0:00:04 > 0:00:06Isabel, wriggle up.
0:00:06 > 0:00:11We'll have you next, Dad, please. Where's your brother gone?
0:00:12 > 0:00:16Go on, give him a shove! Come on, we need more room for the girls.
0:00:16 > 0:00:17CHILDREN LAUGH
0:00:17 > 0:00:19The whole family in one bed.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23This is called pigging and it's quite a common sight in 17th century England.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26Most people slept all together like this.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30I'm not sure we'll get much sleep but it's nice and warm, isn't it?
0:00:30 > 0:00:31It is.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33Goodnight, everybody.
0:00:41 > 0:00:42Morning!
0:00:42 > 0:00:46'I'm Dr Lucy Worsley, chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces,
0:00:46 > 0:00:48'based here at Hampton Court.'
0:00:48 > 0:00:50Another day at the office.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58As a historian, though, I'm fascinated by the intimate,
0:00:58 > 0:01:02personal bits of history and the way they've shaped modern life.
0:01:02 > 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 -
0:01:09 > 0:01:13the bedroom, the living room, the bathroom and the kitchen.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19From the homes of the Middle Ages to the present day,
0:01:19 > 0:01:22I'll be exploring how attitudes have changed,
0:01:22 > 0:01:25meeting some extraordinary people
0:01:25 > 0:01:28and doing some rather odd things.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31SHE SHRIEKS
0:01:32 > 0:01:34This time, the bedroom -
0:01:34 > 0:01:38from the Medieval communal hall to the glamorous boudoir.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40Full English for you this morning.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44I'll be seeing how its development has affected our most private moments.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46You're like the person in the horror film who says that
0:01:46 > 0:01:49and then everything goes horribly wrong!
0:02:07 > 0:02:10Our houses are a reflection of our selves.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14They tell us so much about how we live and who we are.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17But the homes we live in now have evolved over centuries.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20Every single room in a house like this one
0:02:20 > 0:02:22has got its own very interesting story.
0:02:22 > 0:02:27This time, the room that's been through fascinating changes.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31It's always been used for sleeping, but it hasn't always been
0:02:31 > 0:02:34the safe haven that most of us take for granted.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41People's bedrooms today are private places.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44You don't go in without an invitation.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49But in the past, bedrooms were surprisingly noisy, busy, social places.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52This idea that they're quiet places for sleeping
0:02:52 > 0:02:53is a relatively modern invention.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57Things were very different from this back in Medieval homes.
0:03:01 > 0:03:02The very concept of a bedroom
0:03:02 > 0:03:06didn't exist for most people in Medieval England.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09If you belonged to the household of the landowner,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13the Great Hall would have been your living and sleeping space.
0:03:13 > 0:03:14Just complete and impressive!
0:03:14 > 0:03:19It's the greatest surviving hall from the 14th century and isn't it wonderful?
0:03:19 > 0:03:21They've got the central hearth,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24which hasn't ever been replaced by a fireplace in the wall.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28It's what it would have been like - and full of people, of course.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31It's the centre of the estate - people coming and going all the time.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35The Great Hall was a powerful Saxon notion.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38It was expected to bind the community together
0:03:38 > 0:03:40and build a strong sense of shared values.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44People were entirely dependent on the Lord of the manor,
0:03:44 > 0:03:47in this case the Piltney's, for their existence.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49You know, they didn't really get paid for much.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53It wasn't that sort of world. What they got was their keep.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57Household members were only indoors during the hours of darkness.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59They slept and ate in the hall.
0:03:59 > 0:04:04The safety found in numbers was more important than privacy.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06It's a very different concept from what we can imagine
0:04:06 > 0:04:08but in the Middle Ages,
0:04:08 > 0:04:11people were used to doing many more things communally,
0:04:11 > 0:04:16to sleeping communally. People didn't even have beds much.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19They certainly didn't have very developed bedrooms.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22Privacy, as we understand it, didn't exist.
0:04:22 > 0:04:27The floor of the Great Hall would have been covered in rushes,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30which made things more comfortable and soaked up spillages.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33So you could clean them all up, throw them all away
0:04:33 > 0:04:34and put down a fresh lot.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37- Yes, you could. - It's like disposable carpet.
0:04:37 > 0:04:38Yes, that's perfectly true.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42- This is making things look a bit more comfortable.- I like this look.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46The term "to make the bed" came from exactly that -
0:04:46 > 0:04:49you took a sack and filled it with hay.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53The sack was called a tick and was woven from hemp.
0:04:53 > 0:04:59In fact, the striped cotton cover you still get on mattresses today is called ticking.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02So when night fell, they locked the doors,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05battened down the hatches to keep out the robbers
0:05:05 > 0:05:07and the scary Medieval darkness
0:05:07 > 0:05:10and they would have gathered around the fire, got their sacks of hay,
0:05:10 > 0:05:14ready to "hit the hay" - notice origin of expression.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16And then they had to cover the fire
0:05:16 > 0:05:20and this leads to the expression "curfew", doesn't it?
0:05:20 > 0:05:21Yes, from "cuevrefeu",
0:05:21 > 0:05:23cover fire in the Old French,
0:05:23 > 0:05:28and people put a container over the fire to keep the ashes warm,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31so people weren't going to get burnt, the rushes wouldn't catch fire,
0:05:31 > 0:05:34but the warmth would still be generated.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36The sack is one part of the bed.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38We have got something missing, though.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41We hear from the Elizabethan traveller William Harrison
0:05:41 > 0:05:45that people in Medieval England weren't soft and wussy, like the Tudors.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49They didn't have pillows, they slept with their head on a good hard log.
0:05:49 > 0:05:50Yes.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56The first proper bedroom was the chamber -
0:05:56 > 0:05:57a separate room above the Great Hall
0:05:57 > 0:06:00for the master and mistress of the household.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03It was a mark of high status to have a private room
0:06:03 > 0:06:06and they used it for lots of different things.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09This room is set up as a dining room today,
0:06:09 > 0:06:11as later generations used it,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15but the Medieval family used this room up above the Great Hall
0:06:15 > 0:06:16as a private solar,
0:06:16 > 0:06:19also known as a chamber, also known as a bower.
0:06:19 > 0:06:24These are Medieval words for something we would recognise as a bed-sitting room.
0:06:24 > 0:06:25They had their bed in here,
0:06:25 > 0:06:29but also used it for socialising, for parties with their friends.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31There is an element of the home office about it as well.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34They might have written letters, for example.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38So this is a very, very flexible space for the Lord and Lady.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41A very high-status version of the bedroom.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44This separate room was still a shared space,
0:06:44 > 0:06:48for the Lord, Lady, their family and intimate servants.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Their idea of privacy was very different from ours.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53It was the ability to choose
0:06:53 > 0:06:56the people with whom you shared the room.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01This is a clever little touch. It's a sneaky squint window,
0:07:01 > 0:07:05so the Lord and Lady can check what's going on in the Great Hall down there
0:07:05 > 0:07:07and they are literally looking down on the plebs,
0:07:07 > 0:07:09who are so far below us there.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13You get a real sense of them and us up here.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16And it is literally us up here in the solar,
0:07:16 > 0:07:18because this is an exclusive space,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21but it's for the Lord, the Lady, their closest relatives
0:07:21 > 0:07:25and their most important servants, all sort of breathing the same air.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27This is privacy in the Medieval sense.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29It's up and above the masses
0:07:29 > 0:07:32but nobody expects to be all by themselves.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34That would be a bit weird.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37Beds were hugely expensive.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40So most people stayed sleeping on sacks.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42Bed hangings were costly.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45Many dyes were expensive and weaving was labour intensive.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47You needed skilled craftsmen
0:07:47 > 0:07:50to carve and construct a wooden bed frame,
0:07:50 > 0:07:53which meant that only the rich could afford to commission a bed.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55They were such status symbols
0:07:55 > 0:07:58that aristocrats would take them with them when they travelled.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03But society was shifting.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07By the 16th century, a new and prosperous middle class -
0:08:07 > 0:08:11know as the middling sort - had emerged.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Even middling houses were now built with an upper floor
0:08:14 > 0:08:18and more ordinary families could afford a bedroom as well as a bed.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21Bedrooms were still sparsely furnished
0:08:21 > 0:08:25but they often had a chest for valuables,
0:08:25 > 0:08:27as well as a perche - or rod - for hanging clothes.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29Beds were still expensive.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33This would have cost three months' wages for a skilled craftsman.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38To try to understand Tudor attitudes to beds and sleep,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42I'm going to stay the night in this remote yeoman's farmhouse.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45And this is pretty smart, isn't it?
0:08:45 > 0:08:48How much of my wealth would have been tied up in this?
0:08:48 > 0:08:51- A third maybe? - A third of my household goods!
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Yes, this is something really special.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56First purchase upon marriage?
0:08:56 > 0:08:59Oh, definitely, and if you're lucky, you get left something like this.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03'Privacy, in the modern sense, still didn't exist.
0:09:03 > 0:09:04'Bedrooms were shared -
0:09:04 > 0:09:09'not only by the married couple but also by their children and even their servants.'
0:09:09 > 0:09:12'The only really private place for the couple
0:09:12 > 0:09:14'was behind the bed curtains.'
0:09:14 > 0:09:15So this is a truckle bed.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17A truckle bed.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20So that rolls out for children, servants...?
0:09:20 > 0:09:24Yeah, anyone who isn't as grand as the person who gets the bed, really.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27And this is a straw mattress
0:09:27 > 0:09:30and then on top of that we've got another mattress.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32That feels like feathers.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34Oh, posh! That's quite classy.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37Yes, very Footballers' Wives, this house!
0:09:38 > 0:09:43Tudor people were terrified of the night and its dangers -
0:09:43 > 0:09:47from robbers, to witches, to evil spirits.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50It's not just an idea of making yourself comfortable,
0:09:50 > 0:09:52it's an idea of making yourself safe.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56- I'm defending myself against the night.- Exactly.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58You don't know what spirits are lurking out there.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02The night air is considered dangerous and bad for your health.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05Do you sleep in moonlight? You might go mad.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07That's where the word "lunacy" comes from.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11- The light of the lunar moon turns you into a lunatic.- Yes, exactly!
0:10:11 > 0:10:13Lots of things to worry about.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17I am going to follow every single ritual I can get my hands on.
0:10:17 > 0:10:18So where we are going to start
0:10:18 > 0:10:21is by making sure you are nice and comfortable
0:10:21 > 0:10:24and these bed strings have to be tight so you can sleep tight.
0:10:24 > 0:10:29Do you know, I have always wondered why people say "sleep tight."
0:10:29 > 0:10:33- Well, there you go.- And this is the answer.- What is the next bit of it?
0:10:33 > 0:10:35Don't let the bed bugs bite.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38- Don't let the bugs bite.- That is what we are going to do next.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40Check the bed for bugs.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43Because bed bugs are a BIG problem.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46You have put me off the idea of sleeping in this bed.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49I was quite looking forward to it until you said that.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51Well, we haven't got to the fleas yet.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53Oh, thank you(!) Thank you(!)
0:10:53 > 0:10:57To keep the bed bugs at bay, they sprinkled wormwood -
0:10:57 > 0:11:00a herb used in traditional medicine - over the mattress,
0:11:00 > 0:11:03followed by camomile to aid restful sleep.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09To drive out damp and warm the bed, they used rocks heated in the fire.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13There we go. How do you feel about spending the night here?
0:11:13 > 0:11:15Bit worried about it.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18Well, as long as you take the right precautions, you are OK.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21Alison, you are so like the person in the horror film who says that
0:11:21 > 0:11:24and then everything goes horribly wrong!
0:11:25 > 0:11:28Nightfall was known as "shutting in" time.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32In a crowded yeoman's house like this, the master of the household
0:11:32 > 0:11:36would have checked and secured his property against human intruders.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38SHUTTERS CLATTER
0:11:38 > 0:11:41But this was only part of the nightly ritual.
0:11:41 > 0:11:46They also had to protect themselves against unearthly intruders.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52I'm going to put my shoes upside down
0:11:52 > 0:11:55because Tudors genuinely believed
0:11:55 > 0:12:00that pixies and spirits might come and put them on in the night.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08I have got here my Tudor sleeping pill,
0:12:08 > 0:12:10which is a little bag of aniseed,
0:12:10 > 0:12:12which apparently I can tie around my ears...
0:12:13 > 0:12:15..like this...
0:12:15 > 0:12:19and the smell of the aniseed is supposed to send me to sleep
0:12:19 > 0:12:21and also stop me from having nightmares.
0:12:21 > 0:12:26I must admit, all these rituals and preparations
0:12:26 > 0:12:29have made me slightly more nervous about the night ahead
0:12:29 > 0:12:31than I would have otherwise been.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42ALARM CLOCK BEEPS
0:12:42 > 0:12:46There's a theory that people had very different sleeping patterns
0:12:46 > 0:12:48to the eight hours we expect today.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52They would start with a "first sleep" of four hours
0:12:52 > 0:12:54and then naturally wake up.
0:12:54 > 0:12:59They were doing leisure things that they didn't have time to do in the daylight,
0:12:59 > 0:13:02like meditating, praying,
0:13:02 > 0:13:06chatting and, obviously, couples took the chance
0:13:06 > 0:13:10to have carnal knowledge of each other as well,
0:13:10 > 0:13:12in the dead of the night.
0:13:13 > 0:13:18The only other thing that's awake here at the moment is that owl,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21so I think I will go back for my second sleep now.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57I've had a disturbed night, I think it's fair to say.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59Because I live in the middle of the city,
0:13:59 > 0:14:03I'm always longing for dark and quiet
0:14:03 > 0:14:06and I got dark, but I didn't get quiet.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09There was just non-stop noise from the geese and the horses
0:14:09 > 0:14:12and goodness knows what else making a tapping noise.
0:14:12 > 0:14:17I've also learnt something about Tudor beds - they sag.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21It's hard to lie flat and it's a mystery why people in portraits,
0:14:21 > 0:14:25when they are seen in bed, are sort of semi sitting up like I am, like this,
0:14:25 > 0:14:29and the answer is that you can't lie flat because they sag so much.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33Those ropes stretch and the feather bed...
0:14:33 > 0:14:36the feathers wiggle away from the weight of your body.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38So I have sort of been like this all night.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42I think I am in a genuine Tudor sleeping position.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46Whether I have had an authentic Tudor experience
0:14:46 > 0:14:49is a really good question,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52because obviously you can't recreate the past
0:14:52 > 0:14:57but I have to tell you, I feel like I've got closer to Tudor people
0:14:57 > 0:15:02sleeping here tonight than I have done by reading books about them.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04There's something, it sounds naff,
0:15:04 > 0:15:07but there is something psychologically true
0:15:07 > 0:15:09about researching history this way, I think.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16As bedrooms became more common in British houses,
0:15:16 > 0:15:21people used these new rooms for all sorts of get togethers and ceremonies.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25Because bed chambers in the past were much more social spaces,
0:15:25 > 0:15:28sometimes public rituals were performed in them.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31Bed chambers were like the stages sometimes, where you might,
0:15:31 > 0:15:35for example, get to know somebody, court them, even get married.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39The ceremony of marriage wasn't restricted to just a church setting
0:15:39 > 0:15:42until right into the 18th century.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46Until then, for the property owning classes,
0:15:46 > 0:15:51marriage involved a written contract, agreed by both fathers, followed by a formal exchange
0:15:51 > 0:15:54of promises, and finally a church blessing.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56For poor people,
0:15:56 > 0:16:00a simple exchange of vows in front of witnesses was enough.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02In order to find the right partner, though,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05it was worth checking your compatibility first.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08Hello there, brave people.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12'In some rural areas, the bedroom was used for a courtship ritual,
0:16:12 > 0:16:14'known as "bundling".'
0:16:14 > 0:16:18The idea was that when a young couple sort of started to begin
0:16:18 > 0:16:22to like each other their parents may well have decided to let them do this thing,
0:16:22 > 0:16:25which is to spend the night in bed together.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28It was kind of testing the waters to see
0:16:28 > 0:16:31whether they would in fact make a good married couple.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35And in order to stop this lusty young man
0:16:35 > 0:16:40from falling upon your daughter, you might have taken certain precautions.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43That's where the sack comes in!
0:16:43 > 0:16:44Ha-ha!
0:16:44 > 0:16:46There we go.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50'The young woman would be bundled into a sack and tied at her waist
0:16:50 > 0:16:51'and feet.'
0:16:51 > 0:16:54We have got to make the knot lusty-young-man proof.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57He won't be able to undo that.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59'Then she would be put into her parents' bed
0:16:59 > 0:17:01'next to her potential husband.'
0:17:01 > 0:17:04Right, there you are.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08No touching is going on there.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11Right, Tim, let's get the board in place.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14'As an extra precaution, a wide wooden plank,
0:17:14 > 0:17:18'called a '"bundling board", would be placed between them.'
0:17:18 > 0:17:21You can't even see each other now, can you?
0:17:21 > 0:17:23It's like Blind Date.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26That's the modern equivalent of bundling.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28Tim, you are Cilla Black!
0:17:30 > 0:17:32Very, very bizarre.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34Very bizarre.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38- Right, time for the parents to leave the room. - Don't let us down. Bye
0:17:38 > 0:17:41Night.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48The bedroom wasn't just for courtship rituals.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51It was part of the marriage ceremonies as well.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54After the wedding had taken place, the bridesmaids would bring
0:17:54 > 0:17:57the bride into the bedroom and publicly undress her.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00She would throw her stockings over her shoulder.
0:18:00 > 0:18:05The person who caught them would be next to get married. Just like the one who catches the bouquet today.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09The bridegroom would come in with his friends. They would undress him.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11They would have a big party with drinking and music,
0:18:11 > 0:18:15and only at the very last minute, after the husband and wife
0:18:15 > 0:18:19had got into bed, would their friends leave and let them get on with it.
0:18:28 > 0:18:34The bedroom also had huge significance as the place where life began.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38Traditionally, childbirth was a women-only event.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41It was, in a sense, quite social,
0:18:41 > 0:18:43a women's occasion
0:18:43 > 0:18:47that not only would the woman have a midwife
0:18:47 > 0:18:48and possibly her mother
0:18:48 > 0:18:52or a female relative with her. It would quite often be her neighbours.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55The women who attended the birth
0:18:55 > 0:18:58were known as "God's siblings" or "godsibs" -
0:18:58 > 0:19:01ironically, the origin of the term "gossip".
0:19:01 > 0:19:04- Clearly, it's a very dangerous time. - Oh, it's very dangerous.
0:19:04 > 0:19:09Possibly one reason to have other women there is that these are the women who have got through it.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12You know, they are experienced.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16They have the, as it were, one might think, good karma
0:19:16 > 0:19:20of having survived child birth to bring to the occasion.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23- Yes.- But it was dangerous.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28I mean, maternal mortality was very high and so was infant mortality.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32One in five women died in childbirth.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36Until the 18th century, it was the most common cause of death in young women.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41Midwives had no formal training. Their knowledge was gained through experience.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45They were hired by reputation and their equipment was pretty limited.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48Although specially designed "groaning chairs"
0:19:48 > 0:19:50had been in use since Medieval times.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54Birthing chairs have recently been re-introduced into many modern obstetric units.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57It really looks like it has been used.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01- I can just imagine someone's hands gripping the arms.- Oh, yes.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04No epidural is going to be on its way, is it?
0:20:04 > 0:20:07No epidural, no chloroform,
0:20:07 > 0:20:11no nothing, just bite down on this piece of cloth.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14- And pray. - And pray, pray a lot.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18This is The Complete Midwife's Companion, written by a woman
0:20:18 > 0:20:21who was a midwife in the 17th century.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25You have got this illustration here of the scene in the bedroom.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28You have got the woman, she has just given birth,
0:20:28 > 0:20:32and you have got several other women around and one of them
0:20:32 > 0:20:35is feeding the mother with presumably cordal,
0:20:35 > 0:20:40something sort of between porridge and a drink, really, that was made
0:20:40 > 0:20:45to sustain women in child birth and to sustain the women who were supporting them.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50And it included alcohol, it included oat meal,
0:20:50 > 0:20:54it included various herbs and spices.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57And so it had a medicinal purpose.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00But it was also to some extent a celebratory drink.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07I've been thinking again about just how important beds were
0:21:07 > 0:21:10in history. No wonder they sometimes cost more
0:21:10 > 0:21:13than all the rest of the other furniture put together.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16Because they were just the central point. Everything happened there.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20A person might be born, might go through their married life,
0:21:20 > 0:21:24might give birth to their children, might even die in the very same bed.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28There was that sort of continuity, centrality to people's lives.
0:21:28 > 0:21:29We don't get that any more.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32Beds have definitely lost their edge.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37Bedrooms were still very public places for the rich.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40Along with the constant presence of servants,
0:21:40 > 0:21:42they were used for receiving guests.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45The notion of privacy in the bedroom didn't exist in a modern sense.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47At Ham House in Richmond,
0:21:47 > 0:21:51we can see some of the very first completely private rooms,
0:21:51 > 0:21:54forerunners of the modern bedroom.
0:21:56 > 0:22:02'Lady Elizabeth Dysart inherited Ham House from her father in 1642.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04'The house is famous for its closets.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07'Now, rather than bedrooms,
0:22:07 > 0:22:12'closets were small private rooms, specifically designed for solitude.'
0:22:12 > 0:22:16So closets are these funny little rooms off a bed chamber.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19It's quite extraordinary that she has got two.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22Oh, exactly, and I guess with this
0:22:22 > 0:22:24some people were coming into this room
0:22:24 > 0:22:26and maybe for her that room
0:22:26 > 0:22:29was absolutely sacrosanct, no-one came in there.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33Well, this is really quite something, isn't it?
0:22:33 > 0:22:38I think it is just so personal. It just expresses one person and their likes so much.
0:22:38 > 0:22:43It is a room that has died out in our modern houses. We don't really have closets.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46Absolutely. I mean the use is still there in our modern day bedroom.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50'Closets were for prayer and contemplation,
0:22:50 > 0:22:53'to be alone with God and one's self.'
0:22:55 > 0:23:00'Lady Dysart's closets were quite understated, compared to her father's
0:23:00 > 0:23:04'which were much more in line with contemporary male taste.'
0:23:04 > 0:23:06- It's so camp, isn't it?- It is!
0:23:06 > 0:23:09But I think that's how times had changed
0:23:09 > 0:23:14- and this is what a sophisticated man would want his room to look like. - As rich as humanly possible.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17Really rich. This was definitely Mr Murray's room.
0:23:17 > 0:23:22No-one else was allowed in here and it was locked at all times. I have got the original key.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26He did himself proud because it is just totally decorated all over.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28He decorated every space.
0:23:28 > 0:23:33I think it's quite touching, if you think of 17th century aristocrats, whose lives are lived on display.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36- They're always performing.- Yes. - Except when they're in their closets.
0:23:36 > 0:23:41There is a moment when you have to have a bit of peace and quiet.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45Closets are my favourite rooms in 17th century houses because I think
0:23:45 > 0:23:49they are the places where we get the most intimate view of the owner.
0:23:49 > 0:23:54It's a room where he or she would have been on their own, thinking private thoughts, writing,
0:23:54 > 0:23:59doing things, that sort of solitary activities, the sort of thing
0:23:59 > 0:24:02that I can really connect with because I do that myself.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04It's something we have in common between us.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07When I'm in my bedroom, by myself, resting or thinking,
0:24:07 > 0:24:10I can imagine them doing the same thing in their closets.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14The King and Queen had closets, but at Hampton Court,
0:24:14 > 0:24:17they also each had a private bedroom.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22But the rituals of court were so entrenched that they still had
0:24:22 > 0:24:25public bedrooms for social and court events.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34The levee, or ceremony of dressing the King or Queen in front of the court,
0:24:34 > 0:24:37arrived from France in the 17th Century.
0:24:37 > 0:24:4150 years later, Queen Caroline, the wife of George II,
0:24:41 > 0:24:45'was dressed by her ladies in waiting every day - in front of visitors.'
0:24:45 > 0:24:48I'm standing in for Queen Caroline this morning
0:24:48 > 0:24:52and when she got dressed in the morning she didn't do it by herself.
0:24:52 > 0:24:57It was all done here in her public bedroom and quite a lot of people helped her out.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59Here are my bed chamber staff of five.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03These nice people from Australia, they are visitors to the palace
0:25:03 > 0:25:06and the queen did actually let visitors into her bedroom
0:25:06 > 0:25:10- while this was going on. It's like a public ceremony. Hello.- Hello!
0:25:13 > 0:25:16'The occasion was extremely hierarchical
0:25:16 > 0:25:19'and the rules were extraordinarily detailed.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23'At the top was the Mistress of the Robes, then the Lady of the Bedchamber
0:25:23 > 0:25:27'followed by the Woman of the Bedchamber. Next was the dresser, who did most of the work,
0:25:27 > 0:25:30'while the page, at the very bottom of the heap,
0:25:30 > 0:25:35'had to wait around until called in to place the shoes on the Queen's feet.'
0:25:35 > 0:25:38It feels very weird standing with practically no clothes on
0:25:38 > 0:25:41in front of lots of people who don't know me.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46The queen must have just got used to it.
0:25:50 > 0:25:55Libby, you're not touching the dress because you are too important,
0:25:55 > 0:25:56as is Deirdra.
0:25:56 > 0:26:01This hierarchy seems bizarre but it was so important. Make or break, life or death for these people.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05It seems very unfair but you two get paid more than the others
0:26:05 > 0:26:08- even though you're not doing any work.- I think it's fair!
0:26:10 > 0:26:13- What's next? - Is it time for the shoes? - The shoes!
0:26:13 > 0:26:14Someone call the page.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16Page, can you bring the shoes?
0:26:16 > 0:26:18Thank you very much, page Katy.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22Actually, to be honest, I could not physically bend down
0:26:22 > 0:26:25and do it for myself. I am now in your hands.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29Thank you very much.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34So all the rest of you can aspire to doing what Deirdra is now doing
0:26:34 > 0:26:38if you work hard and marry well.
0:26:40 > 0:26:41You're ready.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43Hey, I'm good to go.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45Thank you, ladies. You may go.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49See you same time, same place, tomorrow.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56You've got to feel it for Queen Caroline, being trapped in this
0:26:56 > 0:27:02sort of Byzantine web of ritual and having to go through it all every day.
0:27:02 > 0:27:03My goodness.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10'Queen Caroline didn't sleep in the public bedroom.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13'Her private bedroom was on the other side of the palace.'
0:27:15 > 0:27:18This is a sneaky special door. We're going into the private rooms now.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22She doesn't use these rooms, except when people are here, visitors are here.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34It's quite interesting the way all these rooms run one into another.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37There is no corridor, there is no privacy.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40The whole thing is like a railway carriage.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01And this is the Queen's private bedroom at last.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04This is where she really slept.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07You can tell she really did expect to be alone,
0:28:07 > 0:28:10because there is this amazing contraption of locking the door.
0:28:10 > 0:28:15It works on a pulley system and when she was lying in bed and didn't have any servants here
0:28:15 > 0:28:20the door could actually be locked by her, so she didn't have to leap out and get cold.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22And this is also the room where,
0:28:22 > 0:28:25if the King, her husband, wanted to sleep with her,
0:28:25 > 0:28:28this is where he came to do it.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32So you can imagine those two in bed locking the doors on everyone else.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36When he wanted to sleep with her, I say, as opposed to sleeping
0:28:36 > 0:28:39with his mistress, and his mistress would travel to his bedroom
0:28:39 > 0:28:43in his part of the palace when they were going to get together.
0:28:47 > 0:28:53All across the country, aristocrats desperately hoped the King would sleep the night
0:28:53 > 0:28:55'in one of their country houses.
0:28:55 > 0:29:00'So they created exclusive state bedrooms for visiting royalty.
0:29:00 > 0:29:02'Furnished with hugely expensive state beds,
0:29:02 > 0:29:06'they were reserved purely in case a King or Queen came to stay.'
0:29:06 > 0:29:09That's what happened here at Kedleston Hall.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12Lord Scarsdale in the 1760s commissioned this bed
0:29:12 > 0:29:15in the hope that George III would come and sleep in it.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18The designer was Robert Adam, top architect of the day,
0:29:18 > 0:29:21and the very design includes reference to royalty and kingship.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25The palms symbolise kingship and fidelity.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28The ostrich feathers up at the top are a symbol of power.
0:29:28 > 0:29:33Now, very sadly for Lord Scarsdale, although this bed has been here for over 200 years
0:29:33 > 0:29:36no king or queen has ever slept in it.
0:29:38 > 0:29:44Privacy was about to become a possibility for the middling sort.
0:29:44 > 0:29:47The expanding Georgian economy led to an urban housing boom
0:29:47 > 0:29:51with a radical idea - the private middle-class bedroom.
0:29:51 > 0:29:55This is a classic house plan of the 17th century
0:29:55 > 0:29:57for a house of the middling sort.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01What's interesting about it is the way the bedrooms are all inter-connected.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04So, to get to that room, you have to walk through that person's bedroom
0:30:04 > 0:30:08and through that person's bedroom. There's very little concept of privacy.
0:30:08 > 0:30:13In the 18th century this changes. This is the classic 18th-century house-plan design.
0:30:13 > 0:30:18And here, on the first floor, you can see corridors, stairwells, circulation space.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21In fact, a quarter of the whole house's area is given over
0:30:21 > 0:30:24to the circulation, so that each of these rooms
0:30:24 > 0:30:26can be accessed independently.
0:30:26 > 0:30:29This is quite a luxurious use of space, you might think.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32It had happened previously in royal palaces and grand houses,
0:30:32 > 0:30:34but now it's becoming standard.
0:30:34 > 0:30:35Everybody wants privacy.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44This is a Georgian bedroom
0:30:44 > 0:30:47and it's not the main bedroom of this particular house.
0:30:47 > 0:30:48It's a secondary one.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51It would have been used by the children, maybe even by lodgers,
0:30:51 > 0:30:54and when we've seen bedrooms like this in the past,
0:30:54 > 0:30:56they've been accessed through the main bedroom.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59You had to go through one into another.
0:30:59 > 0:31:01But here's the big step forward.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03This bedroom now has its own door.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06There's privacy here for the occupants of this room
0:31:06 > 0:31:10and these are the public areas, that's the private area.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12The back stairs,
0:31:12 > 0:31:16the corridor. Key steps in separating out the different occupants of the house.
0:31:16 > 0:31:20And it's good news for Mr and Mrs in the master bedroom as well,
0:31:20 > 0:31:23because no longer do they have people trekking through their room
0:31:23 > 0:31:24to get to the rooms beyond.
0:31:24 > 0:31:26They can shut this door, lock it
0:31:26 > 0:31:30and know they're going to be completely on their own for the first time.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33Also the servants have disappeared out of this bedroom.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36Previously, they would have been right close in,
0:31:36 > 0:31:39maybe sleeping on truckle beds, or something like that.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42But now they've been banished to the attic, to the basement.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45In a big house, even to separate servants' quarters.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48And this means a new innovation has to be developed -
0:31:48 > 0:31:50the bell to summon the servants.
0:31:50 > 0:31:52Either you ring it and it rings in their area
0:31:52 > 0:31:55or, in an old-fashioned house, you just do this.
0:31:59 > 0:32:05The 18th century saw clock ownership expand, as luxury filtered down the social scale.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07Many clocks had alarms,
0:32:07 > 0:32:11some using extraordinary methods to wake up their owners.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14My very favourite Georgian alarm clock is this crazy device
0:32:14 > 0:32:18where the alarm triggers the striking of a flint
0:32:18 > 0:32:22which creates a little spark, which sets fire to some gunpowder,
0:32:22 > 0:32:23which then ignites a candle,
0:32:23 > 0:32:26so it's all ready for you to get up and out of bed.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30The urban bedroom was becoming a properly private space.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34New technology would make it much more comfortable.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37As the Industrial Revolution swung into action,
0:32:37 > 0:32:40the bedroom was about to be transformed.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43Brass and iron beds with coil sprung and mesh bases,
0:32:43 > 0:32:46cotton sheets and pillow cases, night shirts
0:32:46 > 0:32:51and night dresses were all mass produced for the first time.
0:32:53 > 0:32:58Victorian housewives were very proud of their endless supplies of mass-produced cotton.
0:32:58 > 0:33:03They were obsessed with bed making, and their fastidiousness made sense.
0:33:03 > 0:33:08A clean, well-aired bed reduced the risk of consumptive illnesses.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11What's the most important thing if you're making a Victorian bed?
0:33:11 > 0:33:16Well, the most important thing is that it must be stripped every day.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20And, because of the moisture content that has actually got into your bed
0:33:20 > 0:33:25and also from the dinges that you have actually made in the bed.
0:33:25 > 0:33:26What are these "dinges"?
0:33:26 > 0:33:31A dinge is the shape that you have made in your feather bed.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34In my feather bed. Is it like memory foam?
0:33:34 > 0:33:36Well, it is indeed - it's like memory foam
0:33:36 > 0:33:38and it moulds to your body as you sleep.
0:33:38 > 0:33:43And this dinge would retain the moisture that you had actually exuded overnight.
0:33:43 > 0:33:45- That doesn't sound very nice. - Indeed not.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48And, in fact, it is said Florence Nightingale worked out
0:33:48 > 0:33:52that a grown man in a 24-hour period in a hospital
0:33:52 > 0:33:56would actually exhale as much as three pints of moisture.
0:33:56 > 0:33:58Through his breath?
0:33:58 > 0:34:00Through their breath, even while they were sleeping.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03And, of course, added to the dampness in the room.
0:34:03 > 0:34:04And the perspiration.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06And the perspiration through your skin
0:34:06 > 0:34:10you would really have quite a problem with this very quickly and every day.
0:34:10 > 0:34:15It sounds much more serious than making my bed, which I do in about five seconds.
0:34:15 > 0:34:16Indeed. Absolutely.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18- Right, we're ready to go. - We certainly are.
0:34:18 > 0:34:21- Are you going round that side? - I am indeed.
0:34:21 > 0:34:23This is where the bedstead itself
0:34:23 > 0:34:27becomes a very important tool for this particular job.
0:34:27 > 0:34:30The eiderdown, full of eider duck feathers,
0:34:30 > 0:34:33is actually placed over the end of the bed
0:34:33 > 0:34:36and then the counterpane, which now can go back
0:34:36 > 0:34:42over the bed as well, and under that the various layers of blankets.
0:34:42 > 0:34:44This is rather an ornate blanket, for the time,
0:34:44 > 0:34:47and there would be far more layers,
0:34:47 > 0:34:50depending on what sort of time of the year it was.
0:34:50 > 0:34:51No fires in bedrooms.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54No fires in bedrooms unless you were ill.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56Here we now have the cotton sheet.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00And you can feel how damp this is, Lucy, can't you now?
0:35:00 > 0:35:02That's five layers already.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06Five layers and now we come to the pillows themselves.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09Even a lower-middle-class household like this one
0:35:09 > 0:35:12would have employed a maid of all work
0:35:12 > 0:35:15to help with the sheer physical labour of Victorian housework.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20There would be two more layers to go before we get to number eight
0:35:20 > 0:35:23and something that looks like a mattress.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25Here's the feather bed, looking unchanged since Tudor times.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28It's like a futon, isn't it?
0:35:28 > 0:35:31It certainly is, and you can imagine as you get older
0:35:31 > 0:35:34this becomes more and more of a problem.
0:35:34 > 0:35:36So, if we place it on the chairs...
0:35:36 > 0:35:39What a nasty unhygienic thing it is, really!
0:35:39 > 0:35:41It would need a good beating now, Lucy.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43Yeah!
0:35:49 > 0:35:55- This is a proper mattress this time. - Yes, indeed it is. This is actually made of horse hair.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59And this is what gives you the stability and firmness to your bed.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02And what's going on underneath? We haven't got to the bottom.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05No, we've got a number of layers after that.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08- We have... - A blanket.- A thick woollen blanket.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12- And straw.- Oh, straw! - Mattress encased in a cotton cover.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15And then, at the very bottom of the bed,
0:36:15 > 0:36:18we have the brown Holland cover.
0:36:18 > 0:36:25Underneath, we have a mesh support and so this protection here is against rust.
0:36:26 > 0:36:30- This horse-hair mattress would be completely turned. - We can do this.
0:36:30 > 0:36:37We can do this and then the layers, as they were thoroughly aired, would be replaced.
0:36:37 > 0:36:42You'd spend all morning unmaking the bed, then all afternoon making it again.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45It is an extremely arduous process.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50The million dollar question is...
0:36:50 > 0:36:54Is it going to be comfy now I know what's inside? I really hope it is.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05Well, it is moderately comfortable.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07I could definitely spend the night in here.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10I think on my own, though, because this bed doesn't seem huge,
0:37:10 > 0:37:13although I expect it was made for two people.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16But imagine doing that every day! No, thanks.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22While middle-class housewives were hoarding bed linen,
0:37:22 > 0:37:25a new class of wealthy Victorian industrialists
0:37:25 > 0:37:28began to invest in bespoke grand houses,
0:37:28 > 0:37:31where privacy was essential to the house design.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36Wightwick Manor in Staffordshire had ample space
0:37:36 > 0:37:40to accommodate the mounting Victorian obsession with privacy.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42The house takes it to a whole new level,
0:37:42 > 0:37:46with separate rooms for masters and servants,
0:37:46 > 0:37:50adults and children, and even husbands and wives.
0:37:50 > 0:37:55This is the bedroom intended for a Victorian married couple.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57And what's happened here is
0:37:57 > 0:38:02that the lady and the gentleman are no longer sleeping in the same bed.
0:38:02 > 0:38:04This is Victorian separation at its highest point.
0:38:04 > 0:38:08This bed was slept in by the lady of the couple.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12She's got a horse-hair mattress to sleep on here
0:38:12 > 0:38:15and that little pocket there is to put a watch into.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18And these are no longer functional curtains.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20The railings stop short.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23They're just a gesture towards curtains, really.
0:38:23 > 0:38:25They're for show rather than for use
0:38:25 > 0:38:28because now privacy is within this room.
0:38:28 > 0:38:30It has locks on the door, not within the bed itself.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33And the husband, he's not in here at all.
0:38:33 > 0:38:35He's through the door here,
0:38:35 > 0:38:38in what's called the dressing room.
0:38:38 > 0:38:42This is the gentleman's dressing room,
0:38:42 > 0:38:46but essentially he sleeps in here. Here is his bed.
0:38:46 > 0:38:51And you can see that he actually has his own door
0:38:51 > 0:38:55out on to the landing, so he can come in late at night
0:38:55 > 0:38:58without affecting his sweet little wife, who's all tucked up
0:38:58 > 0:39:01and sleeping happily next door in the actual bedroom.
0:39:01 > 0:39:07Masculine and feminine have become completely separated out from each other.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12The design of the house was all about separation.
0:39:12 > 0:39:17The male servants were housed in a completely separate outbuilding.
0:39:17 > 0:39:19The maids' bedrooms were right up in the attic.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23Most maids' rooms were decorated according to very strict rules.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26I've got a book here. It's by Mrs Panton.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30It's called From Kitchen To Garret - hints for young householders.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33It's written for a fictional couple
0:39:33 > 0:39:37whose names were Edwin and Angelina, who were setting up home together.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40Mrs Panton really was a bit of a devil. Listen to this!
0:39:40 > 0:39:46She says that you shouldn't let the servants keep their own boxes in their rooms,
0:39:46 > 0:39:50and the reason is, she says, they cannot refrain somehow from hoarding all sorts of rubbish in them.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54She says the simpler the servants' room was furnished the better.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58And, basically, she says don't give the servants anything nice
0:39:58 > 0:40:00because they will spoil it.
0:40:00 > 0:40:01It's quite shocking.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05Having said that though, these rooms at Wightwick aren't really representative.
0:40:05 > 0:40:09The Mander family were socially aware. They looked after their employees.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11This was a desirable place to work.
0:40:11 > 0:40:17Actually, this particular room has got electric lighting, very unusual.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20It's got central heating, and the women who slept here
0:40:20 > 0:40:24actually had their own bathroom. So that's not bad at all.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28The maids' rooms at Whitwick would have seemed luxurious
0:40:28 > 0:40:31compared to the homes in which they had grown up.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34And these houses were so common, weren't they?
0:40:34 > 0:40:36It's a really, really standard living pattern.
0:40:36 > 0:40:40Ann Lawton was born in the late 1940s
0:40:40 > 0:40:43in a Victorian back-to-back house in the centre of Birmingham.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46These houses had a living room and kitchen combined downstairs
0:40:46 > 0:40:49and two shared bedrooms upstairs.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52So, Ann, what exactly is a back-to-back house?
0:40:52 > 0:40:55It's two houses that literally back-to-back on each other.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59Some separated by one brick some by half a brick.
0:40:59 > 0:41:00Quite noisy.
0:41:00 > 0:41:02And how long were you living in a house like that?
0:41:02 > 0:41:06Oh, from when I was young until I was about 19 or so.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08And then moved to live in a similar house
0:41:08 > 0:41:11when I got married, where I had four children.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13You're a bit of a time traveller, really, because of your own
0:41:13 > 0:41:16personal experience you can take us back to life
0:41:16 > 0:41:19in the Victorian back-to-backs, because it was very similar to what you experienced yourself.
0:41:19 > 0:41:23Yes, and whatever anybody tells you, there's no way anybody would go back to it.
0:41:23 > 0:41:28There would be up to nine people living under one of these roofs.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31To help Ann explain how the sleeping arrangements worked,
0:41:31 > 0:41:34we're joined by some children from a local primary school.
0:41:34 > 0:41:37Right, kids, you need to take your shoes off
0:41:37 > 0:41:39and get into bed.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42- Climb on it. - Scramble over there.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44One at the top and one at the bottom.
0:41:44 > 0:41:45Now, you've all got to pretend you're brothers and sisters.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48Do you think you can manage to do that?
0:41:48 > 0:41:51- Yes.- Has everyone got room?- Yes.
0:41:51 > 0:41:53There's somebody's foot here, look.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56You never know whose foot it's going to be!
0:41:56 > 0:41:58Now, do you think we could sleep the whole night like this?
0:41:58 > 0:42:00- No.- No.- No?
0:42:00 > 0:42:02- You like having your own space, do you?- Yes.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04You think that is important?
0:42:04 > 0:42:06Imagine doing this every night.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09It would really annoy you, wouldn't it?
0:42:09 > 0:42:11Who was saying they like to chat in the middle of the night
0:42:11 > 0:42:15with their brother? Was it you telling me that?
0:42:15 > 0:42:17You quite like having a chat with your brother in the middle of the night, don't you?
0:42:17 > 0:42:20But you're not in the same bed, I bet, are you?
0:42:20 > 0:42:24When you lived in a house like this and you've got all your
0:42:24 > 0:42:28nice little bits and pieces that you want only you to use,
0:42:28 > 0:42:31where do you think you'd keep them?
0:42:31 > 0:42:33Where could you hide anything?
0:42:33 > 0:42:35You couldn't, could you?
0:42:35 > 0:42:40We had two ladies that came round and they had lived in one of these houses
0:42:40 > 0:42:42and where the skirting board round the edge of the room...
0:42:42 > 0:42:46they were able to show us where there was a piece that was loose
0:42:46 > 0:42:49and they used to put all their little things behind it, so their other
0:42:49 > 0:42:53brothers and sisters wouldn't know, and then shove it back into place.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57So, for the first 19 years of your life, you shared your bed with your sister?
0:42:57 > 0:43:00- Yeah.- And then for the next... - And my brother sometimes.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03- And your brother?- Yes, because he was a lot younger than we were
0:43:03 > 0:43:05and he used to get a bit scared sometimes.
0:43:05 > 0:43:09How old were you when you first slept in a bed by yourself?
0:43:09 > 0:43:1246, when I was widowed. That meant when my husband had died,
0:43:12 > 0:43:17and I had the bedroom and a bed to myself and that's the first time
0:43:17 > 0:43:21I'd ever had a bed of my own and a room of my own.
0:43:22 > 0:43:26So it's mine now and I don't like other people in there.
0:43:27 > 0:43:28It's all mine.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32I suppose, in some ways, this is very familiar from the night
0:43:32 > 0:43:37in the medieval house, really, because it's everybody in together
0:43:37 > 0:43:42and privacy has not reached little houses like this in the 19th century yet,
0:43:42 > 0:43:45they're still living very, very communally.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48Bedrooms aren't private places at all.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51You've got to feel for the mum and dad
0:43:51 > 0:43:55who had their kids with them 24 hours a day.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59But this is where Sunday school comes into its own.
0:43:59 > 0:44:03On Sunday afternoon, they sent the kids off to be educated and
0:44:03 > 0:44:08once they had the bedroom to themselves, for once, you can guess what happened.
0:44:08 > 0:44:13But domestic life for working men and women was about to change.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16The Great War, the struggle for women's voting rights
0:44:16 > 0:44:19and the arrival of Hollywood films created a heady mix
0:44:19 > 0:44:21that would alter the bedroom for ever.
0:44:21 > 0:44:25Female emancipation and the glamour of the movies transformed
0:44:25 > 0:44:29the Victorian bedroom into the decadent 1930s boudoir.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36I've come to look at your 1930s bedroom gear, if that's all right?
0:44:36 > 0:44:39Yes, right over here.
0:44:39 > 0:44:41This is an outfit for a film star, isn't it?
0:44:41 > 0:44:43Well, that's the important thing.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45That's when the fashion business went from Paris
0:44:45 > 0:44:49being the focal point, to Hollywood being the focal point
0:44:49 > 0:44:52and so everything was influenced by the Hollywood films.
0:44:52 > 0:44:56Joan Crawford had said that it was a film star's duty
0:44:56 > 0:45:00to look fabulous during depression and recession times
0:45:00 > 0:45:03That would have carried through to the home.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06The '30s is really when the bias cut came in.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10- And the way this works is that normally material is woven like that, right?- Right.
0:45:10 > 0:45:15And in the bias cut, it's turned so that it's cut diagonally,
0:45:15 > 0:45:18on the diagonal to the grain, as it were.
0:45:18 > 0:45:19And that gives it a stretch,
0:45:19 > 0:45:23and that's what makes it cling to the curves.
0:45:23 > 0:45:24It makes it slinky!
0:45:24 > 0:45:28And the other thing that transforms '30s bedroom-wear,
0:45:28 > 0:45:31- is artificial silk. - Right, which is rayon.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33Have you got an example of artificial silk?
0:45:33 > 0:45:36This floral one is made from rayon.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38So you've got the bias cut all over again,
0:45:38 > 0:45:41- but this is a mass-market version, isn't it?- Exactly.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44Everybody could afford this and look just as slinky
0:45:44 > 0:45:46as the people who could afford silk beforehand.
0:45:46 > 0:45:50So that the woman at home could wear what she saw on the Hollywood screen.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53- It's slinkyness for the masses, isn't it?- Correct.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56'Even pyjamas appeared for women.'
0:45:56 > 0:46:00I would call this a new sort of category of clothing
0:46:00 > 0:46:02that you might call leisurewear.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06It's not just for sleeping, and it's not for being out in public,
0:46:06 > 0:46:08but it's sort of somewhere in the middle.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11It's an in-between, it's definitely an in-between.
0:46:11 > 0:46:16However, this would be something that a woman could have worn
0:46:16 > 0:46:19just before or just after she's been to bed.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22But then if you look at the men's equivalent of that...
0:46:24 > 0:46:27Ooh, very exotic! Look at that.
0:46:27 > 0:46:32No man would have worn this anywhere else but in the bedroom.
0:46:32 > 0:46:34Yeah, I see what you mean.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39Two things that really strike me about this '30s nightwear.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42Firstly, the influence of Hollywood.
0:46:42 > 0:46:44This silk is designed to be seen on a camera,
0:46:44 > 0:46:47light and dark, rippling over the silk.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50The second thing that strikes me is the way
0:46:50 > 0:46:54that glamour in the bedroom has become affordable and mass market.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57Glamorous nightwear was reserved in the Victorian period
0:46:57 > 0:47:01for actresses and mistresses, and other naughty people,
0:47:01 > 0:47:03but now with rayon and artificial silk,
0:47:03 > 0:47:06every woman can be a goddess in her boudoir.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20- Good morning, Miss Worsley. - Come on in. Thank you very much.
0:47:20 > 0:47:21How are you today?
0:47:21 > 0:47:24I'm fine, thank you very much. A bit wrapped up in my book here.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27Do you know The Sheikh, the movie? A very steamy movie.
0:47:27 > 0:47:28I am aware of it, yes.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31I'm reading the book here. My goodness, it's quite something.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34- A full English for you this morning. - Marvellous.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41Thanks.
0:47:44 > 0:47:48The 20th-century bedroom becomes much more about enjoyment
0:47:48 > 0:47:51and not just a room for sleeping in.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53The Victorians get into this position
0:47:53 > 0:47:57where they have a very prudish, determined attitude towards the bedroom,
0:47:57 > 0:48:00it's for sleep and for nothing else.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03Here's a great character in an Anthony Trollope novel from 1869,
0:48:03 > 0:48:04She says that,
0:48:04 > 0:48:10"Different rooms should be used only for the purposes for which they were intended."
0:48:10 > 0:48:12She never allowed pens and ink up into the bedrooms
0:48:12 > 0:48:16and if she ever heard that a guest in her house had been reading in bed,
0:48:16 > 0:48:19she would have made an instant, personal attack.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22I like that. Bedrooms are just for sleeping.
0:48:22 > 0:48:24And yet, before the Victorian period,
0:48:24 > 0:48:27they were used for numerous other activities,
0:48:27 > 0:48:29and this returns in the 20th century,
0:48:29 > 0:48:32particularly this idea of bedrooms as boudoirs,
0:48:32 > 0:48:35as places for women to be rather decadent in
0:48:35 > 0:48:39and to do slightly illicit things, like reading naughty novels,
0:48:39 > 0:48:42which Victorian ladies did, all right, make no mistake,
0:48:42 > 0:48:44but they weren't supposed to.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48One of the best-selling novels of the 1920s
0:48:48 > 0:48:52was The Sheikh, by EM Hull, and this is a racy read.
0:49:02 > 0:49:05The Second World War brought suffering, sacrifice
0:49:05 > 0:49:07and a severe housing shortage.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11The nation's recovery from the war was slow,
0:49:11 > 0:49:14both economically and psychologically.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17But by the late 1940s, rebuilding began
0:49:17 > 0:49:19and marriage rates started to go up.
0:49:21 > 0:49:26Twin beds were common by the 1950s, but behind this cosy cliche,
0:49:26 > 0:49:29lies an unexpected change in British domestic life.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32To me, twin beds are just a symbol of repression.
0:49:32 > 0:49:36- No physical relationship between the husband and the wife. - Yeah, absolutely.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39But do you think that's a fair view of the 1950s?
0:49:39 > 0:49:41No, of course not. If that was the case in the 1950s,
0:49:41 > 0:49:43then none of us would exist today.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46What explains it is the fact that people would have seen...
0:49:46 > 0:49:50They would be following what they saw as the Victorian forebears.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53Posh people in the Victorian times often slept in different rooms,
0:49:53 > 0:49:55or certainly in different beds.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58I think what had happened is that had filtered down.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01You're acting out your posh person fantasy, if you like.
0:50:01 > 0:50:03You've got your own bed, your own space,
0:50:03 > 0:50:05you don't have to share, this is yours.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08Of course, that doesn't mean people weren't having fun.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11In fact, it's in the '50s that you see the beginnings
0:50:11 > 0:50:14of what we now think of as the sexual revolution.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17In fact, you even get a little baby boom
0:50:17 > 0:50:19at the end of the '40s and beginning of the '50s.
0:50:19 > 0:50:24So this idea that it's all tea cosies and Horlicks before bedtime,
0:50:24 > 0:50:26I'm afraid isn't really true.
0:50:26 > 0:50:28So what were the wider changes in society
0:50:28 > 0:50:31that explain this transformation in the '50s bedroom?
0:50:31 > 0:50:34The '50s was the biggest economic boom in British history,
0:50:34 > 0:50:38and what you had then was lots of people, particularly young people,
0:50:38 > 0:50:42buying into lifestyles that their parents could never have dreamed of.
0:50:42 > 0:50:47The '50s bedroom, in all sorts of ways, it's a temple to consumerism.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50'If you can save enough space, you can sweeten up hubby a lot.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53'With a large centre wardrobe and two swinging cupboards,
0:50:53 > 0:50:55'each fitted to hold everything hubby ever possessed.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58'It's the latest idea in space-saving furniture.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02'Hubby buys it, sonny enters it, wifey appropriates it.
0:51:02 > 0:51:04'What could be more economical than that?
0:51:04 > 0:51:08'If you're still short of space, this anti-kneeknock dressing-table
0:51:08 > 0:51:11'has a special place for hubby's studs and a few of wifey's oddments too.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15'And if that's not bait enough, you can still put a good face on things.'
0:51:15 > 0:51:18Were the '50s the golden age of marriage as well?
0:51:18 > 0:51:22Were people more married in the '50s than they have been before or since?
0:51:22 > 0:51:25Yeah, the '50s was a period of huge cult of marriage,
0:51:25 > 0:51:30as the Government and the other big institutional bodies go to enormous lengths
0:51:30 > 0:51:34to sort of make people fall back in love with the idea of domesticity,
0:51:34 > 0:51:38and the idea of the couple as the centrepiece of national social life.
0:51:38 > 0:51:42What you have in the '50s is this growing emphasis
0:51:42 > 0:51:44on what people call the companionate marriage.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47So instead of just marrying someone you quite like
0:51:47 > 0:51:49and then leading separate lives in the same household,
0:51:49 > 0:51:52you actually do things together, you go out for drives,
0:51:52 > 0:51:56you play games, you read together, you do all these kinds of things,
0:51:56 > 0:51:59and the family becomes more and more important.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02We've got here some books from the 1950s
0:52:02 > 0:52:05about marriage, about sexual relationships.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09Things like the marriage guidance counsellor, government-sponsored bodies,
0:52:09 > 0:52:12would put out sex manuals because they were so keen to encourage
0:52:12 > 0:52:15the cult of domesticity, the companionate marriage,
0:52:15 > 0:52:19to encourage couples to have a healthy, happy and fulfilling life together.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22When we read them today, they seem pretty quaint, don't they?
0:52:22 > 0:52:24They have all sorts of bizarre and wacky theories.
0:52:24 > 0:52:29Helena Wright in the Sex Factor In Marriage
0:52:29 > 0:52:31has a whole chapter on frigidity,
0:52:31 > 0:52:34for example, the difficulties in the sexual relationship.
0:52:34 > 0:52:38She says the commonest causes of female frigidity
0:52:38 > 0:52:41are insufficiency of rest, lack of sleep,
0:52:41 > 0:52:43and secondly, constipation.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46Clearly, we now know that constipation is not
0:52:46 > 0:52:50the single leading cause of lack of sexual fulfilment in marriage.
0:52:50 > 0:52:55You have to remember that, in the 1950s, before you get to sleep in one of these twin beds,
0:52:55 > 0:52:56before you get to have your own bedroom,
0:52:56 > 0:52:58you've had no sex education at all.
0:52:58 > 0:53:00Not from your parents, not from school,
0:53:00 > 0:53:02not from the Church, not from anybody.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05So these kinds of things were are seen as absolutely essential
0:53:05 > 0:53:09in cutting down on unwanted pregnancies, on teenage pregnancies,
0:53:09 > 0:53:11illegitimacy, all these kinds of things.
0:53:11 > 0:53:15and in their way, they performed a very vital and important service.
0:53:15 > 0:53:19I used to feel very sorry for married women in the '50s,
0:53:19 > 0:53:23I imagined them sleeping in twin beds, probably being on tranquillisers
0:53:23 > 0:53:26and their husbands having an affair with their secretary.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29But, I've now realised that things weren't quite like that,
0:53:29 > 0:53:32there was a current moving through society in the '50s
0:53:32 > 0:53:35that was about learning how to have a good sexual relationship.
0:53:35 > 0:53:39The '50s bedroom wasn't such a bad place to be.
0:53:40 > 0:53:45This quiet domestic revolution was building to its climax,
0:53:45 > 0:53:48with the sexual liberation of the 1960s.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51As parents, how do you feel about her leaving home,
0:53:51 > 0:53:54going to live by herself for the first time?
0:53:54 > 0:53:57I can't help, of course, feeling a bit uneasy
0:53:57 > 0:53:59as anybody would, I think,
0:53:59 > 0:54:03launching a young girl into life on her own.
0:54:03 > 0:54:04What are you uneasy about?
0:54:04 > 0:54:08Sex, drugs, drink...
0:54:08 > 0:54:10anything could happen.
0:54:11 > 0:54:14But now it wasn't just about who you slept with,
0:54:14 > 0:54:15but what you slept under.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18The days of sheets and eiderdowns were numbered.
0:54:18 > 0:54:23A revolutionary product arrived, the duvet.
0:54:23 > 0:54:27In the late 1960s, Terence Conran was credited with bringing it to the UK,
0:54:27 > 0:54:31after he'd spent some passionate nights in Scandinavia.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37Patricia Whittington-Farrell was one of the first Habitat employees
0:54:37 > 0:54:41to demonstrate this shockingly different bedding.
0:54:41 > 0:54:43When I first saw them, I didn't know what they were,
0:54:43 > 0:54:47I thought they were a bed covering, but I wasn't sure what you did with them.
0:54:47 > 0:54:52So when it was your job to be selling the duvets to your customers,
0:54:52 > 0:54:55you encountered this problem, presumably, people didn't know what they were?
0:54:55 > 0:54:59I used to end up putting the duvet cover on
0:54:59 > 0:55:00and showing them how easy...
0:55:00 > 0:55:03It's so simple, all you do is that, and you can go out.
0:55:03 > 0:55:07So you'd end up with sometimes 20 or 30 people.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10This innovation. I know, it's amazing!
0:55:10 > 0:55:14And all the people in the cafe would be looking down to see what you were doing.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16I used to shake it and say, "There you go."
0:55:16 > 0:55:19How much did a duvet cost then?
0:55:19 > 0:55:25I think the double ones were about £11 and the single ones possibly £5.
0:55:25 > 0:55:26A lot of money?
0:55:26 > 0:55:29At the time, I was only working part-time,
0:55:29 > 0:55:30but I was earning £10 a week,
0:55:30 > 0:55:32so it was an expensive thing.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35At first, they were called continental quilts,
0:55:35 > 0:55:36or else, slumberdowns.
0:55:36 > 0:55:40After Conran had successfully exported the idea to France,
0:55:40 > 0:55:44they became known as duvets, from the French word for down.
0:55:44 > 0:55:461971, this catalogue.
0:55:46 > 0:55:51The whole idea of the lifestyle was, I can bring my children in with me, we can do things together.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54Before then, a bedroom was somewhere where you went to sleep.
0:55:54 > 0:55:58All of a sudden, it became a living room as well, because you've got a television in there.
0:55:58 > 0:56:00The bedroom was a lovely, comfortable place to be.
0:56:00 > 0:56:04Here it says, "Until you've tried this method of making a bed,
0:56:04 > 0:56:07"it's difficult to believe it could be so simple and so comfortable,
0:56:07 > 0:56:10"but once you've experienced it, you're never likely to change."
0:56:10 > 0:56:14Absolutely right. I don't know anybody who went back to blankets.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17Once they tried the duvet, that was it, that was it for life.
0:56:17 > 0:56:21Right, in the Habitat catalogue for 1975,
0:56:21 > 0:56:25we have the 10-second bed challenge.
0:56:25 > 0:56:26Oh my goodness!
0:56:27 > 0:56:31Here she is, taking the duvet off, straightening the sheet,
0:56:31 > 0:56:34putting the cover back on, sorting it all out, and yes, she's done it.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38OK. But this is a single bed, I take it. Isn't it?
0:56:38 > 0:56:40Yeah, yeah, yeah, But you're an expert, Patricia,
0:56:40 > 0:56:43You've been trained to do this. It only takes 10 seconds.
0:56:43 > 0:56:45Absolutely perfect, I really look forward to this.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47- Right, are you ready?- I'm ready.
0:56:47 > 0:56:50..Get set. Go.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53One cushion. I've lost another pillow.
0:56:53 > 0:56:57- And all you do, Madam... - Go, go, go.
0:56:57 > 0:56:58Shake it.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01I love the way you called me madam, while you were doing it.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04I was trying to do a shop demonstration.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06- Are you done?- Finished.
0:57:07 > 0:57:12- How many?- 19 seconds. - Yes! But it was a double.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15I could have done it with a single in 10.
0:57:15 > 0:57:17It doesn't look very good, does it?
0:57:17 > 0:57:20I think you've lost your edge here.
0:57:21 > 0:57:23Once the duvet had arrived,
0:57:23 > 0:57:26the next decorative thing to change about beds
0:57:26 > 0:57:28was the '80s obsession with floral frills.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31- How do you feel?- Delighted.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35Thankfully, it's nothing but a distant memory.
0:57:39 > 0:57:44The bedroom has evolved from the bustling medieval hall with absolutely no privacy
0:57:44 > 0:57:46to the sanctuary of today,
0:57:46 > 0:57:49where people seal themselves off from the rest of the house.
0:57:49 > 0:57:53Bedrooms now are like private kingdoms,
0:57:53 > 0:57:58where you can do whatever you want, but this is quite a modern notion.
0:57:58 > 0:58:02In the past, bedrooms were full of bustle and other people's bodies.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05It's only relatively recently that bedrooms have become
0:58:05 > 0:58:10places for relaxation, intimacy and, above all, for privacy.
0:58:17 > 0:58:19My goodness, timewarp.
0:58:19 > 0:58:22Next time, from the medieval one-room cottage,
0:58:22 > 0:58:25to an open-plan futuristic utopia,
0:58:25 > 0:58:29I'll be discovering how the kitchen came in from the cold.
0:58:29 > 0:58:31Come on, Coco, you can do it!
0:58:31 > 0:58:32Not too bad for a beginner.
0:58:32 > 0:58:35She's a bit patronising, isn't she?
0:58:49 > 0:58:53Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:53 > 0:58:56E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk