0:00:36 > 0:00:41I was so nearly born an American, I came that close.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44In the 1950s, my father was offered a job at Princeton University
0:00:44 > 0:00:46and he turned it down.
0:00:46 > 0:00:51And so I was born not in NJ, but in NW3.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53And I was born a Stephen, not a Steve.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58But ever since I found this out at a later age,
0:00:58 > 0:01:00I've been intensely curious to discover more
0:01:00 > 0:01:03about the world of my other self -
0:01:03 > 0:01:05this strange American, Steve.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11MUSIC: "America" from West Side Story
0:01:45 > 0:01:49Over the next months I and a trusty London cab,
0:01:49 > 0:01:51albeit one hired in the US,
0:01:51 > 0:01:53will be visiting each and every one
0:01:53 > 0:01:56of the 50 of the United States Of America
0:01:56 > 0:02:00to explore the continent that I came so close to calling home.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04In this episode, I shall be travelling through the heart
0:02:04 > 0:02:06of the region called New England,
0:02:06 > 0:02:10before heading south to New York City and thence to New Jersey,
0:02:10 > 0:02:15Delaware, Maryland and on to Washington DC and Pennsylvania.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18The first stage of my journey is Maine,
0:02:18 > 0:02:22and I'm at the very easternmost tip of the USA in the town of Eastport.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25This is the lobster capital of the world
0:02:25 > 0:02:27and I'm out on the water with the McPheil family,
0:02:27 > 0:02:31who've been harvesting the bottom of the sea for three generations.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34- So what do I do?- Make a pocket, make handfuls,
0:02:34 > 0:02:36get it nice and tight, stitch it up.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40- OK.- But you've got to make sure it stays closed, so the crabs don't pick the bait out.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43- Nice and tight so they pick through here.- Oh, I see.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47What would you say is the view most Americans have
0:02:47 > 0:02:49of the State of Maine?
0:02:49 > 0:02:51- Pine trees!- Pine trees?
0:02:51 > 0:02:53- Moose, someone told me.- Moose.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55The animal, not the pudding.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59A lot of people think of lobsters but they don't realise how much work goes into it.
0:02:59 > 0:03:00Maine lobster of course, yeah.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04- Three out of four lobsters sold in America are Maine lobsters. - That's what they say.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08What about the people? What is the characteristic of someone from Maine?
0:03:08 > 0:03:12- What do you call yourselves? Mainians? Maniacs? - I've been called worse!
0:03:12 > 0:03:15- What is the word? Is there an official word? - Hard workers, I guess.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19Is that the view people have of Maine people?
0:03:19 > 0:03:23I've worked away and when you mention you're from Maine, they'll hire you on the spot.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28- No job application, nothing.- Really? - A good characteristic to have, I guess.- Superb.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30These hardy New Englanders are mainly
0:03:30 > 0:03:31of Scottish and Irish descent,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34and have in spades that strong puritan work ethic
0:03:34 > 0:03:37which has shaped so much of this country.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39Oh, no. I've broken this one!
0:03:39 > 0:03:40That's coming out of your pay.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44- So how old do you reckon that sort of size is?- This lobster?- Yeah.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47- I'd say it's probably 10, 12 years old.- Really?
0:03:47 > 0:03:48How much would you sell that for?
0:03:48 > 0:03:51- That's probably worth 20, 25 dollars. - 25 dollars?- Boat price.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55- By the time it's got to the restaurant?- Probably 60, 70 dollars.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59- Yeah, it's not a fair world is it? With the farmer, the fishermen... - We do all the work.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01- Absolutely.- The hardest part.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04- We do the hardest part. - I know. You said "hardest part" -
0:04:04 > 0:04:10now that's a bit like Boston, isn't it? It sounds almost Australian. "Hardest?" It's really unusual.
0:04:10 > 0:04:16Back in Eastport, and the morning's catch is unloaded at Bob Del Papa's Chowder House.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20Angus McPheil, lobster patriarch, has been lobstering all his life
0:04:20 > 0:04:23and knows a thing or two about these snappy insects of the deep.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26When you say "put to sleep", what does that mean exactly?
0:04:26 > 0:04:29- How can you...?- Oh, just, you know, we usually...
0:04:29 > 0:04:31play with them, kind of, you know...
0:04:31 > 0:04:32stand it out,
0:04:32 > 0:04:34kinda put their claws down...
0:04:34 > 0:04:35- Yeah...- Rub their back,
0:04:35 > 0:04:38kind of puts them paralysed, like...
0:04:38 > 0:04:40So, it's now in a trance?
0:04:40 > 0:04:43Can I try that? Cos they're definitely awake, aren't they?
0:04:43 > 0:04:45- Oh, yeah, they're alive. - I mean that's...whoa!
0:04:45 > 0:04:49See look, he's flapping away, so hang on, let's...
0:04:49 > 0:04:51we put him down like this,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54claws in a position... Is that right?
0:04:54 > 0:04:55Yep. Just kind of...
0:04:55 > 0:04:58HE SINGS A LULLABY
0:05:03 > 0:05:04Look at that!
0:05:05 > 0:05:07Here we go.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14It's gone. I feel a bit cruel, but on the other hand...
0:05:14 > 0:05:15Yay!
0:05:15 > 0:05:16HE GASPS
0:05:16 > 0:05:19They just...they're transformed, aren't they?
0:05:19 > 0:05:21So different from the little brown speckly thing
0:05:21 > 0:05:23you pull out the ocean. It's amazing.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26- It's a lobster bib. You put it over your head... - HE LAUGHS
0:05:26 > 0:05:31- Oh, yeah and tie it around your back. Oh, yeah.- Oh, my. - Maine people don't do that.
0:05:31 > 0:05:32HE LAUGHS
0:05:32 > 0:05:35Oh, great. Thank you! So suddenly, I'm the only one with one.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39Where did this taxi cab come from? Did you have trouble?
0:05:39 > 0:05:43Well, the thing is, Bob, in London I actually drive a taxi around.
0:05:43 > 0:05:44I'm not a taxi driver.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47- I was going to say, is that your profession, taxi cab?- No.- Oh, OK.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49No, many people think it should be,
0:05:49 > 0:05:53but it's just a very useful way of getting around the city!
0:06:03 > 0:06:06So I leave Eastport and head south,
0:06:06 > 0:06:10then west towards New Hampshire, my second state.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16New Hampshire is well-known for its role
0:06:16 > 0:06:18in the US presidential primaries.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22Over the gruelling months of these preliminary elections,
0:06:22 > 0:06:26all the presidential hopefuls trek to every corner of this small state,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29each trying to convince the suddenly important New Hampshirite,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32that they have what it takes to be chosen to lead their party
0:06:32 > 0:06:35in the race to be the most powerful person on Earth.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37Ah, fabulous.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40Or Leader Of The Free World, as Americans prefer to put it.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42How many here are Redsocks fans?
0:06:42 > 0:06:44CHEERING
0:06:45 > 0:06:48How many are also Yankees fans?
0:06:48 > 0:06:50BOOING
0:06:50 > 0:06:53How many of these kind of things does he do a day?
0:06:53 > 0:06:57Erm, it depends on the schedule but today we have like, two major events
0:06:57 > 0:07:00- and then a house party, which is our next event.- A house party?
0:07:00 > 0:07:03- Yes. So it's a little smaller, more informal.- Intimate?
0:07:03 > 0:07:06- He meets more people and actually shakes their hands?- Yeah.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09But normally we can have, like, even five in a day.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14- Yeah, and you've no idea what kind of people will be or what the questions will be?- No, no.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16He just takes them as they come in.
0:07:16 > 0:07:22That school in Maine that recently is allowing birth control for a middle school,
0:07:22 > 0:07:23it's unbelievable.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26Well, there's no question in my view
0:07:26 > 0:07:29that one of the ways that you help instil, if you will, family values,
0:07:29 > 0:07:35is by having the White House be a place that demonstrates family values.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38- Stephen Fry, I'm from the BBC. - Nice to see you again.
0:07:38 > 0:07:43- Your lovely Deirdre has been very kind to us.- Which way? We've got a picture in here.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46For me the moral line that I would not cross -
0:07:46 > 0:07:49and we had this in Massachusetts, is what would we make legal?
0:07:49 > 0:07:53Well, there you are. Politics on the stump. It's rather marvellous.
0:07:53 > 0:07:54It's very American.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56It's a mixture of Halloween and clapboard houses
0:07:56 > 0:07:59and sort of hokey politics, but it's rather splendid.
0:07:59 > 0:08:04I don't think we have anything like this in Britain and, er, I have to say one can only approve.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09I don't think he knew the questions and yes, it's the house of a supporter,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12but he seemed to answer very well. I'm more interested in the process, though.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16Democrat or Republican, it wouldn't matter, it's the style...
0:08:16 > 0:08:20and I find it very likeable, very amiable, very American in that sense.
0:08:20 > 0:08:25It's casual and I think all Americans have a sense of great connection and pride
0:08:25 > 0:08:29about their democratic beginnings, and their sense of being involved
0:08:29 > 0:08:31in the democratic process.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35And that's something we could learn in Britain.
0:08:40 > 0:08:41100 miles north,
0:08:41 > 0:08:43and the White Mountains of New Hampshire
0:08:43 > 0:08:45that straddle the border with Canada.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49The Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52built in 1902, has an illustrious past.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54I'd heard of Bretton Woods, but wasn't sure what it was -
0:08:54 > 0:08:55well, it's this place.
0:08:55 > 0:09:00It was an international conference held here in 1944 that set up the World Bank,
0:09:00 > 0:09:04the International Monetary Fund, tied world currencies to the dollar,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07set up the gold standard at 35 an ounce...
0:09:07 > 0:09:10Everything our prosperity depends on, really, started here.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13Because for the first time in history,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17instead of destroying the enemy, we set up conditions to rebuild.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19And that's why Germany prospered in the '50s,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22and that's why we all prospered too.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32The Bretton Woods agreement and all that it stood for
0:09:32 > 0:09:35is an enduring monument to American enlightened self-interest,
0:09:35 > 0:09:40at a time when the US was at the peak of its power at the end of World War Two.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43If only it were that simple, these days...
0:10:00 > 0:10:03- Thank you.- Thank you.- Have a good trip.- Thank you very much.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06My name is Mike, I'm going to be your brakeman today.
0:10:06 > 0:10:12Back in the cab we have Joe and Pete, they're going to be our engineer and our fireman.
0:10:17 > 0:10:22I'm on the world's first and still the greatest cog railway,
0:10:22 > 0:10:24heading all the way to the top of the highest peak
0:10:24 > 0:10:28in the north east of America, Mount Washington.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32It's an exhilarating ride on a dizzying gradient.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34When was this line built?
0:10:34 > 0:10:36The line was built and established 1869.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39- They actually started work on it 1866...- Wow.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42and it took three years and 100 men to build the original tracks.
0:10:42 > 0:10:48And, erm, the amount of fuel that you use for one of these journeys, how much coal?
0:10:48 > 0:10:51- We use a ton of coal.- Really?
0:10:51 > 0:10:53Much more efficient than previous trains
0:10:53 > 0:10:56when the original trains were actually wood trains.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59- And how much water does it take? - It takes about 1,000 gallons.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03Just from the base to here we're going to burn about 300 gallons.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08- Was it built for any purpose other than tourism?- Nope, solely for tourism.- Right.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12- They used to have a hotel at the top.- A hotel at the top of the mountain?- Yep.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16Mount Washington, or Agiocochook in the Native American language,
0:11:16 > 0:11:20meaning "home of the great spirit", is the windiest place on the planet.
0:11:20 > 0:11:26That's official. 231 miles per hour recorded on the 12th April, 1934.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28But luckily, not today.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31I'm on the summit of Mount Washington.
0:11:31 > 0:11:356,300 feet up and around me, all of New England lies.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39There's New York State, Connecticut, there's Maine and Vermont,
0:11:39 > 0:11:44and we are right in the middle of course, well, at the top half of New Hampshire.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57Vermont, literally "green mountain", vert mont from the French
0:11:57 > 0:12:02who initially colonised this land is very green, very wet and very milky.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05Half a million cows worth, and from that milk
0:12:05 > 0:12:08comes something that is as American as Apple Pie,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11yet at the very cutting edge of culinary science.
0:12:11 > 0:12:1630 years ago, two hippies called Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield
0:12:16 > 0:12:18started making ice-cream here in Vermont.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Ben and Jerry's phenomenal success is built on continuously
0:12:22 > 0:12:26experimenting with unusual new flavours and names.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28So let's see what I can do.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30We're going to start with our base.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34- We've got vanilla ice-cream because we understand you are a fan? - I do love vanilla.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37And it is a perfect base for any inclusions that you put in,
0:12:37 > 0:12:42- any of the pieces or chunks. We've got a nice variety for you to choose from.- Toffee candy bars!
0:12:42 > 0:12:44Between nuts, cookie pieces, er...
0:12:44 > 0:12:48That's a very Ben and Jerry's thing, that you have real pieces, not just little bits.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51- We like big hunks of chocolate. - Can I put these in?- Yeah.
0:12:51 > 0:12:56- I'd say dump a good number of them and we'll have you stir that. - Oh, yeah. Walnuts, I think.
0:12:56 > 0:13:01- Something a little more of your palate would be nice.- Walnuts, a little touch of sophistication.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04That's what you're bringing to this! HE LAUGHS
0:13:04 > 0:13:07Part of the Ben and Jerry's motif is we have to come up with a good name.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10- A catchy name helps a flavour greatly.- Oh, right.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14I was thinking possibly we could either go with Even Stephen... HE LAUGHS
0:13:14 > 0:13:18and maybe do a little, like a blend of flavours down the side.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21I'll tell you what though, it's quite cold!
0:13:21 > 0:13:23Yeah. That's how we make it.
0:13:23 > 0:13:29One last one, and then we can do some of the true test which is actually going to be eating the product.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31- Wow.- Now squeeze together in there..
0:13:35 > 0:13:39- Oh, I think we've got a winner, don't you?- It's pretty good.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43Right, fresh samples today, folks. This is going to be a real treat.
0:13:43 > 0:13:48Ladies and gentlemen, I've mixed my own unique flavour which we're calling Even Stephen
0:13:48 > 0:13:53and I'd like to know what you think, I think it's good, it's not too sweet and it delivers.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55Anxious to know your opinion.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57- Very good.- Mmm. - That's the walnuts!
0:13:57 > 0:14:00Walnuts might be very crunchy.
0:14:00 > 0:14:05The toffee's chewy, I wanted a chewiness and a crunchiness and a yielding mouth feel.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09I'm making these words up as I go along, but they sound reasonably professional to me.
0:14:09 > 0:14:10- Sounds good!- Oh, thank you.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12It's that feeling of comfort you get.
0:14:12 > 0:14:17An ice-cream delivers that in a hard and harsh and unpleasant world.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20- We NEED ice-cream, that's my feeling. - THEY LAUGH
0:14:24 > 0:14:30And so we say farewell, Vermont, state of Ben and land of Jerry
0:14:30 > 0:14:32and we say hail, New York,
0:14:32 > 0:14:37but not New York City, not the New York of Manhattan and Broadway.
0:14:37 > 0:14:44This is New York State, a vast land dominated by the Adirondack chain of mountains with Niagara at the top,
0:14:44 > 0:14:46they say it's the size of England.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00The Adirondack Mountains were the first playground
0:15:00 > 0:15:05of the super wealthy of that gilded age back at the beginning of the 20th century.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09The Rockefellers and Vanderbilts built their so-called great camps
0:15:09 > 0:15:12in the cool hills to escape the humid cities
0:15:12 > 0:15:14where they'd made their millions.
0:15:14 > 0:15:19But it was camping in a style and opulence never seen before or since.
0:15:33 > 0:15:40This is Top Ridge, built originally by breakfast cereal heiress Marjorie Merriwether Post,
0:15:40 > 0:15:42and now owned by a rich Texan family,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45though it's Lawrence Leicester, the long serving caretaker,
0:15:45 > 0:15:47who opens up the house for me.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51- How many weeks of the year would the family be here?- About eight weeks.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53- Eight weeks?- Eight weeks each year.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56Oh, oh. Gosh.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00Isn't that something?
0:16:05 > 0:16:06Holy Moly!
0:16:08 > 0:16:10Some sort of animal skin, isn't it?
0:16:12 > 0:16:15That rather beats the headdress that I had when I was a little boy.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19Crikey, that's a staircase.
0:16:19 > 0:16:26What I love about this is that most rich Americans try to build houses that look European,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29like chateaux or English castles but this is 100% American.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33Everything about it is American. Skins and antlers,
0:16:33 > 0:16:38everything's made of, sort of, it's a cabin,
0:16:38 > 0:16:43but it's cabin as re-interpreted by someone with all the money in the world, really.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58But it's not only the elite rich who come to the Adirondacks, plenty of blue collar workers come
0:16:58 > 0:17:03to pursue their love of the great American outdoors, an outdoors that teems with game.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07There's a hunting season for practically everything - bear, moose, squirrel, otter,
0:17:07 > 0:17:11beaver, porcupine, great cat and small cat, weasel and wolverine.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14You name it, they shoot it or trap it.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17Right now, it's white-tailed deer season.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Here we've got some fresh deer nuggets, deer poo...
0:17:21 > 0:17:25..and what we do with that, occasionally, is we'll rub that on our clothing,
0:17:25 > 0:17:30- get it all over us so we smell like the deer...- Oh.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35..occasionally we roll in the leaves, you want to get rid of your human scent as much as possible.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38What does it actually smell like? Let me smell.
0:17:38 > 0:17:39Deer poo?
0:17:39 > 0:17:43- Yeah. That's, there's worse poo than that.- Oh, yeah.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45But it's still poo, isn't it?
0:17:45 > 0:17:49My clothes and that, I don't wash till the end of season. I change my underwear once or twice.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51- You do?- A couple times.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56- How does your wife respond to you smelling like that?- My ex-wife doesn't respond any more.- Ah.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59- What's the plan, Bill? - Now we're gonna come up here,
0:17:59 > 0:18:04we're gonna separate, and we're gonna get a couple of watchers over here to the right.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07We're going to wait just a couple of minutes, let you guys get up in there.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13So they're bedded right now and we're gonna jump them right out their nice warm bed.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17You wouldn't mind if I said shall we shoot the deer
0:18:17 > 0:18:22- in the sense of with a camera rather than with a gun.- We could do that. - We can let them go? Cos I am...
0:18:22 > 0:18:24Catch and release.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26- I do eat meat but...- Yeah.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28I'm afraid I don't think I could bear the sight
0:18:28 > 0:18:31- of a deer being killed. - We can do that.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37They call this the green side of the Big Apple.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40- Right. That's very good. - That's what they call us.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42Not the rotten core.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44Yeah, and...
0:18:44 > 0:18:48- and people in New York City don't even know this is here.- No.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52And the wind'll make a difference because if the wind was blowing
0:18:52 > 0:18:55from behind us, they would smell us and avoid...
0:18:55 > 0:18:57Deer are always gonna run into the wind.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59Oh, is that right?
0:18:59 > 0:19:02They'd rather smell what's ahead of 'em and know what's out there,
0:19:02 > 0:19:05than look behind 'em to see what's following.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09- There's something following 'em but they'll always go into the wind. - Yeah.
0:19:23 > 0:19:24RUSTLING
0:19:28 > 0:19:29RUSTLING
0:19:31 > 0:19:33RUSTLING
0:19:42 > 0:19:43Well, do I see it?
0:19:43 > 0:19:45See what?
0:19:45 > 0:19:47I just...just now.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52Had the cross hairs on it.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59If I'd been 50 yards lower, it would have had to come this way.
0:20:02 > 0:20:03Did you see me up on the hill?
0:20:03 > 0:20:05- At any point?- No.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08I look and I go, "Look at that! There goes a tail."
0:20:08 > 0:20:10Right by Mullarney's Rock.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17Instead of driving straight down to New York City,
0:20:17 > 0:20:19I'm heading back to the coast,
0:20:19 > 0:20:21and into the State of Massachusetts,
0:20:21 > 0:20:25the town most people associate with the War Of Independence.
0:20:27 > 0:20:28Well, here's the city of Boston,
0:20:28 > 0:20:31regarded by many Americans as the cradle of the revolution.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34By revolution, they mean the independence wars
0:20:34 > 0:20:37in which they fought us, the British,
0:20:37 > 0:20:41for the right to govern themselves. And it all came to a head here, actually,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44we're on the very bridge where the harbour was,
0:20:44 > 0:20:46where a famous tea party took place.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50What it actually was all about was money, as so many things are.
0:20:50 > 0:20:55The Colonists, as they were known, the Americans, were fed up
0:20:55 > 0:21:00with paying taxes to a parliament that didn't actually represent them.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04There were no American MPs and yet they had to pay taxes.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08And so their cry was, "No taxation without representation."
0:21:08 > 0:21:12And things came to a head when the British put an extra tax on tea
0:21:12 > 0:21:15so when a ship arrived with this tea,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18they dressed up as what were then called Red Indians -
0:21:18 > 0:21:22native American tribesmen - and dumped the whole lot
0:21:22 > 0:21:25into the harbour. Worth...now it would be hundreds of thousands,
0:21:25 > 0:21:31if not millions of pounds. It was one of the sparks that lit the tinder of the whole revolution.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35How fitting then that I'm dropping in on a tea party
0:21:35 > 0:21:39at one of the country's most famous institutions, Harvard University.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43My host is Harvard's pastor and professor of divinity, Peter Gomes,
0:21:43 > 0:21:45a black gay Republican Baptist,
0:21:45 > 0:21:48with a very British way with a cup of tea.
0:21:48 > 0:21:49- Gomes!- You've made my day.
0:21:49 > 0:21:54- You've made my year. - I'm so thrilled to actually see you in the flesh!
0:21:54 > 0:21:56- You are nice. - I even read your books!
0:21:56 > 0:22:02- Well, you are one of a glistening minority of discriminatory people. - That's all right...
0:22:02 > 0:22:0716 years, I think I'm right in saying, after the pilgrims hit Plymouth Rock,
0:22:07 > 0:22:11a Cambridge man founded a university here in this very place.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13Good man, John Harvard.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15Now, I have to make one modest correction.
0:22:15 > 0:22:20He didn't "found" the place, but he did something far more important than founding it,
0:22:20 > 0:22:22he supported it, he gave it, er...
0:22:22 > 0:22:27all of his books, half of his money and the legislator gave it his name.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30- Ah, so it already existed before. - It already existed.
0:22:30 > 0:22:36Not very long and it probably would have died in its cradle were it not for benefactions from John Harvard.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40America often strikes me as entirely a land of contradictions,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43almost anything you can say is true about it,
0:22:43 > 0:22:45the opposite is true as well. It's a land of the free
0:22:45 > 0:22:49and of a classless society, and yet it's ritzier in New York
0:22:49 > 0:22:52in certain places, and certainly in Newport,
0:22:52 > 0:22:55than it is in Britain, there's more class consciousness...
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Which is what makes it an interesting country,
0:22:58 > 0:23:01and a country that has a fascinating present
0:23:01 > 0:23:04largely because it had to make up its past,
0:23:04 > 0:23:09it doesn't have this long unbroken romantic stretch
0:23:09 > 0:23:11to some primeval moment.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14So you, you make things happen, you know?
0:23:14 > 0:23:20Another reason that you have these examples of conspicuous wealth
0:23:20 > 0:23:25is we can afford it. We've still got it, for better or worse.
0:23:25 > 0:23:31People still aspire to enormous wealth, money's not a bad thing.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34Puritans were not afraid of money at all.
0:23:34 > 0:23:39Yes. Gore Vidal says that the puritans didn't leave Britain
0:23:39 > 0:23:43and go to America so as to be free from persecution,
0:23:43 > 0:23:45they went so they could be free to persecute.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47HE LAUGHS
0:23:47 > 0:23:51Well, there is alas more truth to that than I would like to admit
0:23:51 > 0:23:54as a former President of the Pilgrims Society,
0:23:54 > 0:23:59but it is true that they did NOT come to the New World
0:23:59 > 0:24:06to set up some utopian, "I'm OK, you're OK" society. That was not at all what it was,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09they came to set up a just and righteous society,
0:24:09 > 0:24:13and that usually means that somebody's unjust and unrighteous.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17And there were religious people saying that the reason for 9/11 was because
0:24:17 > 0:24:22there were gays and decadence in New York and that was the reason, but you're not having any of that?
0:24:22 > 0:24:27One of the many things one can say about this country is that we dislike complexity,
0:24:27 > 0:24:33so we will make simple solutions to everything that we possibly can.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37Even when the complex answer is obviously the correct answer,
0:24:37 > 0:24:41or intriguing answer, we want a simple yes or no,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44or a flat-out this, or an absolutely certain that...
0:24:44 > 0:24:49and the notion that God could have two thoughts simultaneously
0:24:49 > 0:24:53and people adhere to him who don't look or talk like us
0:24:53 > 0:24:56is just hard for many Americans to believe.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01The persecution and intolerance that characterised
0:25:01 > 0:25:04the early days of the conquest of the New World
0:25:04 > 0:25:07were never more clearly seen than here in the town of Salem,
0:25:07 > 0:25:09on the outskirts of Boston.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13The witch trials of 1692 obsessed the colonies.
0:25:13 > 0:25:18Of the 150 women accused, 19 were eventually hanged.
0:25:18 > 0:25:23Today is Halloween and modern Salem is awash with witches once more,
0:25:23 > 0:25:27some more serious than others.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31Laurie Cabot, the high priestess of Salem, is a stout defender
0:25:31 > 0:25:34of their civil right to practise their religion.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38Are you really a witch? Is Wiccan your religion?
0:25:38 > 0:25:40- Is that the word for it? - Witchcraft is my religion.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45Erm, Wicca has become a colloquialism meaning witchcraft,
0:25:45 > 0:25:49you know, so people don't have to say the "W" word.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51- Right.- But it's witchcraft, yes,
0:25:51 > 0:25:55- and it is a legal religion in America, you know.- It's recognised?
0:25:55 > 0:25:58It's recognised by the Constitution.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01- Right.- And protected, supposedly. Hopefully.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05Christianity wasn't kind to witchcraft, or supposed witchcraft.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08- Here in Salem, the most famous... - Right, that was not witchcraft.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12That was a Christian definition of the word "witch",
0:26:12 > 0:26:14and then applied to people, you know,
0:26:14 > 0:26:17that they wanted to get rid of, I think,
0:26:17 > 0:26:21or take their properties, but it was the wrong definition.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25Christianity still has the wrong definition of what witches are.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29ANNOUNCER: As we get ready for our circle...
0:26:29 > 0:26:32Tonight is the opening of both worlds.
0:26:32 > 0:26:37- The world of our ancestors and our world.- And you don't call it Halloween, do you?
0:26:37 > 0:26:39Oh, absolutely not.
0:26:39 > 0:26:40- What do you call it?- Erm...Samhain.
0:26:40 > 0:26:45- Samhain?- Samhain. Erm, it is a night, one of the most holy nights,
0:26:45 > 0:26:51because we're starting our new year, Summer is over, winter is starting.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55We're calling upon our ancestors' spirits to speak to us,
0:26:55 > 0:26:58to come and lend us their wisdom.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01- Right. So that's the connection with the dead rising, is it?- Exactly.
0:27:01 > 0:27:08The frosted air blows and changes...
0:27:10 > 0:27:16..changes summer to winter and the wheel of the year turns once more...
0:27:19 > 0:27:21Love you.
0:27:22 > 0:27:23Yes!
0:27:23 > 0:27:26Happy New Year! Happy New Year.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32Well, as a matter of fact, it's no longer Halloween.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34It's actually All Hallows Day or if you're a witch,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37it's the beginning of a mad, merry new year.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41Or if you're a Stephen, it's bedtime.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45This is Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48and a little further down the coast is my next state, Connecticut.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51But somehow I seem to be helping crew the Weatherly,
0:27:51 > 0:27:56a 12 metre class yacht which won the Americas Cup back in 1962.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00This is sailing as it should be and my crew, unlike me,
0:28:00 > 0:28:04have that fit confidence and blonde assurance that have inspired a million Ralph Lauren
0:28:04 > 0:28:06and Tommy Hilfiger commercials.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Very American, very attractive. Slightly too perfect.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35The crew are giving me a lift down the coast on my way to a different
0:28:35 > 0:28:37but no less exciting type of boat.
0:28:37 > 0:28:42Groton in Connecticut is home to the US Navy nuclear submarine force,
0:28:42 > 0:28:47the undersea guarantors of the deadly authority of the world's only superpower.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59Oh, Lord. Am I going down there?
0:29:01 > 0:29:04Ooh, this is not me at my best.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08And this, Stephen, is the control room.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11This is where we dive and drive the boat from.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15This guy steers the boat and the outboard station that works, excuse me...
0:29:15 > 0:29:20Yes, the outboard station over here is in charge of the stern...
0:29:20 > 0:29:25So you really literally steer it in these seats rather like a kind of gaming arcade.
0:29:25 > 0:29:27Absolutely, absolutely.
0:29:27 > 0:29:28And is that what I think it is?
0:29:28 > 0:29:30- Is that a periscope?- It is.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32Oh, I say, I couldn't, could I?
0:29:32 > 0:29:35It's a long ambition of mine, the idea that I would one day...
0:29:35 > 0:29:38Raising number one periscope!
0:29:38 > 0:29:40Up scope. Aah!
0:29:41 > 0:29:47- Oh, my God!- This is a little more old fashioned than the number two periscope.- Old fashioned is good.
0:29:47 > 0:29:49Oh, my. Oh, my.
0:29:49 > 0:29:52The zoom is fantastic.
0:29:52 > 0:29:54Oh, a kitchen!
0:29:54 > 0:29:56Oh, my word.
0:29:57 > 0:29:59HE LAUGHS
0:29:59 > 0:30:02Oh, good, we're going to sit down and eat.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05- So what do you call this, a mess? - A crew's mess, yes.- A crew's mess.
0:30:05 > 0:30:09It's where the crew eats, the officers have a separate messing area.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13- They have a ward room.- Yep. Oh, they do get looked after a bit more, do they get served?
0:30:13 > 0:30:17- They do get served, yeah.- So you've got 100 and how many mariners?- 30.
0:30:17 > 0:30:22- 130. So obviously you have to do it in staggered shifts. - Absolutely. 24 at a time.
0:30:22 > 0:30:23- HE LAUGHS - Oh, I like that.
0:30:23 > 0:30:28And do women fall on you like that if they've heard you've volunteered?
0:30:28 > 0:30:31- Well, I'm married, Stephen... - You wouldn't want that to happen, sorry!
0:30:31 > 0:30:34What's your average tour down...submerged?
0:30:34 > 0:30:36Six, between six and eight months.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38Six and eight months!
0:30:38 > 0:30:43In this cramped environment with 130 other...men and women or just men?
0:30:43 > 0:30:48Just men, just men. We're pretty much the only submarine force left that hasn't incorporated women.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50That's quite surprising. That's interesting.
0:30:50 > 0:30:55- Is that simply because there isn't room for extra facilities and so on? - Correct, yeah.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59- We'd have to have a different head, or bathroom... - Yeah.- Loo, I guess you'd say.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02No, I think in the British Navy, they say heads as well, but...
0:31:02 > 0:31:06And different berthing areas. We just don't have the facilities right now.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09So six months? Is that because after that people start going mad?
0:31:09 > 0:31:15Er, actually, the only thing that limits how long we can be underway is the amount of food that we can carry,
0:31:15 > 0:31:17so six months is usually how long,
0:31:17 > 0:31:20but we can stay out indefinitely if we could carry the food.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23Oh my goodness, are these the quarters? They look...
0:31:23 > 0:31:26That's one of the three main berthing areas on the ship,
0:31:26 > 0:31:28or the boat as we call it.
0:31:28 > 0:31:30So, privacy is not a word that you're used to?
0:31:30 > 0:31:31No. Not at all. STEPHEN LAUGHS
0:31:31 > 0:31:34- This is a torpedo?- It is a torpedo.
0:31:34 > 0:31:39It's a fully functioning torpedo, the only exception is because it's painted orange,
0:31:39 > 0:31:42that means it's an exercise weapon, so it doesn't have explosive in it.
0:31:42 > 0:31:47- Oh, OK. And this? - This is a, er...Tomahawk missile.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51Whoa, Tomahawk! So that's a really serious piece of weaponry?
0:31:51 > 0:31:54- It is.- That can travel how far?
0:31:54 > 0:31:57Er, over 1,000 nautical miles and hit the area the size of a chalkboard.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06This is Newport, Rhode Island.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12This is the dead centre of town.
0:32:12 > 0:32:15- HE LAUGHS - The dead centre of town!
0:32:19 > 0:32:26These enormous houses, or cottages as the rich call them with rather knowing irony, I think,
0:32:26 > 0:32:30they were just here for the fresh air that Newport offers as opposed to the stifling humidity
0:32:30 > 0:32:36of New York in the summer months, so they were only lived in for a very short period of time.
0:32:36 > 0:32:41Now, they're mostly owned by the Preservation Trust that tries to keep them
0:32:41 > 0:32:47from falling down because the kind of multi-billionaires who live now don't want to live in this style.
0:32:47 > 0:32:49Amazing.
0:32:49 > 0:32:53Oatsie Charles is the doyen of Newport's old money.
0:32:53 > 0:32:57She now lives in converted stables attached to one of these so-called cottages,
0:32:57 > 0:33:01a house that was once home to the celebrated novelist of Newport's heyday, Edith Wharton.
0:33:01 > 0:33:06- Can you tell me why they call them cottages and why they came here? - Snob appeal, I guess.
0:33:06 > 0:33:11- They thought it was funny to build a huge mansion and call it a cottage?- I wasn't here then!
0:33:11 > 0:33:14No, you weren't! But you know about the history?
0:33:14 > 0:33:17- There's your drink... don't forget that. - HE LAUGHS
0:33:17 > 0:33:19So there...
0:33:19 > 0:33:21is a very beautiful girl.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23Who would that be?
0:33:23 > 0:33:28- That's Mammy Whiting.- And who's the lovely girl on the right?- That's me.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31That's you. I can recognise those cheekbones and that jawline.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33We dressed every night for dinner.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36We went out practically every night.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39The houses were still fully staffed.
0:33:39 > 0:33:41- Hmm.- And formally staffed.
0:33:41 > 0:33:43I mean, you know, footmans...
0:33:43 > 0:33:45- In livery?- In livery.
0:33:45 > 0:33:47- Yeah.- What's that word?- Livery.
0:33:47 > 0:33:49- HE LAUGHS - It sounds weird! Uniform.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51- Not weird.- You don't use "livery"?
0:33:51 > 0:33:54And what kind of sizes of staff are we talking about in...
0:33:54 > 0:33:57back in the day when it was really the place?
0:33:57 > 0:34:01- I would think at a minimum ten or twelve.- Right.
0:34:01 > 0:34:07One of the people who lived here was the great novelist Edith Wharton, who was the chronicler, really,
0:34:07 > 0:34:11the nonpareil of, er, of the upper...what do they call the upper?
0:34:11 > 0:34:14- Classes.- The upper classes. It was a number, she had...
0:34:14 > 0:34:16- 400.- The upper 400.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18- Why were they called that? - Just the 400.
0:34:18 > 0:34:20Just the 400. Why were they called the 400?
0:34:20 > 0:34:25Because that's what Mrs Astor's ballroom in New York could hold.
0:34:25 > 0:34:30Oh, so if you were one of those... if you were important enough,
0:34:30 > 0:34:33if you were 401, you were a social outcast, ruin...
0:34:33 > 0:34:35As we say in Alabama, tough titty.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37- Tough titty. - HE LAUGHS.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42And I suppose the best known family,
0:34:42 > 0:34:46certainly in dynastic terms in America, to a Briton at least,
0:34:46 > 0:34:48must be the Kennedys.
0:34:48 > 0:34:50- Oh, I went to the wedding.- Did you?
0:34:50 > 0:34:57And it was too funny, because... Oh, my, it was really so awful.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00HE LAUGHS
0:35:00 > 0:35:04All Jackie's family, friends...
0:35:04 > 0:35:06were on this side,
0:35:06 > 0:35:09and we all looked just the way we did -
0:35:09 > 0:35:14always in Newport, you were sort of slightly underdressed unless there was some big occasion.
0:35:14 > 0:35:17- Right.- And this was just Jackie getting married.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20THEY LAUGH
0:35:20 > 0:35:24And on this side were the Kennedys.
0:35:24 > 0:35:25All in frock coats and...?
0:35:25 > 0:35:28I mean, they were dressed to the nines,
0:35:28 > 0:35:33and the difference between the two sides was simply fascinating.
0:35:33 > 0:35:38So really, the Kennedys tried a bit too hard to be into the old money...
0:35:38 > 0:35:39They were just not part of...
0:35:39 > 0:35:43No, because they were Boston Irish, and they were Catholic,
0:35:43 > 0:35:45and above all he was a racketeer, wasn't he, Joe?
0:35:45 > 0:35:50- Let's be honest, we can't deny that. - Attractive though. - Joe was attractive, was he?
0:35:50 > 0:35:52For all that he was a Nazi sympathiser and a criminal?
0:35:52 > 0:35:56- Really horrible, but never mind. - Horrible but attractive.
0:35:56 > 0:35:58That's fair, people are! I'm the other thing -
0:35:58 > 0:36:00incredibly nice but not very attractive.
0:36:10 > 0:36:13A short ride and it's the Big Apple.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17I have a date with a fellow cabbie, John Mancuna,
0:36:17 > 0:36:21an Irish-American who lives in the predominantly Italian borough of Queens,
0:36:21 > 0:36:25but like most cabbies, plies his actual trade mainly in Manhattan.
0:36:28 > 0:36:30- Ooh, hello there.- Hey, Steve.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33- Hi.- Welcome to New York. - You must be John?- Yes, that's it.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35Well, as I told you when I called you up,
0:36:35 > 0:36:41- it'd be great to come to a cab garage to have my cab looked at.- You know where the dipstick is in this?
0:36:41 > 0:36:43- Yeah.- You do? Good luck. See if he can find it.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45Is this it here?
0:36:45 > 0:36:49- Yes.- You see. You're right.- English side, that's it.- Because usually,
0:36:49 > 0:36:51the steering wheel is on this side, you see.
0:36:51 > 0:36:56- Yes.- What do you reckon? - You need some oil.- I do, don't I? - Yeah.- John, that's yours, is it?
0:36:56 > 0:36:58- Yes, that's mine but.. - I love the flower.
0:36:58 > 0:37:00Today we're gonna go in the black taxi.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02Yeah, I'm going to take you in...
0:37:04 > 0:37:07What's going on now in Manhattan is class cleansing.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10All neighbourhoods, no matter what colour,
0:37:10 > 0:37:13are being cleansed of poor people, like Harlem,
0:37:13 > 0:37:16which was predominantly African American - now that's all changing.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19The wealthier people are buying up the brownstones.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22The Lower East Side are moving out all the immigrants
0:37:22 > 0:37:24and wealthier people are moving in.
0:37:24 > 0:37:29So all of Manhattan is just being cleansed of a lower and middle class
0:37:29 > 0:37:32that are moving out to Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.
0:37:32 > 0:37:33So that's what's going on.
0:37:33 > 0:37:39I notice with cab drivers that a huge number are from the Ukraine,
0:37:39 > 0:37:42- from India, Bangladesh and, er...all kinds of countries.- Yeah.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46- It's quite rare now to get one who seems to have been born in New York. - Yeah.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50There's 60,000 drivers, 10% would be native born.
0:37:50 > 0:37:53The yellow cab now is worth 600,000 dollars, and that's called
0:37:53 > 0:37:56- the medallion that you would buy for the yellow cab.- Oh, my.
0:37:56 > 0:38:01So it's a huge investment, whoever wants to buy one.
0:38:01 > 0:38:06- Do you get used to seeing people and telling from their body posture...? - Yes.- Then you just drive on.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10- By the way they dress.- Yeah. - A lot of these guys like to dress like gangsters,
0:38:10 > 0:38:17have the hood over their head, the pants hanging around their ass, right? And the baseball cap sideways.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20Well, I say if you're going to look and act like a gangster,
0:38:20 > 0:38:24I'm going to pass you up like a gangster. After an 11-hour shift, you're at a light,
0:38:24 > 0:38:27it's 3 am and you hear both doors open and guys jump in and go, "Yo, my man,
0:38:27 > 0:38:32"we're heading up to the South Bronx." And like, the hair on the back of the head, yeah.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34HE LAUGHS Oh, not at this hour.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38So you've run them off and then at first you're saying, "Oh, God, please don't rob me!"
0:38:38 > 0:38:43Then as you get closer, you say, "All right, you don't even have to tip me, just pay me!"
0:38:43 > 0:38:49Then as you see the neighbourhood you say, "Listen, just jump, please. I'll take the loss, I don't care."
0:38:49 > 0:38:52And someone was asking me about, "What are the benefits?
0:38:52 > 0:38:57"What's your retirement plan like?" I said my retirement plan is 4.30 in the morning,
0:38:57 > 0:39:01a 9mm to the back of the head in the South Bronx, and I said that's when I've retired.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10The Big Apple, of course, is not just the Isle of Manhattan.
0:39:10 > 0:39:16I'm keen to explore the other boroughs, the people that make up the quintessential New York City.
0:39:16 > 0:39:18So John is taking me to a rather special place
0:39:18 > 0:39:21in the Italian neighbourhood of Queens,
0:39:21 > 0:39:24to meet one such tribe, the Goodfellas,
0:39:24 > 0:39:29the petty and not so petty types made famous in The Godfather and The Sopranos.
0:39:29 > 0:39:33This is their social club.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36- So this is it, eh?- This is it.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38You might get in, I don't know if you're gonna get out.
0:39:38 > 0:39:39- HE LAUGHS - Hi there.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43There's tea, coffee, cake, soda in the refrigerator.
0:39:43 > 0:39:44- Fantastic.- Help yourself!
0:39:44 > 0:39:47Well. Hello, gentlemen.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49- Oh, hey.- Oh, hey.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52I'm Stephen. And you are?
0:39:52 > 0:39:54Rick.
0:39:54 > 0:39:55- Stephen, that's Larry.- Larry, hi.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58- Joe.- And Joseph. - Joe.- David.
0:39:58 > 0:40:00- David.- Mike D'Angelo.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02Mike...there had to be a Mikey.
0:40:02 > 0:40:03Hey that's it, a Mikey.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06Hey, a Mikey! Well, this is...what a place.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10- I've always dreamt if being in one of these. Er, you seem to be pretty keen on your sports?- Yeah.
0:40:10 > 0:40:14We've got racing, football, a whole wall of Yankee...New York Yankees.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17- Every Yankee World Series team. - Baseball team.- Wow.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20Tell me something I've always wanted to know.
0:40:20 > 0:40:25There's a thing you get in movies right, in which people are described as running numbers.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29- What does that mean? - They have the racetrack...- Yeah...
0:40:29 > 0:40:32..and they have how much money is bet on a racetrack.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34- What, the whole total? - The whole total.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38And it's got racetrack total and the last three numbers,
0:40:38 > 0:40:41if you're lucky enough to play it, you'll win some money.
0:40:41 > 0:40:43- Oh, so you predict...- Right.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46..how much in the course of the whole afternoon at the racetrack...
0:40:46 > 0:40:49Let's say you wanted to play your birthday, and it was 410.
0:40:49 > 0:40:51- Yeah.- You put a dollar on 410.
0:40:51 > 0:40:53Next day you look at the paper,
0:40:53 > 0:40:57at the end of the racing "track total handle".
0:40:57 > 0:41:00- So it could be anything from 000 to 999?- To 999.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04So what are the ways to get an edge on anybody, to get an edge on a bookie or...?
0:41:04 > 0:41:07Listen, it's real hard today to get an edge.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10- We wouldn't be sitting in this club if they knew how to do that, all right?- Yeah.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13- You know how you get an edge? - Yeah.- See this phone?- Yeah.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16You're in here with the bookmaker.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19- Yeah.- I'm at the racetrack.- Right.
0:41:19 > 0:41:21The horse is going right over the finishing line.
0:41:21 > 0:41:23- Yeah.- He's number eight.
0:41:23 > 0:41:25I press number eight on here.
0:41:25 > 0:41:27You've got your cell phone.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31- Yeah.- Your cell phone will ring. The first number will be eight, that's the winner of the race.
0:41:31 > 0:41:36Now you're talking to the bookmaker, say, "Excuse me, I've got to answer the phone."
0:41:36 > 0:41:40- You see eight, make a little conversation, "Talk to you later, I'm busy."- Give me eight.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43Give me number eight. And you've got the winner.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46Who's going to tell me why there's a bullet hole on the door here?
0:41:46 > 0:41:48The bullet hole was a Friday when we had a card game.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52Somebody parked their car and they shot six bullets into there.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55Can you see the one in the wall over there,
0:41:55 > 0:42:00- there's a hole, that ain't a mouse hole, that's a bullet hole. - Oh, my.- See it?- Yeah.
0:42:00 > 0:42:05One went through and hit one of the players and it missed his head. It grazed his forehead.
0:42:05 > 0:42:11- That went all the way through? Wow. - And when he said, when my friend got grazed in his head,
0:42:11 > 0:42:14he called an ambulance and he says, "I'm shot in the head!"
0:42:14 > 0:42:18so the ambulance driver says, the person over the phone says, "How do you know?"
0:42:18 > 0:42:21He says, "There's a hole in my head and blood's coming out!
0:42:21 > 0:42:23"How do you think I know I got shot?"
0:42:23 > 0:42:25- So what's your nickname?- Big Time.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27Why are you called Big Time?
0:42:27 > 0:42:30Because I've done some movies. I've been in about 300 movies.
0:42:30 > 0:42:33- I'm always playing a gangster in the movies.- Yeah.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36- I knew the part De Niro played in that movie, in Goodfellas?- Yeah?
0:42:36 > 0:42:38Yeah, I knew the guy he played.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41He played... Well, the guy's name was Jimmy The Gent.
0:42:41 > 0:42:46- Yeah.- Well, listen, I knew the real Jimmy The Gent and I told De Niro,
0:42:46 > 0:42:50- when he went to go visit him in jail, to ask him questions.- Yeah.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53De Niro says, "Listen, this movie ain't going to help my parole,"
0:42:53 > 0:42:57he told De Niro, "so take a walk!" STEPHEN LAUGHS
0:42:57 > 0:43:00- and I told him the exact phrase, I don't want to mention it...- Yeah.
0:43:00 > 0:43:02But the exact phrase, how he told him,
0:43:02 > 0:43:06so De Niro turned around and says, "Mick, you really knew the guy?"
0:43:06 > 0:43:09I says listen...and that's how I became friends with De Niro.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11Wow. Goodbye, everybody.
0:43:11 > 0:43:12Goodbye, now. Nice to see you.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15Bye! Nice to see you all.
0:43:15 > 0:43:20- God bless you.- And next time, we'll give you it all when you come in.
0:43:21 > 0:43:26Before I head off to New Jersey, I have a quick fare to pick up
0:43:26 > 0:43:29in the shape of a more recent immigrant to the City.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32MUSIC: "Englishman In New York" by Sting
0:43:38 > 0:43:39Taxi!
0:43:39 > 0:43:43- I've always loved it here. - Yeah.- I mean, the British here
0:43:43 > 0:43:48are pretty invisible, we don't look like a community.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52- No.- The only place you'll find us in numbers is one of the pubs downtown.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54- If there's football on? - On a Saturday morning.- Yes.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58You are now an Englishman in New York of course. That's your...
0:43:58 > 0:44:02One of my favourite songs I play here. It was also adopted by Jamaicans,
0:44:02 > 0:44:04there's a Jamaican In New York song,
0:44:04 > 0:44:07Croatian, you know, everyone. THEY LAUGH
0:44:07 > 0:44:11Written their own version of it, which I don't mind.
0:44:11 > 0:44:16Of course. So people just change the one word in it and do a cover version of it?
0:44:16 > 0:44:17Oh, that's wonderful.
0:44:17 > 0:44:19# A Bosnian-Herzegovinian in New York... #
0:44:19 > 0:44:22It doesn't quite scan, Stephen.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26- HE LAUGHS - This is why I'm not in your business!- Stick to the acting.
0:44:40 > 0:44:46Down the coast from New York in the state of New Jersey, Atlantic City's Boardwalk was,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49between the wars, the playground of America, the queen of resorts.
0:44:49 > 0:44:52After flatlining in the 70's, it's re-invented itself
0:44:52 > 0:44:55as the gambling capital of the eastern seaboard.
0:44:55 > 0:45:01- Thank you very much.- You're welcome. - I'll be very smart, won't I? Splendid.
0:45:01 > 0:45:03Let's, er, let's play cards.
0:45:12 > 0:45:17I am to be initiated into the charmed circle of washers and dealers on the blackjack table
0:45:17 > 0:45:22by a representative of one of the latest waves of immigrants, Vietnamese croupier Kelly.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25You put them in there? Oh, I see.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29- And take out. - Now take the whole lot out?
0:45:29 > 0:45:31I see, it's just a way of squaring them off.
0:45:31 > 0:45:34- And now, they've got to go in here?- No, no, no, no!- Whoa!
0:45:34 > 0:45:37- Oh, more? Oh.- Now wash.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40- And now we just?- Wash.- Wash.
0:45:40 > 0:45:42Grab a few, square them off?
0:45:42 > 0:45:45- Away to you. - Oh, to me, so they don't see the...
0:45:45 > 0:45:48- Facing you, yes.- Yeah. Facing me so they don't see the...
0:45:48 > 0:45:52And then, back in here? So now they go in the shoe?
0:45:52 > 0:45:54- No, shuffle.- Wait for the...? - Shuffle.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56Shuffle again? But we just shuffled them!
0:45:56 > 0:45:58- No, that's a wash.- That's the wash?
0:45:58 > 0:46:00- Yes.- Now we shuffle?- Now shuffle.
0:46:00 > 0:46:01Oh, my. So like...
0:46:01 > 0:46:03- Uh-uh.- No.
0:46:07 > 0:46:09Cut in half.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12- Make sure they're even. - Right, two halves...
0:46:12 > 0:46:14- like so.- And now...
0:46:14 > 0:46:16- cut another one.- Into two packs?
0:46:16 > 0:46:18Yeah.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24Oh, my. You're very good.
0:46:24 > 0:46:25So...
0:46:25 > 0:46:29No, you pick one of these and shuffle.
0:46:29 > 0:46:31I pick...what, like that? And then like that?
0:46:31 > 0:46:33You have it there.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36Of course. What a fool I am!
0:46:40 > 0:46:44There we go. Do you want to double up?
0:46:44 > 0:46:45I imagine you would.
0:46:45 > 0:46:47- I don't care if he spends my money! - Good situation.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50Oh, you take it. Sorry, that's your card.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53- Oh, yes!- Oh, yes, what? He has won.
0:46:53 > 0:46:55- Don't say "oh, yes".- Sorry.
0:46:55 > 0:47:00So do you reckon in your gambling, your gaming, any of you have made a profit?
0:47:00 > 0:47:01- Yes.- You do well?
0:47:01 > 0:47:03A lot, a fortune.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06- A fortune?- I built a house on it.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08- Really? On this game?- Absolutely.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12I wouldn't be surprised if they put a small plaque up there to commemorate that. That's wonderful.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14SHE LAUGHS That's so fabulous!
0:47:14 > 0:47:16This is a great personality.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18- A small plaque!- Right.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20One more?
0:47:20 > 0:47:25What's the biggest amount you've seen someone win?
0:47:25 > 0:47:27A couple of million.
0:47:27 > 0:47:28A couple of million!
0:47:28 > 0:47:31- And lose the same?- Lose the same.
0:47:31 > 0:47:33- You know.- Amazing, isn't it?
0:47:33 > 0:47:35So, it's a good living to be a croupier?
0:47:35 > 0:47:38It's a desirable job, is it?
0:47:38 > 0:47:40Is there a lot of people who want to be a croupier?
0:47:40 > 0:47:43You have a lot of demand? A lot of people come to the school?
0:47:43 > 0:47:48- Yes.- And what about tips? What's the biggest tip you've been given? Might you get a 5,000 chip?
0:47:48 > 0:47:52- Yeah.- You really won it as a tip? - Yeah.- Wow.
0:47:52 > 0:47:54Gambling is on the increase in America
0:47:54 > 0:48:00as more and more states, realising how much revenue could be gained, license more and more legal casinos.
0:48:00 > 0:48:06And while I have nothing against gambling per se, the effects are truly devastating.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09Many have been ruined by their addiction, easily as toxic as any drug.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12In the end, the house always wins.
0:48:12 > 0:48:18It's irrefutable arithmetic and as embodied in these trashy, tawdry palaces,
0:48:18 > 0:48:20I personally find the whole business vulgar,
0:48:20 > 0:48:24tasteless and desperately sad, but maybe that's just me.
0:48:30 > 0:48:36Now we're crossing the Delaware River which takes us from New Jersey to the State of Delaware
0:48:36 > 0:48:40and it was here, on Christmas Day 1776,
0:48:40 > 0:48:44that George Washington sneakily crossed with his Continental Army
0:48:44 > 0:48:49and delivered a massive defeat to the British allies, the Battle Of Trenton.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52He did it in midwinter. God knows what it must have been like.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55There's a very famous painting actually, which I have here,
0:48:55 > 0:48:59of that very scene, Washington crossing the Delaware.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01It's entered into American myth and legend
0:49:01 > 0:49:04as one of the turning points in their history.
0:49:04 > 0:49:05God, it must have been cold.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10Delaware. What can we say about Delaware?
0:49:10 > 0:49:14Well, Delawareans will tell you proudly that theirs was the first state
0:49:14 > 0:49:16to be incorporated into the Union,
0:49:16 > 0:49:18so it's important for that reason.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21But there's a certain generation, my mother included,
0:49:21 > 0:49:25who would first associate it with a Perry Como song.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29"What did Delaware boys, what did Della wear?
0:49:29 > 0:49:33"She wore a brand new jersey.
0:49:33 > 0:49:35"Why did Cali phone ya?
0:49:35 > 0:49:38"Why did Cali phone?"
0:49:39 > 0:49:42MUSIC: "Delaware" by Perry Como
0:49:48 > 0:49:52From Delaware, I've crossed into Maryland and over the Chesapeake Bay
0:49:52 > 0:49:56and yes, I know I'm short-changing these charming states
0:49:56 > 0:50:00but I have a rendezvous to keep in the nation's capital, Washington DC.
0:50:00 > 0:50:04Not strictly a state at all, but merely a district.
0:50:04 > 0:50:08It's an attractive mix of imposing architecture, nationalistic symbols,
0:50:08 > 0:50:13broad boulevards, the 19th century grandeur of Lincoln's memorial,
0:50:13 > 0:50:16the White House and Capitol Hill. It feels more European,
0:50:16 > 0:50:20a product of the enlightenment, fit to stand alongside Berlin,
0:50:20 > 0:50:22St Petersburg, Paris.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25I'm meeting up with the newest purveyor of the enlightenment,
0:50:25 > 0:50:26a modern day Diderot.
0:50:26 > 0:50:31Jimmy Wales was the founder of the most compendious encyclopaedia ever,
0:50:31 > 0:50:32Wikipedia.
0:50:32 > 0:50:34How many people work for Wikipedia?
0:50:34 > 0:50:36- Er...ten people, worldwide. - Good Lord.
0:50:36 > 0:50:40Just ten. We're the number eight website on the internet now, so...
0:50:40 > 0:50:44and those ten are, other than the one guy who's like community liaison,
0:50:44 > 0:50:47pretty much don't edit Wikipedia at all.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50They're tasked with keeping the servers running,
0:50:50 > 0:50:53answering the phones, dealing with the press, things like that.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57So not just the entries but the checking of other things, of alterations,
0:50:57 > 0:51:00the acceptance or denial of little extras,
0:51:00 > 0:51:03- all that is done by volunteers? - Volunteers, yeah.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07Just the main community members, the really active people.
0:51:07 > 0:51:09The administrators, all volunteers.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12And just working in their spare time, or...
0:51:12 > 0:51:15So, unlike Google, which is probably the best known
0:51:15 > 0:51:18and certainly, probably at the moment,
0:51:18 > 0:51:21er...700 a share or something.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23Well, we're actually a charity.
0:51:23 > 0:51:24We're a non-profit organisation.
0:51:24 > 0:51:26You don't? So you haven't...
0:51:26 > 0:51:30- I'm not talking to one of the famous dotcom billionaires then? - Oh, gosh, no.- No?
0:51:30 > 0:51:34- No.- How extraordinary that you should create something
0:51:34 > 0:51:37that is so well known, is used by so many people,
0:51:37 > 0:51:41and still have not polluted it with adverts and things like that.
0:51:41 > 0:51:46Yeah, well, I mean, for me Wikipedia is something...
0:51:46 > 0:51:48I think it's something that can be really special
0:51:48 > 0:51:51and I think the core community is guided by that idea,
0:51:51 > 0:51:54so whatever criticisms are received,
0:51:54 > 0:51:57well, we take it very seriously because we want to be good.
0:51:57 > 0:52:02And I think when people look back on the early days of the internet -
0:52:02 > 0:52:05which this still is very much the early days of the internet -
0:52:05 > 0:52:07you know, 200 years from now, 500 years from now,
0:52:07 > 0:52:10they'll say, "That was something that was good."
0:52:10 > 0:52:14There was spam and there was pop-up ads and nonsense on the internet
0:52:14 > 0:52:17but this is something we remember that was worth doing.
0:52:17 > 0:52:23To me that, as an American, it is a bit of pride in that respect that,
0:52:23 > 0:52:27especially in this era when America has a very bad reputation
0:52:27 > 0:52:33around the world in many ways and for many reasons, but what's interesting about American culture,
0:52:33 > 0:52:37is that there is still some very strong old values that really are,
0:52:37 > 0:52:39to me, very good and inspirational.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42Freedom of speech, and the idea that ordinary people
0:52:42 > 0:52:44can come together and build something,
0:52:44 > 0:52:50and, you know, ideas about sort of, like, can-do spirit.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54Ladies and gentlemen, The President Of The United States.
0:52:54 > 0:52:58FANFARE PLAYS
0:53:02 > 0:53:04Thank you for that warm welcome.
0:53:04 > 0:53:06AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:53:06 > 0:53:11Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm George W Bush, President Of The United States.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14- But on a more serious note... - AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:53:14 > 0:53:17DC is truly a company town.
0:53:17 > 0:53:21That the company happens to be the US Government, makes it all the more interesting.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24Venality, corruption, incompetence,
0:53:24 > 0:53:26lying, cheating, philandering,
0:53:26 > 0:53:28filibustering, gerrymandering.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31They're all words that come to mind here.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34Luckily the Fourth Amendment guarantees free speech,
0:53:34 > 0:53:37luckily, that is, for satirical groups like Capitol Steps.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40Work with me, people. OK? Thank you. AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:53:40 > 0:53:44Barrie Byrne, like most of the Capitol Steps troupe,
0:53:44 > 0:53:49started off in a Government job on the hill but then turned from gamekeeper to poacher.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52Is this the source of most of your material then?
0:53:52 > 0:53:54This is the source of much of our material.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57The rest of it comes from, of course, The White House.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00Now recently, I spoke to you from my library
0:54:00 > 0:54:04where I admitted that we made mistakes in the handling of the war in Iraq.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06Many people were shocked - to see me in a library.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:54:08 > 0:54:14I noticed on the programme that, well, politicians seem to like you.
0:54:14 > 0:54:20They were also very critical of myself and the NSA for wiretapping American citizens.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23They feel like any publicity is good publicity.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26But you know I don't understand what all the fuss is about.
0:54:26 > 0:54:31I mean for years I have been criticised for not listening to the American people.
0:54:31 > 0:54:33It's comedy gold,
0:54:33 > 0:54:34it's comedy gold.
0:54:34 > 0:54:36# Three little Kurds who want formation
0:54:36 > 0:54:38# Of a Kurdish sovereign nation
0:54:38 > 0:54:40# Where we'll be free for ululation! #
0:54:40 > 0:54:41A-la-la-la-la!
0:54:41 > 0:54:43# Three little Kurds from school
0:54:43 > 0:54:46# Three little Kurds from school! #
0:54:55 > 0:54:58Politics is the main industry here.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02Politics and businesses around it
0:55:02 > 0:55:04seem to feed into that.
0:55:04 > 0:55:06Lobbyists, for example,
0:55:06 > 0:55:11there are many, a lot of associations are headquartered here.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14It's amazing how it is a self-perpetuating business,
0:55:14 > 0:55:17that each administration will come with its own problems
0:55:17 > 0:55:22and we'll be sitting right there waiting to jump on them.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25APPLAUSE
0:55:31 > 0:55:36Many great men and women have filed in and out of this Willard hotel,
0:55:36 > 0:55:40but none greater, and certainly none more revered than Abraham Lincoln,
0:55:40 > 0:55:44who actually lived here at the Willard in the period between his election
0:55:44 > 0:55:46and his inauguration into the White House.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49And I suppose Lincoln is best known and remembered
0:55:49 > 0:55:53for a certain speech he made on a battlefield in Pennsylvania.
0:55:55 > 0:56:00Did you make this great address over the bodies of the slain,
0:56:00 > 0:56:02sort of a day after the battle?
0:56:02 > 0:56:06No, the graves were still places where people would be buried,
0:56:06 > 0:56:07there were caskets...
0:56:07 > 0:56:0980 miles to the west of the capital,
0:56:09 > 0:56:13the serenity of Gettysburg today belies the savagery of the battle
0:56:13 > 0:56:17that was fought here over three days in July, 1863.
0:56:17 > 0:56:19The Union victory was the turning point
0:56:19 > 0:56:22in the Civil War against the Confederates of the South.
0:56:22 > 0:56:26On November the 19th that year, President Lincoln came to the battlefield
0:56:26 > 0:56:29to dedicate this cemetery to the nation,
0:56:29 > 0:56:33and deliver what has become the most famous speech in American history.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36Well, I was asked to make a few appropriate remarks.
0:56:36 > 0:56:38I was not to be the main speaker, Edward Everett...
0:56:38 > 0:56:44Jim Getty, a perfect Abe-alike, has been working the heritage trail for nearly half a century.
0:56:44 > 0:56:45Can you run them by me?
0:56:45 > 0:56:48Well, I wanted to go back to where we had started,
0:56:48 > 0:56:4987 years ago in Philadelphia.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52Er...four score and seven years ago,
0:56:52 > 0:56:56our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation,
0:56:56 > 0:57:02conceived in liberty, dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
0:57:02 > 0:57:04Now we are engaged in a...
0:57:04 > 0:57:08MOURNFUL MUSIC PLAYS
0:57:12 > 0:57:16..that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.
0:57:16 > 0:57:21And the government of the people, by the people, for the people,
0:57:21 > 0:57:24shall not perish from the earth.
0:57:24 > 0:57:29The 270 words of Lincoln's address, that lasted barely two minutes,
0:57:29 > 0:57:33have entered popular culture because they so concisely and eloquently
0:57:33 > 0:57:35summed up the high ideals
0:57:35 > 0:57:39of what the Union hoped the Republic would become after the war was won.
0:57:39 > 0:57:44Standing here, on the blood-soaked battlefield of Gettysburg,
0:57:44 > 0:57:46one can't help but be put in mind
0:57:46 > 0:57:49of the extraordinary earthquake-like fissure that opened up
0:57:49 > 0:57:52between the Yankee North
0:57:52 > 0:57:56and that romantic, mysterious,
0:57:56 > 0:57:59eccentric, bewitching part of America,
0:57:59 > 0:58:02that they still call the Deep South.
0:58:05 > 0:58:10On the next leg of my journey I shall be visiting coalmines and distilleries,
0:58:10 > 0:58:12body farms and cotton farms,
0:58:12 > 0:58:14snowbirds and parole boards,
0:58:14 > 0:58:16guitar-pickers and turkey-stuffers.
0:58:16 > 0:58:18Discovering how much or how little,
0:58:18 > 0:58:22since that bloody civil war, the Deep South has changed.
0:58:48 > 0:58:51Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:51 > 0:58:55E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk