0:00:02 > 0:00:04DRILL SERGEANT SHOUTS ORDERS
0:00:05 > 0:00:07'You may be under the impression
0:00:07 > 0:00:12'that the death penalty has long been abolished in Britain. That is not so.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16'Every man here has sworn an oath to lay down his life for his monarch.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20'Failure to expose himself to the risk if ordered to do so
0:00:20 > 0:00:23'renders him liable to lawful execution.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27'The contract to the British soldier is as unique
0:00:27 > 0:00:29'as the traditions of the regiment he serves.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36'Charles II, in 1656, was the first sovereign
0:00:36 > 0:00:39'to raise a regiment for his personal protection.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42'In 1815, after Waterloo, they became the Grenadier Guards.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45'The Queen is now their Colonel-in-Chief.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51'The Guards, perhaps to the irritation of other regiments,
0:00:52 > 0:00:53'exude an effortless superiority
0:00:53 > 0:00:57'that survives the apparently proletarian ill manners
0:00:57 > 0:00:58'of eating with their hats on.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00'It dates from the days of draughty messes
0:01:00 > 0:01:03'and they see no reason to take them off.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08'In any other regiment, you would be fined.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12'Fine books, like that of the 18th Hussars in India in 1883,
0:01:12 > 0:01:14'are less testimony of reproof,
0:01:14 > 0:01:18'than an indication of what the lads were capable of getting up to.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22'Drawing a sword in the mess, 15 rupees.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26'Striking bets before the cloth had been removed from the dinner table,
0:01:26 > 0:01:28'another 15 rupees.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32'Today, the currency of the fine is champagne.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35'Among the subalterns of the 16th/5th Lancers,
0:01:35 > 0:01:38'fines are imposed not only for ghastly behaviour,
0:01:38 > 0:01:40'but social indiscretions
0:01:40 > 0:01:42'that will strike despair in the hearts of many a lady.'
0:01:45 > 0:01:46There's one. Charles Moore.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50Causing a group ejection from the Ritz Hotel, Piccadilly,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53by seating himself uninvited at the tearoom piano
0:01:54 > 0:01:57and giving a prep-scholic rendition of Chopsticks!
0:01:57 > 0:02:00LAUGHTER
0:02:01 > 0:02:02Here's one. Alex...
0:02:03 > 0:02:07- Captain Edie having a female friend
0:02:07 > 0:02:09who lives in a numbered house.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11LAUGHTER
0:02:13 > 0:02:16'And then there's the wagers book.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18'Major Willie Peter of the 13th/18th hussars.'
0:02:18 > 0:02:24Some of them, though, were on a more intellectual level.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27Here we have one. Captain Cotterill waging at 2nd Lieutenant Haslam
0:02:28 > 0:02:31that he will giggle at some stage during the dining out
0:02:31 > 0:02:36of Captain John Wadmore on Wednesday 22nd October, 1969.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40The wage is to be one bottle of champagne. Captain Cotterill won,
0:02:40 > 0:02:45as Mr Haslam giggled within 30 seconds of the wager being taken.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47Again, here is another one
0:02:47 > 0:02:51on the authorship of a novel by Len Deighton.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53Not much Kierkegaard here!
0:02:53 > 0:02:58And the last one, perhaps, is on officers' futures,
0:02:58 > 0:03:00other interesting things like that.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03Lieutenant Scroobie here wagers Lieutenant Cameron
0:03:03 > 0:03:06that Lieutenant Knowles' penalty for his exciting adventures
0:03:06 > 0:03:10with the military Land Rover in the Brompton Road, Knightsbridge,
0:03:10 > 0:03:14will not exceed six extra duties or six extraordinary officers,
0:03:14 > 0:03:15as it is normally called.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17Scroobie won this one
0:03:17 > 0:03:21because Lieutenant Knowles was not given any extras for his adventure.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24He was however asked if he would mind awfully
0:03:24 > 0:03:30seeking alternative employment, which Lieutenant Knowles readily agreed.
0:03:30 > 0:03:31So that's the betting book.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33'All of this contradicts the impression
0:03:33 > 0:03:36'that young officers take themselves seriously.'
0:03:36 > 0:03:38Oh, I don't think people do take themselves seriously.
0:03:39 > 0:03:40I think, in a way, at times,
0:03:40 > 0:03:45that people think we realise we're characters on the stage
0:03:45 > 0:03:48so we fill the path by filling in the books.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52It doesn't detract from standards, it just adds to amusement.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57'On exercise in Germany, those standards never slacken.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00'The Warrior is the new hi-tech personnel carrier
0:04:00 > 0:04:02'of the Grenadier Guards,
0:04:02 > 0:04:05'men traditionally associated with impeccable drill
0:04:05 > 0:04:07'outside Buckingham Palace.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10'Colourful tradition bucks up the tourist trade,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13'but do the guards believe it contributes to bravery?'
0:04:13 > 0:04:15No, I don't, I'm afraid.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20I think it's a backcloth which people will draw reference on.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23I mean, you know, it is something that a commanding officer
0:04:23 > 0:04:26or company commanders or sergeant majors will perhaps reflect on.
0:04:27 > 0:04:28I think it is unlikely.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30What is much more the thing
0:04:30 > 0:04:34that makes people do brave things is really comradeship.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37It's the corporate spirit.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40The loyalty to your platoon, to your company, to your battalion.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43I don't think anybody thinks about Waterloo.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47- Leave, march-ins, please.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50'Yet the Guards are riddled with traditions.'
0:04:52 > 0:04:53- March in.
0:04:53 > 0:04:54- Sir, Sergeant. Attention!
0:04:54 > 0:04:56THEY SHOUT ORDERS
0:05:00 > 0:05:02- Sergeants, quick march!
0:05:02 > 0:05:06Left, right, left, right, left, right. Mark time!
0:05:06 > 0:05:09Sergeants, halt!
0:05:09 > 0:05:10Left turn.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12- Sergeant Jones? - Sir!
0:05:12 > 0:05:13- Sergeant Worrel? - Sir!
0:05:13 > 0:05:17- Sergeant Warrington? Sergeant McEwan. Sergeant McTaggart.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19Sergeant Davis? - Sir!
0:05:21 > 0:05:24'This discreet little gathering of sergeants
0:05:24 > 0:05:27'from all five regiments of Foot Guards is called "CO's memoranda".
0:05:27 > 0:05:29'Each sergeant has his own traditional
0:05:29 > 0:05:31'and jealously-preserved style of response.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34'Even the door opens by some kind of traditional magic.'
0:05:34 > 0:05:38March! Left, right, left, right, left, left, right!
0:05:43 > 0:05:45- That is all for Commanding Officer memoranda, sir.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Leave to fall out, sir, please. - Yes, please, Sergeant Major.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51The drill sergeant's words of command need sorting out.
0:05:51 > 0:05:52- Sir.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02DRILL SERGEANT SHOUTS ORDERS
0:06:09 > 0:06:13- The world sees you as elite. Do you see yourselves as elite?
0:06:13 > 0:06:17- Well, there is only one Grenadier Guards. My answer to that must be,
0:06:17 > 0:06:22certainly, we do. I can't say yes, because Grenadiers never say yes.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25'To outsiders, the elimination of the word "yes"
0:06:25 > 0:06:27'can be baffling and infuriating.'
0:06:27 > 0:06:29Lance Corporal Teague, sir.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36I think it probably emanates from, really,
0:06:36 > 0:06:41Grenadiers having an unquestioned obedience.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45I think that the word "no" was rather irrelevant,
0:06:45 > 0:06:48it was never used, it was always, "Yes, sir."
0:06:48 > 0:06:52"Yes" becomes redundant, so you just say "sir".
0:06:52 > 0:06:55- Can you give me a few acting examples of this?
0:06:55 > 0:06:57You know I've been lying to you
0:06:57 > 0:07:00or I'm asking you to do something ridiculous. How do you...?
0:07:01 > 0:07:02- "Sir?"
0:07:04 > 0:07:07And then you get... You are given a rocket.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10You say, "Sir!"
0:07:10 > 0:07:12It does not mean you are very happy about it
0:07:13 > 0:07:16or very unhappy about it, but you accept it.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19"Sir!"
0:07:19 > 0:07:22You are told something that you simply don't believe.
0:07:22 > 0:07:23"Sir?"
0:07:23 > 0:07:25You are told something
0:07:25 > 0:07:29which you definitely do disagree with and don't like.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31"Sir."
0:07:31 > 0:07:35So it's very useful and, used in its different inflections,
0:07:35 > 0:07:37it's a useful mechanism.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41'The Queen's Association with the Grenadier Guards
0:07:41 > 0:07:43'stretches back to the war years when,
0:07:43 > 0:07:45'as the 16-year-old Princess Elizabeth,
0:07:45 > 0:07:46'she became colonel of the regiment.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52'On her 18th birthday in 1944, her soldiers paraded for her at Windsor.'
0:07:52 > 0:07:54MARCHING BAND MUSIC
0:07:56 > 0:08:00NEWSREEL: 'Apart from the occasion itself, the princess' birthday,
0:08:00 > 0:08:04'what distinguished the ceremony was the presentation made to her.
0:08:04 > 0:08:06'This was a replica in miniature
0:08:06 > 0:08:09'of the King's Colour of the 1st Battalion, the Grenadier Guards,
0:08:09 > 0:08:11'with her own monogram.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13'It was presented by Colonel Prescott.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23'As you will see, the fine workmanship of the gift
0:08:23 > 0:08:26'proved quite irresistible to the Princess and the Queen.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28'The colour will in future be mounted
0:08:28 > 0:08:31'whenever Her Royal Highness attends the parade
0:08:31 > 0:08:35'or inspects any battalion of the Grenadier Guards.'
0:08:35 > 0:08:40She became the colonel of this regiment in the middle of the war.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43It's an association which we are very proud of.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49And the story goes that she has, from time to time,
0:08:49 > 0:08:53referred to this regiment as "my Grenadiers"
0:08:53 > 0:08:57and it's something which we are very proud of.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01'For the young princess, it was the start, literally,
0:09:01 > 0:09:03'of a relationship for life,
0:09:03 > 0:09:06'for she is also commander of the elite Queen's Company.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08'Average height - 6ft 2 inches.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12'Each year, the Queen's Company present her
0:09:12 > 0:09:15'with an album of their activities and each year,
0:09:15 > 0:09:17'with mutual tradition, the Queen is photographed
0:09:17 > 0:09:20'with the company's officers.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24'Not only as her grandfather, George V, had done in his reign,
0:09:24 > 0:09:26'but in precisely the same spot.'
0:09:27 > 0:09:29By...the left!
0:09:30 > 0:09:33'There is rather more to it than an exchange of courtesies,
0:09:33 > 0:09:38'for the Queen's Company provides the pallbearers for all dead monarchs,
0:09:38 > 0:09:42'acknowledging what she describes as "the important ceremonial duties
0:09:42 > 0:09:45'"on great and solemn occasions of our history",
0:09:45 > 0:09:46'The Queen wrote this to them -
0:09:47 > 0:09:49"I have sacred memories of the reverend care
0:09:49 > 0:09:52"shown by the bearer parties of my company
0:09:52 > 0:09:55"at the funerals of my father and grandmother."
0:10:02 > 0:10:07'Down the ages, the demon drink has not been unknown to the British Army.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10'This tradition, Guards officers walking in straight lines
0:10:10 > 0:10:12'to prove that they are sober enough to lead their men,
0:10:13 > 0:10:15'might well have a future in civilian life.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24'But the days of heroic pre-yardarm drinking are gone.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26'Among the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards,
0:10:26 > 0:10:29'there are those who order soft drinks before lunch.'
0:10:29 > 0:10:31CHATTER
0:10:35 > 0:10:39'There is also the most civilised custom here which averts the dangers
0:10:39 > 0:10:41'of buying a round.'
0:10:41 > 0:10:44Yes, I offered Bijan a drink when I was asking for my own drink,
0:10:44 > 0:10:46but we do it out of courtesy to each other.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49We are not actually paying for one another's drink.
0:10:49 > 0:10:50My drink will go on my mess bill.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52Bijan's drink will go on his mess bill,
0:10:52 > 0:10:56as it would if we offered any other officer in the mess a drink.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59It would go on their own mess bill, rather than paying for it,
0:10:59 > 0:11:02thereby avoiding any necessities to have large mess bills
0:11:02 > 0:11:05or to get into unnecessary drinking of rounds,
0:11:05 > 0:11:08it is just a matter of courtesy, not of payment.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14'Civility prevails. Off-duty officers always buy a bottle
0:11:14 > 0:11:18'of tangible compensation for the orderly officer
0:11:18 > 0:11:20'left to dine on his own.'
0:11:20 > 0:11:22- Your champagne, sir.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26- Thank you very much. I'll enjoy that very much later after my duties.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32'It's the pride of the regiment
0:11:32 > 0:11:35'that even the corkscrew comes on all fours.'
0:11:37 > 0:11:39- Go on. Go on!
0:11:39 > 0:11:42-Good boy!
0:11:42 > 0:11:45'A long way from these effete party tricks
0:11:45 > 0:11:47'stands the town of Burnley in Lancashire.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50'The children here, thank God, have never known wars.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53'But their forebears did and at Burnley Miners Club,
0:11:53 > 0:11:57'the North's answer to Annabel's, is the living and drinking proof of it.'
0:12:02 > 0:12:04Two Bennies, Margaret, please.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08'The key word here is "Benny", short for Benedictine.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10'Although the chances of hearing Gregorian chant
0:12:10 > 0:12:13'on a stroll through the old cotton town are rather remote,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16'Burnley's links with one of the more secular aspects
0:12:16 > 0:12:19'of French monastic life are considerable,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22'thanks to the Queen's Lancashire Regiment in World War One.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25'The monks, when they were not at prayers
0:12:25 > 0:12:28'or painting elaborate scrolls in books, produced alcohol,
0:12:28 > 0:12:32'a liqueur that some see as "a southern poofter's drink".'
0:12:33 > 0:12:35- It's not a southern poofter's drink up here, though.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38We sell an awful lot of Benedictine.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41It's come about from the First World War.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45I think that David has the history of it better than I do.
0:12:45 > 0:12:50- The First World War, the local TA regiment, 5th Battalion,
0:12:50 > 0:12:53was stationed close to the monastery.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57They liked the stuff, brought it back and it's developed ever since.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59In fact, it probably sells more now
0:12:59 > 0:13:02than what it did when it first came across.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04- Well, we do sell an awful lot.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07It has been said that we sell more than anybody in the world,
0:13:07 > 0:13:08believe it or not.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11It sounds silly from a little place like Burnley,
0:13:11 > 0:13:15but over Christmas we sold, it was about a four-week period,
0:13:15 > 0:13:17we sold 241 bottles.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19- Most certainly, this club,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22Alan's said, MAYBE it's the biggest outlet in the world,
0:13:22 > 0:13:27but it is a fact that it is the biggest outlet in the world
0:13:27 > 0:13:31and Burnley, Nelson, Colne, Accrington, that area,
0:13:31 > 0:13:35is the biggest outlet in the world by no shadow of doubt.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39- Put out the glasses again. Get some more glasses...
0:13:44 > 0:13:46'The army has a disarming way
0:13:46 > 0:13:49'of confessing its booze-related indiscretions.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53'For instance, why do the 14th/20th King's Hussars,
0:13:53 > 0:13:54'a Northern outfit,
0:13:54 > 0:13:57'parade to completely the wrong regimental march?'
0:13:57 > 0:14:03It became the regimental march of the 14th/20th King's Hussars in 1922.
0:14:03 > 0:14:08Before that, it was connected to the 14th Flight Dragoons.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10The band itself was in Dover.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13The regiment was coming back from abroad
0:14:13 > 0:14:16and, of course, it's normal for a band to go to the dock
0:14:16 > 0:14:18and play the regiment in.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22On this particular day, the sea was very rough,
0:14:22 > 0:14:27so the bandmaster, being a good chap as he was,
0:14:27 > 0:14:32took the band away down to the pub and they got so drunk, of course,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35when they came for the band to go and play at the dockside,
0:14:35 > 0:14:38they could not perform at all.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41So they had to go up to the Dover Castle
0:14:41 > 0:14:46and ask the band of the 35th Foot, the Royal Sussex regimental band,
0:14:46 > 0:14:49to come down and play for the regiment to dock.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53This they did and the colonel from the 14th and 8th Dragoons
0:14:53 > 0:14:57and the 35th Foot, the Royal Sussex Regiment, decided that,
0:14:57 > 0:14:58from that day,
0:14:58 > 0:15:03the band would have to play the Royal Sussex regimental march,
0:15:03 > 0:15:05the Royal Sussex.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08- Today, of course, the band is entirely sober at all times
0:15:08 > 0:15:09and never takes drop.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12- Have I got to comment on that?!
0:15:14 > 0:15:15BAGPIPES SKIRL
0:15:15 > 0:15:19'A beverage hardly distinguishable from nuclear heavy water
0:15:19 > 0:15:23'is Atholl brose, much favoured by the King's Own Scottish Borders.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27'It's ostensibly prepared to a secret recipe of a former Duchess of Atholl.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31'Someone had to make porridge palatable.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35'The subtlety would appear to come from pouring in Scotch whisky...
0:15:39 > 0:15:41'..adding Scotch whisky...
0:15:43 > 0:15:46'..and then topping it up with Scotch whisky.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50'Atholl brose is a serious drink,
0:15:50 > 0:15:54'much in evidence on St Andrew's Night, a serious occasion.'
0:15:56 > 0:16:01Gentlemen, we now drink in solemn silence
0:16:01 > 0:16:03to our patron saint, St Andrew.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28'The toast to St Andrew is drunk in silence,
0:16:28 > 0:16:33'about two large tots per man, from a quaich, a Scottish loving cup.
0:16:44 > 0:16:48'But the great moment, of course, is trooping the haggis,
0:16:48 > 0:16:52'hardly less impressive than trooping the colour.
0:17:16 > 0:17:18BAGPIPES STOP PLAYING
0:17:26 > 0:17:29'Naturally, the CO initially inscribes it
0:17:29 > 0:17:31'with the cross of St Andrew.'
0:17:52 > 0:17:54CHATTER
0:17:58 > 0:18:02'The Queen's Own Highlanders observe an equally solemn tradition
0:18:02 > 0:18:05'when toasting a departing Commanding Officer.'
0:18:05 > 0:18:10Gentlemen, I propose a toast. Highland honours, Colonel Peter.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23Colonel Peter.
0:18:23 > 0:18:24ALL: Colonel Peter.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33'Well, it does save the washing-up!
0:18:36 > 0:18:38'The King's Own Scottish Borders
0:18:38 > 0:18:40'have recovered from the Atholl brose, or have they?
0:18:40 > 0:18:43'A sergeant in Russian uniform?'
0:18:43 > 0:18:46Right...slow...march!
0:18:46 > 0:18:50'It's the sergeants' annual challenge to their officers.'
0:18:50 > 0:18:52BAGPIPES AND DRUMS PLAY
0:18:56 > 0:18:58- It's a bit of fun,
0:18:58 > 0:19:00but just underneath,
0:19:00 > 0:19:03it is an opportunity for the sergeants and the officers to mix
0:19:03 > 0:19:07and get together, both during the event of the challenge
0:19:07 > 0:19:10and afterwards, when they have a drink.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14It's a chance for one mess to upstage the other in competition
0:19:14 > 0:19:17and a little bit of good-natured needle, if you like.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21In particular, the sergeants' mess always set out to win
0:19:21 > 0:19:25and they normally do, which is rather fun, that they reverse the tables
0:19:25 > 0:19:29for the day and are seen to be the leaders.
0:19:32 > 0:19:37The NCOs are very much the day-to-day managers.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39They make things work.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42It's the officers who, if you like, paint the picture,
0:19:42 > 0:19:48the background, but both have got to have a mutual respect.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51It's got to be equal in both directions, although the officers
0:19:51 > 0:19:55are higher-ranking, if you like, and are paid slightly better.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00The more that we can get together and work as an outfit, the better it is.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02If you have too much of a separation
0:20:02 > 0:20:04between the officers and the sergeants' mess,
0:20:04 > 0:20:06the rest of the unit will suffer.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08- "Five and his gang arrived with a bang
0:20:08 > 0:20:10"They wish us to go sledging
0:20:10 > 0:20:11"But they should beware
0:20:11 > 0:20:12"That we dinnae care
0:20:12 > 0:20:13"And that we are oot
0:20:13 > 0:20:14"To embarrass them mair
0:20:14 > 0:20:16"As requested by your chap..."
0:20:16 > 0:20:18- Like everyone else,
0:20:18 > 0:20:22we need a bit of light relief. We are a very cost-effective army.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26In some ways, we are very stretched throughout the year,
0:20:26 > 0:20:28doing all of our normal business.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32It is nice to have one day where it is slightly less serious.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40There's another aspect, which is, of course, the Jocks all come and watch
0:20:40 > 0:20:44what we're up to, I think that they get a certain amount of amusement
0:20:44 > 0:20:48out of seeing what the officers and the sergeants are doing.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50It's just a little bit of a change,
0:20:50 > 0:20:54but it's part of the glue, again, the friendship bond,
0:20:54 > 0:20:58taking part in this sort of thing that helps to hold us together
0:20:58 > 0:21:03when it comes to more serious things like operations.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09Yes, well, I'm the caricature of an army officer,
0:21:09 > 0:21:11which keeps everyone very amused.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15They know fine that I'm terrified and not a very good horseman,
0:21:15 > 0:21:17so that is another bit of fun
0:21:17 > 0:21:19and perhaps laughing at yourself a little bit.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22It does us no harm at all.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32SHE LAUGHS
0:21:32 > 0:21:33Thank you!
0:21:33 > 0:21:37- You can put them back in now. - I thought it was part of the game!
0:21:37 > 0:21:38BANG!
0:21:38 > 0:21:41SHOUTING
0:21:41 > 0:21:42BANG!
0:21:42 > 0:21:45SHOUTING
0:21:45 > 0:21:48First of all, the timescale, we always run this on a day
0:21:48 > 0:21:50which is not a working day.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53It is normally run at the weekend, so it is our own time,
0:21:53 > 0:21:57and secondly, this is entirely funded by the individuals.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59We don't use anything in there
0:21:59 > 0:22:03that is costing any great money to the taxpayer.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05BAGPIPES SKIRL
0:22:05 > 0:22:07BANG!
0:22:10 > 0:22:12'The Germans find it utterly bewildering.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14'A few years ago, the smoke was so intense,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17'they thought the Russians were coming through again.'
0:22:17 > 0:22:20BAGPIPES SKIRL
0:22:20 > 0:22:22SHOUTING
0:22:26 > 0:22:29'The entire proceedings are accompanied by the bagpipes,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32'just as they were under graver circumstances
0:22:32 > 0:22:36'at the Battle of Loos in September, 1915.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38'Then, it was piper Daniel Laidlaw
0:22:38 > 0:22:41'of the 7th King's Own Scottish Borderers who, 13 years later,
0:22:41 > 0:22:46'was to play himself in a cinema reconstruction of the action.'
0:22:46 > 0:22:47GUNFIRE
0:22:50 > 0:22:52Zero hour came,
0:22:52 > 0:22:55the whistles blew
0:22:55 > 0:22:57and very little happened.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00It was Laidlaw who saw that very little was happening.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03He got up on the parapet of the trench
0:23:03 > 0:23:06and the Germans started to shoot back. They...
0:23:06 > 0:23:11He fired up his pipes, played the regimental march
0:23:11 > 0:23:16and the soldiers got out of the trench and went forward
0:23:16 > 0:23:18and Laidlaw went too.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22When he was within a couple of hundred yards of the German wire,
0:23:22 > 0:23:26he changed from the regimental march into the regimental charge,
0:23:26 > 0:23:29the Standard on the Braes o' Mar,
0:23:29 > 0:23:34and they went forward and they captured that trench.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38And the terrible thing was that the battalion,
0:23:38 > 0:23:40who started off 900-strong,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43took 650 casualties that morning
0:23:43 > 0:23:49and there were only three officers left at the end of it.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52They took the enemy front trench
0:23:52 > 0:23:55and they went on and they just disappeared.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57A lot of them just disappeared.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00They went into the German second line,
0:24:00 > 0:24:02they were cut off and shot down.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06'Amid the carnage, Laidlaw won a Victoria Cross,
0:24:06 > 0:24:10'an object of visible pride to his great-grandson, Kevin,
0:24:10 > 0:24:13'when he visits the regimental headquarters at Berwick-upon-Tweed
0:24:13 > 0:24:14'74 years later.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25'Back in Berlin, officers of the Black Watch are still serving penance
0:24:25 > 0:24:27'for a predecessor's shortcomings
0:24:28 > 0:24:30'a little matter of some 137 years earlier.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34'On the 15th day of each month, they assemble at dawn.'
0:24:36 > 0:24:38Some things haven't changed very much.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41In the Crimea, sadly, one of the Highland Brigade picket officers
0:24:41 > 0:24:44was fast asleep when he should have been patrolling the lines.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46The whole idea of a picket officer
0:24:46 > 0:24:49was he stayed with the outlying pickets
0:24:49 > 0:24:51to make sure that the enemy did not come in.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54Well, at dawn, a Pecheneg Cossack regiment
0:24:54 > 0:24:57managed to penetrate into the Highland Brigade lines,
0:24:57 > 0:25:00the picket officer was fast asleep
0:25:00 > 0:25:04and Sod's law had it that the duty piper was very young,
0:25:04 > 0:25:06he knew he had to wake the brigade up,
0:25:06 > 0:25:10but he could not remember what pipe tune it was.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13So what he did, he started playing any tune that came to his head,
0:25:14 > 0:25:16and that is why Crimea Long Reveille
0:25:16 > 0:25:18has such an extraordinary medley of tunes.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28Eventually, he got to Johnny Cope,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31the traditional Scottish reveille, commemorating Prestonpans
0:25:31 > 0:25:33when people were asleep as well,
0:25:33 > 0:25:35so as a punishment,
0:25:35 > 0:25:40all officers in what is left of the Highland Brigade
0:25:40 > 0:25:41now have to get up,
0:25:41 > 0:25:45this time of the month, with the attitude to remind themselves of A,
0:25:45 > 0:25:48what the pipe tunes are and secondly, what their duty is.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51Similarly, it helps the pipes and the drums
0:25:51 > 0:25:52to learn what Johnny Cope is as well.
0:26:00 > 0:26:05'For the Black Watch, it is not only tradition, but a pertinent reminder.
0:26:05 > 0:26:06'They are frontline troops again,
0:26:06 > 0:26:11'since the frontier between West and East actually bisects this building.'
0:26:13 > 0:26:16I mean, we are standing 50m from the border.
0:26:16 > 0:26:17My own company office,
0:26:17 > 0:26:21I can sit and wave at the East German border guards from.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25Similarly, there is a tower overlooking me now, as we film,
0:26:25 > 0:26:27they are no doubt filming us.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30So we have to be ever-alert.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36The threat is actually theoretically, they could have a surprise attack
0:26:36 > 0:26:40and their start line would be 50m from where we are standing now
0:26:40 > 0:26:43and the officers' mess would be evaporated.
0:26:43 > 0:26:44'Beyond the wire fence,
0:26:45 > 0:26:48'there still remain 6.25 million Eastern Bloc troops
0:26:48 > 0:26:50'and, for all the talking,
0:26:50 > 0:26:53'enough nuclear weaponry to annihilate Western Europe.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57'Vigilance is more than a dawn tradition once a month.'