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This is Coast. | 0:00:04 | 0:00:06 | |
The wild islands of the British Isles. | 0:00:41 | 0:00:45 | |
Splinters of land, oceans of water. | 0:00:45 | 0:00:49 | |
At times the sea protects, at others, it attacks! | 0:00:49 | 0:00:54 | |
Rocky islets rise like sparkling jewels, ripe for the taking, | 0:00:54 | 0:01:00 | |
a tempting target for invaders. | 0:01:00 | 0:01:03 | |
From hostile incursions to the welcome influx of wildlife. | 0:01:04 | 0:01:09 | |
We'll reveal surprising stories of invasions around our shores. | 0:01:12 | 0:01:17 | |
My base of operations is on the Channel Islands, | 0:01:19 | 0:01:23 | |
where remarkably, some German strongholds are still unexplored. | 0:01:23 | 0:01:29 | |
Now I'm gearing up for an invasion of my own. | 0:01:30 | 0:01:35 | |
I'm breaking into a sealed Nazi bunker. | 0:01:35 | 0:01:39 | |
Nobody's seen this for more than 60 years. | 0:01:39 | 0:01:41 | |
These stories tell of the Invaders of the Isles. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:47 | |
My island destination | 0:01:51 | 0:01:53 | |
sits in the firing line between England and France. | 0:01:53 | 0:01:57 | |
I'm heading to Guernsey. | 0:01:57 | 0:01:59 | |
Guernsey's the ideal place to recall both the risks | 0:02:06 | 0:02:10 | |
and the rewards of invasion. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:14 | |
Its islanders made good money from historic battles with France. | 0:02:14 | 0:02:19 | |
I'll be exploring how swashbuckling Guernsey sailors | 0:02:19 | 0:02:24 | |
ran rings around Napoleon's navy. | 0:02:24 | 0:02:29 | |
But in the Second World War | 0:02:29 | 0:02:31 | |
the people felt the full force of Hitler's invading army. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:35 | |
Now the heavens explode each year to mark the end of German occupation. | 0:02:39 | 0:02:45 | |
Guernsey is celebrating its liberty. | 0:02:45 | 0:02:49 | |
A night that burns bright with the memories of invasion. | 0:02:49 | 0:02:54 | |
In June 1940, it wasn't friendly fire that lit up the skies. | 0:02:55 | 0:03:00 | |
The dark hand of the Third Reich was about to grasp the Isle of Guernsey. | 0:03:02 | 0:03:08 | |
With invasion inevitable, islanders had a stark choice, stay or go. | 0:03:09 | 0:03:15 | |
I've got here a copy of the Guernsey newspaper, The Evening Press, | 0:03:17 | 0:03:21 | |
dated Wednesday June 19th, 1940. It reads, "Evacuation of Children. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:28 | |
"Parents must report this evening." | 0:03:28 | 0:03:31 | |
Well, these parents were being given just a few hours to decide | 0:03:31 | 0:03:34 | |
whether to stay or to leave the island. | 0:03:34 | 0:03:37 | |
The following morning, that quayside over there was packed with people | 0:03:37 | 0:03:41 | |
queuing up to board ships back to England. | 0:03:41 | 0:03:45 | |
CHILD CRIES | 0:03:45 | 0:03:47 | |
Seven-year-old Paulette Tapp's mother was dead | 0:03:47 | 0:03:50 | |
and her father was away fighting, | 0:03:50 | 0:03:52 | |
so her grandmother decided Paulette should be evacuated. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:56 | |
Is this you in this photograph? | 0:03:57 | 0:03:59 | |
This is my grandmother. And that was me when I was three years old. | 0:03:59 | 0:04:03 | |
-Did she go with you? -No, no. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:05 | |
I was on my own. Completely on my own, there was nobody. | 0:04:05 | 0:04:09 | |
While Paulette left for an uncertain future in England, | 0:04:09 | 0:04:12 | |
on Guernsey, a little boy remained on the quayside. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:16 | |
-Very good to meet you. -How do you do? | 0:04:16 | 0:04:18 | |
'Stanley Bichard was the middle one of three boys, | 0:04:18 | 0:04:22 | |
'who with their mum and dad were about to experience invasion.' | 0:04:22 | 0:04:27 | |
Just days after the evacuations Guernsey's harbour was bombed, | 0:04:29 | 0:04:33 | |
many were killed. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:35 | |
Two days later the island was occupied. | 0:04:36 | 0:04:40 | |
'The German invaders took their pick of the houses | 0:04:40 | 0:04:43 | |
'including the one next door to Stanley's family.' | 0:04:43 | 0:04:47 | |
-Strange neighbours. -Yeah. And the week after, | 0:04:47 | 0:04:50 | |
they came and they knocked at the back door at my mum's | 0:04:50 | 0:04:53 | |
and said, "We'd like you to do some washing for the Germans." | 0:04:53 | 0:04:56 | |
So Mum said, "No, I don't do a wash for the German soldiers." | 0:04:56 | 0:05:00 | |
They said, "You will wash for the soldiers | 0:05:00 | 0:05:02 | |
"or you will vacate your premises by the end of the week." | 0:05:02 | 0:05:05 | |
And, of course, there's five of us in the family, | 0:05:05 | 0:05:08 | |
you know, where are we going? | 0:05:08 | 0:05:10 | |
Many island children had gone to seek safety on the mainland. | 0:05:12 | 0:05:15 | |
Seven-year-old Paulette, travelling alone, was evacuated to Cheshire, | 0:05:17 | 0:05:21 | |
to be looked after by nuns. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:25 | |
This homesick little girl | 0:05:25 | 0:05:27 | |
was about to acquire a very special guardian angel. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:31 | |
Remember, in this country | 0:05:31 | 0:05:33 | |
the gift must be based on your ability to give. | 0:05:33 | 0:05:38 | |
First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt | 0:05:38 | 0:05:40 | |
was coaxing American women to do their bit for the war effort. | 0:05:40 | 0:05:44 | |
Mrs Roosevelt sought a young pen pal, | 0:05:44 | 0:05:47 | |
she received a letter from a lonely girl in Cheshire. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:52 | |
"Dear Mrs Roosevelt, first of all, | 0:05:52 | 0:05:55 | |
"I hope you are well and in good health. | 0:05:55 | 0:05:58 | |
"Please give my best regards to President Roosevelt. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:01 | |
"Thank you very much for the pretty green dress. It fits me just fine | 0:06:01 | 0:06:04 | |
"and I love the blouse to go with it. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:07 | |
"Your loving foster child, Paulette." | 0:06:07 | 0:06:10 | |
Meanwhile, guardian angels were in short supply on Guernsey. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:15 | |
As the occupation wore on, rations were meagre. | 0:06:15 | 0:06:19 | |
Four ounces of meat a week for the family of five. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:22 | |
-That's nothing! -Eggs were very hard to come by, | 0:06:22 | 0:06:26 | |
because everybody killed the chickens to have food for eating. | 0:06:26 | 0:06:30 | |
"We had a lovely supper, lemonade, cakes and biscuits. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:34 | |
"Then for tea we all had a bar of chocolate." | 0:06:34 | 0:06:37 | |
-Remember being hungry? -Oh, yeah. Yeah. | 0:06:37 | 0:06:41 | |
Yes, a few times. | 0:06:43 | 0:06:45 | |
-It must have been very difficult for your mother knowing that. -Yeah. | 0:06:47 | 0:06:50 | |
Mum and Dad suffered a lot at different times. | 0:06:50 | 0:06:53 | |
-Yeah. How do you feed a family of five when you've got nothing? -Yeah. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:57 | |
Paulette had a full stomach but an empty heart. | 0:07:00 | 0:07:04 | |
Her gran on occupied Guernsey couldn't get letters out. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:08 | |
My only person that I really loved was my grandmother, | 0:07:09 | 0:07:13 | |
I missed her cuddles and hugs, you know, because we didn't get many. | 0:07:13 | 0:07:19 | |
They were good, the nuns, but we didn't have the love. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:23 | |
Paulette's safe surroundings were tinged with sadness. | 0:07:23 | 0:07:27 | |
For young Stanley, the lush landscape of Guernsey may have been | 0:07:28 | 0:07:31 | |
a war zone, but it was still his playground. | 0:07:31 | 0:07:36 | |
A favourite prank was pelting passing cars with lumps of turf. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:40 | |
It was just along there somewhere, | 0:07:40 | 0:07:42 | |
lovely turf about as big as my hand there. | 0:07:42 | 0:07:45 | |
So when a car came, if the window was open, | 0:07:45 | 0:07:48 | |
I didn't know it was a German, | 0:07:48 | 0:07:49 | |
I wasn't being brave or anything like that, | 0:07:49 | 0:07:52 | |
but I spiffed the turf over the edge, | 0:07:52 | 0:07:54 | |
it went straight through the window | 0:07:54 | 0:07:56 | |
and hit the officer straight in the face. | 0:07:56 | 0:07:58 | |
And, of course, there was a squeak of the tyres and we hid. | 0:07:58 | 0:08:02 | |
We were petrified then. | 0:08:02 | 0:08:05 | |
The headmaster of the school said they were going to take hostages, | 0:08:05 | 0:08:08 | |
because they thought it was an act of sabotage, | 0:08:08 | 0:08:10 | |
it wasn't sabotage, it was a game, like, you know? | 0:08:10 | 0:08:13 | |
And we got away with it by writing a letter of apology | 0:08:13 | 0:08:17 | |
to the Commandant. They let us get away with it. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:20 | |
German rule ground on for nearly five years. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:24 | |
By the end the invaders were as much prisoners as the islanders - | 0:08:24 | 0:08:29 | |
both were starving. | 0:08:29 | 0:08:32 | |
After D-Day in Normandy there was nothing coming in at all | 0:08:32 | 0:08:36 | |
and also the Germans were suffering, | 0:08:36 | 0:08:38 | |
a lot of cats went missing during the war. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:41 | |
-They ate them? -Oh, yeah. And dogs. They had my dog. | 0:08:41 | 0:08:43 | |
-They ate your dog? -Oh, yeah. | 0:08:43 | 0:08:45 | |
But you couldn't buy anything cos nothing was coming in. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:48 | |
The desperate days ended on the 8th of May, 1945. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:55 | |
With the war over, Paulette came home, | 0:08:56 | 0:09:00 | |
but she's never met Stanley | 0:09:00 | 0:09:02 | |
to share their different experiences of invasion. | 0:09:02 | 0:09:06 | |
Is it better to leave home and be fed | 0:09:06 | 0:09:09 | |
or to stay with your family and go hungry? | 0:09:09 | 0:09:12 | |
I couldn't let my children go. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:14 | |
I'd want them with me. I would try and do everything I could. | 0:09:14 | 0:09:17 | |
If somebody had been able to cuddle me, you know. | 0:09:17 | 0:09:20 | |
-And you miss that, don't you, when you're children? -Oh, yeah. | 0:09:20 | 0:09:23 | |
So in that way, I suffered more emotionally | 0:09:23 | 0:09:26 | |
-and you suffered more with your food. -Oh, without a doubt. | 0:09:26 | 0:09:28 | |
Without a doubt. | 0:09:28 | 0:09:30 | |
BOTH CHUCKLE | 0:09:30 | 0:09:33 | |
In our fights for survival, | 0:09:41 | 0:09:43 | |
we've created some remarkable artificial islands. | 0:09:43 | 0:09:47 | |
Forts that helped keep foreign aggressors at bay. | 0:09:49 | 0:09:52 | |
But some in the British Isles have suffered conquest in living memory. | 0:09:59 | 0:10:04 | |
I'm on Guernsey. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:05 | |
In the Second World War on the Channel Islands, | 0:10:09 | 0:10:12 | |
attackers soon became defenders. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:15 | |
The invaders of these isles left a grim legacy. | 0:10:18 | 0:10:21 | |
German bunkers that outlasted the Third Reich. | 0:10:23 | 0:10:26 | |
Some 1,000 Nazi fortifications were embedded in the rock of Guernsey, | 0:10:29 | 0:10:35 | |
potent symbols of the propaganda value to be gained | 0:10:35 | 0:10:39 | |
by occupying British Crown Territory. | 0:10:39 | 0:10:43 | |
Hitler wouldn't give up the Channel Islands without a fight. | 0:10:43 | 0:10:47 | |
Now I'm gearing up for an invasion of my own. | 0:10:47 | 0:10:50 | |
Many of these tombs of tyranny were sealed at the end of the last war, | 0:10:50 | 0:10:55 | |
but one of the bunkers is about to be re-opened | 0:10:55 | 0:10:58 | |
for the first time in over 60 years. | 0:10:58 | 0:11:02 | |
I'm going to be a Nazi tomb raider. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:04 | |
On a beach-side golf course, | 0:11:07 | 0:11:09 | |
they're excavating the entrance to the forgotten underground bunker. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:14 | |
To see what could lie in store, I'm visiting another site. | 0:11:17 | 0:11:22 | |
This gun emplacement was only re-opened in 2010. | 0:11:22 | 0:11:28 | |
My guide is bunker specialist Paul Bourgaize. | 0:11:28 | 0:11:32 | |
-Chilly and dark, isn't it? -Just watch these steps here. | 0:11:36 | 0:11:39 | |
We're in a small square... room, what have we got over here? | 0:11:39 | 0:11:45 | |
This is actually a fortress telephone. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:47 | |
So this is a hand-cranked telephone? | 0:11:47 | 0:11:49 | |
-Yep. -So what does this say? | 0:11:49 | 0:11:51 | |
"Achtung Feind host nit!" was a warning you'd find above all phones, | 0:11:51 | 0:11:54 | |
and it basically says, "Warning, the enemy is listening," | 0:11:54 | 0:11:57 | |
so it was just, "Watch what you're saying." | 0:11:57 | 0:12:00 | |
-Very smooth, isn't it? -Yeah. | 0:12:04 | 0:12:07 | |
It's approximately a tonne of steel that's moving there. | 0:12:07 | 0:12:10 | |
-Top quality German engineering. -Yeah. | 0:12:10 | 0:12:13 | |
This portal cut into the concrete | 0:12:14 | 0:12:16 | |
was the firing position for an anti-tank gun. | 0:12:16 | 0:12:20 | |
Its crew were charged with repelling a possible beach invasion. | 0:12:20 | 0:12:25 | |
Historians on Guernsey are re-discovering | 0:12:25 | 0:12:28 | |
the secrets of fortifications across the island. | 0:12:28 | 0:12:32 | |
The digger's scoop has just revealed the top of a doorway. | 0:12:32 | 0:12:36 | |
Nobody's seen this for more than 60 years. | 0:12:38 | 0:12:41 | |
Buried for decades. | 0:12:46 | 0:12:49 | |
Now we're the first to enter a forgotten lair of Hitler's army. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:54 | |
This was once a staircase | 0:12:55 | 0:12:58 | |
that a six-foot man could walk down, | 0:12:58 | 0:13:01 | |
now... it's like a cave entrance. | 0:13:01 | 0:13:06 | |
Incredible! Look at this on the roof, miniature stalactites of rust. | 0:13:12 | 0:13:19 | |
Very nasty gunk all over the floor, | 0:13:19 | 0:13:21 | |
this seems to be oil more than water. | 0:13:21 | 0:13:23 | |
Cos this is a personnel bunker, these are the hooks for the beds | 0:13:23 | 0:13:27 | |
or the bunks, still original, all fixed to the wall. | 0:13:27 | 0:13:31 | |
-So these hooks...? -That's where the bunks would have been. | 0:13:31 | 0:13:34 | |
-Hooked on there? -There would have been a chain | 0:13:34 | 0:13:36 | |
hanging from the ceiling attached to those hooks. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:38 | |
-Oh, here? -Yeah. -So these are like ship's bunks. Did they fold away? | 0:13:38 | 0:13:42 | |
They do fold away, yes. | 0:13:42 | 0:13:45 | |
'Up to ten men slept in this windowless tomb - | 0:13:45 | 0:13:48 | |
'their job, to man the gun emplacements.' | 0:13:48 | 0:13:51 | |
This is smaller, what was this space for? | 0:13:51 | 0:13:54 | |
Yeah, this is a ventilation escape shaft as well. | 0:13:54 | 0:13:56 | |
Where did you escape? There's no way out. | 0:13:56 | 0:13:58 | |
This is the escape shaft here. | 0:13:58 | 0:14:00 | |
It would have been quite tricky to get out of here, | 0:14:01 | 0:14:04 | |
you've got a steel door, you'd have had two rows of steel girders | 0:14:04 | 0:14:09 | |
across there in those recesses that had to be pulled out, | 0:14:09 | 0:14:12 | |
you've then got a brick wall that needs to be demolished, | 0:14:12 | 0:14:15 | |
and then the whole escape shaft which goes right up to the surface | 0:14:15 | 0:14:18 | |
was filled with sand. All that had to come in | 0:14:18 | 0:14:20 | |
before anybody could go out. | 0:14:20 | 0:14:22 | |
Why did they make it so difficult to get out? | 0:14:22 | 0:14:24 | |
Well, they don't want people coming in either, so... | 0:14:24 | 0:14:27 | |
So this was a last resort if you were completely trapped down here? | 0:14:27 | 0:14:30 | |
A gas attack or anything like that. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:32 | |
-You'd dig your way out? -Absolutely. | 0:14:32 | 0:14:34 | |
This up here, by the looks of it, | 0:14:34 | 0:14:36 | |
was some sort of newspaper or article but it's all in German. | 0:14:36 | 0:14:40 | |
-The second word is "Fuhrer". -That's very exciting, that. | 0:14:40 | 0:14:44 | |
'It translates as, "Sworn to the Fuhrer".' | 0:14:44 | 0:14:48 | |
-Perhaps there was a picture. -Of Hitler? | 0:14:48 | 0:14:51 | |
-Definitely a possibility. -Yeah. | 0:14:51 | 0:14:52 | |
You might think the soldiers who once sheltered in these dank vaults | 0:14:58 | 0:15:03 | |
would want to purge the island from their memories. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:07 | |
But some, like Fritz Kunz, who was stationed in a bunker, | 0:15:07 | 0:15:11 | |
still return to Guernsey. | 0:15:11 | 0:15:14 | |
In 1943, aged just 17, Fritz found himself in charge of a gunnery crew. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:21 | |
All the other soldiers came to Russia, | 0:15:22 | 0:15:27 | |
and I was the only who knows the gun | 0:15:27 | 0:15:30 | |
and so became high commander of the gun. | 0:15:30 | 0:15:33 | |
-But you were lucky not to go to Russia. -Of course. | 0:15:33 | 0:15:36 | |
-Yeah. The Eastern Front was a bad place to be. -Yes. | 0:15:36 | 0:15:40 | |
We came here and we was thinking we came in the paradise. | 0:15:40 | 0:15:45 | |
-Really? -Yes. -You thought it was paradise? -Yes. | 0:15:45 | 0:15:48 | |
What did you think when you saw the bunker being opened over there, | 0:15:48 | 0:15:53 | |
how did you find that? | 0:15:53 | 0:15:55 | |
Oh, it was... awful. | 0:15:55 | 0:15:59 | |
It was a horrible thing. | 0:15:59 | 0:16:02 | |
-Do you remember when Guernsey was liberated? -Yes. | 0:16:02 | 0:16:07 | |
-What happened? -It was... going out. | 0:16:07 | 0:16:13 | |
-A huge relief? -Oh, now it is peace. | 0:16:13 | 0:16:17 | |
-Finished? -Finished. | 0:16:17 | 0:16:20 | |
We're on a journey to explore invasions of our isles. | 0:16:35 | 0:16:40 | |
It's a story they know all too well on the Isle of Man. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:45 | |
This island has been occupied by the Norse... | 0:16:57 | 0:17:00 | |
the Scots... | 0:17:00 | 0:17:03 | |
and the English. | 0:17:03 | 0:17:05 | |
Today, though, it's fiercely independent. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:13 | |
Surprising then, that the Manx people open their arms to one race | 0:17:13 | 0:17:17 | |
that lays siege to their isle every year. | 0:17:17 | 0:17:21 | |
Ruth Goodman is bracing herself for an epic invasion. | 0:17:23 | 0:17:27 | |
Out there beyond the sea, the leather-clad clans are gathering. | 0:17:29 | 0:17:33 | |
An army is assembling from around Britain and far beyond. | 0:17:36 | 0:17:41 | |
They mount their two-wheeled chariots bound for the Isle of Man. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:45 | |
The locals, ready to do battle... for business. | 0:17:47 | 0:17:50 | |
Burgers, buns, beer - the TT is in town. | 0:17:50 | 0:17:54 | |
For two weeks in early summer, the sound of high-speed combustion | 0:17:55 | 0:18:00 | |
and the smell of leather cover the island...whatever the weather. | 0:18:00 | 0:18:05 | |
Day and night, wave after wave of boats | 0:18:05 | 0:18:08 | |
disgorge disciples of the most dangerous bike-fest on Earth. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:13 | |
TT stands for Tourist Trophy, and these days it attracts | 0:18:13 | 0:18:17 | |
over 30,000 tourists, who bring around 10,000 motorbikes. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:23 | |
So what's in it for the bikers, and how do the locals feel about | 0:18:24 | 0:18:28 | |
this friendly invasion of their small isle? | 0:18:28 | 0:18:31 | |
The hotels can't accommodate the sudden influx of bodies. | 0:18:38 | 0:18:42 | |
Bikers are berthed in private houses all over the island. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:47 | |
Everybody mucks in to keep the TT on track. | 0:18:48 | 0:18:51 | |
And the restaurants stock up for a briefly lived bonanza. | 0:18:55 | 0:18:59 | |
He's huge...! | 0:18:59 | 0:19:01 | |
That's the female. | 0:19:01 | 0:19:03 | |
It's a female. How can you tell? | 0:19:03 | 0:19:06 | |
And that's the male. That bit there carries the eggs. | 0:19:06 | 0:19:10 | |
Beautiful colour. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:12 | |
This is probably our busiest time. | 0:19:12 | 0:19:14 | |
It's a big part of the year. Eat and drink, isn't it? | 0:19:14 | 0:19:17 | |
-Yeah, party time. -Party time. | 0:19:17 | 0:19:19 | |
As long as they eat it, we'll catch it. | 0:19:19 | 0:19:21 | |
Look at that, it's like one enormous giant prawn. Delicious. | 0:19:24 | 0:19:28 | |
Every bite, lick and chip swells the bank balance of the Isle of Man. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:36 | |
This is an invasion any island would welcome. | 0:19:36 | 0:19:40 | |
So how did this small, self-contained community | 0:19:40 | 0:19:43 | |
come to host the world's ultimate motorbike road race? | 0:19:43 | 0:19:46 | |
'I'm heading for a private viewing of some rare film that takes us | 0:19:50 | 0:19:53 | |
'right back to the beginning. | 0:19:53 | 0:19:56 | |
'This little picture palace is about as old as the TT - | 0:19:56 | 0:19:59 | |
'a century and counting. | 0:19:59 | 0:20:02 | |
'I'm meeting social historian and TT expert Matthew Richardson.' | 0:20:02 | 0:20:06 | |
-Hi. -Hello. -What's this then? | 0:20:06 | 0:20:08 | |
Well, this is some early footage of one of the first TT races | 0:20:08 | 0:20:11 | |
on the Isle of Man. | 0:20:11 | 0:20:12 | |
Oh, blinking 'eck! | 0:20:12 | 0:20:13 | |
He just picked himself up and got back on the bike. | 0:20:13 | 0:20:16 | |
That's a pretty low speed crash. | 0:20:16 | 0:20:18 | |
It's... It's all relative. | 0:20:18 | 0:20:19 | |
The 1911 Junior TT, the winner won at just over 40 mph. | 0:20:19 | 0:20:23 | |
The current lap record is just over 130 mph. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:26 | |
They still look like pushbikes with motors on, don't they? | 0:20:26 | 0:20:30 | |
Well, they were. Technology was very primitive. | 0:20:30 | 0:20:32 | |
The TT races began after speed regulations were imposed on | 0:20:32 | 0:20:36 | |
British roads in 1903, a 20mph limit was set on the mainland. | 0:20:36 | 0:20:41 | |
The self-governing Isle of Man had no such restrictions. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:46 | |
In the early days it wasn't all about speed, it was very much | 0:20:46 | 0:20:49 | |
a trial of reliability, one of the early riders comments that | 0:20:49 | 0:20:52 | |
although he won the race, he had to stop to mend a puncture. | 0:20:52 | 0:20:56 | |
Pushing the bikes to breaking point year after year | 0:20:56 | 0:20:59 | |
created the TT's global reputation for thrills and spills. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:04 | |
Go anywhere in the world, | 0:21:04 | 0:21:06 | |
people might not be sure where the Isle of Man is, | 0:21:06 | 0:21:08 | |
but there's a fair chance they'll have heard of the TT races. | 0:21:08 | 0:21:11 | |
'They say to understand someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.' | 0:21:16 | 0:21:21 | |
I'd never normally wear trousers at the beach. | 0:21:21 | 0:21:24 | |
'Or ride a mile in their leathers.' | 0:21:24 | 0:21:27 | |
But then, tights and bikes don't really mix. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:30 | |
I'm joining the tribe that has taken over the island, | 0:21:33 | 0:21:36 | |
for a ride with one of the race's royals. | 0:21:36 | 0:21:39 | |
Sidecar passenger Rose Hanks was the queen of the TT in the '60s. | 0:21:42 | 0:21:48 | |
And Roy was her prince. | 0:21:48 | 0:21:51 | |
Roy Hanks has been TT racing since 1966 - a sidecar legend. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:57 | |
Now Rose has agreed to turn her husband over to me, | 0:21:57 | 0:22:01 | |
and she is a hard act to follow! | 0:22:01 | 0:22:04 | |
In 1968, Rose became the first woman ever to get on the podium. | 0:22:04 | 0:22:09 | |
There she is, proud moment, yeah. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:10 | |
Absolutely. Rose was the first. | 0:22:10 | 0:22:13 | |
I remember when I first met her, she impressed me then, | 0:22:13 | 0:22:16 | |
but when she was dressed in black leather | 0:22:16 | 0:22:19 | |
she was even better looking and... | 0:22:19 | 0:22:21 | |
Rose's skill in the sidecar made her a star in the '60s. | 0:22:21 | 0:22:26 | |
Today, she's happiest steering the family bike business | 0:22:26 | 0:22:29 | |
out of the limelight. | 0:22:29 | 0:22:31 | |
Cos there wasn't so many girls around doing it | 0:22:31 | 0:22:33 | |
you got more attention, so... | 0:22:33 | 0:22:36 | |
They wanted me to wear make-up. | 0:22:36 | 0:22:37 | |
I says "No, I don't wear make-up racing." | 0:22:37 | 0:22:41 | |
They were good days, they were, the best. | 0:22:41 | 0:22:44 | |
-That was the year she was presented to... -Prince Philip. -Prince Philip. | 0:22:44 | 0:22:48 | |
See the mop of hair, there. Not on Prince Philip, on Rose! | 0:22:48 | 0:22:51 | |
For riders like Rose, the glamour of the TT | 0:22:53 | 0:22:56 | |
goes hand-in-glove with the danger. | 0:22:56 | 0:22:58 | |
The infamous mountain course is considered the world's most lethal. | 0:23:05 | 0:23:10 | |
Over 130 riders have been killed on the road. | 0:23:10 | 0:23:14 | |
Sometimes I get a bit worried and concerned | 0:23:17 | 0:23:20 | |
how dangerous it could be and has been. | 0:23:20 | 0:23:22 | |
But once I'm on my bike racing... | 0:23:24 | 0:23:27 | |
..I'm 21 again. | 0:23:29 | 0:23:31 | |
Who wouldn't want to be 21 again? | 0:23:33 | 0:23:36 | |
I'm along for the ride, Roy's at the handlebars. | 0:23:36 | 0:23:39 | |
The tarmac of the TT beckons. | 0:23:39 | 0:23:42 | |
Whoa...! | 0:23:43 | 0:23:45 | |
From my sidecar seat, the future rolls out ahead. | 0:23:52 | 0:23:56 | |
But echoes of the past are never far behind. | 0:23:56 | 0:23:59 | |
Wow, what a view! | 0:24:02 | 0:24:04 | |
Now I can see why bikers enjoy overtaking the island each year. | 0:24:07 | 0:24:11 | |
-Ah, marvellous! -SHE LAUGHS | 0:24:13 | 0:24:16 | |
Fragile isles face many perils. | 0:24:37 | 0:24:40 | |
But some, like Guernsey, rise to the challenge. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:48 | |
For centuries, the islanders succeeded in turning the threat of war | 0:24:51 | 0:24:55 | |
into a money-making venture. | 0:24:55 | 0:24:58 | |
Towers like this that pepper the shore are some 200 years old - | 0:25:00 | 0:25:05 | |
defences against possible invasion by the French | 0:25:05 | 0:25:09 | |
running rampant under Napoleon. | 0:25:09 | 0:25:12 | |
The islanders learned that during times of war | 0:25:14 | 0:25:17 | |
different rules apply - rules that can be bent to your advantage. | 0:25:17 | 0:25:23 | |
As the threat of invasion rose, riches rolled in with the waves. | 0:25:25 | 0:25:31 | |
Guernsey became a "treasure island" | 0:25:32 | 0:25:34 | |
thanks to the ill-gotten gains of the infamous Guernsey privateers. | 0:25:34 | 0:25:40 | |
CANNON FIRE | 0:25:40 | 0:25:43 | |
Described as the Despair of France, | 0:25:43 | 0:25:45 | |
these private warships were fast and heavily armed with determined crews. | 0:25:45 | 0:25:51 | |
Guernsey was the ideal base for privateers to strike | 0:25:53 | 0:25:57 | |
at rich cargo vessels sailing the English Channel. | 0:25:57 | 0:26:00 | |
But how could these Guernsey bandits get away with plundering booty | 0:26:02 | 0:26:07 | |
from the big boys of Europe? | 0:26:07 | 0:26:09 | |
I'm searching for evidence of their exploits. | 0:26:12 | 0:26:15 | |
Some locals still benefit from those long lost wars. | 0:26:16 | 0:26:20 | |
'Peter de Sausmarez is a descendant of a famous Guernsey privateer. | 0:26:21 | 0:26:26 | |
'To the family, he's Grand Matthieu - Great Matthew.' | 0:26:27 | 0:26:32 | |
But this is the Grand Matthieu. | 0:26:32 | 0:26:34 | |
Centre-stage in your portrait gallery here? | 0:26:34 | 0:26:36 | |
Well, very important. Yes. We're all descended from him. | 0:26:36 | 0:26:40 | |
And, of course, he was the one who sowed the seeds | 0:26:40 | 0:26:42 | |
of the family recovery and fortune again. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:45 | |
And what evidence do you have that he was involved in privateering? | 0:26:45 | 0:26:49 | |
Well, I've got a few letters he wrote, and these are examples | 0:26:49 | 0:26:52 | |
of letter books. But these we found are of...1712. | 0:26:52 | 0:26:57 | |
So very early on. | 0:26:57 | 0:26:59 | |
-So Matthew is in at the beginning. -Right at the beginning. Absolutely. | 0:26:59 | 0:27:02 | |
And here is a letter here saying, erm, | 0:27:02 | 0:27:04 | |
"I'm writing on behalf of Thomas de Marchant | 0:27:04 | 0:27:08 | |
"to offer him a privateer ship of eight guns, | 0:27:08 | 0:27:10 | |
"and to recruit some sailors." | 0:27:10 | 0:27:12 | |
You had to have weapons of inducement. | 0:27:12 | 0:27:15 | |
And we've got some rather fine examples here. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:18 | |
This is what the seamen would be using. | 0:27:18 | 0:27:20 | |
This is interesting because this is French. Erm... | 0:27:20 | 0:27:24 | |
You can see it's very basic and very simple, | 0:27:24 | 0:27:27 | |
but one thing that's absolutely tip-top is the blade. | 0:27:27 | 0:27:30 | |
-Look at that. -So all the effort was put into this blade. -Indeed, yes. | 0:27:30 | 0:27:33 | |
If you can imagine people coming aboard, and waving these. You know. | 0:27:33 | 0:27:37 | |
-Is that a stick...? -Or slash, I think. Yeah. | 0:27:37 | 0:27:41 | |
Back in the scabbard now, do you think? | 0:27:41 | 0:27:43 | |
Perhaps it'd be safer there, wouldn't it? Yeah. | 0:27:43 | 0:27:46 | |
Very good. Erm, I think you'd make quite a good privateer. | 0:27:46 | 0:27:49 | |
Do you think? It would be quite fun, wouldn't it? | 0:27:49 | 0:27:53 | |
Strong-arm tactics soon built up fortunes. | 0:27:57 | 0:28:00 | |
The gains may have been ill-gotten, but these weren't pirates. | 0:28:00 | 0:28:05 | |
The privateers had powerful friends. | 0:28:05 | 0:28:07 | |
The British, worried about French invasion, | 0:28:10 | 0:28:13 | |
welcomed attacks on the foreign ships. | 0:28:13 | 0:28:16 | |
So much so, the privateers got a contract from the King. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:21 | |
This is a Letter of Marque - | 0:28:21 | 0:28:23 | |
basically, a pirate's licence to operate legally. | 0:28:23 | 0:28:27 | |
It's dated "the year of our Lord 1804". | 0:28:27 | 0:28:33 | |
At the top up here is a wonderful portrait of King George III, | 0:28:33 | 0:28:40 | |
and down on the bottom is the King's royal seal. | 0:28:40 | 0:28:42 | |
Now, this letter allows the bearer | 0:28:42 | 0:28:47 | |
to "lawfully apprehend, seize and take all ships, vessels and goods | 0:28:47 | 0:28:53 | |
"belonging to the French Republic." | 0:28:53 | 0:28:57 | |
This is a royal permit to plunder. | 0:28:57 | 0:29:00 | |
The Crown encouraged Guernsey boatmen to be a thorn in the side of the French, | 0:29:05 | 0:29:10 | |
and the privateers had home advantage against passing ships. | 0:29:10 | 0:29:16 | |
Skipper Roger Perrot has local knowledge of these treacherous seas. | 0:29:16 | 0:29:20 | |
What would it have been like trying to navigate through these islands | 0:29:22 | 0:29:26 | |
under sail, no engines, without an electronic chart-plotter | 0:29:26 | 0:29:30 | |
-like the one here? -Well, just hell. | 0:29:30 | 0:29:32 | |
I would not like to have been sailing a really big ship around here. | 0:29:32 | 0:29:36 | |
In privateering time, they were brilliant sailors. | 0:29:36 | 0:29:39 | |
We're armchair sailors, really, aren't we? | 0:29:39 | 0:29:42 | |
This is a really dangerous part of the world. | 0:29:43 | 0:29:46 | |
We're going to go over some really rather nasty rocks, in a moment. | 0:29:46 | 0:29:51 | |
-Those rocks are quite close, aren't they? -Yeah. | 0:29:51 | 0:29:53 | |
Fear not! | 0:29:58 | 0:29:59 | |
Daredevil sailors giving the French a bloody nose in the Napoleonic wars? | 0:30:02 | 0:30:08 | |
Is that how the islanders regarded the privateers? | 0:30:08 | 0:30:11 | |
In Guernsey society it was considered to be an honourable profession | 0:30:11 | 0:30:15 | |
until the 1820s, which is way after the end of the Napoleonic war. | 0:30:15 | 0:30:19 | |
So would privateers have been celebrated on shore? | 0:30:19 | 0:30:22 | |
Oh, yes, absolutely. And most of the ships were made in Guernsey, as well. | 0:30:22 | 0:30:26 | |
I suppose privateering was considered more of a middle-class occupation, | 0:30:26 | 0:30:29 | |
and when you became nouveau riche, and moved up an echelon, | 0:30:29 | 0:30:32 | |
then you went into the Navy - the Royal Navy - | 0:30:32 | 0:30:35 | |
where you could still make a lot of money. | 0:30:35 | 0:30:39 | |
Many of the islanders shared the spoils of the privateers' | 0:30:45 | 0:30:48 | |
plundering raids, as local historian Annette Henry knows. | 0:30:48 | 0:30:54 | |
They weren't exactly following the principles of fair trade, were they? | 0:30:54 | 0:30:58 | |
Not really, no, but in times of war you have to do what you can, | 0:30:58 | 0:31:01 | |
and living on an island we needed to make money. | 0:31:01 | 0:31:03 | |
-And was it lucrative? -It was incredibly lucrative. | 0:31:03 | 0:31:07 | |
One could amass a fortune of... | 0:31:07 | 0:31:08 | |
Well, an instance in 1799 has a Mr LeMeseurier amassing a fortune | 0:31:08 | 0:31:13 | |
of £212,000 sterling then, in 1799. | 0:31:13 | 0:31:18 | |
Equate that to today's terms | 0:31:18 | 0:31:19 | |
and we're looking at a quarter of a billion pounds in one year. | 0:31:19 | 0:31:22 | |
It was said a fifth went to the sovereign, | 0:31:23 | 0:31:26 | |
two-thirds of the remainder went to the owner of the ship of war, | 0:31:26 | 0:31:29 | |
and the remainder went to the captain and crew. | 0:31:29 | 0:31:32 | |
The sovereign was very happy to issue as many Letters of Marques as possible. | 0:31:32 | 0:31:36 | |
The privateers played a dangerous game in their tiny boats | 0:31:44 | 0:31:48 | |
dodging the warring giants on both sides of the Channel. | 0:31:48 | 0:31:53 | |
But when peace settled on the seas, their game was up. | 0:31:53 | 0:31:58 | |
Our island shores bear the scars of conflicts long past. | 0:32:08 | 0:32:13 | |
But the dying sun hasn't quite obscured the age-old fears of invasion. | 0:32:19 | 0:32:25 | |
For some, the pain of conquest is a living memory | 0:32:27 | 0:32:31 | |
that makes freedom something to cherish. | 0:32:31 | 0:32:34 | |
Those who remember the long dark night of Nazi occupation | 0:32:40 | 0:32:44 | |
celebrate their liberty. | 0:32:44 | 0:32:47 | |
I'm proud to stand with them | 0:32:47 | 0:32:49 | |
and think of the price people paid facing the invaders of our isles. | 0:32:49 | 0:32:55 |