Browse content similar to 31/08/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Alex! Alex, where are you? Here she is. I've found her. Shouldn't you | :00:16. | :00:20. | |
be in the studio right now? You're on air soon. Don't worry, I'll look | :00:20. | :00:30. | |
:00:30. | :00:36. | ||
after your coffee. I can't Hello and welcome to The One Show | :00:36. | :00:41. | |
with Matt Baker. And Alex Jones - and that was Glen. Tonight, we're | :00:41. | :00:46. | |
celebrating the search and rescue skills of the border collie. But | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
first, a man who never needs to be rescued in the wild, it's | :00:49. | :00:56. | |
naturalist, Bill Oddie. APPLAUSE | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
We'll talk about the importance of feeding the birds in the gardens. | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
Yes. Rather more specifically, continuing to feed them all the | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
year. It's amazing how a fallacy can get into sort of public | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
knowledge and it doesn't matter how many times you say it and do a | :01:12. | :01:16. | |
programme about it, feed the birds all year, it still sticks that most | :01:16. | :01:21. | |
people think I feed the birds in the winter. I get asked it all the | :01:21. | :01:28. | |
time. When to stop. I say, "What?" it's now. We'll talk more about | :01:28. | :01:33. | |
that, but I was talking to my mum and she sent some photographs down. | :01:34. | :01:42. | |
That's great. Siskins. You know these. That's one of my favourite | :01:42. | :01:48. | |
birds and a favourite name. Why? Because apart from anything else, | :01:48. | :01:56. | |
the name sounds like something out of a dickins' novel. -- dick ens' | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
novel. Where does it come from? don't know. It's related to | :02:00. | :02:08. | |
canaries. Pretty birds. Have you got another one We might show you | :02:08. | :02:16. | |
some later on. OK! If you've got birds in your gardens that you feed | :02:16. | :02:19. | |
and don't recognise them and you would like Bill to help you, send | :02:19. | :02:24. | |
us a picture. E-mail us it through and we'll see if he can help. On we | :02:24. | :02:29. | |
go and in a decision that could affect communities across the | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
country, the biggest travellers' site in Britain could be demolished | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
at any time from midnight tonight. Simon Boazman went along to | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
investigate both sides of the dispute. We'll have caravans along | :02:40. | :02:44. | |
here that we'll set alight and they can see the dogs and children and | :02:44. | :02:52. | |
everyone will be standing around it. Come on. Fighting talk -- and time | :02:52. | :02:56. | |
will tell whether they're empty threats or bailiffs will have to | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
fight their way into this site. The problems began when the travelling | :03:00. | :03:03. | |
community that have been living here perfectly legally, expanded on | :03:03. | :03:08. | |
to the land next door. The problem is that this is greenbelt land and | :03:08. | :03:12. | |
without planning permission, they are legally setting up home and | :03:12. | :03:19. | |
after ten years of court cases, it looks like it's time for them to go. | :03:19. | :03:24. | |
We won't go! Basildon council and the law say they must. Even though | :03:24. | :03:29. | |
the travellers own the land, chalets and hard-standings and | :03:29. | :03:35. | |
roads and caravans will all have to go and that will be expensive. It | :03:35. | :03:40. | |
will cost nearly �10 million. You'll move a community that has | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
been living there quite peacefully for nearly ten years. Is this | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
really the best use of council money? Do we want a situation if we | :03:47. | :03:53. | |
only enforce the law if it's cheap? If we make exceptions on the | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
greenbelt then the breaches will multiply and that means all sorts | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
of things could get built to the detriment to the wider community. | :03:59. | :04:05. | |
People should be treated equally. It's not a case of a particular | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
ethnic group can claim special treatment under the law. That is | :04:09. | :04:15. | |
against the fundamental principles of English law. Some residents | :04:15. | :04:19. | |
whose properties border the site want it cleared. I'm in a prison. | :04:19. | :04:24. | |
It's cost me �4500 to do this stretch alone. They think they've | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
got a God-given right to do what they like. When the gypsies are | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
gone - How will it feel for you? Hopefully a relief, but will it be | :04:33. | :04:39. | |
a relief for someone else, because where will they go? At the end of | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
the day, they are nice and polite. I ain't got a problem with them in | :04:42. | :04:46. | |
the world. The problem is if they stay it opens up the floodgates and | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
every farmer and everybody with a plot of land in the country will | :04:49. | :04:54. | |
plough up their field. Flog it on or open it up as a caravan park. | :04:54. | :04:58. | |
What started as a planning dispute between neighbours has now become a | :04:58. | :05:03. | |
human rights issue, attracting vctivists from all across Europe. - | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
- activists from all across Europe. We are going to help as much as we | :05:07. | :05:12. | |
can Are you prepared to break the law? Yeah, if necessary. They are | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
people living here and human beings and they have a council on their | :05:15. | :05:20. | |
case with millions of pounds to spend making them homeless. They | :05:20. | :05:25. | |
live here. They have lives like everybody else in this country. | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
Training sessions are being held for volunteers who will act as | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
legal observers. You will monitor people and if people get arrested | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
you need to record all the information. By monitoring the | :05:35. | :05:40. | |
eviction they are hoping to ensure it is done as humanely as possible. | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
The worst of it is is waiting for the bail lives to come in to break | :05:44. | :05:49. | |
it down, because that is what will -- bail lives to come in and break | :05:49. | :05:54. | |
it down because is what will happen. Mary has started packing. These are | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
your wordly possessions? That's what I will be leaving with if the | :05:58. | :06:04. | |
eviction takes place. Just that? Just that. How can I bring this and | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
that and my home? It will have to be left behind. Are you going to | :06:08. | :06:15. | |
stay and watch this be taken apart? Yeah. It will kill me, that's all I | :06:15. | :06:25. | |
know. You've gone from all of this, to that? Yeah, to that. Other | :06:25. | :06:34. | |
travellers here aren't ready to go. When the day that the bailiffs come | :06:34. | :06:40. | |
in? I'll lock myself in here. I'm going to hop that the council will | :06:40. | :06:44. | |
find somewhere to home me. Do you think the young men on the site | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
will go peacefully? No. With neither side giving way, it's a | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
volatile situation and before we left on Saturday, the police were | :06:52. | :06:58. | |
called. I'm not too sure what is going on here, but Len who we | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
interviewed earlier, is finding himself in the back of a police car | :07:02. | :07:07. | |
and tensions are riding really high here today. Len was later released | :07:07. | :07:13. | |
without charge on police bail. This afternoon, the High Court rejected | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
the travellers' application for an injupbs to delay the clearance. -- | :07:17. | :07:20. | |
injunction to delay the clearance. After ten years it looks like it | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
will come to an end, because at midnight from tonight, all of this | :07:25. | :07:35. | |
:07:35. | :07:39. | ||
can be knocked down. That's it then, Simon, they've got to go? Well, | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
after ten years you would think it has to come to an end, so from | :07:43. | :07:46. | |
midnight tonight they have the legal right, the bailiffs to move, | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
and move people off the property. There is one lady who is there and | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
is very se sick at the moment and they've take -- very, very sick at | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
the moment and the council have taken a legal obligation to review | :07:59. | :08:04. | |
her medical condition. It's a bit bizarre. You get one person who is | :08:04. | :08:10. | |
critically ill and everybody else will go? It's how they move her, | :08:10. | :08:13. | |
because she is linked to medical equipment and they can't move her. | :08:13. | :08:20. | |
That's the only review. Pretty high-profile protesters. The bishop | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
of Chelmsford and Vanessa Redgrave. What points are they making? There | :08:24. | :08:27. | |
has been a community there for ten years and children are in schools | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
and there is a community that is settled and by picking them up and | :08:30. | :08:36. | |
forcibly splitting them up, that could be infringement of their | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
human rights. Basildon council's reasons then? This has been going | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
on for ten years. It's a planning issue effectively. They moved on to | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
the land and set up illegal homes there. The precedent would be that | :08:46. | :08:51. | |
anybody with greenbelt land, which this is, could build houses and | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
there's a financial incentive, because if they take land with no | :08:55. | :09:00. | |
planning permission, which they've bought for �100,000 let's say, with | :09:00. | :09:04. | |
permission, it could be worth �2 million. The council are saying a | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
line has to be drawn. I think what do they intend to do with the land | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
or don't they have to say that? When it is reduced to a legal | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
matter as opposed to human matters, what is the council going to do? | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
Basildon council don't own the land. The travellers will still own the | :09:21. | :09:26. | |
land, but they don't have land to build. It's the permission. What | :09:26. | :09:30. | |
will happen then at one minute past midnight, if anything? The council | :09:30. | :09:35. | |
have assured us that there have been lessons learnt from other | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
traveller evictions that have turned into violence and everyone | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
will be sleeping, because they'll take a very slow process. They have | :09:43. | :09:46. | |
enough money to do this over the next couple of months. Maybe there | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
will be letters in the first few days, but hopefully the council | :09:50. | :09:56. | |
will say that they've don't want any violence. I'm sure they don't, | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
but I wouldn't bet against it definitely. I would bet that there | :10:00. | :10:03. | |
will be some violence. There's a lot of determined people there. A | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
lot of people who are not prepared to give up without a fight. I can | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
understand that. Is this a situation that could be repeated | :10:11. | :10:15. | |
across the country? Wherever there is a site that doesn't have | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
planning permission, this could happen in many places. There are | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
thousands of sites. It's down to the local council whether they want | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
this confrontation and this has only come because of ten years of | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
wrangling. Communities are settled and this means it will be quite a | :10:30. | :10:40. | |
:10:40. | :10:45. | ||
big yuep heavel. Thank you. -- upheavel. A starring role is just | :10:45. | :10:50. | |
another chapter in the story of the Waverley. Carrie Grant has looked | :10:50. | :10:56. | |
into the story. The Waverley was built in 1946, right here in | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
Glasgow. It's the world's last sea- going paddle steamer and I'm about | :11:00. | :11:07. | |
to get on it to take a voyage that may be one of its last. It was | :11:07. | :11:12. | |
built in 1946, for passenger ferry and services on the Clyde and she | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
was the last of a long line going back to 1812. Ships like this were | :11:17. | :11:22. | |
the only way that ordinary people could get out of the grime of the | :11:22. | :11:29. | |
industrial cities and take a cruise down the coast. Years before the | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
First World War there were literally hundreds of ships like | :11:32. | :11:36. | |
the Waverley all around the coast and right up to the middle of the | :11:36. | :11:40. | |
1960's there were a lot and suddenly they all went to the | :11:40. | :11:47. | |
breakers' yard, except this one. It's busy and bustling with people | :11:47. | :11:52. | |
having fun, but today the future of the Waverley is in danger. It's due | :11:52. | :12:01. | |
to a �350,000 cash shortfall. The captain, Ian, has been mat ter for | :12:01. | :12:07. | |
four years. How -- master for four years. How did it become critical? | :12:07. | :12:11. | |
When the weather it is difficult to get people to come out and for the | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
last seven years the summers haven't been good. It's very | :12:14. | :12:20. | |
popular, but we need it to be more. Tell me about the technology. | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
the same technology as when she was built. She just has one steam | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
engine, driving two paddle wheels and fixed on one shaft. There's | :12:29. | :12:35. | |
only one rudder and it's at the back of the ship. No-one | :12:35. | :12:40. | |
understands the mechanics of this 20th century masterpiece as well as | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
James Jardine. The thing about the engine is the size and the heads | :12:44. | :12:48. | |
and the way it was put together. What about the running cost? They | :12:48. | :12:58. | |
are quite high. Especially with the efficiency of the engine. The money | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
could keep the wheels going for three minutes just in fuel costs | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
for �30. I get on the boat and spend �30 and that pays for three | :13:06. | :13:12. | |
minutes? Yep. What does it symbolise for you? I'm an old- | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
fashioned guy and this is an old- fashioned ship. Emotionally most of | :13:16. | :13:22. | |
the crew, I'm very bonded to it and there is a live, living ship, not | :13:22. | :13:28. | |
just a machine like some modern vessels. When did you serve on the | :13:28. | :13:34. | |
Waverley and what did you do? served from 1962 to 64. I was | :13:34. | :13:43. | |
assistant purser. We worked six days, including Saturday and Sunday. | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
Always enjoyed coming here and seeing the Waverley. We come at | :13:46. | :13:55. | |
least once a year. What memories does the Waverley have for you? | :13:55. | :13:59. | |
proposed. I remember it was where I proposed to Heather and luckily she | :13:59. | :14:05. | |
accepted. I've had a great day and met some interesting cebgsters and | :14:05. | :14:08. | |
learnt about the history and heritage -- characters and learnt | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
about the hiss trist and I hope it keeps going along for many years to | :14:12. | :14:22. | |
:14:22. | :14:25. | ||
It is so important to feed the birds throughout the year. Yes, | :14:25. | :14:29. | |
especially in summer. People think just the winter, but not at all. | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
That is because in the late summer you have the most birds in your | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
garden. The adult birds are exhausted and in a terrible state | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
because they have been feeding the young birds, who are now also | :14:41. | :14:47. | |
feeding. So you have got more birds and some of them need soft fruit. | :14:47. | :14:57. | |
That is a euphemism for regally things like this! -- soft food. | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
They are male worms. Are you OK with things like this? She is | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
probably better than me! Lots of them are leaving our shores and | :15:05. | :15:10. | |
migrating. That is one of the most exciting things. Your garden at | :15:10. | :15:15. | |
this time of year can change overnight. People come to me right | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
now and tell me they have nothing in their garden. That is because | :15:19. | :15:25. | |
the birds that have nested in that area are malting. So they go and | :15:25. | :15:33. | |
hide because their feathers are falling out. I have a problem | :15:33. | :15:37. | |
without a tail at the moment. Don't pull a face like that! You won't | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
have him on your Christmas card. A lot of people worry that the birds | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
will disappear, but they will come back with nice new feathers. At | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
this time of year, the beginning of autumn, birds begin to fly South. | :15:51. | :15:54. | |
That is when you get of visitors which are probably not from your | :15:54. | :16:01. | |
area. -- strange visitors. This is a willow warbler. He is singing but | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
he would not be doing that at this time of year. I think that | :16:05. | :16:14. | |
photograph was taken on May 3rd. That is a black cap, and the female | :16:14. | :16:21. | |
has a brown head. But she is not called a brown cap. That is not | :16:21. | :16:26. | |
right. Those chaps now start the winter in Britain. Which birds are | :16:26. | :16:33. | |
in danger? In danger? Gardens are probably the healthiest habitat | :16:33. | :16:38. | |
that we have got. Farmland areas are the least healthy and that is | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
where the birds really are in danger. Gardens do a fantastic job | :16:42. | :16:47. | |
and people that feed the birds do a great job of conservation. We still | :16:47. | :16:52. | |
have some mysteries. We have three little birds. On the left is the | :16:52. | :16:55. | |
song thrush, which has the most wonderful song. They repeat every | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
phrase but every phrase is difficult and it is wonderful to | :16:59. | :17:06. | |
listen to. -- is different. What is the problem? We really don't know. | :17:06. | :17:13. | |
Several newspapers have but rewards in a newspaper for anyone that can | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
solve the mystery of the disappearing house sparrow. They | :17:16. | :17:22. | |
get free membership or something. But nobody really knows. We know | :17:22. | :17:27. | |
there is a shortage of insect food. That is all connected. That means | :17:27. | :17:32. | |
that the atmosphere in our cities in particular, and particularly in | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
London unfortunately, there is something wrong. We are losing | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
insects and caterpillars. Were have to leave it there because we are | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
out of time but we will talk more as we go on. | :17:43. | :17:47. | |
In the last of our series of films about man's best friend in our | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
history, it is the turn of the Border collie. They help the | :17:51. | :17:56. | |
economy but they also are increasingly important in search | :17:56. | :18:03. | |
and rescue situations. This is Dodge. In the last three | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
years he has saved four lives working with the mountain rescue | :18:07. | :18:13. | |
team in Yorkshire. Border collies like Dodge on the most widely used | :18:13. | :18:16. | |
search-and-rescue dogs in the UK. It is a modern role for a breed | :18:16. | :18:21. | |
that is usually associated with sheep farming. The skills needed | :18:21. | :18:26. | |
for both of these jobs draw on the unique history of this breed. It is | :18:26. | :18:31. | |
hard to imagine sheep farming in the UK without Border collies. | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
Today the industry contributes over �1.5 billion each year towards the | :18:35. | :18:41. | |
British economy and in no small part this is down to the skills of | :18:42. | :18:45. | |
the Border collie. With a natural herding instinct and intelligence | :18:45. | :18:50. | |
which allows them to be trained, and a hunger for hard work, it is | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
reckoned one Border collie does the work of three men. James, a 19th | :18:55. | :18:59. | |
century shepherd turned poet from the Scottish borders, but it | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
perfectly when he said that without the sheep dog the mountainous land | :19:02. | :19:08. | |
of Britain would be worth not his expense. How did the Border collie | :19:08. | :19:12. | |
become to be so indispensable? The answer lies in centuries of careful | :19:12. | :19:18. | |
breeding. Barbara is a member of the International sheepdog Society, | :19:18. | :19:23. | |
and a Border collie expert. The original shoot dogs were much | :19:23. | :19:28. | |
bigger and fiercer than the ones we have today. -- sheepdogs. They were | :19:28. | :19:33. | |
bred to keep the wolves away. When they began to die out in the 16th | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
century, they were bred for their herding ability more than anything | :19:36. | :19:45. | |
else. So those dogs from the 16th century would be the direct | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
ancestors of these Border collies. Yes, and the breeding has taken out | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
the bad traits and kept the good ones, giving the perfect sheep dog. | :19:53. | :19:58. | |
So skilled were British Border collies that in the mid- 1800's we | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
started exporting them around the world to Australia and the USA. | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
Whenever there was sheep-farming, our Border collies were in faster | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
man. In 1870 through the first competitive sheepdog trial was held | :20:10. | :20:16. | |
in North Wales. -- 1873. And then the Border collie went from | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
strength to strength. One dog that remained unbeaten in trials around | :20:21. | :20:30. | |
his life was the legendary Hemp born in Northumberland. He was | :20:30. | :20:35. | |
considered the perfect sheepdog. He fathered over 200 dogs and now tens | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
of thousands of Border collies around the world of thought to have | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
his blood running through their veins. And this little fellow here | :20:44. | :20:50. | |
may well be one of them. These days the breed is still considered the | :20:50. | :20:55. | |
best sheep dog in the world. Around the 1970's his skills were | :20:55. | :21:02. | |
recognised as being ideal for a new role, search-and-rescue. The | :21:02. | :21:06. | |
secretary of the search and rescue Dog Association joins me today. | :21:06. | :21:12. | |
the collies are really good at search and rescue work. It is for | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
the same reason that they are good that she work. They are highly | :21:15. | :21:20. | |
intelligent, easy to train, and workaholics. They love a game. It | :21:21. | :21:26. | |
is just a game of hide-and-seek to them. To find out how good Dodge is | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
that finding people, I try a simple demonstration. I hide behind one | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
tree and Dodge and his handler start their search at the other end. | :21:36. | :21:42. | |
He cannot see me but can he detect me with his sense of smell? I am | :21:42. | :21:48. | |
250 metres away from him. Let's see if he can sniff me out. If he finds | :21:48. | :21:55. | |
me, he will run back to his handler barking. Then he will try to lead | :21:55. | :22:01. | |
the handler to me by continually running between the two of us. | :22:01. | :22:09. | |
Success! Hello, Dodge! Good boy. Well done. These special dogs | :22:09. | :22:14. | |
continue to have a truly positive influence on our lives. They have | :22:14. | :22:17. | |
earned themselves a place as one of the most treasured breeds in | :22:17. | :22:24. | |
Britain and around the world. To give you an idea of how | :22:24. | :22:27. | |
important Border collies are in search and rescue situations, we | :22:27. | :22:34. | |
are joined by Glen and his handler Bill. Glen is very relaxed. Earlier | :22:34. | :22:41. | |
this year Glen helped to rescue two pilots. What happened? They light | :22:41. | :22:46. | |
aircraft crashed in bad visibility at night. A major search involving | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
a three-man rescue team and a helicopter. The helicopter had to | :22:49. | :22:55. | |
turn and go back because the weather was so bad. Eventually Glen | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
found the cent and took us to the pilots, still in the aircraft. They | :23:00. | :23:04. | |
were subsequently rescued. For as we think of them as heroes but will | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
then it is just a massive game of hide-and-seek. Yes, a dog must | :23:08. | :23:16. | |
enjoy what they are doing and it is essentially again. We have a great | :23:16. | :23:23. | |
game on Friday. Friday is The One Show Dog Show. We are looking for | :23:23. | :23:33. | |
the dog with the most wag in detail. Dogs that look like their owners | :23:33. | :23:43. | |
:23:43. | :23:43. | ||
and once that look really pretty. Until now scars in the countryside | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
have hidden our history. But now recent excavations have revealed | :23:47. | :23:56. | |
some interesting tactics of trench warfare. These extraordinary scars | :23:56. | :23:59. | |
on the landscape may look like they could be the product of | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
supernatural activity. Graphic patterns created by a force greater | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
than us. These mounds of earth played a crucial role in our | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
efforts to win for First World War. These man's and hollows are the | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
remains of intricate practice trenches. They were dug by soldiers | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
in preparation for the real horrors of the Western Front in France and | :24:20. | :24:24. | |
Belgium. What they would learn would prove invaluable for the | :24:25. | :24:31. | |
momentous task ahead. Trench warfare was used by the ancient | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
Romans but it became a powerful symbol of the atrocious battles of | :24:35. | :24:40. | |
the Great War. The Western Front was a web of interlocking corridors, | :24:40. | :24:47. | |
separated by the infamous no-man's- land. It was that places like RAF | :24:47. | :24:51. | |
Halton in Buckinghamshire that soldiers develop sophisticated | :24:51. | :24:56. | |
trenches to gain an advantage and limit casualties. This was a dog | :24:57. | :25:05. | |
leg trench. What is the advantage? It keeps people alive. It comes | :25:05. | :25:09. | |
from bitter experience of fighting in the South Africa when the | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
trenches were longer and more sinuous. If a shell burst, then the | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
fragmentation used to kill lots of people. This means it cannot do | :25:17. | :25:21. | |
that. A blast here will be soaked up by the buttresses here and | :25:21. | :25:25. | |
bullets cannot travel along. If people are trying to capture your | :25:25. | :25:31. | |
trench, each corner has a defender, which makes it difficult. This | :25:31. | :25:36. | |
seems very technologically advanced. They sold in 1914 would not have | :25:36. | :25:44. | |
recognised this but by 1918 we have all the techniques they were using. | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
-- the soldiers in 1914. That parrot that is so that you can rest | :25:48. | :25:54. | |
your elbow while you are firing. -- that parapet. The remnants of these | :25:54. | :25:59. | |
trenches can be seen all over the country but at RAF Halton, Martin | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
and his archaeologists are run covering the trenches to discover | :26:02. | :26:12. | |
:26:12. | :26:14. | ||
And why are you digging here? common perception is that people | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
were not trained and they were, they were trained here. What have | :26:18. | :26:23. | |
you found? All manner of things. Some of it tells you about their | :26:23. | :26:28. | |
lives. Pickle jars, spoons, HP Sauce. That tells us something | :26:28. | :26:33. | |
fantastic about the army diet of the time. It is nutritious, but it | :26:33. | :26:42. | |
is very boring. What makes it better his brown sauce! We have | :26:42. | :26:48. | |
heard about people keeping them a roll up. This thing. Bovril! | :26:48. | :26:54. | |
Brilliant. What improves your day? A hot drink. When we get a break, | :26:54. | :27:01. | |
we have a brick and we light up. It keeps people going. All soldiers | :27:01. | :27:05. | |
were trained in trench warfare as part of basic training before the | :27:05. | :27:09. | |
war. How important was it for them to go through training in actual | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
trenches? The big thing is that the British Army has to take thousands | :27:13. | :27:18. | |
of civilians, factory workers, dockers, of the spores, and turn | :27:18. | :27:24. | |
them into soldiers capable of winning a World War. -- office boys. | :27:24. | :27:30. | |
They took them and they were the guys that beat the Germans. Did | :27:30. | :27:35. | |
this training work? Oh, yes. valuable lessons learnt during the | :27:35. | :27:40. | |
war form the basis of a manual written in 1921. What this does is | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
it distills all of the experience of four years of fighting on the | :27:44. | :27:47. | |
Western Front. They have gone from having a single line of trenches to | :27:47. | :27:52. | |
something like that, with front line, support line, reserve line, | :27:52. | :27:59. | |
defence, barbed wire. We are sitting on and a friend. You put | :27:59. | :28:09. | |
:28:09. | :28:09. | ||
your feet on top of the boards and they are out of the wet. -- and a | :28:09. | :28:14. | |
frame. It is so sad that so many people died without this knowledge | :28:14. | :28:19. | |
but then time moves on and we never returned to this. Yes, people die | :28:19. | :28:28. | |
in, that is one of the sad and hard facts of military history. It is | :28:28. | :28:32. | |
the learning curve. Million died during the First World War but | :28:32. | :28:37. | |
these Fridays trenches give a vivid reminder of the ordinary men that | :28:37. | :28:40. |