the number killed by mudslides and flooding in sierra leone has risen over 300. it's feared many more bodies are still trapped under the debris. the red cross says around 3000 have lost their homes. president koroma has called it a national tragedy. after two days of mounting and widespread public pressure, president trump has finally and explicitly condemned white supremacist groups. in response to the fatal violence in charlottesville, virginia, mr trump described the ku klux klan, neo—nazis and others as thugs and criminals. state media in north korea is saying kim jong—un has received a full briefing from the army on a plan to launch missiles towards the us pacific territory of guam. but it says he will keep watching american actions for a time before deciding whether to order any launch. now on bbc news, time for hardtalk. my guest today is an actor whose

long career will always be defined by one role. henry winkler was the fonz, the cool dude at the centre of the us tv show happy days which was a worldwide hit in the 70s and 805. the show portrayed an innocent, untroubled1950s america. it was a far cry from winkler‘s own childhood which was clouded by undiagnosed dyslexia. how did a troubled kid come to be a symbol of sunny optimism, and what happened to the idealised america of happy days? henry winkler, welcome to hardtalk. i am happy to be here. let me take you back to 1974, the first airing of the show happy days, which was to become a massive hit. did you have a gut instinct when you first played the fonz that this was going to happen? no. i was hired as a fringe character with six lines. i would work one day a week. i would sit in my apartment most of the rest of the week because i couldn't play during a work week but i had no work because i only worked one day a week.

and then remember, we did it with one camera. like a little movie. we shot 12 slows. we were number 48 in the country. if we did not get the ratings, we were gone. they were going to can us. in 1975, they came up with the idea of doing it in front of a live audience like one of the comedy shows famous during the 19705, and that is what we did and immediately, it turned the show around. how did you manage to muscle your way into becoming the key character, the one that the show built itself around 7 i did nothing but concentrate on my character and the character muscled his way into the hearts of the world. let's go back to that time.

the mid—seventies and the mid—eighties. it was a time when america was desperate for something optimistic to think about. you had been through watergate, vietnam, the civil rights struggles. but it is strange, is it not, looking back at that show, that it did not reflect any of the reality of a tense america. i think that was the main thought behind the show. pure escapism? pure escapism and that is what garry marshall, the genius behind that show and mork and mindy and laverne and shirley and the odd couple and great movies like pretty woman — he is it my don, i kiss his ring — garry marshall, he says, "a lot of people make television that is really,

like, supposed to be smart. i make recess. " (laughs). but there is something about making recess at a time like that which is a little bit strange. it is a timeless show. he made it in the 19505 on purpose because you could do moral stories without ever feeling like you were being hit on the head with a point of view. i suppose what i am getting at, in depicting 19505 america as that place of tight families, close—knit communities, where every kid got into scrapes but basically had a heart of gold, it was fantasy. it was never true of the 19505 or any other decade in the us. the fact is why i think it is so popular was that you wanted a family like that.

so, children who were latchkey kid5 who came home and had a key to open their apartment and there was nobody there, they wanted the cunninghams, they wanted a friend like the fonz who they thought would take care of them. maybe i am over—reading politics into this but i am aware that over the course of making this show, ten years, you had the carter year5, which were difficult, and then the rise of ronald reagan and a certain kind of conservatism. and that whole show was really an epitome of what reagan wanted to believe america was all about. well, i met ronald reagan. very nice fellow. didn't buy his politics. are you buying my analysis? it is a very interesting point of view that i have never thought about because even today in 2013, people watch this show somewhere in the world. yes, they are. it was just re—run in america.

what i'm saying is, i don't know... i think that optimism is important for human beings. they are having a hard time getting a job, it is always difficult to find a job. they are beaten up in the world outside, they come home... i don't think people want cutting—edge television. no matter how you cut it. i now want to bring you to a very personal story. about your own upbringing. your own childhood was very far from that sunny optimism not least because your parents had been through hell. they were just able to escape from germany before the holocaust hit the jewish community. and it sounds to me as though your relationship with your parents was troubled. your relationship with school was certainly troubled. my parents did not get who i was as an individual. so, that was really difficult. it was only after my success that they became proud.

so, i admire them for having escaped nazi germany. i admire them for having started this brand new life in america. i am grateful for the life that i had. but emotionally, it was... no matter how you look at it, it was for me very difficult. and i promised myself i would be a different parent with my own children. and in the course of this interview, i want to get to your own parenting and your own children, but sticking with your youth for a bit longer... i was born an optimist. i believe that to be true. do you think your difficulties with your own parents was in part a result of psychological damage done to them by their own experience? that is very possible.

because they lost their parents. yes, they did. we lost everyone. i never had a real aunt or uncle. they were all the community of people who escaped to germany and came to new york. that community stayed very tight, they became my aunts and uncles but they were not blood. lacking that wider support network within the family, you also lacked a nurturing school. because let's get on to the subject of dyslexia, which has, again, covered a lot of your life. you had real trouble learning at school. i have a lot of trouble learning, even today. you don't ever outgrow dyslexia. you learn to negotiate with it. it was really difficult because i was told in so many areas of my life that i would never achieve, that

i am an under—achiever. that is the title of the book. this character that you created to help other children... no, it never entered my mind that i was helping anybody. i was writing what i knew with my partner lynne oliver and it turned out that children wrote back and said, "how do you know me so well? i thought i was alone and now i know i am not stupid!" but you thought you were stupid because, again, not wishing to pick into difficult stuff, your own parents told you that you were stupid. yes, yes. i have said this before and i make thejoke, they had an affectionate phrase for me, growing up — "dumm hund" — it means dumb dog. not very affectionate at all, is it? no, it is a name i never used on my own children. and my son, max, who is now a director, he was interviewed for his first film and he said his

biggest problem growing up was that he was loved too much. (laughs). you can smile about it and it is wonderful to see you relate to these stories with a smile but i wonder, when you have used phrases in the past like, "my self—esteem was around my ankles," just how damaged do you think you were? i believe that there are three very important elements to living. one is that you remain relevant. i don't mean to remain famous or to remain in the public eye. i mean that you remain constantly giving, giving out of yourself into the universe. that is one. that does sound a little bit californian to me. no, i think that is universal.

i really believe it. as soon as a human being is dismissed as no longer useful, i think that they squeeze up into a raisin. but you didn't do that. you were never a raisin. what you did with very difficult schooling and a problematic relationship with your parents, you found a way to express yourself and in some ways, it is counter—intuitive because it was acting. you were a shy and troubled and then suddenly you flowered on stage. i didn't know that. i had always wanted to be an actor. i didn't even think about why that happened or how it came into my body, my mind, ijust always had it as a dream. was it... we talked about escapism before in terms of happy days, but maybe it was the way you could escape? i never thought of that, but maybe that was the reason why. whatever the reason, i trained to be an actor and i now am living every day.

i am 67 years old, i am still working as an actor. i am living my dream every day. it's amazing. how on earth did you — and maybe do you, because you are still a working actor — cope with read throughs quickly reading and learning lines? i was embarrassed. a read through, just so everybody knows, is monday morning, we would read through the script for the writers and producers so they could hear it. it would be the beginning of the rehearsal to make the show that friday. and you were struggling to read. struggling. how did you get away with it? i didn't. i stumbled and i was embarrassed and i learned to live with my embarrassment. i finally said, "you know what? this is me, i get through it, and this is how i get through it." and my heart races at every read through every day. and at the auditions,

i assume you don't have to read through any more because everyone knows what you can do. i don't know what it is like here, but in america, you have to audition. how do you prepare for the script? i memorise as much as i can. i do the script and i make—up what i know to be the nature of the scene. and people say to me, "well, that isn't what was written." and i say, "i'll do it verbatim if i get thejob." let's go back to happy days. you have established this character of the fonz. but you were a highly—trained actor. you studied acting at yale university. i have a master's degree. wasn't it frustrating when the fonz‘s big thing was slouching on the stage with his leather jacket, drawling "heyyy, " and sticking his thumbs up? no and i will tell you why.

i was trained to be an actor. i was not trained to be an elitist. so, i loved that character. that character introduced me to the world. 126 countries. i got letters from 126 countries, from people who said that i made them laugh. and they wanted to be my friend. i would visit with my children. we would visit the hopi nation in arizona, because in the third year, they studied native americans. is it elitist of me to say to you that this did not stretch you? you were talented. that is not true, because every single thing that i used... let me finish the story. we went to be hopi nation and people would walk out of their homes with fresh bread and give it to me because the fonz was respectful

to native americans in a thanksgiving show. it is not elitist of you to ask the question. i used every bit of my training as the fonz. in mork & mindy, i used slow—motion training that i used with a polish teacher who studied a famous director. we learned slow—motion and how to use our bodies. i used that as the fonz. i love that image. i love that you can bring so much to everything you did in that show. i could not have brought everything i did into the show, if i did not have the training. how much did it hurt when the magic of happy days began to slip away and people started to mock it? and then there was that moment, it occurred relatively early on in the decade of happy days.

you did that dramatic thing where you we're water—skiing and jumped over the shark. that phrase "jumping the shark" became a phrase to describe gimmicky desperation. they were laughing. that is ok. happy days is still on. that phrase, that board game, is gone. but we were number one for about 11—5 years after that phrase was made. i had really good legs at that time. so, every time the newspaper would use that phrase, they would show me on what the water skis. i looked pretty damn good. iwas 0k. the other issue for any actor, not long ago we interviewed william shatner. he of course is...

wonderful fellow. he will always be defined as captainjim kirk. —— captain kirk. that's ok. he is a great stage actor. he now... i think he invested in a company that does commercials all the time in new york. but my point, without going too far into him, with you... you have lots of different shows. you produced, you directed, you acted. and you still do. my proudest moment are the novels i wrote. really? not acting? no. they are my proudest moments outside of my children. well, i want to talk about the book. good! it brings us back to dyslexia. that's been a theme in your life. final question on acting. do you ever wonder, "what if i never won that part?" all the time. "would i have actually gotten more out of my acting career?"

no. i couldn't have gotten more. i now, at this moment, have three television shows. i act on a show called children's hospital, which started as something online. last year, it won the emmy for the best short comedy. it is only 11 minutes along. i do another show, royal pains, that is shown here. so you're not bitter about typecasting ? not at all. i am grateful. i live by two words: tenacity and gratitude. tenacity got me into this chair and gratitude does not allow me to get angry about most things. except for when my daughter uses my credit card. it's absurd.

that's perhaps a private conversation. if your daughter has a credit card, allow me to suggest a shredder. i have a daughter. how old? she is 15. she's getting there. it will shock you. it will shock you! yes, i know. your mortgage is going towards a pair of shoes. i'll tell you now. you've told me. could have bought a house. you mentioned something interesting about anger. i want to have you reflect on some of the biggest stars on tv. people like charlie sheen. the behaviour some of them have indulged in. very different to yours. you always spoke about being a team player.

do you think that has disappeared? no, there are wonderful team players. here is the problem. you are treated almost like a deity. people want to touch you in the street, want some of your clothes. would like to cut your hair, to have some of it. you cannot believe what people are telling you. i am still short. i did not grow one inch because i was famous. i am still henry winkler. i know only what i know. i am not an authority on stuff. i don't know. you want so badly to buy in. you want so badly to believe that "i am special. " i can walk on water. and itjust isn't true. there are lots of people who make

a pact with the devil and go down that road. and it will destroy you. like you were hit by a car. like an oncoming train. that kind of hubris will cut you in half. honestly, that is the truth. before we end, i would like to spend a little more time talking about dyslexia. 0k. you have turned it into one of your life's works. you have written about it. but you have, in your own life, children. i do. and they are dyslexic. in your view, is it... what do you know about it? it is hereditary. those families who have children who learn differently, and are embarrassed by their child because they do not live up to snuff, you created it. it comes from your genes.

parents out there. is there a danger of over diagnosis? yes. kids have different talents. absolutely. here is the real danger. in not allowing them to be honest. telling a child they're just lazy. "work a little harder." "learn latin and you'll be great." there are children who are wired to learn a foreign language. i lived in a family that spoke german. and i knowjust a few words. my brain does not comprehend it. why do we only celebrate the top 10% when it is the bottom 10% that creates a plastered room, an art piece, they're great athletes. they also...

dyslexia — you learn to meet your destiny. why don't we help them? you have visited schools, you have been involved in programmes. what's the key? acknowledge that the child is having trouble, realise that their self—image is imploding, you do not have to tell a child they are not doing well in school. they know. they know how hard it is to write the math problem or learn a language. 0r read a book. they know. you support them and make sure that their self—image is powerful and strong. and they will meet their destiny. we began by talking about optimism. you come across to me as one of the most optimistic... do you know how i see my life?

you know that toy that has sand at the bottom and you punch it. and then it goes down and comes right back up? you blow it up. that is how i see myself. i go down. i get back up. and here i am, sitting in this chair. i have written 23 novels with my partner. a brand new one about a ghost buddy. it sounds like the fonz. "you can call me a banshee but that's rude". that is a great way to end. thank you. what a pleasure, really. well, tuesday's looking pretty good across most of the uk.

the rest of the week, however, overall is still looking rather changeable. and actually, as we head into the weekend, it looks pretty blustery as well. this is a gloomy picture from yesterday in aberystwyth. tuesday is going to be a lot sunnier across this part of the world. now, this is the satellite picture, from the last 12 hours or so. we had some rain sweeping across many western and northern areas. really quite heavy rain in some areas, and towards the early hours of tuesday morning, there still could be some heavier rain around across the far, far north—east of the country, and possibly the far south—east as well, and maybe even a crack of thunder. and the start to the day is a relatively mild one. 14,16 degrees, even up to 17 during the rush hour across the south. and really, it is starting pretty nice nad bright across most areas. there are a few showers around,

here and there, but on balance, fine start from the south—east, the midlands, wales. a couple of showers there, around the lake district, maybe a few dotted around in northern ireland and western scotland, but on the whole, a nice start to the day. and here is that overnight rain moving away towards the north—east, off the edge of the screen — good riddance. now, as far as tuesday morning, and the second half of the morning and the afternoon is concerned, showers are actually going to be brewing inland. so it is not a completely dry day. take a brolly if you are out for any lengthy period of time. sunny spells, plenty of them, yes, and feeling quite warm, but there will be showers breaking out. how are we doing compared to the rest of europe? well, london will be warming up to 2a degrees. we're on a par with paris, but some storms around here, similar to warsaw and moscow. but hotting up across spain

and portugal, and in italy and rome, there, temperatures up to around 35 degrees celsius. anyway, back home, tuesday into wednesday, there will be a ridge of high pressure. high pressure usually means fine weather. so for many parts of england, i think, and eastern scotland, wednesday morning and afternoon is looking fine. but you can't miss this. this is the next low pressure, next weather front, moving in during wednesday morning and afternoon. so the weather will go downhill in belfast, in glasgow, around the irish sea, liverpool, western wales, and down into cornwall. but london is looking fine. sort this is bbc news.

i'm kasia madera. our top stories: a national tragedy — the president of sierra leone leads the mourning for over 300 people killed in landslides and floods. north korea says president kim has been studying plans for a missile strike around the american territory of guam. and — taylor swift wins a court case against a former radio dj. thejury finds he did grope her. and in business: a future without borders! the uk government pushes for a frictionless trade deal to help ease its transition towards a post—brexit future. putting america first. donald trump calls for an investigation into whether china is stealing intellectual property from american companies.