0:00:19 > 0:00:22At the start of the 18th century, Britain was becoming
0:00:22 > 0:00:26the richest, most powerful nation in the world.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33Prosperity led to the creation of the Bank of England,
0:00:33 > 0:00:36a storehouse of the nation's wealth.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01I feel like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03Shelf after shelf of delicious chocolate
0:01:03 > 0:01:05all wrapped up in gold foil ready for sale.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09But of course, this isn't actually chocolate -
0:01:09 > 0:01:11you'd break your teeth if you tried eating this.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14These are solid gold bars -
0:01:14 > 0:01:1790 billion pounds' worth of the stuff.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Absolutely sensational.
0:01:20 > 0:01:22But this is what I've come to see.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25These are the real treasures of the Bank of England.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29They're the very, very earliest banknotes.
0:01:30 > 0:01:36And this is dated 18th May 1700, and it's a work of art in itself.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38It's absolutely beautifully printed,
0:01:38 > 0:01:41using very dark ink - because black was difficult to achieve,
0:01:41 > 0:01:43and it helped stop forgery -
0:01:43 > 0:01:46on carefully handmade paper.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50And at the top, a little seal of Britannia. Not of the monarch.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54It wasn't until the 1960s that the Queen's head appears.
0:01:54 > 0:01:59Banknotes like this radically changed the way life was led in Britain.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03Commerce grew, we became richer, our culture changed
0:02:03 > 0:02:07and, in the end, it was all reflected in our art.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51In the 18th century, Britain became, for the first time,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54a place we might recognise today.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58A new class of people was emerging,
0:02:58 > 0:03:02somewhere between the lord and the labourer.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07It was commerce and prosperity that created them -
0:03:07 > 0:03:13people with a bit of money to spare and an appetite for novelty and pleasure.
0:03:19 > 0:03:24It was the beginning of what we now call the middle class,
0:03:24 > 0:03:28though back then they were simply known as people of the middling sort.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32We see their faces in hundreds of paintings done at the time,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35and one of the best collections is here at Kenwood House.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07The paintings on these walls are no longer just kings and queens and aristocrats.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11There are people here whose title is Mr or Mrs -
0:04:11 > 0:04:15ordinary people who've risen to become people of influence,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18the power brokers of their age.
0:04:18 > 0:04:19Actors and politicians.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23Inventors, courtesans, even artists.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25Take this portrait, for instance.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28John Joseph Merlin, a portrait by Gainsborough.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31Merlin was a rather eccentric man.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35He was an inventor. He invented roller skates.
0:04:35 > 0:04:36He invented the clock.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38But he was no gentleman,
0:04:38 > 0:04:44and yet Gainsborough gives him all the airs of an aristocrat...
0:04:44 > 0:04:46his hand in his rather elegant coat,
0:04:46 > 0:04:50and in his left hand, another of his little inventions.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53This is a device for checking
0:04:53 > 0:04:55that a gold sovereign was of the correct weight,
0:04:55 > 0:04:57because prosperity,
0:04:57 > 0:05:01that was the key to power in this new age.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26There's something very refreshing about these paintings.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28They're quite unlike what had gone before.
0:05:28 > 0:05:34There's a sort of innocent pleasure in dressing up in fine clothes.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42Innocent pleasure, if a bit sentimental,
0:05:42 > 0:05:45in children playing with their dogs or in the countryside.
0:05:45 > 0:05:50And these are the paintings, remember, commissioned by this new class of people,
0:05:50 > 0:05:54people who weren't ashamed of their wealth,
0:05:54 > 0:05:56but wanted to be seen to enjoy it.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18Commerce and trade changed the face of Britain.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23A network of canals threaded their way through the countryside,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27to speed the movement of goods and raw materials.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30And entrepreneurs seized the opportunities this offered.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44In the mid-18th century,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47Stoke-on-Trent was at the heart of the Potteries,
0:06:47 > 0:06:52great industry, of which very little remains, just the occasional kiln.
0:06:52 > 0:06:53But back then,
0:06:53 > 0:06:57it was dirty and dangerous work producing pots.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59The potters used to suffer from terrible diseases,
0:06:59 > 0:07:01partly the lead in the glaze
0:07:01 > 0:07:04which gave them lung disease called "potter's rot".
0:07:04 > 0:07:10And the pots they made were fairly crude, using the local dark clay.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14And then a man, a local man, decided to change all that.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18His name was Josiah Wedgwood.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26Wedgwood, the 12th child of a poor family,
0:07:26 > 0:07:28was apprenticed into the Potteries.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33But his genius for design and scientific invention
0:07:33 > 0:07:36soon marked him out as more than a mere potter.
0:07:41 > 0:07:47Wedgwood pushed the boundaries of his art, experimenting with materials,
0:07:47 > 0:07:52opening up a new market with his distinctive blue and white designs,
0:07:52 > 0:07:54known as jasper ware.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03Wedgwood was a restless perfectionist,
0:08:03 > 0:08:08wanting to produce impeccable work, like these jasper teapots.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12He'd search for clay in Devon, in Cornwall, in America,
0:08:12 > 0:08:16anywhere in the world, to try and find the finest possible material,
0:08:16 > 0:08:22so that he could produce works that were as neat, as clear as this.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33He was obsessed with getting the colours exactly right
0:08:33 > 0:08:34and he experimented all the time.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37These are some of his experiments...
0:08:37 > 0:08:40These are little pieces of clay mixed with different minerals,
0:08:40 > 0:08:42each one numbered
0:08:42 > 0:08:46and each one with instructions of where they should go in the kiln,
0:08:46 > 0:08:48or the so-called "biscuit oven".
0:08:48 > 0:08:51MBO - middle of the biscuit oven.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53TBO - top of the biscuit oven.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57TTBO - tiptop of the biscuit oven.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01What a labour!
0:09:04 > 0:09:09All these experiments led to this - Wedgwood's great masterpiece.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14This is the Portland Vase.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18And it's a copy of a Roman vase
0:09:18 > 0:09:22that was brought to England in the 1780s,
0:09:22 > 0:09:25exhibited at the British Museum and caused a huge stir.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28People were so astonished by its beauty.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30They went to look at it, queued up to see it.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34And Wedgwood, always one with a sharp eye,
0:09:34 > 0:09:37decided he'd make a copy of it.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39And this is the copy.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41If you were rich enough,
0:09:41 > 0:09:45you could have the actual copy of the Roman vase in your house.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47But it wasn't easy to do,
0:09:47 > 0:09:53because the original Roman one was made of glass that had been blown.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57He had to use his own clay to make it,
0:09:57 > 0:09:59and so he started experimenting,
0:09:59 > 0:10:03and it took him over three years to get it right.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07Look, here's one that went wrong, with these bubbles on.
0:10:09 > 0:10:15Here's another one where the figures have started falling off, crumbling.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19And here's one that's almost perfect that he kept for himself.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23This is actually Josiah Wedgwood's OWN Portland Vase.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29In the end, he got it right and started producing these,
0:10:29 > 0:10:32and they're still produced even to this day.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12If I talk to you, will you lose your concentration?
0:11:12 > 0:11:14- No, you're all right.- Will you?
0:11:14 > 0:11:16- Oh, you're all right?- Yes.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18- How many have you made? - Over a hundred.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21How many went wrong in the process of making a hundred?
0:11:21 > 0:11:23Oh, quite a few!
0:11:23 > 0:11:28- How do you know? Is this right so far?- This one's all right so far.
0:11:28 > 0:11:29- Is it?- Yes.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31Can it still go wrong at this stage?
0:11:31 > 0:11:34- It can still go wrong, yes. - What could happen?
0:11:34 > 0:11:37- It could still collapse. - You're looking a bit anxious.
0:11:37 > 0:11:38THEY CHUCKLE
0:11:41 > 0:11:44Wa-ay!
0:11:47 > 0:11:50I only once made a pot, and it started all right
0:11:50 > 0:11:52and then it went r-u-u-m, r-u-u-m and bussht!
0:11:57 > 0:11:58Right, I think that's it.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00- Job done?- Yes.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03- Nice to meet you, anyway.- Terrific!
0:12:03 > 0:12:04Thank you so much.
0:12:35 > 0:12:40The mass-marketing of luxury goods meant it was no longer just aristocrats
0:12:40 > 0:12:42who could buy fine things.
0:12:44 > 0:12:49Palatial homes for rich merchants sprang up across Britain
0:12:49 > 0:12:52and their houses needed furnishings to match.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58One innovator with an eye for the main chance
0:12:58 > 0:13:01was the furniture-maker Thomas Chippendale.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07Chippendale published catalogues of his work
0:13:07 > 0:13:12to enable consumers to choose exactly which ornate designs
0:13:12 > 0:13:13would look right in their homes.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19His Gentleman And Cabinet-Maker's Director of 1754
0:13:19 > 0:13:22was the IKEA catalogue of its day.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42Nostell Priory is a treasure trove of Chippendale.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46They have well over a hundred major pieces of furniture.
0:13:46 > 0:13:4974 chairs alone.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51Like this one - rather theatrical,
0:13:51 > 0:13:54not a particularly practical sort of chair to sit on.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56But it's not just chairs they've got.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03This is a fine gentleman's dressing table.
0:14:03 > 0:14:08A mirror, a basin here would've had the water in.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12Various pots for ointments, glass bottles.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18A set of six cut-throat razors, one for each day of the week.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20They didn't, apparently, shave on a Sunday.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23But the razors are numbered one to six.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27A tongue-scraper,
0:14:27 > 0:14:28for cleaning your tongue.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30Very ingenious!
0:14:35 > 0:14:39And in here, a different kind of Chippendale, flamboyant Chippendale.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46This is Chippendale building furniture in the Chinese style
0:14:46 > 0:14:48which was all the rage at the time.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50This beautiful, complex mirror.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53And over here, a clothes press,
0:14:53 > 0:14:57green lacquer with this gold.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00People sitting around the table here.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03A child with a dog barking at him down there.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05And if you open it,
0:15:05 > 0:15:09this pale green turns into this most beautiful, luscious emerald green
0:15:09 > 0:15:11where it hasn't been faded,
0:15:11 > 0:15:14the whole thing transporting you to the Far East.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22This is one of the finest rooms in Nostell,
0:15:22 > 0:15:26but it's a bit different from all the others.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30It's actually part of the Nostell doll's house.
0:15:30 > 0:15:31Look at that.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34It was made not for the children of the house
0:15:34 > 0:15:37but for the lady of the house
0:15:37 > 0:15:41to display the grandeur of her house to her friends, and her wealth,
0:15:41 > 0:15:45and it's so finely made that some people say
0:15:45 > 0:15:48that the actual bits of furniture were made by Chippendale himself.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53The detail is exquisite.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56These little silver plates, the fireplaces,
0:15:56 > 0:15:59this grand marble fireplace here.
0:16:04 > 0:16:09It's so beautifully made, this, so finely done, all this furniture.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14It makes me feel like a giant looking in on Nostell itself.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34Along with the fine objects that filled their homes,
0:16:34 > 0:16:40Britain's new elite was keen to embrace culture and learning as well.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46One man, above all, showed them the way.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50Dr Samuel Johnson, the son of a struggling bookseller,
0:16:50 > 0:16:54rose to become one of the most esteemed personalities of the age.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59In the house where he grew up is a copy of his greatest work.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10In 1755, Johnson's great masterpiece was published.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13It wasn't poetry, it wasn't a novel,
0:17:13 > 0:17:17it wasn't biography, it wasn't a play, though he wrote all of those.
0:17:17 > 0:17:23It was this two-volume Dr Johnson's Dictionary Of The English Language.
0:17:23 > 0:17:28This was a labour of love for Johnson, though at times, of course,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31he despaired that he'd ever finish it.
0:17:31 > 0:17:36Every single word written by him, with just a handful of assistants helping.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39Over 42,000 entries.
0:17:39 > 0:17:44This became the book that everybody who professed to be intelligent had to have.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48And when you browse through it, you can see exactly why.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51It's full of the most marvellous definition,
0:17:51 > 0:17:57but followed by magical description of how the word has been used in the past.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59A bedpresser.
0:17:59 > 0:18:04"A heavy, lazy fellow", and he quotes from Shakespeare's Henry IV.
0:18:04 > 0:18:09"This sanguine coward, this bedpresser, this horse back-breaker,
0:18:09 > 0:18:11"this huge hill of flesh."
0:18:11 > 0:18:13He was great on insults.
0:18:13 > 0:18:19Our insults, sadly, are rather limited and often start with the F-word.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23If you look at Johnson's F-words,
0:18:23 > 0:18:27we get fat-witted, flagitious, a flasher.
0:18:27 > 0:18:33Not what you think - "a man of more appearance of wit than reality".
0:18:33 > 0:18:35Footlicker.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37A fopdoodle.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39A fopdoodle is an insignificant wretch.
0:18:39 > 0:18:44Or how about calling somebody a fustilarian?
0:18:44 > 0:18:47"A low fellow, a stinkard, a scoundrel",
0:18:47 > 0:18:51and he says, interestingly, "a word used by Shakespeare only".
0:18:51 > 0:18:54"Away, you scullion, you rampallion, you fustilarian,
0:18:54 > 0:18:57"I'll tickle your catastrophe."
0:19:15 > 0:19:21In 1707, the Act of Union had united England and Scotland
0:19:21 > 0:19:24into one single political entity -
0:19:24 > 0:19:26Great Britain.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30Travel and communication became faster and safer,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33transforming the fortunes of both countries.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44Most Scots strongly objected to the Act of Union.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47But it did bring benefits, not least free trade.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50Access to England's markets overseas, in the colonies,
0:19:50 > 0:19:54particularly America, meant that Scotland became prosperous.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56And by the middle of the century
0:19:56 > 0:19:59its economy was growing faster than that of England.
0:19:59 > 0:20:05And it wasn't just trade. The prosperity also brought a new ferment of ideas,
0:20:05 > 0:20:11so that for a time, Scotland was the intellectual powerhouse of Europe.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21Nothing reveals this change more than Edinburgh New Town.
0:20:22 > 0:20:27It was begun, at vast expense, in the 1760s.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32With its wide, light-filled avenues built on a rational grid formation,
0:20:32 > 0:20:34it complemented Edinburgh's new-found reputation
0:20:34 > 0:20:37as the Athens of the North.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44It wasn't the architecture that excited admiration, grand though it was.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48It was the great minds who lived here.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52A visiting Englishman said he could stand in the middle of town
0:20:52 > 0:20:58and in a few minutes, grasp 50 people of genius and learning by the hand.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02England might have its artists and its designers.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06Scotland had philosophers and scientists,
0:21:06 > 0:21:09people who changed the way we thought of the world.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15Dr William Hunter was one of the many Scots
0:21:15 > 0:21:20who epitomised this new spirit of intellectual inquiry.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24He was a leading anatomist and male midwife.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29Hunter was also a lover of art
0:21:29 > 0:21:32and he brought art and science together
0:21:32 > 0:21:36to unlock some of the great mysteries of the age.
0:21:50 > 0:21:55This is the culmination of an astonishing life's work.
0:21:55 > 0:22:01These are plaster casts of women who've died in childbirth,
0:22:01 > 0:22:07either in the hospital or perhaps bought from grave-robbers,
0:22:07 > 0:22:09which in the 18th century
0:22:09 > 0:22:12was a popular way of making a bit of money on the side.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14Hunter wouldn't care particularly
0:22:14 > 0:22:17as long as he could get bodies of dead women
0:22:17 > 0:22:20and study what went on inside the womb.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26And here you can clearly see what's gone wrong.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29The child has got its umbilical cord round its neck,
0:22:29 > 0:22:31which would be dangerous were it to be born,
0:22:31 > 0:22:33but it's also in the breach position.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37It's going to be born bottom first, head upwards.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39And then next to it, this beautiful...
0:22:39 > 0:22:42it's like a sculpture, this child,
0:22:42 > 0:22:46lying curled up with its arms furled and its feet tucked in.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51But Hunter wanted to go further than that.
0:22:51 > 0:22:56He wanted to show every detail with ruthless precision and accuracy,
0:22:56 > 0:22:58and to do that, he needed an artist.
0:22:58 > 0:23:03And very fine the drawings that artist produced are,
0:23:03 > 0:23:09in red chalk, pictures of exactly the same stages of childbirth
0:23:09 > 0:23:11that were in the plaster casts.
0:23:11 > 0:23:16These very fine lines, creases on the womb.
0:23:19 > 0:23:26This was the first time that people had been able to see into the womb
0:23:26 > 0:23:30and watch how the child developed and watch why children died
0:23:30 > 0:23:32and mothers died in childbirth.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36It was an astonishing achievement of William Hunter's.
0:23:52 > 0:23:57If Scotland was the new intellectual hub of the nation,
0:23:57 > 0:23:59London was the business capital.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05Here, money ruled.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08Fortunes were made and broken overnight.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18The Italian artist Canaletto, best known for his paintings of Venice,
0:24:18 > 0:24:21was fascinated by London.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28He captured its grandeur in his own inimitable style,
0:24:28 > 0:24:30embellishing it a bit in the process.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36But there was a seamier side to the city.
0:24:36 > 0:24:42One London-born painter determined to reveal it was William Hogarth.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45Though Hogarth rose to the top of his profession,
0:24:45 > 0:24:48he never forgot the poverty of his youth.
0:24:57 > 0:25:03Tucked away in this tiny, but packed museum
0:25:03 > 0:25:06is Hogarth's greatest masterpiece.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20This is The Rake's Progress by Hogarth,
0:25:20 > 0:25:22the story of the decline and fall
0:25:22 > 0:25:25of a rich young man who comes to the City.
0:25:25 > 0:25:30It's a morality tale about the evils of 18th-century life,
0:25:30 > 0:25:33of the effects of too much money,
0:25:33 > 0:25:36of drunkenness, of whoring,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39of gambling. But, being Hogarth,
0:25:39 > 0:25:42he doesn't bludgeon the audience with his message.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46He does it all with terrific mischief and a sense of humour.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49The story starts
0:25:49 > 0:25:52with Tom Rakewell inheriting from his father,
0:25:52 > 0:25:53and there's Tom
0:25:53 > 0:25:57in the middle of the room being measured for a new suit
0:25:57 > 0:26:02to go to London - something he can now afford. And around,
0:26:02 > 0:26:04all the signs of his father's miserliness.
0:26:04 > 0:26:05A chest full of silver.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09There's a lawyer doing the accounts to show Tom his new wealth,
0:26:09 > 0:26:12and of course the wealth goes to his head.
0:26:12 > 0:26:17He abandons the girl who he's promised to marry - Sarah, the maid -
0:26:17 > 0:26:21who's standing there in the corner holding the wedding ring, rather forlorn,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25while an older woman points to the maid's stomach, to Sarah,
0:26:25 > 0:26:28to show that she's actually pregnant.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31Does Tom care? No.
0:26:31 > 0:26:37Tom goes off to London and, in a moment, is surrounded by all the temptations.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39There he is getting dressed in front of all the people
0:26:39 > 0:26:42who dance attendance on him.
0:26:42 > 0:26:47Silver toque on his head where his wig will go. On the left, the music teacher
0:26:47 > 0:26:50wanting to teach him to play Handel.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54The dancing master on tiptoe with his violin.
0:26:55 > 0:26:57Down here, there's a jockey
0:26:57 > 0:27:02with a great silver cup and a whip showing him the winnings he could have.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04And a man comes approaching him
0:27:04 > 0:27:06with a note of recommendation from another employer.
0:27:06 > 0:27:12So, there he is, surrounded by everything that the great city has to offer.
0:27:14 > 0:27:19All the tricks of the trade for which, of course, he will fall, and fall he does.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23In picture number three, this is the Rose Tavern -
0:27:23 > 0:27:29a famous St James' brothel. And there's Tom, drunk.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33Clearly he's drunk. He's got a glass of wine and there's wine all around.
0:27:33 > 0:27:34Shirt's undone,
0:27:34 > 0:27:39his sword hanging limply by his side,
0:27:39 > 0:27:42a sort of symbol that with drunkenness his virility has gone.
0:27:42 > 0:27:49And the girls all have black spots to cover syphilitic sores.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53It's a scene of debauchery
0:27:53 > 0:27:56and chaos - the chaos into which Tom's life
0:27:56 > 0:28:01has already descended. And the consequences follow soon.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06He gets arrested.
0:28:06 > 0:28:07He's on his way to St James's Palace
0:28:07 > 0:28:11to go to court. He's dressed in all his finery,
0:28:11 > 0:28:13but his wig comes askew
0:28:13 > 0:28:16as a man comes up to dun him for his debts.
0:28:16 > 0:28:21And who should appear to try and rescue him?
0:28:21 > 0:28:24Sarah, the girl that he betrayed.
0:28:24 > 0:28:29She's offering him a little bag of money to pay his debts.
0:28:29 > 0:28:31So what happens then?
0:28:31 > 0:28:35In despair, Tom decides to get married.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38He takes the obvious course
0:28:38 > 0:28:41of looking for a rich widow in need of a husband.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45And choosing a really rich woman, he can't afford to be too picky
0:28:45 > 0:28:47about what she looks like -
0:28:47 > 0:28:51one-eyed and squat and dumpy.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55And his eyes are actually looking past her
0:28:55 > 0:29:00to the buxom young servant girl who's dressing her for the marriage.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05But there's another bit of morality tale here because...
0:29:05 > 0:29:09being denied entrance to the church to complain about the marriage
0:29:09 > 0:29:12is Sarah once again.
0:29:12 > 0:29:17This time, Sarah carrying her little baby in her arms.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22Now, what effect does the marriage have?
0:29:22 > 0:29:24Does Tom sober up?
0:29:24 > 0:29:27He's got the money, he can now lead a respectable life,
0:29:27 > 0:29:30and no doubt he could still have the odd maid from time to time. Uh-uh.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32He goes off gambling.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36And this is the final downfall of Tom.
0:29:36 > 0:29:38Here he is at the gaming tables.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40He's just lost a large sum of money.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44In fact, everybody here seems to have lost money.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50And here in the centre, Tom with a kind of manic look in his eyes,
0:29:50 > 0:29:53shaking his fist and cursing his misfortune
0:29:53 > 0:29:56that all his money is gone.
0:29:56 > 0:29:57His wig's fallen off.
0:29:57 > 0:29:59On the floor, the chair's fallen over.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05And finally, he does get dunned for his debt.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07He's thrown into the debtors' prison.
0:30:09 > 0:30:16And here he is in the Fleet, looking distraught.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19On his left sits the wife,
0:30:19 > 0:30:22whose money he's spent, scolding him.
0:30:22 > 0:30:27One person again comes to rescue him.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30And it's Sarah, who comes and sees him
0:30:30 > 0:30:33in the debtor prison
0:30:33 > 0:30:35and faints away
0:30:35 > 0:30:38and has to be given smelling salts to revive her.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42And at the bottom, tugging at her mother's dress,
0:30:42 > 0:30:45is the child that she and Tom had.
0:30:45 > 0:30:47The child obviously looking
0:30:47 > 0:30:51anxious, distressed, angry at what's happened to her mother.
0:30:51 > 0:30:53And it gets worse.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58He ends up in Bedlam -
0:30:58 > 0:31:00the lunatic asylum,
0:31:00 > 0:31:06the place that ladies of fashion came to visit simply to gawp
0:31:06 > 0:31:11at this ghastly dance of the mad.
0:31:16 > 0:31:23This huge figure is Tom, chained up for his own safety,
0:31:23 > 0:31:25gone mad and, once again,
0:31:25 > 0:31:31Sarah in this final scene, weeping over Tom
0:31:31 > 0:31:33and over what might have been
0:31:33 > 0:31:36and over the destruction of his life.
0:31:39 > 0:31:45It's an extraordinary story, and Hogarth tells it in a way
0:31:45 > 0:31:48that makes us feel a kind of sympathy for Tom.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51But, at the same time,
0:31:51 > 0:31:55with a humour but also with a passion.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58It's perhaps because Hogarth himself understood,
0:31:58 > 0:32:00knew what the 18th century was like.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02If you were up, you were up.
0:32:02 > 0:32:04If you were rich, you were fine.
0:32:04 > 0:32:08If you fell into poverty, your life could be hell.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28For Hogarth, it wasn't enough just to depict the miseries of the poor.
0:32:28 > 0:32:33He wanted to do his bit to alleviate their suffering.
0:32:41 > 0:32:46In the 18th century, the children of the poorest families were very vulnerable.
0:32:46 > 0:32:51Three out of four died before they were six years old.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55Thousands more were abandoned by mothers either too young or too poor
0:32:55 > 0:32:59or perhaps ashamed of having a child outside marriage.
0:32:59 > 0:33:03And each day, young infants, wrapped up, were found in doorways,
0:33:03 > 0:33:06outside churches, left abandoned by their mothers.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10Children literally thrown away like rubbish.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20Hogarth was so horrified
0:33:20 > 0:33:24by such sights that he gave his services as patron and governor
0:33:24 > 0:33:26to help the wealthy merchant Thomas Coram
0:33:26 > 0:33:30create London's first sanctuary for abandoned children.
0:33:35 > 0:33:41The Foundling Hospital opened its doors in 1741.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52From the moment the hospital opened, there was a huge demand
0:33:52 > 0:33:55from mothers wanting to leave their children here.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58So much so that in the early days, they devised a ballot system
0:33:58 > 0:34:01to decide which children to take. It must've been very gruesome.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04The mothers came with their children
0:34:04 > 0:34:08and dipped their hands in a bag and took out a coloured ball.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12White ball - relief - it meant your child would be taken into the hospital,
0:34:12 > 0:34:14subject to a medical test.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18Red ball - on tenterhooks - it was put on a waiting list.
0:34:18 > 0:34:23Black ball - disaster - the child was turned away.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27Pure chance. Just a lottery.
0:34:29 > 0:34:31Then, when they were left here,
0:34:31 > 0:34:34the mothers wanted to leave something of themselves with the child,
0:34:34 > 0:34:36and so these tokens...
0:34:38 > 0:34:40..were often given to the hospital,
0:34:40 > 0:34:42partly to identify the child,
0:34:42 > 0:34:46partly that the child might feel some connection with the mother.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52This, for instance.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56A little circle of crystal.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00Almost looks as if it's been taken off a chandelier,
0:35:00 > 0:35:03because it's not anything you could wear.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08Or this...rather more humble.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10A thimble.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14This is thought to be a gambling token.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17A little ivory fish.
0:35:19 > 0:35:24This is a very beautiful, heart-shaped mother-of-pearl,
0:35:24 > 0:35:27with the initials EL.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29Really pretty.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33And this one, which is a giveaway, isn't it?
0:35:33 > 0:35:35This was a token left by a mother
0:35:35 > 0:35:37and it just says "ale".
0:35:37 > 0:35:41It would've hung around a beer jug.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45They're absolutely fascinating,
0:35:45 > 0:35:48but the really moving thing about them is
0:35:48 > 0:35:50they were never given to the children.
0:35:50 > 0:35:55The mothers left them, the hospital locked them up, carefully indexed,
0:35:55 > 0:35:57but never let the children have them
0:35:57 > 0:36:01because they didn't want the children to know where they came from,
0:36:01 > 0:36:04except if the mother came back to claim the child,
0:36:04 > 0:36:07which did occasionally happen but very, very rarely.
0:36:07 > 0:36:12Only one in 100 mothers returned here looking for their children.
0:36:27 > 0:36:32There was more to this place than just looking after abandoned children.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36The Foundling Hospital was a fashionable charity.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39People in the upper reaches of London society supported it,
0:36:39 > 0:36:42the artistic elite supported it.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45Handel came here and, for free, conducted the Messiah
0:36:45 > 0:36:48on nine different occasions as a fundraiser.
0:36:48 > 0:36:53Hogarth persuaded painters - Gainsborough, Reynolds and others -
0:36:53 > 0:36:56to paint their pictures and hang them here for free.
0:36:56 > 0:36:57And when people who were involved in the charity
0:36:57 > 0:37:01came here to look at the children, to leave a donation,
0:37:01 > 0:37:04they also came here to look at the pictures on the walls.
0:37:04 > 0:37:09This was the first public art gallery in Britain.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28The exhibitions at the Foundling Hospital
0:37:28 > 0:37:31gave artists the idea of displaying their work
0:37:31 > 0:37:35to a new, wider public with an appetite for culture.
0:37:38 > 0:37:43In 1768, the leading artists of the day, with royal approval,
0:37:43 > 0:37:47set up an academy for the promotion of British art.
0:38:09 > 0:38:13We take academies and art galleries for granted now -
0:38:13 > 0:38:15after all, they're two a penny in London.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19But when the Royal Academy was founded in 1768,
0:38:19 > 0:38:23it transformed the fortunes of British artists.
0:38:23 > 0:38:28It gave them the recognition they craved and deserved.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32And it also allowed them to make a bit of money in the process.
0:38:42 > 0:38:47The lifeblood of the Academy was the annual Summer Show.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50The policy was stack 'em high, sell 'em cheap.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55It was a hugely popular event,
0:38:55 > 0:39:01attracting up to 80,000 visitors a year. A place to see and be seen.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08But the Royal Academy wasn't just about shifting stock.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11It also took on students.
0:39:15 > 0:39:19Pupils here were subjected to the strict teachings of Joshua Reynolds,
0:39:19 > 0:39:22the first President of the Academy.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31Reynolds provided them with the rigorous classical training that they lacked.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34He taught a whole new generation of British artists how to draw.
0:39:34 > 0:39:39He believed that anyone could become a good artist
0:39:39 > 0:39:41if only they would follow the rules -
0:39:41 > 0:39:43the rules of course were his rules -
0:39:43 > 0:39:46as set out in his series of lectures, or discourses,
0:39:46 > 0:39:48which he gave to his fellow academicians
0:39:48 > 0:39:50and to students.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53What he encouraged them to do
0:39:53 > 0:39:54was to aim high,
0:39:54 > 0:39:58to pursue art with the same style and energy
0:39:58 > 0:40:01as the great masters of the Renaissance.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04And that way success lay.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11The Royal Academy made the decision, bold for the time,
0:40:11 > 0:40:14to accept women artists,
0:40:14 > 0:40:16although at the start, very few applied.
0:40:18 > 0:40:23This painting shows the founding members of the Royal Academy
0:40:23 > 0:40:25at a life class.
0:40:25 > 0:40:27You'll notice they're all men.
0:40:27 > 0:40:32It was thought improper for women to draw naked models.
0:40:32 > 0:40:36The two female members have been relegated to a side wall -
0:40:36 > 0:40:39Mary Moser and Angelica Kauffmann.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45Angelica Kauffmann doesn't seem to have suffered all that much
0:40:45 > 0:40:48from not being allowed to draw in the life class,
0:40:48 > 0:40:52as these four magnificent roundels in the ceiling show.
0:40:52 > 0:40:56They are the allegorical depiction of the elements of art.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58Now, this one is Design,
0:40:58 > 0:41:01and it shows a woman artist
0:41:01 > 0:41:04drawing a naked torso, but not of a living person,
0:41:04 > 0:41:06but a plaster cast.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09And it stresses the elements of proportion -
0:41:09 > 0:41:14the shape of the human body and how to get that down on paper.
0:41:14 > 0:41:16And then, over here,
0:41:16 > 0:41:20Composition...again a woman artist,
0:41:20 > 0:41:23this time contemplating a chess set...
0:41:25 > 0:41:27..and with a pair of compasses in her hand,
0:41:27 > 0:41:30stressing the element
0:41:30 > 0:41:34of mathematics and organisation of art.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39This one is Colour,
0:41:39 > 0:41:42and it shows the artist
0:41:42 > 0:41:46stealing pigment from the rainbow and using it on her palette.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52And then over here, the final one, Invention.
0:41:55 > 0:41:59This is a sort of ethereal figure of the artist
0:41:59 > 0:42:03with wings on her head, her hand resting on the globe, contemplating.
0:42:14 > 0:42:19The battle to survive in the open market led ambitious artists
0:42:19 > 0:42:25to exploit new, eye-catching ways of drawing attention to themselves.
0:42:50 > 0:42:51THUNDERCLAP
0:42:54 > 0:42:59In 1781, the artist and melodramatic theatrical designer
0:42:59 > 0:43:02Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg hit on a brilliant idea.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04He called it the Eidophusikon,
0:43:04 > 0:43:06and it was to give people the kind of excitement
0:43:06 > 0:43:09that years later they'd get from the cinema.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11It was to put on a melodramatic show
0:43:11 > 0:43:14that they'd sit and watch in amazement,
0:43:14 > 0:43:16and this is how it works.
0:43:16 > 0:43:18WAVES CRASHING
0:43:26 > 0:43:27WAVES CRASHING
0:43:34 > 0:43:40De Loutherbourg's great skill was to recreate the dramatic side of nature -
0:43:40 > 0:43:43the most wonderful seascapes
0:43:43 > 0:43:46and moonshine and sunsets,
0:43:46 > 0:43:50storms at sea and volcanic eruptions.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53And to do it, he used a series of screens
0:43:53 > 0:43:56that came up and down
0:43:56 > 0:43:59accompanied by music and dramatic lighting.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02WAVES CRASHING AND THUNDERCLAPS
0:44:05 > 0:44:08THUNDERCLAPS
0:44:08 > 0:44:13The idea behind it was to appeal to people who lived in the cities
0:44:13 > 0:44:16but wanted to reconnect with nature in the raw.
0:44:16 > 0:44:21So they'd sit here in a kind of mixture of amazement and terror.
0:44:45 > 0:44:49One regular visitor to de Loutherbourg's shows
0:44:49 > 0:44:52was the great painter Thomas Gainsborough.
0:44:53 > 0:44:58He too was inspired to add a touch of showmanship to his art.
0:45:01 > 0:45:06This curious contraption is known as Gainsborough's Show Box.
0:45:06 > 0:45:12Gainsborough was always fascinated by the effect of light on landscape
0:45:12 > 0:45:15and on the sky and the sea, and this was a device so he could experiment
0:45:15 > 0:45:17with different kinds of light.
0:45:17 > 0:45:20And he used it for himself to work with,
0:45:20 > 0:45:23but also just for entertainment, to show his friends.
0:45:23 > 0:45:25The principle's very simple.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29There's a glass plate in the front here which he had painted.
0:45:31 > 0:45:36There - one of eight that the box can take.
0:45:38 > 0:45:40Just like a stage set.
0:45:40 > 0:45:42Behind it...
0:45:44 > 0:45:47..there are five candles -
0:45:47 > 0:45:52these are the candleholders - which shone through a cotton screen
0:45:52 > 0:45:57to diffuse the light before it hit the glass plate.
0:45:57 > 0:45:59Shut the box to seal the light off
0:45:59 > 0:46:01and come round here, look through...
0:46:03 > 0:46:07..and you see this painting lit from behind,
0:46:07 > 0:46:08the most extraordinary effect -
0:46:08 > 0:46:14a golden sun on trees and a cottage in a little valley.
0:46:14 > 0:46:17And you could experiment, even at this stage, by pulling
0:46:17 > 0:46:21the magnifying glass out, coming back a bit...
0:46:21 > 0:46:24you get a slightly different aspect of the landscape.
0:46:26 > 0:46:28It's magical, this one.
0:46:36 > 0:46:40'Artists were also quick to exploit improvements in technology
0:46:40 > 0:46:42'and distribution.'
0:46:42 > 0:46:45When did you start learning this business, Ray?
0:46:45 > 0:46:47I was 15.
0:46:47 > 0:46:49- 15?- About 30 years ago.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51Really?
0:46:53 > 0:46:55Does that pass the test?
0:46:55 > 0:46:56Not bad. We could work with that.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04'For the first time,
0:47:04 > 0:47:08'high-quality reproductions could be produced in bulk
0:47:08 > 0:47:11'and sold at affordable prices to a mass audience.
0:47:14 > 0:47:18'A successful print could make an artist a small fortune.'
0:47:30 > 0:47:31Let's have a look.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34Well, for your first one that's pretty good.
0:47:35 > 0:47:37Excellent.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41Well, that, that's all quite good, isn't it?
0:47:41 > 0:47:43- Mm-hm.- That's come out well.
0:47:43 > 0:47:45Yes. Nice and bright.
0:47:45 > 0:47:50Beautiful detail on these bottles here. Look at this. And that.
0:47:51 > 0:47:56I love all this ornate working around the outside as well.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59What's special about it from your point of view as a printer?
0:47:59 > 0:48:04As a printer, I mean, the quality of work, I mean, it's just...
0:48:04 > 0:48:07The depth and the lights, they're just fantastic.
0:48:07 > 0:48:11It's just a wonderful, wonderful art in itself.
0:48:22 > 0:48:27The ever-expanding print market led to the creation of a new type of art -
0:48:27 > 0:48:30one that appealed to the British sense of humour...
0:48:32 > 0:48:34..the political caricature.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41Britain was famed across the world for its press freedoms.
0:48:41 > 0:48:45We were the envy of countries that lived under more authoritarian regimes
0:48:45 > 0:48:48because, in London, political chicanery
0:48:48 > 0:48:51and social snobbery were mercilessly ridiculed.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54Every day, a new cartoon would be published
0:48:54 > 0:48:58to satisfy the appetite to pillory those in power.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02And people who couldn't afford to buy the cartoons
0:49:02 > 0:49:07would come to shops like this and simply stand outside and have a good laugh
0:49:07 > 0:49:09and mock those in power.
0:49:15 > 0:49:20The greatest caricaturist of all was James Gillray.
0:49:22 > 0:49:26For Gillray, nothing was sacred.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30He satirised the Royal Family,
0:49:30 > 0:49:33the Prime Minister.
0:49:33 > 0:49:37He exposed the greed of bankers...
0:49:37 > 0:49:40he mocked fashion...
0:49:42 > 0:49:47..and even laughed at everyday diseases, like gout!
0:49:48 > 0:49:54He was particularly susceptible to toilet humour.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00But as the 1790s dawned, one affair,
0:50:00 > 0:50:04a dramatic upheaval, attracted his particular attention.
0:50:11 > 0:50:14The biggest event at the end of the 18th century,
0:50:14 > 0:50:16which affected Gillray and everybody,
0:50:16 > 0:50:19was the cataclysm of the French Revolution,
0:50:19 > 0:50:23this attempt to overturn a whole society and renew it.
0:50:23 > 0:50:24And people were riveted by it,
0:50:24 > 0:50:27some in favour, some - from the beginning - very much against.
0:50:27 > 0:50:29Gillray started rather in favour,
0:50:29 > 0:50:32like a lot of people were, of what was happening in France,
0:50:32 > 0:50:34but quite quickly turned against it.
0:50:34 > 0:50:38But this cartoon shows a kind of mixed emotion.
0:50:38 > 0:50:43Here is Pitt, the Prime Minister, hanging from a lamppost
0:50:43 > 0:50:48and the Queen, with her breasts showing naked, hanging beside him,
0:50:48 > 0:50:52it has to be said, in a slightly suggestive position.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55What a wonderful cartoon of the Queen that is.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59And then, here is the King, George III,
0:50:59 > 0:51:01who's about to be decapitated.
0:51:01 > 0:51:05And he's being held with his bottom up in the air here
0:51:05 > 0:51:09and...Gillray had such a low opinion of the King that he has him saying,
0:51:09 > 0:51:13"What, what, what? What's the matter now?"
0:51:13 > 0:51:15Completely unaware of what's going on.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20It's a sort of comic take on the Revolution
0:51:20 > 0:51:24and how it would look seen from the British political scene.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27But as the news from France got more and more grim -
0:51:27 > 0:51:30stories of the violence, the bloodshed,
0:51:30 > 0:51:34the daily murder of aristocrats,
0:51:34 > 0:51:37everybody killing everybody in the end, the Reign of Terror -
0:51:37 > 0:51:39Gillray changed his tune.
0:51:39 > 0:51:43He looked on it then as something of real horror.
0:51:43 > 0:51:45It has the revolutionaries
0:51:45 > 0:51:48sitting round after their day's work at the guillotine,
0:51:48 > 0:51:52eating the bodies of the people they've decapitated.
0:51:52 > 0:51:56This man here with the revolutionary cap
0:51:56 > 0:51:59eating the eye from the head of a body
0:51:59 > 0:52:02that's been executed that day.
0:52:02 > 0:52:06And the women beside eating the heart,
0:52:06 > 0:52:07the kidneys.
0:52:07 > 0:52:11Somebody's sitting bare-bottomed
0:52:11 > 0:52:15on top of a naked woman eating the arm.
0:52:15 > 0:52:20And over here, an old crone is basting the body of a young child
0:52:20 > 0:52:23by the fire, pouring oil over it,
0:52:23 > 0:52:28turning it to get it just neatly roasted, ready for the table.
0:52:28 > 0:52:30And then the children of course are being given the leftovers,
0:52:30 > 0:52:32and what are they eating?
0:52:32 > 0:52:37They're eating the intestines of the decapitated aristocrats.
0:52:38 > 0:52:43An absolutely horrific portrait.
0:52:44 > 0:52:50And it was a sign of a real terror, exaggerated of course,
0:52:50 > 0:52:54that Gillray felt would reign if the French Revolution came to Britain,
0:52:54 > 0:52:57as many people began to fear that it would
0:53:08 > 0:53:13The Revolution and the ensuing wars between Britain and France
0:53:13 > 0:53:16lasted 22 years.
0:53:16 > 0:53:18For Britain, the cost was crippling,
0:53:18 > 0:53:23bringing an end to the exuberance of the Age of Money.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26But the war also provided the backdrop
0:53:26 > 0:53:28for the emergence of a new type of hero,
0:53:28 > 0:53:32a figure whose fame encapsulated the changes
0:53:32 > 0:53:37in British society that had defined the century.
0:53:44 > 0:53:50On 8th January 1806, a Royal funeral barge bearing a coffin
0:53:50 > 0:53:53left the Queen's Steps at Greenwich.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57The gilded barge was draped in black velvet.
0:53:57 > 0:54:01The canopy over the coffin bore black ostrich feathers.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05A flotilla of boats followed it as it rowed upstream
0:54:05 > 0:54:08and every minute they fired a salute.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12This sombre procession was watched from the banks
0:54:12 > 0:54:15by crowds of weeping mourners.
0:54:15 > 0:54:19But this Royal barge wasn't carrying a king.
0:54:19 > 0:54:24It was carrying a commoner, a man who'd risen through the ranks
0:54:24 > 0:54:28to become the greatest naval commander in our history -
0:54:28 > 0:54:29Admiral Lord Nelson.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38Nelson was the son of a humble Norfolk parson.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44Through a sparkling naval career fighting the French,
0:54:44 > 0:54:47he became the toast of the nation.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51His death at the Battle of Trafalgar
0:54:51 > 0:54:55inspired numerous paintings and mass reproductions
0:54:55 > 0:54:59which brought Nelson's image into every patriot's home.
0:55:31 > 0:55:37This is where, at the end of the first state funeral ever given to a commoner,
0:55:37 > 0:55:42Nelson was buried, here in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral,
0:55:42 > 0:55:45right under the huge central dome.
0:55:45 > 0:55:47Hallowed ground
0:55:47 > 0:55:51given to Horatio Viscount Nelson.
0:55:51 > 0:55:57On the marble floor all around, symbols of the sea, the anchor there,
0:55:57 > 0:55:59and the words of the famous message
0:55:59 > 0:56:02he sent on the eve of the Battle of Trafalgar to the fleet...
0:56:02 > 0:56:06"England expects every man to do his duty."
0:56:08 > 0:56:09And what a tomb this is.
0:56:09 > 0:56:15This beautifully carved black marble was made by an Italian sculptor,
0:56:15 > 0:56:19not for Nelson, but it was going to be used by Henry VIII.
0:56:19 > 0:56:24He didn't, and it was left for 300 years at Windsor.
0:56:24 > 0:56:29It was rediscovered and, at the time of Nelson's death, it was decided
0:56:29 > 0:56:35that this was a suitable tomb for the great Admiral Nelson himself.
0:56:35 > 0:56:36And look at the top of it.
0:56:36 > 0:56:40There, where there might have been Henry's crown,
0:56:40 > 0:56:44is a viscount's coronet, Nelson's coronet.
0:56:44 > 0:56:49This man, the son of a humble Norfolk parson, who'd risen so high.
0:56:49 > 0:56:53This man who really typifies that very middling class
0:56:53 > 0:56:56that came into their own in the 18th century,
0:56:56 > 0:57:01a commoner buried here in St Paul's like a king.
0:57:28 > 0:57:29In the next age...
0:57:29 > 0:57:33the excitement of exploration...
0:57:35 > 0:57:37..building a new world...
0:57:37 > 0:57:39the allure of India...
0:57:40 > 0:57:42..Imperial domination -
0:57:42 > 0:57:47it's Britain in the Age of Empire.
0:58:12 > 0:58:18Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd