0:00:00 > 0:03:00This programme contains some strong language
0:00:07 > 0:00:10# All our times have come
0:00:14 > 0:00:18# Here but now they're gone
0:00:20 > 0:00:23# Seasons don't fear the reaper
0:00:23 > 0:00:25# Nor do the wind the sun or the rain
0:00:25 > 0:00:27# We can be like they are
0:00:27 > 0:00:29# Come on, baby
0:00:29 > 0:00:31# Don't fear the reaper
0:00:31 > 0:00:33# Baby take my hand
0:00:33 > 0:00:34# Don't fear the reaper
0:00:34 > 0:00:35# We'll be able to fly
0:00:35 > 0:00:37# Don't fear the reaper
0:00:37 > 0:00:42# Baby, I'm your man
0:00:42 > 0:00:46# La la-la la-la... #
0:00:49 > 0:00:52# ..La la-la la-la... #
0:00:52 > 0:00:55Maybe you were getting married and having kids,
0:00:55 > 0:01:00or getting your first job, or having your first kiss.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03Or maybe, like me, you were taking your first steps.
0:01:07 > 0:01:08Whatever you got up to in the 1970s,
0:01:08 > 0:01:14it's passed from personal memory into our shared national history.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22The architects of post-war Britain had hoped that modern capitalism
0:01:22 > 0:01:24would give us prosperity
0:01:24 > 0:01:27and the welfare state would give us security.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32But by the 1970s, this comfortable model was in deep trouble.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37And many people had had enough of the way we were.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42By the middle years of the 1970s,
0:01:42 > 0:01:46the generation shaped by the sacrifice of the Second World War
0:01:46 > 0:01:50were looking on in horror as a new Britain erupted around them,
0:01:50 > 0:01:56unsettling, aggressive and unashamedly ambitious.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09New Year's Eve, 1975.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13# You made me love you
0:02:13 > 0:02:15# I didn't want to do it... #
0:02:15 > 0:02:18And for the nation's delectation,
0:02:18 > 0:02:22the Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club,
0:02:22 > 0:02:24hosted by Bernard Manning.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26# ..I guess you always knew it... #
0:02:26 > 0:02:31The club may have looked authentic but it was actually based here,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34at Manchester's Granada Studios.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38Home today to ITV's Jeremy Kyle show.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41# ..You made me feel so bad... #
0:02:41 > 0:02:44Jutting out here into the audience was the stage,
0:02:44 > 0:02:46orchestra in the corner, bar behind me,
0:02:46 > 0:02:50presided over by the irrepressible Bernard Manning.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53They even had a one-eyed barman.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57It was his job to pour pints of draught Double Diamond bitter
0:02:57 > 0:03:01for the gents and lager and lime for the ladies.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03# ..love you. #
0:03:03 > 0:03:08The Wheeltappers was prime-time Saturday night TV,
0:03:08 > 0:03:10a chance for millions to settle down
0:03:10 > 0:03:13for some good old family entertainment.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18I love women. From 18 to 30, they're like Asia, hot and exotic.
0:03:18 > 0:03:2055 onwards, they're like Australia,
0:03:20 > 0:03:23everybody knows where it is, but nobody wants to go there.
0:03:23 > 0:03:24LAUGHTER
0:03:24 > 0:03:28'70s Britain was a man's world,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31where, like the clouds of high tar cigarette smoke,
0:03:31 > 0:03:35casual male chauvinism hung heavy in the air.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40Yet that New Year, for the women in the audience,
0:03:40 > 0:03:42life was about to change.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46Today is the day when the Sex Discrimination Act comes in.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50Women at last get the fair deal they deserve.
0:03:50 > 0:03:55# Show me the way to go home... #
0:03:55 > 0:03:58When Bernard's New Year revellers shook off their hangovers the next morning,
0:03:58 > 0:04:03Britain, under the new discrimination law, was transformed.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06Fairer and more enlightened.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08# No matter where I roam... #
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Well, so went the theory.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18# ..And you'll always hear me singing a song.. #
0:04:18 > 0:04:20I've tracked down a copy
0:04:20 > 0:04:24of the Wheeltappers and Shunters Handbook for 1976.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27Inside it reports that, thanks to the Sex Discrimination Act,
0:04:27 > 0:04:31ladies will now be eligible for election onto the committee.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33But which ones?
0:04:33 > 0:04:36"After much deliberation it was decided that we should approach
0:04:36 > 0:04:41"Raquel Welch, Brigitte Bardot and Linda Lovelace."
0:04:41 > 0:04:45The treatment of women at the Wheeltappers
0:04:45 > 0:04:48was far from exceptional in '70s Britain.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52For thousands of years, man has regarded woman as a thing apart.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54Contrary,
0:04:54 > 0:04:56unpredictable,
0:04:56 > 0:04:58goddess and bitch.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01You and your kind, men! You're all the same.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04Willing me to take my clothes off. And I'm not going to do it, do you hear?
0:05:04 > 0:05:08- You'll get me struck off. - Oh, why are you so forceful!
0:05:08 > 0:05:10Across mainstream entertainment,
0:05:10 > 0:05:14women were routinely portrayed as sexual playthings.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19First, one of our rising stars of the theatre and, I quote,
0:05:19 > 0:05:22"She is especially telling in projecting sluttish eroticism."
0:05:22 > 0:05:23She is Miss Helen Mirren.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27And some people should have known better.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30I mean, you are, in quotes, "a serious actress" but do you find
0:05:30 > 0:05:35what could best be described as your equipment in fact hinders you, perhaps, in that pursuit?
0:05:35 > 0:05:39I'd like you to explain what you mean by my "equipment".
0:05:39 > 0:05:42- Well, your physical attributes. - You mean my fingers?
0:05:42 > 0:05:43LAUGHTER
0:05:43 > 0:05:45No, I meant your...
0:05:45 > 0:05:47LAUGHTER
0:05:48 > 0:05:51Today it's easy to be shocked by the sexism
0:05:51 > 0:05:53on the Parkinson sofa.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57But from the bedroom and the boardroom, to academia and politics,
0:05:57 > 0:05:59women often faced tremendous obstacles.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02Now then, they are very, very busy people, these MPs...
0:06:02 > 0:06:08Even in the corridors of power, sexual inequality was hard to shift.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11Hello, welcome, come in.
0:06:11 > 0:06:16When Margaret Thatcher became leader of the Tory opposition in 1975,
0:06:16 > 0:06:22she was one of only 23 female MPs in a House of 516.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25Are you going to want to come here too?
0:06:25 > 0:06:27Yes, my ambition is to be Prime Minister.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30Wonderful! There we are, two generations.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32# Which way women, women, which way now
0:06:32 > 0:06:35# Women, women, what do you say? #
0:06:35 > 0:06:39Maggie and her young friend still had a long way to go.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42But now they had the law on their side.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48Just moments from Westminster, the new discrimination act
0:06:48 > 0:06:50was put to the test.
0:06:52 > 0:06:57The El Vino wine bar had been serving the journalists
0:06:57 > 0:06:59of London's Fleet Street since Victorian times.
0:06:59 > 0:07:04And women here had always known their place.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07This is the bar.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09And THIS was for the boys.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12If you were a woman and you wanted a drink,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15you had to go and sit down there at the back, out of sight,
0:07:15 > 0:07:18where nobody could see you, and wait to be served.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21On the day the Sex Discrimination Act came into operation,
0:07:21 > 0:07:23a female journalist came in
0:07:23 > 0:07:26and tried to order a drink here at the counter
0:07:26 > 0:07:28and the barman refused to serve her.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32On the face of it, discrimination pure and simple.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35And now, of course, against the law.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38# That ain't no way to treat a lady... #
0:07:38 > 0:07:42- ARCHIVE:- El Vino's is an old-fashioned sort of place, the last bastion of chivalry,
0:07:42 > 0:07:46or the epitome of male chauvinism, depending on your attitude.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49What made El Vino's exceptional was that it was patronised by women
0:07:49 > 0:07:52who worked in Fleet Street, by and large journalists, so you had
0:07:52 > 0:07:56a particularly articulate, ambitious and committed group of women,
0:07:56 > 0:08:00sick of being relegated to the back room.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03Well, they wouldn't serve us but they refused to give us a reason.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07To the horror of the blokes at the bar,
0:08:07 > 0:08:09the feminist protesters won their case.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14It was a small legal recognition that Britain's women were
0:08:14 > 0:08:17no longer content with life in the bedroom and the kitchen.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21But, for many women, equal treatment didn't just mean
0:08:21 > 0:08:23drinks at the bar after work.
0:08:23 > 0:08:29Genuine equality was a question of cold, hard economics.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34Equal pay with men? Well, that's just preposterous!
0:08:38 > 0:08:40By the mid-'70s, half of all women
0:08:40 > 0:08:44weren't only looking after the household,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47they were also going out to work.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49A higher number than ever before.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57It's a part of a woman's life today.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01Women have to go to work because I think things are so expensive.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05But women and men weren't paid the same.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09For every pound a man took home, a woman earned just 75 pence.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15And for some women, enough was enough.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22Brentford, West London.
0:09:22 > 0:09:27# Blues ain't nothing but a good woman gone bad... #
0:09:27 > 0:09:30- ARCHIVE:- Equal pay for equal work seems a simple enough notion,
0:09:30 > 0:09:32but what is equal work?
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Alongside the Discrimination Act,
0:09:35 > 0:09:39the Labour government had introduced an Equal Pay Act,
0:09:39 > 0:09:44meaning that from 1976, women should be paid the same rate as men.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48But Brentford's Trico factory,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51which made car windscreen wipers,
0:09:51 > 0:09:56continued to pay some of its men MORE than women for the same work.
0:09:56 > 0:10:01They take home between £5 and £6 a week more than what the woman does.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09In May '76, the Trico women walked out on strike.
0:10:09 > 0:10:14They set up their campaign HQ at the nearby Griffin pub.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18# I've tried to leave so many times
0:10:18 > 0:10:21# But I never got past the door... #
0:10:21 > 0:10:23What I have here are some of the photos
0:10:23 > 0:10:25the women took of their own campaign.
0:10:25 > 0:10:31This is a long way from the stereotypical image of '70s strikes,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34the burly men in donkey jackets warming their hands around braziers.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39These are the women taking a stand for themselves.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48As the summer heatwave set in,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51and the British people flocked to the seaside,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54the women of Brentford picketed on what the press called
0:10:54 > 0:10:56the Costa Del Trico.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01ARCHIVE: Two arrests were made
0:11:01 > 0:11:05and an already bitter dispute was embittered still further.
0:11:05 > 0:11:11The women received support from the most unlikely sources.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16Coalminers, steelworkers, dockers. Working-class men.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19Many eyes are focused on this dispute,
0:11:19 > 0:11:23wondering whether direct action will succeed where talking has failed.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26# Who's that knocking on the door? #
0:11:26 > 0:11:30After 21 weeks, with the production lines at a standstill,
0:11:30 > 0:11:32Trico gave in, bringing an end
0:11:32 > 0:11:37to what was then Britain's longest-running equal pay dispute.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44That winter, the victorious women marched back into the factory,
0:11:44 > 0:11:48the question of sexual inequality now firmly in the public eye.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57From baked bean factories to photography labs,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00women were leaving the production lines to fight their corner.
0:12:04 > 0:12:09Equal pay, equal rights. Hundreds of cases were hitting the headlines.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15This was a fundamental challenge to the way things worked.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17After years of second-class status,
0:12:17 > 0:12:22women of all backgrounds were demanding sweeping change.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27What I've got here is a picture of a billboard from the late 1970s,
0:12:27 > 0:12:31which says so much about how attitudes were changing.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33It's an ad for a car, for a Fiat.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37The tagline is, "If it were a lady it would get its bottom pitched."
0:12:37 > 0:12:40And underneath someone has spray-painted the words,
0:12:40 > 0:12:45"If this lady was a car she'd run you down."
0:12:46 > 0:12:50Of course, sexual discrimination hasn't gone away
0:12:50 > 0:12:54but it was in the mid-'70s the fight for equality really gained momentum.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59Good evening, I'm from the Ministry of Sex Equality.
0:12:59 > 0:13:00# Hey, man
0:13:00 > 0:13:02# Oh, leave me alone... #
0:13:02 > 0:13:04But what about all the men?
0:13:04 > 0:13:08This was a moment of reckoning for male identity too.
0:13:08 > 0:13:13Brought up on solid foundations of presumption and prejudice,
0:13:13 > 0:13:17'70s man was now forced to reconsider attitudes
0:13:17 > 0:13:19he'd always taken for granted.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23To change the way he thought, spoke and behaved,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26to challenge traditional assumptions about everything
0:13:26 > 0:13:30from the world of work to his weekend pleasures.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33Just 10 years earlier, there had still been one
0:13:33 > 0:13:36unashamedly masculine pursuit of which a nation could be proud,
0:13:36 > 0:13:41an arena in which 11 young Englishmen had conquered the world.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52In October 1976, the heroes of England's famous World Cup victory
0:13:52 > 0:13:55reunited for a friendly in Telford.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59ARCHIVE: Hairstyles have altered, of course,
0:13:59 > 0:14:02and some of the players have become a bit broader around the waist
0:14:02 > 0:14:05but, as Bobby Moore led the old team out,
0:14:05 > 0:14:07things seemed to have changed very little.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10A sell-out crowd packed into
0:14:10 > 0:14:13the Bucks Head Stadium to see these icons of the game
0:14:13 > 0:14:15back together again and to remember
0:14:15 > 0:14:18the greatest moment in English football.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21This goal from Geoff Hurst brought back memories
0:14:21 > 0:14:23of his third at Wembley 10 years ago.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, the Charlton brothers,
0:14:26 > 0:14:29the heroes of '66 together again.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31It's an unashamedly nostalgic image
0:14:31 > 0:14:35but it was one horribly out of touch with reality.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38CHANTING: Stab, stab, stab the bastards.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42Stab, stab, stab the bastards! Stab, stab, stab the bastards!
0:14:42 > 0:14:45All we're going for is a good game of football,
0:14:45 > 0:14:47a good punch-up and a good piss-up.
0:15:03 > 0:15:04Standing by.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12We saw clearly the thuggery of a group of hooligans
0:15:12 > 0:15:16who could never have claimed to have come along simply to enjoy the football.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18If some dirty Northerner spits up at me,
0:15:18 > 0:15:21I'll put a fucking pint glass in his head.
0:15:21 > 0:15:26Football, the preserve of fathers and sons for generations,
0:15:26 > 0:15:27was in crisis.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33Many young fans were carried away by a culture of casual violence.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38They stood in the street, exposing themselves.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42And when I say exposing themselves, I mean exposing themselves.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46They've got to put them in jail.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48Either that or they've got to publicly birch 'em.
0:15:51 > 0:15:56Railway stations, high streets, motorway services,
0:15:56 > 0:16:02come Saturday afternoons, these were the realms of football's bootboys.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04Every football club had its gangs
0:16:04 > 0:16:07and at 3 o'clock on a Saturday,
0:16:07 > 0:16:11cities across the land braced themselves for the inevitable.
0:16:11 > 0:16:16Wolves attack. Off Marsh to Richards. And it's a goal!
0:16:27 > 0:16:31This is Molineux, the home of my team, Wolverhampton Wanderers,
0:16:31 > 0:16:34pride of the Midlands.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36Wolves stepping up the pressure.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43Today the atmosphere's never been more family friendly.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46But in August 1975,
0:16:46 > 0:16:50Wolves hosted the most-feared club in the country.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56# Manchester United Manchester United
0:16:56 > 0:16:58# We're the greatest team in the land... #
0:16:58 > 0:17:00Football violence was so common
0:17:00 > 0:17:04that the Daily Mirror even started running a regular column,
0:17:04 > 0:17:05The League Of Violence.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09In 1975, Manchester United were well clear at the top.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16Police arrangements for the match today.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22ALL: We'll support you evermore!
0:17:24 > 0:17:28ALL: United! United!
0:17:29 > 0:17:33United scored two late match-winning goals
0:17:33 > 0:17:37and then their most notorious fans, the Stretford Enders,
0:17:37 > 0:17:39went on the rampage.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41As the Stretford Enders ran amok,
0:17:41 > 0:17:4414 people were stabbed, hundreds of bottles were thrown
0:17:44 > 0:17:47and dozens of businesses were looted.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49They even ransacked the Wolves club shop.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52Police finally managed to corner them here,
0:17:52 > 0:17:57outside the Molineux Hotel, using dogs and horses to pen them in.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03That afternoon, there were mass arrests from York to Ipswich,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06from Southend to Stoke.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10Football violence had become a brutal nationwide epidemic.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14This is a photograph showing some of the horrific weapons
0:18:14 > 0:18:18the police confiscated from suspected hooligans.
0:18:18 > 0:18:23There's an axe, a meat cleaver, knives, scissors, daggers, darts.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26It's a truly extraordinary assortment of hardware.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29Some of the weapons, though, were a little bit more imaginative.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32The police even confiscated a hairbrush.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41Many older fans were horrified
0:18:41 > 0:18:43and nobody captured their disgust better
0:18:43 > 0:18:47than the Manchester United legend Sir Matt Busby.
0:18:47 > 0:18:48We don't want them.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52I wish we could find them and throw them in the river or something.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58What made football hooliganism so deeply disturbing
0:18:58 > 0:19:02was that it was such a public and unashamed exhibition
0:19:02 > 0:19:05of raw, tribal aggression.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09Britain was supposed to be the country of the stiff upper lip,
0:19:09 > 0:19:13a land where youngsters obeyed the law, the streets were safe,
0:19:13 > 0:19:17and a spirit of quiet moderation ruled our daily lives.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23But now a new generation, apparently steeped in bloodshed,
0:19:23 > 0:19:28appeared to be defying everything that Britain stood for.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32But why was the violence escalating now?
0:19:32 > 0:19:37In 1977, the Government commissioned a survey into Britain's hobbies.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41You've got everything here from fishing and football to darts and DIY.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44What all these dry facts and figures show
0:19:44 > 0:19:47is that for the ordinary British bloke,
0:19:47 > 0:19:51Saturday afternoons no longer revolved around the beautiful game.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59For decades, generations of men, young and old,
0:19:59 > 0:20:02had watched their local teams side-by-side.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06But in the mid-70s, as men developed new interests
0:20:06 > 0:20:10and wider responsibilities, that tradition broke down.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24At weekends, older men were more likely to be found
0:20:24 > 0:20:27wandering round garden centres or DIY stores
0:20:27 > 0:20:30than they were standing on the windswept terraces.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33Without the role models in the stands,
0:20:33 > 0:20:36without the disapproving looks of dads and grandads
0:20:36 > 0:20:38to keep the troublemakers in line,
0:20:38 > 0:20:41the dynamic of the football crowd shifted.
0:20:47 > 0:20:52As living standards had risen and older men invested time and money
0:20:52 > 0:20:57in more domestic pursuits, football attendances had begun to slide.
0:20:57 > 0:21:03It wasn't just the fact that people were staying away from football because of hooliganism.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06It was the fact that people were staying away from football
0:21:06 > 0:21:09that allowed hooliganism to thrive.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Once established, the momentum towards greater violence
0:21:12 > 0:21:16and greater bloodshed became self-reinforcing.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23This wasn't just a story about football.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27This seemed to capture so much of what was wrong with Britain.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29The scenes of appalling violence
0:21:29 > 0:21:33suggested that the nation was tearing itself apart
0:21:33 > 0:21:37and that traditional moral values, respected for generations,
0:21:37 > 0:21:38had simply collapsed.
0:21:38 > 0:21:43- Have you any ideas what you want to be?- A footballer.- A footballer!
0:21:43 > 0:21:47# When I was young and just a boy... #
0:21:47 > 0:21:49And yet despite the crisis in the stands
0:21:49 > 0:21:53and fighting in the streets, most young boys shared the same dream.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56# Will it be Arsenal? Will it be Spurs?
0:21:56 > 0:21:59# Here's what she says to me... #
0:21:59 > 0:22:03If you're going to be a footballer, you'll earn far more than I do.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08The stars of the day were paid more than ever before.
0:22:08 > 0:22:13Their lifestyles were increasingly touched with glamour and celebrity.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17The Jaguar XJS is good value at £10,500.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21And soccer stars George Best and Rodney Marsh
0:22:21 > 0:22:23can afford that sort of money.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27The car. Height of any red-blooded male's ambitions,
0:22:27 > 0:22:30supreme status symbol of '70s Britain.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33The motor show, with the sparkle of chrome
0:22:33 > 0:22:35and a little razzmatazz thrown in.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38In October 1976,
0:22:38 > 0:22:42London's Earls Court was packed with car enthusiasts.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46Sales were on the up, with well over 1 million vehicles a year sold.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50BASIL FAWLTY: I'm warning you! If you don't start...
0:22:50 > 0:22:53But British motors weren't always easy to love.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57One. Two. Three. Right!
0:22:57 > 0:23:02That's it. I've had enough. You've tried it on just once too often.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05Right! Well, don't say I haven't warned you.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08I've laid it on the line to you time and time again!
0:23:08 > 0:23:10Right! This is it.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13I'm going to give you a damn good thrashing!
0:23:13 > 0:23:18They were widely seen as poor quality and less than reliable.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27Perhaps Basil Fawlty shouldn't have bought British.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31For the first time, drivers could now pick from a dazzling range
0:23:31 > 0:23:33of international models.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38Foreign motors were cheap, smart and, above all, dependable.
0:23:38 > 0:23:43No wonder almost half of all our new cars were imported.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48But in 1976, the nationalised car giant British Leyland
0:23:48 > 0:23:50took the fight to the foreign invaders.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Good looks, appeal, style.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59Today's car must have all these features and more besides.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03The Rover SD1. S for specialist, D for division.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10Even its name oozed machismo.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17This was British Leyland's secret weapon.
0:24:17 > 0:24:22A sporting-looking car has always been a bird catcher.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27Yet the Rover story soon became emblematic of everything
0:24:27 > 0:24:30that was wrong with British manufacturing
0:24:30 > 0:24:34and a symbol of the decade's wider industrial disarray.
0:24:40 > 0:24:44I've joined vintage car fans at Birmingham's NEC.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48Among the classics on show is this.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57One of the first SD1s off the production line,
0:24:57 > 0:25:00still painted in its original colour -
0:25:00 > 0:25:02turmeric.
0:25:12 > 0:25:17According to the ads, the Rover SD1 was the car of tomorrow today.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20And it had some very distinctive features,
0:25:20 > 0:25:23this adjustable steering wheel, a fully carpeted interior
0:25:23 > 0:25:26and tufted nylon.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28Even a cutting-edge cassette player.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31There are a few touches especially for the ladies,
0:25:31 > 0:25:35like this space here - in front of the passenger seat, obviously -
0:25:35 > 0:25:37where you could put your handbag.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43Such mod cons didn't come cheap.
0:25:44 > 0:25:49In 1975, the struggling motor giant had been bailed out
0:25:49 > 0:25:52by the big-spending Labour Government
0:25:52 > 0:25:55with well over £1 billion worth of taxpayers' money.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01A slice of the cash was invested in the SD1's high-tech home,
0:26:01 > 0:26:04a sparkling new factory in Solihull.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09The Rover SD1 was built here in Solihull
0:26:09 > 0:26:12but the parts came from all across the country.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15The manual gearbox from Pengam in South Wales.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18The bodywork was built in Swindon.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22The nylon carpeting was delivered from Bradford
0:26:22 > 0:26:24and the windscreen wipers
0:26:24 > 0:26:28from the women at the Trico factory in Brentford.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30That is when they weren't on strike.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33All of these parts were built by different groups of workers
0:26:33 > 0:26:36with different shop stewards, different agendas
0:26:36 > 0:26:38and different ambitions.
0:26:42 > 0:26:48The Rover SD1 was a national project but that made it vulnerable.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52With 17 different unions working across 55 sites,
0:26:52 > 0:26:58British Leyland was acutely exposed to the whims of its workers.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02All those in favour, please vote.
0:27:03 > 0:27:08Almost every day production was disrupted by strikes.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10The management have to give way some time or other.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14With inflation running at over 20%,
0:27:14 > 0:27:17many strikers felt they had no choice
0:27:17 > 0:27:21but their incessant demands led to a crisis of authority.
0:27:21 > 0:27:26To managers' distress, the unions seemed to be running the show.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30The management are closely scrutinised by the trade unions.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34They're accountable to all our members on the shop floor.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40The trade unions were part of the great trinity of British power.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42On behalf of their workers,
0:27:42 > 0:27:46union barons broke bread with business and government
0:27:46 > 0:27:48to sort out the nation's troubles.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51This was the post-war deal.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53But on the shop floor,
0:27:53 > 0:27:58union power wasn't always about co-operation and consensus.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01Often it could be petty, unreasonable
0:28:01 > 0:28:03and downright destructive.
0:28:03 > 0:28:08At the British Leyland plant on Merseyside, 600 men walked out
0:28:08 > 0:28:12because, they said, stray cats had got into the factory.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14According to the union,
0:28:14 > 0:28:17the cats were using the factory floor as a litter tray.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19But when cleaners scrubbed it down,
0:28:19 > 0:28:23the union said it was now too wet, people might fall over.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26So the men stayed out.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30If they don't like making cars, why don't they get themselves another bloody job,
0:28:30 > 0:28:32designing cathedrals or composing concertos?
0:28:32 > 0:28:35The British Leyland Concerto in four movements,
0:28:35 > 0:28:38all of them slow with a four-hour tea break in between.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46When the Rover SD1 was launched in the summer of '76,
0:28:46 > 0:28:50production ran at just 50% of capacity.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53They're not interested in anything except lounging about conveyor belts
0:28:53 > 0:28:55stuffing themselves with my money.
0:28:59 > 0:29:04Buyers had to wait up to nine months for their new cars to be delivered.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09Leyland's much-lauded car of tomorrow today
0:29:09 > 0:29:12was fast becoming the car of today tomorrow...
0:29:14 > 0:29:16..or maybe the day after.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21The Sun's cartoonist captured the common view of life at British Leyland.
0:29:21 > 0:29:23Mugs of cocoa,
0:29:23 > 0:29:26games of Ludo, copies of Playboy,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29the workers all tucked up in bed.
0:29:29 > 0:29:31"'Ere," one of them says.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34"How did that car get on the assembly line?"
0:29:35 > 0:29:38We've just heard that British Leyland's strikers
0:29:38 > 0:29:41have been fitting silencers to motor horns
0:29:41 > 0:29:43and now the cars don't give a hoot either.
0:29:43 > 0:29:45THEY SHOUT
0:29:48 > 0:29:51There was, however, another way.
0:29:51 > 0:29:56In 1974, Leyland executive George Turnbull
0:29:56 > 0:29:58escaped Britain's industrial chaos.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03George Turnbull would like all his friends at British Leyland to know
0:30:03 > 0:30:07that he is alive and well and making cars in Korea.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11Turnbull and many of his best men
0:30:11 > 0:30:14joined South Korea's car giant Hyundai.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21And in Korea, they did things differently.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25Turnbull's greatest asset is a trouble-free labour force
0:30:25 > 0:30:28that works without complaint or question.
0:30:30 > 0:30:35Turnbull's Korean factory turned out 25 cars an hour,
0:30:35 > 0:30:36on time and on budget.
0:30:36 > 0:30:42Ironically, they were supplied with parts, equipment and labour
0:30:42 > 0:30:44by British Leyland.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00Maybe saluting your boss Korean-style was a step too far
0:31:00 > 0:31:04but there's no doubt that in the '70s, the militancy of the unions,
0:31:04 > 0:31:08of ordinary workers flexing their political muscles,
0:31:08 > 0:31:12was becoming a chronic threat to our national interests -
0:31:12 > 0:31:14a very British disease.
0:31:14 > 0:31:18Years of affluence meant that Britain's workers now demanded wages
0:31:18 > 0:31:23and living standards their forebears could never have imagined.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26Unfortunately, they weren't quite so keen on
0:31:26 > 0:31:30the flexibility, innovation and productivity needed to pay for them.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34And in an age of cut-throat global competition,
0:31:34 > 0:31:37this spelled disaster for British industry.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45Even Prime Minister Jim Callaghan,
0:31:45 > 0:31:47the man who was investing so much public money in Leyland,
0:31:47 > 0:31:52had a taste of the consequences for British manufacturing.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55Not long after Jim Callaghan had come to power,
0:31:55 > 0:31:57his office ordered a brand-new Rover
0:31:57 > 0:32:00with bullet-proof glass and bomb-proof armour plating.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03On his very first outing, Callaghan pressed the button
0:32:03 > 0:32:06to activate the state-of-the-art electric windows
0:32:06 > 0:32:09and the glass fell in on his lap.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11At the end of the journey,
0:32:11 > 0:32:13Callaghan handed the pane of glass to his driver
0:32:13 > 0:32:17and all he said was, "Don't bring this car again."
0:32:19 > 0:32:24But Sunny Jim's woes went far beyond poorly-made motors.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29From rising unemployment and rampant inflation,
0:32:29 > 0:32:31to wildly profligate spending and borrowing,
0:32:31 > 0:32:34his in-tray was overflowing.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38By almost every economic measure,
0:32:38 > 0:32:40Britain was falling behind its rivals.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45One American commentator put it bluntly.
0:32:45 > 0:32:50"Goodbye, Great Britain. It was nice knowing you."
0:32:51 > 0:32:54Off-licences did a roaring trade this afternoon
0:32:54 > 0:32:58after the Budget announcement, as people rushed to beat the increases.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02I was stunned, really shocked. I never thought this, never.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06In April 1975, Chancellor Denis Healey
0:33:06 > 0:33:09delivered the toughest Budget for years,
0:33:09 > 0:33:13ramping up the duties on booze in a desperate attempt to balance the books.
0:33:13 > 0:33:15Well, I don't drink an awful lot,
0:33:15 > 0:33:20just a couple of bottles of sherry, the cheaper kind of sherry.
0:33:21 > 0:33:25Back at home, families tuning in to watch a new BBC drama
0:33:25 > 0:33:28found little comfort.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37In Survivors, 95% of the population
0:33:37 > 0:33:42has been wiped out by a future pandemic - The Death.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46You have to help me, please. I can't do anything by myself.
0:33:46 > 0:33:52Survivors captured the pessimism and paranoia of mid-'70s Britain.
0:33:54 > 0:33:59A nation stalked by calamity, where power was up for grabs.
0:33:59 > 0:34:00Anybody there?
0:34:02 > 0:34:03Stay where you are.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09All right, Dave. Switch the lights on.
0:34:10 > 0:34:12Sorry about that.
0:34:12 > 0:34:14You can't be too careful.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18Tellingly, the villain was a former trade unionist.
0:34:18 > 0:34:23Arthur Wormley, of course! A union man. Chairman, wasn't it?
0:34:23 > 0:34:30And the union man's charm was just a front for his dictatorial ambition.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34We have assumed authority to maintain law and order in this area.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38- By what right?- You will be executed. Take him away.- No!
0:34:38 > 0:34:40No!
0:34:40 > 0:34:44No, you have no right to do that. You can't do that.
0:34:44 > 0:34:46- His execution is perfectly legal. - But you're murdering him.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50On the surface, Survivors was just an escapist fantasy,
0:34:50 > 0:34:55its villain an exaggerated caricature of what was wrong with Britain.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58But for many viewers, the threat of a militant union leader
0:34:58 > 0:35:03seizing power in a left-wing coup was all too real.
0:35:04 > 0:35:05GUNSHOT
0:35:07 > 0:35:09East Lambrook Farm, Somerset.
0:35:09 > 0:35:10When the Red Menace comes,
0:35:10 > 0:35:13when Britain teeters on the brink of social collapse,
0:35:13 > 0:35:16down on the farm there'll be men ready to rally
0:35:16 > 0:35:18to the call of a nation in distress.
0:35:20 > 0:35:2362-year-old General Sir Walter Walker was horrified
0:35:23 > 0:35:28that a once great Britain seemed to be in terminal decline.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32Does this country want the Communists to run it or not?
0:35:32 > 0:35:34I do not call the Labour Government a Labour Government.
0:35:34 > 0:35:36I call it a trades union Government
0:35:36 > 0:35:38and I've been studying the enemy within.
0:35:38 > 0:35:43These people defy Parliament and they defy the rules of law.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50Is there an enemy within,
0:35:50 > 0:35:54destroying the spirit and freedom of our home-loving democracy?
0:35:55 > 0:35:59Walker received thousands of letters,
0:35:59 > 0:36:01many from ex-military men,
0:36:01 > 0:36:05keen to join his anti-insurgency group Civil Assistance.
0:36:05 > 0:36:07Here we have a merchant banker
0:36:07 > 0:36:10who's had previous intelligence experience.
0:36:10 > 0:36:13A lawyer in London, previous intelligence experience.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16I ask you, when will it all end?
0:36:18 > 0:36:22In the event of a crippling general strike,
0:36:22 > 0:36:27Civil Assistance planned to seize control of essential public services -
0:36:27 > 0:36:31power stations, Heathrow Airport, even the BBC.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37Although precisely how Walker and his men would actually do this
0:36:37 > 0:36:40remains a mystery.
0:36:47 > 0:36:49In February 1975,
0:36:49 > 0:36:53Walker summoned his loyal followers for a crisis meeting.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02They gathered in secret here, at St Lawrence Jewry Church
0:37:02 > 0:37:05in the heart of the City of London.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09General Walker told his audience
0:37:09 > 0:37:12that whether they liked it or not, civil war was coming.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16"Which side are you on?" He asked them.
0:37:16 > 0:37:21"The side of decent loyal Britishers or the troublemakers and traitors?"
0:37:22 > 0:37:25The forces of darkness are massing for a winter offensive.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27There will be a national stoppage.
0:37:29 > 0:37:31Socialist Worker, only 10p!
0:37:36 > 0:37:40Walker always denied that Civil Assistance was a private army
0:37:40 > 0:37:43but of course that's exactly what it looked like.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47- Good God!- Know what those are?
0:37:51 > 0:37:53Rifles?
0:37:53 > 0:37:55What on earth are these for, Jimmy?
0:37:55 > 0:37:58Army equipped to fight for Britain when the balloon goes up.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00Reggie Perrin couldn't resist a dig.
0:38:00 > 0:38:02Fight against whom?
0:38:02 > 0:38:05Communists, Maoists, Trotskyists, Neo-Trotskyists,
0:38:05 > 0:38:09Crypto-Trotskyists, union leaders, Communist union leaders.
0:38:09 > 0:38:10I see.
0:38:10 > 0:38:14Atheists, agnostics, long-haired weirdos, short-haired weirdos,
0:38:14 > 0:38:16vandals, hooligans, football supporters,
0:38:16 > 0:38:20namby-pamby probation officers, punk rock...
0:38:20 > 0:38:24Today it's easy to dismiss Walker as a figure of fun,
0:38:24 > 0:38:27a paranoid right-wing eccentric.
0:38:27 > 0:38:29But in his own rather peculiar way
0:38:29 > 0:38:32he was reflecting something that many people felt.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37The BBC commissioned a national opinion poll to see
0:38:37 > 0:38:42if ordinary people shared Walker's fears of a totalitarian take-over.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44Almost incredibly,
0:38:44 > 0:38:48two out of three did think there was a genuine threat to democracy.
0:38:48 > 0:38:50What the hell are you?
0:38:50 > 0:38:53- A bloody Communist? - If you must know, I'm a liberal.
0:38:53 > 0:38:54Good God!
0:38:54 > 0:38:58Without people like us to lead and protect you, you'll never get anywhere.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01I wonder how many other sinister secrets you've been hiding from me.
0:39:01 > 0:39:07The British people had long been proud of their democratic traditions
0:39:07 > 0:39:11but in the mid-'70s, it felt as though everything we held dear
0:39:11 > 0:39:13was on the brink of destruction.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18Rumours of coups and conspiracies were everywhere,
0:39:18 > 0:39:20from high politics to popular culture.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22There was talk of the Russians moving in,
0:39:22 > 0:39:27of the Army taking over, of the slow death of British democracy.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32The nation's morale had reached its lowest ebb.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36Even Jim Callaghan had had enough.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40As he told the Cabinet during one of their interminable emergency meetings,
0:39:40 > 0:39:44"If I were a younger man, I'd emigrate."
0:39:45 > 0:39:47Weary of all the doom and gloom,
0:39:47 > 0:39:52more and more people were leaving Britain for new lives abroad.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57In fact, emigrants outnumbered immigrants.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00And it wasn't just people flooding out of the country.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02Have you ever been tempted
0:40:02 > 0:40:06- to change your sterling into some other currency?- Very much so.
0:40:07 > 0:40:12- How do you feel about people who move their money abroad?- Criminal.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17The pound, once the world's strongest currency
0:40:17 > 0:40:20and a symbol of British economic might,
0:40:20 > 0:40:23sterling was suffering a worldwide crisis of confidence.
0:40:25 > 0:40:30On Friday 5th March 1976, after three years of steady falls,
0:40:30 > 0:40:35the value of the pound collapsed as foreign investors
0:40:35 > 0:40:38rushed to sell their sterling reserves.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42By the close of business, the pound had fallen beneath 2
0:40:42 > 0:40:45for the first time in history.
0:40:45 > 0:40:50It's extremely sad, I think, for the country that the pound should fall.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53- Do you recall times like this before?- Never as bad as this.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55As one dealer put it,
0:40:55 > 0:41:00"The pound has embarked on a steady, unstoppable descent to hell."
0:41:00 > 0:41:02First time for me.
0:41:02 > 0:41:03Cheer up, it could be worse.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06The state this country's in, you could be free, couldn't you?
0:41:06 > 0:41:09Stuck outside with no work and a crumbling economy.
0:41:09 > 0:41:11How horrible that'd be.
0:41:12 > 0:41:16Nothing better symbolised Britain's national decline
0:41:16 > 0:41:19than the helter-skelter plight of the pound.
0:41:19 > 0:41:25This was a crisis that lay bare the depths to which the nation had sunk.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28More than ever, Britain stood defenceless
0:41:28 > 0:41:31before the fierce judgement of the financial markets.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36The crisis hit ordinary people where it hurt,
0:41:36 > 0:41:42because a falling pound made imported goods more expensive.
0:41:42 > 0:41:46All those little luxuries were becoming dearer by the hour.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49The pound had another very bad day,
0:41:49 > 0:41:53closing at only 2.4 against the Matabele gumbo bean.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59By September 1976,
0:41:59 > 0:42:02when the Labour Party gathered in Blackpool for its annual conference,
0:42:02 > 0:42:06the pound had dropped to just 1.63,
0:42:06 > 0:42:09the lowest it had ever been.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14The man whose job it was to sort out this mess,
0:42:14 > 0:42:18Chancellor Denis Healey, was booked on a flight to Hong Kong.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21But as sterling continued to plunge,
0:42:21 > 0:42:24Healey cancelled his ticket and changed direction,
0:42:24 > 0:42:27heading not to the Far East but to Blackpool.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35Desperate times called for desperate measures.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39The Government of Great Britain took a drastic step today.
0:42:39 > 0:42:44It asked the International Monetary Fund for a loan of nearly 4 billion.
0:42:54 > 0:43:00To save sterling, Healey asked the IMF for a £2.3 billion loan.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03The biggest bail-out in history.
0:43:06 > 0:43:10Having approached the IMF, Healey entered the packed conference ballroom
0:43:10 > 0:43:13to inform his party and the watching world.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19He was in such a hurry, he hadn't even had time for lunch.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22- APPLAUSE - Denis Healey.
0:43:22 > 0:43:26The bureaucratic absurdities of conference protocol
0:43:26 > 0:43:29meant that as an unscheduled speaker,
0:43:29 > 0:43:34Healey was given just five minutes to deliver the devastating truth.
0:43:36 > 0:43:38Let me say, Mr Chairman,
0:43:38 > 0:43:41that I don't come with the Treasury view. I come from the battlefront.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45Healey knew what his party activists wanted to hear,
0:43:45 > 0:43:49that the days of heedless Government spending would last forever.
0:43:49 > 0:43:53But that, he told them, was sheer economic fantasy.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57The IMF would only save the pound, Healey said,
0:43:57 > 0:44:00in exchange for deep spending cuts,
0:44:00 > 0:44:04a bitter pill to swallow for a socialist party.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07It means sticking to the very painful cuts in public expenditure
0:44:07 > 0:44:10on which the Government's already decided.
0:44:10 > 0:44:14That's what it means and that's what I'm asking for.
0:44:14 > 0:44:16That's what I'm going to negotiate for
0:44:16 > 0:44:20and I ask the conference to support me in that task.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30As Healey made his way back through the audience,
0:44:30 > 0:44:34some of his comrades stood and cheered him but most didn't.
0:44:34 > 0:44:35Most stayed where they were.
0:44:35 > 0:44:40Many booed him and shook their heads and called for his.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43Order, order. Order, please.
0:44:43 > 0:44:46The pound had lost a quarter of its value in just a year.
0:44:46 > 0:44:49With austerity looming,
0:44:49 > 0:44:52Government expenditure had to be held in check.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55Debts reduced, spending squeezed.
0:44:55 > 0:44:59Here in Blackpool, a Labour Chancellor
0:44:59 > 0:45:03turned his back on a key principle of the post-war consensus,
0:45:03 > 0:45:08the idea that there would always be more money.
0:45:08 > 0:45:12This was a pivotal moment in our post-war history.
0:45:12 > 0:45:14In barely five minutes at the podium,
0:45:14 > 0:45:18Denis Healey had captured Labour's looming identity crisis.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21British politics would never be the same again.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28MARGARET THATCHER: The situation of our country grows daily,
0:45:28 > 0:45:30indeed almost hourly, worse.
0:45:30 > 0:45:34Under Labour, the land of hope and glory
0:45:34 > 0:45:39has become the land of beg and borrow.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46The nation's fate was in the hands of the money markets
0:45:46 > 0:45:48and in November 1976,
0:45:48 > 0:45:53London welcomed the men who could save us or sink us.
0:45:54 > 0:46:00The IMF sent six international bankers to examine Britain's books.
0:46:00 > 0:46:06The IMF mission arrived in London and checked into Brown's Hotel incognito.
0:46:06 > 0:46:11People were naturally fascinated by the IMF team - an Englishman,
0:46:11 > 0:46:15an Australian, an American, a German, a New Zealander and a Greek.
0:46:15 > 0:46:20It sounds like the beginning of some deeply elaborate and incredibly offensive joke,
0:46:20 > 0:46:23or perhaps the cast of the latest James Bond film.
0:46:23 > 0:46:288:50 last Thursday morning, the European director of the IMF
0:46:28 > 0:46:30begins his most delicate mission ever.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34The IMF team checked in under false names,
0:46:34 > 0:46:36something Bond would have approved of.
0:46:36 > 0:46:3910am, the four remaining members of the team.
0:46:39 > 0:46:44These undercover bankers were the most powerful men in the land.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53For the next six weeks, they played hardball with Denis Healey.
0:46:53 > 0:46:59Finally, on 16th December, the IMF handed the Chancellor
0:46:59 > 0:47:03the £2 billion he desperately needed to save sterling.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07This is a confidential cable from the head of the IMF,
0:47:07 > 0:47:11calling on its member states to come to a humbled Britain's aid.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15You can only imagine how the fiercely patriotic Denis Healey
0:47:15 > 0:47:19must have felt as he ran his eyes down the list of names.
0:47:19 > 0:47:25Belgium, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and even,
0:47:25 > 0:47:30of all people, in to the tune of 1 billion, Germany.
0:47:31 > 0:47:33How on earth had it come to this?
0:47:33 > 0:47:36PIANO MUSIC: "Somewhere Over The Rainbow"
0:47:39 > 0:47:41The City reacted favourably
0:47:41 > 0:47:45and as Christmas approached, the pound recovered.
0:47:45 > 0:47:47After months of agony,
0:47:47 > 0:47:52Healey had dragged Britain back from the brink of bankruptcy.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56But I wonder if you lot could give us a contribution to the IMF?
0:47:56 > 0:47:58ALL: The IMF?
0:47:58 > 0:48:02The International Magicians Fund.
0:48:02 > 0:48:07You just wave a wand and you suddenly find your pockets stuffed with money.
0:48:07 > 0:48:08Oh. Here you are.
0:48:08 > 0:48:14# Somewhere over the rainbow... #
0:48:14 > 0:48:18At the heart of the IMF crisis was a harsh lesson.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21This was the moment at which British politics
0:48:21 > 0:48:26faced up to the raw power of global market forces.
0:48:26 > 0:48:28But the bitter medicine seemed to work.
0:48:28 > 0:48:32The pound was revived and the panic was over.
0:48:32 > 0:48:35The natural order seemed to have been restored.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42Caerphilly, Wales.
0:48:43 > 0:48:48A quiet coalmining community in the heart of the Welsh Valleys.
0:48:48 > 0:48:54In December 1976, panic gripped this little town.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57It was facing invasion by a barbarian horde.
0:49:03 > 0:49:10Frightened churchgoers gathered outside the town's Castle Cinema,
0:49:10 > 0:49:12led by a local pastor.
0:49:12 > 0:49:16We do protest that this thing has come to Caerphilly.
0:49:16 > 0:49:18Terrible, I think it is. I think it's disgusting.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22Well, it's lowering the standard of our people in Caerphilly.
0:49:22 > 0:49:28But what was it that had the good people of Caerphilly in such a tizzy?
0:49:28 > 0:49:30MUSIC: "In The City" by The Jam
0:49:35 > 0:49:38The cult is called punk. The music, punk rock.
0:49:38 > 0:49:40Raw, outrageous and crude.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43And in the vanguard, The Sex Pistols.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46# I don't want a holiday in the sun
0:49:46 > 0:49:50# I wanna go to the new Belsen... #
0:49:50 > 0:49:53Punk rock has become almost a battle cry in British society.
0:49:53 > 0:49:59For many people it's a bigger threat to our way of life than Russian Communism or hyperinflation.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03We will be hearing from city councillors in London, in Glasgow
0:50:03 > 0:50:07and Newcastle, whose councils have banned punk rock concerts.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11For these guardians of public morality,
0:50:11 > 0:50:16punk was a frontal assault on British reserve and common decency.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19But despite the outcry,
0:50:19 > 0:50:23the Pistols' Anarchy tour was on its way to Caerphilly.
0:50:23 > 0:50:28That night the old Britain came face-to-face with the new.
0:50:28 > 0:50:33Over there were the God-fearing, polite, well-mannered, deferential.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36Standing right here was the new generation,
0:50:36 > 0:50:41who revelled in being confrontational, insulting, provocative.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45Each side was equally bewildered by the other.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49# Sleep in heavenly peace... #
0:50:49 > 0:50:51How do you feel about the crowd opposite?
0:50:51 > 0:50:53They're entitled to do what they want.
0:50:53 > 0:50:56Thing is, they're outside freezing. We're in here.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01I've got a flyer that was handed out
0:51:01 > 0:51:03by the churchgoers outside the concert hall.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06They describe punk rock as a rampant evil,
0:51:06 > 0:51:10the direct result of our national rejection of God.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12But there is hope, they say,
0:51:12 > 0:51:16for punks who turn from their wicked ways and embrace redemption.
0:51:16 > 0:51:19"The vilest offender who truly believes,
0:51:19 > 0:51:23"that moment from Jesus a pardon receives."
0:51:23 > 0:51:26# Sleep in heavenly peace
0:51:26 > 0:51:29# Sleep in heavenly peace. #
0:51:29 > 0:51:33Perhaps God really was on the protesters' side.
0:51:33 > 0:51:37Out of 630 tickets, only 60 were sold.
0:51:39 > 0:51:45Tonight, some of the original troublemakers are gathering again in Caerphilly...
0:51:45 > 0:51:46Anarchy!
0:51:46 > 0:51:50..to celebrate their modest part in the punk story.
0:51:50 > 0:51:55A Sex Pistols tribute band is headlining at the town's Workmen's Hall.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59- The first punk in Merthyr Tydfil. - He was first, I was second.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04What was once so shocking has become part of local legend,
0:52:04 > 0:52:08a moment not for fear but nostalgia.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11MICROPHONE SQUEALS
0:52:11 > 0:52:13GUITAR MUSIC PLAYS
0:52:18 > 0:52:21Is anyone here who was here the first time?
0:52:25 > 0:52:29Post-war Britain had seen teddy boys, mods,
0:52:29 > 0:52:32rockers and skinheads come and go.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35There was something different about punk
0:52:35 > 0:52:37that made it all the more shocking.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40It wasn't just about the gob and the noise.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44With their outrageous clothes and their provocative lyrics,
0:52:44 > 0:52:49punks were assaulting Britain's most cherished cultural icons.
0:52:52 > 0:52:5530 years on, many people still revered
0:52:55 > 0:52:57the legacy of our finest hour.
0:52:57 > 0:53:02Programmes for tomorrow evening. Dad's Army is on parade at 6:50.
0:53:03 > 0:53:07The memory of the war hung heavy in our culture.
0:53:07 > 0:53:09From the TV schedules...
0:53:09 > 0:53:12- I would not mind having you shot. - Thank you, sir.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14..to the games we played.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25For those who hadn't lived through the war and the austerity of its aftermath,
0:53:25 > 0:53:28all of this looking backwards would seem intensely stifling.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31As one of the Sex Pistols' teenage fans put it,
0:53:31 > 0:53:35she hated everybody always harping on about Hitler.
0:53:37 > 0:53:42Teenagers sporting swastikas, songs of Nazi death camps,
0:53:42 > 0:53:47could there be anything more likely to upset a generation shaped by the war?
0:53:47 > 0:53:51It just remains for me to wish you a very good night. Good night.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54There certainly could.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57# God save the Queen
0:53:57 > 0:53:59# The fascist regime... #
0:54:00 > 0:54:06For the Pistols had another target, the nation's cherished figurehead.
0:54:06 > 0:54:10"God save the Queen The fascist regime
0:54:10 > 0:54:13"God save the Queen She ain't no human being
0:54:13 > 0:54:17"There is no future in England's dreaming."
0:54:19 > 0:54:22It's hard to think of any lyrics that would be more likely
0:54:22 > 0:54:25to inflame the great majority of public opinion.
0:54:28 > 0:54:31If I thought one of mine was in there, I'd drag them out.
0:54:31 > 0:54:32# No future
0:54:32 > 0:54:35# No future... #
0:54:35 > 0:54:37- What did you think of The Sex Pistols?- Brilliant.
0:54:42 > 0:54:46I'd let them go to Rod Stewart but not to see this rubbish.
0:54:46 > 0:54:52# Come up and see me Make me smile
0:54:52 > 0:54:56# I'll do what you want
0:54:56 > 0:54:59# Running wild... #
0:54:59 > 0:55:02For the originals, punk was great fun.
0:55:02 > 0:55:07Unbridled, youthful energy and a chance to be very, very rude.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10For millions of others though, it was as though
0:55:10 > 0:55:14the forces of anarchy were let loose in '70s Britain.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18The days of deference were a distant memory.
0:55:18 > 0:55:20CROWD CHEERS
0:55:23 > 0:55:28But in the summer of 1977, tradition hit back.
0:55:29 > 0:55:33# Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth
0:55:33 > 0:55:37# Silver Jubilee... #
0:55:37 > 0:55:40In May, the Queen set off on a nationwide tour.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43# Queen Elizabeth
0:55:43 > 0:55:46# God save you and me... #
0:55:46 > 0:55:49After years of disturbing change,
0:55:49 > 0:55:53the Silver Jubilee was widely greeted with relief and joy.
0:55:53 > 0:55:58- Are you looking forward to it? - Yes, I am. A good booze-up!
0:55:58 > 0:56:00Yeah, lovely.
0:56:00 > 0:56:03This was the voice of the silent majority.
0:56:03 > 0:56:08My first memories are of the Jubilee summer of '77.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11I wasn't yet three but I vividly remember how enthusiastically
0:56:11 > 0:56:14my parents got involved with the village celebrations.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17This photo rather says it all.
0:56:17 > 0:56:18The balloons, the flag,
0:56:18 > 0:56:22the expression of complete and utter misery.
0:56:22 > 0:56:24But actually most people really loved the Jubilee.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27Here at last was a chance to forget all the bad news
0:56:27 > 0:56:30and pull together as one nation.
0:56:31 > 0:56:35On Thursday 9th June 1977,
0:56:35 > 0:56:39the celebrations drew to a highly-choreographed close,
0:56:39 > 0:56:43a display of pageantry that Britain still did best.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46The Queen's river progress deliberately echoed
0:56:46 > 0:56:50the Thames journeys of her namesake, Elizabeth I,
0:56:50 > 0:56:55another sovereign who had guided her people through troubled times.
0:56:55 > 0:56:59Hundreds of thousands of people lined the riverside walkways.
0:56:59 > 0:57:03Tens of millions more tuned in to watch at home.
0:57:03 > 0:57:05For a few hours at least,
0:57:05 > 0:57:10the Queen's people could forget the grim reality of economic decline.
0:57:10 > 0:57:12It was time for a party.
0:57:12 > 0:57:16And then onto the highlight of the evening.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20The finale was a dramatic firework display,
0:57:20 > 0:57:23the biggest London had ever seen.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30As the Queen looked out on her people below,
0:57:30 > 0:57:33the huge crowd struck up Jerusalem.
0:57:34 > 0:57:38From up here, life in Britain really didn't seem quite that bad.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42'70s Britain remained a country of contradictions,
0:57:42 > 0:57:45a place of discord and discontent,
0:57:45 > 0:57:51and yet still somehow beneath it all, a land of hope and glory.
0:58:16 > 0:58:19Next time - making money,
0:58:19 > 0:58:23multiculturalism, and the break-up of Britain.
0:58:23 > 0:58:25In the last years of the 1970s,
0:58:25 > 0:58:30a troubled nation hurtles into the future.
0:58:30 > 0:58:33# Baby, my heart is full of love and desire for you
0:58:33 > 0:58:37# Now come on down and do what you gotta do
0:58:37 > 0:58:41# You started this fire down in my soul
0:58:41 > 0:58:45# Now can't you see it's burning out of control?
0:58:45 > 0:58:49# Come on, satisfy the need in me
0:58:49 > 0:58:53# Because only your good loving can set me free
0:58:53 > 0:58:56# Set me free, set me free
0:58:56 > 0:58:59# No, don't you leave me this way
0:58:59 > 0:59:03# No, don't you understand? #
0:59:04 > 0:59:08Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd