0:00:02 > 0:00:06'Tom Ingledew, a North Country labourer, thought he would make a cathedral.'
0:00:06 > 0:00:09Britain is a nation of hobbyists.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12'So he bought some very simple tools and got on with it.'
0:00:12 > 0:00:16We are collectors. We are model makers.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22We are a people that have always used our spare time
0:00:22 > 0:00:23in all manner of playful ways.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27Having a hobby was something you were kind of supposed to do.
0:00:32 > 0:00:37Our pursuits define us, both as individuals and as a nation.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42A genuinely British hobby has a kind of slight air
0:00:42 > 0:00:43of eccentricity about it.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49It maybe even is the defining characteristic of the British hobby,
0:00:49 > 0:00:50that you make something
0:00:50 > 0:00:53which no-one in their right mind would ever want.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57The 20th century saw the heyday of the pastime.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00The devil made work for idle hands,
0:01:00 > 0:01:04so the British made sure their fingers were always fully occupied.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08The truth is, you can trust someone who has a hobby.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11Someone who doesn't, you get a bit anxious, don't you?
0:01:40 > 0:01:41During the 19th century,
0:01:41 > 0:01:46leisure time was the near exclusive preserve of the upper classes.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50The moneyed elite would gather at the racecourses
0:01:50 > 0:01:54or while away the hours with genteel games like tennis or croquet.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01For those of lesser means,
0:02:01 > 0:02:05the working week was often a long and joyless one.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07But eventually, the great British worker
0:02:07 > 0:02:10would discovered the pleasure of spare time.
0:02:10 > 0:02:15We see hobbies and leisure really increasing by the late 19th century,
0:02:15 > 0:02:18when you see the Saturday half day and Sunday as leisure time.
0:02:18 > 0:02:24And leisure events are placed on these days, such as football matches,
0:02:24 > 0:02:26music halls are booked on Saturday afternoons
0:02:26 > 0:02:29and Saturday evenings for the first time.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32And so, you see leisure beginning to be part of people's lives more.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35By the start of the 20th century,
0:02:35 > 0:02:39workers' free time was often well structured and organised.
0:02:39 > 0:02:44Employers like the General Electric Company started social clubs
0:02:44 > 0:02:48that offered their staff their own sports facilities.
0:02:48 > 0:02:53Funfairs and fetes were greatly anticipated events,
0:02:53 > 0:02:56where people wore their Sunday best and made merry.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01These social gatherings would become central
0:03:01 > 0:03:05to Britain's emerging leisure culture.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08Hobbies in the earlier part of the 20th century are seen to be
0:03:08 > 0:03:11more collective in form, so people would describe their hobby as
0:03:11 > 0:03:14going to see a football match, or going to the cinema,
0:03:14 > 0:03:17quite collective activities, where people would participate
0:03:17 > 0:03:19in a large event.
0:03:26 > 0:03:32Yet by 1914, the national mood was anything but playful.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36Europe was lurching towards its bloodiest conflict ever,
0:03:36 > 0:03:41as a generation of young men was dispatched to the trenches.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43In these serious times,
0:03:43 > 0:03:46the frivolity of pre-war pastimes
0:03:46 > 0:03:50gave way to more productive pursuits.
0:03:50 > 0:03:57For the women left behind, free time was not to be taken lightly.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08Those ladies disinclined to engage in the grubby business of war work
0:04:08 > 0:04:13were exhorted to help a nation in peril and get their hands dirty.
0:04:18 > 0:04:24They buckled to and they joined the hastily mustered Land Army.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28They went to work in munitions,
0:04:28 > 0:04:33which was a vital part of keeping the war effort going.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35And they did innumerable other things.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42All jobs that previously had been done by men.
0:04:45 > 0:04:50Four years of war took a catastrophic toll on the country.
0:04:50 > 0:04:55Over 700,000 British servicemen perished at the front.
0:04:55 > 0:05:00That had a profound impact on the gender balance of British society.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04When the census was taken in 1921,
0:05:04 > 0:05:08there were two million more women than men in this country.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12And those women were described as pretty much surplus to requirements.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16And those single women had to find something else to do,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19they have to make their own living, they had to find their own identity,
0:05:19 > 0:05:23it was a very interesting social phenomenon,
0:05:23 > 0:05:25because all these women flooded the market
0:05:25 > 0:05:28and they changed how society worked,
0:05:28 > 0:05:29in a very significant way.
0:05:32 > 0:05:37The new confidence women acquired in the post-war workplace
0:05:37 > 0:05:39trickled into their leisure time.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42Trailblazing ladies began to storm
0:05:42 > 0:05:45the hitherto male dominated worlds of sport.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48'This is to introduce Miss Molly Gourlay.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51'She has the distinction of being the present holder
0:05:51 > 0:05:54'of the English Close Championship and the French Open Championship.'
0:06:10 > 0:06:12In the field of sports,
0:06:12 > 0:06:15there were women who took up mountaineering,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18there were women cricketers, there was a champion woman sculler
0:06:18 > 0:06:21in the 1930s.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24So, really moving into male dominated areas in sport.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28And of course, they were moving into male dominated areas
0:06:28 > 0:06:32in all other fields as well, whether it was the law, the arts, medicine,
0:06:32 > 0:06:36science, politics, trades unions,
0:06:36 > 0:06:37open any male door
0:06:37 > 0:06:41and you will find a woman slips in there, in the inter-war period.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45Some of the old class divides also started to blur.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50What had traditionally been working-class pastimes
0:06:50 > 0:06:52found new followers in all strata of British society.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58'If you like to be a perfect little devil with a dart, gather round.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00'The board is usually of elm.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03'Its face, 18 inches across and divided into 20 equal segments
0:07:03 > 0:07:06'and numbered, but not consecutively.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09'It's hung on a wall with the centre five foot eight from the floor
0:07:09 > 0:07:11'and the player stands nine feet away.'
0:07:11 > 0:07:14For most working men, this would be second nature.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18But it was very clearly aimed at a more middle-class audience.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21'The game is now the industry of Islington
0:07:21 > 0:07:23'and the craze of Kensington.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26'The board with the double and the trouble has even invaded the shingle.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28'So far, there is no special costume for darts,
0:07:28 > 0:07:31'but those will do quite nicely, thank you.'
0:07:31 > 0:07:33I think it is a good illustration of how that cultural divide
0:07:33 > 0:07:38really went through hobbies, as well as everyday life in 1930s Britain.
0:07:38 > 0:07:44During the inter-war years, a new world of leisure started to emerge.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47With the growth of the suburbs,
0:07:47 > 0:07:50more people had the space to enjoy hobbies at home.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55Handicrafts enjoyed unprecedented popularity,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58as people experimented with new techniques
0:07:58 > 0:08:01and some unconventional materials.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05'Mr Newman is an entomologist. That isn't his fault.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09'It's the way they playfully refer to people who collect insects.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11'Our friend preserves butterflies for decorative purposes.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14'A deft manipulation of a strand of wire
0:08:14 > 0:08:17'and Madame Butterfly is ready to keep a date with the calendar.'
0:08:17 > 0:08:21There is an estimated 200,000 self-styled artists
0:08:21 > 0:08:27in the 1930s in this country, making the most extraordinary things
0:08:27 > 0:08:32And employing their weird and wonderful talents.
0:08:34 > 0:08:35'To see a piece of wood in the raw
0:08:35 > 0:08:37'is like a pain in the neck to Mr Denton.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40'He must turn it into skyscrapers, or boats.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43'In fact, anything from a felucca to a flagship.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46'And after 20 years, he has made about 4,000 of them.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50'Eileen and Audrey are art students, and their hobby is making
0:08:50 > 0:08:55'masks of film stars with ordinary paper and extraordinary skill.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58'The lovely, long, silken lashes are really gorgeous dog hair.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05'So is an old newspaper transformed into a beautiful film star.'
0:09:05 > 0:09:09With the outbreak of the Second World War,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12many British women were urged to apply their craft skills
0:09:12 > 0:09:15to help the nation once more.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19'In the shade of the sheltering palms on the banks of the Nile,
0:09:19 > 0:09:21'girls of the ATS arrange classes
0:09:21 > 0:09:23'to teach Tommy Atkins how to sew and darn.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26'At first, their fingers are all thumbs, but soon, they can sew a shirt
0:09:26 > 0:09:30'on a button or patch a hole as neatly as a first-class plumber.'
0:09:30 > 0:09:33Skills and pursuits that were merely recreational before the war
0:09:33 > 0:09:36were now applied to the war effort.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41Women welders, who were doing almost as masculine a job
0:09:41 > 0:09:43as you could hope for.
0:09:43 > 0:09:48It turns out that welding was a very skilled and precise job
0:09:48 > 0:09:51and these women were partly selected because
0:09:51 > 0:09:54they had worked in confectionery and had done cake icing.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59There was the feeling that women had to be doing things that they
0:09:59 > 0:10:01were fitted for, that were appropriate for them.
0:10:03 > 0:10:08'The Queen joins the ladies in the Blue Drawing Room of Buckingham Palace.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10'The ladies are members of the palace staff
0:10:10 > 0:10:13'and these twice weekly meetings are Her Majesty's idea, to work
0:10:13 > 0:10:16'for the Red Cross or do knitting for the troops.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21'There's a complete absence of formality.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23'It's just a job to be done - an example to us all
0:10:23 > 0:10:25'of the way to win a war.'
0:10:27 > 0:10:31My grandmother would unravel a jumper and re-knit it.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34When you'd grown out of it, the wool would be re-knitted
0:10:34 > 0:10:38and for years, I half-believed that all wool was kinky
0:10:38 > 0:10:42because it had been unravelled and had the old shaping in it.
0:10:42 > 0:10:47With the war uppermost in people's minds, it's not surprising
0:10:47 > 0:10:52that military icons inspired the nation's craft enthusiasts.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55It was an age when you could find a Lancaster bomber
0:10:55 > 0:10:57in your neighbour's back garden.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59'Dad is tuning up.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02'The air screw turns and very soon, they'll be on their way.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05'It's a grand trip.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10'They've run into a lot of flak and the pilot's taking
0:11:10 > 0:11:13'evasive action, but do they reach their target?
0:11:13 > 0:11:16'Well, look. Bomb's gone.'
0:11:19 > 0:11:23The scale and ambition of these creations testify to British
0:11:23 > 0:11:26resourcefulness in a period of prolonged privations
0:11:26 > 0:11:28and severe shortages.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30After the Second World War, Britain is exhausted -
0:11:30 > 0:11:34it's bombed out, it's hidebound by rationing,
0:11:34 > 0:11:37it's a very grey country in the late '40s and early '50s.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41People did things that were generally cheap.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45'They're just oddments from grocers' packing cases yet they're
0:11:45 > 0:11:46'the basis of a toymaker's art.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51'Yootha Rowes discovered her talent during the war
0:11:51 > 0:11:54'when she was an evacuee on a Dorset farm.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57'She's come a long way since making toys for that Dorset village,
0:11:57 > 0:11:59'but the memory of the country is with her
0:11:59 > 0:12:01'as she puts the finishing touches to her midget stagecoach.'
0:12:04 > 0:12:07In ration-book Britain, many hobbies embraced affordable and quirky
0:12:07 > 0:12:13pastimes, but demanded dedication and perseverance rather than cash.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18Many turned to pursuits that indulged the more obsessive
0:12:18 > 0:12:21aspects of our national character.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25The reason this country is fundamentally sane
0:12:25 > 0:12:30and has survived so long and well is that we are all mad.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34And the thing we're most mad about is collecting.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37This is a nation of collectors.
0:12:48 > 0:12:54The desire to collect, to classify, that is very distinctively British.
0:12:54 > 0:12:59Which foreigners find baffling.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01'Another LIGHT subject - matchbox labels.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04'79-year-old Mr Charles Crabton collects them.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06'He's done so for 50 years.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10'Today, he has 42,000 from 83 countries.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14'these labels from Korea could tell a story.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17'A truer one than these Japanese wartime propaganda epics.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20'They're just a lot of flaming nonsense.'
0:13:22 > 0:13:26Perhaps driven by the constant struggle against never-ending
0:13:26 > 0:13:30shortages, many British collectors started to amass ever more
0:13:30 > 0:13:31unlikely items.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34When I was a little boy,
0:13:34 > 0:13:38I had the best collection of cheese labels in Southwest London.
0:13:38 > 0:13:39'Three years ago, Mrs Mabel Smith,
0:13:39 > 0:13:44'a South London housewife, started collecting cheese labels as a hobby.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47'she found interest in this hobby so widespread that, last year,
0:13:47 > 0:13:49'she started to go into the cheese label business.'
0:13:49 > 0:13:54The most brilliant one, if you loved cheese, was to collect cheese labels
0:13:54 > 0:13:56because you can ring up cheese producers
0:13:56 > 0:13:58and say, "Could you send me
0:13:58 > 0:14:02"a selection of your cheeses cos I'm going to promote your labels."
0:14:03 > 0:14:06'With the support of cheese importers who save labels
0:14:06 > 0:14:07'she's able to fulfil her orders.'
0:14:09 > 0:14:11'Since she started in business,
0:14:11 > 0:14:15'she's bought more than 600,000 cheese labels and sold 200,000.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19'She says it's work she'll never get CHEESED OFF with.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23After the war, an abundance of war-related mementoes was
0:14:23 > 0:14:28readily available for even the most cash-strapped collector.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31My dad liked to collect bits of bombs that had dropped.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35And bullets and bits of armoury.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37That was a big thing for working class kids.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42The more agile and less scrupulous even managed to build
0:14:42 > 0:14:47impressive collections out of what had once been public property.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50'A young man who collects street lamps. Still don't believe it?
0:14:50 > 0:14:53'Well, watch his technique as he climbs up to work.'
0:14:55 > 0:14:56Is that not just theft?
0:14:56 > 0:14:59He's wandered up and gone, "I'll have that," and taken it away.
0:14:59 > 0:15:00That's what it looks like.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03At every stage, there's no suggestion that he's been given
0:15:03 > 0:15:06permission to take this street lamp away.
0:15:06 > 0:15:07'Through his collection of lamps,
0:15:07 > 0:15:10'dating back to Trafalgar, Peter Barnam has now added one more.'
0:15:10 > 0:15:13You're talking about a street thief.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18I can't believe no-one stopped him.
0:15:19 > 0:15:24As Britain's post-war economic woes subsided,
0:15:24 > 0:15:26people had more cash to spend on the serious business of having fun.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40The economy went through a great boom in the mid '50s.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42Rationing was lifted, full employment,
0:15:42 > 0:15:44rising living standards, rising wages.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47Britain is going through this economic golden age.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49It was a real sense of economic optimism.
0:15:49 > 0:15:54From that, you get this vast cornucopia of entertainments.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16Increased disposable income gave some Britons an opportunity
0:16:16 > 0:16:18to indulge their taste for the exotic.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25The relatively drab monochrome items collected hitherto found competition
0:16:25 > 0:16:29from a range of new, unusual and colourful objects of desire.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37Millicent Rich saw the opportunity to cash in on the increasingly
0:16:37 > 0:16:39adventurous appetites of Britain's collectors.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43'Now many thousands of these shells and sea phenomena are brought
0:16:43 > 0:16:48'to this country by Millicent Rich, Europe's only woman importer.'
0:16:50 > 0:16:53I started to import them
0:16:53 > 0:16:56when I realised they could be very decorative in the home.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00In bathrooms, bathroom ornaments.
0:17:00 > 0:17:02You could stick your toothbrushes in them.
0:17:02 > 0:17:09You could put flowers in them, you could embed the side panels
0:17:09 > 0:17:13of the bath in beautiful patterns with them, every home should have a selection
0:17:13 > 0:17:18of shells, cos they attract attention and they're something to talk about
0:17:18 > 0:17:22should the subject of the neighbours dry up or anything similar.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25'The shells fit ideally into the pattern of modern
0:17:25 > 0:17:29'decoration for the subtle colouring and smooth line make a striking
0:17:29 > 0:17:33'contrast to the bold shading and right angles of contemporary
0:17:33 > 0:17:35'furniture, like that of Terence Conran.'
0:17:35 > 0:17:38The jewellery was very successful.
0:17:38 > 0:17:44We made rings, inlaid things and we sold quite a lot to Biba,
0:17:44 > 0:17:47a very famous shop.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51'For after all, she sells seashells from the she... Ahem. Never mind.'
0:17:53 > 0:17:56By the late '50s, British tastes were increasingly
0:17:56 > 0:17:59influenced by an emerging global popular culture.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05Millions of Britons were exposed to American TV and pop music.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07Some could afford to travel to Europe
0:18:07 > 0:18:10and beyond for the very first time.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14With these windows opening on other worlds, there was a new
0:18:14 > 0:18:19willingness to embrace leisure pursuits from abroad.
0:18:19 > 0:18:25You have things from Europe coming in. For example, the sauna.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28The idea of a sauna as a hobby might seem odd
0:18:28 > 0:18:32but there were these early pioneers of saunas, birching themselves with
0:18:32 > 0:18:37birch twigs and getting very excited with Continental sophistication.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39'As you've probably guessed,
0:18:39 > 0:18:41'we're at the only private sauna bath in London.'
0:18:43 > 0:18:45'The sauna is the Finnish version of the Turkish bath -
0:18:45 > 0:18:48'a light beating with the twigs opens the pores
0:18:48 > 0:18:50'and stimulates the circulation of the blood.'
0:18:52 > 0:18:56Some imported activities were given an idiosyncratic,
0:18:56 > 0:19:00yet typically British twist.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03'Bullfighting in England is illegal, but that doesn't worry matador Alf.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06'He's about to demonstrate his self-taught Spanish style
0:19:06 > 0:19:09'and you'll marvel at the capework.'
0:19:15 > 0:19:18'If you're disappointed by the sight of Bimbo, the pet ram,
0:19:18 > 0:19:23'imagine what a letdown it was for the fans who turned up when Alf promised to face a real bull.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25'He had a last-minute change of heart
0:19:25 > 0:19:28'and it was probably the best move he ever made.'
0:19:32 > 0:19:34Men with rams and women with prams
0:19:34 > 0:19:38took on hazardous pursuits in Britain's new leisure age.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42'A remarkable woman is Renee Bennett, because her family
0:19:42 > 0:19:46'is more than just baby Charles, daughter Julie and husband Howard.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49'The other love in her life is motorcycling.'
0:19:49 > 0:19:52When I was about...
0:19:52 > 0:19:5620 I suppose it was, I said, right, I want to ride a motorbike.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59Dad taught me to ride.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03Er, bit hairy it was, cos I had no idea how to ride.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05'Renee's just about tops
0:20:05 > 0:20:08'when invading the skid-lid male world of motorcycle competitions.'
0:20:08 > 0:20:12Then I entered my first trial.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15I thought, oh, my God, I'll never be able to do this.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18When I think now, dropping down the hill, going over,
0:20:18 > 0:20:22head over heels, the bike hitting me, covered in bruises.
0:20:22 > 0:20:27Anyway, I overcame it, and I just...from then on, that was it.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29And I rode for...25 years.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32Using your feet too often loses marks.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35It must be one of the few times
0:20:35 > 0:20:38a woman can't afford to put her foot down.
0:20:38 > 0:20:44Meanwhile, I was doing the modelling, film work, stunts.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48'Just because you're a woman doesn't earn any favoured treatment
0:20:48 > 0:20:51'in this competitive two-wheeled world.'
0:20:51 > 0:20:53I gradually became one of them.
0:20:53 > 0:20:58I used to beat them anyway, so they couldn't really... couldn't really say anything!
0:20:59 > 0:21:01'Whichever way you look at it, it's a puzzle to know
0:21:01 > 0:21:04'how Renee Bennett keeps everything going at full throttle.
0:21:04 > 0:21:09'But this was one occasion when husband Howard had the last laugh.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11'He pipped Renee on the post.'
0:21:15 > 0:21:20Throughout the period, most women's hobbies were pursued at home.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24Some male pastimes were also based indoors
0:21:24 > 0:21:28and would become a source of domestic strife for years to come.
0:21:29 > 0:21:34The virtues of home improvement were extolled to television viewers
0:21:34 > 0:21:38by the '60s answer to Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.
0:21:38 > 0:21:39Hello.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42Barry Bucknell is one of the great unheralded figures
0:21:42 > 0:21:45of recent British history, because he's somebody who absolutely
0:21:45 > 0:21:48pioneers the DIY ethos and he symbolises
0:21:48 > 0:21:53the domesticity and the affluence of the sort of '50s onwards.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56Well, there it is. Headlamps in position.
0:21:56 > 0:21:57No wiring but, er,
0:21:57 > 0:22:02you see that it has given you a really nice furnished effect.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05And when you've varnished this and got this woodwork,
0:22:05 > 0:22:08which looks as well as anything you'd buy in a shop,
0:22:08 > 0:22:12I think you'll be very pleased that you've tackled this bedhead problem.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15For me, DIY was too much like hard work.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18And Barry Bucknell, too much of a real man.
0:22:18 > 0:22:23Next week, the same time, I'll show you how to make the fittings for this wardrobe,
0:22:23 > 0:22:25so, till then, I'll say, "Bye, now."
0:22:27 > 0:22:31All too easily, private passions can turn into personal obsessions.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37'Every part of the house was built by Jack in his spare time
0:22:37 > 0:22:38'over a period of six years.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42'Jack was advised against building the house by doctors
0:22:42 > 0:22:44'because of his thrice-fractured skull,
0:22:44 > 0:22:46'first a shell splinter in World War One,
0:22:46 > 0:22:50'second a motorcycle accident and third a fall of bricks,
0:22:50 > 0:22:53'but it took more than that to stand in the way
0:22:53 > 0:22:56'of this proud achievement, truly the house that Jack built.'
0:22:58 > 0:23:02Jack Punter wasn't alone in his determination
0:23:02 > 0:23:04to realise his grand design.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08Many were equally dogged in pursuit of their idea of perfection,
0:23:08 > 0:23:11albeit on a much smaller scale.
0:23:11 > 0:23:18By the '60s and '70s you have a great fad for models of all kinds,
0:23:18 > 0:23:21model cars, model aeroplanes, sailing model boats.
0:23:21 > 0:23:26You don't really go to a park now and see people with their model boats.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30'Perfect scale models of ships scurry back and forth
0:23:30 > 0:23:33'across their tideless oceans on journeys to nowhere.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35'But for the men who build and sail their mini fleets
0:23:35 > 0:23:39'the worlds of commerce and industry are forgotten.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42'On Sundays, their horizons are unbounded.'
0:23:42 > 0:23:46Britain's model makers consistently demonstrated remarkable
0:23:46 > 0:23:49precision, dedication and fastidiousness.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53'It was an old-fashioned carousel like this,
0:23:53 > 0:23:57'but lifesize, that inspired Mr Turner to become an engineer.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00'Now he's created a model of his inspiration,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03'so the old showground world comes round again.'
0:24:05 > 0:24:08'This Lincoln bomber, for example, accurate in every detail
0:24:08 > 0:24:11'on a scale of one sixteenth, took him six months to build.'
0:24:22 > 0:24:25The late '60s were a high point
0:24:25 > 0:24:28in the British post-war leisure revolution,
0:24:28 > 0:24:33but grey clouds were once again looming over the country's economy.
0:24:33 > 0:24:38For many families, there were turbulent times ahead.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41I think the kind of optimism and the affluence of the '60s
0:24:41 > 0:24:44had really run out of steam by, really, 1970.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48People aren't putting the same energy into their hobbies outside the home
0:24:48 > 0:24:51as beforehand, cos they're staying in and watching the telly.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56Television had a contradictory effect on Britain's hobbyists.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01While it distracted many people from traditional pursuits,
0:25:01 > 0:25:03programmes like Blue Peter
0:25:03 > 0:25:07positively encouraged a new generation of young model makers
0:25:07 > 0:25:11and craftspeople to express their creativity.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15There was lots of TV programmes that promoted collecting,
0:25:15 > 0:25:18like Saturday Swap Shop, Tiswas and Blue Peter,
0:25:18 > 0:25:20collecting knick-knacks and making things.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24So the TV promoted collection, I think, more in the '70s.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26You can decorate them in all sorts of different ways,
0:25:26 > 0:25:30with ribbons, with gold doilies, with cut-out bits from magazines.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33When they tell you to do something with your sticky-back plastic
0:25:33 > 0:25:36and your egg box, you can create a whole world
0:25:36 > 0:25:39with bits and pieces you find around the house.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43Well, here's one party, though, that never gets rained off.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46It's all taking place in a cardboard box,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49and if you'd like to make one, I'll show you how it's done.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54I used to watch Blue Peter and Take Hart with such a religious fervour.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02Really did love them, because I knew I couldn't have done it.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05I knew that there were going to be some things where it would be like,
0:26:05 > 0:26:09"How can you even see that well, let alone draw that well?"
0:26:11 > 0:26:13- Right, now...this one's ready. - There!
0:26:15 > 0:26:18But the computer was to become the game changer
0:26:18 > 0:26:20for the British hobbyist.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22You can't get away from them.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26There are shops in the high street Where you can buy where you can buy
0:26:26 > 0:26:29a PET, an Apple, an Acorn, a Tangerine, even a Newbrain.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32In fact, computers suddenly seem to be everywhere.
0:26:32 > 0:26:34I bet there's hardly a pub in the country
0:26:34 > 0:26:38which doesn't have a couple of computers in the lounge bar.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43Children who once spent hours with empty cereal packets
0:26:43 > 0:26:47and sticky-backed plastic now had their thumbs stuck to handsets
0:26:47 > 0:26:48and games controllers.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50I don't understand it.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54I'm of that age but I don't have the patience to throw a bird off a wall.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56If I want to deal wi' an angry bird, we've got pigeons
0:26:56 > 0:27:00in the city centre of Glasgow that try and steal your sandwich.
0:27:00 > 0:27:01I'm quite happy to do that live.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05And I don't have the inclination to sit and say,
0:27:05 > 0:27:09"Oh, no, somebody's poured salt on my pine trees."
0:27:09 > 0:27:13I need to buy a fur coat for my child's winter months coming on.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17Houseville. Seriously, there's stuff happening in the world.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20Get off your computer and stop buying sheep.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22You live in Castlemilk.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28The British treasure their leisure.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32For over a century we've devoted hours to making and collecting.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40We're resourceful, even when resources are in short supply.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43And our ingenuity, perfectionism
0:27:43 > 0:27:47and sometimes eccentricity always shine through.
0:27:52 > 0:27:57The pastimes of times past show that we've adopted and adapted
0:27:57 > 0:28:01the passions of other nations and magically made them our own.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06Our obsessions demonstrate that Britons are never more serious
0:28:06 > 0:28:11than when we are at our most playful.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15Well, I've just taken up ukulele playing.
0:28:15 > 0:28:20I've never played an instrument ever. I've learnt four chords. Erm...
0:28:20 > 0:28:24my family and friends think it's a midlife crisis and a call for help
0:28:24 > 0:28:27but I think hobbies are there for your own enjoyment,
0:28:27 > 0:28:29so I enjoy it, even if they don't.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd