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00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:06,560
For Edwardian Britons,

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00:00:06,560 --> 00:00:10,920
a Bradshaw's was an indispensable
guide to a railway network

3
00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:12,600
at its peak.

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00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:18,120
I'm using an early 20th century
edition to navigate a vibrant

5
00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:20,040
and optimistic Britain

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00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,560
at the height of its power
and influence in the world.

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But a nation wrestling
with political, social

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00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:31,720
and industrial unrest at home.

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00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:56,960
My railway journey through
south-west England

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00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:00,640
will soon reach its furthest edge
and the ocean.

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00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:02,800
At the beginning of 20th century,

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00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:06,280
we were building enormous,
invincible liners

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00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:10,240
and also making waves
across the Atlantic.

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But for many, Cornwall was home
and there was work to be done.

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Whilst for others,
it was a holiday destination,

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00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:22,080
glamorised in literature
and easy to reach by train.

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I began this journey
in south-west Wales,

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00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:35,760
skirting the coast as I travelled
eastwards to take in Swansea

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and Cardiff, before crossing
the border into England.

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I charted Bristol's aviation history

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and then enjoyed
the Somerset countryside

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en route to Devon's south coast.

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Now I'm travelling west
towards my final stop in Cornwall.

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Today, I start in Plymouth.

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From there, I'll reach the
picturesque harbour town of Fowey,

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then make my way to the end
of the line at Penzance,

27
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to reach Newlyn

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and finish on England's
southernmost cape, The Lizard.

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On this trip, I rediscover
a stylish Edwardian author.

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A little bit racy, I would have
thought, wouldn't you?

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Have a bash at creating turn of
the century Cornish collectables.

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And there's our image starting to
come through on the front.

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And boldly go where no railway
traveller has gone before.

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Even Bradshaw never went
to the moon.

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'Even Bradshaw never went
to the moon.'

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That is fantastic. My voice
has gone to the moon and back!

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From 1904,

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Edwardian passengers could travel
the 225 miles

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00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:59,120
from London to Plymouth nonstop
on the Cornish Riviera Express.

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Railways and steam ships
had vanquished distance.

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But the self-confidence
of this golden age of travel

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was soon to be dented.

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The sinking of the Titanic
more than a century ago

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seems to be the best remembered
disaster,

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with books, movies and museums
dedicated to the tragedy.

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Its owner, the White Star Line,
advertises in my 1907 Bradshaw's.

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00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:35,560
The death toll was horrendous
but not everybody perished.

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Plymouth is the place to ask

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00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:42,880
what happened to those who survived
that Titanic trauma?

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Plymouth owes its name
to its position

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at the mouth of the River Plym.

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In 1914,

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it merged with the neighbouring
towns of Stonehouse and Devonport,

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where I'm alighting today.

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Historian Harry Bennett is setting
the scene at Millbay Dock.

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Harry. Michael.

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Good to see you.
Pleased to meet you.

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Why was Plymouth so important
for liners?

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Well, Plymouth is effectively
central to the development

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00:04:32,280 --> 00:04:36,600
of both the history of ocean liners,
but also to the transatlantic story.

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It's in 1620 that the Mayflower
set sail from Plymouth

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and, of course, is involved
in founding the New World.

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And later on,
in the late Victorian period,

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where you have ocean liners which
are crossing from North America,

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their first key landfall, really,
is Plymouth.

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And Plymouth is the point
where they can get off ship,

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go into Millbay Docks and catch
the train, get to London and,

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as Great Western Railway said, you
can save a day by taking the train.

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00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:05,760
From the moment the railways
reached Plymouth,

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00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:08,200
it's faster to travel by land
than by sea.

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00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:12,280
Yes. Effectively, you can go along
on a train at 70-80 miles an hour

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instead of crawling slowly up the
English Channel at maybe 20 knots.

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But it's after Brunel's
Great Western in the 1830s

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it begins to take off.

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By the Edwardian period,
it's in full swing.

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This is the point where
transatlantic liner companies

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00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:29,960
are competing with each other
for the fastest crossings,

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00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:33,000
competing for passengers,
they're competing for cargo,

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00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:35,800
and they're competing for the
all-important Blue Riband,

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00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:39,120
the vital badge which says, we are
the fastest across the Atlantic.

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00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:48,040
In 1912, the most famous
ocean liner in history,

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00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:52,720
the Olympic-class Titanic,
set sail from Southampton.

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She was due to call at Plymouth
on her return journey.

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Instead, Titanic struck an iceberg.

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00:05:59,920 --> 00:06:03,000
1,500 lives were lost.

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00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:07,400
A fortnight later,
167 of her surviving crew

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00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:09,560
disembarked in Plymouth.

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00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:15,760
I'm taking up the story
at the Duke of Cornwall Hotel

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00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:19,360
with Nigel Voisey,
whose researched the disaster.

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00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:23,520
What a brilliant place.
Fantastic.

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00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:25,200
Superb view.

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00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:27,760
What happened to them
when they got here?

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00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:31,560
We didn't treat them very well.
After the ordeal of the sinking,

94
00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:33,760
we basically locked them up
behind gates

95
00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:36,200
and they weren't allowed
to go home straight away.

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00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:40,680
Some survivors were put into second
or third class waiting rooms,

97
00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:43,280
but the 20 stewardesses,
they fared quite better.

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00:06:43,280 --> 00:06:47,240
They stayed in the Duke of Cornwall
Hotel. Where we are right now. Yes.

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00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:49,560
What was the point
of detaining them?

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00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:54,440
The White Star Line did not want
the actual story of the Titanic

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00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:57,480
coming out into the public
and into the press.

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00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:01,480
So they were basically told
to give their sworn statement

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00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:04,000
and they would not speak to anyone
about it.

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The catastrophe had sparked an
international outpouring of grief.

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And a call for answers.

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The crew were held until
they had given statements

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00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:16,480
to a Board of Trade inquiry.

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Did their families know what had
happened to them by that stage?

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00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:23,680
When they were locked up, you had
some people opening a window,

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00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:26,400
throwing notes out of the window,
saying, you know,

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00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:28,960
"Tell my wife I'm alive, I'm safe."

112
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So, really, relatives didn't know

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00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:34,240
until they actually met them
face-to-face.

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00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:37,720
It was hardly a heroes' welcome.

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Yet three-quarters of the Titanic's
crew had lost their lives,

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00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:47,280
many after sacrificing their places
in the lifeboats for passengers.

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And those who survived have
remarkable stories to tell.

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20 stewardesses stay in this hotel.
Do we know much about them?

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We know a few bits.
We've got Violet Jessop.

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She was quite a famous part
of the White Star Line

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00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:03,440
and the Olympic-class liners.

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She was on RMS Olympic

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00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:08,720
when the Olympic had her collision
with HMS Hawke.

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00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:10,440
She was on Titanic.

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00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:13,680
And actually, she was on Britannic
when she hit a mine

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00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:15,680
in the First World War.

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So she survived a collision,
a sinking and an act of war?

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00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:21,360
Yes, she did, yes.

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I'm re-joining the route of
the Cornish Riviera Express

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00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:37,680
at Plymouth's main station,
heading west into Cornwall.

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I'm on my way to Fowey.
Do you know Fowey? Yes, I do.

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On my birth certificate,
I have "Place of birth - Fowey",

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of which I am immensely proud.

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It is very picturesque.

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Very lovely.

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00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:04,240
Sadly, Fowey doesn't have
its own railway station.

137
00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:06,960
No, not for passengers.
It does for freight.

138
00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:08,720
Mostly China clay.

139
00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:12,800
But I do remember when it did
have a passenger train.

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00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:15,200
Did you ever ride that train?
Yes, I did, yes.

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00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:17,040
With my grandmother, many times.

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00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:19,480
Do you remember what sort
of a train that was?

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00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:22,240
No, I don't.
I presume it was a steam one.

144
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I should imagine, because
it was that long ago.

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Showing my age now.

146
00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:39,200
I'll leave this train at Par,

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00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,760
on my way to Fowey
in search of a writer.

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00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,280
Daphne du Maurier,
you'll be thinking,

149
00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:48,960
but, no, Edwardians would have
associated Fowey with the man

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00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:52,720
who wrote this book -
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch.

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00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:55,440
Also known simply as Q.

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00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:59,680
It's time to rediscover
this lost literary figure.

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00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:22,840
Par is four miles north-east of the
picturesque Cornish port of Fowey,

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00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:27,520
where rows of colourful houses
cascade towards the river.

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It's the perfect setting for
a delicious Cornish ice cream.

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00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:36,240
At the time of my Bradshaw's,

157
00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:39,640
visitors would have found
a harbour newly dredged

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to accommodate the transport
of China clay by boat.

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00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:47,040
"Of all views, I reckon
that of a harbour

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"the most fascinating
and the most easeful,

161
00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:53,480
"for it combines perpetual change
with perpetual repose.

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00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:57,840
"It amuses like a panorama
and soothes like an opiate."

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00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:02,000
So wrote author
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch,

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00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:06,720
who lived in Fowey from 1892
until his death in 1944.

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00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:14,440
I've come to the Fowey Museum
for an introduction to Q

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00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:16,880
from curator Helen Luther.

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00:11:16,880 --> 00:11:20,760
Hello, Helen. Michael, nice to meet
you. Welcome. Very nice to meet you.

168
00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:24,560
And what a charming museum.
Helen, I didn't know about Q.

169
00:11:24,560 --> 00:11:26,920
How famous was he in his day?

170
00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:28,640
In his day, very famous.

171
00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:30,520
A prolific author.

172
00:11:30,520 --> 00:11:33,760
What we should remember him for?
Novels? Poems? What?

173
00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:37,160
Probably the most people will
remember him from his poems,

174
00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:39,040
the Oxford Book of Verse,

175
00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:41,800
I think is probably what
most people will remember.

176
00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:48,480
As editor of the first Oxford Book
of English Verse published in 1900,

177
00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:52,440
Q helped to shape Edwardian
Britain's taste in poetry.

178
00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:55,640
His popular fiction was inspired
by his native Cornwall

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00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:58,520
and his adoptive home, Fowey.

180
00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:01,400
He immersed himself totally
in the community.

181
00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:03,400
Fell in love with Fowey
and the view.

182
00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:06,440
Later fell in love with
a Fowey girl, who he married,

183
00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:09,520
and then visited Fowey many times
before he settled.

184
00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:14,800
The Astonishing Story of Troy Town,
published in 1888,

185
00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:18,040
is a likely disguised depiction
of Fowey.

186
00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:21,480
It was so well-known to Edwardians
that a 1905 guide

187
00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:25,240
aimed at passengers
on the Cornish Riviera Express

188
00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:28,360
used Troy Town as a synonym
for Fowey.

189
00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:32,600
So, what kind of impression of Fowey
do we get from these books?

190
00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:34,680
A bit eccentric, I think.

191
00:12:34,680 --> 00:12:36,880
Erm, people used to have fun.

192
00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:38,920
There was certainly a lot going on.

193
00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:40,760
There were stories...

194
00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:43,800
historical stories that are
interwoven into his novels.

195
00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:49,040
So some of it is factually based,
but a lot of amusing goings-on.

196
00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:52,120
It was thinly disguised
so people were in on the joke.

197
00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:54,000
They knew this was Fowey, did they?

198
00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:57,280
And some people knew
who was being referred to. A-ha!

199
00:12:57,280 --> 00:12:59,080
Did it attract people to Fowey?

200
00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:02,280
People would flock, as they do now,
for modern authors,

201
00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:04,920
but they would certainly flock
to Fowey for Q.

202
00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:07,160
What did he look like?

203
00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:08,960
A slight man.

204
00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:10,920
Slim and not very tall.

205
00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:13,080
But he was a very snazzy dresser.

206
00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:16,720
He was known for his loud ties
and lairy jackets.

207
00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:19,760
And, in fact, here we've got
a bowler hat.

208
00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:21,800
One of the many bowler hats,

209
00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:24,920
because he had them
to match his jackets.

210
00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:27,680
And it's a brown bowler hat.

211
00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:31,760
A little bit racy, I would have
thought, wouldn't you? Yes.

212
00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:35,640
Some people likened him to a ticket
tout with his colourful dress.

213
00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:39,680
I think I'll take it off, then.
I also have a photograph sure of Q.

214
00:13:39,680 --> 00:13:41,480
How splendid.

215
00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:45,800
So his hat and his tie matched.

216
00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:48,680
I'm getting to like this Q fellow
rather a lot.

217
00:13:48,680 --> 00:13:50,640
Yes, I thought you would.

218
00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:56,360
His close friend Kenneth Grahame

219
00:13:56,360 --> 00:14:00,800
based the Wind in the Willows
character Ratty on Q.

220
00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:05,480
And there's another literary
connection that I'm keen to explore.

221
00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:09,960
In 1929, novelist Daphne du Maurier
moved to Fowey.

222
00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:13,200
Writer Polly Gregson
can tell me more.

223
00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:16,440
Polly, many people associate Fowey
with Daphne du Maurier

224
00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:19,720
and I'm just thinking,
did Q and she ever meet?

225
00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:22,760
Yeah, definitely, actually,
they knew each other really well.

226
00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:25,280
She was sort of taken under his wing
slightly.

227
00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:28,240
When she first came to Fowey
as a holiday destination,

228
00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:30,920
she spent a lot of time here
as a really young 22-year-old

229
00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:32,720
trying to write her first novel.

230
00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:35,400
She was finding it a bit difficult
and he really helped her.

231
00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:36,960
He was a father figure.

232
00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:40,200
She was incredibly close to
his daughter, also called Foy,

233
00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:43,040
but with a Y, not a W-E-Y.

234
00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:44,720
You studied them both.

235
00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:48,160
Can you see in her work that
she was a sort of pupil of Q's?

236
00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:51,800
Erm, I think that interpretation
is definitely relevant

237
00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:54,440
with regards to their way
of describing Cornwall,

238
00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:57,680
the kind of adjectives they used,
and, of course, the characters.

239
00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:00,280
You can really recognise
typical Cornish people

240
00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:02,160
portrayed in both of their novels.

241
00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:06,040
This literary tradition really means
something to Fowey, doesn't it?

242
00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:08,760
It produces a lot of tourists,
apart from anything else.

243
00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:12,000
It absolutely does, and I think that
was originally part of the reason

244
00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:14,760
why Q was interested in
promoting it to such an extent,

245
00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:18,000
because during the 1890s
there was the tin crisis

246
00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:20,760
and there was a lot of financial
problems happening.

247
00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:24,080
I think Q's effort as a, kind of,
promoter of Cornish culture

248
00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:27,120
was to write this into his novels
in a way that was interesting

249
00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:30,000
for other people to read and
would actually attract people

250
00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:32,720
to this "Cornish Riviera",
that was the sort of phrase

251
00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:34,840
that was bandied around
a lot at the time.

252
00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:44,160
I'm back on the route of
the old Cornish Riviera Express,

253
00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:46,200
on the final leg of my journey.

254
00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:05,520
Today, as in 1904,

255
00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:08,400
passengers are rewarded
with the glorious sight

256
00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:10,400
of Saint Michael's Mount.

257
00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:23,600
I'm alighting at Penzance Station,
bound for neighbouring Newlyn.

258
00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:28,400
I shall explore in the morning.

259
00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:50,000
Newlyn harbour, poised where the
English Channel meets the Atlantic,

260
00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:52,280
has long been a fishing port.

261
00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:55,400
Today, it's one of the largest
in the United Kingdom.

262
00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:59,720
Fishing at the mercy of the weather
and the seasons

263
00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:02,200
offers precarious employment.

264
00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:04,800
And around the turn
of the 20th century,

265
00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:08,320
Newlyn pioneered a project
to help local fishermen.

266
00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:12,200
Coppersmith Michael Johnson
keeps the tradition alive.

267
00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:16,640
Hello, Michael. I'm Michael, too.
Michael, nice to meet you.

268
00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:19,040
What an extraordinarily
picturesque workshop.

269
00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:21,680
I've never been in a place
quite like it. Thank you.

270
00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:23,960
I associate Cornwall with tin

271
00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:26,400
but it was big in copper,
as well, was it?

272
00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:28,800
Everyone thinks of tin and Cornwall,

273
00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:32,280
but, really, copper was so much more
important in Cornwall early on.

274
00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:34,520
Cornish copper went
all over the world.

275
00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:38,320
John Drew Mackenzie started this
workshop, the Copperworks, in 1890.

276
00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:42,040
Mackenzie was part of a school
of artists

277
00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:45,480
who based themselves in Newlyn
at the end of the 19th century

278
00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:48,280
when the railways had made
Cornwall accessible.

279
00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:52,800
The fishing industry was struggling.
Mackenzie was an illustrator

280
00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:55,240
and he was looking to try
and find a way to augment

281
00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:58,040
the fishermen's income
to give them something else to do.

282
00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:01,240
Clearly, the guys were not going
to do silk work, silver enamel,

283
00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:03,160
but they were good with their hands,

284
00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:05,040
so copper seemed an obvious one
to do.

285
00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:07,200
And the fishermen took to this work,
did they?

286
00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:09,240
They did, yes, no, definitely.

287
00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:12,200
Mackenzie himself
had little expertise.

288
00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:14,240
To teach them this new skill,

289
00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:17,960
he brought in from London
coppersmith John Pearson.

290
00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:22,600
Soon enough, the fishermen were able
to reproduce MacKenzie's designs

291
00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:24,720
onto household objects.

292
00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:27,880
Today, their works
are collectors' items.

293
00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:31,960
John Pearson was the creme de
la creme of copper workers

294
00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:33,360
in this country.

295
00:18:33,360 --> 00:18:35,640
I've got a lovely piece of his here.

296
00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:37,480
That is extraordinary.

297
00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:40,720
That's a stunning piece that a
client's brought in for restoration.

298
00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:43,480
It's now fully restored.
A client brought it in and said,

299
00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:46,000
"Could you show me how to
polish it, Mike?"

300
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:48,240
To which I took a deep intake
of breath and said,

301
00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:50,760
"Please don't go anywhere
near it with any polish."

302
00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:53,720
The patina is exquisite.
The patina is very deliberate, too.

303
00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:56,760
Pearson chose to create
a lot of darkness in his work.

304
00:18:56,760 --> 00:18:58,440
Gorgeous thing.

305
00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:02,480
Now, Michael, I don't suppose that
we'd achieve this on a first outing,

306
00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:05,680
but would you just like to show me
the nature of the work?

307
00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:07,040
I will, yes.

308
00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:10,200
We're working on a series of
little boats at the moment.

309
00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:13,000
We'll have a go at making one
ourselves. Aye, aye, captain.

310
00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:19,360
Here we go.

311
00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:28,000
And that's the start of the boat.
Very good. What next?

312
00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:31,280
Time to heat it up to anneal it.
We've got to get the metal soft now.

313
00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:33,920
We're going to get it red hot
and staunch it in cold water.

314
00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:48,800
Newlyn fishermen learned a technique
known as repousse.

315
00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:53,240
They beat the pattern out of
the copper against a lead block.

316
00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:56,480
My little trick is not the lead
block, so much as Blu Tack.

317
00:19:56,480 --> 00:20:00,120
And we're going to hammer inside
the line we've just chiselled.

318
00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,240
And there's our image starting
to come through on the front.

319
00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:08,920
Isn't that lovely?
That's really very satisfying.

320
00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:12,080
As they say,
here's one we made earlier.

321
00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:14,480
It's a steam train cabin.
That is superb.

322
00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:17,400
Look at that with a little funnel.
And there's our fish.

323
00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:20,680
And here it says GBRJ.

324
00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:24,080
And may God bless all who sail
in her. Thank you, Michael.

325
00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:31,160
I leave my hammer and chisel behind
to proceed to my last destination.

326
00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:36,520
Beyond the railway tracks, down the
rugged Cornish coast, is The Lizard,

327
00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:39,760
the southernmost tip
of the British Isles,

328
00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:44,440
where an historic event took place
at the dawn of the 20th century.

329
00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:54,400
Here's a piece from a newspaper
dated December 17th 1901

330
00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:57,600
in a column called
Gossip of the Day.

331
00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:03,240
"Signor Marconi has authorised
the correspondent of The Times

332
00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:07,200
"in St John's, Newfoundland,
to state that the electric signals

333
00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:10,000
"received by him
from his Cornwall station

334
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:13,000
"were distinct and unmistakable.

335
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,280
"He's asked that the fact
may be stated to the King,

336
00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:19,800
"who has always taken
so deep in interest."

337
00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:23,200
Some breakthroughs in technology
make you gasp.

338
00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:26,440
This must have seemed like magic

339
00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:28,880
and it happened from here.

340
00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:35,200
Inventor come engineer
extraordinaire, Guglielmo Marconi,

341
00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:39,200
was the first person successfully
to send a radio signal

342
00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:41,320
across the Atlantic Ocean.

343
00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:44,760
He'd stationed himself here
in Poldhu.

344
00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:48,960
Keith Matthew is a member of
the Poldhu Amateur Radio Club

345
00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:51,680
and a Marconi enthusiast.

346
00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:55,400
Keith, we're actually seated on
the ruins of Marconi's station.

347
00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:57,480
We are indeed, yes.

348
00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:00,480
When he sends a message
from here in 1901,

349
00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:03,040
does he think it's going to
reach the New World?

350
00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:06,640
Well, his entire future reputation
depended on it.

351
00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:10,680
I think, yes. Well, he was young
and supremely confident.

352
00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:17,440
Born in Italy in 1874 to an Italian
father and an Irish mother,

353
00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:21,680
Marconi's bold ideas found
supporters in Britain.

354
00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:24,960
To the world's maritime superpower,

355
00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:28,600
the potential value of wireless
communication was obvious.

356
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,280
Many physicists had thought it
impossible,

357
00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:36,720
but here in Cornwall, Marconi
proved that a radio waves

358
00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:39,720
could travel beyond the horizon.

359
00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:41,440
He thought that the waves

360
00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:44,280
more or less travelled over
the surface of the ocean,

361
00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:47,720
and he thought that it was the
conductivity of the saltwater

362
00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:49,720
that carried the waves across.

363
00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:52,000
He was incredibly lucky in this

364
00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:55,240
because the theory was
completely and utterly wrong.

365
00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:59,720
We now know that there is
this layer of ionised air

366
00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:04,200
in the upper atmosphere which,
in fact, bounces the waves down.

367
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,240
Marconi, of course, had no idea
of this at the time.

368
00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:10,040
I suppose everyone is entitled
to their luck.

369
00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:13,720
What was it that he was sending and
that was received in Newfoundland?

370
00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:15,480
It was only a signal.

371
00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:18,360
Marconi had got used to
using the S,

372
00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:21,040
dit-dit-dit, dit-dit-dit,

373
00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:24,680
which could be easily distinguished
from the natural, sort of,

374
00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:28,240
bangs and crashes caused by
lightning strikes and so forth.

375
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:32,000
How quickly did it advance to
becoming something reliable?

376
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:35,160
Marconi, being always a showman,
he, in fact,

377
00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:39,240
managed to get Theodore Roosevelt
to send a message to Edward VII.

378
00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:42,800
As it happens, the conditions
were very good on that night

379
00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:48,000
and Poldhu heard the signal clearly,
replied that all had been received,

380
00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:51,280
and this was the first
two-way contact

381
00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:54,040
between the USA
and the United Kingdom.

382
00:23:55,760 --> 00:24:01,000
Marconi's achievement laid the
foundation of telecommunications.

383
00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:04,280
Six decades on,
this Cornish peninsula

384
00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:07,960
played another pivotal role
in broadcasting history.

385
00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:11,240
A vivid memory from childhood,

386
00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:14,720
switching on a flickering
black and white television

387
00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:17,920
to see the first-ever
live transmission

388
00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:20,960
from the United States to Europe.

389
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:26,240
At the time, a satellite was
a household name, Telstar,

390
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:31,080
and a place name was on
everybody's lips - Goonhilly.

391
00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:37,520
On the night of the 11th of July
1962,

392
00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:41,880
from space, Telstar received
and forwarded images

393
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:43,920
to Goonhilly's first dish.

394
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,720
This place has been shaping the
British telecommunications industry

395
00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:49,880
ever since.

396
00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:55,680
Matt Cosby is chief scientist
at the site.

397
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,800
I think, actually, for anyone
who's reasonably young

398
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:05,760
and so used to telecommunications,
it's difficult to understand

399
00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:08,760
what I feel
contemplating Goonhilly 1,

400
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:11,000
because I remember
how it all started.

401
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:15,440
And that really is a wonderful
piece of historic heritage.

402
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:18,240
Absolutely, yeah,
and that's where it all started.

403
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:22,720
The geographic advantage that was
exploited in Cornwall by Marconi

404
00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:25,240
was exploited again by this dish.
Absolutely.

405
00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:28,000
And it's the fact that
we're so close to America.

406
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:31,240
We're also high up here on the
peninsula, about 100 metres high,

407
00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:33,720
so we've got a very good
horizon view,

408
00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:36,360
which makes it ideal
for communications.

409
00:25:36,360 --> 00:25:39,800
Big dishes like this one,
what are you using them for now?

410
00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:43,760
So, the larger antennas
have become more redundant

411
00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:47,000
because the spacecraft have
become better, higher power,

412
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:49,720
more sensitive, so you don't
need the large apertures.

413
00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:51,760
They can be used for other things.

414
00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:55,240
What we're currently using them for
is forming part of Nasa's
deep space network.

415
00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:57,720
The antenna we're sitting
under here, Goonhilly 6,

416
00:25:57,720 --> 00:25:59,480
is currently tracking the moon.

417
00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:03,000
So if you want to go downstairs
and look at tracking the moon.

418
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,800
Sounds pretty good.
Thank you very much.

419
00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:08,800
Using the reflective quality
of the moon's surface,

420
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:11,840
we're going to send a radio signal
all the way up there

421
00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:14,280
and receive it back on Earth.

422
00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:18,360
Radio amateur Brian Coleman
is going to help me to perform

423
00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:20,000
this moon bounce.

424
00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,440
Brian, I'm Michael.
Hello, Michael.

425
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:25,880
So, I believe we're doing
something with the moon.

426
00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:28,480
Yes, we're going to send
the letter S to the moon

427
00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:31,360
and wait for its echo
to come back after 2.6 seconds.

428
00:26:31,360 --> 00:26:34,000
The same letter that Marconi used.

429
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:36,440
And that's three dots, isn't it?
It is indeed.

430
00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:39,240
THREE DOTS

431
00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:42,160
DOTS ECHO BACK

432
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:44,800
All the way to the moon and back?
Indeed.

433
00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:47,400
Would I also be able to send
a voice message in the same way?

434
00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:49,680
Yes, you certainly can.

435
00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:52,240
Even Bradshaw never went
to the moon.

436
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,720
'Even Bradshaw never went
to the moon.'

437
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:57,920
That is fantastic. My voice
has gone to the moon and back!

438
00:26:57,920 --> 00:26:59,600
Great stuff.

439
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:18,720
With Marconi sending radio waves
across the Atlantic

440
00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:21,520
in the year
that Queen Victoria died,

441
00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:26,600
the new Edwardians were aware that
new technology ushered in a new age.

442
00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:31,720
As I discovered when I was in south
Wales, it was industrial strife,

443
00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:36,760
not least in the railways, and
violence from militant suffragettes.

444
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:40,680
But as Britain approached a century
without war

445
00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:42,720
on the European continent,

446
00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:46,720
and since the German Kaiser
and the Russian Tsar were nephews

447
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:48,360
of the British King,

448
00:27:48,360 --> 00:27:52,160
what could possibly disturb
the international peace?

449
00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:04,960
Next time, of the chips are down
but I'm on the up.

450
00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:06,920
He-he!

451
00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:08,920
Oh, let's play again.

452
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:12,720
I hear a tale of wartime resilience.

453
00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:16,160
There was a rumble in the air,
people thought it might be thunder,

454
00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:19,480
but it wasn't, it was the shells
from the German Navy.

455
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:22,680
And I get a taste
of Edwardian temperance.

456
00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:25,440
"Not even a dipsomaniac would have
touched this mixture

457
00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:27,520
"of fungus and smelly liquid."

458
00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:29,560
That's superb.
She had a way with words.