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 > 0:00:15Bradshaw's guidebook inspired them to take to the tracks.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19I'm using a Bradshaw's guide to understand how trains
0:00:19 > 0:00:21transformed Britain,
0:00:21 > 0:00:23its landscape, its industry,
0:00:23 > 0:00:25society and leisure time.
0:00:25 > 0:00:30As I criss-cross the country 150 years later,
0:00:30 > 0:00:34it helps me to discover the Britain of today.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57I'm continuing my journey along Britain's south coast,
0:00:57 > 0:00:59where defence is a recurring theme.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02From the threat of invasion by the French,
0:01:02 > 0:01:04to the incursion of new disease,
0:01:04 > 0:01:09Victorians along these shores fought to maintain the upper hand.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17With my Bradshaw's guide in hand,
0:01:17 > 0:01:19I'm travelling the length of this coast.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21I started in Dover,
0:01:21 > 0:01:24and travelled through important coastal defences.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27My journey continues along seaside resorts
0:01:27 > 0:01:29and through Thomas Hardy country
0:01:29 > 0:01:32before ending at the foot of the British Isles.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36Today, I start in Littlehampton,
0:01:36 > 0:01:39move on to Portsmouth Harbour for an explosive excursion,
0:01:39 > 0:01:42continue through Romsey...
0:01:42 > 0:01:46to finish at Brockenhurst in the New Forest.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49On this leg of my journey,
0:01:49 > 0:01:52I find out how shells went ballistic...
0:01:52 > 0:01:56You're kidding! Inflexible, which is only 15 years after Warrior,
0:01:56 > 0:01:58is firing this sort of ammunition.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02..trace the inspiration of a most-revered Victorian...
0:02:02 > 0:02:07It's underneath this very tree that Florence felt very strongly
0:02:07 > 0:02:10that she was called by God to serve her fellow man.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14..and abandon the tracks to check out the railways' greatest competitor.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17Tally-ho!
0:02:17 > 0:02:19ENGINE SPUTTERS
0:02:19 > 0:02:22Oh...
0:02:31 > 0:02:34My next stop will be Littlehampton,
0:02:34 > 0:02:36a small hamlet on the coast
0:02:36 > 0:02:39which has some admirers as a watering place.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41At the time of my Bradshaw's guide,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44an increasing number of people understood that
0:02:44 > 0:02:48water carried cholera after a series of epidemics
0:02:48 > 0:02:51had killed tens of thousands of people in Britain,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54and at Littlehampton, they realised that,
0:02:54 > 0:03:00in order to obtain clean supplies, you might need to plumb the depths.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08The railways came to Littlehampton in 1863,
0:03:08 > 0:03:11and like the neighbouring towns along the south coast,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14its fresh sea air drew Victorian tourists.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20But even a salubrious resort couldn't escape
0:03:20 > 0:03:22the terrifying scourge of cholera.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31Originating in India, the disease swept across the Empire,
0:03:31 > 0:03:35arriving on UK shores in 1831.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37It caused panic,
0:03:37 > 0:03:41but there was no practical proposal to stem its spread.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44An engineer in Littlehampton offered a way forward.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49I'm meeting Martin Fitch-Roy,
0:03:49 > 0:03:53managing director of the Dando Drilling company to find out more.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00Martin, in 1866, there's yet another outbreak of cholera in Britain.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02Does it affect Littlehampton?
0:04:02 > 0:04:05Yes, unfortunately, there were 18 deaths in Littlehampton.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08But the trigger for the beginning of our company was
0:04:08 > 0:04:10the death of a lady called Mrs Hogben.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14The local physician realised that the reason for the cholera
0:04:14 > 0:04:16was the contamination of the well.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18They had hand-dug wells in those days,
0:04:18 > 0:04:20which were very easy to contaminate,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23because they also used pit latrines in the same areas.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26So, Mr Albion Ockenden, an engineer, found a way of
0:04:26 > 0:04:28drilling through the bottom of the well
0:04:28 > 0:04:30to access clean water further down.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32How much further would he have had to go?
0:04:32 > 0:04:34He probably went another ten metres.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37But that was sufficient, then, to get down below the danger level?
0:04:37 > 0:04:39Into another geological strata.
0:04:40 > 0:04:45Using this simple principle, Ockenden and his partner, Reginald Duke,
0:04:45 > 0:04:49sank wells to reach a clean water supply for the whole
0:04:49 > 0:04:52of Littlehampton, the neighbouring town of Wick and then Worthing,
0:04:52 > 0:04:56halting the spread of the disease and saving many lives.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00Their method is known as tube well drilling.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04They used tubes from the boiler of an old steam tug, which would have
0:05:04 > 0:05:08been slightly smaller, but this is a modern tube, we now call a casing.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12You sink this down and this is where the water passes up again?
0:05:12 > 0:05:14The water would come up through the centre.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16This would protect the geology
0:05:16 > 0:05:19and the water from any contamination on the outside.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21So, the first tube well was sunk
0:05:21 > 0:05:24through the bottom of a hand-dug well,
0:05:24 > 0:05:26but now they would start from the surface
0:05:26 > 0:05:30and they would use a method we call cable percussion drilling.
0:05:30 > 0:05:31This is a cable percussion rig.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34So, percussion means you just keep banging...?
0:05:34 > 0:05:35There's no rotary component, it's just,
0:05:35 > 0:05:39there's a series of special tools that goes down inside, because
0:05:39 > 0:05:42you have to displace the geology for the tube to move downwards.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46So, the tools break and retrieve the geology from the centre
0:05:46 > 0:05:47and then drive the tube downwards.
0:05:47 > 0:05:53The drills were used to access clean water across the British Empire.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55After the outbreak in the 1860s,
0:05:55 > 0:06:01cholera never again reached epidemic proportions in the United Kingdom.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04But it is still a significant killer around the globe.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11This water well drill is destined for villages in Africa.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15So, really, identically to what happened in Littlehampton
0:06:15 > 0:06:19in 1866 is what you are replicating in those villages?
0:06:19 > 0:06:20Absolutely identically, yes.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24The diseases that cause most problems are cholera
0:06:24 > 0:06:27and typhoid, still, in Africa.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34I'm giving it a final test before it's shipped out.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40It's remarkable to think that what the Victorian well drillers struck on
0:06:40 > 0:06:46here in Littlehampton is still saving thousands of lives across the world.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53From Littlehampton, I'm taking the train to Portsmouth,
0:06:53 > 0:06:55which on this journey means a change at Barnham.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10The next leg takes me across the county border
0:07:10 > 0:07:12from Sussex into Hampshire.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17When I last visited Portsmouth, I attended
0:07:17 > 0:07:20the commissioning of HMS Dragon and indeed,
0:07:20 > 0:07:23my guidebook says the town's chief attraction
0:07:23 > 0:07:27"consists in the fortifications, the dockyard and the men-o-war" -
0:07:27 > 0:07:30an old-fashioned expression for warships.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33In the middle of the 19th century, something that worried everyone,
0:07:33 > 0:07:38including the Bradshaw-wielding tourist, was the French Peril.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48I alight from the train at the station of Portsmouth harbour.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51Protected by the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth has been
0:07:51 > 0:07:55an important naval port since the 12th century.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59It's still the main dockyard for the Royal Navy,
0:07:59 > 0:08:03being home to two thirds of its service fleet.
0:08:06 > 0:08:11As an island city, Portsmouth became densely populated
0:08:11 > 0:08:15and in the 18th century, locals campaigned for the Navy's
0:08:15 > 0:08:19stores of gunpowder to be moved across the water.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28I'm on the ferry to Gosport.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31According to Bradshaw's, "It rarely takes more than eight minutes
0:08:31 > 0:08:34"and the toll is one penny."
0:08:34 > 0:08:35Some chance!
0:08:35 > 0:08:40'Today, as in Bradshaw's day, visitors can marvel at the men-o-war,
0:08:40 > 0:08:44'including Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47'and the formidable HMS Warrior.'
0:08:47 > 0:08:53Imagine the impact that HMS Warrior had when she first appeared in 1860.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55Britain's first ironclad warship,
0:08:55 > 0:08:59built in response to France's first ironclad warship -
0:08:59 > 0:09:01but this one was much bigger.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04And so, the two countries began to leapfrog each other
0:09:04 > 0:09:06in a Victorian arms race.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10Warrior was the largest warship in the world,
0:09:10 > 0:09:1460% bigger than France's La Gloire.
0:09:14 > 0:09:19It incorporated important advances in armour and ammunition.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27I'm heading to the historic munitions store to meet
0:09:27 > 0:09:31Andrew Baines of the National Museum of the Royal Navy.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40So, we have here a piece of armour plate from World War II,
0:09:40 > 0:09:42which actually rather neatly illustrates
0:09:42 > 0:09:45a point about the way armour plating develops in the Victorian period.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48When Warrior's commissioned in 1861,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51she has four and a half inches of wrought iron armour plate
0:09:51 > 0:09:53and 18 inches of teak at the back of it.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56No gun can get through it, and that's the challenge, then,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59someone's got to go and build a gun, which happens, so then, somebody has
0:09:59 > 0:10:01to come along with thicker armour plating,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04and that's the race we get, back and forth.
0:10:04 > 0:10:0715 years after Warrior, in Portsmouth harbour,
0:10:07 > 0:10:10the Navy launches the appropriately named HMS Inflexible.
0:10:10 > 0:10:15Her armour plating is 41 inches thick, about 1,100lb weight
0:10:15 > 0:10:18for every square foot of armour on the ship's side.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20And so, the challenge to the gunmakers is,
0:10:20 > 0:10:22- how do you penetrate it? - It certainly is,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25- and that's something else we can go and look at.- Thanks.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32A most impressive display of firepower over the ages.
0:10:32 > 0:10:33Where shall we start?
0:10:33 > 0:10:36Well, probably the best place to start is with one of these.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38A cannonball, solid shot.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41This is what the Royal Navy has been using for a couple of hundred years,
0:10:41 > 0:10:42come the mid-Victorian period.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46It smashes through an enemy's wooden hull, creates splinters,
0:10:46 > 0:10:48and those splinters kill and maim the crew.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52Once armour plate is introduced, however, a small cannonball like
0:10:52 > 0:10:55that isn't going to do very much, it's going to bounce off the side.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58So, whatever you throw at the opponent, you have to make heavier.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00You can make a bigger sphere,
0:11:00 > 0:11:04but that eventually pushes you to the edge of gun founding.
0:11:04 > 0:11:09Or you can elongate the shape, and that's what's happened here.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13And this is actually the type of projectile that Inflexible
0:11:13 > 0:11:15- would have been firing. - You're kidding.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19- Inflexible, which is only 15 years after Warrior...- Yeah.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21..is firing this sort of ammunition?
0:11:21 > 0:11:24Yeah, Warrior's maximum size of projectile
0:11:24 > 0:11:27is about 100lb weight, seven inches wide.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31This is 16 inches wide, weighs in at 1,700lb.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34And that change has been made possible because no longer
0:11:34 > 0:11:37do we have smoothbore guns, but we've gone over to rifling.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41Rifling was an important innovation.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45Grooves in the barrel of a gun made the projectile spin,
0:11:45 > 0:11:49greatly improving aerodynamic stability and accuracy.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54In the 1860s, Warrior's guns had a range of around 2,000 yards.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01Just 15 years later, guns could fire 8,000 yards.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07That firepower provoked the next development in the arms race,
0:12:07 > 0:12:09the torpedo.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14The torpedo, mid 1860s, the Royal Navy adopts it from the 1870s,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18cheap as chips to produce, you can build small ships,
0:12:18 > 0:12:2335 tonnes weight as opposed to the 11,000 tonnes of Inflexible,
0:12:23 > 0:12:26and they can go in and with a single-shot weapon
0:12:26 > 0:12:28sink a battleship.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30Now, if I've got your drift right,
0:12:30 > 0:12:33you've got to develop a technology to kill the torpedo?
0:12:33 > 0:12:36Now you've got to develop a technology to kill the torpedo,
0:12:36 > 0:12:40and that's where the 3lb quick-firing Hotchkiss gun comes in.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43- Do you have one of those? - We do indeed, just this way.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49Small, light and rapidly loaded, the Hotchkiss gun was used
0:12:49 > 0:12:55to defend warships against the fast-moving torpedo attack boats.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58Here is one that still fires.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02OK, so, if you'd like to pop the gloves and the ear defenders on.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06And what we have here is a blank,
0:13:06 > 0:13:08the projectile would have sat in the top there.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11If you'd like to take that, we can come over to the Hotchkiss.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13I am ready to defend my country!
0:13:23 > 0:13:27Take that for defying Her Majesty, Queen Victoria!
0:13:29 > 0:13:33After France was crushed by Prussia in 1870,
0:13:33 > 0:13:37the United Kingdom became less nervous about her closest neighbour.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42But war technology had moved forward dramatically and Britain would
0:13:42 > 0:13:46then engage in a new arms race, this time with Germany.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53It's the start of a new day
0:13:53 > 0:13:57and I'm picking up my journey in Fareham to continue westwards.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02Although in Bradshaw's day the French were our traditional enemy,
0:14:02 > 0:14:05for three years in the 1850s, Britain
0:14:05 > 0:14:11and France were allies against Russia in a gruesome conflict far from home.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16Over the years, I have been struck
0:14:16 > 0:14:19that Bradshaw gives me a very accurate impression
0:14:19 > 0:14:22of the United Kingdom in the mid 19th century,
0:14:22 > 0:14:23with one exception -
0:14:23 > 0:14:25it doesn't reflect the horror
0:14:25 > 0:14:29that the country had felt over the recent Crimean War,
0:14:29 > 0:14:34one of the very few conflicts in which Victorian Britain was involved.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36In order to put that right,
0:14:36 > 0:14:39a little bird tells me that I should visit Romsey.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50In 1847, the railway reached Romsey -
0:14:50 > 0:14:53a beautiful market town outside the New Forest.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00Bradshaw's remarks that, "Like many other places of great antiquity,
0:15:00 > 0:15:04"Romsey owes its foundation to a monastic establishment -
0:15:04 > 0:15:08"a Benedictine abbey on a very extensive scale."
0:15:08 > 0:15:10So I'll look at that.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30The Crimean War was characterised by courage and carnage.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34It shook public confidence in the British establishment.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39It led to army reforms, the creation of the Victoria Cross
0:15:39 > 0:15:42and big changes to military medical services.
0:15:49 > 0:15:54Those dark times were brightened by the story of Florence Nightingale.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57Here in Romsey is her family home of Embley Park.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01I am meeting Natasha McEnroe,
0:16:01 > 0:16:04the director of the Florence Nightingale Museum.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09Natasha, what sort of people were the Nightingales?
0:16:09 > 0:16:10They were rich.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14They came from the industrialised money of the Midlands.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16So when they took over Embley,
0:16:16 > 0:16:19it was quite a modest Georgian house.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23It only had five bedrooms, and so they drastically remodelled it.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25What did the family consist of when they came here?
0:16:25 > 0:16:28Nightingale's parents had the two daughters -
0:16:28 > 0:16:31Parthenope, who was Florence's older sister,
0:16:31 > 0:16:33and then Florence, who was just a year younger.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36What sort of education did the young Florence have?
0:16:36 > 0:16:38It's quite an unusual one for the time.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42Florence's father believed that women should be educated
0:16:42 > 0:16:47as well as men, so he ensured that the girls were taught the sciences,
0:16:47 > 0:16:51the classics, and Florence's own passion - mathematics.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55Embley Park was a place for entertaining.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59This fiercely intelligent Florence encountered guests,
0:16:59 > 0:17:02who were eminent scientists or literary figures,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05such as Charles Darwin and Elizabeth Gaskell.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11In the grounds of Embley Park,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14the course of Florence's life was set.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19So this is a hugely significant place
0:17:19 > 0:17:22in the story of Florence Nightingale,
0:17:22 > 0:17:24because it's underneath this very tree
0:17:24 > 0:17:28that Florence felt very strongly that she was called by God
0:17:28 > 0:17:31to serve her fellow man through nursing.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33So how did she actually become a nurse?
0:17:33 > 0:17:35Well, it was something that was very, very difficult.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37Nursing was not a profession at this time.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39It was very much looked down on.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43So she managed to pick up various bits of experience
0:17:43 > 0:17:47while travelling around Europe, and then finally, in her late 20s,
0:17:47 > 0:17:52became a superintendent of a small charitable hospital.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54So how was it that she went off to Crimea?
0:17:54 > 0:17:57She was approached by Sidney Herbert,
0:17:57 > 0:17:59the Secretary at War,
0:17:59 > 0:18:03and asked if she would lead a group of 38 nurses
0:18:03 > 0:18:06to go out to protect and to care for the soldiers
0:18:06 > 0:18:09in the appalling conditions that they found themselves in.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12The sanitation was non-existent,
0:18:12 > 0:18:15so latrines were backed-up and coming into the rooms.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18The soldiers had no beds,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21they were wearing their bloodstained shirts from the battlefield.
0:18:21 > 0:18:26So this was a huge challenge Florence and her nurses.
0:18:26 > 0:18:31Nightingale referred to the facility as the Kingdom of Hell.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35The majority of the 25,000 British deaths during the Crimean War
0:18:35 > 0:18:40were caused by infection and disease rather than battle wounds.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43As a result of her passion for statistics,
0:18:43 > 0:18:46she recorded valuable and persuasive data
0:18:46 > 0:18:51and wrote countless reports in support of her demands for change.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54Florence became a megastar very quickly.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56Her name was all over the British press,
0:18:56 > 0:18:59and she wanted use that fame
0:18:59 > 0:19:02to ensure that the terrible experiences
0:19:02 > 0:19:05of the Crimean War shouldn't be repeated,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08and that public health should be reformed and improved
0:19:08 > 0:19:10as a result of her experience.
0:19:10 > 0:19:11She basically campaigned and lobbied
0:19:11 > 0:19:15for health reform for the rest of her life.
0:19:15 > 0:19:16Amongst her many achievements,
0:19:16 > 0:19:21she transformed nursing into respectable profession for women,
0:19:21 > 0:19:25establishing in 1860 the first professional training school
0:19:25 > 0:19:28for nurses at St Thomas' Hospital in London.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34It might seem corny to place a candle at the grave of Florence Nightingale,
0:19:34 > 0:19:39the lady with a lamp, but during a grim period in Victorian Britain,
0:19:39 > 0:19:44her courageous deeds shone through the darkness like a light.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57From Romsey, the next leg of my journey
0:19:57 > 0:19:59takes me south to the New Forest,
0:19:59 > 0:20:01which is served by the station of Brockenhurst.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07Tickets, please. Thank you.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11Thank you.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15'I am changing at Southampton to continue my journey
0:20:15 > 0:20:17'through Forest landscape to Dorchester.'
0:20:25 > 0:20:29The straight lines of the railway enabled trains to travel fast
0:20:29 > 0:20:33and to avoid the slow meanders of roads and canals.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39At the time of my guidebook and indeed throughout the 19th century,
0:20:39 > 0:20:43travel by rail was superior to travel by road
0:20:43 > 0:20:46because tracks provided stability and speed,
0:20:46 > 0:20:49but improvements to roads and to engine technology
0:20:49 > 0:20:54tipped the balance in the other direction during the 20th century.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56Where better to find out about those changes
0:20:56 > 0:20:59than at the house of the Montagus, Beaulieu?
0:21:06 > 0:21:09Built on the site of an old Cistercian abbey,
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Beaulieu is the home of the Montagu family
0:21:12 > 0:21:16and, since 1972, the National Motor Museum.
0:21:16 > 0:21:17HORN BEEPS
0:21:25 > 0:21:27Beaulieu's motoring heritage
0:21:27 > 0:21:29originates from the late 19th century,
0:21:29 > 0:21:31with the second Lord Montagu,
0:21:31 > 0:21:33who was an avid campaigner for the motorist.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39I'm meeting his grandson, the current Lord Montagu.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42So what was it that your grandfather was able to do
0:21:42 > 0:21:45to make the motor car more acceptable in the United Kingdom?
0:21:45 > 0:21:49He introduced motoring to royalty.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52He took the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII,
0:21:52 > 0:21:54for his first drive in a car.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57That then made motoring much more acceptable to people.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01He also took his car, as an MP, to the House of Commons.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05He wanted to drive into the yard, but was stopped by the policeman,
0:22:05 > 0:22:08so he appealed to the Speaker who said, "Yes, you can come in."
0:22:08 > 0:22:12And so he was the first person to bring a petrol car
0:22:12 > 0:22:14into the yard at the House of Commons,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17which I'm sure at the time was quite an excitement.
0:22:19 > 0:22:24The Museum charts the history of the automobile over the ages.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28Volunteer John Richardson is going to show me the early motoring machines,
0:22:28 > 0:22:32which, like the railway locomotives of the time, ran on steam.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36Hello, John.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39I think most people know how locomotives developed
0:22:39 > 0:22:41on the railways during the 19th century,
0:22:41 > 0:22:44but not much idea of what was going on on the roads,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47but I suppose that this is part of the answer.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49Well, this, yes. This is the 1875 Grenville,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52which really is the sort of end of the steam development
0:22:52 > 0:22:54of road-going vehicles.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56How did it actually operate?
0:22:56 > 0:22:58Well, you have the poor old stoker at the back,
0:22:58 > 0:23:00who's going to put coal into the boiler here to make the steam,
0:23:00 > 0:23:04which is going to work the engine down here.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06Additionally, you have two men at the front.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09One is the steersman, he is going to point it in the right direction.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11The other one is the driver.
0:23:11 > 0:23:12So, you have a crew of three for, what,
0:23:12 > 0:23:14a maximum of three passengers, by the look of it?
0:23:14 > 0:23:17You can get one passenger in the front and three at the back here,
0:23:17 > 0:23:21so it's not a very large load-bearing vehicle.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24The condition of the roads is quite an issue, isn't it?
0:23:24 > 0:23:27People who own roads are not very favourably disposed
0:23:27 > 0:23:29towards these large, heavy vehicles.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Oh, no. The roads were in a pretty shocking state at the time.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35Though they had the turnpike trusts,
0:23:35 > 0:23:38who were empowered to raise tolls and look after the roads,
0:23:38 > 0:23:41there was a great resistance to these steam vehicles,
0:23:41 > 0:23:43so they introduced the Red Flag Act,
0:23:43 > 0:23:48which required a gentleman to walk 60 yards in front with a red flag.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52So how do we date the origins of the internal combustion engine?
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Well, we have to come to the very early 1860s,
0:23:55 > 0:23:58when Etienne Lenoir developed his gas-powered engine,
0:23:58 > 0:24:00and followed by Nikolaus Otto
0:24:00 > 0:24:02with the four-stroke cycle engine as well.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04And neither one of those British.
0:24:04 > 0:24:06I'm afraid not. No, they were German.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12'In Britain, as a result of intense opposition
0:24:12 > 0:24:15'to anything other than horse-drawn road transport,'
0:24:15 > 0:24:19Parliament imposed a speed limit of 4mph.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23While Britain had led the way with the railways,
0:24:23 > 0:24:27it fell far behind in early automobile development.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31France and Germany were the pioneers of the motor car.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33By the end of the 19th century,
0:24:33 > 0:24:36are motor cars in Britain becoming quite popular?
0:24:36 > 0:24:38Well, they are becoming very popular indeed.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41There is a growing sort of opinion that wants to get cars onto the road.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45The removal of the Red Flag Act in 1896
0:24:45 > 0:24:46and the Emancipation Run,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49when the cars were allowed to drive on the roads.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51The drove from London to Brighton.
0:24:51 > 0:24:52Then the public could see the cars,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55and it even gained further popularity.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00I am intrigued to try out one of these early models,
0:25:00 > 0:25:04perhaps to be enthralled and terrified as Victorians were.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10Engineer Ian Stanfield will be my instructor.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12Ian, hello.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15- Hello, Michael. - What a splendid vehicle. What is it?
0:25:15 > 0:25:19It is an 1886 Benz replica.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22- Basically the first motor car. - Really?
0:25:22 > 0:25:26- Are we able to take a spin in it? - Yeah, for sure, yeah.
0:25:26 > 0:25:27How do you get it going?
0:25:27 > 0:25:29Well, I'll have to fiddle around the back here
0:25:29 > 0:25:31and spin the flywheel to get it going.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34So if you want to sit up in the driving position...
0:25:34 > 0:25:35OK. I'll do that.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37..I'll show you where the controls are.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42So it is very simple. This is your steering.
0:25:42 > 0:25:47- That's right, and that's left. - That is clear enough.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50This lever here, if you pull it all the way back on,
0:25:50 > 0:25:51that is your brake.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55And as you ease it forward, that puts it into gear,
0:25:55 > 0:25:57so you basically creep forward.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59Let's see if I can get it to go.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04ENGINE CHUGS
0:26:07 > 0:26:11So, brake off, push the lever forward,
0:26:11 > 0:26:13ease it into gear and off we go.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17- Tally-ho!- Off we go.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19We'll turn round to the right here.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39CHUGGING CONTINUES
0:26:51 > 0:26:53If I make this prediction,
0:26:53 > 0:26:57the motor car will never catch on or be a threat to the railways.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06'The car went on to challenge the railway's pre-eminence.'
0:27:11 > 0:27:14And it is one of the many innovations first seen in Victorian times
0:27:14 > 0:27:17that dominate our world today.
0:27:21 > 0:27:26Britain was rarely troubled by war during the Victorian period,
0:27:26 > 0:27:28partly because we were so well-prepared,
0:27:28 > 0:27:32matching every French improvement in military technology
0:27:32 > 0:27:33and then trumping it.
0:27:33 > 0:27:39It's an irony that when war did break out in the Crimea in the 1850s,
0:27:39 > 0:27:41France was our ally.
0:27:43 > 0:27:44We then rediscovered the horrors of warfare,
0:27:44 > 0:27:49and our national compassion was personified by Florence Nightingale -
0:27:49 > 0:27:53the most admired of all Victorians.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00'Next time, I investigate the ins and outs of carpets.'
0:28:00 > 0:28:02This is how you weave.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12'Discover the little-known railway verse of Thomas Hardy.'
0:28:12 > 0:28:14"And the wheels moved on.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18"O could it but be That I had alighted there!"
0:28:18 > 0:28:20- He missed his chance.- He did indeed.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23'And brush up on a forgotten artist.'
0:28:23 > 0:28:26You're doing a grand job, Michael. I think Danby would be proud of you.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29MICHAEL LAUGHS You old flatterer!