones and it reminds me
01:34 of when it was built, because if it's an angel my loved ones are in heaven.
01:41 It reminds me of home as well, because when you see the Angel of the North some people
01:47 take it as a sign that we're nearly home.
01:50 The Angel of the North to me means like, whenever I see it, it means like I'm home because
01:57 I live here in the North East and it's really important to me that it's here as a landmark,
02:04 as a symbol of the North East.
02:07 It's been here so long and I've been here with my family, I've had memories here, lots
02:14 of them, and it just makes me happy that it's here and it makes me feel proud.
02:21 The angel was first erected on a hilltop at the head of Team Valley in Gateshead on February
02:26 15th 1998.
02:28 Visible from the A1, it's seen by millions of motorists every year.
02:32 It's reportedly seen by more than one person every second.
02:35 That's 90,000 people every day, or 33 million every year.
02:40 Believed to be the largest angel sculpture in the world, the total cost of the landmark
02:45 was £800,000.
02:46 Made of weather-resistant Core 10 steel, it contains a small amount of copper.
02:52 Below the sculpture are massive concrete piles 20 metres deep, which anchor it to the solid
02:58 rock beneath.