Children's Teeth

State of decay - more children are suffering from teeth problems

The state of children's teeth has steadily improved over the years, but now dentists have spotted a worrying trend.

They're seeing increasing numbers of five and six-year-olds with decaying teeth.

Although only four-years-old, Haroon Mirza from Luton has already had big problems with his teeth.

He recently had to have surgery to remove six of them because they were badly decayed.

Haroon's story is far from unique as Government targets to improve the state of young children's teeth reveal.

While 16-year-olds have the best teeth in Europe, latest figures show that nearly 40 per cent of five-year-olds have signs of decay.

The target is no more than 30 per cent.

A healthy diet

Part of the problem is that sugar in food isn't always obvious.

Sweets may not be good for you, but the so called hidden sugar in processed foods is also a concern.

Even healthy fruit drinks can lead to decay.

A small cartoon of pure orange juice can contain up to four teaspoons of natural sugar.

Officials have been trying for years to sell the importance of a good diet.

An Inside Out survey of primary schools in Luton and Bedford revealed most now discourage sweets being brought in.

The real problem could be what happens at home, as even well meaning parents are still confused about what to avoid.

Links relating to this story:

• BBC Health
• National Statistics - Children's Dental Health
• British Dental Health Foundation

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Bedford Wine

Great grapes - Assunta Baldassarre in Bedford

In the 1950s hundreds of Italians arrived in Bedford to find employment in the brickworks.

Many came from poor villages in southern Italy - known as the 'Mezzogiorno'.

They brought their language, their culture and their traditions.

Every year members of the Bedford Italian community still make wine made from grapes imported from southern Italy.

It’s a connection with their homeland, and for many families, it’s a tradition that goes back generations.

From Italy to Bedford...

Assunta Baldassarre’s husband arrived in Bedford from Italy in 1953. She followed him here five years later.

He died last summer but she is continuing the tradition of wine making in the shed he built for wine-making in the back garden.

It’s a modest but atmospheric place. The grapes are crushed into an ancient oak barrel.

Nose for a good vintage - Oz Clarke tastes the wine

Her son Tony helps. Nothing is added. They ferment naturally.

Signora Baldassarre stirs the juice daily, until the ferment has finished, then siphons the wine into damigiana (carboys) stored in the purpose built cellar in the shed.

The wine is bottled on demand - when the family need another bottle.

The grapes arrive from Italy in mid-September – in a three week period around the harvest, and the wine is ready for drinking at the start of December.

A wine competition used to be held in the town every year, but the older generation is dying out and the competition has ceased.

But this year with the help of wine expert Oz Clake we revive it again.

Links relating to this story:

• BBC Legacies
• Bedfordshire Libraries

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Biggles' plane

Chocs away - Biggles is an iconic hero for children

W.E. Johns is a legend. He was born in Hertfordshire and raised in Norfolk.

Although never a fighter pilot, his flying career was just as risky though.

As a flying instructor and bomber pilot, he once crashed three planes in as many days, and in 1918 was shot down and captured.

But he used his experiences to create the most legendary aviation hero of all time - James Bigglesworth - best known as Biggles.

The adventures of Biggles, Algy, Ginger and Bertie have captured children's imaginations over the years.

Many chose a career in aviation after reading of Biggles' heroics.

W.E. Johns wrote more than a hundred books about his fictional aviator, and was half way through a novel when he died in 1968.

The Biggles books were a huge hit all over the world.

Flying high

In the 1960s Hollywood beckoned and Biggles made it onto the big screen.

Two Northamptonshire men were chosen to make Biggles fly.

Charles Boddington and his brother David Boddington were to make the plane for this movie.

The test flight took place here at Sywell in Northamptonshire. It was a success.

It looked as though every schoolboy's hero of the skies was about to hit the silver screen… in his replica Be-2C.

Charles Boddington never got to fly the Biplane again.

In the seventies, while filming another war movie, he was killed in an air crash.

And the plane which should've brought Biggles to cinema audiences crashed in Wisconsin in 1977.

Journey of discovery - Biggles' plane is finally located in USA

The remains of the aircraft disappeared, but, in the true spirit of Biggles, it certainly wasn't the end.

A few years ago Matthew Boddington, Charles' son and his colleague Steve Slater went to America to try and find the wreckage.

Hidden in a barn in a town called Rhinebeck, there she was - Biggles' bi-plane.

It was an emotional moment for Matthew Boddington.

Getting the Biplane back to England was just half the battle.

Now Matthew, Steve and David Boddington are restoring the plane to fly again.

Links relating to this story:

• BBC DNA - Biggles
• WE Johns
• Biggles Biplane

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites