0:00:06 > 0:00:10People always ask, how do people go to the loo in dresses like this?
0:00:10 > 0:00:13And there's an answer.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19Thank you. This is a bourdaloue, and it's an amazing invention.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22A secret chamber pot. What you do is slip it under here...
0:00:29 > 0:00:33And nobody knows what I'm doing.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36That feels a lot better.
0:00:42 > 0:00:48I'm Dr Lucy Worsley, chief curator of the Historic Royal Palaces, based here at Hampton Court.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51Another day at the office!
0:00:51 > 0:00:55As a historian though, I'm fascinated not just by grand palaces,
0:00:55 > 0:01:01but also by the more intimate moments and objects in history, and by how they inform our lives today.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Oh, it's exciting, it's exciting.
0:01:04 > 0:01:09In this series, I'll be tracing the story of British domestic life through four rooms - the bathroom,
0:01:09 > 0:01:13the bedroom, the living room, and the kitchen.
0:01:13 > 0:01:14THEY LAUGH
0:01:14 > 0:01:17From homes of the Middle Ages to the present day,
0:01:17 > 0:01:21I'll be exploring the ways that our attitudes and habits have changed.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25I'll be meeting some extraordinary people. He's glowing at us!
0:01:25 > 0:01:27And doing some rather odd things.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30SHE SCREAMS
0:01:32 > 0:01:36'This time, from rebuilding Britain's first flushing toilet...'
0:01:36 > 0:01:38I just can't imagine this is going to go right first time.
0:01:38 > 0:01:43'..to taking a Victorian lady's bath, I'll be discovering how the bathroom
0:01:43 > 0:01:46has developed over the past 700 years.
0:01:46 > 0:01:51So in the Victorian age, poo becomes taboo.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10In our modern houses, we take so much for granted.
0:02:10 > 0:02:15All that comfort, privacy and technology that allows them to function.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18Yet, all these things have taken centuries to develop, and every room
0:02:18 > 0:02:22in the house has its own fascinating story.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25This time, I'll be exploring the history of the bathroom, the room which has
0:02:25 > 0:02:32taken the longest to evolve, yet the one we now consider to be the most essential in the house.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38This is a very desirable bathroom with the power showers,
0:02:38 > 0:02:45the double sinks and the big luxurious bathtubs, hot water on tap.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47And, round there, a loo to flush everything away.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49It is extraordinary
0:02:49 > 0:02:53when you consider that 50 years ago, many houses didn't even have
0:02:53 > 0:03:00plumbed-in baths, and 100 years before that, the bathroom as a specialised room didn't even exist.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03So how did all this technology come to be developed,
0:03:03 > 0:03:07and without it, how did people keep themselves clean?
0:03:11 > 0:03:14My story starts in medieval England.
0:03:14 > 0:03:21Today, we think of bathrooms as intensely private places, but in the Middle Ages, everything
0:03:21 > 0:03:27from washing and grooming to going to the toilet took place in public, in buildings just like this one.
0:03:27 > 0:03:32No functioning medieval bath houses exist in Britain today, so I've come
0:03:32 > 0:03:40to these modern baths in London's East End to have a steam with my fellow historian, Sally Dixon Smith.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43I've got the idea that medieval people were really smelly and never washed.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45But I think I'm wrong, aren't I?
0:03:45 > 0:03:49You are. It's a very-widely held misconception.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53I think because of this idea that the Tudors and the Stuarts are very
0:03:53 > 0:03:57smelly, hence medieval people must have absolutely stunk to high heaven.
0:03:57 > 0:04:03But it's not the case. Bath houses were very common in medieval cities and people would go quite regularly.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08The fashion for bathing had been established by medieval knights.
0:04:08 > 0:04:14After years fighting the crusades in the east, they returned home not only with citrus fruits and spices,
0:04:14 > 0:04:18but with a taste for steam baths, called hammams.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22700 years after Britain's Roman baths had fallen into ruin,
0:04:22 > 0:04:24bath houses were now built in every city.
0:04:24 > 0:04:30There were various ways of creating steam, you could heat up rocks or heat up tiles
0:04:30 > 0:04:35or ceramics in the fire, and either cast water on them or plunge them into water to heat the water.
0:04:35 > 0:04:42You could also pipe in steam from bake houses nearby, from their ovens, in order to warm up the steam houses,
0:04:42 > 0:04:46and people would also put spices and herbs in the water to give
0:04:46 > 0:04:52a lovely smell and be rinsed down with rose water, so all in all it must have been a lovely experience.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56and most surprisingly of all, bathing was mixed.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58Men and women
0:04:58 > 0:04:59- in there together, then?- Yes.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03They were sometimes being used for shady business, people were meeting
0:05:03 > 0:05:05people who weren't their husband or wife there?
0:05:05 > 0:05:09You do get that implication, you get that quite a lot in literature,
0:05:09 > 0:05:15that it's something husbands fear, is that their wives are going to go to the bath house to meet their lovers.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18But, who knows? That's literature.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22Lancelot always seems to get propositioned whenever he has a bath, but then Lancelot's
0:05:22 > 0:05:26James Bond and James Bond always gets propositioned whenever he has a bath.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31In London's baths, or "stews" as they were called,
0:05:31 > 0:05:37you could have your hair cut, listen to music, get a shave or eat a meal.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42And they were so popular that they were soon licensed not just for bathing.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46The Bishop of Winchester, for instance, in Southwark,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49licensed bath houses, and licensed prostitution essentially
0:05:49 > 0:05:56and some of the women working in bath houses were known as wagtails, the Bishop's wagtails.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00This may be the origin of why women are referred to as "birds" today.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04You would have been respectable in the bath house because you had your hair covered.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09- Oh!- And although there was a greater sense of nudity, or you might see people naked,
0:06:09 > 0:06:14women should still keep their hair covered because that was particularly private and sexual,
0:06:14 > 0:06:16and only prostitutes would have their hair down like me.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19Oh, Sally, I'm sorry to say that you're showing yours!
0:06:19 > 0:06:22Yes, very indiscreet.
0:06:25 > 0:06:31People in medieval England were quite surprisingly clean, bathing, keeping their houses clean.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34In fact in towns, if you didn't keep your house clean, you could be
0:06:34 > 0:06:38had up before a court of nuisance, given the equivalent of an ASBO
0:06:38 > 0:06:43and told you had to do a better job if smells from your property offended anybody else.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47But bath houses did fall out of fashion by the Tudor period.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51They just became too much associated with prostitution.
0:06:51 > 0:06:56They still existed, but they were now known as bagnios and bagnios turned into bordellos.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03But it wasn't only bathing that was a mixed, communal activity in medieval London.
0:07:03 > 0:07:08On the river, just near the bath houses, were also the public loos.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11We're on the modern London Bridge, but this picture shows
0:07:11 > 0:07:14its predecessor, the ancient London Bridge.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18And you see it is covered in houses, there were 138 houses on the bridge,
0:07:18 > 0:07:22and they had their own communal toilet. It was very famous.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24It was London's first public toilet.
0:07:24 > 0:07:29It was used by the residents, and also by travellers arriving into the city.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32And you can see how sensible it was to put the toilet on a bridge,
0:07:32 > 0:07:37because all the waste could fall straight down and be washed away by the river.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39All of London's rivers were used for this purpose.
0:07:39 > 0:07:44I do like the idea of these huge communal toilets that London had in the Middle Ages.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48They had these long benches with holes in them and everyone used to sit in there
0:07:48 > 0:07:50having a chat while they went.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54And with no modern loo paper, they had some interesting alternatives.
0:07:54 > 0:07:59We need to address the very important question of how they wiped their bottoms.
0:07:59 > 0:08:04Firstly, the legacy of the Romans was alive and well, the sponge on a stick for the highest in society.
0:08:04 > 0:08:06Very comfortable and convenient.
0:08:06 > 0:08:13Also, a book of instructions for a noble household recommends that the master used a piece of linen
0:08:13 > 0:08:17or blanket, also clean and convenient and comfortable.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20Lower down in society, you had to make do with what you can find.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24This is arse-wisp, straw, leaves, that sort of thing.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28And if that wasn't available, there's one more alternative.
0:08:30 > 0:08:37By the end of the Middle Ages, Britain's love affair with communal bathing was coming to an end.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41By the end of the 16th century, bathing had fallen out of fashion.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44People weren't washing like they had done in the medieval period.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46There were a couple of reasons for this.
0:08:46 > 0:08:51Firstly, it was quite hard to find clean water in crowded Tudor cities.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53Secondly, there was a medical reason.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57There was this new idea that sickness could be transmitted
0:08:57 > 0:09:03through the air, called miasma, and if you were bathing in hot water and your pores were opening up,
0:09:03 > 0:09:05this would make you vulnerable to disease.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08Air carrying bad stuff would go in through your skin.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11So bathing had become dangerous.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15The plague arrived seven times in 200 years.
0:09:15 > 0:09:21It killed 20% of the population and killed off bathing as well.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26In 1546, Henry VIII shut Britain's bath houses for good.
0:09:26 > 0:09:33Now, with no recourse to bathrooms of any kind, the Tudors came up with new theories on how to keep clean.
0:09:33 > 0:09:39Instead of bathing, the Tudors put their faith in something else - white linen underclothes.
0:09:39 > 0:09:45They thought that linen worn next to the skin would soak up the sweat and the toxins from the body.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49So instead of washing themselves, they washed their linen instead.
0:09:49 > 0:09:55To understand what it must have been like to wash linen without
0:09:55 > 0:09:56the modern washing machine,
0:09:56 > 0:10:02I've come to the Weald and Downland Museum in west Sussex to experience a typical
0:10:02 > 0:10:07Tudor wash day with historians Kathy Flower-Bond and Hannah Tiplady.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12I felt like a horse. So we are making a sort of filtering, drainage system really?
0:10:12 > 0:10:17'The first step in the process was to make a soap called lye.
0:10:17 > 0:10:22'Following an age-old method, it was made by filtering water through ash from the fire...'
0:10:22 > 0:10:25You can see it's starting to come through.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29'..through stones and straw in a bucket.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31'It was then boiled down
0:10:31 > 0:10:36'with mutton fat and mixed with herbs to make a sweet-smelling detergent.'
0:10:36 > 0:10:38That looks like soap that I would recognise.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40That's what Kathy's using over there.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43You rub that directly onto the bits that are really dirty.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45Bit of elbow grease necessary.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47Lots of elbow grease.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49After being soaked in lye and scrubbed with soap,
0:10:49 > 0:10:53the linen was then bashed with a bat called a beetle.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58Imagine doing this all day.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01You'd really need strong muscles to do this.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05It is quite fun and physical.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09Now, are these things the origin of ball games?
0:11:09 > 0:11:11The kids who were running around...
0:11:11 > 0:11:14- Playing around with the beetles and the balls?- Yes.
0:11:14 > 0:11:15So women invented cricket!
0:11:16 > 0:11:17Yeah!
0:11:19 > 0:11:24Whereas the outer clothes were never washed, underclothes were washed every week.
0:11:24 > 0:11:30It was a female-dominated activity, but Tudor men could still make one vital contribution.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34I'm looking for a man.
0:11:40 > 0:11:41Can I ask you a favour?
0:11:41 > 0:11:47For centuries women have been doing the washing and we feel men haven't been contributing enough.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51We are hoping that you, today, can contribute some stain remover for us?
0:11:51 > 0:11:53Go forth and do your duty.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59Ah! Great, you are a gent.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01- Thank you.- Happy washing!- Thank you.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06So why are we pouring Brian's urine on to this sheet?
0:12:06 > 0:12:12Well, it's the best thing to whiten things, and if you've got really stubborn stains, grease,
0:12:12 > 0:12:18grass, anything like that, then that is by far the best stain remover there ever was.
0:12:18 > 0:12:23'After soaking the linen in urine for two days, they gave it a good rinse
0:12:23 > 0:12:25'and then spun it on a ringing post...'
0:12:25 > 0:12:28We are on the spin cycle of the washing machine.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30You can see how red your hands are getting.
0:12:30 > 0:12:35'..then hung it out on hawthorn hedges or rosemary bushes to dry.'
0:12:35 > 0:12:37You can see that hawthorn is just perfect for this,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40because all the prickles come through and hold it in place.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Absolutely, you don't need clothes pegs!
0:12:43 > 0:12:46We've just done everything the modern washing machine does really.
0:12:46 > 0:12:54We soaked the clothes, we added the detergent, we agitated it and then we rinsed it and spun it out.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58But we only really washed one sheet and it took nearly all morning.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02So it's quite a lot of work really.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06I suppose what I've learned is that it shows that, although we think
0:13:06 > 0:13:12Tudor people were dirty, they didn't wash, this is a misconception.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15They put a huge amount of effort, their women put a huge amount
0:13:15 > 0:13:19of effort into making sure everyone had clean, white linen.
0:13:19 > 0:13:26Across the whole of Tudor society, clean linen, not a clean body, was the true measure of cleanliness.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29Indeed, for the very rich, it was a show of brilliant white
0:13:29 > 0:13:34at the collar and cuffs that advertised not only one's status, but one's moral worth.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38The whiter the white, the more godly the person.
0:13:38 > 0:13:43After experiencing a Tudor laundry, I've decided to take it one step further
0:13:43 > 0:13:46and find out what it was really like under those collars and cuffs.
0:13:46 > 0:13:52So, just like 16th century people, I've decided not to bathe for a whole week.
0:13:52 > 0:13:58Instead, I'll wash just my face and my hands, and wear clean linen underclothes every day.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01I think it will be challenging not to wash.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03I feel bad when I don't wash.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05I wash every day.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07I'm a fiend for hot water.
0:14:07 > 0:14:12This is the morning of my third day now without a bath,
0:14:12 > 0:14:16and I have to say I'm not very happy.
0:14:16 > 0:14:23I feel itchy and horrible all over, and yesterday, I resorted to wearing my hat.
0:14:23 > 0:14:28I had that on all day, because I felt that this would horrify the human eye.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31It just feels dirty, dirty, dirty.
0:14:31 > 0:14:36I'm worried that I smell a bit, so I've come to work today with this beautiful pomander that will
0:14:36 > 0:14:42hopefully protect my colleagues from the pestilential vapours which my body may be omitting.
0:14:42 > 0:14:49It's an orange, and the flesh has been removed, and it's been replaced by a sponge soaked in vinegar.
0:14:49 > 0:14:54And these are cloves. If I were going out into Tudor London, I would carry this with me
0:14:54 > 0:14:59and it would be like a portable air freshener I suppose.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01Reminds me of Christmas, not bad.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03Yes?
0:15:05 > 0:15:06I'll go with the smell.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10Come on, ladies, noses up close.
0:15:12 > 0:15:18Do you like it? What has been quite interesting is people's reactions to me.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21A lot of people have gone, "Ugh, that's disgusting!"
0:15:21 > 0:15:26But actually a lot of my older colleagues at work have
0:15:26 > 0:15:30said "Oh, well, when I was a girl I only had one bath a week"
0:15:30 > 0:15:35and that really shows you how things have changed in the later 20th century.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40But the one body part the Tudors did clean carefully was their teeth
0:15:40 > 0:15:43so I'm trying out a few period recipes with a Tudor toothbrush.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45It's a twig.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48It's got a nice hairy end. That's rosemary and salt.
0:15:54 > 0:16:00And the salt gives it a bit of graininess, which is what you actually need.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04This is tooth powder made out of burnt toast.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06I set the fire alarm off while I was making that.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11It's pretty hopeless, because it's too soft. That's vinegar.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14It's a kind of mouthwash.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27Ooh! That just blows your head off.
0:16:27 > 0:16:34'As my final day of not bathing approaches, I can't contain my delight.'
0:16:34 > 0:16:41It's the end of the last day of the experiment. That's a whole week!
0:16:41 > 0:16:43And here is my bag of things.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47Oh, I'm so happy to see these things again, look! Here they all are.
0:16:47 > 0:16:53Modern life, and that delightful sound that you can hear up there is the water running into my bath,
0:16:53 > 0:16:59which I'm going to leap into in just a second. Shampoo, hooray!
0:16:59 > 0:17:01Bye-bye.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05My week without washing was...
0:17:05 > 0:17:08educational rather than enjoyable.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10In fact, it was quite horrible.
0:17:10 > 0:17:15But that's because for me it was a very strange and novel experience.
0:17:15 > 0:17:21One thing that really helped was putting on a clean T-shirt every day. That was intensely pleasurable.
0:17:21 > 0:17:22Much more so than normal.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26The other thing that was pretty handy, I rather liked, was the way
0:17:26 > 0:17:31I could take my basin of water to wash my face to any room, to any part of the house.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34I could even wash my face in bed if I wanted to.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37And this is the real big difference between the Tudors and today.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39They just had no concept of a bathroom.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42That idea lay centuries into the future.
0:17:42 > 0:17:48They did still need to go to the loo though, and they had numerous different options for that.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52In Tudor England, there were three levels of toilets.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56The lowest were communal privies called great houses of easement.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00Next were chamber pots, whose contents were often thrown into the street.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03And the rich used close stools, velvet-padded chairs with a pot
0:18:03 > 0:18:07inside, which were carried away and cleaned out by servants.
0:18:07 > 0:18:12Elizabeth I even had her own stool carriage that followed her wherever she went.
0:18:12 > 0:18:18But, all of a sudden, in 1596, a revolutionary new invention arrived,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Britain's first flushing toilet.
0:18:21 > 0:18:25It was a device so ahead of its time, it brought its inventor instant fame.
0:18:25 > 0:18:30Intrigued to know how it worked, I've come to a modern plumber's workshop
0:18:30 > 0:18:36in order to rebuild it using the original 16th-century instructions.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38So A is the tank.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42Yes, A is the tank, which is known nowadays as a toilet cistern.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45I've got one of those at home, but I don't have fish in mine.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48No, that is an added extra if you want!
0:18:48 > 0:18:52It was invented by the poet Sir John Harington, godson to Elizabeth I,
0:18:52 > 0:18:56and so impressed the Queen that it was installed in Richmond Palace.
0:18:56 > 0:19:01Sir John wrote a book describing how to make your "worst privy
0:19:01 > 0:19:03"as sweet as your best chamber."
0:19:03 > 0:19:07And called it the Metamorphosis of Ajax,
0:19:07 > 0:19:12a pun on the Tudor word for a toilet - a "jakes".
0:19:12 > 0:19:14Filled with water from the palace well,
0:19:14 > 0:19:20it flushed into a private cesspit, which was cleaned out once a month by boys called gong scourers.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23That is the equivalent of the sewer.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25Yes, sewer, septic tank, whatever.
0:19:25 > 0:19:30The toilet had two valves, one at the top to flush water into the
0:19:30 > 0:19:33toilet bowl, the other to release it into the cesspit.
0:19:33 > 0:19:40And to save precious water, a key was fitted so that only the keyholder could release the flush,
0:19:40 > 0:19:43"after at least 20 persons had used it."
0:19:43 > 0:19:47I can see how all this sort of might come together, but it seems quite clever.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49Is it still how a toilet works today?
0:19:49 > 0:19:51The essentials are exactly the same.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55- That's remarkable.- Yes, the same idea as what we use now.
0:19:55 > 0:19:56Good job, Sir John Harington.
0:19:59 > 0:20:06After soldering and fixing the flush pipes into place, we are finally ready to test our contraption.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09I just can't believe this is going to go right first time.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12There's too much potential for disaster here, I think.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15I suggest we fill it up and give it a try.
0:20:15 > 0:20:16Here we go.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24It's leaking a little bit...
0:20:24 > 0:20:27But it's going to work. Here we are.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30We are putting in the tomatoes.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34We chose tomatoes because they were a brand new Elizabethan fruit that
0:20:34 > 0:20:36had only just caught on, so it seemed appropriate.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39- Full flush.- Whoosh!
0:20:39 > 0:20:44Hey, that's really effective, look at that! That is looking good.
0:20:45 > 0:20:46Shall we do the bottom flush?
0:20:46 > 0:20:49Let's go for the bottom flush.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51Hey, it's flushing! It's flushing.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54Brilliant. Did you see how well they went down there?
0:20:54 > 0:20:55I see how well they went down.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59The tank didn't hold up too well, but made out of wood, it's not too bad, is it?
0:20:59 > 0:21:05But the main thing is that the tomatoes made its way beautifully down into the cesspit.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08I'm amazed that it worked! I never thought it would.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10But it's actually really effective.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14- It had a really powerful swoosh! Good effort.- Good teamwork.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17But despite its revolutionary design, the Ajax was too early
0:21:17 > 0:21:22for its time and it wouldn't reappear for another 200 years.
0:21:22 > 0:21:27In a way, it is quite surprising that once the flushing toilet has been invented, it doesn't catch on.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29But there are a couple of very good reasons for this.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32Firstly, it smells. It still smells.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36There is nothing to stop bad smells coming out and affecting the person who is using the toilet.
0:21:36 > 0:21:38And secondly, it's fixed.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40It's a great big structure.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43The Queen doesn't want to have to GO to the toilet.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45She wants the toilet to go to her.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48So that's why the close stool remains more popular.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52As long as you've got someone to empty it for you, then flushing is just a bit of a gimmick.
0:21:52 > 0:21:57But whatever method the Elizabethans used to relieve themselves,
0:21:57 > 0:22:00there was always the question of what to do with the consequences.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04Most houses had cesspits, which were cleaned out by night soil men,
0:22:04 > 0:22:07and the waste was used for compost on market gardens.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10But this cost a shilling a week.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14Many Londoners dumped their waste directly into the rivers instead.
0:22:14 > 0:22:19To supply London with cleaner water, it was clear that a new solution was needed.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22When we turn on our taps in our modern bathrooms and
0:22:22 > 0:22:25fresh, clean water comes out, it is something of a miracle.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29A huge amount of plumbing and piping makes it all possible.
0:22:29 > 0:22:34The beginnings of this infrastructure were laid in late Elizabethan London.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38It was a crowded, smelly, dirty city. Its rivers were polluted.
0:22:38 > 0:22:44It began to be a priority for Elizabethans to find an alternative to the stinky Thames.
0:22:47 > 0:22:53And that alternative was called the New River, where I've come to meet historian, David Adshead.
0:22:53 > 0:23:00So, David, did they come up with the idea then because, in Elizabethan London, they started to realise
0:23:00 > 0:23:04that their sewage and drinking water was all mixed up together and this wasn't a good thing?
0:23:04 > 0:23:06That's absolutely it.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09By the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, there were 180,000 people
0:23:09 > 0:23:13living in London and there wasn't a proper water supply or sewage system.
0:23:13 > 0:23:21Built by Sir Hugh Myddleton in 1613, the New River brought water all the way from a spring in Hertfordshire.
0:23:21 > 0:23:26It took 10 years to build, using a single plough and 100 men digging by hand.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28Right then, let's have a look on your map.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32That's the full extent of the New River, going all the way
0:23:32 > 0:23:36down from its source here.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38So it winds all the way along here.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40To Haringey,
0:23:40 > 0:23:42Stroud Green, Finsbury Park.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46- Islington, the new riverhead.- So did you say that is 40 miles long?
0:23:46 > 0:23:49Well, as the crow flies it's less than 20, but because of
0:23:49 > 0:23:54all the wiggles, it was over 40 miles when it was first constructed.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56So what determined its route?
0:23:56 > 0:23:59Well, what they were trying to do was to take advantage of gravity.
0:23:59 > 0:24:06Rather than have the cost of pumping, etc etc, and long-term maintenance, they simply followed the
0:24:06 > 0:24:09- 100-foot contour line. - That's quite a job.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13As an engineering feat, it's up there with the Channel Tunnel or the Great Western Railway.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15It's absolutely extraordinary.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19The water ended up in reservoirs at Sadler's Wells,
0:24:19 > 0:24:23from where it flowed down into the City through carved wooden pipes.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28They procured elm from all the home counties,
0:24:28 > 0:24:34thousands and thousands of elms, they bought them by the ton, and they chopped them into five-foot lengths,
0:24:34 > 0:24:38and they then bored them out, so these are the strings of elm pipes.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41Was there a particular reason for the choice of elm?
0:24:41 > 0:24:44Well, elm has fairly unique properties.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48It has a twisted grain, so that meant where the
0:24:48 > 0:24:52pipes were exposed to sunlight they were less likely to split.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54Makes the best pipes.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57- So these pipes are just running along the top of the road? That's amazing.- They are.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01Might we have seen that in this street here, a great run of pipes?
0:25:01 > 0:25:04I think you probably would, and there are descriptions in some
0:25:04 > 0:25:08streets and squares in London of as many as nine strings of these pipes.
0:25:08 > 0:25:10Nine pipes all at once, that's incredible.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13There can't have been room for the carriages.
0:25:13 > 0:25:18Lead pipes called quills were then drilled into the wood and connected to paying customers' homes.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22For the first time, fresh Hertfordshire water
0:25:22 > 0:25:26instead of the dirty Thames could be used for drinking and washing.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30It cost 24 shillings a year, the equivalent of £160 today.
0:25:30 > 0:25:37It was such a successful system that it was still being used 100 years later in Georgian London.
0:25:45 > 0:25:50Here it is. The point at which water finally gets into the house.
0:25:50 > 0:25:55It comes down in these underground kitchen basements.
0:25:55 > 0:26:00There's a tap here, not everybody had a tap and not everybody had water every day.
0:26:00 > 0:26:05Different streets had their own water day when the supply would be turned on for a couple of hours.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08So when it was your water day, you got all your pots and pans,
0:26:08 > 0:26:14you filled up everything you could because, once water day was over, that's it till next time.
0:26:14 > 0:26:21The water was then carried upstairs to dressing tables set up in the corners of Georgian bedrooms.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23These "toilette stations"
0:26:23 > 0:26:27were like modern bathrooms in miniature, with their trio of jug, bowl and washstand.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31This is where Georgian men and women would have had their morning wash.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35Unlike today, this was a social event.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38Wealthy people would even allow visitors to watch.
0:26:38 > 0:26:43To learn more about the Georgian toilettes, I'm meeting historian Amanda Vickery.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45I think I would be washing my face in that?
0:26:45 > 0:26:48And my hands? Any other body parts?
0:26:48 > 0:26:50I think the extremities.
0:26:50 > 0:26:56I think the face and hands, and sometimes water is enough, you know, a wipe down with linen.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00Because again, how much of your body is going to be seen by the world?
0:27:00 > 0:27:03- It's what protrudes out of your clothes.- We call this a basin.
0:27:03 > 0:27:09It is the forerunner to the modern washbasin that we have in our bathrooms today, isn't it?
0:27:09 > 0:27:13Well, I suppose this is the beginning of the idea that you are going to have a sink.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17Some servant has got to labour up the stairs with that hot water.
0:27:17 > 0:27:23Do you know, I do like the idea that the washbasin comes to me, rather than I have to go to the washbasin.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28I imagine it's lovely just rolling out of bed and there it is, all lovely and warm.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32To cater for the tastes of an aspirational middle class, new items of
0:27:32 > 0:27:39washware exploded onto the market, from men's shaving tables to a thoroughly new invention, the bidet.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42It didn't really catch on, did it? Although it did in France.
0:27:42 > 0:27:47The interesting thing is that it seems that it's prostitutes and courtesans in France who really drive
0:27:47 > 0:27:54on the fashion for the bidet, so I love that idea that these women who are so despised were actually at the
0:27:54 > 0:27:59forefront of fashion, because clearly it's in their interest to be as fresh as possible for the next customer.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03Hmm, but in England they were always viewed with grave suspicion, really.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07Unsurprising really if it's something that's deployed by a French prostitute.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11You can't imagine some nice Protestant girl thinking, "Ooh, that's the thing for me."
0:28:11 > 0:28:16Exposed to the eyes of visitors, a washing station was also a sign of status.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20It was crammed with perfume bottles, combs, head scratchers, all the
0:28:20 > 0:28:23fashionable accoutrements, including make-up.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27So, is this made of something like cochineal, ground up?
0:28:27 > 0:28:32Cochineal was one ingredient of rouge, and the other thing you could do is get a red ribbon and cut it
0:28:32 > 0:28:36and wet it and you could use that.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38I think I would just slap the cheeks myself.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41I think I've gone a bit overboard, do you?
0:28:41 > 0:28:44- Definitely.- Do you think I look a little bit too French?
0:28:44 > 0:28:46You look like a sinister doll.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48Get it off! Get it off!
0:28:48 > 0:28:52Despite access to fresh water, the toilette was more about make-up,
0:28:52 > 0:28:57perfume and powder, more about disguising dirt than washing it off.
0:28:57 > 0:29:02And to make matters worse, in 1712, Queen Anne imposed a tax on soap,
0:29:02 > 0:29:06so burdensome that soap became a luxury item.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08Can you possibly give me a hand with my wig?
0:29:08 > 0:29:11I'm just putting something around myself.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14"Give me a hand", you mean be your servant.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17Everybody thinks, "I'd love to go back in the past." They think
0:29:17 > 0:29:20they'd marry Mr Darcy, but of course they'd be the housemaid,
0:29:20 > 0:29:23I mean the ladies maid. Am I sticking it on?
0:29:23 > 0:29:25Oh, well, if you wouldn't mind.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31But this is a real treat, Amanda, if you want to do it, to use the little bellows.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Now, you can't complain about that.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45Lots of people think that the 18th century was the
0:29:45 > 0:29:49age of elegance but I think it was the age of body odour.
0:29:49 > 0:29:52However, we have seen something very interesting up there.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56That is the birth of the modern bathroom, that little corner of the bedroom.
0:29:56 > 0:30:01It has the ingredients of a basin, fresh water, even a little piece of soap if you could afford it.
0:30:01 > 0:30:07So that's the first time we've seen part of the house just given over to washing, and that corner of the
0:30:07 > 0:30:11bedroom will go on to become a whole room of its own.
0:30:12 > 0:30:18Even if the toilette involved more perfume and powder than water, the concept of bathing
0:30:18 > 0:30:23did return to prominence for the first time since the medieval age.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26But, rather than bathing in hot water to cleanse the body,
0:30:26 > 0:30:30the Georgians preached the medicinal virtues of cold water.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33In particular, sea water.
0:30:33 > 0:30:39Georgian doctors were recommending that you immerse your body into sea water to cure practically anything,
0:30:39 > 0:30:44from constipation to infertility, to what they called "disorders of the codpiece economy".
0:30:44 > 0:30:48And, in fact, the quotation I like most of all is from the doctor who
0:30:48 > 0:30:55recommends that you go into cold water because it will "powerfully excite your stupid mind."
0:30:56 > 0:31:00The sea was regarded as frightening, so for those who couldn't pluck up
0:31:00 > 0:31:05the courage to get into it, it was recommended they drink it instead.
0:31:05 > 0:31:10This peculiar-looking drink is the prescription of Dr Richard Russell
0:31:10 > 0:31:13and this will cure absolutely anything, if you believed him.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17It's a pint of seawater boiled with milk and cream of tartar.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20Now I'm going to tell you what it tastes like.
0:31:28 > 0:31:34That tastes exactly like vomit and I'd rather have a swim in the sea than drink a pint of that.
0:31:37 > 0:31:42OK. Ha-ha! It's time. The moment has come. I'm going to give it a go!
0:31:44 > 0:31:47SHE SQUEALS
0:31:49 > 0:31:55To preserve their modesty, ladies wore long dresses weighted down with lead so
0:31:55 > 0:31:58that they wouldn't reveal anything that shouldn't be seen by gentlemen.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02They were taken down to the waters in horse-drawn bathing machines
0:32:02 > 0:32:05and helped in by doctors and elderly matrons.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07No such luxury for me.
0:32:11 > 0:32:13Oh!
0:32:21 > 0:32:25Ladies were advised not to plunge in all at once in case it was too much
0:32:25 > 0:32:30for them, in case they burst a blood vessel, so I might have gone in a bit too quickly.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33But that is really rather strangely pleasant.
0:32:33 > 0:32:38It's certainly woken me up, it's roused up my drowsy spirits...
0:32:39 > 0:32:42..and it's invigorated my stupid mind.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45I really quite enjoyed it, but I can see why some Georgian
0:32:45 > 0:32:48ladies thought it was all too much and they never did it again.
0:32:51 > 0:32:58Over the next 100 years, between 1750 and 1850, Britain would now plunge headlong into the greatest
0:32:58 > 0:33:03social and economic change in its history - the Industrial Revolution.
0:33:03 > 0:33:09Alongside cotton mills and steam trains came gas lamps and the first kitchen range.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12This age of invention would transform the home and culminate
0:33:12 > 0:33:19in the Great Exhibition of 1851, the greatest showcase for British technology the world had ever seen.
0:33:19 > 0:33:26The watchmaker, Alexander Cumming, became the first to reinvent Sir John Harington's Ajax toilet in
0:33:26 > 0:33:311775, but it was at the Great Exhibition that the masses would not only see new pieces of
0:33:31 > 0:33:36bathroom technology, but also use a flushing toilet for the first time.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39The lack of public toilets had once restricted
0:33:39 > 0:33:45women's mobility outside the home but now the streets of London could potentially be transformed.
0:33:45 > 0:33:5051 Bedford Street is not a well-known address, but it is so important in the history of London.
0:33:50 > 0:33:56It's now a newsagent, but this is where the first public toilets for women were.
0:33:56 > 0:34:00This was just in the wake of the Great Exhibition of 1851, where
0:34:00 > 0:34:04over 800,000 people used the public loo and were really impressed by it.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06Unfortunately, it didn't really catch on here.
0:34:06 > 0:34:11There were two reasons for this. Firstly, women were ashamed to be seen to be using a public toilet,
0:34:11 > 0:34:16women weren't supposed to go, they also weren't expected to be out on the streets of the city.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18Secondly, it was expensive.
0:34:18 > 0:34:23It cost you tuppence to actually use the toilet, another two to wash your hands, so that's four pence.
0:34:23 > 0:34:25That's not exactly spending a penny, is it?
0:34:29 > 0:34:35The public loo didn't catch on immediately but the flushing toilet did, and the main beneficiary of
0:34:35 > 0:34:39this loo revolution was not a person, but a city - Stoke-on-Trent.
0:34:39 > 0:34:43A regional hub of the Industrial Revolution, it was here in the
0:34:43 > 0:34:47kilns of its potteries that the world's toilets would be made.
0:34:49 > 0:34:53In a gallery devoted entirely to the humble loo, I'm meeting Angela Lee,
0:34:53 > 0:34:58a curator who knows more about toilets than anyone else on earth.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01So Stoke-on-Trent, it's really the toilet capital of the world, isn't it?
0:35:01 > 0:35:05I've never seen so many different toilets before.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08- Is it truly the largest collection in the whole world?- It is.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12That's incredible. 'This museum is filled with hundreds of toilets, all
0:35:12 > 0:35:17'of which were patented by a number of competing Victorian inventors.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20'The most famous of them all was Thomas Crapper,
0:35:20 > 0:35:24'a man who many believe to be the sole inventor of the flushing loo.'
0:35:24 > 0:35:29It would be great if you could explode for me the myth of Thomas Crapper.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33Thomas Crapper is important in sanitation history, but not for
0:35:33 > 0:35:36- the reasons people think he is.- He didn't invent the flushing toilet?
0:35:36 > 0:35:42No, he didn't invent the flushing toilet because no one person did, and crap doesn't come from his name.
0:35:42 > 0:35:44- That's such a disappointment. - It is, I know.
0:35:44 > 0:35:51But it's a really old word meaning rubbish or waste or something you desperately want to get rid of.
0:35:51 > 0:35:56In the 18th century, people were using chamber pots and close stools in different rooms in the house,
0:35:56 > 0:36:03sometimes with other people present, but now this becomes a completely solitary activity.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07It does. I think there has always been a sense of privacy if you could afford it.
0:36:07 > 0:36:11So, in the Victorian age, poo becomes taboo?
0:36:11 > 0:36:15Certainly you didn't want to be seen, and that was a problem with the early toilets.
0:36:15 > 0:36:20They were jolly noisy, so quite often what would happen was
0:36:20 > 0:36:25you'd use the chamber pot and then empty it into your flushing toilet when there was nobody else about.
0:36:25 > 0:36:32Elizabeth I's Ajax had failed to prevent noxious gases rising up its pipes and into the palace,
0:36:32 > 0:36:39but all these toilets featured the great technological breakthrough - U-bend and S-bend pipes.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42When flushed, the curve of the pipes created water traps which
0:36:42 > 0:36:45prevented smells from coming back up into the room.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51With this design breakthrough, toilets of all shapes and sizes flooded the market,
0:36:51 > 0:36:55determined to win over the public with some fabulous names.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00It seems to me that people were inventing new types of toilet every
0:37:00 > 0:37:02ten minutes throughout the 19th century.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06Certainly in the 1870s. It's like mobile phones, they're going off in all different directions.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10Every company wants to get into this new big market of making toilets.
0:37:10 > 0:37:15But then 10, 15 years later, it's all settled and we have the
0:37:15 > 0:37:17British standard toilet, the toilet we know today.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22As Victorian England fell under the spell of the flushing loo,
0:37:22 > 0:37:27the sudden surge in mass flushing created a major public problem.
0:37:27 > 0:37:34In order to see just how big a problem it was, I've come to the Northern Outfall Sewer in London.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37Until the 1840s, your own sewage was your own problem.
0:37:37 > 0:37:43You kept it in your own cesspit that belonged to your house, or you paid night soil men to take it away.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46What happened in the 1840s was that the government said you've
0:37:46 > 0:37:52got to link up your water closet to the general drains, which we use for surface water. It was a good idea,
0:37:52 > 0:37:56but it just didn't work because the drains couldn't take it, they weren't designed for it.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59And literally, if there was a storm, all the sewage came back up
0:37:59 > 0:38:03and exploded all over Holborn, for example.
0:38:03 > 0:38:091858 was the Great Stink, when the Thames was absolutely
0:38:09 > 0:38:13horrific and everyone realised that London needed new drains.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17The answer, the solution to the whole problem, we can see it down there.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21And that solution was the world's first
0:38:21 > 0:38:26purpose-built sewer system, built by the engineer Joseph Bazalgette.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33I think they could just lower me down, like a...carcass.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37You can float down like an angel, Luce.
0:38:37 > 0:38:39Descend out of the heavens.
0:38:39 > 0:38:41Where's the floor?
0:38:41 > 0:38:44Go on, Luce, down you come, a couple more steps. It's not very deep.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46Only about a couple hundred mill.
0:38:49 > 0:38:51Am I standing in actual poo, here?
0:38:51 > 0:38:55You are, indeed. You're not up into your neck in it yet.
0:38:55 > 0:38:57OK, up top.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00There you are, Luce. Welcome to Barrel No. 3
0:39:00 > 0:39:01of the Northern Outfall Sewer.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05I can see why people say the sewers are like a cathedral, because
0:39:05 > 0:39:09it is a bit echoey and spectacular.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12Are you impressed as an engineer today with what Bazalgette did?
0:39:12 > 0:39:13Yes.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15Do you think he was good at his job?
0:39:15 > 0:39:18He was bloody marvellous!
0:39:19 > 0:39:26Three cholera epidemics had swept over London by the mid-1800s, killing more than 100,000.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30Cholera was still believed to be transmitted through bad air, or miasma.
0:39:30 > 0:39:32The sewers were designed to enclose it
0:39:32 > 0:39:36and London's waste, carrying it away from the rivers for the first time.
0:39:36 > 0:39:41Measuring 1,300 miles and built in just nine years, this remarkable feat
0:39:41 > 0:39:44was followed by similar schemes all over the land.
0:39:44 > 0:39:50So Bazalgette and his amazing sewers, they allowed the modern bathroom to happen.
0:39:50 > 0:39:57You couldn't have water closets until Bazalgette came along and made this transformation.
0:39:57 > 0:40:03With the creation of the sewers, and a city-wide network of lead pipes to replace the wooden pipes
0:40:03 > 0:40:08of the past, houses could now be built with a wonderful new feature - piped water which went not just
0:40:08 > 0:40:16to the basement, but to all areas of the house, in particular to a completely new room, the bathroom.
0:40:16 > 0:40:21In order to see some really advanced Victorian plumbing, I've come to this London house.
0:40:21 > 0:40:26I'm being shown around by the curator, Reena Suleman.
0:40:26 > 0:40:28Essentially used by the servants,
0:40:28 > 0:40:33with what they called a revolving washbasin, or a tip-up sink.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37You have your wash and you revolve it, and the water rushes out
0:40:37 > 0:40:41and you can see right down the drain there. That's how it works.
0:40:41 > 0:40:46This house was rented in the 1870s by the artist Linley Sambourne.
0:40:46 > 0:40:51It came not only with a downstairs toilet, but also plumbed-in bathrooms.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55For Mrs Sambourne though, being connected to the sewers was not a wonder but a curse.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59Here we go, so this is Mrs Sambourne's bedroom, and this
0:40:59 > 0:41:02is her own plumbed-in washbasin.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05It would have been considered quite avant-garde at the time.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09Now, I've got this idea that she didn't like drains, and having been
0:41:09 > 0:41:12down the sewer, I can really understand that.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15It was disgusting down there. And she kept the plug in at all times.
0:41:15 > 0:41:20She did, and not only did she keep the plug in, but she hardly ever used it.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24She doesn't like that. She's still using the old system, which is here,
0:41:24 > 0:41:26and that is the chamber pot that she is still using,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29even though there are three plumbed-in toilets in this house.
0:41:29 > 0:41:36Now, I don't blame her, because it's kind of nicer in here than it is in the cold stony bathroom, and people
0:41:36 > 0:41:41would have seen her if she had gone to the bathroom, which is immodest.
0:41:41 > 0:41:43Yes, but also given the costumes they were wearing as well, it would
0:41:43 > 0:41:49have been quite cumbersome, with the myriad of skirts they had underneath them, to be able to pull those up.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52- You'd need to be in private, in a big room with a chamber pot.- Yes.
0:41:52 > 0:41:57And Mrs Sambourne was not alone.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01In Dundee, a Mrs Owler claimed to have been poisoned by the proximity
0:42:01 > 0:42:04of her bedroom sink to the city's main sewer.
0:42:04 > 0:42:09Mr Sambourne, however, had a little more faith in his plumbing.
0:42:09 > 0:42:10Da-dah!
0:42:10 > 0:42:15We are in a recognisably modern bathroom for the first time.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19- Yes.- Here it is. This is the 1880s, is it, that he has this put in?
0:42:19 > 0:42:25- He does.- Mr Sambourne had a cold bath here every morning, as he didn't have hot water yet.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28Although as an artist, keen to explore the new medium
0:42:28 > 0:42:31of photography, he didn't use the bath just for bathing.
0:42:31 > 0:42:38This whole bath was designed to house his chemicals, so this shelf was fitted just here.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41So when he was doing the photographic stuff,
0:42:41 > 0:42:46he'd open up the shelf, and put all the equipment on here.
0:42:46 > 0:42:48We've got a few photos here.
0:42:48 > 0:42:50They are rather interesting - what's going on with these?
0:42:50 > 0:42:53Photography was very key to the way that he worked.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57He referred to them as his pencil sketches, and he would develop these
0:42:57 > 0:43:01photographs, and trace them and do his final drawings for Punch.
0:43:01 > 0:43:07- Now, was it absolutely essential that all these ladies were naked? - No, no.
0:43:07 > 0:43:09And what did his wife think about all of this?
0:43:09 > 0:43:15The interesting thing is Mrs King, who was one of Mr Sambourne's favourite models, who came here
0:43:15 > 0:43:20to be photographed, and that's actually, that table survives and is in the morning room.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22That's in his own morning room in his own house?
0:43:22 > 0:43:26- Yes.- Does his wife know that Mrs King was sitting in the morning room with no clothes on?
0:43:26 > 0:43:29Well, no. You have to read their diaries in parallel
0:43:29 > 0:43:32for that particular day, so she's actually holidaying in Ramsgate.
0:43:32 > 0:43:34She's out of the way when Mrs King comes round.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36And he's given the servants the day off.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42I've got a book of bathroom porn here.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46It's full of new technologies that exploded in the late 19th century.
0:43:46 > 0:43:56Between 1855 and 1900, 4,700 people applied for a patent to do with some new bit of bathroom kit.
0:43:56 > 0:44:00And the middle classes are creating bathrooms that we would recognise.
0:44:00 > 0:44:04This is where it all starts, in the late 19th century.
0:44:04 > 0:44:06Whereas toilet technology had been the obsession of the 1840s,
0:44:06 > 0:44:11now it was the turn of other fixtures and fittings.
0:44:11 > 0:44:17There's things in this book like power showers, there's one here that looks just like
0:44:17 > 0:44:20the rainmaker shower, that you can get today and is hugely expensive.
0:44:20 > 0:44:24Charles Dickens had a shower that was called the Demon.
0:44:24 > 0:44:26Don't you love that?
0:44:26 > 0:44:29'What all these patents revealed was that bathing had now become
0:44:29 > 0:44:32'an established part of middle-class life.'
0:44:32 > 0:44:36Theories on the role of miasma or bad air in spreading disease were
0:44:36 > 0:44:40finally debunked by the discovery of germs in the late 19th century.
0:44:40 > 0:44:45Now daily bathing was no longer seen as a novelty, but as a medical necessity.
0:44:45 > 0:44:51Soon even people lower down the social scale began to see improvements in sanitation.
0:44:51 > 0:44:56So, in order to see how the other half lived, I've come to the back-to-backs in Birmingham,
0:44:56 > 0:44:59a series of 19th century workers' houses
0:44:59 > 0:45:06built literally back to back, where I'm being guided round the communal yard by local historian Kris Gough.
0:45:06 > 0:45:11Most back to backs had them, and they were usually in the corner of the yard.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14- This is 1870s... - 1870s upwards.
0:45:14 > 0:45:19- A proper flushing toilet.- That flushed into the new sewerage system, the Victorian sewerage system.
0:45:19 > 0:45:21We've got 11 houses.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25- And only three privies?- Well, there would have been four originally, for up to 60 people sharing four toilets.
0:45:25 > 0:45:3060 people were using these four? Do you think there were sometimes queues out here then?
0:45:30 > 0:45:34There could have been, but the doors were always closed, you never knew who was in, there were no locks.
0:45:34 > 0:45:38So you'd go... and they'd go "I'm in here", so you'd have to wait.
0:45:38 > 0:45:43And despite the invention of commercially manufactured toilet paper
0:45:43 > 0:45:49in 1863, users of these privies resorted to less expensive ways of wiping their bottoms.
0:45:49 > 0:45:55I'm just preparing some Victorian toilet paper, as would have been used in this Victorian privy.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00Here at the back to backs they would have been using
0:46:00 > 0:46:07wastepaper, newspaper, junk paper, and in fact, even today, if I get junk mail through my letter box,
0:46:07 > 0:46:15I might well describe it as bumf, bits of old paper, and in fact that word originally meant bum fodder.
0:46:15 > 0:46:17You would talk about wastepaper as bum fodder because you would
0:46:17 > 0:46:20literally use it to wipe your bottom.
0:46:23 > 0:46:25But despite the breakthrough of flushing toilets,
0:46:25 > 0:46:29at the back to backs, that's where bathroom technology ended.
0:46:29 > 0:46:33With just one tap in the yard and little access to clean water,
0:46:33 > 0:46:37instead of bathing, the women went to enormous lengths to keep their
0:46:37 > 0:46:42family's clothes clean, a legacy seemingly unchanged since the Tudor age.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45Here we are. What do you call this? Not the brew house?
0:46:45 > 0:46:47No, this is the bruhus.
0:46:47 > 0:46:52- We are in the bruhus.- And we are going to light the fire because that is the first job of the day.
0:46:52 > 0:46:58The single Victorian copper, used to heat up the water, was shared between all 11 houses.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01So washday was every 11 days.
0:47:01 > 0:47:06- Quite a hard day for the ladies. They would start really, really early. - And finish really late.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08We don't just get to sit here looking at it and warming our hands?
0:47:08 > 0:47:11No, no, no! We've got lots of jobs to do.
0:47:11 > 0:47:13It's raining out there, though.
0:47:13 > 0:47:15Alongside the copper, the women had mangles,
0:47:15 > 0:47:21dollies and Canadian cones, making the process of washing a little easier than it was in Tudor times.
0:47:21 > 0:47:25So this is like a pre-preparation for your washing.
0:47:25 > 0:47:27Like a pre-wash,
0:47:27 > 0:47:28After a vigorous pre-wash called a "poss",
0:47:28 > 0:47:34the boiling copper was then prepared with new commercially available soaps.
0:47:34 > 0:47:35You need to put in your soap.
0:47:35 > 0:47:38- Would you like to have a go?- I would.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40Mind your fingers while you do.
0:47:40 > 0:47:44In 1853, someone finally decided that
0:47:44 > 0:47:48it would be better for the hygiene of the nation if soap wasn't taxed.
0:47:48 > 0:47:52The government actually give up a million pounds of revenue as a result of that decision.
0:47:52 > 0:47:55But, on the other hand, hygiene becomes much better.
0:47:55 > 0:47:57The Victorian age is the age of soap.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00'After William Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
0:48:00 > 0:48:06'repealed soap tax for the first time since 1712, soap became much more readily available.
0:48:06 > 0:48:12'From the posher Pears and Palmolives, to the more affordable, but horrible-smelling carbolic.'
0:48:12 > 0:48:16When people wanted to have a bath, did they heat up the water for that in here as well?
0:48:16 > 0:48:21- Yes.- And that would have been augmented with stuff heated on the stove in the house?
0:48:21 > 0:48:25Yes, you would have done kettles and saucepans on the stove in the house.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28The bath, the old tin bath, sometimes they were on the top
0:48:28 > 0:48:32of the cellar head, but sometimes they were kept as a communal one that was kept in the bruhus.
0:48:32 > 0:48:35So you take that, and you set it up in your kitchen?
0:48:35 > 0:48:38In the warmest place in the house, right in front of the fire.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41And then you would fill it just once for the whole family, wouldn't you?
0:48:41 > 0:48:44You can see how much trouble and effort it all was.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47Absolutely, so you would take buckets and buckets across
0:48:47 > 0:48:53and you'd start to fill it up, and you would use the old carbolic again, and Dad would go in probably first.
0:48:53 > 0:48:58Then it would go down all the family until it got to the children, and you could probably get two or three
0:48:58 > 0:49:01of the children in together, into the same water.
0:49:01 > 0:49:05So the very dirtiest water was left for the smallest baby, in fact.
0:49:05 > 0:49:09- Usually.- It's the survival of the fittest then, isn't it?- Yeah!
0:49:09 > 0:49:13And the old phrase, "don't throw your baby out with the bathwater",
0:49:13 > 0:49:16it's probably because you couldn't find them, because the water was so mucky.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21Private bathrooms might have been out of reach for working-class people,
0:49:21 > 0:49:27but those at the upper end of society rejected plumbing for entirely different reasons.
0:49:27 > 0:49:32With legions of servants to heat up their hot water, they simply didn't need it.
0:49:34 > 0:49:39In fact, here at Shugborough, there is the heartbreaking story of a poor little housemaid, 14 years old,
0:49:39 > 0:49:43whose job it was to fill up the big boiling copper in the morning.
0:49:43 > 0:49:4750 buckets of water every day she had to pour into that thing.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50At Shugborough Hall, it was the housemaid's job
0:49:50 > 0:49:54to prepare Lady Anson's bath in her bedroom twice a week.
0:49:54 > 0:50:00I've always wanted to experience for myself just how much hard work it was to fill up a bath...
0:50:02 > 0:50:05and I'm getting a sense of it already.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08The bedroom is miles away. I'm wondering what I've taken on here.
0:50:08 > 0:50:14I'm going to carry the hot water all the way upstairs to the bath.
0:50:14 > 0:50:20In grand houses like this, not only was plumbing deemed middle-class and vulgar,
0:50:20 > 0:50:25but worst of all, Victorian pipes could burst and wreak havoc on the fabric of an 18th century mansion.
0:50:45 > 0:50:48I reckon the housemaid was a lot fitter than the lady of the house.
0:51:00 > 0:51:07After 50 trips by the humble housemaid, the semi-dressed mistress of the house
0:51:07 > 0:51:10would get into what she called her modesty bath.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17Although I'm in a super-luxurious bedroom, my bath could be more luxurious.
0:51:17 > 0:51:26I'm using carbolic soap, and I'm using a rough sponge, and I'm still wearing my shift,
0:51:26 > 0:51:29not sort of luxuriating in the water, because upper-class ladies
0:51:29 > 0:51:34still had a puritanical, suspicious attitude towards bathing.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37It was considered degenerate to loll about in the water.
0:51:37 > 0:51:42Something your husband's French mistress might do, not something a proper English girl would do.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48I read a brilliant ladies' hygiene manual from 1844
0:51:48 > 0:51:53saying that certain parts mustn't be washed more than once a day.
0:51:53 > 0:51:58To do so would be degenerate and would lead to unfortunate consequences. It must never be done.
0:51:58 > 0:52:06So upper-class ladies went on bathing in these rather sort of ramshackle camping-like conditions
0:52:06 > 0:52:08right into the 20th century.
0:52:08 > 0:52:13Well after hot water and plumbing and bathrooms were available, and it's hilarious when
0:52:13 > 0:52:16the dollar princesses, the American heiresses come over
0:52:16 > 0:52:20to marry English aristocrats in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
0:52:20 > 0:52:26They are shocked by the primitive conditions they find in English country houses.
0:52:26 > 0:52:30It wouldn't be until 1910 that Shugborough would finally
0:52:30 > 0:52:37get its first bathroom, in an age that would see huge advances in the provision of hot water to the home.
0:52:37 > 0:52:42The first Victorian systems had heated up hot water directly from the kitchen range.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45But the laying on of gas in the late 19th century
0:52:45 > 0:52:52gave rise to geyser baths, which had to be lit by hand, and which had a terrifying tendency to explode.
0:52:52 > 0:52:56And finally, the early 20th century saw the great breakthrough,
0:52:56 > 0:53:00the invention of the high-pressure circulating gas boiler.
0:53:00 > 0:53:05This was the final piece of the jigsaw and the modern bathroom was complete.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09By the beginning of the 20th century, it looked like things were coming together for the bathroom.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12Hot water was available, the plumbing was in place.
0:53:12 > 0:53:15People understood that it was healthy for them to keep their bodies clean.
0:53:15 > 0:53:20But there was one thing missing before people could enjoy a guilt- free wallow in a hot bath -
0:53:20 > 0:53:23there needed to be a change in the moral climate.
0:53:23 > 0:53:29This only happened after the First World War, and there were two main reasons for it.
0:53:29 > 0:53:30The first was Hollywood.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34On the silver screen, people could see film stars wallowing
0:53:34 > 0:53:38in bubble baths, taking telephone calls, making it all look perfectly normal.
0:53:38 > 0:53:45And the second influence was where film stars themselves stayed in London, luxury hotels like this one.
0:53:48 > 0:53:52Victorian hotels were built with only one bathroom for every floor,
0:53:52 > 0:53:56but these hotels had an en suite in every room.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00And so to get me ready for the glamour of the 1930s bathroom,
0:54:00 > 0:54:07I'm having a Hollywood makeover with the help of all the latest '30s beauty products.
0:54:07 > 0:54:09A teeny, tiny razor!
0:54:09 > 0:54:12A rapid shampoo which requires no rinsing.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21You've turned me into a film star.
0:54:22 > 0:54:24It's amazing!
0:54:31 > 0:54:32Da-dah!
0:54:34 > 0:54:41So this is the bathroom in 1932. It's totally different from its Victorian predecessor.
0:54:41 > 0:54:46Victorian bathrooms were masculine places, very functional, probably designed for washing
0:54:46 > 0:54:50yourself in cold water, but this is a room for enjoying yourself.
0:54:50 > 0:54:52It's just fabulous, isn't it?
0:54:52 > 0:54:57This is Hollywood glamour brought into English society,
0:54:57 > 0:55:04and you can just imagine a film star covered in bubbles, sipping a cocktail, maybe having a smoke
0:55:04 > 0:55:08in there, and because she has got a lovely Marcel wave like mine,
0:55:08 > 0:55:13doesn't want to get her hair wet, so is probably using this very cunning shoulder shower, look at that.
0:55:13 > 0:55:18There's the main shower and there's the shoulder shower, so you don't get your 'do wet.
0:55:18 > 0:55:20And you can also...
0:55:22 > 0:55:28I love this! You can also summon the maid while you are in the bath and the valet as well.
0:55:28 > 0:55:33Although the suite is very plain white in here, it's set off with veined marble to show that
0:55:33 > 0:55:38this is no ordinary bathroom. It's clearly a place to enjoy yourself.
0:55:38 > 0:55:43Now that the bathroom was established as place of relaxation and luxury, it was in the
0:55:43 > 0:55:52private building boom of the 1930s that hot water bathrooms became standard in most middle-class homes.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55For people living at the back-to-backs, however, it wouldn't be
0:55:55 > 0:55:59until way into the 1950s that they too would finally follow suit.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02And they decided to pull them all down.
0:56:02 > 0:56:07The 1951 Census revealed that 37% of British households
0:56:07 > 0:56:12still didn't have a plumbed-in bath, with 22% not even having a hot tap.
0:56:12 > 0:56:18So Britain's slums were cleared to rehouse 3 million people in new flats, all with built-in bathrooms.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21Well, Christopher and David, how do you like your new home?
0:56:21 > 0:56:23Yes, thank you.
0:56:23 > 0:56:25What do you particularly like about it?
0:56:25 > 0:56:29We don't have to boil every drop of water now, whereas in the old days we did.
0:56:29 > 0:56:33And also we have a toilet to ourselves now, whereas in the other
0:56:33 > 0:56:37house we had to share one and also walk across the yard.
0:56:37 > 0:56:41Now that bathroom technology had established itself,
0:56:41 > 0:56:44the main thing to change over the last 50 years has been the styling.
0:56:44 > 0:56:51In the 1960s, we got jacuzzis and shower chandeliers, fit for the sexual revolution.
0:56:51 > 0:56:58In the 1970s James Bond age, we got coloured suites and solid gold taps and toilets.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01A lovely Victorian wash hand basin...
0:57:01 > 0:57:06In the 1980s, we went right back to the beginning with a rather questionable Victorian revival.
0:57:06 > 0:57:12..With its rounded head, square foot, curved lip and ball and claw feet.
0:57:12 > 0:57:14No matter what technological wizardry is available in the modern
0:57:14 > 0:57:21bathroom today, what we want from it hasn't changed since the 1930s.
0:57:21 > 0:57:26So I'm not going to turn that gorgeous 1930s bathroom down.
0:57:26 > 0:57:28The bathroom's had a really remarkable journey.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31150 years ago, it didn't even exist.
0:57:31 > 0:57:38It's come from no room to one of the most luxurious and pleasurable rooms in the house.
0:57:38 > 0:57:44Today bathrooms are about technology and gadgets. Everybody wants their own.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47People are converting spare bedrooms into bathrooms
0:57:47 > 0:57:52so everybody has got en suite, and that is because they are somehow essential to modern life.
0:57:52 > 0:57:57They're places where you withdraw from the world, they are places where you pamper yourself, recover,
0:57:57 > 0:58:01be your true self without anybody watching you for once, and they are
0:58:01 > 0:58:06the one room in the whole house that still has a lock on the door.
0:58:06 > 0:58:08Keep out.
0:58:09 > 0:58:12Next time, the bedroom.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15From the communal Medieval hall to the glamorous boudoir.
0:58:15 > 0:58:17- A full English for you this morning. - Marvellous.
0:58:17 > 0:58:22I'll be seeing how the bedroom's development has affected our most private moments.
0:58:22 > 0:58:27You're so like that person in that horror film who says that, and then everything goes horribly wrong!
0:58:48 > 0:58:50Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd