good morning again from amiens.ut of their trenches and began to add vance towards what we now believed to be the end of the war. we are backin to be the end of the war. we are back in amiens to begin our own journey, travelling over the next five days and along the way we will talk about different aspects of remembrance and commemoration. we will hear from remembrance and commemoration. we will hearfrom a remembrance and commemoration. we will hear from a family that has particular agonising reasons for remembering and we will hear from a group who feel that their service personnel went remembered enough in the years following the first world war. today will hear about an ambitious plan to create a net worth of foot past switching to track stretching from switzerland to the belgian coast which came from a letter written by one man. there are graves of scattered up and down. the ground is so fitted and scarred and torn with shells and tangled with wire. aleksandr golovin was 26 when he wrote his last letters home. i

and i'm in amiens remembering a soldier who dreamt of of peace. growing row over rooney — does he deserve another chance to play for england? and coming up on bbc news... floyd mayweather, unbeaten as a boxer, now a professional mixed martial arts fighter — after signing a contract to fight injapan on new year's eve. —— of a path of peace. hello, good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. hundreds more police officers are being deployed on the streets of london after four murders in five days. the metropolitan police say it's been a "terrible" few days in the capital. the total number of killings in london so far this year is 118. the mayor of london says it could take a decade to deal with the problem of violent crime. richard galpin reports from the scene of one of the latest murders. this is where a 15—year—old jay hughes was fatally stabbed here in lewisham last thursday. there were reports two men who had been following him in a taxi jumped out and attacked him as he went to get some takeaway food. friends have described jay as loving

robert hall has been to amiens in finding out about how they have been remembering war there.tice. the story we want to tell today is about a network that will stretch from the swiss frontier to the belgian coast, following the 1914 front lines. it is an idea which originated in letters home from a young british officer lost on the battlefield. "there are graves scattered up and down. the ground is so pitted and scarred and torn with shells, entangled with wire." alexander gillespie was 26 when he wrote his last letters home. in the weeks before his death, he began to plan a project that could now become his legacy. my great uncle was a prolific letter writer... countryfile presenter tom heap is alexander gillespie's great—nephew. well, he had this extraordinary leap of imagination when he was actually in the trenches amongst the fighting, that he thought, "when this is all over, when peace comes, we should put a route along no man's land for people of all nations to come and walk along." the vision is a network of marked footpaths stretching from the swiss border to the belgi

today we're joined by our correspondent robert hall in amiens, france — he'll be telling us about alexanderan coast. good morning. good morning, joanna. we were last here in the summer, marking the beginning of the last 100 days of the first world war and that was the battle of amiens where british, commonwealth, french americans climbed over the trenches and began the big advance that would eventually, we now know, end up with the armistice. we are now back because over the next five days leading up to the centenary weekend we are looking at different aspects of commemoration and remembrance and i will tell you more about tomorrow's story tomorrow, but we wa nt to tomorrow's story tomorrow, but we want to tell you about an ambitious plan to connect up foot paths across europe from switzerland up to the belgian coast to make a path of peace —— part of peace. it's called the western front weight and it all springs from a letter home written bya springs from a letter home written by a young british officer. "there are graves scattered up and down. the ground is so pitted and scarred and torn

today, we're joined by our correspondent robert hall in amiens, france — he'll be telling us about robertslight delay. last time i was in two were commemorating the start of the last 100 days of the first world war, big service in the cathedral, historians tell us that was the point at which british, commonwealth, french, american soldiers climbed out of the trenches and began the advance that would eventually lead to the end of the first world war and today amiens marks the start of the journey we will take, over the next five days what we will do is tell stories about commemoration and remembrance, different elements of it and to we talk about this ambitious scheme to construct, connect a series of pounds stretching from switzerland by doug to the sea in belgium. loosely following the front lines of 191a, it's called the western way past and as you were indicating, it came as the result of a letter home from one young officer. "there are graves scattered up and down. the ground is so pitted and scarred and torn with shells, entangled with wire." alexander gillespie was 26 when he wrote

robert hall has this special report from amiens in france.itted and scarred and torn with shells, entangled with wire —— there are graves. alexander gillespie was 26 when he wrote his last letters home. in the weeks before his death, he planned a project that could now become his legacy. my legacy. my great uncle was a prolific letter writer... country file presenter tom heap is alexander gillespie's great—nephew. well, he had this extraordinary leap of imagination when he was actually in the trenches amongst the fighting that he thought when this is all over, when peace comes, we should put a route along no man's land for people of all nations to come and walk along. division is a network of marked footpaths stretching from the swiss border to the belgian coast, tracing the trench lines of the western front. that's over 630 miles. that means negotiating with dozens of landowners and local councils, but so far, reaction has been encouraging. translation: from the first moment i heard about the past, i immediately saw how it could work. i thin

she reminded him that she was cerci amiens. a good way to end.an see the front pages of the papers online on the bbc news website. it's all there for you, 7 days a week at bbc.co.uk/papers. if you miss the programme any evening you can watch it later on bbc iplayer. good evening. here's your latest sports news. manchester united and manchetser city have both booked their places in the last 16 of the champions league tonight. united did it with an injury—time winner against swiss side young boys, while for city, a point against lyon was enough to send them to the knockout stages. sports correspondent david ornstein reports. playing at these so—called theatre of dreams has become something of a nightmare for manchester united this season. nightmare for manchester united this season. against young boys, a fine chance to recapture their old habit of winning, though marcus rashford quickly showcased united's more recent trend, failing to find the net. managerjose mourinho unimpressed. young boys began to grow in belief and would have taken the lead if

the event will have particular significance for the french president who was born in nearby amiens andt at the somme and was decorated for bravery. earlier, near the city which saw the first battles of the great war, theresa may met the leader of another country which fought alongside the british to remember to soldiers whose death marked the beginning and end of the conflict. the first burials were carried out by the german army after the battle in august 1914. the cemetery now contains more than 600 graves but, wealth and german now spanning the entire war period. theresa may with belgian prime minister laid a wreath at the grave of 17—year—old privatejohn. he had lied about his age and joined up at age 15. he had been part of a bicycle reconnaissance unit on the first day of the war and may have died as a result of friendly fire. four years later, as the minutes countdown to the armistice, private george elliston of the royal irish lancers fell victim to a german sniper becoming the last british soldier to die before the cease—fire. it‘s always been a place of peace and respect unti

we are coming north from the city of amiens to one of the most moving and most beautiful spots in thise thiepval memorial, an extraordinary landmark and on its panels are carved the names of over 72,000 british and south african soldiers who died in the terrible battles of 1916. we've come here to look at one name in particular carved into a panel here at the foot of the memorial. it's the name of corporal george smith from the durham light infantry and corporal smith's story takes us back to the uk to county durham, and a family and a village who have particularly powerful reasons for remembering the armistice and centenary. music plays: "abide with me". 0ne county durham family, five sons lost. they were just from what they called the slums, down in bridgegate near barnard castle. their mother, she always said, "never have boys, because all they are is cannon fodder." and that was her, she was known for saying that. but, like she said, they've done the country proud. six smith brothers answered the call for volunteers. the first two were killed within weeks of arriving in france, thr

telling stories from the trenches of the western front. 0ur correspondent robert hall reports from amiensdier who came up with a path for pilgrims, a route along no man's land, from switzerland to the belgian coast. 0ver over the next few days we look at different aspects of remembrance and commemoration ahead of the centenary an armistice next weekend and today the story concerns an ambitious project to create a route, series of footpath stretching from switzerland to the belgian coast. it's an idea that originated and lines penned and letters fou nd that originated and lines penned and letters found by young british officer. "there are graves scattered up and down. the ground is so pitted and scarred and torn with shells, entangled with wire." alexander gillespie was 26 when he wrote his last letters home. in the weeks before his death, he began to plan a project that could now become his legacy. my great uncle was a prolific letter writer... countryfile presenter tom heap is alexander gillespie's great—nephew. well, he had this extraordinary leap of imagination when he was actually in

coming north from amiens you come here to one of the most beautiful spots in france. country proud. six smith brothers answered the call for volunteers. the first two were killed within weeks of arriving in france, three more as the war moved towards its close. with help from the local community, their desperate mother wrote to queen mary. she agreed to ask for 19—year—old wilf smith to be sent home. ifound out that he had brothers. i said, "what happened to them?" they wouldn‘t talk much. "they died," and that was it. if it hadn't have happened, if they hadn't have brought him home, then none of us here, the family now, would be here to tell the tale, and nobody would ever have known about it. after the armistice, barnard castle held a parade to honour its war dead. margaret smith and her surviving son were asked to lay the first wreath. oh, it was a very brave thing. she did it for her kids, she did it for everybody‘s. .. sorry. i have a boy and a girl, and they both know about it. i would like them to go on and tell their family, and just keep it alive. they fought

we become aware of that, we have travelled about 150 miles since we left amiens at the start of the weekourney, going to graves and memorials and looking for names. there is a real sense of that. the four—week left ypres we came across a personal story, concerning two brothers who are buried side by side at reservoir cemetery on the outskirts of ypres. it was basil and jim not. cemetery on the outskirts of ypres. it was basil andjim not. they cemetery on the outskirts of ypres. it was basil and jim not. they were killed on two separate battlefields many miles apart. the distraught father sold his business to build memorials and a stained—glass window in the local church to build a spire in ypres that was being rebuilt. he succeeded in bringing his two sons together so that they could be buried side by side and reunited. so, it isjust buried side by side and reunited. so, it is just one story amongst so many that are going to be told. we will all be reminded of it this coming weekend. robert, thank you. robert hall in nieuwpoort. in a moment, we'll have all the business news. but first, t