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MEDLEY OF FAST TUNES PLAYS

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Child of the first war,
forgotten by the second,

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we called you Metro-Land.

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We laid our schemes,

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lured by the lush brochure,

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down byways beckoned to build
at last the cottage of our dreams,

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a city clerk turned countryman again

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and linked to the metropolis
by train.

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TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

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Metro-Land,

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the creation
of the Metropolitan Railway

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which, as you know,

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was the first steam underground
in the world.

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In the tunnels,

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the smell of sulphur was awful.

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When I was a boy,
"Live in Metro-Land" was the slogan.

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It meant getting out of the tunnels
into the country,

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for the line had ambitions

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of linking Manchester to Paris and
dropping in at London on the way.

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That grandiose scheme
came to nothing.

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But then the Metropolitan
had a very good idea.

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Look at these fields.

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They were photographed in 1910
from the train.

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"Why not,"
said a clever member of the board,

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"Why not buy these orchards
and farms as we go along,

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"turn out the cattle,
and fill the meadowland with houses.

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"You would have a modern home
of quality and distinction.

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"You might even buy an old one
if there was one left.

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"And over these mild,
Home County acres,

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"soon there will be estate agent,
coal merchant, post office, shops

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"and rows of neat dwellings,

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"all within easy reach
of charming countryside."

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Bucks, Herts and Middlesex
yielded to Metro-Land...

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..and City men could breakfast
on the fast train to London town.

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Is this Buckingham Palace?

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Are we at the Ritz?

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No.

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This is
the Chiltern Court Restaurant
built above Baker Street Station.

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The gateway

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between Metro-Land out there
and London down there.

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The creation
of the Metropolitan Railway.

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The brochure shows you
how splendid this place was

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in 1913, which is
about the year it was built.

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Here the wives from Pinner
and Ruislip, after a day's shopping

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at Liberty's or Whiteley's,

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would sit, waiting for their husbands

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to come up from
Cheapside and Mincing Lane,

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and while they waited,

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they could listen to the strains
of the band

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playing for the "the dansant"

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before they took the train for home.

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Early electric, punctual and prompt,

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off to those cuttings
in the Hampstead Hills,

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St John's Wood, Marlborough Road,
no longer stations,

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and the trains rush through.

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This is all that's left
of Marlborough Road Station.

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Up there, the iron brackets which
supported the glass and iron roof,

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and do you see that white house
up there?

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That was where Thomas Hood,
the poet, died.

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He wrote, "I remember, I remember
the house where I was born."
The railway cut through his garden.

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I remember Marlborough Road Station

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because it was the nearest station
to the house where lived
my future parents-in-law.

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Farewell, old booking hall,
once grimy brick...

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..but leafy St John's Wood,
which you served, remains,

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forerunner of the suburbs
yet to come,

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with its broad avenues,
detached and semidetached villas,

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where lived artists and writers
and military men.

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And here,

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screened by shrubs,
walled in from public view,

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lived the kept women.

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What Puritan arms
have stretched within these rooms

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to touch what tender breasts,

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as the cab horse stamped
in the road outside?

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Sweet, secret suburb
on the city's rim.

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St John's Wood.

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Amidst all this frivolity,

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in one place,
a sinister note is struck.

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In that helmeted house,

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where rumour has it

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the Rev John Hugh Smith Piggott
lived,

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an Anglican clergyman,
whose Clapton congregation

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declared him to be Christ,
a compliment he accepted.

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His country house was called
the Agapemone, the abode of love.

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The ladies in it called him beloved

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and some were summoned
to be brides of Christ.

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Did they strew their lord
with lilies?

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I don't know.

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But for some reason, this house
has an uncanny atmosphere,

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threatening and restless.

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Someone seems to be
looking over your shoulder.

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Who is it?

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DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS

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Over the points
by electrical traction,

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out of the chimneypots,
into the openness,

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till we come to the suburb
that's thought to be commonplace,

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home of the gnome
and the average citizen,

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Sketchley and Unigate,
Dolcis and Wallpamur.

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# Neasden...

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# You won't be sorry
that you breezed in

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# The traffic lights
and yellow lines

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# And the illuminated signs
All say welcome to the borough
that everybody's pleased in

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# Neasden

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# Where the birds
sing in the trees-den

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# You can hear the blackbirds coo
So why not take the Bakerloo?

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# It'll work out that much cheaper
If you buy a season. #

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But if you did,
you'd find a steep slope

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ascending to a wide
and well-prospected view

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with grassy banks

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and cunningly planted
clumps of trees.

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And here Mr Eric Simms
in Gladstone Park...

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..keeps a sharp eye
on what is going on.

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So this is the start...

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of the well-known
Neasden nature trail.

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This Neasden nature trail
is something I've developed over
the 21 years that I've lived here.

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Living in a suburban situation,
this park is a tremendous asset
for anyone interested in wildlife.

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It's a marvellous place to watch
young birds at this time of year,
which roam over the grass swards.

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There are something like
900 pairs of house sparrows
within half a mile of my home.

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Many can be found in the park.

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One of the very common birds round
here is the London or feral pigeon.

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That's a cock blackbird
looking for worms.

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That's a hen blackbird which has
just come out from the shrubberies.

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The second most interesting part
of my nature trail at Neasden

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are the allotments in Brook Road.

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There's such a good view that I can
identify birds at a great distance.

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I've seen 92 different species of
bird within half a mile of my home.

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And that's not a bad total.

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Beyond Neasden,
there was an unimportant hamlet

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where for years the Metropolitan
didn't bother to stop...

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Wembley!

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Slushy fields and grass farms,

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then...

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out of the mist arose

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Sir Edward Watkin's dream,

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an Eiffel Tower for London.

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Sir Edward Watkin,
chairman of the line.

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Thousands, he thought,
would pay to climb the tower,

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which would be higher
than the one in Paris.

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He announced a competition,
500 guineas for the best design.

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Never were such flights
of Victorian fancy seen.

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Civil engineers
from Sweden and Thornton Heath,

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Rochdale and Constantinople

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entered designs.

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Cast iron, concrete,

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glass, granite and steel,

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lifts hydraulic and electric,

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a spiral steam railway,

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theatres, chapels

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and sanatoria in the air.

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In 1890,
the lucky winner was announced.

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It had Turkish baths,

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arcades of shops and winter gardens.

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Designed by a firm of Scots
with a London office,

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Stewart, MacLaren and Dunn,

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it was to be 150 feet higher
than the Eiffel Tower,

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but when at last
it reached above the trees,

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and the first stage
was opened to the crowds,

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the crowds weren't there.
They didn't want to come.

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Money ran out.
The tower lingered on,

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resting and rusting,
until it was dismembered...

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in 1907.

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This is where London's
failed Eiffel Tower stood -

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Watkin's Folly, as it was called.

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Here, on this Middlesex turf.

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And since then, the site
has become quite well known.

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CROWD CHEERS

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It was here, I can just remember
the excitement and the hope.

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St George's Day...

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1924.

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The British Empire Exhibition
at Wembley,

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opened by King George V.

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Ah, yes, those imperial pavilions.

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India, Sierra Leone, Fiji,
with their suntanned sentinels
of Empire outside.

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To me, they were more interesting

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than the palaces of industry
and engineering, which were
too like my father's factory.

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That was the Palace of Arts,

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where I used to wait while my father
saw the living models

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in Pear's Palace of Beauty.

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How well I remember the Palace of
Arts. Massive and simple outside,

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almost pagan in its sombre strength.

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But inside...

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ORGAN MUSIC

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This is the basilica
in the Palace of Arts.

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It was used for displaying
the best church art of 1924.

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AK Lawrence, Eric Gill,

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Mary Adshead, Colin Gill, and so on.

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00:15:04,660 --> 00:15:08,700
Today it's used for housing
the props of the pantomime,

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Cinderella on ice
and that kind of thing.

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Really, it's quite right
because church and stage
have always been closely connected.

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SQUEALING AND SCREAMING

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The Pleasure Park was the best thing
about the exhibition.

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The King and Queen enjoyed it, too.
There they are.

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Oh, bygone Wembley.
Where's the pleasure now?

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The temples stare.

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The Empire passes by.

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This was the grandest palace
of them all.

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The British Government Pavilion
and the famous Wembley lions.

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Now they guard
an empty warehouse site.

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00:16:30,740 --> 00:16:35,020
But still people kept on coming
to Wembley.

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The show houses
of the newly built estates.

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A younger, brighter, homelier
Metro-Land.

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Rusholme, Russells,

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Rustlings, rusty tiles,

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00:16:48,620 --> 00:16:51,020
Rose Hatch,

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00:16:51,020 --> 00:16:52,620
Rosehill,

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Roselea, Rosemount,

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00:16:55,540 --> 00:16:57,620
rose roof,

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00:16:57,620 --> 00:17:01,780
each one is slightly different
from the next.

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00:17:01,780 --> 00:17:04,660
A bastion of individual taste

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00:17:04,660 --> 00:17:08,580
on fields that once were bright
with buttercups.

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00:17:09,580 --> 00:17:12,100
Deep in rural Middlesex,

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00:17:12,100 --> 00:17:14,940
the county that inspired Keats...

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00:17:16,260 --> 00:17:20,220
"Magic casements
opening on the dawn."

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00:17:21,740 --> 00:17:26,580
A speculative builder
here at Kingsbury let himself go...

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00:17:26,580 --> 00:17:28,740
in the '20s.

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00:17:38,180 --> 00:17:42,020
And look what a lot of country
there is.

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00:17:42,020 --> 00:17:44,700
Fields and farms between the houses.

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00:17:46,180 --> 00:17:49,340
Oaks and elms above the rooftops.

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00:17:57,540 --> 00:18:01,580
The smart, suburban railway
knew its place

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00:18:01,580 --> 00:18:05,780
and did not dare approach
too near the Hill.

220
00:18:07,780 --> 00:18:13,500
Here at the foot of Harrow Hill,
alongside the Metropolitan
electric trains,

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00:18:13,500 --> 00:18:20,020
tradesmen from Harrow built -
in the '80s or '90s, I should think,
from the look of the buildings -

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00:18:20,020 --> 00:18:24,580
these houses, and a nice
little speculation they were.

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00:18:24,580 --> 00:18:26,860
Quiet, near the railway station,

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00:18:26,860 --> 00:18:30,940
with their own church
and public house,

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00:18:30,940 --> 00:18:36,540
and they're named reverently after
the great people of Harrow School,

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00:18:36,540 --> 00:18:39,980
Drury, Vaughan, Butler.

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00:18:39,980 --> 00:18:42,500
SCHOOLBOYS SING

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00:19:04,580 --> 00:19:10,140
Valiantly, that Elizabethan
foundation at the top of the Hill

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00:19:10,140 --> 00:19:12,780
has held the developers at bay.

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00:19:12,780 --> 00:19:16,820
Harrow School fought
to keep this hillside green.

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00:19:16,820 --> 00:19:20,860
But for all its tradition
and elegance,

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00:19:20,860 --> 00:19:26,380
it couldn't wholly stem
the rising tide of Metro-Land.

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00:19:38,980 --> 00:19:43,140
The healthy air of Harrow
in the 1920s and '30s,

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00:19:43,140 --> 00:19:45,700
when these villas were built.

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00:19:45,700 --> 00:19:51,300
You paid a deposit and eventually,
we hope, you had your own house

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00:19:51,300 --> 00:19:55,740
with its garage and front garden
and back garden.

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00:19:55,740 --> 00:19:58,740
A verge in front of your house

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00:19:58,740 --> 00:20:01,340
and grass and trees for the dog.

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00:20:02,580 --> 00:20:06,740
Variety created in each facade
of the houses

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00:20:06,740 --> 00:20:09,420
and in the colouring of the trees.

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00:20:09,420 --> 00:20:14,100
In fact, the country
had come to the suburbs.

242
00:20:15,100 --> 00:20:17,820
Roses are blooming in Metro-Land,

243
00:20:17,820 --> 00:20:20,700
just as they do in the brochure.

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00:20:32,900 --> 00:20:35,540
# Grab your coat and get your hat

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00:20:35,540 --> 00:20:39,220
# Leave your worry on the doorstep

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00:20:39,220 --> 00:20:41,820
# Just direct your feet

247
00:20:41,820 --> 00:20:44,860
# To the sunny side of the street

248
00:20:45,940 --> 00:20:50,660
# Can't you hear a pit-a-pat?
And that happy tune is your step

249
00:20:52,220 --> 00:20:55,420
# Life can be so sweet

250
00:20:55,420 --> 00:20:58,420
# On the sunny side of the street

251
00:20:58,420 --> 00:21:00,900
# I used to walk in the shade

252
00:21:00,900 --> 00:21:04,700
# With those blues on parade

253
00:21:04,700 --> 00:21:07,780
# But I'm not afraid

254
00:21:07,780 --> 00:21:10,900
# This rover crossed over

255
00:21:10,900 --> 00:21:14,140
# If I never have a cent

256
00:21:14,140 --> 00:21:17,220
# I'll be rich as Rockefeller

257
00:21:17,220 --> 00:21:20,460
# Gold dust at my feet

258
00:21:20,460 --> 00:21:23,900
# On the sunny side
of the street... #

259
00:21:34,300 --> 00:21:38,980
Along the serried avenues
of Harrow's garden villages,

260
00:21:38,980 --> 00:21:44,980
households rise and shine
and settle down
to the Sunday morning rhythm.

261
00:21:44,980 --> 00:21:51,380
"Hello and best wishes, everyone,
and happy birthday, Mary and Jean,"
begins this batch of dedications.

262
00:21:51,380 --> 00:21:58,420
Campbell Gooding of Newfarm in
Queensland bids me to greet Mary
and Dick Shenaghan of Teddington,

263
00:21:58,420 --> 00:22:04,260
Ian Ferguson, studying hard
at Southampton University -
they reckon! -

264
00:22:04,260 --> 00:22:06,420
and "the one and only" Doug Sewell.

265
00:22:06,420 --> 00:22:11,580
This is a record for you all from
the people who sent the messages.

266
00:22:11,580 --> 00:22:15,220
Down By The Lazy River
with the Osmonds.

267
00:22:15,220 --> 00:22:17,580
# What you doing tonight?

268
00:22:17,580 --> 00:22:19,820
# You got no place to go

269
00:22:21,220 --> 00:22:24,140
# Gotta get out of the city

270
00:22:24,140 --> 00:22:28,100
# You know it won't be long
till we'll be, we'll be...

271
00:22:28,100 --> 00:22:30,660
# Down, I said down...

272
00:22:30,660 --> 00:22:33,660
# Come on down...

273
00:22:33,660 --> 00:22:38,980
# Down by the lazy river
Come as you please

274
00:22:38,980 --> 00:22:40,100
# Oh, yeah...

275
00:22:40,100 --> 00:22:45,780
# Down by the lazy river
One big family

276
00:22:45,780 --> 00:22:50,420
# If you're all alone,
you won't be long

277
00:22:50,420 --> 00:22:54,060
# Just bring your guitar
and sing your song

278
00:22:54,060 --> 00:22:56,500
# Down by the lazy river... #

279
00:22:57,500 --> 00:23:00,100
This is Grim's Dyke in Harrow Weald.

280
00:23:00,100 --> 00:23:06,660
I've always regarded it
as a prototype of all suburban homes
in southern England.

281
00:23:07,660 --> 00:23:11,780
It was designed by the famous
Norman Shaw a century ago.

282
00:23:11,780 --> 00:23:14,340
Merry England outside,

283
00:23:14,340 --> 00:23:17,340
haunting and romantic within.

284
00:23:17,340 --> 00:23:21,380
With Norman Shaw,
one thing leads to another.

285
00:23:22,780 --> 00:23:25,380
I came out of a low entrance hall

286
00:23:25,380 --> 00:23:27,900
into this bigger hall.

287
00:23:27,900 --> 00:23:31,900
And then one doesn't know
what's coming next.

288
00:23:31,900 --> 00:23:34,420
There's an arch.

289
00:23:34,420 --> 00:23:36,940
If I go up there,

290
00:23:36,940 --> 00:23:39,540
I'll see goodness knows what.

291
00:23:39,540 --> 00:23:42,060
Let's go and look.

292
00:23:51,980 --> 00:23:55,660
There's a sense
of mounting excitement.

293
00:23:55,660 --> 00:23:59,180
Have I strayed
into a Hitchcock film?

294
00:24:02,060 --> 00:24:04,580
DISTANT BABBLE OF VOICES

295
00:24:30,620 --> 00:24:33,100
TWO BANGS

296
00:24:33,100 --> 00:24:35,340
Ladies,

297
00:24:35,340 --> 00:24:39,860
good afternoon and welcome
to the Byron Luncheon Club.

298
00:24:39,860 --> 00:24:46,060
I would like to give
a very warm welcome to our speaker,
Mrs Elizabeth Cooper.

299
00:24:46,060 --> 00:24:47,700
APPLAUSE

300
00:24:50,060 --> 00:24:53,580
I would like to thank you,
Madam Chairman,

301
00:24:53,580 --> 00:24:57,820
first of all for inviting me
to this beautiful lunch,

302
00:24:57,820 --> 00:25:03,860
beautiful room
and bevy of beautifully dressed
and beautifully hatted ladies.

303
00:25:03,860 --> 00:25:09,700
I think it's
the most beautiful house in Harrow
and one of the most interesting,

304
00:25:09,700 --> 00:25:14,260
architecturally and historically.
Dear things, indeed it is.

305
00:25:15,340 --> 00:25:19,980
Tall, brick chimneystacks,
not hidden away, but prominent,

306
00:25:19,980 --> 00:25:22,820
and part of the design.

307
00:25:22,820 --> 00:25:26,380
Local bricks, local tiles,
local timber,

308
00:25:26,380 --> 00:25:28,780
no facade is the same.

309
00:25:29,820 --> 00:25:35,900
Gabled windows
gaze through leaded lights
down winding lawns.

310
00:25:35,900 --> 00:25:37,940
It isn't a fake.

311
00:25:37,940 --> 00:25:43,420
It's a new practical house
for a newly rich Victorian.

312
00:25:43,420 --> 00:25:45,900
Strong, impressive...

313
00:25:45,900 --> 00:25:47,420
original.

314
00:25:48,380 --> 00:25:51,300
And yonder gloomy pool contained,

315
00:25:51,300 --> 00:25:53,820
on May 29th 1911,

316
00:25:53,820 --> 00:25:56,340
the dead body...

317
00:25:56,340 --> 00:25:58,460
of WS Gilbert,

318
00:25:58,460 --> 00:26:01,020
Grim's Dyke's most famous owner

319
00:26:01,020 --> 00:26:05,100
and Sullivan's partner
in the Savoy operas.

320
00:26:05,100 --> 00:26:09,260
After a good luncheon,
he went bathing with two girls,

321
00:26:09,260 --> 00:26:11,820
Ruby Preece and Winifred Emery.

322
00:26:11,820 --> 00:26:14,500
Ruby found she was out of her depth.

323
00:26:16,180 --> 00:26:20,580
In rescuing her,
Gilbert died of a heart attack

324
00:26:20,580 --> 00:26:23,140
here, in this pond.

325
00:26:27,420 --> 00:26:31,420
Funereal from Harrow
draws the train.

326
00:26:31,420 --> 00:26:34,500
On, on, north-westwards,

327
00:26:34,500 --> 00:26:37,020
London far away,

328
00:26:37,020 --> 00:26:41,260
and stations start
to look quite countrified.

329
00:26:44,340 --> 00:26:50,860
Pinner, a parish of 1,000 souls,
till railways gave it
many thousands more.

330
00:26:50,860 --> 00:26:54,420
Pinner is famous
for its village fair

331
00:26:54,420 --> 00:26:58,500
where once a year,
St John The Baptist's Day

332
00:26:58,500 --> 00:27:02,740
shows all the climbing High Street
filled with stalls.

333
00:27:02,740 --> 00:27:06,980
It is the feast day
of the parish saint,

334
00:27:06,980 --> 00:27:10,340
a medieval fair in Metro-Land.

335
00:27:10,340 --> 00:27:13,140
21 and under,

336
00:27:13,140 --> 00:27:15,900
any prize you like!

337
00:27:15,900 --> 00:27:19,060
Any prize you like!

338
00:27:46,700 --> 00:27:51,980
When I was young, there stood
among the fields a lonely station,

339
00:27:51,980 --> 00:27:54,540
once called Stanley Lodge,

340
00:27:54,540 --> 00:27:59,100
its wooden platform
crunched by hobnailed shoes.

341
00:28:00,380 --> 00:28:03,900
And this is where the healthier
got out.

342
00:28:03,900 --> 00:28:07,780
# I strolled
down the fairway of love

343
00:28:07,780 --> 00:28:12,020
# On the day I lost my heart

344
00:28:12,020 --> 00:28:15,940
# I found it was heaven above

345
00:28:15,940 --> 00:28:19,660
# And I was bunkered from the start

346
00:28:21,140 --> 00:28:24,220
# I found I was soon in the rough

347
00:28:24,220 --> 00:28:27,780
# Now sadly do I roam

348
00:28:27,780 --> 00:28:32,260
# For I've got a driver
and six little niblicks

349
00:28:32,260 --> 00:28:35,780
# Waiting at home sweet home. #

350
00:28:40,940 --> 00:28:46,140
One of the joys of Metro-Land
was the nearness of golf to London.

351
00:28:46,140 --> 00:28:50,780
Moor Park, Rickmansworth
was a great attraction.

352
00:28:52,700 --> 00:28:56,740
Now, eye on the ball,
left knee slightly bent,

353
00:28:56,740 --> 00:28:58,780
slow back...

354
00:28:58,780 --> 00:29:00,340
Missed.

355
00:29:01,340 --> 00:29:03,700
HE LAUGHS

356
00:29:06,820 --> 00:29:09,540
Well, that wasn't up to much.

357
00:29:09,540 --> 00:29:13,980
Perhaps the clubhouse
is more exciting.

358
00:29:21,900 --> 00:29:26,500
Did ever golf club have a 19th hole
so sumptuous as this?

359
00:29:26,500 --> 00:29:29,300
Fit for a monarch.

360
00:29:44,700 --> 00:29:48,540
Did ever golf club
have so fine a hall?

361
00:29:49,580 --> 00:29:52,100
Venetian decor, 1732.

362
00:29:57,380 --> 00:30:00,940
And yonder dome
is not a dome at all,

363
00:30:00,940 --> 00:30:05,260
but painted in the semblance
of a dome.

364
00:30:05,260 --> 00:30:09,620
The sculptured figures
all are done in paint,

365
00:30:09,620 --> 00:30:14,060
that lean towards us
with so rapt a look.

366
00:30:15,140 --> 00:30:18,700
How skilfully
the artist takes us in.

367
00:30:34,340 --> 00:30:38,380
What Georgian wit
these classic gods have heard

368
00:30:38,380 --> 00:30:42,220
who now must listen
to the golfer's tale

369
00:30:42,220 --> 00:30:46,260
of holes in one
and how I missed that putt,

370
00:30:46,260 --> 00:30:50,300
hooked at the seventh,
sliced across the tenth,

371
00:30:50,300 --> 00:30:52,980
but ended on the 17th all square.

372
00:30:54,020 --> 00:30:56,540
Ye gods, ye gods,

373
00:30:56,540 --> 00:30:59,060
how comical we are.

374
00:30:59,060 --> 00:31:03,380
Would Jove have been
appointed captain here?

375
00:31:04,820 --> 00:31:09,460
See how exclusive
thine estate Moor Park.

376
00:31:15,300 --> 00:31:21,580
And how are you? I'm very well. How
are you? I feel a lot better now
seeing you. Even in this weather?

377
00:31:21,580 --> 00:31:27,620
Even in this weather, yes.
I'd sooner see you at any time
than this rain.

378
00:31:29,500 --> 00:31:32,140
See you later. Bye-bye, dear.

379
00:31:32,140 --> 00:31:33,420
Bye.

380
00:31:44,180 --> 00:31:48,220
Can you let me through, please?
Where have you come from?

381
00:31:48,220 --> 00:31:54,740
Visiting a friend on the estate.
What's her name? Why do you want
to know? It's a private estate.

382
00:31:54,740 --> 00:32:00,900
If you don't tell me where you've
come from, you've got to go all
the way back again. It's pouring...

383
00:32:00,900 --> 00:32:07,500
I'm awfully sorry, love, I only
work here. I'm not allowed to let
you through. Go the same way back.

384
00:32:20,780 --> 00:32:23,140
Onwards, onwards,

385
00:32:23,140 --> 00:32:27,220
north of the border,
down Hertfordshire way.

386
00:32:27,220 --> 00:32:30,060
MUSIC: "When The Battle Is O'er"

387
00:32:35,980 --> 00:32:38,500
The Croxley Green Revels,

388
00:32:38,500 --> 00:32:43,020
a tradition
that stretches back to 1952.

389
00:32:45,740 --> 00:32:49,540
For pageantry
is deep in all our hearts.

390
00:32:49,540 --> 00:32:54,260
And this, for many a girl,
is her greatest day.

391
00:33:13,500 --> 00:33:16,540
Following this year's royal court,

392
00:33:16,540 --> 00:33:20,020
we have the retiring queen
and her court.

393
00:33:20,020 --> 00:33:24,860
The retiring queen - Catherine
Fretwell of Rickmansworth School.

394
00:33:26,860 --> 00:33:31,420
The new queen will be crowned
by the retiring queen

395
00:33:31,420 --> 00:33:38,220
and then the page will set the
whole of our afternoon programme
into action.

396
00:33:38,220 --> 00:33:42,980
I now crown you Queen of the Revels
of Croxley Green 1972.

397
00:34:00,140 --> 00:34:02,820
To my people in Croxley Green,

398
00:34:02,820 --> 00:34:04,500
greetings.

399
00:34:04,500 --> 00:34:11,180
On this memorable day,
I am proud to greet you
as your Croxley Green Revels Queen.

400
00:34:11,180 --> 00:34:13,980
I am happy that I have been chosen

401
00:34:13,980 --> 00:34:17,660
and I ask you, one and all,

402
00:34:17,660 --> 00:34:21,500
to make the year 1972
a very happy one.

403
00:34:21,500 --> 00:34:27,260
In this very lovely corner of
England, of which we are so proud,

404
00:34:27,260 --> 00:34:31,420
let us try to find
peace and goodwill

405
00:34:31,420 --> 00:34:34,500
in our homes and in our community.

406
00:34:35,500 --> 00:34:39,340
Let us try and bring happiness
to those around us

407
00:34:39,340 --> 00:34:43,060
and to those
less fortunate than ourselves.

408
00:34:43,060 --> 00:34:47,340
Spoken by Jilly Garwood
at Croxley Green, Hertfordshire.

409
00:34:49,340 --> 00:34:53,180
Large, uneventful fields
of dairy farms.

410
00:34:53,180 --> 00:34:57,420
Slowly winds the Chess
brimful of trout.

411
00:34:58,620 --> 00:35:02,940
An unregarded part of Hertfordshire
awaits its fate.

412
00:35:03,940 --> 00:35:08,020
And in the heights above,
Chorley Wood Village,

413
00:35:08,020 --> 00:35:10,700
where in '89 the railway came

414
00:35:10,700 --> 00:35:15,620
and wood smoke
mingled with the sulphur fumes

415
00:35:15,620 --> 00:35:19,860
and people now could catch
the early train to London

416
00:35:19,860 --> 00:35:22,380
and be home just after tea.

417
00:35:31,860 --> 00:35:35,660
This is, I think,
essential Metro-Land.

418
00:35:35,660 --> 00:35:42,060
Much trouble has been taken
to preserve the country quality
surviving here.

419
00:35:42,060 --> 00:35:45,300
Oak, hazel, hawthorn,

420
00:35:45,300 --> 00:35:51,020
gorse and sandy tracks, better
for sport than farming, I suspect.

421
00:35:55,740 --> 00:35:58,300
Common and cricket pitch.

422
00:35:58,300 --> 00:36:00,860
Church school and church.

423
00:36:00,860 --> 00:36:03,780
All are reminders of a country past.

424
00:36:05,580 --> 00:36:07,460
Yes!

425
00:36:07,460 --> 00:36:11,700
Rounder! Rounder! Rounder!
Rounder!

426
00:36:11,700 --> 00:36:13,620
Run!

427
00:36:13,620 --> 00:36:18,580
Mrs Hill, we've got
eight rounders now.

428
00:36:20,060 --> 00:36:25,180
In the orchards beyond the common,
one spring morning in 1900,

429
00:36:25,180 --> 00:36:29,020
a young architect, Charles Voysey,
and his wife

430
00:36:29,020 --> 00:36:33,220
decided to build themselves
a family home.

431
00:36:33,220 --> 00:36:38,700
I think it was the parent of
thousands of simple English houses.

432
00:36:38,700 --> 00:36:41,940
All must be plain and practical.

433
00:36:41,940 --> 00:36:48,540
That sloping buttress wall
is to counteract the outward thrust
of the heavy slate roof.

434
00:36:48,540 --> 00:36:53,220
Do you notice those stepped tiles
below the chimneypots?

435
00:36:53,220 --> 00:36:57,060
They're there to throw off
the driving rain.

436
00:36:57,060 --> 00:37:02,580
That lead roof ridge is pinched up
at the end for the same reason.

437
00:37:02,580 --> 00:37:09,220
Horizontal courses of red tiles
in the white walls
protect windows and openings.

438
00:37:10,220 --> 00:37:14,900
It's hard to believe
that so simple and stalwart a house

439
00:37:14,900 --> 00:37:17,460
was built in Queen Victoria's reign.

440
00:37:19,540 --> 00:37:23,620
Voysey liked to design every detail
in his house.

441
00:37:24,940 --> 00:37:27,780
For instance, that knocker - Voysey.

442
00:37:28,820 --> 00:37:32,340
Typical curious shaped handle -
Voysey.

443
00:37:32,340 --> 00:37:34,380
And this...

444
00:37:34,380 --> 00:37:36,940
hand-wrought iron hinge,

445
00:37:36,940 --> 00:37:43,220
with what seems to be
his signature tune, the heart,
there at the end of the hinge.

446
00:37:43,220 --> 00:37:48,220
It's here round the letterbox.
It's also round the keyhole.

447
00:37:48,220 --> 00:37:51,740
And it seems to be on the key.
That's a Voysey key.

448
00:37:51,740 --> 00:37:56,340
In the house, he did everything
down to the knives and forks.

449
00:38:00,020 --> 00:38:04,180
The plan of the house
radiates out from this hall.

450
00:38:04,180 --> 00:38:06,940
Extreme simplicity is the keynote.

451
00:38:06,940 --> 00:38:09,700
No unnecessary decoration.

452
00:38:09,700 --> 00:38:12,180
The balusters here...

453
00:38:12,180 --> 00:38:15,340
for the stairs, straight verticals,

454
00:38:15,340 --> 00:38:20,340
giving an impression of great height
to this simple hall.

455
00:38:21,380 --> 00:38:25,940
But, as a matter of fact, it isn't
a particularly high house.

456
00:38:25,940 --> 00:38:28,460
In fact, it's rather small.

457
00:38:28,460 --> 00:38:33,220
I knew Mr Voysey and I saw
Mrs Voysey. They were small people.

458
00:38:33,220 --> 00:38:37,580
In case you think it's
a large house, I'll just walk...

459
00:38:37,580 --> 00:38:41,540
I'm fat, I know,
and I'm not particularly tall.

460
00:38:41,540 --> 00:38:48,060
I'll stand by the door here
and you compare my height
with the ledge and the door.

461
00:39:00,940 --> 00:39:03,460
A round window...

462
00:39:03,460 --> 00:39:05,980
on the garden side of the house.

463
00:39:05,980 --> 00:39:08,500
And a typical Voysey detail.

464
00:39:08,500 --> 00:39:11,260
This pane which opens

465
00:39:11,260 --> 00:39:13,780
to let in the air

466
00:39:13,780 --> 00:39:18,420
from Beechy Bucks, which is just
on the other side of the road.

467
00:39:26,900 --> 00:39:29,420
Back to the simple life.

468
00:39:29,420 --> 00:39:36,180
Back to nature. To a shady retreat
in the reeds and rushes
of the River Chess.

469
00:39:36,180 --> 00:39:40,980
The lure of Metro-Land
was remoteness and quiet.

470
00:39:40,980 --> 00:39:45,100
This is what a brochure
of the '20s said...

471
00:39:45,100 --> 00:39:47,740
"It's the trees,

472
00:39:47,740 --> 00:39:50,100
"the fairy dingles

473
00:39:50,100 --> 00:39:56,140
"and the 101 things
in which Dame Nature's fingers
have lingered long

474
00:39:56,140 --> 00:39:59,060
"in setting out this beautiful array

475
00:39:59,060 --> 00:40:04,860
"of trout stream, wooded slope,
meadow and hilltop sites.

476
00:40:04,860 --> 00:40:09,700
"Send a postcard
for the homestead of your dreams

477
00:40:09,700 --> 00:40:13,900
"to Loudwater Estate, Chorley Wood."

478
00:40:26,180 --> 00:40:30,500
# With 1,000 little stars
With 1,000 little stars

479
00:40:30,500 --> 00:40:33,060
# We can decorate the ceiling

480
00:40:33,060 --> 00:40:36,380
# With an optimistic feeling

481
00:40:36,380 --> 00:40:39,540
# We can build a little home

482
00:40:39,540 --> 00:40:43,460
# Every single little dream
Every single little dream

483
00:40:43,460 --> 00:40:46,180
# Is a shingle or a rafter

484
00:40:46,180 --> 00:40:49,420
# We can paint the house
with laughter

485
00:40:49,420 --> 00:40:52,820
# When we build a little home

486
00:40:52,820 --> 00:40:58,940
# It's not a palace, nor a poorhouse
But the rent is absolutely free

487
00:40:58,940 --> 00:41:03,140
# This is my house,
but it's your house

488
00:41:03,140 --> 00:41:05,780
# If you'll come and live with me

489
00:41:05,780 --> 00:41:09,580
# With a carpet on the floor
With a carpet on the floor

490
00:41:09,580 --> 00:41:12,420
# Made of buttercups and clover

491
00:41:12,420 --> 00:41:15,260
# All our troubles will be over

492
00:41:15,260 --> 00:41:17,940
# When we build our little home. #

493
00:41:22,580 --> 00:41:26,380
I'm on! I'm on this end!

494
00:41:26,380 --> 00:41:30,060
Oh, happy outdoor life
in Chorley Wood,

495
00:41:30,060 --> 00:41:34,660
in Daddy's swim pool,
while old Spot looks on

496
00:41:34,660 --> 00:41:38,460
and Susan dreams
of super summer hols

497
00:41:38,460 --> 00:41:42,660
whilst chlorinated wavelets
brush the banks.

498
00:41:42,660 --> 00:41:46,340
Oh, happy indoor life
in Chorley Wood,

499
00:41:46,340 --> 00:41:50,700
where strangest dreams of all
are realised.

500
00:41:50,700 --> 00:41:54,580
ORGAN MUSIC
Mellifluating out from modern brick,

501
00:41:54,580 --> 00:41:58,220
the pipe dream of a local man,
Len Rawle.

502
00:41:58,220 --> 00:42:02,220
For, pipe by pipe
and stock by stock,

503
00:42:02,220 --> 00:42:07,340
he moved out of the Empire Cinema,
Leicester Square,

504
00:42:07,340 --> 00:42:09,860
the mighty Wurlitzer,

505
00:42:09,860 --> 00:42:14,300
till the huge instrument
filled half his house

506
00:42:14,300 --> 00:42:18,580
with all its multitude
of sound effects.

507
00:43:13,020 --> 00:43:15,660
ORGAN MAKES STEAM TRAIN SOUNDS

508
00:43:36,140 --> 00:43:38,660
Steam took us onwards

509
00:43:38,660 --> 00:43:40,860
through the ripening fields,

510
00:43:40,860 --> 00:43:43,980
ripe for development,

511
00:43:43,980 --> 00:43:48,020
where the landscape
yields clay for warm brick,

512
00:43:48,020 --> 00:43:50,580
timber for post and rail,

513
00:43:50,580 --> 00:43:54,700
through Amersham to Aylesbury
and the Vale.

514
00:43:54,700 --> 00:43:57,340
In those wet fields,

515
00:43:57,340 --> 00:43:59,940
the railway didn't pay.

516
00:43:59,940 --> 00:44:02,940
The Metro stops at Amersham today.

517
00:44:08,220 --> 00:44:10,540
In 1931,

518
00:44:10,540 --> 00:44:14,380
all Buckinghamshire
was scandalised

519
00:44:14,380 --> 00:44:16,940
by the appearance

520
00:44:16,940 --> 00:44:21,140
high above Amersham
of a concrete house

521
00:44:21,140 --> 00:44:24,660
in the shape of a letter Y.

522
00:44:24,660 --> 00:44:27,580
It was built for a young professor

523
00:44:27,580 --> 00:44:31,860
by a young architect, Amyas Connell.

524
00:44:31,860 --> 00:44:34,860
They called it High And Over.

525
00:44:35,860 --> 00:44:40,820
"I am the home of a 20th-century
family," it proclaimed,

526
00:44:40,820 --> 00:44:45,260
"that loves air and sunlight
and open country."

527
00:44:46,820 --> 00:44:52,700
It started a style called moderne,
perhaps rather old-fashioned today.

528
00:44:54,780 --> 00:45:01,700
And one day, poor thing,
it woke up and found developers
in its back garden.

529
00:45:01,700 --> 00:45:04,220
MUSIC: "Everything I Own"

530
00:45:05,900 --> 00:45:09,580
Goodbye,
high hopes and overconfidence.

531
00:45:14,100 --> 00:45:18,700
In fact, it's probably
goodbye, England.

532
00:45:34,300 --> 00:45:36,860
Where are the advertisements?

533
00:45:36,860 --> 00:45:41,260
Where's the shopping arcade?
The coal merchants?

534
00:45:41,260 --> 00:45:43,700
And the parked cars?

535
00:45:43,700 --> 00:45:49,740
This is a part
of the Metropolitan Railway
that's been entirely forgotten.

536
00:45:49,740 --> 00:45:52,300
Beyond Aylesbury it lies

537
00:45:52,300 --> 00:45:54,580
in flat fields

538
00:45:54,580 --> 00:45:56,700
with huge elms

539
00:45:56,700 --> 00:45:58,940
and distant blue hills.

540
00:45:58,940 --> 00:46:01,500
Quainton Road Station.

541
00:46:01,500 --> 00:46:08,380
It was to have been
the Clapham Junction of
the rural part of the Metropolitan.

542
00:46:09,380 --> 00:46:14,020
With what hopes this place was built
in 1890.

543
00:46:15,060 --> 00:46:19,100
They hoped that trains
would run down the main line there

544
00:46:19,100 --> 00:46:22,980
from London to the Midlands
and the North.

545
00:46:22,980 --> 00:46:29,500
They'd come from the Midlands
and the North, rushing through here
to London and a Channel tunnel

546
00:46:29,500 --> 00:46:31,980
and then on to Paris.

547
00:46:31,980 --> 00:46:34,500
But, alas, all that's happened

548
00:46:34,500 --> 00:46:37,020
is that there...

549
00:46:37,020 --> 00:46:42,420
a line curves away to the last
of the Metropolitan stations

550
00:46:42,420 --> 00:46:46,100
in the country,
in far Buckinghamshire,

551
00:46:46,100 --> 00:46:48,700
which was at Verney Junction.

552
00:46:48,700 --> 00:46:51,340
And I can remember sitting here

553
00:46:51,340 --> 00:46:53,900
on a warm autumn evening

554
00:46:53,900 --> 00:46:55,940
in 1929

555
00:46:55,940 --> 00:46:59,180
and seeing the Brill tram

556
00:46:59,180 --> 00:47:01,740
from the platform on the other side

557
00:47:01,740 --> 00:47:03,780
with steam up

558
00:47:03,780 --> 00:47:08,380
ready to take two or three
passengers through oil-lit halts

559
00:47:08,380 --> 00:47:12,380
and over level crossings,
a rather bumpy journey,

560
00:47:12,380 --> 00:47:14,500
to a station

561
00:47:14,500 --> 00:47:18,940
not far from the remote
hilltop village of Brill.

562
00:47:23,300 --> 00:47:28,980
The houses of Metro-Land
never got as far as Verney Junction.

563
00:47:30,100 --> 00:47:32,580
Grass triumphs.

564
00:47:32,580 --> 00:47:35,220
And I must say I'm rather glad.

565
00:48:08,380 --> 00:48:12,780
Subtitles by BBC Broadcast