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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, he's covered
with lizard-like scales.

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...and get to know some
extraordinary characters

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who are often over-looked.

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He operated like a spy master. They
lied, they deceived, they cheated.

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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 the most

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about each period
in British history,

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and find out how their
stories still resonate today.

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3,880.

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More and more individuals are
still dying from the plague.

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Ugh!

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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'm in a town
that, for a century,

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provided the brutal force
that created the British Empire...

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...and launched Britain's
most celebrated hero

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into an epic battle with
Europe's greatest powers...

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By the time we get to Trafalgar,

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Nelson has attained
this semi-godhood status.

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...a town that epitomised
the unimaginably

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cruel treatment of the poor...

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There's an eight-year-old that gets
put on one of the prison hulks,

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and he gets seven years for stealing
12 shillings' worth of copper.

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...and where the empire's figurehead
formed a relationship

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that scandalised the royal family.

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Does she?

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If you want to understand Britain's
relationship with its navy,

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its Monarchy, its Empire,
Portsmouth is the place to come.

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When I come to Portsmouth,

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I'm always struck by
its energetic sprawl.

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It is the most densely populated
city in the UK outside London,

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with over 200,000 inhabitants
speaking 100 different languages,

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all concentrated on
and around Portsea Island.

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The city's new high-tech beacon

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is the glorious
sail-like Spinnaker Tower.

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But it's the ocean and the ships
which still dominate the view.

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Every year, millions of travellers
pass through this city

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en route to its ports.

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Ships set off to France and Spain,

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hovercraft to the Isle of Wight,

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and smaller craft sail
off to who knows where.

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But the biggest ships here
belong to the institution

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which has shaped this
city through centuries.

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Portsmouth is every
inch a navy town.

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There's been a settlement on the
South West corner of Portsea Island

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since the late 12th century.

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But it was the Tudors
who decided that the large,

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protected harbour at
the mouth of the Solent

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was the perfect location
for a naval base.

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But it was over a roughly
100 year time-span,

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from the Napoleonic Wars
through to the First World War,

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that Portsmouth really
gained its status

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as the most important
naval port in the world.

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It was the powerhouse
of the British Empire.

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From here, the Royal Navy
spearheaded Britain's mission

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to become the most
powerful nation on Earth.

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And, astonishingly, from the
Battle of Trafalgar in 1805

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through Queen
Victoria's 60 year reign,

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up to the shocking birth of the
modern era in 1914, it succeeded.

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This island became the
greatest modern superpower,

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violently establishing an empire

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that encompassed nearly a quarter
of the world's total land area

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and population.

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It brought obscene wealth to a few

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and unimaginable misery to millions.

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We're at a point in time where
we're re-evaluating empire

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and coming to terms with some
deeply uncomfortable truths

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about what our country
did in the 19th century.

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Today, if we see a country
exploiting, even invading another,

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we see that as deeply objectionable,

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and yet that is part of our history.

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Now, the navy was crucial to
that empire-building business.

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And aerial archaeologist
Ben Robinson is taking a look

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at why the navy chose
Portsmouth as its base.

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I've got a great view of old
Portsmouth here and the harbour,

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a wonderful natural harbour
based on a drowned river valley

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with deep channels running into it.

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But the real secret to this
place is just coming up now,

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the Isle of Wight,
there on the horizon.

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This creates a
magnificent natural barrier,

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and it prevents the worst of the
weather, the wind and the waves

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crashing in this
embayment area, the Solent.

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This is a perfect
place to base your navy.

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Geography may have made Portsmouth
a natural choice

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as the home of the Royal Navy,
but global politics

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brought Portsmouth centre-stage
in the 19th century.

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I'm meeting historian Dr Karl Bell
to understand the forces that stood

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between Britain
and world domination.

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Karl, what was Britain's
place in the world

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at the beginning of
the 19th century?

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So, Britain is in the middle
of a 25-year war with France.

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France is its major rival,

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as both of them emerge as the
dominant imperial powers of the age.

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And the Napoleonic Wars leads
to a very strange situation

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whereby you have Napoleon's mighty
armies controlling the continent,

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and yet very weak at sea.

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And you have Britain with this
massive naval power but very weak army.

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If you're trying to maintain
an increasingly globalised empire,

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surely naval power is
where it's at? Right.

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I mean, that's vital to
Britain's expansion as an empire

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after its loss of
the American colonies.

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Britain's interest is fending
off invasion from Napoleon

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and then also using
their naval supremacy

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to start expanding their
empire in new directions,

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developing their holdings in India,

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newly discovered Australia,
and places like that.

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If the Royal Navy was the chosen
vehicle of British Empire building,

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Portsmouth Dockyard was its engine.

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And by 1800, this had
become the largest,

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most advanced industrial
complex in the world.

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Presumably, 19th century
Portsmouth clocks

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would've been even
louder than it is today?

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Yes, it really is a, sort of,
thriving war-machine.

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You've got about 4,000
people working here.

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That must've been
a fascinating time,

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because having had ship building
going on here for centuries,

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it's now being utterly transformed
by the Industrial Revolution.

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You have got the development
of steam-powered mass-production

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in Marc lsambard Brunel's
block house mill.

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But that's not the more
famous lsambard Kingdom Brunel?

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No, it's his dad.

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Right. Marc lsambard Brunel
was a French Royalist

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who had to leave during
the French Revolution.

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FRENCH ACCENT: Oh, Brunel!

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And while he was working on this,

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lsambard Kingdom Brunel
was born in Portsmouth.

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And as well as this manufacturing,
there's R and D going on?

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Yeah, you've also got the
introduction of steam pumps

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to remove water from the dry docks,
like we're in at the moment.

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And then you also have
circular saws being used,

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so they can cut
timber faster as well.

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The result of all this industrious
innovation was a mighty fleet,

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led by one of history's most
iconic warships, HMS Victory.

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Launched in 1765,
she was reconstructed in 1803,

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making her one of the most
technologically advanced

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warships in the vast
fleet of the Royal Navy.

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And at her helm was one
history's greatest,

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if least likely, naval commanders.

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He's five foot four,
he's blind in one eye,

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he's missing an arm and,
perhaps most surprisingly,

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he sufferers from
crippling sea sickness.

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I refer, of course, to
Admiral Horatio Nelson.

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But both ship and commander
were to become icons

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of the British Empire after the
Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

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I'm meeting historian Dr Ryan
Hanley on board HMS Victory

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to find out a little more about the
reality of the man behind the myth.

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The Nelson we know is this
commander of the fleet, he's famous,

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but what's his background,
how does he get there?

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And here we are, talking
about the battle of Trafalgar,

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sitting on the deck of HMS Victory, and I think
it's one of those moments where you just feel that

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physicality of history,

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and, of course, Victory left
from here, left from Portsmouth.

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What was so crucial about Trafalgar,

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what did the victory
mean for Britain?

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The Battle of Trafalgar became
an imperial foundation myth.

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But, as schoolchildren
learn by heart,

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Nelson died at Trafalgar,

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ensuring his status as a
martyr of the British Empire.

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With this martyrdom at
the battle of Trafalgar,

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you can understand why we
still know his name so well today.

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But, of course, there is
another side to him.

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He wasn't a fan of the
Abolitionists, was he?

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Hmm.

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Mm.

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So he was completely part
of that plantation-owning,

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slave-holding slice
of British society?

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And he wasn't exemplary in his
own personal life either, was he?

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Of course, it's her
fault!

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How do you feel about him?

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I do think it's curious that history
quite often feels as though it gets

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boiled down to this essence,

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where we just remember
a few important names.

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And if we're to learn
anything from history,

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I think we need to take
a more rounded approach,

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and that also involves looking
away from just those heroes.

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So it's undeniable that Nelson had
a decisive victory

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that paved the way for further
expansion of the British Empire,

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however you feel about that.

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But what about everybody else?

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What about those ordinary
British sailors?

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I'm in Portsmouth to learn about
the astonishing period

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when Britain became the world's
greatest superpower.

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From Nelson's Victory at
the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805,

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to the start of
World War I in 1914.

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I've heard how Trafalgar secured
a naval domination that drove

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the expansion of the Empire.

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Now I'm keen to learn what
life and death would've been like

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aboard the ships of the Royal Navy
for regular sailors.

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I've actually driven quite a way
out of Portsmouth to an outpost

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00:14:26,131 --> 00:14:29,895
of Cranfield University,
its ordnance testing and evaluation

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00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:33,695
centre, but there's a very good
reason for being here because

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this is one of the few places
in the country where I can really

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get to see the harsh realities
of life in the 19th century Navy.

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I'm meeting Nick Hall,
of the Royal Armouries.

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00:14:51,850 --> 00:14:55,546
He's got his hands on
a brutal looking example of

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19th century firepower.

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Tell me about this gun.
This is a similar gun to the ones

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that would've been on
the Victory, then?

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00:15:04,251 --> 00:15:07,506
It's a replica that fires
exactly the same weight of shot

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00:15:07,531 --> 00:15:12,695
as the 3412-pounders on HMS Victory
at the Battle of Trafalgar.

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00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:17,106
But we're very lucky today
because no-one's firing back at us.

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00:15:17,131 --> 00:15:20,186
Yeah. And it's difficult, really,
to make the leap of imagination,

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00:15:20,211 --> 00:15:25,186
knowing that cannonballs just the
same are flying in from the enemy,

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00:15:25,211 --> 00:15:26,796
and so... Terrifying, yeah.

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00:15:26,821 --> 00:15:30,386
...you'd be next to a crewmate
who's suddenly blown to bits,

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00:15:30,411 --> 00:15:31,876
and you carry on.

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So hopefully what we're
going to experience is

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00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:37,905
the firing of a cannon like this,
as would've happened on board

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00:15:37,930 --> 00:15:40,236
the Victory, with all of the...

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How many cannons did it have
on board?

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Just over 100.

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100 of them. So we're just going
to get glimpse of that.

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And we've got a fragment
of potentially a warship that

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we're coming alongside, over there.

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The fragment of warship is 50 metres
away and made of oak timbers that

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replicate the density of
an early 19th century hull.

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00:16:02,850 --> 00:16:05,825
And actually we've got our amazing
high speed camera over there

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so we'll capture it and we'll be
able to slow it down as well.

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Right, I'm going to leave you to it.

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00:16:09,821 --> 00:16:12,236
I'm going to retreat to
a safe distance.

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Load.

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British gun crews at
Trafalgar could load and fire

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00:16:22,050 --> 00:16:25,546
their cannons every 90 seconds.

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They were the fastest
gun crews in the world.

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00:16:28,980 --> 00:16:31,626
Their speed and accuracy were vital.

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00:16:32,821 --> 00:16:37,746
Defeat at Trafalgar would have meant
French control of the Channel,

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00:16:37,771 --> 00:16:42,986
and the inevitable invasion of
England by Napoleon's Grande Armee.

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But the weight of the shot fired
by Victory in its first broadside

236
00:16:48,771 --> 00:16:51,596
alone was 1.25 tons.

237
00:16:59,701 --> 00:17:02,955
OK, all stations. Five seconds.

238
00:17:02,980 --> 00:17:06,876
Four, three, two, one...

239
00:17:06,901 --> 00:17:08,155
...fire.

240
00:17:09,371 --> 00:17:11,035
0h!

241
00:17:16,541 --> 00:17:19,066
I was ready for that
and it still freaked me out!

242
00:17:20,501 --> 00:17:25,316
This thunderous bombardment would
continue for five hours.

243
00:17:25,341 --> 00:17:29,756
By the end of the battle,
4,408 French and Spanish sailors

244
00:17:29,781 --> 00:17:33,546
were killed, and 2,500 wounded.

245
00:17:36,451 --> 00:17:40,066
19 French and Spanish ships
were lost.

246
00:17:40,091 --> 00:17:43,266
The British lost none.

247
00:17:43,291 --> 00:17:46,066
Director of Operations
Trevor Lawrence is going to

248
00:17:46,091 --> 00:17:49,316
talk me through the damage
cannonball fire did to ships

249
00:17:49,341 --> 00:17:51,835
and sailors on both sides.

250
00:17:51,860 --> 00:17:54,556
Oh, Trevor, it looks
different on the back here.

251
00:17:54,581 --> 00:17:55,876
It certainly does.

252
00:17:55,901 --> 00:17:57,346
So that's the exit wound.

253
00:17:57,371 --> 00:17:59,676
This is very typical of what
you'd see at the back of

254
00:17:59,701 --> 00:18:00,955
any sort of armour.

255
00:18:00,980 --> 00:18:04,196
Nice, symmetrical hole. At the back,
much more broken up, and this

256
00:18:04,221 --> 00:18:07,116
spalling effect, these splinters
flying off at high speed,

257
00:18:07,141 --> 00:18:10,876
and you can see we've got some
on the ground here and also

258
00:18:10,901 --> 00:18:12,596
all over our witness screen.

259
00:18:12,621 --> 00:18:16,396
So those impacts all over that,
that's the wood that's thrown off?

260
00:18:16,421 --> 00:18:19,066
Yes, that's the wood that's come
off here. I mean, the thing is with

261
00:18:19,091 --> 00:18:21,426
a cannonball, it's great for
punching holes in things,

262
00:18:21,451 --> 00:18:24,316
but it's not too dangerous to people
unless you get a direct hit from it.

263
00:18:24,341 --> 00:18:27,705
These would cause horrendous
injuries all over the body.

264
00:18:32,091 --> 00:18:34,426
It's enough to put anyone off,
isn't it?

265
00:18:34,451 --> 00:18:37,396
But, you know, if Empire was going
to continue expanding,

266
00:18:37,421 --> 00:18:41,785
there was a constant need for
fresh recruits into the Navy.

267
00:18:41,810 --> 00:18:44,835
During the Napoleonic Wars
the Royal Navy recorded

268
00:18:44,860 --> 00:18:47,705
the deaths of 103,000 sailors.

269
00:18:47,730 --> 00:18:51,196
But only 6,000 of them died
in battle.

270
00:18:51,221 --> 00:18:54,915
The majority were lost to various
forms of disease,

271
00:18:54,940 --> 00:18:58,066
and quite a lot of those could be
picked up in any of Britain's

272
00:18:58,091 --> 00:19:01,246
sailor's ghettos during
the 19th century.

273
00:19:01,271 --> 00:19:05,636
Places where sexually transmitted
diseases also destroyed the lives

274
00:19:05,661 --> 00:19:10,035
of destitute women, for whom
sex work was a means of survival.

275
00:19:10,060 --> 00:19:13,146
I'm meeting historian
Dr Melanie Bassett in what used

276
00:19:13,171 --> 00:19:15,636
to be Portsmouth's Sailortown.

277
00:19:17,060 --> 00:19:18,965
So what would this road
have been like?

278
00:19:18,990 --> 00:19:22,965
Both sides, there would've been
pubs, lodging houses.

279
00:19:22,990 --> 00:19:24,715
There's a brewery over that side.

280
00:19:24,740 --> 00:19:27,146
And Sailortown spanned all the way
from the dockyard gates,

281
00:19:27,171 --> 00:19:30,606
right on the waterfront, all
the way up to the centre of town.

282
00:19:30,631 --> 00:19:33,146
So a lot busier, actually,
noisier than it is today?

283
00:19:33,171 --> 00:19:34,476
Oh, yes.

284
00:19:34,501 --> 00:19:39,556
In the 1850s, around 3,500 sailors
were living in Sailortown,

285
00:19:39,581 --> 00:19:43,965
an area that also housed
300 brothels.

286
00:19:43,990 --> 00:19:46,556
That looks like a completely
modern building.

287
00:19:46,581 --> 00:19:49,606
Yeah, so this is now
the Royal Maritime Club.

288
00:19:49,631 --> 00:19:52,636
It's still a place where
the Royal Navy would stay,

289
00:19:52,661 --> 00:19:57,606
but back in 1851 this was built
as a dedicated lodgings for sailors.

290
00:19:57,631 --> 00:19:59,076
So it's on the same site?

291
00:19:59,101 --> 00:20:00,406
Yes, yes.

292
00:20:00,431 --> 00:20:05,886
So this was set up as a way to
stem the tide of the immorality,

293
00:20:05,911 --> 00:20:09,156
but what was interesting about it
is that it became a landmark

294
00:20:09,181 --> 00:20:11,556
where prostitutes would then
congregate... Right!

295
00:20:11,581 --> 00:20:16,276
...to get - catch the men as
they were coming out of an evening.

296
00:20:16,301 --> 00:20:20,174
But the grim reality of life in
all of Britain's ports was

297
00:20:20,199 --> 00:20:24,584
a million miles from the cartoonish
images of drunken sailors and

298
00:20:24,609 --> 00:20:29,494
bawdy wenches in 19th century prints
and movies we still watch today.

299
00:20:31,409 --> 00:20:34,664
This is a time where you've
got no contraception,

300
00:20:34,689 --> 00:20:36,693
safe sex doesn't really exist,

301
00:20:36,718 --> 00:20:41,104
and sexually transmitted diseases
must've been absolutely rife.

302
00:20:41,129 --> 00:20:45,104
So Portsmouth was identified as
one of the areas to bring under

303
00:20:45,129 --> 00:20:50,693
the Contagious Diseases Act
in the first of the acts in 1864.

304
00:20:50,718 --> 00:20:53,943
So these acts are really
motivated by trying to protect

305
00:20:53,968 --> 00:20:55,744
the health of sailors.

306
00:20:55,769 --> 00:20:57,384
What do they mean?

307
00:20:57,409 --> 00:21:00,384
Well, they actually meant
incarcerating women.

308
00:21:00,409 --> 00:21:03,664
Women in Portsmouth were
incarcerated on average for 50 days.

309
00:21:03,689 --> 00:21:04,744
50 days?

310
00:21:04,769 --> 00:21:05,823
Yeah.

311
00:21:05,848 --> 00:21:10,224
And presumably this act was designed
as a deterrent to prostitution.

312
00:21:10,249 --> 00:21:11,614
Did it work?

313
00:21:11,639 --> 00:21:15,544
What was found was that the women,

314
00:21:15,569 --> 00:21:17,854
once they had a clean certificate,

315
00:21:17,879 --> 00:21:20,744
they were able to go out onto
the streets with their certificate

316
00:21:20,769 --> 00:21:23,773
and use it as a unique selling point
to attract business

317
00:21:23,798 --> 00:21:25,494
over other prostitutes.

318
00:21:26,798 --> 00:21:28,384
By the late 1800s,

319
00:21:28,409 --> 00:21:32,854
work in the new factories of the
Industrial Revolution was providing

320
00:21:32,879 --> 00:21:38,464
a far more attractive alternative to
a life at sea for the British poor.

321
00:21:38,489 --> 00:21:42,854
But the Naval Defence Act required
the Royal Navy to be at least

322
00:21:42,879 --> 00:21:47,414
the size of the combined fleets
of its two major rivals.

323
00:21:47,439 --> 00:21:51,414
That meant the Navy needed even
more sailors, and help came

324
00:21:51,439 --> 00:21:55,184
from a brand-new form of
public relations,

325
00:21:55,209 --> 00:21:57,594
created in Portsmouth.

326
00:21:57,619 --> 00:22:00,494
This is Portsmouth's
New Theatre Royal

327
00:22:00,519 --> 00:22:03,494
and I'm here for a very special
performance - I can't wait.

328
00:22:16,798 --> 00:22:20,494
What I'm watching
is a magic lantern show.

329
00:22:23,239 --> 00:22:25,544
It's really lovely.

330
00:22:25,569 --> 00:22:29,464
Projected from a machine that was
the most advanced of its kind

331
00:22:29,489 --> 00:22:31,703
in the 1890s.

332
00:22:33,649 --> 00:22:35,023
Oh, this is fantastic.

333
00:22:35,048 --> 00:22:36,773
It's like very early animation.

334
00:22:40,728 --> 00:22:44,064
Oh, yeah, so the power of images
to transport you...

335
00:22:45,239 --> 00:22:48,264
This is the IMAX
of the Victorian Era.

336
00:22:49,699 --> 00:22:51,214
These are brilliant!

337
00:22:53,519 --> 00:22:56,544
It's essentially just
a bright light in a box,

338
00:22:56,569 --> 00:23:00,314
with slides passed in front of it.

339
00:23:00,339 --> 00:23:04,033
But it creates astonishingly
beautiful effects.

340
00:23:05,529 --> 00:23:07,754
Oh, and it's blown up!

341
00:23:09,339 --> 00:23:11,984
And Nelson himself.

342
00:23:12,009 --> 00:23:14,314
He's almost saying,
"Your country needs you."

343
00:23:18,649 --> 00:23:20,903
Ah, and there's Nelson
on his deathbed.

344
00:23:23,569 --> 00:23:26,033
So this is the creation
of the Nelson myth.

345
00:23:31,699 --> 00:23:33,184
Really beautiful.

346
00:23:34,499 --> 00:23:39,144
Jeremy Brooker is the man who's been
treating me to this wonderful show.

347
00:23:46,339 --> 00:23:49,833
Oh, Jeremy, that was amazing.
I loved it.

348
00:23:49,858 --> 00:23:51,833
And I loved the live aspect of that.

349
00:23:51,858 --> 00:23:54,344
I knew that you were doing that
back here.

350
00:23:54,369 --> 00:23:56,903
The sophistication of this
comes from the fact that all these

351
00:23:56,928 --> 00:23:58,594
three images converge on one point,

352
00:23:58,619 --> 00:24:01,344
so you're building up one composite
picture on the screen.

353
00:24:01,369 --> 00:24:04,754
I mean, for Victorians, to go and
see these places that you were

354
00:24:04,779 --> 00:24:07,703
showing me, you know, places that
they wouldn't even dream

355
00:24:07,728 --> 00:24:08,903
of going to.

356
00:24:08,928 --> 00:24:12,064
Typically, people probably didn't
travel more than 50 miles

357
00:24:12,089 --> 00:24:15,913
from their birthplace in their whole
life, so to see these pictures

358
00:24:15,938 --> 00:24:19,314
must have been more extraordinary
than we can really imagine.

359
00:24:19,339 --> 00:24:21,674
I thought the images of Nelson
were fascinating.

360
00:24:21,699 --> 00:24:24,504
There's Nelson's death, and I think
that was most powerfully

361
00:24:24,529 --> 00:24:27,864
represented in that slide where
his dead body is being

362
00:24:27,889 --> 00:24:30,304
carried off, I think in the arms
of Victory. ls that right?

363
00:24:30,329 --> 00:24:32,224
Yes, a sort of an allegorical scene.

364
00:24:32,249 --> 00:24:38,194
Yeah, yeah, which is very much
banged up with the idea of Britannia

365
00:24:38,219 --> 00:24:40,033
and Britannia ruling the waves.

366
00:24:40,058 --> 00:24:42,913
Well, absolutely, and I think
all these themes come together,

367
00:24:42,938 --> 00:24:46,344
particularly if you think
of Alfred West, who was based

368
00:24:46,369 --> 00:24:48,674
in Portsmouth, and he developed
this entertainment,

369
00:24:48,699 --> 00:24:50,754
which came to be called Our Navy.

370
00:24:50,779 --> 00:24:54,634
He had access to the Navy and
naval ships, and people would allow

371
00:24:54,659 --> 00:24:57,783
him to take initially photographs,
later on films.

372
00:24:57,808 --> 00:25:00,314
Very much what we would
call propaganda.

373
00:25:00,339 --> 00:25:02,944
But of course we still have
Navy recruitment adverts.

374
00:25:02,969 --> 00:25:04,274
This is still going on.

375
00:25:04,299 --> 00:25:07,504
But even if they didn't sign up,
even if they didn't join the Navy,

376
00:25:07,529 --> 00:25:10,194
perhaps they're going to go away
from watching that with a...

377
00:25:10,219 --> 00:25:12,913
I don't know, a sense of pride
in the Empire.

378
00:25:12,938 --> 00:25:15,833
That was absolutely his intention,
and in his lifetime

379
00:25:15,858 --> 00:25:19,064
he was compared to Kipling, and the
way that Kipling, with literature,

380
00:25:19,089 --> 00:25:22,224
he was doing the same thing,
in a different medium, but serving

381
00:25:22,249 --> 00:25:23,754
very much the same purpose.

382
00:25:23,779 --> 00:25:26,424
And it's a little uncomfortable,
perhaps, today, in the same way

383
00:25:26,449 --> 00:25:29,474
that some aspects of Kipling
are uncomfortable for us.

384
00:25:29,499 --> 00:25:31,354
I think it's a great interest
to have.

385
00:25:31,379 --> 00:25:33,304
I think if I was going to
collect anything,

386
00:25:33,329 --> 00:25:35,194
it might be magic lanterns.

387
00:25:35,219 --> 00:25:39,033
It's hard to think of anything
more quintessentially Victorian

388
00:25:39,058 --> 00:25:41,864
than the magic lantern.

389
00:25:41,889 --> 00:25:47,492
Except, that is, perhaps, for the
person who gave the era her name.

390
00:25:47,517 --> 00:25:51,132
There is one British monarch who
is practically synonymous with

391
00:25:51,157 --> 00:25:55,622
the idea of Empire, and that's
of course Queen Victoria.

392
00:25:55,647 --> 00:25:59,062
And she was particularly fond of
Portsmouth, and the Isle of Wight.

393
00:26:05,796 --> 00:26:07,412
I'm in Portsmouth,

394
00:26:07,437 --> 00:26:12,821
the town whose story is inextricably
linked to that of the Royal Navy

395
00:26:12,846 --> 00:26:17,901
and the expansion of the British
Empire in the 19th century.

396
00:26:17,926 --> 00:26:21,722
If the British Empire had a poster
girl, then it is Queen Victoria,

397
00:26:21,747 --> 00:26:27,102
she's practically synonymous with
that myth, that image of Britannia.

398
00:26:27,127 --> 00:26:29,492
It's extraordinary to
think this one woman

399
00:26:29,517 --> 00:26:33,571
ruled nearly a quarter of
the world's population.

400
00:26:33,596 --> 00:26:36,972
And her 63-year rule
encompassed the apogee

401
00:26:36,997 --> 00:26:40,372
of Britain's interest overseas.

402
00:26:40,397 --> 00:26:44,082
But when it came to
holidaying, she chose a staycation.

403
00:26:44,107 --> 00:26:45,901
She would've done
this so many times,

404
00:26:45,926 --> 00:26:49,372
taking a trip from
Portsmouth, across the Solent,

405
00:26:49,397 --> 00:26:52,412
to the Isle of Wight,
just as I am now.

406
00:26:59,077 --> 00:27:02,691
What drew her back was
this place, Osborne House,

407
00:27:02,716 --> 00:27:06,651
the magnificent property her
husband, Albert, designed himself,

408
00:27:06,676 --> 00:27:11,052
in the classical form
of an Italian palazzo...

409
00:27:11,077 --> 00:27:14,932
...a style which belies a
rather surprising interior.

410
00:27:18,517 --> 00:27:20,412
Wow.

411
00:27:20,437 --> 00:27:22,701
Look at that ceiling.

412
00:27:22,726 --> 00:27:25,542
It's extraordinary! It's so ornate.

413
00:27:25,567 --> 00:27:30,372
This is all based on
Indian architecture.

414
00:27:30,397 --> 00:27:32,732
There's just so much
decoration everywhere,

415
00:27:32,757 --> 00:27:37,132
and it's kind of every Indian
influence you could imagine,

416
00:27:37,157 --> 00:27:40,542
lots of different styles,
all kind of crammed together.

417
00:27:40,567 --> 00:27:45,372
I think that's Ganesh up
there, the elephant-headed god.

418
00:27:45,397 --> 00:27:47,701
It's quite overwhelming.

419
00:27:47,726 --> 00:27:51,422
The Durbar Room certainly
reflects a passion for India,

420
00:27:51,447 --> 00:27:55,372
and it might also reflect
another kind of passion.

421
00:27:55,397 --> 00:27:59,142
It was begun in 1890,
just three years after

422
00:27:59,167 --> 00:28:04,182
Victoria met an Indian
servant called Abdul Karim.

423
00:28:04,207 --> 00:28:07,451
I'm meeting historian
and author Shrabani Basu

424
00:28:07,476 --> 00:28:11,062
in the magnificent public
gardens of Osborne House.

425
00:28:11,087 --> 00:28:14,292
Her study of the private papers
of the Queen's household

426
00:28:14,317 --> 00:28:16,732
revealed amazing new information

427
00:28:16,757 --> 00:28:21,092
about Victoria and
Abdul's relationship.

428
00:28:21,117 --> 00:28:23,422
Tell me more about Abdul Karim.

429
00:28:23,447 --> 00:28:25,422
You've studied him, you've
found these amazing diaries

430
00:28:25,447 --> 00:28:27,781
that nobody had really
looked at before.

431
00:28:27,806 --> 00:28:30,821
What was that relationship about?
How did how did they come to meet?

432
00:28:30,846 --> 00:28:34,422
He was sent as a Jubilee present,
and this is... He himself?

433
00:28:34,447 --> 00:28:37,482
He and there's another servant as
well. So two of them are sent,

434
00:28:37,507 --> 00:28:41,042
and their only job is to
stand behind her at table,

435
00:28:41,067 --> 00:28:44,072
look grand and sort
of represent empire.

436
00:28:44,097 --> 00:28:48,482
Very quickly, we know, you know,
it's Abdul that's her chosen one.

437
00:28:48,507 --> 00:28:52,561
He caught her eye. Absolutely did,
charmed her, clearly,

438
00:28:52,586 --> 00:28:55,042
and within weeks,
her world has changed.

439
00:28:55,067 --> 00:28:59,402
He makes her a curry. She eats her
first authentic Indian curry

440
00:28:59,427 --> 00:29:01,712
and describes it as delicious.

441
00:29:01,737 --> 00:29:03,712
And guess what her favourite was?

442
00:29:03,737 --> 00:29:07,811
Chicken Curry and dahl, and
so nothing's changed, really.

443
00:29:07,836 --> 00:29:10,842
It is interesting that she
becomes very politicised

444
00:29:10,867 --> 00:29:14,712
and aware of Indian politics
thanks to Abdul Karim.

445
00:29:14,737 --> 00:29:18,122
You know, the household, Victoria's
own family, her son and heir,

446
00:29:18,147 --> 00:29:22,042
Bertie, Edward the VII,
then, hates Abdul.

447
00:29:22,067 --> 00:29:24,072
They've done everything
to get rid of him.

448
00:29:24,097 --> 00:29:26,452
He even tries to get rid of
her on grounds of insanity,

449
00:29:26,477 --> 00:29:29,761
saying, "We might ask you to step
down." Which is... Really?

450
00:29:29,786 --> 00:29:32,282
Absolutely. I found this...
Over Abdul?

451
00:29:32,307 --> 00:29:33,792
Because of Abdul, yeah. Yeah.

452
00:29:33,817 --> 00:29:36,602
And this is a little note
in her doctor's diary,

453
00:29:36,627 --> 00:29:40,122
and nobody had seen it, you know? Wow. ljust
found it, and I said, "This is incredible!"

454
00:29:40,147 --> 00:29:43,402
As a historian, finding something
like that, I mean, that's amazing.

455
00:29:43,427 --> 00:29:46,561
You've just suddenly
opened a window... Yeah.

456
00:29:46,586 --> 00:29:49,402
...onto the past that nobody's
been aware of before. It is.

457
00:29:49,427 --> 00:29:51,202
It's those moments
you get goose pimples

458
00:29:51,227 --> 00:29:53,972
when you think, "How could they
do this?" Yeah. And they do.

459
00:29:53,997 --> 00:29:57,431
And then, of course, Victoria is
not going to be silenced or bullied

460
00:29:57,456 --> 00:29:59,761
by her son or anybody else.

461
00:29:59,786 --> 00:30:02,922
So she gives him an earful,
sends him a 30-page memo,

462
00:30:02,947 --> 00:30:05,282
and says, you know...
"He's staying."

463
00:30:05,307 --> 00:30:08,792
"Abdul is staying. You are all
racist." She calls them "racialist".

464
00:30:08,817 --> 00:30:13,202
Does she? And so when she dies,
what happens to Abdul then?

465
00:30:13,227 --> 00:30:15,722
Within hours of a funeral,
there's a knock on his door,

466
00:30:15,747 --> 00:30:18,332
and they take everything that
she's written - postcards,

467
00:30:18,357 --> 00:30:20,641
little notes saying,
"Come and say goodnight to me,"

468
00:30:20,666 --> 00:30:23,252
with little crosses for kisses -

469
00:30:23,277 --> 00:30:27,612
take everything, and they make a big
fire outside, and they burn it.

470
00:30:27,637 --> 00:30:29,252
He's treated like a common criminal,

471
00:30:29,277 --> 00:30:32,362
not just him, all the other
Indians are all sent back.

472
00:30:32,387 --> 00:30:36,972
I think Edward didn't want to see
a turban any more in this place,

473
00:30:36,997 --> 00:30:38,362
he didn't want to smell curries.

474
00:30:38,387 --> 00:30:40,362
They used to call
them the black brigade.

475
00:30:40,387 --> 00:30:43,052
So, anyway, that is the start
of the Edwardian era then.

476
00:30:43,077 --> 00:30:45,842
In this very intimate
story of Victoria and Abdul,

477
00:30:45,867 --> 00:30:48,202
what does that tell us
about the British Raj?

478
00:30:48,227 --> 00:30:49,972
What does it tell us
about Britain and India?

479
00:30:49,997 --> 00:30:53,332
Well, it tells us that it
was a pretty racist set-up,

480
00:30:53,357 --> 00:30:57,082
because he faced real
racism, so much racism.

481
00:30:58,387 --> 00:31:00,722
I think Abdul has
got his place back,

482
00:31:00,747 --> 00:31:03,441
because he was always
painted as such a rogue.

483
00:31:03,466 --> 00:31:06,521
At the end of it, it's also a
story about two human beings,

484
00:31:06,546 --> 00:31:11,922
a very lonely elderly woman who
relates to a young man who,

485
00:31:11,947 --> 00:31:14,332
you know, just gives
her a new sense of life,

486
00:31:14,357 --> 00:31:16,891
a sense of joy and friendship.

487
00:31:19,227 --> 00:31:21,691
Osborne House gives us
this incredible insight

488
00:31:21,716 --> 00:31:24,052
into Queen Victoria's
relationship with India,

489
00:31:24,077 --> 00:31:27,691
and it's such a gorgeous,
small palace.

490
00:31:27,716 --> 00:31:30,972
I can see why she loved
coming here so much.

491
00:31:30,997 --> 00:31:33,332
Now Ben Robinson
is looking for clues

492
00:31:33,357 --> 00:31:36,212
as to how the royal
family got here in style.

493
00:31:40,666 --> 00:31:43,802
We've just launched a
drone here in Gosport,

494
00:31:43,827 --> 00:31:46,132
just across the harbour
from Portsmouth,

495
00:31:46,157 --> 00:31:48,441
and I'm on the hunt for a railway.

496
00:31:48,466 --> 00:31:51,571
And here, you can see the
blue line coming down,

497
00:31:51,596 --> 00:31:56,571
that's the main railway line, and it
terminates here at Gosport Station.

498
00:31:56,596 --> 00:32:00,932
Intriguingly, there's
another line running from it.

499
00:32:00,957 --> 00:32:03,252
That's the line I'm interested in.

500
00:32:03,277 --> 00:32:07,132
Queen Victoria had this little
extension of a line here,

501
00:32:07,157 --> 00:32:09,571
running out to a private jetty.

502
00:32:09,596 --> 00:32:13,492
Could any evidence of this
survive in the modern landscape?

503
00:32:13,517 --> 00:32:15,852
I think the drone's in
about the right position now,

504
00:32:15,877 --> 00:32:18,972
so I'll have a look.
Oh, there we go, they've got it.

505
00:32:18,997 --> 00:32:22,722
That is definitely the old station,
those two parallel buildings there,

506
00:32:22,747 --> 00:32:25,972
the arches, and you can see where
the track used to run through.

507
00:32:25,997 --> 00:32:27,651
Now, I've lost it
in the trees there,

508
00:32:27,676 --> 00:32:30,091
but wait, wait a second,
there it is again.

509
00:32:30,116 --> 00:32:32,480
And there's still sleepers
and rail lines there.

510
00:32:32,505 --> 00:32:34,971
And the cars just crossing
a sort of speed bump,

511
00:32:34,996 --> 00:32:37,321
which is also on the
line of the track.

512
00:32:37,346 --> 00:32:40,291
But here, this margin,
this grassy margin,

513
00:32:40,316 --> 00:32:44,650
that is definitely the line of the
track, and it's never been built on.

514
00:32:44,675 --> 00:32:45,730
Where does it go?

515
00:32:45,755 --> 00:32:49,011
That's it, spin round, and
then it seems to terminate there.

516
00:32:49,036 --> 00:32:53,091
But according to the map it's
at this point that it went off.

517
00:32:53,116 --> 00:32:56,400
Yep, that's the jetty, that's
the shape I saw on the map.

518
00:32:56,425 --> 00:33:00,400
So the royal station, somewhere
in here, the royal waiting room.

519
00:33:00,425 --> 00:33:04,121
It's incredible to think
that the route still survives,

520
00:33:04,146 --> 00:33:06,451
and people walk by this every day

521
00:33:06,476 --> 00:33:09,941
and maybe are not aware
of its royal associations.

522
00:33:12,226 --> 00:33:14,581
The royals may have
arrived in style,

523
00:33:14,606 --> 00:33:16,941
but theirs was a
lifestyle far removed

524
00:33:16,966 --> 00:33:19,331
from that of the
British working class,

525
00:33:19,356 --> 00:33:22,941
for whom basic survival
was a struggle.

526
00:33:22,966 --> 00:33:26,011
Poverty would often
lead to petty crime.

527
00:33:26,036 --> 00:33:30,410
But falling foul of the law
was something best avoided.

528
00:33:30,435 --> 00:33:34,811
I'm heading to Burrow Island,
also known as Rat Island,

529
00:33:34,836 --> 00:33:37,941
which lies on the entrance to
Portsmouth Harbour.

530
00:33:37,966 --> 00:33:41,771
I've come to meet an old friend,
Archaeologist Richard Osgood.

531
00:33:43,555 --> 00:33:46,480
Now, Richard, I know you've been
digging here for quite a few years.

532
00:33:46,505 --> 00:33:50,941
I'm really excited to be here. And it's completely
different from what I expected, actually.

533
00:33:50,966 --> 00:33:54,131
So, why are you here?

534
00:33:58,635 --> 00:34:01,941
Yeah.

535
00:34:01,966 --> 00:34:06,381
Yeah, yeah.

536
00:34:12,226 --> 00:34:14,891
Seems a bit of a weird
place to have a cemetery.

537
00:34:20,716 --> 00:34:23,301
Do you have an answer?

538
00:34:29,196 --> 00:34:31,530
Can I get a closer look, then?

539
00:34:31,555 --> 00:34:36,550
Human remains were first uncovered
here by heavy storms in 2014.

540
00:34:38,555 --> 00:34:41,971
So far, Richard and his team
have recovered the skeletons

541
00:34:41,996 --> 00:34:44,301
of 22 individuals...

542
00:34:46,635 --> 00:34:49,331
...including the
remains of one child.

543
00:34:52,206 --> 00:34:53,771
There we go.

544
00:34:56,916 --> 00:34:59,851
So this is an adult,
and you can see

545
00:34:59,876 --> 00:35:02,581
there's quite a lot of wear on
those incisors in the front.

546
00:35:02,606 --> 00:35:04,901
But it's quite a
robust-looking jaw, isn't it?

547
00:35:04,926 --> 00:35:08,181
Quite a prominent chin.

548
00:35:08,206 --> 00:35:12,051
Early indications from the labs
suggest the burials took place

549
00:35:12,076 --> 00:35:14,381
in the mid to late 1800s

550
00:35:14,406 --> 00:35:18,221
and that none of those buried
here were over 40 years old.

551
00:35:20,515 --> 00:35:24,901
Ah, safely take our masks off
now we're away from the dig.

552
00:35:24,926 --> 00:35:27,261
So that mandible,
I'm pleased with that.

553
00:35:27,286 --> 00:35:29,301
So that's nearly
completed the skeleton.

554
00:35:29,326 --> 00:35:32,381
I would go for a probable male.
So I think he's a young man.

555
00:35:32,406 --> 00:35:35,261
So who are they, Richard?

556
00:35:57,156 --> 00:35:58,901
SHE GASPS

557
00:36:02,486 --> 00:36:05,740
Yeah, if you were in the
wrong layer of society...

558
00:36:07,126 --> 00:36:09,851
I imagine there must have
been infectious diseases,

559
00:36:09,876 --> 00:36:12,181
outbreaks all the
time on those ships?

560
00:36:21,006 --> 00:36:23,821
I think what you're doing is really
respectful with these remains.

561
00:36:23,846 --> 00:36:27,311
I mean, these are people who
probably had difficult lives,

562
00:36:27,336 --> 00:36:29,261
who probably suffered a lot,

563
00:36:29,286 --> 00:36:32,701
have ended up lost
to history.

564
00:36:32,726 --> 00:36:35,901
So at least your finding them,
and they're individuals again

565
00:36:35,926 --> 00:36:37,311
before they're re-buried here.

566
00:36:37,336 --> 00:36:40,261
Yeah.

567
00:36:41,515 --> 00:36:44,571
The gruesome archaeological
finds on Burrow Island

568
00:36:44,596 --> 00:36:48,540
act as a stark reminder
that the riches of empire

569
00:36:48,565 --> 00:36:51,981
were enjoyed by only
a privileged few,

570
00:36:52,006 --> 00:36:55,851
whilst life at the bottom
remained bleak in Victorian Britain.

571
00:36:57,846 --> 00:37:00,141
But the empire continued to expand

572
00:37:00,166 --> 00:37:03,141
with the navy becoming
ever more crucial.

573
00:37:03,166 --> 00:37:07,061
But what if an envious
foreign power were to attack

574
00:37:07,086 --> 00:37:12,571
and strike right at the heart of
Britain, at the home of the navy?

575
00:37:12,596 --> 00:37:15,861
It was time for
Portsmouth to muscle up.

576
00:37:22,896 --> 00:37:27,430
I'm in Portsmouth, the town that
launched Nelson off to victory

577
00:37:27,455 --> 00:37:31,390
at Trafalgar, and maintained a navy
that ruled the waves

578
00:37:31,415 --> 00:37:37,351
with a ferocity that forged
the biggest empire in history.

579
00:37:37,376 --> 00:37:40,510
But other international powers
were looking on enviously,

580
00:37:40,535 --> 00:37:44,560
and the paranoia was growing that
Britain would come under attack.

581
00:37:44,585 --> 00:37:47,921
When the French developed impressive
new steamships, that paranoia

582
00:37:47,946 --> 00:37:49,390
reached fever pitch.

583
00:37:49,415 --> 00:37:51,791
Britain needed new defences,

584
00:37:51,816 --> 00:37:55,361
and as home of the Royal Navy
Portsmouth was top of the list.

585
00:37:58,696 --> 00:38:01,640
Ben has launched his drone
to look for evidence

586
00:38:01,665 --> 00:38:04,921
of the fortification of
Portsmouth, carried out after

587
00:38:04,946 --> 00:38:09,361
Prime Minister Lord Palmerston
sank £10 million -

588
00:38:09,386 --> 00:38:13,871
an absolute fortune in the 1860s -
into a line of monumental

589
00:38:13,896 --> 00:38:16,201
coastal defences.

590
00:38:16,226 --> 00:38:18,671
Now, this is Southsea Castle.

591
00:38:18,696 --> 00:38:24,031
Here they used an existing castle as
the centre point for new defences.

592
00:38:24,056 --> 00:38:28,640
This square keep dates right
back to the times of Henry VIII.

593
00:38:28,665 --> 00:38:33,031
But they didn't just use existing
forts - they also built entirely

594
00:38:33,056 --> 00:38:36,560
new ones from scratch, and some
of these were even out at sea.

595
00:38:36,585 --> 00:38:39,390
And here's Spitbank Fort.

596
00:38:39,415 --> 00:38:43,031
This was state of the art
in middle of the 19th century.

597
00:38:44,256 --> 00:38:47,440
And they've actually found a purpose
in the modern world as well.

598
00:38:47,465 --> 00:38:50,031
This one's a luxury hotel.

599
00:38:50,056 --> 00:38:51,281
Wait a minute...

600
00:38:51,306 --> 00:38:53,281
That looks like a swimming pool.

601
00:38:53,306 --> 00:38:56,801
Now we've got the drone a bit lower
I can see, on the horizon,

602
00:38:56,826 --> 00:38:59,560
there are two more forts.

603
00:38:59,585 --> 00:39:01,871
There's a great arc of forts
going round,

604
00:39:01,896 --> 00:39:04,440
right on to the Isle of Wight.

605
00:39:04,465 --> 00:39:08,951
And here, at Fort Brockhurst,
we've got forts well inland,

606
00:39:08,976 --> 00:39:10,871
a whole chain of defences.

607
00:39:11,976 --> 00:39:14,640
This must have been one of
the most heavily defended

608
00:39:14,665 --> 00:39:16,001
places on the planet.

609
00:39:25,746 --> 00:39:30,161
I've come to perhaps the grandest
of all the Palmerston Forts.

610
00:39:30,186 --> 00:39:33,801
Fort Nelson on Portsdown Hill,
overlooking the Solent.

611
00:39:39,335 --> 00:39:43,001
And I'm meeting custodian
Marcus Harrison on the highest point

612
00:39:43,026 --> 00:39:48,671
of this monumental six-sided
structure, one of the biggest forts

613
00:39:48,696 --> 00:39:51,560
ever built in 19th century Britain.

614
00:39:52,776 --> 00:39:55,081
Amazing position for this fort.

615
00:39:55,106 --> 00:39:57,560
I mean, what a view!
That is fantastic.

616
00:39:57,585 --> 00:40:01,081
But it does seem to be a very long
way away from the harbour to be

617
00:40:01,106 --> 00:40:03,390
of any practical use, really.

618
00:40:03,415 --> 00:40:07,031
It does, but the whole idea was to
deny the French the high ground.

619
00:40:07,056 --> 00:40:10,361
Portsmouth Harbour is just
under four miles away from here.

620
00:40:10,386 --> 00:40:12,721
If the French had landed either
east or west of us,

621
00:40:12,746 --> 00:40:14,411
they could've taken this hill. Yeah.

622
00:40:14,436 --> 00:40:16,721
And then bombarded Portsmouth,
denying the Empire

623
00:40:16,746 --> 00:40:18,281
its greatest naval base.

624
00:40:18,306 --> 00:40:21,751
Britain was defending its navy
by holding this hill.

625
00:40:21,776 --> 00:40:26,111
So these forts form a kind of
protective backup for the Navy?

626
00:40:26,136 --> 00:40:27,440
Very much so, very much so.

627
00:40:27,465 --> 00:40:30,131
Where does this idea come from,
building what is effectively

628
00:40:30,156 --> 00:40:31,241
a big castle?

629
00:40:31,266 --> 00:40:33,961
These are based on what
they call the Prussian design,

630
00:40:33,986 --> 00:40:39,001
a continental system that laid down
fire that ensured the enemy

631
00:40:39,026 --> 00:40:42,650
couldn't pass between them,
because many people would argue,

632
00:40:42,675 --> 00:40:45,001
"Why on Earth would you just
not go round them?"

633
00:40:45,026 --> 00:40:47,361
So the firepower in these big forts
was enough to basically cover

634
00:40:47,386 --> 00:40:48,601
the gaps between?

635
00:40:48,626 --> 00:40:51,041
Absolutely. So they would have
flanking fire.

636
00:40:51,066 --> 00:40:52,650
These were massive guns,

637
00:40:52,675 --> 00:40:55,681
I mean, these are 68 pounds,
smoothbore cannon.

638
00:40:55,706 --> 00:40:57,121
That is enormous!

639
00:40:57,146 --> 00:40:59,961
You know, when you compare that to
the 12-pound cannon on the Victory.

640
00:40:59,986 --> 00:41:02,291
Absolutely.

641
00:41:02,316 --> 00:41:05,291
This fort was vital to
the defence of Portsmouth

642
00:41:05,316 --> 00:41:08,291
and the Royal Navy,
so it needed to be secure.

643
00:41:09,906 --> 00:41:12,570
Had any French forces evaded
the crossfire from

644
00:41:12,595 --> 00:41:16,371
neighbouring forts, they were in
for a nasty surprise.

645
00:41:17,545 --> 00:41:19,831
What's this?
ls it a training ground?

646
00:41:19,856 --> 00:41:21,320
A little too small for that,

647
00:41:21,345 --> 00:41:23,681
but certainly large enough to
accommodate the French,

648
00:41:23,706 --> 00:41:28,931
should they be daft enough to
have come in at this point.

649
00:41:28,956 --> 00:41:33,570
These gates at each corner would've
been locked, and open fire

650
00:41:33,595 --> 00:41:36,801
would've happened from these
gun loops here and here.

651
00:41:36,826 --> 00:41:38,121
So... So it's a trap?

652
00:41:38,146 --> 00:41:41,011
It's a trap. The Killing Fields
is what they're known as. Oh...

653
00:41:41,036 --> 00:41:42,570
And a nasty spot indeed.

654
00:41:42,595 --> 00:41:45,291
But of course this is all completely
theoretical... Absolutely.

655
00:41:45,316 --> 00:41:47,650
...because it never happened.
It never happened.

656
00:41:47,675 --> 00:41:49,291
The French never invaded.
They never invaded.

657
00:41:49,316 --> 00:41:50,520
So is this a folly?

658
00:41:50,545 --> 00:41:54,931
No, and Palmerston's follies are
what they are known as by many

659
00:41:54,956 --> 00:41:58,596
principally because of the huge
expenditure of the state

660
00:41:58,621 --> 00:42:03,006
at the time, to ensure that these
were built and never used in anger,

661
00:42:03,031 --> 00:42:06,195
but the preventative measure
of course should be considered.

662
00:42:06,220 --> 00:42:08,876
You know, we still have these
discussions about our defences

663
00:42:08,901 --> 00:42:10,166
today and say... Very much so.

664
00:42:10,191 --> 00:42:12,596
...you know, "ls it is it totally
unnecessary expenditure?"

665
00:42:12,621 --> 00:42:15,086
Absolutely. I mean, you only
need look at Trident.

666
00:42:15,111 --> 00:42:17,445
These were, maybe,
the Trident of their day.

667
00:42:23,191 --> 00:42:26,525
So I don't know if we'll ever
actually really know

668
00:42:26,550 --> 00:42:29,756
if these Palmerston Forts
were necessary.

669
00:42:29,781 --> 00:42:34,596
But what is for sure is that the
British Empire was now under threat.

670
00:42:34,621 --> 00:42:38,565
By the time the Victorian Age
came to an end in 1901 with

671
00:42:38,590 --> 00:42:41,886
the death of the queen,
nations around the world were

672
00:42:41,911 --> 00:42:45,806
building sea forces to rival
that of the Royal Navy.

673
00:42:45,831 --> 00:42:48,606
The immediate threat
came from Germany,

674
00:42:48,631 --> 00:42:52,286
led by Victoria's grandson,
Kaiser Wilhelm ll.

675
00:42:53,550 --> 00:42:57,246
But then a man called Jackie Fisher
enters our story.

676
00:43:00,311 --> 00:43:03,606
To find out more about
this intriguing character

677
00:43:03,631 --> 00:43:06,926
I'm meeting Nick Hewitt, head of
Collections and Research

678
00:43:06,951 --> 00:43:09,166
at the Museum of the Royal Navy.

679
00:43:10,271 --> 00:43:11,836
And who is Jackie Fisher?

680
00:43:11,861 --> 00:43:14,216
So Jackie Fisher is the
First Sea Lord,

681
00:43:14,241 --> 00:43:15,756
who's the operational head
of the Navy.

682
00:43:15,781 --> 00:43:18,476
What he is is a technocrat,
he's an innovator,

683
00:43:18,501 --> 00:43:22,886
and he does a root-and-branch reform
of the Navy - he tears it all up

684
00:43:22,911 --> 00:43:25,445
and starts again - and perhaps
the most visible way

685
00:43:25,470 --> 00:43:27,806
he does that is in the design
of the battleships.

686
00:43:27,831 --> 00:43:30,296
Including this one...
Including Dreadnought.

687
00:43:30,321 --> 00:43:31,686
This is amazing.

688
00:43:31,711 --> 00:43:34,296
Dreadnaught is a game-changer
for naval warfare.

689
00:43:34,321 --> 00:43:38,246
She's a completely new design,
and she's built here.

690
00:43:38,271 --> 00:43:40,606
She's built literally
just over there,

691
00:43:40,631 --> 00:43:42,966
underneath the infrastructure
for the aircraft carriers.

692
00:43:42,991 --> 00:43:46,445
And these are the photographs
from building Dreadnought herself.

693
00:43:46,470 --> 00:43:49,325
So in 1905. Yeah. So they
photographed every stage.

694
00:43:49,350 --> 00:43:52,046
These things are the most complex
piece of technology

695
00:43:52,071 --> 00:43:54,405
anywhere in the world,
at this time. Yeah.

696
00:43:54,430 --> 00:43:56,726
And they become... Dreadnoughts
become the currency by which

697
00:43:56,751 --> 00:43:58,166
nations measure their worth.

698
00:43:58,191 --> 00:44:00,166
They're the nuclear weapons
of their day.

699
00:44:00,191 --> 00:44:03,016
So does Germany start building,
essentially, copies of this?

700
00:44:03,041 --> 00:44:06,126
So what Fisher predicts
happens exactly as planned.

701
00:44:06,151 --> 00:44:08,686
The Germans then start building
their own dreadnoughts. Yeah.

702
00:44:08,711 --> 00:44:11,016
They are constantly a bit behind.

703
00:44:11,041 --> 00:44:14,606
So because Jackie fisher took
that risk, because he decided to

704
00:44:14,631 --> 00:44:18,376
invest in this new technology,
we were slightly ahead of the game?

705
00:44:18,401 --> 00:44:19,525
Yeah.

706
00:44:19,550 --> 00:44:21,886
So at the end of
the First World War,

707
00:44:21,911 --> 00:44:24,525
there is no naval power
to rival Britain.

708
00:44:24,550 --> 00:44:28,376
And despite that victory and
naval superiority, by the end

709
00:44:28,401 --> 00:44:31,096
of the First World War,
Britain is bankrupt.

710
00:44:31,121 --> 00:44:33,766
That's why they embraced
the arms limitation treaties

711
00:44:33,791 --> 00:44:34,846
in the interwar period.

712
00:44:34,871 --> 00:44:37,455
There's just a huge sigh of relief
that they're not going to have

713
00:44:37,480 --> 00:44:40,016
to keep up this pace of construction
and development forever.

714
00:44:40,041 --> 00:44:41,806
Is that really the end
of empire, then?

715
00:44:41,831 --> 00:44:43,126
It's the start of it.

716
00:44:43,151 --> 00:44:46,486
It's that realisation that
Britain can't really afford to be

717
00:44:46,511 --> 00:44:47,846
a world power any more.

718
00:44:47,871 --> 00:44:50,886
Yeah. And I think, you know,
when we look at where we are now,

719
00:44:50,911 --> 00:44:52,766
we can look back at
all this history,

720
00:44:52,791 --> 00:44:55,525
and say, "Well we wouldn't want
to be that again."

721
00:44:55,550 --> 00:44:58,686
It's the ebb and flow of
world power status, isn't it?

722
00:45:07,071 --> 00:45:09,405
The clays of empire are long gone,

723
00:45:09,430 --> 00:45:13,046
but Portsmouth is still the home
of the Royal Navy, of course,

724
00:45:13,071 --> 00:45:16,566
and will always be associated with
that particular period of history,

725
00:45:16,591 --> 00:45:21,455
from the Battle of Trafalgar up to
the outbreak of World War I.

726
00:45:24,921 --> 00:45:29,296
In just over 100 years,
Portsmouth would launch the fleet

727
00:45:29,321 --> 00:45:34,246
that would lay the platform for
the biggest empire in history,

728
00:45:34,271 --> 00:45:37,256
see its streets awash
with the drunken sailors

729
00:45:37,281 --> 00:45:40,816
who'd helped Britannia
rule the waves,

730
00:45:40,841 --> 00:45:44,766
welcome an iconic queen,

731
00:45:44,791 --> 00:45:48,205
become one of the most fortified
towns on the planet...

732
00:45:50,121 --> 00:45:53,616
...and build the ship
that changed the world.

733
00:45:55,041 --> 00:45:58,736
Empire has become an uncomfortable
truth as we try to come to

734
00:45:58,761 --> 00:46:03,666
terms with the human cost and
the exploitation of that

735
00:46:03,691 --> 00:46:10,356
incredibly rapacious, expansionist
period of Britain's past.

736
00:46:10,381 --> 00:46:14,076
But we cannot ignore history -
we must face it.

737
00:46:14,101 --> 00:46:16,385
We must try to understand it

738
00:46:16,410 --> 00:46:21,466
And that empire wouldn't have been
possible without the Royal Navy.

739
00:46:21,491 --> 00:46:24,956
A navy that has long called
Portsmouth its home.

740
00:46:30,381 --> 00:46:33,356
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