Deep South Stephen Fry in America


Deep South

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This is America's national cemetery at Arlington.

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Today is Veteran's Day.

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To Americans, Arlington is hallowed ground, a symbol of just how united the United States can be.

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But in fact, the cemetery rose out of the appalling carnage

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of America's Civil War when the south fought bitterly to separate from the north.

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Arlington is in the State of Virginia, a southern state.

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For years, I've been intrigued and bewitched by what seems to be America's most characterful region.

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A place of cotton, courtesy, gospel music, mint juleps, divine accents

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and sultry Southern Belles.

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I'm heading south to find out what makes Old Dixie so distinctive.

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But where exactly does the south start?

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Well, nearly 250 years ago, two surveyors named Mason and Dixon

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drew a straight line on the map marking the southern border of Pennsylvania.

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It became known as the Mason/Dixon line and effectively marks where the north ends and the south begins.

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Apparently, it really does physically exist.

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I'm determined to try and find it.

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It definitely should be here.

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That's strange.

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It's definitely the right road.

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I think I'm going to have to break the habit of a lifetime and actually ask someone. Good lord.

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Excuse me, hello.

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-Hello.

-Sorry to bother you.

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I'm looking for the Mason/Dixon line.

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As a matter of fact it's out this way on the road.

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You wouldn't mind showing it to me?

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That's really kind, thank you.

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-OK, right here.

-Oh, yeah.

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-It's down through here. Where the turkeys like to be.

-OK.

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Look here.

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I believe that's it.

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-Oh, is this it here?

-It sure is.

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Oh, my.

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Here's the Mason/Dixon marker.

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The south starts here.

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Oh, look.

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There's W...V.

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West Virginia. That's fantastic.

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Yes, it is.

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West Virginia is just at the beginning of the south, a long way from the heart of Dixie.

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The Appalachian Mountains that form the spine of the state

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are as prized for the treasure that lies within them as for their beauty.

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I'm going deep inside to hunt for it.

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So you do all your smoking up here, basically?

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'Coalmining is far from a dying industry in West Virginia.

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'50% of the electricity generated in the United States comes from coal.'

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This is Stephen Fry. A pleasure to introduce him to you.

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BEEPING

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What did that noise mean just now?

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-That's a CO monitor alarm.

-Oh, right.

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Just to check that the alarm's working, not that there is...

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-There's some who don't have moustaches.

-Some don't.

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But nobody seemed to mind.

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-No.

-But it's a bit scary. How do you know they're miners?

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-What's that alarm?

-We have a lot of different alarms going off as we're getting ready to start.

-Oh, right.

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This seam is about 350 million years old, so every day, we're fighting Mother Nature.

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Hello.

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-Are you ready?

-I'm so ready.

-All right, guys, let's go.

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-Welcome to our world.

-Why, thank you.

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-Oh, my.

-No secrets in an elevator I guess, huh?

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No gas in an elevator too!

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-Is this the first time you've been underground?

-It sure is, yes.

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Apart from the underground railway in London. Thank you.

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You know, in the main airways you've got all this air obviously...

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-When we get up to the face, just kind of watch what you're doing.

-Keep your hands inside the vehicle.

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Keep your glasses on too.

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Well, this is a hell of a commute. I'm guessing you don't have Wi-Fi or cell phone coverage down here.

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No Wi-Fi, no cell phone coverage.

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When we go out of here, everybody turns their lights out.

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-Yeah.

-So you can see how dark it is.

-That's a good idea, yeah.

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-It's the darkest dark.

-It's the darkest of dark.

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'In this vast subterranean city, whose tunnels cover a staggering ten square miles,

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'the exposed coal is sprayed with white limestone to help reduce the coal dust and risk of fire.'

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-This is it. The end of the road for us.

-Right.

-Things are going to change drastically now.

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-Well, see you again tomorrow, thank you very much. Extremely enjoyable.

-Thanks for the ride, right?

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'It's hot, dark and for a man of my height, incredibly uncomfortable.'

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Standing up isn't really an option. is it?

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-That cuts the coal? This? My word.

-They call it the beast from the east.

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-You've come to the best mine in West Virginia.

-I'm glad to hear that.

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Oh, my.

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-Bless all these men in his holy name, amen.

-Amen.

-God speed safe.

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ROAR OF MACHINERY

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-That there? That's methane?

-That's methane.

-Oh, my.

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-You can smell it a tiny bit.

-No, you can't smell it. It's odourless.

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-What am I smelling then?

-Er, probably sulphur from the water.

-Sulphur?

-You get used to it.

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Now when we get up right near the face you can see the coal...

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Oh, my goodness.

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-And this you can see, to get a better idea.

-So shiny.

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You've probably got about 1,100 foot of mountain on top of you.

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-So when it collapses, you know about it?

-Oh, you know about it.

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-You feel it?

-You hear it. You see it and you feel it.

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-It's a crumble, a rumble.

-You feel it before it even collapses.

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You can feel it breaking, you can hear it above you and then it'll collapse.

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Charming, but best left to the experts, one feels.

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It's at about this point that I find the prospect of continuing

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my journey south into the state of Kentucky strangely appealing.

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"Unbridled spirit" is the State of Kentucky's new motto.

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We'll find out about the spirit later on, but "unbridled"? Well, this is prime horse country.

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The Kentucky Derby is of course world renowned.

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Thoroughbreds are big business here and Kentucky's top bloodstock auction house is Keeneland,

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where the most expensive horseflesh in the world is traded.

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Good morning.

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I love the smell of horses, I love the smell of horses.

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And according to breeder Tom Van Meter,

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prime stallions are not allowed so much as a sniff of a mare until their racing career is truly over.

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You can touch him.

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So we're talking about immensely sexually frustrated creatures if for 3 or 4 years of their prime manhood

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they are not being allowed to mate, I would have thought?

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-Yes, but, Stephen, but...

-But?

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..if they are successful racehorses then...

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-They really do get...

-They get all they want, all they need,

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-3 or 4 times a day.

-But they don't know that.

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-Stephen...

-Yes.

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..if you believe in reincarnation,

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you would want to come back as a thoroughbred racehorse, that could run! OK?

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Now if you couldn't run, you know... they're going to get cut off.

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Apparently the services of the most expensive stallion

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can cost as much as 300,000 for one impregnation.

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-This is pimping on a massive scale.

-That's exactly what it is.

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Speaking of genetics, the eldest of Tom's five children, Griff Van Meter,

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is a Kentuckian from top to bottom.

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If I say Kentucky to a foreigner, they always say Kentucky Fried Chicken and Kentucky Derby

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but there's more than just those. There's definitely an identity here.

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You get people that stay in Kentucky for life and have been here for life

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and that's what I really enjoy about it because this is where I belong.

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I actually have a tattoo of the State of Kentucky kinda on my ass.

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Well, this is British television and there's nothing we like better than to look at an ass.

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I would love to show you my ass.

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Great.

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-Oh, wow!

-And in that...

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-Is that the shape of Kentucky?

-That's the shape of Kentucky.

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Very pleasant.

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If lost, return here, er, type situation.

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So that wasn't just one drunken moment you'll regret for the rest of your life but a proud statement

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-of your Kentucky...

-Exactly, it's permanent and I'm proud every time I see it and it's always refreshing...

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A refreshing bottom is a fine thing to have!

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Today is the tail end of the 3 week sale but the auctioneers try to keep up the excitement.

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-This is yours?

-Yes.

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-Oh, we've got a bid over there. Only one more to sell.

-Yah.

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Here we go, we sold it.

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We sold this horse.

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-The way the auctioneer speaks, it's just breathtaking, it's hypnotic.

-STEPHEN CHANTS

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AUCTIONEER SPEAKING VERY FAST

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Was that "bidded up here"?

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-Bidded up here.

-HE REPEATS VERY QUICKLY

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-Do you tailor it to the kind of product you're selling?

-Absolutely.

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So how would you sell chickens?

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Chickens tend to be more country and high pitch and kinda, you know...

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-That's fantastic! Do you know what that is? It's suddenly... that's banjo picking!

-Yes. It is.

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It's the same sound as banjo picking. It's Kentucky Blue Grass.

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Welcome to Sunny Kentucky.

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You know what galls me when the weather's like this?

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People always say, "Well, must make you feel right at home!"

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We don't get rain like this, this is preposterous.

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We get a nice steady English drizzle.

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Dear me.

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Of course what you need in weather like this, I always think,

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is sort of internal central heating, you know?

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Not all American industry is high-tech.

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This Kentucky bourbon distillery preserves the style and methods of the distant past.

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We've had the unbridled part of Kentucky, now for the spirit.

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We're the smallest, slowest, oldest distillery in the United States.

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STEPHEN LAUGHING

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Chris Morris has the enviable post of Master Distiller.

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Both my mother and father worked here.

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Every night, I remember Mum cooking dinner and she'd always have a glass of bourbon on the counter.

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I'd come through the kitchen as a small boy and say, "Mum, can I have a sip?" And I'd take a sip and...

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-"I don't like that." Now, of course, my reaction would be very different.

-You like it very much.

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-It looks like a Victorian prison.

-Those bars date back to Prohibition.

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Of course, I'd completely forgotten.

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-We're in the country...

-Yes.

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-..where for 15 years or so...

-Exactly.

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-..alcohol of any kind was federally prohibited.

-Prohibited.

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We do the usual distillery tour thing and charming it is too.

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But the part that really interests me is the little tasting session.

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What it all comes down to is this gorgeous brown liquid.

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Yes, the whiskey has to speak for itself and it speaks in a language that, if you're a wine connoisseur,

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you might be very familiar with it. Vanilla, caramel, a hint of dark chocolate and maple syrup,

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baked apple, black pepper, cinnamon, tobacco leaf, coffee bean and a little bit of pecan in every glass.

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Wow, now to me that's almost a poem.

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But is there any more to it or is it actually just subjective,

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or is there some precision and science in that?

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Well, it is science. If you say, "I have a hint of cinnamon," that's cinnaldehyde.

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That is the same chemical that makes cinnamon be cinnamon.

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Now, nose that one and it should have some distinctive oak notes.

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Yes, it is woody, definitely.

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-Discernibly woody notes.

-Yep. It's a sort of dusty wood, isn't it?

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We have a sample here that is one of my favourite types.

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-It should be creamier, sweeter...

-Wooh...

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-Hmm, try that one. Compare it to this one.

-Amazing.

-Which is still awful smooth.

-It is.

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Butterscotch, honey, black pepper, coffee bean, cherry, vanilla kernel...

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Chris, don't think me pretentious.

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This smell is an autumnal walk in the countryside,

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probably about seven miles from Aldershot on the fringe of an old wood, a spinney -

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or a copse possibly, if not a spinney...it's a copse definitely -

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and there's a slightly wet Labrador panting and a little bit of that Labrador's breath is in here...

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I think Stevie should have a little lie down.

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The next morning, I thought I'd drive the taxi to London.

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L-O-N..don.

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No, that wasn't last night's whiskey getting the better of me, London really was calling.

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London City Police.

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I thought the black cab would appreciate a stop in London

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and besides, it was time to tidy up my act.

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Good.

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-Come right in, sir.

-Oh, hello.

-I'm Jim.

-Nice to meet you.

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-Have you ever been to London, England?

-I've not been.

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Well, it's a bit bigger than London, Kentucky.

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-Have you had many Londoners come in?

-No, sir. To my knowledge, you're the first.

-I'm the first Londoner!

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-I do like your accent.

-Well, I was going to say the same thing. I think yours is mighty fine too.

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We have this phrase "a short back and sides".

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A short back and sides, no. What we call "burrs",

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-which is about a quarter of an inch all over and we call it burrs.

-Burrs.

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-And some people call it "butch".

-Butch?

-In this locality.

-Butch and burrs.

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-Burrs like the animal?

-Er, like a chestnut burr.

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Oh, a burr. Not a bear but a burr.

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I tend to think of Kentucky as being quite southern in its ways but you're kind of in the middle.

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-Well, kinda in the middle but I'd say we're more southern really.

-Yeah.

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We love it. Did you realise we have the World Chicken Festival?

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-You have the World Chicken Festival?

-Sure.

-Really?

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-Haven't you fellas heard about that over in England?

-I don't know how I came not to have heard of it.

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-I'm ashamed of myself.

-They named it after Colonel Sanders.

-Of course, Colonel Sanders is a Kentucky man.

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-And the barber I work with cut Colonel Sanders' hair.

-Really?

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-He came in, in his big white suit.

-He really did look like that and dress like that?

-Absolutely.

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-Let me tell you there are lots of Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in London, England.

-Are there?

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Lots and lots. On a Saturday night, the smell of a congealing thrift bucket fills the air. Right.

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And people dress up as chickens, I expect?

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Well, yes, some of them do.

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I know it's a thing Americans like to do - to dress up as a chicken.

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-That's true...

-Well, not all Americans obviously.

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THEY LAUGH

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I got the impression that all Americans like to dress as chickens. I may be wrong.

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-OK.

-Well, thank you, Jim. That's...

-You're welcome.

-..really Wonderful.

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-You cut a fair amount.

-You're welcome.

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Oh, terrific. Well, it's, erm...it's quite shocking. I look, er...I don't know what I look like.

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-Do I look younger?

-Yes.

-Or maybe I look older? But I look different.

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MUSIC PLAYS

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Blue Grass music might be named after Kentucky Blue Grass

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but it's played with enthusiasm just across the state line in Tennessee too.

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And in this former school on Friday evenings, enthusiasts gather for an extended jam session.

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Every corner is filled with the best sort of informal music making.

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I would say that it runs deep in your blood and it becomes a part of you

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and you feel the land, you know, in your heart.

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-Like that, yeah.

-It's one of those styles of music that once you've heard it...

-It's in your blood.

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Just what I was going to say.

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I'm a descendant, of course, of Scots-Irish, that came over...

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across the ocean, you know.

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-And they brought music with them?

-They did.

-They brought jigs and reels?

-They did.

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I do the three fingered style picking that Earl Scruggs developed, er...

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-He learned a lot from Snuffy Jenkins who was his teacher.

-Snuffy Jenkins!

-It's a good name, isn't it?

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Oh, yes, wonderful, wonderful!

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-Do you have a name as a band or...?

-Mountain Gap.

-Mountain...Girl?

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-Mountain...Gap.

-Gap! Gap! Sorry.

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Real slow, real slow.

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I've got it now. Mountain Gap.

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-No, not Mountain! Moun'ain...

-Moun'ain...

-Ga-ap!

-Ga-ap!

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-I got it, I got it, thank you very much, thank you.

-APPLAUSE

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-You talk funny over there, don't you?

-Do you think?

-Oh, yeah, yeah.

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Wonderful. ..But Tennessee isn't all plucking, picking and slapping.

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There is a world renowned university in the town of Knoxville and I have an assignation there.

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Now, I'm supposed to meet a woman called Rebecca, that could be her code-name of course, in a car park.

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Now...where?

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Ah, Rebecca! Stephen. How do you do?

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-Nice to meet you, Stephen.

-How nice to meet you.

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-Oh, my.

-We try to avoid advertising our location.

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-That's deliberate?

-Yes.

-Away from prying eyes?

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Razor wire!

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I just need to shut the gates behind us.

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I can see black... what we would call bin liners.

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Every black plastic you see is actually an individual.

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-A human cadaver?

-Yes.

-A dead body in fact?

-Yes.

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Goodness me.

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There's over 180 individuals, er, cadavers out here.

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Our title is the Anthropological Research Facility.

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-Most people know of us as the Body Farm.

-The Body Farm?

-Yes.

-Yep.

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What would you say is the main purpose?

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To do time since death - that's how long someone's been dead - research,

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-in a scientific way.

-Right.

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-So are we going to see a few maggots and things?

-We don't...

-Because, as long as I'm prepared, I don't mind.

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I have to tell you something now, which is that,

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in all my 50 years on this planet, I have never seen a dead body.

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-So I don't know how I'll respond. I'm sure I'll be grown up about it.

-Just watch your step.

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-That's an electric fence that we keep on at night, it keeps out the larger critters.

-I understand.

-Yes.

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Because animals obviously feast on... Well, there's a dead body.

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-Yes, yes.

-Oh, my goodness.

0:25:520:25:56

This is, what we call late stage decomposition where all, almost the skeleton's left.

0:25:560:26:03

It's, erm, yeah. It's a sight that, you know, artists and poets and writers have written about

0:26:030:26:11

since humans could write, that of the oddity of a human skull,

0:26:110:26:15

knowing that what I'm speaking out of now is no more than that

0:26:150:26:19

and that's what we all are, we're all a composition of bones and flesh

0:26:190:26:25

-but, to look at it, you wonder where the human is in a way, don't you?

-Oh, yeah.

0:26:250:26:30

-Do you see a skull through my skin?

-Unfortunately, I should say yes.

0:26:320:26:37

I have a really bad habit now when I do see people, especially new people,

0:26:370:26:44

I will sit there and I kind of imagine what they look like underneath, particularly the skull.

0:26:440:26:50

So my noble macrocephalus frontal regions, for example,

0:26:500:26:54

you would instantly see bespoke a man of immense sensitivity and grace?

0:26:540:27:00

No, you wouldn't! You'd just see a particular category of skull.

0:27:000:27:04

Oh! Oh, my goodness.

0:27:080:27:10

What have you got in there?

0:27:100:27:12

Right now there is an individual in the bin. They've been here since July so they've been here a few months.

0:27:120:27:19

So they're over the worst of smell and insects, are they? Or not?

0:27:190:27:23

-They're over the worst insects.

-You're warning me that there's going to be a bad smell?

0:27:230:27:27

-Yes. I would not stick your head over until it's open.

-OK. ..Ah!

0:27:270:27:32

Oh, my... Oh, good gracious...

0:27:320:27:35

Oh, Lord.

0:27:370:27:39

-You can see the maggots.

-I can see the maggots, yes, thank you.

0:27:390:27:44

Oh, gracious.

0:27:440:27:46

It's...a great seething, living... appalling-smelling thing.

0:27:480:27:55

It's as if it's clawing inside you to try and scoop out every living part of you and turn it into death.

0:28:000:28:06

It's just unspeakably horrible, I can't... You've...

0:28:060:28:11

-I have a really bad sense of smell.

-Oh, do you?

-Yes. That's something...

0:28:110:28:16

-That's a lucky thing, you're better off in this job than wine tasting.

-Exactly!

0:28:160:28:22

You see, in some ways, the worst of what it is to be human.

0:28:220:28:26

Terrible things like murdered children, and murdered anybody,

0:28:260:28:31

plus you see the human body in its most dreadful state.

0:28:310:28:35

The goal is to help grieving families and help put a name to an unknown skeleton and get that closure

0:28:350:28:42

but part of you has to realise that this is a research object and you can't get emotionally attached to it.

0:28:420:28:48

-One thing on this foot you'll see is ants.

-Yes, yes, I can.

0:28:510:28:56

Well, ants are common to find on a fresh individual,

0:28:570:29:01

especially in someone's home, and doing entomology, which is the study of all the insects,

0:29:010:29:07

is one of the best indicators of time since death.

0:29:070:29:10

-Because different insects hatch and thrive in bodies at different times.

-Exactly.

0:29:100:29:15

In some of our more basic studies you can look at the soil around the body

0:29:150:29:20

because things are leeched from your body into the soil so, if there is something in question,

0:29:200:29:28

you can test that and say, "No, there is a body that decomposed here, you need to tell us the truth now."

0:29:280:29:35

This garden of earthly remains might at first glance seem rather a grizzly and morbid place to be

0:29:350:29:42

but actually I think it should fill one with a kind of optimism

0:29:420:29:46

because it's being used for extraordinarily good purposes

0:29:460:29:50

to catch wicked people and to ease the burden of suffering from grieving people and, er...

0:29:500:29:56

I might genuinely consider leaving my body to such an institution.

0:29:560:30:00

It might as well do some good, it's done so little good on this earth,

0:30:000:30:05

it might at least do good when my spirit has flown away.

0:30:050:30:10

Whisking my offended nostrils as far from Knoxville's Department of Forensic Anthropology as possible,

0:30:100:30:17

I revel in the pure air of the Smoky Mountain National Park as I head for the North Carolina state Line.

0:30:170:30:24

These colours are amazing. I feel a photo opportunity coming on.

0:30:240:30:29

Hello, who's this?

0:30:290:30:31

He seems to be chewing at the base of a branch at the end of which is a luscious supply of berries.

0:30:460:30:54

So I assume the idea is to chew right through, the branch will fall to the ground,

0:30:540:31:00

he'll scramble after it, hopefully take a bow

0:31:000:31:04

and then carry home his prize of a whole basket of fruit for the day.

0:31:040:31:09

And he's done it! He's bitten through!

0:31:110:31:13

Now he's just got to make sure, what an achievement, yes!

0:31:130:31:17

Give it a rock, don't fall off, old thing.

0:31:170:31:21

Now, he's rather disappointed that it hasn't simply fallen to the ground but it's a bit tangled up.

0:31:220:31:29

If there's one thing animals can do, it's persevere.

0:31:290:31:33

Still in the Smoky Mountains, it seems to me there's only one way

0:31:420:31:47

to see this beautiful part of North Carolina at its absolute best. I've never done this before.

0:31:470:31:52

Oh, lord!

0:31:530:31:54

-Shall I just climb in, yes?

-Yes, yes.

0:31:540:31:58

'I shall throw caution, and myself, to the winds.'

0:31:580:32:02

Bye.

0:32:110:32:13

I'm not sure how much I like looking down over the edge.

0:32:200:32:24

Whoa.

0:32:270:32:28

I'm happy to hold onto things.

0:32:290:32:31

It's quite scary.

0:32:410:32:43

-You guys are over a mile high.

-Really! Are we?

-Over a mile high.

0:32:570:33:00

The thing to me about America is you only have to rise up a little in any part, even a densely populated part,

0:33:000:33:07

and you see how much is wilderness and how much of it is unoccupied mountains

0:33:070:33:13

and extraordinary geographical and geological systems.

0:33:130:33:16

I was a bit nervous as we were ascending but, we're now so high, it's pointless to be nervous.

0:33:220:33:28

GAS JETS ROAR SUDDENLY

0:33:280:33:30

-We were descending at a very, very, very fast rate.

-Good lord! My ears are popping, I'll give you that.

0:33:350:33:41

-All right, Stephen, we're going to try to get down to treetop level here.

-Treetop level?

0:33:410:33:47

It's a great place to just look in the canopy.

0:33:470:33:51

We're moving at 34 miles an hour, which is extremely fast in a hot air balloon. Too fast.

0:33:510:33:57

-I take it you know about those power lines?

-Yes, I see those and thanks for warning me!

0:33:570:34:01

I have had a squirrel jump in before. He did about 200 circles.

0:34:030:34:07

I don't know who was more alarmed!

0:34:070:34:09

I bet in his family they still tell that story of the day Nutkin had that adventure.

0:34:090:34:14

It's that silence apart from when you're pressing the burner.

0:34:160:34:21

-It's absolutely amazing.

-It's beautiful.

-Peaceful, graceful.

0:34:210:34:24

I'm going to try to get close enough to this tree so you can pick one of those little...

0:34:240:34:29

Here we go.

0:34:310:34:33

I might get one of these...fruits.

0:34:340:34:39

-Don't lean out too far.

-Don't tell me that now!

0:34:390:34:43

-Ah, there you go.

-That's going in my souvenir bag.

0:34:430:34:47

-A little pine tree.

-How cool was that?

0:34:540:34:57

From the foothills of the Appalachians in North Carolina

0:35:060:35:09

to the lowland coast of South Carolina, the vegetation changes radically.

0:35:090:35:16

Gullah can be found here I'm told.

0:35:170:35:19

Gullah is a language, a culture, preserved where the freed African slaves lived on

0:35:190:35:26

in these isolated swampy, inhospitable islands.

0:35:260:35:30

This is the landscape that the unwilling visitors from Africa would have first seen all those years ago.

0:35:350:35:42

Anita Prather is a descendant of slaves brought to this coast and revels in Gullah culture.

0:35:510:35:57

Most of us came from rice producing countries in Africa.

0:35:590:36:03

Because of those specialised skills, we cost more

0:36:030:36:08

and, er, we were requested.

0:36:080:36:11

Because of that system we were able to maintain more of our Africanisms

0:36:110:36:14

than a lot of other Africans that were brought here.

0:36:140:36:17

So that's why Gullah is still so prevalent in this area.

0:36:170:36:21

SINGING AND CLAPPING

0:36:210:36:25

Now you've used this word "Gullah", what does that mean?

0:36:250:36:28

It is the blending of different cultures of the West Africans that were brought here

0:36:280:36:34

with that of the Europeans that became the masters of the plantation

0:36:340:36:37

with that of the native Americans that were the original owners of the property of the plantations

0:36:370:36:42

so you have the blending of all those different cultures.

0:36:420:36:45

SPEAKS GULLAH

0:36:480:36:52

Good gracious, what does that mean?

0:36:540:36:57

When you are here, the deer is not here.

0:36:570:36:59

But when you are not here, the deer is here. D-E-E-R as in Bambi.

0:36:590:37:04

It's a fact about the south, it seems closer in history down here than it does up in the north.

0:37:040:37:09

Does it offend you when you see a Confederate flag on the hood of a car or...?

0:37:090:37:14

Not at all. I had a lot of students who wore Confederate items, but I was their favourite teacher.

0:37:140:37:20

A lot of it didn't have to do with, "I'm wearing it because I hate black people,"

0:37:200:37:25

but, "I'm wearing it because I feel this is part of my heritage."

0:37:250:37:29

-I think sometimes we get offended without really understanding what people are really feeling.

-Mm.

0:37:290:37:34

Gullah is the one culture that brings us altogether because it connects us all. So, cousin, how're you doing?

0:37:340:37:41

-STEPHEN LAUGHS

-I'm doing very well.

0:37:410:37:43

And so to Georgia.

0:37:430:37:47

Georgia in my mind... is the heart of the south.

0:37:470:37:53

Today is the third Thursday in November, a date every American knows.

0:38:090:38:13

Thanksgiving Day, when thanks are given for the safe landing of the Pilgrim Fathers.

0:38:180:38:25

The thanks take the form of a feast of turkey, cranberry and pumpkin pie.

0:38:250:38:30

Americans will cross the country to be with their families.

0:38:300:38:35

I've been invited to celebrate it at an old plantation house in southern Georgia.

0:38:350:38:40

-Well, hello there.

-You're here.

0:38:420:38:45

'Jeannie and Swannie, two of the daughters of the house home for the holidays,

0:38:450:38:49

'are full of plans for exciting activities.'

0:38:490:38:55

-Stephen, while you are here, we're going to put you to work.

-Yeah.

0:38:550:39:00

-We're going to put you on a horse and then you can just go out and round up cows.

-Oh, my...

0:39:000:39:05

I've a horrible feeling that the getting on alone is going to be...

0:39:050:39:08

Oh, it'll be a piece of cake.

0:39:080:39:11

'Let's be clear, horses don't get on with me. I don't get on with horses.

0:39:110:39:15

'Never mind the "with", I don't get "on" horses, but these dear people seem so keen and confident

0:39:150:39:22

'that, even against my instincts, it seems churlish to refuse.'

0:39:220:39:27

And we have a very special breed here called the Tennessee walking horse.

0:39:270:39:31

I like the sound of that - not a galloping horse, not a throwing-rider-off horse...

0:39:310:39:36

They're very smooth.

0:39:360:39:39

This is Shadow. Shadow is the one horse if we could clone, we would.

0:39:390:39:44

Really? Because he's nice and gentle?

0:39:440:39:46

-He's very, very smooth and they can put people who don't know how to ride on him.

-People like me for example?

0:39:460:39:52

They smell your fear, you know.

0:39:520:39:55

-Oh, he's wonderful.

-I think I believe you.

0:39:570:40:02

He's dirty! Why didn't you wash him off?

0:40:020:40:06

-Stephen, I personally guarantee this horse.

-That's very nice to hear.

0:40:080:40:12

-OK, put your left foot there.

-That makes sense.

-And then just grab...

0:40:120:40:17

-Where am I putting my hand?

-Grab a hold of his mane. There you go.

-Ooh.

0:40:170:40:22

Sorry. Shadow's the name, yes?

0:40:230:40:25

Excuse me, Shadow, I'm sorry.

0:40:250:40:27

-Good boy. No, don't do that to me.

-You're on your own, have fun.

0:40:270:40:31

He's not going to jump over the fence, is he? Good boy.

0:40:310:40:37

No, no, whoa. Calm down. Whoa!

0:40:390:40:42

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!

0:40:420:40:45

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.

0:40:450:40:48

Whoa. Whoa.

0:40:480:40:51

So much for the walking. You call that walking?

0:40:510:40:55

Stephen, I don't know what to tell you. I apologise. That's never happened before.

0:40:550:41:01

Whenever I've been on a horse, the horse's owner goes, "That's strange, he's never done that before."

0:41:010:41:07

I love horses from a distance. They make very good watercolour paintings.

0:41:070:41:11

When they run against each other to see who's fastest, I'm happy to watch it on television.

0:41:110:41:17

I know they mean well, but they're also rather stupid.

0:41:170:41:22

That's it. Now, I get my foot down there, don't I?

0:41:220:41:27

Thank you so much.

0:41:270:41:29

LAUGHTER

0:41:290:41:30

Oh, well, we got it.

0:41:300:41:32

Never, ever again. Never, do you understand?

0:41:320:41:36

You can tell all your brothers and sisters they won't have to put up with me, ever, on a horse!

0:41:360:41:43

Somebody said the word "bloody" and the word "Mary" quite soon after it, which I like the sound of.

0:41:430:41:49

It's... Oh, yeah, it's what you call like hot tub...

0:42:030:42:08

Cheers. To your American thanksgiving.

0:42:080:42:11

Well, thank you and thanks for your hospitality, your famous southern hospitality, which is no lie.

0:42:110:42:16

You're in the south, you're drinking and frying.

0:42:160:42:19

What else does the world have to offer?

0:42:190:42:23

Ah. Miss Schmoe, how do you do? I'm Stephen.

0:42:270:42:31

'Miss Schmoe is the matriarch here and a mere 91 years old.

0:42:310:42:36

'Her visiting older sister, Aunt Sneed, is a remarkable 98.'

0:42:360:42:41

Your grandfather might have been old enough to have known the Civil War.

0:42:410:42:45

Oh, yes, I have an ancestor, a grandfather who fought in the Civil War.

0:42:450:42:50

So if I touch you now, I can say I'm touching someone, who touched someone who fought in the Civil War?

0:42:500:42:56

-Yeah, that's right.

-You see, to me, that's amazing.

0:42:560:42:58

-We still have a hangover of that war, if you want to know the truth of it.

-Is that right?

-Yeah.

0:42:580:43:05

There's no animosity here.

0:43:050:43:06

We get along good with our black people and they get along good with us and we work together

0:43:060:43:13

and they've contributed a lot to our civilisation.

0:43:130:43:16

Grandfather Williams had over 100 slaves and when they were freed, he didn't lose the one.

0:43:160:43:23

-He had to just start paying them.

-And they all wanted to stay?

-They wanted to. What else could they do?

0:43:230:43:29

DISTANT SINGING

0:43:290:43:32

# ..Above the fruited plain America, America

0:43:400:43:46

# God shed his grace on thee

0:43:460:43:51

# And crown they good with brotherhood

0:43:510:43:57

# From sea to shining sea. #

0:43:570:44:02

Ha ha, congratulations, boys.

0:44:020:44:06

Look at those turkeys. Head straight to the kitchen with those turkeys.

0:44:060:44:11

Into the house.

0:44:110:44:13

Isn't it gorgeous?

0:44:160:44:19

Marshmallows that have melted into the sweet potato. Oh, my!

0:44:190:44:24

I'd like to raise a toast on behalf of my country.

0:44:290:44:34

We were very sad naturally to lose you in 1776 over a...

0:44:340:44:37

Are you sure?

0:44:370:44:40

..a trifling misunderstanding. Something to do with tea, I believe.

0:44:400:44:44

But, obviously, in another way we're very grateful to have lost you

0:44:440:44:48

because if we hadn't, you wouldn't be the Americans that you are

0:44:480:44:52

and I wouldn't have this extraordinary experience of coming

0:44:520:44:56

to what is a very warm and friendly welcoming country. Thank you.

0:44:560:45:01

Here's a confusing thought. I'm now going further south, as south as you can go in America,

0:45:150:45:22

and yet I'm leaving the true south behind me.

0:45:220:45:26

This is my first visit to Miami and I have to say, the word "hole" is certainly close to my lips.

0:45:490:45:56

It's not my kind of city.

0:45:560:45:58

It's hot, it's got palm trees.

0:46:000:46:02

I'm sure it must have a heart and a soul

0:46:020:46:05

and a meaning and a kind of delightful centre or something, but I'm yet to find it,

0:46:050:46:13

it's just horrible, horrible concrete buildings.

0:46:130:46:16

There is another city which is not Miami but Miami Beach.

0:46:220:46:27

It's a strip of glamorous beach and maybe it's not quite as revolting.

0:46:270:46:32

The thing is all seaside places are the same, because there's beach on one side and then there's a strip

0:46:380:46:44

of places with seafood restaurants and bars.

0:46:440:46:47

These are Deco, and Deco is a style I like very much.

0:46:470:46:52

This part of Miami Beach is a Neapolitan ice cream, really.

0:46:520:46:56

It has that feeling of being designed

0:46:560:47:00

as a holiday paradise,

0:47:000:47:02

and indeed all the dreary things that go with the word "paradise",

0:47:020:47:06

like palm trees and huge cut-out parrots

0:47:060:47:09

that promise so much and deliver so staggeringly little...

0:47:090:47:14

And attractive people.

0:47:150:47:17

Attractive people who are very fit and beautiful and instantly therefore look

0:47:170:47:22

quite staggeringly ugly as a result, which is one of the great jokes that nature plays on the beautiful.

0:47:220:47:28

I would rather be curled up in a snowy cabin

0:47:280:47:31

sipping a warm whisky

0:47:310:47:33

or frankly a mug of Horlicks

0:47:330:47:36

than I would spend half an hour in this...rotting place.

0:47:360:47:41

It's like the north, less friendly, so although we're further south

0:47:430:47:49

than Georgia, we're a lot further north culturally and spiritually.

0:47:490:47:55

# It's a long, long while... #

0:47:550:47:59

They're called the "snowbirds" -

0:47:590:48:04

mainly Jewish retired people who migrate down from the cold north for winter.

0:48:040:48:09

# ..But the days grow short... #

0:48:090:48:12

On party nights, professional male dancers come into these gated communities

0:48:120:48:18

and these dashing young men are welcomed with open arms.

0:48:180:48:22

MUSIC PLAYS

0:48:220:48:26

Ladies, we have a lot of gentlemen here tonight.

0:48:320:48:36

# Her name was Lola

0:48:360:48:38

# She was a showgirl... #

0:48:380:48:41

-Dave, Si, John, Russ.

-APPLAUSE

0:48:410:48:46

Guys wouldn't go up to ask them to dance, because they want to dance with the younger ladies.

0:48:500:48:55

A lot of them are looking for a date for Saturday nights,

0:48:550:48:59

so they're willing to pay you to take them out dancing on a Saturday.

0:48:590:49:02

Sometimes we go home with torn jackets and pants with holes in them.

0:49:090:49:12

Yeah, ripped up, ties comes off, everything.

0:49:120:49:15

-Really! That desperate for a dance?

-Yeah, they go after you big.

0:49:150:49:18

The ratio down here is 10 women to every man, so..

0:49:180:49:21

-Why do you think there are so many more women?

-The women outlive their husbands. Divorced or...

0:49:290:49:34

Their husbands have passed away, divorced or whatever.

0:49:340:49:37

I hate dancing,

0:49:410:49:43

so this to me is a living embodiment of hell.

0:49:430:49:49

But I have to say the people are very sweet - it's just what they're gathered

0:49:490:49:54

together to do that I find so ineffably, horrifically repellent.

0:49:540:49:59

# And these few precious days

0:49:590:50:04

# I'll spend with you... #

0:50:070:50:14

All right, I admit it.

0:50:200:50:22

Some aspects of South Florida have their charms.

0:50:220:50:25

But as I leave,

0:50:380:50:41

by way of the glorious Everglades,

0:50:410:50:43

I can't but feel that heading north

0:50:430:50:46

to the State of Alabama

0:50:460:50:49

is really heading south again.

0:50:490:50:51

My first stop is the state capital, Montgomery.

0:50:510:50:55

Martin Luther King was a pastor here

0:50:570:50:59

and led the bus boycott out of which the Civil Rights Movement was born.

0:50:590:51:03

A lot has changed since the painful and violent times of enforced segregation between white and black,

0:51:030:51:09

but there's still pain and drama on show.

0:51:090:51:11

I'm here to witness the unique institution

0:51:110:51:15

of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles.

0:51:150:51:18

Where families of inmates can plead the cause of their relatives

0:51:210:51:25

in prison, and families of victims have their say too.

0:51:250:51:30

Will you swear the testimony you are about to give will be the truth,

0:51:300:51:32

the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

0:51:320:51:34

We do hear suffering all day, we do hear cases about murder, rape, robbery,

0:51:340:51:41

I mean incest...

0:51:410:51:42

In the Shawshank Redemption, they go to the prison, don't they?

0:51:420:51:46

-And they have a big stamp that goes "denied".

-Exactly.

-You don't have a stamp?

-No.

-There are three of us.

0:51:460:51:50

There are 29,000 inmates plus in this Alabama prison system, and there are only three of us.

0:51:500:51:57

-Presumably your first consideration is the safety of society?

-Exactly. Whether they are likely to re-offend.

0:51:570:52:03

Will you swear the testimony that you are about to give

0:52:050:52:08

will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

0:52:080:52:12

-And this is your son?

-Yes.

0:52:120:52:16

-Tell us what you want us to know about him.

-Well, I know he done wrong...

0:52:160:52:20

Since his incarceration, Gianni has accomplished a lot of things...

0:52:200:52:24

I, as a parent, have seen a change...

0:52:240:52:28

I have never seen a lady change so much...

0:52:280:52:31

There is a difference in him now...

0:52:310:52:33

This man deserves a second chance.

0:52:330:52:36

And that is why I stand before you today and ask that you grant parole at this time to Tim.

0:52:360:52:41

One lady, she got mad enough, I think, to hit me one day, and I said, "Do you realise what he's done?"

0:52:430:52:49

People can change, you know, and she just...she wanted to...

0:52:490:52:53

And the only reason he stopped killing people is he ran out of ammunition.

0:52:530:52:56

He said he was sorry for what he'd done and everything to me also.

0:52:560:53:00

Every day he tries harder to deal with the pains that he's caused everybody...

0:53:000:53:04

I cannot make any guarantees, but from his conversation,

0:53:040:53:09

I feel that he's ready to come back into society.

0:53:090:53:12

We'll now hear from the victim's side.

0:53:120:53:15

I don't think that the time served is enough...

0:53:150:53:18

Please do not let him out...

0:53:180:53:20

We go to the grave side.

0:53:200:53:23

I have children now that are almost...

0:53:230:53:26

-my brother's age...

-And I am sure if Keith could choose,

0:53:260:53:30

he would rather be in a prison cell locked away than in a deep dark grave.

0:53:300:53:35

He committed a serious crime to get in prison and since he's been in prison he has not done well.

0:53:350:53:40

The board has voted in this case. We've denied parole today. He'll be set for consideration in four years.

0:53:400:53:45

And he told me he asked the Lord to forgive him.

0:53:510:53:53

All her speech and everything is what she can do for God.

0:53:530:53:57

I'm glad that, you know, she's got religion now and that she's changed her life around,

0:53:570:54:02

but there's also a consequence for all these crimes that she's committed.

0:54:020:54:06

One of the things I should imagine you get a lot, what you might call...

0:54:080:54:13

penitentiary conversion.

0:54:130:54:15

They find Jesus immediately, and I never knew Jesus to be lost, and they've got 33 disciplinaries

0:54:150:54:21

in a 5-year term frame but they've got religion.

0:54:210:54:25

If you know better, you do better.

0:54:250:54:27

I know it's up to y'all to decide, you know, what his fate...

0:54:270:54:31

He's done well and we have every reason expect him to continue,

0:54:310:54:35

so we've voted to release him on parole.

0:54:350:54:37

-Praise the Lord!

-OK.

0:54:370:54:40

-Praise the Lord.

-I know we have made some decisions that resulted in people being hurt.

0:54:400:54:45

We have paroled people who have gone out and committed new crimes. I hate that and I agonise over it.

0:54:450:54:51

We make the best decision possible with the information that we have in hand and we go from there.

0:54:510:54:58

It's an indication of the size of the US economy and their passion for sport

0:55:100:55:14

that this is the stadium of Auburn, a medium-sized college,

0:55:140:55:18

and this is their annual game against another college within the same state,

0:55:180:55:23

the University of Alabama based in Tuscaloosa, a few hours' drive away.

0:55:230:55:28

This fixture has the scale, intensity and hoopla of a grand national final,

0:55:320:55:38

but is in reality nothing more than a local derby between amateur students. Only in America!

0:55:380:55:43

DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS

0:55:430:55:47

-How do you do? Have you got any spare paint for me?

-Yes. Yes.

0:56:370:56:40

Yes!

0:56:400:56:43

Thank you so much.

0:56:470:56:51

Pretty damn good, thank you.

0:56:540:56:56

I really don't know if anything sums up America better.

0:57:110:57:14

It's simultaneously preposterous...

0:57:140:57:18

incredibly laughable, impressive, charming, ridiculous,

0:57:180:57:23

expensive,

0:57:230:57:25

over-populated,

0:57:250:57:28

wonderful...

0:57:280:57:30

American.

0:57:300:57:32

# God bless America... #

0:57:450:57:49

CHEERING

0:57:570:58:00

Oh, dear.

0:58:030:58:05

WHOOSHING

0:58:050:58:07

On the next leg of my journey,

0:58:190:58:21

I'll be following the Mississippi River from steamy New Orleans to icy Minnesota

0:58:210:58:25

by way of parades, prisons, blues, canoes and motor cars.

0:58:250:58:29

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:58:360:58:39

E-mail [email protected]

0:58:390:58:42

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