London: The Modern Babylon

0:00:10 > 0:00:13This programme contains very strong language.

0:00:14 > 0:00:18LAYERS OF PEOPLE SPEAKING DIFFERENT LANGUAGES

0:00:42 > 0:00:44SIREN BLARING

0:00:51 > 0:00:53You could call it the capital of the world.

0:00:53 > 0:00:55AIR RAID SIREN BLARING

0:00:55 > 0:00:58MUSIC: "London Calling" by The Clash

0:01:15 > 0:01:18# London calling to the faraway towns

0:01:18 > 0:01:21# Now war is declared and battle come down

0:01:21 > 0:01:24# London calling to the underworld

0:01:24 > 0:01:29# Come out of the cupboard You boys and girls

0:01:29 > 0:01:32# London calling Now don't look to us

0:01:32 > 0:01:36# Phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust

0:01:36 > 0:01:39# London calling See, we ain't got no swing

0:01:39 > 0:01:43# Except for the reign of that truncheon thing

0:01:43 > 0:01:46# The ice age is coming The sun's zooming in

0:01:46 > 0:01:50# Meltdown expected The wheat is growing thin

0:01:50 > 0:01:53# Engines stop running but I have no fear

0:01:53 > 0:01:59# Cos London is burning and I live by the river

0:02:10 > 0:02:13# Now get this!

0:02:13 > 0:02:17# London calling Yes, I was there too

0:02:17 > 0:02:21# And you know what they said? Well, some of it was true

0:02:21 > 0:02:24# London calling At the top of the dial

0:02:24 > 0:02:28# And after all this Won't you give me a smile?

0:02:28 > 0:02:29# London calling... #

0:02:29 > 0:02:32- NEWSREEL:- London calling the Empire.

0:02:35 > 0:02:38# I never felt so much alike. #

0:02:44 > 0:02:47HOOVES CLOPPING AND HORSES WHINNYING

0:03:03 > 0:03:07At the beginning of the 20th century London is the capital city

0:03:07 > 0:03:11of the most extensive empire the world has ever seen.

0:03:15 > 0:03:18On her dominions the sun never sets.

0:03:22 > 0:03:26Unrivalled power siphoning vast riches from its far-flung colonies

0:03:26 > 0:03:31in all corners of the globe, back to its imperial centre.

0:03:39 > 0:03:42# It's the Piccadilly drop, drop, drop, drop

0:03:42 > 0:03:44# Now the rain's in town

0:03:44 > 0:03:47# It's the Piccadilly drop, drop, drop, drop

0:03:47 > 0:03:50# See us strolling all up and down

0:03:50 > 0:03:53# With a pretty little girl What, what, what?

0:03:53 > 0:03:55# It's the time for heartbreak

0:03:55 > 0:03:58# But it's fine, fine Simply divine!

0:03:58 > 0:04:01# Grab yourself a girlie and pull right into line

0:04:01 > 0:04:04# That's the Pic-Pic-Piccadilly drop! #

0:04:08 > 0:04:10Like the spokes of a wheel,

0:04:10 > 0:04:14converging streams of human life flow into this agitated pool.

0:04:14 > 0:04:18Horses and carriages, carts, vans, omnibuses, cabs -

0:04:18 > 0:04:21every kind of conveyance cross each other's course

0:04:21 > 0:04:23in every possible direction.

0:04:23 > 0:04:27Twisting in and out by the wheels and under the horses' heads,

0:04:27 > 0:04:30working a devious way,

0:04:30 > 0:04:33men and women of all conditions wind a path over.

0:04:34 > 0:04:37Now the streams slacken and now they rush again.

0:04:39 > 0:04:41All London converges into this focus.

0:04:41 > 0:04:44There is an indistinguishable noise.

0:04:44 > 0:04:46It is not clatter, hum or roar...

0:04:47 > 0:04:51..it is made up of a thousand thousand footsteps

0:04:51 > 0:04:54from a thousand hooves, a thousand wheels...

0:04:57 > 0:05:00..and no attention can resolve it into a fixed sound.

0:05:05 > 0:05:07London is a modern Babylon...

0:05:09 > 0:05:12..this is a vortex and whirlpool...

0:05:12 > 0:05:15the centre of human life today on the earth.

0:05:27 > 0:05:33I was born in the Borough of Hackney, 1905...

0:05:36 > 0:05:41..my parents were Orthodox Jews.

0:05:41 > 0:05:44They were immigrants.

0:05:45 > 0:05:52Queen Victoria opened her doors to the Jews of Central Europe

0:05:52 > 0:05:53that were being persecuted.

0:05:53 > 0:05:56WALTZ MUSIC PLAYS

0:05:58 > 0:06:00SEAGULLS CALLING

0:06:07 > 0:06:11# When I go out the people shout

0:06:11 > 0:06:15# "Oh, here he comes, clear the way!"... #

0:06:15 > 0:06:20I can still remember Father going down to the docks

0:06:20 > 0:06:26to examine the cargo as it came up the river.

0:06:26 > 0:06:33I used to like to watch the Tower Bridge going up...and down.

0:06:33 > 0:06:35That was an outing.

0:06:36 > 0:06:44Mother, on Thursdays, used to go to Petticoat Lane

0:06:44 > 0:06:48cos that was where she used to buy her two chickens

0:06:48 > 0:06:51for the weekend meals.

0:06:51 > 0:06:54CHICKENS CLUCKING

0:06:54 > 0:06:57# I'm as happy as the Prince of Wales

0:06:57 > 0:07:03# Although I'm stony broke... #

0:07:04 > 0:07:10The poverty in that part of London, a lot of children were barefoot.

0:07:12 > 0:07:13They had to share shoes,

0:07:13 > 0:07:18so they couldn't go to school every day of the week.

0:07:18 > 0:07:24There was nothing, really, for them to eat.

0:07:24 > 0:07:30# If you think I am a millionaire With the clothes I wear

0:07:30 > 0:07:32# Think that I ride in me carriage

0:07:32 > 0:07:37# And hare round Leicester Square To make folks stare

0:07:37 > 0:07:40# I've got no hoof but I always play spoof

0:07:40 > 0:07:43# I'm a rickety-rackety bloke

0:07:43 > 0:07:47# I'm a slitter, a dasher The up-to-date masher

0:07:47 > 0:07:51# I'm Percy from Pimlico! #

0:07:57 > 0:08:00MUSIC: "Born Slippy" by Underworld

0:08:04 > 0:08:07This melancholy London,

0:08:07 > 0:08:10I sometimes imagine that the souls of the lost

0:08:10 > 0:08:14are compelled to walk through its streets perpetually.

0:08:15 > 0:08:18One feels them passing, like a whiff of air.

0:08:29 > 0:08:31People tended to walk to work...

0:08:33 > 0:08:37..because they worked near their homes.

0:08:43 > 0:08:50Dalston Junction was a road I had to cross getting to my school.

0:08:50 > 0:08:52HOOVES AND WHEELS THUNDERING

0:08:52 > 0:08:56The horse-drawn buses frightened the life out of me!

0:09:00 > 0:09:02And I'm trying to think...

0:09:02 > 0:09:07what happened to the horse manure.

0:09:08 > 0:09:12As soon as you got it, wallop, it went on the roses.

0:09:12 > 0:09:16ENGINE RUMBLING

0:09:16 > 0:09:20# If you fancy it that's understood

0:09:20 > 0:09:23# And suppose it makes you fat I don't worry over that

0:09:23 > 0:09:27# For a little of what you fancy does you good. #

0:09:49 > 0:09:52# There used to be trains Not very quick

0:09:52 > 0:09:54# Got you from place to place

0:09:54 > 0:09:57# But now there's just jams half a mile thick

0:09:57 > 0:09:59# Stay in the human race

0:09:59 > 0:10:04# And fings ain't what they used to be... #

0:10:09 > 0:10:12I remember as a child asking my governess

0:10:12 > 0:10:14how I was going to spend my life.

0:10:14 > 0:10:17Her answer came without a moment's hesitation.

0:10:17 > 0:10:20"Until you are 18, you will do lessons.

0:10:20 > 0:10:23"And, afterwards, you will do nothing."

0:10:23 > 0:10:27In fact, to be an Edwardian debutante

0:10:27 > 0:10:31was rather like being an athlete in chronic training

0:10:31 > 0:10:32for a perpetual boat race.

0:10:34 > 0:10:36There were five to eight balls every week,

0:10:36 > 0:10:41and there we danced through the long summer nights till dawn.

0:10:41 > 0:10:44I can remember my stepmother solemnly warning me,

0:10:44 > 0:10:51to drive back home after a ball with a young man spells doom to any girl.

0:10:51 > 0:10:54Men are afraid of clever girls.

0:10:56 > 0:11:00- CHILD:- Little girls should be seen and not heard.

0:11:00 > 0:11:04# Oh, bondage, up yours! #

0:11:04 > 0:11:05One, two, three, four!

0:11:05 > 0:11:09# Oh, bondage, up yours!

0:11:09 > 0:11:11# Oh, bondage, no more!

0:11:11 > 0:11:15# Oh, bondage, up yours!

0:11:15 > 0:11:18# Oh, bondage, no more! #

0:11:18 > 0:11:21We did a lot of smashing, in the prison, of windows.

0:11:21 > 0:11:23# ..I consume you all

0:11:23 > 0:11:26# Chain gang, chain mail... #

0:11:26 > 0:11:29We went on hunger strike, of course. And we were forcibly fed.

0:11:29 > 0:11:32A tube was inserted in the nostril.

0:11:32 > 0:11:34MAN: How often, Miss Marsh, were you forcibly fed?

0:11:34 > 0:11:38139 times.

0:11:38 > 0:11:46- HETTY BOWER:- Two sisters in Stepney were active suffragettes.

0:11:46 > 0:11:49We used to go there, Saturday afternoon,

0:11:49 > 0:11:53without my parents knowing.

0:11:53 > 0:11:56# ..Thrash me, crash me Beat me till I fall

0:11:56 > 0:11:58# I wanna be a victim for you all. #

0:11:58 > 0:12:06I do remember thinking, well, I shall be agitating when I'm older.

0:12:12 > 0:12:14EXPLOSION

0:12:16 > 0:12:18NEWSREEL: London's East End,

0:12:18 > 0:12:20land of the foreign gaolbird, harbours aliens, anarchists

0:12:20 > 0:12:23and criminals who seek out our too-hospitable shores.

0:12:24 > 0:12:28For more than seven hours, two Jewish members of a Latvian anarchist gang

0:12:28 > 0:12:32have held out against more than 500 police and soldiers in a Sidney Street tenement.

0:12:34 > 0:12:37For the first time, newsreel film companies are on hand

0:12:37 > 0:12:41to record the event for posterity as it unfolds before their cameras.

0:12:41 > 0:12:43GUNSHOTS

0:12:45 > 0:12:48Home Secretary, Churchill, informed of the incident in his bath,

0:12:48 > 0:12:51has arrived to take charge of the operations.

0:12:51 > 0:12:55Rumour has it that a bullet passed through the silk of his top hat.

0:12:55 > 0:12:57GUNSHOT

0:12:58 > 0:13:00Stand and deliver!

0:13:02 > 0:13:07MAN: Ever since London truly began as a city, in the early 18th century,

0:13:07 > 0:13:10they were always terrified of that one, simple word...

0:13:10 > 0:13:11Anarchy!

0:13:11 > 0:13:13..the mob.

0:13:13 > 0:13:15The London mob.

0:13:15 > 0:13:21And they've always tried to police it, channel it,

0:13:21 > 0:13:23to throw it into workhouses,

0:13:23 > 0:13:28to yuppify it, to teach it and, now and again,

0:13:28 > 0:13:30the mob breaks out.

0:13:42 > 0:13:43Best of luck, old chap.

0:13:47 > 0:13:53- HETTY:- Oh, World War One - I was nearly nine years old.

0:13:53 > 0:13:57That was really the turning point in my life.

0:13:57 > 0:14:03There was this Lord Kitchener and his finger.

0:14:03 > 0:14:08Your King and country need you!

0:14:08 > 0:14:14But they didn't need me. I didn't like him, and his finger.

0:14:14 > 0:14:17# Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag

0:14:17 > 0:14:21# And smile, smile, smile

0:14:21 > 0:14:25# While you've a Lucifer to light your fag... #

0:14:25 > 0:14:29Oh, I cheered them at Dalston Junction -

0:14:29 > 0:14:32the men going off, in uniform.

0:14:32 > 0:14:34And we waved.

0:14:34 > 0:14:39And then I didn't like what I saw when they started coming back.

0:14:44 > 0:14:52Men with crutches and an empty trouser leg, rolled up.

0:14:52 > 0:14:58Took time for Roehampton to make all the artificial limbs.

0:14:58 > 0:15:03That was the new industry after World War One.

0:15:05 > 0:15:09A favourite cousin was killed.

0:15:10 > 0:15:11Sammy.

0:15:12 > 0:15:14He was my favourite cousin.

0:15:15 > 0:15:17And he never came back.

0:15:20 > 0:15:21Mm.

0:15:28 > 0:15:31Unreal city

0:15:31 > 0:15:34Under the brown fog of a winter dawn

0:15:34 > 0:15:38A crowd flowed over London Bridge

0:15:38 > 0:15:43So many, I had not thought death had undone so many

0:15:44 > 0:15:48Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled

0:15:48 > 0:15:52And each man fixed his eyes before his feet

0:15:52 > 0:15:55Flowed up the hill and down King William Street

0:15:55 > 0:16:00To where St Mary Woolnoth kept the hours.

0:16:00 > 0:16:04WESTMINSTER CHIMES

0:16:06 > 0:16:09WOMAN: Men were pouring out of the services.

0:16:09 > 0:16:11They'd had a terrible time in France.

0:16:11 > 0:16:14They all wanted to get married, so every man you met proposed to you.

0:16:14 > 0:16:16It was frightfully exciting.

0:16:16 > 0:16:18LIVELY MUSIC

0:16:25 > 0:16:28And you danced because it was the relief the war was over

0:16:28 > 0:16:31and it was like after an earthquake, people make love in the ruins,

0:16:31 > 0:16:34because it's a sort of relief. We all danced and danced.

0:16:34 > 0:16:37We danced at breakfast, we danced all day.

0:16:45 > 0:16:51The West End, that was like going into a new world.

0:16:57 > 0:17:03Lyons restaurants were our palaces.

0:17:04 > 0:17:07West Central started to flare and squirm

0:17:07 > 0:17:10in a blazing vein-work of neon tubes,

0:17:10 > 0:17:13bursting like inexhaustible fireworks.

0:17:13 > 0:17:16The million coloured bulbs of the electric signs

0:17:16 > 0:17:21blazed in perpetual reoccurrence over the face of the West End.

0:17:47 > 0:17:49CAT YOWLS

0:17:51 > 0:17:57I went to a marvellous party, with Nounou and Nada and Nell.

0:17:57 > 0:18:01- MAN:- I was born in 1925.

0:18:01 > 0:18:07I lived in Millbank, in an old, Victorian house on the Embankment.

0:18:12 > 0:18:13This was my childhood.

0:18:13 > 0:18:17I looked out in the morning and that was the view I saw every morning.

0:18:17 > 0:18:20- I heard the tugs going by. - TUG HORN BLARES

0:18:22 > 0:18:26# A room with a view

0:18:26 > 0:18:27# And you... #

0:18:27 > 0:18:30When I was young, I was told that when a tug hooted,

0:18:30 > 0:18:34I thought it was asking my permission to go by.

0:18:34 > 0:18:36I used to say you could go by now.

0:19:13 > 0:19:15MAN: You ever wake up at eight o'clock,

0:19:15 > 0:19:17catch a Tube and see how many people are on it?

0:19:17 > 0:19:21Like, looking tired, everyone looks in the same uniform.

0:19:21 > 0:19:24Off you go again to the zombie train. Want something different.

0:19:25 > 0:19:28# Finchley Central

0:19:28 > 0:19:33# Is two and sixpence from Golders Green on the Northern Line

0:19:33 > 0:19:35# And on the platform... #

0:19:35 > 0:19:37You're kind of in your own bubble.

0:19:37 > 0:19:40People are either reading their papers

0:19:40 > 0:19:42or they've got their music playing. They're zoned out.

0:19:42 > 0:19:45I think that's just how, in London, you kind of survive.

0:19:48 > 0:19:53# ..For hours I waited

0:19:53 > 0:19:57# But I'm blowed, you never showed

0:19:57 > 0:20:01# And Finchley Central Ten long stations

0:20:01 > 0:20:05# From Golders Green Change at Camden Town. #

0:20:11 > 0:20:13The walk from Cannon Street to my office

0:20:13 > 0:20:15is neither too long, nor too short.

0:20:15 > 0:20:20A healthy little perambulation along streets crowded with commuters,

0:20:20 > 0:20:23all proceeding to their places of work

0:20:23 > 0:20:25on the same orderly schedule as myself.

0:20:25 > 0:20:28Their lives, like my own, are regulated nicely

0:20:28 > 0:20:31by the minute hand of an accurate watch.

0:20:34 > 0:20:37MEN SHOUTING

0:20:37 > 0:20:40MAN: The City may have been the bank,

0:20:40 > 0:20:44but the East End was the engine room of the empire.

0:21:18 > 0:21:20London was certainly buzzing.

0:21:20 > 0:21:24It was the gateway to the world and you had the world and his wife

0:21:24 > 0:21:26travelling through it.

0:21:28 > 0:21:32Time was when ships used to dock at Tower Bridge

0:21:32 > 0:21:36and sailors who jumped ship could disappear without further ado

0:21:36 > 0:21:39amongst the streets and courts of the East End.

0:21:39 > 0:21:41SONG: "The Laughing Policeman"

0:21:54 > 0:21:57- MAN:- When I was very young, you were taught at school

0:21:57 > 0:22:00there were only two sorts of people in the world,

0:22:00 > 0:22:04the British and foreigners, and there were an awful lot of foreigners.

0:22:04 > 0:22:06SONG: "The Laughing Policeman"

0:22:10 > 0:22:14I think that feeling of the British Empire as the centre of the world

0:22:14 > 0:22:17was sort of built into you when you were young,

0:22:17 > 0:22:19because that was the way the world was explained to you.

0:22:21 > 0:22:22HE SNIFFS

0:22:22 > 0:22:26MUSIC: "Hong Kong Garden" by Siouxsie And The Banshees

0:22:47 > 0:22:51# Harmful elements in the air

0:22:51 > 0:22:54# Cymbals crashing everywhere

0:22:54 > 0:22:57# Reaps the fields of rice and reeds

0:22:57 > 0:23:01# While the population feeds

0:23:01 > 0:23:04# Junk floats on polluted water

0:23:04 > 0:23:07# An old custom to sell your daughter

0:23:07 > 0:23:10# Would you like number 23?

0:23:10 > 0:23:14# Leave your yens on the counter, please

0:23:17 > 0:23:19# Oh-hh

0:23:19 > 0:23:20# Oh-oh-oh-oh

0:23:20 > 0:23:22# Hong Kong

0:23:22 > 0:23:24# Garden

0:23:24 > 0:23:25# Oh-hh

0:23:25 > 0:23:28# Oh-oh-oh-oh Hong Kong

0:23:28 > 0:23:31# Garden

0:23:32 > 0:23:33# Oh-oh-oh-oh. #

0:23:36 > 0:23:39As a child, you didn't have any fear.

0:23:39 > 0:23:41We played in the street.

0:23:41 > 0:23:44You could be two streets away and you weren't in the danger

0:23:44 > 0:23:48that people try to make out you're in today.

0:23:48 > 0:23:50Someone bound to know who you are.

0:23:50 > 0:23:54And someone to say, "Oi!" and it'll soon get back down your home.

0:23:54 > 0:23:55KNOCK AT DOOR

0:24:00 > 0:24:05People don't realise we had a beach alongside the Tower of London

0:24:05 > 0:24:07where, when the weather was with you,

0:24:07 > 0:24:11Mum used to take you down to the beach at the Tower and play

0:24:11 > 0:24:13and it was a day out.

0:24:14 > 0:24:16In them days,

0:24:16 > 0:24:20it wasn't unusual for the bigger kids to swim across the river.

0:24:20 > 0:24:22It was our playground,

0:24:22 > 0:24:25as well as where we lived, you know what I mean?

0:24:30 > 0:24:33CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:24:33 > 0:24:37# There's some folk who always worry

0:24:37 > 0:24:41# And some folk who never care

0:24:41 > 0:24:43# But in this world of rush and hurry... #

0:24:43 > 0:24:46This is London calling.

0:24:46 > 0:24:48London. City of contrasts,

0:24:48 > 0:24:51where rich and poor rub shoulders.

0:25:20 > 0:25:26# That certain night The night we met

0:25:26 > 0:25:30# There was magic abroad in the air

0:25:30 > 0:25:34# There were angels dining at The Ritz

0:25:34 > 0:25:41# And a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square. #

0:25:46 > 0:25:49- WOMAN:- I was the 13th child.

0:25:49 > 0:25:53We had ten in our house, an old, slummy house.

0:25:59 > 0:26:02Oh, God, there was one big bedroom at the top

0:26:02 > 0:26:07and my mum had five single beds, for my five brothers.

0:26:07 > 0:26:10I slept over the back of my mum and dad.

0:26:10 > 0:26:11We didn't have nothing,

0:26:11 > 0:26:13but we was happy.

0:26:15 > 0:26:20I reckon the conditions of living in these little slums is a bit hard.

0:26:20 > 0:26:23Got a wife and besides my seven children,

0:26:23 > 0:26:26bringing them up in the one room.

0:26:26 > 0:26:29We're hoping the council liven their ideas up and get the flats ready,

0:26:29 > 0:26:33so that every working-class man will have a hygienic flat to live in.

0:26:33 > 0:26:35We just got on with life, quite honest with you.

0:26:35 > 0:26:37It's the only place you could live.

0:26:42 > 0:26:46Lovely to talk about "wouldn't it be nice to have a nice house and garden",

0:26:46 > 0:26:50but it just wasn't there,

0:26:50 > 0:26:53so it's no use dreaming about something that ain't there, is it?

0:26:53 > 0:26:56WOMAN: We went to see the new houses and they're lovely.

0:26:56 > 0:27:00But here, it gets on your nerves, where everything's filthy.

0:27:00 > 0:27:02And the vermin in the walls? It's wicked.

0:27:02 > 0:27:05Well, I tell you, we're fed up.

0:27:23 > 0:27:26- MAN:- The '30s were a terrible year

0:27:26 > 0:27:29for the ordinary working-class people.

0:27:29 > 0:27:34We, in the East End of London,

0:27:34 > 0:27:38campaigned against racism and fascism.

0:27:39 > 0:27:42Some people consider Mr Hitler a madman!

0:27:44 > 0:27:47I beg to differ!

0:27:47 > 0:27:51- HETTY:- 'There were a lot of people that were anti-Semitic.

0:27:51 > 0:27:54'The children would call after us.'

0:27:54 > 0:27:59Sheenies, shonks, sheenies.

0:28:01 > 0:28:07MAN: The battle of Cable Street is one that unifies us all.

0:28:18 > 0:28:21I took part in Cable Street.

0:28:21 > 0:28:25Oswald Mosley's big march.

0:28:25 > 0:28:31He and his followers did...not...pass.

0:28:50 > 0:28:51GLASS SMASHES

0:28:55 > 0:29:00Well, I'm the youngest of ten German Jewish refugee children.

0:29:02 > 0:29:07We came in 1937, 1938.

0:29:07 > 0:29:11From my first day at Newham School,

0:29:11 > 0:29:14there was I in this terrible hurl of kids,

0:29:14 > 0:29:18immediately brandishing cruelty and incomprehension

0:29:18 > 0:29:23at this new boy who wasn't a cockney and who had a strange, foreign name.

0:29:23 > 0:29:28And I was fighting for my life. I was a little titch, short, quite puny.

0:29:28 > 0:29:32But I put everything I could into punching back at these creepy bullies

0:29:32 > 0:29:37so then they called me Hard Punch Horovitz.

0:29:46 > 0:29:52I'd go with the gang. I'd want to relate with my yobbish kids,

0:29:52 > 0:29:56because they, after a little bit of culture conditioning, accepted me.

0:29:57 > 0:30:00# People cry and walk away

0:30:00 > 0:30:02# Think about the fateful day

0:30:02 > 0:30:05# Now they wish they'd given Jack

0:30:05 > 0:30:08# More affection and respect

0:30:08 > 0:30:11# Those little children dressed in black

0:30:11 > 0:30:14# Don't know what happened to old Jack

0:30:14 > 0:30:19# Grocer Jack, Grocer Jack Is it true what Mummy says?

0:30:19 > 0:30:23# You won't come back, oh, no, no. #

0:30:29 > 0:30:32Brixton, before the lights went out over Europe,

0:30:32 > 0:30:36was the hub of a wheel of theatres, music halls,

0:30:36 > 0:30:38empires, royalties.

0:30:39 > 0:30:42You could tram it all over from Brixton.

0:30:42 > 0:30:48The streets of tall, narrow houses were stuffed to the brim with stand-up comics,

0:30:48 > 0:30:49Adagio dancers,

0:30:49 > 0:30:53conjurers, Shakespeare heroes, fiddlers,

0:30:53 > 0:30:57speciality acts with doves, dogs, goats - you name it.

0:31:00 > 0:31:06Dancing dwarves, tenors, sopranos, baritones and basses.

0:31:10 > 0:31:11Oh, really.

0:31:34 > 0:31:36CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:31:49 > 0:31:54I am speaking to you from the Cabinet Room at Ten Downing Street.

0:31:54 > 0:32:01This morning, the British Ambassador handed the German Government a final note

0:32:01 > 0:32:06stating that, unless we heard from them by 11 o'clock

0:32:06 > 0:32:11that they were prepared to withdraw their troops from Poland,

0:32:11 > 0:32:15a state of war would exist between us.

0:32:15 > 0:32:20I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received

0:32:20 > 0:32:25and that, consequently, this country is at war with Germany.

0:32:27 > 0:32:31If you have a child of school age and wish to have him evacuated,

0:32:31 > 0:32:34you should send him to school tomorrow, Friday,

0:32:34 > 0:32:37with hand luggage containing the child's gas mask,

0:32:37 > 0:32:40a change of underclothing, night clothes, shoes,

0:32:40 > 0:32:43spare stockings or socks,

0:32:43 > 0:32:47a toothbrush, a comb, a towel, handkerchief

0:32:47 > 0:32:52and, if possible, a warm coat or mackintosh.

0:33:00 > 0:33:04- MAN:- I was evacuated to a place called Dunstable.

0:33:04 > 0:33:07Where did they put me?

0:33:07 > 0:33:11Right next door to the Vauxhall factory, so there was the place to be in the war, wasn't it?

0:33:11 > 0:33:14EXPLOSION

0:33:15 > 0:33:17Well, my father came back home one day and he went,

0:33:17 > 0:33:20"I'm not having this, we're going to get killed,

0:33:20 > 0:33:22"we'll all get killed together."

0:33:22 > 0:33:25So we copped all those dangerous nights

0:33:25 > 0:33:28when it really came down on the East End.

0:33:29 > 0:33:34On the darkest night, the gleaming river may yet betray London.

0:33:34 > 0:33:36AIR-RAID SIREN BLARES

0:33:39 > 0:33:41- TONY BENN:- I was in London during the Blitz

0:33:41 > 0:33:45and I remember it very vividly, because every night the sirens used to go off.

0:33:45 > 0:33:48And when I hear an air-raid siren now,

0:33:48 > 0:33:51it still sends a cold chill through my body.

0:33:53 > 0:33:58NEWSREEL: The whole of the skyline was lit up with a ruddy glow,

0:33:58 > 0:34:01almost like a sunrise or a sunset.

0:34:01 > 0:34:03The flames are leaping up in the air now.

0:34:05 > 0:34:09The dome of St Paul's is silhouetted blackly against it.

0:34:09 > 0:34:15It's almost like the Day of Judgment is pictured in some of the old books.

0:34:18 > 0:34:23And, if this weren't so appalling, I think it would be one of the most wonderful sights I've ever seen.

0:34:24 > 0:34:29We didn't realise the danger we was in, at that age.

0:34:29 > 0:34:31It was more an adventure.

0:34:34 > 0:34:39We went down the Tube, went with the air raids, you know, the bunk beds

0:34:39 > 0:34:43and people who'd hated each other as neighbours were having to muck in together

0:34:43 > 0:34:47and making tea and hot water bottles in the Tube stations.

0:34:55 > 0:34:58And, of course, all sorts of things went on,

0:34:58 > 0:35:00but we were too young, and all them sort of things.

0:35:00 > 0:35:02UPBEAT MUSIC

0:35:17 > 0:35:21'I have observed that the psychological effects of war

0:35:21 > 0:35:24'include not only hysteria and shock,

0:35:24 > 0:35:26'but what also might be described as

0:35:26 > 0:35:31'jaunty behaviour, brought about by heightened anxiety.

0:35:31 > 0:35:36'Many apparently normal people are drinking indecent amounts of alcohol

0:35:36 > 0:35:39'and sexual desire, especially in women, is much intensified.

0:35:41 > 0:35:45'During the Blitz, many of my male patients complained to me

0:35:45 > 0:35:49'about their wives making excessive demands.

0:35:50 > 0:35:54'I personally know many women who have been unfaithful

0:35:54 > 0:35:57- 'to their husbands.' - WOMAN: Bottoms up!

0:35:59 > 0:36:02Coming out and seeing houses of people we knew

0:36:02 > 0:36:05shattered by the bombs, to us, it was strange,

0:36:05 > 0:36:07but it was still an adventure.

0:36:07 > 0:36:10In the morning, I thought it was particularly exciting

0:36:10 > 0:36:12because I got up earlier

0:36:12 > 0:36:15so that I had the biggest collection of shrapnel.

0:36:15 > 0:36:18I was always called to the front of the class. "Let's see what Molly's found now."

0:36:18 > 0:36:21Shrapnel. Big lumps of it.

0:36:21 > 0:36:24- What have you got behind your back? - Nothing.

0:36:26 > 0:36:28Frankie!

0:36:31 > 0:36:34'I remember this danger, the thrill of leaping across

0:36:34 > 0:36:38'bits of buildings that had got destroyed,

0:36:38 > 0:36:41'and being dared to jump, and seeing this huge, impossible

0:36:41 > 0:36:45'Olympic feat with a great ravine.'

0:36:47 > 0:36:49HE SCREAMS

0:36:55 > 0:36:58'So that was the sort of adventure playground that we grew up in.'

0:37:04 > 0:37:06# We shall defend our island

0:37:06 > 0:37:10# All the land and all the sea

0:37:10 > 0:37:12# We shall fight them on the beaches

0:37:12 > 0:37:15# On the hills and in the fields

0:37:15 > 0:37:18# We shall fight them in the streets

0:37:18 > 0:37:21# Never in the field of human conflict

0:37:21 > 0:37:24# Was so much owed to so few

0:37:24 > 0:37:27# Because they have made our British Empire

0:37:27 > 0:37:30# A better place for me and you

0:37:30 > 0:37:34# And this was our finest hour

0:37:36 > 0:37:38# As Vera Lynn would say

0:37:38 > 0:37:41# We'll meet again some day

0:37:41 > 0:37:43# But all the sacrifices

0:37:43 > 0:37:50# We must make... #

0:37:52 > 0:37:54I remember meeting a woman from Greenwich

0:37:54 > 0:37:56who said that her husband was in the War

0:37:56 > 0:38:00and she was left with two children. And one summer day in 1940,

0:38:00 > 0:38:04she decided she'd have a little party for the children,

0:38:04 > 0:38:07so she went and bought a cake,

0:38:07 > 0:38:10- and as she left the cake shop... - EXPLOSION

0:38:10 > 0:38:13..she heard a bomb go off, and actually,

0:38:13 > 0:38:17the bomb had struck her own home. Her friend and her children,

0:38:17 > 0:38:20and her friend's children were all killed.

0:38:28 > 0:38:31And you realised the suffering there was

0:38:31 > 0:38:34of many thousands of people who were killed and injured during the War.

0:38:37 > 0:38:41I think Londoners are proud of their role during the Blitz

0:38:41 > 0:38:45because it was very determined, nobody was ever discouraged.

0:38:45 > 0:38:49We didn't know at that time whether we would win the war or not.

0:38:52 > 0:38:54Looking back on it,

0:38:54 > 0:38:58I think it solidified us and brought us much closer together.

0:38:58 > 0:39:03And I think London has gained from the experience in the War.

0:39:23 > 0:39:26CROWD CHEERS Hoorah!

0:39:26 > 0:39:29# ..Any evening, any day

0:39:29 > 0:39:31# You'll find us all

0:39:31 > 0:39:34# Doin' the Lambeth walk

0:39:34 > 0:39:36# Any time you're Lambeth way

0:39:36 > 0:39:39# Any evening, any day

0:39:39 > 0:39:41# You'll find us all

0:39:41 > 0:39:46# Doin' the Lambeth walk... #

0:39:46 > 0:39:49Well, with the War being over, you couldn't believe it,

0:39:49 > 0:39:51the sense of excitement was so enormous.

0:39:51 > 0:39:54We were going to apply the same principles

0:39:54 > 0:39:57that we applied in wartime

0:39:57 > 0:40:01of single-minded determination to meet the needs of peace.

0:40:01 > 0:40:03# ..Any evening, any day

0:40:03 > 0:40:05# You'll find us all

0:40:05 > 0:40:08# Doin' the Lambeth walk... #

0:40:08 > 0:40:12We were voting for Attlee just after the War.

0:40:12 > 0:40:15- We didn't want Churchill, did we? - No, we didn't want Churchill after the War.

0:40:15 > 0:40:19# Vote, vote, vote for Mr Attlee!

0:40:19 > 0:40:22# Punch old Churchill in the eye

0:40:22 > 0:40:24# If he comes round the door

0:40:24 > 0:40:27# We will punch him in the jaw

0:40:27 > 0:40:30# And he won't come voting any more... #

0:40:30 > 0:40:31But the other bit was...

0:40:31 > 0:40:33# If it wasn't for the King

0:40:33 > 0:40:35# We would do the bastard in

0:40:35 > 0:40:38# And he wouldn't come voting any more! #

0:40:38 > 0:40:41Oh, bugger off! Bloody women!

0:40:44 > 0:40:49London looked like the moon's capital.

0:40:49 > 0:40:52Shallow, cratered, extinct.

0:40:54 > 0:40:57Those bomb sites were like sores, you know,

0:40:57 > 0:41:00cancers on the skin of the city.

0:41:04 > 0:41:08The main rebuilding was... the council house building of London

0:41:08 > 0:41:11was rehoused in the post-war years.

0:41:11 > 0:41:13It was nice to move out to a nice place.

0:41:13 > 0:41:16It's quite nice to spread out a bit, you know, have room.

0:41:18 > 0:41:20Nice to have the toilet inside!

0:41:23 > 0:41:26You didn't see fat people around ever.

0:41:26 > 0:41:27It's interesting, that.

0:41:27 > 0:41:30CHEERING

0:41:30 > 0:41:32And queuing, well,

0:41:32 > 0:41:35we were brought up in a war where queues were necessary,

0:41:35 > 0:41:38so to live, you queued in a respectful manner.

0:41:38 > 0:41:42Not like today. A bus pulls up and wallop,

0:41:42 > 0:41:44you're pushed out of the way,

0:41:44 > 0:41:46especially older people.

0:41:53 > 0:41:58There was this awful thing of conformity.

0:41:58 > 0:42:02Everybody dressed the same and had the same set of values...

0:42:03 > 0:42:06..and spoke in the same way.

0:42:06 > 0:42:08'Hello, Belgrave 007.

0:42:08 > 0:42:10'Hello, Frobisher 1942.

0:42:10 > 0:42:12'Hello, Primrose 666.

0:42:12 > 0:42:15'Mayfair...'

0:42:15 > 0:42:21I suppose people might say, well, yes, this is how it's meant to be...

0:42:25 > 0:42:28..but it bored the shit out of me, I can tell you.

0:42:36 > 0:42:43MUSIC: "I'm Trying To Make London My Home" by Sonny Boy Williamson

0:43:04 > 0:43:08There he is, follow that cam. Zoom in on Oxford Street.

0:43:11 > 0:43:13During the War,

0:43:13 > 0:43:15England could not defeat Germany on her own

0:43:15 > 0:43:18and she asked the Empire

0:43:18 > 0:43:21for men and material.

0:43:22 > 0:43:26In those days, you rule a quarter of the world the way you want to rule it.

0:43:26 > 0:43:30And we, the colonies, just had to take what you threw at us.

0:43:30 > 0:43:36And when I was 18, I was blessed and joined the Royal Air Force.

0:43:36 > 0:43:39# Rebellion and war. War... #

0:43:39 > 0:43:43We genuinely felt that law and order

0:43:43 > 0:43:46and democratic Christian values

0:43:46 > 0:43:49stemmed from Westminster.

0:43:49 > 0:43:55When I wanted to stay in England, they said, no, you have to go back.

0:43:55 > 0:43:57I was totally disappointed.

0:43:57 > 0:44:00I think it was not cricket.

0:44:00 > 0:44:02They were not playing the game.

0:44:05 > 0:44:07- May I ask you your name? - Lord Kitchener.- Lord Kitchener.

0:44:07 > 0:44:11Now, I'm told that you are really the king of calypso singers, is that right?

0:44:11 > 0:44:14- Yes.- Will you sing for us? - Right now?- Yes.

0:44:14 > 0:44:17# London is the place for me

0:44:17 > 0:44:19# Dum, dum, dum

0:44:19 > 0:44:23# London, this lovely city... #

0:44:23 > 0:44:26# ..You can go to France or America

0:44:26 > 0:44:28# India, Asia or Australia

0:44:28 > 0:44:33# But come back to London city

0:44:41 > 0:44:45# To live in London You are really comfortable

0:44:45 > 0:44:50# Because the English people are very much sociable

0:44:50 > 0:44:53# They take you here and they take you there... #

0:44:53 > 0:44:56I came to London, I was just 15.

0:44:56 > 0:44:59I was so excited because I really recognised that

0:44:59 > 0:45:04I didn't have any real future in Trinidad and Tobago.

0:45:04 > 0:45:08I thought white people were magical,

0:45:08 > 0:45:10because they seemed to have everything, and we had nothing.

0:45:10 > 0:45:14And I didn't know what to expect, but I was optimistic.

0:45:14 > 0:45:17- # I was there - At the coronation

0:45:17 > 0:45:19- # I was there - At the coronation... #

0:45:26 > 0:45:29What do you want?

0:45:29 > 0:45:34I can't let you in. I've got 14 English boys in here.

0:45:34 > 0:45:38- 14 English boys?- Yeah. - So you don't want...?- I can't, I can't mix. I'm ever so sorry.

0:45:38 > 0:45:43I would myself, but if I let you come in, all my boys would leave.

0:45:43 > 0:45:47Everywhere I go, I get no job.

0:45:47 > 0:45:49Would you go back home, if you could?

0:45:49 > 0:45:53Yes, I would like to go back home, if I could pay my fare home.

0:45:53 > 0:45:56But I haven't got any money to go back home.

0:45:56 > 0:45:59Now, why is it that there is a prejudice here against coloured men?

0:45:59 > 0:46:04- Oh, there's no prejudice.- Why is it that they're not taken, then?

0:46:04 > 0:46:07There is this much about a coloured man,

0:46:07 > 0:46:10they are apt to lose their temper and resort to tactics

0:46:10 > 0:46:13that the average white man would not resort to.

0:46:13 > 0:46:16- Have you ever worked with a coloured man?- No, I haven't.

0:46:16 > 0:46:19# When me just come to London town

0:46:19 > 0:46:22# Me used to work 'pon the Underground

0:46:22 > 0:46:26# But working 'pon the Underground

0:46:26 > 0:46:30# You don't get to know your way around

0:46:30 > 0:46:33# England is a bitch... #

0:46:33 > 0:46:36Now, set your machines to three pence. Three pence,

0:46:36 > 0:46:39and six thruppenny tickets, please.

0:46:39 > 0:46:43# ..England is a bitch

0:46:43 > 0:46:47# There's no escaping it

0:46:47 > 0:46:49# England is a bitch

0:46:49 > 0:46:52# There's no running away from it... #

0:46:55 > 0:46:59My grandad came over in the early '50s from Calcutta.

0:46:59 > 0:47:00He jumped on a boat with his cousin.

0:47:00 > 0:47:03Culturally, it must have been a complete blast.

0:47:03 > 0:47:06It must have been a big shock for him, but he got on with it

0:47:06 > 0:47:08and he brought part of India

0:47:08 > 0:47:10to a white working-class estate in South London.

0:47:17 > 0:47:23In those days, the pub was the centre of our local community.

0:47:23 > 0:47:26It was an extension of our front room.

0:47:26 > 0:47:29It was to get away for a little while

0:47:29 > 0:47:32from all the stresses and strains of family life indoors.

0:47:32 > 0:47:35# She's 21 today...

0:47:35 > 0:47:39# I'm 21 today I've got the key of the door

0:47:39 > 0:47:41# Never been 21 before

0:47:41 > 0:47:44# Father says, you can do what you like

0:47:44 > 0:47:45# So shout, hip hip hooray!

0:47:45 > 0:47:47# For I'm a jolly good fellow

0:47:47 > 0:47:49# I'm 21 today!

0:47:51 > 0:47:52# ..Knees up, Mother Brown!

0:47:52 > 0:47:55# Oh, my! What a rotten song!

0:47:55 > 0:47:57You...

0:47:57 > 0:47:59# ..Oh, my! What a rotten song!

0:47:59 > 0:48:02# Oh, my! What a rotten song!

0:48:02 > 0:48:05# What a rotten singer too! #

0:48:05 > 0:48:08- CHEERING - Oi, hands off! All right?

0:48:08 > 0:48:11Filthy little tea leaves! Fuck off!

0:48:11 > 0:48:13WHISTLING

0:48:13 > 0:48:14BIRD SQUAWKS

0:48:16 > 0:48:18My first impression of London

0:48:18 > 0:48:23was probably how grey and cold it was.

0:48:23 > 0:48:25'Owing to weather conditions,

0:48:25 > 0:48:29'a fog service will operate this evening

0:48:29 > 0:48:32'and the following trains will be affected...'

0:48:32 > 0:48:39A foggy day in London town Had me low and had me down.

0:48:43 > 0:48:46'In December last year, in the county of London,

0:48:46 > 0:48:49'4,000 people died in three weeks because of fog,

0:48:49 > 0:48:53'a fog caused by a pollution of the atmosphere

0:48:53 > 0:48:55'worse than anything recorded in 20 years.

0:48:55 > 0:48:59'Londoners will never forget it.'

0:49:00 > 0:49:04HE COUGHS

0:49:04 > 0:49:06Will you close your eyes, please?

0:49:06 > 0:49:10'I didn't become totally myself until I went to art school,

0:49:10 > 0:49:14'and then a whole world - bohemia -

0:49:14 > 0:49:18'opened up the very first moment I stepped inside.

0:49:18 > 0:49:22'Any originality of thought or appearance

0:49:22 > 0:49:26'was applauded as being outside the norm.'

0:49:26 > 0:49:31Oh! What's that?

0:49:31 > 0:49:32What's what?

0:49:32 > 0:49:34'I had aunties who wouldn't talk to me

0:49:34 > 0:49:37'when they learned that I was drawing people with no clothes on.

0:49:39 > 0:49:41'Life was still very moral then.

0:49:41 > 0:49:44'Even leaving art school, I was still a virgin.'

0:49:44 > 0:49:46Oi.

0:49:47 > 0:49:50I wanted to come to London, only London.

0:49:50 > 0:49:53It's this contact with people that I always wanted.

0:49:53 > 0:49:58It was like a sort of seventh heaven when I first came.

0:49:58 > 0:50:01It was like a sort of dream.

0:50:01 > 0:50:04# ..Meet me in Battersea Park... #

0:50:08 > 0:50:11Everything was opening up. Coffee bars, bistros,

0:50:11 > 0:50:16people eating and drinking coffee out.

0:50:19 > 0:50:22Whereas it used to be high tea at Lyons Corner House,

0:50:22 > 0:50:24those seemed dated places now.

0:50:24 > 0:50:26Oh, a cup of tea, please, dear, and ten Oliviers.

0:50:26 > 0:50:30We don't do tea, only coffee. Expresso or cappuccino?

0:50:30 > 0:50:34- Oh, all right, I'll have a white one, with no froth.- No froth?!

0:50:43 > 0:50:45The night was glorious up there.

0:50:45 > 0:50:48The air was sweet as a cool balm.

0:50:49 > 0:50:53The stars were peeping nosily behind the neons

0:50:53 > 0:50:55and the citizens of the queendom were floating down

0:50:55 > 0:50:58the Shaftesbury Avenue canals like gondolas.

0:51:00 > 0:51:02# ..Golden years

0:51:02 > 0:51:05# Gold... #

0:51:05 > 0:51:09Everyone had loot to spend and nobody had broken hearts.

0:51:09 > 0:51:13And I thought, my Lord, one thing is certain,

0:51:13 > 0:51:15and that's that they'll make musicals one day

0:51:15 > 0:51:19about the glamour-studded 1950s.

0:51:19 > 0:51:21# ..Nights are warm and the days are young... #

0:51:21 > 0:51:23GLASS SMASHES

0:51:34 > 0:51:38# Come and walk the streets of crime

0:51:38 > 0:51:45# And the colour bright-lit corners of low repute

0:51:45 > 0:51:49# See the dazzling nightlife glow

0:51:49 > 0:51:52# Beyond the dawn and burning

0:51:52 > 0:51:55# In the heart of Soho... #

0:51:55 > 0:51:57If you get Soho-itis,

0:51:57 > 0:52:03you'll stay there always, day and night, and get no work done ever.

0:52:03 > 0:52:07You have been warned.

0:52:22 > 0:52:25I was inextricably drawn to Soho,

0:52:25 > 0:52:29because that's where the street culture was.

0:52:34 > 0:52:36When Soho goes gay it makes a meal of it.

0:52:36 > 0:52:38Thank you kindly.

0:52:47 > 0:52:51# Oh, no, what's happened to Soho?

0:52:51 > 0:52:55# Oh, no, where will all the reprobates go?

0:52:55 > 0:52:58# Oh, no, what's happened to Soho... #

0:52:58 > 0:53:03Everyone thought they'd invented the '60s. They thought,

0:53:03 > 0:53:07"Nothing like this has ever happened before. The dreary old '50s."

0:53:07 > 0:53:09Well, a lot of the '50s were dreary old '50s,

0:53:09 > 0:53:12but there are places which weren't, like Soho.

0:53:14 > 0:53:18Grave's great dark is fed on thoughts alone.

0:53:18 > 0:53:21You whom my heart...

0:53:21 > 0:53:24This trouble that you've been going through will very soon pass,

0:53:24 > 0:53:27as soon as Neptune has moved out of this degree that it's in now.

0:53:29 > 0:53:30HE CACKLES

0:53:30 > 0:53:33I knew there and then

0:53:33 > 0:53:35that this was the place that I wanted to be in.

0:53:39 > 0:53:42# Oh, no, what's happened to Soho?

0:53:42 > 0:53:47# Oh, no, where will all the reprobates go?

0:53:47 > 0:53:49# Oh, no... #

0:53:49 > 0:53:55We went to a basement club - that music was unbelievable.

0:53:55 > 0:54:01We spent the whole night, hours of it, dancing and dancing.

0:54:16 > 0:54:20That's the Flamingo, right there, where I used to hang out.

0:54:20 > 0:54:25That recall back memories to me, I will never forget it.

0:54:25 > 0:54:27Ladbrokes shop has taken over.

0:54:34 > 0:54:38We just walked in, smoking ganja, taking pills,

0:54:38 > 0:54:42and all these beautiful girls were so nice.

0:54:42 > 0:54:44We started to make friends with them

0:54:44 > 0:54:47and start dancing, white and black was mixed together,

0:54:47 > 0:54:48like brother and sister.

0:54:48 > 0:54:51We'd laugh, dance and enjoy. We never had fights down there.

0:54:51 > 0:54:54It wasn't, "Oh, here we are, white and black together,"

0:54:54 > 0:54:56it was, "Here we are, having a ball."

0:54:56 > 0:54:58Just as people, together.

0:54:58 > 0:55:02Well, all the pimps and the gangsters used to go down there

0:55:02 > 0:55:04and we used to have a good time.

0:55:04 > 0:55:07Most clubs were very respectable,

0:55:07 > 0:55:10I don't think there's any trouble at all in them. Except occasionally.

0:55:10 > 0:55:13They use to have all the prostitutes, you know,

0:55:13 > 0:55:16they used to work in Park Lane.

0:55:16 > 0:55:17And when they finished work

0:55:17 > 0:55:20they came down there and picked up the black guys.

0:55:20 > 0:55:23They just liked the black guys, the way we used to dress nice.

0:55:23 > 0:55:26With suits and things.

0:55:26 > 0:55:27The other white folks didn't like it.

0:55:27 > 0:55:30In those days they used to call us pimps,

0:55:30 > 0:55:32and all these beautiful girls used to go around with us.

0:55:32 > 0:55:35They used to pay us to go with them, you know?

0:55:35 > 0:55:39They bring all the money when they finished work.

0:55:51 > 0:55:54You got a lot of celebrities,

0:55:54 > 0:55:57MPs and posh people,

0:55:57 > 0:56:00and they come down there for kicks.

0:56:00 > 0:56:05Meet the black guys and say, "Oh, I need some cocaine."

0:56:05 > 0:56:08The guys used to get it for them and then they said,

0:56:08 > 0:56:11"Well, I would like you to go with my wife.

0:56:11 > 0:56:14"I pay you some money and you go with my wife." You know.

0:56:14 > 0:56:18They go and have a doodah.

0:56:18 > 0:56:23About five o'clock in the morning when the Flamingo was over,

0:56:23 > 0:56:25we headed for Ladbroke Grove,

0:56:25 > 0:56:29jumping in a car - at that time we had nice cars.

0:56:29 > 0:56:33And we just head for the blues dance,

0:56:33 > 0:56:35and just get high.

0:56:40 > 0:56:42You'd have heroin that was taken with needles

0:56:42 > 0:56:46and they used to have purple heart, blues,

0:56:46 > 0:56:48opium and hashish.

0:56:48 > 0:56:51And heroin and ganja.

0:56:51 > 0:56:52Then when we're done,

0:56:52 > 0:56:56we would go up to my house and go have fun. Have some sex.

0:56:58 > 0:57:03# And if a woman ever tell you That I ever left her dissatisfied

0:57:03 > 0:57:06# She lied, she lied, she lied... #

0:57:10 > 0:57:11The empire really struck back.

0:57:11 > 0:57:14The empire was really coming to Britain from Asia,

0:57:14 > 0:57:17from the West Indies.

0:57:17 > 0:57:21We had an influx of West Indians who came in and brought culture in.

0:57:21 > 0:57:22If that hadn't happened,

0:57:22 > 0:57:25I wouldn't have had access to a lot of Caribbean music.

0:57:25 > 0:57:29That culture brought in a whole lot of good things.

0:57:31 > 0:57:32Soon there'll be so many people here,

0:57:32 > 0:57:35there won't be enough houses and jobs to go round.

0:57:35 > 0:57:37You've got coloured people living in council flats

0:57:37 > 0:57:39and a white person walking the streets.

0:57:39 > 0:57:43And a coloured person shouldn't have them houses. A white person should have them houses first.

0:57:49 > 0:57:53You just had to take your chances with your landlord

0:57:53 > 0:57:55and if you couldn't pay they were severe.

0:57:55 > 0:57:57They would want you out.

0:58:12 > 0:58:15- Were there any black kids at your school?- Two.

0:58:15 > 0:58:20Two. Right. There was none at mine from five, when I went to school,

0:58:20 > 0:58:22till 15 when I left.

0:58:22 > 0:58:23I was an honorary white man.

0:58:23 > 0:58:27I was accepted, but I could hear them

0:58:27 > 0:58:30talk about the golliwogs and the coons and all that.

0:58:30 > 0:58:33- "Not you, right? You're all right." - That's right!

0:58:33 > 0:58:35You know, it got to me after a while.

0:58:35 > 0:58:40My 11-plus. I passed my 11-plus, it was given to another guy.

0:58:40 > 0:58:42And I found out from other black guys I know

0:58:42 > 0:58:45that the same thing happened to them,

0:58:45 > 0:58:49that their 11-plus places were given to other, more-deserving white boys.

0:58:49 > 0:58:51These things really hurt.

0:58:51 > 0:58:55I am in my 60s now, and this still hurts me

0:58:55 > 0:58:57that I didn't get my education.

0:59:01 > 0:59:05I think my ambition in life is to be famous. I'm not quite sure.

0:59:05 > 0:59:08My ambition is to be happily married, have lots of children,

0:59:08 > 0:59:11and look after them all myself.

0:59:11 > 0:59:12My ambition is to be rich.

0:59:12 > 0:59:16Well, I mean, if you've got money you've got everything, haven't you?

0:59:16 > 0:59:19Well, I don't suppose I've got an ambition.

0:59:23 > 0:59:26# Strike up the band and make it hot

0:59:26 > 0:59:29# Mr Drummer, give it all you've got

0:59:29 > 0:59:31# Beat out the music with a sock

0:59:31 > 0:59:34# So everybody rock to the London rock... #

0:59:34 > 0:59:35About this acting tough,

0:59:35 > 0:59:38it's no good creeping down the road door to door, all meek and humble,

0:59:38 > 0:59:40because a fellow is just going to say,

0:59:40 > 0:59:42"Well, look at that punk, let's have him."

0:59:42 > 0:59:45When you put it on, it gives you a superior feeling,

0:59:45 > 0:59:46a confidence, like.

0:59:46 > 0:59:50And people look at you. It definitely attracts the birds.

0:59:50 > 0:59:52# I don't need Manhattan

0:59:52 > 0:59:54# Just give me Leicester Square

0:59:54 > 0:59:58# Cos I know that the rock'n'roll

0:59:58 > 1:00:00# Is universal everywhere... #

1:00:00 > 1:00:02Teddy boys - I don't like them.

1:00:02 > 1:00:03I don't like their style of dress,

1:00:03 > 1:00:06its just to prove what they are, and they're very ignorant.

1:00:06 > 1:00:08I was going to the chemist the other day,

1:00:08 > 1:00:10it was rather a deserted street

1:00:10 > 1:00:12and there was about six of them coming along,

1:00:12 > 1:00:13and they thought they'd have a go at me.

1:00:13 > 1:00:15But I singled out the ringleader

1:00:15 > 1:00:18and I gave him a real good punching on the nose.

1:00:18 > 1:00:22- What do you like doing?- Drinking. - What else?

1:00:22 > 1:00:25Well, a couple of girls now and again.

1:00:25 > 1:00:28- A fight now and again. - Against who, another gang?

1:00:28 > 1:00:32- No, usually Irish. - What does your gang do?

1:00:32 > 1:00:35Anyone. LAUGHTER

1:00:36 > 1:00:41'Something new and ugly raises its head in Britain - racial violence.

1:00:41 > 1:00:45'An angry crowd of youths chases a Negro into a greengrocer's shop.'

1:00:48 > 1:00:51'The crowd gathered here and they shouted.'

1:00:52 > 1:00:55You're shite, we're white!

1:00:55 > 1:00:57And I'm quoting their words exactly,

1:00:57 > 1:01:02"Let's get him, bring him out, and lynch him!"

1:01:04 > 1:01:06And about those people who watched,

1:01:06 > 1:01:08I saw something new to me,

1:01:08 > 1:01:11they didn't even seem to enjoy themselves particularly,

1:01:11 > 1:01:13I mean, seeing all this.

1:01:13 > 1:01:15They didn't shout or bawl or cheer,

1:01:15 > 1:01:17they just stood by,

1:01:17 > 1:01:19out of harm's way, these English people did, and watched.

1:01:19 > 1:01:25Just like at home in the evening, with their slippers at the telly.

1:01:27 > 1:01:30The objects of the White Defence League

1:01:30 > 1:01:34are to keep Britain the white man's country that it has always been.

1:01:34 > 1:01:35And preserve the white civilisation,

1:01:35 > 1:01:37which is the product of our race,

1:01:37 > 1:01:40and preserve our Northern European blood,

1:01:40 > 1:01:42which in our opinion is our greatest national treasure.

1:01:42 > 1:01:45Salsa!

1:01:45 > 1:01:47We believe in the bold, vital step

1:01:47 > 1:01:50of stopping all coloured immigration into Britain

1:01:50 > 1:01:53and repatriating, with every humane consideration,

1:01:53 > 1:01:56the coloured immigrants who are already here.

1:02:00 > 1:02:02And what about Jews?

1:02:02 > 1:02:04We regard them as coloured people.

1:02:04 > 1:02:08And if mass coloured immigration continues, as it is doing now,

1:02:08 > 1:02:09it will inevitably mean

1:02:09 > 1:02:12a coffee-coloured half-breed Britain of the future

1:02:12 > 1:02:14and we are going to fight to stop that.

1:02:18 > 1:02:21Oswald Mosley stood in this area, Notting Hill Gate,

1:02:21 > 1:02:22and played on the fact that

1:02:22 > 1:02:28if you were homeless and you saw that a black family had a home

1:02:28 > 1:02:31you said, "Why have they got a home and not me?"

1:02:33 > 1:02:36There is only one way to do this.

1:02:38 > 1:02:43The way that Germany showed us - the National Socialist way.

1:02:48 > 1:02:50Now came the arrival of the great leader himself.

1:02:50 > 1:02:53They cried, "Down with Mosley!" And down he went.

1:03:00 > 1:03:04The city was called Londinium before,

1:03:04 > 1:03:05and for the first 500 years

1:03:05 > 1:03:10English didn't exist, and people talked Latin.

1:03:10 > 1:03:12Nihil expectore in omnibus.

1:03:12 > 1:03:15No spitting on the public transport!

1:03:15 > 1:03:1775 per cent of the British people

1:03:17 > 1:03:20originally came walking from the Iberian peninsula.

1:03:20 > 1:03:25So in reality, most of the British people are like us Iberians.

1:03:26 > 1:03:28What a country!

1:03:28 > 1:03:30And we have more than six kings and queens

1:03:30 > 1:03:33that come from Spain or Portugal.

1:03:33 > 1:03:35Catarina de Braganca, for example,

1:03:35 > 1:03:39she's the lady that popularised tea and forks.

1:03:39 > 1:03:44Because before her, nobody drinks tea, or nobody uses forks.

1:03:44 > 1:03:47The people used to eat with their hands or with their knives.

1:03:47 > 1:03:49# I'm Henry VIII, I am

1:03:49 > 1:03:53# Henry VIII, I am, I am... #

1:03:53 > 1:03:56DRILLING

1:03:59 > 1:04:01Excuse me, may I interrupt you?

1:04:01 > 1:04:04Do you think that the Irish like yourself

1:04:04 > 1:04:07have any more right to be here than any other people?

1:04:07 > 1:04:10- I don't think so. - You don't think so?- No.- Why not?

1:04:10 > 1:04:11Well, why should we?

1:04:13 > 1:04:16Excuse me. Could I interrupt you? Sorry to interrupt you.

1:04:16 > 1:04:18All right, sorry.

1:04:18 > 1:04:20Do you think that the Irish in Britain

1:04:20 > 1:04:23are entitled to special treatment by the British Government?

1:04:23 > 1:04:26Well, it's a hard thing to say, you know,

1:04:26 > 1:04:29but I think we are!

1:04:29 > 1:04:32# And down the glen rode McAlpine's men

1:04:32 > 1:04:38# With their shovels slung behind

1:04:38 > 1:04:41# And in the pub they drank the sub

1:04:41 > 1:04:45# And up in Camden Town you'll find them... #

1:04:47 > 1:04:49The first time ever I landed in England,

1:04:49 > 1:04:52England was the saddest and the loneliest country

1:04:52 > 1:04:56ever an Irishman could ever put his foot in it.

1:04:56 > 1:04:59Go down to Camden Town in the morning,

1:04:59 > 1:05:00go up to the Archway,

1:05:00 > 1:05:05and ask me who is jumping on the wagons.

1:05:05 > 1:05:08Who is doing the work in this country? They're all Irishmen.

1:05:08 > 1:05:13# I worked till the sweat nearly had me bet

1:05:13 > 1:05:18# With Russian, Czech and Pole... #

1:05:18 > 1:05:20And I've heard English men to say, and English women,

1:05:20 > 1:05:22"My God, are they not savage,"

1:05:22 > 1:05:26when they used to see the lads with their vests off, working with just the trousers.

1:05:26 > 1:05:29But them lads couldn't help it, they were working hard.

1:05:29 > 1:05:33# And if you pride your life Don't join, by Christ

1:05:33 > 1:05:36# With McAlpine's fusiliers. #

1:05:36 > 1:05:38APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

1:05:38 > 1:05:41My mum and dad are from Ireland

1:05:41 > 1:05:44and they came here in the late '50s.

1:05:44 > 1:05:46My dad built parts of the Jubilee Line.

1:05:46 > 1:05:49I like the idea that my dad had to dig tunnels,

1:05:49 > 1:05:53doing the kind of jobs that other people don't want to do,

1:05:53 > 1:05:56and then one generation later, then I can make art about it.

1:06:02 > 1:06:05In the '60s, London suffered more damage

1:06:05 > 1:06:08as a result of property development and misguided councils

1:06:08 > 1:06:11than Hitler had managed to inflict during the whole of the war.

1:06:11 > 1:06:15Sharp-eyed wheelers and dealers bought up vacant bomb sites

1:06:15 > 1:06:17and made a fuckin' fortune!

1:06:20 > 1:06:23I act for a number of property millionaires,

1:06:23 > 1:06:24and the extraordinary thing is

1:06:24 > 1:06:28that most of them have made their fortunes in the last 10 or 15 years,

1:06:28 > 1:06:33with not a penny piece to start off.

1:06:37 > 1:06:41When we first acquired this site, everything was perfectly all right. What's gone wrong?

1:06:41 > 1:06:43The snag relates to the news vendor,

1:06:43 > 1:06:46he's got a sort of hut on wheels

1:06:46 > 1:06:48and he's situated just about there.

1:06:48 > 1:06:52The whole building could be relocated at that end of the site.

1:06:52 > 1:06:54Hmm, I see what you mean.

1:06:58 > 1:07:01# Get your bowler hat at Lock

1:07:03 > 1:07:06# Look around you See how they surround you

1:07:06 > 1:07:08# Get that hat at Lock... #

1:07:18 > 1:07:21'As Churchill made his final journey away upstream,

1:07:21 > 1:07:25'the Thames that day was a tide of memory,

1:07:25 > 1:07:26'a body on the River,

1:07:26 > 1:07:31'and a whole country combined against the relentless flow of time.'

1:07:31 > 1:07:35CLOCK CHIMES

1:07:47 > 1:07:51Do you feel out of place as a success

1:07:51 > 1:07:55because you started from ordinary working-class beginnings?

1:07:55 > 1:07:57No, why should I?

1:07:57 > 1:08:00I don't think it really matters what class of family you come from.

1:08:00 > 1:08:03If you're good enough in your job you make it anyway.

1:08:08 > 1:08:09# Have you seen your mother, baby

1:08:09 > 1:08:12# Standing in the shadow?

1:08:12 > 1:08:14# Have you had another, baby

1:08:14 > 1:08:16# Standing in the shadow?

1:08:16 > 1:08:21# I'm glad I opened your eyes

1:08:21 > 1:08:25# I'm all alone Won't you give

1:08:25 > 1:08:31# All your sympathy to mine... #

1:08:34 > 1:08:36I think London's very exciting,

1:08:36 > 1:08:39because you know that you're not missing anything.

1:08:39 > 1:08:41Everything that's new is starting here,

1:08:41 > 1:08:43and you're always in the middle of it.

1:08:45 > 1:08:46The worms are turning,

1:08:46 > 1:08:49the rebellion of the long hairs is getting under way.

1:08:49 > 1:08:51A 17-year-old, David Jones, has just founded

1:08:51 > 1:08:56the Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Long-Haired Men.

1:08:56 > 1:08:58We've had comments like "Darling"

1:08:58 > 1:09:01and "Can I carry your handbag?" thrown at us.

1:09:01 > 1:09:03And I think it's just had to stop now.

1:09:03 > 1:09:06London was the place where it all started.

1:09:06 > 1:09:10People came from all over the world and sucked on it, as it were.

1:09:17 > 1:09:20Sexual boundaries were being broken.

1:09:20 > 1:09:25Women started with the pill and they now could behave like boys.

1:09:25 > 1:09:28There was the greatest freeing time for women.

1:09:28 > 1:09:30CAR REVS

1:09:45 > 1:09:50# You've got this strange effect on me

1:09:50 > 1:09:53# And I like it

1:09:53 > 1:10:01# You've got this strange effect on me

1:10:01 > 1:10:04# And I like it

1:10:04 > 1:10:09# You make my world seem... #

1:10:09 > 1:10:12What we need to do is get a shirt for summer

1:10:12 > 1:10:15that will sort of flow in the wind, completely free of any attachments.

1:10:15 > 1:10:20Sort of tight round the ribs, but flowing as it gets to the hips.

1:10:20 > 1:10:24- Yeah.- As long as you don't move in straight lines, it all flares out as you move about.

1:10:24 > 1:10:26You could have lettering embroidered with it,

1:10:26 > 1:10:28messages for people on the shirts.

1:10:28 > 1:10:30In Middle Eastern embroidery

1:10:30 > 1:10:32so that no-one really gets the message at all.

1:10:32 > 1:10:36# Call out the instigator

1:10:36 > 1:10:42# Because there's something in the air

1:10:42 > 1:10:47# We've got to get together sooner or later

1:10:47 > 1:10:52# Because the revolution's here

1:10:52 > 1:10:55# And you know it's right... #

1:10:56 > 1:10:59'I'm not a curtain by any means,

1:10:59 > 1:11:06'but to me, the idea of short skirts and things like that...'

1:11:06 > 1:11:08# And you know that it's right. #

1:11:08 > 1:11:12We seem to have lost a certain amount of moral...

1:11:12 > 1:11:14fibre, I suppose you'd call it.

1:11:18 > 1:11:22It's to do, funnily enough, it may sound ridiculous,

1:11:22 > 1:11:27with the loss of the British Empire and stuff.

1:11:30 > 1:11:34That's why London perhaps is now cool and hip.

1:11:34 > 1:11:36'If you're going to kick authority in the teeth,

1:11:36 > 1:11:39'you might as well use two feet.'

1:11:40 > 1:11:45# Because there's something in the air. #

1:11:46 > 1:11:50The only things swinging in London were handbags.

1:11:52 > 1:11:55'People were so caught up in the pop culture that I don't think

1:11:55 > 1:11:59'they really paid much attention to the political issues

1:11:59 > 1:12:01'that were changing Britain.'

1:12:01 > 1:12:03MUSIC: "London Town" by Donovan

1:12:10 > 1:12:12# Before you go

1:12:12 > 1:12:15# Back to London town... #

1:12:15 > 1:12:21'Grace lives in one furnished room and pays 51 and six a week for it.

1:12:21 > 1:12:23'The furnishing is meagre.

1:12:23 > 1:12:26'A table, a double bed, an old studio couch

1:12:26 > 1:12:29'and two hardback chairs.

1:12:29 > 1:12:31'She gives the room a bizarre gaiety

1:12:31 > 1:12:34'with photographs of nudes and the Royal family.

1:12:34 > 1:12:38'There is no hot water, no draining board, no bath, no larder,

1:12:38 > 1:12:42'no refuse bin, no carpet and worst of all, no space.

1:12:42 > 1:12:45'The room smells of damp, gas and dog.

1:12:45 > 1:12:48'We've never built housing for people like Grace.

1:12:48 > 1:12:51'She has to take the leftovers, rooms like this.'

1:12:51 > 1:12:56Well, it is only average, but I could do with a nicer room,

1:12:56 > 1:12:59but of course, I'd say, you can't get rooms now when you want them.

1:12:59 > 1:13:01'Attractive modern wallpaper

1:13:01 > 1:13:04'now replaces Grace's cut-outs and photographs.

1:13:04 > 1:13:08'The young couple, Mr and Mrs Blair, who bought the house, have divided

1:13:08 > 1:13:12'Grace's old room into their bedroom and built on an adjoining shower.'

1:13:12 > 1:13:16What condition was it in when you first looked over the house?

1:13:16 > 1:13:19It was completely derelict.

1:13:19 > 1:13:22Just two tiny, dark little rooms.

1:13:22 > 1:13:26It was infested with cats and tramps and all sorts of rubble

1:13:26 > 1:13:27and broken glass.

1:13:29 > 1:13:31# If when you get there

1:13:31 > 1:13:34# Maybe you will find... #

1:13:37 > 1:13:40'It's damp.'

1:13:40 > 1:13:42I think this space, in any case, should be condemned.

1:13:42 > 1:13:47Because there's three of us in the family that suffer with our chest.

1:13:47 > 1:13:49The whole of the basement had to be gutted

1:13:49 > 1:13:52and hacked right back to the bare brickwork.

1:13:52 > 1:13:55- What would you really like? - A council flat.

1:13:55 > 1:13:57Have you got any chance of getting one?

1:13:57 > 1:14:00No, not yet because we haven't been successful

1:14:00 > 1:14:04in getting on the housing list at all.

1:14:04 > 1:14:05# Could thee stop moving

1:14:05 > 1:14:08# Maybe settle down

1:14:13 > 1:14:15# If things worked out for you

1:14:16 > 1:14:19# In London town... #

1:14:19 > 1:14:21'It's a complete class distinction in the area.

1:14:21 > 1:14:23'The people don't blend together

1:14:23 > 1:14:27'as well as the original people that was here.'

1:14:27 > 1:14:30# Tell me who you love

1:14:32 > 1:14:35# Tell me who you love

1:14:37 > 1:14:39# Tell me who you love. #

1:14:46 > 1:14:50We need everybody, we need bus drivers, we need office cleaners,

1:14:50 > 1:14:53we need architects, we need doctors, we need everybody.

1:14:53 > 1:14:57And if you drive the lower-income groups farther out,

1:14:57 > 1:14:59they will never come back to the city.

1:14:59 > 1:15:01You will have a dead city

1:15:01 > 1:15:04and you will have a horrible upper-middle-class area

1:15:04 > 1:15:05in which I don't want to live,

1:15:05 > 1:15:08whilst I'm very happy living as it is in the middle now.

1:15:08 > 1:15:11TRAFFIC AND BELL-RINGING

1:15:13 > 1:15:17'Yes! I am that worm soul

1:15:17 > 1:15:21'under the heel of the daemon horses.

1:15:21 > 1:15:28'I am that man trembling to die in vomit.'

1:15:28 > 1:15:31Not in fascinated fear, as moths find the light,

1:15:31 > 1:15:34as though the atom were the monster.

1:15:34 > 1:15:36'There were 16 poets from nine countries...'

1:15:36 > 1:15:39Na! Julio! Julio!

1:15:39 > 1:15:43'..and 8,000 people chanting back to an Austrian sound poet,

1:15:43 > 1:15:46'who articulated a sense of community

1:15:46 > 1:15:48'like none of us had dreamed of.'

1:15:48 > 1:15:51Julio! Julio! Na! Na!

1:15:51 > 1:15:54CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

1:16:18 > 1:16:23You had this sense of huge potential change at hand,

1:16:23 > 1:16:25so those were halcyon days.

1:16:26 > 1:16:33You had nakedness, anarchy, wildness, people using four-letter words,

1:16:33 > 1:16:35people smoking dope openly.

1:16:35 > 1:16:38# Everybody must get stoned... #

1:16:42 > 1:16:48As they say, if you can't remember the '60s, you weren't there.

1:16:48 > 1:16:50# Oh, escargot... #

1:16:51 > 1:16:56I think that young people's attitude is only for themselves.

1:16:56 > 1:16:59I think they care much less for old people now than they used to.

1:16:59 > 1:17:02# Everybody must get stoned... #

1:17:06 > 1:17:10RAPID GUNFIRE

1:17:10 > 1:17:13BROADCASTER: That's the trouble with trends. Something's got to go.

1:17:18 > 1:17:23MUZAK PLAYS

1:17:23 > 1:17:27METAL GRATING

1:17:28 > 1:17:34VARIETY OF SPEEDEDUP SUPERMARKET SOUND EFFECTS

1:17:50 > 1:17:53Let's face it, our society is getting to be rubbish.

1:18:00 > 1:18:02'144 Piccadilly.

1:18:02 > 1:18:07'It's a bit run down since the days when royalty lived next door

1:18:07 > 1:18:10'and no distinguished visitor ever had to use a drawbridge.

1:18:10 > 1:18:15'But run down or not, it's home for the hippies, now that the cool autumn nights are drawing in.'

1:18:24 > 1:18:28CHANTING: Ho Chi Minh! Oh, oh, Ho Chi Minh!

1:18:28 > 1:18:29Oh, oh, Ho Chi Minh!

1:18:31 > 1:18:34MUSIC: "Street Fighting Man" by the Rolling Stones

1:18:41 > 1:18:44# Everywhere I hear the sound

1:18:44 > 1:18:48# Of marching, charging feet, boy

1:18:50 > 1:18:52# Cos summer's here

1:18:52 > 1:18:53# And the time is right

1:18:53 > 1:18:58# For fighting in the street, boy

1:19:00 > 1:19:02# But what can a poor boy do

1:19:04 > 1:19:08# Except to sing for a rock n roll band?

1:19:08 > 1:19:10# Cos in sleepy London town

1:19:10 > 1:19:16# There's just no place for a street fighting man... #

1:19:17 > 1:19:21I don't think you have to be violent to overcome this,

1:19:21 > 1:19:25but some people do, and when they're violent against the police,

1:19:25 > 1:19:28it's just the only way they have of showing it.

1:19:35 > 1:19:38RADIO DJ: 'And I quote the one and only Doug.

1:19:38 > 1:19:41'Right, now I can relax and this is a record

1:19:41 > 1:19:44for you all, from the people who sent the messages.'

1:19:44 > 1:19:47MUSIC: "Children of the Revolution" by T Rex

1:19:51 > 1:19:52# Yeah!

1:19:58 > 1:20:01# Well, you can bump and grind

1:20:02 > 1:20:04# It is good for your mind

1:20:06 > 1:20:09# Well, you can twist and shout

1:20:09 > 1:20:11# Let it all hang out

1:20:11 > 1:20:17# But you won't fool the children of the revolution

1:20:17 > 1:20:23# No, you won't fool the children of the revolution, no, no, no

1:20:29 > 1:20:32# Well, you can tear a plane

1:20:32 > 1:20:35# In the falling rain

1:20:37 > 1:20:39# I drive a Rolls-Royce

1:20:41 > 1:20:43# Cos it's good for my voice

1:20:43 > 1:20:48# But you won't fool the children of the revolution

1:20:48 > 1:20:55# No, you won't fool the children of the revolution, no, no, no

1:20:57 > 1:20:59# Yeah! #

1:21:13 > 1:21:17The bulk of the people came when Idi Amin

1:21:17 > 1:21:21in 1971-72, threw out a lot of the Asians from Africa.

1:21:27 > 1:21:29Initially, when our parents came here,

1:21:29 > 1:21:30they had to take off their turbans,

1:21:30 > 1:21:33they had to cut their beards because they wouldn't get employment.

1:21:33 > 1:21:36There were a couple of factories in Southall, who would not just

1:21:36 > 1:21:40encourage Sikhs as employees, but would encourage Sikhs

1:21:40 > 1:21:43with their identity, which was very rare at the time.

1:21:52 > 1:21:54Well, the whole of Southall is Asians.

1:21:54 > 1:22:00They've got three cinemas and Hindu temples and things like that.

1:22:00 > 1:22:02Shops in Southall are just shops for Asians,

1:22:02 > 1:22:05selling saris and curries and things like this.

1:22:06 > 1:22:08I think if they come to this country,

1:22:08 > 1:22:11they should be prepared to change and to live the way we do.

1:22:11 > 1:22:13MURMURS OF AGREEMENT

1:22:13 > 1:22:15The way they dress and the way they talk,

1:22:15 > 1:22:19when you walk through Southall and hear them talking, you think, "What are they on about?

1:22:19 > 1:22:22"Are they talking about me?" This I don't like.

1:22:22 > 1:22:27Our only hope is to be able to get away from Southall, away from it all.

1:22:27 > 1:22:32All our friends have gone. There's nothing left for English people in this town any more.

1:22:36 > 1:22:42The Jamaicans and the Africans do integrate themselves more with us.

1:22:42 > 1:22:45They're prepared to change, to accept our ways.

1:22:45 > 1:22:50But not the Asians. The Asians just keep themselves to themselves and that's it.

1:22:50 > 1:22:55They're just prepared to live their own little life, have their own little shop corner

1:22:55 > 1:23:00and make their own little pile on the side, which really annoys me.

1:23:04 > 1:23:07You have to watch everything that you do,

1:23:07 > 1:23:11because the slightest little thing will set off the whole of Southall gossiping.

1:23:11 > 1:23:14My parents care a lot about what people think

1:23:14 > 1:23:19and I love my parents and I don't want to hurt them in any way.

1:23:19 > 1:23:24I do not remember ever telling her not to do whatever she wants to do.

1:23:27 > 1:23:30- Well, all right, I'll have to say this, then.- Yeah.

1:23:30 > 1:23:34When I wanted to go and see Desmond Dekker at the White Hart, you wouldn't let me go.

1:23:34 > 1:23:39- Because I did not know that you wanted to go in a pub, you know? - Well, it was...

1:23:47 > 1:23:51Society still struggles with the concept of a dual identity.

1:23:51 > 1:23:54You have to be one or the other.

1:23:54 > 1:23:56That sense of not really belonging anywhere.

1:23:56 > 1:23:58You blend in, but you don't belong.

1:23:58 > 1:24:02It doesn't matter how much you try to be a part of one,

1:24:02 > 1:24:04you're never good enough.

1:24:04 > 1:24:06# Bewildering world

1:24:06 > 1:24:09# With no end or start

1:24:09 > 1:24:12# I am Indian in skin

1:24:12 > 1:24:14# But English of heart. #

1:24:19 > 1:24:22RECITES MUSLIM PRAYER

1:24:23 > 1:24:24When I was a kid,

1:24:24 > 1:24:27a big wave of Bangladeshis arrived at my council estate

1:24:27 > 1:24:28and there was a lot of fear and suspicion.

1:24:46 > 1:24:48National Front newspaper.

1:24:50 > 1:24:51Vote for the Front.

1:24:51 > 1:24:53Just clear off.

1:24:53 > 1:24:56No good hiding your face, son, we got you already.

1:24:56 > 1:24:59We know where you live. We'll come and get you.

1:24:59 > 1:25:01SUGGS: It's only through experience you realise

1:25:01 > 1:25:04that's happened to every wave of immigrants to London, including the Irish.

1:25:04 > 1:25:07- They were seen as hooligans and lunatics.- Will you give me the fucking bottle?

1:25:07 > 1:25:10It's just great to get to the age of what I am, 50,

1:25:10 > 1:25:14to have seen that happen a few times with various waves of immigrants

1:25:14 > 1:25:16and to realise it's just a process, man.

1:25:19 > 1:25:22And then they get taken in and become part of the city itself

1:25:22 > 1:25:26and change the city. That's the whole point - the place keeps changing.

1:25:43 > 1:25:48You try this perfume, you put a little bit in the back of the tart's neck tonight,

1:25:48 > 1:25:51I bet you'll finish up having twins. Just smell it, guv'nor.

1:25:52 > 1:25:55- Oi!- Sorry, mate!

1:26:00 > 1:26:03'In the doorway of an amusement arcade,

1:26:03 > 1:26:05'a boy who claims he's become a male prostitute -

1:26:05 > 1:26:08'one of the Dilly Boys, as they call themselves.'

1:26:10 > 1:26:14When you came to London in the first place, what did you hope to do?

1:26:14 > 1:26:16I hoped to get a proper job, a straight job,

1:26:16 > 1:26:19but I got ripped off at Waterloo Station.

1:26:19 > 1:26:21Just started sleeping rough. I met a geezer.

1:26:21 > 1:26:24He said, "It might sicken you a bit, but try it.

1:26:24 > 1:26:26"It's an easy way of making money."

1:26:26 > 1:26:29# Jean Genie, let yourself go Whoa! #

1:26:31 > 1:26:37- Cos I'm not gay.- But there are other things you can do. You could have got a job, couldn't you?

1:26:37 > 1:26:38- Show me them.- Ow!

1:26:38 > 1:26:41- But what do you feel about yourself? - I feel disgusted.

1:26:41 > 1:26:43# Oh, Jean Genie.... #

1:26:45 > 1:26:48What do you reckon of London, as a city?

1:26:48 > 1:26:51- I think it's a shithole!- Why?

1:26:51 > 1:26:55Because it's full of people like me - homeless.

1:26:55 > 1:26:57So how do you survive? What do you do?

1:26:57 > 1:27:00I get high!

1:27:00 > 1:27:03# Let yourself go Oh, oh, oh. #

1:27:15 > 1:27:17We brought the Port of London

1:27:17 > 1:27:19successfully into the '70s

1:27:19 > 1:27:21and now we're building for the '80s,

1:27:21 > 1:27:24the '90 and to the 21st century.

1:27:24 > 1:27:27But the thing that is of the most importance to us is our people,

1:27:27 > 1:27:32and it is our people who will continue to make us a truly great

1:27:32 > 1:27:34and international sea port.

1:27:52 > 1:27:58It was a big social transformation when the London Docks began to close down,

1:27:58 > 1:28:03because the central industry, which had sustained a community

1:28:03 > 1:28:06and a whole tradition for a very long time, ceased to exist.

1:28:11 > 1:28:14# Well, it's rainin' on

1:28:14 > 1:28:17# The Isle of Dogs... #

1:28:17 > 1:28:19You know what I miss of the river?

1:28:19 > 1:28:23New Year's Eve, when all the ships used to sound their sirens.

1:28:23 > 1:28:25God Almighty, it was like music.

1:28:25 > 1:28:27FOGHORNS BOOM

1:28:27 > 1:28:31Hundreds of ships. It was like tomorrow's a new world.

1:28:36 > 1:28:38Well, a disastrous effect, obviously,

1:28:38 > 1:28:42because there was no social planning in the closure of the docks.

1:28:43 > 1:28:47Unfortunately, we got all these ideas and property developers,

1:28:47 > 1:28:51and they saw eight and a half miles of dock being derelict

1:28:51 > 1:28:54and an opportunity of moving in and making a kill.

1:28:54 > 1:28:58Where was their "make room and let live"?

1:28:58 > 1:29:00It was not, it was about greed, financial greed,

1:29:00 > 1:29:03and we will pay for it in the future.

1:29:03 > 1:29:07This is where they were going to build the 1988 Olympic Stadium?

1:29:08 > 1:29:12Can you imagine nig-nogs doing the long jump along these quays?

1:29:37 > 1:29:41# Remember, remember, the 5th of November

1:29:41 > 1:29:45# Gunpowder, treason and plot

1:29:45 > 1:29:50# We see no reason why gunpowder, treason

1:29:50 > 1:29:52# Should ever be forgot! #

1:29:52 > 1:29:53EXPLOSION

1:29:53 > 1:29:56SIREN WAILS

1:29:58 > 1:30:02The blast ripped through the Houses of Parliament at 5am this morning.

1:30:02 > 1:30:06The bomb is thought to have been placed in the men's lavatory, off the viewing gallery.

1:30:06 > 1:30:08The blast paralysed the capital.

1:30:08 > 1:30:11There's been a terrorist bomb attack at the stock exchange.

1:30:11 > 1:30:16The blast pushed out concrete and marble cladding onto the pavement.

1:30:16 > 1:30:19After a statement claiming to be from the IRA,

1:30:19 > 1:30:21it said the ceasefire was called off.

1:30:25 > 1:30:28London by the mid-'70s was on its knees.

1:30:28 > 1:30:33Peeling, crumbling, falling apart. There was no way out.

1:30:34 > 1:30:37Signs in Piccadilly were not illuminated tonight

1:30:37 > 1:30:40and they certainly won't be tomorrow night.

1:30:40 > 1:30:44There were strikes, power cuts, total social chaos.

1:30:46 > 1:30:50There we would be, these ugly monsters stuck right in the middle of it.

1:30:50 > 1:30:54Skint, bored shitless, stalking the King's Road.

1:30:54 > 1:30:56# My old man's a dustman

1:30:56 > 1:30:59# He wears a dustman's hat

1:30:59 > 1:31:02# He wears cor blimey trousers, and he lives in a council flat. #

1:31:02 > 1:31:05All those in favour of strike action, reach up.

1:31:11 > 1:31:15# London pride has been handed down to us

1:31:15 > 1:31:18# London pride is a flower that's clean

1:31:18 > 1:31:22# London pride means our own dear town to us

1:31:22 > 1:31:25# And our pride, it for ever will be

1:31:25 > 1:31:28# Whoa, Liza, see the coster barrows

1:31:28 > 1:31:31# The vegetable marrows and the fruit piled high

1:31:32 > 1:31:35# Oh, Liza, little London sparrows

1:31:35 > 1:31:37# Covent Garden market where the costers cry

1:31:37 > 1:31:41# Cockney feet mark the beat of history... #

1:31:45 > 1:31:48You go to work, you come back, you go to bed.

1:31:48 > 1:31:53Get up, go to work, come back. I don't enjoy it, but I do it.

1:31:53 > 1:31:56Sometimes I wonder if there isn't any point.

1:31:56 > 1:32:00If you didn't have any money you might as well kiss your fucking life

1:32:00 > 1:32:03goodbye, cos you weren't going to amount to nothing.

1:32:12 > 1:32:16# We're so pretty, oh, so pretty

1:32:17 > 1:32:19# Vacant!

1:32:19 > 1:32:23# We're so pretty, oh, so pretty

1:32:23 > 1:32:25# Vacant!

1:32:25 > 1:32:29# Don't ask us to attend cos we're not there

1:32:29 > 1:32:32# Don't pretend, cos we don't care

1:32:32 > 1:32:35# I don't believe illusions cos too much is real

1:32:35 > 1:32:37# Stop your cheap comment

1:32:40 > 1:32:43# Cos I know what I feel!

1:32:44 > 1:32:48# We're so pretty, oh, so pretty

1:32:49 > 1:32:51# Vacant!

1:32:51 > 1:32:54# We're so pretty, oh, so pretty

1:32:54 > 1:32:57# Vacant!

1:32:57 > 1:33:00# We're so pretty, oh, so pretty

1:33:04 > 1:33:09# Ah, we don't know and we don't care

1:33:12 > 1:33:15# Pretty vacant

1:33:19 > 1:33:23# Pretty vacant

1:33:27 > 1:33:29# Pretty vacant

1:33:29 > 1:33:32# We don't care. #

1:33:32 > 1:33:37SCREAMING

1:33:38 > 1:33:42MUSIC: "Land of Hope and Glory"

1:33:42 > 1:33:46CHEERING

1:33:52 > 1:33:56Where there is harmony, may we bring discord,

1:33:56 > 1:33:59and where there is hope, may we bring despair.

1:33:59 > 1:34:02SIREN WAILS

1:34:06 > 1:34:08# Get up, stand up

1:34:09 > 1:34:12# Stand up for your right

1:34:12 > 1:34:14# Get up, stand up

1:34:15 > 1:34:17# Stand up for your right. #

1:34:17 > 1:34:21I've lived here a long time, so I feel like I'm part of the country.

1:34:21 > 1:34:26When you go for a job and things are being brought up like your colour, you are put in a shell.

1:34:26 > 1:34:30# Don't give up the fight. #

1:34:30 > 1:34:34The country itself is all right, it's just there are some people

1:34:34 > 1:34:38who make life very hard for a black person.

1:34:38 > 1:34:42My experiences were being arrested for sus,

1:34:42 > 1:34:45for being suspected of being about to commit a crime,

1:34:45 > 1:34:50which is basically being black in the wrong place at the wrong time.

1:34:50 > 1:34:53- Have you been stopped and searched before?- Yes, regularly.

1:34:53 > 1:34:58Always on suspicion of possession of drugs or drugs being in the vehicle.

1:34:58 > 1:35:00- Were any drugs found?- No.

1:35:00 > 1:35:02How do you think you were treated?

1:35:02 > 1:35:06As normal, you are always treated like animals, man. They just take liberties.

1:35:06 > 1:35:09You approach them to ask why, there is never any explanation,

1:35:09 > 1:35:13you're not good enough to even be answered.

1:35:13 > 1:35:18If things don't change fast... That's just, there's a spark.

1:35:18 > 1:35:20The fire is just waiting.

1:35:26 > 1:35:31MUSIC: "Land of Hope and Glory"

1:35:38 > 1:35:39EXPLOSION

1:35:43 > 1:35:45SIRENS WAIL

1:35:45 > 1:35:48# Down in the street there is violence

1:35:48 > 1:35:52# And a lot of work to be done

1:35:53 > 1:35:55# No place to hang out your washing

1:35:55 > 1:36:00# And I can't blame all on the sun

1:36:00 > 1:36:05# No, no, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue

1:36:05 > 1:36:09# And then we'll take it higher... #

1:36:09 > 1:36:11This is police provocation, they want us to disperse,

1:36:11 > 1:36:14but we live in Brixton.

1:36:14 > 1:36:16They don't live in Brixton. OK?

1:36:16 > 1:36:19We asked them to disperse but they wouldn't disperse.

1:36:19 > 1:36:22We were provoked into fighting because the SPG came down,

1:36:22 > 1:36:25they thought they'd have a field day beating up niggers, but they didn't.

1:36:25 > 1:36:28# Out in the street... #

1:36:29 > 1:36:31How much would you say you've lost?

1:36:31 > 1:36:34Well, everything apart from what I'm wearing.

1:36:35 > 1:36:38- Do you feel bitter at all about your black neighbours now?- No.

1:36:39 > 1:36:40No.

1:36:42 > 1:36:46We want our rights, we want to be able to walk the streets,

1:36:46 > 1:36:47we want jobs!

1:36:47 > 1:36:49We want better opportunities!

1:36:49 > 1:36:52We are frustrated and we are fed up.

1:36:54 > 1:36:56I know those problems,

1:36:56 > 1:37:00I grew up in the '30s with an unemployed father.

1:37:00 > 1:37:03He didn't riot, he got on his bike and looked for work,

1:37:03 > 1:37:05and he kept looking till he found it.

1:37:13 > 1:37:16And did those feet in ancient times

1:37:16 > 1:37:19Walk upon England's mountain green?

1:37:19 > 1:37:22And was the holy Lamb of God

1:37:22 > 1:37:24In England's pleasant pastures seen?

1:37:26 > 1:37:28And did the Countenance Divine

1:37:28 > 1:37:31Shine forth upon our clouded hills?

1:37:31 > 1:37:33And was Jerusalem built here

1:37:33 > 1:37:36Among these dark and satanic mills?

1:37:37 > 1:37:39I will not cease from mental fight

1:37:39 > 1:37:42Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand

1:37:42 > 1:37:44Till we have built Jerusalem

1:37:44 > 1:37:48In England's green and pleasant...

1:37:50 > 1:37:52..land.

1:37:56 > 1:37:58Never had a job, never had a car

1:37:58 > 1:38:01We left school but we didn't get that far

1:38:01 > 1:38:02Always on the dole, never had work

1:38:02 > 1:38:04Cheers, Maggie. I feel a jerk

1:38:04 > 1:38:05One of Maggie's millions

1:38:05 > 1:38:07The national debt gets more

1:38:07 > 1:38:11She must be forking out billions to carry on feeding the poor.

1:38:11 > 1:38:12Is that all I get for 10p?

1:38:12 > 1:38:14You can meet us all over the place

1:38:14 > 1:38:16Saying the country's a big disgrace

1:38:16 > 1:38:18Get me a job, get me a car

1:38:18 > 1:38:20Buy me a lager up at the bar

1:38:20 > 1:38:22All I want is a normal life

1:38:22 > 1:38:24Free of debts and worry and strife.

1:38:33 > 1:38:37You may well be wondering what I'm doing here.

1:38:37 > 1:38:39Believe it or not, one of London's most fashionable nightclubs

1:38:39 > 1:38:42is just round the corner, and this market is often

1:38:42 > 1:38:45the route the revellers take on their way home.

1:38:50 > 1:38:54# Nightclubbing, we're nightclubbing... #

1:38:54 > 1:38:56You should be so lucky.

1:38:56 > 1:38:59I'd better be off. One more.

1:39:01 > 1:39:03# Psycho maniac, interbled

1:39:03 > 1:39:05# Shoot it up, now shoot it up

1:39:07 > 1:39:10# Shoot it up

1:39:10 > 1:39:12# Shoot it up... #

1:39:12 > 1:39:16I think they've given the police the run-around.

1:39:16 > 1:39:18ANGRY SHOUTING

1:39:24 > 1:39:27Ladies and gentlemen, the train has been held up due to

1:39:27 > 1:39:31the report of a customer lying on the floor of one of the carriages.

1:39:31 > 1:39:35# Shoot it up, shoot it up, shoot it up. #

1:39:38 > 1:39:40Scarface.

1:39:40 > 1:39:43# Shoot it up

1:39:43 > 1:39:46# Amondo teen givin'... #

1:39:46 > 1:39:50One of the one things I absolutely hate about London is that you

1:39:50 > 1:39:52can't move without being filmed.

1:39:52 > 1:39:55I think there's more CCTV cameras in London than there is

1:39:55 > 1:39:57in the whole of Europe.

1:39:59 > 1:40:03I can see clearly this morning, I can see everything that's wrong.

1:40:03 > 1:40:07It's more like Big Brother, everywhere you go there's a camera.

1:40:07 > 1:40:09People can't live a free sort of life any more.

1:40:16 > 1:40:19We've got a lot in common with the blacks, we both get police pressure,

1:40:19 > 1:40:24both get spat on, we can't get jobs, we get kicked out of places.

1:40:24 > 1:40:28The strongest thing to be is male, white, middle-class,

1:40:28 > 1:40:30and normal-looking, isn't it?

1:40:30 > 1:40:32You've got it all then.

1:40:37 > 1:40:41The only way to make good money is to run your profit and cut your losses.

1:40:41 > 1:40:43I'm always looking for the trend.

1:40:43 > 1:40:44Offer, please, offer.

1:40:44 > 1:40:46You can get yourself on a very big trend,

1:40:46 > 1:40:49that can make you an awful lot of money.

1:40:55 > 1:41:00- 2.5 at 4, what are you making now?- 5 million.- One forward!

1:41:00 > 1:41:06SHOUTING

1:41:06 > 1:41:10# I've got the brains, you've got the looks

1:41:10 > 1:41:13# Let's make lots of money

1:41:13 > 1:41:17# You've got the brawn, I've got the brains

1:41:17 > 1:41:20# Let's make lots of...

1:41:21 > 1:41:25# I've had enough of scheming... #

1:41:25 > 1:41:28Big bang set off a coke-fuelled bonanza...

1:41:28 > 1:41:29SCREAMING

1:41:31 > 1:41:38..whose aftershocks still reverberate across the City to this day.

1:41:38 > 1:41:41Bowler hats, boozy lunches, and teatime went out of the window.

1:41:45 > 1:41:48The financial sector generated a huge amount of wealth,

1:41:48 > 1:41:52people have benefited from that wealth across the country.

1:41:52 > 1:41:54Whether they like the social changes it has produced

1:41:54 > 1:41:56is a different matter.

1:42:06 > 1:42:08Mrs Thatcher's iron reputation was put to the test

1:42:08 > 1:42:11on a tour of the London Docklands this morning.

1:42:13 > 1:42:17She enthusiastically took the controls of a 25-ton piledriver,

1:42:17 > 1:42:19symbolising perhaps more than anything else

1:42:19 > 1:42:22her belief in the power of money to beget money.

1:42:34 > 1:42:40This is supposed to be a riverside walk, public access.

1:42:40 > 1:42:41Look, padlocked, shut.

1:42:43 > 1:42:46The penthouse like this one we're looking at

1:42:46 > 1:42:50would cost around £350,000.

1:42:50 > 1:42:54What we're talking about in effect is a ship. This is the whole design of this block, as you can see

1:42:54 > 1:42:58from the portholes, that it is like being on a very expensive yacht.

1:42:58 > 1:43:01HE PLAYS: "What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor?"

1:43:01 > 1:43:05People feel they're being excluded from what is, after all,

1:43:05 > 1:43:09many of us regard it as our river.

1:43:11 > 1:43:15And here is your Jacuzzi bath with a master bedroom cabin.

1:43:15 > 1:43:17- Very smart. - Very nice walk-in wardrobe.

1:43:17 > 1:43:21We think people living in Docklands prefer a walk-in wardrobe

1:43:21 > 1:43:24to cupboards, because they are far more easy to utilise.

1:43:24 > 1:43:26That makes sense.

1:43:29 > 1:43:32We like living round here, we've always lived round here,

1:43:32 > 1:43:37we enjoy the life. If they want to come and share the life with us, then that's fair enough.

1:43:37 > 1:43:41But they're not, they come in, lead separate lives, behind iron gates.

1:43:41 > 1:43:43There's two separate sides of the island now.

1:43:43 > 1:43:45You have the rich on one side and us,

1:43:45 > 1:43:52who have been squeezed, until, finally, in the end, we're gone.

1:43:54 > 1:43:57It's part of tomorrow, isn't it?

1:43:57 > 1:44:01Not a part of my world, part of tomorrow.

1:44:01 > 1:44:02# Sometimes you're better off dead

1:44:02 > 1:44:05# There's a gun in your hand that's pointing at your head

1:44:05 > 1:44:10# You think you're mad, too unstable, kicking in chairs... #

1:44:10 > 1:44:13It's always about jumping out of those cracks,

1:44:13 > 1:44:19now we have warehouses where once people sweated in Dickensian conditions,

1:44:19 > 1:44:22filled with kids dancing the nights away.

1:44:28 > 1:44:33That itself gives you the inkling that mob could begin

1:44:33 > 1:44:36to reclaim all kinds of areas.

1:44:45 > 1:44:48CHANTING: No poll tax!

1:44:50 > 1:44:52The lady's not for turning.

1:44:52 > 1:44:54# There's a guy in the place who's got a bittersweet face

1:44:54 > 1:44:56# And he goes by the name of Ebeneezer Goode

1:44:56 > 1:44:58# His friends call him Eezer and he is the main geezer

1:44:58 > 1:45:00# And he'll vibe about the place like no other man could

1:45:00 > 1:45:02# He's refined, he's sublime, he makes you feel fine

1:45:02 > 1:45:04# Very much maligned and misunderstood

1:45:04 > 1:45:06# If you know Eezer, he's a real crowd-pleaser

1:45:06 > 1:45:08# He's ever so good, he's Ebeneezer Goode

1:45:08 > 1:45:12# Eezer Goode, Eezer Goode, he's Ebenezer Goode

1:45:12 > 1:45:15# Eezer Goode, Eezer Goode, he's Ebenezer Goode

1:45:15 > 1:45:19# Eezer Goode, Eezer Goode, he's Ebenezer Goode... #

1:45:22 > 1:45:25London's future could be an about-turn.

1:45:25 > 1:45:28Instead of moving westward,

1:45:28 > 1:45:34London might move eastward, to the City.

1:45:34 > 1:45:36The financial city could possibly collapse,

1:45:36 > 1:45:41and the new financial capital of Europe will be Berlin.

1:45:43 > 1:45:46The London mob might find its way back.

1:45:48 > 1:45:51SHOUTING

1:45:56 > 1:45:59DISTANT SINGING: "Auld Lang Syne"

1:45:59 > 1:46:05# For auld lang syne... #

1:46:05 > 1:46:06Blair's Britain.

1:46:06 > 1:46:11# We'll take a cup of kindness yet for... #

1:46:11 > 1:46:13In the years either side of the millennium,

1:46:13 > 1:46:15the world came to live in London.

1:46:20 > 1:46:24Big bang had led to a massive boom in the city that created jobs.

1:46:24 > 1:46:28Not just for French and American bankers,

1:46:28 > 1:46:31but also for Somalian and Colombian cleaners.

1:46:31 > 1:46:32The population exploded.

1:46:34 > 1:46:36There were arrivals from war-torn

1:46:36 > 1:46:39and economically deprived corners of the globe.

1:46:39 > 1:46:43Today, over 40 per cent of Londoners were born outside the UK.

1:46:43 > 1:46:47Over 300 languages are spoken in the new Babylon,

1:46:47 > 1:46:51more than anywhere at any time in the history of the planet.

1:46:57 > 1:47:01I didn't know why people had to risk their life to come here.

1:47:01 > 1:47:04MUSIC: "Rivers of Babylon" by Boney M

1:47:24 > 1:47:29They sit there in their houses and watch films and things look easy.

1:47:29 > 1:47:33You arrive in London, you can get a beautiful car.

1:47:33 > 1:47:34Wow!

1:47:34 > 1:47:38You can go out partying every night. That's what they see.

1:47:40 > 1:47:45They risk their lives through Sudan or Libya, so they come here

1:47:45 > 1:47:49and you have to work three, four jobs to make sure you survive.

1:47:49 > 1:47:53They always get depressed a lot, some sort of mental health problem.

1:47:53 > 1:47:56We've got quite a few who actually threw themselves

1:47:56 > 1:47:57in the London river.

1:48:03 > 1:48:06I came here about nine and a half years ago,

1:48:06 > 1:48:09couldn't speak a word of English, a week later I was employed.

1:48:09 > 1:48:12Two weeks later, I had friends I couldn't have imagined before.

1:48:12 > 1:48:14And a month later, I had my own flat.

1:48:14 > 1:48:17You couldn't be more welcome than that, could you?

1:48:17 > 1:48:21We came here to have peace with my children.

1:48:21 > 1:48:24In India, you have only Indian friends,

1:48:24 > 1:48:30but here you have friends from Nigeria, Ghana, Turkey, Polish.

1:48:30 > 1:48:33Every country you can make friendship with.

1:48:33 > 1:48:36Even I have friends who don't believe in God.

1:48:36 > 1:48:40Come in! Come in! Special offer today!

1:48:40 > 1:48:44Come on, then! Come on, then! Yes, darling. Yes, darling.

1:48:47 > 1:48:50The more chicken shops you have in the area, the poorer an area is.

1:48:50 > 1:48:53Chicken shops and bookies. You don't have them in Belgravia.

1:48:53 > 1:48:57You haven't got a Dixieland fried pigeon, you don't have them there.

1:49:00 > 1:49:03But in Deptford, in Lewisham, every other shop, chicken shop,

1:49:03 > 1:49:06bookies, chicken shop, bookies, chicken shop, bookies, pub.

1:49:06 > 1:49:07Yeah!

1:49:07 > 1:49:09I like the English culture itself,

1:49:09 > 1:49:12although you don't get to feel that much in London any more

1:49:12 > 1:49:14because you can't get to know many English people.

1:49:15 > 1:49:19MUSIC: "Galang" by M.I.A.

1:49:41 > 1:49:44It's maybe because the English were colonising

1:49:44 > 1:49:49and going to people's countries, so now everybody's coming to them.

1:50:04 > 1:50:07London was a paradise, completely a paradise.

1:50:08 > 1:50:12There was a lot of English people living in London.

1:50:12 > 1:50:19Now we have all these Russians, Polish...

1:50:19 > 1:50:24Somalians, Africans,

1:50:24 > 1:50:26and London has changed a lot.

1:50:29 > 1:50:31This idea that the old white London

1:50:31 > 1:50:35was happier than the modern London is an illusion.

1:50:37 > 1:50:40Get back! Get back, I say! Get back!

1:50:47 > 1:50:51That's the point of London. It never was like it was, anyway.

1:50:51 > 1:50:54The good old days, there were no good old days.

1:50:56 > 1:50:58London doesn't belong to anybody,

1:50:58 > 1:51:00it's whoever's on the go at any given moment.

1:51:02 > 1:51:06Been here about 100 years, the family before us.

1:51:06 > 1:51:10The area has changed dramatically, but for the good.

1:51:10 > 1:51:15We've got such a fantastic diversity of people.

1:51:15 > 1:51:19We've got every kind of creed, but we all get on like family.

1:51:19 > 1:51:21It's a lovely place to live and work.

1:51:21 > 1:51:23Fuck off, you.

1:51:23 > 1:51:27We're very, very close to the Asian community, they're lovely people.

1:51:27 > 1:51:31We've got Afro-Caribbean, Jewish community,

1:51:31 > 1:51:37the Polish community, the Pakistani community, the Bangladesh community.

1:51:37 > 1:51:40The Government should promote these areas,

1:51:40 > 1:51:45because these areas are the lifeblood of this country.

1:51:45 > 1:51:48MUSIC: "I Love London" by Crystal Fighters

1:51:51 > 1:51:55My grandchildren, who are brought up with 70 different nationalities

1:51:55 > 1:51:59at the school where they are, they don't think of themselves as British,

1:51:59 > 1:52:02they think of themselves as being members of the human race.

1:52:06 > 1:52:13'The games of the 30th Olympiad in 2012 are awarded to London.'

1:52:13 > 1:52:15CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

1:52:25 > 1:52:29This is London, 9:47 on a midsummer morning.

1:52:33 > 1:52:35The terrified voices are those of morning commuters,

1:52:35 > 1:52:38some of them terribly wounded.

1:52:43 > 1:52:46Those who came here to kill had many goals,

1:52:46 > 1:52:50but one was that we should turn on each other

1:52:50 > 1:52:55like animals trapped in a cage, and they failed.

1:52:55 > 1:53:00They failed totally and utterly.

1:53:00 > 1:53:02All great things flow towards the city,

1:53:02 > 1:53:07and the greatest of those is the people that come.

1:53:13 > 1:53:16In a sense, London isn't really part of England any more.

1:53:16 > 1:53:19It attracts people from all over the world to come and work here,

1:53:19 > 1:53:23and they come here, earn a lot of money and then they want to spend it.

1:53:24 > 1:53:27MUSIC: "The Fear" by Lily Allen

1:53:30 > 1:53:32'London, city of culture.'

1:53:35 > 1:53:37Working in summertime,

1:53:37 > 1:53:41the people that come here are rich people from Russia.

1:53:46 > 1:53:49We have models here, we have journalists,

1:53:49 > 1:53:51we have Kazakhstan ambassador here.

1:53:54 > 1:53:57Sold to you, Bruno. Thank you very much indeed. Eight million five.

1:53:57 > 1:54:01L zero eight zero. Thank you so much.

1:54:05 > 1:54:07I think there's a much bigger barrier

1:54:07 > 1:54:09between rich and poor in London

1:54:09 > 1:54:13than there is between black and white or any other racial divide.

1:54:14 > 1:54:16'It's been a day of turmoil

1:54:16 > 1:54:19'on the world's money markets, after the collapse of...'

1:54:19 > 1:54:21'We've seen nothing like today's combination

1:54:21 > 1:54:24'of shocking financial events since the Great Crash of 1929.'

1:54:24 > 1:54:25'Only a few months ago,

1:54:25 > 1:54:28'chaps like this were the masters of the universe.'

1:54:29 > 1:54:31Teetering on the edge.

1:54:33 > 1:54:35Well, fuck it. A-a-agh!

1:54:38 > 1:54:41You can walk from the City of London,

1:54:41 > 1:54:44and if you just walk a couple of streets backwards

1:54:44 > 1:54:48you'll see massive, massive tower blocks, council houses,

1:54:48 > 1:54:50where people are living in abject poverty

1:54:50 > 1:54:53in comparison to the trillions and trillions of pounds

1:54:53 > 1:54:55that pass through the City all the time.

1:54:55 > 1:54:58Does my face look bothered?

1:55:02 > 1:55:04This is a letter I got from the council,

1:55:04 > 1:55:06saying that they have given me

1:55:06 > 1:55:12an offer of accommodation in Walsall in Birmingham, where I know nobody.

1:55:13 > 1:55:18If I do not accept it, basically, I'll be on the streets.

1:55:18 > 1:55:20There's just no heart.

1:55:20 > 1:55:24You're talking about a single mother recently widowed in March.

1:55:24 > 1:55:28You're talking about a child who is in a school which she loves,

1:55:28 > 1:55:31and you're asking me to uproot her from that

1:55:31 > 1:55:33and take away her extended family.

1:55:33 > 1:55:36And you're saying all of that doesn't matter.

1:55:36 > 1:55:37Off you go to Walsall.

1:55:40 > 1:55:42They're inundated with tenants

1:55:42 > 1:55:46who landlords were kicking out of privately rented accommodation

1:55:46 > 1:55:50to make a packet of money nearer the time of the Olympics.

1:55:51 > 1:55:56They're using the situation, the economy to gentrify their areas,

1:55:56 > 1:55:59and they want us to be decanted into another container.

1:56:04 > 1:56:07Money. That's the main barrier.

1:56:07 > 1:56:10That's like the barrier that's supposed to be the barrier.

1:56:26 > 1:56:29The police weren't doing nothing. There was no authority,

1:56:29 > 1:56:31so it looked like we could have run of the streets.

1:56:31 > 1:56:33It felt like Christmas had come early,

1:56:33 > 1:56:37just being able to take all the nice things that you want.

1:56:37 > 1:56:39Got loot, man!

1:56:39 > 1:56:42MUSIC: "Hometown Glory" by Adele

1:57:00 > 1:57:05As much food was stolen from the supermarkets as flat-screen TVs

1:57:05 > 1:57:09and trainers, but no-one really talked about that because

1:57:09 > 1:57:13people didn't want to face the level of need that drove the riots.

1:57:29 > 1:57:32The London riots, when it kicked off first in Tottenham,

1:57:32 > 1:57:37I think it was a collective madness, a collective realisation that,

1:57:37 > 1:57:41if everyone really wanted to, you could just team up and cause havoc.

1:57:44 > 1:57:48Of course there was a reason behind it. Why would it all kick off?

1:57:48 > 1:57:51It wouldn't kick off for no reason.

1:58:02 > 1:58:04I just wanted to be there.

1:58:04 > 1:58:07I actually wanted to burn the cars and see it burn as well.

1:58:07 > 1:58:10From what I've been through my whole life,

1:58:10 > 1:58:13the police have caused hell for me

1:58:13 > 1:58:17and that was just our way of getting revenge.

1:58:19 > 1:58:24There are pockets of our society that are not just broken,

1:58:24 > 1:58:25but frankly sick.

1:58:25 > 1:58:29This is criminality, pure and simple.

1:58:40 > 1:58:43You've got people that have got nothing,

1:58:43 > 1:58:45and I think they'd just had enough.

1:58:45 > 1:58:49It's not right to go and smash stuff up and loot stuff.

1:58:49 > 1:58:52They get told unless they have a brand-new pair of Nike Air Max

1:58:52 > 1:58:55or if they've got a brand-new tracksuit they're not worth anything,

1:58:55 > 1:58:58so if they can't afford it, they're going to go and take it.

1:58:58 > 1:59:00Thank you for sticking up for London

1:59:00 > 1:59:04and for the innocent, hard-working people of this city.

1:59:04 > 1:59:06CHEERING

1:59:11 > 1:59:18People aren't fools, and slowly you're going to get a growing amount

1:59:18 > 1:59:20of civil disobedience in this country.

1:59:20 > 1:59:23MUSIC: "Sun Arise" by Rolf Harris

1:59:25 > 1:59:29Ohhhh, this is my home.

1:59:30 > 1:59:32The view from my front door.

1:59:51 > 1:59:53BELL CLANGS

1:59:57 > 2:00:03They're asking for the basis of our society to be queried,

2:00:03 > 2:00:05and I think that that is correct.

2:00:12 > 2:00:14I'm coming to the end of my life

2:00:14 > 2:00:19and I'm not uneasy about leaving the London which I will be leaving.

2:00:19 > 2:00:22I think it's in the good hands of the Londoners

2:00:22 > 2:00:25who are here from all over the globe now.

2:00:25 > 2:00:28I think that's how it'll survive.

2:00:28 > 2:00:30# Come on, ladies

2:00:30 > 2:00:31# One pound fish

2:00:31 > 2:00:34# One pound fish

2:00:34 > 2:00:36# Have-a, have-a look One pound fish

2:00:36 > 2:00:39# Very, very cheap One pound fish

2:00:39 > 2:00:42# One pound fish One pound fish

2:00:42 > 2:00:45# Very, very cheap Very, very cheap

2:00:45 > 2:00:49# One pound fish One pound fish

2:00:49 > 2:00:53# Very, very cheap Very, very cheap

2:00:53 > 2:00:56# Cheap, cheap! #

2:00:56 > 2:00:59Yes, my dear, today's special announcement.

2:01:08 > 2:01:11I wander through each chartered street

2:01:11 > 2:01:14Near where the chartered Thames does flow

2:01:14 > 2:01:17And mark in every face I meet

2:01:17 > 2:01:20Marks of weakness, marks of woe

2:01:20 > 2:01:24In every cry of every man

2:01:24 > 2:01:27In every infant's cry of fear

2:01:27 > 2:01:30In every voice, in every ban

2:01:30 > 2:01:33The mind forged manacles I hear.

2:01:41 > 2:01:43MUSIC: "Waterloo Sunset" by The Kinks

2:02:33 > 2:02:37You accept so many immigrants here and then give them their rights,

2:02:37 > 2:02:41allow them to practise their religion the way they want

2:02:41 > 2:02:42and not interfere with that.

2:02:42 > 2:02:45It is something for the rest of the world

2:02:45 > 2:02:47to have a look at and maybe adopt.

2:03:13 > 2:03:16I have an idea of where I'd like London to be in 10, 20 years,

2:03:16 > 2:03:18and I'd like it to be a beacon

2:03:18 > 2:03:21for the fact that human beings can live together

2:03:21 > 2:03:23in a respectful and dignified manner.

2:03:49 > 2:03:51I feel at home in my London.

2:03:51 > 2:03:55What's going on around me worries me very, very much,

2:03:55 > 2:03:59but there's very little I can do as an individual.

2:03:59 > 2:04:02I can only voice my opinion and have an attitude.

2:04:02 > 2:04:05And my attitude is fuck the lot of ya!

2:04:11 > 2:04:16# Maybe it's because we're Londoners

2:04:16 > 2:04:21# That we love London so

2:04:21 > 2:04:26# Maybe it's because we're all Londoners

2:04:26 > 2:04:29# That we love London so. #

2:04:40 > 2:04:44London, it's like the old song says, London is the place for me!

2:04:44 > 2:04:47Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd