0:00:05 > 0:00:08For Victorian Britons, George Bradshaw was a household name.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11At a time when railways were new,
0:00:11 > 0:00:15Bradshaw's guidebook inspired them to take to the tracks.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17I'm using a Bradshaw's guide
0:00:17 > 0:00:21to understand how trains transformed Britain,
0:00:21 > 0:00:25its landscape, its 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 > 0:00:58I'm continuing my journey from the Midlands towards Dartmoor,
0:00:58 > 0:01:00now passing through Gloucestershire.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04'In this most rural of counties,
0:01:04 > 0:01:08'I'll discover how Victorian innovations revolutionised
0:01:08 > 0:01:10'the practices of agriculture,
0:01:10 > 0:01:14'creating new industries and paving the way for social change.'
0:01:21 > 0:01:23My route, which began in Birmingham,
0:01:23 > 0:01:25now winds south through the Cotswolds,
0:01:25 > 0:01:28before striking out for the coast
0:01:28 > 0:01:32and the ancient spas and port cities of the South West.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36Ending up in one of Britain's most glorious national parks.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42This third leg begins in Stroud in Gloucestershire,
0:01:42 > 0:01:46then on to the market town of Cirencester before arriving
0:01:46 > 0:01:51the next day in time for tea in elegant Georgian Bath.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54'On this journey, I take potluck with an early snooker cue.'
0:01:55 > 0:01:58Oh! A bit askew.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01'Hitch a ride with a farmer of the future.'
0:02:01 > 0:02:05Just being out in the field getting wet and muddy is absolutely wrong.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07It's highly technical these days.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11'And hone my conversational skills at a Victorian tea party.'
0:02:11 > 0:02:14The cucumber this season is extremely crisp.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29My first stop will be Stroud, which I'm informed is situated,
0:02:29 > 0:02:33"near the confluence of the River Frome and the Slade-water.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37"Woollen cloth forms the staple manufacture."
0:02:37 > 0:02:42So today, I will put the history of that important textile on the table.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48- Bound for Stroud.- Lovely.- Thank you.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Stroud's peaceful appearance today
0:02:51 > 0:02:56gives little hint of its history as an industrial town making textiles.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58The town was well supplied with wool and water
0:02:58 > 0:03:03and became a refuge in the 17th century for immigrant Huguenots
0:03:03 > 0:03:05and in the 19th century for Jews.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09'Both communities renowned for their skills as cloth manufacturers.'
0:03:09 > 0:03:11Morning.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13'In its heyday during the Victorian era,
0:03:13 > 0:03:15'there were over 100 mills here
0:03:15 > 0:03:19'producing the woollen broadcloth for military uniforms.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23'WSP Textiles, named after its founding owners,
0:03:23 > 0:03:25'Messrs Winterbotham, Strachan and Playne,
0:03:25 > 0:03:27'is one of the few survivors.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30'And I'm going to meet European Sales Manager Stuart Gardiner
0:03:30 > 0:03:35'to hear how the business has changed since Bradshaw's day.'
0:03:35 > 0:03:38Stuart, why is woollen cloth made in this area?
0:03:38 > 0:03:41Geographically, it's positioned on the five valleys.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44So you've got the water coming down off the hills
0:03:44 > 0:03:47and good quality water in the rivers.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50And that water is used, what, both for treating the cloth
0:03:50 > 0:03:53- and then, I suppose, later, actually for powering the mill.- Exactly.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Powering the mill via the waterwheel, which was located here.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58What products do you make today?
0:03:58 > 0:04:01Predominantly, snooker and pool cloth and tennis ball fabric.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03The tennis balls are used at Wimbledon
0:04:03 > 0:04:07and the snooker cloth is used at the World Championships in Sheffield.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10Any connection between the modern products
0:04:10 > 0:04:12and what you were making traditionally?
0:04:12 > 0:04:16Yes. The modern snooker cloth has a nap on it.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18That evolved from the old coaching cloths,
0:04:18 > 0:04:23where the coachmen used to wear these broadcloths with a napped pile
0:04:23 > 0:04:24so that the water wouldn't stick on it
0:04:24 > 0:04:27and it would just run off their cloaks.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29Um...would that do for a snooker table?
0:04:31 > 0:04:33Maybe some of the cheaper ones, yeah.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35MICHAEL LAUGHS
0:04:35 > 0:04:37Let's have a look at your process.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42There have been many changes.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46The factory is run on electricity rather than water power
0:04:46 > 0:04:50and the wool that will eventually be transformed into snooker cloth
0:04:50 > 0:04:53comes from New Zealand, rather than the Cotswolds.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58'But the production process remains much the same.'
0:05:00 > 0:05:02- What is happening here, then?- OK.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05This is the first process that happens at Lodgemore,
0:05:05 > 0:05:08and it's a mending process, or burling.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12So what they're looking to do is remove any defects from the fabric,
0:05:12 > 0:05:14take any knots out.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17If there's any yarns or threads that are missing or broken,
0:05:17 > 0:05:19they get repaired here.
0:05:19 > 0:05:24Having passed muster, the cloth is then passed through a chemical bath
0:05:24 > 0:05:28before being dyed, washed and dried.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31So that is the most extraordinary transformation.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33What process has that gone through?
0:05:33 > 0:05:35It's been shrunk, or fulled.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39You shrink about a third of the overall dimensions off the cloth
0:05:39 > 0:05:41to give you a given thickness.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43Much like shrinking your fine-woollen jumper in a hot wash.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45And what's critical about the thickness?
0:05:45 > 0:05:49The thickness dictates the speed of the ball when you're playing snooker.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53'These days, workers are protected from the chemicals
0:05:53 > 0:05:57'used in fulling, but at the time of my guidebook,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00'everything was done by hand on an open factory floor.'
0:06:00 > 0:06:05Well, this is a very attractive, I imagine, Victorian factory building
0:06:05 > 0:06:08but conditions weren't necessarily as attractive, were they?
0:06:08 > 0:06:11No, absolutely. The conditions in here would have been fairly horrendous.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14There would have been huge amounts of steam in here -
0:06:14 > 0:06:16specifically in the winter, it would have been really bad.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18There would be a lot of acid processes,
0:06:18 > 0:06:22so the condensation would drip with acid in it onto your head.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25- It was horrible.- How long have you been with the company?
0:06:25 > 0:06:27I've been with the company for 30 years.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29I remember steam waist-high,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32so you'd have to be sort of looking under the steam, you know.
0:06:32 > 0:06:33It was fairly grim.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37The company's snooker cloth now sells all over the world,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41thanks to the advent of colour television,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45that took the game from barroom sport to mass entertainment.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48But the mill's records date from when it was the gentleman's
0:06:48 > 0:06:51game of billiards that was all the rage.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54So, Michael, I thought you'd be interested in seeing this.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58This is a ledger dated 1897, where we sold cloth with a table
0:06:58 > 0:07:01to the Queen for her full-size number five mahogany table.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04Now, she was quite short, Queen Victoria, and I imagine her
0:07:04 > 0:07:07having to sit up on the table to take those awkward shots.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10What do you think? I'm sure she would've stood on a box.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13'I'm keen to find out more about the game of snooker'
0:07:13 > 0:07:15and how it developed from billiards.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17So leaving the factory behind,
0:07:17 > 0:07:20I'm off to meet snooker expert Peter Clare.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24Hello, Peter. Very nice to meet you.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26What was the origin of the game of snooker?
0:07:26 > 0:07:29The origins date it back to 1882.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31It was said that Col Neville Chamberlain,
0:07:31 > 0:07:35who I believe is the uncle of the peace-in-our-time Mr Chamberlain,
0:07:35 > 0:07:39he wrote down the rules in the Ooty Club up in the Highlands in
0:07:39 > 0:07:43India for his other fellow officers to play the game of snooker.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45And why do they call it snooker?
0:07:45 > 0:07:49We believe it was because young recruits were called snookers
0:07:49 > 0:07:53and because the game was new and everybody was new to the game,
0:07:53 > 0:07:55the game was called snooker.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59Peter's brought along a set of ivory balls that date from the end of the
0:07:59 > 0:08:0419th century, as well as a curious implement known as a mace, the
0:08:04 > 0:08:09antecedent to the modern snooker cue, which takes a bit of getting used to.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12- One hand...one hand on the cushion. - How strange.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16- And you've got a sighting line to use.- Oh, I see. Yes. Oh, sorry.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18And just push.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20Oh! Now, a bit askew.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25Eventually, someone had the bright idea of turning the mace
0:08:25 > 0:08:30around to use the other end and so the modern snooker cue was born.
0:08:32 > 0:08:37How did the game make the leap from the gentry to the ordinary man?
0:08:37 > 0:08:39Prior to World War II,
0:08:39 > 0:08:43we would have one set of snooker balls in the billiard hall.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47After the war, as the troops came back, it was a popular game to play.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50And nobody's found anything better than the baize.
0:08:50 > 0:08:55Yes, I think you'll get into trouble calling it baize. It's pure wool.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57Baize is a mixture of wool and cotton
0:08:57 > 0:09:00and probably sells for about £12 a running metre.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04This snooker cloth will sell for about £50 a running metre.
0:09:04 > 0:09:05Well, Peter.
0:09:05 > 0:09:10- I have a while before my next train. Shall we continue the frame?- Why not?
0:09:10 > 0:09:13I think it's my shot now.
0:09:13 > 0:09:14Ooh, my God.
0:09:17 > 0:09:18Not bad!
0:09:22 > 0:09:24I'm returning to Stroud station.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28But sadly, there's little time to admire the flowers before I pick up
0:09:28 > 0:09:32the first Great Western service to continue my journey south-east
0:09:32 > 0:09:33through the Cotswolds.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47I shall be leaving this train at Kemble in order to reach
0:09:47 > 0:09:49Cirencester, which is
0:09:49 > 0:09:52described as one of the greatest marts in England for wool.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57I'm told that the Gloucestershire downs which formerly lay open,
0:09:57 > 0:10:00producing little else other than furs,
0:10:00 > 0:10:05are now converted into arable enclosed fields.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09In the Victorian period, agriculture was becoming more productive
0:10:09 > 0:10:15and more scientific and farming was a suitable subject for academic study -
0:10:15 > 0:10:17not just something to be picked up on the hoof.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23There used to be a station at Cirencester
0:10:23 > 0:10:26designed by the great Isambard Kingdom Brunel himself.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32But it was closed in 1964, a victim of the Beeching cuts.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44Kemble station benefits from this lovely garden, which was built by
0:10:44 > 0:10:48and is maintained by students from the Royal Agricultural University.
0:10:48 > 0:10:53And with its beds of lavender and of rosemary, it's full of summer scents.
0:10:58 > 0:11:03The Royal Agricultural College of Cirencester opened in 1845
0:11:03 > 0:11:07and received its Royal Charter from Queen Victoria.
0:11:07 > 0:11:11Her husband, Prince Albert, was one of the early shareholders.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15Built in the Victorian Gothic style, it resembles an Oxford college
0:11:15 > 0:11:21and the first intake comprised 25 sons of local landowners.
0:11:21 > 0:11:26The college became a university in 2013 and now 1,200 students study here.
0:11:29 > 0:11:34The motto of the college is Arvorum Cultus Pecorumque -
0:11:34 > 0:11:36a quote from Virgil's Georgics,
0:11:36 > 0:11:39which means "caring for the fields and the beasts".
0:11:39 > 0:11:41A noble aim indeed.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45Prof Chris Gaskell is the principal.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50- Chris, how very good to see you. - Hello. Welcome to the RAU.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52Thank you very much indeed.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55Before there was an agricultural college here, what was there on this spot?
0:11:55 > 0:11:57It was a farm.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Here's the farmhouse, the old farmhouse on which they built
0:12:00 > 0:12:04the iconic college and behind it is the tithe barn, the original
0:12:04 > 0:12:07tithe barn of the farm where they stored grain and kept animals.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10- Dating back to what time? - Oh, 16th century.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13You became relatively recently a university.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16- Is that an important thing? - I think it is very important.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18I think it's important for agriculture to have a
0:12:18 > 0:12:20university with agriculture in its name.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23I think it's very important because agriculture as a career went through
0:12:23 > 0:12:28something of a doldrum in the late 1990s, when excess production meant
0:12:28 > 0:12:33that society didn't value its food and its farmers as much as it could.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35But I also think it brings agriculture into a more
0:12:35 > 0:12:40technological age and people's concept of agriculture as just
0:12:40 > 0:12:43being out in a field getting wet and muddy is absolutely wrong.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45It's highly technical these days.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49The mid-19th century was a pivotal time for the teaching
0:12:49 > 0:12:52and understanding of agriculture.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55Early students learning about new fertilisers would also study
0:12:55 > 0:13:00the science behind traditional methods of crop rotation
0:13:00 > 0:13:03and soil management and how they might increase yield.
0:13:06 > 0:13:11'To find out more, I'm heading out to the fields to meet Tom Overbury...'
0:13:11 > 0:13:12Good to see you.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16'..organic expert and director of farming at the university.'
0:13:16 > 0:13:19How much difference is there between agricultural methods
0:13:19 > 0:13:23when the Royal Agricultural College was founded in 1845 and today?
0:13:23 > 0:13:25Some of them will be fairly similar.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28The basic principles in terms of crop production, in terms
0:13:28 > 0:13:32of preserving forage for the winter, they would be much the same, but
0:13:32 > 0:13:36obviously, the methods that we are using are probably fairly different.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38In this case, we're making silage as opposed to hay.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41Sometimes in some of the cropping, we're growing oilseed rape,
0:13:41 > 0:13:43which they would never have heard of then.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45Well, there have been huge technological changes -
0:13:45 > 0:13:49in tractors instead of horses, but chemicals, for example - big changes.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53Our chemicals have allowed us, and pesticides have allowed us
0:13:53 > 0:13:56to do quite a lot of monoculture and pushing things
0:13:56 > 0:13:59forward from that point of view but we're almost getting to the
0:13:59 > 0:14:02stage now where we're needing to go back and think, well, actually,
0:14:02 > 0:14:05some of the things, those old rotations and things like that, we
0:14:05 > 0:14:08must make sure that we don't forget those basic lessons that we learnt.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11Well, I think I might talk to one of your students about these
0:14:11 > 0:14:13issues - if I can flag her down.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18These are challenging times for farmers and I want to find
0:14:18 > 0:14:22out what the next generation thinks about a return to Victorian values.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25- Hello, Megan.- Hi, Michael.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28Megan Berryman comes from a Cornish farming family
0:14:28 > 0:14:31and this is her final year at the university.
0:14:32 > 0:14:33Now, I'm an old townie,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36so tell me what it is you're actually doing here.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39- We're baling up some silage here. - And silage is what?
0:14:39 > 0:14:42- Wettish grass, is it?- Yes, it is.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44It's, um, grass which has been preserved.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48Important to you to get a proper university education in agriculture?
0:14:50 > 0:14:53Um, I think so. I'm female, so it allows me
0:14:53 > 0:14:57a better chance in trying to find a job somewhere out there.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00- Do they actually teach any history of farming?- Yes, they do.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03They cover quite a lot of history at the um, at the Ag University.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05We should really look into the history
0:15:05 > 0:15:09and remember the way which farmers used to do it.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12It was good to them, like by keeping some of their techniques and their
0:15:12 > 0:15:18skills going, um could help the agricultural industry go further.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22I wish you all the very best. Have a wonderful career in farming.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25- Bye-bye, Megan.- Nice to meet you. - Good luck to you.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34After all that fresh country air, I need a place to rest my head.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38So I'm going into Cirencester town to find a bed for the night.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48I've been attracted to this 14th century coaching inn
0:15:48 > 0:15:52by a mention in my Bradshaw's Guide.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55During the English Civil War, Lord Chandos came here,
0:15:55 > 0:15:58recruiting on behalf of King Charles I.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01But this was parliamentary territory
0:16:01 > 0:16:05and a mob murdered his supporters, burnt his coach
0:16:05 > 0:16:09and he had to take refuge here in the King's Head.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13The irony of the name of this hotel must have struck him,
0:16:13 > 0:16:18when shortly after, his beloved monarch lost his...
0:16:28 > 0:16:32The next day, I'm up early to continue my journey
0:16:32 > 0:16:36from Chippenham, where I join up with the main line service going west.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55I've rejoined the railway at Chippenham in order to get
0:16:55 > 0:16:59Bath, titillated by this reference in Bradshaw's.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02"A striking campanile tower built by William Beckford
0:17:02 > 0:17:07"who died here in 1844, and is buried in a cemetery.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11"He wrote Caliph Vathek, a most original story,
0:17:11 > 0:17:15"which created quite a furore in those days."
0:17:15 > 0:17:18It all sounds novel.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21- Do you know Bath?- I know Bath.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24- And what do you think of Bath? - I love Bath.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29I'm going to see something today that I've never seen before. A campanile.
0:17:29 > 0:17:34Built by a kind of eccentric British novelist and millionaire.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37Well, that's what Britain is all about, isn't it?
0:17:37 > 0:17:42- Look at the way you dress! Couldn't be more eccentric!- Moi?- Yeah!
0:17:46 > 0:17:51Bath with its peerless neoclassical architecture is most often
0:17:51 > 0:17:55associated with the Georgian period, when eccentricity
0:17:55 > 0:17:59and bawdy behaviour were tolerated or even actively encouraged.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03But I want to get a flavour of what the city
0:18:03 > 0:18:07was like at the time of my guidebook, when Victorian values
0:18:07 > 0:18:11and a strict moral code dictated behaviour - in public, at least.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17So before I head off in search of Beckford's Tower, I'm going
0:18:17 > 0:18:21to learn about the social graces of the Victorian upper class.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26Few things are more closely associated with the British
0:18:26 > 0:18:30than the custom of taking afternoon tea.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34But when did the tradition begin? And what are the rules of etiquette?
0:18:37 > 0:18:41I've come to meet Grant Harold, former royal butler
0:18:41 > 0:18:42and etiquette expert.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46- Grant, good afternoon. - Michael, good afternoon. Welcome.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49When was afternoon tea invented?
0:18:49 > 0:18:53Afternoon tea was invented around about 1840 by the Duchess of Bedford.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57She felt that there was a long gap between lunch and dinner.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01So she felt that something had to kind of fill this gap and
0:19:01 > 0:19:06she came up with this idea of asking for some tea and some sandwiches.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09Afternoon tea developed as a private social
0:19:09 > 0:19:13event for ladies in the higher echelons of society.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16But when Queen Victoria adopted it,
0:19:16 > 0:19:20the ritual became a formal occasion on a larger scale,
0:19:20 > 0:19:23known as a tea reception.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27I wanted to see you alone because I've got a tea booked with
0:19:27 > 0:19:30some ladies and I'm a little bit worried about etiquette.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33I'm a grammar school boy myself and I don't want to get anything wrong.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36- Could you give me some pointers, please?- Yes, of course.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39- Milk in first or second?- Well, it depends which class you're from.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41The lower classes would put the milk in first,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44because they had clay cups, which sometimes couldn't resist the
0:19:44 > 0:19:48heat of the tea, so they would crack but the upstairs, they had fine bone
0:19:48 > 0:19:52china which could resist the heat, so they could put the milk in after.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54Now, what about topics of conversation?
0:19:54 > 0:19:58With topics of conversation, there was four subjects which I could say were taboo.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00That was sex, religion, money and politics.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03- So you'd keep clear of those. - Those are my four special subjects!
0:20:03 > 0:20:06But the problem is, a lot of people do discuss these but what
0:20:06 > 0:20:09I would say, is in somebody's home, don't you bring them up.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12Go with your host. Let them take the lead.
0:20:12 > 0:20:14Whatever the discussion is, then you engage in,
0:20:14 > 0:20:18but if they don't discuss it, then you haven't brought it up, either.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20Fortified by Grant's advice,
0:20:20 > 0:20:24we're off to join a group of ladies from the Bath Preservation Trust.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27- Good afternoon, ladies. ALL:- Good afternoon.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30- Do join us.- Thank you so much.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34I really don't recall a time when it was so unseasonably hot.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37- Have you observed the hot weather? - It is very hot, yes.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40I hope you had a comfortable journey here.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43I myself came on the railway from Chippenham.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46It was a very convenient journey.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50- I've learned today that the milk goes in second.- Yes, indeed.
0:20:51 > 0:20:56And the gaze is maintained on the cup of tea until it reaches the face.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59HE WHISPERS: Grant, how do I eat the sandwiches?
0:20:59 > 0:21:02You pick up the plate and bring it towards you.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09The cucumber this season is extremely crisp.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12It must be something to do with the unseasonably hot weather.
0:21:12 > 0:21:17It's been such a joy to attend such a very reactionary tea party!
0:21:17 > 0:21:19- And a pleasure to have you with us. - Thank you.
0:21:20 > 0:21:25Revitalised, I step out into the streets of Bath to soak up
0:21:25 > 0:21:27some more of the sandstone splendour.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32I'm standing in front of the Royal Crescent,
0:21:32 > 0:21:35which Bradshaw's tells me was a work of John Wood
0:21:35 > 0:21:39the Younger from the second half of the 18th century and apparently,
0:21:39 > 0:21:45Tobias Smollett called it an antique amphitheatre turned inside out.
0:21:45 > 0:21:46I think it's one of the most successful
0:21:46 > 0:21:51pieces of architecture in Britain and I think, if I lived in Bath,
0:21:51 > 0:21:53and I saw this every morning,
0:21:53 > 0:21:58particularly kissed with this wonderful light, my heart would soar.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04Not far from here, in Lansdown Crescent,
0:22:04 > 0:22:08lived one of Bath's most notorious characters.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10William Beckford was born in the permissive 18th century
0:22:10 > 0:22:16and inherited a huge fortune founded on Jamaican sugar plantations.
0:22:16 > 0:22:21He moved to Bath in 1822 and promptly purchased all the land leading
0:22:21 > 0:22:26up to Lansdown Hill, giving himself a mile-long garden.
0:22:26 > 0:22:32On the summit, he built an extraordinary 120-foot-high neoclassical tower.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35Amy Frost is the curator of Beckford's Tower
0:22:35 > 0:22:37and an expert on its contents and its owner.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42I get the impression that William Beckford was a larger-than-life character.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45Yeah. It all starts really, I think, cos he's born into this immense
0:22:45 > 0:22:48wealth and he inherits when he's nine and a half.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51And it's very well known how much money he has,
0:22:51 > 0:22:52because, you know, for example, Byron,
0:22:52 > 0:22:55when he writes about him in Childe Harold,
0:22:55 > 0:22:57refers to him as "England's wealthiest son".
0:22:57 > 0:23:00So it's an obscene amount of money and just can indulge himself
0:23:00 > 0:23:05in collecting paintings, furniture, objects - books, above all.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09- What about his private life? - Just as interesting, actually.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13He has a rather kind of infamous affair when he's in Venice,
0:23:13 > 0:23:14when he's on his grand tour,
0:23:14 > 0:23:18with the son of one of the leading families in Venice.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21At the same time, he's very sort of feted in society.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24People, particularly women of a certain age
0:23:24 > 0:23:27with much, much older husbands, find him incredibly appealing.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30- Shall we look inside? - Yeah, come on in.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34Every morning, Beckford would ride out from his house in the centre of
0:23:34 > 0:23:38Bath to spend the day in his tower, which he used as a study retreat.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43How did Beckford decorate these rooms?
0:23:43 > 0:23:46So originally, these rooms would have been full of furniture
0:23:46 > 0:23:51and above all, lots and lots of objects on every surface.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55The sort of objects that you can see in these paintings and he constantly
0:23:55 > 0:24:00writes about his collection, saying it's about where things are placed.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03He didn't sleep here. This was not his house. This was his retreat.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06It's his treasure chest and he would move objects around.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10And you get the idea of him sort of putting a vase on a particular
0:24:10 > 0:24:13table or surface and then not sleeping at night,
0:24:13 > 0:24:16because he knows he's put that vase in the wrong place.
0:24:16 > 0:24:21By the time he arrived in Bath at the age of 62, Beckford's lifestyle
0:24:21 > 0:24:24was distinctly out of step with the new Victorian morality.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30His scandalous past was bad enough but back in 1786,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34he'd also published an infamous novel, Caliph Vathek,
0:24:34 > 0:24:39a tale of an Eastern potentate of vast wealth, whose antics
0:24:39 > 0:24:43still have the power to shock and horrify 200 years on.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46Why did the novel cause a furore?
0:24:46 > 0:24:50Partly because of the content itself - very decadent lifestyles
0:24:50 > 0:24:53inside it - there's a palace of the five senses, there's all
0:24:53 > 0:24:58these incredibly elaborate parties and affairs and then this
0:24:58 > 0:25:02extraordinary scene involving 50 beautiful young boys, which -
0:25:02 > 0:25:06best thing for you to do is to read that part for yourself
0:25:06 > 0:25:07and make your own mind up.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14"Vathek, who was still standing on the edge of a chasm, called out,
0:25:14 > 0:25:17"'let my 50 little favourites approach me.'
0:25:17 > 0:25:22"The Caliph undressed himself by degrees and raising his arm,
0:25:22 > 0:25:24"made each of the prizes glitter in the air.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28"But whilst he delivered it with one hand to the child who sprung
0:25:28 > 0:25:30"forward to receive it, he with the other
0:25:30 > 0:25:33"pushed the poor innocent into the gulph."
0:25:33 > 0:25:35- Mass murder of children.- Yes.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37So you can see why it caused quite a scandal.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39Am I able to go to the top of the tower?
0:25:39 > 0:25:42Yes, of course, but, um, you must go on your own.
0:25:42 > 0:25:47It was a tower built for one man, built for Beckford alone so
0:25:47 > 0:25:51that one person could go to the top, look at the view and read a book.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53I have such a book. Amy, thank you so much. Bye-bye.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02Beckford had no qualms about giving free rein to his lurid
0:26:02 > 0:26:06and disturbing imagination and ultimately, society ostracised him.
0:26:07 > 0:26:13He died in 1844 and is buried in the cemetery at the foot of his tower.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16In the end, he'd gone through most of his fortune,
0:26:16 > 0:26:20but his great architectural legacy is still maintained for public use.
0:26:30 > 0:26:35This tower is a monument to a man who could have whatever he wanted.
0:26:35 > 0:26:41He collected women and men the way he collected vases and paintings
0:26:41 > 0:26:46and from all the things that he loved and owned, he's bequeathed me
0:26:46 > 0:26:50just one thing - this exquisite view of Bath.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14William Beckford was born into the naughty 18th century
0:27:14 > 0:27:19but died during Queen Victoria's reign,
0:27:19 > 0:27:22by which time the outrageous lifestyle
0:27:22 > 0:27:26and novel of his youth would not have been tolerated.
0:27:26 > 0:27:31The Victorians were serious people who applied science to agriculture
0:27:31 > 0:27:33and devised etiquette for taking tea.
0:27:35 > 0:27:40Had I wandered into a 19th-century tea party with all my social gaffes,
0:27:40 > 0:27:44I would soon have found myself snookered.
0:27:50 > 0:27:55'Next time, I enter the foul-smelling world of a Victorian tannery...'
0:27:55 > 0:27:58I find myself well out of my comfort zone here.
0:27:58 > 0:27:59Is it dangerous?
0:27:59 > 0:28:01Is pretty dangerous.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05'..soak up the splendour of one of Britain's finest Gothic mansions...'
0:28:05 > 0:28:09Hah! A gentleman's library indeed.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12The staircase is really a gem, isn't it?
0:28:12 > 0:28:14Absolutely magnificent.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17'..and get in touch with my spiritual side in Glastonbury.'
0:28:17 > 0:28:20- Stay bright. - Yeah, absolutely. And you.