1 00:00:05,240 --> 00:00:09,520 In the early 17th century, the British Isles were engulfed 2 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:13,200 by bitter religious and political conflict. 3 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:17,760 The people divided into two warring tribes, 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:19,040 The Roundheads - 5 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:23,040 radical parliamentarians led by Oliver Cromwell, 6 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:26,880 fighting to create a more egalitarian church and state - 7 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:28,720 SHOUTING AND SWORDS CLASHING 8 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:31,840 and the Cavaliers - royalists led by Charles I 9 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:35,480 fighting to preserve the political and religious hierarchy 10 00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:37,000 and the King's authority. 11 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:39,520 SHOUTING AND HORSES WHINNYING 12 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,600 The conflict came to a head in civil war 13 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:47,040 that would revolutionise the culture and politics of Britain. 14 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:49,040 MEN SHOUTING AND GALLOPING HOOVES 15 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:55,040 'It shattered unified society forever.' 16 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:56,480 And ever since then we've had, 17 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:59,840 essentially, some kind of two party system. 18 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:02,320 The division of Roundhead and Cavalier 19 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:06,000 got perpetuated, in many ways, into Whig and Tory, 20 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,600 Liberal and Conservative, 21 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:10,200 Conservative and Socialist. 22 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:15,200 The Civil War was more than a battle for political power. 23 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:19,280 It was also a struggle between two conflicting attitudes to life 24 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:22,360 and that struggle continues to this day. 25 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:27,560 I think we subconsciously divide ourselves into Roundheads and Cavaliers. 26 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:31,400 It's not a mark of wealth, it's not a question of class distinction, 27 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:32,960 it's a, sort of, cast of mind. 28 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:39,240 The Cavalier is a flamboyant, a person of a grand gesture, 29 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:41,920 they're not particularly interested in the nitty-gritty 30 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:44,520 of organising life and politics. 31 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:47,840 They probably don't have a huge overall plan. 32 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:54,000 Rather vainglorious but also terribly affable and very friendly. 33 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:58,440 Beautiful, beautiful style, not much substance. 34 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:02,600 Roundheads I would say, more austere, 35 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:04,640 more careful, more organised. 36 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:09,640 Dour, Godly, sincere, determined, thoughtful... 37 00:02:09,640 --> 00:02:12,560 People of principle, people of purpose... 38 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:18,480 Very militant, power hungry, rebellious... 39 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:22,760 The battle between Roundheads and Cavaliers 40 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:25,840 continues to shape our national life. 41 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:27,480 In architecture... 42 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:30,240 ..in the press... 43 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:33,800 ..on the sports field... 44 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:38,240 ..and in the kitchen. 45 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:42,560 To understand the origins of this great divide 46 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:47,320 is to understand what it means to be British. 47 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:53,680 Prepare to march. March on! 48 00:03:00,920 --> 00:03:05,200 August Bank Holiday, Godalming, in Surrey. 49 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:11,640 And The Sealed Knot - 50 00:03:11,640 --> 00:03:16,040 the Roundheads and Cavaliers of 21st Century Britain - 51 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:17,640 are on the march. 52 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:22,120 They regularly gather to re-create battles 53 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,160 from a civil war that forged our national character. 54 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:33,000 Very definitely pleased to say that I'm a royalist 55 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:34,560 and definitely a Cavalier as well. 56 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:36,160 And me now, you get Daddy! 57 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:40,080 'Cavalier means that a gentleman of the royalist ranks, really.' 58 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:44,080 'I'm a Roundhead and I'm proud of it. Parliament for me.' 59 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:46,560 One voice, one people, one vote. 60 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:48,440 Without it where'd we be today? 61 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,760 We'd all be living in the gutter, king'd still be living in castles. 62 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:55,280 The first people to be called Roundheads 63 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:59,160 were bands of apprentices rioting in London in 1641 64 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:03,840 in protest against the power of the King and the Church of England. 65 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:07,040 'Roundheads is a name that appeared out of the blue almost.' 66 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:08,960 There was a short-lived fashion for people, 67 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:11,160 Parliamentarians and Puritans in particular, 68 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:13,160 to wear their hair very short 69 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:16,680 and this made their heads look almost naked and bald or round. 70 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:21,040 And the name stuck, even though the fashion itself did not last very long. 71 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:24,560 The Roundheads were campaigning for a radical transformation 72 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:27,440 of Britain's political and religious hierarchy. 73 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:34,560 Radical Puritans had, in their day, a very advanced view of equality. 74 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:37,880 That view came from their religious beliefs, 75 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:40,040 where they were all equal before God, 76 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:41,960 they were all going to be saved. 77 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:45,080 And if they were all equal in religion 78 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:47,440 they should be equal in politics 79 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:51,520 and so the religion fed into the political demands. 80 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:54,440 The Cavaliers were determined 81 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:57,280 to stop this Puritanical Roundhead revolution. 82 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:02,160 Cavaliers were fighting to protect the authority of the King 83 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:05,160 and to protect the old established Church of England, 84 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:07,920 and they saw the Roundheads as fanatics, essentially, 85 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:10,160 who would bring down the church, bring down the state 86 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:12,120 and bring down law and order itself. 87 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:13,920 - ALL: - King Charles! 88 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:20,800 'The origin of the term Cavalier comes from the Spanish, "caballero," 89 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:25,480 'and it's used particularly to identify Royalists.' 90 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:28,240 Royalist courtiers on horsebacks 91 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:30,760 with their swords, with their honour code 92 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:33,360 and as the propaganda campaign kicks off 93 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,920 it also has connotations of drunkenness, 94 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,960 rowdy behaviour, and can be used, also, as an insult 95 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:44,120 as well as a way of identifying the enemy. 96 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:51,080 As the conflict spread across the British Isles, 97 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:54,960 the two tribes expressed their political and religious differences 98 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:56,640 in the way they dressed. 99 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:03,360 Cavaliers were flamboyant and extravagant. 100 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:06,040 Some even sported ribbons on their codpieces. 101 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:11,800 Roundheads valued simplicity and modesty as signs of Godliness. 102 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:18,920 'Puritans, seeing someone dressed in fine silk clothes' 103 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:22,200 showed exactly how morally degraded they were. 104 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:25,320 A puritan believed you displayed your own moral integrity 105 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:26,880 by quiet, modest dress. 106 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:30,960 So seeing those individuals in court full of their fine silks 107 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:34,360 really exposed their fundamental moral depravity. 108 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:45,280 The war of the wardrobes was fought out in sharply-worded pamphlets - 109 00:06:45,280 --> 00:06:47,200 precursors of the newspaper. 110 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:54,280 One Puritan pamphlet raged against the Cavalier's long hair - 111 00:06:54,280 --> 00:06:57,120 The Unloveliness of Lovelocks. 112 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:05,040 John Lilburne, a radical Roundhead and pamphleteer, 113 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:09,520 was a model for the puritan values of modesty and restraint. 114 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:12,760 'John Lilburne had an engraving done of him' 115 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:16,640 and it promoted this image of the man in plain clothes, 116 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:20,520 in black dress, unadorned, plain, 117 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:25,400 just a little bit of ruff collar and a very simple hairstyle - 118 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:29,720 the classic Roundhead with a few curls around the ears. 119 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:34,400 The Cavaliers defended their exuberant exhibitionism 120 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:37,040 with pamphlets of their own - 121 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:38,560 and it wasn't just the men. 122 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:45,040 'There is one wonderful pamphlet, by a woman, denouncing what she called, 123 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:48,160 ' "The ill-bred plebeian zealotry of Puritans," ' 124 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:50,160 and insisting that it was entirely up to women 125 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:52,840 to wear hair as long as they liked, 126 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:55,760 to wear beauty spots and cosmetics, 127 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:59,880 and denounced religion as just as fickle as fashion had ever been. 128 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:06,480 The English Civil War dropped a pebble into our pond 129 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:10,240 and those ripples keep coming, keep coming. 130 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:13,280 MUSIC: "Vogue" by Madonna 131 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:22,960 'I think if we look at modern fashion then, obviously,' 132 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:26,200 a sense of permissiveness, and pleasure, and glamour, 133 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:28,040 and extravagance has won out. 134 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:30,680 So the cavaliers have definitely won. 135 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:32,000 # Vogue 136 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:35,280 # Let your body groove to the music 137 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:37,160 # Hey, hey, hey! 138 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:39,400 # Vogue... # What are you looking at? 139 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:41,000 'I do think that the exposure, 140 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:44,680 'which goes on in our streets at the moment, is plain immodest. 141 00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:47,000 'And I did use to say to some of the girls on Strictly,' 142 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:49,080 "Are you feeling a bit cold?" 143 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:53,320 Because they weren't really wearing very much and I do disapprove. 144 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:57,560 And I do think that people should conduct themselves modestly. 145 00:08:57,560 --> 00:09:02,440 I mean, just the sense of disapproval of everything 146 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:04,080 still happens today. 147 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:08,440 The idea that dressing up is wrong, anything indulgent is wrong. 148 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:13,120 It's about distracting you away from your core value, 149 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:18,920 which, you know, obviously, for the Roundheads was God, was religion. 150 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:26,480 In the early 1640s, 151 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:29,000 the Roundheads stepped up their parliamentary campaign 152 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:33,320 for democratic reform of church and state... 153 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:35,680 but the Cavaliers refused to compromise 154 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:37,520 the supremacy of the monarchy. 155 00:09:38,680 --> 00:09:43,160 'By the summer of 1642, their differences are irreconcilable.' 156 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:47,000 They can only be decided on the field of war by the use of the sword. 157 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:48,600 And that's what happens, 158 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:53,000 both Parliament and the King set up their standards in August 1642, 159 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:55,240 and the English Civil War is underway. 160 00:09:56,800 --> 00:10:02,320 On October 23rd 1642, at Edgehill, in Warwickshire, 161 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:07,200 Roundhead and Cavalier armies faced each other for the first time. 162 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:18,080 The King's Cavalry were crack troops led by his nephew, 163 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:21,360 the 23-year-old Prince Rupert of the Rhine. 164 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:25,320 One of the most experienced cavalry commanders in Europe, 165 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:28,920 he was the very image of a Cavalier. 166 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:32,440 'He was so dashing, he was definitely romantic.' 167 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:38,520 And I love the fact he used to ride into battle with his standard poodle, 168 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:42,280 which the parliamentary forces thought was his familiar, 169 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:44,160 running along beside him. 170 00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:46,680 How do you train a poodle to take somebody's throat out 171 00:10:46,680 --> 00:10:49,720 if they're trying to hamstring your horse, I don't really know! 172 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:59,600 'This the saddle belonging to Prince Rupert of the Rhine. 173 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:02,280 'An extremely posh saddle.' 174 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:08,400 The most expensive accessory which a household can have is tapestry 175 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:10,760 and this is a miniature piece of tapestry. 176 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:12,760 It's also extremely comfortable 177 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:15,680 by the standards of saddles of that day and most. 178 00:11:15,680 --> 00:11:17,800 Instead of the usual hard leather thing, 179 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:20,320 what you have here is velvet plush, 180 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:22,840 really deep, and maximum comfort. 181 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:29,920 At Edgehill, Rupert launched the Cavalier's secret weapon... 182 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:34,440 ..a manoeuvre he'd learnt on the battlefields of Europe... 183 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:36,040 MEN SHOUTING 184 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:38,040 ..the thunderbolt charge. 185 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:44,880 'You hear the sound of thousands and thousands 186 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:48,240 'of horses hooves striking the ground at once' 187 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:50,840 and it's louder than thunder. 188 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:54,800 It's an extraordinary cacophony of noise, 189 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:56,400 which sweeps you along with it, 190 00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:59,280 as finally the canter turns into the all-out charge. 191 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:03,280 Horses encourage each other, 192 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:06,480 so as one moves faster the whole mass begins to go, 193 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:11,320 and it's rather like something being released from a bow or from a gun. 194 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:14,920 'Prince Rupert knew the shock value of cavalry.' 195 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:16,840 He went straight in and hard. 196 00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:19,560 He knew if he broke the enemy cavalry they would never reform. 197 00:12:19,560 --> 00:12:21,040 He could then dominate the field. 198 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:23,040 MEN SHOUTING 199 00:12:25,560 --> 00:12:30,280 The Cavalier Thunderbolt scattered the Roundhead cavalry 200 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:33,160 but then Prince Rupert and his high-spirited horsemen 201 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:34,560 continued charging... 202 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:41,360 ..off the battlefield and toward the Roundhead encampment. 203 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:45,080 'And one of the most glorious things about old-fashioned warfare' 204 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:47,920 is your ability to loot the defeated enemy. 205 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:52,880 And here in the wagons were not just the food stuffs, and the drink, 206 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:55,600 and the cloth for the ordinary soldiers 207 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:58,200 but all the valuables of the officers. 208 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:00,480 And so what Rupert's troopers did 209 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:02,960 was set about plundering for hours - 210 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:06,720 behind them the battle was largely being lost. 211 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:09,360 The Cavaliers' lack of self-discipline 212 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:12,840 allowed the Roundheads to regain the initiative. 213 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:17,840 As darkness fell, the battle of Edgehill ended in stalemate. 214 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:22,360 'Cavaliers don't do self-discipline at all,' 215 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:26,800 that's, the absolute antitheses of Cavalier thought is self control, 216 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:28,480 it's all about letting it go. 217 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:31,320 You know, about just enjoying the moment. 218 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:34,360 It's carpe diem, it's gather ye rosebuds while ye may, 219 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:35,840 all of that kind of stuff. 220 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:40,440 'A Cavalier person, in a way, reflects Cavalier principles, 221 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,760 'which are they don't care too much. They are there for the moment.' 222 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:45,840 They are dazzling rather than detailed, 223 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:49,840 they are, they are there to entertain and to move life along 224 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:52,800 but they're not there, really, to do the nitty-gritty. 225 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:59,520 Over the next three years, as the civil war swept through the country, 226 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:02,120 the radical Parliamentarian Oliver Cromwell 227 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:05,360 emerged as the Roundhead's most effective military leader. 228 00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:07,360 Open your order from the centre! 229 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:09,000 In 1644, he began building 230 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:13,320 Britain's first full-time professional fighting force... 231 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:14,720 Port your pike! 232 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:16,680 ..the New Model Army. 233 00:14:16,680 --> 00:14:17,880 Double your files! 234 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:20,720 It became a show-case for the Roundhead values 235 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:22,720 of Godliness and discipline. 236 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:43,000 Without discipline you get nowhere in life 237 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,360 and that's very true of today, nevermind the 17th century. 238 00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:50,480 You think this is your birthday, don't you, Josh? 239 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:52,720 You have to have discipline, 240 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:54,480 you have to have order 241 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:59,200 and Cromwell was very good at instilling order into his troops. 242 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:06,840 We believe, "Work hard and play hard." 243 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:10,200 It wouldn't be unfair to say Ruperts believe, 244 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:12,280 "Play hard, and play a bit harder." 245 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:16,480 So, that's the main difference between the two units. 246 00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:24,640 Discipline was absolutely essential. 247 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:29,320 And we know that the Parliamentary troops were far better disciplined. 248 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:33,280 Everything from drunkenness and fornication 249 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:35,880 being punished severely. 250 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:39,480 The penalty for blasphemy was particularly severe. 251 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:42,080 Somebody who was a persistent blasphemer 252 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:46,360 would have his tongue drawn out of his mouth with pincers, 253 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:48,880 and borne through with a red hot iron, 254 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:50,920 so he ended up with a hole in his tongue. 255 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:54,680 Cromwell now set out to improve the performance 256 00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:56,320 of the Roundhead cavalry. 257 00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:01,760 He trained them, and trained them, and trained them, 258 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:04,200 until they would charge home, 259 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:06,640 the thunderbolt charge, like Prince Rupert's men, 260 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:07,920 but after the charge, 261 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:10,520 they would regroup, return to the battlefield, 262 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:13,080 and be good for another charge. 263 00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:17,520 And that, of course, was a tremendous advance. 264 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:21,960 The Roundheads also introduced a military uniform for the first time. 265 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:25,600 The famous redcoat, 266 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:28,560 worn by the British army for the next two centuries. 267 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:38,320 The New Model Army recruited according to military competence, 268 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:40,200 not aristocratic birthright. 269 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:45,360 Britain's feudal hierarchy was being replaced by the newly-emerging 270 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:47,440 Roundhead state. 271 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:55,760 You have new institutions. The committee for the army, 272 00:16:55,760 --> 00:17:00,520 The committee for the navy. And so, the state bureaucracy 273 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:03,880 is inevitably increasing to a size previously unheard of. 274 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:11,080 I think a good case can be made that the modern state begins 275 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:15,520 in the 1640s, with the Civil War and these new bureaucratic institutions. 276 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:23,360 Roundhead bureaucracy introduced a new spirit of professionalism 277 00:17:23,360 --> 00:17:25,760 into British life, that still endures. 278 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:32,960 We work all the hours that God sends, 279 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:34,920 and if you don't die of a heart attack, 280 00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:37,400 you might make a nice profit in your old age, 281 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:38,840 when you're too old to enjoy it. 282 00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:44,160 But certainly that "Cavalier joy", as it's called, 283 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:47,200 has gone in our attitude to work. 284 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:50,280 We've definitely become the Roundhead state. 285 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:55,640 Undoubtedly there is a more austere 286 00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:59,040 and professional attitude in British life. 287 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:02,000 The great cult of the amateur, the great cult of the eccentric, 288 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:05,280 the person who sort of organised life from the seat of their pants 289 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:06,760 has rather gone, I think. 290 00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:09,680 I think we certainly do expect people to have a plan, 291 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:12,400 to stick to it, and to understand the detail of the machine. 292 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:26,080 Deep in the Cavalier heartlands of modern Britain, 293 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:29,800 the cult of the amateur lives on. 294 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:45,760 Henley of course started as the Regatta in 1839, 295 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:48,720 and amateur sport was absolutely at the heart of it. 296 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:57,400 There was something fundamental about the way you looked at sport. 297 00:18:57,400 --> 00:18:59,360 The amateur was not all about winning, 298 00:18:59,360 --> 00:19:03,280 it was about playing the part. It was about the whole man. 299 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:05,480 The professional was about the prize. 300 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:12,200 Ready for the contest, boys? Come on. 301 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:15,760 The flower, it's all dying on you. 302 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:18,960 I think I am more a Cavalier. 303 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:22,120 Cavalier, sir. Cavalier attitude and mannerism. Cavalier. 304 00:19:22,120 --> 00:19:24,600 And that's all abut team spirit and enjoying yourself. 305 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:26,320 It's not about winning. 306 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:28,600 It's just about taking part. 307 00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:30,600 The buttonholes at the veterans' 308 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:35,120 National Flower Day Competition would humble any 17th century dandy. 309 00:19:38,360 --> 00:19:41,720 These are calla lilies, Asiatic lily and estrelicia, 310 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:45,920 the bird of paradise flying in and taking nectar from it. 311 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:48,200 This is plucked from the garden this morning. 312 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:52,360 These are all hand-reared. and smelling delightful. 313 00:19:52,360 --> 00:19:55,000 But even in this Cavalier stronghold, 314 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:58,040 there's been a Roundhead incursion. 315 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:10,320 Two British Olympic hopes, Andy Triggs-Hodge 316 00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:15,080 and Pete Reed have brought Roundhead professionalism onto the water. 317 00:20:17,120 --> 00:20:19,200 Rowing is 24 hours a day for us. 318 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:23,280 I pressurise myself in training, to make sure I'm improving 319 00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:26,160 on a daily basis. I feel that that's a decent Roundhead attitude. 320 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:29,720 And it's finding anything we can do. 321 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,600 It's all the little things that help you through the day. 322 00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:36,880 If you can reduce the amount of hours you drive, if you can sleep longer. 323 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:39,960 The quality of your bed, it all makes a difference. 324 00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:46,600 It's applying how we execute our finest 2km race in the Olympic Games, 325 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:50,040 and how every bit of life affects that in the four years prior. 326 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:52,080 At the end of the day, it is all about winning. 327 00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:55,480 But Olympic success still calls 328 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:57,800 for a touch of the old "Cavalier" spirit. 329 00:21:02,120 --> 00:21:03,920 When I get on the water, 330 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:07,200 there's got to be a bit of me that's a bit of a loose cannon, 331 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:09,680 and you've just got to go out and do crazy things, 332 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:14,120 cos if you don't, you'll never achieve your personal best. 333 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:18,800 I think it's fascinating the way most sports teams require 334 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:21,600 a combination of Roundhead and Cavalier. 335 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:24,560 The England rugby team, for example, requires the Roundhead, 336 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:27,680 Jonny Wilkinson, to kick the ball through the post 337 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:31,280 with metronomic efficiency, but it also needs those extraordinary, 338 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:34,960 flamboyant figures on the wing, who can suddenly carve through. 339 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:38,880 I think it's the same of all sports, and perhaps it's true of all teams. 340 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:42,560 You need a Boycott, but you also need to have a Kevin Pietersen. 341 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:49,720 On June 14th, 1645, 342 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:53,640 Roundhead discipline was put to the test at Naseby, in Northamptonshire. 343 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:58,240 The New Model Army prepared to confront the Cavalier forces. 344 00:22:00,120 --> 00:22:04,400 Prince Rupert began the battle with another thunderbolt charge. 345 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:08,680 At Naseby, Prince Rupert was on the Royalist right wing. 346 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:13,520 He charged and scattered the Parliamentary left wing. 347 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:17,240 But made the same mistake as at Edge Hill. 348 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:19,640 His men scattered off in all directions, 349 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,120 plundered the baggage train, 350 00:22:22,120 --> 00:22:24,280 and were not much use for the rest of the battle. 351 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:30,440 Cromwell's new, well-drilled cavalry were now ready to be deployed 352 00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:32,040 with devastating effect. 353 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:36,240 On the right wing, Cromwell charged home, 354 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:40,360 scattered the Royalist left wing, 355 00:22:40,360 --> 00:22:44,960 and then got his men to come to the assistance of the cavalry, 356 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:48,000 and then charge into the flank of the Royalist infantry, 357 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:50,560 and win the Battle of Naseby. 358 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:57,400 Naseby annihilates the King's own army, 359 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,640 It destroys a body of men he had built up over three years. 360 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:02,480 And he never manages to rebuild it. 361 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:05,280 It is the knockout blow of the English Civil War. 362 00:23:07,120 --> 00:23:08,880 By October 1647, 363 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:11,560 the King was imprisoned, 364 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:13,600 and the Cavaliers were in disarray. 365 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:17,800 Roundhead forces were camped just outside the capital, here in Putney. 366 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:22,960 The more radical Roundheads were now demanding their reward 367 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:25,000 - a more equal society. 368 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,080 They became known as the Levellers. 369 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:33,160 These people wanted reform of the law, 370 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:37,680 religious toleration, reform of election procedure. 371 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:40,560 They wanted the soldiers who fought for parliament 372 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:42,440 to be rewarded in some way. 373 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:44,800 These were not mercenaries. 374 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:47,800 These were, in the language of the day, developing "citizens". 375 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:49,920 - Second colour, yes? - ALL: Yes. 376 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:52,640 - Who's going to be second colour? - Alex. - No, we'll sort that out... 377 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:58,480 Today, the 21st century Roundheads are following tradition, 378 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:01,120 by voting for their commanding officer. 379 00:24:01,120 --> 00:24:03,560 You've got advice. 380 00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:05,160 It's important to have democracy, 381 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:07,400 because the Royalists had dictatorship, 382 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:09,040 - and it didn't work. - ALL: Aye. 383 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:15,000 Inspired by radicals like John Lilburne, 384 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,440 the Levellers published their demands for human rights 385 00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:19,040 and democratic reform 386 00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:22,440 in a manifesto called The Agreement Of The People. 387 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:26,680 It's a radical vision of England. 388 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:29,200 It's an England, eventually, in which he would like to see 389 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:33,680 a greater extension in democracy. Voting rights for certain men. 390 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:38,280 Men, not women, one should add. Not servants, not beggars. 391 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:40,080 Religious toleration. 392 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:43,520 This is the type of England Lilburne would like to see. 393 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:49,640 It was a fascinating and fabulous moment in British history. 394 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:55,320 The Levellers, by The Agreement of the People 395 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:58,920 were proposing a bill of rights 396 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:02,400 that would give individuals, 397 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:06,400 autonomous individuals, certain rights against government. 398 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:12,720 So that is a very important, profoundly important idea today. 399 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:18,880 But the Roundhead forces were divided. 400 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:22,840 Even a committed Parliamentarian like Cromwell 401 00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:26,000 feared the Levellers' egalitarian demands would lead to anarchy. 402 00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:33,360 For 13 days, here in the Church of St Mary in Putney, 403 00:25:33,360 --> 00:25:36,480 the two sides took part in a great debate 404 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:38,560 about the future of the nation. 405 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:42,880 The position of the generals was put by Cromwell's son-in-law, 406 00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:46,520 Henry Ireton, who said the vote should be restricted 407 00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:49,040 to those who traditionally had it. 408 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:53,280 To the people who had a stake in the country, who owned a piece of land. 409 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,320 From his point of view, this was only right and proper. 410 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:59,000 Why should you have a say in government 411 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:02,320 if you don't own anything, if you're poor? 412 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:05,360 If you're beholden to a people who are more powerful than you, 413 00:26:05,360 --> 00:26:08,440 they will influence the way that you vote. 414 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:10,360 This is a profound moment. 415 00:26:10,360 --> 00:26:13,200 There had been popular rebellions before in English history. 416 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:18,680 These had been about particular issues - food, taxation - 417 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:24,360 but not about a right to have a say in how government is chosen. 418 00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:30,680 The Levellers began a debate about citizenship and democracy 419 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:34,560 that continues in modern Britain, and across the world. 420 00:26:36,120 --> 00:26:40,160 It was John Lilburne who said famously, 421 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:44,440 that although we may die, our ideas will live on, 422 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:47,960 and it will be for later generations to implement them. 423 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:53,600 And, after all, this is what we are about today. 424 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:58,120 I always laugh about the Conservatives who dismiss 425 00:26:58,120 --> 00:27:02,000 the European Convention on Human Rights, 426 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,600 because it goes back to these times 427 00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:06,800 when torture was abolished, 428 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:10,520 when religious freedom - comparatively - was permitted. 429 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:14,040 When parliament was sovereign, When we were working out democracy. 430 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:17,480 These rights go back to Cromwell and the Levellers, 431 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:19,960 who argued them in this little Putney church. 432 00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:24,320 With the King in prison, the Roundheads could now 433 00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:26,880 set about moulding the nation in their own image. 434 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:33,440 But playful Cavalier traditions were deeply rooted in British life. 435 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:38,640 Give me an 'O'. ALL: O! Give me an 'N'. ALL: N! 436 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:40,720 Give me an 'I'. ALL: I! 437 00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:42,080 And an 'O'. ALL: O! 438 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:45,080 - And an 'N'. ALL: N! Onion! - CHEERING 439 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:48,520 Here in Newent, Gloucestershire, the Roundhead struggle 440 00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:52,080 to crush the town's Cavalier spirit has never been forgotten. 441 00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:57,200 There still remains a Cavalier/Roundhead rivalry. 442 00:27:57,200 --> 00:27:59,840 Gloucester being a Roundhead stronghold, 443 00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:02,440 and the rural area surrounding, being Cavalier. 444 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:04,960 There was fighting going on. 445 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:06,760 There was a battle around here, 446 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:09,360 and it can take hundreds of years for that to wear off. 447 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:14,160 SHOUTING 448 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:19,120 Every year, the people of Newent reaffirm their Cavalier spirit 449 00:28:19,120 --> 00:28:22,240 with the pleasures of the 850-year-old Onion Fayre. 450 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:26,920 - CHEERING - Who won? 451 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:29,680 ALL: Five, four, three, 452 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:32,280 - two, one. - Go! 453 00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:37,400 The climax of this festival is the World Onion-Eating Championship. 454 00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:39,680 Put your hands in the air when you're finished, lads, 455 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:42,200 and open your mouths for the judges. 456 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:43,880 CHEERING 457 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:55,000 LOUD CHEERING 458 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:57,480 I've been practicing nearly all week. 459 00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:00,680 This is the fourth year now I've won it. 460 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:04,720 That was my slowest time ever. 461 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:08,320 Thank you very much. See you all again, hopefully, next year. 462 00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:11,720 I have got be Cavalier without a doubt. 463 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:16,120 You have only got to look at today. The party atmosphere, the fun everybody is having. 464 00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:19,040 I couldn't imagine that under Cromwell. 465 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:23,160 Puritans were not really in favour of fun. 466 00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:26,040 The Puritans felt that a lot of popular behaviour 467 00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:28,760 was bad for the people themselves, even if they liked doing it. 468 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:31,560 Their approach was to do what was good for the people, 469 00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:33,920 not necessarily what the people merely wanted. 470 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:41,280 But the Roundheads were confronted by a pleasure-loving people. 471 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:45,440 And they were never happier than when they were getting drunk. 472 00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:48,560 Puritans pretty much find drunkenness a despicable 473 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:50,640 form of immodesty. 474 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:54,080 Drunkenness allows your sins to come to the fore. 475 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:56,160 Drunkenness means you're out of control, 476 00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:58,040 and you can't act in a godly way. 477 00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:02,640 So, for the Puritan, the alehouses are these great sites of sinfulness, 478 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:04,960 and have to be policed and disciplined. 479 00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:12,400 I don't know what makes the English a nation of binge drinkers. 480 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:14,960 There is something about the inhabitants of this island 481 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:17,400 which means we want to drink too much, 482 00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:22,040 and not just get amusing with it, but actually pick a fight with it. 483 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:25,720 Of course, the Roundheads were terribly disapproving 484 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:29,600 about alcohol, because it is fundamentally pretty anti-social. 485 00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:33,120 Drunken British people are absolutely appalling. 486 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:37,840 Where the Cavaliers have won, 487 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:43,320 is that, I think, most of the British population, 488 00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:47,000 whatever their political beliefs, actually, 489 00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:51,000 feel they have the right to get drunk if they want to. 490 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:53,560 They have the right to eat what they want to, 491 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:57,440 even if it makes them fat, they have the right not go for a run. 492 00:30:57,440 --> 00:30:59,600 That's their business. 493 00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,080 They're perfectly happy with the government saying, 494 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:04,560 "You can't get drunk and then drive." 495 00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:09,320 That's absolutely fine, but not, "You can't get drunk." 496 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:13,120 Perhaps that's the line between Roundhead and Cavalier. 497 00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:23,000 In 1648, the Roundheads turned their attention 498 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:26,240 to one of the most popular forms of public entertainment, 499 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:28,200 the theatre. 500 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:31,600 Parliament issued an order for the "utter suppression 501 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:35,560 "and abolishing of all stage-plays." 502 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,320 Puritans were very suspicious of the theatre, 503 00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:40,360 and almost everything involved with it. 504 00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:44,600 They thought some of the plots were dealing with unsuitable subjects. 505 00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:47,600 Violence, or bawdy comedy, they didn't like that. 506 00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:49,880 They strongly disapproved of the actors - 507 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:52,520 the fact that all the female roles were taken 508 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:54,320 by young boys in drag, essentially, 509 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:57,760 and they said the emotions being created on stage were, of course, 510 00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:00,600 artificial and false emotions - that was bad. 511 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:02,800 And finally they disapproved of the audiences, 512 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:05,360 that different ages and sexes were jumbled together, 513 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:09,880 and that theatres attracted pickpockets and prostitutes. 514 00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:15,760 The Roundhead mission to control the people's pleasures 515 00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:18,200 unleashed a culture war between high-minded Puritans 516 00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:20,080 and populist Cavaliers. 517 00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:22,120 It continues to this day. 518 00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:29,040 The Cavalier culture has absolutely won out, as far as the arts go. 519 00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:35,960 It is sort of pushing out high art by popular art. 520 00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:40,080 I feel deeply oppressed at what I see 521 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:43,960 when I run through the programmes on the television. 522 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:47,240 Oh! Watch it! 523 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:53,240 What I suspect about the drama is that it's facile, mostly. 524 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:56,000 It's designed to please. 525 00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:57,800 It knows that it has to please 526 00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:01,160 the greatest possible number of the population. 527 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:03,600 Oh, that dirty, disgusting monster! 528 00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:07,040 There's a kind of run of repeated gestures, 529 00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:11,760 and repeated emotions, which people satisfy themselves on, 530 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:18,480 like sausage in a bun, or ice cream. 531 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:26,520 Those things are OK, but too much of them isn't good for your life, 532 00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:29,000 I feel, being a Roundhead. 533 00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:35,080 I think that this is a very old contest 534 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:39,760 between the Roundhead critic of frivolity 535 00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:43,400 and the Cavalier enjoyer of it. 536 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:48,760 - Welcome to Downton. - Lady Grantham, this is so kind of you. 537 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:52,440 Not at all, Duke. We're delighted you could spare the time. 538 00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:54,720 Very popular shows, of any kind, 539 00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:56,640 bring out a sort of anger 540 00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:01,040 among a certain kind of journalist. 541 00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:03,560 I don't know what it is, quite. 542 00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:09,280 Sometimes, you could say it's envy of the fact that their message 543 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:12,320 is reaching so few, and this other message, 544 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:15,480 which they consider worthless, is reaching so many. 545 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:17,520 That may be a good part of it. 546 00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:24,680 Certainly, there is a Roundhead anger 547 00:34:24,680 --> 00:34:28,800 at the extent of popular culture's reach. 548 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:33,080 But I don't think that's ever going to change. 549 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:35,760 Mama, may I present Matthew Crawley and Mrs Crawley. 550 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:37,880 My mother, Lady Grantham. 551 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:41,360 What should we call each other? 552 00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:44,760 We could always start with "Mrs Crawley" and "Lady Grantham". 553 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:51,240 As the Puritan revolution unfolded, 554 00:34:51,240 --> 00:34:55,120 the Roundhead parliament was still being challenged by Cavaliers 555 00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:57,560 demanding the King's release from prison. 556 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:04,480 In 1649, Cromwell took action to assert Parliament's supremacy. 557 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:09,880 He put the King on trial for treason and war crimes against the people. 558 00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:13,280 Putting the King on trial was almost inconceivable. 559 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:15,440 It is unthinkable. 560 00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:17,560 Kings have been killed on the battlefield, 561 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:19,200 kings have been assassinated. 562 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:22,520 But trying a monarch - a divinely appointed king, 563 00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:25,360 the power that exists by God's authority - 564 00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:29,640 trying a king by authority of the people is almost unprecedented. 565 00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:35,880 On the morning of January 20th, 1649, 566 00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:39,840 Charles I was marched into Westminster Hall. 567 00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:43,480 Up to 10,000 people watched 568 00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:47,160 as the Roundhead Solicitor General John Cook and his team 569 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:50,520 prepared to make legal history. 570 00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:53,840 What they do is make an argument that separates the office of King 571 00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:55,960 from the person of the King, 572 00:35:55,960 --> 00:35:59,200 and what they are prosecuting is a wilful, wicked tyrant - 573 00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:02,240 an individual not a king. 574 00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:07,400 Everyone was aware of what an ominous moment it was 575 00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:11,080 and what an iconic moment it was in British history. 576 00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:16,600 It was the symbol of the end of absolute power. 577 00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:20,680 And there's a telling moment. This is the King, 578 00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:24,960 the man who is used to having his every whim served. 579 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:28,280 At some point, the silver top of his cane 580 00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:30,200 falls off and rolls to the floor. 581 00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:34,600 The King expects somebody else to pick it up 582 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:37,280 but he's instructed to pick it up himself. 583 00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:39,200 And at that little moment, I think, 584 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:41,840 we can see the theatre of power that's going on. 585 00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:49,640 These days, we've found a way 586 00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:52,920 to put heads of state on trial 587 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:55,800 for a particularly heinous crime, 588 00:36:55,800 --> 00:36:57,800 a crime against humanity, 589 00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:01,440 against which their immunity does not operate. 590 00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:06,560 And so Milosevic, Saddam Hussein, 591 00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:11,040 Charles Taylor, Karadzic, and so forth, 592 00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:13,720 will be prosecuted 593 00:37:13,720 --> 00:37:18,640 on the basis that John Cook took the first nervous step 594 00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:22,760 to bring down an all-powerful head of state, 595 00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:26,800 namely on the grounds of their commission 596 00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:30,640 of a crime against humanity, a crime against their own people. 597 00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:40,840 After a seven-day trial the King was found guilty. 598 00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:43,760 He would be executed here, 599 00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:46,640 outside the banqueting hall of Whitehall Palace. 600 00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:52,480 So January 30th, just before two o'clock, 601 00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:55,880 a very nervous, anxious Charles I stepped out onto the scaffold, 602 00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:57,760 having said farewell to his family. 603 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:04,960 And a few moments later, the axe fell. 604 00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:07,080 SCREAMING 605 00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:12,400 Around the gathered crowd, people reacted by fainting, 606 00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:16,040 women miscarried. There was tremendous horror. 607 00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:18,600 But that horror reverberated around the kingdom. 608 00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:22,520 It was as if a great cataclysm in a sense of order had happened. 609 00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:25,880 Like the twin towers, like those planes smashing into them, 610 00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:28,720 there's a sudden horror and chaos. 611 00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:36,080 The Roundheads now abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords. 612 00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:39,760 An English republic was established. 613 00:38:42,720 --> 00:38:46,360 The Roundhead revolution intensified. 614 00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:50,600 The King had encouraged 615 00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:53,280 the installation of ornate stained-glass windows 616 00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:55,120 in churches all over the country. 617 00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:59,240 The Roundheads were now determined to smash them 618 00:38:59,240 --> 00:39:03,560 as they imposed their own austere form of Protestantism. 619 00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:05,240 Charles loved ritual, 620 00:39:05,240 --> 00:39:06,640 he loved beauty, 621 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:09,440 he loved holiness as a sort of experience 622 00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:11,920 that brought someone closer to God, 623 00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:17,200 whereas Puritans loved the idea of plain, unadorned, simple - 624 00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:19,240 no stained glass in their churches. 625 00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:24,680 In 1651, the Roundheads went into action 626 00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:27,720 here at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford. 627 00:39:29,240 --> 00:39:31,720 The orders from the newly-installed dean 628 00:39:31,720 --> 00:39:33,800 are written in the church records. 629 00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:38,320 "All pictures representing God, good or bad angels, or saints, 630 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:41,800 "shall be forthwith taken down out of our church windows." 631 00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:44,960 Well, when the windows were taken out, 632 00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:47,560 they were laid out on the floor 633 00:39:47,560 --> 00:39:50,240 and one of the canons who was appointed by Cromwell 634 00:39:50,240 --> 00:39:52,240 was so against them being preserved 635 00:39:52,240 --> 00:39:54,560 that he furiously stamped up and down on it, 636 00:39:54,560 --> 00:39:56,240 destroying most of the glass. 637 00:40:05,760 --> 00:40:09,080 Only one out of the 20 stained-glass windows 638 00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:11,400 survived the Roundhead assault, 639 00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:15,160 perhaps because it contains a powerful Roundhead message. 640 00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:19,600 The prophet Jonah is on his way to warn the people of Nineveh 641 00:40:19,600 --> 00:40:22,440 that they must give up the pleasures of the flesh 642 00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:24,360 or face the wrath of God. 643 00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:36,720 It's fantastic. I think it's got so much more detail 644 00:40:36,720 --> 00:40:39,440 than any other stained-glass window in the cathedral 645 00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:41,640 and every time you look at it, you see something new, 646 00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:45,080 there's always something that sticks out that you've never seen before. 647 00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:56,400 For centuries, the smashed stained-glass windows 648 00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:58,560 were thought to have been totally destroyed. 649 00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:05,080 But 13 years ago, the verger spotted something in a pile of rubbish 650 00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:08,400 that was being cleared out of a coal hole. 651 00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:10,960 It was like discovering buried treasure. 652 00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:13,000 It was amazing. 653 00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:17,320 You think, "What have I found?" 654 00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:20,760 If you look at the glass without light behind it, 655 00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:24,040 it looks just like a piece of slate, almost. 656 00:41:24,040 --> 00:41:27,520 But then when I show it to the light... 657 00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:30,680 This is the first piece of glass I found. 658 00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:32,680 You can imagine my surprise! 659 00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:36,040 We've probably most likely got Christ 660 00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:38,440 disputing with the Doctors of Divinity 661 00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:43,040 and all we have here are some of the doctors in that scene. 662 00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:45,200 The central figure, which will have been Christ, 663 00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:46,880 will have been destroyed at the time. 664 00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:52,080 So it's very unlikely that there'll be any images of Christ left. 665 00:41:58,560 --> 00:42:01,080 ALL CHANT: Rooster! Rooster! Rooster! 666 00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:06,960 In 1653, Cromwell was confirmed as head of state, 667 00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:12,440 Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. 668 00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:16,680 His government intruded ever more deeply into people's lives 669 00:42:16,680 --> 00:42:19,040 and passed a law to make Sunday 670 00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:22,360 a day of worship and quiet contemplation. 671 00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:27,200 Sunday should be hanging out with the guys, having a good time, 672 00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:29,400 drinking a few drinks, watching some football. 673 00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:33,080 There are enough things we're not allowed to do during the rest of the week, 674 00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:36,120 so we deserve to do something we want to do on the Sunday. 675 00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:38,520 Definitely not sitting in church and thinking. 676 00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:41,400 BELL CHIMES 677 00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:47,600 The Puritans wanted the whole of the Lord's day, as they called it, 678 00:42:47,600 --> 00:42:50,840 to be devoted to religion alone, exclusively, 679 00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:54,120 and they pushed through a series of ordinances and parliamentary acts 680 00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:56,480 banning all the things of which they disapproved, 681 00:42:56,480 --> 00:43:00,480 so that every conceivable activity pretty much was prohibited. 682 00:43:05,480 --> 00:43:07,880 Hundreds of activities were banned. 683 00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:11,920 It was forbidden to ride a horse... 684 00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:15,280 sit on your own threshold... 685 00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:18,880 or even to knit on a Sunday. 686 00:43:21,160 --> 00:43:23,200 Where Puritans were in control locally, 687 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:25,920 they enforced these restrictions very tightly indeed, 688 00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:28,240 and one remarkable case in a village not far from here - 689 00:43:28,240 --> 00:43:29,640 Barnsley in Gloucestershire - 690 00:43:29,640 --> 00:43:35,080 two village women were put in the stocks merely for having gone for a Sunday afternoon stroll, 691 00:43:35,080 --> 00:43:37,600 even though they had already attended 692 00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:39,920 two church services that morning. 693 00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:44,960 Roundhead values would define the British Sunday 694 00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:47,480 well into the 20th century. 695 00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:51,040 Strict licensing laws, shops closed, 696 00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:54,560 no sporting fixtures - an obligatory day of rest. 697 00:43:56,560 --> 00:43:58,240 Sunday... 698 00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:02,400 Without a doubt, the worst day of the week 699 00:44:04,640 --> 00:44:07,480 Everything was shut and the transport didn't run very much. 700 00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:09,440 You were not allowed to do anything. 701 00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:14,680 Church in the morning, walk to the zoo - wow - 702 00:44:14,680 --> 00:44:16,840 Sunday lunch, nothing. 703 00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:20,560 My father said he had to read books 704 00:44:20,560 --> 00:44:23,200 about the holy deaths of little children 705 00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:25,720 and the little children would lie in their beds and die 706 00:44:25,720 --> 00:44:28,240 and the angels would come down and take them to heaven. 707 00:44:28,240 --> 00:44:32,160 And my father said it was absolutely awful, but this was how it was. 708 00:44:32,160 --> 00:44:34,280 Just like hell. 709 00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:38,000 So I can't really support Cromwell and the repression of Sunday sports. 710 00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:53,080 In August 1994, the Sunday Shopping Act 711 00:44:53,080 --> 00:44:58,440 brought 300 years of Roundhead Sundays to an end. 712 00:44:58,440 --> 00:45:00,520 I think if our Roundhead forbearers 713 00:45:00,520 --> 00:45:02,960 could see what we've done to Sundays, 714 00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:06,440 they'd be spinning in their graves like fury. 715 00:45:06,440 --> 00:45:10,560 You can hear their bucket top boots hitting the top of the coffin, just like this. 716 00:45:10,560 --> 00:45:13,440 Because we have 100% ruined Sunday 717 00:45:13,440 --> 00:45:16,840 compared to everything that they believed in. 718 00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:20,680 I would like Sunday to be a quiet day. 719 00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:24,640 I would like everything to stop on a Sunday, as it used to, 720 00:45:24,640 --> 00:45:28,000 for people to be able to spend the day with their families, 721 00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:32,200 for the church bells to ring out across the land, 722 00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:35,000 and for there to be an active interest in the church. 723 00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:37,240 That is what I would like to see. 724 00:45:37,240 --> 00:45:41,120 It's not what I'm going to see in my lifetime. 725 00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:45,560 We fear Sunday, I think. 726 00:45:45,560 --> 00:45:48,760 That's the problem that we've got - 727 00:45:48,760 --> 00:45:51,960 we fear Sunday because it is a void. 728 00:45:51,960 --> 00:45:55,600 If we're not careful, we might have to sit still, 729 00:45:55,600 --> 00:46:00,560 be quiet and think about stuff, and this is the thing that none of us 730 00:46:00,560 --> 00:46:02,440 let ourselves do any more. 731 00:46:02,440 --> 00:46:04,760 And, of course, for the Puritans 732 00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:06,920 that's exactly what you should do on a Sunday. 733 00:46:06,920 --> 00:46:13,000 You should use it as an opportunity to explore your mind, 734 00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:14,920 explore your spirituality. 735 00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:23,520 Sunday had now been claimed for the Roundheads. 736 00:46:23,520 --> 00:46:25,960 At the same time, they also passed a law 737 00:46:25,960 --> 00:46:28,720 to abolish the celebration of Christmas. 738 00:46:30,680 --> 00:46:32,840 Puritans strongly disapproved of Christmas. 739 00:46:32,840 --> 00:46:36,920 They pointed out that there was no evidence that Christ was born on that particular day. 740 00:46:36,920 --> 00:46:38,160 They pointed out too 741 00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:41,520 that it had its origins as a Pagan mid-winter festival 742 00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:43,720 and they strongly disapproved of the fact 743 00:46:43,720 --> 00:46:46,920 that it had been turned into a general occasion for feasting, 744 00:46:46,920 --> 00:46:49,320 merry-making, drinking, general profanity. 745 00:46:49,320 --> 00:46:51,400 All those things were wrong in their eyes. 746 00:46:53,200 --> 00:46:56,520 How miserable can you be? 747 00:46:56,520 --> 00:46:59,800 How miserable can you be 748 00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:01,960 that you do away with Christmas? 749 00:47:03,240 --> 00:47:05,800 That should say it all about Oliver Cromwell! 750 00:47:05,800 --> 00:47:09,080 I don't know how people can admire Cromwell! 751 00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:11,960 # Have a holly jolly Christmas 752 00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:15,840 # It's the best time of the year 753 00:47:15,840 --> 00:47:18,680 # I don't know if there'll be snow... # 754 00:47:18,680 --> 00:47:21,920 The Cavaliers fought back. 755 00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:24,200 They circulated pamphlets 756 00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:27,760 attacking the Puritan assault on the old Christmas. 757 00:47:28,760 --> 00:47:30,800 People hated the fact Christmas was abolished 758 00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:34,920 and even more hated the idea that they were supposed to treat it simply as another working day, 759 00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:39,040 and, for the most part, they refused to accept that new regulation. 760 00:47:39,040 --> 00:47:43,200 Despite the full force of the Roundhead state, 761 00:47:43,200 --> 00:47:46,640 Cromwell failed to crush the Cavalier spirit of Christmas. 762 00:47:50,160 --> 00:47:55,240 What you see now is a Christmas which is almost entirely Pagan. 763 00:47:55,240 --> 00:47:58,600 Bringing in Christmas trees, giving of gifts, lighting candles, 764 00:47:58,600 --> 00:48:01,720 all of that - this is the very much older history 765 00:48:01,720 --> 00:48:04,160 that Cromwell couldn't eliminate. 766 00:48:06,120 --> 00:48:09,760 The Roundheads have been absolutely defeated on Christmas. 767 00:48:09,760 --> 00:48:12,840 I think Jesus may have been defeated on Christmas. 768 00:48:13,840 --> 00:48:17,200 HUNTING HORN SOUNDS 769 00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:28,200 It's like a cavalry charge, and it's every man for himself. 770 00:48:28,200 --> 00:48:31,280 You have to be an adrenaline junkie to do it. You really do. 771 00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:35,120 In the early 21st century, 772 00:48:35,120 --> 00:48:39,240 there was a new standoff between Roundheads and Cavaliers. 773 00:48:45,200 --> 00:48:49,800 In 2004, demonstrators invaded Parliament 774 00:48:49,800 --> 00:48:53,040 to protest against the passing of the Hunting Act, 775 00:48:53,040 --> 00:48:55,360 which outlawed hunting foxes with hounds. 776 00:48:58,760 --> 00:49:02,800 And the two tribes went to war once more. 777 00:49:02,800 --> 00:49:06,880 I think very much that those of us who support hunting see themselves, 778 00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:11,560 and probably rightly, as the descendants of the Cavaliers. 779 00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:20,600 Certainly, the rank and file of the Parliamentarians, 780 00:49:20,600 --> 00:49:23,520 if they were alive today, they would be hunt saboteurs. 781 00:49:26,640 --> 00:49:29,000 The Atherstone Hunt in Leicestershire 782 00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:30,920 is one of the oldest in Britain. 783 00:49:32,240 --> 00:49:35,680 A loophole in the law permits them to continue running with hounds, 784 00:49:35,680 --> 00:49:39,800 but only if a bird of prey is used for the kill. 785 00:49:42,480 --> 00:49:44,640 Parliament has set out to ban hunting, 786 00:49:44,640 --> 00:49:48,800 and that makes us a criminal. Should we kill a fox, we are a criminal. 787 00:49:50,640 --> 00:49:52,680 Here we are. 788 00:49:52,680 --> 00:49:55,640 There's absolutely loads of kit in this little bag. 789 00:49:55,640 --> 00:50:00,120 From hats to gloves to nets... 790 00:50:00,120 --> 00:50:03,080 Members of the League Against Cruel Sports 791 00:50:03,080 --> 00:50:06,320 are now keeping close watch on hunts across Britain. 792 00:50:06,320 --> 00:50:10,000 If the hunt is breaking the law, then with a bit of luck 793 00:50:10,000 --> 00:50:12,640 we'll get good evidence, to catch them, possibly, 794 00:50:12,640 --> 00:50:16,800 with their pants down, you know, by being hidden. 795 00:50:20,120 --> 00:50:23,520 I think it's important that Parliament's will is upheld, 796 00:50:23,520 --> 00:50:28,920 simply because if you believe in democracy, the law is the law. 797 00:50:28,920 --> 00:50:34,160 And if we start choosing which law we want to abide by, 798 00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:38,240 then we will soon slip into anarchy and civil unrest. 799 00:50:38,240 --> 00:50:40,520 HUNTING HORN SOUNDS 800 00:50:41,520 --> 00:50:45,240 A Roundhead Britain? Haven't we just lived through it? 801 00:50:45,240 --> 00:50:48,440 People being told what they can and cannot do, 802 00:50:48,440 --> 00:50:50,960 limitations on all our activities. 803 00:50:50,960 --> 00:50:54,400 And I don't just mean hunting - there are plenty of other activities 804 00:50:54,400 --> 00:50:58,800 that were limited by Mr Blair and his friends. 805 00:50:58,800 --> 00:51:03,640 I'm afraid I think that modern Britain is decidedly Roundhead 806 00:51:03,640 --> 00:51:05,320 because I measure that by, 807 00:51:05,320 --> 00:51:09,320 "How much intrusion do we have from the state in our daily lives?" 808 00:51:09,320 --> 00:51:13,040 Oh, and they try to protect us against ourselves 809 00:51:13,040 --> 00:51:15,000 like very good Roundheads. 810 00:51:15,000 --> 00:51:17,520 To play conkers, you must put goggles on, 811 00:51:17,520 --> 00:51:21,760 don't do the backstroke in swimming baths in case you crack your dear little head at the end of it - 812 00:51:21,760 --> 00:51:24,880 all with the force of law! 813 00:51:24,880 --> 00:51:27,400 Oh, Cromwell would have loved it. 814 00:51:27,400 --> 00:51:29,160 He would have loved it. 815 00:51:29,160 --> 00:51:32,640 # And he will the right 816 00:51:32,640 --> 00:51:36,120 # To be a pilgrim. # 817 00:51:38,280 --> 00:51:40,960 For all men and women of good will, 818 00:51:40,960 --> 00:51:44,520 and especially for thy servant Oliver Cromwell... 819 00:51:44,520 --> 00:51:47,280 ALL: We give thee thanks, O God. 820 00:51:47,280 --> 00:51:53,480 For all associated with him in the struggle for liberty, 821 00:51:53,480 --> 00:51:55,280 justice and truth... 822 00:51:55,280 --> 00:51:58,560 ALL: We give thee thanks, O God. 823 00:51:58,560 --> 00:52:03,320 Oliver Cromwell ruled as Lord Protector for nearly five years 824 00:52:03,320 --> 00:52:07,400 until his death on September the 3rd, 1658. 825 00:52:07,400 --> 00:52:09,760 Every year on this day, 826 00:52:09,760 --> 00:52:13,400 the Cromwell Association gathers to mark the anniversary. 827 00:52:15,000 --> 00:52:16,560 Cromwell is one of the great Britons 828 00:52:16,560 --> 00:52:19,120 and, indeed, at the end of the last millennium 829 00:52:19,120 --> 00:52:22,000 when they had various polls, he did make the top ten. 830 00:52:22,000 --> 00:52:24,160 He didn't come first, unfortunately, 831 00:52:24,160 --> 00:52:26,600 but he is one of the formative influences 832 00:52:26,600 --> 00:52:29,560 in English and British history, for good and ill. 833 00:52:29,560 --> 00:52:32,520 He's still a controversial person. He should still be remembered. 834 00:52:34,240 --> 00:52:37,840 Cromwell was a great man. A greatly great man. 835 00:52:37,840 --> 00:52:41,720 He bestrides English history like a colossus. 836 00:52:41,720 --> 00:52:46,000 I mean, the time of his rule is usually whited out, 837 00:52:46,000 --> 00:52:48,240 because he's the only non-royal, 838 00:52:48,240 --> 00:52:50,440 which makes him, of course, 839 00:52:50,440 --> 00:52:55,280 enormously important and infinitely superior to any of the royals. 840 00:52:57,000 --> 00:52:59,120 I have no instinct towards vandalism at all 841 00:52:59,120 --> 00:53:03,400 except when I pass Oliver Cromwell's statue outside the House of Commons 842 00:53:03,400 --> 00:53:05,640 and I dearly wish I could push it over. 843 00:53:12,880 --> 00:53:15,160 The conflict goes on. 844 00:53:15,160 --> 00:53:17,240 But even the Cromwell Association 845 00:53:17,240 --> 00:53:19,480 has called a truce with the monarchy. 846 00:53:22,960 --> 00:53:27,600 We pray for our Queen and for all who are called at this time 847 00:53:27,600 --> 00:53:31,880 to serve the state and lead the people. 848 00:53:31,880 --> 00:53:36,040 'I don't think there is a contradiction in having prayers for both,' 849 00:53:36,040 --> 00:53:38,360 the protector who was a regicide 850 00:53:38,360 --> 00:53:40,960 'and having a prayer for the reigning monarch.' 851 00:53:40,960 --> 00:53:42,400 Amen. 852 00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:44,000 The impact of the Civil War, 853 00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:47,160 the tide of blood, the regicide, all the overturning, 854 00:53:47,160 --> 00:53:50,360 had a lasting effect on the British and the English psyche. 855 00:53:50,360 --> 00:53:53,360 It makes us shy away from civil war, it makes us shy away from extremism. 856 00:53:53,360 --> 00:53:56,320 So we're a broad church, and we're inclusive. 857 00:53:58,840 --> 00:54:03,560 Within two years of Cromwell's death, the monarchy was restored. 858 00:54:03,560 --> 00:54:05,680 MUSIC: God Save The Queen 859 00:54:07,040 --> 00:54:09,640 A Cavalier triumph. 860 00:54:09,640 --> 00:54:13,560 But the new constitution placed significant limits on royal power. 861 00:54:15,360 --> 00:54:19,560 The Roundheads had put Britain on the road to parliamentary democracy. 862 00:54:22,440 --> 00:54:26,400 If we look at the 21st century, I think we are a republic in all but name. 863 00:54:26,400 --> 00:54:29,560 Of course, we have a Queen, 864 00:54:29,560 --> 00:54:33,200 we will soon have King Charles III... 865 00:54:35,400 --> 00:54:38,440 ..but in fact they have no power 866 00:54:38,440 --> 00:54:42,680 and I think this is the legacy of the Roundheads. 867 00:54:51,360 --> 00:54:54,120 Over 350 years after the Civil War came to an end, 868 00:54:54,120 --> 00:54:59,280 Roundhead values have even infiltrated the Royal Family. 869 00:55:00,320 --> 00:55:05,160 The Queen herself, it seems to me, is by instinct a sort of Roundhead - 870 00:55:05,160 --> 00:55:06,880 dutiful, she knows the rules, 871 00:55:06,880 --> 00:55:09,920 she abides by a code of behaviour that is very precise 872 00:55:09,920 --> 00:55:13,080 and very austere, in some ways. 873 00:55:13,080 --> 00:55:15,520 I mean, she lives a sort of very careful life. 874 00:55:15,520 --> 00:55:19,200 Whereas Prince Charles, it seems to me, is sort of King Charles again. 875 00:55:19,200 --> 00:55:22,760 There is somebody, we understand, to put toothpaste on his toothbrush. 876 00:55:22,760 --> 00:55:25,440 This is a man who probably does deep down believe 877 00:55:25,440 --> 00:55:27,240 in the divine right of kings. 878 00:55:28,440 --> 00:55:30,320 Centuries of conflict 879 00:55:30,320 --> 00:55:33,960 have had a surprising effect on the British character. 880 00:55:33,960 --> 00:55:38,640 It now seems there's a little bit of Roundhead and Cavalier in us all. 881 00:55:43,320 --> 00:55:46,720 In some ways, it's a strangely self-defining aspect 882 00:55:46,720 --> 00:55:50,520 of our politics that people feel they are slotted into one or the other 883 00:55:50,520 --> 00:55:53,240 and then spend quite a lot of time trying to break the mould. 884 00:55:53,240 --> 00:55:55,880 I think fascinatingly at the moment we probably have 885 00:55:55,880 --> 00:55:59,160 a prime minister who is, by instinct, a Cavalier, 886 00:55:59,160 --> 00:56:02,120 but realises that the whole Bullingdon Club, 887 00:56:02,120 --> 00:56:06,480 "let your hair down" person who is kind of born to rule 888 00:56:06,480 --> 00:56:11,440 is a very dangerous aspect of his perhaps unfair public persona. 889 00:56:11,440 --> 00:56:13,720 So Cameron spends a great deal of his time, 890 00:56:13,720 --> 00:56:16,960 I think, trying to play down the Cavalier aspects of his image 891 00:56:16,960 --> 00:56:19,120 and trying to play up the Roundhead ones. 892 00:56:19,120 --> 00:56:22,480 Conversely, Ed Miliband seems to me to be probably a natural Roundhead. 893 00:56:22,480 --> 00:56:25,680 He is somebody who seems to me to have a very clear and crisp set of ideas 894 00:56:25,680 --> 00:56:27,280 of where he wants to go. 895 00:56:27,280 --> 00:56:29,920 On the other hand, he's fighting the perception 896 00:56:29,920 --> 00:56:31,720 that actually he's very boring. 897 00:56:33,480 --> 00:56:35,200 I think the Cavaliers did win. 898 00:56:35,200 --> 00:56:39,920 We have a society which is a pyramid of snobbery and wealth. 899 00:56:39,920 --> 00:56:42,280 That seems to me a Cavalier Britain. 900 00:56:46,960 --> 00:56:49,600 We are definitely getting more Cavalier. 901 00:56:49,600 --> 00:56:51,520 We are now getting more Cavalier. 902 00:56:51,520 --> 00:56:53,160 And that's not a good thing. 903 00:56:54,320 --> 00:56:59,240 There are no Roundheads telling you what to do and what not to do, 904 00:56:59,240 --> 00:57:02,840 you are encouraged to be a Cavalier and just get on with it on your own. 905 00:57:02,840 --> 00:57:05,800 But, actually, most people are now suddenly realising 906 00:57:05,800 --> 00:57:08,960 that you've got to have a bit of Roundhead backbone 907 00:57:08,960 --> 00:57:10,760 in your Cavalier existence 908 00:57:10,760 --> 00:57:12,440 or else it all implodes. 909 00:57:14,320 --> 00:57:15,600 Over the last few decades 910 00:57:15,600 --> 00:57:19,240 we've probably become a more Roundhead society. 911 00:57:19,240 --> 00:57:21,520 I think we are much more carefully controlled, 912 00:57:21,520 --> 00:57:23,480 there are many more CCTV cameras around 913 00:57:23,480 --> 00:57:27,480 that I think Oliver Cromwell and his like would certainly have approved of. 914 00:57:27,480 --> 00:57:30,080 On the other hand, I think, as a reaction to that, 915 00:57:30,080 --> 00:57:34,720 when the Cavalier spirit breaks out, it breaks out with all feathers on. 916 00:57:34,720 --> 00:57:38,840 And so I think in a way we've probably become more extreme 917 00:57:38,840 --> 00:57:41,080 in both aspects of the national character. 918 00:57:41,080 --> 00:57:42,160 Roundhead... 919 00:57:44,760 --> 00:57:46,560 ..or Cavalier? 920 00:57:46,560 --> 00:57:48,560 The battle continues. 921 00:58:11,800 --> 00:58:14,840 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd