which is straight after this programme. there was bodies lying on the pavement, bodies over seats. there were screams...and wails. i had to get out. chairs flying, plaster coming down. i started screaming. i actually said at one point, "if i die, remember i love you." the ira have inflicted their war on the nation. the loss of life — innocent people killed in the blink of an eye, dying for no reason. it was mass murder— on the streets of birmingham. another 50 years and we're still waiting for the truth. report: this is bbc radio birmingham your local news station. it's 7 o'clock.

# i've seen the yellow lights go down the mississippi _ # rve seen— the bridges of the world... # it was november 1974 and i was 21 years old and looking forward to getting married the following year. life was just exciting at that age. in november 1974, i wasjust i9. i'd had my birthday in october, so i was only young. me dad, he was a bit of a lovable rogue, bit of a ladies' man, so to speak, and he was a huge fan of aston villa. the tavern was the place to be. people came from all over. it was right in the centre of town, so it was easy for everybody to get to. i was engaged to ian, he was my fiance at the time and we lived in different parts of birmingham, so we used to meet in town most nights of the week. and the mulberry bush was a regular haunt. we used to meet friends in there. and it was not a party—type pub,

it's just a nice atmosphere, you know, a nice, relaxed atmosphere. my father was... he was with his friend on the evening. he was playing cards and he'd gone into town to go to a club called the rainbow club. it wasn't open, so he was heading back into town. and it was one of those really miserable november nights. it was dank, it was foggy and just seems wet all round you, even if it's not raining. it was quite busy because it was late—night opening, it was payday for a lot of people, so there was quite a buzz going on. my name is eric noble. in 1974, i was a 25—year—old - constable stationed in birmingham. on the day, we were deployed to the airport at birmingham l where the body ofjames mcdade i was due to be flown back to belfast. james mcdade, we believe, - was laying a bomb at the telephone

exchange in coventry when it blew up, killing him instantly. - i'm michael buerk, and in november 1974, i was a young network television new reporter on duty for the bbc. the ira were the irish republican army. they were a republican terrorist group whose political purposes were to achieve a united ireland and who, for six years by then, had instigated a campaign of terrorism, of bombing and murder. and there was a general air of tension right across the west midlands on the day. huge numbers were at the airport expecting something to happen, i and in the event, it happened in the city centre. _

we knew a few people in there. we knew stan bodman. ian had played football with his sons and gone to school with his sons. we knew the bar staff quite well cos we were quite regular in there and it was just a nice, relaxed atmosphere in the pub. the tavern was a downstairs pub and you immediately went into a deep underground bar. there were booths on the left, all interspersed with these wagon wheels which they'd used as decoration, really. stan, he always stood at one end of the bar. when we went in, we always used to go to that end of the bar to buy a drink and say hello to him. and he said, you know, "let me get you a drink," and ian said, "no, she wants to talk to me about something." i walked up to the bar, bought my half of bitter and sat down with a big wagon wheel behind me. had we stayed with stan,

things would've been very different. phone rings evening. post and mail. there's a bomb planted in the rotunda and there's a bomb planted in new street at the tax office. this is double x. there was a warning, - but it was a vague warning, a coded warning from the ira, | but a vague warning identifying new street and the rotunda, . but never mentioning the pubs, the tavern in the town or the mulberry bush. i screaming

sirens blare we were sat under the stairs talking about a christmas party i was going to, and suddenly... ..i felt as if i was just floating through the air. i don't remember landing again. there was lots of screams going on and i think you realised straight away what it was. as i was sitting there, all of a sudden, there was such a fantastic bang. and looking across, immediately the lights went out of the mulberry bush and there was debris flung all over the place. the front of the mulberry bush was completely missing. there was bodies lying on the pavement, bodies over seats and everything. well, it was just without any warning at all. - i was just standing with about four friends and there was a flash - and a blast, which seemed to, you know, just go on and on. i and after that there were just things flying all over- the place, you know. i wasjust thinking, - you know, "god, help us." ian was calling to me and eventually when he got to me,

he started moving lots of rubble off my leg. and i thought that was the only injury i'd got until i got outside and they lay me on the ground, when i felt as if my stomach was just tipping out. i had a piece of shrapnel go through my hip and lodged in my bowel, and i actually said to ian at one point, you know, "if i die, remember i love you." sorry. i don't usually get emotional. everything just fell in. the roofjust came straight down. i don't know what hit me anyhow. i think it was a table or something. i'm not sure, but everything just went black and just scrambling over each other to get out. it was downtown, it was, in one of the pubs downtown. ian was leaning over me and i could feel the blood from his face dripping onto me and he thought that was me bleeding badly, but it was he himself. luckily, ian was wearing a sheepskin coat, which was all

the fashion then in the �*70s. i think the jacket actually saved his life because he had quite a bad facial injury and bad leg injuries. but the rest of his body was protected by this coat. i was born three months afterthe birmingham pub bombings, in the february, 1975. sadly, my father died in the pub bombings with his friend, neil "tommy" marsh, when he walked past the mulberry bush. it's a different feeling for me, because i didn't experience all that pain, the pain and the anguish that a lot of people did. my mother did, my mother's never got over it. you know, she doesn't talk about it a lot, she finds it quite difficult. ian got me into one of the first ambulances that got there, but because he was standing and walking, they didn't take him. so he said, after i'd gone, he went back into the pub to see if he could see stan, where stan was. and he said it was just a pile of rubble where stan was standing,

so we think that's where the bomb was. so the first bomb went off at the mulberry bush - at 8.17, six minutes later. it was simply impossible j to evacuate in that time. there was a sort of rumbly—type sound... ..which i now know was the mulberry bush bomb. we sort of looked up, as you do, and thought, "what was that?" i suppose we carried on chatting. and then, sort of everything stopped. everything went black. there isn't a sound when you're that close to a bomb of those proportions.

it overtakes your whole body. it's a vibration but it's not a fast vibration. it's a deep, underground sort of vibration that goes through your body. archive: both pubs - were blown open, and one is in danger of falling down. the police were given no chance of clearing the pubs _ before the explosion. police told me the bombs were placed in such a way as to cause maximum injury. just came back. it was a bit quiet in there, then. then the next thing, bang. in the pub itself? in the pub itself, yeah. and everything went... glass was flying, chairs flying, plaster coming down. people rolling. it was terrible, really. so, i was on a pub bench. the wagon wheel pushed me forward. maybe it saved me. maybe it covered me, or protected me from more of the blast. i don't know how long i was out for.

so, when i woke up, it was dark. but it was burning. i went to raise myself, and realised i wasjust surrounded by rubble and upturned furniture. i was on duty that day in the television newsroom, in the television centre in west london. the telephone started ringing. and before you know where you are, the phones arejumping off the hook all over the news room. i got fired off to birmingham, up the motorway. as we were going, listening to the radio, it was just becoming clear that this was a bombing on a truly dreadful scale. i heard cries for help. i can't remember specifically, but i rememberthem in my head as wailing. archive: what did you see? nothing. a big noise, and it was black. you were in the pub, were you? yeah. which pub were you in? in the tavern in the town? yeah. you heard the explosion? yes.

what happened? it all went black, and there was a big noise... it was a massive noise. i started screaming and... people... ..heard people scream. oh, it was... you know, it was horrible. it was like a nightmare or something. what sort of injuries have you got? i've got a fractured cheekbone. all the rest are just superficial. there was a light at the top of the stairs. that was my goal, to get to that. but in front of me was rubble. it was like an old war movie. my instinct said, "get out, get out, get out." and ijust climbed and climbed towards the light at the top. and i only remember one single policeman, who said, "what's it like in there?" and... i said, "what the bloody hell do you think it's like in there?" i was taken to the magnum hotel — where that entrance is there now. one man was brought in, and his face was gone on one side and... everybody was just shocked. it was, "what...?" we just didn't know what had happened to us. archive: in the seconds following the explosion, |

there was panic as people in the city centre tried desperately to get out of range of the bombs, and were thought by many to be the bombers themselves escaping. it was indescribable. these bombs were incredibly powerful. the mulberry bush was just a black hole. the explosion had blown holes in nine—inch thick reinforced concrete. there were body bags on the pavement. there were two bodies that had been blown so hard through some section of wall that they were very, very difficult to recover. we were directed back to the city centre. we didn't know exactly what had happened, but we suspected it was serious because of the urgency. i parked outside digbeth police station. the rest of the crew were on their way up to the rotunda. i was locking the van up, and i came across a taxi driver carrying a tarpaulin from his boot,

and i saw body parts. er... it was then i realised how serious this incident was. there were people, dazed people, still around the pubs. i remember particularly a guy in a double—breasted blazer. i think he had sort of blood on a bit. and he was crying. it... when we arrived at the mulberry bush pub, it was quiet, and it was eerily dark. and we could see mayhem. bodies and body parts lying on the ground. i think there were still some firemen doing what they had to do. but there was a cordon all the way round, which we were tasked with securing. all day and through the night, medical teams at three of the city's main hospitals have been coping with the injured, nearly 200 of them, some of them gravely ill. i went to, from memory, two or three hospitals now. and the hospitals that night

were a terrible place to be. there was a man lying next to me on the other side of the ambulance, and i looked at him and thought, "oh, gosh, he's in a terrible way," his face was quite bad, not realising how serious, at that point, my own injuries were. most of them have got some kind of burn on them, - a flash burn from the flash of the explosion, rather. than the fire afterwards. there were a variety. of abdominal injuries. several patients have got quite bad blast injuries to their lungs, - which is a fairly serious thing. some nasty limb injuries — and we may lose some - limbs in consequence. and one thing which struck me very | forcibly was that many of them had j | got innumerable wounds of various sizes from flying splinters of wood. i had a piece of metal go through my leg. i had a piece of shrapnel go through my hip, through my stomach, and lodged in my bowel. i had a gash to the back of my head.

and i had a quite bad burn to my arm. i remember interviewing a doctor who had got a piece of wood that was, you know, part of the furniture in the pub that had been blown into the body of some poor young victim. well, this was an extreme case, i but nearly all the injuries had i fragments of wood driven into them. they all had to be fished out. and some of them were very minute pieces, and some - of them were big pieces, - and this was the biggest one. another doctor talked about a young man who'd had both his legs blown off, and how he'd died of shock on the operating table. ijust have vague memories of the priest being there and giving me the last rites. they weren't sure whether i would live or die that night. fortunately, i didn't die. but i was a week in intensive care. the removal of the bodies and the body parts from the scene was really the worst part, the most horrific part. one of our unit didn't want to handle the bodies, and we respected that.

but the rest of us realised the importance of doing it, and doing it respectfully. this was on a really different scale. those pubs were packed. and that sense of a city being... ..being dazed. i suppose we'd made three trips to the mortuary. it's hard to explain how horrific the situation was. and the policemen doing their best in what can only be described as mayhem — blood and guts everywhere. that will stay with me forever. immediately after the bombings, there was huge outrage. hang them! hang them all! the sooner we send some gunboats

and the raf over dublin — the centre and the cause of the trouble — then we'll be getting nearer the solution. frightening everybody, and it's got to be stopped one way or another. so i work with a few irish lads, and they're good lads, and they're going to get blamed for trouble they haven't caused. you're irish, aren't you? yes, i'm irish. i'm from belfast. do you fear there's going to be a backlash of feeling against people like yourself? well, i sincerely hope not. birmingham had a large irish community, lots of irish pubs, which a lot of the policemen enjoyed, and a lot of the irish people were outraged too. but there was a backlash against the irish community. having come from an irish background myself, - it was quite horrific, really, to think - of what was going on. my own father was irish, i and there were irish people killed in those pubs. we had to deal with lots of incidents where bottles were thrown through windows of irish pubs, irish people being attacked. for some time, there was quite a feeling of animosity towards the irish.

newsreel: following their appearance in court, medical checks have been - ordered on five of the men. one, who had a black eye on monday, today also had a cut nose. _ others had black eyes, - cuts and bruises on their faces, and swollen lips. we didn't know immediately that five and subsequently six suspects had actually been picked up, and were being interrogated. what had happened was, five of the birmingham six were on their way to belfast to attend the funeral of james mcdade. an alert ticket clerk at new street station had spotted these irishmen and tipped off the police. six people were convicted of one of the most awful crimes ever committed, locked away for 16 and a half years, on the basis of dodgy, confected forensic evidence. all sorts of other irregularities — beatings up, forced confessions.

it was one of the biggest miscarriages ofjustice, if not the biggest miscarriage ofjustice, in british legal history. for 16 and a half years, - we have been used as political scapegoats for people i in there at the highest. i the police told us from the start| that they knew we hadn't done it. when the birmingham six were arrested, i was a child. i'd always grown up thinking that they'd done it, and then when they were released, and there was the miscarriage ofjustice... from '91, '92... for me, it feels like it's still 1992 now. it was like having a prop - pushed out from under you. we'd always felt somebody was paying, if you like, - for what had happened to us, and to have this taken away. was quite devastating. nothing's changed. we've been knocking on people's doors and they've been putting hurdles up for us, whether it be the west midlands police, the government.

and we keep knocking away, and nothing's happening. you know, ijust don't think we'll ever see justice, - because there's too much gone on, too many years gone by, _ and too many things said and done that shouldn't have been— said and done. and to this day, nobody else has ever been brought - tojustice for it, which, - again, is something that i've had to come to terms with, - and i don't think i ever will, in my lifetime, see justice. ijust want the truth. just an honest truth. whether i like the truth or not, i want the truth. 50 years, and we're still waiting for the truth. it's all different now. this bears no resemblance to how it was 50 years ago. this was the mulberry bush over here. this was pure mayhem.

during my 30 years, of course i've dealt with lots of horrific things. but nothing that i've dealt with subsequently has compared to the horrific nature of the whole night, and the hands—on way that we dealt with the bodies will stay with me forever. i saw the most hideous crime that had the most appalling violence and death visited on lots of innocent people. we're in a situation where nobody has been held to account for that. i'm a survivor from that terrible night, and i know many were not so lucky. some survived, but with injuries that will impact their whole life. i don't like going into enclosed spaces, into buildings. it's affected my whole life. i'm a survivor with scars.

dad was a passionate villa fan. i'm the same. father and son things, they're magical. it's unfortunate that i can't share that passion with him, but me coming here, there's a piece of him that's here, that's still present, with me and with villa. that's one thing that i've got. while i'm coming here, i'll still have that. very early on, i sort of accepted it and tried not to be bitter- about what had happened to me. i got very involved with a project in ireland to do with peace - and reconciliation, and i thinkl in some ways, that helped me understand more about the whole situation of the irish. _ i've moved on with my life, and ijust think i'm lucky. l you know, i've had a good life.

hello there. well, storm bert has given us some very severe weather conditions right across the uk through the day on saturday — heavy snow, rain, strong gusty winds. potentially more disruption to come too. it's not over yet. here are some of the strongest wind gusts through the day on saturday. high wind gusts recorded across some mountainous regions, and it could be windier still for parts of the channel coast on sunday than it was on saturday. there's been a lot of rain around as well, a number

of flood warnings in force. that number could well rise for the rest of the night and through the day on sunday. there's more rain to come, certainly more strong, gusty winds. here's the centre of the low, moving very slowly northwards and eastwards, tight squeeze on the isobars. more snow melt across scotland tonight and that could add to the flooding problems, perhaps, here with the rising temperatures into tomorrow morning, that milder—feeling air. still gales, particularly for exposed coasts, and a lot of heavy rain piling into south—west england and wales. but look at the temperatures as we start off the day on sunday, and compare that to how cold it was earlier on through the week. so, a very mild start to the day. there's more rain across south—west england, in through wales and stretching up to yorkshire, humberside, perhaps, moving southwards and eastwards through the day. some hazy sunshine, dry weather to the north of that and more showers packing into western scotland and northern ireland. but very windy for western scotland, down through the northern isles and for northern ireland as well. gusts of wind here of up

to 75 miles an hour. up to 65 for some of these channel coasts too. but a very mild day — we could get to 17 celsius, perhaps, given any brightness in the far south—east of england, that rain clearing away from here as we head into monday morning. still very windy towards the north. there'll be heavy, persistent outbreaks of rain still here. it is a cooler day across the board, but certainly drier further south. still a few more showers out towards the west, perhaps. as we head through monday as we head through monday and into tuesday, the storm and into tuesday, the storm is moving off towards scandinavia, is moving off towards scandinavia, so we are going to see lighter so we are going to see lighter winds across the board. winds across the board. in fact, the winds are coming in fact, the winds are coming in from the north so it is going in from the north so it is going to be feeling cooler. to be feeling cooler. watch out on wednesday — watch out on wednesday — there could be more rain there could be more rain in the south from another area in the south from another area of low pressure, pushing further northwards and eastwards, so generally cooler into the start of next week. there will be more sunshine around and lighter winds. watch out for some rain in the south through the middle of the week. bye— bye. of low pressure, pushing further

went into overtime. whilst some celebrate, other nations, including india, say the deal falls far short of what is needed. officials in lebanon say more than 50 people have been killed in israeli air strikes on beirut and baalbek. hello, i'm helma humphrey, good to have you with us. —— helena humphrey. world leaders have agreed a major deal on climate finance, after days of negotiations and complex twists and turns at the cop29 conference in baku. in an agreement welcomed with applause, wealthier countries will offer $300 billion per year to poorer nations for efforts to fight climate change. just hours ago, talks were on the verge of collapse, when the group representing poorer nations walked out. they eventually returned to the negotating table, but were angered by an offer from wealthier nations —

that was far short of the $500 billion they wanted.