BBC Watch Magic Grandad - Louis Braille

this Sauron she Pat's client she can't see so she has a guide dog to help her he's called punch punches ever so clever he helps under pets across the road and if there's things in the way on the pavements he helps to get around them magic blended said we could all have our Tina Pete's and restaurants Dobson's loves in restaurants unless their guide dogs come along gay should have a new place there's a good chair excuse me could we have the Braille menu what are you going to have Kimberly I'm going to have Four Seasons pizza and eliminate here you are oh thank you very much thank you hang on a minute I haven't had time to read this menu yet well here's the thing mozzarella and tomatoes sales how she knows that she's reading the menu on Japan yeah how comes you read she can't say why don't you ask you are do very love I read with my fingers like touch Stoppers why don't you have a try can your finger see is he got some little bumps yes in each group of little bumps makes a letter those little bumps are a special language for blind people and they were invented by a blind person a young French boy called Louis Braille did he live a long time ago granddad's yes Kimberly he did oh no he can't they're gonna have hot tea now does everyone they're going to have that's evening before we went bed whenever it was from a book that Louie Braille it all started in a very sad way because Louie wasn't born blind he became blind as a result of a very nasty accident when he was three years old all because he didn't do as he was told sounds like you Gary come now do you want to hear the story or not yeah he's going about Louie Boyle granddad's well he lived in a little village in France where his father made saddles and bridles for all the horses in the village and blue.if used to come into his workshop and watch now the workshop was full of knives and special tools for making holes in leather and because they were very sharp Luis father had told him Eva's never ever touched them one day and his father wasn't looking he picked up a very sharp tool called an awl and tried to poke it through the leather just like his father did but they all slipped and went straight into his I did it blade good but worse than that he went blind Oh daddy go back in time we wouldn't go back and meet him at this point in the story no no you see Louis Braille wasn't famous because he had an accident and went blind it was because he did something very very clever that has helped blind people all over the world ever since and he did it when he was just 15 years old when he was at a special school for blind children in Paris come back he's here then well we can try don't you worry trust me the only trouble is I'm not sure that mad magic is strong enough you see Louie Bray lived in France and I've never been abroad before if you lived in France want to speak French yes that's the difficulty it means I have to do a bit of extra magic but first we need a French song foreshadow frère Jacques dormez-vous Tommy's son la mattina son la mattina the only trouble is if we go into the past talking French they might think we understand French when we get there some what should we do what about some English words you can if you're a magic granddad so close your eyes and cross your fingers come boys let's go meet our visitors Gabriella can I leave you in charge of the class for my return yes sir that was brilliant granddad we the only trouble is that I don't know which of these legs is slowest bangable hello are you looking for me we're looking for Louis Braille well that's me you've come to see how a blind boys live I believe yes you're very welcome please ask anything you want why are you holding on to it like that that's because we've been outside the school for a walk in the park but why do you have to hold on to a rope why don't you have guide dogs guide dogs away we won't know what you mean Gary nobody thought of training dogs to lead blind people in those days we hold on to a rope so that we don't get lost or separated from one another but come on in you must meet my friends Oh beep boop scramjet yes that's the way the blind used to have to read whether he himself on it what a huge book it's very heavy too and it takes ages to read because you have to go right round the letter before you even know what it is do you want to have a go all right you have to close your eyes good oh they're very well done but it is difficult I'll tell you why that is that's because letters were invented for eyes not fingers come over here and see what Louie has worked out that was touch me minion what gave you the idea of using dogs Louie well it was when a soldier came to give a talk to us he had worked hard to code using raised dots so that soldiers could read messages in the dark without light a candle but his code was only good for saying simple things and there were too many dots Louis alphabet is much simpler and there are never more than six dots reach letter here it's dr. peña you head with the school and to school governors the governors of the people who decide how the school is going to be run so you see we've come on a very important day because if the governor's likely his dots we can tell all the teachers that from now on all the plan children can learn to read and write with them boys you may sit that's dr. Bini a he's a very kind man but how do you nice and if you can't say him I can recognize him by his voice gentlemen the boy I told you about Louie Brett and this is the new alphabet he has invented for the blind you see how neat and small the groups of dots are tell them why Louie it's so that each letter can be read with one touch of a fingertip one of the most useful things about Braille system that it makes it easy for the blind to write as well as read Louie's show the governor's your planchette and where did you get this dr. penny a kindly allowed Gabrielle and me to make it in the workshop I see if you would like to dictate something to me sir Gabrielle will go out of the room while I write it down as you wish how do you go get real now sir Louie is ready he will write down anything you want thanks to the governor's then Louie started writing in Braille it's funny he seems to be writing the wrong way around he starts on the right all the streets that will do I think police until Gabrielle's coming now then was so Wiley was writing the wrong way around he was making in the bumps on the other side of paper and this spells out what I just said yes you saw how quickly he wrote it no Gabrielle would you read what is written on the paper thanks to the governors of this school many blind children are saved from a life of begging on the streets no blind person can read as fast as that he must have been listening outside the door well sir very interesting but now we must be getting along thank you young man good afternoon boys your system now Louie you'll see but if we were to change to his method it would mean new books well of course yes doc but we can't just scrap the ones we already have think what they cost and another thing it would mean the boys could write notes to each other which their teachers couldn't read I think their teachers will have to learn to read and write with this new alphabet sir learn to read a new alphabet in order to teach the blind ridiculous they'd never agree no no no we keep things as they are the magic was wearing off so we said goodbye to Louie went back home how fast our bets handed movie answer books written in Braille so that must mean they did start using his alphabets in spite of the horrible man yes they did but not for many years not till after Louie was dead so he never knew no that's sad we should have told him blind at 3:00 worked out a new way for the blind to read from small raised dots small raised dogs you

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Views: 285,367

Rating: 4.7201972 out of 5

Keywords: louis braille, magic grandad, bbc, watch, education, schools, geoffrey bayldon

Id: b6cVVTMioPc

Length: 13min 34sec (814 seconds)

Published: Sun May 25 2014