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Hello and welcome to The One Show Best of Britain with Gyles | :00:21. | :00:25. | |
Brandreth. And Miranda Krestovnikoff. We're here in the | :00:25. | :00:30. | |
beautiful Mountains of Mourne in County Down. Standing testimony to | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
the wonders of geology, this landscape is often said to have | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
been "born of the fire, shaped with the ice, and finally cooled down by | :00:37. | :00:39. | |
the rains." That's right. Originally, this incredible area of | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
outstanding natural beauty that we see now was the bottom of the | :00:42. | :00:48. | |
seabed. A long period of bubbling molten rock, at least six ice ages | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
and 420 million years later, we have been left with this unusually | :00:51. | :00:53. | |
compact range of mountains and stunning terrain. And this | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
particular part, the Silent Valley Reservoir, also has a much more | :00:56. | :00:58. | |
practical purpose these days. In the 1920s, local civil engineer | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
Luke Livingstone McCassey was tasked with the job of finding a | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
water source big enough to service the people of Belfast. He chose | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
this area for the purity of its water and it's remained the water | :01:07. | :01:13. | |
source for thousands of people in Northern Ireland ever since. It has | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
touched the lives of millions of people through literature and I | :01:16. | :01:22. | |
discovered this by watching a film made by Dan Snow when he went in | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
the footsteps of CS Lewis, who knew this part of the world and used it | :01:26. | :01:36. | |
:01:36. | :01:37. | ||
Belfast, home to the Titanic, birthplace of George Best and | :01:37. | :01:42. | |
inspiration for one of our best- loved authors. CS Lewis may have | :01:43. | :01:45. | |
written The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe and the rest of The | :01:45. | :01:48. | |
Chronicles Of Narnia whilst living and working in Oxford, but it was | :01:48. | :01:52. | |
in this house in Belfast that he first started writing stories in | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
the attic with his brother. They wrote about a magical kingdom | :01:57. | :02:00. | |
complete with talking animals and it was this that sowed the seeds of | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
the ideas that were to make him famous 40 years later. The | :02:06. | :02:10. | |
Chronicles Of Narnia tell the story of the Pevensie children who | :02:10. | :02:12. | |
discover an uncharted land through Narnia through the back of a | :02:12. | :02:19. | |
wardrobe. They are guided through it by a lion called Aslan. It was | :02:19. | :02:23. | |
the rugged landscape Lewis explored as a boy in Ireland which gave him | :02:23. | :02:33. | |
:02:33. | :02:36. | ||
This is one of his childhood haunts. The castle on the Antrim coast. A | :02:36. | :02:42. | |
source of inspiration as CS Lewis experts Sandy Smith explains. What | :02:42. | :02:48. | |
a day, an incredible place and he would have visited here. His family | :02:48. | :02:52. | |
came to the north coast from 1902 when he was a child. His brother | :02:52. | :02:56. | |
brought him up here for family holidays. It painted the entire | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
picture he had. At the end of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, | :03:00. | :03:06. | |
the famous castle he describes could have been based on this site. | :03:06. | :03:13. | |
This is where the lion of Marney and met the sea. -- Lion of Narnia. | :03:13. | :03:23. | |
:03:23. | :03:31. | ||
To Peter it looked like a great Closer to Lewis's childhood home in | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
Belfast, this hill was Monmouth the models for a description of Narnia | :03:36. | :03:41. | |
from the prequel to The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. All Narnia, | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
many coloured with lawns and rocks and heather, and the river winding | :03:46. | :03:54. | |
through it. You can already see off the top of the hills. Great more | :03:54. | :03:59. | |
land sloped gently to the horizon. On the left the mountains were much | :03:59. | :04:04. | |
higher but every now and again there was a gap. They could see | :04:04. | :04:11. | |
southern lands that lay beyond them. I remember reading these as a kid. | :04:11. | :04:19. | |
It seems like... This is where it was. It is also unbelievably cold. | :04:19. | :04:26. | |
Let's get back in the car. CS Lewis is still remembered around Belfast. | :04:26. | :04:31. | |
There is even some Northern Irish murals commemorating his work. Some | :04:31. | :04:36. | |
key images from his books. But why did he choose to make a talking | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
live in the main character? The answer could be found in a church | :04:40. | :04:48. | |
where his grandfather was the rector. The young Louis's regular | :04:48. | :04:53. | |
visits to the rectory seem to have had a regular -- last effect. | :04:53. | :04:58. | |
Imagine a small child coming up to this house and seeing, from about | :04:58. | :05:05. | |
head height, the Lion, a powerful image on the door. That is Aslan! | :05:05. | :05:11. | |
very strong image of the lion. Absolutely. It is easy to see how | :05:11. | :05:14. | |
this landscape captured the imagination of the young CS Lewis. | :05:14. | :05:21. | |
The stories they inspired have been translated into more than 40 | :05:21. | :05:28. | |
languages and read by over 100 million people around the world. | :05:28. | :05:38. | |
:05:38. | :05:38. | ||
Who couldn't fall in love with the real Narnia? What do the initials C | :05:38. | :05:43. | |
S stand for? I did a bit of swotting up, it is Clive Staples | :05:43. | :05:50. | |
Lewis. You are very clever! You probably will be able to tell me | :05:50. | :05:55. | |
what this heather is. That is yellow gorse. That is heather. | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
is where my early love life went wrong. I gave the girl a bunch of | :06:00. | :06:05. | |
lucky course, it turns out. That whoever provides a beautiful purple | :06:05. | :06:11. | |
hue to the mountains. Three species survived. And some juniper. Named | :06:11. | :06:16. | |
after the Greek goddess of gin. tonic. It does really well up here | :06:16. | :06:20. | |
because the sheep cut the grass short and it gives the juniper a | :06:20. | :06:25. | |
bit of room to survive and thrive. We could go and look for some. | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
we could head down and find a coffee shop. I think it is a matter | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
of going up the hill and looking for flora and fauna so Mike Dilger | :06:34. | :06:39. | |
is the man for the job. The beautiful Snowdonia mountains | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
are home to one of the rarest and most hard to find wild flowers in | :06:44. | :06:52. | |
Britain. We are talking about the Snowdon Lily. This diminutive flour | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
is found at high altitudes in North America and Europe. In the UK it | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
has been hanging on for survival in the Snowdonia mountains since the | :07:01. | :07:07. | |
last Ice Age. 10,000 years ago. Today there are only a few 1002 | :07:07. | :07:12. | |
wild bulbs left and like other mountain plants it is threatened if | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
by climate change. The Snowdon Lily is flowering two-to-three weeks | :07:16. | :07:22. | |
earlier than normal. My mission is to track one down. Helping me in my | :07:22. | :07:29. | |
quest is how all Roberts from the Countryside Council for Wales. How | :07:29. | :07:35. | |
long is the height? Depends how fit you are. We are talking about an | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
hour and a half. You have to be well prepared for hiking in | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
Snowdonia. The Lily lives at an altitude over the 2000 ft and the | :07:44. | :07:54. | |
:07:54. | :07:54. | ||
About halfway up we came across another rare alpine plant. It is | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
being pushed to the brink of extinction by climate change. Come | :07:59. | :08:06. | |
down here. Have a look at this. Lovely plant. These are stone | :08:06. | :08:12. | |
breakers. I studied my master's degree at anger and I used to love | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
coming to look for flowers like this. This clump is virtually | :08:16. | :08:23. | |
cleaving it away the rocks. That is a stellar plant. Finding this loden | :08:23. | :08:28. | |
Lilley is a lot tougher. Its leaves look like grass and a descent group | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
-- sensitive to temperature so it only grows in particular locations. | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
On the flowers are always on the tops of the mountains? Not just on | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
the top, but the north and north- east facing crags. They will be in | :08:40. | :08:49. | |
the shade, even in bright midday We are getting a bit exciting now, | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
as they say. For your sake, I would like you to walk up ahead and see | :08:54. | :09:03. | |
if you can find it. Look at that! It is just so gorgeous. I have to | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
say, for those of you that haven't seen many rare plants, you will | :09:07. | :09:14. | |
never find one rarer than this. Welsh name is descriptive for that | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
plant. It means the rush like leaves of the mountain. The Snowdon | :09:19. | :09:23. | |
Lily is a member of the lily family and it is not the only one in the | :09:23. | :09:28. | |
UK. This is related to the bluebells and the lily of the | :09:28. | :09:34. | |
valley. A beautiful flower indeed, but one that is facing many threats. | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
Elvin Jones, the National Trust warden for the area, is trying to | :09:38. | :09:44. | |
save the plant from becoming extinct in the UK. 100,000 people a | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
year come into this reserve and if they all want it all over the place, | :09:47. | :09:53. | |
the plants would be trampled. They are having good path built out of | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
local stone. It has enable people to enjoy the place without causing | :09:57. | :10:03. | |
damage. I know the area well and the one thing that has changed is | :10:03. | :10:08. | |
the sheep on the mountain. A lot of flowers. Yes. Eight years ago the | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
National Trust took the unprecedented decision to remove | :10:12. | :10:16. | |
sheep from this family, which is Wales's premiere natural nature | :10:17. | :10:23. | |
reserve. Isn't this where the going to mark the death of the snow | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
Lilli? It likes it cold. Scientists are telling us that in the last 50 | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
years there has been a one degree increase in temperature in this | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
area on average. The Snowdon Lily likes it in the coldest places up | :10:34. | :10:39. | |
the sunshine. It has nowhere to go. You are right and if the | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
temperature continues to get warmer, we will see some of these plants | :10:42. | :10:47. | |
becoming extinct. The Snowdon Lily has been clinging to that rock face | :10:47. | :10:52. | |
for 10,000 years. Now with the threat of climate change, let's | :10:52. | :10:59. | |
hope it hangs on for another 10,000. Well done for trekking that one | :10:59. | :11:06. | |
down. From the snowy mountains of Snowdon... Today's misty mountains. | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
If you weren't here, I would not know how to get down. Without my | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
sat nav I am a lost individual. are such a townie! If you did get | :11:15. | :11:20. | |
lost up here, I have the perfect method of finding it. Let me | :11:20. | :11:26. | |
introduce you to two gorgeous dogs. This is Jodi and Paddy. Paddy is | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
three-quarters bloodhound. I always recognise a bloodhound because I | :11:29. | :11:35. | |
was brought up on Disney films so why recognise the bloodhound. | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
in your kennel! Their work in different ways. Jodie is an air | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
scenting dog. If you walked up amounting you would leave a trail | :11:43. | :11:49. | |
of cent. From the back of the net. It would not be in a straight line, | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
it would form a cone cent -- cone- shaped as it is dissipated. Jody | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
would be worked in a zig-zag fashion up the mountain, following | :11:56. | :12:02. | |
the trail. The smell comes down on the wind. It does and she works | :12:02. | :12:07. | |
well on a blustery day. Paddy is a trailing dog. If you are lost up | :12:07. | :12:13. | |
the mountain... His ears! We would find an item of clothing and he | :12:13. | :12:18. | |
would pick up your cent on this item of clothing. I love dogs and | :12:18. | :12:24. | |
at home we have got two dogs. A very sophisticated French poodle | :12:24. | :12:30. | |
and a mongrel I have had for years. It is amazing, the relationship | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
people have had with dogs going back millennia. Angellica Bell made | :12:34. | :12:40. | |
a wonderful film about a very special group of dogs that changed | :12:40. | :12:45. | |
the lives of their owners. This is the tale of a claim to fame | :12:46. | :12:49. | |
in Royal Leamington Spa and this is the front end of the story. Isn't | :12:49. | :12:54. | |
she beautiful? Leamington is where you'll find the breeding centre of | :12:54. | :12:57. | |
the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, the biggest trainer of | :12:57. | :13:02. | |
working dogs in the world. The charity is celebrating its 80th | :13:02. | :13:09. | |
birthday. Look at all these signs that it will go on and on. 19 in | :13:09. | :13:13. | |
every 20 guide dogs in the UK are bred here. There are more than | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
1,000 puppies born in Leamington each year and even at this early | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
stage and wrap them knowing it, they are being trained. Look up | :13:20. | :13:27. | |
there. Daytime television. They are getting used to it normal noises. | :13:27. | :13:33. | |
The real life they have to get used to. There are around 380,000 blind | :13:33. | :13:37. | |
and partially-sighted people in this country, but almost half of | :13:37. | :13:43. | |
that number never leave home alone, independently. Guide Dogs hopefully | :13:43. | :13:49. | |
can make a real difference to many of those people. Back in the early | :13:49. | :13:54. | |
1930s, this was the inspiration. Dogs showing humans the way. A | :13:54. | :14:00. | |
brave new idea pioneered in Switzerland. In the UK, two dog | :14:00. | :14:06. | |
lovers brought the idea to Wallasey on Merseyside. They hired a Swiss | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
trainer, a commanding figure who had been an officer in the Russian | :14:10. | :14:17. | |
Imperial Guard. Here are his pupils. One of the four said he had been | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
given site itself, a feeling of glorious freedom and independence. | :14:21. | :14:26. | |
But they were pioneers and Andrea Cooper, who is registered blind and | :14:26. | :14:30. | |
depends on her guide dog, is amazed how brave they were. Personally I | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
could not imagine doing that, knowing it was a scheme that had | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
not been tried and tested. It must have taken an incredible leap of | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
faith for them to put their trust in this kind of scheme. I am just | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
so thankful they did it because I would not have her otherwise. | :14:45. | :14:51. | |
me about what you experience. her when I was 14. I walked to | :14:51. | :14:56. | |
school with my twin brother. Being able to go on a bus on my own for | :14:56. | :15:00. | |
the first time with her, being able to walk on my own, at university I | :15:00. | :15:10. | |
:15:10. | :15:10. | ||
had to get a couple of buses, it The idea of breeding Guide Dogs for | :15:10. | :15:16. | |
the blind to cough. In a few years, they had outgrown the premises on | :15:16. | :15:20. | |
Merseyside, and then they move to limit as Bath. The movement has not | :15:20. | :15:24. | |
stopped growing, opening in the summer, a new �20 million | :15:24. | :15:30. | |
headquarters. This is this one- year-old's chance to prove she is a | :15:30. | :15:34. | |
guide dog. Only seven out of ten make the cut. This is her first | :15:34. | :15:40. | |
confidence test. We will set off a loud noise. We will see how she | :15:40. | :15:48. | |
reacts. Was that a good reaction? At perfect. She looked across to | :15:48. | :15:52. | |
see what it was, but it did not bother her. That is what we need | :15:52. | :15:57. | |
for a guide dog. Kerrin is expensive. Looking after and | :15:57. | :16:02. | |
treating a single dog from birth to retirement costs nearly �50,000. | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
Pretending you are on the road is the final challenge, and two-year- | :16:06. | :16:10. | |
old Nina seems to know the way. As a sighted person, I can't imagine | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
how I would cope without being able to see. Like the trainees in 1930, | :16:15. | :16:20. | |
the thought of relying on a guide dog is pretty daunting. But today I | :16:20. | :16:27. | |
have the privilege of finding out for myself. Off we go. Take it nice | :16:27. | :16:33. | |
and gently. Keep encouraging her. She will bear off to the left. Well | :16:33. | :16:40. | |
done. How does that feel? OK? I just trust that Nino will not let | :16:40. | :16:46. | |
me walk into a wall. No, she is a cautious dock. Slowing down a bit | :16:46. | :16:50. | |
to determine the best way. It is very crowded. She has to | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
concentrate a lot in a busy environment. You do not want people | :16:54. | :17:02. | |
distracting her or trying to talk to her. Thank you! What a feeling | :17:02. | :17:07. | |
of freedom this must bring to the 4500 people with guide dogs. You | :17:07. | :17:13. | |
are an eye-opening claim to fame for the people of Leamington Spa. | :17:13. | :17:17. | |
Gyles, I bring you to one of the most beautiful parts of Northern | :17:17. | :17:21. | |
Ireland and all you are concerned with is getting a cup of tea. | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
all have our priorities. I believe in combining civilisation with | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
nature. The coffee is top notch. a look at the scenery. We have | :17:30. | :17:37. | |
mountains, woodland, Morland, fantastic. The wildlife that here | :17:37. | :17:41. | |
is fantastic. There is a healthy badger population, dragonflies, | :17:41. | :17:46. | |
lizards. You can get coffee anywhere, but here you can get red | :17:46. | :17:52. | |
kites, ravens, red grouse. You make films about birds. What is the | :17:52. | :17:58. | |
favourite bird of yours? Mike Dilger is usually your bird man, | :17:58. | :18:03. | |
but I do love puffins. Small, charismatic, but see little sea | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
birds, often called the clowns of the sea because they have these | :18:07. | :18:10. | |
wonderful, brightly coloured beaks. They always seem to be in a hurry | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
to get from A to B. Is this why you have chosen the film we are going | :18:14. | :18:20. | |
to see? Yes. There is a large puffin colony on a Skomer island in | :18:20. | :18:27. | |
west Wales. That is where we are heading next. | :18:27. | :18:34. | |
Last year I was left with a bit of mystery when I visited Skomer | :18:34. | :18:37. | |
island of the west Wales coast. It is here that thousands of puffins | :18:37. | :18:42. | |
arrive every spring to breed, but then in August they disappear. And | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
no one was sure where they went or how long they stayed. That is why I | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
am on my way back, because some of the returning puffins now have the | :18:52. | :18:57. | |
answer. Puffin numbers are dropping dramatically around the British | :18:57. | :19:03. | |
Isles, especially in the north-east. So last year, Tim Guilford and his | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
team from Oxford University tact puffins here on Skomer island with | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
geolocators to find out what is happening to them when they leave | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
the island. As soon as the puffins go to sea and my great common | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
knowledge tries up. We know nothing about where birds from individual | :19:19. | :19:25. | |
colonies go to feed or where they go to winter. That is the gap we | :19:25. | :19:29. | |
are trying to fill. It is an important part of the puffin's life | :19:29. | :19:35. | |
cycle. The future of the health species depends on it. Last year, | :19:35. | :19:40. | |
80 puffins had geolocators attached to them, but with over 13,000 | :19:40. | :19:45. | |
puffins on the island now, how will Tim locate the ones he tagged? | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
Luckily, the puffins themselves offer the solution. One of the | :19:49. | :19:54. | |
remarkable things about puffins is that they come back to breed in the | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
same burrows you should be. They are very sight faithful. They will | :19:58. | :20:03. | |
go out for the winter, come back and the same pair will meet at the | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
Colony and defend and claim the same burrow. So in theory, they | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
just have to put a net over each of the borrowers. When it comes back | :20:11. | :20:18. | |
to feed its chicks, it will get stuck in the net. Then it is a case | :20:18. | :20:24. | |
of a good old-fashioned stake out, hoping they all come home. Let me | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
find a piece of grass without puffin poo on it. Once we are | :20:28. | :20:34. | |
sitting uncomfortably, it is a matter of waiting, patiently. On | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
average, puffins live up to 25 years, but the current record on | :20:38. | :20:43. | |
Skomer island is more than 38. So confidence is high that the tag | :20:43. | :20:49. | |
ones will return. And one does just that. There is one coming in. | :20:49. | :20:57. | |
go. Follow me. Keep a close. Speed is essential to free the puffin | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
from the net, but these birds are defensive, and putting a hand down | :21:00. | :21:10. | |
:21:10. | :21:17. | ||
a puffin hole will hurt. It has gone in quite deep. Ow! And this | :21:17. | :21:22. | |
one is not coming quietly. I will have well lacerated hands by the | :21:22. | :21:28. | |
end of this. Has it drawn blood? We are trying to aid your Com's -- | :21:28. | :21:34. | |
conservation. I will put it straight in a back to calm it down. | :21:34. | :21:39. | |
It will try and get your fingers. They do come down in the dark, | :21:39. | :21:47. | |
don't they? This is the moment of truth. The data is downloaded | :21:47. | :21:50. | |
instantly, and they are getting surprising results. After leaving | :21:50. | :21:55. | |
Skomer island, the puffins are overwintering in two stages, | :21:55. | :21:59. | |
firstly heading north and west, with some going as far as Greenland, | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
before heading south to the mid- Atlantic or off the southern coast | :22:02. | :22:06. | |
of Europe. It is exciting to see that the puffin has been collecting | :22:06. | :22:11. | |
dust data over that entire period. It is rough, but it is still | :22:11. | :22:15. | |
exciting to get that picture. They move up to the north west of | :22:15. | :22:20. | |
Ireland, then come up over to the north of Scotland and back down to | :22:20. | :22:23. | |
the South before coming back to Scotland. For such an ambitious | :22:23. | :22:28. | |
project, the early results are a good start. The fact that you can | :22:28. | :22:33. | |
do this with such a small device and such a small C Bird, and do it | :22:33. | :22:36. | |
on multiple individuals, although it is a bit of effort, the amount | :22:36. | :22:42. | |
of data we are getting is amazing. And as more data is processed, it | :22:42. | :22:47. | |
should reveal how long these birds are staying in each place. And more | :22:47. | :22:55. | |
importantly, why. It is sad leaving Skomer island, but with most of the | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
tact puffins already returned, it is hoped that the information held | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
on their geolocators will give us an insight into how to protect | :23:02. | :23:07. | |
their future. Thank you, Miranda, for bringing me | :23:07. | :23:12. | |
out of the coffee shop and into the rain. Sorry, but the puffins were | :23:12. | :23:18. | |
good. That was an award-winning film. Now, pub quiz question. What | :23:18. | :23:28. | |
:23:28. | :23:28. | ||
do you call baby puffins? Puff flat? I don't think so! Boo they go | :23:28. | :23:33. | |
to puffballs? Baby puffins are called pufflings. | :23:33. | :23:40. | |
Would they be able to fly this high? They would not get a | :23:40. | :23:44. | |
beautiful aerial view of the Mourne wall behind us. This is the | :23:44. | :23:51. | |
celebrated Mourne wall. It was erected to defy the catchment area | :23:51. | :23:56. | |
in Silent Valley. It was built in 1904 and took 18 years to build. | :23:56. | :24:01. | |
Thousands of men were involved in its construction. It links the | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
peaks of 15 mountains and his 22 miles long. I am thinking about the | :24:06. | :24:11. | |
coffee shop. It is only an eight mile trek back to it. I have my | :24:11. | :24:15. | |
favourite film earlier. What was yours? I have enjoyed almost all | :24:15. | :24:19. | |
the films, but the one I want to show people today is one that gets | :24:19. | :24:24. | |
me into a wrestling ring. The outfit is something you will enjoy | :24:24. | :24:31. | |
it. Viewers of a more sensitive nature may prefer to look away now. | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
Britain has a long history of competitive prize-fighting, whether | :24:35. | :24:43. | |
it is boxing, wrestling, brawling - honourable, unarmed combat has | :24:43. | :24:46. | |
entertained the great British public for centuries. And in the | :24:46. | :24:53. | |
1960s, it all went mainstream. On January 2nd, 1965, ITV launched | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
world of sport, and British wrestling hit the airwaves. From | :24:56. | :25:01. | |
then on, it had a regular slot every Saturday night, hurling the | :25:01. | :25:06. | |
sport into the homes and hearts of the British public. Overnight, Big | :25:06. | :25:12. | |
Daddy, giant haystacks and Nagasaki became household names. It was the | :25:12. | :25:16. | |
theatrics as well as the fighting that we loved. But all good things | :25:16. | :25:22. | |
come to an end. In 1987, wrestling was ousted from the world of sport. | :25:22. | :25:27. | |
The Golden Age of British wrestling was over, replaced by its | :25:27. | :25:31. | |
undramatic American cousin. Your favourite wrestler? Big Daddy and | :25:31. | :25:37. | |
giant haystacks. Big Daddy. Mick McManus. He was the guy who used to | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
give it all that. One of the worst things they did was take it away. | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
wish it was still there. Heard of any wrestlers? Bit past my time. | :25:46. | :25:50. | |
What happened to the legacy of British wrestling? What are those | :25:50. | :25:55. | |
big names doing now? Sadly, not many of them are around to tell the | :25:55. | :26:02. | |
tale. But there are a few legends left if you know where to look. | :26:02. | :26:06. | |
Weighing the three-times world champion, what is the move you best | :26:06. | :26:10. | |
remember? The flying head-butt. Have you found that used for | :26:10. | :26:15. | |
running the pub on a Friday-night for? Sadly, I cannot run across the | :26:15. | :26:22. | |
ring any more. Here is a fellow champion, Frank. And Sarah, you are | :26:22. | :26:27. | |
a champion, too. What for you guys was the secret of wrestling's | :26:27. | :26:32. | |
attraction? I think it was the camaraderie amongst the wrestlers. | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
Each one in that era was a character. Different shapes and | :26:36. | :26:40. | |
sizes. They looked and acted the part. They could entertain you for | :26:41. | :26:46. | |
hours. They were storytellers in their own right. So the big stars | :26:46. | :26:50. | |
may have disappeared from the small screen, but what of British | :26:50. | :26:55. | |
wrestling itself? Is it still going? John is a two-times British | :26:55. | :27:02. | |
heavyweight champion. He is now training a new generation of | :27:02. | :27:06. | |
wrestlers, keeping the British style alive. You were there in the | :27:06. | :27:12. | |
golden age. What was it like? was great, lovely people. I was on | :27:12. | :27:17. | |
four or five nights a week. Why was wrestling axed from British TV in | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
1987? They said there was no interest in it and it was a | :27:21. | :27:26. | |
working-class sport. It was taken off the TV. The older guys were not | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
passing on their knowledge, and it declined. What is the future for | :27:30. | :27:34. | |
British wrestling? It is alive and kicking. Will it comeback on the | :27:34. | :27:40. | |
box? I would like to think so. Maybe you can help. The TV revival | :27:40. | :27:50. | |
:27:50. | :28:21. | ||
begins tonight! Stay tuned. I have And so, dull, worthy bouts for | :28:21. | :28:28. | |
real? There was some showmanship. Modern times demand that. But they | :28:28. | :28:32. | |
were real moves. What you are seeing was real wrestling. It in | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
its heyday, British wrestling was a national institution, watched and | :28:36. | :28:40. | |
loved by millions glued to their sets on a Sunday afternoon. We may | :28:40. | :28:44. | |
have lost the flamboyant costumes and big names on the small screen, | :28:44. | :28:48. | |
but the sport lives on, thanks to wrestling academies like this. And | :28:48. | :28:53. | |
as for it not having a broad, popular appeal, let me tell you on | :28:53. | :29:01. |