0:00:03 > 0:00:06This was Hitler's Blitzkrieg, or lightning war.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11During the bombing campaign, the Luftwaffe devastated towns
0:00:11 > 0:00:15and cities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19But it was the nation's capital that suffered the most from the Blitz.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23'Night after night, London is left a sea of fire.'
0:00:25 > 0:00:27I'm Shane Richie, and this is my home city.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30Today, I'm seeing London as I've never done before,
0:00:30 > 0:00:34finding out how it endured almost nine months of heavy bombing.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37I can remember walking home and glass scrunching under my feet.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40You can't think straight, you just want to get home,
0:00:40 > 0:00:42if your home is still there, that is.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46Discovering how its people survived the relentless attacks.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49Would you get hundreds of people making their way down here?
0:00:49 > 0:00:50- 15,000, every night.- 15,000?!
0:01:00 > 0:01:03# London pride has been handed down to us
0:01:03 > 0:01:06# London pride is a flower that's free
0:01:06 > 0:01:09# London pride means our own dear town to us
0:01:09 > 0:01:13# And our pride it forever will be. #
0:01:13 > 0:01:15'I'm a Londoner through and through.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18'I might travel around, but today I'm coming home.'
0:01:18 > 0:01:20How are you, darling?
0:01:20 > 0:01:21How are you?
0:01:24 > 0:01:26You grew up in Harlesden? And you went Brondesbury in Kilburn?
0:01:26 > 0:01:29- I went to a proper school, what you talking about?! - Yeah, you're a posh boy!
0:01:29 > 0:01:32'A lot of people tend to recognise me from a certain TV drama,
0:01:32 > 0:01:36'but I'm not actually an East Ender myself. Nah, this is my manor.'
0:01:36 > 0:01:40Now, literally, 200 yards up the road is where I used to live,
0:01:40 > 0:01:42Harlesden, northwest London.
0:01:42 > 0:01:43About the age of ten,
0:01:43 > 0:01:46I would come tearing down here on a skateboard, knowing everybody.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48A lot of shops are still very much the same
0:01:48 > 0:01:51and the great smells of Asian and Caribbean food.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54And, of course, there'd be street parties, not too often,
0:01:54 > 0:01:58but my mum would work and clean a lot of these offices
0:01:58 > 0:02:00and some of the shops along here.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03And it still feels like home, still feels like home.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07As a child of Irish immigrants,
0:02:07 > 0:02:09I'm not that familiar with the story of the Blitz.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12My mum and dad only arrived from Dublin in the '60s,
0:02:12 > 0:02:15so they had no direct experience of it themselves.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18As a kid, I had no real interest in the past.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25No, my mind was on the future, a future in entertainment.
0:02:25 > 0:02:31'The Gwalia Working Men's club was kind of my dad's office and my second home.'
0:02:31 > 0:02:33There it is. Oh, it's all coming back.
0:02:33 > 0:02:34Look at this.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39'And this is Carol, my old mate from back in the day.'
0:02:39 > 0:02:43My favourite blonde in the whole wide world! Hello, sweetheart.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47- How are you?- My first love. - Oh, my goodness.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50My first love, and you're still only in your 40s, ain't you, girl?
0:02:50 > 0:02:54- It hasn't changed a bit.- You used to collect the glasses, didn't you?
0:02:54 > 0:02:57Yeah, I done so much here. This was my introduction to showbiz.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00- Do you remember Gerry?- Gerry! - Friend of your father.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02Yeah, everyone was a friend of my dad's.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05What do you remember about the Blitz? Ha-ha! I'm joking.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07'Now, to be honest with you, I know very little,
0:03:07 > 0:03:09'in fact, nothing about the Blitz.'
0:03:09 > 0:03:12So, I am slightly nervous, if I'm being honest,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16and excited about the prospect of going all over London
0:03:16 > 0:03:19to find out how London coped during the Blitz.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25Night and day, day and night, indiscriminate attacks continue.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27Like a scene from Dante's Inferno,
0:03:27 > 0:03:31the first act tells of destruction wrought by a deadly foe which
0:03:31 > 0:03:32tries also to destroy the soul
0:03:32 > 0:03:36and break the morale of a nation by savage barbarism.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44By September 1940, World War II was just over a year old.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46The Nazis were in the ascendency.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51They had taken Holland and Belgium, moved into France,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54and were on Britain's doorstep.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56The country was preparing itself for the worst.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02All summer, the Luftwaffe had been attacking British airfields,
0:04:02 > 0:04:05engaging the RAF in a series of aerial battles.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14History's greatest drama is being performed in the London
0:04:14 > 0:04:15theatre of war...
0:04:15 > 0:04:18But on September 7, later to become known
0:04:18 > 0:04:22as Black Saturday, Hitler's bombers headed straight for the capital.
0:04:22 > 0:04:23AIR-RAID SIRENS BLARE
0:04:24 > 0:04:27London is an open city, a city open for battle.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32This was the start of Blitzkrieg,
0:04:32 > 0:04:35a devastating campaign that would last until May 1941.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40Londoners bore the brunt of the so-called Blitz.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44Night after night, London is left a sea of fire.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48And their city would never be the same again.
0:05:00 > 0:05:0375 years on, I'm planning to fly the actual route
0:05:03 > 0:05:06taken by the Luftwaffe during that first night of bombing.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11I'm taking off from Biggin Hill airfield.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16During the war, this was used as a base for Spitfires.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18'But today, I'll be taking a different kind of flight,
0:05:18 > 0:05:23'along with aerial archaeologist Chris Going and pilot Bill Giles.'
0:05:23 > 0:05:26So, got a busy day ahead of us today, I understand.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28You're going to be wearing your Luftwaffe uniform for today.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30Oh, lovely! Home from home, really.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32The bombers who caused
0:05:32 > 0:05:35so much damage that night certainly had a definite plan of attack.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38In fact, they literally had it all mapped out,
0:05:38 > 0:05:41as these actual German intelligence photos show.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45So, it's 7th September 1940,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48we've been at war just over a year.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52These are surviving German target documents
0:05:52 > 0:05:55and these would have been the documents they were briefed on.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00What I want to show you is that date there.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03Well, that's like 4th June 1939.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08But this is months before the war actually started.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11- It's three months before, before the war.- So they've done their homework?
0:06:11 > 0:06:15They were taking clandestine spy photos.
0:06:15 > 0:06:21There was a special unit based near Berlin which flew this kind of stuff.
0:06:21 > 0:06:26And the head of it, interviewed in the '70s, said, "We photographed
0:06:26 > 0:06:31"every blade of grass from Hull to the south coast before the war."
0:06:33 > 0:06:35You see that number there, 45?
0:06:35 > 0:06:41That designates dock targets, the docks, the economic heart of the UK.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44London, Liverpool had to be strangled.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46It's interesting, you know, you talk about numbers.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51And, of course, we're looking at people's homes here,
0:06:51 > 0:06:52it seems very cold.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56The fact is, in London, the docks and the people
0:06:56 > 0:07:00who serviced the docks are intertwined, they're going to be.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04So, although you could draw a little red rectangle around "the docks"...
0:07:04 > 0:07:08- Still a lot of housing.- There's an awful lot of housing in there.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12And the people who lived in those houses were right in the firing line.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17The Germans may have planned a precision bombing campaign,
0:07:17 > 0:07:18but it turned out to be anything but.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23All of this looks utterly precise, these are the designated targets,
0:07:23 > 0:07:26this is what you're going to attack, and so on.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28In truth, it wasn't like that.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31What you ended up with is something far more messy.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35There is the Isle of Dogs, that's the designated sort of target.
0:07:35 > 0:07:41And this shows you the bomb fall of the first 24 hours of the Blitz.
0:07:41 > 0:07:46Those red dots represent one or more bomb impacts, and what you can
0:07:46 > 0:07:49see here is a phenomenon that later got called creepback.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51You're getting people who are starting to drop
0:07:51 > 0:07:56ordnance before they actually hit the dock area.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00You could get quite a heavy concentration within a mile or two
0:08:00 > 0:08:04of a target. But a mile or two is a long way in London.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07Looking at this map, Chris, it just seems like anyone who
0:08:07 > 0:08:10was in London and the surrounding areas was a target.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14'Well, that was a really strange feeling with Chris talking me
0:08:14 > 0:08:15'through those maps.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19'I mean, he's talking about numbers, all I'm looking at is the people
0:08:19 > 0:08:21'that lost their lives or their property
0:08:21 > 0:08:22'throughout this whole Blitz.'
0:08:24 > 0:08:30And now I'm about to take a similar route that the German aircraft
0:08:30 > 0:08:33would have done back in the day, I'm about to do it in a little plane.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35And I really have got mixed feelings about it.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43Like the German pilots back in 1940,
0:08:43 > 0:08:46we'll be travelling in from the southeast of the country, and
0:08:46 > 0:08:50using the Thames to guide us towards the target, London's Docklands.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54MUSIC: Mars, The Bringer Of War by Holst
0:09:18 > 0:09:22And we're up, making our way towards London.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28The air crew who would be flying these attacks would be really barely
0:09:28 > 0:09:31out of their teens, they'd be 19, 20 years old.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36And war to them, to some degree, is, is an adventure still.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49This is the route, the actual route that we're on right now,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52heading towards London, that the Germans took.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54Whay-ay, and it's a bit bumpy.
0:09:57 > 0:09:58This is our run?
0:09:58 > 0:10:01This is where they had lined up on the target,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04which would be the docks on the Isle of Dogs, and they'd be coming in.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10The first bombs being dropped were being dropped more or less now.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24So, Chris, how many planes would be in formation now?
0:10:24 > 0:10:29The two formations were about 600 or 700 aircraft altogether.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31600 or 700?!
0:10:31 > 0:10:34So you had this massive formation in the sky,
0:10:34 > 0:10:37like black flies hanging as it approached London.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42I mean, the civilian population had a grandstand view, it had been
0:10:42 > 0:10:45a beautiful day, it had been football, people out in the parks.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49It was around tea-time. It had been unusually hot.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52I think the temperature was in the late 70s, 80s,
0:10:52 > 0:10:56and, boy oh boy, you know, here came the Luftwaffe.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02AIR-RAID SIREN BLARES
0:11:02 > 0:11:05The first air-raid sirens sounded at 4.43pm.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08There was a break for two hours at 6.30,
0:11:08 > 0:11:11and then a further eight hours of bombing continued until dawn.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18The codename for the operation was Lichts Meer, which meant
0:11:18 > 0:11:22sea of light, and the intention clearly was to
0:11:22 > 0:11:23bring London to its knees.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27I can't even imagine the reaction of being a child
0:11:27 > 0:11:30and playing out in the streets or in the fields,
0:11:30 > 0:11:34and then seeing the shadows of the German aircraft coming over London.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39As a child it must have been frightening. Your worst nightmare.
0:11:44 > 0:11:49London has the misfortune to have this river running through it,
0:11:49 > 0:11:53which is a very distinctive set of curves.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56I can actually see it now, when you're up this high,
0:11:56 > 0:12:00how the river gives away all the landmarks around London.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03So when the moonlight was shining, or even if it's only half moon,
0:12:03 > 0:12:06you only had to glimpse a little bit...
0:12:06 > 0:12:10- And you knew exactly where you were. - And you know where you were.- Right.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12'Bombing wasn't just confined to the East End.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15'As the Blitz wore on, my own neighbourhood became a target too.'
0:12:17 > 0:12:20We're now coming to a part of London which I know really well.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26So, Chris, Willesden Junction, because it's such a big junction,
0:12:26 > 0:12:28would have been one of the main targets?
0:12:28 > 0:12:30It won't necessarily have been anything other than
0:12:30 > 0:12:34a target of opportunity, which meant, if you couldn't drop
0:12:34 > 0:12:36your bombs on your designated target,
0:12:36 > 0:12:38it would be your secondary target.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41You could unload on railway marshalling yards...
0:12:41 > 0:12:45I've just gone over me mum's house. Can't believe it, eh?
0:12:45 > 0:12:49Strange coming over now, flying over from Harlesden, Stonebridge, Willesden, Neasden,
0:12:49 > 0:12:53and knowing that this was a bomb target 75 years ago.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55And my mum and dad never talked about it.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59I'm not even sure my school spoke about it.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01I think all schools should know about it now.
0:13:06 > 0:13:11Before I went on this flight over London I was very blase about it.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14I thought, "It's a job, I'm going to do a documentary about the Blitz."
0:13:14 > 0:13:17But this is very different, this has opened my eyes and I'm going to
0:13:17 > 0:13:20talk to people that lived through it, that smelt it, that breathed it.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24And hopefully, at the end of it, I'm going to know a lot more about it.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30'It's hard to imagine living through such destruction.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33'But hundreds of thousands of people did.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35'Trudy Goodman was one of them.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37'She grew up in Stepney and had to move out
0:13:37 > 0:13:41'when her family home was destroyed at the start of the Blitz.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44'At 95, she still remembers it vividly.'
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Thank you so much for inviting us into your lovely house, my darling.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51- Now, you were in Stepney...- Yes... - ..at the start of the Blitz.- Yes.
0:13:51 > 0:13:52What was that like?
0:13:52 > 0:13:56- I was 19...- Right.- ..on the 1st of September, when Poland was invaded.
0:13:56 > 0:13:58I was 25 when the war finished.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01That was quite a slice out of my life.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04Yeah. So, what are your memories of the Blitz?
0:14:04 > 0:14:07Burning wood, smoke, dust...
0:14:07 > 0:14:10and the incessant noise.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14This time of the year, when the barbecues are out in the gardens,
0:14:14 > 0:14:18the smell of burning wood, that brings it back.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21I can remember walking home
0:14:21 > 0:14:24and glass crunching under my feet.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27You can't think straight, you just want to get home.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30If your home is still there, that is.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34I can't remember a lot after that until I went into the fire service.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37- Is that right, you were in the fire service?- Yes.- Do you have a picture at all?
0:14:37 > 0:14:40- Yes, I do. - Let me have a look at this...
0:14:40 > 0:14:43I'm going to try and guess which one is you, OK?
0:14:43 > 0:14:46- I think you're the prettiest one. - Naturally!- Of course.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48SHE LAUGHS
0:14:48 > 0:14:51- It's the pretty one right at the end. The last one here. - Well done.- See?
0:14:51 > 0:14:53I recognise a pretty lady when I see one.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57And so, what did you actually do then, for the fire service? What was your job?
0:14:57 > 0:15:02- Well, mainly in the control room. - OK.- A telephonist with a switchboard.- OK.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05You've got the old hooter, the horn, coming up like that...
0:15:05 > 0:15:08and the earphones. And the plug... Pfft! Pfft!
0:15:08 > 0:15:11And that was four days on and four days off.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14- But when you did get spare time, what would you like to do?- Dance.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18- Really?- Yes, on your leave days, I was at the Astoria, dancing.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21- Did you really?- Yeah, you should see me jive and jitterbug!
0:15:21 > 0:15:25That's why I've got such short legs, I wore them down!
0:15:25 > 0:15:27It's up to you whether you tell me or not
0:15:27 > 0:15:30- but I can imagine there was a lot of GIs, yeah?- Oh, of course!
0:15:30 > 0:15:32- But not too romantic.- No?
0:15:32 > 0:15:36I got to my marriage as a virgin, but how I got there I don't know!
0:15:36 > 0:15:40SHANE LAUGHS I had a great time fighting!
0:15:40 > 0:15:43God bless 'em!
0:15:43 > 0:15:48But I can remember the back of an open Jeep. All the GIs packed in.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53As I'm crossing the road in my uniform,
0:15:53 > 0:15:57"Ho-ho!" They said. "So round! So firm! So fully packed!"
0:15:57 > 0:16:00And I had no idea what they were talking about.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02I just thought they were being saucy.
0:16:02 > 0:16:07- Actually, it was the advert for Lucky Strike cigarettes.- Oh, really? - Yeah!
0:16:07 > 0:16:10- They were really talking about you. - Yes!
0:16:10 > 0:16:14It's still fully packed but it's not firm!
0:16:16 > 0:16:18Well, I've just come face-to-face
0:16:18 > 0:16:20with what they call the Blitz spirit.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23And Londoners, well, they certainly needed plenty of it.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27Because they faced death and destruction day after day.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33- NEWSREEL:- In this demonstration test, the Anderson shelter successfully withstood the blast
0:16:33 > 0:16:37of a 500lb bomb, even though the building close by was wrecked.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39And here's an actual shelter that was bombed.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43All that happened was that the protective earth was blown off.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46Without it, there might have been serious consequences.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49The Anderson shelter was a curved corrugated steel tube
0:16:49 > 0:16:51that could be set up in people's gardens,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54half-buried in the ground, with earth heaped on top.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56- NEWSREEL:- That one would have been near.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59But there's no need for anyone to be so uncomfortable.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02The government distributed 1.5 million shelters before the war
0:17:02 > 0:17:06and in total, over 3.5 million shelters were produced.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09It was left to the people to construct their own.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11Although, there was no shortage of advice.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14- NEWSREEL:- A cup of tea and a biscuit just before turning in
0:17:14 > 0:17:18and now to spend a comfortable night undisturbed by the Blitzkrieg.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22- Martin, thank you so much, buddy, I'm Shane.- A pleasure, Shane. Very good to meet you.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25'I've never seen an Anderson shelter up close. I've only ever seen pictures.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29'So, I've come to south London to meet Martin Stanley.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31'He's got one in his back garden!'
0:17:31 > 0:17:36In the war, these beautiful houses stretched all the way down this street.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39One bomb fell there, blew all that whole terrace down.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41How many houses would have been there, do you think?
0:17:41 > 0:17:45- It must be, what, approaching 20, I would think?- What, and one bomb would have devastated...
0:17:45 > 0:17:48One bomb in the middle blew the lot down. Absolutely.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51'At Martin's house, I have also arranged to meet Joan Longley.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53'She was three when the war started
0:17:53 > 0:17:57'and regularly took cover in an Anderson shelter with her family.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01'But she hasn't seen one for more than 70 years.'
0:18:01 > 0:18:05Yes, in my back garden, in Charlton, in southeast London,
0:18:05 > 0:18:09- but this is not like my air-raid shelter.- What was yours like?
0:18:09 > 0:18:12- Well, it wasn't covered with lovely plants.- OK.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14It was a bare garden, where we had trampled all over it.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18There were nine children in my family, cold, damp, horrible.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22It wasn't gentrified at all. Some people gentrified their shelters.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26- We didn't.- So, how bad was your area, where you grew up, affected?
0:18:26 > 0:18:29Quite a lot. There were bombs everywhere. Incendiaries mostly.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31But a family down the road got killed
0:18:31 > 0:18:34because they didn't have a strong door on it.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36If we had to go and see this shelter here,
0:18:36 > 0:18:38how do you feel about going in for the first time in 70 years?
0:18:38 > 0:18:41Very interested to see how it affects me, actually.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44- All right, follow me, Joan.- OK. - Do you want to hold my hand, sweetheart,
0:18:44 > 0:18:47cos it is a bit bumpy, all right? Mind your head.
0:18:47 > 0:18:52- Oh, gosh!- What are you thinking? - It's jolly small!- It is, isn't it?
0:18:52 > 0:18:55- It's a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be.- Yes!
0:18:55 > 0:18:58If they were like this - and you say you'd get NINE of you in here?
0:18:58 > 0:19:01You'd get nine of us in here but we had an earth floor,
0:19:01 > 0:19:03we had no concrete like this has got.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07This corrugated iron went right down into the ground.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11And we would sit on either side, almost knees touching.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13I don't think ours was as long as this.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16- So, you think yours might have been smaller?- Yes. Smaller than this.
0:19:16 > 0:19:17This looks much bigger.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21So, this is a bit of a posh one, as far as shelters go? Is that right, Martin?
0:19:21 > 0:19:23Yeah, it was, the house was owned by a builder in the war.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Obviously very concerned about the safety of his family.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28So, he built this shelter with a concrete base
0:19:28 > 0:19:31and a little bit bigger than normal. This was a high-class shelter.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35It probably saved his family's life because there was a bomb very close by.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37How does it feel for you being down here right now?
0:19:37 > 0:19:41- It feels all right, actually.- Yeah? - I thought it might be a bit of a shock.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44But I'm actually quite pleased to be here.
0:19:44 > 0:19:45It's cos it's such a long way in the past.
0:19:45 > 0:19:47- I'm not thinking, "Oh, dear, how dreadful."- No.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50I'm thinking how lucky we were to be safe.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52In the war, it would still have been dark.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55- You weren't allowed candles, even to find your way to the shelter.- No.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58- And it'll have been pretty scary. - We were all scared.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00I think we were probably more scared than we showed
0:20:00 > 0:20:03because children became very used to it.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07But we'd huddle together to keep warm but it was cold,
0:20:07 > 0:20:11dark, spiders... We didn't like that very much as kids.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13And around you, just imagine sitting in it
0:20:13 > 0:20:16and hearing bombs dropping and the ground would shake.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19And the worst thing, really, was looking out to see
0:20:19 > 0:20:22- if your house was still there because nobody expected it to be. - Of course.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26So, one of my big brothers or sisters would look out just
0:20:26 > 0:20:29- to make sure. "It's still there, Mum!" You know?- Oh, wow...
0:20:29 > 0:20:33As soon as it was over and you could go outside, we would often jump
0:20:33 > 0:20:36on top of the roof and triumphantly "King of the castle" kind of stuff.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38And think, "We are alive!"
0:20:38 > 0:20:42So, there was a lot of triumph, erm, between life and death,
0:20:42 > 0:20:47that we...you knew, even as a child, that you had survived something.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50And that was very, very important.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53- Because that gave you, that feeling lasted for life.- Yeah...
0:20:53 > 0:20:56MUSIC FADES OVER HER VOICE
0:20:56 > 0:20:59It was lovely meeting Joan. And when she was telling me about her mum
0:20:59 > 0:21:03and nine children all in that cramped little space,
0:21:03 > 0:21:06and immediately I thought, "Blimey, how would I cope?"
0:21:06 > 0:21:09Me and my wife, and having FIVE children down there.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12So, and I don't know if she was getting a bit emotional...
0:21:12 > 0:21:15At the time, I just found it a bit eerie.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18Imagine being down there with, you know, all lights off
0:21:18 > 0:21:22and the blackout and being woken in the middle of the night as a child,
0:21:22 > 0:21:26being brought to that shelter and not knowing what was going to happen when you came out.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29But what a lovely lady. And...
0:21:29 > 0:21:33God, we had no idea, really, it was going to be like that, though.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42So, it's nearly the end of my Blitz journey,
0:21:42 > 0:21:45and where better to wrap things up than back where I began?
0:21:45 > 0:21:48At my favourite working men's club in Harlesden.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51Here, I've arranged to meet a group of Londoners who were
0:21:51 > 0:21:53all small children at the start of the war,
0:21:53 > 0:21:56and lived through the darkest days of the bombings.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59So what are your earliest memories of the Blitz?
0:21:59 > 0:22:00I was born in '35,
0:22:00 > 0:22:05so in '39, '40, I was about five years old.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09And where I lived off of Church Street in Marylebone,
0:22:09 > 0:22:15the whole middle section was attacked with incendiaries,
0:22:15 > 0:22:17and the whole lot went up.
0:22:17 > 0:22:22My first recollections was my aunt waking me up.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27She said, "There's all incendiary bombs at the bottom of the garden."
0:22:27 > 0:22:30And as I looked through the bedroom window,
0:22:30 > 0:22:33I could see all the fires alight.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36All along the bottom.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38Though I was so young, I thought to myself,
0:22:38 > 0:22:42"If only I could have a good night's sleep."
0:22:42 > 0:22:45What about you, Gordon, what's your earliest memories?
0:22:45 > 0:22:50My earliest memories were when I started school, which was 1941.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52Right.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55And as I went into the school, the end of the school was still
0:22:55 > 0:22:59alight from overnight incendiary bombing.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02Can you imagine today, going into a school with half of it alight?
0:23:02 > 0:23:06- Whereabouts was this?- This was at Lyon Park School in Alperton.
0:23:06 > 0:23:11I was three, just over three and a half when the war broke out.
0:23:11 > 0:23:16In 1941, when I started school, every time the siren went off,
0:23:16 > 0:23:18down the bottom of the field we went,
0:23:18 > 0:23:22where they had got all these Anderson shelters.
0:23:22 > 0:23:23With a candle.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25Can you imagine a candle today? And your book.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30And you'd no sooner get down there, and the siren would go to finish,
0:23:30 > 0:23:35and then start again. And we were in and out of the shelter all day.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39It was horrendous, really. How we learned anything, I don't know.
0:23:39 > 0:23:40So, you're all children at the time.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44This is probably a strange thing to ask,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47but was there something exciting about it?
0:23:47 > 0:23:48Of a sort.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52It was one of those things that, well, this is the norm.
0:23:52 > 0:23:58It got to be a game towards the end, especially with the V2s.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00V1s, I should say.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03Because you could hear them coming, that low drone.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07And all of a sudden, the engines would cut out,
0:24:07 > 0:24:13and you could see it just taking a dip to fall down to the earth.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16Being a child, then I knew it was dangerous.
0:24:16 > 0:24:21So I used to run for a shelter or to get out of the way.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25But it became, as I say, a game.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30The sound of the siren, it never leaves you.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34You remember it for a very long time.
0:24:34 > 0:24:39But the relief you feel when the all-clear goes,
0:24:39 > 0:24:44and you know, "Oh, everything's all right again."
0:24:44 > 0:24:46Listening to this generation is humbling.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49Not only did they survive the nine months of the London Blitz,
0:24:49 > 0:24:51they survived six years of war.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53They were never beaten.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55They were never cowed.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57And they will always be heroes.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00These are what the King gave out to everybody.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02- This is incredible. Do you mind if I read this out?- Yes.
0:25:02 > 0:25:048th of June, 1946.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07"Today, as we celebrate victory, I send this personal message
0:25:07 > 0:25:10"to you and all other boys and girls at school.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14"For you had shared in the hardships and dangers of a total war.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17"And you have shared no less than the triumph of the Allied Nations.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20"I know you will always feel proud to belong to a country which was
0:25:20 > 0:25:22"capable of such supreme effort.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26"Proud too of parents and elder brothers and sisters,
0:25:26 > 0:25:31"who by their courage, endurance and enterprise, brought victory.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34"May these qualities be yours as you grow up
0:25:34 > 0:25:37"and join in the common effort to establish among the nations
0:25:37 > 0:25:41"of the world unity and peace." Signed, King George.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44And on the back, it's all different, important war dates.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47Oh, you've kept this for so long.
0:25:47 > 0:25:48It's all there.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56On this journey around London, talking about the Blitz,
0:25:56 > 0:25:59I'm trying to think about what I've learned most about it all.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01One thing comes to the top every time,
0:26:01 > 0:26:04and that's people's courage, bravery.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08And they just got on with it. They just got on with it.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10Because basically, what else could they do?
0:26:10 > 0:26:12What else could they do?
0:26:18 > 0:26:22Around 20,000 Londoners lost their lives in the Blitz.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25Thousands more were killed throughout the war.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28Add to that the vast amount of injuries and the number of people
0:26:28 > 0:26:33made homeless, and you realise what a battering our capital took.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36But London is a tough, resilient place.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38It's big part of who I am.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41And looking down for a final time,
0:26:41 > 0:26:43I now feel I know it better than I ever did.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51There's something I love about my city, Chris.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54How it moves with the times
0:26:54 > 0:26:57and it's constantly evolving, constantly changing.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59It's renewing itself all the time.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05The Second World War gave the London authorities an opportunity to
0:27:05 > 0:27:09clear and renew. After the destruction,
0:27:09 > 0:27:12they seized the opportunity to replan.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16And much of what you see now is, of course,
0:27:16 > 0:27:21a consequence of the destruction which was carried out in 1940/41.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25So it has shaped what we can see of the town today.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28It's clear that London has healed and regrown.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31And nowhere shows this more than the Isle of Dogs.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33As we saw, this area
0:27:33 > 0:27:36was the first to suffer a pummelling by the Luftwaffe.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Today, it is a global centre of business and finance,
0:27:39 > 0:27:43the skyscrapers, a towering symbol of the city's ability to
0:27:43 > 0:27:46renew itself, no matter what.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50And you know, looking over the city now,
0:27:50 > 0:27:53and I see a city of the 21st century, a thriving city.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56But in the back of my mind, as I'm looking down, I'm thinking
0:27:56 > 0:27:58how it survived the Blitz.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04It sounds like a cliche, but how a phoenix rises from the ashes.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06It's amazing, the people I've met.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09They were talking about their London, and what it meant to them.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13And now, I get it, I totally get it.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16But I honestly feel like I've found an old friend.