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Hello and welcome to The One Show, Best Of Britain with Lucy Siegle | :00:18. | :00:25. | |
and Matt Allwright and the chance to see our favourite The One Show | :00:25. | :00:32. | |
films. We're in the Cairngorms National | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
Park. Isn't it beautiful? I love it. It is the biggest National Park in | :00:36. | :00:41. | |
Britain. Twice the size of the lake district. Which is in itself very | :00:41. | :00:46. | |
big. Here you get some of the UK's most exciting species, otters, | :00:46. | :00:50. | |
ospreys, wildcats. Not to mention the Scottish cross bill. Don't | :00:50. | :00:57. | |
forget. If you look in the rivers and the lochs, you may catch a | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
glimpse of the superfish of the Highlands? Is it a bird or a plane? | :01:02. | :01:08. | |
No, it is just a fish! For just a few weeks every year, our Scottish | :01:08. | :01:13. | |
rivers play host to a wildlife story packed with drama and the | :01:13. | :01:17. | |
ultimate determination. Because, this is a great time of | :01:17. | :01:24. | |
the year to see Atlantic salmon making incredible leaps up weirs | :01:24. | :01:32. | |
and waterfalls. Believe me, they will have a crack at anything! | :01:32. | :01:35. | |
These salmon are trying to head home back up the very rivers that | :01:35. | :01:40. | |
they were born. It is the final chapter of a massive migration. | :01:40. | :01:44. | |
Most of the salmon you see leaping will have swum all the way to | :01:44. | :01:51. | |
Greenland and back, dodging the jaws of sharks, seals, humans and | :01:51. | :01:57. | |
all sorts of other predators. These are the lucky ones. | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
Salmons spend years feeding at sea, but when they return they are | :02:02. | :02:07. | |
focused on one thing, getting upriver to breed. That means battle | :02:07. | :02:13. | |
against these mighty pitfalls, it looks exhausting, but in true The | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
One Show spirit, I'm prepared to take the plunge. I'm going to | :02:17. | :02:23. | |
attempt the impossible, trying to swim the last leg of a salmon's | :02:23. | :02:33. | |
:02:33. | :02:37. | ||
epic journey upstream. Wish me good luck! It's very, very cold! Argh! | :02:37. | :02:43. | |
And like me, the salmon don't mind this chilly water, in fact, they | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
use it as a tool to navigate their way home. | :02:47. | :02:54. | |
The way that salmon try to find the exact river in which they were born | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
is by using the chemical signature in each river, so basically, they | :02:59. | :03:07. | |
sniff their way home. It smells like the River Tay to me! Even in | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
this relatively calm stretch of water, the current is whipping | :03:10. | :03:16. | |
along at ten miles an hour and I'm struggling. The only way I'll make | :03:16. | :03:26. | |
:03:26. | :03:27. | ||
it to the rapids is to cheat. But not even Michael Phelps could | :03:27. | :03:35. | |
cope with these currents. I did say it was impossible. I went | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
into the middle there where the stream was stronger. I must have | :03:38. | :03:43. | |
gone about 20 metres before I was exhausted. | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
I'm also very cold and salmon do that for hundreds of miles from the | :03:47. | :03:53. | |
sea right to their spawning grounds much higher up. How-do they do it? | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
OK. So maybe they are a little more streamlined than I am, but when | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
they get the chance they rest in deep pools like this one, monitored | :04:03. | :04:08. | |
by fisheries manager, David. Basically, the fish have swum up, | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
they will stay in a nice deep pool that is secure and secluded and | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
stay here basically until they are ready to spawn or ready to move | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
upstream. What is the maximum height that | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
they can jump over rapids? They have been recorded to jump up to 11 | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
feet. I think that is the British record, but that is really | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
exceptional for a clear jump. Most of it is less than that. | :04:35. | :04:38. | |
Back upstream is this river's largest obstacle, the National | :04:38. | :04:45. | |
Trust for Scotland's Black Lynn waterfall. It is a five metre wall | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
of water. To reach the top here, salmon must | :04:49. | :04:55. | |
jump in stages, hoping to find small ledges along the way. | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
Wow! There we go! What a cracking leap. | :04:59. | :05:05. | |
Some of their largest leaps are equivalent to me jumping two | :05:05. | :05:10. | |
double-decker buses! Only one in 1,000 salmon will ever make it back | :05:10. | :05:20. | |
:05:20. | :05:20. | ||
to breed, so seeing them leap is a real privilege. | :05:20. | :05:27. | |
Wow! There we go. It just jumped out of nowhere and | :05:27. | :05:33. | |
hit the rock and bounced straight back down. I tell you, having heard | :05:33. | :05:39. | |
I could have a go at it myself, I am now full of admiration for these | :05:39. | :05:46. | |
athletes in the fish world. I can't wait for the fish Olympics! | :05:46. | :05:52. | |
Madrid, 2013! Exciting, isn't it, Matt? Yes, what does this landscape | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
make you feel? Right now I want to dive into the water, but it is | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
freezing. It makes me feel like writing | :06:00. | :06:06. | |
poetry. Dark brown is the river, golden is the sand, it flows on | :06:06. | :06:13. | |
forever with trees on either hand. That's buert, Matt, did you write | :06:13. | :06:18. | |
that? -- that's beautiful, Matt, did you write it? No. | :06:18. | :06:26. | |
This landscape was a huge source of inspiration for painters like John | :06:26. | :06:32. | |
millet. But also many more. | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
Here is Gyles Brandreth. Pull the poor wretch from her lay | :06:36. | :06:41. | |
to muddy depths. Lines from Shakespeare's play, Ham let, | :06:41. | :06:48. | |
describing the last moments of ham let's love, Ophelia as she drowns. | :06:48. | :06:55. | |
As families are the words is a painting of Ophelia. It depicts the | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
Shakespeare character as she takes her life in a river in Denmark | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
after hearing that her lover, ham let has killed her father. | :07:04. | :07:09. | |
There is debate as to whether Ophelia is alive or dead in this | :07:09. | :07:13. | |
moment. My feeling is it is just that moment that the life has left | :07:13. | :07:19. | |
her. Some like to believe she is alive, some like to believe she is | :07:19. | :07:25. | |
just dead. There was a brother hood of | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
painters and together they wanted to return to a more natural form of | :07:29. | :07:32. | |
painting. One of the most interesting things | :07:32. | :07:40. | |
about the pre- rafallites is that they had this move towards nature | :07:40. | :07:46. | |
and painted outdoors. In the play, of course, Ophelia dies in Denmark, | :07:46. | :07:48. | |
but the setting for the painting is English. | :07:48. | :07:58. | |
:07:58. | :08:00. | ||
I'm standing by the Hobbss Mill River in Surrey, where Miele spent | :08:00. | :08:06. | |
time spenting with his friend. Art experts believe that Mielle | :08:06. | :08:12. | |
painted the background to the painting here the Hobbs River, but | :08:12. | :08:19. | |
we decided to find out the exact location that Mielle had chosen. | :08:19. | :08:27. | |
This is the copy of the book that Milleas had written. Letters in the | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
book reveal the distance between the lodgings of the painter and the | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
riverbank where he was working on the painting. This provided | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
evidence to help Barbara narrow down her search. | :08:39. | :08:48. | |
What this told me was that Milleas could not have chosen his spot in | :08:48. | :08:54. | |
This area as it was too far' way. Then Barbara unearthed another | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
piece of the jigsaw. In the Surrey record office there | :08:58. | :09:05. | |
was a scrap book written by Chatwin Stapleton, who was the vicar here | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
at the time that the painters were here. | :09:08. | :09:15. | |
What did the vicar report? Now, the vicar reported that the willow in | :09:15. | :09:22. | |
the painting was the willow 100 yards above the bridge over the | :09:22. | :09:26. | |
Hobbs Mill leading to Surbiton, and that was the back ground of the | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
painting. So, Barbara had proved the experts | :09:31. | :09:41. | |
:09:41. | :09:43. | ||
wrong. The exact spot where Mealle had worked was close to the river | :09:43. | :09:48. | |
of Old Surbiton. How did you feel when you made this | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
dits covery? Well, very surprised and really delighted that it | :09:52. | :09:58. | |
towelally had some conclusion to it. The painter spent 11 hours a day, | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
six days a week here in all weathers, but happily his model was | :10:03. | :10:10. | |
spared the river. Instead, Lizzie Siddell was allowed | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
to pose in a bath of water in his London studio. | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
The painter had this vision, he wanted to paint her properly | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
floating in water so he could see the effects of what the water did | :10:23. | :10:29. | |
to her hair and clothing. I think that she had the painting | :10:29. | :10:35. | |
equivalent of photo genia, he knew that she would look wonderful in | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
the water. She became ill as a result of | :10:39. | :10:48. | |
posing for him. Milleas was one of the most | :10:48. | :10:56. | |
captivating painters but what of poor Lizzie? She died, but lives on | :10:56. | :11:01. | |
as art lovers everywhere as the tragic Ophelia. | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
I genuinely love that painting, which I had as a poster on my wall | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
as a student. Why didn't you have a normal poster | :11:10. | :11:20. | |
:11:20. | :11:20. | ||
as a student like Bob Marley. --? You are saying I'm not normal? | :11:20. | :11:24. | |
Maybe eccentric. This area gets a whaping 1.5 | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
million visitor as year from all over the country, but this has not | :11:28. | :11:34. | |
been such a tourism hot spot, in fact it would not be if it were not | :11:34. | :11:44. | |
for the work of one wonderful woman. Gloria hundred ford? | :11:44. | :11:51. | |
Queen Victoria. She bought Balmoral. | :11:51. | :11:56. | |
I would imagine that the burgeoning and growing railway network of the | :11:56. | :12:01. | |
era meant that more people had the opportunity to mimic the Monarch? | :12:01. | :12:07. | |
Indeed, it became fashionable of going north of the border. We have | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
an interesting way of doing fashion on show show. We have Dan Snow and | :12:12. | :12:17. | |
Michael Douglas, he is a hair drers, but he deals with the hair. -- | :12:17. | :12:23. | |
dresser. Virn England, a prosperous, hard- | :12:23. | :12:28. | |
working country it is often thought of as a peaceful period. The | :12:28. | :12:34. | |
Victorian era is referred of as being a packed Britannica, people | :12:34. | :12:39. | |
say that there were no major wars fought in it, but there was loads | :12:39. | :12:44. | |
of fighting. The Crimean War pitted Russia against Britain, France and | :12:44. | :12:50. | |
Turkey it was fought mainly in the modern-day Ukraine as the great | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
powers justled for influence in the Asia minor and the Balkans. It was | :12:54. | :12:58. | |
the military that led from the front. Pine years of a fashion for | :12:58. | :13:05. | |
male grooming in the form of fantastic extravagant moustaches, | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
obligatory for men. This is Bill, I have to create a | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
wonderful moustache on him. What is wonderful face to do it on, look at | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
that I can't wait. Bill, you have a book with images in it, tell us | :13:18. | :13:25. | |
what they are about? This is my great, great granddad, William and | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
his son. Who is this? That is a cousin. | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
I think we should go author that, that is rather nice. | :13:33. | :13:43. | |
That's a sporty moustache. Take a look... Oh, I say! Do you | :13:43. | :13:50. | |
like that? That is rather dashing that, ain't it? It suits you! I met | :13:50. | :13:55. | |
up with rosemary Mitchell, the director of a centre for Victorian | :13:55. | :14:00. | |
studies in Leeds. Why do people have beards in the army? They are | :14:00. | :14:06. | |
sort of man of action beards. Having lived out in the Empire, not | :14:06. | :14:13. | |
having time for shaving. The beard has this expression of strength. | :14:13. | :14:19. | |
Think of sampleson and deLila. The fashion for facial hair spread | :14:19. | :14:24. | |
out. Sometimes the beards are linked to | :14:24. | :14:29. | |
the Crimean War and a more positive assessment of the army and | :14:29. | :14:34. | |
supporting this is the new imperial idea of manhood. Beards expressed | :14:34. | :14:39. | |
the man who goes out there to explore the baundaries of the New | :14:39. | :14:48. | |
World. This is a about expressing po tensey, maturity and adventure | :14:48. | :14:53. | |
as well. For women, the influence was not the battlefield. The hair | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
style reflected their role. Maternal home makers. | :14:57. | :15:03. | |
So, flirtairbsness was out and prudishness was in. | :15:03. | :15:07. | |
Those Victorian values, moral rek tued and hard work were closely | :15:07. | :15:12. | |
linked to the growth of industry and the rejection of regency row | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
monthcism. The early Victorians were defieng | :15:16. | :15:21. | |
themselves against what they saw as degenerate era. So aiming to be | :15:21. | :15:31. | |
:15:31. | :15:33. | ||
It is about projecting an image which says trust me with your money | :15:33. | :15:37. | |
for top facial hair had become symbolic with trustworthiness ant | :15:37. | :15:43. | |
standing. People like Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin followed | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
the trend which now included elaborate sideburns known as mutton | :15:47. | :15:55. | |
chops. The Prince Albert is largely some big sideburns, or mutton chops | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
or lamb chops, and we also keep a bit of a moustache as well. It | :16:00. | :16:10. | |
:16:10. | :16:20. | ||
Here he is, transformed into a van -- a Victorian gent. Mutton chops. | :16:20. | :16:25. | |
They would suit you. They might make my it an almost chin that even | :16:25. | :16:31. | |
bigger! -- enormous chin. The legacy of the Victorians is still | :16:31. | :16:36. | |
with us to this day, not just the physical fabric of what they left | :16:36. | :16:40. | |
behind, but also the birth of things like social responsibility, | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
the beginnings of those struggles for a quality and rights that still | :16:45. | :16:50. | |
improve our lives to this day. I think you would look really good | :16:50. | :16:55. | |
with one of these Victorian bonnets. Really? The look I am going for is | :16:55. | :17:04. | |
a future Edwardian. Interesting. It is almost working. Four of the five | :17:04. | :17:08. | |
tallest peaks in Britain by in the Cairngorms, the tallest being Benn | :17:09. | :17:17. | |
looked eerie at 1309 metres. It has a ghost. By the big grey man who is | :17:17. | :17:22. | |
a bit like a yeti, but a man and a ghost. Maybe if we stand here long | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
enough we will meet him. Every possibility. The only better view | :17:26. | :17:32. | |
you could get than this one is of course if we were birds of prey, if | :17:32. | :17:35. | |
you were an eagle. I am glad you said that because there is a | :17:36. | :17:45. | |
:17:46. | :17:47. | ||
falconer in Devon who thinks the Throughout history man has dreamt | :17:47. | :17:55. | |
of flying and our fascination stemmed from birds. There... It is | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
normally what I am looking for. But today I have come to Devon to meet | :17:59. | :18:03. | |
a man who can't keep his feet on the ground. He has taken his | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
passion for gliding one step further and he has learnt how to | :18:07. | :18:13. | |
soar with the birds. Jonathan Marshall is more than just an | :18:13. | :18:18. | |
adrenalin junkie. With his squadron of birds, he has used every trick | :18:18. | :18:23. | |
in the book to try to soar like Lynne Neagle. This is your | :18:23. | :18:26. | |
beautiful collection. He is a professional falconer and has | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
trained many birds of prey, but there is one bird in particular he | :18:30. | :18:38. | |
has formed a very special bond with. Who is this? This is Samson. He is | :18:38. | :18:44. | |
giving me the RI! He is a golden eagle. What a handsome bird he is. | :18:44. | :18:51. | |
How heavy is he? A very heavy. He is about 10 lbs at the moment. He | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
could get heavier than that in the winter. How did you become | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
acquainted with Samson? He was originally stolen from a zoo and | :19:00. | :19:04. | |
kept in a wardrobe for four months. Somebody found dumped about it and | :19:04. | :19:10. | |
the house was raided and they found the Eagle. He was brought down to | :19:10. | :19:13. | |
me for rehabilitation. I also had to befriend him, which a lot of | :19:13. | :19:18. | |
people think sounds corny, but you can't train a bird unless it trusts | :19:18. | :19:23. | |
you. I had to sit with him night after night and we used to watch | :19:23. | :19:28. | |
the telly, we watched the X Factor, the One Show. Eventually I got his | :19:29. | :19:33. | |
trust and he is now in great condition. What does it feel like | :19:33. | :19:39. | |
to fly with a golden eagle? You can't put it into words. You can't, | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
but it is like having the most amazing secret that you can't tell | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
anybody about because they will never understand it. When we fly | :19:46. | :19:51. | |
together, it is just me and Sampson in his world. I don't have a mobile | :19:51. | :19:56. | |
phone or any bills of people pestering. It is quiet and you are | :19:56. | :20:00. | |
sharing the air with the most beautiful bird in the world. | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
Sampson teaches me a lot about flying because he is born with a | :20:04. | :20:08. | |
knowledge of the air and thermals and how to use them. I follow him | :20:08. | :20:13. | |
and you can guarantee sooner or later he will find they left. Most | :20:13. | :20:20. | |
hang-glider pilots used electronic instruments. I used a golden eagle. | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
That is cool. Now it is my turn to see him in action. Time for his | :20:25. | :20:35. | |
:20:35. | :20:39. | ||
That wasn't as we planned! thought -- I said he was raring to | :20:39. | :20:47. | |
go. We were supposed to have a little chat. Look at him go. If you | :20:47. | :20:51. | |
watch, he is hardly flapping. The crows are flapping like mad and he | :20:51. | :20:58. | |
is not beating the wing, he is just gliding. Obviously golden eagles | :20:58. | :21:01. | |
spend an enormous amount of time in the wild soaring around. They can't | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
afford to expend energy flapping. Those big wings hold him up without | :21:05. | :21:12. | |
any effort. Golden eagles were once persecuted almost to the brink of | :21:12. | :21:17. | |
extinction. But today, there are over 500 wild breeding pairs found | :21:17. | :21:24. | |
mainly in the Scottish Highlands. With a wingspan of well over two | :21:24. | :21:28. | |
metres, golden eagles can plummet down on to pray at speeds of up to | :21:28. | :21:34. | |
50 mph. They are incredibly sharp - their sharp eyesight can see a | :21:34. | :21:39. | |
rabbit from over a mile away so for Samson spotting a piece of meat in | :21:39. | :21:46. | |
my hand is a piece of cake. Here he comes. Cricket as tight as you can. | :21:46. | :21:56. | |
:21:56. | :21:59. | ||
It is incredible. Can you feel the strength? Amazing. Like a | :21:59. | :22:09. | |
pterodactyl descending. He will take my hand off! I will have to | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
count all of my fingers later, but being so close to such a majestic | :22:13. | :22:17. | |
bird and seeing the bond Jonathan and Sampson share has been a truly | :22:17. | :22:26. | |
Well, there are not many people who can say they have flown with a | :22:26. | :22:35. | |
golden eagle. It is while doubt here, we are 250 yards at least | :22:35. | :22:40. | |
from the nearest cafe. -- it is wild. But people have made their | :22:40. | :22:50. | |
:22:50. | :22:50. | ||
homes here for decades. It is a bit longer than that. One was 6,000 | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
years ago. How do you find the stuff out? You have to look for the | :22:54. | :23:02. | |
evidence, it is everywhere. Only a few people can spot these clues. | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
The history of our land. It is a real skill. Thank goodness | :23:06. | :23:11. | |
Angellica Bell is one of them. Hadrian's Wall in Northumbria, the | :23:11. | :23:15. | |
boundary of the great Roman Empire which stretched all the way from | :23:15. | :23:19. | |
here to Syria. It divided the wild tribes of the north from the | :23:19. | :23:23. | |
citizens of Roman Britain. 90 miles to the south, a surprising new | :23:23. | :23:27. | |
piece of evidence has emerged about the identity of people living here | :23:27. | :23:32. | |
under Roman rule. Today York is better known for its Viking | :23:33. | :23:38. | |
heritage, -- Viking heritage, but it was founded by the heritage -- | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
Romans in 71 A D. It quickly turned into a thriving town. Parts of | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
there 30 that Roman wall that surrounded the town still stand. | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
But it is underground that the most exciting discoveries about the | :23:51. | :23:59. | |
Romans in Britain have been made. This lady is a Roman specialist. | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
She has been re-examining remains from York dug up in the early 1900s | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
and has made a surprising new discovery. What have you got to | :24:07. | :24:13. | |
show us? And interesting find from the Roman York. It is the skull of | :24:13. | :24:16. | |
a young woman who lived in the fourth century. If we look at her | :24:16. | :24:21. | |
facial features, the width between her eyes and the shape of the nose | :24:21. | :24:24. | |
indicate black and so street and then the shape of the nasal spine | :24:24. | :24:29. | |
and the lower face indicate white ancestry. That suggests she was of | :24:29. | :24:32. | |
mixed race. Do you think she travelled hit or she was born in | :24:32. | :24:37. | |
this country? We asked the same question and we looked at her teeth. | :24:37. | :24:41. | |
Through the water you drink and the food you eat, certain elements are | :24:41. | :24:44. | |
deposited and this chemical fingerprinting technique tells us | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
she is almost certainly not from York, she has come from somewhere | :24:48. | :24:53. | |
slightly warmer, perhaps the Mediterranean. We assume this woman | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
was a slave. For the Association of Africans and slavery is modern. In | :24:57. | :25:02. | |
the Roman world, slaves came from other parts of the Empire, and also | :25:02. | :25:09. | |
has -- skeleton shows us she was living a good life. Her grave goods, | :25:09. | :25:14. | |
which were found in a stone coffin, tell us she was of very high status. | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
We have this very beautiful necklace made of blue glass. Also, | :25:18. | :25:24. | |
some bracelets. This is made of jet, which comes from nearby Whitby. It | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
shows she was shopping for jewellery in York and one of | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
elephant ivory. An African connection. Because of that, we | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
have nicknamed her the ivory bangles lady. What these goods are | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
saying is she was wealthy. We know the ivory bangles lady was 5 ft 1, | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
about average for the time. And that she died in her early twenties. | :25:46. | :25:52. | |
And now, thanks to facial reconstruction, we can reveal for | :25:52. | :25:59. | |
the first time what she might have looked like. So what was life like | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
for the ivory bangles lady in the fourth century? Surprisingly, she | :26:02. | :26:07. | |
was not the only foreign immigrant living in Roman York. The Roman | :26:07. | :26:10. | |
Empire was similar to the modern EU, with a free flow of people across | :26:10. | :26:16. | |
Europe. Much like today, Roman York and other British cities were | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
highly cosmopolitan and multicultural. This street was the | :26:20. | :26:26. | |
main Roman road in York, and it is amazing to think that even 1,700 | :26:26. | :26:32. | |
years ago, there was a real mix of people. Either might have been a | :26:32. | :26:37. | |
long way from Rome, but it was not a sleepy suburb. It had great trade | :26:37. | :26:40. | |
networks and a large population. The ivory bangles lady would have | :26:40. | :26:45. | |
enjoyed all the trappings of Roman life, such as shopping in the busy | :26:45. | :26:50. | |
market forum and the favourite pastime of all Roman citizens. This | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
bath house dates back to the fourth century and was part of a military | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
fortress. Women would not have been allowed to be a thick, it would | :26:57. | :27:01. | |
have been full of sweaty soldiers. One of whom might have been the | :27:01. | :27:05. | |
ivory bangles Lady's husband. As the military hub for Britain's | :27:05. | :27:09. | |
defence, this was one of the most important towns of the Roman Empire. | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
It was so important, emperors came here. One of the most famous | :27:13. | :27:18. | |
imperial visits was in 306 when this chap, Constantine the Great, | :27:18. | :27:23. | |
was proclaimed Emperor right here in York. It is amazing to think the | :27:23. | :27:27. | |
ivory bangles lady was living here around the time this great emperor | :27:27. | :27:37. | |
:27:37. | :27:39. | ||
A mixed-race woman living in York in the fourth century, I just | :27:39. | :27:43. | |
wasn't expecting that. But the biggest eye-opener for me is | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
discovering just how much people moved around during the Roman times | :27:47. | :27:50. | |
and just how multicultural it really was. | :27:50. | :27:54. | |
That is what the Romans did for us. Along with everything else. It has | :27:54. | :27:58. |