0:00:04 > 0:00:08For Victorian Britons, George Bradshaw was a household name.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10At a time when railways were new,
0:00:10 > 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 > 0:00:26its landscape, its industries, society and leisure time.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29As I crisscross the country, 150 years later,
0:00:29 > 0:00:33it helps me to discover the Britain of today.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57I've arrived in Scotland
0:00:57 > 0:01:02to conclude my journey along the old route of the Flying Scotsman.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05Today, I'll seek self-improvement
0:01:05 > 0:01:08and women with muscles before pursuing
0:01:08 > 0:01:11serial killers in Edinburgh.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15I'll navigate new tracks across the city and scale the heights in memory
0:01:15 > 0:01:18of a romantic novelist.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29My journey has brought me up the East Coast Main Line from
0:01:29 > 0:01:30London's King's Cross,
0:01:30 > 0:01:33through the counties of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire,
0:01:33 > 0:01:37via Peterborough to Newark in Nottinghamshire.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41I visited the former port of Stockton-on-Tees and the seaside
0:01:41 > 0:01:45towns of Alnmouth and Dunbar. I will finish in Edinburgh.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52The last leg of my trip takes me to the coastal village of Longniddry in
0:01:52 > 0:01:57East Lothian and seven miles west to the old fishing town of Musselburgh,
0:01:57 > 0:02:01before I arrive at my final destination, the Scottish capital.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06On this journey, I'll need plenty of brawn...
0:02:06 > 0:02:08HE GROANS
0:02:08 > 0:02:10- It's quite heavy, isn't it? - It's very heavy.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12..a strong stomach...
0:02:12 > 0:02:16Here we have a book made from the skin of a murderer.
0:02:16 > 0:02:17My goodness.
0:02:17 > 0:02:18..and a musical ear.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20Here goes, everybody.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24THEY WHOOP
0:02:30 > 0:02:36I'm alighting at the seaside village of Longniddry and travelling inland,
0:02:36 > 0:02:40but I can't proceed by train as the line closed almost 50 years ago.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45Bradshaw's has brought me to the charming town of Haddington,
0:02:45 > 0:02:48which, it tells me, has two churches, five chapels,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51a school of art, a museum,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54Gray's Public Library and a grammar school.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58Notice the emphasis on religion and on knowledge.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02In the Victorian world, the two ingredients for self-improvement.
0:03:06 > 0:03:11That philosophy was developed by one of Haddington's most notable sons,
0:03:11 > 0:03:15Samuel Smiles, who would write a bestseller.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19I'm meeting the local council's archive manager - Alex Fitzgerald.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24Samuel Smiles has gone down in history as the great advocate of self-help.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26- Who was he?- He was born in Haddington in 1812,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29the son of a local merchant.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33His father died in 1832 in a cholera outbreak, which helped Smiles see he
0:03:33 > 0:03:36had to help himself because help was removed from him at an early age.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38You have got Self Help there, the book.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41What is the essence of the message?
0:03:41 > 0:03:44I think we can let him speak with his own words, to start off with.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47" 'Heaven helps those who help themselves' - is a well-tried maxim embodying in
0:03:47 > 0:03:50"a small compass the result of vast human experience.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54"The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual."
0:03:54 > 0:03:59As a journalist, Smiles campaigned for Parliamentary reform,
0:03:59 > 0:04:02before deciding that the individual's self-improvement was
0:04:02 > 0:04:08the key to social progress. When Self Help was published in 1859,
0:04:08 > 0:04:12he became a respected thinker and, as time went by, a celebrity.
0:04:12 > 0:04:1620,000 copies were sold in the first year and, by the time of Smiles's
0:04:16 > 0:04:21death in 1904, sales had reached a quarter of a million.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25This message about getting ahead in life, was it materialist or moral?
0:04:25 > 0:04:27I would say it was very moral.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29Religion was the centrepiece to Smiles's life.
0:04:29 > 0:04:34He referred to how God was pivotal in methods for self-improvement.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37That is part of the Victorian experience,
0:04:37 > 0:04:40religion being one of the cornerstones
0:04:40 > 0:04:42upon which they built their society.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44To illustrate his thesis,
0:04:44 > 0:04:47Smiles wrote inspirational life stories
0:04:47 > 0:04:50of famous industrial figures.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54George Stephenson, I think, would be one of his prime examples of how an
0:04:54 > 0:04:56individual had bettered themselves.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00Stevenson was illiterate until the age of 18 and actually taught
0:05:00 > 0:05:03himself the arithmetic and calculations required to go on to
0:05:03 > 0:05:06become the engineer which made him the father of the railways.
0:05:06 > 0:05:11In helping us to understand the Victorian, how important is Samuel Smiles?
0:05:11 > 0:05:12He's very significant.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16He provides a template from which you can look at how society was
0:05:16 > 0:05:19changing. For him, only by people improving themselves
0:05:19 > 0:05:20would society improve.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25Today's global self-help movement is a multi-million-pound industry,
0:05:25 > 0:05:29which probably doesn't recognise its debt to Samuel Smiles.
0:05:29 > 0:05:30UKULELE MUSIC
0:05:30 > 0:05:32He might be pleased
0:05:32 > 0:05:36that the citizens of Haddington are still striving to improve themselves
0:05:36 > 0:05:38with new skills.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41THEY SING
0:05:41 > 0:05:45In this former railway storehouse, today's class,
0:05:45 > 0:05:49open to anyone, has learned to play the ukulele.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52THEY SING
0:05:59 > 0:06:00THEY WHOOP
0:06:00 > 0:06:02Bravo!
0:06:02 > 0:06:03What a charming class.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05- Hello, everybody.- Hi.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07How long have you been playing the ukulele?
0:06:07 > 0:06:09Oh, for about three years now.
0:06:09 > 0:06:10- And you?- About two and a half.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12- What made you take it up?- Well,
0:06:12 > 0:06:15I've always loved music but I didn't learn to play an instrument when I
0:06:15 > 0:06:18was younger. So when I happened upon Lamp House Music,
0:06:18 > 0:06:20it was just too good an opportunity to miss.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22So it's been great fun.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24That's lovely. What about you?
0:06:24 > 0:06:28I love the idea of being in a group and not just playing, but singing.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31And a lot of the activities I used to do were solitary,
0:06:31 > 0:06:33so this is a complete culture change for me.
0:06:33 > 0:06:38Samuel Smiles was born in Haddington and he believed in self-improvement
0:06:38 > 0:06:40and self-help. Is he an inspiration?
0:06:41 > 0:06:44Do you know? He wasn't until I looked him up online
0:06:44 > 0:06:48and then I found out more about him.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52I can't believe that a man of that time was such a thinker,
0:06:52 > 0:06:53such a deep thinker,
0:06:53 > 0:06:57and he actually altered the course of people's lives.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01When you try different things, it improves your whole self-esteem.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05When you gain mastery over something as simple as the ukulele,
0:07:05 > 0:07:06it's fantastic for you.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09I tell everybody that they should get into music
0:07:09 > 0:07:14and they should come to a place like this, where you are accepted as a
0:07:14 > 0:07:16right duffer, because I'm a right duffer...
0:07:16 > 0:07:18You are allowed to develop.
0:07:18 > 0:07:23As far as I know, I have no musical gift, but I want to improve myself.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26That last chord you played, can you show me how you did that?
0:07:26 > 0:07:28- That's a C.- That's a C, that's right.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32- Now what do I do? - Third finger on the third fret.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34- Yeah.- Press hard.- Pressing on the fret.- No, not...
0:07:34 > 0:07:37- No, in-between.- And then go bing, bing, bing, bing, bing.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41- Here goes, everybody. - Ready, steady, go.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43THEY WHOOP
0:07:45 > 0:07:48Definitely more self-improvement needed!
0:08:09 > 0:08:12My next stop will be Musselburgh.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Bradshaw's points me to Fishwives' Causeway.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18They were also known as fish lassies or fish fags
0:08:18 > 0:08:23and were allegedly notorious for foul-mouthed gossip.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25It should be an interesting visit.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41Just six miles east of Edinburgh, Musselburgh,
0:08:41 > 0:08:44named after the extensive mussel beds that lie along its shores,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47enjoys fantastic views across the Firth of Forth.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53In the 19th century, men here relied on fishing for a living.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58But I'm here to learn about the community of women.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03Simon Fairnie is a historian.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09Simon, what part did the fishwives play in the fishing industry here?
0:09:09 > 0:09:13They were the partners, the working partners, for their husbands.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17They would go to the mussel beds and they would gather mussels,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20bring them home, shell the mussels, put the bait onto the hooks.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24A man would have up to 1,000 hooks per line
0:09:24 > 0:09:26and this would be a daily occurrence.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29As well as preparing the lines,
0:09:29 > 0:09:33the fisherwomen were responsible for selling the catch.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37They would travel by train or tram to Edinburgh, and other local towns,
0:09:37 > 0:09:42carrying the fish on their backs in baskets known as creels and skulls.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44They must have been popular getting onto the train, the tram,
0:09:44 > 0:09:46the bus with their fish?
0:09:46 > 0:09:49Well, they were able to put their creels into the front of the trams
0:09:49 > 0:09:53with the driver and also onto the special mixer onto the train.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56But the women were well-known and they were well-liked,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59and therefore they knew that they were industrious women
0:09:59 > 0:10:00carrying out their jobs,
0:10:00 > 0:10:04so they were accepted as part of the scene, in the city particularly.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07Now, this was going on in your family, too, Simon?
0:10:07 > 0:10:11Yes, my two aunts, my grandmother,
0:10:11 > 0:10:13my great-grandmother, were all fishwives.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17Now, fishwives have this reputation for being foul-mouthed and gossips,
0:10:17 > 0:10:18is that fair?
0:10:18 > 0:10:20I don't think that's fair.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25They were shrewd women who may well have spoken their mind.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29Remember, Michael, they used to sell the fish in big houses to many of
0:10:29 > 0:10:33the gentry of the town and they were well-known, well-respected.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36What role did these women play in their society?
0:10:36 > 0:10:37An extremely important role -
0:10:37 > 0:10:41simply because they were the breadwinners of the family.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43The husbands would go away,
0:10:43 > 0:10:47sometimes come back with no earnings at all after some long time,
0:10:47 > 0:10:51so it would be them who would have to make the money for the family.
0:10:51 > 0:10:56They were, I would say, emancipated before emancipation.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01Sadly, there are no surviving Musselburgh fishwives or fish lassies today,
0:11:01 > 0:11:05but their descendants ensure that their story lives on.
0:11:05 > 0:11:06- Hello, ladies.- Hello.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09- I'm Michael.- I'm Christine. - Christine.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11- Margaret.- Margaret. You are beautifully attired.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13What are you wearing?
0:11:13 > 0:11:15These are our gala costumes.
0:11:15 > 0:11:21We had a Fisherman's Walk on the first Friday of September every year,
0:11:21 > 0:11:24that was the end of the fishermen's summer fishing,
0:11:24 > 0:11:26and we had just a gala.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28Pipe bands and dancing.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32You are wearing your costumes slightly differently, why is that?
0:11:32 > 0:11:34- This is a kilted coat. - This is a kilted coat.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39There is one underneath and one that's kilted up,
0:11:39 > 0:11:42and that makes it fancy, just a wee bit different.
0:11:42 > 0:11:48Mine is plainer and I've got what we call a pooch underneath.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50- What are you showing me now? - My pooch.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54- Your pooch?- Where we kept our money and, in later days...
0:11:54 > 0:11:56our lipsticks.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59I've worn my grandmother's working pooch.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02When she died, we found it under the mattress.
0:12:02 > 0:12:07Obviously where she kept her money because they didn't use bags.
0:12:07 > 0:12:12Generations of women in Christine's and Margaret's families were fishwives.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16That's my grandmother selling her fish,
0:12:16 > 0:12:22and this is her creel and skull and the fish is all inside the skull.
0:12:22 > 0:12:23Very, very good.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25This is my mother here.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28She left school at 13 and became a fishwife.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31She just loved the job, loved it.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35She went to Fife with her fish, across the Forth Bridge in the train.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37And this is my great-grandmother.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39She looks weighed under, doesn't she?
0:12:39 > 0:12:42It was a huge weight they carried on their head and the band went right
0:12:42 > 0:12:46- across their brow.- And this one is interesting to me
0:12:46 > 0:12:52because here we see the ladies, I think, getting off the tram.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56- Yes.- The conductor helping her on with her creel and skull.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59Yes, tram drivers were wonderful.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Of course, they'd always get maybe a pair of kippers or a piece of fish
0:13:03 > 0:13:08- at the end of the day.- I see that you have a creel and skull here.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12- Yes.- Do you want to try it on?
0:13:12 > 0:13:14Well, OK. Are you going to help me, then?
0:13:14 > 0:13:16Yes, we'll help you.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18'Whilst it's not full of fish,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21'Christine and Margaret have helpfully added some weight to it,
0:13:21 > 0:13:24'to give me some idea of what it would have been like.'
0:13:24 > 0:13:26- Oh!- There you go.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28Oh. I've got it.
0:13:28 > 0:13:29- Yes.- Now.
0:13:29 > 0:13:30HE GROANS
0:13:30 > 0:13:32It's quite heavy, isn't it?
0:13:32 > 0:13:35- It's very heavy.- Let's have a little go with this, then.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37HE GRUNTS
0:13:40 > 0:13:46Oh! I'm carrying probably a fraction of the weight that a fishwife would
0:13:46 > 0:13:49have carried and I am bent double,
0:13:49 > 0:13:52and it seems incredibly heavy.
0:13:52 > 0:13:58One career I'm not going to take up is being a fishwife.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00It's a diabolical contraption, this thing.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03- Isn't it awful?- What kind of weight did they carry?
0:14:03 > 0:14:05About 112lb.
0:14:05 > 0:14:10And the women often had a bald patch on their head...with the band.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12- A bald patch?!- Yes.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14I must get it off at once!
0:14:14 > 0:14:15There we are.
0:14:17 > 0:14:22Those fishwives were clearly made of far tougher stuff than I am.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30This train will take me to my final destination on this
0:14:30 > 0:14:34East Coast Main Line - made famous by the Flying Scotsman.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46I'll soon be arriving in Edinburgh,
0:14:46 > 0:14:49mentioned in Bradshaw's as the "Modern Athens".
0:14:49 > 0:14:53"Its schools for the acquirements of useful knowledge have long held a
0:14:53 > 0:14:57"high rank amongst the universities of Europe
0:14:57 > 0:15:01"and have supplied some of the most distinguished statesman, warriors,
0:15:01 > 0:15:05"poets and divines who have graced our annals."
0:15:07 > 0:15:10With some Scottish blood coursing through my veins,
0:15:10 > 0:15:12I'll certainly second that.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28Edinburgh Waverley.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31I used to arrive here as a child with my family,
0:15:31 > 0:15:33headed for my grandparents' in Kirkcaldy.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36We were not on the Flying Scotsman, we came on the night train,
0:15:36 > 0:15:40but still this station evokes for me the smell of locomotive,
0:15:40 > 0:15:44smoke and steam and smuts.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55I always enjoy exploring this elegant capital,
0:15:55 > 0:15:57with its impressive architecture, on foot.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01But as the day's almost over,
0:16:01 > 0:16:05my Bradshaw's recommends a visit to the oldest pub on the city's
0:16:05 > 0:16:06Royal Mile.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18In 1773, that great English intellectual Samuel Johnson
0:16:18 > 0:16:21stopped here at The White Horse in Edinburgh.
0:16:21 > 0:16:26Now, he once wrote that, "Scotland is a vile country, though God made it,
0:16:26 > 0:16:28"but God also made hell."
0:16:28 > 0:16:31It's a wonder that he made it out of the Royal Mile alive.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34And in his famous dictionary he wrote, "Oats,
0:16:34 > 0:16:38"the grain which in England is given to a horse but in Scotland
0:16:38 > 0:16:39"it supports the people."
0:16:39 > 0:16:42Now, that I think is particularly unfair.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46I believe that porridge is one of Scotland's great gifts to the world,
0:16:46 > 0:16:48along with whisky, of course.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53Cheers.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07Edinburgh is waking up.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11The population of half a million people has more than doubled since
0:17:11 > 0:17:13the time of my Bradshaw's.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16And, as in most cities, rush-hour traffic is a problem.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19To ease the congestion,
0:17:19 > 0:17:23the council turned to a popular Victorian mode of transport.
0:17:23 > 0:17:28Having arrived here in the 1870s and disappeared by the mid-1950s,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31now the tram is back.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37- Excuse me a moment.- Yes.
0:17:37 > 0:17:38Are you regulars on the tram?
0:17:38 > 0:17:40- Very much so, yes. - What do you use it for?
0:17:40 > 0:17:42Just going to work and back.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47And do some shopping. It's very clean and smooth and...very warm.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51Very warm, that's important in Edinburgh, isn't it?
0:17:51 > 0:17:54Once, Britain's major cities had trams,
0:17:54 > 0:17:58but only one of the original systems still survives - in Blackpool.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04Edinburgh's service is one of just a handful that's running today.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07Do you find it odd that in British cities for many years
0:18:07 > 0:18:10we didn't have trams and now we seem to have them again?
0:18:10 > 0:18:13Yeah, but I think it's good to bring that back
0:18:13 > 0:18:15and a lot of people do use it.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19During rush-hour, it's a lot faster because obviously the traffic...
0:18:22 > 0:18:27The creation of this new tram service has been anything but smooth,
0:18:27 > 0:18:30with huge delays and budget overshoots,
0:18:30 > 0:18:33but Edinburgh's commuters seem to be on board with the idea.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38I've come out to the services depot, where manager Dean Anderson
0:18:38 > 0:18:43will allow me to take one of these vehicles for a drive.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45MICHAEL LAUGHS
0:18:45 > 0:18:47Suits you.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49Oh, Dean, thank you very much.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51This feels wonderful.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54Although pretty much a novice, I've had a quick lesson.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
0:18:59 > 0:19:04Welcome to this special Bradshaw's nostalgia tram ride around the
0:19:04 > 0:19:06stabling yard of Edinburgh.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08Stand clear of the doors, please.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13So, let's select slow speed.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18And...let's give it a go.
0:19:20 > 0:19:21BELL RINGS
0:19:24 > 0:19:25BELL RINGS
0:19:31 > 0:19:34Horses hauled the city's earliest trams along the tracks,
0:19:34 > 0:19:38until cable-hauled carriages replaced them.
0:19:38 > 0:19:43In 1905, electric trams appeared in the busy city centre streets,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46including striking double-deckers.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50Today's sleek models are 140-foot long.
0:19:50 > 0:19:56They're made up of seven articulated sections with room for 250 passengers.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59So, the trams are now here in Edinburgh,
0:19:59 > 0:20:01do you think people are enjoying them?
0:20:01 > 0:20:04Absolutely. We've been in service for over two years now
0:20:04 > 0:20:07and last year we recorded almost 5.4 million journeys.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09Are there plans to extend it at all?
0:20:09 > 0:20:12Next year, there is a proposal to extend the tram line down to Leith
0:20:12 > 0:20:14and across to the waterfront...
0:20:14 > 0:20:17so we're very much hoping that that will be approved.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20With 27 trams,
0:20:20 > 0:20:23they run a service along a nine-mile route from the airport
0:20:23 > 0:20:25into the city centre.
0:20:26 > 0:20:28- And a smooth stop.- Well done.
0:20:28 > 0:20:29Smooth-ish.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38Edinburgh is famous for its 12th-century castle
0:20:38 > 0:20:40and for its festivals.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45And it's also distinguished by its academic tradition.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49"The University of Edinburgh," says Bradshaw's,
0:20:49 > 0:20:54"was founded in 1582 by a charter from King James VI.
0:20:54 > 0:21:00"It's divided into four faculties - law, theology, arts and medicine."
0:21:00 > 0:21:03And the guidebook recommends the Royal College of Surgeons Museum -
0:21:03 > 0:21:06admittance by member's order.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10I'd like to understand how the medical faculty developed an
0:21:10 > 0:21:14important body of work by working on bodies.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18The Royal College of Surgeons,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21established at the start of the 16th century,
0:21:21 > 0:21:25now boasts 20,000 members from across the world.
0:21:25 > 0:21:30Its museum, opened to the public in 1832, houses one of the oldest and
0:21:30 > 0:21:33largest collections of medical specimens.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36The college's director of heritage, Chris Henry,
0:21:36 > 0:21:38has agreed to give me a tour.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42Why do you think people in the 19th century were coming to the museum?
0:21:42 > 0:21:45What you have to remember is that Edinburgh was really the
0:21:45 > 0:21:49pre-eminent centre of medical teaching in the world
0:21:49 > 0:21:50and, in order to teach,
0:21:50 > 0:21:55you had to have a collection to show the conditions that were prevalent
0:21:55 > 0:21:59at the time. You can only really do that by preserving them in a jar.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01Who were some of the great figures
0:22:01 > 0:22:03who helped to establish Edinburgh's reputation?
0:22:03 > 0:22:06The first person that springs to mind is James Syme,
0:22:06 > 0:22:09who was a towering surgeon.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12He did most of his work before the introduction of anaesthetics.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14And then we have James Young Simpson,
0:22:14 > 0:22:18who was the person that really discovered the anaesthetic
0:22:18 > 0:22:21properties of chloroform. And then, finally,
0:22:21 > 0:22:26Joseph Lister, who discovered the antiseptic properties of various
0:22:26 > 0:22:30chemicals that could reduce infection post-surgery,
0:22:30 > 0:22:34so he managed to effectively reduce the percentage of deaths
0:22:34 > 0:22:37after surgery from 50% to 15%.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39So, from all this amazing array,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42give me an example of the sort of thing that was used to teach.
0:22:42 > 0:22:47Well, we've got a perfect example here of a gangrenous foot from the
0:22:47 > 0:22:4919th century. What's happened is
0:22:49 > 0:22:53the whole of the foot's been amputated in order to preserve the
0:22:53 > 0:22:57rest of the limb and what you can see is these blackened areas of
0:22:57 > 0:22:59tissue that have died off.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03And this would have been used as a teaching aid for people to come in
0:23:03 > 0:23:05to lectures and understand what the physical effects were.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08Didn't the flesh give off the most appalling stink?
0:23:08 > 0:23:12Yeah, it did, and a lot of doctors and surgeons really wore that,
0:23:12 > 0:23:14and the mess and the smell, as a badge of honour,
0:23:14 > 0:23:17certainly in the pre-antiseptic era.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21And the collection includes even more shocking exhibits.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25Here we have a book made from the skin of a murderer.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27My goodness! Human skin?
0:23:27 > 0:23:29- Yes.- Who is it?
0:23:29 > 0:23:33That's the skin of William Burke, one of a pair of murderers.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38William Burke and William Hare, who carried out 16 murders
0:23:38 > 0:23:41to supply bodies to the anatomy trade, as it were,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44in the 19th century.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48With tight legal restrictions on the supply of bodies for dissection,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51grave-robbers, known as body snatchers,
0:23:51 > 0:23:53dug up paupers' corpses for sale.
0:23:53 > 0:23:58Now Burke and Hare began to kill to satisfy demand.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00To go around snatching bodies out of graves is one thing,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03but to kill them in the first place is really going that extra mile,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06isn't it? And, from the label, I take it this is Burke?
0:24:06 > 0:24:10That is Burke. Hare turned king's evidence against Burke and he was
0:24:10 > 0:24:13executed in 1829.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15And, as you can see from this,
0:24:15 > 0:24:17there is a mark around his neck where the hangman's noose
0:24:17 > 0:24:19finished him off.
0:24:20 > 0:24:25The Anatomy Act of 1832 put an end to this darkest of black markets by
0:24:25 > 0:24:29regulating but increasing the supply of bodies for teaching.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34Edinburgh University's Medical School, founded in 1726,
0:24:34 > 0:24:37was one of the most prestigious in the world.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39I'm meeting James Garden,
0:24:39 > 0:24:43professor of clinical surgery and surgeon to the Queen in Scotland,
0:24:43 > 0:24:47at the spot where dissections once took place.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50So here we are, the anatomy lecture theatre.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53It is magnificent and huge.
0:24:53 > 0:24:57The design of this lecture theatre was so that the teacher or the
0:24:57 > 0:24:59professor could perform to the students,
0:24:59 > 0:25:02looking directly to the centre stage
0:25:02 > 0:25:04as the body lay there to be dissected.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08Who was the audience, who were the theatregoers?
0:25:08 > 0:25:12We would have had 250 or so medical students, all paying customers.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15They wanted to see the body,
0:25:15 > 0:25:20they wanted to see the detail, so there may have been a scramble to
0:25:20 > 0:25:22sit here in the front rows so that
0:25:22 > 0:25:26they could appreciate what was being taught to them.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28But, of course, in those days,
0:25:28 > 0:25:32the bodies were never quite preserved as well as they are
0:25:32 > 0:25:34nowadays and so you were also, I think,
0:25:34 > 0:25:40at risk, sitting in these front rows, from the smell and perhaps the
0:25:40 > 0:25:44occasional bit of tissue flying into the air.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48I hate to say it, but it looks as though someone's left a body here today.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50Yes, we have prepared something for you.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC
0:25:52 > 0:25:54MICHAEL LAUGHS
0:25:56 > 0:25:58Hello, old chap.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01So I think we've got something a bit more exciting underneath.
0:26:01 > 0:26:02Whoa!
0:26:04 > 0:26:07Huh! So what on earth is this?
0:26:07 > 0:26:09So, this is modern anatomy teaching.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11So here we have the body for dissection.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16Well, I'll be darned.
0:26:16 > 0:26:18What sort of things can you do with that?
0:26:18 > 0:26:20We can explore the inside of the body,
0:26:20 > 0:26:22so we can then cut.
0:26:22 > 0:26:28- Oh, my goodness.- And then I can take you here, into my area of interest,
0:26:28 > 0:26:30into the abdomen.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33Here we can see the liver on the right-hand side
0:26:33 > 0:26:35and this allows us to explore
0:26:35 > 0:26:38the anatomical relationships of the organ.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42We can get a better understanding of the inside of the liver and the
0:26:42 > 0:26:45anatomy of the blood vessels and bile ducts.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47So this tool is fundamentally useful?
0:26:47 > 0:26:52It is. It's at the heart of the modern teaching of anatomy.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58Besides its huge contribution to medicine,
0:26:58 > 0:27:02this historic city has a proud literary tradition.
0:27:02 > 0:27:07It was the birthplace of Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
0:27:07 > 0:27:10and another of its great authors is remembered here.
0:27:11 > 0:27:16This is the world's largest monument to a writer.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19It celebrates Sir Walter Scott
0:27:19 > 0:27:22and the railway station here is named after
0:27:22 > 0:27:25his historical novel, Waverley.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27For decades, beneath its glass roof,
0:27:27 > 0:27:32clouds of smoke celebrated the arrival of the Flying Scotsman from
0:27:32 > 0:27:34the British capital.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38Bradshaw's compared the might of London to classical Rome
0:27:38 > 0:27:43and the finesse of Edinburgh's architecture to ancient Athens.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47The Victorians could be arrogant, but as they spread literature,
0:27:47 > 0:27:52technology, science and ideas across a vast empire,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55they could perhaps be forgiven.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00Next time...
0:28:00 > 0:28:01HE SHRIEKS
0:28:01 > 0:28:03..there's terror on the tracks.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05Only a skeleton staff today.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09I play a small part in a monumental engineering project.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11Looks like you're a natural at this, Michael.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14Do you think it's weld-done?
0:28:14 > 0:28:18And pay tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
0:28:18 > 0:28:23It is perhaps understandable, when the call came in 1914,
0:28:23 > 0:28:27that railwaymen were so prominent and so numerous in stepping forward.