1 00:00:05,127 --> 00:00:07,960 NARRATOR Over 2,000 years, they will forge a nation, 2 00:00:09,487 --> 00:00:10,840 dominate the globe 3 00:00:11,727 --> 00:00:13,240 and invent the modern world. 4 00:00:18,087 --> 00:00:22,603 This is the story of how a small group of islands becomes a superpower. 5 00:00:24,247 --> 00:00:25,760 -(GROANS) -(PEOPLE SHOUTING) 6 00:00:26,647 --> 00:00:28,524 This is our story. 7 00:00:45,327 --> 00:00:46,999 July 1 769, 8 00:00:47,687 --> 00:00:49,484 the South Pacific. 9 00:00:50,407 --> 00:00:52,477 Lieutenant James Cook is on a secret mission 10 00:00:52,567 --> 00:00:54,000 for the British government. 11 00:00:54,727 --> 00:00:55,955 His orders, 12 00:00:56,047 --> 00:00:58,800 to go in search of the fabled southern continent. 13 00:01:00,647 --> 00:01:03,161 1t's a challenge Cook has yearned for all his life. 14 00:01:04,527 --> 00:01:06,722 His ambition is to journey. 15 00:01:10,167 --> 00:01:13,557 COOK Not only farther than any other man has been before me, 16 00:01:13,647 --> 00:01:16,445 but as far as it is possible for man to go. 17 00:01:19,167 --> 00:01:21,397 NARRATOR Britain is already a world power. 18 00:01:22,727 --> 00:01:24,524 1ts navy dominates the oceans. 19 00:01:25,567 --> 00:01:28,081 Back home, a new age is dawning, 20 00:01:28,447 --> 00:01:31,962 of invention, enterprise and the self-made man. 21 00:01:38,527 --> 00:01:40,961 James Cook left school at 1 2 22 00:01:41,047 --> 00:01:44,005 and learnt his trade sailing coal ships off the Yorkshire coast. 23 00:01:45,287 --> 00:01:47,243 Self-taught in maths and geometry, 24 00:01:47,887 --> 00:01:49,923 he's become an expert navigator. 25 00:01:52,367 --> 00:01:54,801 But now he must sail off the edge of the map. 26 00:01:58,367 --> 00:02:01,723 Any trouble, and there'll be nobody to help. 27 00:02:03,007 --> 00:02:06,795 Our scientific exploration and curiosity, 28 00:02:06,887 --> 00:02:10,846 I think, is directly linked to our physical curiosity 29 00:02:10,927 --> 00:02:12,406 as voyagers and islanders. 30 00:02:13,087 --> 00:02:15,681 And 1 think that transcending boundaries 31 00:02:16,207 --> 00:02:18,004 is part of the British DNA. 32 00:02:20,127 --> 00:02:21,924 BENEDICT ALLEN The British love endurance, 33 00:02:22,007 --> 00:02:25,886 they love the sense that you maintain your values whatever you're up against, 34 00:02:26,127 --> 00:02:31,201 so we've had Sir Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake and Cook, 35 00:02:31,287 --> 00:02:34,518 all these amazing characters. We've wanted to see 36 00:02:34,607 --> 00:02:37,565 what's around the next corner and define the world in our terms. 37 00:02:41,047 --> 00:02:43,242 NARRATOR After 1 6 months at sea, 38 00:02:43,847 --> 00:02:45,838 Cook makes a great discovery. 39 00:02:46,527 --> 00:02:49,166 The eastern edge of a mysterious continent. 40 00:02:50,207 --> 00:02:52,402 Today, we call it Australia. 41 00:02:58,927 --> 00:03:01,282 (SPEAKING NATIVE LANGUAGE) 42 00:03:02,447 --> 00:03:06,281 They are the first visitors here for 40,000 years. 43 00:03:12,207 --> 00:03:16,041 He scares off the aboriginal inhabitants with a shot over their heads, 44 00:03:17,167 --> 00:03:18,839 and claims the land for Britain, 45 00:03:19,447 --> 00:03:21,563 calling it New South Wales. 46 00:03:25,047 --> 00:03:27,163 1n this age of imperial expansion, 47 00:03:27,727 --> 00:03:29,445 Australia is a huge prize. 48 00:03:31,247 --> 00:03:34,319 1t will add three million square miles to the British Empire. 49 00:03:36,887 --> 00:03:38,843 1n this small corner of it, 50 00:03:38,927 --> 00:03:40,565 the expedition finds treasures 51 00:03:40,647 --> 00:03:42,877 that will transform life back in Britain. 52 00:03:44,247 --> 00:03:48,001 For travelling with Cook is a young botanist,Joseph Banks. 53 00:03:52,607 --> 00:03:55,485 Fascinated by natural history since childhood 54 00:03:55,567 --> 00:03:58,798 and fabulously rich since inheriting his father's estate, 55 00:03:59,687 --> 00:04:02,884 Banks has spent 1 0,000 pounds, a fortune, 56 00:04:03,487 --> 00:04:06,445 on a retinue of assistants, scientific equipment 57 00:04:07,007 --> 00:04:08,838 and a library of reference books. 58 00:04:13,127 --> 00:04:14,879 MICHAEL PORTILLO This is an age of enlightenment, 59 00:04:14,967 --> 00:04:17,527 and there is an understanding 60 00:04:17,887 --> 00:04:22,722 that the individual is there with duties to be what he can, 61 00:04:22,807 --> 00:04:24,001 to develop his mind. 62 00:04:24,127 --> 00:04:26,766 And this grips a very large group of people. 63 00:04:26,967 --> 00:04:30,562 They believe that they have a duty to inquire, 64 00:04:30,727 --> 00:04:35,278 and fortunately, several have the wealth in order to indulge their passion. 65 00:04:36,967 --> 00:04:40,721 NARRATOR Joseph Banks catalogues hundreds of exotic new birds, 66 00:04:40,807 --> 00:04:42,320 animals and plants, 67 00:04:43,087 --> 00:04:46,602 like eucalyptus and the banksia nuts that bear his name. 68 00:04:50,007 --> 00:04:53,477 These specimens were so valuable, it was immeasurable. 69 00:04:53,567 --> 00:04:55,762 You couldn't measure the value that they had. 70 00:04:55,847 --> 00:04:57,917 What was brought to Britain has definitely changed 71 00:04:58,007 --> 00:05:00,316 the flora and the fauna of Britain a lot. 72 00:05:03,567 --> 00:05:06,559 NARRATOR Cook writes, ''The great quantity of plants 73 00:05:06,647 --> 00:05:10,686 ''collected in this place occasion my giving it the name Botany Bay. '' 74 00:05:12,327 --> 00:05:14,795 The great city of Sydney will grow here. 75 00:05:16,807 --> 00:05:19,321 Setting off for home in uncharted seas, 76 00:05:20,407 --> 00:05:22,159 Cook strikes a coral reef. 77 00:05:22,567 --> 00:05:23,795 (LOUD CRASH) 78 00:05:28,047 --> 00:05:30,686 -SAILOR All hands on deck. -(SAILORS SHOUTING) 79 00:05:34,007 --> 00:05:36,475 NARRATOR 1t rips open the ship's hull below the waterline. 80 00:05:41,047 --> 00:05:43,356 Banks thinks they are doomed. 81 00:05:45,887 --> 00:05:47,559 BANKS The grinding noise was dreadful, 82 00:05:47,647 --> 00:05:50,320 and the anxiety in every countenance was visible. 83 00:05:50,407 --> 00:05:52,238 1 prepared myself for the worst. 84 00:05:52,327 --> 00:05:54,158 Death now stared us in the face. 85 00:05:54,247 --> 00:05:56,556 Take this down, right here. Send this down. 86 00:05:58,407 --> 00:05:59,681 Keep it moving, men. 87 00:05:59,767 --> 00:06:00,961 NARRATOR To lighten the ship, 88 00:06:01,047 --> 00:06:04,437 they jettisoned casks, cannons, anything weighty. 89 00:06:04,527 --> 00:06:06,916 We have to take advantage of the tide as it comes in. 90 00:06:07,007 --> 00:06:10,397 COOK She leaked so fast, not even with all our pumps could we free her. 91 00:06:15,527 --> 00:06:17,722 Get everything out of the water. 92 00:06:22,047 --> 00:06:24,277 NARRATOR But one thing they refused to sacrifice, 93 00:06:25,047 --> 00:06:26,924 the precious scientific samples. 94 00:06:31,207 --> 00:06:33,641 Finally, after 23 hours, 95 00:06:35,807 --> 00:06:38,116 the ship rises from the rocks... 96 00:06:38,407 --> 00:06:39,681 We've done it. 97 00:06:40,407 --> 00:06:43,080 -We're free, men. -...and is made seaworthy again. 98 00:06:51,447 --> 00:06:55,804 Back home,Joseph Banks' collection is a sensation. 99 00:06:56,367 --> 00:07:00,155 King George 111 will make him director of the new Kew Gardens. 100 00:07:02,007 --> 00:07:04,601 Amongst the 30,000 specimens he brings home 101 00:07:05,247 --> 00:07:08,319 are 1,400 plants never seen before in Britain. 102 00:07:10,287 --> 00:07:13,040 His triumph inspires many imitators. 103 00:07:14,007 --> 00:07:16,237 DIARMUID GAVIN The British had so many foreign territories 104 00:07:16,327 --> 00:07:18,682 and so much money was pouring into this country, 105 00:07:18,767 --> 00:07:20,519 you had people who would commission 106 00:07:20,607 --> 00:07:24,122 plant hunters to go and find plants, bring them back 107 00:07:24,207 --> 00:07:27,722 and show them off, or develop them for commercial gain, 108 00:07:27,807 --> 00:07:30,196 or just show. ''Look what I have in my garden.'' 109 00:07:31,647 --> 00:07:34,115 NARRATOR One new crop is cotton from 1ndia. 110 00:07:35,647 --> 00:07:37,046 Raw cotton is cheap, 111 00:07:37,607 --> 00:07:41,043 but working it into threads long and strong enough to make clothes 112 00:07:41,447 --> 00:07:43,085 is so painstaking 113 00:07:43,167 --> 00:07:46,045 that spun cotton is known as white gold. 114 00:07:49,687 --> 00:07:52,042 But if a machine could do the work... 115 00:07:52,847 --> 00:07:54,166 (DOG BARKING) 116 00:07:54,247 --> 00:07:56,522 Lancashire, 1 768. 117 00:07:57,727 --> 00:08:01,003 Locals suspect these two men are dabbling in witchcraft. 118 00:08:03,127 --> 00:08:05,197 Richard Arkwright, 119 00:08:05,287 --> 00:08:08,757 a barber who makes wigs from the scraps of customers' hair, 120 00:08:08,847 --> 00:08:12,681 and John Kay, watchmaker and precision engineer. 121 00:08:15,967 --> 00:08:20,119 Working secretively at night, they're trying to build a machine 122 00:08:20,207 --> 00:08:23,643 which will stretch and spin cotton perfectly. 123 00:08:28,007 --> 00:08:31,397 Too fast, and the delicate fibres snap. 124 00:08:31,967 --> 00:08:35,642 Too slow, and they become uneven and lumpy. 125 00:08:36,807 --> 00:08:39,037 -Yeah, there it is. -No, no, no, don't touch it. 126 00:08:39,127 --> 00:08:40,685 It's not working, John. 127 00:08:40,767 --> 00:08:42,644 NARRATOR They've been at it for six months, 128 00:08:42,727 --> 00:08:45,036 and are running out of money. 129 00:08:45,807 --> 00:08:48,321 -If I increase the number of teeth... -It's not strong enough. 130 00:08:51,127 --> 00:08:53,595 -I can get a wider surface. -The tensile strength is good. 131 00:08:55,287 --> 00:08:58,245 NARRATOR Eventually, Kay perfects a gearing system 132 00:08:58,327 --> 00:09:00,795 that runs like clockwork. 133 00:09:01,767 --> 00:09:03,644 Would you look at that. 134 00:09:03,727 --> 00:09:06,719 Their machines will spin cotton 1 00 times faster 135 00:09:06,807 --> 00:09:09,002 than the most skilled hand-spinner. 136 00:09:10,727 --> 00:09:13,287 RICHARD REED We are the original nation of inventors. 137 00:09:13,367 --> 00:09:16,359 The Industrial Revolution started in this country, 138 00:09:16,447 --> 00:09:18,403 and it was that, that exported to the world 139 00:09:18,487 --> 00:09:21,126 the idea of entrepreneurship and innovation 140 00:09:21,207 --> 00:09:23,767 and huge efficiency. 141 00:09:23,847 --> 00:09:26,998 So, I think we've got it in our blood more than we realise. 142 00:09:27,087 --> 00:09:30,204 We've done it for so long and we do it so naturally, 143 00:09:30,287 --> 00:09:31,515 we take it for granted. 144 00:09:34,887 --> 00:09:36,559 NARRATOR Arkwright amasses a great fortune 145 00:09:36,647 --> 00:09:39,844 by creating a completely new type of workplace, 146 00:09:39,927 --> 00:09:41,326 a machine-powered factory. 147 00:09:45,527 --> 00:09:48,997 1t's the greatest change in working life since humans invented farming. 148 00:09:54,807 --> 00:09:57,116 But its impact on working people 149 00:09:57,207 --> 00:10:00,085 brings violent class conflict to the heart of England. 150 00:10:00,647 --> 00:10:03,002 (PEOPLE SHOUTING) 151 00:10:03,647 --> 00:10:07,799 Chowbent, Lancashire, April 24, 1 8 1 2. 152 00:10:08,447 --> 00:10:12,042 Tonight, teenage sisters Lydia and Mary Molyneux... 153 00:10:12,127 --> 00:10:13,640 -Come on. -Let's go. 154 00:10:13,727 --> 00:10:16,844 ...would risk their lives to destroy a cotton mill. 155 00:10:23,167 --> 00:10:25,442 The sisters are handloom weavers. 156 00:10:26,207 --> 00:10:29,438 So is their 1 3-year-old neighbour, Abraham Charlson. 157 00:10:30,927 --> 00:10:34,363 1t's well-paid work, which they can do at home. 158 00:10:38,287 --> 00:10:40,562 Since Arkwright invented his spinning machine, 159 00:10:41,247 --> 00:10:43,636 Britain has been experiencing a seismic shift. 160 00:10:44,247 --> 00:10:47,398 The artisan is being swept aside by the machine. 161 00:10:49,607 --> 00:10:53,202 The livelihood of Britain's 200,000 weavers is under threat. 162 00:10:55,487 --> 00:10:56,522 (PEOPLE SHOUTING) 163 00:10:56,607 --> 00:10:59,883 1n Chowbent, the protestors, known as Luddites, 164 00:11:00,247 --> 00:11:01,646 are set on destruction. 165 00:11:01,727 --> 00:11:03,080 (GLASS SHATTERING) 166 00:11:03,727 --> 00:11:05,365 LUDDITE MAN Mary and Lydia were breaking windows 167 00:11:05,447 --> 00:11:07,358 with muck hooks and coal picks, 168 00:11:08,567 --> 00:11:11,206 and cursing the souls of those who worked within. 169 00:11:13,887 --> 00:11:15,479 (ALL CLAMOURING) 170 00:11:17,087 --> 00:11:19,396 CAITLIN MORAN I've always worried that I would be one of the people 171 00:11:19,487 --> 00:11:22,126 who wants to smash any kind of new technology. 172 00:11:22,207 --> 00:11:24,198 Often change is imposed from above. 173 00:11:24,567 --> 00:11:28,003 And generally, the class above you aren't doing things to help you out, 174 00:11:28,087 --> 00:11:29,759 they're doing things to help themselves out. 175 00:11:29,847 --> 00:11:31,724 So chances are, if there's a change coming on, 176 00:11:31,807 --> 00:11:34,241 it probably is to screw over the working classes. 177 00:11:34,327 --> 00:11:35,555 (GLASS SHATTERING) 178 00:11:38,287 --> 00:11:40,960 LUDDITE MAN 1f you don't pull 'em down, we'll pull 'em down for you. 179 00:11:41,047 --> 00:11:43,163 We will, you damned infernal dog. 180 00:11:43,247 --> 00:11:44,760 We'll pull down all the mills. 181 00:11:50,527 --> 00:11:55,521 Weavers see the machines that threaten their livelihoods as infernal machines, 182 00:11:55,607 --> 00:11:57,962 as if they were something out of the Old Testament. 183 00:12:00,647 --> 00:12:03,719 The looms aren't the problem and the new technology is not the problem. 184 00:12:03,807 --> 00:12:07,880 The real problem is how that technology is inflicted upon the working class. 185 00:12:08,807 --> 00:12:11,844 The working class are the ones that prop up the rich. 186 00:12:20,887 --> 00:12:24,436 NARRATOR The rioters wreck all of the mill's 1 70 looms. 187 00:12:27,087 --> 00:12:29,726 Machine-breaking is a hanging offence, 188 00:12:30,407 --> 00:12:32,637 and so is arson. 189 00:12:32,727 --> 00:12:34,683 LUDDITE MAN A friend came up to me and said, 190 00:12:34,767 --> 00:12:37,565 ''The egg is broken, let us burn the shell. '' 191 00:12:43,927 --> 00:12:45,076 (SCREAMS) 192 00:12:46,407 --> 00:12:48,762 NARRATOR The Luddite call to arms is spreading. 193 00:12:49,367 --> 00:12:52,439 Violent riots erupt in a dozen towns and cities. 194 00:12:53,127 --> 00:12:55,595 A secret committee report to the government. 195 00:12:57,287 --> 00:13:00,085 MALE COMMITTEE MEMBER ''They number up to 500,000 people 196 00:13:00,167 --> 00:13:02,840 ''and are meditating not only the destruction of machinery, 197 00:13:02,927 --> 00:13:04,758 ''but a general revolution. '' 198 00:13:06,807 --> 00:13:08,877 NARRATOR The government sends a small army, 199 00:13:09,567 --> 00:13:12,479 1 2,000 troops, to crush the uprising. 200 00:13:13,007 --> 00:13:14,360 (PEOPLE SHOUTING) 201 00:13:15,807 --> 00:13:19,766 1n Chowbent, Lydia, Mary and Abraham are all arrested. 202 00:13:19,847 --> 00:13:20,882 God save me! 203 00:13:20,967 --> 00:13:22,719 They face the death penalty. 204 00:13:23,927 --> 00:13:28,557 The girls are released, due, it was said, to their tender sex. 205 00:13:30,127 --> 00:13:34,962 But 1 3-year-old Abraham, who had fetched straw to help burn down the mill, 206 00:13:36,007 --> 00:13:39,841 is sentenced to hang, along with three others. 207 00:13:40,327 --> 00:13:41,885 One defendant wrote, 208 00:13:41,967 --> 00:13:44,481 ''1 shall never forget the look of horror on their faces 209 00:13:44,567 --> 00:13:47,127 ''as they received their sentences. 210 00:13:47,207 --> 00:13:49,562 -''Some threw themselves on the floor... '' -ABRAHAM No! 211 00:13:49,647 --> 00:13:52,081 ''...one tore the hair from his head, lamenting 212 00:13:52,167 --> 00:13:54,078 ''that he must never more see his family. '' 213 00:13:54,167 --> 00:13:57,079 ABRAHAM No! No! 214 00:13:57,487 --> 00:13:58,886 (CELL DOOR OPENING) 215 00:13:59,727 --> 00:14:01,319 (CREAKING) 216 00:14:03,207 --> 00:14:06,483 LILY COLE 1f you take a stand, it requires bravery. 217 00:14:07,447 --> 00:14:11,599 I honour anybody who stands in the face of, kind of, fear 218 00:14:11,687 --> 00:14:15,077 and shows real bravery to stand up for what they believe in. 219 00:14:15,167 --> 00:14:19,797 So, um, from that perspective, it's a very, kind of, compelling story. 220 00:14:19,887 --> 00:14:22,481 And also quite sad. 221 00:14:24,247 --> 00:14:26,522 We hung somebody who was 1 3-years-old. 222 00:14:31,847 --> 00:14:34,236 NARRATOR The Luddites are now doomed. 223 00:14:34,327 --> 00:14:36,477 They cannot resist the power of the state 224 00:14:36,567 --> 00:14:38,364 or the advance of the machine. 225 00:14:42,047 --> 00:14:45,244 That would probably be something that would be very sad for me to lose, 226 00:14:45,327 --> 00:14:47,966 if I was someone that spent hours and hours and hours and hours 227 00:14:48,047 --> 00:14:49,639 doing something, and then someone said, 228 00:14:49,727 --> 00:14:51,843 ''Oh, I've got a machine that can do that 229 00:14:51,927 --> 00:14:53,565 ''in a quarter of the time that you do it.'' 230 00:14:54,087 --> 00:14:56,601 And then, at the same time, it was about business, 231 00:14:56,687 --> 00:14:58,325 so I think it's a matter of biting your tongue 232 00:14:58,407 --> 00:15:00,921 and having to realise that the world moves forward. 233 00:15:05,607 --> 00:15:08,075 PORTILLO The 1ndustrial Revolution puts Britain on top of the world. 234 00:15:08,287 --> 00:15:10,596 We can take raw cotton from India, 235 00:15:10,687 --> 00:15:13,759 we can make it into manufactured product in Manchester, 236 00:15:13,847 --> 00:15:15,246 send it back to India 237 00:15:15,327 --> 00:15:17,682 and still undercut the local competition. 238 00:15:17,967 --> 00:15:20,879 But at the same time, Britain's rural idyll 239 00:15:20,967 --> 00:15:23,640 has been replaced by the dark satanic mills. 240 00:15:26,527 --> 00:15:28,085 (MACHINES WHIRRING) 241 00:15:28,407 --> 00:15:29,886 NARRATOR Within 20 years, 242 00:15:29,967 --> 00:15:33,357 Lancashire's cotton mills will employee 1 20,000 people. 243 00:15:34,327 --> 00:15:37,444 No longer independent weavers, but low-paid workers, 244 00:15:38,007 --> 00:15:40,441 many of them children, working 1 2-hour days. 245 00:15:46,487 --> 00:15:49,718 The driving force behind this 1ndustrial Revolution 246 00:15:49,807 --> 00:15:52,401 has been in the making for millions of years. 247 00:15:53,847 --> 00:15:56,566 All this was once tropical rainforest. 248 00:15:58,527 --> 00:16:03,078 Gradually, the ancient vegetation has turned into rich seams of coal, 249 00:16:04,047 --> 00:16:06,083 Britain's black gold. 250 00:16:08,327 --> 00:16:10,887 Coal is completely transformative. 251 00:16:10,967 --> 00:16:14,880 In terms of industrial potential, it has the same significance 252 00:16:14,967 --> 00:16:18,118 in the early 1 9th century as oil does today. 253 00:16:19,727 --> 00:16:21,240 NARRATOR By 1 830, 254 00:16:21,327 --> 00:16:25,525 Britain is producing four-fifths of all the coal sold anywhere in the world. 255 00:16:26,487 --> 00:16:29,320 And from coal, you can make steam. 256 00:16:32,247 --> 00:16:36,763 JEREMY BLACK What is really important is developments with steam power. 257 00:16:36,847 --> 00:16:41,363 James Watt's great partner, Matthew Boulton, famously remarked, 258 00:16:41,447 --> 00:16:43,836 ''What I sell here, sir, is what everybody wants. 259 00:16:43,927 --> 00:16:46,361 ''What I sell here, sir, is power.'' 260 00:16:46,847 --> 00:16:48,326 (STEAM WHISTLE BLOWING) 261 00:16:49,687 --> 00:16:51,359 NARRATOR By the 1 840s, 262 00:16:51,447 --> 00:16:54,166 the 1ndustrial Revolution is at full throttle. 263 00:16:55,567 --> 00:16:59,560 3,500 miles of rail track have been laid in just 25 years. 264 00:17:00,887 --> 00:17:04,323 Even Britain's great natural barriers can't hold back progress. 265 00:17:08,167 --> 00:17:10,317 On a remote hillside in Derbyshire, 266 00:17:10,407 --> 00:17:13,683 an army of 1,500 men are toiling day and night 267 00:17:13,767 --> 00:17:16,964 to drive a railway tunnel right through the spine of England, 268 00:17:17,367 --> 00:17:18,880 the Pennine Hills. 269 00:17:20,927 --> 00:17:24,044 Called ''navvies'2 they're itinerant workers 270 00:17:24,127 --> 00:17:26,766 who provide the muscle for the 1ndustrial Revolution. 271 00:17:30,287 --> 00:17:31,640 (EXPLOSION) 272 00:17:34,607 --> 00:17:37,440 Most are farm labourers made redundant by mechanisation. 273 00:17:38,287 --> 00:17:40,881 A third are Scottish, and a third from 1reland, 274 00:17:41,647 --> 00:17:43,638 a country wracked by poverty and hunger, 275 00:17:44,567 --> 00:17:47,445 due in part to oppressive British rule. 276 00:17:49,567 --> 00:17:53,003 They would take the boat, leaving their families behind, 277 00:17:53,087 --> 00:17:54,759 possibly for years. 278 00:17:54,847 --> 00:17:59,637 But they had to do it, because the families had to be fed back in Ireland, 279 00:18:00,207 --> 00:18:02,801 and there was no other source of income for them, 280 00:18:02,887 --> 00:18:06,357 except to come here and do the hard work. 281 00:18:06,447 --> 00:18:08,722 The digging of the canals, 282 00:18:08,807 --> 00:18:11,480 the building of the roads and the railways. 283 00:18:15,127 --> 00:18:17,004 They were a remarkable people, 284 00:18:18,127 --> 00:18:20,800 and they had to work so terribly, terribly hard. 285 00:18:25,287 --> 00:18:28,279 To this day, Irish people are proud when they look to London, 286 00:18:28,367 --> 00:18:30,927 when they look to Birmingham. ''Look, we built that.'' 287 00:18:31,407 --> 00:18:33,523 And it's true. They will have built that. 288 00:18:33,607 --> 00:18:37,839 And their relatives, to this day, are working in those cities. 289 00:18:38,687 --> 00:18:39,802 (EXPLOSION) 290 00:18:45,207 --> 00:18:46,401 Wake up. 291 00:18:46,487 --> 00:18:48,955 NARRATOR Navvies like William Jackson and John Webb 292 00:18:49,047 --> 00:18:52,722 are working 60 hours a week to get the Pennine tunnel built. 293 00:18:53,527 --> 00:18:57,440 They earn six pounds a month, about 500 pounds today. 294 00:18:58,607 --> 00:19:00,040 1t's good money for a labourer, 295 00:19:00,807 --> 00:19:02,399 but it comes with many dangers 296 00:19:03,007 --> 00:19:04,998 and little concern for health and safety. 297 00:19:07,167 --> 00:19:09,761 I've got such a respect for builders 298 00:19:09,847 --> 00:19:12,156 having done quite a bit of it myself, you know, 299 00:19:12,247 --> 00:19:14,238 and I do it in nice conditions, fairly, 300 00:19:14,327 --> 00:19:17,046 with rules and regulations, and health and safety. 301 00:19:17,127 --> 00:19:18,606 These guys just did it. 302 00:19:19,327 --> 00:19:20,680 -Morning, Jimmy. -Morning. 303 00:19:21,567 --> 00:19:25,116 NARRATOR Today, February 5, 1 844, 304 00:19:25,807 --> 00:19:27,479 their job is blasting rock. 305 00:19:36,087 --> 00:19:39,875 They use iron rods to pack the gunpowder into holes in the rock. 306 00:19:42,767 --> 00:19:45,839 One accidental scrape can be lethal. 307 00:19:57,207 --> 00:19:58,799 Ah! Go! Go! 308 00:20:12,407 --> 00:20:15,877 Two of the navvies, driving a railway tunnel through the Pennine Hills, 309 00:20:16,287 --> 00:20:18,118 have been caught in an explosion. 310 00:20:20,847 --> 00:20:22,485 What about him? 311 00:20:25,087 --> 00:20:26,805 -You'll live. -Him? 312 00:20:32,447 --> 00:20:34,119 NARRATOR The Manchester Guardian deplored 313 00:20:34,207 --> 00:20:36,163 the navvies' dreadful working conditions. 314 00:20:37,727 --> 00:20:40,366 ''Life is now recklessly sacrificed. 315 00:20:41,127 --> 00:20:43,721 ''1nnocent women and children are unnecessarily 316 00:20:43,807 --> 00:20:46,002 ''rendered widows and orphans. 317 00:20:46,087 --> 00:20:48,806 ''Such evils must not be allowed to continue. '' 318 00:20:50,287 --> 00:20:54,439 William Jackson is the sixteenth man to die trying to build this, 319 00:20:54,967 --> 00:20:57,037 the longest railway tunnel in Britain. 320 00:21:03,847 --> 00:21:06,441 1t's the brainchild of engineer Joseph Locke. 321 00:21:08,447 --> 00:21:09,846 1f it can be built, 322 00:21:09,927 --> 00:21:12,680 the tunnel will slash the journey time across the Pennines 323 00:21:12,767 --> 00:21:15,804 and add a vital new link in the national rail network. 324 00:21:22,127 --> 00:21:23,879 (INDISTINCT) 325 00:21:26,567 --> 00:21:29,240 -It's not going to happen. -You can do it. 326 00:21:29,687 --> 00:21:32,247 NARRATOR 1t's not just the workers who are sceptical. 327 00:21:33,007 --> 00:21:35,123 The great railway designer George Stephenson 328 00:21:35,207 --> 00:21:37,323 believes Locke's project is doomed. 329 00:21:39,807 --> 00:21:41,638 GEORGE STEPHENSON 1 will eat the first locomotive 330 00:21:41,727 --> 00:21:43,285 to get through that tunnel. 331 00:21:44,687 --> 00:21:47,281 NARRATOR Working with picks, shovels and gunpowder, 332 00:21:47,687 --> 00:21:50,884 the navvies shift half a million tons of rock and earth. 333 00:21:53,127 --> 00:21:54,606 Twenty-six of them are killed, 334 00:21:56,087 --> 00:21:57,440 eight die of illness, 335 00:21:57,967 --> 00:22:00,720 and 1 40 are seriously injured in the effort. 336 00:22:01,807 --> 00:22:05,561 A casualty rate more suited to a battlefield than a building project. 337 00:22:08,287 --> 00:22:12,439 Finally, in December 1 845, the tunnel is complete. 338 00:22:17,687 --> 00:22:19,996 The railways transform British life. 339 00:22:22,167 --> 00:22:24,920 Suburbs expand as people start commuting to work. 340 00:22:27,167 --> 00:22:30,603 Businessman Thomas Cook organises holidays by train. 341 00:22:32,527 --> 00:22:35,121 Townsfolk now get fresh milk and fruit. 342 00:22:36,807 --> 00:22:41,244 Daily deliveries of fresh fish give birth to the fish and chip shop. 343 00:22:47,087 --> 00:22:50,602 JEREMY BLACK The steam engine, in many senses, creates the nation. 344 00:22:51,367 --> 00:22:55,121 A reader of a newspaper in Sunderland or Exeter 345 00:22:55,207 --> 00:22:58,597 or Liverpool can read the London newspapers. 346 00:22:58,767 --> 00:23:03,158 Burton Ale from Burton-upon-Trent can now be moved around the country. 347 00:23:03,247 --> 00:23:08,367 So what the steam engine does is create national experiences, 348 00:23:08,447 --> 00:23:11,359 national products, the national market. 349 00:23:19,967 --> 00:23:21,798 NARRATOR All this economic growth 350 00:23:21,887 --> 00:23:25,197 creates yet more capital to invest in new ventures, 351 00:23:25,727 --> 00:23:29,037 and a belief that engineering can overcome any obstacle 352 00:23:29,527 --> 00:23:31,563 means no challenge is too great. 353 00:23:32,967 --> 00:23:34,958 At Clifton, beside Bristol, 354 00:23:35,047 --> 00:23:38,119 a deep gorge has been thought unbridgeable for centuries. 355 00:23:38,927 --> 00:23:42,044 JEREMY IRONS 1t must have been an extraordinarily exciting time. 356 00:23:42,647 --> 00:23:46,845 There was this great mushrooming of ideas 357 00:23:48,407 --> 00:23:50,477 and the ability to carry out those ideas. 358 00:23:50,567 --> 00:23:52,637 1 mean, 1'm sure there must have been a feeling that 359 00:23:52,727 --> 00:23:54,365 anything is possible. 360 00:23:54,447 --> 00:23:55,596 And you look at the gap 361 00:23:55,687 --> 00:23:58,201 alongside Bristol and Clifton, 362 00:23:58,287 --> 00:24:01,279 and you think, ''Yes. We can do that.'' 363 00:24:06,247 --> 00:24:10,206 NARRATOR Twenty-four-year-old engineer 1sambard Kingdom Brunel 364 00:24:10,287 --> 00:24:13,643 designs a suspension bridge to span the gorge. 365 00:24:21,687 --> 00:24:23,564 1t's unsupported central span 366 00:24:24,087 --> 00:24:27,238 will remain Britain's longest for almost a century. 367 00:24:29,727 --> 00:24:31,683 1t's a wonder of the age. 368 00:24:35,647 --> 00:24:40,198 It is a sublime example of the beauty of engineering. 369 00:24:41,687 --> 00:24:43,166 It just seems like this great symbol 370 00:24:43,247 --> 00:24:45,920 of man's great ability in bridge building to 371 00:24:46,007 --> 00:24:47,679 triumph over the challenges of nature 372 00:24:47,767 --> 00:24:50,645 and to create something that is as beautiful as nature. 373 00:24:50,727 --> 00:24:52,240 It's wonderful, isn't it? 374 00:24:58,367 --> 00:25:00,756 NARRATOR Experimental science is booming, too. 375 00:25:01,687 --> 00:25:04,963 The expanding empire brings a myriad of new raw materials 376 00:25:05,047 --> 00:25:06,560 and new markets, 377 00:25:06,647 --> 00:25:07,966 opening up opportunities 378 00:25:08,047 --> 00:25:10,720 both to invent new products and to sell them. 379 00:25:17,167 --> 00:25:20,523 All of this inspires a new breed of Britons, 380 00:25:20,607 --> 00:25:22,279 the inventor-entrepreneur. 381 00:25:23,367 --> 00:25:24,925 John. Welcome. 382 00:25:26,407 --> 00:25:28,841 NARRATOR Thomas Hancock is a coach-maker by trade. 383 00:25:28,927 --> 00:25:29,996 Come inside. 384 00:25:31,887 --> 00:25:34,003 NARRATOR But he spends his every spare hour 385 00:25:34,087 --> 00:25:36,203 experimenting in his attic laboratory. 386 00:25:38,007 --> 00:25:40,316 He's fascinated by a new material, 387 00:25:40,687 --> 00:25:42,484 rubber from 1ndia. 388 00:25:45,647 --> 00:25:47,558 Raw rubber melts in hot weather, 389 00:25:48,127 --> 00:25:49,640 snaps in the cold. 390 00:25:50,567 --> 00:25:54,480 Hancock is searching for a way to make it tough, yet flexible. 391 00:25:55,567 --> 00:25:58,877 He tries every chemical cocktail he can think of. 392 00:26:00,647 --> 00:26:03,241 HANCOCK 1've spent all my time for months with these experiments. 393 00:26:04,247 --> 00:26:06,238 1 still fail to success. 394 00:26:08,367 --> 00:26:09,356 (SIGHS) 395 00:26:14,127 --> 00:26:16,925 NARRATOR Finally, he cooks strips of raw rubber 396 00:26:17,007 --> 00:26:18,963 in molten sulphur for hours. 397 00:26:30,527 --> 00:26:32,279 HANCOCK To my great satisfaction, 398 00:26:32,407 --> 00:26:34,841 1 found that it freely absorbed the sulphur, 399 00:26:35,887 --> 00:26:39,436 and it produced that condition of rubber which 1 can't recall, 400 00:26:39,527 --> 00:26:40,755 the change. 401 00:26:43,047 --> 00:26:45,925 NARRATOR 1t's a breakthrough that will make him a fortune. 402 00:26:46,807 --> 00:26:51,801 The sulphur makes the rubber strong, elastic and very marketable. 403 00:26:53,567 --> 00:26:57,719 An amateur scientist has just created a brand-new industry. 404 00:27:00,327 --> 00:27:02,238 BLACK Rubber is a testimony 405 00:27:02,327 --> 00:27:06,081 to the way in which Britain is an imperial economic power. 406 00:27:06,407 --> 00:27:10,002 They take a knowledge of rubber and they develop it 407 00:27:10,087 --> 00:27:12,078 in Malaya, a British colony, 408 00:27:12,167 --> 00:27:16,445 in order to ensure that the empire has its own source of rubber. 409 00:27:16,527 --> 00:27:20,406 So you've got entrepreneurship, and you've also got imperial power. 410 00:27:22,927 --> 00:27:25,521 NARRATOR A craze for innovation rips the British 1sles. 411 00:27:26,527 --> 00:27:28,438 Between 1 830 and 1 850, 412 00:27:28,927 --> 00:27:31,077 more patents are filed for new inventions 413 00:27:31,407 --> 00:27:33,318 than in the previous two centuries. 414 00:27:39,407 --> 00:27:41,637 This era produces everyday essentials, 415 00:27:42,007 --> 00:27:44,521 like tinned food and the postage stamp, 416 00:27:45,687 --> 00:27:47,564 and game-changing discoveries, 417 00:27:47,647 --> 00:27:50,525 like the mechanical calculator and electric dynamo. 418 00:27:51,967 --> 00:27:54,117 Britain earns itself a new title, 419 00:27:54,807 --> 00:27:56,798 ''the workshop of the world''. 420 00:27:57,687 --> 00:28:00,326 We're not good, we're astonishing. 421 00:28:00,407 --> 00:28:03,763 British inventiveness, considering that we are this 422 00:28:03,847 --> 00:28:06,315 small, rocky, 423 00:28:06,407 --> 00:28:08,762 cold, grey island, 424 00:28:09,767 --> 00:28:12,042 and there aren't that many of us, 425 00:28:12,127 --> 00:28:17,155 but our inventiveness has changed the world over and over again. 426 00:28:22,607 --> 00:28:24,325 NARRATOR Westminster, London. 427 00:28:25,087 --> 00:28:26,202 A blocked chimney flue 428 00:28:26,287 --> 00:28:29,199 causes the old Houses of Parliament to burst into flames. 429 00:28:30,327 --> 00:28:33,125 1t's the city's greatest inferno since the Great Fire. 430 00:28:45,407 --> 00:28:47,238 The burning down of the old, 431 00:28:47,327 --> 00:28:49,761 and the great structure that replaces it, 432 00:28:49,847 --> 00:28:52,122 stand as a metaphor for a new age. 433 00:28:58,447 --> 00:29:00,483 Political power is shifting, too. 434 00:29:01,887 --> 00:29:05,118 Electoral reform doubles the number of men eligible to vote, 435 00:29:05,927 --> 00:29:08,395 sending a new kind of MP to Parliament. 436 00:29:09,607 --> 00:29:14,044 This is transformatory because now included in power 437 00:29:14,127 --> 00:29:17,483 are not only the aristocrats, who've ruled for many centuries, 438 00:29:17,567 --> 00:29:21,196 but also the new-made men, the new middle class, 439 00:29:21,287 --> 00:29:24,120 the representatives of industry and trade. 440 00:29:26,887 --> 00:29:30,516 NARRATOR By Westminster Bridge, another new structure is rising, 441 00:29:31,287 --> 00:29:33,243 a soaring clock tower. 442 00:29:37,727 --> 00:29:41,322 Within the tower, two beloved symbols of Britain. 443 00:29:47,967 --> 00:29:50,435 First, the great clock. 444 00:29:55,327 --> 00:29:58,160 1t's the largest public clock in the world 445 00:29:58,247 --> 00:30:01,922 and the most accurate, correct to within a second a day. 446 00:30:06,087 --> 00:30:10,160 1nside this box is another marvel of Victorian engineering. 447 00:30:10,567 --> 00:30:11,886 Steady there. 448 00:30:13,207 --> 00:30:15,721 A bell weighing 1 3.5 tonnes, 449 00:30:16,207 --> 00:30:17,765 the heaviest in Britain. 450 00:30:19,167 --> 00:30:21,158 1t already has a name, 451 00:30:21,247 --> 00:30:25,445 taken from the MP overseeing the works, Sir Benjamin Hall. 452 00:30:26,407 --> 00:30:30,241 A large man, known to his friends as ''Big Ben''. 453 00:30:33,567 --> 00:30:36,161 The bell is safely installed, 454 00:30:36,247 --> 00:30:39,557 -but its hammer proves too heavy. -(TOLLING) 455 00:30:39,647 --> 00:30:41,797 Two months after its first run, 456 00:30:42,207 --> 00:30:43,560 Big Ben cracks. 457 00:30:45,567 --> 00:30:47,000 The crack still remains. 458 00:30:48,447 --> 00:30:51,644 Giving the bell its unique, but imperfect sound. 459 00:30:53,367 --> 00:30:55,483 HOROWITZ One can't imagine London without it. 460 00:30:55,567 --> 00:30:58,764 With the river, Parliament and the chimes of the clock. 461 00:30:59,487 --> 00:31:01,796 It ticks away like Britain's heart. 462 00:31:02,607 --> 00:31:04,757 FRANK LAMPARD The sound of Big Ben fills me with pride. 463 00:31:04,847 --> 00:31:06,758 1 think it's a symbol of what we are. 464 00:31:06,847 --> 00:31:09,042 Every time you hear it, you get that kind of tingle. Well, I do. 465 00:31:10,327 --> 00:31:13,239 It's a quintessentially British sound, isn't it? 466 00:31:13,687 --> 00:31:16,759 I associate that sound and that bit of London 467 00:31:16,847 --> 00:31:21,637 with, um, happy times and feeling I belong. 468 00:31:22,727 --> 00:31:26,436 It's a gorgeous emblem, isn't it? I was looking at it recently, 469 00:31:26,807 --> 00:31:28,399 I thought, I wouldn't like it if that got knocked over. 470 00:31:28,487 --> 00:31:30,125 I'd be really pissed off. 471 00:31:30,207 --> 00:31:31,481 It's like a beautiful thing. 472 00:31:31,687 --> 00:31:33,598 Not that 1 like symbols of imperial power, 473 00:31:33,687 --> 00:31:35,564 but Big Ben is beautiful. 474 00:31:36,647 --> 00:31:38,638 (BIG BEN CHIMING) 475 00:31:39,367 --> 00:31:40,766 NARRATOR When it was built, 476 00:31:40,847 --> 00:31:43,725 Big Ben certainly projected Victorian power. 477 00:31:45,127 --> 00:31:48,403 Big Ben is a symbol of the reach of Britain, 478 00:31:48,487 --> 00:31:54,084 the monument standing at the centre of this global empire. 479 00:31:56,007 --> 00:32:00,478 NARRATOR By 1 850, Britain presides over the world's largest empire, 480 00:32:01,167 --> 00:32:03,237 stretching from Canada to South Africa, 481 00:32:03,607 --> 00:32:05,598 from Australia to 1ndia. 482 00:32:05,967 --> 00:32:08,606 An empire on which the sun never sets. 483 00:32:12,207 --> 00:32:15,358 1t has acquired most of its possessions by brute force. 484 00:32:18,807 --> 00:32:20,763 The world's only superpower, 485 00:32:20,847 --> 00:32:24,635 Britain is quick to attack anyone who threatens its foreign interests. 486 00:32:26,727 --> 00:32:29,002 Like bombarding the Chinese coast 487 00:32:29,087 --> 00:32:33,126 until the Emperor lets British companies sell opium to his people. 488 00:32:35,607 --> 00:32:37,404 We're a bit trouble, a bit of trouble, really, 489 00:32:37,487 --> 00:32:39,000 and that's what we're known for, 490 00:32:39,727 --> 00:32:41,558 a little bit, around the world. 491 00:32:42,887 --> 00:32:46,163 NARRATOR And crushing rebellions against British rule in 1ndia, 492 00:32:46,247 --> 00:32:48,681 New Zealand and Southern Africa. 493 00:32:51,647 --> 00:32:54,400 There's a sort of undercurrent of savagery, 494 00:32:54,887 --> 00:32:57,685 that hooligan nature, that savage nature. 495 00:32:58,727 --> 00:33:00,922 That's the element that frightens me, 496 00:33:01,007 --> 00:33:02,725 I think, about the British people. 497 00:33:04,927 --> 00:33:06,440 NARRATOR 1n the 1 850s, 498 00:33:06,527 --> 00:33:10,679 1mperial Russia's push south threatens Britain's trade interests. 499 00:33:13,407 --> 00:33:15,159 To assert its authority, 500 00:33:15,247 --> 00:33:18,762 the British government sends an army to the Crimean Peninsula. 501 00:33:20,727 --> 00:33:24,003 1t will be the first war of the industrial age. 502 00:33:27,927 --> 00:33:29,883 1n September 1 854, 503 00:33:30,367 --> 00:33:32,801 Britain sends an army to break Russian power 504 00:33:32,887 --> 00:33:34,002 in the Black Sea. 505 00:33:35,567 --> 00:33:37,046 On the battlefield, 506 00:33:37,127 --> 00:33:40,403 British troops have one great advantage over their enemies. 507 00:33:42,127 --> 00:33:45,517 One of the most innovative products of the new industrial economy, 508 00:33:48,887 --> 00:33:50,923 the rifled musket. 509 00:33:52,047 --> 00:33:55,835 It's easier to load, it's more accurate, it's more robust, 510 00:33:55,927 --> 00:33:58,316 and you can literally knock the enemy down 511 00:33:58,407 --> 00:34:01,205 before they can get close enough to you to fire. 512 00:34:03,647 --> 00:34:06,036 NARRATOR 1t extends a single soldier's kill range 513 00:34:06,127 --> 00:34:08,721 from a hundred yards to half a mile. 514 00:34:12,687 --> 00:34:15,838 But it's what's inside this new musket that really counts. 515 00:34:19,527 --> 00:34:22,360 A new lead bullet called the ''mini ball''. 516 00:34:23,687 --> 00:34:25,598 1t weighs more than an ounce 517 00:34:25,687 --> 00:34:27,837 and measures over half an inch across. 518 00:34:30,967 --> 00:34:33,037 On impact, it flattens out, 519 00:34:33,127 --> 00:34:37,200 tearing through bone and muscle and inflicting terrible injuries. 520 00:34:40,447 --> 00:34:42,199 The power of this rifle, 521 00:34:42,287 --> 00:34:45,085 issued to every foot soldier in the Crimea, 522 00:34:45,167 --> 00:34:48,603 creates one of the great legends of British military history. 523 00:34:50,207 --> 00:34:53,244 Normally, when infantry are faced with cavalry, 524 00:34:53,327 --> 00:34:55,761 they form a square. It's the way they defend themselves. 525 00:34:55,847 --> 00:34:59,317 But because they have the rifle, they feel more confident, 526 00:34:59,407 --> 00:35:03,320 they can retain their literally thin red line. 527 00:35:04,327 --> 00:35:06,966 NARRATOR The thin red line of British infantrymen 528 00:35:07,047 --> 00:35:08,799 is one product of this, 529 00:35:08,887 --> 00:35:11,196 the world's first industrialised war. 530 00:35:13,447 --> 00:35:16,120 The Crimea also sees the first military deployment 531 00:35:16,207 --> 00:35:17,959 of ironclad warships, 532 00:35:18,047 --> 00:35:21,198 of railways, of exploding mines, 533 00:35:22,807 --> 00:35:25,037 and of another weapon of modern warfare, 534 00:35:25,407 --> 00:35:26,522 (TAPPING) 535 00:35:26,607 --> 00:35:27,926 the telegraph. 536 00:35:31,447 --> 00:35:33,438 DAN CRUICKSHANK Speed of communication in the mid-1 9th century 537 00:35:33,527 --> 00:35:35,836 transformed the way wars were waged. 538 00:35:36,207 --> 00:35:38,641 The commanders could receive information, instructions, 539 00:35:38,727 --> 00:35:41,685 they could send back information to HQ. 540 00:35:41,767 --> 00:35:45,203 In that way, war could be waged more efficiently, more effectively. 541 00:35:49,487 --> 00:35:50,522 (INDISTINCT) 542 00:35:50,607 --> 00:35:52,199 NARRATOR But the generals aren't the only ones 543 00:35:52,287 --> 00:35:54,084 who make use of the telegraph. 544 00:35:54,927 --> 00:35:57,805 The Crimean campaign was the first one in which 545 00:35:58,607 --> 00:36:01,519 a reporter, William Russell of The Times, 546 00:36:03,207 --> 00:36:05,721 was present and followed the campaigning. 547 00:36:07,687 --> 00:36:09,803 NARRATOR Russell's frank descriptions 548 00:36:09,887 --> 00:36:12,276 shock the British at their breakfast tables. 549 00:36:14,407 --> 00:36:17,365 RUSSELL Their writhing and their gore, 550 00:36:17,447 --> 00:36:20,280 wracked with the agony of every imaginable wound, 551 00:36:21,047 --> 00:36:23,083 the combatants lay indiscriminately, 552 00:36:23,447 --> 00:36:26,803 no attempt being made to relieve their sufferings until the next day. 553 00:36:28,807 --> 00:36:32,004 The battlefields of those times, the casualty rates 554 00:36:32,927 --> 00:36:36,636 were extraordinary, compared to Second World War, for example, 555 00:36:37,447 --> 00:36:39,278 and he wrote about it vividly. 556 00:36:40,247 --> 00:36:43,364 NARRATOR Russell even issues a challenge to the women back home. 557 00:36:44,087 --> 00:36:46,521 RUSSELL Are none of the daughters of England, 558 00:36:46,607 --> 00:36:50,520 at this hour of extreme need, able and willing to go forth 559 00:36:50,607 --> 00:36:54,282 to minister to the sick and suffering soldiers of the east? 560 00:36:59,247 --> 00:37:01,238 NARRATOR One who heeds the call 561 00:37:01,327 --> 00:37:04,717 is a Jamaican hotel manager, Mary Seacole. 562 00:37:11,047 --> 00:37:15,563 Mary Seacole had helped the British forces in Jamaica. 563 00:37:15,647 --> 00:37:17,603 When she heard that some of the regiments 564 00:37:17,687 --> 00:37:19,166 that she'd known in Jamaica 565 00:37:19,247 --> 00:37:21,442 were being sent to the Crimea, 566 00:37:21,527 --> 00:37:22,926 she wanted to go there 567 00:37:23,007 --> 00:37:26,238 to look after what she called ''her sons''. 568 00:37:27,967 --> 00:37:30,003 Sit. Let me look at you. 569 00:37:30,087 --> 00:37:31,839 MARY SEACOLE The grateful words and smile 570 00:37:31,927 --> 00:37:36,239 which rewarded me for binding up a wound, or giving a cooling drink, 571 00:37:36,327 --> 00:37:39,444 was a pleasure worth risking life for at any time. 572 00:37:39,767 --> 00:37:43,476 The Mary Seacole Nursery is around the corner from where I used to live, 573 00:37:43,567 --> 00:37:45,558 and I used to walk past it with my children every day, 574 00:37:45,647 --> 00:37:47,842 and they asked me who she was, and I didn't know. 575 00:37:47,927 --> 00:37:50,236 So uncovering this story 576 00:37:50,327 --> 00:37:53,046 of a black British woman who went over there 577 00:37:53,127 --> 00:37:55,846 and acted entirely out of principle to help other people, 578 00:37:55,927 --> 00:37:58,043 was just an amazing treasure to find. 579 00:37:59,647 --> 00:38:02,036 NARRATOR The pioneering work of Mary Seacole 580 00:38:02,127 --> 00:38:03,958 and Florence Nightingale, 581 00:38:04,047 --> 00:38:07,403 both who recognised the importance of cleanliness in treating the sick, 582 00:38:08,167 --> 00:38:11,318 will raise the standards of hygiene in hospitals back home. 583 00:38:12,847 --> 00:38:14,917 BLACK What you're seeing is the growing belief 584 00:38:15,007 --> 00:38:16,645 that you need cleanliness, 585 00:38:16,727 --> 00:38:19,560 which is very, very significantly linked to nursing. 586 00:38:19,647 --> 00:38:24,767 So nursing is part of the great Victorian cult of improvement. 587 00:38:28,487 --> 00:38:32,446 NARRATOR Even more important to the nation's health is its diet. 588 00:38:33,447 --> 00:38:35,278 During the 1 870s, 589 00:38:35,367 --> 00:38:39,406 the rapidly expanding British population is running short of meat. 590 00:38:40,167 --> 00:38:42,317 The Agricultural Gazette reports, 591 00:38:43,327 --> 00:38:47,036 ''Britain's meat supply is becoming the most important problem of the day, 592 00:38:48,007 --> 00:38:50,999 ''and its satisfactory solution is almost impossible. '' 593 00:38:55,367 --> 00:38:58,279 NARRATOR 1 2,000 miles away, in New Zealand, 594 00:38:58,727 --> 00:39:00,558 there are 1 1 million sheep. 595 00:39:03,007 --> 00:39:06,556 Scottish captain John Whitson thinks he can bridge the gap. 596 00:39:09,807 --> 00:39:13,686 He plans to transport 5,000 New Zealand sheep to Britain. 597 00:39:16,127 --> 00:39:19,164 To keep their carcasses fresh on the three-month voyage, 598 00:39:19,527 --> 00:39:21,404 he's had his ship, the Dunedin, 599 00:39:21,767 --> 00:39:24,327 fitted with the very latest in Victorian technology, 600 00:39:25,087 --> 00:39:26,884 the coal-powered freezer. 601 00:39:28,887 --> 00:39:31,242 But after the first 600 sheep are loaded, 602 00:39:32,967 --> 00:39:34,525 the freezer breaks down. 603 00:39:38,687 --> 00:39:41,724 Whitson sells off the carcasses and starts again. 604 00:39:47,887 --> 00:39:50,447 This time, all goes well, 605 00:39:52,847 --> 00:39:56,044 until they hit the tropics of the West African coast. 606 00:39:57,687 --> 00:40:02,158 1n the searing heat, the Dunedin is becalmed. 607 00:40:03,287 --> 00:40:05,118 The freezer starts to fail. 608 00:40:08,247 --> 00:40:10,636 1t works by pumping a constant stream 609 00:40:10,727 --> 00:40:14,515 of chilled air around the hold to keep all the cargo cold, 610 00:40:15,687 --> 00:40:17,757 but not enough air is getting through. 611 00:40:18,527 --> 00:40:20,677 The carcasses are starting to thaw. 612 00:40:26,567 --> 00:40:28,797 More ventilation holes are needed, 613 00:40:28,887 --> 00:40:31,685 and someone must drill them from inside the freezer. 614 00:40:34,767 --> 00:40:36,883 Whitson decides to do it himself. 615 00:40:37,887 --> 00:40:39,115 Watch the gauge. 616 00:40:43,207 --> 00:40:46,279 NARRATOR 1f he doesn't work fast enough, the meat will be ruined 617 00:40:46,887 --> 00:40:48,445 and he could freeze to death. 618 00:40:52,207 --> 00:40:53,401 (GASPING) 619 00:40:58,807 --> 00:41:00,445 The temperature's going down now. 620 00:41:01,647 --> 00:41:03,444 NARRATOR The cargo is saved. 621 00:41:04,647 --> 00:41:07,400 But there's a worrying silence from Whitson himself. 622 00:41:09,567 --> 00:41:12,604 1nside the freezer, he has collapsed. 623 00:41:15,287 --> 00:41:18,006 They tie a rope around his ankles and drag him out. 624 00:41:23,407 --> 00:41:26,126 DOUGRAY SCOTT It is extraordinary when one thinks about 625 00:41:26,207 --> 00:41:27,925 the pioneers who risked their lives 626 00:41:28,007 --> 00:41:31,795 to do the things that we take for granted today. 627 00:41:32,927 --> 00:41:34,883 The Scottish captain on the ship Dunedin 628 00:41:34,967 --> 00:41:37,720 paved a way for our diet to completely change, 629 00:41:37,807 --> 00:41:40,446 so we could have fresh meat from across the world. 630 00:41:44,807 --> 00:41:46,798 NARRATOR Whitson suffers hypothermia. 631 00:41:47,807 --> 00:41:49,957 But 1 00 days after leaving New Zealand, 632 00:41:50,527 --> 00:41:53,519 his meat is on sale at London's Smithfield Market, 633 00:41:54,127 --> 00:41:56,436 where the butchers marvel at its quality. 634 00:41:57,767 --> 00:41:59,359 The Times writes, 635 00:41:59,967 --> 00:42:01,286 ''Today we have to record 636 00:42:01,367 --> 00:42:03,722 ''such a triumph over physical difficulties 637 00:42:04,287 --> 00:42:05,766 ''as would have been incredible, 638 00:42:05,847 --> 00:42:08,805 ''even unimaginable, a very few days ago. '' 639 00:42:12,807 --> 00:42:16,516 Refrigeration increases food supply and brings down prices, 640 00:42:17,007 --> 00:42:18,759 so more people can eat well. 641 00:42:20,647 --> 00:42:24,117 Refrigeration keeps inherent within the food 642 00:42:24,207 --> 00:42:26,323 the natural nutrients that are there. 643 00:42:26,487 --> 00:42:29,399 It's transformed the way that we eat 644 00:42:29,487 --> 00:42:31,159 and the way that we can feed ourselves. 645 00:42:33,567 --> 00:42:35,717 BLACK People actually become taller, 646 00:42:35,807 --> 00:42:38,526 and there's a reduction in vitamin deficiency diseases, 647 00:42:38,607 --> 00:42:40,438 which had been quite serious. 648 00:42:40,527 --> 00:42:42,757 More people will keep their teeth for longer 649 00:42:42,847 --> 00:42:44,485 because their teeth won't drop out. 650 00:42:46,687 --> 00:42:48,598 NARRATOR The Victorians rule the world. 651 00:42:49,127 --> 00:42:51,118 The coming together of invention, 652 00:42:51,207 --> 00:42:54,483 enterprise, discovery and global ambition 653 00:42:54,567 --> 00:42:58,685 has created the richest economy and the largest empire ever seen. 654 00:42:59,327 --> 00:43:02,717 The fact of the matter is that we created the modern world, 655 00:43:02,807 --> 00:43:05,844 the Industrial Revolution, all these inventors, explorers 656 00:43:05,927 --> 00:43:07,758 who set out and defined the world. 657 00:43:07,847 --> 00:43:11,726 It does seem like we've sort of showed the world how it should be. 658 00:43:12,487 --> 00:43:15,638 NARRATOR The 1ndustrial Revolution has made Britain a superpower, 659 00:43:17,807 --> 00:43:20,958 but it also creates immense social upheaval. 660 00:43:21,687 --> 00:43:23,996 Millions live in abject poverty. 661 00:43:24,367 --> 00:43:25,720 Slums abound, 662 00:43:26,607 --> 00:43:29,644 where half of all babies die before their first birthday. 663 00:43:30,727 --> 00:43:33,958 Tackling these problems will present the Victorians 664 00:43:34,047 --> 00:43:35,685 with their greatest challenge.