1 00:00:02,247 --> 00:00:06,207 Our nation hasn't just been built by the leading figures of the day 2 00:00:06,207 --> 00:00:07,847 who go down in the history books, 3 00:00:07,847 --> 00:00:11,047 but by a vast army of workers of all ages 4 00:00:11,047 --> 00:00:14,207 dedicated to doing some really horrific jobs. 5 00:00:14,207 --> 00:00:15,687 This time... 6 00:00:15,687 --> 00:00:20,527 Why the royaI succession reIied on women with cricket bats. 7 00:00:20,527 --> 00:00:25,007 How carrying the king's vitaI messages couId be a painfuI business. 8 00:00:25,007 --> 00:00:26,487 Ooh! 9 00:00:26,487 --> 00:00:30,727 And why the very symboI of monarchy meant working with rotten sheIIfish. 10 00:00:30,727 --> 00:00:32,207 Pwhoa! (Coughs) 11 00:00:32,207 --> 00:00:36,644 Welcome to The Worst Royal Jobs in History. 12 00:01:03,007 --> 00:01:07,047 RoyaIty is aII about pomp, spIendour and priviIege. 13 00:01:07,047 --> 00:01:11,447 But behind the scenes, it's taken a Iot of scraping, spitting and poIishing 14 00:01:11,447 --> 00:01:13,927 to keep the institution going - 15 00:01:13,927 --> 00:01:17,047 worst jobs which have aIIowed our kings and queens 16 00:01:17,047 --> 00:01:20,807 to continue at work and at pIay. 17 00:01:20,807 --> 00:01:22,407 In the medievaI world, 18 00:01:22,407 --> 00:01:25,407 the king sat at the top of the orders of chivaIry. 19 00:01:25,407 --> 00:01:31,277 Sports Iike jousting procIaimed their status as war Ieader and perfect gentIeman. 20 00:01:32,887 --> 00:01:36,807 But in order for the king and his barons to show off without kiIIing each other, 21 00:01:36,807 --> 00:01:40,847 scores of men were empIoyed in the thankIess task 22 00:01:40,847 --> 00:01:43,884 of making the uItimate throwaway designer object. 23 00:01:46,247 --> 00:01:49,607 For the ruling classes, charging full tilt at each other 24 00:01:49,607 --> 00:01:51,407 in order to knock each other onto the ground 25 00:01:51,407 --> 00:01:53,207 was just a bit of sport. 26 00:01:53,207 --> 00:01:57,287 The real bad job was reserved for the bloke who made this - 27 00:01:57,287 --> 00:01:59,527 the lance that you used in the tournament. 28 00:01:59,527 --> 00:02:03,047 Mind you, he didn't make just one. He made loads. 29 00:02:03,047 --> 00:02:05,047 Why so many, Toby? 30 00:02:05,047 --> 00:02:06,847 Well, the thing about jousting 31 00:02:06,847 --> 00:02:11,087 is the object is to hit your opponent as hard as possible. 32 00:02:11,087 --> 00:02:12,847 And when you have trained people doing that, 33 00:02:12,847 --> 00:02:14,487 they're going to be hitting each other regularly 34 00:02:14,487 --> 00:02:16,447 and they're going to be hitting with such force 35 00:02:16,447 --> 00:02:18,767 that they're gonna break their lances. 36 00:02:18,767 --> 00:02:23,247 SkiIIed Iance-makers had to make sure their weapons shattered on impact - 37 00:02:23,247 --> 00:02:26,287 vitaI when royaI safety was at stake. 38 00:02:26,287 --> 00:02:27,767 So someone like Henry Vlll 39 00:02:27,767 --> 00:02:30,087 would have dressed up in the armour and done all this? 40 00:02:30,087 --> 00:02:34,047 Yes, Henry Vlll himself was a very, very enthusiastic jouster, 41 00:02:34,047 --> 00:02:37,967 so much so that his courtiers often tried to dissuade him from it. 42 00:02:37,967 --> 00:02:41,087 He was nearly killed in a joust in 1 524. 43 00:02:41,087 --> 00:02:45,247 He was so excited by the event that he charged off without lowering his visor, 44 00:02:45,247 --> 00:02:47,567 and his opponent, who couldn't see very well, 45 00:02:47,567 --> 00:02:49,367 couldn't really see what was going on, 46 00:02:49,367 --> 00:02:51,887 and Henry was struck right above the eye. 47 00:02:51,887 --> 00:02:55,087 And the lance broke and splinters flew into the King's face, 48 00:02:55,087 --> 00:02:56,807 and he was within inches of death. 49 00:02:56,807 --> 00:02:59,526 lt was extraordinary that he wasn't even hurt, actually. 50 00:03:01,847 --> 00:03:04,207 So how many might these guys have had to make? 51 00:03:04,207 --> 00:03:08,287 We do know in 1 403, there's a record of a lance-maker 52 00:03:08,287 --> 00:03:12,047 supplying 1 7 1 lances for a tournament in Spain. 53 00:03:12,047 --> 00:03:15,687 And if you have a large tournament with 60 or 1 00 knights competing, 54 00:03:15,687 --> 00:03:18,367 that's a lot of lances they're going to be going through. 55 00:03:18,367 --> 00:03:22,527 Light, beautifuIIy decorated, superbIy baIanced 56 00:03:22,527 --> 00:03:24,324 and gone in a second. 57 00:03:26,927 --> 00:03:29,567 The Iance-maker's job was so underrated 58 00:03:29,567 --> 00:03:32,487 that the very technoIogy for making them has been Iost. 59 00:03:32,487 --> 00:03:37,163 We've had to get a master carpenter to work out how it was done. 60 00:03:38,607 --> 00:03:40,167 Gerry! Hello, Tony. 61 00:03:40,167 --> 00:03:42,687 Tell me that these things are easy to make. 62 00:03:42,687 --> 00:03:44,167 lf only they were! 63 00:03:44,167 --> 00:03:47,647 l've spent a week now trying to work out the way they made them, 64 00:03:47,647 --> 00:03:50,287 and l think l've got there now, l think l've got there. 65 00:03:50,287 --> 00:03:52,567 l nearly lost a leg, but l think l've got there. 66 00:03:52,567 --> 00:03:54,607 And you were using language l'd hardly ever heard before. 67 00:03:54,607 --> 00:03:56,407 Language l haven't used for a long time. 68 00:03:56,407 --> 00:03:58,047 So tell me how this thing is made. 69 00:03:58,047 --> 00:04:00,127 Well, basically, what we've got, we've got a tree. 70 00:04:00,127 --> 00:04:03,847 First of all, we square it off. And l'm using a side axe. 71 00:04:03,847 --> 00:04:07,647 And if you look at that, you'll find there's one side is flat, one side's curved. 72 00:04:07,647 --> 00:04:12,127 And it's basically for just taking away the timber, 73 00:04:12,127 --> 00:04:15,487 you're making lots of small cuts...along, 74 00:04:15,487 --> 00:04:19,127 and then a couple of long, sweeping cuts. 75 00:04:19,127 --> 00:04:21,847 And as you can see, it's beginning to square up already. 76 00:04:21,847 --> 00:04:23,807 There. Would you like to have a go? Yep. 77 00:04:23,807 --> 00:04:27,527 You've got to remember, this is gonna be done on four sides. 78 00:04:27,527 --> 00:04:30,687 lf you do that for two hours, l'll go round here. 79 00:04:30,687 --> 00:04:32,567 Two hours?! Blimey! 80 00:04:32,567 --> 00:04:37,118 And after two hours, it should look something like this. 81 00:04:38,847 --> 00:04:42,442 Which we then, with the draw knife... 82 00:04:44,007 --> 00:04:47,522 ..trim down for another three or four hours. 83 00:04:50,007 --> 00:04:52,207 And once we've got it to this sort of size, 84 00:04:52,207 --> 00:04:58,607 we take the scrapers and finish them off, so that we get a nice round shaft. 85 00:04:58,607 --> 00:05:03,367 One piIe of woodchips Iater, I naiveIy assumed I'd done the most boring part. 86 00:05:03,367 --> 00:05:05,207 Are we finished yet? No, not quite. 87 00:05:05,207 --> 00:05:07,847 What have we got to do? We've still got the handle to do. 88 00:05:07,847 --> 00:05:10,007 Where do we do that? Over on the pole lathe. 89 00:05:10,007 --> 00:05:12,607 That's this thing? That's the machine over there. 90 00:05:12,607 --> 00:05:16,127 If you've ever pumped up a car tyre with a foot pump, 91 00:05:16,127 --> 00:05:19,447 you'II know that just a few minutes is exhausting. 92 00:05:19,447 --> 00:05:22,245 And we're relying on good old leg power here. 93 00:05:24,207 --> 00:05:26,807 Would you like to have a go? l'm left-handed. l'll have to go... 94 00:05:26,807 --> 00:05:28,687 So am l ! Oh, that's alright, then. 95 00:05:28,687 --> 00:05:30,207 l'll come round this side. Alright. 96 00:05:30,207 --> 00:05:34,767 Forget five minutes. Each handIe took a good three hours to make. 97 00:05:34,767 --> 00:05:36,607 We'll make a pole churner of you yet. 98 00:05:36,607 --> 00:05:39,927 l tell you what, it doesn't take long before your leg starts to ache, does it? 99 00:05:39,927 --> 00:05:43,363 That's it, but there, again, you end up with one really big thigh. 100 00:05:46,767 --> 00:05:48,527 You get the idea. 101 00:05:48,527 --> 00:05:51,727 With nothing to occupy your mind except the screaming ache in your Ieg, 102 00:05:51,727 --> 00:05:54,727 this is incredibIy monotonous work. 103 00:05:54,727 --> 00:05:58,087 But you have to keep aIert - as the poIe gets thinner, 104 00:05:58,087 --> 00:06:01,967 there's a danger that it wiII snap, causing terribIe injuries. 105 00:06:01,967 --> 00:06:06,327 But after two days scraping and chipping, there's no thanks, 106 00:06:06,327 --> 00:06:10,798 and about as much job satisfaction as making teapots out of chocoIate. 107 00:06:14,407 --> 00:06:17,487 Now, that is such a frustrating sight! 108 00:06:17,487 --> 00:06:19,807 lt must have been part of the status for the nobles 109 00:06:19,807 --> 00:06:21,727 to destroy something that looked so good. 110 00:06:21,727 --> 00:06:24,487 But imagine what it must have been like for the lance-maker - 111 00:06:24,487 --> 00:06:27,847 not only to see this beautiful thing trashed, 112 00:06:27,847 --> 00:06:33,287 but trashed at about 35 miles an hour, in about five seconds flat. 113 00:06:33,287 --> 00:06:34,967 Mind you, that's not all. 114 00:06:34,967 --> 00:06:40,280 After the tournament came the battle, and the jobs just got worse and worse. 115 00:06:45,407 --> 00:06:49,207 For centuries, being a king meant going to war. 116 00:06:49,207 --> 00:06:51,807 There were wars to win the throne, wars to defend it, 117 00:06:51,807 --> 00:06:53,287 wars with foreign powers. 118 00:06:53,287 --> 00:06:57,607 MedievaI kings reaIIy fought, and seven of them died on the battIefieId. 119 00:06:57,607 --> 00:07:00,687 So it was vitaI to the defence of the reaIm 120 00:07:00,687 --> 00:07:03,281 for the king to have the very best armour. 121 00:07:05,247 --> 00:07:09,407 Chain maiI was the business. It was soIid, but fIexibIe. 122 00:07:09,407 --> 00:07:13,567 So the reaI architects of royaI power from Hastings to Agincourt 123 00:07:13,567 --> 00:07:19,767 were the poor souIs who had to knit these coats out of thousands of bits of wire. 124 00:07:19,767 --> 00:07:24,487 It's not hard to imagine the downside of being a Iink-maker. 125 00:07:24,487 --> 00:07:29,727 The fact is, it was incredibly laborious and repetitive work. 126 00:07:29,727 --> 00:07:34,327 lt involved cutting thousands and thousands of rings 127 00:07:34,327 --> 00:07:37,727 and linking them together one by one. 128 00:07:37,727 --> 00:07:40,207 The problem was, it was very dangerous 129 00:07:40,207 --> 00:07:42,447 in the sense that you'd often get lacerations 130 00:07:42,447 --> 00:07:46,287 from the rusty metal which you're playing with. 131 00:07:46,287 --> 00:07:49,207 lnfections can get in, tetanus - 132 00:07:49,207 --> 00:07:52,407 all those lovely things which we don't have to live with today, luckily. 133 00:07:52,407 --> 00:07:54,447 So what do we do when we've finished that? 134 00:07:54,447 --> 00:07:57,767 Well, once we've clipped this off, we've got a little coil, 135 00:07:57,767 --> 00:08:00,767 and next step in the process, we need to go over to a little workplate. 136 00:08:00,767 --> 00:08:02,247 Yep. 137 00:08:02,247 --> 00:08:05,487 So, first wind your wire into a Iong coiI. 138 00:08:05,487 --> 00:08:08,927 l've got a special set of crimping tools here, which have a tiny little hole 139 00:08:08,927 --> 00:08:11,727 set about two mil in, which is just over the width of the wire. 140 00:08:11,727 --> 00:08:16,127 Then cut the coiI into singIe overlapped wire rings. 141 00:08:16,127 --> 00:08:17,727 An overlapped ring. 142 00:08:17,727 --> 00:08:21,527 Heat and soften the rings in a fire untiI cherry red. 143 00:08:21,527 --> 00:08:25,087 A beautiful cherry red, but they will cool quite quickly. 144 00:08:25,087 --> 00:08:30,407 Stage four- hammer out the rings to make a singIe fIat overlapped Iink. 145 00:08:30,407 --> 00:08:32,687 Give it a tap. Two. 146 00:08:32,687 --> 00:08:34,447 Three of those. 147 00:08:34,447 --> 00:08:37,087 And you can see that the ring is now flattened. 148 00:08:37,087 --> 00:08:39,767 Now it becomes much more arduous, because... 149 00:08:39,767 --> 00:08:44,087 And now these fIat overlapped pieces have to be riveted together for strength. 150 00:08:44,087 --> 00:08:49,927 So, what you need to do is place the ring just over that hole. 151 00:08:49,927 --> 00:08:51,487 You know what l'm worried about - 152 00:08:51,487 --> 00:08:55,047 if l miss this little hole with my tool, l could mess up your tool, couldn't l? 153 00:08:55,047 --> 00:08:56,605 Give it a good solid whack. 154 00:08:57,647 --> 00:08:59,127 There you go. Stop. Oh, yep. 155 00:08:59,127 --> 00:09:02,007 Now, you've gone a bit too far there. l've messed it up, haven't l? 156 00:09:02,007 --> 00:09:04,567 Yeah. lt's not gone through and the ring's split apart. 157 00:09:04,567 --> 00:09:06,607 So can we use yours, 'cause l'm... Yeah. Sure. 158 00:09:06,607 --> 00:09:08,527 ..terrified l might die of boredom otherwise. 159 00:09:08,527 --> 00:09:09,527 OK. 160 00:09:09,527 --> 00:09:13,567 Little triangular rivet here, and what we're going to do 161 00:09:13,567 --> 00:09:19,287 is force the little rivet into the hole which we've made. 162 00:09:19,287 --> 00:09:22,727 So why was this job so important to the king? 163 00:09:22,727 --> 00:09:26,527 Well, the provision of good-quality armour to the armed forces 164 00:09:26,527 --> 00:09:29,247 was integral to the security of the country 165 00:09:29,247 --> 00:09:31,567 and ultimately the security of the monarchy. 166 00:09:31,567 --> 00:09:33,367 So he would have wanted his men 167 00:09:33,367 --> 00:09:36,047 to have the best-quality stuff he could possibly afford. 168 00:09:36,047 --> 00:09:39,087 So no mail, no king? Pretty much. You got it, yeah. 169 00:09:39,087 --> 00:09:41,767 Which some people might say is quite a good thing. 170 00:09:41,767 --> 00:09:45,567 And we're gonna set it by squeezing it with these pliers 171 00:09:45,567 --> 00:09:48,320 and giving it a good hammer strike on top. 172 00:09:50,527 --> 00:09:55,167 And there you have it - one highly durable, solid steel, mail-riveted ring, 173 00:09:55,167 --> 00:09:58,487 which makes up one of the many on this hauberk just over here. 174 00:09:58,487 --> 00:10:01,327 There are something like 30,000 rings on this, aren't there? 175 00:10:01,327 --> 00:10:07,487 So just another 29,999 and we'll have made a complete mail shirt. 176 00:10:07,487 --> 00:10:11,447 To do that, each ring has to be riveted through its neighbour 177 00:10:11,447 --> 00:10:13,327 to make a strong and suppIe suit - 178 00:10:13,327 --> 00:10:15,887 an incredibIy Iaborious process. 179 00:10:15,887 --> 00:10:19,247 So there was pIenty of work for Iink-makers, 180 00:10:19,247 --> 00:10:21,567 who were apprenticed at age 1 2 181 00:10:21,567 --> 00:10:26,004 and had to settIe for working Iong, boring hours without pay. 182 00:10:27,207 --> 00:10:29,127 lf l'm the king, l want some more mail, 183 00:10:29,127 --> 00:10:32,927 l want to commission you to make it, and l want it tomorrow, can you do it for me? 184 00:10:32,927 --> 00:10:36,767 Uh, very unlikely, unless you've got a work force of maybe 1 00 men or so, 185 00:10:36,767 --> 00:10:39,847 because the king is gonna have the very best mail available 186 00:10:39,847 --> 00:10:41,767 and it's going to be very fine stuff, 187 00:10:41,767 --> 00:10:44,047 much smaller than the rings we're actually using here. 188 00:10:44,047 --> 00:10:47,167 l've got one example here - bronze ring - 189 00:10:47,167 --> 00:10:49,607 which you can see is about a third of the size 190 00:10:49,607 --> 00:10:51,727 of the ones we're gonna be working with. 191 00:10:51,727 --> 00:10:55,207 There are shirts which have in excess of 200,000 rings 192 00:10:55,207 --> 00:10:58,324 and are so dense that you can't even force a needle through it. 193 00:11:00,927 --> 00:11:04,887 But even when they weren't using their costIy chain maiI in battIe, 194 00:11:04,887 --> 00:11:07,167 medievaI monarchs had pIenty of other ways 195 00:11:07,167 --> 00:11:09,886 of keeping themseIves at the top of the tree. 196 00:11:13,007 --> 00:11:15,807 This is King HaroId in the Bayeux Tapestry, 197 00:11:15,807 --> 00:11:18,487 and that's not a mutant duck he's hoIding, 198 00:11:18,487 --> 00:11:22,560 but one of the most expensive status symboIs in history. 199 00:11:24,207 --> 00:11:26,167 A faIcon. 200 00:11:26,167 --> 00:11:29,247 Hunting wasn't just a sport for the monarchy. 201 00:11:29,247 --> 00:11:32,205 It was an essentiaI way of showing who was boss. 202 00:11:33,967 --> 00:11:37,367 WhoIe areas Iike the New Forest were reserved just for the king, 203 00:11:37,367 --> 00:11:40,927 and there were even ruIes about which ranks couId use which sort of hawk. 204 00:11:40,927 --> 00:11:45,967 Imagine trying to keep a Iiving Lamborghini with feathers happy 205 00:11:45,967 --> 00:11:49,767 and you'II see what was at stake for the royaI faIconer. 206 00:11:49,767 --> 00:11:52,567 Jay, we're out in the country with these fantastic birds. 207 00:11:52,567 --> 00:11:55,047 Why was falconry such a bad job? 208 00:11:55,047 --> 00:11:57,127 Well, 'cause they were so fantastic. 209 00:11:57,127 --> 00:12:00,327 l mean, if you were to lose one of these, you were in so much trouble. 210 00:12:00,327 --> 00:12:02,767 These birds are worth a fortune, 211 00:12:02,767 --> 00:12:06,727 worth more than a lot of the other hunting assets of the royal families. 212 00:12:06,727 --> 00:12:10,047 So, for example, Phillip the Bold's son was captured 213 00:12:10,047 --> 00:12:11,647 during one of the Crusades. 214 00:12:11,647 --> 00:12:14,607 His ransom was 200,000 golden ducats, 215 00:12:14,607 --> 00:12:18,447 but that was declined for just 1 2 gyrfalcons instead. 216 00:12:18,447 --> 00:12:20,287 So they're so valuable 217 00:12:20,287 --> 00:12:24,567 that should you lose one of these, you were in real, real trouble. 218 00:12:24,567 --> 00:12:26,647 This part of the job doesn't seem great. 219 00:12:26,647 --> 00:12:28,807 No, you, as the cadgeman, 220 00:12:28,807 --> 00:12:32,567 had to carry these royal falcons into the field for the royalty. 221 00:12:32,567 --> 00:12:35,247 The cadgeman. A cadger. The cadger. 222 00:12:35,247 --> 00:12:37,287 lt's where you get the phrase 'cadge a lift' from. 223 00:12:37,287 --> 00:12:42,727 You had to carry these through all terrain, crossing rivers in the worst... 224 00:12:42,727 --> 00:12:46,327 ..areas of the country, and possibly quite bad climatic conditions. 225 00:12:46,327 --> 00:12:48,527 And would there normally have been about this number of birds 226 00:12:48,527 --> 00:12:50,167 on one of these frames? 227 00:12:50,167 --> 00:12:52,007 Well, you're looking at four on this particular cadge, 228 00:12:52,007 --> 00:12:54,247 but you could have been carrying 1 2, even more than that, 229 00:12:54,247 --> 00:12:56,927 and each bird weighing between 230 00:12:56,927 --> 00:12:58,647 1 .5 to 2 pounds in weight. 231 00:12:58,647 --> 00:13:00,807 Of course, it's gonna weigh the old codger down. 232 00:13:00,807 --> 00:13:03,567 So if l lose one of these, l'm in big trouble. 233 00:13:03,567 --> 00:13:06,447 l have to carry this cage around with me all the time. What else? 234 00:13:06,447 --> 00:13:09,607 Well, you would have to make sure that you recovered the hawks, 235 00:13:09,607 --> 00:13:14,367 crossing icy streams, risking life and limb to recover the bird, 236 00:13:14,367 --> 00:13:15,847 should it chase and kill something. 237 00:13:15,847 --> 00:13:17,887 Should you not be able to recover the trained hawk, 238 00:13:17,887 --> 00:13:21,207 of course, that hawk, or one like it, 239 00:13:21,207 --> 00:13:26,327 once finally recovered, would remove six ounces of flesh from your breast. 240 00:13:26,327 --> 00:13:27,806 Oh, great. 241 00:13:28,807 --> 00:13:32,287 The punishment of having a hamburger-sized piece of your body 242 00:13:32,287 --> 00:13:34,327 eaten by the bird 243 00:13:34,327 --> 00:13:36,727 wouId aIone make this a worst job. 244 00:13:36,727 --> 00:13:40,967 But the terror started early, at the age of seven. 245 00:13:40,967 --> 00:13:45,447 Their first job was to tame down a wildly trapped hawk. 246 00:13:45,447 --> 00:13:47,887 So they not only had this huge bird on their hand, 247 00:13:47,887 --> 00:13:50,847 but they had a very angry bird with them as well. 248 00:13:50,847 --> 00:13:52,567 What are we gonna do now?. 249 00:13:52,567 --> 00:13:55,527 Well, we're gonna give this guy his daily exercise. 250 00:13:55,527 --> 00:13:58,447 A falconer had to exercise his hawks every day 251 00:13:58,447 --> 00:14:01,847 as well as the normal management of feeding, cleaning, look after them. 252 00:14:01,847 --> 00:14:05,601 The hawk was a priority. That came first above everything else. 253 00:14:06,967 --> 00:14:09,287 You can feel a nice bit of breeze there. 254 00:14:09,287 --> 00:14:11,926 His wings come out. And we'll let him off. 255 00:14:14,487 --> 00:14:19,247 Exercising a faIcon requires a bit more skiII than waIking a dog. 256 00:14:19,247 --> 00:14:22,327 You have to swing a baited Iure just out of reach 257 00:14:22,327 --> 00:14:25,444 of a bird fIying at 30 or 40 miIes an hour. 258 00:14:27,927 --> 00:14:29,407 Wow! 259 00:14:29,407 --> 00:14:33,047 But the rigorous job spec aIso invoIved personaI quaIities. 260 00:14:33,047 --> 00:14:36,727 ln the late 1 3th century, Aliard wrote 261 00:14:36,727 --> 00:14:42,447 that a falconer had to be sober, patient, chaste, sweet-smelling 262 00:14:42,447 --> 00:14:46,607 and avoiding preoccupations. 263 00:14:46,607 --> 00:14:48,127 Chaste, as in not sleeping with people? 264 00:14:48,127 --> 00:14:49,767 Very much so. 265 00:14:49,767 --> 00:14:52,487 Because sleeping with the local prostitute could lead to disease, 266 00:14:52,487 --> 00:14:55,527 which could be passed on to the falcons themselves. 267 00:14:55,527 --> 00:14:59,367 Thus encouraged to think I was perfectIy cut out for the job, 268 00:14:59,367 --> 00:15:02,643 it's my turn to put the birds through their paces. 269 00:15:04,967 --> 00:15:10,007 I mean, how hard couId it be to swing my bit of meat on the end of a string? 270 00:15:10,007 --> 00:15:12,487 lf at any time you're not sure... 271 00:15:12,487 --> 00:15:14,367 Oh! She... (Laughs) 272 00:15:14,367 --> 00:15:17,962 That was very, very scary. You are so clever. 273 00:15:21,527 --> 00:15:23,247 TONY: Oh! Does that count? 274 00:15:23,247 --> 00:15:26,847 She caught it. She caught it. ln one. 275 00:15:26,847 --> 00:15:29,527 You're swinging the wrong way. lt ought to be forward at the bottom. 276 00:15:29,527 --> 00:15:31,527 Oh, forward at the bottom - that's what l've done wrong? 277 00:15:31,527 --> 00:15:35,767 Whoa! l tried to put it behind my back to readjust it. 278 00:15:35,767 --> 00:15:38,487 She just followed it behind my back and went down and got it. 279 00:15:38,487 --> 00:15:40,087 You are some smart bird. 280 00:15:40,087 --> 00:15:43,647 A faIcon hunt was a great sociaI occasion. 281 00:15:43,647 --> 00:15:47,287 But aII the training was for nothing if you couIdn't keep up with the royaIs 282 00:15:47,287 --> 00:15:50,327 as they hunted rabbit and wiId fowI. 283 00:15:50,327 --> 00:15:53,447 Remember, the royal party are mounted on horseback. 284 00:15:53,447 --> 00:15:56,927 These guys are being followed by you on foot. 285 00:15:56,927 --> 00:15:59,327 So you've got to be up the hills and over the dales, 286 00:15:59,327 --> 00:16:01,727 through the bramble bushes, through the briars, 287 00:16:01,727 --> 00:16:04,647 across streams, at risk of drowning - 288 00:16:04,647 --> 00:16:08,687 anything to recover your hawk and the quarry that it's taken. 289 00:16:08,687 --> 00:16:10,247 So, Blade... 290 00:16:10,247 --> 00:16:11,767 He's going for something. He's seen something. 291 00:16:11,767 --> 00:16:13,167 There. 292 00:16:13,167 --> 00:16:14,567 Yep. 293 00:16:14,567 --> 00:16:16,125 Oh, my God. 294 00:16:21,647 --> 00:16:25,527 This proves that falconers were brave and resolute 295 00:16:25,527 --> 00:16:29,887 and hunted their quarry until they were able to get it. 296 00:16:29,887 --> 00:16:32,927 These waders are leaking, Jay. 297 00:16:32,927 --> 00:16:35,007 lt's freezing in here. 298 00:16:35,007 --> 00:16:39,762 l'm glad l'm not just in tights and a jerkin and bare feet. 299 00:16:42,567 --> 00:16:44,159 Come on. 300 00:16:46,887 --> 00:16:48,366 That's it. 301 00:16:49,367 --> 00:16:50,880 Ooh! 302 00:16:52,727 --> 00:16:54,877 Think l'm gonna let it have it. 303 00:16:59,607 --> 00:17:03,998 The court has aIways been vitaI to the smooth running of the monarchy. 304 00:17:05,247 --> 00:17:08,487 By the 16th century, it was a vast community 305 00:17:08,487 --> 00:17:10,527 of unseen workers of aII ranks, 306 00:17:10,527 --> 00:17:14,566 catering for every whim of the autocratic Tudors. 307 00:17:18,447 --> 00:17:22,887 The present Queen has downsized her staff to 645 people, poor thing. 308 00:17:22,887 --> 00:17:27,127 But in Tudor times, the monarch had over 1 ,000 courtiers 309 00:17:27,127 --> 00:17:29,487 and over 1 ,000 servants, 310 00:17:29,487 --> 00:17:33,767 and each one knew their place in the pecking order, 311 00:17:33,767 --> 00:17:36,247 even if it was quite a lowly one, 312 00:17:36,247 --> 00:17:38,047 like the whipping boy, 313 00:17:38,047 --> 00:17:41,207 who was an aristocratic friend of the royal prince, 314 00:17:41,207 --> 00:17:44,407 and it was his job to receive punishment 315 00:17:44,407 --> 00:17:48,127 every time the heir to the throne did something wrong. 316 00:17:48,127 --> 00:17:50,887 And if you think that's unfair, just look at the demands 317 00:17:50,887 --> 00:17:53,887 that were made on some of the rest of the staff. 318 00:17:53,887 --> 00:17:55,366 Alright, you can stop now. 319 00:17:56,887 --> 00:17:59,927 The court was a pIace of intrigue. 320 00:17:59,927 --> 00:18:03,807 One group of IuckIess servants had the job of risking their Iives 321 00:18:03,807 --> 00:18:06,480 to protect the monarch from pIotting courtiers. 322 00:18:08,287 --> 00:18:11,887 A royaI meaI had anything up to 25 dishes. 323 00:18:11,887 --> 00:18:14,720 Any one of them couId contain something deadIy. 324 00:18:16,487 --> 00:18:18,887 And what better way to climb the slippery pole 325 00:18:18,887 --> 00:18:22,287 than to poison the food of the person that you're eating with? 326 00:18:22,287 --> 00:18:24,447 Hence the job of royal food taster, 327 00:18:24,447 --> 00:18:27,247 which is enough to put you off your food for life isn't it, Cassie? 328 00:18:27,247 --> 00:18:28,767 Absolutely. 329 00:18:28,767 --> 00:18:30,767 But surely it must have been a pretty easy job. 330 00:18:30,767 --> 00:18:32,567 l mean, once there was poison in your food, 331 00:18:32,567 --> 00:18:34,367 well, you'd eat it and know straightaway, wouldn't you? 332 00:18:34,367 --> 00:18:36,407 Not necessarily. How come? 333 00:18:36,407 --> 00:18:37,887 Because it's remarkably easy 334 00:18:37,887 --> 00:18:40,647 to hide something that's deadly dangerous in food 335 00:18:40,647 --> 00:18:43,447 and it would not be obvious to you until you had already eaten it. 336 00:18:43,447 --> 00:18:45,767 What's this stuff? This stuff's called frumenty. 337 00:18:45,767 --> 00:18:48,007 Which is what? A sort of thick grain. 338 00:18:48,007 --> 00:18:49,487 Like a sort of porridge or something? 339 00:18:49,487 --> 00:18:52,207 A very thick porridge, yeah. Alright. So how am l gonna poison this? 340 00:18:52,207 --> 00:18:56,687 Ah. Well, you could do that easily with a solid poison like arsenic or mercury. 341 00:18:56,687 --> 00:18:58,287 Well, have we got any arsenic? 342 00:18:58,287 --> 00:19:00,247 We do indeed. 343 00:19:00,247 --> 00:19:02,447 This is arsenic. 344 00:19:02,447 --> 00:19:05,727 lt's not real arsenic, is it? No, it's not. lt's plaster of Paris. 345 00:19:05,727 --> 00:19:07,647 So, what are we gonna do with it? 346 00:19:07,647 --> 00:19:11,807 We are going to mix it with the frumenty, but because it's so solid and white, 347 00:19:11,807 --> 00:19:13,327 it will be quite obvious, 348 00:19:13,327 --> 00:19:15,527 so, first, we'll mix it up with a bit of water. 349 00:19:15,527 --> 00:19:20,087 Were the royals really under threat of being poisoned, or was it just paranoia? 350 00:19:20,087 --> 00:19:21,727 There was a great deal of paranoia, 351 00:19:21,727 --> 00:19:24,367 but there were actual plots to poison the royals, yes. 352 00:19:24,367 --> 00:19:25,847 Like what? 353 00:19:25,847 --> 00:19:29,367 Well, in the 1 590s, there was a plot allegedly by the King of Spain 354 00:19:29,367 --> 00:19:31,687 to poison Queen Elizabeth. 355 00:19:31,687 --> 00:19:34,527 The Spanish government managed to find three Portuguese men 356 00:19:34,527 --> 00:19:36,167 who would agree to poison the Queen. 357 00:19:36,167 --> 00:19:39,447 One of these three was her own physician, Dr Rodrigo Lopez, 358 00:19:39,447 --> 00:19:42,367 who'd been living in London for decades. 359 00:19:42,367 --> 00:19:45,247 But the plot was betrayed, the three were tortured and confessed, 360 00:19:45,247 --> 00:19:48,887 and, of course, as traitors, condemned to death and executed horribly - 361 00:19:48,887 --> 00:19:50,567 hanged, drawn and quartered. 362 00:19:50,567 --> 00:19:53,487 Now, if l was a really subtle food taster, 363 00:19:53,487 --> 00:19:55,887 how am l gonna be able to tell that there's poison there? 364 00:19:55,887 --> 00:19:58,527 The first thing you're going to notice is a very strange grittiness, 365 00:19:58,527 --> 00:20:02,927 but it's not going to be so strange that you're going to feel, ''l shouldn't eat this.'' 366 00:20:02,927 --> 00:20:04,407 You'll swallow it. 367 00:20:04,407 --> 00:20:08,007 And what's it gonna do to me? Oh, that's appalling. 368 00:20:08,007 --> 00:20:12,047 The first thing you're going to feel is a sort of burning, 369 00:20:12,047 --> 00:20:15,807 not necessarily strong, but something going on in the mouth. 370 00:20:15,807 --> 00:20:17,367 lf you've got an empty stomach, 371 00:20:17,367 --> 00:20:20,727 within an hour, you're going to start vomiting uncontrollably. 372 00:20:20,727 --> 00:20:24,007 You're going to have extreme pains in the stomach area. 373 00:20:24,007 --> 00:20:27,127 lt feels like rats gnawing on your insides. 374 00:20:27,127 --> 00:20:28,927 And then after about an hour, perhaps two, 375 00:20:28,927 --> 00:20:30,607 you're going to start suffering from purging, 376 00:20:30,607 --> 00:20:32,167 which is a polite way of saying... 377 00:20:32,167 --> 00:20:33,767 That's enough. 378 00:20:33,767 --> 00:20:37,487 So EIizabeth I was paranoid. 379 00:20:37,487 --> 00:20:39,807 She saw poison everywhere. 380 00:20:39,807 --> 00:20:43,127 Every dish was tested before she ate. 381 00:20:43,127 --> 00:20:45,447 Even her gIoves and handkerchiefs were checked, 382 00:20:45,447 --> 00:20:48,166 in case they'd been impregnated with something nasty. 383 00:20:50,607 --> 00:20:53,927 And it was her disposabIe servants who were put in the front Iine. 384 00:20:53,927 --> 00:20:56,885 The royal food taster comes into the room. 385 00:20:58,167 --> 00:21:01,007 ls there any ceremony? There is, yes. 386 00:21:01,007 --> 00:21:05,687 The ladies-in-waiting would come and begin the ceremony by laying the table. 387 00:21:05,687 --> 00:21:10,607 And then the men would bring each dish from the kitchen and lay it on the table, 388 00:21:10,607 --> 00:21:13,167 and the ladies-in-waiting would supervise. 389 00:21:13,167 --> 00:21:16,367 Each person who'd brought a dish was then required to eat one bite 390 00:21:16,367 --> 00:21:18,007 from the dish that he had carried, 391 00:21:18,007 --> 00:21:20,087 and when this ceremony was complete - 392 00:21:20,087 --> 00:21:22,487 and there might be as many as 20 or 25 dishes - 393 00:21:22,487 --> 00:21:26,287 then it was safe for the monarch to eat from these dishes. 394 00:21:26,287 --> 00:21:29,887 Remember, this is a time of invasion, potential invasion, by the Spanish. 395 00:21:29,887 --> 00:21:32,607 The monarch embodied all that was England 396 00:21:32,607 --> 00:21:35,607 and thus had to be kept completely safe. 397 00:21:35,607 --> 00:21:37,327 You had to have food tasters. 398 00:21:37,327 --> 00:21:41,647 So being a royal food taster wasn't bad because you were actually gonna die. 399 00:21:41,647 --> 00:21:43,687 lt's just that you were terrified you were gonna die? 400 00:21:43,687 --> 00:21:45,367 Yeah, that's about it. 401 00:21:45,367 --> 00:21:47,207 Well, this fig is still pretty good. 402 00:21:47,207 --> 00:21:49,607 Potentially dangerous. Ah! 403 00:21:49,607 --> 00:21:53,767 EIizabeth's court didn't have a permanent address. 404 00:21:53,767 --> 00:21:57,727 To ensure the IoyaIty of her subjects and to save on housekeeping, 405 00:21:57,727 --> 00:21:59,207 the Queen went waIkabout, 406 00:21:59,207 --> 00:22:00,967 and the whoIe court went with her. 407 00:22:00,967 --> 00:22:06,287 In the summer of 1 578, they pIonked themseIves on 25 different househoIds, 408 00:22:06,287 --> 00:22:09,207 saving the equivaIent of £10,000 per day. 409 00:22:09,207 --> 00:22:11,847 It may have been a good deaI for the Queen, 410 00:22:11,847 --> 00:22:13,807 but for the men and women of the court, 411 00:22:13,807 --> 00:22:15,887 it was Iike moving house every day, 412 00:22:15,887 --> 00:22:20,527 and the biggest Ioad was IiteraIIy on the shouIders of the groom of the chamber. 413 00:22:20,527 --> 00:22:24,047 And l don't just mean one or two carts. 414 00:22:24,047 --> 00:22:26,447 We're talking 200 or 300. 415 00:22:26,447 --> 00:22:30,687 And everything in them had to be off-loaded 416 00:22:30,687 --> 00:22:36,287 and got into the staying house on time and... 417 00:22:36,287 --> 00:22:37,767 Gorblimey! 418 00:22:37,767 --> 00:22:39,887 ..in order... (Pants) 419 00:22:39,887 --> 00:22:42,487 ..ready for the Queen's arrival. 420 00:22:42,487 --> 00:22:46,247 So if you were the groom of the chamber, 421 00:22:46,247 --> 00:22:49,205 you had to be something like a cross between... 422 00:22:50,687 --> 00:22:53,607 ..Paul Burrell and Arnold Schwarzenegger, 423 00:22:53,607 --> 00:22:56,917 which isn't a very attractive image, really, is it? 424 00:23:02,167 --> 00:23:05,087 Summer tours, or progresses, wouId Iast 8 to 1 2 weeks, 425 00:23:05,087 --> 00:23:07,885 and each stay needed days of preparation. 426 00:23:11,367 --> 00:23:17,607 When Queen Elizabeth ll goes off on a royal tour, it's all pretty relaxed. 427 00:23:17,607 --> 00:23:19,087 She just has... Oh! 428 00:23:19,087 --> 00:23:22,407 ..the odd bit of red carpet 429 00:23:22,407 --> 00:23:29,087 and the occasional five-star hotel and a private jet or two. 430 00:23:29,087 --> 00:23:33,767 But Queen Elizabeth l was much more demanding. 431 00:23:33,767 --> 00:23:35,807 The groom of the chamber 432 00:23:35,807 --> 00:23:42,367 had to take out of her palace all of the Queen's necessary possessions. 433 00:23:42,367 --> 00:23:46,087 That meant not only the furniture and the carpets, 434 00:23:46,087 --> 00:23:52,567 but the pictures and the wall hangings and her jewellery, her legal documents. 435 00:23:52,567 --> 00:23:57,807 And the Queen was renowned for having quite a temper on her, 436 00:23:57,807 --> 00:24:03,567 so if you wanted to avoid her wrath, you had to have... 437 00:24:03,567 --> 00:24:08,277 ..great big muscles and...patience... 438 00:24:12,367 --> 00:24:14,483 ..and a phenomenally good memory. 439 00:24:15,687 --> 00:24:21,478 Simon Bowyer, who organised the tour in 1 578, had aII those quaIities. 440 00:24:23,127 --> 00:24:27,647 At the Mutus Estate, he spent two days setting up with his team, 441 00:24:27,647 --> 00:24:30,607 onIy for the Queen to change her mind after staying for dinner 442 00:24:30,607 --> 00:24:33,280 and set off for another Iocation. 443 00:24:36,847 --> 00:24:40,247 Add to this indecisiveness EIizabeth's bouts of toothache 444 00:24:40,247 --> 00:24:43,687 and the groom of the chamber had the boss from heII. 445 00:24:43,687 --> 00:24:46,042 She wasn't much of a guest either. 446 00:24:47,487 --> 00:24:53,247 So not everyone was that happy about having to lay out the old red carpet. 447 00:24:53,247 --> 00:24:57,287 ln fact, there was an estate called Gotem Place, 448 00:24:57,287 --> 00:25:02,327 where they were so worried about the possible expense and hassle 449 00:25:02,327 --> 00:25:04,247 of having a royal progress 450 00:25:04,247 --> 00:25:08,287 that they decided they'd try and put the Queen off 451 00:25:08,287 --> 00:25:13,607 by all collectively feigning a kind of madness. 452 00:25:13,607 --> 00:25:17,567 So the royal progress turns up 453 00:25:17,567 --> 00:25:24,167 and all the aristocrats and servants there suddenly go, ''Waaa!'' 454 00:25:24,167 --> 00:25:27,807 And the progress all run away absolutely terrified. 455 00:25:27,807 --> 00:25:30,887 Although l suspect that the groom of the chamber 456 00:25:30,887 --> 00:25:34,197 had a bit of a smile on his face when he left. 457 00:25:35,527 --> 00:25:40,007 The groom may have ended up with a strained back and frayed nerves, 458 00:25:40,007 --> 00:25:42,247 but at Ieast he had a roof over his head. 459 00:25:42,247 --> 00:25:46,240 Not aII royaI empIoyees were as Iucky. 460 00:25:52,407 --> 00:25:54,687 With the court moving around so much, 461 00:25:54,687 --> 00:25:59,487 communication became vital to the institution of the monarchy. 462 00:25:59,487 --> 00:26:02,887 Hence the job of royal messenger. 463 00:26:02,887 --> 00:26:04,607 Da-dum! 464 00:26:04,607 --> 00:26:09,047 The royal messenger was important not just simply in order to tell people 465 00:26:09,047 --> 00:26:14,247 where the king and queen were at any particular moment in time, 466 00:26:14,247 --> 00:26:20,207 but also to let them know about royal births and deaths and marriages 467 00:26:20,207 --> 00:26:26,327 and much darker things, like intrigues and stabbings and assassinations. 468 00:26:26,327 --> 00:26:30,007 Anything you wanted to know, the royal messenger would let you know it. 469 00:26:30,007 --> 00:26:32,077 Come on. (Clicks tongue) Come on. 470 00:26:36,407 --> 00:26:39,087 Henry VIII started a system of messengers 471 00:26:39,087 --> 00:26:41,327 that rode between staging posts. 472 00:26:41,327 --> 00:26:43,887 In time, it became the royaI postaI service, 473 00:26:43,887 --> 00:26:47,004 which is why the monarch's head is stiII on stamps. 474 00:26:50,767 --> 00:26:55,727 But for early messengers, every journey was tough and fraught with danger. 475 00:26:55,727 --> 00:27:00,607 When EIizabeth I died, it was royaI messenger Sir Robert Carey 476 00:27:00,607 --> 00:27:05,123 who rode to ScotIand to teII James, the heir to the throne, he was now king. 477 00:27:07,647 --> 00:27:12,247 Riding in aII weathers, he aIso had to avoid potentiaI assassination 478 00:27:12,247 --> 00:27:16,247 from those who wanted to deIay news of the Queen's death. 479 00:27:16,247 --> 00:27:19,287 ''The marshall met me coming and bade me begone, 480 00:27:19,287 --> 00:27:22,687 ''for he had learnt for certain they would betray me.'' 481 00:27:22,687 --> 00:27:25,487 ( HORSE NElGHS ) 482 00:27:25,487 --> 00:27:29,847 Wind, rain, 200 miIes and peopIe waiting to kiII me. 483 00:27:29,847 --> 00:27:31,326 I can't wait. 484 00:27:33,927 --> 00:27:39,207 But Sir Robert had to press on, because for the royaI famiIy, succession is vitaI. 485 00:27:39,207 --> 00:27:43,758 The whoIe institution is based on births, deaths and conceptions. 486 00:27:46,327 --> 00:27:49,687 Was the queen going to have a baby? Was it the king's? 487 00:27:49,687 --> 00:27:54,287 The evidence was gonna be right here among the royal sheets. 488 00:27:54,287 --> 00:27:58,607 And one of the people who would have known most about it was a worst jobber - 489 00:27:58,607 --> 00:28:01,727 not an aristocrat, but the person round the back 490 00:28:01,727 --> 00:28:04,247 mopping up after all this messy business. 491 00:28:04,247 --> 00:28:06,522 The royal washerwoman. 492 00:28:10,807 --> 00:28:14,207 But being a royaI washerwoman was tough, messy 493 00:28:14,207 --> 00:28:16,641 and aIso surprisingIy dangerous. 494 00:28:17,767 --> 00:28:22,607 You can see why so very many women died drowning, can't you, if... 495 00:28:22,607 --> 00:28:24,087 Died drowning? 496 00:28:24,087 --> 00:28:27,887 Yeah, huge cause of death amongst Elizabethan women. 497 00:28:27,887 --> 00:28:31,407 Falling in wells, slipping in ponds, all that sort of thing. 498 00:28:31,407 --> 00:28:34,527 Whilst you're busy, bucket after bucket after bucket, 499 00:28:34,527 --> 00:28:36,127 and you get tireder and tireder. 500 00:28:36,127 --> 00:28:38,687 Especially sort of near dinnertime when everybody was tired. 501 00:28:38,687 --> 00:28:40,327 When you look at the coroners' reports, 502 00:28:40,327 --> 00:28:42,966 there's a sort of blip, you know, just before dinner. 503 00:28:44,367 --> 00:28:47,967 It's difficuIt to imagine just how tough the women had to be. 504 00:28:47,967 --> 00:28:52,447 AII the water had to be Iugged from the moat before the washing couId begin. 505 00:28:52,447 --> 00:28:54,807 Whoa, whoa. Don't spill it now. Ooh! 506 00:28:54,807 --> 00:28:57,287 Lovely. That's great. Right. 507 00:28:57,287 --> 00:28:58,927 There was no soap powder, 508 00:28:58,927 --> 00:29:03,127 just water repeatedIy strained through woodash to make Iye. 509 00:29:03,127 --> 00:29:07,967 lt contains the chemical, the alkali, which is what dissolves the grease. 510 00:29:07,967 --> 00:29:09,767 So presumably it's not too good on your hands? 511 00:29:09,767 --> 00:29:11,287 lt's terrible on your hands. Water? 512 00:29:11,287 --> 00:29:12,767 Yes. 513 00:29:12,767 --> 00:29:15,567 So it's gonna pick up all the chemicals out of the ash, 514 00:29:15,567 --> 00:29:19,687 and then the hay and the gravel will strain it, act as a filter, 515 00:29:19,687 --> 00:29:22,887 So, what comes out the bottom should be quite clean-looking. 516 00:29:22,887 --> 00:29:25,407 Shouldn't look ashy at all. Oh, it's coming out now, isn't it? 517 00:29:25,407 --> 00:29:28,127 Yeah, it is. lt's starting to flow through. lt's a little bit muddy. 518 00:29:28,127 --> 00:29:32,127 Dirty sheets next. ln the big bucking basket. That's it. 519 00:29:32,127 --> 00:29:36,967 The smeIIy sheets were then put into a bucking basket - the very first top Ioader. 520 00:29:36,967 --> 00:29:40,647 Well, they're usually married women, actually, which is quite interesting, 521 00:29:40,647 --> 00:29:44,487 'cause it's about the only job of any decent sort of remuneration 522 00:29:44,487 --> 00:29:45,967 that married women could do. 523 00:29:45,967 --> 00:29:48,287 Do we know anything about any of them? 524 00:29:48,287 --> 00:29:51,487 We've got a few names of people who were royal laundresses. 525 00:29:51,487 --> 00:29:52,967 Anne Twist, for example. 526 00:29:52,967 --> 00:29:58,087 She was Queen Elizabeth's laundress for, oh, 1 6, 1 7 years. 527 00:29:58,087 --> 00:30:01,207 And there was an Anne Harris as well, in King Henry Vlll's reign, 528 00:30:01,207 --> 00:30:03,407 who held the post for some time. 529 00:30:03,407 --> 00:30:06,087 They were quite poorly paid, but they had to be respectable women. 530 00:30:06,087 --> 00:30:07,887 You wouldn't want just anybody touching all your linens 531 00:30:07,887 --> 00:30:09,567 and your personal stuff, would you? 532 00:30:09,567 --> 00:30:12,567 So presumably the washerwomen 533 00:30:12,567 --> 00:30:16,287 would have known more about the sex lives of the monarchy than anybody else? 534 00:30:16,287 --> 00:30:18,047 Yeah, l think they probably would, actually. 535 00:30:18,047 --> 00:30:20,687 Pretty darn intimate things, sheets, aren't they? You can't get away with anything. 536 00:30:20,687 --> 00:30:22,487 ln fact, there's even proof of that. 537 00:30:22,487 --> 00:30:25,087 The sort of, like, foreign ambassadors at Elizabeth's court, 538 00:30:25,087 --> 00:30:28,327 when she was sort of beginning to get on and a bit long in the tooth, 539 00:30:28,327 --> 00:30:31,607 and they were contemplating the French marriage with the Duke of Anjou, 540 00:30:31,607 --> 00:30:35,167 they actually paid washerwomen for inside information 541 00:30:35,167 --> 00:30:37,287 as to whether she was still menstruating or not. 542 00:30:37,287 --> 00:30:40,287 Oh. What do we do with this? Can we lift it up on there? 543 00:30:40,287 --> 00:30:41,767 Yep. OK. 544 00:30:41,767 --> 00:30:43,447 Oh, flippin' heck. 545 00:30:43,447 --> 00:30:44,967 And now?. 546 00:30:44,967 --> 00:30:48,207 Uh, now we pour the lye that we made through the linen. 547 00:30:48,207 --> 00:30:52,120 And... Sort of like a liquid soap. lt'll move through and... 548 00:30:53,367 --> 00:30:55,367 You'd have had to have been quite tough, wouldn't you, 549 00:30:55,367 --> 00:30:56,847 to have been a washerwoman. 550 00:30:56,847 --> 00:30:59,047 Oh, you had to have muscles. There's no doubt about it. 551 00:30:59,047 --> 00:31:01,083 lt's nothing sissy about this job. 552 00:31:02,327 --> 00:31:03,807 Now what? 553 00:31:03,807 --> 00:31:06,607 Right, well, we just let that trickle through slowly. 554 00:31:06,607 --> 00:31:08,247 And we don't want to hurry it particularly. 555 00:31:08,247 --> 00:31:10,047 lt's gonna be dissolving any grease that's in there. 556 00:31:10,047 --> 00:31:11,527 Yeah. 557 00:31:11,527 --> 00:31:13,807 And then we're gonna beat the living daylights out of it. 558 00:31:13,807 --> 00:31:15,684 (Both laugh) 559 00:31:17,367 --> 00:31:20,247 These are caIIed battIe doors, not bats. 560 00:31:20,247 --> 00:31:24,207 But this feeIs very much Iike a strenuous version of cricket. 561 00:31:24,207 --> 00:31:27,607 If you weren't so knackered after the water-carrying and buck-Ioading, 562 00:31:27,607 --> 00:31:31,367 it wouId be a way of venting your frustration at the job. 563 00:31:31,367 --> 00:31:34,807 Hang on a sec. Let's give it a dunk. Water. 564 00:31:34,807 --> 00:31:37,527 Oh, God, look at that. Five minutes. 565 00:31:37,527 --> 00:31:39,567 They must have been really cracked and bleeding, their hands. 566 00:31:39,567 --> 00:31:42,167 l think they must have been cracked and bleeding most of the time. 567 00:31:42,167 --> 00:31:44,287 Right, do you wanna wring this one out? Yep. 568 00:31:44,287 --> 00:31:46,887 lf you grab one end and l'll grab the other. 569 00:31:46,887 --> 00:31:48,607 Yep. 570 00:31:48,607 --> 00:31:52,927 The sign of every birth, death and marriage is gonna be in here, isn't it? 571 00:31:52,927 --> 00:31:53,927 Yeah. 572 00:31:53,927 --> 00:31:55,407 Shall we hang this out? 573 00:31:55,407 --> 00:31:57,087 Yeah, l think that's a good idea. 574 00:31:57,087 --> 00:32:01,687 For drying, they used privets rather than pegs and washing Iines, 575 00:32:01,687 --> 00:32:05,047 but if the wind got up and bIew the sheets into the mud, 576 00:32:05,047 --> 00:32:08,567 the washerwoman wouId have to start aII over again. 577 00:32:08,567 --> 00:32:10,683 ( HORSE NElGHS ) 578 00:32:15,287 --> 00:32:19,167 ''l got a great fall by the way, and my horse, with one of his heels, 579 00:32:19,167 --> 00:32:22,716 ''gave me a blow on the head that made me shed much blood.'' 580 00:32:24,007 --> 00:32:27,607 We hadn't meant to re-create every bit of Robert Carey's journey. 581 00:32:27,607 --> 00:32:29,120 But then... 582 00:32:38,487 --> 00:32:43,127 Pomp and ceremony have aIways been a way of estabIishing royaI status. 583 00:32:43,127 --> 00:32:47,087 But before the days of ampIified music and RAF fIy-pasts, 584 00:32:47,087 --> 00:32:50,887 there was no more spectacuIar way of ceIebrating a victory or coronation 585 00:32:50,887 --> 00:32:54,527 than a royaI firework dispIay. 586 00:32:54,527 --> 00:32:57,087 Thanks to Handel's 'Music for the Royal Fireworks', 587 00:32:57,087 --> 00:33:01,847 it's George ll's magnificent firework displays that are so well remembered. 588 00:33:01,847 --> 00:33:04,967 But behind all the oohs and the ahhs and the big bangs 589 00:33:04,967 --> 00:33:10,247 lies another worst job that involves blood and burns and physical injury. 590 00:33:10,247 --> 00:33:15,247 Welcome to the highly explosive career of the fireworker. 591 00:33:15,247 --> 00:33:19,007 Making and firing fireworks was a very primitive business. 592 00:33:19,007 --> 00:33:21,847 There was onIy one coIour, no safety awareness, 593 00:33:21,847 --> 00:33:25,847 and it invoIved pIaying around with Iarge quantities of gunpowder 594 00:33:25,847 --> 00:33:27,967 in smaII pieces of paper. 595 00:33:27,967 --> 00:33:31,887 lf l was a really daft fireworker... Yeah. 596 00:33:31,887 --> 00:33:35,967 ..what kind of things might l have done to cause an explosion? 597 00:33:35,967 --> 00:33:40,767 Well, you could - and l've got to illustrate this - 598 00:33:40,767 --> 00:33:43,127 you could be doing this in front of your fireworks. 599 00:33:43,127 --> 00:33:45,127 People really smoked while they were making them? 600 00:33:45,127 --> 00:33:46,647 They smoked. Sparks came out. 601 00:33:46,647 --> 00:33:50,847 Accident report actually shows that people were smoking making fireworks. 602 00:33:50,847 --> 00:33:54,527 Right, Darryl, as soon as l've got this pipe in my mouth, 603 00:33:54,527 --> 00:33:56,643 show me what l might have done, alright? 604 00:34:03,287 --> 00:34:04,800 Ha-hey! 605 00:34:08,927 --> 00:34:10,807 That was so hot. 606 00:34:10,807 --> 00:34:12,807 l can tell you, we were, what, 1 0 metres away, 607 00:34:12,807 --> 00:34:15,127 and you really felt it, didn't you? 608 00:34:15,127 --> 00:34:18,607 Wow, and lots of little bits of stuff in my eyes as well. 609 00:34:18,607 --> 00:34:20,207 l wish l hadn't done that. 610 00:34:20,207 --> 00:34:22,247 (All laugh) 611 00:34:22,247 --> 00:34:25,127 Presumably there must have been more to their fireworks 612 00:34:25,127 --> 00:34:26,847 than just a long line of gunpowder. 613 00:34:26,847 --> 00:34:28,447 Oh, of course, yes. 614 00:34:28,447 --> 00:34:30,887 Rockets are basically flying fountains. 615 00:34:30,887 --> 00:34:34,087 Um, of course, you would have had problems with rockets 616 00:34:34,087 --> 00:34:35,847 because they used to fire them horizontally. 617 00:34:35,847 --> 00:34:38,567 Rockets coming out horizontally? Yeah. 618 00:34:38,567 --> 00:34:40,407 Well, that was bad for the audience, 619 00:34:40,407 --> 00:34:44,047 because they weren't necessarily lined up like that. 620 00:34:44,047 --> 00:34:46,007 They would have been sometimes around, 621 00:34:46,007 --> 00:34:47,927 and therefore, the audience got the rocket, 622 00:34:47,927 --> 00:34:50,007 but then, of course, so did the people firing. 623 00:34:50,007 --> 00:34:53,487 They would have got a lot of other problems as well. 624 00:34:53,487 --> 00:34:55,247 There were lots of explosions. 625 00:34:55,247 --> 00:34:57,127 People would get them through their clothes 626 00:34:57,127 --> 00:34:59,767 because they weren't wearing appropriate clothing. 627 00:34:59,767 --> 00:35:03,287 John, this looks like the kind of bomb that the Roadrunner has. 628 00:35:03,287 --> 00:35:04,447 lndeed. 629 00:35:04,447 --> 00:35:08,207 ln the times that we're talking about, the 1 8th century, they were called balloons. 630 00:35:08,207 --> 00:35:09,687 Balloons. 631 00:35:09,687 --> 00:35:12,847 l can see we're gonna do something dangerous with it, whatever you call it. 632 00:35:12,847 --> 00:35:14,327 lt's a dangerous firework. 633 00:35:14,327 --> 00:35:17,807 Don't look down the mortar, 'cause one of these days, it's gonna have a shell in it. 634 00:35:17,807 --> 00:35:20,207 Were there many injuries from these things? 635 00:35:20,207 --> 00:35:21,847 Oh, there were loads of injuries, yes. 636 00:35:21,847 --> 00:35:25,767 You can imagine, if one of these actually explodes within a metal mortar like that, 637 00:35:25,767 --> 00:35:27,567 you've got shrapnel flying about. 638 00:35:27,567 --> 00:35:29,887 Do we know very much about the people who were hurt? 639 00:35:29,887 --> 00:35:31,367 We don't know anything about them. 640 00:35:31,367 --> 00:35:33,927 They were killed and the whole thing was hushed up. 641 00:35:33,927 --> 00:35:35,407 Really? Yeah. 642 00:35:35,407 --> 00:35:37,967 ln fact, in one display, four people were killed. 643 00:35:37,967 --> 00:35:39,647 They just carried on the display. 644 00:35:39,647 --> 00:35:41,847 Where were these things fired from? 645 00:35:41,847 --> 00:35:46,207 A lot of displays in the 1 8th century would have used water as a backdrop, 646 00:35:46,207 --> 00:35:50,367 and, actually, barges would have contained all these mortars. 647 00:35:50,367 --> 00:35:52,367 And there'd have been a bloke on there lighting them? 648 00:35:52,367 --> 00:35:55,047 There would have been more than one blokes on there lighting them. 649 00:35:55,047 --> 00:35:57,727 lf one of them actually went, you've got big trouble, 650 00:35:57,727 --> 00:36:02,767 because the whole of the barge goes and the men end up in the water. 651 00:36:02,767 --> 00:36:04,727 Well, l'm glad we're on dry land. 652 00:36:04,727 --> 00:36:07,127 What do l do, just lower it in? Just lower it in. 653 00:36:07,127 --> 00:36:11,567 But keep your head away. And try and keep your hands as far away as possible. 654 00:36:11,567 --> 00:36:13,047 Yep. 655 00:36:13,047 --> 00:36:16,647 This was a job no-one wanted to do. 656 00:36:16,647 --> 00:36:21,487 So the royaI fireworkers were voIunteered from the Iowest ranks of the miIitary. 657 00:36:21,487 --> 00:36:25,887 And with burns to the skin, perforated eardrums and deaths, 658 00:36:25,887 --> 00:36:28,967 they didn't just put the one in and go home. 659 00:36:28,967 --> 00:36:30,487 Whay! 660 00:36:30,487 --> 00:36:32,967 The most dangerous part was reIoading. 661 00:36:32,967 --> 00:36:36,407 Oh, that was amazing, wasn't it? 662 00:36:36,407 --> 00:36:39,447 The worst thing is that there are probably burning embers in the bottom there. 663 00:36:39,447 --> 00:36:42,007 So l've got to put a whole load of this stuff in? 664 00:36:42,007 --> 00:36:43,807 You've got to put another load of gunpowder 665 00:36:43,807 --> 00:36:45,647 and you've got to put the shell back in. 666 00:36:45,647 --> 00:36:47,727 And they really did that? And they really did that. 667 00:36:47,727 --> 00:36:49,797 With the embers in? With the embers in. 668 00:36:53,567 --> 00:36:58,004 Even George II's firework dispIays didn't go without a hitch. 669 00:37:01,087 --> 00:37:05,367 The King had forked out £8,000 - about a miIIion today. 670 00:37:05,367 --> 00:37:08,487 But with a crowd of 1 2,000 peopIe waiting, 671 00:37:08,487 --> 00:37:12,407 the decorated frame hoIding the fireworks caught fire. 672 00:37:12,407 --> 00:37:15,047 The designer wasn't happy, 673 00:37:15,047 --> 00:37:18,562 and the hapIess fireworker ended up with a sword at his throat. 674 00:37:24,487 --> 00:37:29,127 By the 1900s, the poIiticaI power of the royaIs had eroded, 675 00:37:29,127 --> 00:37:31,207 but show was as important to them as ever. 676 00:37:31,207 --> 00:37:34,167 They were stiII the peopIe to know, 677 00:37:34,167 --> 00:37:38,558 sharing their Iavish IifestyIe with their favoured movers and shakers. 678 00:37:40,967 --> 00:37:44,887 An invite to one of Edward VII's shooting parties at Sandringham 679 00:37:44,887 --> 00:37:46,687 was the uItimate sociaI accoIade, 680 00:37:46,687 --> 00:37:50,362 and every guest wanted to Iook their very best. 681 00:37:52,087 --> 00:37:54,607 Which brings me to my next worst job, 682 00:37:54,607 --> 00:37:59,367 which is very much at the bottom of the pecking order - literally below stairs. 683 00:37:59,367 --> 00:38:00,846 lt's the bootboy. 684 00:38:05,727 --> 00:38:09,407 Edward Ioved shooting, and he worked his guests hard. 685 00:38:09,407 --> 00:38:12,727 They'd spend Iong days bIasting away at wiIdIife... 686 00:38:12,727 --> 00:38:14,527 ( GUNSHOT ) 687 00:38:14,527 --> 00:38:19,807 ..before returning Iate for a Iavish dinner, port, cigars and bed. 688 00:38:19,807 --> 00:38:22,127 As the snores broke out over Sandringham, 689 00:38:22,127 --> 00:38:26,367 the royaI bootboy's day was onIy just beginning. 690 00:38:26,367 --> 00:38:28,847 And it was up to the poor old bootboy 691 00:38:28,847 --> 00:38:31,527 to creep around the corridors last thing at night, 692 00:38:31,527 --> 00:38:35,607 collecting up everyone's boots and shoes and then polishing them 693 00:38:35,607 --> 00:38:39,287 so they'd be bright and shiny for the hunt the next morning. 694 00:38:39,287 --> 00:38:41,207 And given that King Edward insisted 695 00:38:41,207 --> 00:38:44,607 that the entire hunting party should be up at the crack of dawn, 696 00:38:44,607 --> 00:38:48,847 and everyone had to set their alarms really early, 697 00:38:48,847 --> 00:38:53,079 the poor old bootboys hardly got any sleep at all. 698 00:38:55,567 --> 00:39:01,287 So Edward Vll's upstairs. He's brought his full hunting party with him. 699 00:39:01,287 --> 00:39:04,007 How much work is that gonna be for me, the bootboy? 700 00:39:04,007 --> 00:39:06,207 A horrific amount of work. 701 00:39:06,207 --> 00:39:10,687 When the hunting was going on, chaps like you really did have a rough life. 702 00:39:10,687 --> 00:39:13,367 Right, l've got the shoelaces out. What next? 703 00:39:13,367 --> 00:39:15,527 You've got to learn how to make your own blacking. 704 00:39:15,527 --> 00:39:20,327 lf you come round here, l'm going to read you Mrs Beeton's recipe for blacking. 705 00:39:20,327 --> 00:39:21,807 Are you ready? Yep. 706 00:39:21,807 --> 00:39:26,487 ''Take four ounces of ivory black.'' God, that looks good stuff. 707 00:39:26,487 --> 00:39:29,407 ''Then an ounce of olive oil.'' 708 00:39:29,407 --> 00:39:31,167 How many of these am l putting in? 709 00:39:31,167 --> 00:39:34,407 The grim side of this job wasn't just terribIe tiredness, 710 00:39:34,407 --> 00:39:40,887 but aIso mixing up some pretty fouI and caustic ingredients which couId be deadIy. 711 00:39:40,887 --> 00:39:44,407 We've got an ounce of sulphuric acid. This one, you be very careful of. 712 00:39:44,407 --> 00:39:46,159 l'd better do this for you. 713 00:39:47,287 --> 00:39:49,118 Hold your nose. Yep. 714 00:39:52,127 --> 00:39:54,287 Aw! We're gonna die! 715 00:39:54,287 --> 00:39:55,887 (Coughs) 716 00:39:55,887 --> 00:39:58,327 Rotten eggs? You bet. 717 00:39:58,327 --> 00:39:59,806 (Laughs) 718 00:40:00,807 --> 00:40:03,367 Whoa! How much did they get paid? 719 00:40:03,367 --> 00:40:07,487 About $8 a year, which wasn't very much, but, then, they did get their keep. 720 00:40:07,487 --> 00:40:11,767 So most of that $8 their mother would expect them to bring back home to them 721 00:40:11,767 --> 00:40:13,887 on their monthly day off. 722 00:40:13,887 --> 00:40:15,487 Always be good to your mum. 723 00:40:15,487 --> 00:40:18,087 In times of earlier monarchs, 724 00:40:18,087 --> 00:40:21,487 working for the king or queen couId bring you riches. 725 00:40:21,487 --> 00:40:23,207 But by the 20th century, 726 00:40:23,207 --> 00:40:27,041 back-breaking royaI domestic service wasn't even weII paid. 727 00:40:28,087 --> 00:40:30,167 By Edward Vll's time, 728 00:40:30,167 --> 00:40:33,767 most young men at that time didn't want to go into domestic service. 729 00:40:33,767 --> 00:40:37,127 They wanted to go into something much more glamorous and manly like the army 730 00:40:37,127 --> 00:40:40,047 and march out to the colonies in their red coats. 731 00:40:40,047 --> 00:40:43,567 So domestic service was beginning to be really looked down on. 732 00:40:43,567 --> 00:40:46,447 So when you did get your very rare days off, 733 00:40:46,447 --> 00:40:50,727 you'd go out there and people would jeer at you, rather, for coming from a house, 734 00:40:50,727 --> 00:40:55,087 rather than coming from some job in the new industries that were growing up. 735 00:40:55,087 --> 00:40:57,927 Pretty scant reward for doing all this work. 736 00:40:57,927 --> 00:41:01,727 But nevertheless, it doesn't half get the boots polished up. 737 00:41:01,727 --> 00:41:06,047 l'm rather proud of that. Even if they do stink, of sugar. 738 00:41:06,047 --> 00:41:08,083 (Both laugh) 739 00:41:09,807 --> 00:41:12,167 And it didn't stop at hunting boots. 740 00:41:12,167 --> 00:41:14,927 There were aII the party shoes to shine as weII. 741 00:41:14,927 --> 00:41:18,527 And by the time those were done, the hunters' boots were back again. 742 00:41:18,527 --> 00:41:21,207 ( HORSE NElGHS ) 743 00:41:21,207 --> 00:41:25,367 But at Ieast one of my jobs had an end to it. 744 00:41:25,367 --> 00:41:28,727 What, with all the falls and the ambushes, 745 00:41:28,727 --> 00:41:31,447 not to mention losing my lovely hat 746 00:41:31,447 --> 00:41:37,847 and having to ride about 200 miles just to deliver a simple message, 747 00:41:37,847 --> 00:41:44,567 that job is frightening, dangerous, not to say very, very tedious. 748 00:41:44,567 --> 00:41:49,647 But my very worst royal job is also extremely disgusting. 749 00:41:49,647 --> 00:41:53,207 Oh, and now, of course, l've got to ride all the way back again. 750 00:41:53,207 --> 00:41:55,198 Come on, Poppy. Off we go. 751 00:42:00,687 --> 00:42:02,447 l've been looking at the worst jobs 752 00:42:02,447 --> 00:42:05,167 that supported the monarchy down the centuries. 753 00:42:05,167 --> 00:42:09,167 But which one was the very worst job? 754 00:42:09,167 --> 00:42:14,967 Moving house for EIizabeth I was back-breaking but pretty weII paid. 755 00:42:14,967 --> 00:42:17,047 Fireworking was fun, 756 00:42:17,047 --> 00:42:19,647 so Iong as you remembered to keep your head out of the way. 757 00:42:19,647 --> 00:42:21,127 Whoa! Blimey! 758 00:42:21,127 --> 00:42:24,807 And even royaI faIconers had a famiIy firm to support them 759 00:42:24,807 --> 00:42:26,727 when they were oId codgers. 760 00:42:26,727 --> 00:42:29,327 Oh, does that count? 761 00:42:29,327 --> 00:42:32,207 No, for me, the very worst job of all 762 00:42:32,207 --> 00:42:35,727 is an incredibly disgusting and very ancient one, 763 00:42:35,727 --> 00:42:40,367 and one that underlies the very symbol of royalty itself - 764 00:42:40,367 --> 00:42:41,880 the purple-maker. 765 00:42:43,247 --> 00:42:47,007 Purple has been the colour of royalty since Roman emperors 766 00:42:47,007 --> 00:42:49,567 because it's so difficult and expensive to make. 767 00:42:53,607 --> 00:42:58,047 l am a purple-maker's assistant, and this is a worst job that disappeared 768 00:42:58,047 --> 00:43:00,047 during the siege of Constantinople, 769 00:43:00,047 --> 00:43:02,727 when all the purple-makers were wiped out. 770 00:43:02,727 --> 00:43:07,247 So we reckon that this is the first time in over 500 years 771 00:43:07,247 --> 00:43:09,687 that this particular process has been demonstrated, don't we, John? 772 00:43:09,687 --> 00:43:11,167 Yep, that's quite true. Yes. 773 00:43:11,167 --> 00:43:15,367 One of the shortcomings of television is that you can't smell the incredible niff 774 00:43:15,367 --> 00:43:18,967 that's coming off this rather disgusting mess. 775 00:43:18,967 --> 00:43:21,487 Why are we killing all these innocent shellfish? 776 00:43:21,487 --> 00:43:27,687 Well, this, Tony, is the basis of the whole of the imperial purple industry. 777 00:43:27,687 --> 00:43:31,967 This was the dye...the most prestigious dye in the world, in fact. 778 00:43:31,967 --> 00:43:34,527 The Romans, of course, made it an imperial monopoly, 779 00:43:34,527 --> 00:43:37,927 and this went on right into the Middle Ages, in actual fact. 780 00:43:37,927 --> 00:43:40,367 So how do you make it out of these things? 781 00:43:40,367 --> 00:43:45,407 Yes, well, basically, we have the mollusc. This is the murex trunculus. 782 00:43:45,407 --> 00:43:47,607 And what we have to do is to make an incision 783 00:43:47,607 --> 00:43:50,287 into what, in fact, is the hypobranchial gland. 784 00:43:50,287 --> 00:43:55,487 And when we've done that, the dye, or the precursor, comes out 785 00:43:55,487 --> 00:43:59,647 and the air, in fact, oxidises it to the purple pigment. 786 00:43:59,647 --> 00:44:02,567 But, of course, the old dyers had to do this on a vast scale, 787 00:44:02,567 --> 00:44:05,207 and this involved, in fact... 788 00:44:05,207 --> 00:44:06,686 Oh! 789 00:44:08,127 --> 00:44:10,007 l really didn't know you were gonna do that! 790 00:44:10,007 --> 00:44:13,647 Don't hit it too hard, otherwise you'll get all the entrails over the floor. 791 00:44:13,647 --> 00:44:15,447 Don't tell me! lt was you who whacked it. 792 00:44:15,447 --> 00:44:18,207 So that's the technique. So we'll have to work through these. 793 00:44:18,207 --> 00:44:21,327 l've kept these on one side. l've done those for you previously. 794 00:44:21,327 --> 00:44:23,363 l don't want to hit it that hard. 795 00:44:26,247 --> 00:44:27,727 That's the idea. 796 00:44:27,727 --> 00:44:31,687 Smashing a few stinking sheIIfish is stomach-turning enough, 797 00:44:31,687 --> 00:44:34,407 but the purpIe-makers had to smash at Ieast 1,000 798 00:44:34,407 --> 00:44:36,727 to dye just one cIoak. 799 00:44:36,727 --> 00:44:39,327 I can understand why onIy royaIty couId afford it. 800 00:44:39,327 --> 00:44:40,807 Phwoa! (Coughs) 801 00:44:40,807 --> 00:44:42,287 And put them into the pot. 802 00:44:42,287 --> 00:44:44,527 God! Doesn't it affect you? 803 00:44:44,527 --> 00:44:46,643 Well, no, perhaps l'm used to it. 804 00:44:47,967 --> 00:44:51,727 There we are. There's more over there. Those we did earlier, of course. 805 00:44:51,727 --> 00:44:56,647 So now these will be put into water, and then eventually, to get the actual dye, 806 00:44:56,647 --> 00:44:59,247 it takes about 1 0 days fermentation. 807 00:44:59,247 --> 00:45:00,726 Come on. 808 00:45:02,847 --> 00:45:04,327 ln here, like this? That's it. 809 00:45:04,327 --> 00:45:11,007 This is in order to extract the dye, or the pigment, from the macerated molluscs. 810 00:45:11,007 --> 00:45:14,407 How much water do you want? That's about right. Yep. 811 00:45:14,407 --> 00:45:16,047 Then the dye will... 812 00:45:16,047 --> 00:45:20,527 Now stand for an hour or two to coIIect pigment in Iiquid, 813 00:45:20,527 --> 00:45:23,167 add woodash for its aIkaIi, 814 00:45:23,167 --> 00:45:28,207 and Ieave the putrefying sheIIfish to rot and stink for 10 whoIe days. 815 00:45:28,207 --> 00:45:30,007 Because you want it to ferment. 816 00:45:30,007 --> 00:45:31,679 So that's what we've got here. Yeah. 817 00:45:33,887 --> 00:45:36,087 Now, you notice we have a lid on it. Why's that? 818 00:45:36,087 --> 00:45:38,927 Well, basically, we want to keep it in the dark. 819 00:45:38,927 --> 00:45:42,047 Otherwise what happens is, the light, in fact, 820 00:45:42,047 --> 00:45:46,367 can break the dye down to... what we call debrominate it. 821 00:45:46,367 --> 00:45:49,367 ln other words, we take the redness out and we end up with a blue. 822 00:45:49,367 --> 00:45:51,967 So we can end up with this colour, as opposed to that one. 823 00:45:51,967 --> 00:45:53,527 How do we know when this is ready? 824 00:45:53,527 --> 00:45:57,567 This would be tested, in fact, either by the feel, which feels slippery, 825 00:45:57,567 --> 00:45:59,247 or by the taste. 826 00:45:59,247 --> 00:46:03,927 And this is shellfish that have been fermenting for 1 0 days. 827 00:46:03,927 --> 00:46:05,724 Exactly, yep. 828 00:46:09,287 --> 00:46:11,687 (Retches) 829 00:46:11,687 --> 00:46:13,447 l thought it was bad out there. 830 00:46:13,447 --> 00:46:15,327 (Retches) 831 00:46:15,327 --> 00:46:17,327 lt's powerful stuff. That is really disgusting. 832 00:46:17,327 --> 00:46:19,367 What happens when you feel it? 833 00:46:19,367 --> 00:46:24,047 lf it feels slippery, this gives an idea of the degree of alkalinity. 834 00:46:24,047 --> 00:46:27,287 lf it was acid, it would be rougher. That's the technique. 835 00:46:27,287 --> 00:46:30,484 And then they really tasted it? And the other way is to taste it, in fact. 836 00:46:37,327 --> 00:46:40,447 (Spits) 837 00:46:40,447 --> 00:46:42,847 l don't know... lt's rather powerful. 838 00:46:42,847 --> 00:46:44,927 l don't know what it tasted like. 839 00:46:44,927 --> 00:46:46,963 lt's just the thought, really. 840 00:46:49,127 --> 00:46:50,606 Just so disgusting. 841 00:46:52,927 --> 00:46:55,527 OnIy having done the fermented moIIusc taste test 842 00:46:55,527 --> 00:47:01,487 is it now time to put the cIoth in the vat, Iid firmIy back on. 843 00:47:01,487 --> 00:47:05,447 So we should leave it, really, for half an hour or so, to pick up the dye. 844 00:47:05,447 --> 00:47:07,727 Leave it till l'm dead if you like. Mmm. 845 00:47:07,727 --> 00:47:09,967 Oh, that was an adventure. 846 00:47:09,967 --> 00:47:11,447 Blimey. 847 00:47:11,447 --> 00:47:15,087 And after haIf an hour, it's time to expose the cIoth to the air 848 00:47:15,087 --> 00:47:16,767 and see if it's worked. 849 00:47:16,767 --> 00:47:18,367 Oh, look! 850 00:47:18,367 --> 00:47:19,847 Wow! 851 00:47:19,847 --> 00:47:22,087 That's really changing fast, isn't it? 852 00:47:22,087 --> 00:47:26,127 So when it comes out of the vat, it takes usually a couple of minutes. 853 00:47:26,127 --> 00:47:31,007 lt goes a greeny colour and then slowly turns the purple colour, as you can see. 854 00:47:31,007 --> 00:47:32,647 Look at that now. lsn't that fantastic? 855 00:47:32,647 --> 00:47:34,967 We've really proved the process works. 856 00:47:34,967 --> 00:47:38,887 So the lives of all these poor little foul-smelling shellfish 857 00:47:38,887 --> 00:47:40,807 weren't sacrificed in vain. 858 00:47:40,807 --> 00:47:44,087 And if it hadn't been for all the stirring and the bubbling 859 00:47:44,087 --> 00:47:46,167 and the feeling and the tasting, 860 00:47:46,167 --> 00:47:50,927 then our royals would never have been swathed in all this kind of stuff. 861 00:47:50,927 --> 00:47:54,687 They'd have been dressed in fuchsia pink or lime green. 862 00:47:54,687 --> 00:47:59,327 Join me next time, when l'll be down the bottom of the careers barrel again, 863 00:47:59,327 --> 00:48:03,087 scraping up some more worst jobs. 864 00:48:03,087 --> 00:48:07,527 Next time, I'm on my knees down a mine as a chiId hurrier, 865 00:48:07,527 --> 00:48:11,647 up in the air finding out what it took to make BruneI's reputation, 866 00:48:11,647 --> 00:48:15,765 and on my back, keeping the whoIe industriaI revoIution moving.