Browse content similar to 26/08/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello! Welcome to the One Show with Alex Jones. And Chris Evans. It is | :00:21. | :00:25. | |
bank holiday weekend for most of us. Unless you are working or you are | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
in Scotland! The last few days could be the last chance to get to | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
the beach this summer. For those who do not want to get wet, how | :00:33. | :00:38. | |
about we bring a sense of the seaside to your living room? Dom is | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
here with change for the amusement machines, and why their time may be | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
up. And Jay will be showing us how to give our fish and chips a bit of | :00:47. | :00:52. | |
oomph. And Phil Tufnell goes down to Weymouth to check out the most | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
sophisticated sandcastles you have ever seen. And our guest is a man | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
who would work on any peer, time to leave the one-arm bandit alone, | :01:01. | :01:11. | |
:01:11. | :01:16. | ||
Any pier? I love it! How are we doing? Very good. I just came from | :01:16. | :01:19. | |
the seaside yesterday, I was down at Eastbourne with my mother. | :01:19. | :01:27. | |
were going to ask you that later! Are you winning? I have won about | :01:27. | :01:34. | |
20p, which is good for me! B is the only one who has. What about a trip | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
to the seaside without the guilty pleasure of the seaside arcade? | :01:37. | :01:42. | |
Could it ever happen? We may be about to find out, as Carrie Grant | :01:42. | :01:50. | |
Our love affair with the British seaside spans generations. For all | :01:50. | :01:55. | |
of us, the smells, sounds, tastes and feel of the coast conjures up | :01:55. | :02:00. | |
heart-warming memories are innocent family fun. What could be more | :02:00. | :02:03. | |
innocent when you are young than spending a few pennies at a seaside | :02:03. | :02:08. | |
arcade? Imagine your ten-year-old self in an arcade and the shock | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
when you realise that it could be your two Ben Spies that puts this | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
arcade out of business. -- two pence piece. If the government | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
implement new tax laws, it may well happen. William owns this arcade in | :02:21. | :02:26. | |
Weston-super-Mare. This little coin is the lifeblood of the seaside | :02:26. | :02:31. | |
industry. This is the over 18 section. We pay a licence duty here. | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
But on the floor, where the families come and play with these, | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
that is where we are going to start getting hurt by the new taxation. | :02:39. | :02:44. | |
He currently play a licence on these machines. Yes, I pay a | :02:44. | :02:49. | |
licence on this machine and this one, and we pay VAT on the takings | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
from the machine as well. But at the moment we are exempt outside. | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
The new law says we will not have to pay a licence duty, we will have | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
to pay a percentage and the takings are the machines. This will be not | :03:01. | :03:08. | |
just for the adult area, but for at there where the teddy bears are. It | :03:08. | :03:14. | |
is all being bundled together as gaining a. But not only will the | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
centre of family fun of the arcade belonged in with the big players | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
like casinos and bookies, part of the Government's plan will take | :03:21. | :03:26. | |
away arcade business is' ability to reclaim VAT? How will it affect you | :03:26. | :03:32. | |
if you lose that 20% sign that you are used to reclaiming? Well, it is | :03:32. | :03:38. | |
going to mean a big difference. 20% extra on costs. We like to give | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
these away, but it is going to end up with giving way smaller ones. | :03:42. | :03:48. | |
had better stop this whole said here. Better get started! If he | :03:48. | :03:52. | |
were to come to the seaside and the arcades were not here, would it | :03:52. | :03:57. | |
make a difference? Yes, because there would not be as much to do. | :03:57. | :04:02. | |
This is where they want to go, in the arcades. Did he win this? That | :04:02. | :04:08. | |
is so sweet. If we lost the arcades, there would be less revenue, people | :04:08. | :04:15. | |
would not come here, and it would be derelict. And even the bastion | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
of the seasiders of cannot escape the government's plan. -- the | :04:20. | :04:25. | |
seaside resort. Michelle, new owners pier, what would it mean for | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
arcades here? Back in the government needs to exclude that | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
sector of machines from this new tax. -- I think. A lot a seaside | :04:34. | :04:39. | |
towns are already struggling. If you add this new tax, a lot of them | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
will close. What you'll see in seaside towns that have not been | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
regenerate it is a lot of boarded- up arcades. Traditionally they are | :04:47. | :04:50. | |
next to an ice-cream parlours, fish-and-chip shops. They will also | :04:50. | :04:55. | |
suffer. The football will drop, and you'll end unseen ghost towns and | :04:55. | :05:02. | |
the seaside. People will not come. -- you will end up seeing. There | :05:02. | :05:07. | |
are now only 500 arcades like this left in the UK, and in the past | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
three years, 200 seafront arcades have shut down. That means by the | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
end of the decade, we could see the end of the arcade. | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
The Dom is here. What are the government saying about these | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
changes? They gave as a response, and they said, we think the new | :05:23. | :05:28. | |
system will make the taxing more fair and sustainable. We appreciate | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
there will be winners and losers, but the change will help many | :05:31. | :05:38. | |
amusement arcades. So they are still raising the taxes. They | :05:38. | :05:42. | |
certainly are. He is helping with the amount of money he is putting | :05:42. | :05:47. | |
in! How are the seaside towns doing this year? They are having quite a | :05:47. | :05:52. | |
good time. A lot of us are worried about spending, so we are not going | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
abroad. The euro is weak, the dollar is weak, and seaside towns | :05:56. | :06:01. | |
are seeing more money this year compared to last year. And not just | :06:01. | :06:07. | |
talking about arcades, cafes, bars, hotels, everything. 21% more people | :06:07. | :06:09. | |
are going to the seaside and spending a night, not just going | :06:10. | :06:19. | |
for the day. It is very fashionable. How is Eastbourne? The three | :06:19. | :06:24. | |
fastest growing seaside resorts, Eastbourne, Whitstable and Penzance. | :06:24. | :06:29. | |
They are all basically doing better. He is your mother still in business | :06:29. | :06:35. | |
there? She has just retired down there, A F. As she noticed it has | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
been busier? I was talking to the old man, and he said, yes, | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
everybody has noticed, the coaches are really piling in, really busy. | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
There is a great tea shop on Eastbourne promenade with a piano | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
player. There are some fabulous fish-and-chip shops. We are going | :06:52. | :06:58. | |
to get on to fish and chips later, hold that thought! Thank you very | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
much. My pleasure. We have done the arcades, it is time to talk | :07:02. | :07:08. | |
sandcastles. We want to showcase the best sandcastles you have ever | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
been involved in with your family, send them to this address. If you | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
have not made one this summer, for some inspiration, have a look at | :07:16. | :07:26. | |
:07:26. | :07:27. | ||
what this man created in Weymouth Sandcastles, I think all children | :07:27. | :07:34. | |
love them, and an awful lot of mums and dads do, too. That is why sand | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
sculpture has such an instant appeal for most of us. Mark | :07:39. | :07:41. | |
Anderson has been creating sand sculptures here in Weymouth since | :07:41. | :07:51. | |
:07:51. | :07:52. | ||
It all starts with a compacted block of sand and water. And he is | :07:52. | :08:02. | |
:08:02. | :08:04. | ||
Well, how is it getting on, then? What are you doing? I'm just giving | :08:04. | :08:10. | |
you a bit more lip. A bit of leg! And what is it? Just sand and | :08:10. | :08:16. | |
water? This is Weymouth beach sand, which is probably the best beach | :08:16. | :08:22. | |
sand in their world for sandcastles. Why is that? Very fine grains. It | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
is probably the finest sand I have ever walked on, and I have been | :08:25. | :08:30. | |
around the world doing sculptures. It is thought sound sculptures | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
might go back as far as the time of the ancient Egyptians. They might | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
have turned their hands to sculpting models of the pyramids. | :08:37. | :08:41. | |
Sadly, the full story is lost in the sands of time, but the story of | :08:41. | :08:46. | |
how it all started in Weymouth is not. Teller's a little bit about | :08:46. | :08:51. | |
the history of sand sculpting in Weymouth. -- Tell as. It started | :08:51. | :08:57. | |
back in the late Victorian age, my grandfather started in the mid- | :08:57. | :09:04. | |
1920s, San sculpting until 1995. He was aged 85. I started working with | :09:04. | :09:10. | |
him in about 1987. This is my 23rd year. How old were you when you | :09:10. | :09:15. | |
started working with him? Originally, I was 11, it was my | :09:15. | :09:18. | |
school job. I collected water, picked up the pennies, making tea, | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
that kind of thing. It was something that I really took to. | :09:22. | :09:29. | |
One day I turned up, and there was a sign saying, sand sculpture, with | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
grandson Mark, so he finally accepted me as his assistant. | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
you were in the firm. Indeed, yes. What is the biggest sculpture you | :09:38. | :09:44. | |
have done? We did the world's first sand hotel about two years ago. | :09:44. | :09:49. | |
That was about 1,000 tons of sand, massive! Mark has started a new | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
venture this year by inviting a number of internationals and | :09:52. | :09:59. | |
masters to Weymouth. This splendid piece is from an Irish artist. The | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
other sculptors have come from as far afield as Texas and the Czech | :10:03. | :10:08. | |
Republic to make sculptures based on the theme of the town's | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
connection with the sea. The work spans everything from dinosaurs to | :10:12. | :10:16. | |
mermaids to pirate ships, vessels that took part in the D-Day | :10:16. | :10:22. | |
landings in the Second World War. I fancy having a go at this! What | :10:22. | :10:28. | |
should I be doing here? Bringing your shoulder down to match with | :10:28. | :10:34. | |
the jacket, a nice jacket. Nice and smart. Fantastic. Any particular | :10:34. | :10:40. | |
make? I could do with a posh one, I can tell you. Nice to see that you | :10:40. | :10:46. | |
have not given me a bald patch. I had better put it in there. Perhaps | :10:46. | :10:54. | |
we need a few more wrinkles as well. There is a fine one. A few more | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
wrinkles. Do you think it takes a certain type of person to be a | :10:58. | :11:05. | |
sound sculptor? Most of the people that high note played in the sand, | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
they have all got childlike qualities to them. There is a chart | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
like element in getting your hands dirty and building sandcastles. -- | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
Child Life. I think people go back to a special place, it takes you | :11:18. | :11:28. | |
:11:28. | :11:36. | ||
back to being a kid and playing in Prop art, so temporary as well. | :11:36. | :11:42. | |
Phil Tufnell has never looked at her. All right, we have Larry Lamb | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
here with us this evening. You are the latest subject of Who Do You | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
Think You Are? It is going to be on next week. It was a battle of wits, | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
you have been telling me. It is fascinating, the way that they do | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
it. They want to make sure you do not have to repeat any real shock | :11:58. | :12:03. | |
or surprise, so everything is real. Everything is kept a secret fund | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
you all the way through, they have planned the whole programme out | :12:07. | :12:11. | |
like an amazing game. They bring you in and take you through, | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
exposing you little by little to what they want you to know next. At | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
the end of each day, you think, we have got that far, then they will | :12:18. | :12:21. | |
let you know where you are going tomorrow. It is a roadshow, | :12:21. | :12:27. | |
travelling on. Is it every day? was on the road for two wigs. | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
he ended up in Los Angeles. They got annoyed about that, because | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
normally you go to the airport with your passport, and then they say, | :12:35. | :12:40. | |
we are going here, but going to America they have to get me a visa. | :12:40. | :12:46. | |
They said, you have got to get an American visa! Oh, so we are going | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
to America? In the middle of winter, they said, yes, but we need to talk | :12:50. | :12:55. | |
to you about clothes. I said, oh, are we going where it is sunny? | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
They did not want me to know. In the end I knew we were going to | :12:59. | :13:09. | |
California. I thought I got a little bit ahead of the game, but | :13:09. | :13:16. | |
what I was exposed to in California, I had no idea. It is all women | :13:16. | :13:21. | |
playing games, you can't do that! The whole show is an emotional | :13:21. | :13:25. | |
roller-coaster in the truest sense of the word. Yes, it is. I found | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
that all the way through it, you just have to accept that bad things | :13:29. | :13:34. | |
happen in other people's lives, it is no control, there is nothing | :13:34. | :13:40. | |
that you can control. Your past his of view, and I think that is what | :13:40. | :13:48. | |
makes the show so poignant and popular. Everybody has got a past | :13:48. | :13:55. | |
as to well, it is the one thing we have all got in common. For me, it | :13:55. | :13:59. | |
was summing up the whole thing, the whole experience, finding out about | :13:59. | :14:05. | |
this whole side of me that was so relevant that I had no idea about. | :14:05. | :14:10. | |
What were the bigger revelations? His revelation that in actual fact, | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
for me, as somebody who has thought himself as being of the war, | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
Johnny-come-lately, gatecrashing the business, I am genetically | :14:18. | :14:24. | |
programmed. All along. And two of my great uncles was serious big- | :14:24. | :14:32. | |
time lion-tamer us. A No way! on, I wouldn't go near them. The no | :14:32. | :14:42. | |
:14:42. | :14:44. | ||
Of course, this was shared, this emotional roller-coaster, between | :14:44. | :14:49. | |
you and your mum. We have a clip with you and your mum, a very | :14:49. | :14:58. | |
poignant piece of the film. I have to show you this. What is that? | :14:58. | :15:03. | |
infant welfare centre. I hereby agreed to give up all claim to | :15:03. | :15:10. | |
Jessie Dorothy Day, and to have her adopted by Mrs White. And it is | :15:10. | :15:18. | |
signed by Mrs Catherine Day. I find it so sad. Someone must have told | :15:18. | :15:24. | |
her what to put. That must have been an incredible moment. | :15:24. | :15:30. | |
sister got very upset. My mum has been around a long time and has | :15:30. | :15:34. | |
dealt with the fact that she was adopted. She is more sanguine about | :15:34. | :15:40. | |
it. But she was moved. But she plays things quietly, my mum. | :15:40. | :15:46. | |
can go online and track your family. That has been the other revelation | :15:46. | :15:53. | |
for me. I was a late, when it comes to computers. I have a young family | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
and they were encouraging me to do it. In the end, I discovered that | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
at the end of the programme you can press the red button and click on | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
to the BBC's system, whereby you can phone, a freephone number, to | :16:05. | :16:11. | |
find out how to get access to different bits of information. And | :16:11. | :16:14. | |
then you can use the system, find out about where to go on a course | :16:14. | :16:19. | |
how to use the computer. But if you watch the film, they have me as a | :16:19. | :16:24. | |
guinea pig, making you understand, by following bits of everybody's | :16:24. | :16:29. | |
stories that are covered in the programme, the different aspects of | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
people's genealogy, but you can find out about readily online and | :16:33. | :16:39. | |
just, really, as I have found out, how simple it is. Watching the show | :16:39. | :16:44. | |
makes you want to do it. It is part of the First Click campaign and you | :16:44. | :16:47. | |
can find out about it on the red button right now. | :16:47. | :16:52. | |
We have had a go in the arcade, played on the beach, and now time | :16:52. | :16:59. | |
for some seaside fish and chips. Pass the salt. Yes, but what salt? | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
These days, there are more kinds then you can shake a cellar at. | :17:03. | :17:07. | |
There was a time when the only choice was whether or not to put | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
salt on your chips. Now, there are an increasing number of gourmet | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
versions coming from as far afield as Hawaii and the Himalayas. In | :17:15. | :17:22. | |
supermarkets, the likes of Oak smoked, Cyprus flake, Atlantic and | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
Cornish salt have seen sales rise this year. But they are not cheap. | :17:26. | :17:32. | |
A small bag of Cyprus C salt costs �1.89, whereas a bag of table salt | :17:32. | :17:39. | |
is just 20 3PV. It could be dismissed as a silly food fad, but | :17:39. | :17:46. | |
could gourmet salt be worth its salt? All of these salts are the | :17:46. | :17:50. | |
same chemical, sodium chloride, so it is hard to imagine how they can | :17:50. | :17:55. | |
taste any different. And when dissolved in water, most salts | :17:55. | :18:01. | |
taste the same. But chef Stephen Harris is so passionate about the | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
importance of salt, he even harvests his own from the senior | :18:05. | :18:10. | |
his restaurant. I thought it would be a romantic notion. I have to | :18:10. | :18:17. | |
make my own salt. There are some people who thinks salt is just salt. | :18:17. | :18:20. | |
There is something about the crystals of certain types of salt | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
where you are eating something that you get a burst of salt which is | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
different from drenching it with a thin running table salt, which also | :18:28. | :18:32. | |
has chemicals to make it free- flowing. What have people said | :18:32. | :18:39. | |
about the way yours tastes? They all say that it is sweet. | :18:39. | :18:43. | |
harvests his salt by taking sea water back to the restaurant for | :18:43. | :18:49. | |
straining and boiling down. It is left to evaporate until the salt | :18:49. | :18:55. | |
crystals form at the top, but will it be worth the effort? Outside the | :18:55. | :18:59. | |
local chip shop, the jury is split on the merits of gourmet salt. | :18:59. | :19:06. | |
Right. It tastes quite salty, obviously. Do you think the crunch | :19:06. | :19:12. | |
is important? Yes, I much prefer that. To be honest, there is not a | :19:12. | :19:18. | |
difference in taste, more the texture. Was that the -- was that | :19:18. | :19:23. | |
the Hawaiian one? That is the closest I am going to get to Hawaii. | :19:23. | :19:28. | |
Back to my own taste test. We have four pieces of fish without | :19:28. | :19:36. | |
seasoning. No surprises with the table salt. It is definitely salt. | :19:36. | :19:41. | |
And this is your salt, which has come from the sea just behind. Much | :19:41. | :19:48. | |
bigger crystals. You get the crunch. Actually, there is less bitterness. | :19:48. | :19:54. | |
I do not know if I would say it is sweet, but it is less bitter. This | :19:54. | :20:01. | |
one is from the Essex coast. I should be able to tell you that I | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
can see a great difference between that and Stephen's but I can't, | :20:05. | :20:10. | |
really. Both have chunky crystals, which give a burst when you bite. | :20:10. | :20:17. | |
The exotic Hawaiian pink salt. Very, very salty. And I think that might | :20:17. | :20:23. | |
partly be down to the way it is finely ground. I think I preferred | :20:23. | :20:31. | |
yours. Yes. I may just be being nice. You are just romantic. With | :20:31. | :20:36. | |
some pots of salt costing �5, what about the price tag? I am not a | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
food snob and will not judge an ingredient on whether it is | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
fashionable or expensive. Whether you decide to spend money on | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
gourmet salt is up to you, but for me the experience is distinct from | :20:47. | :20:51. | |
normal table salt. For those concerned about their salt intake, | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
a little bit of the expensive stuff is perhaps better than lots of the | :20:55. | :21:00. | |
cheap. Your mum and dad owned a fish and chip shop and you work in | :21:00. | :21:06. | |
it. As an expert, can you tell the difference between these two | :21:06. | :21:13. | |
portions of chips? One of these has this on it, one of the world's most | :21:13. | :21:23. | |
:21:23. | :21:23. | ||
expensive salts, may be the most expensive. Taste the chips. You are | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
looking for the most expensive taste. The point is in the crystals | :21:27. | :21:31. | |
and the way that they crunch. The crystals deliver the taste in a | :21:31. | :21:37. | |
different way. It is hard to do it taste test, because one is like the | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
other. It might be that you get a little bit on here and a little bit | :21:41. | :21:50. | |
on there. You are thinking something. Which one? No pressure. | :21:50. | :21:56. | |
Of -- that certainly has a stronger taste, that one. Does it taste more | :21:56. | :22:03. | |
exotic, more expensive? Knowing the way that I am normally, I would say | :22:03. | :22:13. | |
:22:13. | :22:14. | ||
that is the gold one. This man is a God. Follow your instincts! | :22:14. | :22:20. | |
Danish salt, this is about to just over �20 per kilo from a little | :22:20. | :22:25. | |
Danish island. There are lots of others here, all of them available | :22:25. | :22:29. | |
in high and supermarkets. Saffron flavoured, rose flavoured. The | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
important thing is that because it preserves food, it has always been | :22:33. | :22:36. | |
held as very valuable, and that is where the word salary comes from, | :22:36. | :22:45. | |
because people believe that people were paid in salt. The phrase, is | :22:45. | :22:51. | |
he worth his salt, comes from that. Tell us about these. This is a | :22:51. | :22:58. | |
Welsh Sorpe with vanilla. Would you like to try it? -- it is a Welsh | :22:58. | :23:02. | |
salt. We associate salt with savoury food, but if you put it on | :23:02. | :23:08. | |
sweet things, it opens them up. gives a contrast. You can put it in | :23:08. | :23:18. | |
a lot of sweet things. We have some high-end chocolate. And they all | :23:18. | :23:26. | |
have salt in them? They have. The most basic use of salt in a sweet | :23:26. | :23:30. | |
thing is apple crumble. If you make apple crumble, always put a pinch | :23:30. | :23:37. | |
of salt in it. Alongside this, salt caramel ice cream, made by a man | :23:37. | :23:45. | |
who I know in Brixton. I get the salt thing with sweet stuff. It | :23:45. | :23:50. | |
really does work. That is great. Part of the taste coming out is | :23:50. | :23:56. | |
because the salt helps it to. opens it up, builds it up. Thank | :23:56. | :24:02. | |
you. Are you having fun, Larry? It is great here, isn't it? Time for | :24:02. | :24:07. | |
the final journey of our week exploring the history of our canals. | :24:07. | :24:11. | |
Today, the Shannon to Erne canal in Northern Ireland. All of our | :24:11. | :24:18. | |
reporters have had a good time, but Matt got the worst of the weather. | :24:18. | :24:24. | |
Canals, the arteries of the empire. Carrying everything from iron and | :24:24. | :24:31. | |
coal to everything else that they carried. What have canals not done | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
for us? Well, if you are talking about this one, the Shannon to Erne | :24:35. | :24:44. | |
canal, until recently, it had not done anything at all. While Irish | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
canal makers were digging their way into history books with momentous | :24:48. | :24:52. | |
achievements in England, on this side of the water the much vaunted | :24:52. | :24:58. | |
Shannon to Erne was falling in on itself. It was hailed as the final | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
piece in the canal's jigsaw, a 65 kilometres stretch of water way | :25:02. | :25:07. | |
which linked booming Belfast and emerging Newry with Limerick and | :25:07. | :25:12. | |
Dublin, taking the raw material us like flax and cold in, and shipping | :25:12. | :25:18. | |
out the products which were of rope and linen. I mean, it was a | :25:18. | :25:25. | |
brilliant idea, on paper! What the gorgeous Georgians had in fact | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
discovered was a great drain down which they relentlessly poured a | :25:28. | :25:34. | |
torrent of public money. Why, in this time of famine in Ireland, did | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
they not see that this was one great financial folly? The building | :25:39. | :25:43. | |
of canals in Ireland was the English man's solution to an Irish | :25:43. | :25:50. | |
problem. It was built to create employment, to service the farming | :25:50. | :25:54. | |
community, something that would bring wealth back into the | :25:54. | :25:58. | |
countryside. Suddenly, with this canal, you have a chance to get all | :25:58. | :26:03. | |
of those goods from one end of Ireland to the other. From Belfast | :26:03. | :26:08. | |
to Limerick, right through to Dublin, using the grand and Royal | :26:08. | :26:14. | |
canals. A fantastic idea. Amazing achievement. Nearly 7000 men worked | :26:14. | :26:19. | |
on it at one time. But the Shannon to Erne canal was a failure of epic | :26:20. | :26:26. | |
proportions. Here are the figures. It cost �750,000 to build. It took | :26:26. | :26:30. | |
14 years to complete but was abandoned after nine years. Why | :26:30. | :26:35. | |
have I not written anything yet? Because there is only one figure | :26:35. | :26:43. | |
that matters. Eight. That is how many boats travelled on it. | :26:43. | :26:47. | |
Somebody had not done their homework, because it turns out | :26:48. | :26:52. | |
Ireland is an island. It is much easier to get things here by sea | :26:52. | :26:56. | |
than it is by a canal. So the better quality of coal that was | :26:56. | :27:02. | |
coming out of the pits of Wales and Scotland was a much better option. | :27:02. | :27:05. | |
The Shannon to Erne Canal was practically obsolete before a look | :27:05. | :27:10. | |
was opened. Less than a decade later it was closed, we did up, | :27:11. | :27:17. | |
with its locks crumbling. People pretty much forgot about it. To be | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
honest, because there was not that much to remember. All across the UK, | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
other people were working out that canals can actually be fun places | :27:24. | :27:30. | |
to go on holidays. So if those canals were getting ready for their | :27:30. | :27:35. | |
second life, why couldn't the Shannon to Erne habits first? And | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
more than a century later, a success story has emerged from the | :27:39. | :27:44. | |
silt. The decision to open the canal in 1988 was a leap of faith, | :27:44. | :27:47. | |
because it was in the middle of the Troubles and �30 million was | :27:47. | :27:55. | |
invested. It opened in 1994, which was the year of the IRA ceasefire. | :27:55. | :28:00. | |
And the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 set up waterways Ireland as a | :28:00. | :28:04. | |
unifying body to link the waterways in northern and southern Ireland. | :28:05. | :28:09. | |
They fixed the locks, installed electric pumps, scrubbed up the | :28:09. | :28:12. | |
water away, and hey presto, the Shannon to Erne canal is open for | :28:12. | :28:17. | |
visitors. In a way that it never has been before. The other good | :28:17. | :28:23. | |
news, I don't think they're going to run out of water! | :28:23. | :28:28. | |
Lovely to see that back on stream. These are your sandcastles. | :28:28. | :28:38. | |
:28:38. | :28:40. | ||
Brilliant. Well done, girls. This one from Swindon is a mermaid. | :28:40. | :28:43. | |
Thank you to Larry Lamb. If you are going to the seaside tomorrow, | :28:43. | :28:48. |