this is bbc news, the headlines. america's leading infectious disease expert has warned of a ‘disturbing surge‘ in covid— nineteen cases in parts of the country. anthony fauci told the congress the next two weeks would be critical to stop more infections in states such as florida, texas and arizona. the british prime minister boris johnson has announced a significant easing of coronavirus restrictions in england. restaurants and pubs can re—open injuly and the government has relaxed its 2 metre rule.mrjohnson said he would take "full responsibility" if the relaxation of measures backfired. the world's number one men's tennis player novak djokovic has said he is "so sorry", after becoming the latest tennis player to test positive for covid—19. he had been playing at a tournament he organised in serbia and croatia, which was scrapped after 3 other players also tested positive.

now on bbc news... hardtalk. welcome to hard to talk. since george floyd died with a white police officer's knee on his neck new conversations have begun across the world. not just new conversations have begun across the world. notjust about policing, it's about all aspects of life. my guest today is andre leon talley who was creative director of american vogue magazine. when the time when the fashion industry was almost com pletely the fashion industry was almost completely devoid of senior black figures. does fashion still have a problem with race?

andre leon talley in new york, welcome to hard to talk. he published a memoir, a very interesting title, the the chiffon trenches, which he suggests both elegance and beauty and distance of warfare. do you feel you've been fighting some sort of a battle throughout your life? . i'm certainly have. that's an apt description of the title. a title and made up years ago. before he even wrote the book admitted the title of my first memoir and did not use that. i fought many battles, i've been in trenches all my life. as an american, african—american black man, a descendent of the enslaved people who were brought to this country for hundred one years

ago, my daily existence is an uphill battle of survival. every black man has to wake up and realise that he is black in a country that promises him all the equality, equaljustice for everyone, and it's not. therefore my life is a constant survival in the trenches. i get knocked down, get up, shut down i get up. not only in my personal life but my professional life as well. and in my professional life when i was in paris, new york and all of that. do you think you would have said that very same thing 30 years ago? what was 30 years ago, 20/20, what was 30 years ago? i would have said that, yes. i did not write a book 30 years ago but i would have said that for sure. i always felt that even as a teenager growing up in the segregated south and going to segregated schools. going to

college, i always felt that i had to be smarter than the counterpoint that was next to me if he were white, and i had to be smarter and i had to work harder to get to places where i earned my position in the trances, that chiffon front row of fashion and style. when i got to paris in i978i was in the front row of the shows in paris. i consider my friends to be the great titans of fashion. carl lagerfeld, mr valentino who is still a great friend of mine to this day. 0ften invited to his homes in paris and new york, and or switzerland. and so this is what i've always done.“

new york, and or switzerland. and so this is what i've always done. if i may, i want to come back to the arc of your career and all of your extraordinary experiences in this fashion business, but before i do that i want to pick up on your thoughts about your own childhood. because so many black boys brought up because so many black boys brought up in relatively poor circumstances, as you were, by your grandmother in durham, north carolina in a small home without any spare money to spend, so many boys in that situation do not escape the confines of their environment. but you did escape. big time. how did you do it? i escaped because i had knowledge. i had great knowledge. i was very curious, the only child, and by the way it's an assumption that most people, we were not poor. we were not on welfare or in public housing. my not on welfare or in public housing. my grandmother was a domestic made ata my grandmother was a domestic made at a university for 50 years of her life we always had money, always had food on the table. my also parents

my sent money to me. my parents were living in dc, i was born in washington, my parents were not divorced when i was very young and we re divorced when i was very young and were constantly sending the money and world book encyclopaedias. the first big gift i got for my father was a complete set of leather bound world book encyclopaedias. and that was a gift, he gave me that gift, he selected that gift, my father had a governmentjob. my mother too. that up governmentjob. my mother too. that up in the world to me and i was exposed to reading. i was always reading and creating a world through literature, through magazines, through vogue. i populated my imagination and i propelled myself through reading things. especially vogue magazine, i loved french literature but i was reading in english. i loved balzac. iwas

literature but i was reading in english. i loved balzac. i was a precocious child but reading all the time. i dare say those are specialised interest in your peer group and at school. others were of running around playing baseball, basketball, football i was sitting in my house in a pale pink room reading. one other aspect of your childhood that you have been honest about in your memoir and i believe you rarely if ever talked about it before, and that was the terrible experience, the traumatic experience of sexual abuse as a young boy. why did you decide it was important to tell the world about that having kept it inside yourself for so very long? i kept inside myself untili was 70 years old when i wrote this book. i had never said to anyone that i had been sexually abused. a therapist, a minister, a friend, a

brother, anyone. iwas therapist, a minister, a friend, a brother, anyone. i was abused very young and serially abused by several young and serially abused by several young men in my neighbourhood that we re young men in my neighbourhood that were not strangers. i thought that ifi were not strangers. i thought that if i said to my grandmother this had happened to me, that it would have killed her. iwas happened to me, that it would have killed her. i was ashamed, happened to me, that it would have killed her. iwas ashamed, i knew something had to happen, but ijust kept it bottled up inside of me and this is simply a part of me that did not overrule my life. i was not a victim of my sexual abuse, i thought idid was victim of my sexual abuse, i thought i did was right on the conservative role based on going to church every sunday and religion and faith in god, andi sunday and religion and faith in god, and i thought this is happened to me and maybe happens to people and it's something you can't talk about. but i thought it would shame my grandmother, it would have killed

her. she died and i never told her. i never told anyone, my father, my mother. i never told anyone. not even my best friends. lets talk with the fashion business. and the way that you got into it. you works, i believe, as an intern. you met some extraordinarily influential people who became mentors of yours. you then in the early 1980s began in association with never one who has arguably become the most powerful woman in the fashion business —— anna wintour. she had an association, a working partnership that lasted many, many years. did you feel as your career took off and you feel as your career took off and you became creative director at vogue magazine did you feel truly accepted in that world? oh yes, i felt accepted. i thought the people we re felt accepted. i thought the people were authentic and sincere about who i was. made great friends were still

my friends today. a great french designer. i always had very good and loyal friends. they did designer. i always had very good and loyalfriends. they did not designer. i always had very good and loyal friends. they did not keep designer. i always had very good and loyalfriends. they did not keep me there for my looks, they kept me because i was smart. i was absolutely smart. i knew everything there was could've possibly known about the history of style in europe and france. but i'm also very aware we are talking about the late 70s can be the 80s and 90s, the fashion business was a business which found it very difficult it seems to accept black people in senior positions. not many black models, so if you are black senior executives. now, you tell me that you had all these great friends, but were you not aware that there was a systematic discrimination problem in the business that was yours?” discrimination problem in the business that was yours? i was a lwa ys business that was yours? i was always aware that there was a systemic discrimination problem, but

i beg to differ there. models became important in the 70s. the black models. they became the most important things, superstars. i've been reading around this little bit. look to the words of beverlyjohnson who was one of the first really well—known black models, she was on the cover of vogue, i'm sure you know her well. she has since written that silence on race, was then and still is the cost of admission to the fashion industry's top echelons. people like naomi campbell has said the same thing. if you were aware of that why did you not speak out about it? i did not think it was my role to speak out about it. i had earned my place in the world of fashion through my smartness and my knowledge, i had been given a seat at the most important papers, w0 m e nswea i’ at the most important papers, womenswear daily and evoke. as i got ingrained into vogue i used my

monthly column, life with andre, style facts, tally sheet and i try to advance the cause of diversity in my monthly work. in my monthly columns. and i think that i consider myself a quiet activist, i don't go around with a fog horn or bullhorn saying let us in, let us in, knocking at the door. this was not my role. is not really so much a question of what your role was that she was deeply personal because you found out, for example, that in paris amongst of the catwalk there was one senior paris amongst of the catwalk there was one senior woman paris amongst of the catwalk there was one senior woman executive who, yes she called me queen calm. -- queen conch. i've had many incidents like that in my life. yet another woman that she regarded as a friend... she was not a friend! you had to describe this

woman as a friend, lulu. that is so wrong. lulu was a dearfriend. and i will always say that when she used that term wait, let me finish. i need to... where you let me talk? she used of the n—word with regard to you. that was not the first person. she was at a luncheon and perhaps used that word thinking she was making a complement to me calling me the n—word thandi, and that was on her knowledge of nancy, a break book called he go. nancy was an extraordinary woman in terms of style history. to make a short story, a long story short, lulu was not a racist and i did not couldn't that he may consider it a racist

comment. in this era of black lives matter, of a real sense of black people will no longer put up with so much that they put up with before, do you regret... i do not regret anything. i do not regret anything i've ever done. i'm terribly focused on black lives matter. i'm sitting here today aware of the injustices and people not putting up with the social, state sanctioned lynchings of black people by policeman, i'm aware. i've never regretted anything in my life. when i was at vogue it was not my role to go around saying let us in, there's no diversity, do you think that that was my job? let us in, there's no diversity, do you think that that was myjob? i was working at a fashion magazine. not a political magazine. i was not working at a weekly news magazine, i was working at a fashion magazine that promoted fashion. it was not my

role to be an activist! 0k? that promoted fashion. it was not my role to be an activist! ok? in my personal life i have an activist. every single day. let's get to the fashion industry and what has happened in the last few weeks since the killing of george floyd at the hands of white policeman in minneapolis and all that has come since then, a whole range of industries including fashion. here are the words of anna wintour, her former apology from her own staff at conde nast earlier this month. she saidi conde nast earlier this month. she said i want to say this to the black members of our team, i can only imagine what these days have been like, iwant imagine what these days have been like, i want you to plainly know that vogue has not found enough ways to elevate, give space to black editors, writers, photographers, designers. we make this mistake. i ta ke full designers. we make this mistake. i take full responsibility. when you heard that statement did you feel it was far too late? did you feel a

sense of vindication, what did you feel? i have put a moratorium on any comments about anna wintour anna wintour. i have set an exclusive interview last week. what i thought about her statements. 0pening interview last week. what i thought about her statements. opening a moratorium on comments about her from no one. you have referred to your time with anna wintour in retrospect as being a truly difficult. you had a close relationship, by 2016 it was going bad and by 2018 it really soured. and in the memoir you write all sorts of things about her style of management can you call her the generalissimo, you say that she could turn on you and that it was extraordinarily difficult to work for her. why did you stay so long? extraordinarily difficult to work for her. why did you stay so long ?|j stayed so long because i had a position and it was a good salary. good paycheque. but did you not have

to suffer humiliation to keep that position? i moved around quietly. i'm a quiet activist. i can get things resolved and make a contribution by acting quietly. i can contribute by acting quietly. i was proud when i gotjennifer hudson on the cover when she was in dream girls, the break—out star. i was very proud when i was designed by anna to do the first cover profile of our first african—american first lady michelle 0bama. i stayed because i can make a difference by staying and i had a good paycheque. these days you describe how you would love anna wintour to reach out and at least say something to you. you don't appear to have any contact with her now. why do you still care so much? it's quite obvious from this interview that you care a very great deal. i consider anna a friend. i think she really cared about me, she did wonderful things for me. she intervened, she was concerned about my health because of my weight. she got me an loan to buy

my weight. she got me an loan to buy my grandmother a big new house which i owned now. paid the loan off after 30 years. i consider her a friend. we spoke the same language about fashion. and i considered her a friend. and i was hurt. i was hurt by the friendship, by the way she just dismissed me off the red carpet at the met gala as also when she just, she asked me to do the podcast, the first vogue park after nine months itjust vanished into the vapors without any explanation. 0thers the vapors without any explanation. others have said that anna wintour is ruthlessly committed to the commercial success of her organisation, conde nast and she moves with the times when she has to and that you perhaps did not. and tom ford has said that you maintained a sense of style which was perhaps redolent of days passed

with its focus on elegance and beauty when the time of the fashion business was changing very quickly, do you accept that maybe you did not move with the times particularly in a world of social media?” move with the times particularly in a world of social media? i would say that that possibly could be applied to me. perhaps i think that i am up with the times for sure, that i am very aware of the times. i'm very aware of the racism, i'm very aware of the class systems of english culture. i'm very aware of everything that happens. i wake up everything that happens. i wake up every day and reading james baldwin, looking at dave chapelle's great eight minutes 46 seconds masterpiece performance about the killing of george floyd. i'm sitting here focused on the times. i'm a person that believes that without the past you cannot have a future and cannot go forward into the future. the past is always present. if tom ford said

that i think he is right to have its own opinion, and i think that anna wintour will be at the top of her mountain for as long as she wants to be. and of course conde nast has appointed a black editor to the uk edition of vogue. does that signify something important or is it perhaps reading too much into one position? it's extraordinarily important. he's a friend of mine and when he got the job i congratulated him i an e—mail and he said thank you, andre, you have paved the way. he continues to say that that paves the way. they made me feel very proud. they maybe feel good that he would admit that i paved the way, no one is saying that i the way except edward. it's extremely important that defining the future of conde nast, recently harper's was ourjust names the first black female editor as editor

in chief, and this is the way of the future. they've got a black man at british vogue and samara at harper's bazaar. and this is a first in the history of the harper's bazaar. and therefore the future is all about black people who have been given the chance to prove who they are. we have much to give up. we have built this country, black slaves built the capital, they built the white house. black people have built the railroads. black people have built the country and black people have spilt their blood from lynchings and wars, and serving in wars. without wishing to get too personal... call me andre. you did say that you were never allowed real genuine love into your life. a loving relationship.

wondering whether that reflects nothing we were talking about before on the way in which you had to compartmentalize the pain in your life, and whether that has made you unwilling to be vulnerable.” life, and whether that has made you unwilling to be vulnerable. i would never went to therapy because of my sexual abuse or had any kind of professional mental health help. i do say i don't know how to be intimate, i don't like people to touch me. my whole brain is scrambled because of the sexual abuse, and it was cereal, it was not one time. but as i have gotten older, at the age of 701i‘ve been blessed with this great house and beautiful garden which has a very extensive upkeep, and i've opened up my life more and i have great friends, the love of great friends. i have ten great friends i can count and they can, and i can rely upon them. alexis thomas, janice mays,

these are african—american women. i have a great friend chad cooper who i know that helps me. go to the grocery store and drives my car to run errands for me. i have many great friends. wonderfulfriends. the pastor of my church, i dedicated the book to my pastor. i consider him a great friend. i could call him up him a great friend. i could call him up and it will take the time to pray with me if i'm situation that i feel panicked and excited. growing up in my grandmothers house in the 50s and 60s in the south, people did not know about therapy. i never knew come up black people did not go to a shrink, rich or poor. you went to church. and they were silent, not spoken about. i feel that i have matured at the age of 71 and i have let people into my house. people used to come to my house and i would not let them pass the porch. noah let them come to my house come

inside. just a final thought, do you think that for a young black kid growing up in the united states today with your smartness, ecstatic stands in your determination to get on, do you think they will have it easy, that generation, this new generation of black kids then you had it growing up in the segregated south? absolutely. without question. because of the social media, the platforms and digital platforms, the influencers, they have the opportunity to express their voice. they have an opportunity to direct their own narrative and a journey. more of a chance today for the young african—american man, boy, male or female to get ahead in fashion. i see evidence of that everywhere. and i'm proud of that and happy to see the progress. there's a lot of work to be done and progress has been

made. andre leon talley, i have to end there. thank you so much for being on hard to talk. it was great talking to you, thank you so much. on tuesday the temperature reached 29 celsius around london. at the end of the week we are likely to find the weather breaking down with a bang but for the next couple of days the heat and humidity will continue to build. looking at 90 fahrenheit. the heat and humidity coming in from continental europe and spilling its way northwards to a much of the country. that one coming in around an area of high pressure but by the end of the week the pressure pattern looks very different. lowering pressure to me and from the atlantic threatening to sweep some federated downpours in from the west on friday.

we have rent rent for northern ireland. also work try and clear skies and 12 to 15 degrees. the rain in the northwest will gradually peter up towards wednesday. the cloud thing skies brighton and such a particularly for southern and eastern scotland where should be quite warm. england and wales we have the gentle breezes and strong sunshine and temperatures continuing to climb. 30 degrees in birmingham, 31 in london. and you probably noticed like i have that's the pollen levels are very high. notjust across england and wales but across northern ireland and scotland as well. as we move into thursday there could be some thundershowers towards the far northwest of scotland to move away. later in the day maybe just a hint of things to come with some showers in cornwall. but thursday is going to be the peak of the heat. the warmth will continue

to push its way into scotland. not getting the extreme heat in northern ireland. 90 fahrenheit and that's in london on thursday. in the changes we head into friday. a bit uncertain but that lowering pressure and some of those thunderstorms begin each develop. in list under a downpours push their way east through the day. kabila burke heat and miss towards the southeast and the last of the heat is really getting pushed more towards eastern parts of england and elsewhere there's scriptures are starting to drop away. in that process will continue over the weekend. 20 or 21 will be the best we will manage by sunday and maybe a bit of rain around. they can be quite usually windy for the time of year.

this is bbc news. i'm mike embley with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. as cases across america rise, the top infectious disease expert tells congress the next few weeks are critical. right now, the next couple of weeks are going to be critical in our ability to address those surgings that we are seeing. the fbi says bubba wallace was not the victim of racism after a noose was found in his nascar team's garage. opening up and getting closer — england relaxes social distancing to get the economy moving. we look at the science behind the new rules. we can now make life easier for

people to see more of their friends and family, and