0:00:02 > 0:00:04In these days of transplants, keyhole surgery
0:00:04 > 0:00:05and life-saving medicines,
0:00:05 > 0:00:08I think it's too easy to take for granted
0:00:08 > 0:00:10the amazing things our doctors do for us every day.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12We forget just how far we've come in our lifetime.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14So I'm going to take you on a journey
0:00:14 > 0:00:16to remind us how things used to be.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20I'm Larry Lamb. Welcome to A Picture Of Health.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44Coming up on the programme...
0:00:44 > 0:00:48The story of the antibiotic that saved countless lives.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52What could your feelings be? A job well done.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56We remember the time that Matron ruled the roost.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59I can remember when Matron came around the ward, whoa!
0:00:59 > 0:01:01Everybody stood to attention!
0:01:01 > 0:01:04How one man's engineering experiments
0:01:04 > 0:01:06freed millions from a life of pain.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09His work revolutionised our lives.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15And Larry's special guest in the Picture Of Health surgery today
0:01:15 > 0:01:19is actor Christopher Timothy, who'll share his own medical memories.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21Life was quite uncomfortable, to say the least.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25Yeah. Yeah, out there in the jungle with tarantulas crawling up your trouser legs.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29And I complain about dodgy digs, you know?
0:01:32 > 0:01:35I smoked as a young man, and I clearly remember a time
0:01:35 > 0:01:37when smokers were everywhere.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40Now, we all understand the health risks
0:01:40 > 0:01:43and smoking's even banned in public places.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47So, how did we get to where we are today?
0:01:47 > 0:01:50MUSIC: "Moonlight Serenade" by Glen Miller
0:01:59 > 0:02:04Smoking was THE thing to do. Smoking was cool. That was a big thing.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09This was the height of sophistication and style.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11I had a cigarette.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16Nothing looks more glamorous or more sophisticated
0:02:16 > 0:02:18than cigarette smoke curling through the light.
0:02:21 > 0:02:26Putting a cigarette between your mouth... The first cool drag.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29You know, and... EXHALES THEATRICALLY
0:02:32 > 0:02:35But smoking wasn't just something we saw in the movies.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37It was everywhere.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41MUSIC: Smoke, Smoke, Smoke (That Cigarette) by Tex Ritter
0:02:41 > 0:02:45Everybody smoked. Footballers smoked, models smoked.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49Film stars smoked, comedians smoked on stage while performing.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53I used to walk on with a lighted cigarette in my hand.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55And throw it in my mouth, like that.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57And then say, "I only smoke after meals,
0:02:57 > 0:02:58"and I'm down to 40 meals a day."
0:03:01 > 0:03:05It was part of the culture, it was part of the ethos then.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08You either smoked a pipe or you smoked a cigarette.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14It was even endorsed by the medical world.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17- Doctors were the worst offenders. - I remember doctors smoked and drank.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20'From long experience, the doctor knows
0:03:20 > 0:03:24'to put people at their ease, there's nothing like a friendly cigarette.'
0:03:26 > 0:03:30It was just considered a perfectly healthy thing to do.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35There was never any harm attributed to smoking.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41But smoking was dangerous.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44In the late 1950s, doctors were recording
0:03:44 > 0:03:48unprecedented rates of lung cancer, and they wanted to know why.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54'Coffin nails. Yes, that's what cigarettes are,
0:03:54 > 0:03:57'according to the Medical Research Council.'
0:03:57 > 0:03:59For a number of years,
0:03:59 > 0:04:02scientists had been looking into the causes of lung cancer.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05They concluded the main cause was smoking.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08'Tobacco, say the eminent doctors, is the villain of the piece.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11'A press conference had the ear of the whole country,
0:04:11 > 0:04:13'ashtrays liberally provided.'
0:04:13 > 0:04:16When the research came out, nobody believed it.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18Absolutely nobody believed it.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23I don't think smoking has much to do with it.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25Uh, it's all based on statistics.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28That's one of the things that's wrong.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30Uh, I don't believe that much in statistics.
0:04:30 > 0:04:36There's actually no proven facts, uh, to substantiate the figures at all.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38MUSIC: "All Shook Up" by Elvis Presley
0:04:38 > 0:04:44A lot of my friends just disbelieved anything to do with old habits,
0:04:44 > 0:04:47so smoking was good for you, drinking was good for you.
0:04:47 > 0:04:48It certainly wasn't bad for you.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50'The Tobacco Manufacturers Association
0:04:50 > 0:04:53'revealed that in a year in which the dangers of smoking
0:04:53 > 0:04:55'stood fully revealed for the first time,
0:04:55 > 0:04:57'their sales are higher than ever.'
0:05:00 > 0:05:03I think scientific proof
0:05:03 > 0:05:06is a very difficult thing to come by in absolutes.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08Now, cigarettes are small things,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11but they're produced by massive companies who have lawyers
0:05:11 > 0:05:14the size of King Kong, so they tried to sit on research.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17They questioned it, they did their own research.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20'Seeking the trade viewpoint, our reporter interviewed
0:05:20 > 0:05:21'Sir Alexander Maxwell,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24'chairman of the Tobacco Manufacturers standing committee.'
0:05:24 > 0:05:27So far, what are the conclusions reached by your organisation?
0:05:27 > 0:05:30They are given very clearly in the annual report,
0:05:30 > 0:05:34which we've just issued, and which shows, I think,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37that there is need for much more research over a wider area
0:05:37 > 0:05:41and, in my opinion, to single out smoking as a causal agent is,
0:05:41 > 0:05:45on the evidence to date, completely unjustified.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47Thank you very much, sir, for your help.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49Thank you for letting me put our views forward
0:05:49 > 0:05:51you better have a cigarette before you go.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54Thank you. Goodbye.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59As more and more research was conducted,
0:05:59 > 0:06:02the link between smoking and cancer was undeniable.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04The Government needed to act.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08But the big question remained -
0:06:08 > 0:06:12how could they demolish a habit that had been built up over decades?
0:06:21 > 0:06:26The answer was huge campaign to change Britain's bad habit.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28It started with a series of films
0:06:28 > 0:06:31to try and shock the whole country to stop smoking.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35'This man used to be a heavy smoker. Now, he's a helpless invalid.'
0:06:35 > 0:06:38PUFFS BREATHLESSLY
0:06:38 > 0:06:42This was the first-ever government film made in 1963.
0:06:42 > 0:06:48Most of the government ads used "shock, horror" tactics.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Two years ago, this man could swim with his teenage son,
0:06:51 > 0:06:53but now he can't.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55Is that about as much as you can do?
0:06:55 > 0:06:58(WHEEZING) That's as much... can't do any more.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02If people got lung cancer, then there'd be more problems,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05and it's the taxpayers money that support the National Health,
0:07:05 > 0:07:09so they naturally wanted to put people off smoking.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13More ads followed and different audiences were targeted.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18This campaign used children to try to get to their mums and dads.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21There was one, I remember, where the child looked up the words
0:07:21 > 0:07:25"lung cancer" just as the dad came in, and the child covered them so that the dad didn't see.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28Really important.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31If you won't give up smoking for yourself, do it for your kids.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37Others showed smoking was not glamorous after all.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41'Sometimes, it isn't only your health that cigarettes damage.'
0:07:41 > 0:07:43- Hello.- Here, he's nice.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45He's very nice, but his breath smells
0:07:45 > 0:07:47like you'd get lung cancer just kissing him.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49SNORTS WITH LAUGHTER
0:07:49 > 0:07:52And, slowly, it seemed the public's attitude to smoking
0:07:52 > 0:07:53was beginning to change.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58I remember a Michael Parkinson show
0:07:58 > 0:08:01when Larry Adler, the great raconteur and harmonica player,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04told off Anthony Andrews, who played Sebastian
0:08:04 > 0:08:07in Brideshead Revisited, for lighting up in front of the audience.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09And it was a great... He says, "You shouldn't do that."
0:08:09 > 0:08:13This is an awful thing to say, but, you know, because Anthony Andrew
0:08:13 > 0:08:16has become the powerhouse he's become through this series,
0:08:16 > 0:08:19I don't think he ought to smoke a cigarette on the programme.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23- He is an example.- Yes, you're right.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25He's an example to millions of people.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28- I can smoke in Dynasty because I'm bad.- That's right.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31- No good people are allowed. - I've put it out, Larry.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34Consider yourself severely chastised, Mr Andrews.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37And a suitably chastened Anthony Andrews, to his credit,
0:08:37 > 0:08:38put the cigarette out.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41'I'd never seen anything like that on telly before,'
0:08:41 > 0:08:45suddenly the first glimmerings of people saying, "You know what?
0:08:45 > 0:08:48"People who smoke smell. You know what? They don't live as long.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50"You know what? It's bad for everybody."
0:08:52 > 0:08:54Since those early days,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57the drive to stop the country smoking gathered pace.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01Advertising and sponsorship was banned.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06Cigarette packets were given a health warning.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09And there were tax increases to persuade smokers
0:09:09 > 0:09:12their money would be better spent elsewhere.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14'If you smoke 20 a day,
0:09:14 > 0:09:17'you're sending hundreds of pounds up in smoke each year.'
0:09:19 > 0:09:24And famous faces were finally seen against smoking, not for it.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27You're history!
0:09:30 > 0:09:31And you must stop smoking as well.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40Smoking is now banned in all public places
0:09:40 > 0:09:43and most attitudes have completely changed.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46In a few decades we have gone from this...
0:09:46 > 0:09:48to this.
0:09:49 > 0:09:54I think the threat of cancer frightened 40% of the smokers
0:09:54 > 0:09:58and, eventually, I think it will stop the whole world smoking.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03With lung cancer rates now falling, it's clear that the rise and fall of the cigarette
0:10:03 > 0:10:05has had a huge impact on our nation's health.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09Because of science and public pressure, people kind of woke up.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13It shows you how the advances in medical science
0:10:13 > 0:10:17have moved so rapidly that, in less than 50 years, they have discovered,
0:10:17 > 0:10:21you know, how actually lethal cigarette smoking is.
0:10:25 > 0:10:30It all seems such a long time ago, doesn't it? A world away.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34Having a Capstan with the doctor in the doctor's office.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37HE LAUGHS I mean, it's just extraordinary.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40I agree, except, I still, still, am taken in
0:10:40 > 0:10:43by the old black-and-white movies
0:10:43 > 0:10:47with the shots shot through Venetian blinds of, I don't know...
0:10:47 > 0:10:49Bob Mitchum, or somebody, with that, sort of...
0:10:49 > 0:10:54And they'd just flick the cigarette away before taking a gun out and going round the corner.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57- And I'm sorry, I still want to play those parts.- You do?- I do!
0:10:57 > 0:11:01- THEY LAUGH Oh, come on.- I do. - Ooh, no, no, no.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04I mean, I can remember sitting with actors...
0:11:04 > 0:11:07It was always a thing, wasn't it, in a rehearsal situation
0:11:07 > 0:11:09when everybody's coming together,
0:11:09 > 0:11:14then all of a sudden out they come, the smokers are all there.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17And often you'd be doing a show and everybody smoked.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19- Absolutely everybody.- Absolutely.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21You know, with the book in your hand,
0:11:21 > 0:11:24out there trying to rehearse Hamlet or something.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28CHRISTOPHER LAUGHS "Hang on a minute!" Yeah. Just non-stop.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30The whole image, it was...
0:11:30 > 0:11:34I don't remember ever actually thinking, "God, I love doing this."
0:11:34 > 0:11:37- Yeah.- Have to be honest. "Do I actually love doing this?"
0:11:37 > 0:11:40No, I never did. It was something I made myself do.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42It was definitely...
0:11:42 > 0:11:47It was something I felt I ought to do, something I felt,
0:11:47 > 0:11:49you know, it was, kind of like, to be accepted.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53I swear that I remember at some point seeing a headline
0:11:53 > 0:11:57when I was a teenager, so it would have been the '60s, '70s...
0:11:57 > 0:12:01Yeah, even '50s, saying there is, categorically,
0:12:01 > 0:12:03no available information suggesting that there is
0:12:03 > 0:12:07any connection between smoking and lung cancer.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10I remember being delighted when I heard that it was OK to smoke
0:12:10 > 0:12:11and that it wouldn't give you cancer.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14- Cos you'd been sold on it completely. - Absolutely.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17When you consider it in that short period of time,
0:12:17 > 0:12:21that it's gone from sitting on buses and sitting on tubes,
0:12:21 > 0:12:26smoke-filled, to now, it's no longer a part of our life.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28Amazing.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35There are over 77,000 hip-replacement operations carried out each year,
0:12:35 > 0:12:39and it's incredible to think that just over 50 years ago,
0:12:39 > 0:12:41these procedures were hardly even heard of.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45MUSIC: "Mirrorball" by Elbow
0:12:45 > 0:12:47Today, the hip replacement
0:12:47 > 0:12:50is one of the most common operations in the UK.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54It is a procedure that we largely take for granted.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00But in the 1960s, the operation was unknown.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03For people with chronic, rheumatoid arthritis,
0:13:03 > 0:13:05the future would be bleak.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11For a long time, I was treated for a slipped disk
0:13:11 > 0:13:15Because they thought I'd injured myself,
0:13:15 > 0:13:17and it wasn't until they did a blood test
0:13:17 > 0:13:19that showed the rheumatoid factor.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24And then I was told that I had a progressive,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27degenerative disease, and my life fell apart.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34Rheumatoid arthritis was more commonly associated
0:13:34 > 0:13:36with elderly people,
0:13:36 > 0:13:39but when Julie developed the condition, she was just 26.
0:13:41 > 0:13:47In the early 1960s, they didn't offer as much at all.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51And we assumed that Julie might spend the rest of her life
0:13:51 > 0:13:55in a wheelchair and in constant pain.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02We'd been married one year, we had no children,
0:14:02 > 0:14:04our life was in front of us.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09And suddenly... it was a hopeless case.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14But there was hope.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19A surgeon called John Charnley was looking at ways
0:14:19 > 0:14:22in which the hip could be replaced effectively.
0:14:22 > 0:14:27Well, we'd never heard of Charnley until a colleague rang us
0:14:27 > 0:14:30and said she'd heard of his pioneering work.
0:14:30 > 0:14:35She said, "You must go and see John Charnley.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37"If anyone can help you, he can."
0:14:40 > 0:14:43John Charnley was a surgeon and a bio-engineer.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47In his workshop at Wrightington Hospital,
0:14:47 > 0:14:49he was experimenting with different materials
0:14:49 > 0:14:54to try and make a prosthesis that could replace the hip joint.
0:14:55 > 0:15:01Charlie was driven by the desire to help patients
0:15:01 > 0:15:05who were crippled by arthritis of the major joints.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08But he said, "Let's look at the mechanical problem
0:15:08 > 0:15:11"and let us offer a mechanical solution."
0:15:13 > 0:15:17Hip replacements had been attempted, but with limited success.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22Charnley was trying to build an artificial hip
0:15:22 > 0:15:25that would not only move like a real hip,
0:15:25 > 0:15:27but would also stand the test of time.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30And he would go to extraordinary lengths to make sure
0:15:30 > 0:15:32the materials he was testing were safe.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40With introducing new materials into a human body, there's always fear.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42What is going to happen in the long run?
0:15:42 > 0:15:46So Charnley carried out experiments on himself,
0:15:46 > 0:15:50injecting various materials under the skin.
0:15:50 > 0:15:56But committed as he was, building an artificial joint would take time.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00When Julie and Graham first went to see Charnley in the early 1960s,
0:16:00 > 0:16:03he was not happy with the progress he'd made.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06I can remember it as if it were yesterday.
0:16:06 > 0:16:12He sat there behind his desk in his three-piece suit telling me,
0:16:12 > 0:16:16"I'm really still working on my prosthesis
0:16:16 > 0:16:19"and we'll look at you in a year or so."
0:16:22 > 0:16:25Julie would have to wait and would face many more months of pain
0:16:25 > 0:16:28while Charnley perfected his prosthesis.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32Charnley continued his experiments.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35After several years, he finally realised
0:16:35 > 0:16:37that using a small ball inside a larger socket
0:16:37 > 0:16:39allowed freedom of movement.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43He also discovered a plastic that lasted well.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47We've put into the socket of the hip joint
0:16:47 > 0:16:49a plastic socket or cup like this
0:16:49 > 0:16:53and replaced the head of the thigh bone
0:16:53 > 0:16:56with this steel device.
0:16:56 > 0:17:02And we have, in this way, a very low-friction combination.
0:17:03 > 0:17:08Charnley began operating and fitting his new hip into patients.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10The results were incredible.
0:17:16 > 0:17:23In 1970, the time had come for Julie to have her operation.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25Her rheumatoid arthritis was so bad,
0:17:25 > 0:17:28she needed to have both hips replaced.
0:17:28 > 0:17:33I was 29 when he decided he would operate on both hips.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37He would replace both of them in the same operation because,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40as he said, "You haven't a good leg to stand on."
0:17:42 > 0:17:47The surgery lasted two hours and the results were instantaneous.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51I remember being stood out of bed the next day.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54That was the most significant memory I have.
0:17:54 > 0:17:59And the sensation was as if my legs were so long, only.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02But there was no pain. It was remarkable.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08Within a few months, Julie was back on her feet
0:18:08 > 0:18:10and went on to live a full and active life.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15The immediate thing is the freedom from pain
0:18:15 > 0:18:18and that showed in her face,
0:18:18 > 0:18:22and life becomes so much easier when you're not in pain.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29John Charnley died in 1982, but he left behind a legacy
0:18:29 > 0:18:33that has freed thousands of people from a life of pain.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43For Charnley, the monument would be
0:18:43 > 0:18:46the patients with successful hip replacements.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49Not honours, not medals, no,
0:18:49 > 0:18:53but you see before and you see after.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56And you see the patient and she says, "Great."
0:18:59 > 0:19:05His work revolutionised medicine and it also revolutionised our lives.
0:19:10 > 0:19:15Wrightington and John Charnley have given me a life
0:19:15 > 0:19:19and I'm so grateful for the work that they have done for me.
0:19:27 > 0:19:32- Julie.- Wow.- Welcome to The Picture Of Health surgery.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36Thank you for coming along and sharing the story with us.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39How unbelievably fortunate we are
0:19:39 > 0:19:42that there are people like John Charnley
0:19:42 > 0:19:46that devote their lives to the wellbeing of other people.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49It's so humbling, isn't it?
0:19:49 > 0:19:50It is absolutely amazing,
0:19:50 > 0:19:56because our life was idyllic until that moment
0:19:56 > 0:20:01that this rheumatoid struck and they were telling me,
0:20:01 > 0:20:05- Eventually at the local hospital, there was nothing could be done.- No.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08- No.- There were no hip joints then. - No. Not at all.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11Is it in your family, rheumatoid arthritis? Cos often it is.
0:20:11 > 0:20:12Not at all, no.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16I mean, as my mother aged, she had osteoarthritis,
0:20:16 > 0:20:22but no, no systemic disease, which I was told this was.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24- They don't know what caused it. - No. No.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28And when it all happened and you were, sort of,
0:20:28 > 0:20:35going to be operated on, was it just something that you felt,
0:20:35 > 0:20:38"Anything is better than nothing," was it a situation like that?
0:20:38 > 0:20:43You were desperate for help and that this was a chance to have,
0:20:43 > 0:20:48- as you put it, to have a life? - I had so much pain on movement.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50Incredible pain.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53I was teaching and as you stand,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56you might have your weight on one leg,
0:20:56 > 0:20:59and if a child touched the other foot by accident,
0:20:59 > 0:21:02I would just collapse with the pain.
0:21:02 > 0:21:09So, to think that I could have something done about that was,
0:21:09 > 0:21:11well, amazing.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14Weren't you frightened? I mean, weren't you...
0:21:14 > 0:21:17- SHE LAUGHS - I mean, as they said, "Well, out you get. Out of bed."
0:21:17 > 0:21:20I remember going down the corridor on a trolley
0:21:20 > 0:21:25and the central-heating pipes above and I thought,
0:21:25 > 0:21:27"Oh, well. This is it. OK."
0:21:27 > 0:21:29- Brace yourself.- Yes.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33But when you consider that now,
0:21:33 > 0:21:38like, 77,000 of these operations are done every year.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41It's quite extraordinary how it's come on
0:21:41 > 0:21:44from you being, as it were, one of the very first, yeah?
0:21:44 > 0:21:48That's true because in those days,
0:21:48 > 0:21:52there wasn't such a thing as a hip-joint replacement.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56- No, very fortunate. Thank you, Julie. - You're welcome.- Thank you.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58Thank you.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Nursing's always been close to the nation's heart,
0:22:04 > 0:22:06though recently it's been subject to the heated debate.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09In the past, nurses were always known as angels,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12these days, they're very often criticised.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14So what's changed?
0:22:14 > 0:22:19Being a nurse in Britain has always been a tough job.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22Today, with cuts in resources and an increase in red tape,
0:22:22 > 0:22:25our nurses are under intense pressure.
0:22:25 > 0:22:32But ask any nurse from the '50s and 60s and the job was far from easy...
0:22:34 > 0:22:38..and was governed by very strict timetables.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41Five o'clock and a morning wash.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44Early morning tea and mouthwash.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50By the end of it, you're just about ready to call it a day.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56There was certainly a very strict routine.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58We did a lot of repetitive work.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04Nurses used to train and live at the hospital
0:23:04 > 0:23:09and even in their spare time they had to do as they were told.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12Seven o'clock in the morning for breakfast.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15The home sister would sit there
0:23:15 > 0:23:18and she made sure you had your breakfast.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20You didn't leave it.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25Otherwise you're in trouble. You can't work on an empty stomach.
0:23:25 > 0:23:31And at 7:30 you went on the ward to work and worked till nine.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35And you were...
0:23:35 > 0:23:38- pretty... Can I swear? - LAUGHS
0:23:38 > 0:23:41But though there were rules,
0:23:41 > 0:23:46in the nurses' eyes, these rules were made to be broken.
0:23:46 > 0:23:51The home sister used to come round, 10 o'clock at night,
0:23:51 > 0:23:52you had to be in bed.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56- But I did sneak out and... - LAUGHS
0:24:01 > 0:24:04There were plenty of boyfriends around
0:24:04 > 0:24:07and sometimes you were a bit late coming back
0:24:07 > 0:24:12and then there was a case of having to climb in through the window
0:24:12 > 0:24:16of somebody on the ground floor in the nurse's home, and...
0:24:16 > 0:24:18everybody knew it went on, I think,
0:24:18 > 0:24:20but if you were caught, you would be sent home.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24You know, it really was NOT allowed.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33On the wards, the nurses really had to knuckle down
0:24:33 > 0:24:37and were responsible for keeping things spick and span.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40'Cleaning was very important.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43'That was handed down from Florence Nightingale',
0:24:43 > 0:24:46absolutely, cleanliness was next to godliness
0:24:46 > 0:24:50and was THE most important aspect of providing care.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54You had to do all the bedpans, all the bottles.
0:24:54 > 0:24:59If it was on the man's ward, making beds, washing the mattresses,
0:24:59 > 0:25:02and you were never still, you always had to do something.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12That smell, that almost being whacked in the face with antiseptic
0:25:12 > 0:25:15when you went through, that pine smell.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19And it wasn't just rules about cleaning that our nurses had to follow.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22There were strict regulations about how to dress.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26Every hospital had a dress with short sleeves
0:25:26 > 0:25:28and had an apron of some sort.
0:25:28 > 0:25:33You had to wear a hat. You had to keep your hair fastened back.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37I've always had very fine, straight hair and not much of it
0:25:37 > 0:25:40and the sister tutor took me aside and said,
0:25:40 > 0:25:44"I think if you're going to be a nurse and, you know,
0:25:44 > 0:25:48- "want to look your best it might be useful if you had a perm." - LAUGHS
0:25:53 > 0:25:56You wore black stockings and because it was rationing,
0:25:56 > 0:26:01you got a pass and you were able to get one pair of stockings a month.
0:26:03 > 0:26:10As soon as we've got our uniforms on we're nurses and everyone expects,
0:26:10 > 0:26:12you just do what do you think is expected of you.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15It is important, because it reassures the patient.
0:26:15 > 0:26:20We certainly weren't allowed to wear make-up. Absolutely no make-up, nail varnish.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23Just washed, clean.
0:26:23 > 0:26:24LAUGHS
0:26:24 > 0:26:29It was very strict. Very, very, very strict.
0:26:29 > 0:26:30Not like it is now.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37And there was one person
0:26:37 > 0:26:41who would make sure that all these rules and regulations were followed.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45- I'm going out on the bleep, Pauline. - Thank you, matron.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49For the first 20 years of the NHS,
0:26:49 > 0:26:52one person reigned supreme in Britain's hospitals.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58This battleship of healthcare swanning through the ward,
0:26:58 > 0:27:01all aprons and hats and enormous bosoms and the watch upside down.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04"Sister!" Everybody jumping and terrified,
0:27:04 > 0:27:08far more frightening than a consultant, surgeon or the doctor,
0:27:08 > 0:27:09it was the M word. The matron.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14The most senior nurse in the hospital,
0:27:14 > 0:27:18matron was in charge of nurses, domestic staff and patient care.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20The matrons ruled the hospitals
0:27:20 > 0:27:23and you wouldn't dare see a bit of dust anywhere
0:27:23 > 0:27:27or go in and see the toilets not clean.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30Everything was spotlessly clean.
0:27:33 > 0:27:38She used to wear white gloves and she used to walk along the ledges.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41If she found a bit of dust in that white glove,
0:27:41 > 0:27:43you were sent back to clean it.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46And that was that. I'm all for the matrons.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53I can remember when matron came around the ward. Whoa!
0:27:53 > 0:27:54Everybody stood to attention.
0:27:54 > 0:28:01During the '60s and '70s, nursing underwent huge changes.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05# You say you want a revolution... #
0:28:05 > 0:28:09Nurses began to receive clinical training away from the hospital.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13Matrons were phased out and make-up was allowed.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16And with nurses growing in confidence,
0:28:16 > 0:28:21they were not afraid to challenge what they felt was wrong with the system.
0:28:21 > 0:28:27Gone are the days when we're Florence Nightingale's little angels and things, they've gone now.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33But for those who worked through all these changes,
0:28:33 > 0:28:37it's still a job that has left them with fond memories.
0:28:40 > 0:28:45I can say looking back that nursing gave me, has given me,
0:28:45 > 0:28:49still gives me in fact, the most interesting life.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52But it was very hard work.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56The real enjoyment that I had of nursing
0:28:56 > 0:29:01was having the mates and that made up for everything.
0:29:08 > 0:29:12So, Felicity, Welcome to the Picture Of Health surgery.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15It was extraordinary to watch that film.
0:29:15 > 0:29:20Does it sort of give you a sense of real
0:29:20 > 0:29:23happy nostalgia on that trip down memory lane?
0:29:23 > 0:29:26- Wonderful memories.- Yes.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29What do you feel like when you walk in a modern hospital,
0:29:29 > 0:29:32when everything is so different now?
0:29:32 > 0:29:36Well, I've grown up with it and I'm used to it.
0:29:36 > 0:29:38You've lived through the changes.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42It's interesting to look back and recognise the Nightingale wards
0:29:42 > 0:29:47and everybody regimented in their beds. That was the way it was.
0:29:47 > 0:29:52And certainly as it came through there, discipline was huge
0:29:52 > 0:29:54because it's a very responsible job,
0:29:54 > 0:29:58looking after patients which were ill.
0:29:58 > 0:30:02And you all had those funny little hats, didn't you? I remember...
0:30:02 > 0:30:06- They were the sexiest thing I ever knew.- Some of them were.
0:30:06 > 0:30:08- Some of them were bizarre, weren't they?- Yes.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11Funny little sort of fan pieces.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14Every hospital had its special pattern of cap.
0:30:14 > 0:30:19St Thomas' had the most elaborate of caps, with lots of gophering
0:30:19 > 0:30:23and frills all round and the bow under the chin.
0:30:23 > 0:30:29And the phasing out of the office of matron, do you remember that?
0:30:29 > 0:30:33I mean, they were always there, it was kind of part of it.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37Well, yes. That was from Florence Nightingale's day.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41The matron was the mother of the system.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44- The abbess, as it were.- Yes.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48I was quite often called up to matron's office,
0:30:48 > 0:30:55to be persuaded to be more assertive and accept more responsibility
0:30:55 > 0:30:59and I was encouraged to go and work in the operating theatre early on
0:30:59 > 0:31:01to give me more confidence.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05- Really? They figured that would? - Absolutely, yes.- And did it?
0:31:05 > 0:31:06Yes, it did, certainly. Yes.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10Nursing made my life, absolutely,
0:31:10 > 0:31:13I would've been totally different if I hadn't had that.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16- And the responsibility... - And the way of managing life,
0:31:16 > 0:31:21from the matrons and the wonderful companionship of my colleagues
0:31:21 > 0:31:23that all started at the same time.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27The marvellous thing coming off night duty, having had a gruelling night
0:31:27 > 0:31:32and forgotten to do something and you go and you burst into tears
0:31:32 > 0:31:38and your friends are there to pull you together and have a joke...
0:31:38 > 0:31:4460 years on, I now am still in touch with most of those people that I started nursing with.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47- And we're still friends through life.- How lovely.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51Thanks for coming and sharing your story with us.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54It's been a pleasure to do some reminiscing.
0:31:54 > 0:31:55Thank you very much indeed.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58- Lovely.- Thank you too. - Absolutely, it's lovely.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05Sometimes it seems that barely a day passes
0:32:05 > 0:32:08without the announcement of a new wonder drug or medicine.
0:32:08 > 0:32:13But few drugs can claim to have helped nearly as many people as penicillin has.
0:32:20 > 0:32:21EXPLOSION
0:32:24 > 0:32:281942, and a bloody war was being waged in the jungles of Burma.
0:32:30 > 0:32:32GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS
0:32:32 > 0:32:35The Japanese army had invaded
0:32:35 > 0:32:40and British troops were sent over to help defend the country.
0:32:45 > 0:32:51Right at the centre of this savage conflict was a young nurse called Enid Grant.
0:32:53 > 0:32:58She was just 20, but 70 years later, the memories still live on.
0:33:00 > 0:33:04You were hearing bombs dropping and guns all the time.
0:33:06 > 0:33:11And the jungle habitat made conditions even more dangerous.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15'We had little camp beds. You are nearly on the floor.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18'And all the wild creatures were there.'
0:33:18 > 0:33:21You'd suddenly hear, "Samp!" - Which meant a snake
0:33:21 > 0:33:24and those patients that were sitting pulled their legs up
0:33:24 > 0:33:27and a cobra would go rustling through the ward.
0:33:27 > 0:33:31At night, you had to put string round the bottom of our trousers,
0:33:31 > 0:33:36otherwise the tarantulas used to climb up your legs.
0:33:36 > 0:33:42It certainly wasn't an easy life. It was very uncomfortable indeed.
0:33:43 > 0:33:47Enid was working in field hospital tents, treating the wounded.
0:33:47 > 0:33:51She was dealing with the most horrendous injuries.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53DISTANT EXPLOSIONS
0:33:53 > 0:33:58The Japanese were pretty vicious.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02They'd be brought in, dead,
0:34:02 > 0:34:04we were laying out people all the time.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07They'd find them in the forests and the jungle.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11There were the most dreadful injuries.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17And even when the soldiers made it back to camp,
0:34:17 > 0:34:20they were still in danger.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25The jungle was teeming with disease,
0:34:25 > 0:34:28so these injuries were becoming infected.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31They'd be lying out in the forest
0:34:31 > 0:34:33until they were found, they'd gone septic
0:34:33 > 0:34:36and some of them had terrible wounds.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40With no real effective treatment,
0:34:40 > 0:34:44soldiers were dying in their hundreds.
0:34:44 > 0:34:48Nurses like Enid needed a miracle
0:34:48 > 0:34:50and in 1944, she got one.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57'Men once fated to pass months of agony in bed
0:34:57 > 0:35:01'will now spend there only a few painless days,
0:35:01 > 0:35:03'thanks to the new miracle drug, penicillin.'
0:35:03 > 0:35:08Penicillin had been discovered 15 years earlier from a piece of mould.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12'This evil-looking fungus would still be regarded as a pest,
0:35:12 > 0:35:15'were it not for a brilliant doctor, Prof Alexander Fleming,
0:35:15 > 0:35:18'who discovered that it produces the drug known as penicillin
0:35:18 > 0:35:21'a marvellous new cure for various types of blood poisoning.'
0:35:21 > 0:35:25But it took the horrors of war to kick-start penicillin's mass production
0:35:25 > 0:35:30and the decision to fly it over to our troops.
0:35:30 > 0:35:32They got it by injection or drip,
0:35:32 > 0:35:35or putting it actually on the wound,
0:35:35 > 0:35:39which I don't think we were supposed to do, but we used to
0:35:39 > 0:35:42and it was in very short supply.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45You had to treat it like gold and be very careful with it,
0:35:45 > 0:35:49but it certainly had a dramatic effect.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57Here at last was something that worked quickly
0:35:57 > 0:36:00and it was good for their morale,
0:36:00 > 0:36:05they found here something had come that could really help them to recover.
0:36:06 > 0:36:10In the '40s, penicillin was largely reserved for our troops.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12These troops weren't just in Burma.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15Wars were being fought all around the world.
0:36:15 > 0:36:19And other soldiers needed it too.
0:36:19 > 0:36:21MILITARY DRUM ROLL
0:36:21 > 0:36:25Joe Seely is one soldier who was saved during World War II.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33He was posted to northern Europe
0:36:33 > 0:36:38shortly after the D-Day landings as part of Operation Market Garden.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43But his tour was cut short when, along with a comrade,
0:36:43 > 0:36:46he was hit during German shelling.
0:36:48 > 0:36:53I knew I'd been hit in several places,
0:36:53 > 0:36:58so I instinctively went for my field dressing,
0:36:58 > 0:37:03and looking at it, I realised the field dressing, it was a huge wound.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06It was quite a lot of thigh had been blown away.
0:37:08 > 0:37:13Joe's injuries were so severe, he was flown home.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19By that time, I was feeling quite unwell.
0:37:19 > 0:37:23Very unwell and every day got worse.
0:37:23 > 0:37:28I saw a couple of doctors and they said, "You have gas gangrene."
0:37:28 > 0:37:30By that time, I could smell it.
0:37:34 > 0:37:36Gas gangrene is a bacterial infection
0:37:36 > 0:37:38that eats away at the flesh.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41Left untreated, it proves fatal.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48I was aware that one of the chief factors
0:37:48 > 0:37:53that killed wounded soldiers in the First World War
0:37:53 > 0:37:54was gas gangrene.
0:37:54 > 0:37:56We didn't really have anything
0:37:56 > 0:38:00and what they did have didn't deal with it.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04But the world of medicine had changed.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07Joe was told he would be treated with a new drug
0:38:07 > 0:38:09and that new drug was penicillin.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14The ward sister used to dress the wound,
0:38:14 > 0:38:17which was quite a big wound,
0:38:17 > 0:38:19and she used to have a little pot
0:38:19 > 0:38:23and it was a cream and a spoon
0:38:23 > 0:38:27and she used to drop this into the wound and spread it around.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30Tie it all up, right round.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33The very next morning, she'd come and take this off,
0:38:33 > 0:38:36and by that time it was smelling terribly.
0:38:36 > 0:38:40Take it all away, it was all wet and smelly and do another lot
0:38:40 > 0:38:45and I think that went on for about three weeks
0:38:45 > 0:38:47and I gradually...
0:38:47 > 0:38:49started to feel better.
0:38:52 > 0:38:54What could your feelings be?
0:38:54 > 0:38:58Thank you very much. Job well done.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02And I think thousands of soldiers could say that.
0:39:02 > 0:39:03Thousands.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10Since World War II, penicillin became more widely available.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12No longer reserved for our troops,
0:39:12 > 0:39:16it was soon rolled out to hospitals up and down the country.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19But the soldiers and nurses of World War II
0:39:19 > 0:39:24will never forget where this revolution in medicine first began.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29What a wonderful job they did. What a wonderful job.
0:39:29 > 0:39:34It has been so successful right from when they first started using it
0:39:34 > 0:39:36during the war up to the present day.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40I think lots of people were saved.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43There were hundreds of them in those years.
0:39:47 > 0:39:51And those who were saved by Fleming's penicillin
0:39:51 > 0:39:54will always be eternally grateful.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58I would've shook his hand and thanked him very much on behalf of us all.
0:39:58 > 0:40:00Absolutely.
0:40:09 > 0:40:13It's interesting to hear that the drug had been developed
0:40:13 > 0:40:1715 years before and it was the war that brought it on.
0:40:17 > 0:40:19Absolutely.
0:40:19 > 0:40:20Yes, amazing.
0:40:20 > 0:40:25You talk to people about this and they say, "that was in the days before penicillin."
0:40:25 > 0:40:31I mean, when I was doing Herriot, that was all the time.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34"Oh, what would we have done, James, before this?
0:40:34 > 0:40:36"What would we have done?"
0:40:36 > 0:40:39- We take it for granted. - Absolutely.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43You can go to the doctor and say, "I probably need some penicillin."
0:40:43 > 0:40:45You just know it's part... It's a part of your life.
0:40:45 > 0:40:51I mean, to be using it on wounds, literally straight onto wounds,
0:40:51 > 0:40:57that guy was so stoic, a great big lump of his thigh blown away
0:40:57 > 0:41:02and that extraordinary lady that lived through all that
0:41:02 > 0:41:06and the way that she just dealt with those horrific wounds that had
0:41:06 > 0:41:09been inflicted, you just kind of got on with it, didn't you?
0:41:09 > 0:41:11Amazing character.
0:41:11 > 0:41:16They showed a lot of the awfulness and described it fairly gruesomely
0:41:16 > 0:41:19and then she said, "Yes, it was quite tough."
0:41:19 > 0:41:22Life was quite uncomfortable, to say the least.
0:41:22 > 0:41:27Yes, out there in the jungle with tarantulas crawling up your trouser legs.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30It would never do for me.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34- And I complain about dodgy digs, you know!- Yes.
0:41:34 > 0:41:36Anyway, thanks, Christopher.
0:41:36 > 0:41:38I've so enjoyed it.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41- And I've learned so much, thank you. - It's fascinating, isn't it?
0:41:41 > 0:41:47- Yes, unbelievable.- Fascinating. - But it's the nursing thing...- Yes.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50- Amazing.- Let that be a lesson to us all.- There you go.
0:41:50 > 0:41:52THEY LAUGH
0:41:58 > 0:42:01For an expert view from the Open University, go to...
0:42:03 > 0:42:05..and follow the links.
0:42:15 > 0:42:17Coming up tomorrow,
0:42:17 > 0:42:20how two men found hope in the shadow of a life-threatening disease.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24It's a wonderful place, the way it was run and everything.
0:42:24 > 0:42:26There's a lot to be thankful for.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30And the remarkable experiment that brought happiness to thousands of childless couples.
0:42:30 > 0:42:34I feel so privileged that we were part of this amazing piece of history.
0:42:37 > 0:42:39That's it from A Picture Of Health today.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41Goodbye.
0:42:53 > 0:42:55Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd