0:00:02 > 0:00:04MEDLEY OF FAST TUNES PLAYS
0:01:21 > 0:01:25Child of the first war, forgotten by the second,
0:01:25 > 0:01:27we called you Metro-Land.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29We laid our schemes,
0:01:29 > 0:01:32lured by the lush brochure,
0:01:32 > 0:01:38down byways beckoned to build at last the cottage of our dreams,
0:01:38 > 0:01:40a city clerk turned countryman again
0:01:40 > 0:01:44and linked to the metropolis by train.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS
0:01:51 > 0:01:53Metro-Land,
0:01:53 > 0:01:57the creation of the Metropolitan Railway
0:01:57 > 0:01:59which, as you know,
0:01:59 > 0:02:03was the first steam underground in the world.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05In the tunnels,
0:02:05 > 0:02:08the smell of sulphur was awful.
0:02:10 > 0:02:15When I was a boy, "Live in Metro-Land" was the slogan.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19It meant getting out of the tunnels into the country,
0:02:19 > 0:02:22for the line had ambitions
0:02:22 > 0:02:27of linking Manchester to Paris and dropping in at London on the way.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31That grandiose scheme came to nothing.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35But then the Metropolitan had a very good idea.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38Look at these fields.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43They were photographed in 1910 from the train.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47"Why not," said a clever member of the board,
0:02:47 > 0:02:52"Why not buy these orchards and farms as we go along,
0:02:52 > 0:02:56"turn out the cattle, and fill the meadowland with houses.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01"You would have a modern home of quality and distinction.
0:03:01 > 0:03:06"You might even buy an old one if there was one left.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10"And over these mild, Home County acres,
0:03:10 > 0:03:16"soon there will be estate agent, coal merchant, post office, shops
0:03:16 > 0:03:19"and rows of neat dwellings,
0:03:19 > 0:03:23"all within easy reach of charming countryside."
0:03:25 > 0:03:29Bucks, Herts and Middlesex yielded to Metro-Land...
0:03:30 > 0:03:36..and City men could breakfast on the fast train to London town.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Is this Buckingham Palace?
0:03:49 > 0:03:51Are we at the Ritz?
0:03:51 > 0:03:53No.
0:03:53 > 0:03:59This is the Chiltern Court Restaurant built above Baker Street Station.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02The gateway
0:04:02 > 0:04:07between Metro-Land out there and London down there.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13The creation of the Metropolitan Railway.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18The brochure shows you how splendid this place was
0:04:18 > 0:04:22in 1913, which is about the year it was built.
0:04:23 > 0:04:29Here the wives from Pinner and Ruislip, after a day's shopping
0:04:29 > 0:04:31at Liberty's or Whiteley's,
0:04:31 > 0:04:35would sit, waiting for their husbands
0:04:35 > 0:04:40to come up from Cheapside and Mincing Lane,
0:04:40 > 0:04:42and while they waited,
0:04:42 > 0:04:46they could listen to the strains of the band
0:04:46 > 0:04:49playing for the "the dansant"
0:04:49 > 0:04:52before they took the train for home.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01Early electric, punctual and prompt,
0:05:01 > 0:05:05off to those cuttings in the Hampstead Hills,
0:05:05 > 0:05:09St John's Wood, Marlborough Road, no longer stations,
0:05:09 > 0:05:11and the trains rush through.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22This is all that's left of Marlborough Road Station.
0:05:22 > 0:05:28Up there, the iron brackets which supported the glass and iron roof,
0:05:28 > 0:05:32and do you see that white house up there?
0:05:32 > 0:05:36That was where Thomas Hood, the poet, died.
0:05:36 > 0:05:42He wrote, "I remember, I remember the house where I was born." The railway cut through his garden.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45I remember Marlborough Road Station
0:05:45 > 0:05:51because it was the nearest station to the house where lived my future parents-in-law.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59Farewell, old booking hall, once grimy brick...
0:06:01 > 0:06:05..but leafy St John's Wood, which you served, remains,
0:06:05 > 0:06:09forerunner of the suburbs yet to come,
0:06:09 > 0:06:14with its broad avenues, detached and semidetached villas,
0:06:14 > 0:06:18where lived artists and writers and military men.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20And here,
0:06:20 > 0:06:24screened by shrubs, walled in from public view,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27lived the kept women.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32What Puritan arms have stretched within these rooms
0:06:32 > 0:06:35to touch what tender breasts,
0:06:35 > 0:06:39as the cab horse stamped in the road outside?
0:06:39 > 0:06:44Sweet, secret suburb on the city's rim.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46St John's Wood.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51Amidst all this frivolity,
0:06:51 > 0:06:55in one place, a sinister note is struck.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58In that helmeted house,
0:06:58 > 0:07:00where rumour has it
0:07:00 > 0:07:04the Rev John Hugh Smith Piggott lived,
0:07:04 > 0:07:08an Anglican clergyman, whose Clapton congregation
0:07:08 > 0:07:13declared him to be Christ, a compliment he accepted.
0:07:14 > 0:07:20His country house was called the Agapemone, the abode of love.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23The ladies in it called him beloved
0:07:23 > 0:07:27and some were summoned to be brides of Christ.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32Did they strew their lord with lilies?
0:07:32 > 0:07:35I don't know.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39But for some reason, this house has an uncanny atmosphere,
0:07:39 > 0:07:42threatening and restless.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48Someone seems to be looking over your shoulder.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50Who is it?
0:07:58 > 0:08:01DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS
0:08:05 > 0:08:09Over the points by electrical traction,
0:08:09 > 0:08:13out of the chimneypots, into the openness,
0:08:13 > 0:08:18till we come to the suburb that's thought to be commonplace,
0:08:18 > 0:08:21home of the gnome and the average citizen,
0:08:21 > 0:08:25Sketchley and Unigate, Dolcis and Wallpamur.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30# Neasden...
0:08:30 > 0:08:33# You won't be sorry that you breezed in
0:08:33 > 0:08:37# The traffic lights and yellow lines
0:08:37 > 0:08:43# And the illuminated signs All say welcome to the borough that everybody's pleased in
0:08:43 > 0:08:45# Neasden
0:08:45 > 0:08:49# Where the birds sing in the trees-den
0:08:49 > 0:08:53# You can hear the blackbirds coo So why not take the Bakerloo?
0:08:53 > 0:08:58# It'll work out that much cheaper If you buy a season. #
0:08:58 > 0:09:02But if you did, you'd find a steep slope
0:09:02 > 0:09:07ascending to a wide and well-prospected view
0:09:07 > 0:09:09with grassy banks
0:09:09 > 0:09:13and cunningly planted clumps of trees.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17And here Mr Eric Simms in Gladstone Park...
0:09:18 > 0:09:22..keeps a sharp eye on what is going on.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25So this is the start...
0:09:25 > 0:09:29of the well-known Neasden nature trail.
0:09:29 > 0:09:35This Neasden nature trail is something I've developed over the 21 years that I've lived here.
0:09:35 > 0:09:41Living in a suburban situation, this park is a tremendous asset for anyone interested in wildlife.
0:09:41 > 0:09:48It's a marvellous place to watch young birds at this time of year, which roam over the grass swards.
0:09:48 > 0:09:54There are something like 900 pairs of house sparrows within half a mile of my home.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57Many can be found in the park.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02One of the very common birds round here is the London or feral pigeon.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06That's a cock blackbird looking for worms.
0:10:09 > 0:10:14That's a hen blackbird which has just come out from the shrubberies.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21The second most interesting part of my nature trail at Neasden
0:10:21 > 0:10:23are the allotments in Brook Road.
0:10:23 > 0:10:29There's such a good view that I can identify birds at a great distance.
0:10:29 > 0:10:34I've seen 92 different species of bird within half a mile of my home.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36And that's not a bad total.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41Beyond Neasden, there was an unimportant hamlet
0:10:41 > 0:10:46where for years the Metropolitan didn't bother to stop...
0:10:46 > 0:10:48Wembley!
0:10:58 > 0:11:01Slushy fields and grass farms,
0:11:01 > 0:11:03then...
0:11:03 > 0:11:05out of the mist arose
0:11:05 > 0:11:07Sir Edward Watkin's dream,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10an Eiffel Tower for London.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15Sir Edward Watkin, chairman of the line.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19Thousands, he thought, would pay to climb the tower,
0:11:19 > 0:11:23which would be higher than the one in Paris.
0:11:23 > 0:11:28He announced a competition, 500 guineas for the best design.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32Never were such flights of Victorian fancy seen.
0:11:32 > 0:11:37Civil engineers from Sweden and Thornton Heath,
0:11:37 > 0:11:40Rochdale and Constantinople
0:11:40 > 0:11:42entered designs.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45Cast iron, concrete,
0:11:45 > 0:11:47glass, granite and steel,
0:11:47 > 0:11:50lifts hydraulic and electric,
0:11:50 > 0:11:53a spiral steam railway,
0:11:53 > 0:11:55theatres, chapels
0:11:55 > 0:11:58and sanatoria in the air.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02In 1890, the lucky winner was announced.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05It had Turkish baths,
0:12:05 > 0:12:07arcades of shops and winter gardens.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13Designed by a firm of Scots with a London office,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16Stewart, MacLaren and Dunn,
0:12:16 > 0:12:20it was to be 150 feet higher than the Eiffel Tower,
0:12:20 > 0:12:24but when at last it reached above the trees,
0:12:24 > 0:12:28and the first stage was opened to the crowds,
0:12:28 > 0:12:32the crowds weren't there. They didn't want to come.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37Money ran out. The tower lingered on,
0:12:37 > 0:12:41resting and rusting, until it was dismembered...
0:12:41 > 0:12:43in 1907.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48This is where London's failed Eiffel Tower stood -
0:12:48 > 0:12:52Watkin's Folly, as it was called.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54Here, on this Middlesex turf.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59And since then, the site has become quite well known.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02CROWD CHEERS
0:13:05 > 0:13:10It was here, I can just remember the excitement and the hope.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21St George's Day...
0:13:21 > 0:13:221924.
0:13:32 > 0:13:37The British Empire Exhibition at Wembley,
0:13:37 > 0:13:39opened by King George V.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43Ah, yes, those imperial pavilions.
0:13:44 > 0:13:50India, Sierra Leone, Fiji, with their suntanned sentinels of Empire outside.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53To me, they were more interesting
0:13:53 > 0:14:00than the palaces of industry and engineering, which were too like my father's factory.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03That was the Palace of Arts,
0:14:03 > 0:14:08where I used to wait while my father saw the living models
0:14:08 > 0:14:10in Pear's Palace of Beauty.
0:14:11 > 0:14:16How well I remember the Palace of Arts. Massive and simple outside,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19almost pagan in its sombre strength.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22But inside...
0:14:22 > 0:14:24ORGAN MUSIC
0:14:46 > 0:14:51This is the basilica in the Palace of Arts.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56It was used for displaying the best church art of 1924.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00AK Lawrence, Eric Gill,
0:15:00 > 0:15:03Mary Adshead, Colin Gill, and so on.
0:15:03 > 0:15:08Today it's used for housing the props of the pantomime,
0:15:08 > 0:15:12Cinderella on ice and that kind of thing.
0:15:12 > 0:15:18Really, it's quite right because church and stage have always been closely connected.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21SQUEALING AND SCREAMING
0:15:32 > 0:15:37The Pleasure Park was the best thing about the exhibition.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41The King and Queen enjoyed it, too. There they are.
0:15:57 > 0:16:02Oh, bygone Wembley. Where's the pleasure now?
0:16:03 > 0:16:06The temples stare.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08The Empire passes by.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12This was the grandest palace of them all.
0:16:12 > 0:16:17The British Government Pavilion and the famous Wembley lions.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22Now they guard an empty warehouse site.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34But still people kept on coming to Wembley.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38The show houses of the newly built estates.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42A younger, brighter, homelier Metro-Land.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44Rusholme, Russells,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47Rustlings, rusty tiles,
0:16:47 > 0:16:50Rose Hatch,
0:16:50 > 0:16:51Rosehill,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54Roselea, Rosemount,
0:16:54 > 0:16:56rose roof,
0:16:56 > 0:17:01each one is slightly different from the next.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03A bastion of individual taste
0:17:03 > 0:17:07on fields that once were bright with buttercups.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11Deep in rural Middlesex,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14the county that inspired Keats...
0:17:15 > 0:17:19"Magic casements opening on the dawn."
0:17:21 > 0:17:25A speculative builder here at Kingsbury let himself go...
0:17:25 > 0:17:28in the '20s.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41And look what a lot of country there is.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44Fields and farms between the houses.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48Oaks and elms above the rooftops.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00The smart, suburban railway knew its place
0:18:00 > 0:18:05and did not dare approach too near the Hill.
0:18:07 > 0:18:12Here at the foot of Harrow Hill, alongside the Metropolitan electric trains,
0:18:12 > 0:18:19tradesmen from Harrow built - in the '80s or '90s, I should think, from the look of the buildings -
0:18:19 > 0:18:23these houses, and a nice little speculation they were.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26Quiet, near the railway station,
0:18:26 > 0:18:30with their own church and public house,
0:18:30 > 0:18:35and they're named reverently after the great people of Harrow School,
0:18:35 > 0:18:39Drury, Vaughan, Butler.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41SCHOOLBOYS SING
0:19:03 > 0:19:09Valiantly, that Elizabethan foundation at the top of the Hill
0:19:09 > 0:19:12has held the developers at bay.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16Harrow School fought to keep this hillside green.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20But for all its tradition and elegance,
0:19:20 > 0:19:25it couldn't wholly stem the rising tide of Metro-Land.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42The healthy air of Harrow in the 1920s and '30s,
0:19:42 > 0:19:45when these villas were built.
0:19:45 > 0:19:50You paid a deposit and eventually, we hope, you had your own house
0:19:50 > 0:19:55with its garage and front garden and back garden.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58A verge in front of your house
0:19:58 > 0:20:00and grass and trees for the dog.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06Variety created in each facade of the houses
0:20:06 > 0:20:08and in the colouring of the trees.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13In fact, the country had come to the suburbs.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17Roses are blooming in Metro-Land,
0:20:17 > 0:20:20just as they do in the brochure.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34# Grab your coat and get your hat
0:20:34 > 0:20:38# Leave your worry on the doorstep
0:20:38 > 0:20:41# Just direct your feet
0:20:41 > 0:20:44# To the sunny side of the street
0:20:45 > 0:20:49# Can't you hear a pit-a-pat? And that happy tune is your step
0:20:51 > 0:20:54# Life can be so sweet
0:20:54 > 0:20:57# On the sunny side of the street
0:20:57 > 0:21:00# I used to walk in the shade
0:21:00 > 0:21:04# With those blues on parade
0:21:04 > 0:21:07# But I'm not afraid
0:21:07 > 0:21:10# This rover crossed over
0:21:10 > 0:21:13# If I never have a cent
0:21:13 > 0:21:16# I'll be rich as Rockefeller
0:21:16 > 0:21:19# Gold dust at my feet
0:21:19 > 0:21:23# On the sunny side of the street... #
0:21:33 > 0:21:38Along the serried avenues of Harrow's garden villages,
0:21:38 > 0:21:44households rise and shine and settle down to the Sunday morning rhythm.
0:21:44 > 0:21:50"Hello and best wishes, everyone, and happy birthday, Mary and Jean," begins this batch of dedications.
0:21:50 > 0:21:57Campbell Gooding of Newfarm in Queensland bids me to greet Mary and Dick Shenaghan of Teddington,
0:21:57 > 0:22:03Ian Ferguson, studying hard at Southampton University - they reckon! -
0:22:03 > 0:22:05and "the one and only" Doug Sewell.
0:22:05 > 0:22:10This is a record for you all from the people who sent the messages.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14Down By The Lazy River with the Osmonds.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16# What you doing tonight?
0:22:16 > 0:22:19# You got no place to go
0:22:20 > 0:22:23# Gotta get out of the city
0:22:23 > 0:22:27# You know it won't be long till we'll be, we'll be...
0:22:27 > 0:22:29# Down, I said down...
0:22:29 > 0:22:32# Come on down...
0:22:32 > 0:22:38# Down by the lazy river Come as you please
0:22:38 > 0:22:39# Oh, yeah...
0:22:39 > 0:22:45# Down by the lazy river One big family
0:22:45 > 0:22:49# If you're all alone, you won't be long
0:22:49 > 0:22:53# Just bring your guitar and sing your song
0:22:53 > 0:22:55# Down by the lazy river... #
0:22:56 > 0:22:59This is Grim's Dyke in Harrow Weald.
0:22:59 > 0:23:05I've always regarded it as a prototype of all suburban homes in southern England.
0:23:06 > 0:23:11It was designed by the famous Norman Shaw a century ago.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13Merry England outside,
0:23:13 > 0:23:16haunting and romantic within.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20With Norman Shaw, one thing leads to another.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24I came out of a low entrance hall
0:23:24 > 0:23:27into this bigger hall.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31And then one doesn't know what's coming next.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33There's an arch.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36If I go up there,
0:23:36 > 0:23:38I'll see goodness knows what.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Let's go and look.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54There's a sense of mounting excitement.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58Have I strayed into a Hitchcock film?
0:24:01 > 0:24:03DISTANT BABBLE OF VOICES
0:24:29 > 0:24:32TWO BANGS
0:24:32 > 0:24:34Ladies,
0:24:34 > 0:24:39good afternoon and welcome to the Byron Luncheon Club.
0:24:39 > 0:24:45I would like to give a very warm welcome to our speaker, Mrs Elizabeth Cooper.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47APPLAUSE
0:24:49 > 0:24:52I would like to thank you, Madam Chairman,
0:24:52 > 0:24:57first of all for inviting me to this beautiful lunch,
0:24:57 > 0:25:03beautiful room and bevy of beautifully dressed and beautifully hatted ladies.
0:25:03 > 0:25:09I think it's the most beautiful house in Harrow and one of the most interesting,
0:25:09 > 0:25:13- architecturally and historically. - Dear things, indeed it is.
0:25:14 > 0:25:19Tall, brick chimneystacks, not hidden away, but prominent,
0:25:19 > 0:25:22and part of the design.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25Local bricks, local tiles, local timber,
0:25:25 > 0:25:28no facade is the same.
0:25:29 > 0:25:35Gabled windows gaze through leaded lights down winding lawns.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37It isn't a fake.
0:25:37 > 0:25:42It's a new practical house for a newly rich Victorian.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45Strong, impressive...
0:25:45 > 0:25:46original.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50And yonder gloomy pool contained,
0:25:50 > 0:25:53on May 29th 1911,
0:25:53 > 0:25:55the dead body...
0:25:55 > 0:25:57of WS Gilbert,
0:25:57 > 0:26:00Grim's Dyke's most famous owner
0:26:00 > 0:26:04and Sullivan's partner in the Savoy operas.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08After a good luncheon, he went bathing with two girls,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11Ruby Preece and Winifred Emery.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13Ruby found she was out of her depth.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19In rescuing her, Gilbert died of a heart attack
0:26:19 > 0:26:22here, in this pond.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30Funereal from Harrow draws the train.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33On, on, north-westwards,
0:26:33 > 0:26:36London far away,
0:26:36 > 0:26:40and stations start to look quite countrified.
0:26:43 > 0:26:50Pinner, a parish of 1,000 souls, till railways gave it many thousands more.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53Pinner is famous for its village fair
0:26:53 > 0:26:57where once a year, St John The Baptist's Day
0:26:57 > 0:27:02shows all the climbing High Street filled with stalls.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06It is the feast day of the parish saint,
0:27:06 > 0:27:09a medieval fair in Metro-Land.
0:27:09 > 0:27:1221 and under,
0:27:12 > 0:27:15any prize you like!
0:27:15 > 0:27:18Any prize you like!
0:27:46 > 0:27:51When I was young, there stood among the fields a lonely station,
0:27:51 > 0:27:53once called Stanley Lodge,
0:27:53 > 0:27:58its wooden platform crunched by hobnailed shoes.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03And this is where the healthier got out.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07# I strolled down the fairway of love
0:28:07 > 0:28:11# On the day I lost my heart
0:28:11 > 0:28:15# I found it was heaven above
0:28:15 > 0:28:18# And I was bunkered from the start
0:28:20 > 0:28:23# I found I was soon in the rough
0:28:23 > 0:28:27# Now sadly do I roam
0:28:27 > 0:28:31# For I've got a driver and six little niblicks
0:28:31 > 0:28:35# Waiting at home sweet home. #
0:28:40 > 0:28:45One of the joys of Metro-Land was the nearness of golf to London.
0:28:45 > 0:28:50Moor Park, Rickmansworth was a great attraction.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56Now, eye on the ball, left knee slightly bent,
0:28:56 > 0:28:58slow back...
0:28:58 > 0:28:59Missed.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03HE LAUGHS
0:29:06 > 0:29:08Well, that wasn't up to much.
0:29:08 > 0:29:13Perhaps the clubhouse is more exciting.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25Did ever golf club have a 19th hole so sumptuous as this?
0:29:25 > 0:29:28Fit for a monarch.
0:29:44 > 0:29:47Did ever golf club have so fine a hall?
0:29:48 > 0:29:51Venetian decor, 1732.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00And yonder dome is not a dome at all,
0:30:00 > 0:30:04but painted in the semblance of a dome.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08The sculptured figures all are done in paint,
0:30:08 > 0:30:13that lean towards us with so rapt a look.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18How skilfully the artist takes us in.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37What Georgian wit these classic gods have heard
0:30:37 > 0:30:41who now must listen to the golfer's tale
0:30:41 > 0:30:45of holes in one and how I missed that putt,
0:30:45 > 0:30:49hooked at the seventh, sliced across the tenth,
0:30:49 > 0:30:52but ended on the 17th all square.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55Ye gods, ye gods,
0:30:55 > 0:30:58how comical we are.
0:30:58 > 0:31:02Would Jove have been appointed captain here?
0:31:04 > 0:31:08See how exclusive thine estate Moor Park.
0:31:14 > 0:31:20- And how are you?- I'm very well. How are you?- I feel a lot better now seeing you.- Even in this weather?
0:31:20 > 0:31:26Even in this weather, yes. I'd sooner see you at any time than this rain.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31See you later. Bye-bye, dear.
0:31:31 > 0:31:32Bye.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47- Can you let me through, please? - Where have you come from?
0:31:47 > 0:31:54- Visiting a friend on the estate. - What's her name?- Why do you want to know?- It's a private estate.
0:31:54 > 0:32:00- If you don't tell me where you've come from, you've got to go all the way back again.- It's pouring...
0:32:00 > 0:32:06I'm awfully sorry, love, I only work here. I'm not allowed to let you through. Go the same way back.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22Onwards, onwards,
0:32:22 > 0:32:26north of the border, down Hertfordshire way.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29MUSIC: "When The Battle Is O'er"
0:32:35 > 0:32:37The Croxley Green Revels,
0:32:37 > 0:32:42a tradition that stretches back to 1952.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48For pageantry is deep in all our hearts.
0:32:48 > 0:32:53And this, for many a girl, is her greatest day.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15Following this year's royal court,
0:33:15 > 0:33:19we have the retiring queen and her court.
0:33:19 > 0:33:24The retiring queen - Catherine Fretwell of Rickmansworth School.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30The new queen will be crowned by the retiring queen
0:33:30 > 0:33:37and then the page will set the whole of our afternoon programme into action.
0:33:37 > 0:33:42I now crown you Queen of the Revels of Croxley Green 1972.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02To my people in Croxley Green,
0:34:02 > 0:34:03greetings.
0:34:03 > 0:34:10On this memorable day, I am proud to greet you as your Croxley Green Revels Queen.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13I am happy that I have been chosen
0:34:13 > 0:34:16and I ask you, one and all,
0:34:16 > 0:34:20to make the year 1972 a very happy one.
0:34:20 > 0:34:26In this very lovely corner of England, of which we are so proud,
0:34:26 > 0:34:30let us try to find peace and goodwill
0:34:30 > 0:34:33in our homes and in our community.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38Let us try and bring happiness to those around us
0:34:38 > 0:34:42and to those less fortunate than ourselves.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46Spoken by Jilly Garwood at Croxley Green, Hertfordshire.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52Large, uneventful fields of dairy farms.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56Slowly winds the Chess brimful of trout.
0:34:57 > 0:35:02An unregarded part of Hertfordshire awaits its fate.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07And in the heights above, Chorley Wood Village,
0:35:07 > 0:35:10where in '89 the railway came
0:35:10 > 0:35:14and wood smoke mingled with the sulphur fumes
0:35:14 > 0:35:19and people now could catch the early train to London
0:35:19 > 0:35:21and be home just after tea.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34This is, I think, essential Metro-Land.
0:35:34 > 0:35:41Much trouble has been taken to preserve the country quality surviving here.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44Oak, hazel, hawthorn,
0:35:44 > 0:35:50gorse and sandy tracks, better for sport than farming, I suspect.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57Common and cricket pitch.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00Church school and church.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03All are reminders of a country past.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06Yes!
0:36:06 > 0:36:11Rounder! Rounder! Rounder! Rounder!
0:36:11 > 0:36:12Run!
0:36:12 > 0:36:17Mrs Hill, we've got eight rounders now.
0:36:19 > 0:36:24In the orchards beyond the common, one spring morning in 1900,
0:36:24 > 0:36:28a young architect, Charles Voysey, and his wife
0:36:28 > 0:36:32decided to build themselves a family home.
0:36:32 > 0:36:38I think it was the parent of thousands of simple English houses.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41All must be plain and practical.
0:36:41 > 0:36:47That sloping buttress wall is to counteract the outward thrust of the heavy slate roof.
0:36:47 > 0:36:52Do you notice those stepped tiles below the chimneypots?
0:36:52 > 0:36:56They're there to throw off the driving rain.
0:36:56 > 0:37:01That lead roof ridge is pinched up at the end for the same reason.
0:37:01 > 0:37:08Horizontal courses of red tiles in the white walls protect windows and openings.
0:37:09 > 0:37:14It's hard to believe that so simple and stalwart a house
0:37:14 > 0:37:16was built in Queen Victoria's reign.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22Voysey liked to design every detail in his house.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27For instance, that knocker - Voysey.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31Typical curious shaped handle - Voysey.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33And this...
0:37:33 > 0:37:36hand-wrought iron hinge,
0:37:36 > 0:37:42with what seems to be his signature tune, the heart, there at the end of the hinge.
0:37:42 > 0:37:47It's here round the letterbox. It's also round the keyhole.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51And it seems to be on the key. That's a Voysey key.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55In the house, he did everything down to the knives and forks.
0:37:59 > 0:38:03The plan of the house radiates out from this hall.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06Extreme simplicity is the keynote.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09No unnecessary decoration.
0:38:09 > 0:38:11The balusters here...
0:38:11 > 0:38:14for the stairs, straight verticals,
0:38:14 > 0:38:19giving an impression of great height to this simple hall.
0:38:20 > 0:38:25But, as a matter of fact, it isn't a particularly high house.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27In fact, it's rather small.
0:38:27 > 0:38:32I knew Mr Voysey and I saw Mrs Voysey. They were small people.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36In case you think it's a large house, I'll just walk...
0:38:36 > 0:38:40I'm fat, I know, and I'm not particularly tall.
0:38:40 > 0:38:47I'll stand by the door here and you compare my height with the ledge and the door.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02A round window...
0:39:02 > 0:39:05on the garden side of the house.
0:39:05 > 0:39:07And a typical Voysey detail.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10This pane which opens
0:39:10 > 0:39:13to let in the air
0:39:13 > 0:39:17from Beechy Bucks, which is just on the other side of the road.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28Back to the simple life.
0:39:28 > 0:39:35Back to nature. To a shady retreat in the reeds and rushes of the River Chess.
0:39:35 > 0:39:40The lure of Metro-Land was remoteness and quiet.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44This is what a brochure of the '20s said...
0:39:44 > 0:39:47"It's the trees,
0:39:47 > 0:39:49"the fairy dingles
0:39:49 > 0:39:55"and the 101 things in which Dame Nature's fingers have lingered long
0:39:55 > 0:39:58"in setting out this beautiful array
0:39:58 > 0:40:04"of trout stream, wooded slope, meadow and hilltop sites.
0:40:04 > 0:40:09"Send a postcard for the homestead of your dreams
0:40:09 > 0:40:13"to Loudwater Estate, Chorley Wood."
0:40:25 > 0:40:29- # With 1,000 little stars - With 1,000 little stars
0:40:29 > 0:40:32# We can decorate the ceiling
0:40:32 > 0:40:35# With an optimistic feeling
0:40:35 > 0:40:38# We can build a little home
0:40:38 > 0:40:42- # Every single little dream - Every single little dream
0:40:42 > 0:40:45# Is a shingle or a rafter
0:40:45 > 0:40:48# We can paint the house with laughter
0:40:48 > 0:40:52# When we build a little home
0:40:52 > 0:40:58# It's not a palace, nor a poorhouse But the rent is absolutely free
0:40:58 > 0:41:02# This is my house, but it's your house
0:41:02 > 0:41:05# If you'll come and live with me
0:41:05 > 0:41:08- # With a carpet on the floor - With a carpet on the floor
0:41:08 > 0:41:11# Made of buttercups and clover
0:41:11 > 0:41:14# All our troubles will be over
0:41:14 > 0:41:17# When we build our little home. #
0:41:21 > 0:41:25I'm on! I'm on this end!
0:41:25 > 0:41:29Oh, happy outdoor life in Chorley Wood,
0:41:29 > 0:41:33in Daddy's swim pool, while old Spot looks on
0:41:33 > 0:41:37and Susan dreams of super summer hols
0:41:37 > 0:41:41whilst chlorinated wavelets brush the banks.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45Oh, happy indoor life in Chorley Wood,
0:41:45 > 0:41:50where strangest dreams of all are realised.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53ORGAN MUSIC Mellifluating out from modern brick,
0:41:53 > 0:41:57the pipe dream of a local man, Len Rawle.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01For, pipe by pipe and stock by stock,
0:42:01 > 0:42:06he moved out of the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square,
0:42:06 > 0:42:09the mighty Wurlitzer,
0:42:09 > 0:42:13till the huge instrument filled half his house
0:42:13 > 0:42:17with all its multitude of sound effects.
0:43:12 > 0:43:14ORGAN MAKES STEAM TRAIN SOUNDS
0:43:35 > 0:43:37Steam took us onwards
0:43:37 > 0:43:40through the ripening fields,
0:43:40 > 0:43:43ripe for development,
0:43:43 > 0:43:47where the landscape yields clay for warm brick,
0:43:47 > 0:43:49timber for post and rail,
0:43:49 > 0:43:54through Amersham to Aylesbury and the Vale.
0:43:54 > 0:43:56In those wet fields,
0:43:56 > 0:43:59the railway didn't pay.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02The Metro stops at Amersham today.
0:44:07 > 0:44:09In 1931,
0:44:09 > 0:44:13all Buckinghamshire was scandalised
0:44:13 > 0:44:16by the appearance
0:44:16 > 0:44:20high above Amersham of a concrete house
0:44:20 > 0:44:23in the shape of a letter Y.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26It was built for a young professor
0:44:26 > 0:44:31by a young architect, Amyas Connell.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34They called it High And Over.
0:44:35 > 0:44:40"I am the home of a 20th-century family," it proclaimed,
0:44:40 > 0:44:44"that loves air and sunlight and open country."
0:44:46 > 0:44:52It started a style called moderne, perhaps rather old-fashioned today.
0:44:54 > 0:45:01And one day, poor thing, it woke up and found developers in its back garden.
0:45:01 > 0:45:03MUSIC: "Everything I Own"
0:45:05 > 0:45:08Goodbye, high hopes and overconfidence.
0:45:13 > 0:45:18In fact, it's probably goodbye, England.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36Where are the advertisements?
0:45:36 > 0:45:40Where's the shopping arcade? The coal merchants?
0:45:40 > 0:45:43And the parked cars?
0:45:43 > 0:45:49This is a part of the Metropolitan Railway that's been entirely forgotten.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51Beyond Aylesbury it lies
0:45:51 > 0:45:53in flat fields
0:45:53 > 0:45:56with huge elms
0:45:56 > 0:45:58and distant blue hills.
0:45:58 > 0:46:00Quainton Road Station.
0:46:00 > 0:46:07It was to have been the Clapham Junction of the rural part of the Metropolitan.
0:46:08 > 0:46:13With what hopes this place was built in 1890.
0:46:14 > 0:46:18They hoped that trains would run down the main line there
0:46:18 > 0:46:22from London to the Midlands and the North.
0:46:22 > 0:46:28They'd come from the Midlands and the North, rushing through here to London and a Channel tunnel
0:46:28 > 0:46:31and then on to Paris.
0:46:31 > 0:46:33But, alas, all that's happened
0:46:33 > 0:46:36is that there...
0:46:36 > 0:46:41a line curves away to the last of the Metropolitan stations
0:46:41 > 0:46:45in the country, in far Buckinghamshire,
0:46:45 > 0:46:48which was at Verney Junction.
0:46:48 > 0:46:50And I can remember sitting here
0:46:50 > 0:46:53on a warm autumn evening
0:46:53 > 0:46:55in 1929
0:46:55 > 0:46:58and seeing the Brill tram
0:46:58 > 0:47:01from the platform on the other side
0:47:01 > 0:47:03with steam up
0:47:03 > 0:47:07ready to take two or three passengers through oil-lit halts
0:47:07 > 0:47:11and over level crossings, a rather bumpy journey,
0:47:11 > 0:47:13to a station
0:47:13 > 0:47:18not far from the remote hilltop village of Brill.
0:47:22 > 0:47:28The houses of Metro-Land never got as far as Verney Junction.
0:47:29 > 0:47:31Grass triumphs.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34And I must say I'm rather glad.
0:48:07 > 0:48:12Subtitles by BBC Broadcast