The Moray Estate, Edinburgh

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0:00:02 > 0:00:05The streets we live in reveal the secret past

0:00:05 > 0:00:08beneath the skin of the present.

0:00:08 > 0:00:12Here is our kitchen, which was the operating theatre of the hospital.

0:00:12 > 0:00:15There were families that didn't have toilets in.

0:00:15 > 0:00:19There was many a visit to the drains in the middle of the night.

0:00:19 > 0:00:23Our memories are rendered in the bricks and mortar that surround us.

0:00:23 > 0:00:27Just behind you there was where we all danced.

0:00:27 > 0:00:30Our streets chart momentous social change and

0:00:30 > 0:00:34the ebb and flow between enormous wealth and terrible poverty.

0:00:35 > 0:00:41Pretty grim, isn't it? Dirt, filth, stench everywhere.

0:00:41 > 0:00:45They reveal the changes that have shaped all our lives

0:00:45 > 0:00:49and make the story of our streets the story of us all.

0:00:49 > 0:00:51It's a nice view, isn't it?

0:00:54 > 0:00:57On the western edge of Edinburgh's 18th century New Town

0:00:57 > 0:01:02is a street that has been home to Scotland's elite for 200 years.

0:01:02 > 0:01:05We had a cook and a maid, and that was it.

0:01:05 > 0:01:07Oh, and a nanny, yes.

0:01:07 > 0:01:11This is the story of Scotland's grandest street.

0:01:11 > 0:01:14Well, certainly I remember as a child, you know, there were

0:01:14 > 0:01:18a few Rolls Royces about, but they were old Rolls Royces, you know.

0:01:18 > 0:01:20Do you ever imagine what it must have been like

0:01:20 > 0:01:23when they would have balls in this room?

0:01:23 > 0:01:25Not really. No. Nope.

0:01:34 > 0:01:36The Moray Feu, Edinburgh.

0:01:38 > 0:01:42A single development with the longest Georgian terrace in Europe.

0:01:44 > 0:01:49A crescent and an oval flowing into the grand circular Moray Place,

0:01:49 > 0:01:52and known collectively as the Moray Feu.

0:01:54 > 0:01:57Built as the home for Scotland's upper-class,

0:01:57 > 0:02:01for 200 years it's been the poshest street in Scotland.

0:02:03 > 0:02:05My name is John Moray.

0:02:05 > 0:02:08I'm the 21st Earl of Moray, and my ancestor - the 10th Earl -

0:02:08 > 0:02:11built the Moray Estate in Edinburgh.

0:02:11 > 0:02:17This is the 1st Earl of Moray, who was the son of James V.

0:02:17 > 0:02:21He does look a bit like you. Do people say that?

0:02:21 > 0:02:23Not too many people do.

0:02:23 > 0:02:24Which bit?

0:02:32 > 0:02:35When you walk down those streets in Edinburgh,

0:02:35 > 0:02:38it's your whole family on the street signs.

0:02:38 > 0:02:39That's right.

0:02:42 > 0:02:44Moray's the county where we're mostly based.

0:02:44 > 0:02:47Stuart, Ainslie.

0:02:47 > 0:02:50That's Philip Ainslie there, the father-in-law of the 10th Earl.

0:02:50 > 0:02:51The 9th Earl or...?

0:02:51 > 0:02:54- The 10th. 10th Earl.- 10th Earl?

0:02:54 > 0:02:56Yes. That's him there. The 10th Earl.

0:02:56 > 0:02:58Doune.

0:02:58 > 0:03:01Monty Python And The Holy Grail was filmed at Doune Castle.

0:03:01 > 0:03:04- And Doune Castle is, of course, another family home.- That's right.

0:03:04 > 0:03:06It is a good castle, isn't it?

0:03:06 > 0:03:09Me and my pals used to go down and watch them filming every day.

0:03:09 > 0:03:12When we're shooting, it would be nice if you used the rubber hammer, OK?

0:03:13 > 0:03:16- We didn't say Randolph.- We said Randolph, didn't we?- No, we didn't.

0:03:16 > 0:03:20He is meant to have commanded the Scots at the Battle of Bannockburn.

0:03:20 > 0:03:21Another relative of yours.

0:03:21 > 0:03:23He was... Well, he was, yes.

0:03:23 > 0:03:25We've still got that kilt somewhere in the attic.

0:03:25 > 0:03:27Yes. I think that's it, is it?

0:03:27 > 0:03:29- Are you a Stuart? - That's the family's surname.

0:03:29 > 0:03:31- That's your name?- Yes.

0:03:31 > 0:03:32Oh, Glenfinlas Street.

0:03:32 > 0:03:35And that was the old royal hunting forest that went with Doune Castle.

0:03:35 > 0:03:38Yes, I think we are proud of it.

0:03:41 > 0:03:43So...

0:03:43 > 0:03:44SHE LAUGHS

0:03:44 > 0:03:46And here's Freddy.

0:03:48 > 0:03:531810. The Edinburgh Council has plans for an extension

0:03:53 > 0:03:54to the medieval Old Town.

0:03:57 > 0:04:00On the other side of the valley, a new town is under construction.

0:04:03 > 0:04:08Luxury houses are shooting up along its ultra-modern grid-plan streets.

0:04:08 > 0:04:12And the developers rapidly hit the boundary of a country estate

0:04:12 > 0:04:15owned by the 10th Earl of Moray.

0:04:17 > 0:04:21The Earl's house - Drumsheugh - stood here.

0:04:21 > 0:04:25Randolph Crescent more or less follows the pattern of his drive.

0:04:25 > 0:04:29It was surrounded by parkland, all this was parkland.

0:04:29 > 0:04:31The nearest buildings were beyond Hanover Street,

0:04:31 > 0:04:33more than half a mile away from here.

0:04:33 > 0:04:36It was very much open country.

0:04:36 > 0:04:40By the early 1790s, Queen Street had reached its west end,

0:04:40 > 0:04:44and it kind of hit the buffers against the Earl's boundary.

0:04:45 > 0:04:47The Earl saw an opportunity.

0:04:47 > 0:04:52He drew up plans for an exclusive new development on his estate.

0:04:52 > 0:04:56'The Moray Estate is too irregular to build squares on,

0:04:56 > 0:04:58'but the layout of the crescents

0:04:58 > 0:05:01'and circus fits ingeniously onto the contours of the land.'

0:05:02 > 0:05:05The Earl of Moray was the feudal lord.

0:05:05 > 0:05:10Under medieval property law he had the right to lay down strict

0:05:10 > 0:05:13regulations governing both the construction of the houses

0:05:13 > 0:05:17and the ways in which residents would live in them.

0:05:17 > 0:05:19All commercial use was forbidden.

0:05:19 > 0:05:23These feuing conditions were intended to apply for all time,

0:05:23 > 0:05:26even after the Earl had sold the land.

0:05:26 > 0:05:29They were amongst Britain's earliest planning regulations.

0:05:29 > 0:05:32They were said to be one of the strictest design codes

0:05:32 > 0:05:33there's ever been.

0:05:33 > 0:05:36They had to stick to the design code for the facades,

0:05:36 > 0:05:40get it absolutely right, exactly like their neighbour,

0:05:40 > 0:05:42exactly like every other house in the street.

0:05:42 > 0:05:47He actually stipulated which quarries the stone could come from.

0:05:47 > 0:05:52In the Edinburgh Old Town's medieval tenements rich and poor had

0:05:52 > 0:05:57been living on top of each other, literally in the same buildings.

0:05:57 > 0:06:00'The population huddled together within protective walls.

0:06:00 > 0:06:02'Tenements rose.

0:06:02 > 0:06:04'Rich and poor lived cheek by jowl.'

0:06:07 > 0:06:11But now the 10th Earl was using his feuing conditions to ensure

0:06:11 > 0:06:14that his development would be exclusive.

0:06:15 > 0:06:19By laying down eternal rules about the look of the buildings

0:06:19 > 0:06:22and the lifestyle of the residents, the Earl was building

0:06:22 > 0:06:24a planned community for Scotland's elite.

0:06:26 > 0:06:28A new town for the upper-class.

0:06:28 > 0:06:32'The New Town was built to the requirements of only one

0:06:32 > 0:06:34'section of the community.

0:06:34 > 0:06:38'When the rich left the Old Town, society separated in a new way,

0:06:38 > 0:06:42'and the division between slum and suburb began.'

0:06:43 > 0:06:46When they moved to Moray Estate, they knew they were moving into an

0:06:46 > 0:06:50upmarket residential area and that it was going to stay like that.

0:06:50 > 0:06:54It wasn't going to become mixed use.

0:06:54 > 0:06:59They weren't a cross-section of society. It was pretty exclusive.

0:06:59 > 0:07:01'A new social split resulted.

0:07:01 > 0:07:04'For the first time a complete environment was planned

0:07:04 > 0:07:06'right from the beginning.'

0:07:06 > 0:07:10They were snapped up by private individuals who were very

0:07:10 > 0:07:13keen to get onto the Moray Estate right from the beginning.

0:07:13 > 0:07:15People bought into the vision.

0:07:17 > 0:07:22The 1822 feuing plan shows the numbered plots ready for sale.

0:07:25 > 0:07:27Most are still unsold.

0:07:31 > 0:07:33The best, with views across the River Leith,

0:07:33 > 0:07:35have already been snapped up.

0:07:36 > 0:07:39And one upmarket family have put their builders to work.

0:07:39 > 0:07:42The head of the Scottish legal system -

0:07:42 > 0:07:44Solicitor General John Hope -

0:07:44 > 0:07:47and his dad, Lord Charles Hope, are at number 12.

0:07:50 > 0:07:52My name is David Hope.

0:07:52 > 0:07:54I'm a member of a family that has been connected with

0:07:54 > 0:07:57Moray Place really since it was built

0:07:57 > 0:08:00because one of my ancestors lived in a house that was built for him,

0:08:00 > 0:08:04although my house now is just a few hundred yards to the east.

0:08:07 > 0:08:10What you can see here - if you look out of the window -

0:08:10 > 0:08:12is the back of Moray Place.

0:08:12 > 0:08:15At the right-hand end is number 12,

0:08:15 > 0:08:20which was the house lived in by two of my ancestors.

0:08:20 > 0:08:23I'm descended from Charles Hope's third son.

0:08:23 > 0:08:26But hold on, didn't he have the same job as you had?

0:08:26 > 0:08:28Charles did, yes, that's right.

0:08:28 > 0:08:31He was Lord President and I was Lord President.

0:08:31 > 0:08:33200 years apart.

0:08:33 > 0:08:35About that. Yes. Yes.

0:08:35 > 0:08:40This is Charles Hope who lived in 12 Moray Place.

0:08:40 > 0:08:43And that was me as Lord President in Scotland,

0:08:43 > 0:08:46and I then moved to the House of Lords.

0:08:46 > 0:08:48- That's my favourite one. - Oh, right.

0:08:48 > 0:08:50- That's much nicer.- Well...

0:08:50 > 0:08:53There's a very grand-looking outfit in this one.

0:08:53 > 0:08:55Well, that's the Order of the Thistle.

0:08:55 > 0:08:57- You're a member of the Thistle... - Yes. Oh, indeed.

0:08:57 > 0:09:00Yes, I wouldn't be allowed to wear it if I wasn't.

0:09:00 > 0:09:04CHORAL MUSIC

0:09:04 > 0:09:05Who gave you this honour?

0:09:05 > 0:09:07Her Majesty.

0:09:10 > 0:09:11Are you English?

0:09:11 > 0:09:13No.

0:09:13 > 0:09:18I have an accent which is actually typical of my part of Edinburgh.

0:09:18 > 0:09:22I certainly don't regard myself as English, I'm very patriotic.

0:09:22 > 0:09:25There are times when it's lovely to be Scottish and not British,

0:09:25 > 0:09:28and there are other times when one's very proud to be British.

0:09:30 > 0:09:34Lord Hope spent his early years at number 41 Moray Place.

0:09:34 > 0:09:38When he was still a boy, his expanding family moved

0:09:38 > 0:09:40to number 28 where, as a young man,

0:09:40 > 0:09:44he was introduced to the perfect girl next door but one.

0:09:44 > 0:09:47We had met in number 30.

0:09:47 > 0:09:49I was invited to somebody's engagement party by the man

0:09:49 > 0:09:51and you were invited to the engagement party by the...

0:09:51 > 0:09:53- By the girl.- ..by the girl.

0:09:53 > 0:09:56And I have to say that their relationship did not continue,

0:09:56 > 0:09:59- but ours did.- That's right. Yes. - THEY LAUGH

0:09:59 > 0:10:01I remember when David was courting me,

0:10:01 > 0:10:05I remember going to a very riotous... Adult, I say, adult Burns' supper,

0:10:05 > 0:10:07at which we played Murder In The Dark,

0:10:07 > 0:10:10and I think we broke a chair and broke various other things.

0:10:10 > 0:10:12At number 28?

0:10:12 > 0:10:13- Yes.- At number 28A. Yes.

0:10:14 > 0:10:1628 was an enormous house,

0:10:16 > 0:10:20which was probably built to the specification of Lord Moray himself.

0:10:21 > 0:10:24The Earl needed a town house to use

0:10:24 > 0:10:27when he was down from his estates in the north.

0:10:27 > 0:10:30And he reserved Moray Place's prime location to build it.

0:10:34 > 0:10:37The house was double-fronted with six columns.

0:10:37 > 0:10:42At 11,000 square feet it was by far the biggest house on the Feu.

0:10:44 > 0:10:46There. See.

0:10:54 > 0:10:56- Wow. Why is this ceiling like this? - Hmm?

0:10:56 > 0:10:58Where does the ceiling come from?

0:10:58 > 0:11:04Because this used to be the Earl of Moray's living floor,

0:11:04 > 0:11:08this must have been his living-room.

0:11:08 > 0:11:09How many people live here?

0:11:09 > 0:11:12Here? Me and him.

0:11:14 > 0:11:16How long have you lived here, Kathe?

0:11:16 > 0:11:20God, I couldn't tell you. Couldn't tell you.

0:11:20 > 0:11:24It must have been about 20, 30 years, something like that.

0:11:24 > 0:11:30It's when my husband retired and he... Cos he was a Scot.

0:11:30 > 0:11:34I didn't have a home because I've lived everywhere.

0:11:34 > 0:11:38And he said he wanted to go home, so we came back here.

0:11:38 > 0:11:40That's how I finished up here.

0:11:42 > 0:11:44Where's your husband now?

0:11:44 > 0:11:49In Heaven. He died almost two years ago.

0:11:49 > 0:11:52And of course that's why I have this place

0:11:52 > 0:11:56and I haven't had the will to get rid of it.

0:12:00 > 0:12:05My mother's side, she was Dutch, my father was German.

0:12:07 > 0:12:09I don't belong to this room.

0:12:10 > 0:12:12What do you mean?

0:12:12 > 0:12:13SHE CHUCKLES

0:12:15 > 0:12:17Only some of the stuff is mine.

0:12:19 > 0:12:22What do you mean, you don't belong?

0:12:26 > 0:12:27It's high class.

0:12:31 > 0:12:34The other residents had built their houses to conform with

0:12:34 > 0:12:37the conditions laid down by the Earl.

0:12:37 > 0:12:42Each house had five floors and was around 6,500 square feet,

0:12:42 > 0:12:45seven times the size of an average house today.

0:12:45 > 0:12:51The 152 houses took more than 30 years to complete, but when they

0:12:51 > 0:12:56were finished one side of the Feu became the longest Georgian building

0:12:56 > 0:13:01in Europe and one of the greatest engineering feats of the 1850s.

0:13:01 > 0:13:03It is about a third of a mile long, in fact,

0:13:03 > 0:13:05it's more than a third of a mile long.

0:13:05 > 0:13:08One building built by umpteen different people

0:13:08 > 0:13:10over a long period of time.

0:13:15 > 0:13:18So this is the western end of the New Town, built in about 1840.

0:13:18 > 0:13:22And so all obviously the same architecture, the same style.

0:13:22 > 0:13:25And so the reason I brought you to the front is that this level

0:13:25 > 0:13:31is where the owners would stop, so below is entirely for staff.

0:13:31 > 0:13:33The staff would have worked in the lower level,

0:13:33 > 0:13:35they would have lived on the top floor.

0:13:35 > 0:13:38This is beyond that. Well, you can see the same level up there.

0:13:38 > 0:13:42- Ah.- It's that level. So it was under the eaves basically.

0:13:42 > 0:13:45So you've got five floors, you've got people working,

0:13:45 > 0:13:52public rooms, the drawing-room and family, then more bedrooms for,

0:13:52 > 0:13:56you know, other kids or guests, and then staff quarters.

0:13:56 > 0:13:59They are spectacular but it's very hard to live in a five-storey house

0:13:59 > 0:14:03if you don't have...if you don't have people helping you, actually.

0:14:03 > 0:14:05- They're too big. - You actually need staff.

0:14:05 > 0:14:08You do really. I mean, you know, we don't obviously,

0:14:08 > 0:14:11cos we only live in three floors of it, but to live in five floors

0:14:11 > 0:14:15you spend an awful lot of time going up and downstairs, really.

0:14:15 > 0:14:19'These enormous houses needed an army of servants to run them.'

0:14:20 > 0:14:23The Feu's new households had between five

0:14:23 > 0:14:27and 12 domestic staff, most of them young women living under

0:14:27 > 0:14:30the same roof as their masters and mistresses.

0:14:30 > 0:14:34And while women's options in life were limited to agricultural work,

0:14:34 > 0:14:36servants were cheap,

0:14:36 > 0:14:39and Lord Moray's design for living worked well.

0:14:50 > 0:14:54But as the First World War approached, millions of young

0:14:54 > 0:14:58women were switching to factory work, drawn by higher wages

0:14:58 > 0:15:00and unimagined new freedoms.

0:15:00 > 0:15:04A social revolution, which meant the upper-class were having to

0:15:04 > 0:15:06make do with fewer domestic staff.

0:15:15 > 0:15:17Where are we, Patrick?

0:15:17 > 0:15:19Number nine. Uh-huh.

0:15:20 > 0:15:21I was born in number seven.

0:15:24 > 0:15:27And then where did you move to?

0:15:27 > 0:15:29Well, to number nine.

0:15:29 > 0:15:32And then I was in London for a couple of years,

0:15:32 > 0:15:35then I came back to Edinburgh and lived in Moray Place.

0:15:35 > 0:15:38How far away is Moray Place from here?

0:15:38 > 0:15:42About 200 yards. What are you doing now, Henrietta?

0:15:42 > 0:15:44Moving this out of the picture.

0:15:50 > 0:15:53It was Daddy's, and so I just kept it.

0:15:53 > 0:15:57In fact, when Patrick and I were married he cut our cake with it.

0:15:57 > 0:15:59What year were you born here?

0:15:59 > 0:16:00'22.

0:16:00 > 0:16:02And what year did you move into Moray Place?

0:16:02 > 0:16:07- 1944. Well, that's right? - No, no, '50...- '54. '54.- '54.

0:16:08 > 0:16:10And when did you leave?

0:16:10 > 0:16:11'98.

0:16:13 > 0:16:16So you spent most of your life on the Moray Feu.

0:16:16 > 0:16:19In the Moray Feu, quite right. Yes, indeed.

0:16:19 > 0:16:22- And was it just your family in that house?- Yes, indeed.

0:16:22 > 0:16:24And you had a cook - Ella, was it?

0:16:24 > 0:16:27No, there were three servants, yes.

0:16:27 > 0:16:30- Well, you could tell them about it. - At one time, at one time...

0:16:30 > 0:16:32You could tell them about that.

0:16:32 > 0:16:33..there were three servants there,

0:16:33 > 0:16:36then it was just Jessie who was the only remaining one

0:16:36 > 0:16:39when the war broke...when war was ended.

0:16:39 > 0:16:43- Was she the one who threw all the films away?- Yes.

0:16:44 > 0:16:48Do you ever wish you could go back to the old days?

0:16:48 > 0:16:51Oh, well... Sometimes, yes, sometimes.

0:16:53 > 0:16:55My father died when I was six.

0:16:57 > 0:16:59And then we had a cook and a maid, and that was it.

0:16:59 > 0:17:02Oh, and a nanny, yes.

0:17:02 > 0:17:05I remember best of all the nanny who was with my mother

0:17:05 > 0:17:09for over 40 years - sorry, that was the cook, yes,

0:17:09 > 0:17:10the cook who stayed all that time.

0:17:10 > 0:17:13She would produce breakfast, lunch and dinner.

0:17:13 > 0:17:17And tea I think we probably put together for ourselves.

0:17:17 > 0:17:20Well, she must have had a day off a week,

0:17:20 > 0:17:21did she, or two days off a week?

0:17:21 > 0:17:23- A day off a week, yes. - It's not very much, is it?

0:17:23 > 0:17:24HE CHUCKLES

0:17:27 > 0:17:30My mother was quite a senior officer in the ATS.

0:17:30 > 0:17:32It was the women's army in the war,

0:17:32 > 0:17:36and was allowed to retain the services of a servant.

0:17:36 > 0:17:38What did your mother do for a living before the war?

0:17:38 > 0:17:41Well, she didn't, she was just a married woman. That was that.

0:17:41 > 0:17:43I don't think she ever had a job.

0:17:43 > 0:17:46Before the war, women didn't work all that much.

0:17:46 > 0:17:48I mean, certainly middle-class people.

0:17:48 > 0:17:51She was particularly interested in horse riding.

0:17:54 > 0:17:58A friend of mine had number 29 when his uncle lived in it,

0:17:58 > 0:18:01which is not very long ago, sort of in the '50s.

0:18:01 > 0:18:05He was Master of the Linlithgow - I think it was - Hunt, so he'd

0:18:05 > 0:18:10have his horse here, he'd get on his horse, ride it down to the station,

0:18:10 > 0:18:16put it on the train, or get on the train with it, and go out and hunt.

0:18:16 > 0:18:19And then his butler would have met him with a car,

0:18:19 > 0:18:23and he'd come back by car and the butler would hack the horse back.

0:18:24 > 0:18:26So they genuinely did live like that.

0:18:26 > 0:18:29'The New Town housed a newly expanding middle-class,

0:18:29 > 0:18:31'now become genteel,

0:18:31 > 0:18:35'investing money and making good profits on the development of canals

0:18:35 > 0:18:39'and mills, and in the equipping and vittling of the Napoleonic wars.'

0:18:41 > 0:18:43Once the Union came along

0:18:43 > 0:18:46that was an enormous advantage for Scottish businessmen.

0:18:46 > 0:18:48They'd got the advantage of being part of the UK

0:18:48 > 0:18:52and particularly when colonies were developing abroad.

0:18:52 > 0:18:55So it was that sort of Common Market thing that was very, very important.

0:18:57 > 0:19:01This is 22 Moray Place, built in 1824.

0:19:01 > 0:19:04The first owner was a man called Walker Drummond,

0:19:04 > 0:19:09who was a lawyer. His widow sold it to the Primrose family

0:19:09 > 0:19:12who were here for about another 50 years.

0:19:12 > 0:19:16Out here is Fettes College, which Bouverie Primrose was

0:19:16 > 0:19:20responsible for building. And he lived here, so obviously

0:19:20 > 0:19:24he was able to supervise the site without leaving his house.

0:19:26 > 0:19:29CHORAL SINGING

0:19:31 > 0:19:34Sir William Fettes endowed the school.

0:19:34 > 0:19:38I think it was about £180,000 it cost to build.

0:19:38 > 0:19:41Gross it up today, probably 30 million, something like that.

0:19:42 > 0:19:45I suppose you'd describe him as a greengrocer by trade,

0:19:45 > 0:19:48he was a Mr Tesco or a Mr Sainsbury of his time.

0:19:56 > 0:19:59Fettes gave the job of getting construction under way to

0:19:59 > 0:20:02Moray Place's Bouverie Primroses.

0:20:05 > 0:20:09This is the trowel used for laying the original foundation stone.

0:20:09 > 0:20:13The person who actually used it was the Honourable Mrs Primrose,

0:20:13 > 0:20:16wife of the Honourable Bouverie Primrose,

0:20:16 > 0:20:18one of the original trustees.

0:20:18 > 0:20:21I know that your school is known sometimes as the Eton of Scotland.

0:20:21 > 0:20:23We take that as a compliment.

0:20:23 > 0:20:26I mean, the school at least has produced one Prime Minister.

0:20:28 > 0:20:31We sometimes refer to Eton as the Fettes of the South.

0:20:34 > 0:20:37Fettes College was founded in 1870.

0:20:37 > 0:20:41The start of a period of rapid expansion of the British Empire.

0:20:43 > 0:20:48By 1900 it covered an area of more than 11 million square miles.

0:20:48 > 0:20:51There was a vast enterprise to be run

0:20:51 > 0:20:54and educated Scots embraced the opportunities.

0:20:54 > 0:20:58In the 19th century, two million Scots left their homeland

0:20:58 > 0:21:00to make a life abroad,

0:21:00 > 0:21:03and one-third of all British colonial governors were Scottish.

0:21:05 > 0:21:09My father's a Scot. He was a tea planter.

0:21:09 > 0:21:11So I was born in India.

0:21:13 > 0:21:17I spent, what, the first seven years of my life there.

0:21:18 > 0:21:21We had an ayah, which is a nurse.

0:21:21 > 0:21:23They had somebody who cooked,

0:21:23 > 0:21:26and they had somebody who cleaned and so on.

0:21:26 > 0:21:28And I spoke fluent Hindustani.

0:21:28 > 0:21:32I have a photograph of my tennis partner somewhere here.

0:21:32 > 0:21:34There he is - Ramsbotham.

0:21:34 > 0:21:37- Ramsbotham.- I'm sure it was Ram-something-or-other,

0:21:37 > 0:21:39but he didn't mind being called Ramsbotham.

0:21:39 > 0:21:41He was lovely. He was a really nice man.

0:21:41 > 0:21:42THEY LAUGH

0:21:42 > 0:21:45My father's in the middle there with my mother.

0:21:45 > 0:21:46And that was on Christmas Day.

0:21:48 > 0:21:52They decided to send us to school, you know, here rather than there.

0:21:52 > 0:21:54They're enjoying themselves.

0:21:54 > 0:21:55Do you think I could meet one or two of them?

0:21:55 > 0:21:59- Yes, certainly. Hilary. - Hello, Hilary.- Hello.- I have met you, yet I haven't.

0:21:59 > 0:22:01- I've met you, of course, in the film.- Oh, yes.

0:22:01 > 0:22:03And you come from Manila, how's that?

0:22:03 > 0:22:06Well, my father works out there,

0:22:06 > 0:22:10so he's sent us to boarding school, my sister and I.

0:22:10 > 0:22:13You've got a slight American accent, is your father an American?

0:22:13 > 0:22:17No, he's Scottish. But I went to an American school in Manila.

0:22:17 > 0:22:18And your mother?

0:22:18 > 0:22:22My mother, she's English, born in Shanghai.

0:22:22 > 0:22:24This was given to us,

0:22:24 > 0:22:30we all had one each, to remind us of how they looked.

0:22:32 > 0:22:35Every three years we saw them, and they came back for six months,

0:22:35 > 0:22:36and then they had to go again.

0:22:49 > 0:22:51'As the Princess stepped ashore

0:22:51 > 0:22:54'the Governor of the Windward Islands was there to meet her.

0:22:54 > 0:22:56'And many of the people of Grenada

0:22:56 > 0:23:00'had come to add their own greetings - formal and informal.'

0:23:02 > 0:23:06This photograph is taken outside the town of Grenville in Grenada.

0:23:06 > 0:23:10And that's my father, Michael, aged about four.

0:23:10 > 0:23:16That's his grandfather - Tom DeGale. That's 1908, apparently.

0:23:16 > 0:23:20Oh, Granny's in it, I hadn't realised that.

0:23:20 > 0:23:22And there's Olga, she was blown up in the war.

0:23:22 > 0:23:25The interesting thing is the mixture of colours.

0:23:25 > 0:23:31Wilhelmina looks very much more of an African origin, I think.

0:23:31 > 0:23:33Whether we went as an indentured slave or

0:23:33 > 0:23:37whether we went as an overseer, it's not at all clear but, anyway,

0:23:37 > 0:23:39we seem to have made good, as the Scots would say.

0:23:39 > 0:23:44And by the time we got to 1920 they had quite a lot of plantations.

0:23:44 > 0:23:46Victor.

0:23:46 > 0:23:50Victor left 18 'outside' children by eight different coloured women,

0:23:50 > 0:23:54and he married and had six legitimate children as well.

0:23:54 > 0:23:56'Outside' children?

0:23:56 > 0:23:58- CHUCKLING:- Well, it's what... well,

0:23:58 > 0:24:02it's what you would call illegitimate in English parlance.

0:24:02 > 0:24:06But the Grenadians call them 'outside' children.

0:24:06 > 0:24:10Now do you think it would have been a scandal for a white

0:24:10 > 0:24:13plantation owner and a black woman to have a child?

0:24:13 > 0:24:16No, not...not...not at all. It's perfectly normal.

0:24:16 > 0:24:18Or I've never got the impression it was a problem.

0:24:18 > 0:24:22And people in Grenada are all sorts of different colours.

0:24:22 > 0:24:25There were no white women in Grenada in

0:24:25 > 0:24:30the early part of the 19th century, so there were lots of black women.

0:24:30 > 0:24:32So they were quite available.

0:24:32 > 0:24:34So you've been descended from that couple?

0:24:34 > 0:24:36I would think so. Yes, certainly.

0:24:43 > 0:24:46I've always felt the only place I've ever felt at home is in Grenada.

0:24:46 > 0:24:48I know when I get off the aeroplane.

0:24:57 > 0:25:02- This is house number, what, 30 odd. - The rest were Army houses.

0:25:02 > 0:25:06So most of our time in the Army, and so we moved around an awful lot.

0:25:06 > 0:25:09- You've lived in 30 different houses?- Yes.

0:25:10 > 0:25:14We went to our very first house in Folkestone and we came

0:25:14 > 0:25:18back from honeymoon on the Sunday, and on the Friday I was told that I

0:25:18 > 0:25:23was leaving to go back to Aden immediately, because of the crisis.

0:25:25 > 0:25:28'Caught in the coils of South Arabian history.

0:25:28 > 0:25:32'By 1965 these had become as big a basket of snakes as ever

0:25:32 > 0:25:34'confronted any departing empire.

0:25:34 > 0:25:39'In February, 1966, the end of it all, totally and forever,

0:25:39 > 0:25:41'Britain was on the way out.'

0:25:42 > 0:25:44Looking back on my very first trip, it was

0:25:44 > 0:25:46when I was a 2nd Lieutenant -

0:25:46 > 0:25:49very, very newly commissioned from Sandhurst -

0:25:49 > 0:25:56and I was invited to take out 120 Jocks out to Malaya.

0:25:56 > 0:26:01I was just 20. In fact, I was 19.

0:26:02 > 0:26:05So I found myself in the jungle with a platoon.

0:26:05 > 0:26:10And I'd never been in the jungle before, and with, luckily,

0:26:10 > 0:26:12Sergeant Tweedy at my elbow saying,

0:26:12 > 0:26:16"Look up Page 29 of the pamphlet, Sir, you'll see it's all right."

0:26:19 > 0:26:22And eventually we had the Merdeka,

0:26:22 > 0:26:24which was the Malaysian independence.

0:26:27 > 0:26:29The people that one has worked with

0:26:29 > 0:26:34and been with have become one's family in a way.

0:26:34 > 0:26:39Cos the Jocks do what they're asked to do and always do it superbly.

0:26:39 > 0:26:42It had been a privilege to command them and to be with them.

0:26:43 > 0:26:46The soldiers joined to serve the Queen,

0:26:46 > 0:26:49and they joined to serve Great Britain.

0:26:51 > 0:26:52But you're English, aren't you?

0:26:52 > 0:26:55No, I was born in Glasgow.

0:26:55 > 0:27:02My accent may not sound Glaswegian, but I was born in Glasgow, and I

0:27:02 > 0:27:06went to school in Glasgow, and left Glasgow to join the Army.

0:27:11 > 0:27:14I remember being in the Royal Company of Archers, the Queen's

0:27:14 > 0:27:18bodyguard in Scotland, and we have the honour of looking after

0:27:18 > 0:27:22Her Majesty and guarding her when she pays her visits to Scotland.

0:27:25 > 0:27:28In a way, I'm still serving the Queen,

0:27:28 > 0:27:31and will go on doing so as long as I can.

0:27:42 > 0:27:45The sun was going down on Britain's empire.

0:27:45 > 0:27:48And at home the old class certainties were breaking down.

0:27:50 > 0:27:54The loss of overseas colonies and rising death duties had hit

0:27:54 > 0:27:58the upper-class hard, and now the government had raised the top

0:27:58 > 0:28:01rate of tax to 98%.

0:28:01 > 0:28:04Britain was becoming more equal and it

0:28:04 > 0:28:08was difficult to find working people willing to enter domestic service.

0:28:09 > 0:28:13'Only 40 years ago my grandfather was coming here

0:28:13 > 0:28:17'with about 100 servants. Today we struggle along with about four.

0:28:17 > 0:28:22'Death duties have been the greatest curse of these days

0:28:22 > 0:28:24'because they've crippled the estate forever.

0:28:24 > 0:28:26'It's all gone.

0:28:28 > 0:28:31'They want to equalise everybody on a lower grade.'

0:28:33 > 0:28:36As the distance between the social classes shrank and the

0:28:36 > 0:28:41upper-class fell into relative decline, the Feu began to suffer.

0:28:41 > 0:28:44The 10th Earl's original design for living had been

0:28:44 > 0:28:47built around huge households, but residents couldn't afford

0:28:47 > 0:28:51to keep servants any more, or run whole five-storey houses.

0:28:51 > 0:28:56The grand palaces were no longer fit for purpose and the Feuers

0:28:56 > 0:29:00were being forced to find new ways of making use of their vast spaces.

0:29:02 > 0:29:03I'll show you this, Joe.

0:29:05 > 0:29:12This is a store-room but look at the ceiling!

0:29:15 > 0:29:19Oh, it's the Earl's ballroom again.

0:29:19 > 0:29:21I know.

0:29:21 > 0:29:23SHE LAUGHS

0:29:23 > 0:29:28That has to be the poshest ceiling for a cupboard I've ever seen.

0:29:28 > 0:29:30I know.

0:29:30 > 0:29:31Why does it cut off like this?

0:29:31 > 0:29:35Well, it's when they split up this floor into a flat.

0:29:39 > 0:29:41There you are.

0:29:41 > 0:29:44Do you ever stand here and imagine what it must have been like

0:29:44 > 0:29:47when it was first built, when they would have balls in this room?

0:29:47 > 0:29:49Not really. No. Nope.

0:29:54 > 0:29:58The 10th Earl took possession of his new house in 1825.

0:29:58 > 0:30:03But within five years he put it on the market as a potential hotel.

0:30:07 > 0:30:10It had needed an army of around 20 servants

0:30:10 > 0:30:14and it was just too big for a town house, even for an Earl.

0:30:19 > 0:30:22It was eventually sold, then split into five flats.

0:30:26 > 0:30:29By that stage, really these houses were too big,

0:30:29 > 0:30:31even for a pretty affluent family.

0:30:31 > 0:30:35They needed huge numbers of servants to run the place.

0:30:35 > 0:30:39When the Earl of Moray sold his house after only a few years,

0:30:39 > 0:30:41he was advertising it as suitable for a hotel.

0:30:41 > 0:30:44Well, this one became a hospital.

0:30:44 > 0:30:47By the beginning of the 20th century, owners were bending

0:30:47 > 0:30:51the Earl's original rules and selling up to businesses.

0:30:51 > 0:30:54And with the NHS not yet in existence,

0:30:54 > 0:30:58three of the Feu's big houses were converted to private hospitals.

0:31:00 > 0:31:04The stair was big enough to put a hospital bed-lift in without

0:31:04 > 0:31:06actually making any alterations at all.

0:31:06 > 0:31:10So they put the bed-lift in and converted the house into a hospital.

0:31:14 > 0:31:18This carried hospital beds with people on them

0:31:18 > 0:31:20up to the operating theatre.

0:31:20 > 0:31:23The wards, all the way down through the building.

0:31:28 > 0:31:31Here is our kitchen,

0:31:31 > 0:31:34which was the operating theatre of the hospital.

0:31:38 > 0:31:41My aunt had her appendix out here - no, her tonsils.

0:31:46 > 0:31:49Yes, I had my tonsils out and my sister had her tonsils out.

0:31:49 > 0:31:52What I remember about it was we got ice cream,

0:31:52 > 0:31:54which was a very seldom treat.

0:31:54 > 0:31:56We were given ice cream after the operation.

0:31:56 > 0:31:58And I then proceeded to be sick, ice cream

0:31:58 > 0:32:00and blood all over the place.

0:32:00 > 0:32:02HE CHUCKLES

0:32:02 > 0:32:04It was designed to be blood-spattered up to about there,

0:32:04 > 0:32:06and the floor actually falls into that corner,

0:32:06 > 0:32:08there was a drain in that corner.

0:32:22 > 0:32:26By the '50s, the aristocracy was feeling the pinch.

0:32:26 > 0:32:30People were moving out to smaller, more manageable places

0:32:30 > 0:32:33and the Feu's grand reputation was fading.

0:32:38 > 0:32:42But the fixer-uppers had begun to arrive, young couples living

0:32:42 > 0:32:46in upper-class austerity attracted by some surprising house prices.

0:32:48 > 0:32:50We bought it in 1959.

0:32:50 > 0:32:53It was 1960 before we actually moved in.

0:32:54 > 0:32:57We were very young, we hadn't been married very long,

0:32:57 > 0:33:00and he was only...must only have been about 29.

0:33:00 > 0:33:02He was looking at this empty property,

0:33:02 > 0:33:07which was on the market for five months, nobody wanted it.

0:33:07 > 0:33:08No wonder.

0:33:10 > 0:33:16Five floors of cream and green paint and disinfectant and frosted glass

0:33:16 > 0:33:20partitions in all the big rooms, you know, it was a nursing home.

0:33:20 > 0:33:22It had been a nursing home for 30 years or more.

0:33:22 > 0:33:24All he said when he came,

0:33:24 > 0:33:26and I said, "What do you think of it, darling?

0:33:26 > 0:33:28He said, "I think it's simply awful."

0:33:28 > 0:33:31He said, "But you can't build these views."

0:33:31 > 0:33:34"You can't build these views," I remember him saying it.

0:33:34 > 0:33:35Do you remember how much you paid?

0:33:35 > 0:33:38We struggled. It was £5,000.

0:33:39 > 0:33:41£5,000.

0:33:41 > 0:33:43How many storeys?

0:33:43 > 0:33:45- Hmm?- How many floors?

0:33:45 > 0:33:48Five floors. No, it was just unsalable.

0:33:50 > 0:33:54It was magnificent outside, but it was...

0:33:54 > 0:33:58I mean, I can't tell you how frightened I was because of this

0:33:58 > 0:34:00great lift-shaft all the way up the thing.

0:34:00 > 0:34:04And I had two 18-month children. Simon was one of them.

0:34:06 > 0:34:09There was still some aristocratic residents,

0:34:09 > 0:34:11and there was certainly...

0:34:11 > 0:34:14I remember as a child, you know, there were a few Rolls Royces about,

0:34:14 > 0:34:16but they were old Rolls Royces, you know.

0:34:16 > 0:34:18HE LAUGHS

0:34:18 > 0:34:21I've heard stories from other people who, you know -

0:34:21 > 0:34:24of my parents' generation - who lived in Edinburgh as children

0:34:24 > 0:34:27who weren't allowed to come down to the New Town,

0:34:27 > 0:34:30to this part of the New Town cos it was a bit, you know, a bit risky.

0:34:31 > 0:34:34And I remember David bringing me in here and saying, here it is.

0:34:34 > 0:34:37I mean, it seriously was in a bad state of repair.

0:34:37 > 0:34:40And as far as I could see, the only nice thing were the

0:34:40 > 0:34:43four apple trees in the garden that we still have. And everything...

0:34:43 > 0:34:45SHE LAUGHS Everything had to be done.

0:34:46 > 0:34:48When we first arrived we had very little money,

0:34:48 > 0:34:50we couldn't afford to do it up at all.

0:34:50 > 0:34:54We used to show people round this house and they used to say,

0:34:54 > 0:34:56FALTERINGLY: "Yes... Very...very nice."

0:34:56 > 0:34:58THEY LAUGH

0:34:58 > 0:35:00Here's the bath.

0:35:02 > 0:35:05And we used to say to the children that it could go walking,

0:35:05 > 0:35:10it could go walking in the night, that there's lion's feet.

0:35:10 > 0:35:11Goodness me.

0:35:11 > 0:35:12Isn't it wonderful?

0:35:12 > 0:35:16Our little girl learnt to...used to swim with arm-bands in this bath.

0:35:16 > 0:35:18When we were re-doing the bathroom, we thought

0:35:18 > 0:35:22we might remove the bath and have something rather different.

0:35:22 > 0:35:25- And we were told it would have to be broken up to get it out.- Really?

0:35:25 > 0:35:27They couldn't get it out of the door as it is.

0:35:27 > 0:35:30And that raises a very interesting question -

0:35:30 > 0:35:32how did it get here in the first place?

0:35:32 > 0:35:33THEY LAUGH

0:35:33 > 0:35:36Put it in and then built the rest of the house around it.

0:35:36 > 0:35:38Well, there wouldn't be a bathroom when it was built.

0:35:38 > 0:35:40- Of course...- We think probably not.

0:35:42 > 0:35:45As the young professionals restored their faded mansions,

0:35:45 > 0:35:48businesses were still arriving,

0:35:48 > 0:35:52taking advantage of the vast spaces and low rents.

0:35:55 > 0:35:58So, Jim, can you tell me where we are?

0:35:58 > 0:36:00In Moray Place,

0:36:00 > 0:36:07outside the office where I started as an apprentice about 68 years ago.

0:36:08 > 0:36:10What were you doing here?

0:36:10 > 0:36:11I worked for Sir Basil.

0:36:11 > 0:36:15Well, he wasn't Sir Basil in these days, he was just Basil Spence.

0:36:19 > 0:36:22The Spence family stayed on the first floor.

0:36:22 > 0:36:24They lived up there, did they?

0:36:24 > 0:36:28They lived up there. He did quite a bit of entertaining. Yes, yes.

0:36:31 > 0:36:34We used to go outside and have coffee

0:36:34 > 0:36:38at around 10.00-10.30 in the garden.

0:36:38 > 0:36:41People chatted about what they were doing

0:36:41 > 0:36:45and the schemes they were working on.

0:36:45 > 0:36:48This week we're delighted to have with us Sir Basil Spence,

0:36:48 > 0:36:50one of Britain's most controversial architects.

0:36:50 > 0:36:53He was born in Bombay in 1907.

0:36:53 > 0:36:55His father was a Scotsman from the Orkneys

0:36:55 > 0:36:58and worked in the Indian Civil Service.

0:36:58 > 0:37:00When Basil Spence turned to making homes for people,

0:37:00 > 0:37:04he turned back to Scotland - the Gorbals in Glasgow.

0:37:04 > 0:37:07I was, by that time, an associate in the practice,

0:37:07 > 0:37:14and I ended up on the supervision of the building of the Gorbals.

0:37:14 > 0:37:17'The plan for Glasgow of tomorrow is taking shape,

0:37:17 > 0:37:20'the over-crowded and over-developed city will give place

0:37:20 > 0:37:22'to a new and free-flowing city.'

0:37:22 > 0:37:26150 years after the creation of the Moray Estate,

0:37:26 > 0:37:29Glasgow was to have its own planned community.

0:37:29 > 0:37:31Like the Moray Feu,

0:37:31 > 0:37:35Spence's tower sea was to be a new design for living.

0:37:35 > 0:37:42It was a multistorey building and a very interesting, exciting design.

0:37:42 > 0:37:43'This is the Gorbals.

0:37:43 > 0:37:47'Not long ago it was a dark network of slum property.

0:37:47 > 0:37:50'Let's meet a family that's moved into one of these new flats.

0:37:50 > 0:37:54'This is Mrs Jack, born and bred in the Gorbals

0:37:54 > 0:37:56'but not in a building like this.

0:37:56 > 0:38:00'You need a lift to take you up and down, but Mrs Jack

0:38:00 > 0:38:03'feels that the view from her living-room window is well worth it.'

0:38:03 > 0:38:09The lifts started to go wrong. They were really poorly maintained.

0:38:09 > 0:38:12And gradually, over the years,

0:38:12 > 0:38:16the balconies became just dumping grounds.

0:38:16 > 0:38:19Well, it was never used as it was designed to be used.

0:38:20 > 0:38:22Why not?

0:38:23 > 0:38:27That's one I don't know, I really don't know.

0:38:31 > 0:38:35The 10th Earl of Moray had been able to design a new town

0:38:35 > 0:38:38for the aristocracy because he was one of them.

0:38:38 > 0:38:42But from his office on the Feu, Spence had tried to plan

0:38:42 > 0:38:47a community for a city and a people to which he didn't belong.

0:38:47 > 0:38:51Why, when you designed the flats in the Gorbals, did you make them

0:38:51 > 0:38:53so depressing in appearance,

0:38:53 > 0:38:55and yet the houses are so comfortable inside?

0:38:55 > 0:39:00Well, you know, that's - what one says - is a subjective criticism.

0:39:00 > 0:39:04I thought that there should be a little garden attached to

0:39:04 > 0:39:07each house so that you can grow even small trees there if you wish,

0:39:07 > 0:39:09peaches, perhaps.

0:39:09 > 0:39:10It doesn't work.

0:39:10 > 0:39:13We tried putting plants out and they were blown off.

0:39:13 > 0:39:15The wind sweeps right through.

0:39:16 > 0:39:20Because of the multistorey structure down at ground level

0:39:20 > 0:39:25on what appears to be a calm day, it was always very windy down there.

0:39:29 > 0:39:32And well, I think Sir Basil would have been very

0:39:32 > 0:39:35upset and disappointed if he had been alive

0:39:35 > 0:39:39when they were blown-up and demolished.

0:39:44 > 0:39:46How did you feel?

0:39:46 > 0:39:49I just felt sad really that, you know,

0:39:49 > 0:39:56all this effort had gone into something that was now just

0:39:56 > 0:39:59become a heap of rubble and that was it.

0:40:05 > 0:40:10Spence's tower sea was demolished in 1993,

0:40:10 > 0:40:14and the people of the Gorbals prepared to start over.

0:40:14 > 0:40:18But the solid stones of the Moray Feu stood firm.

0:40:18 > 0:40:22And now the fortunes of the professional aristocracy

0:40:22 > 0:40:24had begun to turn.

0:40:24 > 0:40:28By the 1980s a new economic orthodoxy had taken hold

0:40:28 > 0:40:32and the top rate of tax had been slashed to 40%.

0:40:32 > 0:40:36The upper-class was pulling away from the majority once again,

0:40:36 > 0:40:40using their new money to buy back into the Feu.

0:40:40 > 0:40:42In some areas prices are rising steadily,

0:40:42 > 0:40:44in others they're stagnant.

0:40:44 > 0:40:48And then there are the hotspots, like here in Edinburgh City Centre,

0:40:48 > 0:40:51described as one of the most expensive places to live

0:40:51 > 0:40:52outside London.

0:40:54 > 0:40:56This came up.

0:40:56 > 0:40:59It was the time when you had to bid quite a lot over the asking price.

0:40:59 > 0:41:05And I think the asking price was something like 380 or 400.

0:41:05 > 0:41:09And we bid, because we nearly bought it in 1944,

0:41:09 > 0:41:11we bid £444,444.

0:41:13 > 0:41:15£440,000 for this place?

0:41:15 > 0:41:17Mmm. Yeah.

0:41:17 > 0:41:18It seems pretty reasonable now.

0:41:18 > 0:41:20It does now.

0:41:23 > 0:41:25This was the office, in fact.

0:41:25 > 0:41:28And when we arrived here there was a huge counter down here

0:41:28 > 0:41:31and sort of furniture everywhere, and...

0:41:31 > 0:41:36And the fireplace was painted in pebbledash, white pebbledash.

0:41:38 > 0:41:42The grandchildren love this bed, they play bouncy castles on it.

0:41:42 > 0:41:45It was in a bit of a state, wasn't it, when you arrived?

0:41:45 > 0:41:47Yeah. That's putting it mildly.

0:41:49 > 0:41:51This has now become the dining-room.

0:41:54 > 0:41:58The bathroom was awful. Here we are, there's the bathroom.

0:41:58 > 0:41:59Isn't that nice?

0:41:59 > 0:42:03Oh, they're lovely, aren't they? Really gorgeous.

0:42:03 > 0:42:05But you look after everything in this house.

0:42:05 > 0:42:08- Yes.- How many cleaners do you employ?- None.

0:42:08 > 0:42:09How many house-maids?

0:42:09 > 0:42:12None. Alan does the silver and the...

0:42:12 > 0:42:13No, no, none at all. No, I do it.

0:42:13 > 0:42:15Just occasionally we...

0:42:15 > 0:42:17As you see the cameraman disappear forever.

0:42:17 > 0:42:19SHE LAUGHS

0:42:20 > 0:42:22The main trading business I have in Edinburgh is

0:42:22 > 0:42:25involved in looking after funds.

0:42:25 > 0:42:28The smallest client is probably about 10 million

0:42:28 > 0:42:30and the largest is 400 million.

0:42:30 > 0:42:32Is that lady anyone you know there?

0:42:32 > 0:42:36Both of them are relations of mine. Yeah. One prettier than the other.

0:42:36 > 0:42:37HE LAUGHS

0:42:37 > 0:42:39DOORBELL RINGS

0:42:39 > 0:42:41- That'll be the Simpsons at their own old door.- Yeah.

0:42:41 > 0:42:43We should probably let them in.

0:42:43 > 0:42:45We're rather early. You remember me, Henrietta.

0:42:45 > 0:42:46You're not early at all.

0:42:46 > 0:42:49Right, now would you like a cup of coffee?

0:42:49 > 0:42:51Where would you like to have your coffee, Patrick?

0:42:51 > 0:42:53I'll just have it where it is. Thank you.

0:42:53 > 0:42:55Well, it's in the kitchen in that case.

0:42:55 > 0:42:58- Yes, all right. Well, shall we... - Well, come on down.

0:42:59 > 0:43:02You'd lived here for 44 years, and we bought it for...

0:43:02 > 0:43:04- All the fours, yes. - All the fours.- All the fours.

0:43:04 > 0:43:09£444,444. I can't remember if it was 44p, can you?

0:43:09 > 0:43:12I think it probably was, just to sort of round it up nicely.

0:43:12 > 0:43:14- It might have been. It might have been.- All the fours.

0:43:14 > 0:43:17Well, it was a bit of an advance for me,

0:43:17 > 0:43:19I paid 4,500 for the whole thing.

0:43:19 > 0:43:22Well, if you'd have told me that I wouldn't have done nothing like that.

0:43:22 > 0:43:23THEY LAUGH

0:43:23 > 0:43:25You can almost see our house.

0:43:25 > 0:43:27Yes, well, it's round there, isn't it?

0:43:27 > 0:43:29As he would tell you, it's in the slums.

0:43:29 > 0:43:33In fact, that green is the gardens in front.

0:43:34 > 0:43:35Well, Patrick thinks it's a slum.

0:43:35 > 0:43:38Why did you leave here, Patrick?

0:43:38 > 0:43:41- Henrietta...- I wish you wouldn't ask that question.

0:43:41 > 0:43:44With her pictures as well as mine, there wasn't room for it all.

0:43:44 > 0:43:46HE CHUCKLES

0:43:46 > 0:43:50He misses it very much, actually, and he doesn't like where we are.

0:43:50 > 0:43:52That is the truth.

0:43:52 > 0:43:54Thank you very much.

0:43:54 > 0:43:55Thank you, Henrietta.

0:43:55 > 0:43:58It's such a killing little thing, isn't it?

0:44:04 > 0:44:08Patrick, I think you must be one of the people alive with

0:44:08 > 0:44:10the most years on the Moray Feu.

0:44:10 > 0:44:12Well, I lived there quite a long time, yes.

0:44:12 > 0:44:15I don't know though, I think there are probably decayed old

0:44:15 > 0:44:20people still living in Moray Place who have been there for a long time.

0:44:20 > 0:44:24Patrick had that floor, that floor and the basement,

0:44:24 > 0:44:26and Bill Ayles is up there.

0:44:28 > 0:44:31ELEVATOR HUMS

0:44:41 > 0:44:43Gosh.

0:44:43 > 0:44:45Good morning, Dr Ayles.

0:44:47 > 0:44:49Nice to see you all.

0:44:49 > 0:44:51It's nice to see you. Can we come through?

0:44:51 > 0:44:55The usual Scottish greeting, you will have had your tea.

0:44:56 > 0:44:58- You know that one?- Yes.- Come in.

0:44:58 > 0:45:04This house was bought by the Honourable Lord Sorn in 1929,

0:45:04 > 0:45:07and he paid 3,860 for it.

0:45:07 > 0:45:10Do you want to take your coat off or anything?

0:45:10 > 0:45:16It cost me 11,500. So suddenly prices have soared.

0:45:16 > 0:45:18- Shot up.- Absolutely.

0:45:18 > 0:45:21You paid £11,500?

0:45:21 > 0:45:24- Yes.- When was this?- 1965.

0:45:24 > 0:45:26That's all the children painted by Alan Sullivan.

0:45:26 > 0:45:30That's Nicholas, Jane, Richard and Anthony.

0:45:30 > 0:45:34Nicholas has a property company in London.

0:45:34 > 0:45:36This is Janey who's married to a lawyer,

0:45:36 > 0:45:41and this is Anthony who became my partner in the practice.

0:45:42 > 0:45:43Richard, he's...he died.

0:45:46 > 0:45:48How did he die?

0:45:48 > 0:45:51Sudden heart attack, but a very unusual one.

0:45:51 > 0:45:53I'm very sorry to hear about that.

0:45:53 > 0:45:54Mmm. Yeah. It was a blow.

0:45:56 > 0:46:01This one behind you is painted by my daughter-in-law.

0:46:01 > 0:46:05And that's Mary and that's me. And that's the old tiger.

0:46:05 > 0:46:11Mary's grandfather was out in India and her father was born out there,

0:46:11 > 0:46:17and he - the grandfather - laid the railways from Calcutta to Delhi.

0:46:17 > 0:46:20That's the rest of the tiger, missing the head here.

0:46:20 > 0:46:25You know there's that famous Love On A Tiger Skin or whatever.

0:46:25 > 0:46:27So I hope that sort of thing didn't go on in this house.

0:46:27 > 0:46:29HE LAUGHS

0:46:30 > 0:46:32There's no answer to that question.

0:46:34 > 0:46:36What kind of a woman was your wife?

0:46:38 > 0:46:41Happy. Very happy.

0:46:41 > 0:46:49She used to do characters, particularly Children's Hour.

0:46:49 > 0:46:52'Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.'

0:46:52 > 0:46:55I get the impression that you were rather proud of her.

0:46:55 > 0:47:02Yes, I was. Very much. Yes, very much. She was great fun.

0:47:04 > 0:47:06And we had lots of parties.

0:47:06 > 0:47:11Just behind you there was where we all danced, in that room there.

0:47:11 > 0:47:13FAINT BALLROOM MUSIC

0:47:15 > 0:47:16Is your wife still around?

0:47:16 > 0:47:19She's in a nursing home with dementia.

0:47:22 > 0:47:25And I see her twice a week or thereabouts.

0:47:25 > 0:47:30And the problem is that when I have to get up to go home

0:47:30 > 0:47:32she always thinks she's going to come too.

0:47:37 > 0:47:40It must be strange. Every time you look at an object, there's a memory.

0:47:40 > 0:47:44Yes. And of course, these are little family portraits.

0:47:44 > 0:47:51There's John Ayles of Achmore, who goes back to 1687.

0:47:53 > 0:47:59And above him I think is John Mount-Ayles. Very comforting.

0:48:02 > 0:48:07And I'm lucky to have it all.

0:48:11 > 0:48:14It doesn't get too difficult sometimes?

0:48:14 > 0:48:17No. Well, it does, yes, actually.

0:48:17 > 0:48:21But you know, it's not all that difficult compared to what

0:48:21 > 0:48:26some people have to do, people who are very much worse off than I am.

0:48:27 > 0:48:29Most of my close friends have died.

0:48:34 > 0:48:37Now you said you would like a drink. What would you like?

0:48:37 > 0:48:38What have you got?

0:48:38 > 0:48:40Well, there's always whisky.

0:48:42 > 0:48:45What is very nice is that all these people have known each other

0:48:45 > 0:48:48all their lives and their children have known each other

0:48:48 > 0:48:51all their lives, and it just goes on self-perpetuating.

0:48:52 > 0:48:54Do you love this house?

0:48:54 > 0:48:57No. And you know I don't. So don't quote me.

0:48:57 > 0:48:58Why not?

0:48:58 > 0:49:01Well, we've had a lot of difficulties with it.

0:49:03 > 0:49:06But if you didn't have this house where would you be?

0:49:06 > 0:49:07I don't know where I'd be.

0:49:07 > 0:49:11I don't know where I'll end up. I've no idea.

0:49:12 > 0:49:14What, you don't think you'll stay here?

0:49:14 > 0:49:16- No.- Why not?

0:49:16 > 0:49:19Well, it's not economical for one person to live in this space.

0:49:24 > 0:49:25It's such a nice view, isn't it?

0:49:28 > 0:49:30Did your husband love this house?

0:49:31 > 0:49:36I think so. But in the last year he didn't do much.

0:49:37 > 0:49:41I kept saying to him, let's go out with the dog.

0:49:41 > 0:49:43No, he wouldn't.

0:49:43 > 0:49:45That's why he died so early,

0:49:45 > 0:49:49because he just..his blood pressure let him down.

0:49:50 > 0:49:54Have you ever felt the presence of any of the people

0:49:54 > 0:49:56from the past in this house?

0:49:59 > 0:50:01No-one's been in touch.

0:50:01 > 0:50:03- No-one's been in touch?- No.

0:50:15 > 0:50:18So this is the ground-floor of number 31.

0:50:18 > 0:50:20We've got number 31 and 32.

0:50:20 > 0:50:23And we're about to start the construction work to take them

0:50:23 > 0:50:25back to two original five-storey town houses.

0:50:26 > 0:50:29But the plan is that this will become our family house,

0:50:29 > 0:50:32and we'll live here for the next number of years.

0:50:32 > 0:50:34But how many other families in this house?

0:50:34 > 0:50:36In this house there are no other families.

0:50:36 > 0:50:39This is just a...this will be a five-storey town house.

0:50:39 > 0:50:41I had to buy it and get a couple of extra bedrooms,

0:50:41 > 0:50:43I couldn't have bought two-thirds of it.

0:50:43 > 0:50:47We could probably sleep 20, 24 folk at a push,

0:50:47 > 0:50:50without having to squash people into camp-beds, et cetera.

0:50:50 > 0:50:54And this is the furniture from our buddies in the law firm

0:50:54 > 0:50:56that are moving out, so they're in the process.

0:50:56 > 0:50:59If this building had not been occupied by the solicitors

0:50:59 > 0:51:02that have been here for over 100 years, I'm sure it would have

0:51:02 > 0:51:04been sub-divided and we wouldn't be standing here

0:51:04 > 0:51:06talking about a five-storey town house.

0:51:06 > 0:51:08This house in London -

0:51:08 > 0:51:10one of the nice areas, in Knightsbridge or Mayfair -

0:51:10 > 0:51:12probably about 20 million.

0:51:12 > 0:51:15But then if my auntie had a moustache she'd be my uncle.

0:51:16 > 0:51:18HE CHUCKLES

0:51:19 > 0:51:21Did you grow up in a house like this?

0:51:21 > 0:51:24No. I grew up in a tenement, a two-bedroom -

0:51:24 > 0:51:26sorry a two-room tenement with four of us.

0:51:26 > 0:51:28Oh, I could bore you stupid -

0:51:28 > 0:51:31no hot water, no telephone, no fridges, dah-dah-dah.

0:51:31 > 0:51:36But I did always want... I used to come here when I was at school.

0:51:36 > 0:51:39I was quite keen on art and I used to come here

0:51:39 > 0:51:43and draw the street from various different locations.

0:51:43 > 0:51:45I always thought one day it'd be nice - when I'm big -

0:51:45 > 0:51:48to come back and live here. And I got big.

0:51:48 > 0:51:53So the living-room, kitchen, dining-room and family area -

0:51:53 > 0:51:57that will be open-plan, as you would expect in a modern house -

0:51:57 > 0:52:00is going to be 1,700 square feet.

0:52:00 > 0:52:01When we re-unify the building,

0:52:01 > 0:52:05this will have about 10,500 square feet over the five floors.

0:52:05 > 0:52:07Maybe six times the average house.

0:52:07 > 0:52:09You've got to remember there's four of us in the family -

0:52:09 > 0:52:12Jackie and the two girls - so, you know, you need a lot of bathrooms

0:52:12 > 0:52:15when you've got three women in the house.

0:52:15 > 0:52:17Seven's maybe a bit toppy. THEY LAUGH

0:52:17 > 0:52:21Everybody does the same, you stick a big table that can seat 20 people.

0:52:21 > 0:52:24You never use it all year, apart from maybe New Year

0:52:24 > 0:52:26and a couple of weekends.

0:52:26 > 0:52:29It's actually...it's actually a waste of a room, basically,

0:52:29 > 0:52:31but you have to do it.

0:52:31 > 0:52:34I was in banking, I was in private equity and I got lucky,

0:52:34 > 0:52:36in the good old days. I worked hard, you know,

0:52:36 > 0:52:41some people are in the right jobs at the right time, I was one of them.

0:52:41 > 0:52:42I was one of them.

0:52:43 > 0:52:46The old money is being replaced by new money.

0:52:46 > 0:52:50You know, as old money relies on assets and runs out of cash,

0:52:50 > 0:52:54you know, then people that are lucky enough in careers to have

0:52:54 > 0:52:56made money, new money, they come in.

0:52:56 > 0:53:00It happens all over the world, you know, nothing unusual about that.

0:53:07 > 0:53:10In the tradition of my ancestor,

0:53:10 > 0:53:14we are planning to build a new town in the Highlands.

0:53:14 > 0:53:17It's a project we've been working on now for over ten years,

0:53:17 > 0:53:20and the name of that town is to be Tornagrain.

0:53:22 > 0:53:27A lot of thought and research has gone into this project.

0:53:27 > 0:53:30It feels like it's been a very long time.

0:53:30 > 0:53:33I can't wait till we start digging.

0:53:33 > 0:53:36So one day in a couple of hundred years' time they might be looking at

0:53:36 > 0:53:40an image of you and saying, oh, it's the man responsible for Tornagrain.

0:53:40 > 0:53:44Yes. Hopefully with a smile rather than a grimace.

0:53:47 > 0:53:49Right, so what have we got here?

0:53:50 > 0:53:54So this is where we're going to start,

0:53:54 > 0:53:58and this is the first phase of the first phase.

0:53:58 > 0:54:04It's about a 190 houses, so it's this area here.

0:54:05 > 0:54:12And the close-up of it is this, this area here.

0:54:12 > 0:54:15We can walk up first, up the street just along here.

0:54:17 > 0:54:19So what's this street called?

0:54:19 > 0:54:21Well, it hasn't got a name yet,

0:54:21 > 0:54:24but it'll be sort of semi-formal, actually.

0:54:27 > 0:54:30I said, you know, I want a bit of the Moray Estate here.

0:54:30 > 0:54:34I want a crescent leading onto an oval, leading onto a polygon.

0:54:34 > 0:54:37And they design it in, and then they design it out again.

0:54:37 > 0:54:39But I'll get my way in the end.

0:54:39 > 0:54:41You just come up this, the old farm track,

0:54:41 > 0:54:43it comes round here, and...

0:54:43 > 0:54:46Are you going to get rid of this farm track?

0:54:46 > 0:54:48No, no, we're not going to do that.

0:54:48 > 0:54:52That track, it's been on the map since the 18th century.

0:54:52 > 0:54:56Life's been going on here for hundreds of years, we don't want

0:54:56 > 0:55:00to lose that, we don't want a Year Zero where everything's obliterated.

0:55:03 > 0:55:06Throughout Tornagrain there's 1,500 social houses

0:55:06 > 0:55:09and they're not being put into any particular area.

0:55:09 > 0:55:11So you're not going to have a council estate?

0:55:11 > 0:55:14No. It's a cross-section, a mixed community.

0:55:14 > 0:55:18The Moray Estate was upmarket and pretty exclusive,

0:55:18 > 0:55:21that wouldn't be appropriate here. It's for everybody.

0:55:21 > 0:55:23There's a good view just down here.

0:55:23 > 0:55:26You know, it's fantastic to have a project that really sees you

0:55:26 > 0:55:28right the way through, and...

0:55:28 > 0:55:31- Right the way through life? - Right the way through life.

0:55:31 > 0:55:34I mean, if you're in a project like this for 40 years...

0:55:34 > 0:55:36How old are you going to be then?

0:55:36 > 0:55:38In 40 years, I'll be 87.

0:55:40 > 0:55:43Are you trying to get one over on the 10th Earl?

0:55:43 > 0:55:45HE LAUGHS

0:55:45 > 0:55:47No, definitely not. No.

0:55:47 > 0:55:51Well, he's gone down in history, hasn't he? And perhaps...

0:55:51 > 0:55:55Well, I... It's... I mean, that's not the objective. No.

0:55:55 > 0:55:59It's to create a nice place for people to live,

0:55:59 > 0:56:01that's the bottom line.

0:56:10 > 0:56:14Do you expect it to change very much in the next 70 years?

0:56:14 > 0:56:16No, I don't think so.

0:56:16 > 0:56:18I don't see any reason why it should.

0:56:29 > 0:56:32They're very solid these stone-built houses.

0:56:35 > 0:56:41CHOIR SINGS: # I vow to thee, my country

0:56:41 > 0:56:47# All earthly things above

0:56:47 > 0:56:53# Entire and whole and perfect

0:56:53 > 0:56:57# The service of my love

0:56:57 > 0:57:03# The love that asks no question

0:57:03 > 0:57:09# The love that stands the test

0:57:09 > 0:57:14# That lays upon the altar

0:57:14 > 0:57:19# The dearest and the best

0:57:19 > 0:57:25# The love that never falters

0:57:25 > 0:57:30# The love that pays the price

0:57:30 > 0:57:36# The love that makes undaunted

0:57:36 > 0:57:42# The final sacrifice. #

0:57:42 > 0:57:44In the next episode...

0:57:44 > 0:57:48Duke Street, Glasgow, the longest street in Britain.

0:57:48 > 0:57:49But just 40 years ago,

0:57:49 > 0:57:53many of the buildings that lined this street were under threat.

0:57:53 > 0:57:55- What are you going to do about it? - Knock 'em down.

0:57:55 > 0:57:59This is the story of how a group of neighbours took on the might

0:57:59 > 0:58:04of the Glasgow Corporation in a battle to save their homes.

0:58:04 > 0:58:07We're East Enders. Forget your London East Enders,

0:58:07 > 0:58:09we're the East Enders,

0:58:09 > 0:58:12and we will fight to the death for what we believe in.

0:58:12 > 0:58:14If you want to learn more about social change

0:58:14 > 0:58:17and issues such as poverty, class and housing,

0:58:17 > 0:58:19the Open University has produced a free publication.

0:58:19 > 0:58:21Go to...

0:58:23 > 0:58:27..and follow the links to the Open University or call 08452710018.