0:00:02 > 0:00:06The camera couldn't get enough of her, could it?
0:00:06 > 0:00:10CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICK
0:00:10 > 0:00:11No wonder...
0:00:11 > 0:00:14with that impossibly beautiful face.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18When she turned those doe eyes on people,
0:00:18 > 0:00:20even the hard-boiled cynics
0:00:20 > 0:00:23melted into a puddle of infatuated glop.
0:00:26 > 0:00:27She touched people...
0:00:29 > 0:00:30..literally.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33HIV does not make people dangerous to know,
0:00:33 > 0:00:36so you can shake their hands and give them a hug.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39So, when Diana died,
0:00:39 > 0:00:41we were bound to take it hard.
0:00:46 > 0:00:52What happened to the British? Great convulsion of tragic sorrow.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55There was a huge sea of cellophane,
0:00:55 > 0:00:56all those flowers,
0:00:56 > 0:00:58all those teddy bears,
0:00:58 > 0:00:59all those candles,
0:00:59 > 0:01:01all those crying people
0:01:01 > 0:01:03had gone through a national trauma
0:01:03 > 0:01:04and the world stood back and said,
0:01:04 > 0:01:09"Whoa. Are these really the British?
0:01:09 > 0:01:11"The tight-lipped, understated,
0:01:11 > 0:01:13"self-controlled, repressed British?"
0:01:13 > 0:01:16And it was clear that we'd gone through
0:01:16 > 0:01:19some sort of extraordinary national trauma.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26Diana was not, at that point, just a famous person,
0:01:26 > 0:01:28not even a celebrity.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30Whatever we made of her,
0:01:30 > 0:01:36she was somebody who seemed to be Britain itself -
0:01:36 > 0:01:37Britannia, if you like.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46All sorts of things make Britain what it is -
0:01:46 > 0:01:47our history...
0:01:48 > 0:01:50..our language...
0:01:51 > 0:01:53..our countryside...
0:01:54 > 0:01:57..but also, our famous faces.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03Today, it's easy to confuse fame with celebrity.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06Celebrities come and go.
0:02:07 > 0:02:08We enjoy them while they last
0:02:08 > 0:02:12and want them gone when they're past their sell-by date.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19But then there are others,
0:02:19 > 0:02:20the famous,
0:02:20 > 0:02:22who seem to be summoned by history,
0:02:22 > 0:02:26who answer to a popular craving at a particular moment
0:02:26 > 0:02:30and who, for a while, shape our national story.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36Without them, we'd lose the plot.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00It's deep-rooted, our need for heroes.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06For humans who do super-human things,
0:03:06 > 0:03:09people who have a touch of the god about them.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13Odysseus,
0:03:13 > 0:03:15Achilles,
0:03:15 > 0:03:16Alexander -
0:03:16 > 0:03:19titans of the classical world
0:03:19 > 0:03:21made immortal across the centuries
0:03:21 > 0:03:23by poetry and art.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29But our first national hero
0:03:29 > 0:03:31was no prince,
0:03:31 > 0:03:32but a diamond in the rough.
0:03:34 > 0:03:35He was a tough, young thug.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38You have to think of him as a, kind of, sort of,
0:03:38 > 0:03:41yobbo, apprentice, maritime,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44hit-and-run thief, really.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46A thief of the ocean was what he was.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52His name is still known to us all.
0:03:54 > 0:03:55Francis Drake.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00The most audacious of sea captains
0:04:00 > 0:04:02who lifted gold, silver and slaves
0:04:02 > 0:04:05from the Spanish Atlantic empire.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08Essentially a state-sanctioned pirate.
0:04:09 > 0:04:14But what began as piracy turned into global epic.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20From that pillar-to-post raging
0:04:20 > 0:04:23comes what turns into an epoch-making
0:04:23 > 0:04:25historical moment.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28The achievement of the round the world voyage
0:04:28 > 0:04:32and Drake returning home with more treasure
0:04:32 > 0:04:35than anyone could have possibly imagined,
0:04:35 > 0:04:40and this is part of the reason why he is an instantaneous, fantastic hero.
0:04:40 > 0:04:45He's not some sort of learned geographer,
0:04:45 > 0:04:47he's a man of action that makes him
0:04:47 > 0:04:50the first, genuine, heroic,
0:04:50 > 0:04:51famous Englishman.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57It was strategic robbery,
0:04:57 > 0:05:00meant to strike fear and panic into the Spanish empire
0:05:00 > 0:05:04and to deprive it of the means to make war on England.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08Drake may be making a killing,
0:05:08 > 0:05:10but he's doing it for Queen and country...
0:05:12 > 0:05:15..and it makes him an immediate sensation.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19A face people want to see.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32Before you knew it, there were paintings like this full-on,
0:05:32 > 0:05:36fantastic celebration
0:05:36 > 0:05:38of the grandeur and fame
0:05:38 > 0:05:39that is Francis Drake.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41We're told by John Stow,
0:05:41 > 0:05:43the chronicler,
0:05:43 > 0:05:47that his name and his fame were admirable in all quarters.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50Stow says that, in town and country,
0:05:50 > 0:05:55people were swarming in the streets daily
0:05:55 > 0:05:56to try and get a look at him
0:05:56 > 0:05:59and they took vows of hatred against
0:05:59 > 0:06:03anybody who dared dislike him.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06That sounds like absolute adulation.
0:06:12 > 0:06:17Drake's exploits raised him up from his humble beginnings,
0:06:17 > 0:06:20but his fame was also carefully cultivated
0:06:20 > 0:06:24by those governing the embattled Elizabethan state.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27They saw how a popular hero
0:06:27 > 0:06:29could inspire the country
0:06:29 > 0:06:31in the fight against Spain...
0:06:38 > 0:06:40..but the real cult of the hero
0:06:40 > 0:06:41existed in images
0:06:41 > 0:06:43much less grand than this one.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49Portable portraits were dispatched across the continent
0:06:49 > 0:06:52to unsettle the enemy and win allies -
0:06:52 > 0:06:54a very English kind of propaganda.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03In 1588, the year of the Armada,
0:07:03 > 0:07:06an English ambassador in Italy
0:07:06 > 0:07:08reported that a small portrait of Drake
0:07:08 > 0:07:10had arrived in Ferrara,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13slightly battered from its travels
0:07:13 > 0:07:16and that, while it was being repaired,
0:07:16 > 0:07:19crowds flocked to see the face of the legend.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25This extraordinary little image
0:07:25 > 0:07:29is the kind of thing that arrives in Ferrara
0:07:29 > 0:07:31and everybody queues round the block to see it.
0:07:31 > 0:07:32It is not a great work of art,
0:07:32 > 0:07:35which is what makes it so fabulous.
0:07:35 > 0:07:36It is a piece of folk art, really.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38You know, the dashing moustache,
0:07:38 > 0:07:41the flashy eyes, the expression
0:07:41 > 0:07:44halfway between a smile and, almost,
0:07:44 > 0:07:47insulting self-congratulation.
0:07:47 > 0:07:48It's sort of perfect.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52So, here we have the terror of the Catholic world
0:07:52 > 0:07:57and there are lots, lots more painted
0:07:57 > 0:08:01even more clumsily, even more down in the market.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07You'll notice that the artist spells Drake,
0:08:07 > 0:08:09D-R-A-E-C-K, "Draeck",
0:08:09 > 0:08:14which wonderfully also, in Flemish and Dutch, means "dragon"
0:08:14 > 0:08:17because he is the fire-breathing
0:08:17 > 0:08:21image of terror for the rest of the world.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23So, there he is, Sir Francis Dragon.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25And you can't actually see... Yes, you can, maybe you can.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27There's a little chip out of the end,
0:08:27 > 0:08:30so I'd like to think it's been wounded on its travels,
0:08:30 > 0:08:31like Old Drake himself.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33So, it is a marvellous example
0:08:33 > 0:08:36of the way in which popular culture
0:08:36 > 0:08:40has soaked up the dramatic,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43almost film star-like quality of Drake
0:08:43 > 0:08:46and broadcast his fame the length and breadth of Europe.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54The Drake cult was perfect for its time.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58An upstart hero for a start-up empire.
0:09:00 > 0:09:01A century later,
0:09:01 > 0:09:05Britain was turning into a formidable maritime power -
0:09:05 > 0:09:08with colonies across the oceans -
0:09:08 > 0:09:13and we started to get an imperial rush of blood to the head.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22The idea that a famous face
0:09:22 > 0:09:24like Drake's
0:09:24 > 0:09:26could be used to make us feel good
0:09:26 > 0:09:28about ourselves, our history
0:09:28 > 0:09:29and our place in the world
0:09:29 > 0:09:32would be taken up in an extraordinary way
0:09:32 > 0:09:34here at Stowe,
0:09:34 > 0:09:37a vast country estate in Buckinghamshire.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41In the 1730s,
0:09:41 > 0:09:43following a century of conflict
0:09:43 > 0:09:45with Catholic Europe,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48Viscount Cobham would use the spell of the famous
0:09:48 > 0:09:51to sell his vision of the destiny
0:09:51 > 0:09:52of the protestant Britain.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59First, Viscount Cobham is your standard veteran
0:09:59 > 0:10:02of the long, long wars against Louis the 14th,
0:10:02 > 0:10:08hates the French, absolutely loathes Catholic absolutist despotism,
0:10:08 > 0:10:09loves being British,
0:10:09 > 0:10:11loves a good bloody victory -
0:10:11 > 0:10:13of which, there were plenty.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17Comes back home and he wants to do something which will proclaim
0:10:17 > 0:10:19the triumph of English liberty.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21He's got the cheque book to do it,
0:10:21 > 0:10:23he builds all this,
0:10:23 > 0:10:27but he doesn't simply want to make it just a grand house.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30He wants it to be a living history lesson.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34He wants it to be a demonstration of how glorious it is
0:10:34 > 0:10:37to bask in the sunlight of English freedom,
0:10:37 > 0:10:39and how's he going to do this?
0:10:39 > 0:10:41He's going to create this extraordinary park
0:10:41 > 0:10:44as a place where tourists can come,
0:10:44 > 0:10:46the public can come
0:10:46 > 0:10:48and he actually builds a pub,
0:10:48 > 0:10:49The New Inn,
0:10:49 > 0:10:52in order to accommodate the tourists
0:10:52 > 0:10:56who he thinks are coming in, the 18th century equivalent of busloads.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06Stowe was one of the first country houses
0:11:06 > 0:11:08to open its doors to the public...
0:11:11 > 0:11:14..and Viscount Cobham thought of everything to make a day
0:11:14 > 0:11:17at his patriotic theme park unforgettable.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24Affordable guide books
0:11:24 > 0:11:27steered visitors along a carefully planned route
0:11:27 > 0:11:29past buildings and statues
0:11:29 > 0:11:31evoking ancient Greece and Rome.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39These would rise before you out of the woods and fields,
0:11:39 > 0:11:43little temples dedicated to classical philosophers,
0:11:43 > 0:11:46whose ideas underpinned British liberty.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55I feel more virtuous already
0:11:55 > 0:11:57in the presence of these figures.
0:12:00 > 0:12:05The first part of this history lesson in the park was the classics.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08"Oh, no, Dad. Not more Latin."
0:12:10 > 0:12:12Then, you looked down the hill
0:12:12 > 0:12:14and saw something more surprising...
0:12:16 > 0:12:17..another kind of temple.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22Oh, look, this is so beautiful!
0:12:22 > 0:12:23This is just fantastic.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28This one filled with British faces,
0:12:28 > 0:12:33Cobham's mini amphitheatre of our very own greats.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40If you want to know what British strength and power
0:12:40 > 0:12:42and prosperity are going to be,
0:12:42 > 0:12:45you come and look at this array
0:12:45 > 0:12:47of YOUR own national heroes.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49You have Francis Drake
0:12:49 > 0:12:51and Walter Raleigh,
0:12:51 > 0:12:53and then you have the doers,
0:12:53 > 0:12:56the princes, and kings and queens of England,
0:12:56 > 0:12:58who stood for action,
0:12:58 > 0:13:02who had the kind of, you know, rich, red blood
0:13:02 > 0:13:04of what it meant to be British -
0:13:04 > 0:13:06free, powerful and successful -
0:13:06 > 0:13:08running through their veins.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11Queen Elizabeth, King William the Third,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14the head of the glorious revolution, King Alfred, the Great.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23And alongside these sword bearers,
0:13:23 > 0:13:25there are cultural heroes,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28like the scientist Isaac Newton...
0:13:30 > 0:13:33..the political thinker John Locke...
0:13:33 > 0:13:35the architect Inigo Jones.
0:13:37 > 0:13:4016 faces in total,
0:13:40 > 0:13:43each carefully selected by Cobham
0:13:43 > 0:13:45for their significance in shaping Britain.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50So, you come here
0:13:50 > 0:13:53and commune with the famous heroes
0:13:53 > 0:13:54of the British past.
0:13:56 > 0:13:58When you're actually at eye level -
0:13:58 > 0:14:00notice you're at eye level -
0:14:00 > 0:14:03you're in the presence of William Shakespeare
0:14:03 > 0:14:05and John Milton and John Locke.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08You are in their company
0:14:08 > 0:14:11and through their three dimensional portraits,
0:14:11 > 0:14:14you really feel the living pulse
0:14:14 > 0:14:16of what it means to be British -
0:14:16 > 0:14:20a direct connection with the famous Britons of the past.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22So, you leave this wonderful place
0:14:22 > 0:14:25and someone said, "What did you do today?"
0:14:25 > 0:14:28You say, "Well, I had a word with John Locke
0:14:28 > 0:14:30"and he had a word with me."
0:14:30 > 0:14:34And THAT is worth a thousand books.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36That's the genius of Cobham -
0:14:36 > 0:14:39he knows that portraits
0:14:39 > 0:14:41bring you into their own company.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51Thousands of people visited Stowe
0:14:51 > 0:14:54and, inspired by the faces they saw,
0:14:54 > 0:14:58they left breathing the heady oxygen of British freedom.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11But one face would take on more significance
0:15:11 > 0:15:13than any other in the understanding
0:15:13 > 0:15:16of what it meant to be British
0:15:16 > 0:15:18and that was William Shakespeare.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36The theatre was Britain's glory,
0:15:36 > 0:15:39the treasure of the people as well as the elite.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43Shakespeare had long been hailed
0:15:43 > 0:15:45as an incomparable genius
0:15:45 > 0:15:48and, in this newly patriotic age,
0:15:48 > 0:15:50what he had done with the English language
0:15:50 > 0:15:53made him the founding father of the new Britain...
0:15:56 > 0:15:59..but performances had become stilted
0:15:59 > 0:16:03and the bard himself an object of dutiful reverence.
0:16:07 > 0:16:13For most people, Shakespeare was a, kind of, stone statue.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15They heard his plays performed by actors
0:16:15 > 0:16:20who specialised in a kind of grandiloquent declamation,
0:16:20 > 0:16:23often in very strange quasi-Roman costumes,
0:16:23 > 0:16:28and then there came along a small man with an enormous voice,
0:16:28 > 0:16:29David Garrick,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32and he transformed not just the way people heard Shakespeare
0:16:32 > 0:16:35but what he was to the national culture.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42On the 19th of October 1741,
0:16:42 > 0:16:44the actor David Garrick
0:16:44 > 0:16:47made his debut on the London stage
0:16:47 > 0:16:48as Richard the Third.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55Instantly, the audience knew they were witnessing a phenomenon.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00With his natural body language
0:17:00 > 0:17:01and speech rhythms,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04Garrick revolutionised acting.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10People trembled, and even fainted, at the force of it.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14Shakespeare had been given the kiss of life
0:17:14 > 0:17:18and Garrick became the most famous name in the country...
0:17:24 > 0:17:25..but the excited public
0:17:25 > 0:17:27wanted more than reviews,
0:17:27 > 0:17:29they wanted to see his face,
0:17:29 > 0:17:33and the artist William Hogarth gave it to them.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39It is an absolutely huge Hogarth,
0:17:39 > 0:17:43this magnificent, startling, explosive painting.
0:17:47 > 0:17:48On the eve of the battle of Bosworth,
0:17:48 > 0:17:50Richard the Third
0:17:50 > 0:17:53is visited by the ghosts of all those he has knocked off,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56who all say, "Despair and die."
0:17:56 > 0:17:58And it's the one moment where Richard the Third,
0:17:58 > 0:18:01kind of, monster of confidence, cracks.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05Richard wakes in the middle of the night
0:18:05 > 0:18:08in a cold trembling sweat
0:18:08 > 0:18:10and cries out,
0:18:10 > 0:18:15"Give me a horse, bind up my wounds. Jesu, have mercy."
0:18:17 > 0:18:19Think of Hogarth
0:18:19 > 0:18:21and you think of rakes and harlots,
0:18:21 > 0:18:23but here his genius was to see
0:18:23 > 0:18:26how the theatrical experience
0:18:26 > 0:18:28could be exploited
0:18:28 > 0:18:31to create a portrait so full of drama
0:18:31 > 0:18:33you felt as if you had a front row seat.
0:18:36 > 0:18:37Right at the heart of the painting
0:18:37 > 0:18:40is this enormous hand with the ring.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43In his trembling, shivery, sweaty, fright,
0:18:43 > 0:18:45it has slipped down his finger
0:18:45 > 0:18:49and the hand is pressing into our space.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53The sense of Garrick projecting his presence into the audience
0:18:53 > 0:18:55is phenomenal here
0:18:55 > 0:18:59and this is, really, the birth of a star of the stage.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03Theatre culture is born from this
0:19:03 > 0:19:05in a way we think about it -
0:19:05 > 0:19:09gigantic personalities who could match
0:19:09 > 0:19:11a gigantic Shakespearean tragedy.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17For Hogarth and Garrick,
0:19:17 > 0:19:21this was more than just an artistic collaboration.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24Garrick's fame meant there was money to be made
0:19:24 > 0:19:26from turning paintings into prints.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34Depicting the sensation of his latest performance,
0:19:34 > 0:19:36the prints were an irresistible
0:19:36 > 0:19:38keepsake for besotted fans.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42THUNDERCLAP
0:19:42 > 0:19:44Buying one was like taking home
0:19:44 > 0:19:46a piece of the actor himself.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49They were like publicity stills
0:19:49 > 0:19:53and Garrick became a master of media saturation.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59He also spotted the value in hitching his star to Shakespeare's.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03He made sure that their faces
0:20:03 > 0:20:05were repeatedly shown side by side.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09Bard's head inclined towards his
0:20:09 > 0:20:11like an inseparable power.
0:20:15 > 0:20:20The prints launched not just a cult of Garrick's celebrity,
0:20:20 > 0:20:22but a kind of national fever,
0:20:22 > 0:20:24a Garrick-mania.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27But it was something more than simply
0:20:27 > 0:20:30what we think of as the fizz of fame,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33the temporary and fugitive, evanescent kind of
0:20:33 > 0:20:37sense of celebrity, something more profound was going on.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39Garrick really transformed
0:20:39 > 0:20:41what it meant to be an actor.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44You were no longer simply an amusing entertainer,
0:20:44 > 0:20:48you were really a pillar of British culture now,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51and that's what I think the great actors
0:20:51 > 0:20:54and actresses who came after Garrick really felt.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01The endless reproduction
0:21:01 > 0:21:02of Garrick in prints
0:21:02 > 0:21:04meant his face was seen everywhere.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09He was our first star.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13The word was first used in 18th century London,
0:21:13 > 0:21:18where the hot-wiring between theatre print shops and audiences
0:21:18 > 0:21:21created the first celebrity culture.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26But if you longed to be as famous as Garrick
0:21:26 > 0:21:28but didn't have his talent,
0:21:28 > 0:21:30or indeed any talent at all,
0:21:30 > 0:21:32how could you achieve this
0:21:32 > 0:21:34new-minted glittering celebrity?
0:21:37 > 0:21:40The answer, shameless self-promotion.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46Step one - go where you're guaranteed an audience.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54For Londoners, there was another kind of stage
0:21:54 > 0:21:56and it was very much outdoors.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58Not the theatre, but the park.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02And the cast of that particular performance
0:22:02 > 0:22:05were not interested in how well they recited Shakespeare,
0:22:05 > 0:22:09they were walk-on parts, but the walking was incredibly important.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13Now, there was nothing like 18th century London
0:22:13 > 0:22:14for people-watching,
0:22:14 > 0:22:18but a particular kind of people came to ogle, to gawp,
0:22:18 > 0:22:21and to gaze and to stare.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23The bon tonne, the upper crust of society,
0:22:23 > 0:22:27along with a lot of London's flaky pastry too,
0:22:27 > 0:22:29and what they were looking at were the gorgeous.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33The gorgeous could be the latest, young, dashing blade,
0:22:33 > 0:22:34the most beautiful soldier
0:22:34 > 0:22:37in his frockery and frocking,
0:22:37 > 0:22:38and lace, and hats -
0:22:38 > 0:22:41but, above all, there were the gorgeous girls,
0:22:41 > 0:22:43young girls,
0:22:43 > 0:22:45not so young girls,
0:22:45 > 0:22:47the up-and-coming courtesans.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50Essentially this, Hyde Park,
0:22:50 > 0:22:53was one fabulous flesh market
0:22:53 > 0:22:55and people were there to watch.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03With so much already on show,
0:23:03 > 0:23:05how could YOU stand out from the crowd?
0:23:07 > 0:23:11Step two - give them something sensational,
0:23:11 > 0:23:13something scandalous.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Enter one Kitty Fisher,
0:23:18 > 0:23:20a budding young courtesan
0:23:20 > 0:23:22who knew exactly what was needed
0:23:22 > 0:23:24to make people stop and stare.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Kitty waited where a large crowd had gathered
0:23:32 > 0:23:36and then, when a troop of soldiers trotted past,
0:23:36 > 0:23:38she carefully staged
0:23:38 > 0:23:39a fall from her horse
0:23:39 > 0:23:42exposing an eyeful.
0:23:46 > 0:23:51Finally - make sure you get maximum publicity.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56Instantly, very down-market printmakers
0:23:56 > 0:23:58are recording the event
0:23:58 > 0:24:01to make her the celebrity of the moment.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03So, you come into a tavern like this
0:24:03 > 0:24:06and you're after a flagon of the good stuff
0:24:06 > 0:24:08and maybe a slice of mutton pie,
0:24:08 > 0:24:11and this sort of thing is lying around the table -
0:24:11 > 0:24:13and you've got all the cast of characters her.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15In the middle, you've got Kitty herself -
0:24:15 > 0:24:18showing her legs, showing her garters.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21And then there are various other kinds of people -
0:24:21 > 0:24:23young gallants and there's another old geezer
0:24:23 > 0:24:27whose eyesight is really in trouble.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30Then there's an appalling figure,
0:24:30 > 0:24:33who's kneeling with a spyglass
0:24:33 > 0:24:37and has this ghastly, leering expression
0:24:37 > 0:24:40and he's looking straight up her dress.
0:24:40 > 0:24:41What a surprise.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48Kitty became the queen of Grub Street.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52A sensation - funny, saucy, irresistible.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59So, she is a mistress of her own PR.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01She's her own publicist.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04She knows how to be a self-promoter
0:25:04 > 0:25:06and turn Kitty Fisher, who comes from nowhere,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09into the latest London celeb.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13Kitty may have started low,
0:25:13 > 0:25:15but she aimed high.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21In order to bask in the golden light
0:25:21 > 0:25:24of a much fancier kind of fame,
0:25:24 > 0:25:26her image needed laundering...
0:25:30 > 0:25:35..and, astonishingly, the man to do it was Joshua Reynolds,
0:25:35 > 0:25:37who usually painted imperial heroes,
0:25:37 > 0:25:40lords and ladies, even royalty.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43He made women alluring...
0:25:45 > 0:25:46..and men noble.
0:25:50 > 0:25:55Reynolds was the great 18th-century designer of fame
0:25:55 > 0:25:59and the first artist to really become a celebrity in his own right.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03With his smooth social skills,
0:26:03 > 0:26:07he knew how to woo the cream of British society into his studio...
0:26:09 > 0:26:13..but he also understood that a client as sensational as Kitty
0:26:13 > 0:26:17would mean all the eyes of London looking at the result.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26You have to say about Joshua Reynolds, "Boy, is he good."
0:26:26 > 0:26:29This is really a pin-up, isn't it? It's a pin-up.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31It's a glamour picture
0:26:31 > 0:26:34that Hollywood glamour photographers
0:26:34 > 0:26:37take in the 1920s and '30s.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41She's made unbelievably alluring and sexy.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45It's exactly what Kitty wants.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47It turns her into a, kind of, immortal.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50You look at it and it looks just like,
0:26:50 > 0:26:53"Oh, a beautiful society hostess."
0:26:53 > 0:26:56This lovely blue gown over her shoulders,
0:26:56 > 0:26:58the lustrous eyelashes,
0:26:58 > 0:27:02the great, thick, ropey mane of chestnut hair,
0:27:02 > 0:27:05the very loose enticing shift
0:27:05 > 0:27:07around her shoulders.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09He's done this little tiny highlight
0:27:09 > 0:27:11on the edge of her nose,
0:27:11 > 0:27:13so she's a real living, you know,
0:27:13 > 0:27:15breathing, human being.
0:27:15 > 0:27:21She's not this, kind of, pasty-faced queen of meditative melancholy.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27Tongues wagged over the numerous sittings.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31Reynolds apparently needed to paint this small portrait...
0:27:33 > 0:27:36..and he's posed her as Cleopatra,
0:27:36 > 0:27:39who famously seduced the Roman general Mark Antony
0:27:39 > 0:27:43by dissolving a pearl in a glass of wine
0:27:43 > 0:27:44and drinking it.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48As we get into the details,
0:27:48 > 0:27:51it becomes a lot more saucy
0:27:51 > 0:27:53and sensational.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56Look how she's holding that pearl...
0:27:57 > 0:28:00..she's doing it like that,
0:28:00 > 0:28:04and, yes, the "O" that's in the middle...
0:28:04 > 0:28:05No prizes for guessing here.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08..is an allusion to the sexual act...
0:28:12 > 0:28:16..and Joshua Reynolds poses her in deep thoughtfulness.
0:28:16 > 0:28:17Now, Kitty Fisher, bless her,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20she's not actually making a living out of deep thought.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23She is making a living out of deep something else.
0:28:26 > 0:28:31But as a, kind of, great performance of grand glamour,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34it's absolutely unbeatable, isn't it?
0:28:37 > 0:28:39However glamorous the pictures,
0:28:39 > 0:28:41this new world of celebrity
0:28:41 > 0:28:43was a cut throat business...
0:28:45 > 0:28:48..not just between the objects of the publicity,
0:28:48 > 0:28:51but also between the artists who created it...
0:28:54 > 0:28:59..and Reynolds wasn't the only fame-maker in town.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07George Romney is notoriously -
0:29:07 > 0:29:08and rather wonderfully, I think -
0:29:08 > 0:29:11the opposite of urban, gregarious,
0:29:11 > 0:29:14talkative, sociable Joshua Reynolds.
0:29:14 > 0:29:16George Romney is inarticulate,
0:29:16 > 0:29:18secretive, melancholy,
0:29:18 > 0:29:20possibly manic-depressive.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28Is this the unhappiest self-portrait ever?
0:29:32 > 0:29:37This, kind of, cloud of brown darkness weighing in on him
0:29:37 > 0:29:41only makes that face all the more intense.
0:29:44 > 0:29:47Plus, the extraordinary, kind of,
0:29:47 > 0:29:50tensed up body language of the arms...
0:29:50 > 0:29:53He's deliberately made his hands invisible.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56If you look at my hands, it's very hard to do that.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59You have to do it like this and...
0:29:59 > 0:30:04So, what does that capacious jacket resemble, if not a straitjacket?
0:30:07 > 0:30:11Despite appearing withdrawn and defensive,
0:30:11 > 0:30:14Romney was, in fact, hugely successful
0:30:14 > 0:30:17with a constant stream of eager clients...
0:30:19 > 0:30:23..but you feel he's waiting for that one model,
0:30:23 > 0:30:24that one face,
0:30:24 > 0:30:26that one body,
0:30:26 > 0:30:29that'll really set him alight.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32Just occasionally, there is this extraordinary electric
0:30:32 > 0:30:36hot-wiring between painter and model
0:30:36 > 0:30:38and so there will be.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42And the model will also be someone who, in a metaphorical, I think,
0:30:42 > 0:30:44rather than literally sense,
0:30:44 > 0:30:47unties his corsets just a bit.
0:30:50 > 0:30:52In March 1782,
0:30:52 > 0:30:54the young mistress of a friend
0:30:54 > 0:30:56arrived in Romney's studio.
0:31:00 > 0:31:02Her name was Emma.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07She came in and he was hit by lightning.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12She had a smile that lit up London.
0:31:17 > 0:31:19Romney was never the same again.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25It's a commission that's got completely out of control
0:31:25 > 0:31:27and he cannot stop painting her.
0:31:27 > 0:31:28He's supposed to be painting,
0:31:28 > 0:31:30you know, politicians and generals -
0:31:30 > 0:31:32doesn't really care about that.
0:31:32 > 0:31:34Everything goes completely by the board -
0:31:34 > 0:31:37Emma after Emma, after Emma, after Emma, after Emma.
0:31:37 > 0:31:39He's tormented.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42He can't take his eyes off her.
0:31:44 > 0:31:48Emma unleashed Romney's creativity.
0:31:48 > 0:31:53In his portraits of her, his style became more spontaneous,
0:31:53 > 0:31:55expressive, adventurous.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01His obsession became the subject of gossip.
0:32:01 > 0:32:02People flocked to Romney's studio
0:32:02 > 0:32:04just to catch a glimpse
0:32:04 > 0:32:06of Emma on canvas
0:32:06 > 0:32:12and, when they saw her, they all wanted to take a piece of her home.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16Copies and prints were made.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20Even sketches and unfinished versions were snapped up.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33Romney called her "the divine lady"
0:32:33 > 0:32:36and it was through his countless portraits,
0:32:36 > 0:32:41that Emma became the hottest celebrity of regency London...
0:32:45 > 0:32:47..and the irony,
0:32:47 > 0:32:48the sad, pathetic, tragic irony,
0:32:48 > 0:32:53is that he's doing this in order to keep Emma,
0:32:53 > 0:32:55the pure of heart Emma,
0:32:55 > 0:32:59of his own, almost, manic obsessions with him forever...
0:32:59 > 0:33:01but by making her famous,
0:33:01 > 0:33:04putting her into the mill of fame
0:33:04 > 0:33:06in regency England,
0:33:06 > 0:33:08he's guaranteeing that
0:33:08 > 0:33:10that's NOT going to be the case.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13Someday, someone is going to come along
0:33:13 > 0:33:17and take her right away from him and,
0:33:17 > 0:33:20in some sense, it's mission accomplished.
0:33:21 > 0:33:26Together, they make her so irresistible,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29that the most famous and most important man in all of England
0:33:29 > 0:33:31at the time, Horatio Nelson,
0:33:31 > 0:33:34cannot possibly live without her.
0:33:39 > 0:33:44For a public still new to the guilty pleasures of celebrity culture,
0:33:44 > 0:33:47the romance between these two famous people
0:33:47 > 0:33:49was almost too good to be true.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01Both were already married
0:34:01 > 0:34:03and the whole country was enthralled
0:34:03 > 0:34:05by the scandalous relationship.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10What's really striking is that
0:34:10 > 0:34:12the two kinds of fame
0:34:12 > 0:34:14come together in this love affair.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17Emma is really about celebrity.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21She's managed to market her beauty
0:34:21 > 0:34:24and then she meets the most famous sailor,
0:34:24 > 0:34:26the most famous person, in Britain,
0:34:26 > 0:34:28and he is a different kind of fame.
0:34:28 > 0:34:32He is the kind of fame the Romans and Greeks would recognise,
0:34:32 > 0:34:34someone who's famous for doing something,
0:34:34 > 0:34:36and doing something extraordinary...
0:34:38 > 0:34:41But these two types of fame,
0:34:41 > 0:34:43tangled together in their story,
0:34:43 > 0:34:46would eventually unravel.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57When Nelson was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar,
0:34:57 > 0:35:01the outpouring of grief was so intense
0:35:01 > 0:35:05that it was as if part of Britain itself had died with him.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11The nation came together to mourn at St Paul's Cathedral
0:35:11 > 0:35:14in one of the most lavish funerals in history.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21Orchestrated on an epic scale,
0:35:21 > 0:35:23it was the biggest state funeral
0:35:23 > 0:35:25the country had ever seen.
0:35:28 > 0:35:33Hysterical crowds thronged the streets of London
0:35:33 > 0:35:34and emotions ran so high
0:35:34 > 0:35:36that authorities feared
0:35:36 > 0:35:38they would lose control
0:35:38 > 0:35:40of the immense swarm of people.
0:35:47 > 0:35:49Imagine what it would have been like
0:35:49 > 0:35:51if Churchill had dropped dead of a heart attack
0:35:51 > 0:35:53on VE day, or D-Day,
0:35:53 > 0:35:55or something like that.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58Everyone knew that it was a moment
0:35:58 > 0:36:00when the country had been saved,
0:36:00 > 0:36:02but the price of it being saved
0:36:02 > 0:36:05was that they had lost the man
0:36:05 > 0:36:06who'd achieved that salvation -
0:36:06 > 0:36:08they had lost their hero.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11Ecstasy was mixed with horror
0:36:11 > 0:36:15and grief, and sadness.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18Inside the cathedral, 7,000 people
0:36:18 > 0:36:20witnessed the last rites -
0:36:20 > 0:36:23a fitting tribute to a fame of this magnitude.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29Everything is organised so everyone can get a look
0:36:29 > 0:36:31and they can cry, and they can sob,
0:36:31 > 0:36:34and they can sing, and they can cheer.
0:36:34 > 0:36:36So, you have all of Britain -
0:36:36 > 0:36:38the toffs, the officers,
0:36:38 > 0:36:39common sailors -
0:36:39 > 0:36:42inside this great space of St Paul's.
0:36:48 > 0:36:51Nelson's body is laid on a platform,
0:36:51 > 0:36:53right where I'm standing,
0:36:53 > 0:36:55right at the centre of the dome,
0:36:55 > 0:36:59the beating heart of the country
0:36:59 > 0:37:01and, in the end, it will be lowered down,
0:37:01 > 0:37:03through this hole here,
0:37:03 > 0:37:05into the resting place
0:37:05 > 0:37:08of the sarcophagus down there -
0:37:08 > 0:37:11and there, Nelson lies in state...
0:37:19 > 0:37:21..but there was one notable
0:37:21 > 0:37:22and shocking absence
0:37:22 > 0:37:24from this great occasion.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31Emma Hamilton was banned by state authorities
0:37:31 > 0:37:32from attending the funeral.
0:37:36 > 0:37:38Emma's brand of celebrity
0:37:38 > 0:37:40was now an embarrassment.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45She had fallen victim to changing tastes,
0:37:45 > 0:37:49foreshadowing high-minded Victorian morality
0:37:49 > 0:37:53and anxiety about just who was deserving of fame.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58Emma would die in Calais ten years later,
0:37:58 > 0:38:01drunk and destitute.
0:38:08 > 0:38:10Now, Nelson and Emma are back together
0:38:10 > 0:38:12at the National Portrait Gallery,
0:38:12 > 0:38:17the hero and his floozy within kissing distance on the wall.
0:38:17 > 0:38:19Today, we have no trouble with celebrity
0:38:19 > 0:38:21and renown side by side...
0:38:26 > 0:38:30But when the Victorians founded the gallery in 1856,
0:38:30 > 0:38:32THIS would have been unthinkable...
0:38:33 > 0:38:37..for the institution began as a worthy act of moral,
0:38:37 > 0:38:39patriotic education
0:38:39 > 0:38:42and a response to a moment of crisis.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48Britain, in the 19th century,
0:38:48 > 0:38:50had become an immense
0:38:50 > 0:38:51industrial empire.
0:38:53 > 0:38:55For some, this brought fears
0:38:55 > 0:38:58that society was drowning in crass materialism.
0:39:01 > 0:39:03From his home in Chelsea,
0:39:03 > 0:39:06one of the greatest historians of the age, Thomas Carlyle,
0:39:06 > 0:39:09worried that the nation would forget what,
0:39:09 > 0:39:11and more importantly WHO,
0:39:11 > 0:39:13had put the "Great" in Britain.
0:39:16 > 0:39:18Any society,
0:39:18 > 0:39:20however imperially strong it was going to be,
0:39:20 > 0:39:22that was only preoccupied with money
0:39:22 > 0:39:26and what Carlyle called, "The soulless age of the machine"
0:39:26 > 0:39:32was going to be, as Carlyle also said, "Mean and dwarfish."
0:39:32 > 0:39:36If the Victorian world was going to be worthy of itself,
0:39:36 > 0:39:37it had to rediscover
0:39:37 > 0:39:39the nature of humanity.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45Carlyle wrote about his heroes,
0:39:45 > 0:39:46like Shakespeare,
0:39:46 > 0:39:48as if they were the lifeblood
0:39:48 > 0:39:50of what made a nation...
0:39:51 > 0:39:54..but he did more than write about them.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57As he worked, he surrounded himself with their portraits.
0:40:01 > 0:40:03Carlyle - who wrote wonderfully
0:40:03 > 0:40:05about noses, chins, brows -
0:40:05 > 0:40:09believed that a portrait was worth half a dozen biographies.
0:40:14 > 0:40:16So, when Carlyle thinks, actually,
0:40:16 > 0:40:18how he can improve Britain
0:40:18 > 0:40:20to make sure that it's not just
0:40:20 > 0:40:23in the prism of the humdrum and the routine,
0:40:23 > 0:40:26and the counting house...
0:40:26 > 0:40:28How could he take this passion,
0:40:28 > 0:40:30that he has himself,
0:40:30 > 0:40:33for being inspired by living in the company of great men?
0:40:33 > 0:40:37And the answer is, if you could only have a sort of gallery,
0:40:37 > 0:40:41then parents could bring their children
0:40:41 > 0:40:44and everybody from every class of the country
0:40:44 > 0:40:45could spend time and,
0:40:45 > 0:40:48by a process of osmosis of inspiration,
0:40:48 > 0:40:50you could become, yourself,
0:40:50 > 0:40:52great Britons -
0:40:52 > 0:40:54not just rich Britons
0:40:54 > 0:40:56or effective Britons,
0:40:56 > 0:40:58or industrially modern Britons,
0:40:58 > 0:41:00or arrogantly imperial Britons.
0:41:05 > 0:41:06Carlyle's great vision
0:41:06 > 0:41:08eventually got off the ground
0:41:08 > 0:41:10and the National Portrait Gallery
0:41:10 > 0:41:11came into being.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14It would achieve his aim
0:41:14 > 0:41:17of allowing people to spend time in the company of the greats.
0:41:21 > 0:41:22The first portraits were selected,
0:41:22 > 0:41:25not for their artistic merit,
0:41:25 > 0:41:29but for their potential to mould national character,
0:41:29 > 0:41:33to encourage and feed the appetite for hero-worship.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36No flaky celebs on these walls...
0:41:38 > 0:41:41..and, for me, there's one that really stands out -
0:41:41 > 0:41:45the man who brought the British slave trade to an end.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50This one, in every way,
0:41:50 > 0:41:52is the most beautiful, the most moving,
0:41:52 > 0:41:54the most important
0:41:54 > 0:41:57and spoke to what the founders of the National Portrait Gallery
0:41:57 > 0:42:02wanted paintings to do for the country.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05If you asked yourself, "What is Britain made of?"
0:42:05 > 0:42:09Not just iron and steel, and cotton, and banks, and money,
0:42:09 > 0:42:11but the moral conscience -
0:42:11 > 0:42:14William Wilberforce is the answer.
0:42:17 > 0:42:19Now, the point about Wilberforce
0:42:19 > 0:42:21is that he's going through an ordeal.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23Notice this funny pose,
0:42:23 > 0:42:25with the head to one side,
0:42:25 > 0:42:29it just looks, in Laurence's lovely unfinished version,
0:42:29 > 0:42:31as though he's sort of relaxing...
0:42:31 > 0:42:32It's an informal pose.
0:42:34 > 0:42:39..but he'd been suffering from this crippling spinal deformity,
0:42:39 > 0:42:41which is why his head
0:42:41 > 0:42:43is at an odd angle...
0:42:43 > 0:42:45and the older he got,
0:42:45 > 0:42:46the more deformed he becomes.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52So, the point about being British, is that -
0:42:52 > 0:42:55in pain and difficulty, and darkness -
0:42:55 > 0:42:56you tough it out.
0:42:57 > 0:43:01The shining light of your own conscience
0:43:01 > 0:43:03makes you do good in the world.
0:43:03 > 0:43:05So, if you have to say,
0:43:05 > 0:43:10"What is William Wilberforce's face saying to us?"
0:43:10 > 0:43:14"We can do good, you can do good, like me."
0:43:14 > 0:43:17"In the midst of our imperial power
0:43:17 > 0:43:18"and prosperity,
0:43:18 > 0:43:21"think what it meant to act
0:43:21 > 0:43:25"AGAINST our material interest.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29"We are not just a country of moneybags,
0:43:29 > 0:43:31"we are the country that abolished the slave trade,
0:43:31 > 0:43:36"that abolished slavery, when we could have made money out of it.
0:43:36 > 0:43:38"Sweetness and light is ours
0:43:38 > 0:43:40"to give to the world."
0:43:41 > 0:43:43"Come to the gallery,
0:43:43 > 0:43:45"and just look at me,
0:43:45 > 0:43:48"and think on that as British destiny."
0:43:57 > 0:44:00But our craving for fame and celebrity
0:44:00 > 0:44:02was too great to be confined
0:44:02 > 0:44:04to such noble ideas.
0:44:07 > 0:44:09The very forces of mass production
0:44:09 > 0:44:11that Carlyle so hated
0:44:11 > 0:44:14would now hijack our weakness
0:44:14 > 0:44:16for famous faces.
0:44:17 > 0:44:19At the turn of the century,
0:44:19 > 0:44:22over 50% of the population smoked
0:44:22 > 0:44:25and tobacco companies saw an opportunity
0:44:25 > 0:44:28to up this even further -
0:44:28 > 0:44:31through the little cards used to stiffen soft packets.
0:44:35 > 0:44:37Someone thought,
0:44:37 > 0:44:39"This is a fantastic wheeze,
0:44:39 > 0:44:43why don't we put pictures of the famous on them?
0:44:43 > 0:44:45"And, if we have fantastic pictures
0:44:45 > 0:44:49"and a particular kind of famous people,
0:44:49 > 0:44:51"they're going to buy OUR cigarettes
0:44:51 > 0:44:55"rather than Bloggins' Virginia Gold
0:44:55 > 0:44:57"who only managed to have, I don't know,
0:44:57 > 0:44:58"dogs or horses or something -
0:44:58 > 0:45:02"but WE will have portraits of the mighty."
0:45:02 > 0:45:04And these are politicians and
0:45:04 > 0:45:07they are heroes of the British Empire
0:45:07 > 0:45:09and of British history.
0:45:09 > 0:45:11The Duke of Wellington is here,
0:45:11 > 0:45:12Disraeli is here...
0:45:12 > 0:45:14But along with the mighty,
0:45:14 > 0:45:16we've got cricketers,
0:45:16 > 0:45:18actresses
0:45:18 > 0:45:20and music hall girls.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28The masses now had a new generation of stars in their eyes
0:45:28 > 0:45:30and in the palms of their hands.
0:45:31 > 0:45:35The cards proved a masterstroke of marketing...
0:45:35 > 0:45:38Did you know that there was a cigarette card exchange in London?
0:45:38 > 0:45:41A place where thousands of cards come every day to be sorted,
0:45:41 > 0:45:43labelled, parcelled...
0:45:43 > 0:45:46Their following was so fanatical
0:45:46 > 0:45:47that cigarette companies
0:45:47 > 0:45:49even had their own studios
0:45:49 > 0:45:51and their own artists.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56One of the most talented was Alick Ritchie,
0:45:56 > 0:46:01who created a whole gallery of mini masterpieces for Player's Cigarettes.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09He did portraits which are really little things of genius
0:46:09 > 0:46:12in an almost, kind of, Art Deco style.
0:46:12 > 0:46:16Here we have Augustus John, the painter,
0:46:16 > 0:46:19Lloyd George is a huge favourite,
0:46:19 > 0:46:21and here is Jack Hobbs, the cricketer,
0:46:21 > 0:46:25or you could go in for the, kind of, grand movie stars
0:46:25 > 0:46:27like Douglas Fairbanks
0:46:27 > 0:46:29and Charlie Chaplin.
0:46:29 > 0:46:33So, this is really a kind of democratic pantheon.
0:46:33 > 0:46:38This is the working person's own individual portrait gallery
0:46:38 > 0:46:43and it's filled up with movie stars, cricketers
0:46:43 > 0:46:44and footballers
0:46:44 > 0:46:46with the new kind of famous.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52You could have a smoke, finish the packet,
0:46:52 > 0:46:56and look down at your very own portrait gallery.
0:46:56 > 0:46:58Cigarette companies had made the public
0:46:58 > 0:47:00as addicted to fame
0:47:00 > 0:47:01as they were to nicotine.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08The faces could inform, amuse
0:47:08 > 0:47:11and bring a little colour to people's lives -
0:47:11 > 0:47:13a working man's encyclopaedia...
0:47:15 > 0:47:17..but above all,
0:47:17 > 0:47:21the craze for collecting famous faces was fun...
0:47:21 > 0:47:22and in the drab interwar years,
0:47:22 > 0:47:27they offered what people wanted most - escapism.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30GRAND, FILMIC MUSIC
0:47:32 > 0:47:34In the 1920s,
0:47:34 > 0:47:36show-business, magic and glamour
0:47:36 > 0:47:39came together in the ultimate escape.
0:47:39 > 0:47:40In the dark of the cinema,
0:47:40 > 0:47:42people lost themselves
0:47:42 > 0:47:45in the make-believe world of Hollywood...
0:47:49 > 0:47:53..and one imaginative and inventive photographer
0:47:53 > 0:47:58would bring fairy-tale sparkle to his portraits.
0:47:58 > 0:48:03Underneath this very high, slightly camp, manner
0:48:03 > 0:48:06is a devastatingly gifted photographer -
0:48:06 > 0:48:09someone who really is thinking about technique in a new way
0:48:09 > 0:48:11much influenced by the movies.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16Cecil Beaton dropped out of Cambridge in 1925,
0:48:16 > 0:48:19desperate to become a photographer.
0:48:19 > 0:48:20Right from the start,
0:48:20 > 0:48:24he was a master of flamboyant style -
0:48:24 > 0:48:27even when the only models available were his sisters.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31Here's one of the two sisters, Baba,
0:48:31 > 0:48:33and she is literally a picture
0:48:33 > 0:48:35in crushed silver velvet.
0:48:35 > 0:48:37I LOVE this photo
0:48:37 > 0:48:39because it absolutely milks
0:48:39 > 0:48:41everything it can
0:48:41 > 0:48:42about movie queendom,
0:48:42 > 0:48:46but it adds something really, almost, spooky.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48Draped over the crushed velvet
0:48:48 > 0:48:51are just ropes and coils,
0:48:51 > 0:48:52and cascades of pearls.
0:48:52 > 0:48:54Not real pearls but...
0:48:54 > 0:48:55They are fake pearls,
0:48:55 > 0:48:58but there are thousands of them.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00You can't overdo pearls in this image
0:49:00 > 0:49:05so, the whole thing has this kind of lunar shimmer to it.
0:49:07 > 0:49:13Beaton seemed to become intoxicated by his own glistening creations.
0:49:13 > 0:49:14Hungry for fame,
0:49:14 > 0:49:17he now turned to a gang of posh friends
0:49:17 > 0:49:18from his brief time at Cambridge.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25UPBEAT SWING MUSIC
0:49:29 > 0:49:31In the Wiltshire countryside,
0:49:31 > 0:49:33this group of pampered young people
0:49:33 > 0:49:35were attracting attention
0:49:35 > 0:49:37by throwing outrageous parties.
0:49:42 > 0:49:43Fancy dress balls...
0:49:45 > 0:49:47..play acting...
0:49:48 > 0:49:51..and champagne-soaked weekends.
0:49:56 > 0:49:58They were known as the Bright Young Things
0:49:58 > 0:50:00and Beaton saw them as a way
0:50:00 > 0:50:03to insert himself into high society,
0:50:03 > 0:50:05to experiment with his art
0:50:05 > 0:50:08and get his work published in the magazines.
0:50:11 > 0:50:13Darlings,
0:50:13 > 0:50:16here we have a pyramid of poseurs,
0:50:16 > 0:50:18circa 1927...
0:50:18 > 0:50:22and it's the Bright Young Persons -
0:50:22 > 0:50:24play acting and posing
0:50:24 > 0:50:27in exactly the kind of guise
0:50:27 > 0:50:30which they know is going to get them into the gossip magazines
0:50:30 > 0:50:33and maybe even into the newspapers -
0:50:33 > 0:50:36and at the centre of it all is Cecil Beaton -
0:50:36 > 0:50:38heavily wearing mascara,
0:50:38 > 0:50:40as is everybody.
0:50:40 > 0:50:44But Cecil Beaton had this profound sense of the collective need
0:50:44 > 0:50:46for self-promotion,
0:50:46 > 0:50:48but also the need out there
0:50:48 > 0:50:51in post-World War One society
0:50:51 > 0:50:55for images of the young and glamorous.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02Beaton's photographs made the antics of the Bright Young Things
0:51:02 > 0:51:04famous and infamous...
0:51:06 > 0:51:09Their celebrity would not last.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13Things change in the '30s with the slump
0:51:13 > 0:51:15and a gradual creep forward
0:51:15 > 0:51:17of the dark cloud of fascism,
0:51:17 > 0:51:22and public appetite for the Bright Young Things
0:51:22 > 0:51:25becomes dimmer and thinner
0:51:25 > 0:51:29but Beaton, of course, has other fish to fry.
0:51:29 > 0:51:34He's completely ruthless about having used this moment
0:51:34 > 0:51:37and these faces and these kind of poses
0:51:37 > 0:51:40to advance his own career and
0:51:40 > 0:51:42to move his own fame game forward
0:51:42 > 0:51:45and now there is somewhere else
0:51:45 > 0:51:48where he can do something extraordinary
0:51:48 > 0:51:50with what he knows best -
0:51:50 > 0:51:51and that is glamour.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59And the place to be, if you wanted to ride the tide of stardom,
0:51:59 > 0:52:02was, of course, Hollywood.
0:52:07 > 0:52:12Here, Beaton fell under the spell of screen goddesses.
0:52:14 > 0:52:16Greta Garbo.
0:52:18 > 0:52:20Marilyn Monroe.
0:52:22 > 0:52:24He captured the essence
0:52:24 > 0:52:28of what made these women both irresistibly alluring and,
0:52:28 > 0:52:31at the same time, impossibly unattainable.
0:52:39 > 0:52:41He became a real designer for fame
0:52:41 > 0:52:44because he understood pop culture.
0:52:44 > 0:52:46He understood its chemistry
0:52:46 > 0:52:51so that when he made extraordinary images of goddess-like figures,
0:52:51 > 0:52:55he knew exactly how they would be consumed on the street,
0:52:55 > 0:52:58in the magazines, and in the pubs.
0:52:58 > 0:53:03It was a real, sort of, down-market genius that he had.
0:53:03 > 0:53:08He, above all, was a kind of impresario of public craving...
0:53:11 > 0:53:15..and we're still living with the kind of celebrity images
0:53:15 > 0:53:17Beaton pioneered.
0:53:19 > 0:53:21This is Keira Knightley...
0:53:21 > 0:53:22Oh, yeah!
0:53:22 > 0:53:23Again, I just thought,
0:53:23 > 0:53:26"Wouldn't it be great to photograph her in a worker's caff?
0:53:26 > 0:53:30The sort of juxtaposition between the two makes me laugh.
0:53:30 > 0:53:32HE LAUGHS
0:53:32 > 0:53:34Photographer Jason Bell
0:53:34 > 0:53:36is famous for his artful portraits
0:53:36 > 0:53:39of A-list celebrities.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42It works both ways, fame explodes and dwindles
0:53:42 > 0:53:45and then there's other people where you're photographing at the point
0:53:45 > 0:53:47at which they're just so hot and everyone's like
0:53:47 > 0:53:49"Oh, my God," you know, "You're shooting that person."
0:53:49 > 0:53:52And then, a couple of years go by and it's like,
0:53:52 > 0:53:54"What happened to so and so?"
0:53:54 > 0:53:56Stars may rise and fall,
0:53:56 > 0:53:58but the relationship between the famous
0:53:58 > 0:54:00and the fame-makers
0:54:00 > 0:54:01is as close as ever.
0:54:01 > 0:54:03I have to say, if I'm honest,
0:54:03 > 0:54:04as a photographer,
0:54:04 > 0:54:05you want your work to be seen.
0:54:05 > 0:54:10What happens is, I do a picture of a rat exterminator
0:54:10 > 0:54:11and they run it half-page at the back
0:54:11 > 0:54:14and I do a picture of a household name actor
0:54:14 > 0:54:16and they run it as a cover and eight pages.
0:54:16 > 0:54:18Now there's... Partly, you know, that's nice for me
0:54:18 > 0:54:21to have my work used in a bigger, kind of, splashier way,
0:54:21 > 0:54:22but also, creatively,
0:54:22 > 0:54:25it's more fun to create a set of eight pictures.
0:54:25 > 0:54:27You know, you get to play and there's themes
0:54:27 > 0:54:29and you're given more space,
0:54:29 > 0:54:32and I don't really set that agenda,
0:54:32 > 0:54:35but the magazine responds to the public's, you know, desire to see
0:54:35 > 0:54:38more pictures of Mr Famous Actor
0:54:38 > 0:54:40than Mr Rat Exterminator.
0:54:42 > 0:54:46Contemporary fame depends on familiarity
0:54:46 > 0:54:48and the celeb-drunk public
0:54:48 > 0:54:51feeds on seeing a face over and over again.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58Former paparazzi photographer Alan Chapman
0:54:58 > 0:55:03is at the launch party for his book of celebrity photographs.
0:55:03 > 0:55:04He's no longer a pap,
0:55:04 > 0:55:06but remembers only too well
0:55:06 > 0:55:11what the public want from candid shots of the famous.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13If so and so has got
0:55:13 > 0:55:15international acclaim,
0:55:15 > 0:55:16stardom,
0:55:16 > 0:55:17loads of money...
0:55:18 > 0:55:20"Where do they live? How do they live?
0:55:20 > 0:55:23"What do they wear? What do they drive? Where do they eat?
0:55:23 > 0:55:25"What do they do in their spare time?"
0:55:25 > 0:55:27We, as ordinary people, like to...
0:55:27 > 0:55:29voyeur into that world, I suppose.
0:55:34 > 0:55:36I suppose, you know, myself and everyone else
0:55:36 > 0:55:38working as a photographer for the press,
0:55:38 > 0:55:40is the go-between.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43We're enabling everybody else
0:55:43 > 0:55:44to see all these celebrities.
0:55:47 > 0:55:49It's a mutual addiction,
0:55:49 > 0:55:51this fame game.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54We need them and they need us.
0:55:54 > 0:55:56We want to see the famous as up close
0:55:56 > 0:55:58and as often as possible...
0:56:00 > 0:56:03..and they, knowing how fickle fame can be,
0:56:03 > 0:56:06need these images to keep up public interest...
0:56:09 > 0:56:12..but all that exposure can be dangerous.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15Images bring the famous closer to us
0:56:15 > 0:56:18and the more we see, the more we want...
0:56:20 > 0:56:23..and that's when fame can turn dark.
0:56:23 > 0:56:26There's another name for this relentless following
0:56:26 > 0:56:28and that's a "hunt."
0:56:33 > 0:56:35This is where fame ends up,
0:56:35 > 0:56:37in a shrine.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40Not the kind of shrine you find in a church or in a palace...
0:56:40 > 0:56:43In the palace over the road, her palace.
0:56:43 > 0:56:44..but a people's palace.
0:56:44 > 0:56:46A caff, Cafe Diana,
0:56:46 > 0:56:48and it's perfect really.
0:56:48 > 0:56:50I don't think many of the people who come here
0:56:50 > 0:56:54are coming in, necessarily, as pilgrims to the cult of Diana,
0:56:54 > 0:56:57they're coming here for the fantastic full English -
0:56:57 > 0:57:00but then she was full English, wasn't she?
0:57:04 > 0:57:09The thing about Diana was that she did both fame and celebrity.
0:57:11 > 0:57:12Glamorous star...
0:57:13 > 0:57:15..tabloid sensation...
0:57:17 > 0:57:20..doer of good deeds.
0:57:22 > 0:57:25It was all about the pictures.
0:57:25 > 0:57:26The camera ate her up
0:57:26 > 0:57:29even before the multitudes did.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33From the very beginning, when these little nervous eyes were appearing
0:57:33 > 0:57:36from under that lengthy fringe,
0:57:36 > 0:57:39not quite able to look directly at the camera,
0:57:39 > 0:57:40to the moment where, you know,
0:57:40 > 0:57:43the doe-eyed beauty took over,
0:57:43 > 0:57:47the whole extraordinary appearance of Diana became
0:57:47 > 0:57:49a gorgeous national institution,
0:57:49 > 0:57:52and she knew, let's not delude ourselves,
0:57:52 > 0:57:53how to work the press
0:57:53 > 0:57:56just as much as they could work her.
0:57:57 > 0:57:59It was a two-way street, wasn't it,
0:57:59 > 0:58:01that ended as a dead end.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07..but she did, in some peculiar way,
0:58:07 > 0:58:09go right to our hearts
0:58:09 > 0:58:12and when we look into the mirror
0:58:12 > 0:58:14through all these pictures, what do we see?
0:58:14 > 0:58:16We don't see HER so much,
0:58:16 > 0:58:18we see us...
0:58:18 > 0:58:21and our appetite for the famous
0:58:21 > 0:58:22and their disasters.
0:58:22 > 0:58:24We see ourselves -
0:58:24 > 0:58:27avid, greedy, insatiable -
0:58:27 > 0:58:31and THAT is not always a pretty picture.