0:00:05 > 0:00:09In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12His name was George Bradshaw
0:00:12 > 0:00:17and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20Stop by stop, he told them where to go,
0:00:20 > 0:00:24what to see and where to stay.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28Now, 170 years later, I'm aboard for a series of rail adventures
0:00:28 > 0:00:34across the United Kingdom to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56From 1830, booming Liverpool and Manchester were linked
0:00:56 > 0:01:01by the world's first twin-track locomotive-hauled inter-city railway
0:01:01 > 0:01:05and a region already enriched by the mass production of cotton goods
0:01:05 > 0:01:08became globally dominant.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12I'm beginning a journey around this Victorian industrial heartland,
0:01:12 > 0:01:14starting in a notorious slum
0:01:14 > 0:01:18and ending in one of its grandest stately homes.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27Following my Bradshaw's guide,
0:01:27 > 0:01:31my journey starts in the world's first industrialised city
0:01:31 > 0:01:34before heading west to Merseyside and Birkenhead.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36Hugging the coastline north,
0:01:36 > 0:01:40I'll turn inland to the rugged foothills of the Pennines
0:01:40 > 0:01:43and on to the gritty West Riding of Yorkshire.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45My journey ends in Chesterfield,
0:01:45 > 0:01:47where the father of the railway,
0:01:47 > 0:01:49George Stephenson, is buried.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52On today's leg, I'm travelling through Manchester
0:01:52 > 0:01:54from Oxford Road Station to Old Trafford,
0:01:54 > 0:01:57before heading along the Mersey
0:01:57 > 0:02:00to its once famous ship-building port of Birkenhead.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04On the first leg of this adventure, I travel back in time...
0:02:04 > 0:02:06George Bradshaw never saw trams.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08He didn't know what he was missing!
0:02:08 > 0:02:12..go in search of some left-wing credentials...
0:02:12 > 0:02:15Eventually their work after this time would culminate
0:02:15 > 0:02:16in the Communist Manifesto.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20Which must be one of the most important political documents of all time.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24..and I surprise even myself by becoming a red.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28At last, the adulation that I've always craved!
0:02:39 > 0:02:41My guide book says,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44"Watt's steam-engine, Arkwright's power-loom and factory system
0:02:44 > 0:02:49"and inexhaustible supplies of coal have given superiority to Manchester
0:02:49 > 0:02:52"which it has retained to this day."
0:02:52 > 0:02:54You can perhaps hear the tone of pride,
0:02:54 > 0:02:57for Bradshaw was Manchester-born,
0:02:57 > 0:03:01but the Quaker George Bradshaw was probably both impressed
0:03:01 > 0:03:04by the productivity of industrialisation
0:03:04 > 0:03:06and appalled by its social consequences.
0:03:11 > 0:03:12In Victorian times,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16Manchester was the beating heart of industrial Britain.
0:03:16 > 0:03:17During the 19th century,
0:03:17 > 0:03:20most of the world's cotton was processed or woven here
0:03:20 > 0:03:23before being exported throughout the British Empire.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34I'm travelling into Manchester Piccadilly, where I'll change
0:03:34 > 0:03:36to the local network to head southwest
0:03:36 > 0:03:38to the city's Oxford Road Station.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41It was the epicentre of Cottonopolis,
0:03:41 > 0:03:43as Manchester had come to be known.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47Today I want to look at those who toiled in the mills,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50those who came from the wrong side of the tracks.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01I'm meeting Manchester tour guide Phillipa Cave
0:04:01 > 0:04:04who's offered to show me their side of the city.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08In the Victorian era, this area was known as "Little Ireland"
0:04:08 > 0:04:12and was notorious as one of the worst slums in Manchester.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15We've descended into a shadowy hollow.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18Why was this called Little Ireland?
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Well, in Manchester in the early part of the 19th century,
0:04:21 > 0:04:23there's a massive population increase,
0:04:23 > 0:04:25people trying to find work in Manchester's mills.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28One of those groups of people is Irish immigrants
0:04:28 > 0:04:31and this area is predominantly inhabited by them.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33And what were conditions like here for living?
0:04:33 > 0:04:34They were dreadful.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37There were probably two groups of cottages here.
0:04:37 > 0:04:38Maybe 200 of them,
0:04:38 > 0:04:41but 4,000 people living in them,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44so in one room, you might get ten people living in a space
0:04:44 > 0:04:47that's only ten feet by nine feet.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50They are also really damp, these properties.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54We're down in a little dip here surrounded by a river, and in fact
0:04:54 > 0:04:57the cellar dwellings are below the level of the river
0:04:57 > 0:04:59so they would frequently flood.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03Anyone who could afford not to live here would move further out.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06And the area was surrounded by chimneys that would be
0:05:06 > 0:05:10belching out this dense smoke, and the noise, the crunching
0:05:10 > 0:05:14of the machinery in the mills, the shrieking of boiler engines
0:05:14 > 0:05:19and also the incessant beat of the loom, the rhythm of Manchester.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23And I often think of the fact that George Bradshaw died of cholera.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26What was public health like in the slum?
0:05:26 > 0:05:31Very poor. By 1841, the average life expectancy is 26 years.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35Friedrich Engels, the son of a German manufacturer,
0:05:35 > 0:05:36highlighted the immigrants' plight
0:05:36 > 0:05:39and created the text for a political movement.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43He wrote a treatise, The Condition of the Working Class in England,
0:05:43 > 0:05:47in 1844, documenting their shocking circumstances.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50"A horde of ragged women and children swarm about here
0:05:50 > 0:05:53"as filthy as the swine that thrive upon the garbage heaps
0:05:53 > 0:05:55"and in the puddles.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58"The race that lives in these ruinous cottages
0:05:58 > 0:06:01"behind broken windows or in dark, wet cellars
0:06:01 > 0:06:04"in measureless filth and stench,
0:06:04 > 0:06:08"this race must really have reached the lowest stage of humanity."
0:06:08 > 0:06:11Powerful writing. What was he doing in England?
0:06:11 > 0:06:13Well, he would have come from Germany.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15His family had a manufacturing business there
0:06:15 > 0:06:18and it was always assumed that Engels would join that business.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20He had rather other ideas.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22He'd gone to military school in Berlin,
0:06:22 > 0:06:26he'd become politically engaged and began to write a critique
0:06:26 > 0:06:30of the manufacturers and what they were doing to their workers.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34So his father thought the best way to bash these radical ideas
0:06:34 > 0:06:36out of him and put him back on track would be to send him
0:06:36 > 0:06:40to a business he co-owned here in Manchester.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44His father couldn't have sent him to a better place to develop those radical tendencies.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49As Engels said, "Here in Manchester, the modern art of manufacturing
0:06:49 > 0:06:51"has reached its perfection."
0:06:51 > 0:06:55Determined to find a way to eradicate the exploitation of capitalism,
0:06:55 > 0:07:00Engels teamed up with his friend the philosopher Karl Marx.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02Both were regarded as political troublemakers,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05indeed Marx had recently been deported from Paris.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09Manchester was the ideal place for the pair to develop their ideas
0:07:09 > 0:07:12and can claim to be the womb of communism.
0:07:12 > 0:07:18Chetham's Library was founded in 1653, and is the oldest
0:07:18 > 0:07:21surviving public library in the English-speaking world.
0:07:24 > 0:07:29I love libraries, and this one is absolute perfection.
0:07:29 > 0:07:34What you're seeing here is how it would have looked from 1655,
0:07:34 > 0:07:37through Engels' time and that of Bradshaw,
0:07:37 > 0:07:39and it continues like this today.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42Books were very expensive and so originally they would have
0:07:42 > 0:07:45been chained to the shelves, but then later these gates were added.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47So Marx and Engels were coming here
0:07:47 > 0:07:50because this was a great resource for them?
0:07:50 > 0:07:53Absolutely, all the manuscripts and volumes on philosophy
0:07:53 > 0:07:55and economic theory, they had access to.
0:07:57 > 0:08:02What we have here are some of the actual books that we know Marx
0:08:02 > 0:08:07and Engels referred to when they were studying in the library in 1845.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10Let's see what they were getting up to.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14"An enquiry into the duties of men in the higher
0:08:14 > 0:08:17"and middle classes of society in Great Britain."
0:08:20 > 0:08:24"Discourses On The Publick Revenues And On The Trade Of England."
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Solid topics, aren't they?
0:08:28 > 0:08:29Light reading!
0:08:29 > 0:08:31"The state of the poor.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34"A history of the labouring classes in England."
0:08:34 > 0:08:37Parochial records.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40What was the intellectual relationship between the two?
0:08:40 > 0:08:41Marx was perhaps the better known,
0:08:41 > 0:08:44but Engels was working behind the scenes.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47He's the more empirical, the more methodical,
0:08:47 > 0:08:48and he gets the work done.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50He gets the books written.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53Marx is perhaps more impetuous, more impulsive.
0:08:53 > 0:08:58He's personally indignant about the plight of the working classes.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01There's one more place I'd like to show you before we leave Chetham's.
0:09:01 > 0:09:02Lead on.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08It's in this alcove, at this very table,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11that Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx would sit
0:09:11 > 0:09:16and do their research, and they were drawing on the experience of Engels
0:09:16 > 0:09:20from places like Little Ireland, and eventually their work
0:09:20 > 0:09:23after this time would culminate in the Communist Manifesto.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27Which must be one of the most important political documents of all time.
0:09:27 > 0:09:28A prescription for revolution,
0:09:28 > 0:09:32without which there wouldn't have been a Soviet revolution.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35No Lenin, no Stalin, no Mao Tse-Tung in China
0:09:35 > 0:09:37And it all began here in Manchester.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41Communism was hatched in this little alcove.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49Marx and Engels proved that the word is mightier than the sword -
0:09:49 > 0:09:54an idea honed amongst dusty library books had the power to change the world,
0:09:54 > 0:09:58to shape the destiny of nations and humanity.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07My own political career left somewhat less momentous marks
0:10:07 > 0:10:10on the development of our species.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15In 1989, when I was Minister for Public Transport,
0:10:15 > 0:10:18I had the honour to approve the contract to build this.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20The Manchester Metrolink.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24The idea was to use trams to connect the suburban railways
0:10:24 > 0:10:28running into Victoria and Piccadilly stations,
0:10:28 > 0:10:31running along the streets of central Manchester.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34Now it's carrying 21 million passengers a year and there
0:10:34 > 0:10:38are plans to make it the largest light rail system in the UK.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47And with a captive audience, I have an opportunity to find out
0:10:47 > 0:10:50how those decisions have affected Mancunians.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59Hello. Do you use the tram, the Metrolink, very much?
0:10:59 > 0:11:00Yes.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04- Are you using it on a daily basis to visit family?- Baby-sitting.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06Visiting family in Manchester.
0:11:06 > 0:11:07And how do you find it?
0:11:07 > 0:11:10Brilliant. Best thing Manchester has done.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18Bradshaw's tells me that Old Trafford is in the vicinity
0:11:18 > 0:11:21of Trafford Park, seat of Sir Humphrey de Trafford,
0:11:21 > 0:11:25descended from one of the most ancient of old families.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29Nowadays, Old Trafford is associated with Manchester United,
0:11:29 > 0:11:32and having had a brother who was a keen supporter of the club,
0:11:32 > 0:11:37my childhood memories are of its triumphs and tragedies.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41And today I'm excited to be visiting its iconic stadium.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48This temple of sport inspires awe
0:11:48 > 0:11:52amongst believers and unbelievers alike.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56I'm meeting Graham Simmonds, a lifelong Manchester United supporter
0:11:56 > 0:11:58and one of the club's tour guides.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02Imagine you are the captain of the opposition team
0:12:02 > 0:12:05and I'm the captain of Manchester United.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08All the United fans, the hardcore, passionate supporters,
0:12:08 > 0:12:12will be here, traditionally, on this left-hand side,
0:12:12 > 0:12:15known as the Stretford End.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17It's amazing, isn't it? It's so vast,
0:12:17 > 0:12:19the seats reaching up into the sky.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22Incredible number of people. How many can be seated here?
0:12:22 > 0:12:26Seats 76,000. It's the biggest in the football league.
0:12:26 > 0:12:32I've sometimes spoken to 2,000 people. This is just vast.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34How did it all begin?
0:12:34 > 0:12:37It all started back in 1878 when we were known
0:12:37 > 0:12:43as Newton Heath Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Cricket and Football Club,
0:12:43 > 0:12:45all started by a group of lads who used to make
0:12:45 > 0:12:48carriages for the railways, and of a weekend they would
0:12:48 > 0:12:52get changed in a pub and go and play football in an open field.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55The railwaymen of Newton Heath indulged their passion
0:12:55 > 0:12:58for the sport, but couldn't have suspected what would grow
0:12:58 > 0:13:01out of their football enthusiasm.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05Rival departments and other railway companies became their adversaries.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08These guys are having to work in the carriage works all day
0:13:08 > 0:13:10and then they are playing soccer in their spare time.
0:13:10 > 0:13:15Yes, very much so. More likely to be on a Saturday afternoon.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18In those days, work took priority.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21They would work long hours on the other five, five and a half days.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24So how do we get from the early days of the railwaymen
0:13:24 > 0:13:26to Manchester United?
0:13:26 > 0:13:30Newton Heath joined the Football League in 1892.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34Unfortunately, after only two seasons we were relegated
0:13:34 > 0:13:36and we got into some financial difficulty.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38But a local brewer saved the club
0:13:38 > 0:13:42and the name was changed to Manchester United.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46And I think it helped the supporters having to shout out
0:13:46 > 0:13:50Newton Heath Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Cricket and Football Club.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53Yeah, that is not very succinct.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55Along with the change of name,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58they changed their strip from the green and gold colours
0:13:58 > 0:14:02of the railway company to their now familiar red.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05As I walk around what Sir Bobby Charlton called
0:14:05 > 0:14:07the Theatre of Dreams,
0:14:07 > 0:14:10I can't help thinking about its most successful manager,
0:14:10 > 0:14:12Sir Alex Ferguson.
0:14:12 > 0:14:17Come on in, Michael, sit in the boss's seat. Middle seat, back row.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19How does that feel?
0:14:19 > 0:14:21A surge of power when I sit here.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25Controlling the team, the whole stadium in the palm of my hand.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29Now, what do you do? You do a lot of arm-waving, like that!
0:14:29 > 0:14:31Arm-waving, clock-watching.
0:14:31 > 0:14:37Yeah, feels great. Now, the team today is very successful.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39Tell me about your triumphs.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43Our triumphs just seem to go from strength to strength.
0:14:43 > 0:14:4813 times we've won the Premiership trophy in its 21-year period.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52Three European trophies, 11 FA Cups.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56So it's one of the most successful clubs in the world?
0:14:56 > 0:14:59I would say so, if not THE most successful.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11At last, the adulation that I've always craved!
0:15:23 > 0:15:25After so much excitement,
0:15:25 > 0:15:29I've just enough energy for a short hop from Trafford Park Station.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37I'm heading towards the Roman town of Warrington.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40During the Industrial Revolution, the town developed
0:15:40 > 0:15:44and prospered as a result of its position on the new railway network
0:15:44 > 0:15:46and the Manchester Ship Canal.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50As I'm halfway between Manchester and Birkenhead,
0:15:50 > 0:15:52it's where I'm breaking my journey.
0:16:05 > 0:16:10Evidence of the Industrial Revolution is all around in Warrington,
0:16:10 > 0:16:14but communism was not the only response to the condition of the workers.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21Whilst Marx and Engels regarded factory owners as ruthless men,
0:16:21 > 0:16:24who ground the noses of the poor in the dirt,
0:16:24 > 0:16:28there were entrepreneurs who took their social duties seriously.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30Here at Warrington Bank Quay station,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33I'm in the shadow of the Unilever factory.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36And I'm now on my way to see the utopian workers' village
0:16:36 > 0:16:40created by William Lever, who gave his name to the company.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50But before I can witness the legacy of Merseyside's mighty soap baron,
0:16:50 > 0:16:52I need to change trains at Chester,
0:16:52 > 0:16:55and my next stop is just over 20 minutes away.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11I'll be getting off at a station that didn't exist
0:17:11 > 0:17:14when my guide was published - Port Sunlight.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17The very name, borrowed from a bar of soap,
0:17:17 > 0:17:20belied the general impression of industrial towns
0:17:20 > 0:17:23as smoky places, enveloped in dark and gloom.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31Port Sunlight was built in 1888
0:17:31 > 0:17:34to house William Lever's soap factory workers,
0:17:34 > 0:17:38and its 900 houses - set in 130 acres of parkland -
0:17:38 > 0:17:42are a far cry from the filthy hovels of Little Ireland.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46In fact, it's one of the finest surviving examples in Britain
0:17:46 > 0:17:48of early urban planning.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52Even today, Port Sunlight is a pristine haven of tranquillity and order.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56The houses are built with generous proportions and in fine materials.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00William Lever must have been an exceptional philanthropist.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04I'm meeting Lionel Bolland,
0:18:04 > 0:18:08chief executive of the Port Sunlight Village Trust.
0:18:08 > 0:18:09Welcome to Port Sunlight.
0:18:09 > 0:18:10Thank you very much.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13Why did William Lever build Port Sunlight,
0:18:13 > 0:18:15and why here?
0:18:15 > 0:18:16He needed a site for his factory
0:18:16 > 0:18:21because he wanted to expand his soap production and he wanted to realise
0:18:21 > 0:18:25a dream to build a community for his factory workers.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29He wanted to see his workforce prosper, and this was cheap land.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33Marshy, riddled with tidal inlets and ravines,
0:18:33 > 0:18:37but superbly located because it had a port at one side,
0:18:37 > 0:18:40with access to the sea, and it had a railway line on the other,
0:18:40 > 0:18:43from which he could draw sidings into the factory.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46In fact, just over there is one of the original entrances
0:18:46 > 0:18:47into the factory.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50The desire to improve living standards for his workers
0:18:50 > 0:18:54had its roots in William's early ambition to be an architect.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56But his father insisted he become involved
0:18:56 > 0:18:58in the family grocery business.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01Looking at Port Sunlight, there's no doubt that William was able
0:19:01 > 0:19:05to apply his ideas about architecture and society.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07Lever obviously provided a lot of public space.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09What other facilities are there in the village?
0:19:09 > 0:19:14Well, he built a cottage hospital, so that anybody who worked
0:19:14 > 0:19:17for Lever Brothers would have free medical attention.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Free schooling up to the age of 12.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23At 12 you would have taken a job.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26There was an institute technical college for those that wanted
0:19:26 > 0:19:29to better themselves.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32In 1907, there was a social study done.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36The infant mortality rate in Port Sunlight was about half
0:19:36 > 0:19:38of what it was in Liverpool.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41Providing this level of care and commitment
0:19:41 > 0:19:46was possible only thanks to Lever's prodigious ability as a businessman.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48By the 1890s, his factory had become
0:19:48 > 0:19:50one of the biggest soap suppliers in the world.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54This looks like examples of his marketing.
0:19:54 > 0:19:55What's this about?
0:19:55 > 0:20:00In 1885, he put a £1,000 reward up for anybody
0:20:00 > 0:20:05who could find an impurity in Sunlight soap.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08That was an astonishing fortune.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12A year's salary for a factory worker at that time
0:20:12 > 0:20:15would have been about £100.
0:20:15 > 0:20:20Nobody ever successfully claimed that £1,000.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22This was an advertising gimmick?
0:20:22 > 0:20:26Of course. And that's what he was so astonishingly good at.
0:20:26 > 0:20:28This looks like the original product, is that right?
0:20:28 > 0:20:31Indeed it is. This is from one of the early boils of soap.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34And was this for the body or for washing clothes?
0:20:34 > 0:20:38It was actually both, and that was quite significant.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42One of the important features of it, it was very mild
0:20:42 > 0:20:44because of what it was made of.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47And you could use it as a household soap, for washing yourself
0:20:47 > 0:20:49and also for washing clothes.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53Washing clothes in the 19th century was a demanding physical activity
0:20:53 > 0:20:55which began with grating your own soap.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59It's quite slow work getting this grated.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07Look at those luscious suds.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11That was one of its great features, it lathered very well.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14Made from coconut and palm oil,
0:21:14 > 0:21:17Sunlight's slogan was "Mild because it's pure."
0:21:18 > 0:21:21Twist it one way and then the other quite vigorously.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25All right, Lionel! I'm doing it quite vigorously.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28What you would very quickly get here
0:21:28 > 0:21:31would be blisters all over your hands.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34Right, let's consider that done.
0:21:37 > 0:21:38As any housewife will tell you,
0:21:38 > 0:21:41- Sunlight washes whiter. - It does indeed.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55Lever had business acumen, compassion and imagination.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59His philanthropy has often since been ridiculed for its paternalism,
0:21:59 > 0:22:03because the people housed on his model estates were required
0:22:03 > 0:22:05to conduct orderly lives governed by Christian rules.
0:22:05 > 0:22:11Marx might not have been impressed but I suspect Lever's workers were grateful.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16The final stop on this first leg of my journey will be Birkenhead.
0:22:25 > 0:22:26Bradshaw's tells me that
0:22:26 > 0:22:29"The Cheshire side of the Mersey is now a prosperous suburb
0:22:29 > 0:22:33"of Liverpool, with a softer climate and more attractive scenery.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36"Birkenhead is chiefly engaged in shipbuilding,
0:22:36 > 0:22:41"with a large docks of 150 acres, opened in August 1847."
0:22:45 > 0:22:47The town's success was due to William Laird,
0:22:47 > 0:22:49a Scottish shipbuilder who, in 1828,
0:22:49 > 0:22:53received his first order for an iron vessel to be used
0:22:53 > 0:22:55on the waterways in Ireland.
0:22:55 > 0:22:56The business rapidly expanded
0:22:56 > 0:22:59as the demand for large iron steamships grew.
0:22:59 > 0:23:04This successful shipbuilding family also helped to establish
0:23:04 > 0:23:07a new form of public transport in Europe.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10Robert Jones will tell me how William's son John
0:23:10 > 0:23:13shaped Birkenhead's history.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15He was chairman of the town commissioners,
0:23:15 > 0:23:18a bit like the chief executive we'd have these days,
0:23:18 > 0:23:21and John brought street railways to this town -
0:23:21 > 0:23:25an idea he got from an American called George Francis Train.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28Have you heard of George Francis Train? Can you believe it?
0:23:28 > 0:23:30- I have not.- A wonderful guy.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34He was the person Jules Verne based Phileas Fogg on -
0:23:34 > 0:23:36Around The World In 80 Days.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39And there had never been a tram in Britain before?
0:23:39 > 0:23:42Was this a horse-drawn tram, or an electric tram?
0:23:42 > 0:23:47They were horse-drawn and they were called horse railways in America.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51We always went for the English tramway or tram car.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54And John Laird said he'd give them a six-month trial,
0:23:54 > 0:23:58and he was so thrilled that Birkenhead was going to be
0:23:58 > 0:24:01the first town that would have street railways.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03The first town in England?
0:24:03 > 0:24:08The first town in Europe to have railways running in the street.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13They were smooth-running, quiet, cheap.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15And was the tram a success?
0:24:15 > 0:24:19It was, after a lot of local opposition in certain places.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23But gradually people came round and as George Francis Train said,
0:24:23 > 0:24:27"The age of the omnibus is over,
0:24:27 > 0:24:30"the age of the horse tramway has commenced."
0:24:30 > 0:24:33So confident was Mr Train in his horse-drawn trams
0:24:33 > 0:24:36that he made an agreement with Birkenhead
0:24:36 > 0:24:39that if the tramway were a failure, he would return
0:24:39 > 0:24:43the town's streets to their original state using his own money.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46Luckily, the tramway was a success, and Robert's taking me
0:24:46 > 0:24:50to Birkenhead's tram museum to see some of the surviving examples.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54These are the most beautiful, wonderfully restored trams.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59George Francis Train, he introduced a horse-drawn tram.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01These are obviously electric.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03When do these date from?
0:25:03 > 0:25:041901.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07And you're involved in the business of restoring them here?
0:25:07 > 0:25:09Yes, that's my hobby.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11Well, you've done a wonderful job.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13What condition are these trams in when you find them?
0:25:13 > 0:25:15They were in a terrible condition.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20This was found in a field on the River Dee in a place called Farndon.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23And it was just the lower saloon, and we built an upper deck,
0:25:23 > 0:25:27obtained the running gear from Barcelona, built the platforms on.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30It was a very long job. It took us 15 years.
0:25:30 > 0:25:31And it actually runs?
0:25:31 > 0:25:34Yes, I'm hoping we're going to have a ride on it now, Michael.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37Excellent.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Birkenhead 20 was built in the town by the firm of Milnes
0:25:46 > 0:25:48in the 1900s.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01The best way for me to experience George Francis Train's legacy
0:26:01 > 0:26:04is to drive a tram, but I don't think that Marx
0:26:04 > 0:26:08would fail to recognise me as unforgivably bourgeois.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12- Hello!- Hi, Michael. How are you today?
0:26:12 > 0:26:14Very well. How do you drive this thing?
0:26:14 > 0:26:18Number one, the key. This goes with you everywhere.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20That makes sure nobody can pinch the tram.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22- Good idea.- So we make sure that the switch
0:26:22 > 0:26:25is off on the circuit breaker.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29Put the key in this way.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32Push the key forward.
0:26:32 > 0:26:34That releases the control.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38What we normally use is four.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40Today, because we're only going a short stretch,
0:26:40 > 0:26:42we're only going to use two.
0:26:42 > 0:26:49- Great.- Switch it back off. You keep hold of the key. Power's now on.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53- Key inserted.- Forward. First notch.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56Second notch.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00Whoa, this is fun. You're doing the brakes, aren't you?
0:27:00 > 0:27:03I'll do the brakes.
0:27:12 > 0:27:17George Bradshaw never saw trams. He didn't know what he was missing.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21Britain seemed not to know what it was missing,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24as so many cities tore up their tram tracks,
0:27:24 > 0:27:26but now trams have made a comeback.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30Like trains, we cannot be without them.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33The plight of the working classes required a revolution,
0:27:33 > 0:27:36argued Marx and Engels.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40William Lever thought a model village was the answer.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43A group of Manchester railwaymen relieved
0:27:43 > 0:27:48the tedium of the workplace by founding a football team.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51In my view, Manchester United has endured better than Marxism.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01On the next leg of my journey, I put a vintage truck to the test...
0:28:01 > 0:28:04More than a century old and still going strong.
0:28:04 > 0:28:09..learn how the railways transformed the seaside of the Northwest...
0:28:09 > 0:28:12Without any doubt, they were fundamental
0:28:12 > 0:28:14to the future success of the resort.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18..and I bake a lunch-time staple of the 19th-century worker.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21You have to get a lot of air into it.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24- It's already feeling lovely. - You're quite good at this.