0:00:06 > 0:00:09In Britain today many people still feel
0:00:09 > 0:00:10they have one quality in common...
0:00:12 > 0:00:14I always feel terribly uncomfortable
0:00:14 > 0:00:16when there are vast outpourings of emotion.
0:00:19 > 0:00:20In certain situations,
0:00:20 > 0:00:24like in a queue, you might want to get a bit flustered but you don't.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27You just take your time, try and be patient and wait your turn.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33If something doesn't go quite right, you don't let it get you down.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36You know, so you've got a stiff upper lip.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39And do you think that's a very British thing?
0:00:39 > 0:00:41Absolutely! Yes, I do!
0:00:43 > 0:00:49For many Britons the stiff upper lip remains a badge of national pride.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54Impressive but often eccentric examples festoon our history.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58And they've become the stuff of legend.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07At the bloody climax of the Battle of Waterloo
0:01:07 > 0:01:10Lord Uxbridge was hit by a cannon ball.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13He famously turned to the Duke of Wellington, who was next to him
0:01:13 > 0:01:16and said, "By God, sir, I've lost my leg,"
0:01:16 > 0:01:20and the Duke of Wellington replied, "By God! So you have."
0:01:23 > 0:01:25Then there was Captain Oates,
0:01:25 > 0:01:28Scott's companion on their ill-fated expedition to the South Pole.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31Knowing that he was holding the others back,
0:01:31 > 0:01:35he stepped out of the tent, into the snow and certain death
0:01:35 > 0:01:39simply saying, "I'm just going outside and may I be some time."
0:01:40 > 0:01:45And the one thing every schoolchild used to know was that
0:01:45 > 0:01:49Sir Francis Drake, when the Spanish Armada was steaming up the Channel,
0:01:49 > 0:01:51was playing a game of bowls.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55He said he would finish his game and then he would deal with the Spanish.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01I find all of this very appealing,
0:02:01 > 0:02:07even though I know that these stories aren't entirely true.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11And I also know that understated resilience
0:02:11 > 0:02:14hasn't always been part of our cultural DNA.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21In fact, the evolution of the stiff upper lip was complex,
0:02:21 > 0:02:23surprising and often contradictory,
0:02:23 > 0:02:28dictated by religion, war, philosophy, fashion
0:02:28 > 0:02:33and, above all, by the changing nature of British society itself.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38In this series I'm going to explore what the British were like
0:02:38 > 0:02:40before their lips stiffened...
0:02:42 > 0:02:45..who made them firm up...
0:02:48 > 0:02:51..and how they became known for their stoicism...
0:02:53 > 0:02:57..emotional restraint...
0:02:57 > 0:02:59and determination.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01- No wetsuit?- Definitely not!
0:03:04 > 0:03:07I'm going to look at where the stiff upper lip led Britain
0:03:07 > 0:03:13and what happened to it throughout the 20th century.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16Whether it thrived...
0:03:16 > 0:03:21When I'm in it, Fletcher, I absorb it...with a stiff upper lip!
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Well, you've got to when you're in it up to 'ere, ain't you?
0:03:24 > 0:03:26..or whether it was rejected.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31Diana did give us that permission as a nation to come together
0:03:31 > 0:03:33and show your emotion.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36I am not a royalist and I was weeping
0:03:36 > 0:03:37and I think, "Why am I weeping?"
0:03:37 > 0:03:43And I'll ask if the stiff upper lip still has a role today.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17Once upon a time, a long time ago,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20the British defied simple stereotyping,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23and there was no "national character".
0:04:26 > 0:04:30Instead, the English, the Welsh and the Scots
0:04:30 > 0:04:33were said to possess a hotchpotch of attributes.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38And emotional restraint was certainly not one of them.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43It wasn't reserve that the English were known for -
0:04:43 > 0:04:46it was exuberance, particularly the women.
0:04:46 > 0:04:51The Dutch scholar Erasmus paid a visit to London in 1499
0:04:51 > 0:04:53and wrote home delightedly -
0:04:53 > 0:04:57"Wherever you come you are received with a kiss by all.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00"When you take your leave, you are dismissed with kisses.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03"You return, kisses are repeated.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06"They come to visit you, kisses again.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09"They leave, you kiss them all round.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12"Should they meet you anywhere, kisses in abundance.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14"You cannot move without kisses!"
0:05:14 > 0:05:19The whole thing sounds like a medieval luvvies' paradise.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28Foreigners, even Italians coming to Elizabethan London, for example,
0:05:28 > 0:05:30remarked upon how emotional
0:05:30 > 0:05:32the English were,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35and how easily provoked - not only by drink,
0:05:35 > 0:05:36of course, we were provoked by drink -
0:05:36 > 0:05:38into displays of emotion,
0:05:38 > 0:05:45but how we fought, how we chased women, how we were out of control.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52A hundred years later, at the start of the 18th century,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55little had changed -
0:05:55 > 0:05:58reserve was still not yet recognised as an English trait.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06In fact, in a poem about his countrymen, the writer Daniel Defoe
0:06:06 > 0:06:10described some very different characteristics...
0:06:11 > 0:06:13"Seldom contented,
0:06:13 > 0:06:15"often in the wrong.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18"Hard to be pleased at all, and never long.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22"This makes them so ill-natured and uncivil
0:06:22 > 0:06:25"that all men think an Englishman the devil."
0:06:25 > 0:06:27Which is quite harsh!
0:06:35 > 0:06:39Defoe went on to write the novel Robinson Crusoe.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44The story made a hero of a man who,
0:06:44 > 0:06:48when shipwrecked on a desert island, keeps calm and carries on.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55A 20th century critic described Robinson Crusoe
0:06:55 > 0:06:57as the epic of the stiff upper lip
0:06:57 > 0:07:01and identified Crusoe as the archetypal Englishman.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05But it was only long after the concept had established itself
0:07:05 > 0:07:09in the popular consciousness that anyone actually spotted this.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11At the time of publication
0:07:11 > 0:07:12no-one had any idea
0:07:12 > 0:07:18that this odd, extraordinary, resilient, stoical survivor
0:07:18 > 0:07:22would come to represent the national ideal.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28Back in the 18th century
0:07:28 > 0:07:30when Robinson Crusoe was written,
0:07:30 > 0:07:33many Britons were starting a love affair,
0:07:33 > 0:07:36not with stoicism, but with feeling.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46This was the era when an urban and urbane society
0:07:46 > 0:07:50that we'd recognise today started to emerge.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53And here, everyone who was anyone
0:07:53 > 0:07:56aspired to be in touch with their emotions.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03Far from having a stiff upper lip, a cultural obsession sprung up
0:08:03 > 0:08:06with all things "sentimental".
0:08:09 > 0:08:13Today the word "sentimental" is usually used as an insult -
0:08:13 > 0:08:15applied to people who go into raptures
0:08:15 > 0:08:17about pictures of baby animals
0:08:17 > 0:08:21or those who weep copiously over soppy old films on television.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24But in the 18th century, it was a term of approval
0:08:24 > 0:08:27and one becoming increasingly fashionable.
0:08:27 > 0:08:32The Oxford English Dictionary cites first usage in 1749
0:08:32 > 0:08:35and it's Lady Bradshaigh writing to a friend.
0:08:36 > 0:08:41"What, in your opinion, is the meaning of the word 'sentimental'?
0:08:41 > 0:08:44"Everything clever and agreeable is comprehended in that word.
0:08:44 > 0:08:49"I am frequently astonished to hear such a one is a 'sentimental' man,
0:08:49 > 0:08:51"we were a 'sentimental' party,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54"I have been taking a 'sentimental' walk."
0:08:56 > 0:08:59There was something known as the cult of sensibility
0:08:59 > 0:09:02in the 18th century, which refers to this movement,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05not just in Britain but, in fact, throughout Europe
0:09:05 > 0:09:08of celebrating feeling and sentiment.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13What it centres around is that in shared feelings of sympathy
0:09:13 > 0:09:14with our fellow men and women,
0:09:14 > 0:09:17there's something of great importance
0:09:17 > 0:09:18to understanding human nature
0:09:18 > 0:09:22and, as a result, understanding society and politics as well.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31But those who embraced the cult of sensibility
0:09:31 > 0:09:35weren't always thinking of others.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38As British society became more sophisticated
0:09:38 > 0:09:41and social mobility increased,
0:09:41 > 0:09:46some people cynically recognised that displaying how deeply you felt
0:09:46 > 0:09:48was also a way of exhibiting something else.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55It was desirable to demonstrate sensibility
0:09:55 > 0:10:00because it showed that you had, in a way, refined yourself.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04Because although everybody might have sensibility
0:10:04 > 0:10:07as a sort of potential within them,
0:10:07 > 0:10:12the best people sort of practised and polished their sensibility.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14And it may seem peculiar to us,
0:10:14 > 0:10:17but they even did this by sort of reading works of fiction.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23In the 18th century the modern novel first took shape.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28And in Britain, its growth in popularity was directly linked
0:10:28 > 0:10:30to the new vogue for sensibility.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40One of the most influential novels of the century
0:10:40 > 0:10:45was Clarissa by Samuel Richardson, published in 1751.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51Entirely told through letters, it runs to over a million words
0:10:51 > 0:10:54and is seven volumes long.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58Clarissa takes a magnifying glass
0:10:58 > 0:11:03to the feelings of its virtuous heroine and her dastardly pursuer.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08Its 18th century readers lapped up
0:11:08 > 0:11:11the protagonists' "exquisite agonies" -
0:11:11 > 0:11:15all the way to their lonely graves.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23Never before had "feeling" been so fashionable,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26and not just for women but for men as well.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29A Mr Thomas Edwards wrote Richardson a fan letter -
0:11:29 > 0:11:35"I have this day been weeping over the seventh volume of Clarissa,
0:11:35 > 0:11:37"as if I had attended her dying bed,
0:11:37 > 0:11:40"and assisted at her funeral procession.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44"O may my latter end be like hers!"
0:11:48 > 0:11:51The ideal man was increasingly defined
0:11:51 > 0:11:54as one in touch with his emotions.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58Soon novels like Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey
0:11:58 > 0:12:02and Henry Mackenzie's The Man of Feeling
0:12:02 > 0:12:05cast the sensitive man as a hero in his own right.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14Meanwhile, this new "touchy-feely" culture
0:12:14 > 0:12:16was softening up the art world, too.
0:12:19 > 0:12:24In the 1760s, British society painter Johann Zoffany
0:12:24 > 0:12:28rejected the old era's self-important style of portraiture
0:12:28 > 0:12:31and instead showed the country's finest families
0:12:31 > 0:12:34in new "sentimental" situations...
0:12:36 > 0:12:39..worlds away from what would become the stiff upper lip.
0:12:43 > 0:12:49This is Zoffany's portrait of Sir Lawrence Dundas and his grandson.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51It's a boy. At the time the custom was
0:12:51 > 0:12:53to dress boys and girls identically
0:12:53 > 0:12:55so it's confusing for us but obviously not for them.
0:12:55 > 0:13:00But the point of the picture is the informality.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03In previous generations a man like Sir Lawrence
0:13:03 > 0:13:07might well have gone for a more pompous presentation of himself.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10He's an important man, he's rich, he's made a lot of money,
0:13:10 > 0:13:13he's paymaster general to the army,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16but here, in the middle of all his business,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19he's got time to break away to talk to his grandson
0:13:19 > 0:13:21and the affection between them
0:13:21 > 0:13:26with the boy dragging his arm appears to be very genuine.
0:13:26 > 0:13:27People had obviously loved
0:13:27 > 0:13:30their children and grandchildren before in history
0:13:30 > 0:13:33but public portraiture hadn't tended to focus on that.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35This is a very intimate picture.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39What Dundas is showing is that he's not
0:13:39 > 0:13:42some heartless, calculating money-making machine.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45Look, he's a really nice guy.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57So, in fashionable Georgian society
0:13:57 > 0:14:01being a family man was the key to fulfilment.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03And the ability to be affectionate was crucial.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10But that didn't mean self-control could be abandoned.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17Although many men were guided by the cult of feelings,
0:14:17 > 0:14:21they were also influenced by another, sometimes contrary,
0:14:21 > 0:14:2418th-century fashion - politeness.
0:14:24 > 0:14:29And it would be politeness that prepared the ground
0:14:29 > 0:14:31for the stiff upper lip.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37Politeness is an 18th century ethos, ideal,
0:14:37 > 0:14:42which is spread quite widely through aspirational classes.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44For example, to be polite
0:14:44 > 0:14:48would be to be able to show feeling and response to the theatre,
0:14:48 > 0:14:51but not to go over the top -
0:14:51 > 0:14:55to show that balance, that moderation which was the key to politeness,
0:14:55 > 0:15:01to shed a quiet tear, but to retain one's manly composure.
0:15:08 > 0:15:14But for many, walking the line between open affection and restraint
0:15:14 > 0:15:15was quite a challenge,
0:15:15 > 0:15:21and for no-one more than an ambitious young Scot, James Boswell.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29It's difficult to find out what people were feeling 250 years ago -
0:15:29 > 0:15:32only a relative minority could write
0:15:32 > 0:15:36and so it's hard to gauge the emotional life of the majority.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39But we know a lot about what Boswell was thinking and feeling.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43He became famous as the biographer of Dr Johnson,
0:15:43 > 0:15:45the writer and lexicographer,
0:15:45 > 0:15:49but Boswell also kept an amazingly frank journal
0:15:49 > 0:15:53of his time in London, which was only discovered in the 20th century.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57In it he reveals his attempts to keep the balance
0:15:57 > 0:16:00between keeping in his coarser feelings
0:16:00 > 0:16:03and, in the sake of politeness,
0:16:03 > 0:16:06letting out his more refined opinions.
0:16:12 > 0:16:18Boswell was 22 years old when in 1762 he arrived in London.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25He lodged in Westminster on Downing Street,
0:16:25 > 0:16:29then a genteel address by fashionable St James's Park.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37He aimed to secure a commission in the Guards' regiment,
0:16:37 > 0:16:41so he could join the capital's smart set.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45To do so, mastering politeness would be vital.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50But Boswell was suffering from a distinct disadvantage -
0:16:50 > 0:16:52his Scottishness.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57The Scottish had a reputation for being far more rowdy
0:16:57 > 0:16:59than their English counterparts.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01Boswell was very keen to shake this off,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04so when he met up with some compatriots in London
0:17:04 > 0:17:06he was scathing about them.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08He wrote, "The Scotch tones
0:17:08 > 0:17:11"and rough and roaring freedom of manners which I heard today
0:17:11 > 0:17:13"disgusted me a good deal."
0:17:13 > 0:17:18"I am always resolving to study propriety of conduct.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20"But I never persist with any steadiness.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23"I hope, however, to attain it."
0:17:27 > 0:17:33Unfortunately for Boswell, this was far easier said than done.
0:17:33 > 0:17:40"5th January 1763. I was very hearty at dinner, but was too ridiculous.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42"This is what I ought most to guard against.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45"People in company applaud a man for it very much,
0:17:45 > 0:17:50"but behind his back hold him very cheap."
0:17:50 > 0:17:52Oh, God, they don't, do they?
0:17:55 > 0:17:59On the other hand, Boswell was eager to reveal his feelings -
0:17:59 > 0:18:03when he was sure that they were polite.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06On 12th May he attended a performance of King Lear
0:18:06 > 0:18:11and boasted, "I shed an abundance of tears."
0:18:15 > 0:18:19Nevertheless, the aspiring Boswell was often happier
0:18:19 > 0:18:25when forsaking polite society for a rowdier, more vulgar, milieu.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29In June, for instance,
0:18:29 > 0:18:31he chose to celebrate King George III's birthday
0:18:31 > 0:18:34by...letting himself go.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40After dinner, Boswell headed here to St James's.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44By his own admission, he decided to behave like a complete blackguard -
0:18:44 > 0:18:47"a coarse and foul-mouthed scoundrel".
0:18:47 > 0:18:50So the first thing he did was pick up a prostitute.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53It was night. There were plenty around.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55He says, "I agreed with her for sixpence,
0:18:55 > 0:18:58"went to the bottom of the park arm in arm
0:18:58 > 0:19:01"and dipped my machine in the canal
0:19:01 > 0:19:04"and performed most manfully."
0:19:04 > 0:19:09Three bowls of punch, a public brawl with some soldiers
0:19:09 > 0:19:11and two more prostitutes later,
0:19:11 > 0:19:13he eventually returned home
0:19:13 > 0:19:17where he described himself as "much fatigued".
0:19:22 > 0:19:28To his great regret, Boswell's time in London soon came to an end.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31He'd failed to get his commission in the Guards
0:19:31 > 0:19:33and now, under pressure from his father,
0:19:33 > 0:19:35planned to train for the Scottish bar.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41But his final "note to self" makes clear
0:19:41 > 0:19:44he wasn't giving up on his quest for politeness.
0:19:45 > 0:19:50He writes, "Be alert all along, yet composed.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52"Speak little, make no intimates.
0:19:52 > 0:19:57"See to attain a fixed and constant character, to have dignity.
0:19:57 > 0:19:58"Never despair."
0:19:59 > 0:20:03It's not yet a clear-cut case of the stiff upper lip
0:20:03 > 0:20:06but it's an important staging post along the way.
0:20:06 > 0:20:11Boswell realises that in his modern, evolving, civic society,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14a certain emotional consistency is needed,
0:20:14 > 0:20:18even if that means putting up a public facade.
0:20:24 > 0:20:29Sadly, self-restraint eluded Boswell to the end.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32He died at the age of 54,
0:20:32 > 0:20:36his body worn down by a lifetime of heavy drinking
0:20:36 > 0:20:41and at least 17 bouts of venereal disease.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48In the 18th century, not unlike today,
0:20:48 > 0:20:50British men were attempting to navigate their way
0:20:50 > 0:20:56between manliness, emotion and restraint.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00Nowadays this dilemma fills magazine columns,
0:21:00 > 0:21:02media discussions and counselling sessions.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06Back then it was the province of philosophers.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10In the 17th century
0:21:10 > 0:21:14John Locke had argued that tears in boys were a fault.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19Instead they, required brawniness and insensibility of mind.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24But 50 years later, Adam Smith began to insist the virtuous man
0:21:24 > 0:21:27must be sensitive and capable of deep feeling.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33And then there was Samuel Johnson who, in his famous dictionary,
0:21:33 > 0:21:34was still defining "manly"
0:21:34 > 0:21:39as "firm, brave, stout, undaunted, undismayed".
0:21:41 > 0:21:43What was a man to do?
0:21:51 > 0:21:56As for women, they faced an entirely different challenge -
0:21:56 > 0:21:58prejudice.
0:21:59 > 0:22:05It was widely believed that a woman was not mistress of her emotions,
0:22:05 > 0:22:08but instead, a slave to her feelings.
0:22:18 > 0:22:24One woman powerfully refuted such a patronising view of her sex -
0:22:24 > 0:22:26Mary Wollstonecraft.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30In 1792 this novelist, historian and thinker
0:22:30 > 0:22:34produced the first book on female liberation -
0:22:35 > 0:22:39A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42In this ground-breaking polemic
0:22:42 > 0:22:46Wollstonecraft argues that women are every bit as capable
0:22:46 > 0:22:48of rational behaviour as men.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53So she urges stoicism.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59"Beware, then, my friends of suffering the heart to be moved
0:22:59 > 0:23:01"by every trivial incident.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05"The reed is shaken by a breeze, and annually dies,
0:23:05 > 0:23:10"but the oak stands firm and for ages braves the storm."
0:23:13 > 0:23:17And that metaphor of the oak is deliberately provocative.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20It's a classic symbol of English manhood.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25Yet she's using it and suggesting that constancy and resilience
0:23:25 > 0:23:29could be displayed by a woman just as much as by a man.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31This must have been a very shocking sentiment
0:23:31 > 0:23:33for some of her male readers -
0:23:33 > 0:23:38exactly what they'd expect from an excitable and silly woman!
0:23:40 > 0:23:44To Wollstonecraft, the great enemy is femininity,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47and femininity is something you're taught,
0:23:47 > 0:23:49and being very, very emotional
0:23:49 > 0:23:53and being overpowered by your feelings is one aspect of it.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56What she says is that unfortunately
0:23:56 > 0:24:00women have been taught to be irrational,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03they're enslaved to feeling
0:24:03 > 0:24:05and they should be liberated to be rational
0:24:05 > 0:24:08and they should stop flopping around on sofas,
0:24:08 > 0:24:11they should stop reading novels - gosh!
0:24:14 > 0:24:18It was a bold, controversial argument.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21But before any real feminist movement could get going
0:24:21 > 0:24:27Wollstonecraft's case was tragically undermined - by her own example.
0:24:29 > 0:24:34In 1797 Mary died, leaving behind a new-born baby
0:24:34 > 0:24:37and a grieving husband, the philosopher William Godwin,
0:24:37 > 0:24:41who decided in her memory he would write an account of her life.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45But alongside his declarations of love and admiration,
0:24:45 > 0:24:50he included a lot of detail about Mary's life before she was married -
0:24:50 > 0:24:53including less well-known details
0:24:53 > 0:24:56about her passionate and chequered love life.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03Godwin disclosed that despite Wollstonecraft's insistence
0:25:03 > 0:25:06that women's heads should rule their hearts
0:25:06 > 0:25:10she hadn't always practiced what she'd preached.
0:25:12 > 0:25:17At 33 she'd gone to Paris, fleeing a thwarted love affair.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20But this turned out to be a case of going out of the frying pan
0:25:20 > 0:25:22and straight into the fire.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31Here Wollstonecraft met a dashing American army officer turned business man -
0:25:31 > 0:25:33Captain Gilbert Imlay.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40And though no portrait exists to convey his charms to us,
0:25:40 > 0:25:43apparently they weren't lost on her.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51Godwin later tries to justify Mary's behaviour.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54But he doesn't make a very good job of it - he writes,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57"She did not give full play to her judgment
0:25:57 > 0:26:01"and, gratified with the first gleam of promised relief,
0:26:01 > 0:26:05"she ventured not to examine with too curious a research
0:26:05 > 0:26:07"into the soundness of her expectation."
0:26:07 > 0:26:09In other words, she fancied him,
0:26:09 > 0:26:13she didn't think about it too much and she went for it.
0:26:19 > 0:26:20As it turned out,
0:26:20 > 0:26:24Imlay was not a man for whom it was worth betraying one's principles,
0:26:24 > 0:26:27but by the time Wollstonecraft realised he was unfaithful to her,
0:26:27 > 0:26:29they had a young daughter.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38Back once more in London with a freshly broken heart,
0:26:38 > 0:26:42Wollstonecraft overdosed on opium.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46She was saved, only to attempt suicide a second time.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51She rowed here to Putney, flung herself off the bridge,
0:26:51 > 0:26:55but was spotted and dragged out alive.
0:26:58 > 0:27:03Sex and attempted suicide made a toxic combination -
0:27:03 > 0:27:07a discreet affair was one thing, but a violent passion
0:27:07 > 0:27:10entered into with no respect for either reputation -
0:27:10 > 0:27:13or, evidently, for life - was quite another.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17For many men and women who wanted to take seriously the argument
0:27:17 > 0:27:20she'd put forward in A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman
0:27:20 > 0:27:22this was incredibly disappointing
0:27:22 > 0:27:25because everything she'd written was now contaminated.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33As it happened, Wollstonecraft had let the side down
0:27:33 > 0:27:35at the worst possible moment.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41By the 1790s, the British were coming to value cool reason
0:27:41 > 0:27:45and calm self-control more highly than ever before.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50A desire for social cohesion
0:27:50 > 0:27:53had been the driving force behind politeness,
0:27:53 > 0:27:56but it was fear of complete social breakdown
0:27:56 > 0:28:00which provoked the decisive step towards the stiff upper lip.
0:28:10 > 0:28:16On 14th July 1789 in Paris, the mob stormed the Bastille prison.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27To many it seemed to signal the inevitable end of the Ancien Regime.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33Not, however, to the British ambassador to France -
0:28:33 > 0:28:36His Excellency The Most Noble Duke Of Dorset.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46The Duke decided he knew exactly
0:28:46 > 0:28:49what would keep France from social meltdown -
0:28:49 > 0:28:53an arena where passion and conflict could be played out
0:28:53 > 0:28:55within understood boundaries.
0:28:55 > 0:29:00Yes, the answer to the French Revolution was clearly cricket!
0:29:01 > 0:29:03In Britain at that time,
0:29:03 > 0:29:06the game was played by aristocrats and commoners together
0:29:06 > 0:29:09and widely enjoyed by all ranks of society.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13So, the Duke reasoned, this was an example of the social hierarchy
0:29:13 > 0:29:15performing perfectly well.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18So if it could do so in Britain, why not in France?
0:29:26 > 0:29:30Not coincidentally, the Duke was a keen cricketer...
0:29:31 > 0:29:35..who had in the past even put up stumps on the Champs Elysees.
0:29:37 > 0:29:41So Dorset contacted his old friend, the Earl of Tankerville,
0:29:41 > 0:29:45who agreed to bring a national goodwill eleven to Paris.
0:29:45 > 0:29:49This included Tankerville's butler, one of Surrey's finest all-rounders,
0:29:49 > 0:29:53and Tankerville's gardener, the legendary "Lumpy" Stevens,
0:29:53 > 0:29:56who was probably the best bowler in England,
0:29:56 > 0:29:59and famous for his wily variations of pace and length.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02Unfortunately for Tankerville and the team,
0:30:02 > 0:30:05just as they were preparing to sail from Dover
0:30:05 > 0:30:09they ran into Dorset coming back the other way, fleeing from Paris.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16With great regret, the tour was called off.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21Conditions in the French capital were becoming too heated
0:30:21 > 0:30:24for even a good game of cricket to cool down.
0:30:30 > 0:30:35Revolting Paris completely terrified London society.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41Its fears were brought to life by Johann Zoffany
0:30:41 > 0:30:45who now abandoned his modern, nuanced depictions of human feelings
0:30:45 > 0:30:49and reached instead for age-old stereotypes.
0:30:58 > 0:30:59This painting by Zoffany
0:30:59 > 0:31:03is a nightmare scene from the French Revolution.
0:31:03 > 0:31:09It's August 10th 1792 when the mob raided the King's cellar in Paris
0:31:09 > 0:31:12and murdered all the guards outside
0:31:12 > 0:31:16and the bridge is the visual metaphor for the mouth of hell,
0:31:16 > 0:31:21which is literally belching out this murderous, hysterical mob.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24They've gone wild.
0:31:24 > 0:31:29And in the picture, the normal order of what is expected in society
0:31:29 > 0:31:33is turned on its head - so the aristocrats are being murdered,
0:31:33 > 0:31:35their heads are being put on stakes...
0:31:35 > 0:31:36There are also black people,
0:31:36 > 0:31:39which is always worrying to a white male elite,
0:31:39 > 0:31:43and the women in the picture are behaving particularly shockingly.
0:31:43 > 0:31:44They're actively involved
0:31:44 > 0:31:47in murdering and stealing from this aristocratic woman here.
0:31:47 > 0:31:52This woman is trading the uniform of the dead soldiers
0:31:52 > 0:31:54to a convenient Jew.
0:31:54 > 0:31:58So all the prejudices and suspicions of 18th-century establishments
0:31:58 > 0:32:02are brought out, and Zoffany is presenting an explicit link
0:32:02 > 0:32:07between unbridled, excessive emotion and radical politics.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16In the face of the turmoil across the Channel,
0:32:16 > 0:32:19British culture was about to change.
0:32:19 > 0:32:21Once so fashionable,
0:32:21 > 0:32:26sentimentality began to be seen as dangerously subversive.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31Both the French Revolution and the cult of sensibility
0:32:31 > 0:32:34were based on this same big idea
0:32:34 > 0:32:37that we human beings are all bonded together
0:32:37 > 0:32:40through shared powers of feeling and sympathy
0:32:40 > 0:32:44and that, rather than any other natural or inherited order,
0:32:44 > 0:32:46should be the basis of all society.
0:32:46 > 0:32:49And when people in Britain saw how terribly wrong,
0:32:49 > 0:32:52from their point of view, the French Revolution had gone,
0:32:52 > 0:32:56the cult of sensibility became very rapidly discredited,
0:32:56 > 0:32:58and it became seen as an alien, dangerous
0:32:58 > 0:33:01and, worst of all, French phenomenon.
0:33:07 > 0:33:11By the end of the 1790s, British fears were intensifying
0:33:11 > 0:33:15because of France's new leader - Napoleon Bonaparte.
0:33:21 > 0:33:25Napoleon didn't just have plans for a revolutionary France -
0:33:25 > 0:33:28he wanted a global empire.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31Given Britain's own imperial aspirations,
0:33:31 > 0:33:36the course seemed set for a full-scale clash of civilizations.
0:33:39 > 0:33:45This forceful, self-confident leader personified a new age for Europe.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50And so, also across the Channel,
0:33:50 > 0:33:55a more monolithic idea of national identity emerged.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59Great Britain began to come together as never before
0:33:59 > 0:34:01in reaction to a common enemy
0:34:01 > 0:34:05and it was as both a military and a moral response
0:34:05 > 0:34:10to this external threat that the upper lip started to stiffen.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23As Britain took on Napoleon on land and at sea,
0:34:23 > 0:34:26a specific type of hero emerged -
0:34:26 > 0:34:29a fighting man who could be brave and resolute,
0:34:29 > 0:34:31but also at ease with his feelings.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39No-one exemplified this better
0:34:39 > 0:34:41than the first national icon of the 19th century...
0:34:47 > 0:34:49..Admiral Horatio Nelson.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56Nelson stands on the dividing line between an earlier era,
0:34:56 > 0:35:00where displays of emotion are a badge of pride,
0:35:00 > 0:35:03and a later period, where exhibitions of feeling
0:35:03 > 0:35:07can call into question the strength of a man's character.
0:35:07 > 0:35:10In 1801 the Gentleman's Magazine said,
0:35:10 > 0:35:13"He had the brilliant qualities of a hero,
0:35:13 > 0:35:18"which included a feeling and generous heart.
0:35:18 > 0:35:22"He was in every sense a Romantic hero."
0:35:29 > 0:35:33Later heroes of the Empire would be praised for their dogged steadiness,
0:35:33 > 0:35:38but when Nelson rose from relative obscurity to national glory,
0:35:38 > 0:35:42buccaneering adventurers best represented British interests
0:35:42 > 0:35:45and it was an advantage to be a brilliant maverick.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54He really is the greatest Englishman,
0:35:54 > 0:35:57there's no question about it, in lots of ways,
0:35:57 > 0:35:59because he stopped Napoleon in his tracks,
0:35:59 > 0:36:03he undoubtedly changed the entire course of European history
0:36:03 > 0:36:06by the victory at Trafalgar,
0:36:06 > 0:36:08but he's a very interesting figure actually
0:36:08 > 0:36:10because he was a man of feeling,
0:36:10 > 0:36:14and he didn't see anything manly about concealing the fact
0:36:14 > 0:36:18that he was small, he was rather frail,
0:36:18 > 0:36:22he was subject to sea-sickness all his life
0:36:22 > 0:36:26and he was a person of extraordinary, strong susceptibility
0:36:26 > 0:36:29to feminine charm, shall I put it that way?
0:36:29 > 0:36:31I mean, he was a lady's man.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33He was a person who didn't conceal his emotions
0:36:33 > 0:36:35and didn't feel he needed to put a lid on them.
0:36:41 > 0:36:45Nelson was quite literally a legend in his own lifetime.
0:36:47 > 0:36:49But it was his untimely death
0:36:49 > 0:36:52that confirmed his place in the people's hearts.
0:36:58 > 0:37:04In 1805 aboard the flagship Victory at Trafalgar,
0:37:04 > 0:37:07he insisted on commanding the fleet from the quarter deck -
0:37:07 > 0:37:11where he was an easy target for an enemy sharpshooter.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15We all know what happened just before the end.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18Nelson turned to the captain of the ship, Captain Hardy,
0:37:18 > 0:37:20and said, "Kiss Me, Hardy."
0:37:20 > 0:37:25He then said, "Thank God, I have done my duty."
0:37:25 > 0:37:27Now, for future British heroes
0:37:27 > 0:37:30the love of friends and the love of country
0:37:30 > 0:37:33would not sit together quite so happily.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36In fact the Victorians were so embarrassed
0:37:36 > 0:37:39by Nelson's last appeal to Hardy that they changed the story.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43They decided he was rambling in Turkish and he said, "Kismet,"
0:37:43 > 0:37:45which means fate, "Kismet, Hardy!"
0:37:45 > 0:37:49There was a man giving in to what his fate held in store.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51That was much more stoical.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54But back at the beginning of the 19th century,
0:37:54 > 0:37:57Nelson's last-minute request
0:37:57 > 0:38:00for a public display of affection from an old friend
0:38:00 > 0:38:02made him MORE of a hero.
0:38:08 > 0:38:10When news reached Britain of Nelson's death,
0:38:10 > 0:38:14the public were devastated at the loss of their hero.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19And they exhibited their devotion to his memory
0:38:19 > 0:38:22by buying a range of tasteful products.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27This is a bulb holder
0:38:27 > 0:38:30where you put your bulbs in and up come the flowers
0:38:30 > 0:38:34so you commemorate his victory with a nice display of tulips.
0:38:35 > 0:38:40This is a bowl with a picture of Nelson right at the bottom of it
0:38:40 > 0:38:44and a little poem saying, "'Show me my county's foes,' the hero cried.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47"He saw, he fought, he conquered and he died,"
0:38:47 > 0:38:49which I don't think is MEANT to be comic.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53And this is the most bizarre of all. This is a scent container
0:38:53 > 0:38:58with a picture of Nelson in pink on the side.
0:38:58 > 0:38:59And it's heart shaped.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02I mean - he's selling perfume.
0:39:02 > 0:39:04Might as well be David Beckham!
0:39:09 > 0:39:13As plans were drawn up for Nelson's elaborate funeral
0:39:13 > 0:39:16the authorities soon grew increasingly anxious
0:39:16 > 0:39:19about the sheer scale of public mourning.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25And their fears looked like they might be justified
0:39:25 > 0:39:29when his body was laid in state at the Painted Hall in Greenwich.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35You might imagine the scene here was a model of British decorum -
0:39:35 > 0:39:40the public waiting patiently, queuing in an orderly fashion
0:39:40 > 0:39:42and then paying their respects soberly.
0:39:42 > 0:39:44But not a bit of it -
0:39:44 > 0:39:47when they opened the gates on the first day there was chaos -
0:39:47 > 0:39:5210,000 people pushed in in a huge jostling, heaving, mass.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56The Times said, "It was a scene of confusion beyond description."
0:39:59 > 0:40:04But the mood changed, however, when sailors who had served with Nelson
0:40:04 > 0:40:07arrived to honour their late commander.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11By contrast to the crowd,
0:40:11 > 0:40:14their measured behaviour was widely praised.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22The Naval Chronicle described the sight.
0:40:22 > 0:40:27"They eyed the coffin with melancholy respect and admiration,
0:40:27 > 0:40:30"while the manly tears glistened in their eyes,
0:40:30 > 0:40:33"and stole reluctant down their weather-beaten cheeks."
0:40:35 > 0:40:39The tide may have been turning against displays of public affection
0:40:39 > 0:40:44since the French Revolution, but this was clearly still acceptable.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47The tears were manly, they were controlled
0:40:47 > 0:40:50and they were an expression of patriotism.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54British men could still weep, just about,
0:40:54 > 0:40:57provided it was for the right reason.
0:41:01 > 0:41:07But by now these days of public emoting were numbered.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11Overseas, British forces were distinguishing themselves
0:41:11 > 0:41:14by a particular brand of valour,
0:41:14 > 0:41:18characterised by a combination of control, force and perseverance.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24One French writer
0:41:24 > 0:41:27compared the behaviour of his country's troops in combat
0:41:27 > 0:41:32to those of the British and found the former sadly lacking.
0:41:32 > 0:41:37"We lack the cool and reflective courage, that calm amidst danger,
0:41:37 > 0:41:39"that patience which surmounts difficulties
0:41:39 > 0:41:42"and stands proof against obstacles."
0:41:42 > 0:41:44And that is how more and more
0:41:44 > 0:41:47the British wanted themselves to be seen
0:41:47 > 0:41:50and how they began to see themselves.
0:41:52 > 0:41:56This was starkly illustrated by the shift in national symbols.
0:41:57 > 0:41:59Until the 1770s,
0:41:59 > 0:42:03England was embodied by both the impetuous fighting cockerel...
0:42:03 > 0:42:04COCK CROWS
0:42:04 > 0:42:06..and the pugnacious bulldog.
0:42:06 > 0:42:11- BULLDOG BARKS - But by the 1800s, the dog was champion.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18So Britain was to be more dogged and less...cocky.
0:42:29 > 0:42:34In civil society, a new code of conduct was emerging
0:42:34 > 0:42:36which prized constraint and control.
0:42:39 > 0:42:44One writer captured this better than any other.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50From her home here in Chawton, Hampshire,
0:42:50 > 0:42:52Jane Austen again and again explored the theme
0:42:52 > 0:42:57of how far one should express one's emotions.
0:42:57 > 0:43:01And I'm not so sure what she'd think of today's effusive merchandising.
0:43:08 > 0:43:10Jane Austen mug, Jane Austen tea towel
0:43:10 > 0:43:13and "I Heart Mr Darcy" bookmark...
0:43:13 > 0:43:17- He does look remarkably like Colin Firth, doesn't he?- He does.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23Whatever he may have looked like,
0:43:23 > 0:43:27Austin created a new sort of romantic hero.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34And the unlikely defining characteristics
0:43:34 > 0:43:39of this English heart-throb were restraint and reserve.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47Austen gives an example of the nascent stiff upper lip
0:43:47 > 0:43:51in her novel Emma in a succinct exchange
0:43:51 > 0:43:55between the hero, Mr Knightley, and his brother, John.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58The two brothers meet after a long absence -
0:43:58 > 0:44:03do they fall on each other in an emotional, fond bear-hug?
0:44:03 > 0:44:04Not exactly.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08"'How d'ye do, George?' and 'John, how are you?'
0:44:08 > 0:44:11"Succeeded in the true English style,
0:44:11 > 0:44:15"burying under a calmness that seemed all but indifference,
0:44:15 > 0:44:18"the real attachment which would had led either of them,
0:44:18 > 0:44:22"if requisite, to do every thing for the good of the other."
0:44:22 > 0:44:25Austen then observes the two brothers talking earnestly
0:44:25 > 0:44:30about important local issues like fencing and drainage.
0:44:33 > 0:44:38I spoke to Louise West, curator of Jane Austen's House Museum
0:44:38 > 0:44:42about how Austen reflected the change in national temperament.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44We began with the novel
0:44:44 > 0:44:48which most explicitly endorsed emotional discretion.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53So "Sense" is Elinor because she has common sense,
0:44:53 > 0:44:56and "Sensibility" is Marianne,
0:44:56 > 0:44:59and for sensibility you can read sensitivity, really -
0:44:59 > 0:45:02- oversensitivity.- Right.
0:45:02 > 0:45:06So, of the two sisters, one is romantic and head-in-the-air
0:45:06 > 0:45:09- and the other one is sensible. - Is grounded, yes.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12The most guarded people in Jane Austen's novels
0:45:12 > 0:45:16are actually very often the ones with the deepest feelings
0:45:16 > 0:45:18and so the genuine feelings,
0:45:18 > 0:45:22and I think Marianne is the one exception, actually.
0:45:22 > 0:45:26In almost every other case, people who express themselves,
0:45:26 > 0:45:32particularly about the opposite sex, in a very open way,
0:45:32 > 0:45:37a very excited, over-the-top way, they tend to be superficial.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40So the heroes, similarly, the ones who gush,
0:45:40 > 0:45:42the ones who open up and tell you too much...
0:45:42 > 0:45:45- Don't trust them.- ..they're not to be trusted.- Don't trust them.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49I mean, that's what's so lovely, actually, in these books -
0:45:49 > 0:45:51that by the end, the very reserved hero,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54the one who hasn't, sort of, said too much,
0:45:54 > 0:45:57finally opens his heart to the heroine,
0:45:57 > 0:46:02like Mr Knightley in Emma says, "If I loved you less I could say more,"
0:46:02 > 0:46:07and that's a wonderful description of what Jane Austen is on about.
0:46:13 > 0:46:16Austen excels at conveying the minutiae
0:46:16 > 0:46:20of domestic and social life in Georgian England.
0:46:24 > 0:46:28And despite the fact that two of her brothers served in the navy,
0:46:28 > 0:46:31you'd barely know that there was a war on
0:46:31 > 0:46:34and that the nation's survival was threatened.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42There's a quote here from one of Austen's great fans,
0:46:42 > 0:46:46and it's from Winston Churchill and it's very telling,
0:46:46 > 0:46:48though not, I think, in the way he meant it.
0:46:48 > 0:46:52He's writing in 1943 when he's been ill with pneumonia
0:46:52 > 0:46:56and he's recuperating and he does that by reading Pride and Prejudice.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59He writes, "What calm lives they had those people.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02"No worries about the French Revolution
0:47:02 > 0:47:05"or the crashing struggle of the Napoleonic wars.
0:47:05 > 0:47:10"Only manners controlling natural passion so far as they could,"
0:47:10 > 0:47:13and I think that's exactly what Austen's writing about -
0:47:13 > 0:47:15manners controlling this passion,
0:47:15 > 0:47:18but that in itself is a reaction to the horrors
0:47:18 > 0:47:23of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars that followed.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30Though Austen died at just 41, she lived long enough to see
0:47:30 > 0:47:34the epic conflict with Napoleon send an even clearer signal -
0:47:34 > 0:47:38that the days of the passionate English hero were numbered.
0:47:41 > 0:47:46In Jane Austen's unfinished last novel, Sanditon, written in 1817,
0:47:46 > 0:47:48one of the characters expresses regret
0:47:48 > 0:47:51at the name he's given his guest-house.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55He says, "I almost wish I had not named it Trafalgar -
0:47:55 > 0:47:59"Waterloo is more the thing now." And indeed it was.
0:47:59 > 0:48:03In 12 years, the Battle of Trafalgar and its hero, Admiral Nelson,
0:48:03 > 0:48:06had been eclipsed by a new national hero,
0:48:06 > 0:48:09one in whom the characteristics of the stiff upper lip
0:48:09 > 0:48:11had finally seemed to converge.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14His greatest military triumph was Waterloo
0:48:14 > 0:48:17and he was, of course, The Duke of Wellington.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31Apsley House, otherwise known as Number One London,
0:48:31 > 0:48:35was Wellington's home from 1818.
0:48:38 > 0:48:40Here, one portrait demonstrates
0:48:40 > 0:48:44from just how different a cloth this hero was cut.
0:49:00 > 0:49:02This portrait of Wellington by Thomas Lawrence
0:49:02 > 0:49:05was painted after his triumph at Waterloo.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08Military portraits are on the whole not meant to be friendly,
0:49:08 > 0:49:11but this one is particularly forbidding -
0:49:11 > 0:49:15it is saying, "This is not a person you want to cross.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18"This is not someone you want to mess with."
0:49:18 > 0:49:22Portraits of Nelson tended to have him looking out of the picture,
0:49:22 > 0:49:26either at imaginary ships or thinking romantic thoughts.
0:49:26 > 0:49:28This is straight at you.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35This is not a man who's going to invite a fellow officer to kiss him,
0:49:35 > 0:49:38even if he's dying.
0:49:41 > 0:49:44Born into a family of minor aristocrats,
0:49:44 > 0:49:47Wellington had grown up in the shadow of his elder brothers.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53But after joining the army, he eventually made a name for himself
0:49:53 > 0:49:56with notable victories at Assaye in India,
0:49:56 > 0:50:00Busaco in Portugal and Vitoria in Spain.
0:50:00 > 0:50:04And his military demeanour was always distinguished
0:50:04 > 0:50:07by rigorous self control.
0:50:10 > 0:50:14His approach to running an army was methodical, dogged, regimented
0:50:14 > 0:50:17and his day-to-day routine was always the same -
0:50:17 > 0:50:20he got up at six, spent three hours writing letters,
0:50:20 > 0:50:22then dressed, shaved, breakfasted
0:50:22 > 0:50:25before having meetings with senior officers.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28In the afternoons, he toured the units of his army,
0:50:28 > 0:50:31offering a model of calmness and fortitude
0:50:31 > 0:50:33to everyone under his command.
0:50:36 > 0:50:40Discipline characterised Wellington's way with words, too -
0:50:40 > 0:50:43he hated hyperbole and became known
0:50:43 > 0:50:47for his dry deployment of understatement.
0:50:47 > 0:50:52In 1814 he signed off a letter to his brother with a postscript,
0:50:52 > 0:50:56"I believe I forgot to tell you - I was made a Duke."
0:50:59 > 0:51:02But Wellington's image was the result
0:51:02 > 0:51:04of a self-consciously studied act.
0:51:04 > 0:51:09What he showed on the outside didn't always match how he felt within.
0:51:11 > 0:51:16The popular conception of the classic, impassive, reserved Briton
0:51:16 > 0:51:18is that he's not actually feeling anything,
0:51:18 > 0:51:20but I'm not sure this is right
0:51:20 > 0:51:23and it's certainly not right about the prototype figure,
0:51:23 > 0:51:27the Duke of Wellington. He felt things very deeply.
0:51:27 > 0:51:31It was the expression of emotion that he wasn't so keen on.
0:51:31 > 0:51:34His friend, the diarist Lady Frances Shelley,
0:51:34 > 0:51:38recalls him telling her about the draining effects of warfare,
0:51:38 > 0:51:42he said, "I always say that next to a battle lost,
0:51:42 > 0:51:45"the greatest misery is a battle gained.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48"Not only do you lose those dear friends
0:51:48 > 0:51:50"with whom you have been living,
0:51:50 > 0:51:53"but you are forced to leave the wounded behind you.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56"To be sure, one tries to do the best for them,
0:51:56 > 0:51:58"but how little that is.
0:51:58 > 0:52:02"At such moments, every feeling in your breast is deadened."
0:52:02 > 0:52:05And it is that deadening of feeling
0:52:05 > 0:52:08that Wellington decided was essential
0:52:08 > 0:52:12if you were to answer the calls of duty and public service.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16He was a very self-conscious young man,
0:52:16 > 0:52:19and I think he was aware of the emotional side of his life
0:52:19 > 0:52:21being something which could interfere
0:52:21 > 0:52:23with the practical side of his life as a soldier,
0:52:23 > 0:52:27and the symbolic moment for him - he was very musical -
0:52:27 > 0:52:30was when he took his violin - which he loved and he was very good at -
0:52:30 > 0:52:32and he threw it in the fire.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35He destroyed the side of his life
0:52:35 > 0:52:39which might get in the way of him winning battles.
0:52:44 > 0:52:47Wellington's cool, phlegmatic disposition
0:52:47 > 0:52:50was emphasised by one colossal factor -
0:52:50 > 0:52:52his adversary.
0:52:57 > 0:53:02This statue of Napoleon was commissioned by Napoleon himself
0:53:02 > 0:53:08and portrayed the famously short emperor as a giant god - Mars.
0:53:10 > 0:53:12But this serene classical figure
0:53:12 > 0:53:15is not the Napoleon of the British imagination.
0:53:17 > 0:53:20Egged on by the likes of caricaturist James Gillray,
0:53:20 > 0:53:24for us he was a hot-headed product of the Revolution
0:53:24 > 0:53:27and a crazed bogeyman.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38The two nations were likewise personified.
0:53:39 > 0:53:44All the ills of the French were embodied in Liberte -
0:53:44 > 0:53:46a frenzied, rampaging harpy.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51Meanwhile the vessel for British virtues
0:53:51 > 0:53:54was the calm, majestic Britannia.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59Both stereotypes proved surprisingly enduring.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10Wellington had risen to pre-eminence under King George III,
0:54:10 > 0:54:14served as Prime Minister to his two successors
0:54:14 > 0:54:17and wouldn't die until well into the reign of Queen Victoria.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21In that time, Imperial expansion abroad
0:54:21 > 0:54:23and Industrial Revolution at home
0:54:23 > 0:54:28had swelled Britain's coffers and heightened her ambitions -
0:54:28 > 0:54:31now travel was swifter, cities were larger
0:54:31 > 0:54:34and society more complex than ever.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37But it had also acquired a new moral seriousness.
0:54:43 > 0:54:48Now in this Britain, Wellington's dutifully heroic example
0:54:48 > 0:54:50seemed a better fit than ever.
0:54:54 > 0:54:59On the day of his funeral, the 18th November 1852,
0:54:59 > 0:55:03over a million mourners lined the route to St Paul's Cathedral.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07The public, who could have behaved like a mob,
0:55:07 > 0:55:10behaved with a self-restraint worthy of the Duke.
0:55:10 > 0:55:13Queen Victoria was so impressed she wrote to her uncle,
0:55:13 > 0:55:16King Leopold of the Belgians, saying,
0:55:16 > 0:55:19"The foreigners have all assured me
0:55:19 > 0:55:22"that they could never have believed such a number of people
0:55:22 > 0:55:26"could have shown such feeling, such respect, for not a sound was heard."
0:55:31 > 0:55:34Wellington's tomb was positioned in the crypt.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38But it couldn't be given pride of place.
0:55:39 > 0:55:43Nelson had taken that spot years earlier.
0:55:46 > 0:55:50But it was the sober example of Wellington
0:55:50 > 0:55:54that now spoke most directly to the priorities of Victorian Britain.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59The day after Wellington died
0:55:59 > 0:56:01The Morning Chronicle ran an obituary
0:56:01 > 0:56:03in which it celebrated his character
0:56:03 > 0:56:05and his place in the national pantheon.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09Whilst conceding that the Duke had never been, quote,
0:56:09 > 0:56:12"In the vulgar sense 'popular'," it wrote,
0:56:12 > 0:56:16"A nation's tears will bedew the hearse of Wellington.
0:56:16 > 0:56:18"Even though not from the same causes
0:56:18 > 0:56:20"which poured them on that of Nelson."
0:56:20 > 0:56:23It's saying that the public may have loved Nelson
0:56:23 > 0:56:26but they ADMIRED the Duke of Wellington -
0:56:26 > 0:56:28which is much more important.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30And, "His character, if less amiable,
0:56:30 > 0:56:34"is a higher, a more complete and a nobler one,"
0:56:34 > 0:56:37and The Chronicle is confident that the British public
0:56:37 > 0:56:41will spot beneath what it calls "the ice of character,"
0:56:41 > 0:56:46the "fire of genuine and self-sacrificing principle."
0:56:46 > 0:56:49And it's that key phrase - "the ice of character" -
0:56:49 > 0:56:52that we may find rather chilling,
0:56:52 > 0:56:56but the Victorians would come to find more and more important.
0:57:04 > 0:57:11In the coming era individual Britons of all ranks, men and women,
0:57:11 > 0:57:13would be expected to pull their weight
0:57:13 > 0:57:15in the service of Queen and country.
0:57:17 > 0:57:19Because the Victorians believed
0:57:19 > 0:57:22that the next chapter of the British success story
0:57:22 > 0:57:27would be determined by the moral fibre of the people themselves.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33The phrase "the stiff upper lip" had not yet been coined -
0:57:33 > 0:57:36ironically it was to be borrowed from the Americans
0:57:36 > 0:57:38in the latter part of the century.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42But by the mid-1800s, this ideal of a British national character
0:57:42 > 0:57:44had definitely been minted.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47It survived so well and for so long
0:57:47 > 0:57:51that we now tend to think of it as obvious and inevitable,
0:57:51 > 0:57:54but it was, in fact, a complex reaction
0:57:54 > 0:57:57to fear of a revolution at home, threat of wars abroad
0:57:57 > 0:58:01and an intellectual debate about morality and behaviour.
0:58:01 > 0:58:05It served the nation well on its new, self-confident course
0:58:05 > 0:58:08and was of invaluable assistance
0:58:08 > 0:58:11in the coming heyday of global domination,
0:58:11 > 0:58:14but it also bound the country together
0:58:14 > 0:58:16with a common image of itself.
0:58:16 > 0:58:21From now on we were going to be modest about our national pride
0:58:21 > 0:58:25and inordinately proud of our national modestly.
0:58:29 > 0:58:32Next week - how the stiff upper lip was spread,
0:58:32 > 0:58:36right through every level of Victorian society,
0:58:36 > 0:58:40to become an equal-opportunity, all-embracing,
0:58:40 > 0:58:42national characteristic.
0:59:12 > 0:59:15Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd