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-Welcome to The One Show: Best Of Britain with Gyles Brandreth. -And Anita Rani. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
Rani is the Hindi word for queen. This is my princess for today. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:08 | |
We've got a right royal selection of our favourite One Show films. | 0:00:08 | 0:00:13 | |
Today, we're in one of the UK's most distinctive landmarks, the Giant's Causeway, | 0:00:26 | 0:00:30 | |
which is made up of 40,000 basalt columns thrusting out of the sea. | 0:00:30 | 0:00:35 | |
What is a basalt column? | 0:00:35 | 0:00:37 | |
It's lava that's come from a volcanic eruption that's solidified slowly. | 0:00:37 | 0:00:41 | |
I knew that. I was just testing. | 0:00:41 | 0:00:43 | |
We're in a World Heritage Site here | 0:00:43 | 0:00:45 | |
that was discovered by the Bishop of Derry in the early 1700s. | 0:00:45 | 0:00:49 | |
Then there was an artist from Dublin called Susanna Drury | 0:00:49 | 0:00:52 | |
who did some wonderful watercolours all set around here. | 0:00:52 | 0:00:55 | |
These became famous pictures, | 0:00:55 | 0:00:58 | |
so popular that people began to come to the site | 0:00:58 | 0:01:00 | |
to see if it could be as beautiful as the pictures were, and it is. | 0:01:00 | 0:01:04 | |
It is. It's extraordinary, and if you look at the coastline, it's perfect for seabirds. | 0:01:04 | 0:01:08 | |
These rock formations have quite a lot of unusual plants growing on them, | 0:01:08 | 0:01:12 | |
and if you are lucky, Gyles, in the water on a good day, | 0:01:12 | 0:01:15 | |
-you can see porpoises... -Porpoises! -..Seals and dolphins. | 0:01:15 | 0:01:18 | |
But Miranda Krestovnikoff, not far from here, | 0:01:18 | 0:01:21 | |
spotted something a lot more exotic. | 0:01:21 | 0:01:24 | |
Well, as long as it isn't a conger eel, I'll be all right. | 0:01:24 | 0:01:27 | |
The fish I'm hoping to find today can provide anglers with unforgettable battles, | 0:01:27 | 0:01:32 | |
and few sea fish can match its raw fighting power. | 0:01:32 | 0:01:36 | |
They're found in waters all around the UK, | 0:01:36 | 0:01:39 | |
but here in Northern Ireland is one of the best places to dive with them. | 0:01:39 | 0:01:43 | |
There are a staggering 15,000 shipwrecks in the waters surrounding Ireland, | 0:01:43 | 0:01:49 | |
and many of them are found here around Rathlin Island, off the North Irish coast. | 0:01:49 | 0:01:53 | |
These wrecks provide the perfect habitat for the creature I'm hoping to find. | 0:01:53 | 0:01:59 | |
Jim Delaney is my man in the know. | 0:01:59 | 0:02:01 | |
He's been diving these waters for 25 years, | 0:02:01 | 0:02:06 | |
and never tires of the underwater treasures the Irish Sea has to offer. | 0:02:06 | 0:02:09 | |
This is one of my favourite sites in all of Ireland, if not all the world. | 0:02:11 | 0:02:16 | |
There's so much life about here, both above the surface and below. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:20 | |
-And these waters are littered with shipwrecks. -Yeah, there's thousands of wrecks around. | 0:02:20 | 0:02:25 | |
In its day, it was more or less like a battlefield of the sea, | 0:02:25 | 0:02:29 | |
and there's many, many shipwrecks round here. Fantastic. | 0:02:29 | 0:02:35 | |
For me, the reason I have come here is to try and come face to face with a conger eel. | 0:02:35 | 0:02:39 | |
What are the chances of doing that? | 0:02:39 | 0:02:41 | |
Well, I think you've come to the right place. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:44 | |
The wreck we're heading for is in a secret location | 0:02:44 | 0:02:47 | |
and is unmarked to stop the conger eels being over-fished. | 0:02:47 | 0:02:51 | |
But Jim knows just where to take me. | 0:02:51 | 0:02:53 | |
This is conger heaven, isn't it, a place like this?! | 0:03:02 | 0:03:04 | |
Even though the wreck hasn't broken up. | 0:03:04 | 0:03:08 | |
This is just an ideal dream home for a conger. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:11 | |
It's beautiful. It's encrusted. | 0:03:15 | 0:03:18 | |
Every single surface is covered with algae and dead man's fingers. | 0:03:18 | 0:03:24 | |
Lots and lots of beautiful kelp. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:26 | |
We're down here about 18 metres deep. | 0:03:29 | 0:03:33 | |
Normally, they're nocturnal creatures. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:36 | |
You never see them swimming around during the daytime as well. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:42 | |
Those great big menacing eyes! | 0:03:42 | 0:03:45 | |
There's no sign of congers anywhere. | 0:03:46 | 0:03:49 | |
Let's go and have a look over there. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:54 | |
You've got to shine your torch into every little hole, haven't you? | 0:04:00 | 0:04:05 | |
They can get so big. You normally only ever see their face | 0:04:06 | 0:04:09 | |
as their poking their head out. | 0:04:09 | 0:04:12 | |
'They can reach up to three metres in length | 0:04:12 | 0:04:14 | |
'and weigh as much as 160 kilograms.' | 0:04:14 | 0:04:17 | |
Look at these massive holes here. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:22 | |
They love these dark holes and they can just hide away | 0:04:22 | 0:04:28 | |
and wait for something to swim past for their dinner. | 0:04:28 | 0:04:32 | |
Oh, my God! There's a huge, huge, blue conger eel in here. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:42 | |
That is absolutely fantastic. Take a look at him. | 0:04:42 | 0:04:47 | |
He is brilliant. | 0:04:47 | 0:04:50 | |
Now he's not going to come out. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:52 | |
He's quite happily sitting there looking at me. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:56 | |
'And later, as dusk set in, they did come out. | 0:04:58 | 0:05:00 | |
'And to me, it seemed more curious than ferocious.' | 0:05:02 | 0:05:06 | |
They can be distinguished from other eels by the long continuous dorsal fin | 0:05:16 | 0:05:21 | |
that runs the length of their body. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:24 | |
Perhaps most fascinating about them is their mysterious life-cycle. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:29 | |
They go on a long migration to the centre of the Atlantic to spawn, | 0:05:29 | 0:05:34 | |
and then die soon afterwards. | 0:05:34 | 0:05:37 | |
It's believed that the offspring travel back to the same coast their parents are from, | 0:05:37 | 0:05:41 | |
meaning the wrecks of Rathlin could provide a home for the offspring of these two for generations to come. | 0:05:41 | 0:05:48 | |
THEY SING THE CONGA | 0:05:50 | 0:05:54 | |
Now that is my idea of a Conga. | 0:05:54 | 0:05:56 | |
Time to be serious for a minute, whilst I give you some facts about this extraordinary place. | 0:05:56 | 0:06:00 | |
Now, 60 million years ago in a time just after dinosaurs, | 0:06:00 | 0:06:04 | |
but right before man, even older than you, Gyles, right here, the landscape was very different. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:08 | |
This used to be a river bed. | 0:06:08 | 0:06:10 | |
The tectonic plates under the Earth moved, | 0:06:10 | 0:06:13 | |
lava came up and created these columns. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:15 | |
In fact, the lava bubbled away at over 1,000 degrees centigrade, | 0:06:17 | 0:06:20 | |
creating layer upon layer of this wonderful formation, | 0:06:20 | 0:06:25 | |
with most of these columns being hexagonal in shape. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:28 | |
Over the centuries, these stones have stood the test of time, | 0:06:28 | 0:06:31 | |
and actually continue out under the sea, and year after year, | 0:06:31 | 0:06:35 | |
tourists come from all over the world to marvel at the wonder of them. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:40 | |
This is called the Giant's Causeway, | 0:06:40 | 0:06:43 | |
and I prefer the story based on the old Irish legend concerning Finn McCool, | 0:06:43 | 0:06:48 | |
the Irish giant who built these stones as stepping stones to take him from here to Scotland, | 0:06:48 | 0:06:54 | |
when he wanted to get into combat with the Scottish giant Benandonner. | 0:06:54 | 0:06:59 | |
-And did he win? -He didn't actually go. | 0:06:59 | 0:07:01 | |
He was a no-show, and what happened is that Benandonner, | 0:07:01 | 0:07:04 | |
came over to Northern Ireland to find Finn McCool, | 0:07:04 | 0:07:07 | |
didn't find him, instead found Finn McCool disguised as his own son, dressed up as a baby, | 0:07:07 | 0:07:13 | |
and Benandonner thought, "Oh, my gosh, this is quite a big, big baby. | 0:07:13 | 0:07:18 | |
If this is the baby, what will the father be like? | 0:07:18 | 0:07:21 | |
And so, shocked, he fled back to Scotland, | 0:07:21 | 0:07:24 | |
tearing up the stones so he couldn't be followed. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:27 | |
What an incredible story! It's got it all. Tactics, deception, disguise. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:31 | |
Sounds like a Dan Snow history moment. | 0:07:31 | 0:07:34 | |
And that sounds like a very clever link. | 0:07:34 | 0:07:37 | |
April, 1943. A body was dumped at sea | 0:07:39 | 0:07:42 | |
off the coast of Spain. | 0:07:42 | 0:07:44 | |
It was dressed in British uniform. | 0:07:44 | 0:07:47 | |
Attached to his belt was a briefcase crammed with top secret invasion plans. | 0:07:47 | 0:07:53 | |
The secret documents were, of course, false, | 0:07:53 | 0:07:57 | |
designed to hoodwink the Nazis, and that's exactly what they did. | 0:07:57 | 0:08:02 | |
The body was found by fishermen, | 0:08:02 | 0:08:05 | |
and the decoy invasion plans were soon in German hands. | 0:08:05 | 0:08:08 | |
The deception was so convincing that Hitler was fooled into believing | 0:08:08 | 0:08:12 | |
Greece was the Allies' invasion target, leaving the real target of Sicily vulnerable. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:18 | |
Operation Mincemeat has been hailed as the most successful wartime deception plan ever attempted. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:25 | |
It saved thousands of lives, but very little is known about its silent hero. | 0:08:25 | 0:08:30 | |
Examining the body, Nazi spies were convinced he was the high-ranking Major William Martin. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:38 | |
But they were wrong. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:40 | |
The planners of Operation Mincemeat worked out if they could convince the Germans | 0:08:40 | 0:08:45 | |
this was a real character, | 0:08:45 | 0:08:46 | |
they would be much more likely to believe what was in his briefcase, | 0:08:46 | 0:08:49 | |
all these fake documents they've made, so they created this completely false personality, | 0:08:49 | 0:08:54 | |
this person who never existed. | 0:08:54 | 0:08:55 | |
And here he is. William Martin of the Royal Marines. And there's his identity card. | 0:08:55 | 0:09:00 | |
Who's the picture of? | 0:09:00 | 0:09:02 | |
The picture is of an MI5 officer, who just happened to look a bit like the dead man. | 0:09:02 | 0:09:07 | |
Here you have his watch, his cigarettes, his keys, | 0:09:07 | 0:09:10 | |
but the tour de force was the creation of a love life for him. | 0:09:10 | 0:09:13 | |
So here they have Pam, who was actually a secretary in MI5, | 0:09:13 | 0:09:18 | |
whose photograph was thought to be just saucy enough to put in his wallet. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:22 | |
Wonderful. | 0:09:22 | 0:09:24 | |
And then we've got a completely bogus receipt for a diamond ring | 0:09:24 | 0:09:29 | |
costing £53, ten shillings and sixpence. | 0:09:29 | 0:09:32 | |
-A generous man. She's a beautiful woman. -Absolutely. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:34 | |
These are the love letters he was carrying on his person when he was found. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:40 | |
"That lovely golden day we spent together, oh..." | 0:09:40 | 0:09:44 | |
"I know it's been said before, | 0:09:44 | 0:09:46 | |
-"but if only time could sometimes stand still for just a minute." -So beautiful. -Isn't it? | 0:09:46 | 0:09:50 | |
I've got this funny mental image of a leather trench coat-wearing Gestapo officer reading this out. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:55 | |
I think that's right. | 0:09:55 | 0:09:56 | |
But this was the kind of grain and the grit that convinced them | 0:09:56 | 0:10:02 | |
that, yes, this had to be a living, real person. | 0:10:02 | 0:10:05 | |
Although the body appeared to be that of a rich and well-loved hero, | 0:10:07 | 0:10:11 | |
the reality couldn't have been further from the truth. | 0:10:11 | 0:10:14 | |
It was in fact Glyndwr Michael | 0:10:14 | 0:10:17 | |
a vagrant from Trealaw in South Wales. | 0:10:17 | 0:10:20 | |
Now this is the house where Glyndwr Michael lived | 0:10:21 | 0:10:24 | |
with his mother at the start of the war. | 0:10:24 | 0:10:27 | |
Not just his mother but his sister | 0:10:27 | 0:10:28 | |
and a brother all crammed into one tiny room. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:32 | |
-This one here? -Yes, this one. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:34 | |
Now this was originally divided into two rooms. | 0:10:34 | 0:10:36 | |
There were four of them in here. That would have been the bedroom | 0:10:36 | 0:10:40 | |
-and the sort of living area in here. -Four people in this space? -Yeah. | 0:10:40 | 0:10:44 | |
They lived in conditions of absolutely extraordinary poverty. | 0:10:44 | 0:10:47 | |
They had absolutely nothing. | 0:10:47 | 0:10:49 | |
-And there was no father to help bring in money? -No. | 0:10:49 | 0:10:52 | |
Here we have the only evidence of Glyndwr Michael's | 0:10:52 | 0:10:56 | |
and it's on his father's death certificate. | 0:10:56 | 0:10:59 | |
In Angleton Mental Hospital and it appears Glyndwr Michael | 0:10:59 | 0:11:02 | |
himself may also have suffered from mental illness. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:05 | |
His mother died in 1940 and he sort of slipped through the cracks. | 0:11:05 | 0:11:09 | |
There was no-one to look out for him and so he wound up destitute, | 0:11:09 | 0:11:13 | |
homeless and really desperate. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:16 | |
He was found having poisoned himself with rat poison in a disused warehouse in King's Cross. | 0:11:16 | 0:11:22 | |
This shows this young man, he was 34, | 0:11:22 | 0:11:25 | |
on a mortuary gurney dressed in British uniform | 0:11:25 | 0:11:28 | |
just before he's about to set sail on Operation Mincemeat. | 0:11:28 | 0:11:31 | |
Amazing. | 0:11:31 | 0:11:33 | |
Glyndwr Michael was the perfect hero for Operation Mincemeat. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:37 | |
He was a nobody and nobody would miss him. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
Did anyone ask permission from his nearest surviving relatives | 0:11:41 | 0:11:44 | |
to actually use his body? | 0:11:44 | 0:11:46 | |
There's no evidence that anyone asked anybody's permission to use the body. | 0:11:46 | 0:11:50 | |
It was simply expropriated for a wartime operation. | 0:11:50 | 0:11:54 | |
Operation Mincemeat played a vital part in the successful | 0:11:54 | 0:11:58 | |
invasion of Sicily. | 0:11:58 | 0:12:00 | |
Just two months later, Mussolini had fallen and Italy had surrendered. | 0:12:00 | 0:12:06 | |
An unknown vagrant had helped to change the course of World War II. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:10 | |
In life he'd been abandoned by his country, | 0:12:10 | 0:12:12 | |
but in death he'd done Britain proud. | 0:12:12 | 0:12:14 | |
Did your grandfather serve in the Second World War? | 0:12:18 | 0:12:21 | |
He did, with the Indian Army. | 0:12:21 | 0:12:22 | |
And my grandfather was also in the Indian Army. | 0:12:22 | 0:12:25 | |
I often think, you know, if it weren't | 0:12:25 | 0:12:27 | |
for the Second World War what would the Snow family do for a living? | 0:12:27 | 0:12:31 | |
We're not the only people here today. | 0:12:31 | 0:12:33 | |
Thousands come every year to the Giant's Causeway. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:35 | |
Some 700,000 a year visitors now. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:37 | |
That's busy. But even in the 1800s it was so busy | 0:12:37 | 0:12:40 | |
that they built the world's first hydroelectric tramway | 0:12:40 | 0:12:43 | |
to get the tourists here. | 0:12:43 | 0:12:45 | |
-Nine and a half miles. -Nine and a quarter. | 0:12:45 | 0:12:47 | |
-All the way from Portrush. -From Portrush. | 0:12:47 | 0:12:49 | |
And you got a reward. You could have a glass of water | 0:12:49 | 0:12:52 | |
-that sent you home feeling quite tipsy. -Why, what was in it? | 0:12:52 | 0:12:55 | |
Because, well, the local women put some alcohol into it. | 0:12:55 | 0:12:58 | |
-Just to perk it up a bit. -Why didn't they just serve it? -They didn't have a licence to do so. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:02 | |
I think they might have been | 0:13:02 | 0:13:03 | |
on something stronger than whiskey | 0:13:03 | 0:13:05 | |
when they made this album. | 0:13:05 | 0:13:06 | |
It's the Giant's Causeway. | 0:13:06 | 0:13:08 | |
-Led Zeppelin, very famous band, your sort of music, Led Zeppelin? -No. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:11 | |
-It isn't my kind of music. I am more of an opera buff. -Quite right. | 0:13:11 | 0:13:15 | |
I'm going to enjoy this film presented by Marty Jopson. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:18 | |
Ah, the unmistakable tones of legendary opera singer | 0:13:21 | 0:13:23 | |
Enrico Caruso. | 0:13:23 | 0:13:26 | |
His fans said he could hit a note so pure | 0:13:26 | 0:13:29 | |
and loud, that it would shatter a wine goblet. | 0:13:29 | 0:13:32 | |
Whether he could do it or not, the idea's certainly stuck | 0:13:32 | 0:13:35 | |
in the popular imagination when it comes to singers. | 0:13:35 | 0:13:38 | |
Can they shatter a glass with their voice? | 0:13:38 | 0:13:40 | |
SHE SINGS AN ARIA | 0:13:40 | 0:13:43 | |
I've brought professional soprano Sarah Estill to Manchester's | 0:13:49 | 0:13:52 | |
Trafford Centre to find out. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:54 | |
I've never been asked to break a glass but I do get asked a lot, | 0:13:58 | 0:14:01 | |
especially by children, if I CAN do it. | 0:14:01 | 0:14:03 | |
-So you've never tried this before? -No. | 0:14:03 | 0:14:05 | |
Here's my glass. I'm going to polish it up. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:11 | |
Let's hope Sarah's successful but not too successful | 0:14:11 | 0:14:14 | |
because up there is Europe's largest chandelier. | 0:14:14 | 0:14:18 | |
LONG RINGING TONE | 0:14:18 | 0:14:20 | |
OK, Sarah, that's the note you've got to hit to make the glass wobble | 0:14:20 | 0:14:26 | |
and flex and hopefully break. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:27 | |
Give it a go. | 0:14:27 | 0:14:30 | |
SINGS HIGH OPERATIC NOTE | 0:14:30 | 0:14:32 | |
Mmm, well. | 0:14:34 | 0:14:36 | |
SINGS HIGHER NOTE | 0:14:36 | 0:14:38 | |
That one. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:40 | |
HIGHER STILL | 0:14:40 | 0:14:43 | |
Well, that's not working so far. The theory is simple enough. | 0:14:43 | 0:14:47 | |
Everything makes its own particular note. This glass, if I tap this, | 0:14:47 | 0:14:52 | |
it has its own particular resonant frequency. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:55 | |
All that means is that's the note it really wants to make. | 0:14:55 | 0:14:58 | |
And this swing has a resonant frequency, too. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:01 | |
If I push the swing at its resonant frequency, gradually, | 0:15:01 | 0:15:04 | |
Sarah swings more and more but if I push faster than its resonant frequency, | 0:15:04 | 0:15:08 | |
like this, | 0:15:08 | 0:15:10 | |
nothing happens because I'm pushing and there's no swing to push. | 0:15:10 | 0:15:14 | |
That's why Sarah has to sing the exact same note | 0:15:14 | 0:15:16 | |
as the glass makes when you ping it. | 0:15:16 | 0:15:20 | |
Push harder and harder, like singing louder and louder, | 0:15:20 | 0:15:22 | |
and, well, in theory, I get Sarah right over the top... | 0:15:22 | 0:15:26 | |
SHE SCREAMS | 0:15:26 | 0:15:27 | |
..or in the case of the glass, shatter it. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:29 | |
We've come to the University of Salford | 0:15:29 | 0:15:32 | |
to try our experiment in their acoustic lab. | 0:15:32 | 0:15:34 | |
To give Sarah a bit of a boost, | 0:15:37 | 0:15:39 | |
we're going to use a microphone and then amplify it. | 0:15:39 | 0:15:42 | |
SHE SINGS A SERIES OF NOTES | 0:15:42 | 0:15:44 | |
This is what makes the sound, | 0:15:44 | 0:15:46 | |
the loudspeaker that you find in a PA system. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
SHE TRILLS | 0:15:49 | 0:15:52 | |
We're using Mark's special high-speed camera because hopefully, | 0:15:52 | 0:15:55 | |
if we get the glass to go, it will go in a fraction of a second and we want to capture that. | 0:15:55 | 0:15:59 | |
Sarah is outside warming up her voice. | 0:15:59 | 0:16:02 | |
SHE SINGS | 0:16:02 | 0:16:04 | |
Any sound you make in here completely dead. There is no echo. | 0:16:04 | 0:16:07 | |
-Listen. -DEADENED CLAPPING | 0:16:07 | 0:16:10 | |
That means that we'll be able to get our sound into the glass | 0:16:10 | 0:16:13 | |
most effectively. | 0:16:13 | 0:16:15 | |
Here's the glass. And that's the note. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:18 | |
SHE SINGS A SUSTAINED NOTE | 0:16:24 | 0:16:27 | |
Sarah has been given a set of headphones that are playing her the correct note | 0:16:27 | 0:16:31 | |
so she can hear that and reproduce it. | 0:16:31 | 0:16:33 | |
If she keeps the needle in the red, she knows she's got the right note. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:39 | |
You're getting there and you can see where the glass is going. | 0:16:39 | 0:16:42 | |
It is kind of whoa, whoa, you can see it. | 0:16:42 | 0:16:44 | |
SHE SINGS A SUSTAINED NOTE | 0:16:44 | 0:16:48 | |
Whoa! | 0:16:51 | 0:16:52 | |
You did it! Well done! | 0:16:52 | 0:16:54 | |
That made me jump. | 0:16:54 | 0:16:56 | |
-Come and look at the damage you have caused. -Wow. | 0:16:56 | 0:17:00 | |
You really made a mess of that glass. That was your voice, with just a little bit of help. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:05 | |
-Shall we do it again? That was great. -That was cool. | 0:17:05 | 0:17:08 | |
SHE SINGS A SUSTAINED NOTE | 0:17:08 | 0:17:11 | |
MUSIC: Carmina Burana | 0:17:11 | 0:17:13 | |
-Oh, my God. -Come on, let's do it again. | 0:17:13 | 0:17:15 | |
SHE SINGS A SUSTAINED NOTE | 0:17:15 | 0:17:19 | |
GLASS SMASHES | 0:17:21 | 0:17:23 | |
We did it again. | 0:17:23 | 0:17:25 | |
Brilliant. I'm on a roll, now. Give me a whole box of them! | 0:17:25 | 0:17:29 | |
-I hope those glasses weren't expensive. Gyles, you've got your gloves on. -I've got my gloves on | 0:17:31 | 0:17:36 | |
because it is quite cold and I could do with a mug of something hot. | 0:17:36 | 0:17:39 | |
I've got some cocoa but we've got to finish working, first. | 0:17:39 | 0:17:42 | |
The truth is, for a summer's day, it is quite chilly. | 0:17:42 | 0:17:45 | |
But I don't mind because here, the views are so breathtaking, | 0:17:45 | 0:17:48 | |
it is an amazing place to be. Truly beautiful. | 0:17:48 | 0:17:51 | |
You must come one day and if you do, and you are an artist, | 0:17:51 | 0:17:54 | |
bring your easel and your paints with you. Are you an artist? | 0:17:54 | 0:17:57 | |
No, I cannot draw to save my life. However, I do appreciate art. | 0:17:57 | 0:18:02 | |
My favourites include the great Irish painter Francis Bacon, | 0:18:02 | 0:18:06 | |
the great Indian painter who died recently, MF Husain, | 0:18:06 | 0:18:08 | |
and some modern artists as well - Banksy, Damien Hirst, and Rolf Harris. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:12 | |
Rolf Harris, a bit of cutting edge. | 0:18:12 | 0:18:14 | |
You're cutting edge, I'm more soft centre. | 0:18:14 | 0:18:16 | |
I think my favourite English artist is John Constable. | 0:18:16 | 0:18:20 | |
One of the privileges that we have working for The One Show | 0:18:20 | 0:18:24 | |
is we go out to see amazing places and to actually meet some remarkable people. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:29 | |
For this film, | 0:18:29 | 0:18:30 | |
I went in the footsteps of the great John Constable | 0:18:30 | 0:18:33 | |
and this is a film not only about an artist | 0:18:33 | 0:18:36 | |
but it's a love story, as well. I think you'll like it. | 0:18:36 | 0:18:39 | |
The Hay Wain, Flatford Mill | 0:18:41 | 0:18:42 | |
and The Leaping Horse are among our greatest landscape paintings. | 0:18:42 | 0:18:48 | |
They are the work of John Constable | 0:18:48 | 0:18:50 | |
and demonstrate his passion for the English countryside. | 0:18:50 | 0:18:53 | |
But his greatest love affair was with his wife, Maria, | 0:18:53 | 0:18:57 | |
and her death had a powerful effect on his art. | 0:18:57 | 0:19:00 | |
The ruins of Hadleigh Castle here in Essex are far removed from | 0:19:04 | 0:19:08 | |
the landscape we normally associate with the work of John Constable. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:12 | |
The picture that he painted here is bleak and lonely | 0:19:12 | 0:19:16 | |
and reflects the grief he felt at the loss of his beloved wife. | 0:19:16 | 0:19:20 | |
Hadleigh Castle was painted in 1829, | 0:19:22 | 0:19:26 | |
the year after Maria's death. | 0:19:26 | 0:19:28 | |
She died shortly after the birth of their seventh child. | 0:19:28 | 0:19:33 | |
Constable was devastated. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:34 | |
He said after her death, | 0:19:34 | 0:19:36 | |
"I shall never feel again as I have felt. | 0:19:36 | 0:19:39 | |
"The face of the world is totally changed to me." | 0:19:39 | 0:19:43 | |
His state of the mind at the time resonates through the painting. | 0:19:43 | 0:19:46 | |
Looking at this painting, | 0:19:46 | 0:19:48 | |
it's very hard not to believe that this bleak, | 0:19:48 | 0:19:51 | |
brooding dark painting isn't filled with his feelings of loss | 0:19:51 | 0:19:56 | |
and sorrow at her death. | 0:19:56 | 0:19:57 | |
John Constable was born in 1776 in Suffolk, | 0:19:57 | 0:20:01 | |
the son of a wealthy merchant. | 0:20:01 | 0:20:03 | |
He first met Maria Bicknell when she was a young girl | 0:20:03 | 0:20:06 | |
but when she was 21 and he was 33, he declared his love. | 0:20:06 | 0:20:11 | |
Her family, however, were against the match. | 0:20:11 | 0:20:13 | |
As far as they were concerned, | 0:20:13 | 0:20:15 | |
he was a ne'er-do-well unsuccessful painter. | 0:20:15 | 0:20:18 | |
Her grandfather threatened to disinherit her | 0:20:18 | 0:20:21 | |
if she continued this alliance with John Constable. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:25 | |
Undeterred, they continued a courtship lasting seven years, | 0:20:25 | 0:20:29 | |
played out in occasional meetings and some 200 letters. | 0:20:29 | 0:20:34 | |
"One consolatory idea is always present with me, | 0:20:34 | 0:20:38 | |
"our hearts are one." | 0:20:38 | 0:20:39 | |
"I should not love you | 0:20:39 | 0:20:40 | |
"if you did not feel my absence but feel it as a man. | 0:20:40 | 0:20:44 | |
"Rejoice that..." | 0:20:44 | 0:20:45 | |
It's a long, passionate, | 0:20:45 | 0:20:47 | |
tender regency love affair right from the Jane Austen period. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:51 | |
"Your letter, dear John, gave me the highest pleasure. To know that you are well..." | 0:20:51 | 0:20:57 | |
"..that by thoughts are never a moment from you | 0:20:57 | 0:20:59 | |
"and I wish for no greater happiness than to always subscribe myself ever affectionately yours. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:06 | |
Maria had to do as her father wished, | 0:21:06 | 0:21:08 | |
regardless of what her heart told her. | 0:21:08 | 0:21:10 | |
But something else stood in their way - | 0:21:10 | 0:21:12 | |
Constable's passion for the countryside | 0:21:12 | 0:21:15 | |
and his desire to be the greatest landscape painter. | 0:21:15 | 0:21:19 | |
But his frustrated love for Maria was not wasted, | 0:21:19 | 0:21:23 | |
it was channelled into his early paintings. | 0:21:23 | 0:21:25 | |
Constable's work starts to become stronger, fresher, more individual. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:30 | |
There's a beautiful example of that where he paints a landscape | 0:21:30 | 0:21:33 | |
looking towards the rectory where her grandfather lived at dawn | 0:21:33 | 0:21:37 | |
and the sky is suffused with pink | 0:21:37 | 0:21:39 | |
and it's very hard not to feel that passion. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:42 | |
In 1816, Constable's parents both died, leaving him a modest income. | 0:21:42 | 0:21:48 | |
Maria's father allowed them to marry | 0:21:48 | 0:21:50 | |
but refused to attend the ceremony. | 0:21:50 | 0:21:54 | |
It was a happy marriage, producing seven children | 0:21:54 | 0:21:57 | |
and leading to the period when Constable produced his greatest works. | 0:21:57 | 0:22:01 | |
The six-footers, like the Hay Wain and the Leaping Horse, | 0:22:01 | 0:22:05 | |
are the paintings that made his name. | 0:22:05 | 0:22:07 | |
You get the sense, for example, the Hay Wain, | 0:22:07 | 0:22:10 | |
a tremendous sense of fulfilment and contentment. It's a wonderful picture of the English countryside, | 0:22:10 | 0:22:16 | |
but it's important to remember that it was also quite radical, | 0:22:16 | 0:22:19 | |
and although it's now a poster of rural England, | 0:22:19 | 0:22:25 | |
those paintings were not popular when they were originally painted. | 0:22:25 | 0:22:29 | |
Constable struggled to sell his work, | 0:22:29 | 0:22:32 | |
but a worse tragedy was to come. | 0:22:32 | 0:22:34 | |
Maria developed tuberculosis, and in 1828, | 0:22:34 | 0:22:38 | |
she died after just 12 years of marriage. | 0:22:38 | 0:22:41 | |
Is it fair to say that the painting we're looking at now, | 0:22:41 | 0:22:44 | |
the paining he did here at Hadleigh Castle, | 0:22:44 | 0:22:46 | |
reflects his mood at the time of her death? | 0:22:46 | 0:22:49 | |
He was overwhelmed by grief. | 0:22:49 | 0:22:51 | |
He said, "Hourly I am reminded of the loss of my angel." | 0:22:51 | 0:22:54 | |
It's really true that the sky has darkened for him. | 0:22:54 | 0:22:58 | |
Seven long years of courtship | 0:22:58 | 0:23:00 | |
followed by 12 short years of marriage. | 0:23:00 | 0:23:04 | |
It's an extraordinary romance, and in Constable's paintings, | 0:23:04 | 0:23:07 | |
we have it still, that legacy of love. | 0:23:07 | 0:23:10 | |
Who doesn't like a good love story? | 0:23:15 | 0:23:17 | |
I collect stories about artists and their love lives. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:20 | |
You know the story about Augustus John? | 0:23:20 | 0:23:22 | |
-No, but I can't wait to hear it. -Another great English painter. | 0:23:22 | 0:23:26 | |
He was something of a Romeo, to the extent | 0:23:26 | 0:23:29 | |
that whenever he met a child of any kind, | 0:23:29 | 0:23:33 | |
he always patted it on the head just in case it was one of his. | 0:23:33 | 0:23:36 | |
SHE LAUGHS | 0:23:36 | 0:23:38 | |
That's a good one! | 0:23:38 | 0:23:40 | |
I'm a townie, and I was once told that townies, | 0:23:40 | 0:23:42 | |
when they go for a walk in the country, | 0:23:42 | 0:23:44 | |
they always look downward, whereas country people look up. | 0:23:44 | 0:23:47 | |
There's good reason to look up here, | 0:23:47 | 0:23:49 | |
because the bird-watching is fantastic. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:52 | |
If you're lucky you can see peregrine falcons, buzzards, | 0:23:52 | 0:23:55 | |
guillemots and razorbills, all great bands. | 0:23:55 | 0:23:57 | |
Uh-huh. I used to have an album from The Eagles! | 0:23:57 | 0:24:01 | |
Speaking of buzzards, they're sometimes known as tourists' eagles, | 0:24:01 | 0:24:05 | |
because people often mistake a buzzard for a golden eagle. | 0:24:05 | 0:24:10 | |
The buzzard, of course, is quite a bit smaller. | 0:24:10 | 0:24:12 | |
I'm a bit of an authority when it comes to the birds. | 0:24:12 | 0:24:15 | |
Gyles, you are an expert at pretty much everything, | 0:24:15 | 0:24:17 | |
but when it comes to birds on The One Show, only Mike Dilger is the man for the job. | 0:24:17 | 0:24:22 | |
Oh, yes, I've heard about that, Mike Dilger and the birds. | 0:24:22 | 0:24:25 | |
The Scottish Highlands, Britain's last great wilderness, | 0:24:28 | 0:24:31 | |
and home to our most majestic bird of prey, the Golden Eagle. | 0:24:31 | 0:24:36 | |
Usually, it's only the golden eagles or the odd helicopter pilot | 0:24:39 | 0:24:44 | |
that gets a bird's-eye view of these rugged hills. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:48 | |
Today, I'm hoping that's about to change. | 0:24:48 | 0:24:52 | |
Lloyd Buck is a bird trainer who has always been fascinated | 0:24:54 | 0:24:57 | |
by what his birds see when they're soaring in the skies. | 0:24:57 | 0:25:01 | |
And he particularly liked the bird's-eye view of Tilly, | 0:25:02 | 0:25:05 | |
his captive golden eagle. | 0:25:05 | 0:25:07 | |
I got Tilly when she was ten months old, | 0:25:07 | 0:25:10 | |
and now, after nine years, as far as she's concerned, we're partners. | 0:25:10 | 0:25:15 | |
I'm her mate, so to speak. | 0:25:15 | 0:25:17 | |
To get an eagle's-eye view, he's teamed up with specialist cameraman Jonathan Watts, | 0:25:17 | 0:25:22 | |
to produce the world's first high-definition camera | 0:25:22 | 0:25:25 | |
light enough to be carried on an eagle's back. | 0:25:25 | 0:25:27 | |
You've been working on this for a long time. | 0:25:27 | 0:25:30 | |
How excited are you about trying it out for the first time on Tilly's back? | 0:25:30 | 0:25:33 | |
It's a mix of everything we've been playing with and hoping to get, | 0:25:33 | 0:25:37 | |
so if we get a bit of lift and Tilly gets right up there, we should just get fantastic views. | 0:25:37 | 0:25:42 | |
But to get the aerial footage that Jonathan and Lloyd are after, | 0:25:42 | 0:25:46 | |
everything needs to be just right. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:48 | |
It's what makes it hard. It's not easy, what we're doing. | 0:25:48 | 0:25:51 | |
You've got to have the right conditions, not raining, | 0:25:51 | 0:25:54 | |
nice wind or updraught. | 0:25:54 | 0:25:56 | |
You've got to have the equipment all set up right on her, | 0:25:56 | 0:26:00 | |
and most importantly, she's got to be in the right frame of mind. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:04 | |
You've got to do everything at her pace | 0:26:04 | 0:26:06 | |
in a way she wants it to be done. | 0:26:06 | 0:26:08 | |
Good girl! | 0:26:08 | 0:26:09 | |
-How's she looking, Lloyd? -All right. | 0:26:10 | 0:26:12 | |
The camera is attached to a harness by Velcro | 0:26:12 | 0:26:16 | |
and weighs as much as two mobile phones. | 0:26:16 | 0:26:18 | |
Given that a golden eagle can lift prey ten times that weight, | 0:26:18 | 0:26:22 | |
carrying it shouldn't be a problem. | 0:26:22 | 0:26:24 | |
But to get airborne at all, Tilly needs some wind, | 0:26:24 | 0:26:27 | |
and usually, in Scotland, that's pretty much guaranteed. | 0:26:27 | 0:26:31 | |
What do you think of the conditions? They're not perfect. | 0:26:31 | 0:26:34 | |
No. There's hardly any wind, which is a shame, but we'll get something. | 0:26:34 | 0:26:40 | |
It's not going to be the spectacular soaring we hoped for. | 0:26:40 | 0:26:43 | |
But we might get a bit of gliding but let's just see. | 0:26:43 | 0:26:46 | |
It'll give us a chance to see how well the camera works. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:48 | |
Really exciting. What do you do now? Release... | 0:26:48 | 0:26:50 | |
-Oh, those wings are beautiful! -Good girl. -Go on. Go on, girl! | 0:26:50 | 0:26:54 | |
Aw, lovely! | 0:26:54 | 0:26:56 | |
Wa-hey! Go on, up you go, girl. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:04 | |
But on this windless day, Tilly just can't get the lift to soar, | 0:27:04 | 0:27:08 | |
and before long, she has to land, showing off | 0:27:08 | 0:27:13 | |
those lovely golden feathers on her neck that gives golden eagles their name. | 0:27:13 | 0:27:16 | |
But 24 hours later, the wind has picked up, | 0:27:19 | 0:27:22 | |
and Tilly takes to the skies. | 0:27:22 | 0:27:25 | |
Eagles can't move their eyes, | 0:27:31 | 0:27:32 | |
and the footage shows how Tilly turns her head constantly, | 0:27:32 | 0:27:36 | |
looking out for mobbing crows trying to push her off their patch. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:41 | |
A golden eagle's eyesight is thought to be eight times better | 0:27:49 | 0:27:52 | |
than ours, so Tilly will easily be able to spot prey, | 0:27:52 | 0:27:55 | |
like mountain hares, even from this height. | 0:27:55 | 0:27:58 | |
This high quality footage may be as close as we're ever going to get | 0:28:05 | 0:28:09 | |
to an eagle's-eye view of the world. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:11 | |
It will help Lloyd learn more about eagles' flight behaviour, | 0:28:11 | 0:28:15 | |
and for Tilly, it could be her big break in television | 0:28:15 | 0:28:18 | |
or the silver screen, getting unique aerial shots. | 0:28:18 | 0:28:22 | |
Perhaps we should call it 'Tilly-vision'. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:25 | |
-When I was a boy, there was a weekly comic called The Eagle. -Was there? | 0:28:31 | 0:28:35 | |
Science fiction, not amazing birds like that. | 0:28:35 | 0:28:38 | |
I have to say, here in County Antrim you do not need a bird's-eye view | 0:28:38 | 0:28:41 | |
to realise you're in one of the most beautiful parts of the world. | 0:28:41 | 0:28:44 | |
That's it from us. I need to get Gyles back on the bus | 0:28:44 | 0:28:47 | |
-because his flask of cocoa is waiting for him. -We had a fabulous day. | 0:28:47 | 0:28:50 | |
See you again soon. Bye! | 0:28:50 | 0:28:52 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:28:58 | 0:29:00 |