1 00:00:02,057 --> 00:00:04,962 We've all seen the pictures and read the stories in the history books 2 00:00:04,987 --> 00:00:08,473 about the kings and queens with their power and privilege 3 00:00:08,498 --> 00:00:10,683 and silks and furs. 4 00:00:10,708 --> 00:00:13,353 DRAMATIC ORCHESTRAL MUSIC / MUSIC BREAKS OFF IN NEEDLE-SCRATCH 5 00:00:13,378 --> 00:00:16,993 But in this series, I want to discover the other side of history... 6 00:00:17,018 --> 00:00:19,042 I'm already quite nervy. 7 00:00:19,067 --> 00:00:22,373 ...the side we don't often hear about, 8 00:00:22,398 --> 00:00:25,533 how ordinary British people lived their lives... 9 00:00:25,558 --> 00:00:28,293 EXPLOSION / BOING-BOING SOUND EFFECT "from the Tudors... 10 00:00:28,318 --> 00:00:31,843 You'll see why it did attract my attention. 11 00:00:31,868 --> 00:00:33,203 Disgusting! 12 00:00:33,228 --> 00:00:36,373 ...to the Victorians. Throw a stone in Victorian London, 13 00:00:36,398 --> 00:00:39,173 you will hit a drunken cabman, there's that many of them. 14 00:00:39,198 --> 00:00:41,323 We are not amused! EXPLOSION 15 00:00:42,398 --> 00:00:44,552 From the Georgians... 16 00:00:44,577 --> 00:00:47,393 Oh, my God. It's horrible just seeing you do that. 17 00:00:47,418 --> 00:00:50,113 MAN SCREAMING MOTORBIKES REV 18 00:00:50,138 --> 00:00:52,472 ...to the people who really fought the Second World War. 19 00:00:53,527 --> 00:00:57,921 James could hear the ping of bullets and the clatter of shrapnel. 20 00:00:58,977 --> 00:01:03,402 One thing's for sure. These people knew the meaning of the word "tough". 21 00:01:03,427 --> 00:01:05,962 WOMAN SCREAMS 'I'll be finding the truth 22 00:01:05,987 --> 00:01:09,332 'about their daily lives - what they ate'... 23 00:01:09,357 --> 00:01:12,761 How long would that have lasted? Up to three years. 24 00:01:12,786 --> 00:01:15,532 Agh! ..'how they made a living'... 25 00:01:15,557 --> 00:01:18,891 There's even value in a rat, when it's dead. 26 00:01:18,916 --> 00:01:21,412 ...'and those vital necessities of life.' 27 00:01:21,437 --> 00:01:25,942 What did you do if you wanted a pee? Go in the bucket. The bucket?! 28 00:01:25,967 --> 00:01:28,992 This is British history from the bottom up. 29 00:01:29,017 --> 00:01:32,312 You gotta admit, I am terrifying. MAN GUFFAWING 30 00:01:32,337 --> 00:01:35,752 WHISTLING / CRASHING SOUND EFFECT BIRDSONG 31 00:01:37,427 --> 00:01:40,771 This time I'm heading back to the Victorian age... 32 00:01:41,467 --> 00:01:46,382 PENGUINS-CHITTERING SOUND EFFECT 33 00:01:41,756 --> 00:01:49,756 ...when Britain ruled the world... 34 00:01:46,407 --> 00:01:49,792 They were also...lovely whiskers. 35 00:01:51,897 --> 00:01:55,161 Now, while you might be thinking that Victorian Britain 36 00:01:55,186 --> 00:01:58,752 was made by a bunch of mustachioed men like him... 37 00:01:58,777 --> 00:02:01,462 the truth was very different. 38 00:02:03,777 --> 00:02:08,642 Because the unsung heroes who really put the great into Great Britain 39 00:02:08,667 --> 00:02:11,031 were just the ordinary folk 40 00:02:11,056 --> 00:02:13,361 who had to cope with the most dramatic changes 41 00:02:13,386 --> 00:02:14,432 the world has ever seen. 42 00:02:16,327 --> 00:02:20,622 While Queen Victoria was busy gazing down from her throne, 43 00:02:20,647 --> 00:02:23,622 her loyal subjects were hard at work 44 00:02:23,647 --> 00:02:26,672 in factories up and down the land, 45 00:02:26,697 --> 00:02:29,682 churning out everything from steam engines 46 00:02:29,707 --> 00:02:32,441 to natty clothes and cutlery. 47 00:02:32,466 --> 00:02:34,162 SPOONS CLATTER 48 00:02:34,187 --> 00:02:36,912 But life on the factory floor was cheap. 49 00:02:36,937 --> 00:02:40,441 A combination of lethal machinery and long hours 50 00:02:40,466 --> 00:02:42,882 meant that gruesome accidents... Agh! 51 00:02:42,907 --> 00:02:46,702 ...even death, were never very far away. 52 00:02:46,727 --> 00:02:50,752 And right up there in the list of most-lethaljobs in Victorian Britain 53 00:02:50,777 --> 00:02:52,962 was the match girl... 54 00:02:52,987 --> 00:02:56,272 like Sarah Chapman here, still called a girl 55 00:02:56,297 --> 00:02:59,762 when this picture was taken, when she was almost 30. 56 00:02:59,787 --> 00:03:02,832 In the late 1800s, if you went down the Mile End Road, 57 00:03:02,857 --> 00:03:06,832 turned left at a pub called the Swan and down a little alleyway, 58 00:03:06,857 --> 00:03:08,911 you'd come to Sarah Chapman's house. 59 00:03:08,936 --> 00:03:11,781 She lived in a court just like this one, 60 00:03:11,806 --> 00:03:15,991 in a house with her father, Samuel, her mother, Sarah Ann, 61 00:03:16,016 --> 00:03:18,402 and her six brothers and sisters. 62 00:03:18,427 --> 00:03:20,602 One of seven kids, 63 00:03:20,627 --> 00:03:23,582 Sarah was a feisty young 'un with a sharp brain. 64 00:03:24,657 --> 00:03:29,051 We know that, at school, she learned how to read and write. 65 00:03:29,076 --> 00:03:32,842 But this, remember, was Victorian Britain, 66 00:03:32,867 --> 00:03:36,272 where, at the age of 13, working-class kids like Sarah 67 00:03:36,297 --> 00:03:40,082 had to put aside such fripperies as education 68 00:03:40,107 --> 00:03:42,362 and get themselves a job. 69 00:03:43,427 --> 00:03:45,962 And for Sarah, that meant starting work 70 00:03:45,987 --> 00:03:48,612 in the same factory as her mum and sister. 71 00:03:48,637 --> 00:03:50,921 This is where Sarah worked... 72 00:03:50,946 --> 00:03:53,142 the Bryant & May match factory. 73 00:03:53,167 --> 00:03:56,582 Back in those clays, it would have been frenetic around here, 74 00:03:56,607 --> 00:03:59,432 with over a thousand women and girls working here 75 00:03:59,457 --> 00:04:01,682 six clays a week, every week. 76 00:04:04,107 --> 00:04:07,192 You see, there was nothing the Victorians loved more 77 00:04:07,217 --> 00:04:09,482 than setting fire to things... 78 00:04:09,507 --> 00:04:12,422 lamps, logs, 79 00:04:12,447 --> 00:04:16,682 more lamps, and, of course, tobacco. 80 00:04:16,707 --> 00:04:20,612 Which meant that the humble match was an invaluable item. 81 00:04:20,637 --> 00:04:24,372 This is an old Bryant & May match box, 82 00:04:24,397 --> 00:04:28,302 and the thing about this match was that it would strike anywhere... 83 00:04:28,327 --> 00:04:30,791 8S YOU can SEE. 84 00:04:30,816 --> 00:04:32,911 Yeah. Very effective. 85 00:04:33,896 --> 00:04:36,482 'So effective that, by 1860, 86 00:04:36,507 --> 00:04:40,121 'Bryant & May were churning out 75,000 boxes of the things 87 00:04:40,146 --> 00:04:42,842 'every day.' 88 00:04:42,867 --> 00:04:45,041 To keep up with demand, 89 00:04:45,066 --> 00:04:49,592 match girls like Sarah were expected to work 14-hour shifts, 90 00:04:49,617 --> 00:04:52,072 virtually all of it on their feet. 91 00:04:52,097 --> 00:04:54,562 Can you imagine?! 92 00:04:54,587 --> 00:04:56,842 Luckily she was promoted, 93 00:04:56,867 --> 00:05:00,712 and by 19, Sarah was working as a machinist, 94 00:05:00,737 --> 00:05:04,121 the person who cut the matchsticks down to size. 95 00:05:04,146 --> 00:05:05,632 Argh! 96 00:05:05,657 --> 00:05:09,682 'If Sarah ever got sick, that was just tough luck.' 97 00:05:09,707 --> 00:05:13,692 The factory was perfectly entitled to discard her like a... 98 00:05:13,717 --> 00:05:16,021 well, like a spent match! 99 00:05:16,046 --> 00:05:17,662 WOMAN SOBBING 100 00:05:18,727 --> 00:05:21,932 For all that, she earned a meagre wage of five shillings a week, 101 00:05:21,957 --> 00:05:25,382 which is about £16 a week in today's money. 102 00:05:25,407 --> 00:05:28,572 But even that could be severely reduced 103 00:05:28,597 --> 00:05:31,991 by harsh fines on things like sitting down, 104 00:05:32,016 --> 00:05:34,712 being untidy, dropping a match, 105 00:05:34,737 --> 00:05:38,052 or even just going to the toilet without permission. 106 00:05:42,407 --> 00:05:45,791 Nor was there much let-up when Sarah finally got home. 107 00:05:47,257 --> 00:05:50,871 'Sam Johnson is Sarah's great-great granddaughter, 108 00:05:50,896 --> 00:05:54,232 'and she's here to tell me a bit more about her home life.' 109 00:05:54,257 --> 00:05:56,801 There were seven children in the family. 110 00:05:56,826 --> 00:05:59,212 Which is why there's so many beds here. Exactly, yes. 111 00:05:59,237 --> 00:06:02,881 Yes, and they would've all been cramped into a tiny room like this, 112 00:06:02,906 --> 00:06:06,162 so maybe that's what created her feisty personality. 113 00:06:06,187 --> 00:06:08,871 I bet she was the boss in the bedroom when she was a kid! 114 00:06:08,896 --> 00:06:11,632 Absolutely, yeah. Chuck the boys on the floor, and... 115 00:06:11,657 --> 00:06:14,041 Get the good sleep. ..girls get the beds. Yeah. 116 00:06:14,066 --> 00:06:16,232 'As for her one day off, 117 00:06:16,257 --> 00:06:19,871 'well, after a quick breakfast of bread and dripping, 118 00:06:19,896 --> 00:06:22,712 'it would be out with the broom and on with the housework.' 119 00:06:22,737 --> 00:06:24,432 HE COUGHS / GRUNTS 120 00:06:24,457 --> 00:06:26,482 The girls, as soon as they were old enough, 121 00:06:26,507 --> 00:06:28,791 would have pulled their weight with the housework, 122 00:06:28,816 --> 00:06:30,842 so they would do all the washing of the clothes, 123 00:06:30,867 --> 00:06:34,842 and cleaning the house and getting the baking done ready for the week. 124 00:06:34,867 --> 00:06:38,871 Only then would Sarah finally have been able to put her feet up 125 00:06:38,896 --> 00:06:41,442 with a nice cup of tea 126 00:06:41,467 --> 00:06:44,312 and perhaps a puff on a pipe. 127 00:06:44,337 --> 00:06:47,131 MUSIC REMINISCENT OF "HAMLET CIGARS" ADVERT 128 00:06:47,156 --> 00:06:49,202 The next morning... 129 00:06:49,227 --> 00:06:52,362 ROOSTER CROWS SHE GASPS 130 00:06:52,387 --> 00:06:54,442 And it would be up with the lark 131 00:06:54,467 --> 00:06:57,162 for the start of another shift at the factory. 132 00:06:58,227 --> 00:07:00,952 'But Sarah's life wasn't just exhausting. 133 00:07:00,977 --> 00:07:03,801 'It was also blooming dangerous.' 134 00:07:03,826 --> 00:07:06,492 MATCH STRIKING / "PSYCHO"-STYLE STABBING VIOLINS 135 00:07:06,517 --> 00:07:09,921 You see, unlike today's safety matches, 136 00:07:09,946 --> 00:07:15,458 matchsticks back then were dipped in a chemical called white phosphorus. 137 00:07:15,483 --> 00:07:18,851 It was this that made the matches catch fire. 138 00:07:19,926 --> 00:07:24,142 But phosphorus comes with some horrible side effects, 139 00:07:24,167 --> 00:07:28,342 and there was one that Sarah dreaded above all others. 140 00:07:28,367 --> 00:07:30,742 Girls who'd worked here for some time 141 00:07:30,767 --> 00:07:34,901 could get a condition which they called "phossy jaw". 142 00:07:35,957 --> 00:07:38,142 It was a terrible disease 143 00:07:38,167 --> 00:07:41,851 that caused the bones around the mouth to slowly rot away 144 00:07:41,876 --> 00:07:44,332 and emit a foul-smelling pus. 145 00:07:45,357 --> 00:07:46,932 SQUELCHING 146 00:07:46,957 --> 00:07:49,012 As the infection spread, 147 00:07:49,037 --> 00:07:52,781 it would lead to horrendous disfigurement, organ failure, 148 00:07:52,806 --> 00:07:54,851 and eventually death. 149 00:07:54,876 --> 00:07:58,582 Luckily Sarah escaped this grisly fate, 150 00:07:58,607 --> 00:08:03,352 but many of her co-workers, around one in ten of them, didn't. 151 00:08:03,377 --> 00:08:05,552 Not that the factory owners seemed to care. 152 00:08:05,577 --> 00:08:07,422 MAN CACKLING 153 00:08:07,447 --> 00:08:10,822 Even Sarah's lunch hour was full of danger. 154 00:08:10,847 --> 00:08:14,832 The women and girls were forced to eat their lunch on the factory floor, 155 00:08:14,857 --> 00:08:18,192 where phosphorous particles could easily get into their food. 156 00:08:18,217 --> 00:08:20,651 There was no other space available, 157 00:08:20,676 --> 00:08:23,861 and they weren't allowed to eat outside. 158 00:08:23,886 --> 00:08:26,012 Health and safety?! Agh! 159 00:08:27,097 --> 00:08:30,272 So bad were conditions in the Bryant & May factory 160 00:08:30,297 --> 00:08:33,142 that, on the 6th ofjuly, 1888, 161 00:08:33,167 --> 00:08:36,632 Sarah and her fellow workers downed matchsticks 162 00:08:36,657 --> 00:08:39,012 and went on strike. 163 00:08:40,097 --> 00:08:43,372 By the end ofjuly, Bryant & May had caved in. 164 00:08:43,397 --> 00:08:47,602 The whole thing had been a complete PR disaster for them, 165 00:08:47,627 --> 00:08:49,812 and they agreed all the women's demands. 166 00:08:49,837 --> 00:08:52,992 You can imagine Sarah and her friends racing out of here, 167 00:08:53,017 --> 00:08:55,192 absolutely over the moon. 168 00:08:56,497 --> 00:09:01,961 Coming up, the scandal of the female miners who hauled coal. 169 00:09:01,986 --> 00:09:05,452 But it wasn't the backbreaking conditions that shocked everyone. 170 00:09:05,477 --> 00:09:08,641 It was, believe it or not, the nudity. 171 00:09:08,666 --> 00:09:11,402 And how a Victorian navvy risked his life 172 00:09:11,427 --> 00:09:14,641 to blast a tunnel through the Scottish mountains... 173 00:09:14,666 --> 00:09:17,602 which was, of course, very, very dangerous. 174 00:09:17,627 --> 00:09:19,612 BIRDSONG 175 00:09:22,606 --> 00:09:26,682 On the back of the hard graft of ordinary Victorians, 176 00:09:26,707 --> 00:09:31,112 the UK became the richest and most powerful nation on Earth. 177 00:09:31,137 --> 00:09:33,322 "LAND OF HOPE AND GLORY" PLAYING MEN CHEERING 178 00:09:33,347 --> 00:09:35,862 With all that money rolling in, the Victorians did 179 00:09:35,887 --> 00:09:38,142 what great empires have always done. 180 00:09:38,167 --> 00:09:40,402 They built things! 181 00:09:40,427 --> 00:09:42,542 EXPLOSION 182 00:09:42,567 --> 00:09:44,701 Huge engineering projects, 183 00:09:44,726 --> 00:09:48,222 like railways, bridges and tunnels, 184 00:09:48,247 --> 00:09:51,031 many of them still in use today. 185 00:09:51,056 --> 00:09:53,041 HISSING 186 00:09:55,257 --> 00:09:59,682 Building these monster projects was the job of the navvies, 187 00:09:59,707 --> 00:10:04,872 big, strapping blokes like Angus lnnes from Glasgow. 188 00:10:04,897 --> 00:10:07,581 Now, we don't exactly know what Angus looked like, 189 00:10:07,606 --> 00:10:09,791 but we can take a guess, 190 00:10:09,816 --> 00:10:12,682 because Scottish navvies liked nothing more than dressing up 191 00:10:12,707 --> 00:10:16,432 in their spare time, just like Teddy boys, 192 00:10:16,457 --> 00:10:18,862 mods and Peaky Blinders 193 00:10:18,887 --> 00:10:21,402 to let people know who they were. 194 00:10:21,427 --> 00:10:24,272 They sported moleskin jackets, 195 00:10:24,297 --> 00:10:27,542 scarlet waistcoats and bright-blue caps. 196 00:10:28,967 --> 00:10:32,392 This is the kind of place where Angus would've lived. 197 00:10:32,417 --> 00:10:35,031 He would've rented a room or part of a room, 198 00:10:35,056 --> 00:10:37,911 or even part of a bed, in a boarding house. 199 00:10:37,936 --> 00:10:40,222 It would all have been pretty grim. 200 00:10:41,287 --> 00:10:45,272 Most of Angus's time, though, was spent building things... 201 00:10:45,297 --> 00:10:48,192 like Glasgow's new sewage system. 202 00:10:49,846 --> 00:10:54,422 You see, Victorian Glasgow was dirtier than a badger's bottom. 203 00:10:54,447 --> 00:10:56,362 MAN COUGHING 204 00:10:56,387 --> 00:10:58,872 Its slums were so bad, 205 00:10:58,897 --> 00:11:02,152 they were almost as disgusting as London's. 206 00:11:02,177 --> 00:11:04,352 'Coming home at night from the pub, 207 00:11:04,377 --> 00:11:07,791 'Angus would've constantly had to watch his step 208 00:11:07,816 --> 00:11:10,472 'for fear of treading in something unmentionable.' 209 00:11:10,497 --> 00:11:12,562 SQUELCH! 210 00:11:12,587 --> 00:11:15,512 In this kind of environment, disease was rife. 211 00:11:15,537 --> 00:11:19,942 A system of tunnels was needed to get all the sewage out of the city, 212 00:11:19,967 --> 00:11:24,302 and it was navvies like Angus who were called on to do the work. 213 00:11:25,777 --> 00:11:30,392 After a typical navvy's breakfast of six slices of bacon, 214 00:11:30,417 --> 00:11:33,432 a loaf of bread, one can of condensed milk 215 00:11:33,457 --> 00:11:35,672 and two pints of beer, 216 00:11:35,697 --> 00:11:39,232 Angus's 12-hour shift would begin 217 00:11:39,257 --> 00:11:41,872 the moment his foreman gave the order. 218 00:11:41,897 --> 00:11:43,911 HE BLOWS WHISTLE 219 00:11:43,936 --> 00:11:48,352 His job was to dig the huge trenches that held the new sewage pipes. 220 00:11:49,377 --> 00:11:51,432 Using muscle-power alone, 221 00:11:51,457 --> 00:11:56,992 Angus was expected to shift a hernia- inducing 20 tons of earth a day. 222 00:11:57,017 --> 00:11:58,591 HE SIGHS 223 00:11:58,616 --> 00:12:01,992 The more muck he moved, the more he was paid. 224 00:12:02,017 --> 00:12:03,552 Oh! 225 00:12:03,577 --> 00:12:06,152 On average that was about 25 pence a day, 226 00:12:06,177 --> 00:12:08,711 the equivalent of about eight quid. 227 00:12:08,736 --> 00:12:12,072 But most of that he would have spent on beer, 228 00:12:12,097 --> 00:12:15,422 a mind-boggling gallon a day of the stuff. 229 00:12:16,447 --> 00:12:18,581 Oh! Cheers. 230 00:12:19,657 --> 00:12:22,632 This massive sewage pipe is an impressive example 231 00:12:22,657 --> 00:12:26,841 of the kind of work that navvies were doing here in Glasgow 232 00:12:26,866 --> 00:12:28,911 in the 19th century. 233 00:12:28,936 --> 00:12:32,002 But to get a more vivid picture of Angus's life, 234 00:12:32,027 --> 00:12:36,711 I'm gonna travel 30 miles north of here into the Highlands. 235 00:12:40,427 --> 00:12:43,562 'From census records, we know that, by the late 1850s, 236 00:12:43,587 --> 00:12:46,762 'Angus had upped sticks and moved here, 237 00:12:46,787 --> 00:12:50,432 'to the bonny banks of Loch Katrine, 238 00:12:50,457 --> 00:12:52,671 'where he was helping to build a tunnel 239 00:12:52,696 --> 00:12:55,502 'to carry clean drinking water into Glasgow.' 240 00:12:57,377 --> 00:13:00,862 This is the water tunnel, which ran for 30 miles 241 00:13:00,887 --> 00:13:03,632 straight into the centre of Glasgow. 242 00:13:03,657 --> 00:13:07,591 'The census also tells us that Angus was now married, 243 00:13:07,616 --> 00:13:10,642 'and that his wife, Helen, and their young family 244 00:13:10,667 --> 00:13:12,671 'were living here too'... THUNDER RUMBLES 245 00:13:12,696 --> 00:13:15,122 ...'no doubt enjoying the peaceful countryside 246 00:13:15,147 --> 00:13:18,671 'along with hundreds of other navvies, 247 00:13:18,696 --> 00:13:20,821 'and a bunch of angry locals.' INSECTS BUZZ 248 00:13:20,846 --> 00:13:22,696 Midges! 249 00:13:22,721 --> 00:13:25,905 'By now, Angus was moving up in the world, 250 00:13:25,930 --> 00:13:29,866 'and had swapped his shovel for a much more important job... 251 00:13:30,940 --> 00:13:33,300 ...'using explosives'... EXPLOSION 252 00:13:33,325 --> 00:13:36,270 ...'to blast a tunnel through the mountains.' 253 00:13:36,295 --> 00:13:37,899 EXPLOSION 254 00:13:37,924 --> 00:13:40,110 Which was, of course, very, very dangerous. 255 00:13:40,135 --> 00:13:41,750 EXPLOSION 256 00:13:41,775 --> 00:13:45,750 In fact, the accident and death rate for navvies was higher 257 00:13:45,775 --> 00:13:48,140 than for any other group of workers in the country, 258 00:13:48,165 --> 00:13:50,870 and that included coalminers and soldiers. 259 00:13:50,895 --> 00:13:54,760 No wonder Angus liked a tipple! BUZZ OF CONVERSATION 260 00:13:54,785 --> 00:13:56,829 At the end of the day, 261 00:13:56,854 --> 00:13:59,940 exhausted from blowing up the Scottish countryside... 262 00:14:01,015 --> 00:14:03,300 ...Angus would have rejoined Helen and the kids 263 00:14:03,325 --> 00:14:06,550 at the temporary camp beside the loch. 264 00:14:06,575 --> 00:14:09,550 'Here to tell me more about life inside the camp 265 00:14:09,575 --> 00:14:12,750 is local historian, Sion Barrington. 266 00:14:13,804 --> 00:14:18,220 It was a well organised community. There'd be the cooking squad, 267 00:14:18,245 --> 00:14:20,699 so there'd be no problem getting beef and lamb and pigs, 268 00:14:20,724 --> 00:14:25,060 and oatmeal... Porridge! There'd be porridge morning, noon and night. 269 00:14:25,085 --> 00:14:29,649 It's astonishing! I would've assumed that a navvy working here 270 00:14:29,674 --> 00:14:31,740 would've been three-quarters starved 271 00:14:31,765 --> 00:14:34,500 and having the most miserable time possible, 272 00:14:34,525 --> 00:14:37,909 but actually, what you're describing is something... Yeah, it's rigorous. 273 00:14:37,934 --> 00:14:40,110 Yes. But at least your belly's full. 274 00:14:40,135 --> 00:14:43,709 Were the women able to work? Oh, the women would be fully employed. 275 00:14:43,734 --> 00:14:46,070 There would be laundry that would need to be done. 276 00:14:46,095 --> 00:14:49,220 So, lots of meat by day, booze by night, 277 00:14:49,245 --> 00:14:52,470 and clean pants! And... Absolutely! SION LAUGHS 278 00:14:53,572 --> 00:14:56,809 After four years of muck, sweat and beer, 279 00:14:56,834 --> 00:15:01,170 Angus's time at Loch Katrine finally came to an end. 280 00:15:01,195 --> 00:15:03,240 And in 1859, 281 00:15:03,265 --> 00:15:05,639 the new water channel he'd helped to build 282 00:15:05,664 --> 00:15:10,000 was opened by none other than Queen Victoria. 283 00:15:10,025 --> 00:15:14,759 I name this pipeline the Katrine Aqueduct. 284 00:15:14,784 --> 00:15:18,120 Navvies like Angus were a special breed. 285 00:15:19,195 --> 00:15:24,050 They were itinerant, rootless, often very isolated. 286 00:15:24,075 --> 00:15:26,360 It was, like, you had the working class there, 287 00:15:26,385 --> 00:15:29,100 and somewhere down here were the navvies, 288 00:15:29,125 --> 00:15:31,559 at the very bottom of the pecking order. 289 00:15:31,584 --> 00:15:35,260 And yet it was people like Angus and his like 290 00:15:35,285 --> 00:15:37,809 who built modern Britain with their bare hands, 291 00:15:37,834 --> 00:15:40,769 and their legacy is still with us today. 292 00:15:48,545 --> 00:15:52,990 The Industrial Revolution really took off under the Victorians. 293 00:15:53,015 --> 00:15:56,759 But none of their fancy steam engines, 294 00:15:56,784 --> 00:15:59,639 cotton mills or water pumps 295 00:15:59,664 --> 00:16:02,930 would've been any use without coal. 296 00:16:04,584 --> 00:16:07,410 Coal powered the Victorian age, 297 00:16:07,435 --> 00:16:09,920 and the mining industry was huge. 298 00:16:11,005 --> 00:16:15,769 In 1841, nearly 220,000 people worked in the mines. 299 00:16:15,794 --> 00:16:18,050 Most of them were men, 300 00:16:18,075 --> 00:16:21,260 but round about 5,000 of them were either women 301 00:16:21,285 --> 00:16:23,769 or children as young as five. 302 00:16:25,995 --> 00:16:29,610 Among these women was one Betty Harris. 303 00:16:29,635 --> 00:16:32,200 We don't have any actual photos of her, 304 00:16:32,225 --> 00:16:34,769 but she might've looked a bit like this young lass, 305 00:16:34,794 --> 00:16:38,920 holding what seems to be a giant tambourine. 306 00:16:42,385 --> 00:16:45,970 Betty and her husband lived in a small rented cottage 307 00:16:45,995 --> 00:16:49,689 not far from Knowles' Pit in Bolton... 308 00:16:50,745 --> 00:16:52,840 ...a place much like this. 309 00:16:53,865 --> 00:16:57,130 It was all very cosy. The fire was going all the time, of course. 310 00:16:57,155 --> 00:16:59,649 Well, fuel was everywhere, wasn't it? 311 00:16:59,674 --> 00:17:02,899 And here's a clue. Tiny little seat, 312 00:17:02,924 --> 00:17:04,980 tiny little potty. 313 00:17:05,005 --> 00:17:07,290 They had two children, and when they were at work, 314 00:17:07,315 --> 00:17:09,420 Betty's cousin looked after them. 315 00:17:13,745 --> 00:17:15,889 In order to keep Betty's household going, 316 00:17:15,914 --> 00:17:18,070 her cousin did all the housework. 317 00:17:18,095 --> 00:17:21,000 She cleaned the house. She went shopping every day, 318 00:17:21,025 --> 00:17:23,200 cos fridges hadn't been invented yet. 319 00:17:23,225 --> 00:17:26,620 She cleaned the courtyard. She did all the washing. 320 00:17:26,645 --> 00:17:29,569 Imagine how difficult it would have been, keeping things clean 321 00:17:29,594 --> 00:17:32,370 with all that smoke and dust about. 322 00:17:32,395 --> 00:17:36,260 RHYTHMIC SPLASHING I don't envy her! 323 00:17:36,285 --> 00:17:40,810 But if running a Victorian household wasn't exactly a barrel of laughs... 324 00:17:40,835 --> 00:17:42,420 BABY CRYING 325 00:17:42,445 --> 00:17:44,730 ...working down the mine was just horrendous. 326 00:17:44,755 --> 00:17:47,368 "HOVIS ADVERT" MUSIC / MUSIC BREAKS OFF IN NEEDLE-SCRATCH 327 00:17:47,393 --> 00:17:50,808 Six clays a week, dressed in trousers and jacket, 328 00:17:50,833 --> 00:17:53,538 our Betty would leave the house at dawn 329 00:17:53,563 --> 00:17:55,838 and head down t'pit, 330 00:17:55,863 --> 00:18:00,068 where she could spend the next 14 hours on her hands and knees 331 00:18:00,093 --> 00:18:02,908 like a beast of burden, hauling coal. 332 00:18:03,983 --> 00:18:06,398 It's hard to imagine anything more grim. 333 00:18:06,423 --> 00:18:08,647 CRASHING SOUND EFFECTS 334 00:18:09,712 --> 00:18:12,777 To learn more about Betty's life underground, 335 00:18:12,802 --> 00:18:15,978 I've come to Caphouse Colliery near Wakefield. 336 00:18:17,313 --> 00:18:19,798 If you'd like to follow me, please, through these doors... Yep. 337 00:18:19,823 --> 00:18:22,557 'I've been joined by Denise Bates, 338 00:18:22,582 --> 00:18:25,248 'whose great-great- great-great grandmother 339 00:18:25,273 --> 00:18:28,488 'was a Victorian mining lass like Betty.' 340 00:18:28,513 --> 00:18:32,970 Can you imagine just shlepping up and down here every single clay? 341 00:18:32,995 --> 00:18:35,489 I think we sometimes don't realise we're born. 342 00:18:35,514 --> 00:18:37,580 No, we don't, do we? 343 00:18:37,605 --> 00:18:40,900 'Just like Betty, we're going to have to crawl on our hands and knees 344 00:18:40,925 --> 00:18:43,300 'to get to the coal face.' Whoa! 345 00:18:43,325 --> 00:18:46,949 Oh! it...really hurts your hands! 346 00:18:48,005 --> 00:18:51,739 Like most of the women and children who worked in the mines, 347 00:18:51,764 --> 00:18:55,340 Betty's job was to drag the big, heavy carts 348 00:18:55,365 --> 00:18:58,130 used to carry the coal. 349 00:18:58,155 --> 00:19:01,890 So, this is the conditions that Betty would've been working in, right? 350 00:19:01,915 --> 00:19:07,689 Oh, definitely. She reported that she was working in a very nasty pit. 351 00:19:07,714 --> 00:19:11,929 Oh! I can't imagine what it must've been like 352 00:19:11,954 --> 00:19:14,739 if these were your...working conditions for... 353 00:19:14,764 --> 00:19:17,050 how many hours a day, do you reckon? 354 00:19:17,075 --> 00:19:19,890 14 hours, depending on demand. Blimey! 355 00:19:19,915 --> 00:19:22,250 Would you get up to the surface at lunchtime? 356 00:19:22,275 --> 00:19:24,450 Not a chance. Oh! HE CHUCKLES 357 00:19:24,475 --> 00:19:27,530 'More likely to have been a hunk of bread and cheese on the go.' 358 00:19:27,555 --> 00:19:30,569 Is this the coal face here? Yeah. Looks like it, doesn't it? 359 00:19:30,594 --> 00:19:33,020 Yeah. Yeah. HE GRUNTS 360 00:19:33,045 --> 00:19:35,180 I don't think I should've touched that! 361 00:19:35,205 --> 00:19:37,850 HE CHUCKLES / SIGHS 362 00:19:37,875 --> 00:19:40,260 So, tell me about Betty. 363 00:19:40,285 --> 00:19:42,330 She was working for her husband, 364 00:19:42,355 --> 00:19:45,300 which was the practice of females who mined in Lancashire. 365 00:19:45,325 --> 00:19:48,100 What do you think their relationship would've been like? 366 00:19:48,125 --> 00:19:51,450 Betty mentions that there's an awful lot of domestic violence going on, 367 00:19:51,475 --> 00:19:54,689 that there were very many women who were being beaten by the man 368 00:19:54,714 --> 00:19:57,420 that they worked for, for no other reason than their inability 369 00:19:57,445 --> 00:20:00,770 to move those trucks as fast as the men wanted. 370 00:20:00,795 --> 00:20:02,770 CREAKING What with the heat, 371 00:20:02,795 --> 00:20:04,970 the dust and the regular beatings, 372 00:20:04,995 --> 00:20:08,479 life for Betty was about as tough as it gets. 373 00:20:09,514 --> 00:20:11,559 When Betty got home from work, 374 00:20:11,584 --> 00:20:14,210 usually around 6:30 or 7:00 in the evening, 375 00:20:14,235 --> 00:20:17,666 she would've been absolutely exhausted. 376 00:20:17,691 --> 00:20:20,241 She'd have been filthy, sweating... 377 00:20:20,266 --> 00:20:23,261 but she would've been far too tired to have a wash 378 00:20:23,286 --> 00:20:25,361 before she went to bed. 379 00:20:25,386 --> 00:20:28,540 One thing she'd definitely have done, though, is have a decent meal. 380 00:20:28,565 --> 00:20:31,790 She'd have needed the calories. Apart from rent, 381 00:20:31,815 --> 00:20:35,031 virtually all her money went on food. 382 00:20:35,056 --> 00:20:38,961 'Victorian delicacies such as tripe, 383 00:20:38,986 --> 00:20:41,751 'trotters, or budget lamb cuts 384 00:20:41,776 --> 00:20:44,751 'from sheep that had dropped down dead from disease.' 385 00:20:44,776 --> 00:20:47,041 CRUNCHING SOUND EFFECTS 386 00:20:47,066 --> 00:20:49,521 Come Sunday, her one and only day off, 387 00:20:49,546 --> 00:20:52,810 Betty was then expected to catch up on chores 388 00:20:52,835 --> 00:20:56,670 like darning socks and knitting stockings, 389 00:20:56,695 --> 00:20:58,751 while hubby put his feet up 390 00:20:58,776 --> 00:21:01,361 and contemplated the serious issues of the world. 391 00:21:01,386 --> 00:21:03,590 SNORING 392 00:21:04,615 --> 00:21:08,031 But Betty's life was about to change. 393 00:21:09,936 --> 00:21:13,261 'In 1838, a flood at a Yorkshire colliery 394 00:21:13,286 --> 00:21:15,621 'drowned 26 children, 395 00:21:15,646 --> 00:21:19,790 'prompting a report after a lengthy public enquiry.' 396 00:21:20,825 --> 00:21:23,720 So, the report was published, and, as you can imagine, 397 00:21:23,745 --> 00:21:26,600 the press were all over it. 398 00:21:26,625 --> 00:21:29,470 Here's some of the daily newspapers 399 00:21:29,495 --> 00:21:32,480 that came out in May 1842. 400 00:21:32,505 --> 00:21:36,161 Some great pictures here. Look. 401 00:21:36,186 --> 00:21:39,720 You've got "Propelling the loaded wagons", 402 00:21:39,745 --> 00:21:42,470 "Digging out the coal"... 403 00:21:42,495 --> 00:21:45,321 Imagine seeing these for the first time, 404 00:21:45,346 --> 00:21:49,361 if you didn't know that that kind of thing went on in your country. 405 00:21:49,386 --> 00:21:52,111 But the revelations didn't end there. 406 00:21:52,136 --> 00:21:55,951 In fact it wasn't the long hours, 407 00:21:55,976 --> 00:21:59,241 the dust, the...awful conditions, 408 00:21:59,266 --> 00:22:03,470 the industrial accidents, that shocked people. 409 00:22:03,495 --> 00:22:07,161 It was, believe it or not, the nudity. 410 00:22:07,186 --> 00:22:11,590 "The girls, they are naked down to the waist." 411 00:22:11,615 --> 00:22:14,470 "Young females, dressed like boys in trousers, 412 00:22:14,495 --> 00:22:17,401 crawling on all fours." 413 00:22:17,426 --> 00:22:21,091 "Any sight more disgustingly indecent or revolting 414 00:22:21,116 --> 00:22:24,911 can scarcely be imagined than these girls at work." 415 00:22:24,936 --> 00:22:28,191 "No brothel can beat it." 416 00:22:29,226 --> 00:22:31,171 Disgusting! 417 00:22:31,196 --> 00:22:33,521 In actual fact, if it happened at all, 418 00:22:33,546 --> 00:22:36,470 such topless working was extremely rare. 419 00:22:37,575 --> 00:22:40,521 But still, the report had a dramatic effect. 420 00:22:40,546 --> 00:22:42,911 HOOTER BLARES 421 00:22:42,936 --> 00:22:46,590 And in 1842, the Mines and Collieries Act 422 00:22:46,615 --> 00:22:49,751 put a stop to women, including our Betty, 423 00:22:49,776 --> 00:22:51,991 working underground. 424 00:22:55,006 --> 00:22:59,621 'Coming up, how a Victorian shop girl got people to part with their cash.' 425 00:22:59,646 --> 00:23:01,251 Ooh, look! 426 00:23:01,276 --> 00:23:03,480 Esther's job was to try to persuade her customers 427 00:23:03,505 --> 00:23:05,991 to do something entirely new. 428 00:23:06,016 --> 00:23:07,600 HE CLICKS Come on! 429 00:23:07,625 --> 00:23:12,401 'And why you might think twice about taking a cab in Victorian London.' 430 00:23:12,426 --> 00:23:17,521 Cab drivers were notorious for spending hour after hour in the pub. 431 00:23:17,546 --> 00:23:25,546 BIRDSONG 432 00:23:23,496 --> 00:23:25,750 In Victorian Britain, 433 00:23:25,775 --> 00:23:28,471 THE place to be was in the city. 434 00:23:29,565 --> 00:23:33,461 London might have been filthy and plagued by crime, 435 00:23:33,486 --> 00:23:37,781 but by the 1850s it was the world's largest city... 436 00:23:37,806 --> 00:23:42,851 and in just 40 years, its population doubled in size, 437 00:23:42,876 --> 00:23:45,181 just like Queen Victoria's waistline. 438 00:23:45,206 --> 00:23:47,381 We are not amused! 439 00:23:47,406 --> 00:23:50,691 And all those new people meant lots of work 440 00:23:50,716 --> 00:23:52,740 for London's cabbies. 441 00:23:52,765 --> 00:23:54,771 Keb, sir? Keb? 442 00:23:54,796 --> 00:23:57,031 Men like John Cockram. 443 00:23:57,056 --> 00:24:00,061 John was born in 1833, 444 00:24:00,086 --> 00:24:03,791 and lived in Holborn, an old-fashioned part of London 445 00:24:03,816 --> 00:24:07,401 full of narrow alleyways and densely packed housing. 446 00:24:07,426 --> 00:24:10,261 But he was looking to move up in the world. 447 00:24:11,296 --> 00:24:13,581 The year is 1851, 448 00:24:13,606 --> 00:24:17,831 and 18-year-old John Cockram wants to set up in business. 449 00:24:17,856 --> 00:24:20,581 He wants to do exactly what his dad did before him, 450 00:24:20,606 --> 00:24:23,571 and be the driver of a horse and cab. 451 00:24:23,596 --> 00:24:27,221 Hallo, Daniel. You are looking so beautiful, aren't you? 452 00:24:27,246 --> 00:24:29,550 WHINNYING 453 00:24:29,575 --> 00:24:34,341 But sadly his dad isn't around anymore to show him the ropes, 454 00:24:34,366 --> 00:24:38,500 because, when John was 11, his old man had passed away... 455 00:24:39,695 --> 00:24:42,341 BIRDS CAW ..leaving behind a wife, 456 00:24:42,366 --> 00:24:45,261 four kids and huge pile of debt. 457 00:24:45,286 --> 00:24:47,750 CASH-REGISTER SOUND EFFECT To make ends meet, 458 00:24:47,775 --> 00:24:51,540 the young John had been forced to become the main breadwinner. 459 00:24:51,565 --> 00:24:54,991 'And, by 18, he's scrimped and saved enough money 460 00:24:55,016 --> 00:24:57,701 'to buy himself a horse, hire a cab, 461 00:24:57,726 --> 00:25:01,231 'and follow in his dearly departed dad's footsteps.' 462 00:25:01,256 --> 00:25:03,991 HE GRUNTS But the problem for John 463 00:25:04,016 --> 00:25:06,151 was that he looked really young, 464 00:25:06,176 --> 00:25:08,351 and on one of his first journeys, 465 00:25:08,376 --> 00:25:10,420 he was accused of being a buck, 466 00:25:10,445 --> 00:25:13,550 which was the slang word for an unlicensed driver. 467 00:25:13,575 --> 00:25:15,750 But he wasn't. He was perfectly legal. 468 00:25:15,775 --> 00:25:20,391 He was over 16, and he knew the highways and byways of London, 469 00:25:20,416 --> 00:25:22,581 which were the two stipulations. 470 00:25:22,606 --> 00:25:24,791 Right, let's go! HE MAKES CLICKING SOUND 471 00:25:24,816 --> 00:25:26,931 Come on! HORSE WHINNIES 472 00:25:28,016 --> 00:25:30,191 "BLACK BEAUTY" THEME MUSIC 'Back in the 1850s, 473 00:25:30,216 --> 00:25:34,141 'London streets would have been filled with horse-drawn cabs 474 00:25:34,166 --> 00:25:39,581 'just like this, leaving great piles of steaming dung in their wake.' 475 00:25:40,695 --> 00:25:44,221 But while the middle-class passengers were able to put their feet up 476 00:25:44,246 --> 00:25:46,420 and enjoy the view... WHIPLASH SOUND EFFECT 477 00:25:46,445 --> 00:25:48,461 ...for working-class lads like young john, 478 00:25:48,486 --> 00:25:52,341 the job was relentless, six clays a week. 479 00:25:52,366 --> 00:25:55,981 On an average day, he'd start touting for work about 9:00 AM, 480 00:25:56,006 --> 00:25:58,061 and finish at midnight. 481 00:25:58,086 --> 00:26:01,420 He didn't have a little yellow "for hire" sign on the top of the cab. 482 00:26:01,445 --> 00:26:04,031 If he wanted to show people that he was available, 483 00:26:04,056 --> 00:26:06,670 he held up his whip like this. 484 00:26:06,695 --> 00:26:08,670 WHIPLASH SOUND EFFECT Where to, love? 485 00:26:08,695 --> 00:26:10,791 THUNDER RUMBLES 486 00:26:11,736 --> 00:26:13,791 Sitting on top of his cab, 487 00:26:13,816 --> 00:26:16,481 with only a hat and a couple of old coats for protection, 488 00:26:16,506 --> 00:26:21,351 John was exposed to the very worst of London's weather. 489 00:26:21,376 --> 00:26:24,750 Chuckin all that Victorian soot and smog, 490 00:26:24,775 --> 00:26:26,941 and the lifestyle of cabbies like John 491 00:26:26,966 --> 00:26:29,760 was about as healthy as smoking 40 a day. 492 00:26:29,785 --> 00:26:32,071 MAN COUGHING 493 00:26:32,096 --> 00:26:34,430 The money wasn't much better, either. 494 00:26:34,455 --> 00:26:38,121 To make a profit, he had to work really hard. 495 00:26:38,146 --> 00:26:41,271 You only got sixpence a mile for a cab like this, 496 00:26:41,296 --> 00:26:43,510 and out of that, you had to pay yard money 497 00:26:43,535 --> 00:26:47,401 for the stabling and feeding of the horse. It was a tough old job. 498 00:26:47,426 --> 00:26:49,941 'And it was about to get a whole lot tougher.' 499 00:26:49,966 --> 00:26:52,861 You see, horses can be very temperamental... 500 00:26:54,066 --> 00:26:57,510 ...as poor old John discovered one afternoon 501 00:26:57,535 --> 00:27:00,151 shortly after buying his very own cab, 502 00:27:00,176 --> 00:27:02,831 when his horse suddenly bolted, 503 00:27:02,856 --> 00:27:06,071 causing his new set of wheels to flip over... 504 00:27:06,096 --> 00:27:08,141 ALL SHOUT AND SCREAM 505 00:27:08,166 --> 00:27:10,300 ...leaving John with a hefty repair bill. 506 00:27:10,325 --> 00:27:12,021 MAN SIGHING 507 00:27:12,046 --> 00:27:15,661 In fact, accidents like this were pretty common, 508 00:27:15,686 --> 00:27:20,141 and more often than not, they were caused by the same thing. 509 00:27:21,216 --> 00:27:25,430 Cab drivers were notorious for spending hour after hour in the pub. 510 00:27:25,455 --> 00:27:29,011 But did they really? I'll ask a cabbie. 511 00:27:29,036 --> 00:27:32,041 Taxi driver Sean Farrell writes a blog 512 00:27:32,066 --> 00:27:34,031 on the history of London's cabbies. 513 00:27:36,405 --> 00:27:39,121 So, by law, they should've been sitting on the box of the cab, 514 00:27:39,146 --> 00:27:43,351 no matter what the weather. Yeah? In truth, they hid inside a pub. 515 00:27:43,376 --> 00:27:45,841 Presumably there must've been examples 516 00:27:45,866 --> 00:27:50,581 of cab drivers coming out of the pub hammered and having accidents. 517 00:27:50,606 --> 00:27:53,390 Oh, they're numerous. SEAN CHUCKLES 518 00:27:53,415 --> 00:27:56,121 Throw a stone in Victorian London, you'll hit a drunken cabman. 519 00:27:56,146 --> 00:27:58,310 TONY LAUGHS There's that many of them. 520 00:27:59,335 --> 00:28:01,481 But not John Cockram, 521 00:28:01,506 --> 00:28:04,121 because john, one of the few cabbies 522 00:28:04,146 --> 00:28:06,560 who refused to work on a Sunday, 523 00:28:06,585 --> 00:28:08,941 didn't approve of the demon drink. 524 00:28:08,966 --> 00:28:12,481 So, while his fellow cabbies were off getting plastered, 525 00:28:12,506 --> 00:28:15,351 John could be found sitting on the taxi rank, 526 00:28:15,376 --> 00:28:19,606 reading a book and munching on a popular Victorian dish, 527 00:28:19,631 --> 00:28:21,824 salted herring. 528 00:28:21,849 --> 00:28:26,264 'And before long, he'd signed up to an extraordinary new idea... 529 00:28:26,289 --> 00:28:30,714 'a scheme to stop cabbies from drinking and driving. 530 00:28:30,739 --> 00:28:32,914 'I know! Mad!' 531 00:28:32,939 --> 00:28:35,474 I'm not really allowed in here, am I? I'm not a cabbie. 532 00:28:35,499 --> 00:28:37,734 You're not, but I might give you my badge. 533 00:28:38,969 --> 00:28:45,303 In 1875, John attended the opening of London's very first cab shelter, 534 00:28:45,328 --> 00:28:47,914 a place where cabbies could wait for customers 535 00:28:47,939 --> 00:28:50,753 without drinking their bodyweight in beer. 536 00:28:50,778 --> 00:28:52,864 SNORING 537 00:28:54,089 --> 00:28:57,373 It's great in here, isn't it? Lovely. Nice and compact and bijou. 538 00:28:57,398 --> 00:29:00,293 Yeah. It's a funny shape, though, isn't it? It's really long and thin. 539 00:29:00,318 --> 00:29:03,423 They're designed to be the same width and length 540 00:29:03,448 --> 00:29:05,623 as the original horse and ca-...coach, 541 00:29:05,648 --> 00:29:07,824 so they didn't take up no more extra space in the road. 542 00:29:07,849 --> 00:29:11,413 Oh, so just go, cab, cab, cab, little hut, cab, cab? 543 00:29:11,438 --> 00:29:13,204 Exactly. 544 00:29:13,229 --> 00:29:16,303 Do you think it would've been very similar in Victorian times? 545 00:29:16,328 --> 00:29:18,584 Absolutely. You've got electric lighting there. 546 00:29:18,609 --> 00:29:20,633 Would've been gas lighting in them days. 547 00:29:20,658 --> 00:29:24,014 But they got a gas stove. They would provide hot meals for you, 548 00:29:24,039 --> 00:29:26,303 hot tea, coffee. You could even bring a steak, 549 00:29:26,328 --> 00:29:28,734 and they would cook it for you, and charge you accordingly. 550 00:29:28,759 --> 00:29:31,474 And while he was getting his protein hit, 551 00:29:31,499 --> 00:29:33,664 John could also browse through a selection 552 00:29:33,689 --> 00:29:35,834 of complimentary books and newspapers, 553 00:29:35,859 --> 00:29:38,274 keeping his brain fit and alert 554 00:29:38,299 --> 00:29:43,144 to deal with London's roads and grow his business. 555 00:29:43,169 --> 00:29:46,354 By the time the cab shelters were built in the 1870s, 556 00:29:46,379 --> 00:29:49,623 John's business was thriving. He ended up... Cheers, love. 557 00:29:49,648 --> 00:29:53,194 With nearly 30 people working for him, 558 00:29:53,219 --> 00:29:55,373 and 126 horses. 559 00:29:55,398 --> 00:30:00,553 In fact, when he was 68, he sold up and retired on the profits. 560 00:30:00,578 --> 00:30:02,734 Not bad for a cabbie, eh? 561 00:30:02,759 --> 00:30:05,144 Cheers, mate. Cheers. 562 00:30:05,169 --> 00:30:08,633 MUSIC: Dance Of The Hours by Amilcare Ponchielli 563 00:30:08,658 --> 00:30:11,984 Victorian Britain was brimming with inventions 564 00:30:12,009 --> 00:30:15,553 and people experimenting with new ideas. 565 00:30:15,578 --> 00:30:19,373 But forget your lsambard Kingdom Brunels of this world 566 00:30:19,398 --> 00:30:22,354 and all those boats and bridges of his, 567 00:30:22,379 --> 00:30:26,584 and consider instead another great Victorian advance. 568 00:30:26,609 --> 00:30:29,513 It's the invention of modern shopping. 569 00:30:30,578 --> 00:30:34,403 You see, with all that new industry, wages were on the up, 570 00:30:34,428 --> 00:30:38,634 and for the first time, working people had a bit of money to spend. 571 00:30:38,659 --> 00:30:41,183 Go! WOMEN SCREAM 572 00:30:41,208 --> 00:30:45,434 The canny Victorian shopkeeper was only too pleased to help. 573 00:30:45,459 --> 00:30:51,544 CASH REGISTER GRINDS / RINGS 574 00:30:51,569 --> 00:30:54,544 was really hotting up. A hundred years previously, 575 00:30:54,569 --> 00:30:56,744 a window display like this one 576 00:30:56,769 --> 00:30:59,153 would've been completely unimaginable. 577 00:30:59,178 --> 00:31:01,794 The shops had been small, specialist, 578 00:31:01,819 --> 00:31:04,954 and staffed by very fierce shopkeepers. 579 00:31:04,979 --> 00:31:07,153 But change was on its way, 580 00:31:07,178 --> 00:31:11,033 and it was pioneered by women like Esther Brown. 581 00:31:11,058 --> 00:31:13,103 Here she is. 582 00:31:13,128 --> 00:31:16,874 Esther was born in 1878 in Manchester, 583 00:31:16,899 --> 00:31:20,184 where she grew up in a small terraced house. 584 00:31:21,209 --> 00:31:23,384 Her dad, Joseph, worked on the trams, 585 00:31:23,409 --> 00:31:26,033 while her mum, Margaret, stayed at home 586 00:31:26,058 --> 00:31:28,893 looking after Esther and her brother and sister. 587 00:31:28,918 --> 00:31:31,504 SOUND EFFECT OF CHILD GURGLING 588 00:31:32,569 --> 00:31:35,664 The Victorians, though, didn't really DO childhood, 589 00:31:35,689 --> 00:31:39,153 and by the age of 14, Esther had left school 590 00:31:39,178 --> 00:31:41,444 and was working on a market stall 591 00:31:41,469 --> 00:31:44,123 selling household bits and bobs. 592 00:31:44,148 --> 00:31:46,194 CROWD LAUGHS 593 00:31:46,219 --> 00:31:49,466 But down the market, things were a bit...well, downmarket. 594 00:31:50,551 --> 00:31:53,254 And when Esther was offered a job in a fancy new shop, 595 00:31:53,279 --> 00:31:55,254 she jumped at the chance. 596 00:31:56,839 --> 00:31:59,143 Esther came up this very road 597 00:31:59,168 --> 00:32:02,013 on the first day of her first proper job. 598 00:32:02,038 --> 00:32:06,534 The year was 1894, and she was 16. 599 00:32:06,559 --> 00:32:08,963 This is Cheetham Hill. 600 00:32:08,988 --> 00:32:11,524 It's not the most salubrious part of Manchester, is it? 601 00:32:12,599 --> 00:32:15,963 There would've been trams clanging backwards and forwards, 602 00:32:15,988 --> 00:32:18,969 lots of new immigrant communities. 603 00:32:18,994 --> 00:32:22,490 It would've been noisy, vibrant, energetic... 604 00:32:22,515 --> 00:32:24,610 and it was Esther's big day. 605 00:32:29,154 --> 00:32:31,670 Her new job was as a shop girl 606 00:32:31,695 --> 00:32:34,129 at Michael Marks's Penny Bazaar, 607 00:32:34,154 --> 00:32:37,490 which was the very first Marks & Spencer store. 608 00:32:37,515 --> 00:32:40,320 This is the Cheetham Hill M&♪ now. 609 00:32:40,345 --> 00:32:43,360 Well, it was absolutely nothing like that. 610 00:32:43,385 --> 00:32:46,680 This was virtually a Victorian pound shop. 611 00:32:46,705 --> 00:32:50,219 They kept the stock under tarpaulin in the back yard, 612 00:32:50,244 --> 00:32:53,370 and over the front door there was a big scarlet sign 613 00:32:53,395 --> 00:32:56,400 that said, "Don't ask the price, it's a penny." 614 00:32:58,525 --> 00:33:03,139 Marks's Penny Bazaar wasn't just a bargain-hunter's paradise, though. 615 00:33:03,164 --> 00:33:06,009 TONY, AS SHOPPER: "Oh, that is so lovely." 616 00:33:06,034 --> 00:33:09,959 You see, for years, if a customer so much as stepped into a shop, 617 00:33:09,984 --> 00:33:12,450 they were expected to buy something. 618 00:33:13,525 --> 00:33:17,240 'But all that was about to change, with a little help from Esther.' 619 00:33:18,325 --> 00:33:21,040 Esther's job was to try to persuade her customers 620 00:33:21,065 --> 00:33:23,500 to do something entirely new. 621 00:33:23,525 --> 00:33:27,730 In fact it was so new, they had to invent a word for it, 622 00:33:27,755 --> 00:33:30,530 and that word was "browsing" - looking at the goods 623 00:33:30,555 --> 00:33:33,839 without feeling that you had a compunction to buy them. 624 00:33:33,864 --> 00:33:36,450 Nowadays we're all brilliant at browsing, aren't we? 625 00:33:36,475 --> 00:33:38,730 But back then, it was a novelty. 626 00:33:38,755 --> 00:33:41,600 Ooh, look! A rolling pin! I can handle it. 627 00:33:41,625 --> 00:33:47,500 A basket! I can touch it! 628 00:33:47,525 --> 00:33:49,880 Shoplifting became a big problem. 629 00:33:49,905 --> 00:33:53,360 TONY, IN FALSETTO: "I'm sorry! It must've just fallen in my bag." 630 00:33:53,385 --> 00:33:55,799 Once the customer had chosen what they wanted... 631 00:33:55,824 --> 00:33:59,160 wooden spoon, maybe, a chopping board, 632 00:33:59,185 --> 00:34:03,210 four candles... That's actually what these are! 633 00:34:03,235 --> 00:34:05,780 Then Esther would wrap them all up. 634 00:34:05,805 --> 00:34:08,370 But she wasn't allowed to tot up the money. 635 00:34:08,395 --> 00:34:11,010 That had to be done by a man. 636 00:34:11,035 --> 00:34:14,520 Leanne, can you demonstrate how this procedure worked? Certainly. 637 00:34:14,545 --> 00:34:17,130 Five pennies. Mm-hm. Thank you very much. 638 00:34:17,155 --> 00:34:19,690 So, I then put this in here, this half a ball. 639 00:34:19,715 --> 00:34:23,880 This would be closed tight. Now I would put this into the slots, 640 00:34:23,905 --> 00:34:28,579 send it up through the system. 641 00:34:28,604 --> 00:34:30,690 And he would send your change back the exact same way. 642 00:34:30,715 --> 00:34:33,679 A nice, sensible man who would know how to add up. Of course. 643 00:34:33,704 --> 00:34:37,410 Of course. Not like the giddy girls who wouldn't be trusted with that. 644 00:34:37,435 --> 00:34:40,300 While adding up wasn't high on her list of duties, 645 00:34:40,325 --> 00:34:44,600 Esther was expected to be smart, polite, 646 00:34:44,625 --> 00:34:46,879 and have the constitution of a... 647 00:34:46,904 --> 00:34:49,570 HORSE WHINNIES / SNORTS Exactly. 648 00:34:49,595 --> 00:34:52,610 Anyone who's ever worked in retail knows what it's like, 649 00:34:52,635 --> 00:34:54,530 standing on your feet all day, 650 00:34:54,555 --> 00:34:57,400 but Esther's day started at six in the morning, 651 00:34:57,425 --> 00:35:01,600 finished ten or 11 at night, so a 90-hour week, 652 00:35:01,625 --> 00:35:05,129 in big, clumpy shoes, heavy skirt... 653 00:35:05,154 --> 00:35:08,850 stiff back, smiling nicely all the time... 654 00:35:08,875 --> 00:35:11,300 Must've been so exhausting. 655 00:35:12,605 --> 00:35:15,050 And, of course, her customers paid her wages, 656 00:35:15,075 --> 00:35:16,370 so they were always, always right. 657 00:35:20,155 --> 00:35:21,730 But Michael Marks was better than most employers. 658 00:35:21,755 --> 00:35:25,570 At least he installed gas rings like these in the back office, 659 00:35:25,595 --> 00:35:29,160 so the girls could get some hot food, 660 00:35:29,185 --> 00:35:31,370 such as that shop girl's favourite, 661 00:35:31,395 --> 00:35:34,520 a nice bowl of green-pea soup. Lovely. 662 00:35:35,595 --> 00:35:40,850 For her efforts, Esther was paid a modest £25 a year, 663 00:35:40,875 --> 00:35:43,770 around half of what a male shop assistant earned, 664 00:35:43,795 --> 00:35:46,970 but just enough for the odd trip to the music hall... 665 00:35:46,995 --> 00:35:49,080 on her one day off. CROWD LAUGHING 666 00:35:51,315 --> 00:35:54,210 Working in a shop is so commonplace nowadays 667 00:35:54,235 --> 00:35:58,090 that it's easy to underestimate how different it would've been 668 00:35:58,115 --> 00:36:00,780 for someone like Esther. In those clays, 669 00:36:00,805 --> 00:36:04,450 a lot of people thought that shop girls were a bit tainted, 670 00:36:04,475 --> 00:36:07,889 like prostitutes, you know, just standing out there in public, 671 00:36:07,914 --> 00:36:10,009 selling stuff to customers. 672 00:36:12,465 --> 00:36:14,340 Happily, though, for Esther, 673 00:36:14,365 --> 00:36:15,719 things were beginning to look up... 674 00:36:16,794 --> 00:36:19,050 ...because, as shopping got more and more popular, 675 00:36:19,075 --> 00:36:23,220 shops began to move into fancy arcades like this. 676 00:36:23,245 --> 00:36:25,860 And as for the women who were working in them, 677 00:36:25,885 --> 00:36:28,260 they started to have a career path. 678 00:36:28,285 --> 00:36:30,569 They could end up as shop managers, 679 00:36:30,594 --> 00:36:33,579 and who was one of the first women to do just that? 680 00:36:33,604 --> 00:36:36,140 Esther Brown. 681 00:36:38,655 --> 00:36:40,610 WHISTLE BLOWS Coming up, 682 00:36:40,635 --> 00:36:42,810 the train-loving office worker 683 00:36:42,835 --> 00:36:45,709 who recorded every tiny detail of his life. 684 00:36:45,734 --> 00:36:47,890 Everything seems hunky-dory. 685 00:36:47,915 --> 00:36:52,699 But the diary tells a very different story. 686 00:36:52,724 --> 00:36:54,699 BIRDSONG 687 00:36:59,595 --> 00:37:01,570 CROWD CHEERING Before the Victorian age, 688 00:37:01,595 --> 00:37:03,619 travel was a bit of a bore. 689 00:37:03,644 --> 00:37:06,060 "LONE RANGER" THEME MUSIC (WILLIAM TELL OVERTURE) 690 00:37:06,085 --> 00:37:09,409 The fastest thing around had four legs and ate straw. 691 00:37:09,434 --> 00:37:11,539 DYNAMIC "LONE RANGER" MUSIC CONTINUES 692 00:37:12,564 --> 00:37:15,619 So no wonder the invention of the steam train... 693 00:37:15,644 --> 00:37:17,820 HORN BLARES ..got everyone, 694 00:37:17,845 --> 00:37:21,409 including Queen Victoria, rather excited. 695 00:37:21,434 --> 00:37:24,180 TONY, AS QUEEN VICTORIA: Albert, I want one. 696 00:37:24,205 --> 00:37:26,650 But trains weren't just for the rich and famous. 697 00:37:26,675 --> 00:37:29,470 They were used by almost everyone. 698 00:37:31,095 --> 00:37:34,790 Like this ordinary shoemaker's son from Manchester, 699 00:37:34,815 --> 00:37:37,940 who describes one memorable train journey in his diary. 700 00:37:37,965 --> 00:37:40,010 It is very strange, 701 00:37:40,035 --> 00:37:43,820 reading the diary of someone who was born over 200 years ago, 702 00:37:43,845 --> 00:37:46,650 and is so candid about their life. 703 00:37:46,675 --> 00:37:49,169 His name was Edwin Waugh. 704 00:37:49,194 --> 00:37:54,389 He was a secretary, writing letters in his office in Manchester 705 00:37:54,414 --> 00:37:57,990 in the late 1840s. He'd just turned 30. 706 00:37:58,015 --> 00:38:00,820 He lived in Hulme with his wife, 707 00:38:00,845 --> 00:38:02,700 who looked after the house when he was away working, 708 00:38:02,725 --> 00:38:05,789 which is what a Victorian wife would have done in those days. 709 00:38:05,814 --> 00:38:08,589 Everything seems hunky-dory. 710 00:38:08,614 --> 00:38:12,620 But the diary tells a very different story. 711 00:38:12,645 --> 00:38:16,219 'Because Edwin was utterly miserable.' 712 00:38:22,415 --> 00:38:24,460 Oh! Look over there! Mwah! 713 00:38:24,485 --> 00:38:27,940 "Went to Rochdale in the evening in company with my wife." 714 00:38:27,965 --> 00:38:31,310 "Oh, full of unhappy reflections." 715 00:38:31,335 --> 00:38:33,340 TONY SIGHS 716 00:38:33,365 --> 00:38:37,649 'And then there was work.' 717 00:38:37,674 --> 00:38:39,740 and he hated being two-faced, 718 00:38:39,765 --> 00:38:44,430 trying to squeeze money out of people who were in debt to his company. 719 00:38:44,455 --> 00:38:49,230 He wrote in his diary, "I don't have the beggarly eloquence 720 00:38:49,255 --> 00:38:53,430 which can humbug them into a false generosity." 721 00:38:55,175 --> 00:38:59,070 For his efforts, Edwin earned about a pound a week... 722 00:38:59,095 --> 00:39:04,060 around 130 quid in today's money. But often he wasn't paid at all, 723 00:39:04,085 --> 00:39:06,270 prompting him to complain, 724 00:39:06,295 --> 00:39:10,500 "My wife and me had just one ha'penny between us, 725 00:39:10,525 --> 00:39:13,860 and we knew not where the next meal was to come from." 726 00:39:14,885 --> 00:39:16,909 For the longsuffering Mrs Waugh, 727 00:39:16,934 --> 00:39:19,020 it all got too much. 728 00:39:20,085 --> 00:39:23,550 After a particularly heated row with his wife, Mary Ann, 729 00:39:23,575 --> 00:39:25,980 Edwin describes her packing her bags 730 00:39:26,005 --> 00:39:29,750 and heading off for her aunt Sally's in Rochdale. 731 00:39:29,775 --> 00:39:31,940 She even takes the rocking chair with her, 732 00:39:31,965 --> 00:39:34,719 so she's clearly not intending to come home. 733 00:39:34,744 --> 00:39:38,510 Edwin's response is to turn to drink. 734 00:39:41,395 --> 00:39:43,960 But Mary Ann must've had second thoughts, 735 00:39:43,985 --> 00:39:46,480 because she eventually returned home, 736 00:39:46,505 --> 00:39:49,779 presumably with the rocking chair, too. 737 00:39:49,804 --> 00:39:51,659 RHYTHMIC CREAKING 738 00:39:51,684 --> 00:39:53,909 To celebrate their reunion, 739 00:39:53,934 --> 00:39:57,430 Edwin splashed out on a pair of railway tickets 740 00:39:57,455 --> 00:40:00,779 to that home of holiday fun, Blackpool. 741 00:40:00,804 --> 00:40:04,020 Mary Ann was gonna be SO pleased. ALARM CLOCK RINGS 742 00:40:06,895 --> 00:40:08,919 On the morning of the Blackpool excursion, 743 00:40:08,944 --> 00:40:11,860 Edwin gets up early, tries to wake his wife... 744 00:40:11,885 --> 00:40:14,060 but she won't budge. 745 00:40:14,085 --> 00:40:16,740 He's not gonna let her spoil his day, though. 746 00:40:16,765 --> 00:40:20,010 So he gets washed, gets all ready... 747 00:40:21,035 --> 00:40:24,990 ...and leaves...the house. 748 00:40:25,015 --> 00:40:27,579 Oh, Mary Ann! 749 00:40:27,604 --> 00:40:29,750 When he got to the station, 750 00:40:29,775 --> 00:40:32,550 Edwin was gobsmacked by what he saw. 751 00:40:33,604 --> 00:40:37,020 "I found an astounding gathering of people, 752 00:40:37,045 --> 00:40:40,000 upwards of 2,000 persons." 753 00:40:40,025 --> 00:40:43,919 You see, to the average Victorian city dweller, 754 00:40:43,944 --> 00:40:47,270 the lure of the sea was like human catnip. 755 00:40:48,934 --> 00:40:52,789 And, beginning in the 1840s, special railway excursions 756 00:40:52,814 --> 00:40:57,020 began ferrying hordes of overexcited day-trippers 757 00:40:57,045 --> 00:41:01,500 to such far-flung locations as Brighton, Bangor, 758 00:41:01,525 --> 00:41:04,090 and, in Edwin's case, Blackpool. 759 00:41:04,115 --> 00:41:06,546 Susan'? SHE LAUGHS 760 00:41:06,571 --> 00:41:08,541 How you doing? Fine, thank you very much. 761 00:41:08,566 --> 00:41:10,820 We're going off on a holiday! Yes. It's very exciting. 762 00:41:10,845 --> 00:41:14,051 To tell me more about Edwin's big day out 763 00:41:14,076 --> 00:41:17,061 is railway historian Susan Major. 764 00:41:18,116 --> 00:41:20,411 Why was he so excited about this excursion? 765 00:41:20,436 --> 00:41:24,271 He had a particular thing about the thrill of being in a crowd. 766 00:41:25,366 --> 00:41:28,061 Now, to us, being in a crowd is a nuisance... 767 00:41:28,086 --> 00:41:30,261 Yeah, yeah. ..but somebody like him, 768 00:41:30,286 --> 00:41:33,341 he felt it made it feel as if it was one world. 769 00:41:33,366 --> 00:41:36,861 It was a new thing. It was a modern thing. Oh, definitely. 770 00:41:39,475 --> 00:41:44,141 In Edwin's diary, he does say that there were 2,000 people. 771 00:41:44,166 --> 00:41:48,371 I thought that was a misprint. No. These were monster trains, 772 00:41:48,396 --> 00:41:52,650 with monster excursions. Quite often you'd find more than one engine 773 00:41:52,675 --> 00:41:55,331 pulling up to a hundred carriages. 774 00:41:55,356 --> 00:41:58,271 Er, there could be three, four engines. 775 00:41:58,296 --> 00:42:03,500 It would've been like being on the London Tube in the rush hour in June, 776 00:42:03,525 --> 00:42:05,911 wouldn't it? ENGINE CHUGGING SOUND EFFECT 777 00:42:05,936 --> 00:42:09,051 People must've felt as though they were being treated as animals. 778 00:42:09,076 --> 00:42:10,180 They felt as if they were being dehumanised, 779 00:42:10,205 --> 00:42:14,541 so would bleat and moo and baa. 780 00:42:15,606 --> 00:42:16,250 ORGAN RENDITION OF "I DO LIKE TO BE BESIDE THE SEASIDE" 781 00:42:20,966 --> 00:42:22,611 where he and his fellow passengers disembarked... 782 00:42:22,636 --> 00:42:27,951 and, like a crowd of starving penguins, 783 00:42:27,976 --> 00:42:30,151 PENGUINS CHATTER AND SQUAWK 784 00:42:30,176 --> 00:42:34,221 So, Edwin comes down the high street from the station, and, remember, 785 00:42:34,246 --> 00:42:37,661 because the crowd know they've only got a limited amount of time here, 786 00:42:37,686 --> 00:42:41,831 they immediately set to work having a good time. 787 00:42:41,856 --> 00:42:43,820 SEAGULLS CRY 788 00:42:43,845 --> 00:42:47,860 The Blackpool of 1849 didn't yet have its famous tower, 789 00:42:47,885 --> 00:42:50,331 or even a pier, for that matter. 790 00:42:51,406 --> 00:42:54,291 Nonetheless, Edwin was totally smitten. 791 00:42:55,916 --> 00:42:58,610 The thing he likes more than anything else, though, 792 00:42:58,635 --> 00:43:01,781 is the donkeys. DONKEY BRAYING 793 00:43:01,806 --> 00:43:06,021 There's little kids who get on them, and they won't move. 794 00:43:06,046 --> 00:43:09,431 He says, "Everybody is having a good time," 795 00:43:09,456 --> 00:43:11,711 except, presumably, the donkeys. 796 00:43:11,736 --> 00:43:13,901 And then, towards the end of his stay, 797 00:43:13,926 --> 00:43:18,101 he buys four chops, raw chops, off some bloke, 798 00:43:18,126 --> 00:43:20,171 and then he goes back into town, 799 00:43:20,196 --> 00:43:24,381 where someone in a shop fries them up for him for fourpence. 800 00:43:24,406 --> 00:43:27,251 What a way to spend the day! 801 00:43:28,326 --> 00:43:33,091 As for his problems, well, they now seemed a million miles away. 802 00:43:39,036 --> 00:43:41,541 But things weren't just looking up for Edwin. 803 00:43:41,566 --> 00:43:45,531 In a momentous time marked by new railways... 804 00:43:45,556 --> 00:43:48,501 HORN BLARES ..new sewage systems, 805 00:43:48,526 --> 00:43:50,531 and even modern shopping... 806 00:43:50,556 --> 00:43:51,971 Go! 807 00:43:51,996 --> 00:43:56,901 ...the Victorian period was a crucial part of British history, 808 00:43:56,926 --> 00:44:01,581 driven by ordinary women and men across the land. 809 00:44:04,286 --> 00:44:08,070 'In the next episode, we're in Georgian times, 810 00:44:08,095 --> 00:44:12,471 'an era of great luxury - unless, of course, you were poor.' 811 00:44:12,496 --> 00:44:15,261 One of the most horrible things confronting Elizabeth 812 00:44:15,286 --> 00:44:17,461 would've been the sheer filthiness of London. 813 00:44:17,486 --> 00:44:19,870 Your life was at the mercy of the rich. 814 00:44:19,895 --> 00:44:22,740 MAN: John had no choice. 815 00:44:22,765 --> 00:44:24,820 He'd been press-ganged. 816 00:44:24,845 --> 00:44:26,791 'If you wanted to grab a piece of the action'... 817 00:44:26,816 --> 00:44:29,021 MAN: Stand and deliver! ..'you risked everything.' 818 00:44:29,046 --> 00:44:31,501 jack was sentenced to death. 819 00:44:31,526 --> 00:44:33,301 BONE-CRUNCHING SOUND EFFECT 820 00:44:33,326 --> 00:44:36,251 JAUNTY ORCHESTRAL INTRO / MALE VOCALIST SINGS MUSIC-HALL STYLE 821 00:44:38,046 --> 00:44:40,351 # Boiled beef and carrots 822 00:44:40,376 --> 00:44:43,831 # Boiled beef and carrots 823 00:44:43,856 --> 00:44:46,420 # Makes you fat and it keeps you well 824 00:44:46,445 --> 00:44:48,680 # Don't live like vegetarians 825 00:44:48,705 --> 00:44:51,220 # On food they give to parrots 826 00:44:51,245 --> 00:44:53,751 # From morn till night blow out your kite 827 00:44:53,776 --> 00:44:55,021 # On boiled beef and carrots # 828 00:44:55,046 --> 00:44:57,471 DRUMBEAT / WHIMSICAL VIOLIN OUTRO 829 00:44:57,496 --> 00:45:05,496 Subtitles by Red Bee Media