0:00:15 > 0:00:16Good evening. Towers.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19Do you spend all your days dreaming of spires?
0:00:19 > 0:00:21Do you like tall stories?
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Do you believe that when it comes to high-rise blocks,
0:00:24 > 0:00:26the clouds should be merely the mezzanine?
0:00:26 > 0:00:28Then welcome to the club, Rapunzel.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32Because like you, I understand that when it comes to architecture,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35the only good bungalow is a 50-storey bungalow.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38Height is right. Size the prize.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40All hail the tower of power!
0:00:40 > 0:00:42For cometh the penthouse, cometh the hour.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46We've eerily combed the BBC's highest archive
0:00:46 > 0:00:50for the loftiest footage about this country's most soaring structures.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Bean-pole buildings, so high and mighty
0:00:53 > 0:00:55they can look down their nose at the man in the moon.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58Move over, Everest! Mankind is coming through.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01So come on, get in on the ground floor
0:01:01 > 0:01:04because this TV show is going up right now.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07Yeah. Mark, sorry, I'll get the show going in a minute.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11But that's great, the opening sequence, that big build up.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14- But there's one shot, there's all vest and pants in the front.- Really?
0:01:14 > 0:01:16Mainly pants. Look.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22- There it is.- You're right. We'll lose that in the edit.
0:01:22 > 0:01:23All right. Make sure you do.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27The passion for building to the heavens
0:01:27 > 0:01:30has been deep within the British people for a thousand years.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33It would have been longer, but for centuries, man held the plans upside-down
0:01:33 > 0:01:35and dug holes instead.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38Thus arrived the happy accident of chalk and flint.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40Once they got it right, though,
0:01:40 > 0:01:42they decided to ring it from the rooftops.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44BELLS PEAL
0:01:56 > 0:01:58REPORTER: We hear church bells everywhere,
0:01:58 > 0:02:00whether we like them or not.
0:02:01 > 0:02:03But who rings them?
0:02:03 > 0:02:04Treble's going. She's gone.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15Ralph Wenman's job as conductor is two-fold.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19To teach beginners, and to help a ringer learn his part in the intricacies
0:02:19 > 0:02:21of the different methods of change-ringing.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24To learn the order in which his bell should strike among the others,
0:02:24 > 0:02:27following its own path
0:02:27 > 0:02:29whether the method being rung is Grandsire Doubles,
0:02:29 > 0:02:31Stedman Triples
0:02:31 > 0:02:32Double Norwich Court Bob Major
0:02:32 > 0:02:35or any of the other traditionally named methods.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39The story of how this bohemian duo joined the clangers is typical.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42Clive and Jean Simpson are another husband and wife who ring together.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47I learnt when we got married
0:02:47 > 0:02:50because I came to live in Yorkshire.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53I found that my husband went out ringing so much,
0:02:53 > 0:02:57I came to the conclusion that if you can't beat the ringers, you must join them.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00It's ringing with good ringers.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04It's the rhythm you get when the bells are going really well.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08It's the music you get in all the different methods and compositions.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11And of course it's the social life as well.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14You can go to any part of the country, go up a tower which is ringing
0:03:14 > 0:03:18and meet the ringers and you're welcome straight away. It's a great brotherhood.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21But will the brotherhood make room for the sisters?
0:03:21 > 0:03:25Pull your hands right down and put your hands behind you.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28I'll tell you to put your hands behind you and leave them there.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31Down she comes. Don't look up!
0:03:31 > 0:03:32She's away.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34Stand still.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38Good. Try again.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41Pull your hands straight down.
0:03:41 > 0:03:42- Straight down.- Now?- Yes.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45Straight down in front of you. Hands away!
0:03:45 > 0:03:48The poor woman! She only wanted to help out on the cake stall!
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Watch her terrified reaction again
0:03:51 > 0:03:55and this time note her pleading helpless look to the camera crew.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57"For the love of God, get me out of here!"
0:03:58 > 0:04:03This is a Martello tower, one of 11 along the Essex coast
0:04:03 > 0:04:05which were put up in a panic during the Napoleonic Wars.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07Put up in a panic? Really?
0:04:07 > 0:04:10"Darling, what's that thing you built on the beach?"
0:04:10 > 0:04:12"I don't know. I put it up in a panic!"
0:04:12 > 0:04:17And today, this particular tower, which is on Beacon Hill, a few miles from Clacton,
0:04:17 > 0:04:19is once more an observation post.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23Only this time, its attention is not directed across the narrow seas
0:04:23 > 0:04:25but towards much wider horizons.
0:04:25 > 0:04:26Towards outer space.
0:04:26 > 0:04:31Yes, kids, in 1961, this place, along with a dustbin and a giant catapult,
0:04:31 > 0:04:33was Britain's space programme.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36Others led the way while we listened in.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39I suppose my most exciting moment was the first Sputnik.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41Every time I play the recording,
0:04:41 > 0:04:45I get the same feeling of excitement and achievement.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47Wasn't everybody tracking this Sputnik?
0:04:47 > 0:04:51Quite a lot of people, but I did it in a particular manner which others didn't do.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53Mostly, people are used to the bleep bleep.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57But I didn't do that at all. The way I did it was the actual signal
0:04:57 > 0:05:01from the Sputnik itself without any frills put on on the ground.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04And it sounds like this, if you'd like to hear it.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08CRACKLING WITH BLEEPING
0:05:29 > 0:05:32I take it you're receiving radio signals from Jupiter.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35We're receiving radiations from Jupiter.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37Is it possible to hear Jupiter now?
0:05:37 > 0:05:40Not at the moment because Jupiter hasn't risen above the horizon yet.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43So it's not with the beam of the aerial.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45And I have, in fact, got a recording
0:05:45 > 0:05:47of this sort of noise
0:05:47 > 0:05:50which surges like the sea on the sea shore.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52Can we hear Jupiter surging?
0:05:54 > 0:05:57CRACKLING
0:06:00 > 0:06:05And so on. By the way, all that ambient noise must have impressed the presenter.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Know who he went on to be? Brian Eno!
0:06:08 > 0:06:10# There's a new sensation #
0:06:11 > 0:06:13How's it for you so far? Getting giddy?
0:06:13 > 0:06:16Want more? What do you want to do? Lower? Higher? Higher or lower?
0:06:16 > 0:06:18Higher or lower? What are you saying?
0:06:18 > 0:06:20Higher! Higher!
0:06:22 > 0:06:24REPORTER: The Post Office tower of London
0:06:24 > 0:06:27is 620 feet high.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30There are 36 floors open to the public.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34I'm going up myself to inspect it.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39When I get to the top, I'll be able to tell you exactly how many steps there are.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41So far, so good.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43Mind you, I've lost count of the steps!
0:06:50 > 0:06:51Oh!
0:06:51 > 0:06:53Excuse me...
0:06:53 > 0:06:55PANTING
0:06:55 > 0:06:57..while I catch my breath.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59I think the...young lads
0:06:59 > 0:07:02of London and Edinburgh
0:07:02 > 0:07:03will do it much quicker.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13Go!
0:07:21 > 0:07:22Right!
0:07:22 > 0:07:24- 32.- Well done.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28- What was your time? - Five ten, I gather.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35- I'd do anything for you.- Good lad.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41- OK?- Yeah, fine.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43And now, Phil Tufnell reports.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46Tuffers on towers. Tuffers on the cause of towers.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50- What actually is it?- It's a testing tower for lifts.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52It was built by a lift company
0:07:52 > 0:07:56because they needed to develop high speed lifts
0:07:56 > 0:08:01and there were no shafts in the country that were long enough to start, run and stop.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05And we had one very special guest. The Queen of England.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07Ooh, the Queen? What a privilege.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11It was wonderful. Absolutely fantastic.
0:08:11 > 0:08:12Any small talk?
0:08:12 > 0:08:16She joked about was the lift automatic
0:08:16 > 0:08:19and if so, why did I need to be there and press the button?
0:08:21 > 0:08:23No, seriously. Why did you need to be there?
0:08:24 > 0:08:26Of course, expert is a slippery term.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28For a while, cricketer Phil Tufnell
0:08:28 > 0:08:31was the BBC's go to man about towers.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34Even if he did appear to be just a page ahead of the rest of us.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37Emley Moor mast is now a listed building.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41The people who did that said it showed "perfect technical performance
0:08:41 > 0:08:44"combined with architectural elegance
0:08:44 > 0:08:46"in its supreme slenderness."
0:08:46 > 0:08:47How about that?
0:08:48 > 0:08:51But at the end of the day, it's just a big concrete pole, mate.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54It's much more than a concrete pole.
0:08:54 > 0:08:59It's an amazing thing. It's a fantastic engineering feat. A lovely piece of architecture.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Technologically, it really tells us a lot about the past
0:09:02 > 0:09:04and what we thought in the late '60s.
0:09:04 > 0:09:05The predecessor fell over.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08They had to make sure that the next one didn't
0:09:08 > 0:09:10or there would have been a lot of embarrassment.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13How interested does Phil Tufnell look right now?
0:09:13 > 0:09:15..on this exposed spot.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17They decided to make it out of concrete.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19But particularly to give it the strength
0:09:19 > 0:09:22it's made in a concrete process
0:09:22 > 0:09:25so they just kept pouring concrete all the time.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28They didn't go home on a Friday night and knock off, then come back on Monday.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30They kept continuously pouring.
0:09:39 > 0:09:40To Blackpool.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46REPORTER: In the Tower Bar, the finest methods of interior decoration have been applied.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52Following a disastrous fire in 1956,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55the Tower Ballroom was restored at a cost of half a million pounds.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04The Tower Circus is internationally famous.
0:10:04 > 0:10:05This box of chimpanzees
0:10:05 > 0:10:08is the "bring the house down" part of the show.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10This is just dreadful!
0:10:10 > 0:10:12But, you know, the one in the blue hat!
0:10:23 > 0:10:27Ladies and gentlemen, Charlie Berserk's Amphetamine Big Top!
0:10:29 > 0:10:31That's the tower.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34Inside it now are 5,000 people,
0:10:34 > 0:10:352,000 fish,
0:10:35 > 0:10:37three lions, four tigers,
0:10:37 > 0:10:40and a vivarium containing crocodiles, turtles,
0:10:40 > 0:10:42water lizards and a skink.
0:10:42 > 0:10:43A skink?!
0:10:43 > 0:10:46Did you know that the famous tower is nearly 600 feet high,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49and is visited by almost half a million people every year.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53Among that half million are the painters perched like flies above the promenade.
0:10:53 > 0:10:54They keep at it every day of the year,
0:10:54 > 0:10:57but when they reach the bottom after finishing the job,
0:10:57 > 0:10:58it's time to start at the top again.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00But the job has its moments.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03"I say, George, there's a couple down there worth looking into.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05"So bring out the old telewag and let's have an eyeful!"
0:11:06 > 0:11:10OK. Look, if we can just park the telewag for a second,
0:11:10 > 0:11:11I need to confess something.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14Here I am, fronting a programme about towers
0:11:14 > 0:11:16and I cannot bear heights.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18I have genuine vertigo.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20I don't like wasps, lightning and high places.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23You know why? Because they can all kill you!
0:11:23 > 0:11:26So giving me this next package to introduce
0:11:26 > 0:11:29is like giving Morrissey a steak sandwich.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34Oh, no.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37Oh, sweet mother of mercy!
0:11:40 > 0:11:41Oh!
0:11:43 > 0:11:45Oh, for the love of God!
0:11:49 > 0:11:51Oh, let it end!
0:11:52 > 0:11:56For me, no sane person should ever want to climb any higher
0:11:56 > 0:11:59than, I don't know, Paloma Faith's hair at the BAFTAs.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02Therefore, my psychological Kryptonite in this matter
0:12:02 > 0:12:04is Mr Fred Dibnah.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07FRED: It's not so pleasant on a Monday morning
0:12:07 > 0:12:11when it's cold and the wind's blowing and you look up and think,
0:12:11 > 0:12:14"Oh, good God" and so on.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20Some days it might be bloody awful on the floor.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22And then you set off up the ladder
0:12:23 > 0:12:24and go through the fog
0:12:24 > 0:12:26and it's like being in an aeroplane.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28You can see all the chimney stacks
0:12:28 > 0:12:31and towers and church steeples
0:12:31 > 0:12:33and hills outside of town
0:12:33 > 0:12:35sticking up through all this cloud
0:12:35 > 0:12:37and the sun's shining up above.
0:12:37 > 0:12:38Beautiful!
0:12:40 > 0:12:42There's something strange.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45Once you've started, you get like addicted to it.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47You just live it.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51Day or night, think about it, talk about it.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53I've never fell off a big chimney.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55You only fall off one of them once!
0:12:56 > 0:13:00One day, I fell off a pair of steps in my little girl's bedroom
0:13:00 > 0:13:02and landed on her drumming machine
0:13:02 > 0:13:03and knocked myself unconscious.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06I don't remember much about it
0:13:06 > 0:13:08but the morning after, I couldn't get out of bed.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34Now, that just doesn't look safe, does it?
0:13:34 > 0:13:36It doesn't even look official!
0:13:45 > 0:13:48It's like they're building a monument to Boris Johnson's hair!
0:13:48 > 0:13:53'You've got to have a stout heart to take it on on your own.
0:13:56 > 0:13:58'On the top, like on your own,
0:13:58 > 0:14:00'you get a bit lonely, like.'
0:14:00 > 0:14:03Is it wise to lob that cigarette down there, Fred?
0:14:05 > 0:14:07Probably not!
0:14:07 > 0:14:09To make sure everyone knows the tower's about to fall,
0:14:09 > 0:14:13Fred sounds the alarm that can be heard across five counties.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15Parp-parp!
0:14:15 > 0:14:18I don't think he even heard it himself!
0:14:26 > 0:14:28Run that bit backwards
0:14:28 > 0:14:30and it's the Olympic opening ceremony!
0:14:30 > 0:14:31Done it!
0:14:32 > 0:14:37Listen, you can hear the cheers of children, safely watching from about ten feet away!
0:14:37 > 0:14:39Did you like that?
0:14:39 > 0:14:41Of course we did.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44And because nothing could possibly go wrong with such shenanigans,
0:14:44 > 0:14:46we demand you do it again!
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Anything else we can knock down while we're here?
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Sadly, it turned out Fred was now just show-boating
0:15:08 > 0:15:10and this building was still occupied.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13Still, any concern at seeing the library demolished
0:15:13 > 0:15:16was soon forgotten as Fred gave the kids a toot on his klaxon again.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18Parp-parp!
0:15:21 > 0:15:24I know. Times really have changed at the BBC!
0:15:24 > 0:15:26And in the culture.
0:15:26 > 0:15:27How much? Watch this.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29SIRENS, ALARMS, KLAXONS SOUND
0:15:34 > 0:15:37'A rope had been thrown down into the boiling sea.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40'The only way to get onto the Bishop Rock lighthouse
0:15:40 > 0:15:42'is to be hauled up by a winch.'
0:15:42 > 0:15:44OK. All right.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47Still, at least Lesley's surrounded by experts
0:15:47 > 0:15:49and they're not panicking.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56This is one moment I'm glad the experts are in charge!
0:15:56 > 0:15:59- Hang on, Lesley!- OK!
0:15:59 > 0:16:01I've got Mike at one end, Larry at the other.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04I'm not looking down, I can tell you that!
0:16:07 > 0:16:12'It wasn't until several seconds later that I realised what everyone else already knew.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15'The harness that should have held me had slipped round my feet
0:16:15 > 0:16:17'and only the strength of my arms had held me on.'
0:16:18 > 0:16:20Christ, she did exactly what we expected...
0:16:20 > 0:16:23It's nice to see you, Larry.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26I'm all right.
0:16:26 > 0:16:27..the headline.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30- I don't want to... - Literally above your head.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34It's very nice to see you, Larry, believe you me!
0:16:34 > 0:16:38Of course, who we're looking at here is the intrepid Lesley Judd
0:16:38 > 0:16:41who, for my money, and possibly because she's a woman,
0:16:41 > 0:16:43isn't given half the credit she deserves
0:16:43 > 0:16:47for actively seeking out dangerous situations. She seemed to have a nose for it,
0:16:47 > 0:16:52like a cross between Evel Knievel, a human cannonball and Skippy, the bush kangaroo!
0:16:52 > 0:16:54He was doing his housework when I arrived.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57Can't see any sign of Mike and the boat, yet.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59No, you're looking towards America at the moment, that's why!
0:17:01 > 0:17:02Lower!
0:17:02 > 0:17:05'I knew I had to get off the lighthouse the same way I'd come on.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11'But I wasn't looking forward to the return journey
0:17:11 > 0:17:14'because I was worried that if the harness slipped off again,
0:17:14 > 0:17:16'this time I wouldn't be able to hold on.'
0:17:16 > 0:17:18I want it right up.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20- Can you feel your body in the harness?- Yep.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23- Right?- Yep.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37The rope's feeling pretty wet
0:17:37 > 0:17:39and it's all dripping on my face.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43'All I had to do was to try and keep calm.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47'But ten metres below, the crew were struggling to keep my rope taut
0:17:47 > 0:17:49'to stop me crashing back into the lighthouse.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52'Mike needed all his skill and nerve
0:17:52 > 0:17:54'to keep the heaving boat in position
0:17:54 > 0:17:55'only just off the rocks.'
0:17:57 > 0:17:59And to think these days we make all that fuss
0:17:59 > 0:18:01about Richard Hammond!
0:18:01 > 0:18:03I've no idea whether I'm near the boat yet.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06I'm not going to look and see, either!
0:18:06 > 0:18:08I can feel myself lowering down now.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10I seem to be getting lower.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12I don't know where I am.
0:18:12 > 0:18:18But I'm looking forward to some human hands grabbing my feet, I can tell you!
0:18:22 > 0:18:24Seems to take longer going down than going up.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29Much longer.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31'Mike just couldn't get the boat any closer in.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34'Although the crew struggled to haul me across the last few feet,
0:18:34 > 0:18:36'the rope didn't seem to be long enough.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40'If I fell in here, I'd be smashed on the rocks beneath the surf.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42'Suddenly, I felt myself drop.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46'I was more frightened than I've ever been in my life.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59'I was glad I'd visited the Bishop Rock.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02'It was an experience I'll never forget.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05'But I was deliriously happy to be waving them goodbye
0:19:05 > 0:19:06'from the safety of the boat.'
0:19:06 > 0:19:11Oddly enough, some women still find lighthouses attractive.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13You know that song, "I Want To Marry a Lighthouse Keeper"?
0:19:13 > 0:19:15Careful what you wish for!
0:19:15 > 0:19:17REPORTER: Larry and Brian are two of the keepers
0:19:17 > 0:19:19of the Longships Lighthouse.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21These are resourceful men.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23It will take more than a mile and a half of water
0:19:23 > 0:19:26to silence the love that Larry and Brian have for their wives.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30At two o'clock precisely, they're going to bridge that gap.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43Yes, kids, even before mobiles,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46the only place you could get a good signal was hanging out the window.
0:19:50 > 0:19:51"Buy...
0:19:52 > 0:19:53"..me...
0:19:54 > 0:19:55"..an...
0:19:56 > 0:19:57"..iPhone."
0:19:59 > 0:20:00Few people know semaphore nowadays
0:20:00 > 0:20:04but Sally has polished up what she once learnt in the Girl Guides
0:20:04 > 0:20:08so now she and Brian can flag their own form of two-way Family Favourites.
0:20:08 > 0:20:09Flag?
0:20:09 > 0:20:12"Can't get to flag right now.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15"Please leave message after the flare."
0:20:18 > 0:20:20"Stop texting while you talk to me!
0:20:20 > 0:20:22"Damn!"
0:20:22 > 0:20:24It's Mimi's turn.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27She doesn't know semaphore, so she and Larry have learned another system.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34Mimi has no signal lamp, so she can't send words across the water,
0:20:34 > 0:20:36only receive them.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42"Is...everything
0:20:43 > 0:20:46"..all right?"
0:20:55 > 0:20:56"Do you like...
0:20:56 > 0:20:58"..my hat?"
0:21:07 > 0:21:08"See...
0:21:08 > 0:21:10"..you..."
0:21:10 > 0:21:12Yes, I think we'll leave it there.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14We seem to have drifted from our promised narrative,
0:21:14 > 0:21:16the history of British towers.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18And as far as historic towers go,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21there's one structure that ticks all the boxes
0:21:21 > 0:21:24like Eric Pickles ordering a room service breakfast.
0:21:24 > 0:21:25The Tower of London.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29And when you want to know about that baby, you go to its number one source.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32The woman who works in the ladies' bogs!
0:21:32 > 0:21:36REPORTER: In her own little room in the tower sits Sandy O'Cunliffe,
0:21:36 > 0:21:39doing the same job her mother did for 20 years before her.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41Knitting beards for Beefeaters!
0:21:43 > 0:21:45The English are nice people.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48They're nice as people, but as tourists, they're useless!
0:21:48 > 0:21:50They want all the attention, and they're arrogant.
0:21:50 > 0:21:55They push up the front. They just want to be noticed in general.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57- The English?- Yep.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59- Us?- Yes, us!
0:21:59 > 0:22:01Us.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07Then you've got the French. They run in, do what they've got to do and run out.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09Then you've got to go and clean up behind them!
0:22:12 > 0:22:16Then the Japanese. They're very quiet. They come in and bow.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19Do whatever they want to do.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24The last political prisoner to be held in the Tower of London
0:22:24 > 0:22:26was in May of 1941.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30Herr Rudolf Hess, the Deputy Fuhrer of Nazi Germany.
0:22:30 > 0:22:32100%.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34But you upset one of the Yeomen Warders
0:22:34 > 0:22:37then we stand back to back and fire outwards.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40In other words, I've got 38 mates if I'm in trouble
0:22:40 > 0:22:42at the Tower of London, and I mean mates.
0:22:42 > 0:22:47We laugh together and we cry together. It's as simple as that.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51- That's your bus pass, is it? - You've got to be 65.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54To be one of the Yeoman Warders of the Tower of London...
0:22:54 > 0:22:58Excuse me, I don't think you're part of this group.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00Where's the keys?
0:23:00 > 0:23:02Have they gone? The keys to the Bloody Tower?
0:23:04 > 0:23:07When I was at school, saying "The Bloody Tower" gratuitously
0:23:07 > 0:23:10was a big thrill. Risky word, bloody, back then.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12And the teachers couldn't touch you for it
0:23:12 > 0:23:15because it was its name, like Ed Balls!
0:23:18 > 0:23:20NEWSREEL: The BBC's 700-foot television tower
0:23:20 > 0:23:24at Crystal Palace has been given an unusual stability test.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29Rockets, each exerting a thrust of half a tonne,
0:23:29 > 0:23:31are being used to simulate strong wind pressure.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35They're fitted 625 feet up,
0:23:35 > 0:23:37three times as high as Nelson's Column.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43Light blue paper and retire!
0:23:46 > 0:23:48These pictures from 1955,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51show the BBC declaring war on ITV.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56ITV hit back by attacking the BBC's weather centre at Tring,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59as part of Cilla Black's Surprise, Surprise!
0:23:59 > 0:24:02Like the show, it was only partly successful.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06The controlled explosion left 12 of the 21 storeys still standing.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08The tower with a ten-degree tilt.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10And the demolition contractor himself,
0:24:10 > 0:24:12embarrassed perhaps?
0:24:12 > 0:24:13Not at all.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16One has to take into account the local environment here.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18There's a canal just behind us.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20It's 29 feet from the building.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23There was a main road with a bridge over the canal.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25Elevated flyover over a motorway.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29Services going through the building such as electric cables,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32a main sewer, a brick-built sewer, at that.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35There were residential units very close by.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39No damage whatsoever was caused to any of those structures, services or units.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41I'm very proud of that.
0:24:46 > 0:24:47A ceasefire was eventually declared
0:24:47 > 0:24:51after the BBC targeted a secret factory making nerve gas
0:24:51 > 0:24:53based on the failed X Factor fragrance
0:24:53 > 0:24:55Simon Cowell's Hubris.
0:24:58 > 0:25:03In turn, ITV retaliated by bringing down Bruce Forsyth's joke warehouse.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06But this was later revealed to be empty.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11Posing for photographers, Sally James and one of the Teletubbies
0:25:11 > 0:25:13signed the armistice.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15All nonsense, you say? Claptrap? Poppycock?
0:25:15 > 0:25:20Well, if it is, it's of a piece with these absurd gangly edifices.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23I'm no Freud, but I think I know why men throughout history
0:25:23 > 0:25:28have insisted on erecting ever more thrusting shafts onto the landscape.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30They're compensating for something.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33Dreaming of a skyscraper while being in possession of a bungalow,
0:25:33 > 0:25:35if you know what I mean!
0:25:35 > 0:25:37And typically, having talked themselves up,
0:25:37 > 0:25:40the can't deliver when the time comes.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43REPORTER: Slushy fields and grass farms.
0:25:43 > 0:25:49Then, out of the mist, arose Sir Edward Watkin's dream.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52An Eiffel Tower for London.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56Sir Edward Watkin, chairman of the line.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00Thousands, he thought, would pay to climb the tower
0:26:00 > 0:26:03which would be higher than the one in Paris.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05He announced a competition -
0:26:05 > 0:26:09500 guineas for the best design.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13Never were such flights of Victorian fancy seen.
0:26:13 > 0:26:18Civil engineers from Sweden and Thornton Heath,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21Rochdale and Constantinople,
0:26:21 > 0:26:23entered designs.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26In 1890, the lucky winner was announced.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30It had Turkish baths, arcades of shops
0:26:30 > 0:26:32and winter gardens.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36Designed by a firm of Scots with a London office,
0:26:36 > 0:26:39Stewart, McLaren and Dunne.
0:26:39 > 0:26:44It was to be 150 feet higher than the Eiffel Tower.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48But when at last it reached above the trees,
0:26:48 > 0:26:51and the first stage was opened to the crowds,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54the crowds weren't there.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56They didn't want to come.
0:26:57 > 0:26:58Money ran out.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01The tower lingered on,
0:27:01 > 0:27:03resting and rusting,
0:27:03 > 0:27:06until it was dismembered
0:27:06 > 0:27:08in 1907.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13This is where London's failed Eiffel Tower stood.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16Watkin's Folly, as it was called.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19Here, on this Middlesex turf.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24And since then, the site has become quite well known!
0:27:24 > 0:27:26ROAR OF CROWD
0:27:35 > 0:27:37So, great big buildings,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40like men themselves, ridiculous, competitive, dangerous,
0:27:40 > 0:27:43often vacant and sometimes utterly magnificent.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47These days, of course, you're just as likely to find women architects
0:27:47 > 0:27:49insisting upon size above all.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51That doesn't surprise me.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54Sometimes, a gal has only got one thing on her mind.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57As you can see, it's a model of the Post Office Tower,
0:27:57 > 0:27:59complete with restaurant at the top
0:27:59 > 0:28:01and windows all the way down.
0:28:01 > 0:28:02What's it like to wear, Val?
0:28:02 > 0:28:05It's a bit unsteady, actually, John!
0:28:05 > 0:28:07It's been made for an Easter Bonnet competition,
0:28:07 > 0:28:10made by Janet Whiteside of Highgate.
0:28:10 > 0:28:12It's fabulous, isn't it?
0:28:12 > 0:28:15- Marvellous.- Take it off gently. - It's safer if I don't wear it.
0:28:15 > 0:28:20I've got some other strange headgear here. I'll just pop it on.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25It's a hand-knitted sort of snow helmet!
0:28:25 > 0:28:28It's the latest thing for skiing.
0:28:28 > 0:28:29Good night!
0:28:48 > 0:28:51Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd