Tonight on Sunday ` a wake-up call for everyone. High-blood pressure. That's way off the scale. One in three of us is at risk. You'd be a sitting duck for a heart attack or a stroke? > You'd be a sitting duck for a heart attack or a stroke? > All of the above. But even when the pills don't work,... All finished here, Bruce. It's gone very well. ...now there is hope. It's almost too good to be true. Counting down to the greatest show on earth. Fantastic. Well, maybe. Thousands of people used to turn up to public hangings. They were very popular. Do we hear whinging? Crap comes to mind. I believe a guy called Hitler really appreciated that too. # And in the mad crowd, wounded and dying lay # # Up goes a shout. # # Up goes a shout. # Hang on. You've got to stop. You've got to stop cos we're ready. When Lenny interrupted Rolf in front of the Queen. You've got a damn cheek showing your face in this country. Mark Crysell holds Lenny Henry to account. I knew you'd bring him up. # When we were two little boys... # Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2012 Kia ora. I'm Miriama Kamo. How's your blood pressure? Is it off the scale? Scarily, you might not even know about it. The reality is your blood could be pumping so hard, it's putting all sorts of pressure on the walls of your arteries and causing potentially fatal damage to a variety of organs. High-blood pressure or hypertension has earned its moniker, Silent Death, and it affects too many of us ` one in three. It's a killer bringing on coronary heart disease, heart failure, strokes and kidney failure. But there is new hope for sufferers. Here's John Hudson. HEARTBEAT Blood pressure ` we all have it; we all need it. But if it gets out of control, it can kill any one of us. Hospital nurse Maria Ruis knows how dangerous high-blood pressure can be. There can be serious consequences if I don't treat it. I may have, uh, heart failure, renal problems. She's young, fit and slender, but her blood pressure is incredibly high. I was 217/110. That's way off the scale. That's way off the scale. It is. Yes. Yes, yes. People with blood pressure as high as Maria's are eight times more likely to die prematurely from heart failure or stroke, and yet Maria has been doing exactly what her doctor ordered. Every day, I ride my bike to work. It's 30 minutes everyday. I'm into hiking too. So how do you solve a problem like Maria's? From the outside, she looks as fit as a fiddle. But inside, she's like a balloon about to burst. And the drugs that she's on to reduce her blood pressure simply make her sick. Oh,... (CHUCKLES) it's been a nightmare with all of them. I've got a swollen throat. Um, it was quite difficult to breathe. It was like the same feeling, the same sensation, as somebody just strangling you. Maria is one of about 120 million people worldwide who suffer terrible side effects from blood-pressure drugs. Increased aches and pains in muscle joints. Bruce Knox is another. Total muscle weakness. Um, total lack of libido. Sleeplessness, nightmares, memory loss, and the list could go on. When we met him a year ago, Bruce was taking 20 pills a day to keep his alarmingly high blood pressure down. So life got changed quite dramatically with the introduction of this medication regime. Without those drugs, what would happen to you? Uh, without those drugs, my, um, blood pressure would be sitting at about 220, 250 over 120, 150. And yo-you'd be a sitting duck for a heart attack or a stroke? > And yo-you'd be a sitting duck for a heart attack or a stroke? > All of the above. But now there's a new way of treating this life-threatening condition, not with drugs, but surgery called renal denervation. We're in the stage of a wonderful optimism right now. That's because it's getting results. In the 50- to 70-year-old age group, uh, over 10 years, we will expect that to more than halve death rates from cardiovascular disease down to about a third of what you'd expect at that blood pressure. That's a massive effect? > That's a massive effect? > It is a massive effect, yes. It's almost too good to be true. John Ormiston has been at the cutting edge of cardiology in NZ for more than 30 years. This operation, he says, could have a major effect for thousands of NZers. The surgery uses an electric pulse to effectively switch off hyperactive nerves. So you're giving the nerves an electric shock? > Well, actually, um, um, probably burning them so that th-they don't function. It's more than an electric shock. It's permanent. So the aim is to put these nerves out of action? So the aim is to put these nerves out of action? Exactly. In the grand scheme of things, this is a pretty big deal ` a relatively effective low-cost way of treating one of our biggest killers. Uh, it looks extremely promising, but we must be a little cautious. Last year, Bruce heard about this new procedure. For him, the timing was perfect. WOMAN: It's been hailed as the Holy Grail for patients with chronic, drug-resistant hypertension. Medical trials in Australia were showing just how successful renal denervation is at lowering blood pressure, and John Ormiston was so impressed, he brought it back to NZ. I'd heard rumours that this was going to be something really important, but it was` it is` it is remarkably effective. And this new procedure, you're pretty excited by it? And this new procedure, you're pretty excited by it? Oh yes. After the break ` Bruce goes private for his op in Auckland. We're doing good. We're doing good. Yeah? > We're doing good. Yeah? > I feel it. But why isn't it available in public hospitals? There's not a good mechanism for` for introducing new technologies in NZ. I've made a decision to have the procedure and confident that it will work itself through. Last August, Bruce Knox became one of the first NZers to put renal denervation to the test. It's not often patients climb on to the operating table. Bruce will be wide awake throughout the procedure. All right, we're ready for the, uh, device. We pass a tube into the artery to the kidney. How's it going? > How's it going? > We're doing good. How's it going? > We're doing good. Yeah? > I feel it. I feel it. Yeah. > I feel it. Yeah. > It's fine. Nothing excruciating? > Nothing excruciating? > No. No. And then a little, uh, electrode, basically, into the artery, which causes an electrical current to pass through that, which causes the nerves to be interrupted. Are we ready with some pain relief? > The catheter is in place, and Bruce is beginning to feel the first electrical pulses. WOMAN: BCG 296. > It won't be long before the next one. And then I've rotated it so it's pointing backwards. There's no guarantee this will work for every patient, but overseas trials show the odds are in Bruce's favour. 90% of patients have a substantial reduction in the risk of having a stroke and having a heart attack down to a third of what they would have expected to have over a 10-year period. So it's a huge drop. All finished here, uh, Bruce. It's gone very well. In less than an hour, the operation is complete. Th-That was fine. Obviously, there was pain each time they did the` did the zap, but we managed that with the pain control. This is an electrode. Now it's time for show and tell with Bruce's wife, Robin. He experienced some pain, but not a lot. It's, uh, it's gone extremely well. We've had no... it was straightforward with no complications so far. > (CHUCKLES) (CHUCKLES) So we're over the worst, I think. > But will it work? Well, for Bruce, the next day, it's back to business. Gidday, Pam. Gidday, Pam. Hello. The whole point of this non-invasive surgery is the fact that you can actually be back at work. You feel great. There's no lasting effects from anaesthetics. We've been tracking your blood pressure. Many patients take a month or more before seeing any results. Very good progress, I see there as well. It just goes right down where it should be. But inside a week, Bruce can feel the benefits. He has already halved his medication. And the hypertension or the blood pressure is still tracking within a normal range and continues to drop. Very good. And you're feeling well? Very good. And you're feeling well? Exceptionally well. You're not going to go back marathon running, are you? You're not going to go back marathon running, are you? No marathon running this week. This could be the first way of treating hypertension rather than going` reaching for the pills? > The first way is going to be a reduction of salt intake, controlling weight and exercise. That's always the first line and reducing alcohol intake. But I think, uh, that it's likely that trials will be carried out on people with lesser degrees of high blood pressure to see if this renal denervation is effective in people who are severely less effected by high-blood pressure. So far, renal denervation is only available in NZ in the private Mercy Ascot Hospital even though it was approved as both clinically and cost effective by the public Auckland City hospital a year ago. This seems to work extremely well and, uh, likely reduces their risk of further trouble, which would be stroke or heart failure or heart attack. So why aren't we seeing this operation it in public hospitals? Th-The problem comes down to funding, uh, in that it's a new technology and, at present, there's not a good mechanism fo-for introducing new technologies in NZ. How long do you think it'll be before it is available? How long do you think it'll be before it is available? Uh, I don't know. Previous experience suggests that these things don't happen quickly. Internationally, it's happening very quickly. there are already 25 companies rushing to make catheters for people like Bruce. Before we started, we were on these six drugs. Six weeks after the operation and Bruce is elated with his progress. You know, empty` empty bottles. No longer taking them, which has been really good in terms of the` getting away from the side effects. So, overall, I have reduced the amount of medication by over 60%. Whoa, you must be saving Pharmac millions. Well, I don't know about Pharmac, but certainly, from my point of view, you just feel alive. The aches and the pains of the joints, they're not there any more. Last Christmas, Bruce went kayaking for the first time in years, and he climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge ` activities he could not have contemplated six months earlier. Hi. You must be Bruce. Hi. You must be Bruce. I'm Bruce. Hi. You must be Bruce. I'm Bruce. Hi, I'm Maria. Hi, Maria. Hi, Maria. Really nice to meet you. Bruce has become something of an evangelist ` spreading the word on renal denervation to others with very high blood pressure. But the side effects from those tablets was just hell on earth. The side effects, I-I don't tolerate them. I-I don't tolerate them. I get so sick, so sick. This week, Bruce's blood pressure is, well, perfect. Basically, this morning, when they did it at Mercy Hospital, it was sitting on 110/61. That's great. Wow. It's so good that Bruce has now stopped taking all but 5% of the blood-pressure drugs he was once on. And so was it worth giving the sympathetic nerve a bash? And so was it worth giving the sympathetic nerve a bash? Well, looks like. The answer's yes. The answer's yes. That's amazing. And it just keeps getting better. I don't think I ever thought I wouldn't make 60, but I did think about what the quality of life was going to be at that point cos I was going` it was going downhill. 10 months after the operation, he's walking three days a week, he's taken up yoga, and he feels like a new man. I've got a life back ` energy, vitality, motivation. There's another 30-plus years there. Yeah. Very good. I had high blood pressure during pregnancy. It is hellish. So it is good news. Good news for Maria as well. Her doctors think they've found the cause of her high blood pressure and she may also have the surgery. Now, what about the cost? Because it's still a trial, Bruce paid just $5000. Normally, it would cost $17,000, although that will come down dramatically as more companies produce catheters. Now, just six weeks out from the greatest show on earth, and the grumps of London have taken whinging to a gold medal level. It feels like North Korea to me, when people go, 'Yay, the Olympics.' It's like Kim Il Jung. You know, we don't really know why we're cheering for the Great Leader, but we better do it because, hey, that's what people like us do. The London Olympics ` what a bore. At least that's what some, even you, are thinking to the lead-up to the world's greatest sporting event. We're just 40 days away, and this time around, they will be inescapable, with social media supercharging television, radio and newspaper coverage, taking the spectacle to ever more eyes around the globe, but just beyond the stadiums and the shadows the venues, eyeballs are rolling with contempt, and there's tutting of disgust. The grumpy Londoners who just do not buy into the Olympic ideal or spectacle. Now, a note for the sensitive. There's a little colourful language used here. This from the ABC's Phillip Williams. SLOW TECHNO MUSIC 'When you're tired of London, you're tired of life.' So the saying goes. MUSIC CONTINUES The pace and vitality of this world capital never falters. And there's good reason for this place to be in hyperdrive right now. As Europe correspondent for the last few years, I've watched as the clock ticks down, hurtling towards a huge moment even for this grand city. Make way for the London Olympics 2012. SLOW TECHNO MUSIC It's going to be a hell of a show. At least that's what we're promised. I'd have to say there is a sense of excitement here. Most people want to succeed on the world stage, but scratch that shiny Olympic surface and not everyone's happy. Either way, love it or loathe it, the greatest show on earth is coming, ready or not. In our whirlwind tour of this city, I'll meet a famous Londoner who's invested everything in the Games. He can already smell success in his nostrils. Fantastic. And a less well-known chap with a different take on what's happening to his city. Crap comes to mind... (CHUCKLES) There are plenty of grumpy old men around here. We'll meet an elite Olympic gold grump. Cos, frankly, I think, that` that kind of sport is bullshit anyway. And someone else who can't believe their luck. Wow, that is absolutely stunning. That is amazing. Lovely, isn't it? We've arrived at the field of Olympic dreams, 8km north-east of Big Ben as the crow flies. 200ha carved out of what Games spruickers describe as a toxic wasteland in London's hugely unfashionable and unloved East End. Rising phoenix-like from the marshlands, the 80,000-seat stadium ` on this day, hosting university games. GUNSHOT, CHEERING It's a trial run for the real thing, when more than 10,000 of the world's finest athletes test their mettle and compete for metal that they hope will be gold. Seven years in the making, no one has invested more time and energy in these games than this man. Arguably the world's greatest middle-distance runner in the 1980s, he's still running things. It's an extraordinary story. If you've been here eight years ago and we were standing on a poisoned parcel of land that really was` was, you know, had been neglected for over 60 years. We're now standing in a world-class sporting venue that will serve communities for years to come. You're standing on the site, eight years ago, of a 50ft mountain of rotting fridges. What's it mean for the country? Wh-What does Britain get out of this? > Britain gets out of it exactly what Australia did. You know, no country is ever the same once it's staged the Games. Certainly, no city is ever the same. But I had to step outside of the arena to uncover some of the other stories. Hackney is one of the five London boroughs that borders the Olympic Park. Culturally diverse, a mixture of the middle class and the poor,... 'It's something else. It's something new, requiring gills and built-in decontamination filters.' ...and home for 40 years to author and Olympic sceptic Iain Sinclair, a man with a mission to expose what he says are the lies and deception of an Olympic nightmare. 'Gateway to London's Olympic Park, over 300 dynamic brands, '1.9 million square feet of retail and leisure destination ` Westfield.' JAUNTY MUSIC It turns out that, by happy coincidence, the recently opened Westfield Stratford Shopping Mall finds itself right on the front door of the Olympics. To get to the Games, most visitors will be funnelled from the train station right through the middle of one of Europe's largest shopping centres. Uh, what we've got here is the Olympic Way, otherwise known as a trek through the chasm of retail opportunities that is the Westfield Supermall. So the Olympic experience is also going to be a Westfield experience? > It's the other way around. The Westfield experience has a possibility of a minor Olympic extension for a couple of weeks. And yet thousands are going in there everyday? Yeah, thousands of people used to turn up to public hangings. They were very popular, but civilisation does move on. If hanging was still an option, Iain Sinclair may have ended up swinging for his Olympic cynicism. He took me further around the alarmed and razor-wire Olympic perimeter. It's as close as many Londoners will get to the Games. We're now going to have more military personnel at Stratford, um, around the Westfield Mall and the Olympic site, than were used in the whole of the Afghanistan campaign from England. Really? Really? That's a fact. How do you feel as a local resident when you see this? Well, I feel` I feel excluded from my own territory. I feel I hardly know who I am myself because all my familiar markers that I've known over 40 years have either disappeared or been enclosed in razor wire. In one respect, we are the world's leaders, and that is in fences and surveillance systems, CCTV cameras, helicopters overhead. All of that, we're pretty safe. We're secure. Everybody knows what we're doing all of the time. Gold medal? Gold medal? Gold medal, definitely. Iain Sinclair's magical misery tour was getting a bit of a downer after Lord Coe's glowing spruick, but this man of intellect and culture surely knows art when he sees it? This particular piece, I think, is like a DNA spiral caught in a whirlwind and blown around an East German border post. Spearing higher than the Statue of Liberty on the Olympic site is this sculpture by British artist Anish Kapoor. It will be there long after the Games as a viewing platform over London. If the stadium itself is a flat-pack stadium from IKEA that can be any height you want, these are the bits left over. Something at the bottom of the bag that you can't fit, and they've scrambled it together. It's turning the city into a circus, like the end of the Roman Empire. It's all blood and circuses. Take the minds of the people off it by throwing up another big show, and this is the biggest show in the world. Magic misery tour. I love it. And it gets worse. The Olympics may be built on pure spotting ideals, but not the Games grinching commentator, Will Self. Will? Hello, William. How are you? Nice to meet you. So, the Olympics, not a big fan? The fact that somebody can run or jump faster or higher than somebody else, that's not a meaningful essay of a` of a country's worth. As we've heard, excitement in the Olympic city is palpable. Everyone's expecting the Games to lift the spirit of the entire country, except for Will Self. Will is a journalis, novelist, television commentator and an accomplished killjoy. He has his own grumpy take on the Games. Again, mind the language. Will? Hello, William. How are you? Nice to meet you. So, the Olympics, not a big fan? The fact that somebody can run or jump faster or higher than somebody else, that's not a meaningful essay of a` of a country's worth. It feels like North Korea to me, actually, when people go, 'Yay, the Olympics! The Olympic bid! Yay! It's like Kim Il Jung. You know, we don't really know why we are cheering for the Great Leader and his amazing plan, but we better do it because, hey, you know, that's what people like us do. If you talk to people in a reasoned way, then you very quickly get the picture th-that it means virtually nothing to them. It's not impacting on, you know, people's lives here at the moment. It's not what they need. What, for you, is the single most offensive element of this whole project? > Of the Olympics? It's the nationalism. Uh, actually, I find that the most offensive. It's the` It's the yoking. You know, so it's the jubilee year, then it's the Olympics year, and it's, 'Rah-rah-rah for the Queenie, and rah-rah-rah for our sporty folk.' And that to me is... again, it's insulting. It's insulting to people's intelligence that they should be demanded to pay attention to a higher ideal that is so empty and worthless. And yet millions will be there. They'll be enjoying it. They'll be watching it on television. They may even feel a sense of national pride about the whole show. It's all over in a couple of weeks of flimflam and then we're left with this cracked and sprawling piles of concrete. But they talk about the legacy, though ` that this will leave fabulous facilities that will encourage people to play sport for decades to come. What encourages people to play sport is getting off their arses from in front of the TV and getting down the local playing field and doing it. The spectacle of elite athletes, I never really buy that cos, frankly, I think that` that kind of sport is bullshit anyway. Oi! Move it! Move it! Move it! Oi, come on! When Brits think of sport, for most, this is the game of choice. The Olympic goal is to get an extra million butts off the couch and into places like this. This is the local Hackney Marshes' Sunday morning football. It's spitting distance from the Olympic site ` a bit too close. Look how much time we've got! And again! And again! And again! Work it back! Work it back! Work it back! It's elitist. Everything has to be ploughed towards the elitist, and the grass roots is neglected. You won't get your elitists if you don't look after the grass roots. Johnnie Walker has had local footy running through his veins for most of his 78 years. He's the undisputed boss of the 1500 players of the Hackney and Leyton League. But he was powerless to stop Olympic authorities paving over 12 of his beloved grounds for what they say is a temporary car park. (CHUCKLES) It represents a glorious land grab to me. That's all it seems to be about. You know, they've taken so much land around here. Let's look at one word to encapsulate the Olympics for you. What would that one word be? Nightmare, to be honest. Crap comes to mind... (CHUCKLES) If Lord Coe was here, what would you tell him? > What would I tell him? Uh, if I was younger, I'd give him a clump because of his smug look. You know? And, uh, 'Oh, you know, I've done all this. I've done all that.' Yeah, he's done it on the backs of us. Well, I'd like to chin him. JAUNTY MUSIC For Lord Coe and his cohorts, the grand vision of a great Games shouldn't be clouded by the loss of a few local footy fields. But what the Olympics takes, the Olympics can sure give back and then some. Wow, that is absolutely stunning. That is amazing. Lovely, isn't it? I'm very proud of it, I must say. Wow, an-and how much of a role has the Olympics played in the construction` in this being here? Well, they contributed �1.2m towards the cost` the total cost of the building. So, yes, we wouldn't have been here without them. Can you show me around? Can you show me around? Yeah, absolutely. In London's South-East, former Olympian Yvonne Arnold runs a gym big enough to keep the whole community fit. Soon it will become a training venue for Olympic volleyball teams. She's also nurturing the next generation of champions. Carolina? Carolina? This is a facility that will be here for a long time after the Olympic torch moves on. It's the Games giving something back. The husband-and-wife team who once struggled to maintain their gym in a dilapidated warehouse have now struck gold well before the Games. And the whole community is sharing their good fortune. I never dreamed. When I think back to the old place, um, we really struggled there. Really, really struggled. And now, well, hopefully, the sky is the limit. HOPEFUL MUSIC Back at centre-stage Olympic Park, the trials inside the 80,000-seat main stadium are giving up-and-coming British athletes a moment to experience the biggest stage of all. But getting ordinary Brits off their backsides is a core pledge of the Olympic promoters. It was their way of selling the Games to the wider public and ever wider the public is becoming. One in four adults in Britain is now classified as obese, so you can imagine the scepticism at claims that millions more will take up sport and exercise, all inspired by the 30th Olympiad. I don't believe sport for all has ever put one extra person into sport. I actually believe the inspiration for sport comes from big British moments, Australian moments, and they tend to be in Olympic games. But perhaps hedging their bets, alongside the main stadium and swimming centre is this: the world's largest McDonald's. It's here to provide local jobs, of course. Planners claim by the time the Olympic Park is complete, 40,000 people will have worked at this site. SLOW TECHNO MUSIC It's all about change for a greater good and legacy, legacy, legacy. So don't worry, Londoners. It might all seem a bit chaotic, but look at what you'll be left with. UPLIFTING MUSIC As I watched the clock run down and this city preening itself, I wonder whether London will be left in better shape and maybe even turn old sceptics around. Hmm, maybe not. There is an aesthetic to it. People really appreciate that aesthetic of ultimate speed and fitness. I believe a guy called Hitler really appreciated that too. DREAMY MUSIC Given your effort and given your concentration on this whole Olympic phenomena, do you get annoyed when people criticise it? > No, it goes with the territory. I've got friends that put the Sydney project together. I think we've actually had a far` a far, uh, gentler ride than some of the misconceptions that were being peddled in Australian media before the Games. On the eve of it, it was going to be a national disaster. It turned out to be the greatest Games ever. If you had one word to describe the Olympics, what would it be? > If you had one word to describe the Olympics, what would it be? > Fantastic. So there you are. I hope he's right. These are hard times, and Lord knows the country could certainly do with a lift. So if you are one of the ones who is very excited about it, then you'll be interested to know that London will be the first city ever to host the modern Olympics three times, and the opening ceremony will be on Friday July 27th. Next, Mark Crysell steps out with funnyman Lenny Henry. It's hardly a walk on the wild side, but take a stroll with Lenny Henry, and it does come with a soundtrack. Why wouldn't we have the theme from Shaft playing as you're getting ready to go out? How will you walk if you listen to that? # Who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks? # Shaft! # You're damn right. Come on, Seymour. Come on, Seymour. DOG BARKS Yes, dear? Yes, dear? Hello, there. Did you know NZ TV's going digital? Is that right? Is that right? Yeah. It'll be heaps better. With old TV... Well, let Seymour show you. But with digital ` DOG BARKS DOG BARKS better pictures, better sound and more channels. DOG BARKS APPLAUSE To find out how you can see more and enjoy more, visit goingdigital.co.nz Welcome back. He's considered royalty of British comedy and just a few weeks ago hosted one of the biggest parties in recent history for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Lenny Henry ` actor, writer, singer and comedian ` is heading here later this month. But just this week, Mark Crysell caught up with him in Sydney. They nattered about his career, his failed marriage to fellow comedian Dawn French and, of course, that epic clanger when he interrupted Rolf. FUNKY MUSIC It's hardly a walk on the wild side, but take a stroll with Lenny Henry, and it does come with a soundtrack. Why wouldn't we have the theme from Shaft playing as you're getting ready to go out? How will you walk if you listen to that? # Who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks? # Shaft! # You walk with purpose, with intention. Lenny Henry's on a bit of a high at the moment, and who can blame him? Mr Lenny Henry! Mr Lenny Henry! CHEERING Just over a week ago, stretched out in front of him, were people as far as the eye could see. Suddenly we were on stage in front of the biggest audience we'll ever work to. 250,000 patriotically packed into what the English call the Mall for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert. I've got a CBE. I've got a CBE. CHEERING A cheeky black entertainer. A cheeky black entertainer. LAUGHTER And Lenny Henry, the ringmaster of a cast of a superstars. A day full of knights. # I'm still standing after all this time. # Sir Elton; # L-L-Life... # Sir Paul; Sir Tom; and Sir Cliff. # I feel so excited... # So everyone in the Mall say, 'Yeah!' So everyone in the Mall say, 'Yeah!' ALL: Yeah...! If Stevie Wonder hadn't brought his band, there would have been two black people there. It was really weird. It was odd. You wondered where the Commonwealth was and how we were going to be represented. You know, why weren't we represented that day. But I represented for everybody. It was all going so well. Then one of Her Majesty's favourites took the stage, Australian Rolf Harris. Somewhere, Rob comes and says, 'Hee, hoo, hee, hoo.' And I go, you know, 'Yeah, no more jokes. Here's Rolf Harris.' (HUMS) The audience's just singing along. # Gayly, they play, each summer's day. # But halfway through the song, Lenny gets the word in his ear. As soon as Stevie Wonder is ready, I hear, 'OK, Rolf, roll it up.' And he hasn't got to the war bit yet. He hasn't got to,... (SINGS) 'War came so fast.' He's nearly there, but he's not there. He's just going,... (SINGS) 'When we were...' And I didn't know what to do. But I go, 'Please. Come on. We've got to go.' # Up goes the shout... # # Up goes the shout... # Hang on. You've got to stop. What? What? You've got to stop cos we're ready. And then I got booed twice. I went, 'Oh no. It's an angry mob. Oh!' Suddenly, there's white pointy hoods and a burning cross. No! I thought you wanted to sing. I thought you wanted to sing. No. Hey, hey, hey. We'll just do the last little bit. We'll just do the last little bit. I'm so sorry to interrupt you, sir. But, of course, Lenny Henry was always going to side with Stevie Wonder. He'd launched his career 37 years ago. Well, sort of. Yes, it's the New Faces... As a 16-year-old, Henry entered the British New Faces TV talent show, impersonating the blind American. I was 16 when I won New Faces and plunged into the world of adults, uh, immediately. Thrown to the mercy of the big, smoky, white Northern England comedy clubs more like it. 'Ladies and gentlemen, he's 16. Give him a chance. You saw him on New Faces. 'The young black lad. Bring him on. Lenny Henry.' Then they told jokes about sex and mothers-in-laws and gays and Indians and Chinese. They told racist jokes. They told sexist jokes. And it was all seen as OK. The mad Maori, Junior Johnson! How'd that make you feel? Well, I copied everything I could and tried to emulate it, but it was wrong, clearly. The pictures were black and white. Good evening, whites! And so were the politics. You wog. In some places, if I didn't do well, I'd be scared. I remember John Pilger coming to see me. He said, 'It was a very amazing show. 'I mean, before you went on stage, they were saying, "You know, let's kill the darkie." Joking. 'And then, about 10 minutes in, you've won them over.' So I think comedy's amazing thing, you know. Comedy can win over people who would not talk to you in the street. Within 10 minutes, you can have them laughing and roaring and holding their guts. And I think that's an extraordinary thing that comedy can do. Lenny's parents had emigrated from Jamaica to the British Midlands. My mum said, 'Integrate. Otherwise you won't fit in. You must integrate with the people there. 'Otherwise you won't fit in.' I grew up in a predominantly white neighbourhood, so, yeah, yeah. But because I had a black family, I didn't feel that different. Cos when I went home, I was one of this lot. Whoo-hoo! I mean, with my family. But when I went out, it was very clear we were` you know, my family suffered racial abuse when they first moved to Britain. You know, my mum, my dad, you know, my brothers were racially abused in the streets. There were always fights. One way to integrate was through music, and that Henry house was full of music. Elvis was huge. I don't know why either. But I think he was such a good-looking guy, I think everybody` Elvis was an everyman. He belonged to everybody cos he looked kind of Italian, kind of Native American, kind of Hispanic, kind of Asian. We used to watch all the Elvis films. Elvis could do any job. It didn't matter. 'Can you be a mechanic?' 'Yeah, I can be a mechanic. And I'll sing songs while I do mechanic stuff.' 'Uh, can you box?' 'Yeah, I can box, and I'm gonna sing songs while I box.' 'Can you fly an aeroplane?' 'Yeah, while I'm flying, I'll kiss girls and fly an aeroplane and sing.' So Elvis could do anything. In every film, he did something different. And, um, he always sang, and he always kissed girls. I used to count. Really? Really? He got into the 50s. You thought he was your uncle? Elvis? There was so many pictures of him around the house, I thought he was a relative. Part of the family. By the 1980s, Lenny Henry put the northern clubs behind him. That was not cool. I decided that I was not going to carry on doing the kind of jokes I did in the '70s, and it changed my life, really. Lenny Henry's career took off. He was still mocking black British culture,... I know what you're thinking. 'My God. He's a lot taller than I was expecting.' Let me tell you something. You're a lot whiter than I was expecting. ...but also, crucially, celebrating it. I think I did present things on television that people hadn't seen before. People didn't have an insight into what Jamaican life was like. # Of that, there is no question. # Serious. Later, there was Chef, very popular in this part of the world. # Serious profession. # He met and married Dawn French. For 25 years, they were British comedy's golden couple. Two years ago, they divorced. But I don't talk about it cos I don't think it's anybody's business to know about that stuff. Um, that stuff's very private and, you know, I guess, I'll talk about that one day, but not now. What are people listening to now? All the time? It's like people like Eva Cassidy. (SINGS) 'Somewhere...' She's dead now. What never went away was Lenny Henry's infatuation with music. He wanted to be a singer. He was even asked to sing back-up vocals with Prince on a Kate Bush album. He said, 'You're Lenny, right?' This was when he had the word 'slave' written on his face. And I did say, 'You got` Prince, you got something...' 'Does that say salve?' 'What?' (CHUCKLES) No, I had a conversation with him at Chaka Khan's birthday party. Do you have to pinch yourself? Do you have to pinch yourself? Oh, totally. I pinch myself everyday. How do you think I felt at the jubilee thing? I arrived and Paul McCartney was rehearsing on stage. I walked on stage, and he was singing Lady Madonna. I was literally... I had a mile-wide grin for most of the day. It was fantastic. Fantastic until Rolf Harris started singing Two Little Boys. # And in the mad crowd, wounded and dying lay.... # And today Lenny's in Sydney, that most Australian of cities. Now, you know Rolf Harris has walked these streets of Sydney? Now, you know Rolf Harris has walked these streets of Sydney? I knew you'd bring him up. I'll admit we got on really well. We're good friends. It's the Aussies you've got to worry about. Actually, the Aussies have been pretty friendly towards him. The media, anyway. Finally, he's got around to doing a show on music, featuring the songs that had a profound impact on his life. Cradle to Rave, he's calling it. And, yes, he's coming here, and NZ songs are part of the mixtape. Crowded House. Sorry, it's a bit boring, but the Weather With You is one of the best songs ever made. I like this song. What's it? (HUMS) Don't Dream It's Over. Crowded House. I also like Flights of the Conchord. (SINGS) 'It's business. It's business time.' I like Flight of the Conchords very much indeed. He may not ever have a hit record, but for Lenny Henry, this may be the next best thing. Music connects you universally and viscerally. Music is a gut thing. And, with this show, I'm doing two things that I love. I love being a comedian, and I love music to death. So, for me, doing comedy about music is a win-win, and I can't wait. Well, in Lenny's defence, Rolf song does sound dangerously like it was never going to end. Uh, Lenny Henry's at the ASB Theatre in Auckland next Sunday.