0:00:01 > 0:00:07Play on the iPad, play on the phone, play on the computer, watch TV.
0:00:07 > 0:00:12The life of most Scottish children today.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16Protected, connected, adored.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18Pew! Pew, pew, pew!
0:00:18 > 0:00:23From Brownies to badminton class, the children's needs,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26the children's safety are their parents' priority.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28Dun, dun, dun-dun.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32But Scotland's children haven't always been so privileged.
0:00:34 > 0:00:39100 years ago, they were often seen but rarely heard.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43Children almost didn't exist in their own rights.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47Not really classed as individuals until they were adults.
0:00:48 > 0:00:53But as the 20th century began, a new vision of childhood took shape,
0:00:53 > 0:00:57characterised by JM Barrie's Peter Pan.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01"Tinkerbell had disappeared. Before he could grow anxious, however,
0:01:01 > 0:01:03"a tinkling of bells was heard."
0:01:03 > 0:01:08Barrie's characters lived and played in a safe, green Neverland.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11Most Scottish children were less fortunate.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13VINTAGE RECORDING: Where can they play?
0:01:13 > 0:01:16Where can children go in a city?
0:01:16 > 0:01:20In the way stood slum housing, disease and war.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24All would have to be defeated
0:01:24 > 0:01:27before Scotland's children could truly flourish.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30THEY LAUGH
0:01:43 > 0:01:46In 1863, in the Royal Burgh of Wick,
0:01:46 > 0:01:4824-year-old Alexander Johnston
0:01:48 > 0:01:50founded the Johnston Photographic Company.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59For generations, families would bring their children
0:01:59 > 0:02:01to the Johnston Studios.
0:02:01 > 0:02:06And today, their archive of 50,000 glass-plate negatives provides
0:02:06 > 0:02:09a tantalising glimpse of Scottish children
0:02:09 > 0:02:12and childhood on the cusp of change.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19Nowadays, people are taking photographs every minute.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21Then, a photograph would be very rare
0:02:21 > 0:02:25and so you'd want to make something special of it.
0:02:29 > 0:02:30What is being said here?
0:02:30 > 0:02:34Why is she being photographed with these dogs?
0:02:34 > 0:02:39I think it's to suggest that she's in touch with something
0:02:39 > 0:02:42which is a part of nature.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45These two dogs, I think,
0:02:45 > 0:02:47are telling us
0:02:47 > 0:02:50that she's having a good childhood.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00So, a complete reversal of what went before
0:03:00 > 0:03:04is that the best years of your life would be your childhood years
0:03:04 > 0:03:07and life, in a sense, is downhill after childhood.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13So, you want to prolong childhood and you want to protect it.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18And there was much to protect children from.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22Most would have known disease...and worse.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28Another curious family picture,
0:03:28 > 0:03:30and you think, "Is this a one-child family?"
0:03:30 > 0:03:34Which would be quite rare at that time.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38Quite likely, and it would be a very common experience for many children,
0:03:38 > 0:03:42some siblings had been born and died.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46As the century began,
0:03:46 > 0:03:49the child mortality rates in Scotland's cities
0:03:49 > 0:03:51were amongst the worst in Britain.
0:03:55 > 0:04:01A 1904 report into child welfare revealed that in parts of Dundee
0:04:01 > 0:04:06two of every five children born would not see their first birthday.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13Eight schools featured in the report.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16One of them was Blackness in the city's Hawkhill area.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21Anybody live in a house like this?
0:04:21 > 0:04:22ALL: No.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24I live in a house.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26Can anyone see the children at the bottom?
0:04:26 > 0:04:28ALL: Yeah.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31Do you think they're wealthy children or poor children?
0:04:31 > 0:04:33ALL: Poor.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40The 1904 report highlighted the dreadful living conditions
0:04:40 > 0:04:42endured by local children.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46Houses that had no toilet, no running water,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49desperate conditions and so overcrowded.
0:04:49 > 0:04:54There's nothing unusual in somebody having 10, 11, 12 children.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57They didn't all live, of course.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02What are we going to do when there isn't a toilet in the house?
0:05:02 > 0:05:03Oh, no.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07We're going to use a bucket instead of the toilet.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10And that bucket was kept in the house all day,
0:05:10 > 0:05:12and was put out at night.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19Poverty, damp, overcrowding.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24Where and how these children lived was making them ill.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30"Nine years one month.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32"Height, 37.3 inches.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34"Weight, 30lb."
0:05:34 > 0:05:37"She was a pale, thin child with bad appearance.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39"She suffered from rickets."
0:05:39 > 0:05:40"She only had five teeth."
0:05:40 > 0:05:43"Tonsils enlarged, and hypertrophic..."
0:05:43 > 0:05:44"Truncated body."
0:05:46 > 0:05:49It found palpably that the better off you were the better you ate,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52the better conditions you were in, the fewer illnesses you had,
0:05:52 > 0:05:56the few instances of rickets, which was a very common ailment here,
0:05:56 > 0:05:58and eye problems and breathing problems
0:05:58 > 0:06:02and everything was related to what these children were being fed,
0:06:02 > 0:06:04and how these children were being brought up.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10The 1904 report uncovered one final and startling revelation.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16Dundee was a city built largely on the fortunes of the jute industry.
0:06:17 > 0:06:23It provided jobs for 40,000 women, often the main family income.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25But balancing long factory shifts
0:06:25 > 0:06:29and the needs of young children was close to impossible.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34So mothers were going back to work
0:06:34 > 0:06:37within certainly a fortnight of having babies
0:06:37 > 0:06:39and they're working 12-hour days,
0:06:39 > 0:06:41so they can't go home to feed the baby,
0:06:41 > 0:06:43so the baby's being fed by a neighbour, possibly,
0:06:43 > 0:06:47or a hard-pressed granny or even fathers who'd take on the job,
0:06:47 > 0:06:50but what are two-week-old babies being fed?
0:06:50 > 0:06:52Who knows? Obviously, you try to give them milk
0:06:52 > 0:06:54but you just don't know what they were being fed.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Some of them were fed solids at that age.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02The statistics were stark.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04In the worst areas,
0:07:04 > 0:07:09four out of five children died before their third birthday.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19Who would like to live 100 years ago?
0:07:19 > 0:07:22No. Not me. Who's glad they're born today?
0:07:27 > 0:07:30In Dundee, and all across Scotland,
0:07:30 > 0:07:34activists fought for improvements in children's living conditions.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38The first years of the 20th century
0:07:38 > 0:07:41were marked by vocal and successful campaigns -
0:07:41 > 0:07:45to remove children from factories,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48to provide free school meals.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50There are the philanthropists and reformers
0:07:50 > 0:07:55who think we can actually turn this around and change it.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59That's part of the optimism of the early 20th century,
0:07:59 > 0:08:01that we can actually do something.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10Hand in hand with that concern with child welfare
0:08:10 > 0:08:14came a fundamental development in the concept of modern childhood...
0:08:15 > 0:08:20..that the child was more than a creature to be helped and raised.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24The child was an imaginative and creative individual.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30In Aberdeen, Isaac Benzie's department store
0:08:30 > 0:08:34was a place where that imagination could be indulged.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44What are these? Dominoes!
0:08:44 > 0:08:46Same number!
0:08:47 > 0:08:51The first half of the 20th century is talked about as the golden era of
0:08:51 > 0:08:57childhood and toys, so rather than the world being all about adults,
0:08:57 > 0:09:01children are starting to be incorporated into life and culture.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Bear! That's not a bear!
0:09:04 > 0:09:07This is where the turtle goes.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10People generally were having better standards of life,
0:09:10 > 0:09:13so they could have the luxury of indulging the children more,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17and again, in terms of thinking about the child,
0:09:17 > 0:09:19they were looking at more and more different things
0:09:19 > 0:09:23for children to play with so they could develop the children
0:09:23 > 0:09:25and the children's imagination more.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29The first decades of the 20th century
0:09:29 > 0:09:33saw the introduction of mass-produced toys.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36Now for the drivers.
0:09:40 > 0:09:46One, two, three... Four. Argh! What's happening here?!
0:09:51 > 0:09:53I have a selection of some of the toy trains
0:09:53 > 0:09:56that any young boy
0:09:56 > 0:09:58would be delighted to get.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01And these are made with what we would call tin plate,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04so very cheaply mass-produced, very thin metal,
0:10:04 > 0:10:07but we have a lovely little note with it,
0:10:07 > 0:10:09from the man who donated them,
0:10:09 > 0:10:14saying that he remembers playing with them from around 1914 to 1920,
0:10:14 > 0:10:19and he said he pushed them about the nursery floor and further afield,
0:10:19 > 0:10:22making use of carpet patterns and carpet edges
0:10:22 > 0:10:25for the rails for the locomotive to ride on.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31Toys split along gender lines.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33Dolls for the girls.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35Meccano for the boys.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40But there was always someone who tried to break the rules.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50This is a clockwork train, and this is much heavier
0:10:50 > 0:10:53because it's got the mechanism in it, it's much fancier.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56Would have been more expensive toy.
0:10:56 > 0:10:57And really it's... They're a good...
0:10:57 > 0:11:00kind of a good reflection on technology of the time,
0:11:00 > 0:11:02and the production of the toys
0:11:02 > 0:11:05and again how they moved around and were played with.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09As well as mass-produced toys,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12the 1930s saw the birth of the Scottish comic strip.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18In the 8th March edition of the 1936 Sunday Post,
0:11:18 > 0:11:21Scotland's most famous comic strip characters
0:11:21 > 0:11:23made their first appearance.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31If you can do talking heads... I can use the...
0:11:31 > 0:11:35You know, speech bubble, speech bubble, speech bubble, right along.
0:11:35 > 0:11:36Yeah. Yep.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40In the starring role was a sprawling Scottish family,
0:11:40 > 0:11:43the legendary Broons.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46I think I'll do it on language, so if...
0:11:46 > 0:11:48If they're having problems with language,
0:11:48 > 0:11:50Granpaw's the one that'll...
0:11:50 > 0:11:53will have it written using really broad Scots
0:11:53 > 0:11:55that nobody could understand.
0:11:56 > 0:12:0080 years on, the Broons are still alive and kicking.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03They've been entrusted to scriptwriter Morris Heggie
0:12:03 > 0:12:05and artist Peter Davidson.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08Together, they shape the characters
0:12:08 > 0:12:12in the style of their original creator, Dudley D Watkins.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18Well, this is the very first episode of the Broons,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22from the first fun section in 1936. A very simple script.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25The Broons are out to get their photograph taken
0:12:25 > 0:12:27at a professional photographer's.
0:12:27 > 0:12:32Maggie Broon, who was the slim, glamorous Broon, and then,
0:12:32 > 0:12:35my personal favourite, the ugly duckling, Daphne Broon. Joe...
0:12:35 > 0:12:38Joe was the sportsman, he was the footballer, the boxer.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40It ended up with the Broon Bairn.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43She was the baby of the family.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45So that was the line-up, and it was...
0:12:45 > 0:12:48beautifully set out and drawn.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51The great thing about the Broons is that they're all so happy.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55They're crammed into a tenement
0:12:55 > 0:12:58in Glebe Street in Auchentogle,
0:12:58 > 0:13:00but they're all happy to be there.
0:13:00 > 0:13:05They enjoy sharing beds, sharing the table, fighting over food.
0:13:06 > 0:13:1011 characters in the one Glebe Street tenement,
0:13:10 > 0:13:14not unusual in the Scotland of the 1930s.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17But the shape of Scottish families,
0:13:17 > 0:13:21the number of children, was already changing.
0:13:21 > 0:13:22In the 1930s, most demographers
0:13:22 > 0:13:25are thinking we're in for a declining population
0:13:25 > 0:13:27because we're not reproducing ourselves.
0:13:27 > 0:13:32So there's a very dramatic drop in children per family.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34I think, in many ways,
0:13:34 > 0:13:39it is a decision taken by women
0:13:39 > 0:13:42to not replicate the lives of their mothers,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45who they could see being worn down
0:13:45 > 0:13:48by having too many children to look after.
0:13:48 > 0:13:53And that means that if they have fewer children they can value more,
0:13:53 > 0:13:55spend more time with each child,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58so that the nature of the family does change.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03Scottish society was shifting away
0:14:03 > 0:14:07from Auchentogle's most famous extended family.
0:14:07 > 0:14:12But Dudley D Watkins' portrayal of children at play would endure.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19The Broons and their mischievous first cousin Oor Wullie
0:14:19 > 0:14:22painted a world of children who flourished outdoors.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28In the '20s and '30s,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31around the development of children there was the idea of fresh air and
0:14:31 > 0:14:32exercise being really good for them.
0:14:32 > 0:14:34As well as their, you know, brain development,
0:14:34 > 0:14:36there was the physical development,
0:14:36 > 0:14:38so you were encouraged to play outside.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46The grandson of an Italian immigrant,
0:14:46 > 0:14:51Frank Ferri grew up in the Leith of the 1930s and '40s,
0:14:51 > 0:14:55when scraps of waste ground could become a football pitch,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58a battlefield or an Olympic stadium.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02A spike from an old railing, that was your javelin.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06A slate from a roof became your discus.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09A big brick, a huge brick you'd pick up that'd...
0:15:09 > 0:15:11We called it a yocker.
0:15:11 > 0:15:12And that was your shot put.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15And these were all the things...
0:15:15 > 0:15:17A set of hurdles and a track.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20In fact, we used to pinch the barrels from...
0:15:20 > 0:15:23the slats from the barrels, strap them to our feet when we had
0:15:23 > 0:15:27a wee bit of snow, and try and pretend they were skis.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30Or you would take the iron rungs off the barrels, and that was called
0:15:30 > 0:15:34a girder, and a stick, and that kept you amused for hours.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38You know? The activities you could get involved in was only as...
0:15:38 > 0:15:41as boring as your imagination. As simple as that, you know?
0:15:44 > 0:15:48The freedom afforded to children of Frank's era
0:15:48 > 0:15:52would terrify the parents of the 21st century.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58You see children doing things
0:15:58 > 0:16:00that we're just not used to them doing today.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03Lying in the middle of streets.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05An eye-opener, really, to the fact
0:16:05 > 0:16:11that children could move around in ways that we've just...forgotten,
0:16:11 > 0:16:13and would feel uncomfortable about.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24Your parents never saw you whatsoever until you were hungry.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28You would shout up to the windows, "Ma, gie me a piece and jam,"
0:16:28 > 0:16:31so she'd wrap a piece and jam in a piece of newspaper
0:16:31 > 0:16:35and throw it over, you'd have that, and you'd continue playing,
0:16:35 > 0:16:37until it was tea-time.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40In the summertime, your mum never saw you.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43Or you'd maybe just jump on a tram car with your mates
0:16:43 > 0:16:45and go for a wee tram run.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53Frank and his young friends profited from the 14 tramlines
0:16:53 > 0:16:57that crossed the capital. The whole city,
0:16:57 > 0:17:00and the countryside around it, became their playground.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05You could take a tram trip to the Braid Hills,
0:17:05 > 0:17:11and you'd maybe light a wee stove in your wee Tate Lyle tin,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14which you used to boil some water in,
0:17:14 > 0:17:17some loose tea leaves, and sugar,
0:17:17 > 0:17:19and you'd make yourself a pot of tea
0:17:19 > 0:17:22and a packet of sandwiches.
0:17:22 > 0:17:27You had a lemonade bottle full of water to supplement you.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30And let's face it, that was the countryside to us in these days,
0:17:30 > 0:17:33you know, where you saw livestock, sheep
0:17:33 > 0:17:35and things like this, you know?
0:17:36 > 0:17:40And in a time when Scottish children were expected to roam free,
0:17:40 > 0:17:44trams offered one further source of illicit amusement.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49It was just sort of devilment. You'd maybe jump on a tram,
0:17:49 > 0:17:55hold on the handrail for maybe 100 yards, and time it to jump off.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59But occasionally, the conductor might grab a hold of you
0:17:59 > 0:18:01and force you to pay your penny,
0:18:01 > 0:18:04and keep you going on for longer on the journey
0:18:04 > 0:18:06than you'd intended to, you know?
0:18:07 > 0:18:10Used to do it on the back of a horse and cart.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13And shout, "Come on, cuddy up," and that's what you shout, cuddy up,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16so you'd hang onto the back of this lorry or a horse and cart.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19The horse and cart was amusing, because the driver would turn around
0:18:19 > 0:18:22and realise you were there and crack his whip at you, you know?
0:18:22 > 0:18:25These were the wee bits of excitement you got into.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29For all those fond memories,
0:18:29 > 0:18:34city children at play in the 1930s faced genuine dangers.
0:18:36 > 0:18:42In 1934, 1,400 children were killed on Britain's roads,
0:18:42 > 0:18:4425 times more than the present day.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49Even in the first half of the 20th century,
0:18:49 > 0:18:51there was a lot tram traffic in the bigger cities.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53There were less cars, but obviously
0:18:53 > 0:18:56it was still busy, and there were horses and carriages so street play,
0:18:56 > 0:18:59if you were right in the centre of a city, could be quite dangerous.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03After their spin on the trams,
0:19:03 > 0:19:06Frank and his friends would head off for more adventures
0:19:06 > 0:19:09at the local picture hall.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13The 1930s and '40s were the golden age of children's cinema...
0:19:15 > 0:19:17..when the actions of Hollywood heroes
0:19:17 > 0:19:21were mimicked in playgrounds across the country.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23One particular movie I remember seeing,
0:19:23 > 0:19:26it was all about the Stone Age.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30Dinosaurs and volcanoes and lava, people caught in lava.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32And Stone Age axes.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39So we come out of there and we'd grab a slate from a roof and...
0:19:39 > 0:19:41using twine as string,
0:19:41 > 0:19:45and tie it to a piece of stick, and that was your caveman axe,
0:19:45 > 0:19:49so we emulated whatever we saw on the screen, you know?
0:19:49 > 0:19:51Knocking the hell out of your backside
0:19:51 > 0:19:52because that was your horse.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54HE LAUGHS
0:19:54 > 0:19:57So you'd run around and even raise up and things like make noises
0:19:57 > 0:19:59like a horse, you had a great imagination.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01All your own sound effects, you know?
0:20:01 > 0:20:03HE LAUGHS
0:20:05 > 0:20:08The first half of the 20th century saw a huge improvement
0:20:08 > 0:20:10in the condition of Scotland's children.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15They had more entertainments, they were healthier...
0:20:17 > 0:20:20..but many still lived in slums,
0:20:20 > 0:20:22and concern for their moral welfare
0:20:22 > 0:20:26was seen as a role for the Scottish Churches.
0:20:26 > 0:20:31Scotland's largest religious youth organisation was the Boys' Brigade.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35By 1939, it had almost 35,000 members.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40The BB gave us a discipline, you know?
0:20:40 > 0:20:44I was brought up in what today is called a deprived area.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49Most of the BB companies were formed in areas that were deprived.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51You could almost point them out.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59Marching through 1940s Dundee, the 5th Company of the Boys' Brigade,
0:20:59 > 0:21:01led by Pipe Major Stuart Cunningham.
0:21:05 > 0:21:10The pipe band and the company formed up in a place called Bellfield,
0:21:10 > 0:21:13being led, at the moment, by myself.
0:21:15 > 0:21:16It took me a few weeks.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19I used to go up at night to Dudhope Park and practise.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21Some people must have thought,
0:21:21 > 0:21:25"What's that stupid man doing up there, whirling that stick about?"
0:21:25 > 0:21:29But it was all to make a show on that particular day, you know?
0:21:29 > 0:21:33And it turned out quite well.
0:21:37 > 0:21:42Today, the 5th Dundee Company are a little down on numbers.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44Their best efforts at drill
0:21:44 > 0:21:48might not find favour with older generations,
0:21:48 > 0:21:51for whom marching and uniform
0:21:51 > 0:21:55were seen as methods of instilling an almost military discipline.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01The belt, you used to get a bit of cloth,
0:22:01 > 0:22:03put it down between the brasses.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08I had a small brush, a toothbrush, and rubbed with Duraglit, you know,
0:22:08 > 0:22:10to give it that extra shine.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14You got an inspection, to make sure you were clean, you know?
0:22:14 > 0:22:16The officer had a look at you.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19Put your hands up, looked at your knees, you know.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21And so that was the preparation.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23Part of the discipline was
0:22:23 > 0:22:27in-built into the organisation at that particular time.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31The Boys' Brigade had been created
0:22:31 > 0:22:36to keep children on the Christian path, away from moral danger.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41But, in 1939, a more serious threat emerged...
0:22:43 > 0:22:47..the threat of bombs dropped from German aircraft.
0:22:47 > 0:22:52On 31st August that year, at precisely 11:07am,
0:22:52 > 0:22:56the order came to evacuate 200,000 children
0:22:56 > 0:22:59from Scotland's towns and cities.
0:22:59 > 0:23:05Immediately, children had to go to prearranged assembly areas,
0:23:05 > 0:23:08stations, where trains are waiting for them.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12Advances in military technology
0:23:12 > 0:23:15had placed Scotland's children directly in the firing line.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19By the middle of the 1930s,
0:23:19 > 0:23:21it had become obvious to most countries in Western Europe
0:23:21 > 0:23:25that if there were to be another world war, another global conflict,
0:23:25 > 0:23:27one of the key components of that conflict
0:23:27 > 0:23:29would be bombing of civilian areas.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32And if you think of the traditional housing in Scotland at that time,
0:23:32 > 0:23:36in the city centre, tenements, large numbers of people
0:23:36 > 0:23:39crammed into a very narrow area.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42So, the children had to be protected.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49Although we were still just children...
0:23:50 > 0:23:52..we were very aware...
0:23:54 > 0:23:57..that this was extremely serious and that it was war.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02Ten-year-old Helen Campbell
0:24:02 > 0:24:05found herself suddenly leaving her city home,
0:24:05 > 0:24:07along with thousands of others.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14We got on those trains and we hadn't a clue where we were going.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16Very quiet, very subdued.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20I think a lot of children cried later...
0:24:22 > 0:24:25..when reality set in and they weren't going home.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32It took three days for the operation to take place.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35It was a huge undertaking.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42Helen was taken to the village of Lochwinnoch in Renfrewshire.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48This is the one. I'm pretty sure.
0:24:51 > 0:24:52Braedine.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56More than three-quarters of a century later,
0:24:56 > 0:25:00she's back at the cottage that became her home.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06It's smaller than I remember.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09Yes. Very happy memories, yes.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13I think we were incredibly lucky
0:25:13 > 0:25:15in where we were billeted.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19They treated us as though we were relatives.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26I think they were quite relieved
0:25:26 > 0:25:30that we knew how to eat at table and so on.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34Other city children were less well-suited to life in the country.
0:25:35 > 0:25:40The 1939 evacuation revealed a deep social divide.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46The country suddenly realised that there were two parts to the country.
0:25:46 > 0:25:51One was the reasonably well-off middle classes,
0:25:51 > 0:25:56and the other half of it were people who were desperately poor.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59A lot of the children turned up...
0:25:59 > 0:26:02Well, to put not too fine a point on it, dirty, smelly,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05suffering from things like impetigo, which was rife.
0:26:08 > 0:26:13What it did show, I think, was how wretched was the housing stock
0:26:13 > 0:26:17in most of Scotland at that time, especially in the cities.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24Helen, like many evacuees, returned home after only four months.
0:26:24 > 0:26:29The German bombs, much feared in August 1939, hadn't yet appeared.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34But older problems remained...
0:26:34 > 0:26:38most notably the living standards of Scotland's children.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43And, in 1948, images of those shameful conditions
0:26:43 > 0:26:47would become notorious around the world.
0:26:49 > 0:26:54This is Picture Post, which was a photo journal magazine.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56It was a new medium, really.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00Reaching out, by this time, this is from 1948,
0:27:00 > 0:27:02to a really huge audience.
0:27:02 > 0:27:07So, this article is looking at the forgotten Gorbals.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10The interesting thing for us here
0:27:10 > 0:27:14is that children figure very prominently
0:27:14 > 0:27:17in the depiction of that world.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22Photographers were going off into slums
0:27:22 > 0:27:25to actually seek out these children, and the play...
0:27:27 > 0:27:33..as a symbol, one suspects, of a kind of lost freedom.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38The photographs, taken by Londoner Bert Hardy,
0:27:38 > 0:27:40were wired around the world.
0:27:41 > 0:27:46Scotland's manifest failure to provide for her children,
0:27:46 > 0:27:50and the Picture Post captions that described Hardy's photographs,
0:27:50 > 0:27:51were equally damning.
0:27:54 > 0:28:00"In her Commercial Road home, Mrs Greening has borne 13 children,
0:28:00 > 0:28:02"but lost seven from pneumonia."
0:28:05 > 0:28:08There is another picture up here, a lovely picture, actually,
0:28:08 > 0:28:11of two boys sitting in the stairwell
0:28:11 > 0:28:15of an obviously decrepit, falling-down tenement.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19You can just see the toilet.
0:28:19 > 0:28:25Although it's in black and white, it looks completely filthy.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27And the caption says,
0:28:27 > 0:28:30"Where the young can sit and read.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34"No room to sit around at home, no place to sit around in the yard.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37"If a fellow wants to read his comic in peace,
0:28:37 > 0:28:38"he can do so on the stairs."
0:28:38 > 0:28:43So an image that is really pointing to the way
0:28:43 > 0:28:47in which these buildings are unsanitary.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49But also, it's not just that physical thing.
0:28:49 > 0:28:54It's also that they don't provide the right environment
0:28:54 > 0:28:58for children to play, the right sorts of freedoms.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09I'll have a cup of tea, as well.
0:29:09 > 0:29:10There was 12.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14We had 12 of a family, 12 kids.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20Two bedrooms. So, all the lassies were in one bed,
0:29:20 > 0:29:22the boys were in another bed.
0:29:24 > 0:29:26Sisters Pat and Anne Samson grew up
0:29:26 > 0:29:30in the Glasgow of Bert Hardy's photographs.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33Born in the Townhead area of the city,
0:29:33 > 0:29:37they both volunteer at the local homeless mission.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43We'd an outside toilet that you used to have get up through the night
0:29:43 > 0:29:47and go outside, down to the outside toilet, which was...
0:29:47 > 0:29:51And I think there was four different families used that toilet.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54I couldn't imagine how it was for my ma and da, having all those kids,
0:29:54 > 0:29:57know what I mean? It was quite a...
0:29:57 > 0:30:00Trying to feed them all and clothe them all.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03My mother and father gave us what they could but...
0:30:03 > 0:30:07it was a very poor childhood, so it was.
0:30:10 > 0:30:14The poverty that Anne and Pat experienced growing up in Townhead
0:30:14 > 0:30:19would be an inspiration for the Sussex-born artist Joan Eardley.
0:30:21 > 0:30:27A 1955 BBC film shows Eardley painting five-year-old Anne.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32Over seven years, she painted the whole Samson family.
0:30:35 > 0:30:41Anne, Mary, Pat, Brian, David.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44He was the blue-eyed boy.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48She used to come round the streets, painting in the streets,
0:30:48 > 0:30:51and my brother used to watch her quite a lot.
0:30:51 > 0:30:53Our Andrew, he's the oldest.
0:30:53 > 0:30:58And he asked for one day, he says, "Here, can you paint me?"
0:30:58 > 0:31:03And he used to disappear after school and my mother says to him,
0:31:03 > 0:31:04"I'd like to know where you're going after school.
0:31:04 > 0:31:06"I go to a woman's hoose."
0:31:08 > 0:31:13That's me. She always told me my face was round like a turnip.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17I had carrot-red hair and the squint in the eye.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21I think the squint in the eye was a part of the... It was quite...
0:31:21 > 0:31:23It attracted her. Aye.
0:31:24 > 0:31:28The way Joan painted them, it was just splash, splash, splash.
0:31:28 > 0:31:29Aye, it was dead fast,
0:31:29 > 0:31:32and you couldn't imagine how this is going to end up a painting.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36Turning out. But we'd get a piece and treacle. And a threepenny bit
0:31:36 > 0:31:39I mean, a threepenny bit got you a lot of sweeties then,
0:31:39 > 0:31:43which... My mother couldn't really afford to give us all sweeties.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50After her early death,
0:31:50 > 0:31:52Eardley's paintings of street children
0:31:52 > 0:31:55sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds.
0:31:57 > 0:31:58Joan used to give us sketches,
0:31:58 > 0:32:01she would sketch something, if she made a wee mistake,
0:32:01 > 0:32:03and we used to go out and make aeroplanes out of them.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05We used to fire them all over the place.
0:32:05 > 0:32:06My ma used to burn them.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09"Don't bring that rubbish in!"
0:32:09 > 0:32:14But you didn't know then, God love her, she was going to be famous.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20Artists like Eardley, photographers like Bert Hardy
0:32:20 > 0:32:24both created alluring images of Scotland's children.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29But behind the compositions, the pictures spoke of crushing poverty.
0:32:31 > 0:32:35The next 50 years would see Scottish authorities labour to build
0:32:35 > 0:32:38environments more suitable for children.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42But Scotland was more than the sum of her squalid cities.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47The clean, pure countryside had long been understood
0:32:47 > 0:32:50as the perfect place to grow up.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58This is a place that children
0:32:58 > 0:33:02were encouraged to imagine childhood taking place in.
0:33:02 > 0:33:07However, there's a danger of romanticising that childhood
0:33:07 > 0:33:11because that childhood was also a very, very hard childhood,
0:33:11 > 0:33:17one where children continued to be economically important,
0:33:17 > 0:33:20and so children may have thrived in that situation
0:33:20 > 0:33:22but it was also probably very tough.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29The children of Scotland's crofts and farms
0:33:29 > 0:33:33were expected to work hard from a tender age.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37Their childhood was little removed from that of their grandparents.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44If you were at home, you were on hand to help in any way you could.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48Lifting tatties, hoeing, snedding neeps.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52Always very frightening when you're close to a flashing blade.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58Writer Jane Yeadon grew up at Tombain Farm in Moray
0:33:58 > 0:34:03during the '40s and '50s. Hers was a typical rural childhood.
0:34:07 > 0:34:12We would have to get up early, tying the cows up, milking,
0:34:12 > 0:34:16and I suppose, at that time...
0:34:16 > 0:34:18everybody else was in the same boat.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24Despite the hard work, there was a vast playground on hand,
0:34:24 > 0:34:28a place where the imagination was boundless.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32You had to entertain yourself an awful lot.
0:34:32 > 0:34:36And at the time I had planned a career in the circus...
0:34:38 > 0:34:40..and so the steading here...
0:34:42 > 0:34:44..I used to look down on the lesser orders,
0:34:44 > 0:34:45which were the cats,
0:34:45 > 0:34:47because we didn't have much in the way of company.
0:34:47 > 0:34:49You had to really bond with animals
0:34:49 > 0:34:53and so I was going to be a lion tamer.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59Entertainment was make do and home-made.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04Communities, if not idyllic, were certainly tight knit.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10And, for children, little had changed since the last century.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17I've always thought I was very privileged.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21My folk were always there, and every farm that we went to,
0:35:21 > 0:35:25they treated you as if you were their bairn.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27I think that's a great gift.
0:35:28 > 0:35:36It's left me feeling a very warm bit in my heart about this...place.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41Across the fields, in the big houses,
0:35:41 > 0:35:44Scotland's landowners raised their children
0:35:44 > 0:35:46in an altogether different way...
0:35:48 > 0:35:53..in the traditional and distant manner of the British upper classes.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59We lived in a nursery wing, which is now my office,
0:35:59 > 0:36:02and we had nannies or nursery maids.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05So essentially most of the sort of looking after
0:36:05 > 0:36:08and caring for the children was done by them.
0:36:11 > 0:36:16Of course, my mother had oversight and of course my grandmother
0:36:16 > 0:36:18had oversight as well,
0:36:18 > 0:36:23but the... minutiae was left to the nannies.
0:36:26 > 0:36:28We got a very good education.
0:36:28 > 0:36:32I was schooled in the schoolroom.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36We had a governess, and I remember the one who taught me,
0:36:36 > 0:36:39a Miss Earl, she came from London, originally...
0:36:40 > 0:36:44..and she used to sing My Old Man's A Dustman.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46HE LAUGHS
0:36:48 > 0:36:51Of course, there were lots of sort of dark corners,
0:36:51 > 0:36:53frightening for young children.
0:36:53 > 0:36:58So one could let one's imagination run wild in a place like this.
0:37:02 > 0:37:04All the ghosts here are friendly.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09Never mind what the nannies actually thought,
0:37:09 > 0:37:10they're all friendly.
0:37:10 > 0:37:15The nursery in Monymusk is of course a long way removed from the
0:37:15 > 0:37:18back closes of the Gorbals,
0:37:18 > 0:37:22but the children of Scotland's upper classes knew their own hardships.
0:37:25 > 0:37:26My brothers and sisters and I,
0:37:26 > 0:37:30we would see our parents for an hour between five and six.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35That was the sort of magic hour when we only had our parents.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38MOURNFUL VIOLIN MUSIC PLAYS
0:37:38 > 0:37:42It would have been very difficult to make the transition from
0:37:42 > 0:37:45what you and I regard as...
0:37:47 > 0:37:49..normal, and our children come
0:37:49 > 0:37:53sit on our laps and they come and joke and tease and everything
0:37:53 > 0:37:55else with us.
0:37:55 > 0:37:59They... They were more distant.
0:38:00 > 0:38:02That's just the way it was.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11Archie's parents brought up their children with the ferocious
0:38:11 > 0:38:14detachment of the British upper classes.
0:38:14 > 0:38:16But by the 1950s,
0:38:16 > 0:38:20the wider Scottish population was receiving earnest instruction from
0:38:20 > 0:38:23the Government in how to bring up their children
0:38:23 > 0:38:25in a rather different way,
0:38:25 > 0:38:29into what would come to be called the nuclear family.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32Mum, dad and two or three children.
0:38:40 > 0:38:42I always give Baby fruit juice first thing.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45The extra vitamin C is so good for him.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49And at the same time, I can make sure that Sheila and Angela do get
0:38:49 > 0:38:52busy in the bathroom before Father wants to shave.
0:38:55 > 0:39:00This was a time of colossal state intervention, of the NHS,
0:39:00 > 0:39:02of family allowances.
0:39:06 > 0:39:08What is she wearing?
0:39:08 > 0:39:10It's called an apron.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16Of Government advice on what to eat and how exactly to eat it.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23ALL: Use fork and spoon in manner neat
0:39:23 > 0:39:28to deal with stony fruit or sweet.
0:39:28 > 0:39:29Look at that.
0:39:29 > 0:39:31There have always, I think, been
0:39:31 > 0:39:36authority figures trying to tell parents what to do.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39'What is up with their hair, though?'
0:39:39 > 0:39:42That's the way they used to wear it.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45ANNOUNCER: Washing the hands also means brushing the nails thoroughly.
0:39:45 > 0:39:50Mothers are particularly being focused on to be more clean and
0:39:50 > 0:39:53hygienic in the way they bring up their children.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56ANNOUNCER: Something in the meat gave the boy food poisoning.
0:39:56 > 0:40:00That something was a germ, and germs, invisible to the naked eye,
0:40:00 > 0:40:02are often highly dangerous.
0:40:02 > 0:40:07And it's the family and the mothers that are also being told,
0:40:07 > 0:40:10not just by the state, but by a whole new group of experts,
0:40:10 > 0:40:15such as psychologists and social workers, what to do.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18By the time Father comes home, Baby is in bed.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25Now a child's safety began at home.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29And EVERYTHING was a potential danger.
0:40:29 > 0:40:31ANNOUNCER: That pot of stew could be dangerous.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34As dangerous as a stick of dynamite in the hands of a child.
0:40:34 > 0:40:39So it starts to shape an environment that we would recognise as more like
0:40:39 > 0:40:45our own idea of home and family, in which, within a protected setting,
0:40:45 > 0:40:52the child does have freedoms, does have affection, does have love,
0:40:52 > 0:40:56but there are limits to that freedom.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00My chief concern is to see the family get a well-balanced diet.
0:41:00 > 0:41:05Everything was in black and white. I'm so glad we have colour.
0:41:05 > 0:41:06Like green!
0:41:06 > 0:41:10The post-war period in the 1940s and early '50s is, I think,
0:41:10 > 0:41:14a breakthrough for children's welfare.
0:41:16 > 0:41:22And for a time, it looked likely to be a breakthrough in other areas,
0:41:22 > 0:41:26in particular the environments where children would live and play.
0:41:26 > 0:41:31Scotland's slums were to be replaced by bright, modern tower blocks,
0:41:31 > 0:41:35inspired by the father of modern architecture, Le Corbusier.
0:41:38 > 0:41:40They called it the radiant city,
0:41:40 > 0:41:42and the idea was that you could rebuild cities
0:41:42 > 0:41:44in these really tall blocks
0:41:44 > 0:41:48and that every block would form a neighbourhood, and that would be
0:41:48 > 0:41:50the community in the one block.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53And he envisioned them having schools, community centres,
0:41:53 > 0:41:56swimming pools, shopping, all within the block.
0:41:59 > 0:42:04A new utopia for families would be built across Scotland.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11People were very keen to have...
0:42:11 > 0:42:14better quality homes.
0:42:14 > 0:42:16So the idea of having enough bedrooms that all your children
0:42:16 > 0:42:20had separate bedrooms. The idea of having hot running water
0:42:20 > 0:42:24and inside toilets and a bath, you know, it was really exciting.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27An alternative new vision of the city of the future.
0:42:30 > 0:42:32This is the living room.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38It's quite a big kitchen, it's quite handy.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41In the summer of 1967,
0:42:41 > 0:42:45Cathy Treasurer and her family exchanged an Aberdeen tenement
0:42:45 > 0:42:49with a shared toilet for this 12th-storey flat.
0:42:51 > 0:42:55And we have two cupboards, fairly big cupboards.
0:42:55 > 0:42:57Full of rubbish!
0:42:59 > 0:43:03The 19-storey Seamount Court flats replaced the slums
0:43:03 > 0:43:06of Aberdeen's Gallowgate.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11And the best bit, out on the veranda.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15Away out and get some fresh air.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18You come out here and you can sit out in the sun.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24If I was a bit taller I'd be able to see better!
0:43:24 > 0:43:26But it's nice out here.
0:43:29 > 0:43:31My two grew up here.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33Look, it's Mum.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36I like these. When we start moving in here, we see how big we are.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39It's like getting measured on a wall, except we get measured by the
0:43:39 > 0:43:41veranda gate. The size we are -
0:43:41 > 0:43:43look at the size of me compared to the size of you,
0:43:43 > 0:43:44when we moved in here.
0:43:44 > 0:43:46Cathy's daughters, Donna and Maria,
0:43:46 > 0:43:49have fond memories of growing up at altitude.
0:43:51 > 0:43:53And then there's later.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56And the plants, we used to plant the Livingstone daisies
0:43:56 > 0:43:58and had the flowers on the veranda.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01It was a happy place and it felt like home because, I mean,
0:44:01 > 0:44:03grandparents were close as well,
0:44:03 > 0:44:07and the centre of the town, and you were very familiar with it.
0:44:07 > 0:44:11For the children, Aberdeen's flats made wonderful playgrounds.
0:44:13 > 0:44:17On the top of the car park, that was the great place for roller-skating,
0:44:17 > 0:44:19wasn't it? And the bikes. What else have we got?
0:44:19 > 0:44:22That's Greig Court, that's the other high-rise. They're the same as ours.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26There was an ice-cream van that used to come and stop behind
0:44:26 > 0:44:30Porthill Court there. So, I would always be shouting up to my mum,
0:44:30 > 0:44:33and she'd throw her purse down with some money in it.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36I don't know why she never hit anyone on the head with this purse,
0:44:36 > 0:44:39but I always managed to catch this purse.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43Oh, look! That's when we had the phone in.
0:44:43 > 0:44:44Eventually got a phone.
0:44:44 > 0:44:46A phone with a wire.
0:44:46 > 0:44:48A phone with a wire. You've had some lovely hairdos, haven't you?
0:44:48 > 0:44:50I have had some lovely hairdos.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52SHE LAUGHS
0:44:53 > 0:44:57Aberdeen made a success of its tower blocks.
0:44:57 > 0:45:01But the picture across Scotland, and particularly in Glasgow,
0:45:01 > 0:45:03was far less positive.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09It clashes, really, with that idea that children,
0:45:09 > 0:45:12although they need to be protected, they need freedom.
0:45:13 > 0:45:17There is increasing concern not just about their own mental health but
0:45:17 > 0:45:22also the mental health of, often, their mothers, who are cooped up in
0:45:22 > 0:45:24these high-rise settings.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29I don't think there was a kind of neglect of children
0:45:29 > 0:45:31in the design of them,
0:45:31 > 0:45:34but in the way people actually lived in them,
0:45:34 > 0:45:36it did become very difficult for children and for families.
0:45:43 > 0:45:48Whether children always experienced it in that way is another thing.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51Children are remarkably resilient,
0:45:51 > 0:45:56and it's often adult anxieties about the environment
0:45:56 > 0:45:59that is the most powerful.
0:46:02 > 0:46:04In Glasgow, at least,
0:46:04 > 0:46:08Corbusier's grand plans proved a less-than-perfect fit for children.
0:46:12 > 0:46:16Much more successful were Scotland's new towns.
0:46:21 > 0:46:23Cumbernauld was new in more than one sense.
0:46:23 > 0:46:28Not just a new town but a new concept of community living.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31Children were central to the designs.
0:46:31 > 0:46:35There was lots of play parks, lots of amenities, in terms of sports.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38No-one ever needs to cross a road.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42People are channelled under and over the motorways.
0:46:42 > 0:46:47Cumbernauld was built with underpasses, so that children could
0:46:47 > 0:46:50avoid traffic, so you could just go everywhere on your wee bike
0:46:50 > 0:46:52or your roller-skates.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58The accident rate is only one-fifth of the national average.
0:47:04 > 0:47:08Little surprise that Cumbernauld was chosen as the setting of Scotland's
0:47:08 > 0:47:10favourite coming-of-age film,
0:47:10 > 0:47:14Bill Forsyth's 1981 classic, Gregory's Girl.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18You've got to put me in the team, miss.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20I want to sign something.
0:47:20 > 0:47:22What a dream!
0:47:22 > 0:47:24TIN-OPENER GRINDS
0:47:24 > 0:47:26Behind the love story,
0:47:26 > 0:47:29the film captures how Scottish families were changing,
0:47:29 > 0:47:32how children were being left to their own devices.
0:47:33 > 0:47:37This was the era of the so-called latchkey children.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39The nuclear family - mum, dad,
0:47:39 > 0:47:42and two or three kids around the dinner table -
0:47:42 > 0:47:44was now a thing of the past.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46CHILD CRIES
0:47:47 > 0:47:49Mirror and brake. That's the way, relaxed position!
0:47:49 > 0:47:51Brake!
0:47:51 > 0:47:53TYRES SQUEAL
0:47:53 > 0:47:54That's the way.
0:47:54 > 0:47:56Come here, you.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58Hi, Mike. Call me Dad, Gregory. Or Pop or something.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01It makes me feel better when you call me Dad or Father.
0:48:01 > 0:48:02How are you, anyway?
0:48:02 > 0:48:04Oh, fine. We're all very well.
0:48:04 > 0:48:06Your mother... You remember your mother?
0:48:06 > 0:48:09Yeah, I remember Mum. She was asking after you just the other day.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12I told her we met briefly in the hallway last Thursday
0:48:12 > 0:48:14and you looked fine.
0:48:16 > 0:48:21The certainties of the 1950s family had given way to the instabilities
0:48:21 > 0:48:23of the 1970s.
0:48:24 > 0:48:25Divorce becomes...
0:48:27 > 0:48:29..easier.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31There is a creeping tolerance of
0:48:31 > 0:48:34different sorts of family structures.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37Think I should tell her some jokes?
0:48:37 > 0:48:42Feminism provides a critique of those earlier ideas about the
0:48:42 > 0:48:49absolute need for mothers to be with children for this period of time.
0:48:51 > 0:48:53Don't do blue coffees here, Madeline...
0:48:53 > 0:48:57Gregory's mother is never seen, and it's his younger sister who provides
0:48:57 > 0:48:59emotional support.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01Do you dream about her?
0:49:01 > 0:49:03That means you love her.
0:49:03 > 0:49:05It's the one that you have dreams about that counts.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09What do you dream about?
0:49:09 > 0:49:11Just ginger beer and ice cream.
0:49:11 > 0:49:13I'm still a little girl, remember.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18Scotland's new towns represented a huge step
0:49:18 > 0:49:21towards creating child-friendly environments.
0:49:22 > 0:49:27But there was one further step to come for those who could afford it.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29The modern suburb.
0:49:29 > 0:49:34Cul-de-sacs, speed bumps, green spaces.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39The suburb, actually, is an interesting solution.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42The suburb, with its cosier cul-de-sacs, which is, clearly,
0:49:42 > 0:49:46also a class solution as well.
0:49:46 > 0:49:51It does provide that kind of safer, managed freedom.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59A garden is what people think children should be living in
0:49:59 > 0:50:01and playing in
0:50:01 > 0:50:06and learning from, because a garden has got nature but it also is
0:50:06 > 0:50:10contained by a hedge or a fence or a wall, or something like that.
0:50:10 > 0:50:15So gardens are the perfect place for children to grow up in.
0:50:17 > 0:50:22The modern Inverness suburb of Balloch was built in the mid-'80s,
0:50:22 > 0:50:25a stone's throw from Culloden's battlefield,
0:50:25 > 0:50:30and for a growing family, it seemed a perfect choice.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33We needed more bedrooms. And this fitted the bill.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37We never thought the time that this would be the long-lasting house
0:50:37 > 0:50:40but we've grown to really like this area.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43It's quiet, residential, really nice people round about.
0:50:45 > 0:50:48The Bennetts raised their two children here.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52We've lived here for pretty much all of our lives.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55All of my life.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58Um... We moved in 1985...
0:50:58 > 0:51:00I think I was about seven months old.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03And then I was born three years later.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07So it must be 31 years now we've been here.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14The homes that lined the quiet suburban streets
0:51:14 > 0:51:17offered plenty of space for growing children.
0:51:19 > 0:51:20So, this is where me and my brother
0:51:20 > 0:51:23used to hang out all our teenage years.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26It was a bit of an extension onto the house.
0:51:26 > 0:51:29And it was just for me and my brother,
0:51:29 > 0:51:32who is texting on his phone right now.
0:51:32 > 0:51:34Kirsty, get out of my room!
0:51:34 > 0:51:36Sorry!
0:51:36 > 0:51:38And this is my bedroom.
0:51:38 > 0:51:43Welcome. I've still got my Disney VHSs in the corner
0:51:43 > 0:51:45and my Spice Girls CDs.
0:51:45 > 0:51:50And my little teddy that I got when I was born.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54Belinda. I couldn't ever throw that one out.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58And, yeah, had lots of fun, sleepovers and everything in here.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01It was just a little girl's dream bedroom.
0:52:04 > 0:52:05And outside,
0:52:05 > 0:52:07the gardens and traffic-free streets
0:52:07 > 0:52:11were the perfect place for a brother and sister to play.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16When summers used to be hot in Inverness...
0:52:18 > 0:52:22..we used to spend all our time out there playing hockey with everybody.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25Kirby? Yeah.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28All outside, that's what it felt like, anyway.
0:52:32 > 0:52:34For 50 years or more,
0:52:34 > 0:52:38architects and town planners worked to create the perfect environment
0:52:38 > 0:52:40for Scotland's children.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48But what none of them predicted was a new generation of children that
0:52:48 > 0:52:51would rarely play outdoors alone.
0:52:52 > 0:52:54Children of the virtual world.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01Oh, it's bedtime!
0:53:01 > 0:53:05The Patterson family live in central Dundee,
0:53:05 > 0:53:07close to Blackness Primary School,
0:53:07 > 0:53:12the area at the centre of the 1904 report that revealed shocking levels
0:53:12 > 0:53:13of child poverty.
0:53:17 > 0:53:20They play around us a lot more, maybe downstairs,
0:53:20 > 0:53:23kind of around our feet.
0:53:24 > 0:53:27They kind of play...
0:53:27 > 0:53:30Generally after-school and after nursery they're quite tired,
0:53:30 > 0:53:33so often, they're in the living room, watching TV.
0:53:33 > 0:53:35Play on the iPad.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39And play on the computer sometimes.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44And watch television mostly.
0:53:44 > 0:53:45Oh, there's a city.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48There's a little city!
0:53:48 > 0:53:52It is very easy to let them sit there and play because they're quiet
0:53:52 > 0:53:53and you can get on with other things.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57But, actually, that's not... That's not good either.
0:53:57 > 0:54:01Compared to the children of the 1904 Dundee report,
0:54:01 > 0:54:04the Patterson children are certainly healthier and probably happier.
0:54:04 > 0:54:08So annoying. Wow! I got all of them!
0:54:08 > 0:54:13But they are also far less independent.
0:54:13 > 0:54:15I sometimes go out.
0:54:15 > 0:54:19But it's normally rainy or something.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21Or I'm not allowed.
0:54:21 > 0:54:23I'm barely ever allowed.
0:54:23 > 0:54:27Quite a lot of cars on this street,
0:54:27 > 0:54:30because there's quite a lot of houses.
0:54:30 > 0:54:33Even getting to the park at the top of the road,
0:54:33 > 0:54:35the road at the top is very busy,
0:54:35 > 0:54:37and they couldn't cross that on their own.
0:54:39 > 0:54:44But the fear of being hit by a car has created reliance on cars,
0:54:44 > 0:54:48where parents ferry their children between organised activities.
0:54:50 > 0:54:56I do tennis, I do swimming, I do Brownies, that's on tonight.
0:54:59 > 0:55:03Parents' lives now are...centre around their children.
0:55:03 > 0:55:05And the children call the shots, in a way.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07Why don't you just water them?
0:55:07 > 0:55:10No.
0:55:10 > 0:55:16But there's been a downside, in the loss, I think, for children
0:55:16 > 0:55:20of any opportunity to do what they might want to do,
0:55:20 > 0:55:25rather than being controlled by the people who are constantly worrying
0:55:25 > 0:55:26about their safety.
0:55:26 > 0:55:29Would you like it more if you could play outside more,
0:55:29 > 0:55:31and walk to places more?
0:55:34 > 0:55:36Hmm.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38Maybe. Not really?
0:55:38 > 0:55:40Not really.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47" 'But, Peter, how old are you?' continued Wendy.
0:55:47 > 0:55:48" 'I don't know, but quite young.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51" 'I ran away the day I was born...' "
0:55:53 > 0:55:55100 years before,
0:55:55 > 0:55:59JM Barrie's Peter Pan offered a vision of childhood
0:55:59 > 0:56:03where children could play in a perpetual Neverland.
0:56:03 > 0:56:05That's not how things turned out.
0:56:08 > 0:56:12Children have become more, if you like, emotionally treasured.
0:56:12 > 0:56:16Their health is undoubtedly better.
0:56:16 > 0:56:19Their schooling is better and more prolonged.
0:56:19 > 0:56:25You could say in that way that this century is the century of the child.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28But children have lost something, too.
0:56:28 > 0:56:32Children don't get to play outside in the way that they used to.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35I don't even think that's going back a generation,
0:56:35 > 0:56:38that's not even going back 100 years.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40This idea of children having less freedom.
0:56:41 > 0:56:48But while our idea of childhood has radically changed, children haven't.
0:56:48 > 0:56:50You know, the cliche of them playing with the box
0:56:50 > 0:56:52the toy came in is true.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55We're the kings of the castle!
0:56:55 > 0:56:58Dan's the dirty rascal!
0:57:03 > 0:57:08What shines through is their ability to play, to laugh
0:57:08 > 0:57:12and, perhaps, surprisingly, to cope.
0:57:14 > 0:57:20We, as adults, feel a strong sense of there having been a lost freedom.
0:57:20 > 0:57:25But children are incredibly resilient
0:57:25 > 0:57:28and find new ways to gain a freedom
0:57:28 > 0:57:31that I think is an essential part of childhood.
0:57:37 > 0:57:39Next time...
0:57:39 > 0:57:41A century of controversy.
0:57:41 > 0:57:43Scotland's children's homes...
0:57:44 > 0:57:49..and the boys and girls sent to new families far away.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52How government, churches and charities
0:57:52 > 0:57:55treated the children of broken homes.
0:57:55 > 0:57:57I hope you don't take the attitude that I'm a bad mother
0:57:57 > 0:58:01because I'm far from it. I just can't cope, it's impossible.
0:58:01 > 0:58:05How Scotland slowly learned to cope and, occasionally,
0:58:05 > 0:58:08to love some of her neediest children.
0:58:08 > 0:58:13If you looked at where I came from, my family home,
0:58:13 > 0:58:16I was much happier in care. Yes.
0:58:51 > 0:58:53I was much happier in care.
0:58:53 > 0:58:56It's just so fundamental to my life.
0:58:56 > 0:58:59They... They just wiped their hands of us.
0:58:59 > 0:59:00And they still do it.
0:59:05 > 0:59:05this is a modern-day collision. That's just how we're living.
0:59:05 > 0:59:07BUSTLING STREET NOISE