Look Stranger

London's new Shaw Theatre, home of the National Youth Theatre, received a Royal opening last week. Outside the theatre in the Euston Road a sculptured 'St Joan' stands like a beacon. Keith Grant, one of Britain's busiest artists, talks about what led up to the making of his sculpture and the involvement of the community in its creation.

London's new Shaw Theatre, home of the National Youth Theatre, received a Royal opening last week. Outside the theatre in the Euston Road a sculptured 'St Joan' stands like a beacon. Keith Grant, one of Britain's busiest artists, talks about what led up to the making of his sculpture and the involvement of the community in its creation.

Not since Dick Whittington has a countryman caused such a stir in the City of London. First, a tradition of 600 years was broken to honour him; then cameras were allowed at a ceremony which, since the Middle Ages, only members have witnessed. His name is Eric Arthur Stevenson, and for 40 years he has been a village blacksmith in Wroxham, on the Norfolk Broads. He tells his story of how a country craftsman came to be honoured by the City. Contributors Presenter: Eric Arthur Stevenson Director: Sandra Wainwright Executive Producer: Bridget Winter

McKenzie Thorpe, half gypsy, stole his first shotgun at the age of 13 and went poaching full-time for the next 35 years. He scored 29 convictions, £150 in fines, had four guns confiscated, and did two months in Lincoln Gaol. Now reformed at 61 he lectures on wildfowling to gamekeepers and police, and cares for the geese he once hunted.

'Skylark'- Cecil Duston - is a stonemason who works the cream-white building stone from quarries which scar his home of Port-land at the southernmost tip of Dorset. Years ago he helped to reface London's Regent Street, more recently to create our new city centres. 'Skylark' is a craftsman, his tools are basically the same as those used centuries ago by the men who first learned to fashion stone He believes that there will always be a place for the mason in spite of new methods. (from Bristol)

He gave up his job at MI5, she resigned as PRO for the Savoy, and they set off to live in a derelict cottage and earn their living growing potatoes. Derek and Jeannie Tangye describe how they survived their own wild schemes and made their home on a Cornish cliff together with a cat and two donkeys. Contributors Presenter: Derek Tangye Presenter: Jeannie Tangye Director: Sandra Wainwright Executive Producer: Bridget Winter

Malcolm Appleby works in a derelict railway station where he puts 'scratches' on metal and is surrounded by nature. (BBC Scotland)

For over, 100 years the River Avon from Evesham to Stratford has lain silted up and derelict. No boats could travel along one of Britain's most beautiful waterways. David Hutchings of the Upper Avon Navigation Trust is bringing it back to life. Every single day of the week he works with prisoners and volunteers to build new locks, weirs and bridges and dredge the river. Soon a new leisure waterway will be open. (from Birmingham)

While the valleys grow green again some of the colliers of South Wales colour-match their jackets to their politics as they follow hounds over tip and dale, through undergrowth and open cast. Val Howells spends a day with the Banwen Hunt whose members pass the morning with their feet firmly under the ground and the afternoon with their heads in the clouds. (from Wales)

Few islands off the west coast of Scotland have survived depopulation - the Isle of Gigha is an exception. A sprightly 80-year-old, Donald Macdonald, still a skilful fisherman, shows why 'his' Gigha is now a place of beauty and prosperity.

Set between the Mourne Mountains and the Irish Sea, in the South East corner of Co Down, this kingdom was first ruled by the legendary King Boirche from the summit of Slieve Binnian. He and his line are long since gone, but the mountains remain-and the people. People like Stanley Archer who farms on the foot-hills of Glasdrumman Mountain. (from Belfast)

In this case, amongst the foothills of Snowdonia, in and around Portmadoc. For Jonah Jones, sculptor, these hills provide the raw material, slate, for much of his work, and a great deal of his inspiration.

For 800 years reindeer, which once flourished in the Highlands of Scotland, were not seen in this country. It tooK Mikel Utsi, a Laplander, to reintroduce them. In this week's programme he tells of the trials and tribulations of his efforts during the past 20 years.

'Ireland's leading children's entertainer - not just an act but a complete novelty programme...' He lives on the north Antrim coast surrounded by the essential tools of his trade - motor bikes and make-believe. (BBC Belfast)

Tucked away down a Victorian back street in Durham City is an old factory whose outside looks would never betray the fact that it has built some of the world's greatest church and concert organs. At the head of this 'organorganisation' is Cuthbert Temple Lane Harrison, third generation of a dynasty which always worked by hand to 'near perfection'. (from Manchester)

It is hard to imagine trees spoiling a landscape. But Christopher Harris, a local forester and conservationist, says it is happening in the Cotswold Hills today, and if we are not careful, this area of outstanding natural beauty could lose its traditional appearance completely.

What terrible truth was revealed when Achilles lost his leaf? How do you polish a bronze bust? Why do they always steal it from Queen Victoria? The extraordinary answers to such burning questions are revealed as John Lake, in charge of cleaning statues that belong to the nation, describes his work to Philip Howard.

Bill Houston is the kind of cyclist who would abhor the Tour de France race almost as much as he abhors the motor car - he prefers exploring back roads and goat tracks. When he came out of the army in 1946 he vowed that no one was going to order him about for 20 years. Twenty-five years later he is still living for the bicycle. That is, 25 years, 34 countries and 400,000 miles later. And he can say, with modesty, that he envies no man - and few would disbelieve him. (BBC Scotland)

Once a year the remote dale of the River Coquet up in the Cheviot Hills between Northumberland and Scotland comes alive for the local shepherds' show. For the past 15 years sheep farmer Bobby Dixon has been its secretary. With his wife Maisie and help from their neighbours from miles around they turn it into the border's big day. (from the North)

Leo Beskeen fell down a ventilating shaft, caught malaria while mining in Zambia and several times has only narrowly escaped being blown up by blasting operations. But he still says: 'When I go across there and smell the fumes of the dynamite smoke and the funk coming up from underground, it makes me long for my youth to go back again.' Now semi-retired Leo Beskeen acts as a summer guide for visitors to the old engine house near Redruth where he once worked. When he started there as a boy of 13, Cornish tin mining was going into decline. Now it is about to enter what some believe will be its greatest boom ever. (from Bristol)

Mary Davies operates single-handed from the Lake District to the Scottish Border, seeking and sifting evidence and compiling detailed dossiers. The outcome of her investigations is the arrest of alteration and destruction: she is an Investigator of Historic Buildings.

'I could have gone to the devil very, very easily when I was young. I had quite the wrong impulses.' But at 77, Mrs Dorathea Woodward-Fisher has gladdened many a heart; and to everyone on the river she is known affectionately as 'Mother Thames.'

The ingredients for magic brews in Durham aren't bat's blood and toad's warts but farm manure and Epsom salts. They seem to work nevertheless. The prize-winning leeks they nourish make southern leeks look like shallots. Those southerners who know about the North East leek contests regard them as just a joke. But there is more to them than that. For men like Brian Shave of Lyton Leek Club, leek growing is a tie with a traditional culture that is still firmly held on to despite social change. (from Bristol)

Before Mrs Sarah Pell was admitted to her modern flatlet in St Mary's Hospital, Chichester, she had to satisfy the trustees that she was of good character and would give 'no cause for scandal.' She is now 93 and has a vigour and sense of humour that belie her years. The 700-year-old charity she depends on may be the relic of a bygone age but she is certainly not. (from Bristol)

In parts of South Wales sheepdog trials are as popular as rugby matches. To their oddly assorted masters, working collies are the only dogs worth owning. Roy Saunders, a schoolmaster turned sheepdog handler, reflects on the men and animals 'whose looks don't matter - it's what's in their heads that counts.' (from Wales)

Major Peter Wood had a chance to realise a dream when he bought the lease of Herm island, near Guernsey, in 1949. He wanted to shape a community who would work together to make their living from this tiny paradise.