0:00:01 > 0:00:05BBC journalist Jeremy Bowen doesn't have your typical nine-to-five.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11For over 30 years, Jeremy has reported on the front line
0:00:11 > 0:00:13from the world's most dangerous conflicts.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19Not 20-minutes' drive from here, there's President Assad's palace,
0:00:19 > 0:00:20and as far as he's concerned,
0:00:20 > 0:00:23he's won an overwhelming seven-year mandate.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27And he's even been at the wrong end of a bullet.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33But now, Jeremy is here in Carmarthenshire
0:00:33 > 0:00:35to trace his Welsh ancestry.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38Jeremy had a keen interest in news from a young age,
0:00:38 > 0:00:42encouraged by his mother Jennifer, a newspaper photographer,
0:00:42 > 0:00:46and his father Gareth, a journalist for BBC Radio Wales.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48Gareth was born in Merthyr Tydfil
0:00:48 > 0:00:52where his ancestors migrated in the 19th century.
0:00:52 > 0:00:57I'd like to try and find out how it is they gave up lives
0:00:57 > 0:01:00that presumably were...
0:01:00 > 0:01:03a bit calmer in the countryside
0:01:03 > 0:01:08to move to this brand-new thing which was an industrial town.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12Did they prosper? Did they get hurt in accidents?
0:01:12 > 0:01:15I'd like to know a little bit about all of that.
0:01:16 > 0:01:21So, with questions needing answers, Jeremy Bowen is coming home.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31Jeremy's journey will begin not in Merthyr Tydfil,
0:01:31 > 0:01:34but here in St Clears, Carmarthenshire.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37He is about to discover his ancestry runs deep in this rural county,
0:01:37 > 0:01:41and to discover just how deep, he's heading to St Clears'
0:01:41 > 0:01:45parish church to meet genealogist Mike Churchill-Jones
0:01:45 > 0:01:47for the reading of his Welsh family tree.
0:01:49 > 0:01:54- This is what we've come up with. - Wow. That's an awful lot of people.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58- What do you think? Have a look. - That's a lot of people.
0:02:00 > 0:02:05Jeremy's paternal line in St Clears can be traced to the late 1600s.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07And to the 1700s in Cardiganshire.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12But it's a family on his father's Bowen line
0:02:12 > 0:02:13which first catches Jeremy eye.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18So I've got a lot of cousins coming from this lot.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21Second, third, fourth, fifth cousins, whatever they are now.
0:02:21 > 0:02:22Absolutely, yeah.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26James was the oldest one, then there was William, then it was Hannah.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28John, George.
0:02:28 > 0:02:30Benjamin, Thomas,
0:02:30 > 0:02:32and the last child was Esther Ann.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38They were born to Esther Thomas and John Bowen.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41And this line of Bowen siblings from the 19th century
0:02:41 > 0:02:44benefited from parents with tremendous foresight.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49Jeremy will learn that his great-great-grandparents, John and Esther Bowen,
0:02:49 > 0:02:53set their children on a course that would ultimately help him.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59Mike can also reveal that generations of Jeremy's family
0:02:59 > 0:03:01have more than earned their sea legs.
0:03:01 > 0:03:06Including his four times great-grandfather, Benjamin Morgan.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09- He was a boatman, sailor, mariner.- Yeah.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11Did you know you had any mariners?
0:03:11 > 0:03:13No.
0:03:13 > 0:03:18No. My brother said that there'd been some talk of a...
0:03:18 > 0:03:21Just before I came here actually, my brother said,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24"do you remember some talk about some sailor in the family?"
0:03:24 > 0:03:27I said, "No, I've got no recollection of that at all."
0:03:27 > 0:03:31So maybe there was some folk memory had percolated its way through.
0:03:31 > 0:03:36- He used to chat to my grandparents a lot, I think.- I can tell you have.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40- He was a boatman and a mariner in St Clears.- Here?
0:03:40 > 0:03:42And he has a great history in his family
0:03:42 > 0:03:45of the very same occupation in St Clears.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49I can see that cos his father was a lighterman.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53- Yeah.- I didn't know that St Clears even was a port.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57- No?- But they are all boatmen here. - They're all boatmen.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Here on the river.
0:04:00 > 0:04:01I mean, this is a lovely spot.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04I think he must have been quite lucky to live here.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07In that sense, because the river here is beautiful,
0:04:07 > 0:04:08it's a nice village.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12And, no, I'd like to find out about his life.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17And to do just that, Jeremy can travel the short distance
0:04:17 > 0:04:21to the River Taf and to St Clears Boat Club.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23He's about to take a trip down the very estuary
0:04:23 > 0:04:27his four-times great-grandfather Benjamin sailed on
0:04:27 > 0:04:29over 200 years ago.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32Jeremy is met by maritime historian David Jenkins,
0:04:32 > 0:04:35who's been researching Benjamin's life on the water.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40It reveals the hard life of the busy mariner
0:04:40 > 0:04:43at the birth of the Industrial Revolution.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45Well, we have here definite evidence that he would have been
0:04:45 > 0:04:48coming up and down this river, Jeremy.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51This is an account of the voyages in which the lighter
0:04:51 > 0:04:54Jenny of St Clears has been engaged in the half-year
0:04:54 > 0:04:58commencing 30 June and ending 31 December 1835.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02Loading within the port of Llanelli, and so they would have been going
0:05:02 > 0:05:05to places like Llanelli, Pembrey...
0:05:05 > 0:05:07um, and Bury Port.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09Quite short journeys from here.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11Quite short journeys across Carmarthen Bay.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14Also Kidwelly, another of these forgotten ports.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16They would have been going there to load anthracite
0:05:16 > 0:05:17coming down the valley.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21Benjamin would have sailed on single-masted vessels
0:05:21 > 0:05:25transporting goods across the open sea of Carmarthen Bay to St Clears.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28Navigating this winding river was no easy task,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31but for him it was simply a way of life.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33So, 1835, that was when the Industrial Revolution
0:05:33 > 0:05:38was really getting going and some people worked in abject conditions,
0:05:38 > 0:05:42in the pits or in early factories.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Being on the river couldn't have been too bad.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49On a morning like this, it's wonderful, it's absolutely idyllic.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52These vessels were not easy to work, there was a heck of amount
0:05:52 > 0:05:54of really hard, physical effort required.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56No mechanisation whatsoever,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59it was all blocks and pulleys and brute force.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01So he was a strong lad.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05You had to be able to handle these vessels and handle them
0:06:05 > 0:06:08and to be able to change course and tack and so on
0:06:08 > 0:06:12just at the right moment, especially on a confined river such as this.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16So, yes, it was a far, far healthier life than being in a mine
0:06:16 > 0:06:18or in the copper works in Swansea.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22But it was nevertheless a job that put a great deal
0:06:22 > 0:06:24of physical strain on the human body.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30But this isn't the end of Benjamin's story.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36His life on the water took a great toll on his health.
0:06:37 > 0:06:38And back at the boathouse,
0:06:38 > 0:06:42David can show Jeremy a document from 1849
0:06:42 > 0:06:45which reveals a broken man.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49This is a petition to Trinity House.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52Now, Trinity house is better known as a body
0:06:52 > 0:06:58responsible for the administration of lighthouses, navigation
0:06:58 > 0:07:00and so on, around the coasts of England and Wales.
0:07:00 > 0:07:06But it was originally set up in 1514 as a charitable Catholic guild
0:07:06 > 0:07:10for seamen, just based at a parish church in Deptford, in London.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14And, so, what we have here is a petition from Benjamin Morgan
0:07:14 > 0:07:21to Trinity House, when he was aged 60 years, for a pension.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24- And is this then his seafaring career?- Exactly.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27What's really interesting here is that we've got his entire
0:07:27 > 0:07:29seafaring service.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32And we can see here that most of the vessels that he sailed on,
0:07:32 > 0:07:35from the Hazard, which he joined in 1806,
0:07:35 > 0:07:38these are all vessels of either 50 tonnes or less.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42- So, it says he is "a person of good character and reputation."- Yes.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44"I do recommend him as a proper object
0:07:44 > 0:07:47"of the corporation's charity."
0:07:47 > 0:07:52But, two years later, in 1851, it appears Benjamin was at rock bottom.
0:07:52 > 0:07:57And still desperately waiting for financial support from Trinity House.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01As a last resort, local surgeon Dr Rice Howells wrote a letter,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04pleading for help on behalf of Benjamin and his family.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09"Sir, I beg to certify that Benjamin Morgan, of St Clears,
0:08:09 > 0:08:11"who is upwards of 60 years of age,
0:08:11 > 0:08:14"is wholly disabled in consequence of sickness
0:08:14 > 0:08:18"being affected with dropsy and chronic bronchitis.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20"He has been confined to his bed the last five weeks
0:08:20 > 0:08:24"and in a disabled state for the last two years.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28"It is very improbable that he will ever again be able to do anything
0:08:28 > 0:08:31"towards getting his livelihood, and he is very poor.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35"So, I beg to recommend him as very proper of charity.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38"Benjamin Morgan's wife is advanced in years
0:08:38 > 0:08:40"and unable to do anything for her livelihood.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43"She's brought up ten children.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47"Not one of whom, however, is in a position to assist the parents.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49"Your able servant, Rice H Howells, surgeon."
0:08:49 > 0:08:51Do we know what happened? Did he get the pension?
0:08:51 > 0:08:55Unfortunately, we don't know what eventually happened.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58A great deal of Trinity House's records were apparently lost
0:08:58 > 0:09:01during the Second World War in a bombing raid on London.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05- And then, just two years later, unfortunately...- So, 1853.
0:09:05 > 0:09:101853, we have here his death certificate.
0:09:10 > 0:09:1227th of July 1853.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15And you can see here, "Of the Quay St Clears",
0:09:15 > 0:09:17so, actually where we are now.
0:09:17 > 0:09:18Cause of death, asthma.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22"Asthma" and "two years", so, he's been suffering from asthma.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26- What you've got to remember was a lot of the time they'd have been wet through.- Yeah.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29So it's little wonder that a chest complaint eventually transpired.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33And these days you've got very effective drugs, and those days they didn't have any.
0:09:33 > 0:09:34They didn't have any at all, no. No.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39- We have it easy. - We do have it very, very easy.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42Well, I don't know about you, Jeremy, dodging bullets!
0:09:42 > 0:09:44But I've certainly had it easy.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47I think... I think my life has been easier than Benjamin's.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53Jeremy desperately wants to know why and when his father's ancestors
0:09:53 > 0:09:58moved from Carmarthenshire to Merthyr Tydfil in the 19th century.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02Genealogist Mike Churchill-Jones can now answer these questions,
0:10:02 > 0:10:04and has asked Jeremy to meet him
0:10:04 > 0:10:07in the grounds of St Clears Parish Church.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14It appears two branches of Jeremy's family made that journey
0:10:14 > 0:10:16in the mid-1800s.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19Mariner Benjamin Morgan's 19-year-old daughter Ann
0:10:19 > 0:10:23married William Bowen, a shoemaker from Carmarthen,
0:10:23 > 0:10:25in 1847.
0:10:26 > 0:10:32The following year, they decided to move to Merthyr Tydfil.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36- Land of opportunity?- Mm-hm.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40I can show you an extract of the 1851 census.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42William Bowen, Ann...
0:10:42 > 0:10:44They have their first child.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46They have an 18-month... Catherine.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48- And she was born in Merthyr. - ..daughter.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52- She was the first generation born in Merthyr Tydfil.- Indeed.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55So, we have William, a shoemaker in Carmarthen...
0:10:55 > 0:10:57- Yeah.- ..he's left his trade,
0:10:57 > 0:11:00and he's come to Merthyr to be...?
0:11:00 > 0:11:04- He's working as in iron puddler. - Indeed.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07Iron puddler sounds like quite a tough job...
0:11:07 > 0:11:11- involving furnaces and... - Would you like to find out about it?
0:11:11 > 0:11:14..things that are molten. Yeah. I would.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17The Bowens weren't the only branch who migrated to Merthyr.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21In 1851, Jeremy's great-great-grandfather
0:11:21 > 0:11:23Evan Griffiths was just a babe in arms
0:11:23 > 0:11:25when his parents made the move.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29And in 1861, the Merthyr census reveals ten-year-old Evan
0:11:29 > 0:11:32was already hard at work.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38Oh, he's in the ironworks at the age of ten.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41- Yeah.- As... What does that say, catcher?
0:11:41 > 0:11:44- Catcher.- ..catcher in the ironworks.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46- Ten years old.- Hmm.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48My God. My son's 12.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52He doesn't work in the ironworks.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54If he was ten years old, it's possible
0:11:54 > 0:11:56he could have worked in the ironworks at a younger age.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58- There you go. - It's very young, isn't it?
0:11:58 > 0:12:00It's unbelievably young.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03Working as a catcher in an ironworks doesn't
0:12:03 > 0:12:04sound like a very safe job to me.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07So, shall we find out what a catcher is as well?
0:12:07 > 0:12:08Yeah, I'd very much like to.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10What I suggest you do is go off to Merthyr Tydfil.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12I'm sure there's someone who can help you.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15- I think, right now, all roads lead to Merthyr.- Indeed they do.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19So, the next leg of Jeremy's journey will take him
0:12:19 > 0:12:23to his father's home town of Merthyr Tydfil.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27But he is going to make a quick stop en route, in Cardiff, to visit
0:12:27 > 0:12:29St Fagans National History Museum.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33Here, he can learn about the Bowen family trade of shoemaking,
0:12:33 > 0:12:37and ask why William left this profession in rural Carmarthenshire
0:12:37 > 0:12:39for an industrial life in Merthyr.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45Shoemaker Bill Bird can help answer these questions.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48So, who would William have been making shoes for?
0:12:48 > 0:12:51Was it a premium product, or something very, very everyday?
0:12:51 > 0:12:55The bread and butter would have been making shoes for farm workers
0:12:55 > 0:12:57and people working in agriculture.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59If you got a name for yourself,
0:12:59 > 0:13:01people would come from long distances
0:13:01 > 0:13:04to have their shoes made by you, you know,
0:13:04 > 0:13:08and it would primarily be in the quality of the uppers
0:13:08 > 0:13:11- the quality of the leather... - So, it's like today, shoemaking.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14- Absolutely.- But presumably, if he had a business that successful,
0:13:14 > 0:13:17- he might not have moved to Merthyr Tydfil.- That's right.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21- Then Bowen shoes would now be known worldwide.- That's right.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27It's never too late to see if Bowen shoes can become a reality,
0:13:27 > 0:13:32so Jeremy has decided to give the traditional methods a try.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35Pull it. That's right. Lay it down.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38And poke that in. That's it. So...
0:13:38 > 0:13:40Oops.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46- That's it.- Ta-da.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50So, the straighter in you go, the better it's going to be.
0:13:50 > 0:13:51- That was an angle.- Yeah.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54I don't think I've ever managed to knock a nail in
0:13:54 > 0:13:56that didn't go in at an angle.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59And William probably would have had a mouthful of these tacks,
0:13:59 > 0:14:01so he'd just reach out and they'd come out,
0:14:01 > 0:14:03he'd manipulate them with his tongue
0:14:03 > 0:14:06and they would just come out in the right direction.
0:14:06 > 0:14:07A bit quicker than I can too.
0:14:10 > 0:14:15- So,- what do you think? Yeah, it's a start. You've actually done it,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18- which is actually very good. - Thank you very much.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22- It's in the DNA somewhere.- It is. - All those generations of shoemakers.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25I'm impressed that you actually got four in.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27- Well, that is really good.- Yeah.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29But I'll stop while I'm ahead.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33What I can conclude from all this is that making shoes was
0:14:33 > 0:14:36probably a harder job than I thought it was.
0:14:36 > 0:14:37- It was tedious.- Hmm.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40For somebody like me that loves just sitting,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43contemplatively stitching, love it.
0:14:43 > 0:14:48If you're kind of young, 21, it's not for you.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51- And William obviously didn't. - I don't think he did, no.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55He took his family when they were small, the kids were small,
0:14:55 > 0:14:57and they migrated.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00It must have been, in those days, quite a hard journey...
0:15:00 > 0:15:03- Yeah.- ..to start a whole new life in Merthyr.- In Merthyr, yeah.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06It was quite a way in those days. Maybe he had a good bootmaker.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10- Maybe he made himself some special boots.- That's right, yeah.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15So, William and his family moved to Merthyr Tydfil in search
0:15:15 > 0:15:16of a better life.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19They were followed just a few years later
0:15:19 > 0:15:23by Jeremy's great-great-grandfather, Evan Griffiths, in 1851.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28Evan worked at this famous ironworks in Cyfarthfa at the age of just ten.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34The works are now in ruins, and nature has reclaimed this
0:15:34 > 0:15:38once-great industrial powerhouse, but what remains is still
0:15:38 > 0:15:43testament to the people who built the ironworks 250 years ago.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45Jeremy is meeting historian Chris Parry
0:15:45 > 0:15:48to learn more about this historic site.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59So, we have come in round the back of the furnaces now,
0:15:59 > 0:16:01and so, what have we got here?
0:16:01 > 0:16:04It's the natural... It's the living rock.
0:16:04 > 0:16:05It is the natural wall.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07Well, it was kind of customary at the time,
0:16:07 > 0:16:09when you were building a blast furnace,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12them being 50 feet in height on a regular basis,
0:16:12 > 0:16:16that you would look for a natural wall or hill to build that into,
0:16:16 > 0:16:19because you needed direct access to the top of the furnace.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22- Because they put the stuff in from the top?- Exactly right, yeah.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26So, all the coke, all the ironstone and then the limestone
0:16:26 > 0:16:29all goes into the top and then it gradually seeps down through
0:16:29 > 0:16:32the furnace with the heat that is being applied constantly,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35a white-hot furnace, and then, when it gets down to the bottom,
0:16:35 > 0:16:37you tap out the molten mixture,
0:16:37 > 0:16:40let it cool and you've got pig iron.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42So, this kind of thing is what started making Britain
0:16:42 > 0:16:45- a world power as well? - Definitely, yes.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48Well, Cyfarthfa was made famous by the cannons
0:16:48 > 0:16:52they produced at one time. They produced cannons from 1774.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56By the 1800s, by 1802, in fact, you had Nelson visiting,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59because he was visiting the site many of the cannons
0:16:59 > 0:17:02he utilised in his warships were made and cast,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05and then owner was overwhelmed.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07Richard Crawshay told his workers to
0:17:07 > 0:17:09"Shout, you beggars, Nelson's here!"
0:17:09 > 0:17:11There was an overwhelming response, apparently.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14But, yeah, it was literally world famous by that point.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17Former shoemaker William worked as a puddler
0:17:17 > 0:17:21in the iron industry for over 50 years, well into his 70s,
0:17:21 > 0:17:25a strenuous job turning pig iron into wrought iron.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28Ten-year-old Evan worked as a catcher in this rolling mill.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31Evan would catch the red-hot iron as it was
0:17:31 > 0:17:34spat from rollers at 50mph then place it into the next roller,
0:17:34 > 0:17:38which increased the strength and purity of the iron.
0:17:38 > 0:17:43It is a very, very hard job for a ten-year-old to do,
0:17:43 > 0:17:45and it is very risky on many levels.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48But it would, if he survived, which I think he did,
0:17:48 > 0:17:51he would have gone on to have been
0:17:51 > 0:17:54prosperous within the ironworks, certainly,
0:17:54 > 0:17:55but getting through those first years
0:17:55 > 0:17:57would've been fairly difficult.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59- They had to grow up quickly, didn't they?- Yeah.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02Well, young children in Merthyr would have been taken
0:18:02 > 0:18:04out of education, if they were in education at all,
0:18:04 > 0:18:08at the age of five, because you would pay for your education,
0:18:08 > 0:18:11and so, as soon as you give them a year or two when they're a child,
0:18:11 > 0:18:14maybe in Sunday school or maybe a small paid school, you would
0:18:14 > 0:18:18take them out and then their real education starts - working.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Because that's what, at the end of the day, they were made for,
0:18:21 > 0:18:24essentially. Their parents didn't think that they were going to be
0:18:24 > 0:18:26scientists or doctors or anything.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28They thought, "They're going to work in the ironworks,
0:18:28 > 0:18:32"the collieries, the quarries. THAT'S education they need,
0:18:32 > 0:18:35- "and they need to start it as soon as possible."- Hard life.
0:18:35 > 0:18:40- Very hard life. We've got it easy by today's standards.- Yes.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43I've got a 12-year-old son. I'll tell him all about that.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45Yeah, well, send him to an ironworks.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47THEY LAUGH
0:18:47 > 0:18:50Education may not have been important to every family
0:18:50 > 0:18:55in the 19th century, but it was of course vital for Jeremy
0:18:55 > 0:18:59to succeed in his career as a broadcast journalist.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Jeremy's great-great-grandparents, John and Esther Bowen,
0:19:02 > 0:19:05clearly understood the value of education,
0:19:05 > 0:19:09and this is the point that schooling became a reality for the Bowens.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12John and Esther's marriage certificate from 1873
0:19:12 > 0:19:14shows they where illiterate,
0:19:14 > 0:19:17as they both signed their names with a simple cross,
0:19:17 > 0:19:20but they clearly wanted more for their own children.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24Education historian Dr Sian Williams has discovered a school register
0:19:24 > 0:19:27showing Jeremy's great-grandfather William,
0:19:27 > 0:19:28John and Esther's son,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31attending Penydarren School at a very young age.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37- We have William here.- Yes.- He was admitted in the summer of 1880.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39- 10/6/80.- Yeah.
0:19:39 > 0:19:44And he was born in 1877, so he is going to school at three years old.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46- That is very young.- It's very young.
0:19:46 > 0:19:51It seems to be that he is the first in the family to attend school
0:19:51 > 0:19:52and to have formal education.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56So, the tradition of education in my family is quite skin deep.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59It only goes back a couple of generations.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02- Indeed. It starts here, in 1880.- Yeah.
0:20:02 > 0:20:07But what it does show of course is that your great-great-grandparents
0:20:07 > 0:20:10placed a value on education.
0:20:10 > 0:20:15We've found out that at least six of the children attended school,
0:20:15 > 0:20:19so it would have been a big financial commitment, really.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23And William's little sister Esther was enrolled in Penydarren
0:20:23 > 0:20:25at an even younger age.
0:20:25 > 0:20:26- She's two.- Yeah.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30She's coming up to three in the term that she's attending.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34- So, very, very young.- Very young to go to school, by any standards.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36- Yes, indeed. - By modern standards young.- Yes.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39So, nursery... Real nursery education.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42- They were little kids. - They were tiny. They were tiny.
0:20:42 > 0:20:47She is on the 1911 census,
0:20:47 > 0:20:53when she's 21, and she is single, as you can see.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56- Single, I see. - Have a look at her job.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59- Schoolteacher. - She's a schoolteacher.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01- Oh, so she did very well at school. - Mm-hm.- Yeah.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04That's fascinating.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06It was the start of a process
0:21:06 > 0:21:10because my own father got into a grammar school and then went on to
0:21:10 > 0:21:15university, so that is a beginning, it's a continuum, that,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18I suppose, started with John and Esther deciding
0:21:18 > 0:21:21that their children should get educated.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27Jeremy's father, Gareth Bowen, used that education to become a successful
0:21:27 > 0:21:33radio broadcast journalist for BBC Wales, and in October 1966,
0:21:33 > 0:21:37he faced what was surely the biggest challenge of his career.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43Jeremy has travelled to Aberfan near Merthyr Tydfil,
0:21:43 > 0:21:47where 116 children and 28 adults lost their lives
0:21:47 > 0:21:49in a devastating landslide.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53His father spent many days reporting live from the scene.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56Jeremy was just six at the time,
0:21:56 > 0:22:00but he remembers that period in his father's life.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03This memorial garden has been created
0:22:03 > 0:22:06to remember those who lost their lives,
0:22:06 > 0:22:09and Jeremy is meeting Professor Louise Miskell
0:22:09 > 0:22:12to discuss his memories of his father's time covering
0:22:12 > 0:22:14one of Wales's most tragic accidents.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19I remember, as a small kid,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22him coming back with the car covered in slurry
0:22:22 > 0:22:27and his trousers caked in dried slurry from the tip,
0:22:27 > 0:22:31and I remember him going to bed in the middle of the day,
0:22:31 > 0:22:33when presumably he'd been up all night,
0:22:33 > 0:22:35or even for a couple of nights.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38And would this have been quite early in his journalist career?
0:22:38 > 0:22:41He was in his 30s, he was mid-30s, I suppose.
0:22:41 > 0:22:42Yeah, 1966.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44He would have been 36,
0:22:44 > 0:22:46and I was six years old and I was...
0:22:46 > 0:22:48In our house, we always had the news on,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51so I was quite interested in what was going on,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54so I was aware of what had happened and, of course, a lot of the
0:22:54 > 0:22:57kids who were killed here were more or less the age I was at that time.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00And I think my father always had a connection with it,
0:23:00 > 0:23:04because I saw, years later, not long before he retired from the BBC,
0:23:04 > 0:23:08he had, in a fairly prominent place, he never used to play them,
0:23:08 > 0:23:13but they were there, all the tapes of his reporting from Aberfan.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16I think it was a big moment in his career,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19because he was a journalist who spent the vast...
0:23:19 > 0:23:24you know, 98% of his working life working as a journalist in Wales
0:23:24 > 0:23:27and, of course, this was an enormous world story.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29A terrible tragedy that had hit Wales.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33Louise has an original recording of Gareth Bowen's
0:23:33 > 0:23:36radio report from the disaster,
0:23:36 > 0:23:41and Jeremy can listen to his father's voice from almost 50 years ago.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44- RECORDING:- 'I am now looking through the walls of the shattered school
0:23:44 > 0:23:48'into the main hall, which is a mass of people and firemen
0:23:48 > 0:23:52'and policeman, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters
0:23:52 > 0:23:57'and everybody, and standing once again on a pile of black slurry
0:23:57 > 0:23:59'and, underneath us, is the infant school.
0:23:59 > 0:24:04'And on top of the slurry is a human chain with buckets,
0:24:04 > 0:24:05'picks,
0:24:05 > 0:24:11'and the debris is going away handful by handful, brick by brick.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14'Men are standing up to their knees in black water.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18- 'Sandwiches? Something to eat? - Where are you from?
0:24:18 > 0:24:20- 'Treforest.- Salvation Army?- Yes.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23- 'How long have you been here, sir? - This morning.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25- 'About 12 hours?- Yes.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27'Why are you digging?
0:24:27 > 0:24:29'My niece is under there.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32'OK, now. Anybody want a sandwich?'
0:24:32 > 0:24:35Well, it's powerful stuff, they've put pictures to it as well.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38- Yeah.- Yeah, it is remarkable.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40He was a good reporter.
0:24:40 > 0:24:41Yeah.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44I mean, talking to people who are actually trying to dig out
0:24:44 > 0:24:47relatives from under the collapsed school, you know,
0:24:47 > 0:24:49must have been an incredible challenge for him.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51I think he felt a lot of...
0:24:53 > 0:24:56..empathy for the people here and, actually,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59the essence of being a good reporter
0:24:59 > 0:25:01is feeling empathy for people.
0:25:01 > 0:25:06You've got to let people who aren't there feel what it's like
0:25:06 > 0:25:09to be there, give people an idea of what it's like
0:25:09 > 0:25:12to be in the shoes of those who are affected
0:25:12 > 0:25:16by whatever's happening at that particular moment, and, certainly,
0:25:16 > 0:25:18that's something which he did from here,
0:25:18 > 0:25:22and, again, it comes down to a certain sensitivity
0:25:22 > 0:25:24and empathy for people.
0:25:24 > 0:25:25Absolutely.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28And I think, of course,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31since he was from this part of the world, he felt it.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35Almost 50 years have now passed
0:25:35 > 0:25:40since 144 lives were lost on the final day of the school term.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44The people of Aberfan will never forget what happened
0:25:44 > 0:25:45here in October 1966,
0:25:45 > 0:25:50and the effects of this disaster will be felt for many generations to come.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02Jeremy is travelling back to Merthyr for a final surprise.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06Although the Penydarren school his ancestors attended was
0:26:06 > 0:26:08demolished some years ago,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11Gwaunfarren Primary was built in its place.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15Jeremy has been invited to meet a class of 9- to 11-year-olds,
0:26:15 > 0:26:17who are excited, to say the least.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20CHILDREN CHATTER
0:26:24 > 0:26:27Former pupil and now headteacher Louise Bibby
0:26:27 > 0:26:29can introduce Jeremy to the children.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36Hello, everybody.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40I've got a very important visitor who has come to visit you today.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43I'm sure that they have many, many questions
0:26:43 > 0:26:46- they'd like to ask you, Jeremy, this afternoon.- Yes.
0:26:46 > 0:26:51What did your parents think when you became a news reporter?
0:26:51 > 0:26:55Well, my father was a journalist, so he was quite pleased.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59My mother was a photographer and when she was young,
0:26:59 > 0:27:02she used to work on the Merthyr Express,
0:27:02 > 0:27:06and I think she was a bit less enthusiastic, put it that way,
0:27:06 > 0:27:08and when I started going to dangerous places,
0:27:08 > 0:27:12she wasn't at all happy about it, I think,
0:27:12 > 0:27:18but I went to a war in Iraq in 1991, when I was 31,
0:27:18 > 0:27:22and before I went to Baghdad, I wrote letters
0:27:22 > 0:27:29to my parents in case I got killed, and I left them in Jordan.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31I didn't get killed and I was so embarrassed
0:27:31 > 0:27:34when I got back from that job, I ripped them all up
0:27:34 > 0:27:36and threw them away without looking at them,
0:27:36 > 0:27:40because I said all sorts of things about, you know...
0:27:40 > 0:27:43The children have been learning about the Aberfan disaster
0:27:43 > 0:27:47and have been putting their feelings into words.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49What have we got here, then?
0:27:49 > 0:27:51We have written some poems about Aberfan.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55- And we put some of the bits together to make this.- That's brilliant.
0:27:55 > 0:27:57Thank you very much.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00I watched the village waking
0:28:00 > 0:28:02Terraced houses yawning lazily
0:28:02 > 0:28:05Narrow, steep roads blinking blurrily
0:28:05 > 0:28:08Rubbing the sleep from every street corner
0:28:08 > 0:28:11I watched the village change for ever
0:28:11 > 0:28:14An evil black entity awoken by a vengeful storm
0:28:14 > 0:28:16I learned about a village and I felt proud
0:28:16 > 0:28:18A village filled with heroes
0:28:18 > 0:28:20Every woman, man and child
0:28:20 > 0:28:24Today I learned about a village and I felt proud.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26Wow. That's brilliant.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28You're really talented in this class,
0:28:28 > 0:28:30and I am going to treasure this.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32I mean, this is a really serious subject, Aberfan,
0:28:32 > 0:28:35but it is great to see you talking about it.
0:28:35 > 0:28:36Thank you very much.
0:28:37 > 0:28:39Thank you very much.
0:28:42 > 0:28:44It's been brilliant, coming to the school,
0:28:44 > 0:28:47seeing the next generation of kids
0:28:47 > 0:28:50and knowing that only 100 years or so before I was born,
0:28:50 > 0:28:55my forebears couldn't even write,
0:28:55 > 0:28:57so now I am very pleased that
0:28:57 > 0:29:03I am a lot more knowledgeable about where the Bowens came from.