ou said, is now so far away, we forget how difficult it was to do that. so we've got this very exciting archive. the copyright certainly rests with you. well, that's interesting to know. so, they're your images. they're gonna be... £1,500, 2,000. really? oh, yes. i'm very surprised. that's great. and possibly more. so... it's a good legacy. it is. i'd like to keep them. after all, what would christmas be without the royal broadcast? wouldn't be christmas. not at all. now we're leaving cornwall and heading back to glorious bodnant garden in north wales, where even the green- fingered staff dug out some treasure for our experts. so, here we are, bodnant in wales, with a view of knole in kent. how come? well, i'm head gardner here at bodnant now,

but prior to my position here, i was gardner at sissinghurst, and sissinghurst was the home of vita sackville-west, and her birthplace was knole, so, hence, the connection. and vita didn't inherit knole, as it passed through the male line. she bought sissinghurst nearby to knole, in kent. i mean, how did you get this? nigel nicholson, vita and harold's son, was clearing out the attic, and he asked me and a couple of gardeners to help him carry things out... ...and put everything into a skip. ( gasps ) and he said, "anything you want, take it away." there was lots of stuff, but this one particular painting caught my eye. very, very nice. well, i actually know this artist that painted this, called frank moss bennett. now, he specialized in doing historical genre painting. and he was born in the 1870s, and his great period was 1920s, '30s, '40s, and they did loads of prints of his work. and his usual subject matter are elizabethan interiors with people wearing their wigs, very grand interiors,

'cause that's what people liked to collect in the 1940s, '50s, '60s. and here he's gone to knole and actually done a study of the interior of one of the main rooms. this is unusual, then, an interior? it's not unusual. it's unusual to have it without any figures. i see, yes, yeah. this is just one of his studies... ...and i would think that vita probably kept this because he would have gone there and made lots of studies in the interior of the house, and i expect she said, "oh, i really like that. can i keep it?" i'm sure that's why it was there. she loved knole. she was really upset that she couldn't inherit the place. and i just love the early tapestry here, and then you've got the ebonized cabinet here with the vases. fantastic detail. well, it's in the original frame. this is this ebonized type frame. it's not in great condition, and it's oil painted onto canvas board. that is canvas laid onto board. it is wonderful. um, value-wise, it does have a value, even though it's just a study by him,

and i would say somewhere in the region of about £1,200 to 1,800. is it? yeah. now, i will tell you, if it had had figures in it this size, it would have been £4,000 to 6,000. interesting, isn't it? but i actually prefer it without the figures. well, i love it like this, yes. well, this is an intriguing collection we have here: some enameled buttons with a name on, "e. tusker," a photograph, an enchanting casket as well, with a fabulous inscription on the top. what's the connection, and who is the lady in the photograph? well, the lady in the photograph is my mother, and she was born in 1890, and this photograph is of her at the age of 19 or 20, when she would have been attending the birmingham school of art and learning to make jewelry, leatherwork, enameling, and all those things. excellent. and did she make this box, then? she did, yes. gosh. and she sent it in for a competition and won a prize.

and the prize was? i really don't know. it'd probably be a small sum of money, i would think. how wonderful. and so that would have helped her to make more jewelry, yes. and on the front, on the top here, we've got an inscription, and it says, "not what i have but what i do is my kingdom." and then, inside, if we have a look, we have some more pieces of jewelry which i'm assuming she made. yes, yes. she made all of them. and they're particularly lovely, particularly to the color-- vibrant, strong. purples, greens. that's right. and it's quite a strong message on the front of the casket as well. and these colors were associated, of course, with the suffragette movement. so i've learnt, and that's quite interesting because her elder sister was very much involved in the suffragette movement. mm-mm. so, possibly, the influences come from...? possibly she might have suggested... she may indeed. yes, definitely, because of course people say that the colors green, white, and violet

were associated with giving women the vote. that's right. and so, consequently, there's a hidden message... ...as there often is in a lot of jewelry, you know, whether it be romantic or, in this aspect, a political nature. yes. i had never known that before today. ( laughing ) excellent. so, really pretty, made with enamels, silver, opal, little amethysts, and some white seed pearls-- very delicate in that respect. and it's a great reflection of how the arts and crafts movement was working at the time, from about 1890 into the early part of the 20th century, using very basic materials to bring a handcrafted look back to jewelry, which is excellent and very much led by makers such as arthur gaskin and influenced by burne-jones. but there's another necklace which i think is absolutely exquisite. and do you wear this at all? yes, i wear it a lot. yes, yeah. and my mother explained that they had to make every single little bit of gold chain themselves... exactly. ...and all those little wheels and things.

well, part of the arts and crafts movement was that you were making everything by hand, but what's interesting about this piece is, of course, it's with gold, and normally, it's more of the art nouveau period, working alongside the arts and crafts period, that was working with gold and finer-quality pieces, so, it's absolutely amazing how delicate all these tiny little links are, and the patience that she must have had to produce the pieces of jewelry is quite fabulous, indeed. um, a lovely selection. obviously, sentimentally, it's worth a huge amount to you, and really something that would work exceptionally well within a museum. if we were to put a value on it, then i think, as a collection, if it was sold at auction, you'd perhaps be looking at something between £1,500 and 2,000. oh, good gracious! well, she would have been amazed. i'm sure. she lived until she was 96... ...but she wouldn't have had any idea about that at all. no, no. ( gong resounds )

the mysterious sound of the far east. what a fabulous gong! where did you get it from? well, it's been in the family since we were children. it belonged to my grandmother, and we've always lived with it, but apart from that, i know absolutely nothing. and a real spider trap, yeah, and a dust trap. definitely! yes, definitely! but do you like it? i do. it's very bizarre, but, yes, i love it. well, i can tell you where it's from because it actually says on the back. i never noticed! i'm glad i've got a job. yeah, it's signed "klier & co., rangoon." really?! klier & co. would be not the makers, but the retailers, and rangoon, of course, is in burma. gosh! yep. but i knew it was burmese, because look at how lively the carving is. it's made of teakwood, and the gong is obviously bronze. but it's so active. of course, the piece is centered by this beautifully carved, crisp, opening lotus blossom, the very symbol of buddhism, the symbol of the buddha, and of course the burmese practiced a type of buddhism,

theravada buddhism, which was, of course, rolled into their local interest in the natural spirits of the forest and the landscape. i've always been intrigued by the paintings, or the images. it's lovely. now, these are spirits, or divas, as they were called, and you would find figures like this in palace carvings, around the doorways of buddhist temples or palace complex^ it--it's almost certainly made for the tourist market, in and around 1890, 1900. gosh. it's a beauty. um... value... my own thought, a very healthy £500 worth of carving. oh, right. yeah, well, and thanks so much for bringing it here. it's been a pleasure. we've enjoyed seeing your gong go. thank you. thank you very much. thank you. so, you fished this out of your safe deposit to bring it to me. now, what did you think it might be?

well, i thought it might be a faberge. yes. well, it comes from russia, but the real rub is that it's not by faberge. oh, isn't it? no. oh, dang! dear me! yes, i know. suddenly, the pennies didn't fall out of the slot machine. no, no. but that's not really why you brought it, because it's a most beautiful piece of russian cloisonné enamel. cloisonné enamel is a very ancient russian technique. it was made in the 17th century, and at about the turn of the century... ...there's a huge revival for it. yes. "cloisonné" because a cloisonné means a honeybee cell, and it's a french word, really, to evoke separation. each color is separated with a tiny wire, a silver wire soldered onto there. but what is utterly exceptional about your piece, and i really do love it, is that it's a sort of 17th-century style beaker that's gone through the sort of mangle of the art nouveau movement. it seems to owe something to german art nouveau here, jugenstil, and then, i can't think how cloisonné enamel

could be more beautiful in a way than this sort of mad kind of sizewell "b" hydrangea here. it's a sort of mutant ninja hydrangea. i love it. and, um, so, what's it mean to you? was it a gift? yes, i had a few things from a lady i used to work, you know, years, years ago. a russian lady? no, she wasn't. no, english, yes. and just a collector, and it's a lovely thing to be given, and we've got to consider who it might be by if it's not by faberge, and happily it's spelled out here, in cyrillic, and it's made by a man with a rather wonderfully russian-sounding name. he's called ivan khlebnikov. couldn't sound any more russian than that, could it? and he's a very, very, um... famous firm of silversmiths competing with faberge in moscow, and competing to him at a very, very high level indeed, because we see above the signature here what looks like a sort of funny little star, but in actual fact, it's the romanov eagle, which signifies that the czar and the czarina,

the last czar and czarina, were customers of theirs. and there's another indication that this is a very, very high-caliber object indeed, because it has the silver standard 91. it's slightly above the standard for russian silver, which more often than not was 84 parts silver in a hundred. this is 91, so it is a high-status object. and they are very, very sought after, and in a way, when it was given to you, it was really only worth maybe tens, twenties of pounds, but today... today, it's much, much more because of the russian interest, and i love it quite beyond its price, really, but i'm going to stick £2,000 on it. oh, very good, yes. ( both chuckle ) worth bringing it. thank you very much, yes, thank you. thank you very much. brilliant. well, you've brought me two really interesting objects here. the first is a book, the gwineddion: or an account of the royal denbigh eisteddfod, held in september, 1828. yes.

now, you're talking to an englishman in wales. i see. i take it you're a welshman. very much so, yes. so you're going to have to tell me a little bit about what the eisteddfod is, or what the eisteddfod was. well, the eisteddfod as an institution is the most important thing in the welsh life, and the culture encompasses literature, art, music, drama, all that sort of thing, and, periodically, eisteddfodau are held. they are gatherings of people who compete. right. it's an annual thing which takes place every august. right. is it something that goes back a very long way? a very long time. the earliest eisteddfod was in the 12th century. so this gathering in 1828, in denbigh, was part of a very, very long tradition. oh, indeed. the other thing you've brought here is a medal, which i'm assuming must be one of the prizes won at the eisteddfod in 1828. of course, i don't read welsh,

but i can make out the words "eisteddfod" and "dinbych." yes. how would i pronounce that? "dinbych"? "dynbych" is the welsh word for "denbigh," yes. this particular medal was awarded for a particular form of poetry called an "englyn." an englyn is a 4-lined stanza. in this instance, the title was awyren. awyren in present-day terms means an "aeroplane." 1828? of course there were no aeroplanes at that time, but it referred then to a balloon. it's a beautiful object in its own right, and turning it over, there's this really breathtaking image. i-i think it's so beautiful. i guess i'm hoping that the account of the royal denbigh eisteddfod will have a copy of the poem in it. does it contain the poem itself? yes. i wonder if you'd do us the honor of reading it to us. certainly. ( reading in welsh )

of course, this medal must be entirely unique. oh, it is. and therefore, of course, it has to have some kind of commercial value. i wouldn't be at all surprised if these two items together brought £1,000. that's a lot more than i paid for it. i'm very pleased to hear that. it's good news. yes. a block of mahogany, a brass back and a brass front. what do you reckon that timepiece was used for? i think it was used on trains in victorian times or early 1900s. that's a reasonably good guess,

but i'm glad to say it's wrong. oh, right! okay, it is, in fact... ...a mail guard's watch on a stagecoach. this fellow here, george littlewort-- and it says "maker, london," so that gives the game away slightly, was free of the clockmakers company in 1822, and he supplied the post office with the majority of these mail guard watches. the heyday of the english stagecoach really was the 1820s. trains came into use a couple of decades later, so i'm interested to know why it might have been of railway use. because my father was a goods agent with the railways, and he was given it supposedly as a railway piece of memorabilia. this is how he-- where he thought it had come from. right. well... there was always a key there, which is now missing, sadly, and that allowed-- oh, i see why you think it's of railway interest. we'll come to that in a minute.

that allowed this back plate to slide out, and there you've got the winding, the setting of the hands, and the slow/fast. remember, the stagecoaches then were running pretty much to the minute, and, really, until the 1860s were running and carrying passengers and mail out in the provinces before the railway network stretched that far, and the demise of the stagecoach was thought to have started in round about 1838. and it just so happens that, on the back here, we have... "london to birmingham railway," which started as one of the first commercial passenger networks in 1838. so that's come from a stagecoach to be used on the railway, euston station no. 2. right. now, that is a wonderful bit of social history. it is. it's in slightly rough condition. it's covered in muck and filth inside, but you obviously haven't had it looked at for many a year.

have you ever known it to work in your lifetime? no. okay. ( chuckles ) then you're going to be very surprised, 'cause that lump of wood is an exceptional item. i'm going to give you two valuations. go on. i'm going to give you an evaluation for if it was just a mail guard's watch. have a think what that might be, just as a mail guard's watch, without the railway interest. £50? mm, i think you're going to be happy. oh! ( laughs ) if that popped up at auction, just like that... ...it would fetch between £2,000 and 2,500. oh, dear! ( laughing ) and the next one, with that railway interest, "euston station no. 2," this is a railway enthusiast's dream. in the right sale, i could see that making an absolute minimum of £5,000. ( laughing ) it's a wonderful thing. i looked at this and thought, "ohh, could it be worse?"

and then i thought, "well, i don't know, actually." who would come up with a color combination of duck-egg blue and this pinky color? and then to mount them with deer heads in biscuit, and antlers and wild boar and lurcher dogs and retrievers, and then set them on a chinese carved-wood base-- but it isn't, it's all porcelain-- gilded and picked out in black. i mean, the thing is... extraordinary, and the more you look at it, the more interesting it becomes. did you inherit these or buy them or...? i bought them about 15 years ago at an antiques fair in buxton, and i saw them and just fell in love with them.

what particularly appealed to you about them? where i walk my dog, there's a deer park, and we've always had dogs... ah, right. okay. the whole combination. okay. okay. did they tell you what they were when you bought them? um... late 19th century, parisian. okay. half right. i go along with the parisian. i think they're pretty definitely paris porcelain, but i would put them rather earlier than late 19th century. the... the way they've picked out the details here in black was a very short-lived thing, and it's characteristically around the 1860s, and the whole thing is kicked off by queen victoria and prince albert at balmoral.

you can imagine these sitting in balmoral, with the hunting and the shooting and the fishing, absolutely would fit perfectly, and that's what's going on here. now, combining biscuit porcelain-- that is, porcelain without a glaze on it-- and glazed porcelain, here painted with flowers, can work extraordinarily well, and it does here. i think it's very, very good, and i would take a... a fair bet that these are 1862... an exhibition piece for the 1862 exhibition. really? yeah, i think that's what they are. london. if you didn't like them, you could grow to like them, i think. i've always adored them. well, i can absolutely see why. i don't normally go for this sort of thing, but these really do kind of work for me. um... what did you pay for them? uh... £3,900.

right. i think if we found these in the catalogue of the exhibition, which i think we just might, you'd be looking at £4,000 to 6,000 without any trouble, so i think you did very well indeed. thank you. ( clears throat ) don't be tempted to break the dogs off and sell them separately. certainly not! ( laughing ) thank you. thank you, david. this is not silver. it's actually electroplated. so why am i interested in a fish serving knife with a bit of seaweed engraved on the back? well, the answer is-- turn it over-- it has some of the finest engraving i've ever seen on a piece of electroplate, and, in fact, it ranks among some of the best engraving i've seen on silver. this is absolutely beautifully done. so, what do you know about its past?

well, in about 1952, i bought it in a little junk shop in worlesy for 30 shillings. that's not a bad buy. wasn't it? i think that this slice, together with its fork, actually tell a story, and if this was an oil painting, i think it would be entitled the fisherman's return because on the blade here we've got, i think, the fisherman's wife looking rather pensive, rather doleful, and fish in a basket at the bottom, and if we look at the fork, there's the husband out at sea in the sailing boat, doing the fishing, and she's waiting for him to come back. what i find absolutely astonishing about these pieces is that they're such wonderful quality. they've got big ivory handles on the end. why did they make them in electroplate rather than in silver? so, 30 shillings in 1952.

i don't know what that equates to in today's money, but all i can say is that this is really a work of art. this is such superb quality... really? ...that i would think... ...a pair of fish service of this quality, probably £400, £500 for the pair. good gracious! oh! i think they are absolutely drop-dead gorgeous, and the quality of that workmanship is as good as anything i've seen for a long, long time. brilliant! well, the last time i saw beautifully detailed little models like this was when i went to see a friend who was a sea cadet, and i remember, in one of their cupboards, he showed me some beautiful little wooden models of ships. now, i always thought they were for recognition purposes, for the admiralty, but tell me more about them.

well, these models-- uh, the top ones-- were made for winston churchill by bassett-lowke in 1942, after the navy had lost a number of ships bombed by the r.a.f. and he decided we've got to stop this. we're going to have to teach our air crews how to spot a german boat, a british boat, an american boat. because of course from the air, ship recognition must have been terribly difficult. exactly. and do you know if they then went into production of these prototypes? yes, they did. yes, they... i'm told that churchill was thrilled by these, and he then instructed bassett-lowke to make a quantity so that they could be sent to various places where they'd had problems. now, of course, bassett-lowke was very famous for steam locomotives,

for model-- model steam engines... exactly. ...and train sets, that sort of thing. but i'm fascinated by what your father did. what-- what was he doing in the firm of bassett-lowke? my father was bassett-lowke's best friend. right. and they traveled the world together. right. and i have here bassett-lowke's sort of signature, really, which he took around the world, showing people wherever they went. he said, "i can make the best models in the world." well, this is a watch case, a pocket watch case. and in there is the golden hind. good heavens! isn't that astonishing! yes. so they were well known... bassett-lowke were well known for producing these wonderfully detailed waterline models. exactly. originally in a seasoned lime wood, which is beautiful for carving. it's got a fantastic grain. and, um, because these ships were hand-built, these models were hand-built in wood,

they were incredibly expensive. and these boats were the initial... prototypes. prototypes, exactly, which bassett-lowke and my father took to the admiralty, and this is literally the original. i wonder if churchill himself actually looked at this very case? oh, definitely, definitely. isn't that astonishing? well, you've got military ships here, of course, but the bottom case looks like a history of shipping. tell me all about that. in the early '50s, it was decided that they would like to produce a unique set of models all to the same scale, one inch to 100 feet. right. and every model there is made to that specification. there were only two sets of these made. one is in the museum in northampton... ...and the other one is here. is right here. well, i feel rather privileged to be looking at it, in that case. um, after the war,

the admiralty, of course, had no more use for these recognition models, so in, um, i suppose the end of the 1940s, i think it was, they sold them, they sold them to the public, and they do turn up from time to time at auction-- very seldom, i have to say. um, and, um, a model warship, a wooden model hand-painted warship, today at auction can fetch sometimes up to £100. mmm. now, what does that mean for the prototypes? i mean... heavens! what an incredibly difficult thing to put a value on, i have to say! that's why we're here, you know? ( laughter ) i would say, and i'm gonna take the whole lot... ...as a collection... a package. ...a package, if you like, including the pocket watch, that, from an historical point of view is just astounding, i think you'd be looking at £10,000 to 15,000. really? that is, uh, a figure which... would glow in my father's heart.

( both laugh ) thank you very much! some wonderful items there from two beautiful gardens, and despite the weather forecasts and my mac, the sun stayed out for us too. from all the team here at the roadshow, bye-bye.

>> this is "bbc world news america." funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> union bank has put its global expertise to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news america."

>> this is "bbc world news america." reporting from washington. as north korea mourns the death of its leader, the region goes on high alert over what his son and heir will brain. and battling for the future of egypt. tonight, a journey to collect a small piece of american history before it is too late. >> in many cases, the post office is the embodiment of the community. without the post office, there is nothing to bind the people together. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and elsewhere around the globe. the dear leader is dead.

long live the dear leader's son. the only hereditary communist states, north korea. such is the paranoia and secrecy of the ruling elite that the death was only announced on monday. his son, kim jong un, has been named as the great successor. neighboring countries are on high alert amid fear of instability in the region. this report. >> this is the winner, a reclusive figure who ran the world's most secretive -- this is weird, reclusive figure who ran the world's most secretive society. his son will take over. the old leader died on saturday,

and the news unleashed a storm of emotion, genuine or otherwise. in north korea, you have to mourn the leader, as noisily as possible, especially on camera. but if you are a member of the political elite, you may well be sorry he is andrea no one knows what will happen to the country now -- you may well be sorry he is gone. no one knows what will happen to the country now. he was distinctly odd, sometimes gentle, sometimes capable of frightening rages. he was always destined to succeed his father, kim il sung , and when the soviet union collapsed, russia stopped

propping up north korea financially. >> there was an actual famine, if it is an extraordinary failure of leadership -- salmon, and it is an extraordinary failure of leadership -- and it is an extraordinary failure of leadership for someone who was called the dear leader. this is where the money which might have been spent on better living conditions actually goes, on the world's fifth largest army, 1 million strong. and even more were yingling -- more worryingly, they can now carry nuclear warheads.

>> we hope that their new leadership will recognize that engagement with the international community offers the best prospect of improving the lives of the north korean people. >> for now though, a pampered, holy inexperienced 28-year-old controls the future of north korea -- a pampered, wholly inexperienced 28-year-old controls the future of north korea. >> that is our bbc world affairs editor. john simpson. i am joined now by a former u.s. defense secretary. thank you for being with us. i guess the question is, how dangerous of a moment is this? >> i think it is dangerous because this is someone who is not tested with a global event,

living in a very isolated country, so what is going to happen in terms of his future? >> will vc to eliminate potential rivals to his leadership? -- will he attempt to eliminate potential rivals to his leadership? >> he is one of them. he is going to be their leader. number two, he will try to solidify the reputation of being a strong leader, and that is very dangerous. that is why the neighboring countries are on high alert, because in the next few months, not necessarily in the next few days, but in the next months, he may seek to provoke a reaction in the international community, using that to get more assistance. that is one of the things we can tell from the did you just ran.

-- from the bit you just ran. they have butter but -- they have guns but no butter. >> it is possible that there -- that north korea is still there and has to be dealt with. what if anything can the international community do? it does not add up to much. >> a secretary said that this is hoped, a new opportunity. -- that there is hope, a new opportunity. we would like to have an engagement policy with you, but make no mistake, conveyed to them that we are remaining very wary of what you are doing -- convey to them that we are

remaining very wary. there will have to be some steps on your part, and we will continue the sanctions against north korea and the kind of policies that we will respond with. very little flexibility at this point. should the north koreans do anything in the form of a military provocation, i think the south korean government would be hard pressed not to take reciprocal action, and that is why it is a dangerous. >> administrations have, in bonn and washington, different attempts being made -- administrations have come and gone in washington. >> well, you have a new leader. it is up to the new leader to see if he wants to walk a path towards generating prosperity for a starving people, and we can, again, send public signals

and private signals. wanting to have an open relationship with you, one that does not include you have a nuclear weapons or pursuing them. >> -- does not include you having nuclear weapons or pursuing them. i think china in the long term moral -- will see the benefit of having a unified peninsula, not be in the only state that props up the regime. -- not being the only state that props up the regime. i think long term, they will come to that conclusion. right now, i think they are pursuing the status quo to make sure they keep north korea still going, but certainly, they claim they do not have as much influence.

as you announce, and they are the only country supporting north korea at this point -- as you announced, they are the only countries supporting north korea at this point. >> and selection of pictures, showing some of the key moments in the life of the former leader -- a selection of pictures. now, in the philippines, the death toll of the flash floods now stands at 900. 800 more people are still unaccounted for. damage to roads are hampering -- damaged roads are hampering rescue efforts. kate reports. >> bringing them to the already

overflowing morgue. the philippine authorities are finding it hard to cope. hundreds of people are still heart -- still unaccounted for, and many bodies remained unclaimed. a difficult decision. >> we have decided on the advice of the city health officer that we should bury them temporarily because they are already decomposing. otherwise, this could affect the health of people nearby. >> it is not justification of the dead that is proving difficult. the people of this region have a mammoth cleanup task ahead of them. hundreds of hamas need to be repaired -- hundreds of homes need to be repaired, and many have had to find somewhere else to live. food and water. there are about 40,000 people

who have been displaced by the tropical storms. they are relying on the aid agencies for everything. many of them also lost a loved ones. not only have these families lost all of their possessions, many have harrowing tales to tell about how they were swept up by the water. some have the scars to prove it. one school was preparing for christmas, but now, it has become the only home these people have. kate mcgeown, bbc news. >> an arrest warrant has been issued over alleged terrorist activities for tariq al-hashemi. sunni leaders have come under attack from being -- the shia.

the president of pakistan has returned home after medical treatment in dubai. there was speculation he might resign. he is facing a scandal involving a memo, allegedly showing officials seeking american help. the syrian-backed government has allowed arab league representatives in. the syrian foreign minister says the deal was signed after the league accepted amendments demanded -- demanded by damascus. stretching into a fourth day, the death toll has risen to 13. the latest clashes are part of a systemic planned to sabotage the country's security, one says. topart of a system of plan

sabotage the country's security. for more on the violence, i am joined by a guest. thank you for being with us. your view is that what we are seeing now is the real revolution. >> i think so. i think what we first saw, the military coup that forced hosni mubarak from power, and now we are beginning to see people turn out in the streets against the military. this has been building for several months, because the government is no longer the facility eric -- no longer the wasilla editor of the transition. this is making it difficult. there are those that are saying it is time for the military to stand aside and make sure it does not hold onto power in the aftermath of elections. >> i suspect that many people who have looked at each of for a

while, the army has been the guarantor -- many people who have looked at egypt for a while, the army has been a guarantor. >> is looking increasingly like a military -- it is looking increasingly like a military junta, and it does not look like it will be over any time soon. the protesters i think increasingly backed by the winners are likely to take an even stronger stand in the aftermath of the final announcement in january. >> what about the people in tahrir square? we know that the vast majority of the country decided to turn out to vote, and many are concerned by what they see as a

threat from the people in tahrir square. >> is there going to be a really representative government for the first time in egypt? that is what the majority of egyptians want, and if there is not a sense that the elected will not be really running the government, then this issue may escalate. >> looking at events, it is in their interests that there is that continuity, because the army may have been the guarantors of stabilities in egypt but also in the peace process dealing with israel. if you remove them from the process, that is potentially dangerous, is it not? >> it is revolving into a real revolution, or could anyway. how do you define a new order?

the constitution, what comes next? the rule of law for the next government. the military wants to make sure that the religious elements do not have the ultimate say, that it does not become another saudi arabia, another iran, and other islamic state. -- another islamic state. >> the future of the arabs spring. >> 300 million people spread in 22 states. egypt, as you know, having been based there, he is always the heart and soul of the arab world. >> thank you very much. you are watching "bbc world news america." still to come on tonight's program, thousands come out to say farewell to the formal -- the former czech president. after a two-year struggle, and

application handed into a court, calling it the blackest day in the history of the country -- an application handed in to a court. a last-ditch financing plan involving a company. we have all the details on today's event and what it means for the current industry. >> it was just after the second world war, and saab launched their cars. they borrowed technology from their parent company, a builder of jet fighters. among their best models, the saab 900, a mainstay for many years. but today, the company appeared to have finally run out of road.

>> i-5 for bankruptcy -- i filed for bankruptcy for saab and two subsidiaries. it is a black day for me. >> last year, general motors sold the company for $500 million. in october of this year, two chinese investors agreed to buy saab out right. today, saab filed for bankruptcy in a swedish court, prompting speculation that it was gm's that had pulled the plug. -- that it was gm that had pulled the plug. the 850 showrooms around the world will also be waiting to hear their fate. bbc news.

>> in the czech republic today, thousands of people have been mourning the death of their former president, vaclav klaus, who died after a long illness over the weekend. he came to define the velvet revolution, and today, he is being remembered as overseeing a peaceful transition to democracy. a report. >> they came in their hundreds, a long line of mourners, snaking their way through the streets. they stood patiently, in silence, ignoring the chill of the december day, paying their respects to a man they still call president. a simple coffin stood on a bare stage. in death, as in life, he was flanked by the people who worked

for and protecting him. among the mourners, his wife, who was at his bedside at the country cottage he loved so dearly and where he passed away in his sleep on sunday morning. his death has transcended all rivalries, with tributes pouring in from political friends and foes alike. there was his successor who clashed with him and often bitter exchanges, vaclav klaus. it was clear where these people's sympathy is -- sympathies lay. >> i think that the czech people can be proud to have him as president. >> on the square, where havel

had addressed the thousands. preparations for a state funeral are now gathering, the first in the country's modern history as an independent state. then, finally, havel's family will be allowed to say their final farewells before he is finally laid to rest. >> the life and death of vaclav havel. the u.s. postal service can trace its origins back. post offices across the country are facing closure, a fact that has a 25-year-old traveling

across the u.s., recording post offices and collecting postmarks, which could soon be collectors' items. we caught up with the in maryland for this first-person account. -- we caught up with him in maryland. >> when i graduated, i realized i had not explored the country, and i realized i wanted to see more of america, especially rur al america, because i grew up in a city. i went across 29 states around the country, and over time, i began documenting some interesting experiences by going into the post office nearby and getting the postmark. that is a nice one. fantastic. postmarks are a way of documented time and place.

if you present something with a postmark, you have a little piece of history. that was here before '71. >> yes. >> and it has been this way since the 1600's, when postmarks were around. postmarks help me remember where i have been. there are so many favorite post offices i have been due for different reasons, for architecture, -- many favre post offices that i have been to -- many favorite post offices that i have been too, for architectural reasons. there is one in the back of a shop. few people know about it. the guide is sold me the big goals -- sold me the bagels also

ran the post office and the bat. if you take the time to look around, you really do discover there is much more to it. in many cases, the post office is the embodiment of the community. without the post office, there is nothing to bind the people together. the post office has been vital to the founding of community is all throughout america. -- of communities all throughout america. perhaps i can inspire other people to go out, and if not go around to hundreds of post offices, at least look at theirs with more appreciation. >> a charming story. getting as many u.s. postmarks as he can.

and a reminder of our main story tonight. north korea has called on the people to rally around the son of kim jong il after his death. he is being called the great successor. the news agency said that he suffered a heart attack on the train. his age was given as 69. people on the streets of p'yongyang whaled in grief after the reports of his death were reported -- wailed in grief. uganda to our facebook page. thank you for watching. see you back here tomorrow.

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