For Edwardian Britons,
a Bradshaw's was an indispensable guide to a railway network
at its peak.
I'm using an early 20th century edition to navigate a vibrant and
optimistic Britain at the height of its power
and influence in the world.
But a nation wrestling with political,
social and industrial unrest at home.
In 1901, shortly before the publication of my Bradshaw's,
Queen Victoria died after nearly 64 years on the throne.
Her successor Edward VII was hardly a young man,
and yet his accession clearly represented a big change.
He was enormous where she had been petite.
He was wayward where she had been discreet.
Starting in one of his favourite counties, Norfolk,
on this rail journey I will embrace Edward and the Edwardians.
My rail journey will take me from
aristocratic estates in Norfolk through
the university city of Cambridge, onto the high life of the capital.
I'll make my way along the south coast,
crossing the Solent to explore the King's childhood
on the Isle of Wight.
Returning to the mainland,
I'll experience turn-of-the-century past times in the seaside resorts of
Bournemouth and Poole.
The first leg starts at Cromer.
My route heads south to the Norfolk Broads at Wroxham,
where I'll shoot across to Attleborough
and the Quidenham Estate before ending in my alma mater.
On the way, I learn the ropes on an Edwardian pleasure boat...
Are they up there yet, skipper?
Nearly there. Heave! Ho!
..take a pot shot at the sport of kings...
Is this the sort of place His Majesty would have shot?
The King would have been probably
standing not far from where we are now.
Pull!
..and, Fred Astaire, watch out,
as I'm persuaded to put on my dancing shoes to strut my stuff.
The railways came relatively late to parts of Norfolk.
As a result, it offered unspoiled resorts,
and as these timetables make clear,
there were good connections to London and other places.
Bradshaw's says Cromer is one of the few English health resorts that
combine country and sea in close proximity,
which is very restful to the eye.
More than one Royal personage has been ordered here.
Cromer was in the same county as Sandringham,
which in 1862 had become Edward's country house
when he was still Prince of Wales, with the landscape
reminding his bride, Alexandra, of her native Denmark.
Lying at the foot of a cliff, Cromer beach has been awarded a blue flag,
meaning it's top quality.
At the time of my guidebook,
the town aimed to attract a high class of visitor.
Indeed, Bradshaw's supplement to the spas and health resorts of
Great Britain tells me that, "Cromer has a fine promenade of pier,
"with an enclosure for 1,000 persons, safe bathing,
"firm, level sands, boating,
"fishing, first-class band and theatre,
"Royal Cromer golf links, tennis, bowls."
Every kind of amusement for the fun-loving Edwardian!
I'm meeting Alistair Murphy, curator of Cromer Museum,
to find out what made this into a holiday spot fit for a king.
Alistair, hello. Hi.
So, Cromer is a beautiful place today,
but what was its making as an Edwardian resort?
Well, the railways didn't get here until 1877,
and as a result it was a relatively undiscovered part of the coast at a
time when holidays were already pretty well established.
It meant that Cromer was unspoiled.
According to my Bradshaw's, there's sailing,
there's the royal golf links - it's catering for the upper classes,
is that right? Absolutely.
In the 1880s, 1890s, even the
crowned heads of Europe came to Cromer.
But with people bathing here, was there any risque element?
Cromer may be a trendsetter in that respect.
If you went to the seaside in the 1880s, 1890s,
the fathers and the sons would have
to go to one end of the beach to bathe,
and women and daughters would have to go the other end,
but we think that Cromer was the first place
to allow the indecent behaviour
of women and men bathing together.
We've got records of a local town
council meeting where an elderly member
of the council is apoplectic about
the idea that mixed bathing should be
happening in his seaside resort.
As the 20th century got into its stride,
Cromer acquired something that had become an essential part of the
British holiday.
Alistair, the pier is lovely and very, very well preserved.
Is it Edwardian? It is.
It was officially opened in 1901.
I think Cromer, as all the resorts did,
looked to see what their competitors were doing and try and better them.
Officiating at the opening ceremony was Lord Claud Hamilton,
chairman of the Great Eastern Railway -
a sure sign of how important trains
had become to the town's tourist business.
Bradshaw's tells me, of course, it has a large theatre.
It does, although in 1901 there was
just a small bandstand to start with.
This pavilion was built the winter of 1905-06.
And what sort of entertainment do you think
they might have got in those days?
Well, when the pavilion opened you would have had variety and
musical and comedy.
Around that time,
bawdy music hall was being
rebranded as the more respectable-sounding variety.
Tables and chairs were replaced with theatre-style seating,
and variety included acrobats, animal acts,
jugglers and dancers on the same bill.
It's a tradition that continues on Cromer Pier today.
Director of this year's show is Diane Cook.
Five, six, seven, eight.
And going into the next dancing section, next tapping section.
Hello, Di. I'm Michael.
Hi, Michael. Good to see you.
Hello, Company. Hello! So, would you call this variety after all these
years? It's absolutely still traditional variety,
but it does have 21st-century content now.
And is tap still a very big and popular thing?
Absolutely, yes. I think it's the rhythms of tap that people like,
and it's been around for a long time,
but of course now we're doing it in
a street style, so it's really given it a modern feel.
How do you start someone on tap?
Mostly dancers start at a very early age, but the first...
Slightly younger than you, Michael.
Oh, right, OK. Yeah. But you would start with stamps and rhythms and
getting the rhythms together by
teaching them how to clap the rhythms,
and then they'll start with a stamp, that's the way.
And then they'll go onto a brush back and stamp.
That's it now. Brush, back and stamp.
Brush, back and stamp.
And then they'll add a hop, shuffle, hop, step, shuffle.
I feel naked. That's better.
Here we go.
Fabulous.
Here we go.
Take it away, Michael.
I think that deserves a bow, doesn't it?
Well done. Thank you.
Tickets. Hello, there. Hello.
From Cromer, I'm taking the train inland, leaving the sea behind,
but not the water.
I'm heading for the complex of waterways and lakes
known as the Norfolk Broads.
After the naughty titillations of the seaside and the pier,
I'm feeling broad-minded.
The capital of the Norfolk Broads,
Wroxham, is a magnet for visitors planning a day out.
Modern tourists explore the waterways on motor cruisers,
but for most Edwardian travellers boating was under sail.
I'm meeting yacht owner Andrew Scull.
Hello, are you Andrew?
Hello. I am. Hello, Michael.
And this is a wherry?
This is Olive - the first of the wherry yachts to be built in 1909.
Absolutely spectacular.
May we go on board? Of course.
Olive was named after the daughter of boat builder Ernest Collins,
who was based in Wroxham.
Andrew, what are the Norfolk Broads?
They are a couple of principal rivers, the Bure,
on which we are sailing today, and the Yare.
Yare being "Yaremouth," Yarmouth.
But the rest were peat diggings from medieval times,
which essentially filled with water.
And they were very useful for navigation?
Indeed, in those days lots of the villages were in need of various
products, so the things that the trading wherries would carry,
it would be coal, grain, cloth,
and they were designed to be able to be sailed by just one person.
When the railways arrived in the late 19th century,
they could move cargo more quickly and cheaply,
but the resourceful wherrymen just moved sideways into leisure.
And the railways that had ruined the cargo trade now began to bring
holiday-makers to the Norfolk Broads.
In Edwardian times, were tourists coming and they
were able to ride for pleasure on the wherries?
They were, and as more and more came, the wherry yacht came into
existence, which was essentially designed
for carrying holiday-makers.
So, we've got the use of a skipper and also crew,
who when they weren't attending to the duties of sailing the boat,
would be providing meals and serving the visitors who came.
So the visitors had a choice of
doing as much or as little as they wanted to do onboard.
Now, we are drifting around very nicely but we have a sail?
Indeed. Should we put it up?
Let's do that.
Michael, can I introduce you to Jerry?
Jerry, Michael. I'm Michael, indeed.
So, what do we have to do here?
Basically, we need to pick up a winch handle each.
You have yours pointed downwards,
I'll have mine pointing upwards, and then we need to wind roughly the
same speed, exerting a little bit of
inward pressure so the winch handle doesn't come off.
OK. Basically, We keep going until the skipper tells us to stop.
OK.
The sail is going up.
A bit harder. When you can do it with two hands.
Right. Let me know when.
OK.
Two hands.
Is it not up there yet, skipper?
Nearly there.
Nearly there. It's getting hard.
Heave! Ho!
That'll do, thank you.
That was good exercise.
Look at that. What a beautiful craft.
Exquisite.
You can see the Edwardian attraction in it, can't you?
Far from the madding crowd, far from the old smoke of London.
Absolutely delightful, especially on a day like this.
Really lovely.
Bye, Andrew. Bye-bye, Michael.
Thank you. Skipper, bye.
Goodbye.
Bye-bye now. Bye-bye.
BRASS BAND PLAYS
Brass bands became popular in the mid-19th century.
And by the early 20th century, there were thousands,
all over the country.
It was truly a golden age of brass.
HE APPLAUDS
Bravo! The Norfolk Wherry Brass.
And why are you called the Norfolk Wherry Brass?
Wherry ties everything together in Norfolk.
A form of transport,
because many of these people come from different parts of Norfolk.
And the wherry connects you all.
And what was that piece you are playing?
That was a march called Viscount Nelson.
And what's the connection? Nelson,
of course, was born in Norfolk and learnt to sail
on Barton Broad very close to here.
Are you telling me that the Battle of Trafalgar
was won on the sailing broads of
Norfolk? Absolutely.
I rejoin the train at Hoveton and Wroxham station,
bidding farewell to the Broads.
I'm on the Bittern line,
which takes its name from a species
of heron found in the reedy wetlands.
A golden evening caps a beautiful summer's day,
and I'm going to spend the night in Norwich.
At the time of my Bradshaw's, Norwich had not one,
but three railway stations, drawing lines from all corners of Norfolk.
It was, until the Industrial Revolution,
the largest city in England after London,
with the Norman Cathedral at its heart.
An advertisement in my Bradshaw's has drawn me to the
Maids' Head Hotel.
"County hotel of Norfolk,
"for 500 years," and this was written 100 years ago.
"Sanitary certificate in every room."
Irresistible.
I'll be leaving this train at Attleborough, headed for Quidenham.
The standard newspaper in October
1909 tells me that the little village,
one of the prettiest in Norfolk,
was all agog because of the visit of His Majesty the King.
He travelled from London by special train and when he descended from the
royal saloon he was a picture of good health.
There was very good shooting at Quidenham,
but now that I look at the guest list,
present were the honourable George and Mrs Keppel.
Now, she was the king's devoted mistress,
so at Quidenham there was a target
even more important than the partridge
that fell victim to his majestic marksmanship.
King Edward VII already owned a Norfolk estate at Sandringham,
bought for him by Queen Victoria when he turned 21.
He became a regular visitor at Quidenham,
home of the eighth Earl of Albermarle,
Arnold Keppel.
Today, you don't have to be royalty to shoot here -
the grounds are open to the paying public.
I'm meeting gamekeeper Robert Brown.
Robert, Quidenham Hall presents a fine facade, impressive building.
What would this scene have been like, do you think,
when King Edward VII visited?
Well, the Hall itself pretty much has not changed, but in front of us,
people lined the roadside with flags, torches,
bunting in the hedges.
It would have been a very impressive site, I would have thought.
And if it was a royal weekend, how
much shooting would there be, do you think?
Well, they normally shot for two-three days, consecutive days.
And that takes a lot of organisation?
Yes. You can imagine the amount of staff that they would have had.
Two teams of beaters, 25 on each,
head keeper on the horse directing everything.
It must have been like a military operation.
A regular presence at the shooting parties
was Lord Albermarle's sister-in-law.
On the guest list was Alice Keppel.
Yes. She would have come up here with her husband
and she was the king's
mistress. And what do you know of her?
She was a very beautiful woman, very popular.
Pretty convenient for the king,
to combine two of his great interests in life.
Probably. Yeah, I think they had to be given time, shall we say.
I'm going to try my luck with some clay pigeons.
It's my opportunity to walk in the footsteps of King Edward VII.
Is this the sort of place His Majesty would have shot?
Yeah, this would have been one of the pheasant drives.
The king would have been probably
standing not far from where we are now.
Well, although I carried this gun, I thought, rather skilfully,
I don't actually know how to use it.
But would you...? Shall we have a little go?
Yeah, certainly.
Cartridges in.
What's that thing there? Safety catch.
Push forward when you're ready and it's live.
It's all loaded. Ready?
Safety catch on.
How do I pull the trigger? Do you squeeze it or...?
You want to give it a good snatch.
A good snatch. Yes.
Pull.
No luck on that one.
You've actually hit it but it didn't smash.
I hit it? The second one, yes.
I hit it!
Let's have another go. Safety catch on.
Again, slide it forward when you're ready.
OK.
Pull.
Yes.
I'm so pleased. I can't tell you how pleased I am.
How did I hit that? That's amazing.
Maybe I was to the manor born. What do you think?
Well done.
And just like the king, who loved his food and drink,
after my sporting triumph, I'm ready for a pick-me-up.
A sloe gin with some fizz for you.
Good health. Thank you very much.
Why sloe gin? Very traditional.
It's what the king would have had on a shoot.
And we serve it at elevenses on all our shoots.
Elevenses. Here we go.
Good health. Cheers.
Thank you, Robert. Cheers.
Sloe gin, but it gets through you quickly, doesn't it?
Marvellous. Hits the spot. It's what you need.
And we have a selection of savoury treats here,
some home-made sausage rolls, some tartlets.
Home cooking, absolutely delicious.
Wonderful.
Well, Robert, to our...
..success. Very surprising in my case.
Well shot. Well shot.
On the final leg of my journey, I'm travelling from rural East Anglia to
a world-famous centre of academia.
The career of King Edward VII now leads me to Cambridge because he was
an undergraduate there.
But I'm also in pursuit of a novelist
who links the Edwardian era with my own,
because just shortly before I went to the university,
there died an old man
who had been a resident of King's College, Cambridge, for decades.
The extraordinary EM Forster.
Cambridge is dominated by its university,
made up of 31 separate colleges scattered around the city centre.
The Prince of Wales - then known as Bertie,
and already something of a ladies' man -
arrived here to study in 1861.
The future King Edward VII studied here at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Rumours circulated of an affair with an actress in Ireland.
His father, Prince Albert, though ill,
travelled to Cambridge to remonstrate
with the heir to the throne.
On his return to London, Albert's health deteriorated,
and within three weeks he was dead.
A distraught Queen Victoria would always feel
that her promiscuous son was
partly responsible for the death of her beloved husband.
36 years later at nearby King's College,
the future best-selling author of
A Room With A View and Howards End, Edward Morgan Forster,
arrived to study classics.
Hello, Peter. Very nice to meet you.
I'm Michael. Good to see you.
I've come to meet fellow of King's and Forster expert Peter Jones
in the shadow of the hallowed King's College Chapel.
When a very young EM Forster first comes to Cambridge, to King's,
what sort of a person is he?
He would have been very shy.
His mother brought him up and she kept him very sheltered,
and he went to a public school but he wasn't really comfortable there,
he didn't make many friends,
so King's was for him a big opening up of his life
and a chance to make friends.
What sort of a place was King's when he came here?
In the middle of the 19th century,
it would still have been a college for old Etonians.
In 1861, the college said they were going to take everybody,
so King's expanded hugely.
This opened the place up to all kinds of influences
that had not been there before.
How did Forster feel about religion?
I don't think he had any faith.
It was something of a relief to him to find his tutor was an atheist and
immediately that led Forster to feel relaxed.
He didn't have to show that he was Christian.
And for much of his life he was a humanist, wasn't he?
Yes, that's right, the sort of faith he professed later as a liberal
individualist was very much what he
imbibed at King's, because that was the ethos here.
Steeped in this radical atmosphere,
the young Forster began to explore
the big themes that would run through his writing.
We have two of his student diaries.
You can see the crest of King's College
and then underneath EMF on each of them.
And the year - 1898 and 1899.
And if we look inside, we are in November 1899.
"Ainsworth came in and ate bacon.
"Then he and Meredith argued about beauty."
It shows that he's beginning to
relax enough to talk with his friends
about serious matters.
Love, beauty, friendship.
And here we see some of the novels,
with which we're so familiar.
That's right. The Edwardian period of Forster's novel writing,
he's building on his experiences in Cambridge and you get a sequence of
novels - The Longest Journey,
and then A Room With A View, and finally Howards End in 1910.
He became somebody who was willing to express
a very liberal and humanist view.
In Forster's novels,
liberal idealists come up against the rigid conventions of class-bound
Edwardian society.
With human relationships at their core,
they continue to appeal to modern readers.
Why do you think so many of the novels have been filmed?
Film-makers find the romance plots
and the swishier Edwardian dresses and cars
and so on very attractive, so they can make a kind of heritage movie
and all of those things - they're not really what he felt
he was about as a novelist. Yes.
Although they have had the effect of making his novels popular again.
The Norfolk Broads wherry was a
large boat designed for one-man operation,
but I find a Cambridge punt enough of a challenge for me.
Whilst Edwardians enjoyed the
sauciness of the theatre and of the beach,
their monarch was enjoying shooting and Alice Keppel.
EM Forster, in one of his novels, describes undergraduate life with
the college providing a servant to
make your bed, but goes on to argue that the
real privilege of Cambridge was, for
a few years, to be surrounded by the
greatest minds of your time.
Next time, I discover a new era of
tunnelling deep beneath the capital...
Every 45 minutes we can get another 1.5 metres completed.
..I tip the scales at a historic wine merchant...
I've obviously misjudged you, Michael,
because I can see that actually you're a lot
lighter than I thought you were and I apologise.
..and get on my bike in Lycra.
That was great. Whoa!