Derby to Grantham Great British Railway Journeys


Derby to Grantham

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For Victorian Britons,

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George Bradshaw was a household name.

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At a time when railways were new,

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Bradshaw's guidebook inspired them to take to the tracks.

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I'm using a Bradshaw's Guide

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to understand how trains transformed Britain -

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its landscape, its industries, society and leisure time.

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As I crisscross the country 150 years later,

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it helps me to discover the Britain of today.

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Until the 20th century,

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Britain was an intensely Christian country

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and the first to experience an industrial revolution.

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George Bradshaw, a Quaker, seems to imply

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that Britain's virtues were responsible for its prosperity.

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Its perseverance in serious study had overcome mysteries in science

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and challenges in engineering

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and its international trade policy was liberal.

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Today, I'm beginning a journey

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that will take me from the noisy workshops of Derby

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to the mystic tranquillity

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of one of Britain's earliest Christian sites at Lindisfarne.

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Following my Bradshaw's Guide,

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my journey starts in the heart of the industrial East Midlands,

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then continues to Nottinghamshire,

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before heading north towards the rugged foothills of the Pennines.

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Crossing the gritty Yorkshire West Riding,

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I'll take in the history of the county

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before heading up the coast to the industrial cities of the North.

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My journey will end on the part-time island of Lindisfarne.

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On today's leg, I'll start in the railway hot spot of Derby,

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then travel to the city of Nottingham,

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before heading out to Sherwood Forest

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and the beautiful Newstead Abbey.

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My last stop is one of Lincolnshire's best-known markets.

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'On the first leg of this adventure,

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'I help to give an old engine a fresh start...'

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Ooh, my goodness!

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George is getting appallingly damaged here.

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'..discover the macho side of the poet Byron...'

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He was a fantastic boxer.

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He had the champion of England - Gentleman Jackson -

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actually teach him how to box.

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'..and find that my cooking skills

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'aren't what they're cracked up to be.'

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There's a bit of eggshell in there, Michael. So, point deducted.

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According to my guidebook,

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"various manufactures are carried out in Derby,

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"the most flourishing being silk, stockings, ribbons,

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"tape, cotton and porcelain."

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The first silk mill in England was built here in 1718

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and manufacturing has been a thread

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running through Derby's history ever since.

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Between the dawn of the 19th century and the time of my Bradshaw's Guide,

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Britain's population doubled,

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but Derby's multiplied five times - from 10,000 to 50,000 souls.

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The railways played no small part in that extraordinary transformation.

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As my guidebook points out,

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this industrial town was also the chief depot

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of the Midland Railway Company.

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To steer me through its illustrious history,

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I'm meeting engineering director Pete Erwin

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at what was affectionately known as the Loco Works.

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Nice to meet you.

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It's a fantastic railway territory, this,

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and I think you're celebrating 175 years of railways here in Derby.

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How did it all start?

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Really started with the bringing together

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of three railway companies into what was the London Midland Region

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and typically, at that time...

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If we look over there, we've got a new building.

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That was originally the Derby Locomotive Works.

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Throughout its history, the growth and supply

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and traction of rolling stock for the area,

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it was identified that they really needed a separate place

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for the locomotives and the carriage.

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And over the back of what is the old research buildings there

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is the Derby Carriage and Wagon Works,

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which today is occupied by Bombardier -

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building trains still in the area.

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From humble beginnings,

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the Midland company grew into a major national network.

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It connected Leeds with London

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and the East Midlands to Birmingham, Bristol, York and Manchester.

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During the 1860s,

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the company created London's mighty St Pancras station

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and with business booming, its first locomotive superintendent -

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Matthew Kirtley - persuaded the directors

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to build their own rolling stock.

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Why did the Midland company decide to build its own locomotives?

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I mean, why not buy on the market, as it were?

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I think a lot of the things at that time were really route specific

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because of obviously our bridges

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and the horse-drawn carriages that used to go through them.

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What happens today is we try and get as many go-anywhere routes as we can,

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given the constraints of the infrastructure on our railways.

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The Derby site has continued to play its part in railway history.

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In the 1960s, the British Rail Research Centre

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was based here and built the first tilting trains.

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The engineering research centre also designed

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the high-speed InterCity 125s that run on our railways today.

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I joined the railways in 1971.

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I'm the third generation of my family to work in the industry

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and I came to BR Research in late '78

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and spent 13 years of my career with BR Research.

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It's my 43rd year this year and I owe the industry a lot.

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It's a fantastic industry to work in.

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Today, Railway Vehicle Engineering uses its skills

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to give tired old trains a new lease of life.

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So, historically, what went on in this workshop?

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This was the original APT building,

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so the Advanced Passenger Train was developed

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and tested in this building, where we're standing now.

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And today, the work undertaken by Railway Vehicle Engineering

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is very much the maintenance

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and overhaul of various amounts of rolling stock.

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This is part of the Northern Belle train

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and that's very much an overhaul and a refurbishment

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to give it its next six, eight-year life,

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typically, within the industry.

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Lovely to see rolling stock

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in the old cream and chocolate colours, isn't it?

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Our pride and joy is just here. Now, this is the Class 73 locomotive.

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This is for one of our major customers in Network Rail

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and it's getting christened the Ultra 73

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because the important thing about this locomotive

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is it has two modes of operation.

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It was a diesel locomotive and it also operates off a third rail.

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But typically, the diesel element of it was very much underpowered,

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you know, for the kind of operation that's needed.

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But the important...

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The gauging of this, the structure gauging,

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that makes it a go-anywhere locomotive,

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so, to our customer, very important.

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There's something extremely satisfying

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about seeing engines being given a fresh start.

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-Oh, we're going on here, are we?

-Yeah.

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And it's an honour for me to be allowed to help

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with the finishing touches to Ultra 73.

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Ooh, my goodness!

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George is getting appallingly damaged here.

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So, it's going to go where? About there, is it?

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Yeah, seems about right.

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The last time I applied a transfer, it was to a plastic model aircraft.

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This is on a bigger scale.

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It's remarkable that after 175 years,

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the site constantly reinvents itself.

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Oops!

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I name this a new Class 73...Ultra.

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As I rejoin the East Midlands main line,

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I'm reminded that this area has a Viking past.

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Derby is in fact an Old Norse name -

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the B-Y at the end means village or farmstead.

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My next stop is Nottingham.

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According to my guidebook, "near the beautiful River Trent,

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"which is well-known to the angler.

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"It's situated on a rocky eminence of red sandstone

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"and is one of the most picturesque and healthiest towns in England."

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It spawned a chain of health stores to boot.

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Mid-Victorian Nottingham was a severely overcrowded city

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with a population of 50,000

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packed into its cramped medieval centre.

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Death rates were high.

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Smallpox, typhus, and tuberculosis were endemic

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and cholera alarmingly epidemic.

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Against that backdrop, in 1849,

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John Boot opened a small herbalist's shop

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selling home-made remedies to poor factory workers.

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And over the next 160 years,

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his business grew into the UK's best-known high street chemist.

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I've come to their manufacturing site

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to meet archivist Sophie Clapp.

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John Boot, where did he come from? What was his background?

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So, he was an agricultural worker and he had a very humble background

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and he was too ill, really, to work on the land

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so he came to the centre of Nottingham

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to start supplying these herbal remedies.

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So, what was the next stage in the development of Boots?

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So, unfortunately, John died quite young

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and from then, his son Jesse took over the shop

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and he really developed the business and he started to really challenge

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the established trade of the pharmacy business

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by offering traditional medicines at a much reduced rate.

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Central to building the business

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was his extraordinary range of products.

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Bestsellers were lobelia pills,

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said to remove obstructions from every part of the system.

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Ointment Of No Name was recommended for a variety of skin complaints.

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One of Boots' most popular products was fluid beef.

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Manufacturing obviously began at some point.

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-Did it begin here?

-No, it was in the centre of town,

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actually on Station Street and Island Street,

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which is very close to the station, for obvious reasons.

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So, like many factories in Nottingham,

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they were based close to the railway and to the canal

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and to the main road networks.

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But this site was acquired in the late '20s as a manufacturing site

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because we were running out of space in the centre of town.

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In 1890, Jesse Boot had ten stores

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and by 1914, the number had multiplied to 550.

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To service his shops,

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this huge manufacturing building opened in 1933,

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part of a 300-acre site.

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I had taken this to be a much more modern building.

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Tell me about its features.

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It was designed to look like an ocean liner.

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So, you can tell that from the porthole-style

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glass disc in the roof, which allowed the daylight to come in.

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So, this was the first daylight factory in the UK.

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Was it a success?

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It was an absolute success and it was proving to be so efficient

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that we were having an excess of stock,

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so what the company did was quite unique

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and it started, really, the manufacturing weekend.

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So, it gave people Saturday morning off,

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which was what most people would have to work,

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with no reduction in pay,

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which was obviously a great initiative for the staff.

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The company's high productivity was due in part to its own railway.

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Puffing Billy brought raw materials into the heart of the factory

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and the wider rail network was used for distribution

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and for workers' social outings.

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In our very early days, we were using the railways

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to enable us to take our staff to the countryside

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or to the seaside and on one occasion,

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we decorated eight trains and we took them -

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5,000 members of staff -

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down to the British Empire Exhibition in 1924 - down to Wembley.

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They were all hanging out of the windows smiling.

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Today, the company has a workforce of 60,000 people.

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And thanks to Jesse Boot's philanthropy,

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research into naturally-occurring medicines

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continues at Nottingham University.

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Chris Moody is the seventh

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Sir Jesse Boot Professor of Chemistry.

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-Hello, Michael.

-Good to see you.

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What sort of things were they making in Victorian times?

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What sort of drugs could they make in those days?

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Well, a lot of the stuff came from nature.

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If you look at the Victorian adverts,

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they're advocating cocaine and morphine

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and all sorts of things for treatments.

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They all come from natural sources.

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Aspirin was discovered in 1897,

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so those are the sorts of simple, synthetic drugs

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that Boot and his scientists would have been making.

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Aspirin comes from the willow tree,

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whose curative properties had been known since ancient times.

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But it was only in the late 19th century

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that a German firm developed the medicine that we still use today.

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What have you done there? You've added what?

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I've added something we call acetic anhydride,

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which is related to acetic acid,

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-which most people would know as vinegar.

-Ha!

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Willow trees and vinegar.

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-You're making it sound very simple.

-Yeah.

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And then we add what we call a catalyst,

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which, in this case, is a few drops of acid.

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So, a catalyst is something which speeds up the process

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without being changed itself, if I remember.

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That's correct, yes.

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And then we have to put it to heat for ten to 15 minutes.

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I shall be very intrigued to see what comes out

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cos it's obviously not going to be a little packet of tablets, is it?

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No, it's not.

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Once heated, the final product looks like this.

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The Boots of Nottingham are a fine example

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of how the ordinary man in Victorian England

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could stride ahead.

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Time to raise a glass to them, at my rest stop for the night.

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I'm up early and it lifts my heart

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to see the newly restored Nottingham station.

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Built at the end of Queen Victoria's reign,

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the station has been spruced up and freed from clutter

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so it's possible to appreciate

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this marvellous brick and glass building,

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which expresses the pride and the affluence

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of the old Midland Railway.

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I'm directed now to Newstead Abbey,

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which my Bradshaw's tells me was formerly Lord Byron's seat,

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to which he succeeded when he was only ten years old.

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Morning!

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-Good morning.

-Good morning.

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I'm on a pilgrimage to find out about Lord Byron.

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-Do you know much about Lord Byron?

-Not really. Only what I've read.

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Just apart from obviously us being in the marching band.

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We're actually named after Lord Byron.

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-We're the Mansfield Woodhouse Byronaires marching band.

-Heavens!

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Do you know why you're named after Lord Byron?

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Yeah, I think it's just about the area, really,

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cos Mansfield Woodhouse is probably only about five miles away

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from Newstead Abbey itself.

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So, just named after him, really. Just after Lord Byron.

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How fantastic. What sort of music do you play?

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It's basically like a kazoo and marching band

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with, like, marching marimbas and bells.

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You know, the ones what started off in the pit villages

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-years and years ago during the miners...

-Absolutely.

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We're quite successful as well.

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We're going to the world championships in a few months now

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and we've won the best Midlands bands on several occasions now,

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so, hopefully, we're going to do well this year as well.

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But you don't strike me yourself as overly Byronic.

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No, no, perhaps not.

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If you'd seen some of my tempers, though, at band practice sometimes.

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-I believe he had a bit of a temper.

-I see. He did too.

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-I think there's maybe that bit lives in me a little bit.

-Very good.

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-Have a great day.

-Thank you very much.

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-Keep winning!

-Hopefully, yes. Thank you.

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Newstead Abbey near Sherwood Forest was founded in 1163

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as an Augustine priory.

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It remained a religious house for nearly 400 years

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until its dissolution by Henry VIII.

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I'm meeting Diane Turner, one of the house stewards,

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to learn more about Byron's connection.

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So, how did this religious building eventually become a private house?

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It became a private house

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due to the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

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So, Henry VIII comes on the throne.

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He asked for all the religious buildings to actually be taken down

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and one of the ancestors of our poet Byron,

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John Byron, he actually purchased this for £810,

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having supported the king loyally in his royal fights

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-and this was his reward.

-A bargain.

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And then the poet Lord Byron is descended from those Byrons?

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He comes down from those Byrons

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and he comes to inherit it from his great-uncle,

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the fifth Lord Byron.

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But his great-uncle managed the estate very badly,

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so, in 1798, when the young Byron came into his inheritance,

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it was very run down.

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But I can imagine, you know, a Romantic poet

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would be inspired by a Gothic ruin.

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I think he was and I think we see that.

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If we read some of his poetry, we see that melancholy

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and the gothicness that comes out of his poetry

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and I think that really does echo probably from his first view

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and he does write about, you know, his beloved Newstead.

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So, George Byron inherits this tremendous pile,

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albeit a ruin, and of course, he inherits a title,

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but then he's a man with a limp,

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so what sort of personality does that produce?

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Well, I think probably the limp did define him,

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but I think one of the interesting things

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is how good a sportsman he was.

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One of the things that he did was he was a fantastic boxer.

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He had the champion of England - Gentleman Jackson -

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actually teach him how to box.

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He did sword fighting. In this room, he did pistol practice.

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The only thing that he didn't do was dance.

0:19:050:19:08

I sympathise with him!

0:19:080:19:11

But that's quite a social disability in those days.

0:19:110:19:14

Apparently, he would stand quite aloof at the side of the room

0:19:140:19:17

and look that Byronic look, as he did,

0:19:170:19:21

and I think that's what people became used to seeing him,

0:19:210:19:24

not realising that perhaps he didn't want to dance.

0:19:240:19:26

I have that image of, you know, like, Mr Darcy

0:19:260:19:29

in Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice standing haughtily to one side.

0:19:290:19:34

Yes, I mean, we have heard that perhaps the character of Darcy

0:19:340:19:38

was actually based on Byron by Jane Austen

0:19:380:19:41

when she was actually at one of these gatherings.

0:19:410:19:44

By 1813, Byron was at the height of his fame.

0:19:440:19:48

-Byromania took off, didn't it?

-Yeah.

0:19:480:19:51

And that was a new phenomenon in those days.

0:19:510:19:53

Yeah, I think he was the biggest celebrity of the day.

0:19:530:19:56

One of his quotes is that he woke up one morning

0:19:560:19:58

and found he was famous.

0:19:580:20:00

And his success with women, I think,

0:20:000:20:02

would not have disgraced a modern rock star.

0:20:020:20:04

No, I don't think it did

0:20:040:20:05

and a lot of the women used to request snippets of hair from Byron.

0:20:050:20:08

But by all accounts, he used to take a snippet off Boatswain the dog

0:20:080:20:13

so that he didn't land up bald.

0:20:130:20:15

The Romantic poet's energy for writing and loving

0:20:170:20:21

contrasts with the abbey's tranquil air.

0:20:210:20:23

He had a lust for life

0:20:240:20:26

and considering how many mistresses he had,

0:20:260:20:29

the boxing may have come in handy too.

0:20:290:20:31

It's the most remarkable monument to a dog.

0:20:380:20:40

He must have been very, very fond of this animal.

0:20:400:20:42

I think he was and I think when you read that,

0:20:420:20:44

it tells you much he did love his animals and especially his dog.

0:20:440:20:47

"Here are deposited the remains

0:20:470:20:49

"of one who possessed beauty without vanity,

0:20:490:20:51

"strength without insolence, courage without ferocity

0:20:510:20:55

"and all the virtues of man without his vices."

0:20:550:20:58

This praise, which would be unmeaning flattery

0:20:580:21:01

if inscribed over human ashes,

0:21:010:21:03

is here a just tribute to the memory of Boatswain, a dog.

0:21:030:21:08

So, all the human virtues, none of the human vices.

0:21:080:21:11

No, and I think it shows from his poem

0:21:110:21:12

how much he actually did love his animals.

0:21:120:21:15

I think it sums it up in that poem.

0:21:150:21:17

I've rejoined the East Midlands line heading east.

0:21:200:21:23

I'm now crossing from Nottinghamshire into Lincolnshire.

0:21:230:21:27

My next stop will be Grantham.

0:21:280:21:30

According to Bradshaw's,

0:21:300:21:31

"a parliamentary borough near the River Witham

0:21:310:21:34

"with some long wolds.

0:21:340:21:36

"At the Free School founded by Bishop Fox,

0:21:360:21:39

"Sir Isaac Newton was educated."

0:21:390:21:42

I feel myself attracted to Grantham as if by some gravitational force.

0:21:420:21:48

OVER TANNOY: This train will be arriving into Grantham station.

0:21:530:21:56

Grantham, situated alongside the Great North Road,

0:22:050:22:09

has roots going back to Roman times.

0:22:090:22:12

It's famed for having produced some of the nation's most powerful minds.

0:22:120:22:16

This fine building, dating back to 1497,

0:22:160:22:20

is The King's School.

0:22:200:22:21

One of its most celebrated 17th century scholars

0:22:230:22:26

was the scientist who discovered gravity,

0:22:260:22:29

Sir Isaac Newton.

0:22:290:22:30

If Isaac Newton is Grantham's most famous son,

0:22:300:22:34

then Margaret Thatcher is certainly the town's most famous daughter.

0:22:340:22:38

I think when she was growing up here,

0:22:380:22:40

there were three strong influences in her life.

0:22:400:22:42

The first, that Britain was then at war alone against the dictators.

0:22:420:22:47

The second was the example of public service

0:22:470:22:50

given by her father, Councillor Roberts.

0:22:500:22:52

And the third was that she was born

0:22:520:22:54

above her father's corner grocer shop

0:22:540:22:57

where she used sometimes to serve.

0:22:570:23:00

And even when she was Prime Minister,

0:23:000:23:02

she would recite to me the price of a half pound of butter

0:23:020:23:05

or a pint of milk,

0:23:050:23:06

which made her considerably more in touch

0:23:060:23:09

than some holders of her office.

0:23:090:23:12

Whilst Grantham has produced a great scientist

0:23:190:23:22

and a prime minister,

0:23:220:23:24

I'm here to discover more about a delicacy

0:23:240:23:27

highlighted in my guidebook,

0:23:270:23:29

which has become an obsession for local entrepreneur Alistair Hawken.

0:23:290:23:33

-Hello, Alistair.

-Hello, Michael. How are you?

-Good to see you.

0:23:330:23:37

I'm intrigued by this, in Bradshaw's,

0:23:370:23:39

that Grantham is noted for the manufacture of Grantham cakes,

0:23:390:23:43

a very superior sweetmeat sold in boxes at a shilling.

0:23:430:23:46

Very superior indeed cos a shilling was a lot of money.

0:23:460:23:49

It certainly was back then.

0:23:490:23:50

It's the oldest commercially traded biscuit in the United Kingdom,

0:23:500:23:54

as far as the history books are concerned.

0:23:540:23:56

And it really was a product that was first created,

0:23:560:23:59

you know, when biscuits were biscuits.

0:23:590:24:01

In the 1700s, Grantham was a halt for coaches on the Great North Road.

0:24:030:24:09

Passengers and drivers would stock up on Grantham Whetstones,

0:24:090:24:13

which were hardy rusk-like biscuits.

0:24:130:24:16

They were some of the first biscuits made for sale in this country.

0:24:160:24:19

So, how did that Whetstone get converted into a gingerbread?

0:24:210:24:24

Well, William Egglestone,

0:24:240:24:25

who was one of the bakers of Grantham Whetstones,

0:24:250:24:27

mistook one ingredient for another one dark Sunday morning in his bakery

0:24:270:24:31

and hey, presto, a very sweet ginger biscuit was created,

0:24:310:24:35

which latterly became known as Grantham gingerbread.

0:24:350:24:37

Is it still manufactured in the town today?

0:24:370:24:39

It is, absolutely, by my own fair hands

0:24:390:24:41

and a good team that I've got behind me.

0:24:410:24:44

And I think that's something special. It needs to be created.

0:24:440:24:46

It's a product of Grantham.

0:24:460:24:48

-Are you using an original recipe?

-Yes, we are.

0:24:480:24:51

It's in my trusted book here.

0:24:510:24:53

-You have your own trusted book.

-Exactly. Just like yours.

0:24:530:24:56

This is a recipe book that's been passed down

0:24:560:24:58

from the family of William Egglestone over the generations.

0:24:580:25:01

And would it be like certain well-known fizzy drinks -

0:25:010:25:04

that the recipe is an absolute secret?

0:25:040:25:06

Absolute secret. Everyone knows it!

0:25:060:25:08

Given that Alistair's book is about the same age as my Bradshaw's,

0:25:120:25:15

it feels appropriate to try it out.

0:25:150:25:17

Ah, there are the magic ingredients. Ha-ha!

0:25:200:25:23

-Are you good with eggs?

-Oh, very good with eggs.

0:25:230:25:25

You've got some eggshell in there, Michael.

0:25:280:25:31

So, that's a point deducted, but I'll forgive you.

0:25:310:25:33

'The biscuits hadn't been made commercially

0:25:330:25:36

'for more than 50 years.'

0:25:360:25:38

So, what we need to achieve is a 13 gram ball of dough.

0:25:380:25:43

-Can't be serious.

-I can be absolutely series.

0:25:430:25:45

BOTH LAUGH

0:25:450:25:47

'Many recipes claim to be the original,

0:25:470:25:50

'all with differing quantities of flour, ginger, butter,

0:25:500:25:53

'sugar and eggs.

0:25:530:25:55

'Finally, William Egglestone's great-great-great-nephew

0:25:550:25:59

'came forward and produced the definitive 1740s version.'

0:25:590:26:02

-Oh, lovely!

-Look at those.

0:26:040:26:06

They've spread out beautifully and they've got a nice dome

0:26:060:26:09

and they are really a superlative sweetmeat

0:26:090:26:12

and I'm sure they're worth all of a shilling a box.

0:26:120:26:15

Well, I think it would be entirely unfair

0:26:150:26:17

-to keep these to ourselves.

-I think you're right.

0:26:170:26:19

I'm heading back to Grantham station.

0:26:210:26:24

I wonder what the locals will make of my batch.

0:26:240:26:27

Have a go at that.

0:26:270:26:29

-Mm!

-Do you like it?

-Delicious. Mm.

0:26:310:26:34

-It is Grantham gingerbread.

-Oh, right. OK.

0:26:340:26:37

As made by my fair hands.

0:26:370:26:39

Do you think your friend here would like some?

0:26:390:26:41

Sputty, would you like some?

0:26:410:26:43

-I think that gets the seal of approval, don't you?

-I think so.

0:26:430:26:48

-How do you find it?

-That's all right, that.

-Is it?

-Yeah.

0:26:480:26:52

-Would you like another one, would you?

-No, I'm all right.

0:26:520:26:55

-After drinking that, I'll be feeling sick.

-Very good. Thank you.

0:26:550:26:58

-Would you like to try one?

-Thank you.

0:26:580:26:59

-Mm. They're good. You did a good job.

-Yeah? It's OK?

-Yeah.

-Yeah? Good.

0:27:040:27:08

-Tell you what, have another one.

-Thank you.

-There we go.

0:27:080:27:11

-They're still warm, I think.

-They are, yes, yes.

0:27:110:27:13

On this first part of my journey,

0:27:200:27:21

I've encountered some great names from history -

0:27:210:27:24

Sir Isaac Newton, the genius founder of modern science,

0:27:240:27:28

George Byron, who left a trail of verses and lovers in his wake

0:27:280:27:34

and Margaret Thatcher,

0:27:340:27:36

one of the world's most powerful women,

0:27:360:27:38

who helped to shape modern Britain.

0:27:380:27:40

But none of their memories is evoked

0:27:400:27:43

by a million last-minute Christmas presents

0:27:430:27:46

nor by an outlet in almost every major railway station,

0:27:460:27:50

as is the name of Jesse Boot.

0:27:500:27:53

Next time, I put my culinary skills to the test

0:27:590:28:03

using the nation's favourite cooking apple...

0:28:030:28:05

Quite good, that. That's a new technique, I think.

0:28:050:28:08

I've never done that before.

0:28:080:28:09

Learn about forgotten lives in a Victorian lunatic asylum...

0:28:090:28:13

There are 2,861 women, men and children

0:28:130:28:18

buried three deep in unmarked graves.

0:28:180:28:20

..and take the wheel of a surprisingly speedy steam engine.

0:28:200:28:24

I had no idea you were going to go so fast!

0:28:240:28:27

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