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In 1840, one man
transformed travel in Britain.

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His name was George Bradshaw

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and his railway guides inspired the
Victorians to take to the tracks.

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Stop by stop, he told them
where to travel,

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what to see and where to stay.

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Now 170 years later,
I'm making four long journeys

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across the length and breadth
of the country

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to see what remains
of Bradshaw's Britain.

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Using Bradshaw's,
my 19th century guidebook,

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and armed with an umbrella,

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today I'm on the last leg of my
journey from Preston to Kirkcaldy.

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Today will take me to
east Scotland -

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a voyage not so much of discovery
as rediscovery,

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as I used to go there as a child.

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So this will be a journey of
nostalgia, for places as they were,

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for people as they were,

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for people who no longer are.

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Today, I'll be braving the weather
in Carluke

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to see an industry
being brought back to life.

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Is it apple juice you make or cider?

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Which would you like?
We can do both.

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You might have to come back
in a year for the cider, though!

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I'll be searching for
a famous Scottish basement.

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I'm looking for a cellar

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where the act of union may have been
signed, according to my guidebook.

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Right.
It's actually our ladies' toilets.

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And I'll be realising
a lifelong ambition.

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It gives you an idea of the...

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the scale, the complexity,
the height.

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And actually the beauty.
It's a beautiful thing, isn't it?

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I'm almost at the end of my journey
north from Preston.

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All this week, I've been travelling
up the west of Britain,

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stopping at some of the most
beautiful spots in the country.

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Having crossed the border
into Scotland,

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I'm now heading for my mother's
home town of Kirkcaldy.

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Today I'm leaving Glasgow
and heading for Carluke.

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Then I'll hit the Scottish capital,

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before crossing the Firth of Forth
to my final destination.

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My first stop will be in the
Clyde Valley because I am intrigued
by something in Bradshaw's.

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"The line now passes through
a district of country

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"rich in mineral wealth,
beautiful scenery,

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"celebrated far and near
as the orchard of Scotland,

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"and famous for its fine fruit."

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In Bradshaw's time, the Clyde Valley
was lush with orchards.

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Each season, trains rushed the
freshly picked fruit to markets
all over the country.

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But today, many of the orchards
are neglected and overgrown.

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Here at Carluke, one small group
of people is trying to revive
this centuries-old industry.

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Morning, Tom. Morning, Michael.

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Lovely weather for it.
Yes, beautiful.

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How are you? Another fine day.

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Tom Clelland's family
have managed the trees here

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for more than four generations.

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May I ask what your own
earliest memory is of fruit-picking?

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Because it must still have been
going strong when you were a lad.

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Yeah, this road that I live in,

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everybody made their living
out of growing fruit.

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In summer, they grew gooseberries,
strawberries, blackcurrants.

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And then in the autumn it was mainly
plums but also apples and pears.

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I remember it
being put on the back of a cart

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and the tractor driving the
strawberries up to a railway station
that's now closed at Lesmahagow,

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and we loaded the strawberries
on to the railway carriage

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and they were bound for Manchester.

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So the railways were fundamental
to this business? Oh yes.

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The cooler weather here
meant that fruit was still ripening

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after the season had finished
further south.

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Picking was organised
around the clock

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so that the fruit could be put on
the early freight trains to
Birmingham, Manchester and London.

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I didn't know much about
the orchard of Scotland.

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Does it still justify the name?

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Um...
No, not in the same way that it did.

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It kind of reached its heyday round
about the start of the 20th century

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when there would be about 1,000 acres
of orchards around here.

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And about another 700 acres
of soft fruit

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on the other side of the valley
and down that way.

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So what are you down to now?

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Less than 100 acres of top fruit.

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I've got about 150 plum trees,
some apple and some pear.

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I need to plant up my orchard again.

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I need to look after it,
and I'm doing that

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because it's part of my heritage,
it's what I grew up with.

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Tom is now caring for the fruit
trees along with other local growers
like Duncan Arthur.

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Morning!

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So, I caught you
pressing some apples.

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We're at the start of it anyway.

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Is it apple juice you make or cider?
Which would you like?

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We can do both.

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You might have to come back
in a year for the cider, though.

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All right.
I'll have some apple juice.

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So, you're a neighbour of Tom's
and you're a grower here as well?

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Yes, I am indeed.

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'Twice a week, Tom, Duncan and the
other growers harvest the fruit

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'and produce apple juice
that they sell locally.'

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That's not too bad.

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Yeah, it's a very efficient
mechanism, isn't it?

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It is. That works nicely.

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I'm not sure I'd want to do it
all day!

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No, but one pressing
will give us about 15 or 20 litres
of apple juice.

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I'll just let that run through now,
I think. Yes.

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Now, can I taste it?
Absolutely. Why not?

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At this point,
it's a wee bit cloudy,

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but it's as Mother Nature intended.

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It's exquisite. It's quite different
from apple juice in the supermarket.

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It's really...

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I don't know, tangy and...fresh...

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Well done, Duncan.
You're on to something there.
Thank you very much.

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It's uplifting to see the orchards
being tended once more.

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They perpetuate traditional
varieties of apples and pears
that Bradshaw might have eaten.

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From Scotland's orchard,
now to Scotland's capital.

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I'm now bound for Edinburgh,
35 miles away.

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Just one thing,
is that your umbrella? No, no.

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Is there a lost property office
at Edinburgh, do you know?

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In the Waverley Centre there is.
Is there? I'll pop it in there.

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Thank you.

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Britain is very long from
north to south,

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but tends to be very narrow
from east to west.

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So even on the slowest train,

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I have quite quickly crossed
virtually from Glasgow
all the way to Edinburgh.

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We are just arriving at
Edinburgh Haymarket.

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And then between
Haymarket and Waverley is one of my
favourite stretches of railway line.

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The railway runs through a ravine
with the castle looming up above us.

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Now I have
a wonderful sheer vertical view

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up towards Edinburgh Castle.

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And we pass along the edge of the
bottom of this fantastic rock

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which dominates the city.

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Arriving at
Edinburgh Waverley Station,

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my first task
is to find the lost property office.

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Hi. Lost luggage? Yes, it is. Hi.

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I found this on the train. I was
on the 2.15 from Glasgow Central.

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OK, that's lovely.
So we'll just note down...

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I imagine you get vast amounts
of lost luggage, don't you?

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We do in Edinburgh. We get a very
sizeable amount of lost property.

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It comes in,
and at this time of year, more so.

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Where do you keep it? There doesn't
seem much room in here.

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Yeah, we keep most of our items
just through there.

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I'll just show you, if you'd like
to have a look? Yes, I'd love to.

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Have you any idea how many items
you get a month?

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Um, it's on average about 600.

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600? Over the year.

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Lovely bits of old station
showing through here.

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This is mostly August's lost property
for Edinburgh Waverley Station.

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Quite a lot of umbrellas. Pictures.
Yes, the pictures are interesting.

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It would be nice
if somebody claimed them,

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because those are army photographs.

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This is an interesting spot,
isn't it?

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Yes. It's always nice
to see behind the scenes of anywhere!

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Oh! The bit the public doesn't see.

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Downstairs, there's even more.

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So, now this represents
another two months' worth.

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What are the most bizarre things
you've had?

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Um... The most bizarre thing
probably is an octopus.

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It was for food, it was dead.
But it was in a suitcase,

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in amongst other things, it was
a bit... An octopus in a suitcase?

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Yeah, and another member of staff
had live eels in a bag.
A bag of live eels.

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So these are the most...
That is bizarre.

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Whatever people have, there is
a potential for them to forget it.

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Anyway, it's a very valuable
service you provide.

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Thanks very much for showing me.

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You're welcome. Pleasure. Thank you.

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Waverley Station lies in the heart
of Scotland's capital.

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Bradshaw describes Edinburgh
as a modern Athens

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and commends its fine views
of the River Forth.

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But he also points me to something
that requires
a little detective work.

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My Bradshaw's guide

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mentions Tron Church
in the High Street.

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It says it's marked by
a new spire of 140 feet.

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And indeed this tells me that
the spire was rebuilt in 1828
after a fire.

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But then my Bradshaw says,
"Opposite the church is a cellar

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"where the treaty of union
is said to have signed."

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But that would appear to be now
an Italian restaurant.

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'The treaty of 1707 joined
England and Scotland

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'together under one parliament
for the first time.

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'It's a key event in the history
of both countries, so
I'm keen to see where it happened.'

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Hi. Hello there.

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I'm looking for a cellar

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where the act of union may have been
signed, according to my guidebook.

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Right. It's actually our
ladies' toilets,

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but if you'd like to come down,
I can show you if you want.

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I can go to your ladies' toilet?
Of course you can.
Thank you very much. Hmm!

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Down and down we go.

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Wow! This is it. So, you haven't
put up a plaque or anything?

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No, we don't have a plaque.

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Do you get many people asking
about it? Yeah, quite a few.

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We just show them down here.

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You just bring them
to the ladies' loos.

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Do you know much about it?

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Um... A little bit, yeah.

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But, um, we're not 100% sure
that it happened here, but...

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Oh, really? That's the story anyway.

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Oh, you mean my guidebook
might be wrong? Could be.

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So, has my Bradshaw let me down?

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One thing's for certain.
At the time of the treaty,

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many Scottish people
were strongly opposed to the union,
and riots broke out.

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Hello, John.
Pleased to meet you, Michael.

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How are you? Good.

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'I'm hoping historian Dr John Young

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'can tell me what happened
in those feverish days.'

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The leading Scottish politicians
who wanted a union with England,

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a full union with England,

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were jostled and attacked
on these streets on a regular basis.

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And there is a good possibility
that Unionist politicians
actually escaped

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to this cellar of this Italian
restaurant which was a house.

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Word began to spread that the treaty
had been signed in secret,

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by those politicians
hiding in the cellar.

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The ladies' toilet
in the Italian restaurant

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down here was known as Union Cellar.

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This was something
that was in circulation,

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this rumour, certainly by Bradshaw's
tour in the 1850s.

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It's repeated in publications
in the 1890s,

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00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:49,760
but unfortunately it is not true.

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So, do we know where
the act of union WAS signed?

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Just up the road here in
the old Scottish Parliament

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was where the Scottish Parliament
debated the treaty of union

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and ratified the treaty of union.

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Which is kind of
what you would expect.

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You'd expect it to happen in
parliament rather than in a cellar.

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Even if that cellar in those days
wasn't a ladies' lavatory
in an Italian restaurant.

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And I can tell you,
as a former British parliamentarian,

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that it wasn't our habit to
sign things in ladies' lavatories.

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By the time Bradshaw was writing,
England and Scotland
had been riveted together.

220
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Queen Victoria adopted Balmoral
as the Royal Family's holiday home

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and began wearing tartan.

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In Edinburgh, too, names began
to take on a hint of unionism.

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Tonight I'll be staying at one of
my favourite Edinburgh hotels,

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the Balmoral, which until recently
was known as the North British.

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Built as the railway hotel, it sits
firmly on top of Waverley Station.

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Mr Portillo, good evening, welcome to
the Balmoral. It's lovely to be back.

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It's really one of the great
railway hotels, isn't it?

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It is, yes. It used to be the old
North British, dating back to 1902,

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with a few of our other hotels
in Scotland,

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00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:16,280
and we used to welcome
the great and the good from London
and further afield,

231
00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:18,960
all over the world, to the Balmoral,
absolutely.

232
00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:20,600
Am I ready to check in?

233
00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:22,280
Absolutely. Please. Thank you.

234
00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:27,720
I'm sure you'll agree that I would
be failing you if I didn't take

235
00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:30,000
full advantage of this luxury.

236
00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:34,360
So I intend to shake off
the day's travelling in style.

237
00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:50,400
Good morning.

238
00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:52,880
So, this is my suite.

239
00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:56,760
No Scottish room would be complete
without antlers.

240
00:15:56,760 --> 00:16:00,480
My favourite in this room
is this little turret.

241
00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:02,800
Down to this side of the turret

242
00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:05,840
is Waverley Station,

243
00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:10,160
which is where I'm headed
with my Bradshaw's now.

244
00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:13,960
This next part of my journey
is something
I've been looking forward to.

245
00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:17,520
Morning. Morning.
What happened to the weather?

246
00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:19,160
Isn't it great?

247
00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:22,000
Great change, isn't it?
It's absolutely superb.

248
00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:25,400
I'm going up top on the Forth Bridge
today, on the railway bridge.

249
00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:28,840
Very nice.
Which part of Scotland are you from?

250
00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:32,080
That's, erm, nearby Munich.
HE LAUGHS

251
00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:35,120
I know that bit! Thank you. Bye.

252
00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:40,640
From this station,
I will relive the thrill

253
00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:44,360
that my brothers and I felt
as children when my mother

254
00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:47,520
took us across the mighty
Firth of Forth to her hometown.

255
00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:55,680
We used to come and see my
grandparents in Kirkcaldy when
I was three, four, five years old.

256
00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:59,920
We'd travel on the night train,
but without sleepers,
we'd be in second class.

257
00:16:59,920 --> 00:17:03,360
But all night long, we wouldn't
sleep for the excitement that,

258
00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:07,200
in the morning, we were going to be
crossing the Forth rail bridge.

259
00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:11,280
No words can describe
this iconic structure.

260
00:17:11,280 --> 00:17:14,480
It is the king of bridges.

261
00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:18,080
In fact, even now, on the
whole rail network in Britain,

262
00:17:18,080 --> 00:17:23,880
every bridge and every structure
is numbered, except for this one,

263
00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:28,160
except for the Forth rail bridge,
which is called simply "The Bridge".

264
00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:38,840
My grandfather as a youngster
would row out in a boat

265
00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:41,280
to watch the building
of this masterpiece,

266
00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:45,200
Britain's first major structure
in steel.

267
00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:47,640
The bridge took seven years
to construct,

268
00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:50,640
and was completed in 1890.

269
00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:57,520
It feels as exciting today,
I think, as when I was a child.

270
00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:00,680
It's still
the most incredible thing.

271
00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:04,560
Of course, now I've been able to see
it from underneath, from a distance,

272
00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:09,800
I've seen many photographs of it,
I know the history, I know
how many people died building it.

273
00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:14,840
All of these things
simply made me more impressed
by this amazing structure.

274
00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:24,040
You cross the bridge by train
in a few minutes,

275
00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:27,760
and that's not the best way
to appreciate the scale
of this structure.

276
00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:34,760
But down here,
you see its iconic three diamonds.

277
00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:36,600
This bridge is completely unique.

278
00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:40,080
Show a photograph of this bridge to
anyone on the face of the planet

279
00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:44,080
and they'd know this was the one
and only, the Forth rail bridge.

280
00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:47,200
George Bradshaw
didn't live to see it built.

281
00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:51,040
Talking about North Queensferry,
where I am now, he says,

282
00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:53,200
"In the neighbourhood
of Queensferry,

283
00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:56,800
"by the sudden approximation of
opposite promontories,

284
00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:00,040
"the Forth river
is forced into a narrow strait."

285
00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:04,200
And then he talks about the winding
bays and lofty shores bordering

286
00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:08,320
"a fine sheet of water,
a noble river, a broad sea."

287
00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:11,440
It must have been difficult for
George Bradshaw to imagine

288
00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:16,000
that this broad sea would soon be
traversed by a mighty structure.

289
00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:21,840
Over 100 trains thunder
across the bridge every day,

290
00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:27,280
and although modern trains
create less stress on the bridge
than Victorian steam locomotives,

291
00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:29,680
it still requires
constant maintenance.

292
00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:32,240
Morning, Ian. Good morning.

293
00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:34,480
Wow, you have a privileged job.

294
00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:36,560
You are responsible for The Bridge.

295
00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:40,080
It's an absolute pleasure to be here,
too. It's a wonderful bridge.

296
00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:43,720
Project manager Ian Heath
is in charge of repairing

297
00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:47,040
and repainting the bridge,
and he's taking me aloft.

298
00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:49,520
OK, lead on, please. On we come.

299
00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:55,960
When we get out of this lift,
where will we be?

300
00:19:55,960 --> 00:20:00,320
We will be 367 feet
above water level.

301
00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:03,160
We'll be on top of
one of the diamond shapes? Exactly.

302
00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:06,840
We call it a tower - in the centre
of each diamond, there's a tower -

303
00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:09,640
and we're at the very top
of one of those.

304
00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:12,640
That's very, very thrilling.
That's fantastic.

305
00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:16,080
That is absolutely magnificent.

306
00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:22,680
It gives you an idea of the scale,

307
00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:26,280
the complexity, the height,

308
00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:27,680
and actually, the beauty.

309
00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:29,440
It's a beautiful thing, isn't it?

310
00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:32,160
It is, it's a surprisingly
lovely thing.

311
00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:39,240
55,000 tonnes of steel
were used to build the bridge.

312
00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:43,520
It was bolted together in sections,
using over eight million rivets.

313
00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:47,400
And it's massively stronger
than it needs to be.

314
00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:54,520
Just a basic question. Why has it
always been rusty red-coloured?

315
00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:58,320
It probably goes back to the fact
that we use red lead paints.

316
00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:01,720
Principally, red was the colour of
red-lead paint back in the day.

317
00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:05,000
We maintained the colour
throughout the history of the bridge.

318
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:07,920
And now you're doing
some pretty major works.

319
00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:09,720
What is it you're doing? We are.

320
00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:14,000
For the first time, we're actually
blasting all the old paint off.

321
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:15,920
It's never been blasted before.

322
00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:20,120
We're turning it into a bare metal -
shiny white metal - finish,

323
00:21:20,120 --> 00:21:22,960
onto which we apply
the new coating system.

324
00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:26,360
And that new coating system
has got a much longer lifespan

325
00:21:26,360 --> 00:21:29,680
than any of the old simple paints.

326
00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,240
It's going to last 25, 30...

327
00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:35,160
We think even up to 40 years,
this paint system.

328
00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:40,440
Really? So that means that the
old adage about "You never stop
painting the Forth rail bridge,"

329
00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,000
that's going to become
a thing of the past, is it?

330
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:44,800
In essence, it probably is.

331
00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:49,560
Working on the bridge, has it
given you a greater admiration
for the Victorians who built it?

332
00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:50,800
Totally, absolutely.

333
00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:53,880
The Victorians built a special
bridge, no question at all.

334
00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:56,520
The engineers had vision
unlike any others,

335
00:21:56,520 --> 00:22:00,280
and certainly the workforce
knew no fear.

336
00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:02,680
They went and worked very, very well.

337
00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:05,320
And sadly, quite a lot of them
lost their lives.

338
00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:09,640
They did, some 75 people died during
the construction of the bridge.

339
00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:14,040
Thankfully, today
we have none of that. We've got
a very good safety record on site.

340
00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:19,880
It's been so exciting to realise
a lifelong ambition

341
00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,680
and look down
from the summit of the bridge.

342
00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:26,720
It ranks as one of the greatest
engineering feats of our history.

343
00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:33,840
Now I'm close to my
final destination on this journey,

344
00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:35,800
a place full of childhood memories.

345
00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:39,360
When I was a kid, going to Kirkcaldy
was not just exciting

346
00:22:39,360 --> 00:22:41,080
because of the rail journey

347
00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:44,000
and the fact we were going to
another country.

348
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:47,400
My parents were not particularly
well off, but my grandparents

349
00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:50,360
were quite rich,
and they had a big house.

350
00:22:50,360 --> 00:22:55,640
My grandad would even send
the maroon-coloured 1953 Daimler

351
00:22:55,640 --> 00:23:01,080
to meet us at the station,
with the chauffeur
in his double-buttoned tunic

352
00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:05,320
and his peaked cap and
his great big chauffeur's gloves.

353
00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:10,280
An image from a lost age.

354
00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:13,160
More like a dream than a memory.

355
00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:16,440
Bradshaw's guide says of Kirkcaldy
very simply,

356
00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:19,120
"A borough engaged
in the linen trade."

357
00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:22,880
My grandfather had a linen factory.

358
00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:25,760
I was very fond of him.

359
00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:28,480
One thing I remember was,
he was very proud of Fife,

360
00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:31,040
which had been a kingdom, he said,
and he hated it

361
00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:35,280
when people called it Fifeshire,
as though it were a mere county.

362
00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:39,240
Although it's 47 years
since he died, very often

363
00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:44,000
when I'm in Scotland I find time
still to go back to Kirkcaldy

364
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:45,560
and to remember him.

365
00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:54,960
My grandfather, John Blyth,
ran a successful family business
in Kirkcaldy, manufacturing linen.

366
00:23:54,960 --> 00:24:00,400
The town had become famous
for its linen and sale cloth
in the early 19th century.

367
00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:03,440
By the 1870s,
entrepreneurs used linen

368
00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:08,240
as a backing for an entirely
new product called linoleum.

369
00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:11,960
Soon, Kirkcaldy became
the world's largest lino producer,

370
00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:14,800
with factories
all along the railway tracks.

371
00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:19,280
Although John Blyth stuck to linen,

372
00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:23,320
he did well, and bought
a large house in Kirkcaldy.

373
00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:26,320
One of the pleasures
for my brothers and me

374
00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:29,040
was the railway
at the end of the street.

375
00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:36,120
So that's what we used to do
as kids.

376
00:24:36,120 --> 00:24:40,400
We would come here and stand by the
wall - there wasn't a fence on it -

377
00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:44,520
and watch the trains go by.
But in those days,
they were steam locomotives.

378
00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:50,960
Ever since, I've never got trains
out of my system.

379
00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:53,800
The house itself
was an imposing building,

380
00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:57,040
with a grandeur
that astonished my brothers and me.

381
00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:04,360
In this porch, my grandfather
kept all of his walking sticks.

382
00:25:04,360 --> 00:25:06,520
This was the hallway.

383
00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:09,880
Under this tartan carpet
is polished wood.

384
00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:13,600
And this magnificent staircase

385
00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:17,560
was my way every evening up to bed.

386
00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:23,480
On these walls
hung enormous paintings.

387
00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:29,720
Seascapes and pictures of children
being blown around on sea shores.

388
00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:34,800
And I remember
that lovely window as well.

389
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:37,040
And on and on.

390
00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:38,560
And so to bed.

391
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:44,920
Today, my grandfather's pictures,
bought with the profits

392
00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:48,800
from the factory, are displayed in
the town's impressive art gallery.

393
00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:53,080
John Blyth's Victorian upbringing
gave him and other businessmen

394
00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:55,200
an intense sense of civic pride.

395
00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:59,840
My grandfather was a big paintings
collector, and became
the first curator of the gallery.

396
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:04,600
And at the opening ceremony in 1926,
my mother as a little girl

397
00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:07,920
presented the posy of flowers
to the guests of honour.

398
00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:23,120
In the next two rooms
are paintings that used to
belong to my grandfather.

399
00:26:23,120 --> 00:26:25,560
These are by William McTaggart.

400
00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:29,200
He was born around the time
that George Bradshaw died.

401
00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:31,720
Some could be
very, very sentimental,

402
00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:34,440
but I remember paintings like this,

403
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:38,160
scary ones of children
being battered by storms.

404
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:41,040
They really rather frightened me.

405
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:44,440
I remember my grandfather's house
being full of still lifes.

406
00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:48,800
This one I remember well.

407
00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:53,320
This is obviously inspired
by a French Impressionist,

408
00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:55,880
by Paul Cezanne.

409
00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:59,280
Even as a kid, I loved these

410
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:02,120
brightly-coloured,
easy-to-understand pictures.

411
00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:10,880
I love to see my grandfather's
paintings on display for
all to enjoy, just as he intended.

412
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:14,320
This has been a journey of legacies.

413
00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:18,440
In the Clyde valley,
the fruit growers are planting
their orchards again.

414
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:22,280
On the Forth rail bridge,
the engineers are building anew.

415
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:25,720
And here in Kirkcaldy,
my grandfather's industry

416
00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:28,160
is perpetuated through linoleum,

417
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:32,640
and his beloved collection of
paintings still bears his name.

418
00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:36,720
Time has eroded,
but it has not destroyed.

419
00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:51,800
On my journey next week,
I'll be travelling from Swindon
down to Penzance.

420
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,920
Along the way,
I'll be sampling the Spa at Bath.

421
00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:03,800
These things are great for wallowing!
Yes! I can think of various...

422
00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:06,960
You could deliver a nasty blow
to someone with one of those!

423
00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:10,440
I'll be travelling
like the Victorians.

424
00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:13,440
Not only did the trains
make it possible for them

425
00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:15,760
to do things
they'd never done before,

426
00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:20,640
they also brought them into the
heart of countryside and landscape,

427
00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:26,040
the like of which city dwellers
in particular had never seen.

428
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:29,720
And I'll be tasting
some of Cornwall's freshest produce.

429
00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:31,200
Cheers. Cheers.

430
00:28:32,360 --> 00:28:36,320
I could have another of those!
You can have as many as you like!

431
00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:50,640
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432
00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:52,880
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