0:00:05 > 0:00:08'For Victorian Britons, George Bradshaw was a household name.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11'At a time when railways were new,
0:00:11 > 0:00:16'Bradshaw's guidebook inspired them to take to the tracks.'
0:00:16 > 0:00:20I'm using a Bradshaw's Guide to understand how trains transformed
0:00:20 > 0:00:22Britain, its landscape,
0:00:22 > 0:00:26its industry, society and leisure time.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30As I crisscross the country 150 years later,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33it helps me to discover the Britain of today.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56I'm embarking on a journey that will take me
0:00:56 > 0:00:59from England's Midlands to moorlands,
0:00:59 > 0:01:04beginning in a region that produced reforms and new ideas
0:01:04 > 0:01:07alongside manufactured goods.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11Bradshaw will how me to understand how the trains spread not only
0:01:11 > 0:01:14the products of industry but arts and education too.
0:01:23 > 0:01:28'This week I'm starting my journey in Britain's second-largest city,
0:01:28 > 0:01:31'before following the path of the River Severn south past
0:01:31 > 0:01:36'great cathedrals to the ancient spas and ports of the south-west,
0:01:36 > 0:01:40'ending up in one of Britain's glorious national parks.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46'Today's leg starts in the mighty metropolis of Birmingham
0:01:46 > 0:01:49'and continues to the carpet town of Kidderminster,
0:01:49 > 0:01:52'before arriving in the Roman city of Worcester.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58'On this journey I have a blast in Brum...
0:01:58 > 0:02:00BLOWS WHISTLE
0:02:01 > 0:02:04Brilliant. That's the sound of the railways, isn't it?
0:02:04 > 0:02:09'..pay homage to a magnificent organ that inspired a great composer...
0:02:09 > 0:02:13The city fathers were very proud of this instrument
0:02:13 > 0:02:16so it was a feather in their cap that somebody like Mendelssohn
0:02:16 > 0:02:18should deign to play on it.
0:02:18 > 0:02:23'..and get a dose of quack doctors and their bizarre remedies.'
0:02:23 > 0:02:27There's one here called simply The Ills Of Humanity.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30And Pink Pills For Pale People.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43My journey will begin in Birmingham.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47My guidebook remarks that "it's the great centre of the metal trades,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50"scarcely a street being without its manufactory,
0:02:50 > 0:02:53"carried on in small workshops."
0:02:53 > 0:02:56I'm on my way and, as they say,
0:02:56 > 0:02:58every rail journey begins with a whistle.
0:03:02 > 0:03:07'On its journey from Saxon village to vast conurbation,
0:03:07 > 0:03:09'Birmingham underwent its biggest growth spurge
0:03:09 > 0:03:12'during the 19th century, when the population reached
0:03:12 > 0:03:17'half a million and it was granted city status by Queen Victoria.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20'It's success as a manufacturing centre was thanks in large part
0:03:20 > 0:03:24'to its transport systems, the network of canals
0:03:24 > 0:03:28'and Birmingham New Street station, which opened in 1854.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36'As I arrive, it's being restructured
0:03:36 > 0:03:38'so I'm escaping the noise and dust
0:03:38 > 0:03:41'by heading to an area with more sparkle.'
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter was known traditionally
0:03:49 > 0:03:52as the City of 1,000 Trades
0:03:52 > 0:03:54and even today it is the UK's largest centre
0:03:54 > 0:03:57for the manufacture and retail of jewellery.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00It now has its own railway station on the Birmingham Metro
0:04:00 > 0:04:03and it's come to my ears that they make whistles here,
0:04:03 > 0:04:05which is worth a peep.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13'J Hudson and Company is the maker of the world-famous Acme whistle
0:04:13 > 0:04:16'and has been manufacturing whistles here in the Jewellery Quarter
0:04:16 > 0:04:18'since 1884.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28'Joseph Hudson, the founder, was originally a farm worker
0:04:28 > 0:04:31'from Derbyshire who, like many others during the Industrial
0:04:31 > 0:04:35'Revolution, moved to Birmingham where he trained as a toolmaker.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39'An inventor at heart,
0:04:39 > 0:04:43'he tinkered away in the converted washroom of his back-to-back terraced house
0:04:43 > 0:04:47'where he came up with the idea for a particularly powerful whistle.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55'To find out more, I'm going to meet Holly Occhipinti,
0:04:55 > 0:04:59'the company's development manager and resident historian.'
0:04:59 > 0:05:02I imagine that whistles have been around for ever and a day,
0:05:02 > 0:05:06so how was it that Joseph Hudson made a business of it in the 19th century?
0:05:06 > 0:05:10Joseph Hudson managed to spot an opportunity in the public sector,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13where a form of communication was needed over long distances
0:05:13 > 0:05:16and so he thought about sound and how sound travels
0:05:16 > 0:05:18and he came up with the whistle.
0:05:19 > 0:05:24'Until then, whistles had been used as toys or musical instruments
0:05:24 > 0:05:27'but Hudson spotted that a modernised version could appeal
0:05:27 > 0:05:29'to a whole new market.'
0:05:30 > 0:05:33And I suppose one of the early clients would have been the police force.
0:05:33 > 0:05:39They were indeed. Here we actually have an 1883 Metropolitan police whistle.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41This whistle is still produced in exactly the same way
0:05:41 > 0:05:44- and is used by the police force today.- That's extraordinary.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47Now what characteristics do you need in a police whistle?
0:05:47 > 0:05:49It needs to be very easy to blow
0:05:49 > 0:05:52because of picturing the Bobby on the beat chasing after criminals.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54It needs to travel over long distances
0:05:54 > 0:05:57and be heard over vehicle noise.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01Well, I just walked up your stairs, so I'm a little bit out of breath.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03BLOWS WHISTLE
0:06:03 > 0:06:05Splendid sound, isn't it?
0:06:05 > 0:06:07Now, what about my favourite subject, the railways.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09Did they always know that they needed whistles?
0:06:09 > 0:06:14Joseph Hudson certainly made sure in 1860 they knew they needed whistles.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16Here we actually have an original that would've been
0:06:16 > 0:06:21handmade by Joseph Hudson himself in his workshop in 1860.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24This is a buffalo horn stationmaster's whistle.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28BLOWS WHISTLE.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31- Very shrill for a station. - It certainly would startle you.- Mm.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36Afraid that people might fall onto the tracks in fright,
0:06:36 > 0:06:39Hudson produced a lower tone for his railway whistle
0:06:39 > 0:06:41by making the cavity larger.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43The Thunderer whistle was born.
0:06:43 > 0:06:44WHISTLE
0:06:44 > 0:06:47- And so that's an improvement, is it, that one?- This is.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49This is a Thunderer from 1884
0:06:49 > 0:06:53and is now the most popular stationmaster's whistle used today.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57- We've produced around ten million. - Ten million whistles?- Ten million.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59Let's give it a go.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01BLOWS WHISTLE
0:07:02 > 0:07:06Brilliant. That's the sound of the railways, isn't it?
0:07:06 > 0:07:09'The manufacturing process of the Thunderer has barely
0:07:09 > 0:07:11'changed in 100 years
0:07:11 > 0:07:14'and it remains the most used whistle in the world,
0:07:14 > 0:07:18'beloved of sports referees, partygoers and, of course,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21'railway officials.'
0:07:21 > 0:07:24So, I want to make a whistle and we start by stamping it.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27- The name of the company there.- Yeah. - And what do you put on the side here?
0:07:27 > 0:07:31We do a Great Western Railway, East African Railway
0:07:31 > 0:07:33and we can pretty much put anyone else's name on it.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35- Maybe my name today?- Your name, yeah? We could do.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39- So what do I do? Pop it in there? - Just place it in.- Yeah.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41- And give it a stamp?- Yeah.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47'After the two halves of the whistle have been assembled,
0:07:47 > 0:07:49'it's then soldered together...
0:07:49 > 0:07:52- Now, can you see the solder just starting to melt on the side?- I can.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56- I can see that.- Just give it a slight shake and tilt it up.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59'..before being polished back to a high shine.'
0:07:59 > 0:08:02- Already beginning to look very nice. - Yep.
0:08:04 > 0:08:05Ah, that's lovely.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11- Colin.- Hi, Michael.- Hello. Good to see you.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15My whistle is taking shape but it still doesn't sound right.
0:08:15 > 0:08:16BLOWS WHISTLE
0:08:16 > 0:08:18- That's not going to start a train, is it?- No, not really.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22- So we need to put something in it. - Yes.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24- A pea.- A cork.- A cork.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26- Is that what's steaming away over there?- Yes, it is.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29So what you need to do is, we take the dish,
0:08:29 > 0:08:33put them in the dish because it's really hot in there, to be honest.
0:08:33 > 0:08:34Why do you heat these corks, Colin?
0:08:34 > 0:08:37Just to make them soft and it's just easier for them
0:08:37 > 0:08:40to actually push into the whistle itself.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45So with any luck that is going to go in there.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47There we are. It's inside.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49The 9.47 is about to go.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51BLOWS WHISTLE
0:08:51 > 0:08:53Brilliant.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56- Now I need to find a real train. Thank you, Colin.- Thank you.
0:08:56 > 0:08:57- All the best.- Thank you, Michael.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03'But before I head back to the station,
0:09:03 > 0:09:06'I'm following my Bradshaw's past the 20th century brutalism
0:09:06 > 0:09:09'and the heavy Victorian civic architecture
0:09:09 > 0:09:12'to one of Birmingham's most remarkable buildings,
0:09:12 > 0:09:14'which has, at its heart, a rare treasure.'
0:09:18 > 0:09:22"The Town Hall at the top of New Street," says Bradshaw's,
0:09:22 > 0:09:24"is a beautiful Grecian temple
0:09:24 > 0:09:29"surrounded by rows of Corinthian pillars 40-feet high.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32"It is a splendid public hall at one end of which
0:09:32 > 0:09:36"is the most famous organ, one of the finest in Europe."
0:09:40 > 0:09:44'Hoping for a glimpse of this marvellous to instrument,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47'I'm going inside the grand auditorium to meet Richard Hawley,
0:09:47 > 0:09:49'head of artistic programming.'
0:09:52 > 0:09:55Richard, this fine building is called the Town Hall
0:09:55 > 0:09:59but I think it was never intended to be the seat of city government, was it?
0:09:59 > 0:10:00No, not at all.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03It was envisaged to be the home of the music festival,
0:10:03 > 0:10:05the Birmingham Triennial Festival,
0:10:05 > 0:10:07that had been going since the late 1700s,
0:10:07 > 0:10:10mainly to generate funds to build a hospital
0:10:10 > 0:10:14and the spaces that the festival was using never quite matched
0:10:14 > 0:10:17the aspirations of the people organising the festival,
0:10:17 > 0:10:22and they championed for a specific purpose-built hall to be built,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25which is why we have Town Hall.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28Is it successful musically? Does it produce a fine acoustic?
0:10:28 > 0:10:30It's a fantastic acoustic.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35It was recognised immediately as one of the significant halls in Europe.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41'With a world-class venue at their disposal,
0:10:41 > 0:10:44'the organisers of the Triennial Music Festival
0:10:44 > 0:10:47'set out to attract excellence.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49'One of the most popular composers of the day
0:10:49 > 0:10:51was the German Felix Mendelssohn,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54'a leading light of the Romantic movement,
0:10:54 > 0:10:57'whose triumphant Wedding March has been played
0:10:57 > 0:10:59'for many a happy bride and groom.'
0:11:02 > 0:11:06Joseph Moore, who was one of the leading figures behind the Triennial Festival,
0:11:06 > 0:11:09contacted Mendelssohn the instant this building was open,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12and Mendelssohn came to the festival in 1837,
0:11:12 > 0:11:15and over the course of the next decade
0:11:15 > 0:11:17he was convinced to premiere a major work,
0:11:17 > 0:11:19a commission of Elijah,
0:11:19 > 0:11:23which took place here in 1846.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27And was he swayed at all by the presence of the organ,
0:11:27 > 0:11:30which according to Bradshaw's, was very, very exceptional?
0:11:30 > 0:11:33He was. We are actually fortunate for his insights.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37You can see that the organ is set back into an alcove.
0:11:37 > 0:11:38That was Mendelssohn's idea.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41The console juts out at Mendelssohn's suggestion,
0:11:41 > 0:11:43so that whatever organist is performing can hear
0:11:43 > 0:11:45the acoustics properly,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48so Mendelssohn is very much part of this building.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53'The last Triennial Festival took place
0:11:53 > 0:11:56'just before the outbreak of the First World War
0:11:56 > 0:12:00'but the organ is still regularly played by Birmingham city organist,
0:12:00 > 0:12:02'Thomas Trotter.'
0:12:02 > 0:12:05Bradshaw's is quite enthusiastic about this organ,
0:12:05 > 0:12:10saying that it contains 4,000 pipes acted upon by four sets of keys.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12Now, here we seem to have four sets of keys,
0:12:12 > 0:12:15so what's the number of pipes now?
0:12:15 > 0:12:16It's grown a bit since then.
0:12:16 > 0:12:22It's now 6,000, so it's almost double the size it was in the 1860s.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26But the city fathers were very proud of this instrument
0:12:26 > 0:12:28so it was a feather in their cap
0:12:28 > 0:12:32that somebody like Mendelssohn should deign to play on it.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35We know that the third time that he was here
0:12:35 > 0:12:40was when he came to conduct premiere of his oratorio Elijah.
0:12:40 > 0:12:41And how does Elijah go?
0:12:41 > 0:12:43Well, it so happens I have a little bit of it here
0:12:43 > 0:12:45so I'll give you a taste.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48This is the final fugue, the sort of culmination of the whole piece.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51It's called Lord, Our Creator, How Excellent Thy Name.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24'Only a year after the premiere of Elijah,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27'Felix Mendelssohn died at the age of 38.
0:13:27 > 0:13:32'But his great oratorio was played at every subsequent festival,
0:13:32 > 0:13:35'sustaining the link between the composer and Birmingham Town Hall.'
0:13:46 > 0:13:49You have set the Grecian temple trembling
0:13:49 > 0:13:51and me a-tingling.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54Organ, organist and Town hall at their finest.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56Thank you very much.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00'It's time to bid farewell to the city
0:14:00 > 0:14:03'and to make my way to Birmingham's Snow Hill station.'
0:14:18 > 0:14:21My next stop will beat Kidderminster, which the guidebook tells me
0:14:21 > 0:14:25"is celebrated for its manufactures, especially carpets,
0:14:25 > 0:14:30"which have promoted the trade, wealth and population of the town."
0:14:30 > 0:14:35I'm travelling there post-haste to discover a native of the town
0:14:35 > 0:14:37who left his stamp on the world.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42'Not every visitor to Kidderminster
0:14:42 > 0:14:45'shared Bradshaw's enthusiasm for the place.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48'The famous architectural commentator Sir Nikolaus Pevsner,
0:14:48 > 0:14:50'writing in the mid-20th century,
0:14:50 > 0:14:53'dismissed it as devoid of visual pleasure.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01'But it's old carpet factories
0:15:01 > 0:15:06'and fine churches give a strong sense of its Victorian prosperity,
0:15:06 > 0:15:09'during which era Kidderminster's most famous son
0:15:09 > 0:15:13'had a brilliant idea that revolutionised the Royal Mail.'
0:15:16 > 0:15:18This is Sir Rowland Hill.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22There had been a postage service before him but people paid for
0:15:22 > 0:15:24their letters on collection,
0:15:24 > 0:15:26according to the distance that they had travelled.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30His innovation was that there should be a flat rate
0:15:30 > 0:15:34and that it should be prepaid with a postage stamp.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39The first bore the head of Queen Victoria at the age of 21
0:15:39 > 0:15:41and were known as Penny Blacks.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44For the sheer simplicity of the idea,
0:15:44 > 0:15:46it had all the others licked.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55'I'll wait for the morning to slice open his story.'
0:16:03 > 0:16:08'The next day dawns bright and clear and with a spring in my step
0:16:08 > 0:16:11'I'm reporting for duty at Kidderminster's delivery office.'
0:16:13 > 0:16:16- Good morning. Are you Rollo? - I certainly am.- I'm Michael.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18- How do you do? - Pleased to meet you.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20- So, it's sorting the morning's post? - Yes.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22Is there anyway I can give you a hand with that?
0:16:22 > 0:16:25- You're welcome to if you want to. - All right. What do you have to do?
0:16:25 > 0:16:30First of all, it's post-coded so obviously you've got coded areas.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33- This is a DY10 frame.- So now what do I do with the DY10s?
0:16:33 > 0:16:37- That one there is Cookley and rural, that hole there.- Cookley, rural.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41- Again rural. That's a rural area, Churchill.- Churchill.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44- Vicar Street. - That's Superdrug in the town centre.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47How long does it take you to learn all this stuff, Rollo?
0:16:47 > 0:16:50Everybody says, that works here, the best way to learn the sorting
0:16:50 > 0:16:52- is by going out and doing every delivery.- Ah, yes.
0:16:52 > 0:16:53And that's how you pick it up.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55Mind you, I'm born and bred Kidderminster so you know.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01'The mail that Rollo and I are sorting has been through a machine
0:17:01 > 0:17:05'that recognises postcodes and groups the letters accordingly.
0:17:07 > 0:17:12'After Sir Rowland introduced uniform penny postage in 1840,
0:17:12 > 0:17:16'the volume of mail doubled every 20 years until 1920,
0:17:16 > 0:17:21'when a staggering six billion items passed through the postal system.'
0:17:23 > 0:17:26Last night I visited the statue of Rowland Hill.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29- Is he a bit of a hero of the postmen?- Yeah.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32I mean, born and bred in Kidderminster in Blackwell Street.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35I know his remains, now, are in Westminster Abbey,
0:17:35 > 0:17:37which says a lot for the guy.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40Can you imagine the situation before his innovation,
0:17:40 > 0:17:43that people used to go to their local post office,
0:17:43 > 0:17:44pick up the letter,
0:17:44 > 0:17:47pay for it according to what distance it had travelled.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50And, apparently, sometimes people used to put the message
0:17:50 > 0:17:51on the outside of the envelope
0:17:51 > 0:17:53and once they'd read the message they'd say,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56- "Oh, no, I don't want that. I'm not going to pay for it."- Blimey.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58THEY LAUGH
0:17:58 > 0:18:01'The next stage of the process is delivery.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04'Rollo has invited me to join him on his round,
0:18:04 > 0:18:06'provided that I'm properly attired.'
0:18:13 > 0:18:17Rollo, do you ever go to the railway station to pick up mail these days?
0:18:17 > 0:18:19No, that's a long time ago.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22They did when I first started on the job about, erm...
0:18:22 > 0:18:24Well, I've been doing the job 32 years.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26You used to have to meet the mail bags,
0:18:26 > 0:18:28pick them up in the old cloth bags
0:18:28 > 0:18:32and I still think that was a quicker system than the roads.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37'The first mail train started running in 1838
0:18:37 > 0:18:42'with postal workers onboard sorting the letters in transit.
0:18:42 > 0:18:43'The railways transformed the speed
0:18:43 > 0:18:46'and efficiency of the Royal Mail service,
0:18:46 > 0:18:49'crisscrossing the country while the nation slept
0:18:49 > 0:18:54'and inspiring the great WH Auden to write one of his most famous poems.'
0:18:55 > 0:18:57"This is the Night Mail crossing the border,
0:18:57 > 0:18:59"Bringing the cheque and the postal order,
0:18:59 > 0:19:02"Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
0:19:02 > 0:19:04"The shop at the corner and the girl next door,
0:19:04 > 0:19:06"Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb,
0:19:06 > 0:19:08"The gradient's against but she's on time."
0:19:11 > 0:19:13NEWSREEL ANNOUNCER: Thousands are still asleep,
0:19:13 > 0:19:15dreaming of terrifying monsters.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28'The last mail train was withdrawn in 2004
0:19:28 > 0:19:32'but no substitute has been found for the postman delivering to your home.'
0:19:33 > 0:19:35Here you go, Michael.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43- The first one I've got is number four.- That's it.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45'At the height of the Victorian period,
0:19:45 > 0:19:48'there was a vast number of uniformed postman
0:19:48 > 0:19:50'working in the United Kingdom.'
0:19:50 > 0:19:52No dogs at that one so we're all right.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55'In London there could be up to 12 deliveries a day,
0:19:55 > 0:20:00'allowing correspondents to exchange letters back and forth within hours.'
0:20:00 > 0:20:02Morning. I'll pop it in the letterbox for you.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04- Morning, Rollo. All right?- Yeah.
0:20:04 > 0:20:06- Do I know you from somewhere?- Yes, you do, I think.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09- Where's that then? - I was a train driver.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13I picked you up at Derby one day and brought you down to Burton on Trent.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15- How nice to see you again. - Nice to see you again.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18- So have you left the railway? - Three years ago, yeah.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22- What was it, the journey with me that made you give it up?- No, no.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24- Very nice to see you again. - Nice to see you again.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27'Prepaid, flat-rate postage
0:20:27 > 0:20:29'revolutionised the United Kingdom mail service
0:20:29 > 0:20:32'and the idea then spread around the world.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36'A Victorian concept that remains sacrosanct to this day.'
0:20:36 > 0:20:39Well, Rollo, I'll never forget your name because it reminds me
0:20:39 > 0:20:40of Sir Rowland Hill,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44but I believe it is a serious crime to hold up the Royal Mail.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46I will hold you up no longer. There are your letters.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49Thanks ever so much, Michael. It's been a pleasure.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51- A great pleasure for me. - Thank you.
0:20:53 > 0:20:54'Handing back my cap and bag.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57'it's time to return to the day job,
0:20:57 > 0:21:00'which means embarking on the next stage of my journey.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02'I'm boarding a train that will take me south through
0:21:02 > 0:21:04'the West Midlands to Worcester.'
0:21:06 > 0:21:08'The Victorian age was a time of great progress,
0:21:08 > 0:21:10'not least in the medical profession
0:21:10 > 0:21:14'and Bradshaw's notes that Worcester was well provided for.'
0:21:15 > 0:21:19"I'm told that there are several charitable institutions here
0:21:19 > 0:21:24"amply endowed, such as Queen Hospital for 29 women,
0:21:24 > 0:21:26"St Oswald's for 28 women,
0:21:26 > 0:21:29"Judge Barkley's for 12 persons
0:21:29 > 0:21:31"and the General Infirmary."
0:21:31 > 0:21:35I'd like to investigate how Victorians improved
0:21:35 > 0:21:39and certified the standards of doctors and their remedies.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46'Alighting at Worcester Foregate Street,
0:21:46 > 0:21:48'I emerge in the heart of the old city.
0:21:48 > 0:21:50'With my Bradshaw's to guide me
0:21:50 > 0:21:53'I take in the magnificent brick-built Guildhall...
0:21:57 > 0:21:58'..the 17th century almshouses...
0:22:00 > 0:22:03..and, towering over everything,
0:22:03 > 0:22:05the breathtaking Saxon cathedral.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12'But my focus is on Victorian Worcester
0:22:12 > 0:22:15'and specifically matters medical.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17'So I'm heading to the university campus,
0:22:17 > 0:22:20'which used to be the old Worcester Infirmary,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23'to meet Caroline Rance, who is an expert on quackery.'
0:22:25 > 0:22:27- Hello, Caroline.- Hello.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30We meet in somewhat macabre surroundings.
0:22:30 > 0:22:32Do you think in the 19th century patients were quite
0:22:32 > 0:22:36susceptible to false remedies and false doctors?
0:22:36 > 0:22:38They were, much like they are today, in fact.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42There was a range of different quack remedies, as they were called,
0:22:42 > 0:22:46and sometimes people were what we might now consider gullible,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49but also, in a lot of occasions, it was quite a logical choice to make
0:22:49 > 0:22:52if you wanted to go and buy a patent remedy
0:22:52 > 0:22:55from a newspaper advert or from a chemist.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58That was possibly much cheaper than going to see a doctor
0:22:58 > 0:23:01and so it was a reasonable choice for many people.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07'Quacks got their name from an old Dutch word "kwakzalver",
0:23:07 > 0:23:10'meaning a hawker of salve or ointment.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13'In the Middle Ages "to quack" meant to shout,
0:23:13 > 0:23:15'which was how many of these salesmen
0:23:15 > 0:23:18'advertised their wares in the marketplace.'
0:23:18 > 0:23:20Although there were some that were absolutely fraudulent,
0:23:20 > 0:23:23there were others that it did just about manage to stay within
0:23:23 > 0:23:28the law and one of those was a company called Sequah in 1887.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30This was started by somebody called William Hartley,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33who was born in 1857 in Liverpool,
0:23:33 > 0:23:35but he pretended to be an American
0:23:35 > 0:23:39who was bringing over the big entertaining style
0:23:39 > 0:23:41American medical shows to the UK.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44He would initially just go around with his wagon.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47He would do very entertaining shows that involved drawing people's
0:23:47 > 0:23:48teeth very quickly.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52At one point he claimed to be able to draw eight teeth in a minute.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55And he would get the crowd all very excited and on his side
0:23:55 > 0:24:00and he would then use that to do a sales pitch to sell his medicines.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02'Hartley relied on showmanship
0:24:02 > 0:24:05'and evoked the Wild West to whip up enthusiasm
0:24:05 > 0:24:07for Sequah's cures.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11'Others trod an even more morally dubious line.'
0:24:11 > 0:24:14I see there an advertisement for "drunkenness cured",
0:24:14 > 0:24:17which sounds very promising.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19This sort of advert was published in the very
0:24:19 > 0:24:22early 20th century by a company based in London.
0:24:22 > 0:24:27The idea was that people within the family of an addict
0:24:27 > 0:24:29would be able to use these powders.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31They would slip it into his coffee or into his whisky
0:24:31 > 0:24:33and that was all done in secret.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36He was not to supposed to know that he was being treated.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39So it doesn't exactly match modern ethical standards?
0:24:39 > 0:24:42No and in terms of informed consent of the patient,
0:24:42 > 0:24:43it certainly doesn't.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47'Eventually the general medical profession asserted itself
0:24:47 > 0:24:51'to put down the charlatans and their snake oil remedies.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53'The leader of the campaign was Worcester surgeon
0:24:53 > 0:24:56'and philanthropist Charles Hastings.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59'Just down the corridor is the place where it all started
0:24:59 > 0:25:04'and where I'm meeting Andrew Dearden of the British Medical Association.'
0:25:04 > 0:25:06- Andrew.- Good morning, sir.
0:25:06 > 0:25:11So, what is the significance of the old boardroom of the Infirmary in Worcester?
0:25:11 > 0:25:13Well, this is where, in 1832,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16Sir Charles Hastings led a meeting of about 50 doctors of his day
0:25:16 > 0:25:20and established the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association
0:25:20 > 0:25:23that later became the British Medical Association.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26One of his concerns was that lots of doctors were working independently
0:25:26 > 0:25:29but individually and what he wanted to do was to bring them together
0:25:29 > 0:25:32to share and to expand their medical knowledge and information.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36And I expect the oratory was pretty fine on that occasion.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39"Gentleman, you will, at any rate, admit, that the objects
0:25:39 > 0:25:42"I have thus hastily introduced to the notice of the meeting,
0:25:42 > 0:25:46"are worthy of deep meditation.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50"I cannot help indulging the delightful thought
0:25:50 > 0:25:53"that the Association must have a direct tendency
0:25:53 > 0:25:56"to extend the empire of knowledge
0:25:56 > 0:26:00"and to increase our power over disease."
0:26:02 > 0:26:06'The new Association worked towards the Medical Act of 1858,
0:26:06 > 0:26:08'which commenced the end of quackery.'
0:26:10 > 0:26:12What that did for the very first time
0:26:12 > 0:26:14was to create a medical register.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18So, when someone went to medical school, passed as a doctor,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21they had to register themselves with the General Medical Council,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25so any member of the public could see who was actually qualified
0:26:25 > 0:26:27and could call themselves a doctor.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29The other thing the British Medical Association did
0:26:29 > 0:26:33was to publish a book in 1909 called Secret Remedies,
0:26:33 > 0:26:35where many of the lotions and potions of the day
0:26:35 > 0:26:37were examined by a well-known chemist
0:26:37 > 0:26:41so that the public could actually see what it was that they were buying and taking.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43Mother Seigel's Curative Syrup.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49There's one here called simply The Ills of Humanity.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53And Pink Pills For Pale People.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56They don't sound altogether convincing, do they?
0:26:56 > 0:26:57Not particularly.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01I have to say the ingredients were not particularly convincing either.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05So, it all began with 50 people. Where have you got to now?
0:27:05 > 0:27:09Well, the British Medical Association now has over 156,000 members
0:27:09 > 0:27:11both here in the UK and overseas.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15- You couldn't fit all of them in this room, could you?- Not any more.
0:27:21 > 0:27:26The thunderous sound of the organ in Birmingham Town Hall
0:27:26 > 0:27:30reminds me that the city deserves to be known as much for its music
0:27:30 > 0:27:33as for its metal bashing.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36I thoroughly enjoyed my time delivering letters
0:27:36 > 0:27:39as a tribute to Sir Rowland Hill.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42Other eminent Victorians made improvements to the
0:27:42 > 0:27:45standard of delivering health care,
0:27:45 > 0:27:49giving quack doctors and quack remedies the whistle.
0:27:49 > 0:27:50BLOWS WHISTLE
0:27:58 > 0:28:02'On the next part of my journey I come eye-to -eye with a needle...
0:28:02 > 0:28:06That one has got four punches in. Two big ones, two small ones.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08They are eyes of the needle.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11'..get to grips with some of Gloucester's finest...
0:28:11 > 0:28:15That's a lovely feel, isn't it? Being in contact with that gorgeous cheese.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17Glorious Gloucester!
0:28:18 > 0:28:23'..and raise the roof in tribute to one of Britain's great composers.'
0:28:23 > 0:28:29# And did those feet in ancient time... #