Bazalgette Absolute Genius with Dick and Dom


Bazalgette

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This is absolute genius.

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So sit down, buckle up and get ready for take-off!

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Each show, we'll introduce you to a different genius,

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an amazing person who had a genius idea which shaped the world.

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And they will inspire us to

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come up with our own genius idea at the end of each show.

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But, will it be any good?

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Will it be any good? It will be Absolute Genius!

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And on today's show, a GENIUS engineer...

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Who solved a STINKER of a problem!

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Prepare to be blown away by his brilliance!

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Today we're going to introduce you to an amazing man who came up with

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a genius solution...

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TOILET FLUSHES

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..to a very whiffy problem. I'd leave that for a minute, if I were you.

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Thanks to him, whatever was in there has now gone

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and we don't have to worry about where it is.

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Just leave it to today's genius,

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who invented London's first giant sewer system.

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Ladies and gentlemen, we give you, Sir Joseph Bazalgette.

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Huh? Do you mind, I'm rather busy!

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Inspired by his genius idea, we will be coming up with our own

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later on using the power of poo.

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Yes, but now let's find out more about the man himself

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and the humming problem that he solved.

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PFFT! PFFT!

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Joseph!

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PFFT!

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Have you ever wondered what happens when you flush the loo?

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All the waste that goes down your toilet ends up

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underground in the sewer, where it's safely carried away.

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But more than 150 years ago in London,

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there was nowhere for raw sewage to go.

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So it was dumped straight in the River Thames.

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And in the hot summer of 1858 the smell became unbearable.

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It was called The Great Stink.

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To demonstrate, we've enlisted the help of the closest thing

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we can find to a poo machine.

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It's Hepworth the cow and a few of her friends.

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It's still warm.

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'We're recreating the River Thames in Victorian London.'

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Pat. Cow pat.

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Thank you, Hepworth!

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'So if you get queasy, look away now.'

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In there with some water.

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A bit of decorum, boys!

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This represents the poo produced by two and a half million Londoners.

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Look, that's sprayed on my trousers!

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Let's recreate the moment,

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to see what the river would have looked like back in the day.

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-See if it flows.

-There you go.

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Oh, someone had a bad night there, somewhere in East London.

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Urghh!

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MUSIC: "Jerusalem"

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MUSIC: "EastEnders" theme

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Would you want to live there? Look at it!

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It wouldn't have been nice, would it?

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Right, what are we going to do about my trousers?

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Take them off, come on, I'll towel them dry.

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So that was the great stinky summer of 1858.

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-Stick your hooter in there.

-Smell that!

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Imagine if London still hummed like that!

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Would it put off the tourists?

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We've recreated the smell to find out.

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What do you think that smells of?

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-I don't know, it smells bad.

-Bad, yes!

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-Would you have come to this city if it smelled like that?

-No.

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-No, right.

-Neither would I.

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You know why? Because that is the smell of human poo!

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Poo!

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It is, exactly!

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But it was no laughing matter.

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People were getting sick and dying.

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At first they blamed the smell.

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But disease was actually being spread by harmful bacteria,

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leaking from the river into people's drinking water.

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To find out more about the bacteria in poo,

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we've come to the University of Reading...

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to meet Genius Helper - Dr Gemma Walton.

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Phew, it's a bit whiffy in here!

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There are lots of brown jars with bubbles in them!

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Hello, Gemma, don't know if I should be shake your hand...

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-You can at the moment.

-OK!

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Gemma is a gut microbiologist.

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She's recreated part of the digestive system,

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to study the good and BAD bacteria inside us.

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And yes, before you ask, that brown stuff IS what you think it is.

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So, can you tell from your own poo how healthy you are?

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In terms of how healthy you are you'd have to look more specifically

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at the bacteria there, but one thing that doctors do actually use...

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What's that?

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..is a Bristol Stools Chart.

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Now, this is a list of types of poo in terms of consistency...

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Here's your menu for today, sir, would you like type six,

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which is your fluffy pieces with ragged edges, a mushy stool, sir?

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Like a sausage but with cracks on its surface. Ouch!

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Oh, dear.

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Settle down, boys!

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How much bacteria is there in our poo?

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So, a stool sample can be anywhere, typically, from 30 - 60% bacteria,

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so there's lots and lots of bacteria in a stool sample.

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'We want to examine our own stool to see the bacteria inside.

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'Well, not ours, someone lent us one.'

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I think we should give a name to our donator.

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Do you, what would you like to call it?

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-Erm, Steve.

-Steve, all right. I'll just pick up Steve's sample.

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Steve...Steve's not been very well!

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So just take a small amount.

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Some bacteria in poo is harmful, so we're wearing protective gear.

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Examining your own stools at home is NOT recommended!

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'First, we're heating our poo sample, to kill the bacteria...'

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Get it, how's Steve smelling?

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Do you want to pop a few drops all over?

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'..then, we're staining it with special dye.'

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Wash that off.

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Once it's dry we can look at it under a microscope

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-and see the bacteria.

-Ooh!

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Right, let's see how much bacteria Steve's sample has on it.

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-All these little shapes that you see here are bacteria.

-Ah, OK.

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Human waste contains billions of bacteria.

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That's why we wash our hands after going to the loo.

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But in Victorian times, people were washing in -

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and drinking - dirty water contaminated by sewage.

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If you had a case of diarrhoea, you've got a good sewage system,

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and hand-washing facilities so you can keep it pretty well contained.

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However, if you were in a situation

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where sewage was getting into the water system,

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and people with diarrhoea etc weren't being able to

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contain it, you get bacteria that cause diarrhoea

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going into your drinking water, which can undoubtedly cause further

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cases of it and also, if the only thing you've got to rehydrate

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yourself with is water that is contaminated with bacteria

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that cause diarrhoea, you're in a bit of a tricky situation.

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People had been putting up with the stench and disease for long enough.

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The Great Stink was the final straw.

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London needed the help of a genius.

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Enter Joseph Bazalgette -

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London's Chief Engineer, with a background in building railways.

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Parliament gave him the job of solving London's sewage nightmare.

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And what he came up with was a GENIUS piece of engineering.

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Bazalgette's genius idea was to build a system of big sewage pipes

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to catch London's waste BEFORE it flowed into the river

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and London's drinking water.

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The sewage was then carried eastwards and pumped out to sea.

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No more stink. Genius!

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Inspired by Bazalgette's genius idea,

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we'll be coming up with our own later on.

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But right now we're here at London's glittering Leicester Square,

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but we're not going to a premiere, oh, no...

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No, we're going underground into the sewer.

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Not many people get to go inside Bazalgette's sewers.

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So this is a real treat.

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And to guide us...

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..it's Genius Helper, Rob Smith -

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a flusher for Thames Water.

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His job is to keep London's sewers flowing.

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It's amazing to think this huge network of tunnels is right

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underneath Leicester Square.

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OK, I can't even describe the smell in here.

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It's a little bit soft underfoot, isn't it?

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-It's really soft there...

-Blurgh!

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This vapour in the air,

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this very fine mist in the air, what is that?

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A mixture of good, old English rainwater,

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and a bit of sewage, but not too much.

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Bazalgette's genius sewer system took over ten years to finish.

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It used 318 million bricks and involved 82 miles of new

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underground sewers, linking to more than 1,000 miles of street sewers.

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It was the biggest sewer system the world had ever seen.

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London finally had somewhere to dump its smelly waste.

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And disease spread through sewage started to disappear.

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Anything that goes down the toilet or plughole ends up here.

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From loo paper to cooking fat.

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It's the job of Rob and his team to clear any nasty blockages...

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by hand!

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We're supposed to be helping,

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but the tunnels are flooded with rainwater.

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Rob thinks it's too dangerous to go any further.

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Right, the task was going to be that you were going to digging out

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and removing fat but actually it's being done by natural means

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because the rainfall we've had has flushed the fat away.

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It has left a couple of bits and pieces on the rails down there,

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so who's the mountaineer?

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Well, neither of us, but he looks like he's just about to throw up,

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-so it'll have to be me.

-Right.

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Now, I'm not saying he's faking it, but seconds after I volunteered,

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look at him!

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Is that what he's getting rid of?

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-Yeah!

-Oh, my... Urghh!

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This is the BAFTA moment where he falls in.

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Hold onto the rail!

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Hold onto the rail, stand sideways, face the wall. That's it.

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-What is it?

-That's a pair of pants!

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Pants?!

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The elastic from the top of someone's pants!

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Oh, mate, it looks disgusting!

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Aaaagh!

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Oh, my life!

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He's retching! Come on!

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He wants to have a go!

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I know, I can see, he's really keen!

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Other one through, and so on and so forth.

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Think crab-like, yeah?

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'It's disgusting.

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'But flushers have to do this kind of nasty work every day.

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'Without them, Bazalgette's sewers would clog up.'

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-Straight down?

-Yes, straight down.

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Is this Bazalgette's exact design?

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Yeah.

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Why did he make it so big?

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It's what you call forward-planning. Well, he was a genius.

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He was a genius?

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He was a genius, he looked ahead.

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He didn't build for tomorrow, he built for 150 years time.

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That's a clever guy, yeah.

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Right, shall we get out of here?

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-Yes, please.

-Go for a shower.

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Yeah, and then the water will end up here.

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Bazalgette predicted the population would grow,

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so he designed his sewer tunnels big enough to cope.

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Good job, because there are three times as many people in London now.

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And breathe! Phew!

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Oh, London air has never smelt so good!

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I tell you what, I've got an absolutely new-found respect

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for the guys that work here, doing that.

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It's an amazing job and they work really hard.

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-Cheers, then, Rob. Thanks very much.

-Pleasure.

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Glad you liked my tunnels, boys, now go and get washed.

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But there was a time when we didn't have any sewers at all,

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and people had to store their muck at home!

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Imagine that!

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Yes! It's time for the NOT so genius idea.

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In medieval times,

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toilet waste dropped straight into chambers called cesspits.

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But you had to be careful, even if you were an expert.

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In 1326, Richard, a muckraker -

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the person who went around clearing up other people's filth -

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fell through his own rotten floorboards

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into the cesspit below and drowned in his own poo!

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URGHH! A not so genius way to go to the loo.

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We've been inside Bazalgette's genius sewer

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and discovered things that once went down a toilet.

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That's the elastic from the top of someone's pants!

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But where does it all go?

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Meet Genius Helper, Nick Mills, from Reading sewage works.

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What does this machine do?

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This removes anything that floats in the sewage

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that comes into the works.

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-Wet wipes...

-pants!

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Can we have a look?

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You can have a look, don't get too close.

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So, in essence, it's just a big sieve, really, yeah?

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Absolutely right, yeah.

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Urghh, the smell is absolutely... What's that?

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And where does the water go next?

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That goes onto the next stage of the process

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which I'm going to take you to now.

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Oh, what is this place?

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Here we settle out the solids in the waste water,

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and the clean water weirs over the top and goes on.

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This is the worst smell we've had so far, why's it so bad in here?

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We're starting to concentrate the solids, we call it sludge,

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and that has quite a strong odour.

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It's been called many things along this journey -

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stools, sludge...

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Look at it!

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Once the solids have been filtered out, the water's treated

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so it's clean enough to go back into the river.

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All that harmful bacteria has gone.

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But what happens to the sludge left behind?

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MUSIC: Theme from "2001 A Space Odyssey"

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What's inside these big, fat space eggs?

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Inside these digesters is sludge.

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OK, so what happens to the sludge inside here?

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So the sludge spends about 15 days in here with different bacteria

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that eat away at the sludge and

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produce a biogas that's full of methane.

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We use that in engines to generate electricity and heat.

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-Right, a reusable energy - poo's got power!

-Poo power!

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Absolutely, certainly has.

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So, the poo from Bazalgette's sewers is a useful source of energy.

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Better out than in! Pffft!

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We're going to make our own methane, turning poo into energy.

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From sludge like this, you get methane.

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So while we make some gas, here are some facts about cack.

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The Genius Top Five.

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At five, the world's most expensive coffee drink

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is made from coffee beans eaten and pooed out by civet cats.

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The digestive process improves the taste!

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I think I'll stick to tea.

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At four, your body finds it hard to digest sweetcorn kernels

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that's why they sometimes turn up in the loo.

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At three, Cheryl Cole's cack smells of strawberries.

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No, it doesn't, even Cheryl has to go to the bog,

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and everyone's poo contains honking bacteria.

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At two, humans are naturally programmed to hate the smell of poo,

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so we don't touch it and end up sick from the bacteria inside.

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And at one, penguin poo can be seen from space!

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Their droppings show up as dark stains

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on satellite images from Antarctica.

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The dirty flappy flappers!

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So, then, Nick, this is a condensed version of what we saw outside,

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the big, fat, space eggs, right?

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That's right, so you can see the sludge and we are going to get you

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to feed them, because they are hungry at the moment,

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and they are going to produce more biogas, the bacteria that is,

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and they'll go down this tube, and bubble up through into these

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where we can collect it.

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Has anyone in 60 years of television fed poo before?

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-What do you feed it with?

-With the sludge you've just seen on site.

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-Feed poo with poo?

-Absolutely.

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So how do we know when methane has been produced?

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It will bubble up into this column here and displace the water

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so we can measure how much we've produced.

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So it looks like when you let one go in the bath?

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Yeah, we've just got this cylinder on top. Choose your colour.

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-Yellow!

-You like yellow, don't you?

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I'll have blue, then. So we don't forget, here's a...

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-So, I'll leave you guys to feed the digesters.

-All right, sounds good.

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-Get the shovels.

-Give it a stir.

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Urghh, it stinks!

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I'm going in.

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The bacteria in the digestors will eat the sludge we're feeding them.

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Have you ever thought this is where yours could end up?

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In an experiment like this.

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In the process, they'll naturally release gases,

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full of methane energy.

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It's called anaerobic digestion.

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It works best when it's in a warm environment, about 40 C.

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The sludge and the bacteria are loving the heat.

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Can I borrow your poo poker?

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Yes, please.

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Right, the bung is in the bunghole, switch on the mixers,

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and let it ferment.

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Right, we've got 30 minutes, time starts now.

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Now all we can do is wait.

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And wait.

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Don't mess about with it.

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15 minutes left!

0:19:230:19:25

Each time gas is released, it bubbles up into the glass columns...

0:19:250:19:28

Ten minutes left.

0:19:280:19:29

..pushing the liquid down.

0:19:290:19:31

Five minutes left!

0:19:310:19:34

The less liquid, the more gas!

0:19:340:19:36

Three, two, one...

0:19:380:19:40

BEEP

0:19:400:19:42

-I've won.

-Mine's definitely lower.

0:19:420:19:44

-No, I've won.

-No, a little bit less.

0:19:440:19:46

Nick, come here, expert opinion - who's won?

0:19:460:19:49

Right, let's have a look.

0:19:490:19:51

I can see from this that Dick has produced more gas.

0:19:510:19:54

Come on! You see, I put in more sludge!

0:19:540:19:56

-You always do produce more gas.

-True.

0:19:560:19:58

We saw the gas bubbling up through the water, up into the tube,

0:19:580:20:01

it's still there, but what is it?

0:20:010:20:02

The biogas is mostly made up of methane - 65%.

0:20:020:20:05

OK, and what's the deal with methane?

0:20:050:20:07

Methane is an explosive gas and it's also full of energy, obviously.

0:20:070:20:11

Did you say, "explosive"?

0:20:110:20:13

This methane gas being explosive sounds good, doesn't it?

0:20:180:20:20

It does sound good, but I want to see the energy, I want to see it.

0:20:200:20:24

-If only Fran, our genius scientist was here to tell us more.

-Yeah.

0:20:240:20:27

-BOTH:

-Hooray!

0:20:270:20:29

Our genius scientist, Fran,

0:20:290:20:31

can explain things in ways even WE can understand.

0:20:310:20:35

She loves a good experiment,

0:20:350:20:36

and always pops up when you need her most.

0:20:360:20:40

So I thought, let's see the energy in methane.

0:20:400:20:44

So, I've got a balloon of methane here,

0:20:440:20:46

and some soapy water, so let's bubble methane through the

0:20:460:20:50

soapy water and we'll get bubbles that are full of methane.

0:20:500:20:53

-Farty bubbles!

-Exactly.

0:20:530:20:56

What I'm doing to do is set fire to these bubbles, so we see the energy

0:20:560:20:59

and why don't we set fire to them...

0:20:590:21:02

-in your hand, Dick?

-Good idea.

0:21:020:21:05

Course you did, Fran!

0:21:050:21:08

Fran's an expert - this is not something to be messed with at home.

0:21:080:21:11

If we get a nice, big handful of those...

0:21:110:21:13

Why's it always me?

0:21:130:21:14

-And let's just set fire to them!

-No!

0:21:140:21:16

So three, two, one...

0:21:160:21:17

Aaaagh!

0:21:190:21:20

Were you OK, then?

0:21:220:21:23

Well, it was quite warm. Look at my arm hair!

0:21:230:21:26

Look what you've done to my arm hair! It took me 36 years to grow that!

0:21:260:21:30

So you could see the energy being released from methane

0:21:330:21:35

with the flame and you could feel the heat a little bit.

0:21:350:21:38

That was good, but what we want is an explosion...

0:21:380:21:42

we've heard it's explosive.

0:21:420:21:43

Ah, well, to make methane explosive, you've got to add oxygen.

0:21:430:21:47

Right, have you got any oxygen?

0:21:470:21:49

-Just so happens I have.

-Oh, good.

0:21:490:21:52

Over here I've got a balloon, a very small balloon of oxygen

0:21:520:21:55

-and another balloon of methane.

-Good friend.

0:21:550:21:58

So, I'm going to bubble these through the soapy water again...

0:21:580:22:02

Is it going to go bang in there?

0:22:020:22:03

Well, why don't we just do the same as before,

0:22:030:22:06

you scoop them up and we set fire to them in your hand.

0:22:060:22:08

-It's a nice idea.

-Why not?

0:22:080:22:10

That's it. Three, two, one...

0:22:140:22:19

Aaaaagh!

0:22:190:22:20

# Boom! Shake, shake, shake the room!

0:22:200:22:23

# Tick, tick, tick, tick, boom! #

0:22:230:22:25

It was brilliant, but we want to see the power of poo

0:22:250:22:27

on an even bigger scale. Massive.

0:22:270:22:29

Ah, I can imagine you do.

0:22:290:22:31

If I was to do that, I think I'd need to go to a big, open field.

0:22:310:22:36

I love big, open fields.

0:22:370:22:40

We've been on a whiffy adventure, examining the stinky stuff

0:22:450:22:49

running through Bazalgette's genius sewer...

0:22:490:22:52

That's the elastic from the top of someone's pants!

0:22:520:22:55

..and we've met genius helpers who've made

0:22:550:22:57

power from the poo in his sewers.

0:22:570:22:59

Methane power!

0:22:590:23:00

We're ready to reveal our own genius idea.

0:23:020:23:06

Our Genius idea - demonstrate the power of poo on a big scale!

0:23:070:23:12

Our challenge -

0:23:120:23:14

to build the average household out of cardboard boxes,

0:23:140:23:17

calculate the methane they'd produce from five days of poo,

0:23:170:23:22

then ignite it and let rip!

0:23:220:23:25

I hope you're ready. I hope you're ready.

0:23:250:23:27

Cos this is going to be explosive.

0:23:270:23:30

But first we need to work out how much methane is

0:23:300:23:32

produced by a typical family.

0:23:320:23:34

Watch and learn, children, Dick and Dom's maths lesson.

0:23:350:23:38

The average person's poo from one day

0:23:380:23:41

will give us 13.5 litres of methane.

0:23:410:23:43

Times that by that first. Yes?

0:23:440:23:46

Clever boy, clever boy.

0:23:460:23:48

Times that by 5 days AND 2.4 -

0:23:480:23:51

the number of people in the average household.

0:23:510:23:54

What's he talking about?

0:23:540:23:55

-Hang on a minute!

-No!

0:23:550:23:56

-Shhh.

-Times five is...

0:23:560:23:58

I refuse to do... I know.

0:23:580:24:00

It's there, look. See? There's the answer.

0:24:000:24:03

And that's a lot of gas!

0:24:030:24:05

So it's 162 litres of methane.

0:24:050:24:10

Yep. That's right. It says it there.

0:24:100:24:13

Time to call in our Genius Helper..

0:24:140:24:16

It's Mark Turner, special effects whiz and explosives expert.

0:24:180:24:22

The last time we saw this man, he locked Dick in a cage,

0:24:220:24:25

next to almost a million volts of electricity.

0:24:250:24:27

So what can we do with 162 litres of methane?

0:24:290:24:32

-I reckon ten boxes will sort you out.

-All right.

0:24:320:24:35

What I'd like you to do is make them up, take the bottoms down,

0:24:350:24:38

I'll go and prep the balloons for these boxes - I'll see you in a bit.

0:24:380:24:41

-So we just need to put the boxes together.

-What is that?

0:24:430:24:47

There you go, one, sealed.

0:24:470:24:50

Yes, that's me - 2.4 Dick and Doms.

0:24:510:24:54

We've got a mummy and daddy.

0:25:020:25:04

I think we need a .4, don't we?

0:25:040:25:06

That could be Mark.

0:25:060:25:08

Look at that, it's brilliant! Look at the family, everyone.

0:25:140:25:18

And there you have it, the average family household of 2.4 -

0:25:180:25:22

Daddy Dick, Mummy Dom, and little baby Mark.

0:25:220:25:24

-Shall we go and produce some methane?

-Yes!

-Come on.

0:25:240:25:29

Or in fact, to save time, let's use some Mark produced earlier.

0:25:290:25:34

162 litres of it.

0:25:340:25:36

How many do you put in per box?

0:25:360:25:38

-One per box.

-Oh, only one.

0:25:380:25:39

-Little Mark!

-Oh, it's me!

0:25:390:25:42

Right, let's get them into position.

0:25:420:25:43

-Mark, would you like to take yourself?

-I will.

0:25:430:25:46

Finally we're ready for the Genius idea.

0:25:500:25:53

In this very quiet field we're about to make a VERY big bang,

0:25:530:25:58

using the power of poo!

0:25:580:26:01

PFFT!

0:26:010:26:02

PFFFFT!

0:26:020:26:04

And we're all set, the typical British household is there,

0:26:040:26:07

ready and waiting.

0:26:070:26:09

And you, Bazalgette, you've got front row seats to watch our

0:26:090:26:12

Genius idea - methane explosion.

0:26:120:26:14

And all of this is to celebrate what a genius you are

0:26:140:26:17

for inventing the London sewer system.

0:26:170:26:19

Yes, thank you, Bazalgette, for helping us to collect the poo

0:26:190:26:22

which creates the methane which will help all of this family go bang.

0:26:220:26:26

Actually, you might need these in your ears.

0:26:260:26:29

And your mouth open. Good lad.

0:26:290:26:31

Right, Mark, we're ready.

0:26:310:26:33

Standing by.

0:26:330:26:35

Three... Two...

0:26:350:26:37

One...

0:26:370:26:38

It went right through me! Look what it did to Bazalgette!

0:26:440:26:48

Oooh, my back!

0:26:480:26:51

Mark's head's intact - we blew his head off.

0:26:560:26:59

Mark's torso!

0:26:590:27:01

Looks like me and you are in 1,000 pieces, mate!

0:27:010:27:04

The methane, with the oxygen, literally blew it to bits.

0:27:040:27:08

We've seen the genius of Sir Joseph Bazalgette for ourselves,

0:27:080:27:13

and been inspired by his sewage.

0:27:130:27:16

And we've transformed human waste into energy.

0:27:160:27:20

Explosive methane energy!

0:27:230:27:24

Who'd have thought poo could be so powerful?!

0:27:240:27:27

So there you are. That's what the gas from YOUR poo can do.

0:27:290:27:32

Yeah, you think your dad or grandpa can do a ripper.

0:27:320:27:36

THAT was a ripper!

0:27:360:27:37

It certainly was. Bazalgette, you are an absolute genius.

0:27:370:27:40

Thank you, boys.

0:27:400:27:41

Aaaagh!

0:27:460:27:47

BOGEYS!!

0:27:530:27:54

It went right through me!

0:28:000:28:02

-Don't wobble it!

-I'm not doing anything!

0:28:020:28:04

Just stand still, then!

0:28:040:28:06

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