0:00:13 > 0:00:16Hello, shw mae? I'm Alex Jones.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18No, this isn't the usual One Show,
0:00:18 > 0:00:22this is a very special edition all about my home country of Wales.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25This is the studio and usually, I'd be sat on the sofa over there
0:00:25 > 0:00:27with Matt or Chris.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30Our celebrity guests would be sitting there
0:00:30 > 0:00:32and people would be running around frantically.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36But today, it's just you and me and this pile of Welsh films
0:00:36 > 0:00:39made by BBC Wales especially for The One Show.
0:00:39 > 0:00:40It's special to me
0:00:40 > 0:00:44when we've got films about Wales but today we've got five of them,
0:00:44 > 0:00:47so sit back and enjoy Wales On The One Show.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49Coming up - science fact or fiction?
0:00:49 > 0:00:51Marty Jobson investigates
0:00:51 > 0:00:55a Swansea inventor's bizarre weapon of mass destruction.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58- CRACK! - BLEEP
0:00:58 > 0:00:59You didn't warn me about that!
0:00:59 > 0:01:03Jay Rayner tucks into the original Welsh takeaway in Neath.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07There is no way to do this elegantly!
0:01:07 > 0:01:09Riots in north Wales -
0:01:09 > 0:01:12Joe Crawley meets former residents of Capel Celyn.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14Hidden beneath these troubled waters
0:01:14 > 0:01:17lie the remains of a once-happy village.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21# Gloria... #
0:01:21 > 0:01:25And Giles Brandreth experiences the power of song in Swansea.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28Standing here, you would have been faced with 300 chimneys
0:01:28 > 0:01:32belching clouds of thick orange smoke that blocked out the sun.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35It was like a volcano erupting.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43But first, let's start with one of the strangest chapters ever
0:01:43 > 0:01:44in Welsh history.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48Angellica Bell bravely went back in time to Fishguard in Pembrokeshire
0:01:48 > 0:01:50where it was all kicking off.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52BRASS BAND PLAYS "LA MARSEILLAISE"
0:01:52 > 0:01:58Most people think the last invasion of Britain was at Hastings in 1066.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00But they're wrong.
0:02:00 > 0:02:05That dubious claim to fame belongs to Fishguard here in west Wales.
0:02:05 > 0:02:11In 1797, 1,400 French troops landed at Carreg Wastad near Fishguard.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15Equipped with 50 tons of grenades and 2,000 guns,
0:02:15 > 0:02:18they swarmed inland. Things looked bleak.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22Fishguard's volunteer army were out working in the fields
0:02:22 > 0:02:26and the fort only had three cannonballs.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28Arretez! Tournez!
0:02:29 > 0:02:31Since their revolution eight years earlier,
0:02:31 > 0:02:35the French had been spreading ideals of liberty,
0:02:35 > 0:02:38equality and fraternity across Europe.
0:02:38 > 0:02:43They'd been at war with Britain for years. Now, they were in Fishguard.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45This was the farmhouse belonging to John Mortimer.
0:02:45 > 0:02:51- It became the French headquarters. - Why did they choose Fishguard?
0:02:51 > 0:02:56It was never meant to be Fishguard. They never intended to come here.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00The plan was that there was to be an invasion of Ireland.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03In order for the invasion of Ireland to work,
0:03:03 > 0:03:06there had to be two diversionary raids to pull the English fleets
0:03:06 > 0:03:10away from them, one to Newcastle and one to Bristol.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12The one to Newcastle never happened.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14Bristol - that's this lot.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16They got as far as Lundy Island
0:03:16 > 0:03:18and they realised the wind and tide were against them
0:03:18 > 0:03:22so they turned around, sailed up the Welsh coast and came to Fishguard.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24What did they want to achieve?
0:03:24 > 0:03:27They thought that Wales was a hotbed of revolution
0:03:27 > 0:03:31and that the Welsh, when they saw these Frenchmen, would join them.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34They'd rise up, they would throw off the yoke of English tyranny
0:03:34 > 0:03:38and join the French and so take England out of the war.
0:03:38 > 0:03:43But the French liberators did little to enlist Welsh support.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47Discovering large quantities of wine, which locals had salvaged
0:03:47 > 0:03:50from a recent wreck, they were soon drunk and running amok.
0:03:50 > 0:03:56A raiding party even looted St Gwyndaf's church and set fire to it.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01Phil, tell us what the army would have been like?
0:04:01 > 0:04:04To put it mildly, they were the worst soldiers ever.
0:04:04 > 0:04:09Most of this legion were made up of convicts or soldiers
0:04:09 > 0:04:11who nobody else wanted.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13Nobody was going to risk good soldiers
0:04:13 > 0:04:15on what was a fairly forlorn hope.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19- They came ashore and they were out of control.- They desecrated this place.- They did.
0:04:19 > 0:04:25If you look here, this is the Bible. They rip it to shreds.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27They take out whole chapters, whole chunks of it
0:04:27 > 0:04:29and use it as material to light fires.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33The French had no concept of its importance.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37All they were concerned about was, this was a means of keeping warm.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41This was fuel. It wasn't just the Bible. Look at this.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43That chalice was stolen by the French,
0:04:43 > 0:04:46later turned up in Carmarthen, would you believe!
0:04:46 > 0:04:48Somebody had tried to sell it in Carmarthen.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50Allerons, mes amis!
0:04:53 > 0:04:57By now, the locals had had enough of their uninvited guests.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01Legend has it that Jemima Nicholas, a cobbler's wife,
0:05:01 > 0:05:06armed herself with a pitchfork and captured 12 drunken Frenchmen.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08Hundreds of women in red shawls
0:05:08 > 0:05:12are said to have masqueraded as British soldiers
0:05:12 > 0:05:15to scare off the invaders, who were beginning to mutiny.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20Is there any truth in these stories about the women of Fishguard?
0:05:20 > 0:05:22At this distance, it's very hard to say.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25The fact has been mixed up with the fable
0:05:25 > 0:05:26and it's become a fantasy.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30But what is true is that the Welsh women in their red shawls
0:05:30 > 0:05:34and their black hats did come to witness what was going on.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37The French, from a distance, frightened, half-drunk,
0:05:37 > 0:05:39desperate to get out of this situation,
0:05:39 > 0:05:41probably did mistake them for soldiers.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44It does seem a bit of a farce!
0:05:44 > 0:05:46The whole story is one of farce.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48It's worthy of Gilbert and Sullivan.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52A small British army eventually showed up
0:05:52 > 0:05:57and the invaders surrendered immediately in the local pub.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00The entire French Army was marched off to prison,
0:06:00 > 0:06:05having achieved very little apart from putting Fishguard on the map.
0:06:05 > 0:06:10After just three days, their last invasion of Britain collapsed.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13And nobody's been brave enough to try it again since.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15CHEERING AND SHOUTING
0:06:23 > 0:06:28Incredible story. You never know, if the French hadn't found all that wine,
0:06:28 > 0:06:30maybe things would have turned out differently.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33I'd probably be working on La Une Show now.
0:06:33 > 0:06:34Multilingual, you see?
0:06:34 > 0:06:38Enough of this warmongering. It's time to give PEAS a chance.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40Faggots and peas, to be precise.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42Who better to go in search of the Welsh delicacy
0:06:42 > 0:06:44than One Show foodie Jay Rayner?
0:06:49 > 0:06:51Take a look at the British High Street
0:06:51 > 0:06:54and you'll have a fantastic choice of Italian, Indian,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Chinese or American takeaways.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00But we have a takeaway tradition dating back to the 1800s
0:07:00 > 0:07:04which makes the doner kebab look like a Johnny-come-lately.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06In chippies all over Wales and the West Midlands,
0:07:06 > 0:07:09you can find this takeaway tradition still thriving.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11Faggots and peas.
0:07:14 > 0:07:19Takeaway faggots and peas paved the way for modern fast food.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22Since the 1920s, Neath Market in west Wales
0:07:22 > 0:07:24has hosted faggot-sellers.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Frances Loaring's gran Katie started this stall.
0:07:30 > 0:07:31Four generations of her family
0:07:31 > 0:07:35have sold eat-in or takeaway faggots from it ever since.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37It's warming, it's cheap. It's filling.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41I think people are going back to that sort of food, as well.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43You know, home-made food.
0:07:43 > 0:07:44Who likes to buy them?
0:07:44 > 0:07:46One fellow came from South Africa.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48Before he even went to visit his family,
0:07:48 > 0:07:50he got off the train at Neath station
0:07:50 > 0:07:52and he came in here straightaway.
0:07:52 > 0:07:57Faggots first became popular in the mid-19th century
0:07:57 > 0:07:59as cheap food for the urban poor.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04But why should WE be bothered eating them 150 years later?
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Traditional faggots deserve to be given credit
0:08:08 > 0:08:11for using the whole beast and not just the prime cuts.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14The hungry poor in the 19th century knew that if you killed an animal,
0:08:14 > 0:08:16you ought to eat the whole thing.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21That's a lesson that those of us in the 21st century ought to learn.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24Faggots use the pig's heart, lungs, liver,
0:08:24 > 0:08:27meat and fat that would otherwise go to waste.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31Butcher Gareth Cole supplies the faggots for Frances' stall.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34The recipe's come right through from my great-grandfather.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36I've managed to get my hands on it now.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40- How many faggots do you eat a week? - Three or four...at a time!
0:08:40 > 0:08:44So have faggots made you the man you are today?
0:08:44 > 0:08:45Can't you tell?
0:08:51 > 0:08:52Why pigs' offal?
0:08:52 > 0:08:55Well, swine were more likely to be kept close by
0:08:55 > 0:08:58in the rapidly-expanding urban areas of Wales and the Midlands
0:08:58 > 0:09:01but, in recent times, the public have turned away from offal
0:09:01 > 0:09:04and faggots have gone out of fashion.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09Even so, Gareth still manages to sell 2,000 of them a week.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11I can see why.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14There's no way to do this elegantly.
0:09:16 > 0:09:17Oh!
0:09:19 > 0:09:21That's really, really good.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24It's not pretty, but it's good.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27But will the public be put off by the offal content?
0:09:27 > 0:09:29I hope not.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31- Never have been very keen on them. - Really?- Yeah.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34- What's in 'em?- Quite a bit of offal, bit of pig's lip... Is that it?
0:09:34 > 0:09:36Yeah. That's probably what it is.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38- I don't like them. - You don't like them?!
0:09:38 > 0:09:40They're made out of liver and...no.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42- Do you not like offal?- No.
0:09:42 > 0:09:47When I was a little boy, I used to come regular into the shop here,
0:09:47 > 0:09:50have faggots and peas. I don't know what faggots are made of, mind.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52Very nice.
0:09:52 > 0:09:53Very good faggots.
0:09:53 > 0:09:59So despite a few offal-dodgers, Frances still has plenty of fans.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01In an age when the British public
0:10:01 > 0:10:04seems to prefer sanitised, pretty meat products,
0:10:04 > 0:10:07it's really good to see old-fashioned, offal-rich faggots
0:10:07 > 0:10:08holding their own.
0:10:12 > 0:10:13Mm.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16That's exactly my sort of thing. It's not sophisticated or subtle
0:10:16 > 0:10:19but it's dense, meaty and savoury.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23On a very cold day in Neath, it's exactly what I want.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32Yes, luckily they do taste loads better than they look.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35If only somebody could leak that secret recipe
0:10:35 > 0:10:37to the BBC canteen here in London,
0:10:37 > 0:10:39they'd make a lot of ex-pats very happy.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42Now, I found this next film really quite moving
0:10:42 > 0:10:44when we first showed it.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46It seems that many of you felt the same way.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48After it went out, loads of people got in touch.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50The response was overwhelming.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54Here it is - Joe Crowley's tale of a lost village.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02Shining amid the hills of north Wales,
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Llyn Celyn is a cold, deep lake.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08It may look like it's been here forever, but it hasn't.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10Hidden beneath the troubled waters
0:11:10 > 0:11:13lie the remains of a once-happy village.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16A village which changed Welsh history.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25Capel Celyn was a traditional Welsh-speaking village.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28Families had lived there for generations,
0:11:28 > 0:11:30farming the valley and attending chapel.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34Well, it was typical of a Welsh community in the '50s and '60s.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36Very tight, very friendly.
0:11:36 > 0:11:42Very, very fond memories, really. Time in school was a real pleasure.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45It revolved, really, more around nature
0:11:45 > 0:11:47and all the things you could find.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49Yeah, there is me, there.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52That is me. That's really weird.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55Very smart, in your double-breasted blazer.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59To look at these faces, going back 30 years, is really strange.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01Really eerie. Spooky. Like ghosts.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07The children expected one day they'd farm the valley, like their parents.
0:12:07 > 0:12:12But, in 1955, the outside world came crashing in.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16The people of Capel Celyn received compulsory purchase orders.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19Their entire valley was to become a reservoir.
0:12:19 > 0:12:24Their homes, farms and memories were to be lost forever.
0:12:24 > 0:12:2760 miles away, Liverpool wanted extra water
0:12:27 > 0:12:28for post-war regeneration
0:12:28 > 0:12:31and had chosen the Tryweryn Valley, with its narrow neck
0:12:31 > 0:12:33perfect for damming.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37Despite local opposition, planning permission wasn't required
0:12:37 > 0:12:41as Liverpool Corporation had the backing of a parliamentary bill.
0:12:41 > 0:12:46It didn't really become reality until you actually saw places
0:12:46 > 0:12:50that you thought were going to be there forever
0:12:50 > 0:12:53coming down in front of your eyes.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57It was greeted with disbelief that such a thing had happened.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00But it was irreversible.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03As the dam slowly rose, residents were permitted
0:13:03 > 0:13:06to exhume their loved ones from the graveyard
0:13:06 > 0:13:07before it was bulldozed.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10My parents never spoke about it.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13I don't think they could bring themselves to imagine
0:13:13 > 0:13:16that such a thing would ever happen.
0:13:16 > 0:13:21They believed, once you were dead and buried, you were in peace.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24Capel Celyn was soon razed to the ground
0:13:24 > 0:13:27but the school was left standing till last.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30TRANSLATION FROM WELSH:
0:13:39 > 0:13:43Well, I remember the sound of the chainsaws coming closer and closer.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47The bulldozers, the mud, the dust, the uncertainty,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50the black cloud came closer and closer and closer,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53until eventually it swallowed up our school.
0:13:55 > 0:13:56And destroyed it.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59On the day the reservoir was opened, passions ran high.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01The loss of Capel Celyn
0:14:01 > 0:14:05had a profound impact on Welsh national identity.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07There was the cultural argument
0:14:07 > 0:14:09that villages that still held to Welsh traditions
0:14:09 > 0:14:11were getting increasingly rare
0:14:11 > 0:14:15and to destroy one was an act of vandalism.
0:14:15 > 0:14:16There was a feeling that,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19well, at least we've got MPs that would give the Welsh view.
0:14:19 > 0:14:21They did give the Welsh view
0:14:21 > 0:14:23and nobody took any notice of them at all.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26Wales, at the beginning of the 21st-century,
0:14:26 > 0:14:28is a much different place.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31If one looks at a single source causing that change,
0:14:31 > 0:14:33I would say Tryweryn.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39My mother was born in the valley.
0:14:39 > 0:14:44In their last years, you could see how the trauma had affected them
0:14:44 > 0:14:47and they were just talking about the valley all the time,
0:14:47 > 0:14:51asking, "Is the water coming? Is the home still there?"
0:14:51 > 0:14:55It's impossible to imagine, for someone like me,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58who never knew it any other way, that it could be different, really.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00It is difficult for me, as well.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04Despite what they've done, it's still a very, very beautiful place.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10And there are still people here. We're still here. We always will be.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17In 2005, Liverpool City Council finally apologised
0:15:17 > 0:15:19for what happened here.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22Some may have forgiven them. But few will forget.
0:15:22 > 0:15:27As the 40-year-old graffiti still says, "remember Tryweryn".
0:15:36 > 0:15:38"Cofiwch Dryweryn" - "remember Tryweryn".
0:15:38 > 0:15:40I've driven past that sign so many times
0:15:40 > 0:15:42on my way home from Aberystwyth
0:15:42 > 0:15:46and I think it'll probably be there for a long time to come.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49Now, if you live in Swansea,
0:15:49 > 0:15:51you might recognise this recently-erected statue.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53It's Harry Grindell Matthews,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56who had a laboratory high in the hills of Betws.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Back in the '30s, the world quaked in terror
0:15:59 > 0:16:01at news of his latest invention.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04Here is Marty Jobson with the electrifying tale.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12The death ray, a terrifying beam of light.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16From Archimedes to HG Wells, it was once the stuff of legend.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20But in the 1920s, it stopped being science fiction.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25The prospect of a real death ray seemed frighteningly close.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29Harry Grindell Matthews was an inventor from Gloucestershire.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32He was renowned for dreaming up futuristic prototypes,
0:16:32 > 0:16:34including an early mobile phone,
0:16:34 > 0:16:37which he demonstrated at Buckingham Palace.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40But his most infamous invention was a beam of light
0:16:40 > 0:16:44said to be capable of knocking enemy aeroplanes out of the sky.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46The press called it his death ray.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54This remarkable footage has never been seen on television before.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57It shows Matthews testing his death ray,
0:16:57 > 0:17:00which he claimed could kill rats, detonate gunpowder
0:17:00 > 0:17:03and stop an engine, all from 60 feet away.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06After the stalemate of World War I,
0:17:06 > 0:17:10the press hoped this sensational new weapon would give Britain the edge.
0:17:14 > 0:17:20So, on the 26th of May 1924, a delegation of academics,
0:17:20 > 0:17:24high Pooh-Bahs from the military and scientists,
0:17:24 > 0:17:28- all came to Grindell Matthews' laboratory to see his death ray. - That's right, yes.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33- Right. So, here it is. This is my contraption.- Wow!
0:17:33 > 0:17:36This is my death ray and it's pointing over there
0:17:36 > 0:17:39at that petrol motor that we're going to knock out.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43'Of course, this is just a mock-up of Matthews' experiment.'
0:17:43 > 0:17:46I never thought a wastepaper basket could look quite so sinister.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48Talk me through it. What is it we've made here?
0:17:48 > 0:17:52- At the bottom would have been the electrical generator.- What's in here?
0:17:52 > 0:17:54In here, you've got a source of ultraviolet light.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58- You get to be Grindell Matthews. - Brilliant. I get to fire the contraption?
0:17:58 > 0:18:02- Yes. You get the dirty lab coat. - I've got it on, it fits. - That looks good.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04Three, two, one, fire!
0:18:04 > 0:18:05MOTOR STUTTERS TO A HALT
0:18:05 > 0:18:07And it goes off! Brilliant.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10The generals on that day witnessed that.
0:18:10 > 0:18:11AIR-RAID SIREN WAILS
0:18:11 > 0:18:15We're faking it, but Matthews insisted his result was genuine.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18The secret theory that ultraviolet light could ionise air.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21The beam creates a path of charged particles
0:18:21 > 0:18:23capable of conducting electricity.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29But the War Office suspected he used a hidden cable.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33The military asked him to move the engine, didn't they?
0:18:33 > 0:18:36That's right. But Matthews said no, he wasn't going to move it.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40- I guess that would have made him look a bit dodgy.- Yes, it would.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43- Was he faking it?- I don't think he was faking it at all.
0:18:43 > 0:18:44It was new technology.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47Matthews had spent weeks getting the ultraviolet light
0:18:47 > 0:18:49focused really precisely onto this running engine.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53Any movement in that would undermine the demonstration.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55The hype surrounding Matthews rocketed
0:18:55 > 0:18:59with the release of a film suggesting a huge death ray
0:18:59 > 0:19:00could annihilate an entire city.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05But, to the public's dismay, the War Office rejected it.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11I've come to Cardiff University to see if they made the right decision.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14So, Richard, do you think it's theoretically possible
0:19:14 > 0:19:17that Grindell Matthews' death ray could have worked?
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Certainly. In principle, it is possible to demonstrate.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22In this lab, we have a high-voltage generator.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24We can show air being ionised.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27We can see electrical current passing through the air.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31- Certainly, that aspect of his experiment is possible.- Excellent.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33- CRACK! - BLEEP
0:19:33 > 0:19:36You didn't warn me about that, mate!
0:19:36 > 0:19:39Yes, I see your point.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42It's perfectly possible, then,
0:19:42 > 0:19:45to create a big, fat spark of ionised air
0:19:45 > 0:19:49But is it possible to ionise air with light?
0:19:49 > 0:19:53- That's the key to Grindell Matthews' machine, his death ray.- Absolutely.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56- I'll show you now.- "Fire laser."
0:19:56 > 0:19:59- There you go.- Where?
0:19:59 > 0:20:01That infinitesimally small pinprick?
0:20:01 > 0:20:05That is ionised air that's being ionised by a big, fat laser somehow?
0:20:05 > 0:20:07Absolutely. That's right.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10For Grindell Matthews' machine to work, it would have to go
0:20:10 > 0:20:13from the death ray all the way to the aeroplane?
0:20:13 > 0:20:15Absolutely. Long way, a lot of power.
0:20:15 > 0:20:16A heck of a lot of power.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18For example, for five metres of air
0:20:18 > 0:20:22you would need 1.4 million lasers of this sort of size.
0:20:22 > 0:20:27To reach a plane, you'd need a laser the size of a small town.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29The notion of using light as a weapon
0:20:29 > 0:20:31was overtaken by other innovations
0:20:31 > 0:20:34and the death ray never became a reality.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36Matthews died in 1941.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38His insistence on secrecy means we'll never know
0:20:38 > 0:20:42whether he was a master showman or a visionary genius.
0:20:50 > 0:20:51Amazing footage, there.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55After his death ray flopped, Matthews spent the rest of his days
0:20:55 > 0:20:58holed up in a fortified lair, high in the hills above Swansea.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01We'll probably never know what he was up to
0:21:01 > 0:21:05but the locals claim that when they drove past his lab, their cars mysteriously cut out.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09Of course, that could have been caused by the damp - not that it ever rains in Wales!
0:21:09 > 0:21:12We're almost at the end of the show now.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15What better way to finish off than with a rousing singsong,
0:21:15 > 0:21:17something we know we're good at!
0:21:17 > 0:21:18Here is Gyles Brandreth
0:21:18 > 0:21:21with the story of the great Welsh hymn tune Blaenwern
0:21:21 > 0:21:24and its origins in industrial Swansea.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32These days, Swansea's a leafy city, if a little rainy at times,
0:21:32 > 0:21:37but back in the 19th century, the view was very different.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41Standing here, you would have been faced with 300 chimneys
0:21:41 > 0:21:45belching clouds of thick, orange smoke that blocked out the sun.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48It was like a volcano erupting.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51There were slag heaps and scorched earth
0:21:51 > 0:21:54so poisoned by sulphur that nothing could grow.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56Known as Copper Kingdom,
0:21:56 > 0:22:01Swansea was the smelting capital of the world and workers flocked here.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05It was said that if the devil had passed through,
0:22:05 > 0:22:07he'd have thought he'd come home.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11But amid this bleak landscape, something was blossoming.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15Wales was caught in a wave of intense Christianity.
0:22:15 > 0:22:20Alcohol was out, hymns were in and chapels were packed to the rafters.
0:22:20 > 0:22:26The influx of workers boosted congregations so dramatically in this part of Swansea
0:22:26 > 0:22:28that they built this!
0:22:31 > 0:22:33The Morriston Tabernacle.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36It was here, in 1904, that conductor William Penfro Rowlands
0:22:36 > 0:22:39composed a Welsh hymn tune called Blaenwern.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42It was written at a time when his son was ill.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44His son had had pneumonia.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48His son was sent to Pembrokeshire, to Blaenwern Farm near Tufton,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51because the air was much cleaner in Pembrokeshire
0:22:51 > 0:22:54than it was in smoky, sultry Morriston.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56So he went to get away from the smelting and the fumes?
0:22:56 > 0:22:58Exactly, yes.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02To mark the fact that his son recovered from his illness,
0:23:02 > 0:23:06Penfro Rowlands named the tune Blaenwern.
0:23:06 > 0:23:11- Why does it have this extraordinary impact?- I think it's so well-built.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15It starts off quite modestly, quite low in the register, HE PLAYS THE ORGAN
0:23:15 > 0:23:20but then, when you get to the middle, everything notches up.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24It's far more emotional. There's more drive to it.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26The harmony is higher, everything gets stronger.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33It's a very dramatic, the way it moves forwards.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37The last four lines are very, very full of emotion.
0:23:39 > 0:23:44# Dim ond calon lan
0:23:44 > 0:23:46# All ganu... #
0:23:51 > 0:23:53So, a simple opening
0:23:53 > 0:23:57- and then we build and build to this crescendo of emotion.- Yes.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00The religious revival isn't all that grew
0:24:00 > 0:24:02in the grim, industrial conditions.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04To escape the toil,
0:24:04 > 0:24:06male voice choirs were formed
0:24:06 > 0:24:10and the four-piece harmony of Blaenwern was perfect for them.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12The furnaces had gone, but Blaenwern lived on.
0:24:12 > 0:24:17Set to the English words of Methodist Charles Wesley,
0:24:17 > 0:24:20it became Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,
0:24:20 > 0:24:23sung here by the Morriston Orpheus Choir.
0:24:23 > 0:24:31# Visit us with Thy salvation... #
0:24:31 > 0:24:33It's wonderful that this great melody
0:24:33 > 0:24:36comes from this harsh, industrial landscape.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40Yes, but that was how people overcame the difficulties
0:24:40 > 0:24:41of where they lived.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44A lot of the male voice choir tradition was born
0:24:44 > 0:24:45in industrial areas,
0:24:45 > 0:24:49just to get out of the harsh climate that they worked in.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51- It lifts the spirit.- It does.
0:24:51 > 0:24:58# Hwyl a bore fy nymuniad
0:24:59 > 0:25:06# Esgyn ar adenydd can
0:25:07 > 0:25:14# Ar i Dduw, er mwyn fy Ngheidwad
0:25:14 > 0:25:21# Roddi i mi galon lan
0:25:22 > 0:25:29# Calon lan yn llawn daioni
0:25:29 > 0:25:37# Tecach yw na'r lili dlos
0:25:37 > 0:25:43# Dim ond calon lan all ganu... #
0:25:43 > 0:25:49Rowlands never got to see Blaenwern become as famous as it is today,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52which is a shame, because I think he'd have been proud
0:25:52 > 0:25:56to know that his beautiful hymn outlived the stinking factories
0:25:56 > 0:25:58of the Copper Kingdom.
0:25:58 > 0:26:06# Nos. #
0:26:16 > 0:26:19What an ending. Fantastic stuff. Da iawn, boys.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21Well, we've got to let the cleaners in now
0:26:21 > 0:26:23so that's all we've got time for,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26but don't despair because there are plenty more gems
0:26:26 > 0:26:28waiting for you in episode two of Wales On The One Show.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32Coming up next time... medieval mayhem.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36Joe Crowley is catapulted back in time at Caerphilly.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38Prepare to loose!
0:26:38 > 0:26:39Loose!
0:26:45 > 0:26:47- Huzzah! - THEY CHEER.
0:26:47 > 0:26:48Deadly deception.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52Dan Snow's in Trealaw on the trail of a man who never was.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56They created this completely false personality,
0:26:56 > 0:26:58this person who'd never existed.
0:26:58 > 0:26:59Who's the picture of?
0:26:59 > 0:27:01The picture is of an MI5 officer
0:27:01 > 0:27:03who just happened to look a bit like the dead man.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07It's as Welsh as Tom Jones, so what will an Englishman make of laverbread?
0:27:07 > 0:27:11Jay Rayner gets his first taste of Gower seaweed.
0:27:11 > 0:27:12I must admit, I'm a little nervous,
0:27:12 > 0:27:16because I have no idea whether I'm going to like it or not.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18And half a century after the war ended,
0:27:18 > 0:27:21Angellica Bell meets the Londoner
0:27:21 > 0:27:24who's still being evacuated to Haverfordwest.
0:27:24 > 0:27:29I still get butterflies when I come up here. It's like coming home.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34Wow, that is going to be an amazing show.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36Make sure you don't miss it.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40I'm off to look for some faggots and peas somewhere in London.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43Thanks so much for watching this special edition.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45We really did enjoy putting it together.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47That's it from Wales On The One Show.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49Nos da. Goodbye.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:27:56 > 0:27:59E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk