0:00:20 > 0:00:21FOOTSTEPS
0:00:21 > 0:00:2365 years ago,
0:00:23 > 0:00:27this was the sound of docks across Britain waking up each morning.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33An army of workers, their boots clattering on quayside cobbles.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35Dockers, tallymen, kickers,
0:00:35 > 0:00:37stevedores, hatch men and winch men, samplers,
0:00:37 > 0:00:40grain porters, timber porters, teamers, tackle men,
0:00:40 > 0:00:42yard master, shunters, pilots, tug boatmen, foyboatmen,
0:00:42 > 0:00:44freshwater men, blacksmiths, weighers,
0:00:44 > 0:00:47dock watchmen, dredger men, launch men, needle men,
0:00:47 > 0:00:49jetty clerks, warehousemen, measurers, coal trimmers,
0:00:49 > 0:00:51lightermen, lumpers,
0:00:51 > 0:00:53and just as you think you've named them all,
0:00:53 > 0:00:56up goes a crane driver to his seat in the sky.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00These men were the engine driving the British post-war recovery.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16Exotic goods, people from far-flung places
0:01:16 > 0:01:21and new, exciting influences from across the globe ebbed and flowed
0:01:21 > 0:01:25through the living, breathing, bustling docks in every city.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28The docks was the city.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30It was the lifeblood.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32It was the pulse.
0:01:32 > 0:01:33It was everything.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39Around these docks grew waterfront communities.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42A kaleidoscope of different cultures.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46Maltese would be spoken on the corner, Portuguese the next street.
0:01:46 > 0:01:47Arabic, Somali.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51We were a community of seamen from these countries.
0:01:51 > 0:01:56These were the first places to experience new styles and sounds.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00Can you imagine? There were 25,000-plus seamen
0:02:00 > 0:02:02in and out of Liverpool,
0:02:02 > 0:02:04bringing music and records in.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14In the 1960s, as Britain underwent a social and cultural revolution,
0:02:14 > 0:02:19this world would be turned upside down by modern technology.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22They've got 1,200 containers each trip
0:02:22 > 0:02:25and there's not one of them been packed or handled by a docker.
0:02:25 > 0:02:31Ultimately these changes would lead to the decline of traditional docks.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35I never thought for one minute that the river would stop
0:02:35 > 0:02:37as an artery of commerce.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39The river became dead.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43But within 20 years, these docksides took on a new life.
0:02:45 > 0:02:50Today, they are no longer hubs of industry, but places of leisure,
0:02:50 > 0:02:55culture, consumerism and, for some, desirable places to live.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59You go to Liverpool today and it's a totally different city
0:02:59 > 0:03:02to what I remember when I first started to work there.
0:03:02 > 0:03:03It's beautiful.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07This is not so much a story about the loss of our docks,
0:03:07 > 0:03:09but their transformation.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24One of Britain's biggest docks was Liverpool.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31It exported more than any other UK port and was the main gateway
0:03:31 > 0:03:33for transatlantic trade with North America.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37The city was shaped by the sea
0:03:37 > 0:03:40and depended on thousands of dockers.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44Basically, every other house,
0:03:44 > 0:03:46the dad was a docker, you know.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49There were thousands, thousands of men on the docks.
0:03:51 > 0:03:56There were always people walking, or on bikes, or buses full.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58It was noisy, it was loud...
0:03:59 > 0:04:01..and just busy, busy, busy.
0:04:01 > 0:04:06This busy waterfront was the point of departure for anyone and everyone
0:04:06 > 0:04:10who wanted to make the journey to America by sea.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16This transatlantic link meant there were as many seafarers in the city
0:04:16 > 0:04:18as there were dockers.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20# You dreamboats
0:04:20 > 0:04:23# You lovable dreamboats... #
0:04:23 > 0:04:25In our day, every family,
0:04:25 > 0:04:29or every second family, had someone who went away to sea.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33And that was the main industry.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37When you think of one industry with 20-odd thousand men
0:04:37 > 0:04:38working for them...
0:04:40 > 0:04:42Billy spent much of his career
0:04:42 > 0:04:45working in the kitchens of Cunard liners.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48# I'd follow you, darling
0:04:48 > 0:04:49# To any shore... #
0:04:49 > 0:04:53In the era of great liners, and by the end of World War II,
0:04:53 > 0:04:57Cunard was the largest Atlantic passenger line.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01Liverpool was the hub of the company's European operations.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05The landing stage was very near half a mile long
0:05:05 > 0:05:11and you were getting in those days two, three, four ships nose to tail.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16Billy documented his voyages
0:05:16 > 0:05:19to destinations such as New York and Montreal
0:05:19 > 0:05:21on this rare 8mm footage,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24using a brand-new American home-movie camera.
0:05:28 > 0:05:33This is the original and first movie camera I bought
0:05:33 > 0:05:35when I went to New York.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39In England, you couldn't buy a movie camera.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41It's a mechanical camera.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44You wind it up...
0:05:44 > 0:05:45CAMERA WHIRS
0:05:45 > 0:05:48..and there it is. Still in full working order.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52It not only takes 8mm movie, but it takes still shots.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57Before the arrival of the passenger jet,
0:05:57 > 0:06:01these liners were the choice of travel for the rich and the famous.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05And Billy seems to have collected photographs of most of them.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08This is Noel Coward and Debbie Reynolds.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10That's on the Queen Mary as well.
0:06:10 > 0:06:15Liberace, this is, signing autographs for the stewardesses.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19Deborah Kerr helping herself to a drink behind the bar.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25Seafarers like Billy returned to Liverpool
0:06:25 > 0:06:30bringing with them the sight, sound and even the smell of the USA.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35This made a big impression on the city's dockers.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39You know on a Yankee boat, you know what you can smell?
0:06:39 > 0:06:41Coffee.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45You could smell this waft of fresh-ground coffee.
0:06:45 > 0:06:46# Everybody
0:06:48 > 0:06:50# Doing that coffee grind... #
0:06:52 > 0:06:54I used to notice the seafarers, you know,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57and I used to look at the quality of the clothes, like.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59I mean, I was only 18 and I used to look.
0:06:59 > 0:07:00And you couldn't help but notice it -
0:07:00 > 0:07:02they looked really well dressed,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05and you could see that this was a really rich nation.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10And there's a poser. Just come home,
0:07:10 > 0:07:12posing in my wife's back garden.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17These self-confessed posers earned the nickname among the dockers -
0:07:17 > 0:07:19the Cunard Yanks.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23When we were travelling to join our ship of an early morning,
0:07:23 > 0:07:25we'd go on the overhead railway.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29And we're in our suits, going to work in our suits.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32And the dockers would all say, "Oh, look at these.
0:07:32 > 0:07:33"Couple of Cunard Yanks.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36"Don't sit next to them, they smell like poof puffs,"
0:07:36 > 0:07:39cos we had aftershave on and we smelt nice.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43# You've either got
0:07:43 > 0:07:48# Or you haven't got style... #
0:07:48 > 0:07:51Some of the lads in the Market Diner in New York.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55We were coming ashore at the landing stage in American suits.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58A lot of the lads were posers.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02They'd be flashing American dollars and after five minutes in New York,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05they were speaking like, "Hello there," you know?
0:08:05 > 0:08:09# You've either got
0:08:09 > 0:08:13# Or you haven't got style... #
0:08:13 > 0:08:14Along with their swagger,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17they brought back all manner of American goods
0:08:17 > 0:08:18for friends and family.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22I was bringing my children
0:08:22 > 0:08:23beautiful American...
0:08:23 > 0:08:26My daughter, lovely American dresses.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30She was running round, when we had a flat down in Smithtown Road,
0:08:30 > 0:08:31in American dresses.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33People were saying, "Oh, God,
0:08:33 > 0:08:35"she's like a little princess," you know?
0:08:37 > 0:08:40Although its transatlantic link gave Liverpool's waterside
0:08:40 > 0:08:43a distinctly American twist,
0:08:43 > 0:08:47sailors coming into port from other parts of the world brought rarer
0:08:47 > 0:08:49and more exotic items with them.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53Guys who went away to sea,
0:08:53 > 0:08:57they'd bring these multicoloured parrots home.
0:08:57 > 0:08:58I remember my nanny had one.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00It swore like a trooper.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05And when the priest used to come round once a month collecting,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08and someone would have to run down the yard with the parrot
0:09:08 > 0:09:11so it wouldn't swear in front of the priest.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18Liverpool's transatlantic connection was the backbone
0:09:18 > 0:09:21of both its passenger and cargo trade.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25The volume of goods handled by the city's docks
0:09:25 > 0:09:27was second only to that of London.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34Its sheer scale made London the nation's biggest port.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39London's docks had expanded to handle the global trade
0:09:39 > 0:09:42that sustained the British Empire.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48Perhaps the greatest of all the many assets of the Port of London
0:09:48 > 0:09:52is the group of five separate enormous enclosed dock systems,
0:09:52 > 0:09:56with nearly 36 miles of deepwater quay,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59roughly 520 acres of warehouses.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04Together they can provide berthage and cargo-handling facilities
0:10:04 > 0:10:06for nearly 200 ships at the same time.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14By the 1950s, the enclosed docks and riverside wharfs
0:10:14 > 0:10:18that made up the port stretched all the way from Tower Bridge
0:10:18 > 0:10:21right the way down to Tilbury on the Thames Estuary,
0:10:21 > 0:10:26and they were handling around 60 million tonnes worth of cargo.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29Once the capital of Empire,
0:10:29 > 0:10:34in the 1950s the success of London's docks centred on swathes of goods
0:10:34 > 0:10:37imported from across the British Commonwealth.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42We had goods coming from all over the Commonwealth
0:10:42 > 0:10:44into the Port of London.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48So things like lamb from New Zealand, wool from Australia,
0:10:48 > 0:10:50tea from India, grain from the Americas,
0:10:50 > 0:10:53which actually was transported to this very dock
0:10:53 > 0:10:56where we're at at the moment, which was the Royal Victoria Dock,
0:10:56 > 0:10:59and behind me there you can see Spillers Millennium Mills,
0:10:59 > 0:11:01which of course accepted an awful lot of the grain
0:11:01 > 0:11:03that came into the port and made it into flour.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08But warehouses along the banks of the Thames were treasure troves
0:11:08 > 0:11:10of more unusual items, too.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15The world market for ivory is centred in London.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17Other rare and precious cargoes are housed here, too.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19Ostrich plumes, for example,
0:11:19 > 0:11:22to grace my lady's fan or her millinery.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24And here is the complete floor of Cutler Street Warehouse
0:11:24 > 0:11:28reserved for the storage of valuable carpets from the Orient.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34Docker turned artist Terry Scales was the third generation
0:11:34 > 0:11:37of his family to work the London quaysides.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40He, like thousands of others,
0:11:40 > 0:11:45handled the cargoes in the same way that dockers had for over a century.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48It was hard, physical labour.
0:11:48 > 0:11:53I was sent to help a crack stevedore gang to unload sugar.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56I thought I'd never survive the day.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59We had to carry these two-hundredweight bags
0:11:59 > 0:12:01out of the coaming of the ship.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05The sugar turned into treacle.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09As you sweated, the treacle came down your back.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12It was quite the worst job I ever did,
0:12:12 > 0:12:15but it was incredibly well paid
0:12:15 > 0:12:17and I earned £5 a day.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20I went home with £25,
0:12:20 > 0:12:24which was an enormous amount of money for that time.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30With so much cargo on the move, dockers were in demand.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35While some items were harder to handle than others,
0:12:35 > 0:12:39difficult cargo provided an opportunity to earn even more.
0:12:39 > 0:12:46Some cargo, such as bananas and fruit, had spiders in them.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51If the cargo presented a danger to your health
0:12:51 > 0:12:55there was an extra rate allowed, but this had to be negotiated.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59So there was a little sort of hubbub between
0:12:59 > 0:13:03the more experienced dockers and the manager,
0:13:03 > 0:13:06who then decided how much you should get for...
0:13:08 > 0:13:10..putting yourself in danger.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13Although dock work was laborious,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16being a docker gave Terry the opportunity
0:13:16 > 0:13:19to use his artistic skills as well.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22A magazine produced for the Surrey Commercial Dock workers
0:13:22 > 0:13:24would give him the chance
0:13:24 > 0:13:27to illustrate some of the dock's most well-known characters.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31The editor, a stevedore, approached Terry for help.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35The editor said, "I hear you've been to art school."
0:13:35 > 0:13:38I said, "Yes." He said,
0:13:38 > 0:13:42"Well, we'd like you to do portraits of our retiring veterans."
0:13:42 > 0:13:45So I said, "Yes, I'd love to do that."
0:13:46 > 0:13:51I did a series of portraits that had faces like tree trunks, you know?
0:13:51 > 0:13:52Wonderful characters.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56The faces of the dockers that Terry sketched
0:13:56 > 0:14:00represented a type of worker that, to those beyond the dock walls,
0:14:00 > 0:14:02was seen as a breed apart.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09Dockers were in a unique position.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13They were part of a distinct and closely-connected working community
0:14:13 > 0:14:15with a long history,
0:14:15 > 0:14:17yet they also had access to the world
0:14:17 > 0:14:21through the global cargoes they handled.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25Docks where unique because their quays would be lined
0:14:25 > 0:14:30with these exotic goods and merchandise from across the globe
0:14:30 > 0:14:34that simply wouldn't appear in any other part of the country.
0:14:35 > 0:14:36But in Britain's docks,
0:14:36 > 0:14:40it wasn't just cargo that arrived from all over the world.
0:14:40 > 0:14:41People came, too.
0:14:45 > 0:14:50One dockside community in South Wales embraced arrivals,
0:14:50 > 0:14:52whichever corner of the world they came from.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56# It was St David's Day
0:14:56 > 0:14:59# When we docked in Tiger Bay
0:14:59 > 0:15:04# And the skipper wouldn't give us any pay... #
0:15:06 > 0:15:09Neil Sinclair's grandfather, a seafarer,
0:15:09 > 0:15:13made Tiger Bay in Cardiff his home at the turn of the 20th century.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18Often times, black seamen found themselves abused,
0:15:18 > 0:15:23racially abused and what have you at that particular time in history,
0:15:23 > 0:15:27but word was already out to all the ports around Great Britain.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29Well, if you want to feel at home,
0:15:29 > 0:15:33get down to Tiger Bay because that place, nobody sees the colour,
0:15:33 > 0:15:37and so that's how my father's father actually ended up in Tiger Bay.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42The docks were created to export record amounts of Welsh coal
0:15:42 > 0:15:47around the world and Tiger Bay's streets were built with the profits.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52But what made Tiger Bay special
0:15:52 > 0:15:55was the multi-racial community that developed there
0:15:55 > 0:15:58as these sailors and seafarers put down roots.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07And I stepped out of 19 Francis Street into the street.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10Maltese would be spoken on the corner, Portuguese the next street.
0:16:10 > 0:16:15Spanish, Arabic, Somali, Malay.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18Any language you can imagine was being spoken on the streets.
0:16:20 > 0:16:21People lived on the street.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23Our streets were like a communal living room.
0:16:27 > 0:16:28My mother used to say,
0:16:28 > 0:16:32"The League of Nations could learn a lesson from Tiger Bay."
0:16:36 > 0:16:39Tiger Bay was a typical sailor town,
0:16:39 > 0:16:42an area of the docks where seafarers from every country
0:16:42 > 0:16:47could buy provisions, find lodgings and enjoy their own entertainment.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53Most ports would have some sort of port area, sailor town,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56with very, very distinctive characteristics,
0:16:56 > 0:16:58sometimes seen as dark and dangerous
0:16:58 > 0:17:00as well as exotic and interesting.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04Not always welcoming strangers, undoubtedly,
0:17:04 > 0:17:07but being a place where you might meet strangers.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12Olive Sullivan met her future husband, Ali,
0:17:12 > 0:17:14a young chef from the Yemen,
0:17:14 > 0:17:18in a chance encounter when she took a wrong turn towards the dockside.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22I must have been to the pictures in St Mary's Street,
0:17:22 > 0:17:24came out and lost my way.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28I was making my way to the docks rather than to the town.
0:17:28 > 0:17:33I stopped and asked this boy then the way to Queen Street
0:17:33 > 0:17:36and he said I was losing my way to the docks.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39And we started talking.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41I think we fell in love there and then.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45We got married when I was 16 and three weeks, actually.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49We had ten children - five boys and five girls.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53Of course, when I got married, there was a great stir at home because...
0:17:54 > 0:17:58The priest from the church even came and told my mother that
0:17:58 > 0:18:02by marrying an Arab, I was marrying a heathen.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05There was quite a stir at home.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08# Ah woe, ah me
0:18:08 > 0:18:10# Shame and sorrow for the family... #
0:18:12 > 0:18:16The reaction of Olive's family was a common experience for women
0:18:16 > 0:18:19who married into the different cultures found in Tiger Bay.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24It wasn't the place to go and, in fact, well-to-do families,
0:18:24 > 0:18:27if they couldn't get their kids to go to bed, used to say,
0:18:27 > 0:18:31"If you don't behave yourself, I'm going to take you to Loudoun Square
0:18:31 > 0:18:33"and leave you there," because the bogeyman was there.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36But, God bless them, they missed out
0:18:36 > 0:18:39on the most spectacular way to live, honestly.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42They just have no idea of what it was really like to live here.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45# Tiger Bay
0:18:47 > 0:18:49# Tiger Bay
0:18:51 > 0:18:54# It's just like a fancy dress ball
0:18:54 > 0:18:59# And those who can't say that they've been down the Bay
0:18:59 > 0:19:02# Well, they haven't seen Cardiff at all. #
0:19:05 > 0:19:09Even the silver screen was drawn to the animated dockland community
0:19:09 > 0:19:10of Tiger Bay.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16J Lee Thompson's film of the same name opens with a sailor,
0:19:16 > 0:19:21played by Horst Buchholz, returning home through Loudoun Square -
0:19:21 > 0:19:23the heart of the community -
0:19:23 > 0:19:25where we see gambling on a street corner.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31Illegal gambling activity used to take place, so obviously
0:19:31 > 0:19:35men would be there with their wages, gambling on the corner.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37The bobbies might come around the corner
0:19:37 > 0:19:39from the Maria Street police station
0:19:39 > 0:19:41and then it was a situation of, "Heads up!"
0:19:41 > 0:19:43And dice would disappear, money would disappear,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46people would just mill around and then the police would come
0:19:46 > 0:19:49and then they'd have to leave cos nothing illegal was going on
0:19:49 > 0:19:52and when they disappeared around the corner at Loudoun Square,
0:19:52 > 0:19:53life went back to normal.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58In a later sequence down by the docks, Gillie Evans,
0:19:58 > 0:20:00played by Hayley Mills,
0:20:00 > 0:20:04gets into a scuffle with one of the local boys, played by Neil himself.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08And I was the only extra from the local community that actually
0:20:08 > 0:20:12had a speaking part and the only person in the entire film
0:20:12 > 0:20:14that spoke with a Cardiff accent.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18Who asked you to butt in? You're not playing with us.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20- Yes, I am!- No, you're not. We don't want you.- Why not?
0:20:20 > 0:20:22You haven't got a gun. That's why.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26She said she had a little bomb, it was a cap bomb, and I said,
0:20:26 > 0:20:27"Well, cowboys don't play with bombs.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31"Anyway, get back to London, Gillie Evans, you don't belong down here."
0:20:31 > 0:20:32- I've got a bomb!- A bomb?
0:20:32 > 0:20:34Cowboys don't use bombs.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36Hey, give that back! That's mine!
0:20:36 > 0:20:38- Give me it back!- Go on, clear off.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41Now, because the tide came and went,
0:20:41 > 0:20:46every morning, it was leave a film of mud on the ramp,
0:20:46 > 0:20:49so it took us about three weeks to do this five-minute scene
0:20:49 > 0:20:54on the film because we'd have to run down there or we'd slip down
0:20:54 > 0:20:57on the mud or whatever and so on. All this chaos going on.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59I'm not a lady!
0:20:59 > 0:21:01Give her back the bomb. Go on, give it to her.
0:21:04 > 0:21:05Now, clear off and leave her alone.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09The vibrancy of the Tiger Bay community
0:21:09 > 0:21:12captured by J Lee Thompson's film
0:21:12 > 0:21:15reinforced the public's perception of the life of a sailor town.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20By the early 1960s,
0:21:20 > 0:21:23dock communities were well-established melting pots
0:21:23 > 0:21:25for different cultures.
0:21:25 > 0:21:30Transatlantic travel and trade introduced glamour,
0:21:30 > 0:21:32style and swagger into post-war Britain.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38And our global connections were showcased in all manner of goods
0:21:38 > 0:21:41traded with the world. But above all,
0:21:41 > 0:21:45the fortunes of docks across the country depended on
0:21:45 > 0:21:49the physical labour of working communities.
0:21:49 > 0:21:51It was dirty, filthy...
0:21:53 > 0:21:56..hard, soul-destroying labour.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00Last year, dockers earned an average of £19 a week.
0:22:00 > 0:22:01The work often meant hard labour,
0:22:01 > 0:22:03perhaps handling meat carcasses
0:22:03 > 0:22:06which tax a strong man's physical resources to the limit.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08When it's pouring with rain down here,
0:22:08 > 0:22:12every day we stand down here, every day long in the pouring rain.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14And you work hard. What do you get for it? Nothing.
0:22:14 > 0:22:15You couldn't get washed anywhere.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18There was nowhere to wash yourself. You couldn't get a shower.
0:22:18 > 0:22:19There were no proper toilets.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21There were big sewage pipes with holes in,
0:22:21 > 0:22:23with the holes in to bolt a pipe, you know,
0:22:23 > 0:22:25the sort of thing you'd put in the main road in a housing estate.
0:22:27 > 0:22:28For over 100 years,
0:22:28 > 0:22:33getting daily work on the docks was an uncertain prospect.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36Dockers turned up in the hope of being hired by an employer
0:22:36 > 0:22:40from one day to the next. But there was no guarantee they'd go home
0:22:40 > 0:22:41with a wage in their pocket.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46Up until the 1960s, the majority of dock workers
0:22:46 > 0:22:49in British ports were hired on a casual basis.
0:22:49 > 0:22:54They would be hired to turn around a ship by a variety of employers
0:22:54 > 0:22:58including stevedores, shipping companies, warehousemen...
0:22:58 > 0:23:00There was an incredible amount of flexibility for employers.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04They could hire dockers as needed depending on the volume of trade
0:23:04 > 0:23:07coming into the port, but then they could discard them soon after.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12The post-war Labour government had attempted to bring some order
0:23:12 > 0:23:14to this casual labour system.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17They created the National Dock Labour Scheme,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20which added dock workers to a nationwide register.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25Registered dockers were permitted to collect a minimum daily payment
0:23:25 > 0:23:28from employers, even if they weren't required,
0:23:28 > 0:23:29as long as they could prove
0:23:29 > 0:23:32that they had come to the docks seeking work.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38It issued every worker with a book about that large,
0:23:38 > 0:23:40which was called a brief.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45And if you were unsuccessful in gaining work,
0:23:45 > 0:23:50on a particular day, you took your brief to the pool,
0:23:50 > 0:23:54which was an enormous, great, hangar-like shed,
0:23:54 > 0:23:56and the dockers called it the pen.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58During slack periods,
0:23:58 > 0:24:02all the dockers and stevedores would have their books stamped
0:24:02 > 0:24:06and that guaranteed them half a day's pay.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09And then they'd report again in the afternoon
0:24:09 > 0:24:12and have their books stamped again,
0:24:12 > 0:24:14which guaranteed the afternoon's pay.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18Managers appeared to have all the power when it came to hiring
0:24:18 > 0:24:20the gangs they wanted for their vessels.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24It's a bit of a choker. You're standing here like an old dish rag.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26Discarded. You're wanted, you're not wanted,
0:24:26 > 0:24:29and, well, you're here to sell your labour to the highest bidder
0:24:29 > 0:24:32sort of thing. It is near enough like a cattle market.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36You got work because of who you knew,
0:24:36 > 0:24:40not because of what you knew or whether you were a grafter or not.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45Because I remember my dad saying sometimes how Ernie Roberts,
0:24:45 > 0:24:47the ship's boss, he was a neighbour...
0:24:48 > 0:24:50"I'll probably get work today."
0:24:50 > 0:24:51You can see them coming across now.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53They'll pick their gangs up.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55So pick your gang up, Jack.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58Your gang, Joe. And the odd men, they'll pick up themselves.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01But dockers found ways to manipulate the system too,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04ensuring they got the best jobs on offer.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07A fella comes down the pen, he sees all these faces,
0:25:07 > 0:25:12and he's got to hire, say, 150 men to discharge a ship.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16Now, he wants the people who can do the job.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22And the fella would touch you on the shoulder and you gave the timekeeper
0:25:22 > 0:25:25walking behind...you'd give him your book, so you were hired.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29But do you know what used to happen? As the boss touched the fella there,
0:25:29 > 0:25:31intending to miss you,
0:25:31 > 0:25:34you'd jump up and hit his hand with your shoulder
0:25:34 > 0:25:37and you'd give the timekeeper the book and you'd bugger off
0:25:37 > 0:25:39because then you were hired.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45Yet, despite these tactics, they weren't always successful.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48Er, well, I don't think there's a lot doing here now.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51Well, the ganger, he's got them 13 books,
0:25:51 > 0:25:53he'll turn round and give them to one of them men over there,
0:25:53 > 0:25:55the ship worker, and he'll put them in the office.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57Now I've got to go down to the docks
0:25:57 > 0:26:00and see if I can get a way down there.
0:26:03 > 0:26:08In the docks, shifts were long and the work backbreaking.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11Occasional pilfering from cargoes was seen
0:26:11 > 0:26:13as a well-earnt perk of the job.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15Most guys were basically very honest,
0:26:15 > 0:26:19but whisky in a Yankee boat was fair game.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21And about three o'clock in the afternoon
0:26:21 > 0:26:24there'd be thousands of cases of whisky.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26They could hear people singing down below.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29And all the dockers were drunk!
0:26:29 > 0:26:32In fact, I'll tell you this about me dad.
0:26:32 > 0:26:37He came crawling into the house and me mother went, "You drunken get!"
0:26:37 > 0:26:41And he went, "Maggie, there was whisky going at the Yank.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43"Everyone was drinking it!"
0:26:48 > 0:26:53Hard graft and job insecurity led gangs of dockers to seek ways
0:26:53 > 0:26:54to let off steam.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56Come on, then, lads!
0:26:56 > 0:26:58I've learned to like you.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01The pub was a favoured retreat at any time of day.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07This pub that we are in is open at six o'clock in the morning.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11There's not many pubs in London the same, only in Covent Garden.
0:27:12 > 0:27:17But in the old days, the dockers used to come in here a lot,
0:27:17 > 0:27:18knowing they might not go to work.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22A marked drinking culture was a part of life
0:27:22 > 0:27:25in all dockside communities around Britain.
0:27:29 > 0:27:35In Cardiff, Tiger Bay's streets were lined with nearly 100 pubs.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39Each one was unique and had its own different atmosphere.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41Some people would plonk along on the keyboard of the piano
0:27:41 > 0:27:43and everybody would be singing along,
0:27:43 > 0:27:46and you might be playing in the street with the kids
0:27:46 > 0:27:48and the kids would go, "Ooh, come down the Westgate,
0:27:48 > 0:27:50"your mother's singing!" And so we...
0:27:50 > 0:27:52Cos we were kids and we weren't allowed to go in.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56We'd have to climb on the windowsill and look over the frosted glass,
0:27:56 > 0:27:59and the names of whatever was on the windows, and then you'd see
0:27:59 > 0:28:01everybody in there. They were having such a good time,
0:28:01 > 0:28:03you wished you could have been in there.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07Dockside taverns didn't just echo to the sound of the piano.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09APPLAUSE DROWNS SPEECH
0:28:11 > 0:28:15# Well, I got a woman... #
0:28:15 > 0:28:19Bars in ports like Cardiff and Liverpool gave dockers,
0:28:19 > 0:28:23sailors and locals the chance to get hold of new vinyl records,
0:28:23 > 0:28:27brought straight off the ships by seafarers returning home.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31We were buying records for ourselves.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33I mean, we were bringing the music back,
0:28:33 > 0:28:38we'd go to a place in West Derby Road, and...
0:28:38 > 0:28:40It's still there, actually.
0:28:40 > 0:28:44And on a Friday night you'd go in with your records and they'd say,
0:28:44 > 0:28:49"Oh, God, can you bring me one of them back, can you bring me this?"
0:28:49 > 0:28:53You'd go back to New York or Montreal with a shopping list.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57Many of these discs were still yet to hit the mainstream in the UK.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02# When you walk
0:29:02 > 0:29:06# Through a storm
0:29:06 > 0:29:07# Hold you head... #
0:29:07 > 0:29:10That album has never, ever been to England,
0:29:10 > 0:29:12but the seamen were bringing it in.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16And one of the chaps that brought this album home,
0:29:16 > 0:29:17his name was Harry Chambers.
0:29:19 > 0:29:24And he lent that record to Gerry Marsden, who started making...
0:29:25 > 0:29:27..doing songs off it.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29And he was doing a gig in Anfield...
0:29:30 > 0:29:34..years ago, and Bill Shankly was standing at the back
0:29:34 > 0:29:37and Gerry sang his version of You'll Never Walk Alone.
0:29:38 > 0:29:41And Bill Shankly, when he came off, he said,
0:29:41 > 0:29:45"Hey, lad," he said, "I want you to make a tape of that for me,"
0:29:45 > 0:29:50he said, "so I can play it when my team run out onto the pitch."
0:29:50 > 0:29:53And that, we believe, is how it came to Liverpool.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00# Walk on
0:30:00 > 0:30:03# Through the wind.... #
0:30:04 > 0:30:06And can you imagine?
0:30:06 > 0:30:11There were 25,000-plus seamen in and out of Liverpool
0:30:11 > 0:30:13and bringing music and records in.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15And sheet music,
0:30:15 > 0:30:18a lot of them wanted sheet music for the groups were starting up,
0:30:18 > 0:30:22so they could copy the likes of Chuck Berry and those people,
0:30:22 > 0:30:25you know, Little Richard.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28And this is a group of the lads on the afterdeck.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30Me with the guitar.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33Now, at that time, we didn't think anything about
0:30:33 > 0:30:36whether we were having any influence on anything,
0:30:36 > 0:30:38but it's only in later years
0:30:38 > 0:30:43that we found out and we realised that all that music,
0:30:43 > 0:30:46records, sheet music,
0:30:46 > 0:30:49um, the ability to learn to play a guitar...
0:30:50 > 0:30:53..all came from the lads bringing them in.
0:30:53 > 0:30:56Ivan with the black Gretsch guitar.
0:30:58 > 0:31:02This American guitar found its way into the hands
0:31:02 > 0:31:05of one of Liverpool's most famous musicians.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09A knock came to the door and this skinny kid with long black hair
0:31:09 > 0:31:11and black plastic clothes -
0:31:11 > 0:31:14and they weren't leather, they were definitely plastic.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16"I believe you've got a guitar for sale."
0:31:16 > 0:31:17So Ivan said, "Oh, yeah."
0:31:17 > 0:31:19So he got it out the case, said, "Here it is."
0:31:19 > 0:31:22And when this lad saw it, he was drooling at the mouth.
0:31:24 > 0:31:25So he said, "How much do you want for it?"
0:31:25 > 0:31:27So Ivan said, "£90."
0:31:27 > 0:31:30He said, "Oh, I haven't got 90. I don't want to pay that money."
0:31:30 > 0:31:34So he said, "OK," so he put it back in the case, and he said,
0:31:34 > 0:31:36"I tell you what, I've got £70 here."
0:31:37 > 0:31:40So I'd butted in then, I said, "Well, look..."
0:31:40 > 0:31:42I had the customs receipt.
0:31:44 > 0:31:45I said...
0:31:47 > 0:31:50"Sign an IOU and come back with the £20."
0:31:50 > 0:31:53So he said, "Oh, OK, I'll do that, then."
0:31:53 > 0:31:59So he gave him a bundle of scruffy notes, £70,
0:31:59 > 0:32:00and off he went.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02We never saw him again.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07And that scruffy lad was George Harrison.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11How much is that receipt worth in today's money?
0:32:13 > 0:32:15Do you want to run away on a cruise with me?
0:32:18 > 0:32:21As well as being at the forefront of new music,
0:32:21 > 0:32:23dockside communities were ahead of the game
0:32:23 > 0:32:26when it came to the latest dance crazes.
0:32:29 > 0:32:33Like, we even had the twist before Chubby Checker ever sang it
0:32:33 > 0:32:35because Hank Ballard And The Midnighters played it,
0:32:35 > 0:32:37so we'd learnt to do the twist a different way
0:32:37 > 0:32:40than it came to be when it became more popular.
0:32:40 > 0:32:42But we were always ahead of the game.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45Along with these American imports,
0:32:45 > 0:32:49Tiger Bay reverberated to other imported musical sounds,
0:32:49 > 0:32:51such as calypso and jazz.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54The Annexe was on Bute Street,
0:32:54 > 0:32:56and of course I was supposed to be too young to go and I often
0:32:56 > 0:32:59got in there, and, oh, there was a wonderful time,
0:32:59 > 0:33:00the music was fabulous.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03But if you couldn't get in, you'd go down this sort of alley
0:33:03 > 0:33:06and you could look through the window and you could see them
0:33:06 > 0:33:08jiving and jitterbugging.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11People down Tiger Bay could dance, I can tell you that.
0:33:13 > 0:33:15And then we had the Ghana Club,
0:33:15 > 0:33:18cos when Ghana got its independence, Johnstone opened a club
0:33:18 > 0:33:21to dedicate to it on Bute Street.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24Dancers, the bay boys and the docks boys
0:33:24 > 0:33:26used to dress immaculately.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31Sartorial elegance par excellence!
0:33:33 > 0:33:37For all the liveliness of the music and culture in Tiger Bay,
0:33:37 > 0:33:42by the mid-1960s, two forces threatened the community's future.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47The coal exports that had fuelled the docks' growth
0:33:47 > 0:33:50and made Cardiff a wealthy city came to an end.
0:33:52 > 0:33:56And the council decided it was time to demolish the old dilapidated
0:33:56 > 0:34:00Victorian houses and replace them with modern flats.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06# All the people are happy and gay
0:34:06 > 0:34:09# They're building new houses in Tiger Bay
0:34:09 > 0:34:12# But why are these people taking so long?
0:34:12 > 0:34:15# This keeping us waiting is very wrong
0:34:15 > 0:34:21# Hurrah, hooray They're pulling down Tiger Bay
0:34:21 > 0:34:24# Oh, what a pitiful day
0:34:24 > 0:34:27# When they pull down Tiger Bay... #
0:34:28 > 0:34:30I could hear when I was in my bed,
0:34:30 > 0:34:34I could hear the pounding of the pylons going into the square
0:34:34 > 0:34:36to build the forthcoming tower blocks.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41The strategy of the council was to build the tower blocks in the park.
0:34:41 > 0:34:45Since nobody lived in the park, they could build these buildings
0:34:45 > 0:34:46and once they were up,
0:34:46 > 0:34:50they could then decant the people out of their houses,
0:34:50 > 0:34:53knock the houses down and move people into the flats, of course,
0:34:53 > 0:34:57and that's the strategy that was put in place,
0:34:57 > 0:35:00which was supposed to be an improvement
0:35:00 > 0:35:02of our slum-dwelling conditions,
0:35:02 > 0:35:04as they told us we lived in slums,
0:35:04 > 0:35:07but for the life of me I couldn't find the slum myself.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11The creation of the new Butetown estate
0:35:11 > 0:35:14produced mixed reactions in the community.
0:35:14 > 0:35:16Wouldn't you rather live in a new house?
0:35:16 > 0:35:18- Yes.- No.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20- Why not?- All the old houses are very much warmer
0:35:20 > 0:35:23and it takes ages to get warm.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25I don't like the idea, really,
0:35:25 > 0:35:27- of flats here. - What's wrong with flats?
0:35:27 > 0:35:29I mean, flats, for a start, they...
0:35:29 > 0:35:33I mean, all the kids are together and I think it starts,
0:35:33 > 0:35:36you know, like, gangs. Too many gangs.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38Do you like living in these flats?
0:35:38 > 0:35:41- Oh, they're lovely. - What have you got?
0:35:41 > 0:35:42Three bedrooms and two down.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45- Where were you living before? - Loudoun Square.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47Er, in what sort of conditions?
0:35:47 > 0:35:49- Oh, they were dirty. - Have you got a bathroom?
0:35:49 > 0:35:51- Yeah. - Did you have a bathroom before?
0:35:51 > 0:35:54- No.- Did you have any running water before?
0:35:54 > 0:35:55Only down the cellar.
0:35:56 > 0:36:02# Hurrah, hooray! They're pulling down Tiger Bay... #
0:36:02 > 0:36:06The unforeseen consequence of the new tower blocks was the break-up
0:36:06 > 0:36:08of Tiger Bay's sailor-town culture,
0:36:08 > 0:36:12as communities dispersed and street life vanished.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18But the changes taking place on the streets of Tiger Bay
0:36:18 > 0:36:20were a sign of things to come.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25Transformations in technology leading to new ways of working
0:36:25 > 0:36:28during the 1960s would entirely upend
0:36:28 > 0:36:32the traditional working culture of docks across Britain.
0:36:38 > 0:36:42The sense of optimism, booming trade and plentiful work
0:36:42 > 0:36:46in fact masked deeper problems within the industry.
0:36:47 > 0:36:52Working practices were largely unchanged in over 100 years.
0:36:53 > 0:36:56This is the old way of loading boats.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59There's 13 men in a gang, eight men down the hole,
0:36:59 > 0:37:02one man on the hatch,
0:37:02 > 0:37:06and he tells the crane driver where to place it down the hole.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11Then we've got four men on the quay,
0:37:11 > 0:37:13what they called pitch hands.
0:37:15 > 0:37:17British docks were very run down.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21The ports carried with them this legacy of the past -
0:37:21 > 0:37:24they were very old-fashioned in terms of their organisation.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27Dock work was still manual,
0:37:27 > 0:37:31equipment was very aged and it hadn't been updated for decades.
0:37:32 > 0:37:38British port authorities were very slow to modernise their ports.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44These old-fashioned methods meant accidents were commonplace.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48I was working in a barge with another young boy
0:37:48 > 0:37:52who left his hand under the sling,
0:37:52 > 0:37:56and as the crane took the weight of the set of bags
0:37:56 > 0:38:00he lost a finger because it was trapped under the strop.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03Of course, he went into a state of shock
0:38:03 > 0:38:05and he was lifted out on a stretcher.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11In Liverpool, Doreen knew the dangers of the dock first hand
0:38:11 > 0:38:14when her father was involved in a terrible incident.
0:38:15 > 0:38:22They were down in the hold of the ship and the hook came down
0:38:22 > 0:38:28on the crane and caught my dad's coat and he was hoisted up.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32And the other dockers were yelling, you know, to the crane driver.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36It was that noisy down there and before he could lower it,
0:38:36 > 0:38:39me dad's belt snapped or his coat ripped or whatever it was
0:38:39 > 0:38:41and he went right down into the hold of the ship.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44But he put his hands out to save himself
0:38:44 > 0:38:46and that's what messed his wrists up.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48But he...
0:38:48 > 0:38:52He'd hurt his head, it broke every bone in his body, he was...
0:38:54 > 0:38:56He was in hospital for an awful long time.
0:38:58 > 0:38:59For dockers' families,
0:38:59 > 0:39:03these accidents had a severe impact on everyone.
0:39:03 > 0:39:05It was a very difficult time, you know, for my mum.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09Three little girls, and I remember her getting a job
0:39:09 > 0:39:11in Harland & Wolffs, cleaning.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14And she used to go out at, like,
0:39:14 > 0:39:17half five in the morning, um...
0:39:17 > 0:39:20and she'd be home for eight to get us up for school.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26Decades of inefficient and dangerous working methods
0:39:26 > 0:39:30went hand in hand with an outdated form of employment.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34For generations, under the casual system, dockers had worked
0:39:34 > 0:39:39for a multitude of different employers from one day to the next.
0:39:39 > 0:39:41Following the Devlin Report,
0:39:41 > 0:39:45an extensive enquiry into the state of the nation's ports,
0:39:45 > 0:39:48the Government decided to take drastic action.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52In 1967, it introduced decasualisation
0:39:52 > 0:39:54in docks throughout the UK.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58Men were allocated to a specific regular employer
0:39:58 > 0:40:00and paid a weekly wage.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03For half a century, a dominant issue in the docks,
0:40:03 > 0:40:05and now a major point in the Devlin Report,
0:40:05 > 0:40:08has been whether the casual daily labour market
0:40:08 > 0:40:11should be abandoned for the weekly contract
0:40:11 > 0:40:12that most of industry uses.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16The jargon word is decasualisation.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19These proposals caused intense debate
0:40:19 > 0:40:21among dockers around the country.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24No, get this, Roy, cos I don't know where you are.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27- No, look...- Are we arguing against decasualisation...
0:40:27 > 0:40:28- No.- ..or for it?
0:40:28 > 0:40:30How do you feel about decasualisation?
0:40:30 > 0:40:32- I'm all for it. - How do you feel about it?
0:40:32 > 0:40:35- All for it.- Well, what are you bloody arguing about?
0:40:35 > 0:40:39Surprisingly, some were less keen on the new system.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41Well, we call it freedom.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46So I'll say yes, I prefer freedom.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49You see, Ernie Bevin fought for years for decasualisation
0:40:49 > 0:40:52because he felt dockers wanted it, but it seems that you don't want it.
0:40:52 > 0:40:56Well, I don't think we do. No, I don't think so.
0:40:56 > 0:40:57I think a man...
0:40:58 > 0:41:01..if he is a man, he'll earn his living.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03He'll keep his wife and kids.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05He'll go to work and he'll work.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10It's strange, you'd expect dock workers to really,
0:41:10 > 0:41:12"Oh, regular job, regular work,"
0:41:12 > 0:41:16but the casual system was so deeply entrenched
0:41:16 > 0:41:19in the culture of the docks,
0:41:19 > 0:41:23it needed a knockout blow that Devlin could give it.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28But, for many, including Doreen's husband,
0:41:28 > 0:41:33the guarantee of a consistent weekly wage was a welcome step forward.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38By the time my husband got on the docks, it was a good job.
0:41:38 > 0:41:39Um, they had better pay.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42They still had to fight for everything,
0:41:42 > 0:41:43but there was better pay,
0:41:43 > 0:41:45they had all-weather gear,
0:41:45 > 0:41:49they didn't work in inclement conditions and they got dirt money,
0:41:49 > 0:41:53danger money, all of those things that my father fought for.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58Stephen Shakeshaft, a local newspaper photographer,
0:41:58 > 0:42:03captured the moment decasualisation arrived in the Liverpool docks.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08I used to love just going off when I had a few moments to spare
0:42:08 > 0:42:12and wander around the dock and watch the dockers at work.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15"Take a picture of so-and-so, he likes having his picture taken."
0:42:15 > 0:42:18They'd wheel a docker out and he'd pose for me.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21Dockers all looked the same.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24You couldn't turn up in something unusual cos you'd be ridiculed.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28They always wanted to know, "When will it be in the papers, son?
0:42:28 > 0:42:29"Will you get my good side?"
0:42:31 > 0:42:34Yet, as the Government's new decasualised system took effect
0:42:34 > 0:42:38across Britain, an even bigger threat to the dockers' way of life
0:42:38 > 0:42:40was on the horizon.
0:42:40 > 0:42:45In 1967, new technology was about to fundamentally alter
0:42:45 > 0:42:47the way cargo was transported.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51Metal boxes, built to a standard size,
0:42:51 > 0:42:55could be fitted onto ships, lorries and trains
0:42:55 > 0:42:57in exactly the same way,
0:42:57 > 0:42:59from North America to Continental Europe.
0:43:01 > 0:43:04The container was a disarmingly simple concept.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09The docks at Felixstowe in Suffolk have grown in 12 years
0:43:09 > 0:43:11from a few rotting jetties
0:43:11 > 0:43:14to the third-largest container port in Europe.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17The men who work here, about 600 of them,
0:43:17 > 0:43:21are highly paid and handle about two million tonnes of trade a year,
0:43:21 > 0:43:24and last year, the company which owns the port
0:43:24 > 0:43:26made a profit of half a million pounds.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29The container revolution came in remarkably quickly.
0:43:29 > 0:43:35Within about ten years the container became THE way to carry goods.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39A container is grabbed out of the hold
0:43:39 > 0:43:43and within 1.5 minutes dropped neatly by Martian-like machines
0:43:43 > 0:43:45onto a delivery lorry on the quayside.
0:43:45 > 0:43:47Work is done by gangs
0:43:47 > 0:43:50which are smaller than are needed to do the same job anywhere else.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55Suddenly the ports that could handle containers,
0:43:55 > 0:43:59which tended not to be in the middle of great cities with road systems
0:43:59 > 0:44:01like London, those ports had an advantage.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05Felixstowe was an absolutely perfect example of that.
0:44:05 > 0:44:08And shipping company after shipping company began to switch
0:44:08 > 0:44:12their shipping to vessels that could carry the containers,
0:44:12 > 0:44:13these great boxes.
0:44:13 > 0:44:18These great boxes could be packed, shipped and unloaded in record time,
0:44:18 > 0:44:21using unregistered men outside the National Dock Labour Scheme.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27In Liverpool, dockers like Tony had seen the container coming
0:44:27 > 0:44:30and guessed its impact.
0:44:30 > 0:44:31Bobo Hammond, he said,
0:44:31 > 0:44:33"I guarantee you, Tony, one of these days,
0:44:33 > 0:44:37"eventually all the stuff will come in these big metal boxes
0:44:37 > 0:44:39"and they'll just lift them off." He said,
0:44:39 > 0:44:42"I've just been watching them unload the things off there."
0:44:42 > 0:44:46Because of this, the container revolution posed a direct threat
0:44:46 > 0:44:48to dockers' livelihoods.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51Those ships, they've got 1,200 containers each trip,
0:44:51 > 0:44:53and there's not one of them been packed or handled by a docker.
0:44:54 > 0:44:59Dock workers considered their work and their occupation
0:44:59 > 0:45:04as their birthright and they weren't going to let that go easily.
0:45:05 > 0:45:06- TANNOY:- We're on our way.
0:45:06 > 0:45:08In 1972,
0:45:08 > 0:45:11the threat posed by new technology and unregistered workers
0:45:11 > 0:45:13sparked a national dock strike.
0:45:15 > 0:45:17After just over a week,
0:45:17 > 0:45:21the Tory government declared a national state of emergency.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24Dockers were leaving their home ports and travelling
0:45:24 > 0:45:28to these inland container depots and non-scheme sites,
0:45:28 > 0:45:31picketing them, blocking lorries,
0:45:31 > 0:45:35blacking containers and just basically disrupting the trade
0:45:35 > 0:45:38of these ports and wharves as much as they can.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42Although industrial disputes had been part of life on the docks
0:45:42 > 0:45:46for almost a century, it was rare for a single strike
0:45:46 > 0:45:48to cause disruption on this scale.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51In general, industrial-relations problems
0:45:51 > 0:45:53were more localised disputes, often,
0:45:53 > 0:45:56almost invariably, not officially recognised.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59National strikes were rare during Terry's time
0:45:59 > 0:46:01working the London docks,
0:46:01 > 0:46:05but he experienced many smaller, unofficial disputes.
0:46:05 > 0:46:08It was the little strikes, the wildcat strikes,
0:46:08 > 0:46:09which were a nuisance.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12You know, if something was wrong,
0:46:12 > 0:46:14some sort of hazard to health was wrong,
0:46:14 > 0:46:16then a stoppage would occur.
0:46:16 > 0:46:20Usually these little forages only lasted an hour or two
0:46:20 > 0:46:22and then everything was settled.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26For all those in favour to please show.
0:46:26 > 0:46:31But 1972 was a watershed year for labour relations in Britain.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34The country seemed beset by industrial unrest.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39Groups, from coal miners to builders to the dockers,
0:46:39 > 0:46:42walked out to safeguard jobs, pay and conditions.
0:46:45 > 0:46:50The dockers' bitter dispute led to violent clashes and arrests,
0:46:50 > 0:46:53and this image came to define the portrayal
0:46:53 > 0:46:54of dock workers in the media.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58The way that was portrayed was as the dockers as being kind of
0:46:58 > 0:47:03industrial bullyboys, as this incredibly strike-prone group
0:47:03 > 0:47:06which was overpaid and very lazy.
0:47:07 > 0:47:09Against this backdrop,
0:47:09 > 0:47:11the union and the employers struck a deal
0:47:11 > 0:47:15guaranteeing an end to the use of unregistered dockers,
0:47:15 > 0:47:18no redundancies, and ensuring all container work
0:47:18 > 0:47:20happened within ports.
0:47:22 > 0:47:24For all the efforts by unions,
0:47:24 > 0:47:27management and government to protect jobs,
0:47:27 > 0:47:30cargoes continued to move from traditional inner-city docks
0:47:30 > 0:47:34to more modern ports further downstream.
0:47:34 > 0:47:38The movement downriver is to deeper water as vessels got larger,
0:47:38 > 0:47:42and of course more importantly there was more space for new types of
0:47:42 > 0:47:45cargo-handling facilities, containers and so on.
0:47:47 > 0:47:52Liverpool opened its own Seaforth Container Terminal in 1972,
0:47:52 > 0:47:55but it didn't provide enough work for the numbers of dockers
0:47:55 > 0:47:59still employed under the National Dock Labour Scheme.
0:48:00 > 0:48:047.30am, Hornby control on Mersey docks.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07The men are reporting for work at the place they call the pen,
0:48:07 > 0:48:11a throwback to the days of casual hiring and firing on the waterfront.
0:48:11 > 0:48:16If it's a normal day, there'll be no work for 1,000 of the 5,000 dockers,
0:48:16 > 0:48:19but under a national agreement, the employers can't
0:48:19 > 0:48:21make them redundant - jobs for life.
0:48:22 > 0:48:26The actual men in the control this morning was 170.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29- How many of them will get work today?- About half.
0:48:29 > 0:48:30Is it always that bad?
0:48:30 > 0:48:33Well, there are times when it's a damn sight worse, you know,
0:48:33 > 0:48:35we sometimes sign 300.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38By 1981,
0:48:38 > 0:48:42only one employer of registered dock labour remained in Liverpool,
0:48:42 > 0:48:46with 3,400 registered dockers on its books.
0:48:46 > 0:48:50The impact this transformation had on the working community
0:48:50 > 0:48:52of the docks was catastrophic.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55The Dock Road was full of bars
0:48:55 > 0:48:58and the seafarers used to use these pubs.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00They'd go into town,
0:49:00 > 0:49:03they'd be buying stuff to take home to their families,
0:49:03 > 0:49:06and all of that stopped because they weren't in port long enough.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12The now-obsolete inner-city docks became a ghost town,
0:49:12 > 0:49:16but this derelict landscape still drew Stephen and his camera.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20When I saw Albert Dock and the South Docks,
0:49:20 > 0:49:22they literally did turn to ghost towns,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25and no-one seemed to know what would happen to them,
0:49:25 > 0:49:28and it became very lonely down there in those days.
0:49:28 > 0:49:32That's a picture here of a fisherman sitting there mending his nets
0:49:32 > 0:49:34in the '70s.
0:49:34 > 0:49:37He was left by himself - everybody else had gone.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41He was one of the ex-dockers.
0:49:41 > 0:49:44I suppose he was going there, thinking about the times of the past
0:49:44 > 0:49:45when he was lumping crates about.
0:49:47 > 0:49:51The dereliction of the docks also provided the backdrop
0:49:51 > 0:49:54for an iconic TV drama that exposed the damage
0:49:54 > 0:49:59the early 1980s' economic recession wreaked on working communities.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05In George's Last Ride, the final episode of Alan Bleasdale's
0:50:05 > 0:50:08critically-acclaimed series Boys From The Blackstuff,
0:50:08 > 0:50:13former docker George Malone recalls the working life he knew and lost.
0:50:15 > 0:50:16It just seems like sodding yesterday.
0:50:18 > 0:50:20Midday gun.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23The women sandstoning the steps of the flags.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28And the little kids playing ally-oh.
0:50:28 > 0:50:32His final speech captured a mood of tragic defiance
0:50:32 > 0:50:35in the face of the brute economics of Thatcherism.
0:50:38 > 0:50:39They say that memories...
0:50:40 > 0:50:42..live longer than dreams, but...
0:50:45 > 0:50:46But my dreams...
0:50:49 > 0:50:51..those dreams of long ago, they...
0:50:52 > 0:50:54..still give me hope.
0:50:55 > 0:50:57And faith in my class.
0:51:01 > 0:51:06I can't believe that there's no hope.
0:51:07 > 0:51:08Can't.
0:51:13 > 0:51:18Boys From The Blackstuff presented its audience with a stark image
0:51:18 > 0:51:19of dockland decline.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24But, further south, a very different vision of the future
0:51:24 > 0:51:27for Britain's docklands was being dreamt up.
0:51:28 > 0:51:32In London there was this real air of optimism that started,
0:51:32 > 0:51:36and the London Docklands Development Corporation
0:51:36 > 0:51:39very much tapped into that feeling of can-do,
0:51:39 > 0:51:42"We're going to create a new world, it's going to be fabulous."
0:51:42 > 0:51:45There's a really good scene in the film The Long Good Friday...
0:51:45 > 0:51:48Our country's not an island any more.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51..where Bob Hoskins is travelling with some investors on a boat
0:51:51 > 0:51:56down the Thames and he's showing the wasteland that is the Docklands.
0:51:56 > 0:52:03That this is the decade in which London will become Europe's capital,
0:52:03 > 0:52:06having cleared away the outdated.
0:52:06 > 0:52:09We've got mile after mile
0:52:09 > 0:52:11and acre after acre of land
0:52:11 > 0:52:14for our future prosperity.
0:52:15 > 0:52:21No other city in the world has got right in its centre
0:52:21 > 0:52:24such an opportunity for profitable progress.
0:52:35 > 0:52:39A year after the film's release, Michael Heseltine,
0:52:39 > 0:52:41then Secretary of State for the Environment,
0:52:41 > 0:52:45announced his intention to reshape London's Docklands.
0:52:46 > 0:52:50The London Docklands Development Corporation was responsible
0:52:50 > 0:52:55for finding a new use for 8.5 square miles of the former docks.
0:52:55 > 0:53:00You had these vast acres of dereliction and decay.
0:53:00 > 0:53:02The land is owned by the public sector,
0:53:02 > 0:53:05by the local authorities and by the nationalised industries,
0:53:05 > 0:53:08and only when the free-enterprise system is able to get ownership
0:53:08 > 0:53:10of that land is it able to do its job.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18The centrepiece of the redevelopment was Canary Wharf,
0:53:18 > 0:53:22destined to symbolise the economy's new financial priorities.
0:53:24 > 0:53:26Two and a half at four, what are you making now?
0:53:26 > 0:53:30Britain was now ready for a different type of global trade -
0:53:30 > 0:53:34in shares and capital instead of goods and cargo.
0:53:35 > 0:53:41Ten years ago, it would not have been possible even to think
0:53:41 > 0:53:45in such bold, ambitious terms.
0:53:45 > 0:53:50And this is going to be the biggest commercial development in the world.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54- But why does it need to be quite so high?- Er...
0:53:54 > 0:53:57It took many years for the redevelopment plans
0:53:57 > 0:53:59to be fully implemented,
0:53:59 > 0:54:02but along the way London became a model
0:54:02 > 0:54:06for regeneration of other former dockland sites around the UK.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08The former docks in Liverpool,
0:54:08 > 0:54:11which a few years before had been the wasteland seen in
0:54:11 > 0:54:15Boys From The Blackstuff, experienced a makeover of their own.
0:54:16 > 0:54:21The city's original Albert Dock was reopened as a cultural quarter,
0:54:21 > 0:54:25becoming home to the Tate Liverpool gallery in 1988.
0:54:25 > 0:54:31It was a common theme amongst many ports that the docks and facilities
0:54:31 > 0:54:35that were discarded following containerisation,
0:54:35 > 0:54:41many of these areas were regenerated in the 1980s into things like
0:54:41 > 0:54:47shopping complexes, residential areas and places of leisure,
0:54:47 > 0:54:50so there was very much a shift on the waterfront
0:54:50 > 0:54:53from being a place of industry to a place of consumption.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58Yet the industry of the docks didn't die,
0:54:58 > 0:55:02it simply shifted to a new home away from the heart of our cities.
0:55:08 > 0:55:10Although radically transformed,
0:55:10 > 0:55:13today, Britain's port industry is as busy as ever -
0:55:13 > 0:55:15the second-largest in Europe.
0:55:16 > 0:55:21Over 95% of the UK's imports and exports still pass through
0:55:21 > 0:55:25the nation's ports, but where once we could see all this,
0:55:25 > 0:55:27now it is largely invisible.
0:55:28 > 0:55:33Up until the 1960s, maritime trade was on people's doorstep in ports.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36They could see dock workers in the streets,
0:55:36 > 0:55:39they could see fishermen going to sea,
0:55:39 > 0:55:42they could see the cranes above the dock wall,
0:55:42 > 0:55:45they could see rows and rows of cargo waiting to be shipped
0:55:45 > 0:55:47or having been landed.
0:55:47 > 0:55:52Nowadays, port activity takes place further downstream,
0:55:52 > 0:55:56out of sight, at container ports, container depots.
0:55:57 > 0:56:02This is the face of our docks in the 21st century.
0:56:02 > 0:56:06Mechanised, efficient and still at the heart of Britain's trade.
0:56:09 > 0:56:12But here and there, you may still be able to find a docker.
0:56:13 > 0:56:17Though he won't be wearing a flat cap and greatcoat
0:56:17 > 0:56:20but a hard hat and high-vis vest.
0:56:20 > 0:56:23In a small independent port in South Wales,
0:56:23 > 0:56:28Ron Yates is the third generation of his family to work on the docks.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30My father, my brothers,
0:56:30 > 0:56:31they all worked down the dock.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34My dad worked there for 40-odd years -
0:56:34 > 0:56:36he started in the early '30s,
0:56:36 > 0:56:37'40s, whatever it was.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40I started in '70, 1970.
0:56:40 > 0:56:4365 years later -
0:56:43 > 0:56:45I should be retired, but I'm still working.
0:56:47 > 0:56:50Though there are only a few men in Ron's gang,
0:56:50 > 0:56:53they're still loading ships by hand in the old way.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59Just a short distance away in Cardiff,
0:56:59 > 0:57:01the waterfront that the dockers left behind
0:57:01 > 0:57:04has been completely transformed.
0:57:05 > 0:57:09Before the turn of the 21st century, the National Assembly for Wales
0:57:09 > 0:57:13and Wales Millennium Centre would take pride of place
0:57:13 > 0:57:15in the former docks.
0:57:15 > 0:57:17The residential area of Tiger Bay
0:57:17 > 0:57:23was engulfed by a much larger leisure complex renamed Cardiff Bay.
0:57:23 > 0:57:25I was born in Tiger Bay and as far as I'm concerned
0:57:25 > 0:57:28I still live in Tiger Bay, even though there are people telling me
0:57:28 > 0:57:29it's not there any more.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33I'm thinking, "How can that be? How can you be born into something,
0:57:33 > 0:57:36"still live in something, and it's not there any more?"
0:57:38 > 0:57:43And in Liverpool the waterfront has utterly changed, too.
0:57:43 > 0:57:45You go into Liverpool today
0:57:45 > 0:57:48and it's a totally different city to what I remember
0:57:48 > 0:57:50when I first started working there. It's beautiful.
0:57:52 > 0:57:56The waterfront's lovely - glass everywhere, lovely buildings,
0:57:56 > 0:58:00people living in multistorey apartments, penthouses.
0:58:02 > 0:58:07Britain's docks now are as bustling and busy as they ever were,
0:58:07 > 0:58:10but are no longer the beating heart of our cities.
0:58:10 > 0:58:14Now, inner-city docks are not places for hard physical labour,
0:58:14 > 0:58:16but spaces to relax.
0:58:17 > 0:58:21They may no longer ring to the footsteps of an army of dockers
0:58:21 > 0:58:22labouring over their cargo
0:58:22 > 0:58:26but they still hum with the chatter of millions of us
0:58:26 > 0:58:30who today choose to live, work and play down the docks.