0:00:05 > 0:00:11'In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain. His name was George
0:00:11 > 0:00:16'Bradshaw, and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to
0:00:16 > 0:00:17'the tracks.
0:00:17 > 0:00:23'Stop by stop, he told them where to go, what to see and where to stay.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26'And now, 170 years later,
0:00:26 > 0:00:29'I'm aboard for a series of rail adventures
0:00:29 > 0:00:33'across the United Kingdom to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.'
0:00:54 > 0:00:56With my Bradshaw's, I'm continuing my journey around the
0:00:56 > 0:01:00industrial heartland of northern England, travelling on the very
0:01:00 > 0:01:04tracks that helped to make the fortunes of entrepreneurs.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07And I hope to discover that even in Victorian times,
0:01:07 > 0:01:10some of them were men and others were women.
0:01:12 > 0:01:17'On this leg of my journey, I put a vintage truck to the test...'
0:01:17 > 0:01:20More than a century old and still going strong!
0:01:20 > 0:01:23'..Learn how the railways transformed
0:01:23 > 0:01:25'the North West's seaside...'
0:01:25 > 0:01:28Without any doubt, they were fundamental
0:01:28 > 0:01:30to the future success of the resort.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34'And I bake a 19th century worker's lunchtime staple.'
0:01:34 > 0:01:37You have to get a lot of air into it.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40- It's already feeling lovely. - You're quite good at this!
0:01:45 > 0:01:50My journey began in Manchester, headed west to soapy Merseyside.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54It will now traverse Lancashire to Preston and then Bradford,
0:01:54 > 0:01:58and will dip down to steely South Yorkshire
0:01:58 > 0:02:00and will end in Derbyshire,
0:02:00 > 0:02:03the resting place of the father of the railway, George Stephenson.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09This Lancastrian leg begins in sun-drenched Southport,
0:02:09 > 0:02:14devours pies in Wigan, surges east to subversive Westhoughton,
0:02:14 > 0:02:18weaves towards Bolton, and drives north to finish at Leyland.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24From Birkenhead, I've crossed the Mersey
0:02:24 > 0:02:26and I'm now heading to Southport.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30Bradshaw's tells me it's a favourite and fashionable watering place.
0:02:30 > 0:02:31From its situation and
0:02:31 > 0:02:35salubrity, it's been christened the Montpellier of England.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39Well, I've been to Montpellier on a blistering hot Mediterranean day,
0:02:39 > 0:02:41and I'm assuming that the comparison is more
0:02:41 > 0:02:43one of architecture than climate.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52Lying on the coast, almost 20 miles north of Liverpool,
0:02:52 > 0:02:56nowhere better epitomises the late 18th century fashion
0:02:56 > 0:02:59for bathing in sea water than the once small fishing port,
0:02:59 > 0:03:01which came to be known as Southport.
0:03:03 > 0:03:05The future French emperor Napoleon III
0:03:05 > 0:03:07took an apartment here for a season,
0:03:07 > 0:03:10and it's said that he used the tree-lined
0:03:10 > 0:03:14Lord Street as a template for his subsequent redesign of Paris.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18My guidebook certainly liked the place.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22Southport's buildings, says Bradshaw's, are
0:03:22 > 0:03:25architecturally elegant, and the broad and beautiful streets,
0:03:25 > 0:03:30particularly Lord Street, have made it universally admired.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34In my mind, I can hear the jangle of bridles as the horses and carriages
0:03:34 > 0:03:39pass by, and the clink of China as elegant ladies take their tea.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48When the railways arrived in 1848, Southport's popularity
0:03:48 > 0:03:53boomed as first Liverpudlians, and later, Mancunians, arrived,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56looking for a refined break from their
0:03:56 > 0:03:58industrial cities.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02In 1860, Southport's elegant promenade was graced with
0:04:02 > 0:04:06a pier, upon which I'm meeting former director of tourism,
0:04:06 > 0:04:08Phil King.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13- Hello, Phil.- Michael, welcome to sunny Southport.- Lovely to see you.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15You've made me walk a long way! How long is this pier? It must be
0:04:15 > 0:04:19- one of the longest in Britain. - 3,600-odd feet.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22Second longest to our friends down at Southend.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24This pier was built for what?
0:04:24 > 0:04:30For leisure and pleasure. And people used to promenade up to be
0:04:30 > 0:04:34seen, to talk, to bow their heads, to enjoy.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38It used to cost you six pence. And if you had a
0:04:38 > 0:04:44perambulator, one-and-six. And then, of course, as time went on, paddle
0:04:44 > 0:04:49steamers arrived at the pierhead, which used to go to Blackpool,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52Llandudno and other exotic places as well.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Tell me about the impact of the railways on Southport.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00Without any doubt, they were fundamental to the future
0:05:00 > 0:05:02success of the resort.
0:05:02 > 0:05:03People came off, literally
0:05:03 > 0:05:07in their thousands, to swim, use the bathing machines,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10and then there was the development of the funfairs.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13And they used to go for rides on the carousel,
0:05:13 > 0:05:16a wonderful selling point for our resort.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20The carousel is thought to date back to the Crusades
0:05:20 > 0:05:23and to have its origins in a Turkish game.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27By the 17th century, it had developed into a fixed structure
0:05:27 > 0:05:31with legless wooden horses. It was revolutionised by an English
0:05:31 > 0:05:35engineer called Frederick Savage who, during the late 19th century,
0:05:35 > 0:05:40designed a machine whose horses moved up and down as they galloped.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42I'm meeting Herbert Silcock,
0:05:42 > 0:05:45who owns the fine exemplar at Southport Pier.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48- Herbert. - Pleased to meet you, Michael.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51It's a lovely carousel. Is it Victorian?
0:05:51 > 0:05:55- It is Victorian, built in 1900. - How far back does your family
0:05:55 > 0:05:59- go in the fairground business? - We go back to the late 1800s.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03This is the earliest picture we have of the family.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07That's Great-grandfather, four sons. One, two, three, four.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Now, this is the showman's caravan that they lived in.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13Because in those days, they were travelling from place to place?
0:06:13 > 0:06:16- Correct.- How did your family actually get going in the business?
0:06:16 > 0:06:17What was the first thing they did?
0:06:17 > 0:06:20Well, well, this man here, Great-grandfather Edward,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23he worked in a wire works in Warrington, and to
0:06:23 > 0:06:26supplement his income, he opened a small little stall,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29a coconut shy, in a railway viaduct.
0:06:29 > 0:06:34And as the workers came out, he would offer them a game for a penny.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37And eventually, this took over cos he was earning more money
0:06:37 > 0:06:39than in the wire works. My mother and father
0:06:39 > 0:06:44came here in 1959 and we've prospered since.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46The elaborately-carved animals
0:06:46 > 0:06:49and ornate panels provided more than decoration.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51They also hid the mechanism which,
0:06:51 > 0:06:55in Herbert's great-grandfather's day, was powered by steam.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58During the heyday of the Golden Galloper,
0:06:58 > 0:07:01more than 250 carousels were built
0:07:01 > 0:07:04and they were the most popular ride in the British fairground.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08Nowadays, people have computer games and I don't know what.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10Why do you think they're still attracted to carousels?
0:07:10 > 0:07:14The carousel, in its heyday, was actually a white-knuckle ride.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17It was quite fast, for the time.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20It fell out of favour in the '50s and the '60s as people wanted
0:07:20 > 0:07:23more speed. But now, it's as popular as ever,
0:07:23 > 0:07:26but it's now a children's and family ride.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28Well, it may well be, but I hope that doesn't prevent me
0:07:28 > 0:07:32- from having a go!- It certainly will not, Michael. Follow me.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42Former politician backs wrong horse and is taken for a ride!
0:07:51 > 0:07:55'Feeling a little giddy, I'm going back to Southport Station.
0:07:55 > 0:08:00'Northern Rail is less ornate, but its iron horse will carry me
0:08:00 > 0:08:01'east at a canter.'
0:08:04 > 0:08:08This train will take me to Wigan. Bradshaw's tells me it's a
0:08:08 > 0:08:12great cotton town in Lancashire near the head of the River Douglas.
0:08:12 > 0:08:17It contains stone and coal in great abundance.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21Wigan has found fame for its industry, in literature
0:08:21 > 0:08:23and for the history of its food.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31'Coal was mined in and around Wigan from the Middle Ages,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34'and when the canals and then the railway linked it
0:08:34 > 0:08:37'to its bigger manufacturing neighbours, the town prospered.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41'But the Great Depression of the 1930s hit Wigan hard,
0:08:41 > 0:08:43'and the town, which has never
0:08:43 > 0:08:46'since matched its Victorian prosperity, presently strikes
0:08:46 > 0:08:51'a chord because of a book named after its most famous landmark.'
0:08:53 > 0:08:55When you think of famous piers,
0:08:55 > 0:08:59you think of Southend, Southport and Wigan.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03I've never seen Wigan Pier, but given that the town isn't on the sea
0:09:03 > 0:09:06but on the Manchester to Liverpool canal, I have a feeling
0:09:06 > 0:09:09that its pier can't be as spectacular as Southend
0:09:09 > 0:09:10or Southport.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17Ahoy! Can you give me directions to Wigan Pier, please?
0:09:17 > 0:09:19- The actual pier itself? - Yes, the pier.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23This is it, really!
0:09:26 > 0:09:30'None the wiser, I'm hoping Wigan Archives manager Alex Miller
0:09:30 > 0:09:32'will know the pier's precise location.'
0:09:33 > 0:09:39- Um... I'm in search of Wigan Pier. - Right.- Can you direct me?
0:09:39 > 0:09:42You're on it! You're standing on the very Wigan Pier, such as it
0:09:42 > 0:09:43exists at the moment.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46Is this some kind of joke? This isn't a pier!
0:09:46 > 0:09:48Well, actually, it is a bit of a joke.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52It's a 20th century, early 20th century music hall joke.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55This is Wigan Pier. It's essentially a coal tippler
0:09:55 > 0:09:59that came to become Wigan Pier of music hall jokes.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02And it was carried on by the Formbys, in particular,
0:10:02 > 0:10:04George Formby Senior and George Formby Junior.
0:10:04 > 0:10:05# Now when we shunt
0:10:05 > 0:10:06# The back's in front
0:10:06 > 0:10:08# And the front part's in the rear
0:10:08 > 0:10:10# If we survive
0:10:10 > 0:10:11# Then we'll arrive
0:10:11 > 0:10:12# Alongside Wigan Pier... #
0:10:15 > 0:10:16This construction here would have
0:10:16 > 0:10:20been the end point of a railway line stretching up into the network of
0:10:20 > 0:10:23railways that fed all the coal industry. And essentially, the wagons
0:10:23 > 0:10:26would have come down the railway line to the tippler,
0:10:26 > 0:10:29where they would have been tipped into the barges waiting beneath.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33And the story goes that on a boat trip down the canal to Southport,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36a group of people on the canal, they were lost in the fog,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39and they shout out, "Well, where are we? We have no idea where we are!"
0:10:39 > 0:10:42And the local wag shouts out, from the banks of the canal,
0:10:42 > 0:10:43"You're at Wigan Pier!"
0:10:43 > 0:10:46Obviously, they're on their way to Southport, expecting to see
0:10:46 > 0:10:49something a little bit grander, so that's where it comes from.
0:10:49 > 0:10:50And that's now all lost in time, isn't it?
0:10:50 > 0:10:53Cos all of us just think of George Orwell and Wigan Pier.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57- But he then was picking up on an existing joke?- Absolutely.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00I mean, he was using it almost as a snappy title,
0:11:00 > 0:11:02apart from anything else, saying The Road to Wigan Pier.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06It gave him a very fixed point, in the end, to his journey
0:11:06 > 0:11:07when he came to Wigan.
0:11:09 > 0:11:14Born Eric Blair in 1903, George Orwell attended Eton College on
0:11:14 > 0:11:18a scholarship and became a leading left-wing author.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20He's best known for his anti-Soviet novel
0:11:20 > 0:11:23Animal Farm and the dystopian Nineteen Eighty-Four.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29In The Road to Wigan Pier, he wrote graphically of the poverty suffered
0:11:29 > 0:11:34by the northern working class during the 1930s Great Depression.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37So there had obviously been a decline in Wigan,
0:11:37 > 0:11:39because Bradshaw's talks about the place being
0:11:39 > 0:11:42absolutely replete with stone and coal.
0:11:42 > 0:11:43Yes. I mean, it was.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47I mean, Wigan is very much a town built on coal, but then, in the years
0:11:47 > 0:11:50after the Second World War, Wigan's come to be known as a centre for
0:11:50 > 0:11:51food manufacturing.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54You've got many multinational firms working in the area,
0:11:54 > 0:11:58people like Heinz and Patak's, and you've got one firm that has
0:11:58 > 0:12:01Victorian origins that manufactures pies in the area.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03And that is Poole's Pies.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10'Heinz came to Wigan in the late 1950s, attracted by the ready
0:12:10 > 0:12:14'availability of crops grown on the fertile Lancashire plain.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17'Over a billion cans of food per year
0:12:17 > 0:12:19'were produced in their Wigan factory.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22'But a century earlier,
0:12:22 > 0:12:26'Margaret Poole started a business that first put Wigan on the
0:12:26 > 0:12:27'British culinary map.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34'I'm meeting baker Pauline Atherton at the Poole's Pie factory
0:12:34 > 0:12:37'in Pemberton, south-west of the town centre.'
0:12:38 > 0:12:41- Pauline?- Yes?- Hello, I'm Michael. - Hello.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44So what happens in this kitchen?
0:12:44 > 0:12:45This is where all the product development
0:12:45 > 0:12:48we do, all the new recipes are formulated here.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50Have you been making pies for long?
0:12:50 > 0:12:55- A long time. About 50 years.- Really? Were the Victorian recipes much
0:12:55 > 0:12:57different from what you're doing today?
0:12:57 > 0:13:01You got whatever was available - pigeon, rabbits, oxtail,
0:13:01 > 0:13:03even blackbird, you know.
0:13:03 > 0:13:08Lots of things that you wouldn't use today, but now, it was more
0:13:08 > 0:13:11- concentration on what is actually in it.- Yes.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14'Pauline has offered to show me
0:13:14 > 0:13:18'how Margaret Poole might have baked a beef pie back in 1847.'
0:13:20 > 0:13:23You have to get a lot of air into it so the pastry will be nice
0:13:23 > 0:13:28- and light.- Mm! It's already feeling lovely.- You're quite good at this!
0:13:28 > 0:13:30- That looks pretty good to me.- Yup.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34- You roll it quite... Some pressure. - Quite vigorously.- Yeah.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37Little thinner. Little thinner.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40- Lovely. And then roll it over.- Ooh!
0:13:40 > 0:13:44- That's it. We start with the filling now.- Shall I put that in there?- Yes.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46Spread it nice and evenly.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49- Margaret really knew how to make a pie, didn't she?- Oh, yeah!
0:13:49 > 0:13:51- Pop it down over here. - Bring it towards you.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55- Make it pretty. - With a few thumbprints?- Yes.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57And it's to seal it as well.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59And I have something that looks like a pie!
0:13:59 > 0:14:02- Very nice. - And how long shall we cook that for?
0:14:02 > 0:14:05Roughly about 25 minutes, 200 degrees.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12'Nowadays, only prototype pies are handmade, and as
0:14:12 > 0:14:16'mine bakes, Pauline wants to show me the 300,000 square foot factory.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21'Here, 50 people on five production lines make
0:14:21 > 0:14:25'an astonishing 100,000 pies and pastries per hour.'
0:14:26 > 0:14:28Even though Margaret Poole had a factory, I think
0:14:28 > 0:14:29she would have been amazed
0:14:29 > 0:14:33- to see this.- She certainly would. - What's the ingredients?
0:14:33 > 0:14:34This is meat and potato.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38And then, a bit like making a pie, when you're doing it at home,
0:14:38 > 0:14:42you spread the pastry on top and then you just cut off the surplus?
0:14:42 > 0:14:45Yes. Everything's all recycled, all the way up again.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48And here they are, ready to go in the freezer.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51- And then, anyone could cook those at home?- Yes.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55'The proof of the pudding is in the eating,
0:14:55 > 0:14:57'and I'm afraid that the same applies to my pie.'
0:14:59 > 0:15:04- Am I Mother?- Please.- Just about.- Oh!
0:15:04 > 0:15:07Now, that looks pretty good, but I want your opinion, Pauline.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09I'm not going to touch it until you do.
0:15:15 > 0:15:16Superb.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19Mm!
0:15:19 > 0:15:21It is pretty good!
0:15:21 > 0:15:24Well done, Margaret Poole! May her memory be blessed.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36With a full tummy, I'm heading six miles east
0:15:36 > 0:15:39toward today's final destination.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44To end my day, I'm heading to Westhoughton.
0:15:44 > 0:15:50Bradshaw's tells me that "in 1812 a dreadful Luddite riot took place
0:15:50 > 0:15:55"at which a large quantity of machinery was destroyed by the mob."
0:15:55 > 0:15:59If I remember, the Luddites were men driven to desperate violence
0:15:59 > 0:16:03by the fear that mechanisation would cost them their livelihoods.
0:16:07 > 0:16:12In 1812, England was mired in the worst trade depression for 50 years.
0:16:12 > 0:16:17The invention of new machinery threatened to consign home weaving
0:16:17 > 0:16:20to the annals of history.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23Those conditions gave rise to machine breakers and rioters
0:16:23 > 0:16:25dubbed the Luddites.
0:16:25 > 0:16:30I'm hoping local historian Pamela Clarke can tell me what happened
0:16:30 > 0:16:32in Westhoughton.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36- Hello, Pam.- Hello, Michael.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40According to my Bradshaw's, the violence here in 1812
0:16:40 > 0:16:42was pretty bad. What happened?
0:16:42 > 0:16:47In 1804, a new factory was built across the road
0:16:47 > 0:16:52and it was full of 170 power looms with the big steam engine.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56Luddites from Bolton decided to burn the factory and destroy the equipment there.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59And so is that exactly what happened there,
0:16:59 > 0:17:00they marched up here and did it?
0:17:00 > 0:17:04On the 24th of April, the mill was set ablaze.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07All the machinery was made of wood and there was lots and lots of cloth
0:17:07 > 0:17:11around so it was easy to get the fire going.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14What were the consequences for the people who had perpetrated this attack?
0:17:14 > 0:17:18Four of them were charged with breaking the machinery,
0:17:18 > 0:17:21which was made a capital offence in 1812.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23And they were sentenced to be hanged.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25- And were they? - They were,
0:17:25 > 0:17:32including a young lad who was said to be anything from 12 to 16 years old.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36Tomorrow, I'm hoping to find out more
0:17:36 > 0:17:40about one of the machines that led to this dreadful incident
0:17:40 > 0:17:44in Westhoughton, but now it's time for some quiet refreshment.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51- Morning. Nice sunny day. - Aye, it is.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59Continuing east, my next destination is Bolton.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09This is Bolton, what Bradshaw's calls Bolton Le Moors.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13"Cotton velvets and muslins were first manufactured here
0:18:13 > 0:18:17"about 1760-80 on a large scale by the new machinery
0:18:17 > 0:18:21"of Richard Arkwright, who resided here when a barber,
0:18:21 > 0:18:25"and Samuel Crompton who lived at Hall i'th' Wood."
0:18:25 > 0:18:28Much though I sympathise with the desperate Luddites who broke
0:18:28 > 0:18:32the machines, I have real admiration for the inventors
0:18:32 > 0:18:34who sought to perfect them.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41In 1773, Bolton's population
0:18:41 > 0:18:44numbered less than 5,500.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47By 1901, it had soared to 168,000.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51The biggest reason for that increase
0:18:51 > 0:18:53was the town's booming textile industry,
0:18:53 > 0:18:58begun by a Bolton inventor who was born in 1753.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05I'm meeting curator Erin Beeston at Samuel Crompton's house
0:19:05 > 0:19:09in Hall i'th' Wood, north of Bolton.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12- Erin, hello. - Hello. Welcome to Hall i'th' Wood.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15It's a beautiful house and rather grand.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18Was Samuel Crompton quite a rich man?
0:19:18 > 0:19:21Well, actually at the time Samuel Crompton lived here,
0:19:21 > 0:19:24the hall was in a quite bad state of repair and shortly after they moved
0:19:24 > 0:19:28to some rooms upstairs in the hall, his father actually died.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31His father was only about 33 at the time so he was left
0:19:31 > 0:19:35with two sisters and his mother and he was very quickly
0:19:35 > 0:19:37taught how to spin from an early age
0:19:37 > 0:19:41to help the family produce the cotton that they needed to weave with.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43In the middle of the 18th century,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46people were producing fabrics in their homes?
0:19:46 > 0:19:49Yes, essentially it was a cottage industry.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53To produce the yarn required to make cloth,
0:19:53 > 0:19:56Samuel and his family used a single thread spinning wheel.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01Volunteer Jacqui Elvin's demonstrating with raw wool.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05To spin the yarn, you need to work the pedal,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08and that's a rocking motion.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12With that, it turns the spindle in a clockwise direction.
0:20:12 > 0:20:14You extend with the left hand.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18That causes the twist to go down the yarn,
0:20:18 > 0:20:20and that creates your thread.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26Not too straightforward, I must say.
0:20:26 > 0:20:28It's a bit like one of these things where you have
0:20:28 > 0:20:31to rub the top of your head and stroke your nose at the same time.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35- And I'm only producing one thread.- Exactly.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38For weavers, you needed an awful lot of thread.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42And that, I have a feeling, is where our Mr Crompton comes in.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45Thank you, Jacqui.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50A number of 18th-century inventions transformed cloth production
0:20:50 > 0:20:54from a cottage industry into steam-powered mass production
0:20:54 > 0:20:58in factories during the Industrial Revolution.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02Samuel Crompton's invention was called the spinning mule,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05and, borrowing elements from James Hargreaves's Spinning Jenny
0:21:05 > 0:21:09and Sir Richard Arkwright's water frame, it revolutionised
0:21:09 > 0:21:11the production of yarn.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16How did Crompton come to be so inventive?
0:21:16 > 0:21:18Well, he was quite well educated.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20He actually went to night school until he was 16.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24He did things like mathematics, he did algebra and arithmetic.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28He also was very musically talented and he used the money that he made
0:21:28 > 0:21:32from playing the violin at the theatre to get the parts together
0:21:32 > 0:21:36- ready to make his invention.- And what is the significance of this room?
0:21:36 > 0:21:39Well, this came to be known as his conjuring room.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42There were reports of him staying up into the small hours
0:21:42 > 0:21:46and passers-by travelling seeing flickering lights.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49Toiling away by candlelight.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52Legend has it that Crompton was so worried
0:21:52 > 0:21:56about local Luddites hearing about his spinning mule and attempting
0:21:56 > 0:22:00to destroy it that he kept it dismantled and hidden in his attic.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04Today, there's a replica on display.
0:22:06 > 0:22:11- Did Samuel Crompton make his fortune from it?- Sadly, he didn't.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14Crompton has been criticised by historians for not being
0:22:14 > 0:22:16a great businessman.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20He listened to some of his peers who encouraged him to take subscriptions
0:22:20 > 0:22:24to have his machine viewed rather than to take out a patent.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28So they would come along and give him small sums of money
0:22:28 > 0:22:30to see his machine and then copy it.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33So his idea passed into the world virtually free of charge?
0:22:33 > 0:22:37They said at one point there was four million spindles
0:22:37 > 0:22:39spinning cotton yarn on his invention.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42The manufacturers gained all this wealth and Samuel himself
0:22:42 > 0:22:44died in near poverty.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55Decades after Samuel Crompton died a poor man,
0:22:55 > 0:22:59a rather guilty Bolton erected a statue of him by public subscription.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03But his real monument was that his invention enabled Bolton
0:23:03 > 0:23:07and other Lancashire towns to establish factories that were
0:23:07 > 0:23:10the most productive and competitive in the world.
0:23:16 > 0:23:21Another invention benefitted my next destination at the turn of the 20th century.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27I'm on my way to Leyland.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30Bradshaw's tells me that it has an excellent free grammar school
0:23:30 > 0:23:35and I am going there to study how a local boy, James Sumner,
0:23:35 > 0:23:38started a business that made his town a household name.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45Six miles south of Preston, Leyland is synonymous
0:23:45 > 0:23:49with the largest car manufacturer that Britain has ever had.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53British Leyland had its roots in the commercial vehicle maker
0:23:53 > 0:23:57The Lancashire Steam Motor Company,
0:23:57 > 0:23:59which was formed here in 1896.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03Bob Howell is an engineer at Leyland's British Commercial Vehicle Museum.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07What an amazing collection of vehicles.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11Yes, we have vehicles from 1896 right up to 2006.
0:24:11 > 0:24:13And what are we standing amongst here, for example?
0:24:13 > 0:24:16This is the Leyland Lioness, bought by King George V
0:24:16 > 0:24:21for conveying visitors to the Sandringham estate from the railway station.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24- And what about this one here? - This is the Popemobile.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27The designer's brief for this was a high-sided vehicle
0:24:27 > 0:24:29so the Pope could see the people and they could see him.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33And so that was used during the Pope's visit to Britain?
0:24:33 > 0:24:34Yes, it was.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38The Leyland marque might never have existed
0:24:38 > 0:24:41had its young founder, James Sumner, the son of a blacksmith,
0:24:41 > 0:24:45not attached a steam engine to a lawn mower.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50As a teenager James was allowed to experiment in his father's workshop.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53He made his own two-cylinder compound steam engine,
0:24:53 > 0:24:55which he fitted to a pedal tricycle.
0:24:55 > 0:25:00Then a local head gardener gave James an old horse-drawn lawn mower.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04This is the result. Immediately, the orders started flooding in.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08Not only from the owners of large estate houses
0:25:08 > 0:25:11but also from the cricket clubs.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14In fact, WG Grace bought one for his hallowed cricket pitch at the Oval.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20James went into partnership with the wealthy Spurrier family
0:25:20 > 0:25:23and, opting to use new petrol engines,
0:25:23 > 0:25:27by 1914 the re-named Leyland Motors Ltd
0:25:27 > 0:25:29employed a workforce of 1,500.
0:25:32 > 0:25:37In the 1960s, the company bought car manufacturers Triumph and Rover
0:25:37 > 0:25:41and a merger in 1968 with British Motor Holdings
0:25:41 > 0:25:45brought Jaguar, Morris and Austin into the group.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49Following the oil crisis of 1973,
0:25:49 > 0:25:53this monolithic company was almost bankrupt,
0:25:53 > 0:25:56and was first nationalised, then broken up.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01The now American-owned Leyland Trucks still produces
0:26:01 > 0:26:06state of the art vehicles as this museum example once was.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09And we're away!
0:26:11 > 0:26:14- How old is the vehicle, Bob?- 1908.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18We believe it is the oldest commercial vehicle running.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21Do you know what the history of the vehicle is? What was it used for?
0:26:21 > 0:26:26It was involved in parcel collection and delivery in the London area.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29It did a total of 390,000 miles before being retired.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32How many years were you in the motor industry?
0:26:32 > 0:26:34- 76.- 76!
0:26:34 > 0:26:38I started on October 1, 1937.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41Would you care to have a little drive?
0:26:41 > 0:26:43- I would absolutely love to, please. - Why not?
0:26:43 > 0:26:48Depress clutch, engage second gear...
0:26:50 > 0:26:53Release brake...
0:26:54 > 0:26:56Apply throttle...
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Hooray, we're moving!
0:27:06 > 0:27:08This is enormous fun, Bob.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13This is a great tribute to Leyland.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16More than a century old and still going strong.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30I'm saddened that despite his inventive genius,
0:27:30 > 0:27:33Samuel Crompton of Bolton failed to capitalise
0:27:33 > 0:27:36on his invention of the spinning mule.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40In Wigan, Margaret Poole enjoyed greater material success
0:27:40 > 0:27:42with her homely recipes.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45She has reminded me that for the rail traveller,
0:27:45 > 0:27:47there are two essential artefacts -
0:27:47 > 0:27:51a Bradshaw's guide and a sustaining pie.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04On the next leg, I hear about unscrupulous Victorian grocers.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07Oatmeal was often mixed with gravel or sand.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10This appears to be about 90% gravel.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14I have to hail a train at a request stop.
0:28:14 > 0:28:15Success!
0:28:15 > 0:28:20And I learn of King James's beefiest knighting.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24He took his sword and dubbed this loin of beef,
0:28:24 > 0:28:27"Arise, Sir Loin."
0:28:27 > 0:28:28And everybody went, whoa!