Barry Island The One Show - Best of Britain



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from Gujarat. For me, the UK meant London or Manchester or Birmingham.

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That is all I knew about Britain. I didn't know that something like

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Pontypool existed. On arrival they often found it was very difficult

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and pretty impossible to get posts in prestigious areas, and so would

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end up where the job vacancies were, which were often in general

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practice in deprived rural areas. It is a culture shock because

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things were totally different. People lived differently and talked

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differently. Were there any words that you particularly struggled

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with? There is a place near here that was very difficult for me to

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pronounce and even spell - Pontnewynydd. It was not unbearably

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cold, but what struck me first was how grey it was. There was no

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sunshine, as back in India everything has plenty of light and

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houses of all colours. I grew up as a vegetarian and the only

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vegetarian food I got in hospital was a couple of lettuce leaves,

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couple of tomatoes, and a little bit of cheese. But the differences

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went much deeper than the food and the weather. This heavily

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industrialised region had some of the poorest health in the country

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and the doctors were faced with a range of diseases they had rarely

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encountered before. When I worked in India, in those days it was

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mostly infectious diseases. Diseases from malnutrition. We came

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across smallpox, TB, typhoid, malaria. Here it was all chest

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diseases, heart disease and high blood pressure and even some

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cancers which were very rare back in India. I had to learn all those

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things all over again, and then start treating them as I went along.

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And some of the local people still remember their first encounter with

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an Indian doctor. Well, I suppose it was exciting in one way because

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it was somebody different. Everybody was a bit nosy and wanted

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to meet him. People started coming to see you, telling you of their

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dark secrets. Then you knew that they were treating you as someone

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whom they trusted. And who they felt would give them the right

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advice. That is when I felt that I had arrived. These doctors from

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India really contributed in a very significant way to the development

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of the NHS. I think it is quite fair to say that the NHS would not

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be what it is today without the contribution. Do you consider

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yourself to be Indian or Welsh? associate with my friends here, I

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am completely Welsh. I certainly don't consider myself Indian as

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such, though of course you never lose the feeling. When I am in

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India I am an Indian but when I am Surely this is the best way to

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travel? It is absolutely beautiful out here. I love it. 40 minutes

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west of Barry, and you know what? There is nobody else around. This

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must be one of Britain's best kept secrets. Not for long. We have

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blown it now. Yes, we have let the cat out of the bag. Very much so.

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Time to head north to a more crowded beach, Blackpool in fact,

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with the story of how thousands of airmen ended up there. Here is Dan

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This is Blackpool international airport. Our launching pad for

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holidaymakers but in the past a vital part of the nation's defences.

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70 years ago this would have been a very different scene. Runways and

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hangers would have been teeming with military aircraft because this

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was an RAF base, and one that played a crucial role in World War

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II. In fact, the whole town was transformed by war. Holidaymakers

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still came, but shared the beach with thousands of trainee aircrew.

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This famous resort was turned into RAF Blackpool, a vital centre for

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training the airmen that were taking the war to Hitler. Russell

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Brown is an aircraft archaeologist with a particular fascination for

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Blackpool's largely forgotten role in the war. Blackpool turned out to

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be the biggest RAF train station throughout the Second World War.

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Three quarters of a million blokes do their basic training in

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Blackpool. What would Blackpool have looked and sounded like in

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those years? It would have been absolutely heaving with airmen.

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Where would they have stayed during their training? Boarding houses,

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guest houses, hotels all over Blackpool. Wartime planners chose

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Blackpool to be the biggest RAF training centre because there was

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plenty of comfortable accommodation. But there were still dangers. These

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archives contain the story of a terrible accident when two RAF

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aeroplanes collided directly over the heads of thousands of

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holidaymakers, on one of the busiest days of the year. The best

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way to get a clear picture of what actually happened is from the air.

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We need to head straight to Blackpool's busiest area. The

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aeroplanes collided close to the seafront and some of its main

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attractions, then as now, the central pier and the tower. What

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happened in August 1941, three fighter trainers flying in close

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formation and at the end of the exercise they broke up to head back

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to base. Unfortunately, a reconnaissance aeroplane was flying

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underneath them. What happened next was captured by a seafront

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photographer. As one of the fighters went into a dive, it hit

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the reconnaissance plane and both aircraft crashed to the ground. The

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fighter demolished a house in the centre of Blackpool. The crew were

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killed, but the occupants were lucky and survived. One of the

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training aircraft smashed the tail off the buffer, and the tail

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crashed into the sea here. The main part of the aircraft hurtled to

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earth and plunged into the ground right there, where that car park is,

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next to the tower. The problem is that back then it was not a car

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park, it was Blackpool station and it was crowded with thousands of

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people, many of them holidaymakers coming to escape the horrors of war

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in the rest of the UK. Eight-year- old Percy Featherstone was one of

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those holidaymakers. He was in the station ticket hall with his mother

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when the aeroplane crashed into it. The sound was horrendous. As it

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ripped through the roof, the metal tearing, it hits the ground,

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exploded, and blasted aviation fuel all over the place. That ignited

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and there was a sheet of flame all round us. I couldn't feel the blast.

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It is amazing how vividly you seem to remember it. It is something I

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could never forget. I can bring back the feelings, the smells, in

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my own mind, any time at all. Some things fade away, but things like

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that, they just stay with you for ever. Altogether, 18 people were

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killed including the aircrew and 39 were injured. There is very little

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left to reveal that this accident ever happened, and where once there

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were platforms is now car park. Where the ticket office once stood,

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is an amusement arcade. Blackpool's vital role in the war, and the toll

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it took, are now largely forgotten. Thank you, Dan. If you are thinking

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to yourself, I am having a terrible sense of deja vu, that is because

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this is Marco's cafe. Yes, Marco's cafe where Stacey Shipman worked in

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Gavin And Stacey. Have I mentioned Yes, sir, can I help you? I'd like

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some drinks, please. Lots of cans, and a smooch, full smooch and a

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cuddle. She doesn't work here any more, but Marco from Marco's cafe

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does. And he is here. This is the actual market. What was it like

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when the spaceship that is Gavin And Stacey descended on you here in

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Barry Island? It was bizarre. It was absolutely bizarre. When they

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arrived on Barry Island, I knew this would be big. I knew it would

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be big for Barry Island, and Barry, and put Barry Island on the global

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map. Everybody knows where Barry Island is now. Were you prepared to

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become known as Marco all over the world? No. I wasn't. You quite like

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it? I love it, actually! Being modest! Where do you come from?

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Where is your family from? Marco was not a typically Welsh name.

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family originate in a little market town in Italy in the province of

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Parma, famous for Parmesan cheese and prosciutto. There is a massive,

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massive Italian Welsh community from that area of Italy. Yes, there

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is. Could you imagine, God forbid, if the Italians had never come to

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Wales? What would it be like? would be an ice cream desert here.

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You have to have an talian involved in manufacturing ice cream in my

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opinion. You do. We have some of your cakes here. Only one set of

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cakes is a Welsh cake. I would like you to work out which one it is.

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it the one with the strawberry on it? I am afraid you have got it

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wrong. If I am not mistaken, this is a Welsh cake. That is. While we

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enjoy these, please enjoy the film I made about a secret cake club,

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which starts now. Somewhere near Leeds, Mike Wallace is not just

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baking a cake. He is getting ready for the latest meeting of the

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secret society. We'll make cakes and we try not to make the same one

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as other people. But to find out where the event is being held is

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quite cool. It is that secretive, planned as an aspect of it. -- clan

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this time. This mild-mannered systems administrator is an

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unlikely candidate for a double life. But I have followed in to the

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latest secret cake Club gathering. Location? Upstairs, art gallery,

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restaurant area. And there they are. It is a simple idea. You bake a

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cake, you bring it along, you eat other people's cakes, and then you

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take some home. It is spreading like butter cream on a warm night.

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There is even a branch in Barcelona. And as if cake is not exciting

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enough, there is the added attraction of secret locations.

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This has got an element of hidden secret things. It makes it just

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that little bit more edgy. Lynn Hill founded the first cake club a

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year ago and has changed is the venue each time to keep the club

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from going stale. I like to have the mystique from hidden places,

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and I usually tell the guests and bakers read the event is just a few

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hours beforehand. It could be a few days beforehand. It are about fun.

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It is all about meeting people. Cake bakers across the UK soon

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wanted a slice of the action and the advice on how to set up their

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own clubs. There are now 30 clubs in the country and new members

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simply register on their website to hot up with their local branch.

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Cake people are friendly people. They go out of their way to spend

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hours making something to share with other people. Like any good

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spy ring, this cake rain has stricter rules. No tarts, Brownies,

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cupcakes, pies or muffins. Just proper, big, cake. What would you

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do if I walked in here with a tart? No. That is not allowed. It has to

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be all about cake. What about a repeat offender who carried on

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bringing in pies? If somebody did turn up with pies, because we are a

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friendly community, I would welcome them with open arms. We would have

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tasted, and we would convert them. Now, it's time for the slightly

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subversive baking circle to pack up and blend back in with the rest of

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the population. See, secret cake societies - if I hadn't brought

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them to your attention you'd never know. Don't worry, I'm monitoring

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the situation very closely. Great film. It had to happen sooner or

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later. Time for some vital statistics about Barry. Such as,

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did you know it has a tidal range of 15 metres, the second highest in

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the world? Whitmore Bay here has almost exactly the same dimensions

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as Bondi in Sydney Australia and the climate's virtually the same.

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Enough. Our competitive bird man, Mike, is bursting to tell you all

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about his bittern. It's the best of bittern. Spring - it's the time of

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year when the birds are at their noisiest. Which is the loudest bird

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of all? The reed beds here in Suffolk hold the answer. Just

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before dawn, the males begin their mating call, which sounds something

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like this. It's the bittern. Once you've heard one booming you'll

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never forget it. It's a bird so rare and secretive that people

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agonise to see it. That's why these shots are just so special. In a TV

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first we've caught something unique, something not even David

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Attenborough has seen. For that, you'll have to wait. The bittern

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became very close to being extinct in Britain recently? That's right.

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In the early 1990s only eleven here. What did you do to turn it around?

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There was a recognition that the reed beds were drying out and they

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were becoming less favourable, so there's been a lot of work to make

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reed beds wetter and the population's turned around as a

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consequence. There are now known to be 82 booming males nationally. Ten

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here at Minsmere. It's an elusive one? It is. It tends to skulk away

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and very hard to see. Basically, that plumage is designed to help

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camouflage them in the reed bed. it's difficult for us to see one,

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then it's likely other bitterns can't see it either and that's the

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reason for the boom. That's to let females far and wide know where it

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is. We had one deep, booming bird that was here for many years that

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got the nickname Barry White. He was king. Reed bed basically.

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are more Barry White than Bee Gee. Absolutely. There is the low

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frequency that helps the sound to cary through the beds, so you can

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hear it up to three miles away. You've been here for how long?

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Five-and-a-half years and I've not been unfortunate enough to witness

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one booming. All this talk of booming bitterns is making me

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hungry to hear one. The best time for that is at dawn. It's just one

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of the most amazing noises in the natural world. That's not hyperbole,

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is it? There's nothing quite like it. You won't hear a sound like

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that from another bird in Britain. We are so close, maybe 50 metres,

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you can hear it starting off. What is going on? We are not entirely

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sure in terms of how they boom, but it's always referred to as gulping

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to give out the deep sound. It's called infrasound and it's also

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used by lions and elephants to communicate across the African

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plains. Now, for our TV first. These are our cameraman's

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extraordinary images of how the bittern booms. Booming marvellous!

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That's worse than best of bittern. I think it's better. Watch your

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step. I am. The stones were supposedly laid because a love-

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stricken girl couldn't reach her paramour on this side. Lovely and

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Roman take, but if they were that keen on each other it's quite

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shallow. She could have waded across and got her feet wet.

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However, Gavin, now he lived in Essex and he had to get all the way

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around the M25, South Mimms can be murder. That is love. Yes. But that

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wasn't the 13th century, pre M4 corridor. Here's some more amazing

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sounds from the One Show Box. Wildlife sound recordist, Chris

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Watson, is a world leader in his field, providing extraordinary

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sounds for some of the best-loved nature programmes. It's tricky

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stuff and one of his more challenging tasks has been to find

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sounds to match the increasingly close shots captured by today's

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cameras. Just listen to Chris's recordings of these vul tours in

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Africa. -- vul tours in Africa. The way he works was pioneered in his

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garden here. What are you up to here? I have the carcass of a

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chicken. I am fixing two microphones in the hope it will

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attract down the birds. Our first customer to the carcass is a black

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bird. Blackbird. The sound as he's peeking at the carcass. Duff, Duff,

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that's on the bone. We all love the sound of the seaside crashing waves,

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boat horns and children playing with buckets and spades, but what

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does it sound like inside a rock pool? How will reregard the sounds?

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-- record the sounds? I have some special underwater microphones

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which can explore all the nooks and crannies and maybe follow something.

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There's so much there. Incredible. This is constant chattering and

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chirping and scraping. It's almost like it's a little coffee morning

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going on. There is a sort of a raspy sound. Limpets snoring, I've

:20:15.:20:25.
:20:25.:20:28.

never recorded that. Oh, wow! was that? I think that's a shrimp.

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There is one very close by. It's got a birdsong call to it.

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Fascinated by that. It's a fantastic tree. It's like something

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out of Lord of the Rings. What are you hoping to get from this? It's

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an old oak and we can hear the birdsong in and around, but I'm

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interested in getting inside the tree and hear the secret sounds

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from within. How will we hear the insects? I can't hear anything.

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It's full of activity and life and I've got the special contact

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microphones, which pick up sound in a different way by picking up the

:21:08.:21:18.
:21:18.:21:22.

vibrations. That makes my skin crawl. It's like lots of insects

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walking all over you. You have some on the outside too? Yeah. From what

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we are hearing from within the dead wood, it would be interesting to

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put some on the bark of the tree, on the outside, just to see what's

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happening there. It sounds just like a raging torrent. If you

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listen very carefully through the am beeient noise of the tree,

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you'll here -- ambient noise of the tree, you'll here a popping sound.

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That is the sound of the sap It's been drawn out of the ground. It's

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the sound of the life of the tree. It's you, in here. Yes. You know

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what it is? It's Stacey's mate Nessa's change booth. What do you

:22:23.:22:33.
:22:33.:22:35.

want? �5 worth of pennies Yes. -- pennies? Yes. What do you want that

:22:35.:22:39.

for? It's Giles, he's run out again. Oophs, you've caught me at it.

:22:39.:22:46.

Naughty, but nice! Where did the What The Butler Saw machine come

:22:46.:22:52.

from, and as if you didn't know, what was its appeal? This machine

:22:52.:23:02.
:23:02.:23:03.

is called a muet scope. The technique was invected over -- mute

:23:03.:23:08.

scope. The technique was invented over 100 years ago. The business

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was almost killed off by the dawn of early cinema. What saved it?

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Sauce, of course. Some bright spark realised the public would go on

:23:21.:23:23.

paying if they can see something in the machine they didn't dare show

:23:24.:23:32.

in the cinema. The favourite was cheeky films of scantily dressed

:23:32.:23:39.

women. This fuelled such a boom in peep shows in the 1920s they become

:23:39.:23:42.

a regular end-of-the-pier attraction for the next 40 years.

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They were based on the simple idea of a butler peeking through a

:23:46.:23:53.

keyhole. If you want to see one today you'll have to come to a

:23:53.:23:57.

penny arcade museum, like this one on Brighton's seafront. It's owned

:23:57.:24:03.

by Gerry. He's a collector. This is a lovely looking machine. How old

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is it? About 110 years old. It would have been made somewhere

:24:09.:24:14.

between 1898 and 1901. How exactly does it work? It works on the flick

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book principle, where the pictures were arranged around a reel like

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this. When the reel is inside the machine, the player turns the

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handle and it will revolve like that. Wonderful. There are how many

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of these pictures here? About 850. Individual shots. Rather like the

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stills from a film. The early films are innocent. You have to remember,

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this was late Victorian era, so even the sight of an ankle would

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have been risque. Turn crank to the right. OK. Oh, this is quite

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exciting. Oh, oh,. This is a him and her one. Oh, oh, oh. The Dance

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of the Seven Veils. This is it. Well, actually it's about nine at

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the moment. And that's it? That's all you get? You only paid a penny!

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Maybe there's something better on the other side! In the 1960s

:25:23.:25:27.

newfangled fruit machines finally elbowed What The Butler Saw off the

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pier, but still they hold their fascination. Gentlemen, I have

:25:35.:25:38.

entertainment to offer you. Are you intrigued? This will make your hat

:25:39.:25:44.

lift off. Will it get any ruder? Interesting thing is, this lady is

:25:45.:25:52.

actually your great grandmother! Grandma! Now I know how it works

:25:52.:25:59.

and what the audience is after, I'm going to make a What The Butler Saw

:25:59.:26:06.

film of my own. All I need is a video camera and roladex and an

:26:06.:26:16.
:26:16.:26:32.

And that's entertainment! Thank you Giles. That's it. That's what's

:26:32.:26:36.

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