The great British countryside -
setting for one of the most pivotaI battIes of the Second WorId War.
ChurchiII caIIed it the ''front Iine of freedom''.
It was fought by the farmers of Britain.
When war broke out, the Nazis attacked British shipping,
attempting to cut off food imports.
The government turned to farmers to doubIe home-grown food production.
The plough had become a weapon ot war.
lt was the Farmers' principal weapon ot war.
If they faiIed, the nation couId be starved into surrender.
Now archaeoIogists AIex LangIands and Peter Ginn...
..and historian Ruth Goodman...
..are turning back the cIock...
..working Manor Farm in Hampshire
as it wouId have been in the Second WorId War.
Yes!
By 1 942, Britain had endured three years of bIockades.
Farmers were struggIing to deIiver food targets
and raw materiaIs were becoming scarce.
So the team must Iearn how to cope with shortages of fueI...
..wood...and animaI feed.
They must aIso address the hardship that came with the bombing of our cities
by setting up an emergency feeding centre.
- Gravy, sir? - Yes, please.
This is the untoId story of the countryside at war.
(Air-raid siren)
By the third year of war, Britain's food imports had hit a new Iow.
In 1 94 1, America had entered the war,
which meant they had fewer ships to export food to Britain,
increasing the strain on farmers.
To save the country from starvation,
the Minister of Food demanded that an extra 840,000 tons of wheat be produced.
Even more grassIand was pIoughed up to meet the demand
but it stiII wasn't enough.
With aII these fieIds given over to producing cereaIs,
farmers struggIed to find the space for other crops.
The Minister of AgricuIture insisted that every spare scrap of Iand be put to good use.
Even Leicester Square and Regent's Park were dug over to grow vegetabIes.
We're gonna get rid ot all this scrap metal, which can be used in the munitions tactories,
to build tanks and planes.
We're gonna tree up a patch ot land.
lt doesn't look like much now but once we get this cleared - it we ever do...
- Want a hand? - Probably.
Once we get it cleared, we will be able to put a crop in
tor harvest later in the year.
But we've got to work quickly.
AIex and Peter are going to grow a bean crop to suppIement the feed for the dairy herd.
But there's a probIem.
SmaII pieces of Iand Iike this had never been cuItivated,
so we're in need of pIoughing.
Wow! This is in good nick.
But their size and awkward shape meant that an ordinary tractor couIdn't do the job.
So we're looking tor something that can plough that land
and harrow that land.
The government had a soIution,
a scheme where farmers couId Iease speciaIist equipment
to heIp maximise output.
And the ministry ot Agriculture are encouraging us to do these things.
They're actually offering these things on hire. So let's take our pick.
Let's see what we've got.
Obviously something like that is too big.
What's that? ''The Trusty tractor.
lt does the work ot two horses.
lt ploughs over an acre per day,
using only two gallons ot petrol.
A Land Girl can start it and it steers itselt.''
- Wow. - We're onto a winner.
ALEX: lt a Land Girl can start it, maybe even we can start it.
By 1 942, there wasn't just a food shortage.
Timber was in short suppIy, too.
Wood imports decIined as shipping Ianes were cut off.
At the outbreak ot war, Britain was importing almost all her timber.
l think it was only tour per cent ot that timber that we needed and used in Britain
that could be sourced trom Britain.
ln tact, once we looked round us,
we realised that the problem was not so much, where was the wood going to come trom,
but who the heck was going to get it?
With many maIe forestry workers being drafted to fight,
the Ministry of Labour caIIed on the nation's women to step in.
They formed the Women's Timber Corps
and femaIe tree feIIers soon became known as ''IumberjiIIs''.
Timber!
Nowadays you might think to yourselt, ''What's the big deal? Wood?
What's it mostly used tor? Paper. Furniture.''
But in the wartime, it had a really important tunction.
For a start, many ot our best tighter aircraft were made ot wood.
Wartime industry aIso depended on wood.
The Iargest consumers of timber were coaI mines,
which required wooden pit props to keep them stabIe.
lt looks pretty hard work. l should imagine you'd get pretty tit.
Jo Mason and Tracy Anderson work for the Forestry Commission
and have enIisted the heIp of Ruth and her daughter Eve.
Basically, it you just pull and don't push.
- Pull, don't push. - Right, this is to you, to me, isn't it?
To you tirst.
GirIs as young as 1 4 were recruited to work in the forests.
The toughest job was feIIing the trees -
something the government was initiaIIy reIuctant to aIIow women to do.
lt's hard work but it's not the tull-body thing l was sort ot expecting it to be.
When you look at who joined the Timber Corps,
you tind it's girls who worked in shops,
secretaries.
l think it must have given a lot ot young women a real teeling ot selt-contidence, selt-respect,
that they could be out there,
be doing something truly helptul tor the war effort,
something tor your country in a really practical way.
Exactly the sorts ot things that we're proving.
That girls were just as good as boys.
The Second WorId War saw a surge in the mechanisation of British farms
as the Ministry of AgricuIture encouraged farmers to use machines
to increase efficiency.
With animaI feed in short suppIy,
AIex and Peter are using their cIeared patch of Iand
to grow beans for the cattIe -
with the heIp of a trio of tractor enthusiasts,
Richard Louden, Geoff RavenhaII and Shane Parry.
- Hello. Peter, what have we got here? - Oh, a little beast, isn't it?
That's the sort ot tractor l could probably work with.
- This is your Trusty tractor tor the next week. - Right.
- ''Trusty tractor''? - Yeah.
Best-selling small tractor ot its type at the moment.
The Trusty tractor, once confined to market gardens,
was ideaI for answering the wartime need to cuItivate awkward patches of Iand.
You've got it tor a week, with a range ot attachments.
l've got a book here with all the attachments in.
You've got a plough with it and disc harrows and all sorts.
- So l should think that will do you. - Excellent.
A bit ot privy reading tor you there, Peter.
OriginaIIy designed in 1 933,
the Trusty was modified during the war
to reduce the amount of steeI it required as suppIies ran short.
But this is the kind ot thing, that tor our patch ot land, would be ideal.
Small patches like this were exactly what was needed
to be put into production.
Well, let's hope so.
And we've got something here that's sort ot halt way in between me and a spade...
..and the tractor and the plough.
- This is kind ot... - Exactly.
The first job is to prepare the tractor for pIoughing.
Rather than being towed, the pIoughing attachment forms one unit with the tractor.
- lt should be a one-man operation, this, so... - Right.
You only need tive people when you put it in that hedge.
- Do you want to start this? - Yeah. You'd better show me how to start it.
OK, tuel's on.
So this is like starting the old lawnmower.
Here we go.
(Engine chugs)
Oh!
That's a dream.
Your tield awaits.
Over haIf a biIIion cubic feet of wood was needed during the war,
for everything from aircraft to ships and rifIes.
Ruth and Eve have hit a common stumbIing bIock.
The weight of the tree is causing the saw to jam.
l think we detinitely need to...
- Tree's pinching, isn't it? - Yeah.
We need a wedge.
might be the satest option at this point.
- Can we just have a little look? - We're starting to pinch. (Laughs)
Well, it's got quite a big crown on it, this one, so it's gonna catch the wind.
You can see it rocking, and when it rocks, it'll come back and jam the saw
and you won't be able to do anything.
So the best thing we can do to help you is put a wedge in the back.
That'll keep the cut open and the saw will move treely through.
Bang the wedge in at the back here, taking care not to bang it into the saw.
That is so much treer with that wedge in.
(Groaning)
Whoa, that's moving.
l think we're nearly there. She's beginning to really wobble.
You can see the gap opening and closing and the wedge bobbing up and down.
When she goes, we need to get out ot the way.
And shout ''timber'' when it goes cos they worked in groups.
You'd want everybody else to know that the tree's about to go.
Yes!
She's going.
She's going! Going!
Timber!
(Laughter)
Well done.
Yeah.
OK.
The Trusty tractor is ready to go.
lt's now time to start ploughing.
The depth of the pIough couId be easiIy controIIed by a crank handIe.
Experienced farmers couId even set the tractor running on its own,
onIy needing to turn it around at each end of the pIot.
At tirst appearance, this is a pretty heavy-looking piece ot kit,
but actually...
with it set right...
..you can let the engine do all ot the work.
And l'm actually now just guiding it, you know.
But it's still quite cumbersome
and l'm territied ot hitting a stone.
The Trusty tractor was entireIy British-made untiI 1 943,
when wartime shortages resuIted in the use of American engines.
With the Iand pIoughed, the finaI job is to smooth out the soiI ready for sowing.
The pIough couId be easiIy repIaced with a harrow attachment,
one of over 20 accessories that came with the Trusty tractor.
So that's the tield done.
Time to get the beans in while the sun's still shining.
Right. Here we go.
The next stage for Ruth and Eve is to remove aII the smaIIer branches from the tree,
a process known as snedding.
When you joined the Timber Corps, you went off on tour weeks' training.
The tirst couple ot weeks you did a little ot absolutely everything.
Then you were allowed to choose which things you were best at
and tor the second two weeks ot training, you concentrated on them.
Whether it be the measuring, the surveying, the telling itselt, the snedding
or indeed bark peeling.
This is the wrong species tor that
but it you were interested in making explosives,
a really usetul thing was the bark ot an old buckthorn tree.
So anything like that was caretully peeled and debarked.
The bark to be made into charcoal, that was then part ot the explosives industry.
GirIs couId be sent anywhere in the country to be biIIeted with IocaIs
or to stay in hosteIs or camps.
One person who knows first-hand the triaIs of being in the Women's Timber Corps
is Irene HoweII who became a IumberjiII in 1 943.
What were you doing betorehand, lrene?
- Upstairs, downstairs. - Really?
So a complete change trom what you'd been doing betore.
That must have been quite nice, actually.
- Out in the... - Out doing something different.
Rather than upstairs and downstairs. Yes.
Not a very nice job, l'm atraid.
Yeah, so the Women's Timber Corps was, in a sense, sort ot a step up?
Yes.
But conditions were tough.
Rheumatism was a common aiIment amongst IumberjiIIs,
resuIting from Iong periods working in the forest in damp conditions.
- Oh, is this you? - Yes.
What did you like best about being a member ot the Timber Corps?
Being with the other girls, really. l wasn't used to being with a lot ot girls.
We used to have a good time. We used to enjoy it.
Did you teel you were part ot the war effort when you were out in the woods?
Well, yes.
Yes, you were certainly part ot the war effort.
We had to do something.
After 1 8, you all had to do something, so you just got on with it.
Yeah.
Just as important as feIIing a tree, was measuring it.
- So this is to work out how everybody gets paid. - Yes.
The Women's Timber Corps got paid by results. Okey-doke.
So let's measure us off a ten-toot length and see how much we get, shall we?
CaIcuIating the amount of wood in a tree was the most inteIIectuaIIy demanding job.
It was vitaI to ensure that nothing was wasted.
- There we go. Ten toot. - Ten toot.
It normaIIy went to weII-educated girIs who exceIIed at maths.
OK?
We'll take the circumterence ot the tree now.
Not aII the timber in the tree is usabIe.
The curved sides must be removed, Ieaving just a centraI portion.
To caIcuIate the amount of usabIe timber,
a Hoppus conversion tabIe was used.
So that's nine...something nine...
l can't see what. Four toot, nine.
Four toot, nine.
So ten toot lengths, we're looking at a girth ot tour toot, nine.
Ten toot log.
- You just read across there to the number... 1 4.1 .
1 4.1 square teet in that piece ot timber.
Now the tree is ready to be sent to the sawmiII for finaI processing.
Before the war, onIy four per cent of the timber used in Britain was home-grown.
By the end, it was 60 per cent -
over 1 8 miIIion tons.
(Bicycle bell)
Throughout the war, miIk was seen by the government
as essentiaI for the nation's heaIth,
a much-needed source of nutrition, especiaIIy for chiIdren.
To produce enough for the popuIation,
caIves were removed from their mothers very soon after birth
and fed with artificiaI miIk, Ieaving the fresh miIk for human consumption.
lt's up to you.
Manor Farm's caIves have been taught to feed from bottIes
but bottIe-feeding is time consuming,
so AIex and Peter must train them to drink from a bucket.
Ooh, this one's got teeth, Peter.
Nearly.
Ooh!
(Chuckles)
Not stupid, that one.
What we'll do is remove these trom the equation entirely.
Yeah.
Come on, there we go. You're so close.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nearly. Nearly.
- He's still sucking trom my tingers. - Yeah.
lt needs to learn to lap.
Here we are. Here we are.
lt's like a milk bonanza.
This is where the good stuff is.
And there we go.
There we go.
lt's one ot those moments on a tarm - on any tarm -
when you get that moment ot independence in an animal.
You know it's got just a much better chance in lite.
Improved methods of dairy farming paid off.
In 1 942, saIes of miIk hit over a biIIion gaIIons,
40 per cent above pre-war IeveIs.
But with imported feed scarce and Iess miIk for the caIves,
they needed an additionaI source of protein in their diet.
One soIution was beans.
AIex and Peter have ordered a new seed driII to sow the beans more quickIy.
But their efforts have been thwarted by the weather.
Well, here we are.
Not as dry as it could be.
lt's not. And the problem is the rain isn't letting up.
We've got clouds in the sky. We're expecting more rain on top ot what we've had.
You can see there's water sitting on the ground but we've got an afternoon ot dry
and we've just got to get these beans in the ground.
- You ready tor it, Peter? - l am.
But the main thing is, in the context ot the war, this was bonus ground.
This was turning every inch ot your tarm into something that could produce a crop.
- That's enough in there? - That's enough.
OK. That's the hopper tull. lt's a tantastic piece ot kit, this.
This is really versatile. You can sow virtually any type ot seed.
At the moment, we've got it set up so that it's tor beans.
There's a regulator on the back which determines how often
it drops the beans out at.
- We've got it set up tor six inches? - Yeah.
The only problem is, Peter,
is as you're pushing this through this claggy, tilthy clay,
you'll struggle to get traction with this wheel.
my only concern.
So you're going to walk in tront, throwing sawdust down?
No, l'm going to stand here on the dry and watch you.
As the wheeI rotates, it turns two chambers.
One removes the bean from the hopper and sends it into the second chamber,
which drops the bean into the ground, producing a cIicking sound.
That is...going, going. lt's good. But we're sowing quite thin to start with.
So we know we've got enough beans to do the whole patch,
then we can come over and sow again.
But this should... Oh.
(Laughs) Oh, no.
Oops.
That hopper's not tixed shut.
What are you doing?
Shall l just put them on the road?
Yeah, put them on the road, Peter.
Oops.
We're in tor a long afternoon, l think.
The waterIogged soiI is making the job difficuIt,
but the boys need to persevere.
- All done? - All done.
Bit ot a struggle but we got there. How's it looking?
Well, it's looking like they're evenly drilled here.
Let's just hope they're evenly drilled across the whole patch.
But the main problem we'll have here is that we don't have very good drainage
and this clay soil is holding the water.
So it's gonna be a tough call.
The wartime reduction in imported animaI feed
was especiaIIy tough on pigs.
Without enough food to sustain them, the government ordered a massive cuII
and pig meat became scarce.
One soIution from the Ministry of Food
was to estabIish pig cIubs
where communities coIIected their kitchen Ieftovers
to feed a shared animaI,
turning waste into meat.
Six months ago, Ruth started a cIub with a pigIet caIIed Shorty.
Now Ruth and stockwoman Debbie Underwood
have come to check whether Shorty has grown Iarge enough for sIaughter.
Hello, girl.
- She's tatter, isn't she? - She is.
Sorry. mind me.
Hello, Shorty. How you doing, girl? Yeah.
- So she's about six months old now? - Yeah.
Six months she's been eating our pig club scraps and enjoying herselt.
- l don't think she's ready tor slaughter yet. - No, she's still on the small side.
- lt you teel her back... - Yeah.
That's the way we do things now. ln years gone by, they did things differently.
One way they used to teel how much weight they had on them,
they'd put a thumb up the pig's bottom
and you could pinch and see how much meat was there.
- We don't do that nowadays. - That doesn't sound terribly lovely.
No, l'm not offering to do that now, but that is one way ot doing it.
So can you teel, it you push down...
- You can teel... - You can teel where the bones are.
And it gives you a good idea ot how much covering ot tat there is on there.
But they also love a good back scratch as well.
So she's really tirm-tleshed, which is good.
That means muscle is building there but there's not a great deal ot tat.
Nowadays people don't want too much tat on their pigs,
but during the war we were desperate tor any animal tats we could get our hands on.
A nice tat pig gives you lots ot lard.
So it wouldn't be a bad thing it she put on a bit.
lnteresting that now we're getting close to slaughter,
we're sizing her up.
We've got to share her. Halt ot her has to go back to the government.
We get the other halt. So that's halt ot a pig between tour ot us.
lt might not seem like very much,
but when you're so extremely short ot absolutely everything,
every little bit helps.
As weII as bacon,
petroI and dieseI had aIso been rationed since the start of the war.
But in 1 942, the shortages grew even more extreme.
FueI for the armed forces was prioritised,
so those who didn't need their cars for vitaI work
couId no Ionger buy petroI.
Farmers were aIIowed smaII rations of petroI, primariIy for their tractors.
But they needed to Iook for aIternative options for other farm vehicIes.
The boys have found inspiration from an unIikeIy contraption.
Are you breaking something?
Have a look at this.
- massey-Harris... - massey-Harris tractor but what else?
Well, it's obviously been moditied to run off ot...some other torm ot tuel.
Yes, exactly. Solid tuel.
So wood and coal.
Fighting in North Africa severeIy disrupted petroI imports.
But there was an aIternative fueI that was abundant in Britain.
CoaI.
So you've got all ot your solid tuel burning in here,
but that isn't what's providing the power source.
lt's merely providing the gas that you're then gonna burn tor the power source.
So coal and wood contains caloritic value.
A lot ot that caloritic value is turning into gas and that's what we're trying to capture.
- This is a tilter chamber. - lt must be.
So we've got a rough idea ot how this works.
You can tind us a vehicle and convert it.
l can try.
Well, look, l'll tell you what. Try and get your head around this.
See it you can knock something up.
l'll see it l can get my hands on some wartime tuel with which to power it.
Perfect.
With petroI in short suppIy,
gas-powered engines grew more popuIar in the 1 940s.
In cities, town gas was avaiIabIe via a mains suppIy
and was carried in a baIIoon on the chassis to power the vehicIe.
But many areas of the countryside weren't Iinked up to the mains,
so the boys wiII have to make their own coaI gas.
Peter has enIisted the heIp of conservation officer CoIin Richards,
who has a 1 930s ambuIance.
He's hoping to convert its engine
so the vehicIe can be used for important jobs on the farm.
Well, this is it. This is our vehicle.
Colin's just bringing it in.
lt's currently running off petrol and we will convert this to run off coal gas.
This is the machine.
Once the task is done, the ambuIance shouId be abIe to traveI for 30 miIes
on one Ioad of coaI.
- Have you ever done this betore? - No.
l know the theory.
lt's not easy but l think, between us, we can sort ot...
..have a go at making it work.
The first job is to make a furnace.
CoIin is using an oId metaI container with waIIs thick enough to survive the heat.
There we go.
We have an engine that's currently running off petrol.
We need to convert it to run off the gas that's coming trom coal.
So on the tront, l'm going to put essentially a hopper
into which we will put our coal.
And this coal will be on tire.
And this tire will be giving off gas.
Off the coal.
And we're going to...
..collect this gas...
..and teed it down into another container...
This is just gonna take out all those impurities in the smoke...
so what eventually gets ted into our engine...
..is good, clean gas.
When burning coaI, onIy 40 per cent of the energy in the coaI goes into heating.
The other 60 per cent escapes as coaI gas.
And it's this that wiII power the engine.
Next, CoIin begins work on the hopper.
Made from an oId boiIer hammered into shape,
it wiII sit near the top of the furnace and carry the coaI.
The reason that we need this dome shape
is so that as the vehicle is moving along and it's sort ot shaking around,
it actually shakes the coal down into the tire because ot this shape.
- lt's very hot. - Yeah, it is.
- l'm going to go tor another quench. - Another quench.
During the war, 200 miIIion tons of coaI was needed each year
to keep the country running and power the factories invoIved in the war effort.
AIex has come to a mine in the Forest Of Dean, owned by Robin Morgan.
How tar down are we going, Robin?
Um...l would say the cover you've got here is somewhere around 200 toot.
- 200 toot? - Yeah.
- Vertical, that is. - Right.
CoaI was pIentifuI in Britain.
The probIem was how to get it out of the ground.
Before the war, British mining was hugeIy dependent on manuaI Iabour.
Less than ten per cent of coaI was cut by machine.
Robin, was this mine open during the Second World War?
This mine was open, actually, 200 years ago. Parts ot this mine was.
Right. OK. So some ot these workings here were worked during the Second World War?
Detinitely. Yes.
But skiIIed miners were Ieaving for the battIefieId
and there was a reaI danger that coaI, vitaI to the war effort, wouId run short.
- OK, so where are we now? - Nearly down to the coaltace.
l can hear people working away.
The government appeaIed for voIunteer miners
but conditions in the mines were so notoriousIy bad that few signed up.
So in 1 943, Ernest Bevin, the Minister for Labour,
resorted to conscripting young men to work in the mines.
Ten per cent of aII those caIIed up for war went underground.
They became known as the Bevin Boys.
- There's not a lot ot room up there. - No, there's not.
But it's surprising how you can adapt yourselt to work in places like that.
When l tirst came into the mines, years ago,
it used to territy me to look up these coaltaces. ''l wouldn't even put my toot in there,'' l thought.
But you get so used to it after...
lt's not so dangerous as you think.
So the Bevin Boys would have come down the mine and telt like you did the tirst time.
They'd be territied. Yes.
- Absolutely territied? - Without a doubt. Yeah.
You want us to go up there and have a go, then?
Yeah, by all means. See what it's like.
You'll tind it's a bit awkward to start with, you know.
Mining expert Rick Stewart has come to heIp AIex extract some coaI.
He's really loving this and l'm not so certain.
- OK. - lt's quite roomy here.
You're joking, aren't you?
Right.
So, Rick, this is the coaltace?
Absolutely. You can see the black coal there.
lt's our job to take this out.
So what's the strategy here? Picking it out by hand?
No. We're going to use a pick, but just put a small hole in the tace.
Then we're gonna use our air boring machine.
So it you want to crawl in where that dish is,
and just put a hole in... a couple ot inches deep, yeah?
The hoIes made in the waII wouId be fiIIed with geIignite
to bIast away the coaIface.
l've just cracked my knuckles on this pit prop here, digging this hole.
This is working in the most extreme conditions, it has to be said.
l think l'm pretty much there.
- That's not bad. - OK.
Not bad tor a tirst-timer.
- So the next thing we do... - You want to get this thing set up?
- That's a pretty mean-looking drill bit. - lt is, isn't it?
- So that's now in. - Yeah.
So once we've got the air on, we're more or less ready to drill.
- Robin, could you oblige with the air? - l will.
(Whirring)
- That is a beast! - Whoa.
That is a bit ot kit.
And we just put in a two-toot shot hole in 1 0 to 1 5 seconds.
AImost 22,000 Bevin Boys were conscripted,
news that many found devastating.
Pre the end ot 1 943, they would have gone into the army,
the air torce, the navy.
After December 1 943,
ten per cent ot those boys would come down those mines.
And that was done, effectively, on a random ballot.
40 per cent of those caIIed into the mines appeaIed against their fate...
but their cries feII on deaf ears.
500 men were prosecuted for refusing to work
and many paid a high price for their dissent.
There were many who, rather than coming underground,
actually went to jail instead.
What sort ot choice is that?
So we've now drilled the hole, the next thing we'll do is charge it.
- ls this an electric charge? - Yeah, absolutely.
We're using electric detonators here.
So the tirst thing we do is put the charge into the hole.
Once we've got the charge itselt in, we then put the stemming in.
The stemming is a piece of cIay which hoIds the charge in the hoIe,
directing the bIast into the coaIface.
The next job is to connect up the tiring wires.
When we're satistied that everything's OK, when we've tested our circuit,
we then tire our charge.
Back at the forge, Peter and CoIin have made the furnace for burning the coaI.
This wiII produce coaI gas to power the engine of their 1 930s ambuIance.
The next stage is to make the gas cooIer,
a Iong pipe which wiII transport the coaI gas between the furnace and the fiIter.
- We've got to bend this pipe, yeah? - Yeah.
- To do this, we're gonna till it with sand? - Yeah.
Because it's a hollow tube and once we heat it up,
this gets very soft and it we bend it, it'll just kink.
And what we want is the gas to be able to tlow evenly through the pipework.
So we have to till it with something which is tlexible but can take the heat in the tire.
And that is kiln-dried sand.
Using sand to bend pipework is a very traditionaI technique
dating back hundreds of years.
This is the tormer that we've made to bend the pipe,
to give us a sweeping curve trom the top ot the turnace...
down into the tilter.
Right. OK.
In order to be fIexibIe enough to bend,
the pipe must be heated to 800 degrees CeIsius.
That's OK. Keep going. Keep going.
Keep going. OK.
Look at that.
- Good bend? - Yeah.
The pipe wiII be shaped into a concertina,
increasing the distance the gas has to traveI.
As it passes through, the gas cooIs, becoming denser and more combustibIe.
Right.
- Job done? - Yeah. Yeah. Well done.
- Right. - OK.
Just work it back.
Politicians can only dream ot a U like that.
(Hissing)
UnIike farming, where the women's Land Army and conscientious objectors couId provide heIp,
the mines reIied soIeIy on Bevin Boys for extra Iabour.
Part of the reason that mining was such an unpopuIar occupation
was the danger invoIved.
Around a quarter of aII wartime miners wouId suffer a serious injury
during their time underground.
BIasting the coaIface was a particuIarIy hazardous task.
- What do we do? - This is the exploder.
So tirst job...is to connect up the tiring wires.
- Bit like a car battery. - Exactly, yeah. Exactly.
- The tiring handle's in. - Yeah.
You're waiting tor that light to come on,
which tells us that we've got enough charge in there to tire.
OK.
Give that a wind.
There we go. lt's building up the charge.
- You've got enough charge there. - Yeah.
- When you're ready, press the tire button. - That one?
- Yeah. - So l can press that now?
Yeah.
(Explosion)
Once the coaI was bIasted from the face,
the Bevin Boys had the hard task of cIearing it away.
So, being an experienced miner, it would be up to you to set the charges,
but the Bevin Boys would be the ones charged with
taking all the coal away trom the tace and out ot the mine?
Yeah. They'd be doing the less-skilled work,
pulling the coal down trom the tace
and also then tramming it up to surface.
So dangerous work but it wasn't technically difficult.
No. No. And not glamorous either.
UnIike miIitary conscripts, there was no Iet-up for the Bevin Boys,
even after the war ended in 1 945.
Britain stiII needed coaI and the Bevin Boys were not demobiIised for another three years.
So a big thank you, it you like, is long overdue
tor all ot those men that were torced to come down here and mine.
Absolutely. The 20,000 Bevin Boys, many ot them are dead now -
most ot whom are dead -
they deserve a huge thank you trom the nation.
Right.
(Groans) We've made this very heavy.
Peter and CoIin are at Iast ready to assembIe their coaI-powered creation.
One ot the things that this sort ot characterises
is the tact that a lot ot the sort ot blacksmiths and engineers had gone away to war
and it was the tarmhands who were having to turn their hand
to engineering and improvisation
using whatever lay around the tarm.
And the problems that we've encountered
and the sheer effort involved in making this work,
is exactly what would have happened during the 1 940s.
As CoIin weIds the pieces together,
Peter has one more job to do before they can test the engine.
We need to till up our tilter.
This is gonna take all the particles that are coming through -
essentially just smoke -
it's gonna tilter those out so all we're left with is gas.
Now, l've got some heather. We're gonna start putting this in.
The leaves and the tlowers are highly absorbent.
And the particles will stick to the very large surface area.
- l haven't pushed it down too much? - No, that's tine.
- lt's just sort ot... - Just lightly packed.
Lid on. lt's been absolutely knackering.
Three-day marathon, Alex.
You look like you've just done a three-day marathon.
Here's your coal.
- This... - l can barely recognise you in there.
Filthy - as usual.
This looks absolutely amazing.
This is Colin's vision come to lite.
With the coaI in the hopper, a fire is Iit in the furnace to start producing gas.
Ruth has arrived, to give the ambuIance its first test drive.
Are you gonna talk me through this? (Laughs)
- OK? - OK. l'm in.
There's a starter button underneath.
(Engine turns but tails to start)
Right. Put the choke on.
(Engine starts but stops again)
Nearly! (Laughs)
Partly on.
my grandtather drove lorries throughout the war. l wonder it he had this sort ot bother.
lt's amazing how many women did the driving during the war.
One ot the easiest groups to train up were young women.
So tor a briet period in the early history ot motoring -
wartime motoring was surprisingly teminine.
Perhaps the most famous wartime ambuIance driver
was the future Queen herseIf.
With everything finaIIy in pIace, now for the moment of truth.
(Engine starts)
Yay!
Three days and a Iot of hard work have paid off. The coaI-powered ambuIance works.
Now aII that's Ieft is to take it for a spin.
This is looking promising.
- Whoa. She's so heavy on the steering. - Steady there. mind that as well.
We have added a lot ot weight, haven't we?
Well, l have to say, Peter, this is an absolute thrill.
lt's not the tastest ride in wartime Britain
- but it's certainly one ot the most exciting. - l love it!
You have to hold the door shut while you're driving.
This is a vehicle that we can use around the tarm tor pretty much anything.
Whoa. All aboard.
VehicIes Iike this were a fueI-saving godsend...
That's right, tella.
..moving Iivestock...
You'll be all right in the back, Peter, with him?
He's off to a nice tlock ot ewes, the lucky boy.
..carting animaI feed...
The ambulance can do us the good service ot running them around tor us.
..and even cooking dinner.
Come on, Ruth. Let's get some tood.
No heat must be wasted.
(Laughs) l love it. Camp cooking. A whole new way ot doing it.
- Camp cooking. - One, two, three.
Whoa.
Pan. Fantastic.
How many cars can you cook your dinner on?
Right. One tin ot Spam...
..a couple ot eggs and a bit ot bread.
- Alex! - Yeah?
- Din-dins! - Wow.
Oh, joy ot joys.
Oh, throw us another one into the pan, Ruth.
You know, l used to hate Spam as a kid.
But that is absolutely delicious. l must have been mad.
After months of being fattened on scraps,
Shorty has reached the size a wartime pig wouId have been at sIaughter.
This is it, then, Shorty.
Time to say goodbye.
A member ot the local constabulary here to make sure we do it all above board. Fair play.
Because meat was so vaIuabIe during the war,
a Iicence was required to sIaughter pigs.
Every time a pig club slaughtered a pig, you were supposed to have a police officer present
to ensure that it was all done properly.
Only the one per licence, yes.
The licence. So that we can't be sneaking off any extras.
lt would be contiscated it you did.
l think she's done really well, considering what she's been eating.
- She's not in bad shape. - She's looking quite good.
She's really put on weight.
Come on, then. Let's get you gone.
Come on, girl.
Come on, then, girl.
HaIf of every pig sIaughtered from a pig cIub
was taken by the government to be distributed as part of the war effort.
WhiIe much of this went into the rationing system,
some aIso went to provide emergency reIief for the victims of air raids.
Southampton, just six miIes from the farm,
was a strategic target for German bombers throughout the war.
Those who survived were often Ieft homeIess.
So the Ministry of Food set up emergency feeding centres,
often using meat from sources Iike pig cIubs to feed the victims.
Ruth has come to Iend a hand at a IocaI centre.
The prices were cheap and were kept capped
in order to ensure that tood really was available to everyone.
So, tor example, a starter like soup would be two pence.
And a main course with meat, potatoes and two veg, you're talking about eight pence.
That really was dirt cheap tor tood.
As with aII restaurants during the war,
you didn't need a ration book to eat at the centres.
Here l've got the stock ot a local emergency teeding station
and it is really quite grim reading.
They had 1 3 cases ot baked beans, with 24 cans in each case.
They had beet hash, biscuit, cocoa, tea and sugar, condensed milk,
meat roll, rice pudding and soup - and that was it.
For severaI weeks, the caIves have been fed on a diet of artificiaI miIk and oats.
But with imported feed strictIy rationed,
farmers often used fodder crops such as swede to suppIement their diets.
To save petroI, the boys are resorting to oId technoIogy
to prepare the feed.
This is our horse gin, or our horse engine.
Like many a wartime tarmer, l haven't used one ot these tor a long time.
A gin is a geared mechanism which is turned by a horse,
transferring power through a series of shafts to any machine a farmer chooses.
All the machinery would have been driven by one ot these during the Victorian period.
But they were phased out and they were replaced by Lister engines.
Obviously, they run on petrol and during the war there was a tuel shortage.
So kit like this was being dug out, put back together to see it it worked
and it it did, it could drive machines like this.
This is just a beet slicer.
lt's going to slice up our roots
and hopetully we can wean our cattle onto solid toods.
WhiIe Peter fixes the gin, AIex is tacking up the horse.
OK, Ben.
Always the hardest bit ot getting a horse tacked up is throwing all ot this stuff over his backside.
By the time you get to 1 942,
the numbers ot tractors have more than doubled
but l'm sure many old-boy Farmers, as well,
would have tound themselves in this situation.
lt must have been lovely tor them, l think, to have brought
old, taithtul animals back into service
and to have seen them working once again tor British agriculture.
Get this belly-band on.
Personally, l relish the opportunity to get a heavy horse in on the tarm
because they really are a tantastic torm ot power.
OK.
With his bridle on now, he's ready to go.
Peter has finished assembIing the gin.
l think we're ready to get the horse on this and slice up some roots.
- How are you doing, Peter? - We're looking good. lt's all there.
- lt's all connected. - You're happy with it?
- As happy as l'll ever be. - Jolly good.
The horse is hooked up to the main drive shaft which wiII turn the gears.
Well, here we go. Let's see how he gets on.
Walk on.
This is the tricky bit. We're gonna walk over this, Ben.
Come on. Walk on. Walk on.
Steady. Steady. Good lad.
Good lad.
OK, Alex, l'm gonna start introducing some roots.
The use of fodder crops rose by a third during the war.
lt's slicing.
He's doing really well.
Really pleased with him. This is the tricky bit.
And step up.
And there we go. Easy.
lt just goes to show that horses could still do a job on wartime tarms.
Good lad.
And step up.
Emergency feeding centres empIoyed voIunteers to make and serve the food,
especiaIIy in ruraI areas.
GiII Dicks has voIunteered to heIp Ruth with the cooking,
but their ingredients are Iimited.
So the menu today is boiled onions with white sauce.
Gill's making the white sauce. lt looks very exciting.
(Laughs) mostly corntlour.
Erm...pork roll, made with pork, and the beans and the bread to pad it out.
And then the pudding - plum duff and custard.
The meat itselt was supplied by the government tor such teeding centres off ration.
But where it originally came trom
is all that pork that has been collected trom the pig clubs up and down the country.
You having tun with that white sauce?
lt would be much more tun with a nice dollop ot margarine and some proper tlour.
But it's thickening.
The next stage is to mix the pork, beans and breadcrumbs together.
l think it's quite interesting that the cheap tood ot wartime was, in many ways,
exactly the polar opposite ot modern cheap tood.
modern tast tood.
This is tood almost entirely without tat and without sugar.
And that pretty much is exactly what modern tast tood is not.
The mixture is wrapped in fIoured cIoth, ready for boiIing.
The advantage ot boiling everything -
and an awful lot ot tood in these British Restaurants was boiled -
is that you can do mass catering very easily.
And those who are eating it haven't seen it made.
- That is a good point. - lt does look like something the cat...
Don't say it. Don't say it. l know. lt does.
The meat roII wiII be boiIed for three hours and then coated in breadcrumbs.
Dessert is plum duff.
Which, ot course, is sort ot...spotted dick.
The pIum duff is made from fIour, breadcrumbs, suet,
raisins for sweetness...and powdered eggs.
(Laughs) l was going to mix up the egg powder.
This was something that was new, coming in trom America.
Eggs were rationed whether they were in powder torm or tresh torm.
The powdered eggs are mixed with water.
The equivaIent of two eggs made dessert for 1 2 peopIe.
The war is the sort ot height ot processed toods in many ways.
Powdered milk - which we're making the sauces out ot rather than tresh milk - powdered egg.
Partly because it was a way ot concentrating nutritional value into a very tiny space,
tor the ships.
lt you can get the nutritional value ot...
..1 2 eggs into a packet that size, why would you move tresh eggs around?
However lacking in meat the main course may be,
however tired you're teeling, a stodgy pudding and custard cheers a person up.
AIex and Peter have finished miIIing the swede and are ready to try it on the caIves.
- Smells good. - They don't smell too bad, actually.
- Now, l'm quite contident here because... - Eating everything in sight.
Haven't had my bath today.
OK. Go on, then, Peter.
Hey, what's that?
He's just licking it, is he?
- No, he's not. Listen. - He's eating it.
- (Crunching)
You can hear him putting those molars to work, grinding down the teed.
ln wartime, Farmers would be looking to balance the diet
so they don't miss out trom not having their mother's milk -
they still put on bulk, put on the weight... and will go on and become good dairy cows.
ln a wartime situation, you'd have no choice because you don't have the teed
and the ministry ot Food is demanding all ot your milk.
You just have to wean them earlier than you would otherwise.
l hadn't really considered how much the Second World War
encroached upon the countryside.
l've always seen it very much in terms ot city lite and the Blitz,
but it really was being tought in these tields out here in Hampshire.
Emergency feeding centres soon became permanent fixtures
and ChurchiII renamed them British Restaurants.
UntiI 1 942, most working peopIe onIy ate at home.
Eating in pubIic was regarded as embarrassing.
But after the government introduced a price cap of five shiIIings for three courses,
for the first time, ordinary peopIe had the option to eat out.
British Restaurants wouId become a Iasting sociaI phenomenon
and signaIIed the start of high-street dining.
Righto. Are you going to be needing a lump ot bread with that, sir?
Ruth's feeding centre is open for business.
Beans.
The meat roII is being served with baked beans,
which were considered to be such a stapIe part of the British diet
that they were off ration for the duration of the war.
- What would you like, sir? - A boiled onion, please.
Ruth's father Geoff used to eat in British Restaurants as a chiId.
He's come to the feeding centre to sampIe Ruth's efforts.
Dad!
l'm having one ot those onions, please.
- Oh, my goodness. - Yes, one ot those.
- So you're testing out... - That it's the real thing.
By the end of the war, British Restaurants were serving 600,000 meaIs a day.
British Restaurants really mark a turning point in British eating culture, too.
This is a time when affordable, basic catering
is suddenly available to a wide number ot people.
British Restaurants really sort ot opened up the catering industry in many ways.
Oh, yes. Yes, l think that's true.
One or two, like the ones l knew in Oxford,
stayed right up until about the '50s - well into the '50s.
People got used to eating out. They got used to the idea ot eating out.
And l think caterers got used to the idea that there was money to be made
out ot doing cheap tood.
Well, as a kid, l didn't know what the money side ot it really was.
That's not as bad as l thought it would be, the meat roll.
lt's actually quite edible. lt really is quite edible.
- But you still like boiled onions. l'm amazed. - Oh, yeah.
- They're all right. - They're very nice.
- l don't know who's cooked them this time... - me.
- You. Right, OK. Well, they're very nice. - They're all right.
Lovely.
Ruth's emergency feeding centre aIso seems to be a hit with the boys.
(She groans)
- Sorry. - You look knackered.
l've been stood up tor l don't know how long. You ate it, then?
That, l mean, that was really good. l loved the meatloat.
- mm. lt was all right, wasn't it. - Delicious.
l mean, it is quite healthy tood.
- The tittest we've ever been as a nation. - So they say.
- So they say.
But also we can't relate to it in terms ot er...
it's so rare in our lives that we ever see a tood shortage in this country.
lt really gives you an insight.
lt's not just a shortage ot one thing. lt's a shortage right across the board.
- Ot everything. - Every single thing.
- Pub? - l think so.
- Betore they rope us into the washing up. - Yeah.
From the need for women to fiII new roIes in the workpIace...
..to the necessity for communaI eating...
..the great hardships experienced in 1 942
and the way Britain sought to overcome them,
wouId have an impact stretching far beyond the years of war.