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For Edwardian Britons, a Bradshaw's was an indispensable guide | 0:00:04 | 0:00:08 | |
to a railway network at its peak. | 0:00:08 | 0:00:11 | |
I'm using an early 20th century edition, | 0:00:13 | 0:00:16 | |
to navigate a vibrant and optimistic Britain at the height of its power | 0:00:16 | 0:00:21 | |
and influence in the world. | 0:00:21 | 0:00:22 | |
But a nation wrestling with political, | 0:00:25 | 0:00:27 | |
social, and industrial unrest at home. | 0:00:27 | 0:00:30 | |
It's easy to assume that it was the First World War | 0:00:56 | 0:00:59 | |
that changed Britain, equipping it for the 20th century. | 0:00:59 | 0:01:03 | |
And, on that view, the prewar period can seem like | 0:01:03 | 0:01:06 | |
a long, summer's afternoon of calm before the mayhem. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:11 | |
But, as I travel from the north-eastern coast of England, | 0:01:11 | 0:01:14 | |
using my prewar Bradshaw's guide, | 0:01:14 | 0:01:18 | |
I expect to discover that those were, in fact, tumultuous years. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:22 | |
My journey starts in East Yorkshire | 0:01:28 | 0:01:31 | |
and continues to the Roman city of York. | 0:01:31 | 0:01:34 | |
From there, I'll move inland across the industrial heartlands | 0:01:34 | 0:01:38 | |
of West and South Yorkshire, and Merseyside. | 0:01:38 | 0:01:41 | |
After exploring Edwardian Liverpool, | 0:01:43 | 0:01:45 | |
I'll wend my way through North Wales, | 0:01:45 | 0:01:48 | |
hugging its northern coast and finishing in Caernarfon. | 0:01:48 | 0:01:51 | |
The first leg of my travels | 0:01:53 | 0:01:55 | |
begins in East Yorkshire and the city of Hull. | 0:01:55 | 0:01:58 | |
Then I'll make my way north to the seaside resort of Scarborough. | 0:01:59 | 0:02:03 | |
From there I'll head south-west to the town of Malton, | 0:02:04 | 0:02:08 | |
on the River Derwent. | 0:02:08 | 0:02:09 | |
On this trip, the chips are down but I'm on the up. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:15 | |
Hee-hee! | 0:02:15 | 0:02:17 | |
Oh, let's play again! | 0:02:17 | 0:02:19 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:02:19 | 0:02:20 | |
I hear a tale of wartime resilience. | 0:02:20 | 0:02:23 | |
There was a rumble in the air, people thought it might be thunder, | 0:02:23 | 0:02:27 | |
but it wasn't. It was the shells from the German navy. | 0:02:27 | 0:02:30 | |
And I get a taste of Edwardian temperance. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:33 | |
"Not even a dipsomaniac would have touched this mixture | 0:02:33 | 0:02:37 | |
"of fungus and smelly liquid." | 0:02:37 | 0:02:38 | |
-That's superb. -She had a way with words. | 0:02:38 | 0:02:40 | |
My Bradshaw's lists the shipping services that were available | 0:02:48 | 0:02:51 | |
from my first stop, Hull. | 0:02:51 | 0:02:53 | |
And they ran almost everywhere, from Yarmouth to Bombay, | 0:02:53 | 0:02:57 | |
from Dundee to Montevideo. | 0:02:57 | 0:03:00 | |
I should be interested to know how the port of Kingston upon Hull, | 0:03:00 | 0:03:06 | |
advantageously situated on the Humber Estuary, | 0:03:06 | 0:03:09 | |
where the waters of the River Hull run into it, | 0:03:09 | 0:03:12 | |
became so important for fishing, cargoes and passengers. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:16 | |
At the turn of the 20th century, Hull was a prosperous harbour town. | 0:03:32 | 0:03:37 | |
It had been granted city status on Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1897. | 0:03:37 | 0:03:43 | |
But, as the new century unfolded, the city's economy suffered. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:47 | |
In recent years, Hull might have appeared down on its luck. | 0:03:47 | 0:03:51 | |
But, today, it's experiencing a renaissance. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:54 | |
Hull was Britain's City Of Culture, 2017. | 0:03:56 | 0:03:59 | |
There was music and dance and theatre. | 0:03:59 | 0:04:01 | |
The Turner Art Prize was judged here. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:04 | |
A bit of money was spent on the place | 0:04:04 | 0:04:06 | |
and the city feels more optimistic about its future. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:10 | |
-Ladies. -Hello. -Excuse me, I just wondering, | 0:04:13 | 0:04:15 | |
-has the city of culture meant anything to you? -Yeah, quite a lot. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:19 | |
I definitely think it's brought a lot to the area. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:21 | |
I remember right at the beginning of the year they had a light show | 0:04:21 | 0:04:25 | |
on these three buildings, | 0:04:25 | 0:04:27 | |
showing loads of different things throughout Hull's history, | 0:04:27 | 0:04:30 | |
and I honestly actually felt quite emotional watching it. | 0:04:30 | 0:04:34 | |
So, it has succeeded in making people think differently about Hull? | 0:04:34 | 0:04:37 | |
-I would say so. -Yeah, I think so, yeah. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:40 | |
I mean, I think it's changed the reputation quite a lot, actually. | 0:04:40 | 0:04:44 | |
-I'm pleased to hear it. Thank you so much. -Thank you. -Bye-bye. | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
At the heart of Hull's history is its medieval harbour. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:54 | |
By the time of my Bradshaw's, Edwardian travellers | 0:04:56 | 0:04:59 | |
would have admired the more recent Alexandra Dock, | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
named after their queen, where I'm meeting history writer, | 0:05:02 | 0:05:06 | |
Robert Bell. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:07 | |
Rob, there's clearly an enormous growth in the Hull port | 0:05:09 | 0:05:13 | |
in the 19th century. What's driving it? | 0:05:13 | 0:05:15 | |
The initial driver was wool. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:17 | |
And, then, as we moved to the building | 0:05:17 | 0:05:19 | |
of this particular dock in 1885, | 0:05:19 | 0:05:21 | |
the Alexandra Dock, the big one's coal. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:24 | |
But perhaps the most surprising money earner was actually migration. | 0:05:24 | 0:05:28 | |
Hull was built on the money not of slavery, like Liverpool, | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
Bristol and the like, but actually on migration. | 0:05:31 | 0:05:34 | |
Migrants from Europe were attracted to land at Hull | 0:05:35 | 0:05:38 | |
because of its particularly good railway connections | 0:05:38 | 0:05:42 | |
that had originally been laid to transport goods and fish | 0:05:42 | 0:05:46 | |
all over Great Britain. | 0:05:46 | 0:05:47 | |
Two and a half million people, | 0:05:47 | 0:05:50 | |
including impoverished Scandinavians in search of a better life, | 0:05:50 | 0:05:54 | |
and Jews fleeing anti-Semitic persecution in Russia, | 0:05:54 | 0:05:58 | |
passed through the port. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:00 | |
From Hull, they took trains to Glasgow, Liverpool, | 0:06:00 | 0:06:03 | |
London and Southampton, | 0:06:03 | 0:06:05 | |
often to board steamships bound for the New World. | 0:06:05 | 0:06:09 | |
Why, then, does the great port of Hull suffer a decline | 0:06:09 | 0:06:12 | |
-in the 20th century? -My own view is that, actually, the First World War | 0:06:12 | 0:06:16 | |
was something that Hull did not, actually, recover from. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:20 | |
Because, ironically, in the run-up to the First World War, | 0:06:20 | 0:06:23 | |
the one port that was dealing with the Germans | 0:06:23 | 0:06:26 | |
and doing extremely well on their economy booming was Hull. | 0:06:26 | 0:06:30 | |
The docks are now getting a second wind, | 0:06:32 | 0:06:34 | |
with a £310 million joint investment from engineering company, | 0:06:34 | 0:06:39 | |
Siemens, and Associated British Ports. | 0:06:39 | 0:06:42 | |
The site's being transformed into a renewable energy factory. | 0:06:42 | 0:06:46 | |
Andy Sykes is head of quality here. | 0:06:46 | 0:06:48 | |
Andy, we're in the old Alexandra dock. How does all this relate? | 0:06:48 | 0:06:52 | |
Some of the land has been reclaimed, | 0:06:52 | 0:06:54 | |
some of the old dock is being used for the purposes of both | 0:06:54 | 0:06:57 | |
inward transportation and also moving blades offshore. | 0:06:57 | 0:06:59 | |
I've seen offshore wind turbine farms | 0:06:59 | 0:07:02 | |
but without any idea of the scale. | 0:07:02 | 0:07:05 | |
This is just one blade. | 0:07:05 | 0:07:06 | |
-What dimensions is this? -This is a 75-metre long blade. | 0:07:06 | 0:07:10 | |
So, if the blade is 75 metres, we must be talking about | 0:07:10 | 0:07:13 | |
-a tower of what? -Yeah, it's roughly 90 metres standing above the ocean. | 0:07:13 | 0:07:17 | |
Each giant blade weighs 28 tonnes | 0:07:18 | 0:07:21 | |
and is longer than the wingspan of an Airbus A380 aircraft. | 0:07:21 | 0:07:27 | |
And, at its base, wide enough to hold an elephant. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:30 | |
Andy, to my surprise, the construction of this enormous thing | 0:07:32 | 0:07:36 | |
is essentially a handmade process. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:38 | |
Yeah, it really is craft based. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:40 | |
It's made of fibreglass, balsa wood and epoxy resin. | 0:07:40 | 0:07:44 | |
You can see the lower packing team | 0:07:44 | 0:07:45 | |
down at the root end of the mould there, meticulously placing | 0:07:45 | 0:07:48 | |
each piece of fibreglass | 0:07:48 | 0:07:50 | |
to get the quality that we expect of the finished product. | 0:07:50 | 0:07:53 | |
Could I introduce you to Dave, one of our packing team? | 0:07:53 | 0:07:56 | |
-Dave, I'm Michael. -Hi, nice to meet you. | 0:07:56 | 0:07:58 | |
How do you do? What are you doing there? | 0:07:58 | 0:08:00 | |
I'm just making sure all the glass that we've laid previously | 0:08:00 | 0:08:02 | |
is all nice and smooth. | 0:08:02 | 0:08:04 | |
So, how are you able to work it, is the stuff hot? | 0:08:04 | 0:08:07 | |
No, it's not hot, it's very much like carpeting. | 0:08:07 | 0:08:10 | |
-May I have a go at that? -Of course, you can, yeah. | 0:08:10 | 0:08:12 | |
We're making sure there's no wrinkles, up to the top, | 0:08:12 | 0:08:15 | |
down to the bottom, | 0:08:15 | 0:08:16 | |
making sure it's completely flat. | 0:08:16 | 0:08:18 | |
So, making sure that it's nice and flat against the wall here. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:23 | |
Yeah, and it follows the shape. | 0:08:23 | 0:08:24 | |
Tucking it in, pushing all those... | 0:08:24 | 0:08:26 | |
-Yeah. -..wrinkles and bumps out. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:28 | |
Quite a light pressure, yeah. | 0:08:28 | 0:08:30 | |
That's it. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:31 | |
There's quite a lot to do, isn't there? | 0:08:33 | 0:08:35 | |
There's a lot to do, and we've still got at least another | 0:08:35 | 0:08:38 | |
-eight to 12 hours of work to get on with, so, yeah. -Good luck. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:43 | |
The precision applied to the production of the blades | 0:08:43 | 0:08:46 | |
reflects the reliability expected from them. | 0:08:46 | 0:08:49 | |
Each blade will last 25 years, | 0:08:49 | 0:08:52 | |
performing tens of millions of rotations. | 0:08:52 | 0:08:55 | |
Stepping inside one of these extraordinary wind turbine blades | 0:08:55 | 0:08:59 | |
is another way of appreciating the scale. | 0:08:59 | 0:09:02 | |
There's light entering from the outside | 0:09:02 | 0:09:05 | |
and it seems to stretch away indefinitely, | 0:09:05 | 0:09:08 | |
like an infinite railway tunnel. | 0:09:08 | 0:09:11 | |
These things are a very far cry from windmills that we used to know. | 0:09:11 | 0:09:16 | |
These blades will be shipped to a site off the East Yorkshire coast | 0:09:20 | 0:09:24 | |
to form part of what will become the biggest wind farm in the world. | 0:09:24 | 0:09:29 | |
174 turbines will generate 1.2 gigawatts, | 0:09:30 | 0:09:35 | |
the equivalent of nearby Hartlepool Nuclear Power Station. | 0:09:35 | 0:09:39 | |
I continue my journey with a short trip north-west of Hull, | 0:09:54 | 0:09:58 | |
to the town of Cottingham. | 0:09:58 | 0:09:59 | |
I noticed from my Bradshaw's that almost every ship | 0:10:01 | 0:10:05 | |
sailing out of Hull is run by the Wilson Line, | 0:10:05 | 0:10:09 | |
a company of which I had never heard. | 0:10:09 | 0:10:11 | |
But it turns out that at the beginning of the 20th century | 0:10:11 | 0:10:14 | |
it was, in fact, the world's largest privately owned shipping company. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:18 | |
And this family of Hull entrepreneurs | 0:10:18 | 0:10:21 | |
must have made a pile and, certainly, they built one. | 0:10:21 | 0:10:25 | |
About four miles from Hull, | 0:10:42 | 0:10:43 | |
Cottingham was first connected by rail in 1846. | 0:10:43 | 0:10:47 | |
The Victorian middle class built their villas here, | 0:10:47 | 0:10:51 | |
away from the industrial grime of the city. | 0:10:51 | 0:10:53 | |
The grandest of them all was Tranby Croft. | 0:10:58 | 0:11:01 | |
The house is now used by Hull Collegiate School. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:06 | |
The Edwardian traveller would have known it | 0:11:06 | 0:11:09 | |
in an entirely different guise. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:11 | |
I'm meeting head of history, Claire Atkin. | 0:11:11 | 0:11:13 | |
Claire, this is now Hull Collegiate School, but, in its time, | 0:11:16 | 0:11:21 | |
the home of the Wilson family, | 0:11:21 | 0:11:22 | |
of the Wilson Line Shipping Company fame, is that right? | 0:11:22 | 0:11:25 | |
Yes, absolutely. | 0:11:25 | 0:11:27 | |
This is the ancestral home of the Wilson family. | 0:11:27 | 0:11:31 | |
This was built by Arthur Wilson and Mary Wilson. | 0:11:31 | 0:11:34 | |
They were massive entrepreneurs in the city of Hull, | 0:11:34 | 0:11:37 | |
and they wanted a mansion to entertain people. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:39 | |
So, built Tranby Croft. It was completed in 1876. | 0:11:39 | 0:11:43 | |
-So, obviously, they had made their money in trade. -Yes. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:47 | |
Did that mean that they were excluded | 0:11:47 | 0:11:49 | |
from aristocratic connections? | 0:11:49 | 0:11:50 | |
They were absolutely desperate to go up in the world. | 0:11:50 | 0:11:53 | |
Mary Wilson, particularly, is a social climber, | 0:11:53 | 0:11:56 | |
and they were keen to try and woo the upper classes. | 0:11:56 | 0:11:59 | |
In September 1890, the Wilsons' prayers were answered. | 0:12:01 | 0:12:05 | |
The Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, stayed at Tranby Croft. | 0:12:05 | 0:12:10 | |
Unfortunately for them, his visit brought trouble. | 0:12:11 | 0:12:15 | |
He's already been associated with quite a few scandals, | 0:12:15 | 0:12:18 | |
usually involving women, | 0:12:18 | 0:12:20 | |
but at Tranby Croft it's something a little bit different. | 0:12:20 | 0:12:23 | |
It's the temptation to play a card game, which is illegal, | 0:12:23 | 0:12:26 | |
a baccarat game. | 0:12:26 | 0:12:28 | |
In 1886, baccarat had been made illegal, if played for money. | 0:12:31 | 0:12:36 | |
Although fortunes could be lost in a single night, | 0:12:37 | 0:12:40 | |
it didn't stop the aristocracy from playing behind closed doors. | 0:12:40 | 0:12:45 | |
So, Claire, their house has been quite well preserved. | 0:12:47 | 0:12:50 | |
They did live a grand life, didn't they? | 0:12:50 | 0:12:52 | |
-Yes, they absolutely did. -Tell me about the game of baccarat. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:55 | |
-What goes wrong? -Well, the Prince and some of his friends | 0:12:55 | 0:12:58 | |
are really rather addicted to playing cards | 0:12:58 | 0:13:01 | |
and they liked to gamble. | 0:13:01 | 0:13:03 | |
And the first night that they're staying here, | 0:13:03 | 0:13:05 | |
one of the gentlemen who's playing, | 0:13:05 | 0:13:07 | |
a decorated military man, Sir William Gordon-Cumming, | 0:13:07 | 0:13:10 | |
is seemingly adding £5 counters | 0:13:10 | 0:13:13 | |
every now and then to his stake and the Wilsons become suspicious. | 0:13:13 | 0:13:18 | |
The following day, they have a seating plan | 0:13:18 | 0:13:20 | |
so that no matter where Sir Gordon-Cumming sits, | 0:13:20 | 0:13:23 | |
he'll actually be sitting next to a member of the Wilson family | 0:13:23 | 0:13:26 | |
so they can see if there's any more of this suspicious | 0:13:26 | 0:13:29 | |
-cheating going on. -Is there? -Definitely. | 0:13:29 | 0:13:31 | |
The press got wind of the scandal. | 0:13:33 | 0:13:35 | |
Reputations were at stake and a court case ensued. | 0:13:35 | 0:13:39 | |
For the first time in 500 years, | 0:13:42 | 0:13:44 | |
a British heir to the throne was called onto the witness stand. | 0:13:44 | 0:13:48 | |
The future King, or "Bertie" as he was known, | 0:13:50 | 0:13:52 | |
was a most reluctant witness. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:54 | |
But the evidence against his friend Gordon-Cumming was convincing. | 0:13:55 | 0:13:59 | |
Bertie suffers, certainly. | 0:14:02 | 0:14:04 | |
The Wilson family definitely suffer. | 0:14:04 | 0:14:06 | |
Mary Wilson must have just been in tatters. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:09 | |
That's the end of her social climbing. | 0:14:09 | 0:14:11 | |
And Gordon-Cumming is court-martialled, | 0:14:11 | 0:14:13 | |
dismissed from the Army for ungentlemanly behaviour. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:16 | |
He has to break off a wedding engagement, | 0:14:16 | 0:14:19 | |
and he disappears effectively from society and is ostracised. | 0:14:19 | 0:14:23 | |
Strictly in the cause of research, | 0:14:24 | 0:14:27 | |
Claire has organised for me to try my hand at playing baccarat, | 0:14:27 | 0:14:31 | |
in the room where it all happened. | 0:14:31 | 0:14:33 | |
My fellow players are all staff at Hull Collegiate School. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:37 | |
And Joanna Dunn is croupier for the occasion. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:40 | |
The only problem is I don't know how to play. | 0:14:40 | 0:14:43 | |
-We can teach you. -Please do. | 0:14:43 | 0:14:45 | |
OK, it's a very simple game. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:47 | |
It's a game of chance, there's no skill involved whatsoever. | 0:14:47 | 0:14:52 | |
-Perfect. -So, you just have to bet | 0:14:52 | 0:14:54 | |
on whether you want the player's cards to win, | 0:14:54 | 0:14:58 | |
the banker's cards to win, or a tie. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:01 | |
And it is two cards closest to nine that would win that deal. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:06 | |
So, we have the player's card on this side, | 0:15:06 | 0:15:09 | |
the banker's card on this side. | 0:15:09 | 0:15:11 | |
Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen. | 0:15:11 | 0:15:13 | |
Do you want the player's card, the banker's card | 0:15:13 | 0:15:15 | |
or place for a tie in the middle, please. | 0:15:15 | 0:15:17 | |
I think this one's going to win. | 0:15:18 | 0:15:20 | |
OK. So, on the player's card, we have nine, so that will stand, | 0:15:20 | 0:15:24 | |
that is a natural. On this side, it looks like we have 14 | 0:15:24 | 0:15:27 | |
but we always knock off the first digit | 0:15:27 | 0:15:29 | |
so it's actually a four on this side. | 0:15:29 | 0:15:31 | |
So, player wins. | 0:15:31 | 0:15:33 | |
People that bet on the players, then you would double your money. | 0:15:33 | 0:15:36 | |
Hee-hee! | 0:15:36 | 0:15:38 | |
Oh, let's play again! | 0:15:38 | 0:15:40 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:15:40 | 0:15:41 | |
Having won, I see how the Prince of Wales | 0:15:43 | 0:15:46 | |
might have found the game attractive. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
I expect to dream tonight of high society and winning hands. | 0:15:49 | 0:15:53 | |
I start the new day by heading due north to reach the coast. | 0:16:13 | 0:16:17 | |
Tickets, please. | 0:16:18 | 0:16:20 | |
-There we go. -Good morning. | 0:16:22 | 0:16:24 | |
Good to see you. How long have you been on the railway? | 0:16:24 | 0:16:27 | |
51 years and six months. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:31 | |
-Wow! Is that a record? -It probably is a record. | 0:16:31 | 0:16:33 | |
They're calling a man who works in Doncaster | 0:16:33 | 0:16:35 | |
who's got, I think, three months ahead of me. | 0:16:35 | 0:16:37 | |
So I'm just hoping that, at some stage, I can beat him. | 0:16:37 | 0:16:41 | |
-Outlast him. -Yeah. -Well, a real privilege, thank you. | 0:16:41 | 0:16:46 | |
Privilege, thank you. | 0:16:46 | 0:16:47 | |
My next stop will be Scarborough, which, according to the guide book, | 0:16:55 | 0:16:58 | |
"has been an aristocratic resort for more than a century. | 0:16:58 | 0:17:02 | |
"The spa buildings are very handsome, | 0:17:02 | 0:17:05 | |
"containing theatre, picture gallery, promenade, etc, | 0:17:05 | 0:17:09 | |
"with excellent orchestra. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:11 | |
"The cliffs overlooking the South Bay are impressive in grandeur, | 0:17:11 | 0:17:15 | |
"terminating in the promontory of Scarborough Castle." | 0:17:15 | 0:17:19 | |
Now, that was published in 1913. | 0:17:19 | 0:17:22 | |
What could possibly interrupt the tranquillity of this holiday spot? | 0:17:22 | 0:17:27 | |
In its history, Scarborough has been invaded by Anglo-Saxons | 0:17:42 | 0:17:46 | |
and raided by Vikings. | 0:17:46 | 0:17:48 | |
Its 12th-century castle was besieged during the English Civil War, | 0:17:48 | 0:17:53 | |
and used in defence during the Jacobite rebellion | 0:17:53 | 0:17:56 | |
and the wars against Napoleon. | 0:17:56 | 0:17:59 | |
By the time of my Bradshaw's, | 0:18:00 | 0:18:02 | |
Edwardian travellers would have found a peaceful holiday resort. | 0:18:02 | 0:18:05 | |
But, before long, Scarborough became a casualty once more. | 0:18:05 | 0:18:09 | |
Mark Vesey, chairman of the Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre, | 0:18:11 | 0:18:15 | |
can shed light on the period. | 0:18:15 | 0:18:17 | |
Mark, I've always had a soft spot for Scarborough | 0:18:18 | 0:18:21 | |
with its fantastic topography. | 0:18:21 | 0:18:23 | |
What was the place like just before the First World War? | 0:18:23 | 0:18:26 | |
It was doing very well. It was a busy resort. | 0:18:26 | 0:18:29 | |
A lot of people came at the weekends, | 0:18:29 | 0:18:31 | |
they were bathing and paddling, | 0:18:31 | 0:18:32 | |
having an ice cream, having a beer, similar to what we do today. | 0:18:32 | 0:18:36 | |
My Bradshaw's says, rather surprisingly, perhaps, | 0:18:36 | 0:18:39 | |
that it had been an aristocratic resort for a century. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:42 | |
-What do you make of that? -Yes, I think it was. | 0:18:42 | 0:18:44 | |
The South Cliff was a very aristocratic area, | 0:18:44 | 0:18:47 | |
more expensive hotels. | 0:18:47 | 0:18:49 | |
But, when the railways arrived, it did become more for the masses. | 0:18:49 | 0:18:52 | |
And what was it that interrupted the tranquillity of this idyllic spot? | 0:18:52 | 0:18:57 | |
Well, the 16th of December 1914, eight o'clock in the morning, | 0:18:57 | 0:19:02 | |
a bit of a misty day, there was a rumble in the air, | 0:19:02 | 0:19:05 | |
people thought it might be thunder but it wasn't. | 0:19:05 | 0:19:08 | |
It was the shells from the German Navy. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:10 | |
Less than five months into the First World War, | 0:19:12 | 0:19:15 | |
a British blockade of Germany's ports prevented its navy | 0:19:15 | 0:19:19 | |
from accessing the North Sea. | 0:19:19 | 0:19:21 | |
Frustrated, it found a gap in the minefields | 0:19:22 | 0:19:26 | |
intended for fishing vessels and struck England's north-east coast. | 0:19:26 | 0:19:31 | |
Scarborough was an easy target. | 0:19:31 | 0:19:33 | |
Mark, we have a good view of Scarborough here. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:36 | |
What was doing the shelling? | 0:19:36 | 0:19:38 | |
It was two of the biggest battle cruisers the German navy had, | 0:19:38 | 0:19:41 | |
the Derfflinger and the Von der Tann. | 0:19:41 | 0:19:43 | |
And what munitions did the battle cruisers throw at Scarborough? | 0:19:43 | 0:19:47 | |
Mostly six inch shells, over 770 of them in 30 minutes. | 0:19:47 | 0:19:53 | |
The first pass was along the seafront. | 0:19:53 | 0:19:56 | |
Then the German battle cruisers turned around | 0:19:56 | 0:19:59 | |
and fired further into the town so more of the centre of the town | 0:19:59 | 0:20:03 | |
was hit on the pass, on the way back. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:05 | |
That's an extraordinary level of attack. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:07 | |
How much damage did that create in Scarborough? | 0:20:07 | 0:20:10 | |
It did do a lot of damage, Michael. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:11 | |
And, sadly, 18 people were killed. | 0:20:11 | 0:20:14 | |
In addition to those who lost their lives, | 0:20:17 | 0:20:19 | |
over 100 people were injured. | 0:20:19 | 0:20:21 | |
And some of the most iconic buildings in Scarborough | 0:20:23 | 0:20:26 | |
were damaged. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:27 | |
What was the reaction of the British public to this attack? | 0:20:28 | 0:20:32 | |
Well, anger, at first, and shock. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:35 | |
I think people thought it could've been an invasion. | 0:20:35 | 0:20:38 | |
And we think the Germans really did it to try and shock the British | 0:20:38 | 0:20:42 | |
into keeping troops at home | 0:20:42 | 0:20:43 | |
instead of sending them to go and fight in France. | 0:20:43 | 0:20:46 | |
The German attack was counterproductive. | 0:20:48 | 0:20:51 | |
Photographs of the damage to this beautiful town | 0:20:51 | 0:20:54 | |
angered the British public. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:56 | |
Postcards of the atrocities circulated | 0:20:56 | 0:20:58 | |
and young men rushed to join Pals battalions | 0:20:58 | 0:21:01 | |
to fight alongside their friends and relatives, | 0:21:01 | 0:21:04 | |
encouraged by propaganda urging loyal citizens | 0:21:04 | 0:21:08 | |
to remember Scarborough. | 0:21:08 | 0:21:10 | |
Today, it feels apt, once more, to remember. | 0:21:12 | 0:21:15 | |
In Scarborough's very beautiful The Crescent, | 0:21:19 | 0:21:21 | |
some of the houses are still peppered with the shrapnel | 0:21:21 | 0:21:25 | |
of December 1914. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:27 | |
This population was one of the first civilian populations in the world | 0:21:27 | 0:21:32 | |
to be subjected to a terror bombardment. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:35 | |
During the course of the 20th century, | 0:21:35 | 0:21:37 | |
they would be joined by many millions of others, | 0:21:37 | 0:21:40 | |
and, of those, countless numbers would be slaughtered in their homes. | 0:21:40 | 0:21:45 | |
I'm on my way to one of Britain's great stately homes, Castle Howard. | 0:22:03 | 0:22:08 | |
I'm impressed that it was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh, | 0:22:08 | 0:22:11 | |
that it has 145 rooms, | 0:22:11 | 0:22:14 | |
that it's twice been used for adaptations | 0:22:14 | 0:22:17 | |
of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, | 0:22:17 | 0:22:20 | |
but my Bradshaw's reveals | 0:22:20 | 0:22:22 | |
that it used to have its own railway station. | 0:22:22 | 0:22:25 | |
Now that has caught my attention. | 0:22:25 | 0:22:27 | |
-PA: -We will shortly be arriving at Malton. | 0:22:31 | 0:22:34 | |
Today, I'm alighting at the market town of Malton. | 0:22:34 | 0:22:37 | |
Castle Howard's station ceased to handle passengers in 1930, | 0:22:42 | 0:22:46 | |
but it was in service when Queen Victoria visited the castle in 1850. | 0:22:46 | 0:22:51 | |
Castle Howard's impressive Baroque architecture | 0:23:05 | 0:23:08 | |
was conceived by Sir John Vanbrugh, | 0:23:08 | 0:23:11 | |
who is also responsible for Blenheim Palace. | 0:23:11 | 0:23:14 | |
This magnificent estate includes rose gardens, | 0:23:14 | 0:23:18 | |
follies, 13 farms, | 0:23:18 | 0:23:20 | |
and 10,000 acres of land. | 0:23:20 | 0:23:23 | |
It took over 100 years and three generations of earls | 0:23:24 | 0:23:28 | |
before it was complete. | 0:23:28 | 0:23:29 | |
At the time of my Bradshaw's, | 0:23:29 | 0:23:31 | |
this was home to a fascinating figure in the campaign | 0:23:31 | 0:23:35 | |
for women's suffrage, which was gathering momentum | 0:23:35 | 0:23:38 | |
at the beginning of the 20th century. | 0:23:38 | 0:23:40 | |
Archivist Anna Louise Mason knows more. | 0:23:40 | 0:23:44 | |
Anna Louise, I've come in pursuit of a radical Countess, | 0:23:44 | 0:23:47 | |
who I believe was the lady of Castle Howard in the Edwardian era. | 0:23:47 | 0:23:50 | |
-Who was she? -That's right, you're referring to Rosalind Howard. | 0:23:50 | 0:23:53 | |
She was married to George Howard, the 9th Earl of Carlisle, | 0:23:53 | 0:23:56 | |
and together they raised a family of 11 children. | 0:23:56 | 0:23:59 | |
She actually managed the estates on behalf of her husband. | 0:23:59 | 0:24:03 | |
He was an artist and he wasn't really interested | 0:24:03 | 0:24:06 | |
in doing the typical earl duties. | 0:24:06 | 0:24:08 | |
There's a wonderful saying where she says, | 0:24:08 | 0:24:10 | |
"Worry kills, work does one good." | 0:24:10 | 0:24:13 | |
What made her radical? | 0:24:13 | 0:24:14 | |
Well, she did repeatedly show sympathy for striking workers. | 0:24:14 | 0:24:19 | |
In 1891, it was Scottish railway men, and in 1893, it was miners. | 0:24:19 | 0:24:24 | |
But her main passions were temperance | 0:24:24 | 0:24:27 | |
and also women's suffrage. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:29 | |
Rosalind Howard had had a political upbringing. | 0:24:32 | 0:24:35 | |
Her mother was a women's education campaigner | 0:24:35 | 0:24:38 | |
and her father served as a member of Parliament. | 0:24:38 | 0:24:41 | |
She used Castle Howard to put into practice her political convictions. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:49 | |
In her campaign against alcohol consumption, | 0:24:49 | 0:24:52 | |
she revoked the licence for the estate's pub, | 0:24:52 | 0:24:55 | |
turning it into a temperance guesthouse for women. | 0:24:55 | 0:24:58 | |
-She was famous for her temperance. -She certainly was. | 0:24:59 | 0:25:02 | |
Yes, she was. In fact, there's one of the most famous anecdotes | 0:25:02 | 0:25:06 | |
at Castle Howard is the story of when Rosalind, the Countess, | 0:25:06 | 0:25:10 | |
threw all the wine into a hole in the ground. | 0:25:10 | 0:25:13 | |
And this was actually reported in the press, | 0:25:13 | 0:25:16 | |
where she was accused of having destroyed 1,500 bottles | 0:25:16 | 0:25:20 | |
of perfectly good wine. | 0:25:20 | 0:25:22 | |
Now, Rosalind was very quick to respond to this. | 0:25:22 | 0:25:26 | |
"The so-called wine in the 800 bottles | 0:25:26 | 0:25:29 | |
"that have been thrown away was sour stuff, | 0:25:29 | 0:25:31 | |
"condemned as worthless and undrinkable. | 0:25:31 | 0:25:34 | |
"Not even a dipsomaniac under the influence of his worst drink craving | 0:25:34 | 0:25:39 | |
"would have touched this mixture of fungus and smelly liquid." | 0:25:39 | 0:25:43 | |
That gives us a feel for the woman, doesn't it? | 0:25:43 | 0:25:46 | |
-She had a way with words. -That's superb. Yes. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:48 | |
How would you summarise her? | 0:25:48 | 0:25:50 | |
The Times, when she died in 1921, | 0:25:50 | 0:25:52 | |
headed her obituary with "A fearless champion of causes," | 0:25:52 | 0:25:56 | |
and that's how I like to think of her. | 0:25:56 | 0:25:59 | |
And however you view the Countess Rosalind, | 0:25:59 | 0:26:02 | |
she's an important figure in the history of Castle Howard. | 0:26:02 | 0:26:04 | |
Absolutely. | 0:26:04 | 0:26:06 | |
Castle Howard has remained in the hands of the Howard family | 0:26:06 | 0:26:09 | |
throughout its history. And, today, Rosalind Howard's direct descendent, | 0:26:09 | 0:26:14 | |
the Honourable Nicholas Howard, still lives here. | 0:26:14 | 0:26:17 | |
I've come to find out what it means to call this stunning place home. | 0:26:17 | 0:26:22 | |
-Nick, how wonderful to see you. -How nice to meet you, Michael. | 0:26:23 | 0:26:26 | |
And here we are in the wonderful Long Gallery, | 0:26:26 | 0:26:28 | |
one of the finest rooms, I suppose, in Castle Howard. | 0:26:28 | 0:26:31 | |
Now, what on earth was it like to grow up in a place like this? | 0:26:31 | 0:26:33 | |
Well, of course, at the beginning, I didn't know anything else. | 0:26:33 | 0:26:37 | |
But, as I became older, | 0:26:37 | 0:26:38 | |
I became more and more aware of how special it is. | 0:26:38 | 0:26:40 | |
But, I mean, in this room, we used to race up and down, | 0:26:40 | 0:26:43 | |
we had some ornamental wheelbarrows, and my brother and I used to | 0:26:43 | 0:26:47 | |
push each other up and down the room in it. | 0:26:47 | 0:26:49 | |
And, now, you are responsible for Castle Howard. | 0:26:49 | 0:26:52 | |
It's a responsibility that I'm so happy to be doing, | 0:26:52 | 0:26:55 | |
and even excited at times. | 0:26:55 | 0:26:56 | |
It is a gorgeous place to be. | 0:26:56 | 0:26:58 | |
Do you see visitors being amazed by what they see? | 0:26:58 | 0:27:00 | |
Oh, I think so. I do see people in various states of amazement. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:04 | |
There is a sense of wonder and awe as people approach down the drive. | 0:27:04 | 0:27:08 | |
Well, count me in on that. | 0:27:08 | 0:27:10 | |
The commitment of the radical Countess of Castle Howard | 0:27:19 | 0:27:23 | |
to women's suffrage and striking railway men | 0:27:23 | 0:27:26 | |
gives an idea of the turbulence of the Edwardian years. | 0:27:26 | 0:27:29 | |
Those political causes had to be set aside | 0:27:29 | 0:27:33 | |
for the duration of the Great War, | 0:27:33 | 0:27:35 | |
which had an enormous impact on the north-east of England. | 0:27:35 | 0:27:39 | |
It dealt a massive blow to the port of Hull, | 0:27:39 | 0:27:41 | |
while Scarborough and other coastal towns were shelled. | 0:27:41 | 0:27:46 | |
Meanwhile, North Eastern Railway workers had set out for the front | 0:27:46 | 0:27:50 | |
in Pals battalions to get the British war effort moving. | 0:27:50 | 0:27:55 | |
Next time, I do important research in an historic tearoom. | 0:27:57 | 0:28:01 | |
-What shall we have? -We should order some tea and some dainty cakes. | 0:28:01 | 0:28:04 | |
-And some scones? -Absolutely. | 0:28:04 | 0:28:06 | |
I get dressed down in Leeds. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:08 | |
-How am I looking, Sir? -Um... -Gary, be truthful. | 0:28:08 | 0:28:11 | |
I would suggest you're wearing that slightly a bit tight, | 0:28:11 | 0:28:14 | |
-especially around here. -It's the size of my wallet, Gary. -Yeah. | 0:28:14 | 0:28:18 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:28:18 | 0:28:19 | |
And attend a private Edwardian concert. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:22 | |
HE SINGS | 0:28:22 | 0:28:27 |