1 00:00:10,087 --> 00:00:13,284 JEREMY PAXMAN: It was the greatest empire the world had ever seen. 2 00:00:18,487 --> 00:00:22,719 At its height, Britain ruled over a quarter of the world's population. 3 00:00:26,207 --> 00:00:29,677 Everywhere they went, the men and women who built the empire 4 00:00:29,767 --> 00:00:32,235 created a home away from home. 5 00:00:34,767 --> 00:00:36,598 From the wastes of Canada 6 00:00:38,447 --> 00:00:40,802 to the fertile highlands of Africa 7 00:00:44,327 --> 00:00:46,204 and the hill stations of India. 8 00:00:53,167 --> 00:00:56,876 They took with them what they saw as the spirit of Britain. 9 00:00:58,247 --> 00:01:01,478 And they spread the British way of doing things 10 00:01:01,567 --> 00:01:03,364 right across the globe. 11 00:01:08,007 --> 00:01:12,478 But as we made ourselves at home in strange and faraway lands, 12 00:01:12,567 --> 00:01:14,364 the question was always, 13 00:01:14,447 --> 00:01:17,439 ''How do we live with the people we rule?'' 14 00:01:18,247 --> 00:01:21,000 The answer would shape their countries, 15 00:01:21,087 --> 00:01:22,964 but it would also shape our own. 16 00:02:27,047 --> 00:02:30,483 The story starts here, on the east coast of India, 17 00:02:30,567 --> 00:02:32,398 in the early 1 600s. 18 00:02:37,247 --> 00:02:41,877 The first British people arrived not as invaders but as traders. 19 00:02:42,367 --> 00:02:44,801 Their attitude to the peoples they encountered 20 00:02:44,887 --> 00:02:47,321 would be very different from those who followed. 21 00:02:51,167 --> 00:02:56,036 These pioneers of empire actively embraced an Indian way of life. 22 00:02:57,767 --> 00:03:00,759 One of these early traders was Charles Stuart. 23 00:03:01,767 --> 00:03:03,644 He worked for the East India Company, 24 00:03:03,727 --> 00:03:07,083 which traded in cotton, silks and spices. 25 00:03:10,247 --> 00:03:14,957 Most mornings, Stuart could be seen joining the locals as they bathed 26 00:03:15,047 --> 00:03:17,083 in Calcutta's Hooghly river. 27 00:03:21,567 --> 00:03:23,603 Charles Stuart is the sort of person 28 00:03:23,687 --> 00:03:27,123 who upends easy prejudices about the empire. 29 00:03:27,207 --> 00:03:31,086 The caricature is that it was all run by arrogant racists 30 00:03:31,167 --> 00:03:33,635 suppressing downtrodden natives. 31 00:03:33,727 --> 00:03:37,276 And like all caricatures, there is a degree of truth in that. 32 00:03:37,607 --> 00:03:39,598 But Charles Stuart belongs 33 00:03:39,687 --> 00:03:42,406 to an early generation of the British in India 34 00:03:42,487 --> 00:03:44,478 who were seduced by the place. 35 00:03:51,607 --> 00:03:56,317 For Charles Stuart, India was neither alien nor forbidding. 36 00:03:57,767 --> 00:03:59,723 It was intoxicating. 37 00:04:33,127 --> 00:04:36,517 Imagine coming across this, if the most exotic thing you'd ever seen 38 00:04:36,607 --> 00:04:39,485 was the stained glass in your parish church window. 39 00:04:39,567 --> 00:04:43,162 Most people would have been absolutely intimidated, I think. 40 00:04:44,967 --> 00:04:46,798 (BELLS CLANGING) 41 00:04:52,767 --> 00:04:54,803 In this unfamiliar world, 42 00:04:54,887 --> 00:04:59,085 Charles Stuart saw holiness, order and civilisation. 43 00:05:00,727 --> 00:05:05,642 So enchanted was he with India, he soon became known as Hindoo Stuart. 44 00:05:07,047 --> 00:05:08,400 (WORSHIPPERS CHANTING) 45 00:05:11,007 --> 00:05:15,285 He encouraged his fellow Europeans to adopt Indian customs. 46 00:05:17,007 --> 00:05:21,080 He called on British women to abandon their dull dresses 47 00:05:21,167 --> 00:05:23,635 and wear colourful Indian saris, 48 00:05:25,767 --> 00:05:28,759 and on British men to grow what would become 49 00:05:28,847 --> 00:05:30,678 that trademark of empire... 50 00:05:33,007 --> 00:05:35,726 a luxuriant moustache. 51 00:05:35,807 --> 00:05:37,445 Indian style. 52 00:05:42,367 --> 00:05:43,846 Hello. 53 00:05:44,327 --> 00:05:46,602 Can I talk to you about your moustache? 54 00:05:47,327 --> 00:05:49,124 Yes? Good, can I come in? 55 00:05:51,287 --> 00:05:54,085 -Yes. -Now, 56 00:05:55,007 --> 00:05:57,043 how long have you had it? 57 00:05:57,167 --> 00:05:59,123 (SPEAKING BENGALI) 58 00:05:59,767 --> 00:06:01,803 Do you think it makes you more manly? 59 00:06:22,407 --> 00:06:24,682 Do you think I'm a bit of a girl for not having a moustache? 60 00:06:30,407 --> 00:06:31,522 That's a relief! 61 00:06:38,327 --> 00:06:40,636 The traders of the East India Company 62 00:06:40,727 --> 00:06:43,446 liked to mix business with pleasure. 63 00:06:44,927 --> 00:06:47,885 Relaxing with the locals was an everyday affair. 64 00:06:49,287 --> 00:06:52,882 To judge from their clothes, you often couldn't tell one from the other. 65 00:07:05,607 --> 00:07:08,246 This was the empire making up the rules 66 00:07:08,327 --> 00:07:12,115 about the appropriate relations between the races as it went along. 67 00:07:12,207 --> 00:07:14,846 In fact, there weren't really any rules at all... 68 00:07:14,927 --> 00:07:15,916 yet. 69 00:07:19,087 --> 00:07:23,046 Many British traders took Indian mistresses known as ''bibis''. 70 00:07:25,967 --> 00:07:29,243 But there were more serious and lasting relationships too, 71 00:07:29,327 --> 00:07:31,283 leading to marriage and families. 72 00:07:33,407 --> 00:07:35,204 Many men of the East India Company 73 00:07:35,287 --> 00:07:38,484 left their possessions to Indian wives or children. 74 00:07:48,487 --> 00:07:50,318 (HORN HONKING) 75 00:07:53,327 --> 00:07:54,806 (MAN SHOUTING) 76 00:07:56,047 --> 00:07:59,835 The practice of interracial sex and interracial marriage 77 00:07:59,927 --> 00:08:03,636 extended to the very highest British officials in the land. 78 00:08:13,687 --> 00:08:17,726 This monument was erected originally to honour Sir David Ochterlony. 79 00:08:19,047 --> 00:08:22,244 One of the great spectacles of his time as British Resident in Delhi 80 00:08:22,327 --> 00:08:24,966 was the sight of him taking the evening air, 81 00:08:25,047 --> 00:08:29,404 attended by his 1 3 Indian wives, 82 00:08:29,487 --> 00:08:31,239 each on her own elephant. 83 00:08:40,847 --> 00:08:44,442 Ochterlony liked nothing more than to repair to his residence 84 00:08:44,567 --> 00:08:48,162 for a quiet evening in with his harem, 85 00:08:48,247 --> 00:08:50,886 dressed in full Indian costume, 86 00:08:50,967 --> 00:08:52,923 his shisha pipe at his side. 87 00:08:58,807 --> 00:09:01,526 The offspring of these mixed-race marriages 88 00:09:01,607 --> 00:09:04,075 became known as Anglo-Indians. 89 00:09:05,527 --> 00:09:09,839 Today, there are an estimated 1 50,000 of them in India. 90 00:09:11,847 --> 00:09:13,405 (CHRISTMAS SONG PLAYING) 91 00:09:21,927 --> 00:09:25,397 It's Christmas in Chennai, formerly known as Madras. 92 00:09:25,767 --> 00:09:28,156 It's a big occasion in the Anglo-Indian calendar. 93 00:09:32,367 --> 00:09:35,200 Anglo-Indians tend to marry within the community, 94 00:09:35,287 --> 00:09:38,962 so the term now means having some British blood, 95 00:09:39,047 --> 00:09:40,878 often several generations back. 96 00:09:57,687 --> 00:10:00,121 (CROWD CHEERING) 97 00:10:06,487 --> 00:10:08,125 PAXMAN: You're all Christians? MAN: Yeah. 98 00:10:08,207 --> 00:10:09,481 And you're all... 99 00:10:09,567 --> 00:10:11,717 -Got some British blood, somewhere. -Yeah. 100 00:10:12,127 --> 00:10:13,640 But, you know, you can't... 101 00:10:13,727 --> 00:10:15,718 I couldn't tell you from any other Indian. 102 00:10:16,127 --> 00:10:17,560 But my name says it. 103 00:10:17,647 --> 00:10:19,080 And I know my roots. 104 00:10:19,407 --> 00:10:22,285 -That is it. -What does it mean to you? 105 00:10:22,807 --> 00:10:25,799 It means something nice, because I feel proud to be an Anglo-Indian. 106 00:10:25,967 --> 00:10:29,357 -That's it. -But you're a visible reminder 107 00:10:29,447 --> 00:10:31,483 of the fact that this country was a colony. 108 00:10:31,567 --> 00:10:32,682 Yeah. 109 00:10:32,767 --> 00:10:34,678 Well, a lot of people wouldn't like that. 110 00:10:34,767 --> 00:10:36,405 That's...that's history. 111 00:10:36,487 --> 00:10:39,001 That's all. You just take it as a part of history. 112 00:10:39,087 --> 00:10:41,601 And like every country has its history, this is our history. 113 00:10:41,687 --> 00:10:44,121 It obviously has some big pull for you, doesn't it? 114 00:10:44,207 --> 00:10:46,004 Yes, it does. One, my family. 115 00:10:46,087 --> 00:10:49,045 The roots are very deep and I am proud to be who I am here. 116 00:10:49,167 --> 00:10:51,044 I have both worlds to enjoy. 117 00:10:51,127 --> 00:10:53,357 Enjoy the West, as well as I've enjoyed the East. 118 00:10:53,807 --> 00:10:57,117 You don't feel any resentment against these men who came over here 119 00:10:57,407 --> 00:10:59,796 and fathered children and then either died or disappeared? 120 00:10:59,887 --> 00:11:01,286 -No, not really. -No. 121 00:11:01,367 --> 00:11:03,835 We don't resent. No. 122 00:11:03,927 --> 00:11:06,441 You sound, actually, as if you are rather proud of it. 123 00:11:06,687 --> 00:11:08,598 -We are, actually. -We are, 124 00:11:08,687 --> 00:11:12,157 because we like to keep in touch... If, if the situation... 125 00:11:12,247 --> 00:11:15,956 You'd better be careful, next you'll be asking to be colonised again. 126 00:11:21,127 --> 00:11:25,598 Everybody here seemed rather to celebrate the fusion of two cultures. 127 00:11:27,847 --> 00:11:32,238 But in Victorian Britain, these relationships were seen as subversive, 128 00:11:32,327 --> 00:11:33,919 even dangerous. 129 00:11:35,247 --> 00:11:37,920 The country was in the grip of a religious revival. 130 00:11:39,527 --> 00:11:43,520 The British were adopting a new, more puritanical Christianity, 131 00:11:44,287 --> 00:11:47,518 and they wanted the rest of the world to do likewise. 132 00:11:53,087 --> 00:11:54,998 (BIRDS CHIRPING) 133 00:11:55,527 --> 00:11:59,998 That shift would soon be felt on the far fringes of empire. 134 00:12:05,327 --> 00:12:06,885 (TRAIN ENGINE CHUGGING) 135 00:12:12,367 --> 00:12:16,406 It wasn't long before Victorian values arrived in India. 136 00:12:19,607 --> 00:12:21,962 They were brought not only by missionaries 137 00:12:22,047 --> 00:12:24,607 but by wives sent out from Britain, 138 00:12:24,687 --> 00:12:27,155 who were arriving in ever-increasing numbers. 139 00:12:30,207 --> 00:12:32,641 They were known as ''memsahibs''. 140 00:12:38,967 --> 00:12:42,596 They hadn't the slightest interest in local culture. 141 00:12:42,687 --> 00:12:45,759 One memsahib, wrote of Indian holy men as, 142 00:12:45,847 --> 00:12:49,362 ''Horrible objects with their wildly rolling eyes, 143 00:12:49,447 --> 00:12:51,119 ''long, tangled hair, 144 00:12:51,207 --> 00:12:55,325 ''and every bone visible in their wretched bodies.'' 145 00:12:55,407 --> 00:12:57,841 Another arrived in India and wrote home... 146 00:12:57,927 --> 00:13:00,361 ''There's such a lot of everything.'' 147 00:13:01,207 --> 00:13:02,356 (HORNS BLARING) 148 00:13:15,567 --> 00:13:16,716 (BELL TOLLS) 149 00:13:22,887 --> 00:13:24,525 (BIRDS CHIRPING) 150 00:13:27,407 --> 00:13:30,285 No wonder the memsahibs ran for the hills. 151 00:13:34,447 --> 00:13:39,077 They had very different ideas about how to make themselves at home in India. 152 00:13:46,767 --> 00:13:50,442 The days of easygoing tolerance were now over. 153 00:13:50,567 --> 00:13:53,320 In their place came a culture war, 154 00:13:53,407 --> 00:13:57,195 a never-ending battle to maintain the British way of life 155 00:13:57,287 --> 00:13:59,755 in the face of foreign temptation. 156 00:14:00,487 --> 00:14:03,843 The British strongholds in this battle were the places they came 157 00:14:03,927 --> 00:14:06,077 to escape the summer heat. 158 00:14:06,167 --> 00:14:08,522 Hill stations, like Ooty. 159 00:14:15,367 --> 00:14:18,040 The Indians called it Ootacamund. 160 00:14:18,127 --> 00:14:20,925 But that was too much of a mouthful for most of the British. 161 00:14:22,807 --> 00:14:24,718 As soon as they discovered the place, 162 00:14:24,807 --> 00:14:28,641 they began to turn it into a version of Surrey. 163 00:14:34,047 --> 00:14:38,199 In places like this, a particular idea of Britishness was forged. 164 00:14:39,607 --> 00:14:41,165 Tea on the lawn. 165 00:14:41,767 --> 00:14:44,918 A certain reserve, order, 166 00:14:45,007 --> 00:14:47,396 formality, unbelievable stuffiness. 167 00:14:49,407 --> 00:14:52,365 It is an idea that some people still have a soft spot for 168 00:14:52,447 --> 00:14:55,803 while others have been laughing at it for decades. 169 00:14:57,807 --> 00:15:01,595 What tends to be forgotten though is that it was forged initially 170 00:15:01,687 --> 00:15:03,359 as a defence against something. 171 00:15:03,967 --> 00:15:07,164 In this case, as a defence against India. 172 00:15:18,087 --> 00:15:21,875 Bungalows sprouted like little forts all over the hills. 173 00:15:23,847 --> 00:15:26,486 Bungalow is originally an Indian word, 174 00:15:26,567 --> 00:15:28,956 meaning a house in the Bengali style. 175 00:15:29,847 --> 00:15:33,635 But the buildings it came to describe were very British indeed. 176 00:15:40,447 --> 00:15:43,086 The great empire writer, Rudyard Kipling, 177 00:15:43,167 --> 00:15:46,364 talked about them as models of ''shut-upness''. 178 00:15:46,927 --> 00:15:50,840 Enclosed within their own little compound, rigidly ordered within, 179 00:15:50,927 --> 00:15:55,364 they really were about the separation of us from them. 180 00:16:05,047 --> 00:16:07,515 Of course, the great shift in attitudes 181 00:16:07,607 --> 00:16:10,246 was shared by men and memsahibs. 182 00:16:10,887 --> 00:16:15,199 But as mistresses of the house, it was the women who were on the front line. 183 00:16:26,407 --> 00:16:29,763 For a young woman, arriving in this alien land 184 00:16:29,847 --> 00:16:31,758 after weeks on a boat from England 185 00:16:31,847 --> 00:16:34,839 must have been a truly daunting experience. 186 00:16:34,927 --> 00:16:37,521 Fortunately though, help was at hand. 187 00:16:43,447 --> 00:16:46,245 The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook, 188 00:16:46,327 --> 00:16:49,046 by Flora Annie Steel and Grace Gardiner, 189 00:16:49,127 --> 00:16:53,643 is an intriguing window into the mind of British India. 190 00:17:01,447 --> 00:17:06,726 It tells you absolutely everything, from how much to pay the cook's assistant 191 00:17:06,807 --> 00:17:09,241 to the best way to divide up the family possessions 192 00:17:09,327 --> 00:17:13,002 when you're moving house by means of 1 1 camels, 193 00:17:13,087 --> 00:17:16,238 to how many coolies it takes to carry a piano. 194 00:17:16,327 --> 00:17:19,444 The answer to that one, if you're interested, is 1 6. 195 00:17:24,687 --> 00:17:27,679 The kitchen was the principal battleground. 196 00:17:29,927 --> 00:17:32,487 Here, there were terrible warnings. 197 00:17:32,967 --> 00:17:35,162 ''The kitchen is a black hole, 198 00:17:35,247 --> 00:17:37,203 ''the pantry a sink. 199 00:17:37,687 --> 00:17:41,236 ''The only servant who will condescend to tidy up 200 00:17:41,327 --> 00:17:45,400 ''is a skulking savage with a reed broom''. 201 00:18:04,847 --> 00:18:08,601 The book is astonishingly rude about the Indians themselves. 202 00:18:09,047 --> 00:18:11,641 ''The Indian servant...'' this bit here says, 203 00:18:11,727 --> 00:18:17,359 ''...is a child in all things save age, and should be treated as a child; 204 00:18:17,447 --> 00:18:22,077 ''that is to say, kindly, but with the greatest firmness.'' 205 00:18:26,727 --> 00:18:30,322 It was these women's duty to introduce their native servants 206 00:18:30,407 --> 00:18:32,363 to the British way of doing things, 207 00:18:32,567 --> 00:18:37,038 and to teach them their place as decent, dutiful inferiors. 208 00:18:42,247 --> 00:18:44,681 The book is obsessed with what it calls, 209 00:18:44,767 --> 00:18:47,725 ''the native's capacity for uncleanness''. 210 00:18:50,047 --> 00:18:52,322 Of course, this isn't just dirt. 211 00:18:52,527 --> 00:18:54,882 It's also foreign contamination. 212 00:18:54,967 --> 00:18:57,527 And one particularly telling passage in the book 213 00:18:57,607 --> 00:18:59,882 advises not to worry too much 214 00:18:59,967 --> 00:19:03,562 if the house you rent at the start of the season is a bit grubby 215 00:19:03,647 --> 00:19:07,435 because it is English people's dirt, 216 00:19:07,527 --> 00:19:09,518 not entirely natives'. 217 00:19:09,927 --> 00:19:11,963 (THUNDER RUMBLING) 218 00:19:15,887 --> 00:19:18,685 Yet, for all their apparent self-confidence, 219 00:19:18,767 --> 00:19:21,804 these were women who lived in a state of fear - 220 00:19:22,647 --> 00:19:26,845 fear that the climate and conditions in India might actually kill them. 221 00:19:41,087 --> 00:19:45,478 Saint Stephen's Church was one of British Ooty's first buildings. 222 00:19:46,807 --> 00:19:50,686 Its graveyard is full of British women and children 223 00:19:50,767 --> 00:19:53,235 whose stay in the new country didn't last long. 224 00:19:59,767 --> 00:20:06,366 ''In memory of Mary, wife of RC Lewin of the Madras Civil Service. 225 00:20:06,567 --> 00:20:09,240 ''June 1 0th, 1 858. 226 00:20:09,327 --> 00:20:13,286 ''Aged 28'', that one. 227 00:20:20,527 --> 00:20:23,997 Death and disease ravaged the British in India. 228 00:20:25,767 --> 00:20:27,917 Among soldiers' wives and children, 229 00:20:28,007 --> 00:20:32,159 the mortality rate here was three times that back home. 230 00:20:38,887 --> 00:20:41,959 ''Sacred to the memory of Issabella Frances Etheldred. 231 00:20:42,047 --> 00:20:45,756 ''Fourth daughter of the late Lieutenant Colonel Havelock, 232 00:20:45,927 --> 00:20:49,442 ''1 4th Light Dragoons, who died June 1 8th, 1 851 , 233 00:20:49,527 --> 00:20:51,722 ''aged 1 7 years, 234 00:20:51,807 --> 00:20:53,638 ''2 months and 3 days.'' 235 00:20:55,167 --> 00:20:57,476 How precisely they'd measured their loss. 236 00:21:14,287 --> 00:21:17,643 Along with the snobbery and self-righteousness 237 00:21:17,727 --> 00:21:20,719 went a certain fortitude and courage as well. 238 00:21:21,607 --> 00:21:25,486 Maybe they passed themselves off as the master race because deep down 239 00:21:26,087 --> 00:21:28,760 they knew that they were an endangered species. 240 00:21:41,287 --> 00:21:45,758 But adversity seemed merely to spur the 1 9th-century British 241 00:21:45,847 --> 00:21:48,919 onto further expansion across the globe. 242 00:21:50,727 --> 00:21:52,558 One of their greatest success stories 243 00:21:52,647 --> 00:21:56,845 began life as a swampy tropical island in the South China Sea. 244 00:22:19,527 --> 00:22:22,644 Modern Singapore is a creation of empire. 245 00:22:25,287 --> 00:22:29,519 It was founded by Britain as a trading post in 1 8 1 9. 246 00:22:34,647 --> 00:22:38,481 It was Thomas Stamford Raffles who saw its potential 247 00:22:38,567 --> 00:22:40,842 at the crossroads of East and West. 248 00:22:43,447 --> 00:22:46,917 The British established free trade and the rule of law, 249 00:22:47,007 --> 00:22:51,364 and turned a pestilential island into a commercial metropolis, 250 00:22:51,727 --> 00:22:56,118 which drew in Malays, Indians and Chinese. 251 00:23:02,007 --> 00:23:04,157 In this colonial melting pot, 252 00:23:04,247 --> 00:23:07,603 the British were determined to remain distinct. 253 00:23:16,807 --> 00:23:20,004 As one old colonial put it to a new arrival, 254 00:23:20,087 --> 00:23:22,760 ''If you want to be happy in Singapore, 255 00:23:22,847 --> 00:23:25,725 ''don't admit you're living in an oriental country. 256 00:23:25,807 --> 00:23:29,766 ''Live as nearly as possible as you would in Europe.'' 257 00:23:29,927 --> 00:23:32,122 And the British did this all over the empire. 258 00:23:32,767 --> 00:23:35,486 Central to this concoction was the club. 259 00:23:42,327 --> 00:23:44,716 This is Singapore Cricket Club. 260 00:23:46,007 --> 00:23:48,237 It's been here since 1 852. 261 00:23:51,047 --> 00:23:54,403 If the bungalow was the place the British ran away to, 262 00:23:54,487 --> 00:23:56,398 the club was where they came together. 263 00:24:00,127 --> 00:24:03,403 Inside, the club was designed to reassure, 264 00:24:03,487 --> 00:24:06,604 a piece of foreign soil that was forever England. 265 00:24:09,487 --> 00:24:11,159 (CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING) 266 00:24:13,847 --> 00:24:15,439 It's open to all races now, 267 00:24:15,527 --> 00:24:18,917 but it was founded as a haven where British expats 268 00:24:19,007 --> 00:24:21,521 could retreat from the fact that they were abroad. 269 00:24:26,047 --> 00:24:29,596 At the heart of club life was a very British passion. 270 00:24:30,887 --> 00:24:33,037 Sport. 271 00:24:34,727 --> 00:24:36,638 There were cricket clubs. 272 00:24:36,727 --> 00:24:39,287 Golf clubs. Hockey clubs. 273 00:24:39,527 --> 00:24:42,121 Badminton clubs. Tennis clubs. 274 00:24:42,807 --> 00:24:46,243 Hunting clubs, where there were neither hounds nor foxes. 275 00:24:46,767 --> 00:24:49,327 And a yacht club in the middle of the desert. 276 00:24:50,047 --> 00:24:52,436 # The natives grieve when the white men leave their huts 277 00:24:52,527 --> 00:24:56,839 # Because they're obviously, definitely nuts 278 00:24:56,927 --> 00:25:00,442 # Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun 279 00:25:00,527 --> 00:25:03,724 # Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun 280 00:25:04,807 --> 00:25:06,365 Do you play golf every evening or... 281 00:25:06,607 --> 00:25:09,121 No, not every evening. As often as one can do, 282 00:25:09,207 --> 00:25:12,404 one does, one likes to. It's a good form of relaxation. 283 00:25:12,487 --> 00:25:15,081 # But mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday 284 00:25:15,167 --> 00:25:16,885 # Out in the midday, out in the midday 285 00:25:16,967 --> 00:25:19,845 # Out in the midday, out in the midday sun # 286 00:25:25,087 --> 00:25:29,922 It was the done thing to ignore the stifling heat and humidity. 287 00:25:30,287 --> 00:25:32,801 As one member put it, ''At the end of every game, 288 00:25:32,887 --> 00:25:35,355 ''you wrung out your shirt and shorts, 289 00:25:35,447 --> 00:25:38,280 ''then had a large glass of salt and water 290 00:25:38,367 --> 00:25:41,518 ''before settling down to the serious drinking.'' 291 00:25:50,527 --> 00:25:53,758 As well as sports, there were amateur theatricals - 292 00:25:53,847 --> 00:25:56,077 solid British fare like Gilbert and Sullivan 293 00:25:56,167 --> 00:25:58,044 or the latest West End smash. 294 00:26:00,487 --> 00:26:03,445 There were Burns' Nights and bridge evenings, 295 00:26:03,527 --> 00:26:06,041 dances and fancy-dress parties galore. 296 00:26:14,727 --> 00:26:17,002 And of course, tea on the terrace. 297 00:26:20,047 --> 00:26:22,925 The club served British comfort food. 298 00:26:23,007 --> 00:26:26,204 Sausage and mash, or pies from Melton Mowbray. 299 00:26:26,287 --> 00:26:30,485 When one member of the Singapore club asked for fresh papaya, 300 00:26:30,567 --> 00:26:33,957 he was served tinned apricots on the grounds that 301 00:26:34,047 --> 00:26:36,561 ''the club does not serve native food''. 302 00:26:39,367 --> 00:26:42,006 As tins preserved food, 303 00:26:42,087 --> 00:26:46,205 so the club was meant to preserve a particular sense of national identity. 304 00:26:46,767 --> 00:26:49,759 Too much mixing with the locals was frowned upon. 305 00:26:57,567 --> 00:26:59,842 What is it you guys like about this club? 306 00:27:01,447 --> 00:27:02,721 It's home. 307 00:27:03,247 --> 00:27:05,317 -Home? -It's home to me. 308 00:27:05,407 --> 00:27:10,242 I've got so many friends here. I came 36 years ago and I play sport. 309 00:27:10,327 --> 00:27:11,885 Do you remember what the club used to be like? 310 00:27:11,967 --> 00:27:13,958 On this side here, the men's bar was on that side. 311 00:27:14,047 --> 00:27:15,719 The men's side of the club, it was retained there. 312 00:27:15,807 --> 00:27:17,479 There was this lovely sign there that said, 313 00:27:17,567 --> 00:27:19,876 ''No women, children, and dogs beyond this point.'' 314 00:27:19,967 --> 00:27:22,356 And that used to annoy my mother immensely. 315 00:27:22,447 --> 00:27:24,085 Also the dogs complained about it. 316 00:27:24,167 --> 00:27:26,556 Well, they would, wouldn't they? I mean, it would be a natural thing 317 00:27:26,647 --> 00:27:27,841 for them to complain. 318 00:27:27,927 --> 00:27:30,122 Anyway, Dad would be bring me in here for lunch 319 00:27:30,207 --> 00:27:31,799 and I spent my whole life here. 320 00:27:31,887 --> 00:27:35,641 And my wife is a Columbian and she said, you know, 321 00:27:35,727 --> 00:27:38,639 ''If it wasn't for the men's bar we would be divorced a long time ago.'' 322 00:27:38,727 --> 00:27:41,560 Because she knew when I was in the men's bar, I was safe, 323 00:27:41,647 --> 00:27:43,205 'cause there was nothing else I was up to. 324 00:27:43,287 --> 00:27:46,802 'Cause Singapore is a terrible place for getting up to a bit of... 325 00:27:46,927 --> 00:27:49,805 Yeah, the odd... There's a few distractions. 326 00:27:49,887 --> 00:27:51,798 This is my sanctuary. 327 00:27:51,887 --> 00:27:56,403 So, if I didn't have this, I think I'd probably go back home. 328 00:27:57,127 --> 00:28:00,358 PAXMAN: I wonder if, looking at chaps like you, a couple of... 329 00:28:00,447 --> 00:28:02,244 Uh, I don't care, I might as well be frank about it, 330 00:28:02,327 --> 00:28:05,205 a couple of old fossils in a club in Singapore. 331 00:28:05,287 --> 00:28:08,484 -Very much so. -Clinging on to our colonial past. 332 00:28:08,567 --> 00:28:11,127 PAXMAN: You sort of belong in the... You do belong in the past, don't you? 333 00:28:11,207 --> 00:28:13,960 We do. We've lost it. I have. He's lost it completely. 334 00:28:14,047 --> 00:28:15,958 (ALL CHUCKLING) 335 00:28:24,287 --> 00:28:27,165 PAXMAN: But there was more than one kind of empire. 336 00:28:28,567 --> 00:28:33,322 The British arrived on foreign soil not only as traders or rulers, 337 00:28:33,407 --> 00:28:34,886 but as settlers, 338 00:28:34,967 --> 00:28:37,481 determined to make a new and permanent home 339 00:28:37,567 --> 00:28:39,398 for themselves in the empire. 340 00:28:41,847 --> 00:28:43,326 (WIND HOWLING) 341 00:28:45,287 --> 00:28:47,801 They found plenty of thinly populated, 342 00:28:47,887 --> 00:28:50,845 if inhospitable places, in which to do it. 343 00:29:04,447 --> 00:29:07,359 In 1 83 1, a young Scottish lawyer 344 00:29:07,447 --> 00:29:11,725 was travelling across the wild and snowy lands of British Canada. 345 00:29:14,047 --> 00:29:16,641 His name was Adam Fergusson. 346 00:29:22,447 --> 00:29:26,326 He'd come all the way from Perthshire to look for a suitable spot 347 00:29:26,407 --> 00:29:29,524 to build a new town for Scottish immigrants. 348 00:29:40,207 --> 00:29:43,756 Adam Fergusson was just one of vast numbers of British people 349 00:29:43,847 --> 00:29:48,125 who saw the empire as an opportunity to make something of themselves. 350 00:29:48,567 --> 00:29:51,559 Throughout the 1 9th and well into the 20th century, 351 00:29:51,687 --> 00:29:57,125 millions upon millions of British people left home for somewhere in the empire. 352 00:29:57,207 --> 00:30:00,085 There can hardly have been a family in the land 353 00:30:00,167 --> 00:30:02,123 who hadn't said goodbye to somebody. 354 00:30:06,847 --> 00:30:11,398 The Scots in particular left their homeland in vast numbers. 355 00:30:12,767 --> 00:30:15,406 They would play a huge role in the building of empire 356 00:30:15,487 --> 00:30:21,164 not only as settlers but as soldiers, missionaries, engineers, and pioneers. 357 00:30:35,247 --> 00:30:39,365 Fergusson and his companions eventually found a site in a sheltered valley 358 00:30:39,447 --> 00:30:42,086 sixty miles from what is now Toronto. 359 00:30:45,727 --> 00:30:48,366 There was water to power a mill, 360 00:30:48,447 --> 00:30:51,598 and wood and stone for building in a harsh climate. 361 00:30:57,127 --> 00:30:59,083 It was tough going at first. 362 00:30:59,207 --> 00:31:01,437 They built themselves log cabins like this, 363 00:31:01,527 --> 00:31:05,805 they survived on whatever bears or deer they could kill. 364 00:31:06,087 --> 00:31:10,478 And in winter, it was so cold that the wheat froze, 365 00:31:10,567 --> 00:31:12,239 which made the scones pretty chewy. 366 00:31:20,007 --> 00:31:21,963 In only a few years, 367 00:31:22,047 --> 00:31:25,926 a handful of huts had become a thriving little town. 368 00:31:34,567 --> 00:31:38,401 Modestly, Fergusson named his new town after himself, 369 00:31:39,047 --> 00:31:40,036 Fergus. 370 00:31:48,647 --> 00:31:51,764 Settlements like Fergus sprang up all over the empire 371 00:31:51,847 --> 00:31:54,202 from Canada to Australia. 372 00:31:56,607 --> 00:31:59,201 The settlers built in the style they knew, 373 00:32:00,087 --> 00:32:02,920 from the houses they lived in 374 00:32:03,007 --> 00:32:04,838 to the churches where they worshipped... 375 00:32:10,287 --> 00:32:12,721 and the pub where they gathered in the evening. 376 00:32:13,727 --> 00:32:17,197 Always striving to hold on to a sense of home. 377 00:32:40,487 --> 00:32:42,239 Fergus was a little bit of Scotland 378 00:32:42,327 --> 00:32:45,000 transplanted to the other side of the world. 379 00:32:45,207 --> 00:32:48,802 People here formed pipe bands and curling clubs. 380 00:32:49,287 --> 00:32:51,881 They wore kilts and celebrated Hogmanay. 381 00:32:52,367 --> 00:32:54,756 They even had their own highland games. 382 00:33:19,207 --> 00:33:20,526 -Hello. -Hello. 383 00:33:20,607 --> 00:33:22,325 -I'm Jeremy. -Hello, Jeremy. 384 00:33:22,487 --> 00:33:24,000 Thanks for coming to my shop. I'm Heather. 385 00:33:24,087 --> 00:33:25,315 -You're Heather? -I'm the owner of the shop. Yes. 386 00:33:25,407 --> 00:33:26,965 -Nice to meet you. -Nice Scottish name, eh? 387 00:33:27,047 --> 00:33:29,197 -HEATHER: Welcome. -What do you sell in a Scottish shop? 388 00:33:29,287 --> 00:33:31,084 HEATHER: Well, we sell all things Scottish. 389 00:33:31,167 --> 00:33:33,476 We sell all the sweets and the cakes, 390 00:33:33,567 --> 00:33:36,604 and the drinks and the crisps, and all the stories. 391 00:33:36,767 --> 00:33:37,882 -All the connections... -Stories? 392 00:33:37,967 --> 00:33:40,561 All the stories. People like to come and tell us their stories, 393 00:33:40,647 --> 00:33:43,036 and their Scottish connections. 394 00:33:43,127 --> 00:33:45,038 And all their memories from their past... 395 00:33:45,127 --> 00:33:46,799 Got any deep-fried Mars bars? 396 00:33:46,887 --> 00:33:49,037 Oh, no, I haven't. I do have the Mars bars. 397 00:33:49,127 --> 00:33:50,845 -Meat pies? -I do have meat pies. 398 00:33:50,927 --> 00:33:53,839 I have Scotch pies and bridies and steak pies and... 399 00:33:53,967 --> 00:33:55,798 -Haggis? -Black pudding, haggis. 400 00:33:55,887 --> 00:33:58,924 Oh, yes, I've got the haggis and the sausage, and... Good stuff. 401 00:33:59,007 --> 00:34:01,043 God, I didn't even know they still made Camp Coffee. 402 00:34:01,127 --> 00:34:03,004 We've got the Camp Coffee, and... 403 00:34:03,087 --> 00:34:04,520 Do people buy this stuff? 404 00:34:04,607 --> 00:34:09,158 Yes, they just love that we carry all of these products that they grew up with. 405 00:34:09,247 --> 00:34:12,045 So, your customers are mainly people who've moved here from Scotland? 406 00:34:12,127 --> 00:34:13,685 They are mainly people who have moved here. 407 00:34:13,767 --> 00:34:15,644 And the fact that there is a connection here 408 00:34:15,727 --> 00:34:18,002 to their past is fabulous. 409 00:34:18,087 --> 00:34:20,396 -That seems to be the big draw. -PAXMAN: Hmm. 410 00:34:20,487 --> 00:34:22,762 -Gosh, what fun! -HEATHER: Blast from the past. 411 00:34:22,887 --> 00:34:24,639 Bring back all the memories of childhood. 412 00:34:28,207 --> 00:34:30,516 (TRADITIONAL MUSIC PLAYING) 413 00:34:39,447 --> 00:34:42,439 PAXMAN: The Scots who settled in Fergus wanted a better life 414 00:34:42,527 --> 00:34:44,518 than the one they were leaving behind. 415 00:34:46,687 --> 00:34:50,396 But in their new homeland they clung tenaciously 416 00:34:50,487 --> 00:34:52,842 to the customs of the land of their birth. 417 00:34:54,807 --> 00:34:57,196 English-speaking former colonies like these 418 00:34:57,287 --> 00:35:00,165 are one of the empire's most enduring legacies - 419 00:35:00,327 --> 00:35:04,366 a network of countries linked to Britain by tradition, 420 00:35:04,447 --> 00:35:06,722 family and history. 421 00:35:16,647 --> 00:35:20,686 The growth of this successful community was a pretty peaceful affair. 422 00:35:22,607 --> 00:35:26,566 But in some colonial settlements it was a very different story. 423 00:35:30,527 --> 00:35:33,758 Native peoples were forced off their land. 424 00:35:36,687 --> 00:35:39,281 Many people were tricked into signing it away. 425 00:35:42,487 --> 00:35:46,605 Others had their populations devastated by famine and diseases 426 00:35:46,687 --> 00:35:48,518 introduced by settlers. 427 00:35:57,727 --> 00:36:01,083 The biggest land grab of all was still to come. 428 00:36:28,167 --> 00:36:29,316 (TRUMPETING) 429 00:36:32,927 --> 00:36:35,487 What became known as the ''scramble for Africa'' 430 00:36:35,567 --> 00:36:41,005 saw the great European powers carve up millions of square miles 431 00:36:41,087 --> 00:36:44,159 as they wrestled over the land and its peoples. 432 00:36:57,287 --> 00:37:01,917 British settlers started coming here to Kenya in the early 1 900s. 433 00:37:03,647 --> 00:37:08,960 Then it was a vast, thinly populated region of mountains and forests, 434 00:37:09,767 --> 00:37:12,440 huge plains and wild animals. 435 00:37:15,967 --> 00:37:17,878 The settlers liked what they saw. 436 00:37:17,967 --> 00:37:21,926 West Africa was full of swamps and diseases and things, but here... 437 00:37:22,407 --> 00:37:26,446 here the land was fertile, the climate was glorious - 438 00:37:26,527 --> 00:37:29,803 like England on the very nicest kind of summer's day. 439 00:37:37,727 --> 00:37:39,763 But there was one problem. 440 00:37:42,127 --> 00:37:44,880 The best land was already occupied. 441 00:37:46,647 --> 00:37:50,481 Local tribes such as the Kikuyu were bribed or bullied 442 00:37:50,567 --> 00:37:52,922 into making way for the new arrivals. 443 00:37:58,407 --> 00:38:03,242 In return for six months' labour, they were allowed to become squatters 444 00:38:03,327 --> 00:38:06,444 and to grow crops on land that had once been theirs. 445 00:38:11,247 --> 00:38:13,841 It was an uneasy arrangement. 446 00:38:16,527 --> 00:38:19,599 Tension led to violence on both sides. 447 00:38:20,487 --> 00:38:24,480 Some Kikuyu villages witnessed dreadful scenes. 448 00:38:29,327 --> 00:38:31,318 One morning in the early 1 900s, 449 00:38:31,407 --> 00:38:34,479 a young British lieutenant in the King's African Rifles 450 00:38:34,567 --> 00:38:38,401 received orders to find out what had become of a white settler. 451 00:38:39,047 --> 00:38:40,685 He described what he found. 452 00:38:41,447 --> 00:38:44,120 ''In the middle of the village, on the open ground, 453 00:38:44,207 --> 00:38:46,482 ''was a sight which horrified me. 454 00:38:47,007 --> 00:38:50,477 ''A naked white man had been pegged out on his back, 455 00:38:50,567 --> 00:38:53,001 ''mutilated and disembowelled, 456 00:38:53,087 --> 00:38:56,557 ''his body used as a latrine by all who passed by.'' 457 00:38:57,527 --> 00:39:00,280 Revenge was instant and it was savage. 458 00:39:00,967 --> 00:39:03,037 ''We burned all the huts,'' he said. 459 00:39:03,167 --> 00:39:06,477 ''We razed the banana plantations to the ground, 460 00:39:06,567 --> 00:39:10,719 ''and every soul was either shot or bayoneted.'' 461 00:39:35,167 --> 00:39:39,285 The English class system made sure different kinds of settlers 462 00:39:39,367 --> 00:39:42,086 ended up in different kinds of colonies. 463 00:39:42,167 --> 00:39:44,317 Toffs came to Kenya. 464 00:39:45,327 --> 00:39:48,399 No one without plenty of cash was allowed in. 465 00:39:56,967 --> 00:40:01,040 They proved themselves good at growing new crops like coffee, 466 00:40:01,127 --> 00:40:03,083 wheat and sugar cane. 467 00:40:03,807 --> 00:40:05,240 Or tea. 468 00:40:10,647 --> 00:40:16,040 Surrounded by their estates, they built grand houses in the English style. 469 00:40:17,367 --> 00:40:21,565 A taste of Edwardian England in the so-called Dark Continent. 470 00:40:26,527 --> 00:40:30,202 Some stayed on after independence in the 1 960s. 471 00:40:32,047 --> 00:40:33,082 Jeremy, nice to meet you. 472 00:40:33,167 --> 00:40:35,158 Very pleased to meet you. Thank you for having us. 473 00:40:35,247 --> 00:40:39,957 Tony Seth-Smith's grandparents came to Kenya in 1 904. 474 00:40:40,087 --> 00:40:42,157 That's the first animal I've recognised today. 475 00:40:47,727 --> 00:40:50,082 SETH-SMITH: That's my uncle's first house. 476 00:40:50,167 --> 00:40:51,361 It's a grass hut. 477 00:40:51,447 --> 00:40:53,802 It's just a grass hut, and some mud walls. 478 00:40:54,447 --> 00:40:56,403 The zebra skin on the wall probably stopped 479 00:40:56,487 --> 00:40:58,523 the draught going through a crack in it. 480 00:40:59,207 --> 00:41:01,198 And then he progressed to a rather smarter house 481 00:41:01,287 --> 00:41:03,164 made of corrugated iron 482 00:41:03,247 --> 00:41:07,081 up on stilts to stop the white ants getting at the floorboards. 483 00:41:07,607 --> 00:41:09,086 Transport, there you are... 484 00:41:09,167 --> 00:41:11,806 PAXMAN: That's a huge oxen train, isn't it? 485 00:41:11,967 --> 00:41:17,087 SETH-SMITH: Train of oxen. Sixteen was generally a typical span of oxen. 486 00:41:17,167 --> 00:41:20,603 -Sixteen oxen for one cart? -Sixteen oxen for the one cart. 487 00:41:20,807 --> 00:41:23,605 And then, of course, during the night you'd have a little thorn enclosure 488 00:41:23,687 --> 00:41:25,006 which you kept the oxen in. 489 00:41:25,087 --> 00:41:28,682 And probably a lion would come around and roar upwind of it and poof! 490 00:41:29,007 --> 00:41:30,281 All your oxen had gone 491 00:41:30,367 --> 00:41:33,040 and the lion's nailed two of them in the dark, you know. 492 00:41:34,127 --> 00:41:36,243 But it was... I suppose that was a part of the fun, wasn't it? 493 00:41:36,327 --> 00:41:37,885 You know, it was exciting. 494 00:41:37,967 --> 00:41:39,639 PAXMAN: That's a great picture. 495 00:41:40,047 --> 00:41:41,958 -This is your father, is it? -That's my father. 496 00:41:42,047 --> 00:41:43,878 -PAXMAN: With a dead lion. -With a dead lion. 497 00:41:43,967 --> 00:41:45,844 You know, these lions, they didn't sit around 498 00:41:45,927 --> 00:41:47,918 like you see them in a park nowadays. 499 00:41:48,087 --> 00:41:50,123 The lions in those days knew how to look after themselves 500 00:41:50,207 --> 00:41:51,640 and there wasn't a park. 501 00:41:52,087 --> 00:41:54,237 PAXMAN: But even the lions aren't what they were, eh? 502 00:41:54,327 --> 00:41:57,558 SETH-SMITH: No, no, no, everything's fallen by the wayside. 503 00:42:05,047 --> 00:42:08,357 PAXMAN: Do you think this policy of trying to attract enterprising people 504 00:42:08,447 --> 00:42:11,484 with a bit of money to invest, do you think it worked for this country? 505 00:42:11,607 --> 00:42:13,518 SETH-SMITH: I think it worked in the long term. 506 00:42:13,847 --> 00:42:18,204 Because, unlike today, where much of the developing world 507 00:42:18,287 --> 00:42:21,484 is developing as a result of aid 508 00:42:21,567 --> 00:42:24,001 and packages of money, the donor thing... 509 00:42:24,087 --> 00:42:25,884 There were no donors. 510 00:42:25,967 --> 00:42:29,516 The country was developed on the backs of the settlers. 511 00:42:29,807 --> 00:42:31,001 People like my father. 512 00:42:31,087 --> 00:42:32,281 PAXMAN: Which one of these is your father? 513 00:42:32,367 --> 00:42:33,402 SETH-SMITH: That's my father. 514 00:42:33,487 --> 00:42:36,320 They came out and they brought all their family money out 515 00:42:36,407 --> 00:42:37,999 and it was all sunk into this country. 516 00:42:38,087 --> 00:42:39,918 PAXMAN: Do you think they had a sense of 517 00:42:40,007 --> 00:42:41,963 what the purpose of the British Empire was? 518 00:42:42,047 --> 00:42:43,958 Or were they just concerned with getting on with their lives? 519 00:42:44,047 --> 00:42:46,083 I think there was a quite a lot of that. 520 00:42:46,687 --> 00:42:51,363 Englishmen were proud of having an empire, being a part of it. 521 00:42:51,727 --> 00:42:55,766 And I think that every family in England round about that time 522 00:42:55,847 --> 00:42:58,407 had a member of it who was serving, 523 00:42:58,487 --> 00:43:02,002 or doing development somewhere in the empire. 524 00:43:02,087 --> 00:43:06,956 Be it an administrator in India, or a policeman in Nigeria, 525 00:43:07,047 --> 00:43:11,563 or a farmer in Kenya, or a gold miner in South Africa. 526 00:43:12,287 --> 00:43:16,963 Everyone had a member of the family, and so they were all very aware of... 527 00:43:17,047 --> 00:43:20,483 of, uh, Britain's empire, and they were proud of it then. 528 00:43:20,567 --> 00:43:21,841 Are you proud of it? 529 00:43:23,767 --> 00:43:25,837 Yes, there's nothing to be ashamed of. 530 00:43:26,567 --> 00:43:28,046 Nothing to be ashamed of. 531 00:43:35,047 --> 00:43:38,642 PAXMAN: One African writer dismissed the white farmers as 532 00:43:38,727 --> 00:43:40,683 ''Parasites in paradise, 533 00:43:40,767 --> 00:43:43,440 ''living off land they had taken from others. '' 534 00:43:45,487 --> 00:43:49,275 Whatever the justice of that remark, the white settlers of Kenya 535 00:43:49,367 --> 00:43:51,801 felt they had a right to the land they were developing. 536 00:43:53,087 --> 00:43:54,884 This was their home now. 537 00:44:00,007 --> 00:44:04,956 It would be half a century before this tension found a bloody resolution 538 00:44:05,047 --> 00:44:07,641 as the country stumbled towards independence. 539 00:44:28,847 --> 00:44:32,840 It was the British who created the country's capital, Nairobi. 540 00:44:34,207 --> 00:44:38,564 The city still has plenty of the rough and ready feel of the early days. 541 00:44:40,807 --> 00:44:46,120 Not much more than a century ago, this was just a strip of swampy ground. 542 00:45:01,007 --> 00:45:05,523 No one planned Nairobi as a capital city, it just happened. 543 00:45:05,967 --> 00:45:08,401 It happened because it was a railway stop 544 00:45:08,487 --> 00:45:12,560 on one of the most ambitious lines in the entire British Empire - 545 00:45:12,887 --> 00:45:14,639 the Lunatic Line. 546 00:45:18,287 --> 00:45:20,005 (HORN BLARING) 547 00:45:29,687 --> 00:45:33,680 For the empire in 1 900, making yourself at home 548 00:45:33,767 --> 00:45:35,280 meant building a railway. 549 00:45:45,527 --> 00:45:50,237 The line ran 600 miles from the coast, through Nairobi, 550 00:45:50,327 --> 00:45:52,238 all the way to Lake Victoria. 551 00:45:58,367 --> 00:46:01,803 It was built to bring British goods to the interior 552 00:46:01,887 --> 00:46:05,004 and raw materials out to ports on the coast. 553 00:46:11,487 --> 00:46:15,275 It would encourage British farmers to come out here and settle. 554 00:46:21,247 --> 00:46:24,717 There was plenty to merit the title, Lunatic Line. 555 00:46:25,247 --> 00:46:30,116 There was the cost, £534 million in today's money. 556 00:46:31,247 --> 00:46:33,886 There was the engineering required to allow a train 557 00:46:33,967 --> 00:46:36,276 to climb from sea level into the mountains, 558 00:46:36,367 --> 00:46:40,076 and then to plunge down into the great Rift Valley. 559 00:46:40,487 --> 00:46:44,446 And to construct 1,200 bridges on the way. 560 00:46:51,847 --> 00:46:54,407 But it wasn't the British who built the railway, 561 00:46:54,487 --> 00:46:56,000 it wasn't even the Africans. 562 00:46:56,087 --> 00:47:01,957 This remarkable feat was the work of 32,000 labourers, 563 00:47:02,047 --> 00:47:04,163 craftsmen and engineers 564 00:47:04,247 --> 00:47:06,886 brought in by the British from India. 565 00:47:07,447 --> 00:47:09,085 They knew how to build railways there. 566 00:47:16,367 --> 00:47:18,756 (HORN BLARING) 567 00:47:19,687 --> 00:47:24,124 Soon the Lunatic Line was carrying coffee and tea, sisal and wheat 568 00:47:24,207 --> 00:47:26,243 from the settlers' farms to the coast. 569 00:47:31,247 --> 00:47:34,205 The building of the railway was a staggering feat, 570 00:47:35,207 --> 00:47:38,244 but it came at a staggering cost in human life. 571 00:47:39,887 --> 00:47:43,596 Two-and-a-half thousand workers were killed during its construction 572 00:47:43,687 --> 00:47:46,042 by malaria, accidents, 573 00:47:46,127 --> 00:47:48,163 or man-eating lions. 574 00:48:00,367 --> 00:48:03,359 What was the attraction for someone like your great-grandfather 575 00:48:03,447 --> 00:48:05,722 and his brother when they came here? 576 00:48:06,407 --> 00:48:10,639 Well, I mean, to be honest, uh... I don't think we were very well off 577 00:48:11,287 --> 00:48:12,959 back at home, okay? 578 00:48:13,087 --> 00:48:17,478 'Cause I mean, why would you want to leave the comfort of your home 579 00:48:17,567 --> 00:48:19,637 to come into this wilderness - 580 00:48:19,727 --> 00:48:24,562 harsh African conditions, vegetation, a strange land to them. 581 00:48:25,127 --> 00:48:28,915 Uh, it wasn't very easy 'cause water was scarce, 582 00:48:29,007 --> 00:48:33,000 especially when they were going across the Taru desert toward Tsavo. 583 00:48:33,567 --> 00:48:36,559 They didn't have water for showering for, like, weeks. 584 00:48:36,647 --> 00:48:39,480 You know, they would just get enough water just to drink. 585 00:48:39,847 --> 00:48:42,919 And what my great-grandfather told me is, 586 00:48:43,007 --> 00:48:45,123 when the carriage would come for their drinking water, 587 00:48:45,207 --> 00:48:47,846 they would pretend to be clumsy about drinking their water 588 00:48:47,927 --> 00:48:49,918 'cause basically they'd go and scoop it out. 589 00:48:50,007 --> 00:48:51,599 And they'd pretend to be clumsy about it 590 00:48:51,687 --> 00:48:54,360 and in the process have a little shower, you know, like, 591 00:48:54,447 --> 00:48:56,119 literally throw the water on them. 592 00:48:56,207 --> 00:48:58,562 And dangerous, dangerous, dangerous, isn't it? 593 00:48:58,647 --> 00:49:02,003 Yes, wilderness, wild animals are often Tsavo. 594 00:49:02,527 --> 00:49:04,882 -Tsavo is a place? -Yes, man-eaters. 595 00:49:04,967 --> 00:49:07,527 I've read accounts of these attacks by the man-eating lions. 596 00:49:07,607 --> 00:49:11,202 And they talk about men being dragged from their tents 597 00:49:11,287 --> 00:49:14,518 and their colleagues being able to hear them as they're eaten alive 598 00:49:14,607 --> 00:49:16,086 -by the lions. -Yes, yes. 599 00:49:16,447 --> 00:49:18,438 Horrifying, isn't it? 600 00:49:19,767 --> 00:49:21,598 Let me ask you a political question. 601 00:49:22,127 --> 00:49:26,678 The fact that you and your community are now 602 00:49:26,767 --> 00:49:30,521 a very, very long way from where, naturally, you came from 603 00:49:30,607 --> 00:49:32,723 and you're in this alien culture, 604 00:49:32,807 --> 00:49:36,720 was what the British did in bringing you here a good thing or a bad thing? 605 00:49:37,607 --> 00:49:39,120 Um... 606 00:49:39,567 --> 00:49:41,319 That's a good question. 607 00:49:42,207 --> 00:49:44,277 To be honest I have no regrets for being here. 608 00:49:44,367 --> 00:49:46,961 And uh, when people ask me, you know, 609 00:49:47,327 --> 00:49:49,283 ''Who are you? Where are you from?'' 610 00:49:49,367 --> 00:49:51,437 You know, I say, ''Kenya is my home.'' 611 00:49:51,527 --> 00:49:53,643 And I have no regrets for coming here. 612 00:50:02,927 --> 00:50:05,487 PAXMAN: The Indian workers who built the Kenya railway 613 00:50:05,567 --> 00:50:08,127 were part of a bigger empire story - 614 00:50:08,527 --> 00:50:11,519 the shifting of populations around the globe 615 00:50:11,607 --> 00:50:14,485 to meet the empire's need for labour. 616 00:50:16,967 --> 00:50:20,004 In the 1 8th century, Africans were taken as slaves 617 00:50:20,087 --> 00:50:22,840 to the sugar plantations of the West Indies. 618 00:50:25,607 --> 00:50:28,599 Their descendants now people those islands. 619 00:50:31,407 --> 00:50:34,365 In the 1 9th century, Tamils from South India 620 00:50:34,447 --> 00:50:38,042 were sent to pick tea on estates in Sri Lanka, 621 00:50:38,127 --> 00:50:40,561 or tap rubber in Malaya. 622 00:50:43,647 --> 00:50:47,720 All had to make new homes in Britain's ever-growing empire. 623 00:50:53,447 --> 00:50:55,881 The world still lives with the consequences 624 00:50:55,967 --> 00:50:58,276 of these great population shifts. 625 00:51:07,687 --> 00:51:09,279 In the 20th century, 626 00:51:09,367 --> 00:51:12,882 Indians came to play a vital part in the Kenyan economy 627 00:51:12,967 --> 00:51:15,561 as shopkeepers and professionals. 628 00:51:21,647 --> 00:51:22,921 (PEOPLE CHEERING) 629 00:51:28,007 --> 00:51:33,877 Then, on the 1 2th of December, 1 963, Kenya gained independence from Britain. 630 00:51:37,087 --> 00:51:38,725 (CHANTING) 631 00:51:43,167 --> 00:51:47,240 Now, Indians in Kenya were seen as unwelcome relics 632 00:51:47,327 --> 00:51:49,477 from the days of British rule. 633 00:51:50,047 --> 00:51:51,605 Many of them feared for their future 634 00:51:51,687 --> 00:51:54,724 and turned to their former colonial masters 635 00:51:54,807 --> 00:51:56,763 to provide a new home. 636 00:51:58,247 --> 00:52:00,363 NEWSREEL: The Asian community prepared to leave, 637 00:52:00,447 --> 00:52:02,483 Britain was their destination. 638 00:52:02,567 --> 00:52:04,444 The Kenya government had not pulled its punches 639 00:52:04,527 --> 00:52:07,917 in telling the British-passport-holding Asians they were not wanted. 640 00:52:08,287 --> 00:52:10,960 Asian shopkeepers were left with little alternative 641 00:52:11,047 --> 00:52:14,005 but to wind up their businesses and seek new roots. 642 00:52:14,687 --> 00:52:16,678 The airport was jammed with those lucky enough 643 00:52:16,767 --> 00:52:19,156 to get flight tickets to Britain. 644 00:52:25,647 --> 00:52:28,923 PAXMAN: Though not everyone in Britain was happy about it at the time, 645 00:52:29,047 --> 00:52:31,117 the empire was coming home. 646 00:52:34,847 --> 00:52:37,725 Many Kenyan-Asians chose to settle in the Midlands, 647 00:52:37,807 --> 00:52:39,718 in cities like Leicester. 648 00:52:44,167 --> 00:52:47,955 In the process they transformed the face of urban Britain. 649 00:52:53,807 --> 00:52:56,719 Today, over a quarter of Leicester's population 650 00:52:56,807 --> 00:52:58,843 is of Asian origin. 651 00:53:05,607 --> 00:53:08,519 They've worked hard and done well, as in Kenya, 652 00:53:08,607 --> 00:53:11,838 specialising in running shops and businesses. 653 00:53:12,087 --> 00:53:14,237 (HINDI SONG PLAYING) 654 00:53:27,207 --> 00:53:29,482 -Oh, you must be Rameela. -Welcome, Jeremy. 655 00:53:29,567 --> 00:53:31,558 -Come on in. -Thank you. Thank you. 656 00:53:35,447 --> 00:53:39,440 Rameela Shah came to Britain from Kenya when she was 1 4. 657 00:53:39,807 --> 00:53:42,037 She's now a Labour councillor in Leicester. 658 00:53:42,487 --> 00:53:45,206 Jeremy, I would like to introduce you to my husband, Suresh. 659 00:53:45,327 --> 00:53:47,045 How do you do? Hello, I'm Jeremy. 660 00:53:47,447 --> 00:53:50,484 Her husband Suresh was also brought up in Kenya. 661 00:53:50,807 --> 00:53:52,126 That's my mother-in-law. 662 00:53:52,207 --> 00:53:54,357 How do you do? Very good to see you. 663 00:53:54,567 --> 00:53:57,798 His mother brought the family over in 1 968. 664 00:53:58,447 --> 00:54:02,804 His sister, Madhu, was 1 8 when she left Kenya and went to India. 665 00:54:03,247 --> 00:54:06,683 But she didn't feel at home there and followed her family to England. 666 00:54:11,727 --> 00:54:15,197 SURESH: That's the model of our shop in Kenya. 667 00:54:15,287 --> 00:54:16,561 PAXMAN: That was the family business, was it? 668 00:54:16,647 --> 00:54:17,841 Yeah. That's me. 669 00:54:17,927 --> 00:54:19,645 PAXMAN: Oh, you're the little boy, yeah. 670 00:54:19,727 --> 00:54:21,604 -That's my elder brother. -Uh-huh. 671 00:54:23,447 --> 00:54:25,563 -SURESH: That's my dad at the back. -Mm-hm. 672 00:54:25,927 --> 00:54:27,485 That's my mum at the back. 673 00:54:27,567 --> 00:54:29,762 -So, this is Grandma over here? -SURESH: Yeah. 674 00:54:30,327 --> 00:54:32,557 -When slightly younger, eh? -(WOMEN LAUGHING) 675 00:54:32,647 --> 00:54:34,877 Must have taken all of you some getting used to. 676 00:54:34,967 --> 00:54:38,323 -Come from the warmth of East Africa... -MADHU: It's so cold here. 677 00:54:38,407 --> 00:54:42,286 At that time I think not many people even had central heating, 678 00:54:42,447 --> 00:54:46,520 -and used to use charcoal fires... -RAMEELA: Or paraffin heaters. 679 00:54:47,007 --> 00:54:48,838 -There were no bathrooms. -PAXMAN: No bathrooms? 680 00:54:48,927 --> 00:54:52,237 No, people had to go public bath at that time. 681 00:54:52,327 --> 00:54:54,966 When we stayed at my aunt's house, she says, ''You won't have... 682 00:54:55,047 --> 00:54:58,119 ''You can't have a bath like you used to have twice a day in Kenya. 683 00:54:58,207 --> 00:55:01,677 ''It'll be once a week now, we'll have to go city centre to the public baths.'' 684 00:55:01,767 --> 00:55:02,882 Public bath, yes. 685 00:55:02,967 --> 00:55:05,640 PAXMAN: You must have thought we were really dirty people, did you? 686 00:55:06,087 --> 00:55:07,964 It must have been very strange. 687 00:55:08,047 --> 00:55:10,197 No bath, no toilet. 688 00:55:11,007 --> 00:55:12,281 -Toilet we had. -No, we didn't. 689 00:55:12,367 --> 00:55:13,482 -Toilet... -Outside. 690 00:55:13,567 --> 00:55:14,602 -Outside. -Outside. 691 00:55:14,687 --> 00:55:16,598 PAXMAN: When you think about the British Empire, 692 00:55:16,687 --> 00:55:19,076 most people, as far as I can see in this country, 693 00:55:19,167 --> 00:55:21,556 have a pretty black-and-white view about 694 00:55:21,647 --> 00:55:23,524 what the British Empire was. 695 00:55:23,607 --> 00:55:28,522 And what they're taught very often is that it was pretty much a bad thing, 696 00:55:28,607 --> 00:55:31,326 imposing your rule on somebody else. 697 00:55:31,647 --> 00:55:33,842 What do you guys think about the empire? 698 00:55:33,927 --> 00:55:37,283 In one way, I think we thank the British Empire, you know, for... 699 00:55:37,367 --> 00:55:38,925 -PAXMAN: You thank the British Empire? -Yeah, thank them, 700 00:55:39,007 --> 00:55:42,443 because where we are at the moment and what we have and everything... 701 00:55:42,527 --> 00:55:43,755 MADHU: We have a job... 702 00:55:43,847 --> 00:55:45,644 Yeah, and it's because of that, you know, 703 00:55:45,727 --> 00:55:47,718 everything what we've achieved and we are. 704 00:55:47,807 --> 00:55:49,559 So, we got to thank the British Empire. 705 00:55:49,647 --> 00:55:51,922 Do you know how politically incorrect you are? 706 00:55:52,007 --> 00:55:55,124 When I came here, there was a job, if you want to work. 707 00:55:55,927 --> 00:55:58,202 You can go to college, study. 708 00:55:58,287 --> 00:56:01,085 I think wherever British people were and they went, 709 00:56:01,167 --> 00:56:04,079 and whichever country they ruled, the country was good. 710 00:56:04,367 --> 00:56:06,642 You know, it was ruled good and it was better. 711 00:56:06,767 --> 00:56:09,520 And there was no corruption, nothing. That's what my feelings are. 712 00:56:09,607 --> 00:56:14,044 As soon as the British left any country, I think they just went downhill. 713 00:56:14,207 --> 00:56:15,959 That's my own feelings about it. 714 00:56:23,607 --> 00:56:25,120 (CELEBRATORY MUSIC PLAYING) 715 00:56:32,167 --> 00:56:35,523 PAXMAN: It's Diwali night in Leicester. The festival of lights. 716 00:56:35,607 --> 00:56:37,359 ALL: Happy Diwali! 717 00:56:40,887 --> 00:56:44,357 Over 35,000 people come here each year 718 00:56:44,447 --> 00:56:47,245 for the biggest Diwali celebration outside India. 719 00:56:47,487 --> 00:56:48,966 (LAUGHTER) 720 00:56:52,327 --> 00:56:55,956 For better or for worse, the empire changed the world. 721 00:56:57,327 --> 00:56:59,522 But it changed Britain too. 722 00:57:02,207 --> 00:57:04,402 For many of the peoples who were colonised, 723 00:57:04,487 --> 00:57:06,398 home is now here. 724 00:57:07,047 --> 00:57:11,643 A land utterly different from the one the empire builders left behind.