of these very distinct, tight scrolls. right. the maori settled new zealand some sort of 3,000 years ago, and of course, their art is extremely powerful, and they have incredible supernatural sort of mythologies about the creation, about the creation of woman and nature, and they put all this force and energy into their art. but of course, being warlike, this has a very specific function. it's, uh, sadly, for clubbing people, so... the choice of timber is crucial. it's tight, grained, hard wood, whh would obviously take a nice, crisp carving, but it was designed to literally bludgeon somebody on the temple. perhaps you'd take somebody's jaw off with it. and the pointed end for perhaps going into their ribs. so, it-- it's pretty nasty, isn't it? it is pretty nasty. but the one thing that really lifts this is the fact that it's dated. and... 1844. and, of course,

any polynesian carvings that carry a date are rare. yes. many aren't dated. there was no tradition of writing for the maoris until the sort of western settlers came. and of course, there are names on this. we have sanit, 1844, j. wat gabit, and on the other face, j. gash, and the date 1844, and various other sort of references. somewhere in the records, perhaps in new zealand, these names and the dates will all come together. these were worn ready for use on the waist by the maori tribesmen. and so, it's a powerful thing, but what's it worth? it's just a bit of old carved wood. if i was putting this in a sale, i'd put an estimate of £2,000 to 3,000. that much? that much. gosh.

beautiful sunny day, and we're surrounded by christmas trees. how and why have you started collecting them? started about eight years ago, um, just by literally going 'round antique fairs with my parents, and it just caught my eye, and since then, i've found it quite difficult to find them, to be honest, and i wanted to come and find a bit more information on them. and do you wear them? yes, yes. when? from the first of december right through till new year's day, i have a different one on, on a rotation. oh, fantastic. well, during the 1920s, it was a recommendation that women should have a piece of jewelry for every occasion, so you're setting the tone here. it's really great. jewelry, costume jewelry like this really did start to get very popular in the 1920s, as it was a chance for women to have lower-quality and less-expensive jewelry, and then as you go through the '20s and into the '30s and on into the '40s, designs were getting a little bit more exciting, and hence the reason why we get themes such as christmas trees. which is your favorite piece? i really like this one. this is the first piece that i bought,

and it kind of inspired the rest of my collection, i suppose. yeah, well, it's a good piece to have been inspired by, because not only is it from the 1940s, it also shows different styles of cuts, which can be quite difficult to do in paste, and it's imitating the get-cut stones that you would get in diamonds, which are the little rectangular ones there. the pear-cut stones at the top, again, often seen in diamonds. i think the pieces that really sort of stand out for me are the pair of earrings which you've got here. they're just so quirky, they're fun, they're really colorful. dating more from the 1950s than the 1940s, but just a fun set to have, and as a collection, you need to have variety. you also need to have good quality within the collection, but most of all when you are building up such a series of jewelry, you need to enjoy it and love it, which you obviously do. now, as a collection, all together, the pieces are worth somewhere between £200 and 300. really? ( laughs ) that's a lot more than i thought. thank you very much. well, just enjoy collecting. thank you, i will do.

now, david, if you've been paying attention during this series, you will notice that i have throughout been asking experts if, heaven forfend, their house suddenly went up in flames and they had to run out, clutching two of their most precious objects, what would they be? now i see what you brought. this is clearly cheating, so let's come to this in a minute. tell me about this one, first of all. well, this is a chinese bronze which i spotted in an auction house. i've never looked at bronzes seriously. i picked this up and i thought, "this is just fantastic." just look at these chi lung, which are sea dragons, sinewy dragons. this one's got a phoenix's head. there's one 'round here with a horse's head. and so it goes. and i thought, "that's-- i've gotta have that." it dates about 1680, somewhere 'round there.

and... i just love it. it's just fantastic. but is this one of your cherished objects just because you love it, which is a perfectly good enough reason, or is there something more to it than that? there's more to it, because it set me off in a completely different direction, which was to look at bronzes. and i started buying them, um, often for not an awful lot of money. are you trying to sell me this idea that this is all a whole of some kind? this is the scholar's table. the scholar's table. these are small objects which the chinese scholar would have about him. he divorces himself from the hurly-burly of life, and he goes off to a mountain retreat, and there he looks at the sunset, and the mountains, and the pine trees, and then he comes back and he writes his poetry, you see? and he has on the table a weight to hold the scroll down. he has... to rest his brush on. um, and he has objects to put his powdered incense into his censor.

and they would never-- no scholar would ever put this number of objects together. i mean, oh, dear, no. too cluttered. a few very carefully selected objects. but i'm a westerner. this is my second object. oh, right. okay. he is a paperweight. he's made of bronze, and he's a dog. a sort of slightly odd-looking dog. and what is it about him that makes him so special? does he appeal to you? well, he's snarling at me, david-- no, he's not. he is, look. no, he's not. he's arrogant. but what is it? why is he your second item? because i love the way he sits there, beside me, 'cause these sit beside my pc when i'm working, and he's got his nose in the air and he's looking down at me and saying, "who do you think you are? i've been around for 450 years. you're nothing."

so, he's absolutely perfect. i'll take him with me. thank you very much. not at all. it's most unusual to get american pop art turning up at an antiques roadshow. how come you've got these? well, my mother gave them to me for my 17th birthday in 1970. she got them from a london art gallery, and she was interested in modern art, and she was also with dennis bailey, who was a really good graphic artist at the time, but when i was splitting up from my boyfriend, he wanted a heart, and so i said to him, "okay, you can have one." so i gave it to him, and then my mother said, "you've gotta get it back. what are you talking about?" you know. so i said, "look, i have to have my heart back." ( laughs ) and so he did, reluctantly. but since then, i never would split them up. well, absolutely. i mean, he broke your heart, so it's rather mad to have given him your heart. yeah, it was. well, i'm very glad you got it back. um, jim dine was an american pop artist.

perhaps now not considered in the first rank with people like warhol, but in his day he was absolutely up there with the rest of them. and he was also a member of the neo-dada movement. and he certainly... true surrealist. true surrealist. exactly. yeah. um, he also was a man who did a lot of graphic art, yeah. and the lithographs that you've got here are part of a large series of hearts. he seems to have stuck with hearts and skulls and clothing, as well. mmm. and tools. and tools. one wonders why he got fixated on all these things, but anyway, he did. yeah. so, when your mother bought them for you for your 17th, do you know how much she paid for them? yeah, she paid-- uh, it was, um, $200. in london at the time. yeah, yeah. not a lot of money, really. no. or maybe it was a lot of money in 1970. well, yeah, it seemed a lot at the time. for my 17th birthday. "oh, my god!" you know? ( laughs ) seemed like a fortune. well, and you obviously love them. absolutely.

they're extremely popular even today, and of course the heart motif is perfect for the reasons your mother gave it to you. um-- and now i have 'em on my-- over my fireplace, and one is me, one is my husband, one is my son. perfect, perfect. so you wouldn't want to get rid of one now. no. no. no, i wouldn't. i love 'em all. and really i love 'em all together. exactly. yeah. so, together, um, she paid $200. this one on its own makes roughly $2,000 today. uh-huh, yeah. so, you know, the set, i suppose, would probably sell for somewhere around £2,000 to 3,000. uh-huh, right, right. so, hold on to 'em. ( laughs ) and a jolly-- and, you know, imagine how much they would've diminished by giving one away to your boyfriend. well, that's-- yeah, i mean, and anyway, it would've destroyed the whole point. well, i'm glad your mother talked you into taking it back. ( laughs ) yeah. this is a slightly odd bowl to be here.

really? yeah. where did it come from? it's from japan. in what sense? my husband bought it. ah, okay. your husband bought it in japan. he saw it in an antiques market. oh, did he? yes. and what'd he pay for it? about £50, i believe. how long ago? 1985. okay, what it is is not for the export market. this is for indigenous consumption, and why it's slightly odd to find it here. we've got a barbed rim. that's come from china, which eventually came from the middle east metal work. it's come all the way through to here. we've got on the back... ( clears throat ) six characters. mm-hmm. ta, ming, cheng, hua, ninh, ji. made in the great ming dynasty of the emperor chenghua. he was a 15th-century emperor.

ming? that's what the mark says. oh. you can never trust marks. ( chuckles ) this is the japanese putting on a chinese mark to say that this is really a prestigious piece. this curious cog wheel on here comes from a class of japanese porcelain called nabeshima, which was made only for the emperor and for the daimyos in nabeshima. why it's on here, i don't know, but it does slightly tie up with the front, this wonderful, gnarled pine tree in underglaze blue, and the pine tree is symbolic of old age and everlasting life. they've painted the pine needles here like real pine needles,

but they filled in the background with a pine needle stylized decoration. it's just right. i'm hugely envious. ( laughs ) it's got a slight condition problem here, but it's-- it is just-- it is just a joy, that dish. you haven't asked me when it dates from. i'm waiting for you-- i'm waiting for you to tell me. well, it dates from about 1680. it's a very old bit of japanese porcelain. made at arita for indigenous consumption. not a common thing to see at all. really? i think if it was sold here today, given that the market's flat as a pancake, um, you would still get £800 to 1,500 for it. really? so, his £50 was very well-spent.

it was worth bringing back from japan. absolutely. i would send him back on the next plane. ( laughs ) thank you very much. thank you. it's fascinating when you find something like this with the screw thread on the end. but of course the secret lies when you start to unscrew, and then... all is revealed. and it is...? an apple corer. absolutely spot-on. these were actually comparatively common in the 18th century, but of course, you've got to remember that apples at that time were not e.e.c. regulation apples. and generally, there was something crawling around inside, so... oh, right. actually coring the apple was a very good idea. but where does it come from? well, i don't know quite. i found it when i cleared out my parents' house. and i just put it in the back of a drawer a few years ago,

and i'm afraid i forgot about it. it was made in london. we've got the hallmarks there. and-- interesting date, actually. what's known as the "bar-s" 'cause it's got a sort of slash through the letter "s." and that's for 1793. oh, my goodness! so, george the third. little bit of age through it. wow. and the maker we can see over there. that's phipps and robinson. and phipps and robinson, they made all sorts of lovely little bits and pieces. oh, goodness. really top quality pieces, always. would that have been part of a set, or...? almost certainly it would've been a traveling set. yes. so, you would've had a beaker, there would've been a knife, fork, and spoon, which in turn would also collapse in the same way. there'd have been a little slot. this was a pretty standard piece of equipment in a traveling set, so, obviously they liked their apples yes, yes. as they were traveling around. there is an interesting other theory, as well. that not just for coring... but bearing in mind dental care wasn't good in the 18th century, if you didn't have any front teeth to talk of,

how were you going to eat an apple? so, you could just scoop bits of the apple and then put them in your mouth and chew them on your remaining teeth at the back. i hadn't thought of that. so, rather fun. and very collectible. oh, really? this one is in lovely condition. i think today a collector would be very happy to pay about £450, £500 for it. wow. ( laughs ) thank you very much. "if you these hieroglyphs discover, you fix for life a worthy lover." this is one of the most charming early 19th-century love letters that i think i've ever seen. it's made out of pieces of cut paper, and i think it's absolutely charming. i mean, i can read some of it. can you read all of it? no. we've tried many times. my husband remembers it being in his grandmother's house when he was a child, but we've had so many people looking at it, haven't we, jane?

if we've had friends or relatives 'round to the house, we've asked if they understand any of it, and sometimes we get an odd line or a word, but we've never managed to get the whole letter. well, it's a fabulous valentine, and i would put it in about the period of about 1830, 1835. so, let's try and read it. "a heart..." "t" and a hat-- "that... of-- often has..." this is a purse or a basket of some sort. yes. purse-u-d. "pursued... the..." and this is a chap on horseback, so it is probably a knight. "the night dancing of your eye." dancing of your eye. something like that. anyway... it is absolutely charming. yes. um, and then finally, the last line reads, um, "cupid's..." i wonder whether this last line could be "grace" because it's got a "g" and then people running. could that be "race"? race, yes.

"cupid's grace," then... and this figure here is hope. okay. she's got an anchor, you see. "hope... a..." then what about two cows? what do you-- cowed? cows, cows. cowed. cowed. "cowed reply." which i think is absolutely charming. it's quite glorious, and the work is incredibly detailed. and he used a pin, as you can see in this "pursue"-- there's a "u"-- and i think that is very humorous and absolutely lovely, and very typical of its period. um, where do you keep it? in the bathroom, isn't it? yes. what's it doing in the bathroom? it's just a novelty piece, really. no, come along, come along. that is going to get damp, you know. i'd take it out of the bathroom. right. i wouldn't have it in there. value... any ideas? um, not at all, really. it's a funny thing. we've had so much fun, i should think at least £100. well, i think we could probably do about £200. yes? £200,

and it is one of the most charming things i've seen. thank you. so, here we have a german-enameled beer beaker from 1716-- written date on it-- which i'm sure is absolutely right. gloriously enameled, but with a huge amount of damage on it. did you do this to this, you hooligan? no, i didn't. it's in better condition than it was when i bought it. it looked as if it had been stuck together with chewing gum, but, um, i took it to pieces, very gingerly. uh, half-stuck it together. uh, but you can see the sticky tape, i think. well, it could probably do with a bit of a wash. a careful wash. i have cleaned it. well, you can give me the better one, then. um, it's beautiful. it really is a lovely piece of glass. um, german, i mean-- the-- the habsburg eagle here. all the emblems of various families. um, it's all done by powdering densely colored glass, mixing it with lavender oil, and painting all this onto the surface,

and then firing it on. so, other than-- i normally say you can't damage enameled glass other than by chucking it under a steamroller. this has clearly been chucked under a steamroller, but still survives to tell the tale, and i'm sure that everybody can see the very, very rich quality of that piece. so, how much did you pay for it? £10 in a sort of junk shop in colchester. £10 in a junk shop in colchester becomes... because of its quality, £400 to 500 pounds today. oh, really? well, that's not bad, is it? no, no. lovely thing. well, i think it's lovely, yeah. on the right, we have what looks like a distinguished english aristocrat, and on the left, we've got a russian worker or peasant. what's the connection between these two people? um, the only connection between these two people is that both pictures belonged to my late aunt and uncle. oh, so you inherited them? i did indeed, yes. the picture on the right, signed "c. pollock."

now, do you know who c. pollock is? yes, he's the eldest brother of jackson pollock. he was known to my aunt and uncle in america in the early 1930s, and i think he was doing other work like that at the time. um, i seem to recollect having seen some. so, he just drew a picture of my uncle. well, the name has such huge resonance, but unfortunately, it's the wrong first name. absolutely, yes. to make a real difference in life. and isn't it extraordinary that a man who's known for all of that squidgy paint, that abstract expressionist-- his family at least could produce rather more lucid, traditional images like this. now, let's have a look at the man on the left. so, you grew up with this, did you, with your aunt? yes, yes, it was above her fireplace for all my younger years, in fact, most of my life, and i've always admired it. it looks as though it's been above a fireplace, as well. yes. it-- it's pretty filthy, isn't it? it's, um, not had anything much done to it, no.

now, you've seen the signature in the bottom right, yes. which is of course cyrillic, being a russian signature, yes. and you know the artist? uh, yes, it's ilya repin. the way you say the name suggests that you do know that he is quite a significant artist. uh, i know he's particularly well-known in russia. he's regarded there, i think, as a russian master, and painted mostly in the second half of the 19th century, this being a rather later work. well, he was a very interesting figure. i mean, in the 19th century, he was what could be described as a great realist painter. he's someone who embraced society, who expressed it for all its terse realism. and he spent some time in france, as well. he knocked around with manet. he was influenced by delacroix. so, there was a fusion of quite a lot of russian realism and a certain amount of french spice in his work. right, yes. by this time-- and if we look in the bottom right-hand corner, 1919-- he was living in finland. finland was part of the russian empire,

but it's the date that's so interesting. 1919. this is one of the most emotive moments in russian history. yes. the communist party has just got going, civil war is raging, and the proletariat, of course, were at the core of it. this is the new russia, and this figure-- i'm trying to work out what he's doing and what he's holding-- seems to be a worker of some kind. yes. i-- i always saw it as steelworks or something like that. what looks like a rather rough sketch i think can be explained for two reasons. i think it's an unfinished work. i think it relates to something probably rather grander, rather more ambitious. the technique used, the thick impasto on the face, is very typical of the sort of work that repin was doing. again, influenced by the french impressionists, and it's almost as if he's using the paint to express the emotions of this painful birth of russia.

well, i think that the pollock is a charming example of pollock's brother, but it's a good, solid drawing, and it's worth £200 to £300. okay. uh, i think the painting on the left-- um, well, you've got to remember, now, that russian painting is all the rage. we used to talk about american millionaires making a difference. uh, it's now russian oligarchs who are fueling the market. uh, this painting on the left is worth up to about 200. £200,000, that is. oh, wow. i-- i had absolutely no idea it was worth anything like that. i'm-- i'm-- i'm shattered. i don't know what to say. i just don't know what to say. photographs of the beatles, but not photographs of the beatles that i recognize.

and actually, photographs of the-- it looks like sort of-- i don't know, floor staff in a television studio filling in during the lighting run-through. well, it was a show done at teddington studios. and you were involved with the studios, were you? i was employed there, yes, in the sound department. right. um, and i worked on this show. they'd just come back from america, i think, and it was a sort of like "welcome home" type show, i think. so, i took my camera along with me, and i managed to get these shots. we've got, um, photographs of ringo, and of john and george... oh, this is nice, because this is actually in the studio itself. and you can see the cameras there. the lights and so on. yes. but the big thing was that, um, the little girls were all outside in the road, outside the studio-- oh, the beatlemaniacs. yes, and completely blocking the road.

gates had to be locked. we were all locked in for the day. how did they get in? well, teddington studios has river frontage with the thames, so they brought them up the river, and we featured that in the program. fantastic. as far as i can see, you own the copyright on this. well, i presume so, yes. it was your own camera? yes. it was your own film? yes. and you've got how many of them? um, there's 20 there altogether. okay. and they are-- these, obviously, are just prints, but from the originals. from the original slides, yes. which are these. which are those, yes. let's just open these up. and on the top, up here, we can actually just see... very small, but it says february '64. '64, yes. now, i've seen a lot of beatle photographs over the years, and you know, a lot of the images are known, they're published,

they're not terribly exciting. it's always interesting to come across something that hasn't been seen before. these haven't. you own the copyright, which then means that you can use them for anything you like, in theory. you could make calendars out of them, you could make posters out of them, you could use them for anything. and that, then, makes them very interesting financially. have you gone into the likely value at all? no, i haven't. not at all. in fact, they've been in my loft for 40 years, and it was only when i mentioned it to my son-in-law that he said, "well, why don't you go and find out how much they're worth?" you know, so-- okay, so-- so this is the dowry, is it? well, that's right. ( laughs ) in a way, it is. he's hoping. he's hoping this is gonna be the dowry. yes. without copyright, these are interesting but not exciting. um, they would be worth perhaps £100... £100 pounds each. probably less than that, actually.

um, but with the ability to use these for anything you want to, i.e., with the copyright, i would put them up to around £500 each. for each picture? yeah. gosh. now, i don't know how good your math is, but i make that around £10,000. yes. ( chuckles ) crikey. i didn't expect that much at all, no. well, they're great images, they are very rare, and you can do something with them. it's a magic-- a magic and a very successful mixture. well, the sun has shone on us here at hertford college oxford, and we've had some amazing discoveries. what about the painting that hung over a fireplace for 50 years? you brought it in, and you thought it was worth what? 10, maybe £15,000 if i was lucky. and it turned out to be worth? £200,000. so what did you think? that's amazing.

well, i was gobsmacked, i think is the word. very difficult to believe. i've really not got over the shock. i bet you haven't. and what are you gonna do with it? well, i've been advised to wait a few weeks and think about what i'm going to do, so, nothing for a little while. well, it was certainly worth you coming in today. it was indeed. i'll say. from the antiques roadshow in oxford, bye-bye. ♪

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america," reporting from washington. as kim jong il lies in state, the stability of the region is called into question. he is a man who normally asks the question now piers morgan has been called upon to answer them. facing a cold winter in america, we travel to denver where a growing number of families are finding themselves homeless this holiday season. >> this is our life. i don't think that we deserve this. at the same time, that's life. >> welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. it seems that even in death, the

north korean regime lacks the sense of the dramatic. the body of the leader kim jong il went on display in p'yongyang. he is in a glass case and is surrounded by flowers that have been named iin his honor. kim jong un, the successor, was among those paying tribute. the stability of the region has people on edge. >> kim jong il, a face so familiar to the outside world, revered, reviled, and even caricatured. this is the new guardian of north korean nuclear weapons, his son, kim jong un. not quite 30 years old and every bit as enigmatic and his father. he is the man china and america will be negotiating with.

these are the people he will be ruling, many are more poor and hungry than when his father took power. they're more critical of those who lead them. those who were there the last time north korea mourned their leader said not to believe everything that you see. >> you could not not cry in public. people used to pitch themselves to make themselves cry. others were just laughing. when i look at what is happening now, i think it is even more fake. >> the main fear is not insincerity on the streets of p'yongyang but insecurity. >> how long we will manage will be a test of kim jong un's ability to manage. people will be looking at his abilities. >> it is not clear how this

transition is unfolding. this is now a regime facing pressures from both above and below. north korean leaders have never been toppled by hardship, not political repression, or even famine. the slow creep of capitalism into their country might be a bigger threat. this communist state has already had to loosen its strict control on the economy. will the leader choose more reform or more repression to hold it together? >> for more on what the future might hold for north korea, i spoke to the former director of asian affairs at the white house and currently a member of international and strategic studies. thank you for joining us. you have written that north korea as we know it is over. >> well, the regime is on its

last legs after the death of kim jong il, the north korean leader. they're not ready for the power transition. they don't have an ideology. their economy is broken. the country is starving. this process was supposed to take 10 years and it has only been about 24 months since they put this young fellow in the position. >> you think that the fault lines center on the use of the successor and the establishment, the army and the in-laws? >> he will have to call what all of these groups with very little leverage. the only thing that he has going for him is his blood. in the asian family business, the oldest son inherits the business. he has no record yet. the difference between him and

kim jong il was that he was training and in the job for 15 years before his father passed away. these are about the most difficult conditions under which they are trying to affect this succession. >> the west can do very little other than watch and hope. let's talk about china. what this talk about -- what does china have concerns about? >> they would not want a unified peninsula that is an ally of the u.s. the leadership does not inclined in that direction. for that reason they have supported north korea all that time. they have stood right behind the north korean regime and protecting their interests.

>> how do you interpret how little we have heard from beijing on the death of kim jong il? they said, we believe that the north korean people will unite as one. >> this is wishful thinking on their part. they will support this leadership transition and show allegiance. they will do the best to underwrite this sort of policy. this would be the most important foreign-policy decision that they will make in their first year. right now, it looks like they will not shed north korea as a strategic liability. they will adhere to it and try to maintain it through the transition. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> he is more used to reporting the news than making it a but the former editor turned tv presenter piers morgan was that an inquiry. he said he did not believe that

he had never listen to his voice messages and no phone hacking had taken place at the "daily mirror" get the best of his recollection. >> he is the former show-biz reporter who has become a celebrity himself. the career of piers morgan has had some ups and downs. he became the youngest ever editor at the "to news of the world." he was sacked from the "daily mirror" amid allegations of manipulated photographs. earlier this year, he was appointed host of a high-profile u.s. television chat show. he makes no secret of the fact that he relishes his celebrity status as interrogator of the stars. today by satellite, he was placed under oath to answer

questions. he started jauntily but when it came to phone hacking, the answers became noticeably shorter. >> your newspaper was near the top of the list. >> top of the list of what? >> of the perpetrators. you know that. >> you know that not a single person has made any form or or legal complaint against the "daily mirror" or phone hacking. not one. >> it was asked how he heard a phone message that was left by paul the party for his wife. which you listened to that is that true? >> i listen to a tape of it, yes. >> it was a voice mail message, wasn't it? >> i believe it was. >> he said he had to protect his source so he could not say anything more about it. >> i am perfectly happy to call

lady mccarty to give evidence as to whether she authorized you to listen to her voice mails. >> mr. morgan remained coy. then on to another celebrity's voice mail. >> did you listen to johnson's voice messages in relation -- >> no, i did not. >> he was categoric. he did not know that in the phone hacking was taking place. >> did you know this was going on? >> no. >> are you sure? >> 100%. >> at the end, he said that he felt like a bad treated rock star whose failures were completed elite replayed. -- were repeatedly replaced.

>> sudan's president has denied any wrongdoing after a warrant was issued for his arrest on terrorism-related charges. he claims that this was fabricated. he also accused in reality of being against him. -- he accused prime minister maliki of being against him. an international football player has been fined $60,000 during a premier -- fined $60,000 for an outburst during a premier league game. the american dream, it draws many people to these shores from around the world. it has taken a bit of a beating lately. the latest figures showed how difficult the economic crisis has been. one of two u.s. residents have struggled with low income.

this rally is taking an increasingly heavy toll on families. -- this reality is taking an increasingly heavy toll. in the first of our ports, we go to denver. winter in america and the chill of an economic crisis that began three years ago has set in. denver, colorado was a brash place and it grew rich on energy and mining. when night falls, the other america and emerges from the shadows. streets where drug dealers and prostitutes look for business around strip clubs and seedy motels. this is where you will find the new homeless, entire families who have lost family -- to have lost everything, hunting for a room for the night. like this family checking in for a hotel run by a charity, volunteers for america.

he is a single father with three children. he has lost his job and early today they were kicked out of their house. with no orders to go, this was their new home. -- with no where else to go, this was their new home. >> no one is going to help you but yourself. that is what i believe. >> there really shocking thing about the story is how common is. accurate figures are difficult to come by but it is thought that 3.5 million americans need shelter like this at some point in the year and increasingly it is families that are left homeless. it does not get much harder than this. robert and victoria and their six children have been living in a hotel for weeks. from dawn to dusk, it is a scene of well oiled chaos. he lost his job and like many others, they don't have the cash

to pay the rent let alone the mortgage. >> we had an home, we had a yard for our kids to play in. we had two dogs. two dogs that we don't have any more. we were able to cook. i used to make dinner and every night. i cannot even cook for my family. >> i miss her life. deservethink that we this but at the same time, that is life. "so what marks these families out is that they have never been -- >> what marks these families out is that they have never been homeless before. there are signs that the economy is improving but the story on the ground is different. >> we will not celebrate much at christmas this year.

as long as we have each other -- this one, she told to me, even if we get presence, can we just wrapped them and give them to the other kids that need them? >> the family of victims of a slowdown no one seems able to control. for growing numbers of people, this is where their american dream ends. >> for more on the economic conditions driving so many into dire straits, i am joined by robert reich, a former u.s. labor secretary. we are in the richest country in the world and yet we are talking to families that have been made homeless and we have seen poverty that one associates with the developing world. why is that? >> this is a paradox but it is a paradox that is at the heart of the american economy. the american economy is one in which we don't have the kind of

social services, medical services, the safety nets that the european economies have. and america, the assumption has been that if you work hard, you can do better and better. that is the american dream. what we have seen in this recession. we are seeing since we saw for the first time in the great depression -- not as bad as the great depression but almost as bad. that is, downward mobility. very sudden downward mobility. many in the middle class have lost their home or their insurance. whatever reason is the cause, they found themselves very suddenly unable to pay their mortgages and often their homes. >> can i ask where the politicians in washington are in all of this? >> they are on another planet, it seems.

the politicians are very responsive to people who provide campaign donations. that means large corporations, wall street, wealthy individuals. they should be more responsive and one would hope that they would be more responsive to the stresses and difficulties faced by average working americans and the poor. as money in folks washington in terms of lobbyists, political donations, and also a revolving door connecting the former legislators and former government officials with big corporations and lobbying agencies themselves, there appears to be less and less responsibility. that is one of the big paradox is with regard to this recession, why washington is not doing more. >> does any of this really matter electorally? >> yes, it does.

if the economy does not improve, if unemployment does not go down, the incumbent -- whether we are talking about barack obama or members of congress -- will have much greater difficulty getting elected. if it shows, the absolute level of economic activity and unemployment is high, if the trend is favorable between now and the next election day, the trend is in the right direction. barack obama and other incumbents might have an easier time. again, the paradox is that so many in america are struggling so little is being done. the republican party especially seems to be dragging their heels. >> thank you for being with us. >> thank you very much. >> you are watching "bbc world news america" still to come -- scientists have discovered new

planets outside of our solar system but it is one that might have supported life that is sparking real interest. the president of the philippines has declared a national calamity in the south of the country following this weekend's devastating storms which killed nearly a thousand people. authorities have begun burying bodies in mass graves as facilities have become overwhelmed and they are running out of supplies. >> the dead keep coming. this a funeral parlor is one of many which is completely full of bodies, victims of the floods. it is getting so bad that the authorities have come up with a drastic alternative. >> the funeral parlors are refusing to it >> the dead bodies. we have had to dump them into

landfills. -- the funeral parlors are refusing to admit the dead bodies. >> this is yet another indignity. "when i saw the bodies piled together in a landfill, i was horrified. they treated the bodies like animals and left them out in the sun without any covering. >> it is not surprising that so many people died. the storm and the surge swept torrents of water across the coast line. the people in the southern philippines face a massive clean-up operation. about 300,000 people were affected by the storm from 13 different provinces. many homes, like this one, are completely destroyed. people that survived are now living in evacuation centers where they can at least get the fresh fruit and water. most of these centers are actually schools and baseball

courts. these of the only homes these people have for now. >> during libya's seven-month civil war, there were two cities that bore the brunt of the conflict. in misrata, they face months of attacks. later, they did the same too itre.fi's home town of sur >> these are the losers in libya's war. the price paid for living in muammar gaddafi's hometown. sitre pummeled by rebel forces. few are making a celebration

here. after fleeing the fighting, this man returned home to this, he said that the new government is doing nothing to help, like many, he says that he had no time for gaddafi. amid the devastation, it is easy to find a few die-hard supporters. this man said that gaddafi protect civilians. he said the rebels, many of them from misrata, killed many in sirte. this is a tiny demonstration. they have blocked many of the main roads. people here feel that the new government is ignoring them and they are punished because of sirte's connection with gaddafi. some feel like they are living under an occupation.

an occupation that is being led by their neighbors down the road in misrata. in misrata, you also see the impact of war. the city was laid siege to by gaddafi's forces and terrorized. at least hear people know that they came out on the winning side. a mortar's museum has been set up to remember the dead. -- a museum has been set up to remember the dead. winning has made it easier for misrata's rebels to play down any tensions with sirte. >> the city of sirte -- >> back in sirte, graffiti tells a different story.

misrata, brother, never. the vast majority of libya's believe that the country is a better place. in a new libya, will fill the losers have a better say? >> now to a discovery that is out of this world. economists say they have found two planets in orbit outside of our solar system. >> planets orbit many of the stars that we see in the night sky. the big question is could one of them support life? scientists believe that they found one that once was. this is the first planet that scientists have discovered that is almost exactly the same size as our earth. it is too close to the sun and too hot to support life now but

in the distant past, conditions were very different. in the past, if it was further from the sun, it might have been cooler, perhaps oceans of water, possibly suitable for life. we really don't know but perhaps over the next few years we will find out more about planets like this. >> scientists have strutted a second planet around the start which is slightly smaller. this is slightly closer to its son so again too hot to support life. the discoveries were made with a nasa telescope. it looks like the sun is twinkling as the planets pass in front of them. the most recent one is this one, it was announced two weeks ago. this is nearly two and a half times the size of the earth.

today, they have announced the discovery of a planet that is the same size and one that is a little smaller. scientists believe that these are more likely to support life. >> i think we will find many more plants that are earth-like planets. i think that we will find life out there. maybe not intelligent life, maybe green slime, but i think we will be there. >> the telescopes looking at 150,000 stars, it is likely that one of them will look like our own. show to aings today's close. for all of us here world news america, thank you for watching.

>> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was 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 strength to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news america" was presented by kcet los angeles.