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0:00:21 > 0:00:22Hello, London.

0:00:22 > 0:00:24Hello, Lagos.

0:00:32 > 0:00:35It is with much pleasure that I greet you,

0:00:35 > 0:00:39the representatives from the parliaments of all the lands

0:00:39 > 0:00:41within our Commonwealth family of nations,

0:00:41 > 0:00:43which enjoy a responsible government.

0:00:48 > 0:00:52It has different ties of race, faith, language, and finance,

0:00:52 > 0:00:54and yet the Commonwealth is there.

0:00:54 > 0:00:58It cannot be stated exactly, but it lives and works.

0:01:02 > 0:01:05Well, it should mean there are relations between everybody

0:01:05 > 0:01:07of sharing, and giving, and taking.

0:01:12 > 0:01:16Each Commonwealth meeting is a celebration of continuity

0:01:16 > 0:01:20in community, and each is also a challenge

0:01:20 > 0:01:22to find the ways to advance

0:01:22 > 0:01:25that common purpose.

0:01:31 > 0:01:34Prince Philip said the Commonwealth must train young people for

0:01:34 > 0:01:36skilled work.

0:01:36 > 0:01:39We could no longer afford to let them drift into dead-end jobs.

0:01:43 > 0:01:46My plan generally is to improve the standard of living

0:01:46 > 0:01:48for my family and myself,

0:01:48 > 0:01:51and I believe I'm best able to do it in England.

0:01:57 > 0:02:00London Airport, 1st July, 1962,

0:02:00 > 0:02:04an historic day for the Commonwealth as the first of its citizens arrive

0:02:04 > 0:02:07who do not automatically have free entry into the United Kingdom.

0:02:07 > 0:02:11An act variously described as shabby, tragic, or distasteful

0:02:11 > 0:02:13but necessary, comes into force

0:02:13 > 0:02:16and Commonwealth citizens queue with aliens.

0:02:16 > 0:02:19Thousands were already here at Southampton on Saturday.

0:02:19 > 0:02:22The last ship to reach Britain from the West Indies

0:02:22 > 0:02:25before the new act anchored in the Cowes roads.

0:02:30 > 0:02:33Aboard were 420 people, some with families, some penniless,

0:02:33 > 0:02:35some skilled.

0:02:35 > 0:02:38The last of the enormous flood of permanent immigrants that's been

0:02:38 > 0:02:40arriving this past two months.

0:02:40 > 0:02:42Do you have a job to come to?

0:02:42 > 0:02:44Well, actually, no.

0:02:44 > 0:02:48I'm expecting to work and study, meanwhile,

0:02:48 > 0:02:52but I think I will get a job quick with the profession that I possess.

0:02:52 > 0:02:54- What is that, what do you do? - Plumbing.

0:02:54 > 0:02:57Well, I would like a job with a newspaper firm or

0:02:57 > 0:03:01with a radio network or something like that. I like journalism.

0:03:01 > 0:03:04Although many have no jobs to go to, and some even have no

0:03:04 > 0:03:08relatives here, Britain, for them, is the land of opportunity and hope.

0:03:09 > 0:03:11There have been schemes like London Transport's

0:03:11 > 0:03:13for training Barbados' busmen.

0:03:13 > 0:03:17The conductors are interviewed and tested in Barbados.

0:03:17 > 0:03:202,500 have come over in the past six years.

0:03:20 > 0:03:23They are still a small minority of London Transport's employees,

0:03:23 > 0:03:25but they are a remarkably faithful one.

0:03:25 > 0:03:27They train at Chiswick.

0:03:27 > 0:03:30Spread yourselves around so that you can see the fare board.

0:03:30 > 0:03:32Now, set your machines to sixpence.

0:03:32 > 0:03:34ORD - Ordinary means adult, as you know.

0:03:34 > 0:03:36Set your machines to sixpence.

0:03:36 > 0:03:39One revolution of the handle is one ticket.

0:03:40 > 0:03:42Tear with an upward movement.

0:03:42 > 0:03:46Issue one sixpenny ticket, please, all of you. That's right.

0:03:46 > 0:03:48That's it.

0:03:48 > 0:03:51Now, this time, I want you to set your machines to three pence,

0:03:51 > 0:03:54three pence and six thrupenny tickets, please.

0:04:06 > 0:04:09- I'm a motor mechanic.- Yes?- If I go to Australia, can I be sure of work?

0:04:09 > 0:04:11I'm sure you can't fail,

0:04:11 > 0:04:14there's plenty of work in Australia for a skilled man.

0:04:15 > 0:04:17If you have any preconceived ideas

0:04:17 > 0:04:20about Australia and Australians, what we are like,

0:04:20 > 0:04:23and what we sound like, come and have a look at Coonawarra.

0:04:27 > 0:04:34WORKERS SING

0:04:36 > 0:04:39No Waltzing Matilda in this song, is there?

0:04:39 > 0:04:41Yet it's sung by Australians.

0:04:41 > 0:04:43New Australians.

0:04:43 > 0:04:46This is a small, wine-growing district in South Australia.

0:04:46 > 0:04:48The estate wasn't doing at all well,

0:04:48 > 0:04:51and the owners looked for an Italian family with wine-growing experience.

0:04:51 > 0:04:55They found the Versaces. All over Melbourne they were doing odd jobs.

0:04:55 > 0:04:57Now they are all together again,

0:04:57 > 0:05:00and the wine they grow is theirs into the bargain.

0:05:00 > 0:05:03Vincenzo, Julio, Antonio - children, brothers, cousins,

0:05:03 > 0:05:05and in-laws.

0:05:05 > 0:05:06Julio has done so well that

0:05:06 > 0:05:10he's even been back to Italy lately to bring back a wife.

0:05:10 > 0:05:13Allow me to introduce Julio to you.

0:05:13 > 0:05:16I'm Julio Versace. I'm Italian.

0:05:16 > 0:05:19I work with Mr Williams.

0:05:19 > 0:05:23And we look after the vineyards, and he looks after the wine.

0:05:23 > 0:05:25I have all my family here, my father,

0:05:25 > 0:05:28mother, young brother, and a wife too.

0:05:28 > 0:05:31When we took this vineyard here, this was like a bush.

0:05:31 > 0:05:34And now it's looking well,

0:05:34 > 0:05:40and give us good production for the future.

0:05:40 > 0:05:41This is one of those success stories

0:05:41 > 0:05:44dear to the heart of scriptwriters everywhere.

0:05:44 > 0:05:47The difference here is, it's perfectly true.

0:05:47 > 0:05:48The vintages are bigger and better,

0:05:48 > 0:05:52150 acres of vines producing claret, hock, and sherry.

0:05:52 > 0:05:55The Versaces have bought a new motor car.

0:05:55 > 0:05:57And if there's an example of better fitting in anywhere,

0:05:57 > 0:05:59I'd like to hear of it.

0:06:11 > 0:06:13Two Kenyas -

0:06:13 > 0:06:15the Kenya enjoyed by tourists...

0:06:16 > 0:06:20..and another Kenya which we don't usually see or notice.

0:06:22 > 0:06:24Mary Kalwali has six children.

0:06:24 > 0:06:28They are poor by our standards, but they're not the poorest in Kenya.

0:06:29 > 0:06:31Mary has one good dress

0:06:31 > 0:06:34and her children are not yet severely undernourished.

0:06:52 > 0:06:53As in most of the world,

0:06:53 > 0:06:56it's the women who do the bulk of the work on the land.

0:08:14 > 0:08:16They live to the east of India,

0:08:16 > 0:08:20these children of Sonar Bangla, Golden Bengal.

0:08:24 > 0:08:26- TRANSLATION:- When I see the other

0:08:26 > 0:08:28children going to school, dressed in nice, new clothes,

0:08:28 > 0:08:31I want to be like them, do what they do.

0:08:33 > 0:08:36I feel like going to school with them in the morning to study with

0:08:36 > 0:08:39them and perhaps become successful like them in the future.

0:08:39 > 0:08:41I'd like to become a doctor when I grow up,

0:08:41 > 0:08:43but I don't think it's possible.

0:08:43 > 0:08:45I have to work because we need the money.

0:08:51 > 0:08:53Roona is 11

0:08:53 > 0:08:56and works up to 90 hours each week in the local cigarette factory.

0:09:11 > 0:09:13- TRANSLATION:- I go to work soon

0:09:13 > 0:09:16after I get out of bed at six or seven in the morning.

0:09:17 > 0:09:19But first, I have a wash.

0:09:19 > 0:09:23Then I put a little oil and water on my head and comb my hair.

0:09:24 > 0:09:27After that, I have a little tea and bread,

0:09:27 > 0:09:30and then I go to the factory and sit down to my work.

0:09:34 > 0:09:38After making 1,000 cigarettes, sometimes only 500,

0:09:38 > 0:09:41I get up and go to my mother for a drink of water.

0:09:41 > 0:09:43Then I come back and start working again.

0:09:44 > 0:09:49The heat makes me sweat. I itch all over my body and I get a headache.

0:09:49 > 0:09:50I feel sleepy but I can't sleep.

0:09:52 > 0:09:56All those lights burning overhead, it's almost enough to boil you.

0:09:56 > 0:09:58But if I lie down, then the foreman calls me.

0:10:04 > 0:10:07- TRANSLATION:- The youngest are only eight, upwards from there,

0:10:07 > 0:10:11up to 50 or 60. There are both women and men.

0:10:12 > 0:10:15And even the children, who come with their mothers,

0:10:15 > 0:10:17they also work.

0:10:17 > 0:10:19Do you recruit these children?

0:10:19 > 0:10:22No, we have not recruited them, their mothers make them work.

0:10:22 > 0:10:23What can they do?

0:10:23 > 0:10:26The women earn ten or 12 taka each per day,

0:10:26 > 0:10:30and children also earn another five or ten takas each.

0:10:30 > 0:10:31That helps them to buy more food.

0:10:57 > 0:11:01Today, the Annanaks live with other Eskimo families at the George River

0:11:01 > 0:11:04which flows to the Arctic coast of Ungava Bay.

0:11:04 > 0:11:08Their closest neighbours are at the tiny settlement of Fort Chimo,

0:11:08 > 0:11:10100 miles to the west.

0:11:10 > 0:11:13Now, you know that your nearest neighbours at Port Burwell

0:11:13 > 0:11:15have no trees at all?

0:11:15 > 0:11:18They have no wood for firewood,

0:11:18 > 0:11:22and they have no long trees for making sled runners from,

0:11:22 > 0:11:27and they have no wood to build anything with.

0:11:27 > 0:11:30We were talking with them just a day or two ago

0:11:30 > 0:11:32and they said to us,

0:11:32 > 0:11:35"When you're at the George River, would you ask the people there

0:11:35 > 0:11:38"about something that we have been thinking about?

0:11:38 > 0:11:42"We need the wood that they have at the George River

0:11:42 > 0:11:44"and we know that the people there

0:11:44 > 0:11:47"have no food in the winter time quite often.

0:11:47 > 0:11:51"They have no food for themselves and they have no food for the dogs.

0:11:52 > 0:11:55"And at Port Burwell there's lots of food, lots of seals."

0:11:55 > 0:11:58And the people there thought that if

0:11:58 > 0:12:00you gave them some trees and some wood,

0:12:00 > 0:12:04that they would be able to give you some meat for yourselves

0:12:04 > 0:12:06and meat for your dogs.

0:12:06 > 0:12:08And that way you'd both be better off.

0:12:09 > 0:12:10Now, every March,

0:12:10 > 0:12:14when the snow is still hard enough to make travel easy by dog team,

0:12:14 > 0:12:16all the George River men set out for their logging camps,

0:12:16 > 0:12:19100 miles inland along the river.

0:12:22 > 0:12:25They're loggers now, working on a piecework basis,

0:12:25 > 0:12:28with 3,000 trees to cut and haul and drive.

0:12:41 > 0:12:43When I went to these outlying islands of Fiji,

0:12:43 > 0:12:47we sailed away to this island of Kambala.

0:12:48 > 0:12:52The beaches are so blindingly white that when you walk along them,

0:12:52 > 0:12:55you simply can't open your eyes wide, without very real pain.

0:12:57 > 0:13:00These women, squatting on the beach in the fierce tropical sun,

0:13:00 > 0:13:03were preparing to go fishing in the lagoon.

0:13:03 > 0:13:04And they're blackening their faces

0:13:04 > 0:13:07with charcoal as a protection against

0:13:07 > 0:13:10the glare reflected from the coral sand and the surface of the sea.

0:13:21 > 0:13:26Their first job was to find the best spot for fishing among the

0:13:26 > 0:13:28towers of coral that rose up from

0:13:28 > 0:13:30the white sandy bottom of the lagoon.

0:13:35 > 0:13:37The tops of the towers, flattened by the waves,

0:13:37 > 0:13:41are only a few feet from the surface and make excellent platforms

0:13:41 > 0:13:45on which to stand, while you break your hooks and sort out the lines.

0:13:54 > 0:13:56Usually, all you have to do

0:13:56 > 0:13:59is to dangle your bait in front of the fish that you've selected.

0:14:02 > 0:14:05It bites, and up it comes.

0:14:05 > 0:14:07Though, sometimes, not quite all the way.

0:14:11 > 0:14:13But when you have caught one,

0:14:13 > 0:14:17you kill it by biting it in the back of its neck, and then you

0:14:17 > 0:14:21store it in the coconut leaf basket at your waist, which holds the bait.

0:14:27 > 0:14:30In a few hours, you can catch a basket full of fish of the most

0:14:30 > 0:14:32brilliant colours, sufficient to

0:14:32 > 0:14:35provide an excellent meal for all your family.

0:14:49 > 0:14:50That's a road train,

0:14:50 > 0:14:54setting off down the longest road in the world, to travel 1,000 miles.

0:14:54 > 0:14:58It'll cover the distance from London to Lisbon, or from Brighton

0:14:58 > 0:15:02in Sussex to Inverness and back, and in that distance,

0:15:02 > 0:15:05passing two hamlets and one road junction.

0:15:08 > 0:15:10This is a town called Alice.

0:15:10 > 0:15:14Alice Springs in the very centre of Australia. It's at the northern

0:15:14 > 0:15:16end of the railway line, up from Adelaide.

0:15:16 > 0:15:20So everything going to the Northern Territory and to the capital,

0:15:20 > 0:15:22Darwin, upon the Timor Sea,

0:15:22 > 0:15:26has to travel along this thin strip of bitumen,

0:15:26 > 0:15:29going due north for 964 miles.

0:15:34 > 0:15:37You really find it easier driving in bare feet, do you?

0:15:37 > 0:15:41Yes, well, why we drive in bare feet is that our feet are cooler

0:15:41 > 0:15:43and it's not so stiff when we're on the pedals.

0:15:43 > 0:15:45Don't you get corns or something?

0:15:45 > 0:15:48No, but the bottom of your feet are pretty hard.

0:15:48 > 0:15:52What are your other problems, as far as heat's concerned?

0:15:52 > 0:15:56Mainly tyres, the tyres get hot and more likely to blow.

0:15:56 > 0:15:59If we keep driving with them flat, they catch alight,

0:15:59 > 0:16:01likely to burn the load of the truck.

0:16:01 > 0:16:04If they catch the floorboards of the truck, set the other tyres alight,

0:16:04 > 0:16:07burn the whole trailer, truck, the lot.

0:16:07 > 0:16:10I suppose the monotony of these tremendously long,

0:16:10 > 0:16:12straight roads must be a worry for you.

0:16:12 > 0:16:15Oh, yeah, you get lonely and get a bit tired of it,

0:16:15 > 0:16:17so you pull a book out and have a read.

0:16:17 > 0:16:19You read when you're driving?

0:16:19 > 0:16:22Have a read of the book while we're driving along on the straights.

0:16:22 > 0:16:24I don't believe it.

0:16:24 > 0:16:26Yeah, I've got a couple of books there in the cabin.

0:16:26 > 0:16:29How often do you look at the road while you're reading?

0:16:29 > 0:16:32On the straight stretches you might go one or two minutes,

0:16:32 > 0:16:33it might be three minutes.

0:16:47 > 0:16:50This is the end of the road - Darwin.

0:16:50 > 0:16:55It was yesterday morning when that land train left the Alice,

0:16:55 > 0:16:591,000 miles away at the beginning of the road

0:16:59 > 0:17:03and now the two bare-footed drivers have got three days off

0:17:03 > 0:17:06in this steaming, humid, Turkish bath of a town,

0:17:06 > 0:17:11before setting off, once again, on the longest road in the world.

0:17:26 > 0:17:30The immigration boom touched new heights in a novel way.

0:17:30 > 0:17:33About 80 people made history at London Airport, on the first flight

0:17:33 > 0:17:36of the Great Airlift, inaugurated by the Canadian Government.

0:17:36 > 0:17:38From Heathrow and Prestwick,

0:17:38 > 0:17:4125,000 will fly to begin a new life in the dominion.

0:17:41 > 0:17:45The fare - £71.10, about half the normal cost.

0:17:45 > 0:17:49Canada can't have too many good type people from Great Britain.

0:17:49 > 0:17:52Would you like to tell me why you want to go to Canada?

0:17:52 > 0:17:55Well, I've always wanted to go and also I've got my family over there

0:17:55 > 0:17:57and I just don't think there's any future in this country.

0:17:57 > 0:18:01- Are you married?- Yes.- Is your husband keen on going?- Oh, yes.

0:18:01 > 0:18:03Has he got a job out in Canada?

0:18:03 > 0:18:06Erm, well, no, but my sister has rang up a few butchers,

0:18:06 > 0:18:08he's a butcher, you see,

0:18:08 > 0:18:11they'd be pleased to accept English butchers over there.

0:18:11 > 0:18:15- I see. Are you looking forward to a good job in Canada?- Yes.

0:18:15 > 0:18:18Those not lucky enough to get on the Airlift

0:18:18 > 0:18:20put their names down for the sea passage.

0:18:20 > 0:18:23The feel of being there already comes, to the younger ones,

0:18:23 > 0:18:26at any rate, as they wait to give their particulars to the official.

0:18:26 > 0:18:31Last year nearly 52,000 left Britain to settle in our oldest dominion.

0:18:31 > 0:18:34Not without trepidation, some of them. It's not a step anyone can

0:18:34 > 0:18:38take lightly, but many a man's mind has been set at rest

0:18:38 > 0:18:40by the information officer.

0:18:40 > 0:18:41How about income tax?

0:18:41 > 0:18:44The Canadian rate of taxation is about a half to a third

0:18:44 > 0:18:46of what you pay in this country.

0:18:46 > 0:18:50On my present wage of £15 a week, with two children,

0:18:50 > 0:18:51how much would I pay?

0:18:51 > 0:18:54In that tax bracket, you'd pay absolutely no tax at all.

0:18:54 > 0:18:57What about the general standard of living?

0:18:57 > 0:19:00You'll find that very much higher than in the United Kingdom.

0:19:00 > 0:19:02- What's your type of work? - Roof tiler.

0:19:02 > 0:19:04Do you think you'll get a good job in Canada as a roof tiler?

0:19:04 > 0:19:07Well, I don't think I can do any worse.

0:19:07 > 0:19:11The immigration ship looks like a passport to a land of promise.

0:19:11 > 0:19:13All going aboard must have felt that way.

0:19:13 > 0:19:16They're useful people who are immigrating,

0:19:16 > 0:19:18no question of unloading the riffraff.

0:19:18 > 0:19:22Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the rest are getting best

0:19:22 > 0:19:26quality men and women, and it's good luck we wish all of them!

0:19:31 > 0:19:35For gold, some men will live in any country, however hot,

0:19:35 > 0:19:38however arid, however old and barren.

0:19:40 > 0:19:43And there is no older or more barren land than

0:19:43 > 0:19:45the Northwest of Australia.

0:19:48 > 0:19:52Wally Nichol, the most respected prospector in Marble Bar,

0:19:52 > 0:19:55now works out his retirement in a store.

0:19:55 > 0:19:59He came through the town 30 years ago, smelt gold and stayed.

0:20:00 > 0:20:03What sort of a place is it like to live in?

0:20:03 > 0:20:05Awful!

0:20:05 > 0:20:07Just plain awful!

0:20:07 > 0:20:10But there's a lure in gold and minerals.

0:20:12 > 0:20:16Anybody who's done any prospecting or been associated with gold

0:20:16 > 0:20:22and minerals has in their make-up

0:20:22 > 0:20:25a lure to bring them back and

0:20:25 > 0:20:31they always say, "Well, I missed it this time but next time I'll get it."

0:20:35 > 0:20:38Why the lure of gold? Why especially gold?

0:20:38 > 0:20:42It's the only thing I know anything about.

0:20:42 > 0:20:44It's just about the toughest thing to work, though, isn't it?

0:20:44 > 0:20:49Oh, yes...it's pretty tough going.

0:20:49 > 0:20:52How many people have made their fortune out of it, up here?

0:20:52 > 0:20:56There's a few but not too many, not too many.

0:20:57 > 0:21:01- How many have you known?- Only a few, count them on your hand.

0:21:01 > 0:21:04This is where Bernie Hebbard has his bed.

0:21:04 > 0:21:08His home is made of chicken wire, spinefex grass and corrugated iron

0:21:08 > 0:21:10and presided over by his woman.

0:21:21 > 0:21:24- Some there, is there, Bernie?- Yes, gold here.

0:21:26 > 0:21:31- That gives you an ounce to the tonne.- An ounce to the tonne.

0:21:31 > 0:21:32That point of gold. See it?

0:21:32 > 0:21:34Oh, yes, up at the top there.

0:21:36 > 0:21:39Now, how profitable is an ounce to

0:21:39 > 0:21:42- the tonne to you?- £15 per ounce.

0:21:42 > 0:21:45And how long does it take you to get a tonne?

0:21:45 > 0:21:49Oh... Average about two tonne a day.

0:21:50 > 0:21:54If the prospector doesn't really make a big killing,

0:21:54 > 0:21:57why does he go on, in the bush and this heat?

0:21:59 > 0:22:02I think it's that fever that I spoke about.

0:22:02 > 0:22:07He just can't avoid going on because there's another

0:22:07 > 0:22:09El Dorado around the corner.

0:22:09 > 0:22:12There's a funny world here, if it won't be the gold that'll be

0:22:12 > 0:22:15cutting out, it'll be the men that'll be cutting out.

0:22:15 > 0:22:16The ground will beat the men.

0:22:19 > 0:22:22MUSIC: "Click go the Shears" by Martin Wyndham-Read

0:22:22 > 0:22:25# Down by the bar the blind shearer stands

0:22:25 > 0:22:29# Grasping his glass in his thin, boney hands

0:22:29 > 0:22:33# His eyes are on the barrel, which is now lowering fast

0:22:33 > 0:22:37# He works hard and drinks hard and goes to hell at last

0:22:37 > 0:22:41# Click go the shears, boys, click, click, click

0:22:41 > 0:22:44# Wide is his blow and his hands move quick

0:22:44 > 0:22:48# And the ringer looks around and is beaten by a blow

0:22:48 > 0:22:53# And curses the old snagger with the blue-bellied Joe. #

0:23:00 > 0:23:03MAN SINGS BANGLADESHI FOLK SONG

0:23:17 > 0:23:20Abdu Rahman, a fisherman, lives in the middle of the Brahmaputra River,

0:23:20 > 0:23:24in Bangladesh, the largest river delta in the world.

0:24:22 > 0:24:26After a hard night's fishing, Abdu Rahman sails a further four hours

0:24:26 > 0:24:30to the embankment market to try and sell his meagre catch.

0:25:49 > 0:25:53Ever since trading began along the west coast of Africa,

0:25:53 > 0:25:56the port boys of Accra have been famous throughout the world.

0:25:57 > 0:26:01The capital's lack of facilities for the unloading of large ships

0:26:01 > 0:26:04made their repeated journeys a picturesque necessity.

0:26:06 > 0:26:08THEY SING IN NATIVE LANGUAGE

0:26:12 > 0:26:16Because Accra is a port without a harbour, all the goods have

0:26:16 > 0:26:20to be transhipped into surfboats for the last mile or so into shore.

0:26:20 > 0:26:23It's a laborious and costly way of doing things.

0:26:23 > 0:26:26The men belong to the Fante tribe, tough and well built,

0:26:26 > 0:26:28the fishermen of Ghana.

0:26:28 > 0:26:31The Fante tribe are a fiercely independent people.

0:26:31 > 0:26:33Up to now, they've resisted pressure

0:26:33 > 0:26:37to make them belong to the state structure of trade unionism.

0:26:40 > 0:26:44Everything comes into Accra on the surfboats, passengers included.

0:26:54 > 0:26:57The loads carried by the surfboats in the reverse direction,

0:26:57 > 0:27:02out to the waiting ships, consist primarily of one commodity - cocoa.

0:27:02 > 0:27:05To join one of the surfboats on the journey out to the ships is

0:27:05 > 0:27:09to spend an exciting and sometimes dangerous 20 minutes.

0:27:09 > 0:27:12Dipping their three-pronged paddles rhythmically into the water,

0:27:12 > 0:27:15the Fante crews push their boats along at a surprising speed

0:27:15 > 0:27:17against the heavy, oncoming breakers.

0:27:29 > 0:27:32With the surfboats tossing about in the waves,

0:27:32 > 0:27:35loading can be a perilous business.

0:27:35 > 0:27:38You need a strong sense of self-preservation.

0:27:39 > 0:27:43But the days of the surfboats are numbered. It's said that some of the

0:27:43 > 0:27:47Fante won't be sorry to see the last of them - they'd rather go fishing.

0:27:49 > 0:27:51THEY SING IN NATIVE LANGUAGE

0:27:51 > 0:27:54To many, perhaps, their impending departure will be regretted,

0:27:54 > 0:27:59for they symbolise the past. Soon, new harbours will be complete.

0:27:59 > 0:28:03The port boys and their surfboats will be but a memory.

0:28:06 > 0:28:09THEY SING IN NATIVE LANGUAGE

0:28:16 > 0:28:20If you'd like to learn more and trace the progress of the English language

0:28:20 > 0:28:24across the Commonwealth, through an interactive timeline, go to...

0:28:27 > 0:28:30..and follow the link to the Open University.