this is bbc news. the headlines at eight... three people have been killed and a policeman is in a critical condition after a gunman took hostages at a supermarket in southern france. the lieutenant colonel from the police, who was with his men, voluntarily swapped himself for a hostage. former labour leadership contender owen smith has been sacked from jeremy corbyn‘s shadow cabinet after calling for a second eu referendum. the high court has granted an application by the information commissioner's office for a warrant to search the london offices of cambridge analytica. the head of the porton down defence laboratory categorically denies russian claims that nerve agent from the site could have been used to poison the former spy in salisbury also this hour — president trump signs a huge government funding bill into law just hours before the third government shutdown of the year was due to start the news comes amid a flurry

of resignations and appointments at the white house — we'll bring you the latest analysis and a new museum opens in the west country dedicated to the engineer isambard kingdom brunel good evening and welcome to bbc news. french police have shot dead a gunman who killed three people and injured 16 others in southern france. the attacker, named as 26—year—old redouane lakdim, pledged allegiance to the islamic state group. he is thought to have killed and wounded his victims in three separate incidents which began in the city of carcassonne. he is then believed to have driven to a nearby town where he took people hostage in a supermarket. a police officer who swapped himself for one of the hostages is now in a critical condition in hospital, as james robbins reports. a small town in southern france,

the supermarket in trebes was suddenly the main target of this terror attack. security forces surrounded the building where the gunman had already shot and killed two people and then took at least one hostage. as the gendarmerie moved in, the senior officer offered himself to the attacker in exchange. translation: the lieutenant colonel of the gendarmerie, who was with those men, voluntarily swapped himself for a hostage, who the terrorist then let go. the officer stayed with him and then the terrorist opened fire, so our forces intervened and brought down the terrorist. the heroic officer had been wounded but his actions surely saved other lives. the colonel, while held hostage, apparently kept his mobile phone relaying sound to colleagues who ended the siege. the entire attack had started

in the historic town of carcassonne, about eight kilometres, five miles away. the killer first hijacked a car using extreme violence. a passenger in the car was killed and the driver injured. soon afterwards he shot and wounded a policeman who was jogging with colleagues, then he drove about 15 minutes to trebes. he ran into the supermarket shooting, taking hostages and shouting "i am a soldier of daesh" — or islamic state. that is where he was eventually shot dead. the killer has been named as 26—year—old redouane lakdim, described by the french interior minister as a petty delinquent who, though identified by intelligence services, was not regarded as a serious threat. today he killed repeatedly and was apparently demanding the release of this man, salah abdeslam, the most important surviving suspect in the paris attacks of november 2015, including at the bataclan concert hall, attacks that killed

a total of 130 people. after today's supermarket siege, tonight president macron said the heroic gendarme who exchanged himself for the hostages was critically wounded. translation: he saved lives and brought honour to his service and the nation. he is now fighting for his life. all our thoughts are with him and his family. this is the most serious terror attack in france during emmanuel macron‘s ten months as president. but it seems to follow a far longer pattern of young men moving from petty crime to murder in the name of extremism. speaking earlier this evening, french authorities have confirmed that the gunman is dead and one of his family members has been arrested. translation:

ican translation: i can already tell you that a few minutes ago, a person was remanded in custody under the charge of criminal assassination in connection with a terrorist undertaking. the perpetrator called redouane lakdim was born in 1972 in morocco. he was under terrorist watch since 1994. he was known by the police due to a number of petty crimes. he was imprisoned in 2011 for a month following possession of arms. he was convicted again in march 2015 for the use of drugs. convicted to a month in prison. which was completed in the carcassone prison in august 2016th. in 2016 and 2017, he was

being monitored by the intelligence services. but this monitoring operation did notjustify or show any intention of this individual to carry out a terrorist attack. the prosecutor there. chris bockman is a journalist who was at that news conference in carcasonne earlier this evening. i'm in the courthouse where the chief prosecutor in charge of anti—terrorism in paris came to lead this investigation. this is the only the third time that he has left paris when attackers happened outside the capital. the attack in bastille night and the attack in toulouse. it is similar to what happened here today when that man

was killed in a supermarket. it seems something incredible happened. 50 people were being held hostage in that supermarket and basically one of the police officers agreed it to go into the supermarket in return for the hostages to be released, about 50 of them. he was shot and has now isn't —— his life is now in critical condition. the gunmen‘s close friends are under investigation. one of them has been arrested and he has a profile similarto arrested and he has a profile similar to the arrested and he has a profile similarto the man arrested and he has a profile similar to the man who was killed, redouane lakdim. he had a criminal record, like him. one thing that the investigators here are trying to work out it is profile. his house was raided about three or four hours ago. he has spent time injail, once for carrying a gun, and once for drug dealing. and apart from that,

he had apparently been radicalised but the chief anti—terrorist judge here said there was nothing in his profile until now that suggested he would go on a killing spree like today. there are a lot of similarities between what happened today and what happened six years ago. the lone wolf theory, of people from immigrant backgrounds from north africa go from delinquency to radicalisation and then to killing sprees, seems very similar. they both spent time in jail, both were drug dealers, and when fondling the sea to radicalisation suddenly. and they were also on the watched list of the french intelligence services. but the intelligence services appears to think in both cases that they would not go out and kill people. but now they and the prosecutor here are trying to work out at what point did he make that change from criminal to killer. that

is where the situation is right now this evening. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:40 this evening in the papers — our guestsjoining me tonight are asa bennett, brexit editor at the telegraph and the political commentatorjo phillips. within the past hour, owen smith has been sacked from jeremy corbyn‘s cabinet after calling for a second referendum on brexit. the shadow northern ireland secretary broke ranks with labour party policy by also making the case for the uk to stay in the single market after brexit. he's been replaced by tony lloyd. owen smith has reacted to the news on twitter. he says: i've just been sacked byjeremy corbyn for my long held views on the damage brexit will do to the good friday agreement and the economy of the entire uk. those views are shared by labour members and supporters and i will continue to speak up for them, and in the interest of our country. our political correspondent jonathan blake is in westminster. for how many labour mps is he

actually is in? many mps would agree with him on that policy. in terms of wider party membership, labour voters were largely in favour of remaining in the european union. so it is clear that owen smith is not speaking purely for himself and he is reflecting to an extent the views of some of the party membership and a good deal of labour party mps as well. but the problem was was that he was saying that from his position as one ofjeremy corbyn‘s shadow cabinet and from there, it is generally expected, although not a lwa ys generally expected, although not always the case, that mps are expected to toe the party line. to come out so flagrantly and put forward an alternative policy and speak out against labour's position on brexit, and that is that the uk

should stay in a customs union but leave the single market, and also to say that there should be another referendum on the final brexit deal, was clearly a step too far. as one labour source put it to me, this was an issue of collective responsibility and owen smith showing a lack of respect to the shadow cabinet colleagues. another budget that owen smith was behaving more like a backbencher than a frontbencher. well, he will go to the backbenches and we will hear more from him on this issue as we can see from between the posted minutes after his resignation was announced. he says that he will speak up for those who agree with him. but it has blown open the divisions within the labour party. several mps reacting angrily to this online. the labour peer lord hain, former northern ireland secretary said that it was ace dahlin

aspersion. angela smith said it was aspersion. angela smith said it was a vindictive response from the leadership. anna turley said it was disappointing and he was a loss to the front bench. all those people have been critical of jeremy the front bench. all those people have been critical ofjeremy corbyn and in favour of remaining, but it shows the divisions in the party on this issue. the high court has given permission for the london offices of cambridge analytica to be searched. the information commissioner's office said they were seeking a warrant on tuesday, after the company was accused of using the personal data of 50 million facebook members to influence the us presidential election in 2016. we have just heard that 18 enforcement officers working for the information commissioner have entered the premises of cambridge analytica after that search warrant was in series. —— issued. earlier our technology correspondent rory cellan—jones spoke to me about the focus of search warrant. what they wanted to do was go into

cambridge analytica's office and look at the servers and be sure that the data that has been leaked, the data collected back in 2014 and 2015 bya data collected back in 2014 and 2015 by a cambridge academic and handed to cambridge analytica, data relating to something like 50 million american facebook users. now cambridge analytica have issued a statement again about that data? yes, they said all along that they did not have the data, they had deleted it. the new acting chief and, because the former chief executive aston down, the new acting ceo has said that police can be absolutely clear that we did not use any other state in the presidential election work, the donald trump campaign. they also said that when facebook asked them a year ago whether they still had any of this data, they searched through all

their records and made sure all the data and all the back—ups have been deleted and they say they told facebook clearly that this had all gone. and cambridge university have now spoken? yes, there is a lot of interest in what ethical requirements were made of is academic. because if you are an academic. because if you are an academic doing this research, you have to go through quite a process to do it for academic purposes. the university say they did go through that process in regard to his academic work and he asked if he could use that data acquired for academic purposes for his work at the university and university said no but doesn't appear to have asked further questions. they say they will now undertake a wide—ranging review into the circumstances of this case and will ask facebook to cooperate with that review. the headlines on bbc news: three people, including a portuguese

citizens have been killed and a gunmen taken hostage after being attacked in a supermarket in france. owen smith has been sacked after calling for a second year referendum. information commissioner officers have entered the premises of cambridge analytica in london. sport now...and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre england against the netherlands. it is still goalless but injury problems already. joe gomez replaced by harry maguire. barely a shot on

target for gareth southgate's team. alex oxlade—chamberlain‘s effort co mforta bly alex oxlade—chamberlain‘s effort comfortably saved. jordan pickford was in goal. it has emerged today that the former england women's head coach mark sampson was banned by uefa a day after he was banned —— sacked by the fa. he was banned for threatening a female official with a metal pole and they described his conduct as grossly violating the basic rules and banned him for three games. the next day he was sacked by the fa for inappropriate conduct earlier in his career. we were going to bring you some news for the scotland match. costa rica are winning 1—0 for the scotland match. costa rica are winning1—0 at hampden park. golf, could rory mcilroy has been knocked out early, blaming fatigue.

he lost two or three —— has a three group games in boston, beaten by the us 18th seed brian harman. he said he had not recovered from his busy week in which she won his first tournament for a year. this is the only major mcevoy is yet to win. johanna konta has made it says. to the defence of her open title. she looks convincing and won in straight sets. liam brady was knocked out in the men's draw. new zealand boxerjoseph parker says he is in the best shape ahead of his title fight against anthonyjoshua. the wba heavyweight champion has only just the wba heavyweight champion has onlyjust made it public that he underwent surgery last year on his elbow but he says he is fit and ready for the bout against anthony joshua. the winner will hold three

of the four heavyweight champions will —— championships. of the four heavyweight champions will -- championships. there are no excuses. once we got the surgery done, going to the final in march 31, it is whoever is best to win. i'm100% ready. there were no injuries, so i'm ready to put on the best performance. england's cricketers will be waking up england's cricketers will be waking up in auckland now and peering out of the window and hoping for some more rain for the continuation of the test against new zealand. they will need the help of the weather after their miserable first day. day two was ruined by rain. afterjust 23 overs, play was abandoned when new zealand were 229 — four. the forecast is not much better over the weekend. it is a two match series there. now the six nations is over, the

international are returning for their club sides. a west country affair with bath taking on exeter. bath currently lead that game ten — four. time for a quick look at the sport relief five a side going on outside here in salford quays. robbie savage's team against teams from the fa people's cup. it is all in aid of sport relief. coverage is going on on bbc one after a whole is —— as pa rt on bbc one after a whole is —— as part of a whole sport relief event. i can't read this go from here, so i can't tell you who is winning! honesty is the best policy, lizzie. thank you. a senior official at the porton down laboratory has said that russia's suggestion that the facility was the source of the nerve agent used to poison a former russian spy and his daughter is "just not true". scientists at the chemical defence

unit have been analysing samples taken after the attack in salisbury on sergei and yulia skripal. our security correspondent gordon corera has been given exclusive access to porton down and has sent this report. a small town in southern france, the supermarket in trebes it is one of the most sensitive and secret sites in the country. porton down, home to the defence science and technology lab, and now at the heart of the salisbury poisoning investigation. inside one of the labs, scientists demonstrated to us one of the many ways used to detect the presence of chemical agents. a call came here to porton down in the early hours of monday march the 5th. within hours, a specialist response team was deployed down the road to salisbury. they collected samples that were brought back to laboratories at the site and which identified

a military grade nerve agent. based on that, as well as other information, the government said it is highly likely that russia was responsible for poisoning sergei and yulia skripal. security at porton down is tight. russian diplomats have raised questions as to whether somehow nerve agent from here could have got out. that is something officials say is impossible. you know, we have the highest levels of controls of security around the work that we do here. we would not be allowed to operate if we had a lack of control that could result in anything leaving the four walls of the facility here. so, you know, we have complete confidence that there is nothing that could have come from here out into the wider world, as it were. is it frustrating when you hear that kind of accusation? yes, it is a coincidence that it is down the road, that this has happened, it is very frustrating to hear that. everybody here knows that is just not true. they emphasise that the work here is purely defensive. chemical agents are pumped into this chamber to test how well the chemical suits given to soldiers stand up. there have been allegations in russia that a new chemical weapons factory is being built.

but officials showed us the local planning application, saying what is being built here is actually going to be a facility for the analysis of explosives. what about the accusation that it's secret chemical warfare facilities here, or being built here? that is just nonsense. this is a defensive organisation and we know that the russians have been suggesting certain buildings are for making chemical warfare. that is just complete rubbish. this afternoon, the park bench in salisbury where sergei and yulia skripal were found was taken away. international inspectors from the opcw are now taking to independently confirm its analysis, including the conclusions that point to russian involvement. gordon corera, bbc news, porton down. a convoy of vehicles left the british embassy in moscow this morning, as the deadline for the expulsion of british diplomats was reached. president putin has called on the russian people to unite

behind him during what he called this ‘challenging time'. eu leaders today promised an "unprecendented" diplomatic response. steve rosenberg reports from moscow. to applause from colleagues and friends, the british diplomats headed home. the sendoff far warmer than the moscow spring. russia had expelled 23 from the embassy here. it was tit—for—tat. britain had ordered out 23 russians. for those left behind, it was an emotional moment. they can feel the chill in uk—russian relations. but now, european governments are moving closer to expelling russians. so, is moscow feeling the pressure? there is little sign of it. we are absolutely against any pressure from abroad. we are ready for discussions but we cannot accept any attempt of pressure against my country. and we have proved that within 1,000 years of our history. today, president putin told russians he had made history with his landslide election win. no mention of diplomatic tensions over the salisbury attack. one thing the kremlin has been working hard to do in recent years, with some success, is to drive a wedge between different countries in the european union, to sow discord in europe. that is why a strong, coordinated response by eu states to the salisbury attack, that would come as a surprise to moscow. this evening, russia took on brazil in a pre—world cup friendly. tension with the west risks

overshadowing the tournament russia will be hosting. translation: sport and politics should be separate. the world cup should bring people together. translation: they always blame russia for everything. it is rubbish. translation: it would not bother me one bit if england did not come. they can believe what they want. it is their problem. england fans will be safe here, says moscow. but salisbury has set the scene for a political showdown — russia against europe. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. a lorry driver has been jailed for 14 years for causing the deaths of eight people in a crash on the m1 last year. he was over the drink—drive limit and had stopped his vehicle on the inside lane when he was involved in the crash with a minibus and another lorry. the driver of the other lorry has been jailed for three years and four months. from buckinghamshire, kate bradbrook reports. drunk at the wheel of his lorry, he was parked in the inside lane of the m1.

it was the early hours of the bank holiday weekend. a minibus waits to go around and is hit by a lorry driven by david wagstaff. he had been an hour—long hands—free call. eight people in the minibus were killed, including the driver. i miss him a lot. my life has completely changed. he completed it so much. like —— like completely changed it so much. yes, it is hard. i'm trying to get through it. a four—year—old girl lost both parents in a crash and was badly injured. they were on their way from nottingham to london to catch a coach to disneyland. both lorry drivers denied eight counts of causing death by dangerous driving. earlier this month, a jury found the first defendant guilty. his professional driving licence had

been revoked prior to the crash. he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. thejudge told ryszard masierak that he was an unmitigated liar who tried to blame everybody but himself will stop david wagstaff, on the left, was earlier cleared of causing death by dangerous driving, but had already admitted causing death by careless driving. he was sentenced to three years and four months for his role in the crash. thejudge told him, you had between nine and 11 seconds to see the vehicles ahead. had you not been so distracted by using your phone. it was this stretch of motorway where the crash happened. today, the court heard that ryszard masierak had been twice over the legal alcohol limit and had been warned by other drivers for going the wrong way around a roundabout earlier that day and also the wrong way up the slip road. the court heard he was asleep in the lane for 12 minutes before

the crash happened and had shown no remorse. the judge said he took the jury for complete idiots. as for david wagstaff, thejudge told him he had between nine and 11 seconds to see the vehicles ahead, but he did nothing. he said, they were there to be seen and you did not see them. he said, this case has had a devastating impact on the families left behind, and that their lives have been destroyed. a police inspector has been found guilty of murdering his wife and dumping her body in a lake. darren mckie killed his wife leanne after she discovered he'd been taking out loans in both their names. jurors at chester crown court heard how the couple — who both worked for greater manchester police — owed more than £100,000. the car maker suzuki has pulled adverts featuring the television presenters ant and dec — after ant mcpartlin was charged with drink driving.

time for the weather forecast. pleasa nt pleasant sunshine today. cloud is coming in from the south—west. in northern ireland, clear skies, coming in from the south—west. in northern ireland, clearskies, light winds, touch of frost and a few icy patches. much milderfor england and wales under the cloud. many areas will stay mild and cloudy across southern parts of england. we might see some rain or drizzle. more sunshine arriving in the far north of england, sunny skies in northern

ireland and scotland away from sharp showers in the northwest. a better day on sunday for england and wales. more sunshine and patchy cloud. most places will be dry. few showers in the north—west. some sunshine and feeling quite pleasant. this is bbc news... our latest headlines... the man was shot dead by security forces. owen smith has been sacked from jeremy corbyn‘s shadow cabinet after calling for a new eu referendum. enforcement officers working for the information commissioner have entered the premises of cambridge analytica in central london. claims by russia that the nerve agent that poisoned a former spy in salisbury could have escaped from the porton down defence research facility have been categorically rejected by the head

of the site. a show of solidarity for theresa may from the european union as it recalls its ambassador to russia following the nerve agent attack in salisbury two lorry drivers have been sentenced for causing a pile—up that killed eight people in a minibus on the m1 motorway. president trump has signed a massive government funding bill into lawjust hours before a government shutdown. he'd earlier tweeted that he was unhappy with aspects of the bill and threatened to veto it. the bill authorises federal government spending worth $1.3 trillion. to prevent the omnibus situation from ever happening again, i am calling on congress to give me a beta for all government spending bills and the senate must end the

filibuster rule and get down to work. we have to get a lot of great legislation approved, and without the filibuster rule it will happen just like magic. the spending bill tops off a busy few weeks for the president, who has seen a series of personnel changes, most recently the appointment of a new national security advisor. so let's look at some of those comings and goings over the past few weeks. on the 7th of march, president trump's chief economic advisor, gary cohn, handed in his resignation. and on the 13th of march, secretary of state rex tillerson was fired, to be replaced by cia director mike pompeo. gina hapsell gets the nomination to be the next director of the cia — the first women to hold the post. the next to go was fbi deputy director andrew mccabe — who was days from retirement. and the news that broke last night — former ambassador to the un john bolton is to replace hr mcmaster as national security advisor. so — who isjohn bolton and what does his appointment mean for america and the wider world?

to discuss this i'm joined from washington by adam mount, who is the director of the defense posture project at the federation of american scientists. thank you forjoining us this evening. tell us, how isjohn bolton viewed by the defence community? there is a great deal of concern in washington, and i think around the world. much of that is justified. on issues like iran and north korea it issues like iran and north korea it is difficult to overstate just how extreme his visa. he has a long history of politicising intelligence thatis history of politicising intelligence that is cherry picking intelligence for his own benefit and to fit his views and his ideas. and he has a long history of being abusive to staff, not outright ideas but being

a poor manager of their activities. for a position that is meant to impose rationality and clarity on a complex national security bureaucracy, he is widely seen as a pretty poor choice. those comments will cause me anxiety, you are making these very strong claims against this man. can you offer some evidence to support some of those things? rather than just opinion? you can look at bolton's own words. with respect to north korea, he has been very clear that he favours a military option. for example, he thinks that talks are very likely to fail, you cannot negotiate with north korea, they are likely to stall for time. he has been paddling a strange fantasy that china might be convinced to reunify career under

south korea's rule and hand over the keys to us and our allies. that is divorced from political reality with china. and he is upfront that he prefers the military option in north korea. he has laid out different possibilities and he has said that there could be a strike against north korea's nuclear missile complexes and their development facilities or that we could contemplate invasion. that is very far outside the mainstream of their views in washington and around the world and bolton has been upfront about what he says. how well placed by thejoint chiefs about what he says. how well placed by the joint chiefs of staff and the intelligence community to put in checks and balances to stop those extreme reactions? not one person makes policy in the us, thejoint chiefs and the intelligence

community can be very clear that a military strike would stand a very poor chance of holding back the missile programmes in north korea and we don't have the intelligence to support that and we would have little chance of limiting their counterstrike, the attack against our allies. these arguments could go a very long way to convincing the president to stay his hand or preventjohn bolton from seeing these theories through. but the president has systematically been replacing advisers that value of formal and rational process with those that are personally beholden to himself, like installing mike pompeo, he lacks the diplomatic experience to manage the large bureaucracy but he is very close to the president personally. there are many good reasons. . . the president personally. there are many good reasons... war is not a foregone possibility but the risk

has increased beyond what most people are comfortable with. there was the prospect of talks with north korea that came to light during the winter olympics and we have not got kerry gadd because that takes a long time. how much of a meeting of minds is it, the appointment ofjohn bolton by president trump in an administration that wants to say the united states will be robust against growing international threats? that was clearly the intention. bolton has been an outspoken hawk on the media and this is what attracted the president to his views, he seems to have been selected for these extreme views and i do not think we should sugar—coat them. he is upfront about them and we need to clearly face that he is one of the most forward leaning members of the us policy

community on essays like north korea and iran and the value of military options for handling those situations. that is simply what his position is. i think that attracted him to the president but that does not mean necessarily that we will head down. there is a great deal of the veto players in the policy community, the state department and the intelligence community and in the intelligence community and in the military, but will weigh in and hope to impose rationality in this process. thank you very much for your time. as we've heard, european union leaders have said they are preparing coordinated measures against russia following the nerve agent attack. separately they've approved guidelines for the negotiation of future relations with the uk in what's being seen as a key step in the brexit process. our political editor, laura kuenssberg, reports from brussels. they don't always look so pleased to see each other. the eu's chief negotiator grasping the prime minister's hand.

today, the day when formally, finally, the stage right after brexit, the transition was agreed. i welcome the fact that the eu council this morning has agreed the details of the implementation period. this gives certainty to people in businesses. it gives clarity to plan for theirfuture. i believe we are approaching this with a spirit of cooperation, a spirit of opportunity for the future as well. and we will now be sitting down and determining those workable solutions. not much will change for nearly two years after we leave. but how closely will the uk hug the continent after? that is the next fight on the table — the next details to be worked out. time is of the essence, the eu's most powerful voice said. if the uk wants to leave the customs union and the single market that means a free trade agreement, germany's angela merkel said.

agreeing a buffer zone between leaving the eu and cutting off all ties was never in doubt today. but theresa may's argument also swayed eu leaders to turn up the pressure on russia. the union even pulling back its own ambassador here to brussels. perhaps, after months of difficulties, britain's stock here was on the up. it's notjust the eu ambassador leaving moscow. other european countries say they'll send russian diplomats back there in co—ordinated moves next week. but leaders here have been willing to walk the walk alongside britain, matching theresa may's stance in contrast to an awkward pause yesterday. the european union agrees with the uk government's assessment that it is highly likely that the russian federation is responsible for this attack and that there is no other plausible explanation.

despite the tough brexit negotiations, the european union has demonstrated unanimous and unequivocal unity with the uk in the face of this attack. we decided to call back our european ambassador in moscow. this is an extraordinary measure — we never took it before. this time, although the uk's leaving the eu, the continent still stands together. the next 12 months could fray those alliances. then she'll make this departure for the final time. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, brussels. a new museum to celebrate the life and legacy of one of perhaps britain's greatest engineer has opened in bristol. the £7 million centre dedicated to isambard kingdom brunel explores his life and mind. he was responsible for much of the great western railway, including london's paddington railway station,

besides a fleet of steam ships, including the ss great britain. from the mueum in bristol, robin markwell reports. are you in tune with brunel, who was the man beneath the stovepipe hat? welcome to being brunel, something that i know a thing or two about. this new museum sits next to the ship he designed and built in bristol's docks, inside, he looms large wherever you go, but if you thought he was big headed, think again. letters and diaries suggest he was often plagued with self—doubt, the aim has been to tell a more personal story. family portraits reveal his personality, he was an art lover, a room dedicated to the pictures he collected, inspired by shakespeare. one of the items here on display, brunel‘s school report from when he was at school in france, in it we learn that he was very successful at maths, drawing and german in

particular, when it comes to his behaviour, teachers say it was beyond reproach — they expected very great things of him. he duly delivered, among his many achievements, the great western railway. this is my favourite part of the new exhibition, 3—d printed map of london to bristol, showing his vision of the railway, carving its way across the landscape. among his most treasured possessions, his cigar box, containing his daily ration, no fewer than 48 cigars. he often fell asleep with a cigar, stories about a friend coming to find him in the morning, and he has fallen asleep his chair and has a whole cigar‘s worth of ash on his chest...! like his grand projects, this museum has been a labour of love, six years in the making, many of the items being shown for the first time. we have now claimed brunel as our own, which is marvellous. i think we have always felt

that he is our adopted son, but he's now well and truly a bristol boy. it will bring tourists and i hope we have a world—class museum here. that should make everyone in bristol feel really proud. absolutely marvellous, really was. we both felt we got into his mind. fascinating when you pull out the drawer, and you see some of his original letters, almost as if you can reach out and touch the past. dressing up is part of the experience. as well as picking up some fun facts about the great man. brunel only slept four hours a night. he could draw a perfect circle. brunel loved acting and once dressed up as an old woman. he once inhaled a coin, through a party trick, and then invented a machine, to remove it. party lover, landscape gardener, so much more to brunel than that hat and that cigar.

the headlines on bbc news... three people, including a portuguese citizen, have been killed and a policeman is in a critical condition after a gunman took hostages at a supermarket in southern france. former labour leadership contender owen smith has been sacked from jeremy corbyn's shadow cabinet after calling for a second eu referendum. enforcement officers working for the information commissioner have entered the premises of cambridge analytica in central london. now on bbc news, it's time for the film review. hello and a warm welcome.

to take us through this week's cinema releases is mark kermode.