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For Victorian Britons, George
Bradshaw was a household name.

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At a time when railways were new,

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Bradshaw's guidebook
inspired them to take to the tracks.

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I'm using a Bradshaw's Guide

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to understand how trains
transformed Britain -

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its landscape, its industries,
society and leisure time.

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As I crisscross the country,
150 years later,

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it helps me to discover
the Britain of today.

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I'm undertaking a series of journeys
in and around London,

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which, at the time
of my railway handbook,

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was the epicentre
of the biggest empire

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that the world had ever known.

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In the century
before my Bradshaw's Guide,

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the foundations of Britain's wealth
were laid

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by scientists, inventors
and entrepreneurs.

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London's riches depended upon
the River Thames -

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narrow enough to provide
a highway for the capital,

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deep enough to dispatch ocean-going
ships to carry trade

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and project military might
around the globe.

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'Today, I start
in the east of the capital,

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'where the city's port
launched many an imperial adventure.

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'Starting in Deptford,
I'll explore Maritime Greenwich

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'before uncovering Britain's
military might at Woolwich Arsenal.

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'Finally, I'll delve beneath the
Thames, surfacing in the Docklands,

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'which were dramatically expanded
around the time of my guide.

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'Along the way,
I'll visit the celebrated ship

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'that supplied Victorian Britain
with its national drink...'

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Every journey back from China,
she was bringing 600 tonnes of tea.

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That was enough tea
to make over 200 million cups.

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'..taste a by-product
of 19th-century global trade...'

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Mmm!

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Deliciously warm,

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as though it has just come off
a hot sticky toffee pudding.

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'..and learn about the nation's
top award for gallantry.'

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And this one...

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is made from the barrel
you're leaning on. Really?!

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Curiously, the first railway
in London was built

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a decade after the first
steam-hauled trains

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had run between
Stockton and Darlington.

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The pioneering line that brought
rail travel to the capital

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was the London
And Greenwich Railway,

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and the first stretch
to open, in 1836,

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linked Bermondsey with Deptford.

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'We will shortly be arriving
at Deptford.'

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Bradshaw's tells me that
"the principal object of attraction

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"at Deptford is the Dockyard,
which has three building slips

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"and is chiefly used
as a victualling yard,

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"the river being crowded
with transports."

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This would be the place, then,
to meet every class of society,

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from the poorest beggar
to the richest ship-owner.

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Built on a remarkable viaduct
comprising 60 million bricks,

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the railway transformed
the Deptford landscape.

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Meanwhile, beneath its arches,
the advent of the Age Of Steam

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heralded extraordinary
social upheaval.

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Driven by the Victorian
spirit of inquiry,

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one man revealed
the starkly contrasting fortunes

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of Deptford's population.

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Historical tour guide
Sean Patterson knows his story.

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Sean, I'm here in Deptford
to talk about Charles Booth.

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Who was he?

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Charles Booth was a Victorian
businessman and philanthropist.

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He heard that,
in the Whitechapel area,

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around a quarter of the families
were living below the poverty line.

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He thought that was nonsense
and he decided to conduct a survey

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to see for himself
just how bad it was.

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Suspecting that poverty
in Whitechapel had been exaggerated,

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Booth was shocked to discover

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that a third of households
lived in penury.

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He determined to map
the rest of the capital.

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How did he conduct this survey?
What was the method?

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Well, the method was to walk the
streets of London -

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ultimately the whole of
what we would call zones one and two

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on the travel map now,
so a huge area -

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and to make notes as he went

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about the conditions
that people were living in.

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In 1899, Booth and his researchers
came to Deptford,

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where they discovered
an extraordinary range

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of social classes
living almost cheek-by-jowl.

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What we've got here
is the seven categories.

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As you can see there, the yellow

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and then going down
to semi-criminal at the bottom.

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But, interestingly, here you see
this line of red.

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That's the High Street which
we're on at the moment.

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Well, that's pretty good -
that's just one down from the top.

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But, look, we just go off the side

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and you go straight down
into dark blue

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with a line of black along it,

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which is almost... Well, it is
the opposite end of the scale.

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So Booth produces, really, this
very eloquent rainbow of poverty.

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Shall we move on? Certainly.

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'Deptford had long owed
its livelihood to the dockyard

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'described in my Bradshaw's.

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'It dated back to Henry VIII's reign

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'and had been the source
of great wealth over the years.'

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A very attractive terrace of houses.
From what period?

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These houses are from
the early-to-mid 18th century.

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From the Georgian heyday
of Deptford, if you like.

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These were built for sea captains.

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But by the time of Booth's survey
in the 1890s,

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the river had silted up,

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making it difficult for Deptford
to compete with newer docks

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more suited
to modern steam vessels.

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Dockers struggling to find work
were soon also suffering

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the consequences
of railway expansion.

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Where are we now on your map?

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Well, we're in this area here
which, as you can see, is dark blue,

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with even some black lines along it.

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Very close to the High Street,
where we were earlier,

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just a few yards away.

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But, gosh,
it's an awful lot worse just here.

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The policeman that Booth is with

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describes this
as the worst part of Deptford.

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Where this 1930s estate is

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used to be a street
called Addey Street

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and the policeman notes that
that morning, at 5am,

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he went into a house to arrest a man

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and found father, mother and
five children living in one room.

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And this is what was happening in
this area that's been squeezed by...

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what we're standing under, which is
Britain's largest listed structure,

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the 800 or so railway arches
from London Bridge to Greenwich.

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By Booth's time,
the London to Greenwich railway

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had been joined by others
crisscrossing Deptford.

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Seeking land for their lines,

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the railway companies
had gobbled up cheap housing,

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adding to the overcrowding
depicted so vividly by Booth.

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As well as producing his maps,

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which helped to change the way
Victorians thought about poverty,

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Booth campaigned
for an old age pension,

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which was eventually introduced
in 1909.

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This is really
a very Victorian story, isn't it?

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It is the scientific approach.

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The collection of evidence,
the presentation of a case,

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the drawing of conclusions
and the call for action.

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Absolutely, and it's Booth's skill

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that allows him to take
that meticulous, forensic approach.

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I'm now continuing my journey on the
driverless Docklands Light Railway

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from Deptford Bridge into the heart
of Maritime Greenwich,

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which Bradshaw's tells me
"presents a striking appearance
from the River."

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Soon after the London And Greenwich
Railway was built,

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day trippers from the city
were coming here

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to admire
the glorious historic architecture.

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Greenwich has long been associated
with the Royal Navy.

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Bradshaw's mentions
the Royal Observatory.

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Warships would anchor within sight

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to set their chronometers
to Greenwich Mean Time

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and their sailors might retire to
the Royal Naval Hospital

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designed by Sir Christopher Wren.

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But I'm drawn today to the town
by a merchant vessel,

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a tall ship whose motto
characterised the spirit

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of the British Empire at its peak -

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"Where there's a will,
there's a way."

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Morning. Um, which way
to the Cutty Sark, please?

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Come with me, please.

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If you will keep straight,
and then left,

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you will see the boat
on your right-hand side.

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It's quite big, isn't it?
I can't miss it!

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Yeah, it is quite big. Have
a nice day, take care. Thank you.

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Greenwich remains
a popular tourist destination -

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the sights pull in
2.5 million visitors per year.

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And Victorian Britain's
most familiar trading ship

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is an essential stop
on their itineraries.

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Curator Jessica Lewis
is showing me the ropes.

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It's a fantastic view from here,
isn't it?

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Looking up at the mast
and the spars - is that right?

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Yes, yes. That's right.

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The ship had 11 miles of rigging
and 3,000 square metres of canvas.

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Launched in 1869,
Cutty Sark was built for speed,

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to a bold design that combined
a sleek, streamlined hull

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with one of the biggest sail areas
of any ship of her day.

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The ship's crew spent half its time
maintaining her, even in high seas,

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but Jessica is letting me off
with some light duties!

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So what exactly
am I doing with this?

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So it's just a little bit
of modern marine oil.

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And you just need to
work it into the block.

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So a little bit... That's it.
And it goes quite far.

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And this is to moisten the wood,

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to keep it flexible
so it can carry on doing its job.

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Because, what, the sun
is blasting away at this...?

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Yes, particularly over here
on the port side.

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What kind of puzzles me
is why, in 1869,

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you would build a sailing ship,

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which is way into the Age Of Steam,
isn't it?

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Well, Cutty Sark's owner,
John Willis, was thinking,

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"Why would I pay for coal
when I can get wind power for free?

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"Why would I want to give up
some of that valuable cargo space

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"with engines
and the storage of fuel

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"when I could just do it all
by the power of the wind?"

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Known as clippers, super-fast
sailing ships like Cutty Sark

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carried one of Victorian Britain's
most prized commodities.

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Cutty Sark's cargo of tea
was worth over £272,000 then

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and that's about £18.5 million
in today's money.

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So, every journey back from China,
she was bringing 600 tonnes of tea.

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That was enough tea
to make over 200 million cups.

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1869,
the year of Cutty Sark's launch,

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was also the year
that the Suez Canal was opened.

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It provided steamships
with a short cut to Asia -

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but it was impossible
to sail through the canal,

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so clippers like Cutty Sark
had to slog around Africa.

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Steamships are coming back
from China in 60 days

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and Cutty Sark is only coming back
in about 100 days, 109 days.

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Cutty Sark's maiden voyage, in 1870,

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there were 59 sailing ships
loading tea in China that year.

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Her last voyage, in 1877,
there were just nine.

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With Cutty Sark's tea trade
with China scuppered,

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in the 1880s, her owner diverted her
to the Australian wool trade.

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Her daring captain made
the gruelling long-distance voyage

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work in her favour,
charting a course around Cape Horn,

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where Cutty Sark harnessed
the strongest -

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and most dangerous -
winds in the world.

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Her fastest passage was 73 days
from Sydney to London

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but she was regularly making
the fastest passage of the season

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by about three or four weeks.

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And she became known
as the fastest ship of her day.

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Well, I declare this vessel
shipshape. Let's go below.

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In 1922, her days
as a trading vessel were over

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and Cutty Sark was eventually put
to rest here in Greenwich in 1954.

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But that wasn't
the end of her troubles.

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In November 2007,
an electrical fire broke out

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at the start of a six-year project
to conserve her.

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Luckily,
a lot of original structure -

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half of the hull planks,
all of the masts, the deck houses -

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had already been removed
to storage at the time of the fire.

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And so they were saved?

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Absolutely, and we were very lucky

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and the quality
of the original construction

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withstood the heat of the blaze.

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'Today, this glorious blade
of a clipper that once cut through

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'the world's oceans with
its zinc-and-copper-bottomed hull

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'is on view for us all to enjoy.'

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And so, in the 21st century,
we're still able to appreciate

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00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:20,600
this extraordinary piece of
Victorian engineering. Absolutely.

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This project was about ensuring
Cutty Sark had a future,

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a sustainable future, so that future
generations can enjoy the ship.

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00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:39,200
From a restored relic
of the Victorian docks,

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I'm moving on to a more modern
vessel - the Thames Clipper,

236
00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:47,080
part of Transport For London's
network along the River Thames.

237
00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:50,760
Following a special London edition
of Bradshaw's, I'm heading east,

238
00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:53,880
towards an institution
that provided firepower

239
00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:56,080
for the mighty British Empire.

240
00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:00,000
According to Bradshaw's
London guide,

241
00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:02,000
"the government establishments
of Woolwich

242
00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:05,040
"are acknowledged to be
the finest in the world.

243
00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:08,640
"At the Royal Arsenal, the
manufacture of implements of warfare

244
00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:11,960
"is carried on upon
the most extensive scale,

245
00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:14,320
"casting the largest pieces
of ordnance,

246
00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:18,440
"for which steam power
has lately been applied.

247
00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:23,160
"The Arsenal contains no less
than 24,000 pieces of ordnance

248
00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:28,480
"and three million cannon balls
piled up in huge pyramids."

249
00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:31,320
During the largely peaceful
19th century,

250
00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:35,480
the Victorian attitude to war
was summed up in an 1878 song -

251
00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:37,080
We don't want to fight

252
00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:39,440
But, by jingo, if we do

253
00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:41,880
We've got the ships, the men

254
00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:43,240
And the money, too!

255
00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:06,400
In Bradshaw's day, this important
military installation

256
00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:09,360
was situated just a few steps
from the jetty.

257
00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:12,760
Today it's the home
of the Royal Artillery Museum

258
00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:14,360
and Paul Evans is my guide.

259
00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:21,760
Paul, why did the government
establish its arsenal at Woolwich?

260
00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:24,560
It's established here
because of an accident.

261
00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:28,280
An accident took place in 1716
in a gun foundry over in London.

262
00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:30,920
Gun founding is a really
impressive thing, molten metal,

263
00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:33,880
pouring over, it looks fantastic,
but it's got to be done right.

264
00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:35,680
They went down one day,

265
00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:40,720
took a party of MPs with them to
show it off and their sand was damp.

266
00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:43,560
And there was an explosion.
It killed 17 of them.

267
00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:45,160
And the powers that be said,

268
00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:47,400
"You can't do this
in the centre of London.

269
00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:49,120
"This is the centre of the world.

270
00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:52,320
"You need to go somewhere where
you've got space to do this.

271
00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:55,160
"We want you close enough to London
to come and talk to us

272
00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:56,960
"but far enough away to be safe."

273
00:15:56,960 --> 00:15:58,680
Woolwich.

274
00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:00,440
By the time of my guidebook,

275
00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:04,840
this was the primary site for
ordnance manufacture in the country.

276
00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:07,160
Railways were at its heart.

277
00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:08,760
We are walking down the trackway

278
00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:10,960
where the Royal Arsenal
had its own railway.

279
00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:14,880
It was attached to the main line and
it's making thousands and thousands

280
00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:18,280
of tonnes of material, so it needs
that railway to be able to move it.

281
00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:22,560
To our left here we've got
Crimean War vintage storerooms

282
00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:25,360
and work sheds that were
state of the art in the Crimean War,

283
00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:28,920
built specifically so you can
work in them 24 hours a day.

284
00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:31,440
To the right we've got the brass
foundry building.

285
00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:34,680
So all of these buildings are making
parts of the whole

286
00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:37,200
and you put them on the railways,
move it to the dockyard,

287
00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:39,800
drop them onto the ships,
down the Thames and off to war.

288
00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:45,280
The Crimean
conflict of 1854 changed

289
00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:47,760
public perceptions of the military
in Britain.

290
00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:51,240
Thanks in part to the new
system of telegraph wires that had

291
00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:55,920
grown up alongside the railways,
this was the first ever media war.

292
00:16:55,920 --> 00:16:59,280
The disastrous Charge of the Light
Brigade shocked the nation.

293
00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:02,840
Equipment and clothing shortages
and outbreaks of cholera

294
00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:08,040
and typhoid fever contributed to
the deaths of 20,000 men.

295
00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:10,520
The officer class was
vilified in the press,

296
00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:13,800
while the ordinary soldier became
a national hero,

297
00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:15,280
but at this time

298
00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:19,760
only high-ranking officers could be
awarded medals for gallantry.

299
00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:23,240
Queen Victoria herself
agreed that this had to change.

300
00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:27,120
One of the consequences
of the Crimean War was people

301
00:17:27,120 --> 00:17:30,440
started asking the question,
what is there

302
00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:34,600
that we give our soldiers as
the ultimate prize for gallantry?

303
00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:36,280
And you get the Victoria Cross.

304
00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,560
The Victoria Cross.
And what actually is that made of,
that medal?

305
00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:41,880
The Victoria Cross is
made of gunmetal.

306
00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:45,520
And this one...is made from
the barrel you're leaning on.

307
00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:47,400
Really?! Absolutely.

308
00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:51,080
And then it was awarded to men
from the Crimean War, was it?

309
00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:54,280
Yes. Originally you had to have
survived the action

310
00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:56,280
for which you were put in for it.

311
00:17:56,280 --> 00:17:59,040
If you died, a little line went
in under your mention in dispatches

312
00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:02,240
saying "would have been awarded
the Victoria Cross had he lived".

313
00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:05,240
And then Queen Victoria lined up
her heroes, did she,

314
00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:07,320
and actually presented these VCs?

315
00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:10,040
Absolutely, and she did more
than that, she designed

316
00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:12,360
the majority of the medal as well.

317
00:18:12,360 --> 00:18:14,360
It's very much her personal medal.

318
00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:26,640
I'm continuing my journey
from Woolwich station, which was

319
00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:31,680
first linked to the metropolis
by rail as far back as 1849.

320
00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:34,640
Today this south-eastern
corner of London is also

321
00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:38,560
connected to the capital's heart via
the Docklands Light Railway.

322
00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:43,000
And soon there'll be a third,
much faster way to get into town.

323
00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:47,920
Travelling with my Bradshaw's
I've often been nostalgic

324
00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:50,280
for the Victorian railway age,
wondering why

325
00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:53,600
we can't do things on the same scale
and with that imagination.

326
00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:56,920
Well, now I've been partly answered,
because they're building Crossrail,

327
00:18:56,920 --> 00:18:59,680
an immense railway undertaking
beginning at Heathrow

328
00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:03,040
and in Berkshire in the west,
passing under the West End, the City

329
00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:07,320
and Canary Wharf and popping out
into Essex and Kent in the east.

330
00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:10,200
It is the largest construction
project in Europe.

331
00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:20,360
The recently completed
tunnel from Woolwich

332
00:19:20,360 --> 00:19:24,600
under the river to North Woolwich
isn't yet open to the public.

333
00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:27,800
But there's one locomotive
already running here.

334
00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:31,520
I'm joining construction manager
Barrymore Nicholls on board.

335
00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:35,400
Ah! First class!

336
00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:43,560
Barrymore, I'm guessing this is not
the final design

337
00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:45,200
for the new Crossrail trains.

338
00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:48,560
No. This is the railway
we use to help construct the tunnel.

339
00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:54,400
You make pretty good use of tracks
in the construction process.

340
00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:55,640
Very much so.

341
00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:59,880
It's a logistics exercise to keep
the tunnel boring machine going.

342
00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:02,840
'For a year, this locomotive
has been hauling tonnes

343
00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:06,680
'of reinforced concrete,
used to build the tunnel walls.

344
00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:10,760
'But first the gigantic boring
machine, quaintly dubbed Mary,

345
00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:12,760
'has to do her bit.'

346
00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:15,240
This is us
approaching the back of Mary,

347
00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:19,040
the tunnelling machine that's come
all the way from Plumstead

348
00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:21,320
through the Woolwich box
and under the Thames.

349
00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:24,080
It's a little strange to me
because we've had a year of

350
00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:27,720
frenetic activity and now it's being
carved up to be pulled out.

351
00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:31,800
Oh, you sound quite
emotional about that.

352
00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:34,120
It is weird.

353
00:20:34,120 --> 00:20:37,800
'Mary's cutter head
is seven metres in diameter,

354
00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:42,560
'while the whole machine is
an impressive 110 metres long.'

355
00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:44,280
And here we are at the build area,

356
00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:48,240
it's just behind the cutter head,
so the backup starts behind.

357
00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:49,840
Everything in front is about digging

358
00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:52,800
and everything behind is about
logistics to keep the digging going.

359
00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:57,520
The way this works is we build a
ring, the rings are 1.6 metres long.

360
00:20:57,520 --> 00:21:00,000
There's eight pieces go together
to make a ring.

361
00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:04,120
They fit together, they've got bolts
and dowels that fit between them.

362
00:21:04,120 --> 00:21:07,440
And what happens is we pick them up
from the erector,

363
00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:11,120
there's a vacuum pad on the bottom
that can spin through 360 degrees,

364
00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:13,000
place them anywhere in the circle.

365
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:15,040
We finish the ring,
all eight pieces,

366
00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:18,040
and then it's self-supporting,
it's like the arch of a bridge.

367
00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:20,600
And how often have you
done that here?

368
00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:22,400
We've done that 3,409 times now.

369
00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:28,320
I'm now surfacing on
the north side of the Thames

370
00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:30,280
to see how Mary has fared.

371
00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:36,800
So here we see the teeth
of the cutter head

372
00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:39,200
that's brought you
to the other side of the Thames.

373
00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:41,920
Yeah, a bit rusty and battered.
Mary did very well.

374
00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:46,160
When Isambard Kingdom Brunel was
working on his father's tunnel

375
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:49,280
under the Thames he was swept away
by a torrent of water

376
00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:52,880
and nearly lost his life, but you
have come safely under the river.

377
00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:57,480
Until Crossrail is complete,

378
00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:01,320
I have to continue my journey on
the Docklands Light Railway.

379
00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:04,080
I'm travelling west along
the north bank of the Thames,

380
00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:07,920
where vast new docks had been
constructed in the mid-19th century.

381
00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:16,080
London was at the heart of a global
empire and lived by trade.

382
00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:18,000
The pride that Victorians felt

383
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,720
is evident in an 1870s version
of Bradshaw's.

384
00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:24,480
"Docks in the East End of London
cannot be omitted

385
00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:27,720
"in a summary of the characteristics
of the metropolis.

386
00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:32,160
"They are the storehouses of widest
commerce in the world,

387
00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:35,960
"and their extent and skilful and
economical arrangement

388
00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:38,440
"will serve as a suggestive index

389
00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:42,440
"of the merchandise brought
from all parts of the world."

390
00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:45,120
And from the sticky climes
of the Caribbean

391
00:22:45,120 --> 00:22:47,680
came a delicious sticky substance.

392
00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:49,760
One of the joys of my childhood.

393
00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,920
Imperial expansion changed British
eating habits,

394
00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:57,600
and the Victorians developed

395
00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:00,840
a seemingly insatiable appetite
for hot, sweet tea,

396
00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:04,040
which saw their consumption
of both tea and sugar quadruple

397
00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:07,360
during the course of Victoria's
reign.

398
00:23:07,360 --> 00:23:10,960
As the sugar industry
boomed in the late 19th century

399
00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:15,240
two rival sugar tycoons, Henry Tate
and Abram Lyle,

400
00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:18,720
set up processing plants
here in the Docklands.

401
00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:21,720
It's said that the two competitors
never actually met

402
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:26,720
but in 1921, more than two decades
after both their deaths,

403
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:29,120
their companies merged.

404
00:23:29,120 --> 00:23:32,840
I'm visiting a legacy of
the Victorian sugar industry

405
00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:34,720
with Gerald Mason.

406
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:35,960
Ah!

407
00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:40,640
An extraordinary sight with all
the tins tumbling down here.

408
00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:44,200
What is the origin of this
plant on the River Thames?

409
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:48,640
Well, Abram Lyle was a partner
in a sugar refinery in Scotland

410
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:50,960
but he wanted his own refinery.

411
00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:58,000
So in 1880 he sent his two sons to
London with a bank loan of £150,000

412
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:00,200
to find land and build the refinery.

413
00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:03,680
The factory remains
on the site that they chose,

414
00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:05,880
ideally situated for the docks.

415
00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:08,720
And soon this refinery was
producing more than just

416
00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:10,720
sugar for the tea table.

417
00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:13,280
The Lyles were fantastic
sugar refiners

418
00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:15,840
and what they soon realised
was there was sugar

419
00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:18,880
being lost in the process which was
costing them money.

420
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:23,160
'These canny Victorian businessmen
turned what had been a waste product

421
00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:26,400
'into a cheap sugar
substitute dubbed golden syrup.'

422
00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:30,360
So very, very quickly the product
grew from

423
00:24:30,360 --> 00:24:32,520
a local following around London

424
00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:35,880
to being a product that's sold all
across the UK.

425
00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:37,600
A golden legacy!

426
00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:41,920
The secret recipe of the syrup
remains the same,

427
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:44,960
as does its iconic trademark.

428
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,160
The famous lion that
I remember from my childhood.

429
00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:50,040
It's been one of the most enduring

430
00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:52,560
logos and trademarks
of all time, hasn't it?

431
00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:54,720
Yeah, it's actually the oldest

432
00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:57,600
unchanged brand
packaging in the world.

433
00:24:57,600 --> 00:24:59,320
To ensure that this product tastes

434
00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:01,440
just the same as it did
in Bradshaw's day,

435
00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:03,920
the secret recipe is
carefully monitored.

436
00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:08,760
This is Chris, one of our
long-serving employees. Hello,
Chris!

437
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:11,720
Hello.
Long-serving? How long? 31 years.

438
00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:15,560
31 years. And are you in the
business of sampling the product?

439
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:18,080
Yeah, I'm just doing a brick sample,

440
00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:21,120
and that measures
the amount of sugar syrup

441
00:25:21,120 --> 00:25:23,440
in the solution as a percentage.

442
00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:26,120
Do you ever just
stick your finger in there and...

443
00:25:26,120 --> 00:25:28,760
Erm...not often, no.
Not any more. A while ago maybe.

444
00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:36,960
The employees here might not be
tempted, but before I leave

445
00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:39,840
I can't resist a taste
hot off the production line.

446
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:45,080
There you go, Michael.

447
00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:46,840
Whoa! The tin is warm.

448
00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:50,600
Mmm!

449
00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:53,920
Deliciously warm, as though it
had just come off

450
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:56,040
a hot sticky toffee pudding.

451
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,240
This factory is
one of the docklands' few

452
00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:04,720
remaining links with its trading
and industrial past.

453
00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:07,360
The area suffered badly
during the Blitz,

454
00:26:07,360 --> 00:26:12,080
and the post-war years
ushered in a long period of decline.

455
00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:15,240
More recently,
it's been a target for regeneration,

456
00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:18,240
and one of the latest additions
to the landscape

457
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:20,760
is the striking Emirates Air Line,

458
00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:25,400
a bird's-eye link between the Royal
Victoria Docks and North Greenwich,

459
00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:28,720
opened in 2012 for
the London Olympics.

460
00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:35,960
In my time, I have crossed
the River Thames by boat,

461
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:38,640
by bridge, by tunnel, by foot,

462
00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:43,360
by car, by bus, by train,
by Underground,

463
00:26:43,360 --> 00:26:47,440
by Docklands Light Railway, but
today for me I'm attempting a first.

464
00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:52,160
I'm crossing the river by air line,
a bold piece of engineering

465
00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:59,520
that takes my cabin soaring
to 295 feet above Old Father Thames.

466
00:27:01,120 --> 00:27:04,520
As it grew into the world's first
truly global city,

467
00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:08,960
Victorian London underwent
an extraordinary metamorphosis.

468
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,840
What I love about my home town
is that it never stops changing -

469
00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:17,200
from the waxing and waning fortunes
of areas like Deptford

470
00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:21,200
to the new transport projects that
will keep Londoners moving.

471
00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:26,600
A century ago this was
the West India Dock,

472
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:31,400
covering more than 50 acres with
berths for 600 ships.

473
00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:34,960
Today it is home to more
than 14 million square feet

474
00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:37,200
of commercial floor space.

475
00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:39,440
We may lament
the passing into history

476
00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:42,360
of so much of our shipping
and manufacturing

477
00:27:42,360 --> 00:27:46,680
but if we feel sentimental about
the Victorian age we should recall

478
00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:51,960
that it was also an epoch
of poverty, squalor and disease.

479
00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:55,400
George Bradshaw could never have
dreamt of Britain's

480
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:57,440
21st-century wealth.

481
00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:03,800
Next time, I'll experience
the Olympic legacy hands on.

482
00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:10,040
My knowledge will be
tested by a cabbie.

483
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:13,880
How can you get from Bishopsgate
to the Old Bailey without

484
00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:15,440
crossing a road?

485
00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:19,480
By hiring a cab with
a knowledgeable driver!

486
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:22,480
And I'll see how
London's Victorian infrastructure

487
00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:25,800
is getting a remarkable
21st-century upgrade.

488
00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:29,960
I had no idea that this great
big box was here.