1 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:09,520 In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain. 2 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:16,400 His name was George Bradshaw and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks. 3 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:23,480 Stop by stop, he told them where to travel, what to see and where to stay. 4 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:28,140 Now, 170 years later, I'm making four long journeys across the length 5 00:00:28,140 --> 00:00:33,480 and breadth of the country to see what remains of Bradshaw's Britain. 6 00:00:57,160 --> 00:01:03,120 Using my 19th-century Bradshaw's Guide I'm continuing my journey from Derbyshire to London, 7 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:07,920 passing through the industrial heartland of England, in Warwickshire 8 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:10,400 and on into rural Buckinghamshire. 9 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:16,480 My Bradshaw's has often been a reliable guide to places and people that still exist. 10 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:19,800 But maybe there will be an exception today. 11 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:26,360 One city is highly recommended in Bradshaw's but scarcely features in modern guidebooks. 12 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:27,680 It's Coventry. 13 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:36,000 On today's journey, I'll be reliving the Coventry Blitz. 14 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:39,880 You could pick the sound of the German planes up. 15 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:43,920 Their engines were - vumm, vumm - a humming, humming noise. 16 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,440 I'll be ruffling some feathers in Aylesbury. 17 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:49,600 Your family has been in the business a while? 18 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:54,160 1775, that we know of. No! Absolutely, continuously. 19 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:59,880 I'll hear how the railways saved thousands of lives during World War II. 20 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:04,360 This was the largest station where the evacuations took place from. 21 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,080 How we found our way on to the right train I'll never know. 22 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:14,080 All this week, I've been travelling from Buxton in the Peak District, 23 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:17,720 through the industrial Midlands, towards Birmingham. 24 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:23,960 The line south was built by civil engineer Robert Stephenson in 1837 25 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:26,480 and was one of the first intercity lines 26 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:29,800 to the great imperial city of Bradshaw's era, London. 27 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:37,960 Today, I'm continuing south from Bournville on the edge of Birmingham 28 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:44,000 to Coventry, the Vale of Aylesbury and on to Watford. 29 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,560 The line has seen many changes since Bradshaw's day. 30 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:52,800 I'm following a 19th-century guidebook 31 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:59,120 and the man who started it, Bradshaw, was really crazy about technology. He loved technology. 32 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:03,320 I think he'd really be very, very excited by your information. 33 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,920 He was the first person to put together all the timetables. Right, OK. 34 00:03:06,920 --> 00:03:10,920 The idea that you've got them in a little box travelling on a train. 35 00:03:10,920 --> 00:03:13,800 We used to have to carry the old timetable with us 36 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:18,080 which was that size, that thick. Obviously very thick and heavy. 37 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:21,480 You've got an electronic Bradshaw. An electronic Bradshaw, yeah. 38 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:24,200 He'd be thrilled. 39 00:03:30,920 --> 00:03:34,880 It would have taken about 30 minutes to get to Coventry in Bradshaw's day, 40 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:37,520 on trains travelling at around 60mph. 41 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:41,120 Surprisingly, it takes about the same time today. 42 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:43,640 'The next station will be Coventry.' 43 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:48,040 If you're leaving the train here, just check to make sure you've everything with you. 44 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:52,120 'Do take care as you step from the train onto the platform...' 45 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:02,440 A lot of whistling going on. That's it. That's me. 46 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,600 DOORS BEEP Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye. 47 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:18,920 All along the railway line, from Birmingham to London, 48 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:22,480 you have these stations that were rebuilt in the 1960s. 49 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:27,440 Birmingham New Street at one end, Euston at the other end and Coventry in the middle. 50 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:32,240 These enormous glass boxes and I remember in the 60s being 51 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:36,560 very impressed by this brave new architecture. 52 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:40,640 Inevitably, they now look old-fashioned 53 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:45,880 but nothing dates faster than yesterday's view of the future. 54 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:53,640 These days, Coventry isn't really on the tourist trail, 55 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:57,080 probably because so much of the city was destroyed during the blitz of World War II. 56 00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:05,640 It's a very different Coventry from the one that so impressed Bradshaw. 57 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:10,960 He says the fines steeples are the first to strike one in this old city. 58 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:16,760 Many old fashioned gable houses are to be found in the backstreets. 59 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:24,000 That's the Coventry that Judith Durrant remembers well. 60 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:25,600 You were a girl in Coventry. 61 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:27,160 What was the city like then? 62 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:29,920 The city was beautiful. A lot of old buildings. 63 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:32,880 The streets were all cobbled streets. 64 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:39,520 I remember all these old beautiful buildings and particularly the churches in the centre. 65 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:41,360 The three spires of Coventry... 66 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:44,120 and the cathedral itself. 67 00:05:47,840 --> 00:05:51,440 Coventry was an essentially medieval city built in the 14th century, 68 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:53,960 when it was the fourth wealthiest city in England 69 00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:57,320 but one night in 1940, it was changed forever. 70 00:06:00,280 --> 00:06:05,440 For you and your family, how did the night of November 14th 1940 begin? 71 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:09,160 It began as a normal night. We... 72 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:12,880 The sirens did sound early. 73 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:15,680 I think it was probably about 7 o'clock 74 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:18,440 but we were then being prepared to go to bed. 75 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:23,520 We just went straight into the shelter as a normal night 76 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:27,960 but as we found out later, it was not to be a normal night. 77 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:34,320 Instead it marked the start of a German bombing operation called Moonlight Sonata. 78 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:39,360 You could pick up the sound of the German planes up. 79 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:42,080 Their engines were - vumm, vumm - 80 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:44,160 a humming, humming noise. 81 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:47,240 So you knew instantly that they were not English planes. 82 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:48,880 You could hear the... 83 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:50,920 the bombs whistling down. 84 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:57,880 The explosions were horrendous and you could smell the dust, you could chew the dust. 85 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:00,840 It was a very horrendous night. 86 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:06,520 It was one of the worst bombing raids on Britain of World War II. 87 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:13,760 600 planes bombarded Coventry for six hours, by which time most of it had been blown to smithereens. 88 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:20,440 What impression did the devastated city make on you? 89 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:22,240 Horrendous. 90 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:24,320 Of course, 91 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:27,000 my mother kept us, sort of, closer 92 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,520 because of everything that was going on. 93 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:35,520 But we had to learn to live and we had to readjust. 94 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:39,000 It made us all grow up. We all grew up very quickly. 95 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:44,120 500 people died on a night that Judith will remember forever. 96 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:49,800 As I say, these memories will be with me for the rest of my life. 97 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:53,800 You once picked your way through the rubble of the city 98 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:56,160 and now you see it rebuilt. 99 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,200 How do you feel about what you see now? 100 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:01,320 I love it. It's beautiful. 101 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:06,000 Those old memories are still there 102 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,840 but with everything, you have to move forward 103 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:12,760 and I think Coventry is beautiful. 104 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:24,080 What is indeed beautiful is the new St Michael's Cathedral. 105 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:32,720 Built to incorporate the ruins of the 14th and 15th century cathedral that was destroyed in the blitz. 106 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:36,680 It's a poignant symbol of Coventry's rebirth. 107 00:08:36,680 --> 00:08:40,320 On the floor here in gigantic letters, 108 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:43,040 "To the glory of God, 109 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:49,880 "this cathedral burnt November 14th AD 1940. 110 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:54,600 "Now rebuilt 1962." 111 00:08:56,720 --> 00:08:58,160 I guess it says it all. 112 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:04,240 I think it's wonderful. 113 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:08,720 I find the new cathedral is full of reference. 114 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:12,440 These columns refer to Gothic columns. 115 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:17,920 The way the roof is built refers to the Gothic structure. 116 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:22,440 Obviously the stained glass refers to Gothic stained glass. 117 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:27,960 Full of reference and reverence for what was there before. 118 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:37,800 What's come as a great surprise to me though is that despite 119 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:40,880 the thousands of bombs dropped over those six hours, 120 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:46,960 there's a remarkable amount of the medieval city that survives today. 121 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:51,800 Tucked between the new, there are numerous hints of just how impressive Coventry was. 122 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:57,800 Good morning. Morning. 123 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:00,320 You're opening up, I see. I am, yes. 124 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:02,720 You trade in this lovely medieval building. 125 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:07,680 It somehow survived the bombing of 1940. It did. It did, yes. 126 00:10:07,680 --> 00:10:11,120 We've also got St John's Church at the bottom of the street 127 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:16,000 which goes back to... the English Civil War. 128 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:18,640 The prisoners were kept in there and that's where the term 129 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:22,080 sent to Coventry comes from, that church at the bottom of the road. 130 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:26,360 Ha! I'm feeling that this is a city that's somehow undersold. 131 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:30,040 I've never thought of coming here and lingering in the city before. 132 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:32,520 I think that's quite true. 133 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:36,520 When people do come to Coventry, they're pleasantly surprised. 134 00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:38,880 I'm one of them, I'm pleasantly surprised. 135 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:41,760 Thank you. Have a good day. And yourself. Thank you, bye. 136 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:44,440 I'm feeling really guilty. 137 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:46,360 I've done a big injustice to Coventry. 138 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:49,000 I've always known that it was destroyed in the war 139 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:52,280 and therefore I've never come here to pay it any attention. 140 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,920 And now I find it full of these wonderful medieval buildings, 141 00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:58,240 really as good as any English city. 142 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:02,600 I wish I'd known about all this before. I feel should have done. 143 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:12,480 I'm back at Coventry station for the next leg of my journey south. 144 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:14,320 'Calling at...' Right. 145 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:18,520 For once, arriving with plenty of time, it gives me the chance to get 146 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:22,440 the answer to a question I've always wanted to ask. 147 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:24,880 Tell me about his paddle thing. 148 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:26,600 My bat. My despatch baton. 149 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:28,920 Does it have a multiplicity of uses? 150 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:31,360 Can you play table tennis with it, maybe? 151 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:34,400 I think somebody has. No, not really, no. 152 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:36,680 Show me your technique. Show me a good wave. 153 00:11:36,680 --> 00:11:39,880 PEEP! Wow! A nice, clear blow. 154 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:42,760 Thank you very much. You're more than welcome. 155 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:46,320 I'll practise that at home, I think. Bless you. 156 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:56,160 After all that, my new friend's already lost interest in me. 157 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:59,360 She didn't give me a wave with her baton. Oh, dear. I'm devastated. 158 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:14,800 The next part of my journey takes me 60 miles south to Buckinghamshire and for once, I'm being spoilt. 159 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:16,960 A cup of tea, please. 160 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:18,880 Yeah. Thank you very much. 161 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:20,520 With milk? With milk, please. 162 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:25,880 There we go, sir. That's very kind of you. Thank you. 163 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:31,280 First class travel. 164 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:35,880 The Midland Railway originally had first and second class. 165 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:38,520 The third class was pretty basic. 166 00:12:38,520 --> 00:12:43,320 In fact, when railways began, third class travel wasn't even covered. 167 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:45,680 It was in goods wagons. 168 00:12:45,680 --> 00:12:47,240 But then, 169 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:50,040 the railways realised that they needed to attract 170 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:53,640 the working classes, that they were the new market 171 00:12:53,640 --> 00:13:00,320 and the Midland Railways created a sensation in 1875 when all its quite comfortable second-class coaches 172 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:04,000 were made third class. In other words, there was now to be a decent 173 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:08,320 standard of accommodation, even for the poorest members of society. 174 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:14,320 In the mid-19th century, whatever class Bradshaw 175 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:18,360 was travelling in, he wouldn't have got refreshments on the train. 176 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:23,200 Today, I find that eating on a train is inexplicably exciting. 177 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:31,200 The next stage of my journey involves two changes of trains... 178 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:34,040 Bye. Bye-bye. 179 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:37,960 ..to travel south, to reach the place where I'll spend the night. 180 00:13:57,800 --> 00:13:59,600 This is Aylesbury. 181 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:04,280 My Bradshaw's Guide tells me that during the Napoleonic wars, 182 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:11,600 the exiled French king lived at Hartwell House and luckily, that's now a hotel. 183 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:25,440 Even arriving after dark, this house oozes regal splendour. 184 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:30,720 Hello. Good evening. Welcome to Hartwell. 185 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:35,000 If I could just ask for a signature at the bottom there, please? Thank you very much. 186 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:38,800 Is it true that Louis XVIII lived here? 187 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,040 Yes, and you're in the Queen of France's bedroom. 188 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:44,600 Excellent, thank you very much indeed. Pleasure, thank you. 189 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:49,640 This journey seems to be getting better and better by the moment. 190 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:07,080 Next morning, Hartwell House is revealed in all its glory. 191 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:11,880 Louis XVIII lived here along with his family and a hundred courtiers 192 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:14,240 for six years after the French Revolution. 193 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:18,040 I can imagine very many worse places to be exiled. 194 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:26,440 This is one of the royal bedchambers at Hartwell House 195 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:32,720 and it's full of the fripperies befitting Her Majesty the Queen of France. 196 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:36,520 But I'm politically minded 197 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:40,400 and I'd like to tell you about important matters of state 198 00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:42,400 that occurred in this house. 199 00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:43,840 Come with me. 200 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:50,360 In this room, French history was made. 201 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:56,400 The exiled King was invited to return to France, to boot aside Napoleon Bonaparte 202 00:15:56,400 --> 00:16:01,840 and take up his throne again and he signed the papers of acceptance in this very room. 203 00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:09,440 When I was in the Cabinet, we entertained the President of France at nearby Chequers 204 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:13,960 but there wasn't room for all of us to stay there and junior members of 205 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:20,200 the Cabinet like me were sent packing, here to Hartwell House. 206 00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:22,440 But we didn't feel hard done by. 207 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:26,000 We were sharing a roof, not with the French President 208 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:28,480 but with a French king. 209 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:36,360 First class travel, a night at Hartwell House, now I have a taste 210 00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:40,880 for high living, my guidebook can also point me towards haute cuisine. 211 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:47,640 Bradshaw's Guide says, "Another manufacture peculiar to Aylesbury 212 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:52,480 "is ducklings which are forced for the Christmas market. 213 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:55,600 "They're fed with an abundance of stimulating food. 214 00:16:55,600 --> 00:17:00,520 "As many as three-quarters of a million ducks are sent to London from this part." 215 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:05,080 And here is a farm where they're still bred. 216 00:17:05,080 --> 00:17:09,560 In the 18th century, Aylesbury ducks were a delicacy for the rich. 217 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:14,240 When the railways came along in the 1860s, suddenly many more people could eat them. 218 00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:20,880 Each year, almost 750,000 were being sent by train to Smithfield Market in London. 219 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:29,080 Hello, Richard. Hello, Michael. 220 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:31,280 That wasn't too easy to do, was it? 221 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:33,920 Very, very nervous they are. They're very nervous. 222 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:36,800 So that's an Aylesbury duck. Yes, meet a real Aylesbury duck. 223 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:39,520 Now Richard Waller runs the last bona fide 224 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:43,880 Aylesbury duck farm in the country, producing around 10,000 a year. 225 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:47,000 They're very distinctive, aren't they? They are, absolutely. 226 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:50,200 It's unfortunate the rest of the breeds which are table ducks are 227 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:53,400 all white so it's hard to distinguish unless you know an Aylesbury. 228 00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:57,600 Pure Aylesbury ducks have flesh-coloured beaks. 229 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:01,120 All other flocks are crossed with the Pekin duck giving them yellow ones. 230 00:18:01,120 --> 00:18:07,960 Aylesburys are also famed for their soft feathers, ideal for quilts, and their especially tender meat. 231 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:10,240 Your family has been in the business a while? 232 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:12,440 1775, that we know of. No! 233 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:18,600 Absolutely, continuously and possibly longer but 1775 we can actually trace it back to. 234 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:21,840 That's amazing. How was the trade run by your father? 235 00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:27,720 I remember in those days of course, it was really, 90% of it was wholesale trade to Smithfield Market 236 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:34,080 but the high spot of the day was going to the local station, to put them on the railway. 237 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:37,240 I knew that once they had been offloaded and weighed 238 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:40,720 and the money was paid to the railway to get them to Marylebone, 239 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:43,000 it was down the chip shop for a bag of chips. 240 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:47,360 The chips were your reward. Looking back now, it doesn't seem very much 241 00:18:47,360 --> 00:18:52,160 but that was a great outing, going to the station with a bag of chips afterwards. 242 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:56,080 In Bradshaw's time, there were duck farmer's all around Aylesbury 243 00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:59,440 but in the last 100 years, the industry has shrunk, 244 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:03,720 partly due to competition from the mass-produced Pekin ducks. 245 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:08,800 Now Richard supplies his ducks only to locals. 246 00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:16,920 So, Richard, what is the future of this very beautiful, very specialised, very tasty duck? 247 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:21,400 Well, at this very moment, I'd say quite bleak, to be honest. 248 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:25,520 Like all other small producers, particularly in agriculture, 249 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:33,200 we've been hit by high costs, low income, so really I'm going to be the last of the line. 250 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:35,160 Incredibly soft, Richard. 251 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:38,080 Incredibly soft feathers. 252 00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:39,960 Very, very sweet bird, actually. 253 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:42,440 Thank you for your time today. 254 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:52,200 Until recently, Richard, like his great grandfather, sent his ducks by train to Smithfields 255 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:57,120 but now, once again, the Aylesbury duck has become a speciality exclusive to the area. 256 00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:05,360 You can find it at the King's Head in Ivinghoe, where Richard's ducks are cooked with ingredients 257 00:20:05,360 --> 00:20:08,520 gathered from the back garden. I find you amongst your herbs. 258 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:11,880 Yes, I am. This is rosemary, as you can see. 259 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:14,280 There's lots of rosemary here. 260 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:18,480 Lovely scent. Beautiful taste and smell 261 00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:22,240 and of course it's mostly due to the success of the cooking 262 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:25,200 we do at the King's Head definitely. 263 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:28,040 Georges de Maison co-owns the restaurant 264 00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:32,840 and has perfected the cooking of the ducks over a period of 50 years. 265 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:38,520 We've got four apple trees as well which are being used as much as we can 266 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:41,200 to serve with the duck as well. Apple sauce. 267 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:46,200 Apple sauce, fresh apple sauce which we flavour with Calvados, which 268 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:50,360 is Applejack and that gives an extra dimension to the apple sauce. 269 00:20:50,360 --> 00:20:52,800 I imagine it does! 270 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:57,240 Yes, it does. I think I must have handled possibly in the region of 271 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:05,000 150-160,000 ducks which is possibly a record for any caterer. 272 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:10,040 Georges, you're making me very, very hungry. Could we possibly go to the kitchen, please? 273 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:13,640 Of course, I'd be delighted to show you. Thank you. 274 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:21,040 Georges serves around 3,000 ducks a year and I'm about to join the culinary pilgrims who consume them. 275 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:23,640 The famous Aylesbury duck, sir. 276 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:25,360 Georges, c'est magnifique. 277 00:21:25,360 --> 00:21:29,520 C'est magnifique. As well as using his own special duck recipe, Georges 278 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:33,800 carves the duck in the French way, at the table, in front of the diner. 279 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:37,080 I'm going to make an incision here, 280 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:41,000 and remove the drumstick and the thigh. 281 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:43,720 We do the same operation the other side. 282 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:45,200 You speak like a surgeon. 283 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:47,600 Yes, I do, yes. 284 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:52,800 Now, the aroma of the meat is beginning to reach me as you've taken out the drumstick. 285 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:57,080 The duck is, of course, perfectly cooked, Georges. 286 00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:59,080 And here it is. 287 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:03,200 Yes. Absolutely perfect. 288 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:06,320 A little bit of surgery. 289 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:10,640 And after all that hard work, on Georges's part at least, 290 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:12,880 I finally get to the best bit. 291 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:18,920 It's heaven. 292 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:20,720 Heaven. 293 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:25,280 A votre sante, maitre. And yours. 294 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:36,160 Having enjoyed a hearty lunch, it's time to head south, to my final destination, 25 miles away. 295 00:22:48,360 --> 00:22:51,520 'We're now approaching Watford Junction. Please mind the gap.' 296 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:55,400 According to Bradshaw, there's not much to see in Watford. 297 00:22:55,400 --> 00:23:01,560 "It's a busy, thriving and populous town and consists of only one street 298 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:04,520 "with minor ones diverging from it." 299 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:11,240 Having just crossed Watford, 300 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:13,760 you wouldn't describe it that way today. 301 00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:20,560 Watford is now a very much busier place but the town isn't the reason I'm here. 302 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:24,720 It's the station itself that has lured me off the train. 303 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:28,000 Brian. Michael. 304 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,200 Pleased to meet you. Very good to see you. 305 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:33,400 Does this station have many memories for you? Very much so. 306 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:36,880 I came here in July 1943 307 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:40,400 and this was the station I was evacuated from. 308 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:46,160 Londoner Brian Russell was a child at the outbreak of war in 1939. 309 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:51,520 This was the largest station where the evacuations took place 310 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:53,880 from our part of London. 311 00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:55,840 Did you know what was happening to you?. 312 00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:57,680 Not really at that time. 313 00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:01,160 I was with my sister who's seven years older than me. 314 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:03,480 She seemed to know what was going on. 315 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:06,040 I was only six so... 316 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:11,000 it was a bit of a mystery ride really and it was quite exciting. 317 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:18,880 Operation Pied Piper was a national evacuation programme begun in September 1939. 318 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:25,680 In just one week, almost one and a half million children were relocated on 3,000 special trains. 319 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:29,680 Towns like Watford played a critical role, supplementing the overburdened 320 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:33,800 stations in London so as to get more children out of the capital. 321 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:39,680 By the end of the War, over three and a half million children had been evacuated. 322 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:42,720 And how on earth we found our way onto the right train I'll never know. 323 00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:46,200 Whether it was a random thing I just don't know. 324 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:51,160 But it was quite an exciting day, in a way, especially for the younger children. 325 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:57,040 So this whole place would have been panting steam engines and the slamming of doors. Yes. 326 00:24:57,040 --> 00:24:59,680 You would have had your suitcases with you, I suppose. 327 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:03,920 Yes. Yes, I can remember my Mickey Mouse gas mask. We always had one. 328 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:07,280 Everybody had a gas mask, and mine was a Mickey Mouse one. 329 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:10,320 What about the about the journey itself? What do you remember of that? 330 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:13,680 The journey itself, the trains were very, very crowded. 331 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:18,360 We had to mostly stand in the corridor and took turns to lean out of the window. 332 00:25:18,360 --> 00:25:22,160 We daren't go as far as opening the doors, but we used to put our 333 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:26,280 heads out of the windows as much as we could, getting covered in soot from the engine. 334 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:29,840 And we would take turns to sit down in the compartments. 335 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,480 And did you end up with a family up there, or what? Yes. 336 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:37,400 Yes, we moved into a family. Very large house, which was quite frightening 337 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:41,120 for me, because it was like something out of Dickens, almost, you know. 338 00:25:41,120 --> 00:25:45,240 But the family were very, very kind and helpful to us. 339 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,240 And when I came back home - 340 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:54,640 it was only after a year, because the War ended, or the European war ended and my father came home 341 00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:59,120 from North Africa, and I won't say I didn't get on with him, 342 00:25:59,120 --> 00:26:02,560 but we felt very distant, because I couldn't remember him at all. 343 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:06,200 I know he had a bad time, I know that because he had some war injuries, 344 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:09,880 but he would never, ever talk about it. I was intrigued. 345 00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:14,000 I remember talking to my mother at the end of the War, when we came back 346 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:16,200 and I couldn't understand why the War was over. 347 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:18,800 It was just, "We must be fighting somebody!" 348 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:21,400 You know, because it gets ingrained. 349 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:26,240 That's extraordinary, for people from my generation to think that war was your normality. 350 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:29,520 That's so strange. It was. And did you love steam engines as a boy? 351 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:36,680 Oh, yes, very much. As many children of my era, when we grew up we all wanted to be an engine driver. 352 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:41,280 But it was only when I was 65 years old and retired, 353 00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:42,960 I actually became one. 354 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:49,760 On a steam railway? On a steam railway in a museum set up in Shropshire, yes. 355 00:26:54,160 --> 00:27:00,920 But I think you must be a man with a terrific sense of adventure, to have departed on that evacuation 356 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:04,920 only feeling excited and still to be enjoying your railway travel today. 357 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:07,000 Oh, I certainly do, yes. 358 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:13,880 The railways must have saved thousands of lives by transporting youngsters to safety. 359 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:18,040 They were also an invaluable part of the national war effort. 360 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:22,920 The Government took over the rail networks, sending men, machinery and supplies to the front lines. 361 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:27,640 The railways directly contributed to Britain's success in World War Two. 362 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:38,320 So, another leg of my journey ends. 363 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:41,680 For most of the 19th century, Britain was at peace, so George 364 00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:46,880 Bradshaw might have been surprised at the horrors of war in the 20th. 365 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:50,240 Now I'm on my way to London, and I shall be interested 366 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:54,760 to see what Bradshaw says about the city that I know so well. 367 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:07,160 On tomorrow's journey I'll be visiting one of the country's grandest Victorian hotels... 368 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:10,280 When I was a child, I believed that the witches lived in here, because 369 00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:13,360 it was so dark and dingy and very scary, actually, as a child. 370 00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:16,840 ..I'll head to one of the oldest markets in central London... 371 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:19,920 Do they behave nicely with you, watch their p's and q's? 372 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:22,920 Sometimes. Not always, no! 373 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:25,320 If you were single, you'd have a good time. 374 00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:34,920 ..and I'll be discovering how the capital has rung in the changes since Bradshaw's day. 375 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:58,040 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd 376 00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:01,080 E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk