0:00:18 > 0:00:19All Aboard!
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Coast is embarking on a new quest...
0:00:24 > 0:00:28connecting the capital to Cornwall,
0:00:28 > 0:00:32linking Scottish Isles to Welsh Valleys
0:00:32 > 0:00:35and taking us far beyond home waters
0:00:35 > 0:00:39to the Baltic Sea and to the shores of Sweden.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45A new journey with familiar faces.
0:00:45 > 0:00:53For this, our first adventure, we're bound for Belgium, but setting out from London's commercial heart.
0:00:53 > 0:00:58Alice is in search of the British seaside landlady.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00So did you all have loads of rules?
0:01:00 > 0:01:04- Only if people were late. - Late for what?- Meals.
0:01:05 > 0:01:11In beautiful Bruges, a seaport stranded by time and tide,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Mark is hunting down the bricks that built Britain.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18- Perfect!- Miranda is riding her luck to go fishing.
0:01:20 > 0:01:25A surprise attack by Hitler is keeping Neil occupied in the channel.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29We might as well been out there in a rowing boat with peashooters for all the use we were.
0:01:29 > 0:01:35And at Albert Einstein's coastal hideaway, I'm getting fired up by atom power.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40This is Coast and Beyond.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11We're heading for one of Europe's most prosperous ports,
0:02:11 > 0:02:18crossing the Channel to Antwerp. But our journey starts in our own trading capital - London.
0:02:24 > 0:02:30Tidal rivers bring the coast into the heart of many of our big cities
0:02:30 > 0:02:33and with the water comes wealth.
0:02:33 > 0:02:40For as long as we've been a trading nation, the sea's been our commercial highway
0:02:40 > 0:02:45and the winding Thames links London directly with that global thoroughfare.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58It was sea trade that made the Capital rich.
0:02:58 > 0:03:04The Thames shaped the city and its influence still runs deep.
0:03:04 > 0:03:11Now, in the Docklands of London, ships have been replaced by skyscrapers.
0:03:11 > 0:03:18It's a story of spectacular rise and fall that may yet have a twist in its tale.
0:03:19 > 0:03:24The world once unloaded its goods in London.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28Now, could that trade be re-invented by a new generation?
0:03:28 > 0:03:38The 19th century businessmen who carved out these huge enclosures were bold entrepreneurs.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40Sometimes they built before they had customers.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45London's docks helped make Britain a superpower.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50They were the engine room of an Empire.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54Sugar and hardwood from the Caribbean.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57Tea from China.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01Even, in the days before refrigeration, ice from Norway.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04It all landed here.
0:04:04 > 0:04:10"Being in the docks," said one worker in the 1960s, "Was like geography come to life."
0:04:16 > 0:04:20And London's geography also changed.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Around the docks grew the East End.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30But as fast as the docks grew...
0:04:31 > 0:04:35..the ships would outgrow them.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39Once there were ocean liners berthed at the end of the road.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41Now there's London City Airport.
0:04:45 > 0:04:51It was container ships, those great seagoing warehouses that changed everything.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56In the '60s, when containers first appeared on the commercial seaways,
0:04:56 > 0:04:59many of London's docks simply couldn't cope.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04Eventually the cargo ships stopped coming.
0:05:07 > 0:05:14But there's a new bid to bring the big ships back to the Capital, 20 miles downstream.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17MUSIC: "London Calling" by The Clash
0:05:25 > 0:05:28# London calling Through the far away towns... #
0:05:28 > 0:05:35This is Mariake, a dredger laying the foundations for a brand new port.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39The first of its kind for 20 years.
0:05:39 > 0:05:46This ship is sucking up 12,000 cubic metres of sand and gravel from the estuary every day.
0:05:51 > 0:05:57The Mariake is a giant vacuum cleaner, clearing a channel in the bed of the Thames,
0:05:57 > 0:06:02a passage deep enough to accommodate supersized container ships.
0:06:06 > 0:06:13This dredged material is being pumped onto an ever-growing artificial island.
0:06:13 > 0:06:19Eventually it's going to be a wharf some two miles long for loading and unloading ships.
0:06:21 > 0:06:27A colossal project, at least a decade in the making - London Gateway.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36Its builders are taking their cue from those early 19th century entrepreneurs.
0:06:36 > 0:06:41Confident that if they build the dock, the ships will eventually come.
0:06:43 > 0:06:49London's aiming to catch up with huge European ports like Antwerp, where I'm heading on my journey.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56It'll reconnect the capital with the mighty estuary
0:06:56 > 0:07:00that brought wealth and power into the heart of Britain.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17Curious things grow up along this coast.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21At the mouth of the Thames Estuary is Canvey Island.
0:07:28 > 0:07:35Once a popular holiday destination, traces of its heyday are treasured now,
0:07:35 > 0:07:38like the recently restored Labworth Cafe.
0:07:40 > 0:07:46It's a real gem, designed by the architect behind Sidney Opera House.
0:07:46 > 0:07:52But Canvey Island couldn't match the glamour of foreign shores.
0:07:52 > 0:08:00And when the holidaymakers stopped coming to Canvey in the 1970s, the oil companies moved in.
0:08:04 > 0:08:10Against this backdrop emerged four local lads who shook up the world of rock.
0:08:10 > 0:08:15Liverpool has The Beatles, Canvey has Dr Feelgood.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17# I saw you out the other night... #
0:08:17 > 0:08:2335 years ago, Dr Feelgood helped kick-start a musical revolution
0:08:23 > 0:08:25that became known as Punk.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30My name's Wilko Johnson.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34I'm a musician, a guitar player.
0:08:34 > 0:08:39I was born on Canvey Island, I grew up on Canvey Island.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42I'm one of the baby-boom generation, yeah, after the war.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46Canvey Island then was a kind of a swamp with some shacks on it, I think.
0:08:46 > 0:08:52And Dr Feelgood, we came from Canvey Island.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59The island is surrounded by oil refineries.
0:08:59 > 0:09:04It gives a kind of ferocity to the landscape. Flames glowing in the night time and so forth,
0:09:04 > 0:09:09and in many ways that kind of music seemed suited to it.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13I think the music in the early '70s was, I don't know, a lot of hippies, really...
0:09:13 > 0:09:15PROG ROCK MUSIC
0:09:15 > 0:09:19..People wearing frocks...
0:09:16 > 0:09:19# I'll see you burn. #
0:09:19 > 0:09:22..Singing about pixies and goblins.
0:09:24 > 0:09:25Yeah. Nonsense.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32You know who I'm talking about.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36Dr Feelgood were playing a kind of rhythm and blues music.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39What you want is, you know, a bit of rock 'n roll.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41# London's burning!
0:09:42 > 0:09:44# London's burning! #
0:09:46 > 0:09:50I became friends with many of these punk musicians, you know, the Pistols and The Clash and that.
0:09:52 > 0:09:58And most of them had in fact seen Dr Feelgood and been inspired, if you like, by Dr Feelgood.
0:09:59 > 0:10:05When we where kids, we used to go fishing for crabs along this wooden jetty down here.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08You can do it with a piece of string and a lump of bread,
0:10:08 > 0:10:11and you hang it over the side and the crabs catch it
0:10:11 > 0:10:14and you pull them up. They're fairly stupid creatures, crabs.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24I've been all around the world, and I've seen a lot of things,
0:10:24 > 0:10:27but there's just something, some spirit, something beautiful
0:10:27 > 0:10:30about this estuary, and I think it's wonderful.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49Crossing The Thames Estuary, we find the Kent Coast.
0:10:51 > 0:10:56This is home to some of Britain's first seaside resorts
0:10:56 > 0:11:01and the jewel in its crown - the golden sands of Margate.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12Most see the beach as a place to relax, but others see a business opportunity.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16Alice is seeking out the story of some seaside entrepreneurs
0:11:16 > 0:11:20who sparked a sexual revolution around British shores.
0:11:22 > 0:11:29180 years ago, artist Joseph Turner was down here from London, painting up a storm.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33It was steam ships that linked the capital to Margate, and I've got a postcard here,
0:11:33 > 0:11:38it's a water colour sketch by Turner of a steamship here at Margate
0:11:38 > 0:11:41and by the look of it, a cloudy and blustery day a bit like this one.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49We still have his impressions of the town,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52but much less is known about the other big attraction
0:11:52 > 0:11:57that drew romantic Turner to Margate - a woman.
0:11:57 > 0:12:03Her name was Sophia Booth and she wasn't just Turner's lover, she was his landlady.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05But while Turner gets the limelight,
0:12:05 > 0:12:09Sophia Booth and the army of landladies like her who helped
0:12:09 > 0:12:13to create resorts like Margate have been largely forgotten.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18This modern piece of art dedicated to Mrs Booth
0:12:18 > 0:12:24doesn't REALLY give us an image of who these hard working women were.
0:12:24 > 0:12:29So, I'm in search of the mysterious, almost mythical seaside landlady.
0:12:31 > 0:12:37Helping me to uncover this hidden history is social historian Susan Barton.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40So shall we go and look for some landladies.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42Yeah. It'll be really fun.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46There are still plenty of small hotels in Margate,
0:12:46 > 0:12:50but we're looking for evidence of the woman who ran its boarding houses.
0:12:50 > 0:12:57These were often family homes, where all the available rooms were rented to holidaymakers.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01Now, this is what I expected to find. The typical...
0:13:01 > 0:13:03With the arms crossed like an old battleaxe.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06- ..A typical image of the seaside landladies.- Yeah.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10Boarding houses were the backbone of any seaside resort.
0:13:10 > 0:13:16Cheap, no-frills accommodation. Guests were expected to provide the basics like food and linen.
0:13:16 > 0:13:21Look at these rules. "Breakfast at nine o'clock, luncheon at one. No card playing on Sundays."
0:13:24 > 0:13:29Our search for the origins of the seaside landlady has brought us here
0:13:29 > 0:13:36to a row of typical seafront lodging houses in Margate, dating from the 1800s.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39What do the records reveal about these formidable women?
0:13:39 > 0:13:44If we look at these documents, these are the census from 1881,
0:13:44 > 0:13:48and it can actually tell us who was living in the houses.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51So do we know if there were landladies renting rooms out?
0:13:51 > 0:13:54We do, because Catherine Howard, who's the head,
0:13:54 > 0:13:59who's occupation is lodging house keeper and she was born in London.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02So we've got these women recorded as being the heads of the household.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05They are, which means that these were business women.
0:14:05 > 0:14:10What I've noticed is that seven out of ten of these households were headed by women.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14I find it remarkable that these women are able to be financially independent,
0:14:14 > 0:14:18running their own businesses, and this is a time before women have the vote.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22In the late 19th century, the seaside landlady was a pioneer,
0:14:22 > 0:14:28breaking down the social barriers that prevented women from owning businesses,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31decades before the women's rights movement.
0:14:33 > 0:14:39In 1938, the Holiday With Pay Act changed workers' lives.
0:14:39 > 0:14:45By the 1950s, 17 million people a year came to the coast.
0:14:47 > 0:14:54From Bridlington to Brighton, working class families were able to afford their week on the beach,
0:14:54 > 0:14:59thanks largely to the seaside boarding houses and their tireless landladies.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03I've been running this boarding house now for 13 years.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05I do all the cooking, washing and ironing.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08As for the food, I get sick of the sight of the food.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10But there's no getting away from it,
0:15:10 > 0:15:15landladies had a bit of an image problem.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22They were characterised as rule-making,
0:15:22 > 0:15:26clock-watching tyrants, the butt of seaside humour.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34So do they deserve this dragon image?
0:15:34 > 0:15:37Time to meet the ladies.
0:15:46 > 0:15:51Between them, these ladies have more 100 years' experience of running guest houses.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54- Hello.- Lovely to meet you, you must be Patsy, hello.
0:15:54 > 0:16:01So, first things first, were they the kind of landladies that laid down the law to their guests?
0:16:01 > 0:16:03Only if people were late.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05- Late for what?- Meals.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09Because we had it on a set time, it was dead-on one o'clock, five o'clock.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13'Tough love maybe, but their guests couldn't get enough of it.'
0:16:13 > 0:16:16That's Maude and Hubert, they came year after year.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18- Maude and Hubert.- Yes.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21Maude and Hubert said to my mum, "We love coming here,
0:16:21 > 0:16:25"we're very fond of Brenda and Steve, they look after us so well"
0:16:25 > 0:16:30My mother said, "Well, I wouldn't go to the same place every year".
0:16:30 > 0:16:32We went everywhere with some of the people,
0:16:32 > 0:16:34they just treated us like holidaymakers.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38They took us on day trips to France, any entertainment.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41We were one of THEIR family, you know.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44I've got some photographs here, what I really like about them
0:16:44 > 0:16:47is that the guests are all lined up on the steps of the guest houses.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50So was there great camaraderie amongst the guests?
0:16:50 > 0:16:55- Oh, yes, of course there was. - They'd be very shy Saturday night, but by Sunday afternoon, they...
0:16:55 > 0:16:58you couldn't get in the dining room for the noise.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02It wasn't just Mum and Dad in one room, it was Mum, Dad,
0:17:02 > 0:17:04two children or three children in one room,
0:17:04 > 0:17:07because it was desperate after the war.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11People would say, "Can't you just put a bed up in the bathroom?"
0:17:11 > 0:17:12- Really?- Which we have done.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16We did have a dead body once, and it was a bit like Fawlty Towers.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19Get it out of the way, quick, you know.
0:17:19 > 0:17:20Actually it was a relation,
0:17:20 > 0:17:24a distant relation had come to stay, and we'd given him bacon and eggs
0:17:24 > 0:17:29in our quarters, and he suddenly fell forward into my bacon and eggs.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32No! Were they that bad, your bacon and eggs?
0:17:32 > 0:17:34He was dead. Yeah, there you are!
0:17:34 > 0:17:37- Look at the size of our kitchen. - Tiny!
0:17:37 > 0:17:41But we used to cater for 25 meals in that.
0:17:41 > 0:17:43Really? Do you miss it, Hazel?
0:17:43 > 0:17:47No, the day we sold up, I didn't miss a thing.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49I didn't realise until I took an office job
0:17:49 > 0:17:52and I'd finished that I'd worked so hard.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06The seaside dreams of millions were built on that hard work.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14But the delights of the B&B couldn't compete with cheap breaks abroad,
0:18:14 > 0:18:20and increased regulations brought the golden era of the seaside landladies to a close.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24Yet for so many, our holiday memories are inseparable
0:18:24 > 0:18:27from the redoubtable women who made them possible.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30They gave us all a home from home by the sea.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43Even on this busy coast there are open spaces,
0:18:43 > 0:18:47where the rich and famous have come to get away from it all.
0:18:55 > 0:19:00In the 1950s, novelist Ian Fleming bought one of these houses
0:19:00 > 0:19:03on St Margaret's Bay from the previous owner...
0:19:03 > 0:19:04Noel Coward.
0:19:05 > 0:19:11Whatever secret schemes Fleming may have dreamt up, looking out over the Channel,
0:19:11 > 0:19:16Mr Bond's fictional cliffhangers couldn't match the reality
0:19:16 > 0:19:20of one daring mission played out just around the corner,
0:19:20 > 0:19:23off the coast of Dover.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32Today, taking the ferry to France is as easy as catching the bus,
0:19:32 > 0:19:37but, 70 years ago, a Channel crossing was a deadly affair.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40As Britain looked out on Europe under German occupation,
0:19:40 > 0:19:44the Channel at least seemed secure.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48But at the height of the war, an entire German fleet sailed
0:19:48 > 0:19:52past the guns of Dover and survived to tell the tale.
0:19:52 > 0:19:57Neil is on the trail of the Nazis' Channel Dash.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02It's 12th February 1942. Out there in the Channel,
0:20:02 > 0:20:05three of the German navy's most fearsome battleships
0:20:05 > 0:20:07are steaming at full speed
0:20:07 > 0:20:10just a few miles off the south coast of England.
0:20:12 > 0:20:17The Scharnhorst, the Gneisenau, and the Prinz Eugen.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20They'd been wreaking havoc in the North Atlantic,
0:20:20 > 0:20:23responsible for destroying 22 Allied ships.
0:20:23 > 0:20:29Not surprisingly, British Naval Intelligence had been keeping a close eye on them.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34They thought the ships were undergoing repairs,
0:20:34 > 0:20:36berthed at the French port of Brest,
0:20:36 > 0:20:40almost 500 miles away from Dover.
0:20:40 > 0:20:41But they weren't.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45In a breathtakingly audacious move,
0:20:45 > 0:20:48the Germans had somehow managed to sail up the Channel,
0:20:48 > 0:20:52in broad daylight, right under the nose of Britain's defences.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59In the aftermath of the ensuing battle, The Times reported,
0:20:59 > 0:21:02"Nothing more mortifying to the pride of British sea power
0:21:02 > 0:21:06"has happened in home waters since the 17th century".
0:21:06 > 0:21:10So, how WERE the British so badly caught out?
0:21:10 > 0:21:11Historian Nick Hewitt and I
0:21:11 > 0:21:14are plotting the events that led up to this remarkable episode.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22So, Nick, where were these German ships coming from?
0:21:22 > 0:21:23They're coming from here in Brest.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26The German navy would like to refit them and keep them in Brest
0:21:26 > 0:21:29where they can threaten Allied trade out in the Atlantic.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33Adolf Hitler wants them brought home to Germany and sent to Norway.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35- What Adolf wants, Adolf gets? - Adolf gets, absolutely.
0:21:35 > 0:21:42By late 1941, Hitler feared an Allied invasion of Norway.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46He believed his warships at Brest were essential to prevent this attack.
0:21:46 > 0:21:51With German troops engaged across Europe, Russia and North Africa,
0:21:51 > 0:21:54he needed his battle ships back, right away.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57The decision is taken to get them home
0:21:57 > 0:21:59by the shortest, dirtiest route possible,
0:21:59 > 0:22:04straight through the English Channel and the Straits of Dover.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07But it's only three battleships, you'd think they could slip through.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11You need to remember, at this point, it's not just three battleships.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15What the Germans had been doing
0:22:15 > 0:22:17is they'd been bringing through escorting ships,
0:22:17 > 0:22:20so by the time that heavy ships sail from Brest,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23there are 63 warships around the fleet.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28And it's not just ships, at no point is there anything less
0:22:28 > 0:22:32than 16 aircraft over the top of the ships from dawn to dusk every day.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34So this is a huge force moving through the Channel.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40Hitler's aim was bold.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44Drive his battle fleet through the Channel at full speed,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47right under Britain's big guns.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52The Nazi propaganda machine,
0:22:52 > 0:22:55confident of success, put cameras on the ships.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57This is the film they shot.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00Surprise was vital. Preparations were so secret,
0:23:00 > 0:23:05even the German crews didn't know the plan.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09We're going to find out what happened next,
0:23:09 > 0:23:11that stormy day in February 1942.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16Our historian Nick Hewitt has tracked down
0:23:16 > 0:23:18a remarkable eyewitness.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24It's the first time August Brunmyer has visited British soil,
0:23:24 > 0:23:26but he has seen Dover Castle once before,
0:23:26 > 0:23:28from the deck of the Prinz Eugen.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34How did you feel when you were told you were going through the English Channel?
0:23:34 > 0:23:36TRANSLATED FROM GERMAN:
0:23:50 > 0:23:53If the mission was a surprise to the German crews,
0:23:53 > 0:23:56it sent the British defenders into a panic.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59They'd been caught on the hop.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01The German ships had left port undetected.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05The British Admiralty were convinced the Germans
0:24:05 > 0:24:08wouldn't venture into the Channel in daylight.
0:24:09 > 0:24:14Shrouded by fog, the fleet was just an hour from Dover before it was spotted.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20Britain's defences were already stretched to breaking point.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23Now, with the Germans on their doorstep,
0:24:23 > 0:24:25they scrambled all they had.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30A handful of small ships and six extraordinary biplanes.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36This is a Swordfish.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Now, it might look like a throw-back to the First World War,
0:24:39 > 0:24:42but this old-fashioned biplane packed a deadly punch.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46A torpedo dropped from one of these could hurt even the biggest battleship.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50In fact, a Swordfish attack had crippled The Bismarck
0:24:50 > 0:24:52earlier in the war.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58The pride of the German fleet had been left
0:24:58 > 0:25:01dead in the water by the flimsy biplanes.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmonde was the leader of that sortie against the Bismarck.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10He'd been decorated for his bravery.
0:25:10 > 0:25:15Now Esmonde was facing the largest German flotilla of the war.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18The plan was to protect his Swordfish attack
0:25:18 > 0:25:21with five Spitfire squadrons.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24But the Spitfires are late,
0:25:24 > 0:25:27and the German battleships are steaming beyond range
0:25:27 > 0:25:29at a rate of knots.
0:25:29 > 0:25:34Against overwhelming odds, Esmonde presses on with the attack.
0:25:38 > 0:25:43As the German ships slipped into the Channel, the fog lifted,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46and they could almost touch the white cliffs.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48TRANSLATED FROM GERMAN:
0:25:58 > 0:26:00All too clearly, Esmonde and his men
0:26:00 > 0:26:03were now the frontline of Britain's defence.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10From a British torpedo boat, Reg Mitchell witnessed the battle.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14Reg saw the powerful German fighters
0:26:14 > 0:26:17begin to pick off the British biplanes.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22The Fokker Wolfs were coming up behind them
0:26:22 > 0:26:23with their flaps down
0:26:23 > 0:26:27and their wheels down, and they were revving up all the time
0:26:27 > 0:26:31to try and stop themselves stalling so they could get a good burst in,
0:26:31 > 0:26:34and we would watch them, watch the tracers going into the..
0:26:34 > 0:26:38into the Swordfish, and they got shot down one after the other.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46TRANSLATED FROM GERMAN:
0:26:55 > 0:26:59The German flotilla sailed past Dover unharmed.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02Left in the water, all six Swordfish,
0:27:02 > 0:27:0713 of their crew dead, among them, Eugene Esmonde.
0:27:11 > 0:27:16The boldness and power of the German fleet found Britain ill-prepared.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19But those few who did press home the attack were not forgotten.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22Esmonde was awarded the Victoria Cross.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32This is the citation, together with the stamp
0:27:32 > 0:27:35of King George VI that accompanied the medal.
0:27:36 > 0:27:41"He flew on, cool and resolute, serenely challenging hopeless odds
0:27:41 > 0:27:43to encounter the deadly fire of the enemy".
0:27:43 > 0:27:46"Undismayed, he led his squadron on,
0:27:46 > 0:27:49"straight through this inferno of fire".
0:28:03 > 0:28:07The Channel has always been our great natural border.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10A barrier in times of war, but also our link
0:28:10 > 0:28:13to the trading ports of Northern Europe.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17I've crossed the Channel to Dunkirk.
0:28:19 > 0:28:25The most northerly French port, its name evokes British fighting spirit.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29Its beaches still bear the scars of conflict.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35In the aftermath of two World Wars, a new trade alliance
0:28:35 > 0:28:41grew up along these shores, dedicated to breaking down borders.
0:28:41 > 0:28:44It would become the European Union.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49The founding principle of the original union was to make war
0:28:49 > 0:28:53not only unthinkable but materially impossible.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57It's made it rather difficult to find any borders.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01I'm about six miles northeast of Dunkirk,
0:29:01 > 0:29:05and I'm looking for the border that marks the edge of France.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09You'd think they might have put a flag up or something.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13I've got the co-ordinates of where the border should be in this
0:29:13 > 0:29:16little GPS unit, it's telling me to go up here.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21This cannot possibly be a border post.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25I think I'm on a wild border chase here.
0:29:25 > 0:29:29OK, I've seen something but on the wrong side of the fence.
0:29:31 > 0:29:37This is the border marker, there's an F on this side for France...
0:29:38 > 0:29:45A broken N, that must be the Netherlands, and here, a date, 1819.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48Well, that is not the Netherlands any more.
0:29:48 > 0:29:52190 years ago when this marker was put in the sand,
0:29:52 > 0:29:56the country you're about to enter didn't even exist.
0:29:56 > 0:30:01If that seems a bit confusing, the change in the landscape at least
0:30:01 > 0:30:04leaves you in no doubt you've entered a new country,
0:30:04 > 0:30:09as wild open spaces transform into something a little more concrete.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14Welcome to Belgium.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18Looks like they've had the builders in.
0:30:26 > 0:30:29One of Europe's most densely populated coastal countries,
0:30:29 > 0:30:33it also has one of its shortest coastlines,
0:30:33 > 0:30:34less than 50 miles.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38But boy, do the Belgians make the most of it!
0:30:38 > 0:30:42# Ca plane pour moi Ca plane pour moi
0:30:44 > 0:30:46# Ca plane pour moi, moi, moi, moi... #
0:30:46 > 0:30:49There are no fewer than 16 major holiday resorts
0:30:49 > 0:30:53packed in along this tiny coast.
0:30:55 > 0:31:01And what links it all is the Kusttram - the coast tram.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06Starting near the border town of De Panne,
0:31:06 > 0:31:10the track runs more or less the length of the Belgian coast
0:31:10 > 0:31:14loops around and comes back down again.
0:31:14 > 0:31:2085 miles, all told, making it the longest single-track tram in the world.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25No need for walking boots when you're taking the tram.
0:31:25 > 0:31:27I think a change of outfit is in order.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34I'm curious to know how the tramline helps the Belgians
0:31:34 > 0:31:36cram so much into their coast,
0:31:36 > 0:31:39so at a station in a rare break between high-rises,
0:31:39 > 0:31:42I'm meeting tram man Dirk Schockaert.
0:31:42 > 0:31:44- You must be Nick.- I am Nick.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47This is one of the most extraordinary rail stations
0:31:47 > 0:31:50I've ever been to in the world. It's on a beach!
0:31:50 > 0:31:53Yes, it's a tram stop in the middle of nowhere.
0:31:53 > 0:31:55Yeah. Why was the tramline built, and when?
0:31:55 > 0:31:59The tramline was created in 1885. In the beginning,
0:31:59 > 0:32:05we had three train stations at the coast, so all the rich tourists came
0:32:05 > 0:32:09from the inside of the country to do their holiday here at the coast,
0:32:09 > 0:32:11and they were stuck at their place.
0:32:11 > 0:32:16So, they were thinking, "Well, we will create a tramline,
0:32:16 > 0:32:21"so that we can transport people," mostly rich tourists.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25And for example, I have here an old poster, touristic poster.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27That's wonderful! The image in the picture
0:32:27 > 0:32:31is very much of a seaside paradise waiting to be opened up.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34Yes, at that time our coast was like that.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38And now, there are everywhere buildings.
0:32:38 > 0:32:40I'd better give you that.
0:32:40 > 0:32:42Oh...it shot past.
0:32:42 > 0:32:44We missed that one!
0:32:49 > 0:32:53It was the Kusttram that really shaped the Belgian coast.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56The resorts just grew up along it.
0:32:56 > 0:33:01But the arrival of the tram did squeeze out a simpler way of life.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04For generations a band of horse-riding fishermen
0:33:04 > 0:33:09have hunted shrimps in the sandy shallows off the Belgian coast.
0:33:09 > 0:33:13Today, horseback fishing is a dying art.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16Miranda's off to see how it's done, before it's too late.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20These days, if you want to find the homes of the shrimp fishermen
0:33:20 > 0:33:23and their horses, you have to head inland.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28Coastal construction has forced the shrimp men to live miles from
0:33:28 > 0:33:32the beach, but they still work to the sea's traditional rhythms.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35Catching the tide means an early start.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39- Morning, Dominique. How are you doing?- Very good, thank you. And you?
0:33:39 > 0:33:42'At 21, Dominique Vandendriessche is the youngest
0:33:42 > 0:33:49'of the remaining shrimp fishermen, and part of this local tradition which has gone on for generations.
0:33:59 > 0:34:06'Fishing from horseback was begun by local farmers who used the leftovers as fertiliser.
0:34:09 > 0:34:16'Once there were almost 100 shrimp fishermen - now only a handful cling on in this concrete jungle.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23'I must say, I do feel a bit conspicuous.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35'This is one of the last places anywhere that they fish like this.'
0:34:35 > 0:34:37How does it work?
0:34:37 > 0:34:43Those two boards, they are used to open the net in the water, seven metres.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46One side floating on the water,
0:34:46 > 0:34:48and the other side stays on the ground
0:34:48 > 0:34:49because of the weight of the chain.
0:34:49 > 0:34:55- Yeah.- But the chain is really used to wake up the shrimps,
0:34:55 > 0:34:57because the shrimps live under the sands,
0:34:57 > 0:35:02and what happens is the chain makes a noise, and all the shrimps they jump up and they get caught
0:35:02 > 0:35:04between the two sides of the net,
0:35:04 > 0:35:08they get pushed there in the end of the net, you see?
0:35:08 > 0:35:14'But working in the shallows with this heavy gear would be impossible without the right horse.
0:35:14 > 0:35:20'It takes the exceptional strength of these huge Brabant draft horses to drag the nets through the wet sand.'
0:35:20 > 0:35:22- What's your horse called?- Jim.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25This is Jim. He's huge, isn't he?
0:35:25 > 0:35:28He's really built for the job. How on earth am I going to get up there?
0:35:28 > 0:35:31You've got longer legs than I have, though!
0:35:34 > 0:35:38'I'm used to riding, but these giants are incredibly difficult
0:35:38 > 0:35:42'to control in the water, so I've got to hitch a ride with Dominique.'
0:35:44 > 0:35:46Ha-ha!
0:35:46 > 0:35:47So...
0:35:48 > 0:35:53HE CALLS TO THE HORSE
0:35:55 > 0:35:58Tell me a bit about Jim - how old is he, what's he like?
0:35:58 > 0:36:01He is seven years old, he's a really relaxed horse,
0:36:01 > 0:36:03he never worries about anything and he never complains.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06So what's it like for Jim in the water. Is it really hard work?
0:36:06 > 0:36:11Yes, the faster he goes, the harder it gets, because the water has not
0:36:11 > 0:36:13time enough to escape out of the net.
0:36:13 > 0:36:18But after a couple of times, the horse realises if he goes slower, it's easier.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22The only thing they get scared of is when the waves come towards them.
0:36:22 > 0:36:26When that happens and they are frightened,
0:36:26 > 0:36:30you turn them around and you make them go backwards to the sea, so
0:36:30 > 0:36:33they don't see the waves, and once they're in it, their fear is over.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37And you obviously have an amazing bond with Jim.
0:36:37 > 0:36:42- Yes, we know each other by heart and soul.- Yeah.
0:36:51 > 0:36:52Wow!
0:36:53 > 0:36:57This is what we've been catching, little grey shrimps.
0:36:58 > 0:37:00Dominique, what's this sort of catch worth, then?
0:37:00 > 0:37:04- This, maybe two euros.- Two euros?
0:37:04 > 0:37:08- That's not even enough money to feed your horse for the day.- No, no!
0:37:08 > 0:37:15'Their meagre catch doesn't make for a living, but a profitable sideline is opening up.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19'Their novelty has made the horsemen into a local attraction -
0:37:19 > 0:37:24'while fishing for shrimps, they're also being paid to haul in the tourists.'
0:37:29 > 0:37:31- So I can try one, yeah?- Yeah.
0:37:33 > 0:37:34Those are really good.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38- That's about as fresh a shrimp as I've ever eaten.- Yes.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42'On this coastline, embracing tourism and the changes
0:37:42 > 0:37:47'that come with it helps this traditional way of life to survive.'
0:37:58 > 0:38:04We're on the Belgian coast, riding the tram towards the pretty town of De Haan.
0:38:09 > 0:38:13This small coastal retreat grew up as a quiet alternative
0:38:13 > 0:38:20to Belgium's bustling resorts, the station unchanged since 1902.
0:38:23 > 0:38:29Stepping onto the platform, you get the feeling that time is standing still.
0:38:36 > 0:38:41It certainly did for De Haan's most celebrated visitor,
0:38:41 > 0:38:44who was kicking his heels here some 80 years ago.
0:38:44 > 0:38:49In 1933, this sleepy stretch of coast was
0:38:49 > 0:38:53the unlikely destination for one of the most famous men in the world.
0:38:53 > 0:38:57He was the face of physics, the image of genius.
0:38:57 > 0:39:02Why was Albert Einstein here in De Haan?
0:39:11 > 0:39:17By 1933, at the age of 54, Einstein was world famous.
0:39:17 > 0:39:21His theory of relativity had revolutionised physics.
0:39:21 > 0:39:25It would lead to the concept of the big bang and black holes.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28He'd won the Nobel prize.
0:39:29 > 0:39:34But the world his physics described was undergoing violent change.
0:39:39 > 0:39:41Fascism was on the rise in Europe.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45Hitler had become dictator of Germany.
0:39:45 > 0:39:50Persecution of the country's Jews had begun, sanctioned by the new Nazi government.
0:39:51 > 0:39:57Einstein, both German and Jewish, was in America when Hitler came to power.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00A lifelong peace campaigner, the physicist had spoken out
0:40:00 > 0:40:04against the Nazis, calling for economic sanctions.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11He returned to Europe in 1933, stateless, unable to go home to
0:40:11 > 0:40:18Germany, his life under threat and wondering how, as a man of peace, to respond to the violent times.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29So how did he end up in this small Belgian seaside resort?
0:40:31 > 0:40:34I'm hoping Brigitte Baeten can tell me -
0:40:34 > 0:40:36she's the town's unofficial guardian
0:40:36 > 0:40:41'of all things Einstein, including a statue dedicated to the physicist.'
0:40:41 > 0:40:45- Very nice to meet you. Are you just dusting him down?- Yes, a little bit!
0:40:45 > 0:40:47I like to have his hands clean.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49Ha-ha!
0:40:49 > 0:40:53How did De Haan come to be looking after the great man?
0:40:53 > 0:40:56Well, actually, it was the royal family.
0:40:56 > 0:41:01As he was a good friend of the royal Belgian family,
0:41:01 > 0:41:05which is our King Albert I, and the Queen Elizabeth,
0:41:05 > 0:41:12it is them who said he would better stay for a while in Belgium.
0:41:14 > 0:41:19It was the friendship with the royal family that bought Einstein to Belgium.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22But it was the need for a quiet place to think,
0:41:22 > 0:41:26a refuge from the turmoil in Europe, that brought him to De Haan.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33- I have first of all... - Oh, my goodness!
0:41:33 > 0:41:35What an incredible photograph - is this him here?
0:41:35 > 0:41:37He's not wearing any socks.
0:41:37 > 0:41:44He's not, because he used to say, socks are the worst thing in the world, you always have a hole in it.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47That's a logical approach. That's good, I like that.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51He appears a man at ease,
0:41:51 > 0:41:54but the great thinker had a lot on his mind.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58Walking the dunes and avenues, Einstein wrestled with his conscience.
0:41:58 > 0:42:02He believed in peace, but also that Hitler had to be stopped.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05So where is Einstein's house?
0:42:05 > 0:42:06This is the house of Einstein.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09- This one here?- This one. - There's a plaque on the front.
0:42:09 > 0:42:11- Look, look at the window, there he is.- Oh, yes, how funny!
0:42:11 > 0:42:14- Isn't that wonderful? - And the doors are unchanged.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17Yes, it's all unchanged.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21Excuse me - I'm so sorry to interrupt your supper, but we were
0:42:21 > 0:42:25just looking at the plaque on the front of your home. What's it like living in Einstein's house?
0:42:25 > 0:42:28Do you get fed up with people coming and leaning over the gate?
0:42:28 > 0:42:33Most of them being Belgian, they're pretty polite, so it's not that much of a problem.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37So what about this photograph - could we go inside and try and match
0:42:37 > 0:42:39it up with you? Might be quite interesting.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41- Absolutely, be invited, just follow me.- Thank you.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46Wow.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49Yes! Brigitte's already done it!
0:42:49 > 0:42:51- Yeah, I think you recognise that part of the house!- Yes!
0:42:51 > 0:42:53But the fireplace is the same one, isn't it?
0:42:53 > 0:42:57Yes, must be the same, yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:42:57 > 0:43:01It seems that sitting in this living room almost 80 years ago,
0:43:01 > 0:43:03Einstein the pacifist became
0:43:03 > 0:43:09an advocate of war - albeit a war against oppression and dictatorship.
0:43:11 > 0:43:18Einstein told an American professor, to prevent the greater evil it is necessary for the lesser evil,
0:43:18 > 0:43:22the hated military, to be accepted for the time being.
0:43:23 > 0:43:27After a six-month stay, Einstein left Belgium in September 1933
0:43:27 > 0:43:35for a new life in America, committed to fighting tyranny in whatever way he could.
0:43:35 > 0:43:40What he couldn't have known is the part his physics would play in the coming struggle.
0:43:40 > 0:43:4730 years earlier, Albert had written an equation, a formula for the conversion of matter into energy.
0:43:49 > 0:43:56E for energy equals M for mass times C for the speed of light squared.
0:43:56 > 0:44:02Now the speed of light squared is a huge number, so you only need
0:44:02 > 0:44:07a tiny amount of mass to equal a lot of energy.
0:44:07 > 0:44:13Cram that mass into a bomb and the results are devastating.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38Ideas change the fate of nations,
0:44:38 > 0:44:42and nature changes the fate of the coast.
0:44:42 > 0:44:48Now the city of Bruges is connected to the port of Zeebrugge by a mighty canal.
0:44:49 > 0:44:52But 700 years ago it was a different story.
0:44:52 > 0:45:00Mark is exploring how mediaeval Bruges once had a much closer connection to the coast, and to us.
0:45:00 > 0:45:04For me, this is a very emotional journey.
0:45:04 > 0:45:09I first came here to Bruges aged 13.
0:45:09 > 0:45:14I was obsessed with medieval history.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20Now I'm back to rekindle my old passion for the place,
0:45:20 > 0:45:26but also to explore an intriguing connection to England I discovered all those years ago.
0:45:26 > 0:45:32The city's canals give us a clue to its rich maritime past.
0:45:32 > 0:45:40Sea trade made the burghers of Bruges very rich in the 13th and 14th centuries.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44Believe it or not, this was once the main canal
0:45:44 > 0:45:49into the heart of Bruges, where ships from all round the world
0:45:49 > 0:45:53came and unloaded their cargos in the water hall
0:45:53 > 0:45:55in the middle of the town square.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01700 years ago, a bird's-eye view of Bruges
0:46:01 > 0:46:03would have been radically different.
0:46:03 > 0:46:07A sea inlet reached the outskirts of the city,
0:46:07 > 0:46:10linking is directly to the North Sea
0:46:10 > 0:46:15and historic ports like Ipswich and King's Lynn.
0:46:17 > 0:46:24Those links between East Anglia and Bruges I discovered for myself as a 13-year-old
0:46:24 > 0:46:28armed only with a roll of paper and a wax crayon.
0:46:32 > 0:46:39Sint-Salvator Cathedral is a wonderful place for a spot of brass rubbing.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47Unfortunately, it's now discouraged in Belgium.
0:46:49 > 0:46:54But I did a few earlier - 40 years earlier.
0:46:55 > 0:47:00The thing about these brasses is they show the shear wealth and
0:47:00 > 0:47:06prosperity of Bruges. This is a brass of one of these merchants.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09There he is with his wife and his daughter,
0:47:09 > 0:47:11and you can see down at the bottom there
0:47:11 > 0:47:14is an image of a ship.
0:47:14 > 0:47:18But these brasses also tell us about trade between England
0:47:18 > 0:47:23and Bruges, because in Ipswich there's an almost identical brass.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26It shows Thomas Pownder,
0:47:26 > 0:47:31a cloth merchant, a very wealthy man. There's his merchant's mark.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34He was not satisfied with inferior English brasses,
0:47:34 > 0:47:40but went all the way here to Bruges to get his memorial, and this is it.
0:47:44 > 0:47:51The link between Bruges and Eastern England I'd stumbled upon as a boy was centuries old,
0:47:51 > 0:47:55part of a trade alliance known as the Hanseatic League.
0:47:59 > 0:48:01This enormous medieval room
0:48:01 > 0:48:07would have been a warehouse stacked high with East Anglian wool.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10On their return the empty ships were so unstable,
0:48:10 > 0:48:14they had to be filled with Flemish bricks.
0:48:18 > 0:48:23Bricks were in big demand 700 years ago in England,
0:48:23 > 0:48:27because back then we weren't making any of our own.
0:48:27 > 0:48:32I'm hoping historian David Andrews can tell me why.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35Well, the Romans of course, had made bricks,
0:48:35 > 0:48:39but with the collapse that came after the fall of the Roman Empire
0:48:39 > 0:48:42the technology was lost throughout much of Northern Europe,
0:48:42 > 0:48:44maybe parts of the Mediterranean as well.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46So when is brick-making rediscovered?
0:48:46 > 0:48:50In the 12th century, the Cistercians are making bricks,
0:48:50 > 0:48:52and the Cistercians built this wonderful barn here.
0:48:52 > 0:48:57- It's like a cathedral, isn't it, with a sort of east window in brick?! - With tracery in brick, yes.
0:48:57 > 0:49:02Cistercian monks may have revived the art of brick-making,
0:49:02 > 0:49:06but in England were a bit slow on the uptake.
0:49:07 > 0:49:12Rather than make our own, we bought them from the Low Countries.
0:49:12 > 0:49:16We had ceramic technologies, we could make pottery, we could make roof tile
0:49:16 > 0:49:19but we don't seem to have bothered with brick.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22And what do these Flemish bricks actually look like?
0:49:22 > 0:49:25Well, I've got one from Essex here.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29So these are really grotty, I mean, you can see how soft they are.
0:49:29 > 0:49:31You could put the powder everywhere.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34Yes, they aren't marvellous bricks, but they work
0:49:34 > 0:49:36and they're quite long-lasting and durable.
0:49:36 > 0:49:41'After 700 years, this Essex brick has come home'
0:49:41 > 0:49:46to where it was made from the polder clay, the layer of mud
0:49:46 > 0:49:50left behind when the sea retreated from the land.
0:49:50 > 0:49:56'Art Vandendorpe is going to show me how to turn clay into bricks.'
0:49:56 > 0:50:01He's restored some of Bruges' most ancient buildings
0:50:01 > 0:50:04using the oldest instruction book there is.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11So this is the original description of how bricks were made in those days.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15They take the clay and they mixed them with sand,
0:50:15 > 0:50:18they put it on the table and they make the brick.
0:50:18 > 0:50:21And then they put them here in the clamp.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25- One million.- In one clamp? So that's from the polders.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28- Yes, from here.- Just from underneath the riverbank.- Yes, yes, yes.
0:50:30 > 0:50:32# Bricks, lay 'em down in a straight line
0:50:32 > 0:50:34# Bricks, build them into a wall
0:50:34 > 0:50:38# Bricks, very useful objects and they're not expensive at all. #
0:50:38 > 0:50:42Perfect! Bits of old brick, the odd shell -
0:50:42 > 0:50:44that's what makes the brick strong.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49'After several hundred years of the Flemish showing the way,
0:50:49 > 0:50:53'English brick-makers had just about got the hang of it.'
0:50:53 > 0:50:55Oh, this is an English brick!
0:50:56 > 0:50:59'Unlike me!'
0:50:59 > 0:51:02But it was the clay, the very stuff the bricks of Bruges
0:51:02 > 0:51:06were made of, that finally cut the city off from the sea.
0:51:06 > 0:51:11When the inlet silted up, gone went that trading route to Europe.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14Leaving Bruges high and dry,
0:51:14 > 0:51:19but preserved in all this medieval splendour!
0:51:29 > 0:51:33Ancient trade routes connect us to the Belgian coast,
0:51:33 > 0:51:37but we also share a deep and abiding love...of chips!
0:51:37 > 0:51:42# Chips, chips, da-dee-doo-dee-doo Chi-boom chi-boo-boom... #
0:51:42 > 0:51:47But of course, these aren't any old chips, these are Belgian fries.
0:51:47 > 0:51:52My name is Bernard Lefevre, I'm president of the National Union
0:51:52 > 0:51:56of Frituur't Steen, which is the Belgian word for fries-shopkeepers.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03Like I can imagine that British people couldn't live without tea
0:52:03 > 0:52:05or Frenchmen without wine,
0:52:05 > 0:52:07Belgians need fries.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13The first fry shops date from the period
0:52:13 > 0:52:16that Belgium was founded, the early 1800s.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24We use round pots because a good fry needs good space to swim in.
0:52:25 > 0:52:30They are having fun now, that much fun that what we say, they are starting to sing.
0:52:30 > 0:52:36And when the song is finished, well, they have to jump out.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44Our special elements of the Belgium fry is the size - it can change
0:52:44 > 0:52:49a little bit from the French border, where they are smaller, about 9mm,
0:52:49 > 0:52:53going to the German border to 14 mm.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57Standard size of Belgian fries is 10mm thick.
0:52:58 > 0:53:02It's a meal on itself, we don't need fish, and we are not really a fish country.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05We only have a little part of coast.
0:53:08 > 0:53:10Voila!
0:53:17 > 0:53:21The end of Belgium's coastal tramline delivers me to Knokke.
0:53:26 > 0:53:33It looks pretty conventional on the outside, the seafront dominated by this grand 1930s casino.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38I'm told all is not what it seems here -
0:53:38 > 0:53:41apparently there's something surreal to see.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49And it's tucked away in a back room.
0:53:51 > 0:53:53- Hello.- Hello.- I'm Nick.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56- Delphine. Nice to meet you. - Very nice to meet you.
0:53:56 > 0:54:01In the 1950s, Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte came to stay in Knokke.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05And this is what he left behind.
0:54:05 > 0:54:09LAUGHS
0:54:09 > 0:54:12My goodness! My goodness!
0:54:12 > 0:54:14It's quite a thing if you see it for the first time.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17Erm, yeah, it certainly is, isn't it?
0:54:21 > 0:54:25If you don't know Magritte's name, you might well recognise his images.
0:54:25 > 0:54:30This 360-degree mural displays some of his best-known work.
0:54:33 > 0:54:35It's a dreamscape, isn't it?
0:54:35 > 0:54:39Not necessarily a very healthy dream - we've got a woman with
0:54:39 > 0:54:43a fish's head, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa restring on a feather.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45How did the citizens of Knokke react?
0:54:45 > 0:54:47They rather like it, I think.
0:54:50 > 0:54:52In 1953,
0:54:52 > 0:54:57the casino owner here persuaded the surrealist and former wallpaper designer
0:54:57 > 0:55:01to make a rare visit to the coast and decorate the walls of this establishment.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04Magritte called the end result the enchanted domain.
0:55:07 > 0:55:11Enchanting maybe, odd certainly, but look closer.
0:55:18 > 0:55:23Magritte's vision seems strangely in tune with the Belgium we've experienced.
0:55:26 > 0:55:31The surrealist re-imagined the world in the name of art.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34But another local visionary who reimagined the world for
0:55:34 > 0:55:38practical reasons is waiting at the end of my journey.
0:55:40 > 0:55:45Because it was along this coast that a 16th-century map-maker
0:55:45 > 0:55:49of huge significance spent his formative years.
0:55:49 > 0:55:55He also happens to be a hero of mine. His name - Gerard Mercator.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01Ships like this navigate safely today because of a method of
0:56:01 > 0:56:03map-making devised by Mercator.
0:56:03 > 0:56:08Even in here, surrounded by all this hi-tech equipment, this modern map
0:56:08 > 0:56:12carries the name of a man born 500 years ago.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15Mercator cracked a complex puzzle.
0:56:15 > 0:56:19Paper maps are flat, but as you step back from the world,
0:56:19 > 0:56:22it's clear the planet isn't flat at all.
0:56:22 > 0:56:23He worked out the maths
0:56:23 > 0:56:27to project the 3D world onto a two-dimensional sheet.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32Mercator's projection meant seafarers could for the first time
0:56:32 > 0:56:37navigate precisely around the three-dimensional globe.
0:56:37 > 0:56:42In Antwerp, you can see the original chart that changed the world.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46This is it, this is the map that turned Mercator
0:56:46 > 0:56:50into the first modern map-maker, it was completely revolutionary.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53It's really a navigational device.
0:56:53 > 0:56:57What he did was to keep all the lines of longitude parallel.
0:56:57 > 0:57:02Of course, normally on the globe they all converge at the two poles,
0:57:02 > 0:57:05but what he did was prise them apart and straighten them.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08What you end up with is quite a distorted map, but the sheer
0:57:08 > 0:57:13brilliance of this map is in what it does with the use of compasses.
0:57:13 > 0:57:17If you lie a compass on this map for example between Bristol and Cuba,
0:57:17 > 0:57:20and want to get the bearing, you take your bearing off the map,
0:57:20 > 0:57:23and then you can stand on the deck of your ship and the identical
0:57:23 > 0:57:26bearing will take you straight from Bristol to Cuba.
0:57:26 > 0:57:28No other map projection will do that.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30It was a work of sheer brilliance.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33Mercator called it the squaring of the circle.
0:57:40 > 0:57:44Mercator's genius vision, his projection of the earth onto
0:57:44 > 0:57:49accurate navigation charts, opened up the globe to Europeans.
0:57:49 > 0:57:54Trade blossomed and mighty estuaries became gateways to the world.
0:58:06 > 0:58:12People, goods and ideas flow between nations connected by their coastlines.
0:58:12 > 0:58:19It gives us a common bond with our neighbours, stories we continue to explore around our coast and beyond!
0:58:40 > 0:58:44Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:44 > 0:58:48E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk