Leicester to Loughborough Great British Railway Journeys

'In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain.

'His name was George Bradshaw

'and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.

'Stop by stop, he told them where to go,

'what to see and where to stay.

'And now, 170 years later,

'I'm aboard for a series of rail adventures

'across the United Kingdom

'to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.'

During the course of my journeys, I've often been struck

by how the Victorians pushed out the boundaries of human knowledge.

Today, I want to see how subsequent generations inherited

their spirit with new things being discovered and indeed unearthed.

All this week, I've been travelling away from the capital

and its toiling masses,

heading north on Stephenson's London to Birmingham line.

I've yet to explore

the Victorian manufacturing hub of the East Midlands

before ending my journey in the Yorkshire city of Leeds.

On today's journey, I travel on the first Victorian main line,

through Leicestershire to Rothley,

to meet up with the last main line to be built,

and then it's a short hop to Loughborough.

'On this leg of my journey, I swap hats

'and view life from the other side of the tracks.'

Rothley! This is Rothley!

All aboard!

'I discover an astronomical invention

'that gave Hollywood a face-lift.'

-Am I on the dot?

-Yes, you are indeed.

Wahey! I never expected to get that right.

'And my mettle is tested at the world's largest bell foundry.'

To say I'm out of my comfort zone is to put it mildly.

There is molten metal leaping around in the room.

As we approach Leicester, my Bradshaw's reminds me

that, "the famous crook-backed King Richard III,

"was brought here after the battle of Bosworth Field,

"and buried in the Grey Priory."

Nowadays we can find out whether Bradshaw's was right.

My guidebook, also quotes Shakespeare,

whose view of Richard was that he was a vile swine.

Both the Victorians and, indeed, I have been greatly

influenced in our view of Richard by the Bard.

'The Bard and Bradshaw would be amazed that, centuries later,

'the body of Richard would be discovered in a car park.'

TANNOY: 'Leicester Station.

'Leicester Station is going to be our final destination.'

'Richard of York, later Richard III,

'was named protector of two princes - his nephews.

'To secure his succession to the throne,

'it's rumoured that he had them murdered in the Tower of London.

'I'm interested to know whether Shakespeare's view of Richard

'is supported by historical fact.

'I'm meeting Professor Gail Marshall from Leicester University

'in the historic New Walk area of the city.'

Bradshaw's quotes Shakespeare's view of Richard III as a vile swine.

A pretty negative view. Was that the settled view of the time?

Well, it was the view that he attributes to the Earl of Richmond,

who would later become Henry VII, so it's very much the Tudor view.

But what Shakespeare does,

which is quite interesting, is add to that considerably.

He makes Richard a much more interesting villain.

He gives him the most tremendous linguistic resources.

He gives him a limp as well, but the linguistic resources, I think, are

the things that have captured the Elizabethans' imagination

and still capture our imagination

and obviously captured Bradshaw's imagination too.

Do we know yet whether Richard III was a villain?

I don't think we can possibly know that

cos the sources are so contradictory.

What we do know is that Shakespeare's version of Richard

as a great villain, though an interesting villain,

is one that's persisted.

But I think what we can also think about now, uniquely,

is the new source that we've got,

which is the very source of Richard's own body,

which has just been discovered.

And I think that that visual image we have of the skeleton

is possibly something that might begin to dispel our sense of Richard

as a rather... You know, as a simply villainous character.

'It's truly remarkable that, 528 years later,

'we have this new evidence.

'There were indications that Richard's body had been buried

'in Leicester, in Grey Friar's Friary.

'Today there's nothing left of the Friary, so looking

'for his body was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

'But under this white marquee in a council car park

'turned out to be the spot.

'Very kindly, the Leicester University archaeologists

'Richard Buckley and Matthew Morris

'have agreed to meet me at the site of their great discovery.'

So who actually found him?

That'll be me.

Were you looking for him?

Well, yes and no.

I mean, the project was looking with the hope of finding him

but it was always going to be a long shot.

When we put the first trench in, there was no way we knew we were

going to find him within the first couple of hours of the excavation.

It wasn't until we'd literally found the vertebrae that we actually

suddenly saw with dawning realisation

that actually this could be who we're looking for all along.

Because it had this kind of S curvature?

Yeah, and it was really obvious S curvature in the ground.

You couldn't mistake it for anything other than scoliosis.

And had it been assumed that Shakespeare was right that

Richard had had this disability?

Well, we came with very open minds.

I think we thought we might excavate up to six sets of remains

of individuals, who were males, of course,

and we might be lucky to find

some evidence that one of them had died in battle.

We didn't think for a minute that we'd find an individual who had such

obvious characteristics like the scoliosis.

'The other obvious indicators were the injuries that Richard

'sustained at the battle of Bosworth Field in 1485.

'Fighting his Lancastrian rival, Henry Tudor,

'some of his army defected, leaving Richard vulnerable.

'He suffered numerous blows to the head.

'His naked body was then paraded through Leicester.'

How lucky was it that you discovered that bone?

Incredibly lucky. I mean,

we always planned on putting a trench broadly here,

but the minutiae of the placement, you know, 50cm here, 50cm there...

And you can see, that was the edge of our original trench there.

If I'd moved it slightly further that way, we'd have missed him

entirely and not known he was there. All of this is a modern cellar

and it came to within that far above his legs.

If they'd dug it any deeper than they actually had,

we wouldn't have had him from the waist down at the very least.

If they'd made it slightly wider, we might not have had him at all.

Extraordinary.

'Remarkably, it was world-renowned work on DNA done over many years

'that enabled scientists to provide comprehensive proof

'that this was the lost King of England

'and that he'd died a bloody death aged 32.

'I'm meeting Professor Schurer

'at Leicester University's genetics department

'where Richard's body was sent for DNA profiling.'

Now, I believe that DNA was discovered

about half a century ago, wasn't it?

But a great breakthrough

was made at the University of Leicester wasn't it?

Absolutely. In fact, at five past nine on September the tenth, 1984,

now Sir Alec Jeffries had an absolute breakthrough when he realised

that DNA could be fingerprinted in such a way

that meant that everybody had an individual marker.

'I can see why they'd bring the bones here for DNA testing, but what

'I don't understand is how they'd identify the DNA as Richard's.'

It's important to realise that there are two fundamental parts

of our DNA. They are inherited from our father,

which is the Y chromosome -

that passes from father to son, father to son, father to son.

And, from our mother, we inherit DNA,

both sons and daughters inherit mitochondrial DNA.

But only women can pass it on.

So what we were able to do was to trace living modern day

descendants through Anne of York, his elder sister.

So was this another fantastic chance that there was

a daughter, followed by a daughter, followed by a daughter?

It's so much of a chance, had we discovered the skeleton maybe in

30 or 40 years' time, that line would have died out.

All of the living day descendants of Anne of York

are the last of their line. They will not be passing on

mitochondrial DNA to a next generation.

This is the stuff of fiction, isn't it? Absolutely extraordinary.

'Anne died giving birth to her only daughter from her second

'marriage, Anne St Leger.

'But in each successive generation after, there was

'a daughter followed by a daughter.

'In fact, Professor Schurer already knew about Canadian furniture maker

'Michael Ibsen, descended through 17 generations.

'But he was also able to trace another living descendant of Anne,

'who remains anonymous.

'Testing both their DNAs gave Schurer proof positive.'

When we first of all realised that, A, those two people matched,

who'd never met in their lives, had no idea of their existence.

And then, of course, the whole thing triangulated

with the mitochondrial DNA extracted from the skeleton.

And that was another Eureka moment.

So, you had two people whose DNA matched,

and then you bring the sample from bone and it matches too.

Indeed.

Closely?

Very, very closely. Yes.

No doubt about it, the fellow in the car park is Richard III.

The fellow in the car park is Richard III.

'I find the fortuitous discovery of Richard and the happy coincidences

'that allowed the university

'to offer proof of his identity really exciting.

'A modern Bradshaw would surely recommend a visit to Leicester

'to understand how science can make history live

'and solve the puzzles that have perplexed us for centuries.

'Much as I'd like to discover more, I must travel on,

'just seven minutes down the line.'

My next stop will be Syston,

known to Bradshaw's as Syston Junction, where I intend to

focus on a Victorian invention which has since stolen the limelight.

'Syston was noteworthy enough to get a mention in the Domesday book

'and the town is now known for the part it played in photography.

'In the 1800s, the Victorians rapidly developed photography

'and Cooke Optics became renowned for creating the triplet lens

'that eliminated fuzzy photos.

'From its historic Stoughton Street factory,

'its lenses were exported all around the world.

'Today, it is still one of the top lens suppliers to Hollywood

'and I'm meeting its Chief Operating Officer Alan Merrells.'

How did you first get involved with Hollywood, then?

The defining point, really, was when films became talkies

and were no longer silent.

The silent movies were lit by arc lights, which were extremely noisy.

And so you had to invent the silent light.

Well, we didn't invent the silent light, but we actually had a lens

that allowed a lot more light through and it enabled

cinematographers to use a lower level of light to shoot the movies.

-And what's going on here?

-Basically, this is traditional polishing.

It's been done like this for hundreds of years, really.

It's quite an old machine, but we're using traditional techniques.

Using... We've got multiple lenses in a block here,

being actually polished with a pitch polisher.

This goes back hundreds of years, basically, how we polish this.

It's basically jeweller's rouge.

And I suppose we're talking minute degrees of accuracy.

That's correct, yeah. Approximately a millionth of an inch.

Fantastic. Thank you very much indeed.

'What makes the Triplet special is it's made up of three

'precision lenses and, as you focus the camera,

'the three work together to bring the picture into focus.

'It became the lens of choice for professional photographers

'like Frank Hurley, who in 1914 followed Ernest Shackleton

'on his expedition to the South Pole.

'Today, the skills of these Leicestershire craftsmen are still

'highly prized, creating the Cooke Look

'with their finest prime lenses.'

So what exactly are you up to here?

What I'm doing at the moment is calibrating a focus lens.

Each focus lens has been calibrated

so what you do is ten foot reads ten foot.

-Are you doing that by eye?

-We are indeed.

-How long have you been doing this?

-I've been doing it for 15 years.

-Can I do it for 15 seconds?

-Of course you can.

I'll move it.

So what do I have to do?

Just focus a seaman's star. If I... Can you see an image there?

I can see, yeah, a kind of fan shape.

-OK. If I move it, it'll disappear.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Right?

Now you try and focus it.

I can see a star. And I've got to bring that into focus.

-That's what you're looking for - a sharp image.

-OK.

So, I'll over-correct so I go beyond it.

That's gone beyond it.

Until you get a sharp image.

How's that?

You look yourself.

Crack onto it.

Am I on the dot?

-Yes, you are indeed.

-Wahey!

I never expected to get that right. Wow.

'I'm beginning to feel a whole new career coming on.

'This time, on the other side of the camera.

'I can also see why the lenses have such an impressive filmography -

'everything from James Bond to Harry Potter.

'And in recognition of their 120 years of service to Hollywood,

'they have just been awarded an Oscar'

'For the team here in Leicester, many of whom are second

'and third generation Cooke employees, it's a huge honour.'

As the day draws to the end, I'm going to alight at Sileby station.

Bradshaw's tells me in the vicinity is Mount Sorrel - a lovely spot.

And draws attention to Rothley Temple, belonging to J Parker Esq.

A good place to spend the night.

I'll be interested to know how Rothley found its way,

not only in to Bradshaw's, but also into the history books.

'From 1231, Rothley was home to the Knights Templar,

'who were rectors of the magnificent Catholic church.

'After their demise, the Babington family

'began their eight generations of residence, until 1845.

'Then the Manor was sold off to J Parker, an eminent local QC.

'Today, Rothley Manor is a hotel

'and the perfect place to break my journey.'

I've found my spot in Leicestershire to take my rest.

Richard III lay undisturbed for 528 years.

I hope to wake in the morning.

'I'm up early because I have a special date

'at a very special station.

'You won't find Rothley on the map, or in Bradshaw's.

'This line, which was originally part of the Great Central Railway,

'was built by railway entrepreneur Sir Edward Watkin to provide a more

'direct line from London-Marylebone to Sheffield and Manchester'

'He also had ambitions that his line would connect to France.

'While it didn't survive long enough to make it across the Channel,

'it owes its life today to a group of enthusiasts who saved it.'

Hello, Richard.

-Good morning, Michael.

-Good to see you.

-And yourself. Sit down.

Now, this railway station, Rothley, is not in my Bradshaw's guide.

Presumably, then, because this line was built later than the 1860s?

A lot later. It only opened in about 1900

and it survived for barely 60 years before British Railways closed it.

How does it come to be reopened again?

Round about 1969, a preservation scheme was developed

by a small group of enthusiasts and, 44 years later,

here we are today with eight miles of double track railway.

Trains can pass each other

rather than having to wait in passing loops in stations.

And you're capable of pretty high speeds as well.

Yes, at times we do testing of steam locos up to 60mph.

That must be very good fun. You must love doing that.

Absolutely.

'Today, thanks to the passion and enthusiasm of Richard

'and the Great Central Railway Heritage Trust,

'there are six working steam locomotives and 17 carriages.

'I've offered to work my passage to Loughborough

'behind the King Edward II.'

Rothley! This is Rothley!

All aboard for Quorn and Woodhouse and Loughborough Central!

'I knew those years of shouting in Parliament would come in handy.'

WHISTLE BLOWS

WHISTLE BLOWS

'This majestic King Class locomotive was built in Swindon in 1930 for

'the Great Western Railway

'and was only withdrawn from service only in 1962.'

Tickets, please. Tickets, please.

-Good morning to you, sir.

-I hope you are enjoying your ride.

-We are indeed.

-We have. We've had a lovely breakfast

and now we get to relax for the rest of the day.

-Just check you're...

-It is today's.

-Check you're legitimate.

-And I am a member.

-I think we'll put a hole in there anyway.

Yes, you can do that. I'll keep that one.

There we go. I don't think I can put a hole in that one.

THEY LAUGH

'In steam's heyday, a key part of the service

'was providing passengers with hot cooked food.

'Keeping up with tradition, today's menus sound very tempting.

'Sweet capsicum terrine with basil vinaigrette

'followed by pan-fried sea trout, and gateau.

'I have a reservation with resident chef Liam Tinsley.'

-This is a vintage kitchen, isn't it?

-Yes.

What's the most you can produce out of this kitchen?

A seven-course meal on Saturday nights.

-A seven-course meal?

-Yeah.

-For how many people?

-80.

80 people. That's absolutely fantastic.

So how long have you been on the trains? You're a young man.

I've been coming down since I was eight.

I've been cooking since I was 16.

And I've gone through an apprenticeship

and I'm now an NVQ Level II qualified chef.

-And you're enjoying it, evidently.

-Oh, yeah.

-Fantastic.

-I wish I had time to stay.

-That's OK. It's nice meeting you.

I wish I could have a seven-course meal!

-Bye-bye, Liam.

-Bye. Thank you.

-Thank you.

'Thanks to people power, this line has been saved

'and transformed into something special.

'In the future, the trust hopes to turn the southern terminus

'into a branch of the National Railway Museum.

'And the northern terminus is my next destination - Loughborough.'

TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

There was another sound as evocative of the 19th century

as the locomotive whistle.

From factories and churches, village halls and schools,

you could hear the sound of the bell.

And here at Loughborough is the place where the story can be told.

'It was a Loughborough parish church

'which invited the world's largest bell foundry

'to set up business in the town.

'In 1839, they commissioned John Taylor and Company to cast

'their bells, with one condition - that they make them in Loughborough.

'The company moved and has been here since, sending bells

'all over the country, thanks to the closeness of the railway line.'

'I'm meeting one of the directors, Andrew Higson.'

What an amazing sight.

I feel as if I've walked into a painting, into another century.

An industrial cathedral.

That's very well put. But what goes on here?

These things with holes in them cannot be bells.

No, they're not bells. These are the cases in which we mould the bells.

They've got holes in them so that the loam, which is the moulding material, binds to it.

And each size of bell that we make, we've got a different-sized case for.

This is the moulding process actually in action.

You can see that Bill is slapping some what looks like mud on the inside of this case.

Hello, Bill. What is this gooey substance made of?

Three kinds of sand, goat hair and horse manure.

-What?

-Horse manure.

-Horse manure?

-Yeah.

Goat hair.

-These are the vital ingredients, are they?

-They are.

-Stood the test of time?

-There's nothing better.

Why would a mixture of sand and horse manure be the right lining,

if you are putting in hot, molten metal?

Clay in the sand, and the horse manure has uric acid in it,

and that acts as a plasticiser.

And the horses chew the straw into really short pieces

and they lattice across and it forms a really good bond.

When it's dry, it's as hard as anything you like.

It's like a semi-ceramic.

'Getting the loam's consistency and thickness just right

'takes all of Bill's 27 years' experience of making bells of every size and type.

'Now it's my turn to get my hands dirty.'

I love the smell of uric acid in the morning!

Apply it there, and work it towards me.

So slap it down hard.

'The bell I'm helping to make is for ringing in peal

'and, at over three feet wide,

'it's about average for this foundry.

'When it's rung, it sounds the note of A flat.

'At just under half a tonne, this mighty ringer is destined

'for a church in Guildford.'

Now we turn the strickle.

-Your what?

-Strickle. This is what this implement's called.

-Right.

Oh, yes. Look at that lovely shape of bell you're creating with your strickle,

these beautiful lines,

and that's all going to be reflected in the bell you are going to cast.

'Once made, the mould is left for a week,

'then fired for another week in a gas drying stove.

'Then it's ready for the cast.

'Copper and tin are used to smelt the bell in a process

'that hasn't changed in centuries.'

This is obviously the most fantastic temperature. Whoa! Look at that!

To say I'm out of my comfort zone is to put it mildly.

There is molten metal leaping around in the room.

What does this weigh, Roger?

Around 50 kilos there.

OK. Is there a technique to lifting it?

Just keep it level. OK.

'I'm definitely on the fast track for apprentices.

'Was pouring 50 kilos of molten metal in my contract?'

Superb.

Wow, look at that.

I never thought I'd stand this close to molten metal. OK.

The heat coming off it is absolutely fantastic.

I can feel it through my visor. I can feel it under my visor.

Take it easy, Roger. Thank you. Are you ready now? OK. There it is.

Bubbling down into the moulds.

-Back in the ring?

-Take them down.

-Down?

-That's fine.

-Oh, my God.

When you take the visor off, you really do feel the heat.

Now coming from all these moulds as well as from the crucible, the heating pot.

What's actually in there, Roger?

It's all hand bells.

-Well, ding-a-ling-a-ling.

-ROGER LAUGHS

It's uplifting to view a craft

that has passed down the generations.

But the foundry also has a sad tale to tell.

During the First World War,

three of John William Taylor's sons were killed in action.

In celebration of their lives

and those of other young men who died in the Great War,

Taylor and local townspeople created a memorial.

BELLS RING TUNEFULLY

This memorial bell tower in Loughborough's Queens' Park

houses a musical instrument called a carillon.

It's like an organ, with bells instead of pipes.

I'm going right to the top to meet Caroline Sharpe, the carillonneur.

BELLS RING OUT A TUNE

Hello. Come and join me.

Amazing instrument. What were you playing, by the way?

I was playing a piece by Sir Edward Elgar called Memorial Chimes.

It's a piece of music that was written

specifically for this carillon

to be played in the opening ceremony when it opened in 1923.

Are there many in Britain?

There's 15 carillons in the UK.

This one's particularly unique, because it is the only one

that was built specifically to house the bells and house the carillon

so you could say the whole building is the instrument.

Bells are rung by forcing a clapper down on to the bell

from levers at a keyboard, or clavier,

and I couldn't leave Loughborough or indeed Taylor's without trying the bells,

even if it's only a nursery rhyme.

One, two, three, four.

THEY PLAY "LONDON BRIDGE IS FALLING DOWN"

-Brilliant.

-What fun! You can make such a lot of noise!

You can. You feel very powerful up here.

Very powerful. I'm going to go and listen to it from outside.

Thank you so much, Caroline.

BELLS RING TUNEFULLY

In Hollywood,

the craftsmen of a small Leicester company are winning Oscars.

I was moved to stand by the car park grave of King Richard III

and to view his life through a Victorian lens.

One thing's for certain - if the Great Central Railway could be

disinterred, all over England, it would set the bells ringing.

On the next leg of my journey, I sees the grand designs of a Victorian Duke.

Derek, this building is huge.

When it was built, it was the largest in Europe,

with the exception of the manege next to the Kremlin in Moscow.

I discover a treasure trove of locomotive history.

This I do not believe.

Every square inch of wall is filled with railway memorabilia.

And I break a leg on the stage in Leeds.

Welcome to this Valhalla

-of Victorian Variety.

-Bravo.