0:00:06 > 0:00:12No art form tells us more about our ordinary lives than ceramics.
0:00:14 > 0:00:20For hundreds of years, some of the finest objects made on these shores
0:00:20 > 0:00:23have been formed from clay.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27Ceramics are where function meets art.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31They can be beautiful...
0:00:31 > 0:00:33..grotesque...
0:00:33 > 0:00:35..useful...
0:00:35 > 0:00:37..surprising.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42But they speak of our lives, our habits, our tastes,
0:00:42 > 0:00:45in ways that painting and sculpture cannot.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52Ceramics are something that you take an extraordinary material,
0:00:52 > 0:00:58this soft, uniform, malleable material which is clay,
0:00:58 > 0:01:00and then, by what must have seemed a miracle,
0:01:00 > 0:01:03and is, after all, a kind of miracle,
0:01:03 > 0:01:05suddenly, you can make it permanent.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08It's the thrill of creation.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14This series will reveal the hidden story of British pottery,
0:01:14 > 0:01:19from its humblest origins to the present day.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23It will bring alive the age of Josiah Wedgwood
0:01:23 > 0:01:30and the men and women who placed Stoke on Trent at the heart of the Industrial Revolution.
0:01:30 > 0:01:35And it will place centre-stage the potters who reacted against the factories,
0:01:35 > 0:01:38and found, in studio pottery,
0:01:38 > 0:01:41a modern art form in which Britain was to lead the world.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49But this first episode will look at the early days of domestic pottery.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53It will show the materials and techniques
0:01:53 > 0:01:58that allowed a peasant craft to become a versatile art.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02And it will uncover the innovations that enabled Britain
0:02:02 > 0:02:06to finally emerge as a world leader in ceramic production.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14Ceramics are absolutely about what makes us human.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17They are part of the way in which we articulate our life,
0:02:17 > 0:02:20from birth to death.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49Nothing is more primal than clay.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55It is where all pots begin.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03This is the Melbur Pit in Cornwall.
0:03:03 > 0:03:08Clay like this has been used by potters for thousands of years.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12Clay is...
0:03:12 > 0:03:16the cheapest, commonest,
0:03:16 > 0:03:20dirtiest, most basic material.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28It is very sexual stuff, because it's gloopy and slithery,
0:03:28 > 0:03:30and, of course, it becomes warm to the touch
0:03:30 > 0:03:34as you press it and mould it.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44It makes me feel very humble
0:03:44 > 0:03:50that I can take the earth and actually make a vessel from it.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Working with clay is that you...
0:03:56 > 0:03:58..you are God.
0:03:58 > 0:03:59You are God.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12The art of pottery is almost as old as we are.
0:04:12 > 0:04:17'The craft of the potter really began long before the dawn of history,
0:04:17 > 0:04:21'when villages were unknown, and agriculture scarcely thought of.'
0:04:21 > 0:04:26'Primitive women in many lands began to shape clay into pots.'
0:04:27 > 0:04:31One of the earliest techniques for building a pot was by squeezing,
0:04:31 > 0:04:36squashing and coiling sausages of clay into a smooth, even wall.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38But right from the start,
0:04:38 > 0:04:42there was a desire to make pots more than merely functional.
0:04:42 > 0:04:48People have made pots and used pots and eaten off pots for millennia,
0:04:48 > 0:04:53and the making of beautiful pots is a deep human desire
0:04:53 > 0:04:59to make the most ordinary things in your life beautiful.
0:05:02 > 0:05:07That desire stretches back more than 5,000 years in Britain.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13This shard of Neolithic pottery may not look much,
0:05:13 > 0:05:18but it tells an extraordinary tale of the innate human urge to decorate.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24This a piece of pottery which has been in our collection
0:05:24 > 0:05:26since the eve of the First World War.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29It was dredged out of the River Thames,
0:05:29 > 0:05:34and brought via an antiquities dealer in Wandsworth,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37and has sat in our collections ever since.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42When our conservator came to look at the pits in the neck here,
0:05:42 > 0:05:45which were then full of fluff when they came to her,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48and began to remove the fluff,
0:05:48 > 0:05:51she then realised that these impressions might take a cast.
0:05:51 > 0:05:56So, using a dental mounting medium, she took a very neat cast,
0:05:56 > 0:05:58and when that had dried and it was taken out,
0:05:58 > 0:06:02what we were left with was the tip of a finger,
0:06:02 > 0:06:06with a very long, potentially manicured fingernail.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12Now, I think our general view of people in prehistory
0:06:12 > 0:06:15is that their fingernails were likely to have been bitten to the quick,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18or torn to pieces by hard manual labour.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21Well, here was a person whose fingernails were not that way.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25They were very carefully maintained, you could almost say manicured.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29And one thinks, perhaps, say, of a modern guitarist,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32who grows fingernails to enable them to pluck the strings.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35Well, this person may well have grown their fingernails
0:06:35 > 0:06:38specifically to enable them to decorate the pot in this fashion.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44There was a possibility of finding fingerprints actually on the wall of the pot,
0:06:44 > 0:06:46so we got in contact with Wood Street Police,
0:06:46 > 0:06:49and they sent one of their fingerprint officers over,
0:06:49 > 0:06:54who took some impressions of his own, and did indeed turn up some fingerprint impressions.
0:06:54 > 0:07:02So it's a very nice way of identifying the manufacturer of this pot.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04So we are on the hunt now for other similar fingerprints,
0:07:04 > 0:07:09to see if we can match any more vessels to this particular potter.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13'Thousands of years roll by.'
0:07:13 > 0:07:20'Some unknown genius has adapted a new invention, the cartwheel, to form a potter's wheel.'
0:07:20 > 0:07:24'This revolutionary achievement meant better vessels than ever before,
0:07:24 > 0:07:29'and news of the potter's wheel spread like fire through the ancient world.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33The moment wheel-throwing comes in,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37then the arduous, very laborious rotation of the wrist
0:07:37 > 0:07:41suddenly is transformed, and you can create objects,
0:07:41 > 0:07:47cylindrical, globular, almost of infinite size.
0:07:48 > 0:07:53A lump of worked, moist clay is thrown down on the wheel or bat.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56With applied pressure from the hands, the lump is made even,
0:07:56 > 0:07:59and moved to the centre of the wheel.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05Then the thumb makes a central hole, which becomes the pot,
0:08:05 > 0:08:08with the sides growing up around it.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19When complete, the potter cuts the pot from the bat with a cheesewire,
0:08:19 > 0:08:21and leaves it to dry.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30The pot would then be fired in a kiln to strengthen the clay,
0:08:30 > 0:08:34and then sometimes fired again, bearing a decorative glaze.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39It's a slow, painstaking process.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45Until the late sixteenth century,
0:08:45 > 0:08:47most pots in Britain were made like this,
0:08:47 > 0:08:51from reddish clay, and known as earthenware.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57The results were both sturdy and practical.
0:09:02 > 0:09:08Medieval English pottery, unkindly, has been characterised as "brown".
0:09:09 > 0:09:11And that does sort of sum it up.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14To our modern eyes, when we are flooded with colour,
0:09:14 > 0:09:16everywhere around us we have colour,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20but in the medieval world, things were brown-ish.
0:09:20 > 0:09:25And with the exception of green and blotches of blackish-brown,
0:09:25 > 0:09:30those are the colour ranges for medieval pottery.
0:09:38 > 0:09:43But at the end of the sixteenth century, all that was to change.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46And it all began with hatred.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53Religious persecution in Holland and Germany
0:09:53 > 0:09:57meant that Protestants fled their homeland in fear of their lives.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03Many settled in Britain, and brought with them their trades,
0:10:03 > 0:10:06including pottery.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14These recently arrived European potters brought with them
0:10:14 > 0:10:16a technique that would see British pottery
0:10:16 > 0:10:22burst into life. What had been a craft was transformed overnight
0:10:22 > 0:10:23into an art.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28Pots were no longer green and brown,
0:10:28 > 0:10:31but alive with imagery and decoration.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39And it came to be known as English Delftware,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42after the Dutch town of Delft,
0:10:42 > 0:10:45a famous centre of production for this kind of pottery.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58John Hudson is a potter in Yorkshire
0:10:58 > 0:11:03who makes wares in traditional styles, including English Delftware.
0:11:09 > 0:11:14This is a low solubility lead glaze,
0:11:14 > 0:11:17with 8% tin oxide in it.
0:11:17 > 0:11:22The essence of Delftware is that you take
0:11:22 > 0:11:28an otherwise transparent lead glaze, but into it you put ashes of tin.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32And when the glaze is fired, it becomes opaque.
0:11:32 > 0:11:37In other words, it gives you a more or less white canvas,
0:11:37 > 0:11:41- onto which you can paint. - Ready for decoration.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45So all those medieval people who had got used to browns and yellows
0:11:45 > 0:11:50and greens, suddenly they had white pottery
0:11:50 > 0:11:53which could be decorated with a limited colour range.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57Typically blue... what we call blue and white,
0:11:57 > 0:12:01but other colours began to come into the palate.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06Now, what you're actually doing with this
0:12:06 > 0:12:09is painting onto a powdered surface.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12Now, I'm going to need to put some concentric bands
0:12:12 > 0:12:16of cobalt blue around the plate. So we need to set the wheel going,
0:12:16 > 0:12:20and get the plate running as truly as possible.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28You have to wet the cobalt first of all, by taking a little bit
0:12:28 > 0:12:31of water on a sponge, squeezing it into the cobalt.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36Cobalt is a very, very, strong colorant.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41So it's very much like watercolours.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Now plates and pots could be decorated,
0:12:46 > 0:12:50the question was, what to paint on them.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53There you are with a whole colour range,
0:12:53 > 0:12:55a palate that you never had before,
0:12:55 > 0:12:59and of course, what you want to do is paint portraits of notable people.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01The most notable ones being the monarchs.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04That's the plate finished.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08The earliest known piece of English Delftware
0:13:08 > 0:13:12with an English inscription may not depict a king or queen,
0:13:12 > 0:13:15but it is a royal commemorative.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19This is a piece dated 1600 or 1602.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23And it talks about the roses are red, the leaves are green,
0:13:23 > 0:13:25God save the Queen Elizabeth.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28And it's a view of
0:13:28 > 0:13:30the Tower of London.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32So we're seeing a royal souvenir
0:13:32 > 0:13:37from right at the very beginning of the industry in this country.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39And on the back,
0:13:39 > 0:13:44we have this fine tin-glaze as well.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46But also, you can just see,
0:13:46 > 0:13:51in the footring, there's two holes. So this was made as a display piece,
0:13:51 > 0:13:56this would have been hung on the wall, and rather curiously,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59whoever painted it didn't really pay as much attention
0:13:59 > 0:14:03to where the holes were. And if had ever hung on the wall,
0:14:03 > 0:14:06it would have hung slightly skew.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11The extraordinary significance of this piece is, basically,
0:14:11 > 0:14:13it is the first royal souvenir.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20The 17th century was one of immense political upheaval.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29Civil War tore the nation in two.
0:14:29 > 0:14:30And in this world of bloody division,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33English Delftware would play a central role
0:14:33 > 0:14:35in the battle for hearts and minds.
0:14:39 > 0:14:44England was a grim place, generally speaking, in the 17th century.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46I mean, nobody can overstate
0:14:46 > 0:14:51just how appalling it became during the parliamentary wars.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55So that when you see the Restoration of the Stuarts with Charles II,
0:14:55 > 0:15:00you see a huge explosion and a sigh of relief expressed in the pottery.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04You get these wonderful commemorative wares with portraits of
0:15:04 > 0:15:07"Long Live Charles II" and they're wonderful portraits.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11They're quite naive, they're almost cartoonish.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16You're really saying, "Thank Goodness, the Kings are back!"
0:15:23 > 0:15:25It might have begun with cups and plates,
0:15:25 > 0:15:30but soon, more idiosyncratic objects were being produced.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33This English Delftware ceramic plaque
0:15:33 > 0:15:38depicts Charles II in a tree, bearing the crowns of England,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41Scotland and Ireland in its branches.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43It's framed within a section
0:15:43 > 0:15:48of oak bark, and refers to a very particular event in 1651.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55Charles II, when he's a very young man,
0:15:55 > 0:16:01attempted with the help of the Scots Army to reclaim the throne.
0:16:01 > 0:16:07And they were eventually surrounded by Cromwell's forces at Worcester,
0:16:07 > 0:16:10and slaughtered in the streets.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13Charles did escape,
0:16:13 > 0:16:17and one of the places that he sheltered
0:16:17 > 0:16:21was in an oak tree in the woods in Boscobel,
0:16:21 > 0:16:25near Boscobel Manor, where they had taken him in.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31When the Restoration came about in 1660,
0:16:31 > 0:16:37the Boscobel Oak immediately became a symbol of, as it were,
0:16:37 > 0:16:39the King protected by his people.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42It's like a folk tale - the monarch in disguise, all sorts of things.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45And there were paintings of the Boscobel Oak,
0:16:45 > 0:16:49and there were prints of it, pictures of him in the oak tree.
0:16:49 > 0:16:54So it's absolutely right that there should also be a ceramic plaque.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10English Delftware was principally an urban form of pottery,
0:17:10 > 0:17:13made in cities such as London, Bristol and Liverpool.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22But the more traditional pottery of the countryside was also to reach
0:17:22 > 0:17:25its golden age in the 17th century.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31Called slipware, it was coarse earthenware,
0:17:31 > 0:17:36decorated with different coloured liquid clay, known as slip.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43It was usually shades of brown,
0:17:43 > 0:17:48but it had an earthy beauty all of its own.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53Like English Delftware, slipware was also used for commemoration.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56But rather than just royals,
0:17:56 > 0:18:01it's more often the lives of ordinary Britons we see celebrated.
0:18:04 > 0:18:09You often see historical ceramics with inscriptions on them.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11Often they'll refer to the birth of child,
0:18:11 > 0:18:13let's say a slip decorated cradle,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16and you could ask yourself the question, why?
0:18:16 > 0:18:20Why is it important to commemorate people through ceramic objects?
0:18:20 > 0:18:22I think one reason might be that
0:18:22 > 0:18:25a ceramics object is fixed in time.
0:18:25 > 0:18:30So a silver object, you can reshape, just heat it and hammer it again.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35You can unpick weaving, or re-embroider it.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38But a ceramics object, as any conservator knows,
0:18:38 > 0:18:44is really difficult to mess with. Once it's fired, it is what it is.
0:18:44 > 0:18:49A fired ceramic marks its place in time
0:18:49 > 0:18:53in a way that's very unusual, and I think quite poetic in some sense.
0:18:59 > 0:19:04It's interesting that ceramics are used as commemorative things.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06I suppose it's because
0:19:06 > 0:19:12the amount of space where you can hang things in a normal house
0:19:12 > 0:19:18is quite limited. Something that you can put on a shelf,
0:19:18 > 0:19:23which doesn't take too much space, is a nice thing to have,
0:19:23 > 0:19:27so you commemorate going to the seaside on your holiday
0:19:27 > 0:19:29by the little mug that you buy.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33Equally, you commemorate the moments in your own history.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36That's what ceramics are very good at.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43The greatest slipware maker of all
0:19:43 > 0:19:46was a Staffordshire potter named Thomas Toft.
0:19:49 > 0:19:50The 30 or so pieces of his pieces we have,
0:19:50 > 0:19:54dating from the 1660s through to the 1680s,
0:19:54 > 0:19:56display an eccentric playfulness.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01Thomas Toft, perhaps the most significant name
0:20:01 > 0:20:05when it comes to these huge slipware chargers,
0:20:05 > 0:20:12his name appearing boldly in the bottom quadrant of the dish.
0:20:12 > 0:20:17Dishes typically 18-20 inches in diameter, thickly potted,
0:20:17 > 0:20:20maybe half an inch thick at the rim,
0:20:20 > 0:20:23in the centre, decorated possibly with a royal portrait
0:20:23 > 0:20:29or the coat of arms of the royal family. And then around the rim,
0:20:29 > 0:20:32we have a cross hatch design, done in different colours of slip.
0:20:32 > 0:20:38Those colours may be dark brown, chocolate brown, pale cream,
0:20:38 > 0:20:40so you get a real depth of colour
0:20:40 > 0:20:43within a limited brownish-yellowy palate.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46But these huge things survived
0:20:46 > 0:20:50in a way that many of the contemporary everyday wares didn't.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56Thanks to their survival, potters today are still moved
0:20:56 > 0:20:59by the unpretentious talents of Thomas Toft.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05I remember going to Stoke-on-Trent and picking up a Thomas Toft dish,
0:21:05 > 0:21:07and I could feel where he'd picked it up
0:21:07 > 0:21:10when it was still wet and done things with it.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14A lot of the later pottery is so beautiful and so perfect,
0:21:14 > 0:21:19it sits there with a smile like the Mona Lisa,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22whereas the pottery made for peasants or country people
0:21:22 > 0:21:24or ordinary working-class people,
0:21:24 > 0:21:28it's like listening to Billy Connolly or Peter Kay, you know,
0:21:28 > 0:21:30they're full of wit and full of life.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32And they appeal to me far more
0:21:32 > 0:21:36than the finer wares of Wedgwood or Meissen.
0:21:36 > 0:21:41I like looking at the slipwares, and the ones with the hand marks in,
0:21:41 > 0:21:45and the ones which are a little bit skew-whiff. Wonderful.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01Mary Wondrausch works in the tradition of Thomas Toft
0:22:01 > 0:22:04at her pottery in Surrey.
0:22:07 > 0:22:13She mostly makes commemorative plates, using slipware.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17The 17th century became
0:22:17 > 0:22:20my greatest area of interest,
0:22:20 > 0:22:26because that's when the English slipware was at its best.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31Still a formidable potter at 88,
0:22:31 > 0:22:35Mary first throws the plate on her wheel,
0:22:35 > 0:22:37using a reddish clay.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43Then, after covering it in a layer of slip,
0:22:43 > 0:22:46she fires it for the first time,
0:22:46 > 0:22:51before decorating it in a manner Thomas Toft himself would recognise.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58For the detail, Mary uses a device she designed herself,
0:22:58 > 0:23:01made out of a bicycle inner tube.
0:23:06 > 0:23:11It's a very crude tool,
0:23:11 > 0:23:15particularly for doing faces.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18You really have to simplify.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24It's rather like a painting -
0:23:24 > 0:23:30I try to do a balance of the colour,
0:23:30 > 0:23:35do you see, over the whole body of the plate.
0:23:35 > 0:23:41Mary has regular customers going back many years
0:23:41 > 0:23:45who've commemorated all the major events in their family
0:23:45 > 0:23:46through her slipware.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49It's great for me dealing with families,
0:23:49 > 0:23:55and they all say it's become part of the family story.
0:23:55 > 0:24:00That's the thing about pottery, isn't it,
0:24:00 > 0:24:04that it's still going to be there,
0:24:04 > 0:24:10really, it will be passed down, those plates.
0:24:10 > 0:24:15But it's difficult with divorces - who shall keep the plate?
0:24:15 > 0:24:18I've heard some...
0:24:18 > 0:24:22pretty strong...
0:24:22 > 0:24:25stories about that.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33Ooh, that's better.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45Both English Delftware and slipware had transformed British pottery
0:24:45 > 0:24:48by offering surfaces that could be beautifully decorated.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58As a body, though, the earthenware
0:24:58 > 0:25:01they were made of had major drawbacks.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06It chipped easily and it was porous,
0:25:06 > 0:25:08meaning while it looked nice on a wall,
0:25:08 > 0:25:12it was far from ideal for everyday use.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20One last major breakthrough would improve on this, and in doing so,
0:25:20 > 0:25:23would confirm the 1600s as the century
0:25:23 > 0:25:26when British pottery came of age.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34That breakthrough was a body known as stoneware.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36And like English Delftware,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39it was a technique imported from the Continent.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45As the name suggest, stoneware is very hard.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49Not only will it hold water, but it will resist knocks,
0:25:49 > 0:25:56and you will see it used by the great wine exporters of the Low Countries.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00So we associate the early stonewares in Europe particularly with Germany.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03Bottles in sort of balloon shapes,
0:26:03 > 0:26:06sometimes with moulded designs,
0:26:06 > 0:26:08a bearded motif,
0:26:08 > 0:26:10these come over to England from the Rhine.
0:26:16 > 0:26:17As with all things
0:26:17 > 0:26:22coming to England, eventually we get around to making these things ourselves.
0:26:22 > 0:26:29And most notable of all the stoneware makers in London is John Dwight.
0:26:32 > 0:26:38John Dwight would come to be regarded by many as the father of modern British ceramics.
0:26:38 > 0:26:43He was no rural artisan, but an Oxford graduate with a scientific bent.
0:26:43 > 0:26:50And in the 1670s, he set himself the task of cracking the mystery of stoneware.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55John Dwight had been...
0:26:55 > 0:26:58well, he was a venture capitalist, an alchemist and a chemist.
0:26:58 > 0:27:06He worked with Robert Boyle and Hooke, and then he decided to experiment in ceramics,
0:27:06 > 0:27:08and set up his pottery at Fulham,
0:27:08 > 0:27:12where he could blaze away with his kilns to his heart's content.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19The Fulham Pottery, founded in 1672,
0:27:19 > 0:27:24would remain in production for nearly 300 years on the same site,
0:27:24 > 0:27:28though all that remains today is this single bottle kiln.
0:27:32 > 0:27:38It was in Fulham that after years of experimenting, Dwight mastered the technique of making stoneware.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43Almost indestructible and watertight,
0:27:43 > 0:27:46at last, British pottery would have a form
0:27:46 > 0:27:49that was practical and long-lasting.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58If this was all John Dwight had done, he would still have gone down
0:27:58 > 0:28:01as one of the most influential potters in our history.
0:28:03 > 0:28:10But a private tragedy would inspire him to create two of the most moving works in the story of British art.
0:28:20 > 0:28:27John Dwight's daughter, Lydia, was six years old when she died on 3rd March 1674.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30These white stoneware sculptures of his dead daughter,
0:28:30 > 0:28:32one on her deathbed,
0:28:32 > 0:28:35the other raised to life again,
0:28:35 > 0:28:42would be a private work for John Dwight, not intended for public display.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47I think those two sculptures of Lydia Dwight are easily
0:28:47 > 0:28:50the most moving objects in the history of British ceramics.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56Those objects are not just about
0:28:56 > 0:29:01a private loss, they are not just about one person's grief.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05I think they speak to anyone who has lost a loved one of any age.
0:29:05 > 0:29:11They are so emblematic and they are so simple.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25She's not a famous person, she's not a king,
0:29:25 > 0:29:29she's not a warrior, she's not even an actor,
0:29:29 > 0:29:32she's just a six-year-old girl
0:29:32 > 0:29:37and there's something so poignant about her typicality...
0:29:37 > 0:29:44in some way, the ceramic expression of grief that John Dwight is making there
0:29:44 > 0:29:46is a beautiful poem in clay to this dead girl.
0:30:14 > 0:30:20The 17th century had seen British pottery catch up with its European rivals.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23In the following century, it would come to lead the world.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28And the inspiration was tea,
0:30:28 > 0:30:33a new arrival from China that would captivate us as a nation.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37Tea has many advantages.
0:30:37 > 0:30:39It allows you the excuse to go shopping
0:30:39 > 0:30:41to get a tea set, the sugar base,
0:30:41 > 0:30:44sugar tongs, silver kettle, the cups,
0:30:44 > 0:30:50everything. And this shows off how rich and tasteful you are
0:30:50 > 0:30:55and it facilitates this new form of social occasion, new form of intimacy,
0:30:55 > 0:30:58inviting friends to your house in your drawing room
0:30:58 > 0:31:01to enjoy tea and gossip together,
0:31:01 > 0:31:03so it has quite a feminine quality to it.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07You often see caricatures of woman enjoying a tea party in the 18th century.
0:31:07 > 0:31:12and there's a sense that they are like a coven of witches taking over the world
0:31:12 > 0:31:16and the men are somehow excluded and this is somehow a bad thing.
0:31:20 > 0:31:28Just as alluring as tea were the porcelain cups and saucers it was drunk from.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32Porcelain from China had been arriving in Europe since the 16th century.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36It was highly coveted for its delicacy and translucency.
0:31:37 > 0:31:39It's a very simple formula.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42Chinese porcelain is made of two things,
0:31:42 > 0:31:45china clay and china stone.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48And they occur together in certain parts of China,
0:31:48 > 0:31:52notably in the area around the city of Jingdezhen.
0:31:52 > 0:31:56And that is where porcelain has been produced for over a thousand years.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00With demand high, British potters were looking for
0:32:00 > 0:32:05ingenious ways to compete with the allure of Chinese porcelain.
0:32:05 > 0:32:10One of my favourite pieces is a six-lobed tray of Delftware.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13And inside, you see a panel
0:32:13 > 0:32:19containing a scene, an interior of four people drawing up chairs,
0:32:19 > 0:32:23to have a cup of tea, with sash windows in the background,
0:32:23 > 0:32:31a little pug dog in the foreground barking, as the manservant comes in to fill the teapot with water.
0:32:31 > 0:32:35And when you look at the table, where the lady sits waiting to pour her tea,
0:32:35 > 0:32:41you'll see all the tea wares are placed on a little hexagonal tray,
0:32:41 > 0:32:45just like the hexagonal tray on which the whole scene is painted.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48It's just a delicious, little object.
0:32:48 > 0:32:54And it takes us into a Georgian drawing room in the late afternoon,
0:32:54 > 0:32:57in a way that no swanky painting can do.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07But the star of the tea party was the teapot,
0:33:07 > 0:33:11the ultimate symbol of conviviality and sisterhood.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15The teapot today is part of a housewife's standard equipment.
0:33:15 > 0:33:21Yet, once tea was only a society drink, and the teapot a rare and beautiful work of art.
0:33:23 > 0:33:31I think that the teapot becomes increasingly important as a symbol of the female head of the household,
0:33:31 > 0:33:33the mistress of the household.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35You know, today, you say, "Shall I be mother?"
0:33:35 > 0:33:42It means, pouring the tea, it becomes the symbol of solid, in-control, comfortable femininity.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45And it offers brilliant opportunities
0:33:45 > 0:33:51for colour and decoration, and the expression of different styles.
0:33:54 > 0:34:02There's more frivolity in teapot-making than you can believe in any ceramic practise.
0:34:02 > 0:34:07It's almost like the ludicrousness of trying to pour something made out of clay
0:34:07 > 0:34:14allows people to go into wilder, wilder elements of whimsy.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22Inspired by 18th-century ceramics,
0:34:22 > 0:34:28Carol McNicoll has been making unconventional teapots and domestic ware for nearly 40 years.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33We went to the V&A
0:34:33 > 0:34:39and I saw wonderful frilly teapots made out of lace,
0:34:39 > 0:34:41that was actual lace dipped in clay,
0:34:41 > 0:34:47and I just thought that whole tradition of...
0:34:47 > 0:34:51over-the-top table ware...
0:34:53 > 0:34:57..was completely wonderful and that's what I fell in love with.
0:34:59 > 0:35:01I love the idea of things being used.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06I love the fact that if you use something,
0:35:06 > 0:35:09you look at it, and it changes.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13If it's a vase you put flowers in it and it looks one way,
0:35:13 > 0:35:17and if you don't have flowers then it looks something different.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20I just love that you can make a special teapot
0:35:20 > 0:35:24and it has this whole history of...
0:35:24 > 0:35:26afternoon tea, tea as a ritual,
0:35:26 > 0:35:33tea having been - when it first arrived here - this incredibly expensive luxury thing
0:35:33 > 0:35:37and then becoming very everyday.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47For me, the home is...
0:35:47 > 0:35:50the most challenging environment. If you can make something
0:35:50 > 0:35:53that can survive in the home,
0:35:53 > 0:35:56then you've done something wonderful,
0:35:56 > 0:36:02because the home is...isn't a church
0:36:02 > 0:36:05that's designed for the showing of objects.
0:36:05 > 0:36:10It's a place that people live in. And if you can make an object that sings in the home,
0:36:10 > 0:36:14then you've created a small miracle.
0:36:24 > 0:36:29The 18th century may have seen the birth of our love affair with tea,
0:36:29 > 0:36:33but it also had less sophisticated heroes.
0:36:36 > 0:36:44In the 1780s, a small miracle of British domestic pottery turned up for the first time.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47The Toby Jug quickly made himself at home
0:36:47 > 0:36:49in the national psyche.
0:36:51 > 0:36:56Love him or loathe him, Toby was here to stay.
0:36:58 > 0:37:02The literary origins of the term "Toby" are unclear.
0:37:02 > 0:37:08Could be Toby Philpot, a notorious tippler from Yorkshire.
0:37:08 > 0:37:13Some people think there is a reference to Sir Toby Belch from Twelfth Night,
0:37:13 > 0:37:16who was also quite famous for drinking.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19I don't know which is the answer, and I don't think we ever will.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25By now, of course, as we get into the 20th century,
0:37:25 > 0:37:29Staffordshire potters have discovered that people like
0:37:29 > 0:37:34collecting, they wanted to complete a series. There is a missing one,
0:37:34 > 0:37:37"I have to get Henry Sanden."
0:37:41 > 0:37:45When I first worked here, we did a lot of the old Toby Jugs
0:37:45 > 0:37:48as people recognised the Toby Jug.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54My favourite one's the Squire.
0:37:54 > 0:37:56We don't do these now.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58They're out of production.
0:37:58 > 0:38:04So the old ones were the same as the very old ones, and I think they were good characters.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06Much more modern now.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15Adrian Chiles, he'd make a good Toby Jug.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18Yes, he's got lots of character in his face.
0:38:27 > 0:38:31Collecting Toby Jugs is a curiously British obsession.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36Ron Earl saw his first jug in 1950.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39It was the beginning of a lifelong love affair.
0:38:41 > 0:38:46What makes a good Toby jug is really in the eye of the beholder.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49I can possibly show you a jug that I think
0:38:49 > 0:38:52is absolutely fantastic and beautiful and I wouldn't part with it
0:38:52 > 0:38:57for the world, and you might think, "Yuck, that's the ugliest jug I've ever seen".
0:39:01 > 0:39:07The reason I started collecting Toby jugs was really the thought of the history behind that jug.
0:39:07 > 0:39:08If you'd had a brain and eyes,
0:39:08 > 0:39:12what it would have seen and experienced.
0:39:17 > 0:39:21Whenever I have visitors and friends round,
0:39:21 > 0:39:26they always make a bee line to look at my Toby Jug collection
0:39:26 > 0:39:30but most say, "Aren't they ugly, how do you keep those in your house?"
0:39:30 > 0:39:34And I have to go into some lengthy dialogue
0:39:34 > 0:39:37to try and explain to them.
0:39:39 > 0:39:45Unfortunately, there's no member of my family who is particularly interested in Toby jugs,
0:39:45 > 0:39:48I have two cats who show a passing interest
0:39:48 > 0:39:51but as for any other member of the family
0:39:51 > 0:39:53there is no interest, whatsoever.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56My daughter's not the slightest bit interested,
0:39:56 > 0:40:00which is rather a shame because one day she'll inherit them.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16But if the Toby Jug is an acquired taste,
0:40:16 > 0:40:20the dinner service is something that no smart home was without.
0:40:22 > 0:40:28And, like tea ware, the rise of the dinner service began in the 18th century.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31In the medieval and Tudor period, dinner is in the middle of the day.
0:40:31 > 0:40:38And in the 18th century, we get a change because of the Industrial Revolution, really.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41People are leaving their homes to go out to work somewhere else,
0:40:41 > 0:40:45in a factory, in an office, they can't eat in the middle of the day.
0:40:45 > 0:40:49So breakfast becomes more important, and so does dinner at the end of the day, too.
0:40:49 > 0:40:54So it becomes more formal, it becomes more of a performance, there's artificial lighting involved,
0:40:54 > 0:40:58and that's why, for example, ceramics, dinner services,
0:40:58 > 0:41:03have gold rims around the edges of the plates, so that that will sparkle and glitter in candlelight.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18Two British innovations transformed the dinner service.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25One was a new ceramic material to rival Chinese imports,
0:41:25 > 0:41:29perfected by Staffordshire master-potter Josiah Spode.
0:41:29 > 0:41:36By 1794, he and his partner, William Copeland, were in full production with the wonderful bone china,
0:41:36 > 0:41:43which is still, for all practical purposes, the nearest approach to the pure porcelain of the Orient.
0:41:43 > 0:41:50The refinement of bone china by Josiah Spode would revolutionise British domestic pottery.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56Made of china clay, china stone and ground animal bone,
0:41:56 > 0:42:00bone china was a brilliant alternative to porcelain,
0:42:00 > 0:42:04being translucent and delicate, yet tough.
0:42:04 > 0:42:06You don't really mean tough, do you?
0:42:06 > 0:42:07I certainly do mean tough.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09And I'll demonstrate it.
0:42:14 > 0:42:20The other innovation concerned what went ON the dinner service.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23Transfer printing freed British manufacturers from
0:42:23 > 0:42:28the laborious process of having to hand-paint every individual plate.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32The same intricate design could be copied again and again...
0:42:33 > 0:42:35..and again.
0:42:44 > 0:42:50One pattern in particular has come to epitomise the British dinner service.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53But if you look beyond its blue and white idyll,
0:42:53 > 0:42:58the story of the Willow pattern is not what you'd expect.
0:43:04 > 0:43:11It's a pattern that every household somewhere must have an example of, in this country.
0:43:11 > 0:43:19The story has it that a young couple are prevented from marrying, but they go ahead, anyway.
0:43:19 > 0:43:24The irate father, or father-in-law, decides to chase them from where they're living.
0:43:24 > 0:43:28They chase them across the bridge, three little men running to chase
0:43:28 > 0:43:31them across the bridge, they escape to an island, then they take a boat
0:43:31 > 0:43:38over to the distant island, where eventually, the father-in-law catches them up, and torches their house.
0:43:38 > 0:43:41They die, and they fly off,
0:43:41 > 0:43:46as a pair of birds, and the birds are in the top of the design.
0:43:46 > 0:43:50Well, I'd love to tell you that that was a well-known Chinese story.
0:43:50 > 0:43:54Actually, it's basically a Staffordshire invention.
0:43:57 > 0:43:59Regardless of its authenticity,
0:43:59 > 0:44:04the willow pattern quickly became part of our cultural heritage.
0:44:09 > 0:44:13Artist Paul Scott plays on this heritage
0:44:13 > 0:44:16in his contemporary take on the classic blue and white design.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23I live in rural Cumbria
0:44:23 > 0:44:27and my friends and neighbours
0:44:27 > 0:44:31were profoundly affected by the foot and mouth crisis.
0:44:31 > 0:44:33At the time to travel out of the village where I live,
0:44:33 > 0:44:39you would either have to travel past rotting piles of sheep
0:44:39 > 0:44:42or burning pyres of cows.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45And I found, one of the things that ceramics does very well
0:44:45 > 0:44:47is that it commemorates events.
0:44:47 > 0:44:49You know, we have Royal Wedding plates,
0:44:49 > 0:44:53we commemorate anniversaries, and things like that.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57And it seemed appropriate to me that we should remember this time,
0:44:57 > 0:45:03and so I did a series of pieces about the foot and mouth crisis.
0:45:03 > 0:45:05One of the most overt ones, or in your face ones,
0:45:05 > 0:45:09was the piece I made with the burning cows.
0:45:09 > 0:45:14This was an image that we would see every night on the television...
0:45:15 > 0:45:18..and it seemed to me that these were like dancing feet,
0:45:18 > 0:45:20they were like dancers.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22So this is a bone china plate.
0:45:22 > 0:45:28The plate itself is actually made out of calcined ox bone, burnt ox bone.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32And it could also be seen as a carving platter for a roast beef,
0:45:32 > 0:45:36and so it seemed natural to me to put on these dancing cows,
0:45:36 > 0:45:41burning cows, to remind us of what happened on that time.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44I didn't intend it to be controversial - I did it because
0:45:44 > 0:45:49it seemed an appropriate way to record a period in time
0:45:49 > 0:45:53of things that were happening in the English countryside.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56This wasn't the countryside of the rural idyll,
0:45:56 > 0:45:59this was the English countryside in 2003 or whenever,
0:45:59 > 0:46:03and this is what you saw and this is what you smelt.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05Somebody once said to me,
0:46:05 > 0:46:09"Why do you use ceramics to work with? It's a dead medium."
0:46:09 > 0:46:13Well, the reaction to this plate proved to me that actually,
0:46:13 > 0:46:15this wasn't a dead medium,
0:46:15 > 0:46:18that actually it's very much a live medium.
0:46:18 > 0:46:23And that fact is that we may not produced blue and white plates in England any more,
0:46:23 > 0:46:27but actually they are part of a cultural wallpaper in our heads.
0:46:27 > 0:46:28We're all familiar with them,
0:46:28 > 0:46:31we understand them - or we think we understand them.
0:46:31 > 0:46:32And so therefore,
0:46:32 > 0:46:36putting something like this on a plate really upset people.
0:46:51 > 0:46:56If food and drink had been the inspiration behind 18th century pottery,
0:46:56 > 0:47:01it was the problem of sanitation that would define the breakthroughs of the 19th century.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06Following the Industrial Revolution,
0:47:06 > 0:47:10Britain's manufacturing cities were fast becoming uninhabitable.
0:47:10 > 0:47:16The pottery industry was part of that explosion of people and grime.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20Now it would have to be part of the solution.
0:47:20 > 0:47:25In 1842, the social reformer Edwin Chadwick
0:47:25 > 0:47:30published his report on The Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population,
0:47:30 > 0:47:33which called for better public health,
0:47:33 > 0:47:36particularly in relation to sewage and water.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40One potter believed he had the answer.
0:47:40 > 0:47:42Henry Doulton's family firm
0:47:42 > 0:47:46is best known today for its dinner services and figurines.
0:47:47 > 0:47:49But back in the mid-19th century,
0:47:49 > 0:47:53Doulton realised the stoneware his factory produced in abundance
0:47:53 > 0:47:58was the perfect material for the carrying of both waste and drinking water.
0:47:58 > 0:48:03In 1859, his moment arrived.
0:48:03 > 0:48:05Along comes a highly skilled engineer,
0:48:05 > 0:48:08a man called Joseph Bazalgette.
0:48:08 > 0:48:14He creates plans for putting a modern drainage system into London.
0:48:14 > 0:48:18The London and Victoria Embankments are created,
0:48:18 > 0:48:22and who provides the sanitation pipes?
0:48:22 > 0:48:24Henry Doulton.
0:48:26 > 0:48:30Thanks to Bazalgette's vision and Doulton's ceramic pipes,
0:48:30 > 0:48:34London's sewage was put underground.
0:48:36 > 0:48:41Soon, diseases such as cholera began to disappear from Britain's cities...
0:48:42 > 0:48:47..to be replaced by the ceramic water closet.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57What had once been a household embarrassment
0:48:57 > 0:49:00was rapidly becoming a work of art.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03Firms such as Twyfords and Doultons
0:49:03 > 0:49:07vied to produce the most attractive water closets,
0:49:07 > 0:49:12either hand painted or using elaborate transfer printing.
0:49:18 > 0:49:23The heyday of the WC was when Tommy Twyford
0:49:23 > 0:49:26incorporated the whole lot in one piece,
0:49:26 > 0:49:31he made the bowl, the trap and he fitted them both within a pedestal.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35The pedestal was then easy to decorate,
0:49:35 > 0:49:39to make it acceptable to the lady of the house
0:49:39 > 0:49:41and the public generally.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43And this is when it started to take off.
0:49:47 > 0:49:52Manufacturers, having developed the technical side and perfected the efficiency of the closets,
0:49:52 > 0:49:56now had a beautiful canvas on which to work and decorate
0:49:56 > 0:49:59and they went from the sublime to ridiculous.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03Some were just plain white, some were decorated with transfers.
0:50:03 > 0:50:07The transfers were of flowers, of roses, of birds,
0:50:07 > 0:50:10of plants growing up the front of the bowl,
0:50:10 > 0:50:14and in fact some were even decorated with hand-gilding.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18It was gold, hand-enamelling so you got beautiful blues and reds,
0:50:18 > 0:50:21and this really started to be appreciated
0:50:21 > 0:50:28by the Victorian householders, to say, this is a thing of beauty.
0:50:30 > 0:50:36I've been on my hands and knees in so many loos to look at the name badge on the back to see who's made it,
0:50:36 > 0:50:42and think, well, you've done a good job there, or this is a lousy closet, or it leaks.
0:50:46 > 0:50:50In 1851, the first flushing public toilets
0:50:50 > 0:50:54had been unveiled at the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, London.
0:50:57 > 0:51:00They were the work of engineer George Jennings,
0:51:00 > 0:51:03and proved an immediate success.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06Over 800,000 visitors paid to use them,
0:51:06 > 0:51:09giving rise to the expression, "to spend a penny".
0:51:12 > 0:51:18Beneath a chapel in London survives a Gentleman's Convenience fitted out by George Jennings,
0:51:18 > 0:51:22now kept pristine by its proud caretaker.
0:51:24 > 0:51:28The thing with cleaning these toilets is that it's an enjoyable job
0:51:28 > 0:51:31because you have this history around,
0:51:31 > 0:51:36and it is a pleasure to come down and clean them because of what they are.
0:51:36 > 0:51:38It's not just about cleaning toilets,
0:51:38 > 0:51:43it's about keeping something going for future generations so they can
0:51:43 > 0:51:47appreciate the Victoriana about the place.
0:51:47 > 0:51:52The toilets have survived a long time because they've been looked after
0:51:52 > 0:51:57and not harshly treated, and cleaned with some thought.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03I am thrilled to clean them and see them every day.
0:52:06 > 0:52:11After people have been down here and seen these toilets they come
0:52:11 > 0:52:15back smiling and really thrilled that they've actually been down here,
0:52:15 > 0:52:19which is unusual for toilets, but there we are.
0:52:22 > 0:52:27Not only are they functional toilets, but they are works of art.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38The Victorian concern with sanitation
0:52:38 > 0:52:41had become an all-consuming obsession.
0:52:44 > 0:52:46This is the refreshment room
0:52:46 > 0:52:47of the Victoria & Albert museum.
0:52:50 > 0:52:56When opened in 1870, it signalled a new era in our public dining habits.
0:52:58 > 0:53:02Clad floor to ceiling in decorative tiles made by Minton,
0:53:02 > 0:53:05this was a temple to hygiene.
0:53:11 > 0:53:15The story of clay began with ceramic pots.
0:53:17 > 0:53:21It reached its apogee with ceramic palaces.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31The tiles in Harrods Food Hall
0:53:31 > 0:53:36were designed and erected by WJ Neatby in 1902
0:53:36 > 0:53:39and produced at the Royal Doulton factory in Lambeth.
0:53:43 > 0:53:48The preparation and selling of fresh meat and fish was revolutionised by ceramic tiling,
0:53:48 > 0:53:53which could be wiped clean and disinfected.
0:53:57 > 0:54:02But the usefulness of ceramic tiles didn't stop at preventing infection.
0:54:02 > 0:54:08They also found an attractive role in distracting those already afflicted.
0:54:16 > 0:54:21Bolingbroke Hospital in South London closed for redevelopment in 2008.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25In the eerie quiet,
0:54:25 > 0:54:29its children's ward remains a masterpiece of ceramic decoration.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38One of the wonderful qualities about tile work is that it can provide
0:54:38 > 0:54:41lively decoration, colourful decoration.
0:54:43 > 0:54:47And this is of course particularly suitable for hospitals,
0:54:47 > 0:54:49in particular children's hospitals,
0:54:49 > 0:54:52where there is a desire to enliven the atmosphere of the wards.
0:54:54 > 0:54:57This is very much exploited by manufacturers such as Doulton's
0:54:57 > 0:54:59at the turn of the 20th century,
0:54:59 > 0:55:04with very colourful tile panels, with subjects such as nursery rhymes on them,
0:55:04 > 0:55:10and they in their own publicity material really made the claim that these would enliven
0:55:10 > 0:55:13the enforced stay of the weary sufferers
0:55:13 > 0:55:16and bring fresh thoughts of nature to their tired minds.
0:55:35 > 0:55:42By the 20th century, the story of British pottery had become a familiar one.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45The major innovations of form had been made,
0:55:45 > 0:55:50and were being used widely by industry, artists, and amateurs alike.
0:55:52 > 0:55:57The variety came in how they were used.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59The basic ceramic materials,
0:55:59 > 0:56:02stoneware, earthenware and porcelain,
0:56:02 > 0:56:04those remain the same today.
0:56:04 > 0:56:10They are the same materials you see on the shelves as you would have seen over the last 300 years.
0:56:10 > 0:56:13The only thing that's changed, however,
0:56:13 > 0:56:17is the way in which those objects have been processed.
0:56:17 > 0:56:20The way the whole process has been industrialised.
0:56:20 > 0:56:25The way the human hand has largely been taken out
0:56:25 > 0:56:27of the whole process,
0:56:27 > 0:56:31and that's why ceramics where the human hand is still visible,
0:56:31 > 0:56:33is so interesting.
0:56:37 > 0:56:39At the heart of it all,
0:56:39 > 0:56:44despite the technological advances, remains clay,
0:56:44 > 0:56:49and our intimate relationship with this most fundamental substance.
0:56:57 > 0:57:03Through the ages, clay has captured our hopes and aspirations.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08It reveals our innate desire for beauty
0:57:08 > 0:57:11and the need to commemorate.
0:57:13 > 0:57:18The story of clay is the story of Britain itself.
0:57:20 > 0:57:25What it contains are the moments of our lives.
0:57:27 > 0:57:31It brings you back to earth all the time.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33So it's...
0:57:33 > 0:57:35it's a life.
0:57:44 > 0:57:46In the next episode...
0:57:48 > 0:57:51A world industry,
0:57:51 > 0:57:54and a ruined Empire.
0:57:54 > 0:57:56The pioneering men and women
0:57:56 > 0:57:59who made some of the most beautiful objects
0:57:59 > 0:58:02ever created on these shores.
0:58:03 > 0:58:09It's the story of Stoke-on-Trent and the age of Wedgwood.
0:58:30 > 0:58:33Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:33 > 0:58:36E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk