0:00:04 > 0:00:05For Edwardian Britons,
0:00:05 > 0:00:10a Bradshaw's was an indispensable guide to a railway network
0:00:10 > 0:00:11at its peak.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17I'm using an early 20th century edition to navigate a vibrant
0:00:17 > 0:00:19and optimistic Britain
0:00:19 > 0:00:22at the height of its power and influence in the world.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28But a nation wrestling with political, social
0:00:28 > 0:00:31and industrial unrest at home.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56My railway journey through south-west England
0:00:56 > 0:01:00will soon reach its furthest edge and the ocean.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02At the beginning of 20th century,
0:01:02 > 0:01:05we were building enormous, invincible liners
0:01:05 > 0:01:09and also making waves across the Atlantic.
0:01:09 > 0:01:14But for many, Cornwall was home and there was work to be done.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17Whilst for others, it was a holiday destination,
0:01:17 > 0:01:21glamorised in literature and easy to reach by train.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31I began this journey in south-west Wales,
0:01:31 > 0:01:35skirting the coast as I travelled eastwards to take in Swansea
0:01:35 > 0:01:38and Cardiff, before crossing the border into England.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41I charted Bristol's aviation history
0:01:41 > 0:01:44and then enjoyed the Somerset countryside
0:01:44 > 0:01:47en route to Devon's south coast.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51Now I'm travelling west towards my final stop in Cornwall.
0:01:53 > 0:01:54Today, I start in Plymouth.
0:01:54 > 0:01:59From there, I'll reach the picturesque harbour town of Fowey,
0:01:59 > 0:02:03then make my way to the end of the line at Penzance,
0:02:03 > 0:02:04to reach Newlyn
0:02:04 > 0:02:07and finish on England's southernmost cape, The Lizard.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15On this trip, I rediscover a stylish Edwardian author.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17A little bit racy, I would have thought, wouldn't you?
0:02:17 > 0:02:21Have a bash at creating turn of the century Cornish collectables.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25And there's our image starting to come through on the front.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29And boldly go where no railway traveller has gone before.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31Even Bradshaw never went to the moon.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33'Even Bradshaw never went to the moon.'
0:02:33 > 0:02:37That is fantastic. My voice has gone to the moon and back!
0:02:47 > 0:02:49From 1904,
0:02:49 > 0:02:53Edwardian passengers could travel the 225 miles
0:02:53 > 0:02:58from London to Plymouth nonstop on the Cornish Riviera Express.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05Railways and steam ships had vanquished distance.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09But the self-confidence of this golden age of travel
0:03:09 > 0:03:11was soon to be dented.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17The sinking of the Titanic more than a century ago
0:03:17 > 0:03:20seems to be the best remembered disaster,
0:03:20 > 0:03:24with books, movies and museums dedicated to the tragedy.
0:03:24 > 0:03:29Its owner, the White Star Line, advertises in my 1907 Bradshaw's.
0:03:29 > 0:03:35The death toll was horrendous but not everybody perished.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37Plymouth is the place to ask
0:03:37 > 0:03:42what happened to those who survived that Titanic trauma?
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Plymouth owes its name to its position
0:03:51 > 0:03:53at the mouth of the River Plym.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58In 1914,
0:03:58 > 0:04:02it merged with the neighbouring towns of Stonehouse and Devonport,
0:04:02 > 0:04:04where I'm alighting today.
0:04:17 > 0:04:22Historian Harry Bennett is setting the scene at Millbay Dock.
0:04:22 > 0:04:23- Harry.- Michael.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25- Good to see you. - Pleased to meet you.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28Why was Plymouth so important for liners?
0:04:28 > 0:04:31Well, Plymouth is effectively central to the development
0:04:31 > 0:04:35of both the history of ocean liners, but also to the transatlantic story.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39It's in 1620 that the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth
0:04:39 > 0:04:42and, of course, is involved in founding the New World.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45And later on, in the late Victorian period,
0:04:45 > 0:04:49where you have ocean liners which are crossing from North America,
0:04:49 > 0:04:51their first key landfall, really, is Plymouth.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54And Plymouth is the point where they can get off ship,
0:04:54 > 0:04:58go into Millbay Docks and catch the train, get to London and,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02as Great Western Railway said, you can save a day by taking the train.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05From the moment the railways reached Plymouth,
0:05:05 > 0:05:07it's faster to travel by land than by sea.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11Yes. Effectively, you can go along on a train at 70-80 miles an hour
0:05:11 > 0:05:16instead of crawling slowly up the English Channel at maybe 20 knots.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19But it's after Brunel's Great Western in the 1830s
0:05:19 > 0:05:20it begins to take off.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23By the Edwardian period, it's in full swing.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26This is the point where transatlantic liner companies
0:05:26 > 0:05:29are competing with each other for the fastest crossings,
0:05:29 > 0:05:32competing for passengers, they're competing for cargo,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35and they're competing for the all-important Blue Riband,
0:05:35 > 0:05:38the vital badge which says, we are the fastest across the Atlantic.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47In 1912, the most famous ocean liner in history,
0:05:47 > 0:05:52the Olympic-class Titanic, set sail from Southampton.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55She was due to call at Plymouth on her return journey.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59Instead, Titanic struck an iceberg.
0:05:59 > 0:06:021,500 lives were lost.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06A fortnight later, 167 of her surviving crew
0:06:06 > 0:06:08disembarked in Plymouth.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15I'm taking up the story at the Duke of Cornwall Hotel
0:06:15 > 0:06:18with Nigel Voisey, whose researched the disaster.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22- What a brilliant place. - Fantastic.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24Superb view.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27What happened to them when they got here?
0:06:27 > 0:06:30We didn't treat them very well. After the ordeal of the sinking,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33we basically locked them up behind gates
0:06:33 > 0:06:35and they weren't allowed to go home straight away.
0:06:35 > 0:06:40Some survivors were put into second or third class waiting rooms,
0:06:40 > 0:06:42but the 20 stewardesses, they fared quite better.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46- They stayed in the Duke of Cornwall Hotel.- Where we are right now.- Yes.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48What was the point of detaining them?
0:06:48 > 0:06:53The White Star Line did not want the actual story of the Titanic
0:06:53 > 0:06:56coming out into the public and into the press.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00So they were basically told to give their sworn statement
0:07:00 > 0:07:03and they would not speak to anyone about it.
0:07:03 > 0:07:08The catastrophe had sparked an international outpouring of grief.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10And a call for answers.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13The crew were held until they had given statements
0:07:13 > 0:07:15to a Board of Trade inquiry.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19Did their families know what had happened to them by that stage?
0:07:19 > 0:07:23When they were locked up, you had some people opening a window,
0:07:23 > 0:07:25throwing notes out of the window, saying, you know,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28"Tell my wife I'm alive, I'm safe."
0:07:28 > 0:07:30So, really, relatives didn't know
0:07:30 > 0:07:33until they actually met them face-to-face.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37It was hardly a heroes' welcome.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41Yet three-quarters of the Titanic's crew had lost their lives,
0:07:41 > 0:07:46many after sacrificing their places in the lifeboats for passengers.
0:07:46 > 0:07:51And those who survived have remarkable stories to tell.
0:07:51 > 0:07:5520 stewardesses stay in this hotel. Do we know much about them?
0:07:55 > 0:07:57We know a few bits. We've got Violet Jessop.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00She was quite a famous part of the White Star Line
0:08:00 > 0:08:02and the Olympic-class liners.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04She was on RMS Olympic
0:08:04 > 0:08:08when the Olympic had her collision with HMS Hawke.
0:08:08 > 0:08:09She was on Titanic.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13And actually, she was on Britannic when she hit a mine
0:08:13 > 0:08:14in the First World War.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19So she survived a collision, a sinking and an act of war?
0:08:19 > 0:08:20Yes, she did, yes.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32I'm re-joining the route of the Cornish Riviera Express
0:08:32 > 0:08:37at Plymouth's main station, heading west into Cornwall.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50- I'm on my way to Fowey. Do you know Fowey?- Yes, I do.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54On my birth certificate, I have "Place of birth - Fowey",
0:08:54 > 0:08:56of which I am immensely proud.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59It is very picturesque.
0:08:59 > 0:09:00Very lovely.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03Sadly, Fowey doesn't have its own railway station.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06No, not for passengers. It does for freight.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08Mostly China clay.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12But I do remember when it did have a passenger train.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14- Did you ever ride that train? - Yes, I did, yes.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16With my grandmother, many times.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18Do you remember what sort of a train that was?
0:09:18 > 0:09:21No, I don't. I presume it was a steam one.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24I should imagine, because it was that long ago.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26Showing my age now.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38I'll leave this train at Par,
0:09:38 > 0:09:42on my way to Fowey in search of a writer.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44Daphne du Maurier, you'll be thinking,
0:09:44 > 0:09:48but, no, Edwardians would have associated Fowey with the man
0:09:48 > 0:09:52who wrote this book - Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54Also known simply as Q.
0:09:54 > 0:09:59It's time to rediscover this lost literary figure.
0:10:17 > 0:10:22Par is four miles north-east of the picturesque Cornish port of Fowey,
0:10:22 > 0:10:26where rows of colourful houses cascade towards the river.
0:10:26 > 0:10:31It's the perfect setting for a delicious Cornish ice cream.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35At the time of my Bradshaw's,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38visitors would have found a harbour newly dredged
0:10:38 > 0:10:42to accommodate the transport of China clay by boat.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46"Of all views, I reckon that of a harbour
0:10:46 > 0:10:49"the most fascinating and the most easeful,
0:10:49 > 0:10:52"for it combines perpetual change with perpetual repose.
0:10:52 > 0:10:57"It amuses like a panorama and soothes like an opiate."
0:10:58 > 0:11:01So wrote author Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch,
0:11:01 > 0:11:06who lived in Fowey from 1892 until his death in 1944.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13I've come to the Fowey Museum for an introduction to Q
0:11:13 > 0:11:16from curator Helen Luther.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20- Hello, Helen.- Michael, nice to meet you. Welcome.- Very nice to meet you.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23And what a charming museum. Helen, I didn't know about Q.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26How famous was he in his day?
0:11:26 > 0:11:28In his day, very famous.
0:11:28 > 0:11:29A prolific author.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33What we should remember him for? Novels? Poems? What?
0:11:33 > 0:11:36Probably the most people will remember him from his poems,
0:11:36 > 0:11:38the Oxford Book of Verse,
0:11:38 > 0:11:41I think is probably what most people will remember.
0:11:42 > 0:11:47As editor of the first Oxford Book of English Verse published in 1900,
0:11:47 > 0:11:51Q helped to shape Edwardian Britain's taste in poetry.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55His popular fiction was inspired by his native Cornwall
0:11:55 > 0:11:57and his adoptive home, Fowey.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00He immersed himself totally in the community.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02Fell in love with Fowey and the view.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05Later fell in love with a Fowey girl, who he married,
0:12:05 > 0:12:08and then visited Fowey many times before he settled.
0:12:09 > 0:12:14The Astonishing Story of Troy Town, published in 1888,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17is a likely disguised depiction of Fowey.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20It was so well-known to Edwardians that a 1905 guide
0:12:20 > 0:12:24aimed at passengers on the Cornish Riviera Express
0:12:24 > 0:12:27used Troy Town as a synonym for Fowey.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31So, what kind of impression of Fowey do we get from these books?
0:12:31 > 0:12:34A bit eccentric, I think.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36Erm, people used to have fun.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38There was certainly a lot going on.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40There were stories...
0:12:40 > 0:12:43historical stories that are interwoven into his novels.
0:12:43 > 0:12:48So some of it is factually based, but a lot of amusing goings-on.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51It was thinly disguised so people were in on the joke.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53They knew this was Fowey, did they?
0:12:53 > 0:12:56- And some people knew who was being referred to.- A-ha!
0:12:56 > 0:12:58Did it attract people to Fowey?
0:12:58 > 0:13:01People would flock, as they do now, for modern authors,
0:13:01 > 0:13:04but they would certainly flock to Fowey for Q.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06What did he look like?
0:13:06 > 0:13:08A slight man.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10Slim and not very tall.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12But he was a very snazzy dresser.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16He was known for his loud ties and lairy jackets.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19And, in fact, here we've got a bowler hat.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21One of the many bowler hats,
0:13:21 > 0:13:24because he had them to match his jackets.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27And it's a brown bowler hat.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31- A little bit racy, I would have thought, wouldn't you?- Yes.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34Some people likened him to a ticket tout with his colourful dress.
0:13:34 > 0:13:39- I think I'll take it off, then. - I also have a photograph sure of Q.
0:13:39 > 0:13:40How splendid.
0:13:40 > 0:13:45So his hat and his tie matched.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48I'm getting to like this Q fellow rather a lot.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50Yes, I thought you would.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55His close friend Kenneth Grahame
0:13:55 > 0:14:00based the Wind in the Willows character Ratty on Q.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04And there's another literary connection that I'm keen to explore.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09In 1929, novelist Daphne du Maurier moved to Fowey.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12Writer Polly Gregson can tell me more.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15Polly, many people associate Fowey with Daphne du Maurier
0:14:15 > 0:14:19and I'm just thinking, did Q and she ever meet?
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Yeah, definitely, actually, they knew each other really well.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24She was sort of taken under his wing slightly.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27When she first came to Fowey as a holiday destination,
0:14:27 > 0:14:30she spent a lot of time here as a really young 22-year-old
0:14:30 > 0:14:32trying to write her first novel.
0:14:32 > 0:14:34She was finding it a bit difficult and he really helped her.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36He was a father figure.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39She was incredibly close to his daughter, also called Foy,
0:14:39 > 0:14:42but with a Y, not a W-E-Y.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44You studied them both.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47Can you see in her work that she was a sort of pupil of Q's?
0:14:47 > 0:14:51Erm, I think that interpretation is definitely relevant
0:14:51 > 0:14:53with regards to their way of describing Cornwall,
0:14:53 > 0:14:57the kind of adjectives they used, and, of course, the characters.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59You can really recognise typical Cornish people
0:14:59 > 0:15:01portrayed in both of their novels.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05This literary tradition really means something to Fowey, doesn't it?
0:15:05 > 0:15:08It produces a lot of tourists, apart from anything else.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11It absolutely does, and I think that was originally part of the reason
0:15:11 > 0:15:14why Q was interested in promoting it to such an extent,
0:15:14 > 0:15:17because during the 1890s there was the tin crisis
0:15:17 > 0:15:20and there was a lot of financial problems happening.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23I think Q's effort as a, kind of, promoter of Cornish culture
0:15:23 > 0:15:26was to write this into his novels in a way that was interesting
0:15:26 > 0:15:29for other people to read and would actually attract people
0:15:29 > 0:15:32to this "Cornish Riviera", that was the sort of phrase
0:15:32 > 0:15:34that was bandied around a lot at the time.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43I'm back on the route of the old Cornish Riviera Express,
0:15:43 > 0:15:45on the final leg of my journey.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04Today, as in 1904,
0:16:04 > 0:16:07passengers are rewarded with the glorious sight
0:16:07 > 0:16:09of Saint Michael's Mount.
0:16:17 > 0:16:22I'm alighting at Penzance Station, bound for neighbouring Newlyn.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27I shall explore in the morning.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49Newlyn harbour, poised where the English Channel meets the Atlantic,
0:16:49 > 0:16:51has long been a fishing port.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54Today, it's one of the largest in the United Kingdom.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59Fishing at the mercy of the weather and the seasons
0:16:59 > 0:17:01offers precarious employment.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04And around the turn of the 20th century,
0:17:04 > 0:17:07Newlyn pioneered a project to help local fishermen.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11Coppersmith Michael Johnson keeps the tradition alive.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15- Hello, Michael. I'm Michael, too. - Michael, nice to meet you.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18What an extraordinarily picturesque workshop.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21- I've never been in a place quite like it.- Thank you.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23I associate Cornwall with tin
0:17:23 > 0:17:25but it was big in copper, as well, was it?
0:17:25 > 0:17:28Everyone thinks of tin and Cornwall,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31but, really, copper was so much more important in Cornwall early on.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33Cornish copper went all over the world.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37John Drew Mackenzie started this workshop, the Copperworks, in 1890.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41Mackenzie was part of a school of artists
0:17:41 > 0:17:44who based themselves in Newlyn at the end of the 19th century
0:17:44 > 0:17:47when the railways had made Cornwall accessible.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52The fishing industry was struggling. Mackenzie was an illustrator
0:17:52 > 0:17:54and he was looking to try and find a way to augment
0:17:54 > 0:17:57the fishermen's income to give them something else to do.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00Clearly, the guys were not going to do silk work, silver enamel,
0:18:00 > 0:18:02but they were good with their hands,
0:18:02 > 0:18:04so copper seemed an obvious one to do.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06And the fishermen took to this work, did they?
0:18:06 > 0:18:08They did, yes, no, definitely.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11Mackenzie himself had little expertise.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13To teach them this new skill,
0:18:13 > 0:18:17he brought in from London coppersmith John Pearson.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21Soon enough, the fishermen were able to reproduce MacKenzie's designs
0:18:21 > 0:18:24onto household objects.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27Today, their works are collectors' items.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31John Pearson was the creme de la creme of copper workers
0:18:31 > 0:18:32in this country.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35I've got a lovely piece of his here.
0:18:35 > 0:18:36That is extraordinary.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40That's a stunning piece that a client's brought in for restoration.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42It's now fully restored. A client brought it in and said,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45"Could you show me how to polish it, Mike?"
0:18:45 > 0:18:47To which I took a deep intake of breath and said,
0:18:47 > 0:18:50"Please don't go anywhere near it with any polish."
0:18:50 > 0:18:53The patina is exquisite. The patina is very deliberate, too.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56Pearson chose to create a lot of darkness in his work.
0:18:56 > 0:18:57Gorgeous thing.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01Now, Michael, I don't suppose that we'd achieve this on a first outing,
0:19:01 > 0:19:05but would you just like to show me the nature of the work?
0:19:05 > 0:19:06I will, yes.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09We're working on a series of little boats at the moment.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12- We'll have a go at making one ourselves.- Aye, aye, captain.
0:19:17 > 0:19:18Here we go.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27- And that's the start of the boat. - Very good. What next?
0:19:27 > 0:19:30Time to heat it up to anneal it. We've got to get the metal soft now.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33We're going to get it red hot and staunch it in cold water.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48Newlyn fishermen learned a technique known as repousse.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52They beat the pattern out of the copper against a lead block.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55My little trick is not the lead block, so much as Blu Tack.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59And we're going to hammer inside the line we've just chiselled.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05And there's our image starting to come through on the front.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08Isn't that lovely? That's really very satisfying.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11As they say, here's one we made earlier.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13It's a steam train cabin. That is superb.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16- Look at that with a little funnel. - And there's our fish.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19And here it says GBRJ.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23- And may God bless all who sail in her.- Thank you, Michael.
0:20:25 > 0:20:30I leave my hammer and chisel behind to proceed to my last destination.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35Beyond the railway tracks, down the rugged Cornish coast, is The Lizard,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39the southernmost tip of the British Isles,
0:20:39 > 0:20:43where an historic event took place at the dawn of the 20th century.
0:20:48 > 0:20:54Here's a piece from a newspaper dated December 17th 1901
0:20:54 > 0:20:57in a column called Gossip of the Day.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02"Signor Marconi has authorised the correspondent of The Times
0:21:02 > 0:21:06"in St John's, Newfoundland, to state that the electric signals
0:21:06 > 0:21:09"received by him from his Cornwall station
0:21:09 > 0:21:12"were distinct and unmistakable.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15"He's asked that the fact may be stated to the King,
0:21:15 > 0:21:19"who has always taken so deep in interest."
0:21:19 > 0:21:22Some breakthroughs in technology make you gasp.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25This must have seemed like magic
0:21:25 > 0:21:28and it happened from here.
0:21:29 > 0:21:34Inventor come engineer extraordinaire, Guglielmo Marconi,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38was the first person successfully to send a radio signal
0:21:38 > 0:21:40across the Atlantic Ocean.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44He'd stationed himself here in Poldhu.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48Keith Matthew is a member of the Poldhu Amateur Radio Club
0:21:48 > 0:21:50and a Marconi enthusiast.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54Keith, we're actually seated on the ruins of Marconi's station.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56We are indeed, yes.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59When he sends a message from here in 1901,
0:21:59 > 0:22:02does he think it's going to reach the New World?
0:22:02 > 0:22:05Well, his entire future reputation depended on it.
0:22:05 > 0:22:10I think, yes. Well, he was young and supremely confident.
0:22:11 > 0:22:17Born in Italy in 1874 to an Italian father and an Irish mother,
0:22:17 > 0:22:21Marconi's bold ideas found supporters in Britain.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24To the world's maritime superpower,
0:22:24 > 0:22:28the potential value of wireless communication was obvious.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32Many physicists had thought it impossible,
0:22:32 > 0:22:36but here in Cornwall, Marconi proved that a radio waves
0:22:36 > 0:22:39could travel beyond the horizon.
0:22:39 > 0:22:40He thought that the waves
0:22:40 > 0:22:43more or less travelled over the surface of the ocean,
0:22:43 > 0:22:47and he thought that it was the conductivity of the saltwater
0:22:47 > 0:22:49that carried the waves across.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51He was incredibly lucky in this
0:22:51 > 0:22:54because the theory was completely and utterly wrong.
0:22:54 > 0:22:59We now know that there is this layer of ionised air
0:22:59 > 0:23:03in the upper atmosphere which, in fact, bounces the waves down.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06Marconi, of course, had no idea of this at the time.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09I suppose everyone is entitled to their luck.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13What was it that he was sending and that was received in Newfoundland?
0:23:13 > 0:23:14It was only a signal.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17Marconi had got used to using the S,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20dit-dit-dit, dit-dit-dit,
0:23:20 > 0:23:24which could be easily distinguished from the natural, sort of,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27bangs and crashes caused by lightning strikes and so forth.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31How quickly did it advance to becoming something reliable?
0:23:31 > 0:23:34Marconi, being always a showman, he, in fact,
0:23:34 > 0:23:38managed to get Theodore Roosevelt to send a message to Edward VII.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42As it happens, the conditions were very good on that night
0:23:42 > 0:23:47and Poldhu heard the signal clearly, replied that all had been received,
0:23:47 > 0:23:50and this was the first two-way contact
0:23:50 > 0:23:53between the USA and the United Kingdom.
0:23:55 > 0:24:00Marconi's achievement laid the foundation of telecommunications.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03Six decades on, this Cornish peninsula
0:24:03 > 0:24:07played another pivotal role in broadcasting history.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10A vivid memory from childhood,
0:24:10 > 0:24:14switching on a flickering black and white television
0:24:14 > 0:24:17to see the first-ever live transmission
0:24:17 > 0:24:20from the United States to Europe.
0:24:20 > 0:24:25At the time, a satellite was a household name, Telstar,
0:24:25 > 0:24:30and a place name was on everybody's lips - Goonhilly.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36On the night of the 11th of July 1962,
0:24:36 > 0:24:41from space, Telstar received and forwarded images
0:24:41 > 0:24:43to Goonhilly's first dish.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48This place has been shaping the British telecommunications industry
0:24:48 > 0:24:49ever since.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55Matt Cosby is chief scientist at the site.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01I think, actually, for anyone who's reasonably young
0:25:01 > 0:25:05and so used to telecommunications, it's difficult to understand
0:25:05 > 0:25:08what I feel contemplating Goonhilly 1,
0:25:08 > 0:25:10because I remember how it all started.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14And that really is a wonderful piece of historic heritage.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17Absolutely, yeah, and that's where it all started.
0:25:17 > 0:25:22The geographic advantage that was exploited in Cornwall by Marconi
0:25:22 > 0:25:24- was exploited again by this dish. - Absolutely.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27And it's the fact that we're so close to America.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30We're also high up here on the peninsula, about 100 metres high,
0:25:30 > 0:25:33so we've got a very good horizon view,
0:25:33 > 0:25:35which makes it ideal for communications.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39Big dishes like this one, what are you using them for now?
0:25:39 > 0:25:43So, the larger antennas have become more redundant
0:25:43 > 0:25:46because the spacecraft have become better, higher power,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49more sensitive, so you don't need the large apertures.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51They can be used for other things.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54What we're currently using them for is forming part of Nasa's deep space network.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57The antenna we're sitting under here, Goonhilly 6,
0:25:57 > 0:25:58is currently tracking the moon.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02So if you want to go downstairs and look at tracking the moon.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05Sounds pretty good. Thank you very much.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08Using the reflective quality of the moon's surface,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11we're going to send a radio signal all the way up there
0:26:11 > 0:26:13and receive it back on Earth.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17Radio amateur Brian Coleman is going to help me to perform
0:26:17 > 0:26:19this moon bounce.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21- Brian, I'm Michael. - Hello, Michael.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25So, I believe we're doing something with the moon.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27Yes, we're going to send the letter S to the moon
0:26:27 > 0:26:30and wait for its echo to come back after 2.6 seconds.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33The same letter that Marconi used.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35- And that's three dots, isn't it? - It is indeed.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38THREE DOTS
0:26:39 > 0:26:41DOTS ECHO BACK
0:26:41 > 0:26:44- All the way to the moon and back? - Indeed.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46Would I also be able to send a voice message in the same way?
0:26:46 > 0:26:48Yes, you certainly can.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Even Bradshaw never went to the moon.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54'Even Bradshaw never went to the moon.'
0:26:54 > 0:26:57That is fantastic. My voice has gone to the moon and back!
0:26:57 > 0:26:58Great stuff.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18With Marconi sending radio waves across the Atlantic
0:27:18 > 0:27:20in the year that Queen Victoria died,
0:27:20 > 0:27:26the new Edwardians were aware that new technology ushered in a new age.
0:27:26 > 0:27:31As I discovered when I was in south Wales, it was industrial strife,
0:27:31 > 0:27:36not least in the railways, and violence from militant suffragettes.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40But as Britain approached a century without war
0:27:40 > 0:27:42on the European continent,
0:27:42 > 0:27:46and since the German Kaiser and the Russian Tsar were nephews
0:27:46 > 0:27:47of the British King,
0:27:47 > 0:27:51what could possibly disturb the international peace?
0:27:59 > 0:28:04Next time, of the chips are down but I'm on the up.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06He-he!
0:28:06 > 0:28:08Oh, let's play again.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12I hear a tale of wartime resilience.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15There was a rumble in the air, people thought it might be thunder,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18but it wasn't, it was the shells from the German Navy.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21And I get a taste of Edwardian temperance.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24"Not even a dipsomaniac would have touched this mixture
0:28:24 > 0:28:26"of fungus and smelly liquid."
0:28:26 > 0:28:29- That's superb. - She had a way with words.