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 > 0:00:16and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21Stop by stop, he told them where to go,
0:00:21 > 0:00:23what to see and where to stay.
0:00:24 > 0:00:29Now, 170 years later, I'm aboard for a series of rail adventures
0:00:29 > 0:00:34across the United Kingdom to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57The British Empire reached its zenith under
0:00:57 > 0:01:01Queen Victoria, and mechanisation boosted its industrial output.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04But as technology spread to other countries,
0:01:04 > 0:01:07no British industry could rest on its laurels.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10As I continue my journey north towards Leeds
0:01:10 > 0:01:13across the Midlands, I shall be interested to see
0:01:13 > 0:01:18how British manufacturing adapted to prosperity and competition.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26All this week, I've been travelling away from the capital
0:01:26 > 0:01:27and its metropolitan sprawl,
0:01:27 > 0:01:31heading north on Stephenson's London to Birmingham line.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33I'll explore the Victorian manufacturing hub
0:01:33 > 0:01:35of the East Midlands
0:01:35 > 0:01:38before ending my journey in the Yorkshire city of Leeds.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42On this leg, I'm riding the tracks into the Midlands,
0:01:42 > 0:01:45to Northampton and Rugby
0:01:45 > 0:01:49and onto the city of Coventry before changing lines for Nuneaton.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53Today I discover a tradition unaltered since Victorian times.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55It's like most things in life - you can learn it in two weeks,
0:01:55 > 0:01:58but it takes you a lifetime to be any good at it.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02I hear about the man who changed education around the world.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05These were people capable of running the British Empire.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08Very much so, and that was part of Arnold's great reform.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12And I see how a city rode out the economic cycles.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17This is the forerunner of all modern bicycles, known as a safety bicycle.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21- For the good reason that everything that came before was not!- Exactly!
0:02:26 > 0:02:30My first stop today is Northampton, which Bradshaw's tells me
0:02:30 > 0:02:35has an industrious population, some thousands of whom are engaged
0:02:35 > 0:02:39in boot and shoe manufacture, which has been here for centuries.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50Northampton, known as the land of the shoe makers, has been
0:02:50 > 0:02:53producing shoes since the 15th century,
0:02:53 > 0:02:57thanks to a plentiful supply of wood, water and cattle.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02In 1642, a group of shoemakers won a contract to supply the army,
0:03:02 > 0:03:04and by 1841,
0:03:04 > 0:03:07fuelled by the arrival of the London to Birmingham railway line,
0:03:07 > 0:03:10the shoe industry had grown to nearly 2,000 shoemakers.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14Today, although the skills have changed little over the centuries,
0:03:14 > 0:03:17there are only five firms left.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22Keeping traditions alive is Crockett and Jones, founded in 1879.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26The process starts with the leather being cut by a skilled cutter,
0:03:26 > 0:03:28called a clicker.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31David Mains oversees the factory's 21 clickers.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34So clicking is cutting, is it?
0:03:34 > 0:03:39It is cutting, yes, and it's not the actual cutting that's the skill.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43The skill is getting the sections on the right areas of the leather.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45- Avoiding defects? - Avoiding the defects, yeah.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47Anybody can come and cut a piece out.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51It's knowing where to put the pieces, that's where the skill is.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56Cutting all the parts of a shoe from the skins is done by hand,
0:03:56 > 0:03:58using a pattern and a knife.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01The key thing is to create as little waste as possible.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03In Victorian times, the patterns would have been
0:04:03 > 0:04:07made from cardboard edged with brass, and the knives
0:04:07 > 0:04:10clicking against their wooden blocks gave the cutters their name.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13- Ooh.- Moved my pattern there.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16You said this was the easy bit. It isn't!
0:04:16 > 0:04:17LAUGHTER
0:04:17 > 0:04:20It's nice round the curve there.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22Not too bad.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25I've got a little bit of a rough edge there, haven't I?
0:04:25 > 0:04:28Just missed a bit. How many years' practice have you had?
0:04:28 > 0:04:30Well, I've been here 20 years now.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32I'll talk to you again in 20 years! Thank you so much, David.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34- Thank you.- Bye-bye.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39The striking thing about this factory is that the process has
0:04:39 > 0:04:42stayed essentially the same for 134 years.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44One of the managers, James Fox,
0:04:44 > 0:04:48is taking me onto the factory floor to the closing room,
0:04:48 > 0:04:51where all the leather parts are stitched together.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54This room seems to be entirely filled with women.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56Do you practise segregation here?
0:04:56 > 0:04:59We don't, we don't, it's more of a natural occurrence.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02The skills that are involved in the closing room
0:05:02 > 0:05:06tend to be more delicate operations, there's less manual labour involved.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08Still extremely highly skilled.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10I think there's about 110 people in here,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13100 of which are women, and about nine or ten gents
0:05:13 > 0:05:16that you will see dotted around the room.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19I have seen them dotted around. All the time I've been in your factory,
0:05:19 > 0:05:21I've had this kind of Victorian feel.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24You know, the wooden panelling and the shape of the windows
0:05:24 > 0:05:27and all that sort of thing, and then to come into a room that's entirely
0:05:27 > 0:05:31filled with one gender is also a very Victorian feel.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34And as in Victorian times,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37many of these workers are second or third generation shoemakers.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42- Hello. I'm Michael. - Pleased to meet you.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44- What's your name?- My name's Lisa.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46And what is it that you're doing to the shoe?
0:05:46 > 0:05:48I'm eyeleting the shoe. I'm only doing half a shoe.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51It's just, erm, putting the holes in for the laces.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54Quite a skilled job. You've got to get them in the right place
0:05:54 > 0:05:57or else that's that sort of ruined and it's got to be re-cut again.
0:05:57 > 0:05:58How long have you been here?
0:05:58 > 0:06:01I've been here 23 years now.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03Did you have any family here before?
0:06:03 > 0:06:07My mother used to work here, yeah, and my grandfather worked in the clicking room upstairs.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10Your mother, how many years was she here?
0:06:10 > 0:06:12Erm... All her life, as well. She's 75 now.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15- Thank you, Lisa.- You're welcome. - Lovely to see you.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17- Thank you. Bye.- Bye.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23It takes nearly three hours of continuous hand-stitching
0:06:23 > 0:06:26to sew the leather uppers. James wants to show me
0:06:26 > 0:06:29a machine that radically reduced how long it took to make them
0:06:29 > 0:06:32and changed the way in which they could be repaired.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36The Goodyear welting machine was invented in America
0:06:36 > 0:06:38in the late 1860s,
0:06:38 > 0:06:41mechanically fastening the sole to the shoe.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45A strip of leather - the welt - was stitched to the upper.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48Then the sole could be easily attached.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52Michael, this is David, our Goodyear welter.
0:06:52 > 0:06:53- Hi, David.- Pleased to meet you.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57I've just been hearing that this Goodyear welting changed shoemaking,
0:06:57 > 0:07:01- why is that?- Before Goodyear welting was actually introduced,
0:07:01 > 0:07:03the bottom of the shoe was flat
0:07:03 > 0:07:08and then you covered it with a full sheet of leather, which had to
0:07:08 > 0:07:10- be either riveted or stapled right through.- Yes.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14So it used a lot more leather, a lot more time, a lot more labour.
0:07:14 > 0:07:19They came up with a process of putting a rib round the bottom of the insole,
0:07:19 > 0:07:23to which we then sew a welt.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36That's approximately 80 stitches.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40And how long did that take them when doing it by hand?
0:07:40 > 0:07:45- Two hours to a pair.- No!- Yeah, still does in Scandinavian countries,
0:07:45 > 0:07:47where they still do them by hand.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51You've added this leather strip, that's called the welt,
0:07:51 > 0:07:54and then you're going to put the sole on there
0:07:54 > 0:07:58and you're going to sew through the welt into the sole
0:07:58 > 0:08:01- and that's going to hold the whole shoe together?- Yes.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05How many years did it take you to achieve that level of skill?
0:08:05 > 0:08:08I've been welt sewing about 40 years, I suppose.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10It's like most things in life - you can learn it in two weeks
0:08:10 > 0:08:12but it takes you a lifetime to be any good at it.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Extraordinary. I take my hat off to you.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17- Thanks very much.- Thanks very much.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23A hand-sewn pair of these quality shoes
0:08:23 > 0:08:27could cost from £350 to £4,000.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31What makes them so special is that they're made in
0:08:31 > 0:08:33the traditional way, which has never been bettered.
0:08:33 > 0:08:38To step into this factory is to be transported back through time.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41A Victorian could have seen similar tools
0:08:41 > 0:08:43working the fine-smelling leather.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54My journey from Northampton to Rugby
0:08:54 > 0:08:57is on the London-Midland line and takes 20 minutes.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04As I approach Rugby, Bradshaw's draws attention to the
0:09:04 > 0:09:07place of learning that put the town on the map.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10'By the exertions of successive masters,
0:09:10 > 0:09:12'especially the late Dr Arnold,
0:09:12 > 0:09:16'it ranks as one of the best grammar schools in the country.'
0:09:16 > 0:09:20As a grammar school boy myself, I'm anxious to learn more about
0:09:20 > 0:09:25Thomas Arnold, a man who left his fingerprints on British education.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41The school was founded in 1567 by a local philanthropist,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44Lawrence Sheriff, who wanted to provide an education
0:09:44 > 0:09:45for the boys of Rugby.
0:09:45 > 0:09:50400 years later, the school retains a far-flung reputation
0:09:50 > 0:09:53as one of the country's leading public schools.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57The buildings conjure up the spirit of Dr Arnold.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01I'm meeting the school's archivist, Rusty Maclean, to find out
0:10:01 > 0:10:03more about the school's most celebrated head.
0:10:03 > 0:10:05Hello, Rusty.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07Very pleased to meet you.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10Now, Dr Thomas Arnold has gone down in history
0:10:10 > 0:10:12as a great educational reformer.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14What was it that he was reforming here at Rugby?
0:10:14 > 0:10:18Well, when Arnold arrived here in 1828, he arrived at a school
0:10:18 > 0:10:21which, in common with most other schools of the day,
0:10:21 > 0:10:25was an institution where boys were regarded as empty vessels
0:10:25 > 0:10:29to be filled with facts and then flung out into the world.
0:10:29 > 0:10:34Arnold, through his subtle reforms, remodelling of existing practices,
0:10:34 > 0:10:36transformed the whole idea of education,
0:10:36 > 0:10:40and his influence spread not only through the rest of England
0:10:40 > 0:10:41but throughout the world.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48Rusty is taking me to the classroom where Arnold used to teach.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03What were Arnold's principles of education?
0:11:03 > 0:11:05Well, in one of the first meetings he had with his sixth form,
0:11:05 > 0:11:10he laid out three principles. First, religious and moral principles,
0:11:10 > 0:11:12second, gentlemanly conduct,
0:11:12 > 0:11:16and third, intellectual academic ability.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20He was far more concerned with educating the whole person.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24It wasn't just about facts. It was about developing character.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28So he was training these young men of the school for what?
0:11:28 > 0:11:30Well, he was training them for just about everything,
0:11:30 > 0:11:34and boys went out from here into all walks of life -
0:11:34 > 0:11:37the military, the church, politics, the arts.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39But a big emphasis on administration.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42These were people capable of running the British Empire.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46Very much so, and that was part of Arnold's great reform.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50I see you have a handsome collection of graffiti.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53- These are desk lids, little tabletops, they were called.- A-ha.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57And this in a sense is not graffiti because the boys were actually
0:11:57 > 0:12:01permitted to carve their name on the desk lid before they left school.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04Anyone that I would recognise?
0:12:04 > 0:12:07You may recognise the name Chamberlain.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11- This is Neville, our Prime Minister at the beginning of World War II. - It is.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13An intriguing reference in my Bradshaw's.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17"The fagging or monitor system prevails at the school..." -
0:12:17 > 0:12:19this is in the mid-1860s -
0:12:19 > 0:12:22"..but has somewhat been mitigated by Dr Arnold."
0:12:22 > 0:12:24What does that mean?
0:12:24 > 0:12:26Well, fagging originally was a mentoring system.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30If you think that boys as young as six were entering this school,
0:12:30 > 0:12:32probably their first time away from home
0:12:32 > 0:12:34into a completely alien environment,
0:12:34 > 0:12:36senior boys would take them under their wing,
0:12:36 > 0:12:38show them where everything was,
0:12:38 > 0:12:42and in return, the boys would provide menial tasks. Perhaps popping across
0:12:42 > 0:12:44the road to get a bowl of baked potatoes
0:12:44 > 0:12:46or polishing the senior boy's boots.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48Trouble is, by the time Arnold arrived,
0:12:48 > 0:12:51this had effectively become institutionalised bullying.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54He made it a somewhat kinder place, did he?
0:12:54 > 0:12:58Very much so. It was an environment of trust.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04Dr Arnold most certainly left his mark on Victorian schooling,
0:13:04 > 0:13:07while one of his pupils left his boot-print
0:13:07 > 0:13:09on the sporting field of dreams.
0:13:10 > 0:13:15Ah, William Webb Ellis, the boy who invented rugby football.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19And when were the rules of rugby football formalised?
0:13:19 > 0:13:23The sport was first codified officially in August 1845 by a group
0:13:23 > 0:13:27of three Rugby school boys, one of whom was one of Thomas Arnold's sons.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30When they were codified, they were actually produced...
0:13:30 > 0:13:32printed in a little book...
0:13:32 > 0:13:33Why so small?
0:13:33 > 0:13:37In those days there were no referees, the boys didn't need them,
0:13:37 > 0:13:40so they would take this booklet out on the pitch with them.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45As the game developed, the rules changed to allow faster play.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49It made matches more exciting for both players and fans.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53It also meant that a referee on the pitch eventually became
0:13:53 > 0:13:55compulsory, in order to settle disputes.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59The game's roots have not been forgotten.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03The Rugby World Cup is known as the Webb Ellis Trophy.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07If Webb Ellis were watching now, I'm sure he'd be chuffed to see
0:14:07 > 0:14:11how his game is being played today, pretty much as he invented it.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18I have to admit that I'm not very sporty, but in for a penny...
0:14:23 > 0:14:25Crouch, touch, set.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00It's only a short trip up the London to Birmingham mainline
0:15:00 > 0:15:01to my next stop, Coventry.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11After a game of rugby, an early bath is called for,
0:15:11 > 0:15:14and Bradshaw's is ever helpful.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18"Coombe Abbey, belonging to the Earl of Craven, has abbey ruins,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22"with a gallery of paintings by van Dyck." It sounds perfect.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39Coombe Abbey was founded as a monastery by Cistercian monks
0:15:39 > 0:15:41in the 12th century.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44Following the dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s,
0:15:44 > 0:15:48in the early 17th century it became a Royal property,
0:15:48 > 0:15:52home to Elizabeth Stuart, the daughter of King James I.
0:15:52 > 0:15:57Today it's a hotel, where I'll break my journey.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00It may be my paranoia as a former politician,
0:16:00 > 0:16:05but I find I sleep most soundly when secure behind a moat.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11There is a moat, but I haven't found any van Dycks.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14Still, it's a good place to rest my sporty legs.
0:16:27 > 0:16:32A beautiful new day sees me heading into the manufacturing heartland of Coventry.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37As far back as Roman Times its central location made it
0:16:37 > 0:16:40ideally situated for trade.
0:16:40 > 0:16:45And the arrival of the train helped to fuel its commercial ambitions.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47- Hello.- Hello, good morning.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50- I'm using this rather old guide book...- Bradshaw, yes.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55Bradshaw! And it sounds to me that Coventry is well known for watchmaking.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58Now, I didn't know that, is Coventry well known for watchmaking?
0:16:58 > 0:17:01- Yes, it's known throughout the world.- What sort of watches?
0:17:01 > 0:17:08They do what they call, Half Hunters, the big ones the chaps wore across here with the Albert chain.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12Yes, they're very prized and very expensive.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15- When does that go back to? - Erm, in the 1800s.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17What do you know about watch making?
0:17:17 > 0:17:23Erm, they used to have top shops, they lived in the two floors then they lived in the top shops
0:17:23 > 0:17:27with big windows at the top and that's where they used to do the watches.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30- Quite proud of all that, are you? - Oh, God, yeah - we are, aren't we?
0:17:30 > 0:17:33- Of all the industries we've had and lost, aren't we?- Yes.
0:17:35 > 0:17:42At its peak, in the 1850s, Coventry's watch-making industry employed 2,000 people.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47And one of the biggest firms, Rotherhams, was producing 9,000 watches per year.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51But by the 1860s, the industry was in decline
0:17:51 > 0:17:55because of cheap imports of Swiss and American watches.
0:17:55 > 0:18:00So generations of craftsmen learnt to adapt their skills to survive.
0:18:01 > 0:18:06I'm meeting Steve Bagley, from Coventry Transport Museum at his rather special lock up.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11Steve, what an amazing sight. An Aladdin's cave.
0:18:11 > 0:18:16- Yeah, cars and bikes made in Coventry.- Absolutely glorious.
0:18:16 > 0:18:21So how did Coventry get from watches to bicycles?
0:18:21 > 0:18:25There was a slump in the watch-making industry and a few entrepreneurs
0:18:25 > 0:18:27opened up sewing machine factories,
0:18:27 > 0:18:31because the skills of making a watch was very similar to making a sewing machine.
0:18:31 > 0:18:36And then there was slump in the sewing machine manufacturing industry.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40Again, these entrepreneurs decided to build some of these French-build boneshakers,
0:18:40 > 0:18:42velocipedes as they were also known.
0:18:42 > 0:18:49So in 1868, these were brought to Coventry and the sewing machine factory began to manufacture these.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51What comes next?
0:18:51 > 0:18:55What they began to do, was to make the front wheel on the velocipede bigger,
0:18:55 > 0:18:58so we ended up with what's now known as the penny farthing.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00Or to call it its right name, the Ordinary.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04But it is nicknamed penny farthing because we had a coin called a penny
0:19:04 > 0:19:07and a much smaller coin called a farthing.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10Exactly. Getting on and off is an issue.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13They were made for athletic gentlemen to ride.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17But the penny farthing was lacking one vital ingredient...
0:19:17 > 0:19:19..a bicycle chain.
0:19:19 > 0:19:25The Eureka moment came in 1885 with the invention of the Rover safety bicycle.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29This is the modern bicycle as we know it today.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32A fella called John Kemp Starley in Coventry,
0:19:32 > 0:19:36he owned the Rover Cycle Company, that became the Rover Car Company,
0:19:36 > 0:19:39still existed till very recently, and he developed this bicycle
0:19:39 > 0:19:43in the mid-1880s and it is the forerunner of all modern bicycles.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46And known as a safety bicycle.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50- Er...for the good reason that everything that came before was not?- Exactly.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55During the 1890s, Coventry became the cycle capital of the world,
0:19:55 > 0:20:00and companies like Rover were producing thousands of these a year.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04So much so that factories grew up all over the city.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08From about seven companies in the 1870s
0:20:08 > 0:20:12to about 50-odd companies by the 1890s.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16It just exploded on the back of this safety bicycle.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20And yet, I think of Coventry as being associated with motors?
0:20:20 > 0:20:24- That's right.- So how was that transition made, from bicycles to motors?
0:20:24 > 0:20:27Again, same old story, slump in the cycle industry.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31So the businessmen and the entrepreneurs who were making cycles
0:20:31 > 0:20:34decided to try these new-fangled motor cars that were being developed,
0:20:34 > 0:20:36mainly in Germany and France on the Continent.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41The bicycle bubble burst in the late 1890s.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45Only 20 years later, the car industry was booming.
0:20:45 > 0:20:51By 1939, engineers had developed super-fast production lines
0:20:51 > 0:20:54and 38,000 people were employed in making cars.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59The average price of a family car was around £150.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04This lock up is an education to me, I had no idea
0:21:04 > 0:21:07so many different types of cars were made in Coventry,
0:21:07 > 0:21:12you've got Jaguar, Triumph, Standard, Alvis, Hillman. It's incredible, isn't it?
0:21:12 > 0:21:16It is, isn't it? And we've actually recorded 142 car companies
0:21:16 > 0:21:19have been registered in the city over the years.
0:21:19 > 0:21:24Ranging from small companies like Hillman, who made small...like the Hillman Minx.
0:21:24 > 0:21:30Very large cars like this fantastic Jaguar Mark VIII. Top of the range.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33What a lovely car that is, isn't it?
0:21:33 > 0:21:39It's beautiful, isn't it? It's got a column gear change so you can have a long bench seat in the front.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43It has nothing separating the two seats, which for safety,
0:21:43 > 0:21:44is not the best idea!
0:21:44 > 0:21:48- Stick three people on the front bench. And of course no seat belts.- That's right.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55- Are you going by the station? - Why not?
0:21:55 > 0:21:57- Give you a lift in this, if you like. - Thank you!
0:22:01 > 0:22:06By the 1960s and '70s, the glory days of making cars in Coventry, like this Alvis,
0:22:06 > 0:22:09were over and manufacturing was in decline.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12Foreign imports swept the market.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16But thanks once more to the adaptability and the tenacity of the people of Coventry,
0:22:16 > 0:22:18the re-invention continues.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20Along with making London taxis,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23Coventry's engineers now make high-end parts
0:22:23 > 0:22:25for Land Rover and Jaguar,
0:22:25 > 0:22:28highly successful products in the luxury car market.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30Thank you, Steve.
0:22:32 > 0:22:33Bye.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44For the next part of my journey, I'm leaving Stephenson's
0:22:44 > 0:22:47London to Birmingham main line and heading east.
0:22:56 > 0:22:57Tickets and passes, please.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00As far as Nuneaton.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03- That's lovely. Thank you very much. - Thank you very much indeed.
0:23:03 > 0:23:08I'm travelling across Warwickshire towards Nuneaton to visit
0:23:08 > 0:23:13the childhood home of a great 19th-century author, Mary Ann Evans,
0:23:13 > 0:23:17who had one thing in common with Bradshaw...by George, she did.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25Mary Ann Evans, or George Eliot, as we know her,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28lived in Nuneaton for the first 21 years of her life
0:23:28 > 0:23:32before moving to London to become an essayist.
0:23:32 > 0:23:37Her success is the more remarkable because women writers in the 1850s were very rare.
0:23:37 > 0:23:44And while Britain underwent the Industrial Revolution, women's equality was scarcely on the agenda.
0:23:44 > 0:23:49I'm keen to find out from John Burton, who's chairman of the George Eliot Fellowship,
0:23:49 > 0:23:52why Mary wanted to keep her female identity a secret.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58Why did she take a man's pen name?
0:23:58 > 0:24:03Well, by the time her first work of fiction came out, she was living,
0:24:03 > 0:24:07the Victorians would have said "in sin" with George Henry Lewis.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09She couldn't marry him because he was already married.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13And so the first work of fiction, I think they used George Eliot
0:24:13 > 0:24:16in order to cover the fact that
0:24:16 > 0:24:21the press would have made a lot of the fact this was George Henry Lewis' common-law wife,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25rather than concentrating on the literary qualities of the novel.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30What perception does she bring to her work, why is it she's so remembered?
0:24:30 > 0:24:36I think she's so remembered because of the wisdom and the compassion,
0:24:36 > 0:24:38actually that she shows when you read her.
0:24:38 > 0:24:44She pulls you up short with her pre-Freudian, but psychological insights into human nature,
0:24:44 > 0:24:47which I still find quite extraordinary.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50I also feel that her humour is wonderful.
0:24:50 > 0:24:56It's not laugh-out-loud humour, but it's wonderful, subtle, very understanding, human nature,
0:24:56 > 0:25:00really, I think is at the core of what she's writing.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04Eliot started writing in the 1850s.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07I'd like to know what today's generation thinks.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11I'm joining readers from a Nuneaton book club.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15As a young person, do you think George Eliot is very challenging?
0:25:15 > 0:25:16Yes, definitely.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20Although she's a challenging writer, it doesn't mean it's impossible to read.
0:25:20 > 0:25:25You've really got to persevere with it, though, because she does really go into detail.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27When you can see it for what it is,
0:25:27 > 0:25:30you then start to enjoy it and appreciate what she's written.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33How would you rank Middlemarch amongst the novels that you've read?
0:25:33 > 0:25:36It's up there. I actually prefer some of her other novels.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39I think The Mill on the Floss is one of her best.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43When you read George Eliot, can you tell that it's a woman who's writing?
0:25:43 > 0:25:46I think so, yes, when we read Silas Marner,
0:25:46 > 0:25:50the detail she put in about the emotion,
0:25:50 > 0:25:52and describing the feelings.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56She published anonymously, her very first work of fiction
0:25:56 > 0:26:00and people assumed, a bit like the Brontes, really,
0:26:00 > 0:26:03that it was a clergyman writing.
0:26:03 > 0:26:10Except Charles Dickens, and he was the one person who tumbled to her identity and he commented
0:26:10 > 0:26:14on the range of emotional intelligence, we would say today.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18You've got a text over there, what are you reading about at the moment?
0:26:18 > 0:26:22It's a passage from Middlemarch about when the railways came in.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25"In the hundred to which Middlemarch belonged,
0:26:25 > 0:26:28"railways were as exciting a topic as the reform bill,
0:26:28 > 0:26:32"or the imminent horrors of Cholera and those who held the most
0:26:32 > 0:26:37"decided views on the subject were women and landholders.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40"Women both old and young regarded travelling by steam as
0:26:40 > 0:26:44"presumptuous and dangerous and argued against it by saying
0:26:44 > 0:26:47"that 'nothing would induce them to get into a railway carriage'."
0:26:49 > 0:26:52Very good, a lovely social observation. Of course,
0:26:52 > 0:26:54I think was largely true
0:26:54 > 0:26:58until Queen Victoria was persuaded by her husband to travel by train,
0:26:58 > 0:27:01at which point it became respectable for women.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05So, George Elliot, George Bradshaw, two wonderful
0:27:05 > 0:27:07reflections of the Victorian age.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13One difference is George Bradshaw's got a train to catch. Bye-bye.
0:27:24 > 0:27:31Watch makers in Coventry had to adapt to manufacturing first bicycles and then cars.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35Shoe makers in Northampton had to adapt to survive.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37Thomas Arnold, of Rugby School,
0:27:37 > 0:27:41believed in fashioning young gentlemen with adaptable minds.
0:27:41 > 0:27:46But George Eliot demonstrated that an educated woman could take
0:27:46 > 0:27:50her place amongst the most eminent Victorians.
0:27:55 > 0:28:00On the next leg of my next journey, I swap hats and view life from the other side of the tracks.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03All aboard, all aboard.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07I discover an astronomical invention that gave Hollywood a facelift.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10- Am I on the dot? - Yes, you are.- Yay!
0:28:10 > 0:28:12I never expected to get that right.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16And my mettle is tested at the world's largest bell foundry.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19To say I'm out of my comfort zone is to put it mildly.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23There is molten metal leaping around in the room.