Episode 1 The One Show - Best of Britain

Hello and welcome to The One Show, the best of Britain. Matt Baker and

Alex were on a well-earned holiday so we're out on the road, taking in

the nation's best loved Today we come to Cheddar gorge, one

of the Morse natural phenomenon is in Britain. Over 3 million years in

the making. Spectacular views from the air, as I was in The One Show

hot-air balloon last year. These 450 ft-high cliffs make the

scorch in Somerset, the deepest in Britain. Said to have inspired a

token when he was writing Lord of the Rings, it begins its epic

journey a mile away up in the hills. For hundreds of years, people have

speculated about how this enormous land for mission was created but if

I'm going to get to the bottom of this mystery, the first clue is not

up here, but deep within the ground. Beneath the gorge are further

mysteries which were only discovered as recently as the 19th

century by a Victorian explorer. He first clambered through the tiny

foot high passageway behind me and emerged into this enormous cave

system which stretches for nearly a kilometre. As he went further,

social life. This is his cave, deep inside the limestone bedrock of

cheddar and it is this rock that is the key to understanding how a this

was formed. Chris Castle has been studying the caves and knows more

than most about their origins. is all to do with the rock we are

surrounded by, limestone. It will dissolve in water, the water

becomes more acidic and chemically reacts with the limestone and

dissolves it, makes a bigger opening, a cave, then water can get

in and you get a cave system forming. All this water, where does

it go? It comes here to decade. It once flowed through here but with

the passage of time, it has formed another system below us. The loss,

it is one of the biggest in Britain. The Victorians were so impressed

that they became convinced of the gorge must have been formed by the

collapse of a much older Cavan. This theory persisted for over a

hundred years until recent research revealed the truth. Satellite

mapping illustrates how the limestone, shown in blue, forms a

Channel and his combination of this unique rock type and its location

close to the mountains which led to the gorge's Foundation. To

understand how, I need to get a proper view and the best way to do

Joining me is Andrew from the British Geological Survey. From the

calm of the billing, we can finally see all the pieces of the puzzle,

starting with the Mendip Hills and stretching all the way down to the

Somerset Levels. This would have been under a tropical warm sea.

They be like the Great barrier Reef in Australia. Lots of sea creatures

living there, now they are fossils formed in the limestone. Today,

many of us worry about cannot challenge -- climate change, but

here, this has been shaped by the process of many years before.

the last million years, the climate has changed from very warm to very

cold and during the cold periods, although the glacier has never got

this far south, Mendip would have been very cold and covered in snow.

In the summer months, they would have been a short period when the

snow melted. The water would have roared down the valleys, cutting

the gorge as it went. That has happened many times over the last 2

million years. The history of how our world has been shaped by

climate change is written all over the face of the gorge. It is a

sobering thought that to 300 million years ago, the landscape

beneath me would have been a thriving grief of shellfish and are

there hundreds of millions of years, the face of the planet has changed

beyond all recognition. That is certainly the way to see that, I

was very jealous. Imagine having that you every day and you would if

you were at peregrine falcon. There are lots of them here with lots of

prey to feed on. Blink, and she will miss them because they can

sweep at speeds of up to 200 miles an hour. Absolutely amazing

creditors but even they would struggle in the dark a bit. Funny

you say that because that is one area where human beings have the

edge, all thanks to an inventor in the 1820s.

Most of us only think about a light bulbs when they break but the light

bulb is one of the most important inventions ever. It is changing

shape and material now but a light bulb is still a fundamental part of

our everyday life. This is Mosley Street in the centre of Newcastle

and in February at 1879, it was the first street in Britain to be lit

by electric light bulbs but if you ask anybody around here who

invented the Bible, they are most likely to say this. I think it was

Thomas Edison. Thomas Edison. Thomas Edison got all the glory but

we have another man to thank for this brilliant invention, a Brit,

Joseph Swan. Eager to explore this great invention further, I ventured

across Newcastle to the university to take part in a brilliant

experiment involving a replica of one of his original bolts that he

produced in 1879. This is not the original, a replica? Yes, made in

19 Sunday nine, the 100 anniversary. Does that light up? We don't know,

we never tried. This has never been that the former. Talk me through

the process as you do it. And when to turn the power on, gradually

increase the wattage that has been delivered to the bulb. I see some

tiny sparks. Stop. We have 34 faults and the glowing filaments.

And not going to be able to do much with that light? We can take it

higher. It's almost 50 false and that is the kind of level that he

would have produced. For him and the people in that year, this was a

breakthrough? Indeed. Family ticket at that higher? Oh! I think it has

burnt out. For a moment, it was brilliant. That was a really

brilliant white. Incredibly, 113 years on, his original light boat

design is similar to what we use today. Born and bred in Gateshead,

he first revealed his liable to the world some 10 months before Thomas

Edison at this building in Newcastle on 3rd February 1918

Sunday nine. An audience of 700 were enthralled by the dazzling

invention. The bold burned for 30 yards but it also ignited a heated

debate. What happened after this first public demonstration?

didn't take out any patterned for a light bulb until much later. In the

meantime, on 10th November 1879, Thomas Edison, who had been working

on the idea, had to come out at British hadn't. After Swan formed a

new company, Thomas Edison brought proceedings against that company.

However, Thomas Edison's infringement application was too

late. Thomas Edison must have realised that he had a problem on

his hands and the parties entered into discussions and they came to

an agreement which resulted in the formation of a joint company, the

Edison and Swan United Electrical Company. White has sworn not get

any credit for this? Being the man he was, he was not interested in

personal publicity. In contrast, Thomas Edison, as is very well-

known, was very keen on publicity and indeed was publicising the

invention of the light bulb before he had done it! So there is the

answer as to why most of us think Thomas Edison invented the light

bulb. Be believed the American's publicity and hype. They have been

many inventors of are the last century but it is now apparent to

me that just of Swan is one of Britain's great unsung inventors.

There is a small thing but the next time you turn on the light bulb,

think of the great man who invented it. Just a swan. Be proud to be

British. You got to let the electric lights

especially when they let you see these caves another Majesty. They

are totally extraordinary. Amazing, we were surrounded by these amazing

for missions. These caves are stuffed with minerals and that is

why everyone has been so desperate to explore them. The different

colours, the green from the pan and brown and the copper makes it a

beautiful colour in this Cavan we are sitting in at the moment.

Initially, there was thought to be diamonds in here. Imagine the

Victorian explorer tunnelling through for seven years and imagine

coming through with just a flickering candle and seeing these

beautiful for missions, he thought he had discovered diamonds.

would have been an extra bonus, we now know that neolithic man was in

here 40,000 years ago and my favourite fact is that we have

Britain's oldest complete skeleton here. 9000 years old, he was found

in his cave. Cheddar was the first place in Britain to discover

evidence of cannibalism. This skeleton remains intact. He was not

cannibalised. When he was here being eaten was considered as a way

of transporting your soul to the after life so Cheddar man had upset

someone as he was left in one piece. He is not the only cave dwelling

man around here, Cheddar is famous for its bats and as a colony down

the road which are very own Mike Dilger discovered.

There's nothing quite like being out and about in nature. It's such

a century experience but it's not just your eyes you need to make the

most of it, the Major years, too. Have a listen to that. When we stop

and tune in, there is a whole cacophony of sound and there. But

as sensitive as our ears are, human hearing is limited compared to one

animal. And hoping to demonstrate the Super Sense other creature who

is very success in life is based on its ability to hear a range well

beyond our reach, it's a badge. This is not Somerset and very soon,

it will be teeming with bats. Providing the perfect opportunity

to illustrate my point. There are certain frequencies of sound that

humans are completely deaf to. If I click on 14 kilohertz, I can hear

that really high-pitched annoying frequency but if I click on 20

kilohertz, I cannot hear a single thing because that is the upper

limit of the human hearing range. That is called ultrasound and that

is the domain of bats and the only way I can hear those calls is with

one of these, at bat detector. That's live and feed at night to

avoid daytime predators and they have evolved a precise navigation

system based around their hearing called Eco location. As it flies,

at that constantly sent out a series of short, high-pitched

sounds which travel away from the bat and bounce of any object in the

pack creating an echo. By listening to this returning echo, that's a

target and home in on their prey. Tonight I'm hoping to show you how

brilliantly accurate they are. With all these insects about, it would

be long before they come out to hunt. Listen to that. That was the

sound of bats echo locating the right above my head. What I'm

trying to do is captured the moment about swoops down to catch his prey

and to help me out, I'm going to use a court. It gets more high-tech

than that, we've brought an entirely new slow-motion camera

that films in infra red along with special infra-red lights to avoid

disturbing the that's what that means I remain Byett in total

darkness. All I can do is throw up Wow! Did you see that?! It looked

pretty good to me, but let's take a closer look.

Right, here we go. Up goes the cork. 12 times slowed down. In comes the

bat, really long wings. It went right past it. Watch this. It is

turning around on a six pence. It is hearing for the cork, not seeing

it. It scoots past the cork. It realises it is not food. It got so

close to it. You know it can see that image in its mind's eye and

decided there is food to be had eldwhere. All with its ears. This

is one of the fiercest night time predators. If you are a moth, a

beatle or any type of night flying insect. I'm chuffed to bits. I've

never, ever seen footage like this. Our experiment shows that with

echolocation bats are aware of everything around them, even in

pitch darkness. With this supersense, they really are kings

You know, Miranda, I could really get into the wildlife stuff. The

bats are incredible. The rarest bat of all, the Great Horseshoe bat

live in this cave. 10% much the entire bat family live in these

caves. That's right. Other bats tend to land close to the cave and

then fly in, but the horseshoe bats, they fly right N

What are the chances of seeing one? You may see the odd blob, but I

have not seen any today, unfortunately. You may listen, but

no, you are not going to hear them. They echo locate.

But that is not in our audible hearing range. I tell you what is,

that is Edgar Elgar. I love listening to hem. So does Giles,

who is going to find out more. In the shadow of the more van hills in

the summer of 1857, the son of a piano tuner was born. He was to

become one of Britain's greatest composers, Edgar Elgar. Elgar's

music was inspired by this tremendous countryside. I'm

climbing the Malvern hills with to the west, Shropshire, and to the

east, you can see as far as the Cotswolds. This extraordinary

countryside and Elgar's life are intertwined. The young Elgar spent

hours in the hills. He received little formal music education, but

on summer days he would take music scores from his father's shop into

the hill Is to study them. Years later, Elgar recorded the childhood

days. He said he was still at heart the dreamy child to be found in the

reeds by the Severn side with a piece of paper in his hands, trying

to fix the sounds and longing for something very great.

That child's appreciation of nature, would later be reflected in his

music. One of his favourite compositions was the Woodland

Interlude. I mean this music really evokes

woodland doesn't it? Well, it is this. One of the things that is

strike being this, apart from the prevalence of grown is that there

are no colours or lights that stand out. Everything is blending. There

is a dapled light effect. Elgar is a genius at that kind of dapled

scoring. Everything, the strings, he mixs in the colours of the wood

winds and at one point the horns so that you can hear them Minging in

and out like the light. Did he listen to nature? Oh, yes,

he said he listened to the sound of the trees. Was he writing their

music or singing his? He felt that whole question of nature atmosphere

was what gave him the sounds that he created.

So, it is a partnership between Elgar and nature? He would have

seen it that way, definitely. In 1889 Elgar married and married

well. To Alice Roberts, the daughter of a general. The couple

moved to London with hopes that Elgar would succeed as a composer,

but they struggled. Elgar didn't get the recognition he so despitely

craved and penniless, they returned to the Malverns. Such failure could

have marked the end of his career, but moving back to his beloved

Malverns, the Malverns of his youth, proved, in fact, to be a new

beginning. In 1901, Elgar conducting here, composed a tune

which propelled him to the forefront of English music. His

Pomp and Circumstance March Number 1. At King Edward's request, words

were added, the result was London much Hope and Glory, but it became

a rallying rally. It disturbed Elgar. He felt it was not in

keeping with the huge loss of life. The war depressed Elgar deeply, his

last major work, reflected the despair that he felt. He was

mourning a vanished era. Where better to hear this masterpiece

than here in the very hills that To the end, the relationship

between Elgar's music and this landscape remained. On his death

bed he hummed this haunting tune to a friend and said if ever you are

walking on the Malvern hills and hear that, don't be frightened,

it's only me. I don't know how they got those

musicians up that hill? I am tkwhrad I left my harp behind today.

Now, we have a great view of the caves in inside, but up here, the

view is splendid. I feel like an adventurer, climbing up and

abseiling down it is lovely to feel the carniverous rocks as well. Here,

it is easy to get to the access point, but I was working up in

Derbyshire making a film and there was a lot of climbing! Few, if any

conchers of Britain remain unexplored. Even the wilder areas

like the Derby shire Dales are mapped out in the greatest detail,

but under ground it is a different story and a few metres beneath my

feet there is a whole network of caves and tunnels and under ground

rivers. For men like Mr Dixon, the unexplored is a challenge that must

be faced, whatever it takes. The story of, "Moose's" Biggest

find began with an obscure 18th century document.

Many years ago, there was an account written by a chap called

Pompry. That was describing this mine, but the mine that we know has

a blockage in it. The mine he described described what was beyond

the blockage. The remnants of the old led mine is

entered by a speedwell cavern. A tourist attraction in the

Derbyshire Dales. Moose became obsessed with what laid behind the

blockage. He set about exploring. So, this was the boat journey you

have to make. As Moose and his team went deeper,

tantalising clues emerged as to what was up ahead.

Wow, what happened? We are deep in the old cave, this is the old

graffiti from the 18th century. October, 20th, 1781?! So, these are

clues in piecing together who was mining the various caves and mines

at what time? That's right. The marks on the wall convinced the

team it was worth pressing onment over months and years they cleared

tonnes of rock and mud it meant shoring up passages and diverting

an under ground river. You are literally digging by hand,

blasting the odd rock away, slowly edging forwards until you break

through. Six year after the work began, they finally broke through

to the gigantic antic cavern. The break through came on New

Year's Day, 1999. We finally broke through into the chamber and looked

up at it, it was amazing. Absolutely amazing. Once in a

lifetime. What is up here? That is a different way, that is the hard

way. We are going an easier way. took another five years to create a

safer access to the cave, that's the route I'm using today.

Very few people have done this trip, let's hope I'm up to it.

At 141 metres, the cave is taller than the live. I'm dropping on to a

ledge at the top of Titan. I will be able to look down into the sheer

drop of the abyss. Wow! I cannot even begin to see the

other side of the bottom. It is a huge black void.

But you can sense there is a big space out. There$$NEWLINE And this

is what Titan looks like, illuminated by powerful lights.

I cannot believe we are in Derbyshire. I thought I was going

to feel Claus ow -- claustrophobic, but actually, I feel exposed. That

is like nothing I have ever seen. Looking at it from here is one

thing, going down it is quite another.

If you want to bowl out, now is the time.

It had occurred to me. Don't look down! Yes, don't look

down! Looking up, there are incredible stalactites and all of

the waterfalling down. It is amazing. We are about a quarter of

the way now, Dan. A quarter of the way?! The only

thing I have ever experienced like this is a cathedral. A massive

grand space hewn out of the rock. Halfway down is a ledge. It is as

far as I can go. It is far enough. I thought I would never feel my

legs again. Before ascending back to the lights I wanted a glimpse of

the darkness below. That's a long way.

I'm not looking forward to this much.

It's back up the hard way, using a mountaineering technique called

produce yacking. It is heaving yourself hand over hand back up the

rope. It is exhausting. The final stretch of the man-made

shaft is thankfully winch-assisted. Well, I doubt I'll ever have the

chance to do anything like that again ever in my life. Without the

sheer bloody mindedness of Moose and his mates, I would never have