:00:16. > :00:22.Hello and welcome to The One Show, the best of Britain. Matt Baker and
:00:22. > :00:32.Alex were on a well-earned holiday so we're out on the road, taking in
:00:32. > :00:40.
:00:40. > :00:46.the nation's best loved Today we come to Cheddar gorge, one
:00:46. > :00:52.of the Morse natural phenomenon is in Britain. Over 3 million years in
:00:52. > :00:59.the making. Spectacular views from the air, as I was in The One Show
:00:59. > :01:05.hot-air balloon last year. These 450 ft-high cliffs make the
:01:05. > :01:09.scorch in Somerset, the deepest in Britain. Said to have inspired a
:01:09. > :01:13.token when he was writing Lord of the Rings, it begins its epic
:01:13. > :01:17.journey a mile away up in the hills. For hundreds of years, people have
:01:17. > :01:21.speculated about how this enormous land for mission was created but if
:01:21. > :01:31.I'm going to get to the bottom of this mystery, the first clue is not
:01:31. > :01:31.
:01:31. > :01:35.up here, but deep within the ground. Beneath the gorge are further
:01:35. > :01:39.mysteries which were only discovered as recently as the 19th
:01:39. > :01:44.century by a Victorian explorer. He first clambered through the tiny
:01:44. > :01:48.foot high passageway behind me and emerged into this enormous cave
:01:48. > :01:58.system which stretches for nearly a kilometre. As he went further,
:01:58. > :02:01.social life. This is his cave, deep inside the limestone bedrock of
:02:01. > :02:06.cheddar and it is this rock that is the key to understanding how a this
:02:06. > :02:11.was formed. Chris Castle has been studying the caves and knows more
:02:11. > :02:16.than most about their origins. is all to do with the rock we are
:02:16. > :02:20.surrounded by, limestone. It will dissolve in water, the water
:02:20. > :02:27.becomes more acidic and chemically reacts with the limestone and
:02:27. > :02:31.dissolves it, makes a bigger opening, a cave, then water can get
:02:31. > :02:35.in and you get a cave system forming. All this water, where does
:02:35. > :02:41.it go? It comes here to decade. It once flowed through here but with
:02:41. > :02:44.the passage of time, it has formed another system below us. The loss,
:02:44. > :02:47.it is one of the biggest in Britain. The Victorians were so impressed
:02:47. > :02:52.that they became convinced of the gorge must have been formed by the
:02:52. > :02:56.collapse of a much older Cavan. This theory persisted for over a
:02:56. > :03:01.hundred years until recent research revealed the truth. Satellite
:03:01. > :03:07.mapping illustrates how the limestone, shown in blue, forms a
:03:07. > :03:11.Channel and his combination of this unique rock type and its location
:03:11. > :03:14.close to the mountains which led to the gorge's Foundation. To
:03:14. > :03:24.understand how, I need to get a proper view and the best way to do
:03:24. > :03:32.
:03:32. > :03:36.Joining me is Andrew from the British Geological Survey. From the
:03:36. > :03:40.calm of the billing, we can finally see all the pieces of the puzzle,
:03:40. > :03:48.starting with the Mendip Hills and stretching all the way down to the
:03:48. > :03:52.Somerset Levels. This would have been under a tropical warm sea.
:03:52. > :03:58.They be like the Great barrier Reef in Australia. Lots of sea creatures
:03:58. > :04:03.living there, now they are fossils formed in the limestone. Today,
:04:03. > :04:09.many of us worry about cannot challenge -- climate change, but
:04:09. > :04:13.here, this has been shaped by the process of many years before.
:04:13. > :04:16.the last million years, the climate has changed from very warm to very
:04:16. > :04:22.cold and during the cold periods, although the glacier has never got
:04:23. > :04:26.this far south, Mendip would have been very cold and covered in snow.
:04:26. > :04:32.In the summer months, they would have been a short period when the
:04:32. > :04:36.snow melted. The water would have roared down the valleys, cutting
:04:37. > :04:45.the gorge as it went. That has happened many times over the last 2
:04:45. > :04:54.million years. The history of how our world has been shaped by
:04:54. > :04:58.climate change is written all over the face of the gorge. It is a
:04:58. > :05:01.sobering thought that to 300 million years ago, the landscape
:05:01. > :05:05.beneath me would have been a thriving grief of shellfish and are
:05:05. > :05:12.there hundreds of millions of years, the face of the planet has changed
:05:12. > :05:17.beyond all recognition. That is certainly the way to see that, I
:05:17. > :05:21.was very jealous. Imagine having that you every day and you would if
:05:21. > :05:26.you were at peregrine falcon. There are lots of them here with lots of
:05:26. > :05:33.prey to feed on. Blink, and she will miss them because they can
:05:33. > :05:36.sweep at speeds of up to 200 miles an hour. Absolutely amazing
:05:36. > :05:40.creditors but even they would struggle in the dark a bit. Funny
:05:40. > :05:45.you say that because that is one area where human beings have the
:05:45. > :05:50.edge, all thanks to an inventor in the 1820s.
:05:50. > :05:54.Most of us only think about a light bulbs when they break but the light
:05:54. > :05:58.bulb is one of the most important inventions ever. It is changing
:05:58. > :06:02.shape and material now but a light bulb is still a fundamental part of
:06:02. > :06:07.our everyday life. This is Mosley Street in the centre of Newcastle
:06:08. > :06:11.and in February at 1879, it was the first street in Britain to be lit
:06:11. > :06:15.by electric light bulbs but if you ask anybody around here who
:06:15. > :06:22.invented the Bible, they are most likely to say this. I think it was
:06:22. > :06:27.Thomas Edison. Thomas Edison. Thomas Edison got all the glory but
:06:27. > :06:33.we have another man to thank for this brilliant invention, a Brit,
:06:33. > :06:37.Joseph Swan. Eager to explore this great invention further, I ventured
:06:37. > :06:41.across Newcastle to the university to take part in a brilliant
:06:41. > :06:48.experiment involving a replica of one of his original bolts that he
:06:48. > :06:53.produced in 1879. This is not the original, a replica? Yes, made in
:06:53. > :06:58.19 Sunday nine, the 100 anniversary. Does that light up? We don't know,
:06:58. > :07:03.we never tried. This has never been that the former. Talk me through
:07:03. > :07:07.the process as you do it. And when to turn the power on, gradually
:07:08. > :07:15.increase the wattage that has been delivered to the bulb. I see some
:07:15. > :07:19.tiny sparks. Stop. We have 34 faults and the glowing filaments.
:07:19. > :07:27.And not going to be able to do much with that light? We can take it
:07:27. > :07:33.higher. It's almost 50 false and that is the kind of level that he
:07:33. > :07:43.would have produced. For him and the people in that year, this was a
:07:43. > :07:44.
:07:44. > :07:48.breakthrough? Indeed. Family ticket at that higher? Oh! I think it has
:07:48. > :07:58.burnt out. For a moment, it was brilliant. That was a really
:07:58. > :08:02.brilliant white. Incredibly, 113 years on, his original light boat
:08:02. > :08:07.design is similar to what we use today. Born and bred in Gateshead,
:08:07. > :08:11.he first revealed his liable to the world some 10 months before Thomas
:08:11. > :08:15.Edison at this building in Newcastle on 3rd February 1918
:08:15. > :08:20.Sunday nine. An audience of 700 were enthralled by the dazzling
:08:20. > :08:27.invention. The bold burned for 30 yards but it also ignited a heated
:08:27. > :08:31.debate. What happened after this first public demonstration?
:08:31. > :08:38.didn't take out any patterned for a light bulb until much later. In the
:08:38. > :08:48.meantime, on 10th November 1879, Thomas Edison, who had been working
:08:48. > :08:49.
:08:50. > :08:54.on the idea, had to come out at British hadn't. After Swan formed a
:08:54. > :08:58.new company, Thomas Edison brought proceedings against that company.
:08:58. > :09:02.However, Thomas Edison's infringement application was too
:09:02. > :09:09.late. Thomas Edison must have realised that he had a problem on
:09:09. > :09:13.his hands and the parties entered into discussions and they came to
:09:13. > :09:20.an agreement which resulted in the formation of a joint company, the
:09:20. > :09:24.Edison and Swan United Electrical Company. White has sworn not get
:09:24. > :09:30.any credit for this? Being the man he was, he was not interested in
:09:30. > :09:35.personal publicity. In contrast, Thomas Edison, as is very well-
:09:36. > :09:40.known, was very keen on publicity and indeed was publicising the
:09:40. > :09:43.invention of the light bulb before he had done it! So there is the
:09:43. > :09:50.answer as to why most of us think Thomas Edison invented the light
:09:50. > :09:52.bulb. Be believed the American's publicity and hype. They have been
:09:52. > :09:57.many inventors of are the last century but it is now apparent to
:09:57. > :10:00.me that just of Swan is one of Britain's great unsung inventors.
:10:00. > :10:05.There is a small thing but the next time you turn on the light bulb,
:10:05. > :10:12.think of the great man who invented it. Just a swan. Be proud to be
:10:12. > :10:16.British. You got to let the electric lights
:10:16. > :10:21.especially when they let you see these caves another Majesty. They
:10:21. > :10:25.are totally extraordinary. Amazing, we were surrounded by these amazing
:10:25. > :10:29.for missions. These caves are stuffed with minerals and that is
:10:29. > :10:34.why everyone has been so desperate to explore them. The different
:10:34. > :10:38.colours, the green from the pan and brown and the copper makes it a
:10:38. > :10:45.beautiful colour in this Cavan we are sitting in at the moment.
:10:45. > :10:49.Initially, there was thought to be diamonds in here. Imagine the
:10:49. > :10:54.Victorian explorer tunnelling through for seven years and imagine
:10:54. > :10:57.coming through with just a flickering candle and seeing these
:10:57. > :11:03.beautiful for missions, he thought he had discovered diamonds.
:11:03. > :11:07.would have been an extra bonus, we now know that neolithic man was in
:11:07. > :11:12.here 40,000 years ago and my favourite fact is that we have
:11:12. > :11:18.Britain's oldest complete skeleton here. 9000 years old, he was found
:11:18. > :11:24.in his cave. Cheddar was the first place in Britain to discover
:11:24. > :11:28.evidence of cannibalism. This skeleton remains intact. He was not
:11:28. > :11:32.cannibalised. When he was here being eaten was considered as a way
:11:32. > :11:38.of transporting your soul to the after life so Cheddar man had upset
:11:38. > :11:41.someone as he was left in one piece. He is not the only cave dwelling
:11:41. > :11:51.man around here, Cheddar is famous for its bats and as a colony down
:11:51. > :11:53.
:11:53. > :11:57.the road which are very own Mike Dilger discovered.
:11:57. > :12:02.There's nothing quite like being out and about in nature. It's such
:12:02. > :12:12.a century experience but it's not just your eyes you need to make the
:12:12. > :12:16.most of it, the Major years, too. Have a listen to that. When we stop
:12:16. > :12:21.and tune in, there is a whole cacophony of sound and there. But
:12:21. > :12:25.as sensitive as our ears are, human hearing is limited compared to one
:12:25. > :12:31.animal. And hoping to demonstrate the Super Sense other creature who
:12:31. > :12:38.is very success in life is based on its ability to hear a range well
:12:38. > :12:41.beyond our reach, it's a badge. This is not Somerset and very soon,
:12:41. > :12:46.it will be teeming with bats. Providing the perfect opportunity
:12:46. > :12:52.to illustrate my point. There are certain frequencies of sound that
:12:52. > :12:57.humans are completely deaf to. If I click on 14 kilohertz, I can hear
:12:57. > :13:02.that really high-pitched annoying frequency but if I click on 20
:13:03. > :13:07.kilohertz, I cannot hear a single thing because that is the upper
:13:07. > :13:11.limit of the human hearing range. That is called ultrasound and that
:13:11. > :13:20.is the domain of bats and the only way I can hear those calls is with
:13:20. > :13:24.one of these, at bat detector. That's live and feed at night to
:13:24. > :13:30.avoid daytime predators and they have evolved a precise navigation
:13:30. > :13:33.system based around their hearing called Eco location. As it flies,
:13:33. > :13:38.at that constantly sent out a series of short, high-pitched
:13:38. > :13:44.sounds which travel away from the bat and bounce of any object in the
:13:44. > :13:52.pack creating an echo. By listening to this returning echo, that's a
:13:52. > :13:57.target and home in on their prey. Tonight I'm hoping to show you how
:13:57. > :14:07.brilliantly accurate they are. With all these insects about, it would
:14:07. > :14:09.
:14:09. > :14:13.be long before they come out to hunt. Listen to that. That was the
:14:13. > :14:19.sound of bats echo locating the right above my head. What I'm
:14:19. > :14:23.trying to do is captured the moment about swoops down to catch his prey
:14:23. > :14:27.and to help me out, I'm going to use a court. It gets more high-tech
:14:28. > :14:33.than that, we've brought an entirely new slow-motion camera
:14:33. > :14:36.that films in infra red along with special infra-red lights to avoid
:14:36. > :14:46.disturbing the that's what that means I remain Byett in total
:14:46. > :14:58.
:14:58. > :15:03.darkness. All I can do is throw up Wow! Did you see that?! It looked
:15:03. > :15:12.pretty good to me, but let's take a closer look.
:15:12. > :15:18.Right, here we go. Up goes the cork. 12 times slowed down. In comes the
:15:18. > :15:22.bat, really long wings. It went right past it. Watch this. It is
:15:22. > :15:28.turning around on a six pence. It is hearing for the cork, not seeing
:15:29. > :15:35.it. It scoots past the cork. It realises it is not food. It got so
:15:35. > :15:40.close to it. You know it can see that image in its mind's eye and
:15:40. > :15:47.decided there is food to be had eldwhere. All with its ears. This
:15:47. > :15:53.is one of the fiercest night time predators. If you are a moth, a
:15:53. > :16:02.beatle or any type of night flying insect. I'm chuffed to bits. I've
:16:03. > :16:07.never, ever seen footage like this. Our experiment shows that with
:16:07. > :16:10.echolocation bats are aware of everything around them, even in
:16:10. > :16:20.pitch darkness. With this supersense, they really are kings
:16:20. > :16:25.
:16:25. > :16:31.You know, Miranda, I could really get into the wildlife stuff. The
:16:31. > :16:39.bats are incredible. The rarest bat of all, the Great Horseshoe bat
:16:39. > :16:48.live in this cave. 10% much the entire bat family live in these
:16:48. > :16:53.caves. That's right. Other bats tend to land close to the cave and
:16:53. > :16:58.then fly in, but the horseshoe bats, they fly right N
:16:58. > :17:01.What are the chances of seeing one? You may see the odd blob, but I
:17:01. > :17:06.have not seen any today, unfortunately. You may listen, but
:17:06. > :17:12.no, you are not going to hear them. They echo locate.
:17:12. > :17:17.But that is not in our audible hearing range. I tell you what is,
:17:17. > :17:23.that is Edgar Elgar. I love listening to hem. So does Giles,
:17:23. > :17:27.who is going to find out more. In the shadow of the more van hills in
:17:27. > :17:34.the summer of 1857, the son of a piano tuner was born. He was to
:17:34. > :17:39.become one of Britain's greatest composers, Edgar Elgar. Elgar's
:17:39. > :17:43.music was inspired by this tremendous countryside. I'm
:17:43. > :17:48.climbing the Malvern hills with to the west, Shropshire, and to the
:17:48. > :17:52.east, you can see as far as the Cotswolds. This extraordinary
:17:52. > :17:57.countryside and Elgar's life are intertwined. The young Elgar spent
:17:57. > :18:02.hours in the hills. He received little formal music education, but
:18:02. > :18:08.on summer days he would take music scores from his father's shop into
:18:08. > :18:14.the hill Is to study them. Years later, Elgar recorded the childhood
:18:14. > :18:20.days. He said he was still at heart the dreamy child to be found in the
:18:20. > :18:24.reeds by the Severn side with a piece of paper in his hands, trying
:18:24. > :18:30.to fix the sounds and longing for something very great.
:18:30. > :18:34.That child's appreciation of nature, would later be reflected in his
:18:34. > :18:44.music. One of his favourite compositions was the Woodland
:18:44. > :18:45.
:18:45. > :18:49.Interlude. I mean this music really evokes
:18:49. > :18:53.woodland doesn't it? Well, it is this. One of the things that is
:18:53. > :18:57.strike being this, apart from the prevalence of grown is that there
:18:57. > :19:04.are no colours or lights that stand out. Everything is blending. There
:19:05. > :19:09.is a dapled light effect. Elgar is a genius at that kind of dapled
:19:09. > :19:14.scoring. Everything, the strings, he mixs in the colours of the wood
:19:14. > :19:19.winds and at one point the horns so that you can hear them Minging in
:19:19. > :19:24.and out like the light. Did he listen to nature? Oh, yes,
:19:24. > :19:28.he said he listened to the sound of the trees. Was he writing their
:19:28. > :19:31.music or singing his? He felt that whole question of nature atmosphere
:19:31. > :19:34.was what gave him the sounds that he created.
:19:34. > :19:44.So, it is a partnership between Elgar and nature? He would have
:19:44. > :19:46.
:19:46. > :19:49.seen it that way, definitely. In 1889 Elgar married and married
:19:49. > :19:54.well. To Alice Roberts, the daughter of a general. The couple
:19:54. > :19:59.moved to London with hopes that Elgar would succeed as a composer,
:20:00. > :20:04.but they struggled. Elgar didn't get the recognition he so despitely
:20:04. > :20:09.craved and penniless, they returned to the Malverns. Such failure could
:20:09. > :20:15.have marked the end of his career, but moving back to his beloved
:20:15. > :20:20.Malverns, the Malverns of his youth, proved, in fact, to be a new
:20:20. > :20:24.beginning. In 1901, Elgar conducting here, composed a tune
:20:24. > :20:34.which propelled him to the forefront of English music. His
:20:34. > :20:35.
:20:35. > :20:42.Pomp and Circumstance March Number 1. At King Edward's request, words
:20:42. > :20:50.were added, the result was London much Hope and Glory, but it became
:20:50. > :20:55.a rallying rally. It disturbed Elgar. He felt it was not in
:20:55. > :20:59.keeping with the huge loss of life. The war depressed Elgar deeply, his
:20:59. > :21:03.last major work, reflected the despair that he felt. He was
:21:04. > :21:13.mourning a vanished era. Where better to hear this masterpiece
:21:14. > :21:30.
:21:30. > :21:35.than here in the very hills that To the end, the relationship
:21:35. > :21:39.between Elgar's music and this landscape remained. On his death
:21:39. > :21:43.bed he hummed this haunting tune to a friend and said if ever you are
:21:43. > :21:53.walking on the Malvern hills and hear that, don't be frightened,
:21:53. > :22:08.
:22:08. > :22:12.it's only me. I don't know how they got those
:22:13. > :22:19.musicians up that hill? I am tkwhrad I left my harp behind today.
:22:19. > :22:25.Now, we have a great view of the caves in inside, but up here, the
:22:25. > :22:30.view is splendid. I feel like an adventurer, climbing up and
:22:30. > :22:36.abseiling down it is lovely to feel the carniverous rocks as well. Here,
:22:36. > :22:41.it is easy to get to the access point, but I was working up in
:22:41. > :22:45.Derbyshire making a film and there was a lot of climbing! Few, if any
:22:45. > :22:51.conchers of Britain remain unexplored. Even the wilder areas
:22:51. > :22:55.like the Derby shire Dales are mapped out in the greatest detail,
:22:55. > :23:04.but under ground it is a different story and a few metres beneath my
:23:04. > :23:12.feet there is a whole network of caves and tunnels and under ground
:23:12. > :23:19.rivers. For men like Mr Dixon, the unexplored is a challenge that must
:23:20. > :23:23.be faced, whatever it takes. The story of, "Moose's" Biggest
:23:23. > :23:30.find began with an obscure 18th century document.
:23:30. > :23:34.Many years ago, there was an account written by a chap called
:23:34. > :23:40.Pompry. That was describing this mine, but the mine that we know has
:23:40. > :23:45.a blockage in it. The mine he described described what was beyond
:23:45. > :23:52.the blockage. The remnants of the old led mine is
:23:52. > :23:58.entered by a speedwell cavern. A tourist attraction in the
:23:58. > :24:03.Derbyshire Dales. Moose became obsessed with what laid behind the
:24:03. > :24:09.blockage. He set about exploring. So, this was the boat journey you
:24:09. > :24:13.have to make. As Moose and his team went deeper,
:24:13. > :24:17.tantalising clues emerged as to what was up ahead.
:24:17. > :24:24.Wow, what happened? We are deep in the old cave, this is the old
:24:24. > :24:29.graffiti from the 18th century. October, 20th, 1781?! So, these are
:24:29. > :24:33.clues in piecing together who was mining the various caves and mines
:24:33. > :24:38.at what time? That's right. The marks on the wall convinced the
:24:38. > :24:44.team it was worth pressing onment over months and years they cleared
:24:44. > :24:50.tonnes of rock and mud it meant shoring up passages and diverting
:24:50. > :24:54.an under ground river. You are literally digging by hand,
:24:54. > :24:58.blasting the odd rock away, slowly edging forwards until you break
:24:58. > :25:04.through. Six year after the work began, they finally broke through
:25:04. > :25:08.to the gigantic antic cavern. The break through came on New
:25:08. > :25:13.Year's Day, 1999. We finally broke through into the chamber and looked
:25:13. > :25:18.up at it, it was amazing. Absolutely amazing. Once in a
:25:18. > :25:23.lifetime. What is up here? That is a different way, that is the hard
:25:23. > :25:27.way. We are going an easier way. took another five years to create a
:25:27. > :25:31.safer access to the cave, that's the route I'm using today.
:25:32. > :25:37.Very few people have done this trip, let's hope I'm up to it.
:25:37. > :25:42.At 141 metres, the cave is taller than the live. I'm dropping on to a
:25:42. > :25:48.ledge at the top of Titan. I will be able to look down into the sheer
:25:48. > :25:51.drop of the abyss. Wow! I cannot even begin to see the
:25:51. > :25:56.other side of the bottom. It is a huge black void.
:25:56. > :26:06.But you can sense there is a big space out. There$$NEWLINE And this
:26:06. > :26:06.
:26:06. > :26:11.is what Titan looks like, illuminated by powerful lights.
:26:11. > :26:18.I cannot believe we are in Derbyshire. I thought I was going
:26:18. > :26:22.to feel Claus ow -- claustrophobic, but actually, I feel exposed. That
:26:22. > :26:25.is like nothing I have ever seen. Looking at it from here is one
:26:25. > :26:28.thing, going down it is quite another.
:26:28. > :26:34.If you want to bowl out, now is the time.
:26:34. > :26:39.It had occurred to me. Don't look down! Yes, don't look
:26:39. > :26:44.down! Looking up, there are incredible stalactites and all of
:26:44. > :26:48.the waterfalling down. It is amazing. We are about a quarter of
:26:48. > :26:52.the way now, Dan. A quarter of the way?! The only
:26:52. > :26:56.thing I have ever experienced like this is a cathedral. A massive
:26:57. > :27:03.grand space hewn out of the rock. Halfway down is a ledge. It is as
:27:04. > :27:07.far as I can go. It is far enough. I thought I would never feel my
:27:08. > :27:17.legs again. Before ascending back to the lights I wanted a glimpse of
:27:18. > :27:18.
:27:18. > :27:21.the darkness below. That's a long way.
:27:21. > :27:27.I'm not looking forward to this much.
:27:27. > :27:31.It's back up the hard way, using a mountaineering technique called
:27:31. > :27:37.produce yacking. It is heaving yourself hand over hand back up the
:27:37. > :27:41.rope. It is exhausting. The final stretch of the man-made
:27:42. > :27:47.shaft is thankfully winch-assisted. Well, I doubt I'll ever have the
:27:47. > :27:52.chance to do anything like that again ever in my life. Without the
:27:52. > :27:57.sheer bloody mindedness of Moose and his mates, I would never have