1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:09,360 For Victorian Britons, George Bradshaw was a household name. 2 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:11,440 At a time when railways were new, 3 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:15,400 Bradshaw's guidebook inspired them to take to the tracks. 4 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:19,080 I'm using a Bradshaw's guide to understand how trains 5 00:00:19,080 --> 00:00:21,040 transformed Britain, 6 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:23,800 its landscape, its industry, 7 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:25,880 society and leisure time. 8 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:30,000 As I criss-cross the country 150 years later, 9 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:34,200 it helps me to discover the Britain of today. 10 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:57,160 I'm continuing my journey along Britain's south coast, 11 00:00:57,160 --> 00:00:59,600 where defence is a recurring theme. 12 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,240 From the threat of invasion by the French, 13 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:04,600 to the incursion of new disease, 14 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:09,120 Victorians along these shores fought to maintain the upper hand. 15 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:17,600 With my Bradshaw's guide in hand, 16 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:19,920 I'm travelling the length of this coast. 17 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:21,480 I started in Dover, 18 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:24,520 and travelled through important coastal defences. 19 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:27,280 My journey continues along seaside resorts 20 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:29,520 and through Thomas Hardy country 21 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:32,920 before ending at the foot of the British Isles. 22 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:36,520 Today, I start in Littlehampton, 23 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,800 move on to Portsmouth Harbour for an explosive excursion, 24 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:42,560 continue through Romsey... 25 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:46,000 to finish at Brockenhurst in the New Forest. 26 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:49,080 On this leg of my journey, 27 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:52,400 I find out how shells went ballistic... 28 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:56,240 You're kidding! Inflexible, which is only 15 years after Warrior, 29 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:58,560 is firing this sort of ammunition. 30 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:02,720 ..trace the inspiration of a most-revered Victorian... 31 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:07,120 It's underneath this very tree that Florence felt very strongly 32 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,440 that she was called by God to serve her fellow man. 33 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:14,840 ..and abandon the tracks to check out the railways' greatest competitor. 34 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,320 Tally-ho! 35 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:19,680 ENGINE SPUTTERS 36 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:22,040 Oh... 37 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:34,440 My next stop will be Littlehampton, 38 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:36,200 a small hamlet on the coast 39 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:39,720 which has some admirers as a watering place. 40 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:41,880 At the time of my Bradshaw's guide, 41 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:44,360 an increasing number of people understood that 42 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:48,320 water carried cholera after a series of epidemics 43 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:51,720 had killed tens of thousands of people in Britain, 44 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:54,680 and at Littlehampton, they realised that, 45 00:02:54,680 --> 00:03:00,200 in order to obtain clean supplies, you might need to plumb the depths. 46 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:08,800 The railways came to Littlehampton in 1863, 47 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:11,720 and like the neighbouring towns along the south coast, 48 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:14,920 its fresh sea air drew Victorian tourists. 49 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,320 But even a salubrious resort couldn't escape 50 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:22,640 the terrifying scourge of cholera. 51 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:31,880 Originating in India, the disease swept across the Empire, 52 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:35,440 arriving on UK shores in 1831. 53 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:37,040 It caused panic, 54 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:41,040 but there was no practical proposal to stem its spread. 55 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:44,640 An engineer in Littlehampton offered a way forward. 56 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:49,600 I'm meeting Martin Fitch-Roy, 57 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:53,400 managing director of the Dando Drilling company to find out more. 58 00:03:56,240 --> 00:04:00,440 Martin, in 1866, there's yet another outbreak of cholera in Britain. 59 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:02,440 Does it affect Littlehampton? 60 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:05,840 Yes, unfortunately, there were 18 deaths in Littlehampton. 61 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:08,200 But the trigger for the beginning of our company was 62 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:10,200 the death of a lady called Mrs Hogben. 63 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:14,240 The local physician realised that the reason for the cholera 64 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:16,000 was the contamination of the well. 65 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:18,280 They had hand-dug wells in those days, 66 00:04:18,280 --> 00:04:20,400 which were very easy to contaminate, 67 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:23,080 because they also used pit latrines in the same areas. 68 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:26,000 So, Mr Albion Ockenden, an engineer, found a way of 69 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:28,320 drilling through the bottom of the well 70 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:30,440 to access clean water further down. 71 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:32,320 How much further would he have had to go? 72 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:34,360 He probably went another ten metres. 73 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:37,720 But that was sufficient, then, to get down below the danger level? 74 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:39,640 Into another geological strata. 75 00:04:40,840 --> 00:04:45,040 Using this simple principle, Ockenden and his partner, Reginald Duke, 76 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:49,040 sank wells to reach a clean water supply for the whole 77 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:52,840 of Littlehampton, the neighbouring town of Wick and then Worthing, 78 00:04:52,840 --> 00:04:56,320 halting the spread of the disease and saving many lives. 79 00:04:56,320 --> 00:05:00,400 Their method is known as tube well drilling. 80 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:04,400 They used tubes from the boiler of an old steam tug, which would have 81 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:08,640 been slightly smaller, but this is a modern tube, we now call a casing. 82 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:12,280 You sink this down and this is where the water passes up again? 83 00:05:12,280 --> 00:05:14,280 The water would come up through the centre. 84 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:16,560 This would protect the geology 85 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:19,520 and the water from any contamination on the outside. 86 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:21,960 So, the first tube well was sunk 87 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:24,680 through the bottom of a hand-dug well, 88 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:26,760 but now they would start from the surface 89 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,160 and they would use a method we call cable percussion drilling. 90 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:31,840 This is a cable percussion rig. 91 00:05:31,840 --> 00:05:34,080 So, percussion means you just keep banging...? 92 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:35,840 There's no rotary component, it's just, 93 00:05:35,840 --> 00:05:39,080 there's a series of special tools that goes down inside, because 94 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:42,360 you have to displace the geology for the tube to move downwards. 95 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:46,160 So, the tools break and retrieve the geology from the centre 96 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:47,880 and then drive the tube downwards. 97 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:53,560 The drills were used to access clean water across the British Empire. 98 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:55,680 After the outbreak in the 1860s, 99 00:05:55,680 --> 00:06:01,040 cholera never again reached epidemic proportions in the United Kingdom. 100 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:04,400 But it is still a significant killer around the globe. 101 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:11,600 This water well drill is destined for villages in Africa. 102 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:15,880 So, really, identically to what happened in Littlehampton 103 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:19,280 in 1866 is what you are replicating in those villages? 104 00:06:19,280 --> 00:06:20,960 Absolutely identically, yes. 105 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:24,520 The diseases that cause most problems are cholera 106 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:27,400 and typhoid, still, in Africa. 107 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:34,080 I'm giving it a final test before it's shipped out. 108 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:40,720 It's remarkable to think that what the Victorian well drillers struck on 109 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:46,560 here in Littlehampton is still saving thousands of lives across the world. 110 00:06:49,280 --> 00:06:53,200 From Littlehampton, I'm taking the train to Portsmouth, 111 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:55,680 which on this journey means a change at Barnham. 112 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:10,200 The next leg takes me across the county border 113 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:12,760 from Sussex into Hampshire. 114 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:17,520 When I last visited Portsmouth, I attended 115 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:20,120 the commissioning of HMS Dragon and indeed, 116 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:23,120 my guidebook says the town's chief attraction 117 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:27,200 "consists in the fortifications, the dockyard and the men-o-war" - 118 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:30,120 an old-fashioned expression for warships. 119 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:33,880 In the middle of the 19th century, something that worried everyone, 120 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:38,680 including the Bradshaw-wielding tourist, was the French Peril. 121 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:48,200 I alight from the train at the station of Portsmouth harbour. 122 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:51,800 Protected by the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth has been 123 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:55,560 an important naval port since the 12th century. 124 00:07:57,360 --> 00:07:59,840 It's still the main dockyard for the Royal Navy, 125 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:03,280 being home to two thirds of its service fleet. 126 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:11,280 As an island city, Portsmouth became densely populated 127 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:15,200 and in the 18th century, locals campaigned for the Navy's 128 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:19,840 stores of gunpowder to be moved across the water. 129 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:28,120 I'm on the ferry to Gosport. 130 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:31,840 According to Bradshaw's, "It rarely takes more than eight minutes 131 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:34,120 "and the toll is one penny." 132 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:35,480 Some chance! 133 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:40,880 'Today, as in Bradshaw's day, visitors can marvel at the men-o-war, 134 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:44,680 'including Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory, 135 00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:47,960 'and the formidable HMS Warrior.' 136 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:53,400 Imagine the impact that HMS Warrior had when she first appeared in 1860. 137 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:55,760 Britain's first ironclad warship, 138 00:08:55,760 --> 00:08:59,520 built in response to France's first ironclad warship - 139 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:01,600 but this one was much bigger. 140 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:04,400 And so, the two countries began to leapfrog each other 141 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:06,520 in a Victorian arms race. 142 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:10,440 Warrior was the largest warship in the world, 143 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:14,080 60% bigger than France's La Gloire. 144 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:19,040 It incorporated important advances in armour and ammunition. 145 00:09:23,560 --> 00:09:27,240 I'm heading to the historic munitions store to meet 146 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:31,400 Andrew Baines of the National Museum of the Royal Navy. 147 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:40,200 So, we have here a piece of armour plate from World War II, 148 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:42,080 which actually rather neatly illustrates 149 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:45,920 a point about the way armour plating develops in the Victorian period. 150 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:48,280 When Warrior's commissioned in 1861, 151 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:51,560 she has four and a half inches of wrought iron armour plate 152 00:09:51,560 --> 00:09:53,480 and 18 inches of teak at the back of it. 153 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:56,200 No gun can get through it, and that's the challenge, then, 154 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:59,680 someone's got to go and build a gun, which happens, so then, somebody has 155 00:09:59,680 --> 00:10:01,760 to come along with thicker armour plating, 156 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:04,240 and that's the race we get, back and forth. 157 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:07,560 15 years after Warrior, in Portsmouth harbour, 158 00:10:07,560 --> 00:10:10,560 the Navy launches the appropriately named HMS Inflexible. 159 00:10:10,560 --> 00:10:15,720 Her armour plating is 41 inches thick, about 1,100lb weight 160 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:18,480 for every square foot of armour on the ship's side. 161 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:20,560 And so, the challenge to the gunmakers is, 162 00:10:20,560 --> 00:10:22,600 how do you penetrate it? It certainly is, 163 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:25,560 and that's something else we can go and look at. Thanks. 164 00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:32,400 A most impressive display of firepower over the ages. 165 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:33,640 Where shall we start? 166 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:36,280 Well, probably the best place to start is with one of these. 167 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:38,240 A cannonball, solid shot. 168 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:41,480 This is what the Royal Navy has been using for a couple of hundred years, 169 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:42,880 come the mid-Victorian period. 170 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:46,120 It smashes through an enemy's wooden hull, creates splinters, 171 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:48,400 and those splinters kill and maim the crew. 172 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:52,400 Once armour plate is introduced, however, a small cannonball like 173 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:55,400 that isn't going to do very much, it's going to bounce off the side. 174 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:58,800 So, whatever you throw at the opponent, you have to make heavier. 175 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:00,640 You can make a bigger sphere, 176 00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:04,160 but that eventually pushes you to the edge of gun founding. 177 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:09,920 Or you can elongate the shape, and that's what's happened here. 178 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:13,080 And this is actually the type of projectile that Inflexible 179 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:15,400 would have been firing. You're kidding. 180 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:19,240 Inflexible, which is only 15 years after Warrior... Yeah. 181 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:21,280 ..is firing this sort of ammunition? 182 00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:24,160 Yeah, Warrior's maximum size of projectile 183 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:27,000 is about 100lb weight, seven inches wide. 184 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:31,960 This is 16 inches wide, weighs in at 1,700lb. 185 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:34,760 And that change has been made possible because no longer 186 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:37,800 do we have smoothbore guns, but we've gone over to rifling. 187 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:41,840 Rifling was an important innovation. 188 00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:45,600 Grooves in the barrel of a gun made the projectile spin, 189 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:49,440 greatly improving aerodynamic stability and accuracy. 190 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:54,960 In the 1860s, Warrior's guns had a range of around 2,000 yards. 191 00:11:56,720 --> 00:12:01,000 Just 15 years later, guns could fire 8,000 yards. 192 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:07,920 That firepower provoked the next development in the arms race, 193 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:09,360 the torpedo. 194 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:14,560 The torpedo, mid 1860s, the Royal Navy adopts it from the 1870s, 195 00:12:14,560 --> 00:12:18,680 cheap as chips to produce, you can build small ships, 196 00:12:18,680 --> 00:12:23,080 35 tonnes weight as opposed to the 11,000 tonnes of Inflexible, 197 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:26,520 and they can go in and with a single-shot weapon 198 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:28,080 sink a battleship. 199 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:30,760 Now, if I've got your drift right, 200 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:33,280 you've got to develop a technology to kill the torpedo? 201 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:36,040 Now you've got to develop a technology to kill the torpedo, 202 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:40,160 and that's where the 3lb quick-firing Hotchkiss gun comes in. 203 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:43,440 Do you have one of those? We do indeed, just this way. 204 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:49,920 Small, light and rapidly loaded, the Hotchkiss gun was used 205 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:55,080 to defend warships against the fast-moving torpedo attack boats. 206 00:12:55,080 --> 00:12:58,520 Here is one that still fires. 207 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:02,520 OK, so, if you'd like to pop the gloves and the ear defenders on. 208 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:06,160 And what we have here is a blank, 209 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:08,480 the projectile would have sat in the top there. 210 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:11,680 If you'd like to take that, we can come over to the Hotchkiss. 211 00:13:11,680 --> 00:13:13,920 I am ready to defend my country! 212 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:27,640 Take that for defying Her Majesty, Queen Victoria! 213 00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:33,320 After France was crushed by Prussia in 1870, 214 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:37,960 the United Kingdom became less nervous about her closest neighbour. 215 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:42,800 But war technology had moved forward dramatically and Britain would 216 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:46,920 then engage in a new arms race, this time with Germany. 217 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:53,200 It's the start of a new day 218 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:57,640 and I'm picking up my journey in Fareham to continue westwards. 219 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:02,680 Although in Bradshaw's day the French were our traditional enemy, 220 00:14:02,680 --> 00:14:05,520 for three years in the 1850s, Britain 221 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:11,000 and France were allies against Russia in a gruesome conflict far from home. 222 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:16,440 Over the years, I have been struck 223 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:19,360 that Bradshaw gives me a very accurate impression 224 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:22,200 of the United Kingdom in the mid 19th century, 225 00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:23,680 with one exception - 226 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:25,720 it doesn't reflect the horror 227 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:29,640 that the country had felt over the recent Crimean War, 228 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:34,400 one of the very few conflicts in which Victorian Britain was involved. 229 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:36,200 In order to put that right, 230 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:39,000 a little bird tells me that I should visit Romsey. 231 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:50,440 In 1847, the railway reached Romsey - 232 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:53,600 a beautiful market town outside the New Forest. 233 00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:00,400 Bradshaw's remarks that, "Like many other places of great antiquity, 234 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:04,800 "Romsey owes its foundation to a monastic establishment - 235 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:08,840 "a Benedictine abbey on a very extensive scale." 236 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:10,640 So I'll look at that. 237 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:30,440 The Crimean War was characterised by courage and carnage. 238 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:34,720 It shook public confidence in the British establishment. 239 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:39,320 It led to army reforms, the creation of the Victoria Cross 240 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:42,640 and big changes to military medical services. 241 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:54,440 Those dark times were brightened by the story of Florence Nightingale. 242 00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:57,680 Here in Romsey is her family home of Embley Park. 243 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:01,880 I am meeting Natasha McEnroe, 244 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:04,760 the director of the Florence Nightingale Museum. 245 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:09,640 Natasha, what sort of people were the Nightingales? 246 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:10,680 They were rich. 247 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:14,920 They came from the industrialised money of the Midlands. 248 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:16,960 So when they took over Embley, 249 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:19,480 it was quite a modest Georgian house. 250 00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:23,640 It only had five bedrooms, and so they drastically remodelled it. 251 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:25,840 What did the family consist of when they came here? 252 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:28,560 Nightingale's parents had the two daughters - 253 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:31,000 Parthenope, who was Florence's older sister, 254 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,440 and then Florence, who was just a year younger. 255 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:36,360 What sort of education did the young Florence have? 256 00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:38,760 It's quite an unusual one for the time. 257 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:42,680 Florence's father believed that women should be educated 258 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:47,160 as well as men, so he ensured that the girls were taught the sciences, 259 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:51,320 the classics, and Florence's own passion - mathematics. 260 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:55,840 Embley Park was a place for entertaining. 261 00:16:55,840 --> 00:16:59,080 This fiercely intelligent Florence encountered guests, 262 00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:02,920 who were eminent scientists or literary figures, 263 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:05,800 such as Charles Darwin and Elizabeth Gaskell. 264 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:11,600 In the grounds of Embley Park, 265 00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:14,360 the course of Florence's life was set. 266 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:19,760 So this is a hugely significant place 267 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:22,040 in the story of Florence Nightingale, 268 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:24,440 because it's underneath this very tree 269 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:28,360 that Florence felt very strongly that she was called by God 270 00:17:28,360 --> 00:17:31,000 to serve her fellow man through nursing. 271 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:33,080 So how did she actually become a nurse? 272 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:35,400 Well, it was something that was very, very difficult. 273 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:37,400 Nursing was not a profession at this time. 274 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:39,560 It was very much looked down on. 275 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:43,560 So she managed to pick up various bits of experience 276 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:47,800 while travelling around Europe, and then finally, in her late 20s, 277 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:52,040 became a superintendent of a small charitable hospital. 278 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:54,840 So how was it that she went off to Crimea? 279 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:57,680 She was approached by Sidney Herbert, 280 00:17:57,680 --> 00:17:59,320 the Secretary at War, 281 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:03,360 and asked if she would lead a group of 38 nurses 282 00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:06,520 to go out to protect and to care for the soldiers 283 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:09,880 in the appalling conditions that they found themselves in. 284 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:12,240 The sanitation was non-existent, 285 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:15,880 so latrines were backed-up and coming into the rooms. 286 00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:18,000 The soldiers had no beds, 287 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:21,920 they were wearing their bloodstained shirts from the battlefield. 288 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:26,240 So this was a huge challenge Florence and her nurses. 289 00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:31,200 Nightingale referred to the facility as the Kingdom of Hell. 290 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:35,680 The majority of the 25,000 British deaths during the Crimean War 291 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:40,600 were caused by infection and disease rather than battle wounds. 292 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:43,520 As a result of her passion for statistics, 293 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:46,640 she recorded valuable and persuasive data 294 00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:51,440 and wrote countless reports in support of her demands for change. 295 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:54,240 Florence became a megastar very quickly. 296 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:56,840 Her name was all over the British press, 297 00:18:56,840 --> 00:18:59,040 and she wanted use that fame 298 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:02,120 to ensure that the terrible experiences 299 00:19:02,120 --> 00:19:05,080 of the Crimean War shouldn't be repeated, 300 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:08,080 and that public health should be reformed and improved 301 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:10,080 as a result of her experience. 302 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:11,920 She basically campaigned and lobbied 303 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:15,040 for health reform for the rest of her life. 304 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:16,920 Amongst her many achievements, 305 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:21,240 she transformed nursing into respectable profession for women, 306 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:25,080 establishing in 1860 the first professional training school 307 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:28,040 for nurses at St Thomas' Hospital in London. 308 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:34,640 It might seem corny to place a candle at the grave of Florence Nightingale, 309 00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:39,880 the lady with a lamp, but during a grim period in Victorian Britain, 310 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:44,200 her courageous deeds shone through the darkness like a light. 311 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:57,240 From Romsey, the next leg of my journey 312 00:19:57,240 --> 00:19:59,080 takes me south to the New Forest, 313 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:01,840 which is served by the station of Brockenhurst. 314 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:07,640 Tickets, please. Thank you. 315 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:11,880 Thank you. 316 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:15,320 'I am changing at Southampton to continue my journey 317 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:17,880 'through Forest landscape to Dorchester.' 318 00:20:25,120 --> 00:20:29,360 The straight lines of the railway enabled trains to travel fast 319 00:20:29,360 --> 00:20:33,360 and to avoid the slow meanders of roads and canals. 320 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:39,520 At the time of my guidebook and indeed throughout the 19th century, 321 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:43,080 travel by rail was superior to travel by road 322 00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:46,400 because tracks provided stability and speed, 323 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:49,760 but improvements to roads and to engine technology 324 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:54,320 tipped the balance in the other direction during the 20th century. 325 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:56,640 Where better to find out about those changes 326 00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:59,200 than at the house of the Montagus, Beaulieu? 327 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:09,600 Built on the site of an old Cistercian abbey, 328 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:12,640 Beaulieu is the home of the Montagu family 329 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:16,080 and, since 1972, the National Motor Museum. 330 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:17,800 HORN BEEPS 331 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:27,400 Beaulieu's motoring heritage 332 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:29,640 originates from the late 19th century, 333 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:31,360 with the second Lord Montagu, 334 00:21:31,360 --> 00:21:33,920 who was an avid campaigner for the motorist. 335 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:39,000 I'm meeting his grandson, the current Lord Montagu. 336 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:42,080 So what was it that your grandfather was able to do 337 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:45,560 to make the motor car more acceptable in the United Kingdom? 338 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:49,040 He introduced motoring to royalty. 339 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:52,000 He took the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, 340 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:54,160 for his first drive in a car. 341 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:57,520 That then made motoring much more acceptable to people. 342 00:21:57,520 --> 00:22:01,800 He also took his car, as an MP, to the House of Commons. 343 00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:05,400 He wanted to drive into the yard, but was stopped by the policeman, 344 00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:08,320 so he appealed to the Speaker who said, "Yes, you can come in." 345 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:12,000 And so he was the first person to bring a petrol car 346 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,160 into the yard at the House of Commons, 347 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:17,280 which I'm sure at the time was quite an excitement. 348 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:24,520 The Museum charts the history of the automobile over the ages. 349 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:28,880 Volunteer John Richardson is going to show me the early motoring machines, 350 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:32,560 which, like the railway locomotives of the time, ran on steam. 351 00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:36,720 Hello, John. 352 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:39,400 I think most people know how locomotives developed 353 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:41,800 on the railways during the 19th century, 354 00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:44,600 but not much idea of what was going on on the roads, 355 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:47,080 but I suppose that this is part of the answer. 356 00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:49,640 Well, this, yes. This is the 1875 Grenville, 357 00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:52,800 which really is the sort of end of the steam development 358 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:54,320 of road-going vehicles. 359 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:56,000 How did it actually operate? 360 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:58,000 Well, you have the poor old stoker at the back, 361 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:00,920 who's going to put coal into the boiler here to make the steam, 362 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:04,320 which is going to work the engine down here. 363 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:06,480 Additionally, you have two men at the front. 364 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:09,480 One is the steersman, he is going to point it in the right direction. 365 00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:11,000 The other one is the driver. 366 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:12,920 So, you have a crew of three for, what, 367 00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:14,960 a maximum of three passengers, by the look of it? 368 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:17,720 You can get one passenger in the front and three at the back here, 369 00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:21,760 so it's not a very large load-bearing vehicle. 370 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:24,240 The condition of the roads is quite an issue, isn't it? 371 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:27,480 People who own roads are not very favourably disposed 372 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:29,760 towards these large, heavy vehicles. 373 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:32,840 Oh, no. The roads were in a pretty shocking state at the time. 374 00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:35,040 Though they had the turnpike trusts, 375 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:38,240 who were empowered to raise tolls and look after the roads, 376 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:41,640 there was a great resistance to these steam vehicles, 377 00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:43,720 so they introduced the Red Flag Act, 378 00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:48,160 which required a gentleman to walk 60 yards in front with a red flag. 379 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:52,520 So how do we date the origins of the internal combustion engine? 380 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:55,080 Well, we have to come to the very early 1860s, 381 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:58,560 when Etienne Lenoir developed his gas-powered engine, 382 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:00,360 and followed by Nikolaus Otto 383 00:24:00,360 --> 00:24:02,960 with the four-stroke cycle engine as well. 384 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:04,400 And neither one of those British. 385 00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:06,320 I'm afraid not. No, they were German. 386 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:12,280 'In Britain, as a result of intense opposition 387 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:15,920 'to anything other than horse-drawn road transport,' 388 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:19,440 Parliament imposed a speed limit of 4mph. 389 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:23,440 While Britain had led the way with the railways, 390 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:27,800 it fell far behind in early automobile development. 391 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:31,880 France and Germany were the pioneers of the motor car. 392 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:33,360 By the end of the 19th century, 393 00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:36,200 are motor cars in Britain becoming quite popular? 394 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:38,160 Well, they are becoming very popular indeed. 395 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:41,600 There is a growing sort of opinion that wants to get cars onto the road. 396 00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:45,440 The removal of the Red Flag Act in 1896 397 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:46,960 and the Emancipation Run, 398 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:49,280 when the cars were allowed to drive on the roads. 399 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:51,160 The drove from London to Brighton. 400 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:52,760 Then the public could see the cars, 401 00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:55,080 and it even gained further popularity. 402 00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:00,280 I am intrigued to try out one of these early models, 403 00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:04,280 perhaps to be enthralled and terrified as Victorians were. 404 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:10,960 Engineer Ian Stanfield will be my instructor. 405 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:12,400 Ian, hello. 406 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,400 Hello, Michael. What a splendid vehicle. What is it? 407 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:19,400 It is an 1886 Benz replica. 408 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:22,800 Basically the first motor car. Really? 409 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:26,120 Are we able to take a spin in it? Yeah, for sure, yeah. 410 00:25:26,120 --> 00:25:27,480 How do you get it going? 411 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:29,480 Well, I'll have to fiddle around the back here 412 00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:31,920 and spin the flywheel to get it going. 413 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:34,240 So if you want to sit up in the driving position... 414 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:35,400 OK. I'll do that. 415 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:37,680 ..I'll show you where the controls are. 416 00:25:40,120 --> 00:25:42,960 So it is very simple. This is your steering. 417 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:47,200 That's right, and that's left. That is clear enough. 418 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:50,040 This lever here, if you pull it all the way back on, 419 00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:51,480 that is your brake. 420 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:55,080 And as you ease it forward, that puts it into gear, 421 00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:57,480 so you basically creep forward. 422 00:25:57,480 --> 00:25:59,120 Let's see if I can get it to go. 423 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:04,360 ENGINE CHUGS 424 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:11,120 So, brake off, push the lever forward, 425 00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:13,520 ease it into gear and off we go. 426 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:17,800 Tally-ho! Off we go. 427 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:19,800 We'll turn round to the right here. 428 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:39,160 CHUGGING CONTINUES 429 00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:53,520 If I make this prediction, 430 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:57,680 the motor car will never catch on or be a threat to the railways. 431 00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:06,320 'The car went on to challenge the railway's pre-eminence.' 432 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:14,720 And it is one of the many innovations first seen in Victorian times 433 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:17,200 that dominate our world today. 434 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:26,080 Britain was rarely troubled by war during the Victorian period, 435 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:28,800 partly because we were so well-prepared, 436 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:32,080 matching every French improvement in military technology 437 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:33,840 and then trumping it. 438 00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:39,240 It's an irony that when war did break out in the Crimea in the 1850s, 439 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:41,960 France was our ally. 440 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:44,960 We then rediscovered the horrors of warfare, 441 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:49,720 and our national compassion was personified by Florence Nightingale - 442 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:53,200 the most admired of all Victorians. 443 00:27:56,520 --> 00:28:00,440 'Next time, I investigate the ins and outs of carpets.' 444 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:02,080 This is how you weave. 445 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:12,400 'Discover the little-known railway verse of Thomas Hardy.' 446 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:14,040 "And the wheels moved on. 447 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:18,000 "O could it but be That I had alighted there!" 448 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,440 He missed his chance. He did indeed. 449 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:23,400 'And brush up on a forgotten artist.' 450 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:26,920 You're doing a grand job, Michael. I think Danby would be proud of you. 451 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:29,720 MICHAEL LAUGHS You old flatterer!