1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:05,040 Between the wars, a Bradshaw's was an essential guide 2 00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:07,640 during a golden age of rail travel, 3 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:11,680 when glamorous locomotives travelled at world record speed. 4 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:16,760 I'm using a 1930s edition to explore a discernibly modern era 5 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:18,400 of mass consumption... 6 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:19,680 Bravo! 7 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:24,000 ..when Art Deco cinemas and dancehalls entertained millions, 8 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,880 while industrial Britain was thrown into unemployment and poverty 9 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:31,840 and storm clouds gathered across the Channel. 10 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:01,320 My rail journey that began in Cornwall 11 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:05,880 will conclude with military precision on Salisbury Plain. 12 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:09,200 Before that, I'll consider where youngsters 13 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:11,640 and an emperor could lodge. 14 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:20,320 My travels commenced in the holiday hot spots of the West Country, 15 00:01:20,320 --> 00:01:25,440 where I visited St Ives, Newquay and Paignton. 16 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:30,680 My journey will conclude in Wiltshire on Salisbury Plain. 17 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:33,920 The final leg starts in rural Taunton. 18 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:37,720 I'll continue to enjoy the countryside in Castle Cary, 19 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:41,480 head east to Bath and finish outside Salisbury. 20 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:47,760 This time, I see a British invention on parade... 21 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:49,320 Very intimidating. 22 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:52,440 It's the definition of shock action on a battlefield. 23 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:56,640 ..encounter inter-war agricultural technology... 24 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:59,200 My goodness, Jonathan, that may have been mechanised, 25 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:01,240 but it's still highly physical. 26 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:03,640 ..and explore how British appeasement 27 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:06,280 brought an Ethiopian emperor to England. 28 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:08,920 You touch on an episode of shame in British history 29 00:02:08,920 --> 00:02:12,120 that Haile Selassie and Ethiopia were not strongly supported. 30 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:15,960 I start in Somerset, 31 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:17,680 in what my Bradshaw's calls, 32 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:20,600 "The fair vale of Taunton Deane." 33 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:22,320 And I'll ponder, 34 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:26,440 how would you make a basket, a coffin or a cricket bat? 35 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:29,000 Where there's a willow, there's a way. 36 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:39,680 I'm alighting at Taunton, 37 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:42,920 on the edge of the flat countryside of North Somerset. 38 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:47,520 Thousands of years ago, this area was covered by the sea 39 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:51,040 and today it's a landscape of rivers and wetland. 40 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:58,200 The Somerset Levels, an area of arable farming and pasture... 41 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:00,320 ..on average six metres above sea level, 42 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:03,120 where the peak tides are eight metres. 43 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:05,480 And, so, since Roman times, at least, 44 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:09,880 man has struggled to keep the waters at bay and the land drained. 45 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:11,600 And not always successfully. 46 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:16,000 In 1607, there was the catastrophic Bristol Channel flood 47 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:20,480 that swept away villages and left more than 2,000 people dead. 48 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:24,320 And since then, the schemes to prevent such disaster 49 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:26,760 have become more and more ambitious, 50 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:31,240 because defying nature is a huge undertaking. 51 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:39,400 Few plants are easy to cultivate in such watery terrain. 52 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:43,160 But the Levels are ideally suited to growing willow, 53 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:45,360 and at the time of my guidebook, 54 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:48,360 about 3,000 acres were under production. 55 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:54,040 Nicola Coate is the director of the family business 56 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:58,920 Coates English willow, which grows and processes willow. 57 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:01,440 Nicola, this is willow and a surprise to me. 58 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:03,040 What's the connection between this 59 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:04,880 and the thing that gives us cricket bats? 60 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:07,200 The cricket bat willow is a tree 61 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:10,880 that'll grow for about 25 years or so. 62 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:12,360 So they take the trunk. 63 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:16,040 This willow, what we're aiming for is single rods 64 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:18,560 that are just very tall and straight and very flexible 65 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:20,400 and perfect for making baskets. 66 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:24,160 Is there much demand these days for willow for basket making? 67 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:25,280 Very much so. 68 00:04:25,280 --> 00:04:29,400 One of the biggest growing demands now is for willow coffins. 69 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:30,960 They're very popular 70 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:32,440 because this is so sustainable. 71 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:34,120 I mean, this, what we're looking at here 72 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:36,240 is all just this season's growth. 73 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:39,320 And traditionally, how would they have been harvested? 74 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:41,680 Oh, gosh. It would have been backbreaking work. 75 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,360 They would have harvested with a hook, like a sickle, 76 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:46,960 and they would have chopped them down at ground level. 77 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:49,440 Then it would have been taken back to the farm 78 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:52,960 where it would have been processed throughout the rest of the year. 79 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:55,640 A lot of the area, there were whole families involved 80 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:58,960 with the willow industry. And it would be the men who did the cutting 81 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:01,120 and then the women and the children would have helped 82 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:04,480 with the stripping, getting the bark off of it. 83 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:06,480 At the time of my Bradshaw's, 84 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:09,840 there was a revolution in the labour-intensive process 85 00:05:09,840 --> 00:05:12,240 of stripping the willow. 86 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:15,400 Jonathan Coates oversees willow processing here. 87 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:19,120 Jonathan, hello. 88 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:20,320 What a pleasure, 89 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:23,120 because you are part of the Coates family, aren't you? 90 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:24,480 Seventh generation. 91 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:25,840 That's astonishing. 92 00:05:25,840 --> 00:05:28,080 How long have you been in the willow business? 93 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:30,120 Well, 200 years. 94 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:31,840 Started in 1819. 95 00:05:31,840 --> 00:05:33,560 I've seen the willow growing now. 96 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:36,000 Once you get it out of the field, what do you do to it? 97 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:37,960 You've got to sort willow into lengths. 98 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:40,240 We've then got to boil it, so we can get the bark off. 99 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:43,360 It's then got to be dried before it's ready for the basket maker. 100 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:46,960 In the old days, when women and children were stripping willow, 101 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:48,280 how were they doing it? 102 00:05:48,280 --> 00:05:50,120 Well, it was a break, which is basically... 103 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:51,920 We call it a "break" locally. 104 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:55,320 Basically, a bit of spring steel, they'd have a piece of willow... 105 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:56,600 This has been boiled. 106 00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:59,000 In fact, it was boiled last night for about ten hours. 107 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:00,680 So it's quite fresh. 108 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:03,800 And just pulling it between the bits of spring steel 109 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:07,440 actually splits the bark. We turn it 90 degrees. 110 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:11,040 It just comes away at the bottom end. 111 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:13,080 Turn it round and then... 112 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:19,000 And that is perfectly stripped. 113 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:20,520 Isn't that lovely? 114 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:23,440 How did you move on from this to something better? 115 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:26,440 1929, they actually had a competition 116 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:28,240 which was won by a Frenchman 117 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:31,440 and basically, they had 108 of these bits of spring steel, 118 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:35,600 put them in a drum and connected them up to a diesel engine. 119 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:39,160 Between the wars, the production of plastic as an alternative 120 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:42,400 threatened to undermine the willow industry. 121 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:46,480 Mechanisation offered the hope of remaining competitive. 122 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:50,440 The Somerset willow peeling machine transformed the process. 123 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:55,240 So this machine, it'll actually just rake the bark 124 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:57,160 off the whole handful of willow. 125 00:06:57,160 --> 00:06:59,040 OK. No safety guards. 126 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:01,240 I think I may stand back if that's all right? 127 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:24,960 My goodness, Jonathan, that may have been mechanised, 128 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:27,360 but it was still highly physical, wasn't it? 129 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:30,320 Yeah, they always said a good worker stripping by hand 130 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:31,560 would break one rod at a time, 131 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:33,120 seven bundles a day. 132 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:36,240 This machine came out and that became 40 bundles, 133 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:38,440 so a significant improvement. 134 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:41,360 Building on that 1920s technology, 135 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:45,960 at Coates today they use an even faster and safer stripping machine. 136 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:55,920 This is the most astonishing machine I've ever seen. 137 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:58,880 It's in a Y shape, so as it goes up the stem of the Y, 138 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:02,160 the centre of the willow is stripped. 139 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:05,960 Then as it goes into the Y shape, the ends are stripped... 140 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:09,120 ..and they pop out here. 141 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:13,680 Stripping the willow makes it more pliable, 142 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:17,440 so it can then be used to make baskets and caskets. 143 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:18,920 So what are you doing now? 144 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:20,480 It's what we call a wale. 145 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:23,600 So we're actually weaving outside of two, behind one. 146 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:25,400 So it's a three rod wale. 147 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:28,720 This is the last piece of weaving to go in this basket 148 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:30,480 before we border it down. 149 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:32,440 So in a minute all these tops will come down 150 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:34,520 and actually form the border. 151 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:40,520 May I attempt that three rod weave? Yeah. 152 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:42,960 Take the back rod of the three, 153 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:47,320 So these long ends, you go outside of two, behind one. 154 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:51,320 So outside of two... Outside of two. ..and behind one. Behind... 155 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:53,600 And you've gone outside of three. OK. 156 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:56,080 Outside of two and behind one. 157 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:57,840 And pull that through. 158 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:02,360 You know, I don't think I'm being any help at all. 159 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:06,040 I think I'm just hampering your efforts. 160 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:18,880 I'm continuing my journey through the West Country. 161 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:36,120 At the time of my guidebook, urban life was often smoky, grimy 162 00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:39,560 and slummy, not unlike Victorian times. 163 00:09:39,560 --> 00:09:43,200 What had changed was the concern for health. 164 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:47,880 Ideally, children from the cities would get out into the countryside 165 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:51,280 and take hikes and breathe fresh air. 166 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:54,920 But these were not ideal clients for guest houses. 167 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:57,800 Where were the youngsters to stay? 168 00:09:57,800 --> 00:09:59,800 I'll alight at Castle Cary. 169 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:15,000 I find myself in rural Somerset. 170 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:22,080 By the 1930s, British agriculture was in depression. 171 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:27,680 The countryside was increasingly celebrated by urban Britons 172 00:10:27,680 --> 00:10:30,000 as a place for leisure activities, 173 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:33,840 including newly popular outdoor pursuits like rambling. 174 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:38,400 I'm meeting Duncan Simpson, 175 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,440 archivist of the Youth Hostel Association 176 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:44,640 on the outskirts of the village of Street. 177 00:10:44,640 --> 00:10:47,480 Duncan, hello. Hi, Michael. Good to meet you. 178 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:49,840 It is very nice to meet my Street Youth Hostel, 179 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:52,160 which is a handsome, charming building. 180 00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:54,000 Is it quite an historic one? 181 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:58,160 It is. It was one of the first of the youth hostels to open in England 182 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:00,640 and Wales in 1931. 183 00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:03,880 So it's the longest established youth hostel in this country. 184 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:07,400 Were the British the first to accommodate youth in this way? 185 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:11,400 No. The first youth hostel in the world opened in Germany in 1909. 186 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:14,440 People from this country going over to Germany 187 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:17,160 discovered youth hostels in the 1920s, 188 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:19,000 thought they were a really lovely idea 189 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:20,320 and wanted to bring them back 190 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:24,600 and so founded the Youth Hostels Association in 1930 in this country. 191 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:27,240 So if you came here shortly after opening day, 192 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:28,800 what were you offered? 193 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:31,760 Pretty simple accommodation in 1931. 194 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:35,000 It was very much bunk beds in rooms, 195 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:37,880 fairly limited washing facilities, 196 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:39,720 but people didn't pay a great price. 197 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:41,320 It was a shilling a night. 198 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:44,160 It was a great place where young men and women met, 199 00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:47,160 and at the time, that was actually regarded as fairly scandalous, 200 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:50,280 that men and women were sleeping in the same building unchaperoned. 201 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:53,360 Presumably, the men and women were segregated by dormitory? 202 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:56,840 They were. Men and women were in separate dormitories. Definitely. 203 00:11:56,840 --> 00:11:59,240 What other rules did you have to abide by? 204 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:01,320 There was this really strict curfew. 205 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:04,440 As well as that, they had to be out in the morning by ten o'clock, 206 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:06,840 so they were expected to leave and to get out 207 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:10,040 and do something active in the countryside. 208 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:16,000 By 1939, there were some 400 hostels in Britain and Ireland. 209 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:19,720 Over 80,000 members of the YHA could take advantage 210 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:23,400 of the falling cost of living and reduced working hours 211 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:26,240 to stay in hostels like this one in Street. 212 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:28,280 I thought it would be interesting to look at this 213 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,120 because 1936 was the year you've been looking at 214 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:33,160 and it's a handbook of hostels 215 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:36,560 and there's the entry for the youth hostel at Street. 216 00:12:36,560 --> 00:12:38,280 The Chalet Ivythorn Hill. 217 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:40,120 It tells you a little bit more information 218 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:42,800 about what you can expect when you stay at the youth hostel. 219 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:44,560 Something that does surprise me is, 220 00:12:44,560 --> 00:12:47,640 it says that there's accommodation for 25 men and 20 women. 221 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:49,520 45 people in this building?! 222 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:51,240 Yeah. Amazing, isn't it, 223 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:56,160 how people were willing to stay with less space, I think. Yeah. 224 00:12:56,160 --> 00:12:57,960 It's a lovely book, this. 225 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:00,280 A real thing of its period. 226 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:03,040 And there are lots of references to travelling abroad. 227 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:06,520 Yeah. It's quite moving, isn't it, that they're advertising, there, 228 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:09,240 Germany and Austria, which very shortly after that 229 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:11,320 would become enemy powers? 230 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:14,560 Yeah. And youth hostels were part of an international movement 231 00:13:14,560 --> 00:13:17,000 and were very much in favour of peace. 232 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:19,640 And I think you might be interested to see 233 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:23,640 that there's a lovely foreword in this from the Prime Minister 234 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:25,960 of the time, from 1936, 235 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:28,800 From the Prime Minister, that's Stanley Baldwin. 236 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:32,880 "I send my cordial good wishes to the Youth Hostels Association 237 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:36,800 "for 1936, and I've chosen the following quotation from my speech 238 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:39,520 "delivered on the occasion of the annual meeting 239 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:43,920 "of the International Peace Society on the 31st October, 1931, 240 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:46,040 "as a foreword to your handbook." 241 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:49,320 So the Prime Minister also picking up on international peace. 242 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:52,560 "This dear, dear land of ours, 243 00:13:52,560 --> 00:13:56,200 "Shakespeare was not ashamed thus to speak of his love 244 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:58,600 "of his native land and why should we be? 245 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:01,560 "We think perhaps of the level evening's sun 246 00:14:01,560 --> 00:14:03,360 "over an English meadow. 247 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:06,360 "To what risks do we expose our treasures? 248 00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:10,600 "Irreplaceable treasures, for you cannot build up beauty like that 249 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,440 "in a few years of mass production." 250 00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:15,800 Charming. 251 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:34,960 It's a new day 252 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:38,640 and I'm on my way to my last calling point in Somerset. 253 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:44,320 I will stop in Bath, which Bradshaw's describes as, 254 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:48,200 "A handsome city built entirely of stone 255 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:52,160 "with so many historic associations that there's scarcely a house 256 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:57,000 "but has at least one famous personage associated with it." 257 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:01,880 I'm on the trail of someone who arrived only in 1936. 258 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:03,800 A distinguished refugee 259 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:09,160 who foresaw that fascism's appetite for conquest was insatiable. 260 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:22,360 During the 1930s, Britain tried to avoid war in Europe, 261 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:26,560 allowing Hitler to expand German territory unchecked 262 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:29,920 and standing by while Italy's Benito Mussolini 263 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:33,800 sought to build a new Roman Empire. 264 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:36,880 How did the affluent Georgian spa town of Bath 265 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:39,920 come to welcome such an unlikely resident 266 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:45,080 as the emperor of Abyssinia, now Ethiopia, Haile Selassie? 267 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:48,240 I'm meeting Dr Shawn Sobers at Fairfield House, 268 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:49,800 overlooking the city. 269 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:52,480 Hello, Shawn. Hello. Hello, Michael. Good to meet you. 270 00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:54,880 Good to be here. Thank you. 271 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:57,280 So Fairfield House is quite an imposing house, isn't it? 272 00:15:57,280 --> 00:15:59,280 Do you know anything about the origins of it? 273 00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:01,480 Well, it's a late-19th century house, 274 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:03,760 a grand family house, really. 275 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:05,200 And when His Majesty came to Bath, 276 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:07,760 he wanted somewhere private, very secluded 277 00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:09,240 and this fit the bill perfectly. 278 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:11,600 How was it, then, that His Imperial Majesty, 279 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:15,440 the emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, comes to Bath? 280 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:18,560 So Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, 281 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:23,520 and His Majesty was forced to flee on May 5th, 1936. 282 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:26,400 Ended up in London. Then, actually, he was very popular. 283 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:29,200 The British people were watching what was happening 284 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:30,720 in the newsreels, etc. 285 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:33,120 So when His Majesty landed, there was huge crowds for him. 286 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:35,120 But the British government at that time 287 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:37,240 was still appeasing Mussolini. 288 00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:40,600 Having a very popular political refugee, essentially, in London 289 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:42,680 was an embarrassment to the British government. 290 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:44,560 So he was forced out into the provinces, 291 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:47,200 and one of the reasons why they say he came to Bath 292 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:49,200 was because of the healing waters. 293 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:51,200 He had mustard gas burns on his hands, 294 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:53,400 where the Italians used mustard gas damage. 295 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:56,440 You touch on that episode, really, of shame in British history 296 00:16:56,440 --> 00:17:00,400 that, you know, despite the aggression of the fascists 297 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:03,760 in Ethiopia, Haile Selassie and Ethiopia 298 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:05,640 were not strongly supported. 299 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:09,320 No, no. But at the same time, Haile Selassie was a diplomat 300 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:12,760 and knew how politics works and went to the League of Nations 301 00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:16,000 and gave a very passionate speech to say that, actually, 302 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:19,040 the League of Nations should defend small states 303 00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:22,160 and saying that "If it's us today, it might be you tomorrow". 304 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:28,520 I decided to come to defend the cause of my people 305 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:32,440 before the council of the League Of Nations. 306 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:37,520 Both Abyssinia and Italy were members of the League of Nations, 307 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:40,640 an international organisation set up in the aftermath 308 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:43,720 of the First World War to preserve peace. 309 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:47,840 The League's charter stated that if one country was invaded, 310 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:51,680 its fellow members would come to its aid. 311 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:55,840 Despite Selassie's pleas, Britain and other member states 312 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:57,840 refused to intervene. 313 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:01,400 And he remained in Bath with his government in exile. 314 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:04,680 What was his daily life like in Bath? 315 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:07,120 So, daily life was quite mundane. 316 00:18:07,120 --> 00:18:09,080 He went to the little theatre, for example, 317 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:13,520 and he watched newsreel films of the Ethiopian campaign. 318 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:17,560 He became friends with local businessmen, local politicians. 319 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:19,560 People saw him going for walks. 320 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:22,680 There is a lovely apocryphal story to say that he loved walking 321 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,280 so much and he is very on time, 322 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:27,360 that they would know if they're late for work 323 00:18:27,360 --> 00:18:31,360 depending on how far down the road he was on any given morning. 324 00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:34,960 After war broke out and Mussolini allied with Hitler, 325 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:38,600 Britain began to support the Abyssinian cause 326 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:42,120 and liberated the country in 1941. 327 00:18:42,120 --> 00:18:44,480 The emperor returned to rule Abyssinia, 328 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:48,840 which became Ethiopia, until he was deposed in 1974. 329 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:53,200 He left Fairfield House to Bath City Council, 330 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:56,520 but his legacy extends across the world. 331 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:00,960 Shawn, here we have Haile Selassie 332 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:03,280 and we've talked about him as Emperor, 333 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:07,000 but he's also a deity for Rastafarians. 334 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:08,720 Please explain the connection. 335 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:12,640 Yeah. Rastafari is the name of Haile Selassie. 336 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:17,520 So "Ras" is a title, a government title that's like duke or head. 337 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:21,520 And "Tafari" is like creator, so head creator, 338 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:23,720 you could shorten it or translate it as. 339 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:28,760 He's the 225th descendant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. 340 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:31,880 And there were certain prophecies that came into play. 341 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:33,680 One of them was Marcus Garvey. 342 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:38,360 Marcus Garvey was a prominent Jamaican philosopher, activist 343 00:19:38,360 --> 00:19:39,800 and in 1925, he said, 344 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:43,080 "Look to Africa, where a king shall be crowned 345 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:45,280 "and the day of deliverance will be had." 346 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:49,320 So, five years later, when Haile Selassie was crowned, 347 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:53,720 they saw that as the fulfilment of Marcus Garvey's prophecy. 348 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:56,800 When Haile Selassie was crowned in 1930, 349 00:19:56,800 --> 00:20:01,160 Africans in the West Indies believed he was god of the black race, 350 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:03,480 and Ethiopia the promised land. 351 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:05,800 The Rastafarian movement began. 352 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:11,880 How did Haile Selassie react to being deified? 353 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:14,200 He didn't ask to be deified. 354 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:18,040 And it's not always documented that he's comfortable being deified. 355 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:20,240 But also, at the same time, he is very supportive 356 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:24,240 because he could see what the Rastafari philosophy was all about, 357 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:26,760 which essentially is a Pan-Africanist philosophy. 358 00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:30,560 What was the impact on Rastafari of Haile Selassie's death? 359 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:33,440 He died, rather miserably, deposed and in prison. 360 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:35,120 Yeah, it's an interesting question. 361 00:20:35,120 --> 00:20:38,320 But you know, Rastafari, as Bob Marley famously said, 362 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:41,840 he said "Rastafari are children of life and not of death." 363 00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:44,760 So his teachings live on, his example lives on. 364 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,320 And that's the legacy that still maintains today. 365 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:06,200 I'm leaving Bath and rejoining the rails 366 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:08,400 towards my final destination. 367 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:11,560 During the First World War, 368 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:15,760 the Western Front became stuck in the trenches and the mud. 369 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:17,680 One innovation during the conflict 370 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:20,800 was intended to restore movement to the battlefield. 371 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:23,760 I'll examine its development between the wars 372 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:26,000 when I arrive at Salisbury Plain, 373 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:29,600 which the guide book tells me is that vast open space 374 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:31,520 in the centre of Wiltshire, 375 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:35,440 famous on account of the military manoeuvres held there. 376 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:55,520 The medieval cathedral city of Salisbury 377 00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:58,880 sits in a valley where five rivers meet. 378 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:01,720 12 miles north lies Salisbury Plain, 379 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:06,440 home to 150 square miles of Ministry of Defence land, 380 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:10,000 the British Army's largest training area. 381 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:14,000 I'm visiting Tidworth Camp, a garrison since 1897 382 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:18,440 and home at the time of my guidebook to a new division of the army. 383 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:20,640 I'm meeting Captain Tom Quant, 384 00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:24,480 intelligence officer with the Royal Tank Regiment. 385 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:27,360 Tom, good to see you. Hi, Michael, thanks very much for coming down. 386 00:22:27,360 --> 00:22:29,320 Welcome to the Royal Tank Regiment in Tidworth. 387 00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:32,040 I think you might need a pair of these. We're going somewhere noisy? 388 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:33,680 We certainly are. 389 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:35,960 Tom, I believe the tank was a British invention. 390 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:37,160 How did it come about? 391 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:39,680 It was. So, at the height of the First World War, 392 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,080 the British realised that something was needed 393 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:44,200 to break the deadlock on the Western Front. 394 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:48,200 So, a stalemate had emerged through the use of trench warfare. 395 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:51,040 So the tank was designed to be able to cross 396 00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:54,960 what had hitherto been an impossible stretch of no-man's-land, 397 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:56,920 go over the barbed wire entanglements 398 00:22:56,920 --> 00:22:59,000 and finally get to grips with the enemy. 399 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:02,560 It must have been terrifying for the Germans to see these things. 400 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:06,080 They'd never seen them before. But was the tank also effective? 401 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:10,560 Yes, indeed. So as you say, I think the psychological element 402 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:13,880 of watching those first tanks roll across no-man's-land 403 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:15,680 must have been enormous. 404 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:17,800 It was very effective as well. 405 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:20,920 It meant the infantry could, for the first time, 406 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:25,000 cross no man's land in that hail of machine-gun fire and shrapnel, 407 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:29,160 using the tanks as moving cover. 408 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:34,000 The tank was first used in combat during the Battle of the Somme. 409 00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:39,160 The name comes from a deliberate subterfuge, 410 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:43,280 Britain pretended that the new vehicle was a water tank. 411 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:46,040 By the war's end in 1918, 412 00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:50,200 Britain had made 2,600 tanks. 413 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:53,360 In the interwar period, what are the discussions going on 414 00:23:53,360 --> 00:23:54,760 about the future of tank warfare? 415 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:57,560 So the tank effectively undergoes something of a fight for survival 416 00:23:57,560 --> 00:23:59,400 after the end of the First World War. 417 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:02,200 So despite its sterling performance on the Western Front, 418 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:04,840 there was a great deal of reluctance from some regiments. 419 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:06,120 There's a wonderful quote 420 00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:09,000 from the Secretary of State for war at the time, who said that, 421 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:12,160 "Asking a cavalryman to no longer use his horse 422 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:14,480 "was much the same as asking a famous musician 423 00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:15,880 "to throw his instruments away 424 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:18,640 "and stick to playing the gramophone for the rest of his life." 425 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:21,400 When does the word "tank" get used by the British army 426 00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:22,840 and how does that develop? 427 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:25,720 So, in the First World War, there was the Tank Corps, 428 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:29,200 but we don't get the Royal Tank Corps until 1923. 429 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:33,280 And it's not until 1939 that the Royal Tank Regiment, 430 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:35,280 the RTR, first comes into being, 431 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:37,680 just in time for the Second World War. 432 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,400 When war broke out again in 1939, 433 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:46,080 armoured vehicles proved vital, tactically and operationally. 434 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:50,120 Today, tanks remain integral to the British army's ability 435 00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:51,880 to use shock action, 436 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:54,800 the application of sudden force, rapidly, 437 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:56,360 to overwhelm an enemy. 438 00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:00,920 Tom, what an intimidating piece of kit. What is this? 439 00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:02,480 Yes, indeed. This is a beast. 440 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:05,800 This is the Challenger 2 main battle tank, Street Fighter variant. 441 00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:09,160 So it's the British Army's premier shock action capability. 442 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:10,920 This here is a bulldozer blade. 443 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:14,040 So this enables the tank to clear through roadblocks, 444 00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:15,280 cars, anti-tank berms, 445 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:18,000 basically ensure that it can move around a cluttered 446 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:20,240 and congested battle space. 447 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,040 The Royal Tank Regiment's Street Fighter variant 448 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:28,320 of the British Army's main battle tank is on manoeuvres today. 449 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:31,160 The tank is going to conduct a bit of a thunder run down the road, 450 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:33,760 so you might want to put these on now. I think I might. 451 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:41,600 Weighing 62 tonnes 452 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:46,600 and equipped with an armour-piercing 120 millimetre main gun, 453 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:50,240 a multi-barrel discharger to create a smokescreen, 454 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:53,280 the tank at full pelt is an awesome sight. 455 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:12,960 Very intimidating. 456 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:16,240 That it is. It's the definition of shock action on a battlefield. 457 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:24,080 Gentlemen, hello. 458 00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:26,160 Thank you very much for letting us play. 459 00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:28,000 Are you pretty happy with Challenger 2? 460 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:29,960 I love it. I think it's an amazing platform. 461 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:32,600 When we roll up in these on exercise, everyone's jealous. 462 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:34,280 All the boys look at us and think, 463 00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:36,920 especially when it's raining, "I wish we was on one of them." 464 00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:39,080 It's a lot better. They're fuming when we turn up. 465 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:41,120 Digging holes, fuming, we're on this. 466 00:26:41,120 --> 00:26:42,520 How fast can you go in this? 467 00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:45,320 Max speed on one of these is 60km per hour, 468 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:47,640 which is decent over rough terrain. 469 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:51,120 Not so much for the crew members inside, but... 470 00:26:51,120 --> 00:26:54,320 And Jonesy, what did you drive before, a Fiat 500 or...? 471 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:57,000 Nah. A little Ford Fiesta before this. 472 00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:58,720 THEY LAUGH 473 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:00,240 Definitely does not compare. 474 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:10,240 During this long rail journey, 475 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:13,280 I've viewed contrasting images of the 1930s. 476 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:17,200 Cornwall - ruined by the end of tin mining, 477 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:21,080 yet also home to a thriving colony of artists. 478 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:23,680 I've glimpsed cloth cap Britain, 479 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:29,080 but also Agatha Christie's imagined world of stylish globetrotters. 480 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:32,680 The strongest indicator of how the decade would end 481 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:37,960 was the arrival in Britain of refugees fleeing from fascism. 482 00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:41,680 Britain, desperate to avoid another world war, 483 00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:44,640 would go through it all again, 484 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:48,400 for as the exiled emperor of Ethiopia said, 485 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:49,800 "Today, it is us. 486 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:51,840 "Tomorrow it will be you." 487 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:59,240 Next time, I'll discover the origins of the Poppy Appeal... 488 00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:03,440 This most British of symbols 489 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:07,120 was a Canadian-American-French co-production. 490 00:28:07,120 --> 00:28:11,120 ..explore the home of Britain's greatest statesman... 491 00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:15,280 It's an incredible who's who of the early 20th century. 492 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:18,560 ..and visit the birthplace of the small screen. 493 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:20,840 It is inspiring to stand here and think, 494 00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:24,240 in these rooms, men and women made up television 495 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,480 with fantastic passion and drive and innovation.