1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:05,040 Between the wars, a Bradshaw's was an essential guide 2 00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:07,320 during a golden age of rail travel, 3 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:11,360 when glamorous locomotives travelled at world record speed. 4 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:16,400 I'm using a 1930s edition to explore a discernibly modern era 5 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:18,240 of mass consumption. 6 00:00:18,240 --> 00:00:19,680 Come on! 7 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:23,960 When Art Deco cinemas and dancehalls entertained millions, 8 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:28,480 while industrial Britain was thrown into unemployment and poverty 9 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:32,160 and storm clouds gathered across the Channel. 10 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:08,720 My 1936 Bradshaw's Guide has steered me to Kent, 11 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:12,040 from which the British had supplied the Western Front 12 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:14,000 during the First World War. 13 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,640 Now a Kent resident, Mr Winston Churchill MP, 14 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:21,440 warned of a resurgent and aggressive Germany 15 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:26,280 whose British sympathisers battled with Jews on London's streets. 16 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:29,960 But appeasement was in the ascendant. 17 00:01:29,960 --> 00:01:32,520 The middle classes had enjoyed a housing boom, 18 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:36,240 and the population was not surprisingly gripped by the fear 19 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:41,080 of aerial bombardment that would leave behind a wasteland. 20 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:50,760 I'm exploring the east of England, starting in Kent. 21 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:54,040 I'll then visit the Docklands and suburbs of London, 22 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:57,200 before heading to the counties of East Anglia. 23 00:01:57,200 --> 00:01:59,320 I'll finish in Lincolnshire. 24 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:07,960 The first leg will take me from Canterbury in Kent 25 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:10,160 to the county town, Maidstone. 26 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:16,040 I'll travel to Sevenoaks, then strike north into the capital, 27 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:18,640 where I'll finish at Alexandra Palace. 28 00:02:20,920 --> 00:02:24,640 On this journey, I'll discover the origins of the Poppy Appeal... 29 00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:31,680 This most British of symbols was a Canadian-American-French co-production. 30 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:36,160 ..explore the home of Britain's greatest statesman... 31 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:40,040 It's an incredible who's who of the early 20th century. 32 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,560 ..and visit the birthplace of the small screen. 33 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:46,880 It is inspiring to stand here and think, in these rooms, 34 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:51,000 men and women made up television with fantastic passion 35 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:52,880 and drive and innovation. 36 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:07,200 I'm arriving in Canterbury on a high speed Javelin train. 37 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:13,320 The cathedral city has been an important centre of pilgrimage 38 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:15,120 for a thousand years. 39 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:24,760 Built by the Normans, today it's a Unesco World Heritage Site 40 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:29,680 and home to the mother church of the worldwide Anglican community. 41 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,160 Canterbury is described in my Bradshaw's 42 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:38,200 as the cradle of Christianity in England. 43 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:40,840 England's premier cathedral. 44 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:47,040 Thousands of pilgrims have journeyed here ever since the Archbishop, Thomas a Becket, 45 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:51,280 was murdered in the northern transept in 1172. 46 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:56,400 The Archbishop's murder, actually in 1170, 47 00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:59,480 was the culmination of a bitter quarrel with King Henry II 48 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:03,040 over the balance of power between the church and the monarchy. 49 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:05,320 Becket's brave stand against the state, 50 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:07,880 and his killing by the King's knights, 51 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:09,680 made him a Christian hero 52 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:11,600 and he was canonised by the Pope. 53 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:16,400 A man of conscience killed at the behest of a tyrant. 54 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:22,760 And in 1935, as the tide of fascism and Nazism rose in Europe, 55 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:27,800 the perceived parallel had inspired a play by an American author 56 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:29,880 settled in London. 57 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:32,320 Thomas Stearns Eliot. 58 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:39,200 To find out more about the 1930s dramatisation of the killing 59 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:43,400 of Becket, I'm meeting Cathedral archivist Cressida Williams 60 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:48,080 and Caroline Plaisted, head of the Friends of Canterbury Cathedral. 61 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:50,280 Caroline, hello. Pleased to meet you. 62 00:04:50,280 --> 00:04:53,120 Here in the cathedral, you get the sense that Thomas a Becket 63 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:55,040 is everywhere in the building. 64 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:56,920 But this particular spot. 65 00:04:56,920 --> 00:04:58,880 What's the association with him? 66 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:01,680 This is the exact place where his shrine was created, 67 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:05,000 where thousands, millions, probably, of pilgrims came 68 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:07,760 to pay their respects to Thomas after his martyrdom. 69 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:10,160 And a word about TS Eliot. 70 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:12,040 Who was he, first of all? 71 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:13,600 Thomas Stearns Eliot. 72 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:19,080 So, he was born in the United States, but came over to England, 73 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:23,840 became a British citizen in 1927 and actually was confirmed 74 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:26,400 into the Church of England in that year as well. 75 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:31,520 And how did it come to be that the play Murder in the Cathedral was commissioned? 76 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:35,480 TS Eliot was commissioned in 1934 to write the play, 77 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:40,240 and it was staged in June the following year, in June 1935. 78 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:44,880 So it was one of the plays in the Friends' festivals 79 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:47,520 of art and drama. 80 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:50,360 What was the thinking behind commissioning plays for performance 81 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:51,840 in the cathedral? 82 00:05:51,840 --> 00:05:53,600 Well, it was a great innovation. 83 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:58,160 And that's perhaps surprising for us today to think that performing plays 84 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:02,440 or even music in a cathedral, even secular music in the cathedral, 85 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:04,640 that was an innovation at the time. 86 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:08,280 With TS Eliot attending the festival, 87 00:06:08,280 --> 00:06:11,760 the production drew huge audiences to the cathedral 88 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:15,440 for its world premiere in June 1935. 89 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:19,040 A cast of professional actors performed alongside amateurs 90 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:21,160 who were residents of Canterbury. 91 00:06:22,280 --> 00:06:26,240 And the play may have been to the audience in a somewhat unexpected form. 92 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:28,240 Yes, it's a very interesting play 93 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:31,000 that brings together different traditions. 94 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:35,000 So it harks back to Greek drama, to medieval drama, 95 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,120 maybe with a little bit of Shakespeare. 96 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:40,640 It was performed with no interval. 97 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:43,840 So there was a lot of innovation in the play. 98 00:06:43,840 --> 00:06:47,600 Can you imagine an audience that was coping with the rise 99 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:49,640 of fascism and Nazism in Europe 100 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:52,280 being confronted with this martyrdom? 101 00:06:54,280 --> 00:06:56,680 Yes, it's making some quite bold statements. 102 00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:02,560 So, TS Eliot is exploring the role of the church, the untouchability, 103 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:05,400 if you like, of the church in the context 104 00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:08,360 of these developing totalitarian regimes. 105 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:12,960 The play was performed not at the spot where Becket was murdered 106 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:16,040 in the north transept, but a few metres away, 107 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:18,320 in the cathedral's Chapter House. 108 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:21,680 There, I'm joining four actors from Canterbury 109 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:24,080 to perform an extract from the play. 110 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:27,000 So, is that the original production? 111 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,920 It is. So this is the Chapter House, June 1935, 112 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:34,600 with Robert Speaight, the actor playing Becket. 113 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:38,920 How did this extraordinary play in this extraordinary place go down? 114 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:40,520 How was it reviewed? 115 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:44,120 It was quite clear that people had been very moved by discovering 116 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:46,520 the true story behind the martyrdom. 117 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:49,960 And I understand that, I think, was it something like 20,000 people 118 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:52,720 saw the play in total over the years? 119 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:55,160 In its first decades, yes. Yes. Extraordinary. 120 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:57,840 Because it toured even to the States. 121 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,880 Where is Becket, the traitor to the King?! 122 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:12,040 Where is Becket, the meddlesome priest?! 123 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:14,520 Come down, Daniel, to the Lion's Den! 124 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:17,600 Come down, Daniel, for the mark of the beast. 125 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:23,440 It is the just man who, like the bold lion, should be without fear. 126 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:26,160 I am here. 127 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:27,680 No traitor to the king. 128 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:29,440 I am a priest. 129 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:32,920 A Christian saved by the blood of Christ, 130 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:35,880 willing to suffer with my blood. 131 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:39,400 This is the sign of the Church always. 132 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:41,000 The sign of blood. 133 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:43,560 Blood for blood. 134 00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:47,200 His blood given for my life. 135 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:51,520 My blood given to pay for his death. 136 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:54,800 KNIGHTS CHANT: Traitor! Traitor! Traitor! 137 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:08,640 I'm continuing my journey through Kent, the Garden of England. 138 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:18,040 I will alight at Maidstone, which Bradshaw's reminds me 139 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:22,200 is the county town, situated almost in the centre of Kent, 140 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:24,280 on the banks of the River Medway. 141 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:28,320 During the Great War, columns of young soldiers were cheered 142 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:32,760 at Kent railway stations and Kent ports as they embarked for the trenches. 143 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:36,560 But many would return to Kent on ambulance trains, 144 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:39,440 their bodies and their minds shattered. 145 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:44,840 In the years after, Britons were determined not to forget those who had died, 146 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:48,200 and the public was seized by a sense of responsibility 147 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:50,240 for those who had survived. 148 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:04,640 Maidstone and its surrounding towns enjoy a proud military heritage. 149 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:08,440 Goodbye. Thank you. Thank you, bye-bye. Have a good day. 150 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:13,440 On the outskirts of Maidstone, close to Aylesford, 151 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:15,800 is the Royal British Legion Village 152 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:19,640 built after the First World War to house injured soldiers. 153 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:24,720 It's also home to the factory producing the British Legion's 154 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:28,240 internationally recognised symbol of remembrance. 155 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:31,000 Robert Lee is the assistant director. 156 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:40,680 Robert, after the First World War, 157 00:10:40,680 --> 00:10:42,560 a nation determined to remember the fallen 158 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:44,600 and to look after those who'd survived. 159 00:10:44,600 --> 00:10:46,600 How does that lead to the Royal British Legion? 160 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,080 Veterans returning from the First World War 161 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:50,920 faced monumental challenges, 162 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:54,200 and came together to form the British Legion in 1921 163 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:56,200 under the leadership of Earl Haig. 164 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:58,520 They were united by three principles - 165 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:01,760 collective self-help, urging government to do its bit, 166 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:05,280 and to remember the sacrifice of those who'd given their lives 167 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:09,240 and those who'd suffered life-changing disability as a result of their service. 168 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:12,480 Hundreds of thousands of British dead, but what about wounded? 169 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:17,200 The British Empire had some 2.1 million wounded and injured 170 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:18,880 returned after the War. 171 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:21,160 Britain bore the brunt of that, 172 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:24,920 possibly 1.8 million wounded coming back to the country. 173 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:28,840 A great many of these with permanent, life-changing disability. 174 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:33,560 And is it fairly early on in this process that they hit upon the idea 175 00:11:33,560 --> 00:11:36,480 of an annual fundraising event? 176 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:39,600 Miraculously, it was from the very beginning, 177 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:41,760 and this most British of symbols 178 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:45,040 was a Canadian-American-French co-production. 179 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:50,880 The poppy was adopted after an American academic, Moina Michael, 180 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:53,960 sold them to her friends as a way of raising funds 181 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:55,760 for returning servicemen. 182 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:59,880 She was inspired by the mention of poppies in the first line 183 00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:02,200 of the war poem In Flanders Fields, 184 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:05,480 written by Canadian field surgeon John McCrae. 185 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:11,120 The poppies themselves, in the very first year, 1921, 186 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:15,480 were assembled in France by a woman named Madame Guerin, 187 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:19,080 and the many orphanages that she ran for widows and orphans 188 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:23,360 who put them together by hand as a gesture of thanks and goodwill 189 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:26,800 to the returning veterans of the United Kingdom. 190 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:29,520 And did the poppy always look the way that it does today? 191 00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:32,640 No, initially it was made of silk. I'll show you. 192 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:35,240 It was handmade of red silk and thread, 193 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:38,040 and they were affixed by thread to the collar. 194 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:41,200 This process, though, was extremely laborious, 195 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:44,120 and limited the numbers that could be produced, 196 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:48,920 so as soon as we could, the British Legion built a poppy factory 197 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:51,880 to industrialise the manufacture of the poppies. 198 00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:55,160 How quickly does the poppy take off? 199 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:58,240 It was an instant, enormous success. 200 00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:01,440 In its very first year, 3 million of these silk poppies 201 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:04,680 were manufactured by hand, completely sold out. 202 00:13:04,680 --> 00:13:07,760 The following year we trebled production to 9 million. 203 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:09,280 That also sold out. 204 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:20,800 Today, the Royal British Legion produces 40 million paper poppies 205 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:24,400 and around 130,000 wreaths every year. 206 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:27,080 Ben Martin is factory manager. 207 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:29,840 Hello, Ben. I'm reporting for bucket duty. 208 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:31,200 Michael, nice to meet you. 209 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:33,160 My goodness, these boxes. How many in there? 210 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:35,640 Yes, we have around 50,000 poppies in each of these pallets. 211 00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:38,160 And they have to get into there, right? Indeed they do. 212 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:40,680 So, we two thirds roughly fill a bucket. 213 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:44,640 And then we place these into each tray. 214 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:46,240 How many poppies are you producing? 215 00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:48,520 We produce around 100,000 poppies a day. 216 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:51,960 I'm trying to imagine what kind of quantities of paper you're getting through. 217 00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:55,160 We use probably around 6 kilometres of paper a day. 218 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:57,600 November is clearly your crunch time, 219 00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:00,120 but when do you have to start gearing up for that? 220 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:06,000 Indeed, we start dispatching the poppies straight after the appeal that's just happened. 221 00:14:08,560 --> 00:14:11,120 So really a year round operation? 222 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:13,400 Absolutely, 365 days a year. 223 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:20,360 Every year, on the Sunday nearest to the 11th of November, 224 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:23,280 poppy wreaths are laid at the Cenotaph in London 225 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:26,160 during the National Service of Remembrance. 226 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:30,280 In Maidstone's Brenchley Gardens stands a replica 227 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:33,880 by the architect of the Cenotaph, Sir Edwin Lutyens, 228 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:37,680 a memorial to the Queen's own Royal West Kent Regiment. 229 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:13,080 Bradshaw's tells me that at Sevenoaks is the beautiful Knole Park, 230 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:15,480 a grand Elizabethan mansion. 231 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:19,880 At Penshurst, another stately English home, Penshurst Place, 232 00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:23,840 and Hever Castle is also in the neighbourhood. 233 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:27,480 I think a modern Bradshaw's might put at the top of the list 234 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:29,160 a more modest pile. 235 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:32,720 It was sold in 1922 to an aristocrat, 236 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:37,840 but one who could scarcely afford the price of £5,000. 237 00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:04,200 Just west of Sevenoaks, on the edge of the North Downs, 238 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:07,840 is the country estate of one of my political heroes. 239 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:13,480 This is a moving moment for me. 240 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:16,840 This is Chartwell, Winston Churchill's house. 241 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:20,080 Although he was the grandson of a Duke of Marlborough, 242 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:22,160 he was not rich. 243 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:24,360 His political career was a seesaw. 244 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:28,800 He was in and out of ministerial office, in and out of Parliament, 245 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:33,040 and he had to use his pen to make financial ends meet. 246 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:37,400 Here at Chartwell, what one friend described as his word factory, 247 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:42,240 he churned out the books and articles that brought in the cheques. 248 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:54,800 Today, the home, which is decorated and furnished 249 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:56,600 as it was in the 1930s, 250 00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:58,960 is in the care of the National Trust. 251 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:08,520 Katherine Carter, the curator and collections manager, 252 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:10,440 is meeting me on the terrace. 253 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:12,600 Katherine. Hello. I'm Michael. 254 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:15,280 Hello. Welcome to Chartwell. I'm so pleased to be here. 255 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:18,360 And just walking through the house, two things strike me straight away. 256 00:17:18,360 --> 00:17:22,080 That the house is very homely, and this extraordinary view. 257 00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:24,400 The view is absolutely wonderful. 258 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:26,960 It's the reason that Churchill bought this house. 259 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:30,040 When he saw it first, it looked very different, shrouded with ivy 260 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:33,840 and looking very overgrown, and he completely transformed the building, 261 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,480 but the view was the constant and that's what he loved the most. 262 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:40,240 Why was it not good enough as he found it? 263 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:43,400 The Churchills hired an architect, Philip Tilden, 264 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:47,720 who quickly diagnosed the house as having a very not-intuitive layout, 265 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:50,720 but also a big part of it was bringing light into the house. 266 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:52,960 Churchill, with his artist's eye, 267 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:55,400 always wanted as much light as possible. 268 00:17:55,400 --> 00:17:57,040 Churchill spent here at Chartwell 269 00:17:57,040 --> 00:17:59,080 what he described as his wilderness years, 270 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:00,800 although he produced a lot of words. 271 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:03,040 Was he politically active in that period? 272 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:05,160 He certainly was very politically active, 273 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:07,840 and if we look at the visitors' book that we have here at Chartwell, 274 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:10,320 you'll see just how much activity was going on here. 275 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:12,440 I'd love to see that. Thank you. 276 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:17,560 At the time of my guidebook, Churchill was a backbench MP, 277 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:22,160 banished from the government because of his opposition to appeasing Nazi Germany. 278 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:26,640 He spent much of the 1930s at Chartwell receiving influential 279 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:30,960 visitors and becoming expert on Germany's secret rearmament. 280 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:35,800 Here we have Chartwell's visitors' book, 281 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:39,920 which is one of the most important objects in our whole collection. 282 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:44,760 It's unique in its representation of the Churchills' private lives. 283 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:48,360 So it's an incredible who's who of the early 20th century. 284 00:18:48,360 --> 00:18:50,040 During the wilderness years, 285 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:52,520 when Churchill is not in political office, 286 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:54,920 what sorts of people are coming to Chartwell? 287 00:18:54,920 --> 00:19:00,080 We see far more people who are, by definition, bringing intelligence 288 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:02,240 to Churchill here at Chartwell. 289 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:05,120 So you're losing some of the wider political figures, 290 00:19:05,120 --> 00:19:09,160 but those who are his closest supporters are visiting here very frequently. 291 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:12,320 And Brendan Bracken is a very good example 292 00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:16,120 of that very close inner circle he had at that time. 293 00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:19,160 Brendan Bracken, if I recall, was a businessman, 294 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:22,320 was a member of parliament and a Churchill acolyte. 295 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:26,680 He certainly was. He was arguably, at the height of appeasement, 296 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:30,400 Churchill's closest friend and most trusted confidant. 297 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:35,040 We also have here the signature of Charlie Chaplin, 298 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:37,440 who one doesn't immediately associate with Churchill, 299 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:41,480 but the pair became friends after they met in America in 1929 300 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:44,680 and then Chaplin visits here twice two years later. 301 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:47,280 You mentioned intelligence. 302 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:50,920 So Churchill had started making speeches against Nazi Germany 303 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:53,240 from as early as 1933. 304 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:57,240 But it was the information coming here - graphs, maps, 305 00:19:57,240 --> 00:20:00,160 lists of aviation developments in Germany - 306 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:03,520 that were what armed Churchill with the information 307 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:07,040 to start to sway the tide towards anti-appeasement. 308 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:10,200 And the people who brought that sort of specific intelligence, 309 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:12,040 did they sign the book? 310 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:13,920 Some did and some didn't. 311 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:17,360 One of the most famous visitors to Chartwell, who didn't sign 312 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:19,960 during that point, is Albert Einstein. 313 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:23,760 Since April 1933, there's been a law in Germany 314 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:27,760 stating that German Jews can't work in state employment, 315 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:30,320 and that included academics and professors. 316 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:33,880 So Einstein is very aware that he is in a precarious situation. 317 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:37,160 He leaves Germany and comes to Chartwell 318 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:40,240 and not only asks for sanctuary for Jewish scholars, 319 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:44,200 but starts to tell Churchill this man is bent on war 320 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:46,120 and he is preparing now. 321 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:51,160 So that document, it's really an essential document in the history 322 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:54,400 of how we got from appeasement to opposing Hitler. 323 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:55,520 It certainly is. 324 00:20:55,520 --> 00:21:00,200 It depicts Churchill preparing for the fight of his life, 325 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:04,280 trying to sway the tide in Westminster that we should be preparing for war. 326 00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:10,640 This was Winston's study. 327 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:15,680 The 1930s were, for Churchill, wilderness years here at Chartwell, 328 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:19,120 but for Britain, they were fruitful years. 329 00:21:19,120 --> 00:21:24,000 The procession of politicians and thinkers and civil servants 330 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:27,880 who visited him here built up his deep knowledge 331 00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:30,560 of the threat from Nazi Germany. 332 00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:35,560 His consistently well-informed warnings gave him towering moral 333 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:40,440 authority when eventually war came and made his accession 334 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:45,360 to national leadership irresistible in Britain's darkest hour. 335 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:58,920 TRAIN ANNOUNCEMENT: The next station is London Bridge. 336 00:22:00,360 --> 00:22:02,960 I'm leaving Kent for the capital. 337 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:07,880 In purple prose, my Bradshaw's urges the visitor to London 338 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:10,680 to look out from the northern heights 339 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:13,280 over the province covered with buildings, 340 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:19,240 which is the capital of the king, on whose dominions the sun never sets. 341 00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:22,560 The strategic value of high ground is obvious 342 00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:27,440 and led our ancestors to build hilltop fortresses and palaces. 343 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:30,240 In the age of telecommunications, 344 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:33,600 the merits of commanding heights were learned again. 345 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:37,920 I'm changing at London Bridge, 346 00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:42,080 the capital's oldest railway station, which opened in 1836. 347 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:46,480 It's recently undergone a £1 billion transformation. 348 00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:59,080 London Bridge Station, I remember it as a warren of tiny, crowded 349 00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:02,840 walkways, and over the years I've watched it being reconstructed 350 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:05,360 and it is now one of the most generous spaces 351 00:23:05,360 --> 00:23:06,880 on the whole network. 352 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:15,200 I'm taking a Thameslink train north, under the centre of the capital. 353 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:20,080 I've travelled to Alexandra Palace Station. 354 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:24,080 Alexandra Park enjoys commanding views over the city. 355 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:28,640 At its highest point sits the vast Victorian-built Palace. 356 00:23:34,120 --> 00:23:36,560 The year before my guidebook was published, 357 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:42,400 the British Broadcasting Corporation leased the Eastern Wing to launch a new technology. 358 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:46,720 Robert Seatter is an expert on the history of the BBC. 359 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:54,680 Well, Robert, with London at our feet, 360 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:58,720 it's evident that the BBC would want a high place for broadcasting television. 361 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:00,440 But why Ally Pally? 362 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:02,520 Well, the great advantage of Alexandra Palace 363 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:05,840 was that it was already very high, about 300 feet above sea level. 364 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:09,480 So all the BBC had to do was add the very famous transmitter mast 365 00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:12,600 on top of the building to get even more enhanced height. 366 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,480 But also, as importantly, it was available. 367 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:18,480 So the pioneers of television were distant from Broadcasting House, 368 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:19,880 which is over there? 369 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:22,560 Yes, so Broadcasting House, created in 1932, 370 00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:24,720 was, by now, the established centre of radio. 371 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:27,720 So television was created here, and it was a very different atmosphere. 372 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:30,360 They were called the Fools on the Hill and they created a sort 373 00:24:30,360 --> 00:24:33,280 of Liberty Hall here because they made up television - 374 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:36,040 literally made up the grammar of television in this place. 375 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:39,040 John Logie Baird had invented television. 376 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:41,680 How did the BBC move from this invention 377 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:44,240 to believing that there should be a public service? 378 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:46,640 Reith, who was the Director-General of the BBC, 379 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:50,000 actually knew John Logie Baird and personally did not like him, 380 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:52,080 so there was an animosity between two men 381 00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:55,000 and an animosity between the two media, radio and television, 382 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,920 and radio was always deemed the more serious medium, 383 00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:00,720 but it was finally the pressure of the government, 384 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:04,720 who looked towards Europe and gathering clouds of war in Germany, 385 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:08,080 and the way that Germany was using television as a propaganda means 386 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:11,640 to implant the Fuhrer in the hearts of the German people, 387 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:15,200 so that it was that pushed the government and pushed the BBC 388 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:19,400 into finally launching a television test here at Alexandra Palace. 389 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:23,520 Despite the BBC's initial reservations, 390 00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:25,480 on the 2nd of November 1936, 391 00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:29,560 the first pictures were broadcast to just 400 television sets 392 00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:32,760 within a 30-mile radius of the transmitter. 393 00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:37,440 And now I'm going to see and hear someone you know well, 394 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:38,920 Miss Helen McKay. 395 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:45,960 Oh, dear, Robert. 396 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:49,360 These historic studios are looking pretty run down. 397 00:25:49,360 --> 00:25:51,400 What was it like when the BBC arrived? 398 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:53,560 Well, not much better, Michael. 399 00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:55,680 It was roofless, damp. 400 00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:57,400 There were cats. There were rats. 401 00:25:57,400 --> 00:25:59,840 It was a very, very dark place to begin television, 402 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:02,680 and the BBC had only 18 months to transform it 403 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:05,240 into a state of the art television service. 404 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:08,440 What sort of fare did they serve up to the British public? 405 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:12,000 Cecil Madden, who was the producer who was in charge of the schedule 406 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:15,440 initially for television, he had huge ambitions. 407 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:20,040 In his first week, he wanted to have a ballet, a theatre and an opera. 408 00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:21,720 He went to the West End, 409 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:25,280 he saw that they were fascinated by this new medium, and up they came, 410 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:27,880 up the hill, to deliver live shows on television. 411 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:30,520 But then television closes down during the Second World War? 412 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:33,200 Right at the beginning, in September 1939, 413 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:37,160 the screens go black just in the middle of a Mickey Mouse cartoon. 414 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:38,800 He says, "I think I better go home," 415 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:42,120 in an accent resembling that of Greta Garbo, for some reason, 416 00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:44,000 and then television ceases. 417 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,520 And that was because there was a fear from the government 418 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:51,280 that the transmitter mast would help guide German bombers to bomb London. 419 00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:55,440 What do you think is the legacy of these Alexandra Palace studios? 420 00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:59,440 I think it is inspiring to stand here and think, in these rooms, 421 00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:03,560 men and women made up television with fantastic passion 422 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:05,440 and drive and innovation. 423 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:16,840 In his inter-war poem, The Waste Land, 424 00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:21,480 TS Eliot sees a crowd surging across London Bridge. 425 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:25,120 "I had not thought death had undone so many." 426 00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:30,280 At the time of my guidebook, death was on its way to British cities 427 00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:35,000 because Churchill had been right about Nazi Germany's preparations 428 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,160 for aerial warfare. 429 00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:38,920 During the Second World War, 430 00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:43,360 the BBC broadcasts the voice of freedom to occupied Europe, 431 00:27:43,360 --> 00:27:48,040 and, decades later, its television coverage of Churchill's funeral 432 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:52,400 will be seen by one in ten of the world's population. 433 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:01,960 Next time, I'll get behind the wheel of a pioneering pick-up... 434 00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:04,920 And off we go! 435 00:28:07,120 --> 00:28:10,720 ..learn of an unusual alliance between railway engineering 436 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:12,360 and conservation... 437 00:28:12,360 --> 00:28:15,400 By bringing 3.2 million tonnes of spoil in, 438 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:17,960 it allowed us to raise the land. 439 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:21,440 ..and get the scoop on a seaside favourite. 440 00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:22,840 Gelato! 441 00:28:24,120 --> 00:28:25,480 Ice cream!