one of sport's most iconic stars, siya kolisi made history by becoming the first black captain of south african test rugby, leading his team to world cup glory in 2019. for so long a symbol of white minority rule, the triumph of a diverse springbok side is a potent symbol of hope, progress and pride in the rainbow nation. the win capped a remarkable fairy tale for a man brought up amid poverty and violence in a township, but whose spirit and talent saw him rise to become one of the most inspirational figures in sport. now in a new autobiography, kolisi has revealed more about his life, and he agreed to speak to me from his home in south africa about what he wants to achieve now. this is his journey.

i believe it's notjust my story, it's the story of many south africans. and a lot of them will never be able to tell their stories, and i believe that i had to tell mine. i would love for them to just come in and see the things that they always complain about and the opportunities they get. i am hoping this will get more people to step out of their environment so they can think, notjust for me, i think for my community. yes, i want to look after my immediate family, but what am i doing for the next kid living in the same environment i did? how can i make sure his tomorrow is much better than mine looked? you write about your floors and the journey to becoming a better man, a better husband, a betterfather. you talk about your battle with alcohol, and it may surprise

many people around the world, who probably see you, like many other superstars in sport, as a kind of flawless, perfect figure. why was it important to be so open and honest about the challenges you have overcome? that's the exact reason. people look at me, and especially on social media, you don't post all the struggles you have, you only show the good times. we call it the highlights reel, social media. i also have got a responsibility, notjust to young people, but everyone, people my age who are struggling with stuff. people think, how can i get there if i'm struggling? i want people to know i am fighting these battles,

but i have to be strong. it's ok for you to go and get help when you need help. i've got good people around me who keep me accountable. rather the thing killing you, help yourself before it gets too late. people realise it's too late for them to get help, and i want to talk about that, i want people to know that i am a sinner who is trying to be better every single day. i will never be perfect, 100%, but i am still enough as i am. as well as mental health, you've spoken about gender based violence, what is the origin of that? to what extent did you experience that as a boy growing up? at home, right next to me while i'm sleeping, i wake up and hear the screams of my mum or my aunt. or working to school, seeing someone getting beaten in the middle of the street.

no one doing anything about it. people were like, it's none of their business. you see it so much, you think it's normal. you go to school, and they don't teach about that. what you're seeing is not right, even though you see it every day, it's not right to teach people like that. men are the problem. men are not protesting this. men are not asking the government to change, it's always women. but it is actually a man's problem. there are times when i could have said, stop it, but i didn't do that. i acknowledge that, and now i want to make it right. i couldn't make a difference for my mum or my aunt, but now i have a voice and my wife

has been strong telling this story. i want to encourage men to speak up. some men don't know what to say. then ask, there's no such thing as a stupid question. just standing there and say, i'm with her. they keep saying let's teach young boys, but let's teach men, too. if men become right, the young boys will see the example and they will know this is the way to behave. for those who are yet to read rise, how difficult was your childhood when it came to poverty and hunger? being hungry was a joke to me. but it goes past being hungry when it is painful in your stomach. my intestines, i could feel them twisting in the middle of the night and i would scream to my grandmother

and she would get me some water and that would settle everything down. it was so painful, i was sitting with my friends who grew up with me and i was talking about this. i knew i didn't have to explain myself, they knew exactly what i was talking about. people of my community, they might be poor financially, but we are happy people, resilient people who want to work hard for the things we can get. when i go to drop off parcels, they don't like that, they want to work for what they have. i know how strong the community is, and that is what taught me never to complain and use what i have around me. even though things were broken, i still want to training. and then another opportunity was opened because i was ready and was training. if somebody tells me i can't do it, i keep on going until i make it. that is the life i had to lead.

i am trying to teach the people to live in a mentality that they can be whatever they want to be. even though the situation around them is hopeless. you mentioned abuse and earlier mentioned social media, and one of the big challenges we face in the uk with regarding some of our black sports stars is online racial abuse over instagram or social media generally. is that something you have experienced? how concerned are you about the effects of that and the role these big tech giants have in it? it's horrible. people call me all kind of things. sometimes i wonder if they think we don't have feelings or this stuff doesn't matter to us. every now and then, you read it.

i don't even read the good parts, which is sad because that one person who says something mean. you shouldn't be getting that kind of hate like that. everyone is allowed that opinion, but they can keep it to themselves, they don't have to write it there. people should stand up a bit more. cos we work hard every day, we're under pressure and we have to perform. we go out there and we give it everything we can. you're not always going to win everything, you're not always going to perform as well as you usually do. when you have been called because of your skin colour, and i saw it when england played in the soccer, i knew that was going to happen. that's the sad part. people are not surprised any more. we should protect our kids from social media, we should protect them, cut people off. they shouldn't be allowed on those kind of things because we're just doing our best. what about them when they do a horriblejob in their work.

no one gets to say horrible stuff like that to them. me and my wife, the stuff that they're calling her a waste of spurn, she is wasting a good gene by marrying me. that stuff hurts, and she took it very hard. cos i try and ignore it. it's horrible, and that stuff should be addressed. people say, you must take the good and the bad, i'm like, no. you've mentioned your admiration for lewis hamilton, naomi osaka and here we have the likes of marcus rashford talking about child food poverty and raheem sterling about racism. you are very much at the centre of a new era it seems of athletes activism.

athletes using their profile to change society. how important do you think it is that superstar athletes like yourself and those others i haven't mentioned do have opinions and use their profile to try and improve society because there are some who say, stick to sport, don't get involved in society or politics, just focus on your main job? i think that's selfish. when you stop playing, then you have to face all the stuff and you have the platform to use your voice, and the thing is, you don't have to speak up about everything. you can speak about something that matters to you. i believe there's a soldier for each fight, and we are battling to make sure this world is a better place and we are fighting for a lot of people that can't fight for themselves.

the thing is this, if i'm fighting for this, we're not fighting against each other, we are both trying to make the world better so if i fight my fight and i succeed, when i am finished, i can come and join you and i can acknowledge what you are doing by supporting you. we have the platform, people listen. we can influence so many people as sportsmen. politicians won't be listened to, people don't listen to politicians, but they listen to us. i don't want my kids to battle with what i battled with. that's why i fight, because when life stops, we are still a human being. sport is not who we are, it's what we do.

good evening. it has been the warmest new year's eve on record, with temperatures well above the average for the final day of december. temperatures through the afternoon got up to 14, 15, 16 degrees in places, and those temperatures not falling quickly at all. by midnight, we will still have values around 13—14 degrees in many places. so, as we move into the start of 2022, it will be exceptionally mild, quite windy as well. dry for many, but not quite for all because some outbreaks of rain will be drifting across northern ireland into south west scotland and north west england. by midnight, many other places will be dry. confirmation of those temperatures, 13 degrees there for birmingham, ii in glasgow, even aberdeen seeing a temperature of nine degrees to take us into the start of 2022. the wind a big feature, gusting up to 40—50 mph or even more in some exposed coastal parts

in the west as we get into the first part of saturday morning. so, we start the new year with low pressure up to the north west of the uk, and a lot of white lines, a lot of isobars squeezing together. so, that shows that it will continue to be quite windy through new year's day. lots of dry weather and sunny spells, but this band of cloud will bring some rain eastwards out of wales and across england. the rain not particularly widespread, but it could be heavy at times, and some more heavy bursts of rain likely to develop into northern ireland and western scotland through the afternoon. but in between, many places dry, still quite windy and still extraordinarily mild, 13—16 degrees quite widely. now, it stays unsettled on sunday. a mix of sunny spells and showers or longer spells of rain, but a slight shift in the wind direction, now coming in from more of a westerly direction, so it won't be quite as mild. temperatures still above the average, butjust a little down on where they are at the moment. and as we move deeper into the new week, well, there is a bigger change on the way.

it will still be unsettled, that's not going to change very much, low pressure still in charge. but as this low slides its way eastwards, it will open the door to a cold northerly wind. so, for tuesday and wednesday particularly, things will feel very different. single—digit temperatures for many, some wintry showers possible in the north and it stays that little bit cooler throughout the coming week.

this is bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines. countries around the world are seeing in the new year, with scaled back celebrations, as the omicron variant continues to drive up covid infections. entire neighbourhoods in the us state of colorado have been engulfed by flames as wildfires force tens of thousands to leave their homes. the nhs warns of significant pressure in the coming weeks, as covid infections in the uk reach a new high. the staff that are at work will be caring for more patients, trying to do more to cover for their missing colleagues, working extra hours,

starting early and