Episode 11 The One Show - Best of Britain

Welcome to the one show, best of Britain with Carrie Grant and Dom

Littlewood. We are giving you a chance to see more of our favourite

Today, we are coming from the not quite so sunny Dorset, but it is

still beautiful. I remember from my lessons at school, that a rock face

over there, 150 million years old. There are 95 miles of Jurassic

coastline here. There is something I didn't know about you. You are a

keen sailor. Not half, I have sailed the British Virgin Islands,

the Greek islands and even can be Islands. Was it on a pedalo? That

hurts. We are going to see more on this coast line over the next year.

We are. Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy is hosting

the Olympics on these very seas. We are going to see some of the best

sailors in the world around here. It is all about the call of the

ocean. Can you hear that? I can. Miranda Krestovnikoff made some

We all love the sound of the seaside, crashing waves, boat horns

and children playing with their buckets and spades. But one place

where the sound is often unnoticed and unheard is right beneath our

very feet. Forget lounging around, for me, the best thing to do is to

go scouting around in rock pools in search of wildlife. What does it

sound like inside a rock pool? We need sound recordist extraordinary

Chris Watson, and his arsenal of underwater sound equipment. Hello.

You have all of your bits and bobs. Loads of stuff, yeah. Excellent. I

have found you a pretty rock pool. How are we going to record the

sounds? I have some special underwater microphones which can

explore all sorts of nooks and crannies, and maybe follow

There is so much there. That is incredible. This is constant

chattering, chirping, scraping. Almost like a little coffee morning

going on, constantly chattering to each other. Did you hear that

squeak? Yeah. I would love to know what that was. It must be the

frustration, that you can't see the animal, you're just recording the

noise. It is. I like that sense of exploration and investigation about

it. You are right, what we can use to track individual animals is this

much smaller hydrophones, mounted on this bit of wire. You can

actually delve into some of these hidden spaces. We have some hermit

crabs. If you can get the sound of them scuttling around. Yes, a sort

of mechanical movement. It is brilliant. Some limpets or

something? Excellent. There is a sort of... A raspy sound. Yeah, it

Limpets might appear quite static, but this speeded-up film shows they

are continuously on the move, scraping algae from the rocks with

their tooth tongue, called a radula, and jostling for the best position.

-- toothed tongue. Limpid snoring, I have never recorded that!

have the best job! -- limpets snoring. Listening to animals doing

weird and wonderful things. Not least, that mysterious squeaking

sound from earlier. Wow. What was that? It is that squeak again.

you think that is shrimp? There is a shrimp very close by. It is

almost investigating the hydrophones. It is an amazing sound,

have never heard that. A little squeal. It has got a birdsong

quality to it. I am fascinated by that. It is thought that these

clicks and squeaks are made when the troops are feeding, possibly by

their incredibly long antennae, a bit like a violin. Why they do it

is not so clear. The weird and wonderful sounds picked up in the

rock pool are still a bit of a mystery. One thing, however, is

certain. All these noises will be drowned out on a daily basis by the

That is a sound you will not be finding in north London. What?

waves crashing on the beach, the wind in your hair. Yeah. I want the

sound of the coffee machine, the aroma of coffee, I want a latte.

am with you on that, I could kill a blueberry muffin. The one show cent

asked to thaw set. It is stunning, it is gorgeous. Let's make the most

of it. We are doing what every schoolboy and schoolgirl does when

we go to the beach, we are going crabbing. That is a cockle. No, it

is a periwinkle. They call that bit a toenail. When it gets scared, it

closes it down and retains the water. So when the tide goes out,

it always has a bit to drink from four to I have this one. That is

eight shore crab. If you flip this over, you see that triangle, it

Shoji it is a male. If you get one of the lighter, smaller ones, that

is a female. Underneath, there is no triangle. That is where she

carries her eggs and protects them, like every good mother would.

do you know this stuff? This morning, when you were doing your

hair for an hour or so... A bit longer than yours! I found this

book. And there you have it. just read it. It says, they are

tough little blighters. They have to be, the tide brings them up in

the morning, and takes them back out to safety at night. The vast

expanse of the ocean really does It has been called one of the most

audacious achievements of the Second World War. An engineering

solution that would be the backbone of allied operations after D-Day. I

am in the English Channel, just off the coast of Dungeness in Kent.

This is where Operation Pluto took place. It stands for pipeline under

the ocean. It was a way of getting fuel from England to the armies in

France. It was our secret weapon and hugely important of winning

World War II. The Normandy landings put thousands of allied vehicles

into France. Without fuel, they would be useless. Lord Mountbatten,

chief of combined operations, commissioned the audacious plan.

Four pipelines to run from the Isle of Wight to share Bourke, and 17

more from Dungeness to Boulogne. Is this the remnants of one of the

pipes? This is the remnants of part of Pluto. It was a feeder pipe

which would have run from the fuel supply over there, and connected to

Pluto proper over there. Certainly pointing in the right direction.

But it is. Were they are two different systems? There were. We

had this chap, the Hayes cable. It is essentially a three Ince led the

sheath, heavily armoured with a variety of things. The other thing

was equally ingenious, the flexible steel pipe. It was round around

these massive cotton reels, the conundrums towed across the Channel.

The 40 ft conundrums became one of the most extraordinary images of

the war, as they are unwound the pipes across the Channel. In June

1944, tugboat stroked the trial -- Fred Gilleard was on board but

he had no idea of the significance of this operation. Nobody told us a

thing. We had to tow it across and leave it. What did you know what's

going on? We knew the second front was starting but we didn't know it

was getting petrol across. Did the enemy tried to stop you? Not going,

but when we were in port, they were bombing all night. I was thinking,

let's get the hell out of here. We couldn't go until the captain was

ready. Vital to the operation were 21 pumping stations, disguised as

everything from houses to ice-cream parlours, to avoid attack. Secrecy

was a key part of Operation Pluto, which is why this looks like a

normal house but was in fact one of the pumping stations used to get

the fuel under the Channel. Was this house purpose-built to look

like a house but was a pumping station? It is a typical Art Deco

house that was built in the 1930s. My original deeds showed as a

completely private house until 1943, when the MoD took it over,

commandeered the three houses. is when they were built or being

renovated? When they have been taken over in about 42 off 43.

signs are there that showed what it was used for? There are a few hints.

All of the windowsills are roughly two ft thick. The walls are between

24 or 25 inches, reinforced with concrete, steel. Glass prove top,

glass prove all round. Four months after D-Day, when the pipelines

were finally ready, these remarkable pumping stations would

deliver a million gallons of fuel a day across the channel through 500

miles of pipeline, fuelling the allied forces as they pushed into

Germany. Once it had come on stream, it was extremely effective.

underpinned the Allied advance through Hitler's Fortress Europe.

shan't forget it in a hurry. I am pretty proud but plenty of others

would have done it, I suppose. Winston Churchill said operation p

to float its -- operation Pluto was distinguished by originality, and

crowned with complete success. He said that creative energy help to

What a great film, but Pluto wasn't the only amazing operational feet

of the Second World War. We have come to the Bovington Tank Museum.

They have loads of military practice across this coast. In 1943,

there was a new piece of equipment they needed to test, the Sherman

That tank had a huge effect on a tiny village down the coast. The

MoD turned to the villagers and said, for your safety, we are

firing these tanks and we recommend evacuating the whole village. But

don't worry, at the end of the war, we will give you back your house is.

But the war finished and they didn't give their house is back.

What happened to the village? still there, it is still evacuated.

You can even see the kids' names above the clothes pegs. It is

spooky. It is spooky. The best way to see it would be from the air.

Our one show a photographer is going to tell us all about aerial

It was here at Shaw House in Newbury that an eccentric Victorian

vicar took off on a pioneering balloon flight. But the Reverend

John Mackenzie Bacon did more than just blessings and ballooning. He

was an inventor, an academic, an astronomer, he experimented in

acoustics, dabbled in the a cold and was an adventurous aeronaut,

but what fascinates me most is that It seems he spent as much time with

his scientific pursuits as with his parishioners, particularly

photography and aeronautics. think he saw ballooning as an

opportunity for making scientific measurements. He was an excellent

photographer. He saw the advantages of the balloon as a way of

gathering information for the military. Yeah. He also saw, for

instance, the advantage of taking pictures of the seabed from a

balloon. A remarkable man. A great man indeed. In order to get up into

the air, he took advantage of another Victorian innovation. He

used the local gas works to pump up his balloons. It really was

classically Victorian that a man like Bacon should take a major

technological invention like gas storage and put it to an eccement

Rick use which explains why one of the first aerial photographs were

of the Newbury gas works. In those days, there were no satellites so

the best aerial view you could get was from the top of St Paul's or,

well, a mountain. Thanks to another Bacon invention, the hot air burner,

there is no need to tap the town gas anymore.

And the One Show balloon is the perfect way to replicate his trail-

blazing adventures over Newbury. It's amazing how quickly it feels

much smaller than it looks! Oh, my God. It's essentially a picnic

basket. I can't imagine anyone would have seen the world from this

perspective before. Nobody has because in the 19th century,

photography was in its infancy, so he was a real pioneer, and he was

easily the first British aerial The old gasometer where Bacon used

to pump up his balloons is still there, but much of the urban

landscape has changed since the late 19th century. A hundred years

ago pictures like these were giving people a new vision of the world.

Bacon was a pioneer of aerial photography, but he was also

establishing a really valuable historic record.

So he would have had a few bumpy touchdowns. Oh, yes. Gas balloons

are very much less controllable than hot air balloons. An example

is this wonderful picture where he land having flown all night from

Newbury Gasworks he ended up in Wales a mile from the sea. That's

his daughter, Gertrude. A huge oak tree stopped them. She broke her

arm. He cut his head. So hence the miserable look on his face - please

make that my last balloon fight, but we're going to be fine. Yes.

Touch down - you. Never know where you're going to land. Was this

going to be one of those landings? The winds were forcing us on to the

local driving range. It's coming down quite quickly,

isn't it? It looks like we may hit that cross. That's a very big cross,

very close to... I think we might just miss it.

Oh, it's close! It's close! We're over. We're over. We're over. I

think we're going to hit the ground fairly hard, though, so hold onto

thing for dear life. Wonderful. Landing, a hot air balloon is

definitely the most exciting part of a flight, and it does make you

appreciate the combination of British eccentricity and the

pioneering spirit that gave us our first amazing views of Britain from

the air. When I went on one of those hot air balloons, every time

the guy put on the flames into the balloon, it burned my head. Don't

laugh, Carrie! Here we are on the Lulworth estate. Look at these

chalk hills. Aren't they amazing? On those are particular plants and

grasss that attract butterflies. I remember as kids we used to see

tonnes. These days, take my daughters out, don't see any.

That's because of the decline and the conservation. This is my

favourite one, the Chalkill Blue. What would be your favourite?

would have to be one with red in it. Say no more. See that one? The

Skipper, it was named after the place we're standing on. That is

not the only butterfly under threat. Mike Dilger went to spot one of the

creatures we love with a smile on his face. Mike Dilger with a smile

on his face? No, you doughnut, the creature.

Living along this remarkable landscape are amazing creatures, a

pod of bottle-nosed dolphins. Since the oil boom began, there's always

been the potential for conflict. Now there is a proposal to carry

out new oil gands exploration underneath the sea in the Murray

Firth. That's brought that relationship into sharp focus again.

We're much wiser than we were about how underwater sounds can affect

dolphins. So I am off with Sarah from the Whale and Dolphin

Conservation Society to see and I thought I saw something splash

out of the water. It might have been just a wave. Maybe I was being

a bit overexcited. Oh, no, that was. Here we go. Oh, a blow hole blowing

there - fantastic. That might be a mum and calf. Oh, this is so

exciting. Hopefully, they'll come and see us rather than us going to

see them, which would be the best thing of all. Oh, they're close!

And they're coming this way. Look at that! Watching these

dolphins showing off is truly breathtaking, but to learn more

about them, we need to listen to them as well. Simon, our sound

recorder, has put a hydraphone into the water because we're hoping to

record some of the sounds the dolphins are making. Absolutely.

They're incredible animals. They spend all of their life under the

water, so their acoustic sense is important for them. To find out

just how important these sounds are, it's back to base.

Sounds like a baby crying. So presumably, they're using these

bizarre calls just to chat to each other. It's a form of communication,

so to keep in contact with each other maybe, just making sure they

know where each other are. It's all speculation, of course.

Communication is one thing. But I understand they also... Absolutely.

What they're doing then is foraging for food.

Clearly, the dolphin's world is dominated by sound, and anything

that interferes with their ability to pick up sound waves could

interfere with them. Oil and gas exploration is very noisy. Sarah

place me the sound as the dolphins would hear it. It's very explosive.

It It could damage their hearing? At close range, it could. One of

the other things we expect to see is stress and the separation of

mother and calf. While we patently still need fuel, maintaining our

relationship with these delicate dolphins is critical if we're to

ensure their survival in this part of Scotland. In the meantime, I've

got one more chance to enjoy a final spectacle. If you're really

lucky, you might see - there's one now, in fact. Look at that! Ten, 20

metres away, maybe. Here we go. Lovely. Oh, you have to wow!

LAUGHTER It's all down to me. There we go.

Look. That's absolutely brilliant. I love that!

No, can't see any. I don't think you're going to get dolphins around

here. No, I know but I tell you what, these coves could tell a tale

or two. If you could come down here one night in the late 18th century

you could find a smuggler with a bag of contraband rum or brandy.

And they'd say to you -- you'd say to them, "I happen to believe you

are carrying illicit loot in your sack and that you intend to sell it

without a licence. What have you got to say to your customers?"

sound like that? I have had enough of driving on

motorways so I have turned off for a pootpoot -- pootle on the roads,

but as usual I am on the lookout for buildings that cause a double-

take. This one is a corker. It's just over there. Like most

delievers drive past it I am wondering what on earth it is. It

looks like a house, but it's floating above the tree tops. The

building is in Suffolk. I have been told a clue to its strange

appearance might be found in the village. Thorpeness was the

personal visual of one man, Stuart Ogilvie. His grandson Glenn still

lives here. To create the village was a huge project. He wanted to

create a holiday village where there was something for everyone.

Was it meant to be a fantasy village? Great father was an

aspiring playwright. He became friends with Jan Barry. That is

known as Barry's walk. You have the crocodile, Wendy's house, Peter

Pan's property and everything else. There is a real Peter Pan feel to

the scenes in his movies, showing a paradise for children on holiday

here in the 1930s. The artificially-created lake was

deliberately shallow so the children could have fun on the

water without their parents Wow. Hello.

The current owner of the building is Sylvia. It was a water tower. It

supplied Thorpeness with water, and Glenn Stuart Ogilvie, who wanted

something that fitted in with the fantasy feeling of Thorpeness - he

didn't want some ugly water tank, so he decided to build a house

around it, which he called his gazebo. I am desperate to have a

look inside. Can we go and have a look? With pleasure. Welcome.

When a mains water supply arrived in the village, the tank and the

windmill, used as a pump, became redundant. The tank was used just

for storage until Sylvia made the house a home with lots and lots of

stairs. How many flights are there? Ten. So come on.

You're nearly there, but it's worth the climb. Wow. What an amazing

room. It is, isn't it? This is where the water tank was held?

50,000 gallons of water. It was still here when we bought it in '76.

Then we took it out in '79. In my garage I have the biggest bull