0:00:04 > 0:00:09For 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 > 0:00:19I'm using a Bradshaw's Guide to understand how trains
0:00:19 > 0:00:23transformed Britain, its landscape, its industry,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26society 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.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54I'm now more than halfway through my journey
0:00:54 > 0:00:57travelling to the south west of London.
0:00:57 > 0:01:02Today I'll visit two palaces, one famous and one forgotten.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06I'll discover how Queen Victoria was an accident of birth
0:01:06 > 0:01:08and learn how her subjects
0:01:08 > 0:01:12changed their attitudes to duelling and disabilities.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24Using my Bradshaw's Guide, I've taken in the beauty of Kent,
0:01:24 > 0:01:28and followed a route south of London into Surrey.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32Racing through the Home Counties, I'll now be visiting royals
0:01:32 > 0:01:37and reformers before ending riverside in Henley-on-Thames.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45Today I discover forgotten royal histories in Esher,
0:01:45 > 0:01:49follow in the footsteps of the Victorian tourist at Hampton Court,
0:01:49 > 0:01:54pass through Teddington, and defend my honour on a London common.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02I'm let loose on the longest vine in the world.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04Have you ever allowed an incompetent like me to do this?
0:02:04 > 0:02:06No. No.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11I get fired up like an early Victorian gent...
0:02:11 > 0:02:13I've hit my man.
0:02:13 > 0:02:19..and find out how the course of British history was set in Esher.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22If Charlotte had not died, Victoria would never have been conceived
0:02:22 > 0:02:24and we would never have had the Victorian era.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33It's early morning as I begin my journey.
0:02:33 > 0:02:38My first stop will be Hampton Court where I will be visiting the palace.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41Bradshaw's reminds us that Cardinal Wolsey,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44"Created great envy at court," when he built it.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49So much so that, unsurprisingly, King Henry VIII took it over.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52"Numerous sovereigns since have made it their temporary abode
0:02:52 > 0:02:56"and the last who resided here was George II,
0:02:56 > 0:03:01"since which the Crown reserves the right of resuming possession,"
0:03:01 > 0:03:06a surprising thought to us, who think of the palace as a museum
0:03:06 > 0:03:07and a film set.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12Hampton Court Station is
0:03:12 > 0:03:15the terminus of a branch of the South West Main Line.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20It arrived here in 1849,
0:03:20 > 0:03:24enabling visitors to visit Hampton Court Palace, which had been
0:03:24 > 0:03:28open to the public by Queen Victoria in the previous decade.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33The railways unleashed mass tourism, as sightseers
0:03:33 > 0:03:38from across the country were enabled to visit spectacular locations.
0:03:51 > 0:03:56Here, the original Tudor palace had been repeatedly extended...
0:03:57 > 0:03:58Thank you very much.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04..offering courtyards, royal chambers,
0:04:04 > 0:04:07galleries and beautiful gardens to explore.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16- Good morning.- Good morning, sir. - Thank you very much.- My pleasure.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20I'm here before the crowds to meet
0:04:20 > 0:04:24the Curator of Historic Buildings, Daniel Jackson.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29- Hello, Dan.- Nice to meet you.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33Judging by the dimensions, this magnificent hall must be
0:04:33 > 0:04:36what's described in my Bradshaw's as Wolsey's Hall.
0:04:36 > 0:04:37Did he, in fact, establish it?
0:04:37 > 0:04:40So, it's a very complicated history.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42There's an awful lot of academic debate as to
0:04:42 > 0:04:44whether this is Wolsey's Hall or Henry's Hall.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46But, I think we're coming down
0:04:46 > 0:04:48on the side that this is probably Henry's Hall.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52The tapestries on the wall are purchased by Henry,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54the roof certainly is finished by Henry.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57When was Hampton Court opened up to mass tourism?
0:04:57 > 0:04:58It's not until 1838.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02Queen Victoria throws open the doors to the masses, free of charge,
0:05:02 > 0:05:04and from that point you very quickly
0:05:04 > 0:05:05have a huge number
0:05:05 > 0:05:06of people visiting.
0:05:06 > 0:05:07It's over 100,000
0:05:07 > 0:05:08in the first ten years,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11up to over 300,000 by the end of the 19th century.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14So a huge number of people coming into the palace,
0:05:14 > 0:05:16people from all walks of life, so you have wonderful
0:05:16 > 0:05:19stories of this becoming a hive of cockneydom,
0:05:19 > 0:05:22and you have lots of people visiting in hobnailed boots, which causes
0:05:22 > 0:05:24chaos for the floors, which is
0:05:24 > 0:05:27why we have very few original floors left, in fact.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30But Hampton Court is somewhere anyone can visit and enjoy,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33and that's true in the 19th century, as it is today.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36Another notable attraction which Bradshaw's is making me
0:05:36 > 0:05:39want to see is the Great Vine. Which way would that be?
0:05:39 > 0:05:41Just back the way you came, and then through Clock Court.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43- Thank you very much, Dan. - My pleasure.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56The Great Vine, which Bradshaw's records, was reputedly
0:05:56 > 0:06:00planted in 1768, and I'm going to find it,
0:06:00 > 0:06:04and the lady charged with its welfare, Jill Strudwick.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09- Hello, Jill.- Oh, hello. How do you do?
0:06:09 > 0:06:12I was last here, I think, about 55 years ago. I came as a child.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16- Oh, goodness, did you? - I have the best memory of it.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19- Ah, well, did you get to taste the grapes?- I certainly didn't.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22Oh, well, we're really onto autumn now,
0:06:22 > 0:06:24but I've just found one or two little bits left over
0:06:24 > 0:06:26that haven't been pruned.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30If you'd like, you're very welcome to taste some of the very
0:06:30 > 0:06:33last this year before we start with the next job.
0:06:33 > 0:06:34I would love to.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38And they've got the lovely bloom on,
0:06:38 > 0:06:40which you don't get in the supermarkets.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43- I'm thrilled to try this.- Ah.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47Bradshaw's tells me they're Black Hamburg grapes, is that correct?
0:06:47 > 0:06:48Yes, that's right.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52It's a very old variety, so, sweet dessert grapes,
0:06:52 > 0:06:54but you will find they've got pips in.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57- So sweet, they're lovely. - Yes, we like to think so.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00And that's because I'm always trying to pick them ripe.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03- RADIO:- 'Once again the world's oldest grapevine
0:07:03 > 0:07:04'is ready to give the world its fruit.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07'If you like really luscious grapes, take some of these.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11'They'll cost you six shillings a pound, but who cares about that
0:07:11 > 0:07:13'because the money goes to charity.'
0:07:13 > 0:07:15Now, you have the most extraordinary,
0:07:15 > 0:07:17the most wonderful title. What is it?
0:07:17 > 0:07:20- Well, I'm the vine keeper.- How long have you been the vine keeper?
0:07:20 > 0:07:25Oh, oh, oh, am I going to admit to 30 years
0:07:25 > 0:07:26if you don't tell anybody else?
0:07:26 > 0:07:29Really? And do you live on the premises?
0:07:29 > 0:07:32Yeah, yeah, I live just over there behind the wall.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38Grown in a very traditional way, under glass and with heat,
0:07:38 > 0:07:42the Hampton Court specimen appears in the Guinness Book Of Records
0:07:42 > 0:07:46as the largest productive vine in the world.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49Bradshaw's tells me it's 110 feet long, is that still true?
0:07:49 > 0:07:51Well, when I had to measure it for the Guinness Book Of Records,
0:07:51 > 0:07:54- it was 120.- Oh, that's reasonable.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56Yes, there's not much in that, is there, really?
0:07:56 > 0:08:00Ten foot in a century and a half. And what do you have to do with the vine?
0:08:00 > 0:08:03Well, it's so large that it's like the Forth Bridge,
0:08:03 > 0:08:06as I finish one operation, it's time to start the next,
0:08:06 > 0:08:07and the next thing is the pruning.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09I don't normally allow it but you're welcome
0:08:09 > 0:08:11to come and help me, if you'd like.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Well, I'd be privileged. Thank you very much indeed.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17We're doing something rather special today, actually.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21Each autumn, I cut this year's growth back by about half,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24and that will encourage it to grow a bit more next year, and that's
0:08:24 > 0:08:27how we're gradually increasing the length of some of these
0:08:27 > 0:08:30branches, the main framework.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32That's really very exciting, so, erm, ooh,
0:08:32 > 0:08:34- am I going to be entrusted to do this?- Yes, you're going to be
0:08:34 > 0:08:36entrusted with my secateurs to make
0:08:36 > 0:08:39the first cut for this autumn's pruning.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42Have you ever allowed an incompetent like me to do this?
0:08:42 > 0:08:45No, no, no, I haven't.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47No, normally I wouldn't let anybody prune the vine,
0:08:47 > 0:08:49except me and my deputy.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52I feel slightly queasy cutting a 250-year-old vine.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56- Oh, tough as old boots.- Here we go. - There we are, an expert already.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00Jill, do you know, in all the years that I've been
0:09:00 > 0:09:03using my Bradshaw's Guide, I don't remember before
0:09:03 > 0:09:07being guided to a living thing that is still alive today.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09Oh, what an interesting thought. Mmm.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19For the next leg of my journey, I'm boarding
0:09:19 > 0:09:21the train at Hampton Court...
0:09:24 > 0:09:25..for Surbiton...
0:09:28 > 0:09:31..where I change to travel one stop south.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39My next stop will be Esher, where I'm going to visit Claremont,
0:09:39 > 0:09:43a house which, according to Bradshaw's, "Has a melancholy
0:09:43 > 0:09:49"interest from the death of the lamented Princess Charlotte, in 1817.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51"The palace has since belonged to her husband,
0:09:51 > 0:09:55"the King of the Belgians, who subsequently appropriated it
0:09:55 > 0:09:59"to the use of the exiled King Louis Philippe,
0:09:59 > 0:10:02"who left France in 1848."
0:10:02 > 0:10:06It seems that swathes of 19th-century history are to be found
0:10:06 > 0:10:08under a single roof.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20Many pass through Esher, on the outskirts
0:10:20 > 0:10:23of London, on their way to the racecourse at Sandown Park.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29Just outside the town is Claremont House,
0:10:29 > 0:10:34built in the late 18th century for Sir Robert Clive of India.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39He commissioned the famous landscape architect Capability Brown
0:10:39 > 0:10:42to position the house in a remodelled park.
0:10:43 > 0:10:48Since the 1930s, it's been a school and I'm meeting Pamela Rider,
0:10:48 > 0:10:54who's worked here for 27 years, to hear its intriguing history.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57- Pamela, hello.- Hello. Nice to meet you.- What a wonderful house.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59I had no idea it existed.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01Yes, aren't we lucky? It's really wonderful.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03Please come inside. I'll show you some wonderful parts.
0:11:17 > 0:11:22In 1816, Claremont House was given as a wedding gift to
0:11:22 > 0:11:26Princess Charlotte, the granddaughter of the reigning monarch, George III,
0:11:26 > 0:11:30and daughter of his regent, George IV,
0:11:30 > 0:11:33on her marriage to the German Prince Leopold.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39Pamela, I never saw a classroom with such beautiful decor.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41What was this room at one time?
0:11:41 > 0:11:45It was the bedroom, in 1816, of Princess Charlotte,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48and Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg
0:11:48 > 0:11:50had moved here on their marriage.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55Then she gets pregnant and the birth was to occur in this very bedroom.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58Yes, she went into labour on the 3rd of November,
0:11:58 > 0:12:01and the birth went on and on, and it took 50 hours.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07Eventually, the baby was born, but it was stillborn
0:12:07 > 0:12:12and, very unexpectedly, during the night, Charlotte died.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18So in one night, Prince Leopold had lost, not only his wife, but his son
0:12:18 > 0:12:22and his reason for being in England, which was to be the prince consort.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25What was the impact on the British public of this double tragedy?
0:12:25 > 0:12:26They were devastated.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30Everybody put black armbands on, everybody suddenly had cups
0:12:30 > 0:12:32and saucers with black round them,
0:12:32 > 0:12:36the churches were full of mourning at the time of the funeral.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39Now, what impact does that have on British history,
0:12:39 > 0:12:40on the history of the monarchy?
0:12:40 > 0:12:45Oh, enormous, because suddenly we have no proper heir to the throne.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52Since Charlotte had been an only child, the line passing through
0:12:52 > 0:12:57her father, the Prince Regent and future George IV, came to an end.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03The pressure came on to the other children of George III
0:13:03 > 0:13:05to provide an heir.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09All George III's children,
0:13:09 > 0:13:11he had 12 of them still living at that time,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14but none of them had legitimate heirs,
0:13:14 > 0:13:17so all the princes and the princesses have got to get married.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20And the Duke of Kent, who is the fourth son,
0:13:20 > 0:13:24had in fact got a mistress out in Brussels whom he'd had for 28 years.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26He was extremely happy with her,
0:13:26 > 0:13:29but he agreed that he, too, would find a wife
0:13:29 > 0:13:35and Leopold suggested that he might marry his widowed sister,
0:13:35 > 0:13:39Victoire of Meiningen, and the child that was born was Victoria.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42It's absolutely amazing to think that, in this room,
0:13:42 > 0:13:44the history of England changed.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48If Charlotte had not died, Victoria would never have been conceived,
0:13:48 > 0:13:50and we would never have had the Victorian era.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54In the middle of the 19th century,
0:13:54 > 0:13:58another remarkable chapter was to unfold at Claremont House.
0:14:00 > 0:14:0225 years after the French Revolution,
0:14:02 > 0:14:05the monarchy had been re-established in France.
0:14:05 > 0:14:11However, in 1848, further unrest caused King Louis Philippe,
0:14:11 > 0:14:15and his wife Queen Marie-Amelie, to flee for their lives.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19They made it to British shores, and were offered Claremont House
0:14:19 > 0:14:21as a safe haven.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23All the sons came as well and their children.
0:14:23 > 0:14:24I don't know how they all packed in.
0:14:24 > 0:14:25There were 70 of them
0:14:25 > 0:14:28and so they had to make this into their dining room.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32- So they all ate in here.- Does Louis Philippe live in the house for long?
0:14:32 > 0:14:35Not really, because he dies within two years.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37I think he's very much a broken man.
0:14:37 > 0:14:38And then, where was he buried?
0:14:38 > 0:14:41That's a very extraordinary story, really,
0:14:41 > 0:14:44because his wife, Marie-Amelie, wanted him
0:14:44 > 0:14:46to be buried on Catholic ground,
0:14:46 > 0:14:48which was quite difficult round here,
0:14:48 > 0:14:52but there was a Roman Catholic living in Weybridge,
0:14:52 > 0:14:57called Charles Taylor, and he had built himself a little chapel,
0:14:57 > 0:15:01with a vault underneath where he was going to have his family buried
0:15:01 > 0:15:06and he offered this vault to the Orleans family and so, actually,
0:15:06 > 0:15:11amazingly, the last King of the French was buried in Weybridge.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18This house has astonished me.
0:15:18 > 0:15:23How often on my travels have I talked about the Victorian age?
0:15:23 > 0:15:26And yet, had it not been for the death of Charlotte,
0:15:26 > 0:15:30the forgotten princess, Victoria would not have reigned.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33She might not even have been conceived
0:15:33 > 0:15:36and we'd be talking instead about the Charlottian era.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39But, as it is, I don't suppose that
0:15:39 > 0:15:44there's one British person in a thousand who's ever heard of her.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00My overnight stop is going to be Wimbledon.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02Bradshaw's mentions the Rose And Crown.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05It won't be a palace like Hampton Court or Claremont,
0:16:05 > 0:16:09but it can be a rose for Charlotte, and a crown for Victoria.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15The station is a busy interchange between rail,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18London Underground and tram services.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24Wimbledon town surrounds the station,
0:16:24 > 0:16:28and in the old village up the hill, I find the Rose And Crown.
0:16:31 > 0:16:36The earliest recorded mention of this coach inn is 1659,
0:16:36 > 0:16:40and I just imagine it then, it would have been maybe the first stop
0:16:40 > 0:16:44for travellers out of London, going down to Southampton or Portsmouth.
0:16:44 > 0:16:49And now it's become a local pub in a highly populated area,
0:16:49 > 0:16:52and the main reason for that change - the railways.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11It's a new day and I'm leaving my hotel,
0:17:11 > 0:17:15headed towards one of the most famous green spaces in the country.
0:17:15 > 0:17:20Not the All England Lawn Tennis Club, but Wimbledon Common.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26Today it's a favourite place for dog walkers
0:17:26 > 0:17:29and the setting for The Wombles' adventures.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33But in previous centuries, it witnessed more violent activity.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35"Wimbledon," says Bradshaw's,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39"Was formerly celebrated in the annals of duelling, which has
0:17:39 > 0:17:44"now become synonymous with our notions of such killing being murder.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48"And like many other customs of uncivilised beings,
0:17:48 > 0:17:49"is now condemned."
0:17:50 > 0:17:55I can scarcely imagine peering down the barrel of a gun into
0:17:55 > 0:18:02another man's hating eyes, or indeed, squeezing the trigger in cold blood.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08Duelling became established in the late 16th century as a way for
0:18:08 > 0:18:14the upper classes to resolve personal disputes and to defend reputations.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18Adherence to a very particular code of conduct was held to set them
0:18:18 > 0:18:20apart from their social inferiors.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24I'm meeting Professor Clive Emsley
0:18:24 > 0:18:26of the Open University.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28Clive, good to see you.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32My Bradshaw's celebrates the fact that duelling has
0:18:32 > 0:18:34become beyond the pale.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37Was it quite a problem? Had it become quite an epidemic?
0:18:37 > 0:18:38I wouldn't say it was an epidemic, but it was
0:18:38 > 0:18:40something that gentlemen did.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44Was Wimbledon, then, a favourite place for this?
0:18:44 > 0:18:47Wimbledon Common was unquestionably a favourable spot
0:18:47 > 0:18:50and even prime ministers fought to the north of the common.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54William Pitt the Younger fought a duel here in 1798.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56So, were people killed in these duels
0:18:56 > 0:18:58or did gentlemen just meet and call it a day?
0:18:58 > 0:19:02Very often, it was enough for a gentleman to appear,
0:19:02 > 0:19:06and sometimes they fired their pistols in the air.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08But nonetheless there were fatalities.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10Oh, there were fatalities, yeah.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12What was the most celebrated duel?
0:19:12 > 0:19:15Probably the one that's stuck in everyone's mind was
0:19:15 > 0:19:20Lord Cardigan against Captain Tuckett in 1840,
0:19:20 > 0:19:24Lord Cardigan being the man who led the Light Brigade at Balaclava.
0:19:24 > 0:19:25And what was the cause of their dispute?
0:19:25 > 0:19:30Tuckett had written a few articles critical of Cardigan.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34I mean, Cardigan was the worst kind of snob
0:19:34 > 0:19:40and if you crossed Cardigan you are really asking for trouble.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42THUNDER ROLLS
0:19:42 > 0:19:44RAIN FALLS
0:19:44 > 0:19:47Once challenged to the duel,
0:19:47 > 0:19:50Captain Tuckett met with Earl Cardigan on Wimbledon Common.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56In accordance with etiquette, each was accompanied by his second.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03They were armed with duelling pistols of equal match.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07Gentlemen, I design to resolve the affair in this manner.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12Then you'll each take six good paces, turn and fire.
0:20:12 > 0:20:13One,
0:20:13 > 0:20:15two,
0:20:15 > 0:20:16three,
0:20:16 > 0:20:17four,
0:20:17 > 0:20:19five,
0:20:19 > 0:20:21six.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29Cardigan shot and wounded Captain Tuckett.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31I've hit my man.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37Cardigan was charged with intent to murder,
0:20:37 > 0:20:40but acquitted on a technicality.
0:20:41 > 0:20:46The fact that he was arrested showed that public attitudes were changing.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50Subsequent trial verdicts, alongside pressure from Queen Victoria,
0:20:50 > 0:20:53put an end to the practice.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57By the 1850s, the duel was as good as dead.
0:21:09 > 0:21:14Back at Wimbledon Station, I'm taking a train a little further west,
0:21:14 > 0:21:18to Teddington, which, like Wimbledon, is a leafy Outer London suburb.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23What makes us civilised?
0:21:23 > 0:21:27Is it literature, architecture, institutions of government,
0:21:27 > 0:21:30maybe liberty, or fairness?
0:21:30 > 0:21:33As I hope to discover when I leave this train at Teddington,
0:21:33 > 0:21:35it dawned on the Victorians quite late
0:21:35 > 0:21:40that one of the marks of civilisation might be the way a society treated
0:21:40 > 0:21:42people with special needs.
0:21:47 > 0:21:48As I leave the train,
0:21:48 > 0:21:53I'm making my way to an institution built at the time of my Bradshaw's
0:21:53 > 0:21:56by a Victorian Reformer, John Langdon Down,
0:21:56 > 0:21:58and his wife, Mary.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03He was a distinguished physician, who, in 1858, took up
0:22:03 > 0:22:08a post in the then unpopular and ostracised field of mental health,
0:22:08 > 0:22:12becoming Medical Superintendent of the Earlswood Asylum in Surrey.
0:22:14 > 0:22:19The first to classify the condition now known as Down's syndrome,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22he revolutionised the treatment of those with learning disabilities
0:22:22 > 0:22:27and, in 1868, built his own facility here at Normansfield.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30I'm meeting Ian Jones-Healey,
0:22:30 > 0:22:33the archivist of the Langdon Down Museum,
0:22:33 > 0:22:34which is housed here.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38- Hello, Ian.- Hello there. - Very good to see you.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40Ian, first of all, I have to ask
0:22:40 > 0:22:43about this extraordinary model of the ship.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45This was created by James Henry Pullen,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48who was a resident at the Royal Earlswood Asylum
0:22:48 > 0:22:50when John Langdon Down was working there.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54And although James Henry Pullen had certain difficulties
0:22:54 > 0:22:55with hearing and speech,
0:22:55 > 0:22:58he was able to make three-dimensional models
0:22:58 > 0:23:01from very little information, perhaps a picture in the
0:23:01 > 0:23:05Illustrated London News, so he created the Great Eastern,
0:23:05 > 0:23:07which the original was
0:23:07 > 0:23:11built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel of Millwall on the banks of the Thames.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15Yes, it's a remarkable, a splendid piece of work, isn't it?
0:23:15 > 0:23:16In the 19th century,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19what are the attitudes towards people with learning difficulties?
0:23:19 > 0:23:22Certainly for the upper middle classes
0:23:22 > 0:23:24and upper classes sometimes it could be a matter of shame
0:23:24 > 0:23:29and people could be kept very much in secret.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32What was the new approach that John Langdon Down brought?
0:23:32 > 0:23:35Well, he set up a revolutionary institution here.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37He took people mostly from the upper classes
0:23:37 > 0:23:39because he had to have an income.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42He didn't have any state funding and he decided that
0:23:42 > 0:23:45the whole regime should be much more enlightened.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49You should be dressed properly, you should have good food to eat,
0:23:49 > 0:23:53you should have stimulation, you should have walks that you could
0:23:53 > 0:23:57go out on and, I think, most of all, you should have some
0:23:57 > 0:24:00form of education, and perhaps learn a trade,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03if you wanted to or were able to.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05Can you give me an example of how
0:24:05 > 0:24:08patients benefitted from this approach?
0:24:08 > 0:24:12Well, they would have had a lifestyle that was,
0:24:12 > 0:24:16as far as possible, almost like a home from home.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19Mary Arnott is an example of somebody that came to
0:24:19 > 0:24:20live at Normansfield.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22She lived into her late 50s,
0:24:22 > 0:24:26which was quite rare in that time for somebody with her condition.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28I think that's testament, may be, to the
0:24:28 > 0:24:31quality of life that she was enjoying here.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33I didn't know about John Langdon Down.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35Have we forgotten about him?
0:24:35 > 0:24:38I think we're probably rediscovering him.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42I think he stands next to some of the great Victorian reformers
0:24:42 > 0:24:44of the period, somebody that really wanted to
0:24:44 > 0:24:49improve the lives of people with disabilities, and certainly did so.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56In the 1950s, Normansfield became part of the National Health Service
0:24:56 > 0:24:59and in 1997, it closed as a hospital.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03Today, in a wing of the original building,
0:25:03 > 0:25:08is the Langdon Down Centre, home of the Down's Syndrome Association,
0:25:08 > 0:25:11which provides workshops, drama groups
0:25:11 > 0:25:14and a support network for people with Down's syndrome.
0:25:17 > 0:25:22One of John Langdon Down's legacies is the beautiful Victorian playhouse,
0:25:22 > 0:25:26which is listed, and here I meet Kate Powell.
0:25:29 > 0:25:30- Hello, Kate.- Hello.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35- I'm Michael.- Hi.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38How long have you been coming to work at the association?
0:25:38 > 0:25:40I've been coming here for 15 years.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45I get involved in giving talks, I get involved in big meetings
0:25:45 > 0:25:50and AGMs, and I always get involved in any kind of raising awareness
0:25:50 > 0:25:52for people with Down's syndrome.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55And here you are, clutching a magazine...
0:25:55 > 0:25:57- Yes.- ..of which you are the editor.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59I am. This is the Down2Earth magazine.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01- Thank you very much. - This is what I do.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05What sort of things are in it and how does it all work?
0:26:05 > 0:26:09It all works with people's letters, they also do art,
0:26:09 > 0:26:16creative art, poetry, they also put in people's photography.
0:26:16 > 0:26:18It's a very fine magazine,
0:26:18 > 0:26:23and I gather you have made a speech at the United Nations, is that true?
0:26:23 > 0:26:26- It is true.- What were you speaking about?
0:26:26 > 0:26:28I was speaking about a project called WorkFit.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31It encourages people to be in the world of work.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35How did you feel speaking to the United Nations?
0:26:35 > 0:26:38Proud, I felt very proud.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40And what about nervous?
0:26:40 > 0:26:42No, I wasn't nervous at all.
0:26:42 > 0:26:43- Not nervous?- Never!
0:26:43 > 0:26:48What do you think of the work that John Langdon Down did?
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Well, the work that he did encouraged people with
0:26:51 > 0:26:54learning disabilities and Down's syndrome, he loved people,
0:26:54 > 0:26:57he helped people, with his work,
0:26:57 > 0:27:00and I think he was a very good man.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02Excellent, thank you very much indeed.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15Perhaps it's not surprising that Princess Charlotte
0:27:15 > 0:27:17has been largely forgotten.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21She died at a young age and the era in which she would have reigned
0:27:21 > 0:27:26has become inextricably linked to her cousin, Queen Victoria.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30It's harder to understand that, whilst we remember reformers
0:27:30 > 0:27:33like William Wilberforce and Lord Shaftesbury,
0:27:33 > 0:27:37few of us could name a man who was a visionary
0:27:37 > 0:27:40and a pioneer in the field of disability.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42The time has come to add
0:27:42 > 0:27:47the name of John Langdon Down to the Victorian roll of honour.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55Next time, I attempt to pull my weight on the River Thames...
0:27:55 > 0:28:00- Push on the legs, hands right. - Sorry, I've lost it completely.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02..discover the radical implications
0:28:02 > 0:28:06of one of the country's first universities for women...
0:28:06 > 0:28:08I think it really was a starting point.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12By having an education, by having a choice, they demanded other choices.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16..and let off some steam at a vintage funfair.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18HE LAUGHS
0:28:18 > 0:28:23Oh! This is horrible! Oh! Enough! Enough!