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The secrets of the past
are all around us,
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hidden in our streets,
buried under our feet.
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And in this series I'll be
uncovering those secrets,
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as I explore Britain's
most historic towns.
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I'll decipher physical clues...
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Look at that, it's covered
with lizard-like scales.
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...and get to know some extraordinary
characters who are often overlooked.
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She sounds like
an extraordinary woman.
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Nicola really was
an iron lady of her day.
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With the help of Ben Robinson's
eye in the sky,
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I'll discover which towns
across the UK reveal
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the most about each period
in British history,
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and find out how those stories
still resonate today.
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If the French had won this battle,
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history would have played out
very differently.
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Yes, we would have had
a French monarchy.
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Oh, my goodness.
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From the adventurous Elizabethans
to the elegant Georgians,
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from medieval knights
through to the height of empire,
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I'll tell the story of an era
through the story of a single town.
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Today I've come to the heart
of the epic drama that was
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Britain's Restoration.
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It changed the world,
and it happened here.
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A place where a new king created
a boom in science, economics
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and put women on the stage...
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This was an incredibly erotic
proposal for the men of London Town.
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...but also helped build a
slave trade of brutal efficiency.
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And everybody's doing it,
so you have to?
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Yes, but you had to do it better.
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It's a metropolis that was at war,
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would be engulfed in fire,
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and devastated by a plague,
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with chilling echoes for today.
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"And having, as it were,
got master of us all,
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"made a most terrible slaughter."
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If you really want to understand
the political, economic, cultural
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revolution that was the Restoration,
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London is the place to come.
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21st-century London is a city that's
always changing, always in flux.
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There are constantly
new buildings going up.
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And it's always been this magnet
for people and for ideas,
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going back through the centuries.
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And so many projects - creative,
scientific, industrial -
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have started off right here.
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Love it or loathe it,
it's our capital.
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2,000 years ago the Romans
established Londinium
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on the banks of the Thames,
right where today's city stands.
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After the Romans, a few centuries
of decline were reversed as the
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Normans made London England's centre
of trade, government and crown -
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a role it's never relinquished.
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London is brimming with evidence
of the powerful empire
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that Britain once controlled.
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But these clays it represents
a culturally rich,
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high-tech modern age.
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A modern age that begs
a simple question -
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where did all this start?
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And I think we have
the answers here in London.
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Not just London, actually,
but this nucleus
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between Tower Bridge to the east
and St Paul's to the west.
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It's here, in this few square miles,
that the seeds of global dominance
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were sown in an astonishing
quarter of a century -
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the white-hot years
of the Restoration.
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The Restoration refers to
the period between 1660 and 1688,
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when the monarchy
was restored to the throne
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following the collapse
of Cromwell's republic.
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Cromwell's short-lived commonwealth
had been created after a bloody
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civil war had ended with the capture
and execution of Charles I.
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It was a tumultuous era for England,
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as the new king, Charles ll,
removed the shackles of puritanism.
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So it's 1660, Oliver Cromwell's
deeply unpopular son Richard
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has been deposed,
and Parliament is in disarray.
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It was a year of frantic politics,
with republicans and royalists
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vying for power.
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And, meanwhile, Charles l's son -
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also very originally
called Charles -
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is in exile in the Netherlands,
planning his return.
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To find out what happens next,
I'm meeting historian
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Professor Kate Williams,
on the way to Westminster Abbey -
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the crowning place of British
kings and queens since 1066.
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It seems that Charles ll achieves
what should have been impossible.
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His father was executed,
and then he comes back as king.
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How does he do it?
It's incredible, isn't it?
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11 years after his father
is executed.
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And, really, he's always waiting
for the moment he can come back
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and be king. He's got the faith,
he thinks one day he'll come back.
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And when Oliver Cromwell,
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he dies, his son Richard is very
unpopular, and people are saying,
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"Well, why are we passing it down
between father and son?"
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There's a great series
of instability,
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and essentially there is this
moment in which everyone says,
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"Why don't we just
invite the king back?"
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But the king can't come back
before he's essentially signed
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a job contract.
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Because we can't have
the king back in the old way,
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we can't have divine right,
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we can't have him chopping off heads
of whoever he wants.
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So what he signs is the Declaration
of Breda, named after where he
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is at the point, in the Netherlands,
and this is a declaration
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in which Charles says, "l am going
to introduce religious toleration,"
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so whatever religion you want to be,
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"l'm not going to have
vengeance on those
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"who attacked my father,
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"and also people who
got their property from royalists
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"who lost property can keep it."
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So these key things that
Parliament wants, Charles agrees to,
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and once he agrees to,
it's like a trigger.
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That is when everyone says,
"He can come back."
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And that is when Charles ll
sets off to be king.
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Almost a full year since
arriving back on English soil,
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Charles entered Westminster Abbey to
be adorned with new crown jewels -
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the previous ones having been
melted down by Cromwell.
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Kate, what would it have been like
if we were here in that year,
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in 1661, for the coronation?
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What would we have seen?
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Charles ll's coronation
was completely mind-blowing.
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This was the biggest coronation
people had seen
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since Elizabeth I,
almost 100 years earlier.
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It was the biggest royal PR set-up
you can imagine.
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This was the first coronation
they actually had tiered seating
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to cram everyone in,
cos it was so popular.
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There's this incredible show
of status, of wealth and power,
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but what did it mean?
What was this about?
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Every monarch is the beginning
of a new era -
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none so much as Charles ll.
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Everyone knew that society would be
different - entertainments,
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theatres, sports, everything
that had not been allowed
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under Cromwell is now
suddenly permitted,
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and we start to see
in the coronation, the beginning
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of the mythology of Charles ll
as popular, as the Merry Monarch.
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Among those who witnessed
the overblown coronation
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was a certain diarist.
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Samuel Pepys, who, by the way,
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seemed to be everywhere
in Restoration London,
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saw it all, and was
incredibly impressed.
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His diary entry for
23rd April 1661 read,
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"l may now shut my eyes
against any other objects,
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"or for the future trouble myself
to see things of state and show
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"as being sure never to see
the like again in this world."
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He thought he was witnessing
a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle.
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And of course this tradition would
continue down through the centuries.
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I mean, what new monarch is going
to pass up the PR opportunity
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offered by a coronation?
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The chance to dazzle people,
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the chance, some might say,
to distract.
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Don't ask awkward questions
about the constitution
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and where power lies in Britain,
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look at the shiny things!
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The pomp and ceremony was
a fresh start for a king who had
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already shown his teeth.
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Charles had returned
to the English throne
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with an assurance to
those who had signed off
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on the execution of his father,
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who was beheaded here at
Banqueting House in 1649.
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In the Declaration of Breda,
Charles had promised clemency.
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But the wording was vague,
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it was open to interpretation.
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So the final decision would
rest with a future Parliament
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as to who was punished and how.
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And it soon became clear
that for those directly involved
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with the execution,
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there would be no clemency.
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The regicides were a group
of 59 men who had signed
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Charles's death warrant, plus the
judges who had presided over them.
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For those that declined to flee,
a brutal fate awaited.
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Thomas Harrison was
the first to be executed,
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and he was hanged right here
at Charing Cross,
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where this equestrian statue
of Charles I now stands.
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And of course Samuel Pepys
was there,
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displaying his flair
for dark humour.
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"L went out to Charing Cross,"
he wrote,
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"to see Major General Harrison
hanged, drawn and quartered,
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"he looking as cheerful as any man
could do in that condition."
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Five more of the 59 signatories
were executed in the same
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thorough manner in 1660.
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Historian Dr Onyeka Nubia has
studied the fates of the regicides.
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At some point something
seems to have gone wrong,
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or it's been misinterpreted,
because Charles ll
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starts off by saying,
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"If I'm put on the throne,
everything is forgiven,"
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and that doesn't seem to be
quite what happened.
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Well, we presume that when
he says what he says,
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he means what he says.
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You don't think he meant it? Because
kings in these days are politicians.
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Everybody who writes
on court politics would say,
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"Look, do not allow the murderers
of your father to live."
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So then we have this situation
where the regicides are hunted down,
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but presumably a lot of them
had already made themselves scarce.
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I mean, they would have known
what was coming.
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Well, some of these regicides
are, in fact, dead already.
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Oliver Cromwell, for example,
was dug up, hung,
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and then his head was put through
a spike at Whitehall in London.
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And it was left there to rot.
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He's dead already, this is
all about... He's dead already.
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...telling other people. Yeah,
it was about telling other people.
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It's sending a message, a sign.
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So what about the ones
who had fled the country, then?
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I mean, how were they found?
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Well, people turned
and changed sides.
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People like George Downing.
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They hunted them down,
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and they knew how to hunt them down
because they were their old friends.
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So George Downing was basically
turning his... That's right.
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...his old friends over.
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He's a remarkable individual.
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Someone who raises himself up
from quite a low position,
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and he uses the civil war
to become a republican.
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And to be an ardent member of that
faction that wants to kill the king.
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As soon as that's done,
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he then becomes a supporter
of Oliver Cromwell.
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And then when Oliver Cromwell dies
he switches sides again
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00:13:02,420 --> 00:13:04,955
and says, "Look, in fact,
we need to invite the king back.
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00:13:04,980 --> 00:13:06,525
"We need the stability of the king."
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00:13:06,550 --> 00:13:08,915
So he's someone who is
politically expedient,
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00:13:08,940 --> 00:13:12,275
but also willing to sacrifice
his friends.
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00:13:12,300 --> 00:13:14,835
Yeah, he operated like a spy master.
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He had a ring of agents
that worked for him.
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They lied, they deceived,
they cheated,
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so that they could make sure that
all the regicides were captured,
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and then seeing that
they are dispatched.
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Downing's operation insured
three more of the regicides
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were tracked down
and brought back to London
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to be publicly tortured
and dissected.
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The surviving fugitives
lived out their lives abroad,
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terrified of the king's revenge.
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Well, you won't be surprised
to hear that Pepys
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00:13:47,350 --> 00:13:48,884
had something to say
about George Downing.
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He called him a "perfidious rogue",
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but the king had an
entirely different opinion,
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00:13:53,909 --> 00:13:56,965
rewarded him handsomely
with a plot of land on which
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Downing built a terrace of houses.
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And if you ever thought,
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00:14:00,940 --> 00:14:04,195
"Will Britain turn into
a republic at some point?"
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00:14:04,220 --> 00:14:05,525
well, just reflect on the fact
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00:14:05,550 --> 00:14:09,475
that our leaders
live on Downing Street.
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I'm in London - the best place to
understand Restoration Britain.
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00:14:28,644 --> 00:14:32,030
Charles ll had been crowned
in a lavish ceremony
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00:14:32,055 --> 00:14:35,310
at Westminster Abbey,
but had showed his steel
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00:14:35,335 --> 00:14:38,860
by wreaking bloody vengeance on
those who'd executed his father.
239
00:14:40,574 --> 00:14:44,549
Revenge is one thing, but what
Charles ll really needed
240
00:14:44,574 --> 00:14:48,270
was to create political stability.
He needed popular appeal
241
00:14:48,295 --> 00:14:52,669
and he set out to win hearts and
minds by rolling back some
242
00:14:52,694 --> 00:14:56,060
of the severe restrictions that had
been placed on society
243
00:14:56,085 --> 00:14:57,990
during Cromwell's Commonwealth.
244
00:14:58,015 --> 00:15:00,910
Top of his list - reopening
the theatres.
245
00:15:00,935 --> 00:15:04,240
Puritanism was out,
entertainment was in.
246
00:15:06,375 --> 00:15:09,499
I've come to London's West End
to meet theatre historian
247
00:15:09,524 --> 00:15:13,910
Dr Lucy Powell, who can help me
understand how bringing plays
248
00:15:13,935 --> 00:15:17,910
back to the stage transformed
the city's cultural life.
249
00:15:17,935 --> 00:15:21,240
So was it just a question of taking
the theatres out of mothballs, then,
250
00:15:21,265 --> 00:15:23,669
and just picking up where
they left off?
251
00:15:23,694 --> 00:15:25,140
Not at all.
252
00:15:25,165 --> 00:15:28,419
So, in Shakespeare's day,
theatres had been these huge,
253
00:15:28,444 --> 00:15:30,140
open-air arenas,
254
00:15:30,165 --> 00:15:33,140
and they were in these seedy
backwaters like Southwark, on
255
00:15:33,165 --> 00:15:36,320
the other side of the river, which,
in those days, was where the leather
256
00:15:36,345 --> 00:15:39,679
tanneries of London were happening,
so they were incredibly stinky.
257
00:15:39,704 --> 00:15:42,470
What happened when Charles arrives
back in London is he issues to
258
00:15:42,495 --> 00:15:47,790
patents to two of his followers to
build these big, fashionable closed
259
00:15:47,815 --> 00:15:52,320
theatres, which were also incredibly
large, right here in Covent Garden.
260
00:15:52,345 --> 00:15:54,629
So in the middle of what
was becoming
261
00:15:54,654 --> 00:15:57,390
the fashionable area of town.
262
00:15:57,415 --> 00:16:02,150
So is this really the beginning
of West End theatre in London? Yes.
263
00:16:02,175 --> 00:16:05,830
Was Charles ll actually coming out
to public theatre?
264
00:16:05,855 --> 00:16:09,710
Indeed. He was. And he had done this
on the Continent, in France
265
00:16:09,735 --> 00:16:13,320
and in places like Italy,
where women were allowed on stage.
266
00:16:13,345 --> 00:16:15,070
In this country,
that wasn't the case.
267
00:16:15,095 --> 00:16:17,429
One of the first things
Charles does when he comes
268
00:16:17,454 --> 00:16:21,790
back to the throne, in 1660, is
he issues a patent that says
269
00:16:21,815 --> 00:16:23,629
that from this time forth,
270
00:16:23,654 --> 00:16:27,629
all female parts must be played
by women.
271
00:16:27,654 --> 00:16:32,040
And the reason he said that this
law was necessary was to suppress
272
00:16:32,065 --> 00:16:36,429
obscene and scurrilous passages
in plays being spoken by boys
273
00:16:36,454 --> 00:16:38,990
pretending to be women, in an
effort, he says,
274
00:16:39,015 --> 00:16:43,790
to suppress..."unnatural vice"
is the euphemistic phrase.
275
00:16:43,815 --> 00:16:47,629
Now, what happens is exactly
the opposite of this attempt
276
00:16:47,654 --> 00:16:50,240
to kind of make theatre more
morally respectable. Yeah.
277
00:16:50,265 --> 00:16:55,429
It becomes a place of incredibly,
sort of, sexual freight.
278
00:16:55,454 --> 00:16:58,710
People go to the theatre in order
to look at this new
279
00:16:58,735 --> 00:17:03,679
draw of these handsome young
women in various states of undress.
280
00:17:03,704 --> 00:17:05,990
And you can actually see
it in the fabric of the plays
281
00:17:06,015 --> 00:17:07,629
that are written for them.
282
00:17:07,654 --> 00:17:11,230
S0 this new form of part for women,
called the breeches role,
283
00:17:11,255 --> 00:17:14,350
became immensely popular in
the Restoration period.
284
00:17:14,375 --> 00:17:16,710
So walking
around the streets of London,
285
00:17:16,735 --> 00:17:19,320
cleavage
and breasts were ten a penny.
286
00:17:19,345 --> 00:17:21,960
They were everywhere on show, so
you had these incredibly
287
00:17:21,985 --> 00:17:25,230
low-cut dresses. But, the bit of
women that you would never normally
288
00:17:25,255 --> 00:17:28,509
see would be hips,
thighs and buttocks.
289
00:17:28,534 --> 00:17:33,870
So if a woman actress is wearing
a man's clothing, the breeches
290
00:17:33,895 --> 00:17:37,200
part, you would be able to make out
the shape of her hips
291
00:17:37,225 --> 00:17:38,600
and her thighs and her bum,
292
00:17:38,625 --> 00:17:42,480
and this was an incredibly erotic
proposal for the men of London town,
293
00:17:42,505 --> 00:17:44,509
who would flock to go and see women
294
00:17:44,534 --> 00:17:47,759
in these states of theatrical
undress. They have legs!
295
00:17:47,784 --> 00:17:50,070
They have legs, and bums, yeah.
296
00:17:50,095 --> 00:17:52,350
It was thrilling
for the male populace.
297
00:17:54,945 --> 00:17:59,324
The fun-loving Merry Monarch was
a successful PR image for Charles,
298
00:17:59,349 --> 00:18:02,480
but he also had serious ambitions
for Britain
299
00:18:02,505 --> 00:18:05,429
to become a major
player on the world stage.
300
00:18:06,534 --> 00:18:09,040
He knew cutting-edge technology
301
00:18:09,065 --> 00:18:11,559
and new scientific ideas
would lead the way.
302
00:18:13,175 --> 00:18:18,120
This is now the site of Tower 42,
but, in 1660,
303
00:18:18,145 --> 00:18:23,040
some of the country's most brilliant
minds gathered right here.
304
00:18:23,065 --> 00:18:25,870
They'd come to hear
a lecture by Christopher Wren
305
00:18:25,895 --> 00:18:29,360
and then they held the very first
meeting of what would become
306
00:18:29,385 --> 00:18:31,679
the most widely respected
307
00:18:31,704 --> 00:18:35,559
and influential scientific society
in the world.
308
00:18:35,584 --> 00:18:40,200
With Charles's blessing,
they called it the Royal Society.
309
00:18:40,225 --> 00:18:42,150
Former presidents include
310
00:18:42,175 --> 00:18:43,689
Sir Isaac Newton,
311
00:18:43,714 --> 00:18:45,970
Sir Christopher Wren,
312
00:18:45,995 --> 00:18:48,509
Samuel Pepys, of course,
313
00:18:48,534 --> 00:18:52,330
and Nobel prize-winning
geneticist Sir Paul Nurse,
314
00:18:52,355 --> 00:18:54,759
who I'm meeting
in the City of London.
315
00:18:55,975 --> 00:18:58,480
Paul, what was
the purpose of the Royal Society?
316
00:18:58,505 --> 00:19:01,160
I mean, was it just a club
of scientists?
317
00:19:01,185 --> 00:19:05,559
Well, it was a club.
It was called the Invisible College,
318
00:19:05,584 --> 00:19:09,970
and they met regularly to
talk about scientific issues.
319
00:19:09,995 --> 00:19:15,689
And the motto of the Royal Society
in Latin - nullius in verba,
320
00:19:15,714 --> 00:19:18,720
or something like that - means
321
00:19:18,745 --> 00:19:21,970
"don't take everybody's
word for it". Yeah.
322
00:19:21,995 --> 00:19:24,480
And that had some critical
consequences, actually,
323
00:19:24,505 --> 00:19:28,880
because it meant you had to show
that you'd really thought about it,
324
00:19:28,905 --> 00:19:31,840
you'd really made the observations,
made the experiments,
325
00:19:31,865 --> 00:19:34,720
done the calculations,
and demonstrate it to others. Yeah.
326
00:19:34,745 --> 00:19:39,880
And that led to something we call
peer review, which is that if you
327
00:19:39,905 --> 00:19:44,519
provide evidence, then others should
look at it to see if it looks good.
328
00:19:44,544 --> 00:19:47,130
And if it's good,
then it would be worth publishing.
329
00:19:47,155 --> 00:19:50,280
Talking about the Royal Society, why
are we here by the Monument?
330
00:19:50,305 --> 00:19:53,880
Well, it was designed
by Robert Hooke
331
00:19:53,905 --> 00:19:57,360
and Christopher Wren to celebrate
the fire of London, or
332
00:19:57,385 --> 00:19:59,850
at least to remember it, but,
actually,
333
00:19:59,875 --> 00:20:03,050
it was also a scientific
instrument.
334
00:20:03,075 --> 00:20:05,880
Really?
It's a telescope, so, at the top,
335
00:20:05,905 --> 00:20:07,850
they had a lens, a big lens,
336
00:20:07,875 --> 00:20:12,769
and then that focused the light
down into the basement below it,
337
00:20:12,794 --> 00:20:14,800
where they could look up.
338
00:20:14,825 --> 00:20:17,769
What they wanted to do was to
make very precise
339
00:20:17,794 --> 00:20:23,240
measurements of the stars at
opposite sides of the Earth's orbit.
340
00:20:23,265 --> 00:20:26,850
Did it work? No. Oh!
Now, why didn't it work?
341
00:20:26,875 --> 00:20:29,930
It didn't work, because there was
so much traffic going past
342
00:20:29,955 --> 00:20:32,769
all the time, over cobblestones.
So you can imagine.
343
00:20:32,794 --> 00:20:37,160
And it wobbled, so they couldn't get
precise enough measurements.
344
00:20:37,185 --> 00:20:39,960
But Hooke, I mean,
he made some amazing discoveries.
345
00:20:39,985 --> 00:20:43,960
He worked with lenses at the other
extreme, as well, didn't he?
346
00:20:43,985 --> 00:20:46,680
Microscopy. Hooke was
more of an artisan.
347
00:20:46,705 --> 00:20:49,050
He did all these drawings. There's
a magnificent book
348
00:20:49,075 --> 00:20:52,080
called Micrographia.
I know, we've got a version of it
349
00:20:52,105 --> 00:20:55,649
at the University of Birmingham
it's huge. It's about that big.
350
00:20:55,674 --> 00:20:59,160
It's massive. Gorgeous book. It's
got the details of a flea
351
00:20:59,185 --> 00:21:01,720
under the microscope.
A wonderful flea.
352
00:21:01,745 --> 00:21:04,600
And can you imagine? Nobody had any
ever seen this before.
353
00:21:04,625 --> 00:21:07,490
And it must have
looked like some monster.
354
00:21:07,515 --> 00:21:11,050
And the second thing
that really excites me
355
00:21:11,075 --> 00:21:16,490
is that he used a razor
and cut a thin slice of a plant
356
00:21:16,515 --> 00:21:21,569
and looked at it underneath the
microscope and he discovered cells.
357
00:21:21,594 --> 00:21:24,090
And cells are the
basic unit of life.
358
00:21:24,115 --> 00:21:26,689
I've spent all my life studying
them,
359
00:21:26,714 --> 00:21:29,960
so that's why I particularly
like Robert Hooke and Micrographia.
360
00:21:29,985 --> 00:21:33,116
Sometimes, I can overuse
the word "world-changing",
361
00:21:33,141 --> 00:21:36,374
but this did change the world, then,
this really did.
362
00:21:36,399 --> 00:21:38,734
It changed the world
and it happened here. Yeah.
363
00:21:38,759 --> 00:21:41,134
Happened in here,
in London, in the 1660s.
364
00:21:41,159 --> 00:21:44,573
And it's dominated science, which,
of course, has dominated many
365
00:21:44,598 --> 00:21:47,934
other things ever since,
over those 350 or more years.
366
00:21:50,239 --> 00:21:54,064
Those brilliant scientists were
crucial to King Charles
367
00:21:54,089 --> 00:21:58,374
getting what he wanted more
than anything - a booming economy.
368
00:22:00,678 --> 00:22:04,964
The key to that was having a Navy
that could command the oceans...
369
00:22:06,598 --> 00:22:09,814
...protecting trade
and battling for new territories.
370
00:22:11,709 --> 00:22:15,294
The problem was sailing on the open
seas
371
00:22:15,319 --> 00:22:18,494
was still a haphazard,
treacherous task.
372
00:22:20,558 --> 00:22:25,014
Navigating the globe
relied on knowledge of the heavens.
373
00:22:25,039 --> 00:22:28,894
Aerial archaeologist Ben Robinson
is in Greenwich to find out
374
00:22:28,919 --> 00:22:32,144
about the founding
of the Royal Observatory.
375
00:22:38,879 --> 00:22:41,453
There we go. Just a bit more height.
376
00:22:41,478 --> 00:22:45,094
Wow. That's all spread out
before me.
377
00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:48,783
This is one of the most recognisable
views of the most recognisable
378
00:22:48,808 --> 00:22:55,224
city in the world. There's the Isle
of Dogs, the Thames snaking round.
379
00:22:55,249 --> 00:22:56,894
But I've got to sweep
all of that away
380
00:22:56,919 --> 00:22:58,864
and think back to the 17th century,
381
00:22:58,889 --> 00:23:02,453
and this is what I'm interested in -
Greenwich Park.
382
00:23:03,839 --> 00:23:06,583
Back in the 17th century,
this was Kent,
383
00:23:06,608 --> 00:23:08,044
this was the countryside -
384
00:23:08,069 --> 00:23:10,374
it was away from the smog, from
the clutter,
385
00:23:10,399 --> 00:23:12,174
there were clear skies.
386
00:23:12,199 --> 00:23:16,144
And that's why they chose this
spot for this observatory.
387
00:23:18,069 --> 00:23:21,974
This is what Christopher Wren
was tasked with building
388
00:23:21,999 --> 00:23:25,694
and, in effect, it was
a house for the Astronomer Royal,
389
00:23:25,719 --> 00:23:28,403
a new post that Charles had created.
390
00:23:28,428 --> 00:23:31,653
And that
Astronomer Royal was John Flamsteed.
391
00:23:31,678 --> 00:23:34,254
So this is Flamsteed's house.
392
00:23:34,279 --> 00:23:37,663
And his purpose was to make
accurate star charts
393
00:23:37,688 --> 00:23:44,583
and try to capture this elusive
way of understanding longitude.
394
00:23:44,608 --> 00:23:47,333
If they could work out longitude
and latitude,
395
00:23:47,358 --> 00:23:49,694
then they've got accurate
navigation.
396
00:23:49,719 --> 00:23:53,304
And if you've got accurate
navigation, you rule the world.
397
00:23:53,329 --> 00:23:57,174
But he didn't manage it. It would
take decades before they did that.
398
00:23:57,199 --> 00:24:00,413
And it was decades
after that that, finally,
399
00:24:00,438 --> 00:24:04,304
Greenwich was fixed as the point
of the Prime Meridian.
400
00:24:04,329 --> 00:24:08,663
And, thereafter, Greenwich became
the centre of world time -
401
00:24:08,688 --> 00:24:10,974
Greenwich Mean Time.
402
00:24:10,999 --> 00:24:15,304
And the foundations for all that
were laid in the Restoration period.
403
00:24:20,799 --> 00:24:23,533
The scientific breakthroughs that
happened during the Restoration
404
00:24:23,558 --> 00:24:26,583
period allowed ships to
travel much further
405
00:24:26,608 --> 00:24:30,504
into what was
still a largely uncharted world.
406
00:24:30,529 --> 00:24:33,974
So that in itself necessitated
another revolution,
407
00:24:33,999 --> 00:24:39,974
because where do you get the money
to go on such risky ventures, to
408
00:24:39,999 --> 00:24:44,463
buy new ships, and to insure
yourself against disaster.
409
00:24:44,488 --> 00:24:48,864
Against the potential loss of those
ships on the high seas?
410
00:24:48,889 --> 00:24:53,254
And, rather strangely,
the answer lay with a warm beverage.
411
00:25:08,358 --> 00:25:10,974
I'm in England's capital, London,
412
00:25:10,999 --> 00:25:15,974
trying to take in the cascade of
era-defining events that made
413
00:25:15,999 --> 00:25:19,583
Restoration Britain a unique
melting pot of innovation
414
00:25:19,608 --> 00:25:21,974
that changed the world.
415
00:25:21,999 --> 00:25:26,374
With this new vibrancy in London
came a need for more places
416
00:25:26,399 --> 00:25:31,694
for the movers and shakers to
discuss deals and debate ideas.
417
00:25:31,719 --> 00:25:35,054
You had official but exclusive
institutions,
418
00:25:35,079 --> 00:25:36,614
like the Royal Society,
419
00:25:36,639 --> 00:25:39,814
but there were places where
people were starting to come
420
00:25:39,839 --> 00:25:44,203
together in a much less formal way,
where ideas could bobble up
421
00:25:44,228 --> 00:25:48,583
and propagate, and they were being
drawn in to those place by
422
00:25:48,608 --> 00:25:52,614
the lure of a powerful new drug.
423
00:25:52,639 --> 00:25:57,254
In 1652 a man called Pasqua Rosee
started pushing that drug,
424
00:25:57,279 --> 00:26:01,663
here on St Michael's Alley,
that created an instant high
425
00:26:01,688 --> 00:26:04,694
and the city boys just
couldn't get enough of it.
426
00:26:04,719 --> 00:26:06,974
But it may not be what you think.
427
00:26:06,999 --> 00:26:08,203
It was coffee.
428
00:26:08,228 --> 00:26:09,614
But it was very potent.
429
00:26:11,719 --> 00:26:15,024
I've ventured deep into
the labyrinth of the financial
430
00:26:15,049 --> 00:26:19,614
district to meet Dr Matthew Green,
who has studied the impact
431
00:26:19,639 --> 00:26:23,134
of Restoration London's
coffee house scene.
432
00:26:23,159 --> 00:26:26,024
So, Matthew, if we'd have been
here in the middle of
433
00:26:26,049 --> 00:26:29,663
the 17th century, we would've been
able to buy a coffee from Pasqua?
434
00:26:29,688 --> 00:26:31,134
That's absolutely right.
435
00:26:31,159 --> 00:26:34,333
On this site was the first
coffee shack, I would call it,
436
00:26:34,358 --> 00:26:36,694
because it didn't really have
tables and chairs,
437
00:26:36,719 --> 00:26:39,333
it was shrouded in smoke,
sometimes actually on fire.
438
00:26:39,358 --> 00:26:42,213
But if we were to drink the coffee
now, you'd be horrified.
439
00:26:42,238 --> 00:26:45,663
I don't know if you're, like,
a flat white kind of person, but...
440
00:26:45,688 --> 00:26:46,944
I like an Americano.
441
00:26:46,969 --> 00:26:48,533
You like an Americano, yeah. Me too.
442
00:26:48,558 --> 00:26:51,134
If you're used to, you know,
beautifully filtered,
443
00:26:51,159 --> 00:26:53,894
delicious Epicurean coffee,
the taste of the 17th-century
444
00:26:53,919 --> 00:26:58,333
stuff would have you heading for
the nearest vomit bucket.
445
00:26:58,358 --> 00:27:02,254
Presumably, it was the effect of it
rather than the taste of it, then?
446
00:27:02,279 --> 00:27:03,413
It was the effect.
447
00:27:03,438 --> 00:27:06,574
Now, remember, until the arrival
of coffee most people in the city
448
00:27:06,599 --> 00:27:09,463
were either slightly
or very drunk all day long.
449
00:27:09,488 --> 00:27:12,934
The habitual drink would be ale,
watered-down ale,
450
00:27:12,959 --> 00:27:15,694
so the arrival of coffee would
trigger a dawn of sobriety.
451
00:27:15,719 --> 00:27:18,824
Imagine these people were going
to be emerging from this, like,
452
00:27:18,849 --> 00:27:21,104
haze, this alcoholic fog.
453
00:27:21,129 --> 00:27:22,463
Exactly, yes.
454
00:27:22,488 --> 00:27:25,264
And then turning to coffee,
and suddenly... And suddenly...
455
00:27:25,289 --> 00:27:26,974
...full of ideas. Exactly.
456
00:27:26,999 --> 00:27:30,054
And it all can be traced
to the impact of this
457
00:27:30,079 --> 00:27:32,384
disgustingly bitter, black drink.
458
00:27:32,409 --> 00:27:34,824
And would there be different
coffee houses for different
459
00:27:34,849 --> 00:27:36,104
QFWPS of People?
460
00:27:36,129 --> 00:27:38,854
I mean, when I was at university,
there was one pub where the lawyers
461
00:27:38,879 --> 00:27:41,574
used to go and another pub where
all the medical students used to go.
462
00:27:41,599 --> 00:27:42,663
Was it that kind of thing?
463
00:27:42,688 --> 00:27:43,904
Yeah, exactly right.
464
00:27:43,929 --> 00:27:47,744
In the heart of the city, there was
a triptych of monumentally
465
00:27:47,769 --> 00:27:49,384
significant coffee houses.
466
00:27:49,409 --> 00:27:51,343
For example,
Jonathan's Coffee House,
467
00:27:51,368 --> 00:27:53,984
which was the birthplace of
the stock markets.
468
00:27:54,009 --> 00:27:56,854
You had Garraway's, which was just
round the corner from that,
469
00:27:56,879 --> 00:27:59,624
which was the birthplace
of international auctioneering.
470
00:27:59,649 --> 00:28:02,704
So you could bid for rotten boroughs
or a nice mansion in Edmonton
471
00:28:02,729 --> 00:28:05,384
or Tottenham. So that business was
happening in the coffee house?
472
00:28:05,409 --> 00:28:08,134
It was happening inside, yes,
with a face-to-face interaction.
473
00:28:08,159 --> 00:28:11,854
And, perhaps most strikingly,
there was a place called Lloyds
474
00:28:11,879 --> 00:28:16,264
that opened in the 1690s,
by a boy called Edward Lloyd,
475
00:28:16,289 --> 00:28:20,264
who had cultivated excellent links
with the maritime community.
476
00:28:20,289 --> 00:28:24,184
And this meant that it was a natural
meeting place for people
477
00:28:24,209 --> 00:28:26,423
involved in overseas trade.
478
00:28:27,519 --> 00:28:29,854
At the time, the British economy
was expanding.
479
00:28:29,879 --> 00:28:32,854
The tentacles of the overseas
trading empire are reaching
480
00:28:32,879 --> 00:28:34,384
ever further afield.
481
00:28:34,409 --> 00:28:38,213
They need to find a way of
financing these voyages
482
00:28:38,238 --> 00:28:42,624
without facing ruin, so you need
to mitigate against the risk,
483
00:28:42,649 --> 00:28:46,543
and that meant, almost organically,
the insurance industry coalesced
484
00:28:46,568 --> 00:28:50,543
within this smoky, candlelit forum
that was Lloyd's.
485
00:28:50,568 --> 00:28:52,824
And we still have Lloyd's today.
486
00:28:52,849 --> 00:28:54,144
That comes from the coffee house?
487
00:28:54,169 --> 00:28:56,184
It began as a direct link, yes.
488
00:28:56,209 --> 00:28:58,543
The porters are still called
waiters,
489
00:28:58,568 --> 00:29:00,423
in an allusion to its
caffeinous origins.
490
00:29:00,448 --> 00:29:03,343
But even though the original
buildings have long since crumbled,
491
00:29:03,368 --> 00:29:07,754
or were burnt down, the capitalist
concoctions that took place there
492
00:29:07,779 --> 00:29:09,264
are still with us.
493
00:29:10,779 --> 00:29:13,543
Caffeine-powered innovations
in business,
494
00:29:13,568 --> 00:29:17,293
banking and marine insurance meant
that Britain would soon be
495
00:29:17,318 --> 00:29:20,784
nosing ahead of her European
competitors in the race to
496
00:29:20,809 --> 00:29:25,114
trade and exploit commodities
on a global scale.
497
00:29:25,959 --> 00:29:28,504
There was one business that
was really taking off
498
00:29:28,529 --> 00:29:31,423
in the second half of the
17th century, and Charles ll
499
00:29:31,448 --> 00:29:35,864
and his aristocratic friends wanted
a piece of the action.
500
00:29:35,889 --> 00:29:40,423
But it was cruellest and the most
inhumane business imaginable.
501
00:29:40,448 --> 00:29:41,834
It was slavery,
502
00:29:41,859 --> 00:29:46,144
and the British establishment was
right at the heart of it.
503
00:29:50,139 --> 00:29:54,194
I've come to the National Maritime
Museum at Greenwich to find out
504
00:29:54,219 --> 00:29:57,654
just how complicit
the British establishment was
505
00:29:57,679 --> 00:29:59,673
in the enslavement of Africans.
506
00:30:02,809 --> 00:30:06,704
This is one of those times where
I feel really privileged because
507
00:30:06,729 --> 00:30:10,473
this is a print which has been taken
out of the archives in the museum.
508
00:30:10,498 --> 00:30:13,144
It's not normally
on display to the public.
509
00:30:13,169 --> 00:30:16,504
And I'm lucky enough to be
able to see it up close.
510
00:30:16,529 --> 00:30:18,194
It's quite chilling, actually.
511
00:30:18,219 --> 00:30:23,144
What this is depicting is
some of the forts that dotted
512
00:30:23,169 --> 00:30:25,754
the coast of West Africa,
513
00:30:25,779 --> 00:30:27,114
in the 17th century.
514
00:30:28,248 --> 00:30:33,223
And in the dungeons of these
castles are African prisoners,
515
00:30:33,248 --> 00:30:37,223
and those African prisoners are
going to become slaves.
516
00:30:37,248 --> 00:30:42,064
They're going to be transported
across the Atlantic to what'll
517
00:30:42,089 --> 00:30:44,394
develop into the plantations.
518
00:30:44,419 --> 00:30:48,144
So this is the beginnings of
the slave trade.
519
00:30:48,169 --> 00:30:50,584
And it's with the...
520
00:30:50,609 --> 00:30:53,504
It's not even the collusion
of the state - it's state-sponsored.
521
00:30:53,529 --> 00:30:58,223
And we see that so clearly
when Charles ll comes to the throne.
522
00:30:58,248 --> 00:31:02,634
So what I've got here are
photographs of a document
523
00:31:02,659 --> 00:31:05,634
which is a patent for
the company that will have
524
00:31:05,659 --> 00:31:08,553
the monopoly over this
West African trade,
525
00:31:08,578 --> 00:31:10,353
the slave trade.
526
00:31:10,378 --> 00:31:15,584
So this is Charles ll, "By the grace
of God, King of England,"
527
00:31:15,609 --> 00:31:22,194
and he is granting this patented
to his clearest brother,
528
00:31:22,219 --> 00:31:24,714
James, Duke of York.
529
00:31:27,299 --> 00:31:33,114
So James is effectively the chief
executive of what was then
530
00:31:33,139 --> 00:31:36,664
the Company of Royal Adventurers
of England Trading into Africa.
531
00:31:36,689 --> 00:31:40,074
That's what would become the
Royal Africa Company.
532
00:31:40,099 --> 00:31:42,384
And he's granting the patent
for 1,000 years.
533
00:31:44,299 --> 00:31:48,074
And here are some of the other
beneficiaries of it.
534
00:31:48,099 --> 00:31:50,504
The Royal Consort, Queen Catherine.
535
00:31:51,969 --> 00:31:54,223
Mary, the Queen Mother.
536
00:31:54,248 --> 00:31:55,944
And clearest sister, Henrietta.
537
00:31:55,969 --> 00:31:57,664
It just goes on and on and on.
538
00:31:59,099 --> 00:32:03,433
20 of the 66 beneficiaries
listed here
539
00:32:03,458 --> 00:32:04,944
are members of the royal family.
540
00:32:08,969 --> 00:32:12,303
To try to interpret that
shocking evidence,
541
00:32:12,328 --> 00:32:15,353
I'm catching up with
Dr Onyeka Nubia again.
542
00:32:15,378 --> 00:32:18,024
I've just been looking
at these remarkable documents
543
00:32:18,049 --> 00:32:20,914
from the archive, and it seems
as though what Charles ll
544
00:32:20,939 --> 00:32:24,233
was essentially saying, you know,
"This is where we make money,
545
00:32:24,258 --> 00:32:26,834
"and we need to regulate that,
we need to govern it." Yeah.
546
00:32:26,859 --> 00:32:29,384
"L need to be in control,
or at least my brother needs to be
547
00:32:29,409 --> 00:32:32,124
"in control." Yeah, I don't know
if it's Charles ll saying that.
548
00:32:32,149 --> 00:32:35,233
I think it's the people that are
advising him that are saying that.
549
00:32:35,258 --> 00:32:36,594
I think that he's advised,
550
00:32:36,619 --> 00:32:39,954
"Look, this is what Spain has done,
this is what Portugal has done.
551
00:32:39,979 --> 00:32:42,274
"And this is what we can do.
552
00:32:42,299 --> 00:32:44,634
"And if we don't do it,
they will do it,
553
00:32:44,659 --> 00:32:47,323
"and they'll become too powerful
and they'll conquer us."
554
00:32:47,348 --> 00:32:50,283
So it's about the balance
of power in Europe,
555
00:32:50,308 --> 00:32:51,844
and getting rich at the same time.
556
00:32:51,869 --> 00:32:54,533
It is 100% about the balance
of power in Europe.
557
00:32:54,558 --> 00:32:56,844
And everybody's doing it,
so you have to?
558
00:32:56,869 --> 00:32:58,403
Yes, but you have to do it better.
559
00:32:58,428 --> 00:33:00,453
And England would end up
doing it very well.
560
00:33:00,478 --> 00:33:02,403
Yeah. Well, exactly.
That's the point.
561
00:33:02,428 --> 00:33:05,044
Not only does that well,
but then does colonialism
562
00:33:05,069 --> 00:33:07,403
and imperialism better than
any other nation.
563
00:33:07,428 --> 00:33:10,244
And does the exploitation better
than any other nation.
564
00:33:10,269 --> 00:33:14,174
Because it's coming, in a way,
after the other nations,
565
00:33:14,199 --> 00:33:16,894
and so it learns from their
mistakes, and because
566
00:33:16,919 --> 00:33:19,764
it's a very good student
it doesn't make the same mistakes
567
00:33:19,789 --> 00:33:22,044
that Spain made or Portugal made.
568
00:33:22,069 --> 00:33:23,354
I know that you...
569
00:33:23,379 --> 00:33:25,403
I know that you don't like
to put numbers on it,
570
00:33:25,428 --> 00:33:29,403
because the numbers are actually
impossible to get at. Yeah.
571
00:33:29,428 --> 00:33:32,533
But is there some kind of idea
of the scale of this?
572
00:33:32,558 --> 00:33:33,964
OK, well, that...
573
00:33:33,989 --> 00:33:37,174
That's an impossible figure to give,
and I'll tell you why.
574
00:33:37,199 --> 00:33:39,894
Because the figure that
I would give you would be wrong.
575
00:33:39,919 --> 00:33:44,203
It would only ever be a gross,
gross underestimation.
576
00:33:45,228 --> 00:33:48,614
It does not give account to
the millions of people who would
577
00:33:48,639 --> 00:33:51,894
have died en route, the millions of
people who died as the result
578
00:33:51,919 --> 00:33:55,403
of civil war and civil conflict,
the millions of people that died
579
00:33:55,428 --> 00:33:57,924
of starvation and hunger,
the millions of people that died
580
00:33:57,949 --> 00:34:02,283
of disease and malnutrition as
a result of the conflict.
581
00:34:02,308 --> 00:34:04,124
We just don't know the number,
582
00:34:04,149 --> 00:34:10,644
but what we do know is that by 1884
and 1885 the entire continent
583
00:34:10,669 --> 00:34:15,054
of Africa did not have -
with the exception of Ethiopia -
584
00:34:15,079 --> 00:34:20,844
one single unitary African state
run by African people.
585
00:34:20,869 --> 00:34:22,254
What?
586
00:34:22,279 --> 00:34:23,724
That, we do know.
587
00:34:23,749 --> 00:34:28,136
So whatever went on was
continuously systematic over
588
00:34:28,161 --> 00:34:29,167
several hundreds of years,
589
00:34:29,192 --> 00:34:31,997
resulting in the destabilisation
of an entire continent.
590
00:34:38,662 --> 00:34:44,076
In the 1660s, that royal family firm
set out to profit both
591
00:34:44,101 --> 00:34:48,807
by enslaving Africans and through
the global trade that would enable.
592
00:34:50,272 --> 00:34:52,607
Control of shipping routes
was crucial,
593
00:34:52,632 --> 00:34:56,637
but to achieve that control
Britain would have to fight.
594
00:34:56,662 --> 00:34:59,687
War always gets in the way
of making money,
595
00:34:59,712 --> 00:35:04,807
and throughout the middle of
the 1600s Britain's upstart empire
596
00:35:04,832 --> 00:35:08,047
had been battling it out with
a much richer country,
597
00:35:08,072 --> 00:35:09,487
the Dutch Republic.
598
00:35:11,742 --> 00:35:13,487
This was a naval war.
599
00:35:15,192 --> 00:35:17,607
To understand how much was at stake,
600
00:35:17,632 --> 00:35:21,276
Ben Robinson has taken his drone
downriver to Tilbury.
601
00:35:22,551 --> 00:35:26,247
That's a great view down the Thames
towards the estuary here,
602
00:35:26,272 --> 00:35:30,247
and this was the gateway to
the world in the Restoration period,
603
00:35:30,272 --> 00:35:33,456
but like any gateway it could
let in trouble.
604
00:35:33,481 --> 00:35:39,887
And in 1667, the Dutch sailed into
the Thames estuary, down to Chatham.
605
00:35:39,912 --> 00:35:42,247
They burnt the English
fleet at anchor,
606
00:35:42,272 --> 00:35:44,567
they trashed the dockyard there.
607
00:35:44,592 --> 00:35:49,687
They towed away the Royal Charles,
the pride of the English fleet.
608
00:35:49,712 --> 00:35:52,247
This was an utter humiliation,
609
00:35:52,272 --> 00:35:55,767
an embarrassment unparalleled in
British military history.
610
00:35:55,792 --> 00:35:57,567
Something had to be done.
611
00:35:57,592 --> 00:35:59,847
And this is what they came up with.
612
00:35:59,872 --> 00:36:00,897
Tilbury Fort.
613
00:36:02,431 --> 00:36:05,717
You can see how it utterly
controls the Thames.
614
00:36:05,742 --> 00:36:09,127
The gun batteries could
fire across the river here.
615
00:36:09,152 --> 00:36:12,607
No Dutch ship would be able
to get through this.
616
00:36:12,632 --> 00:36:16,047
But, also, the Dutch fleet might
have moored further up
617
00:36:16,072 --> 00:36:20,127
the river here, disembarked troops,
and they could have come round
618
00:36:20,152 --> 00:36:24,076
and attacked the fort from the land
side, so they had an answer to that.
619
00:36:24,101 --> 00:36:26,927
These wide moats here.
620
00:36:26,952 --> 00:36:29,897
An inner one and an outer moat.
621
00:36:29,922 --> 00:36:32,257
And these were controlled
by sluices,
622
00:36:32,282 --> 00:36:34,817
so in times of trouble you could
flood them quickly,
623
00:36:34,842 --> 00:36:39,206
and these spearhead bastions -
look at its symmetrical shape -
624
00:36:39,231 --> 00:36:44,047
they allow covering fire of
every square inch of ground.
625
00:36:44,072 --> 00:36:48,927
This was a complete defensible
island, utterly impregnable.
626
00:36:53,952 --> 00:36:58,336
Fortification helped Britain defend
itself against the Dutch,
627
00:36:58,361 --> 00:37:02,336
but London was about to face
a much deadlier enemy.
628
00:37:20,005 --> 00:37:22,289
I'm in London,
uncovering what happened
629
00:37:22,314 --> 00:37:25,060
during the Restoration of the 1660s,
630
00:37:25,085 --> 00:37:27,890
the moment that innovations
in science,
631
00:37:27,915 --> 00:37:31,650
business and brutal human
exploitation combined
632
00:37:31,675 --> 00:37:36,289
to elevate England to the top
tier of the world's power players.
633
00:37:38,364 --> 00:37:40,700
By the start of the Restoration
period,
634
00:37:40,725 --> 00:37:43,450
London was experiencing
rapid growth.
635
00:37:43,475 --> 00:37:46,890
Its population had doubled
since 1600.
636
00:37:49,005 --> 00:37:51,660
These new residents almost all moved
637
00:37:51,685 --> 00:37:55,530
into outer
areas near the city's Roman walls.
638
00:37:55,555 --> 00:38:02,060
The poorest were crammed into damp,
overcrowded, filthy housing,
639
00:38:02,085 --> 00:38:05,780
ideal conditions for the return
of the deadly disease,
640
00:38:05,805 --> 00:38:07,219
the bubonic plague.
641
00:38:07,244 --> 00:38:10,370
In 1664, people started to die.
642
00:38:10,395 --> 00:38:14,089
But really, that was unremarkable.
643
00:38:14,114 --> 00:38:16,450
London's poor were dying
all the time
644
00:38:16,475 --> 00:38:19,380
and the authorities could afford
to turn a blind eye to it.
645
00:38:20,555 --> 00:38:25,630
But in the summer of 1665,
the plague really took off.
646
00:38:25,655 --> 00:38:28,060
Mortality was rising week on week.
647
00:38:28,085 --> 00:38:32,530
Thousands of people were dying
and there was no cure in sight.
648
00:38:32,555 --> 00:38:34,339
It all sounds chillingly familiar.
649
00:38:36,015 --> 00:38:39,700
Part of our pandemic experience
has been to witness health workers
650
00:38:39,725 --> 00:38:42,660
risking their lives to treat
the ill.
651
00:38:42,685 --> 00:38:45,020
But during the Restoration's
epidemic,
652
00:38:45,045 --> 00:38:49,020
almost everyone who could
fled for the countryside.
653
00:38:49,045 --> 00:38:52,580
One of the few brave doctors
who remained in London
654
00:38:52,605 --> 00:38:56,890
also, uniquely,
recorded his experience.
655
00:38:58,635 --> 00:39:01,169
I've come to London's
Wellcome Collection
656
00:39:01,194 --> 00:39:04,380
to meet Pooja Swali,
who studies ancient pathogens.
657
00:39:07,124 --> 00:39:11,429
The book she's retrieved from the
archive is by Dr Nathaniel Hodges.
658
00:39:12,765 --> 00:39:14,710
This is his account, then, is it?
659
00:39:14,735 --> 00:39:17,780
Yeah, of the spread of the plague,
and he notes how it changes.
660
00:39:17,805 --> 00:39:19,380
And it's called Loimologia,
661
00:39:19,405 --> 00:39:22,580
which actually means
"study of the plague".
662
00:39:22,605 --> 00:39:25,460
It says there that "ln the months
of August and September,
663
00:39:25,485 --> 00:39:30,820
"the contagion changed its former
flow and languid pace.
664
00:39:30,845 --> 00:39:33,299
"And having, as it were, got master
of us all,
665
00:39:33,324 --> 00:39:36,299
"made a most terrible slaughter
666
00:39:36,324 --> 00:39:41,250
"so that 3,000, 4,0000r 5,000 died
in a week, and once 8,000".
667
00:39:41,275 --> 00:39:43,580
It's just horrendous, isn't it?
668
00:39:43,605 --> 00:39:48,299
Actually, there's an account of
who it affected the most. He goes,
669
00:39:48,324 --> 00:39:50,299
"But it is incredible to think
670
00:39:50,324 --> 00:39:53,429
"how the plague raged amongst
the common people,
671
00:39:53,454 --> 00:39:57,099
"insomuch that it came by some to be
called the poor's plague".
672
00:39:57,124 --> 00:40:01,510
Really? And we start to see
a lot of parallels with today,
673
00:40:01,535 --> 00:40:05,870
in terms of how coronavirus is
having an effect
674
00:40:05,895 --> 00:40:08,179
on the working class,
675
00:40:08,204 --> 00:40:12,179
in that they don't have the option
of having someone cover their work.
676
00:40:12,204 --> 00:40:14,870
They don't have the
opportunity of self-isolation.
677
00:40:14,895 --> 00:40:17,660
They just don't have the access
to a lot of these things.
678
00:40:17,685 --> 00:40:20,900
What was his idea,
what was he trying to do?
679
00:40:20,925 --> 00:40:25,790
So in a lot of his book, he does
put an emphasis on social isolation
680
00:40:25,815 --> 00:40:29,870
and quarantine as a way of slowing
the actual spread of the disease.
681
00:40:29,895 --> 00:40:33,070
I think it's really easy to look
back to the 17th century
682
00:40:33,095 --> 00:40:36,620
and to think that they don't know
what's going on,
683
00:40:36,645 --> 00:40:39,460
they're reaching out in the dark.
But actually,
684
00:40:39,485 --> 00:40:44,070
there's a lot of evidence-based
thinking going on. Yeah.
685
00:40:44,095 --> 00:40:47,070
Nathaniel Hodges' courage
and thorough methods
686
00:40:47,095 --> 00:40:50,099
epitomised an empirical approach to
medicine,
687
00:40:50,124 --> 00:40:52,510
leaving mediaeval quackery behind.
688
00:40:53,895 --> 00:40:57,870
In this city of statues,
there surely should be one to him.
689
00:41:00,615 --> 00:41:07,209
Despite the plague having killed
over 70,000 Londoners,
690
00:41:07,234 --> 00:41:10,130
around 100,000 remained, still
living within the ancient city walls
691
00:41:10,155 --> 00:41:13,130
in houses made
largely of wood and thatch.
692
00:41:13,155 --> 00:41:16,050
It was a disaster waiting to happen
693
00:41:16,075 --> 00:41:19,370
and on Sunday, 2nd September 1666,
694
00:41:19,395 --> 00:41:22,800
a fire broke out in the house
and bakery
695
00:41:22,825 --> 00:41:25,850
of Thomas Farriner
on Pudding Lane.
696
00:41:25,875 --> 00:41:29,010
The Mayor of London,
Thomas Bloodworth, woke up,
697
00:41:29,035 --> 00:41:34,600
saw the fire and famously claimed,
"a woman could piss it out".
698
00:41:34,625 --> 00:41:37,089
And then, obviously exhausted by
this hilarious witticism,
699
00:41:37,114 --> 00:41:38,600
went back to bed.
700
00:41:38,625 --> 00:41:42,209
Samuel Pepys obviously saw
the fire as well
701
00:41:42,234 --> 00:41:46,570
and also thought it was
insignificant, and went back to bed.
702
00:41:46,595 --> 00:41:48,490
How wrong can two men be?
703
00:41:50,795 --> 00:41:54,520
To start with, the fire spread east
towards the Tower of London
704
00:41:54,545 --> 00:41:58,930
but then the wind changed,
fanning the flames westwards,
705
00:41:58,955 --> 00:42:02,089
pushing it remorselessly
one and a half miles,
706
00:42:02,114 --> 00:42:04,700
as far as Fleet Street.
707
00:42:04,725 --> 00:42:10,570
By day four, although only six
people had died, 436 acres,
708
00:42:10,595 --> 00:42:15,520
the very heart of mediaeval London,
had been turned to ash.
709
00:42:15,545 --> 00:42:17,169
Most powerfully of all,
710
00:42:17,194 --> 00:42:21,530
it had completely destroyed London's
single greatest building,
711
00:42:21,555 --> 00:42:22,930
St Paul's Cathedral,
712
00:42:22,955 --> 00:42:26,850
just as Christopher Wren had started
a comprehensive renovation.
713
00:42:28,444 --> 00:42:29,930
I'm meeting Dr Hannah Dawson
714
00:42:29,955 --> 00:42:34,419
to see how an architectural
phoenix arose from the ashes.
715
00:42:34,444 --> 00:42:37,959
So the previous cathedral is
basically razed to the ground
716
00:42:37,984 --> 00:42:40,850
and demolished, so Wren has
a very different prospect then.
717
00:42:40,875 --> 00:42:43,370
Rather than renovating
an existing building,
718
00:42:43,395 --> 00:42:46,140
he's building a completely
new one. That's right.
719
00:42:46,165 --> 00:42:50,570
The entire project becomes a
completely different, enormous one.
720
00:42:50,595 --> 00:42:53,650
Wren is engaged not just to
rebuild St Paul's Cathedral,
721
00:42:53,675 --> 00:42:56,610
but actually to rethink
the whole of London.
722
00:42:58,165 --> 00:43:01,419
It takes him
nine years in the planning.
723
00:43:01,444 --> 00:43:05,140
It's an unbelievably complicated
back-and-forth process
724
00:43:05,165 --> 00:43:08,500
but then finally,
they agree on his plan with his dome
725
00:43:08,525 --> 00:43:09,730
and the scaffolding goes up
726
00:43:09,755 --> 00:43:12,140
but even then once the scaffolding
is up,
727
00:43:12,165 --> 00:43:14,169
Wren actually takes the
opportunity
728
00:43:14,194 --> 00:43:15,969
behind the secrecy
of the scaffolding
729
00:43:15,994 --> 00:43:17,969
to slightly do his own thing
again... Does he?
730
00:43:17,994 --> 00:43:19,930
"Against the orders of Charles.
731
00:43:19,955 --> 00:43:24,450
Just adjusts it back. Exactly.
Just baroques it up a bit, yeah.
732
00:43:25,635 --> 00:43:29,289
Alongside designing
50 new churches for London,
733
00:43:29,314 --> 00:43:32,580
Wren collaborated with his friend,
Robert Hooke,
734
00:43:32,605 --> 00:43:34,890
to create the new St Paul's.
735
00:43:38,525 --> 00:43:40,299
At 365 feet high,
736
00:43:40,324 --> 00:43:42,330
other building in London
737
00:43:42,355 --> 00:43:46,299
its dome would be taller than any
other building in London
738
00:43:46,324 --> 00:43:48,580
for over 250 years.
739
00:43:48,605 --> 00:43:50,450
How far is he pushing this design,
740
00:43:50,475 --> 00:43:52,370
because that is a huge dome
to build?
741
00:43:52,395 --> 00:43:53,500
It's so enormous,
742
00:43:53,525 --> 00:43:56,690
and because they wanted it to look
beautiful from the outside
743
00:43:56,715 --> 00:44:00,219
as well as from the inside, they
had to therefore make two domes.
744
00:44:00,244 --> 00:44:01,969
And so to work out how to
connect them
745
00:44:01,994 --> 00:44:04,969
so that they wouldn't fall in,
they'd never done it before
746
00:44:04,994 --> 00:44:09,380
and so in keeping with the spirit of
the scientific revolution,
747
00:44:09,405 --> 00:44:12,780
which was all about experiment and
empiricism and trial and error,
748
00:44:12,805 --> 00:44:17,780
this was really a case of, "Let's
see if this is going to work". Yeah.
749
00:44:17,805 --> 00:44:20,450
It was very much an experiment,
which they pulled off.
750
00:44:26,555 --> 00:44:30,299
In St Paul's, Charles ll
and Christopher Wren
751
00:44:30,324 --> 00:44:34,219
had created
an indestructible stone phoenix
752
00:44:34,244 --> 00:44:37,410
arising from the devastation
of civil war,
753
00:44:37,435 --> 00:44:40,690
regicide and cataclysmic fire.
754
00:44:45,074 --> 00:44:49,419
An unmissable statement
that a new age had been born,
755
00:44:49,444 --> 00:44:51,140
with Britain at its centre.
756
00:45:00,805 --> 00:45:05,169
This building is the greatest
physical symbol of the Restoration,
757
00:45:05,194 --> 00:45:09,660
but our story of Restoration London
doesn't finish here.
758
00:45:09,685 --> 00:45:12,049
It ends over there,
759
00:45:12,074 --> 00:45:15,299
at the building affectionately
known as the Cheesegrater.
760
00:45:18,275 --> 00:45:20,969
This is 122 Leadenhall Street.
761
00:45:23,124 --> 00:45:27,500
The giant, slanting steels
of this glass monolith
762
00:45:27,525 --> 00:45:33,900
stand astride an area that was just
beyond the reach of the Great Fire.
763
00:45:33,925 --> 00:45:36,219
With most of London in tatters,
764
00:45:36,244 --> 00:45:39,260
deal-hungry businessmen flocked
here,
765
00:45:39,285 --> 00:45:42,540
creating a vibrant new financial
district
766
00:45:42,565 --> 00:45:45,900
as London was rebuilt
fit for the modern age.
767
00:45:48,324 --> 00:45:50,660
It's quite strange, really, isn't
it,
768
00:45:50,685 --> 00:45:55,020
to think that the foundations
of this building, Leadenhall,
769
00:45:55,045 --> 00:45:57,330
go right back to the Restoration.
770
00:45:57,355 --> 00:46:01,979
It wouldn't be here
if it wasn't for that supernova
771
00:46:02,004 --> 00:46:06,410
that ignited down there
and lit up the world.
772
00:46:06,435 --> 00:46:12,540
It was a few short years when this
city exploded with the ideas
773
00:46:12,565 --> 00:46:16,340
and innovations that changed
the course of humanity,
774
00:46:16,365 --> 00:46:20,179
often for the better,
sometimes for the worse.
775
00:46:20,204 --> 00:46:23,820
An era that didn't just help
create modern Britain,
776
00:46:23,845 --> 00:46:26,770
but forged the way our whole world
is today.
777
00:46:26,795 --> 00:46:28,049
That's why London
778
00:46:28,074 --> 00:46:30,460
is the city
779
00:46:30,485 --> 00:46:35,309
at the centre of Britain's
world-changing Restoration.
780
00:46:56,124 --> 00:46:59,979
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