1 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:08,880 'My name is Ifor ap Glyn, 2 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:11,720 'and I have a peculiar fascination with toilets. 3 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:16,240 'Now, you may find that funny 4 00:00:16,240 --> 00:00:19,440 'but, as we'll discover later, that's part of the story too. 5 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:24,640 'As a child, I lived an unremarkable life in the London suburbs 6 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:26,400 'with all the mod-cons. 7 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:32,280 'My daily trip to the toilet was something I just took for granted. 8 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,160 'That was until I went to stay with an elderly uncle and aunt 9 00:00:37,160 --> 00:00:41,560 'on their remote farm in Cardiganshire, in Mid Wales. 10 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,040 'When the call of nature came, 11 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:46,040 'I was directed down the garden path 12 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:48,520 'towards a small outhouse.' 13 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:52,520 And I was faced with a toilet very similar to this one. 14 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:54,800 It was a bucket privy 15 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:56,360 that just had a cover on it. 16 00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:59,080 Spares of newspaper hanging on a nail. 17 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:01,840 So, it seemed simple enough and I used it. 18 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,720 I went back in the house afterwards and the first question I had was, 19 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:07,240 "Did you put something on the bucket afterwards?" 20 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:09,640 "Well, yes," I said, "I put the cover back on." 21 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:13,320 "No, no, no, no. Did you put something on the bucket afterwards?" 22 00:01:13,320 --> 00:01:16,160 "I just told you, I put the cover back on." "No, no, no, no, no." 23 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,200 And it was at that point I was made to understand 24 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:23,440 that there was this second bucket in the toilet, 25 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:25,760 full of ash from the fire, 26 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:29,360 and the idea was that you'd spread ash from the bucket 27 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:35,040 into the toilet bucket, covering your business, minimising smell. 28 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:38,200 And then put the cover on to keep the flies out. 29 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:41,520 There was more to this toilet business than I had imagined, 30 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:43,760 even with a simple toilet like this. 31 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:49,280 And that's where my unhealthy fascination with the world of toilets began. 32 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:52,200 'What intrigues me is how we've all got used 33 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:54,640 'to taking our excrement for granted. 34 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:58,000 'And I began to wonder, how we got to this state of affairs? 35 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:01,320 'So I'm setting off on a journey 36 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:04,040 'to discover what our toilets can tell us about ourselves. 37 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:09,360 'We'll discover a rich and surprising history 38 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:13,640 'of how the toilet has evolved over 3,000 years. 39 00:02:13,640 --> 00:02:16,880 'How it's been transformed through ingenious leaps of engineering, 40 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:18,920 'as part of a huge industry 41 00:02:18,920 --> 00:02:22,760 'dedicated to satisfying our every whim. 42 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:25,600 'With a future stranger than you might imagine. 43 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:31,160 'All of us have a very personal and private relationship 44 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:32,800 'with the toilet. 45 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:36,800 'This is my journey to discover the unspoken history 46 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:39,840 'of the small unmentionable room 47 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:42,120 'in the corner of all our lives.' 48 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:48,080 FLUSHING NOISE 49 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:54,960 Dealing with our bodily waste 50 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:58,120 is one of those challenging issues we all have to face. 51 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:01,360 Ideally, we'd like it to be whisked away 52 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:03,160 without anyone having to touch it, 53 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,440 leaving no embarrassing stink in its wake 54 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:08,200 and no germs to threaten us. 55 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:12,520 But that's easier said than done, 56 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:16,200 and it's a problem we've been wrestling with throughout history, 57 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:19,840 as the earliest religious texts reveal. 58 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:21,680 According to The Bible, 59 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:24,800 "Thou shalt have a place also without the camp 60 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:27,360 "whither thou shalt go forth abroad: 61 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:29,400 "And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; 62 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:32,200 "and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, 63 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:33,960 "thou shalt dig therewith, 64 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:38,360 "and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee." 65 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:41,440 But how far should you go out of the camp? 66 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:44,600 Well, according to one Hindu text, 67 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:47,040 they advice that you should fire an arrow into the air 68 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:50,120 and only defecate where the arrow landed. 69 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:53,440 According to the Vishnu Purana, from 2,000 years ago, 70 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:58,000 you shouldn't defecate within 150 feet of a water source 71 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,240 or 15 feet of a house. 72 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:07,560 So let's go back to the dawn of civilisation. 73 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:13,160 'Over 2,000 years ago, Indians, Chinese and Cretans 74 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:16,920 'can all lay claim to having built the first flushing toilets. 75 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:20,480 'But it was the Romans who really got to grips with the problem. 76 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:26,320 'I'm in Spain, at the site of some wonderfully preserved Roman ruins.' 77 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:35,480 The Romans had grasped the essentials of sanitation - 78 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:36,840 the need to contain your waste 79 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:39,040 and move it away without anybody touching it, 80 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:40,760 the need to minimise smell 81 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:43,520 and the need to clean yourself up afterwards. 82 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:46,200 Now, these ruined latrines here at Merida 83 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:49,280 show how they addressed all of those problems, 84 00:04:49,280 --> 00:04:51,000 and very successfully indeed. 85 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:52,640 This was a communal privy. 86 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:55,120 You would have sat here, the seat has disappeared, 87 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:56,720 and your waste would have dropped 88 00:04:56,720 --> 00:04:58,400 into this drainage channel here. 89 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:01,040 Thus solving the first of the two problems - 90 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,680 the water flushed the waste away, nobody had to touch it. 91 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:07,080 And, of course, as it dropped into the water, that minimised smell. 92 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:11,560 Now, then, this second water channel running in front of us here 93 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:12,880 was what you would have used 94 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:14,200 to wash yourself afterwards. 95 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:16,600 You would have had a stick with a piece of sponge on the end, 96 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:18,280 dip that in the water, 97 00:05:18,280 --> 00:05:20,040 wash behind yourself, 98 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:21,720 thus giving rise to the phrase, 99 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:25,600 "The importance of not getting hold of the wrong end of the stick." 100 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:37,160 This example gives us a better idea 101 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:41,360 of what Roman toilets would have looked like nearly 2,000 years ago. 102 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:43,040 There's a surviving piece of seat 103 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:44,240 that has been mounted on 104 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:46,160 that metal frame there nearest to us 105 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:48,400 and then the six seats next to it are replicas 106 00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:50,400 that have been made out of concrete. 107 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:55,640 And we can see a surviving washing channel in front of the seats, 108 00:05:55,640 --> 00:05:58,760 that's where the Romans would have dipped their sponge sticks in 109 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:00,320 in order to wash themselves. 110 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:02,320 And this was a public toilet 111 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:05,360 situated just behind the theatre here. 112 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:08,880 We can see the main drainage channel stretches away quite a way. 113 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:12,120 There was in fact room for 25 seats here, 114 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:14,440 it was a considerable feat of engineering. 115 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:19,320 Romans had no issues using the toilet together 116 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:21,680 or sharing a poo stick or two. 117 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:23,880 Perhaps there was no embarrassment yet 118 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:27,320 because most people had never experienced toilet privacy. 119 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:35,920 Clean water was too precious just to use for clearing away human waste, 120 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:39,520 so grey water from drinking fountains and baths across the city 121 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:42,320 was channelled here to flush away waste, 122 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:46,400 only as its last stop on the way out of the city. 123 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:49,280 But this supply of water was only made possible 124 00:06:49,280 --> 00:06:52,520 by the aqueducts found throughout the Roman Empire. 125 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:56,840 Even today, we still marvel at aqueducts like this one, 126 00:06:56,840 --> 00:06:59,040 part of a three-mile network, 127 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:01,680 engineered with a precise dropping gradient 128 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:03,800 in order to bring a constant supply of water 129 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:06,360 to the baths and toilets of Merida. 130 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:11,360 Later generations came to know this as the Acueducto De Los Milagros, 131 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:14,040 the aqueduct of miracles, because they simple couldn't conceive 132 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:16,560 that something as magnificent as this had been built 133 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:18,080 without divine agency. 134 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:21,680 But, of course, as the Roman Empire tottered and fell, 135 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:24,440 we forgot a lot of things that the Romans had taught us, 136 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:28,440 not least their innovations in the field of sanitation. 137 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:33,720 'Exploring ruins like these in Merida, 138 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:35,400 'you are constantly struck 139 00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:38,920 'by the scale and sophistication of the building works. 140 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:41,000 'But Roman author Pliny the Elder 141 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:43,480 'described the Roman sewerage systems as, 142 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:46,320 '"The most noteworthy thing of all." 143 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:47,880 'And with good reason. 144 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:51,440 'The city of Rome itself boasted a water and sewerage system 145 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:54,280 'supporting a population of over one million. 146 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:58,320 'But, as the Empire declined, this infrastructure crumbled 147 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:01,400 'and such a population was no longer sustainable. 148 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:06,440 'By the Middle Ages, Rome was home to only 30,000 people. 149 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:11,120 'Toilets like those in Merida 150 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:13,760 'can be found all across the Roman Empire,' 151 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:17,040 including these ones on Hadrian's Wall. 152 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:20,480 But, within a few decades of the Romans' departure, 153 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:24,400 Britons abandoned the lessons they'd taught us about sanitation. 154 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:27,480 It's possible people just didn't have the building skills 155 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:29,440 to keep the system working. 156 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:34,840 But there is also a theory that pagan Britons 157 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:37,760 never truly accepted the Roman ways. 158 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:40,800 Pagan beliefs celebrated the cleanliness of water; 159 00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:44,320 to contaminate it perhaps went against this belief system. 160 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:48,120 Whatever the reason, 161 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,800 Britain was heading back to the lavatorial dark ages. 162 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:56,640 For the next 1,000 years, sanitation meant shitting in the fields. 163 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:07,600 'As medieval settlements grew, 164 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:10,440 'we start to see the emergence of organised toilets, 165 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:14,080 'but they were nothing like as advanced as the old Roman designs. 166 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:18,160 'Back in the 13th century, 167 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:20,800 'excrement would fall out of these gaping toilet holes 168 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:24,320 'in the town walls of Conway from the crude toilets above.' 169 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:28,840 There would have been a wooden seat here instead of this metal grating. 170 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:32,400 But they'd hardly have been comfortable things to use. 171 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:35,960 Imagine the stench, even though your business was dropping away down that chute. 172 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:38,880 Some of it would probably have smeared down the walls. 173 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:42,120 In the summer, there would have been flies and an incredible smell, 174 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:45,400 In the winter, although it wouldn't have been quite as exposed as this, 175 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:49,240 there would still be a draft coming up from below. 176 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:52,000 Sir John Harrington, writing in the 16th century, described it as, 177 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:53,800 "Sitting on the draft." 178 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:55,920 I think I know what he meant. 179 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,360 The waste then dropped down here 180 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:00,360 into the dry moat beneath, 181 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:04,080 where it was the job of the gongfermor to carry it away by hand. 182 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:09,120 'The gongfermor, or gong farmers, worked at night to transport 183 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:12,200 'human waste away from the town boundaries. 184 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:14,640 'So, for centuries after the Romans had left, 185 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:18,600 'the most advanced toilet in Britain still depended on some poor soul 186 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:21,280 'welding a bucket and spade. 187 00:10:23,560 --> 00:10:25,320 'By Tudor times, 188 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:28,240 'toilets were starting to appear in the richest households, 189 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:30,880 'but they were still crude and smelly, 190 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:33,400 'as we can see from this merchant's house in Tenby.' 191 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:39,200 The original cesspit still survives. 192 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:41,320 Amazingly, opens off the kitchen. 193 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:43,840 There was a long-drop toilet 194 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:45,720 dropping down into the pit beneath. 195 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:47,960 Now, some time in the 17th or 18th century, 196 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:50,240 it fell into disuse and it was filled in. 197 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:53,840 But the waste that remained beneath offers us a fascinating snapshot 198 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:56,160 of what life what's like in Tudor times. 199 00:10:56,160 --> 00:10:58,560 Now, when they excavated it, 200 00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:00,360 they found bits of pottery 201 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:03,600 that indicated they were trading with Mediterranean countries, 202 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:06,640 they found fish bones, they found all kinds of different seeds 203 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:09,160 that showed the rich variety of diet they had. 204 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:11,000 They also found a lot of worm eggs 205 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:14,120 that indicated they were infested with parasites. 206 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:15,960 But, most interestingly for us, 207 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:20,040 they also found bits of woven flags 208 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:22,120 and wool. 209 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:30,360 It seems that wool was the wipe of choice for wealthy Tudors. 210 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:33,600 Now, the excavations also reveal that they dyed the wool 211 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:35,880 with madder and with woad. 212 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:38,800 Now, both these plants had medicinal properties 213 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:41,600 that soothed sore Tudor bottoms. 214 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:45,640 Pretty much like the aloe vera that we put in posh toilet paper today. 215 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:51,080 'For the wealthy, there was also the option of building an outhouse, 216 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:54,120 'like this one in Somerset.' 217 00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:00,040 Well, if you had a splendid privy like this one 218 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:02,520 and an army of servants to clear up after you, 219 00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:04,320 I'm sure the sanitary arrangements 220 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:06,440 must have been fairly tolerable. 221 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:07,960 In the mid 15th century, 222 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:10,600 a man named John Russell wrote the Book Of Nurture, 223 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:13,440 a rhyming guide of what was expected of a butler 224 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:15,680 in an aristocratic household. 225 00:12:15,680 --> 00:12:19,360 And this is what he had to say about the sanitary arrangements. 226 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:23,200 "See the privy-house for easement be fair, soot and clean; 227 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:27,680 "and that the boards thereupon be covered with cloth, fair and green; 228 00:12:27,680 --> 00:12:31,680 "and the hole himself, look there no board be seen; 229 00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:33,960 "thereon a fair cushion, 230 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:36,800 "the ordure no man to teen." 231 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:42,080 No bare boards underneath the bottom of John Russell's master then. 232 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:52,440 'However, for the height of luxury, 233 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:54,080 'you didn't need a servant 234 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:56,280 'to spread a piece of cloth under your posterior, 235 00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:58,320 'you needed a river 236 00:12:58,320 --> 00:12:59,600 'running under your outhouse.' 237 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:05,720 The scouring action of the river in privies like these 238 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:07,280 must have set people thinking, 239 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:09,520 "What if we could bring a river 240 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:12,360 "into the house via a system of pipes?" 241 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:15,000 In other words, what if we did exactly the same thing 242 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:17,480 as the Romans did 1,500 years earlier? 243 00:13:20,680 --> 00:13:24,840 The penny, which had dropped for the Romans 1,500 years before, 244 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:28,520 was starting to drop again for everyone else. 245 00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:32,960 Once again, the notion of the flushing toilet began to emerge 246 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:36,240 and the first person to benefit was Queen Elizabeth I. 247 00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:44,080 'Here at Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke, 248 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:47,680 'we can glimpse what must have brought great pleasure to Her Majesty.' 249 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:54,000 The first water closet was built in 1594 by sir John Harrington. 250 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,160 Now, the originals have long since disappeared, 251 00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:58,320 but the museum has built this replica. 252 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:00,240 It's got a tank of water here. 253 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:01,640 This rod lifts a plug 254 00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:03,520 that empties the tanks 255 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:05,480 into the bowl here 256 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:08,640 and then, when you've finished your business, you lift this second rod 257 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:12,440 which lifts another plug, which empties the contents of the bowl 258 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:14,400 into a cesspit beneath. 259 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:17,400 Now, Harrington only built two of them - one for his own home 260 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:19,160 and one for his godmother, 261 00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:21,640 who was no lesser person than Queen Elizabeth I. 262 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:25,680 But his design didn't catch on - it was expensive, it was smelly 263 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:28,560 and it depended on a constant supply of water, 264 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:31,520 which most homes at that time just simply didn't have. 265 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:38,400 Over 170 years later, in 1775, watchmaker Alexander Cummings 266 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:41,520 filed the first ever patent for a toilet. 267 00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:44,160 His design included an s-bend 268 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:46,320 to keep the smell at bay, 269 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:50,240 but it wasn't integrated into the main unit. 270 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:53,080 It also had a sliding valve to empty the bowl. 271 00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:54,720 This didn't work so well 272 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:55,960 as the sliding action could 273 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:57,760 pull faeces back into the works, 274 00:14:57,760 --> 00:14:59,800 resulting in smell and clogging. 275 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:03,240 The basic elements are all here, 276 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:07,320 just not quite in the right order or working that well. 277 00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:13,400 His design was improved in 1778 by Joseph Bramah. 278 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:15,360 This is a Bramah closet 279 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:16,960 and, as you can see, 280 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:20,560 the mechanism for opening the valve is quite complicated. 281 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:24,800 He replaced the sliding mechanism with a self-cleaning hinged valve. 282 00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:27,000 This drop action meant gravity 283 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:29,080 helped solids to fall away, 284 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:32,160 and the provision of a constant trickle of water into the bowl 285 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:36,200 created an additional smell-resistant seal. 286 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:39,440 With a few modifications, Bramah's design remained in production 287 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:42,080 right up to the eve of the Second World War. 288 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:45,480 During the 150 years of their production, 289 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:47,160 his toilets found their way 290 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:49,600 into many of Britain's great stately homes. 291 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:52,840 They even made it into the Palace of Westminster 292 00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:56,680 where they still have a working example in the House of Lords. 293 00:15:56,680 --> 00:15:58,680 Well, the Lords aren't sitting today, 294 00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:00,440 so we've been allowed to come in 295 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:01,920 and have a look at their Bramah. 296 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:04,000 Wow, look at that! 297 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:06,160 Oh, isn't that magnificent? 298 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:08,480 And you can hear the water running down 299 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:11,720 into the bottom of the bowl to seal the valve here. 300 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:13,760 And if we lift this up here, 301 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:16,120 we can have a better look at it. 302 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:19,200 If I take the front off... 303 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:21,480 I'll get a bit of light on it. 304 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:24,000 Now, you can see the toilet stands 305 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:25,920 in this lead tray here 306 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:28,960 to catch any drips or leaks 307 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:31,600 and we can see that this arrangement 308 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:34,480 for opening the valve at the bottom 309 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:37,080 and also for opening the flush at the back here 310 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:39,520 is rather unsightly. 311 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:44,040 That's way it's boxed away within this wooden affair. 312 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:49,040 But, remarkably, this toilet dates from the 18th century 313 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:53,280 and it's still working, it's a tribute to British engineering. 314 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:56,120 Bramah toilets were the Rolls-Royce of toilets. 315 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:58,840 They were the toilet choice for the upper classes. 316 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:01,080 And, in fact, for a while in the English language, 317 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:05,320 Bramah was slang for something really good. 318 00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:07,760 Bramah! 319 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:12,640 But Toilets couldn't remain the preserve of the upper classes. 320 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:14,400 There was a revolution afoot, 321 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:17,720 thanks in part to something that happened right here - 322 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:21,160 the Great Stink of 1858. 323 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:24,440 Now, for centuries, Londoners had simply been dumping 324 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:26,800 their raw sewage into the Thames. 325 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:29,920 But, in 1858, London became the first modern city 326 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:34,000 to reach breaking point from a sanitation point of view. 327 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:37,640 The stench from the Thames that year was so bad 328 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:41,720 that the curtains of the Palace of Westminster had to be doused with chlorine. 329 00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:46,360 MPs had to speak with perfume handkerchiefs clutched to their noses. 330 00:17:46,360 --> 00:17:49,600 What had been considered up to that point to be a minor irritation 331 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,480 had now become a national priority. 332 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:56,560 To deal with the raw sewage pouring into the river, 333 00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:01,080 Joseph Bazalgette famously started work on the engineering masterpiece 334 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:05,960 that is the London's sewage system. 335 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:10,160 But dealing with the raw sewage also set people 336 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:13,400 thinking seriously about the toilet itself. 337 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:16,640 The next 30 years saw countless small innovations in toilet design 338 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:20,920 as manufacturers like Thomas Twyford and George Jennings 339 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:24,160 crept towards the Holy Grail - 340 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:29,240 'a toilet cheap and efficient enough to sell to everyone.' 341 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:31,880 By the 1880s, a number of manufacturers 342 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:33,720 had made the final breakthrough 343 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:37,400 in the race to provide a toilet for the mass market. 344 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:41,840 They incorporated the s-bend within a single ceramic pedestal. 345 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:45,280 No smells, no leaks and it was cheap to produce. 346 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:48,360 THIS is the forerunner of the modern toilet. 347 00:18:48,360 --> 00:18:51,960 And, in fact, this model, the Unitas, sold in its millions, 348 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:54,720 not just across Britain, but across the world. 349 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:58,400 In fact, to this day, the word Unitas in the Russian language 350 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:01,320 is still the word for toilet bowl. 351 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:06,520 But there was also one other notable brand name 352 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:08,920 very familiar in Victorian Britain. 353 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:14,400 Now, there's one name we haven't mentioned yet, 354 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:16,760 one name you've probably been expecting to hear all along. 355 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:19,600 That's the name of Thomas Crapper. 356 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:22,280 Now, Thomas Crapper didn't invent the toilet, 357 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:24,960 the word crap doesn't come from his name, 358 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:28,160 Thomas Crapper didn't even in fact manufacture toilets at all. 359 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:32,400 What he did do was get other people to build them for him 360 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:35,320 and then he made sure that his name featured prominently 361 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:37,680 on all the cisterns and bowls, 362 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:39,920 so that when he sold them on to other people, 363 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:44,800 the name they associated with the toilet was Thomas Crapper. 364 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:46,840 Toilets like this. 365 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:49,920 Crapper was a very good marketing man. 366 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:56,040 By the 1880s, sanitation had well and truly arrived. 367 00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:58,640 Thomas Crapper sold countless toilets as they were installed 368 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:01,240 in middle class homes across the land. 369 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:04,920 But the toilet was also going public. 370 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:07,920 'The first modern flushing public convenience 371 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:09,800 'opened in London in 1851. 372 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:13,160 'They then spread around the country with ever more ornate examples 373 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:17,480 'springing up like these in Cardiff city centre.' 374 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:20,040 This place is simply magnificent, 375 00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:23,400 there's an almost imperial confidence to the design, 376 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:26,320 reflecting, of course, Britain's place in the world at the time. 377 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:31,080 And I just love the solidity of these sumptuous marble urinals here, 378 00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:33,520 the way that they almost wrap themselves around you, 379 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:34,760 like a comfortable overcoat. 380 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:36,400 And look at this bull's-eye here - 381 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:39,440 thoughtfully provided for you to aim at 382 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:41,880 in order to reduce the risk of splashback 383 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:43,800 when you're relieving yourself, 384 00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:46,960 giving you the optimum angle for doing that. 385 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:51,440 The cost of using toilets like this was one penny 386 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:54,920 giving rise to the phrase, "Spend a penny". 387 00:20:56,720 --> 00:20:59,720 'It was one of the most stable pricing structures 388 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:01,080 'Britain had ever seen. 389 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:04,640 'The going rate for using a public convenience 390 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:10,840 'remained one penny for over 100 years until decimalisation in 1971.' 391 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:13,960 Everywhere you look, there's an almost lavish level of detail, 392 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:16,280 the kind of thing you'd expect to find in a public space 393 00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:18,240 like a church or a museum. 394 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:21,280 But, of course, by this time, toilets had gone public 395 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:23,920 and we see the civic dignitaries of Cardiff, 396 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:25,560 the great and the good of the city, 397 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:27,960 all wanting to lend their name to this project, 398 00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:31,600 because this was a veritable temple of convenience. 399 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:39,080 Lovely as these toilets are, 400 00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:41,360 for the majority of people in the country 401 00:21:41,360 --> 00:21:44,920 the reality was far less glamorous. 402 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:49,120 Throughout Britain's industrial cities, 403 00:21:49,120 --> 00:21:52,520 hundreds of thousands of people lived in houses like these - 404 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:57,240 'small one-up, one-down homes built around communal courtyards. 405 00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:00,760 'They were known as "back to backs."' 406 00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:06,200 By the end of the 19th century, 407 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:08,640 flush toilets were beginning to reach the masses. 408 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:11,280 Between them, Twyford, Crapper and Jennings 409 00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:13,920 had more or less perfected the design. 410 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:16,320 Unfortunately, access to that design 411 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:19,200 was severely limited for the working classes. 412 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:23,600 There were 20,000 courtyards like this one here in Birmingham alone. 413 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:25,680 Now, in this particular one, 414 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:29,920 that meant 70 people sharing three toilets. 415 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:32,320 In the winter, they'd be cold, they'd be dark, 416 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:34,440 you might even have to queue for them. 417 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:36,040 As the level of hygiene, 418 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:39,080 that would depend entirely on the families that you were sharing with. 419 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:42,360 And, unfortunately, because the courtyard was also the place 420 00:22:42,360 --> 00:22:44,640 where all these household stored their refuse, 421 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:46,560 as well as sharing with other families, 422 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:51,760 you'd be sharing these toilets with rats, cockroaches and spiders. 423 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:54,960 Perhaps the most remarkable thing about these toilets is 424 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:59,400 for many people living in urban areas in Britain, 425 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:05,880 this was the reality of the toilet right up to the '60s and '70s. 426 00:23:09,360 --> 00:23:12,800 'For a glimpse of what living with these shared toilets was like, 427 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:17,880 'I'm meeting Ann and Ted, who grew up in back to backs in the 1950s.' 428 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:20,600 How many families shared your toilet? 429 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:22,920 If you were lucky, you shared with one other family. 430 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:25,000 We shared with one other family. 431 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,800 We shared the toilet with three families. 432 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:31,480 But there was five of them sharing the courtyard. 433 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:33,720 As you had to share the facilities, 434 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:36,400 how did you share the cleaning of them? 435 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:40,440 Each lady had a day washing the brew house, or the wash house. 436 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:43,800 But when the water was finished with, it had two uses. 437 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:48,360 Sometimes it was just thrown out in the yard and the water was swept. 438 00:23:48,360 --> 00:23:52,200 Another time, it was thrown at the toilet, so the toilet was clean. 439 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:56,280 So you could go up there, and there'd be a queue for that toilet. 440 00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:58,680 And if it was raining, you went into the brew house, 441 00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:00,280 waiting for the rain to finish. 442 00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:02,120 But I always say to people, 443 00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:04,680 "That's where the River Dance started," you know. 444 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:07,280 THEY CHUCKLE 445 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:12,520 Can you paint me a picture as it were, describe for me what it was really like? 446 00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:14,320 At nights it would be dark. 447 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:16,960 There was no lights, no electric lights or no gas lights... 448 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:19,240 Not even in the yard. No. 449 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:22,680 You'd take your friend or your brother or your sister to go out to the yard with you. 450 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:24,880 If it was really dark, you wouldn't go on your own 451 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:27,560 with the rats running about. Right. 452 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:31,400 And we didn't realise that we were deprived. Well, you don't till afterwards. 453 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:34,880 Do you? It was also a play area. Mmm. 454 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:40,760 For the children. And it was just another space within the complex. 455 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:42,960 We had this lady and, if you did anything wrong, 456 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:44,320 she'd always tell you off, 457 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:47,240 so we used to, when we knew she was going to the toilet, 458 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:50,520 nip on the roof at the top, it was a corrugated roof. 459 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:53,680 And you'd be dead quiet and she'd arrive at the toilet. 460 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:55,480 We knew... She'd shut the door, 461 00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:57,560 we could hear her shuffling around 462 00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:00,240 and then, we waited until we thought she was sitting down, 463 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:02,640 and then, we... (HE CLAPS) ..hit the roof 464 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,280 and that cures the constipation. 465 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:07,720 THEY LAUGH 466 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:14,200 Toilets had finally reached the masses 467 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:17,400 but, as we all got used to the privacy 468 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:21,680 of entering the boxed-off world of the toilet, something changed. 469 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:24,480 The paradox of the toilet is this - 470 00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:27,680 as they became universally available, 471 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:32,160 an aura of secrecy grew up around what we actually did in them. 472 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:35,000 So we are in a state of collective denial 473 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:38,840 about what are completely natural functions. 474 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:41,680 We, we are embarrassed about it. 475 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,640 We employ a long list of washroom euphemisms. 476 00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:49,440 We deflect our embarrassment with toilet humour. 477 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:53,680 The final proof of this absurdity is the Golden Poo Awards. 478 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:56,880 It's a night for toilet humour in Balham, in South London. 479 00:25:56,880 --> 00:25:58,560 CHEERING AND APPLAUSE 480 00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:02,720 Which means you have ahead of you an unrelenting diet of shit jokes. 481 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:04,440 LAUGHTER 482 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:08,080 It's designed to get us all to think harder about toilets 483 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:10,960 and the unfortunate third of the world's population 484 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,600 who don't have access to proper sanitation. 485 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:16,800 Is there anyone... Have you had a shit today, sir? 486 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:19,160 Not today, no. Ooh! 487 00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:21,360 When did you last have one? Have you ever had one? 488 00:26:21,360 --> 00:26:24,720 Eh... Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah. 489 00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:27,200 What would your definition of toilet humour be then? 490 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:31,280 Well, I suppose is laughing at the fact that we shit 491 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:34,720 and, sometimes, at inappropriate times or... 492 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:38,560 Er... I'll tell you a joke my father used to tell. 493 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:41,640 A man goes to the doctor and he says, "Doctor, I'm shitting cubes." 494 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:43,920 And the doctor says, "Um, stand up, turn round." 495 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:45,520 And he sort of snips, snips, snips. 496 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:48,600 And he says, "You'll be all right now." The man says, "What have you done?" 497 00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:51,320 He says, "I've cut three inches of the bottom of your string vest." 498 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:53,000 HE LAUGHS 499 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:55,160 Well, I don't know why that's funny, but it is. 500 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:58,040 It's probably just the sort of artifice of it. 501 00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:01,200 Just shitting is funny, I'm afraid. 502 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:04,800 A man goes to the doctor with a bit of lettuce sticking out of his bottom. 503 00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:07,160 The doctor says, "It's just the tip of the iceberg." 504 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:09,600 LAUGHTER 505 00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:13,600 I mean... It's a taboo. It's up there with sex and death 506 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:16,320 to the extent that the toilet is something we do every day, 507 00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:19,280 death is, well, hopefully, is not something you encounter too often. 508 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:21,560 Sex, although I have fond memories of it. 509 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:22,840 THEY CHUCKLE 510 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:24,200 You know. 511 00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:26,200 It is a fundamental thing that we do, 512 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:29,360 and everyone does it and every animal does it. 513 00:27:29,360 --> 00:27:32,560 And no-one, you know, everyone knows that everyone else does it. 514 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:35,680 And yet, we do not speak of it. 515 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,320 It's the embarrassment. Yeah. It's like farting in the lift. 516 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:40,200 You know, farting. 517 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:43,600 I wonder, is farting funny in every culture? 518 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:47,240 I certainly doubt that it's so funny if you don't have a toilet, 519 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:51,280 if you have to, you know, if you have no facilities, 520 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:54,760 there's no sewage or... I'm guessing probably shit is not so funny. 521 00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:57,320 Are there Indian toilet comedians, I wonder? 522 00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:00,440 Well, you're doing the programme, not me. Find out. 523 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:02,440 THEY LAUGH 524 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:04,840 Different cultures have different ways of, you know, 525 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:06,520 dealing with their shit. 526 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:09,720 Er... you know, we sometimes encounter different things, 527 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:11,880 you know, squat toilets or... 528 00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:14,640 Why are we so convinced that the foreigners are doing it wrong? 529 00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:17,080 The French writer Rabelais, 530 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:21,560 he had a whole thing he wrote about the best way to wipe your arse. 531 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:24,600 And he concluded that it was a swan's neck. 532 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:26,000 THEY CHUCKLE 533 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:30,040 Well, I have to say, if you're caught short in the country, sphagnum moss. Yeah? 534 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:31,960 It's better than toilet paper, so... 535 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:34,320 It's wet, it's absorbent, you know, 536 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:36,160 and you just sort of pull a bit off 537 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:40,040 and do the business and, you know, use it, put it back on, 538 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:43,000 you've kind of hardly even damaged the environment. 539 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:44,880 THEY LAUGH 540 00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:47,760 'Arthur has set me thinking, 541 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:50,760 'if you don't have a ready supply of sphagnum moss, 542 00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:52,400 'let alone a swan's neck, 543 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:55,840 'what is the best way to deal with cleaning yourself up? 544 00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:57,920 'And has our society really settled 545 00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:02,240 'on the most healthy and efficient way of going to the toilet? 546 00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:06,840 'I'm meeting Dr Ron Cutler at Queen Mary University London, 547 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:10,680 'who, I hope, will shed some light on the perennial question - 548 00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:13,520 'to wash or to wipe?' 549 00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:17,160 If you wash your bottom with water, 550 00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:19,320 you are using your hands 551 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:22,280 and, therefore, it becomes even more important 552 00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:25,200 that you actually wash your hands afterwards. 553 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:28,360 That may act as a stimulus for people to wash their hands 554 00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:31,400 but, then again, people being what they are, it may not. 555 00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:36,040 So, basically, although your nether regions may be clean after that, 556 00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:38,640 your hands may be not so clean. 557 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:42,160 As far as paper goes, there is a huge problem with paper. 558 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:44,760 Yes, it's an effective wiping agent, 559 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:48,280 but dry paper isn't a 100% useful 560 00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:52,760 for removing faeces from a surface such a skin. 561 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:55,600 Now, the moist wipes work very effectively, 562 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,760 but, environmentally, they are not very good, 563 00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:01,280 because they are not as easy to get rid of, 564 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:04,080 because the moist wipe has a stronger tensile strength 565 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:06,360 than ordinary toilet paper. 566 00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:08,600 The bottom liner is, whatever, 567 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:10,920 however you manage to wipe your bottom, 568 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:13,640 you absolutely have to wash your hands afterwards, 569 00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:16,640 even if you're using toilet paper, even if you're using wipes. 570 00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:19,160 And I think it's a matter of preference, to be honest. 571 00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:23,200 'So what exactly are we washing off our hands? 572 00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:27,040 'Ron and his team are conducting a study of samples 573 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:31,840 'collected from various toilet sites to find out what we're up against.' 574 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:34,760 Well, here we are in the toilet, welcome to my world. 575 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:37,600 And this is a typical cubicle. 576 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:39,160 And we've been looking at places 577 00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:43,560 where you're actually going to find faecal flora, shall we say. Mm. 578 00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:47,880 And, not surprisingly, er...toilet handle. Right. 579 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:49,600 Door handle. 580 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:51,880 Even sometimes these dispensers. 581 00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:54,880 What we do is we take a sterile swab 582 00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:59,880 and we have a specific area that we sample on each one of the sites. 583 00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:06,680 'Once collected, they grow the bacteria in their lab 584 00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:09,120 'to discover what pathogens our hands 585 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:11,520 'might unintentionally be harbouring.' 586 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:14,480 So what can we expect to find growing in these dishes then? 587 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:16,760 Well, this is actually an MRSA. 588 00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:20,080 And it was isolated from a toilet. Really? 589 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:23,360 Not this toilet, but a toilet somewhere in our community. 590 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:25,600 It wasn't associated with a hospital, 591 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:29,400 it wasn't associated, as far as we know, with any patient 592 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:31,200 or the use of antibiotics in it. 593 00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:32,880 It just happens to live there. 594 00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:35,880 MRSA is something we tend to associate with super bugs 595 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:37,560 and hospitals and, you know, 596 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:40,040 not something we perhaps expect to find in a toilet. 597 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,840 There are two types of MRSA - one is a hospital MRSA 598 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:46,080 and the other one is a community MRSA. 599 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:49,320 The community MRSA is a huge problem in America at the moment 600 00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:51,360 because it's going through schools. 601 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:53,960 We were fortunate because the community strain 602 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:55,840 seemed to leapfrog over us. 603 00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:58,480 It's now in India and in some parts of Europe. 604 00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:01,320 But it does exist in this country. 605 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:04,560 And they are methicillin-resistant, drug-resistant organisms 606 00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:07,200 and they will cause disease. 607 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:10,880 So it's not really surprising we find them in public toilets. 608 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:15,160 So it's more important than ever to... Wash your hands. 609 00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:17,880 Different cultures have different habits, 610 00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:20,920 I'm thinking perhaps of sitting versus squatting. 611 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:23,680 From a hygiene point of view, is one better than the other? 612 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:27,600 Well, basically, I think that, in the past, 613 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:29,880 why would people develop a sitting toilet? 614 00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:33,640 It's probably because it's more comfortable than squatting. 615 00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:37,680 And it's easier to cut down on the smell. 616 00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:41,360 The other way is, potentially, more hygienic, 617 00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:45,600 because it doesn't have anything in between you and the sewage, 618 00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:49,280 but it also has problems with potentially having to smell. 619 00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:52,920 'So it seems that most of our cultural habits are healthy enough 620 00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:57,800 'as long as we follow the basic rules of hygiene. 621 00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:01,840 'But these habits are not as deeply rooted as you might imagine. 622 00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:04,600 'Take Japan as an example. 623 00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:11,400 '70 years ago, the Japanese only used squat toilets, 624 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:15,640 'but, during the American occupation after World War Two, 625 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:18,480 'they fell in love with sit-down loos, which are now the norm. 626 00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:25,200 'When it comes to hygiene, the Japanese can lay claim 627 00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:27,920 'to some of the cleanest toilets known to man. 628 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:33,360 'And though they adopted western toilets relatively recently, 629 00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:37,280 'they've developed the design with an almost fetish-like obsession. 630 00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:44,520 'They seem determined to have the best sit-down loos in the world 631 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:47,720 'with technology catering for your every need 632 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:49,360 'at the press of a button.' 633 00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:51,080 The controls on this toilet 634 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:53,840 may seem at first sight a little bit complicated 635 00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:55,640 but, by Japanese standards, 636 00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:56,880 this one is quite simple. 637 00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:59,320 And toilets like this are the norm, 638 00:33:59,320 --> 00:34:01,960 not just here in hotels and in houses 639 00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:04,400 but in stores, stations, all kinds of places. 640 00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:06,240 So it's got a heated seat, 641 00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:08,200 to get your bottom warm, 642 00:34:08,200 --> 00:34:10,520 And it's also got this, it's got a... 643 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:14,160 You can control the temperature here, make it warmer or colder. 644 00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:16,800 This one controls the level of the spray. 645 00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:20,640 For you to wash yourself afterwards instead of wipe yourself down. 646 00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:23,160 If I cover this sensor here, 647 00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:25,320 which should be masked by my bottom, 648 00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:26,920 something seems to be happening, 649 00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:28,800 and I press this here. 650 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,000 It comes out here and... Oops, sorry! 651 00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:33,040 And it washes... 652 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:36,160 It goes right up your back passage, clean it out. 653 00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:38,160 It took me a... 654 00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:41,320 a few days to...to pluck up the courage to even use it 655 00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:43,000 when I came here, but now, 656 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:44,880 I could get used to it. 657 00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:52,200 However, this isn't just a story about technology. 658 00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:54,200 Even in quite simple toilets, 659 00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:57,440 like these I came across in the back of a cafe, 660 00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:00,840 the Japanese like to have fun and do something different. 661 00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:05,760 This toilet is incredible. 662 00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:07,800 Everything in here is a found object, 663 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:10,160 but the best bit is when you sit down... 664 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:12,840 BIRDS SINGING 665 00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:14,640 ..and the birds begin to sing. 666 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,960 This desire for the perfect toilet 667 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:23,040 seems to reflect something which runs quite deep in Japanese society. 668 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:26,480 This is an extract from an essay on architecture 669 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:30,360 written in the 1930s by Junichiro Tanizaki. 670 00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:33,560 "Anyone with a taste for traditional architecture 671 00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:37,040 "must agree that the Japanese toilet is perfection. 672 00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:41,720 "I love to listen from such a toilet to the sound of softly falling rain. 673 00:35:41,720 --> 00:35:44,960 "There one can listen with such a sense of intimacy 674 00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:48,000 "to the raindrops falling from the eves and the trees, 675 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:51,640 "seeping into the earth as they wash over the base of a stone lantern 676 00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:54,280 "and freshen the moss about the stepping stones. 677 00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:57,640 "The toilet is the perfect place to listen to the chirping of insects 678 00:35:57,640 --> 00:35:59,200 "or the song of birds, 679 00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:02,920 "to view the moon, or to enjoy any of those poignant moments 680 00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:05,040 "that mark the change of the seasons. 681 00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:07,520 "Indeed, one could claim that, 682 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:10,000 "of all the elements of Japanese architecture, 683 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:13,120 "the toilet is the most aesthetic." 684 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:18,280 'Japanese culture, it seems, prices order and beauty above all else, 685 00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:22,080 'even in the tiniest of details, be that a perfect cherry blossom, 686 00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:25,160 'a tranquil Japanese garden 687 00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:28,000 'or a spotless public toilet. 688 00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:39,840 'I want to try and understand 689 00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:42,200 'how this obsessive search for order and beauty 690 00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:45,480 'even extends into toilet design, 691 00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:49,760 'so I'm meeting Japanese architect Junko Kobayashi. 692 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:54,040 'Her Tokyo practice specialises in designing public toilets, 693 00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:56,680 'and, fittingly, her office is next to a shrine 694 00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:59,280 'complete with its own purification area.' 695 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:04,760 Japanese architecture seems to value serenity. 696 00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:07,640 We can see it here in this shrine. 697 00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:12,280 Is that something that you try and bring into your own approach to design? 698 00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:13,840 SHE SPEAKS JAPANESE 699 00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:17,160 TRANSLATED: Personally, I like simplicity and calmness, 700 00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:18,680 but, at the same time, 701 00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:21,560 I like to have fun and be surrounded by cheerful things. 702 00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:25,280 I like serenity but, professionally, when I design toilets, 703 00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:29,200 I design them for a specific location and context. 704 00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:32,520 So I am not typically conscious of trying to make a calm space. 705 00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:41,040 Usually you partially remove your clothes to sit on the loo, 706 00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:43,880 so you do not have much freedom to move around. 707 00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:47,240 Therefore, everything has to be within reach of the toilet seat, 708 00:37:47,240 --> 00:37:51,320 which is why I have compared the toilet to an aeroplane cockpit. 709 00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:54,560 You are in a small room and I want to create a high-tech 710 00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:57,800 and easy to use toilet in a compact space. 711 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:06,360 Many Japanese people are so fastidious 712 00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:09,520 they are embarrassed by the sound of their bodily functions. 713 00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,400 But even that is catered for on this toilet here 714 00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:14,240 with the Sound Princes. 715 00:38:14,240 --> 00:38:20,760 FLUSHING SOUND 716 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:22,400 With the aid of this sound effect, 717 00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:24,760 they can mask the sound of themselves peeing. 718 00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:28,200 But, actually, it's not such a newfangled idea as it might sound, 719 00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:31,320 because in the Edo Period, Japanese princesses, 720 00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:32,840 when they went to the toilet, 721 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:35,800 would have their servants stand outside with jugs of water 722 00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:39,800 which they would pour in order to mask the sound of the princess. 723 00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:49,200 TRANSLATED: Japanese people are very sensitive and easily embarrassed. 724 00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:51,640 We feel ashamed when people can hear the sounds we make 725 00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:53,880 as we do our business. 726 00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:57,200 If the person in the next cubicle can hear you, it is very embarrassing, 727 00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:00,800 and we flush the toilet repeatedly to mask the sounds we make. 728 00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:03,200 It was because of this that toilet manufacturers 729 00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:06,120 came up with the products to do this. 730 00:39:06,120 --> 00:39:09,120 They have been around for 25 years now, 731 00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:11,680 but do we really need such innovations? 732 00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:13,880 After the recent earthquake and tsunami, 733 00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:15,760 I heard that in the affected area 734 00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:18,040 there was no water to flush the toilets, 735 00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:21,520 and so, people felt that they had to hold it in and so, got sick. 736 00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:26,560 Maybe we should be rethinking our reliance on high-tech flush loos. 737 00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:37,000 Spending time here makes you understand 738 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:38,960 how a country's toilet habits 739 00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:42,840 reveal something far deeper about their cultural outlook. 740 00:39:42,840 --> 00:39:46,160 'But Jenko's comments about water use and resources 741 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:48,960 'have also set me wondering. 742 00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:52,800 'Will people in the emerging economies like China and India 743 00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:56,000 'soon be expecting the delights of an electric flushing loo 744 00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:58,040 'complete with Sound Princess, 745 00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:02,480 'or will they be forced to find an alternative solution? 746 00:40:08,080 --> 00:40:11,640 'To find out, I joined the throng of excited delegates 747 00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:13,480 'at the 11th World Toilet Summit. 748 00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:20,160 'It's perhaps one of the most unlikely topics for a world conference, 749 00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:23,040 'but this year it's proudly hosted 750 00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:26,280 'by China's south tropical island of Hainan. 751 00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:33,600 'It turns out that the Japanese are not the only ones 752 00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:36,000 'craving a bit of bling in their bathrooms. 753 00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:45,600 'But, although this unlikely gathering 754 00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:48,200 'appears to celebrate the western flush, 755 00:40:48,200 --> 00:40:51,520 'there is actually a serious purpose to this conference. 756 00:40:51,520 --> 00:40:56,280 'That is the search for a toilet solution 757 00:40:56,280 --> 00:40:58,800 'that's far less of a drain on the world's resources.' 758 00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:04,080 Let's start talking about toilets in Africa. 759 00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:05,920 This conference is the brainchild 760 00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:09,160 of Singapore businessman and philanthropist Jack Sim, 761 00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:11,680 who set up the World Toilet Organisation 762 00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:14,440 once he realised the scale of human tragedy 763 00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:17,240 caused by not having toilets. 764 00:41:17,240 --> 00:41:20,320 40% of the world population, 765 00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:22,960 about 2.6 billion people, 766 00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:26,720 still do not have access to a proper toilet. 767 00:41:26,720 --> 00:41:31,080 And open defecation pollutes the river, they are drinking water, 768 00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:35,560 there are leaks and also spread diseases 769 00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:43,120 to the scale of 1.5 million children dying of diarrhoea every year. 770 00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:47,520 That is more death of children 771 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:53,840 than measles, HIV and malaria added up together. 772 00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:58,080 And all because we have neglected the subject, 773 00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:01,960 so turning toilet to humour, 774 00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:05,240 I think start to change the game 775 00:42:05,240 --> 00:42:08,400 and people are now engaged in this subject. 776 00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:11,920 We see a lot of UN agencies and companies 777 00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:13,920 paying attention to this too. 778 00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:16,360 I think we are on the up trend. 779 00:42:20,240 --> 00:42:24,120 'With poor sanitation contributing to so many deaths, 780 00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:27,360 'this conference has a massive task on its hands.' 781 00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:31,640 INTERPRETER: Public and private partnerships must work together 782 00:42:31,640 --> 00:42:35,120 to make good hygiene practice a shared responsibility. 783 00:42:35,120 --> 00:42:37,720 HE SPEAKS IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE 784 00:42:37,720 --> 00:42:41,720 INTERPRETER: In the users comfort and safety... 785 00:42:41,720 --> 00:42:43,600 We also suggest that we create 786 00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:46,040 an international toilet monitoring centre. 787 00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:48,760 'But as I listen to the speeches, 788 00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:51,800 'I wonder whether I am hearing any ideas 789 00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:54,800 'that come close to addressing this massive problem.' 790 00:42:54,800 --> 00:42:59,040 Smell is the key thing that people complain about. 791 00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:01,320 This conference has certainly brought it home to me 792 00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:03,760 that there's another dimension to the story of the toilet 793 00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:05,960 that we just hadn't seen yet, 794 00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:09,000 i.e. the huge problems faced by the developing world. 795 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:13,440 'How do you bring sanitation to 2.6 billion people? 796 00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:17,440 'Not many of the ideas on offer at this conference seem big enough 797 00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:20,960 'to make much of a dent in a problem of that magnitude. 798 00:43:23,480 --> 00:43:26,240 'So I'm heading for the Indian subcontinent, 799 00:43:26,240 --> 00:43:29,480 'and a country in the throws of a toilet revolution. 800 00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:38,840 'This is Bangladesh, 801 00:43:38,840 --> 00:43:41,840 'a country struggling to bring modern sanitation 802 00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:44,480 'to its population.' 803 00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:48,400 Millions of people in Bangladesh today still have no access 804 00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:51,240 to toilets of any kind, so they're compelled to practise 805 00:43:51,240 --> 00:43:54,480 what it's delicately referred to as "open defecation" 806 00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:57,800 or, to put it more bluntly, shitting at the side of the road. 807 00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:06,320 The kids in this village play amongst raw sewage. 808 00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:11,520 It ends up on their hands and bare feet; 809 00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:14,000 it gets walked into their homes; 810 00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:17,440 it pollutes the pond where they swim and wash. 811 00:44:17,440 --> 00:44:20,840 Flies transport it from house to house, 812 00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:23,200 from plate to plate. 813 00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:27,360 It's not hard to see why conditions like these 814 00:44:27,360 --> 00:44:30,320 cause so much disease and death. 815 00:44:33,160 --> 00:44:36,040 However, there are moves afoot 816 00:44:36,040 --> 00:44:38,400 to revolutionise the provision of toilets. 817 00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:43,600 A scheme called The Wash Programme has been set up in 150 districts, 818 00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:46,720 home to some 40 million people. 819 00:44:46,720 --> 00:44:50,720 The first goal of this scheme is to supply the necessary hardware. 820 00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:58,640 This is a Bangladesh toilet factory 821 00:44:58,640 --> 00:45:01,000 and this is a flushing toilet 822 00:45:01,000 --> 00:45:03,040 at its most simple. 823 00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:06,360 You dig a hole in the ground, you set the concrete rings in the hole, 824 00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:08,640 that stops the sides of the hole from falling in. 825 00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:13,320 Then you place this concrete slab on top of the hole to cap it off. 826 00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:16,240 You've got your foot rest here and this funnel arrangement. 827 00:45:16,240 --> 00:45:18,720 Here's one that hasn't been set in concrete 828 00:45:18,720 --> 00:45:21,120 that channels your waste down into the hole. 829 00:45:21,120 --> 00:45:25,040 Now, that in itself is just a sophisticated hole in the ground, 830 00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:26,960 because there would be absolutely nothing 831 00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:29,120 to stop the flies from going into the pit 832 00:45:29,120 --> 00:45:31,160 and the smells from coming out. 833 00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:36,040 But what transforms it into a flushing toilet is this. 834 00:45:36,040 --> 00:45:39,880 Now then, the addition of this water trap here 835 00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:44,360 means that, when you flush the waste down here, 836 00:45:44,360 --> 00:45:46,240 sufficient water has to be used 837 00:45:46,240 --> 00:45:49,480 to drive the waste out and over the trap here, 838 00:45:49,480 --> 00:45:52,920 but, once that's happened, you have clean water in here, 839 00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:55,760 which prevents the smell from getting out 840 00:45:55,760 --> 00:45:59,080 and the flies from getting in. 841 00:45:59,080 --> 00:46:04,280 So, for the princely sum of 15 taka, or about 12p, 842 00:46:04,280 --> 00:46:09,120 you can transform a hole in the ground into a flushing toilet. 843 00:46:12,400 --> 00:46:16,080 The toilet is flushed with a small bucket of water, 844 00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:19,080 so they are easy to install with no need for extra plumbing. 845 00:46:20,960 --> 00:46:24,160 To build a toilet, you need six concrete rings. 846 00:46:24,160 --> 00:46:26,040 It's a twin-pit design. 847 00:46:26,040 --> 00:46:28,840 You put three of the rings to form a hole here. 848 00:46:28,840 --> 00:46:33,120 When that's full, you move the toilet slab to here, 849 00:46:33,120 --> 00:46:35,480 you move the toilet superstructure to here 850 00:46:35,480 --> 00:46:38,400 and you cap that off and leave it to compost. 851 00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:42,920 And this one, as you can see, is now operational. 852 00:46:42,920 --> 00:46:45,720 The whole thing costs 2,000 taka. 853 00:46:45,720 --> 00:46:49,720 That's for six rings, a cap, a toilet slab, the superstructure... 854 00:46:49,720 --> 00:46:53,520 That is the princely sum of 17 quid. 855 00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:56,920 Now, they've sold five million of these all across Bangladesh, 856 00:46:56,920 --> 00:46:59,200 and, assuming five uses per toilet, 857 00:46:59,200 --> 00:47:01,560 that means 25 million Bangladeshis 858 00:47:01,560 --> 00:47:05,800 now have access to adequate sanitary provision for the first time. 859 00:47:05,800 --> 00:47:11,640 And the remarkable thing is that has happened during the last four years. 860 00:47:11,640 --> 00:47:15,120 But there is no point making cheap toilets available 861 00:47:15,120 --> 00:47:17,800 if no-one wants to buy them. 862 00:47:17,800 --> 00:47:21,320 You also need to start changing people's habits. 863 00:47:24,320 --> 00:47:26,560 'So, in villages throughout the country, 864 00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:30,000 'sanitation committees have been established. 865 00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:33,080 'The first thing these committees do is find out 866 00:47:33,080 --> 00:47:35,880 'where everyone in the village currently goes to the toilet. 867 00:47:35,880 --> 00:47:39,520 'And then, put the information onto a big map.' 868 00:47:39,520 --> 00:47:44,160 This... This one has the trap, yeah? 869 00:47:44,160 --> 00:47:46,880 No trap here. OK. 870 00:47:46,880 --> 00:47:50,480 'This simple act of mapping sanitary provision 871 00:47:50,480 --> 00:47:52,840 'gets people to start thinking about how much raw sewage 872 00:47:52,840 --> 00:47:55,640 'there might be lying around their village. 873 00:47:58,240 --> 00:48:00,960 'It makes people realise that, without proper toilets, 874 00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:03,280 'they're all basically ingesting 875 00:48:03,280 --> 00:48:06,240 'their neighbour's excrement on a daily basis 876 00:48:06,240 --> 00:48:09,200 'and toilets quickly start springing up around the village.' 877 00:48:09,200 --> 00:48:13,120 HE SPEAKS IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE 878 00:48:13,120 --> 00:48:15,520 'It has proved a potent strategy 879 00:48:15,520 --> 00:48:17,720 'and explains why things are changing so quickly. 880 00:48:22,000 --> 00:48:25,840 'So the problem of rural sanitation does seem to be improving. 881 00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:29,920 'But that is only half the story.' 882 00:48:29,920 --> 00:48:33,760 This is Dhaka. This is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. 883 00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:38,200 The population is set to hit over 20 million by 2015. 884 00:48:38,200 --> 00:48:41,080 As people pour into this city, 885 00:48:41,080 --> 00:48:43,840 a lot of them live in informal settlements, 886 00:48:43,840 --> 00:48:47,360 like the one we can see behind us, that's called Korail. 887 00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:50,440 They're so pushed to space over there 888 00:48:50,440 --> 00:48:54,240 that they are dumping rubbish into the lake 889 00:48:54,240 --> 00:48:56,840 to expand the room that they can build on. 890 00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:05,280 This slum sits next to the richest area of Dhaka. 891 00:49:08,520 --> 00:49:11,800 'It's home to low-paid workers drawn by the possibility of work 892 00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:15,200 'in the surrounding homes and offices. 893 00:49:21,560 --> 00:49:23,840 'I've also been told that this place 894 00:49:23,840 --> 00:49:27,000 'is home to some of the worst types of toilet. 895 00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:31,240 'Simple platforms built on stilts known as "hanging toilets."' 896 00:49:31,240 --> 00:49:32,640 HE BREATHES IN AND SIGHS 897 00:49:32,640 --> 00:49:36,960 This is sanitation at its most basic. 898 00:49:36,960 --> 00:49:40,440 It drops down through that hole there into the lake 899 00:49:40,440 --> 00:49:43,400 and, of course, because it's a lake, it's not a moving body of water, 900 00:49:43,400 --> 00:49:45,480 there's nothing to flush it away. 901 00:49:45,480 --> 00:49:47,720 And, in fact, the level of lake is so low at the moment, 902 00:49:47,720 --> 00:49:50,160 it doesn't even seem to be dropping into the water even. 903 00:49:50,160 --> 00:49:52,440 HE SIGHS 904 00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:55,240 And this is, this is sanitary reality 905 00:49:55,240 --> 00:49:56,920 for a lot of people living here. 906 00:49:56,920 --> 00:49:59,920 It's one of the biggest slums in Bangladesh. 907 00:49:59,920 --> 00:50:02,760 But, unfortunately, because it's an unofficial slum, 908 00:50:02,760 --> 00:50:05,560 i.e., effectively, they're squatting, 909 00:50:05,560 --> 00:50:07,440 of course, there's no security of tenure, 910 00:50:07,440 --> 00:50:10,680 so people are unwilling to invest in something 911 00:50:10,680 --> 00:50:13,600 that might be swept away at a moments notice 912 00:50:13,600 --> 00:50:15,520 at the whim of the landlord. 913 00:50:17,560 --> 00:50:19,800 The locals tell me that some of these hanging toilets 914 00:50:19,800 --> 00:50:22,040 have been here for over 20 years. 915 00:50:27,320 --> 00:50:31,000 And with newcomers constantly pouring in from the countryside, 916 00:50:31,000 --> 00:50:33,520 it's hard to see them disappearing any time soon. 917 00:50:37,560 --> 00:50:42,360 Providing toilets for the urban poor is not as simple as it might seem. 918 00:50:42,360 --> 00:50:46,160 For a start, the scale of the problem is just so much bigger. 919 00:50:46,160 --> 00:50:50,680 Secondly, the urban population is so much more transient. 920 00:50:50,680 --> 00:50:53,960 You could map the slums of Dhaka today, 921 00:50:53,960 --> 00:50:57,040 but that map would be out of date within months, if not within weeks. 922 00:50:57,040 --> 00:50:59,440 You could elect a Village Wash Committee 923 00:50:59,440 --> 00:51:01,640 or, at least, an Area Wash Committee, 924 00:51:01,640 --> 00:51:03,800 but will the people serving on it 925 00:51:03,800 --> 00:51:07,120 still be living in the area a few weeks or a few months later? 926 00:51:07,120 --> 00:51:09,440 They might have gone back to the countryside 927 00:51:09,440 --> 00:51:11,200 or got a better place in Dhaka. 928 00:51:11,200 --> 00:51:15,120 So to adapt The Wash Programme to the urban areas 929 00:51:15,120 --> 00:51:17,720 is going to be a big challenge. 930 00:51:17,720 --> 00:51:21,720 When London faced these problems in the 1850s, 931 00:51:21,720 --> 00:51:24,200 the mains sewers were installed, 932 00:51:24,200 --> 00:51:26,440 but Bangladesh simply doesn't have the money 933 00:51:26,440 --> 00:51:28,800 for engineering works on that scale, 934 00:51:28,800 --> 00:51:31,880 and, even if they did, the amount of water required to run it 935 00:51:31,880 --> 00:51:34,160 would be completely unsustainable. 936 00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:37,600 It's a challenge that is drawing in the big guns. 937 00:51:40,040 --> 00:51:45,960 One major donor to the cause is the Bill And Melinda Gates Foundation. 938 00:51:45,960 --> 00:51:49,040 They are supporting sanitation programmes throughout the region. 939 00:51:49,040 --> 00:51:52,440 But, perhaps because of their background in the computer industry, 940 00:51:52,440 --> 00:51:55,080 they are also thinking about a far more radical solution 941 00:51:55,080 --> 00:51:58,040 to the sanitation problem the planet faces. 942 00:51:58,040 --> 00:52:00,480 They have set themselves the task 943 00:52:00,480 --> 00:52:05,640 of changing the way that everyone in the world goes to the toilet. 944 00:52:05,640 --> 00:52:08,760 I mean, the toilet is the greatest innovation 945 00:52:08,760 --> 00:52:11,320 that has saved more lives than any other. 946 00:52:11,320 --> 00:52:13,040 Come on, it was developed in 1775, 947 00:52:13,040 --> 00:52:16,400 I mean, we should have come up with something smarter than that. 948 00:52:16,400 --> 00:52:19,240 In fact, isn't it crazy that we use drinking water 949 00:52:19,240 --> 00:52:23,400 and then use it as a transport medium through very expensive pipes 950 00:52:23,400 --> 00:52:26,840 to a place where we spend a lot more energy to get the waste out. 951 00:52:26,840 --> 00:52:29,240 So we are saying - can't we have modern engineering, 952 00:52:29,240 --> 00:52:32,480 chemical engineering, biology, we don't really care, 953 00:52:32,480 --> 00:52:35,280 that comes up with a completely different solution that says, 954 00:52:35,280 --> 00:52:37,960 "Look, this is waste, but there's a lot of energy in it." 955 00:52:37,960 --> 00:52:40,560 Fertilisers, nutrients, can we recover them, 956 00:52:40,560 --> 00:52:42,960 use that to pay for the process 957 00:52:42,960 --> 00:52:46,880 and make it safe and pleasant to use? 958 00:52:46,880 --> 00:52:50,560 So that's why we say we want to develop the cellphone of sanitation. 959 00:52:50,560 --> 00:52:55,760 So we sat down with a few scientific advisers, visionary people, 960 00:52:55,760 --> 00:53:00,080 and we dreamt up the reinvented toilet. 961 00:53:00,080 --> 00:53:04,120 This little black box that would be independent of water, sewer and electricity, 962 00:53:04,120 --> 00:53:09,240 that would be pleasant to use, would turn your shit into energy, 963 00:53:09,240 --> 00:53:12,280 use the energy in that to power the system 964 00:53:12,280 --> 00:53:14,480 and we wrote that down as the specs and said, 965 00:53:14,480 --> 00:53:16,960 "Look, that's the toilet we want." 966 00:53:16,960 --> 00:53:19,880 And we sent that to 22 universities and said, "Can you make it?" 967 00:53:23,640 --> 00:53:27,040 So is such a revolutionary toilet possible? 968 00:53:27,040 --> 00:53:29,880 I'm at Delft University in Holland. 969 00:53:29,880 --> 00:53:32,920 'They've taken up the challenge of reinventing the toilet 970 00:53:32,920 --> 00:53:36,240 'and are working on a machine that will atomise excrement 971 00:53:36,240 --> 00:53:40,200 'and use the gases produced to create electricity.' 972 00:53:40,200 --> 00:53:42,640 So what do we have here? 973 00:53:42,640 --> 00:53:44,840 This doesn't look much like a toilet. 974 00:53:44,840 --> 00:53:48,200 No, that's correct, it's an industrial microwave. Right. 975 00:53:48,200 --> 00:53:50,640 Something we might have at home, 976 00:53:50,640 --> 00:53:52,080 with a door where you put your food in. 977 00:53:52,080 --> 00:53:54,440 OK. So what do you do with the microwaves? 978 00:53:54,440 --> 00:53:56,720 What we are going to do with the microwaves 979 00:53:56,720 --> 00:53:58,400 is basically generate plasma. 980 00:53:58,400 --> 00:54:01,240 Plasma is a really hot gas, ionized gas, 981 00:54:01,240 --> 00:54:03,920 that can destroy anything it reaches. 982 00:54:03,920 --> 00:54:07,400 With the plasma, we will gasify the faecal matter. 983 00:54:07,400 --> 00:54:09,560 If we obtain a really high-quality gas, 984 00:54:09,560 --> 00:54:12,600 we can obtain enough energy to make this work. 985 00:54:12,600 --> 00:54:16,440 So the microwaves pass through the faecal matter, 986 00:54:16,440 --> 00:54:21,320 that generates plasma, this ionised, extremely hot gas, 987 00:54:21,320 --> 00:54:24,160 and then you use that then to generate electricity 988 00:54:24,160 --> 00:54:27,480 and you use the electricity to power the microwave. 989 00:54:27,480 --> 00:54:31,720 Yeah, if the research works as we hope it does, yeah, we will. 990 00:54:31,720 --> 00:54:32,880 So just add shit. 991 00:54:32,880 --> 00:54:34,320 THEY LAUGH 992 00:54:34,320 --> 00:54:37,800 'The team have got some footage of their machine in action. 993 00:54:37,800 --> 00:54:42,040 'They hope that, in the future, rather than flush your faeces away, 994 00:54:42,040 --> 00:54:45,560 'it will generate a reaction like this within your toilet. 995 00:54:48,040 --> 00:54:51,280 'So there is a chance that, in the not too far distant future, 996 00:54:51,280 --> 00:54:53,840 'we'll all be pooing into a machine 997 00:54:53,840 --> 00:54:56,600 'that creates its own energy from organic waste, 998 00:54:56,600 --> 00:54:59,880 'just like the time travelling car in Back To The Future. 999 00:54:59,880 --> 00:55:03,400 'Who said toilets can't be fun?' 1000 00:55:03,400 --> 00:55:08,040 We are only satisfied when millions of people use these solutions. 1001 00:55:08,040 --> 00:55:13,120 We want to have a solution that can spread virally, go like wildfire. 1002 00:55:13,120 --> 00:55:15,400 So within three to five years, I think, 1003 00:55:15,400 --> 00:55:18,000 we should have toilets that people can use. 1004 00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:20,920 And five to ten years, we want to see millions of people use. 1005 00:55:20,920 --> 00:55:22,440 That's our goal, frankly. 1006 00:55:25,640 --> 00:55:29,320 'After 150 years, it seems that the flushing toilet 1007 00:55:29,320 --> 00:55:33,920 'is at last facing a serious threat to its dominance. 1008 00:55:33,920 --> 00:55:36,880 'Perhaps the future is a waterless box that creates energy 1009 00:55:36,880 --> 00:55:38,920 'every time you add poo. 1010 00:55:41,360 --> 00:55:43,080 'But until that future arrives, 1011 00:55:43,080 --> 00:55:46,400 'I've got one final toilet to go and see.' 1012 00:55:51,080 --> 00:55:52,560 When I started on my journey, 1013 00:55:52,560 --> 00:55:55,440 a friend said that I should visit an alternative community 1014 00:55:55,440 --> 00:55:59,840 out on the LLeyn Peninsula, near my home in North Wales. 1015 00:55:59,840 --> 00:56:01,480 Apparently, they have a solution 1016 00:56:01,480 --> 00:56:04,080 'to the age-old problem of dealing with waste 1017 00:56:04,080 --> 00:56:08,600 'that is safe, odour free and doesn't use any water.' 1018 00:56:08,600 --> 00:56:11,240 Hello, sut wyt ti? Ifor, welcome to Felin Uchaf Centre. 1019 00:56:11,240 --> 00:56:14,080 Thank you very much indeed. And welcome to our compost toilet. 1020 00:56:14,080 --> 00:56:17,360 Well, how does it work? Well, come on in and have a look. OK. 1021 00:56:19,760 --> 00:56:23,000 All right. It looks quite ordinary! 1022 00:56:23,000 --> 00:56:24,840 All the elements you'd expect to find 1023 00:56:24,840 --> 00:56:27,120 in a conventional public toilet are here. 1024 00:56:27,120 --> 00:56:30,920 We've got the seat, we've got the urinal and, basically, 1025 00:56:30,920 --> 00:56:33,560 what...how it works is that when you lift it, 1026 00:56:33,560 --> 00:56:36,960 you notice that it doesn't have the flush. Right. 1027 00:56:36,960 --> 00:56:41,680 It just has a hole down to the concrete chamber beneath us. 1028 00:56:41,680 --> 00:56:43,960 It doesn't smell, no. No. 1029 00:56:43,960 --> 00:56:47,280 No, because the microbial activities are already taking place there. Right. 1030 00:56:47,280 --> 00:56:50,000 So it's dry compost that's down there 1031 00:56:50,000 --> 00:56:53,480 and compost because it's sewage mixed 1032 00:56:53,480 --> 00:56:56,320 with a dry material like this sawdust here. 1033 00:56:56,320 --> 00:56:59,160 So that's you flushing away. So that's the flush. 1034 00:56:59,160 --> 00:57:02,800 So you'd add a handful of that every time you used it. OK. 1035 00:57:02,800 --> 00:57:06,880 That sort of soaks up any of the moisture and helps the composting, 1036 00:57:06,880 --> 00:57:11,040 And it's ripe for taking up and taking onto the garden. 1037 00:57:11,040 --> 00:57:14,600 Well-rotted, it should be by now, we'll find out, shall we? 1038 00:57:14,600 --> 00:57:17,640 Come on then. Right. Let's get the spade. 1039 00:57:17,640 --> 00:57:20,360 'My journey has taken me all round the world 1040 00:57:20,360 --> 00:57:22,560 'in search of the perfect toilet 1041 00:57:22,560 --> 00:57:24,920 'and helped me understand 1042 00:57:24,920 --> 00:57:29,040 'that the way we deal with our excrement shapes who we are. 1043 00:57:29,040 --> 00:57:31,080 'But, after travelling all that way, 1044 00:57:31,080 --> 00:57:33,280 'I'm back where I started - 1045 00:57:33,280 --> 00:57:37,960 'in rural Wales sprinkling a handful of dust on my business. 1046 00:57:37,960 --> 00:57:41,840 'It seems my uncle and aunt were on to something all along. 1047 00:57:41,840 --> 00:57:43,800 'This really doesn't smell 1048 00:57:43,800 --> 00:57:45,480 'and there are no flies! 1049 00:57:47,600 --> 00:57:50,720 'I'm very glad I don't have to use a hanging toilet 1050 00:57:50,720 --> 00:57:53,640 'in the slums of Dhaka. 1051 00:57:53,640 --> 00:57:56,040 'I'd love to have a Japanese toilet with heated seat 1052 00:57:56,040 --> 00:57:59,240 'and built-in cleaning system. 1053 00:58:01,480 --> 00:58:04,160 'And I look forward to the day 1054 00:58:04,160 --> 00:58:07,360 'my loo creates instant energy for my home. 1055 00:58:09,600 --> 00:58:12,480 'But, until then, I quite like the honesty 1056 00:58:12,480 --> 00:58:15,320 'of taking a barrow load of well-rotted shit 1057 00:58:15,320 --> 00:58:17,440 'to spread around the base of a tree, 1058 00:58:17,440 --> 00:58:22,000 'completing that age-old cycle of dung to life.' 1059 00:58:50,040 --> 00:58:53,240 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd