0:00:15 > 0:00:19Hello and welcome to The One Show with Matt Baker...
0:00:19 > 0:00:29And Alex Jones, and tonight we're joined by a man who made his name
0:00:34 > 0:00:36in Downton Abbey, before finding huge success
0:00:36 > 0:00:38in Hollywood with films like Beauty and the Beast.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40With all that success, I wonder how he's enjoying his
0:00:40 > 0:00:41time in the States?
0:00:41 > 0:00:44The crowds, the people that lined the streets when I go out...At the
0:00:44 > 0:00:54balls, dinners, speeches, parties. There was never a king or emperor of
0:00:54 > 0:00:56the earth such as he. I can't wait to get home!
0:00:56 > 0:00:59And here he is - home at last - it's Dan Stevens!
0:00:59 > 0:01:02CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:01:02 > 0:01:10Thank you very much.Sorry for that joke!Amazing, but very naughty.We
0:01:10 > 0:01:15note you are not that much of a diva really.Really? I did insist on a
0:01:15 > 0:01:22specific temperature for this water, though! Can you tell?I can. We have
0:01:22 > 0:01:25stolen some audio from your film, new film, you play Charles Dickens.
0:01:25 > 0:01:31I do.We will talk about the new film in a moment that you are back
0:01:31 > 0:01:37today, after getting the plane from LA, does it feel nice?Very nice, it
0:01:37 > 0:01:42doesn't feel like Christmas without a bit of cold, London gloom.It must
0:01:42 > 0:01:46be nice for you to be involved in heart-warming Christmas tale after
0:01:46 > 0:01:51you ruined many people's Christmas in 2012 after being killed off in
0:01:51 > 0:01:56Downton Abbey. I hope your fans are coming to terms with this question
0:01:56 > 0:02:04at the rehab programme.I've gone about inventing Christmas this time!
0:02:04 > 0:02:07You owed us.There was a bit of work to do.We will talk about the new
0:02:07 > 0:02:11film later.Thoroughly enjoyed!
0:02:11 > 0:02:13It's predicted that we'll spend £700 million online tomorrow before
0:02:13 > 0:02:16the high street shops have even opened, just to get our hands
0:02:16 > 0:02:18on the best Black Friday bargains.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22It was the biggest shopping day of the year last year,
0:02:22 > 0:02:25and the pressure is on for retailers to make the most of the sales
0:02:25 > 0:02:28frenzy, as Matt's found out...
0:02:33 > 0:02:38Monday morning, 7am, and workers at the Argos distribution centre at
0:02:38 > 0:02:42Burton on Trent are starting their busiest week of the year. Over 2
0:02:42 > 0:02:46million products are expected to be processed here in preparation for
0:02:46 > 0:02:51the sales frenzy that is Black Friday. It's a tough time for
0:02:51 > 0:02:57retailers right now. Reports of stagnant sales growth, a rise in
0:02:57 > 0:03:00inflation and interest rates on the up means they are working harder and
0:03:00 > 0:03:06harder to get us to part with our cash. But Black Friday...
0:03:06 > 0:03:12Come on! Truckloads of items set for a price drop have arrived from
0:03:12 > 0:03:16manufacturers across Asia. Sorting through the mountain of merchandise
0:03:16 > 0:03:20is say. She usually works in payroll, but every year she gets so
0:03:20 > 0:03:23excited about the big day that she volunteers to work on the warehouse
0:03:23 > 0:03:31floor. Why would you leave your nice cushy payroll job and come here on
0:03:31 > 0:03:36the packing floor?I still love doing it. The atmosphere is so
0:03:36 > 0:03:40exciting. We all in high spirits.I have a problem with Black Friday. I
0:03:40 > 0:03:45don't like it.Why?My suspicion is if they are selling it cheap at this
0:03:45 > 0:03:50time, it should have been that price in the first place. Give me the
0:03:50 > 0:03:56bargain all year round.This is the time of year I get my Christmas
0:03:56 > 0:04:04stuff, we did it last year and got right bargains.How much?50- £100
0:04:04 > 0:04:08we saved items.As it goes through do you think, that would be nice?I
0:04:08 > 0:04:12just did that with the headphones. Almost half of sales across the
0:04:12 > 0:04:15retail industry occur in the last three months of the year, with the
0:04:15 > 0:04:23biggest spike on Black Friday 's win over £2 billion was spent last year.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26Sainsbury's, who own Argos, are under extra pressure this year, as
0:04:26 > 0:04:32profits have fallen by 9%. John Rogers is their CEO. How important
0:04:32 > 0:04:36is this Black Friday?The Black Friday event is very important for
0:04:36 > 0:04:40us as retailers, as it signals the start into is Christmas. Customers
0:04:40 > 0:04:45tell us they want to have the opportunity to buy into some great
0:04:45 > 0:04:49deals.Are they, or really? Which magazine says 60% of these offers
0:04:49 > 0:04:55actually you would be able to find cheaper either before or after?For
0:04:55 > 0:04:58the vast majority of these will be the best prices you can buy these
0:04:58 > 0:05:04items. Why can you guarantee that? We can't guarantee because we run
0:05:04 > 0:05:06thousands of promotions and offers through the years.This warehouse is
0:05:06 > 0:05:14the size of ten football pitches and its 12 55 foot cranes, an army of
0:05:14 > 0:05:19automated machines operate 24 hour debt, seven days a week. Up there
0:05:19 > 0:05:26are 74,000 boxes, containing items that we are going to order at a rate
0:05:26 > 0:05:32of 18 every second in the run-up to Christmas. All I'm saying is, it
0:05:32 > 0:05:38better be what he wanted! Alan Parry is in charge of managing all the
0:05:38 > 0:05:42goods coming and going through the warehouse. In 14 years of working
0:05:42 > 0:05:46here, he's never seen so much activity. How did we ever survive
0:05:46 > 0:05:50before Black Friday? It has only been the last five years also.It
0:05:50 > 0:05:54seems to have brought the busy period forward, to get the presence
0:05:54 > 0:05:57in early.Do you ever think, who needs all this stuff customersome
0:05:57 > 0:06:03items, yes, definitely.I have to be positive, all these people are
0:06:03 > 0:06:05working. Similar themes will be running
0:06:05 > 0:06:09across the country is all major retailers try to cash in on this
0:06:09 > 0:06:13American import, but with annual sales figures falling for the first
0:06:13 > 0:06:18time in four years, is it make or break for the retailers? Molly
0:06:18 > 0:06:21Johnson Jones is a retail analyst for global data.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25Black Friday isn't really Black Friday any more, is it? It seems
0:06:25 > 0:06:28like there are days either side of it all the way to Christmas on Mars?
0:06:28 > 0:06:34They realised they could encourage more purchasing if they extended it.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37That impulse buying is where you can come a cropper, where you didn't
0:06:37 > 0:06:41realise you needed a new television until Black Friday comes on you see
0:06:41 > 0:06:45one on the screen?You think my goodness, 70% off, it's too good bid
0:06:45 > 0:06:49to be true, I must buy it when you didn't need any weight.Gadgets and
0:06:49 > 0:06:53livestock products are expected to be big sellers this year. With
0:06:53 > 0:06:56prices for phones, games consoles, tablets and blend is all being
0:06:56 > 0:07:01slashed. At the Peking station, say planes have a full proof plan for
0:07:01 > 0:07:06this year.I'm quite careful with what I buy, I make sure I stick to
0:07:06 > 0:07:13my list.I want an iPad. Do you? I've got one, it's underwhelming.
0:07:13 > 0:07:19Really? I don't like Black Friday but Fay cast have the right idea,
0:07:19 > 0:07:23making a list of what you want before handing down the discounts.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27That way, yeah, I suppose it's all right. Merry Christmas!
0:07:31 > 0:07:39The Scrooge of Black Friday is with us now. The thing is with Black
0:07:39 > 0:07:41Friday, it's not necessarily cheaper, is it, than other times of
0:07:41 > 0:07:49the year?That's what Which? Found, 60% of the offerings, with bubble
0:07:49 > 0:07:53gum bargains, can be found before or after Black Friday cheaper than the
0:07:53 > 0:07:56price that is advertised Ostberg is one of those things, if you buy on
0:07:56 > 0:07:59impulse there's a good chance you could have got it cheaper another
0:07:59 > 0:08:04time.You get a sense so many people are poised, just ready to absolutely
0:08:04 > 0:08:08go off at these deals. But for you, your top tip is do everything
0:08:08 > 0:08:13online, don't go to the shops?No, and that's the reputation of Scott.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17You see people fighting, scrapping at the tills. There is really no
0:08:17 > 0:08:22point. Both of the online price, for so many reasons. The main one being
0:08:22 > 0:08:26you are protected if you change your mind, if you buy online, which you
0:08:26 > 0:08:31are not necessarily in a shop. You have 14 days to change your mind,
0:08:31 > 0:08:35send the thing back. That buyer's remorse that so many people say, one
0:08:35 > 0:08:45in three purchases people say that they make on Black Friday they then
0:08:45 > 0:08:48regret. Well, you have 14 days to regret it and do something about it.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50Because you bought it and saying? When it arrives you can make the
0:08:50 > 0:08:53decision then. 14 days from delivery by law, that's the crucial thing. If
0:08:53 > 0:08:57you do in a shop, you are at the mercy of their policy, which may
0:08:57 > 0:09:00sake, no thank you very much, we will give you a credit note or
0:09:00 > 0:09:04something else but not necessarily a refund.To be fair, some shops
0:09:04 > 0:09:07refund if you say it's not suitable, they do sometimes. But as you say,
0:09:07 > 0:09:12they don't have to.They don't have to. If they have a policy, they had
0:09:12 > 0:09:22to stick to it.See. We know it is a big thing in the states but is it a
0:09:22 > 0:09:24big thing in your house, Black Friday on Cyber Monday and all the
0:09:24 > 0:09:27rest of it? Not really. It's a big thing over there and it has become a
0:09:27 > 0:09:30big thing over here. It makes me think people don't want it so much
0:09:30 > 0:09:35for the bargains but because they want to ruck.Sanctions looting in a
0:09:35 > 0:09:44way!Warming up right now.And aggressive atmosphere.There is an
0:09:44 > 0:09:48antidote, some have come up with an antidote.Yes, some people make it
0:09:48 > 0:09:53international by nothing, spend nothing.That is a bit extreme! What
0:09:53 > 0:09:57about a sandwich?You've probably got enough in the house to make a
0:09:57 > 0:10:03sandwich.You haven't seen my fridge, to be fair!Some people say
0:10:03 > 0:10:05make international stop spending day and some charities say what you
0:10:05 > 0:10:09should do is spend, buy something that meant sure it goes to someone
0:10:09 > 0:10:13who really needs it.That is a nice idea. Thank you.So you won't be
0:10:13 > 0:10:19buying anything?Definitely not!I will check on you!
0:10:19 > 0:10:21We'll be talking to Dan about his new film based
0:10:21 > 0:10:24on A Christmas Carol, in just a tick, but it turns out
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Charles Dickens wasn't the only writer to be inspired by a lonely,
0:10:27 > 0:10:28Scrooge-like character.
0:10:28 > 0:10:29Here's Arthur Smith...
0:10:29 > 0:10:39Who incidentally, is not a lonely Scrooge-like character...
0:10:39 > 0:10:43Cwmdonkin Park in Swansea, generations of children have let
0:10:43 > 0:10:49their imaginations run riot here. The poet Dylan Thomas spent a bunch
0:10:49 > 0:10:53of his childhood in this park, which he described as a world within a
0:10:53 > 0:10:59world. This was Thomas' playground and
0:10:59 > 0:11:05retreat, and the inspiration for one of his most haunting poems. The
0:11:05 > 0:11:10hunchback in the park, the solitary Mr propped between trees and water,
0:11:10 > 0:11:14from the opening of the garden Lockstep lets the trees and water
0:11:14 > 0:11:22enter until it goes.... It's a poem about an old outcast man
0:11:22 > 0:11:28who seeks solace in this Green Park but finds himself tormented by
0:11:28 > 0:11:33sniggering schoolboys. Thomas recorded the poem in 1953 but he had
0:11:33 > 0:11:39written the first draft two decades earlier as a 17-year-old schoolboy.
0:11:39 > 0:11:45Like the Park birds, came early, like the water, he set down, and Mr,
0:11:45 > 0:11:50they called, had, Mr Tomovic ruined boys from the town.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55Antiquarian book-seller Jeff has been collecting the poet's work for
0:11:55 > 0:12:0245 years. Hunchback is not a word we use now, but clearly Thomas felt a
0:12:02 > 0:12:07huge empathy for this character? Yes, I think he did. In Dylan
0:12:07 > 0:12:11Thomas' life, he was always on the side of the underdog. He loved
0:12:11 > 0:12:17Charlie Chaplin's little character, so for him, downtrodden people,
0:12:17 > 0:12:21people being treated badly affected him.Do you think this character
0:12:21 > 0:12:26really existed?I think so. I think in this case it was a genuine
0:12:26 > 0:12:28response to something that was happening in front of him.How would
0:12:28 > 0:12:34he have seen him every day, going to school, through the park?This park,
0:12:34 > 0:12:38next to his home was the most important place in his childhood. He
0:12:38 > 0:12:43had these amusing notebooks, four notebooks were poems. This was in
0:12:43 > 0:12:48the notebook in 1932 and Tierney went back to it again in 1941. If we
0:12:48 > 0:12:52look at the notebook version, the first few lines are almost exactly
0:12:52 > 0:12:56the same, but then there is this line, going daft for 57 years is
0:12:56 > 0:13:05getting dafter. It is an awful line in anybody's book. His clap set and
0:13:05 > 0:13:10further on... He learnt what was good and what was bad. I think what
0:13:10 > 0:13:14happened to him in those nine years is he went to London, he got
0:13:14 > 0:13:18published, got married, he had a child, the war was looming. All
0:13:18 > 0:13:23these things had an affect on him, that took him back to childhood.
0:13:23 > 0:13:28Past Lake and Rocco Read, laughing when he shook his paper, hunched
0:13:28 > 0:13:33back in mockery. Jeff has lovingly restored Thomas'
0:13:33 > 0:13:38childhood home, just a stone's throw from the park. It was in this
0:13:38 > 0:13:41bedroom that Thomas, a rather solitary teenager, started crafting
0:13:41 > 0:13:50the Hunchback. The old dog slept alone, while the
0:13:50 > 0:13:54boys among willows made the Tigers jump out of their eyes to roar on
0:13:54 > 0:13:58the rockery stones. Why do you think he'd noticed this
0:13:58 > 0:14:02man in the park in a different way to the other boys?
0:14:02 > 0:14:06I think probably because he was something of a loner himself. He was
0:14:06 > 0:14:10a small, shy boy, very studious, very wrapped up in his poetry. I
0:14:10 > 0:14:14think a little story that illustrates that is when his first
0:14:14 > 0:14:18girlfriend was coming to stay, he wrote to her and said I feel so
0:14:18 > 0:14:23uneasy that go upstairs and hide in the toilet when you arrive. He an of
0:14:23 > 0:14:28people. He sees the old man being tormented by other schoolboys and he
0:14:28 > 0:14:34feels a part of him, rather than as a part of the tormentors.
0:14:34 > 0:14:41All night in the maid Park, after the railings and shrubberies, the
0:14:41 > 0:14:46birds, the grass, the trees, the lake and the wild boys, innocent as
0:14:46 > 0:14:51strawberries, followed the hunchback to his kennel in the dark.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55Well, the hunchback is gone, the boys are gone and so Dylan Thomas,
0:14:55 > 0:14:59but this view it beautiful park is still here, and so is the beautiful
0:14:59 > 0:15:01poem.
0:15:10 > 0:15:21Cwmdonkin Park Almac is a good word, isn't it?Yeah.Say that word.
0:15:21 > 0:15:28Cwmdonkin.Where are we going with this?This is the most wonderful way
0:15:28 > 0:15:34of retelling the story of A Christmas Carol. It's kind of how
0:15:34 > 0:15:36Charles Dickens comes up with the story and everything in between
0:15:36 > 0:15:41because he's down on his luck at this point, it's like a biopic at
0:15:41 > 0:15:45this point.He has reached a rough patch, he has been a bit of a rock
0:15:45 > 0:15:48star and had early hits and three books back to back haven't really
0:15:48 > 0:15:52landed on his massively ambitious, he has four kids with one on the
0:15:52 > 0:15:55way, putting himself under huge pressure and he wants to write this
0:15:55 > 0:16:04book that takes a stab, the society around him, the rise of rampant
0:16:04 > 0:16:07industrial capitalism, the treatment of the poor and the children and
0:16:07 > 0:16:10he's very angry about a lot of things. He decides he's going to
0:16:10 > 0:16:14write a book that is set at Christmas and write it in six weeks
0:16:14 > 0:16:19by Christmas, which is completely mad and he drives himself almost mad
0:16:19 > 0:16:22doing it. By all accounts his daughter would come into his study
0:16:22 > 0:16:26and find him making these faces and conjuring these characters in the
0:16:26 > 0:16:29mirror. It wasn't until he came up with the character and the voice and
0:16:29 > 0:16:34name he could work with them and this was whipped into one of the
0:16:34 > 0:16:41best Christmas books of all time. That's one of the most intricate --
0:16:41 > 0:16:44interesting things, the way he comes up with the characters, and that's
0:16:44 > 0:16:48the clip we have got, this is him creating Scrooge.
0:16:50 > 0:16:58Christmas.What about it?What is it but an excuse for picking a man's
0:16:58 > 0:17:05pocket every 25th of December?Keep going.Everyone who goes on with
0:17:05 > 0:17:14Merry Christmas on his lips should be buried with a Christmas pudding
0:17:14 > 0:17:21through his heart. Eorpa Trail of Dickens is incredibly
0:17:21 > 0:17:25energetic. He's quite manic, isn't he? Did you base him on anyone in
0:17:25 > 0:17:32particular?The hair is quite Gene Wilder.The wig is quite something.
0:17:32 > 0:17:39We wanted the film to be funny and for him to have that mad energy, the
0:17:39 > 0:17:44lady who plays our housekeeper Mrs Fisk who is a Dickens nut and knows
0:17:44 > 0:17:48everything about him and came up to me the first day and said he was
0:17:48 > 0:17:50bipolar and I haven't specifically diagnosed him as such but the more
0:17:50 > 0:17:54you look at his work and biographical details, there were
0:17:54 > 0:17:57these manic swings and energetic periods and then periods of total
0:17:57 > 0:18:03blank bleakness. There is as much about the creative process and a
0:18:03 > 0:18:07writer of getting to grips with his work as there is about Christmas in
0:18:07 > 0:18:10our film.We learn in the film that in that period of time Christmas
0:18:10 > 0:18:14wasn't really celebrated in the UK, which I was devastated about, I'll
0:18:14 > 0:18:21be honest. So Dickens did almost bring it back with this book.He saw
0:18:21 > 0:18:25something at the time that was one of the religious festivals but not a
0:18:25 > 0:18:29big cultural event. He saw something in the winter solstice, the
0:18:29 > 0:18:33remembering, the shortest day of the year, the darkest and bleakest time,
0:18:33 > 0:18:37the light will return, and the hope of that and the joy and finding a
0:18:37 > 0:18:42little laughter in the heart in that really dark time, that is what is at
0:18:42 > 0:18:45the core of the story that was what was wonderful to realise that he was
0:18:45 > 0:18:50trying to get at.Such a character, almost like a rock star.Yes, at the
0:18:50 > 0:18:53beginning we see him in America and he has been well received over there
0:18:53 > 0:18:57and he used to give these famous readings and he was really loving
0:18:57 > 0:19:01it. Then he came home and had a total blank and didn't know what he
0:19:01 > 0:19:04would do. He was inspired but I don't know where it came from.The
0:19:04 > 0:19:10thing is now you are in one of these big Christmas films. So forevermore
0:19:10 > 0:19:14you will be the man in the Christmas film. Are you Christmassy enough to
0:19:14 > 0:19:18take on the mantle?I hope so, I love Christmas and it's very nice to
0:19:18 > 0:19:23join the Canon. I guess Muppet Christmas Carol would have to be one
0:19:23 > 0:19:26of my favourite, it's not really Christmas until we have watched
0:19:26 > 0:19:32that. It is nice to celebrate that time of year, celebrate one of my
0:19:32 > 0:19:37favourite authors and one of our culture's most beloved books.It is
0:19:37 > 0:19:42beautiful.Thank you.It is really good.Obviously you have been doing
0:19:42 > 0:19:46your research but if you thought Dickens' life was an open book,
0:19:46 > 0:19:50Gyles Brandreth has managed to uncover a few of the missing
0:19:50 > 0:19:51chapters.
0:19:51 > 0:19:56Look at this.The peerless Mr Charles Dickens was a writer as lead
0:19:56 > 0:20:01and interesting as one of his many characters. For example, he was once
0:20:01 > 0:20:05involved in a terrible train crash and assisted many of the wounded
0:20:05 > 0:20:07before help arrived.
0:20:07 > 0:20:13And here we are at his London house. Now, as you know, A Christmas Carol
0:20:13 > 0:20:19isn't just a Christmas story, it's a ghost story, and no wonder, Mr
0:20:19 > 0:20:23Dickens was keenly interested in all things supernatural. He was even
0:20:23 > 0:20:30linked to the famous paranormal investigation group The Ghost Club
0:20:30 > 0:20:32Of London, investigating paranormal activity and sightings of the
0:20:32 > 0:20:39unexplained. Dickens was something of an obsessive-compulsive. When he
0:20:39 > 0:20:43stayed away he liked to rearrange his hotel furniture, and at home he
0:20:43 > 0:20:47liked to sleep with his head pointing north because he believed
0:20:47 > 0:20:51it improved his writing. I think we can agree that that one worked a
0:20:51 > 0:20:59charm. He was wonderfully theatrical command very fond of animals. He
0:20:59 > 0:21:04kept a pet raven called Grip, and when Grip died he had him stuffed
0:21:04 > 0:21:06and mounted, and then he immortalised him as a character in
0:21:06 > 0:21:16his novel Barnaby rush. I hope these facts aren't leaving you flummoxed,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20or suffering from boarding, two words apparently created by Mr
0:21:20 > 0:21:26Dickens, of more than 200 that included fluffiness, Rampage and the
0:21:26 > 0:21:33verb to manslaughter. -- Barnaby Rudge. Are you getting sleepy yet?
0:21:33 > 0:21:37Dickens was a great advocate of hypnosis and attempted to use it on
0:21:37 > 0:21:45his wife and children to cure the ills. Dickens was fascinated by
0:21:45 > 0:21:50magic and performed magic shows in public, his most famous trick was
0:21:50 > 0:21:54the pudding wonder in which he would take a gentleman's hats and mix into
0:21:54 > 0:22:02it flour and eggs and moments later magically produce a Christmas Plum
0:22:02 > 0:22:11Pudding, ready for the audience to eat. Delicious! I know what you're
0:22:11 > 0:22:15thinking. What the dickens? But what the dickens has nothing to do with
0:22:15 > 0:22:20Charles Dickens. It's a phrase from another, William Shakespeare, who
0:22:20 > 0:22:36used it in the Merry wives of Winsor.Those are a few for you,
0:22:36 > 0:22:40Dan.I've got to practice that hat trick.Thank you, Dan, and Gyles
0:22:40 > 0:22:46Brandreth and the Charles Dickens Museum. Have you visited?I haven't.
0:22:46 > 0:22:52You should visit.They might give you a discount.You are not stopping
0:22:52 > 0:22:56for long, you're going back to LA. I'm shooting the second season of
0:22:56 > 0:23:02Legion.This is one of the superhero dramas.Kind of and it's kind of
0:23:02 > 0:23:05amazing and it's kind of a superhero thing and it's a weird and wonderful
0:23:05 > 0:23:10show. Very lucky to be on that.You look like you addressed to be part
0:23:10 > 0:23:14of the cast with what you are wearing.I don't just throw these
0:23:14 > 0:23:20things together. What can I say? Who do you play?IPlayer character
0:23:20 > 0:23:23called David Hall, who if you are familiar with the X-Men comics,
0:23:23 > 0:23:32Professor Charles Xavier, I am his illegitimate son, diagnosed as
0:23:32 > 0:23:34paranoid schizophrenic for most of my life but there may be something
0:23:34 > 0:23:41else going on. That is sort of way we start.You are having Christmas
0:23:41 > 0:23:48in LA?Yes, the first time.Do they have trees and stuff?They do trees,
0:23:48 > 0:23:53they don't do Christmas pudding, mince pies, and crackers, I
0:23:53 > 0:23:56discovered.We are on Regent Street and they have it all down there.I
0:23:56 > 0:24:01could do one big sweep. I tried to take crackers back to LA in my hand
0:24:01 > 0:24:05luggage one year and I was told I couldn't take them because they were
0:24:05 > 0:24:09explosives. Which they sort of art if you think about it.I will make
0:24:09 > 0:24:12you a list of what you need.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15We are taking you back to a period in history that provided the
0:24:15 > 0:24:18backdrop to the early days of Downton Abbey, the First World War.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20In 1917, German bombers flew over London in their first-ever
0:24:20 > 0:24:21daylight raid on the UK.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25They were aiming for the docks, but they missed the mark.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37100 years ago a German bomb landed here in Poplar, East London,
0:24:37 > 0:24:41destroying a local primary school. 18 children were killed, most of
0:24:41 > 0:24:47them between four and six years of age. It was part of a daylight raid
0:24:47 > 0:24:52that killed more than 150 people across the capital. The horrors of
0:24:52 > 0:24:57the bullets are notorious. But German air raids also caused
0:24:57 > 0:25:01significant damage here during the First World War and the East End of
0:25:01 > 0:25:08London was badly hit. Local historian Stan Kaye has been looking
0:25:08 > 0:25:11into what happened that fateful day at Upper North Street School.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15Clearly the school building took a lot of damage, I mean, it has gone
0:25:15 > 0:25:20and they have to rebuild.That is the new school.That's the new
0:25:20 > 0:25:23school over there.Where we are standing now was the old school. It
0:25:23 > 0:25:28was bombed at 11:40am in the morning, the first daylight raid by
0:25:28 > 0:25:32German bombers. The bomb came through the top floor and killed a
0:25:32 > 0:25:35young child and then came the next one and killed another child and
0:25:35 > 0:25:40they exploded on the ground floor. So it went right the way through the
0:25:40 > 0:25:45building, killing as it went.Yes, right the way through, killing as it
0:25:45 > 0:25:48went. Parents and relatives rushed to the school and clawed with their
0:25:48 > 0:25:51hands to did the children out. One child was only identified by a
0:25:51 > 0:25:57button that their mother had sewn on that morning.The funeral was a big
0:25:57 > 0:26:00affair, wasn't it?They reckon they could have been over 100,000 people
0:26:00 > 0:26:07lining the streets. Over 850 floral tributes were sent from all around
0:26:07 > 0:26:11the world. The king and queen sent their wishes.Surviving pupil Jack
0:26:11 > 0:26:14Brown was interviewed about his experience by the BBC in 2007.I
0:26:14 > 0:26:25don't really remember a bang as such. Even when I remember the glass
0:26:25 > 0:26:31coming in and smashing down all over the place. I remember there was no
0:26:31 > 0:26:36panic, no fear, because it was so new and sudden and everything that
0:26:36 > 0:26:46the children would just bewildered, I think, and stunned.In 1950 the
0:26:46 > 0:26:53school was renamed a flower primary. Ms bleach is the current
0:26:53 > 0:26:57headteacher. We have something rather special here, don't we?This
0:26:57 > 0:27:01was the logbook and diary kept by the headteacher.Somehow survived,
0:27:01 > 0:27:07what on earth did he say?13th of the sixth 1917, 11:40am, air raid,
0:27:07 > 0:27:13bomb fell through roof and went through floor. Rose Martin was
0:27:13 > 0:27:19killed, and Prichard seriously ill in hospital. Children's sobbed and
0:27:19 > 0:27:25wailed, clinging and standing close to their teachers.What happened the
0:27:25 > 0:27:28next day?The children were called back so they could take the register
0:27:28 > 0:27:32and see who survived and who were still missing. We know from one of
0:27:32 > 0:27:35the survivors that as the headteacher read the names of
0:27:35 > 0:27:38children who were not there he was crying and said it was the first
0:27:38 > 0:27:45time he'd ever seen a grown man cry. As the community mourned, a poignant
0:27:45 > 0:27:51memorial was built as a reminder of their loss. 100 years on Lidl
0:27:51 > 0:27:55Dummett Edward, John and Andrew who had relatives at the school have
0:27:55 > 0:28:01come here to remember them.My heart Dummett father was Henry Hollis and
0:28:01 > 0:28:05he was at the school and he would have been eight years old, his
0:28:05 > 0:28:08brother William died in the bombing. My dad had to run an errand for one
0:28:08 > 0:28:14of the teachers. As he came back from the shop the bomb exploded and
0:28:14 > 0:28:18he said it was pandemonium everywhere. -- my father was Henry
0:28:18 > 0:28:23Hollins.The inference was divided by a very thin partition and the
0:28:23 > 0:28:27children on one side were the lucky ones. Uncle George and William
0:28:27 > 0:28:34Hollis were in the unfortunate side in which the bomb exploded.My uncle
0:28:34 > 0:28:39describes how the parents rushed there. My grandmother rushed there,
0:28:39 > 0:28:42apparently holding one shoe in her hand, so this was cataclysmic for
0:28:42 > 0:28:49them. This year Her Majesty the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh attended
0:28:49 > 0:28:54a special service to commemorate those who lost their lives. 100
0:28:54 > 0:28:58years may have passed but the Tragedy will never be forgotten.
0:29:00 > 0:29:05And if you're interested in World War history,
0:29:05 > 0:29:08there's a new four-part series starting on BBC Two tonight called
0:29:08 > 0:29:16Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain - that's at 9pm.
0:29:16 > 0:29:21That's it for tonight - thank you to our guest Dan Stevens.
0:29:21 > 0:29:28The Man Who Invented Christmas is in cinemas on 1st December.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31Patrick Kielty's in for Matt tomorrow.
0:29:31 > 0:29:37We are joined by Len Goodman looking at the best of British music.There
0:29:37 > 0:29:41he is pointing already. Have a good evening.