0:00:04 > 0:00:09For Edwardian Britons, a Bradshaw's was an indispensable guide
0:00:09 > 0:00:11to a railway network at its peak.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16I'm using an early-20th-century edition
0:00:16 > 0:00:19to navigate a vibrant and optimistic Britain
0:00:19 > 0:00:22at the height of its power and influence in the world...
0:00:24 > 0:00:27..but a nation wrestling with political,
0:00:27 > 0:00:31social and industrial unrest at home.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56My journey across northern England continues in Yorkshire.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58In the years before the First World War,
0:00:58 > 0:01:02migration was spurred by the persecution of minorities in Europe,
0:01:02 > 0:01:06by hunger, and by the yearning for a better life.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08At the beginning of the 20th century,
0:01:08 > 0:01:11those moving from one country to another
0:01:11 > 0:01:13reached three million a year.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17Many were headed for the New World, and of those,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20large numbers travelled between Hull and Liverpool,
0:01:20 > 0:01:23where they boarded transatlantic steamers.
0:01:23 > 0:01:28Others, by choice or by chance, remained in England.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43My journey began in East Yorkshire,
0:01:43 > 0:01:47and I'll soon be within the ancient walls of York.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50I'll traverse the industrial heartlands
0:01:50 > 0:01:54of West and South Yorkshire, and Merseyside.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57After exploring the cathedral city of Liverpool,
0:01:57 > 0:02:01I'll wend my way to North Wales to skirt the coast,
0:02:01 > 0:02:03before finishing at Caernarfon.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10This leg of my journey starts in York.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13From there, I'll head to the spa town of Harrogate,
0:02:13 > 0:02:17before ending close to Bradford, in Frizinghall.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23On this trip, I do important research in an historic tearoom...
0:02:23 > 0:02:26- What shall we have?- We should order some tea and some dainty cakes.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29- And some scones?- Absolutely. - And cream and jam.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31..I get a dressing-down in Leeds...
0:02:31 > 0:02:33- How am I looking, sir?- Erm,
0:02:33 > 0:02:36I would suggest you're wearing that slightly a bit tight,
0:02:36 > 0:02:38especially round here. Erm...
0:02:38 > 0:02:40- It's the size of my wallet, Garry.- Yeah.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42THEY LAUGH
0:02:42 > 0:02:45..and attend a private Edwardian concert.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49# La lune blanche
0:02:49 > 0:02:54# Luit dans les bois... #
0:03:03 > 0:03:05My next stop will be York.
0:03:05 > 0:03:10My Bradshaw's reveals what a railway hub the city had become,
0:03:10 > 0:03:14lying at the centre of a cat's cradle of lines.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17I remember that, when I first made a journey to York,
0:03:17 > 0:03:20I was shocked to find that the early railway builders
0:03:20 > 0:03:24had punched a hole in the old Roman wall.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27But by the time of my Bradshaw's, the complexity of the network
0:03:27 > 0:03:32required that today's station be built outside the old Roman centre.
0:03:42 > 0:03:48In Edwardian times, York's station welcomed over 350 trains per day,
0:03:48 > 0:03:50catering for a prosperous city,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53whose primary employer was the railway,
0:03:53 > 0:03:55and the next most important - confectionery.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01The Terry's and Rowntree's sweet factories
0:04:01 > 0:04:04earned York the moniker Chocolate City.
0:04:08 > 0:04:14Nowadays, York thrives on its beautiful setting and rich past.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19York has a pretty river, a very complete city wall,
0:04:19 > 0:04:23in the minster, one of the finest cathedrals in the country,
0:04:23 > 0:04:27a medieval street plan, a very fine railway station.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31Unfortunately, it's not exactly undiscovered.
0:04:31 > 0:04:32Be prepared for crowds.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37Like modern visitors,
0:04:37 > 0:04:42early-20th-century travellers came to York to step back in time.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48York retains many of its medieval thoroughfares
0:04:48 > 0:04:53with ancient names like Minster Gates, Stonegate, Petergate,
0:04:53 > 0:04:56but at the turn of the 19th, into the 20th century,
0:04:56 > 0:04:59the city had its meaner streets, as well -
0:04:59 > 0:05:03crowded and filthy housing where people lived on low wages
0:05:03 > 0:05:07with little entertainment other than the boozer on the corner
0:05:07 > 0:05:11that might induce them to part with their scarce resources.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16The city's poverty was about to take centre stage
0:05:16 > 0:05:18in the history of the country.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22One man from the Rowntree chocolate dynasty made sure of it.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28To find out more, I'm at the University of York
0:05:28 > 0:05:31to meet the assistant archivist at the Borthwick Institute,
0:05:31 > 0:05:32Alexandra Medcalf.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35Alexandra, the city of York is well known for Rowntree's chocolate,
0:05:35 > 0:05:38made by a Quaker family who are also rather famous,
0:05:38 > 0:05:41but one of them was interested in poverty, I believe?
0:05:41 > 0:05:44That's true, yes. Seebohm Rowntree was one of the early
0:05:44 > 0:05:47social investigators. One of the first, in fact, nationally.
0:05:47 > 0:05:48He conducted a very important survey
0:05:48 > 0:05:51in the early 1900s about poverty in York.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53Now, there was a man called Charles Booth,
0:05:53 > 0:05:54who surveyed poverty in London.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57- Was that before this? - It was. Ten to 15 years earlier.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59He certainly inspired Seebohm's work.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01They'd corresponded about this survey.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07Seebohm Rowntree's Quakerism led him to believe
0:06:07 > 0:06:10that all people are inherently equal,
0:06:10 > 0:06:14and he was determined to understand the nature and extent of poverty.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19Booth had shed light on London's state of affairs.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23Rowntree wanted to report on cities away from the capital,
0:06:23 > 0:06:25and thought York representative.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28So, he sent out investigators to interview people,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31and they interviewed 45,000 people in the city.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36- 45,000?- 45,000 in a year, yeah. - That's quite a sample.- It is.
0:06:39 > 0:06:45In a city of 75,000 people, Rowntree's rigorous methodology
0:06:45 > 0:06:47required a huge number of interviews.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51The case studies offer a bleak insight
0:06:51 > 0:06:54into lives of misery.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57"Railway confectioner. Nine young children.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01"Had parish relief stopped for illegitimate child.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04"Query - how do they live?"
0:07:06 > 0:07:09"Spinster. Blind.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12"Shares one water tap with seven other houses,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15"and one closet with one other."
0:07:16 > 0:07:18There were several key discoveries of this survey.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21The first one is that he finds that 30% of the population in York
0:07:21 > 0:07:23are living in poverty, which is a revelation at the time.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26People assume that there's poverty in London, as a result of Booth's survey,
0:07:26 > 0:07:28but they don't think it's happening elsewhere.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30What does he do with his very interesting result?
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Seebohm goes into government,
0:07:32 > 0:07:35and he has decades of time working in policy advising.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38And he was hoping to achieve all kinds of social reform,
0:07:38 > 0:07:42things like an old age pension, sick pay, minimum wage.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46He really foreshadows the welfare state to a great extent.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50While working with government,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54Rowntree befriended and advised David Lloyd George,
0:07:54 > 0:07:56who became Chancellor of the Exchequer.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00And in 1908, Lloyd George brought in the Old Age Pensions Act,
0:08:00 > 0:08:05followed, in 1911, by the National Insurance Act.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08The new legislation provided for pensions from the age of 70,
0:08:08 > 0:08:11and a scheme to ensure employees
0:08:11 > 0:08:15against time off work due to sickness or disability.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18So, all those momentous acts, the beginning of the welfare state -
0:08:18 > 0:08:21they bear the fingerprints of Seebohm Rowntree?
0:08:21 > 0:08:23Oh, absolutely. I think he's been forgotten,
0:08:23 > 0:08:25but I think you can see him certainly as one of
0:08:25 > 0:08:28the grandfathers of the modern welfare state.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30It had been widely argued
0:08:30 > 0:08:34that the poor had only themselves to blame.
0:08:34 > 0:08:39Rowntree's work fuelled a debate on the causes of poverty,
0:08:39 > 0:08:41which continues to this day.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50I shall continue west.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04My next stop will be Harrogate,
0:09:04 > 0:09:06which Bradshaw's tells me is situated,
0:09:06 > 0:09:11"On a moorland plateau with a large, open common -
0:09:11 > 0:09:14"a most important factor in the general health of the town -
0:09:14 > 0:09:19"making Harrogate air decidedly invigorating.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24"It is perhaps more closely allied to the great spas of the Continent
0:09:24 > 0:09:26"than any in the British Isles."
0:09:26 > 0:09:30And I think that's true. Harrogate has a je-ne-sais-quoi,
0:09:30 > 0:09:35an exotic feel, although it is, in fact, as English as a cup of tea.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52At the time of my Bradshaw's,
0:09:52 > 0:09:56visitors to Harrogate would have found a successful spa town,
0:09:56 > 0:09:58with the newly-built Royal Hall
0:09:58 > 0:10:01to accommodate the influx of high society.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08Then, as now, the area most in vogue was the Montpellier Quarter,
0:10:08 > 0:10:11so-called after the fashion, in Victorian times,
0:10:11 > 0:10:13for French spa names.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19There's one teahouse that cannot be missed - Bettys.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29I've arranged to meet archivist Mardi Jacobs.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33So, Mardi, were you founded by a lady called Betty?
0:10:33 > 0:10:36No. Our founder was Frederick Belmont.
0:10:36 > 0:10:41He was a Swiss immigrant who came to England to find his fortune.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43In 1907, he landed on the shores of England.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46That is extraordinary - that this most British of institutions
0:10:46 > 0:10:50was founded by someone from abroad. Tell me about this character.
0:10:50 > 0:10:56So, Frederick, as a Swiss child, lost his parents by the age of five,
0:10:56 > 0:11:00and he was auctioned off to the local farmers
0:11:00 > 0:11:02to be used as child labour.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Good Lord! What a very difficult childhood.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07So, how does he make a change in his life?
0:11:07 > 0:11:10By the age of 14, as soon as he was able to,
0:11:10 > 0:11:14he left the farmhouse, and he trained to be a baker.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16So, how does he come to England?
0:11:16 > 0:11:19He decided to come to the shores of England to find his fortune.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21When he arrived in England,
0:11:21 > 0:11:25he had actually lost the address of where he intended to travel to,
0:11:25 > 0:11:29but he did remember that it sounded something like bratwurst.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33So, he eventually found the right station
0:11:33 > 0:11:35and the right train, and travelled to Bradford.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37HE CHUCKLES
0:11:38 > 0:11:42Frederick found work there, married a Yorkshire girl,
0:11:42 > 0:11:47and saved enough money to open his tearoom in Harrogate in 1919.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49It was an instant success.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53Frederick kept a book of progress of his business.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57So, there is newspaper articles and adverts there
0:11:57 > 0:12:01that document the opening of his other branches.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04Leeds was opened in 1924.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06I find it charming that he keeps a scrapbook,
0:12:06 > 0:12:08particularly that he calls it a progress book.
0:12:08 > 0:12:09That's absolutely wonderful.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12And what do we know about what they were serving in those days?
0:12:12 > 0:12:15So, this is a menu from the 1920s.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17We know that they were serving
0:12:17 > 0:12:20some of the delights that we actually serve today.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22So, afternoon tea featured heavily.
0:12:22 > 0:12:23And here, by the look of it,
0:12:23 > 0:12:26an illustration of the decor of the time.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28Again, not so very different.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31Did he bring anything distinctively Swiss to the business?
0:12:31 > 0:12:32He did indeed.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36Small and dainty cakes, the Swiss precision,
0:12:36 > 0:12:40the Swiss finesse are all elements that he brought to Bettys.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42And it's quite a good story, isn't it? I mean,
0:12:42 > 0:12:44it's a life that begins with
0:12:44 > 0:12:50a great deal of hardship and pain and sadness, and ends in triumph.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53It's really heart-warming for us
0:12:53 > 0:12:56that such a tragedy led to such success.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00- The icing on the cake.- Definitely.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Frederick Belmont brought a Continental touch
0:13:06 > 0:13:09to the very British afternoon tea.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13He included, in his menu, breads and pastries such as croissant,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16and treated his customers to peppermint creams,
0:13:16 > 0:13:20macaroons and truffles that can still be found today.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23Well, at last, time for some tea. What shall we have?
0:13:23 > 0:13:26I think we should order some tea and some dainty cakes.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30- And some scones?- Absolutely. - And cream and jam.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35- There we are. Enjoy. - Thank you very much.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39- Thank you.- Where's yours? HE LAUGHS
0:13:39 > 0:13:42There's enough for two. I was just joking.
0:13:55 > 0:13:56- Hello.- Hi. How are you doing?- Hi.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59- Do you mind if I squeeze in for a second?- Not at all.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01What's brought you to this delightful emporium
0:14:01 > 0:14:02for your tea today?
0:14:02 > 0:14:06We're actually celebrating a year together, so...
0:14:06 > 0:14:07That's fantastic!
0:14:07 > 0:14:11- We're in Yorkshire.- Congratulations. - My first-ever afternoon tea.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13- Your first-ever afternoon tea! - Yeah.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16I was going to ask you if it was the first time here,
0:14:16 > 0:14:18- but your first-ever afternoon tea!- Yeah.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21- Do you think this could catch on? - Most definitely, I think it could.
0:14:21 > 0:14:22Really? THEY LAUGH
0:14:43 > 0:14:47The Majestic Hotel was advertised in my Bradshaw's 110 years ago,
0:14:47 > 0:14:53and, apparently, Majestic Expresses left King's Cross in London at 11.25
0:14:53 > 0:14:58and 1.40pm, and arrived in Harrogate in four hours.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Having established that Harrogate has a Continental feel,
0:15:01 > 0:15:05I'd asked for a Swiss beer. They didn't have one,
0:15:05 > 0:15:07so I've settled for one brewed in Harrogate.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11Very satisfactory!
0:15:37 > 0:15:41It's a new day, and I'm resuming my journey through Yorkshire.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43I'm on my way to Leeds,
0:15:43 > 0:15:47a place that owed its early success to a single commodity.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51Wool made the town rich in the 17th century,
0:15:51 > 0:15:55the canals enabled the trade to boom in the 18th,
0:15:55 > 0:15:57and the railways extended the product's range
0:15:57 > 0:16:00and the city's wealth in the 19th.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04It's time for me to measure up what's happened since.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28At the beginning of the 20th century,
0:16:28 > 0:16:33Leeds was a growing city, thirsty for education and culture.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41In the first few years of King Edward VII's reign,
0:16:41 > 0:16:45statues were erected, Leeds University founded,
0:16:45 > 0:16:48and the city's first cinema opened.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51That elan is still here today.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53The standard image of Leeds is made up
0:16:53 > 0:16:57of those heavy, neoclassical civic buildings
0:16:57 > 0:16:59that were put up in the Victorian period.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02But I find, when I get off the train here, every time,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05something new has erupted - new glass buildings.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08And here, with this sculpture gallery, for example,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12the Henry Moore Institute, it seems that Leeds is determined
0:17:12 > 0:17:15to have a distinctive artistic personality.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22For centuries, Leeds has expressed itself through its textiles.
0:17:24 > 0:17:26At the beginning of the 20th century,
0:17:26 > 0:17:30the industry relied on a group of skilled Jewish men
0:17:30 > 0:17:31to take it forward.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Hello, Michael. How nice to see you.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36Thank you, Malcolm. It's a great honour. After you, sir.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39Third-generation tailor Malcolm Berwin
0:17:39 > 0:17:43was born in this community in 1927.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46He's walking me through his company's distribution centre.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49Originally, it was our factory,
0:17:49 > 0:17:53where we produced 1,000 suits a week.
0:17:53 > 0:17:54Would have been a noisy old place then.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58- It was lovely. I loved it. - HE CHUCKLES
0:17:58 > 0:18:03To see something being produced is, to me, wonderful. It's magic.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08Malcolm, am I right in thinking that persecution of Jews in Europe
0:18:08 > 0:18:10was the reason why many Jewish people
0:18:10 > 0:18:14- came to Leeds and other cities? - Yes, particularly in Russia.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18They were brought over from Poland and Eastern Europe.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Did your grandfather, Barnet Berwin, come because of the pogroms?
0:18:21 > 0:18:23No, he wasn't, actually.
0:18:23 > 0:18:28He was seeking an improvement in the economic situation for his family.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31He had a skill, as a tailor,
0:18:31 > 0:18:36and he was told that there was a position in clothing manufacture -
0:18:36 > 0:18:38working for John Barron,
0:18:38 > 0:18:42who was an established clothing manufacturer in Leeds.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45In those days, a garment was made singularly to measure.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48John Barron went to a sawmill,
0:18:48 > 0:18:50and he saw a knife cutting through wood.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52He said, "If they can cut through wood,
0:18:52 > 0:18:55"they can cut through cloth."
0:18:55 > 0:19:00So, he developed this idea of cutting cloth in many layers,
0:19:00 > 0:19:03and then he was able to mass-produce suits.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08John Barron's pioneering work in ready-made clothing
0:19:08 > 0:19:13transformed the industry and called for an ever-growing workforce.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18Word got out amongst the Eastern European Jewish community.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21Skilled men and anyone willing to learn the craft
0:19:21 > 0:19:23made their way to Leeds,
0:19:23 > 0:19:26and contributed to the city's prosperity.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30They came here with nothing. They couldn't speak the language.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33There was no social services. Nothing.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35They arrived, they worked...
0:19:36 > 0:19:39..they slaved and they developed their businesses.
0:19:39 > 0:19:40It was sheer hard work.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45That hard work paid off for some more than others.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48Barnet Berwin saved enough to build his own business,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51and Michael Marks, from Marks & Spencer,
0:19:51 > 0:19:54and Montague Burton, founder of Burton of London,
0:19:54 > 0:19:56both built empires here.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Nowadays, Berwin & Berwin supplies high-street chains
0:20:02 > 0:20:06and works for some high-profile customers.
0:20:06 > 0:20:11Today, the Leeds United footballing legend Eddie Gray is here,
0:20:11 > 0:20:15and logistics manager Garry Wilson is looking after him.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17- Gentlemen, I'm Michael. - Michael, nice to meet you.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19Eddie, a great honour. A great honour indeed.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23- Garry.- Michael, how are you? - Lovely to see you. So,
0:20:23 > 0:20:25looks like Eddie has a new suit. Tell me what's going on here.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29Basically, we're giving Eddie his final fit for his club suit.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33- For the Leeds United suit? - Absolutely. 100% wool.
0:20:33 > 0:20:38Italian fabric. Made specifically for Leeds United.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40And you can see, he looks absolutely superb.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43I think you could benefit yourself, Michael.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46Well, I'm looking at it, and, Eddie, if I may say so,
0:20:46 > 0:20:50you've kept your figure and the suit shows your figure very nicely.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53- Do you mind if I just... - Have a walk round.- ..inspect you?
0:20:54 > 0:20:56Yes, that looks very nice.
0:20:57 > 0:21:03Now, the only thing, Garry, for my money - for my money -
0:21:03 > 0:21:07I would say this sleeve was a tiny bit long. What do you think?
0:21:07 > 0:21:09I'd probably say no. A lot of it is personal preference.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12- I do know that you like your cuffs showing.- I like my cuffs showing. There we are.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16But the way we test it is, when Eddie moves his hand out,
0:21:16 > 0:21:18his sleeve goes up and shows his watch,
0:21:18 > 0:21:23whereas, when it goes down, that's the way we tend to...
0:21:23 > 0:21:25Yes, yes. How am I looking, sir?
0:21:25 > 0:21:28- Erm...- Now, Garry, be truthful. This is a comparison.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31I would suggest you're wearing that slightly a bit tight,
0:21:31 > 0:21:33especially around here.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35- Erm...- It's the size of my wallet, Garry.- Yeah.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37And if you don't mind me saying,
0:21:37 > 0:21:39I'd also say that the sleeves are slightly short.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41BOTH LAUGH
0:21:41 > 0:21:44It's all a matter of personal preference.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58I'm now heading due west.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10I have here a press cutting from February 1910.
0:22:10 > 0:22:15"Mr Frederick Delius's Opera, A Village Romeo And Juliet,
0:22:15 > 0:22:18"which has acquired great popularity in Germany,
0:22:18 > 0:22:23"was performed for the first time in England last night at Covent Garden,
0:22:23 > 0:22:26"sung in English by British artists."
0:22:26 > 0:22:30And it was conducted by that colossus of the Edwardian age,
0:22:30 > 0:22:32Thomas Beecham.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36Now, interestingly, this report is from the Yorkshire Post,
0:22:36 > 0:22:41for, after all, Frederick Delius was a Bradford Grammar School boy.
0:22:53 > 0:22:58I'm keen to find out about this prominent Edwardian composer
0:22:58 > 0:23:00by visiting Bradford Grammar School.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10Having been founded in 1548, at the time of Frederick Delius,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13the school was in the heart of Bradford,
0:23:13 > 0:23:17but it moved to this location in 1949.
0:23:18 > 0:23:23Head of music technology Ross McOwen is a Delius enthusiast.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26Ross, Frederick Delius was one of your pupils.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28He was. He was known as Fritz Delius.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32Delius was born in Bradford to German parents of Jewish extraction,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35and he came to Bradford Grammar School from
0:23:35 > 0:23:371874-1878.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39What had brought his father to England?
0:23:39 > 0:23:41Well, Delius's father was a wool merchant,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44and, as was the case in the north of England at the time,
0:23:44 > 0:23:46he came to seek his fortune in that trade.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49How did his career develop after school?
0:23:49 > 0:23:52After school, Delius's father wanted him to move into the wool trade,
0:23:52 > 0:23:54but Delius wasn't really very keen,
0:23:54 > 0:23:57and he'd much rather seek out the nearest concert hall
0:23:57 > 0:24:01than the nearest wool trade arrangement.
0:24:01 > 0:24:02So, where did he go to?
0:24:02 > 0:24:05He actually went to manage an orange grove in Florida.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07Did that develop his musical interest?
0:24:07 > 0:24:10Well, it did, but perhaps not through the channels you might expect.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14The orange grove was on the banks of the river,
0:24:14 > 0:24:18and Delius would listen to African-American spirituals,
0:24:18 > 0:24:19sung by the deckhands on the boats
0:24:19 > 0:24:21that travelled up and down the river.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25Delius headed back to Europe.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30He studied in Leipzig and became a celebrated composer in Germany,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34before moving to France where he lived for the rest of his life.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38How did Delius's work become popular in Britain?
0:24:38 > 0:24:42Well, really, it was all down to Thomas Beecham, the English conductor,
0:24:42 > 0:24:44who heard Delius's Appalachia variations
0:24:44 > 0:24:46in a concert in London in 1907.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49Beecham was very taken by Delius's music,
0:24:49 > 0:24:52and he championed his music for the rest of Beecham's life.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56So, he spends much of his creative life away from Britain?
0:24:56 > 0:24:58Is he an English composer, then?
0:24:58 > 0:25:01Delius's mature work is very British.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03The melodies are very pastoral.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06On Hearing The First Cuckoo In Spring, In A Summer Garden -
0:25:06 > 0:25:08those works are very quintessentially British.
0:25:08 > 0:25:09Very much so.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13Delius remains one of the most distinctive figures
0:25:13 > 0:25:17in the revival of British music at the opening of the 20th century.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22Pupils at Bradford Grammar School today study Delius
0:25:22 > 0:25:24as part of their music A level.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30- Hello.- This is John, one of our outstanding music pupils.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32Hi. I'm Michael. Great pleasure to meet you.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35I think you're going to sing some Delius.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37How have you found, singing Delius?
0:25:37 > 0:25:40Very interesting because it's an impressionistic style
0:25:40 > 0:25:43where the music is very unpredictable and jumps everywhere.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47- Difficult to sing?- Sometimes, yes. The melody is all over the place,
0:25:47 > 0:25:50so some strange intervals, kind of difficult to sing.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52And there's some people that'll think,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54"Hmm, that sounds odd," and comparing that
0:25:54 > 0:25:56to normal classical music, they won't like it.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58- What are you going to sing? - La Lune Blanche.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01- Which, I suppose, means the white moon.- The white moon, yes.
0:26:04 > 0:26:09# La lune blanche
0:26:09 > 0:26:16# Luit dans les bois
0:26:16 > 0:26:20# De chaque branche
0:26:20 > 0:26:24# Part une voix
0:26:24 > 0:26:28# Sous la ramee
0:26:32 > 0:26:41# Oh, bien-aimee
0:26:46 > 0:26:51# L'etang reflete
0:26:51 > 0:26:56# Profond miroir
0:26:56 > 0:27:00# La silhouette
0:27:00 > 0:27:05# Du saule noir... #
0:27:05 > 0:27:07In the years before the First World War,
0:27:07 > 0:27:10some immigrants to Britain were highly successful.
0:27:10 > 0:27:16Frederick Belmont, the cake-maker, Barnet Berwin, the tailor,
0:27:16 > 0:27:19and Frederick Delius, the son of an immigrant.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23But by then, poverty was top of the political agenda,
0:27:23 > 0:27:27and the Welsh firebrand Chancellor of the Exchequer,
0:27:27 > 0:27:31David Lloyd George, devised landmark social reform,
0:27:31 > 0:27:36ably assisted by another radical Liberal, Winston Churchill.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39But even they weren't pushing fast enough,
0:27:39 > 0:27:41and at the end of the Great War,
0:27:41 > 0:27:44the Liberals were elbowed aside by Labour -
0:27:44 > 0:27:48the party of the trade unions and of the working class.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52Next time, things are hotting up...
0:27:52 > 0:27:56- The heat was intense, glowing red. - When the next one comes out,
0:27:56 > 0:27:59that'll be at 1,250 degrees centigrade.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01..I freewheel to new heights...
0:28:01 > 0:28:04So... Whoa!
0:28:04 > 0:28:08Yeah, power is kicking in, zooming up the hill!
0:28:08 > 0:28:12..and experience a life of brine.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14I can smell the salt in the water.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17I'm not particularly tempted to taste it.