he is the glasshouse supervisor at the cambridge university botanic garden, where he joins us from nowt in full bloom, i'm not i quite sure?_ five quite sure? is full bloom. five ears, quite sure? is full bloom. five years. has— quite sure? is full bloom. five years. has it _ quite sure? is full bloom. five years, has it been _ quite sure? is full bloom. five years, has it been worth - quite sure? is full bloom. five years, has it been worth the i years, has it been worth the wait? it years, has it been worth the wait? . , , years, has it been worth the wait? ., , , ., wait? it has been worth the wait. wait? it has been worth the wait- we — wait? it has been worth the wait. we were _ wait? it has been worth the wait. we were rudely - wait? it has been worth the - wait. we were rudely awakened about 3pm in the afternoon when it began to open and we had the most fantastic evening watching it come into full bloom, pollinating it and recording is much as we can about it. maybe it has got _ much as we can about it. maybe it has got jet-lagged _ much as we can about it. maybe it has got jet-

alex summers from cambridge university botanic garden grew the moonflower., but we were rudely awakened at about 3pm saturday when it started to open, and then we have had a most fantastic evening watching it come into full bloom, pollinating it, and recording as much as we can about it. is one of those examples of one of the many extremely rare plants we hold here at the botanic gardens, but i think from all the plants that we do hold, there are not many that have the same sort of bizarre ecology, and to be quite honest, there are not many that are so poorly known, to actually flower in cultivation is very rare and that means that we here at cambridge university have been really fortunate to have the first flowering example of this in the uk. it's so nice to have a story, a real positive story to share with people, and we were confident we would get it to bloom but we have waited five years, and we had a flower bud in november but you can never know that flower will go to full—term and actually produce a flower, so many issues can arise in the interim, so i

all finished ijy at sunset, and is all finished by sunrise, but this cactus at the cambridge university botanic gardenhe first time the flower has bloomed in the uk itself. is best memorised —— the specimen are raised in cambridge two weeks ago. more on our website, and i am on twitter. to stay with us. hello there. the very mild south—westerly winds which we've had during the start of this weekend have also brought a lot of rainfall across some western parts of england, wales, northern ireland and western scotland. we have seen some local flooding in places, river levels running very high. and as a consequence from all the recent rain, the number of flood warnings has increased. but the good news is for part two of the weekend, it looks a bit drier across the board. we should see quite a bit of sunshine around. it's going to stay mild, but there will still be some rain around but not as much as what we had on saturday. now, the rain will be courtesy of this weather front, which will start out across more southern and eastern parts of england. low pressure to the north—west of the uk will bring fairly

but this cactus, grown at the cambridge university botanic garden, started to flower at 3pm on saturdaythe specimen arrived in cambridge in 2015. thousands of people have viewed a webcam that's been trained on the plant for almost two weeks. it's something that has stumped scientists for decades — the search for extraterrestrial life. but now a uk—based business is hoping they might be able to discover if there's anybody out there. it's hoping to raise £1 million to build a 100—metre long telescope that will listen out for alien factories, machines and spaceships. richard westcott reports. on a disused airfield north of cambridge, next to the bunkers that decades ago used to house lots of the country's nuclear bombs, they are launching a project that could one day answer one of life's great questions. are we alone in the universe? this concrete bunker behind me is where the staff had to come if the base came under attack. you can see the slits where they put their guns out. today there is something very different going on behind this blast proof door. it is the headquarters of the east

but this cactus, grown at the cambridge university botanic garden, started to flower at 3pm on saturdayowered in the uk. alex summers is the horticulturalist who grew the plant. he says that while the flower�*s started to fade away, they're hopeful they can get it to grow again in the future. so, with these changes now, we are expecting the flower to continue to flop. so the structure above my head is at about a 90 degrees angle now and that will continue to become limp. and if we were successful with our pollination last night, we will expect the flower, the structure at the very base of the flower, to start to swell to form a fruit. if we weren't successful, then the flower will simply drop off. but we have the benefit that this should flower now for us in the coming years, so now we understand the process, we will be able to work on getting pollen from other clones in germany so that we can try and produce seed and share that with other botanic gardens. it's something that has stumped scientists for decades — the search for extraterrestrial life. but now a uk—based business is hoping

but with places like here at the cambridge university botanic garden, you get the opportunity to seeing that lovely smell? 12 hours ago may be, not this morning. maybe not right now. coming up in the next half hour: # the lord make his face to shine upon you... lockdown rules might make it impossible for choir members to congregate at the moment, but we'll hear how one musician has found an innovative solution. stay with us, headlines coming up. hello, this is breakfast with ben thompson and sally nugent. the hospitality industry has struggled throughout the pandemic, with businesses closed or temporarily opening with strict social distancing measures. earlier this week, the chancellor spoke to celebrity chef gordon ramsay about the challenges for the industry. but that conversation has come under fire, as business owners and chefs branded it a "pr stunt" in an open letter. lucy powell, labour mp for manchester central, supports the letter�*s message and joins us now. lucy, good morning to you. look, you can sort of cd intention, because hospitality of course is one of the sector so