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In 1840, one man
transformed travel in Britain.

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His name was George Bradshaw.
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,
what to see and where to stay.

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Now, 170 years later,
I am making a series of journeys

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across the length and breadth
of the country

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to see what of
Bradshaw's Britain remains.

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Today, my ancient Bradshaw's guide
is going to steer me across London

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as I continue my journey from
Brighton to north Norfolk.

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I am astonished that by the 1860s,
trains were already fast enough

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to enable people to do
even long-distance commuting.

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So, city workers could live
in rural or suburban greenery
and then, each morning,

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they would arrive in the capital,
the only city I have ever lived in.

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On this journey, I'm travelling
along lines which were built
to allow Britain's middle-classes

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to shuttle from the suburbs to
the city and to travel beyond.

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Each day, I will
cover another stretch,

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searching for the people and places
written about in my guide.

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On today's leg of the route,

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I'll be finding out how even
the dead benefited from the railways

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It was also the terminus
of what was rather

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irreverently known
as the Stiffs Express.

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Understanding how London became
a great shopping destination...

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Part of what's changing is
coming about through the railways.

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Suddenly,
you are getting suburbanites

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coming into the centre of London
to walk the streets, to shop.

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..and I'll be trying my hand at one
of the oldest trades on the river.

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Would you like to have
a little drive, Michael?

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I would love to.

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Left hand down a bit?
Left goes left. Right goes right.

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It's not like tyres on the road,

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it is more like
tyres on treacle.

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Having covered the first 56 miles
from Brighton to Crystal Palace,

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I am now heading into London

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before following a major commuter
line north into Cambridgeshire.

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From there, I will explore the Fens
as I aim for King's Lynn.

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Then travel on through Norwich,
on the way to my final stop, Cromer.

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Today, I'm starting in Waterloo
before weaving my way

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to Liverpool Street
and onto the docks at Canary Wharf.

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I'm travelling into London from the
south, on a line used by thousands

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of Victorians on their way to work,

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to shop or just enjoy
the glories of the capital.

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Bradshaw says of this
approach to London,

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"The line passes over viaduct or
arches through a part of the densely
populated parish of Lambeth,

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"over the tops of houses,
past the grounds of Lambeth Palace

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"and across the river
may be seen the splendid towers
of the new houses of parliament."

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When I was a kid, we used
to take our annual holiday
in the Isle of Wight

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and I remember coming back to
Waterloo, generally late at night,

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and we would look across
the river and would see
the beaming face of the clock tower.

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Maybe that is when my infatuation
with that building,

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with that palace, began.

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Waterloo station opened in 1848
and was designed to bring travellers

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close to the heart
of London's West End.

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What I remember from coming here as
a child is the vastness of Waterloo.

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This was the biggest building in
which I had ever set foot and,

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even as a child, I learned
that it is the biggest station

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in the United Kingdom
with its 19 platforms.

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So that is not counting
Waterloo East, or the four
underground lines beneath us,

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it is not counting the now
disused Eurostar terminal,

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Waterloo is simply the big daddy
of British railway stations.

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My guide says, "Omnibuses
convey passengers to and
from all parts of town.

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"The terminus
is a spacious building."

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Today, Waterloo sees
almost 90 million passengers
pass through each year.

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That is more than any
other station in Britain.

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Good morning.

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I am using my 19th century guidebook
to go round on the railways
and I think, in days gone by,

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there would be many more people
dressed as beautifully as you

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and not many dressed
as scruffily as I am.

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Well, I remember my uncle saying,
the trouble is the trains encourage
the common people to travel.

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Which probably is very
politically incorrect but...

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Have a wonderful trip.
Are you travelling first class? No!

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No, no, no! I do it cheaply.

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Have a wonderful journey.

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Thank you.

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I haven't come to Waterloo
primarily to spot elegant ladies.

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I am here to find out about one of
the station's lesser-known services
from writer Andrew Martin.

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Here you are, Andrew, beautifully
positioned under the clock.

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Nice to meet you.
Very good to see you.

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My Bradshaw's guide tells me
that Waterloo had many railway
offices and departments,

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and I think you're going to tell me
about a rather unusual one?

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Yes. It was also the terminus
of what was rather

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irreverently known as
the Stiffs Express,

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the line that carried dead bodies to
the largest cemetery in the British
Empire at Brookwood in Surrey.

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And you could have
a whole funeral service based
around this railway line.

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The service could be conducted
at this end or at the end
of the cemetery.

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Either way,
you put your relative onto the train

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and they had a one-way ride
to Brookwood.

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You, yourself, as the mourner,
had a return ticket.

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The all-inclusive service was run
by the London Necropolis Company

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which was set up in the 1850s.

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They had discreet offices
and even their own funeral platform,

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just next door to the station.

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Waterloo would have been
a very railway haunted area,

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the constant rattle and clatter of
the trains coming in and going out

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every minute over the viaducts,
over the high level.

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And even in death, they were trying
to fit you into a railway timetable.

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So this splendid facade
is the Necropolis station, is it?

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This is what survives of
the whole Necropolis complex.

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Why were the sending all
these bodies out of London?

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Well, they thought it was
a good business proposition

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but it was also a response
to a genuine crisis -

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the shortage of burial space.

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In the first half of
the 19th century, the population
of London about doubled

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and there were bits of skeletons
lying about in churchyards,

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so they needed space to bury bodies.

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It would be discussed since the 1840s
that there ought to be a big cemetery

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safely far away from London so that
cholera would not be an issue

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and the bodies would be transported
there on this new-fangled invention -
the train.

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At its busiest,
each train carried up to 48 bodies,

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along with the various
funeral parties.

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At the cemetery, there were
two purpose-built stations,

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one for Anglicans
and one for other denominations.

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So you have brought me up
quite a long staircase,

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to the level of the railway
viaduct.

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We are now behind the office part
of the Necropolis complex.

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And the hearses would come
sweeping in through this archway

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and then the bodies would be lifted
by an electrical lift

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up to the actual Necropolis station
on the viaduct there.

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What sort of carriages
did they travel in?

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The carriages were funeral carriages
and passenger carriages.

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Both were divided into
first, second and third class.

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Sorry, I have to stop you.
Are you telling me the bodies
went first, second or third class?

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You might think why would you send
your maiden aunt first class,

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you could easily save a bit of money
sending her third,

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she would not know the difference,

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but I think they took more care
with your coffin if you went first.

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Whether you bought a first, second
or third class ticket for the corpse,

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it would correspond to the type
of funeral that you bought.

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So if you bought one of the
fancier funeral packages, a first
class ticket would go with that.

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Before long, it was not just the
dead who were taking advantage
of the third class fares.

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A lot of people would kind of
sneak onto the funeral service.

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Even if they weren't burying
anyone, especially golfers,

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because there was a good golf
course near Brookwood Cemetery.

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Now I have an idea in my mind of
golfers dressed in black,
pretending to be mourners.

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I am assuming the golfers did
not wear garish yellow checked
jumpers in those days.

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If so, I don't think they could have
masqueraded as being in mourning.

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And what they did with
the golf clubs, I do not know.

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The business ran successfully
for almost a century.

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But today, just hints
of the line remain.

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And so, when did the last
Stiff Express puff out of here?

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April 1941.

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And then later in that month,
there was a big bombing raid

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and not only was most of the
Necropolis complex here destroyed,

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but the funeral train
was blown up into the bargain.

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And that was, really, curtains.

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It is time for me to make my way
from Waterloo across town

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to my next destination, Piccadilly,
using London's famous Underground.

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It was in embryonic form
when Bradshaw published my guide.

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The first line opened in 1863 and
was eventually followed by 10 more.

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The Bakerloo Line was one of the
first of the new generation of
deep railway lines - tubes -

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because before that it had been cut
and cover, close to the surface,

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and you could hardly
use steam engines

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with all the smoke deep underground.

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This railway had been first planned
in the 1850s, but at last in 1906,

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powered by electricity,
the Bakerloo Line opened.

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In the 19th century,

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the tubes and railways made it much
easier to travel around the city.

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The middle classes flocked into town
and London's famous cultural and
commercial centre began to grow.

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I'm only going three stops, getting
out at Piccadilly Circus, the
gateway to London's West End.

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Bradshaw's has pages
about the West End.

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So I am following it on my tour,
aware that many of the Victorians'
favourite haunts are mine too.

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We're now at my place where, on the
left, I buy my swimming trunks,

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and on the right, I buy my macaroons
and this is Burlington Arcade.

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Bradshaw's says,
"The prettiest gallery in London.

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"It is a facsimile of a portion
of the Palais Royale

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"but the tradesmen who occupy these
shops are of a less wealthy class

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"and the place is considered as
the fashionable gentlemen's lounge."

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I had never thought of it that way,

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but in that spirit,
I'm going to revisit it today.

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Built by Lord Cavendish in 1819,
this was Britain's first modern

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shopping arcade, complete
with its own security force.

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They still patrol
the 200 yard strip of shops today.

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Excuse me. Hello, sir.

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You are what is known as
the head Beadle?

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I am, I am the head
Beadle of the Burlington Arcade.

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And you are on your patrol? I am on
patrol, making sure that everything's

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OK with the arcade, everybody who
walks through is happy and safe.

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And here to enjoy the environment,
really.

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This is pretty unusual,
isn't it, to have
a kind of police force in a way?

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Well, the Beadles in the arcade
predate the Metropolitan Police
by 10 years.

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Because before you had
police forces,

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you would have had Beadles
patrolling certain parishes.

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A Beadle would probably have been
in charge of about 10 constables,

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they would have been night watchman,

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they would have collected little
fines that were imposed by people.

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Any special rules? You mustn't sell
smelly produce within the arcade.

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You must also not whistle within
the arcade because in 1809,

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you could no longer
be hung for pickpocketing.

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So therefore they had a big,
big increase in pickpocketing
in London at that time.

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And pickpockets would have
whistled signals to one another.

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Lord Cavendish originally designed
the arcade as an exclusive retreat
where his wife could shop.

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By the 1860s, it had become
a popular destination for
a new generation

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of bourgeois shoppers arriving
by train to enjoy a taste
of the good life.

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When the arcade was built,
Lord Cavendish made sure that

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where we are now, there is a slight
incline, it is about 10 feet higher

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at Burlington Gardens
than Piccadilly.

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He wanted his wife to be able to walk
with her friends up and down

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and to shop in peace,
without an interruption
of having to walk up any steps.

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I have walked up here
and I've noticed the slope
but I've never thought about that,

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that you don't actually climb steps.

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It is one of the reasons why,
when people come in from Piccadilly
or Burlington Gardens,

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they just escape the hurly burly
of London. It would have been the
same in Regency or Victorian London.

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Next, I am heading for
Regent Street - an elegant
sweep of terraced architecture

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which Bradshaw's describes as
"one of the greatest thoroughfares
in London.

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"On each side are a collection
of brilliant shops filled with
the most costly articles,

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"attesting at once to the wealth,
luxury and refinement of the land."

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The description resonates,
even today.

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I am meeting urban historian
Professor David Gilbert
to find out how Regent Street became

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one of the greater shopping
enclaves in the world.

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David, Michael. Hi, Michael.

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Very good to see you.
Who were there early shoppers
and how did they change over time?

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Well,
when it started in the 1820s, 1830s,

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this was very much for the elite.

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They would come up in
their carriages, they would get out,

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be shown into the shops
and shown the wares.

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It is very much in that kind of way
but by the time of your guide book,

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this street is changing
and part of what is changing

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is coming about through the railways.

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Suddenly, you're getting suburbanites
coming into the centre of London
to walk the streets, to shop.

218
00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:24,640
Completed in the 1820s, architect
John Nash, laid out Regent Street

219
00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:26,640
as a series of colonnades.

220
00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:29,880
Like the Burlington Arcade,
these covered walkways were

221
00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:34,680
designed to provide a safe haven
to linger and shop out of the rain.

222
00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:38,840
Was Regent Street safe? It was safe
during the day, that's part of it.

223
00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,440
You had public space that was safe
during the shopping hours.

224
00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:46,600
After dark, Regent Street became
a very different kind of place.

225
00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:51,040
One of the reasons for
that is if we think about where
it is in the geography of London.

226
00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:54,680
It's a great fault line, a dividing
line between, to the west,

227
00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:56,920
you have
the big aristocratic estates,

228
00:15:56,920 --> 00:16:00,960
to the east, you've got Soho which is
going rapidly downmarket,

229
00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:04,640
has a reputation for vice,
a reputation for violence.

230
00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:07,120
Here's the place where
those two worlds meet.

231
00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:12,320
At night,
crime and prostitution sheltered
in their shadows of the colonnades.

232
00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:17,200
In 1848, they were torn down and
gradually replaced by a new kind

233
00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:21,920
of shop, with large glass windows
facing directly onto the street.

234
00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:23,720
Plate glass itself was quite new.

235
00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:25,880
Plate glass was very new.

236
00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:30,040
This area we were in, there were
tensions between the architects who

237
00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:34,680
wanted fine, architectural colonnades
along there, and the shopkeepers

238
00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:36,920
who wanted to display their wares.

239
00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:40,880
Increasingly, as the century goes on,
they want people to window shop,

240
00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:45,080
to shop in what's
identifiably a modern kind of way.

241
00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:49,960
We think of this as
one of the great triumphs
of town planning in London

242
00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:55,000
and it's also about profit,
about making the most out of
the way the street works.

243
00:16:57,200 --> 00:16:58,880
Since Bradshaw's day,

244
00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:04,080
the West End has been geared to
accommodate thousands of shoppers.

245
00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:09,720
Regent Street, cutting through its
centre, remains globally recognised

246
00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:12,880
as an outstanding location
for retail therapy.

247
00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:19,680
Now, I'm travelling from
the West End to the East End,

248
00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:22,840
using the Central Line
which travels due west-east

249
00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:25,320
along the lines of
Oxford Street and Holborn.

250
00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:31,680
This line was opened in
1900 and it had a flat fare
of two old pence per mile.

251
00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:34,040
Because of the shape of the tunnels,

252
00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:36,480
it became known as
the Tupenny Tube.

253
00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:38,360
The flat fare went long ago,

254
00:17:38,360 --> 00:17:42,360
but the word, tube, that's stuck
with us to the present day.

255
00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:54,320
I'm travelling a couple of miles
towards the city, to one of my
favourite London stations.

256
00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:55,760
I do like Liverpool Street.

257
00:17:55,760 --> 00:18:01,160
When I was Minister of Transport,
they completed a modernisation
project here which involved bringing

258
00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:04,720
some of the lines that used to
stop short, right up to
the terminus.

259
00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:10,960
The result is very successful
because it has the space of an air
terminal inside Victorian cathedral

260
00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:15,320
windows and beneath a roof,
suspended on beautiful columns.

261
00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:25,800
Just outside the station is
the former Great Eastern Hotel,
where I'll be spending the night.

262
00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:31,480
This Victorian landmark was built
in 1884 by the Great Eastern Railway

263
00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:34,240
which ran lines from East Anglia.

264
00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:37,640
A nightly goods train
brought coal for the hotel

265
00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:39,640
and took away its rubbish.

266
00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:43,080
Over the years, the hotel
gradually declined, but in 1996,

267
00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:48,560
it was given an extensive makeover
during which the builders discovered

268
00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:51,120
a secret room behind a false wall.

269
00:18:51,120 --> 00:18:56,440
After checking in, I'm heading
deeper inside to find out more.

270
00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:01,160
My goodness.

271
00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:06,240
Nigel, thank you for coming, I know
you've come to explain this to me.

272
00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:10,960
Yes, indeed. Nigel Brown is the
grand secretary of the Freemasons.

273
00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:16,160
I know it's a Masonic Temple but
what on earth was the origin
of such a splendid place?

274
00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:19,840
The key reason that this was built
was because the railways were doing

275
00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:23,880
so well at that time and the
Great Eastern Railways Company,

276
00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:26,920
chaired by a chap called
Lord Claude Hamilton,

277
00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:28,560
who was also a mason,

278
00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:32,640
wanted to show to the world
how successful they were.

279
00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:37,440
Therefore, he produced an almost
over the top opulent room.

280
00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:40,360
With 12 different types
of Italian marble,

281
00:19:40,360 --> 00:19:43,800
the room cost the equivalent
of £4 million to build.

282
00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:48,080
It was closed off in the 1990s when
it became too expensive to maintain.

283
00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:53,360
After redevelopment, the magnificent
room was open for hire to the public
to earn its keep.

284
00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:57,440
The room was designed as
a meeting room.

285
00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:00,880
It's extremely over the
top in the sense that

286
00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:03,920
you won't find this as a typical
Masonic meeting room,

287
00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:05,200
I can assure you of that.

288
00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:10,400
But here you'd have regular
meetings and a lodge would meet

289
00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:12,440
three or four times a year.

290
00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:15,240
Purely the business of the lodge
would be conducted

291
00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:17,720
before they went on
to have a jolly good dinner.

292
00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:23,440
That sounds like a fine idea for me
before I turn in for the night.

293
00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:34,040
Next morning,
my Bradshaw's leads me into
the throng of London's rush-hour.

294
00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:39,280
Never having worked in the City
and now having to discarded the suit
and tie of my previous employment,

295
00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:42,960
there's quite a satisfaction seeing
all these commuters streaming by

296
00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:45,800
with deadlines to meet,
while I have none.

297
00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:51,640
Whilst they head for their offices,
I'm on my way to Tower Gateway
Station,

298
00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:53,880
to meet railway expert, Alex Werner.

299
00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:56,360
Alex, morning.

300
00:20:56,360 --> 00:21:02,760
Today, Alex is taking me out of the
City on the Docklands Light Railway
built in the 1980s.

301
00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:09,560
It follows the route of the old
London and Blackwall railway, which
dates from early Victorian times.

302
00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:14,600
Back then,
the easiest place to build the line
was up above the city streets.

303
00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:17,920
This railway is built on
viaducts over arches, isn't it?

304
00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:22,320
Bradshaw's celebrates the fact that
these arches soar above the houses.

305
00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:24,760
It must have had
a huge impact on London.

306
00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:28,360
The viaducts cut
their way through the city.

307
00:21:28,360 --> 00:21:31,400
It was already a very
densely-inhabited place

308
00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:36,560
and the viaduct was the solution
to linking the railways
in the inner-city area.

309
00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:43,040
If you had a causeway that you
had to cut, there would be so much
property that you'd need to acquire.

310
00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:49,240
So it was relatively cheap to build
the viaduct in conjunction with

311
00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:51,840
the station building
along the line.

312
00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:57,280
The trains travelling along
these viaducts were part of an
integrated transport system.

313
00:21:57,280 --> 00:21:59,480
Ships brought their cargo
and passengers

314
00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:01,680
up the Thames to the docks,

315
00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:05,040
to be whisked by train
all around the country.

316
00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:08,840
Bradshaw was impressed by the
sheer scale of the docks writing,

317
00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:11,080
"Situated at the east end
of London,

318
00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:15,120
"they're the store houses of the
widest commerce of the world".

319
00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:20,680
We've come to West India Dock,
now part of Canary Wharf,

320
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:23,560
to understand
what so captivated Bradshaw.

321
00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:30,760
Bradshaw's guide talks about this
place in the 1860s, 204 acres of
water, 600 ships can berth here,

322
00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:33,360
with cargoes of
200, 300 tons each.

323
00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:36,880
It must have been quite a scene.
It was an incredibly busy dock.

324
00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:42,480
Ships coming from all over
the world by the 1850s and '60s.

325
00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:47,080
Traditionally it was the West India
trade, so carrying sugar and rum
from the Caribbean.

326
00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:51,080
But by the mid-19th century, goods
were coming from all over the world.

327
00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:56,720
Each of the docks specialised
in particular cargoes.

328
00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:59,560
St Katharine's Dock took
in marble, sugar and brandy,

329
00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:01,800
while the Surrey Dock
dealt in timber.

330
00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:06,320
This was where all the cargoes
of the world were being stored.

331
00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:09,640
This was London as the port of
empire. Incredibly active space.

332
00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:13,320
Where we're standing here, there
would have been a transit shed, where

333
00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:16,760
the ships would moor, they would
unload their cargo into transit,

334
00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:20,760
and they would be taken off
into the warehouses.

335
00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:25,040
As well as describing each dock,
Bradshaw writes about
the people, too.

336
00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:30,960
"A busy army of 20,000
workmen are employed here,
in loading, unloading and storing.".

337
00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:35,960
He was talking about watermen,

338
00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:37,480
who rowed passengers ashore

339
00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:40,480
and lightermen,
who took cargo.

340
00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:44,000
There are no watermen left
but the descendants of some

341
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:49,440
of the lightermen remain, men like
Cornelius Andrews and his grandson.

342
00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:51,920
Do you remember the docks
that were behind you?

343
00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:56,680
I've had a boat in every dock.
In their heyday...marvellous.

344
00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:59,800
Full up with ships and barges.

345
00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,160
It was like Piccadilly Circus.

346
00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:03,800
It was fantastic.

347
00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:06,440
Was there a lot of
comradeship on the river?

348
00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:07,640
Yes. Lovely.

349
00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:09,160
Especially in the pub.

350
00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:14,480
Cornelius, I'm going to go out
with your grandson now on the river.

351
00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:16,200
You'll love him, he's a good kid.

352
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:21,080
Hello, James. Hello, Michael.

353
00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:24,600
Very good to see you. You're
going to take me on the river?
Yes, certainly am.

354
00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:30,400
James Andrews has been a lighterman
for 17 years and today hauls cargo

355
00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:33,240
with a tug boat,
rather than with oars.

356
00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:39,360
The lightermen had a reputation
of being aristocracy of the river.

357
00:24:39,360 --> 00:24:40,560
Is that true now?

358
00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:42,600
Up until maybe the '90s,

359
00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:48,320
I think the London watermen
or lightermen was world renowned.

360
00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:52,760
A long time ago, Nelson himself
insisted that every ship in the line

361
00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:54,760
had a London waterman on board.

362
00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:59,240
I've been following a 19th century
guidebook and it talks about

363
00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:01,760
20,000 people working in the docks.

364
00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:05,360
Have you any idea how many people
are working on the river?

365
00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:10,840
I think at the last count, it was
between 400 and 500 licence holders.

366
00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:15,040
When you're coming down from
20,000 men, it's a big drop.

367
00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:20,400
Although there aren't many
lightermen on the river,

368
00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:26,480
they still play a vital role,
not least removing London's
refuse on barges.

369
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:29,120
Today, we're carrying rubbish.

370
00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:30,720
Where is it going to?

371
00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:35,200
It's going ultimately to
a place in Essex called Mucking.

372
00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:39,280
Mucking? Mucking,
yes, rather appropriately named.

373
00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:41,720
Would you like to have
a little drive, Michael?

374
00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:43,800
I'd love to.

375
00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:47,200
Left hand down a bit?
Left goes left and right goes right.

376
00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:49,120
It's not like tyres on the road.

377
00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:52,720
It's more like tyres on treacle.

378
00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:58,640
It's definitely the
longest vehicle I've ever steered
and it's all delayed reaction.

379
00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:03,840
You push the wheel and nothing
seems to happen and after about
30 seconds, a lot happens.

380
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:13,800
Holding the wheel is one thing
but I think I'll leave parking
this 80ft convoy to the expert.

381
00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:21,560
That was the niftiest bit of
steering I've ever seen.

382
00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:25,600
I think I might have to practise
for quite a long time
before I'm able to do that.

383
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:32,720
This part of the river is no longer
the busy thoroughfare it once was.

384
00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:39,080
In the 1970s, new docks were
built further downstream
to handle large container ships.

385
00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:44,080
East London docks lay unused for
years until they were transformed

386
00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:48,000
into a new, financial district,
called Canary Wharf,

387
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:50,920
housing the tallest building
in Britain.

388
00:26:55,840 --> 00:27:00,560
The key to Canary Wharf's success
was, of course, a railway,

389
00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:04,800
the Jubilee Line extension,
for which as a minister,
I fought tooth and nail.

390
00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:07,200
George Bradshaw would
enjoy this statistic.

391
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:14,520
The station is so vast that
the box underground, underwater,
in which it sits, will be big enough

392
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:18,200
to accommodate the Canary Wharf
Tower lying on its side.

393
00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:28,320
In Bradshaw's day, London was
revitalised by the railways
and that story continues today.

394
00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:34,080
The old tracks are
constantly reused and extended
as the city reinvents itself.

395
00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:40,600
The age of railway building
began before the Victorian era,
but it hasn't ceased yet.

396
00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:43,880
London is all business and bustle.

397
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:48,920
From department stores in the west,
to investment banks in the east.

398
00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:53,640
Now, shopping is all the rage
and shipping has ceased.

399
00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:57,960
But before the railways
came to town, the river
was the permanent way

400
00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:04,080
and the speed of travel was
limited to how fast a man could row.

401
00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:12,920
On the next leg of the journey,

402
00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:16,440
I'll be seeing how the trains
changed the fortunes of Newmarket.

403
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,960
It's a sign of a smart town to have
one station for people in the north,

404
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:22,960
one for people in the south
and another one for the horses.

405
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:26,400
Oh, absolutely.
Looking back on my student days...

406
00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,880
That's where my
all-important cocktail bar was.

407
00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:32,880
I probably had a desk as well
but I don't remember.

408
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:38,040
..and finding out that Cambridge
has a surprising claim to fame.

409
00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:41,280
One could say it was the birthplace
of the modern game of football.

410
00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:52,840
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

411
00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:55,880
Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk