0:00:04 > 0:00:08For Victorian Britons, George Bradshaw was a household name.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13At a time when railways were new, Bradshaw's guidebook inspired them
0:00:13 > 0:00:15to take to the tracks.
0:00:15 > 0:00:20I'm using a Bradshaw's guide to understand how trains transformed
0:00:20 > 0:00:24Britain - its landscape, its industries, society
0:00:24 > 0:00:26and leisure time.
0:00:26 > 0:00:31As I crisscross the country 150 years later, it helps me
0:00:31 > 0:00:33to discover the Britain of today.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00I'm now concluding a journey that began in West Wales
0:01:00 > 0:01:03and will end in East Anglia.
0:01:03 > 0:01:08Today I want to learn about how the Victorians pioneered moving images,
0:01:08 > 0:01:11the forerunners to cinema and television,
0:01:11 > 0:01:15and how a Cambridge graduate developed the most original theory
0:01:15 > 0:01:17since the creation.
0:01:22 > 0:01:27This week I have travelled from east to west across Bradshaw's Britain.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30I began in Pembrokeshire and moved across South Wales to
0:01:30 > 0:01:33Herefordshire and on to the Cotswolds.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37I passed through Oxford, the city of dreaming spires,
0:01:37 > 0:01:40and traversed Bedfordshire.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43And I will finish at another academic citadel.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49On this leg of my journey, my first stop will be Oakham from where
0:01:49 > 0:01:53I'll head east to handsome Stamford then on south to Peterborough
0:01:53 > 0:01:58before ending my journey at the great university city of Cambridge.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06Today I get to grips with a Victorian melodrama...
0:02:06 > 0:02:08It's a story about a signalman who gets the opportunity
0:02:08 > 0:02:12to either save his son or crash a train.
0:02:12 > 0:02:13HE GASPS
0:02:13 > 0:02:16..hear ghoulish hospital tales...
0:02:16 > 0:02:18Something like an amputation would
0:02:18 > 0:02:23have taken round about 2-3 minutes, have to work extremely fast.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27..and learn about the student days of Charles Darwin.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30These are the actual beetles that he gave him
0:02:30 > 0:02:32so much pleasure and so much obsession
0:02:32 > 0:02:33when he was an undergraduate.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35This is absolutely stunning!
0:02:45 > 0:02:48My first stop will be Oakham in Rutland.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52Bradshaw's draws my attention to the Shire Hall which "stands
0:02:52 > 0:02:56"within the ruined walls of the old castle founded by the Ferrers
0:02:56 > 0:02:59"family soon after the conquest.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02"Over the gates are several gilded horseshoes
0:03:02 > 0:03:06"with the names of noblemen by whom they had been given.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10"It had been quite an immemorial custom to ask every peer
0:03:10 > 0:03:15"who visits the town for one or else to pay a fine."
0:03:15 > 0:03:20All this talk of horses and gifts has me quite intrigued.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28Oakham is a market town dating back to Anglo Saxon times.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39At its heart lies a 16th-century butter cross
0:03:39 > 0:03:43where butter was traded and clergymen preached.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50Not far from the town is a traditional blacksmith's,
0:03:50 > 0:03:54which now produces ornamental and architectural ironwork.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58It is not often called upon to produce a gilded horseshoe
0:03:58 > 0:04:00but it retains the skill to do so.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04I'm meeting the owner, John Spence.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08- Hello, John. Very good to see you. - Likewise.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12Bradshaw's Guide tells me about these horseshoes at Shire Hall
0:04:12 > 0:04:14and I understand you know a bit about them.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17Yes, I've made a few horseshoes in my time there.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20By the way, how long has your family business been going, then?
0:04:20 > 0:04:23We've been going as a business since 1896. I'm 5th generation
0:04:23 > 0:04:26continuous father to son, father to son.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30And how many horseshoes have you personally made for the castle?
0:04:30 > 0:04:33- Four horseshoes. - And who were they for?
0:04:33 > 0:04:36Well, there was Prince Charles,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39Princess Alexandra, and the last one,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42the Duchess of Cornwall, we've just done recently.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48John's company made its first horseshoe for the Shire Hall
0:04:48 > 0:04:55in 1981 in a manner recognisable to blacksmiths down the ages.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59My horseshoe today has been cut out with a laser.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01But that's where the hi-tech stops.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05The letters have been welded on and will be decorated by hand.
0:05:05 > 0:05:11John that is absolutely lovely. "Great Railway Journeys 2014"
0:05:11 > 0:05:14and a fantastic locomotive. Is this finished?
0:05:14 > 0:05:17Yes, well, the letters need painting black.
0:05:17 > 0:05:18Well, you've gone to so much trouble,
0:05:18 > 0:05:20would you mind if I just give you a hand
0:05:20 > 0:05:21by painting a couple of these letters?
0:05:21 > 0:05:24Have you got any pointers for me, what should I be doing here?
0:05:24 > 0:05:26Don't get too much paint on your brush.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29And I say, they're quite intricate, and they're quite small as well.
0:05:29 > 0:05:30Quite fiddly.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Let's hope my paintwork will pass muster
0:05:39 > 0:05:41at Oakham Castle's Shire Hall,
0:05:41 > 0:05:43one of England's finest examples
0:05:43 > 0:05:46of late 12th-century domestic architecture.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58Mr Leader of Rutland County Council.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01Though I am not a peer, sir, but the most humble commoner
0:06:01 > 0:06:05I have the honour to present a horseshoe to Oakham Castle.
0:06:07 > 0:06:08Thank you so much.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12Normally, it's a member of nobility we would receive this from,
0:06:12 > 0:06:15but today we're very happy to receive it
0:06:15 > 0:06:18from a member of nobility of the media!
0:06:18 > 0:06:20Thank you very much indeed.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23This is the most extraordinary building.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26Tell me, how did this tradition of the horseshoes begin?
0:06:26 > 0:06:28It seems to date right back from when the hall was built
0:06:28 > 0:06:32by the Norman barons only 100 years after the Norman conquest,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35and they were the barons who were in charge of shoeing all the
0:06:35 > 0:06:38horses of William the Conqueror's army. They had this tradition
0:06:38 > 0:06:41that if somebody passed across their lands and wouldn't pay their tolls,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45they could take a horseshoe off of them, so they couldn't get through.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48So, it seems to have grown up from this into this incredible
0:06:48 > 0:06:49tradition that we've got here.
0:06:49 > 0:06:54The very oldest one that we have is 1470 one from Edward IV
0:06:54 > 0:06:58given during the Wars Of The Roses, an incredible amount of time ago.
0:06:58 > 0:06:59And in the middle here,
0:06:59 > 0:07:02clearly Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
0:07:02 > 0:07:03Queen Victoria here?
0:07:03 > 0:07:06She is indeed, there's a matching pair of two horseshoes
0:07:06 > 0:07:08on the left, Queen Victoria's mother
0:07:08 > 0:07:10and on the right was Queen Victoria herself
0:07:10 > 0:07:13when she was still Princess Alexandrina Victoria.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17The hall is very sparsely furnished, but what are these benches for?
0:07:17 > 0:07:23This is the oldest serving courtroom in the country dating back to 1229.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25It is still used. It is used every other year,
0:07:25 > 0:07:27we have a visit from a judge...
0:07:27 > 0:07:29- What, regular trials? - Regular trial.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33I can imagine that some severe justice has been dispensed here
0:07:33 > 0:07:34over the centuries.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36Now look, I feel very embarrassed about this
0:07:36 > 0:07:39cos I didn't know there was such distinguished company
0:07:39 > 0:07:41and I brought my humble horseshoe.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44What will you do with it? Have you got a basement you can put it in?
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Certainly not! But we do have a spot over there,
0:07:47 > 0:07:50which is in a prominent position beneath
0:07:50 > 0:07:54the Duke of Wellington which we thought would be appropriate for you.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56I am overwhelmed. Thank you.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05A distinguished spot among illustrious company.
0:08:05 > 0:08:06An honour indeed.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24My journey takes me eastwards towards Stamford in Lincolnshire.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31"Stamford," says my Bradshaw's,
0:08:31 > 0:08:35"is pleasantly situated on the banks of the Welland River.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38"It is remarkably picturesque."
0:08:38 > 0:08:42So much so that it has often been used as a location for film-making
0:08:42 > 0:08:45and I want to understand how the Victorians
0:08:45 > 0:08:48whetted our appetite for the movies.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52I shall begin around the "many handsome public edifices
0:08:52 > 0:08:56"among which we may mention the theatre and the assembly rooms."
0:09:07 > 0:09:11Stamford today is a prosperous market town
0:09:11 > 0:09:15and a magnet for tourists who come to appreciate its medieval inns
0:09:15 > 0:09:18and handsome Georgian stone buildings.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27'Jill Collinge is to be my guide.'
0:09:27 > 0:09:30There are lots of places that were pretty in Victorian times,
0:09:30 > 0:09:32but not so very much today.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Why does Stamford remain so beautiful?
0:09:35 > 0:09:37It's because of the railways.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40The Great Northern Railway should have been coming through the town.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43There was opposition from the local lord of the manor,
0:09:43 > 0:09:46the Marquess of Exeter, who was very opposed to change.
0:09:46 > 0:09:51Earl Fitzwilliam in Peterborough really encouraged the Great Northern
0:09:51 > 0:09:54to go to Peterborough, which of course it did.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56This caused great trouble amongst the businessmen
0:09:56 > 0:09:58of the day in Stamford, but nevertheless
0:09:58 > 0:10:00because of these building restrictions,
0:10:00 > 0:10:03Stamford avoided any ravages of Industrial Revolution.
0:10:03 > 0:10:08So, today you see very much an 18th and early-Victorian town.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11And for that very reason, it has been chosen again and again
0:10:11 > 0:10:13as a location for filming.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16George Eliot's novel Middlemarch was filmed by the BBC here
0:10:16 > 0:10:21about 18 or so years ago and it was a wonderful backdrop
0:10:21 > 0:10:25for the film to take place, very little had to be changed in the town.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28And Pride And Prejudice, the most recent filming has been done here
0:10:28 > 0:10:32on two main streets that are used often for the filming.
0:10:32 > 0:10:33It was a beautiful backdrop.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36That was the 1790s that that was being filmed in.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38So we're very lucky.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45I'm heading for what were, in the 18th century,
0:10:45 > 0:10:48the assembly rooms on St George's Square
0:10:48 > 0:10:52and also home to one of England's earliest provincial theatres.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55Today, it's an arts centre.
0:10:55 > 0:11:00Richard Rigby knows all about a very early form of cinema,
0:11:00 > 0:11:05which was enormously popular in Bradshaw's day - the magic lantern.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09I quite like to dress extrovertly, but what are you dressed as?
0:11:09 > 0:11:13I dress as a showman. I am a magic lanternist and we all...
0:11:13 > 0:11:15we all put on a bit of a show.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18I love the hat particularly. Do you mind if wear your spare?
0:11:18 > 0:11:21Oh, I'd be delighted. It will go very well with your jacket.
0:11:22 > 0:11:23Right, I'm ready for the show.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26So magic lanternists, what, they would go from town to town
0:11:26 > 0:11:28giving performances, would they?
0:11:28 > 0:11:30Yes, they were known as 'galante' men.
0:11:30 > 0:11:31They go all over Europe and
0:11:31 > 0:11:35they would project onto any whitewashed wall
0:11:35 > 0:11:37or just a sheet of muslin.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39Of course, it had to be dark
0:11:39 > 0:11:43because all they had as an illuminant would be a candle.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47- What's the earliest slide you have got?- Ah! That's this one here.
0:11:47 > 0:11:52It's a panorama - Christmas dinner in the big house.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56That is slid through the lantern, hence the word 'slide'.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01- Ha!- And that goes right back to 1640, 1650, that sort of time.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04What other sorts of moving image did they develop?
0:12:04 > 0:12:05We've got Mr Pickwick here.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07See if you can get him to skip for me.
0:12:09 > 0:12:10MICHAEL LAUGHS
0:12:10 > 0:12:14- Isn't that lovely.- Marvellous.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18Magic lantern performances became hugely popular entertainment,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22and played an important part in educating Victorian society.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27They were used to tell Bible stories and by the Temperance movement
0:12:27 > 0:12:30as well as to demonstrate scientific principles.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33Remember, these were more important than books
0:12:33 > 0:12:37because most people couldn't read, but they could understand a picture.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43Richard has offered to put on a magic lantern show for me today
0:12:43 > 0:12:51in the old theatre, opened first in 1768 and reopened in 1978.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54We have set up a little Victorian melodrama.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58It's a story about signalman who has the most dreadful dilemma.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02He gets the opportunity to either save his son or crash a train.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05HE GASPS Would you like to do the reading
0:13:05 > 0:13:08- and I will operate the lantern? - I would love to.- Excellent.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12"I have been in the box from a youngster,
0:13:12 > 0:13:14"and I've never felt the strain of the lives
0:13:14 > 0:13:19"which my right hand held in every passing train.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22"That day, the missus went shopping,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24"took the train to the city.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27"So she settled to leave me Johnny.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29"The boy would be safe with me.
0:13:30 > 0:13:36"It was rare, hard work at Christmas with trains from ere and yon.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40"With a start, I thought of Johnny and I saw the boy was gone.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45"'Twas 100 lives or Johnny's.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48"Oh, heaven, what should I do?
0:13:48 > 0:13:52"On the wind came the words, 'Your duty!
0:13:52 > 0:13:54"'To that you must always be true.'"
0:13:55 > 0:14:00"She had seen him just as the engine of the Limited closed my view
0:14:00 > 0:14:03"and she leapt on the line and saved him
0:14:03 > 0:14:06"just as the train dashed through.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08Happy ending.
0:14:08 > 0:14:13Fantastic Victorian melodrama brought to life on the big screen.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29After a good night's sleep, I'm heading back to the station.
0:14:29 > 0:14:30I've heard that there's a bookshop
0:14:30 > 0:14:34that could be of particular interest to me and I can't resist.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40Do you deal in antique books about trains as well as modern books?
0:14:40 > 0:14:44Yes, yes, we do. That's how the business started.
0:14:44 > 0:14:49I wonder if there are any old copies of Bradshaw's here.
0:14:49 > 0:14:50Aha!
0:14:50 > 0:14:57Bradshaw Timetable for November 1896.
0:14:57 > 0:14:58I would think a timetable for 1896
0:14:58 > 0:15:01is somewhat limited in its usefulness!
0:15:01 > 0:15:05Well, it's not useful for today, but it is a historical document.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09It shows the passenger services as they were at that time.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12Well, let me give you back that very precious Bradshaw
0:15:12 > 0:15:15as I continue my journey with mine.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17Great pleasure to see you. Goodbye.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30From Stamford my train will take me out of Lincolnshire,
0:15:30 > 0:15:33south east to Cambridgeshire and the city of Peterborough.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40Bradshaw's is not exactly enticing about Peterborough.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44"The country is flat and uninteresting in winter.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47"It has but one church beside the cathedral,
0:15:47 > 0:15:50"which is the only object of interest."
0:15:50 > 0:15:53But more relevantly it tells me that Peterborough is on
0:15:53 > 0:15:58the Great Northern Line where three or four other lines strike off.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01At this important junction, I think it might be the right place
0:16:01 > 0:16:05to think about the conditions of Victorian railway workers
0:16:05 > 0:16:07and in particular what happened to them
0:16:07 > 0:16:11when they were injured during the course of their dangerous work.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16With the opening of the line to Peterborough by the London
0:16:16 > 0:16:22and Birmingham Railway in 1845, the cathedral city began to expand.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25The Great Northern Line arrived five years later
0:16:25 > 0:16:29and transformed it from a market town to an industrial centre.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32The area became Britain's leading producer of bricks,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35clay being plentiful in the area.
0:16:35 > 0:16:40Despite Bradshaw's reservations, I think the city rather grand
0:16:40 > 0:16:43with an abundance of stately buildings.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45I'm on my way to one now.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48Opened in the centre of town in 1857,
0:16:48 > 0:16:52the Peterborough Infirmary was the city's first hospital.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55Today the building houses the city's museum,
0:16:55 > 0:16:58but evidence of its former use has been preserved.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01I have come to meet Stuart Orme to find out more.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05Stuart, this lovely building doesn't feel like an infirmary.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08It has the feel of an elegant town house.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10Well, it was an elegant town house,
0:17:10 > 0:17:13of course, before being the first hospital in Peterborough.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15And you'll have come in through the front door,
0:17:15 > 0:17:18that was the main entrance for emergency patients
0:17:18 > 0:17:20and also for men coming into the hospital.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23The back door, which is down here at the bottom of the staircase,
0:17:23 > 0:17:25which is now the entrance to our art gallery,
0:17:25 > 0:17:28that was the women's entrance. So, Victorian values, of course,
0:17:28 > 0:17:30men and women having separate entrances.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33So, of course, there's no naughty touching going on
0:17:33 > 0:17:34as patients inside the building.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37From the outset, the main users of the hospital
0:17:37 > 0:17:40were railwaymen injured at work.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43So vulnerable were they to accidents that they
0:17:43 > 0:17:47and their families began an early form of health insurance.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50They paid a penny a week into a medical fund.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54The injuries suffered by railway workers toiling amid heavy
0:17:54 > 0:17:58machinery all too often resulted in peremptory amputations.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02Upstairs, the hospital's original operating theatre
0:18:02 > 0:18:04has been preserved.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08Ah! Absolutely macabre and creepy!
0:18:08 > 0:18:13'It's chilling to imagine conditions for patients here.'
0:18:13 > 0:18:15Well, of course, this was far more sophisticated
0:18:15 > 0:18:18than your railwaymen in the 1850s would have been used to.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22This is actually dating to the 1890s and the beginnings of modern surgery.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26Back in 1850s, you would have been treated in the patient waiting room
0:18:26 > 0:18:28downstairs, so you imagine sort of people sitting there
0:18:28 > 0:18:31waiting to see their doctors, the curtain pulled across the room and
0:18:31 > 0:18:34somebody brought in for an amputation on the other side of curtain,
0:18:34 > 0:18:36which wouldn't have been a pleasant prospect
0:18:36 > 0:18:38for either of the people concerned, I would suspect.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42And certainly railway workers working on dirty yards,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45a significant problem is going to be of infection,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48so therefore the only solution you've really got is to actually amputate
0:18:48 > 0:18:50the limb altogether. And the operations themselves
0:18:50 > 0:18:52would have been very crude.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56So with a surgical knife like this being used to sever your way
0:18:56 > 0:18:59through the flesh, so you could get down to the layers bone underneath.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Generally speaking, something like an amputation would have
0:19:02 > 0:19:04taken around about 2-3 minutes.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08Have to work extremely fast and extremely precise because you're
0:19:08 > 0:19:10quite literally worried about your patient either dying of shock
0:19:10 > 0:19:12or bleeding to death on the operating table
0:19:12 > 0:19:14because of course, they're conscious.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18So once you've got through the flesh,
0:19:18 > 0:19:22then you move on to removing the bone underneath.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26You've left behind a flap of skin which you can fold over
0:19:26 > 0:19:29and hopefully create a pad for the wound.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34During Queen Victoria's reign, medicine passed many milestones
0:19:34 > 0:19:37as research and experimentation advanced.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42One of earliest developments was the use of anaesthetics
0:19:42 > 0:19:45as a result of which you get the use of these sorts of things.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48Place over the nose and mouth of the patient
0:19:48 > 0:19:51and then you can put a few drops of chloroform on to the outside
0:19:51 > 0:19:54and they're out for the count. Meaning that you can do much more
0:19:54 > 0:19:57sophisticated, invasive surgery and don't have to worry about
0:19:57 > 0:20:00the patient immediately expiring from shock.
0:20:00 > 0:20:05But the biggest concern in medical practice was the risk of infection.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10During the 1860s, Dr Joseph Lister began to use carbolic acid
0:20:10 > 0:20:12to disinfect operating theatres.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17So what he does is he arranges within his surgical procedures
0:20:17 > 0:20:21that there is a sort of dilute spray, 5% carbolic, sprayed from something
0:20:21 > 0:20:24that's like a brass garden sprayer.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27That spray all over the room literally saturating patients,
0:20:27 > 0:20:30the nurses, the doctors, everything in carbolic,
0:20:30 > 0:20:31but at least it kills the germs.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34By end of the 19th century, there's a realisation you can go one stage
0:20:34 > 0:20:38further - rather than just killing the germs, you can try and eradicate
0:20:38 > 0:20:40them and make sure they're not there in the first place.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44Hence now we've got nice white clean surfaces with the walls
0:20:44 > 0:20:48in here, white, clean floor. It makes it easier to keep the place clean
0:20:48 > 0:20:51and make sure there are no germs in here in first place.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53How big a change does it make, then?
0:20:53 > 0:20:57Back in 1830s, you probably stood at best 50-50 chance
0:20:57 > 0:21:02of surviving an operation. By the 1890s, it's about a 2.5% death rate.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06So, it's basically a dramatic shift in half a century.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09So, the Victorians preside over the most enormous advance in surgery?
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Absolutely. It's one of those quantum leap periods
0:21:12 > 0:21:16of technology, if you like, in terms of surgery and surgical technique
0:21:16 > 0:21:19and of course, importantly the survival rates thereafter.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26It seems that the Victorians established the principles
0:21:26 > 0:21:29of theatre practice as we know it today.
0:21:35 > 0:21:36'The final leg of my journey takes me
0:21:36 > 0:21:39'southeast to my undergraduate stomping ground.'
0:21:42 > 0:21:44"The University of Cambridge," says Bradshaw's,
0:21:44 > 0:21:48"is second to no other in Europe in any single
0:21:48 > 0:21:53"department of literature, and in mathematics has no rivals."
0:21:53 > 0:21:56I'm on my way to Christ's College, which Bradshaw's tells me
0:21:56 > 0:22:02was founded in 1442 and has two courts, one rebuilt by Inigo Jones.
0:22:02 > 0:22:07The purpose of the university is to teach its students to think.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10I'm going to Christ's in pursuit of one who thought back to
0:22:10 > 0:22:13first principles to the very origins of life.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22Cambridge is a small and architecturally beautiful city,
0:22:22 > 0:22:26which grew up as an inland port on the River Cam.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32The mix of colleges, churches, bridges and gardens have made it
0:22:32 > 0:22:35an attractive and popular place to visit.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45Founded in 1209, the university today has 31 colleges.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49Charles Darwin came to Christ's College in 1828.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53I want to learn about the author of On The Origin Of Species.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01Most of us know Charles Darwin from the photograph of him
0:23:01 > 0:23:04as an older man with a big, bushy beard.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08But the Charles Darwin who had rooms at Christ's looked like this,
0:23:08 > 0:23:12and the intellect that developed the theory of evolution
0:23:12 > 0:23:13was nurtured here.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22I'm heading to the handsome library, which holds over 80,000 books
0:23:22 > 0:23:26and manuscripts and serves students, fellows, researchers and staff.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32'I believe it also hold records of Darwin's of student days.'
0:23:33 > 0:23:35- Amelie, hello.- Hello.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38'College librarian Amelie Roper has agreed to show me
0:23:38 > 0:23:39'some items of interest.'
0:23:41 > 0:23:45So here we have letters documenting his great passion
0:23:45 > 0:23:46for beetle collecting.
0:23:46 > 0:23:51So here we have a letter to his cousin Fox.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53So you can see it begins, "My dear Fox," and then he's saying,
0:23:53 > 0:23:58"I'm dying by inches from not having anyone to talk to about insects."
0:23:58 > 0:24:00- HE LAUGHS - That's marvellous.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02It's lovely, isn't it?
0:24:02 > 0:24:05Now, change of handwriting here, is this someone different?
0:24:05 > 0:24:06No, this is still Darwin,
0:24:06 > 0:24:11but this is some 30 years later. So, this is 1858 now.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14And this actually records the time when his son William
0:24:14 > 0:24:19started at Christ's and this is a very evocative letter.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22"I was in old court, middle staircase
0:24:22 > 0:24:25"on right-hand going into court
0:24:25 > 0:24:29"up one flight, right-hand door and capital rooms they were."
0:24:32 > 0:24:35I'm keen to see these 'capital' rooms
0:24:35 > 0:24:38and have arranged to meet there the Curator of Insects,
0:24:38 > 0:24:42Dr William Foster, of the University Museum of Zoology.
0:24:42 > 0:24:43- OK, so here we are.- Thank you.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51Charles Darwin's undergraduate rooms are beautifully preserved.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56Darwin studied for a Bachelor of Arts degree at Christ's
0:24:56 > 0:25:00and his interest in natural sciences began as a hobby.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03Rumour had it that initially he was not a particularly conscientious
0:25:03 > 0:25:08student, enjoying the finer things of life like hunting and dining.
0:25:11 > 0:25:12Where does the story begin, William?
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Well, the story begins with Darwin being at Cambridge.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19And as you've already heard, his big passion was collecting beetles.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22I mean, nothing else that he did at Cambridge excited him so much.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26So, these are the actual beetles that gave him so much pleasure
0:25:26 > 0:25:28and so much obsession when he was an undergraduate.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31This is absolutely stunning to see so many...
0:25:31 > 0:25:34- Well, hundreds of them in there. - It was very fashionable for
0:25:34 > 0:25:39biologists in that period to collect things in a kind of competitive way.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43Beetles are good. Lots of species, easy to preserve,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46and people were collecting them.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50In 1831, Darwin set sail aboard HMS Beagle.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53During the two-year voyage around the world, he collected
0:25:53 > 0:25:58thousands of specimens - among them, Galapagos finches.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00Darwin noticed that the songbirds on the different
0:26:00 > 0:26:05islands in the Galapagos, while similar, showed variations in size,
0:26:05 > 0:26:08beaks and claws from island to island.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10He would later conclude that, because the islands
0:26:10 > 0:26:13are isolated from each other and from the mainland,
0:26:13 > 0:26:16the finches on each island had adapted to local conditions
0:26:16 > 0:26:18over time.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21I think importance of Beagle finches to Darwin's ideas of evolution has
0:26:21 > 0:26:27- been hugely exaggerated.- Really?- He himself was a little bit unsure about
0:26:27 > 0:26:30the identifications of what island they came from, so he didn't want to
0:26:30 > 0:26:33erect any kind of false hypotheses on the basis of the finches.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36It was more that his theory helped explain the finches
0:26:36 > 0:26:39than his finches helped explain his theory.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43'After his Beagle voyage, Darwin spent eight years studying
0:26:43 > 0:26:44'marine invertebrates.'
0:26:44 > 0:26:50From 1846 to 1854 he worked on barnacles, the Cirrepedia.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53By really studying one group, he began to realise
0:26:53 > 0:26:57that the boundaries between species was not as immutable and absolute
0:26:57 > 0:27:00as everybody had thought at the time.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04This work on the variation in a species helped him to formulate
0:27:04 > 0:27:08his theory of evolution, incorporated in the famous book
0:27:08 > 0:27:11that changed the world's view of life.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13I am rather in awe of this object here.
0:27:13 > 0:27:18This is the first edition of On The Origin Of Species, 1859.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22All things considered, what is the significance of this book?
0:27:23 > 0:27:27I think this book is the most important book ever written.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29After this, nothing was the ever same again.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33Human beings were no longer, could no longer consider themselves special,
0:27:33 > 0:27:34at the centre of the universe.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38We are one species amongst millions, evolved from them,
0:27:38 > 0:27:41and things will evolve from us. Everything changed after this.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51My journey that began in West Wales ends here.
0:27:51 > 0:27:52As we know from our own age,
0:27:52 > 0:27:56progress in communications is revolutionary.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59In the 19th century, it was the spread of the railways
0:27:59 > 0:28:04and other developments such as in photography as I saw in Swansea.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07But nothing is as powerful as an idea.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11At a time when religions of the Bible were universal,
0:28:11 > 0:28:15the theory of a graduate of this college, Charles Darwin,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18shook Bradshaw's world to its roots.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22The scholarship of the Victorians is their most important legacy.