0:00:04 > 0:00:08For Victorian Britons, George Bradshaw was a household name.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11At a time when railways were new,
0:00:11 > 0:00:16Bradshaw's guidebook inspired them to take to the tracks.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18I'm using a Bradshaw's Guide
0:00:18 > 0:00:21to understand how trains transformed Britain -
0:00:21 > 0:00:27its landscape, its industries, society and leisure time.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30As I crisscross the country, 150 years later,
0:00:30 > 0:00:34it helps me to discover the Britain of today.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55"London is the capital of Great Britain
0:00:55 > 0:00:59"and, indeed, if its commercial and political influence be considered,
0:00:59 > 0:01:02"of the civilised world.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06"The British metropolis contains the largest mass of human life
0:01:06 > 0:01:11"that ever has existed in the annals of mankind."
0:01:11 > 0:01:16I'm embarking on five itineraries across our mighty capital
0:01:16 > 0:01:21to rediscover the wonders and the horrors of Victorian London.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29All week, I'll use my usual 1860s Bradshaw's
0:01:29 > 0:01:32and dip into other editions to explore the tracks
0:01:32 > 0:01:35along which Victorian London moved.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38I'll begin outside the capital, at Amersham,
0:01:38 > 0:01:41follow in the footsteps of London's early commuters,
0:01:41 > 0:01:44make a short detour via Hampstead Heath
0:01:44 > 0:01:47en route to my final stop at Regent's Park.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54I'll scoop a cool treat in suburbia...
0:01:54 > 0:01:57- It's sludging, yes. Keep going. - Sludging?
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Not sure I want to be known for making sludgy ice cream!
0:02:00 > 0:02:05..learn how the railway age was also a boom time for cemeteries...
0:02:05 > 0:02:08Some wag had written, "New graves, warmed by steam!"
0:02:08 > 0:02:09HE LAUGHS
0:02:09 > 0:02:13..and visit an exotic 19th-century attraction
0:02:13 > 0:02:15that still draws a crowd.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17It's a great way for people to get close to animals.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19A bit too close, possibly!
0:02:19 > 0:02:20THEY CHUCKLE
0:02:24 > 0:02:28I begin on London Underground's Metropolitan line,
0:02:28 > 0:02:31which connects the city centre with rural Buckinghamshire.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33From the start of the 19th century
0:02:33 > 0:02:36until my Bradshaw's Guide was published,
0:02:36 > 0:02:40the population of London grew from one million to three million.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44But it was still a city without extended suburbs.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48They came with the trains and, as this Metropolitan Railway
0:02:48 > 0:02:50was pushed out into the green fields,
0:02:50 > 0:02:53it created "Metro-Land".
0:02:55 > 0:02:59The Metropolitan line was London's first "underground" railway,
0:02:59 > 0:03:01but it's only towards the centre of the city
0:03:01 > 0:03:03that its trains run in tunnels.
0:03:03 > 0:03:08Of its 34 stations, only nine are below ground.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12The line's terminus at Amersham is one of the furthest-flung outposts
0:03:12 > 0:03:15of the capital's underground system.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18I've come to hear how, in the early 20th century,
0:03:18 > 0:03:22this pioneering railway created the conditions for suburbia
0:03:22 > 0:03:26from author and transport historian Oliver Green.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30Now the Metropolitan Railway, um...
0:03:30 > 0:03:33it really has two personalities, doesn't it?
0:03:33 > 0:03:37Because it was, was it not, the first London underground railway,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40what, from Paddington to Farringdon?
0:03:40 > 0:03:42It was. In 1863.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44It was the first underground railway in the world
0:03:44 > 0:03:48and, as you say, it linked up the mainline stations in central London.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51But, very soon, the railway company found that, actually,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53it was proving very expensive
0:03:53 > 0:03:56to extend the line within central London.
0:03:56 > 0:04:01So their rather pushy chairman in the 1870s, Edward Watkin,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04started to plan to extend the line
0:04:04 > 0:04:07out through the suburbs of north-west London.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11Initially underground and then overground, through the countryside,
0:04:11 > 0:04:13and linking up with a chain of railways
0:04:13 > 0:04:16right through to Manchester, which is where he came from.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20Watkin's grand plan didn't come to pass
0:04:20 > 0:04:23but, by the 1890s, the Metropolitan Railway
0:04:23 > 0:04:26had cut a swathe through the rural Home Counties,
0:04:26 > 0:04:29making it viable for people to commute into the capital
0:04:29 > 0:04:32from these formerly isolated areas.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36In the early days, there was quite a lot of concern about it.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39The novelist Anthony Trollope said that the railways,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42instead of enabling Londoners to live in the countryside,
0:04:42 > 0:04:45had brought the city into the countryside.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49The Metropolitan Railway Company soon lured more customers
0:04:49 > 0:04:53to the rural areas served by its line.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55It owned land around the stations,
0:04:55 > 0:05:00which it began to develop with homes for middle-class commuters.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04So, did this railway get into the business of property speculation?
0:05:04 > 0:05:07It did later on, in the early 20th century, yes.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09None of the other companies had done this before.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12And they christened the area "Metro-Land".
0:05:12 > 0:05:16So Metro-Land was a name invented by the railway itself,
0:05:16 > 0:05:18not a nickname applied from outside?
0:05:18 > 0:05:20Absolutely, yes, they came up with it.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23And the guy in the publicity department came up with it
0:05:23 > 0:05:25in the middle of the First World War, oddly enough.
0:05:25 > 0:05:26Apparently, he was in bed with the flu
0:05:26 > 0:05:29and suddenly thought of this publicity word
0:05:29 > 0:05:31and jumped out of bed and went back in to work
0:05:31 > 0:05:33to tell everyone about it and they adopted it,
0:05:33 > 0:05:39and it was used throughout the 1920s and '30s as a promotional tool.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43And that's the Metro-Land which is then celebrated by John Betjeman.
0:05:43 > 0:05:44Absolutely.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48We called you Metro-Land
0:05:48 > 0:05:50We laid our schemes
0:05:50 > 0:05:53Lured by the lush brochure
0:05:53 > 0:05:55Down byways beckoned
0:05:55 > 0:05:58To build at last the cottage of our dreams
0:05:58 > 0:06:01A city clerk turned countryman again
0:06:01 > 0:06:04And linked to the metropolis by train.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22George Bradshaw, dying in the 1850s,
0:06:22 > 0:06:26had glimpsed only the start of the rail commuting phenomenon.
0:06:28 > 0:06:33My next stop is Pinner, linked to the Metropolitan line in the 1880s.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37"Pinner, with the trees scattered around it,
0:06:37 > 0:06:39"and the rich foliage of Pinner Park,
0:06:39 > 0:06:43"forms a landscape of very considerable beauty."
0:06:43 > 0:06:47Metro-Land provided the setting for middle-class domestic bliss
0:06:47 > 0:06:52and set up a requirement for middle-class domestic goddesses.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58The image of the perfect housewife was popularised in Victorian times,
0:06:58 > 0:07:00and one woman who did much to promote it
0:07:00 > 0:07:03was a Pinner resident, Mrs Beeton,
0:07:03 > 0:07:07whose famous Book Of Household Management was published in 1861.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13But, apparently, she wasn't the only celebrity cook
0:07:13 > 0:07:15to be drawn to this peaceful village.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20Food historian Robin Weir will tell me the forgotten story
0:07:20 > 0:07:23of another culinary trailblazer from the 19th century.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27We're here to talk about Mrs Marshall,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30who was, frankly, the most important Victorian cook
0:07:30 > 0:07:33and was actually a one-woman industry.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35How is it, then, that I have heard of Mrs Beeton
0:07:35 > 0:07:37but not of Mrs Marshall,
0:07:37 > 0:07:39who apparently was well known in her day?
0:07:39 > 0:07:41Well, she was very well known in her day.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45But, unfortunately, she died just before her 50th birthday.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48After her untimely death,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51Mrs Marshall's cookbooks went out of print
0:07:51 > 0:07:54and she soon faded into obscurity.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58But, in her time, she'd been a formidable businesswoman.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00She used the railway to commute from Pinner
0:08:00 > 0:08:04to her thriving cookery school in central London.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07And she gained a place in gastronomic history
0:08:07 > 0:08:11by developing a Victorian delicacy.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14And what is it you're clutching where I'm clutching my Bradshaw?
0:08:14 > 0:08:16Well, yes, this...
0:08:16 > 0:08:19This is a copy of Fancy Ices,
0:08:19 > 0:08:22which is one of the most important books on ice cream ever produced.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25What she was so clever with is she'd sell you the book.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27Then she'd sell you the machine to make it in.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30Then she'd sell you the ice cave, which was an early freezer.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33Then she'd sell you the moulds to put in the ice cave.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36So she was a complete sort of one-woman industry.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38This Mrs Marshall is my kind of Victorian.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43The 19th century brought ice cream to the masses.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45Imported ice became available,
0:08:45 > 0:08:48shipped in from as far afield as North America,
0:08:48 > 0:08:53while new devices simplified the process of making ices.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55Mrs Marshall patented a churning machine,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58still used by enthusiasts like Annie Squire,
0:08:58 > 0:09:01who is demonstrating a Victorian recipe
0:09:01 > 0:09:03with a surprising main ingredient.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07We're going to mix some cream, about a pint of cream,
0:09:07 > 0:09:09with this cucumber mixture.
0:09:09 > 0:09:14It's cooked cucumber with sugar, ginger wine and some lemon juice.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18'The cucumber mixture and cream are poured into the pan,
0:09:18 > 0:09:20'which is cooled over ice and salt.'
0:09:20 > 0:09:22And this is where the hard work begins, is it?
0:09:22 > 0:09:24That's where the hard work begins.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26'The paddle steadily churns the mixture,
0:09:26 > 0:09:29'keeping the texture lovely and smooth.
0:09:29 > 0:09:30'In theory.'
0:09:30 > 0:09:32- Gentle.- Gentle?
0:09:32 > 0:09:34Well, as fast as you think you can
0:09:34 > 0:09:36without it going off into outer space, you know?
0:09:36 > 0:09:38As fast as I can without it going into...
0:09:38 > 0:09:41- Turning it into a flying saucer! - ..outer space?
0:09:41 > 0:09:43Annie, I can feel it stiffening a little bit already, I think.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45Well, according to Mrs Marshall,
0:09:45 > 0:09:49you should be able to make a pint of ice cream in about five minutes.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51- Shall we have a look?- Yeah.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54- It's sludging, yes. Keep going. - Sludging?
0:09:54 > 0:09:58Not sure I want to be known for making sludgy ice cream!
0:09:58 > 0:10:00- It's getting quite stiff to the touch.- Good, yes.
0:10:00 > 0:10:01Shall we have a look?
0:10:04 > 0:10:05Whoa! What do we think of that?
0:10:05 > 0:10:08- Really good.- So now we serve it out. - Yes.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14Look at that!
0:10:17 > 0:10:19Mmm!
0:10:19 > 0:10:21- That's really good, isn't it? - That's very nice.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25- The sweetness and the cucumber go very well.- Yep.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27Portillo's ice cream, penny a lump!
0:10:27 > 0:10:28Guaranteed to make you jump!
0:10:35 > 0:10:38Having experienced the sweet taste of Victorian suburbia,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41I'm now continuing my journey towards the heart of the city
0:10:41 > 0:10:43on the Metropolitan line.
0:10:56 > 0:10:57- Hello!- Hello!
0:10:57 > 0:10:59Do you live on the Metropolitan line?
0:10:59 > 0:11:02- Do you live in Metro-Land? - Yes, we do, Pinner.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06And is it important to you to have the access to the centre?
0:11:06 > 0:11:08Oh, yes. I mean, it's amazing.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11You can get to Baker Street in about 15 minutes.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13I think it's the best line on the Underground,
0:11:13 > 0:11:15- the Metropolitan line.- Why so?
0:11:15 > 0:11:18Well, because the trains are fast,
0:11:18 > 0:11:20easy to get to Finchley Road for Hampstead.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Our grandchildren are in school in Hampstead, so it's very handy.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28It sounds like you're quite good fans of rail transport.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30Oh, especially as it doesn't cost us anything!
0:11:30 > 0:11:32We've got our rail cards!
0:11:34 > 0:11:37While in Bradshaw's day, suburban routes were in their infancy,
0:11:37 > 0:11:41the modern commuter has a wealth of tracks to choose from.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51I'm now swapping the Underground system for the lines
0:11:51 > 0:11:54recently reconfigured and rebranded as the Overground,
0:11:54 > 0:11:58which will carry me from West Hampstead to my next stop.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04Hampstead Heath, says Bradshaw's,
0:12:04 > 0:12:06"Is situated in the midst of a fine open country,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09"which, from its elevated character,
0:12:09 > 0:12:12"provides many beautiful views of the city."
0:12:12 > 0:12:17It's one of my favourite open spaces and the point for that panorama
0:12:17 > 0:12:20has a name that appeals to me - Parliament Hill.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30Even at the time of my guidebook, the countryside around the capital
0:12:30 > 0:12:34was gradually being eaten up by urban sprawl,
0:12:34 > 0:12:38but thankfully the heath itself has survived almost unchanged.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43The vista is, as promised, superb,
0:12:43 > 0:12:47and Bradshaw's comments that the air is remarkably salubrious.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49That would be in contrast, I suppose,
0:12:49 > 0:12:52to the miasma of sulphurous fumes
0:12:52 > 0:12:55and the smoke from 100,000 domestic hearths
0:12:55 > 0:12:57that would have shrouded the city.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01It wasn't just the living who sought to escape to green slopes.
0:13:01 > 0:13:02My guidebook comments,
0:13:02 > 0:13:05"Cemeteries have been established within the last few years
0:13:05 > 0:13:09"under the Burial Acts, which compel metropolitan districts
0:13:09 > 0:13:12"to provide suitable space for the interment of the dead."
0:13:12 > 0:13:17Then it comments that entry to Highgate Cemetery is free.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20That would be for the quick, I think, not the dead.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26As 19th century London's population mushroomed,
0:13:26 > 0:13:29the problem of where to bury the dead reached crisis point.
0:13:30 > 0:13:35In 1836, an Act of Parliament legislated for the creation
0:13:35 > 0:13:38of vast new cemeteries on the city's outskirts.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43My guide to Highgate is Ian Dungavell.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50What made them build cemeteries in places like Highgate?
0:13:50 > 0:13:52Normally, you'd be buried in your local parish churchyard,
0:13:52 > 0:13:54but those had got very, very crowded,
0:13:54 > 0:13:56so the sextons would have to go round prodding,
0:13:56 > 0:13:58looking for space for a grave
0:13:58 > 0:14:00and oftentimes that wasn't available.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03- A shocking situation.- It really was, it was absolutely terrible,
0:14:03 > 0:14:07and on top of that there was a fear of grave robbers or body snatchers,
0:14:07 > 0:14:11who were looking for corpses to sell to the anatomy schools,
0:14:11 > 0:14:13so all in all, people didn't want to be buried
0:14:13 > 0:14:16in parish churchyards any more.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20Here lie some of Victorian Britain's most notable figures,
0:14:20 > 0:14:23including scientist Michael Faraday, writer George Eliot
0:14:23 > 0:14:26and, most famously, Karl Marx.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29Cemeteries like Highgate were privately run,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32and only those who could afford the fees were buried in them.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38The headstones and tombs are magnificent pieces of art.
0:14:38 > 0:14:39- Ostentatious.- Absolutely.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41You had to show off your social position
0:14:41 > 0:14:43and also the cemetery company
0:14:43 > 0:14:46wanted to make sure you knew this was a good place to be,
0:14:46 > 0:14:50so if you had your tomb within a certain distance of the main path,
0:14:50 > 0:14:52you had to spend a fair bit of money on it.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55This is all part of Victorian commercial enterprise, is it?
0:14:55 > 0:14:57Absolutely, these were a private speculation.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00If you look at the pages of the newspapers in the 1830s,
0:15:00 > 0:15:03you'll see ads for cemetery companies
0:15:03 > 0:15:05alongside ads for railway companies
0:15:05 > 0:15:06and they were both part
0:15:06 > 0:15:08of that growth in infrastructure in the 1830s.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12In fact, on one new cemetery, they had the billboards up saying,
0:15:12 > 0:15:13"New cemetery coming soon,"
0:15:13 > 0:15:18and some wag had written, "New graves warmed by steam."
0:15:18 > 0:15:21So it's quite clear people saw cemeteries and railways
0:15:21 > 0:15:23as joint aspects of modern life.
0:15:23 > 0:15:24- A bit macabre.- Yeah.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28What an extraordinary-looking building.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31These are the terraced catacombs,
0:15:31 > 0:15:35so they're listed because they're the oldest asphalted structure
0:15:35 > 0:15:37in the country and the company that did it,
0:15:37 > 0:15:40the consulting engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
0:15:45 > 0:15:51My goodness, it's like a library of corpses on their shelves.
0:15:51 > 0:15:57That's right. There's 825 of these niches where coffins were placed
0:15:57 > 0:15:59and it's the most secure part of the cemetery.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02You had three lines of defence - the cemetery walls,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05you would come up here with an attendant with a key
0:16:05 > 0:16:08and then your coffin would be placed in here
0:16:08 > 0:16:12with a marble slab or a granite slab in front with your name inscribed.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16So here, you really were on the shelf, weren't you?
0:16:23 > 0:16:25I've retraced my steps to West Hampstead
0:16:25 > 0:16:28to rejoin the Underground network.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32The Jubilee line's first stretch opened in 1979,
0:16:32 > 0:16:34partly using these existing tracks,
0:16:34 > 0:16:38and now they're carrying me towards central London.
0:16:38 > 0:16:39Bradshaw's suggests I visit
0:16:39 > 0:16:43Tussauds Wax Exhibition at Baker Street.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46"Summer - 11 to 10, winter - 11 to dusk.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49"One shilling, see Napoleon, et cetera."
0:16:49 > 0:16:51After the opening of this model attraction,
0:16:51 > 0:16:53its popularity waxed.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57Since its foundation in the early 19th century,
0:16:57 > 0:17:00around 500 million visitors
0:17:00 > 0:17:03have beaten a path to London's famous waxworks.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12In an age before television and Twitter,
0:17:12 > 0:17:16here Victorians managed to look their heroes in the eye.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20Matthew Clarkson is introducing me
0:17:20 > 0:17:24to this venerable institution's founder.
0:17:24 > 0:17:25This is the lady herself.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28The story of Madame Tussauds starts in about 1770 Paris,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31where she learned to model wax likenesses.
0:17:31 > 0:17:35Early 19th century, she moved to London with a travelling exhibition
0:17:35 > 0:17:39of death masks and relics from the French Revolution.
0:17:39 > 0:17:40- Death masks?- Yeah.
0:17:40 > 0:17:45When she was 17, she became the art tutor to Louis XVI's daughter.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48She then learned her skill there and had to prove her allegiance
0:17:48 > 0:17:50to the family during the French Revolution,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53where she was forced to create these death masks of the aristocracy
0:17:53 > 0:17:55who had been sentenced to death.
0:17:55 > 0:17:56What a frightful beginning.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59Yeah, it's kind of dark, but it's where she learned her craft.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05In 1835, Madame Tussaud set up shop at the Baker Street Bazaar,
0:18:05 > 0:18:09where Londoners could come face to face with figures from Nelson
0:18:09 > 0:18:11to Mary Queen of Scots.
0:18:11 > 0:18:17Then, in 1884, 34 years after her death, the exhibition relocated
0:18:17 > 0:18:21to its present position on the Marylebone Road.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23Today's stars now stand alongside
0:18:23 > 0:18:25the great and the good of Bradshaw's era.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31I see here my old friend Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34Now, what did Queen Victoria make of this?
0:18:34 > 0:18:36Was she keen on Madame Tussauds?
0:18:36 > 0:18:38She was fascinated by the process.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41In 1837, she was sculpted for the first time
0:18:41 > 0:18:43and it was what we call a "live sitting".
0:18:43 > 0:18:47Whereas now we take hundreds of measurements of facial features,
0:18:47 > 0:18:50she had the moulding medium poured on her face
0:18:50 > 0:18:52with straws in her nostrils to breathe.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55To tolerate such indignity of the royal personage,
0:18:55 > 0:18:57she must have been highly amused by the whole process.
0:18:57 > 0:18:58Yes, I can imagine so.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02If Queen Victoria could endure such hardship
0:19:02 > 0:19:06to be immortalised in wax, then so can I.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09- Hello, guys.- Hi.- Hi.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11So what torture have you got ready for me here?
0:19:11 > 0:19:13So what we're going to do
0:19:13 > 0:19:15is basically dipping your hand into the wax.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17It is really, really hot, yeah?
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Sorry, you're going to dip my hand in really hot wax?
0:19:20 > 0:19:22Yes. First of all, what we're going to do
0:19:22 > 0:19:23is put some cream on your hands.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26The cream helps to remove the wax later,
0:19:26 > 0:19:32while the cold water should make the hot wax dip less painful...I hope!
0:19:32 > 0:19:34Let's start dipping with five times.
0:19:34 > 0:19:35One,
0:19:35 > 0:19:37- two...- Two!
0:19:37 > 0:19:39..three,
0:19:39 > 0:19:40four...
0:19:40 > 0:19:42Nice. ..five.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45So if you come here for me.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49You might feel like I'm cutting you a little bit, but I'm not.
0:19:49 > 0:19:50Aaaah!
0:19:52 > 0:19:55This man is taking a knife around my arteries!
0:19:55 > 0:19:57OK, now comes the fun part.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01Just relax your hand completely and let it slide off into the water.
0:20:01 > 0:20:02It's not going to break.
0:20:02 > 0:20:03And here we go.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07Look at that! Isn't that lovely!
0:20:07 > 0:20:09How's that looking?
0:20:09 > 0:20:14I think that that is in the most extraordinary good taste.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16Now, do you think that can carry my Bradshaw's?
0:20:17 > 0:20:20- I should hope so.- Oh, beautiful!
0:20:22 > 0:20:23That's lovely.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27Travelling with Bradshaw's - a hands-off approach.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35London's earliest underground railways
0:20:35 > 0:20:37were just metres below the city streets,
0:20:37 > 0:20:39but towards the end of the 19th century,
0:20:39 > 0:20:43the birth of electric trains made deep-level railways possible
0:20:43 > 0:20:45and the real "Tube" was born.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50In 1906, a new underground railway opened,
0:20:50 > 0:20:53bored deep beneath the city's streets,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56running between Baker Street and Waterloo.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59And though after that it was extended to the south
0:20:59 > 0:21:03and very much to the north, it's still known today as the Bakerloo.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11The Bakerloo line is taking me
0:21:11 > 0:21:13to my final destination on today's journey,
0:21:13 > 0:21:17known as the jewel in the crown of the eight Royal Parks of London.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24The Regent's Park takes its name from Queen Victoria's uncle,
0:21:24 > 0:21:28the Prince Regent, later King George IV.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33He allowed elegant new homes, set in ornamental landscaped grounds,
0:21:33 > 0:21:37to be built on crown lands formerly used for farming.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41"Regent's Park," says the Bradshaw's Guide to London,
0:21:41 > 0:21:46"and the surrounding crescents were laid out from a plan by John Nash.
0:21:46 > 0:21:51"The zone of noble mansions is a rare boon to the pedestrian
0:21:51 > 0:21:55"of which the Londoner may well be proud."
0:21:55 > 0:21:58Was there ever a more successful design of park?
0:22:00 > 0:22:04At first, only the residents of the exclusive new villas and terraces
0:22:04 > 0:22:06were permitted to use the gardens,
0:22:06 > 0:22:09but as 19th century London's population grew,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12so did the need to provide open spaces.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16In 1835, the general public was permitted to enter sections
0:22:16 > 0:22:20of the Regent's Park on two days of the week.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23Today, it's open all year round for everyone.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25- Hello, ladies!- Hello!
0:22:25 > 0:22:27How are you? May I just join you for a second?
0:22:27 > 0:22:30- Yeah.- What are you drinking?
0:22:30 > 0:22:33- We're drinking a little Pinot Grigio.- Pinot Grigio.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35Why do you think Regent's Park works so well?
0:22:37 > 0:22:39I think it's got so many interesting things in it -
0:22:39 > 0:22:42you've got the lovely flowers and you've got the gardens...
0:22:42 > 0:22:45- The architecture?- Beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49- Are you pleased it got opened up? - Absolutely. Who wouldn't be?
0:22:49 > 0:22:50A park and a good book.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53- Still a good recipe? - A great combination.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56Yeah, we are clashing slightly, with the pink and the yellow.
0:22:56 > 0:22:57It think it works!
0:22:57 > 0:22:58MICHAEL CHUCKLES
0:22:58 > 0:23:02I'd love to linger with a drink, but I'm just passing through
0:23:02 > 0:23:05this beautiful park, en route to an attraction built to satisfy
0:23:05 > 0:23:09the 19th century's unquenchable thirst for knowledge.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14"The Zoological Gardens is perhaps the most fashionable resort
0:23:14 > 0:23:15"in the metropolis,
0:23:15 > 0:23:18"an institution which has its origins
0:23:18 > 0:23:20"in that spirit of association
0:23:20 > 0:23:22"which has achieved so much for England.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25"Specimens of rare, curious and beautiful animals
0:23:25 > 0:23:27"have been collected.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31"A walk through this garden is like a rapid journey over the world."
0:23:31 > 0:23:35Now, most Victorians were not able to travel the globe
0:23:35 > 0:23:37and photography was in its infancy,
0:23:37 > 0:23:43so imagine the experience of wonder and joy when they came to the zoo.
0:23:46 > 0:23:47'As in Bradshaw's day,
0:23:47 > 0:23:50'London Zoo continues to pull in the crowds,
0:23:50 > 0:23:53'with more than a million visitors per year.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56'I'm meeting zoological director David Field
0:23:56 > 0:23:59'to hear how it began as an exclusive club.'
0:23:59 > 0:24:02David, it's pretty hot for me in my summer plumage,
0:24:02 > 0:24:05so I hate to think what it's like for the penguins!
0:24:05 > 0:24:08When did the Zoological Society of London begin?
0:24:08 > 0:24:13The society actually began in 1826 and it was the vision
0:24:13 > 0:24:15of a wonderful man called Sir Stamford Raffles.
0:24:15 > 0:24:17He had the foresight to bring together
0:24:17 > 0:24:20a range of eminent scientists and politicians of the day
0:24:20 > 0:24:25to create the society that then grew into the London Zoo as we see today.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29Created so that researchers
0:24:29 > 0:24:32could study exotic animals at close quarters,
0:24:32 > 0:24:34when the zoo opened in 1828,
0:24:34 > 0:24:37it was the first scientific zoo in the world.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40Among those who benefited was Charles Darwin,
0:24:40 > 0:24:43who reportedly saw his first ape here.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47It was a members-only club until 1847,
0:24:47 > 0:24:50when public pressure forced the society
0:24:50 > 0:24:51to open its doors more widely.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56Bradshaw's talks about it as being a very fashionable place,
0:24:56 > 0:25:01so it was treated by the well-to-do as a place to promenade, was it?
0:25:01 > 0:25:04Absolutely. In fact, a music hall artiste called The Great Vance
0:25:04 > 0:25:08had a song in which the lyrics talked about, "The OK thing to do
0:25:08 > 0:25:11"in a Sunday afternoon is promenade in the zoo."
0:25:11 > 0:25:12And in actual fact,
0:25:12 > 0:25:15that was the first time the word "zoo" was ever coined.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20Some of the zoo's residents so captured the Victorian imagination
0:25:20 > 0:25:23that they achieved celebrity status.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27A great Victorian character surely was Jumbo the elephant.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30Oh, one of the most iconic characters
0:25:30 > 0:25:33and his name just lives for ever.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37Because "Jumbo" didn't actually mean elephantine.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39No, not at all, and it certainly was Jumbo
0:25:39 > 0:25:43that has given that, that phrase, but he was an enormous animal.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45What happened to him?
0:25:45 > 0:25:46He actually left the zoo.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49He was sold to Barnum & Bailey circus.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52Because of his size, Phineas T Barnum,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54he wanted the biggest elephant in the world.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56But there was an outcry.
0:25:56 > 0:25:57There was letters to the press,
0:25:57 > 0:25:59even Queen Victoria made a request
0:25:59 > 0:26:02that surely we should be able to keep Jumbo.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05What happened to Jumbo in the end?
0:26:05 > 0:26:07Well, one night in the States,
0:26:07 > 0:26:10when the circus was moving from one site to the other,
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Jumbo was getting onto the train
0:26:13 > 0:26:17and unfortunately another freight train was coming the other way
0:26:17 > 0:26:22and hit Jumbo and he died there and then.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24That was end of the line for Jumbo.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29Jumbo's death sparked a public outpouring of grief.
0:26:29 > 0:26:34London Zoo had prompted Victorian Britons to take to their hearts
0:26:34 > 0:26:37outlandish species from distant shores.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42It's a great way for people to get close to animals,
0:26:42 > 0:26:44a bit too close, possibly!
0:26:44 > 0:26:47It must have been extraordinary for Victorians
0:26:47 > 0:26:51for the first time to come eye to eye with a giraffe.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54The Victorians couldn't get enough of this.
0:26:54 > 0:26:55But the same is today.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59People love to get close and are inspired to get this close
0:26:59 > 0:27:01to animals.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07Whilst Jumbo's sad death was caused by an American freight train,
0:27:07 > 0:27:11life in London has become dependent on railways.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20This Metropolitan Railway was opened in 1863
0:27:20 > 0:27:24and soon extended as far as Mrs Marshall's Pinner.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27London faced a population explosion
0:27:27 > 0:27:31and responded by perfecting its recreations and its parks
0:27:31 > 0:27:35and by seeking nearby green spaces for its citizens
0:27:35 > 0:27:36both living and dead.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40London was the first metropolis to struggle with how to open up
0:27:40 > 0:27:44rural paradise without urbanising the countryside
0:27:44 > 0:27:48and, using the world's first underground railway,
0:27:48 > 0:27:51I think my city did it pretty well.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58'Next time, I'll see the celebrated ship that supplied Victorian Britain
0:27:58 > 0:28:00'with its national drink...'
0:28:00 > 0:28:03Every journey back from China, she was bringing 600 tonnes of tea.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06That was enough tea to make over 200 million cups.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10'..taste the by-product of 19th century global trade...'
0:28:10 > 0:28:11Mmm!
0:28:11 > 0:28:14Deliciously warm, as though it had just come off
0:28:14 > 0:28:17a hot sticky toffee pudding.
0:28:17 > 0:28:21'..and learn about the nation's top award for gallantry.'
0:28:21 > 0:28:25- This one...is made from the barrel you're leaning on.- Really?!