0:00:18 > 0:00:21For hundreds of years, the travelling fair
0:00:21 > 0:00:25has brought a carnival of joy to towns across Britain.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35Rides, like the dodgems...
0:00:35 > 0:00:36waltzer...
0:00:36 > 0:00:39and dive bomber, that thrilled us.
0:00:39 > 0:00:44I can remember going on that ride and, on the first dip, being totally convinced
0:00:44 > 0:00:48that I was about to be killed. Absolutely convinced.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56Exotic and bizarre shows that amazed us.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02I used to stand like that and put the head in my mouth,
0:01:02 > 0:01:03and that was called The Kiss Of Death.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09The fairground even had its own unique taste.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14There's somebody with a candyfloss, which is bigger then your head.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17You're eating it and it's sticking round your face.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20You emerge plastered in sticky pink sugar.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24# Out here in the field
0:01:26 > 0:01:29# I fight for my meals... #
0:01:30 > 0:01:32And the fair has always been a place to showcase
0:01:32 > 0:01:36the latest innovations in popular entertainment.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39The fair has been the catalyst, or crucible,
0:01:39 > 0:01:42for all forms of modern entertainment that you think of.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45In the 1890s, they brought the cinematograph.
0:01:45 > 0:01:50Professional boxing as a sport came from the fairground.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52Even something like bingo owes its allegiance to the fairground.
0:01:52 > 0:01:5735. Three and five, 35.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00But behind the bright lights and candyfloss,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04the fairground has also been a place on the edges of society,
0:02:04 > 0:02:05where excitement and danger await.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13And you have sort of unholy alliance between youth
0:02:13 > 0:02:16and bright lights and...
0:02:16 > 0:02:21things going fast, and popular music.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25# Sally, take my hand
0:02:26 > 0:02:29# Travel south, cross land
0:02:30 > 0:02:32# Put out the fire
0:02:32 > 0:02:35# Don't look past my shoulder... #
0:02:37 > 0:02:40No wonder the arrival of the travelling fair
0:02:40 > 0:02:43sparked such a special kind of magic in us.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45# The happy ones are here... #
0:02:45 > 0:02:50The ears are pounding with the beat of the popular music.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53The lights are flashing on the ghost ride, the dodgems...
0:02:53 > 0:02:58Everything is heading towards a massive sensory overload
0:02:58 > 0:03:01that can carry you away into another dimension of being,
0:03:01 > 0:03:07a realm of transcendence, a place of beauty - not quite tranquillity
0:03:07 > 0:03:09but certainly a place of maybe.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13# Teenage wasteland
0:03:13 > 0:03:16# It's only teenage wasteland
0:03:18 > 0:03:20# Teenage wasteland... #
0:03:22 > 0:03:26'The amazing bat girl. Yes, she's alive, ladies and gentlemen.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30'The first time at your fair. The head of a girl, the body of a bat.'
0:03:30 > 0:03:33Not a wax model, not a mechanical figure.
0:03:33 > 0:03:38In grey 1950s Britain, the fairground offered a rare glimpse of the exotic...
0:03:38 > 0:03:39Come inside!
0:03:39 > 0:03:45..as people flocked to see an array of lurid illusions known as sideshows.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52'She is real, she is alive, young and beautiful.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54'She is the legendary princess
0:03:54 > 0:03:57'on the inside, depicted in living flesh and living form.'
0:03:58 > 0:04:02I've loved going to fairgrounds ever since I was a tiny child,
0:04:02 > 0:04:06and at those times, there were show rows of sideshows
0:04:06 > 0:04:10and it's that part rather than the rides that really interested me,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12the wonderful row of colour and excitement
0:04:12 > 0:04:14of the people outside trying to get you into their show.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16The Biggest Rat In The World,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19Why Men Leave Home,
0:04:19 > 0:04:22A Girl In A Bubble Bath, of course.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26'Alive and human and waiting to meet you on the inside
0:04:26 > 0:04:30'is the smallest, the most intelligent and the most charming little man
0:04:30 > 0:04:32'that you've ever laid eyes upon in your life.'
0:04:32 > 0:04:37I was born in Ireland, in the town of Lisburn,
0:04:37 > 0:04:39eight miles from Belfast.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43My father, mother, brothers, sisters, were all normal persons.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48I'm the only one in the family who never grew up.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50I'm a leprechaun from Ireland.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55Three key ingredients were needed
0:04:55 > 0:04:58to attract the public to these sideshows.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03A bizarre story, a sense of horror and a touch of sex.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07Horror or sex.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10That seems to be right down the show row,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13all the way down. Everybody's getting very close together now.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15We're getting horror and sex in together.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20I've said I will gamble to put a show on,
0:05:20 > 0:05:21with just "girl" on the front of it,
0:05:21 > 0:05:23a big question mark,
0:05:23 > 0:05:25it will take money.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28..presenting a famous dance,
0:05:28 > 0:05:30which some people call striptease. No.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33We call it art, grace and beauty...
0:05:33 > 0:05:37Now, if you were 12 years-old, a boy in the 1950s,
0:05:37 > 0:05:40there were no Page threes, and you wanted to see a girl,
0:05:40 > 0:05:43and notice they were all girls in those shows,
0:05:43 > 0:05:48the headless lady, the girl in the goldfish bowl, the living half lady,
0:05:48 > 0:05:52they were all girls. All performing in those shows,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54so sex was an important ingredient, of course.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58The young lady will take you around the world,
0:05:58 > 0:06:00take you down to gay Paris.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03She'll guide you down the Garden of Eden as Eve.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07I can remember my brother urging me, pushing me to go in
0:06:07 > 0:06:09and see the Invisible Woman.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15She's alive and on view the moment you enter the doorway.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18A dozen, two dozen of us were pushed into this room
0:06:18 > 0:06:22and there was a woman in a bikini, the professor,
0:06:22 > 0:06:26the mad professor pulled a switch and suddenly she disappeared.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31There'd would be crackling. "Oh, where's she gone?! We must bring her back!
0:06:31 > 0:06:35"No, the Electrons have gone wrong!" Then there'd be a crackling and pushing.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38Suddenly, she'd shimmer into view again.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41Apparently, it was technology brought from Russia.
0:06:47 > 0:06:52Drawing a crowd to this kind of attraction was a fine art, performed by the showman,
0:06:52 > 0:06:57a figure who had been orchestrating all the fun of the fair since the Victorian era.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01Gentlemen, when the seventh and last veil falls,
0:07:01 > 0:07:07she will make the shirts spray up and down, just like a Venetian blind.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10The hair upon your very head will stand out straight,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13like the bristles on a porcupine's back.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16The showman's a quintessentially Victorian figure.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19He's the person who runs the business of the fairground,
0:07:19 > 0:07:24the one who searches for the act, the one who books the act.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28And he is a figure of great authority.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32A kind of artistic figure but a commercial one too.
0:07:32 > 0:07:37Woman and child should see this most remarkable, thrilling and...
0:07:37 > 0:07:44The showman was, I suppose like a music-hall proprietor in the Victorian time.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49Have you done any wrestling? You look a bit small to be.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52Come up here a moment, let's have a look at you.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55He was a manager and an entrepreneur
0:07:55 > 0:08:00and an innovator, but he was also an actor.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03He had a persona that he would adopt.
0:08:05 > 0:08:10The showman was often on the front of the show, calling people in,
0:08:10 > 0:08:15telling them about the attractions that they would see inside.
0:08:15 > 0:08:16You will stand back in wonder and amazement.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21You may not believe it at first but it's there before you...
0:08:21 > 0:08:24The showman had emerged in the 19th century,
0:08:24 > 0:08:28as fairgrounds began to develop into the popular entertainment industry
0:08:28 > 0:08:29we recognise today.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36The most famous showman of the Victorian era was Tom Norman.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41I think he was a charismatic personality.
0:08:41 > 0:08:47There is a wonderful photograph of him where he has a shiny topper
0:08:47 > 0:08:51and a very sharp moustache and he's brandishing his gavel
0:08:51 > 0:08:55because he was not only a showman, but an auctioneer.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59And the auctioneer and the showman have a lot in common.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01They have to be able to talk
0:09:01 > 0:09:06and I guess that was one of Tom Norman's great qualities,
0:09:06 > 0:09:14that he could talk up an act, just as he would talk up the material
0:09:14 > 0:09:17that he was going to sell in his auction.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25Norman captured the imagination of Victorian fair goers
0:09:25 > 0:09:29by displaying human oddities with extraordinary talents
0:09:29 > 0:09:31in what became known as the Freak Show.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33SINISTER MUSIC PLAYS
0:09:40 > 0:09:47The appeal of the freak show has been there since the Middle Ages.
0:09:47 > 0:09:52And the fairground freak has been there since the Middle Ages
0:09:52 > 0:10:00and by freak show, I mean a display of human oddity or human curiosity.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03Somebody who was different physically.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12Norman would intrigue fairground audiences
0:10:12 > 0:10:16by concocting an incredible story for each freak show he mounted.
0:10:18 > 0:10:24And so this was never the person who had a dreadful skin disease.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28This was somebody who was born like this
0:10:28 > 0:10:31because their mother had touched an alligator.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36Jo Jo, the dog-faced boy covered in hair.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43He was the dog-faced boy because his mother was frightened by a dog when she was pregnant.
0:10:43 > 0:10:48This was an accepted medical term. It was called "maternal impression."
0:10:50 > 0:10:55Spinning a tale to attract the curiosity of Victorian fairgoers
0:10:55 > 0:10:57was Norman's stock-in-trade.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01He advertised Jacko, the talking fish,
0:11:01 > 0:11:03which of course is a sea lion.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07He would advertise these fish that could play the piano forte.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09And he would advertise anything
0:11:09 > 0:11:11and it was always the latest wonder of the age.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15But his motto always was it was not the show but the tale you told.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19His famous one, I would say, was John Chambers, the armless wonder.
0:11:19 > 0:11:24The whole thing about freak show attractions, or side show or curiosity attractions
0:11:24 > 0:11:28is you didn't just go and look at somebody. You looked at somebody who had a talent or skill,
0:11:28 > 0:11:33so you'd see them doing what to us are normal things, but to them is extraordinary.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37John Chambers, the armless wonder, would actually be a carpenter with his feet.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43All of these people would actually have a particular skill
0:11:43 > 0:11:47which they'd learnt from adversity because there was no other way of making a living.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55Although shocking to modern sensibilities,
0:11:55 > 0:11:58the fairground freak shows offered a secure income
0:11:58 > 0:12:01to those with disabilities or deformities.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05I think when we look back on the 19th century
0:12:05 > 0:12:08and that culture of the exhibition of human oddities,
0:12:08 > 0:12:13we lump these people together as though they were just a sort of...
0:12:13 > 0:12:16..people who'd had no individual existences,
0:12:16 > 0:12:19but really, these people were celebrities.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21You could buy carte de visites of them,
0:12:21 > 0:12:25you could put their pictures on your mantelpiece.
0:12:25 > 0:12:31People like the dwarf performers, Charles Stratton, General Mite, Tom Thumb,
0:12:31 > 0:12:36these were amongst some of the most famous people in Europe and America.
0:12:36 > 0:12:41They were not cringing victims, locked up in the back rooms of shops.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44They were ubiquitous in 19th century culture.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52There was often more to freak shows than simple exploitation,
0:12:52 > 0:12:56even for the most famous act of the time, Joseph Merrick,
0:12:56 > 0:12:58who would become known as the Elephant Man.
0:13:00 > 0:13:05When we think about entertainers like Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man,
0:13:05 > 0:13:10who was managed by Tom Norman, the great British showman,
0:13:10 > 0:13:15we think of Merrick as being this cringing victim of a cruel system.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21Our understanding of the plight of the Elephant Man
0:13:21 > 0:13:24comes largely from a fictionalised account of his life,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28which was brought to the screen by film-maker, David Lynch.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31Ladies and gentlemen...
0:13:33 > 0:13:34The terrible...
0:13:36 > 0:13:37..Elephant...
0:13:38 > 0:13:39..Man.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53HE KNOCKS ON WALL
0:13:53 > 0:13:54Stand up.
0:13:54 > 0:13:55Stand up!
0:13:58 > 0:14:00We see the film by David Lynch
0:14:00 > 0:14:03and we see that showman figure, Bytes,
0:14:03 > 0:14:06who's drunk, who beats the guy, whips him,
0:14:06 > 0:14:08keeps him in the most terrible condition.
0:14:11 > 0:14:12Bytes, don't!
0:14:14 > 0:14:16Where have you been?!
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Actually, Lynch had to invent that character, Bytes.
0:14:19 > 0:14:21Because in real life, he never existed.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25The accounts we have, the dominant account of the life of Merrick
0:14:25 > 0:14:30comes from Doctor Frederick Treves, Anthony Hopkins in the movie.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34This is not a very accurate account of his life.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36Treves doesn't even get the man's name right.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40In the film and in Treves' book, he's called John Merrick.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43In real life he was called Joseph Merrick.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47He was on what most modern entertainers would find a pretty good deal.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50He was on a 50-50 box-office split with Tom Norman.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56You can see Merrick as a victim if you want.
0:14:56 > 0:15:02You could also has see him as a man who has managed to find a way
0:15:02 > 0:15:06of making his physical extraordinariness
0:15:06 > 0:15:10into a way of making a living, a way of having a place
0:15:10 > 0:15:13and an existence in the world.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18Throughout the Victorian era,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22freak shows continued to draw crowds at fairs across Britain.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29The people also went to the fair to experience the first rides,
0:15:29 > 0:15:33which had emerged at the beginning of the 19th century.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36These early rides were built from wood
0:15:36 > 0:15:38and powered by hand or pulled by ponies.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46They would soon be transformed by the invention of steam power.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49In the second half of the 19th century.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55The 19th century fairs are kind of divided into two eras -
0:15:55 > 0:15:58the pre-industrial and the post-industrial.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01And the industrial revolution hits the fair a lot later
0:16:01 > 0:16:03than people realise, it's about the 1860s.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07Actually, in 1861 at Bolton New Year Fair,
0:16:07 > 0:16:10when Thomas Hurst brought a steam-powered roundabout.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13So, what they did was bring the latest modern aspect
0:16:13 > 0:16:16of the Industrial Revolution - steam power -
0:16:16 > 0:16:20into an old fairground ride - which was a hand-turned roundabout -
0:16:20 > 0:16:23put them together, and we get what's called the merry-go-round.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26So, the British invented the merry-go-round,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29the classic roundabout that we see all over the world now.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41At first, these steam-powered merry-go-rounds were run
0:16:41 > 0:16:44by an engine, which was fixed to the outside of the ride.
0:16:46 > 0:16:51This technology was improved by an engineer from King's Lynn -
0:16:51 > 0:16:53Frederick Savage.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59He went to a show in his native Norfolk
0:16:59 > 0:17:02and saw there a small fairground ride
0:17:02 > 0:17:06that was being powered by a steam engine.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11It is said that Fredrick Savage looked at this and thought,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14"I know how I can do the job better."
0:17:14 > 0:17:17And what he did - and this was the most important thing about it -
0:17:17 > 0:17:20was that, instead of having the steam-engine outside the ride,
0:17:20 > 0:17:25he put it at the centre of the ride, hence the term "centre engine".
0:17:29 > 0:17:34Savage's innovation would mean bigger and more ornate rides could be built...
0:17:37 > 0:17:41..carrying more people, and as a result his fairground business
0:17:41 > 0:17:44became one of the largest in Britain.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48His workforce increased to about 400,
0:17:48 > 0:17:51and he was producing rides for showmen
0:17:51 > 0:17:54the length and breadth of the country.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00None of the designs that he built were in a sense original to him,
0:18:00 > 0:18:04but he was a great one for taking other people's ideas
0:18:04 > 0:18:06and making them work.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11This succession of rides that he built from the 1870s onwards
0:18:11 > 0:18:15became the star attractions at the fairs
0:18:15 > 0:18:19in the last three decades of the 19th century.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25First you had the galloping horses...
0:18:26 > 0:18:28..then there were the switchback rides,
0:18:28 > 0:18:32and they were the grand rides of the fairground.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34And the Razzle-Dazzle -
0:18:34 > 0:18:40a rather strange machine, which spun round and tilted as it did so.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44It was the sort of ride that was described in its day as "a oncer" -
0:18:44 > 0:18:48you went on it once and never again.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53It would have been quite atmospheric, really,
0:18:53 > 0:18:57lots of steam, the centre engine would have been mounted on a gantry,
0:18:57 > 0:18:59so it would have been a lot of hard work, as well,
0:18:59 > 0:19:03because you would have to stoke the boiler and get steam up,
0:19:03 > 0:19:05to produce the power to drive the thing round.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11It would have had an organ playing as well,
0:19:11 > 0:19:13a paper organ or barrel organ,
0:19:13 > 0:19:18so you would have had the military waltzes and marches, that sort of thing,
0:19:18 > 0:19:21a bit of industrial noise from the steam engines
0:19:21 > 0:19:25and then the sort of entertainment element was the organ music.
0:19:25 > 0:19:30FAIRGROUND ORGAN MUSIC PLAYS
0:19:32 > 0:19:34Some local authorities banned them
0:19:34 > 0:19:37because they were like Satan's inferno because of the noise,
0:19:37 > 0:19:40and they were quite dangerous at one point,
0:19:40 > 0:19:42because there was no way,
0:19:42 > 0:19:44people didn't realise just how fast these rides could go,
0:19:44 > 0:19:49and a really powerful steam roundabout from the 19th century
0:19:49 > 0:19:52with steam power at full speed is quite a scary thing.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54Nowadays, when you see the modern steam fairs,
0:19:54 > 0:19:57they're quite gentle and old people go on then,
0:19:57 > 0:20:00but at the time they were the white-knuckle ride of their day.
0:20:04 > 0:20:06Beginning with these new steam-powered rides,
0:20:06 > 0:20:10the Victorian fairground was at the forefront of industrial
0:20:10 > 0:20:11and technological innovation.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20By the end of the 19th century, the fairground has become
0:20:20 > 0:20:23as much a showcase of Victorian technology
0:20:23 > 0:20:26as the Crystal Palace or a trade fair.
0:20:26 > 0:20:28The same technologies that are transforming
0:20:28 > 0:20:32Britain's communications and travel systems, the same technologies
0:20:32 > 0:20:35that are sending steam ships out across the world
0:20:35 > 0:20:40and creating advances in armaments, all sorts of stuff,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44they're also transforming how Victorians have a night out.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49They get into these devices that hurl them about at great speeds
0:20:49 > 0:20:51and steam is at the heart of it.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06By the end of the 19th century, the people who ran
0:21:06 > 0:21:10Britain's travelling fairs had become recognised as a distinct community.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16The showmen will tell you that showpeople are born, not made.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19But this crucible of the 19th century, the mid-19th century,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22you got people coming, you had people coming from Ireland,
0:21:22 > 0:21:25you had some aspects of the travelling community coming in,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28you had people who were theatrical people, strolling players
0:21:28 > 0:21:31and becomes this crucible of mixing everything in
0:21:31 > 0:21:33until they become the showmen.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44Unlike other popular entertainments that emerged in the Victorian era
0:21:44 > 0:21:47like the circus, the travelling fair
0:21:47 > 0:21:51has traditionally been the domain of a closed community.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54I think the difference my family and people always said,
0:21:54 > 0:21:57the difference between the circus and the fair
0:21:57 > 0:22:00is that you can run away to the circus but you can't run away to the fair.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04So it's this closed community, which was described
0:22:04 > 0:22:07in the 19th century as a village on wheels.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15But despite the popularity of the travelling fairs,
0:22:15 > 0:22:19the fairground community were often viewed with suspicion and hostility.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26These negative attitudes towards travelling people were a hangover
0:22:26 > 0:22:29of stereotypes, which date back to the medieval era.
0:22:34 > 0:22:39I think there is a mistrust, and it still exists,
0:22:39 > 0:22:41for all travelling people.
0:22:41 > 0:22:47You do have this sort of the influx of foreigners as it were
0:22:47 > 0:22:50and by that, I mean people from other parts of the country.
0:22:51 > 0:22:56It was then therefore easy to blame them for things that happened
0:22:56 > 0:23:01in the town so for instance, towards the end of the 19th century
0:23:01 > 0:23:06and into the 20th century, showpeople were blamed for spreading disease.
0:23:08 > 0:23:14They were thought of as being the carriers of measles,
0:23:14 > 0:23:18so measles epidemics were often based on,
0:23:18 > 0:23:22"Oh, well, there were fair people in the town, they must have been the carriers."
0:23:23 > 0:23:27And so it was therefore easy to say,
0:23:27 > 0:23:30"Well, we don't want these people in our town."
0:23:30 > 0:23:33And the great and the good often did do that.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38This hostility led to a proposal in Parliament
0:23:38 > 0:23:41that the fairground community should face limits
0:23:41 > 0:23:44on their ability to travel around the country.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49In response to the bill, the leading showmen of the era
0:23:49 > 0:23:52met to defend their transient lifestyle.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59A meeting was called at the Black Lion Hotel in Salford,
0:23:59 > 0:24:02attended by the leading lights of the day.
0:24:02 > 0:24:09Pat Collins, the Studs, the Whites from Scotland, and so on.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13And they agreed that they would form a group to be known as
0:24:13 > 0:24:17the United Kingdom Van Dwellers Protection Association.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20And its aim was to oppose
0:24:20 > 0:24:24and hopefully defeat this bill that was being proposed in Parliament.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28It took them four years to do it but eventually they made
0:24:28 > 0:24:31enough friends in both Houses of Parliament
0:24:31 > 0:24:33to have this bill kicked out.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38This group was renamed the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain
0:24:38 > 0:24:41and would now represent the community
0:24:41 > 0:24:43who ran Britain's fairgrounds.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47It's a very effective organisation but it was there firstly
0:24:47 > 0:24:51to protect the organisation of the showmen but then it was there
0:24:51 > 0:24:54to protect the fairs and it's still very effective.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59These showmen would orchestrate the showcasing
0:24:59 > 0:25:02of the latest technological innovations of the age.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11In the final years of the 19th century,
0:25:11 > 0:25:15Victorians raced to the fair to wonder at the marvel of the cinema.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23It was on the fairground that this most important cultural invention
0:25:23 > 0:25:24was first widely shown.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35And the cinematograph was shown in February 1897
0:25:35 > 0:25:39at King's Lynn Fair but also in December 1896
0:25:39 > 0:25:41at the Royal Agricultural Hall at the World's Fair
0:25:41 > 0:25:45and it was classed as the wonder of the age, the dawn of modern life.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52And people loved it because what the showmen did,
0:25:52 > 0:25:56they would go to the town a week before, make a film and then show it
0:25:56 > 0:25:59at the fair and say, "come and see yourselves on the screen",
0:25:59 > 0:26:00showing ten shows a day.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09They showed continuous film shows every 15 minutes, they brought films
0:26:09 > 0:26:12from all over the world, they commissioned titles.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15Melies, Pathe, all the big film makers and film companies
0:26:15 > 0:26:17sold direct to the showmen.
0:26:17 > 0:26:22You would have 14 cinematograph shows at Hull Fair alone in 1901.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25One after another and the people screamed
0:26:25 > 0:26:27for this wonderful new attraction
0:26:27 > 0:26:31and it wasn't until 1909 that permanent cinemas
0:26:31 > 0:26:34were built so for the first 13 years of its life,
0:26:34 > 0:26:37cinema belonged to the fairground and was born on the fairground.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52Into the first decade of the 20th century,
0:26:52 > 0:26:56Britain's industrial heartlands were expanding
0:26:56 > 0:27:01and these growing urban communities demanded popular entertainment.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07In areas like South Wales, it was the travelling fair
0:27:07 > 0:27:09that was the first to meet this demand.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13Something that could burst into the town and like a rocket,
0:27:13 > 0:27:14explode all over it.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23The these were very much workaday towns, workaday villages,
0:27:23 > 0:27:27terraces, particularly in the South Wales coalfields, springing up overnight.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30They didn't at this stage, let's say 1890s, early 1900s,
0:27:30 > 0:27:35particularly have the later workmen's institutes, libraries, and gymnasiums.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39They didn't necessarily have music hall theatres.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42The Empire in Tonypandy is opened in 1909.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46What they did have, therefore, breaking into their workaday existence
0:27:46 > 0:27:49were the traditional aspects of working-class life,
0:27:49 > 0:27:53even from rural working-class life, and that is festivals and feast days.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56Or in this instance, the coming of the fair.
0:28:02 > 0:28:07In these communities working men were drawn to the fairground boxing booths,
0:28:07 > 0:28:11where they could challenge the showmen's prizefighters.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20You'd have guys coming off night shifts,
0:28:20 > 0:28:25you'd have ready money to spend because these were young, very fit colliers by and large.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27This was a very masculine kind of society.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32They would arrive and see, let's say, Black Jack Scarrott's boxing booth,
0:28:32 > 0:28:38and Black Jack would have his picked men parading in front of the crowd.
0:28:40 > 0:28:45He would say, "My man here will have his hands tied behind his back
0:28:45 > 0:28:49"and if anyone can land a blow on him within a minute, here's a golden guinea."
0:28:49 > 0:28:51A golden guinea, that was a lot of money.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54Just to hit this guy whose hands are tied behind his back
0:28:54 > 0:28:57and you must have fancied your chances because you could be
0:28:57 > 0:29:03up against someone who was, say, seven stone or even less, soaking wet like Little Jimmy Wilde
0:29:03 > 0:29:07and you're five foot ten or even five foot eight,
0:29:07 > 0:29:11you're 10 stone, 12 stone, you're a collier, of course you'll knock this guy out.
0:29:11 > 0:29:12Only you don't.
0:29:16 > 0:29:21Fighters like Jimmy Wilde and fellow Welshman Jim Driscoll emerged
0:29:21 > 0:29:24from the fairground boxing booths to become world champions
0:29:24 > 0:29:29in their own right and were later inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33I think the classic boxing story in terms of the boxing booth
0:29:33 > 0:29:35would be Jimmy Wilde.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39Jimmy Wilde, born in 1892, growing up in the Rhondda,
0:29:39 > 0:29:44a tiny man, very long arms, not somebody you would've ever imagined could be a boxer
0:29:44 > 0:29:47but of course in that time, in that place,
0:29:47 > 0:29:50and with his physical fitness and stamina, he soon was.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56And he naturally would've gravitated towards the boxing booths
0:29:56 > 0:30:00and very quickly proved himself, despite looking tiny and sickly,
0:30:00 > 0:30:03as an expert knockout artist.
0:30:03 > 0:30:08That's the key of course with Wilde, he could knock people out
0:30:08 > 0:30:12by a combination of, I don't know, technique and efficiency
0:30:12 > 0:30:15yet at the same time, if you saw him, you think you'd have a good chance.
0:30:15 > 0:30:20One Easter Bank Holiday in Jack Scarrott's booths in Swansea,
0:30:20 > 0:30:22he knocked 22 men out.
0:30:24 > 0:30:29And in Wilde's case, very rapidly, this boxing booth phenomenon,
0:30:29 > 0:30:341900s to 1908, 1909, was going to gravitate towards
0:30:34 > 0:30:37the growing professionalisation of the sport
0:30:37 > 0:30:41and the ability of working men like Wilde to become, by 1916,
0:30:41 > 0:30:44champion of the world, which he remained until 1922,
0:30:44 > 0:30:47but absolutely straight out of the boxing booth.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55The boxing booths eventually declined
0:30:55 > 0:30:58as the sport began to become fully professional.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05But these fighters from the fair established much
0:31:05 > 0:31:07of what is modern boxing today.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18'All the elements that you see in modern boxing today'
0:31:18 > 0:31:21are from the fair. The way that the people come on to the ring,
0:31:21 > 0:31:24the way they issue the challenge, the whole showmanship.
0:31:24 > 0:31:28"Are you ready to rumble?", that's just like, "Roll up, roll up".
0:31:28 > 0:31:30And I think the reason why boxing as a sport
0:31:30 > 0:31:34actually also has this kind of weird reputation
0:31:34 > 0:31:36is because of those showman aspects of it, the showman roots.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40People don't think of it as a sport, they think of it as entertainment.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43SHE SHOUTS
0:31:53 > 0:31:57After the First World War, the fairground entered a new modern age
0:31:57 > 0:32:00with the introduction of electricity.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05'What's interesting, the Victorian age'
0:32:05 > 0:32:09and then the Edwardian age, is known as the golden age of the fairground,
0:32:09 > 0:32:11but what I find fascinating is the next form of transformation,
0:32:11 > 0:32:15which is the 1920s, and I call it the push-button fair,
0:32:15 > 0:32:17where suddenly you get the electric fair,
0:32:17 > 0:32:19the fair becomes modern, sleek.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24You get the waltzer, which is a ride
0:32:24 > 0:32:26that every generation thinks is theirs.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29In the 1920s, there's Mr Jackson's Waltzing Cars.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32How mundane does that sound!
0:32:34 > 0:32:37In the 1950s, it's the rock'n'roll waltzer.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42In the 1970s, it's the disco waltzer.
0:32:42 > 0:32:44In the 1980s, it's the rave machine.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48What an amazing ride!
0:32:48 > 0:32:52The same ride has been exciting children, or people, or teenagers,
0:32:52 > 0:32:53for over 80 years.
0:32:58 > 0:33:03The invention of electric lights would change the experience
0:33:03 > 0:33:05of a trip to the fair.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09Electric lighting was probably seen by most people for the first time
0:33:09 > 0:33:12at their local fair.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15They didn't have lighting in their houses.
0:33:15 > 0:33:20They'd been used to paraffin lamps, candles, whatever.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23But to go to the fairground
0:33:23 > 0:33:28and see the rows of bright bulbs
0:33:28 > 0:33:30was something remarkable.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36But it was the arrival of one electric ride from America
0:33:36 > 0:33:40in 1928 that really caught the imagination.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48The "sssh-k" of electricity, the connectors at the top of it.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51"How does it work? Can I get that person back?"
0:33:51 > 0:33:54You bash, you clash, you go round in circles,
0:33:54 > 0:33:55you never get where you're going.
0:34:03 > 0:34:07The dodgems caused a sensation on fairs around the country
0:34:07 > 0:34:12and would go on to become the most popular ride of the 20th century.
0:34:12 > 0:34:17The great beauty of a ride on the dodgem is that it is the only ride
0:34:17 > 0:34:21on the fairground where you are in control as the rider,
0:34:21 > 0:34:23the man behind the steering wheel.
0:34:23 > 0:34:25This is why you fought over it as a kid
0:34:25 > 0:34:29cos you wanted to be there, you wanted to drive that car
0:34:29 > 0:34:32and of course, you were probably not old enough to have a licence
0:34:32 > 0:34:37and drive a car on the road, but you could drive a car on the dodgem track
0:34:37 > 0:34:41and more to the point, you could bump into another car.
0:34:44 > 0:34:48With the coming of electricity to the fair, the bulky steam rides
0:34:48 > 0:34:52of the Victorian era were replaced by electric-powered attractions,
0:34:52 > 0:34:57like the dodgems, which could offer a faster, more thrilling experience.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05The advance of the fairground rides is entirely dependent
0:35:05 > 0:35:07upon the technology to support them,
0:35:07 > 0:35:13not just the engines that drove them, but also, the metals,
0:35:13 > 0:35:16the engineering that could actually build the rides.
0:35:17 > 0:35:22They are actually quite simple in concept.
0:35:22 > 0:35:26I mean, they all depend on arcs and circles.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28You either go round and round, or you go up and down,
0:35:28 > 0:35:30or you go up and down and round and round.
0:35:30 > 0:35:35But it is all based on a sort of simple concept.
0:35:35 > 0:35:43But the complications are introduced by the advances in technologies.
0:35:48 > 0:35:53Out of this new electric age emerged many of the rides
0:35:53 > 0:35:54that we see today.
0:35:54 > 0:35:58In the years leading up to the second world war,
0:35:58 > 0:36:01the dodgems were soon followed by the Ghost Train,
0:36:01 > 0:36:03the Skid,
0:36:03 > 0:36:06the Mont Blanc
0:36:06 > 0:36:07and the Speedway.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12BOMBER ENGINE WAILS
0:36:13 > 0:36:16BOMBS EXPLODE
0:36:17 > 0:36:19At the outbreak of the Second World War,
0:36:19 > 0:36:24many fairs were forced to close down and the fairground community,
0:36:24 > 0:36:26like everyone else in Britain,
0:36:26 > 0:36:29did their bit to help defend the country.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35All walks of life contributed to the war effort.
0:36:35 > 0:36:40Our community lost quite a lot of showmen fighting in the war.
0:36:40 > 0:36:45But what the fairground community did, they got together
0:36:45 > 0:36:48and raised a fund to pay for an aeroplane, a Spitfire.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52And that Spitfire was called The Fun Of The Fair.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55The women operated the fairs,
0:36:55 > 0:37:00they raised within nine months £4,000, purely from the showmen,
0:37:00 > 0:37:04to buy a Spitfire for the nation because they didn't have any money,
0:37:04 > 0:37:06the Government didn't have enough Spitfires.
0:37:06 > 0:37:11So £4,000 they raised and we're rightly proud of that.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21The years following the end of the Second World War
0:37:21 > 0:37:26would see the fairground reach the peak of its popularity in Britain
0:37:26 > 0:37:29with people keen to enjoy themselves after six years of conflict.
0:37:32 > 0:37:36The post war years were a particularly good time
0:37:36 > 0:37:37on the fairground.
0:37:37 > 0:37:42We'd emerged from war, somewhat hard-up.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45It was the age of austerity.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47There was rationing.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50But there was more or less full employment.
0:37:50 > 0:37:52So, people were in work, they had money,
0:37:52 > 0:37:56but they had very little to spend it on because of rationing,
0:37:56 > 0:38:01so the entertainment industry in general, whether it be the theatre
0:38:01 > 0:38:05the cinema, the fairground or the circus, the holiday camps,
0:38:05 > 0:38:07did extremely well.
0:38:07 > 0:38:10It was a very busy time for showman.
0:38:13 > 0:38:15But the fair was changing.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18Victorian favourites like the freak shows were on the wane,
0:38:18 > 0:38:21in line with new social attitudes.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24I can give you the reason in a nutshell.
0:38:24 > 0:38:2920 years ago, there was plenty of fat ladies, tattooed ladies,
0:38:29 > 0:38:32armless men, midgets, dwarfs etc.
0:38:32 > 0:38:37But in those days, the people were poorer
0:38:37 > 0:38:41and they were only too happy to have their children earn a living
0:38:41 > 0:38:45and that was that the showmen came together and put them on exhibition.
0:38:45 > 0:38:47But today, in a welfare state,
0:38:47 > 0:38:50you never hear anything at all about these people.
0:38:52 > 0:38:57Through the 1950s, freak shows were replaced in popularity
0:38:57 > 0:38:59by Wild West shows.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06One of the most famous Wild West show families
0:39:06 > 0:39:09in fifties Britain was the Shufflebottoms.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16Florence began performing in her father's show from the age of 13.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21As I grew up, after the Second World War,
0:39:21 > 0:39:26I was 13 and I joined my father, their little sideshow that they had,
0:39:26 > 0:39:28and I used to stand for my father to do the shooting
0:39:28 > 0:39:31and the knife throwing. And I did love dancing.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33I love dancing now but I can't.
0:39:33 > 0:39:35My knees are gone.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44The Shufflebottom family had been presenting their Wild West show
0:39:44 > 0:39:46for three generations.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50Legend had it that Florence's great grandfather was a cowboy.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54who came to Britain in the 1880s with the popular American showman
0:39:54 > 0:39:55Buffalo Bill.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01Buffalo Bill came over to England in the 1880s
0:40:01 > 0:40:04and according to the family's story,
0:40:04 > 0:40:08Texas Bill came over with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11But I don't think I've ever heard of an American cowboy
0:40:11 > 0:40:13called Shufflebottom.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17More like the real tale is that he came from Lancashire,
0:40:17 > 0:40:22because his name was Shufflebottom and that is a Lancashire name.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27And I do know for a fact that he worked for Buffalo Bill,
0:40:27 > 0:40:31because in my grandfather's day, everybody had horses
0:40:31 > 0:40:34and he was very good with horses, I believe.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38Then he had ten children and each of them had a Wild West show.
0:40:38 > 0:40:44My favourite one was the Colorado's and Florence Shufflebottom.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47Her father was known as Ricardo Colorado.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51Florence was such a skilled performer that
0:40:51 > 0:40:56she soon became the celebrity face of the fairground in the 1950s.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00And the smash-hit musical Annie Get Your Gun
0:41:00 > 0:41:02was on at the West End and we went to see it.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04So, of course, doing the sharp-shooting
0:41:04 > 0:41:07and wearing these costumes and Annie Get Your Gun being popular,
0:41:07 > 0:41:10I got a lot of publicity out of that because I was known as
0:41:10 > 0:41:12the British Annie Oakley.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14# Anything you can do
0:41:14 > 0:41:15# I can do better
0:41:15 > 0:41:17# I can do anything better than you
0:41:17 > 0:41:18- # No, you can't - # Yes, I can... #
0:41:18 > 0:41:21She could do Wild West, she could do sharp-shooting,
0:41:21 > 0:41:23she could do knife throwing.
0:41:23 > 0:41:25Any showman of a certain age will go weak in the knees
0:41:25 > 0:41:28when you talk about Florence Shufflebottom.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31She was the pin-up girl. Such an amazing performer.
0:41:31 > 0:41:32# No, you're not
0:41:32 > 0:41:33# Yes, I am... #
0:41:33 > 0:41:37But my father wanted me to do the sharp shooting
0:41:37 > 0:41:39and I didn't really want to
0:41:39 > 0:41:42because I didn't like firearms then and I don't like them now,
0:41:42 > 0:41:45but I wanted to help my father, it made it easier for him,
0:41:45 > 0:41:47and he trained me to do the shooting.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53But Florence's career as a Wild West sharpshooter ended
0:41:53 > 0:41:56after an accident during one performance.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01I was very good at it, although I say so myself, I was very good.
0:42:01 > 0:42:06I was very confident, until one day when I had an accident.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10And it wasn't my fault. I shot my mother in the finger knuckle.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13She was holding three pipes in a spray fashion like that
0:42:13 > 0:42:16against the target board, and I was laid down on the floor
0:42:16 > 0:42:18and I had to shoot that way.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21Now, the rifle I was using was a pump-action rifle
0:42:21 > 0:42:24and as you did that, the empty cartridge, the empty shell,
0:42:24 > 0:42:26went over your shoulder.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29And a little boy in the audience jumped up to catch it, knocked me,
0:42:29 > 0:42:33and the rifle came up and the bullet went through my mother's knuckle.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38From that day on, I lost my confidence, I really did.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41I knew I could do it, but I didn't enjoy it any more.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44Where before, I used to enjoy performing,
0:42:44 > 0:42:46I didn't enjoy doing the shooting.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50# There's no business
0:42:50 > 0:42:52# Like show business... #
0:42:52 > 0:42:56But this accident didn't dent Florence's fairground career
0:42:56 > 0:42:59as she soon began performing with live snakes.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02# Soon you'll be appearing... #
0:43:02 > 0:43:04We had three, actually.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06We had a small one and two big ones.
0:43:06 > 0:43:10We used to take the small one out of the box and show it to the audience
0:43:10 > 0:43:14and put it round me and most people would go, "Ohhh, snakes!".
0:43:14 > 0:43:17And when they got used to seeing me with the small snake,
0:43:17 > 0:43:19then you'd go and pick up the big snake.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21They were really amazed at that.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25I used to finish the performance by doing what they call
0:43:25 > 0:43:26the kiss of death.
0:43:26 > 0:43:30I never, and if you look at all the photographs of me,
0:43:30 > 0:43:32I never held a snake's head like that.
0:43:32 > 0:43:36I always let the snakes be free. I had my hand underneath the snake
0:43:36 > 0:43:38and they used to do it of their own accord.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42I'd stand like that and open my mouth and they'd put their head in my mouth
0:43:42 > 0:43:45and that was the kiss of death and used to finish my performance.
0:43:45 > 0:43:56# Let's go on with the show... #
0:43:59 > 0:44:02While Florence was thrilling fifties crowds,
0:44:02 > 0:44:06the sights and sounds of the fairground around her
0:44:06 > 0:44:09were about to be revolutionised...
0:44:09 > 0:44:11by the arrival of rock'n'roll.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17Rock'n'roll was made for the fairground.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21And it was the only place really you could hear
0:44:21 > 0:44:22loud rock'n'roll for absolutely nothing.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27And you have a sort of unholy alliance
0:44:27 > 0:44:30between youth and bright lights
0:44:30 > 0:44:35and things going fast and popular music.
0:44:35 > 0:44:37# Jailhouse rock
0:44:37 > 0:44:40# Everybody, let's rock
0:44:41 > 0:44:44# Everybody in the whole cell block
0:44:44 > 0:44:46# Was dancing to the Jailhouse Rock... #
0:44:48 > 0:44:52It was not a place for your parents' music,
0:44:52 > 0:44:54it was YOUR music.
0:44:54 > 0:44:56In the 1950s, it was rock'n'roll.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59# The whole rhythm section Was a purple gang
0:44:59 > 0:45:00# Let's rock... #
0:45:00 > 0:45:03It was hand in hand with the idea of Teddy Boys,
0:45:03 > 0:45:07with the beginnings of youth culture, with youth fashions,
0:45:07 > 0:45:10that was happening in the post-war period.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13Kids had money to spend and they could go and spend it
0:45:13 > 0:45:14wherever they wanted.
0:45:14 > 0:45:19And the fairground was an essential part of that...ostentation.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22SCREAMING
0:45:22 > 0:45:25# I want to stick around I want to get my kicks
0:45:25 > 0:45:27# Let's rock
0:45:27 > 0:45:28# Everybody, let's rock... #
0:45:28 > 0:45:31With the fairground, you've got this amazing arena,
0:45:31 > 0:45:35because you've got the technology that can pump this stuff out.
0:45:35 > 0:45:39But you've also got a stage, upon which Mods and Rockers
0:45:39 > 0:45:43can come and preen and exhibit themselves.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45Stand under flattering electric lights.
0:45:45 > 0:45:51# They say the joint was rocking Going round and round
0:45:51 > 0:45:55# Yeah, reeling and rocking, with a crazy sound... #
0:45:55 > 0:45:57The coming of rock'n'roll
0:45:57 > 0:46:00led to the birth of Britain's first youth culture.
0:46:00 > 0:46:04And with fairgrounds reverberating to the new music,
0:46:04 > 0:46:07the fair now seemed to belong to teenagers.
0:46:07 > 0:46:12# Rose out of my seat just headed down... #
0:46:12 > 0:46:17I can remember seeing my first Teddy Boys at a fairground
0:46:17 > 0:46:20and being absolutely fascinated by this idea of the exotic.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24The Edwardian velvet collars and the cowboy bootlace ties.
0:46:24 > 0:46:26# Yeah, reeling and rocking... #
0:46:26 > 0:46:31These were the people our parents warned us about.
0:46:31 > 0:46:33But we wanted to be them. They were so magnificent.
0:46:33 > 0:46:40Peacocks in their splendour, as they paraded through the crowds of people.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48Throughout the '50s and '60s,
0:46:48 > 0:46:52fairgrounds became a place where boys and girls would go to meet.
0:46:52 > 0:46:54# Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
0:46:54 > 0:46:57# Louie, Louie... #
0:46:57 > 0:46:59It's hard for us to imagine these days,
0:46:59 > 0:47:03but there were very few places for courting in the 1950s.
0:47:03 > 0:47:08And the fair would arrive as this zone of liberty.
0:47:08 > 0:47:14And young couples could go there not to transgress particularly
0:47:14 > 0:47:17but just to shout at one another, to eye one another up.
0:47:17 > 0:47:21To do la marcha - the girls would walk down one side, the boys would walk down the other.
0:47:21 > 0:47:26You'd eye each other up. Fashions would be spotted.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28# Louie, Louie
0:47:28 > 0:47:31# Oh, baby, I've gotta go... #
0:47:31 > 0:47:35Our October fair was the high point of the school year.
0:47:35 > 0:47:39You had to have a boyfriend for the fair. You couldn't go on your own.
0:47:39 > 0:47:43If you went with a girl who went with you, your best friend,
0:47:43 > 0:47:46you'd sort of failed.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00There's a sort of sexual charge about the fairground, too.
0:48:00 > 0:48:05It's the kind of place where boys and girls might get together, away from the parental eye.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08You'd go down the Tunnel of Love, or up on the Ferris Wheel.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11You know, your dad can't see what you're doing up there.
0:48:12 > 0:48:15And where young people go, in packs and gangs,
0:48:15 > 0:48:17and can face each other off.
0:48:27 > 0:48:31By the 1960s, new rides had arrived at the fair,
0:48:31 > 0:48:36which added to the youthful edginess of the whole fairground experience.
0:48:36 > 0:48:37# Boom boom boom boom
0:48:38 > 0:48:40# Going to shoot you right down... #
0:48:42 > 0:48:45There were rides which originated in the United States.
0:48:45 > 0:48:48There was a ride called the Dive Bomber,
0:48:48 > 0:48:50which sent you through 360 degrees.
0:48:50 > 0:48:52# Boom boom boom boom... #
0:48:53 > 0:48:55And the Ferris Wheel became very popular
0:48:55 > 0:48:57after the war, made by an American company.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01If you think of a big wheel, or this Dive Bomber,
0:49:01 > 0:49:05it was a teenage boy and girl situation. You took your girlfriend up there.
0:49:05 > 0:49:06Or the Ghost Train, you took your girlfriend in there.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09SCREAMING
0:49:09 > 0:49:13And you hoped that boys would take you on a scary ride
0:49:13 > 0:49:17because then that would give them the excuse to put their arm
0:49:17 > 0:49:19round you, to make sure that you didn't fall out.
0:49:22 > 0:49:26The idea of a girl being frightened next to you as you come down,
0:49:26 > 0:49:31whoomph, into the water flume or up on The Big One...
0:49:31 > 0:49:36The word The Big One, come on, who are we kidding? We know what this is about.
0:49:36 > 0:49:38SCREAMING
0:49:38 > 0:49:40You've made out, you've copped, you've got to first base,
0:49:40 > 0:49:45you've done whatever, because it's an area where anything goes.
0:49:45 > 0:49:49It's a no-man's land, it's a ground zero of emotions.
0:49:49 > 0:49:54And they were also areas that were considered quite dangerous by boys
0:49:54 > 0:49:58because you could go into a fight with another gang.
0:50:06 > 0:50:12Or, the girl you fancied might go off with a fairground boy.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18The romanticism of the gypsy, and Gypsy Davy,
0:50:18 > 0:50:21"Late last night, when the squire came home,
0:50:21 > 0:50:23"looking for his lady."
0:50:23 > 0:50:26But she's gone with "the raggle-taggle gypsies-oh."
0:50:26 > 0:50:28"Why do you leave your goose feather bed?
0:50:28 > 0:50:30"All for the love of Davy."
0:50:31 > 0:50:34# It was late last night when the boss came home
0:50:34 > 0:50:37# He was asking about his lady
0:50:37 > 0:50:41# The only answer he received 'She's gone with gypsy Davy
0:50:41 > 0:50:45# 'Gone with gypsy Dave...' #
0:50:47 > 0:50:51Well, you see, you see them walking round
0:50:51 > 0:50:54and you look at a few and, you know, they look a bit...
0:50:54 > 0:50:58they've got some money, well, you don't bother with them.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01Look for the ones that's going around a bit poor looking, you see.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03And you've got more chance with them.
0:51:03 > 0:51:05A bit rough looking. Know what I mean?
0:51:05 > 0:51:07A bit rough? Now, what do you mean?
0:51:07 > 0:51:12Well, you know you see some going round that wouldn't speak to you
0:51:12 > 0:51:14look at you, or anything like that.
0:51:14 > 0:51:19You know, you call them over and they just look at you like that and walk away again.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22If they come over, you know you're onto something there, you see.
0:51:22 > 0:51:24They start chatting to you.
0:51:24 > 0:51:26# There in the light of the camping fire
0:51:26 > 0:51:31# I saw her fair face beaming
0:51:31 > 0:51:34# Her heart in tune with the big guitar
0:51:34 > 0:51:36# And the voice of the gypsies singing
0:51:36 > 0:51:39# That song of the gypsy Dave... #
0:51:40 > 0:51:42And they were always so cool.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45They'd be in the middle of the dodgems going round, and they'd be
0:51:45 > 0:51:50leaning there, looking for all the world as if they owned it.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53And they'd walk out as the dodgems were going round.
0:51:53 > 0:51:57If I'd walked out, I would have fallen flat on my face.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00They'd come out and lean on a dodgem as the girls were there.
0:52:00 > 0:52:02And they knew what they were doing.
0:52:13 > 0:52:17But this was the high tide of fairground popularity.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21Fairs continued to travel the country,
0:52:21 > 0:52:24but through the 1970s, other attractions emerged that
0:52:24 > 0:52:28began competing for teenage time and money.
0:52:30 > 0:52:34While the rides and the candyfloss remained,
0:52:34 > 0:52:38the side shows went the way of the boxing booths and disappeared.
0:52:44 > 0:52:47In the 1980s, a new style of entertainment from America
0:52:47 > 0:52:49pitched up in Britain.
0:52:52 > 0:52:56Theme parks were the ultimate in white-knuckle rides.
0:52:59 > 0:53:03Places like Alton Towers quickly became among the most popular
0:53:03 > 0:53:06tourist attractions in the country.
0:53:13 > 0:53:18But these high-tech amusements also drew a low-tech response,
0:53:18 > 0:53:21in the form of vintage fairs,
0:53:21 > 0:53:24which tapped into a now growing feeling of nostalgia
0:53:24 > 0:53:26for the traditional fairground.
0:53:31 > 0:53:35Nowadays with the fair, people have a nostalgia for the type of fair
0:53:35 > 0:53:40and I think the best example of the kind of really beautiful,
0:53:40 > 0:53:43perfect, ideal fair that people think of from their childhood,
0:53:43 > 0:53:48now we're all getting older, is the fair of the Carter family. Carter Steam Fair.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51Steam Fair, it's not, it's actually Carter's Fair
0:53:51 > 0:53:55because they've got everything from the 1900s to the 1950s on their fair.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59All the equipment is beautiful, it's impeccably looked after.
0:53:59 > 0:54:02They're only like those entrepreneurs and showmen
0:54:02 > 0:54:04from 100 years ago who came into the community
0:54:04 > 0:54:06and added something new to it.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20Today, crowds are attracted to Carter's Steam Fair for
0:54:20 > 0:54:22the experience of being taken back in time,
0:54:22 > 0:54:24to the golden age of the fairground.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33We give the public a much more novel experience because our rides,
0:54:33 > 0:54:35some of them are steam-driven.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39So they're ranging from 1895, right through to rock'n'roll.
0:54:39 > 0:54:40So they come along,
0:54:40 > 0:54:45and I mean, it's been described as more like a film set than a funfair.
0:54:45 > 0:54:50But they can ride on everything. And we play old music.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53It's just like going back into the past, really.
0:54:53 > 0:54:57And we're very non-aggressive...
0:54:57 > 0:54:59BELL RINGS
0:54:59 > 0:55:02..so we attract families, and we just like to give them a really good,
0:55:02 > 0:55:05old-fashioned experience.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09What fun was like before it got too technical.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12TRADITIONAL FAIRGROUND MUSIC PLAYS
0:55:12 > 0:55:16Now, it's become part of the nostalgic world of
0:55:16 > 0:55:21the fairground, so that the steam fair is now something where,
0:55:21 > 0:55:25you know, it's almost like going to a farmers' market, or something
0:55:25 > 0:55:29like that, where middle class people might go to buy posh cheeses.
0:55:29 > 0:55:34Here, they go to put their children on little wooden ducks that go up and down.
0:55:34 > 0:55:38And enter this absolutely staggeringly beautiful,
0:55:38 > 0:55:43painted world, that's been commuted out of the 19th century
0:55:43 > 0:55:47and has somehow been allowed to survive into the 21st.
0:55:47 > 0:55:51SCREAMING
0:55:56 > 0:56:00For over 200 years, travelling fairs have brought their special magic
0:56:00 > 0:56:03to towns across Britain.
0:56:04 > 0:56:09Through innovation and invention, the fair's characters,
0:56:09 > 0:56:13shows and rides, created our first popular entertainment industry.
0:56:13 > 0:56:17And there are still 4,000 show families,
0:56:17 > 0:56:19putting on around 200 fairs a week.
0:56:22 > 0:56:26As ever, the allure of the fairground lies in the way
0:56:26 > 0:56:27it arrives in our midst.
0:56:27 > 0:56:31And then, just as suddenly, disappears.
0:56:33 > 0:56:37# Say goodbye
0:56:37 > 0:56:41# My one true lover... #
0:56:41 > 0:56:44I think that idea of fairs being transitory.
0:56:44 > 0:56:46Not illusory, because it happened,
0:56:46 > 0:56:50and you might have the goldfish,
0:56:50 > 0:56:53or your girlfriend might have run off with the dodgems guy.
0:56:53 > 0:56:57But you've been there and taken part in this thing that's disappeared.
0:56:57 > 0:57:00And there's something quite magic about that.
0:57:00 > 0:57:03You've been there, you've taken part in it and it's disappeared.
0:57:03 > 0:57:09The next day, there's just this little muddy field where things had been.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12They've packed up their tents and gone into the night.
0:57:12 > 0:57:14# Dawn is breaking... #
0:57:14 > 0:57:16It was the marks in the grass, the rings in the grass.
0:57:16 > 0:57:19The rings appear, the fair's there,
0:57:19 > 0:57:21and then they go. And as they vanish,
0:57:21 > 0:57:24they grow back again just in time for the fair to come again.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27# Until I die
0:57:27 > 0:57:35# Oh, the carnival is over
0:57:35 > 0:57:43# I will roam until I die
0:57:43 > 0:57:46# Oh, I will roam
0:57:46 > 0:57:50# Until I die
0:57:50 > 0:57:54# Oh, I will roam
0:57:54 > 0:57:58# Until I die
0:57:58 > 0:58:01# I will roam
0:58:01 > 0:58:05# Until I die. #