it is not like going to a anonymous, it is not like going to a boot fair and seeing something and buying it, they are not buyers, they are clients. every single person in that room was known to the auction house. i would like to know, because so house. i would like to know, because so many people on social media are talking about the fact it has enhanced the piece's value. was it shredded completely and has the value content, even in its shredded state 7 a good example of that is thomas gainsborough did to portrait of the same boy. one was painted with a brown coat, one with a blue coat. everyone has heard about the blue coat boy and it is worth probably £25 million. the city art gallery, i think, have got brown boy and it is about —— worth about a quarter of a

million. nobody knows about it. it is the publicity that has generated a value. do you collect banksy? i do. you were describing a prankster oi’ do. you were describing a prankster ora gimmick, but do. you were describing a prankster or a gimmick, but what about the talent? unbelievable talent. there are hundreds of good artists out there who are talented. why do you collect him? i think he is... he is the movement of the 21st—century. he is the picasso of the early 21st—century. he is the artist that eve ryo ne 21st—century. he is the artist that everyone wants to talk about. he didn't create street art as we know it, he gives credit to someone else who was doing it in france. banksy was hiding under red train one day and thought there must be a better way of doing it, i know, iwill and thought there must be a better way of doing it, i know, i will use this technique. everybody knows that

ba nksy this technique. everybody knows that banksy put a piece in the british museum. but what they don't talk about is that there was a guy working with him, called calvin russell, who put a piece into the tate gallery. banksy copied that idea. banksy has taken good ideas and made them universally great. universally acceptable. when before he came along, painting on the street was a criminal act. if banksy does a painting on the wall, suddenly it is art. what is the difference? 0k. suddenly it is art. what is the difference? ok. we will end there. describing their the master of... thank you. let's find out how the weather is looking. it has all gone

pete tong. it has, before bit. not the same everywhere because some have seen sky is a little bit like this behind me. parts of scotland, northern ireland and northern and western england and wales. still the rain falling quite heavily and persistently towards the south—east, midlands, east anglia and south—east. rain slowly edging east. chilly under that rain bands. temperatures peaked earlier in the day. not warm elsewhere but at least a bit more pleasant. like when some sunshine to finish. tonight, increasingly clear to words used are clear, the south—east and channel islands. giving temperatures up here. elsewhere, away from towns and city centres, a widespread frost into sunday. except the north west of scotla nd into sunday. except the north west of scotland because here we have another different twist. we reverse the fortunes around scotland,

northern ireland. cloudy and windy tomorrow. most persistent and western scotland. england and wales are dry and sunny. feeling just a little bit less cold for all of us. goodbye for now. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: president trump's supreme court nominee is expected to be approved by us senators later — despite allegations of sexual assault. toxic air pollution is much worse in eight areas of england than previously thought — as a government review reveals. the opera singer montserrat ca balle, whose duet with freddie mercury became the signature song of the 1992 barcelona olympics, has died at the age of 85. now it's time for the travel show. this week we are in kazakhstan.

the view from the top! a vast country in the middle of central asia... full of stunning landscapes and nomadic traditions. you can feel the fish tugging on the net. nature and the great outdoors have always been central to that kazakh people's way of life. birds chirping, fish jumping, sun setting... i get it. and i am here to explore how they are now combining both ancient and modern ways to stay in touch with their wild side. grunts. it feels good to make the sound, but i don't know what they are saying. woo! this is a lot of fun! i've arrived in kazakhstan‘s

biggest city of almaty. once, back when the country was part of the ussr and long before that, it was the capital city. now things have changed. back in 1991 it was the last soviet republic to declare independence, ten days before the collapse of the union. since then it has been under the president nazarbayev who moved the capital north to the purpose—built city of astana. one thing is clear, this country has undergone a tumultuous period.

but through it all nature has continued to play a vital role for the once nomadic people here, and for travellers who visit. you start to get a sense of that at the green bazaar. there has been a market here since before soviet times. this is fermented horse milk, which has been around since the nomadic times and they say it is a cure for tuberculosis. it is a strong taste. the aftertaste is almost like you are smoking a cigar. i don't know why, but that is exactly what it tastes like. very sharp, though, very intense taste. some russian influences have remained, but some of the old kazakh traditions that had been suppressed under the soviets have once again been bubbling to the surface.

like faith in tengriism, calling on nature through shamans, known as baksys. arman, my friend! i wanted to find a baksy, so i'm meeting up with someone who says he can get me an introduction. can you tell me a bit about what exactly a baksy is? baksy are spiritual servants who are create by nature to help people. these days in modern culture, do people still go see a baksy? yes, of course, it is part of our life. if official medicine, european medicine doesn't help, people go to baksy. well arman, i can't say i know what to expect, but i feel ready. arman takes me to a far corner of the city, and an old, unmarked apartment block. we are on our way up to the baksy‘s apartment, she will be waiting for us outside the door.

not exactly what i expected. chanting. we have just arrived here in the baksy‘s apartment, we are in the middle of some kind of ceremony. there are two ladies who are getting their souls cleaned, i guess — it's hard to know what's going on. chanting and grunting. this is extremely intense. can you explain a little bit of what is happening? like an exorcism?

each baksy is different, and this one incorporates elements of islam, kazakhstan‘s most followed religion. there is a power in this room i can't describe right now. i have never experienced anything like this. so now it is my turn, having witnessed the devotion vera had to the process, i felt it wouldn't be right to go through it without the same belief.

so we agree on just a blessing for myjourney. but then unexpectedly, i seem to be getting the full treatment. growling and grunting. it feels good to make the sound, but i don't know what to say. he is coaxing...as an experience alone it is very powerful. as the process continues, the baksy calls on the totem animals as they did many years ago here. i may not believe in everything that is happening here, but i do like to open myself to the experience as a traveller. all i can say is, i know i feel something. although many muslims here frown on these ancient ceremonies, for some kazakhs, they are a direct link to their nomadic past. it's the world's ninth largest

country, but kazakhstan is also one of the most sparsely populated. its people were traditionally nomadic, with their lives tied to their environment. today, travellers come to explore its relatively untouched landscapes. i want to find out more of the kazakhstani people's relationship with nature today. so i am heading east to the aral sea, the world's fourth—largest lake, or at least that's what it was. welcome to the dusty streets of zhalanash. if you can believe it, this used to be a bustling fishing village, but if you come over here and look down to the ground, you can see what used to be the bottom of the aral sea. there is not much

fishing going on now. it has been called one of the world's biggest environmental disasters. the sea which stretches the border between kazakhstan and uzbekistan was once about the size of ireland. back in the 19605 the immense stretch of water began to dry up. around 90% of it was wiped off the map, and with it the livelihoods of many of the people who lived on the sea's produce. i had heard that here in kazakhstan the sea was actually coming back, and bringing travellers too. so off i go, in search of the aral sea, across miles of the old seabed. i have arranged to meet a guide in this region.

he wanted me to see the full extent of what the sea, which was actually a large lake, once was, thousands of years before it dried up in the 20th century. the view from the top! what caused it to recede so far? the flow of water was diverted to feed the soviet cotton industry. uzbekistan still remains one of the world's top

producers of cotton, but while uzbek side of the sea remains mostly lost, interventions have meant the north aral sea in kazakhstan is returning. approaching the shore, one of the biggest draws for travellers has been the eerie sight of shipwrecks scattered across the old sea bed. spiderwebs everywhere. here we are. the aral sea. at one stage this was the fourth

largest lake in the world, and soon it will reclaim that title. i made it. birds chirping, fish jumping, sun setting, i get it. i get it now. it's a beautiful place. good morning. this is where we spent the night last night. it might look like we're in the desert, but actually it was very cold this morning. the bedding was just a simple roll out pillow mat on the ground with some blankets. but this is the fishermen‘s house. we're up early this morning because they are going to take us out to catch some fish. they are chipper. myself, i'm working on it. but it should be a good day. my hosts tell me i am not the first traveller to stay with them

following the sea's return. but not all of them take the early—morning fishing run. the sun has not yet crested over the horizon of the kazakh steppe. today we are fishing, and on the fishing team, we have one sleepy, inexperienced travel show presenter, we have our hosts, one of whom you know already, our fishermen and his father in the back. these are our boats. out there, there's a lot of fish, and our plan is to catch them and bring them back to shore. 0k. we're maybe 100 metres offshore. we've encountered the first net. so from what i understand, the net was put out last night right before sunset. and it stays out until sunrise, and they come out and pull it

back in, and every day is quite a surprise. but it seems that over the years there are more and more in the nets almost every single day. ok, so it's my turn to give this a shot, pulling on the net. it's not too hard, actually. it's interesting, because it is like when you are fishing with a reel, you can feel the fish taking on the net. you must love it out here. so we've been pulling the net

for about 30 minutes, now. the basket‘s almost full. so i think we're probably getting near the end. we have caught a lot of fish. and besides the amount, they are big fish. myself, being a traveller, being out with people is always special. here you can tell that there's a lot ofjoy in the job this morning. it's not my life being out here covered in fish scales, bor them, you can tell that they absolutely love it, especially when they can bring in a haul like this. i wanted to see how kazakhstan‘s relationship

with nature is changing. so i'm meeting up with the mountain guide back in almaty. she's agreed to take me out to some of the places she likes to explore. we begin at the location of one of the country's most impressive cultural sites. wow, they look almost like paintings. they're petroglyphs. and these cliffs are covered with petroglyphs, right? this isn't the only site, there are many sites. there are many sites. there are about 5000 carvings here. wow. it was discovered in 1957 by archaeologist maximova. and it's more than 5000 carvings on the rocks in — in this area. and this is the central part, which is very significant and very important at that date, because people was speaking from here, and it was served as a pantheon. so you could clearly hear what they were talking about down in the valley,

where the people and crowds were standing and listening. so here we see the 12 dancing men, which is doing the ritual dance. and here it's a women who is giving birth to a child. as you walk around the site, it's amazing how many carvings you see, here. this here is the club? yeah. karla tells me it's thought they believed the more animals they carved into the rocks, be more animals they would successfully hunt. it adds to the experience today, being able to come just in touching distance of things so old. i'm used to multiple layers of security, men making sure that you don't breath on art like this. but being able to see every little chip out of the stone really makes it special. but what karla really wanted

to show me was how some people are mixing old kazakhstan with the new, sandboarding on kazakhstan‘s most famous singing sand dune. famous because under the right conditions, the dune makes a humming sound, almost like an organ. wow. it's huge. you can see the little dust devils twisting up the sides. it almost looks alive. the skin of the dune, sweeping back and forth like a snake. and it almost is. over the past 150 years it has moved three metres. slowly, but it is moving. it's incredible. i don't know how we are going to snowboard down it.

along for the ride was karla's friend and olympic snowboard trainer leanna. the dune reaches a height of 150 metres and let me tell you, while it might look placid from a distance, it is a different story when you're up there. it's a little windy today, but we're on the singing sands. i guess that's always how it is here. for myself, i have gone snowboarding before. what are some differences with sandboarding ? 0k. lean back, yes? that being said, it was comforting knowing that i would be going slower than on snow.

and also the cool thing about a sand dune is there are are no trees! so it's safer, right? there is no doubt this is the definition of an extreme sport. there are i am strapped in. i think i'm ready. this way, yeah? like this? ooh — and then the board comes... woah! this is a lot of fun, although i promise you that you get sand in a lot of places you do not want sand.

one of those places is your mouth. i've got — i've got a bit of a crunch in my teeth right now. but woah, it is a rush. karla's about to come down. she's standing up. she looks excited but little bit nervous. you've got it, karla, yeah! but before long, we're starting to get the hang of it. this is a lot of work. what's incredible, though, is when you come down, as the sand starts to avalanche, you can feel it shaking and reverberating underneath the board. it's very cool.

it sings as you come down. we've got our final round from the very, very top, if i can — if i can make it. let's stay here and take a break for a sec. yeah! and with that, my trip to kazakhstan is at an end. and what a ride it was. i bet some of you are dreaming of somewhere hot and sunny. a cold start the weekend and soggy for some. the rain is easing away from western pa rt of some. the rain is easing away from western part of the midlands but remains wet through east anglia and the south east corner and the

channel islands. also cold and windy. temperatures barely in double figures. a financing the day. lots of sunshine around. skies become clear into the night. rain easing away from the south east corner and channel islands. why towards the hebrides. in between, clearskies, like winds and longer night. a widespread frost away from towns and cities. crisp autumnal start tomorrow. that day for england and wales. dry and sunny throughout. a lot more cloud, much more breeze, touching gale—force. outbreaks of rain coming and going. most persistent across western part of scotland. tomorrow, temperatures up a little bit on today and next week feeling a bit warmer. hello this is bbc news. the headlines: division and protests across america but senators are expected to approve president trump's supreme court nomination later, despite sexual

assault allegations. toxic air pollution is much worse in eight areas of england than previously thought, the government has revealed. the doctor will see you all now. gps trial a scheme where some patients share their appointments. ray galton, one half of the comic—writing duo galton and simpson, has died at the age of 88. as well as the sitcom steptoe and son, the duo were also the writers of hancock's half hour. going, going, actually gone.