0:00:05 > 0:00:10In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12His name was George Bradshaw,
0:00:12 > 0:00:15and his railway guides inspired the Victorians
0:00:15 > 0:00:16to take to the tracks.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21Stop by stop, he told them where to go, what to see,
0:00:21 > 0:00:23and where to stay.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25And now, 170 years later,
0:00:25 > 0:00:28I'm aboard for a series of rail adventures
0:00:28 > 0:00:30across the United Kingdom
0:00:30 > 0:00:34to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54All this week, I've been travelling away from the capital
0:00:54 > 0:00:55and its urban bustle,
0:00:55 > 0:01:00heading north on Robert Stephenson's London to Birmingham line.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02I'll explore the Victorian manufacturing hub
0:01:02 > 0:01:04of the East Midlands,
0:01:04 > 0:01:07before terminating my journey in the heart of Yorkshire.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10On this final leg, I travel from Nottingham,
0:01:10 > 0:01:14once the lace-making capital of the country, and then on to Mansfield.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17I visit Worksop, known as the Gateway to the Dukeries,
0:01:17 > 0:01:19and on to Doncaster,
0:01:19 > 0:01:22before exploring the rich heritage of Leeds.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28I'm now concluding my journey towards Leeds.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31From the end of the 18th century, the North of England
0:01:31 > 0:01:36became crowded with the chimneys of the so-called Dark Satanic Mills.
0:01:36 > 0:01:41But this period also coincided with a revival in the arts,
0:01:41 > 0:01:42as people tried to recall,
0:01:42 > 0:01:45amongst the grime of industrialisation,
0:01:45 > 0:01:50the natural beauties of their green and pleasant land.
0:01:50 > 0:01:55Today on my journey I see the grand designs of a Victorian duke.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57This building is huge.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00When it was built, it was the largest in Europe,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04with the exception of the manege next the Kremlin in Moscow.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09'I discover a treasure trove of locomotive history.'
0:02:09 > 0:02:12This, I do not believe.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17Every square inch of wall is filled with railway memorabilia.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20'And I break a leg on the stage in Leeds.'
0:02:20 > 0:02:23Welcome to this Valhalla
0:02:23 > 0:02:27of Victorian variety.
0:02:27 > 0:02:28Bravo!
0:02:35 > 0:02:38Bradshaw's tells me that a notable native of Nottingham -
0:02:38 > 0:02:41my next stop - was Henry Kirke White.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44"Born in 1785, a butcher's son.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49"He was chosen Professor Of Literature in the Literary Society
0:02:49 > 0:02:53"by acclamation when only 15 years old."
0:02:53 > 0:02:57I need to discover the rhyme and reason of that.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08Nottingham in the 1780s was a city greatly divided
0:03:08 > 0:03:11between the very wealthy and the extremely poor.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16It was Kirke White's Nottingham working-class background
0:03:16 > 0:03:18that marked him out.
0:03:19 > 0:03:24And as Bradshaw says so much about him, I want to know more.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27I'm meeting Lynda Pratt, from Nottingham University,
0:03:27 > 0:03:28at Bromley House Library,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31where there's a large collection of his work.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35- Lynda, hello. - Michael, nice to meet you.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37Evidently, he was a child prodigy.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39"He was elected Professor Of Literature
0:03:39 > 0:03:43"of the Literary Society by acclamation at the age of 15."
0:03:43 > 0:03:44This is just extraordinary.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48He does seem to have been immensely bright and ambitious.
0:03:48 > 0:03:49Yeah, he is a working-class boy.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52He works his way up into the local textile industry,
0:03:52 > 0:03:54from there, into a trainee lawyer.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57The onset of deafness actually prevented him
0:03:57 > 0:03:59pursuing a legal career.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02Eventually sent to Cambridge, did extremely well,
0:04:02 > 0:04:04won a university prize in his first year
0:04:04 > 0:04:07and, unfortunately, he works himself to death.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10So, this was a very, very short life.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12He dies at the age of 21.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16The strain of continuous study proved fatal.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20Dying so young fuelled the Victorians' interest in him,
0:04:20 > 0:04:24and his posthumous work The Remains became a bestseller.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27It strikes a chord, because it tells a great story -
0:04:27 > 0:04:30a story about an ambitious lad who dies young.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33He's evidently a favourite son of Nottingham.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36How did he and the city relate to each other?
0:04:36 > 0:04:40Ambivalently. He celebrates a local beauty spot, Clifton Grove.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43The poem he writes about this beauty spot
0:04:43 > 0:04:46is very critical of what he can see,
0:04:46 > 0:04:50which is manufacturing industrialising Nottingham.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53So offended were certain members of the local population,
0:04:53 > 0:04:55that when one of his contemporaries
0:04:55 > 0:04:57came to write a history of Nottingham in 1815,
0:04:57 > 0:05:00it was suggested that White should have been horsewhipped
0:05:00 > 0:05:03through the streets for his portrayal of the city.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06Bradshaw's leads me to believe that White was more than a poet.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08Was White a social commentator?
0:05:08 > 0:05:09Yes, there's evidence of this.
0:05:09 > 0:05:10There's a letter he wrote
0:05:10 > 0:05:13complaining about the conditions that young girls
0:05:13 > 0:05:15who worked in the lace making industry.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18He sort of says if you keep young girls hard-working and poor,
0:05:18 > 0:05:21they have no money. So in order to go out and earn more
0:05:21 > 0:05:24and improve their lot in life, they'll turn to prostitution.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27Social campaigning seems to have been in his mind very much.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33Today, he's an important reminder of the vitality
0:05:33 > 0:05:37of English regional literary culture during the nineteenth century.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45Discovering the unexpected in Nottingham
0:05:45 > 0:05:48could keep me occupied for many more hours,
0:05:48 > 0:05:50but the tracks are calling,
0:05:50 > 0:05:53and now I'm heading north to my next destination.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03"The picturesque tracts of woodland of Sherwood Forest,"
0:06:03 > 0:06:08says Bradshaw's, "still bring to mind the unsettled times
0:06:08 > 0:06:11"when Hugh Little John and Friar Tuck
0:06:11 > 0:06:14"hunted the king's venison without licence."
0:06:14 > 0:06:16Yes, I'm on the Robin Hood line.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24Mansfield and the countryside around
0:06:24 > 0:06:28may have once been home to landed gentry and outlaws.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31But by Bradshaw's day, numerous coalfields supplied industry,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34making use of a comprehensive rail network
0:06:34 > 0:06:36that shifted workers and materials.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41In the 1960s, Dr Richard Beeching,
0:06:41 > 0:06:43chairman of British Railways,
0:06:43 > 0:06:45axed many lines to slash losses.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50I'm meeting Tony Egginton, the town's mayor,
0:06:50 > 0:06:52to find out what happened.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58So, for some time, this Robin Hood line was closed.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00Yes, for just over 30 years.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04Closed in '64, as a result of the Beeching Report,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07- and then reopened in '95. - So Mansfield had no railway station?
0:07:07 > 0:07:11No station at all. We were cut off from the rail links.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15And who was it who arranged to have it reopened?
0:07:15 > 0:07:18Well, it was A group of businesspeople called Mansfield 2010
0:07:18 > 0:07:19who worked together
0:07:19 > 0:07:23with the county council and the district council at the time,
0:07:23 > 0:07:25lobbying central government
0:07:25 > 0:07:27to try and turn over the Beeching recommendation.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29Lo and behold, they won the fight.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33It shows the resilience of the people of Mansfield
0:07:33 > 0:07:35because, having lost their station,
0:07:35 > 0:07:39by the 1980s, they were also losing their industrial heritage.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41The coal mines were closing,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44the brewery and the shoe factories were in decline.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Reopening their station was a massive achievement.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49What would you say to those people around the country
0:07:49 > 0:07:52who have cherished lines that they'd like to reopen?
0:07:52 > 0:07:54Just keep at it. You must work hard.
0:07:54 > 0:07:55You need everybody to get behind you
0:07:55 > 0:07:59and, of course, common sense ultimately prevails.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03And you have brought back to life a wonderful Victorian station.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09Mansfield Station reopened in 1995
0:08:09 > 0:08:12and thanks to an investment of £36 million,
0:08:12 > 0:08:15the whole Robin Hood line, from Worksop to Nottingham,
0:08:15 > 0:08:19was back in action by 1998, reversing the Beeching closure.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24Every year, over a million people use the line
0:08:24 > 0:08:26and I'm going to take advantage of it
0:08:26 > 0:08:28as I travel north again to its terminus.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34Bradshaw's tells me that Worksop is situated in the Dukery
0:08:34 > 0:08:37which comprises four ducal seats.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41Welbeck Abbey belongs to the Duke of Portland
0:08:41 > 0:08:45and, when I go there, Bradshaw's advises me to look out
0:08:45 > 0:08:49for the riding house and stable, 130ft long.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51That's surely a misprint for yards
0:08:51 > 0:08:55because these grand estates, with their vast buildings,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58were a feature of the Victorian landscape.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01Amongst the ducal properties in Sherwood Forest,
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Welbeck Abbey has one of the richest histories.
0:09:04 > 0:09:05Still privately owned
0:09:05 > 0:09:08by the descendants of the Duke of Portland,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11the abbey is in a sculpted park.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13The most eccentric episode of its history
0:09:13 > 0:09:17came in the mid-19th century, when it was owned by the fifth duke.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19I'm meeting curator Derek Adlam
0:09:19 > 0:09:23to discover more about this fascinating Victorian aristocrat.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27Derek, this building is handsome and huge.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32I take it that this is the riding house and stables
0:09:32 > 0:09:34- referred to in my Bradshaw's. - Absolutely right.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38When it was built, it was the largest in Europe,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41with the exception of the manege next to the Kremlin in Moscow.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45It looks as if it's a traditional tiled building,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48but those tiles conceal a glass and iron vault,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51like a London railway station.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55So, who was responsible for such magnificence on the estate?
0:09:55 > 0:09:58Well, this is the work of the Fifth Duke of Portland
0:09:58 > 0:10:03and he inherited the estate from his father in 1854,
0:10:03 > 0:10:05came to live here round about 1860
0:10:05 > 0:10:08and began the work you see all around.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11There was nothing here when he started work.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13It must have taken a very long time.
0:10:13 > 0:10:18No, 20 years. In fact, even a little less. He died in 1879
0:10:18 > 0:10:20and work then came to a stop
0:10:20 > 0:10:22because it was virtually complete.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28The family's vast wealth came from its agricultural assets,
0:10:28 > 0:10:31allowing the duke to think on a grand scale.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33To all the opulent furnishings,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36he added a subterranean tropical house
0:10:36 > 0:10:38and 22 acres of kitchen garden,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41growing exotic fruit and vegetables to feed the estate.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46And what sort of a man was this fifth duke?
0:10:46 > 0:10:50Well, apparently, he was a rather indolent,
0:10:50 > 0:10:53not very interesting or interested person.
0:10:53 > 0:10:54But he had no occupation.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59It was as if a spring was released when his father died
0:10:59 > 0:11:03and moved here, began work and he turned out to be
0:11:03 > 0:11:05the most astonishing organiser.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10He was employing up to 1,000 people at a time.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12- A sociable fellow? - No, absolutely not.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16When he grew older, he became quite a recluse,
0:11:16 > 0:11:19but a very unusual kind of recluse
0:11:19 > 0:11:23in that he refused to see his social peers and equals,
0:11:23 > 0:11:25but got on very well with his workmen
0:11:25 > 0:11:28and was out and about on the estate every day.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31I rather wish I had met him.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33I do too.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38In the 1850s, a duke was expected to have stables to match his status
0:11:38 > 0:11:41and this duke was a keen horseman.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44No-one really knows why he was so reclusive,
0:11:44 > 0:11:47but the psoriasis from which he reputedly suffered
0:11:47 > 0:11:48might have been a factor
0:11:48 > 0:11:52and help to explain why there are no photos of him
0:11:52 > 0:11:55and why he took to the depths to avoid being seen.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02Well, that is an unexpected sight. A tunnel.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05The 5th Duke was the great tunneller, the Burrowing Duke.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07On the estate, he built 2.5 miles
0:12:07 > 0:12:09of these underground drives.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12This is one of the larger ones and it's wide enough
0:12:12 > 0:12:15for two horse-drawn carriages to pass side-by-side.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19So, what use did he make of this extensive tunnel network?
0:12:19 > 0:12:25Well, it meant that he could move around on the estate unseen.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29He would go underground while all the life of the estate went on above him.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32But I think it's more likely that it's the other way round.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34Did he make use of railways?
0:12:34 > 0:12:36Yes, some of the tunnels have railways.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40And did our reclusive duke have much use for public railways?
0:12:40 > 0:12:44Yes, he would have made use of them to go to London, in particular.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48His carriage would go with him in it, with the curtains drawn,
0:12:48 > 0:12:50to Worksop Station.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54His carriage would then be placed on a kind of flatbed truck,
0:12:54 > 0:12:55strapped into position,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58and he would then go in his own carriage
0:12:58 > 0:13:00down to London on the railway.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03But he was a great enthusiast for the railway
0:13:03 > 0:13:04and at the time of his death
0:13:04 > 0:13:08he was planning for a railway to come all the way onto the estate,
0:13:08 > 0:13:10mainly for moving goods around.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14The more I hear of this duke, the more fascinating he becomes.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16Yes, absolutely right.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21For all his resourcefulness, the duke never married.
0:13:21 > 0:13:26When he died, his cherished estate passed to his cousin.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28And although the railway was never built,
0:13:28 > 0:13:31I think Bradshaw would have approved of him.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34As for me, after travelling a good few miles,
0:13:34 > 0:13:37I'm more than happy to break my journey here.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49I'm up early to catch the train north from Worksop
0:13:49 > 0:13:52on a journey that should take me about an hour.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00Doncaster. Bradshaw's tells me that it was the Roman Danam
0:14:00 > 0:14:02and the Saxon Donacastre,
0:14:02 > 0:14:05in the West Riding of Yorkshire on the River Don
0:14:05 > 0:14:07and the North Midland Railway.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10And indeed, the words Doncaster and railway
0:14:10 > 0:14:13go together like love and marriage,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16because its people produced locomotives
0:14:16 > 0:14:19that were as fast as they were elegant,
0:14:19 > 0:14:22classics of British design at its zenith.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32ANNOUNCER: 'We are now arriving into Doncaster.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35'Please change here for Leeds, York, Newcastle...'
0:14:36 > 0:14:39Today, Doncaster is a city of regeneration,
0:14:39 > 0:14:43following the demise of its coal mining and heavy industries.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47But in the late 19th century, it was railway city,
0:14:47 > 0:14:49employing thousands of people
0:14:49 > 0:14:52building and making everything to do with trains.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55If all lines pointed to London,
0:14:55 > 0:15:00all things rail came out of "Donny", as the locals call it.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04Doncaster's Nigel Gresley is known today
0:15:04 > 0:15:07as one of the best locomotive designers of the 20th century.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16Following in the footsteps
0:15:16 > 0:15:19of two of the most eminent railway engineers,
0:15:19 > 0:15:21Patrick Stirling and Henry Ivatt,
0:15:21 > 0:15:23famous for building locomotive race horses,
0:15:23 > 0:15:25Gresley pushed the boundaries further.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30Just alongside Gresley's old office,
0:15:30 > 0:15:34I'm meeting railway historian Graham Boyes.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38Which are the locomotives that we most remember him for?
0:15:38 > 0:15:41Well, I think there are two - the Flying Scotsman and Mallard.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43Tell me about the Flying Scotsman
0:15:43 > 0:15:46It was much bigger than anything that had been built here before.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49It was the first of these Pacific 462 locomotives.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51It was in a lovely apple-green colour,
0:15:51 > 0:15:55which was the Great Northern Railways' livery
0:15:55 > 0:15:56for express locomotives.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59He soon showed it could go faster than anything else
0:15:59 > 0:16:00that had been on this line before,
0:16:00 > 0:16:04certainly speeds of over 100mph.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06What's Mallard's place in history?
0:16:06 > 0:16:08Well, Mallard, it's a classic.
0:16:08 > 0:16:13It's streamlined, of course, which helped it gain maximum speed
0:16:13 > 0:16:17and, indeed, it holds the world speed record
0:16:17 > 0:16:20at 126mph for a steam locomotive.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23Given the extraordinary series of chief engineers
0:16:23 > 0:16:25that there were at Doncaster,
0:16:25 > 0:16:27the enduring fame of Sir Nigel Gresley,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29the fame of the Flying Scotsman and the Mallard,
0:16:29 > 0:16:31is it not strange that most people
0:16:31 > 0:16:35might associate York more than Doncaster with the railways?
0:16:35 > 0:16:37I don't think so, really.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40York has become associated with the locomotives
0:16:40 > 0:16:42since the National Rail Museum opened,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45but Doncaster was always the more important place,
0:16:45 > 0:16:48throughout railway history,
0:16:48 > 0:16:54as one of THE locomotive design and building places in the world.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57They don't design locomotives in Doncaster any more,
0:16:57 > 0:17:01but its signalling centre is one of the largest on the UK network
0:17:01 > 0:17:03and it has one railway workshop
0:17:03 > 0:17:06overhauling and repairing rolling stock.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10Graham wants to show me something of Doncaster's illustrious history
0:17:10 > 0:17:15in what I can only describe as an Aladdin's cave of locomotives.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20This, I do NOT believe!
0:17:20 > 0:17:25Every square inch of wall is filled with...
0:17:25 > 0:17:31railway memorabilia. Graham, this is absolutely astonishing.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33What is the origin of all of this?
0:17:33 > 0:17:36It was a collection of the Doncaster Grammar School Railway Society.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38Of the 600 boys in the school,
0:17:38 > 0:17:41about 100 were members of the society.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44Many of their fathers would work on the railways
0:17:44 > 0:17:49and some of them themselves, like me, went on to work for the railways.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51I came to the school in 1949,
0:17:51 > 0:17:5211 years old,
0:17:52 > 0:17:58and that was the year in which the first of these objects arrived.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01So, here we've got a locomotive plate. "Doncaster."
0:18:01 > 0:18:06- That's the same class as Flying Scotsman.- Just amazing.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12Then here we have two more locomotive nameplates
0:18:12 > 0:18:14that arrived while I was at the school
0:18:14 > 0:18:17and they're two of the three locomotives that were in
0:18:17 > 0:18:20the Harrow and Wealdstone disaster of 1952.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23They were so badly damaged, they were scraped.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27That's really very moving, isn't it? When you think about the wreckage
0:18:27 > 0:18:30- and the number of people who lost their lives that day...- Yes.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34..and here are plates of two of the locomotives
0:18:34 > 0:18:39- from Britain's worst-ever peacetime disaster.- Yes. Indeed.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44Doncaster's railway history had broader consequences.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47Rail workers also shaped our political development.
0:18:47 > 0:18:52At the end of the Victorian era, Thomas Steels and Jimmy Holmes
0:18:52 > 0:18:54began to fight for workers' rights.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57I'm making my way to Sir Nigel Gresley Square
0:18:57 > 0:19:00to meet a former political adversary,
0:19:00 > 0:19:01Labour MP Rosie Winterton.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08So, why is it that the Labour Party particularly celebrates
0:19:08 > 0:19:11the memory of two railwaymen from Doncaster?
0:19:11 > 0:19:15Thomas Steels and Jimmy Holmes campaigned within parliament
0:19:15 > 0:19:19to ensure that working people had proper representations
0:19:19 > 0:19:22and their views and concerns were expressed there.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24Why did working men not feel
0:19:24 > 0:19:26that the Conservatives, or the Liberals,
0:19:26 > 0:19:28could represent their interests perfectly well?
0:19:28 > 0:19:30Quite honestly because they didn't represent them
0:19:30 > 0:19:35and the working people felt they wanted to see
0:19:35 > 0:19:37people in parliament
0:19:37 > 0:19:39who would take up their concerns.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41For example, around issues like health and safety.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43They worked in dangerous industries
0:19:43 > 0:19:46and wanted to have that representation there
0:19:46 > 0:19:50so that people understood and laws could be passed to protect them.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52How does that lead to the Labour Party?
0:19:52 > 0:19:54Well, by 1906,
0:19:54 > 0:19:57they had endorsed 50 candidates
0:19:57 > 0:19:59in the general election.
0:19:59 > 0:20:0229 of them were elected
0:20:02 > 0:20:04and after the election
0:20:04 > 0:20:07the Parliamentary Labour Party
0:20:07 > 0:20:08was set up to ensure that
0:20:08 > 0:20:11the Labour voice could be heard
0:20:11 > 0:20:13and organised in Parliament.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15- Doncaster made history.- Exactly.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27After discovering such rich railway history in Doncaster,
0:20:27 > 0:20:30I'm excited to be heading to my last stop, Leeds.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40But maybe this isn't going to be my last stop.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43Are we on the wrong train?
0:20:43 > 0:20:45- Where's this train for? - It's the Newcastle train.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49I think that's what you call human error.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56But after a quick change at York, I'm now back on track...
0:20:56 > 0:20:57The next stop will be Leeds.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07In the 17th and 18th centuries,
0:21:07 > 0:21:08Leeds became a major centre
0:21:08 > 0:21:11for producing and trading wool.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13During the Industrial Revolution,
0:21:13 > 0:21:17engineering, iron foundries and printing became important
0:21:17 > 0:21:20and Leeds fast developed into a rich city
0:21:20 > 0:21:22with a large working population.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24It's evident from Bradshaw's
0:21:24 > 0:21:26that mid-19th century Leeds
0:21:26 > 0:21:29enjoyed every modern facility.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33Public baths, a society for the encouragement of the fine arts,
0:21:33 > 0:21:39a music hall, a mechanics' institute and a general infirmary.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42As they say, the spice of life is variety.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53Travelling performers broadened their horizons
0:21:53 > 0:21:55with the advent of the railways.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58Many great names passed through the City Varieties' dressing rooms
0:21:58 > 0:21:59to make their debut
0:21:59 > 0:22:02at Britain's oldest continuously working music hall.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08In its 148-year history, it's accumulated a wealth of tales.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14I'm meeting the music hall's Rachel Lythe, who knows its history.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16- Rachel.- Hi.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18Have I come to the mother's womb of music hall,
0:22:18 > 0:22:22the temple of titillation, the Venus and Venice of variety?
0:22:22 > 0:22:27- Absolutely.- What is the difference between theatre and music hall?
0:22:27 > 0:22:31The main difference, I think, is partly to do with the licensing.
0:22:31 > 0:22:32The theatres were licensed to do drama,
0:22:32 > 0:22:34whereas the music halls were licensed to do
0:22:34 > 0:22:37music, singing, dancing, drinking, eating, smoking.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39It was a noisy venue.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42My Bradshaw's, which is mid-1860s,
0:22:42 > 0:22:44says that Leeds had a music hall.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46- So, when did it all begin? - Well, actually much earlier.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50It dates back to the mid-1700s. There were music halls on every street corner.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52It all started off with singing rooms in pubs and inns and taverns.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56This building has links back to 1762. The Swan Inn next door,
0:22:56 > 0:22:58they then created a singing room in '66
0:22:58 > 0:23:03and then 1865, this glorious Varieties Music Hall was opened.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06It's absolutely glorious, but it looks very genteel to me.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09Look at all these stalls. Did the hoi polloi sit in such stalls?
0:23:09 > 0:23:12When we first opened, it would have looked completely different.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15None of these seats would have been there. Tables, chairs, benches.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17You would have had a bar in here as well,
0:23:17 > 0:23:19so you would have been able to easily eat and drink and socialise.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22But it would have been a very noisy, rowdy experience.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24What was going on on the stage in those days?
0:23:24 > 0:23:27Everything from high-wire acts,
0:23:27 > 0:23:29to animal acts as well.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32- You would have had singing, dancing. - Any big names in the early days?
0:23:32 > 0:23:35One of the ones that started us off was Lillie Langtry,
0:23:35 > 0:23:36the famous Jersey Belle.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39She would have sung and performed on this stage.
0:23:39 > 0:23:40There's a lovely story about Lillie.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44It's rumoured that Edward VII used to have an affection for her,
0:23:44 > 0:23:45so it's rumoured that
0:23:45 > 0:23:48he used to come grouse-shooting to Yorkshire Moors
0:23:48 > 0:23:50and then sneak in here when no-one was looking
0:23:50 > 0:23:53and he'd sit in Box D over here and he'd close the curtains,
0:23:53 > 0:23:55so that he could watch her performance on stage.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59And then again, it's rumoured that the crest up here was donated to us
0:23:59 > 0:24:02once he became king as a thank you for our discretion.
0:24:02 > 0:24:03That's marvellous.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06We've also had the famous Harry Houdini. That was 1902.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09He was paid £130 to perform on this stage.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12It's about the equivalent to £7,500 today.
0:24:12 > 0:24:13I think you're holding out on me.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16What was the naughtiest thing that happened on the stage?
0:24:16 > 0:24:18Actually, this was later years, more the '40s and '50s,
0:24:18 > 0:24:20we had the stripteases and the nude shows.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23But, interestingly, because of the licensing, they couldn't move,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26so they had to do still poses, so it was like a classical pose.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28Groups of boys used to come, get front-row seats
0:24:28 > 0:24:30and they'd bring along their pea shooters.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32So they'd try and make the nudes move
0:24:32 > 0:24:35and, again, sit in the boxes and a whole group would get together
0:24:35 > 0:24:38and blow at once to try and make the feathers part to reveal more.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43By the 1950s, television and cinema
0:24:43 > 0:24:46had taken their toll on the music hall
0:24:46 > 0:24:48and audiences fell away.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52However, television was also the making of this theatre,
0:24:52 > 0:24:56thanks to the TV extravaganza The Good Old Days.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00Since 1988, Johnny Dennis has been the chairman
0:25:00 > 0:25:02who introduces every show.
0:25:04 > 0:25:10- Johnny, when did The Good Old Days begin on television?- 1953.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13It was Barney Colehan's, who was a staff producer at the BBC,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16idea to run a pilot show from this theatre
0:25:16 > 0:25:19and he got together a cast of artists
0:25:19 > 0:25:23from the Players' Theatre in London. Leonard Sachs was the chairman
0:25:23 > 0:25:27and it ran for 30 years and became the most popular programme
0:25:27 > 0:25:29at that time on the BBC.
0:25:29 > 0:25:30What was the origin of
0:25:30 > 0:25:34the very over-the-top alliterative introductions of the acts?
0:25:34 > 0:25:36That was Leonard Sachs's idea.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38He was an actor, he loved to be grand,
0:25:38 > 0:25:41he invented this very extravagant language,
0:25:41 > 0:25:45not strictly period of the musical chairman of the Victorian age,
0:25:45 > 0:25:47but he was world-famous for it.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51Give me some examples of your fine, flowing introductions.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53My lords, ladies and gentlemen,
0:25:53 > 0:25:58all the artists have been brought to you at e-nor-mous expense.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02And then you say, "And welcome to this magnificent melange
0:26:02 > 0:26:05"of musicality, magic and mirth."
0:26:05 > 0:26:07Let me see if I can try that.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11Welcome to this cavern of conviviality,
0:26:11 > 0:26:15- this Valhalla of variety... - Very good.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18..this emporium of entertainment.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21Very good. It could use a little improvement, actually.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25Imagine that you were a Victorian actor of the day.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29So, you have to gain their attention by making dramatic gestures like,
0:26:29 > 0:26:33"Welcome!" and use your hands like this, with the gavel in your hand,
0:26:33 > 0:26:36and then dominate the audience.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39Try that with the gavel. That's Leonard Sachs's gavel
0:26:39 > 0:26:41Would you mind holding my Bradshaw?
0:26:41 > 0:26:45I would be honoured to hold Mr Bradshaw.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49Welcome to this cavern of conviviality,
0:26:49 > 0:26:54this emporium of entertainment,
0:26:54 > 0:26:59to this Valhalla of Victorian variety.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01Bravo.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05- It was the gavel that did it. - It's that gavel always that does it.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09So, the show that you perform today,
0:27:09 > 0:27:12would it be recognisable to Mr George Bradshaw?
0:27:12 > 0:27:16I would like to think so. I'm a great admirer of Mr Bradshaw
0:27:16 > 0:27:19and I'm sure he would have been a great admirer of the music hall.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28The names of great locomotives are etched in British history.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31Railwaymen switched the points on British politics,
0:27:31 > 0:27:34taking them in new directions.
0:27:34 > 0:27:39Famous names have graced the playbills in this music hall too.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42As I complete my journey from London to Leeds,
0:27:42 > 0:27:45Bradshaw's has opened up England
0:27:45 > 0:27:48with all its rich variety.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50Journey over...
0:27:50 > 0:27:52the final curtain.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:28:01 > 0:28:06On my next adventure, I learn to set table aboard an ocean liner...
0:28:06 > 0:28:08Oh, you're faster than me!
0:28:08 > 0:28:11I visit a suspected Solent smuggler's hideaway...
0:28:11 > 0:28:13Whoa! What a view!
0:28:15 > 0:28:17And I discover the tactics employed
0:28:17 > 0:28:20by the Victorian temperance movement...
0:28:20 > 0:28:23All of a sudden, a group of uniformed invaders come along,
0:28:23 > 0:28:26shouting, "You're going to hell! You will not be saved
0:28:26 > 0:28:29"if you carry on drinking this foul liquid."