0:00:06 > 0:00:08This is my world.
0:00:08 > 0:00:09The world of ballet.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20Dance has defined me, giving me such passion and joy.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27And here is the dancer who embodies
0:00:27 > 0:00:30all that is beautiful about the ballet.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33This is Margot Fonteyn.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39Every ballerina, including me,
0:00:39 > 0:00:41has aspired to be Margot.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45They are always trying to find the next Margot Fonteyn.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52Margot danced around the world and won everyone's hearts.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55She remains the unfading image
0:00:55 > 0:00:57of the perfect ballerina.
0:01:00 > 0:01:05She was Margot Fonteyn to people who had never been to the ballet.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08Deep down, though, I wonder if Margot's magic
0:01:08 > 0:01:12might have been a curse as well as a blessing.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15I was very miserable. I was really only a dancer.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17I was only a ballerina, I wasn't a person.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Margot's search for love took her far away from ballet.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25She was drawn into a revolution in a foreign land
0:01:25 > 0:01:27and became a nurse to her husband,
0:01:27 > 0:01:29ending up barely getting by
0:01:29 > 0:01:32on a remote cattle ranch in Panama.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35We only ever shared the stage once
0:01:35 > 0:01:38and that was under exceptional circumstances.
0:01:38 > 0:01:43In 1990, a royal gala fundraiser was held for Margot.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46She was the shadow of her former self,
0:01:46 > 0:01:48the ballerina we didn't want to forget.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53She simply had to keep dancing for the money.
0:01:53 > 0:01:54- Tragic.- Yeah.
0:01:54 > 0:01:55Tragic, tragic.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59I've discovered there are two Margot Fonteyns.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03A world-famous artist adored by all,
0:02:03 > 0:02:06who found fame but not fortune.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09And a little girl called Peggy,
0:02:09 > 0:02:11who loved to dance.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14She was Peggy Hookham and she became Margot Fonteyn.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17I think she wanted to be Peggy all of her life.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33The first stop on my story of Margot Fonteyn is Cambridge.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37What happened here would haunt Margot.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41This is where, as an 18-year-old,
0:02:41 > 0:02:43she first knew what it was
0:02:43 > 0:02:46to fall in love with someone and then lose them.
0:02:48 > 0:02:53In 1937, Peggy, still getting used to her stage name Margot,
0:02:53 > 0:02:56came on tour here with Sadler's Wells Ballet.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03Margot describes how she first saw the young man
0:03:03 > 0:03:06who eventually would become her husband.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08And she says,
0:03:08 > 0:03:11"Two dark-haired brothers were dancing the new rumba rhythm
0:03:11 > 0:03:13"of a Cuban band.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16"The music invaded my mind
0:03:16 > 0:03:19"as I stared at their dance.
0:03:19 > 0:03:20"That's it. I was in love."
0:03:22 > 0:03:28The younger of the two brothers was Roberto Arias, always known as Tito,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31the son of the President of Panama.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33He was 18, the same age as Margot.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36Tito was studying economics and partying hard.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43It must have been quite odd for Margot,
0:03:43 > 0:03:48seeing all these extravagant men studying, supposedly,
0:03:48 > 0:03:50and she was actually working here, performing.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52Coming from London and the sort of lifestyle she was leading,
0:03:52 > 0:03:54which was pretty disciplined, I think,
0:03:54 > 0:03:57and pretty routine and perhaps rather drab,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00to come to Cambridge would have been exotic,
0:04:00 > 0:04:02and I think would have been romantic.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07Cambridge historian Andrew Lownie has found out more
0:04:07 > 0:04:10about what kind of person Tito Arias was.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14He seems to have been a very exuberant character
0:04:14 > 0:04:18- and someone who was able to seduce women quite easily.- Yeah.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21So, you know, it's perhaps not surprising she fell for him.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23But it sounds like it was a fling for him,
0:04:23 > 0:04:25- but perhaps slightly more important for her.- Yeah.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34The ballet company came to Cambridge twice in the '30s.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37Each time, Margot was whisked off her feet
0:04:37 > 0:04:41into Tito's glamorous world of white-tie balls,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44cocktail parties and intimate dinners.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47And then Tito dropped Margot.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51Much later in her memoir,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54Margot writes about going back to London on the train from Cambridge
0:04:54 > 0:04:58and how deeply she felt about Tito.
0:04:58 > 0:05:03"I just wished he would take me away with him and look after me forever."
0:05:03 > 0:05:06She'd been working so hard and performing so much,
0:05:06 > 0:05:09and all the time part of her just wanted to run away.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15Why was the woman who became the world's star ballerina
0:05:15 > 0:05:18ready to give it up almost before it began?
0:05:19 > 0:05:22Why did Margot want to run away,
0:05:22 > 0:05:25and what did she want to run away from?
0:05:30 > 0:05:32In Putney, South London,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35is someone who's found more answers.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40- Oh, wow.- All this stuff in it. - Look at all that!
0:05:40 > 0:05:43'Meredith Daneman is Margot's biographer.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46'She's studied her life from the beginning.'
0:05:46 > 0:05:48She was a very endearing little girl.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52It was her smile, I think, looking at lots of young pictures,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54- that you are taken in... - Well, it was the sun coming out.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56You know, that extraordinary thing,
0:05:56 > 0:05:58that radiance of a smile
0:05:58 > 0:06:01that comes over a completely solemn face.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06'Meredith says Margot was always searching for love and family.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08'Ballet would become a substitute.'
0:06:08 > 0:06:10Wow, her curls.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13I think the thing to really understand Margot
0:06:13 > 0:06:17is to understand that her mother was illegitimate.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21And illegitimacy in those days was such a stigma.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24'Desperate to give her daughter a better start,
0:06:24 > 0:06:29'Margot's mother Hilda made Margot the focus of all her ambitions.'
0:06:30 > 0:06:34'While researching Margot, Meredith came across this -
0:06:34 > 0:06:37'Hilda's private notebook.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40'It's full of unseen details about Hilda's background
0:06:40 > 0:06:43'and what this meant for Margot.'
0:06:43 > 0:06:47As well as an Irish mother, Hilda had a Brazilian father.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49- Really?- This was the most extraordinary thing,
0:06:49 > 0:06:53because that's where Margot's very, very exotic looks came from.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56The writing is tiny, but it's really, really worth...
0:06:56 > 0:07:00Basically, when you know the mum, you know the daughter.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02- It's pretty much so.- Yeah.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09Much of Margot's early childhood was spent overseas.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11Her father's job took them to China.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16Family life came second, though, for Margot's mother.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21What came first was Margot becoming a professional ballet dancer.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26It's interesting. It says in Hilda's notebook...
0:07:27 > 0:07:30"Even when we went on holiday," wrote Hilda,
0:07:30 > 0:07:35"the first thing we did was find a dance teacher."
0:07:35 > 0:07:38So even at such a young age,
0:07:38 > 0:07:41they were treating her like a professional,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44making sure that she had every coach there waiting for her.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50In 1933, Hilda decided 14-year-old Margot,
0:07:50 > 0:07:52then still Peggy Hookham,
0:07:52 > 0:07:56was ready to audition for a place in a ballet company.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59She pulled her out of school, came back to England,
0:07:59 > 0:08:03and took Margot by bus to Sadler's Wells.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06I'm taking the same journey.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08It says here,
0:08:08 > 0:08:11"It was not easy to leave my father in Shanghai,
0:08:11 > 0:08:15"but my mother wanted to give me the opportunity to dance
0:08:15 > 0:08:18"and so we took the bus up Rosebery Avenue."
0:08:19 > 0:08:22Now, my mother didn't want me to dance,
0:08:22 > 0:08:25but here they're organising everything
0:08:25 > 0:08:29to give her that opportunity to have a career.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35This bus trip would change Margot's life.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40For a young girl entering the ballet world, it was perfect timing.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46Sadler's Wells, the company that became the Royal Ballet,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49was in those days barely a dozen dancers.
0:08:50 > 0:08:55To take the company forward, they were looking for a star ballerina,
0:08:55 > 0:08:57and found one in Margot Fonteyn.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07Margot was in the right place at the right time,
0:09:07 > 0:09:09and she also had exactly what it took.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13Here at the Royal Opera House,
0:09:13 > 0:09:16they're in dress rehearsals for Giselle,
0:09:16 > 0:09:18one of Margot's early principal roles.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28Choreographer Sir Peter Wright actually worked with Margot,
0:09:28 > 0:09:33and he's got some ideas about why, from early on, Margot stood out.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36You mustn't blink - this is very short -
0:09:36 > 0:09:40of Margot doing her first, first Giselle at 17.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44Oh, my. Oh, it's the first act.
0:09:44 > 0:09:45Oh, yes.
0:09:46 > 0:09:47She's so bouncy.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50Yes, very. She has that energy to her.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52It must have been quite daunting.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54It's a very hard ballet.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56It is. Lots of jumping.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58It kills your calves.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02- I just remember my calves always being ruined.- Yes, yes.
0:10:02 > 0:10:07One thing you said to me is, when you first see Margot on stage,
0:10:07 > 0:10:08is her proportions.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11Absolutely. Perfect, perfect proportions.
0:10:11 > 0:10:12That's why she could balance so well.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14- Do you think, really?- I do, yes.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17I'm sure, because everything was just right.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20Just as she found her centre, she was there.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22So she had perfect shoulders, neck...
0:10:22 > 0:10:24- Everything.- ..length of her body...
0:10:24 > 0:10:26Length of leg, all that.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30When she took her balance, she just went "tch" and stayed.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33- She didn't go... - Fumble, fumble, fumble.
0:10:33 > 0:10:34Never moved.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40Becoming a principal ballerina
0:10:40 > 0:10:42did not just happen overnight.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45For two years after joining the company,
0:10:45 > 0:10:49Margot toiled her way through the ranks, day by day.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51Margot's mother was always with her,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54while her father stayed in Shanghai
0:10:54 > 0:10:56and her brother was already in boarding school.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00When her parents divorced,
0:11:00 > 0:11:03the ballet company became Margot's family.
0:11:07 > 0:11:11Margot danced Swan Lake in 1935,
0:11:11 > 0:11:13when she was only 16.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17It was her first principal role, a milestone for every young dancer.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22I'd like to show you a little of what it takes
0:11:22 > 0:11:25to tackle a classic like this one,
0:11:25 > 0:11:27the challenge Margot faced.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30This is Julia Roscoe from the Royal Ballet,
0:11:30 > 0:11:32who has never done the role,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35alongside Derek Deane, a Swan Lake expert,
0:11:35 > 0:11:37and who also coached me.
0:11:39 > 0:11:40And up.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42That's it. Don't forget a nice little swish.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45Leave the elbows coming up first, yes?
0:11:45 > 0:11:46Swish there.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48Swish, up.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51Bourree, bourree, bourree, and one-two.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55Do you know...? Stop, stop, stop, stop.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59I can remember one visual thing that Margot always said,
0:11:59 > 0:12:02which was so lovely, and then my coach, Donald,
0:12:02 > 0:12:08is that it was always, when we bourreed, we went one-two.
0:12:08 > 0:12:09- Yeah?- OK.- One-two.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11So they don't come out and go, "Ugh!"
0:12:11 > 0:12:13All right?
0:12:13 > 0:12:14Remember your back.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18And up. And up. And up.
0:12:18 > 0:12:19Nice.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21One. Use your head, use your head.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23Good girl.
0:12:23 > 0:12:24You've only got four.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30And then one-two, one-two, one-two, one-two, one-two, one-two, down.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33One, bang. Good girl.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47Over the years, Margot would dance Swan Lake many, many times.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49Her mother, Hilda Hookham,
0:12:49 > 0:12:52never forgot Margot's first performance.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01Hilda wrote in her notebook about Margot's first Swan Lake.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05"I sat in the front row of the circle.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07"We were literally trembling.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09"She did well, thank heavens,
0:13:09 > 0:13:11"and almost before the curtain came down
0:13:11 > 0:13:14"we were rushing up the long stairway
0:13:14 > 0:13:17"and were first in the bar for a quick brandy."
0:13:17 > 0:13:21I have heard people say that her first Swan Lakes were boring.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24Probably when Margot first did Swan Lake,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28I think she was, more than likely, taught the steps,
0:13:28 > 0:13:30she was put in a white tutu and on she went,
0:13:30 > 0:13:32do you know what I mean?
0:13:32 > 0:13:35- Yeah.- So I think nowadays, I think there is a lot more time,
0:13:35 > 0:13:37a lot more coaching time for dancers.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45Margot's gift, rather than pure technique,
0:13:45 > 0:13:48was how she interpreted the role.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52She writes about how liberating it was, after years of sacrifice,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55to dance in front of an audience for the first time.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59This, she said, is the real thing.
0:14:02 > 0:14:07Margot was entering a world where she would be adored by the public
0:14:07 > 0:14:09and shaped by her surrogate ballet family.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14The company would decide everything about her future,
0:14:14 > 0:14:16including her name.
0:14:18 > 0:14:23The transformation from Margot's old life as Peggy Hookham was complete
0:14:23 > 0:14:25when she was told to change her name
0:14:25 > 0:14:29to something more suitable for a ballet star.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34Peggy - or Margaret - became Margot, which sounded more exotic,
0:14:34 > 0:14:35and Hilda chose Fonteyn
0:14:35 > 0:14:39from her own rather Latin-sounding maiden name, Fontes.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44When I started out, there was the same pressure
0:14:44 > 0:14:47to have a name that was right for a ballerina.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50I knew that a lot of people changed their name.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53Nobody liked Bussell at all, even though it was a French name.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55It's a good name, a strong name.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58My first director, he said, Darcey, we've got to change that name.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01And I was like, "I'm sorry. "Why? Why?" You know?
0:15:01 > 0:15:03My mother was very proud of my name.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07But he said, "Bussell is not right.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09"We'll change it to something like Russell."
0:15:09 > 0:15:11And I was like, "There's no difference.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14- "I'm going to keep my name." - It's so dull compared.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16- No, Bussell has such a spring to it, doesn't it?- Yeah.
0:15:18 > 0:15:23Margot was given her break so early because she was spotted by
0:15:23 > 0:15:28the most fearsome ballet mistress of them all, Ninette de Valois,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30founder of Sadler's Wells.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35Known as Madam, she trained with the world-class Russians.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39She was on the lookout for dancers
0:15:39 > 0:15:42to take British ballet to the same heights.
0:15:43 > 0:15:48Dame Beryl Grey was here at Sadler's Wells in the 1930s.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52Ninette had this very clear vision
0:15:52 > 0:15:55of where she wanted to go,
0:15:55 > 0:16:00and I think she had got her eye on Margot and thought,
0:16:00 > 0:16:05"Now, this is my chance to produce someone from my company
0:16:05 > 0:16:07"to lead my company."
0:16:08 > 0:16:11'The funny thing is, I actually met Madam a few times
0:16:11 > 0:16:14'when I was a ballet student.'
0:16:14 > 0:16:17- It was the early '90s. - She'd mellowed.- Oh, yeah!
0:16:17 > 0:16:21She had mellowed, and so I had a very nice conversation with her,
0:16:21 > 0:16:24but I knew all these stories about her,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27how powerful and strong she was and how committed she was to the ballet.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31Oh, totally. Nothing happened by chance.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33She said she planned everything.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36What do you think Dame Ninette saw in Margot Fonteyn?
0:16:36 > 0:16:41I always say Margot was a wonderful example of what you can do
0:16:41 > 0:16:45if you know that something's wrong
0:16:45 > 0:16:48and if you're determined to improve it.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51- She just worked until she had a perfect body.- Yeah.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55And she was always very...
0:16:56 > 0:16:57..gentle and courteous.
0:16:57 > 0:17:02She took direction always.
0:17:02 > 0:17:06She always did everything that was asked of her.
0:17:06 > 0:17:11Madam understood all great ballet companies need great choreographers.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13The first, Frederick Ashton,
0:17:13 > 0:17:17was known for creating some of the best work for the company.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20An early ballet was The Rio Grande,
0:17:20 > 0:17:23with Margot in the lead role aged 17.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27The music for The Rio Grande was actually very jazzy.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31I think it was a rhythm that Margot would have responded to,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34because I think she was a natural in that sort of way,
0:17:34 > 0:17:35in picking up rhythms and styles.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38The company's musical director, Constant Lambert,
0:17:38 > 0:17:41wrote the music for The Rio Grande.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44His biographer, Stephen Lloyd,
0:17:44 > 0:17:46has looked into the close relationship
0:17:46 > 0:17:49Lambert developed with Margot Fonteyn.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51When Margot joined the company
0:17:51 > 0:17:54she felt that she was a bit of an ignoramus,
0:17:54 > 0:17:56and that's a word she used herself,
0:17:56 > 0:18:00and Constant made it a point to educate her, to...
0:18:02 > 0:18:05And he became her tutor, her guide and educator,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08by showing her what books she should be reading,
0:18:08 > 0:18:10what paintings she should be looking at.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15Margot, who missed out on an education to be a dancer,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18was looking for someone to guide her personally
0:18:18 > 0:18:19as well as professionally.
0:18:21 > 0:18:25Her heart, she writes, was as soft as butter.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28She was working in a very close-knit company
0:18:28 > 0:18:30where all sorts of relationships,
0:18:30 > 0:18:33heterosexual and homosexual, were going on,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36and so I think she grew up fast.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39The married Constant Lambert,
0:18:39 > 0:18:42known for having affairs with dancers,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45became Margot's long-term lover.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49Margot believed one day he might leave his wife for her.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54Hilda has this to say about Constant Lambert,
0:18:54 > 0:18:58"He is brilliant and charming, much older than Margot.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02"I was pretty worried at first, but then said nothing."
0:19:07 > 0:19:11When Constant finally divorced his wife, he married someone else.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15So great was Margot's sense of betrayal,
0:19:15 > 0:19:18she went through all the books he gave her, one by one.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23If there was a note from Constant in the front of the book,
0:19:23 > 0:19:25she tore out the page.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35In 1937, Margot was picked out from Sadler's Wells
0:19:35 > 0:19:39for this rarely seen early test film for the BBC.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43By now she was regularly dancing
0:19:43 > 0:19:46all the main classical roles for the company
0:19:46 > 0:19:48and her future seemed assured.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51AIR-RAID SIREN
0:19:53 > 0:19:57Then, in 1939, war was declared.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02The stages went dark for theatre and opera.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05What would this mean for ballet and for Margot?
0:20:08 > 0:20:11Margot's war is recorded here,
0:20:11 > 0:20:15at the Royal Ballet Junior School at White Lodge in Richmond Park,
0:20:15 > 0:20:17where the archives are housed.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19This is where I studied as a child.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25Everyone here knows about Margot Fonteyn.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28By tradition, the ballet pupils touch her statue each morning
0:20:28 > 0:20:29for inspiration.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33It's part of Royal Ballet history,
0:20:33 > 0:20:37how Margot and the company were undaunted by war.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40They put on their tutus and danced for Britain.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45Anna Meadmore is the archivist here.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47It was very tough.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51It was performing nine, ten times a week, matinees, evenings.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53There were very few men in the company.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55I know it was a small company.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58Also, all the orchestra were off serving in the national services,
0:20:58 > 0:21:01so they had to do everything to two pianos.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03Basically, it turned them into hardened professionals,
0:21:03 > 0:21:05that's what it did.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08After the war, because they had become such a household name,
0:21:08 > 0:21:12- and you can see these lovely postcards of Margot.- So they...
0:21:12 > 0:21:14People would collect postcards.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16They really were like film stars, these dancers.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18- Wow. They're beautiful.- Yes.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21So they were given the new...
0:21:21 > 0:21:25- Well, they were given the Opera House.- They were.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29They were invited to become the resident company at the Opera House.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33The opening night was in February, 1946,
0:21:33 > 0:21:36the royal gala performance of The Sleeping Beauty.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41Margot, now nearly 27, danced the principal role.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54Some of the reviews afterwards said,
0:21:54 > 0:21:57"Glorious, wonderful, peace has come again.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01"This is the start of the quality of life returning to our lives."
0:22:01 > 0:22:04People would say that when she burst onto the stage
0:22:04 > 0:22:07as the young 16-year-old Aurora at her birthday party,
0:22:07 > 0:22:09there was a sort of joy that emanated from her.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19Margot's performance showed the nation
0:22:19 > 0:22:21British ballet was here to stay.
0:22:26 > 0:22:27Don't travel.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31Hold.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35'I'm here in the Margot Fonteyn Studio at the Royal Opera House
0:22:35 > 0:22:38'with Donald MacLeary, who actually danced The Sleeping Beauty
0:22:38 > 0:22:41'with Margot, and Lauren Cuthbertson,
0:22:41 > 0:22:43'one of the Royal Ballet's brightest stars.'
0:22:45 > 0:22:48'Donald coached me for many years.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50'Together we will show you how Margot shone
0:22:50 > 0:22:52'in that wonderful opening scene.'
0:22:56 > 0:22:58Good. That's much better.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00You see how I can see everything?
0:23:00 > 0:23:03When you first think of Margot Fonteyn,
0:23:03 > 0:23:06what's your first image that comes into your mind?
0:23:07 > 0:23:10Possibly the biography we found at a car-boot sale
0:23:10 > 0:23:12when I was about sort of seven or eight.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14Was that one of your first...?
0:23:14 > 0:23:18I can just see her doing Ondine on the front of a really old book.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21And she was actually the only ballerina I knew
0:23:21 > 0:23:24until I arrived at White Lodge and I found out who you were!
0:23:24 > 0:23:26So really, it's very simple -
0:23:26 > 0:23:28she was the only ballerina I knew
0:23:28 > 0:23:32who had been living this dream life.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35- She really is... You know, she's an icon.- Yes.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37- It's that face, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40I always just think of her face, I don't know why,
0:23:40 > 0:23:42- but it kind of lights up.- Yeah.
0:23:42 > 0:23:43I was just going to say that.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46She had... She had an aura.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48She always had...
0:23:48 > 0:23:50You know, it was the eyes and the smile.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53It wasn't put on, it was from here.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56Margot was able to achieve that every time,
0:23:56 > 0:23:58and all the way through her career.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01Whatever age she was, she was able to suddenly...
0:24:01 > 0:24:04- Become.- ..become that person straightaway.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08If you go like that, they think, "Oh, she's looking at me."
0:24:08 > 0:24:11- You know you always told me, "Stare out the public."- Yes.
0:24:11 > 0:24:13- Look straight at them. - Yes, look straight at them.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15- Don't go fidgety. - You do that really well.
0:24:15 > 0:24:17- I've seen you do that. - No, no, no.
0:24:17 > 0:24:18Good.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22Watch the head on the fourth.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24- Shoulders down.- Focus.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30From now on, all productions of The Sleeping Beauty
0:24:30 > 0:24:32would be measured up against Margot Fonteyn.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39Even so, Ninette de Valois and the company wanted more from Margot,
0:24:39 > 0:24:43to use her to take British ballet even further.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46Now it was time for the ballet to go international.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54I've come to New York,
0:24:54 > 0:24:58following in the footsteps of Margot's first American tour
0:24:58 > 0:24:59in 1949.
0:25:05 > 0:25:07Traffic was at a standstill on Broadway
0:25:07 > 0:25:11as the most sophisticated audience in the world took their seats
0:25:11 > 0:25:13in the Metropolitan Opera House.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22Margot writes in her memoir about how many times
0:25:22 > 0:25:25she dreaded letting the company down.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27She says,
0:25:27 > 0:25:31"On countless first nights of new ballets, of London seasons,
0:25:31 > 0:25:35"in foreign capitals, on New York openings,
0:25:35 > 0:25:39"the same terror has overtaken me.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41"Without it, I suppose, I would be no good."
0:25:46 > 0:25:50Kevin O'Hare is the current director of the Royal Ballet.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52He believes Margot, now aged 30,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54was the perfect person
0:25:54 > 0:25:58to carry the fortunes of the company across the Atlantic.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03She was just that total superstar, you know,
0:26:03 > 0:26:06that created a bit of magic every time she came on stage.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09Everybody always said there was something about her stagecraft,
0:26:09 > 0:26:12that she knew where to look, to show the whites of her eyes,
0:26:12 > 0:26:15or how she smiled, which I think, you know,
0:26:15 > 0:26:18I don't think you plan. That just happens, doesn't it?
0:26:18 > 0:26:20Some of those things happen naturally.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23And probably, doing all those roles really early on,
0:26:23 > 0:26:25cutting her teeth and touring around the country
0:26:25 > 0:26:27and doing them a lot of times,
0:26:27 > 0:26:30really helped her hone that stagecraft.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33But it was natural, it wasn't forced,
0:26:33 > 0:26:36but it was just she'd had that experience.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38And I think she even fell on that first entrance.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40- Oh, did she really?- Yes. And everybody sort of...
0:26:40 > 0:26:44The gasp went. And then, of course, the history books say
0:26:44 > 0:26:46she pulled the house down,
0:26:46 > 0:26:48and that really cemented her reputation
0:26:48 > 0:26:51as a leading ballerina of the world,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54but also helped cement the reputation of the Royal Ballet
0:26:54 > 0:26:56because that was the first big, big tour.
0:27:01 > 0:27:02There are still people around
0:27:02 > 0:27:06who remember Margot Fonteyn's opening night in Manhattan.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12Robert Gottlieb is a publisher and dance critic.
0:27:12 > 0:27:18The first time I saw Margot was in her great entrance
0:27:18 > 0:27:20in Act One of Sleeping Beauty.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22And that was really all it took for me,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25because she was so glorious, so enchanting,
0:27:25 > 0:27:28and brilliant as well as charming.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30Why did Margot love New York so much?
0:27:30 > 0:27:35I think it excited her, and I think she enjoyed...
0:27:36 > 0:27:39..the word adoration may be too strong,
0:27:39 > 0:27:41but the impact she had on people.
0:27:41 > 0:27:47You know, I think New York was somehow more celebrity-conscious.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51- She was Margot Fonteyn to people who had never been to the ballet.- Yeah.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00Margot went to America a prima ballerina
0:28:00 > 0:28:02and came back an icon.
0:28:06 > 0:28:11Margot turned up on the front cover of Time magazine.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13Quite rare to have a ballerina on the front of Time magazine.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15Enormously rare - it's normally heads of state.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18I know. And it's beautiful, it's like a painting.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21What I find, straightaway,
0:28:21 > 0:28:24is look how confident and strong she looks,
0:28:24 > 0:28:28from being this very gentle, caring lady that she was.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30Yes, you're right. I hadn't thought of that.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33She is very much on top of her game there, isn't she?
0:28:33 > 0:28:35Yeah, but showing the whites of her eyes.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42Yet despite the joy and acclaim of being on stage,
0:28:42 > 0:28:45ballet wasn't making Margot truly happy.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50There was no regular man in Margot's life.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53At galas and first nights,
0:28:53 > 0:28:57she was often accompanied by her mother.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59Did you ever feel insecure about being in your middle 30s
0:28:59 > 0:29:01and not married?
0:29:01 > 0:29:02- Oh, yes, miserable.- Did you?
0:29:02 > 0:29:05Yes, I was very miserable and I was also very...
0:29:06 > 0:29:07I was really only a dancer.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10I was only a ballerina, I wasn't a person by that time,
0:29:10 > 0:29:14because I needed very much to know who I was.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21The real Margot Fonteyn was about to be revealed.
0:29:22 > 0:29:28In September 1953, on the company's third visit to New York,
0:29:28 > 0:29:32a card was left in Margot's dressing room
0:29:32 > 0:29:34from Tito Arias,
0:29:34 > 0:29:38the young man Margot first met 16 years earlier in Cambridge
0:29:38 > 0:29:40before the war.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44Now Tito was a Panamanian representative
0:29:44 > 0:29:46to the United Nations in New York.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51He was well aware of Margot's new-found celebrity.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56Tito told Margot he was married with three children,
0:29:56 > 0:29:57and getting a divorce.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02Later, Margot wrote, "I understood I did love Tito,
0:30:02 > 0:30:05"yet my love was not what I expected.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10"In Tito's company, I felt complete".
0:30:19 > 0:30:20Margot's mother, Hilda,
0:30:20 > 0:30:25did not believe Tito Arias was the right man for Margot.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27Lift and lift higher.
0:30:27 > 0:30:32New York ballet teacher Ken Ludden knew Hilda well.
0:30:32 > 0:30:33She did not like him.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36She didn't approve of him.
0:30:36 > 0:30:39Hilda wanted the best for Margot,
0:30:39 > 0:30:42and there was a lot of talk all the time.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44Tito was a Latin male,
0:30:44 > 0:30:46and a world leader,
0:30:46 > 0:30:48and he ran with the boys.
0:30:48 > 0:30:53Was it the attention that he brought to the family, or to Margot?
0:30:53 > 0:30:56No, no, it was the fact that he had been married and had children,
0:30:56 > 0:30:59and he'd divorced a woman to go with Margot, and she just was like,
0:30:59 > 0:31:02"That's not going to do for my daughter."
0:31:03 > 0:31:05For the first time in her life,
0:31:05 > 0:31:08Margot ignored her mother's advice.
0:31:08 > 0:31:12When Tito popped the question, she said yes.
0:31:16 > 0:31:21Margot and Tito married in February 1955 in Paris.
0:31:25 > 0:31:30Tito was then created Panama's Ambassador to Britain,
0:31:30 > 0:31:34with Margot the perfect Ambassador's wife.
0:31:34 > 0:31:36They were London's new power couple.
0:31:38 > 0:31:39Thanks to Margot,
0:31:39 > 0:31:42the ballet company was established by Royal Charter
0:31:42 > 0:31:45as the Royal Ballet in 1956.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51Margot was made a Dame of the British Empire the same year.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57She was the Royal Ballet's greatest asset,
0:31:57 > 0:31:59essential to its reputation.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04Margot was definitely the beating heart of the Royal Ballet.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07She was at the centre of everything.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11And so, of course, for all of us, she was the person we looked to.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14Monica Mason would become the director of the Royal Ballet
0:32:14 > 0:32:17after joining the company in 1958 as a dancer.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21- She was playing the Panamanian Ambassadress...- Yes.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26..which required her to be travelling with him
0:32:26 > 0:32:28and entertaining enormously.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31And people used to say that they didn't know how she coped
0:32:31 > 0:32:33coming to class every day
0:32:33 > 0:32:35when she'd been up till two in the morning
0:32:35 > 0:32:37at some big do.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42But somehow she kept the two worlds apart.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48And then, a few years into the marriage,
0:32:48 > 0:32:50Margot's two worlds collided...
0:32:51 > 0:32:54..when Tito announced his resignation as Ambassador.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00He was embarking on a daring plan for the future of Panama.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06But during that time Tito was plotting his revolution,
0:33:06 > 0:33:10and at the end of three years he resigned as Ambassador
0:33:10 > 0:33:12because he was making a revolution.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15Really it was against the chief of police
0:33:15 > 0:33:17more than against the government of the time...
0:33:19 > 0:33:22..and it was quite an exciting event.
0:33:24 > 0:33:29Margot wanted to be part of every aspect of Tito's life.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32As the secret plot became a reality, she begged to be by his side.
0:33:35 > 0:33:40In the early morning of Wednesday 22nd April, 1959,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43Tito and Margot sailed into Panama harbour.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49His boat, the Nola, was full of guns and men.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58Margot writes in her memoir how she loved, as a child,
0:33:58 > 0:34:01coming to the beach with the wind in her hair and feeling free.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05Coming on that boat with Tito must have been so much of that.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07It must have been an adventure.
0:34:09 > 0:34:11This, though, was no childhood adventure.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14When Margot stepped on board Tito's boat
0:34:14 > 0:34:18she chose to become an armed revolutionary -
0:34:18 > 0:34:21not the role ballerinas usually play.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27Here in Panama, I'm able to make more sense
0:34:27 > 0:34:30of why Margot risked everything to support her husband,
0:34:30 > 0:34:34and why she put such faith in what Tito was trying to do.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40He was a guy who believed in liberty,
0:34:40 > 0:34:43who believed in social programmes,
0:34:43 > 0:34:45who believed in humanity.
0:34:45 > 0:34:50'Daniel Gonzales is a Panamanian historian and writer.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53'He believes Tito and his family
0:34:53 > 0:34:56'wanted to liberate the people of Panama from poverty
0:34:56 > 0:34:59'through healthcare and education,
0:34:59 > 0:35:02'and by loosening the country's ties with the United States.'
0:35:04 > 0:35:09I think that the dreams of the Arias in Panama, is, was...
0:35:10 > 0:35:14..to see Panama free, OK?
0:35:14 > 0:35:17Their goal was the freedom for Panama.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24Those dreams for a better Panama would come to nothing.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28Betrayed by a group of fishermen,
0:35:28 > 0:35:30Tito and Margot never made it ashore.
0:35:32 > 0:35:34Tito went on the run,
0:35:34 > 0:35:37hoping he would return one day as president.
0:35:37 > 0:35:39Margot was arrested.
0:35:41 > 0:35:46It says here, in this Panama-American paper,
0:35:46 > 0:35:49what started as an adventure for Margot
0:35:49 > 0:35:51ended with her being in jail.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56Diplomats from the British Embassy were appalled to discover
0:35:56 > 0:36:00that Dame Margot Fonteyn was attempting, in their words,
0:36:00 > 0:36:03to overthrow the government of Panama.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05I have here...
0:36:07 > 0:36:11..the Ambassador's letter of when he went to see her in jail,
0:36:11 > 0:36:13and it says,
0:36:13 > 0:36:16"She knew that her husband was gun-running,
0:36:16 > 0:36:20"she knew that he was accompanied by rebels,
0:36:20 > 0:36:22"and at one point she used her yacht
0:36:22 > 0:36:25"to decoy government boats and aircraft
0:36:25 > 0:36:29"away from the direction her husband was taking.
0:36:29 > 0:36:34"I do not regard her conduct as fitting in any British subject,
0:36:34 > 0:36:39"let alone one who has been highly honoured by Her Majesty The Queen."
0:36:41 > 0:36:45Margot's actions were embarrassing for Britain,
0:36:45 > 0:36:48yet her intentions were honourable.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50She wanted to help Panama.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55I think that, in this case,
0:36:55 > 0:37:01she just showed her strength, you know, her love for this country,
0:37:01 > 0:37:04her love for her husband, you know?
0:37:04 > 0:37:06You must be proud of her because of that.
0:37:08 > 0:37:10I'm proud of her. We are proud of her.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16When Dame Margot arrived home safely, it wasn't surprising,
0:37:16 > 0:37:18in view of all that had happened in Panama,
0:37:18 > 0:37:21that there should be a tremendous demand for her story.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25Almost overwhelmed by questions, she nevertheless held her own.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27Did you know about it before?
0:37:27 > 0:37:29That's what you're trying to say, did I know about it before?
0:37:29 > 0:37:31Well, I'm not answering that question.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33Did you know that your husband knew about it?
0:37:33 > 0:37:35I'm not answering that question either.
0:37:35 > 0:37:36Did you carry a gun in Panama?
0:37:36 > 0:37:38I won't answer that question either,
0:37:38 > 0:37:41because you can guess whether I carried a gun or not!
0:37:41 > 0:37:42That would be much more interesting.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44What I'm saying is that if I had a chance to see my husband,
0:37:44 > 0:37:45I would go immediately.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47They said, "If I had a chance to see him",
0:37:47 > 0:37:50well, if I had a chance would mean that I were able to get into Panama.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54It's amazing how composed Margot seems.
0:37:54 > 0:37:56She's just got out of jail.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01Tito would eventually return to London with no charges against him.
0:38:02 > 0:38:04Margot would not get off so lightly.
0:38:05 > 0:38:07People were killed in that coup,
0:38:07 > 0:38:10and in fact it was a great embarrassment
0:38:10 > 0:38:13to Parliament in England, and to the powers that be,
0:38:13 > 0:38:15and to the Royal Ballet.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19Margot was meant to have been the First Lady of Panama.
0:38:19 > 0:38:22Now she was a disgraced ballerina,
0:38:22 > 0:38:25preparing for retirement and the end of her career.
0:38:28 > 0:38:30She was this extraordinary star.
0:38:30 > 0:38:32She was this extraordinary star,
0:38:32 > 0:38:33but the thing was
0:38:33 > 0:38:35that after that time,
0:38:35 > 0:38:40the Royal Ballet sort of distanced themselves from her.
0:38:40 > 0:38:42It wounded her dreadfully.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51For Margot, now over 40, to regain her position
0:38:51 > 0:38:55as Britain's prima ballerina seemed unthinkable.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00And then the unthinkable happened,
0:39:00 > 0:39:02made possible by this man,
0:39:02 > 0:39:04Rudolf Nureyev.
0:39:10 > 0:39:13A 23-year-old dancer who defected from Russia
0:39:13 > 0:39:17and danced his way into the Swinging '60s.
0:39:21 > 0:39:25Nureyev on stage was described as a wild animal
0:39:25 > 0:39:27let loose in a drawing room.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32When he got to London after defecting,
0:39:32 > 0:39:35Nureyev stunned the Royal Ballet
0:39:35 > 0:39:39by announcing he would dance only with Margot Fonteyn.
0:39:39 > 0:39:44In Russia, he said young men learnt their craft from older ballerinas.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49Margot asked Tito what he thought, and Tito agreed.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53After nearly three years away from the Royal Ballet,
0:39:53 > 0:39:55it was time to get back on stage.
0:39:57 > 0:39:59I didn't really want to dance with him.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02I accepted because I thought, well,
0:40:02 > 0:40:04in life you have to take your courage with you,
0:40:04 > 0:40:05you can't just avoid things
0:40:05 > 0:40:07that you think are frightening.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10You have to go out and do it, you must...
0:40:10 > 0:40:13So I went out and danced with this boy
0:40:13 > 0:40:16who was 19 or 20 years younger than me
0:40:16 > 0:40:18and leapt ten foot high,
0:40:18 > 0:40:21and the minute he came on the stage everybody was going to watch him.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24And I thought, "Who is going to look at me,
0:40:24 > 0:40:28"when this boy is leaping about like this all over the place?"
0:40:28 > 0:40:30And, anyway, I took my courage,
0:40:30 > 0:40:33and I went out on the stage with this phenomenon,
0:40:33 > 0:40:36and somehow or other it worked.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47It turned out dancing with a younger man
0:40:47 > 0:40:50was just what Margot and the world of ballet needed.
0:40:54 > 0:40:58Rudy would make Margot an even greater star than ever,
0:40:58 > 0:41:01and I have an insight into how that happened.
0:41:01 > 0:41:06Everyone wanted to photograph Margot and Rudy,
0:41:06 > 0:41:08and I've been invited to look at some photographs
0:41:08 > 0:41:10that have never been seen before.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14I'm on my way to meet Patricia Whatley
0:41:14 > 0:41:16from the University of Dundee,
0:41:16 > 0:41:19where the Michael Peto photo collection is held.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24These behind-the-scenes photos
0:41:24 > 0:41:26reveal why Fonteyn and Nureyev
0:41:26 > 0:41:28made such a magical combination.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32What's so rare about these pictures,
0:41:32 > 0:41:34what I love that Michael has been able to achieve,
0:41:34 > 0:41:37- is they're all rehearsal shots, they're not staged at all.- No.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40But what you notice straightaway...
0:41:40 > 0:41:43is their physicality together.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45They're kind of in line,
0:41:45 > 0:41:47they wouldn't have had much time to rehearse,
0:41:47 > 0:41:48but there's symmetry.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51- The symmetry there is amazing. - Yes, it's beautiful.
0:41:53 > 0:41:57It's like their bodies were so well matched, and proportions,
0:41:57 > 0:42:00that why it works, the partnership works,
0:42:00 > 0:42:04so well is because physically they're so well matched.
0:42:04 > 0:42:06Yes, that is so beautiful, the way he's holding her,
0:42:06 > 0:42:09- and they almost are like one.- Yeah.
0:42:09 > 0:42:11- He's going to take her off her feet.- Yes.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14And I'm sure it felt like that for her.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17But you can see just that they understood
0:42:17 > 0:42:20each other's body straightaway.
0:42:36 > 0:42:41Ronald Hynd was with the Royal Ballet alongside Fonteyn and Nureyev
0:42:41 > 0:42:44as they rehearsed their first shows together.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47So, how did Margot cope with Rudy?
0:42:47 > 0:42:51Well, generally she coped with him.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54He was a decent partner, but not always.
0:42:54 > 0:42:56I've seen him with her up in the air,
0:42:56 > 0:42:59carried off and drop her, because he wanted to go
0:42:59 > 0:43:01to prepare for his solo.
0:43:01 > 0:43:04I mean, that sums up a great deal of that relationship.
0:43:05 > 0:43:06But...
0:43:08 > 0:43:11..she stood up to him, to a point.
0:43:11 > 0:43:13He reduced her to tears many times.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17You don't reduce Dame Margot Fonteyn to tears,
0:43:17 > 0:43:19but he did and she took it,
0:43:19 > 0:43:23because it was a wonderful extension for her closing career.
0:43:45 > 0:43:46Everyone always wonders
0:43:46 > 0:43:49if there was more to Fonteyn's relationship with Rudy
0:43:49 > 0:43:51than purely professional.
0:44:01 > 0:44:06Marguerite Porter, who understudied many of Margot's roles in the '60s,
0:44:06 > 0:44:10believes Nureyev met an unfulfilled need in Margot.
0:44:12 > 0:44:14I think she thought of him as her little boy,
0:44:14 > 0:44:18her naughty, outrageous little boy.
0:44:18 > 0:44:20It's what we all did in the end.
0:44:21 > 0:44:26You know, you forgave him his tantrums, and his...
0:44:26 > 0:44:29And he really did lose control completely.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32I have danced with many Russians myself,
0:44:32 > 0:44:34but Nureyev was really something else.
0:44:34 > 0:44:39He was exciting, he was demanding,
0:44:39 > 0:44:41he was difficult,
0:44:41 > 0:44:43he was wonderful...
0:44:45 > 0:44:51..and I think that anybody who ever really knew him...
0:44:53 > 0:44:56..would all say, "I loved him and adored him,"
0:44:56 > 0:45:00despite his monstrous behaviour at times.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04When their first programme together was announced,
0:45:04 > 0:45:09Giselle at the Royal Opera House in February 1962,
0:45:09 > 0:45:1230,000 people applied for tickets,
0:45:12 > 0:45:16eight times more than were actually on sale.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20A series of more than 20 different ballets followed together,
0:45:20 > 0:45:23with hundreds of performances around the world.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28Even Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull came to the ballet.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32I think that he brought young people to see ballet,
0:45:32 > 0:45:33and to see classical ballet,
0:45:33 > 0:45:36which at that time... He came in the '60s.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40Now, that was not a time when young people would normally think
0:45:40 > 0:45:44of going to see a classical ballet like Swan Lake.
0:45:44 > 0:45:47And I think Nureyev did an enormous amount,
0:45:47 > 0:45:51because he had like a James Dean image somehow,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54and he brought this into a world which those people
0:45:54 > 0:45:56would never have thought of going to.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02Margot was back as the face of the Royal Ballet.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05However, all was not well at home.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11While Tito never gave up his ambitions in Panama,
0:46:11 > 0:46:15the failure of the coup turned his weakness for women
0:46:15 > 0:46:18into compulsive philandering.
0:46:18 > 0:46:20Was it right, Marguerite,
0:46:20 > 0:46:23that Margot was actually ready to leave Tito?
0:46:23 > 0:46:25I think if you're in a relationship
0:46:25 > 0:46:28with somebody who is unfaithful from time to time,
0:46:28 > 0:46:31and your worlds are so very separate...
0:46:32 > 0:46:36..I think there probably were times in her life when she thought,
0:46:36 > 0:46:39"I can't cope with this any more, I'm out of here."
0:46:50 > 0:46:55In 1964, Tito was finally elected to congress in Panama.
0:46:55 > 0:46:59His campaign was funded by the money Margot made dancing with Nureyev.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04And then the most shocking thing happened.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06A rival tried to kill Tito.
0:47:07 > 0:47:11At the moment when Margot was at the height of her return to ballet...
0:47:13 > 0:47:16..Tito was paralysed from the neck down,
0:47:16 > 0:47:18unable to do anything for himself.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26At the time, Michael Brown was the dresser at the Royal Ballet.
0:47:26 > 0:47:31- We did a season at Drury Lane, I think it was 1964 or 1965.- Yes.
0:47:31 > 0:47:33We did a summer season there for six weeks,
0:47:33 > 0:47:38and it was the same time that Tito, her husband, was shot.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40- Oh, God. - The attempted assassination.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43I mean, we were all shocked, everybody was shocked,
0:47:43 > 0:47:45and do you know, Margot Fonteyn,
0:47:45 > 0:47:47she commuted between London and Panama,
0:47:47 > 0:47:51and she was scheduled to do either four or five shows a week.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53Really? She was trying to fit all of that in?
0:47:53 > 0:47:55Yes, she did, to be with her husband,
0:47:55 > 0:47:57and she'd get back on a plane,
0:47:57 > 0:48:00come back into London, go straight on the stage with Rudolf -
0:48:00 > 0:48:03this was at Drury Lane - and this was for six weeks.
0:48:03 > 0:48:07When this, you know, massive tragedy happened,
0:48:07 > 0:48:13I think that it drew her closer, in a way,
0:48:13 > 0:48:15because she had...
0:48:15 > 0:48:19she wanted, she always needed to be needed,
0:48:19 > 0:48:23and suddenly, in this situation, he needed her.
0:48:25 > 0:48:31I must admit I never saw in Margot, or Tito, an ounce,
0:48:31 > 0:48:34an ounce of negativity or self-pity.
0:48:36 > 0:48:41Hilda Hookham said Tito became the child Margot did not have,
0:48:41 > 0:48:43someone who could never leave her.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48And yet Tito's injuries meant expensive medical care
0:48:48 > 0:48:51for the rest of his life, paid for by Margot.
0:48:54 > 0:48:56There would be no choice -
0:48:56 > 0:48:58Margot would have to continue dancing,
0:48:58 > 0:49:00all the way through her 50s.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04Well, that was the story of her life, wasn't it?
0:49:04 > 0:49:08Don't give in, just keep going, whatever horror fate throws at you.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12And then I think the responsibility is to keep dancing,
0:49:12 > 0:49:13just to keep dancing,
0:49:13 > 0:49:16because of the terrible accident that happened to her husband,
0:49:16 > 0:49:20and she simply had to keep dancing for the money.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23- Tragic.- Yeah.- Tragic, tragic.
0:49:23 > 0:49:29That's when I saw her in the physio in New York.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32And I went out to have a rub down or something,
0:49:32 > 0:49:36they had two beds there like that, and I lay down on one.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39It was head to toe, I lay down, and I looked at the feet
0:49:39 > 0:49:42and I went, "Oh, my God, whose feet are those?"
0:49:42 > 0:49:43And Margot shot up, and she said,
0:49:43 > 0:49:45"That's where I've had my nervous breakdown."
0:49:45 > 0:49:49- In her feet! Oh, my goodness. - They were a mess.
0:49:49 > 0:49:50But you would never have known.
0:49:50 > 0:49:52Because she wouldn't have complained.
0:49:52 > 0:49:53She would not have complained.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56So continually I'm about to retire,
0:49:56 > 0:49:58and then there's something very exciting that I want to do
0:49:58 > 0:50:00and I think, "It would be stupid just to miss that.
0:50:00 > 0:50:01"I've clung on so long,
0:50:01 > 0:50:03"why not cling on a little bit longer and do that?"
0:50:03 > 0:50:05You do think about retirement, do you?
0:50:05 > 0:50:08Yes, yes. Well, naturally, I mean, one has to think about it.
0:50:11 > 0:50:14Margot danced more than 20 years longer than I did.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17Astonishing, and yet such a toll on her body.
0:50:19 > 0:50:23And then she finally accepted she could go on no longer.
0:50:24 > 0:50:30Her last official appearance in May 1979, aged 60,
0:50:30 > 0:50:33was choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40Do you believe she managed her career well?
0:50:40 > 0:50:42She managed her career beautifully,
0:50:42 > 0:50:46except for the fact that she just danced for far too long.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49Which was sad for anybody who saw her in the latter days,
0:50:49 > 0:50:52because you wouldn't have seen what she was really like.
0:50:52 > 0:50:54She didn't mean to be an old ballerina.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56APPLAUSE
0:51:00 > 0:51:03Most ballet dancers, when they step down,
0:51:03 > 0:51:06keep a connection with the only world they have ever known
0:51:06 > 0:51:08by coaching or teaching.
0:51:10 > 0:51:14When Margot stopped dancing, she wanted something different.
0:51:19 > 0:51:20When she retired,
0:51:20 > 0:51:23she wasn't focusing on retiring,
0:51:23 > 0:51:26she was focusing on the road forward.
0:51:26 > 0:51:28She was focusing on being able to do the things
0:51:28 > 0:51:31she always wanted to do and never could,
0:51:31 > 0:51:33to be around Tito all the time.
0:51:37 > 0:51:38I'm going back to Panama
0:51:38 > 0:51:42to see how Margot chose to live when she gave up ballet.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45She spent the last years of her life with Tito...
0:51:47 > 0:51:51..in a former cow barn with no telephone, in the middle of nowhere.
0:51:58 > 0:52:00Margot appears to have loved it.
0:52:01 > 0:52:05Margot wrote that this was the happiest time in her life.
0:52:06 > 0:52:08I just can't believe it,
0:52:08 > 0:52:12because this is so far away from anything that she knew.
0:52:25 > 0:52:26A better life for her daughter
0:52:26 > 0:52:30was all her mother ever wanted for Margot...
0:52:31 > 0:52:37..and yet in 1988, when, aged 93, Hilda died,
0:52:37 > 0:52:39Margot was penniless.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43All the money she made from her international career
0:52:43 > 0:52:44as a dancer was gone.
0:52:45 > 0:52:49This is Margot's accounts book from the farm,
0:52:49 > 0:52:52and the detail she writes here.
0:52:52 > 0:52:53There's something here saying,
0:52:53 > 0:52:58"Monday 17th, food, 11."
0:52:58 > 0:53:01There's even something that says
0:53:01 > 0:53:04"To clear overdraft, 16.52."
0:53:04 > 0:53:06"Petrol 30."
0:53:06 > 0:53:08And then, if I go to the end...
0:53:10 > 0:53:14"Repair wheelchair tyre" at 1.
0:53:14 > 0:53:16Everything has gone into this.
0:53:17 > 0:53:24I just can't imagine our great British icon of a ballerina
0:53:24 > 0:53:25having to do this.
0:53:32 > 0:53:37Tito died, heavily in debt, in 1989.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39Margot now had nothing to live for.
0:53:39 > 0:53:45She wrote, "I cannot believe I have lost Tito forever.
0:53:45 > 0:53:47"I need him too much."
0:53:51 > 0:53:55Margot would come back to England one last time.
0:53:56 > 0:54:01When the Royal Ballet heard she was living in poverty abroad and alone,
0:54:01 > 0:54:05and reluctant to seek help, they said something must be done.
0:54:07 > 0:54:09And that's when my life as a dancer
0:54:09 > 0:54:12and the life of Margot Fonteyn coincided.
0:54:15 > 0:54:17I'm here at the Royal Opera House,
0:54:17 > 0:54:22and in 1990 there was a beautiful tribute gala for Margot Fonteyn.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25It was the one time we shared the stage together,
0:54:25 > 0:54:27when she came on at the end.
0:54:28 > 0:54:30It was Romeo And Juliet.
0:54:30 > 0:54:32I had a small soloist role.
0:54:34 > 0:54:40When Margot arrived, we were all shocked by how fragile she was.
0:54:40 > 0:54:42I remember I was in the grand tier,
0:54:42 > 0:54:45and I saw this little, tiny figure
0:54:45 > 0:54:49come into the box, and it just broke my heart.
0:54:49 > 0:54:54I remember weeping buckets of tears, just uncontrollable tears...
0:54:55 > 0:54:59..because she was so frail.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02You could sense that this was the last time we were going to see her.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05It was a farewell, really, and it was...
0:55:05 > 0:55:07Oh, it was unbelievable.
0:55:07 > 0:55:08I think the whole company was...
0:55:10 > 0:55:11Well, what can I say?
0:55:11 > 0:55:15I think you suddenly realise what an extraordinary person she was then.
0:55:15 > 0:55:17It was the end of a great lady.
0:55:26 > 0:55:29Margot went back to Panama after the gala.
0:55:32 > 0:55:36One year later, she died from cancer aged 71.
0:55:39 > 0:55:41I've been allowed to come and see where Margot Fonteyn
0:55:41 > 0:55:44has been laid to rest, and I have to say
0:55:44 > 0:55:47I was really expecting a churchyard,
0:55:47 > 0:55:49and it's an underground crypt.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59Coming here, I think I have finally understood.
0:56:00 > 0:56:05For every dancer, no matter how amazing your career,
0:56:05 > 0:56:07there is more to life than ballet.
0:56:09 > 0:56:13Being adored by your audience, however long it goes on,
0:56:13 > 0:56:15it's only part of the story.
0:56:20 > 0:56:23Looking back on her life, Margot wrote...
0:56:24 > 0:56:28"The demands of my career carried me far away from my true self..."
0:56:30 > 0:56:32"..as though in a great arc."
0:56:38 > 0:56:42It seems to me, more than anything,
0:56:42 > 0:56:46Margot Fonteyn wanted someone to love.
0:56:49 > 0:56:51I think people always believe
0:56:51 > 0:56:54that Margot should have been laid to rest in England,
0:56:54 > 0:56:59but now, being here in Panama and seeing where she is,
0:56:59 > 0:57:00it all makes sense.
0:57:00 > 0:57:02She wanted to be with Tito.