:00:12. > :00:17.Hello and welcome to the One Show. The Best of Britain. With Angellica
:00:17. > :00:27.Bell and Phil Tufnell. With another chance to see some of our favourite
:00:27. > :00:31.
:00:31. > :00:34.We are at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, one of the largest
:00:34. > :00:42.houses in Britain and birthplace of one of the greatest leaders the
:00:42. > :00:49.country has ever seen, Sir Winston Churchill. Blenheim Palace was
:00:49. > :00:53.completed in 1733. It was a gift for Queen and John Churchill,
:00:53. > :00:59.following the famous victories during the wars Spanish succession.
:00:59. > :01:03.Sir Winston Churchill was a descendant and did not come along
:01:03. > :01:08.until much later. He was born in this room but it was slightly
:01:08. > :01:11.unexpected. His parents were only staying as gifts of the family when
:01:11. > :01:17.little Winston took everyone by surprise and a right two weeks
:01:17. > :01:21.early. Churchill grew up to be a man both respected and feared so it
:01:21. > :01:28.might surprise you to clear he was involved in a fairy-tale romance
:01:28. > :01:33.that unfolded under this very roof. It jewel of the Cotteswold. The
:01:33. > :01:38.magnificent of Blenheim Palace is matched only by its 2100 acres of
:01:38. > :01:44.sweeping parkland and romantic gardens -- the jaw of the Cotswolds.
:01:44. > :01:49.100 years ago, a young man shows these gardens as the location to
:01:49. > :01:55.pop the question to his sweetheart, Clementine Hozier. Her fiance was
:01:56. > :01:59.none other than Winston Churchill. In summer 1904, a 29-year-old
:01:59. > :02:04.Winston had been smitten by the beautiful 19-year-old Clementine
:02:04. > :02:09.when he spotted her at a society ball but it would be another four
:02:09. > :02:19.years before he finally asked for her hand, in 19 a weight. On a
:02:19. > :02:20.
:02:20. > :02:25.rainy August afternoon, they tipped Clementine accepted his proposal.
:02:25. > :02:30.Over the next few days, the couple exchanged love letters. This
:02:30. > :02:34.remarkable correspondence would span nearly 60 years. Today, the
:02:34. > :02:39.thousands of letters, telegrams and no space sent each other are kept
:02:39. > :02:43.at the Churchill Archives Centre. They have lent a selection to the
:02:43. > :02:49.Blenheim Palace's archivist. This is the very first letter to
:02:49. > :02:53.Clementine. I will read a bit: What a pressure it was to meet a girl
:02:53. > :02:57.with their much intellectual quality and such strong reserves
:02:57. > :03:03.and noble sentiment. I hope we shall meet again and come to know
:03:03. > :03:07.each other better. From such formal beginnings, how does the
:03:07. > :03:13.relationship developed in the letters? From the first letter,
:03:13. > :03:18.when he signs himself "your sincerely, Winston Churchill",
:03:18. > :03:23.within four months, he moves to Darling and dearest, and signing
:03:23. > :03:28.himself eventually wins done. September they were married.
:03:28. > :03:34.Winston. After the honeymoon, Winston plunged himself into
:03:34. > :03:39.politics. Sometimes in the letters, you see he's huge confidence, one
:03:39. > :03:43.of his feet is the leadership, for example: He writes at the beginning
:03:43. > :03:49.of the first order war and he says "everything tends towards
:03:49. > :03:55.catastrophe and collapse. I am interested, geared up and happy. Is
:03:55. > :04:02.it not horrible to be built like that?". His questioning his
:04:02. > :04:09.appetite about the war. Conversely, we have one from Clementine, where
:04:09. > :04:15.you see their playfulness. They had pet names. He caught her Kitten and
:04:15. > :04:21.she caught him Peak and when she is writing, she adds little
:04:21. > :04:26.illustrations. The nature of the tale is her excitement, her thrill
:04:26. > :04:30.at been in touch with him. Surely he would have been mortified if
:04:30. > :04:35.this had fallen into public hands! It is interesting, he stored them
:04:35. > :04:39.and they are in the archives for everyone to see. Churchill was
:04:39. > :04:45.appointed First Lord of the at malty and within a year, he had
:04:45. > :04:49.moved to Number Ten. -- First Lord of the Admiralty. How does
:04:49. > :04:55.Clementine react when he becomes Prime Minister? There are occasions
:04:55. > :05:03.when she speaks to him very firmly. "I hope you will forgive me if I
:05:03. > :05:08.tell you something I feel you should know". This is June, 1914.
:05:08. > :05:12."one of the men in your entourage has been to me and told me there is
:05:12. > :05:17.a danger of you being generally disliked by your colleagues because
:05:17. > :05:21.of your wrath and sarcastic and overbearing manner". A direct
:05:21. > :05:27.criticism of him there. It speaks volumes the fact that one of the
:05:27. > :05:32.men in her entourage, they have been to her, there is almost
:05:32. > :05:37.telling of tales. Yes and that is a measure. This person, out of
:05:37. > :05:41.concern for Churchill, maybe for the country, has come up to warn
:05:41. > :05:45.Lady Churchill about what is happening. The correspondence
:05:45. > :05:52.continued into their old age and only stopped with Winston's death,
:05:52. > :05:56.at 90, in 1965. We all know Churchill the great operator, the
:05:57. > :06:01.wartime leader, the iconic statesman, but his letters to his
:06:01. > :06:06.wife let us see a completely different side. The family man,
:06:06. > :06:16.full of tenderness, warmth and love, and unquestioning devotion to his
:06:16. > :06:17.
:06:17. > :06:22.What a beautiful story! Just goes to show that love can sweep you off
:06:22. > :06:26.your feet. Angellica, did you know Blenheim Palace is not of the
:06:26. > :06:32.birthplace of Winston Churchill, it is also a playground for ghosts?
:06:32. > :06:37.didn't know that. This house is supposed to be haunted. Dean
:06:37. > :06:41.Griffiths was the chaplain of the first Duke of the palace. The wife
:06:41. > :06:45.of the 9th Duke wrote in her memoirs about being woken up by a
:06:45. > :06:50.ghastly man standing over the edge of the bed. It is supposed to be
:06:50. > :06:55.the ghost of Griffiths. I don't like ghost stories. Another Dutch
:06:55. > :07:00.is used to walk around the palace that night slamming doors. BANGING.
:07:00. > :07:03.This is not funny. It reminds me of the time the One Show has sent me
:07:04. > :07:08.ghost hunting one Hallowe'en. If I have been persuaded to spend
:07:08. > :07:11.the night in one of Britain's strangest, spookiest and scariest
:07:11. > :07:18.place for that. Woodchester Manor in deepest Gloucestershire has a
:07:18. > :07:23.long history of strange and unexplained events. We want to see
:07:23. > :07:29.how spending time in this place affects me and give the ghosts are
:07:29. > :07:34.all in my head. Woodchester Manor could be from
:07:34. > :07:38.central casting for a horror movie. Abandoned in the 1870s because its
:07:38. > :07:48.owner could not afford to complete it, it has remained in this estate
:07:48. > :07:50.
:07:50. > :07:55.It is the perfect setting for our experiment. To find out whether the
:07:55. > :08:00.fear of ghosts is out there or all in the mind. After all, why should
:08:00. > :08:06.I be afraid of something I have never had any experience of or even
:08:06. > :08:10.senior? I have always grown up believing there are forces, good
:08:11. > :08:17.verses evil, but coming here knowing I was filming, I was
:08:17. > :08:24.nervous, I will be honest. The thought that I am going to be in
:08:24. > :08:29.this mansion when it will be really dark makes me feel quite vulnerable.
:08:29. > :08:39.I can't believe I am actually saying that because I like to think
:08:39. > :08:41.
:08:41. > :08:46.Woodchester Manor stands on the foundations of a much older
:08:46. > :08:54.building, spring Park, which the owner did wallop -- demolished to
:08:54. > :08:57.make way for the new house. Dr Peter Forster is senior lecturer of
:08:57. > :09:02.psychology at the University of Gloucestershire. How do places like
:09:02. > :09:06.this bring about fear if you don't know that ghosts exist? If that is
:09:06. > :09:10.an interesting question. If you don't know, if you don't believe in
:09:10. > :09:16.ghosts, it is probably not going to evoke much fear that if you believe
:09:16. > :09:21.in ghosts, then you will feel really quite afraid because this
:09:21. > :09:24.plays have the reputation of being haunted, there are people who take
:09:24. > :09:31.that very, very seriously and believe there are ghostly presences
:09:31. > :09:36.here. Some people's beliefs about ghosts are not benign. They could
:09:36. > :09:41.harm us. That can evoke real genuine fear. If I am not sure if I
:09:41. > :09:45.believe in ghosts but I am coming to a place, like you said, where
:09:45. > :09:51.people have felt a presence, so it is never in what those people think
:09:51. > :09:58.going to make me scared? -- so is knowing what they think? If you
:09:59. > :10:01.take them seriously, yes. Do you believe in ghosts? Probably not.
:10:01. > :10:06.Even Dr Vorster cannot be certain that there is nothing here that I
:10:06. > :10:10.should be scared of. The Gloucestershire paranormal research
:10:10. > :10:16.group has been visiting the mansion for the last four years and some of
:10:16. > :10:22.the events they have sailed raised more questions than answers. --
:10:22. > :10:30.they have filmed. What are you doing? We have put up some
:10:30. > :10:34.recording equipment on the Archway. And some cameras? Yes. We caught a
:10:34. > :10:42.strange light in this part before. What do you mean, a strange light
:10:42. > :10:47.anomaly? Well... It was on a camera. It looks like the outline of a
:10:47. > :10:52.hooded figure that walks across that doorway. We tried to recreate
:10:52. > :10:57.it. We thought it was a straight torchlight coming into the windows.
:10:57. > :11:04.But we could not get anywhere near it. So you saw a hooded figure?
:11:05. > :11:11.What looks like a hooded figure. Absolutely. I am not sure who to
:11:11. > :11:16.believe. Dr Forster and assignments or experiences recorded by Dave and
:11:16. > :11:21.Chris and most of all, I don't know how I am going to feel being here,
:11:21. > :11:27.alone at night. It is 6:30pm. The sun is setting
:11:27. > :11:32.and it is getting quite dark. It is getting a bit chilly. The eeriness
:11:32. > :11:37.of the mansion is becoming more apparent. Also there are bats
:11:37. > :11:44.flying around. There is something about them that makes me think of
:11:44. > :11:48.ghosts, a -- of vampires and spooky things. Not good?
:11:48. > :11:53.Are we ready? Before a change my mind?
:11:53. > :11:57.We are going to attempt to draw out any paranormal activity at what
:11:57. > :12:02.Chris calls hot spots, areas of the house where he has recorded
:12:02. > :12:12.mysterious events. Sorry, it is the bats.
:12:12. > :12:17.
:12:17. > :12:22.I had something in there? Are you OK? -- I heard something in there!
:12:22. > :12:27.It was rustling. It could be mice. I feel like I am going crazy! I
:12:27. > :12:31.think something is here with the me. It has rarely unsettled me but I am
:12:31. > :12:35.determined that some rustling is not going to stop me.
:12:35. > :12:39.There is only one thing for it. I am going to have to go up into the
:12:39. > :12:45.attic, known for strange things getting on, alone, without the
:12:45. > :12:52.camera crew. Dan there is pitch black. -- Dalol
:12:52. > :12:58.there is pitch black and it is pitch black down there. And really,
:12:58. > :13:03.I don't want to go any further... I am a little bit scared of ghosts.
:13:03. > :13:13.Right, I am up here and I am bricking it! Have I gone the right
:13:13. > :13:13.
:13:13. > :13:23.way? I have gone a long wait... Great... I have gone down that long
:13:23. > :13:26.
:13:26. > :13:36.corridor! I think they are down Oh my God! I went down the wrong
:13:36. > :13:39.
:13:39. > :13:45.corridor! I did it!! APPLAUSE. That was so scary!
:13:45. > :13:50.This is better! Blenheim's gardens are open to the public and are
:13:50. > :13:56.absolutely magnificent. What gave you! There are over 2000 acres of
:13:56. > :14:00.landscaped parkland, including lawns, gardens and a lake, all
:14:00. > :14:07.described as being one of England's greatest gardens. Christine Walkden
:14:07. > :14:11.tip to the skies to marvel at another of his grand designs.
:14:11. > :14:15.At Croom Court in Worcestershire, you can see one of the most
:14:15. > :14:18.influential gardens in Britain. It was here in the mid- 18th century
:14:18. > :14:26.that the traditional formal garden was transformed into a flowing
:14:26. > :14:31.landscape that imitated nature on a grand scale.
:14:31. > :14:37.In these gardens, you would be putting in some roses and a pond.
:14:37. > :14:40.At Croom Court, it meant building an artificial lake and even Hills,
:14:40. > :14:48.and this great landscape revolution was down to one man: Capability
:14:48. > :14:51.Brown. Born in 1716, lots are not Capability Brown started his career
:14:51. > :14:56.as a simple gardener's boy and became Britain's most famous
:14:56. > :15:00.landscape architect. His radical approach was pioneered here, at
:15:00. > :15:04.Croom Court, where the old geometric garden was ripped up in
:15:04. > :15:09.favour of grassy meadows, leading right up to the front door. Clumps
:15:10. > :15:15.of trees were cunningly positioned to tease the eye, hearth revealing
:15:15. > :15:20.classical scholars. This lady has been researching the garden at
:15:20. > :15:26.Croom Court for 25 years. What do you enjoy so much? What did
:15:26. > :15:29.you enjoy working here? Look at it. The only things allowed in the line
:15:29. > :15:34.of sight were these idyllic buildings arranged in exactly the
:15:34. > :15:39.right position. To get those perfect sightlines, Capability
:15:39. > :15:46.Brown had a medieval church knocked down. Be built a new one because we
:15:46. > :15:49.are standing in it. The trees hid unsightly farmland beyond. But
:15:49. > :15:55.after World War II, much of the landscape was nearly lost when the
:15:55. > :16:04.gardens were ploughed over for agriculture. In fact, in 1996,
:16:04. > :16:08.there was a rape -- a rapeseed field here. Ten years ago I found
:16:08. > :16:13.aboard with what looked like a map on it and this match was very
:16:13. > :16:18.important because it shows Brown's planting and it is the map the
:16:18. > :16:24.National Trust are using today to reinstate the park because it even
:16:24. > :16:34.tallies with a GPS survey today. Phenomenal! This so the surveying
:16:34. > :16:41.techniques in 1796 were amazing! The best way to see how he changed
:16:41. > :16:45.the groom court landscape is higher up in The One Show balloon. With me,
:16:45. > :16:49.is Michael Smith, the estate manager. It is the first time I
:16:49. > :16:56.have ever seen it from the air, and we can get an appreciation of the
:16:56. > :17:01.scale of the landscape work here. We can see it as he imagined it.
:17:01. > :17:06.Yes, yet they could never have imagined seeing it from here.
:17:06. > :17:16.love Capability Brown's greatest achievements was to turn this boggy
:17:16. > :17:24.
:17:24. > :17:32.land into a long meandering plot of land in the shape of the serpent.
:17:32. > :17:37.Look how the island forms the RI of the serpent's head. What is the
:17:37. > :17:42.story of the serpent? They planted some trees to create a micro-
:17:42. > :17:47.climate for Lebanese Cedars and we put them exactly where Capability
:17:47. > :17:52.Brown had them in the 18th century. They obviously worked. From up here,
:17:52. > :17:58.you can see how the 700 acre landscape contrast strongly with
:17:58. > :18:04.the fields beyond. It is the enormity of the estate. Where are
:18:04. > :18:09.the boundaries? There are boundaries of the design landscape
:18:09. > :18:14.is the dark brown that circles this valley. They tease mind-boggling to
:18:14. > :18:18.think just how many people must have been involved in shaping and
:18:18. > :18:28.maintaining this giant garden. have one built in the archives
:18:28. > :18:34.which describes 67 people employed just to take care of the lawn as a.
:18:34. > :18:40.Any idea how much that cost? today's money, about �40 million.
:18:40. > :18:46.It is thanks to this financial investment there 250 years later we
:18:46. > :18:52.are still able to marvel at this extraordinary landscape today.
:18:52. > :18:57.would Capability Brown had given to be up here in this balloon?!
:18:57. > :19:00.The years before Capability Brown got his hands on the garden of
:19:00. > :19:06.learn them and before the palace was even build, this used to be a
:19:06. > :19:10.deer park and was known as the Manor of Woodstock locally. There
:19:10. > :19:16.were about 1000 deer back then. When Thomas Jefferson visited in
:19:16. > :19:20.1786, he recorded over 2000 fallow deer roaming in the expansive
:19:20. > :19:26.parkland, but 100 years on a smaller species has now become a
:19:26. > :19:36.shy but familiar sight throughout the fields and woods. This animal
:19:36. > :19:42.
:19:42. > :19:50.has travelled a long way. These words in the heart of bed --
:19:50. > :19:55.Bedfordshire... An ancient beast lives here. In the 19th century,
:19:55. > :19:58.John Reeves, A T inspector and a keen naturalist, visited China and
:19:59. > :20:05.brought back some specimens of their native deer as a gift for the
:20:05. > :20:10.Duke of Bedford. They are called muntjac deer and to his estimated
:20:10. > :20:16.that there are about 40,000 of them in southern Britain. They are the
:20:16. > :20:20.oldest species of deer in the world and so is estimated they originated
:20:20. > :20:25.some 35 million years ago. This has made them incredibly resilient, and
:20:25. > :20:30.despite being thousands of miles away from south-east Asia, in just
:20:30. > :20:35.80 years they have adapted to life in the UK. Martin Webber is a
:20:35. > :20:39.wildlife ranger with the Forestry Commission. He told me more about
:20:39. > :20:44.why these deer are so successful. The females are almost permanently
:20:44. > :20:49.pregnant. They have a seven-month breeding cycle and within 36 hours
:20:49. > :20:54.of giving birth they are able to conceive again. And they are
:20:54. > :20:59.spreading wider across the country, aren't they? It was worked out a
:20:59. > :21:04.few years ago that the range can extend by about one kilometre or a
:21:04. > :21:08.year. Martin is able to estimate both the population numbers and how
:21:08. > :21:12.far the muntjac deer are spreading by looking out for tell-tale signs
:21:12. > :21:21.in the wards. Given the large numbers, we should be able to spot
:21:21. > :21:26.one of them. It was not long before we came across a sure sign of one.
:21:26. > :21:32.This is a rum leading across here. Yes, they have worn down the
:21:32. > :21:39.vegetation. Let's see what they have done on the other side. This
:21:39. > :21:44.is Hazel. As you can see, it has tried to grow. This is new growth.
:21:44. > :21:52.Yes, it has tried to grow but you can see the end have been ripped
:21:52. > :22:00.off. We knew the deer were closed but after another two hours of
:22:00. > :22:06.trekking, we still have -- hadn't seen this elusive animal so I
:22:06. > :22:16.decided to try something else. At dawn the next day, I made my way to
:22:16. > :22:40.
:22:40. > :22:46.I sat there perfectly still and Finally, my patience paid off. I
:22:46. > :22:54.can't believe I have finally seen one, I have been waiting so long
:22:54. > :22:58.and they have been so elusive. Finally, my first muntjac deer! So
:22:58. > :23:03.there you have it, an encounter with an oriental beast right in the
:23:03. > :23:09.middle of an English woodland. But there is a twist in the Taylor this
:23:09. > :23:14.story. In their native countries of south-east Asia, muntjac deer are a
:23:14. > :23:19.delicacy. Not only are they being hunted, their habitat is also being
:23:19. > :23:25.destroyed so numbers are on the decline. By contrast, their
:23:25. > :23:29.population in the UK is now one of the largest and most successful. So,
:23:29. > :23:36.the muntjac deer here may find themselves one day back on a slow
:23:36. > :23:40.boat to China to be the saviour of their species.
:23:40. > :23:47.Luckily they no longer turn Diez heads into truth is here, they have
:23:47. > :23:52.found a much grander way of adorning the walls. Inside the
:23:52. > :24:00.palace you can get an idea of how people lived. Christopher Wren was
:24:00. > :24:04.responsible for much of the into -- interior design. Around every
:24:04. > :24:10.corner there is opulence and grandiose. These rooms are filled
:24:10. > :24:16.with treasures collected over 300 years. There are amazing tapestries
:24:16. > :24:22.to commemorate victories of the first Duke. There is even some Van
:24:22. > :24:27.Dyke paintings. It is all very nice, but how one decorates one's house
:24:27. > :24:36.is a very personal thing. As I discovered, the 70s inspired wall
:24:36. > :24:41.hanging is soaring in popularity once again. In the late 1930s,
:24:41. > :24:45.anyone aspiring to set themselves apart from their neighbours would
:24:45. > :24:51.proudly displayed desirable object like these flying ducks in their
:24:51. > :24:58.homes. By the time Coronation Street's Hilda Ogden hung a set of
:24:59. > :25:02.marks on her Muriel, they were considered by some to be the height
:25:02. > :25:08.of good taste. The history of decorative dogs goes back further
:25:08. > :25:12.than you think. Ivory carvings found in a German cave are thought
:25:12. > :25:17.to be the oldest figurines ever found, proving their popularity
:25:17. > :25:23.goes back to the cavemen. So why do they have such timeless appeal? I
:25:23. > :25:29.have come to meet Antiques Roadshow's 20th century expert
:25:29. > :25:35.William Farmer. Tell me about who designed them? Lots of firms made
:25:35. > :25:43.them, but these bears which ones are considered the classics. They
:25:43. > :25:49.were designed by a man called Mr Watkin. And it was not just
:25:49. > :25:56.restricted to docks, was it? pheasants, partridges, and even a
:25:56. > :26:01.flamingo. You will always find, as a new generation comes up to stamp
:26:01. > :26:08.its identity, they will look back and say it is awful, bad taste,
:26:08. > :26:10.let's throw them out. They were thrown out. If these were put in a
:26:10. > :26:17.living room with your lava lamp and shag-pile carpet, they suddenly
:26:17. > :26:22.look very wrong. Their vivid colours and animated style has
:26:22. > :26:27.earned them a firm place in popular culture, and they have been copied
:26:27. > :26:31.and parodied by designers and advertisers alike. Guinness had
:26:31. > :26:40.their flying toucans, even Wallace and Gromit have a set. They now
:26:40. > :26:44.enjoy pride Of place on the walls of retro enthusiasts and can fetch
:26:44. > :26:52.thousands at auction. Carolyn is one of Britain's most dedicated
:26:52. > :26:57.collectors. How did the fascination start? It started with my love of
:26:57. > :27:03.the 50s. These are on iconic symbol of the 50s. How many do you have?
:27:03. > :27:08.We lost count at about 300 and they are not all here. Some casualties
:27:08. > :27:11.are in a box downstairs with broken wings because they used to fall off
:27:11. > :27:18.the wall all the time. There are so many different varieties, aren't
:27:18. > :27:24.they? Yes, there are some very rare birds including the blue tits, and
:27:24. > :27:28.the hummingbirds especially can't really rare. What do you think the
:27:28. > :27:36.appeal of the flying ducks is today? May appeal to people for
:27:36. > :27:42.different reasons. There are serious collectors, and then people
:27:42. > :27:48.who just see them R's are fantastic kitsch icon, as I think they should
:27:48. > :27:54.be, and then there are people who just love wildlife and think having
:27:54. > :27:58.them on your wall brings the outdoors indoors. Whether you
:27:58. > :28:02.consider these little flying ducks the height of bad taste or the
:28:02. > :28:08.epitome of style, there is no denying their appeal has endured
:28:08. > :28:17.longer than any other mass-market masterpiece. For that alone, they