Planes, Trains and Automobiles British Passions on Film

At the turn of the 20th century, Britain's urban transport system

was still powered by the source it had relied on for centuries -

the horse.

The idea of travelling through the air at supersonic speeds

would have seemed like a fantasy.

But, within just a few decades, Britain would be transformed

from a place of horse and cart to the land of Concorde.

There it was, crackling and roaring,

the air in our chest made to resonate almost painfully

by the power of the Olympus engines.

Momentous technological and engineering breakthroughs

would revolutionise life in our towns and cities.

In a golden age of travel, we fell in love with ever-faster trains,

thrilling cars and beautiful planes.

The machines that made the modern world.

In Edwardian times, horse-drawn trams were the favourite

mode of transport of the suburban commuter.

Fares were cheap, and passengers could sit anywhere.

There weren't any class systems.

There was just the lower saloon and the upper deck, but there

wasn't any place that first class, second class, third class could sit.

It was all a mix.

40,000 horses toiled daily on the streets of London

to power the city's trams.

It was hard work for the horses to pull the coaches

along on the lousy roads, so then they hit upon the idea

to put the trams on some sort of rails

that ran along the street.

Travelling on rails meant a much more comfortable ride for the commuter.

By the early 1900s, tram tracks had been laid in every major

British city, carrying over five million passengers a year.

Trams were very important,

because they allowed workers to get to their job,

like at the shipyards or railway yards,

they allowed shoppers to get into towns to do their daily shop.

But they also allowed tourists to see the sights around the city.

Although they were very popular,

trams only reached as far as city boundaries.

Travelling cross-country required the services of the other

main form of public transport then available - the steam train.

Britain's railway network was the envy of the world.

By 1910, the nation was covered by more than 19,000 miles of track.

Essentially, almost half the network of what we have today was built

in 20 years, and that had a profound effect across the whole of Britain.

Suddenly, what might take two or three days on a stagecoach

and be a fantastically uncomfortable journey, say between London

and York, or London and Edinburgh, even, could be done in a day.

The railways changed travel fundamentally, but also society.

In a way, they were like a three-dimensional Internet

of the 19th century, early 20th century.

They allowed people to move.

Today, the computer allows us to explore the world -

then, the train allowed you to explore Britain.

People who had never travelled outside small villages

suddenly were able to go to big cities.

That was a gigantic change.

The speed and elegance of steam engines fired people's imagination.

The latest trains became a source of national pride.

NEWSREADER: 'British railways mean to keep their world reputation

'for speed. Meet King Henry VII,

'crack locomotive of the Great Western Railway.

'He's been given a little something that other engines haven't got.

'At Swindon Works, he's been given a streamlined body

'and a bullet nose, designed to reduce wind resistance.'

Steam was king, queen, monarch, all princes of the railways.

A steam locomotive breathes. It feels as if it's alive.

There's great plumes of steam coming from the funnels of engines

racing through the countryside.

They have a lot of expression.

They breathe, they sigh, they chuff, they puff.

Steam was glorious.

It was a wonderful way to travel on the rails,

with this living, breathing machine at the front,

and they were just simply stunningly beautiful things,

made with great love and care by the workers,

designed with great love and care by the engineers.

There was nothing cynical ever about a steam railway locomotive.

When it's moving, almost all the external parts,

all the moving parts are on the outside, the heat from the boiler,

the heat from the steam, you can look into the fire.

There's a lot to associate that with the romantic nature of transport.

The trains were a democratic as well as romantic form of transport.

When rail was state-owned,

fares were kept low, so the system was used by everyone.

But the motorcar was a different story.

Early cars were usually slow, uncomfortable and unwieldy.

Right from the start,

these quirky contraptions became prestigious playthings of the elite.

Owning one was the ultimate status symbol.

Driving cars in the early period and owning them,

and fettling them like a horse, really, was a sport,

because they were very difficult things to drive.

Quite difficult and expensive things to own.

They weren't something you could just get in,

turn the key and drive off to the shops.

By the 1920s, early British cars like the bull-nosed Morris

were rolling off the production lines.

Manufacturers vied with each other

to produce the most desirable models.

For the aspiring middle classes,

the car was the most sought-after object of desire.

By 1932, 1.2 million Britons owned one.

As roads grew more congested,

it was obvious that people didn't understand basic driving etiquette.

Britain desperately needed to introduce some rules of the road.

'He's trying to pass on a bend,

'and it's quite impossible for him to see what's approaching.

'Then there's the careless driver,

'who pulls out without seeing if anything's coming up behind.'

Introducing road markings

and traffic lights improved matters for drivers,

but protective measures for pedestrians like the safety scoop

didn't quite catch on.

'They can be fitted to bumpers, or take the place of them.

'And it folds neatly away when it isn't eating pedestrians.

'The inventors are confident enough to demonstrate it themselves.

'A flick of a lever, and the scoop has another mouthful.

'When the scoop is open, a jaywalker simply can't get run over,

'and sometimes that's more than he deserves.'

These comical inventions were a response

to a very unfunny statistic.

By the 1920s in London alone,

three people were dying in road traffic accidents every day.

Yet enthusiasm for cars never wavered.

They tapped into Britain's love affair with the mechanical.

Owners adored playing with their new toys.

Early Pathe newsreels show all sorts of cars chasing through,

up hills in the mud, round racing circuits, trying to break

speed records, and there's one glorious one which is so enchanting,

about the time of the First World War,

where a group of people are trying to take an open-top sports car

to the top of Mount Snowdon.

They're so keen to prove that the modern English sports car

can go anywhere - even to the top of a mountain.

Motor racing quickly became a glamorous sport.

Spectators flocked to watch their favourite drivers at rallies.

But for some avid thrill seekers,

there were even more intrepid pursuits available.

Before the Great War, flying started to take off.

Huge crowds gathered to watch the pioneering aviators

and witness the miracle of flight.

Seeing an aeroplane was an extraordinary thing in those days.

It was still quite extraordinary after the First World War, even.

People out in the sticks, you only saw an aeroplane

if it happened to fly over, or if it force-landed in the field nearby.

Flying attracted those with the spirit of adventure.

Dare devils prepared to fly in flimsy planes cobbled together

from scraps of fabric and bits of bamboo.

Newspapers offered huge incentives to those pilots prepared

to fly further and faster.

Very few of the aviators in the first two or three years survived

even to see the First World War.

It really was a very dangerous business.

Yet the lure of huge prize funds proved irresistible.

Flyers were prepared to take on ever more daring feats.

In June 1919, Jack Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown

completed the first non-stop transatlantic flight.

It took less than 16 hours.

After a forced landing in Ireland,

they pocketed £10,000 from the Daily Mail.

In the same year as Alcock and Brown's record-breaking effort,

the first international commercial air service

between London and Paris was launched.

The maiden flight carried only a few passengers, some newspapers,

Devonshire cream and a grouse.

In the 1920s, you were starting to get commercial flights

as we would recognise them now. Still hugely expensive,

and only the absolute richest people could afford it,

because these were aircraft that would only be carrying

a dozen or 20 passengers.

Early flying wasn't that comfortable, for the most part.

You would have earplugs put into your ears,

a blanket over your knees,

quite some experience, and a sickbag to hold for many passengers here.

The noise, the vibration,

all quite difficult for most people to cope with.

One of the first domestic commercial services

was Imperial Airways' sightseeing tours.

'The object is to take people over London,

'that Londoners may see London.

'It is made at a very cheap price of 12 and sixpence,

'with the sole object that poor and rich alike

'can see their own London from the air.'

The flight lasted only 30 minutes, but for the fortunate few aboard,

London from above was an enthralling spectacle.

In 1932, one of Britain's most celebrated aviators launched

an initiative intended to introduce the nation to the exciting

possibilities of air travel.

The famous flyer Alan Cobham established National Aviation Day.

The importance of flying

or the development of flying to the British cannot be exaggerated.

It is so essential that the public of Britain should become air-minded.

Already we are cruising with aircraft at 150mph.

In a couple of years' time, probably we shall be cruising at 250mph.

And when we're going at that speed,

Scotland will only be a couple of hours from London.

Paris will be under the hour away.

Cobham was just one of the high flyers promoting aviation.

Amy Johnson and her husband Jim Mollison had become household names

after competing, often against each other,

in a series of record attempts.

Jim Mollison and Amy Johnson were superstars of the 1930s.

Probably the nearest modern equivalent would be David Beckham

and Posh Spice.

Just after her wedding in 1932,

Johnson flew to South Africa in record time.

'Just imagine Amy's thoughts then.

'A goal in sight after a flight of over 6,000 perilous miles.

'She knew she'd broken the record held by her husband

'by more than ten hours.

'She admitted that she'd powdered her nose just before landing.'

Amy Johnson died in January 1941,

when her RAF aircraft plunged into the Thames during bad weather.

Just a few months earlier, the Battle of Britain had proved

how crucial aircraft were to the security of the nation.

During the war, important technological breakthroughs

would have a profound effect on the future of aviation, in particular

the development of the jet engine by the RAF engineer Frank Whittle.

He was a genius, and the engine he created totally changed

travel for people all around the world.

If you look at aircraft, particularly civil aircraft,

passenger aircraft,

flying immediately before the Second World War, and those flying

just after the Second World War, there was an extraordinary change.

Quick to exploit Whittle's revolutionary design

were the British manufacturers De Havilland.

In 1950, they launched the Comet, the world's first commercial jet.

Its maiden flight was greeted with optimism and pride.

'When the 36-seater, jet-propelled De Havilland Comet

'opened the latest act in man's conquest of the heavens,

'the eyes of many nations were focused upon it.

'The jets will enable Britain's future airliners to do twice the work

'in almost half the time at four fifths of the cost.

'Tails up for Britain!'

Soon after its launch,

the first Comet model was grounded due to structural problems.

The Comet had ushered in Britain's jet age,

but De Havilland's American competitors were poised to move in.

Boeing's airliners brought new levels of passenger comfort

and sophistication.

The seductive image of jet travel they created

stimulated the public's appetite for modern methods of transport.

Down on the ground,

traditional steam trains were being displaced by newer, faster engines.

Diesel engines and electric engines had become powerful enough

and economical enough to be put into a locomotive,

especially after the Second World War.

Diesel and electric engines were seen as easier to use,

they weren't as dirty as steam locomotives were perceived to be,

and also easier to maintain.

For steam, the end was nigh.

Many of the old engines were consigned to the scrap yard.

'A sad thought for small boys, perhaps, but a glad thought

'for most, who welcome the diesel locomotive as steam's successor.

'The familiar sight of the overall-clad crew is being replaced.

'If not exactly white-collar workers,

'they can certainly dress in accordance with the relatively clean conditions the job now provides.'

Diesels were claimed to be faster,

cleaner and equipped with all the mod cons.

Steam trains may have been more elegant,

but they had no place in a modern railway.

'British Railways don't call Project XP64 a luxury train.

'But if there's anything better in the world, they'd like to see it.

'Passenger comfort is started from the moment of entering through

'doors wide enough for a fat man with two suitcases, until journey's end.

'Aiming at maximum passenger comfort,

'the designers consulted medical experts.

'Glare can be banished without gloom taking its place,

'and forced air ventilation pleases everybody.

'They say the lighting is pretty well perfect.

'If you must try out the new alarm, it'll only cost you £5.

'British Railways are doing all possible

'to make our journeys really comfortable.'

The railways needed to modernise

because by the late '50s they were facing serious competition

from an increasingly popular and affordable rival.

In the post-war years, car sales grew sharply,

as disposable incomes rose and petrol rationing ended.

For the Austin motor company, it was boom time.

It was the biggest exporter of cars in the world.

Now, the company prepared to conquer the domestic market too.

Many companies made a pitch for an economy car.

Many bubble cars appeared on the market in the mid or late '50s.

These really weren't the answer, and it was decided to produce

a proper motorcar, although a very small and compact one,

that would seat four people in pretty reasonable comfort.

The car invented by Austin went on to become a true British classic.

We realised it was something special.

The press were very suspicious to begin with,

until they realised what it was like to drive.

'These motoring correspondents took the new cars

'and drove them and saw for themselves how the clever suspension

'and new engine position gave them a spacious car with such

'a wonderful ability to hold the road that they were a zippy joy to drive.'

The Mini was a completely revolutionary car.

This tiny little ten-foot four-seater can seat four adults,

could go 70mph, didn't use much fuel

and could drive remarkably like a go-kart.

'Even jam-packed London's no real problem.

'You thread your way through the traffic with complete ease.'

The Mini could be seen anywhere in any company,

and it could be used by a member of royalty, as it was, frequently,

or it could be used by the owner

just able to afford his first new car.

With an inspired design by Alec Issigonis, the Mini went on

to become the best-selling British-made car of all time.

It brought motoring to the masses.

By the mid '60s, Britain's roads were getting ever busier.

In London, the Mini was competing for space with another

transport icon - the Routemaster bus.

The Routemaster epitomised fantastic design.

It also made bus transport in London look modern,

and also exciting.

The Routemaster was seen as the solution to the burgeoning

problem of congestion.

Lord Brabazon, 1,000 new Routemasters is all very well,

but I imagine from the ordinary motorist's point of view,

who travels a lot in central London, it's 1,000 too many.

Do you think that's a fair attitude?

Well, from the point of view of circulation of people in London,

the more go in buses and the less in cars,

the better for the circulation of traffic.

With an idiosyncratic design,

it had several advantages for the passenger.

You could hop on and off the bus whenever you liked.

If there was a bus moving off and you were a little bit behind time,

you could run for it and jump on.

The Routemaster has a very friendly face.

It comes along, it looks so friendly, and when you're getting on,

there's somebody standing on the platform ready to welcome you,

you go through a sort of lobby,

and then you go into the sitting area,

and it's all like being at home, and very reassuring.

Please hold tight now.

Despite affection for the Routemaster,

Londoners were still in love with the freedom of owning a car.

Britain certainly went car-crazy in the '60s.

You just have to look at advertising,

and you see this great love of motoring.

It's an obsession.

There were all sorts of attempts in the 1950s

and '60s from Britain making makeshift cars.

People made DIY cars.

It was partly because of a lack of money,

and partly because of, I think,

a sense of innocence, optimism and fun.

'Motoring correspondents like Denis Holmes of the Daily Mail reckon

'these car kits are going to set a new trend for young people about town

'because, as you see, you can put together your own unique hotrod.

'The chassis's been designed to take a variety of engines

'and etceteras built for production line models,

'which means that your do-it-yourself fun car

'can be tailor-made to your own taste.

'You can make it from all sorts of second-hand spare parts.'

Pathe also made a newsreel about a student who made a bath

into a car, a motorised bath.

This was in 1960. It was a lovely idea.

I suppose it was just a bit of fun, really.

'On her first outing,

'the bath established a world record with a run from Bath to London,

'but, as the saying goes, roughly, you can't live on past glories, and

'these days, the students are reduced to using her for going to the market.

'Although, no doubt, if it came to a matter of national prestige -

'if, say, the Americans or Russians came up with a jet-propelled bath -

'they'd soon get her in racing trim again.'

I think it expresses that tremendous innocence of the age,

that you could get out onto the roads, travel where you wanted to,

even in the bath.

Was it legal? I doubt it, but it certainly made a good film.

These hand-made creations contrast sharply with the high-tech

developments emerging from the cutting edge of British industry.

By the early '60s, some of our finest engineers were trying

to build the fastest plane in the world.

In November 1962, the British and French governments

agreed to collaborate on the production

of the world's first supersonic jet plane, Concorde.

Hugely complex and dauntingly ambitious, Concorde was to be built

by hundreds of firms on both sides of the Channel.

The French Concorde first took flight from a runway

at Toulouse on March 2nd, 1969.

'We'd waited two days for the weather to clear and the decision

'to be made, yet there it was, crackling and roaring,

'the air in our chest made to resonate almost painfully

'by the power of the Olympus engines.'

Five weeks later,

the people of Britain had their chance to hear Concorde's roar.

'The red, white and blue of Britain's supersonic jet giant was

'a proud sight as she made her 22 minute maiden flight to RAF Fairford,

'where the 10,000 foot runway, one of the longest in the country, waited

'invitingly for the Anglo-French super jet to return to Earth.

'Gracefully, like a prehistoric winged monster,

'002 felt for the ground.'

Concorde was, in every way, a magnificent technological

achievement, and no-one should ever take that away from the British

and the French, who worked so brilliantly together and so

harmoniously together on producing a machine that is, in a way, peerless.

It's like a perfect paper dart folded up

and just hurled into the sky.

It's just one of those machines that, if you added anything to its

design, the slightest extra touch or line or detail could spoil it.

If you take anything away, you'd spoil it.

It was a design perfect in every way.

Concorde was poetry in aerial motion. Those lucky enough to work

on the plane were beguiled by its beauty, grace and power.

Concorde was an absolute joy to fly.

She was rather like a fighter than a bomber,

or a thoroughbred racehorse rather than a riding school one.

You could control her with your fingertips all the way through

the flight regime. Take off, climb, acceleration,

supersonic speed, descent and landing.

She was an absolute pilot's joy.

I remember sitting at door 3, at the back of the aeroplane,

and the power was on,

and we just went up like a rocket.

One of the most exciting memories is seeing

Concorde following the eclipse.

The type of passenger was very different indeed on the Concorde.

In the very early days, we had a lot of British gentry,

if you like, and then we had very high business people.

They had the money, and they wanted to get there quickly,

so it was a complete mix of passenger styles.

Like many of its high-flying passengers,

Concorde was an international superstar,

but commercially, the plane was a failure,

suffering from crippling running costs and limited passenger space.

Sadly, the story of Concorde ended

after a tragic accident in the year 2000.

'Air France Concorde has crashed near Paris, killing everybody on board.

'113 are dead.'

In 2003, Concorde was withdrawn from service for ever.

Now that Concorde no longer flies,

there are so many things we can't do.

We can't arrive before we leave, we can't fly on the edge of space,

where the sky gets dark, where you can see the curvature of the Earth.

We can't travel faster than a rifle bullet.

We can't travel at 22.5 miles a minute.

So much has been lost, and those days

when we could do those things made Concorde so special.

25 years after Concorde's launch,

another Anglo-French collaboration would also break records, creating

the longest undersea transport link in the world, the Channel Tunnel.

'The historic journey begins, as her Majesty leaves Waterloo

'bound for Calais, and a meeting with President Francois Mitterrand.'

Our island nation was now joined umbilically

to our European neighbours.

An engineering marvel,

the Channel Tunnel was one of the more successful achievements

of the 1990s.

Other developments in Britain's transport systems

have been less successful.

Today's passengers face congested roads, cancelled trains

and overcrowded airports.

The experience lacks the glamour, romance and excitement

that many felt during the golden age of travel.

A time when there was something heroic about our failures.

When there were triumphs against the odds,

and Britain's creative genius was gloriously realised.

A time when Britain willed herself to go faster,

further and higher than ever before.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd