1 00:00:03,700 --> 00:00:08,980 In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain. 2 00:00:10,780 --> 00:00:17,380 His name was George Bradshaw, and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks 3 00:00:17,380 --> 00:00:22,780 Stop by stop, he told them where to travel, what to see and where to stay. 4 00:00:22,780 --> 00:00:28,660 Now, 170 years later, I'm making four long journeys across the length 5 00:00:28,660 --> 00:00:34,500 and breadth of the country to see what remains of Bradshaw's Britain. 6 00:00:50,340 --> 00:00:52,380 From the early days of Britain's railways, 7 00:00:52,380 --> 00:00:56,140 you couldn't contemplate a journey without first consulting 8 00:00:56,140 --> 00:01:01,620 Bradshaw's - a comprehensive guide to train timetables. 9 00:01:01,620 --> 00:01:07,940 Over the coming weeks, using an ancient Bradshaw's guide, I will criss-cross Britain, 10 00:01:07,940 --> 00:01:14,860 on four fascinating routes to view the places and achievements that delighted the Victorians, 11 00:01:14,860 --> 00:01:18,020 to see how the railways changed the British people 12 00:01:18,020 --> 00:01:22,500 and to understand how much we've changed since. 13 00:01:24,260 --> 00:01:31,540 Along today's route, I'll be discovering how Manchester came to be known as Cottonopolis... 14 00:01:31,540 --> 00:01:38,100 By the end of the century, the Indians were getting Indian designs sent back from Manchester 15 00:01:38,100 --> 00:01:41,780 to India that maybe came from cotton that they had grown originally. It was crazy. 16 00:01:41,780 --> 00:01:46,620 ..finding out how Bradshaw helped unify time across the UK... 17 00:01:46,620 --> 00:01:52,660 Each provincial city, like Birmingham, Manchester and so on, had their own time, and of course, 18 00:01:52,660 --> 00:01:55,820 this was liable to create great confusion with railway timetables. 19 00:01:55,820 --> 00:02:00,060 ..and how the railways brought fish and chips to British plates. 20 00:02:00,060 --> 00:02:02,300 Thank you very much indeed. Lovely. 21 00:02:02,300 --> 00:02:05,860 It was the onset of the railways that allowed all this population, 22 00:02:05,860 --> 00:02:09,740 this inland population, for the first time to experience sea fish. 23 00:02:12,260 --> 00:02:14,580 On this journey, I'm travelling 24 00:02:14,580 --> 00:02:16,940 from Liverpool along the world's first 25 00:02:16,940 --> 00:02:20,380 passenger railway to Manchester. 26 00:02:20,380 --> 00:02:23,580 Then, I'll continue on across the country, 27 00:02:23,580 --> 00:02:25,740 from west to east through Yorkshire, 28 00:02:25,740 --> 00:02:29,300 along the Humber estuary to Hull, 29 00:02:29,300 --> 00:02:31,540 and eventually, up the coast 30 00:02:31,540 --> 00:02:34,340 to my final destination at Scarborough. 31 00:02:35,860 --> 00:02:39,100 My first train is from Eccles to the centre of Manchester. 32 00:02:39,100 --> 00:02:40,620 Then, I'll head to Denton 33 00:02:40,620 --> 00:02:42,500 and travel north to Bury. 34 00:02:49,260 --> 00:02:54,980 Manchester has a rich railway history, so I'm going to spend some time exploring it and its suburbs. 35 00:02:57,980 --> 00:03:02,940 The city helped to build the first modern train line from Liverpool in 1830. 36 00:03:02,940 --> 00:03:08,780 In turn, the railway transformed Manchester into a powerful global hub, 37 00:03:08,780 --> 00:03:13,540 and it was here that the first railway timetables were published and sold. 38 00:03:14,620 --> 00:03:19,900 So to start off, I'm heading right for the centre, where it all began. 39 00:03:22,220 --> 00:03:27,460 Manchester Victoria. Manchester - one of the hugely important cities 40 00:03:27,460 --> 00:03:32,900 in the development of our railways, and also the birthplace of one George Bradshaw. 41 00:03:38,140 --> 00:03:39,580 Thank you. 42 00:03:42,340 --> 00:03:45,620 Bradshaw, being from Manchester, must have written about this city 43 00:03:45,620 --> 00:03:47,740 with particular pride, 44 00:03:47,740 --> 00:03:52,780 and his guide book contains this page of illustrations of 45 00:03:52,780 --> 00:03:54,940 the buildings that the Victorians were so proud of - 46 00:03:54,940 --> 00:03:58,500 the Free Trade Hall, the Exchange building, fantastic achievements 47 00:03:58,500 --> 00:04:01,460 that I'm really looking forward to seeing again. 48 00:04:06,020 --> 00:04:11,820 Many of these grand buildings so familiar to Bradshaw were built 49 00:04:11,820 --> 00:04:15,980 with the wealth generated by the cotton trade in the early 19th century, 50 00:04:15,980 --> 00:04:20,380 and it was around that time that Manchester was nicknamed Cottonopolis. 51 00:04:25,300 --> 00:04:28,540 I'm hoping to get a tour of Cottonopolis from local guide 52 00:04:28,540 --> 00:04:32,620 Jonathan Schofield, starting at the Royal Exchange building. 53 00:04:32,620 --> 00:04:34,780 Hi, I'm Michael. Great to see you. 54 00:04:34,780 --> 00:04:37,180 Nice to meet you, Michael. Welcome to Manchester. 55 00:04:37,180 --> 00:04:40,940 It's lovely to be here. Why have you brought me to the Exchange building first? 56 00:04:40,940 --> 00:04:47,100 Well, I suppose the Royal Exchange is the spiritual heart of Manchester. What really gave Manchester 57 00:04:47,100 --> 00:04:52,380 its dynamism was trade, was business, and the Royal Exchange is the heart of that business. 58 00:04:52,380 --> 00:04:57,620 Well, I'm carrying this 150-year-old guide book, Bradshaw's, and Bradshaw describes this building... 59 00:04:57,620 --> 00:05:00,100 He was very impressed by this rounded Doric front, 60 00:05:00,100 --> 00:05:04,100 and he describes the "cotton lords" meeting here on a Tuesday. Yes, well, 61 00:05:04,100 --> 00:05:05,140 they were cotton lords. 62 00:05:05,140 --> 00:05:08,260 Manchester was Cottonopolis and these were the cotton barons, 63 00:05:08,260 --> 00:05:10,700 or the Cottontots they were often called as well, 64 00:05:10,700 --> 00:05:13,260 and they would come here and they would do business. 65 00:05:13,260 --> 00:05:16,580 And by the way, it was so crowded in there that you had a grid reference. 66 00:05:16,580 --> 00:05:19,580 On the columns on the inside, you had letters and numbers, 67 00:05:19,580 --> 00:05:23,500 so I'll meet you at J2, because you would not find the trader otherwise. 68 00:05:23,500 --> 00:05:25,180 Describe the trade to me. 69 00:05:25,180 --> 00:05:27,660 Where is the cotton coming from before it reaches Manchester? 70 00:05:27,660 --> 00:05:29,700 Where is it going to after it has been in Manchester? 71 00:05:29,700 --> 00:05:32,300 It's coming from the hotter parts of the world, in some respects. 72 00:05:32,300 --> 00:05:36,180 It's coming from the southern states of the USA or Egypt - places where they can grow raw cotton. 73 00:05:36,180 --> 00:05:42,780 We cannot grow raw cotton around here, and so therefore, it would have come at least a thousand miles. 74 00:05:42,780 --> 00:05:46,620 The new railway gave Manchester a competitive edge over 75 00:05:46,620 --> 00:05:52,060 the rest of the world and sent the cotton industry into overdrive. 76 00:05:52,060 --> 00:05:55,860 Textiles, spinning, weaving and dyeing dominated 77 00:05:55,860 --> 00:05:59,260 Victorian Manchester and the small mill towns that surrounded it. 78 00:05:59,260 --> 00:06:07,420 By 1913, 65 per cent of the world's cotton was processed in the area. 79 00:06:07,420 --> 00:06:13,060 By the end of the century, we were selling printed fabric back to... 80 00:06:13,060 --> 00:06:15,340 tribes people in Africa. 81 00:06:15,340 --> 00:06:20,700 The Indians were getting Indian designs sent back from Manchester 82 00:06:20,700 --> 00:06:23,700 to India, that maybe came from cotton that they had grown originally. 83 00:06:23,700 --> 00:06:28,620 It was crazy, but it just builds up that classic competitive advantage. 84 00:06:28,620 --> 00:06:32,300 So, what's going to be the next stop on Jonathan's tour of Cottonopolis? 85 00:06:32,300 --> 00:06:36,140 Now, we're here at the cotton cathedral, I suppose, with the Royal Exchange. 86 00:06:36,140 --> 00:06:39,340 Let's go to the civic cathedral, which is Manchester town hall. OK. 87 00:06:43,340 --> 00:06:50,300 All around the city, you get these little gems that tell a story about Manchester and its cotton heyday. 88 00:06:50,300 --> 00:06:55,220 Sometimes, they're on the buildings. Sometimes, they're literally on city streets, 89 00:06:55,220 --> 00:06:59,820 and just here, you can see iron kerbs, which are very distinctive. 90 00:06:59,820 --> 00:07:03,140 I've come across them in other cities, but not with 91 00:07:03,140 --> 00:07:05,820 the regularity you see them in Manchester, and that's because these 92 00:07:05,820 --> 00:07:11,820 vast cotton trucks, covered in cotton bales, over-laden with cotton bales, would crack and smash stone kerbs. 93 00:07:11,820 --> 00:07:16,340 So what they thought to do - we'll put iron kerbs. It didn't actually work. 94 00:07:16,340 --> 00:07:19,820 They just got pushed into the ground, but they didn't crack at least. And you can see these 95 00:07:19,820 --> 00:07:23,860 certainly in the warehouse districts, but also in other areas of the city, and it's just a little reminder. 96 00:07:23,860 --> 00:07:27,100 We still rattle around in the bones of the cotton industry in Manchester. 97 00:07:27,100 --> 00:07:29,340 A vein of history written into the streets. 98 00:07:29,340 --> 00:07:31,580 Exactly. 99 00:07:35,620 --> 00:07:38,940 This is a wonderful way to approach the town hall, isn't it? 100 00:07:38,940 --> 00:07:43,740 It is. It's the best way - face on to Manchester's civic cathedral that 101 00:07:43,740 --> 00:07:49,260 tried to embody all those virtues of independence of spirit and mind. 102 00:07:50,540 --> 00:07:57,780 This grand Neo-Gothic pile cost a million pounds to complete in 1887. 103 00:07:57,780 --> 00:08:00,660 That's about £48 million in today's money, 104 00:08:00,660 --> 00:08:05,060 which shows just how wealthy Manchester had become. 105 00:08:06,660 --> 00:08:10,180 What it is really, I suppose, is a complete encapsulation of that 106 00:08:10,180 --> 00:08:16,180 high Victorian utter confidence, and I think the golden ball with spikes on the top there is a classic one. 107 00:08:16,180 --> 00:08:21,740 Most town halls might have had a crown, or a cross, or something like that. We've got... 108 00:08:21,740 --> 00:08:27,500 a symbol of the cotton industry, the cotton bud about to burst and give us the raw material itself. 109 00:08:27,500 --> 00:08:30,820 But also - and I love this particular one - is the sun, 110 00:08:30,820 --> 00:08:34,220 and it's saying, "Wherever the sun shines, Manchester has business." 111 00:08:34,220 --> 00:08:37,820 We are international. We don't look local, we don't even look national. 112 00:08:37,820 --> 00:08:42,820 We look across the world to our trade, and we feel we have influence on the world as well. 113 00:08:44,380 --> 00:08:50,580 George Bradshaw was extremely proud of his home city and its monopoly of the cotton industry. 114 00:08:50,580 --> 00:08:53,420 He wrote, "Watt's steam engine, 115 00:08:53,420 --> 00:08:56,500 "Arkwright's power loom and the factory system and 116 00:08:56,500 --> 00:09:02,540 "inexhaustible supplies of coal have given superiority to Manchester." 117 00:09:04,780 --> 00:09:10,620 But when India gained independence, it began to process its own cotton much more cheaply. 118 00:09:10,620 --> 00:09:14,500 Manchester's cotton scene slowed and, by the 1950s, 119 00:09:14,500 --> 00:09:17,420 the mills began to close. Today, 120 00:09:17,420 --> 00:09:21,660 the mill buildings are surrounded by a different Manchester - 121 00:09:21,660 --> 00:09:27,380 a city of glass and steel. And that's partly due to 122 00:09:27,380 --> 00:09:30,940 one recent event that profoundly changed the skyline. 123 00:09:35,020 --> 00:09:39,900 In the 1990s, a massive bomb destroyed the Arndale Centre, 124 00:09:39,900 --> 00:09:45,500 during that dark period for Ireland and the United Kingdom of which I have many poignant memories myself. 125 00:09:45,500 --> 00:09:47,940 But in Manchester today, you sense that it wasn't just the 126 00:09:47,940 --> 00:09:51,740 unhappy chance of a bomb that's led to the city's transformation. 127 00:09:51,740 --> 00:09:57,420 There is today an appetite for architecture as provocative and 128 00:09:57,420 --> 00:10:01,980 outstanding as that that Bradshaw admired a century and a half ago. 129 00:10:05,100 --> 00:10:12,540 Mancunians, it seems, have always been looking ahead, ready to embrace the future. 130 00:10:12,540 --> 00:10:16,300 Good morning. Good morning. How are you? Fine, how are you? 131 00:10:16,300 --> 00:10:19,860 So, Manchester now is full of modern buildings, skyscrapers and so on. 132 00:10:19,860 --> 00:10:22,340 What do you think of those? I like it, cos it's like... 133 00:10:22,340 --> 00:10:26,980 a diverse mix of old buildings and new buildings, and some of them, like, 134 00:10:26,980 --> 00:10:31,420 you can see how Manchester's changing over the years. Like, you've got cobbled streets 135 00:10:31,420 --> 00:10:36,620 in Market Street and then next to it, you've got the Hilton Hotel and everything, so it's really different. 136 00:10:36,620 --> 00:10:39,940 You can see the timeline of how everything's changed. 137 00:10:39,940 --> 00:10:41,500 What do you think of Manchester now? 138 00:10:41,500 --> 00:10:43,140 Oh, I always liked Manchester. 139 00:10:43,140 --> 00:10:46,140 It's a changing city, isn't it? Yeah, but I still like it. 140 00:10:46,140 --> 00:10:50,220 So what's better - the old Manchester or the new Manchester? 141 00:10:50,220 --> 00:10:53,420 Well, you've got to go with the times, haven't you? 142 00:10:55,060 --> 00:10:59,980 Manchester's busiest station, Piccadilly, certainly did move with the times. 143 00:11:04,100 --> 00:11:11,340 Manchester Piccadilly has none of the Victorian old-world charm of Manchester Victoria. 144 00:11:11,340 --> 00:11:14,900 This has been made to look like an airline terminal. 145 00:11:14,900 --> 00:11:19,540 This says, "I'm classy, I'm glassy and brand new." 146 00:11:21,540 --> 00:11:28,700 I'm heading south, to find out about another textile success story for Manchester driven by the railways. 147 00:11:31,900 --> 00:11:39,580 Bradshaw's guide tells me that Denton, towards which I'm headed now, has several "hat manufacturies" 148 00:11:39,580 --> 00:11:43,980 as he puts it. Denton then was a village of about 3,500 people. 149 00:11:43,980 --> 00:11:48,540 I think now, I'm going to discover it's pretty much been absorbed into Greater Manchester. 150 00:11:58,980 --> 00:12:01,300 Thank you. 151 00:12:05,980 --> 00:12:09,340 In the 1800s, there were 90 hat factories around here, 152 00:12:09,340 --> 00:12:13,060 employing almost 40 per cent of the population. 153 00:12:15,260 --> 00:12:18,220 It's claimed the trilby hat was born here, 154 00:12:18,220 --> 00:12:22,660 but the hat industry was all but killed off with the arrival of 155 00:12:22,660 --> 00:12:25,220 the motor car. It provided shelter from the elements, 156 00:12:25,220 --> 00:12:28,580 so hats were no longer needed. 157 00:12:30,180 --> 00:12:33,980 Failsworth Hats is one of the few hat factories left, 158 00:12:33,980 --> 00:12:39,300 and manager Karen Turner is going to make me my very own Denton trilby. 159 00:12:39,300 --> 00:12:40,900 Are you Karen? 160 00:12:40,900 --> 00:12:43,580 Oh, I am, yes. Hi! Nice to meet you, Michael. 161 00:12:43,580 --> 00:12:46,100 Lovely to see you. I keep hearing about the history of hats. 162 00:12:46,100 --> 00:12:49,420 So we'll just measure round your head, just above the ears at the 163 00:12:49,420 --> 00:12:55,340 widest point, which is 58cm, which is a seven and one eighth in imperial. 164 00:12:55,340 --> 00:12:58,620 Oh, seven and one eighth. Useful to know. I'm often being asked that, yeah. That's it. 165 00:12:58,620 --> 00:13:00,740 This is what we start off with. 166 00:13:00,740 --> 00:13:03,940 This is what we call a hood, and it's made from rabbit hair, 167 00:13:03,940 --> 00:13:06,220 felted rabbit hair. Nothing else, just felt and... 168 00:13:06,220 --> 00:13:07,780 It's nice and soft. Yeah. 169 00:13:10,340 --> 00:13:12,420 Ancient-looking machinery. 170 00:13:12,420 --> 00:13:14,980 I suppose this hasn't changed very much in many decades. 171 00:13:14,980 --> 00:13:17,860 No, not at all. This machinery's probably, what...? 172 00:13:17,860 --> 00:13:20,900 How old do you think? 80 years old perhaps. 173 00:13:20,900 --> 00:13:22,980 Some of it's even older, yeah. 174 00:13:25,860 --> 00:13:28,860 Now, you seem to have put that into a steam chamber. Is that right? 175 00:13:28,860 --> 00:13:31,300 Yeah, steam is really important. 176 00:13:31,300 --> 00:13:32,940 The steam is softening it now. 177 00:13:35,300 --> 00:13:38,620 Abracadabra... I've been following a guide book 178 00:13:38,620 --> 00:13:44,020 150 years old that talks about the hatters around Manchester. 179 00:13:44,020 --> 00:13:46,460 Would the process be very different 150 years ago? 180 00:13:46,460 --> 00:13:51,340 Probably not, no. The only difference might have been that, whereas 181 00:13:51,340 --> 00:13:53,740 we start off now with a hood, they will have 182 00:13:53,740 --> 00:13:57,780 actually bought in rabbit hair and made the hoods themselves, 183 00:13:57,780 --> 00:14:00,340 which was even more labour-intensive. 184 00:14:03,260 --> 00:14:10,300 In Bradshaw's time, mercury was used to separate the rabbit hair from the hide to make the felted hoods. 185 00:14:10,300 --> 00:14:16,660 Many hat workers suffered from mercury poisoning, with symptoms like erratic behaviour and dementia. 186 00:14:16,660 --> 00:14:20,820 It's said that the expression "mad as a hatter" came from that. 187 00:14:27,980 --> 00:14:31,940 Back to my hat. After much more steaming, stretching 188 00:14:31,940 --> 00:14:36,500 and setting of its shape and size, it's almost complete. 189 00:14:41,580 --> 00:14:43,740 So, now we're going to line the hat in, 190 00:14:43,740 --> 00:14:47,900 and perhaps you'd like to have a go at this to finish the hat off? 191 00:14:47,900 --> 00:14:50,700 I'd be worried to have a go, because when I make construction kits, 192 00:14:50,700 --> 00:14:52,580 I always manage to get the glue everywhere. 193 00:14:55,860 --> 00:15:00,580 Er, not bad, Michael! But this is very nearly a completed hat. 194 00:15:00,580 --> 00:15:02,300 It is very nearly, yeah, yeah. 195 00:15:10,420 --> 00:15:12,620 Pull the brim down your nose. 196 00:15:14,180 --> 00:15:16,700 And at a jaunty angle. 197 00:15:16,700 --> 00:15:19,380 That's it, yeah, yeah. Very good. 198 00:15:19,380 --> 00:15:21,620 Is that it? Yeah, very nice. 199 00:15:21,620 --> 00:15:23,380 Thank you very much. 200 00:15:24,980 --> 00:15:29,700 Over many decades, thousands of workers making headwear for the world 201 00:15:29,700 --> 00:15:34,740 helped put Manchester on the map and I lift my hat to them. 202 00:15:46,180 --> 00:15:49,860 Do you ever wear a hat? No, not any more. I used to. 203 00:15:49,860 --> 00:15:52,620 Did you? Yes. And what made you give up wearing a hat? 204 00:15:52,620 --> 00:15:55,300 Er, well, none of them fit me now! 205 00:15:55,300 --> 00:15:57,780 They're all too big! 206 00:15:57,780 --> 00:16:00,660 But do you think it's a pity that people don't wear hats any more? 207 00:16:00,660 --> 00:16:02,340 Oh, the young ones do, don't they? 208 00:16:02,340 --> 00:16:06,060 They seem to wear these trilby things that are in fashion. Oh, do you think so? Yeah. 209 00:16:07,900 --> 00:16:11,220 So, maybe there's still hope for the hat industry. 210 00:16:16,660 --> 00:16:19,900 Now, it's back into Manchester for my bed for the night. 211 00:16:24,980 --> 00:16:27,020 And my trusty edition of Bradshaw 212 00:16:27,020 --> 00:16:31,420 has brought me to one of the most impressive buildings in Manchester. 213 00:16:31,420 --> 00:16:32,900 In Victorian times, 214 00:16:32,900 --> 00:16:37,580 even the most utilitarian of buildings were magnificent. 215 00:16:37,580 --> 00:16:41,540 As Bradshaw's guide says, "For style of architecture and beauty, 216 00:16:41,540 --> 00:16:48,900 "perhaps Watts's new warehouses in Portland Street excel all others and ought by all means to be seen." 217 00:16:48,900 --> 00:16:52,900 When it opened in 1858, it was the world's first cash and carry. 218 00:16:52,900 --> 00:16:57,220 Now, it's a listed building and, luckily for me, my hotel for the night. 219 00:16:58,980 --> 00:17:01,460 This building was designed to look like 220 00:17:01,460 --> 00:17:06,260 a highly decorated Venetian palazzo from the 15th century. 221 00:17:06,260 --> 00:17:11,900 It was a way of saying, "The cotton barons of Manchester are as powerful and wealthy 222 00:17:11,900 --> 00:17:16,780 "as the merchants of Venice were when they dominated trade in Europe. 223 00:17:29,820 --> 00:17:34,460 Bright new morning in Manchester, and the interior of the warehouse 224 00:17:34,460 --> 00:17:38,780 that is now my hotel is just as magnificent as the exterior. 225 00:17:38,780 --> 00:17:43,420 It's incredible that the Victorians built warehouses to this quality, but even so, I can't believe that 226 00:17:43,420 --> 00:17:47,140 the original warehouse had that chandelier. 227 00:17:49,340 --> 00:17:56,180 These days, there's not much sign of the cotton industry left, but I'm told that the sweeping, 228 00:17:56,180 --> 00:17:59,620 cantilevered iron staircase and balconied stairwell 229 00:17:59,620 --> 00:18:01,940 are part of the original warehouse. 230 00:18:12,100 --> 00:18:16,500 Bradshaw's home city has changed dramatically since he set up 231 00:18:16,500 --> 00:18:20,940 his company here in the 1830s, publishing railway timetables. 232 00:18:23,180 --> 00:18:26,820 In this short street, George Bradshaw had his office once, 233 00:18:26,820 --> 00:18:29,140 but it's perfectly clear there's no trace of it left now. 234 00:18:29,140 --> 00:18:34,180 But I'm interested to find out more about this son of Manchester and how it was that he came to bring 235 00:18:34,180 --> 00:18:38,300 order to that chaotic world in which the many railway companies 236 00:18:38,300 --> 00:18:43,500 had uncoordinated and largely unknowable timetables. 237 00:18:43,500 --> 00:18:48,860 I know that he was born in Salford, just outside Manchester, in 1801. 238 00:18:48,860 --> 00:18:54,460 As a Quaker, he was involved in charity work and would have been a well-known figure amongst 239 00:18:54,460 --> 00:18:58,180 the Manchester radicals. A political animal perhaps, 240 00:18:58,180 --> 00:19:02,500 which makes him even more interesting to me. 241 00:19:04,420 --> 00:19:08,940 Historian Trevor Thomas is an expert on Bradshaw and his railway guides, 242 00:19:08,940 --> 00:19:12,100 many of which have ended up here, at the John Rylands Library. 243 00:19:13,700 --> 00:19:17,660 Nice to meet you. I feel as if I've come to Bradshaw's shrine here. 244 00:19:17,660 --> 00:19:21,380 Yes, I think you're right. This is the city he was born in and lived in all his life. 245 00:19:21,380 --> 00:19:29,100 'Bradshaw's big idea was to gather all the railway timetables for the whole country into one handy guide.' 246 00:19:30,860 --> 00:19:34,700 And here is the Bradshaw collection. 247 00:19:34,700 --> 00:19:38,980 Wow. It's all Bradshaw. Bradshaw, Bradshaw, Bradshaw... 248 00:19:38,980 --> 00:19:42,420 Bradshaw, Bradshaw, Bradshaw... And Bradshaw is up here. It's huge. 249 00:19:42,420 --> 00:19:47,900 Yes, it's one of the...probably the best collection of Bradshaw material that there is in the country. Yes. 250 00:19:49,820 --> 00:19:52,940 Trevor's picked out one of the earliest editions 251 00:19:52,940 --> 00:19:54,860 so that we can take a closer look. 252 00:19:58,220 --> 00:20:01,940 So, this is very small, clearly intended to go in a pocket. 253 00:20:01,940 --> 00:20:04,100 I think it's a waistcoat guide, 254 00:20:04,100 --> 00:20:07,940 which you could stick easily in your coat pocket, 255 00:20:07,940 --> 00:20:11,580 and this is actually the first edition of 1839. 256 00:20:11,580 --> 00:20:16,180 And this was the first time these timetables had been brought together in one place, is that right? 257 00:20:16,180 --> 00:20:21,780 Er, it's... A number of people were trying to produce timetables in 1839 258 00:20:21,780 --> 00:20:23,940 and Bradshaw was the one that won the race 259 00:20:23,940 --> 00:20:27,180 to produce the first unified national timetable. 260 00:20:27,180 --> 00:20:30,540 And the interesting thing about this particular copy is that it's 261 00:20:30,540 --> 00:20:35,500 an association copy which a previous owner had bought from Mrs Bradshaw. 262 00:20:35,500 --> 00:20:40,540 And the note says that the coloured lines of the railways were done by 263 00:20:40,540 --> 00:20:44,260 George Bradshaw's son and granddaughter, 264 00:20:44,260 --> 00:20:49,460 so it's a historical connection with George Bradshaw, this particular map. 265 00:20:49,460 --> 00:20:53,500 This tells us about Bradshaw's origin, doesn't it? Because he started as a map-maker. 266 00:20:53,500 --> 00:20:57,620 He was an engraver, and he set up an engraving shop in Manchester that 267 00:20:57,620 --> 00:21:04,060 first produced canal maps. And he was very quick to spot the commercial potential of the new railways 268 00:21:04,060 --> 00:21:09,220 and the need for a unified timetable to make sense of them for the user. 269 00:21:09,220 --> 00:21:13,500 So, by the time that he's producing timetables, 270 00:21:13,500 --> 00:21:17,660 has time been standardised across Britain? 271 00:21:17,660 --> 00:21:21,540 Not at this stage, no. Each provincial city, 272 00:21:21,540 --> 00:21:24,340 like Birmingham, Manchester and so on, had their own time, 273 00:21:24,340 --> 00:21:28,900 and of course, this was liable to create great confusion with railway timetables. 274 00:21:28,900 --> 00:21:33,900 So each city is setting its own time, according to when the sun sets in that particular place. 275 00:21:33,900 --> 00:21:37,460 That's right. There's no GMT, there's no pips, nothing of that kind. 276 00:21:37,460 --> 00:21:45,260 And the early trains - the guard used to carry a fob watch - which was London time - with him on the train, 277 00:21:45,260 --> 00:21:49,980 so that there was at least one established sort of rule of time. 278 00:21:49,980 --> 00:21:52,860 And the railway manufacturers, or the railway companies, 279 00:21:52,860 --> 00:21:55,780 did start political pressure to standardise time, 280 00:21:55,780 --> 00:22:01,260 so they were responsible for pressure to actually produce what we now know as GMT, I suppose. 281 00:22:01,260 --> 00:22:05,860 The first time I ever heard of Bradshaw I think was in Sherlock Holmes. 282 00:22:05,860 --> 00:22:11,540 Whenever there's a new case and they have to travel somewhere, Holmes says to Watson, "Get the Bradshaw!" 283 00:22:11,540 --> 00:22:16,620 There are many, many literary references, including Jules Verne - Around The World In Eighty Days, 284 00:22:16,620 --> 00:22:21,380 where the first thing they do is to consult Bradshaw, so it was universally known. 285 00:22:21,380 --> 00:22:23,700 Bradshaw got as far as India and China. 286 00:22:23,700 --> 00:22:28,260 One of the most interesting ones is an overland guide, in which 287 00:22:28,260 --> 00:22:34,220 he describes the railway journey from London to India in some detail, 288 00:22:34,220 --> 00:22:37,300 so they did extend very, very widely. 289 00:22:37,300 --> 00:22:39,460 You're giving me a very good idea for the next series. 290 00:22:39,460 --> 00:22:41,740 I did wonder about that. 291 00:22:45,580 --> 00:22:50,020 Despite the enormous changes in Manchester since Bradshaw's time, 292 00:22:50,020 --> 00:22:53,060 with its iron kerbs and grand public buildings, 293 00:22:53,060 --> 00:22:57,180 the city's history is still evident for all to admire. 294 00:23:04,180 --> 00:23:09,060 Hello. Castleton, single, please. 295 00:23:09,060 --> 00:23:11,660 Single to Castleton... £2.90, please. Thank you very much. 296 00:23:15,540 --> 00:23:17,500 There you go. 297 00:23:17,500 --> 00:23:19,980 Thanks a lot. Thank you. 298 00:23:24,660 --> 00:23:30,700 Easy enough to buy a ticket, and just as well, because nothing drives me mad like bureaucracy. 299 00:23:30,700 --> 00:23:36,660 When Bradshaw first travelled by rail, you had to buy your ticket a day ahead, you had to give 300 00:23:36,660 --> 00:23:43,060 your purpose for travel, your place of birth, your age, your name, your address - 301 00:23:43,060 --> 00:23:46,220 a bit like buying an airline ticket today, really. 302 00:23:50,460 --> 00:23:56,420 For the last leg of my journey, I'm heading north, to the hills and valleys around Bury. 303 00:24:06,100 --> 00:24:08,580 I don't know what I did with my ticket... 304 00:24:12,780 --> 00:24:16,020 In Bradshaw's day, this area was alive with industry. 305 00:24:16,020 --> 00:24:18,060 Thank you. 306 00:24:18,060 --> 00:24:23,740 He writes, "Stone, coal, slate are quarried in great plenty in the neighbouring moorlands, 307 00:24:23,740 --> 00:24:29,940 "and cotton, woollen and flannel are the staple articles of manufacture." 308 00:24:29,940 --> 00:24:33,500 There's little evidence of any of this today. 309 00:24:37,580 --> 00:24:43,260 But one thing that the railways brought here is still going strong... 310 00:24:44,860 --> 00:24:46,540 ..fish and chips. 311 00:24:46,540 --> 00:24:50,140 Hello, I've come to see Tony. 312 00:24:50,140 --> 00:24:52,380 Tony Rogers? That's the one. 313 00:24:52,380 --> 00:24:55,460 Tony Rogers and his family have been supplying fish 314 00:24:55,460 --> 00:25:00,020 to fish and chip shops in the area for over 100 years. 315 00:25:03,820 --> 00:25:08,180 I'm following a 19th-century guide book to Britain's railways, and I assume 316 00:25:08,180 --> 00:25:10,900 the railways made a big difference to the availability of fish. 317 00:25:10,900 --> 00:25:12,700 They made a tremendous difference. 318 00:25:12,700 --> 00:25:17,900 Prior to the rail, people living in inland towns and cities could only 319 00:25:17,900 --> 00:25:22,860 eat fresh-water fish caught in the local ponds and rivers and streams. 320 00:25:22,860 --> 00:25:26,020 It was the onset of the railways that allowed all this population, 321 00:25:26,020 --> 00:25:31,980 this inland population, for the first time to experience sea fish. 322 00:25:31,980 --> 00:25:35,740 The railway was a revolution. For the first time, 323 00:25:35,740 --> 00:25:38,180 it meant that fish could be caught, transported 324 00:25:38,180 --> 00:25:43,860 and sold in a city like Manchester, all in the space of a few hours. 325 00:25:43,860 --> 00:25:49,940 Soon, the popular dish - fish and chips - was born, although it's not clear where. 326 00:25:49,940 --> 00:25:55,100 It's a source of great rivalry between where the origins were - 327 00:25:55,100 --> 00:26:00,540 in the East End of London, or Ashton-under-Lyne - Mossley. 328 00:26:00,540 --> 00:26:07,580 Mr Lees, in Mossley, claims to be the originator of bringing over French fries and the chip potatoes. 329 00:26:07,580 --> 00:26:11,820 Now, as a Northerner, I stake my claim! 330 00:26:13,020 --> 00:26:16,740 Well, all this talk of food is making me hungry. 331 00:26:16,740 --> 00:26:20,340 Rock salmon was a favourite in the 19th century, 332 00:26:20,340 --> 00:26:23,700 but at Caroline Thomson's chip shop, the menu is always changing. 333 00:26:23,700 --> 00:26:26,820 Hello! Hiya. How are you? Hello. 334 00:26:26,820 --> 00:26:29,500 Hi, Caroline. Fine, thanks. 335 00:26:29,500 --> 00:26:32,340 Oh, thank you very much indeed. Lovely. Smashing. Thanks, Caroline. 336 00:26:32,340 --> 00:26:34,220 You're Caroline, aren't you? I am. 337 00:26:34,220 --> 00:26:37,820 Tony's been telling me all about you. Come and join us. I will. 338 00:26:37,820 --> 00:26:39,860 I'm eating traditional cod. 339 00:26:39,860 --> 00:26:42,500 Are tastes changing very much? 340 00:26:42,500 --> 00:26:48,580 I think cod is our best seller, although we do such a variety of fish. Any new developments? 341 00:26:48,580 --> 00:26:50,660 Yes, there are, actually. We've got these. 342 00:26:50,660 --> 00:26:54,940 They're called ocean pearls, which is a mussel deep-fried. 343 00:26:54,940 --> 00:26:59,780 In batter? In batter, yes, yes. And then this is scampi, 344 00:26:59,780 --> 00:27:02,300 but you know what scampi is. 345 00:27:02,300 --> 00:27:03,860 Very hot. 346 00:27:03,860 --> 00:27:07,060 Everything has to be hot. If it's dipped in the chilli, it's nice. 347 00:27:07,060 --> 00:27:10,940 It's nice, very nice. And should I be worried about calories? 348 00:27:10,940 --> 00:27:13,540 You just have to say no to the cream cake afterwards! 349 00:27:16,500 --> 00:27:20,940 In Bradshaw's time, the railways reached into every corner 350 00:27:20,940 --> 00:27:25,940 of people's lives, in ways that no-one could have predicted. 351 00:27:25,940 --> 00:27:28,380 You can scarcely overstate 352 00:27:28,380 --> 00:27:31,380 how much change the railways brought to Britain. 353 00:27:31,380 --> 00:27:33,420 They made Manchester not only big, 354 00:27:33,420 --> 00:27:37,820 they put it at the heart of a global trading empire, and they altered 355 00:27:37,820 --> 00:27:41,260 ordinary people's lives too, including the food that they could eat. 356 00:27:41,260 --> 00:27:48,380 Few people understood, and certainly no-one recorded, the transformation better than George Bradshaw. 357 00:27:54,020 --> 00:27:59,300 Tomorrow, I'll be travelling back in time in a Victorian railway carriage. 358 00:27:59,300 --> 00:28:04,380 In the age before health and safety, it doesn't say, "Do not lean out of the window". So, may I have a lean 359 00:28:04,380 --> 00:28:07,180 out of the window, please? Yes, of course. Thank you. 360 00:28:11,500 --> 00:28:16,540 I'll be finding out about the latest Roman discoveries in York. 361 00:28:16,540 --> 00:28:21,740 This is a part of the city wall that was only exposed about 30 years ago. 362 00:28:21,740 --> 00:28:26,660 And I'll be taking to the air in the Network Rail helicopter. 363 00:28:26,660 --> 00:28:29,780 The Victorians built it right along the cliff edge. 364 00:28:29,780 --> 00:28:33,100 It is one of the most spectacular bits of track I have ever seen. 365 00:28:50,780 --> 00:28:53,780 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd 366 00:28:53,780 --> 00:28:56,780 E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk