0:00:05 > 0:00:10In 1840, one man transformed travel in the British Isles.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12His name was George Bradshaw
0:00:12 > 0:00:17and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21Stop by stop, he told them where to travel,
0:00:21 > 0:00:23what to see and where to stay.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29Now, 170 years later, I'm making a series of journeys
0:00:29 > 0:00:31across the length and breadth of these isles
0:00:31 > 0:00:35to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57I've embarked on a new journey,
0:00:57 > 0:01:01following in the tracks of Victorian entrepreneurs and travellers,
0:01:01 > 0:01:03along railways that were the arteries
0:01:03 > 0:01:06to industrial England's Black Country heartland.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10And from there, on to the verdant beauties of Wales.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14On today's stretch, I'll meet the remarkable craftsmen
0:01:14 > 0:01:16behind the Victorian furniture trade...
0:01:16 > 0:01:19My dear bodger, I believe that I have made a bodge!
0:01:19 > 0:01:23..discover how George Bradshaw helped to save Britain's
0:01:23 > 0:01:24canal heritage.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27He inspired railway travellers in the 19th century
0:01:27 > 0:01:29and canal travellers in the 20th.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31And see Shakespeare, through the eyes
0:01:31 > 0:01:33of a 19th century railway tourist.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36"Our revels now are ended
0:01:36 > 0:01:39"These our actors..."
0:01:39 > 0:01:40Bravo!
0:01:42 > 0:01:46Starting in the rolling Chiltern Hills, my guidebook will lead me
0:01:46 > 0:01:48through Oxfordshire and Warwickshire
0:01:48 > 0:01:51towards the industrial centres of the Midlands.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55Turning west, I'll experience the stunning Severn Valley Railway,
0:01:55 > 0:01:56en route to mid Wales,
0:01:56 > 0:02:00and the Victorian seaside resort of Aberystwyth.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05Starting in High Wycombe, this leg takes me north-west,
0:02:05 > 0:02:08to one of the Victorians' favourite spa towns,
0:02:08 > 0:02:11before heading for the heart of Shakespeare country.
0:02:15 > 0:02:20My first stop will be High Wycombe, seated deep in the Chiltern Hills.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24Bradshaw says, "Wycombe is a borough in Buckinghamshire on the Wyck.
0:02:24 > 0:02:29"In the vicinity, are many corn and paper mills."
0:02:29 > 0:02:32But the arrival of the trains here, in 1854,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35helped to furnish the town with a new industry.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42Trains puffed into High Wycombe, courtesy of the Wycombe Railway,
0:02:42 > 0:02:47which linked the town to Brunel's famous Great Western.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49Today, it's a popular commuter town.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51Indeed, even in the 19th century,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54the area attracted those who wanted to live
0:02:54 > 0:02:57at a distance from the Big Smoke.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02I've always wanted to come to High Wycombe Station. Seriously!
0:03:02 > 0:03:05Near here was the country home of one of my great heroes,
0:03:05 > 0:03:09the Conservative Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli,
0:03:09 > 0:03:11who had a very good relationship with Queen Victoria,
0:03:11 > 0:03:13mainly because he was a great flatterer.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16By own admission, he laid it on with a trowel.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19Queen Victoria did him the extraordinary honour
0:03:19 > 0:03:22of visiting her Prime Minister at his home.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25Imagine how gratified he would have been
0:03:25 > 0:03:29when he received Queen Victoria at this very railway station.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33When she arrived here in 1877,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36the Queen was collected by carriage
0:03:36 > 0:03:39and driven past an eye-catching display -
0:03:39 > 0:03:42a giant arch, constructed from wooden chairs.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46It was built in honour of an industry
0:03:46 > 0:03:49which thrived here in the 19th century,
0:03:49 > 0:03:52thanks to a very special kind of craftsman.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59I'm going down to the woods today, to get a big surprise.
0:03:59 > 0:04:04The exceptional tale of the Chiltern chair bodgers.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08- Hello.- Hello. Bit of a stranger in these woods!
0:04:08 > 0:04:10Ha! I'm sorry to interrupt your work.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14- I see you are Stuart King of the Bodgers.- Indeed. Yes.
0:04:14 > 0:04:15What is a bodger?
0:04:15 > 0:04:20A bodger, historically, was a wood turner,
0:04:20 > 0:04:24who turned chair legs, for the High Wycombe chair industry,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27mostly working in the woods, amongst his raw material,
0:04:27 > 0:04:28usually the beech trees.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32Why would you come to the woods to do this work?
0:04:32 > 0:04:35It's much easier to take my simple equipment like this,
0:04:35 > 0:04:36the raw material,
0:04:36 > 0:04:42than to take very heavy beech logs, perhaps many miles, to a workshop.
0:04:42 > 0:04:47Bodgers have worked here since at least the 18th century,
0:04:47 > 0:04:49but their heyday came in the railway age.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53Train transport transformed the High Wycombe chair industry.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57It opened up new markets, and sped up getting to those markets.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01Before the railway, everything was taken to London, the Midlands,
0:05:01 > 0:05:05the South Coast by horse and cart. With the coming of the railways,
0:05:05 > 0:05:07they were there within hours, instead of days.
0:05:08 > 0:05:13In the late 19th century, there were 340 men at work in this area.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16But by the 1960s, the advent of electric-powered lathes
0:05:16 > 0:05:19had seen off the last of the bodgers.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23Thankfully, craft historian Stuart King is keeping the skill alive,
0:05:23 > 0:05:27which means mastering the bodger's key machine tool.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30This is chair bodger's pole lathe.
0:05:30 > 0:05:31There's the pole.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34So, I'm going to put a hollow here.
0:05:41 > 0:05:42That's magnificent!
0:05:42 > 0:05:44- Do you think you could put one there?- No!
0:05:44 > 0:05:46THEY LAUGH
0:05:47 > 0:05:50- You put the tool on the rest first.- Yeah.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57Have you any idea, when the industry was at its height,
0:05:57 > 0:05:59how many chair legs were being turned out?
0:05:59 > 0:06:01Oh, enormous numbers.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05If we take a pair of chair bodgers, they would produce,
0:06:05 > 0:06:11maybe, three gross a week - a gross being 144 chair legs.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13Fantastic output.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16My dear bodger, I believe I have made a bodge!
0:06:16 > 0:06:18In fact, you've done pretty well.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21I have to give you eight out of ten.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24The bodger's finished legs and stretchers were destined to be
0:06:24 > 0:06:28incorporated into High Wycombe's famous Windsor chairs.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30Apparently, the name dates back
0:06:30 > 0:06:32to before the arrival of the railway,
0:06:32 > 0:06:37when the chairs were taken overland to Windsor, then by river to London.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39But by Bradshaw's day,
0:06:39 > 0:06:44over 4,700 chairs a day were being carried out of High Wycombe by rail.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50Stuart Linford is amongst the last of the town's chair makers.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53- Stuart!- Hello, sir!
0:06:53 > 0:06:56- Welcome to Kitchener Works.- Thank you very much. Lovely to be here.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59- Is this a Victorian factory, in origin?- Absolutely right.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01This was built in the 1890s
0:07:01 > 0:07:04and it is the last working chair making workshop left
0:07:04 > 0:07:07in High Wycombe, sadly, out of over 100.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12High Wycombe's thriving factories helped to meet the demand
0:07:12 > 0:07:15from Britain's rapidly-expanding middle classes.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18They flaunted their new status, by buying elegant furniture
0:07:18 > 0:07:22and the Windsor chair was a firm favourite.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26- And this is the famous Windsor chair?- Absolutely.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28What are its chief characteristics?
0:07:28 > 0:07:32Right, it's got a solid wooden seat,
0:07:32 > 0:07:35into which the back and legs are socketed.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39So the axis of construction is the seat.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42These days, the legs
0:07:42 > 0:07:45and stretchers are turned by machine, not by bodgers.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47But the method for assembling the Windsor chair
0:07:47 > 0:07:50remains unchanged since Victorian times.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53This, Michael, is the Windsor framing shop,
0:07:53 > 0:07:55where we actually make the chairs.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57Stuart's going to demonstrate just how quickly
0:07:57 > 0:08:00a framer could make a chair, in Bradshaw's day.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03This process is called legging up,
0:08:07 > 0:08:08That's a legged-up base.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11Now, we've got to put the sticks in.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19Amazing! This construction kit goes together in moments!
0:08:19 > 0:08:24If I just grab... That's it! Hand me that lovely steam-bent component.
0:08:24 > 0:08:25That fits in there like that.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31There's a finished Windsor chair.
0:08:31 > 0:08:32Please have a seat.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36Bravo! That's fantastic!
0:08:38 > 0:08:41Sadly, there's no time for me to sit around.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44I'm continuing my journey along the Chiltern Mainline,
0:08:44 > 0:08:46heading north-west.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51I've crossed the border from Buckinghamshire into Oxfordshire,
0:08:51 > 0:08:55where I'm seeking out the roots of Britain's Victorian prosperity.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01Next stop for me is Banbury. Bradshaw's tells me that
0:09:01 > 0:09:04the navigable canal from Coventry to Oxford
0:09:04 > 0:09:08passes by and is conveyed through a hill by a tunnel
0:09:08 > 0:09:10three-quarters of a mile in length.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14George Bradshaw began his career by mapping canals
0:09:14 > 0:09:15and he may have been upset
0:09:15 > 0:09:19that his beloved railways eventually put them out of business.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25In the late 18th century,
0:09:25 > 0:09:28Britain's canals helped to launch the Industrial Revolution,
0:09:28 > 0:09:32transporting coal and other materials faster than ever before.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39Banbury soon found itself on an important route
0:09:39 > 0:09:41from the Midlands to London.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46I've come to Tooley's Historic Boatyard to hear the story,
0:09:46 > 0:09:48from director, Matthew Armitage.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52- Matthew.- Oh, Michael, hello. - Good to see you.- And you.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56A boatyard more than 220 years old. That must be some kind of record?
0:09:56 > 0:09:57It's pretty special, isn't it?
0:09:57 > 0:10:01The boatyard was built in 1788,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04around the same time as the Oxford Canal -
0:10:04 > 0:10:05one of the major arteries
0:10:05 > 0:10:08of the fledgling canal system.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12It provided the final link in an ambitious "grand cross" of waterways
0:10:12 > 0:10:15connecting up the rivers Mersey, Trent, Severn and Thames.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19The canal became very busy and was actually the M40 of its time,
0:10:19 > 0:10:21transporting goods to London,
0:10:21 > 0:10:26pretty much connecting Coventry down to the River Thames at Oxford.
0:10:26 > 0:10:27When the canal was thriving,
0:10:27 > 0:10:29what would the scene in Banbury have been?
0:10:29 > 0:10:31Boats coming from all directions,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34horses, you'd have had a blacksmith in the forge.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38There would have been hammer ringing where they were making horse shoes
0:10:38 > 0:10:40and parts for boats.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43Soon, the Oxford Canal encountered competition,
0:10:43 > 0:10:46when the Grand Junction canal opened a more direct route
0:10:46 > 0:10:50from the Midlands to central London, bypassing the Thames.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53But before long, an even bigger rival emerged.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57The canals must have faced intense competition from the railways?
0:10:57 > 0:10:58Exactly, that's right.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02They actually used the canals to transport all the goods
0:11:02 > 0:11:05and equipment needed to build the railways.
0:11:05 > 0:11:06Once the railways were built,
0:11:06 > 0:11:09they filled them in afterwards, stopping any competition,
0:11:09 > 0:11:11but that wasn't the case for the Oxford Canal.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13It kept going, which is pretty amazing.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16There's something special about the Oxford Canal.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18The boats plying the Oxford route
0:11:18 > 0:11:20could stop off here in Banbury for repairs,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23and this boatyard continued to thrive
0:11:23 > 0:11:26through the 19th century and right up to today.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28So we're at the bottom of the dry dock now.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30You can see it's pretty dry.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33We've got a boat. We're blacking it.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38We're busy. So I think we could do with a hand, really.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42These days, it's pleasure boats that come here to be serviced.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44After a period of decline in the early 20th century,
0:11:44 > 0:11:48Britain's canals had a revival as a place of leisure.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51And that story began with a man called Tom Rolt,
0:11:51 > 0:11:55who, in 1939, bought himself a dilapidated narrow boat.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57He brought his boat to the dry dock.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00- To this very dry dock? - To this very dry dock,
0:12:00 > 0:12:02and it was repaired by the Tooleys.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05He set up his boat and went on a journey around the waterways,
0:12:05 > 0:12:08and during this time, he wrote a book "Narrow Boat",
0:12:08 > 0:12:10which became very, very famous.
0:12:10 > 0:12:11It was pretty much a catalyst
0:12:11 > 0:12:14for setting up the Inland Waterways Association
0:12:14 > 0:12:16which campaigned for the canals,
0:12:16 > 0:12:18bringing them up to what they are today.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21So, Rolt's book set people travelling on the canals
0:12:21 > 0:12:24in the same way as my Bradshaw's has set me travelling on the railways?
0:12:24 > 0:12:28Yes, very much so. In fact, I've got a copy here, and there's something
0:12:28 > 0:12:31here which I think you might find rather interesting.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33Have a look at just that point there.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37"A large-scale map of the canal system hung on the wall
0:12:37 > 0:12:38"of my bedroom,
0:12:38 > 0:12:42"and I would lie abed, planning imaginary journeys.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45"I had also acquired a second-hand copy of a book
0:12:45 > 0:12:48"which is indispensable to the canal traveller.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52"Bradshaw's Guide to the Canals and Navigable Rivers
0:12:52 > 0:12:54"of England and Wales."
0:12:54 > 0:12:55Good old George Bradshaw!
0:12:55 > 0:12:58He inspired railway travellers in the 19th century
0:12:58 > 0:13:00and canal travellers in the 20th.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05It's heartening to think that Bradshaw helped preserve the canals
0:13:05 > 0:13:07for us all to enjoy.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11Having brushed up my skills in the boatyard,
0:13:11 > 0:13:15I'm now in search of refreshment worthy of a Victorian bargeman.
0:13:17 > 0:13:22Bradshaw's informs me that Banbury is famous for cakes, cheese and ale.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24"The cakes being sold in the metropolis."
0:13:24 > 0:13:27After the day of physical exertion that I've had,
0:13:27 > 0:13:30I hope they're still for sale in Banbury.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34I've never heard of Banbury cakes, but in Victorian times,
0:13:34 > 0:13:37the trains carried this local delicacy all over the country.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40Back in Bradshaw's day,
0:13:40 > 0:13:44Philip Brown's ancestors owned a thriving bakery on this street.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46We've stopped outside the pub.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48Cakes and ale seem to go together in Banbury.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Yes, they certainly appear that way.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55There were 81 alehouses in Banbury and seven bakeries.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57Four in this street, as it happens,
0:13:57 > 0:14:00one of which ours, on the opposite side road to The Reindeer.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02And what happened to it?
0:14:02 > 0:14:08I'm afraid we sold it 1967 because it needed a lot of modernisation
0:14:08 > 0:14:10and we hadn't got the money to do it.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14It was knocked down by the developers in 1968.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16Shame. But do you remember it the way it used to be?
0:14:16 > 0:14:18Oh, very much so. Yes.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21The front part of it was quite a delight
0:14:21 > 0:14:23and people took a great interest in it.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26Although the bakery's long gone,
0:14:26 > 0:14:28Philip still makes and sells the cakes.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31The exact recipe, thought to have been brought back from the Crusades
0:14:31 > 0:14:34in medieval times, is a closely-guarded secret.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38But he's brought a sample to my hotel for me to try.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41Time to find out what all the fuss is about.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47Oh, yes!
0:14:47 > 0:14:50Buttery, spicy, fruity.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52Full of eastern promise.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54That's what they're like.
0:14:54 > 0:14:59A delicious end to a long day of Victorian railway travel.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10An excellent night's sleep thanks to the Banbury cakes.
0:15:10 > 0:15:11Or was it the Banbury ale?
0:15:14 > 0:15:17I'm now continuing my journey through central England,
0:15:17 > 0:15:20and my next destination was clearly a Victorian favourite.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33My first stop is Leamington Spa,
0:15:33 > 0:15:37which my Bradshaw's says is now, "though still small and picturesque,
0:15:37 > 0:15:41"become a large, handsome town, better paved,
0:15:41 > 0:15:45"lighted and regulated than any other town of its size."
0:15:45 > 0:15:47"Few places possess so many attractions
0:15:47 > 0:15:50"as this highly-favoured town."
0:15:50 > 0:15:52There must be something in the water!
0:15:57 > 0:16:01Leamington Spa owed its fame to its mineral water springs,
0:16:01 > 0:16:03which, from the late 1700s,
0:16:03 > 0:16:06were recommended as a cure for all sorts of ills.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09- Morning. Thank you.- Thank you.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13By the 1850s, the railways were bringing wealthy Victorians here
0:16:13 > 0:16:15in their droves.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24The curative properties of the waters of Leamington Spa are,
0:16:24 > 0:16:26according to my Bradshaw's,
0:16:26 > 0:16:31"resorted to by vast numbers of invalids and a constant succession
0:16:31 > 0:16:33"of fashionable visitors."
0:16:33 > 0:16:35But I was struck by this reference.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38"Amongst Leamington's numerous attractions are a splendid
0:16:38 > 0:16:40"tennis court and racquet ground
0:16:40 > 0:16:43"attached to an elegant pile of buildings."
0:16:43 > 0:16:46I think a visit there would serve me well.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57The Leamington Spa Tennis Court Club was founded in 1846
0:16:57 > 0:17:00when lawn tennis as we know it had yet to be invented.
0:17:02 > 0:17:03Mark. Good morning.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06- Morning! Welcome to Leamington Tennis Court Club.- Thank you.
0:17:06 > 0:17:07Come through.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10Very spacious, and very Victorian.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13The Victorian gentlemen of leisure who came here
0:17:13 > 0:17:16played the ancient indoor game of "real tennis".
0:17:16 > 0:17:19Marc Seigneur is one of a select few who play it today.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22A real tennis court is just immensely different
0:17:22 > 0:17:25from a lawn tennis court, isn't it?
0:17:25 > 0:17:28What are all these lines about and the sloping roofs?
0:17:28 > 0:17:30The lines are what we call the chases,
0:17:30 > 0:17:33and that's the complicated bit of the game.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35The sloping roofs are called penthouses,
0:17:35 > 0:17:36and they would have dated back
0:17:36 > 0:17:39from the cloisters because the monks played.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41So this is very historic game,
0:17:41 > 0:17:44but I've seen a real tennis court at Hampton Court.
0:17:44 > 0:17:49Yes. Henry VIII would have played, Henry V before him.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52It dates back from the 12th, 13th century.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55Henry V, in fact, went to war because of it.
0:17:55 > 0:17:56Went to war because of tennis?
0:17:56 > 0:18:01Well, the French dauphin sent him a box of balls when Henry V
0:18:01 > 0:18:03claimed the throne of France
0:18:03 > 0:18:09and the message going with it was, play tennis with the boys,
0:18:09 > 0:18:11leave war to the men.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14Mm! An insult.
0:18:14 > 0:18:15For the Victorians,
0:18:15 > 0:18:19this rich history served to make real tennis irresistible,
0:18:19 > 0:18:21sparking a revival of the game.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24When lawn tennis burst upon the scene in the 1870s,
0:18:24 > 0:18:26some of this club's members
0:18:26 > 0:18:28helped to draw up the rules.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31But the older sport wasn't forgotten.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33So that's our equipment.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37Ooh! These feel quite different from tennis balls.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39Yes, this is what we call a pilota.
0:18:41 > 0:18:42Hardly bounces at all.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44And...
0:18:44 > 0:18:45these are quite heavy.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48Yes, there are different weights and different balances,
0:18:48 > 0:18:52but they're all made out of wood, with very taut strings,
0:18:52 > 0:18:57much tauter than the lawn tennis version, and a very small sweet spot,
0:18:57 > 0:19:00so it's actually quite difficult to strike the ball.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02I see!
0:19:02 > 0:19:03Right.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06Nonetheless, would you like to show me how the game is played?
0:19:06 > 0:19:08Love to.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12Modern tennis owes some terminology to the medieval game,
0:19:12 > 0:19:15such as "service", which comes from when servants used to throw
0:19:15 > 0:19:16the ball into play.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18Swing slowly.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20Swing slowly!
0:19:20 > 0:19:23The basics might be straightforward, but the game gets trickier
0:19:23 > 0:19:27when your opponent starts to bounce balls off the wall.
0:19:27 > 0:19:32I'm going to serve onto this sloping roof, which we call "the penthouse",
0:19:32 > 0:19:35and you'll have to try and hit it.
0:19:35 > 0:19:36OK.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45Good! You're too good at this.
0:19:50 > 0:19:51Well done!
0:19:52 > 0:19:55- Thank you, Mark. - It's a pleasure.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59I feel you've not only introduced me to a sport but to history.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02The sport of kings. I mean, real tennis, royal tennis.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06Yes, you're welcome and membership is still open.
0:20:06 > 0:20:07Thank you very much.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11I'd love to linger to develop my backhand,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14but it's time for me to take my last train for today.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20I'm making a short hop south-west, on the trail of a national icon.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25My Bradshaw's provides a clue as to my next destination.
0:20:25 > 0:20:30"Where his first infant lays sweet Shakespeare sung.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33"Where the last accents faltered on his tongue
0:20:33 > 0:20:38"and to which the genius of one man has given immortality."
0:20:38 > 0:20:40In other words, Stratford-upon-Avon,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44which, by any other name, would be as sweet.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47The entry for Stratford in my Victorian guidebook dedicates
0:20:47 > 0:20:52nearly two whole pages to the Bard, and judging by this busy train,
0:20:52 > 0:20:55he's just as popular with modern railway tourists.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58- Are you headed for Stratford? - Yes, I am.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01- Would I be right in detecting you're not from UK?- I'm not.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04- Where are you from?- I'm from the United States of America.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07- Where are you from? - I am from Peru.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09- Shakespeare is quite well known in Peru?- Yes.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11Can you do any quotations?
0:21:12 > 0:21:15Um... "Ser o no ser?"
0:21:15 > 0:21:16"To be or not to be?"
0:21:16 > 0:21:17Yes.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19- "To be..."- "To be..."
0:21:19 > 0:21:22Do you know how that finishes?
0:21:22 > 0:21:24Um, "To be or not to be."
0:21:24 > 0:21:26There we are!
0:21:26 > 0:21:30Romeo! Romeo! Where art thou, Romeo?
0:21:30 > 0:21:31Any more?
0:21:31 > 0:21:33Um...
0:21:33 > 0:21:34No!
0:21:36 > 0:21:40It seems these days Stratford attracts Shakespeare pilgrims
0:21:40 > 0:21:42from across the world.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44There's no option but to join the throng.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49The crowds getting off this train are absolutely amazing
0:21:49 > 0:21:51and it's like the Tower of Babel - there are
0:21:51 > 0:21:53so many languages being spoken on this train
0:21:53 > 0:21:56and they're all here for a man who died 400 years ago.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02Shakespeare's emergence as a global icon was
0:22:02 > 0:22:04well under way in Bradshaw's day.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07The Victorian's passion for the immortal poet shines
0:22:07 > 0:22:08through in my guidebook.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10It describes how in Stratford,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14"we tread the very ground that he has toured a thousand times
0:22:14 > 0:22:20"and feel as he has felt." And to do just that, it sends readers
0:22:20 > 0:22:24to the old-fashioned, timbered house where Shakespeare was born.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28Here, Victorian admirers went to extreme lengths to preserve
0:22:28 > 0:22:30Stratford's Shakespearean heritage.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33I'm hearing this story from Dr Anjna Chauhan.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36My Bradshaw's tells me
0:22:36 > 0:22:39that Shakespeare's birthplace, after some changes and "the risk
0:22:39 > 0:22:43"even of being transferred as it stood to America by a calculating
0:22:43 > 0:22:46"speculator, was at last purchased by the Shakespeare Club
0:22:46 > 0:22:48"and adopted by the government."
0:22:48 > 0:22:51So, apparently, the house was saved in Victorian times.
0:22:51 > 0:22:52Yes, that's true.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55It was going to be purchased by an American businessman
0:22:55 > 0:22:58and showman, PT Barnum.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01Now, obviously people in England got very angry about this
0:23:01 > 0:23:03and they decided to form the Shakespeare Committee,
0:23:03 > 0:23:06a birthday committee, and purchase the birthplace.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09As industrialisation swept Britain,
0:23:09 > 0:23:13nostalgia for the past grew and, with it, a desire to protect
0:23:13 > 0:23:14historic sites like this,
0:23:14 > 0:23:19but Shakespeare had an extra-special resonance for the Victorians.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23Shakespeare was somebody people could look up to as a man.
0:23:23 > 0:23:28He transformed from somebody who was just the son of a glove-maker
0:23:28 > 0:23:29in a market town
0:23:29 > 0:23:31and he became a prolific playwrighter
0:23:31 > 0:23:34and a great businessman in his own right
0:23:34 > 0:23:37and this was incredibly admirable in the period
0:23:37 > 0:23:42of industrialisation, of capitalism as well, of self-improvement.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46As well as applauding Shakespeare's example of diligence, 19th-century
0:23:46 > 0:23:50audiences interpreted the plays in a particularly Victorian way.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54They were great pieces of literature but they were also considered
0:23:54 > 0:23:56- great moral tales, cautionary tales as well...- Mmm.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59..stories about justice, about mercy, about what's right
0:23:59 > 0:24:02and what's wrong, what's good, what's bad.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07From 1860, high-minded Victorian visitors could arrive here by rail.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11Down in the birthplace archive, documents show that trains
0:24:11 > 0:24:14brought Stratford within reach of day-trippers.
0:24:14 > 0:24:21We have a record of the rail journeys to and from Stratford-upon-Avon
0:24:21 > 0:24:25and the rail fares during the tercentenary of Shakespeare's birth,
0:24:25 > 0:24:31so 1864, to celebrate 300 years after the birth of William Shakespeare.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34The highlight of the archive is this edition of Shakespeare's
0:24:34 > 0:24:40complete works, published in 1623, brought here in the 19th century.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43Now, without this, this particular text,
0:24:43 > 0:24:48we'd be missing 18 of Shakespeare's plays, so it's very, very important.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52We'd be missing plays such as The Tempest, Macbeth and Twelfth Night.
0:24:52 > 0:24:57I've never felt closer to the Bard than at this moment.
0:24:57 > 0:24:58That's wonderful to hear.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02At first, railway tourists came to Stratford to see Shakespeare's
0:25:02 > 0:25:03birthplace and grave,
0:25:03 > 0:25:08but from 1879 they could also attend performances of his plays here.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12That was when the curtain rose in Stratford's first successful
0:25:12 > 0:25:16theatre dedicated to the Bard, and its modern-day descendant
0:25:16 > 0:25:19is the recently-renovated Royal Shakespeare Theatre.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25Before I leave town, I'm taking a tour with actor Jonathan Slinger.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30We walk through here. I make an entrance down this lift
0:25:30 > 0:25:32in Twelfth Night.
0:25:33 > 0:25:38- This is a fantastic space now, isn't it?- It's stunning.
0:25:38 > 0:25:39Now, in Victorian times,
0:25:39 > 0:25:42I imagine nearly all theatres would have been...
0:25:42 > 0:25:46The stage would have been behind an arch, proscenium,
0:25:46 > 0:25:48and now thrust out into the audience.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52Exactly right. I much prefer this,
0:25:52 > 0:25:58because I very strongly believe that Shakespeare wrote his plays
0:25:58 > 0:26:01with audience participation in mind.
0:26:01 > 0:26:06A lot of the text that you can read sometimes lends itself
0:26:06 > 0:26:09to the kind of audience participation that we don't get any more,
0:26:09 > 0:26:12except at panto, but in Shakespeare's day, there would
0:26:12 > 0:26:15have been a lot more heckling going on of the actors on stage.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19'It's not just the staging that's changed since Bradshaw's day,
0:26:19 > 0:26:21'acting techniques have moved on too.'
0:26:21 > 0:26:26There was much more of an emphasis on stance and gesture,
0:26:26 > 0:26:27so that would have been...
0:26:27 > 0:26:32So if we take a line, if we take a bit from, The Tempest, let's say.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39Our revels now are ended
0:26:39 > 0:26:43These our actors, as I foretold you
0:26:43 > 0:26:50Were all spirits and are melted into air, into thin air.
0:26:50 > 0:26:51Bravo!
0:26:51 > 0:26:53And how are you delivering it today?
0:26:53 > 0:26:59Well, today would be a much more naturalistic affair, so...
0:26:59 > 0:27:01Our revels now are ended
0:27:03 > 0:27:06These our actors, as I foretold you
0:27:06 > 0:27:12Were all spirits and are melted into air, into thin air.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16Very moving indeed, so I've been privileged to hear one version
0:27:16 > 0:27:19and George Bradshaw would have heard another.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24On today's journey, my guidebook has shown me
0:27:24 > 0:27:28how our 19th-century forebears helped to shape many things,
0:27:28 > 0:27:31from furniture to our appreciation of theatre.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37Ever since I sat in that Windsor chair in High Wycombe,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40Queen Victoria has never been far from my mind.
0:27:40 > 0:27:41During her reign,
0:27:41 > 0:27:46there was a revival of interest in both real tennis and in Shakespeare.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49Having been bashed about the tennis court, I've now trodden
0:27:49 > 0:27:54the boards in Stratford-upon-Avon, so all's well that ends well.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59On the next stretch,
0:27:59 > 0:28:03I'll learn how railways helped pen-making to boom in Birmingham...
0:28:03 > 0:28:06It was a trade that brought writing to the masses really.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08..hear the chilling tale
0:28:08 > 0:28:12of one of 19th-century Britain's most notorious murderers...
0:28:12 > 0:28:1530,000 turned up for his execution.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18They had special trains laid on from Bristol, from Manchester
0:28:18 > 0:28:19and from London.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23..and sample the delicacies concocted in a Victorian kitchen.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27Look at that, wow! That's got a real wobble factor on it, hasn't it?
0:28:42 > 0:28:45Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd